Chapter 2: The Purple Hoard
	Running down the narrow corridor, Ranma rushes to
find the messenger that brought the news. The stone walls of
his keep, painstakingly cleaned by helpers and royal aids,
flew by in a blur of motion. Every now and then a door
would appear on the left or right, but Ranma disregarded
them. The hallway that led from his war room opened up
into a circular portal leading to the throne room and royal
hallways. Entering the royal room, he turned quickly left
and followed the bright red carpet out of the throne room
and into the audience chamber. There he saw what he was
searching for. A tired looking messenger was sitting on one
of the chairs placed outside of the great hall. Upon seeing
Ranma, he leaped to his feet in attention.
	"Sir, I bring news of the attack! He seemed to trip
over his own words trying to speak as fast as was possible.
	"Calm down, just tell me what you brought me"
Looking behind him, Ranma saw that his generals from the
room followed him here and was listening with a grave
attentiveness. 	
	"This message from Lord Saotome, your father sir.
He requests aid against a siege launched against his capitol
in Ling Ling. The fighting has been for three days now."
	Who attacked"
	"The Purple Hoard, sir" Three days. If the attack has
been going on for three days, then this messenger must of
left as soon as it began and rode hard just to get here in that
time. It is a full five day trip to Ling Ling on a good day.
Looking at the messenger, Ranma could see the dark circles
under his eyes. Worn riding boots with crusted mud still
stuck to them. Dirt and dust rubbed into his youthful face,
and the exhaustion was evident throughout.
	"Link!"
	"Yes my liege." A lanky looking servant entered
from the left. Appearing more like the court jester then the
head servant, he could put a smile on a ninety year old
warlord's face, and that trait has saved his life more times
then he'd care to admit. 
	"Tell Queen Saotome to meet me in the forward
chamber, clean this messenger.... what was your name
again?" In the excitement of the moment, Ranma had forgot
that he didn't know this messenger personally, being one of
his fathers men.
	"Juan, sir." The man looked about to fall over
	"Have this .. Juan... taken care of, make sure he gets
whatever he wants and is cleaned up for an official audience
with me and the queen"
	"As my Lord commands." With an overly dramatic
bow and a smirk, Link leads the tired man down the
opposite corridor. He must of either told a joke or
something because all of a sudden, the mans laughter could
be heard echoing down the long hallway. Why do I feel like
that was at my expense? Ranma himself couldn't suppress
the chuckle as he thought about what devious thing Link
could be saying about him.
	"Sir, there is another matter, the Queen wishes to see
you immediately" One of the servants looked at him and
quickly lowered his eyes "If you would please.."
	"Of course, I'll be right there" Looking at the
assembled Lords and people he remembered something.
"You are all dismissed. Have the homeland leaders meet
with me in two hours. I must attend to business."
	The resulting chaos of people tripping over each
other lasted for about thirty seconds and then was replaced
with the steady silence of the empty room. Or almost
empty; Ranma could make out the dim outlines of three
guards in the shadows behind him. He may of trained them,
and they may be the best guard anywhere, but they could
never avoid his perception. He doubted anyone else knew
they were there. He didn't become leader for nothing. On
the way down the second corridor that lead to his personal
quarters, he thought about the resulting years of his rule.
The rule has been easy compared to him getting it. He
grabbed the land, leadership, and wife in one series of harsh
fights. Beating the best of the best was not easy, and he
knew he only won by a thread. Surprisingly, Ryoga was his
fiercest opponent, but respected and befriended him as soon
as he realized he was the best ruler and warrior. Many times
Ryoga had saved his life from a surprise flank by a cunning
enemy. The Nomad doesn't even seem to mind losing his
land in the resulting competition, it was the woman, Akane
of the Tendo family, that he seemed to be fighting for.
When Genma and Soun decided to give their lands to the
best fighter, no one seemed really interested, the stakes were
too high. If you lost, your lands were forfeit to the winner.
The Kuno family and Mouse were the only ones who
entered, of course with Ranma, Genma's son. Soun Tendo
decided to spice up the prize, offering his youngest daughter
of three as part of the booty. Her beauty even at the young
age of sixteen was legendary and it attracted many more
fighters from across china. This of course was Genma and
Soun's plan, to have Ranma win the tourney that he was
training his whole life for. So hard was his training in fact,
he was cursed forever with an alter ego from a mistake at a
cursed training spring, forced to change into a female if he
ever gets dosed with cold water, with warm water being the
only cure. The match was not so cut and dry, Ranma
thought wryly. Eight fought in the tourney, and he almost
lost twice. The first win was from Kuno the Swordmaster,
and that name was definitely earned. Since Kuno and
Ranma could not agree on the weapon for the competition,
it was decided that the first would be open hand,  the second
would be sword, and the third would be accuracy with the
bow. Ranma won easily in unarmed combat, for Kuno was
not a fighter. However, when it came to swords, Ranma
was overwhelmed by Kuno's quick and fierce attacks. It
lasted longer then the first fight, but Ranma could tell he
was losing ground. Finally Kuno jerked forward and struck
Ranma in the center of his chest, denoting the kill. Kuno
was also good at archery, but was no match for Ranma who
split the first three arrows he shot, one right after another,
and then threw one and took the feather off the other three.
The battle with Ryoga was the worst, with Ryoga's heavy
strength and endurance leading the fight. Ranma had to
counter with every technique he knew to be able to defeat
him, but he never fought one as furious as Ryoga of Hibiki.
Ryoga seemed only to care for the woman and unheeded the
land. He didn't even care that he lost his large province to
the east, he never stayed there anyway, having his army
always mobilized, moving and camping. He earned the
nickname Nomadic King for these reasons. Ranma
recognized the strength and leadership abilities of the ones
he fought, so made them rulers of their own lands. This
way, he would avoid unrest that would undoubtedly come
from the change of power. Also he kept it a secret from
everyone else, even his allies, so that they would be privy to
more information then if they knew they were all one. As it
stands, all they know is that they are close allies, and it
served him well. A unintended result was that Kuno took an
interest in the Queen's sister Nibiki and is betrothed to her,
further cementing that bond. Also Mouse, the delegate of
the western provinces, is betrothed to the grand-daughter of
the secret Amazonian warrior society, so Ranma may have
an added bonus. Cologne, the grandmother, has the wisdom
of the ages, and Ranma has never seen a better advisor. I'll
have to try to pick her up as the head advisor, Ranma
thought. Her wisdom is invaluable. Rounding the corner and
standing in front of the huge, iron gilded door to his private
chambers, he pulled the key from around his neck and
examined it. The key to the kingdom, or at least
figuratively. It does unlock almost every door in the keep
and is the only key to his private chambers, so in actually, it
is the key to the kingdom. Putting the small key into the
keyhole, it turned with a steady 'click' and the door swung
open.