Hello everybody,

It's been awhile since I posted anything so here is chapter 13 of
Sword and Sorcery.  As always, please C&C.  I love getting feedback.
MST is okay too ;)

D.Fire

BTW, I'll be adding a mini-summary similar to the one below to all
forthcoming chapters, for the convenience of new readers (or is that
just a wishful hope :).


What has happened before:  Several of the main characters from the
cast of Ranma have been drawn to a world populated by magic and
magical beings.  Now, Ranma (known as Raeni) must gather his friends
(and enemies) to do battle with an unknown foe.

Raeni has found Ukyou (known as Uerris), but a tragedy is in the
making as the unknown enemy strikes the heart of Uerris' new family.
The two race off to rescue Uerris' father, who has been apparently
captured by the enemy.

Sword and Sorcery
Chapter 13

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	Sunset quickly approached as two figures vaulted through the
treetops of the darkening forest.  One figure signaled to the other,
indicating that both should stop at a tree up ahead.  The two alighted
on a suitably large tree branch and paused for conversation.  Neither
girl was winded.

	Uerris asked the other girl, "What's wrong, Raeni?"  She
peered around her and at the ground below, but she didn't find any
perceivable danger.  She was impatient to get to her father and
worried that any time spent lolly-gagging could get him killed.

	"I needed to know how much further it was to Witch's Doom."
Raeni reached down to a pouch at her side and spoke into it, "Azure,
you all right down there?"

	A tinny mind-voice answered her, <I'm fine, Raeni.  All this
cotton you put in here made it a pretty comfy ride.  I should do this
more often.>  The pouch seemed alive as it bulged and moved
unnaturally.

	Turning back to Uerris, Raeni continued, "How many more
furlongs until we reach Witch's Doom?  And when we get there, we stick
to the plan, right?"

	Uerris nodded in answer to Raeni's last question.  Answering
the first question, she said, "Another five furlongs should do it.
When we get within one or two, you should be able to tell
immediately."  The ranger-in-training continued in a softer voice,
"Whatever happened that night six years ago poisoned the area around
the grove.  Nothing grows easily there, and what little lives there is
twisted beyond recognition."

	According to Errin's information, the orcs were arranged in a
circular formation around the massive firepit that could still be
found there.  He did not know where the leader would be, because the
man had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. That was dangerous, for
Keili had recognized the tattoos on the elf from Errin's brief
description.  They marked a member of "The Order of the Night", a
league of assassin-mages.  Unfortunately, Errin himself could not be
there to confirm any of this since he was still at home sleeping off a
heavy dose of healing and a large lump to the head, courtesy of
Raeni's Mandatory Sleeping Services.

	Uerris added, "When we get there, my job is to find my father
and get out.  Your job is to distract as long as possible."  At
Raeni's tiny nod, she said, "Let's go, then.  We can't waste any more
time here."

	Raeni stopped Uerris, saying, "One more thing, Uerris."  At
the ranger's querying glance, she continued, "If I start fighting,
don't interfere unless it looks like I'm in trouble.  Agreed?"

	Uerris gave Raeni an incredulous look.  "This is a whole BAND
of orcs.  Don't you think that's too much?  No matter how good you
are, a magic user won't be able to get them all if they attack you
from all sides."

	Raeni gave her a mysterious smile.  "But I'm not any old
sorceress.  Trust me.  A band of orcs is going to be nothing."

	Still doubting but wanting to hurry to her father's aid,
Uerris reluctantly agreed with Raeni.  "Okay then, but at the first
sign of trouble, I'm helping."

	Giving her familiar fair warning, Raeni said, "Azure, I'm
starting now."

	Both girls leapt off the tree simultaneously, heading toward
two different trees and bounding off into the quickly darkening woods.

	***

	When Raeni and Uerris reached the edge of Witch's Doom, both
slowed by unspoken agreement to a 'creeping' speed.  Raeni signaled to
Uerris, indicating that she would take the ground.  She dropped to the
forest floor and opened up the little pouch, allowing a shrunken Azure
to come forth.  Silently banishing the magic around him, Azure grew to
his normal size within the span of two heart-beats.  Raeni pointed
left, directing Azure in that direction while she took the right.
Before leaving for this little foray, she had changed her clothes into
something suitably woodsy.  Raeni silently moved from tree to tree,
her speed matching that of Uerris' above her.  All trace of humor and
frivolity disappeared from her face as she concentrated on the hostage
situation.

	Uerris, for her part, was amazed at the sorceress' silent
maneuverings below her.  Even she, who had trained all her life to be
silent in the woods, would be hard pressed to match the girl in her
speed and grace.  'The girl's a natural,' she thought wonderingly.
For some insane reason, she felt pride in even knowing Raeni.  Turning
her attention to the heart of the grove ahead of her, she focused her
thoughts on rescuing her father.

	For Uerris, it was hard coming back to this place.  It held
horrible memories for her, and she could not quite forget that ...
evil force that disrupted Old Miri's beautiful dance.  As much as she
wanted to, she still could not rid her mind of those terrible images.

	For Raeni, the twisted wood gave her mixed feelings.  Without
a doubt, an impalpable wrongness had pervaded her senses the moment
she had stepped within the boundaries of this cursed place, but she
felt another force, one strong of nature, tempering the initial brutal
impression she had first received.

	Her eyes noted the bizarre shapes that had formed from the
wood, the discoloration of the bark to an unnatural reddish-brown.  If
she hadn't known any better, she would have sworn that someone had
come along to these woods and had painted every available surface with
blood, allowing it to dry to this sickening coloration.

	Without a doubt, no animals lived in these woods.  Any
creature that had made its home here must have moved away.  Raeni
suspected that it would have died a long, lingering death otherwise.
She thought the old rot she smelled must come from the ground, for
nothing in nature could smell like that, or so she hoped.

	***

	When they finally reached the edge of the orc encampment, only
a glimmer of light shone from the west, the sun having long sunk
beneath the horizon.  The fire held none of the cheery joy normally
associated with campfires.  Instead, it angrily threw out blood-red
sparks as it greedily consumed the twisted wood that served as its
fuel.  Dark, sinister silhouettes played havoc with their imaginations
as the two girls looked on in horror at the scene before them.

	As their eyes adjusted to the dim light shed by the fire,
sorceress and ranger made out a total of ten shapes scattered about
the encampment.  Nine of those figures held non-human forms.  Chains
bound the last to a pole staked in the ground.

	Raeni swung her hand in an onward gesture, hoping that Uerris
would catch the hint and would head around the edge of the grove to a
more advantageous position that would allow her to reach her father.
It seemed that Uerris did, since she silently left her perch above the
sorceress and followed around the edge of the campsite.

	::Azure,:: Raeni 'pathed to her familiar, ::you're our backup.
Don't move unless you think either of us are in trouble, but try to
maintain a good position.  We still don't know where that assassin
is.:: Raeni waited until Uerris settled into her new position, and
then she burst into action.

	Moving with a speed akin to lightning, Raeni charged the
nearest of the orcs.  She held back her charging cry, deciding that
stealth in this instance would be more advantageous than any
disconcerting effect it might have.  'Orc, your ass is mine!' she
gleefully thought as she slammed into the first orc, knocking the wind
out of it.  Using a punch with the full power of Ranma behind it, she
knocked it across the clearing.  It crashed into a tree, unconscious.

	The other orcs, seeing one of their member down, growled
menacingly and charged the girl.  Three of them, however, hung back
hovering around the prisoner on the ground.  'Chikusho!' Raeni
frantically thought as she caught sight of the three hanging back.
'I've got to get them to come to me!'  Warding off the blows that came
close, she moved the battle site to within range of the prisoner.
'Damn it.  I can't get him and protect both of us at the same time,'
she decided.  'But they don't seem to want to attack.'

	The press of orcs around Raeni finally forced her to focus her
full attention on the immediate battle.  For the most part, she had
been dodging the sword and dagger thrusts that had been aimed at her,
but when one such blow came close to taking off her head, she decided
that enough was enough.  Needing some breathing room, she yelled out,
"MIRUS POCANUS!"  A blazing light appeared above her, blinding her
opponents temporarily.  Using the planned diversion, she vaulted out
of the encirclement.

	Raeni landed about ten paces away, giving her some room to
breathe.  'Hehe.  Now to even things up.'  She reached down to her
side and pulled out her weapon of choice.  Her eyes narrowed as she
spied Uerris creeping toward the three in the back with the intention
of rescuing Aarun.  She was thoroughly taken aback when Uerris
suddenly froze, fear evident on the girl's face, and quickly scuttled
backwards into the forest covering.  The three in the back still
stared impassively at Raeni and the blinded orcs between them.
Whatever it was that frightened Uerris so, at least Uerris held her
shield of stealth.

	When the orcs regained their sight, they were greeted with a
seemingly frail girl wielding one bad-assed, two-handed sword.  To say
that they were taken aback would be putting it lightly.  The girl held
the sword one-handed like a rapier, and the more stupid members of the
tribe started guffawing at the perceived silliness.  One said in a
high-pitched squealing voice, "You no scare us.  You no move big
sword!"  When the child-like mage swished the sword around with casual
ease, their laughter irretrievably died out to be replaced by stunned
silence.

	Raeni muttered, "Orus Bili," and held aloft her sword.  The
blade blazed to life, limned with a bright, white light.  Speaking
loudly, the sorceress demanded of the gathering before her, "Leave or
die!"  To her surprise, instead of immediately vacating the area, the
orcs cast nervous glances at the three behind them, switching their
gaze back and forth between a definite danger, her, and what she
discerned to be an unknown danger, the mysterious trio in the back.

	Raeni hopes for a good outcome were dashed as the orcs,
deciding on her as being the lesser of two dangers, approached her
position, threat evident in their movement.  'Oh well,' she shrugged,
'I guess that routine isn't as good as I thought.'  Fire blazing in
her eyes, she charged the doomed orcs.  Now with a weapon capable of
blocking in her hand, she used it to parry while she used her open
palm to knock out the over-matched enemy.

	Half the orcs lay unconscious on the ground after her first
pass.  That left only two more.  The next one managed to parry once
with its own sword,  but the perfectly delivered spin-kick sent it off
into dreamland.  The last, seeing how fast the others had gone down,
threw down its own sword and ran off squealing into the woods.

	Aloud, Raeni said, "Now THAT'S the reaction I wanted."  She
turned to the orcs that had hung back before and awaited their next
move.

	The three threw glances between themselves.  Two of them
finally looked at a third, singling it out.  In agreement, the chosen
orc stepped out of the little huddle the three were in and headed
toward Raeni, pulling out a weighted chain as it approached.  "Now you
die, human," the orc growled in a low voice as it swung its chain
above its head.

	Raeni's eyes narrowed as she examined her new opponent.  The
voice that greeted her didn't sound quite ... right.  Suspecting
magic, she switched over to magesight.  All three of the remaining
figures glowed with magic.  Her immediate opponent seemed to burst out
of his orcish shape, and the chain he wielded glowed with unknown
enchantments.  Of the two hanging back, one was lithe and human-shaped
and the other had a human body with an inhuman head which she couldn't
quite make out.

	Raeni leapt backwards several paces, distancing herself from
her oncoming opponent.  She planted her sword in the ground before her
and cupped her hands in preparation for a spell.  She chanted, "Mirus
Obliri," and a yellow light shot out of her hand in a funnel shape
covering her first opponent and extending past him to reach the two
behind him. By the time the light died down to nothing, it was evident
that her magic had overcome their own, revealing the true shapes of
her three opponents.

	Raeni immediately regretted her spell.  She said, "Man, that
was a mistake.  Seeing you guys as orcs was much better than seeing
this."  Her comment enraged her fast-approaching enemy, which happened
to be a two-headed humanoid that towered over her.  One face snarled
in rage while the other giggled insanely, setting Raeni's teeth on
edge and reminding her of a Kodachi on speed.  The chain, which had
been over large in orc hands, now fit perfectly in ettin's grip.

	The creature did not give her time for a second comment as it
snapped the chain at her, using it like a whip.  Raeni managed to
dodge the first blow but had to bring up her sword to parry the
second.  Unfortunately, the ettin managed to entangle her two-handed
sword in its chain and ripped it from her grasp.  The sword landed
twenty paces away from the battling foes.  Raeni yelled, "Why you!
That pisses me off!"  Pulling out a dagger, she closed in with the
monster.  "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"  420 dagger thrusts and slices
sent the ettin to its knees, and it dropped its chain.

	Raeni's special technique had left the monster in terrible
shape.  Cuts lined the monsters arms and chest.  None of the cuts were
deep, but the sheer number of cuts added up to major blood loss.  The
ettin collapsed, clutching feebly at its wounds.

	Taking pity on it, Raeni pulled out a roll of tape from her
pouch and approached the monster.  It roared at her with the little
strength it had left but could not stop her advance.  Once she was
sure she was in range, she once more threw her special attack, "Kachuu
Tenshin Amaguriken!"  This time, her hands blazed around the wounded
creature and wrapped it up using the tape in her hand.  This
effectively stopped the bleeding and had the coincidental side effect
of immobilizing her enemy.  Ettin neutralized, she turned back to face
the remaining two attackers.  She kept her eyes on them as she
cautiously moved to retrieve her blade.

	The two remaining opponents eyed her with respect, and another
silent exchange occurred between the two.  The one that left their
lines to do battle was the one with the unknown head.  As it came
closer, Raeni made out details.  The monster sported a classic bull's
head, and this opponent outmassed the previous one by at least several
hundred pounds, by the sorceress' internal calculations.  Bulging
muscles stood out sharply against the minotaur's well-defined frame.
He towered above her, being three times her own height.  Idly, she
wondered how illusion magic had made him look so small and if he ran
into trees in the forest if he didn't duck.

	Raeni cut off her thoughts as the creature threw its first
attack.  When he had showed her the giant warhammer and had grinned,
she had mistakenly thought he had meant to do hand-to-hand with her.
The minotaur threw his weapon at a surprised Raeni, almost catching
her in the face.  She dodged and the weapon whistled past her ear,
blasting a dead tree at the edge of the clearing into splinters.
Raeni stared at the devastated tree.  'Whoa!  That's serious power!'
she thought.  Raeni whipped her head back in time to see the giant
hammer materialize back in his hands.  'And it returns, too!  This is
bad.'  She dodged another throw.  Behind her, another tree was turned
into toothpicks.

	'This can't go on,' thought Raeni.  'I'm running out of
sawdust material.  I don't know if this'll work, but ...'  She planted
her feet in the ground and waited for the minotaur's next throw.  She
gathered her confidence and timed it perfectly.  As the hammer reached
her position, she yelled, "Mouko Takabisha!" and kept the force of the
ki blast cupped within her hands but pushing outward.  She felt her
will straining, but it held.  The ball of ki in her hand countered the
force of hammer flying into it, almost perfectly canceling the blow.
Some force overspill pushed Raeni backwards a pace or two, but the ki
ball held, slowly dwindling as its force dispersed.  Raeni was left
with the massive hammer held both her hands, her own sword having been
discarded onto the ground when the missiles started flying.  She had
caught the hammer before it could fall to the ground.

	Raeni flippantly tossed the hammer over her shoulder, saying,
"That's done.  Now it's my turn!"  She reached into her little magical
pouch of goodies and pulled out ... a red cape.  'This worked in the
movies,' she thought.  'I hope they held SOME truth.'  Raeni held the
cape to the side calling out, "Toro!  Toro!  Come get me, Toro!"

	The minotaur bent low and readied a charge at her.  Although
Raeni couldn't tell if he was charging her or the cape, she mused that
at least the ploy was working.  Either way, the creature approached a
distance close enough to allow her to grapple him, which was her
original intention.  After seeing his charging speed, Raeni changed
her mind.

	Literally seeing red in his eyes, the bull-like creature ran
toward Raeni with his head held low, just like a real bull.  On the
first pass, Raeni danced out of the way, yelling, "Ole!  Ole!",
cheering herself on.  She did the same on the second and the third
passes.  By this time, she had maneuvered herself over by the edge of
the clearing and quickly approached the largest tree she could find.

	Taunting the minotaur one last time, she yelled, "You're a
disgrace to your lineage, you fat cow!  You couldn't hit the broadside
of a barn."  Although he had no idea what a 'barn' was, the monster
reacted typically.  He roared in response and charged her at an
unprecedented speed.  Raeni held the target in front of the trunk of
the large tree and waited patiently.  Just as it came within two paces
of her, she whipped the cape away, revealing the trunk.  She watched
impassively as the minotaur's eyes widened in realization.  The
creature put on the brakes, but it was too late.  As he crashed into
the solid, wooden trunk, Raeni winced in sympathy.  The sound of the
collision reverberated through the clearing, and the one remaining
enemy shook her head and slapped her forehead in disgust.

	The poor minotaur staggered around the clearing, totally
disorientated.  Raeni casually strode up to the wandering creature and
politely tapped on his leg.   She gestured to him with her finger,
beckoning him to come closer.  Stupidly, he did, lowering his head.
Raeni intended to deliver a finishing blow when the head came in
range, but she saw it wouldn't be necessary.   As the minotaur's head
came to her level, it didn't stop and continued on right past her
shoulder.  The creature crashed to the ground, almost catching Raeni
underneath his bulky mass, but she danced out of the way just in time.
He muttered, "The ground is good ...", and passed out.

	With one foot positioned on the fallen minotaur's arm, Raeni
turned to her one remaining foe, a raven-haired female human, and
asked, "Do you give up?  Or do you want me to continue?"  As she said
this, she flexed her arms and struck up poses that made her generally
look ridiculous.

	With a slight smile, the human female answered, "Oh, I think I
can take care of stripling such as you."  The red-robed mage threw up
her hands and intricately gestured, disappearing from sight.  Her
voice echoed throughout the clearing tauntingly.  "Can you find me,
youngling?  Am I here?"  The woman appeared several paces away and
Raeni dove towards the figure, passing through it harmlessly.  "Or am
I here."  The woman appeared again, this time from near the body of
the unconscious ettin.  "I am everywhere."  Hundreds of images of the
woman showed all across the clearing.

	"You old MAID!  I'll find you."  Raeni randomly attacked the
images that came within reach, each time hitting nothing.  Her enemy
reacted to her taunt by giving her a kick in her rear.

	"Now that was rude!  And here I had thought I would be killing
a well-mannered lady."  The woman's voice floated by Raeni's right
ear.

	Raeni lashed out with her right fist striking at where she
perceived the owner of the voice to be.  Her effort yielded success
when her right cross connected solidly with flesh.  Raeni heard a
crunch her fist crashed into something soft and pliant.

	A moment later, a voice to Raeni's left whined, "You bwitch,
you bwoke bmy node!"

	Again, Raeni threw a punch blindly, and again she connected,
this time sending something flying.  The images all around her slowly
faded away until she saw only one.  The illusionist lay unconscious by
a tree, having been obviously knocked out by it.  "Hehe.  I guess
youth over beauty, ne?  My reaction time over your vanity."  Raeni
strode over to the woman and tied her up.  Taking pity on the woman
(and to make sure the illusionist didn't suffocate) she set the
woman's nose.  She also blindfolded and gagged the woman, to prevent
any further illusion-casting.  She went around the clearing, checking
on and tying up her fallen enemies.  The ettin was already well tied
by her bandages so she hobbled its feet.  She used the ettin's chains
to securely bind the minotaur.  She hobbled his feet as well.  As for
the orcs, she felt that simple rope would do.

	Not counted among the fallen was the mysterious assassin
described by Uerris' brother.  Not once had she seen anybody with a
facial tattoo.  She didn't disbelieve Errin's statement that he saw an
elf with a tattoo, but ...  Raeni shrugged and headed over toward the
man staked to the ground.  She scanned the edge of the forest nearest
to the stake and shouted out, "Uerris!  Come help your father!"  She
added silently to her familiar, ::Azure, you stay where you are and
keep on the alert!::

	When Uerris finally reached her side, Raeni saw something akin
to awe in the girl's eyes.  To a country girl like Uerris, what Raeni
had just done might seem like a tremendous feat.  Actually, Raeni
reassessed, to almost anybody, what she had done would be amazing.
She brushed her fingernails on her vest silently congratulating
herself on a job well done.  In truth, it had felt good to go almost
all-out, at least physically.

	After Uerris cursorily examined Aarun, she said, "It looks
like my brother was exaggerating.  Father's a little beat up, but
he'll be all right.  Nothing that a few good day's rest wouldn't
cure."  She sat back breathed a sigh in relief.  "He made it sound
like Father was dying.  Most of these wounds must have been recent
though."

	Something in the healer's diagnosis didn't sit right with
Raeni.  The figure on the ground hadn't even reacted a little bit to
their presence.  Making a sudden decision, she stood up and pulled her
friend away from the man on the ground.

	Uerris reacted by jerking her arm away from Raeni.  She
demanded, "What are you doing?  He's no danger to you?"

	Raeni pleaded, "Let me cast another illusion breaker.  I don't
think this man is who you think he is.  I know your brother may seem a
bit idiotic at times, but I don't think he was exaggerating!"

	Uerris looked very reluctant in allowing Raeni to cast the
counter-spell.

	"Trust me!  This magic can't hurt him in any way, and it's
better to safe than sorry!" Raeni reassured her old friend.  After a
moment of indecision, Uerris silently nodded her consent.  Raeni
pulled both of them back several paces and cast the same spell as
before.  She chanted, "Mirus Obliri," and once again light streamed
out of her cupped hands to obscure the figure before them.

	The light from Raeni's spell died down to nothing, but the
sight revealed conformed to neither girl's expectation.  The man had
disappeared.

	Uerris turned to Raeni and cried out, "What have you done to
him, you witch!"  She grabbed onto Raeni and shook the sorceress
roughly, demanding, "Bring him back!  Bring him back right now!"

	"B-b-but I didn't do anything!"  Raeni managed to break free
from the impassioned girl's hold.  "That spell only banishes
illusions.  Unless that man was an illusion!"

	"That's impossible, Raeni!  I had him in my hands.  I checked
his wounds.  WHAT I FELT WAS NO ILLUSION!" Uerris shouted at the
red-head.

	A lilting voice interrupted the altercation.  "Very good,
children.  You're both right."

	The two girls on the ground froze in response to the chilly
voice.  Uerris looked around fearfully for the source of that eerie
voice.

	Raeni's reaction was somewhat different.  She was sick and
tired of everybody acting condescendingly towards her.  "I am no
child," she screamed.  She pinpointed the source of the voice and not
caring if it hit or not, she chanted, "Orus Horii," and threw the beam
of fire that appeared javelin-like in her hand at the offending party.

	To the girls' surprise, they immediately heard an "Urk!" from
the direction of the voice.  Raeni met Uerris' amazed expression with
one of her own and both blurted out, "I/you hit something?!"  Raeni
leapt in the confirmed direction shouting, "Come on, Ucchan!   Maybe
now we can get some answers!"