Subject: [FFML] [3 of 4][Ranma][Fanfic] Waters Under Earth - Chapter 31
From: "Alan Harnum" <harnums@hotmail.com>
Date: 1/2/1999, 12:37 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

Waters Under Earth

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum - harnums@hotmail.com

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published by Shogakukan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

Commentary of all sorts, public or private, welcomed.

Homepage at:  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/9758

Chapter 31 : Totentanz (3 of 4)

     Lang Bei was not the same sort of speaker as Fang Shi,
Shampoo observed.  Her words were measured, precise, and lacked
the same passion, if not the same conviction, as Fang Shi's.  She
did not have the same fire in her voice; more like an ice, 
glistening and hard.  

     "<...for this, I put forward that we send messengers to 
these people, who were legend among us and are now a reality.  We
will offer to ransom back their spies to them.  Perhaps we may
come to know more of them.  Who knows what they might offer us?>"
She glanced from face to face.  "<Does any other wish to put
forth an alternate motion.>"

     "<I do,>" Bi Shou said.  Fang Shi, Shampoo noted, looked
surprised.  "<I put forward that we cut their eyes and tongues
out, slash the tendons of their wings and legs, and dump them 
outside their mountain.  That is an appropriate warning, both to
their people and to any other outsiders who might think the
Joketsuzoku grow weak and soft.>"  She smiled.  "<On second
thought, perhaps that is excessive.  I hereby withdraw it.>"

     Fang Shi released the breath she'd been holding.  "<Anyone
else?>"  No one came forth.  "<The motions are advanced.  Does
anyone have anything to say.>"

     Dai Jin's hand went up immediately.  "<An execution is 
excessive and permanent.  It would be stupid and unwise to 
antagonize a people who, as Shampoo tells us, have a king who 
blows up mountains.  Let's get this vote over with so we can go
home and have some drinks before bed.>"

     That sent laughter rippling through the Council, even among
some of Fang Shi's faction.  Most of the other Council members 
had something to say in support of one motion or another, 
including a comment from Gu Shu about keeping the elderly up too
late being a bad idea.

     "<We get grouchy, you see,>" she explained, looking around 
at the others with dark eyes sunken behind a face that seemed to
have wrinkles on its wrinkles.  "<And when we get grouchy...>"  
She glanced pointedly at her axe.  "<I'm too old to be executing
anyone these days.  I'm too old to fight if you decide to start a
war over something like this.  So why don't we save the killings
for another day, and more deserving targets?>"

     At last, the comments seemed to end.  Fang Shi opened her
mouth to speak.  Suddenly, Shampoo raised her hand.

     "<I had been hoping to hear from you,>" the old woman said.
"<You among all of us have the most reason to despise these
monsters.  Enslaved and forced to turn against your friends by
them, were you not?>"

     Shampoo scowled.  "<Yes.  But only by one of them.>" She
felt strangely angry, a natural response at the mention of her
slavery to Kima.  But all the anger was not only for that.  Fang
Shi spoke so casually of executing living things over something
so trivial.  It was not as if the Joketsuzoku did not gather
their own information through not entirely honest means at times.
And Bi Shou had smiled when she had put forward her motion, as if
it had been a joke.  Shampoo saw a mirror of herself, of what she
had once been in the two of them, and it sickened her.  

     "<They are not monsters,>" she continued.  "<Their ancestors
were human as you and I.  They are not inhuman.  Different from
us, perhaps.  But not inhuman.>"  She stared at the grass.  
"<That is all I have to say.>"

     Fang Shi nodded and stood.  Lang Bei did the same.  They
backed away from the circle, each facing the other.  Silently, 
the other Council members rose, one after the other, to stand 
with Fang Shi or Lang Bei and cast their vote; at last, Shampoo
was the only one left.  The Maiden was without a vote.

     Except, as now, when the decision was split.  Six upon one
side.  Six upon the other.

     "<The Maiden will break the tie,>" Fang Shi said.  "<Stand
with us, Shampoo.  Remember what was done to you by them.>"

     Lang Bei met Shampoo's eyes with hers.  "<The Maiden will
break the tie.  Stand with us, Shampoo.  Do not allow whatever
personal hatred you may bear to turn you away from what you know
is right.>"

     The decision was far easier than she could have hoped.  
Shampoo walked to stand between Lang Bei and Dai Jin.  

     "<The decision is made,>" Fang Shi said caustically.  
"<The meeting is over.  Let us return to the village.>"

     The air of tension relaxed slightly.  Dai Jin threw a
friendly arm around Shampoo's shoulders.  "You did good, kid.
Come on back with me and have--"

     There was the wet sound of an impact.  Dai Jin gasped.  
Shampoo looked in shock at the bloodied arrowhead and the short 
length of wooden shaft protruding from Dai Jin's left breast, 
piercing her heart from behind.

     Blood ran in a thin red trickle from Dai Jin's mouth, and 
she slipped to the ground, her hand clutching spasmodically at
Shampoo's shoulder as she did.  Behind her, Shampoo heard the 
sound of one of the wooden tripods collapsing, and the lantern 
breaking on the ground.  The whistle of arrows cut through the 
air again, and someone screamed.

**********     

     The flame of the lamp danced back and forth behind the glass
walls that imprisoned it, consuming slowly the waxen length of
the wick.  Outside, night was coming down in black layers, and 
the moon burned cold in the sky; the shutters were drawn upon the
single window of the room, keeping it at bay for now.

     In the bed against the wall, Mousse lay upon his back.  He
inhaled once, slowly, a long, rattling breath.  The lamp's flame
flickered, licking against the glass walls, as if hungering for
escape.

     Mousse breathed out, and the flame moved in time, matching
the rhythm of his breath.  Outside, the daytime bustle of the
village had ceased, and the life of the streets seeped slowly
away into the night air as the people returned to their homes and
closed their doors against the darkness outside.  

     Down to the south, the arrows began to fly.  The latch that
held the shutters closed rattled once, half-rose, and then fell
back; a second time it happened, and on the third it lifted and
unhooked itself.  A moment later, the bamboo shutters snapped 
open with twin bangs, bouncing once off the walls beside them,
the thin slats rattling like bones.

     The window behind the opened shutters was four glass panes
in a metal frame, and did not open.  Slowly, beginning from the 
top, the glass began to disintegrate, falling silently to a fine 
powder that gathered upon the bare wood of the floor below.  When 
the glass was gone, the metal frame that had contained it 
crumpled and twisted like a leaf touched with flame.  Spots of 
rust broke out upon it, and then consumed it, and it too fell 
away into a reddish powder that mingled with the sparkling silver 
of the glass upon the floor.

     From the north, the night wind came.  Far it had travelled, 
over mountain and desert, river and stream, forest and hill.  It 
drifted in through the window, languid as if it had all the time 
in the world, though time now was desperately short.  The 
ancient, pungent scent filled the room, an arid perfume of lilies 
and endless sleep.  

     In a sudden lonely dying, the lamp went out.  The room 
plunged into darkness.  Mousse sat up, every muscle of his body 
tensed and rigid.

     Awake, servant, the night wind said.  Mousse's eyes snapped
open and he rose, stiff and precise as an automation, from his
bed.  Dark dark dark all around, but no need for light to see.
He walked towards the door.
     
**********

     Shampoo spun and dived, grabbing up her bonbori from the
ground and rolling to her feet in one smooth motion, her back to
the Watcher's Stone.  None of the arrows touched her; most, in
fact, fell well short of the hill.  Warning shots.
     
     Dai Jin was down.  Dying, or already dead.  A quick glance
around showed another Council member, one of Fang Shi's faction,
fallen with an arrow through her throat.  Blood stained the
shoulder of Gu Shu's blue robes, but the tough old Ancient didn't
seem to notice.

     The other Council members were grabbing up their weapons.
>From the forest that surrounded Watcher's Hill, shapes that were
murky even in the light from the lanterns emerged, silent as the
wind.  Dozens of winged figures, some holding bows, others
gripping spears or swords.

     "<Ambush!>" Fang Shi snarled.  "<Still want to make friends
with them, Lang Bei?>"

     Lang Bei scowled and said nothing in response.  She raised
her staff in both hands.  "<Break through before they have a 
chance to surround us,>" she said, quietly but clearly.  As one,
the women of the Council shifted their posture slightly to
prepare for a charge.

     Too late, as it was.  Wings beat in time, and now the 
Phoenix had ringed the top of the hill, over three dozen of them.  
Or not the Phoenix, Shampoo realized now that they had come into 
the light; winged and human-shaped, perhaps, but the resemblance 
ended there.  

     The hands that held arrows nocked to bows or hefted spears
seemed entirely human.  The wings, black for all of them, 
glistened with an oily, metallic sheen.  Horribly emaciated, 
the winged men looked as if they should not even be alive; 
fleshless skin was stretched tight over their bones - except 
upon their faces, which were disturbingly healthy and plump in 
comparison to the rest of them.  And none of the Phoenix had 
possessed fangs like these things did; each grinning face seemed 
to hold a mouthful of broken glass.

     "<These are not the Phoenix,>" Shampoo said.  She hefted one
bonbori into an attack position and held the other low for
defence.  Around her, the other Council members did much the 
same, waiting for now to strike.

     "<Of course they aren't.>"  The voice came from down the 
hill, cold and sardonic.  Up the hill came a figure that towered
over the others, the only wingless shape among their ambushers.
A huge golden-haired man, the flames of the lanterns making the
metal of his long sword and the black iron of his mail shirt
swim with fire.  "<The Phoenix will stay in their mountain until
they die.  Which will be soon.>"

     Out of the corner of her eye, Shampoo saw Fang Shi's weapon     
waver slightly at the sight of the man.  "<Who are you who dares
to attack the Council of the Joketsuzoku at their most sacred
place, then?>" she snarled.

     "<Oh, come now, old one,>" the golden-haired man said.  
"<Do not keep up this charade.  Do you stand with the Circle, or
with these ones?>"

     The blood drained from Fang Shi's face.  "<I do not 
know...>"
     
     "<Come and stand with us, or die with the rest of them,>" 
the man said with a shrug.  "<It matters not to me.>"

     "<You never said that it would-->" Fang Shi began.
     
     "<TRAITOR!>" Gu Shu screamed, cutting her off.  She darted,
axe held overhead, towards Fang Shi.  A single arrow arced from a 
bow and pierced her eye.  Gu Shu dropped screaming.  Amidst the 
mass of winged creatures, one slightly taller than the rest 
lowered his bow.  Shampoo stared at him in horror; he was even 
more inhuman than the others.  A tail, serpentine and barbed, 
twitched continually around his legs as if with a life of its
own; as she watched, a forked tongue flickered out from between
his mouthful of fangs and just as quickly withdrew.

     "<Let us feed now,>" he said.  His voice was hideous, 
rattling and hollow.  On the ground, Gu Shu moaned softly.

     No one seemed able to move, or even speak.  Lang Bei's face
was white and furious, terrifying.  At last, Fang Shi stepped 
away from the circle of the Council and began to walk towards the
golden-haired man.  None moved to stop her.

     "<There was one other upon the Council,>" the huge foreigner
said.  "<Is she with the Circle, or not?>"

     "<Whichever one of us it is,>" Lang Bei said, her voice
deadly cold.  "<If you would call yourself Joketsuzoku, do not
step forward.  Stand with us.  Die like a warrior if you must.>"
The loathing, raw in her voice, made even Fang Shi wince.  "<You
have dishonoured yourself and your family beyond any measure,
Fang Shi.  You are no Joketsuzoku; you are a traitorous worm.>"

     "<What are the Joketsuzoku?>" Fang Shi exploded.  She stood
next to the golden-haired man now; around them, an invisible
circle seemed to exist, and the winged creatures kept their
distance.  "<A dying, forgotten people who have become weak.  I
would make us strong again.  The Circle dreams the same as us!  A
world where all men will know their place!  Join me,>" she 
pleaded, almost desperate.  "<Do not force me to do this!>"
Around her, the winged things grinned their mad shark grins.  The 
man with the sword smiled as well; somehow, it was even more 
frightening than the smiles of the winged ones.

     "<We force you to do nothing,>" one of the Council said.
Shampoo glanced over, her hands gripping her bonbori so hard they
were starting to hurt; Dao Tai, a Great Mother, one of Fang Shi's
faction.  "<What you have you allied yourself with, Fang Shi?  
You were not worthy of the respect we have given you.>" She
looked around at the two dead Council members, at the 
weakly-twitching body of Gu Shu.  "<Three of us are dead already.
What are these monsters you give your allegiance too?>"

     Fang Shi opened her mouth to speak; then, as if she had only
now realized what she had done, she fell silent.  "<I am gone too 
far to go back now,>" she said resignedly.  "<Believe me that I 
did not ever wish it would come to this.  Bi Shou, do you stand 
with the Circle above all else, as you and I both vowed?>"

     Shampoo looked over to where Bi Shou stood, a knife in each
hand.  Indecision warred on her face for a moment, and then she
almost ran to Fang Shi's side.

     The ranks of the winged things shifted slightly, closed
tighter around them.  They were trapped, Shampoo realized;
trapped by betrayal in the most ancient and sacred place of their
people.

     A rage filled her, beyond anything she had ever known.  Her
eyes fell upon Dai Jin; she thought for a brief moment of the 
dead woman's two children.  But there was no room for grief; only 
rage.  Looking around, she saw it was mirrored on the face of all 
the other Council members.  Weapons were gripped in 
white-knuckled hands, faces set in determined fury.

     They would die, perhaps, but they would die like 
Joketsuzoku.  Shampoo pointed to Fang Shi and Bi Shou with her
bonbori.  "<I swear upon my ancestors that I will take you with 
me, traitors.>"

     The golden-haired man laughed powerfully.  "<Brave little
one.  I liked you.  It is unfortunate you must die so young.>"
Shampoo blinked, not understanding.  The man lifted his sword in
a half-salute to her.  "<It was nothing personal, of course.  You
were a convenience at the time.  Unfortunate things did not work
out as I'd believed they might; you would have enjoyed it.>"

     Fang Shi and Bi Shou had retreated down the hill now,
having pushed their way through the crowd of the winged creatures 
who parted before them with hideous grins.  

     The tall winged thing with the tail looked almost
pleadingly to the golden-haired man.  "<Now?>" he asked.

     The man drove his sword point-first into the ground and 
rested his hands on the pommel.  "<Now, Shouzin.>" he said
softly.  "<Let it begin.>"

     Silently, as one entity, the winged things fell upon them.  
Seven Council members and herself, Shampoo thought dully as they 
came on in a rushing tide of dark wings and feral smiles.  They 
were massively outnumbered.  But they were Joketsuzoku; they 
might win yet.  No room for regrets or grief now; no room for 
thoughts of Ranma or Asakazu or her friends.

     Only the rage.
     
     Only the battle.
     
     The first of the things to come within her range fell
screaming with the left side of its chest caved in.  She stepped
back into the circle the Council had made around the Watcher's
Stone, caught the swung sword of the next upon one bonbori's 
shaft and broke its skull with the head of the other.  

     Next to her, Lang Bei smiled grimly and brandished her 
staff.  There was a flare of shocking brightness from the weapon, 
a roaring sound that echoed in Shampoo's ears, and two of the
things toppled twitching and smoking in front of Lang Bei.  
Shampoo snapped out her right arm, spinning the weapon upon its 
axis, and drove back two of the monsters as they came.

     Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dao Tai take the sword
of the one called Shouzin - the leader of the things, it seemed - 
through her belly.  She was dragged into the seething mass and 
disappeared from sight, but Shampoo heard her screams abruptly 
cut off a moment later.

     An overhead swing broke the collarbone of a foe; ribs
shattered under the heel of her foot.  A quick parry knocked 
aside a spear thrust, a return strike smashed the thing's 
grinning, florid face in.

     They were everywhere, a chaotic mass of wings and weapons
and needle-like smiles.  Hai Feng, a short old woman who had
taught her and other girls to shoot a bow years ago, was run
through with a spear and pulled into the mass; Shampoo heard a
horrible sound of tearing flesh, and saw a spray of blood, and
then it was back into the thick of battle, raining down a dozen
blows in seconds upon the faces and bodies of three of the
things standing before her.  

     A sword slipped through her defences and slashed a shallow
but long cut into her side.  She bit back her scream and broke
the monster's arm at the elbow into splinters of jagged bone;
Lang Bei's staff flicked out from nearby, the tip glowing 
white-hot, and sent the thing falling back with his face lit 
afire.  

     A scream of agony echoed from behind her, but she never saw 
who it was.

     Five of them left.  Whatever of the monsters had fallen were
dragged back into the horde or trampled over by their kin.  She
could see the tall one with the tail back beyond the first ring
of attackers, half-crouched down over a bloody, twitching shape 
in red that she realized sickly was Hai Feng.

     Shampoo screamed a battle cry, split the skull of a foe,
crushed the ribs of another.  Still too many of them; still
surrounded.  A scream from somewhere to her right.  Fan Lao, 
whose daughter had been her second-best friend when she was 
eight.

     The edge of a spearhead ripped through her left shoulder, 
nearly down to the bone.  She staggered; a numbing pain spread 
through her arm, and the wielder of the spear pulled it back to 
deliver a killing blow.  He was too far back to reach before he 
thrust forward; Shampoo hurled her right-hand bonbori and felt a 
dim satisfaction as it hit him full in the face, crunching bone
and dropping the monster to the ground in writhing agony.

     Could it be that they were thinning out?  That they'd
actually killed enough of them to make some difference?  Two more
came to fill the gap in the fighting that the one who'd speared
her had left, and thought disappeared.  With one weapon left, she
was at a disadvantage; dimly, she realized she was going to die
sooner or later.  She had sworn to take Fang Shi and Bi Shou with 
her.  With a howl, she pressed forward, away from the Watcher's 
Stone and its protection of her vulnerable back.  She was dead; 
let her die like a Joketsuzoku then, and take as many with her as 
she could.  Let her take the traitors, the gods willing.

     "<Shampoo!>" Lang Bei screamed behind her.  She ignored it.
They were everywhere now; she spun, a circle of kicks and weapon 
blows and fist strikes, cutting them down all around her.  A 
dance it was, endless as time; battle-rage consumed her, pushing
away all else.

     There was a dying shriek from behind her.  Not Lang Bei's;
that realization gave her some small comfort.  She dropped low 
and sliced the legs out from under two of them with a sweeping 
kick, rose and punched another full in the throat with her
remaining bonbori.

     Suddenly, the leader of them loomed in front of her, tail
lashing, wings stirring agitatedly, forked tongue flickering.  
His sword sliced at her head; she parried, barely.  He was 
strong, stronger than she was, and the blow forced her back as a 
numbing shock ran up her arm.  The barbed tail whipped out and 
scored a glancing hit along her left thigh.  Again the sword fell 
like a hammer-blow upon her weapon, and again she was forced 
back, nearly stumbling over a body.

     The ranks of them _were_ thinning out, she realized.  More     
than half of them were dead.  She could see the golden-haired man
beyond them, smiling softly, his hands gripping the pommel of his
sword.  He caught her eye, and winked; something in his gaze
assured her that no one he wanted dead would leave this place of
killing alive.

     She was distracted for a moment, and she cursed her own 
stupidity.  Shouzin whipped his sword around her parry and cut 
her across her shoulder, the one wounded by the spear; slowly but
surely, her left arm was growing numb.  Almost snarling, she
viciously retaliated as he recovered from his swing; Shouzin 
caught her return strike full in the chest and staggered back 
across the blood-slick grass.

     Suddenly, Lang Bei was behind her, staff whirling in circles 
as she fought off attackers at Shampoo's back.  "<Just us left,>" 
she said wearily.  "<The stone, Shampoo.  Your blood upon the 
stone at my signal.  You'll know what to do next.>"  Lang Bei's 
face was bloody, and the grey robes on her left side were a mass
of red.  Shampoo sidestepped Shouzin's next blow, and drove him 
back again with a snapping kick.  

     "<NOW!>" Lang Bei screamed, snapping her staff out in a 
long, wide arc and driving back the foes around her with the 
glowing end of it.

     Shampoo whirled, switching positions with Lang Bei, not
understanding, but trusting.  Shouzin's sword rang upon Lang
Bei's staff; the Watcher's Stone lay only a few feet ahead,
bodies of the winged beasts crumpled all around it.  Shampoo ran
forward, smashing aside the single foe that stepped into her way.
Blood upon the stone was easy enough; a press of her shoulder to 
it sufficed.  Mousse's words of earlier in the day suddenly came 
back to her then, but there was no time to consider them.
     
     She heard a rumbling sound, and then the ground dropped out     
from underneath her.  She landed on her bad arm a dozen feet
below, and stifled a cry of pain.  Overhead she saw the stars,
heard the sound of Lang Bei's battle cry; light flared again.

     A tunnel.  She was in a tunnel, under Watcher's Hill.  Far,
far down the almost pitch-black length of it, she saw a tiny
pinprick of light.

     Staggering to her feet, ignoring the pain of the wounds in
her side and shoulder, she ran towards it.  For some reason, as
she did, she finally began to weep.

**********

     The Serpent watched, hands on his sword, as Shouzin and his
kin slaughtered the Joketsuzoku.  Down the hill, the two traitors
had turned away from watching.  

     He smiled.  The beginning of the end.  He caught the eye of
the girl as she fought, and winked broadly.  In a way, it was a 
mercy she would die here; she would never know the truth of what 
Asakazu Hidarite had been.  

     Impressive.  She was fighting Shouzin now, and holding her
own.  More than half of Shouzin's kin were dead already, but only
the girl, the woman with the staff and one other stood.  The 
other was eliminated a moment later; he wished vaguely that 
Shouzin's kin would wait until the end of the battle to start
feeding - it was very inefficient.  The Traitor and his kin were
little more than animals now, but useful animals.  For now.

     The pull of Jusenkyou was strong tonight.  He was not sure
entirely why.  He waited, watched as Shouzin wounded the girl,
watched as she struck back with a blow that would have killed an
ordinary man - but Shouzin was far from ordinary, warped beyond
even the warping of his kin, and he did not die so easy as that.
For a moment, the Serpent turned away to look down upon the two 
traitors, and smiled.

     When he turned back, the girl was at the stone, pressing
against it, and then he felt the ground rock under his feet as
she vanished.  Another presence made itself felt, startling as a 
splash of ice water within his mind, and then he was forcing his
way through the remains of the combatants towards the stone.  One
of Shouzin's kin blocked his path for a moment, madly grinning
mouth stained with blood and gore, and he cleaved it in half
without stopping.  The brothers of the thing pulled his bisected 
remains into one of their feasting circles without a word.

     The tall woman with the staff was dueling with Shouzin now;
Shouzin's kin were paying no attention at all, gathered in dark
clusters around the bodies of the fallen.

     He shoved Shouzin aside without a word, caught the blow of
the woman's staff in one hand and ripped it away, and then he had 
her by the throat.  She gasped, and stared into his eyes; her 
gaze was weary and full of pain, but not afraid.

     "<The damned first ones,>" he snarled, shaking her casually.
"<Always getting in the way.  Damn them to all the hells of
creation.>"

     "<I have seen you...>" the grey-haired woman gasped.  
"<Before... in my dreams... you led... the barbarians down upon
us... what in the name of all the gods are you?>"

     He tightened his grip.  The woman struggled in vain, beat at
his arm weakly, and he smiled as he replied.  "<Ask the gods.  I 
don't have an answer for you.>"

     The woman inexplicably smiled back at him.  "<She is safe.  
I know she is.  You may kill all of us, and turn traitors those 
who remain, but the spirit of the Joketsuzoku will not die.>"

     "<Everything dies,>" he said.  He tightened his grip again,
until he felt thin bones shift, then broke her neck with a swift 
snap of his wrist.  The light of life left her eyes, and she gave 
a soft rattle in her throat.  He dropped her, and she crumpled, 
silver-grey hair falling free of the braid to hide her face where 
she lay.

     He turned.  The traitors stood behind him, staring with sick
horror at the feeding of Shouzin and his kin.  "<Well?  Get back
to your village and tell them of the horrendous ambush and
slaughter by overwhelming numbers of the inhuman foes that 
threaten the lives and existence of the Joketsuzoku.  I don't 
think it will be hard to start a War March with that story.>"

     Fang Shi licked her withered lips.  "<Bodies,>" she said
numbly.  "<We need bodies.  Ours and theirs.>"

     "<I'll make sure they don't eat all of their dead,>" he said
casually.  He indicated the woman he'd killed with a sweep of his
hand.  "<Take her body back.  Say she died while she carried 
her.>"

     "<Died of a broken neck while we carried her?>" Bi Shou
said, glaring at him hatefully.  "<Are you...>"

     Fang Shi put a warning hand on her arm.  The Serpent 
grinned, and ran his sword through the heart of the woman on the
ground.  "<They won't look too closely.>"

     Bi Shou picked up the body and slung it over her shoulder.
The sounds of Shouzin and his kin feeding filled the air.  "<What
are they?>" Fang Shi whispered.  

     "<Allies of the Circle,>" he lied.  "<Stupid but obedient.
I am useful to the Circle because they obey me.>"  He paused.  
"<You made the right choice, you know.  The Circle will soon take
Jusenkyou, and then the world.  With this choice, your people
will live.>"

     Fang Shi nodded mutely.  "<I...>"
     
     "<They were weak and unworthy to serve upon this Council,>"
Bi Shou said firmly, if not sounding entirely convinced herself.
"<The Joketsuzoku have become weak.  We shall make them strong
again.  This sacrifice is for the greater glory of the 
Joketsuzoku.>"

     "<Exactly,>" he agreed cheerfully.  "<And now, I am going to
go make sure the last part of that sacrifice gets made.>"

     Without waiting to hear them respond, he turned and walked
towards the hole that gaped at the base of the stone.  Once he
was down in the tunnels, he let the casual facade he'd adopted
for talking to the traitors evaporate; his face went cold and
hard.  Lashing out, he sliced through a stone wall with his sword
as if it were butter, leaving a long scar.  Far up ahead, he 
could see the light, and hear the faint footsteps of the girl.  
He began to run.  He was not worried; he would catch her in time,
and she would die.
     
**********

-continued in section 4


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