The Dragon and The Ghost

    Part 18

    Herb's Revenge.

+++++++++++++++

    Akane looked up and saw a familiar figure standing over her. Even
in the minimal light she could make out the red tint to the elf's
hair. "Heh, what do you want?"

    "You can go now," said Ranma as she removed the chains from her
arms and legs and stepped back.

    Akane froze, and stared at her for a moment wordlessly. "What?"

    "There's no point in keeping you any longer, I can get to what I
need because Herb has conquered the entire country. Killing you too
keep the secret of who has the Kajakan is pointless, and by the time
you tell anyone where this place is, we'll be long gone."

    "What of the Kajakan?" said Akane coldly as she glared at him.

    "It's no concern of mine anymore," said the elf with a shrug. She
sat down across from her and smirked. "The old woman paid us, and now
we're leaving."

    "So, you're just going to let me go?" said the knight with a dead
calm in her voice.

    "That's right. How you escape is your own business," replied Ranma
as she stood up. "See ya." She walked out of her cell and left the
door open.

    Akane stood up slowly, and walked out after he had rounded the
corner. She flexed her fists for a moment with a confused looking
frown on her face. "Now what?" The problem was, she didn't have an
answer. Returning home was suicide, and she had no desire to live the
rest of her life as a fugitive. "Damn it."

++++++++++

    Ranma paused as she entered a small room just outside the prison.
She smiled and turned to face the figure hidden in the shadows behind
him. "What is it?"

    "What do you think you're doing?" said Mousse as he faded out of
the shadows.

    "She's my prisoner, I'll do what I like with her," snorted the elf
as she continued walking.

    Mousse was in front of her in an instant, Ranma paused, her face
as calm as ever. "Is there something wrong?"

    "She's going to lead them right too us," said the elf boy angrily.

    "You aren't really dumb enough to stay holed up in here are you?"
said Ranma with a small chuckle. "You won't live another week if you
try that."

    Mousse growled and stepped back slightly.

    "You know I'm right, these aren't dwarven tunnels," said Ranma as
she glanced around at the walls surrounding them for a moment.

    "They were," said Mousse carefully.

    "Maybe originally, but I recognize some of the work on the
supports. Only drow are this articulate when building supports.
Dwarves wouldn't carve runes on these posts." Ranma ran her hand along
the surface of one of the wooden planks that supported the walls and
tunnels.

    Mousse frowned and growled. "What would you know?"

    "Don't worry about it dark boy, if you keep my secret, I'll keep
yours," said Ranma coldly as he stared the boy down for a moment.

    "What?" muttered Mousse as he staggered back away from the girl.

    "Playing blind to keep the suspicious away? A good way too hide
your sensitive eyes under those thick glasses. Plus the added bonus of
an excuse for not being able to see well in the light." Ranma turned
the corner and left him standing there. "I suggest you let her pass
you without any resistance," she said as she vanished from view.

    "You! Come back here!" roared Mousse as he pulled a sword from his
robes and dashed around the corner after her. When he got there, he
saw nothing. His entire body was shaking as he stood alone in the
hall. He dropped the sword and let it clatter to the ground noisily,
grasping the sides of his head as he fell too his knees. "Shampoo..."
If she ever found out about his secret, there was no way he could ever
find a way into her heart.

+++++++++++++

    "So. You are leaving?" asked Cologne from her throne. Shampoo
stood at her side silently. The young elf girl stood before her again
smirking confidently as she accepted her reward.

    "That's right," said Ranma calmly. "We've got no reason to stay. I
thank you for your hospitality."

    "You have our thanks, please do not return," said the old woman.

"I've got no plans to return to this mud-hole," snorted Ryoga. He was
cheerful though, and had a large bag of money attached to his belt.

    Ukyo and Ryu were silent, and stood off to the side of the room
side by side.

    "Well, I won't see you again then," said Ranma as she gave a low
bow.

    Shampoo's face was neutral as she stood silently beside her Great
Grandmother. She didn't say a single word, for fear of bursting into
tears.

    "Come on, let's get out of here," said Ranma as she turned away
from the old woman.

    "Before something else happens," agreed Ryu calmly.

    Ukyo took a sympathetic glance towards Shampoo, and followed after
the others.

    Up on the throne, Cologne turned towards her Great Granddaughter
for a moment. "Child, push him from your mind."

    "I don't know why, but I fell for her," replied the young girl
quietly.

    "It is best not to think of it. I know it is hard, but you must
think of your station as well."

    "She is of noble blood," replied Shampoo calmly.

    "Yes child, that may be, but she is a thief, and one who is well
known throughout the entire world. It is not something I'll wager she
can simply push away, nor do I imagine she wishes too."

    "I know, but still," muttered Shampoo quietly. A single tear ran
down her cheek.

    "That is enough. Our people must have an heir, you are not as free
to choose your mate as other elves. I am sorry," snapped Cologne with
finality in her voice.

++++++++++++++

    Just as the group of travelers was about to exit the room, the
doors burst open, and one of the guards rushed into the chamber.
"Elder!"

    Cologne stood up suddenly and stared at him. "What is it?"

    "They have found us!"

    "How?" snapped Cologne angrily. "There is no way we should have
been discovered so soon!"

    Two more men brought another one of the elders into the room. They
were carrying her gently by her arms, and placed her on the ground
before Cologne. She could barely stand. "I failed us."

    "What? Speak!" cried Cologne angrily.

    "A young sorceress, more powerful than I, managed to overwhelm my
will. She broke the seal, and allowed her magic to detect us. We have
but an hour to prepare at most."

    "Damn! Gather everyone together, we must escape!" said Cologne
forcefully as she jumped down from the throne and thrust the Kajakan
at Shampoo.

++++++++++++

    "Let's go," said Ranma as she turned away from the scene and
continued to walk through the doors.

    "What? We can't just let them die!" cried Ukyo.

    "We'll die with them if we stay," said Ryu coldly.

    Ukyo backed away in horror.

    "Knight, I hate to say this, but they are right. We can't fight,"
agreed Ryoga calmly. "This battle belongs too the elves alone. If we
stay, we'll just die here."

    "It doesn't look like they plan to fight to me," commented Ranma
as she glanced over her shoulder for a moment. "They're going to run."

    "If what that guard says is true, we're going to have a hard
enough time escaping on our own. Herb will have all the exits
covered." said Ryu.

    "So how do we escape?" asked Ukyo as she seemed to finally
understand the situation.

    "Easy, we take the most obvious route," said Ranma.

    "The main entrance?" said Ryoga dumbly.

    "No, Herb will come in to invade that way," said Ryu calmly. "I
think I get it though. We'll leave through this secondary exit. Herb
will not send many to guard that exit. He will assume that the elves
will use the smaller escape tunnels and secret exits. He's probably
right too."

    "Thief wait!" said an aged voice from behind the group.

    They turned to see Cologne standing behind them with Shampoo at
her side. She tossed a small bag of money too the redhead. "Take this,
and take Shampoo with you."

    Ranma blinked and looked at the woman in shock. "Huh?"

    "There is no time for debate. Simply do as I say," snapped Cologne
as she bounced away.

    "Hey! Wait a minute!" cried Ranma as she started after her.

    Shampoo merely frowned at her and stood in her way, a familiar
bundle in her arms.

    "Oh shit," said Ranma as she realized what it was. "Hell no! I am
not taking that damn thing again!"

    "If Herb recovers the Kajakan, there is no hope for the future,"
said Shampoo calmly.

    "Bloody hell," muttered Ryu angrily.

    "How far away is this exit?" said Ranma with a small sigh as she
turned towards Ryu.

    "Huh? I thought you knew where it was," said the boy dumbly.

    The entire group looked at each other, one at a time. "You mean,
none of us knows the way out of here?" said Ranma as she hung her
head.

    "So, you do need me after all?" said Shampoo as she smirked and
strolled past them. "Which exit did you want to take?"

    "Shampoo!" called Mousse as he rushed up to the group waving his
arms frantically.

    "Mousse?" said the girl in shock. "What are you doing here? Get
back with the others!"

    The boy grinned dumbly and bowed too her. "I can't! I won't leave
you alone with these evil people!"

    Ranma sat down and hung her head. This was the last thing she
needed. "Go away dark boy."

    Mousse became very serious. "I will not. No matter what you say."

    "I command you to go back," said Shampoo angrily as she pointed
down the hall.

    "The doors have been sealed. I can't go back," said Mousse calmly.
"I'm coming with you my love! At last we can be together!"

    Ranma decked Mousse as he latched onto her for no apparent reason.
"What the hell are you doing?"

    "He's a blind idiot, that's what," snorted Shampoo. "He says he
loves me, but he can't tell me from a potted plant half the time."

    "There's no need to get..." started Ukyo.

    "I'm not exaggerating," said Shampoo as she cut her off.

    "I hate to break up this little party, but there's an angry dragon
man coming this way with an army of soldiers," said Ryu as he stood up
and started walking.

    "We can sort this mess out later," agreed Ranma.

+++++++++++++

    Herb stood outside the entrance to the caverns with an evil smirk
on his face. "Really Nabiki, you've outdone yourself this time." He
was speaking to a floating ball of crystal, with Nabiki's image
looking back at him.

    "Ha! That old bat was too weak and frail too hold me off!"

    "Indeed, we shall celebrate our victory when I return," said Herb
as he glared at her for a moment.

    "Oh! I can't wait!" exclaimed Nabiki with a small wink. Her image
faded away and the crystal floated down to Herb's waiting palm.

    "You have the exits covered?" said the dragon-man as he turned
towards one of his subordinates.

    "Sir!" said the man with an affirmative nod.

    "Excellent. Begin the extraction. I want every elf inside this
rotting hole dead."

++++++++++++

    "Um, you know where we are, right?" said Ranma as she glanced at
Shampoo nervously.

    "This way," said the girl as she touched a wall and stepped back.
It slid open, revealing a door.

    "If they were strong enough to get past that old elf, I'm betting
they were able to get a map of this place," commented Ryu.

    "Using secret passages won't work to our advantage," agreed Ranma.

    "It's not a secret door, this is a supply dump. It was just built
this way to make it look more natural in the tunnels," said the elf as
she stepped through.

    "So we're leaving through the service exit?" muttered Ukyo.

    "That's right," said Mousse calmly.

    "Whatever, let's just get out of here," said Ryoga irritably.

    "What's that sound?" said Ranma as she cocked her head and turned
her gaze into the dark hallway. "Sounds like...yelling?"

    The group paused as Akane Tendo ran towards them in a full sprint,
she was letting out what sounded like a battle cry as she went and
suddenly stopped about ten meters in front of them.

    "What the?" muttered Ryu. He turned to look at his partner. "What
the hell is she doing out of her cage?"

    "I let her go, we had no reason to hold her," said Ranma with a
small shrug.

    "You!" snapped the knight angrily as she glared at them. "I'd
rather die!" she muttered as she glanced back down the hallway. She
seemed to consider something for a moment and cursed under her breath
as she jogged towards them. "Wherever the hell you're going, start
running now."

    "What?" said Ukyo as she started to bar the girl's way, she
quickly reconsidered when she heard a rumbling from the passage where
the girl had come from. "Ranchan... here they come!"

    "Move!" cried Ryu as he grabbed Ryoga by his collar and pulled him
into the doorway.

    Ranma caught a flash of light from the torches the men were
carrying and then stepped inside the passage Shampoo had opened. The
door closed behind them, just as the army was about to round the
corner.

    "Come on! This way!" whispered Shampoo as she waved them into an
upward moving tunnel.

    Mousse suddenly stopped and looked down at his feet for a moment.
He had managed to step into a rather fresh looking pile of green
slime. "Shampoo, we did clear away the sandwyrms, right?"

    The girl paused and looked at him dumbly for a moment. "What are
sandwyrms?"

    The elf boy choked for a moment and pressed his back against the
wall in terror. The three girls stood dumbly as all the men
immediately followed his example.

    "What are you idiots doing?" asked Shampoo as she started to walk
towards them.

    Ranma put up his finger and she stopped in surprise. "Don't move,"
he almost yelled. "Just stand there for a minute all right? All of
you."

    "What's going on?" muttered Ukyo.

    "Sandwyrms?" muttered Akane in confusion, she seemed to remember
something, and jumped back, pressing herself against the wall as well.
"These tunnels are Drow?!"

    "Yes, they killed the dwarves and attacked us a long time ago.
They were living under us in secret for almost two years," said
Shampoo. "That was almost two hundred years ago. No one ever comes
down here anymore."

    "Bloody hell, hungry sandwyrms at that," muttered Ryu angrily.
"Ranma, we can't just stand here."

    "I'm thinking damn it! Everybody just stand against the wall and
don't move," snapped the redhead. She could escape easily, but the
others were in serious trouble. "Blind boy, got any ideas?"

    "These things only respond too their master," said Mousse
nervously.

    "What the hell is a sandwyrm?" asked Ukyo as she glared at Ranma
irritably.

    "Think a hundred foot drow watchdog, and you've got the basic
idea," muttered the redhead fearfully. Most drow live in deep forests,
but occasionally they use underground tunnels as well. They keep these
things as pets when they do, and they guard their territory very
lethally."

    "So, where is this thing?" said Ukyo as she looked around.

    "It's in the sand along the ground," said Ranma as she pointed
down at her feet.

    "We haven't woken it up yet," agreed Ryu. "They can't hear or see,
but they can feel vibrations in the sand from things like people
walking on it."

    "Can they smell us?" asked Shampoo nervously.

    "Only if it's awake," said Ryoga. "I've killed beasts like this
before, and it isn't pleasant. They are a plague to the southern
mines."

    "So? What do we do?" muttered Ukyo.

    We move very carefully along the wall, drag your feet slowly and
follow me. Stand on the wall if you can, we don't want this thing
waking up," said Ranma as she started to move along the wall.

    "That's an understatement," grumbled Ryoga as he rolled his eyes
and followed.

    They all shifted slowly towards the exit of the tunnel, a point of
light far in the distance above them. "This could take a while. Let's
hope they don't decide to send reinforcements this way." commented
Ryu.

    "Shit," muttered Ranma as she paused and noticed several men
moving towards them with torches in their grasps.

    "Oh great," agreed Ryu.

    The men were jogging merrily along, their armor clanking as they
moved down the tunnel. There were about six of them, all dressed in
black armor with broadswords by their sides.

    Akane turned her head and saw a disturbance in the sand a few
yards behind them. "Um...we should run now."

    A massive head slowly began to rise from the floor, it was about
four feet high and three feet wide. It looked like a gigantic dog
head, with no eyes or ears. It curled its lips back and snarled as it
sniffed the air in front of it for a moment. Finally, it let loose a
massive bark and shot forward like a bullet.

    The group was running towards the soldiers carelessly now, what
was behind them far more lethal than a few unaware men could be.

    "Shiiiiitttt!" cried Ryu as he rushed by the men, shoving them
aside carelessly as he led the party through them.

    The men stood there dumbly for a moment and blinked as the
adventurers passed them.

    "Who the hell?" it was the man's last words as the jaws of the
sandwyrm snapped down on him and dragged him beneath the sand. He
didn't even get the chance too scream. The other men backed away in
horror, not noticing the new disturbance in the sand behind them.
There were two of them this time, on heading towards them, and the
other following behind the desperately running party.

    Ranma glanced back for a moment and began to push herself a bit
harder. "There's nothing left of our guests, and we've got two more
behind us."

    "More?" gasped Ukyo as she spun around and leveled her spear at
the things. "Take this!" she snarled as she blasted a bolt of light
into the ground. It exploded on the surface and sent a few chunks of
stone flying around, but did nothing to stop them.

    "Quit fooling around and run!" cried Ranma.

    "The exit!" cried Ryu as he pointed forward at the cave entrance.

    "Go! Go! Go!" cried Ranma as she pushed Shampoo ahead of her and
shoved everyone outside just as the beast's heads burst from the
ground.

    Two long necks lashed out of the cavern, snapping at them angrily
like angry eels. They quickly retreated back into the darkness and
left the group panting on the ground outside.

    "Son of a bitch!" cried Ranma in shock as she jumped up to her
feet. "Man that was clos..." She froze and looked around for a moment.
"Damn it."

    Akane slowly rose to her feet and saw what the boy was talking
about. The rest of the party was already standing perfectly still, as
a huge group of black knights, almost fifty men, closed the ring
around them. "So, this is how it ends?"

    "Akane?" said a familiar voice over the silent crowd of armor clad
soldiers.

    "It's lady Akane!" cried another one of the knights. The rest of
them let out a victorious cheer. "Summon Lord Tendo at once!"

    "Friends of yours?" asked Ryu quietly.

    "These are my knights," replied the girl with a vicious looking
smirk on her face. "What are you all doing here?" she called to one of
the nearby men.

    "We are under the command of Lord Tendo," said one of the men as
he put his fist up over his heart in a salute.

    Akane did the same and calmly walked forward as a man in black
armor, without a helmet rode forward on a gigantic black war-horse.

    "My daughter, you are safe," said Soun as he looked down at the
girl. He jumped down off of his horse and grabbed her into a rough
hug. "Wahhhh! My baby has come home safely!"

    Akane blushed and stared forward dumbly. "Daaaadd! Not in front of
the men!"

    "Oh! Right," said the man as he pulled her away from his chest and
turned to look at the group for a moment. "These ruffians, have them
killed at once!"

    "Sir!" snapped one of the men as he turned to face the soldiers
who still formed a ring around Ranma and her party.

    The pigtailed girl and the others prepared for a fight.

    "Wait!" said Akane as she stood in front of her father for a
moment. She walked up to Shampoo and took the bundle from her arms,
forcefully as the girl gave a small amount of resistance. She
unwrapped it and held it high in the air. "I have recovered the
Kajakan for the Emperor. These brave souls made that possible."

    Ryu looked at her in shock, while the elves and Ukyo gave her
hateful glares. Ryoga looked pretty indifferent, and spit on the
ground roughly, not bothering to put his axe back onto his back again.
Ranma, had not yet moved.

    "So, they are too be rewarded?" said Soun as he looked the group
up and down for a moment.

    "I have already collected my reward," said Ranma coldly as she
stared at the man, her gaze locked onto him. Every muscle in her body
was tense.

    "I see," said Soun as he nodded to the men. They replaced their
weapons and  dispersed.

    "Thief, if I see you again. I will kill you, any debt I had to you
has been paid now," said Akane as she turned back to Ranma again.
"When we meet again, we are enemies."

    Ranma merely nodded. "I know, and we will meet again."

    Akane turned up her nose and walked away from them. "Somebody get
me a decent set of armor!" She called into the rows of soldiers.
"Where are we camped?"

    Ranma turned back and saw the others staring at her. "Ryu, I've
found him," said the redhead as she started walking away.

    "What? Are you sure?" stammered the boy as he rushed to follow.

    "I'd know that voice anywhere. I've heard it in my dreams for the
last ten years of my life."

    "What is she talking about?" asked Shampoo as she rushed to follow
with Ukyo and Mousse just behind her.

    Ryoga merely watched them go, a smirk forming on his face as they
disappeared from view. "Well, it seems I've finally been paid. I'll
see you around, Ranma." He turned away and walked off in a random
direction.

++++++++++++

    TBC...

    Next time: The Betrayal.


C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com

Previous parts can be found at Http://www.fanfiction.net and R&C Books
International Fanfic Company at Http://www.rcbooks.org

Ja!
-
.---              Patch Monkey's FFML                ---.
| Administrators - owner-ffml@patchmonkey.net  |
| Unsubscribing - majordomo@patchmonkey.net  |
| Put 'unsubscribe ffml' in the body of your e-mail. |
-------- http://www.patchmonkey.net ----------