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The FFML Refugee List
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko
Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her
licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz
Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is
intended.
"The Green Lantern", copyright ALL-AMERICAN COMICS
# 16 (July 1940)
(Note: Green Lantern #16 provided the inspiration for this
story. However only the colour green remains.)
WARNING: This story contains scenes that some readers may
find sexually suggestive and/or violent.
Extended author notes will be added at the end of
of Chapter one and again at the end of the final chapter.
*******************************************************
Bedlam Fire
Chapter 10
**************************************************
Cold air spilled down the mountains and mixed with
warmer, wetter air on the valley floor, shrouding the Amazon
village in a dense fog that coated every exposed surface in a
beautiful, deadly, sheath of ice. Muffled in heavy coats,two
sentries moved through the white blanket of mist, relying on
familiarity more than sight to guide them as they crunched
through the thin layer of new snow. Behind them a figure
ghosted noiselessly on bare feet, watching them with eyes that
glowed with an alien fire.
The smothering fog was transparent as glass to Akane,
and she watched one of the sentries stumble over an unseen, to
her, obstacle, with a slight smile. She didn't need to look for
the missing piece of her statue . . .Ke Lun was bringing it right
to her.
Perched on the side of a granite boulder, fifteen meters
above the ground, Shen Xuannu was in her element. The
People might have had many who were better warriors, more
skilled trackers, as well as better hunters and healers. But, if
there were three who were better rock and ice climbers than
she---- she knew there couldn't be a fourth. And _none_ of
them loved the cold the way she did, understood the ways of
snow and ice and storm. That skill had given her the woman-
change name that meant "Strong-in-snow", and explained why
she had enjoyed her present duty so much; as one of the high-
guard sentries, perched atop rocks and cliff walls, on around
the clock duty ever since the Elder's warning had reached
them.
She watched the two inner perimeter guards vanish
into the fog, following their progress by ear long after they
were lost to sight, then shifted slightly to a more comfortable
position, wondering when the rising sun would burn off the
blanket of mist that covered the valley floor. She froze, as the
sound of a foot squeaking against frost came faintly through the
mist. Closing her eyes, to more easily focus her hearing, she
held her breath, straining to find the source of the noise. She'd
almost decided she'd imagined the whole thing when it came
again, a tiny shriek as ice crystals were crushed underfoot.
The thunder of her own heart filled her ears and she
willed it to stillness, letting out her breath slowly as she
opened her eyes, peering through the shifting white haze in
what she thought was the direction of the sound. Nothing-----
Nothing---- Straining, as if sheer force of will would allow
her to pierce the wet icy mist, she leaned forward from the
rock face until only the tight grip of her toes and the finger-tips
of one hand kept her from falling.
A faint whisper of sound came to her ears and dimly
through the mist, more felt than seen, a shadowy figure bulked,
as if the icy vapor were giving birth to some fantastic creature
of shifting phantoms.
The shifting fog prevented Xuannu from seeing more
than a vague outline in the mist. That was enough . . .the
Amazon sentries knew where all the high-guards were located
and approached them _only_ at specific times and by specific
paths----Xuannu reached for her fighting staff with her free
hand ----the approaching figure was wrong on both counts.
The shifting mists swirled and reformed as the figure moved
through them. Moved almost directly beneath the young
Amazon, who dropped like a snow leopard on an unsuspecting
rabbit. The air hummed with the force of her strike as her staff
smashed into the barely seen figure. The force of her blow
turned the figure and she had a brief sight of blood crusted lips
drawn back in a snarl and eyes that burned with an alien light.
Even as her heart quailed under that savage look her warriors
reflexes spun her staff back around in a reverse-butterfly,
catching the invader just below the temple, staggering it.
"IRON HAWKS!"
With a sound like ripping silk the eldritch thing shook
off the force of her blow and lunged for her.
"IRON HAWKS! TO ME!" The piercing hunting call
of the mountain raptor that was her clan's totem echoed
through the hills, as her staff blurred in a desperate effort to
keep the thing off of her. Her foot turned on a loose stone and
she went flat on her back, staff clattering away down a slope,
and she brought her knees up into her chest in an effort to kick
her attacker away.
She could see the hell-fire burning in its eyes, hear the
hoarse rasping of its breath as it loomed over her----when it
went down under the impact of a half dozen staffs as her clan
sisters rushed to answer her cry for help. Xuannu rolled away
from the fallen creature, the impact of clubs thudding into it's
body clearly felt through the frozen ground.
"Move away," Xuannu recognized the lilting voice of
her milk-sister, Wanet. "I'll finish it!" Xuannu saw an
obsidian blade flash, but the descending blow was suddenly
halted by an intervening hand.
"Thi'th ith not ath the Eldew commanded."
The gentle, affected lisp, caused a shudder of fear and
revulsion to run through the normally fearless Iron Hawks.
"H . . .Harolda," as most senior Iron Hawk warrior
present Xuannu felt it her duty to deal with the leader of the
Dancing Butterflies, "this is Jian Yoi Guai, legendary
destroyer of the Amazon Nation. We have to kill it. We have
to kill it now!"
"Weally Xuannu," Harolda held a filigreed silver ball
of aromatic herbs beneath her nose and took an ostentatious
breath, as if to dispel the odour of the Iron Hawks. "you'wa
ignowance is sooo fatiguing at times." A languid motion of one
pale hand and two figures materialized from the thinning mist.
Xuannu swallowed hard upon recognizing Gerde and Kerta,
Harolda's chief lieutenants and, after Harolda ,the strongest
warriors in the Dancing Butterflies sept, the toughest and most
ruthless group of warriors in the Amazon Nation. Only the
Elder herself might be their equals, and she would be hard
pressed by any two or three of them.
"The Eldew's message wath quite specific on deawing
wiff th' Daemon,----" Harolda gestured again and, brightly
coloured silk robes billowing with every step, Gerde and
Kerta minced toward the body lying crumpled in the snow.
"----how to ambush hew, how to attack hew wiff wood, how
to bind hew . . .but kiwwing wath not what she owdewed."
Tiny golden bells jingled merrily with every step, until
identical blue-eyed, blond-haired assassins stopped, one on
each side of Jian Yoi Guai. At an unseen signal they knelt and
took the body in their arms, standing again with the burden
supported between them.
"Ummmm . . .do you need any help?" Er Shangtan was
the youngest member of the Iron Hawks and, at twelve years of
age, did not yet realize that the deadliest predators wore the
brightest colours.
Harolda smiled faintly at the youngster, an expression
that caused the girl to alternately flush and pale. "I bewieve
we can manage. Ranjit!" she called over her shoulder.
Shangtan took an involuntary step back as a giant, well
over two meters tall, with heavily muscled arms that dangled
below his knees, shambled forward. Cold, snake-like eyes,
glared from under a brow ridge that would not have been out
of place on a mountain gorilla, and broken yellow canines
protruded beyond broad fleshy lips, reinforcing the whispered
belief that the twins bond-mate was the product of a mad dogs
rape of a distempered bear. The huge man relieved the twins
of their burden, holding the slight body in one hand, grabbing a
fist-full of short black hair in the other, and pulling the head
back until the skin was stretched tight.
"The Eldew wawned us that kiwwing the Daemon
would onwy welease it fwom its host body . . ." she regarded
Shangtan languidly, " . . .to infect someone else." She took the
blade of volcanic glass from Wanet's limp grasp. "But if we
can not _kiww_ it," Gerde and Kerta moved to peel back the
lids from the unconscious girls eyes, "we must make cewtain it
does not get away befowe the Eldew awwives."
*******************************************************
For once in his life he did not ask an uncaring world
where he was. For once . . .for the first time in his life . . .he
knew exactly where he was.
In hell.
He'd been there ever since that awful moment . . .the
scene replayed itself in his head. As it had every second since
that one, terrible instant. He didn't want to remember . . . lying
in her arms . . .so happy . . .so loved . . .that one stunned
moment of seeing the hot ramen headed for them . . .for _him_.
Frozen in terror. The sudden falling-elevator-tummy sensation
as he was snatched to safety. The overwhelming relief----- and
the sudden, shocking end of his life as his secret was exposed.
Along with the rest of him.
His soul shrieked and shriveled, like a salted slug, as
he replayed that degrading, humiliating moment. Naked on the
streets of Tokyo. But even that was not the worst. He slammed
his hard fist against his head in a futile effort to _not_
remember that worst-of-all moments. But his conscience
didn't allow him to forget. Again he saw those soft brown
eyes . . .so warm. So friendly. Trusting. Saw understanding
dawn, and change to disbelief. Hurt. Betrayal. Saw her look at
him----
"NOOOOOO!" Slamming his fists into a block of
granite, until the block crumbled and his fists bled he
screamed a denial as those eyes looked at him with such hurt
that he wanted to cut out his heart and offer it to her.
*I'm sorry.*
* I'm didn't mean it. *
*It's all Ranma's fault.*
That's what he wanted to say. But his throat had
closed up, as if a giant had grabbed him by the throat. So he
just stood, like the stupid lump he was, and watched the light
drain out of her eyes. Saw the look of hurt and humiliation in
_her_ eyes that he'd always seen only in himself.
He'd wanted to die. But he couldn't. Not until he found
her and apologized. She would forgive him. She _had_ to
forgive him. She always forgave Ranma! The thought of his
rival caused a burst of anger.
"DAMN YOU RANMA! THIS IS ALL YOUR
FAULT!"
Feeling better, as he always did once he'd focused on
the true cause of his eternal suffering, he resumed slogging
through the melting snow. It would re-freeze quickly enough as
the sun continued to sink but right now it was a nasty, muddy
slush. Automatically he checked the path ahead. It wouldn't do
to step in a----
"Bweeeeee!"
----hole. Pulling his sodden pack from the water he
looked despondently at the wafer thin crust of ice that had
covered water filled depression. Grabbing a strap between his
teeth he struggled along the path, keeping an eye out for a
sheltered place where he could start a fire. Hours later he still
hadn't found a spot dry enough for a fire and was trying to
resign himself to a very uncomfortable night when an aimless
current of air brought him a scent of . . .fire. And Man!
Instantly the little porker scrambled for a hiding place,
slipping and skidding as his hooves skittered on the ice, his
pack banging him in a way that would leave an interesting set
of bruises in the morning.
If he made it to morning.
With a fervent prayer he was well hidden he peeked,
carefully, around a rock as his ears confirmed what his nose
had already told him. People. Perhaps _hungry_ people.
People who pined for pork pie, hungered for ham-hocks and
dreamed about Dim Sum. Shivering Ryouga tried to make
himself as small and inconspicuous as possible as the sound of
footsteps became ever louder. To his piggy eyes the group was
an amorphous blur but his keen nose could smell leather and
gun oil, and he clearly heard the jingle of steel on steel.
Hunters! He zipped back out of sight. Hungry, hungry
hunters . . .hounding him through the mountains, pursuing him
day and night. Not giving him a moments rest. His little feet
were cut to the quick by the sharp rocks, his tiny ribs were
showing from starvation. The cruel fates mocked him as they
roasted him in a sweet and sour sauce, cutting tender juicy
steaks from his plump firm flesh and . . .
. . .and the quick moving footsteps went past his hiding
place without stopping.
Quickly grabbing his pack in his teeth P-chan
scrambled through the scrub brush below the path, looking for
a dry place to start a fire.
*******************************************************
Amazons! Shivering in the corner of an empty hut,
empty kettle on the ground beside him, Ryouga wondered if a
little black pig wouldn't be safer than a large naked boy, in a
village full of angry Amazons. And they were _very_ angry
. . .or very afraid. Or both. All he knew was that this half of
the village was so completely deserted that even the mice had
fled, while the other half was surrounded by tremendous bon-
fires. What looked like an army of Amazons, armed with guns
he'd only seen before in the movies, prowled the area just
beyond the fires while inside the circle of fires, the children,
men and oldsters huddled in small clumps.
Dressing quickly in clothes he found in a chest ,
Ryouga decided to make a break for it, using the lengthening
shadows for cover. With luck he could recover his pack on the
way out. If not, he just wanted to be as far from whatever was
going on as possible. Keeping low and moving with a
delicate stealth that would have amazed anyone who knew
him, Ryouga moved from shadow to shadow, working his way
to the edge of the village. The air hummed with tension and,
even to his now merely human nose, the stench of fear was
nearly overwhelming. Roving patrols of Amazons forced him
into a classic "drunkards walk" path as he constantly shifted to
avoid detection, until he ended up in a hastily cleared circle
near the north end of the deserted half of the village. The
remains of a couple of hastily demolished houses and out-
buildings strewn all around the ground forced him to watch
his footing in the dim light of the setting sun. He was so
concentrated on moving _quietly_ through the treacherous
minefield of trash that he didn't realize he was moving fruther
into the clearing . . .until he heard the sound. A low moan that
raised the hairs on the back of his neck and reminded him of
all the stories his mother had told him about hungry ghosts and
fox spirits that would steal bad little boys in the night.
"who's there?" he whispered unthinkingly.
"r . . .r . . .ouga?"
The single, breathless word, faint as the thought of a
shadow shocked him as even a guest spot as theme-ingredient
on Iron Chef never could.
Impossible. It couldn't be. Not her. Not here.
"ak . . ." he moistened suddenly dry lips and tried
again.
"akane?"
"h'lo . . .p-chan." there was a thready ghost of a laugh
in the voice that frightened and attracted him at the same time.
"akane," he moved into the shadows, following the
voice. "akane . . .what are you doing here?"
"jus' hang'n 'round."
Her voice was slurred, as if she were drunk or----
"oh dear god . . ."
One of the distant fires flared, illuminating the scene
with a brief flicker of light. An ancient tree stood in the very
center of the clearing----a Rowan tree---- sacred to the
Amazons and carefully nurtured to grow in this alien land.
Below it's lowermost branches hung the nude body of a young
girl, arms pinned to the trunk by freshly cut stakes made from
branches of the same tree. Heavy cables woven of thistle and
thorn wound around her body in a needlessly cruel manner, as
her obviously broken legs were more than sufficient to fasten
her in place, assuming there were any escape from her
crucifixion.
"I'll get you loose," Ryouga promised hoarsely,
shaking off his paralysis. "I'll get you loose." But she gave a
soft broken cry, like a dying kitten, when he touched her and
her jerked his hands back, horrified that he might have hurt her
more. He tried again, but wooden pegs had been driven
through her bones and deep into the tree. The entire tree
would have to be cut from around her, an exercise that would
take tools and time that he didn't have. The Amazon's would
hear him. Or a roving patrol would come by.
"what do i do . . .what do i do . . ." he stared
helplessly at his scarred hands, better suited to fighting than
healing. But Akane needed help. She needed a doctor not a
stupid martial artist. She needed to be in a hospital, not staked
out like an animal----a cold rage shook his body like the ague
as a new thought penetrated the fog of his misery.
The Amazons. He'd kill them. He'd kill them all.
Every murderous man, child and devil-bitch in the village.
Then no one could stop him from taking care of Akane.
"thirsty."
He'd actually turned to go, enraged enough to storm
hell itself, let alone a few hundred puny Amazons, when her
weak request jerked him to a stop.
"thirsty."
"i don't have any water." he began, helplessly.
"please . . ."
The begging tone in her voice broke his heart and all
thoughts of murder vanished while he began a frantic search
for water. A quick search of the area showed him a shallow
depression that held a few cupfuls of muddy liquid. He scooped up a
handful and hurried back to Akane.
"here," he whispered. He held out his cupped hands
and she weakly raised her head until he could see her battered
face, split lips crusted with blood and gaps of missing or
broken teeth. Tenderly he raised his handful of water to her
mouth. As he did so he glanced up, and for a moment his brain
refused to process what he saw----two raw, red wounds in
her face, white bone gleaming obscenely in the depths of each
cavity. Jerking away in horror Ryouga went to his knees like a
gut punched fighter, spewing the contents of his stomach on the
ground.
"r'oga? r'oga? wh'r are you?" Her face turned blindly
from side to side and her voice, sounding lost and frightened,
brought him to his feet, despite his sick anguish, the need to
help her overriding all else.
"I'm . . .I'm right here Akane-chan." He wiped vomit
slimed lips on the back of his sleeve. "I dropped the water.
I'll be right back with some more."
He hurried back and scooped up some more water and
went back to her. But it was soon frustratingly evident that
most of the water was lost trying to carry it in his hands. And,
in any event, Akane's mouth and jaw were so badly hurt that is
was almost impossible for her to drink. He needed some
way . . .he suddenly remembered his mother feeding a sick
puppy with an eye-dropper. If he only----
"wait right here," he winced as he realized how stupid
that must sound. "I'll be right back."
For a third time he went back to the water filled
depression. Kneeling on the cold ground he took a deep drink
and, holding the precious liquid in his mouth, returned to
Akane. Gently, as if she were made of the most delicate
crystal, he raised her head and pressed his lips softly to her
poor torn mouth. Ryouga felt a brief tingle as their lips met,
and she greedily sucked the moisture into her parched mouth.
"go . . . get . . . ranma," she said as he reluctantly broke
their "kiss".
"w . . .what," his mind felt fuzzy and it took him a
moment to understand her.
"ranma. i need ranma."
"ranma? i don't know where he is. how can i find----"
"please."
He could no more resist that whispered plea than he
could stop breathing.
"I'll get Ranma. I promise." he gently brushed her
cheek with the back of his hand before running off into the
darkness. *oh god----please don't let me get lost.*
"You won't get lost." Akane answered his unspoken
fear in a surprisingly strong voice.
*******************************************************
Ranma trotted along the rutted path, nearly a
superhighway for this part of the world, looking for any signs
of the thing that had been dogging their trail. Three more
Amazons had vanished, and, unlike Aziza, no trace of them
had been found. A small work camp and a modest village, not
far from a real high-way, had also been found deserted----not a
dog or sheep or insect remained. Even the grass and trees were dead or
dying, as if something had sucked the life out of the earth itself.
One more day to the Amazon village. Maybe less if
they pushed it. And they were pushing, as if the devil were on
their heels. Normally brave to the point of foolhardiness the
Amazons were jumping at shadows----more than jumping----
one of them had fired her rifle at a shadow three days earlier.
Unfortunately Ranma had been _in_ that particular shadow and
only quick reflexes and more luck than any sane person had a
right to expect had keep the thirty round burst from cutting him
in two. He'd taken to whistling pop-tunes as he approached
camp; the Amazons seemed to like the Alman Brothers.
He was getting close to the point where he should meet
the perimeter guards for tonight's camp. Originally they'd
kept going by moonlight, but after Bao Xianmeng had vanished
from the marching column about an hour before dawn----
A rustling in the stunted trees lining the path brought
him spinning around in a defensive stance just as a fast moving
figure burst through the trees and slammed into him, lighting
the night with a brief flash of light.
*******************************************************
"I don't like it," Nabiki whispered to Ukyou, peering
into the darkness. "He should have been back an hour ago." A
chill wind caused her to shiver and Ukyou pulled her closer.
Without their tents and sleeping bags, a night in the mountains
meant sleeping huddled together like sheep. If Nabiki wasn't
Ranma, at least she was warm, and didn't snore like a
motorcycle with a broken muffler she thought, glaring at Shan
Pu who was talking with Mu Si on the far side of the camp.
"Nothin' to worry about," Ukyou lied, shifting her
spatula to the hand around Nabiki's shoulder before stuffing
her frozen right-hand under her armpit in an attempt to warm
it. "Ranma sugar can take care of himself."
"Ranma always has the most interesting adventures,"
Kasumi appeared with mugs of hot broth that she passed out
nightly to each shift of guards and anyone else who might be
awake. Ukyou still hadn't figured out when she slept, but
Kasumi was ready to march each morning at day break,
looking as if she'd just gotten out of her bed back home in
Japan. Even her _hair_ looked good. Ukyou fingered her own
greasy locks, resisting an urge to scratch her itchy scalp, and
wanted to hate the older girl. Almost snatching the hot mug
from Kasumi she decided to forgive the other girl instead. And
when the elder Tendou sister settled neatly on Ukyou's other
side, pressing against her with a delicious warmth as well as
acting as a windbreak, Ukyou couldn't repress a small moan of
pure bliss. If she ever made it back to Japan she was going
install central heating----
"I'm gonna scout our back trail."
"Aaaaaa!" Nabiki yelped and Ukyou spun around,
getting tangled up in the Tendou sisters and ending up
sprawled on her back with Nabiki on top of her.
"You should have something hot before you go,"
Kasumi, not the slightest perturbed, rose to her knees and held
out a battered travel mug to the young martial artist.
"No thanks," Ranma favored Kasumi with a brief
smile. "I'm gonna' make sure nothin's sneakin' up on us. I'll
swing wide, see if I c'n spot anything."
"Wait!" Ukyou scrambled awkwardly to her feet. "You
shouldn't go off by yourself. It's too dangerous."
"Nah," Ranma grinned cockily, an expression that
didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'll be fine. See ya at the village,
tomorrow," with a wave he vanished again in the darkness,
back in the direction they'd just come. Almost half a kilometer
down the trail, far beyond the eyes of the Amazon sentries, he
met with a second running figure. The two turned sharply,
running at right angles to the trail for a few minutes before
turning again for the Amazon village, guided by a small alien
spark that burned in each of them.
*******************************************************
End Chapter 10
notes:
For anyone interested, I'm still working
on Sukeban Senshi. I'll start revising
chapter 8 once my new computer is up
and running. And I've been working
on chapter 9 as well. ^_^
Other things in the works. ^_0
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