Part Two
"Morning, Ryu!" It was Katt. Ryu moved from nervous tension to anxiety of a different sort. Showing no sign that the last night's activities had affected her adversely in any way, she strode boldly into the room, placed her hands on his shoulders, and massaged them roughly, saying, "Were you a bad boy last night?"
Ryu's mind jumped around, trying to glean the actual meaning of that phrase from the possibilities available. From the playful tone of her voice, he assumed that she referred to his drinking overly, and replied, "Mmm-hmm," craning his neck so she could knead all of his muscles.
"Well, I hope this big, bad dragon didn't forget that he promised to help me train today," she said, running her fingers under his hair.
"Mmmmm-hmm---D'oh!!"
"You mean you DID forget?" Her hands stopped moving.
"No, Katt," he stammered. "I didn't forget, exactly, it's just that I'm not...feeling my best right now."
"Then drink some water," Katt ordered without sympathy, removing her hands completely. "Nothing shakes off a hangover like some good exercise."
Clutching her hexad staff in one hand, she strutted outside. Chuckling, Nero handed the dragon a quart of water, which he drank greedily.
The air of the small forest enclave echoed with wooden clacks as Ryu and Katt exchanged blows. The dragon swung his wooden practice sword upward, blocking Katt's attack. She twisted her hexad staff around, using Ryu's sword as a lever, and swept the dragon's legs out from under him. Ryu tumbled to the ground.
"You're off your game today," she remarked.
"Must still be hung over," he offered as an excuse. "You'd think with a dragon's constitution, I would have gotten over it by now." He slowly got up, trying to ignore the still-present headache.
"But you're only half dragon, remember?" She swung another strike at his midsection.
"I guess you're right," he said as he blocked her thrust. "But you seem to be okay."
"Maybe your dragon-half's weighing you down," she suggested, throwing a blow at his head. He halted it in mid-swipe with his wooden sword. "Dragons are probably notoriously bad drinkers."
"It's possible," he admitted, unprepared as she launched a full-scale attack on him. He winced as she smacked him on the right leg, then fell down again after she thrust her staff into his abdomen.
She leapt on top of his subdued form, straddling him. "I win."
"Ow," he agreed.
"Oh no, did I hurt you again?" She leaned down to his face. "Seems like I still owe you a kiss from last time."
Suddenly Katt's mouth was mashed against his, kissing him with the same fierce fury she had shown in battle time and again. Ryu found himself reacting, leaning forward and sliding his arms around her back. Taking it, wisely or not, to the next level, he slipped his right hand underneath Katt's halter top, eliciting an eager moan from her.
Things might have gone further if not for the complications which regrettably ensued.
"GET OFF OF HIM!!"
Ryu, currently in the throes of a strange mixture of passion and nervousness, snapped his hands from Katt and placed them on the ground, clutching at the grass and hoping that if he lied still enough, he would disappear.
Sadly, he didn't.
"What are you doing, Ryu!?" Nina demanded, still out of the dragon's line of sight.
"Could you come back later?" Katt bristled. "We're busy."
"You tramp!" Nina shouted. "Trying to steal what's mine! Shiza!" Katt was knocked off of Ryu's torso by a blade of wind energy.
Ryu flipped over and stood upright. "What are you thinking?" he demanded of the Wyndian. "Katt's your friend, and mine. She's saved your life more than once, as well as Mina's---"
"She's a thief!" Nina shot back. "She's trying to steal you from me!"
"I'm not yours!" Ryu yelled in anger. "I'm not hers, either!" He breathed out slowly, trying to relax. "I'm my own man, Nina. Why are you doing this? It's crazy!"
Nina did not her the dragon's question, as she was chanting and charging up another magical spell. "Stop!" Ryu shouted and rushed her, tackling Nina and trying to break her concentration.
Trying to pry her hands apart, Ryu kept shouting in an attempt to disturb Nina's incantations. Unfortunately, his efforts merely shifted the target of the attack. He felt the dry shock of lightning as it hit him and Nina, then Ryu blacked out.
***
"That really hurt," Ryu elaborated.
"I took Ryu and Nina inside and had Bow see what he could do with them," Katt said, picking up the narrative. "He said they'd be fine, but I stayed with Ryu for six hours just to make sure."
Jean put down his beer. "Ahhh, a romantic rivalry is so...romantic, non?" He rested his feet on the table, then thought better of it and put them back on the ground. "But the princess, she has made it more serious, more violent. But pourquoi?"
"Alright," began Ryu, "I didn't understand that one. What did he say?"
"Don't ask me," Katt said. "I never understand anything he says."
"Oh, my friends," lamented the frog. "I simply wanted to know why the princess did such things."
"Ah." Ryu shifted around, trying to get more comfortable. "When I came to, it was already dark, and I was more than a little sore. I had to get away from Nina. Katt offered to come with me, and so we left together, in the middle of the night."
***
"Got everything?" asked the Woren.
"Just about," Ryu answered, picking up his sheathed longsword. "Don't wanna go traveling without my special friend." He drew the sword out and held the hilt up to his face, kissing it. "Isn't that right, baby? You're a good sword, aren't you?" The sword failed to respond.
"Cut that out," Katt commanded. "It's weird."
"Right," he said, strapping the blade to his back. "Let's go. We'll take the lift---it'll be faster."
"Ain't it dangerous?"
"I have some insurance if we need it."
Silently, the two crept down the stairs and out of the house, Ryu remembering to shut the front door slowly, as it had a habit of creaking. They walked to the edge of the cliff, where the TownShip's land abruptly ended, and Katt began pulling up the lift. Ryu, however, began heading in the opposite direction.
"Aren't you coming?"
"There's something I have to do first." He made his way to the well, where he knew his father still stood watch over Gate. As Ryu climbed down the ladder, he felt a sense of serenity come over him, as it always did when he entered the chamber. He thought it was odd that he felt serene when in the presence of a machine designed to run off of a human life-force. It must have been his father's influence, benevolently protecting his family and friends.
He approached his father, who appeared frozen in place inside of the life chamber. Ganer's eyes were closed, and his breathing was remarkably slow, but Ryu knew that he was still conscious and able to hear his words.
"Father, I'm going to be gone for a while. I wanted to say good-bye to you before I left."
Where are you going, Ryu? The priest's voice echoed around the chamber, and though Ryu knew no one outside of the room could hear it, he still felt uneasy.
"Things have become...unstable around here. Katt and I are taking our leave of TownShip."
Oh, my son! Ganer's voice reverberated loudly. Running off with a young woman? You make your old man proud.
Ryu stifled a laugh. "It's not that simple, Dad. Nina's changed somehow, and she won't leave me alone. I don't know what else to do."
You do have a way with the ladies, don't you? If only your mother were alive to see this!.. Ryu knew that if his father were able to move, there would be a large grin on Ganer's weathered face at that moment.
Still, that Katt is quite a vixen, his father added. I'm not too surprised you chose her. But, if you'd played your cards right, you could have had them both.
"What?"
Isn't that every young man's dream? Two attractive young ladies at the same time? If I was in your place...let's just say that the word "simultaneous" would describe what would happen.
Evidently, the ten years Ganer had spent locked in the basement of Evrai had given the old priest plenty of time to cook up certain fantasies for himself. "Dad...I'm leaving now. I'm sure Patty---Yua will come see you soon."
"Let's all get together...," Ganer sang, apparently not hearing his son's farewell. "You know that we're gonna beee, you two, and mee..."
Ryu headed back up the ladder, attempting unsuccessfully to keep the look of disgust off of his face. As he approached Katt, he saw that she had hauled the empty lift up to the top of the cliff face.
"What were you doing?" the Woren asked.
"Just saying good-bye to Dad," he replied. "He seemed to have been pretty occupied guarding the Gate, though." He started laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. Let's go."
Ryu got on the small wooden platform, remembering to hold on to the rope which attached it to the pulley. Katt clambered on beside him, accepting the dragon's outstretched hand. With one arm around her, Ryu let go of the rope, and the lift lowered slowly down. About one-quarter of the way down the cliff, the lift ceased moving altogether.
"What's going on?" Katt asked.
"Probably the counterweight is too heavy for us to get the rest of the way down," explained Ryu.
Katt began jumping up and down. "Move, dammit!"
"Whoa! Hey!" Ryu held on to the rope for dear life, hoping that Katt's rash action wouldn't cause the lift to capsize. "I told you I had it covered, remember?"
"Oh, yeah. What're you gonna do?"
"Climb onto my back." As Katt complied, Ryu steeled his emotions, preparing to leap off of the wooden platform. The Woren let out a cry of shock as he did so. Concentrating, Ryu pulled his energies inward and changed form.
Trying to subdue the cry of triumph he would normally bellow as he felt the newfound sense of freedom, the dragon soared over the town of Gate, heading for the road that led to the beach. Knowing that he would not long be able to maintain his dragon body, Ryu swooped down quickly. Feeling his energies leaving him, he landed as fast as possible, his clawed feet touching the dirt road just as he lost the ability to control his transformation. Ryu, back in his human form, staggered as Katt pushed off of his back.
"That was close," the dragon remarked.
***
"Un moment, my friend," interjected Jean. "If you could fly down from such a height, why did you not simply do so to save Bow as you dangled from the so-unstable rope?"
"What?" said Ryu, confused.
"That's a good question," Katt agreed. "Why didn't you just change into a dragon then?"
"I guess I just didn't think of it," he explained. "It takes a lot of concentration for me to change form, since I'm only half-dragon, and when Katt and I went down, I had been preparing for it. When Bow fell off of the stairway, I suppose in the heat of the moment, I wasn't able to summon up my will."
"I see," Jean said.
***
Ryu held up the Whale Bell as he and Katt stood together upon the beach. Ryu heard a disturbance in the ocean, signaling Grandpa Whale's response. The water surged away in large waves as the gigantic sea mammal surfaced.
"WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU, FRIENDS?" Grandpa's voice powerfully broke the natural atmosphere of the ocean.
"Please take us to Wisdon, Grandpa," Ryu requested.
"CERTAINLY. CLIMB ABOARD." The whale lowered himself, allowing the two to clamber on top of him. When they were securely on, he swam southwest, heading for the ancient home of the immortal Bleu.
The journey was swift, as Ryu had come to expect from several voyages atop the huge whale. Ryu felt the arid air of the desert mix in with the salty sea breeze, and he knew they were nearing the desert of Wisdon, which was south of the Highfort. The sun was just peeking over the horizon as the whale pulled into the beach on the southern side of the desert.
"Thank you," Katt told the whale as the two jumped off his great backside.
"NO PROBLEM. CALL IF YOU NEED ME AGAIN." With that, the whale submerged himself and swam off, likely to get some well-deserved rest.
Ryu tried to stretch out his legs as he and Katt traversed the desert. The problem with finding Bleu's cave was that it was not visible to the eye. The only way they had found it before was when Jean had fallen in while wandering off away from the others. Following the confused prince's voice, Ryu and his companions had discovered the ancient sorceress's concealed home.
"Heads up!" Katt shouted as two lizardmen, denizens of the desert, approached. Ryu drew his trusty sword from its sheath on his back and readied himself for their attack.
Katt dodged around the one on the right, smacking his face with her hexad staff. Ryu parried the second's blow, then swiftly ran him through. Katt finished the job by beating her foe senseless.
"Short work," he commented.
"Yup," she agreed.
They moved on, Ryu straining his eyes to spot some sort of difference in the terrain that would indicate the entrance. He noticed a small rock which didn't seem to fit in.
"Katt," he said. "See that boulder? Walk to the other side for me."
Katt did as he asked, and after the Woren reach a certain point, she disappeared. Ryu shouted in triumph. Success!
"This is it, Katt," he called as he moved toward the rock. "Follow me in from this side."
As Ryu penetrated the illusion, he felt a strange sensation. He knew that Bleu did not guard her sanctum with magical wards, so he pressed on, unperturbed. As the unnatural darkness disappeared, he saw the outer cave of Bleu's home, hosted by the three strange spirits which he come to know.
The interior of the cave was much tidier than it had been the last time he had visited. The centuries-old trash that had littered it was now gone, making it a much more pleasant environment. One of the spirits approached him.
"Master Ryu, may I help you?" He realized that he couldn't tell the spirits apart, and had no idea which one addressed him.
"Is Bleu in, uh---which one are you?"
"I am Liquid Spirit, sir. I shall summon the mistress at once."
The ghost vanished, leaving Ryu alone in the room. At that instant, Katt tumbled in, eyes closed, flailing wildly around with her staff and arms.
"Ryu? Are you there? I can't see!"
"Open your eyes, Katt." Ryu grabbed her arm, reassuring her of his presence.
"Oh! I forgot." She took in the surroundings, noting the difference just as Ryu had. "Cleaner, huh?"
"Wonderful, isn't it?" Bleu's voice inquired from the door in the back of the room. "Ryu, did you miss me?" The Indigo's voice had a self-satisfied quality to it as she confiedently gyrated through the opening.
"Don't even start that," Katt warned.
"But he's my favorite dragon in the whole world," Bleu protested as she slithered closer to Ryu. Ryu gently wriggled free of her extraordinarily friendly hug before Katt decided to take matters into her own hands.
Bleu took a step back. "So, what brings the cutest dragon this side of Parma," she noticed Katt "---oh, and you, to my semi-clean homestead?"
"Actually, Bleu---" Ryu began before Katt could respond.
"Oh, mistress?" called one of the spirits. Ryu stomped his foot down, angry at the interruption.
"Yes, Gaseous?" Ryu had no idea how Bleu could differentiate her servants.
"You weren't going to throw away these five-thousand-year-old spellbooks, were you?" Gaseous Spirit's voice had a scolding tone to it.
"So what if I was?" Bleu replied curtly. "They're mine to do with as I please."
"Oh, mistress," the spirit admonished. "You could at least donate them to a library, or sell them, but don't just throw them out."
"Fine," Bleu said irritably. "Do whatever you want with them." She motioned for Katt and Ryu to follow her into the back. "Now that that's over with," she began, bringing out three cups and serving her guests coffee, as good hostesses do, "what can I do for you?"
"It's pretty complicated, actually..."
***
Ryu halted his narration. "Meanwhile, something else that Katt and I were unaware of had happened the morning after we left the TownShip..."
***
Patty hefted herself out of the well, very confused. Hoping that one of Ryu's friends would know what was going on, she walked up the stairs to the large house in the center of the TownShip.
"Patty!" A shrill voice stopped her progress.
"What is it, Nina?"
The winged princess looked at her cockeyed. "Have you seen Ryu?"
"Nope, but I wanted t' ask you about somethin'..." Seeing that Nina's attention had wandered after she'd said the word "nope," Patty stopped speaking.
Nina soared up above the house, looking down and around the TownShip. "Ryu!" she called accusingly. "Where are you?!"
"Hey, Nina!"
"What?!" she answered without actually looking down or stopping her search.
"I think something's wrong with Dad. Could you come take a look at him?"
Nina paused. "Your father....I'll bet he knows where Ryu is! Let's go!" Nina swiftly angled down towards the well. Running to catch up, Patty climbed down the ladder just after the princess had flown in.
Ganer was, just as Patty had heard before, singing a strange chant. Nina screamed over the not-quite-in-tune song, "Ganer! Have you seen Ryu?!" Unfazed, the old priest continued singing the unusual song, his lips not actually moving.
You! And me! And her----simultaneous
You! And me! And her----simultaneous
You! And me! And her----simultaneous lovin'...
"Ganer!!" Nina screamed angrily. "Listen to me!"
"What's he singin', anyway?" asked Patty.
Nina listened to the repeating words. "Simultaneous!?!" She narrowed her eyes. "Ryu's at Wisdon!"
Patty scratched her head. "How d'ya figure that?"
It was too late for Patty to receive an explanation, however, because Nina had already exited the chamber. Patty raced to the ladder, hoping to find out what exactly was happening.
As her head cleared the lip of the well, she saw that Nina had already summoned the Great Bird, actually her sister Mina locked in the form of the ancient Wyndians. Mina squawked and took off, soaring at speeds most humans, including members of the Wing Clan, could only dream of.
Patty, however, was not in that majority. Curious, she spread her own bat-like wings and jumped into the air. Maybe whatever Nina had been babbling about actually related to her father's unusual condition.
***
"...and then we rode Grandpa Whale all the way here," Ryu finished.
"Interesting," Bleu began, pouring her guest another cup. "but not surprising."
"Whaddaya mean?" Katt demanded.
"Nina's obsession with you, Ryu, is a malignant manifestation of her destiny," Bleu explained. "Certain parameters defined by the traditional sequence of the destined cycle have not been achieved."
"Huh?"
Bleu sighed. "Okay, look at it this way---you know that there have been several other Ryus besides yourself, right?"
Ryu shook his head. "Actually, no, I didn't know that."
"Oh, Ladon. This is the way it works: at several points throughout history and pre-history, threats to our planetary welfare have come up. Each time this happens, a certain force which protects our world---we call it 'destiny' as a convenience---distributes itself into specific individuals. These people each have a bit of this power in them, to a greater or lesser degree. The one individual with the greatest amount of this power inside, what I like to term as the 'cycle focus,' is Ryu.
"That word is more than just a man's name---it is a definition. You could also call it an adjective of sorts." Bleu stopped to take a drink of coffee.
Ryu's eyes widened as he began to grasp the concept. "So when I say, 'I'm Ryu...'"
"You're not just telling someone your name," Bleu finished. "You're also explaining what you are. In a sense, when you say, 'I am ryu,' you are describing the ultimate level of your being. Naturally, most people would not understand this idea, and they take the statement at face value."
"Naturally," Katt mimicked, peeved at the sorceress's superior tone.
"Which brings me to the next point," Bleu said, with a hint of irritability, flicking Katt's leg with her tail in what seemed to be a totally innocent accident. "In each of these cycles, there is not only a Ryu, but a Nina as well."
"What does that mean?" asked Ryu.
"The word 'nina' means 'to accompany' in the language of the gods." Ryu chose to let Bleu continue her explanation, rather than to ask how she knew the language the gods spoke. "The basic breakdown of the typical cycle is this: A threat to the world is ascertained, the 'destined force' selects those it will inhabit to combat it, and creates ryu as well."
"Creates Ryu? What are you talking about?" Katt inquired.
"I told you that this natural force infuses itself into people, and that is true. With ryu this process is slightly different. Destiny not only selects who will be ryu, but also changes the individual's vital makeup. Therefore, not only will the cycle focus be ryu, but he will also be Ryu. Do you understand?"
"Not a bit," Ryu affirmed.
"What I mean is, the focus will be ryu, the word, and he will also be Ryu, the man. You may not look or be the same person now as you were when you grew inside your mother."
"Okay..." Ryu said dubiously.
"It may seem farfetched, but it's the truth. To continue, the ryu will locate the other focuses....foci..." Bleu stopped. "Which one is it?"
"I don't care," Katt stated.
"Anyway, Ryu will find these other foc---people through random occurrences which seem to be pure chance, but, of course, they are not. Together, these people will abate the threat. Along the way, Ryu usually hooks up with Nina, and they get married, or before the concept of marriage, they 'shacked up' or whatever you like to call it."
Ryu perked up. "You said 'usually.' So Nina and Ryu don't always end up together?"
"No," Bleu answered. "If Nina dies throughout the course of the cycle, then obviously Ryu will be more...open to other options. I've scored a couple Ryus myself." With this, she seductively winked at the dragon.
"But Nina isn't dead," said Ryu. "Why am I not more attracted to her?"
"I couldn't tell you that," Bleu admitted. "Perhaps it's because you have other suitable choices available?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"She means us, you dummy!" Katt exclaimed as she struck the back of his head with her palm. "Her and me."
"Oh, yeah."
"No, that can't be it," Bleu said, answering her own question. "I've been around for a lot of the cycles. Ryu's never shown more interest in me than in Nina before---not while she was alive, anyway."
"Maybe it's 'cause he's only half dragon!" Katt suggested.
"That could be it," Bleu allowed. "If your DNA isn't completely draconian, the 'destined force' could have had difficulty properly aligning your psychological predispositions."
"What?" Ryu was glad that Katt had said it before he could.
"It's technical stuff. Let's just say that your half-dragon body structure probably had a hand in your not liking winged girls as much as your predecessors."
One of Bleu's misty servants popped into view. "Mistress Bleu?"
"What is it, Solid? It's not about those damned books again, is it?"
Solid Spirit looked slightly shamefaced. "No, Mistress. The Princess of Wyndia is currently making quite a ruckus outside. You might want to investigate this personally."
Ryu leapt to his feet. "How did she know we were here?"
"God works in mysterious ways," Katt said angrily.
"Not God," Bleu corrected. "Rather, you might say that she feels differently about your destiny than you, Ryu."
"This ends now," Ryu muttered, his eyes narrowing.
"Great Ladon! You're not going to kill her, are you? That would be extremely bad form, not to mention very messy." Bleu's words went without reply as Ryu purposefully strode outside, stopping to pick up a handy rope out of a pile of trash that had not yet been cleared out. Katt hurriedly followed the dragon, and Bleu slithered as quickly as she could behind them.
"Nina!" Ryu called into the arid air. "Let's finish this!"
Nina dismounted the great bird, taking a second to dust the sand of the desert off of her skirt. "What are you doing here, Ryu?"
"Whatever I want to!" he expostulated. "It's none of your business!"
"You're mine!" she screamed, rushing him. Ryu, prepared for this tactic, dodged to the side and looped his rope around her. Binding the princess's arms to her sides, he tied the end in a fierce knot and pushed her to the ground. She thrashed around, trying to get free, to no avail.
"What's goin' on here?" Patty questioned, lowering herself to the ground. "GOD DAMN! Brother, what is this?"
"Nina's just going a little crazy on us," Katt answered for him.
"How did she know how to find us, though?" Ryu wondered.
"I dunno," Patty said. "She heard Dad goin' on about some simultaneous somethin' or other."
"Simultaneous?" Katt asked.
"Don't try to deny it, you slut!" Nina shouted. "You know that you and Bleu were going to take my precious Ryu and do weird, perverted sex acts with him!"
"What?" Katt uttered in complete confusion. "I'd never even thought about that...hmm..."
"Some interesting possibilities just occurred to me," Bleu stated thoughtfully. "I'm up for it if you are."
"Well I'm NOT!" Ryu said. "I was raised in a church, you know! My father, well, never mind. Actually, it's strangely disturbing how Nina and my father seem to think along the same lines."
"Oh, gross!" Patty exclaimed. "That's what Dad was singing about!"
Ryu stuck up for his old man. "He did spend ten years stuck in the basement of a church hooked up to a machine which ran off his life energy with no human contact, you know."
Patty looked at him. "Yeah, and Mom died, well, not really died, but, you know, when we were pretty young, too."
"You know, Nina, I'll bet Ryu's dad'd be a great match for you!" Katt smirked.
"Ryu's mine! You leave him alone!" Nina tried to shift herself to face the dragon. "Ryu, if you love me you'll untie me now."
"Nina, not to hurt your feelings or anything, but I don't love you and I'm not yours." Ryu leaned down as close as he wanted to get to her face. "Get over it!"
Nina began to sniffle. "I'm not falling for that one," the dragon warned. "Let's get out of here, Katt."
"Where are you going?" asked Patty.
"I'm not telling," Ryu replied. "That way she won't be able to follow us. Bleu, would you watch her for a while?"
"Sure thing, stud." Bleu winked. "If you're ever ready to go for that 'simultaneous' thing, I'll be more than happy to oblige."
At a loss for words, Ryu could think of nothing else to say but, "Whatever." He hopped on Mina's back, lifting Katt up after he got himself settled. He signaled the great bird to take off after his companion was ready. Mina spread her wings and flew, taking the two farther away until Bleu could no longer see them.
"Maybe you and I could take on Bow..." Bleu suggested to Patty.
***
"Is that all, mes amis?"
"Pretty much," Ryu said. "We flew around for a couple of days, trying to throw Nina off our trail, just in case she escaped Bleu's clutches."
"Cannot the princess use her magic to find you?"
"We thought about that," Katt answered. "For some reason, she never seemed to be able to warp right here. She always went to the other side of the lake."
Jean nodded, knowing that to be true.
"It's getting kind of late, Jean," said Ryu. "Could we stay in the guest room---you know, the one by the general store?"
Jean stood up. "It has been made ready for you, my friend. I ordered it so the moment you came."
"Thanks, pal." Ryu and Katt both got up and walked out of the room, Ryu giving the Woren a sharp slap on the posterior as she exited the door. Jean wondered how much sleeping would actually be going on in the guest room. Sighing, he resumed his seat alone at the table. As he drained the last contents of his mug, he heard a huge crash, followed by angry screams from several people outside the inn.
Jean smiled. He had such interesting friends.