--- - 5 - ---


"Kaandu!"

The roar cut across the ruins, echoing across the deserted buildings. A black-furred youngling darted through the dangerous area, glancing back to make sure that his pursuer wasn't too close behind. Tail swishing through the stale air, he ran into the nearest building--the one at the very end of the pathway.

(Kihmari doesn't understand,) Kaandu thought to himself. (Kaandu gonna be a Ronso Warrior, like Biran! No danger here... not for me!)

Balancing the "halberd" he had made out of a long branch, he pelted forward into the depths of the ruin. There had to be something here for a Ronso Warrior to fight. Anything at all....

There was an earthshattering roar, hundreds of times more alarming than the calls of his adoptive brother behind him. Kaandu re-gripped his weapon, turning to see the giant form of a behemoth lumbering out of the shadows. The smell of rot accompanied it, and by the reddened teeth Kaandu could see that he had interrupted it in the middle of it's meal. Crouching into a fighting stance, Kaandu bared his own teeth.

Before he had a chance to attack the monstrosity, a blue-furred form barreled out of the shadows and placed itself between Kaandu and the behemoth. Swinging his polearm in three graceful arcs, he severed the major arteries in the fiend's neck. The behemoth gave a huge moan, and fell.

Kaandu dropped his weapon, ears flattening. "Kihmari!" he protested.

The butt of Kihmari's halberd thumped on the ground. "We will go to Gagazet," he said firmly. "Kaandu should not be here."

"Kaandu is Ronso Warrior," Kaandu said, placing a paw on his hip and gesturing emphatically with the other. "Biran was Ronso Warrior. Biran brought Kaandu a Behemoth claw. Biran can kill the behemoth, Kaandu can kill the behemoth!"

"No!" Kimahri was adamant. "Still cub. Grow older."

"Kihmari still young!" Kaandu argued. "Kihmari killed Sin!" His voice filled with respect. "Kihmari warrior."

"Kihmari warrior because Kihmari live past cubhood!"

Kaandu bared his teeth, and darted away into the shadows of the Dome. "Kaandu!" Kihmari yelled again, and ran after him.... again.

This time he caught up with the cub quickly as he darted into the cover of a huge piece of debris to avoid the mechanical gait of one of the Defenders. Baring his teeth, Kaandu spat at the thing. "Hard stone. Not good hunting."

Kihmari caught the cub's forearm, hauling him up into the air and watching him wriggle and hiss. "Bad place. No good hunting."

"Kaandu hunt! Kaandu hunt Behemoth!"

Kihmari shook his head. "Kaandu go home."

Kaandu twisted in Kihmari's grasp, dropping his stick and flailing. Suddenly he stopped, bright eyes fixing on something in the darkness. "Look!" he mouthed.

Kihmari set him down, readjusting his grip on the halberd. Ronso did not lie--if Kaandu thought he saw something, he saw something.

Kaandu dashed off into the darkness, toward a form lying still in the darkness. Kihmari followed,assuming that it would be one of the fallen monks--when tripped, they often lay still until someone found them, lacking the intelligence to rise. Even if they didn't move, they could still damage the unaware--cold flesh and Zombietouch combined to form a deadly trap.

However, when Kihmari caught up to the more agile cub, he found not a Fallen Monk but a human--normal by most counts, except for the lingering Zombie ailment. There was the bottle of some kind of potion on the ground near him and a light magical-burn scar across one cheek, silent testament to the fate that had probably befallen him.

"No good," Kaandu said, poking the figure with the end of his stick. "Hornless goatling."

Kihmari growled. "Not goatling. Human."

"Biran say humans goatlings."

"Biran mistaken. Humans strong warriors. Cousins of Ronso."

Kaandu shrugged. "Sleeping," he said, motioning to the figure. "Bad place to sleep."

Kihmari gave a noncommittal motion with one paw. "Is Kaandu strong Ronso?"

Kandu thumped his chest. "Kaandu very strong!"

"Pick up human. Carry back to Gagazet."

The younger Ronso's face fell. "But...."

Kihmari gave in. "If Kaandu carries human, Kihmari will take Kaandu hunting in Calm Lands."

Kaandu brightened immediately. Dropping his stick, he gathered the limp human figure into his arms--using all the care he would have had he been handling a sack of grain. Straightening up, he turned to Kihmari. "We go to Gagazet!" he said imperiously.

Kihmari nodded and turned, keeping a sharp eye out for fiends along the way.

--- - - - ---


(The jewel glowed brightly in the darkness. Even here, I could see it. It was a jewel of crimson fire... of determination.
(And it seems like I have one more enemy.)

The hulking mass loomed out of the semi-darkness into the semi-light, bathed in the lurid red glow that surrounded it. Something... it was always something that kept it from its sleep, far from its eternal rest. Reclining into the ethereal flow of energy and souls that surrounded it, it sent its mind skipping across the rips and tears of the fabric of the worlds.

(It is as I thought. He has travelled to Gaen.)

This was the point that would have been met with a sigh, if the being had had any need to either inhale or exhale. The essence of the greater cycle comforted the being, but did nothing to help the memory of its Task fade from its mind.

(Gaen.)

It would have to pursue him there, it thought--if only that matter wasn't impossible. Having eliminated one plan from the list of possibilities, it turned to the next one.

(I must prevent others from pursuing him there.)

Contentment flooded through it. That was a good plan. Calmly, it began to re-weave the energy around it. One had to pass through here to pass to anywhere else... he would make this place untraverseable. All it would take was time.

But in the meanwhile....

(The jewel glowed brightly in the darkness. Even here, I could see it. It was a jewel of crimson fire... of determination....)