Obsidian Fires

Part 4

By Mieren

Rowen slid through the shadows with an eerie grace, attaining impossible speeds now that he was no longer hindered by a group.  He ground his teeth, grateful that the others weren't around to remind him of what he was now.  He slipped deeper into the night when he heard something approaching.  Narrowing his crimson eyes, he watched silently as the small group of elves passed by him, the dark forms falling in around something that he couldn't quite make out.  Shifting to get a better view of those passing him, he tensed suddenly when he recognized the thing they were escorting, thanking the light guarding this dimension that they hadn't seen him.  The dark elves were no problem, but the thing with them was not something he had any wish to encounter.

*     *     *

The eight warriors tore recklessly down the trails, Ryo in the lead.  The Warlords stumbled along blindly, unable to see where they were putting their feet to run with any speed or grace.  The staggered to a halt when Ryo skidded to a stop on his face, swearing loudly at something in the trail.  Cye moved over to what Ryo had tripped on, flipping over the body of a dark elf, back broken in over half a dozen places.

"Shit," Cye muttered, stepping away from the corpse to look ahead in the night.

"Not another one," Sage groaned, pushing his hair out of his face.

"What do you mean 'another one'?" Kento demanded, eyes widening.

"You guys haven't been paying attention," Sage reprimanded sharply, glaring at the other three Ronins.  "The Warlords I can excuse for blindness, but you guys need to watch your surroundings.  We've passed at least seven other corpses like that one."

"When was that?" Ryo snapped, pushing himself to his feet.

"There's one or two every so often if you watch."

Cale panted heavily, managing to catch his breath with surprising speed.  "I don't like this," he murmured.  "Whatever killed these elves tore them apart with its bare hands.  I saw one of the others when we passed it.  His head was on backwards."

Sage paled.  "I didn't see that one."

Cye jumped back from the corpse suddenly, face grim.  "You guys aren't going to like this," he hissed, paling further.  The others gathered around the corpse, blanching one by one as they saw what had frightened the youngest Ronin.  Two small holes shone wetly from the side of the dark neck.

*     *     *

The dark elves scattered at the sounds approaching them.  Either a small army was heading down the road, or a few drunken individuals were slamming into every tree on the way down the trail.  Shrinking back into the foliage and shrubbery, they watched warily as a group of seven men and one woman darted by in the night, none of which were armed.  Waiting until they were out of earshot, the dark elves jumped out of hiding.

Bouncing a few unintelligible phrases and questions between themselves, they started following the group that had passed, a lumbering shadow following the score of tiny warriors to see what prey they had found for him.

*     *     *

Sage froze, spinning wildly on his toes to look around frantically.  It took a moment for the others to realize that he wasn't following and wander back to him.

"Hey, Sage.  What's wrong?" Kento asked softly, peering around into the night.

"Something's following us," he whispered, the hairs on the back of his neck rising slowly.  "It's not happy to see us either."

Cye peered behind them carefully.  "I don't see anything."

"I don't care," Sage hissed, backing up a few steps.  "Transform.  We need to leave.  Fast.  Now."  Acting on his last words, he shucked off his jeans and transformed quickly, pulling Cale onto his back immediately, followed by Sehkmet and Dais.  All three squirmed uncomfortably, but didn't say anything or move to get down.

Ryo and Kento followed suit more slowly.  Ryo lifted Cye onto his back, the younger boy clinging to him tenaciously as he tried to find a steady perch.  Kento walked over to Kayura hesitantly, motioning for her to get on.  She climbed on uncertainly, obviously wondering how she was supposed to hold on once they started moving.

Seeing the others seated, Sage took off, only looking back once to make sure the others were still behind him.  The three Warlords kept their balance with a practiced ease coming from countless years of riding horses, glancing back occasionally to squint vainly into the darkness.

Something large vaulted over the small group, causing them to pull up short as an enormous living shadow landed just in front of them.  Sage jumped wildly in agony, unseating one of the Warlords when something bit painfully into his back legs, effectively crippling him.  Refusing to wilt to the ground under an attacker, he lashed out powerfully with both hind legs, ignoring the burning pain shooting through his body.  He grinned wickedly when his hooves contacted something.

Dropping the remaining two Warlords to the ground as he suddenly shifted back, Sage adopted his wolf form, praying silently that the others were doing better than he was at the moment.

"Armor of Wildfire!  Dao Jin!"

Sage spun to dart over to Ryo so he could get a chance to call his own armor.  He blanched and nearly fainted when the red armor flickered around his friend gently before vanishing.  Ryo called to it again with no better results.

"Shit!" Dais cried out as steel bit into his ribs, staggering slightly before dropping to the ground right beside him.

Sage grimaced and tried to call his armor, throat tightening when it didn't respond any more than Ryo's had.  Kento roared in a deep baritone, startling everyone into a stunned silence for a moment.

*     *     *

Growling angrily at the moving shadow in front of him, Kento called upon the only power he was sure that was working at the moment, commanding the earth to smash the thing in front of him.  The ground rolled obediently, slamming its full power into its intended target as it had been ordered to do.  Kento grinned to himself as a tidal wave of stone crashed into the rolling darkness in front of him, choking on a curse when the thing shrugged off the blow and moved in on him.

Letting out a wordless roar of fury, he called upon the earth to swallow the thing utterly and hold the beast if it couldn't destroy it.  The ground complied, the entire area bucking wildly as it struggled to obey the command from the earth master.

*     *     *

Ryo struggled to maintain his balance when the ground beneath him began to shift and buck wildly.  Using the momentum of one of the waves, he launched himself into the stumbling dark elves, managing to drop three of them before they regained their balance enough to retaliate.  Squirming out of their reach, he spun seemingly at random to confuse his attackers, doubling back suddenly to take out a fourth shadowed figure.

He looked up suddenly, realizing that Sage and Cye were finishing off the last of the dark warriors.  Panting heavily, he spun to face Kento, paling at what he saw.

The living shadow had pitch black tentacles trailing from its undefined form, most of them reaching for Kento, who was jumping around wildly to avoid them.  Sage and Cye had already appropriated weapons from the fallen elves and moved forward to help.

Ryo shifted to join them, spinning when he heard Cale's agonized shriek echo through the night.  Darting over towards the fallen man, he slashed out with his claws at the thick black streamer that had snagged the older man's leg.  The blackness sent a bolt of energy through him, nearly dropping him on the spot.  Screaming in anguish, he struggle to jerk his hand back, succeeding at the cost of ripping out three of the claws on his right hand and two on his left.

"Don't touch it!" he screamed to the others as he staggered back.

Jumping away from the shadow, he snagged Cale's arms with bleeding hands, straining all of the muscles in his body as he tried to pull his friend free.  Cale pulled free with another shriek, trembling on the ground where Ryo finally deposited him.

Searching around wildly, he located where Dais had fallen early in the confrontation, battles raging around him as he lay unmoving on the damp earth.  He hissed in a cold fury when he was unable to locate either Kayura or Sehkmet in the confusion and chaos surrounding him.

Kayura bolted past him in the night, screaming for them to run.  It didn't take too long to figure out what she was running from.  An army of dark elves and demons began filtering out of the trees and surrounding landscape.

"Guys!  We need to leave!  NOW!"

Snagging the two Warlords under his arms, he checked quickly to make sure that the others were moving as commanded before bolting into the night with his two unconscious and injured companions.

*     *     *

Cye hunkered miserably in the dim light of the early morning, tears streaming from his eyes.  He had tried to lash out with spells in the fight, but none of his energies had been responding properly if at all.  He had tried to call his armor, but it didn't respond to his desperate cries.  He curled up tighter in the thick branches of what looked like an evergreen, calling out with his mind for the others, whimpering when he didn't get a response.

*     *     *

Kento glared at the rising sun angrily.  His ability to manipulate the earth hadn't responded as strongly as he had grown accustomed to.  After commanding it to trap the demonic shadow, the earth had stopped responding altogether for a few minutes after the strain of his extreme command, leaving him all but defenseless against the thing.  His eyes burned from pain and worry as he watched the last of the dark elves and demons wander away, unable to find their prey.

He waited for nearly thirty minutes to make sure they were gone before climbing out his precarious position clinging to the edge of one of the great cracks in the ground created by his furious attacks.  Hooking his fingers to a more secure position, he levered himself fully out of the fissure, tilting his head to dislodge the clump of dirt that had been hiding his unruly mop of bluish gray hair.

Glancing around one last time, he reached into the crevice to pull the unconscious green-haired idiot free of the tight area he had wedged him in.  Making a face, he slapped the older man angrily, struggling to force him to wake up.  Whatever that shadow thing was, it had hit Sehkmet, and he hadn't moved since Kento's earth attack had knocked him free.

Looking around warily, he called out for the others in his mind, grimacing when he didn't get a response.  Glaring at the unconscious Warlord on the ground as though it were his fault, he delivered a vicious kick to man's thigh, grinning at the answering groan.  As much as Sehkmet drove him up the wall, he was glad to see that he was still alive, being the only person in the group he knew the location of at the moment.

"Still alive and kicking, are we?" Kento smirked, earning himself a scowl.

"That hurts, you know."

"Really?  I never would have guessed."

Sehkmet made a face at him.  "Help me up."

"Get yourself up."

"Hells no.  I hurt."

"Why?  You didn't fight, you little pansy," Kento grinned, relenting and pulling the older man to his feet.  Sehkmet winced and peered around uncertainly, grimacing at his shredded shirt and bloody chest.

"Where are the others?"

Kento just shook his head wearily, eyes scrunched shut in concern.  He nearly jumped out of his skin when a slender figure dropped out of a tree in the distance, darting towards them in an all-out sprint.  Kento yanked a dagger out of his belt and held it ready, wishing fervently that he had his tetsubo or at least a good quarterstaff.  He relaxed when the figure came into view, reddish auburn hair contrasting sharply with pale skin.

"Cye!" he called out happily, replacing his knife in his belt as he moved forward to greet his best friend.  "Why didn't you respond to my sending?"

Cye skidded to a halt beside him, blinking uncertainly.  "I never heard anything.  You didn't respond either, you know."

Cye, can you hear me? Kento called loudly in his mind, cursing loudly when his friend didn't respond in the slightest.

"Something is very wrong here," he said aloud.  "Our armor won't respond and we can't hear each other telepathically.  Only my powers of manipulating the earth seemed to be working in that last fight."

Cye nodded slowly.  "I can't cast any spells, Kento.  Other than you being able to transform and smash stuff with the ground, we're completely helpless."

Blinking slowly, Sehkmet kicked Kento in the shin and then grabbed his head experimentally.  A deep forest green glow flickered unsteadily around his hands for a moment as he concentrated, ignoring Kento's complaining.

Pulling back, Sehkmet grinned weakly.  "I can still heal somewhat.  That's something," he murmured.

"You didn't have to kick me," Kento grumped.  "I already had enough bruises and cuts for you to work with."

"I know that.  I just thought it was my turn," he chortled.

Groaning, Cye separated them before they started pounding on each other for real, glaring meaningfully.

"We need to find the others, not spend all day bickering like children," he snapped, heading for the path they had all been following.  "If I know the others, they'll go back to the trail thinking that everyone else will do the same."

Sehkmet nodded slowly.  "One thing though," he muttered, waiting for the others to turn and listen.  "I've been trying to figure this out for a few days now.  Exactly why is there a trail in the middle of nowhere anyway?"

*     *     *

Ryo scanned the area continuously, afraid that someone would sneak up on him if he let his guard down even for a second.  He took a moment to glance at the two unconscious mounds lying on the earth not three feet from him, neither moving.

Sighing, he dropped down to check the bindings he had placed around Dais's ribs, wincing at the blood seeping through the bandages.  Cale wasn't as bad, but all of the skin on his left leg had been ripped off from his knee down.

Grimacing he settled down warily to wait for them to wake up.  His eyes burned with guilt as he looked around numbly for the others, calling out to them with his mind.  If he hadn't upset Rowen enough to drive him off and then insisted that they chase after him recklessly like a bunch of idiots, this wouldn't have happened.  Now they were scattered, injured, and almost defenseless in a dimension they knew nothing about.

A pained groan snapped him out of his guilt trip.  Shifting slightly, he turned to see Cale pushing himself weakly to a sitting position, face twisted in agony as he moved his injured leg slightly.

"You okay?" Ryo asked softly, recognizing the stupid question for what it was.

Cale blinked tears out of his eyes as he looked blankly at the bloody wrappings around his left leg from knee to ankle.  "I don't think so.  What happened?"

"That shadow thing snagged your leg and I pulled you free, depriving you of the skin on your leg in the process.  Dais was slashed by one of the dark elves.  He has a nice gash running along his ribs."

Grimacing in pain, he only nodded.  "And you?"

Ryo grimaced.  "I think I got off a bit easier than either of you.  I'm only missing the tips of a few fingers."

"How'd that happen?"

"I tried to claw the shadow holding you and lost the last joint of five fingers when I pulled back."

Cale nodded slowly, eyeing Dais carefully.  "I don't think we should move him until we get someone to do something about his ribs.  Have you seen Sage or Sehkmet?"

Shaking his head, Ryo began studying the ground furiously.  "I haven't seen anyone.  I'm not even sure if anyone else survived.  I can't sense their presence or contact them through telepathy."

Cale made a face.  "I wouldn't go by that.  I can't sense your presence, and you're not more than a few feet from me.  I think that had something to do with our armors not responding, seeing as how that's how we used to figure out where the others were."

Sighing, Ryo nodded helplessly.  "Can you do anything?"

"I don't think so.  When my armor didn't answer to my calling it, I tried using my other powers, but they didn't respond either.  I think we're fairly screwed."

"Nice of you to put it so delicately," Ryo muttered, looking around again.  "We can't stay here, though.  If the others are out there, we have to find them."

Walking over slowly, Ryo pulled Cale to his feet, helping him balance on one foot for the moment.  Shifting back to a wolf, he lifted Dais gently to his back before slowly backing underneath Cale, who was more than glad to sit back down.

Gripping Dais securely in his arms, Cale tested his balance carefully.  Seeing that the older man would be unable to hold on while keeping his unconscious friend upright, Ryo spread his wings slowly, wrapping them around Cale's back one at a time at rather awkward angles, hoping to keep the two on his back seated when he started moving.  Starting forward slowly, Ryo tried not to limp as he moved slowly towards the trail they had been on for the last week, hoping that the others would do the same.

*     *     *

Kayura blinked in the early morning light, squinting in the deeper shadows to follow the blood trailing through the trees.  She partially hoped that it would lead to an enemy instead of one of her friends, unable to bear the thought of any of the others bleeding that profusely.  She froze when the blood trail suddenly ended in the middle of a small clearing, unable to see anyone in the area.

Staring for a moment at the large pool of blood at the ending of the crimson trail, she was about to turn to leave when she noticed that a tree on the far end of the clearing was streaked with crimson.

Moving over to the bloody tree, she peered into the branches, paling when she made out a blond head amid the deep greenish blue foliage.  Swinging herself up into the limbs, she began climbing laboriously through the dense branches towards the boy, cursing softly under her breath.

Reaching forward, she placed one hand hesitantly on Sage's shoulder, growing worried when he didn't respond to her gentle grip.  Pulling herself up a few branches higher so that she was sitting on the same cluster of branches as the younger boy, she began to examine him more closely.

Sage didn't move during her gentle prodding, giving no indication that he knew Kayura was there.  Peering into his glazed eyes, she began to panic, realizing that he had lost far too much blood from some injury.  It only took a moment to find the deep trenches in the back of the boy's legs, bone showing clearly from one of the mauled appendages.  Swearing loudly, Kayura gathered him in her arms and started to climb back down the tree, wondering how he was still alive after this much time.

Leaving him lying at the base of the tree, Kayura rummaged around for things to build a fire, grateful that she knew how to do so from scratch.  Hating herself for what she was about to do, she began heating one of the knives she had taken from a fallen dark elf.  Snagging up the glowing blade, she edged over to where Sage was lying on his side, his arms wrapped around his chest limply as he shivered weakly.

"I'm sorry, Sage," she whispered as she pressed the glowing steel to the back of one of his legs.  He flinched slightly and whimpered softly in protest, but didn't move to fight back as the blade seared the deep laceration.  Prodding the fire and heating the blade once more, she did the same thing to his other leg, wishing that she had access to some real medical supplies.

Eyeing the barely closed flesh, she began to shred her cloak into strips, binding Sage's legs as tightly as she dared before lifting the unconscious boy across her shoulders, cursing softly at him for weighing so much.  Moving back towards the trail, she began to move painstakingly down the path, praying that she would find Sehkmet soon and hoping that he was up to healing the boy across her shoulders.

*     *     *

A dozen sets of ruby eyes watched a slender woman hauling an unconscious youth stagger past.  Pulling his cloak tighter, the leader of the small group signaled to the others, pulling them out of hiding as they began to trail the two helpless individuals.

*     *     *

Kayura tensed suddenly, looking behind her fearfully.  Someone was following her and was being quiet about it.  But not quiet enough.  Scowling in anger and helplessness, she quickly set Sage down and drew the foot long blade she had tucked firmly in her belt, glancing around wildly.

Immediately, figures cloaked in swirling greens and browns began dropping from the trees, weapons drawn and ruby eyes shining from within the deep hoods.  The slender figures formed a rough ring around the two and stood silently.  One of the cloaked individuals started forward slowly, single slender sword raised almost defensively.

Squirming uncomfortably, Kayura took a step back, eyeing his deadly movements and easy grace with a wary expression.  They were apparently making a game of this.  Toying with her.  The last set had simply charged them with the entirety of their numbers, not bothering with anything that resembled a fair fight.

The advancing shadowed warrior edged forward, pushing her another few steps back as she tried to avoid him.  He stopped moving toward her suddenly, motioning the others towards Sage, thoroughly infuriating Kayura.  Not bothering with her own safety any longer, she charged around the warrior holding her at bay, slamming his sword away from her as she passed.  Diving into a roll, she came to her feet beside Sage, slashing out at the nearest cloaked figure furiously with her knife, wishing for the tenth time in so many seconds that she had a sword.

The slender figure rolled away from her quickly, not returning her slash.  Standing protectively over Sage, Kayura raised her knife as threateningly as she could manage, scowling at the small group regarding her thoughtfully.

The one to have originally advanced on her snapped his sword into a sheath hidden beneath the billowing folds of his cloak and threw back his hood, revealing a young light elf with pale blue hair and startling silver eyes.  Jumping back from him, Kayura hesitantly replaced her knife in her belt, but continued to watch him warily.  The elf grinned at her ruefully, watching her hands carefully as she was watching him while he moved over to Sage slowly.

Not sure what she should do, having seen elves fight with them in destroying the Dynasty, she hesitantly allowed him to kneel beside the unconscious boy.  Peeking under one of the bandages wrapped around Sage's legs, he called something to the others, sending them running to obey whatever he had said.  Within a matter of seconds, the elves had organized with surprising discipline, tying a cloak between two long branches securely.  Four of the slender forms moved forward to lift Sage gently into the crude litter, each snagging a corner and darting off with the unconscious youth.

Yelping in a fury, Kayura raced after them, ignoring the nonsense that the leader was spouting at her.  Pushing past a few of the slender elves, she tried to reclaim Sage, the blue-haired elf catching her arm and gibbering insistently.  She made a face at him and shrugged free of his grip, being much larger and stronger than the skinny five-foot elf.  He caught her arm again and snapped something at her almost angrily, blinking at the confused expression she leveled in his direction.

The leader made a face of extreme concentration, raising his head slowly as he regarded her in careful consideration.

"Kayura?" he asked slowly, brows knotting questioningly.

Kayura jumped before nodding numbly.  "How did you know that?"

The blue-haired elf grinned, pointing to his ears.  "Cye Mouri."  Looking after the elves that had disappeared with the litter, he murmured, "Sage Date."

"So your leader spread our names around, did he?" Kayura muttered, making a face at the grinning elf.

Looking around carefully, he made a face.  "Cye?  Ryo?  Kento?  Cale?  Dais?  Sehkmet?  Anubis?"

Kayura shook her head, pointing back in the direction they had fought.  Leaning forward, she tweaked one of his pointed ears and pointed to the wicked blade in her belt.  The leader of the elves immediately paled considerably.  Kayura shook her head again, gesturing wildly as she tried to convey that the others had only scattered.  He nodded uncertainly and motioned for her to follow as he started down a trail that was almost unnoticeable from the main trail she had been on.

He stopped suddenly, gesturing towards a small hole in the ground.  Kayura only looked at him blankly.  He groaned, pointing first to her then the hole.  Making a face, she edged over to the narrow opening and peered into the black depths, frowning slightly and turning back to the elfin leader who continued to point to the hole demandingly.  Sighing, she lowered herself slowly into the blackness, dropping lightly when her feet found no solid footing beneath her.  Landing lightly on the balls of her feet, she squinted into the darkness and swore softly, looking back up to the light above and wondering how the hell they managed to get Sage down that short of dropping him.

A set of glowing red eyes appeared beside her, causing her to jump back and flatten herself against the wall.  She heard some mumbling followed by muffled laughter and realized that she had just become the butt end of some joke.  A guiding hand gripped her arm when it became apparent to the elves that she could not see in the dark, leading her forward through the endless tunnels.

After about half an hour of walking, they entered a softly glowing cavern that seemed bright to Kayura's light starved eyes.  Thousands of slender forms raced around, many of which threw incredulous glances in her direction.  The blue-haired elf holding her arm grinned at her blank expression and proceeded to lead her through the maze of underground buildings.  Losing track of where she was quickly, Kayura shrugged and took up looking around at the elegant buildings instead of watching where she was going.  Before she knew what had happened, she was shoved through a doorway of intricately carved marble inlaid with crystals and quartz.

Deciding that this was an important building, Kayura straightened her back and squared her shoulders, grinning as she realized that she topped the elfin leader by a few inches at the very least, and he was one of the taller elves here.  She idly wondered how they would respond to Sage, the boy towering over her by more than a head.  The thought of the injured boy sobered her up quickly, tears stinging her eyes as she looked at the thick mop of light bluish hair in front of her.

A small committee of ten middle-aged elves was waiting for her in a large, heavily decorated room.  When she arrived, a short blond began speaking quickly to the elfin leader with her, his dark golden eyes lighting up when Kayura's name was mentioned.  He grinned at her and moved to her side, gibbering wildly.  He cut off suddenly when the blue-haired elf said something quietly to him, probably having informed him that she didn't speak the language.  He made a frustrated face and began chewing his lower lip thoughtfully.

"Kayura?" he murmured, grinning hesitantly.  She nodded.

"Star storm scream?" he asked hopefully, pointing at a suit of armor decorating one of the walls.

"I must admit that you people have excellent memories," Kayura muttered as she shook her head.  He made a face and sighed.

He looked at her thoughtfully, eyes narrowing.  "Ronins?" he asked, pointing again to the suit of armor.  Kayura pointed to the suit of armor and shook her head.  He muttered something that she was sure was a curse before growling something to the others.  Kayura caught his attention by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Sage?" she asked pleadingly.  He paused and turned to the elfin commander that had brought her here.  The blue-haired elf nodded and led her out of the room.

They only walked for a few minutes before he led her into a simply designed building of polished gray granite.  Weaving through a few corridors, he paused and pointed through a thick glass window.

Peering through, Kayura gasped when she saw Sage laid out on a table, three elfin women and one man surrounding him, hands glowing in pale lavenders and blues.  Sage was lying on his stomach and looking around desperately with wild eyes, trembling slightly when he only saw the slender figures surrounding him.  Wincing, Kayura pointed to herself and to the room.

The blue-haired commander shook his head forcefully and pointed to a chair just off to the side of the doors.  Kayura set her jaw in a firm line and pointed to the room again, crossing her arms for emphasis and trying to glare.  He made a face, the two engaging in a contest of wills which Kayura won rather quickly, having quite a few years more experience at orneriness than did the elf.

Rolling his eyes and snorting wryly, he opened the door and escorted her over to the edge of the table.  Sage grinned widely upon seeing her and relaxed slightly, much to the relief of the four trying to work on him.

"How are you doing, Sage?" she murmured softly, taking one of his trembling hands in both of her own.

"I've been better," he muttered, relaxing completely and glancing over his shoulder.  "What's going on?"

"I found where you were hiding, and the elves found me as I carried your ass down the trail.  They recognized us from the battle with the Dynasty and brought us here when they saw you were hurt."

Sage nodded slowly, wincing when someone hit a nerve on his leg.  "It appears that they can still heal a little, but obviously not as well as they're used to.  It's probably related to what's been giving us problems."

"Yea, they seemed disappointed when I told them we couldn't call our armors, but not overly surprised."

"You can talk to them?" he said incredulously.

"Not a chance.  We've been pointing and using hand gestures like a bunch of drunken idiots."

Sage groaned and peered over his shoulder again.  "Do you know how much longer they're going to be?"

"How would I know?"

"Tell me how deep the lacerations are now, and I'll see if I can figure it out."

Grumbling, Kayura peered past the elves working on him, careful not to shift and irritate the blue-haired commander that was still making faces at her.

"About halfway there, I'd say," she murmured.

"How long have we been here?" Sage asked slowly, trying not to flinch.

"Only a few minutes."

"It seems like a bit longer to me," he grumped, jerking slightly and hissing over his shoulder.  "Would you please quit poking me?"

Kayura tried not to grin, knowing that the grumbling Ronin wouldn't appreciate it in the slightest.  Instead, she gripped his hand more firmly, trying to distract him from the pain of whatever they were doing to him.  She decided to distract him for real.

"You know," she drawled, grinning slightly.  "You didn't have any pants when I found you and you still don't.  I have a nice view from here as do the three women working on you."

Sage's face was suddenly aflame, causing the elves working on him to pause and peer at Kayura questioningly, obviously wanting to know what she had said to him.  Shrugging, they went back to work.  Sage only buried his burning face in his arms.  He winced when they touched a tender spot on his thighs.

"Hey Sage," Kayura murmured softly, getting him to raise his head to look at her.  "Would you like me to kiss it and make it better?"

Struggling to keep from blushing again, he grinned lecherously.  "Would you?"

For an answer, she thumped him on the head.  "You're as bad as Dais."

"I'm insulted!" he wailed softly, clutching at his heart as best as he was able while lying on his stomach.  Kayura grinned and thumped him again.

One of the elfin women snagged Kayura's arm and pulled her over to where she had been working, looking worried and pointing demandingly.  Blinking Kayura peered at what the woman was indicating and grinned, chortling merrily.  Reaching over, she thumped Sage on the top of his head for a third time.

"Hey idiot," she giggled, "quit trying to transform.  You're confusing the medics something awful."

Sage frowned over his shoulder, grinning slightly when he saw that he had unintentionally changed the joints in his legs.

"Umm… oops?" he offered, snickering softly as he shifted back, further confusing the poor elfin medics.  The elfin commander snorted and said something to the four working on him, who blinked in confusion before finishing their work.

Two sets of supporting hands grabbed Sage and pulled him off of the table, trying to get him to his feet.  Kayura snickered.

"You should ask them to let you stand on your own so that they could find you a pair of pants," she teased, causing him to redden again.

"I can fix that," he muttered, mortally embarrassed, shifting suddenly into a centaur and thoroughly terrifying every elf in the room except the commander.  The blue-haired elf only snickered along with Kayura.  He tossed out a command to one of the women before holding out his hand to Sage in a friendly greeting.  Sage shook his hand in wry amusement.

"Neris Kilumen," he murmured, grinning widely.

"That's his name, right?" Sage asked Kayura softly.  She just shrugged.  Sighing, he gave his name.  The commander only nodded.

"He already knows us," Kayura snorted.

Sage sighed.  "Neris, right?" he asked slowly.  The elf nodded and grinned.  "Okay, when can you get us out of here?  We need to find our friends."

"Like this," Kayura muttered when the elfin commander only looked at them blankly.  She pointed to herself and Sage then to the ceiling, calling out the names of a few of their companions.

Nodding, he led them out of the building, gathering a few packs from various elves as passed, passing a few to Sage and Kayura.  He stopped by one of the armaments, pointing to the shelves of weapons and armor there.

Kayura chose two swords and light chain mail for herself.  Looking around, she snagged a largish no-dachi and a set of long swords.  Making a face, she also picked out a broadsword and a set of knives, grumbling something about Dais always being difficult.

Sage grinned at her stream of insults and selected the largest no-dachi they had, passing over the heavy armor with a raised eyebrow, knowing that he wouldn't be able to stuff himself into any of it.  After a moment, he grabbed a set of twin swords and a staff with a blade at one end.  Looking a little harder, he found something that closely resembled a yari and took it too, along with a full suit of chain mail, mumbling something about Cye being small enough to wear it.

When Neris saw that they were done, he continued on, making a few quick stops at various buildings to snag a few more bags of things.  After a little while traveling, he showed them one of the larger openings to the surface, grinning as Sage shifted his eyes from golden to pale blue immediately when he first saw the light up ahead.

It only took him a minute to show them back to the trail they had been on, smiling contentedly.  Shrugging, Sage and Kayura hefted the bags they had been given and started moving again.  Sage blinked in confusion when the blue-haired elf trotted after them.  He slowed to see if he had forgotten something, glancing over to Kayura when Neris just stopped beside him and didn't try to communicate.

"Tell me he's not coming with us," Sage muttered.

"Well, he knows the way better than us and can probably fight some of the things here better than we can, so I don't see what it could hurt."

"Did you know about this?" he demanded, glancing at the grinning elf.

"No sooner than you did."

Spitting out something that Kayura was positive she didn't want to hear, they started down the trails once more, Neris occasionally pointing in a direction helpfully.  He urged them to speak constantly to each other and to him as they traveled, listening intently with a thoughtful expression.

*     *     *

Ryo staggered unsteadily, nearly depositing both of his passengers on the ground before catching himself.  Peeling his lips back from his teeth furiously, he forced his burning muscles to keep moving and tried to ignore the hunger clawing at his stomach.

Glaring ahead determinedly, he didn't hear Cale's worried question.  Cale caught his attention by poking him in the back of the head and began again.

"Are you sure you don't need to rest for a little while?"

"I'm fine," he snapped, eyes flashing.

"Are you sure about that?  Do you even know what you tripped on?"

Ryo blinked.  "There was something in the road?"

"Ah shit.  You really are wasted.  You just tripped over something that I think used to be a dark elf.  I don't know what it would be classified as now considering how many pieces it was in."

Craning his head over his shoulder, Ryo gaped at the mangled corpse that he had somehow managed to miss seeing despite the fact that he had tripped over it.  The body had been ripped cleanly in half at the waist and carelessly dropped by something that didn't leave footprints in the soft soil of the trail.

Blinking suddenly, he turned to view the trail behind him, paling at the bloody footprints he was leaving behind, the only footprints on the trail.  Raising his head and straining his ears, he realized that all of the birds and insects had gone silent.

"Ah shit," he hissed, backing up a step.  "Something is following us."

"How can you tell?" Cale demanded, peering down the trail uncertainly.

Without bothering with a response, Ryo started down the trail at a leisurely pace.  After leaving a few more footprints in the damp soil, he leapt into the bushes and doubled back, knowing that his attackers would expect him to continue forward and away from them.  Hunkering down in a mass of thick bushes, he rolled gently onto his side, depositing his passengers without jarring them too badly.

Holding up one hand to tell Cale to stay put, he scooted closer to the trail, wriggling deep into the dark green foliage of the thick brush alongside the trail.  Almost immediately, a small group of dark elves darted past, snowy manes contrasting sharply with their ebony skin and crimson eyes.  A few mounts followed them, horrendous scaled creatures walking on two legs, the much shorter front legs sporting heavy muscles and long talons.  Long sinuous tails trailed menacingly behind the beasts, wicked barbs tipping the ridged lengths.  Ryo was willing to bet that they had sharp teeth as well.

Noting that there were only three elves with five mounts, Ryo stiffened, looking around wildly and straining his ears again.  There would be one on either side of the trail, no doubt.  Spinning silently and flattening his ears, he waited for the dark silhouette to pass by, launching himself out of hiding and snapping his neck before he could raise an alarm.  Looking up, he spotted the other on the far side of the trail.

Adrenaline destroyed his weariness as he slipped behind the elves on the trail and tackled their other scout silently.  Peeking over the bushes, he waited for the dark elf with the bow to look in another direction before moving.  Leaping out silently, he slammed into the elf with the bow, ripping out his throat before spinning to regard the other two.

Snagging the bow from the fallen form below him, he managed to fire off one shot before spinning the weapon clumsily in his hands to fend of the one standing dark elf and the five mounts.  Treating the bow like a club, he managed to crack the final elf in the temple, causing him to slide limply to the ground.

Unfortunately, the element of surprise didn't work as well on the mounts as it had on their riders.  One of his wings was immediately shredded beyond use, the other broken within the first few seconds of struggling.  Snarling deep within his throat, he launched himself at the nearest creature, latching onto its throat with his teeth as the thing sank its own fangs into his shoulder.  The struggle was over in moments.

Rolling heavily to his feet, he took off down the trail, cursing when he realized that the things were much faster than he was at the moment.

Deciding to rely on strategy, he jumped one of the nearest trees, rebounding viciously into the nearest creature, both of them thrashing around for a mere moment before Ryo viciously wrenched its long, sinuous neck backwards.

Calling upon his reserves of strength, he threw a third mount into the fourth and tackled the fifth, leaving when it was sufficiently disemboweled.  Not bothering with taking the final two individually, he leapt into the fray of tangled legs as the two beasts struggled to get to their feet.

Claws slashed across his face, the streaming blood nearly blinding him as he punched through the armored hide of the nearest beast with his fist, dropping it to the ground.  The final creature kicked at him with a hind foot, launching Ryo nearly twenty feet and leaving huge trenches in his side.  Ryo struggled to his feet as it neared, lurching sideways awkwardly as it lashed out with the barb on the end of its tail.

Leaping into the air to avoid the following slash, Ryo hissed in pain as he opened his wings to guide his fall, landing heavily on the back to the final mount.  Sinking his teeth into the leathery neck, he jumped back when he heard the satisfying crunch of bone.

Breath rasping painfully in his throat, he started back to where he had left Cale and Dais, collapsing in exhaustion and pain as he reached the area where he had hidden his friends.  He was only vaguely aware of Cale's worried voice from somewhere beside him as blackness swallowed him.

To Be Continued…

Evil format!  I had to scrounge this off an old floppy somewhere.  The main story died when the hard drive crashed.  I can't believe how stubborn this is being.  Oh well… R&R!