Ranma/Lone Wolf Crossover Fanfiction
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or the Lone Wolf Series or any other characters. The rights to Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi and for the Lone Wolf Series Joe Dever. This story is created solely for entertainment purposes and no profit as gained from this..
Note.
Kai Names:
* Ranma Stormgard (Saotome) - Wild Horse
* Braxus Stormgard - Swift Blade
Wild Horse of Kai
By Montymouse
' ' - Thought
" " - Speech
Chapter Seven - The Prophecy of Sommerlund
***
Ranma's point of view
Ranma had his doubts about leaving his brother at the bridge, as he was sure that they would be outnumbered if reinforcements didn't come in time. Braxus had his duty to protect the Prince while Ranma had his duty to warn the King that the Darklords were invading.
"Ready, Wild Horse? You've better live up to your name if you are going to leave the clearing. May Ishir protect you." Ranma could hear his brother telling him to gallop as fast he could.
Ranma looked down the path that he was about to follow.
'Hmm... I have to reach the safety of the woods, but before that I'll be vulnerable to attackers. At least I can trust my brother to cover me while I gallop at full speed, I hope,' Ranma thought as he looked at the fine horse that he had been given.
"Listen horse, I know that you are scared and I'd be lying if I weren't too, but for both our lives I expect you to do your best. That is all I expect for you," Ranma whispered into the horse's ear as he used his Animal Kinship to calm the horse down, sensing its nervousness.
The horse neighed in approval and stomped its hooves on the ground. Ranma prepared and nodded to his brother Braxus that he was ready.
"Now go, run like the wind." Ranma heard Braxus as he felt his horse begin to move with a start from Braxus' encouragement. The horse sure was fast as it galloped like the wind along the path as Ranma held tightly to the reins.
When Ranma was almost halfway along the path, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye moving suspiciously in the tall grass. Suddenly a figure jumped out of the long grass with a weapon in its hand, poised to knock Ranma down.
'Oh crap!' Ranma thought, as he had no time to react due to the sudden appearance of the Giak warrior. The Giak ambusher was almost on top of him as it leapt towards Ranma, who closed his eyes to minimise the pain. A split second later the Giak warrior fell to ground as a silver arrow pieced its skull, killing it instantly.
Opening his eyes, Ranma glanced back to see his brother was already covering him as he fired off another arrow at the Giak warrior to Ranma's left.
'Thanks bro, I owe you one,' Ranma thought as he continued to ride at full speed while his brother was firing arrows with deadly accuracy at the Giak warriors trying to ambush him. Eventually Ranma made it to the safety of the woodland, but not before looking back at for one last moment.
What Ranma saw was his brother, the Prince and his men preparing another assault to try to hold the bridge against the invading horde. The forces of the Darklords outnumbered the defenders of the bridge three to one, but Ranma knew that his brother was a skilled fighter and he heard him shout out a Kai battlecry.
"Hang on there," Ranma whispered as he started to move through the forest.
***
An hour later, Ranma could see the capital city of Sommerlund in the distance, which meant that his long journey was almost finished. It was nearly dark and his horse was almost exhausted due to the consistent galloping across the fields and countryside.
Ranma decided that the best option would be to let the horse rest for a while before they continued on the final part of their journey. Getting off the horse, Ranma led the horse through a nearby wood to an empty clearing near a river. Letting the horse rest, Ranma sat down near a log and decided to see what rations he had left.
'It's not what I call a meal, but it's good enough,' thought Ranma as he ate the rest of his remaining provisions so that he would be strong enough to complete his journey.
All Ranma had to eat was a few dried biscuits and a slice of cheese. As Ranma was eating his meal, he noticed that his horse was starting to get a bit nervous and kept making odd noises and stamping its hooves on the ground. Getting up, Ranma made his way over to the horse.
"Easy boy, what is it that's got you so worked up?" Ranma said as he tried to use his animal kinship to find out what was spooking the horse.
Then Ranma noticed a black Raven perched near a branch that seemed to be giving him a look of death. Sensing the evil aura that the Raven was giving off, Ranma started to throw stones at the Raven to scare it away. It worked, and it flew overhead of Ranma and disappeared into the woods.
Before the Raven left, it said something that Ranma understood due to his animal kinship that worried Ranma for a moment. Ranma swore he had heard it say, "Curse you mortal."
The horse calmed down after that and Ranma tried to start a fire before night settled in to keep warm, deciding that it would best to camp, but still maintaining constant awareness due to the Raven's warning.
It was midnight now and the fire that Ranma had made was slowly dying out. Ranma was sleeping while keeping his weapon near him just in case. It wasn't totally dark, as there was a moon tonight which provided some light in the otherwise dark forest.
A sudden gust of wind quickly blew out the rest of the flames and darkness filled the campsite. Ranma was by this time fast asleep, as was his horse, which was resting near him. They were not alone, though, as a shadow was slowly creeping through the bushes.
The shadow emerged from the woods as it slowly crept towards the sleeping warrior. On the shoulder of this stranger was the same black Raven that Ranma had encountered earlier; it was totally silent as its master crept forward. What we can see in the moonlight is that the stranger is covered head to toe in a black cloak as it drew its black sword slowly. It planned to assassinate him. He stopped just in front of Ranma and raised its dark blade high into the air with the intent of thrusting it through Ranma's heart.
What saved Ranma from this fate was his horse. It sensed the dark presence and neighed to sound the alarm. Ranma, hearing the horse's calls as a warning of immediate danger due to his animal kinship, opened his eyes in time and looked up to see the shadowy figure poised to deliver the final blow.
Instinctively Ranma immediately rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding the blade as it came down and pieced his bedroll. Ranma should have rolled to his right where his sword lay, but at least he escaped without having a hole through his chest.
Ranma got to his feet and faced the stranger who had tried to kill him in such a dishonourable fashion, and demanded to know who he was.
"Who are you?" demanded Ranma as he got into a marital arts stance.
As Ranma's voice echoed throughout the trees, the stranger slowly turned around to face him and pulled back his hood to reveal himself. It then let out an inhuman cry as it leapt toward Ranma.
Ranma instantly knew that this opponent wasn't human. His heartbeat was pounding as he recognised this opponent to be a Vordak, a hideous lieutenant of the Darklords and one of the undead. Ranma froze for a moment but quickly shook it off in time to narrowly dodge the blade.
Relying on his experience and what he had learnt from his former tutor Storm Hawk, he had to be extremely careful of this creature as they sometimes used psychic attacks to paralyse their victims before killing them. Also he noticed that the blade the Vordak was using was smeared with a purple slime that indicated that it would be deadly to him if this creature wounded him.
The Vordak was able to see in the dark as it was undead and would have had an advantage against anyone fighting in the dark. Luckily for Ranma, he was able to see his opponent in the limited amount light, as his night vision was excellent, as he had developed it to perfection during his Kai training. The recommended method of learning to see in the dark was staying in a very dark cave for twelve hours a day for two weeks, as this would allow the eyes to focus and get used to the murky darkness.
Circling around the Vordak, Ranma tried to go for his sword that was lying near his bedroll. The Vordak was moving at inhuman speed, but luckily Ranma was faster. His experience in martial arts and his Kai training kept him at arm's length of the deadly blade.
'Must disarm him before I can do anything first,' thought Ranma.
He had almost reached for the hilt of his sword when the Raven swooped down from where it was perched and prevented him from grabbing it. Ranma backflipped as the Vordak bought down his blade, then bent down to get his weapon.
'That was close,' thought Ranma as he heard the Vordak cursing his bad luck.
What made the situation worse for Ranma was that the Raven was constantly attacking him to distract him while his master tried to kill him with his sword. It was looking bad for Ranma: he was unarmed and was against a skilled undead whose blade was extremely dangerous.
Ranma decided to stand against a tree and try to provoke the Vordak into attacking as he felt the annoying black Raven behind him.
"Come on Vordak, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid of little old me?" Ranma taunted, making the Vordak even more determined to kill this wretched human mortal.
'Ranma, I do hope you know what you're doing, because I don't,' a little voice called his conscious called out to him from the back of his mind as he saw the Vordak running at full pace toward him. Ranma hoped that his plan would work.
'Closer, closer, NOW!' Ranma thought as he jumped over him, landing gracefully behind him. The Vordak couldn't stop his momentum and his deadly blade sliced the black Raven in two and impaled it quite deeply into the trunk of the tree.
Ranma quickly went to grab his sword as the Vordak attempted to pull its weapon out of the tree. After several attempts, it gave up its poisoned blade and slowly turned around.
"You sure are ugly!" taunted Ranma as the Vordak let out another inhuman cry. It pulled out a secondary weapon, which was a cruel looking mace. At least it wasn't poisoned.
"Bring it on!" Ranma said as levelled his sword as him. He then saw the Vordak once again charge toward him.
After three minutes of slashing, bashing, hacking and dodging of weapons, Ranma managed to spot a gap in the Vordak's defenses and thrust his sword through his chest. Staggering back from Ranma's attack, it tried to pull out Ranma's sword as it let out a piecing scream that echoed throughout the woods.
"Come on already! I don't have all that much time you know," Ranma said. He was currently sitting down on a log and had been watching the Vordak for at least two minutes staggering around the campsite still having his sword impaled in its chest.
Then it finally died just as it managed to pull out the weapon and fell to the ground.
"It's about time. Talk about a lame death," Ranma said as he walked over to the corpse and picked up his sword while making sure that it was dead. (I mean really dead this time.)
He didn't want to search the corpse because he really didn't want to touch the undead body; who knew where it had been? Also it smelt pretty bad, too.
Looking to the sky, he noticed that he had been up all night and that it was sunrise. Gathering his equipment and his damaged bedroll, Ranma got on his horse and started to ride toward his final destination, Holmgard.
***
Somewhere near Holmgard, Capital of Sommerlund
Ranma was currently riding across an open field while still maintaining a constant state of vigilance for any ambushers or Kraan scouts. As he was riding he spotted a person near a building who seemed to be calling him to come over. Wondering what he wanted, Ranma made his way over to the person.
On closer inspection, Ranma could see from his insignia that he was a Sergeant of the Sommlending forces and he looked like he had been to Hell and back. He looked battle weary and his uniform was bloodstained. Behind him were the rest of his men and they looked even worse than their Sergeant did. The Sergeant walked up to Ranma's horse and put his hands up to indicate friendship.
Looking up at Ranma, he smiled as he recognised the cloak that Ranma was wearing.
"My Lord, where are the other Kai Masters? We are in desperate need of their wisdom as the Darklords have us pressed most cruelly and casualties are high," the Sergeant said.
Ranma got off his horse and started to inform the officer the terrible news and that it was important for him to see the King's council. The Sergeant was saddened by the news but fully understood the importance of this mission.
"We shall accompany you, Lord... err... what is you name my Lord?" asked the Sergeant.
"Wild Horse," Ranma replied as he got back on his horse.
"Lord Wild Horse, we will accompany you as an escort as this is a matter of urgency." The Sergeant signalled two of his men to come with him and bring horses with them.
"Thank you," Ranma said.
Ranma and the Sergeant with his two men started to gallop off towards the high city wall of Holmgard.
Finally they reached the main gates of the capital, and Ranma looked up in awe at the height of the city's wall.
'It's a lot taller than I expected,' thought Ranma as he started to feel a bit dizzy just looking up the city wall.
"Lord Wild Horse, follow me please."
Ranma and the officer raced through the tunnel of the inner gatehouse finally stopping outside the doorway of the main watchtower. The Sergeant was waiting for Ranma to follow.
"I thank you for your assistance but I think I can find my own way to the King," Ranma said politely. The Sergeant nodded in response.
"As you wish, My Lord." The Sergeant bowed and left to return to his own men.
Ranma was left alone in the busy streets of Holmgard, surrounded by people as he tried to work out where the Citadel was.
'Better start finding this citadel,' Ranma thought.
***
Somewhere in Holmgard
After two hours of wandering and asking people where the Citadel was, Ranma finally reached the entrance of the Citadel and was about to enter until two guards bearing the symbols representing the Royal arms of Sommerlund stopped him.
"What business do want with our king?" asked one of the Guards as he eyed Ranma with suspicion.
"I have a urgent message to give to your king." Ranma briefly explained his story to the guards hoping that they would allow him in.
The guards did not believe Ranma's story and refused to allow him to enter.
Not want a confrontation with the guards - they were the good guys, and besides he was too tired to fight - Ranma decided to find another route into the citadel. After hours of searching for way in, he came across the entrance to a Guildhall. The Guildhall stood at one side of the Guild Bridge, which crossed the River Eledil near where it flowed out into the Holmgulf.
'Maybe someone there can help me?' thought Ranma as he entered the Guildhall.
Walking into the room, Ranma was stopped by a distinguished old man in deep purple robes who seemed a bit startled by him. Carefully he looked at Ranma, judging whether he was threat, and demanded a reason for his intrusion into the Guildhall.
"Who are you?" demanded the man as he reached for the hilt of his weapon. He didn't expect a foreigner to enter into Guildhall, especially his inner chamber.
"Calm down sir. I am Wild Horse of Kai," Ranma said to calm him down not really wanting to fight this person right now.
This relaxed the old man immediately as he recognised the cloak and uniform that Ranma was wearing, confirming who he was. The man was still a bit cautious and asked Ranma what was he doing there. Ranma looked at the old man to see if he could trust him for a moment. Seeing that he seemed safe enough, he started to explain to him that he had an urgent message for the king. Ranma could sense a good aura surrounding the old man.
The old man seemed to believe Ranma's story and quickly moved him into the Guildmaster's chambers.
"I am sorry for the rude welcome Wild Horse, but these are times where you have to be on your guard. My name is Veriak," the old man apologised.
"There is no need to apologise Veriak. I am sorry for my intrusion but I have an urgent message for the king."
"Please sit and tell me why is this message so important that it has to be delivered to the king?"
After a few minutes of Ranma explaining his story to the old man, he was listening with keen interest. When Ranma had finished his explanation Veriak then got up and took Ranma's arm, leading him into an adjoining library, closing the door behind them. The library was filled with all sorts of scrolls and textbooks, but Veriak wasn't interested in them. He walked to a bookcase and pressed one of the many thousands of books. The book he pressed was a secret panel in the wall and he beckoned Ranma to follow him as he walked into the dark passage.
"Please follow me, Lord Wild Horse."
Ranma was a bit hesitant of following this man he had known for just a few minutes, but decided that he could be trusted as followed him. Ranma was walking for nearly ten minutes along the secret dark and winding corridor while keeping Veriak in his sight, just in case if this was a trap.
"How long do we have to keep walking?" asked Ranma, almost exhausted and feeling as if he'd been walking for miles.
"Patience my Lord, we are nearly there," replied Veriak.
They continued walking up a steep staircase to a small wooden door. Veriak pressed a secret catch, causing the wooden door to open slowly. Veriak beckoned Ranma to enter the room. Ranma took a minute to try to determine if this was trap, but his Kai senses told him it wasn't. Ranma entered the room, which turned out to be a plushly decorated bedroom with a huge marble bath that took up one entire corner.
"Lord Wild Horse, you may refresh yourself here while I seek an audience with the King." Veriak bowed deeply and walked out through the main door.
'What a stroke of luck,' Ranma thought, knowing full well that he was very lucky to even see the king.
Ranma took the time to clean himself up as he had been on the road for days. He knew he needed a bath because right now he stank. After getting the bath ready, Ranma dunked himself into the hot water.
'Ahhh, I wonder how is my brother doing? I do hope that he is all right,' thought Ranma as he let the soothing water relax his tense muscles. Ranma started to drift off to sleep for a while.
An hour later
After Ranma had finished with the bath, he looked at his clothing, noticing that it was most unsuitable to wear in front of the king. The Kai clothes that he wore were dirty and had many holes in them. Deciding to find something more appropriate, he chose a white robe that been left on a marble table.
'This is not me,' Ranma thought as he looked in the mirror at the white robe with a golden sash he was wearing.
Then Ranma heard a knock on the door.
"Lord Wild Horse, Are you ready to see the King?" Ranma instantly recognised the voice as Veriak's.
"Yes of course," replied Ranma.
As Ranma left the lavish room to follow the Veriak, he was led along a long corridor lined with exquisite tapestries and pictures. Ranma finally arrived at a large door guarded by two soldiers wearing silver armour. Veriak walked up to one of the guards and whispered to him.
The guard nodded and allowed Ranma and Veriak into the chamber.
As Ranma entered the chamber of state, the magnificent hall awed him with its lavish decorations in white and gold. It was all decked out with beautiful and expensive hangings from all corners of Magnamund. Near the throne area of the hall was the King and his closet advisors. The king looked tired and was listening carefully to them.
'That must be him,' thought Ranma, guessing correctly that the king was the person wearing the regal clothing and crown as Veriak announced his presence.
The King and his closest advisors were currently studying a large map spread upon a marble plinth in the centre of the chamber. Hearing Veriak's announcement, the King and his advisors looked up to see Ranma and asked him to explain what had happened.
As Ranma told his story of the death of his kinsman and of his perilous journey to the citadel, empty silence filled the hall and their faces were lined with worry and concentration. After Ranma had finished his story, the king walked up to Ranma and took his hand in his.
"Wild Horse, you have selfless courage: the quality of a true Kai Lord. Your journey here has been one of great peril and, although your news comes as a grievous blow, the spirit of determination is like a beacon of hope to us all in this dark hour. You have brought great honour to the memory of your Masters, and for that we praise you."
After the King had finished speaking, Ranma received praises and heartfelt thanks of the entire hall, an honour that brought a certain redness to Ranma's face as he wasn't used to this much attention. The King raised his hand and all the voices ceased immediately.
"You have done all that Sommerlund could have asked of a son, but she is greatly in need of you still. The Darklords are powerful once more and their ambition knows no bounds. Our only hopes lies with Durenor with the power that once defeated the Darklords an age ago."
Then the King's face took on a serious expression.
Wild Horse, I know that you are not from this province as you are not from this world."
This caused voices to be spread around the hall about this sudden revelation that the king has revealed. Ranma was quite surprised that the King knew his true origins.
"How did you know?" asked Ranma, wondering who had told the king.
The King smiled and called for one of his advisors to bring something. The person nodded and quickly returned with what the king had requested. After a few minutes, he came back with an ancient tome and started to read out a paragraph of the ancient text.
"'A Lord of the Kai will come, but not one born of this world as he is the chosen one of the Gods. Possessing unrivalled skill in both magic and combat, he shall reach the next level of perfection; he is the betrothed one of the Goddess of mischief.'
"''He shall be one of the three that will be the key to bringing everlasting peace to Magnamund.'
"'With him will be a mighty wizard possessing magical powers unmatched in all of Magnamund.'
"'A mighty warrior and brother will also aid this Lord of the Kai, and he shall possess a weapon equal unto the Sword of the Sun.'
"'The trio shall drive back the Darkness and be protectors of all of Magnamund and other worlds.'"
Ranma was completely surprised by this revelation, as were the rest of the people in the hall. Subconsciously Ranma was wondering whom the other two were that were mentioned in the text.
"You see Lord Wild Horse, I believe that you are indeed the Lord that is spoken of in the ancient text. Your former master Wise Heart informed me that you had taken the vows and oath of the Order of the Kai and are recognised as a warrior of the Kai. When one of my advisors told me that the Kai Lords had accepted a foreigner as one of them, I instantly knew that the prophecy had begun.
"Wild Horse, you are the last warrior of the Kai - you and only you have the skills and abilities to succeed against Naar and the Darklords. I am asking you to accept this dangerous mission to Durenor and return to us with the Sommerswerd - the Sword of the Sun. Only with that gift of the gods may we crush this evil and save our lands. Will you accept?"
"Yes my King. As a warrior of the Kai, by my affirmation to Sommerlund and Kai, I accept," Ranma proudly said. With that there was uproar of cheering and praise at the bravery and courage of this foreign looking warrior.
Ranma was trying to ask another question, but due to the noise created by the people in the hall, he was unable. Eventually, the King saw this and raised his hand to silence the crowd.
"Yes, Wild Horse do you want to ask me something?"
"Yes I do my King. There is another Kai warrior who survived the attack. He stayed behind to protect your son at the Alema Bridge while I came to deliver you the message. I am wondering if you know what has happened to him?" asked Ranma, he was eager to help his brother.
The expressions of the King and his advisors were of sadness and there was again that deathly silence in the hall. It was some minutes before one of the King's advisors spoke up. This really caused Ranma to worry about his brother; he had a bad feeling about this.
"It has been reported in the last twenty four hours that the Alema Bridge has been overrun by the Darklords' forces and there were no survivors reported. The evil forces are marching toward our city. I am sorry for your loss Wild Horse."
"Thanks for the news," Ranma said as he tried to hold back his sadness and tears at the news.
"I know your pain Wild Horse as I have also lost someone important to me. Was this Kai Lord someone important to you?" the King said to help Ranma with his loss.
"He was my brother. May I go now your majesty?" Ranma asked. The King nodded to allow him to leave.
Ranma tried to put on a brave face for the sake of the morale of the people in the hall as he left the chamber of state. He still had hope that his brother was alive despite the recent reports from the king's advisors. He then followed Veriak from the hall.
Tomorrow Ranma would leave Sommerlund to return to Durenor. He would do this for his brother and his kin and he would not fail. He would bring back the sword of the Sun to Sommerlund to vanquish the evil.
TBC...
***
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or the Lone Wolf Series or any other characters. The rights to Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi and for the Lone Wolf Series Joe Dever. This story is created solely for entertainment purposes and no profit as gained from this..
Note.
Kai Names:
* Ranma Stormgard (Saotome) - Wild Horse
* Braxus Stormgard - Swift Blade
Wild Horse of Kai
By Montymouse
' ' - Thought
" " - Speech
Chapter Seven - The Prophecy of Sommerlund
***
Ranma's point of view
Ranma had his doubts about leaving his brother at the bridge, as he was sure that they would be outnumbered if reinforcements didn't come in time. Braxus had his duty to protect the Prince while Ranma had his duty to warn the King that the Darklords were invading.
"Ready, Wild Horse? You've better live up to your name if you are going to leave the clearing. May Ishir protect you." Ranma could hear his brother telling him to gallop as fast he could.
Ranma looked down the path that he was about to follow.
'Hmm... I have to reach the safety of the woods, but before that I'll be vulnerable to attackers. At least I can trust my brother to cover me while I gallop at full speed, I hope,' Ranma thought as he looked at the fine horse that he had been given.
"Listen horse, I know that you are scared and I'd be lying if I weren't too, but for both our lives I expect you to do your best. That is all I expect for you," Ranma whispered into the horse's ear as he used his Animal Kinship to calm the horse down, sensing its nervousness.
The horse neighed in approval and stomped its hooves on the ground. Ranma prepared and nodded to his brother Braxus that he was ready.
"Now go, run like the wind." Ranma heard Braxus as he felt his horse begin to move with a start from Braxus' encouragement. The horse sure was fast as it galloped like the wind along the path as Ranma held tightly to the reins.
When Ranma was almost halfway along the path, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye moving suspiciously in the tall grass. Suddenly a figure jumped out of the long grass with a weapon in its hand, poised to knock Ranma down.
'Oh crap!' Ranma thought, as he had no time to react due to the sudden appearance of the Giak warrior. The Giak ambusher was almost on top of him as it leapt towards Ranma, who closed his eyes to minimise the pain. A split second later the Giak warrior fell to ground as a silver arrow pieced its skull, killing it instantly.
Opening his eyes, Ranma glanced back to see his brother was already covering him as he fired off another arrow at the Giak warrior to Ranma's left.
'Thanks bro, I owe you one,' Ranma thought as he continued to ride at full speed while his brother was firing arrows with deadly accuracy at the Giak warriors trying to ambush him. Eventually Ranma made it to the safety of the woodland, but not before looking back at for one last moment.
What Ranma saw was his brother, the Prince and his men preparing another assault to try to hold the bridge against the invading horde. The forces of the Darklords outnumbered the defenders of the bridge three to one, but Ranma knew that his brother was a skilled fighter and he heard him shout out a Kai battlecry.
"Hang on there," Ranma whispered as he started to move through the forest.
***
An hour later, Ranma could see the capital city of Sommerlund in the distance, which meant that his long journey was almost finished. It was nearly dark and his horse was almost exhausted due to the consistent galloping across the fields and countryside.
Ranma decided that the best option would be to let the horse rest for a while before they continued on the final part of their journey. Getting off the horse, Ranma led the horse through a nearby wood to an empty clearing near a river. Letting the horse rest, Ranma sat down near a log and decided to see what rations he had left.
'It's not what I call a meal, but it's good enough,' thought Ranma as he ate the rest of his remaining provisions so that he would be strong enough to complete his journey.
All Ranma had to eat was a few dried biscuits and a slice of cheese. As Ranma was eating his meal, he noticed that his horse was starting to get a bit nervous and kept making odd noises and stamping its hooves on the ground. Getting up, Ranma made his way over to the horse.
"Easy boy, what is it that's got you so worked up?" Ranma said as he tried to use his animal kinship to find out what was spooking the horse.
Then Ranma noticed a black Raven perched near a branch that seemed to be giving him a look of death. Sensing the evil aura that the Raven was giving off, Ranma started to throw stones at the Raven to scare it away. It worked, and it flew overhead of Ranma and disappeared into the woods.
Before the Raven left, it said something that Ranma understood due to his animal kinship that worried Ranma for a moment. Ranma swore he had heard it say, "Curse you mortal."
The horse calmed down after that and Ranma tried to start a fire before night settled in to keep warm, deciding that it would best to camp, but still maintaining constant awareness due to the Raven's warning.
It was midnight now and the fire that Ranma had made was slowly dying out. Ranma was sleeping while keeping his weapon near him just in case. It wasn't totally dark, as there was a moon tonight which provided some light in the otherwise dark forest.
A sudden gust of wind quickly blew out the rest of the flames and darkness filled the campsite. Ranma was by this time fast asleep, as was his horse, which was resting near him. They were not alone, though, as a shadow was slowly creeping through the bushes.
The shadow emerged from the woods as it slowly crept towards the sleeping warrior. On the shoulder of this stranger was the same black Raven that Ranma had encountered earlier; it was totally silent as its master crept forward. What we can see in the moonlight is that the stranger is covered head to toe in a black cloak as it drew its black sword slowly. It planned to assassinate him. He stopped just in front of Ranma and raised its dark blade high into the air with the intent of thrusting it through Ranma's heart.
What saved Ranma from this fate was his horse. It sensed the dark presence and neighed to sound the alarm. Ranma, hearing the horse's calls as a warning of immediate danger due to his animal kinship, opened his eyes in time and looked up to see the shadowy figure poised to deliver the final blow.
Instinctively Ranma immediately rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding the blade as it came down and pieced his bedroll. Ranma should have rolled to his right where his sword lay, but at least he escaped without having a hole through his chest.
Ranma got to his feet and faced the stranger who had tried to kill him in such a dishonourable fashion, and demanded to know who he was.
"Who are you?" demanded Ranma as he got into a marital arts stance.
As Ranma's voice echoed throughout the trees, the stranger slowly turned around to face him and pulled back his hood to reveal himself. It then let out an inhuman cry as it leapt toward Ranma.
Ranma instantly knew that this opponent wasn't human. His heartbeat was pounding as he recognised this opponent to be a Vordak, a hideous lieutenant of the Darklords and one of the undead. Ranma froze for a moment but quickly shook it off in time to narrowly dodge the blade.
Relying on his experience and what he had learnt from his former tutor Storm Hawk, he had to be extremely careful of this creature as they sometimes used psychic attacks to paralyse their victims before killing them. Also he noticed that the blade the Vordak was using was smeared with a purple slime that indicated that it would be deadly to him if this creature wounded him.
The Vordak was able to see in the dark as it was undead and would have had an advantage against anyone fighting in the dark. Luckily for Ranma, he was able to see his opponent in the limited amount light, as his night vision was excellent, as he had developed it to perfection during his Kai training. The recommended method of learning to see in the dark was staying in a very dark cave for twelve hours a day for two weeks, as this would allow the eyes to focus and get used to the murky darkness.
Circling around the Vordak, Ranma tried to go for his sword that was lying near his bedroll. The Vordak was moving at inhuman speed, but luckily Ranma was faster. His experience in martial arts and his Kai training kept him at arm's length of the deadly blade.
'Must disarm him before I can do anything first,' thought Ranma.
He had almost reached for the hilt of his sword when the Raven swooped down from where it was perched and prevented him from grabbing it. Ranma backflipped as the Vordak bought down his blade, then bent down to get his weapon.
'That was close,' thought Ranma as he heard the Vordak cursing his bad luck.
What made the situation worse for Ranma was that the Raven was constantly attacking him to distract him while his master tried to kill him with his sword. It was looking bad for Ranma: he was unarmed and was against a skilled undead whose blade was extremely dangerous.
Ranma decided to stand against a tree and try to provoke the Vordak into attacking as he felt the annoying black Raven behind him.
"Come on Vordak, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid of little old me?" Ranma taunted, making the Vordak even more determined to kill this wretched human mortal.
'Ranma, I do hope you know what you're doing, because I don't,' a little voice called his conscious called out to him from the back of his mind as he saw the Vordak running at full pace toward him. Ranma hoped that his plan would work.
'Closer, closer, NOW!' Ranma thought as he jumped over him, landing gracefully behind him. The Vordak couldn't stop his momentum and his deadly blade sliced the black Raven in two and impaled it quite deeply into the trunk of the tree.
Ranma quickly went to grab his sword as the Vordak attempted to pull its weapon out of the tree. After several attempts, it gave up its poisoned blade and slowly turned around.
"You sure are ugly!" taunted Ranma as the Vordak let out another inhuman cry. It pulled out a secondary weapon, which was a cruel looking mace. At least it wasn't poisoned.
"Bring it on!" Ranma said as levelled his sword as him. He then saw the Vordak once again charge toward him.
After three minutes of slashing, bashing, hacking and dodging of weapons, Ranma managed to spot a gap in the Vordak's defenses and thrust his sword through his chest. Staggering back from Ranma's attack, it tried to pull out Ranma's sword as it let out a piecing scream that echoed throughout the woods.
"Come on already! I don't have all that much time you know," Ranma said. He was currently sitting down on a log and had been watching the Vordak for at least two minutes staggering around the campsite still having his sword impaled in its chest.
Then it finally died just as it managed to pull out the weapon and fell to the ground.
"It's about time. Talk about a lame death," Ranma said as he walked over to the corpse and picked up his sword while making sure that it was dead. (I mean really dead this time.)
He didn't want to search the corpse because he really didn't want to touch the undead body; who knew where it had been? Also it smelt pretty bad, too.
Looking to the sky, he noticed that he had been up all night and that it was sunrise. Gathering his equipment and his damaged bedroll, Ranma got on his horse and started to ride toward his final destination, Holmgard.
***
Somewhere near Holmgard, Capital of Sommerlund
Ranma was currently riding across an open field while still maintaining a constant state of vigilance for any ambushers or Kraan scouts. As he was riding he spotted a person near a building who seemed to be calling him to come over. Wondering what he wanted, Ranma made his way over to the person.
On closer inspection, Ranma could see from his insignia that he was a Sergeant of the Sommlending forces and he looked like he had been to Hell and back. He looked battle weary and his uniform was bloodstained. Behind him were the rest of his men and they looked even worse than their Sergeant did. The Sergeant walked up to Ranma's horse and put his hands up to indicate friendship.
Looking up at Ranma, he smiled as he recognised the cloak that Ranma was wearing.
"My Lord, where are the other Kai Masters? We are in desperate need of their wisdom as the Darklords have us pressed most cruelly and casualties are high," the Sergeant said.
Ranma got off his horse and started to inform the officer the terrible news and that it was important for him to see the King's council. The Sergeant was saddened by the news but fully understood the importance of this mission.
"We shall accompany you, Lord... err... what is you name my Lord?" asked the Sergeant.
"Wild Horse," Ranma replied as he got back on his horse.
"Lord Wild Horse, we will accompany you as an escort as this is a matter of urgency." The Sergeant signalled two of his men to come with him and bring horses with them.
"Thank you," Ranma said.
Ranma and the Sergeant with his two men started to gallop off towards the high city wall of Holmgard.
Finally they reached the main gates of the capital, and Ranma looked up in awe at the height of the city's wall.
'It's a lot taller than I expected,' thought Ranma as he started to feel a bit dizzy just looking up the city wall.
"Lord Wild Horse, follow me please."
Ranma and the officer raced through the tunnel of the inner gatehouse finally stopping outside the doorway of the main watchtower. The Sergeant was waiting for Ranma to follow.
"I thank you for your assistance but I think I can find my own way to the King," Ranma said politely. The Sergeant nodded in response.
"As you wish, My Lord." The Sergeant bowed and left to return to his own men.
Ranma was left alone in the busy streets of Holmgard, surrounded by people as he tried to work out where the Citadel was.
'Better start finding this citadel,' Ranma thought.
***
Somewhere in Holmgard
After two hours of wandering and asking people where the Citadel was, Ranma finally reached the entrance of the Citadel and was about to enter until two guards bearing the symbols representing the Royal arms of Sommerlund stopped him.
"What business do want with our king?" asked one of the Guards as he eyed Ranma with suspicion.
"I have a urgent message to give to your king." Ranma briefly explained his story to the guards hoping that they would allow him in.
The guards did not believe Ranma's story and refused to allow him to enter.
Not want a confrontation with the guards - they were the good guys, and besides he was too tired to fight - Ranma decided to find another route into the citadel. After hours of searching for way in, he came across the entrance to a Guildhall. The Guildhall stood at one side of the Guild Bridge, which crossed the River Eledil near where it flowed out into the Holmgulf.
'Maybe someone there can help me?' thought Ranma as he entered the Guildhall.
Walking into the room, Ranma was stopped by a distinguished old man in deep purple robes who seemed a bit startled by him. Carefully he looked at Ranma, judging whether he was threat, and demanded a reason for his intrusion into the Guildhall.
"Who are you?" demanded the man as he reached for the hilt of his weapon. He didn't expect a foreigner to enter into Guildhall, especially his inner chamber.
"Calm down sir. I am Wild Horse of Kai," Ranma said to calm him down not really wanting to fight this person right now.
This relaxed the old man immediately as he recognised the cloak and uniform that Ranma was wearing, confirming who he was. The man was still a bit cautious and asked Ranma what was he doing there. Ranma looked at the old man to see if he could trust him for a moment. Seeing that he seemed safe enough, he started to explain to him that he had an urgent message for the king. Ranma could sense a good aura surrounding the old man.
The old man seemed to believe Ranma's story and quickly moved him into the Guildmaster's chambers.
"I am sorry for the rude welcome Wild Horse, but these are times where you have to be on your guard. My name is Veriak," the old man apologised.
"There is no need to apologise Veriak. I am sorry for my intrusion but I have an urgent message for the king."
"Please sit and tell me why is this message so important that it has to be delivered to the king?"
After a few minutes of Ranma explaining his story to the old man, he was listening with keen interest. When Ranma had finished his explanation Veriak then got up and took Ranma's arm, leading him into an adjoining library, closing the door behind them. The library was filled with all sorts of scrolls and textbooks, but Veriak wasn't interested in them. He walked to a bookcase and pressed one of the many thousands of books. The book he pressed was a secret panel in the wall and he beckoned Ranma to follow him as he walked into the dark passage.
"Please follow me, Lord Wild Horse."
Ranma was a bit hesitant of following this man he had known for just a few minutes, but decided that he could be trusted as followed him. Ranma was walking for nearly ten minutes along the secret dark and winding corridor while keeping Veriak in his sight, just in case if this was a trap.
"How long do we have to keep walking?" asked Ranma, almost exhausted and feeling as if he'd been walking for miles.
"Patience my Lord, we are nearly there," replied Veriak.
They continued walking up a steep staircase to a small wooden door. Veriak pressed a secret catch, causing the wooden door to open slowly. Veriak beckoned Ranma to enter the room. Ranma took a minute to try to determine if this was trap, but his Kai senses told him it wasn't. Ranma entered the room, which turned out to be a plushly decorated bedroom with a huge marble bath that took up one entire corner.
"Lord Wild Horse, you may refresh yourself here while I seek an audience with the King." Veriak bowed deeply and walked out through the main door.
'What a stroke of luck,' Ranma thought, knowing full well that he was very lucky to even see the king.
Ranma took the time to clean himself up as he had been on the road for days. He knew he needed a bath because right now he stank. After getting the bath ready, Ranma dunked himself into the hot water.
'Ahhh, I wonder how is my brother doing? I do hope that he is all right,' thought Ranma as he let the soothing water relax his tense muscles. Ranma started to drift off to sleep for a while.
An hour later
After Ranma had finished with the bath, he looked at his clothing, noticing that it was most unsuitable to wear in front of the king. The Kai clothes that he wore were dirty and had many holes in them. Deciding to find something more appropriate, he chose a white robe that been left on a marble table.
'This is not me,' Ranma thought as he looked in the mirror at the white robe with a golden sash he was wearing.
Then Ranma heard a knock on the door.
"Lord Wild Horse, Are you ready to see the King?" Ranma instantly recognised the voice as Veriak's.
"Yes of course," replied Ranma.
As Ranma left the lavish room to follow the Veriak, he was led along a long corridor lined with exquisite tapestries and pictures. Ranma finally arrived at a large door guarded by two soldiers wearing silver armour. Veriak walked up to one of the guards and whispered to him.
The guard nodded and allowed Ranma and Veriak into the chamber.
As Ranma entered the chamber of state, the magnificent hall awed him with its lavish decorations in white and gold. It was all decked out with beautiful and expensive hangings from all corners of Magnamund. Near the throne area of the hall was the King and his closet advisors. The king looked tired and was listening carefully to them.
'That must be him,' thought Ranma, guessing correctly that the king was the person wearing the regal clothing and crown as Veriak announced his presence.
The King and his closest advisors were currently studying a large map spread upon a marble plinth in the centre of the chamber. Hearing Veriak's announcement, the King and his advisors looked up to see Ranma and asked him to explain what had happened.
As Ranma told his story of the death of his kinsman and of his perilous journey to the citadel, empty silence filled the hall and their faces were lined with worry and concentration. After Ranma had finished his story, the king walked up to Ranma and took his hand in his.
"Wild Horse, you have selfless courage: the quality of a true Kai Lord. Your journey here has been one of great peril and, although your news comes as a grievous blow, the spirit of determination is like a beacon of hope to us all in this dark hour. You have brought great honour to the memory of your Masters, and for that we praise you."
After the King had finished speaking, Ranma received praises and heartfelt thanks of the entire hall, an honour that brought a certain redness to Ranma's face as he wasn't used to this much attention. The King raised his hand and all the voices ceased immediately.
"You have done all that Sommerlund could have asked of a son, but she is greatly in need of you still. The Darklords are powerful once more and their ambition knows no bounds. Our only hopes lies with Durenor with the power that once defeated the Darklords an age ago."
Then the King's face took on a serious expression.
Wild Horse, I know that you are not from this province as you are not from this world."
This caused voices to be spread around the hall about this sudden revelation that the king has revealed. Ranma was quite surprised that the King knew his true origins.
"How did you know?" asked Ranma, wondering who had told the king.
The King smiled and called for one of his advisors to bring something. The person nodded and quickly returned with what the king had requested. After a few minutes, he came back with an ancient tome and started to read out a paragraph of the ancient text.
"'A Lord of the Kai will come, but not one born of this world as he is the chosen one of the Gods. Possessing unrivalled skill in both magic and combat, he shall reach the next level of perfection; he is the betrothed one of the Goddess of mischief.'
"''He shall be one of the three that will be the key to bringing everlasting peace to Magnamund.'
"'With him will be a mighty wizard possessing magical powers unmatched in all of Magnamund.'
"'A mighty warrior and brother will also aid this Lord of the Kai, and he shall possess a weapon equal unto the Sword of the Sun.'
"'The trio shall drive back the Darkness and be protectors of all of Magnamund and other worlds.'"
Ranma was completely surprised by this revelation, as were the rest of the people in the hall. Subconsciously Ranma was wondering whom the other two were that were mentioned in the text.
"You see Lord Wild Horse, I believe that you are indeed the Lord that is spoken of in the ancient text. Your former master Wise Heart informed me that you had taken the vows and oath of the Order of the Kai and are recognised as a warrior of the Kai. When one of my advisors told me that the Kai Lords had accepted a foreigner as one of them, I instantly knew that the prophecy had begun.
"Wild Horse, you are the last warrior of the Kai - you and only you have the skills and abilities to succeed against Naar and the Darklords. I am asking you to accept this dangerous mission to Durenor and return to us with the Sommerswerd - the Sword of the Sun. Only with that gift of the gods may we crush this evil and save our lands. Will you accept?"
"Yes my King. As a warrior of the Kai, by my affirmation to Sommerlund and Kai, I accept," Ranma proudly said. With that there was uproar of cheering and praise at the bravery and courage of this foreign looking warrior.
Ranma was trying to ask another question, but due to the noise created by the people in the hall, he was unable. Eventually, the King saw this and raised his hand to silence the crowd.
"Yes, Wild Horse do you want to ask me something?"
"Yes I do my King. There is another Kai warrior who survived the attack. He stayed behind to protect your son at the Alema Bridge while I came to deliver you the message. I am wondering if you know what has happened to him?" asked Ranma, he was eager to help his brother.
The expressions of the King and his advisors were of sadness and there was again that deathly silence in the hall. It was some minutes before one of the King's advisors spoke up. This really caused Ranma to worry about his brother; he had a bad feeling about this.
"It has been reported in the last twenty four hours that the Alema Bridge has been overrun by the Darklords' forces and there were no survivors reported. The evil forces are marching toward our city. I am sorry for your loss Wild Horse."
"Thanks for the news," Ranma said as he tried to hold back his sadness and tears at the news.
"I know your pain Wild Horse as I have also lost someone important to me. Was this Kai Lord someone important to you?" the King said to help Ranma with his loss.
"He was my brother. May I go now your majesty?" Ranma asked. The King nodded to allow him to leave.
Ranma tried to put on a brave face for the sake of the morale of the people in the hall as he left the chamber of state. He still had hope that his brother was alive despite the recent reports from the king's advisors. He then followed Veriak from the hall.
Tomorrow Ranma would leave Sommerlund to return to Durenor. He would do this for his brother and his kin and he would not fail. He would bring back the sword of the Sun to Sommerlund to vanquish the evil.
TBC...
***