ShadowDancer and SunSinger
Chapter 15
Rocky Oberlin
Disclaimer: As much as I want to say that I own the Ronin Warriors and the idea of the ShadowDancer and SunSinger, I can't. Large corporations and Mercedes Lackey own them, respectively.
Rowen was ready and waiting for Lady Kayura to appear. She did with a big bang, too. One moment he was fighting off a group of soldiers and the next he was flying back from a blast aimed at him. Cale shouted something and Rowen was caught by Kento.
"You sure you want to fight this psycho?" he asked. "She doesn't seem to like you."
"I noticed," hissed Rowen as he climbed back to his feet. "Believe me, I noticed."
"Why don't you use the regular ways of Challenging a person, Kayura?" yelled Seckmet.
"Because I don't have time to waste on posturing when I could be killing him and taking this Realm," sneered Lady Kayura.
"Since you asked so nicely," said Rowen. "I'll give you my answer the same way." He called his power to him and focused in on the tip of his arrow (like his Arrow Shock Wave, but without the words). He let the arrow fly to his opponent and watched in satisfaction as she flew back from the blast and concussion. For her little trick, that served her right.
"Nice one," muttered Cale. "I hope you have power to back up that Challenge."
"Just watch," said Ryo calmly. "He has enough." The FireDancer nodded and smiled at his HeavenSinger friend. "Kick her back to Tulpa so she can see the fall of all her twisted dreams."
"You got that right," muttered Rowen. "Then we can see what we can do about her." He knew that his hope was misplaced on helping the twisted HeavenSinger, but he had to have hope. It was the only way he could walk to this fight.
"You hurt me," said a calm voice. "No one ever hurt me before." She took a stance and sneered again at Rowen. "You will pay for that blow. With your life."
"We'll see," answered back Rowen. He also took a fighting stance opposite of his rival. Their fight was about to begin.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The soldiers passing the four didn't even look at them as they marched past. Sage let out a silent sigh of relief as the turned a corner down the corridor and left their line of sight. "That was close," he said.
"They are getting closer," said Anubis. "I wonder if Tulpa is making more soldiers to make up for the ones Kayura took."
"The only way we'll find that out is if we can get to the throne room," said Dais. "Then we can stop him and his mages."
"What was that about mages?" asked Sage. "This is new." He looked at Mia. "Did you know about the mages?"
She shook her head. "They were rumors when I was around, but I stayed away from the areas they were suppose to stay in. Even Cale didn't go in that area."
"For good reason," said Dais. "They were suppose to be able to tell if a person was a Singer or Dancer even before the person knows."
"If that is true, then that might be the way Tulpa knew that Kayura was a HeavenSinger," said Anubis.
"Now that we know that Tulpa has mages, we can defend against them," said Sage. "But you should have said something before we came here."
Anubis and Dais looked down. "That's the problem," said Dais. "We didn't know. They were rumors, very popular rumors, but no one was really sure if Tulpa had any mages or if he was powerful enough to make his own troops."
"How do you know now?" asked Mia.
"I snuck ahead and looked around," said Dais. "I heard some of the soldiers saying that Tulpa was closeted with his mages for the past two days after assigning Kayura to the conquering of the Mortal Realm."
Mia looked at the shadows surrounding them. "Do you know anything about the mages?" she asked.
~Yes.~
"Why didn't you say anything?"
~We didn't think that it needed to be known until the right time. Now that you are here to stop the tyrant and his lackey, we can tell you.~
"So, what do you know?"
~There are ten mages. The head answers only to Tulpa. Kill him and the others are powerless.~
"Why?" asked Sage. "Why would the other nine be powerless if the leader is killed?"
~He is the focus of their power. They can't do the magic, only him.~
"So who can take care of him?" asked Anubis.
~He doesn't like fire. It is a weakness to him.~
"Too bad he didn't join Kayura at the gate of the Mortal Realm," said Sage. "Ryo could kill him when he crossed."
Dais smiled. "Mia, ask how Tulpa calls this head mage."
Mia looked at the shadows questioning. ~He is called the same way everyone else is.~
Dais' smile broadened. "Mia, can you hide the others while I go on an errand of my own?"
"Just give me a minute to send a shadow to warn the others before you send this head mage to our friends," she said. A shadow bowed to the ShadowDancer and left. If a shadow had a face, it would have had a wide grin plastered across its face as it looked for a crack to travel to the Mortal Realm through. The fight against the tyrant was looking better and better.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Cale was watching Rowen while he was dispatching the soldiers under Kayura's command. He didn't want the HeavenSinger to be stabbed in the back by order of Kayura as he was winning this fight.
"Cale," yelled Seckmet. "There's a new shadow looking for you."
The Shadow Master looked around and found the new shadow floating near him. He killed the last soldier nearest to him and nodded to the shadow while he advanced onto the next group coming near him.
~We have a message from the ShadowDancer.~
"Are they done already?" asked Cale. "I thought that when Tulpa died, these tin cans would fall apart."
The shadow shook in a negative sediment. ~It isn't that. She was told about the ten mages in Tulpa's employ.~
"Oh, boy. She is going to kill us when she gets back."
~The ShadowDancer says that the head mage will be coming through the gate as soon as Dais sends him the false call.~
"It's nice that she sent us a warning," muttered Cale. To the shadow he said, "I'll tell the others and have the FireDancer ready. My thanks."
The shadow bowed and returned to the crack it had appeared through. Its mission was done and now it could go back to protecting the ShadowDancer.
Cale looked around the battlefield in search of Ryo. He found him next to Seckmet and Cye. It looked like he was burning any of the soldiers coming near the other two, but Cale wasn't sure what the WaterDancer and his snaky friend were doing. Looks like he was going to find out as soon as he finished with this particular group.
"EarthSinger," he yelled. "I need you to watch your friend's back!"
Kento looked up from the fight he was in the middle of and nodded. He didn't care at the moment that Rowen was being protected by a Nether Realm occupant at that moment, but if he was asked to defend a friend, then he would. The EarthSinger finished off his particular group and waded through the soldiers to take Cale's place.
When he was in position, Cale left his self appointed position to let the FireDancer know that his power was going to be needed soon. He found that Seckmet was helping Cye with a particularly hard injury to take care of. Ryo stood near them to keep the soldiers from overwhelming them and undoing the good that the Nether Realm warrior was trying to do.
Seckmet looked over at his friend while he tied the bandage around the WaterDancer's lower thigh. "That shadow looked like it had an important message for you," he said.
Cale nodded. "It did; Mia's sending the head mage to us through the gate. Anubis and Dais think that the FireDancer can get rid of him for us."
"What about Sage?" asked Cye. "Couldn't he do anything about this head mage?"
Seckmet shook his head. "If they are going to get to Tulpa, then they have to be unnoticed. For the SunSinger to use his powers against the mage, he would be letting Tulpa and everyone else know that a SunSinger was in the area. It would be best if Tulpa's lackey was killed trying to 'help' Kayura."
Ryo nodded. "Just let me know what he looks like and he'll be greeted with all the fire I can throw at him."
Seckmet smirked. "You can't miss him. He's the only one with the greenish tinge to his skin. He could almost be the definition of ugly."
Ryo smiled even as he let a fireball loose to a group bearing down on the small group. "I'll keep my eye out for him. You may have to get my attention if I'm really busy."
"Don't worry," said Cale. "You won't miss him. He likes to make a big entrance."
Ryo gave a bark of a laugh and continued to keep enemy soldiers away from the two Nether Realm warriors and his WaterDancer friend. When Seckmet was done, Ryo moved off to spread out the resistance from one central area. He gave a courtesy look at his other two friends to see how they were doing. Kento was still keeping Tulpa's soldiers off Rowen's back and the HeavenSinger was keeping up his attack on Lady Kayura. Ryo nodded to himself and moved to a separate area. He didn't want any of the soldiers to creep around the small force blocking them and attacking from behind. All he had to do was wait for his new target.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Mia didn't like how the halls were now crawling with new soldiers. She did her best to protect Anubis and her love, but it was getting harder to avoid the guards. They weren't as shy about marching through the whole hall and not keeping to the center. It was almost funny to see Anubis try to contort to a position that wouldn't get himself caught by a passing guard. She wished that Dais would come back so he could disguise them as soldiers so they could move faster.
"Mia," hissed Sage. "There's another group heading our way."
Mia nodded and pulled more shadows closer to her. Then she and Sage crouched down into small balls while Anubis did the same thing on the other side of the hall. When they passed, the trio straightened up and moved on.
"I wish Dais would get back," muttered Mia. "He could help us get through quicker."
"I feel so loved," said a bodiless voice. Dais slipped from his invisible illusion and greeted his friends. "How may I help you, my lady?" he bowed.
"You can start by not doing that," muttered Sage as he took Mia's hand.
"Can you disguise us as soldiers so we won't as suspicious going to the throne room?" she asked.
Dais shrugged. "I can, but I think that it will only work for so long."
"Just as long as we can get there," said Sage.
"No problem there," said Dais. "It's getting in that's going to worry me."
"That's easy," said Anubis. "We could just get caught."
"Say that again?" asked Sage.
"We turn up and get caught, then we get taken to Tulpa faster."
"But Tulpa wants us to be kept apart," said Mia. "What about that?"
"Dais can cast an illusion that make it look like the first person was killed and then hide them until Tulpa brings in the other."
Mia looked at Sage with a questioning look. "It has promise," she said. "It might work."
Sage didn't like the idea, but it was the best that they could get. "How about the two of you bringing us in. Dais can you keep up the illusion of the two of you looking like soldiers while you keep one of us dead?" he asked.
Dais considered it. "May be," he said. "It might be a stretch."
"You only have to keep it up until Anubis and Mia walks in," said Sage. "Then it can be dropped."
"Why you first?" asked Mia. "I should go first."
"Because," said Sage. "If Tulpa thinks that he has you, he won't be so concerned about me. If I come in first, then he will still be watching for you. He won't be watching my dead body if he's gloating over your capture."
"He does have a point," said Anubis. "It's probably the only way for us to get in to stop him."
Mia bowed her head and nodded slightly. She didn't like the idea of Sage going first, but she was the more highly wanted person compared to Sage. If Tulpa found her first, then Sage may not have her to come help. She looked up as Dais started to weave his illusion around himself and Anubis. She smiled at her brothers and then looked at Sage. She flew into his arms and buried her head into his chest. "Please be careful," she begged.
"Always," he murmured in her hair. Before he left her arms, he gave her a kiss, then allowed Dais to tie his arms behind him loosely. Anubis did the same with Mia and they waited in a shadowed alcove while Dais and Sage marched off to Tulpa's throne room. If the first two could pull this off, then getting rid of Tulpa would be easy.
Chapter 15
Rocky Oberlin
Disclaimer: As much as I want to say that I own the Ronin Warriors and the idea of the ShadowDancer and SunSinger, I can't. Large corporations and Mercedes Lackey own them, respectively.
Rowen was ready and waiting for Lady Kayura to appear. She did with a big bang, too. One moment he was fighting off a group of soldiers and the next he was flying back from a blast aimed at him. Cale shouted something and Rowen was caught by Kento.
"You sure you want to fight this psycho?" he asked. "She doesn't seem to like you."
"I noticed," hissed Rowen as he climbed back to his feet. "Believe me, I noticed."
"Why don't you use the regular ways of Challenging a person, Kayura?" yelled Seckmet.
"Because I don't have time to waste on posturing when I could be killing him and taking this Realm," sneered Lady Kayura.
"Since you asked so nicely," said Rowen. "I'll give you my answer the same way." He called his power to him and focused in on the tip of his arrow (like his Arrow Shock Wave, but without the words). He let the arrow fly to his opponent and watched in satisfaction as she flew back from the blast and concussion. For her little trick, that served her right.
"Nice one," muttered Cale. "I hope you have power to back up that Challenge."
"Just watch," said Ryo calmly. "He has enough." The FireDancer nodded and smiled at his HeavenSinger friend. "Kick her back to Tulpa so she can see the fall of all her twisted dreams."
"You got that right," muttered Rowen. "Then we can see what we can do about her." He knew that his hope was misplaced on helping the twisted HeavenSinger, but he had to have hope. It was the only way he could walk to this fight.
"You hurt me," said a calm voice. "No one ever hurt me before." She took a stance and sneered again at Rowen. "You will pay for that blow. With your life."
"We'll see," answered back Rowen. He also took a fighting stance opposite of his rival. Their fight was about to begin.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The soldiers passing the four didn't even look at them as they marched past. Sage let out a silent sigh of relief as the turned a corner down the corridor and left their line of sight. "That was close," he said.
"They are getting closer," said Anubis. "I wonder if Tulpa is making more soldiers to make up for the ones Kayura took."
"The only way we'll find that out is if we can get to the throne room," said Dais. "Then we can stop him and his mages."
"What was that about mages?" asked Sage. "This is new." He looked at Mia. "Did you know about the mages?"
She shook her head. "They were rumors when I was around, but I stayed away from the areas they were suppose to stay in. Even Cale didn't go in that area."
"For good reason," said Dais. "They were suppose to be able to tell if a person was a Singer or Dancer even before the person knows."
"If that is true, then that might be the way Tulpa knew that Kayura was a HeavenSinger," said Anubis.
"Now that we know that Tulpa has mages, we can defend against them," said Sage. "But you should have said something before we came here."
Anubis and Dais looked down. "That's the problem," said Dais. "We didn't know. They were rumors, very popular rumors, but no one was really sure if Tulpa had any mages or if he was powerful enough to make his own troops."
"How do you know now?" asked Mia.
"I snuck ahead and looked around," said Dais. "I heard some of the soldiers saying that Tulpa was closeted with his mages for the past two days after assigning Kayura to the conquering of the Mortal Realm."
Mia looked at the shadows surrounding them. "Do you know anything about the mages?" she asked.
~Yes.~
"Why didn't you say anything?"
~We didn't think that it needed to be known until the right time. Now that you are here to stop the tyrant and his lackey, we can tell you.~
"So, what do you know?"
~There are ten mages. The head answers only to Tulpa. Kill him and the others are powerless.~
"Why?" asked Sage. "Why would the other nine be powerless if the leader is killed?"
~He is the focus of their power. They can't do the magic, only him.~
"So who can take care of him?" asked Anubis.
~He doesn't like fire. It is a weakness to him.~
"Too bad he didn't join Kayura at the gate of the Mortal Realm," said Sage. "Ryo could kill him when he crossed."
Dais smiled. "Mia, ask how Tulpa calls this head mage."
Mia looked at the shadows questioning. ~He is called the same way everyone else is.~
Dais' smile broadened. "Mia, can you hide the others while I go on an errand of my own?"
"Just give me a minute to send a shadow to warn the others before you send this head mage to our friends," she said. A shadow bowed to the ShadowDancer and left. If a shadow had a face, it would have had a wide grin plastered across its face as it looked for a crack to travel to the Mortal Realm through. The fight against the tyrant was looking better and better.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Cale was watching Rowen while he was dispatching the soldiers under Kayura's command. He didn't want the HeavenSinger to be stabbed in the back by order of Kayura as he was winning this fight.
"Cale," yelled Seckmet. "There's a new shadow looking for you."
The Shadow Master looked around and found the new shadow floating near him. He killed the last soldier nearest to him and nodded to the shadow while he advanced onto the next group coming near him.
~We have a message from the ShadowDancer.~
"Are they done already?" asked Cale. "I thought that when Tulpa died, these tin cans would fall apart."
The shadow shook in a negative sediment. ~It isn't that. She was told about the ten mages in Tulpa's employ.~
"Oh, boy. She is going to kill us when she gets back."
~The ShadowDancer says that the head mage will be coming through the gate as soon as Dais sends him the false call.~
"It's nice that she sent us a warning," muttered Cale. To the shadow he said, "I'll tell the others and have the FireDancer ready. My thanks."
The shadow bowed and returned to the crack it had appeared through. Its mission was done and now it could go back to protecting the ShadowDancer.
Cale looked around the battlefield in search of Ryo. He found him next to Seckmet and Cye. It looked like he was burning any of the soldiers coming near the other two, but Cale wasn't sure what the WaterDancer and his snaky friend were doing. Looks like he was going to find out as soon as he finished with this particular group.
"EarthSinger," he yelled. "I need you to watch your friend's back!"
Kento looked up from the fight he was in the middle of and nodded. He didn't care at the moment that Rowen was being protected by a Nether Realm occupant at that moment, but if he was asked to defend a friend, then he would. The EarthSinger finished off his particular group and waded through the soldiers to take Cale's place.
When he was in position, Cale left his self appointed position to let the FireDancer know that his power was going to be needed soon. He found that Seckmet was helping Cye with a particularly hard injury to take care of. Ryo stood near them to keep the soldiers from overwhelming them and undoing the good that the Nether Realm warrior was trying to do.
Seckmet looked over at his friend while he tied the bandage around the WaterDancer's lower thigh. "That shadow looked like it had an important message for you," he said.
Cale nodded. "It did; Mia's sending the head mage to us through the gate. Anubis and Dais think that the FireDancer can get rid of him for us."
"What about Sage?" asked Cye. "Couldn't he do anything about this head mage?"
Seckmet shook his head. "If they are going to get to Tulpa, then they have to be unnoticed. For the SunSinger to use his powers against the mage, he would be letting Tulpa and everyone else know that a SunSinger was in the area. It would be best if Tulpa's lackey was killed trying to 'help' Kayura."
Ryo nodded. "Just let me know what he looks like and he'll be greeted with all the fire I can throw at him."
Seckmet smirked. "You can't miss him. He's the only one with the greenish tinge to his skin. He could almost be the definition of ugly."
Ryo smiled even as he let a fireball loose to a group bearing down on the small group. "I'll keep my eye out for him. You may have to get my attention if I'm really busy."
"Don't worry," said Cale. "You won't miss him. He likes to make a big entrance."
Ryo gave a bark of a laugh and continued to keep enemy soldiers away from the two Nether Realm warriors and his WaterDancer friend. When Seckmet was done, Ryo moved off to spread out the resistance from one central area. He gave a courtesy look at his other two friends to see how they were doing. Kento was still keeping Tulpa's soldiers off Rowen's back and the HeavenSinger was keeping up his attack on Lady Kayura. Ryo nodded to himself and moved to a separate area. He didn't want any of the soldiers to creep around the small force blocking them and attacking from behind. All he had to do was wait for his new target.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Mia didn't like how the halls were now crawling with new soldiers. She did her best to protect Anubis and her love, but it was getting harder to avoid the guards. They weren't as shy about marching through the whole hall and not keeping to the center. It was almost funny to see Anubis try to contort to a position that wouldn't get himself caught by a passing guard. She wished that Dais would come back so he could disguise them as soldiers so they could move faster.
"Mia," hissed Sage. "There's another group heading our way."
Mia nodded and pulled more shadows closer to her. Then she and Sage crouched down into small balls while Anubis did the same thing on the other side of the hall. When they passed, the trio straightened up and moved on.
"I wish Dais would get back," muttered Mia. "He could help us get through quicker."
"I feel so loved," said a bodiless voice. Dais slipped from his invisible illusion and greeted his friends. "How may I help you, my lady?" he bowed.
"You can start by not doing that," muttered Sage as he took Mia's hand.
"Can you disguise us as soldiers so we won't as suspicious going to the throne room?" she asked.
Dais shrugged. "I can, but I think that it will only work for so long."
"Just as long as we can get there," said Sage.
"No problem there," said Dais. "It's getting in that's going to worry me."
"That's easy," said Anubis. "We could just get caught."
"Say that again?" asked Sage.
"We turn up and get caught, then we get taken to Tulpa faster."
"But Tulpa wants us to be kept apart," said Mia. "What about that?"
"Dais can cast an illusion that make it look like the first person was killed and then hide them until Tulpa brings in the other."
Mia looked at Sage with a questioning look. "It has promise," she said. "It might work."
Sage didn't like the idea, but it was the best that they could get. "How about the two of you bringing us in. Dais can you keep up the illusion of the two of you looking like soldiers while you keep one of us dead?" he asked.
Dais considered it. "May be," he said. "It might be a stretch."
"You only have to keep it up until Anubis and Mia walks in," said Sage. "Then it can be dropped."
"Why you first?" asked Mia. "I should go first."
"Because," said Sage. "If Tulpa thinks that he has you, he won't be so concerned about me. If I come in first, then he will still be watching for you. He won't be watching my dead body if he's gloating over your capture."
"He does have a point," said Anubis. "It's probably the only way for us to get in to stop him."
Mia bowed her head and nodded slightly. She didn't like the idea of Sage going first, but she was the more highly wanted person compared to Sage. If Tulpa found her first, then Sage may not have her to come help. She looked up as Dais started to weave his illusion around himself and Anubis. She smiled at her brothers and then looked at Sage. She flew into his arms and buried her head into his chest. "Please be careful," she begged.
"Always," he murmured in her hair. Before he left her arms, he gave her a kiss, then allowed Dais to tie his arms behind him loosely. Anubis did the same with Mia and they waited in a shadowed alcove while Dais and Sage marched off to Tulpa's throne room. If the first two could pull this off, then getting rid of Tulpa would be easy.
