Chapter 7

Karala was bored. They were on their way home, and the boys hadn't stopped nagging her for the entire journey. They were still going on about why she shouldn't have fought the boy at school. She finally cracked.

"Look, would you just give it a bloody rest! It's my problem and I dealt with it. End of story."

The Ronins looked surprised at her outburst. The atmosphere grew even more tense as Mia entered the room.

"Good day?" she asked.

"Fine, apart from the fact that Kal almost killed someone just for flirting with her." Sage answered irritably.

"You what?" Anubis asked, coming into the room with the other Warlords just in time to hear Sage's remark.

"Don't listen to him, he's exaggerating. I just threw the guy into the opposite wall. I had myself perfectly under control." Karala countered.

"And why did you feel it necessary to throw him into the wall?" Kale asked innocently.

"He was being a git." Karala answered, in a tone that didn't invite comment.

"You shouldn't do that. I'm responsible for you and I don't want you dragged into court just for a light flirtation." Mia said crossly.

Karala's face lost some of the amusement at the general banter.

"Oh please, Mia, we all know you don't give a damn about me. Why bother pretending?" she said coldly.

Mia glared at her for a moment, then turned around and left the room.

Kayura took a deep breath.

"Um, Kal? Would it be possible for you and Mia to stop trying to kill each other at every opportunity? I'm getting really bored of it."

"Fine... As long as you talk to her and get her to agree that she has absolutely no authority over my or anything I do. I would like to remind you that it's not my fault she's got a thick head." Karala turned and ran up the stairs and into her room.

"Why is it always me?" she asked her tiger. "Either they love me or they hate me, there's no happy medium!"

Mia stormed out of the house and over to the lake. It wasn't fair. She'd been there for the Ronins ever since they first got together, and now they all put Karala first in everything.

"Mia?"

She turned around. Ryo had followed her.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong! I'll tell you what's damn well wrong! You've known me for a good year, and then all of a sudden this girl comes along and you put her first, she's the most important and everything, and I hate her!"

Ryo didn't say anything.

"How touching. You're jealous of Karala. I wouldn't have expected such a lack of judgement."

Ryo stood up, simultaneously transforming into his subarmour.

"What are you doing here?"

Charaka smiled. "Me? I'm here to take you back to my master, and since the girl's here, I see no reason why she shouldn't come as well."

"Yeah? Well here's news for you, you're going to have to go through me first!"

"Very well." Charaka extended his hand, and a bolt of black lightning shot from the tips of his fingers. Ryo crumpled to the ground, passing out from the pain of the attack.

"Pitiful!" Charaka sneered. Faran appeared beside him and grabbed Mia on his command. They disappeared, leaving no trace of their having been there.

Ryo woke up several hours later in a cell deep in the Dynasty. Mia was bent over him, trying to wake him up.

"Ryo, thank God! I was starting to get really worried!"

"Where are we, d'you know?"

"No idea. The two who brought us here teleported here, so I don't know the way out. Sorry."

Ryo swore. "So we're stuck in the Dynasty, with no idea how to get out or why we're here."

The cell door opened. Syren stood outside with Jasta.

"Wildfire, come with us. You stay here." Syren said, addressing the second order to Mia.

Ryo walked in front of his captors to the throne room. They entered, the door clanging shut behind them.

The man sitting in the throne spoke quietly to Rokayu, then turned to Ryo, who shuddered involuntarily. The man generated an aura that would have put Talpa to shame. He had long black hair, and eyes as black as coal, even though they glowed, a black light that inspired despair.

"So, you are Ryo of Wildfire." The man's voice was completely void of emotions. "I am Ayato, emperor of the Dynasty. I have waited entire millennia to meet you."

Ryo said nothing.

"You may find it surprising to find how much I know about you, and of course your group of warriors. I do not, however, know anything about Karala of Ancient, only what any person in your civil service knows about her. That is where you come in. Tell me what you know about her." It was not a question.

"And if I refuse?" Ryo's throat dried up as he spoke. He knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

Ayato smiled. "I understand your friends Halo, Torrent and Hardrock spent some time in the Gargoyles, but that you and Strata managed to escape the ordeal. You will either tell me what you know or you will be put through the same pain that they were." Ayato watched the boy's face. He would not give in, he knew. He was his father's son.

"Has anyone seen Ryo?" Kento asked, coming into the living room.

Karala looked up from her magazine.

"Not since he went out after Mia. Why?" Kayura answered.

"I've just got a bad feeling about something. I'm going to go look for him."

"I'll come with you." Karala stood up, following Kento out into the garden. Suddenly she collapsed onto the ground, shaking.

"What's wrong?" Sage asked.

Karala's eyes showed fear for the first time in their memory.

"They've got him!"

And another chapter. I really am on a roll. Thanks to Queen Diamond for her review, and if you could look into Element that would be a great help. Legacy of the Abhorsen is based on Harry Potter and the Sabriel trilogy by Garth Nix. It shouldn't be too complicated and I'll put a summary somewhere in the actual story, when they explain to the others who they are. Go check it out, you might like it.

Carline