Sorry I haven't updated in ages, I've been in Germany for the past two weeks, so I couldn't really do anything.

Thank-you to Queen Diamond, School Boredom, Mcmkitn and Inda for their reviews. You're my favourite people in the world.

Review from Inda : What do you mean ? I don't think I've had Ryo be nasty to her... Unless you mean the remark about the lack of judgement, in which case it's Charaka that says that. I'm afraid I hate Mia with a vengeance, but I know I can't have the Ronins be nasty to her. Bit of a shame, really. Sorry you don't like Karala.

Chapter 9

In the Dynasty...

Ryo sat in a corner of his cell, thinking and trying to ignore the pain he felt all over him. Ayato had obviously only given him a taste of pain the first time, and Ryo was willing to bet that it'd get worse every time.

'What the hell am I going to do? If I tell him anything then I'm betraying Karala and the others, and if I don't then this'll just carry on. Put like that, I don't have a choice. I'll just have to cope.' Ryo sighed. The sooner the others got there the better.

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Karala looked around, taking stock of her surroundings. They were lucky, the opening had been on the same side of the castle as the dungeons. 'Gods I hate this place.'

She turned to the others. "We're on the right side of the castle, and I can get us in easily. When we get in there, Kale, Sekhmet, Dais, Anubis and Kayura, you go after Mia. The rest of us will go find Ryo. Clear?"

The others nodded.

"Ok, let's go."

She turned and walked up to the wall. She smiled. It was newly built and still slightly fragile. She ran her hand down it, then whispered something that was lost on the breeze, and suddenly the wall crumbled, making no sound. Kayura looked at her sharply.

"I'll explain later." Karala promised. "You can feel where Mia is?" They nodded. "Good. Dais, if you could set up an illusion to hide the non-existent wall, then we can get going." Dais nodded, closing his eyes for a second, then opening them when he was done.

"When you find Mia, just get out of here. Don't worry about us. Got it?" Karala warned them.

"What if you get captured?" Kale asked. Karala looked at him.

"If they capture me, then they're the ones who're going to need your pity, not me!" Karala said with a grin. She motioned to the others. "Follow me."

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Ryo looked up. Someone was moving outside his cell. Very quietly, but there nonetheless. The lock clicked suddenly, and Karala stuck her head round the door. She grinned.

"Hey Ryo." She came over to him and helped him to stand. "You ok?"

He nodded, wincing at the pain the movement caused him. The other Ronins followed the girl into the room. Sage held something out to Ryo. His armour crystal.

"We found it outside." Sage said, dropping it into his hand. Ryo changed into his subarmour. The pain diminished for a moment, only to come back stronger a second later.

"We'd better get going." Karala said. "We kind of, er... broke in, and I don't think Ayato'll be very happy about that." She moved towards the door, followed quickly by everyone else. She walked out into the corridor, the boys following her as quietly as possible. Ryo watched her. It felt strange not to be the leader, but looking at her, he realized that she was probably better suited to the job. She moved like a cat, her movements sleek and fluid. She tensed suddenly, then, gesturing the rest of them into the shadows, walked forward to meet the two Dynasty soldiers who had appeared at the end of the corridor. They immediately went on guard, although they were puzzled. The girl in front of them wasn't wearing armour, nor did she have any weapons. At least that's what they thought.

Karala reached for the two knives in her shoulder scabbards, flicking them out with practiced ease. Ten seconds later, both soldiers were dead.

"Come on. They probably weren't the only ones here."

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Kayura was worried. They had got back to the mansion an hour ago, and Karala still hadn't showed up. Suddenly the portal in front of her shimmered and the Ronins, followed closely by Karala, tumbled through. Karala picked herself up quickly, then turned around and closed the portal, before following the Ronins into the house.

She found Mia fussing around all the Ronins and Warlords, who were all stretched out on the couches. She smiled to herself. Men.

"Alright, start talking. What happened?" Sage demanded, addressing himself to Ryo. "What did they want you for?"

"Nothing much, just trying to find out about Karala. Ayato seems to think that you're the single greatest threat to his Dynasty ever."

Karala looked at him. Something was wrong. "That's all? Nothing else"

"No, don't think so."

"And now you can explain how you managed to knock that wall down just by touching it!" Kayura told Karala.

Karala sighed. "Just one of the side effects of the Ancient's armour."

"Oh..."

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So, what do you think? Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez? Review, please….(not entirely sure what that is in French.) Laissez un revue, s'il vous plait ?

Carline