Chapter 12
The next morning dawned clear and bright and promised to be a pleasant day. Breakfast was the same as the workers simple meal. Ronin and Kung Lao bade their farewells and started walking in the direction Kintaro pointed out to them. After they were out of sight of the workers, Ronin summoned his staff to one hand and a lightning bolt to the other as he said: "Ready to fly my friend?" Kung Lao answered by grasping the staff below Ronin's hand. As he did so, Kung Lao had a sensation of moving while standing still and only saw the passing landscape in a blur when the flight ended just a quickly as it started.
He found himself at the gates of a middle sized city. As he and Ronin entered the gates, a group of four armed soldiers stopped them and gave challenge: "Hold travelers. What is your business in the city of Eden?" Ronin answered: "Please allow us to pass. We have business with Queen Kitana." The leader of the four gave a sharp bark of laughter that his fellows joined in as he said: "And I'm the king of the Shokan. Be gone beggars. The city is already overflowing with your ilk and her highness the Queen will have nothing to do with you or your kind."
Ronin stood there and tried to think of a way to get the muscle head and his pack to back down when the leader prodded him with the butt of his spear. Ronin said: "Don't do that." "Don't do what beggar?" said the soldier as he prodded Ronin again a little harder. After the third such prod, Ronin's eyes crackled with electricity. One of the soldiers noticed this and said to his leader: "Uh Tram, maybe we should let him go." The leader, Tram, turned his head and said: "Since when do you give orders?"
He looked back to Ronin and turned his spear around point first and said: "I told you to leave. Now leave before I use your head to decorate this gate with." As the spear tip came at Ronin, he said: "I was trying to be polite mortal, now you've gone and annoyed me." Tram suddenly jabbed his spear forward as Ronin side stepped and grabbed the metal spear tip and started to send low level voltage through it. As expected, the muscles in Tram's hand clenched in response to the current. His face first wore annoyance, when Ronin grabbed the weapon but now showed uncertainty and a trace of fear.
Ronin knew from his mortal life that it wasn't the voltage in electricity that killed but the amperage. With this in mind, Ronin sent a surge of pure voltage that sent Tram flying back to be caught by his pack. Taking the spear in both hands he snapped it across his knee and declared in his echo-tone: "Enough! Send a messenger to Queen Kitana and inform her that Raiden, God of Thunder and Protector of the Realm of Earth, and his companion, the monk Kung Lao are here to see her at her earliest convenience." That said, the man who had tried to get his leader to back down, untangled himself from the pile of humanity and ran towards the largest structure inside the walled city, sitting in the center, 'it could only be the palace of Kitana', Ronin thought to himself.
Kung Lao stepped forward to help the soldiers to their feet. Ronin stood away and got his temper back in check. After they stood, a much chastened Tram, his hair still sticking up from his head at odd angles because of the residual energy from the shock, stepped forward and bowed saying: "Forgive me, Lord Raiden. I didn't know it was you. In times past, you usually went directly to the palace, not the main gate. I am a fool for acting as I did Lord. Please forgive me." Ronin looked at him, and without knowing quite how he did, looked into the man's soul as well. He saw a tendency towards arrogance but a solid core of decency and dedication to his Queen. He also saw a long life ahead of him and a family. Ronin said: "Fool you may be but at least you know and acknowledge what you did wrong. For that, you can be justly proud. Remember this as a lesson of what not to do in the future, and you may yet go far."
Tram bowed low as the soldier from before came back visibly out of breath from the run and said: "Lord (pant, pant) Raiden. The queen will (pant) see you immediately." Ronin nodded his head and walked through the gates with Kung Lao following. As they walked up the street, Ronin noticed signs of both demolition and new construction. They entered an open square market with the usual stands and shops to be seen, people hawking their wares, farmers selling their crops, shoppers and onlookers alike. A few soldiers scattered about as a law enforcement presence. Like the bow of an icebreaker ship, the crowd parted for the two newcomers. Many people would later look on the moment and not know why they moved aside, just that they felt they had to for some reason. The mortal and the god left the market behind and walked up another series of streets until they came to the main courtyard of the palace.