New Blood
by Saber Alexander McConnell
Rated PG13

CHAPTER 31: Into the Dragon's Den

For the next five hours, the five Ronin pored over the many notes and pages of information Amaya had brought from her belongings. Aside from all the information about the armors themselves—they knew most of that already, anyway—there were other, more obscure things. "I don't have much," said Amaya after they'd all eaten a quick dinner. "Only these three pages. And it is all weird. This page is what the legend said—a fence with no stone and a moat with no water."

"Oh, that's useful," said Xander, rolling his eyes.

Nohano was surprised that Amaya did not become offended; in fact she nodded her head grimly. "I know. It is in riddle form. I think if we see it, we will know."

Rashida was the most intrigued of all of them, Nohano noted without much surprise. She was insane that way; she liked puzzles and riddles, and even enjoyed filling out those logic problems in the puzzle books. That is the way to the Nether Realm? she asked.

"Yes. There are gates, but I do not think we can use them unless they are opened from their side of the...barrier. I think there is a barrier to their..."

"Dimension?" Suisei suggested.

"Yes. Yes, a dimension. It is a different dimension. We may be able to pass through the fence. If the fence is the barrier."

Nohano scanned over the other two pages of written notes, but was irritated to find it was written in Japanese. 'Of course it's in Japanese,' he thought. 'Idiot, that's her language!' "So what's all this, then?"

"Well, this is from my grandmother's stories. She said Sanada Ryo and the other Ronin of that time got through to the Nether World two different way. One way we cannot use. Talpa's palace had..." She struggled to find the word, then flashed into mental speech. The Ancient One sacrificed himself to create a bridge, a great whirlwind that reached Talpa's palace. But the palace had solidified, materialized in the air. Not the mirror image that hangs over the city now. The second way was through a wall of black fog.

That may be our fence or moat, said Rashida, grinning. A fence without stone Fog sounds like a good barrier, wouldn't you say?

"Definitely," said Xander with a grin. Nohano laughed a little; Xan used gray fog as his own barrier, so the idea wasn't as crazy as it seemed.

"But how did he find it?" Asked Suisei.

That part is here, said Amaya. It was where the great red gates stand. The ones that tower over the skyscrapers.

I don't remember seeing a gate, said Rashida with a frown. I'd remember a gate that tall, I think!

Well...that's what Grandmother said, said Amaya, sounding frustrated. Nohano, where were the computers? I must try and contact Grandmother. She would help a great deal!

Oh yeah, the computers! Excited at the idea of having contact with the outside world, Nohano stood and led the way to the little control room area he had found. "I don't guess the phones'll work," he said, thoughtfully. "The phone lines are above ground. The damned Dynasty will have screwed them all up." He picked up one of the receivers, grimacing at a sudden shriek of static, and slammed the phone hastily back into its wall niche. "Yyyyeah."

"Luckily the computers no longer use phone lines," said Xan, turning one of the units on and watching it boot up.

"Did they ever?" asked Amaya.

"Yep! When they were first invented, they used what they called 'modems'. They sorta tapped into the phone line—you had to use an old-fashioned phone jack, not like the normal cable phones—and you used the phone line. Man, they were slow as molasses. My mom had an antique computer. Still worked, too!"

"Bet that was weird," said Nohano, watching as Xander's fingers flew over the keyboard of the little computer he sat at. "All right. Well...let's see if we can get through."

It did not take long to realize that the computer was going to be of very little use. They couldn't connect with the Internet at all, no matter what Xan tried.

"Guess the cables are too close to the surface," said Suisei glumly.

Undaunted, Xander seemed to be getting into the files of the system, searching for any kind of archives, but found very little. "Most of it is on running this facility," said Xander. "Maintenance schedules, food stores lists...that kind of thing. Ya know--someone needs to publish a book: Dynasty for Dummies."

Everyone cracked up. Stressed, scared, and frustrated, he found himself laughing almost hysterically as he imagined picking that book up at the local bookstore. "Chapter one," he said, "Recognizing a Dynasty warlord."

"Item one," said Suisei, "they arrive in a showy flash of lightning."

Item two, giggled Rashida, They dress in metal animal costumes.

No one could come up with much more than that. Even Amaya had to sit down, her laughter only slowly tapering. Xander shook his head and shut the computer down, wiping at his eyes. "Jeez. We've all lost our damned minds, you do realize this?"

"Yeah," said Nohano with a sigh. "At least it's not boring."

"Well—so what do we do?" asked Suisei. "We've gone over this stuff dozens of times. Do we just—go out and look for the damned gates?"

Nohano nodded slowly. "You know," he said, "that might just be what we have to do. Tomorrow. Tonight...we should all get some sleep." He hated saying it. The last thing he wanted to do was to rest and sleep, but they'd be no use falling down with exhaustion.

Nohano did not sleep easily that night. For the first time since he'd woken in front of the stove, he thought about his battle. It had been terrifying and exhilarating. It had even been fun, at times, even counting the injuries he'd taken. But then he remembered Dais's taunt, of how Tarun was in Talpa's grasp. He swallowed hard, curling up on his cot, trying not to imagine the boy caught in some deep, dark dungeon cell, with rats and chains, and...

Nohano took a big breath and closed his eyes, but he did not dream well.

---

The next morning, everyone but Nohano went out on a search mission to locate a gate, and, hopefully, a fence. They came back that night, tired and dispirited, finding no sign of either.

It wasn't until the next afternoon that they stumbled upon the fence of fog; Nohano was lying on a cot, staring morosely at the ceiling, when a sudden, jubilant shout echoed in his head. He leapt out of the cot onto his feet, his heart pounding. You scared the hell out of me!

It was Rashida. Sounding less than repentant, she only laughed and told him he should have been more alert. We found the gate! she exclaimed before Nohano could retort. It's obscured in this damned fog—we know right where it is. We're heading back now. We can get ready tonight and be off tomorrow morning.

Not very patient at the best of times, Nohano scowled. We should leave before that, he said. It's not that late, if we can get back th...er, where is it, anyway?

Xander's voice broke in then. Forget that, man, we're half a day away from the shelter. It'll be night by the time we get back. And we gotta gear up and everything. But we know where it is, now. We'll get up early, and be ready to roll.

Nohano sighed unhappily, and sent back his reluctant agreement. He didn't want Xander to be right; he wanted to rush out right that second!

Annoyed, Nohano turned his gaze to the backpacks they'd brought back the other day from their apartment raids; they would come in extremely handy for their trip. They'd have to bring food, of course, and water. He was wondering just how long a trip it would be, when he remembered the nightmare he'd had, so many weeks earlier. A nightmare about a barren realm, full of spirits and evil. He remembered the mountain and the valley beyond the mountain, and realized with sudden horror that was where they meant to go. "Oh, my God," he whispered. "We're walking into a nightmare. Literally."

He told the others when they returned what he had realized, and none of them were any happier about it than he was. "Guess we'll be out there a few days, huh?" asked Xander, sighing.

"Possibly," said Nohano. "I dunno how close we'll be to those mountains. Amaya...do you think you can teleport once we're actually in the realm? Teleport and get Tarun and the others out that way?"

Amaya looked doubtful, and did not answer for a few moments. Finally she admitted that she didn't know. "It's possible," she said. "But the entire realm might be blocking my powers. I guess we'll find out once we get in there."

"So," said Rashida. "We should make a list of what we must bring." The most organized of the lot, she went about writing down a neat list of all the supplies they would need for a trip into the Nether Realm.

"Nice field trip," said Xander dryly. "This is bloody fantastic. I bet my old boy scout troop would love this camping trip."

"Into suicidal outings, are they?" asked Suisei.

Xander laughed. "Yeah, actually. The more danger the better. My Scoutmaster went gray in the few years he led us."

"That figures!" said Suisei with a rueful laugh. While they were compiling their list, Nohano brought out the radio they'd found the previous day and turned it on. He'd been listening to it on and off, trying to figure out what was happening. The news hadn't been encouraging.

The frightening pall over San Francisco seemed to be spreading, from the main metro area into the suburbs and outskirts. Everyone from the surrounding area and nearest towns and cities had been evacuated, and the military set at the borders of the stormy influence, in hopes of stopping the terrifying power. They were ready to evacuate those living yet further out if need be.

As Nohano listened, there was nothing he hadn't already heard at least, which was good news. It meant nothing new—worse—had happened.

He switched off the radio and joined in the planning.

Before the Ronin were ready to sleep, they had put together five backpacks of supplies. At first there weren't enough packs to go around, but some had been found in one of the various storerooms of the shelter, and they were far sturdier than a couple of the ones they already had.

"Should we even bring matches?" asked Xander at one point, looking sideways at Nohano and holding a box of waterproof ones.

"Might as well," said Nohano. "Just in case." It was an easy task for him to create a fire, but there was always the chance he might not be available when needed. The point was well taken, and Xander tossed the matches in.

The packs were filled before they went to bed, and they felt they were as ready as they ever would be.

---

When morning came, Nohano felt that his strength was back to normal. He'd spent a lot of time in front of (or in) the oven, vowing to find out if there was an incinerator somewhere in the shelter. That would be great for quick energy boosts.

Everyone summoned their riot gear, strapping the backpacks on and making sure that they had everything. Nohano took a big breath and looked up towards the door. "Well," he said. "Let's go." He was nervous, but he was also excited. No matter how frightened he was or worried about his friends, he couldn't deny the exotic excitement of the adventure.

Rashida led the group back to where they had discovered the strange fog and the partially hidden gate, which was in a section of downtown San Francisco. The buildings here had fared no better than in the bay area, Nohano was rather dispirited to notice.

The gate itself, however, was a wonder, and Nohano peered up at it for a good minute, blinking at its enormity. The oriental-style red door extended dozens of meters into the air, taller than any building in the city. "Wow."

"Yeah," said Xan. "And take a look at that creepy-ass fog."

Nohano looked around and saw Xander was right; it looked more like black smoke than fog, and drifted eerily in place. It really did look like a fence, and the red door was the gate in the fence. "What about the moat?" he wondered.

We don't know if the fog is the moat or the fence, said Rashida. Either way...

"Yeah, I guess it really doesn't matter. Well...okay. Let's try and get this gate open, first."

The five youths all approached the door, placing their hands carefully on its smooth surface. Taking a big breath, Nohano counted off to three. On the last count, he shoved against the door with all his might, straining his muscles until they shook. Groans and grunts of effort from his friends told him they were giving it their all, too, but the gate did not budge.

"It's no use," said Suisei, panting and leaning against the door.

"Friggin' Dynasty really needs to learn about doorknobs," Xander growled, glaring up at the gate. "Damn."

Nohano sighed, glancing again at the black fog. It gave him an awful feeling, and he was reluctant to walk into it. "All right, guys," he said. "Armor up. This isn't something I just want walk in to. Armor up and have your weapons at the ready. That fog gives me the creeps."

Nohano set his backpack down, stepping back and calling out for his Armor of Wildfire. The others called out to their armor, Halo, Strata, Night, and Twilight. Once everyone was in their full armor and with weapons ready, they put their backpacks on, adjusted for the larger size. Shaking his head at how weird they all looked, Nohano stepped in through the unnatural, flat surface of the fog.

The first tendrils went almost unnoticed by Nohano, slithering sneakily about his ankles. But when he was grabbed up by the leg and flung him several meters away with a scream of surprise, he definitely noticed! He scrambled to his knees, then to his feet, recoiling in shock from what seemed to be phantoms or poltergeists, looming in and out of the fog, perhaps even made of the fog itself. Wispy, black limbs shot out of the black, seeking his eyes, grabbing him around the arms and legs.

The fog thickened until Nohano thought it must suffocate him, even as he grabbed for his katana. His view of his friends was cut off as he unleashed a short burst of fire from his blades, briefly cutting through the evil fog, breaking its hold on him. He got a brief glimpse of Rashida, bright light flashing from his nodatchi, driving back the fog, and Xander with a shield around himself, sprinting for what Nohano hoped was the direction of the Nether World..

Nohano yelled as another of the horrid beasts grabbed his throat, and awkwardly cut at it with the katana, very nearly cutting his own skin getting the fog from his neck. He sprinted away from the creature towards his friends, not all of whom were doing as well as he and Rashida were. Amaya, who had nothing resembling a power attack, could not fight the beasts off with her nunchaku, and Suisei sailed by Nohano even as he watched, landing with a clatter of metal on the asphalt.

Rashida drove the fog back from Amaya with a bright flash of light, stooping hastily to help her up, and Nohano went after Suisei, who was fighting with several of the hideous phantasms. Disgusted, Nohano conjured a fistful of fire, waving the flame around him, clearing the black fog. The phantoms, wisps of fog with eerie, red, glowing eyes, recoiled with seething glares of hatred.

Nohano wasn't sure how they did it, harassed, detained, and rerouted by the silent beasts, but the five of them finally broke out of the fog, spilling out onto strangely warm ground. Nohano and Suisei were clutching one another's arms to keep together, and Xander had Amaya within his energy shield. Rashida had her blade out, the last of them to appear, suddenly lurching out of the fog.

Except there was no fog.

"What the hell?" uttered Xan, scowling with irritation.

Nohano let go of Suisei's arm, blinking and looking around, almost feeling his heart clenched as he realized. The landscape was bleak, dotted with a pitiful smattering of strange trees, the spiky forms of mountains looming in the distance. The air was warm, and smelled like a moldy mattress, and the strange sky above was dark, dotted with an amazing expanse of stars. But the sun was high in the sky.

"By the gods," Amaya whispered shakily.

Nohano knew the others felt it. Oppressive, stifling, an evil like no other. The entire land was tainted, foul, ruined by he who reigned over it.

"The Nether Realm," Rashida whispered, taking a deep breath and sheathing her longsword. "I never thought it could be this horrible."

Nohano did. He had been here once before, in his dreams, and he had wakened screaming. He turned to gaze in dismay at the mountains, knowing it was there they must go. "There's a valley there," he said, pointing at one of the taller peaks. "The whole thing is surrounded by mountains. There's a small passage through one of the mountains, a maze or something of caverns." Rashida muttered darkly, and Nohano knew she wasn't thrilled with another cavern labyrinth.

"How do you know?" asked Xan.

"Dreamed it," said Nohano briefly. "Fantastic. I never thought I would be visiting my nightmares...how many people in the world do you think have done that?"

Rashida laughed a little. "Not many."

Realizing that Suisei had been very silent, Nohano looked over at him, worried for a moment he had been hurt, but frowned a moment later in surprise at the expression of delighted fascination on his face. The older boy gazed at the sky, his eyes sweeping back and forth, eagerly taking in every detail of the alien constellations.

"Amazing," Suisei whispered. "It's magnificent, isn't it?"

Xander gaped at Suisei in bald astonishment, but Nohano finally had to laugh. Suisei had noticed nothing but the sky, as often happened. Nohano wondered if he even knew what the earth looked like sometime. "You wanna come back to Earth, Comet? Or...whatever the hell passes for 'earth' here."

Suisei looked slowly at Nohano, grinning like a child who has seen something new and fascinating. "This place is vile, Nohano, but look above us! Even the astronauts of Earth never saw a sight like this!"

"Oh, brother," Xander muttered, grabbing Suisei by the arm and dragging him away. "Come on, Buck Rogers. Or we'll never get there."

Suisei let himself be led off, but didn't take his gaze from the heavens. Nohano smiled ruefully, belatedly taking an inventory of who had been hurt (no one, not seriously), and what supplies they might have lost (none, fortunately). He shrugged at the others, then took off after Suisei and Xander, his eye out for trouble. They were alone—for now—but the warlords had a really nasty habit of showing up out of nowhere. Literally.