Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that I claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:
For Love and Money, the War of the Horse. A Y3 story.
Chapter 9: Truth and lies, honor and justice.
Ranma cursed softly as he ducked back behind his cover. He would need to get another count later, and see if he could figure out if any of the council might still be alive. He hoped that Khu Lon had made it out, if none of the others had. If Khu Lon and Xian Pu were on the loose, then this would be much easier.
Also, he didn't want to have to tell his daughter that her favorite grandmother had been killed.
He had to believe that both of them were still alive, at least until he had found out otherwise. It wasn't a good idea to build a plan on hopeful thinking, but he couldn't help it. He had to keep some hope, at least until facts proved otherwise.
With the numbers he could see, it was best to wait till after nightfall again, just like the other villages. The numbers were far, far worse this time around, though. The smart thing to do would be to fall back, and maybe see if there was anything else that could be done.
The thing was, he was not in the mindset to do that. Justice had to be done, and the score settled. He owed far too much to the Amazons to not take action, if there was anything that he could accomplish. If nothing else, he would perform reconnaissance, and make plans from there. If there was a chance to extract any surviving members of the Council of Elders, or the Circle of Warriors that Xian Pu had organized.
For now though, he would settle in and wait. Maybe rest for just a little bit before he made his way in. The fights against Bo Bi Pyn and Parsley had taken far more from him than he would like to admit to anyone, even himself.
After he made sure that he was well concealed, he let his eyes slip closed.
Ranma was pulled from his rest by the first of a series of gunshots that rang out across the village, and then silence As the martial artist rolled quickly and quietly into his observation position, he lifted the scope to see what had happened. What he saw was the mercenaries hesitated, while the Amazon's that carried more modern weapons rushed towards the center of the village. The scattered men who carried more traditional weaponry rather than the firearms that the others did seemed to hesitate until they saw the mercenaries start to follow the Amazon's like the leading edge of a wave that drew the sea after it. Ranma could not help but wonder what that might signify.
Ranma gathered his gear quickly and started to move towards the village, as well. Best to take advantage of this disruption and see what had happened for himself. There might not be a better opportunity to take advantage of the chaos. Or, for that matter, to show some chaos of his own. It was a good thing that he had been able to get a full outfit from the mercenaries he had taken care of on the way here.
Ranma blended in with the others as they entered the village, and he did his best to not look directly at the bodies on display, and definitely not at the bullet-riddled body of the Elder Khu Lon that had been hung on the gate to the village.
Nor did he acknowledge the body of the man dressed in the green uniform of someone in service to Beijing. Even if the stability of the region would be even further diminished without the man that was simply known as the Jusenkyo Guide to those that lived in, and visited, the region.
Hopefully Plum had managed to find safety with some party or other, or the spirit of the Guide would surely never know rest even after Ranma avenged him and all the others that had fallen. He knew that the radicals who had taken over the Amazon's territory were ruthless, and shortsighted but this had the potential of pulling Beijing into the events in the region. And no one could want that, not unless you wanted to see all the people of this area put down or 're-educated' to fit the Party's view of China.
Ranma kept his head down as he jogged along behind the others. There were no other gunshots, at least not yet. The first of the Amazon's were about to hit the center of town, and if anything would happen he figured that would be when things went sideways. The obvious outsiders that reminded him of Parsley had a worried, resigned look on their faces and kept slowly falling back. It seemed to Ranma that they had at least some idea of what had happened, and were not looking forward to it.
Ranma slipped off to the side just as the first of the Amazon's came into sight of the center of the village, and almost immediately he heard a few more gunshots. From where he had hid himself, he could see the mercenaries stop in their tracks, only to be cut down from behind by the line of outsider men.
Whatever had happened, it was all too clear that whatever alliance they had been operating under had fallen completely apart. That left Ranma needing to know who was in power now, and what it was that they wanted.
And how to free the remaining Amazons.
Ranma moved quietly to where he could observe the village center, and figure out his next move. What he saw was a man dressed in outlandish and expensive clothes with long, white hair done in a very traditional style who stood over the few of the renegade Amazon's that were not lying in pools of their own blood while the last of the men who, until a short time ago, had been the renegade's allies filed in and threw themselves on the ground in the most shameless display of groveling that Ranma had seen since his old man.
Ranma swept his gaze back to the regal-looking man, and noticed two other things immediately. One was the birdcage he held in one hand, and the other was the sword that rested in the other. The bird looked very familiar to Ranma, as he grit his teeth and made up his mind. He would go and have a little talk with him, and see what it would take to get his hands on Rai Zur so that he could wring her neck himself. Also,to make sure that the Amazons would be safe.
Ranma took off the jacket and hung the rifle out of the way before he stepped out and walked with a confident, sure stride that carried him past the guards before they could react. Ranma could feel the men behind him start to move before the regal man raised a hand even as the pair of men that flanked him tensed.
The larger man on the right stepped forward slightly and locked his gaze with Ranma's. "Who do you think you are, mercenary, to dare stand in the presence of our lord, Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty?"
"I'm not one of the mercenary scum that these renegades hired. My name is Ranma Tendo, and I'm here to see to the safety of the people of this village, and to take care of that." Ranma said in a sure, forceful tone as he pointed at the birdcage in Prince Herb's hand.
Prince Herb looked at the cage in his hand and the bird that sat in the middle with her head bowed and her clipped wings tucked protectively against her side and then back at Ranma. "I think not. This one dared to draw the stupidest and weakest of my subjects to her,and to disrupt the balance that I have allowed to exist. And I care not what happens to this common rabble and filth, clearly their moon has wanted if they fell to such as these."
Ranma tensed as Prince Herb made a gesture towards his other retainer, and the man with a headpiece that had wolf ears on it brought forward a tray with a bag that was tied shut atop it. At a gesture from Prince Herb, he opened the bag and tossed the object inside to land at Ranma's feet. Ranma's eyes widened as a streamer of lavender hair unfurled behind the severed head as it sailed through the air.
"They thought that such an offering would appease me, and make their misdeeds acceptable to one such as I. I have no need of such a thing, so I shall leave it to you to dispose of." Prince Herb said as he started to turn his back on the pale and shaking form of Ranma.
The low, feral growl that resonated through the air and filled those who heard it with an almost primordial dread froze all but Herb in place, as the Prince of the Musk turned to regard the trembling form of the martial artist from Japan that he had heard of from the older Amazon's that had survived the renegade's purge.
Prince Herb didn't see what those superstitious commoners could have meant about him being Death. Merely another weak, common mortal who could not stand on the same elevated stage as the Divine Prince. Surely, anyone who looked at the figure that quaked in terror at his meer presence would not believe this foreigner to be worthy of the same drear and respect as the Prince of the Musk. No one could ever exist that could be his equal.
Prince Herb watched as two of his men approached the terror-stricken foreigner with a bored look on his face. It would seem that whatever entertainment this outsider might have offered, it would end before it even began. He turned his back with an air of contemptuous disregard, then his finely-honed instincts warned him to dodge to the side as a splash of blood and gore landed where he had been a moment before. He turned in time to see this Ranma take out his other soldier with a strike to his chest which left five bloody, bleeding holes as he ripped his fingers from where they had penetrated through the bare chest of his soldier.
For a moment, Prince Herb met the eyes of the foreign martial artist, then there was a blur of motion and Mint and Lime intercepted Ranma before he could make contact with Prince Herb. Mint had placed the tray between Herb and Ranma with his nearly inhuman speed, while Lime held the martial artist back. With a powerful shove, the larger of Herb's retainers sent Ranma sliding back as Herb stepped between them to confront Ranma directly.
"Stand down, you two. This one may actually provide some brief entertainment to me." Herb said before they were locked in a fierce battle.
To those that witnessed their fight that day, they compared it to a dragon battling a tiger. Two ferocious, primal forces that collided in a fierce impact that shook the heavens and earth. It was as brief as it was fierce, and would leave a mark on all of those who witnessed it.
Ranma-chan woke with a gasp as her hand reached towards the ceiling as her body lurched upright. She cast a frantic look around her as a frail hand gently pushed her back down. Her eyes jerked towards the old, scarred face of the woman who had sat by her side.
Har Dai smiled at her guest as she made sure that Ranma was not going to try to get out of the bed just yet as she reached for the pitcher of water cut with lemon juice among a few other herbs and offered it to her guest.
Ranma sat up and looked around before she accepted the glass from Har Dai. Ranma took a drink, then looked at Har Dai. "I lost, but they left me alive." Ranma stated then sighed. "Are they still here?" Ranma asked, and nodded at the shake of the head she got from Har Dai.
Ranma slowly slid out of the bed and stretched before she looked at the old Amazon. "Can you bring me some hot water, please? I have to go after them."
Har Dai hesitated, then fetched a kettle off the stove and handed it to Ranma-chan with an almost apologetic look on her face.
Ranma nodded in thanks, then poured the water over her head. When nothing happened, her eyes went wide before she did it again and then slowly put the empty kettle down as she shook, filled with the horrible certainty that something had gone horribly, drastically wrong.
She was locked in her cursed form, and she was certain the reason had to be that pompous ass, Prince Herb.
And she needed an answer about what had happened to Xian Pu, and just who had to pay for it. She would destroy the whole damn region, if that was what it would take.
It didn't take Ranma long to find out where Prince Herb and the others had left for. They were the kind of self-assured, pompous asses that they tended to not even think to make sure that no one was nearby to overhear them. They would be staying in one of the old, abandoned temples that dotted the mountains around here. Remnants of old faiths or civilizations that had faded into obscurity over the many years that this region had been left to its own.
A mountain temple that might as well be a fortress with the people of the Musk Dynasty camped inside of it. Luckily, Ranma was pretty sure he had just the thing to handle this situation if it came to that.
It was amazing what you could do with enough C4.