10: Immediately, every guard ran to the throne at the far end of the room, where Percival had been fighting with several of his guards. They formed ranks behind him.

Simultaneously, Rae, Yue, Altair, Ezio, Damian, Carter, Peter, Eric, Evanna, and Tali all walked over to stand next to the King. He looked relieved to see them all and smiled at them.

Rae moved to stand on Percival's left, and Carter on his right. The Rangers branched out on Carter's side, and the others branched out on Rae's side. Then Rae looked directly across the vast room at her sister. "Here is the King. But wait a moment, I see the senators of Kagari behind you. Let them come forward and explain how that alliance was born."

Elena smirked. "The King has lost his voice? Let him speak, insolent girl."

"Speak well." Rae said quietly to Percival.

Percival did not seem nervous at all as he stepped forward to speak, though Carter behind him did. Percival cleared his throat, and then began in that strangely echoing, powerful voice every King seems to have, "I ask the same question. What has made such loyal senators betray their home country?"

There was a moment of silence, then a short man with blond hair stepped forward.

"Mark Harris." Percival greeted the man, inclining his head slightly.

The senator did not return this greeting, but launched straight into his speech, "Elena, supreme leader of the group called Discordant Harmony, has a vision for Kagari, our country, that the senators share. Her vision is to bring slavery fully to this country and cultivate its land. We could revolutionize our country, better it. Elena says that though many of her past actions have not been the most moral and acceptable, they were done in the name of a greater purpose. To lead her here, on the brink of creating a glorious empire. She, and the senators, ask all of you if you will join us. This may be your only time to do so, which is why I suggest you all seriously consider the offer."

Tali walked forward and called, "This, empire you speak of. These slaves you speak of. Are they morally correct, unlike Elena's past actions? Is changing so drastically really going to help Kagari?"

Mark Harris shot right back to her, "Why shouldn't it? It will."

"I have seen," Tali shouted back, "the horrors Elena would be willing to do to get her here to the palace. Her sister Abby was apprehended before she could lay siege on the Ranger base, our secret headquarters."

"And why," Yue asked, "do you have mercenaries from Ang here attacking the castle, King, and guards? Are they your first slaves to revolutionize this glorious empire?"

Now Rae jumped in, "And we have proof too, Mark Harris. We have a note, in your own handwriting, with your own signature, telling Abby exactly where the Ranger's base is. We have many other notes and documents from the senators to Sara, as well."

Evanna stepped forward here to add, "We captured the man who was delivering this message to Abby as well. Not only did we capture him, we caught every sister of Discordant Harmony. The last stands beside you, Mark Harris."

Percival finished by saying, "So, where do the senators stand now?"

Mark Harris stood there, dumbfounded, so it seemed. "I-I… where?"

Elena cut into Mark's rambling, "It is time for your decision. Where do you stand, King Percival?"

Percival smiled humorlessly at her and stated bluntly, "No, I will not join you. You simply wish to rule Kagari. No doubt you plan on killing me rather than letting me join you."

"Fine. Mark?" Elena turned to the senator. "Whose side are you on?"

Mark stuttered out a few more words, looking around and obviously confused. Finally, he looked at Elena, cleared his throat, and said quite clearly, "Yours. Do my colleagues agree?"

The other senators nodded, with some saying yes, of course, why wouldn't we?

"In that case," Carter said, "Percival, we can't give in."

Percival nodded. "I know. Leave ten guards with me and two of your group."

"Evanna, Damian, will you two stay and protect the King?" Carter turned to the pair.

"Sure, this is why I have the job, right?" Evanna said casually, pulling out her knives and moving right next to Percival.

Damian nodded, and agreed, "Of course Carter." He joined Evanna.

"Everyone else," Carter said turning back to the others in his group, "Spread out, do some damage, watch each other's backs, and help the guards. Oh, and Yue? Try to find Mark Harris, if you get a moment."

Yue grinned devilishly and nodded eagerly.

"No fair, she gets the fun job!" Evanna exclaimed.

"Hush!" Tali told her, smacking her best friend on the head.

"Alright, let's go." Carter told them, drawing his knives. "Guards, move up and do your job. Hey, ten of you over there, stay with the King."

Ten of the guards moved over to the Percival, Evanna, and Damian, and the rest moved forward to engage the charging mercenaries. It was obvious that having Carter and the rest with them improved the guards' morale and fighting strength. They did much better, and turned the tides in their favor. Carter and the Rangers spent most of their time stabbing unsuspecting mercenaries in the back, as they had been doing before. Rae and Yue had teamed up again. They were handling the right side of the room, while Carter, Peter, Tali and Eric did the left. Altair and Ezio were busy with their favorite tactic of going through in a blaze of glory, slashing and hacking. The chaos of earlier began again, screaming, clashing, interspersed with a few explosions.

Percival and his personal force had joined Carter on the left side of the room, and they were slowly working their way through to the front, where some brave guards were trying to get at Elena and the senators, who did at least know which end of a sword was the sharp end, and could flail it around some. In short, they were not trained fighters and hid behind Elena.

It took a while, but Eric finally broke through and joined the guards trying to get Elena. He received a nasty slash on the leg from a mercenary lying on the ground who was injured but not dead. Cursing, he limped over to Peter, who had been cut down the length of his left arm when he was momentarily distracted. Carter had escaped with just a few scratches to his face and arms. Evanna had not escaped without injury and had several serious cuts on her arms and a gash on her leg due to an explosion. Similarly, Rae had suffered injuries from an explosion to her face and arms. But Damian had actually broken his foot. His foot had gotten caught on rubble, and when a guard tried to pull him up, there had been a terrible crack. So now, Damian was very pale, and leaning heavily on Evanna.

Percival had fared well, and Yue with her twin swords of terror had gotten off well too. The same also went for Altair, Tali, and Ezio, though they suffered a few minor wounds of their own, mainly on their faces and arms.

Altair stepped forward as though to challenge Elena, but Carter stopped him, shaking his head.

Percival looked around the group and then gestured Rae over. "Will you fight as my champion, Rae?"

Rae looked over at her smirking sister and said, "Of course."

Elena grinned at her younger sister, "Well, won't this be fun?" Elena and Rae moved forward and started to circle each other.

Rae slashed and barely missed Elena's cheek, but then she had to dive sideways to avoid an overhead swing that would have sheared off her head.

"Fast, are you?" Elena asked her sister tauntingly. "Not fast enough, though." Elena struck out like a snake and long cut appeared on Rae's right arm. Rae involuntarily gasped in pain, and Elena laughed. "Not so tough, then?"

Rae weakly swung her sword at Elena's head, but the blow was easily deflected. Rae stumbled back. Elena pressed forward but attacked smart. She didn't go all out in a flurry of crushing moves, but a few well placed and solid blows that made watchers wince.

It should be remembered that Rae had watched her sisters' train together for many years. Most of Rae's sisters had never seen her lift a sword, never mind use it. So Rae had a huge advantage here in knowing Elena's fighting style, strengths, weaknesses, and favorite moves.

Even so, Rae decided to skip formalities. Her right arm was her dominant one, and now that it was bleeding and she wasn't at full strength, she figured the best way to win was to surprise attack Elena. Rae wasn't faking being tired; she was, so Rae didn't feel remorse for tricking her sister.

When Elena went on the attack again, Rae got ready. Elena raised her sword quickly for a crushing blow, but Rae was even faster. At the same time Elena was raising her sword to strike; Rae lifted her own sword and stabbed.

Elena died instantly.

(A/N: Next chap is the epilogue! : ( Bit of a cliffy to the epilogue, so I know there will be people lining up to kill me for it, but I'll be releasing the companion one shots really soon, and they'll answer some of your questions, don't worry. : )

Also, I may be replacing chapters from The Waterfall Cave and Discordant Harmony with new ones because of the dashes problem we were having. Soo, yeah. Just so you are aware of what I'm doing.: )

FANFICTION FOREVER!

~ Rosefeather 3