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: Like a pale horse, Death.
Ranma stalked through the darkness, and left a trail of bodies behind him. He was hurting, but this wasn't the first time he had taken a beating, and it wouldn't be the last either. Ranma needed to end this as quickly as possible so that he could get to the village and see what he could do to help.
And if he was too late, then he would exact a price that would not soon be forgotten by those that he allowed to walk away. A lesson written in blood and bone.
Ranma moved swiftly, not giving his opponents any opportunity to think, to plan or react. He killed with ruthless efficiency, no wasted movement or energy. He moved from opponent to opponent as he used anything and everything at hand to take care of them before he vanished once more only to appear once more to deliver death.
Bo Bi Pyn listened to the brief exchanges of gunfire and the screams that were often cut off suddenly and knew that it could only be a few things that came for her now. Either there were survivors from the village attacking them now, a Special Operations Team, or the worst case scenario had dropped in on them.
They had been warned that the Amazon's ace in the hole might show at any time. They should have made sure that the heir did not escape. That she never made it to Japan. The next time she saw Rai Zur and their mysterious benefactor, she would have words with them. And she would hand them the head of this Boogeyman, to add to the pile they had already collected.
She watched the last of her men as they moved to cover the approaches to the headsman's house where she had decided to spend the night. The chances of the other groups returning to the main camp were extremely slim. It was likely that they had been dispatched by whatever had come to hunt them tonight.
She checked her blades and firearms with quick and efficient motions, acts repeated many times over the years since she had followed Rai Zur into exile, and the larger world outside of the village.
The ritual settled her mind, and prepared her for what was surely tocome. Regardless if there was a squad or a single person, she would prove herself worthy of the trust that had been placed in her. She might not hav3 been one of the chosen ones for Rai Zur's great plan, but she had been trusted enough to have this important task left in her hands.
Even if that meant that she had to deal with that muscle-bound chauvinistic bastard Parsley. It had always been the thing that she had found most disgusting about the Musk, their inability to recognize that women were the superior part of the species, and that men only really had one purpose. It was little wonder that they had to go to such extremes to secure women that could stand to bear their children. Only animals would lay with animals, after all.
Still, that was neither here nor there as she listened to the sounds, and the silence, as it grew eve closer to her.
When a figure came towards her out of the darkness, she funned it down with a controlled burst, only to realize that she had killed one of her own. Not that she felt any remorse, but the waste of bullets and time was the bigger issue, as a knif flew out of the darkness outside of the door to the room she had settled in to wait. She blocked it with the gun, but in that moment, a figure had appeared in the doorway with a gun leveled at herin one hand and a bloody knife in the other.
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. That is your choice, Bo Bi Pyn. Either way, you are going to die here, the manner of how that happens is up to you. You will answer my questions, just how much you and Parsley suffer is dependant on what you two decide." The figure said before he steped into the light and revelaed himself to be a Japanese man. He fit the description that she had been given for Ranma, and she now knew that there was only one person who had been responsible for all of this.
There didnt need to be anyone else.
"And if I choose the hard way, then what? Do you think you can capture me without killing me? Or do I kill you for being a foolish man who does not know his place!" Bo Bi Pyn snarled as she dived to the side.
A flash and a bang echoed through the room as Bo Bi Pyn landed short of her goal, blood running from where her thigh had been grazed by the bullet.
"I didn't give you a third option, now did I? Draw those blades that you stole from someone more worthy than you, little girl. Or should I just shoot off your limbs, bit by bit?" Ranma said in a cold, flat voice.
Bo Bi Pyn scrambled back to her feet, and glanced briefly at the enticing cover that had been so close before she clenched her hands around her gun, then laughed and dropped it before she pulled the twinned blades. "You like them, eh? I took them from the old hag that had them."
"Har Dai was worthy of those blades, you are not. You have a lot to answer for, and we will have a very, very long talk." Ranma said as he pulled a knife from where he had it sheathed at the small of his back.
"I will kill you here, and present your head to Rai Zur! She trained me, and I have never lost a fight." Bo Bi Pyn said with a snarl.
Ranma laughed as he holstered his pistol. "It's a shame that she lost to me, then." Ranma stated without hesitation.
Bo Bi Pyn grit her teeth and advanced on Ranma without any further words as Ranma settled into a relaxed stance. "Don't you dare underestimate me!" She yelled as she rushed Ranma.
Ranma slid past her as he deflected her swords to the side and down. The presence of Elder Har Dai's swords on this renegades person confirmed one of his biggest worries. Har Dai had been one of the few moderates on the Council, strong enough to have earned her position, but temperate enough to make peace.
She would not have surrendered her swords willingly, not to be used by a second-rate hack like Bo Bi Pyn surely was. So, they had eliminated at least some of the Elders. That made sense, honestly, but he had kept hope that he would be able to free them.
As Ranma turned and guided her charge, he slashed the outside of her other thigh with a long, drawing cut before he settled back into the same seemingly relaxed stance.
"I spar with the most capable, most skilled people you will ever find holding a blade on the planet, on a regular basis. You… You are not even good enough to spar with their youngest students, I am sorry to say. Definitely not worthy of holding those blades." Ranma said in a quiet, soft tone of voice.
Bo Bi Pyn turned, and grit her teeth as a line of fire burned across her leg and it seemed to want to buckle. He had clearly cut through something necessary, but she could not, would not, lose to him. There was no way she could ever face Rai Zur again if she didn't end this fight, and soon. She started into another series of attacks, one that she had learned as a child from the same elder that she had taken the blades from.
Ranma watched her for a moment, then a disgusted look flashed across his face before his blade flickered and danced, and Bo Bi Pyn stumbled back as a sudden cry of pain was ripped from her thoat as the sword in her right hand fell to the ground, where she would never agin be able to pick it up with what was left of her hand, as two fingers landed next to it.
"I hope you are ready, little girl. This is just the start. Surrender, or I will send you to the next life in a lot of little pieces." Ranma said in that same dealy calm and soft voice.
Ranma gave her a moment to reflect on her situation before he went on the offensive. His blade flickered and danced like a butterfly, but its kiss was pain and red like wine that flowed freely from where it had been drawn from flesh. He used his knife like an artist, each stroke deliberate and calculated
Like a cat playing with a mouse.
Bo Bi Pyn shuddered as she took a unsteady step back away from the calm face of her butcher, and assesed her condition. Her right hand was a bleeding wreck, and her left was only a little better, luckily she had managed to avoid having the tendons on the back of her hand severed when Ranma had drawn his blade across the back of it.
Her left leg would no longer move correctly, and she couldn't see from her left eye because of the blood that flowed from where she had been cut on her forehead. The pain in her right side told her that she had a cracked rib, if not a broken one.
There was only one route left to take.
Bo Bi Pyn faked one way, and barely kept her leg from collapsing as she dived the other direction and came up with her discarded pistol. As she lifted it, Ranma had already started to move as he feinted one way, then rolled the other direction to throw off her aim.
Unfortunately for him, he was not the target.
Bo Bi Pyn used that moment to raise the gun to her temple and pull the trigger. She saw Ranma as he tried to close the distance, but both knew that he could never be fast enough as Bo Bi Pyn wished she could hav seen Rai Zur one last time in this world.
At least she was certain that they would not be seperated for long.
Ranma at the dead renegade and shook his head before he checked her over for anything useful before he started back to have his with Parsley. Hopefully the big guy was feeling a bit more talkative, since he didn't have a backup now.
His hope sunk when he saw the angle that Parsley's neck was at. A cursory examination proved his first assumption correct. Someone had broken the neck, a hardly inconsiderable feat in itself.
And very unfortunate for someone who needed answers.
Ranma swore softly under his breath before he went to check on the villagers who had mostly stayed inside and out of sight while everything happened. They didn't have much to add, just confirmed the timeline and when they had informed them that they were now the ones in charge.
One worrisome fact was that no one had seen the Jusenkyo Guide since the renegades had shown up. The odds of the Guide siding with anyone, least of all a group of exiles and mercenaries, was too low to even bother contemplating.
Ranma informed the chief he was going to check on another nearby village, and drove off with one of the mercenaries trucks in that direction, then hid the truck and doubled back to his own vehicle. Always best to assume that you can be sold out, and make it at least more difficult to predict your actions.
Ranma traveled about halfway in his truck before he hid it as well and traveled the rest of the distance on foot. He had all the gear and weapons he hoped he would need secured on his person. He could not count on having the luxury to be able to head back for whatever he would need.
The explosives were one of the few things he had second guessed on leaving behind, but it would be best not to have to blow up the village if he could avoid it.
The first view of the Amazon's village confirmed many of his worst fears. There were a number of mercenaries patrolling the area, and overseeing the crews that worked the fields. He didn't see any of the children that should have been there, so it was a safe assumption that they had taken them hostage.
He swept the scope he held in his hands across the village, and could see the evidence of the assault. Sections of the walls around the village had been breached, and a few of the outer rings of houses were in ruins. When he checked the gates, his blood ran cold as he spied the small forms that had been hung from the walls or tied to posts.
He now knew what had become of the Elders of the Council.
*A/N*
Thank you all for reading and sticking with me so far!
This is one of my most ambitious projects ever. A story told across multiple writings, timelines, and locations with characters in different places in their lives.
I thank you all for following this journey, and the input I get from you!
There is a great deal to go before this story comes to an end, and I look forward to walking this road with all of you!
Stay Frosty!