Twisting Fate

raba.yuugi

Warlord
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Sep 14, 2007
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There is not one universe. There are many: A multiverse. We have the technology to travel between universes, but travel is highly restricted and policed.

There is not one you. There are many. Each of us exists in present time, in parallel universes.

There was balance in the system, but now a force exists who seeks to destroy the balance so he can become The One.


After reading several of the stories here, particularly Princes of the Universe by the great Sisiutil, I've been inspired to create my own.

This story is loosely based on the movie The One starring Jet Li and Jason Statham about how there are parallel universes, how each one of us live separate but parallel lives in each of these universes, and how a string of energy is shared by these parallel lives. The antagonist in the movie discovers that by killing off his counterparts in the different universes, the less there are to share that same string of energy. The net effect is that the remaining counterparts who are alive become stronger, faster and more intelligent.

I've been writing stories in the past. In fact, this isn't the first one I'm creating that is based on a game. But it is my first to write about Civ IV. I'm aspiring to be a published writer and I'm aiming to improve myself to achieve this goal.

After reading Sisiutil's piece, it looks like I have a long way to go so any feedback from you will be greatly appreciated.
 
Twisting Fate


Prologue – Holocaust!


There is not one universe. There are many: A multiverse. We have the technology to travel between universes, but travel is highly restricted and policed…

Ryna Gardner cast a glance sideways at two of her fellow first-year classmates who were struggling to stifle a yawn. They were probably bored to death listening on about something they already know. After all, they all were born in here in the Alpha Universe, where it all began. For her, discovering the truth about the parallel universes was still new and therefore interesting.

There is not one you. There are many. Each of us exists in present time, in parallel universes…

Ryna was from the Charis Universe. It was just over a year ago when she realized that she existed in 141 other universes, living parallel lives. That is until someone…no, not someone…she or at least one of her MultiVerse Counterparts, Rianna Garth, killed 64 of her counterparts. She was trying to pull another Yu-Law. Some people never learn.

There must always be balance in the system…

She couldn’t even begin to describe the first time she met Rianna. Not to mention the fact that the psychopath . .. .. .. .. . tried to kill her. If it weren’t for…

“Miss Gardner…”

Ryna blinked away the memories and turned to look at the instructor who in turned nodded towards the door. Turning towards the door she saw a MultiVerse Authority field agent coolly eyeing her. He was a division head judging by the insignia on his uniform. What would a ranking officer want with her?

“Miss Gardner, if you will come with me please…”

She stood. She wasn’t at the door yet when the instructor had already resumed teaching. The officer spared her a glance.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“You are being summoned by Funsch.”

Her eyes widened at that. Funsch was the MultiVerse Authority Chief. Several years ago, he faced down Yu-Law, who was still considered to be the greatest Inter-Universal Outlaw ever. He retired from field work five years ago and accepted the top position of the organization. She couldn’t help but feel unnerved by the prospect of meeting him. What could the Chief want with her?

An elevator ride and short walk down a sterile hall later they were at the door to the Chief’s office. “Right through there,” the agent said. “The Chief is expecting you.” With that he turned smartly and walked away.

Ryna watched him briefly and faced the door. She took a deep breath and then placed her palm against the panel on the side of the door. Flashing lines scanned her hand and the door slid opened. And there sitting behind the desk was Evan Funsch. He looked up from the tablet on his desk and beckoned her in. “Come in, Gardner.”

Ryna hesitated a brief moment before crossing the threshold into the room. From where she stood she could see a well-used coffee table, a worn-out sofa and two arm chairs on opposite sides. She took one step in and cast her eyes to her left. There was the Chief sitting behind a rather large desk that dominated that part of the room. It was cluttered with all manner of discs and tablets. The entire wall to the right of the Chief was covered with vidscreens.

“Come in, Gardner.”

Ryna was jolted into remembering where she was. She immediately stood at attention, her eyes focused straight at a point on the far wall. “Cadet Ryna Gardner reporting for duty, sir!”

“At ease, Gardner.” Funsch stood slowly and walked around his desk to where she stood. He held a device on his hand, which he thumbed. From her peripheral vision she saw the images on the vidscreens change one by one. They seemed to be vids of farms.

“These were taken an hour ago,” the Chief said, nodding towards the images. Ryna took that to be permission to watch. Funsch was looking at her intently, the scrutiny making her uncomfortable. “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you, Gardner.”

She spared the man a glance before quickly turning back to the vids. They were showing rice fields. “I don’t understand, sir. What is it I’m…”

The rice fields in each of the vids began to move unnaturally. She focused on one particular vid. A large square portion of the land began to shift upwards and move to the side revealing a hole. White smoke began to waft out of it. Within seconds a conical object slowly rose into view. “Sir, aren’t those…?”

“These vids were taken all over North Korea. In the Charis Universe.”

“I don’t understand…”

Funsch moved to stand beside Ryna. He was twirling the remote control in his hands. “You’ve been out of touch with what’s been happening in your home universe, Gardner. A lot has been happening over the last six months. Diplomatic talks between the United Nations and North Korea fell apart. Badly. Eight hours ago, a faction of the North Korean military known as One Korea, led by a General Moon, staged a coup d’etat. They stormed the Presidential Palace and assassinated both President Jeung and Chairman Rhee on live television.”

Ryna could now clearly see the main bodies of the missiles in all the vidscreens. The screens flickered intermittently as one by one the missiles launched, fire and smoke almost obscuring the images.

“As you can imagine, the international community was outraged by these events and demanded that Moon stand down and surrender to the legitimate government or else.” Funsch nodded towards the screens. “What you now see is his response.”

Each missile was now airborne, heading high into the skies. Cold sweat began to cover Ryna’s body. “Sir…was the United States hit?” Slowly, her eyes turned to the Chief.

His eyes held hers briefly and then looked down at the remote in his hands. There was an almost imperceptible shake of his head before he thumbed the remote.

The vidscreens winked off one by one except the one in the center, which then expanded to encompass the entire wall. It depicted a bustling city. There was no other city like it in the world, in Ryna’s eyes. It was the one she grew up in.



The vidscreen captured with vivid clarity how the missile slammed down onto the city and detonated. And just like that New York City was wiped out.
 
Blimey, that's brilliant! Keep it up!
 
Just wanted to document the settings for the game for which I'm writing the story.

I'm playing Civilization IV Beyond the Sword 3.13 with the Blue Marble v3.0 and Varietas Delectat mods for flavor. I like the former because it adds realism to the texture and the latter because you get a sense of how each civilization is different.

Additional settings appear below:



I'm usually a Monarch Marathon player but this game will be on Noble Marathon so I'll have better control of the outcome. It's a custom game on a large Continents map and I'll be playing Roosevelt. The other known civ is Korea.

I'd like to add that unlike the other stories here I've read so far, the leaders aren't immortal. So I'll be introducing new leaders for each active civ as the game and story progress.

The story will be based on the game so win or lose, it will be reflected. There is one objective to the game and story. I won't state it here but if I do my job right, it should be obvious to the readers soon.

So...I think I'm ready. Let the games begin! :thumbsup:
 
Chapter 1 – System Failure

Evan Funsch was in foul mood when he entered what used to be the Launch Chamber 3. “What the hell happened in here?” he demanded. The entire place looked like a war zone. It was smoke-filled and littered with debris. Here and there, guards were being roused from being rendered unconscious.

One of the agents hurriedly approached. “Sir, it was Gardner. She just suddenly stormed in here, took out the guards and commandeered the Quantum Tunnel console.

“So send a party in after her!” Funsch nearly snarled. “She obviously went back home. Go get her!”

The agent swallowed and then said, “Well, that’s the problem sir. She did something to the console. Probably wired it to explode so we wouldn’t be able to follow her immediately. But there was a flux overload and—”

Funsch stepped up to the console, which was still emitting sparks intermittently. There was a gaping hole in it. He reached out and touched the edge. “So where did she end up going?”

“Sir, I think the proper question to ask is ‘when did she end up going?’”

* * * * *​

Ryna was on the ground writhing, body wracked in pain. It was as if she was ripped into a million pieces and then slammed back together again. Which, from what little she now knew about Quantum Tunneling, was probably true.

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the bile that was slowly rising out of her gut to subside. She couldn’t hold it and eventually started retching out her breakfast. This was her second trip through the wormhole but this last one seemed to have been worse. She backed away as quickly as her weakened body could possible go away from the mess she created. She crawled to a nearby tree and rested her back to it, her knees bent, and began to take deep breaths.

The pain was slowly subsiding and her vision began to return. She began to take stock of her surroundings. Where the hell is she? She clearly remembered keying in the coordinates for New York City in the Charis Universe. In hindsight it was a pretty stupid move knowing there’d be massive fallout in this region. But she needed to get to her mom. Her poor mom, living alone. She just had to get to her.

It looked like she failed and another kind of pain wracked her body. If her mom survived the blast, she might have been able to take her back to the Alpha Universe where they probably had the technology to cure them of radiation sickness. But because of her stupidity, she failed. Now she was in god knows where and she was in big trouble with the MVA. She buried her face in her arms in grief.

* * * * *​

It wasn’t until after an hour when Ryna’s sobs died and she raised her eyes skyward. She considered herself to be an outdoors type of person. Under any other circumstances, she’d be able to truly enjoy being out here. It was completely tranquil. Her brows furrowed in concentration. Where was she? She might have keyed the coordinates wrong by a single digit or so but certainly not so much that she’d end up in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Besides, she wasn’t in a jungle. More like a forest. But there wasn’t a forest like this anywhere near New York City. This place was too…pure and unadulterated.

And then she heard it. The sounds of men coming her way. She hurriedly glanced around and found her backpack a few meters from her. She quickly and silently crawled her way to it and shouldered it. Shouldering it, she sped through the trees until she spotted one she could climb and began hauling herself up. Only when she was several meters high did she risk looking down.



There were about ten of them. All bare-chested, clad only in some kind of loincloth and wielding ridiculous clubs. Is this a joke? Still she kept quiet and continued to watch as they walked by. She could hear them speaking but couldn’t understand a single word they spoke.

She waited until they were well beyond hearing distance and began making her way down the tree. She was halfway down when she heard a small electronic chime go off. Of course! She lifted her left wrist to her eyes and there it was. She had forgotten about the official transdimensional MVA she wore like a watch around her wrist. It looked like a fancy digital watch that did tell the time. But it also had other very nifty features, like being able to tell her where she was.

Ryna perched herself properly on a wide branch and started fiddling with the buttons on both sides of the device. This can’t be right. The watch was telling her it was four-thirty in the afternoon Eastern Standard Time in the year 1540 BC. Ha. Ha. Very funny. This can’t be right. She tapped a button to bring up her current coordinates. She stifled a gasp. She was indeed in the Charis Universe but…this can’t be New York City!

If this was indeed New York City, where were the buildings and the roads? Where were the sounds of cars, machines and even airplanes? Ryna scowled. If this was a joke, it was the foulest ever played on another human being. There may not be all the trappings of the civilization she knew but there were people. And obviously people who were in on this wretched, albeit elaborate, prank they were playing on her.

She rummaged through her backpack and got out a rubber band and began to pull her red hair into a pony tail. She nimbly jumped down from one branch to another until she made it to the ground. She landed with one knee touching the dirt. Slowly she rose, her fists tightly clenched at her sides, her green eyes narrowed into angry slits. Yes, anger was good. Much better than the despair she had been feeling earlier. We’ll see who gets the last laugh.
 
Just wanted to say that I did have to use the World Editor to add a modern spy into the game during Ancient era just so I could get a screenshot.

I then loaded a saved version of the game prior to running World Editor so the spy wouldn't be there.

Thought I'd let everyone know.
 
I really like the idea, a question though, it says she's in the year 1540 BC does that mean you did a little 'advanced start' so to say?
 
I really like the idea, a question though, it says she's in the year 1540 BC does that mean you did a little 'advanced start' so to say?

No, I had no Advanced Start. I just chose not to describe the beginning of the American civilization.
 
Chapter 2 – Reality Bites

Ryna had finally caught up with the men who passed under her tree. It greatly annoyed her that it took her more than a day to do so. It turned out the men never stayed at any place for too long to rest. They just kept pushing themselves to go further. She would have admired their stamina had she not been so pissed off at them.

She concealed herself by a clump of trees as she watched them. Several meters away she also spied a pride of lions. She’d seen lions before at the zoo but these were truly ferocious looking and alert. The ones at the zoo were completely lethargic by comparison. She brought her attention back to the men. They were conferring among themselves and seemed to also be watching the lions. What were they doing?



And then it happened. One minute they were crouched and simply talking and gesturing to one another and then in the next they suddenly exploded into action! With a loud battle cry they rushed the lions! What the— And they were only armed with their ridiculous clubs!

Two of them were mauled to death within the first minute. The others fought fiercely and savagely, many of them ignoring their grievous wounds as they swung their unwieldy weapons again and again at the equally feral beasts.

Many of the lionesses had cubs to protect and they didn’t back down even as their number began to dwindle. It was all over in minutes. Five of the men had died in the battle. Those who survived raised their clubs in the air and roared in triumph.

Ryna continued to watch in morbid fascination as the men finally took stock of the cost of their victory. First, they tended to themselves, examining the many gouges and slashes they sustained in the pitched battle. She was shaking her head and grimacing at their many open and bleeding wounds. Still surprisingly, the men for the most part ignored their injuries, apparently deciding none of them were fatal.

They proceeded to go over their fallen comrades, first checking whether they were really dead by nudging them once or twice. Ryna’s eyes were wide with incredulity. They didn’t seem to know to check for a pulse!

She’d seen enough. She allowed herself to slump to the ground, her back resting against the nearest tree trunk. What she just witnessed…there was no faking that. That was the real thing, which meant that she had really traveled back in time. Her eyes brimmed with tears of anger and frustration. Stupid, stupid!

How was she going to save her mom now? On top of that, she knew she was in big time trouble with the MVA. She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes. She hadn’t cried like this since she was a child. It was all so stupid. She was stupid. There was nothing to do now but go back and surrender to the agency.

And then it occurred to her. How in the world was she going to manage to go back? If she was truly in the year 1540 BC that meant the agency didn’t exist yet. Would the MVA even bother sending someone back through time just to pick her up? She had just effectively exiled herself back to the Stone Age, which was just as good as sentencing herself to death.

What have I done!? Her mind raged on and on and she couldn’t help but scream out loud. In the background, by the sounds the men were making she knew that they had heard her but she was past caring and she screamed again.

They were approaching her. When they were just a few meters away, Ryna abruptly stood up and dashed into the forest away from them. Away from everything…

* * * * *​

Chief of Operations Evan Funsch sat the head of the conference table and eyed each of the others who joined him in the room. He focused on Special Agent Jun Yi Park, Head of Research and Intelligence in the MVA.

“Where are we at, Park?” he asked him.

“Right,” Park began, tapping the tablet he held. “At exactly sixteen hundred and fifteen hours last July 10, Cadet Ryna Gardner, originally from the Charis Universe, made unauthorized use of the Quantum Tunneling system located in Launch Chamber 3. She was able to subdue the guards stationed there and sabotaged the console by planting a small incendiary device underneath to temporarily prevent others from following her.

“The explosion occurred just as she entered the wormhole. This unprecedented event created a sub-spatial rift in the Quantum Tunnel. From what we gathered, it appears that the Quantum Tunnel instantaneously tried to heal itself by generating an alternate branch,” Park laid the tablet back on the table and cast his eyes around the table. “Our belief is that Cadet Ryna Gardner traversed this alternate branch, which dropped her outside the current time/space continuum of the Charis Universe.”

Special Agent Simon Grant leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “So when you said that Gardner is now outside the current timeline, are you saying she’s actually in the past?”

“Well, she could actually be in the future but our calculations suggest that to be highly unlikely,” Park replied. He turned to Funsch. “What is likely is that she is sometime between 1500 and 1000 BC.”
The assembled officers around the table erupted in murmurs. Funsch raised a hand, effectively silencing the group. “As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, this is a very serious matter. Ryna Gardner, who now has the dubious honor of being the very first time traveler, can inflict some very real and grievous damage to the timeline and the Balance we work so hard to maintain.” He paused, letting the implications sink in. “We need to find her and bring her back.”

“Isn’t Gardner equipped with a transdimensional device?” asked Special Agent Stanley Bender.

“That’s right,” Funsch replied.

“Shouldn’t it then be simple matter of locking onto her coordinates using that device and then direct our people to where she is?”

“Yes, it would be a simple matter if our tracking satellites existed back in 1500 BC.”

Bender nodded, his eyebrows raised in understanding.

“However,” Funsch continued, “if our girl is smart and I’m hoping she is, she can use her transdimensional device to pinpoint the location of the next wormhole and ride it back to the present time. What do you think, Park?”

“That would certainly work. However, the effective range of the model she is using is only 2 kilometers.”

“So that means she needs to be within 2 kilometers of the next wormhole before her device would detect it?”

“That’s right.”

“Very well. We need to monitor the wormholes and anticipate her arrival—”

“Noted.”

“—but in the meantime, we still need everybody’s help trying to find ways to get her back just in case she decides to do any more damage. Understood?”

There was general consent all around.

“Good. Dismissed.”

* * * * *​

Ryna could feel the pounding of her heart in her chest as her eyes took in the eight savages before her. They were unlike the men she had been following the day before. While equally barbaric in appearance, these eight all shared a madness in the way they looked at her. Their eyes seemed to devour her. A couple of them were even drooling. The viscous liquid of their saliva getting caught in the tangled curls of their filthy beards as it dripped from their blackish lips. Also, they reeked of something rotten. She had to fight the urge to gag as they began to close in on her.

The one whose eyebrows were so thick they appeared as one line of hair over his eyes seemed to be the leader by the way the others deferred to him. She was reminded briefly of the Klingons of the Star Trek shows her dad used to watch on TV. Klingon was smacking his huge club against the palm of his other hand as he took one more step toward her. He muttered something out of the corner of his filthy mouth, something obviously obscene, which caused raucous laughter to erupt from the others. She decided that he was the one she would have to take out first. She would have to make a move any second now.

The first attack came from behind her. The savage attempted to grab her, intending to tackle her to the ground but she pivoted at the last second but kept one foot on his path as his momentum carried him forward. He tripped on her foot sending him stumbling right into Klingon. She didn’t have time to see how the leader reacted as two more came at her from opposite sides. She rushed to the one on her right and once again, spun in place at the last second and then slammed her elbow as hard as she could hitting the small of his back as he went past. He crashed into the one coming at her from the left and both of them fell to the ground in an untidy heap.

Klingon finally made his move and rushed her from the front while she sensed yet another one coming from behind. The leader had his heavy club raised, his chest exposed. Ryna leaped up, planting her foot on his chest and pushed hard, launching herself into the air and over the one behind her. Just as before, these two smashed into each other and fell to the ground.

Ryna turned around to see who else was going to make an attempt at her and was surprised to find the six who had tried to rush her were standing and didn’t seem hurt or winded at all. They did seem wary of her though and began to move more cautiously around her.

They attacked again, trying for different ways to pin her down but she dodged and weaved around them, hitting, kicking and punching them when the opportunities presented themselves. After several more seconds of that, she began to realize that these men were much tougher than the opponents she had encountered back in her own time. Not only did these eight not tire easily despite their bulk and the weight of their clubs but they also had an unusually high tolerance for pain. The strength she put in on a few of those punches she threw would have broken bones but apparently, it did nothing more than inconvenience these savages.

It was time to make a run for it or else she would be the one to tire. As soon as an opening presented itself in their circle after yet another concerted attack, she tore past them and ran deep into the forest.

* * * * *​

Ryna ran for several hours without stopping and without looking back. The encounter with the savages had frightened her more than she cared to admit. The more kilometers she could put between herself and them the better.

She slowed down when she noticed that the forest had started to thin out. She heard noises. Not that kind of isolated sounds one heard in the forest that she had gotten accustomed to. No. These were the sounds of people. Lots of people. She ran to the tallest tree she could find began climbing. Her heart was pounding in her ears.

When she could see finally see past the other trees what she saw brought tears to her eyes. It was a settlement!



Her heart was pounding again, not so much for fear this time, but excitement and eagerness. She considered herself to have been alone for the last few days and here at last was what looked like some semblance of civilization. Ryna always thought of herself as a loner, preferring her own company most of the time. But now, she craved human contact so much it hurt!

The people she saw seemed peaceful. The women that she saw were busy mending, cooking, and bringing in produce. Children played around in their own carefree way. Several of the men she saw were peddling merchandise; some were bringing in lumber from the forest east of the settlement. One man in particular was carrying a large axe on his shoulder! Ryna’s eyes widened at that. So she wasn’t quite in the Stone Age after all if these people discovered how to work with metal.

She cast her eyes around and saw farms being worked on in the distance. There was a corral filled with at least twenty cows grazing contentedly. There were mines further out. It was truly a civilization. Or at least the beginnings of one.

If she could somehow manage to coexist with them. Oh, she would do anything to do that. Obviously, she couldn’t just waltz in wearing her leather outfit. And they would surely consider her red hair and green eyes to be something out of the ordinary.

If she couldn’t get back to her time, she would have to live with these people. That or spend the rest of her life living in the wilderness, constantly struggling to survive against ferocious beasts and drooling barbarians. No, she would find a way to eke out an existence among these people…even if it killed her.
 
So it's 1270 AD and I finally discover Korea, the empire that in my story will blow up America, turned out to already be a vassal of De Gaulle.

Spoiler :
So this is Korea?


So I guess I'm going to have to restart the game and hopefully the Korea there would be much more of a challenge to conquer.

For those few who are worried it would stall the story, no need to worry. I've got material to work with that's still generic, which is to say, not quite dependent on game events. Chapter 3 should be up soon!
 
I'd like to point out this is a fantastic story!
 
Chapter 3 – The Prophecy

Ryna looked out the window of her small hut puzzled by the obvious excitement and energy in the citizens. There was a soft knock on her door. She didn’t know why they bothered. She was practically their prisoner here and yet they treated her deferentially.

“Come in,” she said. The door opened and Ryna saw from her periphery Winter Flower enter carrying what looked like a change of clothes. While she was curious about what the young squaw carried, she was more curious about what was happening around the city. “The people seem quite busy this morning. Is there something going on?” she asked nodding towards the view out the window.

“Oh, we’re preparing for the Meeting of the Tribal Elders,” the squaw replied, setting her load on the bed.

“Meeting of the Tribal Elders?”

“It’s a very important and highly anticipated event. Even more so now because we only usually have this gathering once a year.”

“Really. When was the last Meeting?”

“Four months ago. The last one was hosted by Shawmut.” Winter Flower walked up to her, standing beside her and looked out the same window. Shawmut was the third city founded decades ago. “Pennacook’s turn wasn’t going to happen until after two years. This Meeting is actually quite unprecedented.”

Ryna mulled over that. She arrived at Pennacook three months ago in a way that didn’t go down quite the way she planned. She wondered now whether she had anything to do with this upcoming event.

* * * * *​

A stunned silence fell over the Great Hall where the Tribal Elders were meeting. Sitting cross legged in the inner circle were the chiefs of the four cities. The outer circle held the other council members composed of the seers, mystics and wise men of the cities. All eyes were focused on Ten Bears of Pennacook, chief of the largest of the four cities.

“The Prophecy of the Red Warrior is now fulfilled you say, Ten Bears?” Heavy Axe of Saratoga repeated with a tone of incredulity. “That is a bold statement to make.”

“And yet it is true, Heavy Axe.”

“Where is he then, this Red Warrior? Let us all meet him,” Little Wolf said, always the eager one. He was the youngest of the Tribal Elders and chief of Lenape, which was their newest settlement.



“And meet her you shall,” Ten Bears declared confidently.

Another silence fell on the council and then they all erupted into rumblings.

“Her?!”

“You mean to say this Red Warrior is a woman?!”

“This cannot be!”

“The prophecy—”

“—never stated the nature of Red Warrior,” the Chief of Pennacook cut in, silencing all of them. “Nevertheless, you do not need to take my word for it.” Ten Bears nodded to a wizened member of the council seated on his right.

“I have seen her myself,” Spotted Eagle said as if on cue. “She has the strength of ten men. A child had wandered outside the northern farmland and into the path of a wandering lion. The lion was already in the air, about to pounce on the child and then she…” the mystic paused as if looking for the right words to use. Every single member of the council was leaning forward, eager to hear what happened next.

“…she was like an eagle as she flew down from a tree and carried the lion at least a hundred paces away from the child!” Spotted Eagle gesticulated, driving his open hand downwards at an angle. “And as she flew down, her hair, it was red and it blotted out the sun…” he said this almost in reverence.

“They are now calling her Red Sun actually,” Ten Bears said, nodding.

“So what happened to the lion?” Kills Alone, chief of Shawmut, asked. He was trying but failing miserably to hide his own eagerness to hear the tale.

“She killed the lion with her bare hands.”

“How?” this was asked by Little Wolf.

“She held onto the lion’s mouth and snapped it open. And then she twisted the head and broke the neck.”

Another silence greeted this pronouncement.

“There’s more,” Ten Bears said, his voice subdued. “It took a while since she didn’t know our tongue. However, she has proven to be a quick learner. She spoke of strange things. Of things that are yet to come.”

“This is difficult to swallow, Ten Bears,” Heavy Axe said, shaking his head. “We have been waiting for the fulfillment of this prophecy for centuries. To have it fulfilled within our lifetime…I am at a loss for words.”

“I cannot believe until I see for myself,” Little Wolf said defiantly.

“And what would you like to see, young chief?”

“If she is able to best me in combat.”

The council looked at one another. It was no surprise to everyone present that Little Wolf said this. He was a skeptic. His ideas often bordered on heresy. All eyes switched from Little Wolf to Ten Bears, expecting the latter to declare such an idea to be preposterous.

“I believe that can be arranged,” Ten Bears said after a moment’s pause to everyone’s surprised.

At that moment a young squaw entered the Great Hall and approached the Tribal Elders. She stopped just a few paces from the outer circle.

“Is she ready, Winter Flower?” the chief of Pennacook asked.

“She is ready, Chief Ten Bears,” she replied. “She is waiting by the Oracle.”

Without waiting for any invitation, every single member of the council stood and filed out the Great Hall and walked the distance towards the Oracle.

* * * * *​

Little Wolf’s eyes went wide when he first beheld the woman everyone was calling Red Sun. Her hair was indeed red! And her eyes. They were green. She was wearing a simple buckskin dress. He was told that she refused any of the ornaments that were being offered to her.

She was also tall; taller than any of the squaws. In fact, she was as tall as he! There was also obvious tension in her body, almost as if she was a great snake, ready to uncoil and attack anyone who made a mistake of crossing her.

He found his throat to be parched. He knew what people thought of him. That he was almost a heretic with his wild ideas. He did not believe in the prophecy at all and made sure people knew that. But here now was what seemed to be irrefutable proof of the prophecy’s fulfillment. A Red Warrior if ever there was one.

“Well, Little Wolf?” Ten Bears asked, interrupting his conflicting thoughts.

Little Wolf swallowed and nodded. He unhooked the machete that was hanging loosely at his side, spinning it deftly a few times with his fingers before letting the handle settle in his hand, sharp edge up and facing forward.

The young squaw who entered the Great Hall earlier was standing next to the Red Warrior. She whispered something to the taller woman and then moved away. The Red Warrior’s green eyes narrowed as she regarded him and then was instantly at combat position.

There was a huge crowd watching. It just begun to dawn on him that the implications for him losing this battle would not be good for him. In fact, it would be very bad. Little Wolf took a deep breath, yelled out a battle cry and charged.

He didn’t know what happened. One instant he was on his feet, slashing downwards with his machete, the next he was on his back on the ground, his weapon now in the hand of the woman, the side of her foot pressed painfully against his throat. He didn’t even see her move!

He blinked up at the woman. She was regarding him calmly, her lips curved in a small but triumphant smile. He was now a believer.

* * * * *​

It worked out better than she would have expected. She started out as a prisoner, an outcast. And then just like that, Ryna was with the elders of the nation, sitting comfortably with her legs tucked under her, eating from the same spread they were. In the distance was a huge bonfire encircled by braves dancing and whooping. Everyone was having a good time.

After the battle with the brave known as Little Wolf, who she later learned was one of the four chiefs, she was ushered back to the Great Hall. There she was subjected to a barrage of questions. She answered all of them as vaguely as she could. She was still worried about the repercussions to future events her presence at this time would cause.

She did ask whether they had already encountered a civilization called Korea. She had to pronounce the name several times for them to get it but it became clear that they didn’t about them yet. It figures. Korea was a continent away and these people had yet to discover how to sail the open seas.

She pondered all this as she stepped out of her hut. It took a while for it to dawn on her that nobody had tried to stop her from leaving. She was free! She raised her arms and stretched as far as she could, reveling in the feeling. When she brought her arms down, she suddenly remembered what she had wanted to do the moment she found a way to get outside.

She cast her eyes around. Everyone was already sleeping. She could see some sentries out but they were at a distance and not focused on her. The coast seemed to be clear. She walked as casually as she could to the southern end of the city. It took her several minutes to get there. When she arrived, she once again tried to sense the presence of anybody who might try to stop her.

When she felt it was safe she walked into the woods. Once she was in the cluster of trees, she began to run. For twenty minutes she ran and then suddenly stopped. Her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness and she began to cast around. The tree she had marked was a few meters away. At the base of the tree she began to dig with her bare hands. After a few more minutes she pulled out her backpack. Quickly opening it she took out the MVA device. Just as she had hoped, it was still in excellent working condition.

The bright liquid crystal display on the device told her that it was ten in the evening and that she was in the area that would soon be known as Washington DC. There was also a blinking icon at the top of the display. She had never seen it before. It took a few taps and button pushes for her to get at the information behind the flashing icon. Her eyes went wide.

A wormhole was going to open in nineteen minutes! Two more taps and the coordinates of the wormhole was displayed alongside a countdown to the opening. There was no time to lose. She snapped the device on her wrist and shouldered the backpack. Then she ran as fast as she could back towards the city.

* * * * *​

Ten Bears and Little Wolf were by the Oracle. The brightly lit fires surrounding the marble structure lent a certain otherworldly appearance to the World Wonder. Both men were silent for a time, each admiring one of their civilization’s greatest achievements.

“What do the people think of me now, Ten Bears?” Little Wolf finally broke the silence, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

The older chief smiled benignly. He was expecting the question and he was ready with an answer. “The people think no less of you, Little Wolf.” It was the truth. They were more overjoyed of the emergence of the Red Warrior than anything else. “It was absolutely necessary to prove to everyone that the woman was indeed the Red Warrior. Who better to prove that than the greatest warrior we have?”

“But the ease in which she was able to dispatch me. I am most ashamed,” Little Wolf’s head hung down. He lifted it again when he felt Ten Bears’ hand on his shoulder.

“Do not be ashamed. She is the Red Warrior after all. Ten of us fighting her at once would not have fared better. Besides—”

Ten Bears’ next words were cut off when both of them heard the sound of someone running towards them. Or more precisely, running towards the Oracle. It was Red Sun!

The Oracle suddenly began to glow with unnatural light!



Both chiefs saw the woman run towards the light in the center of the Oracle. It was as if the sun itself had appeared inside the marble structure. Indeed, it was like the night was overturned! It became unbearably bright all of a sudden and both men had to shield their eyes from it.

When they lifted their eyes, the Oracle was dark again. They became aware of others who had emerged from huts nearby, standing around the marble structure, their faces showing both awe and bewilderment.

They had all just witnessed the Red Warrior disappear into the light.
 
Chapter 4 – Fast Forward

Ryna could already tell before she opened her eyes that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She was taking deep breaths, focusing hard on quelling the pain that again wracked her body. She expected to feel the hard, solid, cold tiles of the MultiVerse Authority headquarters beneath her body. Instead, the ground beneath her was damp, soft and mossy. She considered not opening her eyes ever.

But she did when she heard the unnatural rustling of leaves and twigs in the distance. She took another deep breath as the last of the pain disappeared and concentrated.

* * * * *​


“Just leave me here, Two Hatchet!”

“Not leaving you, little brother,” Two Hatchet replied breathlessly as he pulled the younger scout along. An arrow protruded from his thigh, slowing them both down. Under normal circumstances, those barbarian archers would not have a chance to keep up with them. But with Running Antelope’s injured leg, it was hopeless. Except he wasn’t one to give up hope that easily.

Two Hatchet felt the force of an arrow as it whooshed by just inches from his ear. It struck the trunk of the tree just up ahead. They were getting close! He dared not look behind him. Instead he heaved and lifted Running Antelope over his shoulders much to the surprise of the younger man. Two Hatchet ran as fast as he could with the added weight.

“We’re both going to die unless you leave me!”

“I won’t leave you! Now stop talking!” Two Hatchet was already panting. Two arrows, whooshed by on each side and struck the trees up ahead. He had the distinct feeling they were merely toying with him now. His tracking skills told him that it was over. The twelve barbarian archers were just behind him, not even bothering to run. He was within easy range of their arrows.

He stopped and then gently laid Running Antelope on the ground. He turned around. The archers formed a half circle around him, jeering at him. Even more so when he whipped out the machetes he had hanging on his sides. He felt the fear of death crawling up his back like a many-legged creature and he fought to quell it. If he was going to die, he was going to die with honor.

The archer directly ahead of him drew out an arrow from the quiver on his back, fitted it on his bow, pulled on the taut string and aimed at him. This was it. He spared his companion a glance. Running Antelope was pulling on his leg coverings, urging him to get down. He merely shook his head and glanced back up at the archer. He could see the fingers slowly releasing the string.

All of sudden something struck the archer in the head, destroying the face in a way he hadn’t seen before. He couldn’t tell what it was that hit him but it was fast…too fast for his eye to see. All jeering from the other archers abruptly stopped as they instinctively crouched, looking warily at each other.

One of them gave a yelp and fell. His face had been smashed in as well! The remaining archers drew arrows and began aiming everywhere, trying to find their attacker.

Two Hatchet just stood there, shocked into stillness, not understanding what was going on except that he wasn’t being attacked. The barbarians, on the other hand, were on the verge of panic, shouting in their strange language at one another.

Once again, an archer went down with a cry and a bloodied face. What was going on?

And then he saw her. She was several paces in front of him, behind the archers. She was wearing what looked like the same garment the women in his city wore. The barbarians must have seen where his eyes were looking for they turned as well and suddenly aimed their arrows at her. Again, shock stole over Two Hatchet and he could only watch as first one and then all the archers let loose their missiles.

What happened next was something he would never have believed had he not seen it with his own eyes. Instead of dodging, the woman charged at the arrows. She was extremely fast as she weaved and bobbed, always at the last instant before she would have been struck by an arrow.

And then she let loose with her own missiles. They were stones! They flew straight and true from her hands and struck home with deadly accuracy. Three more archers went down. The six remaining barbarians began to run. The woman paused by a fallen archer, bent and took his knives, twirled them in her fingers and then looked at him and gave him a smile. And then she took off in pursuit.

“Did you see that?” Running Antelope said, pointing at the direction the woman went as if Two Hatchet would have missed it.

The older scout merely nodded mutely. And then a quiet resolve stole over him. He glanced down at the younger man. “You stay here!”

“But where are you going?”

Two Hatchet was already running in the same direction the woman went but he shouted back: “Just stay there!” And then he was gone.

* * * * *​

Just like any scout, Two Hatchet was fast. As a matter of fact in all of Saratoga only Running Antelope was faster than him in a flat out run on a plain field. But no one was faster than him in the forest. And yet the woman was even faster. Just when he thought he had caught up with her, she would put on another burst of speed and then disappear.

He saw the results of her work though as he jumped over the body of another fallen archer. There were five left.

He slowed down a bit when he saw the backs of two barbarians running flat out, obviously in panic. But where was the woman? The question was immediately answered when he saw her swoop down from above him onto the two archers. All three rolled on the ground once but only the woman rolled up and was instantly in pursuit once more. As he passed he saw the two archers twitching in their death throes. Three more left. Who was that woman?

Two Hatchet ran on…then tripped on something, which turned on to be the legs of one of the barbarians. He landed hard on the backs of two more. With a groan, he raised himself on all fours and was about to stand up except when he raised his eyes he was once again stunned by the vision that was in front of him.

Directly before him were eyes of a color that was greener than the grass of the fields. Her face was so fair and it was framed by red hair that against the sun streaming through the trees looked like they were on fire.

“Are you hurt?” The woman was down on one knee with a concerned look on her face.

He could only shake his head mutely, his throat suddenly dry. He swallowed dryly and then said the first thing that came to his mind: “Who are you?” Although, he was almost sure who she was.

* * * * *​

“Who are you?”

Ryna knew this question was going to be asked of her sooner or later. She wasn’t quite sure whether the way she disappeared the last time she was around—more than 500 years in their past—made a lasting impression. She decided there would a lot of time to find out later. “It does not matter who I am. Are you from Pennacook?”

The man shook his head. “I’m from Saratoga. I know who you are.”

Uh oh. Looks like she did leave behind a lasting impression. “Do you really?” she responded and then stood. “Where’s your friend?”

The man’s eyes widened. “Running Antelope!” he exclaimed and then took off into the forest leaving her behind.

Ryna’s eyes narrowed. Not even a thank you. Hmph! “Well, you’re welcome!” she hollered in English. She shook her head and then looked down first on her hands and then at her buckskin dress. There were blotches of blood and dirt everywhere. She really needed to get cleaned up. She thought about it hard for a few seconds and then finally threw her arms out in defeat. She stomped through the forest in the same direction of the scout.

* * * * *​

Funsch paced the floor in front of his desk. The Quantum Tunnel, it turned out, was still broken contrary to what Park initially reported. It meant that anybody they sent through the wormhole would end up at another time instead of the in another universe. It meant that any Inter-Universe Outlaw already in the other parallel universes cannot be pursued. Finally, it meant that anybody with an illegitimate Quantum Tunneling Device (and he knew that there were still some out there they still haven’t confiscated) could do some real damage to the time stream.

Gardner messed things up really bad. From initial reports, the timeline of the Charis Universe was already changing. Funsch had Park’s team perform a research on any historical records around the 1500 BC period to see if there were any references to someone fitting Gardner’s description.

True enough, it appeared that the Native Americans during that time encountered someone they called Red Sun, said to be the fulfillment of the Red Warrior Prophecy. After that, accounts became vague and hyperbolic. Red Sun appeared briefly and then suddenly disappeared in “a flash of light as bright as the sun, turning night into day…”.

The Chief shook his head and exhaled heavily. His priorities had suddenly changed. He could no longer afford to spend any more time or resources on Gardner’s retrieval. What she does from this point forward only affected Charis Universe…theoretically.

Those, on the other hand, non-sanctioned tunneling devices needed to be found and destroyed. Or multiple universes could be affected. Nothing could be more important than preventing that.

* * * * *​

“Are you sure she’s the Red Warrior?” asked Running Antelope for the umpteenth time as he limped along, watching the back of the woman he was referring to who was walking several paces ahead of them.

“Yes!” hissed Two Hatchet, showing that he was getting quite annoyed by his repeated questions. “You should have seen her three days ago when she dispatched the barbarians who tried to run away.

“Besides, have you seen anyone with red hair like she does?”

“Well, I’ve seen some of the Slavic with hair like hers,” the younger scout insisted.

“Have you seen anyone with green eyes though?” the older one challenged. “Or for that matter, anyone, whether man or woman who could fight like her?” Running Antelope had nothing to say to that. “That’s what I thought! Now we need to get her back to the Chief. She could be the answer to the barbarian problem we have.”

Both men stopped when they saw that the Red Warrior had stopped abruptly and whirled around to face them. “How much farther?” she demanded. It was clear she was getting impatient. Both men had to swallow the lump of fear that suddenly appeared on their throats.

“About two more weeks,” answered Two Hatchet hesitantly.

“What!?” Her hands turned to fists at her sides.

“I-it’s because of Running Antelope’s injury. We could be there in half that time if it was completely healed.”

“And when would that be?”

Both men looked at each other. “About two days,” the older scout replied hastily after a moment’s pause. The woman narrowed her eyes showing clearly how much she believed them. She seemed about to tell them exactly how much so when her eyes went wide for an instant and then she quickly lowered herself so that the tall grasses concealed her. Both scouts instantly followed suit.

It was after they were already crouched when Two Hatchet heard the noise. He instinctively crept closer to the woman and beckoned Running Antelope to do the same. As much as they feared the Red Warrior, they feared the barbarians more. The woman pointed to a nearby stump that used to be a large tree and started crawling towards it. The two scouts didn’t need to be told twice that the stump provided better concealment than the tall grass.

When Two Hatchet reached the stump he looked up and it was the woman’s questioning green eyes that met his. “Barbarians,” he whispered as answer to her unasked question.

“How are you sure?” she asked as she leaned against the trunk.

“They’re too noisy,” supplied Running Antelope who finally reached them.

“That’s right. Our braves would not be making so much noise in an area they know to be infested by barbarians.”

The Red Warrior put a finger against her lips and all talk instantly ceased. The band of men drew closer. They were running, not walking, to wherever it was they were headed. She peeked from the side of stump and watched them pass by.

The two scouts were content to stay where they were until the horde passed. The woman turned back to look at them. “There were…” she began but then stopped and then her brows furrowed. “How do you say this number?” She then held out her palms at them, the fingers spread. The two men looked at each other and then back at her, shaking their heads in confusion.

The woman nodded, said something unintelligible and then turned back towards the barbarian horde who were already at a safe distance. “There were a lot of them.”

“It did sound like there were a lot of them,” Running Antelope nodded in agreement.

“Where do you think they’re going?”

“I would have to guess back to their village,” Two Hatchet replied.

“And where would that be?”

Again, the two scouts looked at each other. “We don’t know,” it was Two Hatchet who answered. “That’s why we were sent to this area of the jungle. To find their village.”

“Saratoga only sent the two of you?” the woman had her eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“No, no. There were a lot of us. Kicking Bird, Stands Alone, Dull Knife—“

“All right. Enough. I understand. Where are they now?”

Both men looked down. “Dead. All of them. Killed by the creatures of this jungle,” Two Hatchet said. “It was just me, Running Antelope and Stands Alone who were left but then the barbarians shot an arrow at Stands Alone and he died.”

“We would have died too if you had not come to save us,” Running Antelope said.

“I’m sorry to hear of your loss. Did you find the barbarian village though?”

“No,” answered the older one, “it seems to be well concealed.”

The woman nodded and then looked away, deep in thought. “I know a way to find that village,” she said, turning to look back at them.

“Really,” Running Antelope said excitedly. “How?”

“Wait!” Two Hatchet exclaimed. “You’re not suggesting we follow the horde, are you?”

The Red Warrior gave them a smile that was as beautiful as it was terrifying. “That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”

* * * * *​

Ryna’s heart pounded once more as she caught sight of Saratoga. Both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope had run ahead of her into the cheering crowd. Several women came out of the crowd carrying leis and formed two lines in front of the scouts. Each of them took turns bestowing the leis onto them. There were drums beating in the background and more cheers. The number of people who came out to greet the two scouts was staggering. She didn’t realize there were already that much people in the city.

They were both heroes as far as the city was concerned. Not only because they had survived the barbarian horde when everyone thought they had already died, but they also managed to locate their village, which, it turned out, was truly concealed up on a hill surrounded by thick jungle.

The memories of what they saw when they came close enough to see what was going on in the village was enough to give her nightmares for days to come. The barbarians were in the midst of a sacrificial ritual where a hapless tribesman, who both scouts recognized to be from Khmer, was hacked alive while shackled on a raised stone slab. Ryna shuddered and shook her head of the disturbing images and hurriedly walked after the two.

She was clothed in a cloak made from buckskin that both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope had hurriedly put together just the day before they entered Saratoga. She requested it of them so she could enter the village without much fuss. The plan was that later on, when things have quieted down, the two would request an audience with the Chief and present her to him.

The crowd began to press on all sides with each person trying to reach out and pat the two on the back, others were asking questions about their adventures. Ryna found herself cut off from them, which was fine. They had already previously agreed on where to meet up afterwards. She decided to leave the crowd and wandered into an empty street.



There were some marked differences between the state of the American civilization back in 1540 BC and 990 BC. The houses were much studier, incorporating better use of wood and stone. There were also signs that advertise places of business. Now that was interesting. Ryna walked to closer to one such establishment and looked up to peer at the sign posted on the wall. She couldn’t read what was written but she was gratified to know that her civilization was progressing.

She continued to walk down the stone path. Now if only there were street signs, everything would be peachy…
 
Yes, this is a great story. Keep on writing.
 
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Chapter 5 – Power Struggle

Chief White Buffalo had never seen anyone move so fluidly, so swiftly as did Red Sun. He never tired of watching the tall, red-haired woman as she trained with the other braves. For more than a month now, she had been wearing man-clothes, having long discarded the garments usually worn by their squaws. It was more fitting, closely resembling what their scouts wore than that of the braves.

He continued to watch as four warriors surrounded her, preparing to rush her. In the beginning, the braves were bothered with having a woman in their ranks. It was one thing to acknowledge her as the legendary figure that she was as declared by their own shaman, but quite another for them to accept her as her as one of them. This was further exacerbated by the fact that she was indeed faster and stronger than any of them.

Even her fighting style has proven to be superior to that of their best. In fact, she was unarmed while those that were circling her had daggers. One by the one, the warriors attacked. She stepped to one side, twisting her body out of the way of the oncoming attacker and then grabbed hold of his arm as he swept past. She twisted the arm until the hand holding the dagger was turned upward. The Chief saw the warrior grimace in pain as the woman easily plucked the weapon from him and did something his eyes weren’t quick enough to catch that caused the warrior to flip over and land on his back.

Red Sun ducked just as a dagger slashed horizontally across the empty space where her head was just an instant ago. Still lowered, she moved towards the warrior, slashed him across the abdomen and then moved to the next brave who hadn’t even attacked yet. White Buffalo’s eyes went wide as he saw the move. He never imagined that the Red Warrior would cause real harm to any of his people!

The Chief let out a breath of relief and smiled instead when he saw that the warrior had not been harmed at all. The same could not be said about his trousers, however, as he fought to keep them up. The woman had apparently slashed the cinch that held it in place.

By the time the Chief averted his gaze to see how the two other warriors fared, they had already fallen. It was all over in two blinks of an eye! If it were not for the presence that he felt moments later, he would not have recovered from his disbelief.

The presence turned out to be his wife, Prancing Pony. She stood beside him and looked upon the scene her husband was watching, the expression on her face serene. “She is like a goddess, is she not, Husband?”

White Buffalo nodded. “Her speed. Her strength. Her hair. Her eyes, skin and even her straight, white teeth. Not a blemish. A creature so perfect…if she isn’t a goddess then I don’t know what is.”

“And yet she brings a curse,” Prancing Pony said. She saw the puzzled look her husband gave her and said: “The emissaries we sent to our brother nations have returned.”

“And?”

“And, I do not think they bring good tidings.”

* * * * *​

Red Sun smiled brightly and held out her hand to the last fallen warrior who at first hesitated but amidst the good-natured jibes from his comrades decided to take it and allow the woman to pull him up. The others circled them, some patting the last warrior on the back while the others throwing questions at the woman and asking for demonstrations.

Not all of them, however, were in a jovial mood. One warrior was hidden behind trees not very far from the group. There was a deep scowl on Jumps Over Panther’s face as he looked on. Unlike the other warriors, Jumps Over Panther had a body built for speed rather than strength. But it was his speed more than anything that made him the best brave, the only one undefeated, in the entire nation of Saratoga. That was until the woman arrived. He had a scar running down from his forehead down his right eye, which was the result of a panther attack when he was merely a young boy. When he frowned, as he did now, the scar would form a shape similar to a lightning bolt, which many maidens had repeatedly swooned over.

Except for one. She was young, a year younger than he was actually, and yet she was one of the Chief White Buffalo’s advisers. She was known by most in all of Saratoga but by a different name. He knew her by her real name: Night Flower.

She was beautiful with her long black hair, light brown eyes and lithe figure. But it was not her physical appearance that attracted him to her. It was her cunningness. Night Flower had insight and intellect that were far beyond any man or woman he had ever known. Her talent in this regard was matched only by her ambition. “We are good together,” she once told him. “With your strength and my cleverness there is nothing we cannot do.”

Night Flower was standing beside him now, seeing the same scene he was. “We must find a way to dispatch her,” she said. “We cannot allow the people to grow too attached to her.”

“Dispatch her? For once, your intelligence fails you,” he said in contempt. “Did you not see how she was able to best four armed warriors just using her hands and feet? Not even I, with my considerable speed, could accomplish that.”

Once again to his amazement, Night Flower did not rise to his baiting but smiled serenely as she always did when she knew something he didn’t. “There are more ways of dispatching someone without the use of force.”

“How does one dispatch another without fighting? I do not understand,” Jumps Over Panther said, his thick brows furrowed.

She turned to gaze up at him, reached out and touched his jaw tenderly with her fingers. “Soon, you will.” She gave him a sweet smile and then walked away.

* * * * *​

Ryna was gamely demonstrating one of the maneuvers she used against the impromptu sparring session she had when she felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. She paused abruptly and looked up, casting her eyes over a wide area. Her gaze locked onto a brave in the distance, partially hidden behind some trees. There was a woman, whose face was turned away from her. She briefly reached out and touched the brave’s face and then walked away. When she had gone, he turned to look back at her direction. Their eyes made contact and for a time, neither gave way.

The other warriors had noticed that she had stopped suddenly and followed her gaze to where she was looking.

“He looks familiar,” Ryna said without preamble.

“That’s Jumps Over Panther,” one of the warriors offered.

“And who was that woman with him?”

“Woman?” the same warrior asked and then he cast his eyes first at the brave in the distance and then at his comrades who all shrugged. “What do you mean?”

“There was a woman with him earlier,” Ryna said softly, almost to herself. The brave known as Jumps Over Panther decided he had enough of the staring game and disappeared into the forest. She mentally shook herself of whatever it was that held her attention to him and then turned to one of the warriors. “So tell me about Jumps Over Panther…”

* * * * *​

White Buffalo furiously paced the floor of the great assembly hall where grand gatherings were held. His narrowed eyes were focused on the stones that made up the floor of the hall. The hall itself had been rebuilt several times over the centuries due to wear and tear, at least three times due to fire. But these stones were the same ones from the time the nation of Saratoga was founded not long after their people decided to stop living as nomads. The Chief couldn’t even comprehend the number that would come close to the actual age of these stones, which have smoothened over time. How many other chiefs that preceded him had paced here just as he to ponder on his nation’s problems?

He stopped when he heard the massive doors to the hall opened. He turned and for the first time in days, he felt his spirits rise. Rain Blossom’s figure appeared through the doors, the light streaming through from behind her giving the illusion that she was shining.

He took secret delight in watching her innate grace as she made her way to him at the center of the hall. He had never seen any other woman, except perhaps Red Sun, who had as much grace as Rain Blossom had.

“You summoned me, Sir?” she asked formally, her head bowed.

“Indeed I have,” White Buffalo quickly replied and began to pace in front of her as he rallied his thoughts. “As you already know, I have sent out emissaries to our brother nations to tell them of the arrival of the Red Warrior and that she had found the nest of these hateful barbarians.” He almost spat out that last word. “Those wretched creatures are a menace. Almost an entire city’s worth of our scouts and warriors has been slaughtered by them since the time of our ancestors.

“They must be stopped! We now know where they are. We can finally wipe them out. But we cannot do it alone. Saratoga does not have enough warriors to send. So I send out my emissaries with gifts asking for help from our brothers and what do they say?

“They have all grown soft! They prefer to sit and worship at their brand new temples, learning about Buddhism. All they want is to train as many missionaries as they could to send to the north where the Khmer nation is or to the Slavic nation in the south. Bah!”



Rain Blossom waited a few moments before responding to the Chief’s tirade. “What do your other advisers say?”

“My other advisers? Hah! They, too, have grown soft. They actually agree that we shouldn’t worry about the barbarians!” He raised his fist and started shaking it. He continued pacing but stole a glance at the young woman He was growing suspicious that perhaps she too harbored the same sentiments. “So what do you say?”

The young woman’s eyes widened, her hand came up and pressed it against her chest just below her neck. “Me, Sir? I am merely a woman. What do I know of--”

He stopped abruptly directly in front of her and glared at her. He knew this dance. Normally, he would gently coax out her insights. He didn’t feel like playing the game now. “I summoned you so you can tell me your thoughts. Don’t make me ask you again,” he nearly growled.

Rain Blossom merely nodded, keeping her eyes down. “Sir, I do not think we need reinforcements from our brother nations. Let us just send some of our warriors together with Red Sun to wipe out this barbarian city. We don’t even need to send our very best warriors. With the Red Warrior on our side, I’m sure it can be done.”

* * * * *​

“That’s completely nuts!” Ryna exclaimed in English and as she stood up. When she saw White Buffalo’s baffled expression as he looked up at her and she realized what she just did. She quickly switched to the native tongue. “I mean to say, Chief, is that it would be…uhm…” she paused and then said slow in English, “suicide.”

“Suuuweesaayyd?”

“Yes, Chief. ‘Suicide.’ It’s when none of us will be able to survive the mission. We go there and we will all be killed and still not succeed.”

“You are being too modest, Red Sun,” White Buffalo said, a disbelieving expression on his face. “You alone can surely defeat those creatures. I’m merely sending you men who will provide some minor assistance.”

“I’m not being modest at all, Chief,” she insisted as she started pacing, “there is no way I can do it alone.” She whirled around to face him. “How many braves were you thinking of sending with me?”

He enumerated the names of the braves he had chosen to do this honor. Ryna blinked. He was only going to send fifteen men with her!

“Well, what else do you need?” the Chief asked.

“How about night vision goggles, MP10 submachine guns and Blackhawk air cover?”

“Calm down, Red Sun,” the Chief said placatingly, “I didn’t quite get what you just said.”

“Never mind,” she said hastily. She turned around and quickly exited his hut.

She began to wander the city streets for a while and then decided to head back to her hut. Her senses told her that there was someone already there waiting for her. It was a presence she was familiar with.

“Good evening, Red Sun,” Rain Blossom said, standing up just as Ryna entered the room.

“Hello, Rain Blossom,” the taller woman smiled as she returned the greeting. And then the smile disappeared to be replaced with a curious expression. “Say, Rain Blossom, do you know Jumps Over Panther?”

Rain Blossom’s face lit up and she smiled widely. “Everyone knows Jumps Over Panther. Why do you ask?”

“Were you, by any chance, with him a few days ago by the southern forest?”

The other woman gave a small laugh. “Only in my dreams would something like that happen. I have never even spoken to him. I wouldn’t know what to say to someone as handsome as he.”

“Yeah. Handsome. Right.” Ryna couldn’t help but smirk. Brooding, scar-faced, empty-headed brutes aren’t her idea of handsome. She walked to the other girl and sat down on the bed obliquely so that her back was towards her. Since she met Rain Blossom, the shorter girl had been completely fascinated with her red hair and it had become a nightly ritual for her to allow the other to comb and braid her locks. It had a calming effect, actually.

“You seem unusually tense, Red Sun,” the dark-haired woman said as she began to comb her hair.

Ryna sighed. “It’s the Chief. He wants me and only a handful of men to wipe out the northern barbarian city.”

“Really? The Chief is supremely wise. I’m sure that if he truly believes you can do it, then you can do it.”

“But that’s just it. It simply isn’t possible. I don’t know which idiotic adviser gave him that idea. Hold on,” Ryna said, turning around to face Rain Blossom. “Aren’t you one of the Chief’s advisers?”

The other girl gave a pretty pout. “Yes, I am but he doesn’t consult me on matters concerning war and such.”

“But couldn’t you at least try?”

Rain Blossom shook her head and turned Ryna around firmly so she could continue her ministrations. “It would not be my place to even speak of these things. You must be careful, Red Sun. Some of the people in the city are already talking about your strange ideas and ways. It would not be good to be branded a heretic.”

Ryna scowled. She figured she could just disobey and run away. Maybe try to make her way to Pennacook. There might be another wormhole there waiting for her. She shook her head mentally. It wouldn’t be right. She knew now that there was a chance she’d be able to ride another wormhole and an equal chance that she’d still not end up in her time but just a few hundred years into the future. She wouldn’t want to be shunned by her people. Plus, she also quite enjoyed the attention she garnered by being the prophesied Red Warrior.

She would have to find a way out of this mess without getting herself or any of the men killed.
 
Very nice. I am really enjoying this story.
 
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