raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Thanks! I've struggled with the twists I had originally planned for this story arc. Last night, I had an epiphany of sorts...hope you will like that too. 
Twisting Fate
- Thread starter raba.yuugi
- Start date
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
The feature is called Flying Camera. Open your civilization.ini file and look for a line that says:
; Allow Camera Flying
AllowFlying = 0
Change that to:
; Allow Camera Flying
AllowFlying = 1
Restart Civ IV and then while in the game hit Ctrl-Alt-F. Before taking screenshots, I usually make all interface elements disappear too. Do this by hitting Alt-I. Hope this helps.
; Allow Camera Flying
AllowFlying = 0
Change that to:
; Allow Camera Flying
AllowFlying = 1
Restart Civ IV and then while in the game hit Ctrl-Alt-F. Before taking screenshots, I usually make all interface elements disappear too. Do this by hitting Alt-I. Hope this helps.
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Chapter 6 – Subterfuge
For the kind of the excursion they were planning, Ryna knew from the start that bringing in purely axemen would not help. Without shields, axemen were vulnerable against arrows and the barbarians had lots of archers judging from what she saw when she discovered their hidden city.
Thanks to the newly trained blacksmiths and supply of iron that Shawmut provided, they now had swords. With her close supervision the blacksmiths were able to get it right according to her specifications. They were not too wide, not too narrow, perfectly balanced and not too heavy. She also thought that shields would be a good addition and woodworkers were immediately brought in to make some.
Once again, she supervised the making. She wanted them strong enough to block arrows even at pointblank range but not overly heavy either. After many stops and starts, she decided that round shields were better than rectangular ones. With enough training, the warriors assigned to her would also be able to use them as secondary weapons.
Ryna presented both the shield and sword to White Buffalo who was immediately pleased with the results. He wasted no time in dispatching messengers to relay the new specifications to the brother nations. He made sure to mention that it was the Red Warrior herself who designed them. He knew that his fellow Chiefs would quickly implement them.
Ryna walked out of her teepee to find Two Hatchet and Running Antelope by the river bank in the distance. She had dragged the two scouts with her on a camping trip east of the city. She felt it was high time she understood basic survival skills. She figured these two knew how to do that. At the very least, they could tell her what plant was edible and what wasn’t just in case.
As she neared the two, she saw that the older of the two was bent over gathering what looked like grasses, while the younger one was sitting cross-legged on the ground watching the other. Running Antelope had a blade of the same grass being gathered by Two Hatchet stuck in his mouth. He was chewing absentmindedly on it and almost choked on it when she tapped him on the shoulder.
“What’s the matter with you?” gasped Running Antelope as he coughed out green residue from his mouth. “Don’t sneak up on people like that!”
Ryna laughed. “I wasn’t sneaking. Honest. You should learn how to be more sensitive to your surroundings.”
“She’s right, you know,” Two Hatchet said, walking up to them with a fistful of grass in his left hand.
“Oh, be quiet, Two Hatchet,” the younger one huffed as he stood and made his way to the river. He bent over and began washing his mouth.
“So what do you have there?” Ryna asked, nodding towards the grass in Two Hatchet’s hand.
“This is sweetgrass. We’ll add it to the fire tonight.”
“That’s not going to make my head hurt like it did the last time, will it?” Ryna referred to the time she had to stay in this low domed structure with a shaman for almost an hour. She had to endure the sickeningly sweet smoke while the shaman chanted and did things to make the smoke move. It was after that ceremony where it was confirmed that she was indeed the Red Warrior.
The scout laughed. “It’s going to be an open fire and you won’t be in the sweat lodge or anything. It’ll be good,” Two Hatchet assured her.
A few hours later, Ryna was leaning back against a log fully relaxed either from the scented smoke emanating from the sweetgrass-laced fire or from the pipe they passed to her every now and then. “You’re right, Two Hatchet,” she sighed. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve been this relaxed.”
She glanced at the two scouts through heavily lidded eyes and saw how pleased they were with themselves. “So what do you think about the men I’m training for barbarian raid?”
Two Hatchet inhaled deeply from the pipe and then passed it to Running Antelope. He exhaled the smoke slowly, his eyes closed. “Those men are our very best warriors, very dedicated and extremely loyal to the Chief,” the older scout said finally.
Ryna nodded, digesting this. She accepted the pipe given by Running Antelope but only pretended to inhale before passing it back to Two Hatchet. “Are there warriors not loyal to the Chief?”
“You could say that,” Two Hatchet answered before inhaling from pipe again.
“Are any of them among my men?”
Running Antelope, whose head was thrown back against the log he was leaning against, gave a bark of laughter. “Your men are the most loyal warriors there are. They have fought battles and trained under the Chief himself.”
Ryna sat up looking at the two scouts. “Does the Chief have any enemies?”
“Of course, he does,” the younger scout said, the position of his head not changing. “Among the Chiefs, he’s the one who believes in Buddhism the least.”
“He’s right,” Two Hatchet agreed with a careless wave of a hand. “There are many in Saratoga who want him replaced. And I think that was about to happen until you appeared,” the older scout eyed her with that last statement.
Ryna’s eyebrows were deeply furrowed now as she considered what she had just learned. “That may yet still happen. I think someone has just manipulated White Buffalo into sending me and his most loyal warriors away on a mission that has little hope of success.” She looked at both scouts and was disappointed to see a lack of reaction from them. “Don’t you both care about what might happen?”
Two Hatchet and Running Antelope looked at each other and then shrugged. “We’re just scouts,” the older one said. “We don’t interfere with what goes on at the top.”
“We don’t understand any of it anyway either,” the younger one added.
Ryna had trouble sleeping that night. She was at a loss to determine whether she should interfere. She didn’t know enough of history to know what was supposed to happen to White Buffalo. Should she just let it happen?
When morning came, she was no closer to knowing what she should do. Everything in her being, however, was screaming that for her to simply do nothing would be unacceptable.
Red Sun’s first stop when she got back into the city was the makeshift workshop. Once she got there she picked up a newly forged sword from a wooden rack full of them and began to examine it. The nearby blacksmiths stopped their work and turned to watch her swing and twirl the weapon expertly. The blacksmiths saw a giant of a man approach from behind her and were stunned when the Red Warrior suddenly whirled around, bringing the sword hard and fast with her in a horizontal slash. It clanged resoundingly against the upraised heavy axe of the man. She smiled at the brave holding the bulkier weapon. “Nice block, Kicking Bear” she said.
Kicking Bear smiled back and then looked down on the blade still connected to his axe. “That is a poor excuse for a weapon,” he said. He looked over his shoulder at the other axemen with him and saw them nodding their assent.
“But in the hands of a master this could be very deadly.”
“I could say the same thing about the heavy axe.”
“You want to put that to the test?” Red Sun asked sweetly, lowering her weapon. Her eyes narrowed briefly attempting to bait the warrior.
“What? Against you?” Kicking Bear laughed, lowering his axe as well. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t even dream of backing down on a challenge. But he knew better than to challenge the Red Warrior herself. “Now that wouldn’t be very fair, would it?”
“I wasn’t talking about me. Meet me at the training field one week from today, just before the sun hits the trees,” she said turning around to walk away. She looked back at him over her shoulder. “…and then we’ll see.”
The brave shook his axe in the air once. “Agreed!”
“You want me to what?” Jumps Over Panther stood up from the bed and glared down at the woman still lying, her body concealed under a blanket.
“I want you to follow her,” Night Flower repeated as she sat up, deliberately letting the sheet fall to her lap.
“Follow her where?”
“If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking you to follow her. I know that she leaves her hut every night to go out and into the forest. I want to know where she goes.”
The brave ran his fingers through his long, unbound hair as he began pacing the floor. “Why don’t you ask someone else to do it?”
“Because I don’t trust anyone else,” the woman said as she laid down again, putting one arm behind her head. She stared straight up at the ceiling.
“Well, what if she catches me?”
“You had better make sure she doesn’t,” she replied evenly, shifting her gaze to him.
Ryna stepped out of the hut and looked up at the crescent moon. She judged it to be just after one in the morning. She cast her eyes around the nearby huts and listened for any sounds that were out of the ordinary. After about two minutes, when she was convinced everybody was asleep, she stealthily began moving down the packed dirt that made up the streets of Saratoga.
She never went into the forest the same way. She took to heart what her drill instructor at the academy always told them: never establish a pattern that your enemies can take advantage of. As she snuck through the narrow gaps between the huts she had this prickly feeling at the back of her neck. It was as if someone was watching her.
Ryna lowered herself on one knee and listened. She made no other movement. If someone was indeed following her, she would want that someone to continue to do so.
After exactly a minute, she proceeded into the forest.
Jumps Over Panther was perched on top of one of the taller huts near Red Sun’s. He saw her move quickly and stealthily across the deserted streets of the city, weaving in and out of the narrow gaps between the huts. He had to admire her. She moved like a jungle cat on the prowl. When she suddenly stopped moving, he quickly lowered himself so that his entire front was flat against the roof’s center beam. He pressed his face against the thatched roof, hoping that Red Sun had not detected his presence.
After a few seconds, he cautiously lifted his head and was just in time to see Red Sun move from her crouch. She went around a corner and disappeared. Jumps Over Panther again waited a few seconds before quietly making his way down the hut. He didn’t want to follow too closely but at the same time he didn’t want to risk losing the woman. Once on the ground, he crept up to a hut and flattened his back against it, listening hard for any movement. When he was satisfied that the coast was clear he began to move in the direction he saw Red Sun disappeared to.
When he got to where he last saw her, he was gratified to see her footprints, clear despite the dim light of the moon, leading into the forest. He found his earlier apprehension about following the Red Warrior disappearing as he began to realize the woman was not going to be difficult to track at all. With a smile on his face he followed the trail and entered the forest.
This guy is a bigger fool than I originally thought, thought Ryna with contempt as she watched Jumps Over Panther from where she was perched on one of topmost branches of the tallest tree she could find. The brave was going around in circles and scratching his head, obviously baffled how her tracks could all of a sudden disappear.
Ryna was itching to go to where she hid her transdimensional device. But there was no way she was going to lead him, or anyone else for that matter, to it. More importantly, at least for now, she needed to know who ordered him to follow her. Jumps Over Panther did not strike her as someone particularly deep intellectually. Someone had to be calling the shots and she wanted to know who it was.
With any luck, this guy would soon get the hint that he lost her and go back and report his failure. After several more minutes of examining the tracks she left behind and markings on the barks of some of the trees, he finally straightened and clenched his fists. With a growl of frustration that even she could hear from her perch, he stomped back towards the city in obvious irritation.
Ryna followed him by moving from branch to branch through the trees. The going wasn’t as stealthy as she would have liked given that the branches made a lot of creaking noises when she lifted off one and landed on another. Fortunately, she was sure the brave didn’t hear her as she made sure he was way off in the distance. Because she was high up, it allowed her to keep him in her sights even as he moved further away—something she wouldn’t have been able to do on the ground.
When they finally reached the city she was disappointed to see that he was making a beeline to his own hut, which he shared with a few other braves. She launched herself into the air from the huge branch she was perched on and landed on the roof of the nearest hut. Ryna landed and rolled neatly ending up in a semi-kneeling position, all without making a sound. From her new perch, she could see Jumps Over Panther enter his hut. She waited five minutes by her estimation just to make sure the coast was clear.
Leaping from roof to roof, she finally landed atop his hut and using the corner wooden beam she clambered down, keeping her head close to the thatched wall. She listened intently, tuning out the night sounds and focused on the ones from inside the hut. She could hear the snores of the other braves but she could also hear the light footfalls of someone who was pacing. Ryna was sure it was Jumps Over Panther.
After a while, however, those footfalls moved towards the sounds of snoring. The brave was preparing to sleep. She stayed for a few more minutes until all she heard were more snoring and then she left as stealthily as she came.
Jumps Over Panther had just strapped on a quiver filled with arrows behind his back and was about to exit the hut when there standing at the entrance was Night Flower. Her arms were crossed in front of her and her eyes narrowly regarding him.
“I was waiting for you to report what you found last night,” she said without preamble.
“I found nothing,” the brave said, brushing past her in his haste leave her presence. But he felt her hand firmly grasping his arm and pulled him back. He turned around to face her. He truly wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation, which was the primary reason he woke up especially early hoping to avoid her. It didn’t seem to do him that much good and he was already fuming inside. He was about to lash out at her but her fingers on his jaw stayed him.
“I was worried about you, Jumps Over Panther,” the woman said soothingly as she took a step closer to him.
He could smell the fragrance of her hair wafting over him, calming his nerves. So she was worried about him. He suddenly felt foolish being so riled up. But doubt crept in and he had to ask. “You were really worried about me?”
A pretty scowl fell over Night Flower’s face. “Of course I was worried about you. I couldn’t sleep last night wondering whether you came back from the dark forest safely. I was afraid some night creature might have attacked you or maybe even the woman I had asked you to follow,” she withdrew her fingers from his face and turned around and took a step away from him, casting her head down. “I should never have sent you after her. It was too dangerous.”
Jumps Over Panther frowned. “It wasn’t dangerous at all. I’m used to venturing out at night.” He took a step towards her and put his hands gently on her shoulders.
“But that woman…she might have discovered you following her and turned on you—”
“She would not have been able to do that at all. I’m an excellent hunter. I know the wilderness more than anyone in the city!”
Night Flower turned around and looked up at him tenderly. “I suppose it was foolish of me to have been so worried. After all, you are the best brave in the city. So does that mean you were able to find out why Red Sun goes out at night?”
“Oh…well…no.”
“Oh.”
“She suddenly disappeared. I was keeping my distance and it appears I may have been overly cautious.”
“Perhaps I should just send someone else to follow her,” she said, moving slightly a way, a finger tapping her lower lip.
“No, don’t. I can follow her. Tonight. This time I won’t lose her,” he said, moving so that he was in front of her again.
“No, not tonight. There is no moon.”
“Right. In that case, I’ll wait a few more days before tracking her down.”
“Very well,” Night Flower reached out and touched his chest. “But be careful.”
Night Flower watched Jumps Over Panther sprint towards the forest to hunt or whatever it was he did in there. He was a fool but he was useful to her. The fact that he wasn’t able to find out what Red Sun was up to last night greatly disturbed her. Could the woman have detected that she was being followed? It was a definite possibility.
Perhaps allowing Jumps Over Panther another attempt wasn’t wise. However, Red Sun’s frequent excursions into the forest greatly intrigued her. There had to be a way to find out. She still had a few days to think about it before there would be adequate moonlight for another attempt to be feasible. She was confident she’d figure things out by then.
Kicking Bear stood holding his heavy axe with the top pointing downwards as he appraised the warrior standing several paces away from him on an open field. Surrounding them was a sizeable crowd composed for warriors and non-warriors alike. There was good natured cheering going around with some of them placing bets.
His opponent was a mere boy who he knew by the name Talking Bird. He was not given to underestimate anyone and he certainly wasn’t going to make that mistake now knowing that this one was personally chosen by the Red Warrior herself. He had to be very careful. He was sure that this lad had a few hidden moves that may catch him unawares.
“Oi, Talking Bird!” he bellowed at the boy. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”
The younger warrior responded with a smile that could only be described as feral. He turned to look at Red Sun who was standing off to the side. Kicking Bear saw her nod back at the lad who then twirled his sword and raised his shield in guard position.
“Aye, Kicking Bird. The question is, do you know what you’re getting into?”
The axeman merely smirked. The lad had confidence, he could give him that. He hefted his axe and shifted into battle position. The dance began.
Ryna tuned out the wildly cheering crowd as she focused on the two combatants circling each other. The bigger warrior, Kicking Bear, was an experienced fighter while the one she trained during the last week was a new recruit. Talking Bird was a quick study though and he had speed—something she made sure to hone. She couldn’t stop worrying, however. She may have turned into this seasoned super warrior but her exposure to swordsmanship was limited to what she had watched from movies and television.
As expected, Kicking Bear made the first move, first feinting to the left and then quickly charged on the right. For someone as large as he was, Ryna had to admit he really did move fast. Fortunately, Talking Bird was also fast and had his shield up, allowing the axe to hit it at an angle and then spinning around, bringing his sword to bear in a horizontal slash. Kicking Bear must have known that there was no way he would be able to dodge the strike and instinctively allowed his momentum to carry him forward, diving to the ground and then neatly rolling away.
Talking Bird didn’t waste any time in pressing his advantage. With his shield up he raised his sword and struck downwards only to hit dirt as Kicking Bird rolled away again. The bigger warrior quickly got to his feet and charged, bringing his axe high and swinging it down savagely. Talking Bird’s shield rose to meet the axe but the other’s strength proved to be a bit too much and he staggered back. He extended his sword to keep the axeman from advancing but it was clear that the bigger warrior had taken the advantage.
The force of Kicking Bear’s downward swing caused the shield to splinter but Ryna was gratified to see that it didn’t break. She couldn’t feel the same for Talking Bird, however, who was relentlessly being pushed back by the ferocity of the other warrior’s attack. His shield was slowly disintegrating from the repeated strikes from the heavy axe. With one spectacularly savage side swing, the axe finally shattered the shield, sending splinters of wood everywhere. But it was also that instant that Ryna saw Talking Bird’s strategy.
So focused was Kicking Bear on breaking through the other’s defenses that he had overextended himself on that last blow causing him to move forward more than he should have. Talking Bird had already loosened his grip on the shield and ducked under it even as it was shattering. One instant he was in front of Kicking Bear and the next he was behind him.
Before the axeman even realized his mistake, he felt the pointed end of the sword poking at his back. Kicking Bear slowly turned so that he slowly faced Talking Bird. The younger warrior still had his sword up and it was now pointing at the other’s chest. The scowl on the axeman’s face was terrifying to behold but then it slowly melted into a smirk. First it was a chuckle and then pretty soon Kicking Bear was laughing so hard it was infectious. Everyone around was cheering and laughing. “Well done, lad! Well done!”
Talking Bird had long since lowered his sword and was laughing with everyone. Ryna was shaking her head and smiling. The whole exercise didn’t really prove that swordsmen were better than axemen but it did show that there was a chance for one to defeat the other. And that was what mattered.
White Buffalo was impressed with the match. He always that an axe-wielding warrior was the ultimate fighting force there was. And yet Kicking Bear was bested by one armed with a relatively thin blade. Obviously, having a shield also made a world of difference.
The Chief saw Red Sun in the distance and made his way to her. The crowd surrounding him, sensing his intentions, immediately parted, creating a direct and clear path to the Red Warrior.
The woman was conferring with Talking Bird. It was clear by the way the latter was gesticulating that they were discussing the last match. Red Sun, however, looked up just as the Chief reached her.
“That was an excellent showing, Red Sun,” White Buffalo said.
“Thank you, Chief White Buffalo,” she acknowledged and then nodded toward the warrior beside her. “Talking Bird did an excellent job in the match.”
“And so he has,” the Chief nodded to him as well. He turned his attention back at the woman. “It appears that our faith in you is not misplaced at all.”
“You are an excellent judge of character, Chief.”
“So when will we be ready to finally wipe out the barbarians in the north?”
“Soon, Chief.”
“Excellent! Now, Red Sun, you must come and feast with me tonight. We have much to discuss.”
“As you wish, Chief White Buffalo.”
The feast, it turned out, was a gathering of all the city counselors. Ryna sat beside Rain Blossom and let her eyes roam over the spread that was in front of them. It appeared to have the best Saratoga had to offer. There were huge chunks of beef freshly roasted in a pit, assorted vegetables steamed with boiling water made aromatic with a variety of herbs, fish and clams cooked also in different ways, and even more she couldn’t identify. It made her very hungry indeed.
She had little to contribute to the discussion at hand so she focused on feeding herself. Several days of training and preparing the band of warriors she was given had almost taken a toll on her and she really needed to refuel. She did, however, get the gist of what was discussed. Apparently, River Walker, Chief of Pennacook was expected to come over for a personal visit to discuss possible trade with the nation of Khmer in the north. That country was expected to convert to Buddhism very soon and that trade relations with that country would open up. River Walker also wanted to meet the legendary Red Warrior, of course. Ryna looked up when she heard her name. The counselors, with the exception of Rain Blossom, began slapping the table with their fingers and she couldn’t help but smile sheepishly from the gesture.
She turned to Rain Blossom and found her beaming at her. “We’re all proud that you are here with us, Red Sun,” the only woman in the council said. Ryna smiled back, unable to quell the feeling of pride in her. But then there was something else in Rain Blossom’s eyes when she said that. She couldn’t quite place it. After a while, Ryna shrugged it off. It was probably just her imagination anyway.
The band of archers and axemen assembled deep inside a cave that night were stunned to silence. Night Flower had just informed them of her plan to assassinate Chief White Buffalo to allow Jumps Over Panther to take over the leadership of the city in time for the arrival of River Walker, Chief of Pennacook.
Predictably, it was Kicking Bear who first spoke. “This is outrageous! To do this would be dishonorable! Why don’t we do it the way we’ve always done?”
Night Flower shook her head condescendingly at the big axeman. “You mean challenge White Buffalo openly and defeat him in combat?”
“Why not?” Kicking Bear replied defiantly. The other warriors began nodding in agreement. All except Jumps Over Panther who was standing to the side, behind her. But that was to be expected. Everybody knew he was completely loyal to Night Flower.
“Have you forgotten the fact that White Buffalo can choose someone else who can champion him?”
“So? I’ll fight whoever he chooses,” the axeman roared his answer.
“And if that champion was Red Sun?”
The silence that followed was deafening. Even the night sounds in the surrounding forest died down as if sensing the significance of what was just said. Night Flower swept her eyes through the band of warriors. She pierced each one with her glare. None of them could withstand the intensity of her eyes and were forced to look away.
“Just as I thought,” she finally said, her hands on her hips. “There is no other way. We all desire change. We all desire that our leader be more tolerant of us who want to embrace Buddhism more fully. We have spoken to White Buffalo about what we want. We have been patiently hoping that he will allow change to happen. But has he?”
There were a few head shakes here and there.
“Has he!?” Night Flower asked more forcefully.
Here and there she could hear the men utter the word “no” even as they continued shaking their heads. She asked again with even more force.
This time the warriors shouted “No!” loudly and in unison.
“I say White Buffalo’s time has run out. It is time we take matters into our own hands. What say you?”
The resulting battle cry from the warriors brought a small smile to Night Flower’s lips. It was now only a matter of time.
For the kind of the excursion they were planning, Ryna knew from the start that bringing in purely axemen would not help. Without shields, axemen were vulnerable against arrows and the barbarians had lots of archers judging from what she saw when she discovered their hidden city.
Thanks to the newly trained blacksmiths and supply of iron that Shawmut provided, they now had swords. With her close supervision the blacksmiths were able to get it right according to her specifications. They were not too wide, not too narrow, perfectly balanced and not too heavy. She also thought that shields would be a good addition and woodworkers were immediately brought in to make some.
Once again, she supervised the making. She wanted them strong enough to block arrows even at pointblank range but not overly heavy either. After many stops and starts, she decided that round shields were better than rectangular ones. With enough training, the warriors assigned to her would also be able to use them as secondary weapons.
Ryna presented both the shield and sword to White Buffalo who was immediately pleased with the results. He wasted no time in dispatching messengers to relay the new specifications to the brother nations. He made sure to mention that it was the Red Warrior herself who designed them. He knew that his fellow Chiefs would quickly implement them.
* * * * *
Ryna walked out of her teepee to find Two Hatchet and Running Antelope by the river bank in the distance. She had dragged the two scouts with her on a camping trip east of the city. She felt it was high time she understood basic survival skills. She figured these two knew how to do that. At the very least, they could tell her what plant was edible and what wasn’t just in case.
As she neared the two, she saw that the older of the two was bent over gathering what looked like grasses, while the younger one was sitting cross-legged on the ground watching the other. Running Antelope had a blade of the same grass being gathered by Two Hatchet stuck in his mouth. He was chewing absentmindedly on it and almost choked on it when she tapped him on the shoulder.
“What’s the matter with you?” gasped Running Antelope as he coughed out green residue from his mouth. “Don’t sneak up on people like that!”
Ryna laughed. “I wasn’t sneaking. Honest. You should learn how to be more sensitive to your surroundings.”
“She’s right, you know,” Two Hatchet said, walking up to them with a fistful of grass in his left hand.
“Oh, be quiet, Two Hatchet,” the younger one huffed as he stood and made his way to the river. He bent over and began washing his mouth.
“So what do you have there?” Ryna asked, nodding towards the grass in Two Hatchet’s hand.
“This is sweetgrass. We’ll add it to the fire tonight.”
“That’s not going to make my head hurt like it did the last time, will it?” Ryna referred to the time she had to stay in this low domed structure with a shaman for almost an hour. She had to endure the sickeningly sweet smoke while the shaman chanted and did things to make the smoke move. It was after that ceremony where it was confirmed that she was indeed the Red Warrior.
The scout laughed. “It’s going to be an open fire and you won’t be in the sweat lodge or anything. It’ll be good,” Two Hatchet assured her.
A few hours later, Ryna was leaning back against a log fully relaxed either from the scented smoke emanating from the sweetgrass-laced fire or from the pipe they passed to her every now and then. “You’re right, Two Hatchet,” she sighed. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve been this relaxed.”
She glanced at the two scouts through heavily lidded eyes and saw how pleased they were with themselves. “So what do you think about the men I’m training for barbarian raid?”
Two Hatchet inhaled deeply from the pipe and then passed it to Running Antelope. He exhaled the smoke slowly, his eyes closed. “Those men are our very best warriors, very dedicated and extremely loyal to the Chief,” the older scout said finally.
Ryna nodded, digesting this. She accepted the pipe given by Running Antelope but only pretended to inhale before passing it back to Two Hatchet. “Are there warriors not loyal to the Chief?”
“You could say that,” Two Hatchet answered before inhaling from pipe again.
“Are any of them among my men?”
Running Antelope, whose head was thrown back against the log he was leaning against, gave a bark of laughter. “Your men are the most loyal warriors there are. They have fought battles and trained under the Chief himself.”
Ryna sat up looking at the two scouts. “Does the Chief have any enemies?”
“Of course, he does,” the younger scout said, the position of his head not changing. “Among the Chiefs, he’s the one who believes in Buddhism the least.”
“He’s right,” Two Hatchet agreed with a careless wave of a hand. “There are many in Saratoga who want him replaced. And I think that was about to happen until you appeared,” the older scout eyed her with that last statement.
Ryna’s eyebrows were deeply furrowed now as she considered what she had just learned. “That may yet still happen. I think someone has just manipulated White Buffalo into sending me and his most loyal warriors away on a mission that has little hope of success.” She looked at both scouts and was disappointed to see a lack of reaction from them. “Don’t you both care about what might happen?”
Two Hatchet and Running Antelope looked at each other and then shrugged. “We’re just scouts,” the older one said. “We don’t interfere with what goes on at the top.”
“We don’t understand any of it anyway either,” the younger one added.
Ryna had trouble sleeping that night. She was at a loss to determine whether she should interfere. She didn’t know enough of history to know what was supposed to happen to White Buffalo. Should she just let it happen?
When morning came, she was no closer to knowing what she should do. Everything in her being, however, was screaming that for her to simply do nothing would be unacceptable.
* * * * *
Red Sun’s first stop when she got back into the city was the makeshift workshop. Once she got there she picked up a newly forged sword from a wooden rack full of them and began to examine it. The nearby blacksmiths stopped their work and turned to watch her swing and twirl the weapon expertly. The blacksmiths saw a giant of a man approach from behind her and were stunned when the Red Warrior suddenly whirled around, bringing the sword hard and fast with her in a horizontal slash. It clanged resoundingly against the upraised heavy axe of the man. She smiled at the brave holding the bulkier weapon. “Nice block, Kicking Bear” she said.
Kicking Bear smiled back and then looked down on the blade still connected to his axe. “That is a poor excuse for a weapon,” he said. He looked over his shoulder at the other axemen with him and saw them nodding their assent.
“But in the hands of a master this could be very deadly.”
“I could say the same thing about the heavy axe.”
“You want to put that to the test?” Red Sun asked sweetly, lowering her weapon. Her eyes narrowed briefly attempting to bait the warrior.
“What? Against you?” Kicking Bear laughed, lowering his axe as well. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t even dream of backing down on a challenge. But he knew better than to challenge the Red Warrior herself. “Now that wouldn’t be very fair, would it?”
“I wasn’t talking about me. Meet me at the training field one week from today, just before the sun hits the trees,” she said turning around to walk away. She looked back at him over her shoulder. “…and then we’ll see.”
The brave shook his axe in the air once. “Agreed!”
* * * * *
“You want me to what?” Jumps Over Panther stood up from the bed and glared down at the woman still lying, her body concealed under a blanket.
“I want you to follow her,” Night Flower repeated as she sat up, deliberately letting the sheet fall to her lap.
“Follow her where?”
“If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking you to follow her. I know that she leaves her hut every night to go out and into the forest. I want to know where she goes.”
The brave ran his fingers through his long, unbound hair as he began pacing the floor. “Why don’t you ask someone else to do it?”
“Because I don’t trust anyone else,” the woman said as she laid down again, putting one arm behind her head. She stared straight up at the ceiling.
“Well, what if she catches me?”
“You had better make sure she doesn’t,” she replied evenly, shifting her gaze to him.
* * * * *
Ryna stepped out of the hut and looked up at the crescent moon. She judged it to be just after one in the morning. She cast her eyes around the nearby huts and listened for any sounds that were out of the ordinary. After about two minutes, when she was convinced everybody was asleep, she stealthily began moving down the packed dirt that made up the streets of Saratoga.
She never went into the forest the same way. She took to heart what her drill instructor at the academy always told them: never establish a pattern that your enemies can take advantage of. As she snuck through the narrow gaps between the huts she had this prickly feeling at the back of her neck. It was as if someone was watching her.
Ryna lowered herself on one knee and listened. She made no other movement. If someone was indeed following her, she would want that someone to continue to do so.
After exactly a minute, she proceeded into the forest.
* * * * *
Jumps Over Panther was perched on top of one of the taller huts near Red Sun’s. He saw her move quickly and stealthily across the deserted streets of the city, weaving in and out of the narrow gaps between the huts. He had to admire her. She moved like a jungle cat on the prowl. When she suddenly stopped moving, he quickly lowered himself so that his entire front was flat against the roof’s center beam. He pressed his face against the thatched roof, hoping that Red Sun had not detected his presence.
After a few seconds, he cautiously lifted his head and was just in time to see Red Sun move from her crouch. She went around a corner and disappeared. Jumps Over Panther again waited a few seconds before quietly making his way down the hut. He didn’t want to follow too closely but at the same time he didn’t want to risk losing the woman. Once on the ground, he crept up to a hut and flattened his back against it, listening hard for any movement. When he was satisfied that the coast was clear he began to move in the direction he saw Red Sun disappeared to.
When he got to where he last saw her, he was gratified to see her footprints, clear despite the dim light of the moon, leading into the forest. He found his earlier apprehension about following the Red Warrior disappearing as he began to realize the woman was not going to be difficult to track at all. With a smile on his face he followed the trail and entered the forest.
* * * * *
This guy is a bigger fool than I originally thought, thought Ryna with contempt as she watched Jumps Over Panther from where she was perched on one of topmost branches of the tallest tree she could find. The brave was going around in circles and scratching his head, obviously baffled how her tracks could all of a sudden disappear.
Ryna was itching to go to where she hid her transdimensional device. But there was no way she was going to lead him, or anyone else for that matter, to it. More importantly, at least for now, she needed to know who ordered him to follow her. Jumps Over Panther did not strike her as someone particularly deep intellectually. Someone had to be calling the shots and she wanted to know who it was.
With any luck, this guy would soon get the hint that he lost her and go back and report his failure. After several more minutes of examining the tracks she left behind and markings on the barks of some of the trees, he finally straightened and clenched his fists. With a growl of frustration that even she could hear from her perch, he stomped back towards the city in obvious irritation.
Ryna followed him by moving from branch to branch through the trees. The going wasn’t as stealthy as she would have liked given that the branches made a lot of creaking noises when she lifted off one and landed on another. Fortunately, she was sure the brave didn’t hear her as she made sure he was way off in the distance. Because she was high up, it allowed her to keep him in her sights even as he moved further away—something she wouldn’t have been able to do on the ground.
When they finally reached the city she was disappointed to see that he was making a beeline to his own hut, which he shared with a few other braves. She launched herself into the air from the huge branch she was perched on and landed on the roof of the nearest hut. Ryna landed and rolled neatly ending up in a semi-kneeling position, all without making a sound. From her new perch, she could see Jumps Over Panther enter his hut. She waited five minutes by her estimation just to make sure the coast was clear.
Leaping from roof to roof, she finally landed atop his hut and using the corner wooden beam she clambered down, keeping her head close to the thatched wall. She listened intently, tuning out the night sounds and focused on the ones from inside the hut. She could hear the snores of the other braves but she could also hear the light footfalls of someone who was pacing. Ryna was sure it was Jumps Over Panther.
After a while, however, those footfalls moved towards the sounds of snoring. The brave was preparing to sleep. She stayed for a few more minutes until all she heard were more snoring and then she left as stealthily as she came.
* * * * *
Jumps Over Panther had just strapped on a quiver filled with arrows behind his back and was about to exit the hut when there standing at the entrance was Night Flower. Her arms were crossed in front of her and her eyes narrowly regarding him.
“I was waiting for you to report what you found last night,” she said without preamble.
“I found nothing,” the brave said, brushing past her in his haste leave her presence. But he felt her hand firmly grasping his arm and pulled him back. He turned around to face her. He truly wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation, which was the primary reason he woke up especially early hoping to avoid her. It didn’t seem to do him that much good and he was already fuming inside. He was about to lash out at her but her fingers on his jaw stayed him.
“I was worried about you, Jumps Over Panther,” the woman said soothingly as she took a step closer to him.
He could smell the fragrance of her hair wafting over him, calming his nerves. So she was worried about him. He suddenly felt foolish being so riled up. But doubt crept in and he had to ask. “You were really worried about me?”
A pretty scowl fell over Night Flower’s face. “Of course I was worried about you. I couldn’t sleep last night wondering whether you came back from the dark forest safely. I was afraid some night creature might have attacked you or maybe even the woman I had asked you to follow,” she withdrew her fingers from his face and turned around and took a step away from him, casting her head down. “I should never have sent you after her. It was too dangerous.”
Jumps Over Panther frowned. “It wasn’t dangerous at all. I’m used to venturing out at night.” He took a step towards her and put his hands gently on her shoulders.
“But that woman…she might have discovered you following her and turned on you—”
“She would not have been able to do that at all. I’m an excellent hunter. I know the wilderness more than anyone in the city!”
Night Flower turned around and looked up at him tenderly. “I suppose it was foolish of me to have been so worried. After all, you are the best brave in the city. So does that mean you were able to find out why Red Sun goes out at night?”
“Oh…well…no.”
“Oh.”
“She suddenly disappeared. I was keeping my distance and it appears I may have been overly cautious.”
“Perhaps I should just send someone else to follow her,” she said, moving slightly a way, a finger tapping her lower lip.
“No, don’t. I can follow her. Tonight. This time I won’t lose her,” he said, moving so that he was in front of her again.
“No, not tonight. There is no moon.”
“Right. In that case, I’ll wait a few more days before tracking her down.”
“Very well,” Night Flower reached out and touched his chest. “But be careful.”
* * * * *
Night Flower watched Jumps Over Panther sprint towards the forest to hunt or whatever it was he did in there. He was a fool but he was useful to her. The fact that he wasn’t able to find out what Red Sun was up to last night greatly disturbed her. Could the woman have detected that she was being followed? It was a definite possibility.
Perhaps allowing Jumps Over Panther another attempt wasn’t wise. However, Red Sun’s frequent excursions into the forest greatly intrigued her. There had to be a way to find out. She still had a few days to think about it before there would be adequate moonlight for another attempt to be feasible. She was confident she’d figure things out by then.
* * * * *
Kicking Bear stood holding his heavy axe with the top pointing downwards as he appraised the warrior standing several paces away from him on an open field. Surrounding them was a sizeable crowd composed for warriors and non-warriors alike. There was good natured cheering going around with some of them placing bets.
His opponent was a mere boy who he knew by the name Talking Bird. He was not given to underestimate anyone and he certainly wasn’t going to make that mistake now knowing that this one was personally chosen by the Red Warrior herself. He had to be very careful. He was sure that this lad had a few hidden moves that may catch him unawares.
“Oi, Talking Bird!” he bellowed at the boy. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”
The younger warrior responded with a smile that could only be described as feral. He turned to look at Red Sun who was standing off to the side. Kicking Bear saw her nod back at the lad who then twirled his sword and raised his shield in guard position.
“Aye, Kicking Bird. The question is, do you know what you’re getting into?”
The axeman merely smirked. The lad had confidence, he could give him that. He hefted his axe and shifted into battle position. The dance began.
* * * * *
Ryna tuned out the wildly cheering crowd as she focused on the two combatants circling each other. The bigger warrior, Kicking Bear, was an experienced fighter while the one she trained during the last week was a new recruit. Talking Bird was a quick study though and he had speed—something she made sure to hone. She couldn’t stop worrying, however. She may have turned into this seasoned super warrior but her exposure to swordsmanship was limited to what she had watched from movies and television.
As expected, Kicking Bear made the first move, first feinting to the left and then quickly charged on the right. For someone as large as he was, Ryna had to admit he really did move fast. Fortunately, Talking Bird was also fast and had his shield up, allowing the axe to hit it at an angle and then spinning around, bringing his sword to bear in a horizontal slash. Kicking Bear must have known that there was no way he would be able to dodge the strike and instinctively allowed his momentum to carry him forward, diving to the ground and then neatly rolling away.
Talking Bird didn’t waste any time in pressing his advantage. With his shield up he raised his sword and struck downwards only to hit dirt as Kicking Bird rolled away again. The bigger warrior quickly got to his feet and charged, bringing his axe high and swinging it down savagely. Talking Bird’s shield rose to meet the axe but the other’s strength proved to be a bit too much and he staggered back. He extended his sword to keep the axeman from advancing but it was clear that the bigger warrior had taken the advantage.
The force of Kicking Bear’s downward swing caused the shield to splinter but Ryna was gratified to see that it didn’t break. She couldn’t feel the same for Talking Bird, however, who was relentlessly being pushed back by the ferocity of the other warrior’s attack. His shield was slowly disintegrating from the repeated strikes from the heavy axe. With one spectacularly savage side swing, the axe finally shattered the shield, sending splinters of wood everywhere. But it was also that instant that Ryna saw Talking Bird’s strategy.
So focused was Kicking Bear on breaking through the other’s defenses that he had overextended himself on that last blow causing him to move forward more than he should have. Talking Bird had already loosened his grip on the shield and ducked under it even as it was shattering. One instant he was in front of Kicking Bear and the next he was behind him.
Before the axeman even realized his mistake, he felt the pointed end of the sword poking at his back. Kicking Bear slowly turned so that he slowly faced Talking Bird. The younger warrior still had his sword up and it was now pointing at the other’s chest. The scowl on the axeman’s face was terrifying to behold but then it slowly melted into a smirk. First it was a chuckle and then pretty soon Kicking Bear was laughing so hard it was infectious. Everyone around was cheering and laughing. “Well done, lad! Well done!”
Talking Bird had long since lowered his sword and was laughing with everyone. Ryna was shaking her head and smiling. The whole exercise didn’t really prove that swordsmen were better than axemen but it did show that there was a chance for one to defeat the other. And that was what mattered.
* * * * *
White Buffalo was impressed with the match. He always that an axe-wielding warrior was the ultimate fighting force there was. And yet Kicking Bear was bested by one armed with a relatively thin blade. Obviously, having a shield also made a world of difference.
The Chief saw Red Sun in the distance and made his way to her. The crowd surrounding him, sensing his intentions, immediately parted, creating a direct and clear path to the Red Warrior.
The woman was conferring with Talking Bird. It was clear by the way the latter was gesticulating that they were discussing the last match. Red Sun, however, looked up just as the Chief reached her.
“That was an excellent showing, Red Sun,” White Buffalo said.
“Thank you, Chief White Buffalo,” she acknowledged and then nodded toward the warrior beside her. “Talking Bird did an excellent job in the match.”
“And so he has,” the Chief nodded to him as well. He turned his attention back at the woman. “It appears that our faith in you is not misplaced at all.”
“You are an excellent judge of character, Chief.”
“So when will we be ready to finally wipe out the barbarians in the north?”
“Soon, Chief.”
“Excellent! Now, Red Sun, you must come and feast with me tonight. We have much to discuss.”
“As you wish, Chief White Buffalo.”
* * * * *
The feast, it turned out, was a gathering of all the city counselors. Ryna sat beside Rain Blossom and let her eyes roam over the spread that was in front of them. It appeared to have the best Saratoga had to offer. There were huge chunks of beef freshly roasted in a pit, assorted vegetables steamed with boiling water made aromatic with a variety of herbs, fish and clams cooked also in different ways, and even more she couldn’t identify. It made her very hungry indeed.
She had little to contribute to the discussion at hand so she focused on feeding herself. Several days of training and preparing the band of warriors she was given had almost taken a toll on her and she really needed to refuel. She did, however, get the gist of what was discussed. Apparently, River Walker, Chief of Pennacook was expected to come over for a personal visit to discuss possible trade with the nation of Khmer in the north. That country was expected to convert to Buddhism very soon and that trade relations with that country would open up. River Walker also wanted to meet the legendary Red Warrior, of course. Ryna looked up when she heard her name. The counselors, with the exception of Rain Blossom, began slapping the table with their fingers and she couldn’t help but smile sheepishly from the gesture.
She turned to Rain Blossom and found her beaming at her. “We’re all proud that you are here with us, Red Sun,” the only woman in the council said. Ryna smiled back, unable to quell the feeling of pride in her. But then there was something else in Rain Blossom’s eyes when she said that. She couldn’t quite place it. After a while, Ryna shrugged it off. It was probably just her imagination anyway.
* * * * *
The band of archers and axemen assembled deep inside a cave that night were stunned to silence. Night Flower had just informed them of her plan to assassinate Chief White Buffalo to allow Jumps Over Panther to take over the leadership of the city in time for the arrival of River Walker, Chief of Pennacook.
Predictably, it was Kicking Bear who first spoke. “This is outrageous! To do this would be dishonorable! Why don’t we do it the way we’ve always done?”
Night Flower shook her head condescendingly at the big axeman. “You mean challenge White Buffalo openly and defeat him in combat?”
“Why not?” Kicking Bear replied defiantly. The other warriors began nodding in agreement. All except Jumps Over Panther who was standing to the side, behind her. But that was to be expected. Everybody knew he was completely loyal to Night Flower.
“Have you forgotten the fact that White Buffalo can choose someone else who can champion him?”
“So? I’ll fight whoever he chooses,” the axeman roared his answer.
“And if that champion was Red Sun?”
The silence that followed was deafening. Even the night sounds in the surrounding forest died down as if sensing the significance of what was just said. Night Flower swept her eyes through the band of warriors. She pierced each one with her glare. None of them could withstand the intensity of her eyes and were forced to look away.
“Just as I thought,” she finally said, her hands on her hips. “There is no other way. We all desire change. We all desire that our leader be more tolerant of us who want to embrace Buddhism more fully. We have spoken to White Buffalo about what we want. We have been patiently hoping that he will allow change to happen. But has he?”
There were a few head shakes here and there.
“Has he!?” Night Flower asked more forcefully.
Here and there she could hear the men utter the word “no” even as they continued shaking their heads. She asked again with even more force.
This time the warriors shouted “No!” loudly and in unison.
“I say White Buffalo’s time has run out. It is time we take matters into our own hands. What say you?”
The resulting battle cry from the warriors brought a small smile to Night Flower’s lips. It was now only a matter of time.
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Glad you liked it! 
It was my objective to complete this story arc with this chapter but it was tough to condense it. As it was I had to cut some things out to include in the next chapter. Didn't realize each post had a cap of 3000 characters.
Anyway, more to come! Stay tuned...
It was my objective to complete this story arc with this chapter but it was tough to condense it. As it was I had to cut some things out to include in the next chapter. Didn't realize each post had a cap of 3000 characters
.Anyway, more to come! Stay tuned...
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Chapter 7 – Silent Kill
The one thing Ryna truly missed about her own time were the lights. Even in the middle of the night, downtown New York was never truly dark. There were always street lamps and garish neon signs marking 24-hour establishments everywhere that illuminated the way for the more nocturnal among city’s residents. It was an entirely different story in 990 BC.
Here she was in the middle of the forest and not a single light for thousands of kilometers around. Not even a glimmer from the moon, which was still hiding from the sun from behind the earth. It was a good thing she never left home without her handy pocket flashlight powered by a single lithium thionyl chloride battery. Someone in the academy told her that this kind of battery lasted for twenty years. Let’s hope he was right, she thought with a wry smile. Who knew when she’d be able to get back to her own time?
She kept the light from the portable torch to its dimmest setting and only occasionally turned it on just so she could get her bearing. The last thing she wanted was to attract attention from both human and beast. After traveling for an hour she finally reached her destination.
She stopped right by a huge tree. Except for the large trunk, it was wholly unremarkable. The nearest branch was about seven meters up. Ryna had climbed this tree several times so it proved to be no trouble to scale the trunk and then make the final leap to reach the branch. From there it was even less of a difficulty to reach her target, which was a camouflaged hole more than twenty meters from the ground.
Ryna swung herself up on the last branch and she was finally at eyelevel with her objective. She carefully removed the leaves and pieces of bark that hid the hole and put them beside her to be reused later. She then reached in and pulled out her backpack. It was completely filthy but still intact. It no longer surprised her that every single item that was part of her field equipment was designed to be completely durable.
She zipped the backpack open and retrieved her transdimensional device. Her eyes widened immediately and her heart began pounding so hard she felt as if the whole forest might come alive with the noise. There was another wormhole opening. Ryna’s eyes narrowed in confusion as she stared at the countdown. If she was reading the device correctly then it meant that the wormhole wouldn’t open until after three days. The coordinates displayed were also way off. How was it possible that the device could now detect a wormhole opening in days rather than minutes and its location more than two kilometers it was supposed to be limited to? And yet that was precisely what the device was telling her. Four days hence a wormhole was going to open ten kilometers north of where she was now.
Ryna lowered the device and gazed out into the darkness. Four days. It wasn’t much time but at least she could make plans.
Funsch clenched his jaw as his eyes went over the six names displayed on his monitor. These were the operatives that for some reason or another suddenly disappeared without a trace. As if they never existed. No one in the agency remembered them. Even the ones that had worked with one or another as partner. Even the ultra-secure personnel database had any record of these people ever being in the employ of the MultiVerse Authority.
The only evidence that they ever existed were on Funsch’s personal database, which he copied two days ago on a hunch. It was a hunch that paid off but in a really bad way. All six had one thing in common: they were all from the Charis universe. The same universe whose timelines Ryna Gardner was tampering with. What other impact could her gallivanting in time might have on the other universes? Damn her!. The implications were just too huge to comprehend.
The Head of Research and Intelligence had been standing behind the Chief of Operations for quite some time but Funsch only remembered he was there when he heard him cough. He swiveled his chair to face him. “So, Park, what do you make of it? We’ve got six personnel who just suddenly vanished without a trace.”
Park was nodding slowly, obviously still trying to make sense of the whole thing. “Sir, I witnessed you copying a set of names from the central system onto your computer two days ago. As per your instructions, I have created a program to run on your workstation to scan for these same names every day and to automatically issue an alert when the scan failed.”
“So we have a log of the successful scans of the past two days and now this failure.”
“I still don’t understand how these names were deleted from the central system without an audit trail showing who did it and when it happened.”
“Don’t you get it, Park? Those names were not deleted by anyone.”
“But that’s impossible! Someone--”
“Think, Park. Think! Ryna Gardner. Where is she now?”
Park’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “But that still doesn’t make sense,” the man began pacing Funsch’s office. “If in this new timeline we’re in these six people have never been hired by the agency, how is it possible that you were able to make copies of their profiles out of our system?”
Funsch shook his head slowly as he stared once more at his monitor. “I don’t know. I’m no scientist. Could it be possible the changing timeline of one universe has only a limited effect on other the universes?” This time he pierced his Head of Research and Intelligence with his eyes.
Park stopped his pacing and stared back. “I don’t know, Sir. But I don’t think we should be sitting here waiting to find out the hard way.”
The MVA Chief nodded his head. “Agreed.” He stood up. “It’s time we did something about it.”
The expectant eyes of fifteen swordsmen, axemen and archers were upon her as she stood before them. Their expressions held their steely resolution. They knew that the day was upon them. The day they were going to go to battle. Except she wouldn’t let them and Ryna was still struggling with how to break the news to them.
She didn’t know whether anyone in this current time understood the concept of treason but it was exactly what she was going to have each of them do. She had gotten to know each of them well. Knew that they were fiercely loyal to Chief White Buffalo. His word was their command, even if it meant sacrificing their own lives to fulfill it. She still couldn’t fathom how one such as White Buffalo could inspire such fealty. But that didn’t matter. Not now at least.
Ryna squared her shoulders, preparing to speak. She had never had to lead anybody before. She had just finished college when she was recruited by the agency. Right after the nightmare she had to endure, first running from, and then later battling against her self but from a different universe. The burden weighed heavily on her shoulders. “Men,” she began, the palms of her hands suddenly feeling wet with sweat. “The day you’ve been training for has finally come.” The men cheered, raising their weapons in the air.
“Chief White Buffalo has ordered us to go forth and wipe out the barbarians who have been desecrating our lands, killing our workers, and destroying our outlying villages.” More cheers. “But we are not going.” Silence.
The confusion on their faces was plain to see as they first stared at her and then at each other wondering whether they heard her right. “You heard me right,” Ryna continued, not wasting any time. “I believe that the Chief’s life is in danger. I believe that the moment we march out of the city, he will be killed.”
A swordsman, one of the first of his kind in Saratoga, stepped forward. “Who would dare kill the Chief?”
“I don’t know--”
First one and then many began speaking at once, asking questions to which she had no definite answers. She only had her gut feeling and she doubted whether she could explain it to these warriors in language they could understand. “Enough!” she said, her voice loud enough so that it silenced the group once again. “You must trust me.”
“What would have us do?”
“I have a plan.”
The smile on Night Flower’s lips grew but not by much as she watched from afar Red Sun and her warriors march off into the forest, heading north towards the hidden barbarian village. The sun was just peeking through the mountains, pushing the darkness away, eager to begin a new day.
Jumps Over Panther stood by her side, watching the procession disappear. “What now?”
“For now we wait. Tonight, we make our move.”
Ryna was leaning against the trunk of a large tree and was only partially aware of her surroundings. It was approximately three o’clock in the afternoon. The fifteen warriors around her were engaged in various activities to pass the time. Some were sharpening their weapons, others were chatting, the rest were relaxing and reserving their strength for the battle they knew would come soon enough.
She heard the stealthy rustle of the approaching scouts. She opened her eyes to slits and found that she was the only one so far to hear the approach of both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope. It appears that the scouts have improved their abilities.
After a few more seconds she noticed a few of the warriors tense, their eyes zeroing in at the source of the sounds. Ryna decided to end the charade and stood cautiously. The other warriors stopped what they were doing and got on their feet as well.
Within a few seconds, the two scouts entered the clearing from slightly different direction. They made a beeline to Ryna.
“Red Sun,” Two Hatchet began, “we’ve scouted the area and there are no signs that you have been followed.” Beside him, Running Antelope nodded his concurrence.
“Good,” Ryna replied evenly. “We will begin to move back to the city once the sun is just above the trees.”
White Buffalo stood rigid, his left hand clenched in a fist, his right hand tightly holding his only weapon—his ceremonial dagger. In front of him were three braves: Kicking Bear, Wolf Slayer, and Sky Tree. All armed with heavy axes.
He could feel the blood rising to his head, both anger and fear warring against each other, as he tried to comprehend the gravity of the situation. He did not fear for his life but that of his wife, Prancing Pony, who was quivering behind him. Both of them were cornered at the far end of their room. They were trapped.
The sounds of scuffling outside the hut died down. From what he could discern, the attack was stealthy, catching the last of his guards unawares. He was not optimistic about his plight at all. True enough, after a few moments, more braves entered. He was now surrounded by seven warriors.
It then dawned on him that this was all planned. He just then also realized that any of the warriors he would have counted as his most loyal were as of the moment on their way to the northern barbarian city. It was all part of the plan. The question then was who did the scheming?
White Buffalo’s eyes rested on Kicking Bear’s. “Who is giving you your orders, Kicking Bear?” From what he knew of the men in front of him, none of them had what it took to work all of this out. He had an idea who it was but he had to be sure.
“You don’t need to answer that,” Wolf Slayer said. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Whoever planned this wasn’t entirely stupid, Ryna decided as she crouched behind some bushes, scanning the area and listening to any man-made sounds. She was hoping she’d ambush the entire group in one fell swoop. As it was, the traitors were spread out. Some were already inside White Buffalo’s hut, while others were spread out across a wide area. Not bad.
The challenge, therefore, was to correctly identify who the enemies were and dispatch them completely. Leaving one or more of them to survive to make another attempt would bring all their efforts to naught. She instructed her troop to spread out using hand signals she taught them earlier today. They complied, moving out as stealthily as possible.
Ryna had decided to bring her backpack with her. It was the subject of everyone’s scrutiny when they set out to return to the city. It wasn’t until they reached the edges of Saratoga that they stopped bugging her about it. She shrugged off her backpack and swung it in front of her. She unzipped it and took out her night vision goggles. She donned it and immediately everything around her was thrown into relief. She tapped a button on the side of the goggles and the image reset itself. At first nothing seemed to change until she turned her head towards where she knew one of her warriors was hiding. As expected, the warrior appeared as a bright orange figure. The thermal scan was working.
She cast her eyes about and saw other bright orange figures, mostly lying down sleeping in the nearby huts. Scanning further she stopped when she saw other figures, this time standing. Two figures to be exact, hidden behind trees less than a hundred meters away behind some trees. I got you.
By the time she completed her scan, she identified a total of thirty men, all spread out in a semi circle surrounding the Chief’s hut. Some hiding in trees, others under huts and still others on top of them. This was going to be tricky. She didn’t have much time. Ryna backed away carefully from her position and rushed to where her scouts were, not realizing that her movements had disturbed some of the shrubs surrounding her.
“Tell me why again we shouldn’t be in there with the rest of them?” Jumps Over Panther asked the woman beside him without taking his eyes away from the Chief’s hut. Both of them were hidden among trees, waiting for a sign to let them know that the Chief was dead.
“Because there shouldn’t be any link at all between the death of White Buffalo and--” Night Flower stopped abruptly as she saw--or thought she saw--movement in the distant trees, somewhere to the left of the hut.
“What is it?” Jumps Over Panther turned to look in the same direction.
“I thought I saw movement.”
The brave squinted his eyes and kept them focused on the area but still no movement. “I see nothing.”
“We must leave nothing to chance. Why don’t you go investigate it?”
Jumps Over Panther turned to look at Night Flower and considered arguing that his place is by her side but seeing the glare in her eyes he decided he didn’t relish the idea at all. With an almost imperceptible shake of his head he took off in a tangent towards what he still considered as something she imagined.
Ryna moved quickly, weaving around trees, darting through shrubbery while keeping herself stealthy. She had carefully instructed both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope to go to her scattered warriors and then point out where the enemies were. If all went accordingly to plan, the traitors would have been completely eliminated even as she battled the assassins who were already inside the Chief’s hut.
At last she arrived at the northern wall of the hut. She could make out the voices inside streaming out of the open window. White Buffalo was already sounding desperate. For the umpteenth time she questioned what she was about to do. Was it right for her to alter history? Perhaps White Buffalo was supposed to die. She cursed not having complete knowledge of history. She only had her conscience as a guide. And right now, it told her that she couldn’t just stand by while the rightful leader of the city was assassinated. Especially if she had the power to stop it.
Ryna crouched under the window. Reaching back, she drew her swords and readied herself. This is it. She leaped up and dove through the window.
Running Antelope hurried to the position of the next warrior, trying to remain as stealthy as can be and using only the light of the moon as a guide. As he cornered the nearest tree he suddenly felt something grab him forcefully around the neck. Before he knew it he was thrown bodily against another tree, all breath knocked out of him.
“Where’s a weakling like you going at this hour?”
The scout struggled against the hand that held his neck like the vices that the blacksmiths in the city used for forging the swords. His mouth was open, trying desperately the suck in air in vain. The hand pulled back and then slammed him back onto the tree. Running Antelope couldn’t see a thing. The pain in his lung and his back was excrutiating. With the last of his strength he kicked out, hitting his attacker squarely on the chest.
The hand on his neck slackened and he dropped to the ground. Running Antelope staggered up, sucked in air for dear life. He tried to scream but nothing would come out. He needed to run away but his legs, normally faithful and true to his bidding, were slow to follow his command. A vicious kick to the back sent him sprawling again to the ground. He felt himself being pulled up by his hair and again tried to scream but just as before nothing would come out.
“That was very sneaky of you, Running Antelope. If you’re here, Two Hatchet should be here too. Where is he?”
“You’ve always been a bully, Jumps Over Panther.”
Running Antelope opened his eyes and would have shouted for joy had he his voice. His vision was blurry but he recognized the warrior who spoke. It was one of them. An axeman by the name of Runs With Horses. He never felt this happy to see anyone in his entire life. He fell like a ragged heap as the archer let go of his hair. He immediately crawled away towards a tree and used it as cover and watched.
Ryna adjusted her trajectory in midair and pierced the heart of one of the axemen before she even landed on the floor in a roll in front of Chief Buffalo and his wife, Prancing Pony.
“Red Sun!” It was Kicking Bear.
“That’s right. Lay down your weapons now!”
“Kicking Bear, what should we do?” the other axeman asked, his stance was almost funny to Ryna as it was clear this warrior was conflicted.
“Shut up, Iron Ring and let me think!” bellowed Kicking Bear.
“There is nothing to think about,” this time White Buffalo asserted himself. Ryna turned to look at him and was surprised to see that he was now armed with the axe of the warrior she had dispatched. The Chief caught her look and smiled. “I’ll take Kicking Bear, you take the other.”
She grinned. “With pleasure, Chief!”
The other warrior wasted no time in fleeing the room. Only Kicking Bear was left. “So what will it be, traitor?” White Buffalo challenged the other.
The axeman responded by gripping his weapon tightly. With a battle cry he charged.
Fear and pride warred within Jumps Over Panther. He knew he would not have a chance of defeating Runs With Horses in close combat. His bow was completely useless, slung over his shoulder. Running away was his only option but then his pride as a warrior was stubbornly asserting itself.
“I can see the fear in your eyes, Jumps Over Panther. I always thought you were a coward,” Runs With Horses sneered as he twirled his heavy axe in front of him.
“You filthy wretch! I’ll show you who’s a coward!” Jumps Over Panther lunged wildly but it was exactly what the other was expecting.
The battle was over in just a few heartbeats with the archer sprawled on the ground, knocked unconscious. Runs With Horses went over the body and nudged him with his foot. When he got no response he turned and walked over to Running Antelope. Offering his hand, he said: “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Running Antelope said, quite surprised that his voice returned to him. He took the proffered hand and stood up wobbily.
“Good. We need to find the oth--”
Running Antelope was looking at Running Horse’s face closely and saw his expression changed instantaneously to shock and the pain. The scout raised his eyes to look over the axeman’s shoulder and felt his heart constrict. Jumps Over Panther was behind Running With Horses and it was apparent that he had stabbed the other in the back.
“Thought you got the better of me, eh, Runs With Horses?” the expression on the archer’s face was frighteningly manic. “So who’s the coward now?”
Running Antelope was rooted on the spot. In front of him, Runs With Horses took a step forward. The scout locked eyes with him. The eyes of the axeman looked down and then up at him again. He was signaling to him to take his weapon!
The scout had never handled a heavy axe before but it was his only hope to survive. He nodded as imperceptibly as he could and Runs With Horses tossed the axe towards him just as he toppled over. Jumps Over Panther had a triumphant grin on his face as he watched the bigger warrior fall. He didn’t notice Running Antelope step forward. It was only when he noticed a shadow pass over his eyes did he realize that there was a deadly axe blade raised over his head.
Running Antelope was almost amused to see the change in expression in the archer’s face. From triumphant to confusion to realization and then finally, fear. Before the archer could move, the scout swung the axe down with all his might.
All her efforts to convince White Buffalo to let her leave in peace were useless. He was hell bent on making an occasion of it. So here they all were, at the coordinates of the next wormhole, which was going to open in just a few more minutes.
“You saved our city, Red Sun,” White Buffalo said gravely. “And you saved me.” His wife, Prancing Pony, was at his side, softly weeping.
Her warriors were also present and also the two scouts who she had grown very fond of: Two Hatchet and Running Antelope. Unfortunately, the battle that happened two nights ago had casualties on both sides. Three of her warriors died, including Running With Horses.
Although the deaths of her warriors saddened her, it was nothing compared to how she felt when she discovered that her only female friend, Rain Blossom was actually Night Flower. And it was Night Flower who masterminded the whole assassination attempt. She wasn’t the only one totally thrown off by Kicking Bird’s coerced confession, however. All of Saratoga went into uproar. It wasn’t until White Buffalo promised some reforms in the city that the populace calmed down somewhat.
“Will we ever see you again?” asked Two Hatchet.
There was a lump in Ryna’s throat. “I’m…I don’t think so, Two Hatchet.”
“But where will you go?” this question from Running Antelope.
Ryna wanted to say the future but the word for future didn’t yet exist in their tongue. Instead she said, “I’m going home.”
“You will never be forgotten, Red Sun,” White Buffalo said. “We will sing tales of you in the seasons to come.”
She was about to tell them not to bother. It actually worried her that she has made such an impact during her short stay here. She’d rather they forget about her. Ryna opened her mouth to speak but her MultiVerse device chimed. She didn’t need to see the display to know that the wormhole was already opening.
She saw through the curtain of light that suddenly enveloped her the stunned expressions of the people around her. She was going to miss these people.
And then she was gone.
The one thing Ryna truly missed about her own time were the lights. Even in the middle of the night, downtown New York was never truly dark. There were always street lamps and garish neon signs marking 24-hour establishments everywhere that illuminated the way for the more nocturnal among city’s residents. It was an entirely different story in 990 BC.
Here she was in the middle of the forest and not a single light for thousands of kilometers around. Not even a glimmer from the moon, which was still hiding from the sun from behind the earth. It was a good thing she never left home without her handy pocket flashlight powered by a single lithium thionyl chloride battery. Someone in the academy told her that this kind of battery lasted for twenty years. Let’s hope he was right, she thought with a wry smile. Who knew when she’d be able to get back to her own time?
She kept the light from the portable torch to its dimmest setting and only occasionally turned it on just so she could get her bearing. The last thing she wanted was to attract attention from both human and beast. After traveling for an hour she finally reached her destination.
She stopped right by a huge tree. Except for the large trunk, it was wholly unremarkable. The nearest branch was about seven meters up. Ryna had climbed this tree several times so it proved to be no trouble to scale the trunk and then make the final leap to reach the branch. From there it was even less of a difficulty to reach her target, which was a camouflaged hole more than twenty meters from the ground.
Ryna swung herself up on the last branch and she was finally at eyelevel with her objective. She carefully removed the leaves and pieces of bark that hid the hole and put them beside her to be reused later. She then reached in and pulled out her backpack. It was completely filthy but still intact. It no longer surprised her that every single item that was part of her field equipment was designed to be completely durable.
She zipped the backpack open and retrieved her transdimensional device. Her eyes widened immediately and her heart began pounding so hard she felt as if the whole forest might come alive with the noise. There was another wormhole opening. Ryna’s eyes narrowed in confusion as she stared at the countdown. If she was reading the device correctly then it meant that the wormhole wouldn’t open until after three days. The coordinates displayed were also way off. How was it possible that the device could now detect a wormhole opening in days rather than minutes and its location more than two kilometers it was supposed to be limited to? And yet that was precisely what the device was telling her. Four days hence a wormhole was going to open ten kilometers north of where she was now.
Ryna lowered the device and gazed out into the darkness. Four days. It wasn’t much time but at least she could make plans.
* * * * *
Funsch clenched his jaw as his eyes went over the six names displayed on his monitor. These were the operatives that for some reason or another suddenly disappeared without a trace. As if they never existed. No one in the agency remembered them. Even the ones that had worked with one or another as partner. Even the ultra-secure personnel database had any record of these people ever being in the employ of the MultiVerse Authority.
The only evidence that they ever existed were on Funsch’s personal database, which he copied two days ago on a hunch. It was a hunch that paid off but in a really bad way. All six had one thing in common: they were all from the Charis universe. The same universe whose timelines Ryna Gardner was tampering with. What other impact could her gallivanting in time might have on the other universes? Damn her!. The implications were just too huge to comprehend.
The Head of Research and Intelligence had been standing behind the Chief of Operations for quite some time but Funsch only remembered he was there when he heard him cough. He swiveled his chair to face him. “So, Park, what do you make of it? We’ve got six personnel who just suddenly vanished without a trace.”
Park was nodding slowly, obviously still trying to make sense of the whole thing. “Sir, I witnessed you copying a set of names from the central system onto your computer two days ago. As per your instructions, I have created a program to run on your workstation to scan for these same names every day and to automatically issue an alert when the scan failed.”
“So we have a log of the successful scans of the past two days and now this failure.”
“I still don’t understand how these names were deleted from the central system without an audit trail showing who did it and when it happened.”
“Don’t you get it, Park? Those names were not deleted by anyone.”
“But that’s impossible! Someone--”
“Think, Park. Think! Ryna Gardner. Where is she now?”
Park’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “But that still doesn’t make sense,” the man began pacing Funsch’s office. “If in this new timeline we’re in these six people have never been hired by the agency, how is it possible that you were able to make copies of their profiles out of our system?”
Funsch shook his head slowly as he stared once more at his monitor. “I don’t know. I’m no scientist. Could it be possible the changing timeline of one universe has only a limited effect on other the universes?” This time he pierced his Head of Research and Intelligence with his eyes.
Park stopped his pacing and stared back. “I don’t know, Sir. But I don’t think we should be sitting here waiting to find out the hard way.”
The MVA Chief nodded his head. “Agreed.” He stood up. “It’s time we did something about it.”
* * * * *
The expectant eyes of fifteen swordsmen, axemen and archers were upon her as she stood before them. Their expressions held their steely resolution. They knew that the day was upon them. The day they were going to go to battle. Except she wouldn’t let them and Ryna was still struggling with how to break the news to them.
She didn’t know whether anyone in this current time understood the concept of treason but it was exactly what she was going to have each of them do. She had gotten to know each of them well. Knew that they were fiercely loyal to Chief White Buffalo. His word was their command, even if it meant sacrificing their own lives to fulfill it. She still couldn’t fathom how one such as White Buffalo could inspire such fealty. But that didn’t matter. Not now at least.
Ryna squared her shoulders, preparing to speak. She had never had to lead anybody before. She had just finished college when she was recruited by the agency. Right after the nightmare she had to endure, first running from, and then later battling against her self but from a different universe. The burden weighed heavily on her shoulders. “Men,” she began, the palms of her hands suddenly feeling wet with sweat. “The day you’ve been training for has finally come.” The men cheered, raising their weapons in the air.
“Chief White Buffalo has ordered us to go forth and wipe out the barbarians who have been desecrating our lands, killing our workers, and destroying our outlying villages.” More cheers. “But we are not going.” Silence.
The confusion on their faces was plain to see as they first stared at her and then at each other wondering whether they heard her right. “You heard me right,” Ryna continued, not wasting any time. “I believe that the Chief’s life is in danger. I believe that the moment we march out of the city, he will be killed.”
A swordsman, one of the first of his kind in Saratoga, stepped forward. “Who would dare kill the Chief?”
“I don’t know--”
First one and then many began speaking at once, asking questions to which she had no definite answers. She only had her gut feeling and she doubted whether she could explain it to these warriors in language they could understand. “Enough!” she said, her voice loud enough so that it silenced the group once again. “You must trust me.”
“What would have us do?”
“I have a plan.”
* * * * *
The smile on Night Flower’s lips grew but not by much as she watched from afar Red Sun and her warriors march off into the forest, heading north towards the hidden barbarian village. The sun was just peeking through the mountains, pushing the darkness away, eager to begin a new day.
Jumps Over Panther stood by her side, watching the procession disappear. “What now?”
“For now we wait. Tonight, we make our move.”
* * * * *
Ryna was leaning against the trunk of a large tree and was only partially aware of her surroundings. It was approximately three o’clock in the afternoon. The fifteen warriors around her were engaged in various activities to pass the time. Some were sharpening their weapons, others were chatting, the rest were relaxing and reserving their strength for the battle they knew would come soon enough.
She heard the stealthy rustle of the approaching scouts. She opened her eyes to slits and found that she was the only one so far to hear the approach of both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope. It appears that the scouts have improved their abilities.
After a few more seconds she noticed a few of the warriors tense, their eyes zeroing in at the source of the sounds. Ryna decided to end the charade and stood cautiously. The other warriors stopped what they were doing and got on their feet as well.
Within a few seconds, the two scouts entered the clearing from slightly different direction. They made a beeline to Ryna.
“Red Sun,” Two Hatchet began, “we’ve scouted the area and there are no signs that you have been followed.” Beside him, Running Antelope nodded his concurrence.
“Good,” Ryna replied evenly. “We will begin to move back to the city once the sun is just above the trees.”
* * * * *
White Buffalo stood rigid, his left hand clenched in a fist, his right hand tightly holding his only weapon—his ceremonial dagger. In front of him were three braves: Kicking Bear, Wolf Slayer, and Sky Tree. All armed with heavy axes.
He could feel the blood rising to his head, both anger and fear warring against each other, as he tried to comprehend the gravity of the situation. He did not fear for his life but that of his wife, Prancing Pony, who was quivering behind him. Both of them were cornered at the far end of their room. They were trapped.
The sounds of scuffling outside the hut died down. From what he could discern, the attack was stealthy, catching the last of his guards unawares. He was not optimistic about his plight at all. True enough, after a few moments, more braves entered. He was now surrounded by seven warriors.
It then dawned on him that this was all planned. He just then also realized that any of the warriors he would have counted as his most loyal were as of the moment on their way to the northern barbarian city. It was all part of the plan. The question then was who did the scheming?
White Buffalo’s eyes rested on Kicking Bear’s. “Who is giving you your orders, Kicking Bear?” From what he knew of the men in front of him, none of them had what it took to work all of this out. He had an idea who it was but he had to be sure.
“You don’t need to answer that,” Wolf Slayer said. “Let’s just get this over with.”
* * * * *
Whoever planned this wasn’t entirely stupid, Ryna decided as she crouched behind some bushes, scanning the area and listening to any man-made sounds. She was hoping she’d ambush the entire group in one fell swoop. As it was, the traitors were spread out. Some were already inside White Buffalo’s hut, while others were spread out across a wide area. Not bad.
The challenge, therefore, was to correctly identify who the enemies were and dispatch them completely. Leaving one or more of them to survive to make another attempt would bring all their efforts to naught. She instructed her troop to spread out using hand signals she taught them earlier today. They complied, moving out as stealthily as possible.
Ryna had decided to bring her backpack with her. It was the subject of everyone’s scrutiny when they set out to return to the city. It wasn’t until they reached the edges of Saratoga that they stopped bugging her about it. She shrugged off her backpack and swung it in front of her. She unzipped it and took out her night vision goggles. She donned it and immediately everything around her was thrown into relief. She tapped a button on the side of the goggles and the image reset itself. At first nothing seemed to change until she turned her head towards where she knew one of her warriors was hiding. As expected, the warrior appeared as a bright orange figure. The thermal scan was working.
She cast her eyes about and saw other bright orange figures, mostly lying down sleeping in the nearby huts. Scanning further she stopped when she saw other figures, this time standing. Two figures to be exact, hidden behind trees less than a hundred meters away behind some trees. I got you.
By the time she completed her scan, she identified a total of thirty men, all spread out in a semi circle surrounding the Chief’s hut. Some hiding in trees, others under huts and still others on top of them. This was going to be tricky. She didn’t have much time. Ryna backed away carefully from her position and rushed to where her scouts were, not realizing that her movements had disturbed some of the shrubs surrounding her.
* * * * *
“Tell me why again we shouldn’t be in there with the rest of them?” Jumps Over Panther asked the woman beside him without taking his eyes away from the Chief’s hut. Both of them were hidden among trees, waiting for a sign to let them know that the Chief was dead.
“Because there shouldn’t be any link at all between the death of White Buffalo and--” Night Flower stopped abruptly as she saw--or thought she saw--movement in the distant trees, somewhere to the left of the hut.
“What is it?” Jumps Over Panther turned to look in the same direction.
“I thought I saw movement.”
The brave squinted his eyes and kept them focused on the area but still no movement. “I see nothing.”
“We must leave nothing to chance. Why don’t you go investigate it?”
Jumps Over Panther turned to look at Night Flower and considered arguing that his place is by her side but seeing the glare in her eyes he decided he didn’t relish the idea at all. With an almost imperceptible shake of his head he took off in a tangent towards what he still considered as something she imagined.
* * * * *
Ryna moved quickly, weaving around trees, darting through shrubbery while keeping herself stealthy. She had carefully instructed both Two Hatchet and Running Antelope to go to her scattered warriors and then point out where the enemies were. If all went accordingly to plan, the traitors would have been completely eliminated even as she battled the assassins who were already inside the Chief’s hut.
At last she arrived at the northern wall of the hut. She could make out the voices inside streaming out of the open window. White Buffalo was already sounding desperate. For the umpteenth time she questioned what she was about to do. Was it right for her to alter history? Perhaps White Buffalo was supposed to die. She cursed not having complete knowledge of history. She only had her conscience as a guide. And right now, it told her that she couldn’t just stand by while the rightful leader of the city was assassinated. Especially if she had the power to stop it.
Ryna crouched under the window. Reaching back, she drew her swords and readied herself. This is it. She leaped up and dove through the window.
* * * * *
Running Antelope hurried to the position of the next warrior, trying to remain as stealthy as can be and using only the light of the moon as a guide. As he cornered the nearest tree he suddenly felt something grab him forcefully around the neck. Before he knew it he was thrown bodily against another tree, all breath knocked out of him.
“Where’s a weakling like you going at this hour?”
The scout struggled against the hand that held his neck like the vices that the blacksmiths in the city used for forging the swords. His mouth was open, trying desperately the suck in air in vain. The hand pulled back and then slammed him back onto the tree. Running Antelope couldn’t see a thing. The pain in his lung and his back was excrutiating. With the last of his strength he kicked out, hitting his attacker squarely on the chest.
The hand on his neck slackened and he dropped to the ground. Running Antelope staggered up, sucked in air for dear life. He tried to scream but nothing would come out. He needed to run away but his legs, normally faithful and true to his bidding, were slow to follow his command. A vicious kick to the back sent him sprawling again to the ground. He felt himself being pulled up by his hair and again tried to scream but just as before nothing would come out.
“That was very sneaky of you, Running Antelope. If you’re here, Two Hatchet should be here too. Where is he?”
“You’ve always been a bully, Jumps Over Panther.”
Running Antelope opened his eyes and would have shouted for joy had he his voice. His vision was blurry but he recognized the warrior who spoke. It was one of them. An axeman by the name of Runs With Horses. He never felt this happy to see anyone in his entire life. He fell like a ragged heap as the archer let go of his hair. He immediately crawled away towards a tree and used it as cover and watched.
* * * * *
Ryna adjusted her trajectory in midair and pierced the heart of one of the axemen before she even landed on the floor in a roll in front of Chief Buffalo and his wife, Prancing Pony.
“Red Sun!” It was Kicking Bear.
“That’s right. Lay down your weapons now!”
“Kicking Bear, what should we do?” the other axeman asked, his stance was almost funny to Ryna as it was clear this warrior was conflicted.
“Shut up, Iron Ring and let me think!” bellowed Kicking Bear.
“There is nothing to think about,” this time White Buffalo asserted himself. Ryna turned to look at him and was surprised to see that he was now armed with the axe of the warrior she had dispatched. The Chief caught her look and smiled. “I’ll take Kicking Bear, you take the other.”
She grinned. “With pleasure, Chief!”
The other warrior wasted no time in fleeing the room. Only Kicking Bear was left. “So what will it be, traitor?” White Buffalo challenged the other.
The axeman responded by gripping his weapon tightly. With a battle cry he charged.
* * * * *
Fear and pride warred within Jumps Over Panther. He knew he would not have a chance of defeating Runs With Horses in close combat. His bow was completely useless, slung over his shoulder. Running away was his only option but then his pride as a warrior was stubbornly asserting itself.
“I can see the fear in your eyes, Jumps Over Panther. I always thought you were a coward,” Runs With Horses sneered as he twirled his heavy axe in front of him.
“You filthy wretch! I’ll show you who’s a coward!” Jumps Over Panther lunged wildly but it was exactly what the other was expecting.
The battle was over in just a few heartbeats with the archer sprawled on the ground, knocked unconscious. Runs With Horses went over the body and nudged him with his foot. When he got no response he turned and walked over to Running Antelope. Offering his hand, he said: “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Running Antelope said, quite surprised that his voice returned to him. He took the proffered hand and stood up wobbily.
“Good. We need to find the oth--”
Running Antelope was looking at Running Horse’s face closely and saw his expression changed instantaneously to shock and the pain. The scout raised his eyes to look over the axeman’s shoulder and felt his heart constrict. Jumps Over Panther was behind Running With Horses and it was apparent that he had stabbed the other in the back.
“Thought you got the better of me, eh, Runs With Horses?” the expression on the archer’s face was frighteningly manic. “So who’s the coward now?”
Running Antelope was rooted on the spot. In front of him, Runs With Horses took a step forward. The scout locked eyes with him. The eyes of the axeman looked down and then up at him again. He was signaling to him to take his weapon!
The scout had never handled a heavy axe before but it was his only hope to survive. He nodded as imperceptibly as he could and Runs With Horses tossed the axe towards him just as he toppled over. Jumps Over Panther had a triumphant grin on his face as he watched the bigger warrior fall. He didn’t notice Running Antelope step forward. It was only when he noticed a shadow pass over his eyes did he realize that there was a deadly axe blade raised over his head.
Running Antelope was almost amused to see the change in expression in the archer’s face. From triumphant to confusion to realization and then finally, fear. Before the archer could move, the scout swung the axe down with all his might.
* * * * *
All her efforts to convince White Buffalo to let her leave in peace were useless. He was hell bent on making an occasion of it. So here they all were, at the coordinates of the next wormhole, which was going to open in just a few more minutes.
“You saved our city, Red Sun,” White Buffalo said gravely. “And you saved me.” His wife, Prancing Pony, was at his side, softly weeping.
Her warriors were also present and also the two scouts who she had grown very fond of: Two Hatchet and Running Antelope. Unfortunately, the battle that happened two nights ago had casualties on both sides. Three of her warriors died, including Running With Horses.
Although the deaths of her warriors saddened her, it was nothing compared to how she felt when she discovered that her only female friend, Rain Blossom was actually Night Flower. And it was Night Flower who masterminded the whole assassination attempt. She wasn’t the only one totally thrown off by Kicking Bird’s coerced confession, however. All of Saratoga went into uproar. It wasn’t until White Buffalo promised some reforms in the city that the populace calmed down somewhat.
“Will we ever see you again?” asked Two Hatchet.
There was a lump in Ryna’s throat. “I’m…I don’t think so, Two Hatchet.”
“But where will you go?” this question from Running Antelope.
Ryna wanted to say the future but the word for future didn’t yet exist in their tongue. Instead she said, “I’m going home.”
“You will never be forgotten, Red Sun,” White Buffalo said. “We will sing tales of you in the seasons to come.”
She was about to tell them not to bother. It actually worried her that she has made such an impact during her short stay here. She’d rather they forget about her. Ryna opened her mouth to speak but her MultiVerse device chimed. She didn’t need to see the display to know that the wormhole was already opening.
She saw through the curtain of light that suddenly enveloped her the stunned expressions of the people around her. She was going to miss these people.
And then she was gone.
Terrance888
Discord Reigns
Wow... Wownderful!
Terrance888
Discord Reigns
Wow... Wownderful!
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Chapter 8 Emerging Power
Mahuizoh, current Hueyi Tlatoani of the Aztecs, was slouched in his elevated wooden throne, his eyes smoldering at the two men bickering before him. One was the pompous High Priest, Eztli, who was a small man and attempted to make up for his lack of stature by wearing, even to the standards of the Aztecs, an overly elaborate and tall headdress. The other man was the most senior member of his Council of Advisers, Nochehuatl, whose hair was already completely white and though of advanced years, still looked as vital as any of the much younger members of the council.
The gods insists, Eztli was saying, slamming his fists on the stone slab that served as the central table. We cannot anymore tolerate these heathens who do not even worship a god but this, this Buddha, a mere man!
Nochehuatl approached the table menacingly, using his height over the high priest to its full measure. So you would have us war against the entire world just because they do not believe in our gods? Are you sure this is a message from the gods? How many slaves did you sacrifice this time to ascertain this?
How dare you question the will of the gods? We are an empire united while the other nations are nothing but scattered altepetl, city states with no central ruler. How can we not prevail?
Because they vastly outnumber us, you pompous--!
Enough! Mahuizoh suddenly stood. All eyes in the chamber were on him. I have heard enough from the both of you. He gave both his most senior adviser and his high priest hard, withering looks as he stepped down from the elevated platform and stood before them at the head of the stone table.
I, for one, am not pleased with the heathens that now surround us. We need to make them see the error of their ways. If it means the spilling of blood--
But, My Lord--
You will be silent, Nochehuatl! the tlatoani glared at the chief adviser. Do you believe me to make decisions like this lightly?
The chief adviser clenched his jaw and looked down. No, My Lord.
Mahuizoh smiled gently at the older man and then raised his eyes to address the rest of the council who surrounded the great stone table. The Aztec empire is great and destined to be even greater. More than what the gods say, he continued ignoring the scandalized look on Eztlis painted face, I have, just recently, come upon what I believe is our secret weapon.
Both his chief adviser and high priest exchanged puzzled looks. Everyone around the table, in fact, looked upon each other with expressions of bewilderment on their faces. The tlataoni was greatly amused especially with the fact the he knew something none of these supposedly learned men knew. When finally the hubbub died down, he raised both hands to his right ear and clapped twice. Immediately the great door behind the throne opened.
A single jaguar hurried inside. All eyes in the council were on the figure hurrying towards the center of the room where the tlatoani was. Mahuizoh much pleased with the entrance of his secret weapon. He did not bother to look behind him, confident that three warriors had just walked in escorting the female that was just recently captured.
Behold, the Aztec ruler said, our secret weapon.
A single jaguar is your secret weapon? it was from a minor council member seated farthest from him.
In confusion, Mahuizoh turned around and was startled to find only one jaguar in front of him. Where is the female?
Ryna raised her left wrist to gaze once more at the MVA device. Her captors, apparently, were not able to figure out how to detach it. The digital display showed that she was in the year 240 BC. With a heavy sigh, she dropped her arm on her naked thigh and glanced around her cell. She was in a dark and damp dungeon that stank of mildew and something like overripe fruit. All she had on, besides the MVA device on her wrist, was her underwear.
She couldnt shake the feeling that perhaps she wasnt altogether there. There seems to be something wrong with the wormhole. For one, it seemed the trip took longer than usual. And second, the pain, she had hoped shed get used to, seemed to have intensified. So much so that when she dropped out of the wormhole she was unconscious. She awoke gagged and bound and being carried by what she initially thought were barbarians to a wagon.
Ryna struggled to free herself but even her superior strength proved inferior to the ropes that bound her. The men who carried her boarded the wagon and began stripping her of her 990 BC clothing. She was able to land a good kick on one of them who would have flown over the side of the wagon were it not for the quick reflexes of his companion who was able to grab hold onto his arm. Ryna received a punch to the face for her trouble. Both men then turned her over so she was lying on her stomach with their feet pressed firmly on her back to keep her from moving. It was only when she was thus secured did they examine her clothing and her backpack.
To her consternation, one of them was able to figure out a way to open it. In spite of her position, their faces were still visible to her and she saw the look of wonder on their faces as they worked the zipper back and forth, closing and opening the pack. When they had tired of it, their focus turned to the contents. Again, Ryna tried to struggle, or at least kick the backpack away from their grubby hands. Both men began shouting at her and stomping their feet against her back. One of them grabbed a handful of her hair, pulled back her head and forcefully slammed it back onto the wooden floor of the wagon. And then everything went black.
The next thing she knew was she was in this stinking dungeon. Who were those men who captured her? They didnt look like the Native Americans who she spent the last few months with. They truly seemed barbaric to her with their multiple facial and body piercings and paints. They each had headgear fashioned into the shape of a cat or something. Even the ornaments they wore were hideous. One of her captors had a necklace made out of the skulls of small monkeys. Or at least that was what they looked like to her. The other one also had one but made out of teeth.
Her musings were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps growing louder by the second. They were obviously coming for her. Ryna felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. She shook herself mentally. If she was going to die then she would have to do so fighting.
The footsteps, just as she knew, stopped just outside the barred door to her dungeon cell. She judged there to be at least four men outside. She clenched her fists and set her jaw. They wouldnt know what hit them.
Necuametl could not believe his eyes. He was one of the four warriors sent to fetch the woman to be presented to the High Council. When the first warrior opened the door to her cell they all saw her sitting on the ground, regarding them calmly. And then in an instant she had leapt. She had moved so blindingly fast that in less than a heartbeat she moved from her position with her knees drawn up to her chest to a crouch and then a lunge! She had her hands in the throats of the two warriors ahead of him and he heard the sickening snap of their necks.
He staggered back as her focus landed on the third warrior with them, Cipactli. He had known him since they were little and he was well respected as a warrior, known to be swift and cunning. He already had his blade out. For all the good it did him. Before he was able to even raise it, the woman kicked him savagely on the chest throwing him onto the wall behind him. There was the sickening sound again of bones breaking as his friend crashed against the wall.
Eyes wide, he was rooted where he was. The woman turned to him, calmly regarding him. In his fear, he dropped his spear and began running down the corridor as fast as he could. Guards! Guar--
Necuametl felt something slam into him from behind. He slowly looked down and saw the tip of a spear protruding out of his chest. His body suddenly felt heavy and he fell to his knees. The edges of his vision began to blur. He saw a pair of perfectly formed feminine calves walk in front of him. He looked up to see the woman. There was a window behind her and the midmorning sun was streaming through it, framing her, her hair seemingly on fire. She was terrible to behold. He watched in fear as she reached out to him. And then he knew no more.
The great door opened again and this time eight jaguars came in and stopped just in front of the tlatoani. One of their number, upon closing the door, immediately slammed the locking beam in place. He then joined the others in formation. The jaguars faced the door in two rows. The four in front knelt while the ones behind were all standing, weapons at the ready.
What is happening? Mahuizoh said from behind the warriors. Where is the female? He felt the other council members draw back to the farthest end of the room.
The female has escaped, My Lord, said the jaguar closest to him without taking his eyes off the great door.
So capture her! Mahuizoh shouted. He saw the jaguars eyes dart towards him briefly before turning them to the door. There was fear there. He didnt wait for an answer. The female seemed to be more than she appeared. There was much shouting and sounds of battle outside. How could one female cause so much chaos?
After a while, the sounds outside died down. Several moments later, there was loud banging on the great door. Everyone, including the guarding jaguars jumped in surprise. One of the warriors approached the door tentatively. Another round of banging caused him to almost drop his weapon. Who is it?
It is I, Icnoyotl! Open this door!
The jaguar raised the locking beam. No sooner was it done did the great door open and the jaguar outside named Icnoyotl strode in. Mahuizoh, having had enough of the suspense burst through the formation guarding him and the rest of the council and approached the incoming warrior.
What has happened to the female? he demanded.
She has escaped the city, My Lord. We are giving pursuit. She is still deep in Aztec territory. We will alert the warriors in the surrounding city. We will have her soon, My Lord.
Mahuizoh had walked past jaguar as he made his report. Through the door and into the plaza beyond he walked, slowly, apprehensively. The central plaza was normally a very busy section of the city and yet there were no civilians about. There were only the bodies of jaguars here and there, the stones stained with blood. The wounded, also numerous, were being tended to by others. More jaguars arrived, reinforcements that obviously came too late. He could not believe what he was seeing. How could one female cause all this?
The heavy wooden gates of the city were just about to close when she slipped through. Without thinking, Ryna fled towards the forest. She judged the distance to be about a kilometer away. She put on a burst of speed and continued without stopping.
It was only when she reached the edge and quickly darted through the trees did she dare look back. Breathing heavily she scanned the plains from where she came and was surprised to find no one running after her. She allowed herself to sag down to the ground, her back against the trunk of a tree. She dropped the two swords
She raised her knees and rested her forehead on them, willing her heartbeat to slow down, willing herself to calm down so she could think. It was a city. She was held in a city with a somewhat organized military. They were not barbarians, at least not like the ones she saw more than 700 years ago, although they did look it. She had a bad feeling about this. If it was true and she was not in a barbarian city then she was in deeper trouble than she thought. She wasnt dealing with just one city now. She would be dealing with a civilization. She had to find a way out.
But wait! Her backpack was still in the city. Ryna clenched her eyes shut. Damn! She had to find a way to get it back. There was no way she was going to leave it behind. She raised her head and turned to look back at the city in the distance. She had to reacquire her backpack. Or die trying.
Mahuizoh, current Hueyi Tlatoani of the Aztecs, was slouched in his elevated wooden throne, his eyes smoldering at the two men bickering before him. One was the pompous High Priest, Eztli, who was a small man and attempted to make up for his lack of stature by wearing, even to the standards of the Aztecs, an overly elaborate and tall headdress. The other man was the most senior member of his Council of Advisers, Nochehuatl, whose hair was already completely white and though of advanced years, still looked as vital as any of the much younger members of the council.
The gods insists, Eztli was saying, slamming his fists on the stone slab that served as the central table. We cannot anymore tolerate these heathens who do not even worship a god but this, this Buddha, a mere man!
Nochehuatl approached the table menacingly, using his height over the high priest to its full measure. So you would have us war against the entire world just because they do not believe in our gods? Are you sure this is a message from the gods? How many slaves did you sacrifice this time to ascertain this?
How dare you question the will of the gods? We are an empire united while the other nations are nothing but scattered altepetl, city states with no central ruler. How can we not prevail?
Because they vastly outnumber us, you pompous--!
Enough! Mahuizoh suddenly stood. All eyes in the chamber were on him. I have heard enough from the both of you. He gave both his most senior adviser and his high priest hard, withering looks as he stepped down from the elevated platform and stood before them at the head of the stone table.
I, for one, am not pleased with the heathens that now surround us. We need to make them see the error of their ways. If it means the spilling of blood--
But, My Lord--
You will be silent, Nochehuatl! the tlatoani glared at the chief adviser. Do you believe me to make decisions like this lightly?
The chief adviser clenched his jaw and looked down. No, My Lord.
Mahuizoh smiled gently at the older man and then raised his eyes to address the rest of the council who surrounded the great stone table. The Aztec empire is great and destined to be even greater. More than what the gods say, he continued ignoring the scandalized look on Eztlis painted face, I have, just recently, come upon what I believe is our secret weapon.
Both his chief adviser and high priest exchanged puzzled looks. Everyone around the table, in fact, looked upon each other with expressions of bewilderment on their faces. The tlataoni was greatly amused especially with the fact the he knew something none of these supposedly learned men knew. When finally the hubbub died down, he raised both hands to his right ear and clapped twice. Immediately the great door behind the throne opened.
A single jaguar hurried inside. All eyes in the council were on the figure hurrying towards the center of the room where the tlatoani was. Mahuizoh much pleased with the entrance of his secret weapon. He did not bother to look behind him, confident that three warriors had just walked in escorting the female that was just recently captured.
Behold, the Aztec ruler said, our secret weapon.
A single jaguar is your secret weapon? it was from a minor council member seated farthest from him.
In confusion, Mahuizoh turned around and was startled to find only one jaguar in front of him. Where is the female?
* * * * *
Ryna raised her left wrist to gaze once more at the MVA device. Her captors, apparently, were not able to figure out how to detach it. The digital display showed that she was in the year 240 BC. With a heavy sigh, she dropped her arm on her naked thigh and glanced around her cell. She was in a dark and damp dungeon that stank of mildew and something like overripe fruit. All she had on, besides the MVA device on her wrist, was her underwear.
She couldnt shake the feeling that perhaps she wasnt altogether there. There seems to be something wrong with the wormhole. For one, it seemed the trip took longer than usual. And second, the pain, she had hoped shed get used to, seemed to have intensified. So much so that when she dropped out of the wormhole she was unconscious. She awoke gagged and bound and being carried by what she initially thought were barbarians to a wagon.
Ryna struggled to free herself but even her superior strength proved inferior to the ropes that bound her. The men who carried her boarded the wagon and began stripping her of her 990 BC clothing. She was able to land a good kick on one of them who would have flown over the side of the wagon were it not for the quick reflexes of his companion who was able to grab hold onto his arm. Ryna received a punch to the face for her trouble. Both men then turned her over so she was lying on her stomach with their feet pressed firmly on her back to keep her from moving. It was only when she was thus secured did they examine her clothing and her backpack.
To her consternation, one of them was able to figure out a way to open it. In spite of her position, their faces were still visible to her and she saw the look of wonder on their faces as they worked the zipper back and forth, closing and opening the pack. When they had tired of it, their focus turned to the contents. Again, Ryna tried to struggle, or at least kick the backpack away from their grubby hands. Both men began shouting at her and stomping their feet against her back. One of them grabbed a handful of her hair, pulled back her head and forcefully slammed it back onto the wooden floor of the wagon. And then everything went black.
The next thing she knew was she was in this stinking dungeon. Who were those men who captured her? They didnt look like the Native Americans who she spent the last few months with. They truly seemed barbaric to her with their multiple facial and body piercings and paints. They each had headgear fashioned into the shape of a cat or something. Even the ornaments they wore were hideous. One of her captors had a necklace made out of the skulls of small monkeys. Or at least that was what they looked like to her. The other one also had one but made out of teeth.
Her musings were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps growing louder by the second. They were obviously coming for her. Ryna felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. She shook herself mentally. If she was going to die then she would have to do so fighting.
The footsteps, just as she knew, stopped just outside the barred door to her dungeon cell. She judged there to be at least four men outside. She clenched her fists and set her jaw. They wouldnt know what hit them.
* * * * *
Necuametl could not believe his eyes. He was one of the four warriors sent to fetch the woman to be presented to the High Council. When the first warrior opened the door to her cell they all saw her sitting on the ground, regarding them calmly. And then in an instant she had leapt. She had moved so blindingly fast that in less than a heartbeat she moved from her position with her knees drawn up to her chest to a crouch and then a lunge! She had her hands in the throats of the two warriors ahead of him and he heard the sickening snap of their necks.
He staggered back as her focus landed on the third warrior with them, Cipactli. He had known him since they were little and he was well respected as a warrior, known to be swift and cunning. He already had his blade out. For all the good it did him. Before he was able to even raise it, the woman kicked him savagely on the chest throwing him onto the wall behind him. There was the sickening sound again of bones breaking as his friend crashed against the wall.
Eyes wide, he was rooted where he was. The woman turned to him, calmly regarding him. In his fear, he dropped his spear and began running down the corridor as fast as he could. Guards! Guar--
Necuametl felt something slam into him from behind. He slowly looked down and saw the tip of a spear protruding out of his chest. His body suddenly felt heavy and he fell to his knees. The edges of his vision began to blur. He saw a pair of perfectly formed feminine calves walk in front of him. He looked up to see the woman. There was a window behind her and the midmorning sun was streaming through it, framing her, her hair seemingly on fire. She was terrible to behold. He watched in fear as she reached out to him. And then he knew no more.
* * * * *
The great door opened again and this time eight jaguars came in and stopped just in front of the tlatoani. One of their number, upon closing the door, immediately slammed the locking beam in place. He then joined the others in formation. The jaguars faced the door in two rows. The four in front knelt while the ones behind were all standing, weapons at the ready.
What is happening? Mahuizoh said from behind the warriors. Where is the female? He felt the other council members draw back to the farthest end of the room.
The female has escaped, My Lord, said the jaguar closest to him without taking his eyes off the great door.
So capture her! Mahuizoh shouted. He saw the jaguars eyes dart towards him briefly before turning them to the door. There was fear there. He didnt wait for an answer. The female seemed to be more than she appeared. There was much shouting and sounds of battle outside. How could one female cause so much chaos?
After a while, the sounds outside died down. Several moments later, there was loud banging on the great door. Everyone, including the guarding jaguars jumped in surprise. One of the warriors approached the door tentatively. Another round of banging caused him to almost drop his weapon. Who is it?
It is I, Icnoyotl! Open this door!
The jaguar raised the locking beam. No sooner was it done did the great door open and the jaguar outside named Icnoyotl strode in. Mahuizoh, having had enough of the suspense burst through the formation guarding him and the rest of the council and approached the incoming warrior.
What has happened to the female? he demanded.
She has escaped the city, My Lord. We are giving pursuit. She is still deep in Aztec territory. We will alert the warriors in the surrounding city. We will have her soon, My Lord.
Mahuizoh had walked past jaguar as he made his report. Through the door and into the plaza beyond he walked, slowly, apprehensively. The central plaza was normally a very busy section of the city and yet there were no civilians about. There were only the bodies of jaguars here and there, the stones stained with blood. The wounded, also numerous, were being tended to by others. More jaguars arrived, reinforcements that obviously came too late. He could not believe what he was seeing. How could one female cause all this?
* * * * *
The heavy wooden gates of the city were just about to close when she slipped through. Without thinking, Ryna fled towards the forest. She judged the distance to be about a kilometer away. She put on a burst of speed and continued without stopping.
It was only when she reached the edge and quickly darted through the trees did she dare look back. Breathing heavily she scanned the plains from where she came and was surprised to find no one running after her. She allowed herself to sag down to the ground, her back against the trunk of a tree. She dropped the two swords
She raised her knees and rested her forehead on them, willing her heartbeat to slow down, willing herself to calm down so she could think. It was a city. She was held in a city with a somewhat organized military. They were not barbarians, at least not like the ones she saw more than 700 years ago, although they did look it. She had a bad feeling about this. If it was true and she was not in a barbarian city then she was in deeper trouble than she thought. She wasnt dealing with just one city now. She would be dealing with a civilization. She had to find a way out.
But wait! Her backpack was still in the city. Ryna clenched her eyes shut. Damn! She had to find a way to get it back. There was no way she was going to leave it behind. She raised her head and turned to look back at the city in the distance. She had to reacquire her backpack. Or die trying.
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Thanks, Cofuffle. Glad you like it. I'll try to make it longer next time! 
Thanks, Cofuffle. Glad you like it. I'll try to make it longer next time!
oh, that wasn't aimed at the length which is fine, it was at the lack of replies
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Oh. I wondered about that too. There are lots of views though just not enough people posting comments.
I don't bother replying during a story because scrolling through replies detracts from the actual storyline (eg. see 3-4 pages of replies between posts in sis's epic tale).
But I've definately been enjoying this story, so whenever you get an opportunity would love continuation.
But I've definately been enjoying this story, so whenever you get an opportunity would love continuation.
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Thanks for your kind words, Charybdis. You forget that writers greatly appreciate comments like yours and gain inspiration from them. I've copied Sisutil's method of maintaining a table of contents on the first page to allow readers to go straight to the chapter they'd like to read. This way, you wouldn't have to wade through the comments of others.
Anyway, I'm already hard at work at the next chapter and should be able to post it by the weekend so stay tuned!
Anyway, I'm already hard at work at the next chapter and should be able to post it by the weekend so stay tuned!
raba.yuugi
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2007
- Messages
- 181
Chapter 9 Infiltration
Ryna couldnt understand it. According to her transdimensional device, she was still in American territory. And that the city from where she escaped was Tenochtitlan, an American city. She even had friends who grew up in that city in her present. Tenochtitlan should at least be occupied by Native Americans and not these barbaric-looking people whose language she couldnt even understand!
It has been two months since she escaped. In that time, the city had sent over forty soldiers in three expeditions to the forest trying to capture her. She had wiped them all out. As she spied on the city from the distance, she had a sinking feeling that it wouldnt be long before a much larger force would be sent out to try and get her. She had been able to appropriate the weapons, supplies and even clothing and armor of the soldiers she had dispatched. She was now fully armed to the teeth and the forest filled with booby traps. In spite of that, she knew she wouldnt be able to hold out much longer.
She couldnt continue on the defensive indefinitely. What she needed to do was go back into the city and reacquire her backpack. In it were her flashlight, night vision goggles, a length of nylon cord and a first aid kit. All of which represented technologies that werent going to be available in another two thousand years. To leave these things behind, which was very tempting to her, was not an option. She just hadnt figured out how to get into the city yet. Her height, her hair, her eyes her entire being was almost impossible to disguise, especially during the day time. Going in under the cover of darkness was her best option.
She had been studying the city the last couple of weeks. She even dared to venture close to it at night, moving from one tree branch to another, studying its patterns. Ryna was in one such tree right now, perched on one of its high branches, watching and observing closely.
The city was very well fortified. Whoever the leader was seemed to her overly paranoid about his safety. Did he fear an attack from the other cities within the region? She had traveled from one end of the forest to another and found that the surrounding villages seemed to be under his control. It didnt matter. Their problems werent hers. Her problem was simple. Get in, get the backpack and then get out.
There were guard towers every few hundred meters. Each manned by at least three soldiers. The gates were closed shut when the sun went down. Breaking through the gate, of course, was not an option. She would have to sneak in between the guard towers hoping that none of the guards would be able to spot her. Boy, what she wouldnt give for a sniper rifle. Or even a long bow to take out the guards in the towers from a distance wait a minute! Rynas brows furrowed as she concentrated on the problem. She raised her eyes to the tower closest her. That was it! She neednt sneak in between the towers. She just needed to go through one.
With a satisfied smile on her face, she climbed down the tree to begin planning her assault.
Mahuizoh ran his eyes on the objects laid out before him. He ran his fingers, first on the strange pouch and then on the other objects. He had never seen anything like these before. Finally, he looked up and eyed the group of wise men he had gathered. They all looked tired but excited.
What can you tell me about these objects? the tlatoani asked.
The leader, an old, stooped, bald man named Tlanextic, stepped forward and swept his trembling hand over the table. These are all miraculous objects, My Lord! he breathed. He reached out and picked the one that was shaped like a small club. This one, for example, he lifted it and turned it around once until he saw a protuberance that marred the otherwise perfectly smooth surface. The wise man touched the protuberance and instantly a bright light burst forth from the object. Mahuizoh gave a cry of surprise and leaped back.
Its quite all right, My Lord, Tlanextic said, smiling at the tlatoani whose back was up against the far wall. The old man slowly swung the object right to left, allowing the beam of light to play on the area near the tlatoani. Mahuizoh, with eyes wide with wonder, reached out tentatively to touch the circle of light on the wall. He immediately retracted his fingers just as it touched the outer edge. His eyebrows furrowed and reached out again, this time more boldly until his fingers were illuminated as well.
There is no heat! Mahuizoh said in awe. He then walked towards the object held by the old man, his hand in the beam of light until he was within reach of it. The circle of light had become small enough to fit in his palm as he held it directly in front of the object. H-How is this possible? he whispered as he gazed fixedly on his illuminated hand. Finally, he tore his eyes away to look at the old wise man.
We do not know, My Lord. The object appears to have trapped a small sun inside it and allows the light to escape by pressing it here, he pointed to the protuberance. We have not slept for days attempting to solve the riddle of these objects. We only discovered how to reveal the sun hidden in this one yesterday. Tlanextic touched the protuberance again and the light disappeared.
What of these other objects?
We are still studying them, My Lord the old man paused. My Lord, have you caught the woman to which these belonged?
Immediately, the expression on the face of the tlatoani hardened. Not yet.
My Lord, forgive me my boldness but the old man turned his head to seek out the eyes of his brethren, fellow wise men, who with him had attempted to divine the mysteries of the objects before them. He saw encouragement in their eyes.
Speak, Tlatnextic! Mahuizoh commanded.
My L-lord, these men and I believe, and w-we believe strongly, that we should return these objects to the woman in the f-forest.
Why?
B-because, My Lord, w-we believe she is Pamola, the E-evil Spirit of the Night.
I just heard an interesting bit of news from our friends in the Khmer region.
Makkapitew turned his eyes away from the ongoing construction he was supervising to regard his good friend, Wicasa. Wicasa was more than ten years his senior but he looked amazingly younger than he, with his long braided jet black hair and sparkling eyes. The youthful appearance he attributed to his friends rather carefree attitude towards life, whereas he, Makkapitew, Chief of Pennacook, had the problems of his city always on his mind.
Im listening, the Chief said as he smiled and then turned his eyes once more to survey the structure that was slowly taking shape.
You know, I could never remember the name of this building youre trying to build, Wicasa said, shaking his head, a trace of a smile on his lips.
Im calling it the Chichen Itza.
Doesnt look like much actually.
Thats because it isnt finished yet, Makkapitew raised a finger to rub at his temple in an attempt to be patient. He regarded his friend anew. Are you going to tell me what this interesting bit of news is or shall I have to wait until the winter to hear it? Honestly, I dont know why I even keep you around.
Wicasa chuckled. You keep me around because you find my friends in the neighboring regions to be most useful. At any rate, he continued, turning his eyes to the construction site some hundred meters away and clasped his hands behind him, I just heard from Samnang. You remember him, dont you?
Makkapitew merely nodded.
Well, according to him, our Aztec friends in the north have received a visitor two moons ago.
What of it?
This visitor has been causing them quite a bit of grief. According to reports, the capital, Tenochtitlan, has lost over fifty of their jaguar warriors to this visitor.
For a while, neither spoke. The pause was rather lengthy. With brows furrowed, Makkapitew finally faced his friend. There was a trace of a smile on the others face. This visitor, was it just one person?
Just one person.
One woman?
Wicasa nodded, the smile on his face broader.
And the hair ?
As red as fire.
Makkapitew was shaking his head in bewilderment. So the prophecy has come true?
Apparently so. You never believed, Wicasa said, his tone playfully accusing.
I never thought
You were always too practical for your own good.
And yet, my friend, Makkapitew fixed his friend with a stern look, we must still be practical about matters. We must ascertain beyond any doubt that the Red Warrior has indeed returned. The people--
--are going to know soon enough. You cannot control everything, my friend.
But how could this be? What could all this mean?
I suppose, Wicasa said, facing the construction site, we will know soon enough.
This was only the third time Funsch had walked into the Research and Intelligence division of the MVA and it was no less surreal than the first two. Parks predecessor was a real slob and it reflected in the work place. In just two months after Park assumed the role as head of the division, Research and Intelligence boasted the cleanest and neatest area in the entire compound. Workstations were aligned, the floor sparkled, desks were orderly and not a single misplaced document laid around. For all his eccentricity, Jun Yi Park was the unlikely leader that every other geek followed. Funsch was certainly not going to complain about that.
The technicians that he encountered deferentially gave him a wide berth as he walked past. The R&I area was circular and at its center was Parks glass office. He could see him now squinting, as usual, at several banks of monitors surrounding his desk, his bald head glinting from the overhead fluorescent lamps.
Park looked up as Funsch walked in. Ah. Just in time, the smaller mans face brightened up considerably beneath the huge pair of spectacles on his face. He gestured Funsch over with his hand in quick fanning motions.
What do you have for me, Park?
Take a look at this, Park said, this time gesturing toward one set of monitors with a side tilt of his head.
Funsch complied and moved closer. On one of the large monitor was a familiar interface showing a side-by-side comparison between worlds of different universes. The left panel showed an image of a slowly rotating Earth of the Charis universe. Below that image were various statistical data already familiar to him. The right panel showed a similar image of Earth but of the Defrax universe. Above both panels was a large flashing number: 98.5%.
Okay, Funsch said, straightening up, so Defrax universe is almost identical to Charis universe. So what?
Well, six months ago the similarity between the two universes was over 99%, said Park with a smug look on his face.
Youre right. Thats not good at all.
Well, I do have some good news, Park said, typing on the keyboard nearest him. Weve figured out exactly where or I should say when she is.
How did we manage that? I know that the probes didnt work.
It was actually quite simple, really. I dont know why we didnt figure it out sooner.
Funsch parked his butt on the side of Parks table and crossed his arms in front of him. Im listening.
Well, each time anyone makes a jump through the wormhole, the MVA device shoots a tight beam of data back to our satellites back through that same wormhole. So in fact, weve had the data about every jump that Gardner has ever made in our data banks.
Funsch brows furrowed in concentration. I still dont understand how we are able to pick the data up. During the times that Gardner had been jumping, there werent any satellites to retrieve them.
Yes, but the data has been floating in space, uncorrupted through the centuries.
Wow, the MVA Head said expressively, nodding his comprehension. So when in time is she?
240 BC. Somewhere near Tenochtitlan. At least thats where she landed more than two months ago.
I suppose our next problem is to find another wormhole thatll open up in that area and that timeline.
One step ahead of you, Park tapped his keyboard a few more times and the display on his monitor changed. We found one at the same timeline but in a completely different area.
Where?
London.
Out of the question.
I thought youd say that. Looks like well have to wait for the next compatible wormhole then.
Mahuizoh slumped further into his throne, morosely eyeing his chief adviser, Nochehuatl. He knew what the other was going to say and he greatly resented him for it. More clamoring from the people?
Nochehuatl approached with his palms open and facing upwards. Worse, Im afraid, My Lord. There is now dissent among the warriors. None of them could now be persuaded to leave the city. They greatly fear the female.
Those who dare defy me should be put to death.
My Lord, we have already done that. Surely you must see that it is having the opposite on the people.
The tlatoani shook his head and sighed heavily. What would you have me do, Nochehuatl?
Return to the woman her pouch. Beg for forgi--
Never! Mahuizoh slapped the armrests at his sides and pushed himself up and out of his throne as he roared in anger. How could you even think that I, Mahuizoh, Great Tlatoani of the Aztec Empire, would bow down to a woman?! He glared down at his adviser, fists tightly clenched at his sides. I should have you beheaded for even considering it.
I beg your pardon, My Lord, Nochehuatl bowed his head but the expression on his face held no remorse. The people believe tis not a mere woman who now inhabits the forest but a goddess.
I dont care what the people believe! Be gone from my presence, Nochehuatl!
Nochehuatl had been an adviser too long to be affected by the tlatoanis outburst. Mahuizohs father, whom he served before, was not too different then. With a shake of his head he turned and walked out the throne room. At the great door he stopped and looked back to see the tlatoani still watching him. The woman may choose to take back by force what we took from her.
The adviser waited for any response from the other. But after a few moments he sighed and finally left.
Ryna scanned the darkened city from atop the guard tower she took over. The three soldiers that had occupied it were now sprawled on the stone floor, dead. It had taken her less than four seconds to dispatch them. She was getting extremely good at killing. That mere thought bothered her but she set it aside for now. Her priority was to retrieve her backpack and everything that was in it.
She had no plan beyond taking the guard tower by force. The city was larger than had originally seemed when she was escaping from it. She fought to quell the desperation she was feeling. How in the world would she be able to know in which building they kept her belongings? She continued casting her eyes about for several more minutes, keeping only her head above the wall of the tower to conceal her from those of the nearby tower.
She was about to give up when she heard the sounds of running. Ryna saw men--soldiers--with torches moving towards a stone building in the distance. Could it be?
When they had reached the building, they immediately surrounded it with the majority guarding the door. Rynas lips curved into a grim smile. Her enemies had unwittingly pointed her in the right direction. It was, in her opinion, an invitation of sorts. Well, she wasnt one to refuse an invitation. If they want a party, they were gonna get one.
Ryna couldnt understand it. According to her transdimensional device, she was still in American territory. And that the city from where she escaped was Tenochtitlan, an American city. She even had friends who grew up in that city in her present. Tenochtitlan should at least be occupied by Native Americans and not these barbaric-looking people whose language she couldnt even understand!
It has been two months since she escaped. In that time, the city had sent over forty soldiers in three expeditions to the forest trying to capture her. She had wiped them all out. As she spied on the city from the distance, she had a sinking feeling that it wouldnt be long before a much larger force would be sent out to try and get her. She had been able to appropriate the weapons, supplies and even clothing and armor of the soldiers she had dispatched. She was now fully armed to the teeth and the forest filled with booby traps. In spite of that, she knew she wouldnt be able to hold out much longer.
She couldnt continue on the defensive indefinitely. What she needed to do was go back into the city and reacquire her backpack. In it were her flashlight, night vision goggles, a length of nylon cord and a first aid kit. All of which represented technologies that werent going to be available in another two thousand years. To leave these things behind, which was very tempting to her, was not an option. She just hadnt figured out how to get into the city yet. Her height, her hair, her eyes her entire being was almost impossible to disguise, especially during the day time. Going in under the cover of darkness was her best option.
She had been studying the city the last couple of weeks. She even dared to venture close to it at night, moving from one tree branch to another, studying its patterns. Ryna was in one such tree right now, perched on one of its high branches, watching and observing closely.
The city was very well fortified. Whoever the leader was seemed to her overly paranoid about his safety. Did he fear an attack from the other cities within the region? She had traveled from one end of the forest to another and found that the surrounding villages seemed to be under his control. It didnt matter. Their problems werent hers. Her problem was simple. Get in, get the backpack and then get out.
There were guard towers every few hundred meters. Each manned by at least three soldiers. The gates were closed shut when the sun went down. Breaking through the gate, of course, was not an option. She would have to sneak in between the guard towers hoping that none of the guards would be able to spot her. Boy, what she wouldnt give for a sniper rifle. Or even a long bow to take out the guards in the towers from a distance wait a minute! Rynas brows furrowed as she concentrated on the problem. She raised her eyes to the tower closest her. That was it! She neednt sneak in between the towers. She just needed to go through one.
With a satisfied smile on her face, she climbed down the tree to begin planning her assault.
* * * * *
Mahuizoh ran his eyes on the objects laid out before him. He ran his fingers, first on the strange pouch and then on the other objects. He had never seen anything like these before. Finally, he looked up and eyed the group of wise men he had gathered. They all looked tired but excited.
What can you tell me about these objects? the tlatoani asked.
The leader, an old, stooped, bald man named Tlanextic, stepped forward and swept his trembling hand over the table. These are all miraculous objects, My Lord! he breathed. He reached out and picked the one that was shaped like a small club. This one, for example, he lifted it and turned it around once until he saw a protuberance that marred the otherwise perfectly smooth surface. The wise man touched the protuberance and instantly a bright light burst forth from the object. Mahuizoh gave a cry of surprise and leaped back.
Its quite all right, My Lord, Tlanextic said, smiling at the tlatoani whose back was up against the far wall. The old man slowly swung the object right to left, allowing the beam of light to play on the area near the tlatoani. Mahuizoh, with eyes wide with wonder, reached out tentatively to touch the circle of light on the wall. He immediately retracted his fingers just as it touched the outer edge. His eyebrows furrowed and reached out again, this time more boldly until his fingers were illuminated as well.
There is no heat! Mahuizoh said in awe. He then walked towards the object held by the old man, his hand in the beam of light until he was within reach of it. The circle of light had become small enough to fit in his palm as he held it directly in front of the object. H-How is this possible? he whispered as he gazed fixedly on his illuminated hand. Finally, he tore his eyes away to look at the old wise man.
We do not know, My Lord. The object appears to have trapped a small sun inside it and allows the light to escape by pressing it here, he pointed to the protuberance. We have not slept for days attempting to solve the riddle of these objects. We only discovered how to reveal the sun hidden in this one yesterday. Tlanextic touched the protuberance again and the light disappeared.
What of these other objects?
We are still studying them, My Lord the old man paused. My Lord, have you caught the woman to which these belonged?
Immediately, the expression on the face of the tlatoani hardened. Not yet.
My Lord, forgive me my boldness but the old man turned his head to seek out the eyes of his brethren, fellow wise men, who with him had attempted to divine the mysteries of the objects before them. He saw encouragement in their eyes.
Speak, Tlatnextic! Mahuizoh commanded.
My L-lord, these men and I believe, and w-we believe strongly, that we should return these objects to the woman in the f-forest.
Why?
B-because, My Lord, w-we believe she is Pamola, the E-evil Spirit of the Night.
* * * * *
I just heard an interesting bit of news from our friends in the Khmer region.
Makkapitew turned his eyes away from the ongoing construction he was supervising to regard his good friend, Wicasa. Wicasa was more than ten years his senior but he looked amazingly younger than he, with his long braided jet black hair and sparkling eyes. The youthful appearance he attributed to his friends rather carefree attitude towards life, whereas he, Makkapitew, Chief of Pennacook, had the problems of his city always on his mind.
Im listening, the Chief said as he smiled and then turned his eyes once more to survey the structure that was slowly taking shape.
You know, I could never remember the name of this building youre trying to build, Wicasa said, shaking his head, a trace of a smile on his lips.
Im calling it the Chichen Itza.
Doesnt look like much actually.
Thats because it isnt finished yet, Makkapitew raised a finger to rub at his temple in an attempt to be patient. He regarded his friend anew. Are you going to tell me what this interesting bit of news is or shall I have to wait until the winter to hear it? Honestly, I dont know why I even keep you around.
Wicasa chuckled. You keep me around because you find my friends in the neighboring regions to be most useful. At any rate, he continued, turning his eyes to the construction site some hundred meters away and clasped his hands behind him, I just heard from Samnang. You remember him, dont you?
Makkapitew merely nodded.
Well, according to him, our Aztec friends in the north have received a visitor two moons ago.
What of it?
This visitor has been causing them quite a bit of grief. According to reports, the capital, Tenochtitlan, has lost over fifty of their jaguar warriors to this visitor.
For a while, neither spoke. The pause was rather lengthy. With brows furrowed, Makkapitew finally faced his friend. There was a trace of a smile on the others face. This visitor, was it just one person?
Just one person.
One woman?
Wicasa nodded, the smile on his face broader.
And the hair ?
As red as fire.
Makkapitew was shaking his head in bewilderment. So the prophecy has come true?
Apparently so. You never believed, Wicasa said, his tone playfully accusing.
I never thought
You were always too practical for your own good.
And yet, my friend, Makkapitew fixed his friend with a stern look, we must still be practical about matters. We must ascertain beyond any doubt that the Red Warrior has indeed returned. The people--
--are going to know soon enough. You cannot control everything, my friend.
But how could this be? What could all this mean?
I suppose, Wicasa said, facing the construction site, we will know soon enough.
* * * * *
This was only the third time Funsch had walked into the Research and Intelligence division of the MVA and it was no less surreal than the first two. Parks predecessor was a real slob and it reflected in the work place. In just two months after Park assumed the role as head of the division, Research and Intelligence boasted the cleanest and neatest area in the entire compound. Workstations were aligned, the floor sparkled, desks were orderly and not a single misplaced document laid around. For all his eccentricity, Jun Yi Park was the unlikely leader that every other geek followed. Funsch was certainly not going to complain about that.
The technicians that he encountered deferentially gave him a wide berth as he walked past. The R&I area was circular and at its center was Parks glass office. He could see him now squinting, as usual, at several banks of monitors surrounding his desk, his bald head glinting from the overhead fluorescent lamps.
Park looked up as Funsch walked in. Ah. Just in time, the smaller mans face brightened up considerably beneath the huge pair of spectacles on his face. He gestured Funsch over with his hand in quick fanning motions.
What do you have for me, Park?
Take a look at this, Park said, this time gesturing toward one set of monitors with a side tilt of his head.
Funsch complied and moved closer. On one of the large monitor was a familiar interface showing a side-by-side comparison between worlds of different universes. The left panel showed an image of a slowly rotating Earth of the Charis universe. Below that image were various statistical data already familiar to him. The right panel showed a similar image of Earth but of the Defrax universe. Above both panels was a large flashing number: 98.5%.
Okay, Funsch said, straightening up, so Defrax universe is almost identical to Charis universe. So what?
Well, six months ago the similarity between the two universes was over 99%, said Park with a smug look on his face.
Youre right. Thats not good at all.
Well, I do have some good news, Park said, typing on the keyboard nearest him. Weve figured out exactly where or I should say when she is.
How did we manage that? I know that the probes didnt work.
It was actually quite simple, really. I dont know why we didnt figure it out sooner.
Funsch parked his butt on the side of Parks table and crossed his arms in front of him. Im listening.
Well, each time anyone makes a jump through the wormhole, the MVA device shoots a tight beam of data back to our satellites back through that same wormhole. So in fact, weve had the data about every jump that Gardner has ever made in our data banks.
Funsch brows furrowed in concentration. I still dont understand how we are able to pick the data up. During the times that Gardner had been jumping, there werent any satellites to retrieve them.
Yes, but the data has been floating in space, uncorrupted through the centuries.
Wow, the MVA Head said expressively, nodding his comprehension. So when in time is she?
240 BC. Somewhere near Tenochtitlan. At least thats where she landed more than two months ago.
I suppose our next problem is to find another wormhole thatll open up in that area and that timeline.
One step ahead of you, Park tapped his keyboard a few more times and the display on his monitor changed. We found one at the same timeline but in a completely different area.
Where?
London.
Out of the question.
I thought youd say that. Looks like well have to wait for the next compatible wormhole then.
* * * * *
Mahuizoh slumped further into his throne, morosely eyeing his chief adviser, Nochehuatl. He knew what the other was going to say and he greatly resented him for it. More clamoring from the people?
Nochehuatl approached with his palms open and facing upwards. Worse, Im afraid, My Lord. There is now dissent among the warriors. None of them could now be persuaded to leave the city. They greatly fear the female.
Those who dare defy me should be put to death.
My Lord, we have already done that. Surely you must see that it is having the opposite on the people.
The tlatoani shook his head and sighed heavily. What would you have me do, Nochehuatl?
Return to the woman her pouch. Beg for forgi--
Never! Mahuizoh slapped the armrests at his sides and pushed himself up and out of his throne as he roared in anger. How could you even think that I, Mahuizoh, Great Tlatoani of the Aztec Empire, would bow down to a woman?! He glared down at his adviser, fists tightly clenched at his sides. I should have you beheaded for even considering it.
I beg your pardon, My Lord, Nochehuatl bowed his head but the expression on his face held no remorse. The people believe tis not a mere woman who now inhabits the forest but a goddess.
I dont care what the people believe! Be gone from my presence, Nochehuatl!
Nochehuatl had been an adviser too long to be affected by the tlatoanis outburst. Mahuizohs father, whom he served before, was not too different then. With a shake of his head he turned and walked out the throne room. At the great door he stopped and looked back to see the tlatoani still watching him. The woman may choose to take back by force what we took from her.
The adviser waited for any response from the other. But after a few moments he sighed and finally left.
* * * * *
Ryna scanned the darkened city from atop the guard tower she took over. The three soldiers that had occupied it were now sprawled on the stone floor, dead. It had taken her less than four seconds to dispatch them. She was getting extremely good at killing. That mere thought bothered her but she set it aside for now. Her priority was to retrieve her backpack and everything that was in it.
She had no plan beyond taking the guard tower by force. The city was larger than had originally seemed when she was escaping from it. She fought to quell the desperation she was feeling. How in the world would she be able to know in which building they kept her belongings? She continued casting her eyes about for several more minutes, keeping only her head above the wall of the tower to conceal her from those of the nearby tower.
She was about to give up when she heard the sounds of running. Ryna saw men--soldiers--with torches moving towards a stone building in the distance. Could it be?
When they had reached the building, they immediately surrounded it with the majority guarding the door. Rynas lips curved into a grim smile. Her enemies had unwittingly pointed her in the right direction. It was, in her opinion, an invitation of sorts. Well, she wasnt one to refuse an invitation. If they want a party, they were gonna get one.
