What has happened before:  Several of the main characters
from the cast of Ranma have been drawn to a world
populated by magic and magical beings.  Now, Ranma (known
as Raeni) must gather his friends (and enemies) to do
battle with an unknown foe.

Raeni has found Ukyou (known as Uerris), but a tragedy is
in the making as the unknown enemy strikes the heart of
Uerris' new family.  The two race off to rescue Uerris'
father, who has been apparently captured by the enemy.

Sword and Sorcery
Chapter 13

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	Sunset quickly approached as two figures vaulted
through the treetops of the darkening forest.  One figure
signaled to the other, indicating that both should stop at
a tree up ahead.  The two alighted on a suitably large
tree branch and paused for conversation.  Neither girl was
winded.

	Uerris asked the other girl, "What's wrong, Raeni?" 
She peered around her and at the ground below, but she
didn't find any perceivable danger.  She was impatient to
get to her father and worried that any time spent
lolly-gagging could get him killed.

	"I needed to know how much further it was to Witch's
Doom."  Raeni reached down to a pouch at her side and
spoke into it, "Azure, you all right down there?"

	A tinny mind-voice answered her, <I'm fine, Raeni. 
All this cotton you put in here made it a pretty comfy
ride.  I should do this more often.>  The pouch seemed
alive as it bulged and moved unnaturally.

	Turning back to Uerris, Raeni continued, "How many
more furlongs until we reach Witch's Doom?  And when we
get there, we stick to the plan, right?"

	Uerris nodded in answer to Raeni's last question. 
Answering the first question, she said, "Another five
furlongs should do it.  When we get within one or two, you
should be able to tell immediately."  The
ranger-in-training continued in a softer voice, "Whatever
happened that night six years ago poisoned the area around
the grove.  Nothing grows easily there, and what little
lives there is twisted beyond recognition."

	According to Errin's information, the orcs were
arranged in a circular formation around the massive
firepit that could still be found there.  He did not know
where the leader would be, because the man had seemingly
appeared out of nowhere. That was dangerous, for Keili had
recognized the tattoos on the elf from Errin's brief
description.  They marked a member of "The Order of the
Night", a league of assassin-mages.  Unfortunately, Errin
himself could not be there to confirm any of this since he
was still at home sleeping off a heavy dose of healing and
a large lump to the head, courtesy of Raeni's Mandatory
Sleeping Services.

	Uerris added, "When we get there, my job is to find
my father and get out.  Your job is to distract as long as
possible."  At Raeni's tiny nod, she said, "Let's go,
then.  We can't waste any more time here."

	Raeni stopped Uerris, saying, "One more thing,
Uerris."  At the ranger's querying glance, she continued,
"If I start fighting, don't interfere unless it looks like
I'm in trouble.  Agreed?"

	Uerris gave Raeni an incredulous look.  "This is a
whole BAND of orcs.  Don't you think that's too much?  No
matter how good you are, a magic user won't be able to get
them all if they attack you from all sides."

	Raeni gave her a mysterious smile.  "But I'm not any
old sorceress.  Trust me.  A band of orcs is going to be
nothing."

	Still doubting but wanting to hurry to her father's
aid, Uerris reluctantly agreed with Raeni.  "Okay then,
but at the first sign of trouble, I'm helping."

	Giving her familiar fair warning, Raeni said, "Azure,
I'm starting now."

	Both girls leapt off the tree simultaneously, heading
toward two different trees and bounding off into the
quickly darkening woods.

	***

	When Raeni and Uerris reached the edge of Witch's
Doom, both slowed by unspoken agreement to a 'creeping'
speed.  Raeni signaled to Uerris, indicating that she
would take the ground.  She dropped to the forest floor
and opened up the little pouch, allowing a shrunken Azure
to come forth.  Silently banishing the magic around him,
Azure grew to his normal size within the span of two
heart-beats.  Raeni pointed left, directing Azure in that
direction while she took the right.  Before leaving for
this little foray, she had changed her clothes into
something suitably woodsy.  Raeni silently moved from tree
to tree, her speed matching that of Uerris' above her. 
All trace of humor and frivolity disappeared from her face
as she concentrated on the hostage situation.

	Uerris, for her part, was amazed at the sorceress'
silent maneuverings below her.  Even she, who had trained
all her life to be silent in the woods, would be hard
pressed to match the girl in her speed and grace.  'The
girl's a natural,' she thought wonderingly.  For some
insane reason, she felt pride in even knowing Raeni. 
Turning her attention to the heart of the grove ahead of
her, she focused her thoughts on rescuing her father.

	For Uerris, it was hard coming back to this place. 
It held horrible memories for her, and she could not quite
forget that ... evil force that disrupted Old Miri's
beautiful dance.  As much as she wanted to, she still
could not rid her mind of those terrible images.

	For Raeni, the twisted wood gave her mixed feelings. 
Without a doubt, an impalpable wrongness had pervaded her
senses the moment she had stepped within the boundaries of
this cursed place, but she felt another force, one strong
of nature, tempering the initial brutal impression she had
first received.

	Her eyes noted the bizarre shapes that had formed
from the wood, the discoloration of the bark to an
unnatural reddish-brown.  If she hadn't known any better,
she would have sworn that someone had come along to these
woods and had painted every available surface with blood,
allowing it to dry to this sickening coloration.

	Without a doubt, no animals lived in these woods. 
Any creature that had made its home here must have moved
away.  Raeni suspected that it would have died a long,
lingering death otherwise.  She thought the old rot she
smelled must come from the ground, for nothing in nature
could smell like that, or so she hoped.

	***

	When they finally reached the edge of the orc
encampment, only a glimmer of light shone from the west,
the sun having long sunk beneath the horizon.  The low
fire located at the rough center of campsite held none of
the cheery joy normally associated with campfires. 
Instead, it angrily threw out blood-red sparks as it
greedily consumed the twisted wood that served as its
fuel.  Dark, sinister silhouettes played havoc with their
imaginations as the two girls looked on in horror at the
scene before them.

	The sorceress and ranger made out a total of ten
shapes scattered about the encampment.  Nine of those
figures held non-human forms.  Chains bound the last to a
pole staked in the ground.

	Raeni swung her hand in an onward gesture, hoping
that Uerris would catch the hint and would head around the
edge of the grove to a more advantageous position that
would allow her to reach her father.  It seemed that
Uerris did, since she silently left her perch above the
sorceress and followed around the edge of the campsite.

	::Azure,:: Raeni 'pathed to her familiar, ::you're
our backup.  Don't move unless you think either of us are
in trouble, but try to maintain a good position.  We still
don't know where that assassin is.:: Raeni waited until
Uerris settled into her new position, and then she burst
into action.

	Moving with a speed akin to lightning, Raeni charged
the nearest of the orcs.  She held back her charging cry,
deciding that stealth in this instance would be more
advantageous than any disconcerting effect it might have. 
'Orc, your ass is mine!' she gleefully thought as she
slammed into the first orc, knocking the wind out of it. 
Using a punch with the full power of Ranma behind it, she
knocked it across the clearing.  It crashed into a tree,
unconscious.

	The other orcs, seeing one of their member down,
growled menacingly and charged the girl.  Three of them,
however, hung back hovering around the prisoner on the
ground.  'Chikusho!' Raeni frantically thought as she
caught sight of the three hanging back.  'I've got to get
them to come to me!'  Warding off the blows that came
close, she moved the battle site to within range of the
prisoner.  'Damn it.  I can't get him and protect both of
us at the same time,' she decided.  'But they don't seem
to want to attack.'

	The press of orcs around Raeni finally forced her to
focus her full attention on the immediate battle.  For the
most part, she had been dodging the sword and dagger
thrusts that had been aimed at her, but when one such blow
came close to taking off her head, she decided that enough
was enough.  Needing some breathing room, she yelled out,
"MIRUS POCANUS!"  A blazing light appeared above her,
blinding her opponents temporarily.  Using the planned
diversion, she vaulted out of the encirclement.

	Raeni landed about ten paces away, giving her some
room to breathe.  'Hehe.  Now to even things up.'  She
reached down to her side and pulled out her weapon of
choice.  Her eyes narrowed as she spied Uerris creeping
toward the three in the back with the intention of
rescuing Aarun.  She was thoroughly taken aback when
Uerris suddenly froze, fear evident on the girl's face,
and quickly scuttled backwards into the forest covering. 
The three in the back still stared impassively at Raeni
and the blinded orcs between them.  Whatever it was that
frightened Uerris so, at least Uerris held her shield of
stealth.

	When the orcs regained their sight, they were greeted
with a seemingly frail girl wielding one bad-assed,
two-handed sword.  To say that they were taken aback would
be putting it lightly.  The girl held the sword one-handed
like a rapier, and the more stupid members of the tribe
started guffawing at the perceived silliness.  One said in
a high-pitched squealing voice, "You no scare us.  You no
move big sword!"  When the child-like mage swished the
sword around with casual ease, their laughter
irretrievably died out to be replaced by stunned silence.

	Raeni muttered, "Orus Bili," and held aloft her
sword.  The blade blazed to life, limned with a bright,
white light.  Speaking loudly, the sorceress demanded of
the gathering before her, "Leave or die!"  To her
surprise, instead of immediately vacating the area, the
orcs cast nervous glances at the three behind them,
switching their gaze back and forth between a definite
danger, her, and what she discerned to be an unknown
danger, the mysterious trio in the back.

	Raeni hopes for a good outcome were dashed as the
orcs, deciding on her as being the lesser of two dangers,
approached her position, threat evident in their movement.
'Oh well,' she shrugged, 'I guess that routine isn't as
good as I thought.'  Fire blazing in her eyes, she charged
the doomed orcs.  Now with a weapon capable of blocking in
her hand, she used it to parry while she used her open
palm to knock out the over-matched enemy.

	Half the orcs lay unconscious on the ground after her
first pass.  That left only two more.  The next one
managed to parry once with its own sword,  but the
perfectly delivered spin-kick sent it off into dreamland. 
The last, seeing how fast the others had gone down, threw
down its own sword and ran off squealing into the woods.

	Aloud, Raeni said, "Now THAT'S the reaction I
wanted."  She turned to the orcs that had hung back before
and awaited their next move.

	The three threw glances between themselves.  Two of
them finally looked at a third, singling it out.  In
agreement, the chosen orc stepped out of the little huddle
the three were in and headed toward Raeni, pulling out a
weighted chain as it approached.  "Now you die, human,"
the orc growled in a low voice as it swung its chain above
its head.

	Raeni's eyes narrowed as she examined her new
opponent.  The voice that greeted her didn't sound quite
... right.  Suspecting magic, she switched over to
magesight.  All three of the remaining figures glowed with
magic.  Her immediate opponent seemed to burst out of his
orcish shape, and the chain he wielded glowed with unknown
enchantments.  Of the two hanging back, one was lithe and
human-shaped and the other had a human body with an
inhuman head which she couldn't quite make out.

	Raeni leapt backwards several paces, distancing
herself from her oncoming opponent.  She planted her sword
in the ground before her and cupped her hands in
preparation for a spell.  She chanted, "Mirus Obliri," and
a yellow light shot out of her hand in a funnel shape
covering her first opponent and extending past him to
reach the two behind him. By the time the light died down
to nothing, it was evident that her magic had overcome
their own, revealing the true shapes of her three
opponents.

	Raeni immediately regretted her spell.  She said,
"Man, that was a mistake.  Seeing you guys as orcs was
much better than seeing this."  Her comment enraged her
fast-approaching enemy, which happened to be a two-headed
humanoid that towered over her.  One face snarled in rage
while the other giggled insanely, setting Raeni's teeth on
edge and reminding her of a Kodachi on speed.  The chain,
which had been over large in orc hands, now fit perfectly
in ettin's grip.

	The creature did not give her time for a second
comment as it snapped the chain at her, using it like a
whip.  Raeni managed to dodge the first blow but had to
bring up her sword to parry the second.  Unfortunately,
the ettin managed to entangle her two-handed sword in its
chain and ripped it from her grasp.  The sword landed
twenty paces away from the battling foes.  Raeni yelled,
"Why you!  That pisses me off!"  Pulling out a dagger, she
closed in with the monster.  "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" 
420 dagger thrusts and slices sent the ettin to its knees,
and it dropped its chain.

	Raeni's special technique had left the monster in
terrible shape.  Cuts lined the monsters arms and chest. 
None of the cuts were deep, but the sheer number of cuts
added up to major blood loss.  The ettin collapsed,
clutching feebly at its wounds.

	Taking pity on it, Raeni pulled out a roll of tape
from her pouch and approached the monster.  It roared at
her with the little strength it had left but could not
stop her advance.  Once she was sure she was in range, she
once more threw her special attack, "Kachuu Tenshin
Amaguriken!"  This time, her hands blazed around the
wounded creature and wrapped it up using the tape in her
hand.  This effectively stopped the bleeding and had the
coincidental side effect of immobilizing her enemy.  Ettin
neutralized, she turned back to face the remaining two
attackers.  She kept her eyes on them as she cautiously
moved to retrieve her blade.

	The two remaining opponents eyed her with respect,
and another silent exchange occurred between the two.  The
one that left their lines to do battle was the one with
the unknown head.  As it came closer, Raeni made out
details.  The monster sported a classic bull's head, and
this opponent outmassed the previous one by at least
several hundred pounds, by the sorceress' internal
calculations.  Bulging muscles stood out sharply against
the minotaur's well-defined frame.  He towered above her,
being three times her own height.  Idly, she wondered how
illusion magic had made him look so small and if he ran
into trees in the forest if he didn't duck.

	Raeni cut off her thoughts as the creature threw its
first attack.  When he had showed her the giant warhammer
and had grinned, she had mistakenly thought he had meant
to do hand-to-hand with her.  The minotaur threw his
weapon at a surprised Raeni, almost catching her in the
face.  She dodged and the weapon whistled past her ear,
blasting a dead tree at the edge of the clearing into
splinters.  Raeni stared at the devastated tree.  'Whoa! 
That's serious power!' she thought.  Raeni whipped her
head back in time to see the giant hammer materialize back
in his hands.  'And it returns, too!  This is bad.'  She
dodged another throw.  Behind her, another tree was turned
into toothpicks.

	'This can't go on,' thought Raeni.  'I'm running out
of sawdust material.  I don't know if this'll work, but
...'  She planted her feet in the ground and waited for
the minotaur's next throw.  She gathered her confidence
and timed it perfectly.  As the hammer reached her
position, she yelled, "Mouko Takabisha!" and kept the
force of the chi-blast cupped within her hands but pushing
outward.  She felt her will straining, but it held.  The
ball of chi in her hand countered the force of hammer
flying into it, almost perfectly canceling the blow.  Some
force overspill pushed Raeni backwards a pace or two, but
the chi ball held, slowly dwindling as its force
dispersed.  Raeni was left with the massive hammer held
both her hands, her own sword having been discarded onto
the ground when the missiles started flying.  She had
caught the hammer before it could fall to the ground.

	Raeni flippantly tossed the hammer over her shoulder,
saying, "That's done.  Now it's my turn!"  She reached
into her little magical pouch of goodies and pulled out
... a red cape.  'This worked in the movies,' she thought.
'I hope they held SOME truth.'  Raeni held the cape to
the side calling out, "Toro!  Toro!  Come get me, Toro!"

	The minotaur bent low and readied a charge at her. 
Although Raeni couldn't tell if he was charging her or the
cape, she mused that at least the ploy was working. 
Either way, the creature approached a distance close
enough to allow her to grapple him, which was her original
intention.  After seeing his charging speed, Raeni changed
her mind.

	Literally seeing red in his eyes, the bull-like
creature ran toward Raeni with his head held low, just
like a real bull.  On the first pass, Raeni danced out of
the way, yelling, "Ole!  Ole!", cheering herself on.  She
did the same on the second and the third passes.  By this
time, she had maneuvered herself over by the edge of the
clearing and quickly approached the largest tree she could
find.

	Taunting the minotaur one last time, she yelled,
"You're a disgrace to your lineage, you fat cow!  You
couldn't hit the broadside of a barn."  Although he had no
idea what a 'barn' was, the monster reacted typically.  He
roared in response and charged her at an unprecedented
speed.  Raeni held the target in front of the trunk of the
large tree and waited patiently.  Just as it came within
two paces of her, she whipped the cape away, revealing the
trunk.  She watched impassively as the minotaur's eyes
widened in realization.  The creature put on the brakes,
but it was too late.  As he crashed into the solid, wooden
trunk, Raeni winced in sympathy.  The sound of the
collision reverberated through the clearing, and the one
remaining enemy shook her head and slapped her forehead in
disgust.

	The poor minotaur staggered around the clearing,
totally disorientated.  Raeni casually strode up to the
wandering creature and politely tapped on his leg.   She
gestured to him with her finger, beckoning him to come
closer.  Stupidly, he did, lowering his head.  Raeni
intended to deliver a finishing blow when the head came in
range, but she saw it wouldn't be necessary.   As the
minotaur's head came to her level, it didn't stop and
continued on right past her shoulder.  The creature
crashed to the ground, almost catching Raeni underneath
his bulky mass, but she danced out of the way just in
time.  He muttered, "The ground is good ...", and passed
out.

	With one foot positioned on the fallen minotaur's
arm, Raeni turned to her one remaining foe, a raven-haired
female human, and asked, "Do you give up?  Or do you want
me to continue?"  As she said this, she flexed her arms
and struck up poses that made her generally look
ridiculous.

	With a slight smile, the human female answered, "Oh,
I think I can take care of stripling such as you."  The
red-robed mage threw up her hands and intricately
gestured, disappearing from sight.  Her voice echoed
throughout the clearing tauntingly.  "Can you find me,
youngling?  Am I here?"  The woman appeared several paces
away and Raeni dove towards the figure, passing through it
harmlessly.  "Or am I here."  The woman appeared again,
this time from near the body of the unconscious ettin.  "I
am everywhere."  Hundreds of images of the woman showed
all across the clearing.

	"You old MAID!  I'll find you."  Raeni randomly
attacked the images that came within reach, each time
hitting nothing.  Her enemy reacted to her taunt by giving
her a kick in her rear.

	"Now that was rude!  And here I had thought I would
be killing a well-mannered lady."  The woman's voice
floated by Raeni's right ear.

	Raeni lashed out with her right fist striking at
where she perceived the owner of the voice to be.  Her
effort yielded success when her right cross connected
solidly with flesh.  Raeni heard a crunch her fist crashed
into something soft and pliant.

	A moment later, a voice to Raeni's left whined, "You
bwitch, you bwoke bmy node!"

	Again, Raeni threw a punch blindly, and again she
connected, this time sending something flying.  The images
all around her slowly faded away until she saw only one. 
The illusionist lay unconscious by a tree, having been
obviously knocked out by it.  "Hehe.  I guess youth over
beauty, ne?  My reaction time over your vanity."  Raeni
strode over to the woman and tied her up.  Taking pity on
the woman (and to make sure the illusionist didn't
suffocate) she set the woman's nose.  She also blindfolded
and gagged the woman, to prevent any further
illusion-casting.  She went around the clearing, checking
on and tying up her fallen enemies.  The ettin was already
well tied by her bandages so she hobbled its feet.  She
used the ettin's chains to securely bind the minotaur. 
She hobbled his feet as well.  As for the orcs, she felt
that simple rope would do.

	Not counted among the fallen was the mysterious
assassin described by Uerris' brother.  Not once had she
seen anybody with a facial tattoo.  She didn't disbelieve
Errin's statement that he saw an elf with a tattoo, but
...  Raeni shrugged and headed over toward the man staked
to the ground.  She scanned the edge of the forest nearest
to the stake and shouted out, "Uerris!  Come help your
father!"  She added silently to her familiar, ::Azure, you
stay where you are and keep on the alert!::

	When Uerris finally reached her side, Raeni saw
something akin to awe in the girl's eyes.  To a country
girl like Uerris, what Raeni had just done might seem like
a tremendous feat.  Actually, Raeni reassessed, to almost
anybody, what she had done would be amazing.  She brushed
her fingernails on her vest silently congratulating
herself on a job well done.  In truth, it had felt good to
go almost all-out, at least physically.

	After Uerris cursorily examined Aarun, she said, "It
looks like my brother was exaggerating.  Father's a little
beat up, but he'll be all right.  Nothing that a few good
day's rest wouldn't cure."  She sat back breathed a sigh
in relief.  "He made it sound like Father was dying.  Most
of these wounds must have been recent though."

	Something in the healer's diagnosis didn't sit right
with Raeni.  The figure on the ground hadn't even reacted
a little bit to their presence.  Making a sudden decision,
she stood up and pulled her friend away from the man on
the ground.

	Uerris reacted by jerking her arm away from Raeni. 
She demanded, "What are you doing?  He's no danger to
you?"

	Raeni pleaded, "Let me cast another illusion breaker.
I don't think this man is who you think he is.  I know
your brother may seem a bit idiotic at times, but I don't
think he was exaggerating!"

	Uerris looked very reluctant in allowing Raeni to
cast the counter-spell.

	"Trust me!  This magic can't hurt him in any way, and
it's better to safe than sorry!" Raeni reassured her old
friend.  After a moment of indecision, Uerris silently
nodded her consent.  Raeni pulled both of them back
several paces and cast the same spell as before.  She
chanted, "Mirus Obliri," and once again light streamed out
of her cupped hands to obscure the figure before them.

	The light from Raeni's spell died down to nothing,
but the sight revealed conformed to neither girl's
expectation.  The man had disappeared.

	Uerris turned to Raeni and cried out, "What have you
done to him, you witch!"  She grabbed onto Raeni and shook
the sorceress roughly, demanding, "Bring him back!  Bring
him back right now!"

	"B-b-but I didn't do anything!"  Raeni managed to
break free from the impassioned girl's hold.  "That spell
only banishes illusions.  Unless that man was an
illusion!"

	"That's impossible, Raeni!  I had him in my hands.  I
checked his wounds.  WHAT I FELT WAS NO ILLUSION!" Uerris
shouted at the red-head.

	A lilting voice interrupted the altercation.  "Very
good, children.  You're both right."

	The two girls on the ground froze in response to the
chilly voice.  Uerris looked around fearfully for its
source.

	Raeni's reaction was somewhat different.  She was
sick and tired of everybody acting condescendingly towards
her.  "I am no child," she screamed.  She pinpointed the
source of the voice and not caring if it hit or not, she
chanted, "Orus Horii," and threw the lance of fire that
appeared javelin-like in her hand at the offending party.

	To the girls' surprise, they immediately heard an
"Urk!" from the direction of the voice.  Raeni met Uerris'
amazed expression with one of her own and both blurted
out, "I/you hit something?!"  Raeni leapt in the confirmed
direction shouting, "Come on, Ucchan!   Maybe now we can
get some answers!"