I know what you’re all thinking, "Finally, she’s gotten around to doing chapter 12." Well, yes, it’s done and I’m sorry it took so long. I know I promised a shorter wait, but I was kept mucho busy. And I’m working on two other fics not to mentions several other projects. I hope you all like this, and hopefully chapter 13 won’t take me forever to write.

Happy Reading!

Standard diclaimer: I don’t own the Ronins and Co. I’m just borrowing them for my own designs. Everyone else, however, does belong to me. If you have some desire to use anything that belongs to me, please feel free to ask. Chances are, I’ll say yes, but do be so kind as to ask. Thanks.

c. 7/8/98

Chapter 12

Anubis bolted upright in his borrowed bed. "Raine!" he cried, his eyes wide.

"Hush," Mia soothed and tried to press him back into the bed.

"NO!" Anubis persisted. "She’s here, or was. Wait," he stopped suddenly.

"Anubis, what’s wrong? I’m confused."

"Why am I in a different room?" he asked out of the blue.

"Don’t you remember? This morning Talpa sent his soldiers to try and destroy you. You saved me."

Anubis looked away, still uncomfortable with this feeling of gratitude. "What happened to the room?"

"One word, Ryo."

"Three—Flare Up Now."

Mia laughed. "He blew a hole in the wall the size of one of those Dynasty gates that took root in the city. I had Rowen float up to tape insulating plastic over the hole and the boys are responsible for repairing it."

"I’d like to see Halo run the risk of musing his hair by actually doing work. I don’t know what he does with it when he puts his helmet on."

"What do you do with yours?" she asked, fingering the poker-straight strands.

Anubis pulled away slightly, not enough to offend her, just enough to deter her. She may have thought that she was attracted to him, but he knew otherwise. He may have been a warlord for 500 years, but he could still sense the depths of her feelings for Ryo. "Those boys need to know that they won’t always be able to depend on Ryo to "flare up now" and save the day. They each need to develop their own skills and techniques."

"I think they know that," Mia said as she settled back in her chair. "I just don’t think they’re too sure of themselves as individuals. That should come with time though," she said with a sigh.

"Time is exactly what we don’t have. I can sense it running out for all of us. Whose room am I in?" Anubis asked, changing the subject.

"Just another guest room. I have several, but this is the last one available in the main house. The boys have occupied all the others and I saw no need to move you down the block to the guest house."

"No, who was in this room before me? It was occupied. I can sense it."

"Dr. Rhiannon Gael was in this room before you. She some how managed to avoid being taken in the initial attacks, but about two weeks ago Dais attacked in the middle of the day. The boys tried to fend him off, but he was too much for them. He had already begun an attack against Rhi herself when the boys arrived. He soundly defeated them and then left with the doctor. We presumed he took her back to Talpa. We haven’t heard from the Warlords since that day. This morning’s incident was the first since then."

"Were you close to her?"

"She taught at the university where my grandfather and I taught. I took a few of her classes. But other than that, I didn’t know her until the boys brought her home one day. You could say she and I bonded in the short time she was with us. I miss her terribly."

"I can understand. I wouldn’t think that living with a house full of men could be very easy for one woman. I would assume that’s the way the Empress would have felt, had she had feelings."

"I still don’t understand where this Empress came from. She wasn’t mentioned in any of my grandfather’s writings. Could you tell me about her?"

"She’s been gone for many years, but I’ll tell you what I can remember.

"The Empress was a strong woman. She ruled at Talpa’s right hand for an entire century while the warlords and I were there."

"Where did she come from?"
"That I don’t know. I don’t know if she was once human turned demon like the master or if she was a demon in her own right. Or even if she was a simple human Talpa took and made his Empress. She was very powerful for such a small woman. The master insisted she was a goddess, she insisted otherwise. She trained with the four of us; well I should say the other three warlords. I preferred to train alone, but sometimes the five of us worked out together. She never entered battle though, she only sent us out. Many a time I would return to the thrown room and present her with the head of one of the generals leading one of the armies we had conquered."

Mia shuddered at the thought.

"Yes, it wasn’t a chore I relished either, but I was the leader of the warlords, it was my responsibility. And the Empress had a bloodlust like no other. Even in training she was vicious. I remember Dais and Cale coming back from training hopelessly battered."

"What about Sekhmet?"

"He and the Empress sparred together—against Dais and Cale. They taunted the other two mercilessly for getting beaten by a girl."

"But that girl did have some help from a seasoned warrior."

"Well, as I heard it, she did most of the bashing. Sekhmet just knocked them off balance."

"If she was such a wonderful warrioress, why didn’t Talpa send her off to battle?"

"I suspect it was because he didn’t want to take any chances on having her harmed. She was to provide him with an heir."

"WHAT?!"

"She never did, fortunately for us. Told him she couldn’t, that it would go against her vows. He never believed her."

"What vows?"

"Vows as avatar---oh, my goddess."

"What? Are you remembering something important?"

"They were the same…they had to be…that’s why he never let us see each other outside of official matters…why she came for me…" Anubis said more to himself than to Mia.

"What are you talking about?" Mia asked, trying to get his attention.

"I knew that if he got the Goddess things would be horrible, I just didn’t know who the Goddess was. Is she even now?"

"Anubis, you’re not making any sense."

"I’m sorry, I lost track for a moment. Anyway, one day the Empress and Cale were training together when something happened. I’m not exactly sure of the details, we were forbidden to speak of it after the event, but I know some things. While they were training, the Empress crushed Cale. She fought viciously and left him helpless in the practice room. She made a break to escape Talpa. I was sent to prevent her from leaving. She begged me to come with her. Pleaded that together we would destroy him and free the others. I refused and she left my soldiers and me a pile of wounded men. And that was the last I ever heard of the Empress."

"What was her name?"

"Raine."

"That’s the name you’ve been calling out in your sleep since you got here."

"That was also the name of my fiancée."

"Do you think…"

"That there’s a connection. Yes. I just realized it—in a dream. I think Talpa had her under some kind of mind control." Anubis looked very drained and pale.

"Would you like to go downstairs and have lunch? We could talk about this later."

"Yes, that would be very nice. I think being out of bed for some time would help."

"The boys are probably out practicing. They’ll be out there for hours. Ryo trains them relentlessly. Maybe later you could practice with them and start getting your strength back."

"Perhaps," Anubis mused as he eased out of bed. With Mia’s help, he was able to make it down the stairs into the sitting room where he met another shock of his life.

***

"Raine!" Sekhmet cried as he scooped up the fallen goddess.

"What the hell just happened?!"

General pandemonium ensued as the three warlords ran around trying to figure out what to do with Rhiannon.

"What is going on here!" Talpa’s voice boomed.

‘Oh, shit,’ was the common thought of the three warlords.

"I want an explanation as to why my Empress is lying in Sekhmet’s arms!"

"Master," Cale spoke up, "we don’t know what happened. She simply dropped after we finished sparing." It was almost the truth.

"Take her to her chambers. See that she recovers. I will not have my Empress damaged in any way. She is far too important to my plans." And with that, Talpa’s voice was gone.

"That was a close one," Dais said as they prepared to teleport to Rhiannon’s chambers.

"Wait. We’ll go to mine. I don’t think it’s safe for her in her own."

"As you wish," Sekhmet said. The three of them teleported directly to Cale’s chambers.

***

‘The Goddess is weak,’ Talpa thought as he paced the floors of his throne room, in a human form once more. ‘She will do me no good if she is weak. Perhaps I have taken too much of her power. I should have told those priests to be subtler with what they took from her. But I cannot have her stronger than I am. Even if I need her powers to conquer the mortal realm, I cannot take the risk of her overpowering my defenses. But I cannot channel the powers I have taken from her. I will have to restore them to her. Unless I can find a better way. I will have to reassign some of those priests to developing a way for me to have them take her power and channel it directly to an area where it can be stored and I can use it later to conquer the human realm. Or, if that does not work, I could find a way to ensure that she will not cause me any problems if I return her powers. I need something that will ensure that she will donate her powers to me freely and then, once I have them, I can kill her. If she becomes pregnant, that would be the perfect way to hold her to me. She would not try to destroy me if she knew she would put her child’s life at risk in the process. What if she is already with child? That would be a wonderful turn of events. That has to be what her problem is. She never showed any signs of weakness when she was first in my service.’ Talpa settled in his throne to ponder life in general. ‘She must be with child. I wonder who the father of my child is. Any of the three of my warlords would do nicely. I presume I can’t kill her now, not if I have any hopes for my heir. If only her sister was nearly as powerful as she. Then I could rid myself of a potential threat and still gain an heir and all the power I needed to subdue the mortal world. But, no matter, if she gets out of hand I will simply have to forgo the heir. I’ll have my priests drain all of her power and I will just destroy her. Then I can choose another mortal woman to be my empress and bear me an heir. ’ Talpa continued to ponder the turn of events the day had taken, even though his hypothesis was completely wrong.

***

"Ugh, what just happened?" Rhiannon asked as she came to in Cale’s chambers. The three warlords were standing over her, as if on a deathwatch.

"Would you care to tell us?" Cale asked. "You had attempted to contact the Ronins when you said something about him being alive and then you passed out."

Rhiannon slowly sat up. Sekhmet helped her up and propped a pillow behind her for support. She shook her head, apparently her hair had come undone somewhere between the practice room and Cale’s chambers. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth. "Anubis is alive. I sensed his ki."

"Would you like to tell us how since you couldn’t sense it before when you were only a few hundred yards away from him?" Dais asked.

"It’s slowly returning to normal. As are yours. It’s becoming difficult for me to sense the three of you."

"I’m so confused," Cale moaned.

"What else is new?" Sekhmet remarked.

"Would you please explain what is going on with our kis."

"Of course. Once I left Talpa, my ki started to change, that’s why you couldn’t sense my presence that night in the city. That’s why Talpa had no idea of who I was, even though I had served him for 100 years. As you grow further from Talpa and his influence, your kis are returning to their original form. Original as in before you even served Talpa. His has changed much more rapidly than yours are because he is no longer in direct contact with Talpa. I’m beginning to sense the ki belonging to the man I fell in love with over 5 centuries ago."

"How could he have survived? Talpa loosed his entire rage upon him. I myself saw the devastation Talpa had wreaked on his body. There was no way he could have survived alone." Dais said.

"He didn’t. I could sense Kaos’ presence with the Ronins. His pattern was suffused through Anubis’. He had to have something to do with his survival."

"But the Ancient is dead. He sacrificed himself to form the bridge the Ronins used to cross into the Dynasty. Pity it was all in vain. Talpa sent the sniveling little pups back to their own dimension in tears." Sekhmet said.

"That’s not how I remember it," Rhiannon said with a smile.

"You were there too? Is there any place you’ve not been in the course of our battles with those boys?" Cale asked with shock on his face.

"Nope. I needed to make sure you didn’t kill them. I need them for my plan in the same way Talpa needs me for his."

The three warlords simply looked at the small girl sitting propped up on Cale’s bed.

"Come on. I can’t defeat Talpa."

"But your power level," Dais began, "it’s higher than his!"

"Not any more, thanks to his majesty. But it was never in my contract to defeat the demon lord," she said with a laugh. The warlords were still staring. "I know, that’s why I left. I was going to find Kaos, get stronger, and then come back and destroy Talpa and save all of you. Well, even the best-laid plans have their flaws. While I was studying with Kaos, I found out that I can’t defeat Talpa. That honor is reserved for those who wear the Armor. Yes, that means you all have to work together. I have other things I need to defeat, hopefully they won’t come up any time soon, but who knows. Anyway, I’ve spent my life outside of the Dynasty searching for the Ronins. 400 years of searching finally paid of with these five boys. When I saw who the armors had chosen, I was not exactly happy. Those boys had absolutely no training. Sure they knew some things, but I thought we were doomed, that they’d never defeat Talpa. But I was wrong."

"Wait, wait," Cale interjected. "Can I get that written down and signed by you, your goddessness?"

Rhiannon hit him and continued. "They have made much progress since your first meeting so long ago."

"Of that I’m sure," Cale said. "I have new scars."

"They’re probably wondering why they haven’t seen us in so long," Sekhmet said. "Perhaps we should ask Talpa to go on a mission to "destroy" them. We don’t have to do anything drastic, just bruise them up enough so that Talpa actually thinks we tried to defeat them."

"I don’t think that’s such a wise idea," Dais broke in. "If we expect them to let us into their home, we better not harass them anymore."

"Dais is right. I need to contact the Ronins as soon as possible. We need to get out of here and we need to do it now. I don’t think Talpa is going to let me live alone much longer. My powers are slowly weakening and honestly, I’m getting frightened. Talpa can’t have the priests drain all of my powers and then channel them directly to him, and he knows it. Only I have the power to bestow my powers on another. If Talpa wants them, he’s going to have to give them all back to me and have me give them directly to him. He also knows that there’s no way I’d do that so I think he’s probably going to have to resort to brainwashing me, or forcing me to give them to him."

"If he gets your powers, he’ll be unstoppable. We don’t even know what the extent of your powers are," Cale said.

"I don’t even know the extent of my own powers. Etheria has never allowed me to tax them to that level of drain."

"Etheria?" Sekhmet asked. "Girl, you’ve got lots of explaining to do once this whole thing is over."

"I know, eventually I’ll divulge everything, but right now, I have other matters on my mind. Can the three of you shield? I want to see if I can contact Mia."

"Why the girl?" Dais questioned.

"I have my own reasons, but all you need to know is that she’s the most receptive of all of them to a telepathic touch."

"That sounds just a bit perverted," Cale remarked.

Rhiannon hit him and continued to stare at the others. "Well, can you?"

"We can try," Dais said. The others nodded.

"Good. Do it."

They did.

"Now, I might need to draw on some of your power, I just thought I’d let you know." Rhiannon closed her eyes and concentrated.

Cale, Dais, and Sekhmet felt her draw on her remaining power and some of the power of the Dynasty.

~Mia~ Rhiannon sent.

Mia was taking the teakettle off the burner in her kitchen when she felt the touch. She tried to shake it off as just her imagination when it came again.

~Mia~

‘This is too strange,’ Mia thought to herself as she poured the tea. ‘It sounds almost as if Rhi was calling.

~I am calling you twit. ~ Rhiannon smiled in the Dynasty. The Warlords stared at her. She shook her head. They went back to shielding.

~Rhiannon?~

~Yes!~

~Where are you?~

~I’m in the Dynasty—no, don’t get upset. I’m ok, for now. I’m here with the other warlords,~ The warlords allowed their presence to be sent to Mia through Rhiannon.

~RHIANNON! You’ve got to get out of there before they kill you!~

~No, I’m safe with them. They’re leaving Talpa. We’re trying to open a portal to get to you guys, but we need some help.~

~Rhiannon, I’m not sure about this.~

~I promise I’ll explain everything once I get back to the house. Right now, I need you to promise that you’ll convince the guys to do everything I ask of the six of you.~

~How do you intend to open a portal to this realm? Won’t Talpa know? Doesn’t he know everything?~

~No, Talpa won’t know about anything if we work fast. You’ve got to trust me.~

~But how do you intend to create a portal?~

~I can do that sort of stuff. I’m a goddess.~

~Oh, dear.~

***

Toodles All!