I know I’ve been blaming the lack of any new material on writer’s block but it’s a nasty disease and I’m really getting tired of it. But I’d rather take a while to turn out a really great, sort of long chapter than a really short, sucky chapter. So please don’t kill me because I seem to be taking forever with these chapters. I hate it too. Oh, and look for something very strange and new coming soon!

Happy Reading!

Standard disclaimer: I don’t own the Ronins and Co. I’m simply borrowing them. I do own everything/one else so please don’t borrow them without asking me first!

Chapter 11

Rhiannon woke the next morning with a headache. ‘This sucks,’ she thought to herself. ‘And something else is wrong.’ She sat back down on her bed to determine what it was. "Oh, my goddess," she whispered aloud. She quickly ran a brush through her hair, grabbed a robe and tore out of her bedroom door. She was about to run down the hallway when she realized where she was. "Duh." She closed her eyes and teleported to Dais’ chambers. "Wake up!" she cried as she jumped on his bed.

Dais opened his eye and stared at the tiny woman who was hovering over him. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having you wake me in the morning?" he asked with a lazy smile.

"This is not a joke. Talpa’s on to me. We’ve got to get out of here while I still have the chance!"

"Whoa, Raine, calm down." Dais sat up in bed and took her by her shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"I slept really poorly last night."

"And that makes you think that Talpa knows that you’re not really his Empress."

"No, I slept really poorly because Talpa’s been draining my power all night! He had those damn priests after me! I could sense it! I’ve got to get out of here before he takes it all!"

"Raine, come on. If you go spastic on us, he’ll know for sure that something’s up. We can’t afford that right now. We’ve got to come up with a plan before you go running around like a chicken without its head."

"I will not be kept here for the rest of my immortal life! Nor will I subject myself to that horrid man!!!"

Dais gently slapped Rhiannon across the cheek. She stopped and stared at him. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Don’t worry we’ll get out of here—all of us," he said. "Now come on. We have morning work out and then breakfast. We’ll talk to the others then. And you might want to put some clothes on under that robe," he said with an evil grin.

Rhiannon slapped his hand away from her. "Behave yourself. You know just as well as I do what I sleep in."

"Do I ever…"

"I thought I said behave!"

"I’ll be the perfect gentleman. Don’t worry, your darling fiancé will never know that you came running to me in the dead of night every time you had a nightmare. I also know that you only did it because he was unavailable and you had no idea that you even had a fiancé. Don’t fret. If we ever see him again, I’ll tell him that too."

"You’re the greatest," Rhiannon said. She kissed Dais’ cheek and teleported out. Her voice, however, did not. "I’ll see you in practice room A," he heard, and then her voice faded out.

***

Anubis’ eyelids fluttered open and he awoke in the guestroom in Mia’s home. "Not this again," he mumbled to himself as he sat up in bed. "Of all the places Kaos could bring me, he brought me here. Well, I guess there weren’t really very many other options," he conceded. Anubis cocked his head to one side. "What?" he barely whispered. "Something was here. I know it. Something incredibly pure. Wait." He closed his eyes and focussed his mind. "It’s not pure. Almost, but not quite. Once it was sullied, but whatever it’s done in the years past has more than made up for that small stumble, but it still caries the taint." He shook his head. "It could be any of the Ronins. Goddess knows they’re not pure. But there’s something familiar to the pattern. I can’t place it." He struggled to place the ki, but before he could recognize it, Sai walked in with a breakfast tray.

"Good morning!" Sai beamed. "I’ve brought breakfast! And it’s something other than soup."

"I’m not hungry," Anubis grumbled.

"You should be. I know I promised something other than soup for dinner last night, but when Mia and I brought it back you were still asleep and we didn’t want to wake you."

"What stopped you last night? Apparently you’ve never thought about my need to sleep at any other time since I’ve been here." Anubis had no idea why he was being so cruel to the Ronin, but he didn’t know of any other way to react.

"When you were asleep before, it wasn’t natural. You kept calling out and thrashing. Ryo wanted to tie you to the bed, he was afraid you’d hurt Mia."

"There’s a surprise."
"We wouldn’t let him. Neither Mia nor I was worried that you’d hurt us. She insisted that she’d be fine. Mia really fought to keep you in here. Ryo wanted to move you to the guest house."

"Did I hear my name mentioned?" Mia asked as she bounced in the door. "I’ll take it from here, Sai. I think Kento succeeded in consuming all of the waffles. You might want to make more."

Sai nodded and left.

‘Ugh,’ Anubis thought. ‘I should be grateful to them for all that they’ve done for me. But all I really want is to be left alone. I need to figure out who that ki belongs to. Also, I wouldn’t mind if they left breakfast. I am kind of hungry.’

"Here, I’ll help," Mia said as she went to cut the waffles Sai had brought to Anubis.

"I can feed myself, thank you very much," Anubis said gruffly, but he made the mistake of meeting Mia’s gaze. In her eyes he saw all the softness and kindness that his life had lacked for the past 500 years. He saw a link to the fiancée he had lost so long ago.

Mia stepped back. "I’ll just leave, I need to go chaperone the others." Slowly she backed away from the fallen warlord.

"No, wait, I’m sorry," Anubis stumbled. "It’s just that…well…I’ve been alone for a long time now and…I’m not used to people wanting to do things for me." He looked down.

"Surely you had someone—the other warlords?"

Anubis laughed derisively. "We spent more time trying to kill each other than trying to bond with each other. It was easier that way. We knew that if one of us killed another, at least we wouldn’t die in battle. The only time I remember that one of us actually showed a modicum of concern for another was when Cale got his scar."

"Talpa must have been some master."

"Master was what he was. What he said went. That and the Empress."

"What empress?" Mia asked. "I never came across anything in my readings about an empress of the Dynasty."

"The others bonded with her. I only trained with her. They could answer your questions better than I." And with that he shut her out. He reached for the fork for the waffles but he was used to traditional utensils and was so weak he could barely manage the bite.

"Here, I’ll help," Mia said. She shoved him over on the bed and hopped up with him. She took the fork in her small hand. And Anubis did something he hadn’t done in 500 years—he let a woman into his soul.

***

"So how’s the patient this morning?" Sage asked as Sai entered the kitchen.

"Yah, and where’s breakfast?" Kento chimed in.

"I just made three batches of waffles before I went upstairs. Where’d they all go?" Sai questioned. The others simply looked at Kento.

"Hey, I worked out a lot yesterday. I’m supposed to be hungry when I wake up."

"Not after you had an entire steak to yourself last night!" Ryo said as he walked downstairs. "Sai, why’re you down here? Shouldn’t you be upstairs with Mia and the Warlord?"

"I came down to make more breakfast so that you and Ro could eat. Where is Sleeping Beauty anyway?"

"Right here," Rowen replied as he groggily walked down the stairs.

"What were you saying, Sai?" Ryo asked as Rowen flopped down at the table.

"I just said that Mia’s just fine with him, don’t worry."

"You never answered Sage’s question. How is he?" Kento asked as he cleaned his plate of yet another serving of waffles.

"Much better. He seems to be alert and responsive, although he claims he’s not hungry. I left Mia up there with breakfast. I wouldn’t push for any answers today. He doesn’t seem to be happy that the Ancient chose to drop him off here."

"What other choice did he have?" Sage asked. "The Ancient’s dead, it’s not like he could have cared for Anubis himself. And no one’s left in the entire area. He had to bring Anubis here."

"I think Anubis knows that and that’s part of his problem. He’s not willing to allow anyone to care for him. But Mia has her ways. I think he’ll warm up to her."

"That’s just what I’m afraid of," Ryo said as he helped himself to waffles.

"Ryo, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ve seen for myself, he’s too weak to do us any harm."

Mia’s scream could be heard echoing through the house. The boys ran up the stairs, already in their sub-armor. "Not a threat! Is that what you said?" Ryo yelled as he burst into the guestroom. The sight that greeted the boys was something none of them had expected to see. Dynasty soldiers had poured through the windows and cornered Anubis. He was on his feet—barely, supported by the bed frame, his back almost touching the wall. He had shoved Mia behind him and had donned his own sub-armor.

"Anubis!" Ryo shouted, "call the goons off or we’ll destroy all of you!"

"I didn’t call for them! Talpa must have sent them, why I don’t know."

A voice was heard, "You fools," followed by maniacal laughter.

"What do you want, Talpa?!" Sage shouted.

"The traitor is right, he did not call for the soldiers. I sent them. I want him dead. And while they’re there, they can do away you pathetic children." The laughter faded and the soldiers attacked. The Ronins all armored up and began a full attack on the soldiers. Anubis was about to run into battle when Mia held him back.

"What are you doing! They’ll never take all of them alone!"

"No," she cried. "You’re still too weak, you’ll kill yourself if you jump into that battle!"

"I’ve only listened to one woman my entire life and she’s gone. All the years I’ve existed, no other woman has given me orders, and I don’t intend to start taking them now!" And with that, Anubis went to join the others. Though he was unable to call his full armor, Anubis did aid the Ronins, but it looked as if the soldiers would be too much for them.

Ryo pulled his twin katana and crossed them in front of himself. He cried his sure kill: "Flare up---"

"NOT IN MY HOUSE!!" Mia cried.

"NOW!!" Ryo finished. The burst of flame incinerated the remaining soldiers, along with half the guestroom.

"My house!!" Mia burst into tears. "What am I going to do! There isn’t even anyone in the city to come and repair it."

"Don’t worry, Mia," Ryo tried to console her. "We’ll think of something."

"I already have."

"That was fast," Kento said.

"The five of you are going to repair my house. And you’re going to use every spare moment you have from fighting the Dynasty to work on it."

"But we don’t know the first thing about home repair," Rowen said.

"I’m sure there are books about it in Grandfather’s library. When he was younger he enjoyed working on the place. For now, we’ll just have you float on up and tape some insulator sheets to the walls."

"I’m not floating anywhere," Rowen replied.

"If you want to live you will be. Now, where did I put it last time I cleaned Grandfather’s basement."

Through the discussion, Anubis was getting less and less steady on his feet. As Mia moved out from behind him, he simply passed out.

"Anubis!" Mia cried and ran back to catch him before he hit the floor. "Guys, I could use some help getting him back to bed. Wait, we can’t leave him in here."

"Why not?" Ryo asked.

Mia simply gestured to the hole in the wall. "Help me get him into the room Rhiannon used when she was here. It’s the only room I have left." Sage and Rowen took the fallen warlord off to the other guestroom. Mia was about to follow when Ryo stopped her.

"You can’t put him in Rhiannon’s room. She could return any day now, then where’s she going to stay?"
"She’s not coming back until you guys figure out a way to get into the Dynasty and get her back. And since you so nicely blew up this portion of my home, I don’t have any other rooms available other than the one Rhiannon used. Unless, of course, you’d like to share a room with Anubis."

"Put him in a threesome with two of the others, that way they can keep an eye on him."

"Why should I? Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean that you have your own way about everything that goes on. Might I remind you that this is my house and the five of you have just dropped in on me. And my grandfather is dead because of you. And poor Uli—oh my god, Uli!" Mia ran from the ruined room to the bedroom Uli was using. White Blaze was asleep in front of the door. Mia stepped over the huge cat and peeked in on the boy. Mercifully, he was still asleep. How he could sleep through what just went on, Mia had no idea. ‘It must be a guy thing,’ she thought to herself.

"I don’t want you spending all of your time with that warlord," Ryo said from behind her.

"Why not?"

"Because I worry. If he flipped out and something happened to you, I’d never forgive myself. I’m really sorry for the way I’ve been acting, I’ve been a real jerk."

"That you have," Mia added.

"But, I don’t want anything to happen to you or any of the other guys."

"This is war, Ryo. Deal with it. Things happen and people die, it’s not a game." She embraced him quickly before walking down the hall to see how Anubis was doing.

"Promise me one thing," he said as he grabbed her elbow and turned her to face him.

"Yes?"

"Don’t spend the whole day there. Save some daylight for me."

"You have my word." She gave him a small smile before continuing on her way.

***

"ARGH! I don’t believe he’s let that wench back into the Dynasty! How could he! I was next in line for Empress!" Kayura smashed one of the training soldiers. "And I’m back to solo work outs!! I hate that monster! EYAH!" Another practice toy bit the dust. Kayura paused to brush a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and back into the tight bun the rest of her waist-length blue hair was wrapped in. She had traded the skimpy armor for an equally skimpy white training gi. "Back to work," she sighed and did a series of gymnastic flips before landing in front of another soldier and delivering a kick square to his chest. "And, my goddess, we need better training soldiers. Ones that don’t smash the first time one hits them. Ones that fought back would be even better, but like the Master would sacrifice any in his army so that his leaders could fight better. Or at least he could let me train with the other Warlords." Kayura continued on her tirade and continued to bash everything in sight.

In the practice room all the way at the opposite end of Talpa’s palace, three warlords and an Empress were deeply involved in a sparing session.

"I see you haven’t lost your touch," Cale said to Rhiannon as she hurled him across the room.

"I told you so!" Dais cried as Sekhmet smashed his fist into Dais’ midsection.

"How’d we end up fighting those two?" Cale asked as he came running at Rhiannon, who waited until the last possible second to flip over him and land at his back. She was about to push him down to his knees, but he took care of that himself. Cale managed to trip over his own feet and land on his hands and knees.

"It’s no wonder you three can’t defeat five boys who’ve only had their armors for a few months. The years have made you slow Cale. How many times do I need to remind you to never attack a gymnast from the front?" While Rhiannon was otherwise occupied in berating Cale, Dais managed to sneak up on her and wrap his arms around her chest, effectively pinning her arms to her side.

"Get out of this one Goddess," he said with a smile.

"Hey, hey! No touching there!"

"Oh, sorry." Dais slid his arms down slightly lower on her chest.

"Thank you," she replied and bent over and flipped him over her back and into Cale. The two warlords landed in a heap on the floor.

"Hey, no fair playing up your endowments. You tricked me," Dais whined from his position on the floor.

"No tricks, just no touching in specific areas," Rhiannon answered with a smile.

"Urmph, get off me you dolt," Cale grumbled from beneath Dais.

"And we win again," Sekhmet said, running a hand through his shock of green hair. "That makes it, what 75,000 to 0?"

"I think that’s about right," Rhiannon concurred.

"Hey, no fair counting all the way back to the beginning of time," Cale cried. He stood and heaved Dais off him. "I want a new partner!"

"You always say that, and we always go back to me and Sekhmet versus you and Dais. It’s your own fault. Besides, I’m partial to my partner. We work well together," Rhiannon concluded with a smile.

Sekhmet smiled back at her. "Raine, shield," he said simply.

Rhiannon closed her eyes. A minute later she opened them. "Done," she said.

"That took a little longer than usual," Dais remarked.

"I told you Talpa was draining my powers," she replied. "Why did you want the shield?" she asked Sekhmet.

"Talpa’s up to something. I can sense it. He was listening in. We’ve got to get out of here, things are getting worse."

"Tell me about it," Cale said. "But how do we get out? And where do we go once we’re out?"

"I can contact the Ronins. If I can draw enough power to open one of the gateways in the city, they can be on the look out for any retaliation from Talpa. They can engage them in battle and we can get out. Then I can close the gateway and we can all destroy whatever portion of the army is left in the human realm."

"Wait, wait, I’m not so sure I want to go running to the Ronin whelps," Sekhmet said.

"Yeah, me neither," Cale and Dais echoed.

"Do you have much of a choice? Where else do you have to go? None of you have been in the human realm for longer than the duration of a mission in 500 years. It’s not a very welcoming place any longer. And since all the other humans are trapped in Talpa’s prisons, where would you even like to try to go?" Rhiannon asked candidly.

"But even if we were to go to them," Cale began.

"Would they be willing to welcome us?" Dais finished.

"They took me in."

"Yes, but they had no idea who you were. They probably still don’t know. They know that we’ve tried to kill them, and they us. Why should they trust us now?"

"I’ll make sure that they do. If we want to defeat Talpa, we’re all going to have to work together."

"The Goddess has a point," Sekhmet mused.

"And we really don’t have any other options," Dais concurred.

"See if you can contact the Ronins through your shield. If not, we’ll have to find some other way of getting to them. If you try to contact them without any shielding Talpa will be on to us in an instant and we’ll all be dead."

"Thank you for reminding me, Cale. Somehow I had managed to forget that we all might die if something goes wrong," Rhiannon replied sarcastically. She sat down and closed her eyes. "Give me a minute here," she said.

The warlords could feel the power level in the room increase as Rhiannon drew power from the very Neatherrealm itself since Talpa had taken much of her own. A minute passed, then another. Suddenly her eyes went wide and she gasped.

"What is it, Raine?" Dais asked.

The three had to strain to hear her almost inaudible words. "My Goddess, he’s alive! Anubis." Her eyes shut and she passed out right there in the practice room.

***

Toodles All!