[FFML] [Fanfic][RANMA][WOT] Half an Age Chapter 3: Winternight

[Peter Gallagher]

Here's the completed version of chapter 3.  I've already posted it on
ff.net, but I can still edit it.:

**************************************************
1/2 an Age Book One: The Wild Horse Cometh
Chapter Three: Winternight
By Ellf
**************************************************
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, and
publishing rights to it are held by Viz and Kitty Films in the United
States, and Shokakugan Entertainment in Japan.  Wheel of Time is the
property of Robert Jordan's estate, and publishing rights are held by
Tor Books in the United States.


A warm fire blazed inside the common room of the Winesprig Inn.  Ranma
noticed a distinct difference in the temperature as he and Akane
walked inside.  Looking around the common room, he saw several people
gathered around the fire.  There was the gleeman, Thom Merrilin,
drinking what could only be warm ale, looking quite comfy as he
brought the cup to his moustache-topped lips.  Over in the corner was
the sinewy-looking peddler, Padan Fain, puffing on a pipe and
gathering his cloak about his body.  The innkeeper sat in a chair
directly in front of the fire, staring into the flames as they danced
about the fireplace.  Bran looked away from the fireplace as he heard
the two young martial artists step in.  Upon noticing Ranma and Akane,
he stood from his chair and walked over to them.

"Ranma, Akane, with all the excitement about Fain's news, I almost
forgot about you."

The two young martial artists smiled at the man, and Ranma spoke up.
"It ain't a big deal al'Vere-san; I'm kinda used to things like that."

"Well then, let's get you two some rooms now.  Don't worry about
paying, what you did with the brandy can cover your stay for tonight.
I'm sure we'll find something for you to do tomorrow."  Bran led the
teens up the stairs and into a hallway that had a few doors.  The
doors weren't ornate or elaborate, but they did have locks on them.
"I don't suppose the two of you would like to share a room, am I
correct?"  Upon seeing the blushes forming on Ranma and Akane's faces
at the suggestion, the Mayor smiled.  "Relax, you two, I was joking.
You can have these two rooms; the inn is usually quiet this time of
year."

Ranma and Akane smiled and thanked Bran.  His face lit up, and the
elder man turned to grab the keys.

"I don't think you two would like to go into your rooms just yet;
after all, it still is a few hours until night.  Why don't you go into
the common room and I'll bring you your maps."  Not even waiting for
their answer, he led them downstairs once more.

Ranma locked eyes with Lan as soon as he entered the common room.  The
older man seemed to be studying him warily, but his stone-faced
expression gave nothing away.  The pigtailed boy wished that he could
know exactly how good the man was, with or without his sword.

The two teenagers chose an empty table that placed them close to the
fire and the gleeman as well.  Bran quickly came out with the maps
that he had of the area, and promised he would help them just as soon
as he had gotten done what he had to.

Ranma opened up one of the maps and glanced at it.  Then he looked
harder.  Obviously it wasn't written in Japanese, but he was able to
read it just the same.  He was easily able to find where Emond's Field
was, but that and Ghealdan were the only two names he recognized on
the map.  The continent shown on the map vaguely resembled Europe
which was the feel he got from the buildings outside anyways.  He and
Genma had stumbled on a "Renaissance Fair" or something like it during
their travels.  The young martial artist never felt as full as on that
day.  Anyways, judging by the map, they were nowhere near anything
that they could recognize.

"Ranma, what are these places?  Where are the countries and cities
that we know?"

"Chalk one up to my time travel theory.  These 'Aes Sedai' broke the
world, so why would we recognize anything on this map?  Future, Akane,
future."  Ranma glanced at the map once more; there was Tar Valon,
through some country named Andor.  Feeling a gaze or three upon him,
Ranma looked up from the maps and locked eyes with the gleeman.  Thom
seemed to take that as an invitation to come over to their table.
Moiraine and Lan also walked over to the table.

"You two look to be confused, maybe I can help."  Thom tugged on one
side of his long white whiskers as he spoke.  It made him look both
silly and thoughtful at the same time.

Ranma glanced at the gleeman, and then at the other two.  "We just
can't seem to find anything we recognize on the map.  Other than what
was mentioned today, of course.  Still, before today we haven't heard
of any of these countries or cities."

"Well, where are the two of you from?"

Ranma locked eyes with Akane and then he spoke his answer.  "Tokyo,
Japan is where we live and our families live."

Moiraine chose this time to speak up.  "I do wonder how the two of you
landed here, so far away from your home.  Not that I have heard of
your city, but neither of the two of you seem to be lying."

Akane nodded.  "Well it's a bit of a long story.  Ranma knows most of
it, I was erm... indisposed some of the time."

Ranma launched into an explanation of what happened on their most
recent trip to China, Akane giving her input when necessary.  He did
however leave out certain things purposely, such as Akane turning into
that doll thing and Saffron being a Phoenix.  He also left out some
mentions of his major techniques, not wanting to describe them in
detail.  The explanation itself took about four hours, in which time,
Mrs. al'Vere brought out some lunch for the five of them.

"... and then we woke up in the forest, finding some guy in a black
hood and cape staring at us."

Lan's stony expression didn't change, but his eyes did.  "Tell me
about this person in the black hood."

"Ain't much to tell, the guy's hood covered his face, but you could
feel him staring at you.  Feel his hatred.  Not to mention his cloak
didn't billow in the wind."

"If it weren't for Ranma seeing him, I'd have thought he was a
hallucination."  Akane added.

"Why is that, child?"  Moiraine asked.

"I looked away and he was gone when I looked back.  Almost as if he
disappeared into thin air..."

Moiraine and Lan locked eyes with each other.  From the gleeman, a
mutter came under his breath, "Fade.  Has to be."

"Let's not be jumping to conclusions, Master Merrilin.  These two may
have just seen something else."  Moiraine turned back to the two
teens.  "Now as for you, your story is a little odd for me, but even
if none of it is true, you obviously are not from around here.  There
is a place that I know of where you might be able to find a way home."

Akane perked up.  "Where, Moiraine-san?"

"The White Tower in Tar Valon would be a good place to look."

The gleeman snorted.  "Only if you want to have Aes Sedai hooks in
you, but I can't think of anywhere else that might help you as much as
they might.  However, if you two don't really need to go home, I could
always use some traveling companions."

Ranma nodded.  "We'll think about it, Merrilin-san."

"Please call me Thom.  I'm not sure what that 'san' bit is about anyways."

"It's how we show respect back in our homeland."  Akane quickly supplied.

"Ah, there must be some stories that you could tell me about it." Thom
said.  "Maybe if you travel with me, I can learn more about it."

Smiling, Ranma nodded.  "Maybe, Thom.  However, if I don't get the
Tomboy back safely, her dad'll kill me."

Akane turned to the pigtailed youth.  "Ranma!  I'm a martial artist
too! I can take care of myself!"

"No doubt about it, yer dad'll still kill me though."

Akane blinked, and she wanted so bad to argue with him too.  Ah well,
there'd be time for that later, when the present company wasn't
around.  It didn't look like they'd just ignore it.

Ranma smiled.  He really didn't want to argue with the Tomboy right
now, not with them in a nice place such as this Inn.  It wouldn't do
to get on Master al'Vere's bad side.  Looking outside the window,
Ranma realized that their story had taken up a few hours, and the sun
itself was getting ready to set.  It was then that he felt it; his
danger sense started going crazy.  He didn't know what was triggering
it, but he knew something was about to come through the window, fast.

"Everybody get away from the window!"  Ranma yelled out and the people
in the common room stared at him, other than Lan and Moiraine.  The
former was already drawing his sword, and she was watching him with
intent interest.   Soon after Ranma had yelled his statement, a torch
came crashing through the window, landing, oddly enough in a way that
tripped Mistress al'Vere, causing her to spill the water she was
carrying.  Ranma dodged, and the water landed on the flaming torch,
putting it out quickly.

"Come on Akane, let's see who threw that."  Ranma glanced over at his
fiancée as he swiftly ran out the door.  The tomboyish girl
immediately followed.  Lan and Moiraine also stepped outside.

It was then that he saw it.  Standing at just over six feet tall, this
gruesome creature was a crime against nature.  Its body was mostly
humanoid, but it was covered in fur to match its head, that of a ram.
In its right hand it was holding a curve-bladed sword, and in its left
it was holding a torch. Glinting off the armor of the dark thing,  the
light from the torch let Ranma see that the creature was not alone.
There couldn't have been less than forty there, but not more than
seventy.  Ranma didn't stop to count, all he knew was that this
creature felt wrong and vile.  It was then that the martial artist
noticed what the creatures were doing; they were running up to random
houses, and lighting them ablaze with their torches.  Something inside
Ranma snapped at that, and he leaped into action, aiming a left jab
right at its jaw.

The punch connected with a sickening crunch, and Ranma watched the
creature reel back in pain, but it rapidly recovered and began to
return the attack.  Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma noticed that
Lan and Akane had joined the fray, Akane having pulled out her trusty
mallet, and Lan was attacking with his sword.  Only ten were attacking
back, each with skill that was slightly less than Tatewaki Kuno's own.
 Ranma and Lan were engaging four each, and Akane had two on her.

Ducking a swing from one of the beasts, Ranma grabbed another and
slammed it into the one on his left.  This quickly knocked out the
both of them.  Then, using a quick Amaguriken to each of the remaining
one's faces, he knocked out his remaining opponents.  It was then that
he noticed the lightning, coming down from the sky and striking any of
the creatures that managed to get near the Inn.  He also noticed that
the beasts that Lan fought were bleeding, and two were without their
heads.  Lan was actually killing them.

Somehow he knew that Moiraine was the one responsible for the
lightning.  The golden aura surrounding her, and the yellow and blue
threads coming from her were a definite indication of it.  Either way,
Ranma still had to attack... More were coming.

"Help!  My Erindel is trapped inside the house!"  A woman cried from
down the street, standing near a burning house.  Ranma fought his way
through the Trollocs to get to the woman, his aura starting to blaze a
brilliant blue.

The fire parted as Ranma moved through, his aura shoving the fire out
of the way.  He quickly ran through the blazing home and looked for
the child.  He needn't have looked far as the little boy, no more than
four, was crying out for his mother.  The ashy blonde child didn't
look to be hurt, but rather frightened out of his mind.  He seemed to
draw some comfort when he looked at Ranma....

**********************************

Where was his mama?  Mama had told him to go to bed, as there was the
festival tomorrow, but somehow this fire started.  A torch through the
window came, and outside were monsters!  Shadowspawn!  They had to be!
 Mama always told him about how they would come for him if he didn't
listen to her, and the Wisdom agreed.  Now they had come!  They had
come to take him away and eat him!

What was that noise?  The door!  It burst open too!  Were the
Shadowspawn coming to get him?  The Trollocs!  No!  He didn't want to
be a Trolloc stew!  What was that blue glowing thing?

"Ikuzo kouzo!"  The blue glowing thing was a man... A man that was
little younger than Master al'Thor.  He didn't know what the man said,
but it was in a comforting voice.  Maybe the man was one of the
Creator's angels? "Kuso...  I mean come on kid."

Yes, that would explain the language.  Erindel grabbed the man's hand
and was pulled into his arms, and suddenly he felt the rush of the
cold night air on his skin.  There was his mama!

*******************

Ranma burst out of the house, the flames trailing him.  Smiling, he
handed young Erindel to his mother.

"Thank you...." Then the woman gasped, and stared at Ranma.  She shook
herself out of it.  "Thank you so much... I don't know what would have
happened if...  Thank you."

"Of course, it's a martial artist's duty to defeat evil and save
babies and children and all that."  Ranma explained, but then glanced
back at the horde of beast creatures.  "What the hell are these
things?"

"They look like just out of legend... the monsters... Trollocs are
what they are."  The woman's voice quivered and then she ran back into
hiding, taking her son with her.

***********************************

Unfortunately one of the Trollocs that Ranma had knocked out was
starting to wake up.  It climbed to its feet and sneered.  Gripping
its scimitar, it noticed a small child near it.  That would make great
food later tonight after they were done with torching this small town.
 The Aes Sedai worried it, but Myrddraal said not to worry... they
were to get the three people and cause chaos.  That one human would
learn the folly of leaving him alive.  Yes he would.

It raised its scimitar at the frozen human child, and began to slice
down before screaming in pain.  Where were its arms?  It felt no
sword, but its arms had fallen off!  The Trolloc glanced around before
coming in contact with the azure eyes of the human it had fought
before.

"You're dead, bakemono.  Dokuja Tanketsu Shou!" That was the last
thing the Trolloc heard.

************************************************************

Ranma didn't want to have to resort to the Yama-senken, but when he
saw the child in danger, he instantly reacted.  These creatures had no
sort of ki training whatsoever, and thus were fatally vulnerable to
the strikes of the Mountain of a thousand fists.  Genma had taught him
the techniques shortly after the fight with Ryuu Kumon.  They had gone
on a training trip to allow him to practice the deadly techniques in
safety.  Ranma thought back to what Genma had said at the end of the
trip.

"Boy... I'm proud of you.  I don't say it often enough, but I am.  You
are indeed the man amongst men that I promised to make you into.  The
reason I taught you these techniques is not that you are to use them
in a martial arts match... No, they are too powerful.  I ask that you
only use these techniques if you have no other choice... In the
defense of your life or the life of another.  You may have to kill one
day, but every martial artist knows this.  Do your best, boy."

Ranma smiled at the memory, but not before glancing back at the
battling Lan and Akane.  Akane looked like she was getting tired, the
Trollocs seemed to pick up on this, and were starting to go after her
with more vengeance.  However, as he began to start off towards Akane,
he soon was surrounded by twenty Trollocs.  Not even bothering to
announce it this time, he did the Kijin Gun-Dai Ran Bu, launching
vacuum blade after vacuum blade into the crowd of Trollocs.  Seeing
that this wasn't fast enough, he drew his blade.

The Gekkaja sang as it was pulled from its scabbard.  Ranma moved
through the Trollocs like a lion fighting off hyenas.  Each Trolloc
cut by the blade of the Gekkaja slowly began to ice over, a few
getting frozen completely and falling to the ground in shattered
pieces of ice and flesh.  All Ranma cared about doing was getting to
Akane, and he didn't care what got in his way.  Soon he was back to
back with Akane, his sword drawn and in an Anything Goes weapon
stance.

"Akane, are you alright?" Ranma parried another Trolloc, cutting it
across the belly.

"I'm fine, Ranma, you don't need to worry about-eek!"  Akane ducked
and glowered at the Trolloc that just swung at her.  "Bakemono no
baka!"  She uppercut the Trolloc into low earth orbit, or at least
high enough so that it couldn't be seen anymore.

"Nice distance on that one...  Been working out again?"  Overall the
Trollocs weren't any tougher than fighting Kuno every morning, it's
just that there were so many of them, and they were trying to kill
him.  Once Ranma had gotten to Akane's side, the two of them had
started to down Trollocs even quicker.   Soon there were less than
thirty left.  It was obvious that the rest were panicking; they were
becoming less eager to fight and seemed like they were trying to run
away.

"Heh... we're winning." Ranma smirked.  Something wouldn't let him
feel bad about killing these things.  He wasn't too sure what, but he
knew that they needed to die.  It was a martial artist's duty to
exterminate monsters after all.

However, as he began his iajutsu technique for the next one, something
happened.  The Trolloc blocked the Gekkaja with its scimitar.   As the
curved blade began to ice over, Ranma pushed off the frozen metal and
let loose an unannounced Kijin Raishuu Dan into the Trolloc's neck,
leaving it to die.

It seemed that the remaining Trollocs were becoming more organized,
and more eager to help each other out.  One Trolloc would block a blow
for another, and then both would attack Ranma at the same time after
that.  A glance over at Lan showed that he too was having increased
difficulty fighting the creatures.  Ducking a swing to his head, he
carved up three more Trollocs.  Though these ones seemed to have more
skill than the last set, they still weren't a lot harder than fighting
Kuno.

There... Ranma felt it, something staring at him from his right side.
Looking at it, he had an involuntary shiver of fear go down his spine.
 If the Trollocs were an aberration, this was an abomination.  It
looked like a man, mostly, but it was far too pale to be human, with
its hair cut perfectly short.  However, where the eyes would be on a
normal face, there was perfectly flat skin, but Ranma knew somehow
that this creature could see.  Its blade was already drawn and light
glinted off the black armor that it had.  It locked gazes with Ranma,
almost calling him out to fight.

Fighting off another shiver, Ranma cut through one more Trolloc and
ran at the eyeless creature with his blade at the ready.  By the time
he had reached the creature, it had begun to swing at him with its
dark blade, only to have it be parried by Ranma's own weapon.
However, unlike the Trollocs' scimitars, this sword did not ice over;
rather it was pulled back for another cross-slash that Ranma parried
again.  Turning, Ranma dodged another slash as he attempted one of his
own that the creature dodged.

Backing off, the creature's pale lips curled up into a sneer.  "You're
good, boy, I'll give you that."  Its voice was gravely, like a deep
growl of a bear.  "However, you shan't beat me."

Ranma smirked a colder version of his usual one.  "Challenge accepted.
 Pay attention; I'm only going to do this once, monster."  Ranma
pulled back the blade and then repeatedly struck the air in front of
him with such a speed that it caused little shockwaves of air pressure
to cut into the creature's armor, but none pierced its skin.
"What... are you?"

The creature's sneer seemed to become even crueler.  "Impressive, were
I a normal Myrdraal, that probably would have killed me.  But I am
reinforced by the Great Lord's—"

The Myrdraal was cut off by Ranma shouting "Mokou Takabisha!"  The
golden confidence-powered ki-blast struck the Fade in the face as he
was talking.  For some reason it seemed to effect it more than Kuno's
technique did.  In fact, it burned off a good chunk of the creature's
nose.  "That shouldn't have happened."

"Te no Kage is my name, boy.  That's what I was told to tell you.
When we meet again, it will be in a proper battle.  Possibly the
Last."  The Myrdraal faded into the shadows, disappearing much like
the rider did earlier that day, and the remaining Trollocs quickly
dispersed, running into the woods.

Ranma looked at the spot where the Halfman had been.  "That was odd."
Sheathing the Gekkaja, he swiftly treaded over to Akane's side.  "Are
you alright, Akane?"

Akane waved off his concern, "I'm fine, Ranma.  Let's go over to help
out Moiraine and Lan take care of the wounded."

Agreeing with his fiancée, but unwilling to voice it, he simply nodded
as the two of them ended up heading back towards the inn.


*************************************

Moiraine was shocked to say the least.  The things the boy had
done..... they were incredible.  And his blade... it froze whatsoever
it touched. What the boy did had to have been channeling, but then why
in the name of the Light had she felt it?  Were he using saidin there
was no way that she, even as a female channeler, should have been able
to feel his channeling.   No, whatever the boy had done was not using
saidin nor was it using saidar.  Even though that was an
impossibility.  Moiraine berated herself for that one.  A man using
saidar.  That would be the day.   Still, whatever the boy had been
using, she had felt just as sure as if it had been the One Power, yet
she saw no weave.

Looking over at Lan, it seemed that he too felt her puzzlement and his
normally stoic face had an inquisitive look on it as he looked over at
Ranma.   They were going to get some answers about this.  Though not
as bad as the White Ajah about not knowing, Moiraine was Blue Ajah,
and she needed to know where the child and his friend fit into her
plans.

****************************

(Authors Note:)
You'll note that I'm posting a smaller chapter than what my previous
ones had been at, and I had promised myself that I wouldn't do that.
However, I couldn't keep that promise.  This chapter had been sitting
with about this much done for about six months on my hard drive.
Heck, I started this one a short while after I submitted chapter 2.
However, school and other things distracted me from writing this.
Before I continue writing more, I need to reread Eye of the World to
see where to go from here.  I will finish this book of Half an Age.
Whether I continue on after that depends on how I feel.

As always, comments and criticism are welcome.  E-mail me at
ellfangor8 at gmail.com


-- 
"Evil is merely a perspective, one which is no longer of concern to me."