Chapter Three

The eastern province of Sidon was famous for its sandstone, limestone and starstone. The region was flanked by mountains to the north and hills to the west. The Arman desert lay between the hills and the cities of Jin, Jiya and their smaller neighbours.

And at the edge of the desert, the six tribes of Arun had set up camp.

“They’ve kept us at the skirts of the desert for 16 years!” Tarou shouted at his father, stalking after the diminutive leader of the Arun. The colorful striped war-tents and the herds of the Arun people surrounded them.

The encampments of the Arun had grown as the war stretched into years. Thousands of horses were penned beyond the tents. The Arun warriors themselves numbered in the tens of thousands and they stood in pens practicing with their weapons or currying their horses. Tarou thought it all looked rather like a small city itself.

“We have captured Jiya’s western land, my son,” Happosai said patiently. He adjusted the cotton headdress he wore to protect his bald head from the harsh sun. “We have five of Jin’s farming towns. We have captured fifty herds of Jiya’s sheep. They are running low on food. Their armies are losing ground from having lost so many generals and princes. Soon, Genma will be forced to confront us to him or risk us crossing the desert to them. Which we shall certainly do after we…”

“That’s what you’ve said for the past year!” cried Tarou in frustration. “I don’t know what King Kunou tells you but….”

Happosai stopped. “Do you have a problem with how I lead this war, my child?” he asked, smiling slightly.

Tarou paled and stumbled for a moment. “No! Khaitan forbid that I doubt you! It’s only that…I grow impatient. I’m sixteen now! I came out here when I was five and was learning to hold a sword and in those eleven years we have taken only small steps to victory.”

Happosai grinned. “So you have faith in me, my son?”

“Of course, Father.”

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“I’ll see you in hell first, old man!”

Genma’s cold eyes grew slitted. His young wolf was growing well, and tried to bite the hand that hit him constantly, but Ranma was not yet quite strong enough. “Don’t dare to disobey me, boy. There’s no reason to tell your fiancée anything about the curse! I won’t give Soun a reason to break the engagement now.”

If Soun found out of the curse, he might declare the engagement void and take Ranma back. Genma would never let that happen. Everything hinged on the engagement. Only then would Ranma truly be his.

“That’s precisely what he should do,” Ranma countered. “How will Princess Akane be happy knowing that she will be married to a woman?”

He was careful to always refer to Akane by her honorific in front of Genma. He’d seen the way the old man had leered at her at the Welcoming. Ranma would say or do anything to throw a wrench in Genma’s plans. He didn’t really care about Akane’s sensibilities, he told himself. If there was any way to escape Genma, he’d grab it.

“You are not a woman!” Genma growled. And then he growled unintelligibly, waving his paws, for Ranma had splashed him with a handy bucket of water.

“Yes. And you’re not a panda,” the prince said, and walked off.

A glass of water hit him on the back of the head and shattered. Ranma spun around.

“Even if you had become the blue-skinned King of the Djinn, it wouldn’t matter,” said Genma, in the act of pouring hot water on himself. He seemed to completely ignore it when Ranma turned into a girl. Women, in his opinion, were weak and good for one thing, to bear sons. His son was not weak. “You WILL marry Akane. If you were dead, I would prop your carcass up with the end of my sword and say your vows for you and even bed her myself if necessary!”

“She’s your daughter, you sick fuck!” Ranma yelled, unable to believe what she was hearing. She swept her foot towards Genma’s head, but he caught her ankle, forcing her to spin and kick him in the face with her other foot. Altogether more satisfying, Ranma thought.

She leapt back before Genma’s lightning punch could catch her in the chest. She didn’t understand Genma’s insistence on having the engagement as soon as possible. The hall was already prepared and they were readying Akane even now, though she had just arrived a few hours ago.

“You are my only son, Ranma, whom I will make the strongest,” Genma said, crouching. “There is nothing and no one else.”

The fight began in earnest.

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In the women’s apartments, Akane sat on a silk divan and allowed Nodoka and her sisters to tend to her. They had bathed her in scented water, washed her hair in some sweet-smelling concoction, and then oiled her body with crushed jasmine.

Readying a girl for her engagement was the sole duty of the women in the family, but it made Akane feel like a doll being dressed.

They smeared the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet with red saffron and dressed her in robes of rich linen that she had brought with her from Jin. The saffron irritated Akane. She knew she’d be leaving crimson smudges everywhere.

“So Ryouga is Soun’s successor, then?” Nabiki asked, washing her hands in a silver basin. Of the three women, Nabiki talked the most. She asked Akane about life in Jin, and Akane’s own life seemed to interest her immensely.

“Yes,” Akane said. “He’s very strong. We trained together a lot.” Akane remembered Soun’s face when she left. Her foster-father looked triumphant that at last his bloodline would rule Jiya.

Nabiki’s hands stilled. “You…trained together?” Nodoka and Kasumi looked up from where they were fastening filigreed gold chains around Akane’s ankles.

“Yes, we studied kenpo together. We both wanted to become strong, you see.” Akane couldn’t quite remember why her determination had been so fierce. She only knew it had to do with Ranma.

Now all three of them were staring openly.

“Women don’t train in martial arts!” Nabiki said, but her tone was questioning.

“They certainly do!” Akane retorted. “Well, not as many as men, it’s true, but it’s not strange to see a woman who practices martial arts!”

“Are you sure you don’t mean…marital arts, my dear?” Nodoka asked gently. Akane’s maid, Paro, who stood apart watching them, gave a muffled snort of laughter. Akane found herself smiling.

“No, my lady. I said kenpo. The same style that Ranma and…the King use.”

“What an odd idea,” Kasumi mused with a puzzled smile. “No woman in Jiya practices kenpo, Akane. The King believes that women are too weak for such a thing.”

Nodoka smiled at Akane often, and sometimes cast her longing glances, but Kasumi smiled constantly, and often at Akane. She seemed genuinely happy to be helping her, as far as Akane could tell. She liked Kasumi already.

The doors opened and slaves came in carrying a silk and wooden mat on which Akane would be transported to the great Hall where the engagement ceremony would take place. The princess didn’t see why she couldn’t walk when she had two healthy legs, but she was tired from her journey and nearly alone, with a new and unknown family. She figured she wasn’t going to sweat the small stuff right then.

Akane was lifted onto the mat and carried out into the hall, the Queen and her sisters following behind. It was almost like being in the palanquin, Akane decided, trying to get used to the swaying motion.

“Wait!”

They were almost past the large pillars that decorated the entry into the Great Hall. She could see the preparations still going on. She looked around to see Ranma jogging towards them. He was dressed in a long, silk caftan that impeded his progress. Akane giggled to see it. It took away something from his usual cold and controlled self.

Ranma stopped at her side, looking up at her with irritation.

“Akane, I must talk to you,” he said stiffly. “There are things you don’t know...”

The large, carved outer doors of the Great Hall burst open with a blast of sound and fell clanging to the polished, marble floor. The noise was deafening. Everyone froze, and turned to stare at the enormous gap now filled with sunlight.

A slim figure stood silhouetted with legs apart in the doorway, something long strapped to his back, pointing down the line of his arm at Genma.

“Betrayer!”

Still, no one moved. The figure stalked forward, still pointing at Genma.

“Vile creature! Mangy dog! I am here to avenge my family’s honor on you. Do you accept my challenge?”

Genma bared his teeth in a humorless smile.

“I have many enemies, but you look to be only a stripling of a lad. Did I kill your father or plow your mother?” He laughed. “It doesn’t matter. Ranma, take care of him.”

Ranma stepped forward. He didn’t care to fight the demon’s battles for him, but he was not in a good mood and this looked like it would delay the engagement, giving him a chance to try to get Akane alone.

“I’m Ranma Saotome, and I shall be your opponent.”

The youth stepped forward, and now everyone could see that he was handsome, dressed in dark clothes, his hair clipped back in a long ponytail.

“The devil’s cub is equally acceptable. I am Ukyo Kuonji. Prepare for death.” With those words, the youth unslung a huge spatula from his back and charged at Ranma, who moved to defend himself.

Tbc…