DRAGONS AND BANDITS

Stone was glad Stryder had agreed to join. After seeing this Lord Falks in a scuffle he really hoped he would come along too.

Problem is, the bugger talked about as much as a tree. He decided to give a little prompt.

"Lord Falks, is there anything I can do to convince you to join my quest. While there is not much money to be had, the adventure should make for a good tale."

Stone watched the man as he studied the letter from Kiecho. What demons was this fellow thinking about.

Stone ordered ANOTHER plate of fried cheese sticks with delicious marina sauce, hoping Falks would say something.

Helix looked at Stone and nodded "I will join you, tis a worthy course Dragon or no" he said "when do we leave?"

"Well, I had hoped to leave today, but Mr. Stryder here does have a few "loose ends" he wants to tie up" said Stone

"Tomorrow morning would be a good time to start our journey" continued Stone. "How bout we meet back here at dawn, eat, and take our leave?" suggested Stone.

Stryder spent a pleasant afternoon strolling around the village he had called home for the past few years. Familiar places, the town hall, the monument, drifted past him. He stopped to speak to people, helped old Mistress Qui'Jon carry her goods home and said goodbye to some people that he liked and respected. He didn't go to see the mayor.

As the dusk began to fall he returned to the tavern to collect a meal and went back to the hotel, through the building and to the garden. At the bottom of the garden was a jetty into the river, to which his boat was moored. He had lived on the boat for about eight months now and he liked it. He hoped he could take it with him when he left.

He sat on the upper deck and ate his supper which was now only luke warm, but he enjoyed it anyway. Then he went below decks, locked the hatches and went to bed.

The next morning he got up, unlocked the main hatch, climbed up on to the deck, marched across to the edge of the boat and, without hesitating, leaped into the river. It was cold. He didn't really know why he did it, it just seemed like the right thing to do. He bobbed around for a bit, got out onto his boat, dried, dressed and went off to the tavern to meet his new companions. On the short walk to the tavern he tried to think of a convincing argument to enable them to use his boat on the journey...

Stone nearly spit his drink out when Stryder mentioned a boat.

'Is he crazy' though Stone.

"A boat? Your boat? HMMM. Just how big is this boat Stryder?" asked Stonesmith

"How big?" said Stryder. "Well, it's big enough for the three of us to, umm, entertain a guest each without seeing or hearing the other entertainments." Stryder glanced over to the bar, where the tavern owners daughter was looking over. She smiled.

"Seriously Stone. Its a big boat. The river here goes for several hundred miles inland and the boat has a shallow draft. Anyway, it'll be fun."

Helix traced Stryders glance to the young woman and approved with a slow knowing nod, he then turned back to look at the others "A boat would greatly speed our progress, The Yong river splits at Three Crossings and veers sharply north, north east and north west if we were to take the northern branch we could get within a 2 day walk of your village with ease. The only foreseeable problem would be the Pirates and brigands that ply there trade on that particular branch but I doubt they could prove that much of a distraction for us we could also stop at Three Crossings to secure supply's for the overland journey" he said almost surprised with himself to formulate such a plan while being distracted by the smell of Stone's beverage.

The three men paused on the short dock. Stone looked at the vessel and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure we want to take that?" asked Stone. Then looking quickly at Helix he said "Even if using the river cuts our journey by 5 days, are sure we want to make the trip in that?"

Deep down Stone knew the vessel would stand the trip, and it would be nice to make the journey sitting down and resting rather than walking for 13 days, he was having trouble being agreeable to ANOTHER journey on a boat, especially after his last trip.

The other two just stared at Stone, with a look which said "What's your problem?" Finally one of them spoke.......

"Do you get seasick?" asked Stryder. "I have remedies for that, most of them taste ok but the best one smells like that nasty cheesy snack you had earlier."

Stone looked back at the boat with a pained look on his face.

"We could knock you out," suggested Falks. "I've seen it done before. Keeping you out cold for five days may prove to be a challenge, but I like a challenge."

Stones look grew wary.

"It's your choice, man." concluded Stryder. "You can be beaten unconscious, take some evil herbal remedies, and I use the word 'remedies' very loosely, or you can stop insulting my home, step aboard and be a happy sailor."

They looked at Stone...

Jumper awoke from his nap to the tug of the line in his hand. It seems dinner had taken the bait. He deftly worked the line and was soon rewarded with a sizeable fish, not one he was familiar with, for his next meal.

He walked slowly back to his clearing from the river contemplating just how best to prepare his evening meal when he heard a crashing noise ahead. realizing the startling sound was coming from his modest hut he rushed quickly home forgetting the fish he had waited so long to catch. As he broke the tree line and entered the clearing a wild boar, an angry wild boar, charged out of his hut and into the open.

Reacting quickly he dove back into the underbrush and readied his bow. when the boar did not seem intent on following Jumper decided to let the animal calm itself and wander off. two hours later without any dinner to the evening Jumper set out for the river again...

Stone envisioned himself kicking his companions in the shins, and dwelt on the thought for a minute or two.

Finally he said "NO! I do not get seasick. I was just kind of looking forward to a walk, but since you both seem to think we need to "take the boat" lets take the boat."

Stone grabbed his bag of clothes and his bag of weapons and deftly hopped onto the deck of the river vessel. In a single motion the ship swayed in the water, Stone dropped his bags, but lost his balance and his momentum carried him over the other side of boat.

**SPLASH** When Stone finally broke the surface of the river water again all he heard was uncontained laughter from the dock. He made his way around the boat to the dock and spat "Okay Okay, put a sock in it and help me up!" he demanded as he held his hand up for assistance.

Helix reached down and pulled Stone ashore "there you go my Friend perhaps next time it would be better to step lightly onto the vessel rather than jumping" he said as he stepped aboard the boat.

It was now that he realized that he had been laughing something he had not done in some time a twinge of guilt washed over him yet he could not think why could it have been all the lives he had taken? or maybe those that he had lost.

The feeling past and Helix looked about the boat for a place to call his own and found it nestled under the small canvas that covered the bow of the craft it was sheltered, comfortable and most importantly hidden.

Having been sure that he would be able to convince his companions to use his boat, Stryder had made sure that he had started a fire in the steam engine down in the aft hold of his boat before he left this morning. Now they were all on board and ready to leave he went to check on it. All was ok, pressure was rising well, so he flung a few more coals on, gave the fire a poke and went back up on deck.
"Nearly ready." he reported. "About another fifteen minutes to get a good pressure up and then we can leave." He looked around. "Where's Falks?"
"He's hiding up the front under a sheet." said Stone. "When you say pressure, do you mean that this is a steam powered boat?"
Stryder was starting to loosen the hawsers and answered while he worked.
"The problem with the land around here is that its very hilly. That means the wind is really unreliable. And even if the wind does blow it's almost guaranteed to be blowing the wrong way. So sails are useless." He flumped down into his comfy seat near the wheel and looked at the pressure gauge. He flicked it a few times then looked at Stone.
"So it really left me with two options. A boat with oars or a boat with a steam engine," he shrugged, "and the engine idea really appealed to me. With oars you either have to row or hire people to row for you. With a steam engine I just have to acquire the odd bag of coal. Why is he hiding up at the bow?"
Stone shrugged. "You'll have to ask him. Do you have a towel?"

Stryder dropped into the cabin and grabbed a towel from a cupboard. He went back up on deck and handed it to Stone, who began to vigorously rub himself. Stryder slipped the hawsers and pushed the boat out into the river. Being so far from the sea the river was fairly slow going, which was good because they were heading up stream. He slowly opened the regulator, peered behind himself into the aft hold to make sure that the things that should be spinning were and the things that shouldn't weren't. Satisfied, he closed the door to the engine room and sat down, one hand on the wheel and began the long journey towards a dragon.

Stone took the towel and mostlydried himself off. He picked up his bags and found a comfortable looking space to kick his heels up.

Stryder moved the vessel off of the dock and pointed it up river in a smooth motion. The river moved slowly and, except for the boat, silently. Stone closed his eyes to comtemplate how he would fight a "dragon".

Stone jerked awake as he hit the floor of his room. He had fallen asleep and eventually rocked off of the chair he had sat down in. Shaking the sleep from his eyes decided to go back to the deck and have a look around. On his way Stone noticed a very small, and sparsely stocked, galley.

Making his way to the deck he noticed Helix, still under the sheet, probably pretending to be asleep. Stryder was sitting at the wheel near the back of the boat.

"I noticed you haven't stocked the galley recently; are we stopping for food along the way?" quiered Stone.

Before Stryder could answer an arrow sung through the air and landed on the deck between Stone's feet. *THUNK*

Stone dove below deck and made his way *THUNK* to his *THUNK* room, and his weapons, including the bow he had received from his former master.

In his room, fishing his bow out Stone thought to himself "I sure hope Helix was pretending to be asleep"....

The Arrows fell quickly and Helix was almost hit by one has he peered out from the canvas his eye's narrowed "Bloody Pirates" he said they had been travelling for just over 6 hours and they had already encountered the element of Scum*

He looked toward the aft of the ship to see Stryder roll deftly into cover just before the boat rocked from the impact soon the deck was flooded by pirates screaming and shouting Helix dashed from his hiding spot surprising several of the fools who he quickly cut down while bashing aside arrows loosed from the rigging of the other vessel.

Helix Stood and in a loud clear voice he shouted "I am Tenkazu Mirimotto of clan Mirimotto stand down or be destroyed... Your choice" he could see Stryder looking at him with the look of a man who had just completed a complex recall of memory aka a slight frown it looked like Stryder had finally realized who Helix was.

Two of the men exchanged a glance and switched sides and took up positions alongside Helix the others look at each other with slightly worried looks then a voice from behind them called out "HA I thought you Mirimotto whelps were all dead guess I will have to finish off the Great Clan Mirimotto myself... at em lads no one is immortal despite what all them stories say" the pirates pulled together and moved forward toward Helix and his new allies.

Helix sheaved his swords and began to move in a strange fashion similar to a dance or Kung Fu he muttered some words and his hands ignited in pale blue fire he then punched the air before him and several Pirate's froze in place and then shattered into pieces...

(*Helix was a practitioner of Magic of which there are five elements Fire, Ice, Wind, Earth and Void helix often used these elements to categorize soldiers in his employ and on occasion people he knew for example Stone would be Earth Stryder would be wind and he was Void however he soon learnt that not every one fit with this basic core classification and thus he created a sixth Element that he named Scum and every one who stole, murdered or cheated would be placed in this category and would soon be dealt with often swiftly and even more often fatally.)

"I am Tenkazu Mirimotto of clan Mirimotto." said Falks, "Stand down or be destroyed... your choice"

At that name Stryder glanced at Falks. Could it be him? Maybe, but now was not the time to worry about it. He stood and watched as Falks froze and shattered a few of the pirates. That's impressive, he thought. I'd forgotten he could do that. At that point Stryder decided that enough was enough. He walked right up into the face of the pirate captain.
"How DARE you!" he fumed. "How dare you come to my boat, shoot arrows through my hull, then board my boat without permission. And then to threaten me and my colleagues, on my boat no less, and tell me that you're gonna take my boat and kill one of my friends!" The captain looked at him, stunned that anyone would have the audacity to say that to him. His moments pause gave Stryder his next opportunity, who wound up a huge right hook and planted a punch on the side of the captains head. He went down like a sack of coal.

The other pirates looked at the captain on the deck, looked back up at Stryder.
"You're gonna pay for that." said the first mate. Stryder was still outraged.
"Bring it on, bitch! You and your dogs. One at a time or all at once, it's all the same to us."
"Come on, mates." called the first mate. "First one to kill one gets a barrel of rum to himself."

The pirates began to advance, Stryder moved back to Falks. Stone was stood on the other side of Falks. All three had weapons drawn, crouched and ready to defend themselves, their honour and, most of all, Stryders boat.

Stone was returning to the deck when he heard Falks yelling at the attackers. Stone thought to himself, 'Man, that guy has some cajones coming up with a story like that. Tenkazu Mirimotto indeed. Well if your gonna lie, lie big'

Stone broke from the doorway onto the deck of the boat in time to see two frozen pirates shatter. He moved to a position next to Helix and got a good view of Stryder putting the Captain of the pirate vessel down on the deck.

Now the three of them, back to back, along with the few who sided with 'Tenkazu" readied for the onslaught. A few quick flicks and several of Stone's hidden knives had found new homes in stomachs, shoulders, and chests of the attackers. One even pierced a particularly ugly pirates adams apple.

"Damn, that was a good knife" quiped Stone, "not sure if I want it back now."

Six or seven of the pirates decided to rush in together and soon discovered what a mistake it was. Arms, knives, swords, feet, and fists all flew so fast that Stone wasn't sure exactly who was hitting whom, but the attack repelled with only 2 or the seven pirates able to retreat. Another group of pirates, numbering only 5 this time began to move forward when a voice shrieked above the clamor of the battle.

"STOP!" Every head turned to the source of the shout. Stone immediately recognized the woman as the one Helix had slapped around in the tavern yesterday.

Stone looked at Helix, "Can you please tell me why this woman has such a case of the hots for you?" Helix said nothing.

The brief pause allowed Stone, Helix and Stryder the advantage they needed. Each began disposing of the closest pirates in a bloody melee. Knives, swords, and blunt instruments flashed for nearly 10 minutes. Smashed skulls bleeding bodies lay about Stryder's boat and culminated in only eight people left standing.

Stone, Stryder, Helix, one of the turncoats, the female assassin, the pirate captain, the sole survivor of his crew and an odd little man fishing from the bank.

Stone suggested, "This may be a good time for you to leave"

Jumper awoke from his nap, but this time not to a tug on the line but a rather fussy commotion on the river.

Peaking out from his hat he saw a group of three men fighting a much larger group of common ruffians on a boat in the river. it seemed the three had the upper hand in the situation and Jumper was about to fall asleep again when one of the men, the largest stiffened slightly.

'great i've been seen' Jumper thought to himself.

He closed his eyes again but after a few moments they flew open again. In one swift movement as if on a spring he had fired an arrow at the ruffians and was half way across the river towards the boat.

upon reaching the edge of the deck Jumper fired another arrow into the largest of the ruffians. He moved in the blink of an eye from the edge of the deck the middle of the fight. dropping his bow removed two daggers from his coat and stood firmly between the three men and one very very upset looking woman.

Finding herself alone she fled off of the boat cursing aloud.

Jumper turned toward the man he would soon call Helix and muttered friend it is good to see you alive please wait here while i gather my things. As he turned to move toward the edge of the boat he suddenly collapsed exhausted from the tremendous effort he had just asked his body to provide after years of apathy...

Helix stepped forward a caught the newcomer as he fell and gently lowered him to the deck the man was still breathing and seemed ok "See what you can do for him he said to the man who took up arms with him "Oh and what is your name?" the man saluted "I am Kenshi Umatto I was once a soldier of Clan Mirimotto my Lord" replied the man. Helix nodded as Kenshi went to assist Jumper.

Stepping over the bodies Helix moved over to the the edge of the boat in time to see the woman climb ashore on the far bank she wore black with a crimson scarf tied around her waist. She stood for a while looking at Helix before reaching down and plucking something from her belt and throwing is at Helix, Helix caught the spinning projectile with ease then looked back but she was gone he turned his attention to the shuriken the small blade was uncommon it had 9 points rather than the traditional 4 and at its centre was a was a Black Falcon on a field of Crimson "Clan Kimihara Kunoichi*... But why?" He said.

Helix walked over to Stryder who was now kicking dead bodies over the side of the boat and complaining about stains on the oak decking "Look at this" Helix showed Stryder the shuriken "Clan Kimihara were loyal to my clan I don't see why they would want me dead something is going on here and I don't like it" he said...

It didn't take them long to loot the Pirate's ship and take the supplies and weapons that it held Stryder had insisted on kicking all the Pirates into the river and was now scrubbing the Deck, Helix and Stone carried the fallen Mirimotto Soldier and placed him on the Pirate's ship and set it adrift with a few select words from Kenshi, Helix cast a small fire spell setting the pirate ship aflame.

(*Kunoichi is the name for a Female Ninja. If you ever encounter one in your travels pray she is not carrying a Cat.)

"It's gone!" groaned Stone. He had been looking for his favorite knife. The one that managed to find the throat of one of the pirates. "Damn, that was my favorite knife"
Stone really hated losing favorite knives. He had lost 3 favorite knives this year alone.

Stone rejoined Helix and Stryder as they were looking at the shuriken, and then he heard Clan Kimihara. Stone silently hoped this was not a clan war.

After they were done cleaning up and sending the flaming boat loose down the river Stone advised the others "If rumors travel in these parts like they do in the southern regions, word that 5 men slaughtered 22 is going to travel fast. We will either get a wide berth, or be challenged by every land owner we come across. I suggest we be very careful if we stop. Every port should be treated as hostile.

"Did we get enough supplies from the pirate's ship to avoid having to put into port?" Stone asked no one inparticular. "The other thing Helix, our new friend seems to have some special abilities, you might try to speak to him, maybe you are cut from the same cloth."

"Well, I had a nap before Stryder hit that rock and tossed me out of my chair, so I guess I can take the first watch" grinned Stone.

Jumper slept uneasily. Normally his dreams were pleasant but this sleep, this sleep carried a rather dark cloud on the horizon. When he awoke how ever he did not remember what it was that had troubled him.

Waking up from his "nap" Jumper stepped out of his cabin into the night air. Not recognizing any of the bank around him he cursed aloud. His broadsword and what little gold he had with him were both in his hut probably a good two days journey on foot back down the river.

Hoping he had not attracted the attention of the others he walked to the aft of the boat to find Stone standing there looking off into the distance with a very pensive stare.

Jumper walked up next to him and also stared off into the distance...after some time Jumper spoke

"Hey, I don't recognize you. You aren't from around here are you."

Stone did not immediately respond, Jumper continued

"You wouldn't happen to know where my bow ended up would you? and do you know where Helix is i must speak with him?"

Stone regarded the newcomer with near suspicion. The fact that a clan that was once loyal to the Mirimotto seemed to want Mirimotto blood now was disturbing. It meant that Kimihara was dishonored and betrayed in some fashion; and that they believe the Mirimotto clan was behind the act. What Stone knew of the Mirimotto clan was not much, but what he had heard led him to believe they were fair and honorable. Which led to his suspicion.

"I am not sure where your bow was placed; as far a Helix the last time I saw him he was below deck." said Stone. He knew this one was no match so there was no worries.

"I don't believe I caught your name, and it would be rude to call you Stranger. And, if I may be bold, it seems you are familiar with Helix, do you have a history with him?" Stone asked the odd little man.

Stryder was back in the wheel house on his comfy chair. It was starting to get dark and he was trying to decide what was the best course of action. They could carry on through the night and take shifts at steering and guard duty, they could tie up at the next jetty and just have one person on guard duty, or they could drop the anchor in the middle of the river and all get some sleep. He had to admit that he needed sleep now, and thought about suggesting the middle of the river option.

Stone had finished his conversation with the newcomer and had mooched over to the wheel house. He poked his head through the door.
"Ok to come in?" he asked.
"Sure." said Stryder. He grabbed all the crap that was on the second chair, a few maps and charts, a book and some mind bending math puzzles, and plonked them on the floor next to his chair. "Take a seat. Did you sort out our new friend a cabin?"
"Yes. He settled in ok."
"He musta' left most of his gear behind."
"He's worried about his bow. He's met Helix before."
"It's a funny thing. I know Helix too. Our paths crossed a few years ago. You remember the war between the three clans, about 10 or so years ago?" Stone nodded. "Well originally it was clan Mirimotto and clan Tachibana. My clan, Taira, decided not to involve itself, not really understanding what started it and who we agreed with." Stryder took a pull on his cup of ale and carried on. "Someone, I still don't know who, gave false information to clan Tachibana, and as a result Tachibana ordered an attack on one of my clans villages. That dragged us into the war. Even then, Tachibana still won the war. Both Mirimotto and my clan were decimated. In the final battle our clans lost over 500 people. Helix and I were the ones to reach the Tachibana headquarters. We fought our way through the building and found the Tachibana clan leader. Falks wasted no time in cutting his head off. The problem was that he had three sons and they weren't there, if they had been then clan Tachibana would have died that day as well." Stryder stopped and stared out of the windows for a bit. "Damn, these memories are painful. We had to walk across the battlefield, Helix carrying the severed head of the clan leader. I saw so many friends, so many brothers laying dead on that plain. Laying dead in the fading light. The remnants of clan Tachibana let us bury our dead. It took Helix and I two days to do it, and that's why he is the way he is. Technically we won that war but it was an empty victory. We went our separate ways after that and I didn't see him again until he walked into the village a few weeks ago."
Stone had sat and listened while Stryder talked, every so often taking a sip of his drink. "So your clan was wiped out too, apart from you?"
Stryder looked at his feet and said "Yes. Everyone apart from me."

"Anyway," he said to change the subject. "What are we gonna do overnight? I've just seen a huge patch of reeds that we could chug into and would hide us nicely. What do you think?"

Helix looked up as the young man entered the cabin "Your Bow is on the table" he said as he looked at the man "who was he" he thought as he pored himself a cup of water.

"You seem some what familiar to me but I can't place why perhaps you have the answers?"

after a short pause Jumper spoke:

"My name is Jumper, and i do not doubt that you don't know me. I am...well I am an outcast. I am a distant cousin of yours, but I'm sorry to say that i have not seen or heard from any of the clan for years.

I was not a very disciplined youngster often goofing around instead of learning and training, particularly concerning our families...ah unique talents. I was cast out after my carelessness caused several members of my village to come to harm and have been a man without a place to call home for decades.

I recognized you because of a very unique talent i have, while i did not come to have the degree of control over magic that our clan is recognized for two seemingly insignificant abilities came very naturally to me. First i can see the intent of a mans soul, honest or not. Only once have i ever met a man that i could not read clearly...i was 5 and it was at a clan reunion...that person was a child...that person was you.

The second ability is nothing really a parlor trick, i can temporarily increase my physical strength and speed to superhuman levels, but it requires much of me and often leaves me without strength as you saw earlier.

that is my tale, i have much i wish to ask. How is the clan? Did many survive the war? But perhaps most importantly will you accept me humble request to rejoin our family?