Young Master McDohl Chapter 13 and Kasumi Chapter 6:
And then there were Three
Location: Southwindow

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   Prison . . . it's the same no matter where you go. Iron bars and stone walls.  Occasionally it's the other way around, but not often.  There is something about being in a jail cell that makes a man take stock of what's important to him.  To look back upon his life and think about what he could have done differently.  Things like . . .

   "Running away from Viki as fast as possible!!"

   Ah . . . and that is Young Master McDohl.  He is a current political guest of the fine institution that is South Window.

   This is McDohl's second stay in prison in the last year and while he hasn't got a criminal record, he is still a prefered customer of this kind of hospitality in Jowston. 

   The missing leader of the Toran Republic is an important piece in the political game of chess around here.  Lord Granmeyer finally captured that piece after . . . an accident by a teleporter named Viki.

   Of course, Granmeyer isn't labeling this as an "accident".   He's probably thinking more along the lines of "divine province".  The man who escaped not only him, but the whole South Window army, suddenly dropping in his lap like that. 

   And now, we turn our attention back to the cell beneath the City Hall.  The one reserved for political prisoners.  And it's current guest . . . .

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   Young Master McDohl leaned on the bars of the cell and sighed.  It had been too long since he'd been home . . . to sleep in his own bed . . . eat a Gremio home
cooked meal . . . make fun of Pahn's eating disorder . . .

   Of course, anything would be preferable to this! The guards were uncaring, the food was rather stale, and the profane graffiti on the cell walls appeared to
be mispelled. 

   Dom DeLuise would be trying to knaw his own arm off after an hour of this . . . or an hour without any kind of 3 course meal.

   So McDohl passed the time trying to recall just how the hell he ended up in this place to begin with. After the name "Viki" flashed across his brain for five minutes, he was then tired of thinking about it. It remained that the only thing left to do was to find
something to do about it. 

   And that meant breaking out of jail.

   Unlike the children of most dignitaries, Young Master McDohl had a healthy knowledge of breaking and entering the prison insitution.

   All throughout the Toran War, McDohl was either breaking people out of jail or breaking out himself. Occasionally, he'd sneak in to retrieve a water root, but that was rare. 

   With his decision to break out firmly in mind, the only thing that remained was how to go about it. There was the Soul Eater, but using that rune carelessly was not the best thing to do. 

   The more often McDohl had to rely on the power of the Soul Eater, the more attention he'd draw to the fact that he had it to begin with. 

   And the more people that knew he had it, the more people would try to get it from him.  Of course, no one seemed to want to ask.  They just tried to take his hand with the rune.  And that wasn't a tactic popular with the Young Master.

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   Books are extremely rare where I come from. About the most I've seen were those on fighting techniques and martial arts; if I thought myself in need of a good book that didn't involve teaching you how to hit somebody, I'd usually have to go out of Rokkaku all the way into Gregminster or beyond.

   That wasn't to say I was a total illiterate.  I'm a bookworm; looked that term up in Hugo's dictionary somewhere.

   (I did thought at first that it was some kind of insect that lived within the pages of thick dusty volumes that gave off rabbies; but hey, I was only eight after all.)

   I do love books. I  could read for hours, had I the time to read for that duration.  My favorite were the classics.

   Thinking back, I could only recall in vivid detail one of my favorites, a book called 'Romy and Julienne', a play written by some guy named Wil Spearshake.  That was the first book that opened my eyes for the first time to a world outside those of a girl's, which led to my realization that boys perhaps, were more than just mere vessels of cootie diseases.

   It's a sappy play, I know; first of all, Romy and Julienne were spoiled brats; wildly infatuated and obsessed with the other, yes, but spoiled brats all the same.  I know now that there's more to romance than staring stupidly at each other and professing
your love for days on end.

   Besides, my grandmother always told me to never trust a book written by anyone who wears tights.

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   Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

   Kasumi had always prided herself on being one of the fastest feet in Rokkaku.  There were very few times when she can be beaten in a foot race with her playmates, and only then if she was extremely tired. She could run for miles without breaking a sweat or
drawing in too deep a breath, which made her a fairly important scout or messenger.

   That was however, three years ago.  Three years since she'd raced around the Toran castle, dodging this monster or that sorcerer; three years since she'd scouted along the edges of an army to be fought shortly before a battle, picking up information that might prove vital to the resulting fight that would take place.

   Years without practice is a very dangerous thing.

   Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

   Gritting her teeth, Kasumi strained to push herself further, sweat of immense multitudes streaming down her face, only half-hearing Krin's repeated calls to wait up for him behind her.  Lord Granmeyer's house quickly loomed up in front of her, yet it still seemed like miles away. If her guess was right on the mark, then maybe at least one of the problems that have been plaguing her for a long time would be resolved then and there.

   If only there was some way to make herself move faster.

   Had she looked back to see the small army of invertebrae traversing after her clouds of dust, she would have found her solution.

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   Dust.  For two years it's been nothing but dust. Dust on the roads . . . dust in the houses . . . dust in the prisons . . . dust everywhere!

   McDohl once vowed as a child that he would somedayoutlaw dust.  He wasn't that bright a child.  Leaning against the wall, all McDohl had to do was listen to the sounds of the world around him.

   There were the skittering of tiny feet as mice and roaches moved around, doing whatever it was they did on their spare time.  There was the noise of the guard being changed.  There was the sound of breathing and of a heart beating. 

   Life sure was boring.  So, naturally, that meant escape was going to have to be planned.  He couldn't stay here forever . . .

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   Lord Granmeyer of South Window knew what to make of most things that came his way, but he didn't quite know what to make of the news of a young girl standing in his doorway claiming to be an ambassador to the Toran Republic.  For want of a better thing to say or
do, he let hospitality and good manners override confusion and common sense, and sent word to his guards to let her in.  Ambassador or not, he wasn't about to tell her of Southwindow's tiny little secret locked firmly away in one of their best dungeons. Little things like that could start another war between the two countries, and he didn't want to be
the general that launched a thousand horses, or at least in not that literal sense of the word.

   It was there that Kasumi soon found herself seated by the mayor's table with Krin at her side, using all her diplomatic tact and effability to convince Granmeyer she is who she says she is.

   " . . . and so, President Lepant believes that this apparently endless cold war would not prive beneficial to both out countries, and he has therefore issued several diplomats like me to try and establish a mutual agreement between us to ensure political stability in this part of the land . . . . "

   Well, President Lepant would issue such an order, had he known where Kasumi was and what Kasumi was planning to do at that moment, at least in Kasumi's way of thinking.  Fervently, she hoped that what she was going to do went off in a hitch; all she had to do was find some way to distract the mayor to sneak out, but that would have to be a major distraction for her to be inconspiciously absent.  Lepant, and most likely Chief Hanzo would kill her, had they known anyway. If she failed, Toran Republic's former president would
remain missing until he turns old and crotchety, and if she succeeded, she might as well have set back Toran - Jowston relations for about fifty years.

   Perhaps she could get Krin to fake a heart attack.


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   There it was . . . just out of reach. 

   McDohl looked rather upset at the fact that no matter how hard he stretched his arm, he couldn't grab ahold of the Heaven Fang Staff sitting on the guard's table.  It was driving him out of his mind.

   Inch by inch, McDohl stripped down to his underwear and tied his clothes together.  He twirled them a bit and tossed the long strand out onto the table. 

   Five times he reeled it in and failed to get the staff snagged on his outfit.  Damn smooth edges . . .

   He was about to try again when the sound of guards coming down the stairs made McDohl nearly jump out of his skin.  Quickly dismantling the knots, McDohl slipped back into his clothes just as the guards came in.  They looked over their star prisoner closely for
some reason and it made McDohl nervous.

   "Hey kid."

   "Uh . . . yeah?"

   "What happened to you?  You're all dusty."

   "You don't exactly let me go to the laundromat, now do you?"

   "Oh, right.  Nevermind."

   The guards left and McDohl slumped against the wall, sweating.  That was close.

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   Lord Granmeyer rubbed his head.

   "Hmm...well, we always welcome peace within and beyond our borders, and Southwindow for one will welcome Toran's overtures.  I'm afraid however, that now isn't quite the right time for Toran's ambassadors to travel to the Jowston City States." He smiled wryly.

   "You can say that we're hovering on the brink of a war with the Highland Empire, and tension is unnaturally high . . . ." His voice trailed off, staring at Krin in part horror and part shock. 

   Krin was busy convulsing. Or at least, trying to convulse.  With hacking sounds, he rose from the chair and made to squirm along the floor, eyes rolling at the back of his head.

   "Guards!" Granmeyer yelled, appalled.

   Kasumi tried hard not to wince, succeeded.  Krin was an excellent thief, but he has to be the world's worst actor.  But the most imortant thing was that it worked.
 
  "I apologize, Lord Granmeyer." Kasumi shouted, trying to sound panicky.  He's a good enough companion, but I'm afraid he suffers from a strange disease from time to time!"  More and more guards streamed into the room.  A few moments more.

  "It's called, uhm . . . Krin's Syndrome.  No doctor, there isn't any cure, just everyone hold him until he stops moving!" Krin's tongue was halfway out his mouth, moaning incoherencies and flailing at the people trying to hold him, the mayor included.

   Deciding that most of the guards were now occupied, Kasumi quietly sneaked down a stairway that she hoped led her to the direction of the prison, unable to keep
a little grin off her face. This almost made up for the times Krin tried to filch her underwear.  Almost.

   The last thing Kasumi saw before she slipped out of the room was Krin's wildly trashing arm making contact with the poor mayor's nose.

   The stairs seemed endless, and the place in general seemed dank as well.  Kasumi kept a worried eye down her feet, lest any other incidents involving roachesand little things that creep in the night come into contact with her big toe.  Pausing at the end of the
stairway, Kasumi paused to listen.  There sounded like there were a couple or so guards coming down the corridor towards her.  Those self-same guards were flat on their backs ten minutes later, and Kasumi was running once more, into what she hoped was the cells. If Krin wasn't able to divert their attention when she came back, she'd skin him alive.

   Kasumi flung open the jail door.

   She was right after all; she had expected to find none other than Master McDohl, imprisoned.

   Her heart leaped.

   What she didn't expect to find however, was Master McDohl, just about naked.

   Kasumi could feel her eyes bulging out, even as her face promptly turned red.

   "Come on, dammit!  Just a little bit more!"

   McDohl tried again for the staff and finally succeeded.  It clanged loudly on the floor and he winced.  Dragging it with his clothes, McDohl got it inside his cell and dressed quickly. 

   "Now then . . . "

   Twirling his staff quickly, he smashed the lock on the cell door with all his strength; busting it open. Racing outside, he barely had enough time to skid to a halt right in front of Kasumi.

   "Uh . . . . what are you doing here?"

   Kasumi could only stare at him blankly.  He didn't see her.  She hoped he didn't know why she was blushing.  Blushing?  She did NOT blush.

   "I . . . I . . . . . I . . . . . "

   Wait a minute.  What was she doing, stuttering about like some doe-eyed girl with a lisp?  She was the bereaved party, after all.  What was she doing here?  Was she the last person he wanted to see, then?


   She did NOT blush.

   Clearing her throat, Kasumi gave him the most frigid look she could muster, and hoped she was succeeding.

   "Why am I here?  I . . . I came to get you out, you . . . you . . . !"

   "Great!"

   McDohl smiled a bit and ran up the stairs, grabbing her arm to get her to follow.  After a few minutes, he ran back down, with Kasumi in tow.

   "No . . . can't go back out that way . . . "

   He ran over to the window . . . then scratched that idea since it was barred and 7 feet above them.  There were several other doors around here, but who knew where they lead?  This was confusing.

   "Aww . . . how the hell do we get out of here?!"

   Great?! The only thing he could say was 'Great'?! Kasumi fumed.

   Nearly pulling out her arm from her socket did nothing to get her into the good mood department either.  She hadn't thought of coming this far enough to formulate a working escape plan.

   "How should I know?!  I've only been in Southwindow for a couple of hours!"

   "Kasumi!" That was Krin running towards them, eyes wide in fear.

   "Couldn't keep it up much longer." He panted.

   Kasumi gnawed at her lip, eyeing McDoh at the corner of her eye.  Maybe . . . .

   Her Shrike Rune started glowing four seconds before she knew it did.

   "YOU!"  McDohl shouted, grabbing Krin by the collar.  "You got a lot of nerve showing yourself again!  After you morons zapped me halfway across the world!"

   "Hee hee!  Teleporter worked, right?  Just not like we anticipated."

   McDohl let Krin go and ran around the room.  The guards couldn't be far behind and this was going to be tricky.  Was there no other way out of this room than those doors?

   Krin giggled again nervously, looking over at McDohl from his position behind Kasumi.

   "Whatcha waiting for?  Go for it!"

   Kasumi promptly stomped on Krin's foot.  While the latter hopped about in pain, Kasumi looked around and came to the conclusion Master McDohl had reached earlier.

   "We could . . . . face them?" She suggested half-heartedly.

   "Or we could bust a hole in the wall?" 
 
   "Great idea!  Stand back!  SOUL EATER . . . SHOW ME YOUR POWER!!"

   Young Master McDohl raised his hand to the sky and the sign of the Soul Eater shown like a star, eating away at the wall until it was nothing but . . . dirt?

   "Nuts.  This is an underground dungeon."

   "Just great." Kasumi grumbled, as the sound of footsteps grew louder.

   "And cavalry's coming."  Hurrying towards the jail block that used to house the former Toran leader, she dug in her heels, closing each hand around two of the bar cells, and slowly started to pull at the steel, Shrike Rune now flashing like mad.

   "I have an idea. Master McDohl . . . please stay down!"

   McDohl dove to the ground and took Krin with him.

   As Krin squealed in protest, Kasumi closed her eyes and concentrated hard.

   The door burst open, and Lord Granmeyer and a handful of other soldiers burst in.  Confused, they paused, taking in Kasumi mangling at the bars as if her life depended on it, and McDohl and Krin huddling on the floor.  With several mental shrugs, they
started forward . . . . .

   . . . . . and were treated  to the sight of a flying tangle of lead, iron and other assorted metals heading in their direction, accompanied by several screeching sounds.  With their hands reflexively cupped around their ears, they had no means of protection for the steel-encrusted mesh that hit most of them directly in their faces and sent them sprawling down, leaving the doorway free for passage.

   Kasumi lay sprawled on the floor near where the bars used to be, flat on her back, looking dazed and just a tad singed.

   "That . . . . . hurt."

   McDohl leaned over her and looked her over for injuries.  He had never heard of the Shrike Rune possessing any powers that would enhance strength . . . in fact, it shouldn't!  It was just for momentum. This was very odd.

   "Are you alright?"

   Kasumi blinked and gazed back up at him, flashing him a silly grin.

   "I dun' wanna go t' training school, gran`ma . . . . . "

   "Kasumi, snap out of it."

   Kasumi blinked again.

   "Hunhh?  Ohhhh . . . . I think I'm alright . . . what happened?"

   As she struggled to stand up, her eyes wandered to Krin, who was trying to sneak out without being noticed.

   "You come back here you runt, or I'll castrate you!" She growled.  Krin eeped and did likewise. 

   McDohl put an arm under her shoulder and supported her up.  He judged the wisdom of trying to carry her, but thought better of it.  She might be insulted by such a gesture.

   "Come on.  It's time to get out of here.  You sure you can walk alright?"

   Kasumi felt a teeny bit insulted.  He didn't even try to carry her.

   "Uh, yeah, I'm okay . . . . . where we going?"

   "Out of South Window.  I WAS on my way back to Toran.  Considering what I've been through since I was blasted out of there . . . it'll be nice to be home again."

   Kasumi glanced back at the mess they left behind them as they stepped through the door, and grimaced.

   "President Lepant's going to kill me.  And the Chief.  I was supposed to be on vacation . . . "

   "A ninja?  On vacation?"  The thought daunted McDohl for a moment.

   "Well . . . let's just let this be our little secret, then."

   Kasumi colored. "We do take vacations once in awhile, you know . . . hadn't had one in.....well...."


   Krin peeked out of the main doors.

   "All clear, I think.  But we better scram soon, a lot of people are starting to wonder where all those noises came from."

   "Okay . . . "

   And, in the best tradition of ninja and McDohl alike, they all left the dungeon and South Window without so much as a sound.  Where they go from here . . . is anyone's guess.