Princess of Silver Sands - Chapter 30
Posted by: Kura in Writing, Princess of Silver SandsPrincess of Silver Sands
Book 01
Chapter - 30 - The West Continent
Chapter Thirty
The West Continent
Angel and Echo are waiting outside a small building, Echo sitting on the ground while Angel paces back and forth in front of the building, the princess unable to keep as calm as her companions under the circumstances. “What do you think happened to her? Why would she just pass out like that?”
Echo watches the princess unsure if his assumption was correct but giving it to the princess anyways. “I think that she got hurt on the ship, during the fight with the demon…”
Angel turns back down to him. “But she said that she hadn’t gotten hurt… why would she lie to us?”
Echo closes his eyes unable to come up with an answer to that one. “I don’t know… I really don’t know why…”
Angel looks back up at the building. “I was hopping that things would get easier… we’re already half done our travels aren’t we?”
Echo looks down at the ground. “We’re half way there yes… but the danger has increased tenfold the moment we stepped for on the continent of West.” He turns back to Angel to explain. “The Castle of the West Continent has a barrier around it because the West Continent is swarming with demons… this is the land that they have gained the most control of, the first land of Fynta to be attacked by them.”
Angel nervously lowers her head, this information not at all welcoming. This bring up a question that had been sitting far in the back of her mind. “Even with Li… if she’s still well enough to continue travelling with us… do you really think we’re going to be able to make it to the Castle of West…?”
Echo turns away leaving Angel with no answer to her question.
*******
Hitsumi is sitting by a bedside, Li laying down on it her clothes removed as the doctor that lived and worked within the town their ship had made port at works on her wound sewing it closed. The doctor informing Hitsumi of the situation as he worked on Li. “The wound she has is capable of killing her if she isn’t properly cared for.”
Hitsumi turns away from Li and back to the doctor. “What do we have to do? We’re in a hurry… so if you can just write the instructions down I’ll make sure she follows them.”
The doctor shakes his head unable to do something like that, it being much more sever then Hitsumi seemed to realize. “It will be dangerous for her to continue traveling in this condition. If you want her to live through this then I suggest you either stay here and wait for her to get better, or leave her behind.”
Hitsumi looks unhappy to be told such a thing. “Neither is an option! She killed a demon! It won’t be long until the others demons realize what has happened and come looking for us. If we stay in one place we’ll be killed.” He lowers his head thinking over the other possibility given to him. “If we leave her behind… the demons won’t find us… but they’ll find her…” Hitsumi looks unsure and is unable to come up with an answer to the situation.
The doctor sighs to himself able to tell that Hitsumi would quite possibly do neither if not properly convinced of the situation. “There is one more option… but she will hate you if you choose it.”
Hitsumi doesn’t look like he understands what he’s saying. “Hate me? Why would she hate me? I mean… how could she hate me anymore then she already does?”
The doctor lifts his hand for a moment pointing over to a desk. “This girl is a special case… I’ve dealt with her before… the child with violet eyes… To heal a wound like this quickly you need to use holy magic, but her body opposes holy magic so if it’s used on her it’s capable of killing her. There is only person that I know whose healing skills will not kill her.”
Hitsumi walks over to the desk the doctor is pointing to, looking it over and finding a small charm with a strange symbol carved into. He picks it up looking it over the doctor explaining to Hitsumi what that was. “That is a charm made by Siren and given to a knight that came to my clinic. After leaving he forgot it and has not yet returned to retrieve it.”
Hitsumi looks a little confused, the doctors explanation of it not seeming to help the matter at all, the doctor continuing to explain not having yet finished. “Each wizard is branded with a marking, those markings help to keep track of the wizards. If you look on the shoulder of your small friend outside you will see that he has one of these markings as well. It is one of the ways the royalty uses to help keep the younger, more reckless wizards under their control. Those charms are like compasses, they will point you in the direction of the wizard with the marking similar to the one carved into it.”
The doctor finishes his work there nothing more that he could do for Li at this point, he gets to his feet cleaning his hands with a cloth and water. “That particular charm you hold is used to locate a wizard known as Whisper Silvawind of the fifth table.”
Hitsumi turns back to him remembering that he had heard Li mention that name before. “Whisper Silvawind…”
The doctor nods his head. “It seems that she has told you who he is then, Whisper Silvawind is this child’s master, he is also the most powerful wielder of holy magic in Fynta and the only one capable of healing her quickly enough for her to continue with you on your journey.”
Hitsumi stares silently at the charm in his hands. “I can either stay here with her… leave without her… or…”
The doctor points to the charm. “Take her and that with you and use it to find her master. Then return her to him, she is like a child that ran away from home… if you wish for what’s best her for you should return her to her master.”
Hitsumi closes his hand holding the charm tightly, he understood Li’s situation, as he been through it too when he had run away from his own father. “People don’t run away from people they want to be with… people run because they disagree with the people they are with… so it wasn’t as if she left without a reason… why would I make her return if she disagrees with her master? If she wants to go back then she can do so on her own.”
The doctor sighs as he shakes his head. “If you will not take her to her master then she cannot travel until she has recovered on her own. You will have no choice but to leave her here.”
Hitsumi clenches his teeth unsure of what he was supposed to do.
The doctor pulls a map from under several books on his desk, pointing a town out on it. “Whisper was last seen in Desin. That town is not far from this one, there is a possibility that he still might be there. Normally he’s always moving from place to place and is very hard to track down.” He looks back at Li. “But since her disappearance… he has rarely changed his position.”
Hitsumi closes his eyes as he thinks the situation over. “I’ll give it some thought…” He turns back to Li. “For the moment… I can’t really do anything until she wakes up…”
The doctor looks up from the map and back to Li. “She was already weak from her wound… and from the explanation you gave me her fear and reaction towards that noise ended up exhausting her. She should wake soon… her body just needs rest right now.”
*******
Echo and Angel turn to the door in unison when they hear it open, Hitsumi walking through it and joining them outside.
Echo is the first of the two to speak up. “Is Li going to be alright?”
Hitsumi looks over at Echo smiling at him slightly. “She just needs rest.”
Echo sighs in relief at the information, Angel though doesn’t looks as easily convinced as him. “What happened to her anyway?”
Hitsumi crosses his arms. “I don’t know really… you can ask her later when she wakes up.” He pauses when he hears the howl from a wolf sound again. “I know she mentioned it before, but I didn’t realize her fear towards wolves was that strong…”
Echo looks back in the direction he had heard the howl from, Hitsumi gathering his attention once again by giving him something to do. “Echo, why don’t you scout ahead and see what we have in store for us… hopefully Li won’t be asleep for too much longer so try not to take too long… we’ll need to leave as soon as she wakes after all.” He looks over to Angel. “The princess can stay here with me, that way you can go ahead in your owl form and cover a lot of ground quickly. I’m going to wait around here for Li to wake up…”
Echo smiles as he turns to Hitsumi slyly. “Hitsumi that’s so sweet, you’ll be waiting by Li’s bedside until she wakes up again? The two of you are going to make a cute couple when you’re married!”
Hitsumi looks annoyed while Angel yells back at Echo in protest. “What are you talking about!? Hitsumi wouldn’t marry someone he hates!”
Hitsumi nods his head agreeing. “She’s the most annoying person on the face of the earth! It’s not even funny to joke about!”
Echo turns away as he prepares to do the job Hitsumi had given him. “The both of you are much too touchy… it was only a joke, geeze.” He turns into an owl quickly lifting himself into the air and flying off.
Hitsumi turns away from Echo’s figure and back to the princess. “Come inside with me… it’s a lot more comfortable sitting on a chair while we wait instead of pacing back and forth out here.”
Angel nods her head as she follows Hitsumi into the building.
*******
Ashton is sleeping soundly outside beneath under a tree, the exhausted bandit getting a well deserved rest. Ashton right now far from his home in St. David’s and travelling once again, a map with markings of locations he had been as well as locations he had yet to go.
A young child who looks much like Ashton holds a compass above his head, turning it and twisting it around in all kinds of directions to see if he could somehow get the arrow to point in a different direction.
Another, smaller child crawls up to Ashton looking over and mumbling to himself as he grabs onto Ashton’s hair and begins pulling it. “Nana…”
The older child looks away from the compass he was playing with, staring sternly at the boy that was right now bothering Ashton. “Kit leave him alone! Can’t you see he’s sleeping!?” He drops the compass and grabs onto the other child lifting him and pulling him away from Ashton.
The younger child protests as he struggles to get free screaming in displeasure at the older boy, the older boy trying of course to calm him down. “Stop that!” The older boy pauses when another child that looks exactly like the one he was holding runs up to the sleeping bandit at full speed, screaming at the top of his lungs running into Ashton’s figure and tripping and falling onto Ashton’s stomach, waking him by knocking the wind out of him.
Ashton winces as the child pushes himself back up and returns to his running and screaming as if nothing had happened, Ashton gasping and rolling to his side holding onto his stomach having been rudely awoken.
The older boy frowns as he lets go of the boy he was holding back his attempt at preventing this from happening obviously failing, the younger child that he had been holding immediately running back to Ashton’s to resume pulling his hair.
The older child sighs to himself, turning away from Ashton as he began to speak to him. “Looks like you’re awake…”
Ashton groans as he sits up pulling the younger boy away from his hair and placing him back down on the ground, the boy whining at first but stopping and resuming his play when something else catches his attention.
Ashton watches as the boy starts screaming and runs to join the other boy that had already been doing it. “The twins are energetic today.”
The older boy frowns at Ashton’s referral to them, a cross look on his face as he stares coldly at Ashton. “The twins…? They have names you know… You DO remember what they are don’t you?”
Ashton returns the boys disgruntled frown. “Momo don’t insist on giving me a hard time.” He turns back to the twins calling out to them to try and get their attention. “Kit! Haru! That’s too far away from me! Come back here where daddy can watch you!” He turns away from them looking back at Momo. “Where’s your mom?”
Momo looks back at him crossing his arms. “She took Taffy with her to try and hunt some food down.”
Ashton sighs to himself as he scratches the back of his head yawning as he tried to fully wake himself up. “Did she? So then she left me to baby-sit you guys again?”
Momo frowns as he turns back to his father. “Why do you seem so surprised? You do it all the time to her.”
Ashton grumbles to himself as he stares back at his son. “Makoto…” He is interrupted when the two twins run back to him climbing up and clinging onto him. Ashton looks down at them a little confused. “What’s all this about?” He soon spots what the twins where clinging to him for when he sees a wasp fly past them. He laughs to himself as he watches it fly out of sight. “It’s just a bug, it won’t hurt you unless you annoy it.”
The twins stay clinging to him for a moment longer before getting off and resuming their play.
Ashton turns back to his oldest once his two other boys were back to playing. “You look bored… why don’t you play with your younger brothers? They like it when you play with them.”
Momo looks down at the ground turning away from Ashton and crossing his arms, sitting still in his spot. “Stupid father…”
Ashton sighs rather upset to hear his son say that about him. “Why am I stupid this time?”
Momo doesn’t look back at him as he begins to explain. “I could name about one hundred things!”
Ashton laughs to himself as he turns back to the twins to make sure they weren’t getting into too much trouble. “You know typically kids aren’t supposed to pick on their fathers.”
Momo frowns as he looks back at him. “Reason one you’re an idiot, you don’t take me seriously!”
Ashton sighs as he turns back to Momo. “I do take you seriously…”
“You’re never home! You’re always leaving!”
Ashton tries to explain himself to his son while Momo ran down his list of aggravations. “I didn’t have a choice! When I stay home we never have any money.”
“Mom’s always so lonely when you’re gone… you don’t care at all how she feels!”
“Of course I care how she feels! I’m also lonely without her too but I don’t really have a choice if I want to support a family! Your mother and I are both mature adults and we understand fully understand that in our current situation we’re not always going to be together.”
“You never send us gifts on any of our birthdays!”
“I don’t know what you guys would like… I ask when I get home but that’s never good enough for you/”
“That’s because you’re never home! You don’t know us at all, what we like and would want! Why should we have to tell you anything!? You’re our father you should know without us saying!”
“In my defence Momo, when I come home you never give me that chance to get close to you. You distance yourself as soon as you see me and go out of your way to make sure we don’t bump into each other.”
“That’s because you’ll only leave again! Why should I bother getting close to you when you’re just going to go away again!? What’s the point? Who would want to get to know someone that’s only home a few days a year!?”
“Who said I was going to leave again?”
“You always leave! Always, always, always!!”
Ashton smiles despite the argument he was right now in with his son, he reaching over to him and placing his hand on his head, messing his hair. “Well I’m not going to this time.”
Momo pulls away from Ashton as he begins trying to fix his hair. “Yes you are! You always do!”
“I told you I’m not this time!”
Momo stares at him biting onto his lower lip, he knowing better then to believe a claim like that from Ashton. “You’re a liar! An ugly liar!”
“Ugly!?” Ashton frowns at the comment. “What? Aren’t you insulting yourself too? You know you look exactly like I did when I was a kid.”
“I do not look anything like you!!”
Ashton frowns, there being almost no difference between the two of them when he was Momo’s age, even the overbearing and lecturing attitude was the same.“When I say exactly I mean it.”
Momo gives an angered grunt as he turns away from Ashton mumbling to himself, just loud enough to be sure that Ashton could hear him, he knowing just how much Ashton hated it when he said this.“I wish Hitsumi was my father instead of you…”
Ashton frowns at Momo’s last comment. “Hey! You know what I’ve told you about saying things like that!”
Momo points to his father accusingly. “Hitsumi is stronger and better then you in every single way! I bet he wouldn’t make near as many stupid mistakes as you have.”
Ashton shakes his head there being one obvious thing that Momo was overlooking. “Hitsumi would stay home less then I would… you can’t tie him down in one place, it just doesn’t’ happen.”
Momo clenches his teeth as he turns away from him. “How would you know for sure?”
Ashton sighs to himself as he lays back onto the ground. “You’re right, I don’t know for sure… same way you can’t be sure that he’ll be a good father.” He turns his head to the side yelling over at the twins. “Come back here! You’re wandering too far again!” He sighs to himself when they ignore him, Ashton having no choice but to get to his feet and making his way over to them. “Geeze… it’s not like you couldn’t hear me.”
The two twins scream playfully when they see Ashton walking up to them, running up to him and holding their hands out to him to be held. Ashton smiling down at them as he knells down to pick them up. “Oh so now you notice I’m alive.” He scoops up one in either arm lifting them up. “When you get older I’m not going to be able to pick you up so easily you know, you’re going to have to find something else besides being held that you like.”
One of the twins laughs as he grabs onto Ashton’s hair once more to pull and play with it. Ashton smiles letting him play as he walks back to Momo bringing the twins to where he could easily keep an eye on them.
Ashton sits back down on the ground, the twin that wasn’t pulling as his hair climbing off of him standing next to him and tugging on his arm. Ashton pulling his arm from him and patting his head, the twin laughing as he tried to grab into his arm again.
Momo sighs as he watches his dad entertain his two brothers. “Speaking of Hitsumi… where is he anyway… every other time you came home Hitsumi would always comes home with you… but this time he didn’t come… why?”
Ashton lowers his head, Hitsumi’s situation pretty hectic for him right now. “Hitsumi is busy working… don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll come visit you when he’s done his job.”
Momo turns away from him not sure if he should believe his dad or now. “He didn’t die did he…? And you’re just telling me that he’s busy because I’m just a kid are you?”
Ashton shakes his head no. “Who’s the stupid one now? You know as well as I do that Hitsumi doesn’t die that easily. Hasn’t he boasted about that to you enough for it to sink in yet?”
Momo smiles slightly at the reminder, he looking back to his dad with a look that was a lot less challenging than before. “You better be telling me the truth, if you’re not then you’re going to pay!” He pauses for a moment, looking his father over while recalling what Ashton had said about not leaving. “So are you really going to stay this time? You said last time you would stay but you left anyway.”
Ashton sighs knowing that it would be difficult to try and convince Momo that he actually did intend to stay this time, after all he had promised to stay before and things ended up coming up that made him break his promise. “I really mean it this time… I’m not going to leave. I mean look at this way, I could have left this time but instead I took you, your brothers and your mom with me.”
Momo frowns at the info. “You only brought us because both you and mom had to leave!”
Ashton nods his head. “This is true, but believe it or not your mother and I were discussing leaving you three behind.”
Momo looks horrified with this information. “She would never! It was your idea wasn’t it!? I bet she gave you a piece of her mind! Who would you have even left us behind with!? Everyone in our village hates us because they know that we’re bandits!”
Ashton nods his head, well aware of that situation. “That’s exactly why this was such a hard decision for the both of us. There were a lot of pros and cons that we had to weigh.”
Momo falls silent for a moment, the idea that his mom had actually been considering such a thing horrifying. “Why would mom not want to bring us…?”
Ashton tries to explain to Momo. “You have to trust me, me and your mother only want what’s best for you three. We and I have a very dangerous job to do you know this, we discussed it with you before we left, our lives are in danger and we could very possibly die. If that happens then who do you think is going to take care of you and your brothers?”
“If we had left you in the care of the orphanage then your futures would be assured. If we lived we would know where to find you, if we didn’t you would still have someone to take care of you right?”
Momo glares at his dad. “That’s a stupid idea! The worst idea in the world!”
Ashton looks back to Momo. “Momo, I can’t imagine how hard it is for you, I can’t even begin to comprehend what it feels like for me to constantly abandon you and your brothers as much as I do.”
Momo nods his head. “You’re right you can’t! You have no idea!”
Ashton begins to clean up the mess Momo had made while playing with his navigation tools when he had been napping. “That’s why I couldn’t let her do it. To be left behind by your father is hard enough, but to be left behind by your mother as well? I couldn’t let that happen.” He looks back up at Momo. “Also… if this job I’ve taken really is capable of killing me, then I want to make sure that I spend as much time as I can with you three while I still have the chance.”
Momo hangs his head slowly turning away from his dad. “Why do you keep saying if you die? What kind of parent tells their children that they might die as much as you!?”
Ashton laughs at the comment. “You’re right. I should be thinking positively about this shouldn’t I? I’ll be coming back from this job just like I always do right?”
Momo nods his head. “That’s right!”
Ashton smiles at Momo. “Well, it’s good to know that after everything I’ve put you through you still don’t want me to die.”
Momo frowns at the comment as he quickly corrects what he had said. “No! I don’t want mom to die is what I meant to say! I don’t care if you die or not!” The grin doesn’t leave Ashton’s face, Momo’s growing annoyed by this lack of change. “I’m not kidding you know! I could care less if you died or not because you’re the world’s worth father ever!”
Ashton finishes cleaning up his things, he looking back to Momo with a grin. “I know what we’re going to do, as soon as this job is done I’ll get you a dog.”
Momo’s face lights up. “Really!?” He pauses forcing himself to return to his previous annoyed expression, trying his best to hid any excitement he might have for the idea, Momo not wanting his dad to think that he could be won over that easily. “Even if you did what would it fix… and further more what does that have to do with you staying home?”
Ashton laughs as he begins to happily explain. “It’ll be a really big dog! One you’ll have trouble taking care of on your own. I’ll have no choice but to stay home to help you take care of it.” He looks back at the twins. “What do you two think? You want a really big puppy?”
The twins light up screaming in excitement at the question obviously responding to what their dad had proposed in a positive manner.
Momo crosses his arms stubbornly. “I can take care of a dog on my own no matter how big it is! I don’t need your help.” He looks back at Ashton. “Don’t think you can so easily fix things by getting me a pet! What makes you think I even want a dumb dog anyway?”
Ashton turns back to Momo. “I’m a little smarter then you believe me to be you know. I know for a fact that you’ve always wanted a dog.”
Momo angrily glares back at him, as if Ashton had somehow found out a secret that no one should know. “How would you know something like that?” He stares at Ashton suspiciously. “Mom told you didn’t she? I bet she did it’s the only way you could have possibly found out!”
Ashton shakes his head. “She didn’t tell me, it’s something I can just tell. You were displaying the classic signs of a kid that wants a dog.”
Momo doesn’t look like be believes him. “You can’t find out things so easily about someone. There’s no way it’s that convenient! You asked mom I know you did!” He turns back to Ashton a little curious about the dog he dad was talking about. “Anyway… what kind of dog will it be!? Will it have pointy ears?” Momo’s voice gets a little less enthusiastic. “Or will it have ears that hang?”
Ashton laughs to himself it clear which one Momo obviously preferred. “It will be big and will have pointy ears.”
Momo smiles at him as he begins asking Ashton more questions about the dog. “Will it be a boy dog or a girl dog?”
Ashton crosses his arms. “A boy of course.” He gives Momo a glare. “I heard all about how you pick on the girls in the village, I’m not going to get you something to pick on.”
Momo frowns. “A girl dog is different from those annoying girls!”
Ashton frowns as he thinks more into it. “What colour should it be? Black… brown… white?”
Momo looks just as confused as Ashton. “I don’t know… black would be cool!! But then so would white… maybe even a yellow dog or… or maybe a spotted one! How about a stripped dog? Do dogs have stripes? I know that cats do so maybe dogs can have stripes too!”
Ashton smiles at him. “I guess we’ll have to give some more thought on the colour then…” He pauses a more important matter coming to his mind. “What are you going to name it?”
Momo frowns, an unsure look now on his face, he not knowing the answer to that either. “I don’t know…” He sits up as he beings to go over his options. “I don’t want to give him a common dog name, that would be completely unoriginal! But every time I think I might have thought up a good one I find a dog who’s owner has named him the exact same thing or something close it what I wanted.” He looks back to Ashton assuring his father that he would eventually find an answer to this problem. “I’m sure I can think of a good one! I just need a little more time!”
The discussion is interrupted when a voice of a woman interrupts them. “I’m back! I hope you boys got along well while I was gone, Momo you didn’t pick on your father too much did you?”
Ashton brightens up after hearing the voice. “Looks like your mom’s back!”
The children all light up as all of them get up running in the direction of the voice to great their mother, Ashton watching them run off, the smile leaving his face as he turns away from them pulling his bag in front of him and taken an open envelope from it, opening the letter from inside and reading it over once more, this being the reason that he and his family were right now travelling like this. “Why would the West Royalty knowingly call bandits to help them in a war…?”
He pulls his book from his bag opening it up. “Just how bad is this war going to be?”
The books falls open on a blank page providing Ashton without an answer, Ashton lowering his head as he closes it once more. “That bad hu…”
*******
Echo’s owl form flies high the in air as the large bird scouts out the area below it, the animal swooping down to the ground to get a closer look when it notices a point where the ground changes from its normal colours to a dark black mess.
The wizard lands near the edge of the black earth changing into his human form as he kneels down to look it over, the black earth pulsing and twitching, a strange raspy wheezing sound coming from it as if it were breathing.
Echo narrows his eyes as he gets back to his feet looking ahead of him, for as far as he could see the black earth continued. Echo stares at it the expression on his face growing more and more worried. “Refuse…”
He turns around heading back to where the others were.
*******
Li slowly opens her eyes staring up at the ceiling above her, a ceiling not something she normally woke up to during this journey of her. “A building… why am I in a building.”
Hitsumi opens his eyes at the sound of Li’s voice, having fallen asleep in the chair near her bed. He turns towards her still a little sleepy. “You’re awake?” He yawns stretching his arms out. “Damn… I feel asleep without realizing it… the boat ride took more out of me then I thought…”
Li turns towards Hitsumi’s voice spotting him and the princess both seated in chairs beside him, Angel still asleep with her head resting in Hitsumi’s lap. “What happened…?”
Hitsumi turns towards her. “You exhausted yourself.” He points to Li’s wound. “You’re also slowly killing yourself.”
Li winces as she tries to push herself up into a seated position. “I’m not killing myself…” She struggles to sit up the process slow and painful, she looks back towards Hitsumi trying to convince him that it was nothing. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Hitsumi holds the charm he had received earlier from the doctor in front of Li’s face. “Do you know what this is?”
Li needs only to glance at the charm for a moment before realizing what it was, her eyes widening in fear as she quickly grabs it from Hitsumi’s hands ripping it from his fingers while glaring over at him. “Don’t touch that!” She opens her tightly clenched palm to look at the charm her body shaking at the sight of it. “This will lead you to nothing but terrible things…”
Hitsumi places his hand on Li’s shoulder bringing her attention back to him. “Li… you’ve been wounded badly… as of now you have two choices, you can either end your journey with us and stay here until you get better, or-”
Li shakes her head not ready to stop her journey now. “You want me to stay behind… after I’ve managed to come this far?”
Hitsumi continues with his explanation. “Or you can come with us… but if you come with us you have to follow the direction that charm points you in. If you don’t the travelling will be too much on your body… and you’ll die.”
“NO!” Li glares back at him appalled that Hitsumi would even think of an idea like that. “I can’t return! Are you crazy!? You have no idea what it was like! How painful it was…”
Hitsumi closes his eyes lowering his head. “You’re right Li… I don’t know anything about it… I don’t know what it was like and I don’t know your pain… that’s why I left you with the choice instead of making it myself… this is something I cannot decide for you.” He places his hand on Angel’s head gently brushing the hair out of her face. “I don’t mean to rush you… but we need your decision as soon as possible…”
Li shakes her head not having to think long to know her decision. “I’m not going back to him…”
Hitsumi looks disappointed to hear this. “So then… you’ll stay here?”
Li nods her head throwing the charm away from her and laying back down in bed. “My journey ends here…”
Hitsumi sighs to himself as he wakes the sleeping princess. “Fine… I hope we run into one another again…” He smiles back at her before he gets up to leave. “You were an interesting person… I’ll miss travelling with you.”
*******
Hitsumi and Angel exit the building, Angel looking upset over having to leave Li behind. “Is this really such a good idea? From what Echo’s been saying I’m starting to think that we’re not going to be able to make it without Li’s help…”
Hitsumi gives Angel a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry! We’ll be fine without her, if anything will die from her not coming it will be the constant arguing.”
Angel doesn’t look convinced or pleased with the group splitting up. “Won’t you miss her?”
Hitsumi doesn’t answer her as he walks over to the horses. “We’ll take Li’s horse with us… so that we don’t have to worry about her trying to follow us.”
Angel nods her head glumly as she watches him lead both his and Li’s horse with him preparing them to leave. She could tell just by looking that Hitsumi was angry that Li had made the choice she had, but Angel decided it was best not to prod him on it.
Echo lands near the princess changing back to his human form and telling the two of what he saw. “The ground… only a little more then an hour away by air… the largest area of refuse I’ve seen in my life!”
Hitsumi narrows his eyes. “Refuse…” He looks back in the direction of the building Li was in. “It will definitely be impossible for her to follow us then…”
Echo looks a little confused when he catches onto this. “Li’s not coming?”
Hitsumi looks back at them. “We should leave as soon as possible, we’ve wasted enough time here…”
Echo doesn’t look pleased, Hitsumi’s silence towards his question indeed meaning that Li was going to stay behind. “Are you aware of just how much more difficult things are going to become from here on in!? We’re not going to be able to make it without her! There’s a reason The West Castle has a barrier that kills demons! The West Continent is swarming with them!”
Angel’s expression become sick as she hears Echo explain this, Hitsumi places a reassuring hand on Angel’s shoulder not wanting her to become frantic over it. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you to the
Hitsumi mounts his horse preparing to leave, Angel soon doing the same.
Echo hesitates for a moment before following their action, the wizard though reluctant to leave Li behind but well aware that they could not waste anymore time, time and choices having both becoming limited to them.
Echo stops them from moving forward walking his pony in front of Hitsumi’s horse and taking the harness to Li’s horse away from Hitsumi. “We can’t take an extra animal with us through the refuse, it will be too dangerous.”
Hitsumi frowns down at Echo, he knowing that they couldn’t chance leaving the animal behind either. “What are we supposed to do with it then? If we leave it behind Li might use it to follow us.”
Echo starts to unsaddle Li’s horse. “Just let it go… it won’t return to Li remember the two of them don’t get along. It will probably have run far away by the time Li wakes up again.”
Echo takes the last of the horse’s equipment off, the horse quickly backing away from them and rearing as it whinnies loudly quickly taking off and running away from them.
Echo watches the animal quickly run away, though this was his intent it was upsetting to see it leave, as it would be impossible for Li to follow them without the animal. The wizard sighs as he turns back to Hitsumi and Angel, he having to concentrate on the strength the group right now had available to them and not what they could have had. “Let’s go…”
*******
Li sits up in her bed once more, her head turned in the direction she had thrown the charm in as she quietly stares at it, Li forcing herself up, moving her body off of the bed and standing up, walking away from the bed and slowly making her way towards the charm.
She comes to a stop next to it, kneels down next to the charm and picking it up to look it over, a conversation that she had had with her Master playing through her mind. “What’s wrong with that!?”
“EVERYTHING!”
“But…”
“I forbid you to go near him ever again!”
“You can’t do that!!!”
“I own you! I can do whatever I want with you!”
Li clenches her teeth as she closes her hand squeezing the charm tightly into her fist “He…” Li angrily punches her fist into the wall, the force from the blow crushing the charm she held in her hand. “I’ll never go back…” She opens her shaking hand the pieces of the charm falling to the ground. “I would rather die now then spend another second in his presence.”
She turns towards the window knowing that the others had already left some time ago, she having been able to hear them leave when they had been outside of the building that she was in.
She pauses when she hears a familiar whinny, Li looking in the direction it had come from spotting her horse grazing in the fields surrounding the town, the horse so far from her that it was barely visible. Li gives an intrigued hum to herself as pushes herself away from the window, walking toward the door of the room and making her way outside.
She spots one of the villagers in the town, Li clearing her throat and fixing her appearance a bit before approaching him and getting his attention. “Excuse me…”
The man looks back at her a little surprised to see a wounded traveler talking to him. “Are you alright? What happened to you?”
Li looks up at him with a pleading look, a helpless expression on her face as she begins to explain her situation to him. “Please sir you must help me, you see I was mugged by a bandit… he attacked me and then robbed me of all my money and belongings that I had with me.”
She points out towards her horse in the fields. “My horse is all that I have left… but in my current condition I’m unable to catch her… and she’s already gone so far that I’m afraid that by the time I’m well enough to ride her again she will already have run away.”
The man turns in the direction Li was pointing in spotting the horse she spoke of. “Do you want me to catch her and bring her back here for you?”
Li smiles nodding her head to confirm that was indeed what she wanted him to do. “I would be grateful if you did, she means a lot to me.”
The man smiles back at her. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll be able to get her for you. You just get your rest and when you wake up I’ll have her ready for you.” He looks back out towards the horse.
Li nods her head turning away from him and heading back into the clinic. “Thanks.” She stops for a moment glaring in the direction the others had gone in, her expression completely changed now that she wasn’t trying to sweet talk one of the villagers into helping her out. “Stupid Hitsumi… he has no clue to what he’s getting into. They’re not going to last a day on the west content without someone that’s been here before.”
She turns away heading back inside to get rest while she waited for her horse to be caught.
*******
The docks of the town start to come alive as another large ship begins to pull into port. The dark skinned red haired knight known by the name of Clor looking over the side of the ship he was on, the knight out of his usual armor and in lighter more comfortable clothes.
His gaze catches onto one of the ships that where docked his eyes glued on the damaged ship had, the vessel that interested him being the one used to carry Angel and her guardians over.
Clor’s eyes narrow as he gets a closer look at the cut in the side of the boat, dried blood lining the entire length of the cut. “It looks like a demon attacked that ship… and not a normal demon either…” He leans over the railing to get a closer look. “Amazing… the blood didn’t burn like it normally would… it actually cut through it… I’ve never seen a demon capable of something like this before…”
The ship lurches to a sudden stop, the knight gasping as he tries to keep his balance, the abrupt stop almost throwing him off of the ship. After a while of struggling the knight manages to pull him back onto the ship, Clor sighing in relief as he backs away from the railing. “Damn ship! Are the workers trying to kill their passengers or something!?”
He looks out towards the port. “The West Continent…” He frowns to himself a bored look filling his face as he gives an upset sigh. “I hate this place… I’ve been here enough times to know that there’s absolutely no beautiful woman here…” He glares back in the direction that he had come from. “Kara gets to stay in the East continent… that’s where all the cute girls are… my older sister is always getting the better missions…”
He looks back towards the ship that had been attacked by the demon, and unenthusiastic look on his face. “I guess I should check that out… it is my job… I suppose…” He stares at it for a while, the job not one that he wanted to jump at the chance of doing. “Even if I did manage to catch that demon I wouldn’t get promoted… the last promotion I got when I was six… they’ve refused to give me once since then no mater what I do.”
He turns away from the ship looking back out at the port. “I’ll do it later if no one else has done it already.”
*******
Clor sits down on several crates now outside of the ship and on the docks of the town. “I wonder if any cute female travelers came on the ship before me… my boat seemed to be lacking in them.” He looks around him curiously. “There has to be at least one…” He frowns to himself when he finds no one of interest. “Nothing… just a bunch of the ship crew, workers, villagers and that geezer wizard…” He pauses for a moment thinking over what he had just said. “Geezer wizard…”
He gasps as he quickly turns back in the direction he had seen the wizard, spotting Siren speaking to several knights that surrounded him. “Crap! What the hell is Siren doing here!”
He growls to himself the scene not looking good at all. “It looks like he’s waiting for someone… he probably came here because he has more work for me to do.” He gasps as he quickly looks around him for a place to hide. “If he can’t find me he can’t give me any more work.”
He quickly pushes himself off of the crates ducking behind them. “It there’s one thing I hate about wars it’s the amount of work that has to be done to help organize them.” He begins looks around him for a way to escape without being seen by Siren “He’s already been working me on the preparations for this war for five years straight! I’ve never gotten a break since is started! This is just stupid!”
A soft voice agrees with Clor. “Those are my thoughts exactly… then again I always thought the war was stupid to begin with… of course I think I already told you that the last time I saw you…”
Clor looks next to him to find the wizard in black robes crouched down behind the boxes he had chosen to hide behind, the wizard cuffing something in his hands. Clor growls angrily hardly able to believe his bad luck. “What the hell!? Everywhere I go there’s a member of royalty there to give me something to do!” He moans to himself. “Of all the people I could have run into it had to be the creepy wizard too…”
The black demon hunter glares over at him. “Creepy!? How dare you call me that you lazy knight! I am the one with bad luck! I am trying to hide out here as not to be spotted and the loudest slacker working within the royalty has to come and hide near me!”
Clor stares over at him a little surprised to hear this. “You’re hiding too?”
The wizard hangs his shoulders. “I was not told that Siren would be in this town… I hate having to talk to him…”
He opens his palms grabbing onto a mouse he was holding by the tail and holding it in front of his face. “The rodents in the West Continent are all so small…”
Clor looks back at the wizard in black. “What are you talking about?” A sickened look fills the knights face when he sees the wizard place the mouse inside his mouth to eat it. Clor yells at the top of his lungs quickly jumping up and hitting the wizard on the back repetitively. “COUGH IT UP! COUGH IT UP! COUGH IT UP!”
The wizard spits the mouse out the horrified creature quickly scurrying away. The wizard tries to catch it again but finds it to be a difficult task when the knight was still hitting him on the back.
The black demon hunter quickly grabs onto the knight’s leg pulling and throwing him to the ground. “WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?” He quickly starts to look around him for the mouse but is unable to locate it again, the wizard winning pitifully as he slouches his shoulders. “My lunch…” The wizard looked as if he were going to start crying. “Why would you do that to me…? I worked so hard to catch it…”
The black demon hunter stops when he hears footsteps approaching him, the wizard looking up to find him and Clor surrounded by several of the royal guards that Siren had been speaking to just a moment ago.
Clor gets to his feet pointing to himself. “Hey wait a minuet! What the hell are you surrounding me for I never did anything!!”
The wizard gets to his feet turning around to face the older wizard that was now approaching them. “Siren…” He narrows his eyes his tone becoming hateful. “I was hoping I would not have to talk to you again for a long time yet…”
Siren stops in front of the two of them looking each of them over. “This makes things much easier for me… as I have been looking for the both of you.”
Clor sighs in disappointment, Siren turning first to him. “My business with you will be much quicker.”
He waves his hand several of the guards stepping aside allowing Clor to pass through, the guards quickly raising their swords once again to the black demon hunter when he tries to follow him. “Not you… you will stay there until my business with Clor is complete… then I will deal with you.”
Clor walks to Siren with his arms crossed and a displeased look on his face. “What now… I’m already in the middle of another mission of yours, it’s unfair to give me more!”
Siren hands Clor a letter despite his protesting. Clor moaning in aggravation as he forcefully snatches it from him, opening it and reading it over, the knight looking back at the wizard hatefully once reaching the middle of the paper. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Siren frowns at the knight. “I am not playing a game with you. You are to follow the instructions given to you.” He points towards the ship that had been attacked by the demon. “But before you do that I need you to inspect the marks left from the battle on that ship… there is a rumor that a woman who was able to walk upon the waters was seen there…”
The black demon hunter narrows his eyes as he turns back towards the ship, while Siren continues to speak to Clor. “If a woman who looked human was able to walk on top of the water that means she was half-demon.”
Clor looks up at the wizard. “The half-demon was on that ship!?”
Siren points towards the ship. “That is what the rumours are suggesting. Search it and find out of this is indeed the true or not.”
Clor turns towards the ship, not at all eager to search through it to see what he would able to find.
The black demon hunter narrows his eyes, the skies beginning to grow dark as black clouds start to form in the sky.
Siren quickly turns back to the wizard his men held in place. “What are you doing!?”
The shadow belonging to the black demon hunter rises off of the ground quickly cutting through the air as it made its way towards the ship plunging in it’s side and breaking through it, the shadow growing as it began to surround the ship, crushing and destroying it.
Siren quickly turns back to the guards. “Stop the spell before the ship is destroyed!”
One of the guards swings his arm forward hitting the wizard on the back of the head and knocking him down, the strange black clouds and shadows disappearing as quickly as they had come.
The wizard tries to push himself back to his feet but is forced back down to the ground when one of the knights steps onto his back pushing and pinning him to the ground.
Siren turns back to ship to watch it break apart and sink down into the water. The old wizard angrily narrows his eyes. “You…” He walks down to the black demon hunter staring down at him angrily. “Do you know what you have just done!?”
Clor turns away from the spot where the ship had once been and back down at the black demon hunter. “Why would he do something like that…?”
Siren looks back at Clor lifting his arm and promptly waving him away. “Be on your way then, with that ship gone there is no longer reason for you to stay in this village.”
Clor looks from Siren back down at the wizard who was forcefully being kept on the ground. “I knew the wizard race was dealing with some internal conflicts… but I did not think it was this bad…”
Siren narrows his eyes at the knight. “This matter is of none of your concern. Now be gone!”
Clor walks past him towards the guards not ready to leave just yet. He draws his sword holding it to one of the guard’s necks and raising his voice as he began giving orders to them “All of you step aside! If you give my order even a second thought I will not hesitate to cut you to pieces!”
The guards quickly back away, as lazy as they knew Clor to be they were also well aware that he was still one of the most powerful knights working under the royalty.
The black wizard pushes himself up from the ground, Clor kneeling down to help him to his feet, talking to him in a low voice. “Do not misunderstand me. I still dislike you… but by destroying the ship you saved me from doing a lot of work. I am only paying you back for that.”
The wizard nods his head in understanding. “Thank you…”
Clor turns away from him returning his sword to his side and walking away turning to Siren before he leaves not saying a word to him as he passed by continuing on his way.
Siren continues to keep his eyes on Clor until he is out of sight, the elder wizard then turning back to the younger wizard in black once he was gone. “Almost twenty years… twenty years of my men searching could have finally come to an end.”
The Wizard in black shakes his head. “No! I was on that ship! There was no woman who walked upon the water… there was only one demon and it was the sea serpent whom I killed myself.” He turns around to face Siren. “If there was a half-breed on that ship I would have brought them to you I swear!”
Siren narrows his eyes still wanting an answer from him. “Why did you destroy the ship?”
The wizard in black looks back towards the ship as he begins to explain his actions to Siren. “On that ship… there was a girl named Rena… a girl that I killed and took control of… if he had found the body I would have been given yet another sin to atone for.”
Siren smiles as he begins laughing to himself. “A sin? I am the one who labels wizards with sins. You do not have to worry about me labelling you because of something as small as that. After all… you mean a great deal to me… in more ways then you may realize.”
The black demon hunter narrows his eyes. “Seclude never used me as a tool! I will not allow you to continue using me as one!” He lifts his arm to Siren his shadow once again starting to lift off of the ground, the demon hunter once again being stuck down from behind by one of the knights.
The knights quickly draws his sword slicing it towards the fallen wizard, Siren quickly stepping forward to stop him. “No! Do not kill her! This child is important… much too important to loose.”
The knight steps back as the black wizard once again pushes himself off of the ground.
Siren kneels down next to the fallen wizard placing his hands on the wizard’s shoulders. “Not only is she a key component to winning this war she is the key component to reviving my declining race. We must keep her alive.”
The black wizard turns towards Siren hatefully. “You are delusional!”
Siren harshly slaps the wizard across the face. “That is enough from you! Have you forgotten the consequences that will befall you if you disobey me!?”
The black demon hunter clenches his teeth as his body weakens, the reminder of the things that would come to pass ending any and all protests the wizard would have against Siren. “Echo…”
Siren takes hold of the black wizards face forcing him to look back towards him, Siren then taken his left hand and wiping the blood and tears from the wizards face. “See… things are much easier when you listen to me.” He continues to clutch tightly on the black wizard’s chin. “Now… smile for me.”
The black demon hunter tries hard to smile, though it was something that often came natural to him he was finding that right now it was one of the most difficult things for him to do.
Siren looks impatient with him the grip on the other wizards chin tightening. “Smile!”
The wizard lifts the corner of his mouth managing to smile, Siren’s mood easing once he see it. “You look so beautiful when you smile… you are such a good girl.” He lets go of the black wizard, the wizard lifting his hand and holding his jaw to help calm the pain that Siren had cause him.
Siren runs his fingers through the black wizard’s long hair. “I’ve grown quite found of the perfume you wear too… the smell of lilacs has become a welcoming scent to me.”
He gets back to his feet looking over at one of the guards and nodding his head, Siren looking down and speaking to the black wizard once more. “Forgive me… you have proven to be loyal up to this point, but I know better then to believe things that I can only see with my eyes… I know the things you do behind my back. I cannot have you try to run from me again… I have growing tired of you trying to betray me.”
The knight he had nodded to hits the black wizard harshly in the side of the head knocking him down on the ground, the wizard’s eyes slowly starting to close as his vision began to fade.
Siren walking up next to the wizard watching is his eyes close and the wizard’s body begins to change back into its original animal form. “Forgive me… Lucifer…”
Siren turns back to the guards behind him. “Bring her to the carriage and restrain her before she wakes. Of all the wizards that are left in my race this is the one whom I can not afford to betray me.”
The guards nod their heads as they run up the animal that was now laying on the ground, the black wizard now in the form of the female black panther known as Lucifer.
