‘the test’
Touya spun around mid-air and fired off two more rounds, forcing his pursuers – his own men – further back. It pained him but he had no choice, no alternative if he wanted to live and escape. If he couldn’t escape he couldn’t find Sakura. And so he shot again and again before flipping forward in time to zoom under a stone arch. A crash behind him told him that one his pursuers had not been so quick.
A boom and a pillar of smoke attracted Li’s attention, and he floated upwards to try and get a better view. There was a fight going on, a chase. He could see the sparkle of blaster fire.
Sakura?
Anxiously he bent his knees and flew in that direction. Going in above the level of the clifftops would be an open invitation to get himself shot, so he was forced to stick to the lower shadows. But the whine of the gliders was getting louder, and he knew he was headed the right way. Just a little closer…
It occurred to him right before he shot out into the larger canyon, almost colliding with a soldier, that he hadn’t even strapped on a blaster before running out of the base. Sheer reflexes led him to duck and ram his elbow into the soldier’s ribs as he sped past. There was a grunt of pain, then a shout as the man lost his balance and began to wobble uncontrollably.
Behind him, Touya could hear more blaster shots, but they weren’t firing in his direction anymore. Had someone else stumbled into the party?
Li drew his sword and blocked each shot casually as a surprised soldier whisked past him, then turned in a large arc to come back. Meanwhile, the first one managed to regain control of his glider and stood up again, gasping for breath. He almost crashed into Touya, wheeling around a huge pillar of stone to see what was going on, and together they tumbled to the ground.
“Sorry,” Touya apologized as he kicked the blaster out of his soldier’s hand. He’d lost his own in the fall, and he whirled around into a reverse hook kick, catching the man solidly on the temple.
Touya was faster than any human in the entire troop, and his attacker didn’t have a chance. He planted his heel right on the chin, and watched his eyes roll back in his head before he collapsed. Dead or unconscious, he really wasn’t sure, but he didn’t feel the need to go any further once the immediate threat was gone. He would not kill one of his own men while he was knocked out. Instead he found his blaster and glanced skywards. Someone else had arrived, he was sure, but now he could see no one, not even the other soldier that had been tailing him. Touya’s glider has skidded out into the middle of the canyon floor, but he shied away from stepping out into the open. Instead he pressed his back up against the pillar, blaster at the ready. Where was the other soldier?
The other soldier had long since been skewered by Li’s blade, but now Li couldn’t be sure what had happened to the others. He could only see the two gliders in the dirt, and softly he floated down to ground level. It was utterly quiet now, and he didn’t know who was on the other side of the pillar. A soldier? Sakura? No, it wasn’t Sakura, he would feel her if he was this close. Then who?
Carefully he edged around the massive formation, gripping his sword in readiness.
Touya held his breath and crept toward the shadow side. Whoever it was was taking great pains to remain quiet. Just a little closer…
A fraction of a heartbeat before it happened, Li knew that the other one was close and whipped his sword up, almost as fast as the other but not quite. The tip of his sword screeched to a halt before stabbing Touya’s throat as Touya pointed his blaster between Li’s eyes.
For a moment they were both shocked into silence.
“You!” spat Li venomously. He tensed slightly, but so did Touya’s trigger finger.
“Drop the weapon,” he ordered.
“Not a chance.”
It was him, the one that had attacked Sakura, the one she thought she might love. Did love. Li was pricking the base of his throat ever so slightly with the tip of his sword, but the officer didn’t flinch.
“Listen to me. I need your help.”
“Help?” scoffed Li. “You’re joking, right?”
“I’m in trouble.”
“I’ll say you are.” He was so close… he could probably cut the throat before the man could squeeze the trigger. And then Kinomoto would be gone, Li wouldn’t have to worry about him any more.
“And so is Sakura.” The measured words hung in the quiet, causing Li to hesitate. Touya saw it and pressed on. “They took her. To the castle. There were too many, I couldn’t stop them.”
Li swallowed, then shook his head. “You’re a liar.”
“I’m not,” Touya said through gritted teeth. They were wasting precious time like this, but the sword was grazing his flesh. He had to tread carefully here. “They took her, she’s gone.”
“Why would they take a nobody rebel to the castle?”
“I don’t know,” he answered helplessly, seeing the look of disbelief on the other’s face, “but they did. Please. You have to believe me.”
“You’re the enemy,” Li growled. “Why should I?”
“Not anymore, I’m not. Why do you think we were fighting just now?” He flicked his eyes in the direction of his underling, still sprawled across the ground a little ways behind him. “Blade knows the truth now, he knew after I refused to kill…” He paused, recreating the scene in his eyes.
No, that wasn’t it. He knew before. Somehow, someway he knew before he ever tossed me that blaster. For how long, I wonder?
“Anyway, isn’t it obvious that I’ve defected?” Still Li wavered, gripping his sword indecisively.
“Could be a set-up. I know Blade is after me, maybe this is the bait.”
“It’s not, damn it!” Touya snapped impatiently. Every click that passed was more lost time. “Just trust me!”
“You’re the enemy!”
“No. I was a slave to the enemy.” Even he could hear the bitterness in his voice, and he knew Li recognized it. “There was no other way, not if I was going to survive. I think your father would understand that.”
Li gasped and pressed forward slightly with his blade.
“Don’t you talk about my father!”
Touya did not try to back away out of range. He was desperate, he had to make this rebel listen.
“She’s in trouble, Li. She needs us. I’m going for her, with or without your help.” Slowly he released the trigger, then worked his hand off the handle until it was dangling from his fingertips. This was dangerous, but there was no other way. He let go, and the blaster fell to the rocks with a clatter.
Li was surprised, but he did not lower his sword.
“But without will be trickier.” He raised his hands and took a step back, slowly, so as not to alarm.
Li remained where he was, sword still held aloft but his expression uncertain. Everything that he’d learned screamed at him to run this man through. He was one of Lothar’s men, never to be trusted. The captain was lowering his hands now, unbuttoning his shirt.
But what if he was telling the truth? What if Sakura really had been captured and taken to Starcrest?
“Believe me, Li,” Touya pleaded, “when I tell you I’m willing to fight them.”
He pulled his shirt off of his shoulders and let Li look. He was obviously strong, his chest muscles and biceps were toned and lean. But they were also covered with multiple scars. Some faded and old, others quite fresh. More than any words could, they spoke eloquently of the long cycles of abuse.
Slowly, Li lowered his sword.
- - - - - - - -
“Kero!” He halted in midair as Tomoyo approached him. “What are you doing back here so soon? I thought you were continuing on your mission.”
“Me too.” He twitched his tail thoughtfully as he examined the base. Everything seemed perfectly normal, the rebels were going about their business quietly and without fuss. He felt a little abashed as he took it in. “I, uh, just had this weird feeling that I needed to get back here. I could swear I heard…”
He shook his furry head, and by habit, drifted towards the quartermasters’ caves. Tomoyo followed.
“Heard what?”
“A summons spell.”
“What’s that?”
“Something not used very often these days. Takes a lot of power, unless you use another source of magic to help. And it would only affect very magical people…”
He took a gargantuan bite out of a rosy tangesteen, chewed and swallowed.
“It felt almost like they were calling the One.”
“But I thought that person was a threat to Lothar.”
“Well, sure, if he could absorb the magic of the Seal and attack Lothar. But like all things really dangerous, the One could also be very helpful to Lothar. Why do you think his men were searching for me? He wanted my help to locate him. If the person was taken into captivity and the correct ritual performed, well, Lothar could sap him of his magic entirely, as well as the magic of the Seal. Lothar would become invincible, it would be a disaster.”
Kero shuddered and swallowed another mouthful. Tomoyo had an odd look on her face.
“What would happen to the person?”
“He’d die, probably. Lothar would rob him of his essence, suck him completely dry.”
“And you said you thought you heard a summons for this person… how long ago?”
“A couple of parsecs, at least. I set out for the base again as soon as I heard it. Just had a feeling that I needed to get back here.”
“What would he look like, the person being summoned?”
“I dunno. Suppose he would look really distracted, and determined to get away as soon as possible. Wouldn’t let anything stand in his way.” For the first time, Kero noticed the strange expression Tomoyo was wearing. “What?”
“Li fled the base just over two parsecs ago. He had a really strange look in his eyes and was muttering to himself, and he actually attacked the sentry to get past him. He didn’t even stop to get a blaster or a canteen. He just ran.”
Kero stopped eating.
“Do you think…”
“Uh-oh,” he answered, and rose into the air. “I gotta go.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
“To the castle!”
“But it’s humming with the enemy!” Tomoyo panted as she scurried across the cavern floor, trying to keep up with the flying beast. “You can’t go there alone!”
“Got no choice. If he is the One, then that’s where they’ll take him. I can’t let Lothar perform the ritual, we’re all dead if that happens. This is my mission.” And with that he disappeared back into the darkness of the entrance tunnel, and Tomoyo slowed. She was worried for Li, worried for Kero, and come to think of it, worried for Yukito and Benedin. They’d been out far too long for a simple scouting expedition.
Tomoyo shivered, suddenly feeling very alone in the crowded base. She wanted to find Sakura, try and get a measure of comfort from her friend, but she was beginning to realize she hadn’t seen her for a while, either. Where was everybody?
- - - - - - -
Sakura stirred slightly, and her eyes fluttered open. At first she could see nothing but darkness, and she wondered where she was. This wasn’t her cave in the Honeycomb.
Her vision began to adjust, revealing the walls of a small room, gloomy and windowless. The floor was hard and cold, and it wasn’t until she shifted and tried to sit up that she noticed the chain. Of medium width and weight, it was welded solidly into the floor at one end and cuffed around her neck at the other.
With a rush, all her memories of that day came flooding back: Li’s wounds from the hailstorm, her realization of her powers, the terrifying ordeal at the temple with Touya and that awful creature. The last thing she could recall was Touya’s arms wrapped around her and holding her securely. But now he was nowhere to be seen.
Touya? Where are you? Where am I? Why did they trap me there, what do they want me for?
Confusion and uncertainty were starting to push her into panic, and she pulled at the chain unsuccessfully. It wouldn’t budge from the floor, and she couldn’t even find the latch on the collar around her neck. It was a magical restraint, she was sure, but she could no more unlock it than she could fly; it was completely beyond her ability to focus her powers.
A few tears leaked out, and she brushed them away. She hated being helpless. All her life she had struggled to learn to fight, to know how to defend herself. And it hadn’t saved her; now she was a prisoner again. Chained by her neck like an animal as she waited for them to do something with her. She drew her knees up to her chest and whimpered for a little while, but she was saved from bursting into hysterical tears by the door opening.
The blue skinned being from before was the one who entered, and he beamed at the terrified girl.
“As promised, my lord. The One.”
My lord?
No, surely not… Sakura saw a shadow fall across the open doorway and began to shake. No, she’d never expected anything like this. She was just a rebel without any rank, she’d never thought she would meet –
Lothar.
He stood in the doorway, taller than his servant by a head, dressed regally in robes of scarlet and black. A black hood overshadowed his face, but nothing concealed the malicious glitter in his black eyes as he gazed at her. There was a fleshless look around his eyes, the skin was drawn back unnaturally tight and glistened white in the glow of his mage light floating nearby.
He was far more frightening than Sakura had ever imagined.
“She is so small,” he sighed. “Are you certain?” She cringed at the sound of his voice. It was rich and mellow, echoing in the tiny room, confident of its power. This was a man who was a controller. Then, much to her horror, he glided forward to examine her more closely. Lothar walked with a long staff, obviously not for need but for appearance. Mostly wooden, its decorated surface ended where a metallic blade continued. The round and smooth pole tapered into a sharp point that made an unpleasant sound against the floor as he drew closer. “I feel nothing.”
“I am certain, my lord,” Neitzsche purred. “Her powers are erratic, raging one moment, quiet the next. But she heard the summons, and she responded. I felt her, my lord. Touch her, you will see.”
Sakura’s throat went dry and she tried to back away from Lothar, but the chain was only long enough to sit upright, and not to stand. In a panic, she tried to crawl away, but there was no escape. Raising his staff slightly, he braced the sharp point under her chin and forced her to look up at his face.
“Never mind that. It is uncertain, without the Sun Guardian’s powers. She will undergo the test.”
Nietzsche bowed and placed his hands together, then clapped twice, sharply. A moment passed when nothing happened, and Sakura relaxed slightly. Then she heard a slight scuffling noise and looked back at the doorway. Two soldiers were dragging someone through the doorway, having a difficult time of it. Whoever it was was struggling valiantly, despite his hopeless surroundings. At long last they managed to get him into the room, and turned him to face Lothar.
“Yukito,” she whispered softly, and began to shake again. So many horrible things were happening, this whole day had become a nightmare. Why was Yukito here?
Yukito’s eyes widened slightly as he saw Sakura on the floor, but quickly looked away, pretending not to know her. However had she come to be here in the castle?
“Tsukishiro,” Lothar murmured. “We meet at last. You are much younger than I expected.” He ignored Sakura for the moment as he began to pace a slow circle around Yukito. “Such a pity that you’ll never have a chance to grow old.”
“You can kill me if you like,” Yukito gritted. “It won’t change a thing. Someone else will take my place. The Resistance will continue on.”
“The Resistance will die soon, as well. Nothing can save the rebels now.”
“You’re wrong.” Yukito’s flat contradiction caused Nietzsche to suck in his breath and Lothar to cock his head curiously. No creature argued with Lothar. “Your cruelty fosters rebellion. You can never crush the Resistance as long as you struggle to bend your people to your will.” Lothar stepped even closer, tapping his staff restlessly against the floor, but Yukito would not be intimidated into silence. “Every day that you smother Tomoeda with your tyranny is another day that you prod someone into hating you. You can’t force loyalty, Lothar. It only makes them want to fight you more.”
“Enough,” Lothar snapped. “Your time is short, Tsukishiro, do not invite more pain and suffering than you are prepared to handle.”
Yukito’s eyes flicked back to Sakura, huddled on the floor.
“You’ve found me, you’ve got me where you want me. She’s not important, she’s just a girl. Release her, and I’ll cooperate.”
“How very noble of you, Tsukishiro. So pathetically predictable. But your presence here is to ensure her cooperation, not the other way around.” He turned away and motioned with his hand, and the soldiers forced Yukito to his knees, directly opposite Sakura. “Do not insult me by trying to hide your feelings. You love this girl as if she were family, and she the same for you. She will do anything to save you.”
He beckoned, and a third soldier that Sakura hadn’t seen stepped forward from the doorway, placing a small jeweled box carefully on the ground between the two prisoners. He clearly didn’t like touching it, and backed away hastily.
Of its own accord, the lid flew open, and two perfect spheres floated up into the air. Sakura gasped as the visions from her dream whirled in the air, flying once around Yukito’s head, who ducked, before coming to hover directly before her face.
“Choose, Sakura,” Lothar ordered. She swallowed upon hearing her name on his lips. “Gold or silver, day or night, sun or moon. Choose wrong and you will suffer as Nietzsche has suffered, and your precious leader will die slowly as you watch. Refuse, and it will be even worse for him.”
They were both so beautiful. How was she supposed to know which was the right one?
Uncertainly she extended her hand, then shook her head helplessly.
“I’m sorry… I don’t know…”
“Do it!” Lothar snapped, and lifted his staff again to prick Yukito’s neck. The young man winced with the pain, but didn’t take his eyes off the girl before him.
“Don’t worry about me, Sakura, just don’t do what he wants.”
“Yukito,” she sobbed. “I can’t let you be hurt.”
“He’s going to kill me anyway, Sakura, you know that.” She started crying even harder. “No, don’t cry. You have to be brave for me, Sakura, okay?” She sniffled as Lothar dug a little deeper. A thin rivulet of blood spilled out and began to ooze its way down Yukito’s neck.
“No!” she shrieked. “No, please, I’ll do it, I’ll do it! Just please don’t hurt him!”
Lothar did not pull away, but he did not press harder, and Yukito took a shaky breath. Sakura returned her attention to the spheres, but she was still perplexed as to how to choose. How was she supposed to know? The gold one hovered tantalizingly close, but as she raised her hand it darted away again and began to spin around with the silver.
“I don’t know,” she whimpered.
“Yes, you do. The answer is locked inside you, with your budding powers. You know the correct choice.”
“There’s been some kind of mistake,” Yukito panted. “Sakura doesn’t have any magic. You’ve got the wrong person, Lothar.”
“Silence. My patience is wearing thin, Sakura. Choose!”
Oh gods, Sakura thought frantically. He’s going to kill Yukito, and I can’t do anything. The only way to save him is to make the right choice. But how can I know?
Haven’t you figured it out yet? Don’t you recognize it within you?
She blinked at Li’s voice in her mind. Once again she could feel the light whisper of raindrops on her skin, see his face in the blue glow of the light. He was pleading with her to see the power within herself. He said she made the rain. He knew her body better than she did. Li believed in her power.She blinked again and returned to the present, disoriented. Li believed in her power, and therefore, so did she. She knew the answer, without doubt, but quickly realized that the knowledge had put her in an impossible situation.
“I can’t,” she choked, and Lothar pressed down again, causing Yukito to grit his teeth and squeeze his eyes shut. But he was relieved in spite of the pain. Whatever it was that Lothar wanted, he was sure it couldn’t be good. Sakura’s refusal gave him hope.
“No, please, I’m begging you!” She crawled as far as the chain would allow her and prostrated herself at Lothar’s feet. “Please don’t kill him. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but I can’t choose. They’re both wrong.” She felt the tears flow down her face, certain it was a lost cause. He would never believe her, but she couldn’t choose one knowing it was wrong. Yukito would die that way, too.
“I don’t know how I know it, but I just know it. They’re both wrong. Either one will hurt.”
She trembled there on the floor during a long moment of silence. Yukito realized that he was still alive and opened his eyes, taking in the sight of her kneeling at Lothar’s feet. Very carefully, he looked up until he could see Lothar’s face. A wicked smile of delight had appeared there, revealing rows of sharp white teeth.
“Both wrong,” he repeated gleefully. Nietzsche stared in shock at the two spheres, which had returned to their box upon Sakura’s words. “My dear Sakura. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Yukito watched a thin bony hand reach down and pat her on her head, causing her to cringe.
“Don’t touch her,” he snapped. The sharp point in his flesh had pulled away and Yukito tried to crawl on his knees to Sakura, impossible with his hands still bound behind him. The soldiers clapped their hands on his shoulders and held him back. Sakura reached out to touch him, but she couldn’t quite reach his face, and then they were pulling him to his feet and dragging him away.
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“It’s okay, Sakura, don’t worry about it. And don’t worry about me, all right?”
“Take him to the dungeons,” Lothar instructed, with a wave of dismissal. “I will deal with him later.”
“Yukito, no!”
“It’s going to be all right,” he said one last time. He dragged his feet along the flagged floor, trying to keep her in sight as long as possible. “Just be brave, Sakura!”
At last they yanked him out of the room, and she heard him struggling with his captors all the way down the hall, the sound growing fainter and fainter until it was gone. She was alone again, and she shriveled under Lothar’s gaze. He was staring at her hungrily, and she drew her knees up to her chest in a pathetic posture of defense.
“What are you going to do to me?” she whispered.
He was rubbing his hand lightly up and down his staff as his gaze bore into her.
“It’s not what I’m going to do to you, little one. It’s what you’re going to do to me.” He chuckled softly, then abruptly turned back to the doorway. “There is time yet before sunset. I must meditate and prepare.”
He swept out of the doorway, Neitzsche scurrying after. The door slammed shut, leaving her in darkness once more. Trembling, she lay down on the hard floor and hugged her knees close as she began to cry.
“I’m so scared. And I’m alone. Somebody help me, please… Touya. Syaoran. Help me.”
- - - - - - -
Li stopped in his tracks. Had he just felt… Looking at the man just in front of him, he could swear he saw Kinomoto’s muscles tense a little. Had he heard her call, too?
Li fingered the blaster he’d taken off one of the soldiers and decided he really didn’t want to know. It had been hard enough flying alongside him all afternoon as they glided toward the castle, but now they’d had to land and continue the rest of the journey on foot to avoid detection. He made sure he was a step behind the captain at all times, but he was still nervous.
“I think the castle should be right over this ridge.” Kinomoto indicated another rocky escarpment for them to clamber over, and Li forced himself to swallow a groan. He did hate all this climbing.
“You first.”
The taller man rolled his eyes. “Right. I’m not going to put a blaster shot in your back, Li. Don’t you understand that? I need your help to get her back.”
“Force of habit,” Li explained. “Experience has taught me to never turn my back on one of Lothar’s men.” After hesitating a moment, he began to climb up the rocky face. “I still don’t understand why she’s at Starcrest at all. She doesn’t even hold rank, she’s a nobody. Why was she taken?”
“I don’t know,” Touya grunted. That question was driving him mad, too. “It was Nietzsche. He wanted her for some reason.”
Nietzsche? Li paused in his search for a handhold. He knew of the old wizard, of course, any sorcerer would. His power was unsurpassed, except for Lothar, naturally. But he confined himself exclusively to the practice of magic; he played no part in executing Lothar’s rule.
“He took us to the old temple in the canyons,” Touya continued. “And then he did something with it. I don’t really know what. The whole building was humming. Nobody else could feel it, but it – it affected me.”
That pulsing beat he’d felt in the morning. Li swallowed.
“And then she walked in. I’m not really sure, but I think she was drawn by it. She had this sort of glazed look in her eyes. Like when she nearly walked off the cliff a few nights back.”
Li nearly lost his grip and fell.
“You – you saw that?”
Touya turned his face away and gritted his teeth. “Yeah. I saw that.”
“Oh.” Li really wasn’t sure what to say to that, but the other man picked up the story where he’d left off.
“I tried to warn her, but she was trapped. They penned her in, and then Nietzsche approached her. I was afraid he’d hurt her, so I pulled her away and tried to convince him to let me have her. Then he said something about her being too important for that. He put his hand on her face, and declared that she was the one he wanted, after all.” His voice started to crack again, and he paused to cough.
“Got a sore throat?”
“Shut up. Then he put her to sleep and had me put her in his transport. There was nothing that I could do. I was helpless.”
Li heard the strained emotion in the other’s voice, and felt a twinge of sympathy. It was becoming painfully clear to him that this officer really did love Sakura. What kind of connection did they share? He didn’t want to ask, but he knew he had to.
“She said you think you know her.”
“I don’t think. I know. I’ve seen her face in my past, I’m sure of it.”
“But she was just a child when she came to the Resistance. There’s no way you could have ever seen her face as it is now.”
“I don’t care. I know there’s something between us.” He said that last part a little aggressively, and Li bristled. “I felt it, that very first night before you took her away from me. I was on the verge of kissing her, and – and this sensation woke up inside me. It was amazing. And I could see in her eyes that it happened to her.”
Li stopped climbing.
“You couldn’t feel magic before then?”
“Well, no. But I think I can now. I see things that others don’t; I can feel strange things. It’s unsettling.”
“She couldn’t either,” Li murmured, causing Touya to glance over.
“What?”
“She didn’t have magic before that night. I thought you somehow woke up her powers, but she did the same for you. It was mutual.” The two of them exchanged puzzled looks, and for once Li didn’t feel a flash of jealousy. There was more going on here than what it seemed, and he was sure that the answer was hovering close. If he could just think it through logically…
“There it is.” Li followed Touya over the crest of the ridge, and they crouched in the lengthening shadows of boulders. Directly before them, nestled in the craggy cliffs and apparently formed from the same rocks, stood Starcrest Castle. A few huts were clustered at its base, though not many. Lothar discouraged settlements that were too large, it allowed for discontent to spread more quickly.
The castle itself was enormous, and intricately beautiful. Touya thought some of the architecture resembled the old temple, a little, but it was difficult to tell. Built in some mysterious way from the cliffs themselves, it rose above their heights with towers stretching still further up to the sky.
Li felt a chill envelop his body as he stared at the structure. This was it: the home of his family’s murderer. The one he’d been waiting to kill for over a cycle. Would he finally meet him tonight?
“Are you listening? Hey, wake up!” Touya rapped Li impatiently on the shoulder, startling the younger man. “I said, it’s been a few cycles, but I think I remember the way down into the dungeons.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“Only a couple times, when I was with my mas- with my superior. But it’s better than nothing.”
“Have you ever seen him? Lord Lothar?” Li leaned forward anxiously, looking into Touya’s eyes. Touya raised his eyebrows and shook his head.
“Few have. I know Blade communicated with him often. He was always one of Lothar’s favorites.”
“Uh-huh.” Li flexed his fist experimentally. This was not how he had imagined it, at nights. He wasn’t at his peak; he was still tired and run-down from everything that had happened within the past day. His main objective was rescue, not revenge, and his only ally was a man he hated. But there was nothing to be done about it. “Let’s go.”
“Up the wall.”
“No way. Through the front.”
“You’re joking, right?” Touya arched his eyebrows and gave Li a withering glare. “No one just goes marching through the front gate of Starcrest. Scaling the walls is our only hope.”
“Damn it, I hate climbing. I don’t understand everybody’s obsession with it. You and Sakura both.” Grouchily Li examined the forbidding castle. With all the activity, his scrapes and bruises from the night before were starting to throb. Pulling back one sleeve, he could see blood seeping through one of the bandages. “There aren’t even any guards. No one will see us.”
“You think so?” Li nodded, and Touya gave an exasperated sigh as he crouched and picked up a rock. Without uttering another word, he leaned back and tossed it as far as he could. It flew through the air until landing below them, practically at the gate itself. It was instantly vaporized by an unseen laser, and Touya turned to Li with a triumphant smirk on his face. “I’m the one that’s been here before. Now why don’t you shut up and listen to me? We’re scaling the walls.”
He turned away and continued to clamber up the cliff that they were perched on, moving gradually across towards the castle where it met the rocky walls. Li stewed, but the other man was right. Wei would have expected him to defer to another who knew the territory better, and he could not fail his old instructor. Grudgingly he followed Kinomoto, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
“I hate you.”
“I hate you too. Now come on. Sun’s starting to go down, and we won’t be able to see in the dark.”
It seemed Li had heard that before, somewhere, in a position remarkably similar to this one. The memory of Sakura walking in a dreamy trance shot through his mind, and how she had stepped right off the edge of the mesa.
The light on the rocks he was climbing was starting to turn golden orange, and he knew sunset was approaching. Though he couldn’t see it, he was sure the moon was close to rising on the other side of the cliffs. Everything was the same as it had been that other evening, and Li felt a premonition wash over him.
Whatever it is, it has something to do with her magic. That’s what Nietzsche is after. I don’t understand entirely, but I know she’s in the castle because of that trance. They want her because of her abilities.
Li grimaced as he reached and pulled himself upward. Would they hurt her? Probably. He couldn’t let that happen.
Up again, slowly and carefully.
He just couldn’t.
- - - - - - -
Sakura wasn’t sure how long she just lay there on the cold floor, staring glassily into the darkness, waiting. But it seemed that it hadn’t been nearly long enough when the door to her prison opened again.
Reflexively she tried to jump to her feet, only to be arrested painfully by the collar. The chain that held her wasn’t long enough, and she knelt on the ground helplessly as one soldier bound her hands behind her back and the others raised their blasters in readiness. Nietzsche himself opened his palms and emitted a sharp blast of yellow energy that sliced the chain cleanly off the floor, and made her yelp with surprise. The soldiers hauled her to her feet and the old mage took hold of the free end, preparing to pull her from the room.
“No!” she squeaked, and dug her heels into the stone floor, trying to resist. “I won’t!”
“But you will,” he said calmly, and gave a sharp jerk to yank her forward. “You were born for this, girl, your purpose has come. You will bring our lord untold powers, I will not allow you to resist your destiny and his.”
She struggled, but it was no use. A soldier gripped each arm securely, holding her still, and the old mage pulled her even closer.
“Miserable rebel,” he spat. “Do you not even appreciate this gift bestowed upon you? To fulfill this act for our lord, you realize the dreams of every one of his subjects.”
He was saying she was special. Sakura trembled as she took in his words, realizing that she had never wanted to hear it less than she did then. All she wanted was to be back home, safe and as normal as anyone else. There was an envious gleam in those pale yellow eyes as he turned away from her.
“Now you will come quietly, girl. If you cause him to miss the window, he will wreak a terrible punishment upon your leader.”
The last of the fight left Sakura and she subsided, allowing herself to be led like a pet from the room and down the corridor. More soldiers fell in around them as they traversed the hallways, escorting them. Nietzsche was obviously determined that nothing happen to Lothar’s special prisoner.
The old mage led her up a magnificent old staircase, and as frightened as she was, she couldn’t help staring at her surroundings. She’d never seen anything so beautiful and grand. There were no seams that she could see, no hint of stones placed together. The entire edifice seemed to have been molded from one substance. And yet the color and texture did vary, from smoothly sanded stone to a highly polished and colorful marble. Each floor that they passed seemed more elaborate and detailed than the one before. The present era fell away as she looked; the castle seemed untouched since its ancient birth.
Kero’s old master, the king from before, made this. What was his name again?
Try as she did, she could not remember the name. It was too hard to concentrate, with every step taking her to her doom. She didn’t know what awaited her at the top of the stairs, but she was sure it was horrible. Was she going to die? It seemed likely. She was all alone, not even out of her teens, and she was going to die. She would never know who she was, after all, and if Touya had ever once been a part of her life. She would never be able to tell Li that she knew the truth about her magic. And she would never be able to tell him that she understood his feelings of love for her because – because she knew she loved him too. He had done everything for her, since the beginning.
Li, she sobbed mentally. Oh, Li. I love you so much… and I’ll never have the chance to tell you.
- - - - - -
Li caught his breath for a moment behind the huge marble pillar. Had he just felt… nah. Wishful thinking, most likely. He edged one eye around his cover and fired off a couple more blasts, eliminating the last two soldiers standing.
“Now which way?”
“Um…”
The two of them leapt down onto the lower floor of the huge room and crossed it. Cautiously Touya peeked out of the doorway and looked up and down the corridor.
“Um, I think the way to the grand staircase is that way.”
“You think?” Li repeated sarcastically. “Or you know?”
“Hey, it’s been a while, all right?”
“You don’t seem to have any trouble ‘remembering’ Sakura.” Touya shot him a cold glare.
“I can’t help the tricks my memory plays on me. You should try amnesia sometime and see how much fun it is.”
With blasters raised at the ready, the two of them began to make their way down the lavish corridor.
“You really don’t remember anything before the army?”
“I don’t know. Bits and pieces have been coming back, since the night I met Sakura. Vague images. Fire, explosions, a child crying…” Touya hesitated as he remembered his experience in the temple. Keep away from my – my – what? What had he been trying to protect? And from whom?
Li watched the struggle in the captain’s eyes. Thinking back was obviously painful for him, but he seemed so determined to recall his past. Just as determined, in fact, as Li was to rectify his. In a way, they had something in common. Besides Sakura, of course.
An inkling of danger sent Li tumbling to the floor, and Touya copied him almost instantaneously. Over their heads, a blaster fire raked the walls.
“Run!” shouted Li unnecessarily, as he rolled back onto his feet and began sprinting down the corridor. Their attackers had come up from behind them and were closing the distance quickly. They could never hope to survive a firefight in this narrow hallway, with no cover or elevation. It wasn’t long before the two of them reached an intersection of corridors.
“Which way?”
“This way, I think.” Touya took a step to the right, then stopped and turned on his heels when he saw more men approaching from that way. More soldiers were becoming alerted to their presence. “Never mind. We’ll go left.”
“I hope you know where you’re going,” Li panted. “We could wander around in here for days and never find her!”
“Shut up.”
Touya saw the alcove housing the beautifully carved statue and yanked on Li’s shirt, pulling him into the shadows beside him. Both held their breath as the soldiers raced by.
“Quick thinking,” Li praised.
“I know.” Touya peeked out of their shelter and stepped out again, retracing their steps. Li ground his teeth a little and followed. The two of them slipped back down the hallway, Touya desperately trying to remember the way. He’d hardly been more than a boy when he was here last, scurrying to keep up with Blade’s long strides. Eyesss on the floor, he had been instructed. He was not to look up, or let his gaze wander over the beautiful decorations. He was not to speak, he was not to do anything except attend to his master’s needs. But he had been unable to resist examining their surroundings. He remembered well the burning pain of the claws across his back when Blade caught him at it.
Touya swallowed as they both took cover behind another pillar, checking to make sure the room was secure before crossing it. Until today, the army and his master had been his whole life. He’d betrayed his master, and he knew Blade was not going to forget him anytime soon. Would he be here? He might have brought Tsukishiro there as a prisoner, or he might still be out in the badlands, searching for his errant slave. Touya fervently hoped for the latter. All he wanted to do was find Sakura and get out. He was not up to facing the Reptil who had raised him.
“Watch out!” Li yelped, startling him out of his thoughts. A new squad of soldiers had converged upon them, and the rebel was frantically laying waste with his blaster. Touya hurried to assist, but more were coming through, and Li could see his power pak was running low. He didn’t have many more shots to go.
“They’re going to pin us down and outgun us!” he shouted over the din of the battle. “We’re going to have to take them on as is.”
He rather expected a refusal for such a suicidal suggestion, but the captain just nodded calmly.
“On three. One, two - ”
Li uttered a sharp battle cry and dove out from behind his cover, somersaulting across the slick floor and launching into a kick that knocked down three men.
“Three,” Touya finished grimly, and proceeded to pick off a few soldiers aiming their blasters at Li.
Stupid, for sure, yet he was doing all right. Touya had never seen anyone other than himself and Sakura move so quickly. The sulky teenager was transformed in battle, became a ruthless and decisive warrior. The soldiers couldn’t even aim their weapons accurately before he was upon them, striking them all down with nothing but punches and lethally-placed kicks. Show-off. Well, two could play at that game. Touya crouched and spun, sweeping the nearest soldier off his feet and then rolling across the ground out of range of the blaster fire. Catching one in the ribs with his elbow, he flipped him over his shoulder and used him briefly as a human shield before taking out two more.
Li was no longer thinking about Touya, or even Sakura. The only way to survive in a fight like this was to concentrate totally, be aware of nothing but the enemy. He was falling into himself, letting his senses guide him as he spun and kicked and struck, flashing through the crowd too fast to become a blaster target. Instinctively he darted down a passage to his right, and when he saw the thin stone arch above his head, he jumped up and grabbed.
They followed warily, holding their blasters up, looking around to see which way he had gone. It never occurred to them to look up. If they had, they would have seen the young fighter, balancing carefully on his hands and watching them fan out below. He waited until the last one was through, then swung downward with his feet out and ready. There was a grunt of pain as his boots connected to the small of a man’s back, and he went sprawling, toppling the others. Another raised his blaster, but Li kicked it from his hand on the upswing, then released his hold on the arch and dropped gracefully to the floor, dispatching them all in a few clicks.
The immediate threat was gone, and for the first time Li realized that he’d allowed himself to be separated from Touya. Going back the way he’d come, he could see no one where the fight had begun, only bodies of soldiers. Where had he gotten off to?
Uncertainly, Li jogged along the corridor they’d been following. Sure enough, it widened out into a large room with a huge old staircase against the wall.
That must be the main stair that Kinomoto was talking about. But where was he?
There was no time to go looking. Li decided that the other man could take care of himself and started for the stairs, preparing to go down. Just then a flash of rainbow appeared on the marble beneath his feet, and he stopped in surprise. The sun was almost level with the crystal windows across the room, and one of the rays had been caught by a prism in the panes. Now that he looked, he could see many more rainbows falling across the floor. It seemed that they were forming some kind of pattern. Had the creator done that on purpose? It was beautiful, but this was hardly the time to be appreciating the scenery. He started to continue down, then paused again.
What the – I need to get going. I have go down, find the dungeons. Surely that’s where she is.
But he wavered still. There was a feeling, nagging at him, as if the rainbows were trying to make him stop and think. As Wei would say, stop, think, and feel…
Of course! I can feel her aura again! She was right here, she came right up these stairs. And she went up. I’m sure of it. I don’t know why, but I know she went up, and I know she’s terrified. She’s scared, and alone, and she needs me.
Li pulled his pendant off from underneath his shirt and held it loosely in one hand, ready to activate it if he needed to. And he began to lightly run up the stairwell.
Touya was peripherally aware that Li had left the area, though he couldn’t be sure which way he had gone. He backed out of the room, giving himself plenty of cover fire, into a smaller west-facing room that featured almost wall-length crystal windows. The whole room was covered in rainbows, and he was sure that just through the next room would be the stairwell.
His pursuers were sloppy and harried, and forgot to spray out fire as they came through the doorway. It was easy to pick them off as they came through. His battle adrenaline was surging through his veins, his awareness heightened and sensitive. Instinct led him to glance backward at the other end of the room, and almost froze at the sight of Blade stalking through the doorway, coming up on him in long strides.
His body moved faster than his mind, as he swung around and pointed his blaster right at his old master. But then – then something in him faltered, and Blade struck the weapon from his hands before he could make himself squeeze the trigger.
“Idiot boy.” Touya tried to dart away, but he wasn’t nearly fast enough. Blade caught his shirt in his powerful claws and heaved, throwing Touya straight through the crystal panes of the window. There was a horrible shattering sound, and then a painful bump as Touya hit the floor of a stone balcony and rolled to a stop. Too out of breath to move, he watched the Reptil sweep the broken glass out of his way and leap lightly onto the balcony to join him.
“Lassst misstake you’ll ever make,” he hissed. He advanced.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters
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