Hiss, snap.
Kurogane growled, low in his throat. It was painful and he could feel dry blood caking his throat and cheek, splitting and crackling against his skin. His troupe had been ambushed as they were marching across the frozen wasteland Princess Tomoyo had abandoned them to, following after an idea that may as well been a myth. Tomoyo had dreamt of a great treasure, an undying bird that lay nest in these parts, with the power to bring peace and prosperity to a land if placed in the care of a holy person.
Kurogane had protested, of course. He would rather let the Ladies in Waiting have their way with him with curlers than send his men on a wild goose chase, mind the pun. But one desperate look and a plead from Tomoyo had him grudgingly packing his bags and summoning his troops to head across the ocean to an abandoned land of snow and ice.
They had camped for the night in a crevasse between two mountains. His limbs had been aching with the effort of constantly pulling his men out of snow throughout their trip. He had just rested his eyes to sleep when there had been a splintering crack from the mountain above him and his world went dark.
And now, he was bound and gagged and being dragged across snow covered cobblestones.
"…Nn…" He tipped his head forward so he was staring over his chest and saw his feet also chained together.
"He's awake."
The voice came from one of his captives. He tried to look at them but a hand fisted in dark hair and wrenched his head around.
"Don't try anything funny."
Kurogane didn't find a problem with that, his body felt like it was on fire anyway. He winced as his back hit a step and someone snorted at him. There were a few more moments of being dragged across a slippery surface, then a roaring sound as if something heavy was being moved. Then, everything stopped.
"Drop him."
His body hit tiles heavily. Above him a gigantic roof, intricately decorated with pictures made of tiles. His eyes were torn away from it when someone grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him to a kneeling position.
He raised his head.
A man sat on the throne before him, face sharp and white-pale, with long ebony hair pooling over a long dark cloak. He seemed surprised to see Kurogane. Then again, Kurogane couldn't tell, he'd seen a lot of surprised King's in his lifetime. Most of the time they had a sword sticking out of them. The man gestured towards one of his captors, and the gag was removed from Kurogane's mouth.
"You must be… General Kurogane." The man's voice was soft, so quiet Kurogane barely heard him.
"Who're you?" he replied gruffly.
"I am King Ashura." The man smiled pleasantly as though talking to a child. "And you have trespassed on my land with the hopes of stealing my Phoenix."
Kurogane felt a stab of pain through his head and sucked in a shallow breath. He felt like someone was invading his mind with a hot poker. Ashura's lips twitched into a smug smile.
"Many people have attempted to steal it before, you know." The King rose off his chair and elegantly made his way down the marble steps towards Kurogane. Thick blood dribbled from between the warrior's lips and he coughed hoarsely.
"And you're going to see what happens to those people."
--
Kurogane hit the cell wall heavily, collapsing onto the ground with a grunt. This wasn't the first time he'd been captured by an enemy, but it was the first time his mind was being assaulted by some sort of arcane magic. He knew it was magic, he'd seen its effects before, heard of victims tales.
Once he was sure the guards had left his cell, he checked his bonds. His feet had been unbound, but his hands were still tied behind his back. Wincing he raised his head and rolled onto his back. Shuffling around for a bit he felt for his belt buckle and positioned the rope against the clasp. Biting his lip he rubbed the clasp against the rope. It was difficult; it kept fumbling out of position and scratching across his wrists. This was going to take a while.
Sighing he steadied his breathing and tried again. Panicking and rushing was only going to make it worse. He may be impatient, but he was determined, and he was going to get out of the bonds even if he died of boredom.
"Hello?"
Oh, great.
Kurogane rolled onto his stomach and shuffled his way over to the cell wall the voice had come from. There was a rather wide crack and through it he could see dark brown eyes, framed with shadows, and chapped lips.
"Are you the General they were talking about in the hallway?"
"Yeah." Kurogane grunted and set his back against the wall, resuming his work while keeping an eye on the stranger. "Who're you?"
"My name's Syaoran." The eye shifted and faced away from the crack, the boy making himself comfortable. "I was caught too."
"You're not one of my troops," Kurogane observed. "You're too young."
"No." Syaoran gave a dry chuckle. "I imagine they'd all be dead by now."
Kurogane cursed under his breath. He was never particularly close with any of his soldiers, but they were all loyal and good warriors. He swore that when he got out of this damn cell that he'd find Ashura and show him how much pain he could inflict without having to resort to petty magic. And then he'd find Tomoyo and… well, he couldn't really do anything to Tomoyo, but he'd give Souma and her troops a good kick up the ass for not intervening.
"Were you here to catch the Phoenix?" Syaoran asked curiously, after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. Kurogane grimaced and continued to rub his hands against the clasp.
"Yeah. You too?"
"Yeah."
More silence, until Kurogane heard Syaoran mumble something unintelligible and realised the kid must have fallen asleep. Rolling his eyes he hissed when the clasp dug sharply through the rope and into his wrist. Painful as it were, he still grinned victoriously and continued his task. Pain was good, it meant the clasp was effectively – albeit slowly – cutting through the rope. He tensed when he heard footsteps outside the cells, and then voices.
"What're you doing?"
"Checking on the whelp."
A door opened – Kurogane guessed they were talking about Syaoran – and he quickly dropped onto the ground, back facing the cell wall in case they checked on him too and saw his progressing escape.
"Tch. Is 'e dead?"
"Nah, just asleep I think. Tough kid, putting up with the magic for that long."
"Maybe the Mage is goin' easy on 'im?"
"Wouldn't dare."
"Too right. It's a wonder the King's still givin' 'im food."
"Nn. Should we give the General his lunch?"
Kurogane shifted his hands out of view and tried to make his face empty and nonchalant, suspiciously watching the shadows beneath the door as one of the speakers apparently bent over and the sound of a plate hitting concrete echoed around his cell. Syaoran's cell door was slammed shut, and he heard the boy snort awake.
"Nah. Let 'im wallow for a bit longer. 'E just got here after all."
A chuckle and more footsteps, and then silence once again. Kurogane slowly raised himself into a sitting position and tried to get the clasp back into position against the rope. Casting a glance through the crack in the cell wall, he could see Syaoran's shadow as the boy crouched over his lunch.
Ignoring the growing hunger in his stomach, Kurogane rubbed his wrists against the clasp once more.
--
Something bumped against his head, and Kurogane growled.
Opening his eyes he stared blearily at the plate of food next to his head. If you could call it food. It looked like half eaten bread and off milk. It didn't look like the milk back home anyway. This milk was thick and lumpy and… blue. At least, he thought it was milk.
Looking up slowly he saw a seedy looking man with a thick chain at his belt sneer at him before turning and locking the cell door once more. Kurogane wrinkled his nose and wriggled to his knees, sniffing the bread tentatively. He immediately regretted it and lurched backwards.
"I'd eat it if I were you."
Casting a grumpy look over his shoulder Kurogane saw Syaoran peering through the crack, looking at the food almost feverishly.
"No thanks." He grouched, but Syaoran gave him an insisting look.
"No, seriously. Eat the food."
Kurogane may not be the smartest person, but he knew a hint when he heard one. Holding his breath (it smelt awful) he took the bread into his mouth and took a bite. Swallowing he was surprised to find it warm and frankly… delicious. Glowering suspiciously, he looked through the crack at the boy.
"Why the hell does it look so rank then?" he asked. Syaoran cast a shifty look at his cell door.
"Come closer." He beckoned. Kurogane complied and Syaoran lowered his voice.
"I've managed to get in contact with my brother, he's a soldier you know." Syaoran smiled weakly, and Kurogane noticed a rather large bruise that spread underneath his right eye. It looked new. "He's been smuggling me and the other cellmates fresh food until he can think of a plan for me to escape."
"Magic." Kurogane noted.
"Yeah."
"Tch." He shut his eyes and felt around for the clasp once more. He had managed to rub the rope at least three quarters of the way through, so it shouldn't be too long now before he had full use of his hands. Magic, it was all around this place. Even in the damn food.
Noticing the silence he opened his eyes and realised Syaoran was carefully watching his activities, head tilted slightly to the side. Kurogane continued rubbing against the rope while keeping his eyes on the curious boy.
"What happened to your eye?" he asked. It wasn't as if he cared, but the watching boy and the chilling silence was unnerving him.
Syaoran raised a hand to it as if surprised at the question. Smiling grimly he shrugged.
"I don't think King Ashura was happy to see me stuck halfway through his library window." He admitted. "Neither were the twelve guards."
"Ouch." Kurogane muttered, smirking slightly as he felt another cord snap in the rope.
"Maybe. I managed to take eight of them with me though, that's a plus."
Surprised, Kurogane looked back at the boy. Syaoran suddenly didn't seem so puny than he had before.
--
"Sh." Kurogane hissed suddenly. They had been talking on and off for a few hours now, Syaoran filling Kurogane in on the floor plans of the castle they were being held in. Kurogane thought it admirable that the boy was able to remember it all. He listened carefully for a few moments.
"What is it?" Syaoran whispered.
"I thought I heard…" Kurogane frowned and shook his head.
"What?" the boy insisted.
"I'm going insane," Kurogane muttered, rubbing against the rope once more. "I thought I heard whistling."