Dance of the Amadi
Chapter 4
Syaoran did not know when he fell asleep, but he woke to find himself on a large, comfortable bed, dressed in his own pajamas, still in an unfamiliar room with a ferret snoring quietly on a pillow beside his.
There were white robes folded neatly on a chair right next to his, with leather arm guards and a white hood. There were brown boots under the chair, and black fingerless gloves.
Not exactly Amadi-fashion, but Syaoran did not care. He only wondered briefly where his own clothes went, but decided getting dressed in that won't hurt. It turned out there was an inner shirt, a leather vest, and grey pants. The robes were more of a tunic, though they extended past his knees, and the hood had leather straps. Syaoran had no idea what to do with the straps, but realized the hood would not stay on unless he tied them to his forehead. It was awkwardly done, and he was pretty sure he did it wrong, but after fumbling with them he did not look as ridiculous as he might have, unless the mirror on the bed stand had been bewitched.
He wondered why he had been given the robes. They were rather light, but warm as well, and made him feel like he was hopelessly floating. Were these designed for girls? He hoped not. It did not seem to be, anyway.
He spotted the ferret staring at him.
" What are you looking at?" Syaoran snapped, a little disconcerted. " It was the only thing on the chair."
Properly chastised, the ferret looked away and scampered off the bed.
" Did you put it there?" Syaoran asked as he bent down to pick up the animal. The ferret did not answer, only squealed. It was the first time the creature made any noise, and Syaoran was slightly amused.
" Is that a 'yes'?" Syaoran asked, cuddling the creature. " Now, tell me where to go."
He set the animal down. The ferret waddled out the door, and Syaoran followed.
oO
Eriol performed the spell, since he had the primary source and it would waste time to explain it to Sakura. The lasin board at first did not respond, but Yelan had warned that such a case might happen, and not to falter. He tried it a total of three times, before asking Sakura to use the Power Card to boost the spell. This time, there was a tiny flicker of magic, pointing in the direction of the garden. It flickered, and then went out.
Sakura cast the shield spell to prevent their magic from being detected, and then they left the apartment, with Tomoyo and Spinel once again staying inside in case Syaoran returns on his own. It was very doubtful, however, and both knew the reason Tomoyo was staying was because she had no magic and Spinel was supposed to protect her.
The rain had gotten worse, if possible. There was no one outside now, not even cars, and the sun had set a long time ago. Luckily, Sakura's shield spell also kept them dry. The garden looked grey and dismal, even the flowers lacking their luster—which was odd in itself because normally the darkness of the skies accentuates the color of the leaves and petals.
Before they could enter though, Sakura saw, through the fogginess of the air, six to eight figures, clad in brown, slowly making their way into the garden. Occasionally something at their waist flashed, but before Sakura could fully register it, they had disappeared. She sensed no magic, but she felt slightly faint and disoriented after they vanished, and could not help but wonder if it had merely been her imagination. She did not comment on what she saw.
Eriol performed the spell again, muttering under his breath, and the aura flickered into the garden. They followed the aura, and could see it led a little way down into the path before the aura flickered out.
" Come." Eriol said quietly. " Let us follow it, the best we can."
They went up the wet steps—Nakuru nearly slipped, and entered the garden. The harsh wind blew the rain into their faces, but Syaoran was still missing. Perhaps Syaoran was lying, helpless, somewhere, also in the cold, with no umbrella to shield him at all. They had to find him.
They walked.
oO
After walking in the darkness for some time, Syaoran could make out a dim light several yards away. As he approached it, he could make out the figure of a young Amade—for she has to be an Amade. She was dressed as the books say, in dark brown. She happened to be wiping some blood off of her sword.
" Erm…" But as Syaoran began he could tell the woman could not see nor hear him. He fell silent. The ferret balanced its forepaws on his leg and he picked it up.
The woman parted her lips and began to sing. What she was saying, Syaoran could only get the gist of, but he was too entranced in her song to care. The magic seemed to flow and twirl around them, as if manipulated by the melody. Slowly, he began to piece the meaning and words with the notes of her song.
" All is hung on a single thread," She seemed to be musing to herself, " A thread that holds but barely. With each passing clock, the thread quivers, and threatens to break."
Syaoran watched, solemn.
" If not broken now," She looked up, " It will break after, unless it is mended."
" What on earth is she talking about?" Syaoran asked the ferret, who, as expected, did not answer.
" Fate has great plans." She slid her sword into her sheath. " Our numbers grow fewer with time. I wonder who will go next, to pair with Marmane."
" I thought Amadi aren't usually killed." Syaoran looked at the ferret in confusion. The ferret, incapable of expressing its own thoughts through facial expressions, gave him no answer.
" Would the child be a he?" She turned, and seemed to look through Syaoran, " Or a she?"
The scene changed, like a dream. Syaoran found himself standing in the middle of a large grassy plain. The Amade was next to him, head held high, stature proud. Her sword was drawn, though she was not in a defensive stance. In front of her was a dark, grey-cloaked being. The Amade next to him sang, and he could feel the power of the entire race concentrating and moving into her—but the grey being raised its staff and struck the ground in front of it. The Amade leaped into the air, still singing a high song, and the ground shook and red-hot magma spewed from the cracks.
Then Syaoran could only see the hot sparks and the black shadow of the proud Amade, and the roar of the earth beneath him as it quaked and shook and tumbled, the magma, if it could be called that, rose up as if to catch her. After what seemed like forever, the Amade's sword flashed for the last time, and she fell, her face still proud and unafraid, into the cracks, and her figure melted and mingled with the red blood of the earth. Syaoran was suddenly aware that the music of the Amadi, intense before, rose to an unbearable pitch and intensity. Something bright white shot out of the sky, and something shot out of the earth. They met, creating an explosion that blasted the grey figure several meters away. Slowly, ever so slowly, the glowing light began to take a humanoid shape. It was small, not even a foot long, silent and fair.
By this time, the grey figure had gotten to its feet. It grabbed its staff and struck the earth again, this time the cracks leading toward the glowing child. The force of the splitting earth pushed the baby off the ground, and it shimmered. Syaoran heard the grey-cloaked figure growl, and utter something in frustration and anger, as the child morphed into light once again and shot away from the ground, into the sky again.
The world suddenly became very bright, and hundreds of voices whispered in the air, along with the forceful beating of the drum, extending power and might in their words. " Amadi blood has been spilt. Amadi child was threatened harm. Fate's partner has been lost, and treaties have been undone. The gates shall close, and Fate will voice, as she sees fit. We shall not forget."
The world dimmed and Syaoran was back in the darkness. He felt, from the back of his mind, that the world destroyed itself, the Amadi having abandoned it. The child must have been Sakura, escaping from that world into this one so she could survive. He shuddered and hugged the ferret close to him. The ferret nuzzled his neck and squealed. He shuddered again.
So that was what she meant. To have an Amadi child, two Amadi, one male and one female, must die first. He wondered if they ever had any twins. It did not seem so. He supposed it was the price for having immortality.
Shuddering again, he walked back, and found himself in the library.
" Wish someone was here." Syaoran said to the ferret. " Other than you. You're good company, but I need someone to tell me I'm not going insane."
oO
" This is insane." Sakura sighed. They were searching for hours. It was now pitch black, and without the Light Card they could not anything." What is all this? What is the meaning of this? And where is Syaoran-kun?"
The Card Mistress was in no mood for jokes. She was worried out of her mind, and with each passing second, getting more and more irritable. She was definitely not in the mood for jokes. And this, with Syaoran's board flickering as if taunting them, and no Syaoran to be found, is looking more and more like a joke.
Eriol, while he did not explode like Sakura did, was also getting extremely annoyed. This was his descendant, and the wraiths have no right to play around like this. Sighing, he grabbed hold of Sakura's hand.
" Everyone hold hands." He ordered, remembering what happened with Yue. " We do not want to lose anyone."
He felt Nakuru take his other hand, and Sakura clench tightly. She was afraid, he could tell, for both herself and everyone else. For all they know, they could have just walked into their deaths, if the wraiths were waiting here.
It was still raining. Ahead Eriol saw some shadows, but they could simply be trees moving. He did not comment on them. The thunder and lightning was beginning to wear on everyone's nerves. He glanced at his watch. Sakura should be getting home by now.
Taking out his cell phone, Eriol called Tomoyo.
" Iie." Tomoyo answered. " He has not returned. I think you should get back. It's getting late and the weather's awful. You might not get killed by the wraith tonight, but the later you guys stay out there the more chances you'd get of getting killed by something else. Say, a drunk driver."
" We can't!" Sakura protested when Eriol suggested this. " Syaoran is still out here somewhere! And Yue!"
" We do not have much of a choice." Eriol broke off to cough, " We have to find out a better plan, if there is any. At this rate, we will never find Syaoran or Yue, especially since it's so dark. The wraiths could easily take advantage of the dark to overwhelm us. We have to get back!"
It was late.
" But what about Yue?"
" He can take care of himself!" And hopefully Syaoran can too. " Come on!"
Lightning cracked and thunder roared. The rain seemed to gush even more. The flat roads they walked on seemed to flood with mud and floating stones, and gurgled down the stair steps. Using the Float Card Sakura managed to keep everyone above the torrent, but it was hardly needed because everyone was wet anyway.
As they hurried, Sakura noticed her state and realized her father and brother were going to kill her.
oO
" I'm bored." Syaoran complained. He never imagined that, when being held hostage, he would be in the state of mind to complain about something as inane as that. " These books contain nothing except history. And after a while history should take a break."
In response, the ferret nosed a book off a shelf and it fell to the carpet with a dull thud.
Syaoran stared. " Is that a suggestion?"
The ferret squealed.
" You can read." Syaoran observed flatly. The ferret growled a little in annoyance. " I really must be going mad. But oh well, not like my current situation is sane." He went forward and picked up the book. He flicked it open and read a little.
" Nice. I get to learn stuff from this. How to…is this magic? This does not look like magic…oh well." Syaoran sat back. " Might be useful. Mind control, interesting." He suddenly looked up at the ferret.
" You're not a ferret, are you?" A squeal. " There's no possible way you could be a ferret. I know. You're squealing." Another squeal. " But there's no way you could just be a ferret."
The ferret only squealed in response, and Syaoran was not getting much intelligent input, so after listening to the creature for a while he shrugged and continued reading. " Who knows," He thought out loud, " If this is a dream, I might actually learn enough from reading imaginary books to put them to use in real life. What do you think?"
A squeal. Though this one was half-hearted.
oO
By the time the group arrived at the Kinomoto residence the weather was so bad that everyone had to sleep over. Tomoyo and Spinel were trapped in Syaoran's apartment, which was fine because apparently Syaoran had some food in the kitchen—enough to partially sate Spinel's appetite.
Eriol and Sakura worked together to set up shields around the house. To Touya and Fujitaka it merely looked like they were playing some sort of odd charade.
" I doubt the shields would really work, but it's all we have." Eriol frowned. Thunder boomed. " We would have to make do till morning."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Kero fluttered around. " I can't sense Yue. I still can't sense Yue. This doesn't make any sense. This makes no sense. I can't believe this. It's so ridiculous!"
" I just hope morning's not too late." Sakura looked out the dark window. " I hope we won't be too late, waiting around like this."
" You guys were not attacked this time either." Tomoyo's voice in the speakerphone sounded far away, as if she were on the other side of the room in Syaoran's apartment. " And look, Yue was captured because he had Li-kun's lace, and Li-kun's disappeared. Maybe we were looking at this wrong."
" What do you mean?" Eriol asked.
" I mean, how come Sakura wasn't attacked?"
" I was. At the park."
" But then Eriol attacked them and they left, remember? If they really took Li-kun because they want to get to you more easily, how come they took Yue and not Kero?"
" It could be just a random choice." Sakura replied, looking at Eriol for confirmation. " I was looking and talking to Kero when Yue disappeared."
" Technically they could have kidnapped Kero when you were talking to Yue instead." Eriol replied. " Tomoyo is onto something. Maybe they were going for Syaoran all along."
" Why? Do you think he is the Amadi child?" Nakuru asked.
" Maybe. It would not be that hard to believe. Maybe he was only pretending he was magically weaker than Sakura, that way he is less noticed."
" But this presents another problem." Tomoyo's voice sounded louder now. She also sounded like she was eating something. " If they were going for Li-kun all along, how come they took Yue? They had Li-kun already. They hardly needed Yue."
" Maybe because there were two sides." Eriol stood abruptly. " We shouldn't be too optimistic, but there are two sides. The Amadi are also here. They have to be—they would follow the wraiths. Maybe one took Syaoran and the other took Yue."
" Or maybe, if we are lucky," Kero supplied hopefully, " The Amadi took both the gaki and Yue so that the Forbidden Wraiths can't trace him."
" I doubt it." Sakura suddenly paled. " Remember how quickly the wraiths retreated? What if that was when they caught Syaoran-kun?"
Everyone was silent after that.
" But that wouldn't explain why they took Yue." Tomoyo suggested.
" Yes it would." Eriol replied slowly, with trepidation. " You could use the same logic for the Amadi on the Forbidden Wraiths. They could have taken Yue so the Amadi couldn't trace him."
" But what about the lasin board?" Spinel suddenly reminded. His mouth sounded so full they could not make out the words. " Didn't the lasin board show every once in a while that the kid was in the garden?"
" It did kind of point to the same general area—we just didn't manage to get there." Nakuru observed.
" So tomorrow, if the weather clears, we go." Sakura declared.
" And if it doesn't?" Kero asked.
" Oh!" Sakura slumped. " I don't know. Maybe I can light a fire in the clouds and evaporate them all away."
" You might not want to do that." Eriol replied. " In case the wraiths and Amadi do want you. Look, I'll use my lasin board to make sure he's still there." With a few muttered charms the light flickered, pointing in the direction of the garden.
" I guess he's still there." Sakura said after a pause.
" Hopefully Yue's with him." Kero grunted.
