Ch 7
From where they were, Kaye looked up towards the ghostly-pale moon, and then frowned deeply leaning back against a boulder. She looked down at her arms, and saw that the markings faded.
Kento was frowning as well. He was still angry with what Shaheen had done to his wife, but what even got him even more, is that he or the others had no idea of what to do about the situation. He wanted to help her so much, 'It isn't fair. Why did it have to happen? What right did Shaheen have to have that stupid talisman or whatever be inside of her?'
Kaye looked up and saw that he was wrestling with his thoughts. She could easily see how torn up he was about this. "Kento…"
He broke out of his thoughts and looked over towards her. "Kaye, I know what you're going to say…"
She raised a brow towards him, "You do? Really? And that would be what exactly?"
Kento was a bit surprised about her tone. As far as he could remember she never used that tone before. Except for maybe against one of their old enemies or something, but not with him or any of the others.
Kaye saw his expression and gave a small sigh. "I'm sorry Kento, I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just…"
The orange ronin walked over and stood beside her. "Hey, it's alright. I don't blame you. I think I would have reacted the same way. You know how much I wanted to knock him around, I still do."
"That makes two of us. But it won't do either of us any good." Kaye replied looking over towards him. "Besides, we'll have bigger problems if Fahd gets that lamp and frees Dammar."
"Which is why we're going to have to keep Fahd away from you so he can't get the talisman." Kento pointed out as a reminder.
White Blaze walked up besides Kento, and Lightning walked over to Kaye's side. Both tigers growled in agreement.
Kaye laid her hand on top of Lightning's head and looked down towards him. "Do you think the others are ok?"
"They'll be able to take care of themselves. Besides, I'll be able to tell if anything's wrong." Kento reminded her.
She looked up towards him and gave a small nod. "You're right, they'll be fine. I just wish that we didn't have to hide like this, it just doesn't feel right."
"I know how you feel Kaye, I want to be there too. But, since the talisman is inside of you, we have to keep it and you away from Fahd. Unfortunately, at the moment, this is the only option we have right now." Kento replied feeling slightly torn between what he knows to do, and what he feels is right.
--------------------------------------------------------
Not far, Fahd was looking over the book. 'One item in my possession, and only two more to go. Shaheen is a fool to believe that joining up with them will help his cause. Soon enough I'll have all three, and then I'll be able to free Dammar, and then the world shall be shaped in my image.'
A sharp shrill broke Fahd from his thoughts. He presented his forearm for the animal to perch. The falcon landed and then looked at him, twitching its head side to side. Fahd smirked as he brought in his arm. "Tell me, what did you find out?"
The falcon's eyes produced the images of Shaheen, the ronins and Kaye as they had their heated conversation earlier. He grinned evilly as he saw Shaheen being shown his place when Kento nailed him up against the wall. Fahd continued to take in what his falcon was showing him. He knew exactly what Shaheen had tried to plan in order for him not to get what he wanted.
"You've done well my pet. Return to your rest." With those words, the falcon merged into Fahd's forearm.
"So, Shaheen believes that he can try and deceive me? He is truly a fool. I'm thinking it's time for another visit so I can reclaim what is rightfully mine." Fahd mused and then disappeared into the night.
---------------------------------------------
Hours passed, the ronins and Shaheen were starting to get tired as they waited to see if Fahd was going to show or not. Sage perched out on the roof with Rowen, while Ryo and Cye were inside with Shaheen in the living room.
Ryo frowned a bit as he looked over at Shaheen, their guest has been quiet ever since their discussion earlier. "Shaheen?"
"My apologies, I guess that I've been preoccupied." Shaheen apologized as he kept his gaze on his bag.
"You're still reflecting on the conversation we had earlier?" Cye asked rubbing his tired eyes.
Shaheen gave a small nod. "Yes, but that's not the only thing."
"What else is on your mind?" Ryo asked curiously as he shifted a bit on the couch.
"On what I did in order to protect the talisman. Granted it was wrong on how I did it, but I had no other choice." Shaheen started to explain as he looked up.
"There's always a choice. We could have thought of a different way to hide it. You should have been truthful with us in the first place." Cye replied sitting back in the chair.
"Yes, I know, but I can not change what happened, like I said before, I don't know how." Shaheen explained with regret in his eyes. "I have a duty to fulfill that's been passed down from immortal to immortal in my clan. I can't disappoint them. I can't let Fahd complete what he set out to do."
------------------------------------------
"Rowen.." Sage started to say as they were keeping watch.
The blue ronin looked towards him by the corner of his eye. "Yea Sage, what's on your mind?"
"I've just been thinking about everything since you and Kaye came back from the university." Sage replied shifting a little.
"You're not the only one. I've been wondering something too." Rowen told him with a slight frown.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sage asked with a raised brow.
Rowen gave a slight nod, "Yea, I'm wondering since he lied to us about the talisman, if he's not holding something else back from us."
"What do you think it could be?" Sage asked standing up and headed for the attic window.
"Haven't figured it out yet, but I'm having the feeling that whatever it is we're not going to like it." Rowen replied also standing up and followed him.
"You both have a right to distrust Shaheen." someone said from out of nowhere.
"Hey, whoever you are, show yourself!" Sage demanded as he and Rowen quickly got into defensive positions.
"If you insist." the voice replied as Fahd stepped out into the moon light.
Rowen narrowed his eyes, "You have some nerve pal to come back here."
"Perhaps I do, but the both of you know why I'm here. I want the lamp and the talisman." Fahd insisted as he stood there unfazed.
"What are you talking about? What talisman?" Sage questioned as his eyes narrowed into slits. "We don't know anything about a talisman."
Fahd smirked as his eyes danced dangerously. "Don't play coy with me, you know exactly what talisman I'm talking about. It's the same one that Shaheen magically transferred into the girl. So, now we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. It's your choice."
"Forget it, we're not going to tell you anything." Rowen stated with a low angry growl.
Fahd smirk shifted into an evil smile. "It looks like you've chosen the hard way that's fine by me. It makes no difference, I'll find what I want, and I'll take them by whatever force necessary."
Just as Fahd's words were spoken, two figures that were etched onto his body started to move. Sage and Rowen took a step back as the two figures started to pull away from his body. Finally, the two figures shot from him and landed on either side of him.
"What are those things?" Sage asked bringing up his nodachi in front of him.
"They're called whirling dervishes, and you'll see why they're called that in a few seconds." Fahd replied as the two figures unsheathed their swords and whipped into two dangerous whirling tornadoes with blades coming straight at them.