Chapter VIII:
'I haven't seen any other bird or anything else in the sky for quite a while,' Hiromi thought to herself, 'Not even a plane.'
She was flying through what seemed like fog banks and only saw flashes of light cut through every once in a while. At first she thought she was flying through a storm, but it was a very different kind of light. There was no charge to these lights like she would think would come from lightning. There was something to them, but they weren't frightening.
She swooped low out of the cloud cover and found a large tower directly ahead of her. She squawked and dodged to the side to avoid a collision. She sighed and landed none too gracefully on the roof of a strange looking building.
"That was a close one," she whispered to herself and looked up at the dark tower she nearly collided with, "Wonder what that light is at the top…"
Her tail feathers almost began to stand on end for no reason and she shivered as if she felt something watching her. She shook her head and looked over the area around her. She spotted the three other towers that surrounded the small looking homes and businesses. If not for the dark colors and grim out look of the town she could swear that she was in a medieval time version of the market district.
Her talons scrapped against the stones beneath her and she looked another direction for the castle, "Now, if I was a castle of spirits where would I be?"
"Right beneath you," a gravel like voice said from behind her. Her eyes widened and she looked back as a large sack covered her.
"Get off of me!" she yelled and scrapped her beak against the sack. Her beak only seemed to float through it even though the sack kept her in place. She fumed and frowned at the spiritual side of the predicament. Of course they would have sacks that would work against her and her new magic. She closed her eyes and focused as the feathers retreated back into her skin and her face turned back to what it once was.
"I think this is a great week for the kingdom," the voice talked to Hiromi as she was shifted around in the sack, "First the girl to lead the creation here and now another has come her willingly. More than likely to save your friend, huh?"
Hiromi didn't answer and only hoped that he could feel her glare through the sack. She hadn't seen much of her captor other than the dark ashy color of his skin.
"Didn't know this human had so many talented acquaintances," the guard thought, "Maybe we could use you as another bargaining chip if the creation doesn't pan out."
"You won't use me like that!" Hiromi shouted from the sack and punched at the sides as if that would do any better than her sharp beak had.
"I think we should let you have some company," the spirit said and opened a door as he threw Hiromi, sack and all, through the opening. She groaned to herself in the sack as she hit the floor and rubbed her arm that had hit the ground first. He chuckled a little and directed his voice to another portion of the room, "I have a little something for you."
"I want nothing that you or your king can give me," another voice said from the side of the room.
"Haru?!" Hiromi asked and began to struggle against the sack again.
"Hiromi?" Haru leapt off the bed despite her low energy and tore at the bag just as quickly. She was able to grip at the shadow-like bag and release her friend inside. She hugged her friend tightly and glared at the guard, "How did you bring her here? Why?"
"She did it all on her own," the guard shrugged and closed the door behind him.
Haru pulled back from Hiromi and looked at her in the eyes, "How…?"
"That is some side job you got with Muta," she chuckled nervously and watched as realization dawned over Haru, "Baron seems like a nice guy… er, cat."
"You've met Baron?"
"How else would I get into a whole 'nother world," Hiromi shook her head as if she was talking to Haru about boys or other nonsense, "They want to trade you for the princess."
"I know," Haru growled and stood up carefully and made it back to the bed where she sat down heavily.
"Baron is on his way," Hiromi said and lifted an eyebrow at her friend's tired actions, "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not," she shook her head as another maid came into and out of the room carrying out her still full tray.
"You aren't eating," Hiromi noticed.
"In some worlds, if you eat their food, you are stuck in the world forever. I don't trust what they give me," Haru shook her head and looked at Hiromi, "How did you get here? I know that Baron would not bring you into immediate danger. Especially with you inexperienced with cases."
"You know him pretty well," Hiromi nodded with a slight smile and sat next to Haru as she held her friend's hand, "That place… his world…"
"The Sanctuary," Haru answered for her.
"Yeah, it gave me some kind of magic. At first it just shrunk me," Hiromi explained and held out a hand in front of Haru as she concentrated and had it shift to the end of her wing and then back into her hand, "And then something I could use to get to you."
"You're a shape shifter," Haru said with a gasp.
"I guess so," Hiromi shrugged, "I just said that I would do anything to get you back. I guess that encompasses the possibility of magic."
"You got to be careful what you say and wish in that place," Haru nodded and looked her friend in the eyes, "Does Baron know you are here at all?"
"I don't think so," she shook her head, "He and Toto left before the magic started to work on me. I thought that they would have made it here before me."
"If he knew you like I do, he would have locked you in a room with a magic lock," Haru giggled softly as if trying to avoid coughing, "You always have a knack of finding me when something is wrong."
"Yeah, well that's what best friends are for."
"If Baron and Toto are on their way it's only a matter of time," Haru tried to assure her best friend.
Hiromi squeezed her hands and felt how ice cold they were. She gasped a little and looked at her friend and saw something in her eyes that she never really saw unless she was day dreaming. She was thinking about Baron. Now it made so much sense. There never was just a boy… it was Baron.
"That was some secret boyfriend you kept from me, Haru," Hiromi rubbed her friend's hands in an attempt to get them warm again.
Haru took her hands from Hiromi and pulled them to her chest as she looked out the far window, "He's not my boyfriend."
"Yeah, not yet," Hiromi teased as if to lighten the mood, "I mean he is charming, dashing, ready to rescue you no matter the odds… and has pretty cool friends too. Who knew a talking crow could be so awesome."
"Hm," Haru got a calculating look on her face as she watched her best friend.
"Just saying that you have it bad for the cat man," Hiromi shrugged off her look, "You would like him to be more than a friend and I think he feels the same way. Just saying as your best friend, I approve."
"Right. Ok, Hiromi," Haru stood again as she heard shuffling against the floor outside her door. Haru trudged to the side of the door as a guard opened the door to look in on her. She frowned at him and leaned against the wall to the side of the door, "I'm still here, Goliath, and my answer is still no."
The guard grunted and turned back to the hallway outside of her room to resume his rounds. Haru shifted a little against the wall and took a deep breath to give herself more strength.
"What was that about?" Hiromi asked and came to her friend's side to help her up.
"They check in on me periodically to make sure I'm comfortable," Haru rolled her eyes in annoyance, "We got to find a way out of here. It's going to be a little harder for the bureau with two girls to rescue."
"So what do we do?" Hiromi asked and looked at the window again in hope to catch sight of Baron on Toto's back, "He's on his way. He will be here soon, right?"
"He's on his way to get us," Haru nodded and shifted her hands carefully and Hiromi caught sight of a large key ring in her hands. Haru giggled a little at the guard's absent mindedness, "But it wouldn't hurt to help ourselves out."
"You astound me sometimes," Hiromi smiled with her and took the keys as she tried them in the door, "What's the plan after we get out of this room?"
"We run like hell toward the center tower," Haru reasoned and looked at the tall tower not too far from her window. Hiromi knew that she almost flew right into it, so it wouldn't be too far of a run, but she was still cautious about her friend.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine. I've saved up enough strength," Haru waved her friend off, "Hopefully Baron and Toto will see us in our mad dash and follow us, if not help us get through the light."
"Hopefully?" Hiromi asked as the door clicked and both girls took a peek outside. Haru and Hiromi slipped out of the room and made sure to lock it behind them. They carefully made it through the hallways and Haru looked back at Hiromi before heading toward the top of the castle.
"I shrunk when I came into another kingdom and you shrunk back at the sanctuary," Haru explained and pointed to the side wall just a few feet from them, "We just need to follow the outside wall of the castle to the stairs up the tower. Baron and Toto should be able to find us from there."
"So could the other baddies."
"Not if Baron finds us first," Haru jumped on the wall and helped Hiromi on it as well as she could, "And he will find us."
"You have a lot of faith in his abilities, don't you?"
"I have no doubt in his abilities," Haru reminded her friend and began to run along the wall. Despite the weakness she was showing in the room Haru kept a fast pace along the wall. Fast enough that even Hiromi was starting to have a hard time catching up with her.
Suddenly a large growl or scream erupted from the tower that the girls had just ran from.
"What the hell was that?" Hiromi asked her friend ahead of her.
"That was them finding us missing," Haru shouted back, "Run faster!"
"I can't run that much faster than this," Hiromi said as Haru took a tight hold of her hand and rushed across a small bridge at the top of the castle along the wall.
"And you are supposed to be the sporty one," Haru smiled slightly and then skidded to a stop as the large door in front of them busted open. Hiromi ran into her back and then looked over her shoulder where she saw a couple of the shadow guards staring back at them.
"Wrong door," Hiromi smiled nervously and then took Haru's hand back and ran the other way. Haru lagged behind just a little and then both girls stopped as the original guard, now without keys, came through the doorway, "Any other plans?"
"How quick can you change?" Haru asked as they were surrounded.
"Not quick enough with these guys," Hiromi shook her head. She screamed a little in surprise as a guard's head split in an ashy mess when he lunged at them.
Haru looked up into the sky and noticed a black crow circling above them, "Maybe just in time."
Baron looked down at the castle wall where he heard a loud and very feminine scream. He noticed two figures surrounded by a group of rather large and shadow like figures.
"It looks like Haru isn't the only one here, Baron," Toto said as he recognized the other girl being surrounded and the owner to the scream.
"How did she get here?" Baron muttered in mild annoyance with a little bit of an awe for the young woman's ingenuity. He was a little confused on how she got there and even more so for the fact that she seemed to have gotten there before they had.
"She told you she'd follow us one way or another," Toto reminded him with a smile.
"You may admire her for it, but she's going to get herself killed by ignoring the danger of heading into situations without thinking it over first."
"Just like someone else I know."
Baron ignored his friend's last comment and watched as the guards pushed at the girls. The guards herded them toward the large spire at the center of the castle, "Toto, follow them close, but make sure that the guards don't see us."
"Got it."
The two in the sky follow the small group into the spire and then landed on a small, open window that looked into what looked like a dark throne room. Inside the throne room were a few scattered clumps of guards and a very large looking man sitting on the dark, tall backed throne. A heavy crown sat on the man's brow and Baron only guessed that it was the king of the realm. To the king's right was a thin, wisp of a shadow that looked a lot like what Baron would think Natori would look like in a spiritual realm.
One of the guards ran over to the monarch and knelt down on a knee, "The mortal is on her way here."
"Good," the king nodded, "Then the creation is on his way too."
Baron frowned at them using Haru to get to him.
"What do we do if he does not have the princess?" the Natori look alike asked the king.
"Then we look to the other mortal females under our care," the king said back, "One of them should be able to take on the challenge. Even the mortal with the link to the creation would be a good candidate."
Baron's fur on his back bristled beneath his coat.
"Careful Baron," Toto warned, "They don't know we are here yet."
"Not yet," Baron checked the skies around them and looked back down on the throne room where Haru and Hiromi were led right to the king's feet.
"Miss Haru," the king greeted, "It seems as if you are still here."
"Not for the lack of trying, your majesty," Haru said with a small smile and then looked like she had almost lost her footing.
"She doesn't look so good, Baron," Toto looked on. Baron's eyes only narrowed and found that Haru seemed a lot paler in complexion.
"If your Baron was so loyal to you, he would have been here by now," the king said with a wave of his hand where the swirling ash turned into a chalice cup.
"I have no doubt that he is already here," she smiled again and leaned back into Hiromi who helped her friend stand upright.
"You are dying, Miss Haru," he said straight forward and took a sip from the chalice before he waved it away and made it disappear into the darkness of his large robes, "I know you have noticed it. You have started to turn pale and soon you will fade. You have a day left- at the most. Just tell me where the creation and my princess are and you will go free."
"She has a right to choose her fate, just as I have," Haru said with determination, "She chose to seek out help from the bureau and I will not fail in that trust."
Hiromi held her friend up, but Haru could tell that she was frightened by the way her hands shook against her.
Baron watched Haru stand up to the king and his heart was full of pride for the young woman. She was a true bureau member, but he needed to get her out of there and fast if the red tinge of anger on the king's cheeks were any indication. He shifted his eyes back to the sky and noticed the small shadows circling the high tower.
"Toto, I need some eyes in the sky. In this kingdom there are way too many guards that take to it. I am going to speak some sense into the king, but I need a distraction if he calls in the guards from above. Keep a sharp eye on the door, we will be running out as soon as I can get them out."
"On it, Baron," Toto stretched out his wings about ready to take to the sky, "Be careful; get the girls out of there."
"I will, you too," Baron looked at him with a sly smile, "Hiromi would be unhappy if you are hurt when she gets out of there."
"Hiromi?"
"You thought that I didn't notice?" Baron slid into the throne room from the window and laughed a little at Toto's glare at him.
"Muta's right… you are a show off," Toto grumbled and lifted into the sky to keep the shadow flyers off of Baron's back.
