Author's Note: OHGAWDI'MSORRY.
So, my brilliant plan to update this on Monday fell through when something called Life hit me broadside and I've been ridiculously busy...that and the fact that the content in this chapter would. Not. Cooperate. BLARGH.
Anyways. I'll try to have the next chapter up by Friday, but if not it'll be up - at the latest - next Monday. Enjoy!
"How did you hurt yourself?"
That had been the question that had been half blurted out of her mouth as he'd led her through the maze. He had kept his back turned to her for the most part, but she'd seen the glimpse of the bruise underneath the boy's eye.
The hand gripping hers tightened and his shoulders tensed. "Training accident," he said tersely, never turning around. "One of the royal guards was a bit too zealous and bam. Next thing I know I've a black eye," he finished with a forced laugh.
"Didn't the guard get punished for it?" she persisted.
"It was a training accident," repeated the boy, though now there was a warning edge to his words. "Don't worry, I'm fine."
Mai did not bother asking anything further on the matter—she could tell he did not want to talk about whatever had happened and she feared she would drive him off if she pursued it. "Are we almost there yet?" she asked impatiently, one eye on the setting sun.
The boy stopped in the middle of the path, staring around him in some confusion before his shoulders slumped and a sheepish grin made its way across his features. "Oops," he said, looking at her over his shoulder
"Oops…wait, what do you mean oops?" she nearly shrieked. "We're lost in the middle of a maze, possibly stranded out here, it's close to nightfall, and all you can think of to say is OOPS?"
"Easy there," he said, holding his free hand up defensively. "I promised I'd get you out of here and back to the castle, so that's what I'm going to do. Don't worry—I've got you. We'll be out of here in no time."
She really ought to browbeat this kid—had he just gotten them even more lost?—but at the confident grin that lit his features the ire she'd felt vanished. She felt as if she had seen that grin somewhere once before and scowled, looking away. It was the kind of smile that was a contagious one, however, and when she glanced at him again a smile reluctantly made its way onto her features.
Mai woke up the following morning to the sound of hushed voices outside her tent.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she looked around the interior of the tent. No one else was inside it at the moment and gray light was filtering in from the outside, placing the time somewhere around dawn. She glanced at one side of the tent, where she could hear two apprehensive voices having a low conversation—clearly they were trying not to wake her up.
"How far away are they?" That was Ryou, she noted.
"I heard them about ten minutes ago. They're close," came the terse reply, identifying the speaker as Marik. "Went over the hill to scout the area and saw them. There's two, one high above and one flying low—I think they know we're here but they haven't pinpointed us yet."
"The horses?"
"Valon likely heard them coming long before I saw them and got the horses into the woods, out of range of the dragon's sight and smell. That's probably why he's not here at the moment, but he's got the right idea. We need to go before they arrive."
"We'll need to leave something for Bakura to follow, to let him know that—"
"No need. I mentioned yesterday that he wants us to head to the trees if something happens here. He'll know the signs of a dragon attack, he'll head straight there when he finds the site."
"Can we use Dragon's Bane to drive them off?"
"If there was only one dragon to deal with, yes. But considering the fact that we've got the woman and that there's two of them I don't think we should risk it. Get the princess, I'll keep look out."
There was a rustling sound and the tent flap opened, Ryou slipping inside it soundlessly. His eyes landed on Mai and they lit up. "Good, I don't have to wake you up. Highness, we need to leave," he said brusquely, packing up the small cauldron and other scattered belongings inside his messenger bag.
"I heard," said Mai, pushing the blanket off of her and getting to her feet. "What's going on?"
"A couple of dragons are coming this way. They must have caught the scent of the fire—we were up wind of their lair but the wind must have shifted in the night."
"How close are we to their den, anyways?" asked Mai. She had enough time to get the spell book before Ryou took her hand and started dragging her toward the forest.
"Not too far. Bakura put a camp here because he figured the dragons were a deterrent to law enforcement—you'd have to be incredibly brave or an idiot to go through dragon territory—but when they started attacking us he figured they would not look so close to their home for our camps. It worked for a while, but from what I can tell they've figured it out," Ryou explained as they hurried through the clearing.
"I'm guessing everything else at this site is useless to you, then?"
"Correct. All I need is this knapsack and what's in it," he replied, patting the bag at his side once. "We carry the really important items on us at all times. The dragons might pass this place entirely, but it never hurts to be careful."
Marik was watching the lightening sky intently from beneath the cover of the trees, his eyes flickering uneasily back and forth between the gaps in the trees. As Mai made it to the edge of the forest she could hear the sound of large wings flapping and a roar that, though distant, was enough to send vibrations through the ground. "They're minutes away," he said, slipping into the shadows with Ryou and Mai. "Move into the trees as fast as you can. Don't look back."
It was tough for Mai at first to navigate through the underbrush, since their pace was remarkably quick and tree roots kept tripping her up; Ryou and Marik were nimbly making their way through the brush, but Mai was having more trouble since she was carrying the spell book and because she had never had to travel through such terrain. After she nearly fell and twisted her ankle for the fifth time Marik ducked back, caught her by the elbow, and dragged her along with him.
"Get off me!" she snapped, shoving him off her. "I can walk on my own!"
"Then kindly move faster before I toss you over my shoulder."
"Don't you dare."
As Mai kept up with the others (barely) she could not help but notice that the forest had gone strangely silent—she remembered Vivian warning her once that animals could sense predators and often went deathly still to avoid detection. The snaps of trodden branches and the crunch of leaves beneath her feet sounded far too loud and, coupled with the eerie silence of the forest, it was enough to make her want to stop and huddle with the rest of the hidden wildlife.
A roar abruptly shattered the silence, the sound vibrating through the ground and crawling into her bones; that was the roar of a dragon that was far too big—bigger than Jou, even. Mai stumbled and fell back into Marik, who shoved her off of him in disgust. "What kind of dragons are you dealing with?" she hissed, masking her sudden fear with irritation.
"Obviously not small ones," retorted Marik.
All three of them froze as the sound of a thousand birds started welling up from the direction of the site, a light building in the clearing that they had stayed in and lighting the treetops above them; it could not be birds because no flock could generate that amount of noise in such a small area. The sharp and crisp scent of ozone started filtering through the trees and Mai suddenly realized what it was—the dragons seemed to share Jou's ability of blasting lightning.
Marik and Ryou both exchanged alarmed glances. "You don't think—?"
"I do," said Marik sharply, swearing in Enterran. "They figured it out."
Mai did not entirely understand what was happening or what Marik and Ryou were so worried about, but then someone grabbed her and began tugging her toward a particularly gnarled old oak tree far off the beaten path; she spotted Ryou and Marik both moving in the opposite direction. Mai had about a three second glimpse of brown hair and a pair of cerulean eyes before she was forced into the hollow of the tree. The same person pulled her into his arms and hunkered down, allowing her to catch the scent of pine needles and fallen leaves—Valon.
"Don' move," he said. "You'll slap me f'r this later, I know, but right now stay down."
Mai was about to object to this current position she was in when another roar sounded. In the next second the ground began to quake and she caught sight of a wall of lightning as it barreled through the trees. Valon pulled her away and pushed her roughly against the tree trunk.
The roar of the blast blazed past them, the wind generated by the lightning blasting against her and throwing branches against them. The pebbles bit against the skin on her arms before Valon grabbed her and, with an effort, put his back to the debris path and shielded her with his body.
This, it turned out, was only the beginning—the brunt of the blast had not hit them yet.
The actual stream of lightning, when it was upon them, was white-hot and she honestly thought she was on fire; the heat seared the air around her and stifled her lungs. The world was white, light blazing through her closed eyelids. It wrested a scream from her that was drowned out by the shriek of the lightning as it passed. Valon's arms tightened around her but he did not move and kept her shielded against him, though he was trembling. She didn't care—she just wanted it to end.
It had to be an eternity later before everything stopped, the wind dying down gradually as the lightning blast progressed through the rest of the forest. Mai was hunkered down with the book in her lap, her head almost touching her knees and her hands over her ears; Valon's grip loosened and it was only when he'd released her entirely that she realized he had not been the one who was trembling—she'd been the one shaking and her breathing was far too fast and panicked.
"Princess?" Valon's hand shook her shoulder. "C'mon, love, quit 'yperventilatin'. It's gone."
There was a pause and then there was an awkward but gentle pat on her shoulder. "'ey there, love. It's all done, no more dragons. They're gone. We've gotta find Ryou and Marik, now, so get up love."
"Mai."
Valon blinked, leaning back in surprise. "Wha'?"
"My name. It's Mai," she said shakily, making eye contact and giving a very half-hearted glare. "Stop calling me love before I sock you."
He gaped at her before grinning, his countenance brightening. "Sure thing, lo—Mai."
He held a hand out to her and she took it after securing the spell book, allowing him to pull her up; her legs were still shaking wildly and Mai could hardly stand. The young man seemed to understand, moving slowly as he led her back around the corner of the tree.
Mai was not prepared for the sight that met her eyes. The area where the lightning had carved its path through the trees was completely obliterated, only the bases of charred trees left standing; a knee-deep swathe had been cut into the earth. Underbrush, grass, leaves, any stray animals that had not been fortunate enough to find cover…it was all gone, the scorched earth stretching for miles past them.
Valon was surveying the damage grimly, his eyes sweeping over the charred earth and the smoking tree stumps. "Well tha's just great. This was a good part o' the forest f'r gettin' the deer," he muttered, releasing her as he placed his hands on his hips.
Mai grimaced as the smell of burnt flesh and wood assaulted her nostrils. "And that's your only concern?" she asked sarcastically, trying hard to hide how shaken she was.
The Aurosian froze. "Oh no—Marik! Ryou!" he shouted, looking around him in sudden alarm. She felt a stab of guilt for her remark when he started pacing the razed ground in agitation; he had just saved her life. This stab of guilt was replaced by annoyance seconds later—she would have to start defending herself and quit being such a damsel.
"Fellas, did you get charbroiled?" he called, searching the area desperately. "Please say no."
"No," came a pained but amused voice from somewhere to their left, and then Ryou and Marik stumbled into view. Both of them were covered in dirt and Ryou's left arm dangled at his side, blood pouring from the upper part of his shoulder; the white-haired thief was also limping, prompting Marik to support him.
"Is Ryou okay?" asked Valon in concern.
Ryou shot him a wry smile. "Nothing a healing potion won't fix. It was my own fault—I didn't get down fast enough and the blast knocked a tree branch into my arm," he replied, grimacing in pain when his arm was jarred. "I'm lucky it didn't end up broken."
"Why did the dragons fire into the trees like that?" she asked, stiffening when she heard the familiar shriek of lightning nearby. The earth shook beneath her feet.
Marik had heard it too. "The dragons know we're in this area. They tend to raze everything nearby and either kill us in the blast or force us into the open to pick us off separately," he responded curtly, helping Ryou to an overturned log. "Valon, please tell me the horses weren't in the blast radius."
Valon grinned and gestured to the unburned forest behind them. "'m smarter than tha'," he said, jerking his thumb behind him and winking at Mai. She could hear the uneasy whickering of the horses in the brush somewhere in the distance, off to the left of them "But, ah, we need to go…preferably now. The poor things are 'bout to go mad."
Vivian looked up in surprise when the courier ran past her in the hallway; she could see an arrow with parchment tied around it in his hand and she reached out and snagged his arm before he could pass her entirely. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked, her eyes drawn to the arrow.
"It's no business of yours, woman," replied the man snidely.
In the next second he was pinned to the wall by several of her knives and she had leveled her most ornate (and most potent—her family's trademark poison was thinly coated on this blade) at his neck. "Try again," she said pleasantly.
The man gulped. "I-I can't. The prince…it is his business."
"The racket last night had something to do with the Thief King Bakura, if I heard that right, and there was rumor about the arrow he fired into the palace door," she said calmly, bringing the knife closer to his chin and maintaining her pleasant (if not slightly homicidal) smile. "Now, I'm heading in the direction of the throne room. Why don't you hand me the arrow you're no doubt delivering?"
The courier eyed her knife warily. "But you don't understand the importance of the message, women never…okay you can have this!" he added hastily, noticing Vivian's dark expression and holding the arrow up for her to take. "The new captain's seen it and we need to report the contents to the prince. We would have had it sooner, but the captain pursued the Thief King and had the arrow with him."
"Did you catch him?"
The man snorted. "No one ever does. The scoundrel escaped."
She contemplated this information for a moment before her smile grew. "Thank you, sweetie," she cooed, taking the arrow and releasing him. "See, that wasn't so hard. It pays to answer the nice lady's questions."
She started walking back down the hall, leaving the man to pull himself free from the wall. "Cursed wench," she heard him mutter, and without warning she turned on her heel and let loose a dagger that very nearly lodged itself in his ear.
Vivian had not left the castle after the dragon's attack; there would be no point in returning home without the princess in tow and it was her duty as a bodyguard to make certain that she found the princess. In the first few days after the princess's capture Vivian searched the wooded area beyond the boundaries of the kingdom relentlessly, taking a few of the guards with her as she had searched the woods; Raphael had allowed several of his uninjured men to be spared for the task, albeit with a warning that the men under her service might need to be returned to their duties.
The prince, however, had put a stop to her search two days after the attack: "I do not wish to lose someone else, whether it is to the dragon or to common thieves."
Vivian had not approved of the notice that Jean Claude had sent out that had announced Mai's disappearance and the subsequent reward involved. It would cause problems later on, certainly, if someone got a hold of the princess and decided to ransom her back to the castle—if it had been up to her no one would have known that a Thystian princess had been kidnapped by the dragon. The other kingdoms were bound to notice something like the announcement the prince had made and it was only a matter of time before it would cause trouble back home.
When she had pointed this out and had tried to return to the forest, however, Jean Claude had put his foot down. "I have failed your mistress once by allowing her capture. I cannot fail her again by allowing her favored lady-in-waiting to place herself in danger needlessly," he had said seriously.
She had pointed out that she was a bodyguard and was supposed to place herself in harm's way to protect the princess (who also doubled as her best friend), but her arguments had fallen on deaf ears. She'd tried approaching Raphael after she had failed to sway the prince, but it was to find a new captain was in charge and Raphael was nowhere to be found; Alister had seemed extra bitter in the past few days in the wake of the former captain's disappearance, but when she'd asked he had told her Jean Claude had sent him and a small party of guards out to the forest to search in lieu of Vivian. It did not entirely ease her discomfort on the matter of Mai's disappearance.
She unrolled the parchment from the arrow and studied it, her eyes narrowing as she read the message on it. She changed directions the moment she finished, stalking past the courier again; he winced as she passed him and huddled against the wall to avoid her gaze, but the black-haired woman ignored him and continued on her way to the throne room. She had no idea why the note had taken so long to bring to the prince but she would personally deliver it herself.
The ransom note in her hands was the perfect way to tell Jean Claude "I told you so."
"Now, Valon, don't add the mugwort too soon or you'll set fire to the cauldron again," said Ryou, watching the other teenager apprehensively as the other young man inserted a wooden spoon into the cauldron. "You want to add it only when there's a tint of green to it."
The younger man scowled. "Quit tellin' me!" he said, stirring the clear potion carefully. "You blokes 'ave no confidence in me at all."
"It's not lack of confidence that makes us wary," said Marik wryly. "It's the voice of experience."
"Gag tha' voice, then. I won' set fire t' this cauldron!" Valon declared, leaning back to allow the potion to simmer. He needed to slice up a clove of mugwort before stirring it and Ryou handed it to him.
"This cauldron? There were others? Oh, that's really reassuring," Mai said sarcastically, massaging her aching feet.
The small group had found the horses by a nearby creek and had made their way through the forest via a little known path; they had been doubly wary of clearings that exposed them to the sky above and did not make any fires. Marik had briefly doubled back to their old site to leave a message for Bakura to find before catching up to them, but otherwise they made good time and had arrived at the next site early in the afternoon. Mai would have preferred to ride one of the horses instead of walking, but because Ryou had hurt his leg in the attack that morning Marik had transferred everything to one of the horses to let the white-haired teenager ride the other one; the rest of them had walked, much to her displeasure.
Mai had been wondering what Bakura had meant by "the tree site" but upon arrival understood why it had earned its name. This particular camp was in the deepest part of the forest, away from the mountains and possibly out of sight of the dragons; the trees grew thick in this part of the forest and barely any sunlight filtered into it, casting the area into semi-darkness. The clearing that the camp was in only allowed a small part of sunlight into it.
The camp itself turned out to be nestled in the tree tops surrounding the clearing. Wooden platforms had been built around four of the trees, each of which were strategically placed facing different directions. The platforms were camouflaged by the rest of the tree's branches and small huts had been built on the clear wooden surfaces, one composed of nothing but tarp and others made from a combination of lumber and mud; each of these tree houses were linked by wooden bridges (none of which crossed the clearing—Mai figured it was a way to prevent the dragons flying overhead from seeing them). It had taken time to build this camp and she had a strong suspicion that this was the central hideout for the Thief King.
After stowing the horses in an underground stable (this had also taken her by surprise) they had climbed into one of the tree houses and had started settling in. The pain in Ryou's shoulder wound had been steadily growing worse, prompting them to start making a potion to help; Marik was putting the supplies from the horse's saddlebags in their proper places and was assessing the provisions, leaving it to Valon to brew the potion.
Mai looked across her, where she could see a vacant tree house. "You told me you scattered your men in different camps. How come no one is here?" she asked with a frown.
Marik snorted derisively. "I would think the answer obvious."
Her face darkened. "Well pardon me for not seeing the obvious, what with me being a fantastic example of a thief," she retorted sarcastically. "I ought to be drawn and quartered for my ignorance."
The corner of the Enterran's mouth quirked. "This is our main camp," he explained with marked reluctance, confirming Mai's suspicions. "If there was a large group here the dragons would sniff them out and we'd lose the last large hideaway we have. We're taking a chance as it is," he added darkly. "We're lucky that Ryou's healing potions are, for the most part, scentless."
"So if it's your main camp why does Valon know where it is? He's not a member of your gang," she pointed out.
Valon cursed as he sliced his finger open and stuck the appendage in his mouth (he had been slicing up the mugwort). His voice was muffled when he spoke next. "'cause I found 'em first. I like explorin' 'n' found 'em one day."
Marik grumbled. "It would have been better if we'd simply killed him."
Mai was affronted at this comment, but Ryou shook his head. "Marik, you don't mean that."
When the blonde woman looked to him Ryou continued with, "We have plenty of people in our merry little band, but not one of them lived as long out here in the forest as Valon has. Bakura is more familiar with Enterran soil than these woods—it would be wise to have one on our side who knows escape routes and where to find game, water, and nearby hideaways like this one."
Valon added the mugwort into the potion and began stirring it, the liquid in the cauldron turning a brilliant shade of emerald; he still kept his finger in his mouth and stirred it in with his good hand. "I didn' 'ave much t' do, wha' with my friends bein' gone 'n' all."
"I take it your friends left the forest," she said wryly. "I would too, since we're being chased by bloodthirsty beasts."
The Aurosian paused and she noticed that his shoulders had tightened. "Well, yeah," he said flatly, and the potion started changing into a darker green as the tempo of his stirring increased. "They left a while ago, 'cause they got…apprenticed. I coulda followed, but…eh. I've never been one for stone walls," he finished cryptically.
Ryou glanced at the potion, an alarmed expression appearing on his face as he rose to his feet. "Highness, I suggest moving," he said, limping to the nearest spot of cover. "Valon stirred the potion too fast and added the mugwort too soon. It's going to explode."
"…It's going to what?"
Marik and Valon both grabbed the medium sized cauldron and in a fluid motion tossed it off the platform and into the air above the clearing. Mai grabbed the spell book and ducked down behind a sack of flour just as a small explosion sounded, followed by the smattering of potion as it hit the wood.
Mai waited for a few seconds before peering cautiously over the top of the flour sack. Ryou had scrambled behind a stack of crates, but Marik and Valon had not been so fortunate and were now covered in what appeared to be dark green sludge.
Marik stared down at his appearance and then roared. "Every time with you! Why is it every time that you try cooking something it explodes or bursts into flame?"
"I can' 'elp it," said Valon miserably, grimacing as a pile of green goo slid off his bangs and onto the ground. "Me chums always warned me 'bout cookin'."
Mai started to laugh. "And I can see why they would," she said, giggling when Valon turned a scowl on her. "You both look like sludge monsters!"
Ryou looked amused as well. "You'll both need to get cleaned up. The potion cools when it contacts skin and you're lucky you didn't end up burned, but you'll need to wash it off before any adverse effects start happening. No telling what happened to make it explode like that."
Marik grumbled and started shrugging out of his shirt. "Stupendous. This was the last change of clean clothes I had," he muttered, turning his back on them as he pulled the shirt off. He disappeared around the tree trunk almost instantly, before Mai could see his back—odd, actually, that Marik would do something like that. Then again, though, she was a woman, so that might be a large part of the reason he'd done that.
Valon shrugged, then grimaced as another part of the failed potion fell off his hair with a sickening squelch on the platform. "Ugh. Nasty pond scum smellin' junk, innit?" he remarked, and then before Mai could move he'd shaken his head to try and get rid of the gunk.
It did not come all the way off his fluffy hair, but a good portion of it did fly through the air—splattering itself on Mai's face and hair. "VALON!" she shrieked in outrage, wincing when she caught wind of the smell coming from the goo.
Marik came back around with the same shirt he'd take off back on his torso. "Ryou, the clothes are starting to stink," he said, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
"I know," remarked Ryou, pinching his nose. "Valon, when you mess up a potion you mess it up tremendously…you three are going to have to go to the river and wash off, or the dragons will pick up that smell and rain terror down on our heads."
The trio watched as Ryou started rummaging through his bag and pulled out the small cauldron he'd had in the tent, likely to start making another healing potion from scratch. "Are you certain you don't need help?" Mai asked. "I mean, how likely is it the dragons can smell this stuff?"
"Very likely, I'm afraid," said Marik flatly. "They've got a wicked sense of smell. I would be surprised if they hadn't already caught a whiff of this.
Ryou waved them off. "Go on, before the sun starts to set," he said. "I can handle this—besides, this cauldron was my mother's and I'd rather not have it explode."
Five minutes later the three of them were once more moving through the forest. Mai was not entirely thrilled they could not take the horses and that she had to travel on foot; she was thoroughly convinced that her feet would detach if she kept on going. At the same time, though, the stench from the potion on her face and hair was enough of a motivation to keep her going.
"Gross," muttered Valon as he picked off another drying patch of the potion off his clothes. "This stuff had better come out, 'cause otherwise 'm gonna kill somethin'."
"That's my line," she said flatly. "You better pray it does, Valon, because if not I'm smothering you in your sleep."
Valon stopped walking entirely, a horrified expression on his face. Marik rolled his eyes and marched past them, though she caught the sight of an exasperated grin on his face. "Come on, you two. Faster we get there, faster we get back to base before the dragons find us."
"More walking," she grumbled, picking up the pace nonetheless. "So where's this river Ryou mentioned? Is it safe to go there? I only ask because I don't want to end up being charbroiled by an overgrown lizard."
"'course it's safe," said Valon cheerfully, ignoring her previous comment and vaulting over a fallen log. He helped Mai over it and waited until she was ready before continuing to walk forward; Marik had already gone past them. "This part o' the forest is too dense f'r the dragons to go in—they like big open spaces, not the enclosed ones you find 'ere."
He sighed as he studied his clothing some more. "Elya coulda gotten these stains out right quick," he continued. "I dunno 'ow she does it, but she always gets the toughest stains out and she could even get rid o' the smell. She's a clothing genius—too bad she isn' 'ere, else I wouldn' 'ave t' get new clothes."
"Is this Elya the love of your life?" she asked slyly. "Aww, how sweet."
"Ha ha, Mai. As good lookin' as Elya is, and even if I was interested in 'er, she's married to a good friend o' mine," he said dismissively, clambering over a few rocks. "Right sweet'eart she is. Always made me some sugared bread whenever I came over."
Mai followed after him easily. She was beginning to get the hang of moving through the forest's dense undergrowth and she could manage to at least not fall too far behind, though her feet still ached. "Is she a part of Bakura's gang of thieves?"
Valon shook his head. "Naw. She lived 'ere in the forest like me, but she moved out with my friend when 'e got 'pprenticed," he said sadly. "I 'aven' 'eard from 'em in a while, though. It's kinda troublin', 'cause they always send me some message 'n' it's been months since I—oh, 'ere's the river."
The forest had gotten marginally lighter around them as they had traveled through the undergrowth; the river must be a large one, she mused, because she could hear the water as it flowed past them. When they abruptly broke out of the forest and into a meadow (more like a marsh) Mai could see the fairly wide river as it sluggishly passed them; the river was a wide one and out in the open, she noticed, and the gravel that made up the bank stretched into the long grass that they were currently standing in. Further out Mai could see where the current picked up and sped on its way, but this part of the river was comparatively calmer than the rest of it.
Marik was already sitting on the bank of the river, soaking wet and his clothes plastered against his skin. He'd already gotten cleaned off. "Wash up and let's go," he said, keeping a hand on Dragon's Bane and watching the sky intently. "This may be a part of the forest the dragons don't come to very often, but today might be that one time they break their routine."
Mai passed Valon and made her way daintily to the river, dipping her feet into the water and a contented smile creeping onto her face when the cool water soothed the ache in them.
Valon clambered onto a large rock that overlooked a deeper section of the river and then leapt off. "Watch out!" he called gaily, hitting the water with a splash that soaked Mai entirely through.
"Valon!" she spluttered, glaring at the boy when he came up. "I ought to kill you!"
The Aurosian grinned but disappeared under water, giving Mai the chance to wash up in peace. She kept a wary eye out for Valon or any attempt to completely submerge her in the river, but it seemed the brown-haired teenager had moved on; she could see him a little ways off as nothing more than a shadow beneath the water.
Mai finished getting the foul smelling substance out of her hair and off her face, glancing at where Marik was positioned. "Is it all off?" she asked, holding out a portion of her hair for his inspection.
Marik glanced at her. "It is," he said dismissively, his eyes drifting off to where Valon was currently accumulating a small pile of fish. He shook his head with a small smile. "Valon, you would think of that. Always looking for food," he muttered loud enough for her to hear.
"From what I gather he's like your little hunter. There's no market out here for you to buy food from," she remarked.
Marik turned his attention to her as she clambered up the bank to sit nearby, though she still kept her distance. "He catches food for us because he probably thinks of it as payment for letting him stay with us. He can't cook, though," he added with a grimace. "That was something he relied largely on those he was living with."
"Those people keep popping up," she mused, remembering the wistful expression on the young man's face at their mention. "He must have been pretty close to his friends."
"He was," Marik said. "Forest folk, like Valon, tend to stick together since there are not too many people out here in the woods. That way they can help each other out in the face of disease or crisis. Valon lived nearby his friends for years."
Mai mulled this over. She had not been allowed to play with any of the palace children when she was younger, so she had relied heavily on Vivian for friendship; she could not even imagine what her life would be like if Vivian left. Mai could not imagine why such close friends would part ways.
When she voiced this thought moments later Marik snorted. "They did not have much choice in the matter. 'Apprenticed' was the word the guards used when they collected his friends and about a dozen others about a year ago, but it was more like they were drafted into being guards. It wasn't too long after that when Valon bumped into us," said Marik grimly.
"The prince is using peasants for his guards?" she asked, frowning skeptically. "But such people would not be trained for combat purposes. In a real attack they'd be slaughtered," she continued, remembering how some of the guards had scrambled about when the dragon had attacked. "That's not safe at all, why would the prince order such a thing?"
"Not the prince. The king had a shortage of men and resorted to pulling men from all corners of the kingdom. Not all of them are from the forest," Marik amended. "Most of them are trained in the palace and are children of previous guards. Still, a good portion of Prince Jean Claude's guard is formed by forest folk."
Mai thought this over and watched a flock of sparrows fly overhead. "The guards did not get Valon when they came, obviously, and he had to have been of age. How come they missed him?" she asked.
"He'd been sent on a pointless errand the moment his friends got wind of the soldiers coming in. By the time Valon returned they were gone."
The blonde woman's frown deepened. "So they gave themselves up to keep him out of the castle?"
The Enterran scoffed, mistaking her troubled frown for a confused one. "I knew you wouldn't understand. Royalty doesn't often care about those who are under their service," he said flatly. "The word 'friend' for you people is more like 'ally'."
Mai bristled. "What, you don't think I don't understand?" she asked indignantly. "My best friend is my lady in waiting, pal. She's under my service, last I checked, and I've also shown some concern for you lot!"
Marik raised a clearly disbelieving eyebrow.
"Oh forget it," she snapped, folding her arms over her chest petulantly. "I'm not going to waste my time correcting you when you're so thoroughly convinced that I'm a despicable human being."
Mai watched Valon resurface and climb out of the water, shaking his fluffy hair dry (which still managed to defy gravity, even when thoroughly soaked). "Does he have a family to stay with?" she asked, looking to Marik again and unfolding her arms.
Marik returned her gaze evenly. "Valon was staying with his friends when they were taken to the castle—they were about the only family he had, really, since not many other people in the forest are too friendly to him. He may have been brought to the forest and he knows it better than most, but he was born in Auros. Forest dwellers trust only those they've seen since birth."
Mai's eyes softened again. She could understand the alienation Valon faced—she was too loud-spoken, too free-minded, and too blunt. She had not met Vivian until she'd been ten; the other princesses at other kingdoms had already started playing one against the other and she'd been one they'd primarily targeted…at least, until Mai started beating them at their own game. Still, though, the ultimate result of these petty games had left her an outcast in most royal courts. Valon was really no different than she was.
The sympathy she felt was promptly squashed when a firm voice reminded her that he was still one of the ones who'd kidnapped her, friendless or not, and one of the ones who had brought harm to the dragon she'd befriended.
…But then again…Jou might turn into a snarling, ravaging beast because he was cursed by Shadow magic…for all she knew the other young man was going to conquer the world or at least bring about destruction on all who lived in these parts.
"I seriously need to re-evaluate my friends," she muttered, dropping her head into her hands.
Valon had finished fishing by now and was crossing the marsh, holding the fish in hand and a skip to his step. "Is there any o' tha' gunk on me still?" he called.
"No, you're fine," assured Marik, grimacing at the fish when Valon finally came up to them. "We are not eating those, by the way."
"Oh yes we are," said Valon brightly. "I don' 'ave t' set traps t' catch bunnies and I reckon the nearest veggies are two hours from 'ere. Deal with it, Marik, you're eatin' fish tonight."
Marik's eyebrow rose. "Like you'll make me eat it?"
"Why not? I could always tie ya down 'n' force feed ya."
"How many times do I have to tell you I'm a vegetarian? Eating meat isn't something I fancy."
"'ave you even eaten meat before, mate?"
Mai's head shot up abruptly and she started scanning the forest behind them warily. "Shut up."
Both of the men looked at Mai with confused expressions. "We're allowed to argue. You don't have any princess authority out here—"
"No, I mean it, Marik: shut up for a second."
Mai had been lost in her thoughts and had attributed that as a reason she had not heard the sound of the forest around her, but now that Marik and Valon were bickering she was painfully aware that the trees had fallen silent. There was not a bird or animal in sight, come to think of it
Marik had figured out what the blonde woman had been so uneasy about and was looking around as well, his lavender eyes roaming over everything. "Valon," he began warningly, reaching for Dragon's Bane and beginning to unsheathe it.
A shadow fell on the river and for one moment Mai had thought a cloud had gone across the sun, but then there was a flash of white hurtling from the sky and a roar that broke the silence. Valon grabbed Mai and started to lead her to the safety of the trees, but a short burst of lightning blew the trees immediately surrounding the meadow down. Mai shrieked as one fell dangerously close to her and hit the coarse earth, stumbling backward into the two men behind her and knocking them down. Marik cursed sharply and there was a splash as he presumably fell in the water.
The white-scaled dragon was magnificent, its scales shining silver in the afternoon sunlight and blue as contrasting shadow; it was enormous, filling her line of sight. There were no horns or spines on the dragon, nor were there any vulnerable areas on its body— the wings even had a thin lining of scales on the leathery membranes. White Dragons were rumored to be invincible and the haughty way its blue eyes gazed down on her assured her that it was.
She gaped at the dragon soundlessly as it snarled at them before whirling on Marik and Valon furiously. "You mean to tell me you angered the White Dragons?" she nearly screamed. "What in God's name did you do to them?"
Her comment was ignored. "Marik, that sword of yours would be good right about now," Valon said in a low tone of voice as he watched the dragon tensely.
"It would if the princess hadn't knocked it out of my hands when she fell into us!" Marik growled as he started wading through the river, his hands submerged to try and find the hilt. Now Mai knew what the earlier splash had been.
"Okay, then I'll buy you time…oi, Scaly!" Valon shouted, waving his arms and bounding into the dragon's line of sight.
The dragon stared at him with a bored expression before turning its attention to where the other two people were. It started forward with another snarl when it saw Marik, teeth bared and eyes alight with malice.
Valon bent down and caught up a large rock, tossing it nearly into the animal's eye; the beast roared and shook its massive head before its gaze refocused on the Aurosian, who was now bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning cockily at it.
"I bet you couldn' 'it me if you tried!" he taunted. "I could dodge you with my eyes closed and me 'ands bound b'hind my back, you ugly overgrown—!"
The dragon's tail whipped around its body to hit him and Valon had to do an odd sort of cartwheel to avoid it, tumbling into the shallow water but regaining his feet instantly. "You missed, you blind salamander!" he crowed, a cocky grin lighting his features as he continued moving around. "C'mon, Scaly, do better than tha'!"
The beast did not seem all that flustered that it had missed him. On the contrary, it was eyeing him with something of annoyance, the tip of its tail twitching and a cold glitter in its eyes. When Valon stepped too close the dragon instantly reacted. It caught him with a taloned paw and knocked him into one of the fallen trees; the Aurosian had not had enough time to brace himself and was completely caught off guard. When he hit the ground he was out cold.
"Valon!" Mai shouted desperately, watching the dragon as it advanced leisurely on the fallen man. She whirled around to where the Enterran was crouched—so far, the dragon had been ignoring them because of Valon, but it would not for much longer."Marik, tell me you found it!"
It was clear he had not. Marik was still huddled over the river and cursing in Enterran, trying to find the sword and moving as quickly as he could—that meant it was up to Mai to at least provide some distraction until he found the sword.
She looked around her quickly before noticing a noticing a large tree branch that half lay in the river bed. Mai instantly sprinted across the gravel and picked it up, grunting when it resisted her grip—of course she'd picked the heaviest branch. Nonetheless she managed to prise it loose and started dragging it to where the dragon was advancing on Valon, and when she got close enough she lifted it awkwardly and swung it with all her might into its arm.
Instantly there was a sharp pain as the dragon's hand swept into her, knocking her off her feet into a patch of the marsh a few feet away. She let out a pained gasp as something flared in her ribs but managed to sit up and glare at the dragon, who was also gazing at her with equal scorn.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hit a lady?" she snapped, her hand closing around a rock and throwing it at its head. Seconds later a horrified squeak escaped her mouth—she'd probably just made it angrier and she was in no position to run.
The beast dodged it, of course, but its patience seemed to have reached its limit. The lightning began building in its jaws once again, the keening shriek of gathering energy sounding through the air; she could feel the heat from the lightning even from her position. The tang of ozone was definitely getting stronger and the light was building in its jaws—she was done for, any second now and she'd meet her doom—
And then something black and half the size of the white-scaled dragon barreled into the beast, a familiar roar coming trumpeting through the air. The white dragon had not been expecting this attack and staggered backward, a surprised snarl escaping its throat. It recovered quickly, though, and the lightning disappeared instantly as it lunged forward to sink its fangs into the other dragon. The black animal leapt away and narrowly avoided the snapping jaws, roaring once more as he placed himself between Mai and the attacking dragon.
Mai could see the areas where the scales were still re-growing in the places Bakura had stabbed him with the Dragon's Bane, but beyond that he looked mostly unharmed. A pair of crimson eyes swiveled back toward her briefly and it let out a reassuring rumble from the back of its throat.
Terrified relief began coursing through her and her voice was little more than a whisper when she spoke. "Jou."