A.N. Thank you to everyone who helped me with the names! Sorry this took so long, I'm still kind of stewing over it… And thank you for all your reviews, they're very encouraging.
Disclaimer: POT Characters not mine
Chapter 10
The good thing about small towns, Fuji mused as he strode down a dusty street made of nothing more imposing than packed earth, was that they never heard anything when it came to news. To them—as it was to so many in the world—the world was but a small place consisting of the ground beneath their feet, the house, the neighbors, the job, and the grocer's down the street. They neither knew nor wanted to know that beyond all this yet another world existed—a world greater than anything they could ever comprehend. Sometimes, in those few moments when he allowed himself to, he truly envied them.
On the other hand, nothing in small towns happened without every last person within the perimeters of said limited world knowing about it. It seemed that what they lacked in current events they made up for with the small details of daily life. In fact, he was sure that three months from now they would every last one of them still remember that two strangers had walked into their town and be able to describe every stitch they wore. The thought made him chuckle.
Standing near him, Tezuka frowned slightly, eyeing the brunette warily. He couldn't see anything amusing, and there was something almost disturbing about people who laughed at nothing. Shaking his head, he turned instead to scan the small, street side shops for something that might contain the items they had come for.
The options were…limited.
"Over there," Fuji said suddenly, tapping him on the shoulder and pointing to a tiny building at the far end of said options. "Someone just led a horse back there."
Nodding shortly, Tezuka started in the indicated direction. Watching his retreating back, Fuji's constant smile slipped a little. He wasn't entirely sure why the other sorcerer had chosen to accompany him on this little jaunt into town, but he rather suspected it was to make sure he didn't make off with the pendant. The thought was irritating, even if it was perfectly understandable. He had said that he would go to the Sorcerien—if only to see their archives—and he would. Most believed him when he gave his word, but here… And yet the fact that it was irritating was almost amusing.
Hurrying after him, Fuji let the thoughts drift from his mind like leaves on the autumn wind. Such things were of no consequence in the long run of time.
The small shop at the end of the street had its back wall joined to a small, four-stall stable that looked distinctly weathered. The door creaked slightly as Tezuka pushed it open and the small man inside looked up at him with only one raised eyebrow and no real sign of surprise.
"Do come in. How may I help you?" the small man inquired, sitting straighter on his stool. He was holding a rag in one hand and a saddle lay on the work table before him.
Stepping fully into the shop, Tezuka could hear his companion closing the door behind him. The shop smelled of warm leather and oil all laced through with the odor of horses. The last was most likely due to the stable outside though. The walls weren't thick—the angry voices drifting through it attested to that.
"We need brushes," he explained, squinting slightly in the sudden gloom that the shutting of the door had left behind. "For horses," he added as an afterthought. Behind him, Fuji laughed.
"Right then." Getting to his feet, the shopkeeper dropped his rag and walked over to a low shelf at the back of the shop. "Any requirements? Preferences?"
Tezuka opened his mouth, then paused. He didn't know much about horses, never having had much contact with them. He had ridden a few, true, but when it came to horse care… Turning, he gave his companion an inquiring look.
Fuji looked back at him with a vague smile. He really didn't know that much about horse care either. It had always been Eiji handling that sort of thing—in fact, it was the redhead who was responsible for this little errand. He had insisted that the horses wanted to be brushed, and seeing as even the snake-eyed Speaker had been in agreement on this translation of their four-legged companions' desires it had been decided that brushes were to be bought. It was only fair after all, with everything that had been going on, to give the horses a little comfort of their own.
The problem was that neither Speaker had been 'available' to do the purchasing. Eiji had gone scouting early in the morning with the loud declaration that he'd seen enough of towns for a few days yet, and Kaidoh had only mumbled something about always being arrested for no reason before disappearing into the trees.
It just goes to show, doesn't it? Fuji thought ruefully.
Tezuka turned back to the shopkeeper, "Whatever is most conventional will do."
The man gave him an odd look then shrugged. "If you say so."
x-X-x
The flames crackled and hissed, ripping twigs and small, dry leaves into tiny fragments of ash with relish. They were bright and hot—almost unbearably so, with the sun's radiant heat already in the sky, but Ryoma ignored all this as he continued to stare into their leaping, dancing depths. A furrow appeared between his eyebrows and he leaned slightly more forward, his face almost too close to the flames. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead, though whether they were from the heat or exertion it was hard to tell.
Watching him from the outskirts of the small clearing, Momoshiro frowned slightly.
"Ryoma?" he called out hesitantly. His friend had been sitting at that very spot for almost three whole hours now and the swordsman couldn't help but start to feel a little uneasy. The problem was that he knew most, if not all, sorcerers tended to get a bit upset when their spells were interrupted. Something about backlash, though what that was he didn't really understand.
Instead he settled himself down at the base of a towering oak and leaned his back against its rough trunk. Around them all the morning air was slightly moist and cool with the emerald shade of the trees. It was almost possible, bathed in the thick veils of tranquility, to pretend that they were back in the mountains where they belonged with the rest of their families and the friends they had grown up with.
"Argh! This is ridiculous!" Ryoma snarled in frustration, jerking Momo out of his reverie with an unpleasantly sharp crack of sound. Blinking, the swordsman watched in bewilderment as his friend got to his feet and kicked dirt over the fire with a vengeance he didn't often see in the young sorcerer. The fire died with a panicked hiss, emitting a few last wisps of smoke before dwindling away completely.
"What's wrong?" he asked quickly, getting to his feet as well and wrapping an uncertain hand around his sword hilt. Whatever it was that was bothering his friend, he was sure it wasn't going to be a problem a blade could solve, but reflex was reflex and, for a warrior, a weapon was the best first resort when sharp words started flying.
"I can't get through," Ryoma snapped, glaring down at the smoldering earth by his feet as though it was where all the blame was to be laid.
"Get through?" Momoshiro repeated, confused.
The sorcerer sighed, "I was trying to contact the Sorcerien. I've been having this bad feeling… I wanted to ask if the record keeper knew anything about this area." Falling silent, he turned to look moodily up at the spreading canopy overhead. "It's as though there's some kind of barrier here, but I don't sense anything."
"What about those sorcerers we're supposed to be finding?
"They're still there," Ryoma replied absently, though his frown only deepened. There were several minutes of silence, then the sorcerer shook his head and looked directly at Momo as though he had just really noticed that his friend was there. "Have the others returned yet?"
Momo shrugged. "I don't know. They hadn't when I came to check on you, but they could have now."
Nodding, Ryoma headed for the trees back in the direction they had come from.
x-X-x
Pacing back and forth across the sizable clearing that their little band of travelers had chosen to camp out in, Oishi glanced anxiously from side to side, scanning the tree line after every few steps. The only other being in the clearing aside from the quietly grazing horses was Inui, who was sitting on a moss covered stump, a thick, leather bound book open in one hand and a gleaming, silver quill in the other. The scratching of the quill against parchment had been going on for so long that Oishi thought he might still hear it if he was to stick his fingers in his ears. He didn't even bother wondering why the writer didn't seem to need ink. The Observer was, after all, a recorder of time—or at least that was what he understood from what Inui had told him over the years.
It was still disconcerting though.
Turning to the trees again, Oishi scanned the canopy, hoping for a splash of red. Kikumaru had been gone for a long time, but scouting could be a lengthy business…still, Tezuka at least ought to have returned. How long could it take two sorcerers to purchase a few brushes? At least he knew the last three weren't too far away…just out of sight…or at least he hoped Kaidoh was only out of sight. The youth didn't seem to like hanging around them…or maybe he was just being overly anxious…
"Stop thinking about it."
Oishi blinked, turning slowly to face Inui. "What?"
The Observer adjusted his glasses. "You are agonizing over the others. Don't. Or…not yet at least."
Oishi stiffened. "What—when—"
"Syuichiroh," Inui shook his head in mock despair. "You know that is simply how the world works. No life is lived without risk, whether chosen or otherwise."
Sighing, Oishi's shoulders slumped, "I know, I know…"
You can't blame a man for worrying though, he added silently. If anything, it's probably all more worth worrying about because it's inevitable.
x-X-x
It was sunny—that much was indisputable—but the problem was that it was the one thing he didn't really need to know and everything else just had to be his imagination. There was really no other explanation, or at least if there were they weren't coming willingly to mind.
Sprawled out before and beneath him was what appeared to be a camp of some sort, only it was far larger than any camp ought to be. Granted, that alone was surprising but not shocking—Eiji was, after all, not stupid, even if he had spent most of his life beyond sight of any manmade house. It was more that he had never before even imagined a camp where there would be people sitting suspended in midair in its very center. There were five of them, each sitting with their legs crossed and heads down so that he couldn't see their faces. They were back-facing each other and they appeared to have their hands tied behind their backs.
Prisoners perhaps then? But they were floating…and no one else moving around them seemed the least bit surprised… Eiji had never been much of one for investigating the workings behind such operations as the capturing and containing of prisoners, the policies of the government, or any other matter of similar kind, but he was sure that floating was not part of what prisoners were generally expected to do or how they were usually dealt with. It had to be a spell of some kind then, but even the Elite didn't cast superfluous spells. It was, according to Fuji at least, one of the basic rules of magic—never waste power where power wasn't needed.
There was simply no logical explanation for the need to levitate prisoners.
"Maybe it's a side effect?" he mused quietly, leaning a little more forward and squinting at the prisoners. He couldn't see anything in the air around them…not that he really expected to. If it was a side effect of some other spell, and since these were undoubtedly prisoners of some sort, then the spell had to be present for a specific reason, most likely in the department of containment. And since most prisoners, up to and including the fiercest of rebels, were generally easily dealt with by heavy, iron chains, these particular captives had to have some ability other than brute strength and cunning that might allow escape.
They have to be the sorcerers Fuji and the others were sensing, he realized. A shiver ran down his spine and he found himself shrinking away from the thin beams of sunlight that fell through the leaves overhead. So this was what they did to those they found who were magically gifted… An image of Fuji sitting down there were the disheartened prisoners flashed unbidden through his mind and he gave his head a hurried shake. Such things were best left not thought.
Behind him, a crow let out an ear-piercing caw and he clamped his hands over his mouth to stifle a yelp of surprise. Spinning around—and blessing the inhuman sense of balance he had been born with—he scrambled away from the round, beady, black eyes that were now staring at him. He'd never liked crows. They were extremely intelligent birds, but he had never met one that didn't have a wicked streak a mile wide and a delight in confusion. Worse, they were always one step ahead when it came to bad news.
"What do you want?" he hissed—or rather, squawked. He didn't really think about what language he wanted to speak anymore these days, it had become instinct.
The crow cocked its head to one side but remained silent. A single shaft of sunlight traced a pale, silver line down its beak. Not so much as a feather stirred.
Locking gazes with those round, beady eyes, Eiji found himself holding his breath. It was a very well fed crow, he noted somewhere in the back of his mind, very glossy all over with just the right sheen of healthy black and a slightly plump body that attested to good living. But then he looked closer, and he realized something strange that he couldn't understand.
The crow's eyes were not black but reddish orange—or at least they were around the rim. Round and smooth as a pair of glass beads, they gleamed like chips of fire with points of black in their centers, all but insignificant in their presence.
A sudden flash of motion, the sound of wings beating the air, and Eiji jerked out of his daze as the crow launched itself skyward. It let out a grating caw and the Speaker tilted his head back, following the bird's progress through the air with his eyes. It was gone in moments and he let out a long breath.
"What was that all about nyah?" he wondered out loud to himself, scratching the back of his head. It couldn't have had red and orange eyes…he must have been seeing things. Spending too much time with sorcerers could do that to a person.
Sitting back on his heels, he blinked when his entire body dropped a few inches lower than he had expected to. Glancing down, he saw nothing but branches and the ground, which was thinly coated with grass and looked anything but soft.
Shifting his weight slightly, he was rewarded with another abrupt change in elevation, only this time he heard the creak. Turning slowly, he stared down the length of the branch to where the crow had been sitting. The base of the branch that he had chosen for its sturdy width and apparently solid attachment to the tree trunk had cracked. Only it didn't like quite like a normal split of wood as caused by excessive burdens. It was only slightly ragged around the edges instead of being splintered, and there was the faint smell of charcoal in the air that had been unnoticeable up until now.
Eiji's stomach sank. "Not good…"
And the air was rushing by.
Twisting around in the air reflexively, he hit the ground in a roll. Bounding to his feet, the first thought that flashed through his mind was 'I seem to be doing a lot of falling lately'—which he might have found absurdly funny at any other time—but the many sets of eyes now directed in his direction prevented any such contemplation. They were hostile eyes, most accompanied with sets of unpleasantly pointy things.
He smiled nervously, backing up a step. "Um…sorry?"
TBC
A.N. Hmm…I know there wasn't much action here, but there should be more soon. As usua, questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
