The Northern Kingdom

Part Twenty-One: Familiar Faces

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all characters, etc, does not belong to me, but the plot does. In short, don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to moo.

Moo.

The building appeared to be large from the outside and small on the inside. Miyako had expected that upon entrance she would be greeted with a large, cavernous space, but, when the torch beside the doorway was lit, she saw that it was crowded and cramped.

The smell, she noticed before the light was lit, was of sweat and blood and dirt. She could hear voices dimly mumbling in the dark, and then, when the torch was lit, they rose to a deafening level.

"Silence!" shouted the man who had opened the door. "Silence, all of thee, fools!" Though no silence came, the voices did quiet themselves to the point where Miyako found it was possible to think clearly. "This way," he said, and began to walk down a long, narrow corridor.

Miyako held back a moment, quite content with allowing Ken to walk in front of her, and to follow in his wake. The corridor was lined with metal bars, and the building was so like a prison that she felt certain that murderers and thieves must wait behind the bars. As she walked, she could dimly see eyes peering through the darkness and faces staring at her. Some of them were angry, but some held only desperation and hunger.

"These are your slaves?" Ken was asking as they walked. To the unknowing ear, it sounded as though he was mildly interested or detached from the situation. Only Miyako, who knew better, could detect the well-concealed note of disgust in his voice.

"For now," their guide replied. "In the spring they'll be taken to auction. It's no good to travel now, so they wait here."

"H-how many are there?" Miyako questioned, noticing that behind each set of bars there were a great deal of faces peering through.

"We keep no count of it until the market," came the answer. "Probably we shall lose a hundred before the spring, but we also may gain a hundred more." Even in the dim light, she could see him shrug, as though such things were of no great concern.

The footsteps halted at the end of the room, and they stood in front of a relatively empty cell. "The newest come here," the man explained, gesturing with the torch toward the bars. "If thy friends were brought here, they will be in this room."

Miyako glanced toward Ken, who met her gaze with a similar expression. After a moment of hesitation, she stepped forward and called in a clear voice: "Takeru?!"

There came the sound of grunts, groans, and shuffling, briefly overwhelmed by a renewed bit of shouting from the rest of the building. Their guide turned and shouted out, "Silence!" to the others. Then, there was the sound of a thud against the metal bars in front of them.

"Miyako? Is that you?" came Takeru's voice, and in the dim light she was able to make out his face.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Miyako stepped forward and thrust one hand between the bars. "It's me," she said, and felt his hand grab hold of hers in the darkness. "Are the others with you – Shijo, Li Tan?"

"They are," he replied. "I can't believe you managed to find us. Thank goodness. Does this mean…?"

"I don't know," she answered, and glanced back over her shoulder briefly to see that Ken and the other man were speaking, apparently negotiating as he had said he would. "I'm leaving that to Ken. We'll do whatever it takes, though, don't worry."

"I can make no such decisions," the man said then. "I shall have to consult our leader."

"Very well," Ken conceded, "I will come with you and talk to him."

"It's not possible," the other replied smoothly. "He will not take visitors."

This statement was so completely unexpected and unhelpful that for a long moment, Ken didn't speak. "He will not…take…visitors?" he echoed, and then shook his head. "What sort of useless leader takes no visitors? We are not visitors, we have come to discuss business."

"He will not see outsiders," the man replied, shrugging as if to say that policy was policy and could not be changed. "I will go and speak with him on your behalf. You wait here." He turned to leave, taking the torch with him.

"No!" Miyako interrupted, turning away from Takeru. "We have no guarantee that you will return. Maybe this is how you've gotten most of your slaves."

There was an outcry from the cells down the hall. It sounded mostly positive, as though her guess had been correct. The man with the torch had nothing to say to this.

"This is how things are done," he said simply, when the noise had lowered enough that he might be heard. "If you leave, there will be no negotiations. If you wait, I will speak to our leader."

The shouting of the slaves continued at loud volumes. Miyako thought she could make out a few words, mostly unpleasant, such as "liar!" or "trickster!"

"All right," Ken said then, shrugging absently, as though this was not much of an issue. "I will follow your rules. Go."

The volume increased even more. The man smirked and then turned and strode down the hallway with the torch in his hand. He ignored the shouting and taunting of the slaves as he walked, and then there was a loud thud as the door shut and the place was plunged into darkness.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Wormmon questioned of his partner in the darkness. Now that there was nothing to shout at, the prisoners fell back into a lethargic silence, though some were muttering to themselves.

"I agree!" Takeru said. "I don't think he's going to come back."

"He doesn't have to," Ken said with a slight shrug, and nodded toward Miyako, who sighed heavily.

"It would have been fairer," she told them all, "if we had mentioned to him that I might be a mage. I'm sure he would have insisted I wait outside or something."

"Ah, but it would not have mattered!" came the voice of Li Tan from within the cell. "You could have then broken the walls from the outside!"

Upon first sight of the man who entered the building, the wild snow blowing in behind him, Hikari felt a shiver run down her spine.

She was seated at the table beside the fire, sipping at some of the soup that had been prepared. Tailmon, who had only that morning felt strength enough to return to this higher form, was napping on a shelf above the fireplace, comfortable and warm. The healer, whose name was Mei Chen, was sitting across the table from her.

The day had been quiet and uneventful up until that moment. As calm morning had turned to windy and then stormy afternoon, Hikari had let her thoughts tumble over themselves and come to the conclusion that she might be best off leaving this place as soon as possible. In fact, she had decided that the next morning would be a good time. She had expressed this wish to Mei Chen, who had spent the morning cleaning, reading, and cooking as he ordinarily did, his life not much disrupted by his unexpected guest.

"Have some food," Mei Chen told her when she had finished speaking her thoughts on the matter, and gestured to the table. He spooned some of the delicious smelling broth on to a plate and added some dumplings of his own creation before placing it in front of her. Then he served himself some of the same and sat down beside her.

"The weather…," he began, but got no farther. The door burst open at that moment, revealing a man standing in the doorway.

The wind was gusting behind him, for the day had become a vicious storm, a fact that Hikari, Mei Chen, and their partners had been unaware of, thanks to warm, thick walls. He was tall, with white flakes of snow speckled in his dark hair and desperation in his dark eyes. He stepped into the building and pulled back the hood of his dark, fur-lined cloak, and then the cloak itself, and hung it on the hook behind the door. He let the door swing shut behind him.

"Chen!" shouted the visitor, and the old healer slowly rose to his feet. "The slaves, they're…."

His eyes had at first sought only Mei Chen, but now they slowly took in the rest of the room: the warm fire and the plate of hot stew as well as the woman seated at the table.

Hikari had been dressed in a warm robe leant to her by the healer that Xiao employed. When she had awakened at the bottom of the cliff she was relieved to find that this garment was intact. Nonetheless, it had been slightly damaged, and Mei Chen had volunteered not only to mend it but also to wash it. In the meantime, there was only his own clothing to lend her, which was not the usual sort of clothing that a woman might wear. She was thus now dressed in a white, long-sleeved, high-collared shirt that buttoned down the center. It was at least three sizes too big for her. Beneath, she had put on a pair of long dark blue pants. These had to be rolled up a few times so that she might not trip on them, and even then her feet were completely hidden beneath the hems.

Though she herself felt odd and strange wearing these garments, there must have been something appealing about the way she was dressed, for when the visitor caught sight of her, he left off his words in mid-sentence and stared, wide-eyed.

"Ling," said the old healer gently, stepping away from the table. "What of the slaves?"

"The…," began Ling, speaking as though in a daze. He broke off, shaking his head, and turned toward the healer. "What is this?"

"This?" he echoed, frowning faintly. "This is a meal. I made it myself. Nothing much, but it doesn't taste bad. Wouldst thou like…?"

"Not that, thou ancient fool," Ling interrupted, gesturing toward Hikari, who, after the initial foreboding chill, had eaten a dumpling in an attempt to pretend as though she was not present. "Her!"

Hikari paused mid-chew and raised her eyes, aware that as the only female in the room (aside from Tailmon) it was not likely that she was mistaken about the focus of that statement. She glanced up toward Ling, who looked away immediately upon sensing her eyes, turning back toward Mei Chen.

"Thou knows that all the women in our village are either sick or old and useless," he continued. "Thou knows that we have been trying vainly to purchase women so that our people do not die off and cease to exist."

Hikari pushed back her chair, aware in the momentary silence that it creaked loudly upon the wood floor. Tailmon opened one eye and flicked her tail impatiently.

"Thou knows this, healer! Yet thou has been hiding this one here for thine own purposes?" Ling concluded, his voice having now completed the progression from astonished to angered. "Thou, who is far too old to produce children!"

"I have not been hiding anything from anyone," Mei Chen replied in the same calm voice. "This woman came to me for aid and healing. I thus healed her. I have no intention of…."

"Lies!" interjected Ling, waving one hand. Hikari noted now that his partner, a Gazimon, emerged from the outside world now into the doorway. He shook his head, letting the snow fall from his ears, and took in the scene with wide eyes.

"I tell no lies!" Mei Chen replied, this time his voice raising slightly. Tailmon opened the other eye and stretched, shaking off her lethargy.

Ling only snorted in disbelief. "It matters not thy truth or lies, old man," he answered, and now turned back toward Hikari, by now had gotten to her feet. "As I have laid first eyes on this one, I now claim her for myself."

"You what?" Hikari could only say, feeling as though she might have missed something. A quiet thud sounded as Tailmon leapt down from

"Ling, that's not possible," Mei Chen put in, and took a step forward so that he was between Hikari and the man. He put up both hands in an attempt to at a placating gesture. "She isn't here to be claimed for thy people."

Once more he snorted in disbelief. "She is now," Ling answered, and took a step forward. "She'll be the bearer of my children. She will revitalize my village! I shall…!"

Tailmon had leapt from her spot above the mantle and was now crossing the room to her partner. Hikari had taken a few steps more backward from the table, though at this words her composure wavered slightly and she halted her steps.

"Ling Wei!" Mei Chen interrupted sharply, speaking as a teacher to an unruly student. "She is no slave to be bought!"

"Of course not!" he replied, for a moment seeming to have regained his sensibility. "She is a woman to be taken, and I shall take her!"

"Fool among fools," Alraumon said then, having kept silent throughout the argument, emerging into the kitchen area from the bedroom. He looked toward Hikari and then the room behind him, indicating that she might be best off taking shelter there.

"Who dost thou call fool?" Gazimon demanded, and then lunged for Alraumon. Taken by surprise, the plant digimon dodged this attack only narrowly, and then glanced up to notice that his partner had not escaped so easily. Stumbling backward, Mei Chen knocked over the chair he had previously been sitting in and fell to the ground. His head connected solidly with the floor, and his eyes fell shut.

"Monster!" Alraumon cried. "What monster would cause harm to a healer?"

Hikari stepped backward, shutting the curtain which blocked the bedroom from the kitchen. She could barely think, barely make out the words that passed after that between the visitor and the plant digimon. She thought to leave, to run out into the snow, but knew that she would not get far in the snow, and there was only one exit from this house. Frantically she looked around the room, seeking something, anything, that might be a useful weapon. She saw nothing, however. Then, she heard the heavy footsteps of Ling Wei as he quickly crossed the room and then the curtains were flung open once more, this time with a violent sort of shove.

"I must admit," he mumbled, casting an evaluative sort of gaze over her, "that thou are not my ideal sort of woman. Still, I shall take what I am given."

"You've been given nothing!" Tailmon retorted, and leapt into action, claws flashing. Before she could reach Ling Wei, however, his partner Gazimon interrupted, leaping between them and easily deflecting the attack.

"Thou thinks thou shall fare any better than that one?" Gazimon questioned, gesturing back toward the other room, apparently referring to "Whatever thou art, there's no female that hath ever managed to defeat me." He grinned at these words and flexed one paw into a fist.

"Then I will be the first to humiliate you!" Tailmon answered and lunged toward him once more. He dodged quickly, then turned and lunged back. Before long, it was not possible to clearly distinguish the difference between the two digimon, and they became not much more than a gray and white blur.

Ling Wei stepped forward and, before Hikari had time to avoid him, he had grabbed hold of her left arm and pulled her closer to him. She pulled back her arm, but he did not release his hold, instead reaching out and grabbing her right wrist as well.

"I will waste no time," he said, ignoring her struggles, paying no mind whatsoever to her attempts to pull away. "I will waste no time hoping that thee might come to accept my company. I will waste no time wishing for things that will not happen. I have no time for those things."

"I don't…," Hikari began, but he interrupted her, throwing her backwards so that she sat down, hard, upon the bed that was behind them both.

"Instead," he went on as though she had not spoken, stepping forward so that he was now standing over her. "I will simply take what is available and save both of us the trouble."

He lifted one leg and placed his knee upon the bed, causing Hikari to immediately slide backward away from him. He placed his other knee on the bed, and she pulled up her legs on to the bed and pulled back from him. The wall was behind her now, however, and there was no place to back up to. Ling Wei once more gripped her wrists in each hand and leaned forward, pushing her back, so that she was now lying beneath him, his strange, dark eyes flashing with triumph and pleasure.

"I won't…," she said, struggling against his grip, "I won't be yours." With that she lifted one of her own legs, bending so that her knee was flat against her chest, and kicked outward. Her foot connected solidly with his stomach, and he pulled backward, grunting in pain. Encouraged by this, Hikari then slid the rest of her body out from beneath him and crawled away on the bed toward the edge of the mattress. She had almost reached it when she felt the strong grip once more, this time upon her right ankle, and then she was sliding backward over the blankets toward him despite her efforts to resist.

"Why dost thou fight it?" he questioned, and then grabbed hold of the collar of Mei Chen's too-large shirt, pulling her upward, and then reached out and pulled her into an awkward sort of hug. Hikari twisted as best she could, trying to escape this, but this effort, as well, was useless. She could feel the pressure of his lips as they connected with the side of her face, and knew that was not what he had been aiming for.

"I don't…," she replied, pushing him away with both arms, "want this! I am not something you can buy!"

"I don't need to buy this," Ling Wei replied, finding her struggles somewhat humorous. "It is already mine, for I have claimed it. Thou belong to me."

"I don't belong to anyone," she retorted, and then a movement behind Ling Wei caught her eye. Someone, she could not clearly see who, was standing in the entrance to the room. This latest visitor was carefully maneuvering over a curtain that must have been felled at some point. He was dressed in a long, warm cloak, a similarly warm hood pulled over his eyes, and was walking along with the aid of a tall pole. Though the presence of the newcomer momentarily distracted her, Hikari had no time on which to think about what this might mean, for at that moment, losing his sense of humor, Ling Wei shoved her backward and she fell once more onto the soft bed.

"I don't have time to debate these things, woman," he said, speaking between clenched teeth. "I have..."

And that was the last thing he said before he shut his eyes and collapsed on to her, apparently unconscious.

For a brief moment, Hikari didn't know what to do, and then she collected herself, pushed his apparently unresponsive body off of her own, and crawled backward out from under him. The new visitor was standing on the opposite side of the bed, lowering the walking stick that she supposed was responsible for Ling's sudden loss of consciousness. Uncertain if he was friend or foe, Hikari sat perfectly still for a moment, catching her breath and waiting to see what would happen next.

There was a burst of joyous laughter and shouting, but Hikari didn't turn her head to see the cause of it. She assumed that Tailmon and the partner of this newcomer were rejoicing in victory over the Gazimon, for he had no doubt been felled at the same time as his partner.

"Y-you…," said the visitor into the silence. He had finished a quick, fleeting examination of Ling Wei and, apparently satisfied that he was not going to move again any time soon, was now turning his attentions toward Hikari. She didn't dare move, so much had Ling Wei set her on edge. Part of this was fear, for she did not know what would come next, and the rest was in preparation for what might come.

The visitor stepped forward, and, as he did, the hood which had hidden his face fell backward. "You're alive…," he finished, sounding dumbstruck.

Briefly, she hesitated, and then slowly she inched forward before realizing that she would have to crawl over Ling Wei in order to reach the edge of the bed. Abandoning that route, she turned, throwing her legs over the side, and hurried around the bed.

"Daisuke?" she questioned, halting her steps. Though it must be him (unless he somehow had an identical twin somewhere), it did not seem to be him at the same time. For one thing, he was carrying a tall walking stick, and then there was the presence of a bit of cloth wrapped around his left eye.

"I don't understand," he began, and shook his head, stopping himself. He sighed deeply. "The next time you're going to not die, I would appreciate a warning of some sort. If you don't mind," he said then, and a bit of a smile appeared.

"I…," she began, and then took the two steps forward and embraced him before the tears she had been holding in escaped. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, and was both relieved and surprised to feel the hug returned so intensely.

"I suppose," V-mon said then from the doorway, to which he and Tailmon were now arriving, "that I was wrong about not seeing you again."

Tailmon was examining her claws to make certain they had not been badly damaged, and she now looked up from this task with an expression of mild surprise. "I never thought," she said, "that I would see the day that you would admit to being wrong about something."

"I'm wrong, all right? I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Happy?"

Tailmon studied him for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes," she said, and then lunged forward and embraced him before he had a chance to escape. "Very happy."

Once again I've been kind of slow in updating. Sorry.

This section was in my head for quite a while before I got around to writing it. I wasn't really sure whose point of view (Daisuke, Hikari, Tailmon, V-mon?) to write this from. I ended up writing half from his point of view and the rest from hers. I think this works well.

Thanks again for reading and reviewing, and I hope you're enjoying.