Part Twenty One

Map

Well, it goes without saying, all heck broke loose.

Shuu dived for the door that they had come through when Shin called forth his magic. The mercenary ran down the hall, hearing footsteps behind him and hoping the others were following his lead. He heard Ryo mutter a "So En Zan," and a wall a fire erupted somewhere behind him, effectively blocking off any pursuit. Shuu also thought he heard a magic phrase he had not heard before, but did not bother to contemplate such things as he continued to run down the hall.

Shuu burst into the prayer hall to find that it, too, had become a mass of chaos. Sthissians seemed to be coming out of the woodwork, or gold work as the case may be, and the supposedly peaceful merchants and priests had weapons of all sorts.

"This doesn't look good," he muttered.

"No, it doesn't," Ryo said next to him. "The best way out of here is to split up. We can't defend each other all that much in this much chaos. We're bound to get separated anyway."

Shuu nodded, spying Touma up in the rafters high above the fight. "Where are Seiji and Shin?"

"Still in that room," Ryo said grimly. "They have some people that they need to meet."

"That endgame prophecy future telling thing?" Shuu asked, suddenly concerned for his two friends.

"Yes."

Shuu nodded, accepting it as fact. "I'll make a diversion. You use that Rekka gift of yours and get to the horses. If we want any chance at getting the blazed curses out of this country, we'll need them."

"Got you."

Shuu raised his staff, twirling it over his head and letting a feral grin cover his face. "What an interesting little brawl!" he called out. "Mind if I joined the party?"

His challenge was met with great enthusiasm, and he happily started fighting his way through the throng of warriors. Touma covered him from any aerial attacks such as arrows or poisoned darts. Shuu admitted being tempted to use his magic, but he understood that most of these people were fighting because it was all they knew how to do. Sthiss was too messed up a country to know any better. So he instead settled himself with his fists and his staff and did the mercenary's proud in his ability to make headway. The near continual practice with the other four had not only kept Shuu in shape, but also honed his fighting abilities to the finest they had ever been.

"Kou Rai Sei!"

Shuu straightened. That was no language he had ever heard before. In fact, it sounded like a magic phrase. He quickly looked around, expecting something like an earthquake or a tsunami or something. Instead he saw an odd yellow strip of light that shot over his head and arced up to Touma. It hit the blue haired prince dead on, and with a grunt heard even over the din of the palace sized brawl, began to fall from the heights.

Well, that certainly wouldn't do. Shuu followed the yellow light visually, still fighting, and saw a read headed Hashiban. Shuten! He was here! Well, of course, Shuu reminded himself. He had stolen away on the ship as the second mate through the illusions of the Masho captain. Shuu just didn't expect them here. The Masho seemed too subtle for an out and out battle.

Reneging on his promise on to not level the palace, Shuu roundhoused his staff; leveling everyone around him and effectively giving him a few seconds of quiet. That was all he needed as he called out to his magic.

"Gen Ta Sai!" he shouted. Twirling his staff again over his head, he slammed it onto the ground. As it bounced back up the stone at his feet vibrated and increasing waves until the entire room, and no doubt, the entire palace was shaking in his controlled earthquake. Tremors shook all the way to Lower Suisis, and the locals stumbled, looking around for the reason of the sudden quake.

The entire structure of the temple palace shook and rocked, and everyone except for Shuu was off their feet. Shuten finally lost concentration, and the yellow light disappeared. Shuu nodded and made a run for Touma, still falling, if much slower, to the ground. He had almost made it when he heard another magical phrase.

"To Chi Mou!"

"What the cursed blazes?" Shuu cursed as fine white strings, almost like those of a web, suddenly shot up ahead of him. The Lugan mercenary tried to slow down, but it was too late. Raising his arms in front of his face in an attempt to block, Shuu ran through the webbing; tucked and rolled on a free patch of floor. The priests and Sthissians alike were quickly rising to their feet, glaring at the mercenary because he was the source of the interruption.

This, obviously, was not a good time to get caught in webbing. Shuu struggled to free his hands and arms, but to no avail. It was too sticky and too strong. Cursing a blue streak, he made another run for it. If he could just get out of the prayer hall, the rest of the palace would be a snap and he would be able to get to the meeting place.

It was not to be, however. A white haired man with one eye suddenly appeared in front of him and rammed his fist in Shuu's unprotected face. Dazed by the force of the blow, Shuu struggled to regain the mechanics of his body.

"You do know that it's only an illusion that's holding you?" the white haired man said. "The only thing trapping your arms is you mind." He grinned suddenly, a hand running through his fine hair. The man's locks seemed to flick away, creating more webbing that collected in his hand. Negligently, he tossed it onto Shuu, trapping him even more. "The mighty Shuu Rei Fuan, caught by a simple slight of hand and trick of the eye. It's a wonder you became as famous as you did. Very well then, enjoy the beating you'll get while you wear the mantle of the high Kamek. To Chi Mou!"

Dead realization sank into Shuu. This was the Gen illusionist that was on the ship. The sick captain Rajura. An odd tickling sensation waved over Shuu, and when he looked down he found that he must have gained over fifty pounds and was wearing a monk-sir's robes.

"What on earth?"

"It's the high Kamek!" someone shouted. "Get him now, while he separated from his assassin!"

The last thing Shuu saw was a throng of enraged Sthissians looking to kill him, and he realized too late that Rajura had used his magic to make him look like Sarenbo.

Touma meanwhile was having his own problems. After using his magic to fly up to the rafters of the prayer hall, he had hoped he would act as an unseen cover for the other four as they made there escape. Only Shuu and Ryo came out of the narrow hall, however. Shin and Seiji were nowhere in sight. That boded ill, and Touma foresaw a rescue mission in his near future.

That thought had done him in; giving him the moment's distraction to let his guard drop and let what must have been one of the Masho to attack him. The yellow light enveloped him and seemed to suck the energy right out of him. Touma threw all his strength into staying afloat, knowing that a fall from the height he was at would kill him and if not, then the riot on the ground would.

When the magic finally faded, Touma continued to lower himself. No one had seen him as yet, so he landed himself softly in a corner. Shuu had used his magic to create an earthquake, and it took several moments for everyone to get back on their feet. Touma used that time to exit the prayer hall and race through the palace.

Humans and Sthissian's alike were running and fighting everywhere, and Touma used the confusion to his advantage in exiting the palace.

The sun momentarily blinded him as he entered the courtyard.

"Hashiba Touma-sama."

Touma jerked up. "Shuten?"

"The same." He stood directly in front of the wayward prince, kusari-gama in hand and looking ready to kill. "I owe you for the escapades in Tou Hashiba."

The blue haired prince rolled his eyes but drew his daggers. "I didn't do anything. You did it to yourself."

"I was seeking to better the country by removing a monarchy that based its success on convenient scapegoats called Oni. You remember what an Oni is, correct? You learned about them for the first time during the trial, as I recall."

Touma nodded gravely. "'A person or family that is marked for the rest of their life because of a deed done against the country.' I remember."

"As counselor and advisor to your perverted uncle, I learned a great many things about the Oni mark. One interesting little factoid that you might find fascinating is that there were many families who were marked even though they had done nothing wrong."

"Like I'll believe anything you say," Touma spat, ready to take flight at a moment's notice.

"You can look it up when you get home," Shuten said easily, his green eyes oddly blazing. "Throughout the country's history, there have been hundreds of families declared an Oni for things a stupid as the current king not liking the family, or not being ready to hear political or governmental advice that would years later be proved beneficial to the country. The Oni mark is used in place of assassination. People of unpopular standing are not murdered, they are shunned. It is a fate worse than death, in many ways. Of that, I can speak from personal experience."

"So everything you've done is for personal vendetta," Touma summed up. "I see why Arago would pick the likes of you."

"What?"

"Didn't he tell you?" Touma said, standing up straighter. The idea of a psychological advantage appealed to the Tenkuu, so he played it up for all it was worth. "Do you know what you are fighting for? You're fighting for a world where everyone gets what they want when they want it."

"A pleasant world, I think."

"Yes," Touma said grandly. "A wonderful world. Can you imagine how many innocent people will die? The world would be in a constant state of turmoil because nobody would agree on anything, and Arago forbid that there should be any compromise. War would be an event to last all eternity. Think about that next time you want to try an overthrow a monarchy."

Shuten glared at Touma with unrestrained hatred. Then he charged, throwing the claw of his weapon at Touma. The prince shouted, "Shin Ku Ha!" and rose into the air. He was not fast enough, and the claw quickly wrapped around his ankle and the Kitsune yanked, breaking the bones it was wrapped around. The prince; still drained from what must have been Shuten's maho, could not compensate and slammed back into the ground. Instead, he raised his hands, drawing an imaginary bow.

"Shin Ku Ha!" The winds gathered into the imaginary arrow, a dark blue and golden light gathering until it was blinding to all but those with magic.

The redheaded Shuten was ready for this, gathering his own magic. "Kou Rai Sei!" Golden energy gathered around him and his weapon, turning an odd shade of red.

The pair released their energy at the exact same time and met in the space precisely halfway between them. The blue and gold disrupted into an explosion, the energy shooting everywhere and destroying anything it touched. The cloudy weather disappeared into a bright blue sky, and the surrounding wings of the palace collapsed after already being weakened by the earthquake Shuu had created earlier.

Touma immediately shot into the air, avoiding the energy where he could and trying not to get too burned by what he couldn't. Shuten could not follow him in the sky, and Touma hoped he had enough strength left in him to get to the jungle. There, he could land and limp his way to the meeting place.

At least, that was what he hoped.

"Ankoku Cho Uhigiri!"

The meeting room plunged into darkness, but not before two of the Troopers escaped. Anubisu cursed as he saw the mercenary and Sanada Ryo run down the narrow hall just before the darkness reached them.

"Where's the sir?" Naaza asked. "I can't see."

Anubisu quickly located the monk-sir's chi. "Thirty paces directly to your left. He's right next to a hidden door you can use to get out of this."

"Perfect."

"Have fun ripping up the palace."

"I will. You have fun killing that Korin."

Anubisu grinned. "Oh, I will."

Naaza turned left and ran blindly into the dark. The Yami could hear him drawing his swords before shouting his magical phrase, "Ja Ga Ken," and an explosion immediately followed. Anubisu felt the two leave his darkness, and their chi thereby disappeared as a result.

The Korin felt this too, but obviously thought something very different.

"Shin? Shin! Where are you? What happened? Shin!"

Anubisu let himself laugh. "Shin is no longer with us," he said, knowing full well the double meaning of his words. He silently drew his sword and made his way to the Korin elf. His pale coloring made him a beacon in this pitch darkness.

"Who are you?"

"Yami Anubisu. And you are Korin Seiji. Does anything else really need to be said?"

Seiji whirled, looking around for his opponent and reaching for his sword.

Anubisu would have none of that; and swung his sword at the light long ear. To his enemy's credit, he was able to dodge and avoid a lethal blow. Seiji had lifted his arm up in defense when he had finally sensed the attack. The blade cut deep, and the light elf grunted as the pain jutted itself into feeling.

"Your senses are still about you," Anubisu complimented. "You're the first to still have them. It must be your magic."

Seiji muttered something under his breath and a faint green light emanated from the sheath of his sword. Drawing the blade, Anubisu saw that Seiji had enchanted his blade to glow in the darkness.

"That will do you little good, Korin," the Yami admonished. "So little light will hardly do you any good." Anubisu cloaked himself in shadows and again moved in to attack. This time, however, the Korin blocked properly with his sword, and Anubisu saw that he had damaged his non sword arm with the first swipe. He bit back a swear as he swung again and was blocked again.

"Your maho element is darkness?" Seiji asked.

"It is the winter. The cold, the snow, and the dark."

"Mine is light. The sun, its warmth, and its purity."

"Poetic," Anubisu replied politely. "It will do you no good, for darkness is also purity. Your failure to understand that will be your undoing." Anubisu concentrated his magic, and then pointed his blade at Seiji. "Ankoku Cho Uhigiri." Obeying his commands, the darkness invaded Seiji's eyes and senses, and the light elf was suddenly completely blind.

"Now try and see how well you can do." Anubisu paused, then added, "Poor choice of words, I know."

"You are so polite," Seiji replied, gritting his teeth. "One would think you were a Korin with your demeanor."

"You dare call me a Korin?" Anubisu demanded. He strode up to his counterpart and slammed the hilt of his sword into the long-ear's head. Seiji stumbled back and clattered to the ground, his sword circling away. The Yami moved to kick the light elf while he was down, but his body resisted the action, his mind registering that it would be dishonorable. So what? Were the Yami any more honorable to him than this Korin? Did they deserve the polite comments and reservations in fighting? No! But it was still dishonorable to kick a warrior while he was down, and Anubisu found himself frozen against the action. Gods curse it! The Doko most likely did not have such restraining scruples.

Seiji slowly, jerkily, made his way back to his feet. His blind eyes were unfocused, and Anubisu realized he must have brought about a more serious head injury than he had intended. Suddenly, he regretted hitting the light elf.

What was he talking about? The Korin deserved this!

"Yami Anubisu," Seiji said. His voice was steady even if his feet were not. "You no doubt heard my explanation of Korin honor. Ponder that while you, too, are blinded with what you call 'pure' darkness; and know that it is a darkness purified by light. Rai Ko Zan!"

Seiji became what could only be described as a being of light. The green maho poured out of him in such blinding degrees that Anubisu found his entire person shaking in pain. The light shot through him on so many levels he could not comprehend. His eyes saw white, his body felt red, and his mind screamed in agonizing yellow. Anubisu strove to reach the blessed coolness of the black; it's comforting, quiet, and empty depths. Seiji would not allow it, and continued to release all of his magic at once until Anubisu was curled in a tight ball, shaking and moaning incoherently.

His sight and senses returned; Seiji slumped to the floor, clutching his injured arm. He had dared not reveal to the Yami that he could heal, and the pain was a hot iron on his nerves. Mechanically, he used the little magic he had spared to stop the bleeding. His vision was slightly blurry, and he found he had trouble focusing. He struggled past it, however, and again fought to his feet and gathered his sword. Seiji looked at the moaning Anubisu. He found himself wondering if he had gone too far.

But he was a Yami. Surely, he deserved it.

Right?

Naaza didn't bother speaking, as the others had. He had no business for such pleasantries. Besides, it never did any good to identify yourself. If the operation failed, then the enemy knew your name and could seek you out with that vital piece of information.

So instead, he merely pressed his attack against the magical sir spear and the utterly shocked sir. He continually asked, "What are you doing? Can't we talk about this?" He obviously didn't have a clue. Talk didn't do any good against the likes of him. Any Sthissian who tried to "talk" to a sir died. Force was the only thing they understood, so force would be what he got.

"Ja Ga Ken!" Naaza lashed his swords out and the poison he had gathered on them flew out on the momentum. Shin shouted his own magic, "Cho Ryu Ha!" and a water shield would rise up to defend himself.

Gods curse it, all he did was defend! It was no fun killing him if he didn't put up a fight. So Naaza continued to press the attack, using his magic to lace all of his swords together in a terrifying whip and lashed it at the sir. The water shield continued to bounce it off, causing the poison laced whip to crack off the walls, melting their gold audacity at the touch. They had fought their way to an already deserted wing of the palace. Bodies from the chaos that had filled the gold building, littered the floor, and blood stained the plush carpets. The image seemed to disturb the monk-sir; his face kept becoming more and more horrified.

Naaza could not think of any way to exploit the horror, so instead he continued to attack. Shin had a very tight defense; a challenge to break through, but Naaza was in no mood to try and analyze a way around it. That was for people like Rajura and the gods cursed Shuten. Instead, Naaza wore him down. Naaza had excellent stamina, and continually changed the nature of his attacks to so that no particular part of his body got tired. Shin, meanwhile, was perpetually using his arms to swing his spear to block the swords, or his maho to shield the poison. No other sequences were used, and the sir was wearing down. Slower than Naaza had expected, but then again he should have realized that Kaosu would only pick the finest to use.

Finally, an opening presented itself. Naaza had gotten a feel for Shin's defensive patterns, and saw a weakness in his different combinations. Grinning somewhat madly, he threw away his swords. As expected, Shin was momentarily surprised, and Naaza used that moment to dive on the sir and knock his spear away.

"Ja Ga Ken!" he shouted, focusing all his poison into his gloves as he pressed them against the sir's throat.

Shin gasped for breath, but could only breathe the fouled air that Naaza was unleashing. His lungs burned and his body shook in a vain attempt to breath.

Suddenly, the humidity of the hallway began to rise, as it had in the meeting room, meaning that the magic was coming to his aide. Naaza ignored it and moved to press his attack. He only needed a minute to crush Shin's windpipe.

"Naaza!"

The Doko looked up to see Rajura, the mercenary slung over his shoulder.

"What?" he demanded.

"The sirs are on their way. They're shooting arrows at everything that moves. If we don't get out of here now, we're not going to!"

Indecision froze Naaza. Stay, kill Shin and die without being able to relish in it? Or leave and never have the opportunity to be this close to killing him again?

Rajura must have seen the indecision. He gestured to the walls around him.

"Collapse the walls. Bury him and he'll die slowly."

The idea had merit. Naaza considered the possibility for a moment before he grinned evilly. He released his grip on Shin, left him gasping for breath as the humidity immediately dropped. Naaza quickly picked up his swords and embedded each on in the walls. Concentrating briefly, he raised his hands. "Ja Ga Ken." The poison dripped from the swords and into the walls, weakening their structure. Naaza jerked his hands back, and the swords pulled themselves from the walls and back toward him, collapsing he walls as he did so.

He turned to Rajura, and the pair grinned happily. "Let's go before we're caught."

The one eyed Gen nodded. "Like evading mercs back home. Come on."

The pair left Shin to his death.

Ryo was, obviously, the first to arrive at the meeting place. He passed the last of the giant trees and entered the moderate sized clearing with the seven horses in tow, unsurprised to find no one there. He suspected that he was the only one to escape without hassle.

The Rekka changed back into his natural form, having used the shape of a horse to get away. Tying the mounts on a low branch, he carefully made his way to the mound, formerly a shack. It was circular, like all Sthissian huts, and extended several feet into the earth. Looking around, he cleared out the animals that had taken shelter there, politely informing them that they needed to borrow the property. That done, he cleared out what he could, not disturbing the existing homes of the animals.

With little in the way of anything else to do, he went back outside the hovel and waited.

The first to arrive was Seiji. The pale elf, Ryo could sense, was severely drained of his magic and holding his left arm to his chest. A closer look revealed unfocused eyes. A concussion?

"I see Anubisu wasn't very lenient on you," Ryo said slowly as he moved to help his friend.

"He was not," Seiji said. He looked to Ryo, again trying to focus his eyes. It only seemed to cause him pain, and he groaned as he finally sank to the ground. Ryo steadied him. "I have such a headache."

"Do you have a concussion?" Ryo asked, concerned.

"I do not think so, but I have only been aggravating it on my way here; and my arm," his voice trailed off, as well as his focus.

Ryo gingerly took the blood stained arm and examined it. The bleeding had stopped and it was partly healed, Seiji's green magic outlining where the skin was mended. Ryo went to Seiji's mount and pulled out the Korin elf's collection of healing herbs as well as the ones he had bought while he was disguised as a Sthissian. Carrying them over, he and Seiji began treating the injuries.

Gently, Ryo cleaned the gash with clean water while Seiji looked over his supplies and determined what he needed to make a disinfectant. He gave Ryo the directions and the Rekka followed them, creating a thick gel that he rubbed liberally into the gash. Seiji bit his lip against the stinging, but otherwise gave no other displays of sudden pain. Ryo carefully wrapped the arm with a rag.

"That helps a lot," Seiji said. His eyes had regained a little of their focus. "I hope that the others are not as injured. I will not be able to use my maho for what feels like several days."

"You look like it. What did you do?"

There was a long pause before Seiji replied. "Something desperate. Yami Anubisu had locked me in a cage of darkness. I could not get out, I could not even see or sense. I released almost all my maho in a concentrated burst of light and wrapped it around Anubisu. His maho is darkness, and. . ." Seiji trailed off, and Ryo respected the end of the conversation. He could take a good guess as to what happened. He wondered if Seiji knew how long those affects would likely last.

"How is your head?" Ryo offered the change in subject.

"Clearer. A good nights rest and a mixture I will make later will help even more."

"Do you have any idea what happened to the others?"

"Something happened to Shin. One of the Masho shouted something like 'Jaga Kan', or something similar, and his chi completely disappeared. The others, I do not know."

Ryo nodded. "Shuu was bullying his way through the prayer hall, last I saw him, and Touma was giving him back up. There was an earthquake later on, and beyond that I don't know."

"I felt the earthquake," Seiji said, his face twisting as the memory hit him. "I was almost knocked completely unconscious."

Ryo made a half laugh. "That would have been problematic." He took another bandage rag and gingerly wrapped it around Seiji's head over a second bandage that was held over the large bruise and cut that was on the Korin elf's temple.

When that was complete, Seiji said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to try and sleep. Much as I might wish otherwise, the others might be hurt worse than me and I need to get my strength back as soon as possible."

Ryo nodded. "I understand. Here, I've set up some of the bedrolls in the hovel. Let me help you there."

"Thank you."

Ryo did so, and Seiji was soon fast asleep, so the Rekka went back outside and waited for the others.

An hour later, Touma quite literally dropped in. The ten foot fall was right above Ryo. There was a reprising thud.

"Ow! God's curse it!"

"Hey! Who's hand was that?"

"Oof! Watch the foot, watch the foot!!"

"Ooooow!"

"Not that way!"

"Your elbow goes the other way!"

"Not until you get your knee out of my side!"

It took a moment to disentangle themselves, but they did finally manage it.

When Ryo finally got a good look at Touma, his happy face fell immediately to one of concern.

"Whoever started the fire, it wasn't me!"

Touma waved Ryo off, sitting delicately. "I know it wasn't you. It was me. Well," he quickly explained when he saw Ryo's confused look, "me and Shuten. We both threw our energies at each other and it sort of exploded into different bits of light. I was in the air soon after, and couldn't dodge all of it." Touma tenderly pulled off his shirt and outer layers, displaying burns of light to moderate degrees all over his body. "Not bad, all things considering. You should see Upper Suisis. It's an absolute mess because of that."

"Mess?" Ryo asked before murmuring his magic phrase and pulling some of the heat from Touma's burns.

"Ah, that feels good. Yeah. Everywhere the lights hit, it burst into some sort of after explosion. I think we managed to level half the city before it finally dissipated itself."

"That's hardly encouraging," Ryo replied.

"No," Touma said. "If I'd known what was going to happen, I would have never had tried it."

Ryo looked down sheepishly. "That's probably my fault. I can only theorize so much when magic is used. Badamon-baka almost never uses his magic, and we never really faced off in a maho battle. I could only guess at what would happen."

Again, Touma waved Ryo off. "We can't expect you to know everything. Just almost everything." He laughed at his joke and looked around. "Where's the clean water?"

"Here," Ryo answered as he began to treat Touma. "How are your reserves?"

"Physical or maho?"

"Both, I guess."

"Well, mentally I'm about spent. That's the longest I've ever flown, and it took more concentration because I have less maho power. Shuten drained me pretty good, but the more I was flying, the more maho I got. The wind, you see." Ryo nodded as took the gel he had helped Seiji make and apply it to the worst of the burns. "Physically, meanwhile, I think I broke my ankle."

"You did? Why didn't you say so?" Ryo stopped what he was doing and pulled off Touma's shoes. The blue haired prince winced in pain and then grunted. "That's a bad break. What happened?"

"Shuten favors a kusari-gama. He wrapped an end around my ankle and pulled cursed hard. Cursed near took my foot off."

"You broke more than a few bones. I need some sticks to make a brace. Seiji used up nearly all his magic; he won't be able to heal that just yet."

"Is he okay?" Touma asked; his face laced with worry.

"He's sleeping off the worst of it right now."

Touma nodded and braced himself as Ryo wrapped the ankle. The Rekka then continued went back to lathering the gel on the prince's burns.

He had just about used up the last of the gel when Seiji came out. His eyes were finally focused, and some of his color had returned. "You look better than before."

"I feel better. Stiff and weak, but better. Touma?"

"A few burns. A broken ankle. Nothing to complain about. Any battle you can walk away from, you know."

Seiji knelt down by the wrapped ankle. "Broken?" he asked.

Touma shook his head. "Don't even think about it. Get rested first."

"I am rested enough to do this," Seiji insisted. "Not much more, but this is enough."

Ignoring both Ryo and Touma, Seiji placed his hands on either side of the broken ankle and closed his eyes. "Rai Ko Zan."

Touma gasped as his bones began to rejoin, and Ryo had to hold him down as the pain laced through his body. For what seemed an eternity, nothing happened other than the excruciating pain, and then it all stopped. Seiji slumped down, breathing heavily. Ryo immediately went to him, assessing the damage. Touma, not even thinking about his injured foot, also went to see Seiji.

"Okay," he said weakly. "Maybe not quite enough. I'm going back to bed."

Ryo nodded. "You should be fine in the morning. Or at least have enough energy to do any more healing if necessary."

"No arguments there." And with that, Seiji was again asleep.

"Well," Touma said merrily. "Things are going just great. I can just imagine how bad off Shin and Shuu are."

Ryo blinked. "You haven't seen them?"

Touma blinked. "If I had I would have given them a lift. You mean they aren't back yet?"

"No. You and Seiji are the only other ones here."

"That's bad. That's very bad."

Ryo quickly closed his eyes and mentally sought out where the missing pair was. He found both of them quickly. "They're unconscious. Both of them."

"We'll have to wait until tonight. The city is a complete mess right now," Touma said. "Under cover of dark, we'll have an easier time sneaking in. Do you know where they are?"

Ryo shook his head. "They would have to be awake for that."

"Naturally," Touma said sourly as he made a face. "Can you tell if they're okay?"

"Find out yourself," Ryo said. "I'm not the only one with a mental link to the others, you know."

"But I'm not that good at it."

"Because you keep trying to figure out how it works when it just. . . works. Go on, try to seek them out."

Touma seemed to be glaring at Ryo in the late afternoon, but closed his eyes and drew his brow together. Ryo watched with both his eyes and his head. Touma took a moment to calm some of his still-frayed nerves, and tried to send out his thoughts. It didn't work the first time, but it did the second. Ryo followed the prince's consciousness as it traveled to the half ruined city of Suisis and to Shin and Shuu.

"Shin's having trouble breathing," Touma said slowly. "I feel pressure. Is that bad?"

"No, merely a hint of where he is. It narrows down the search. Now try Shuu."

Touma nodded and sent himself out again. "He's breathing fine. That's a relief. But I can't tell anything else."

Ryo nodded. "He'll be the hard one to find."

"As if finding Shin will be a walk in a Hashiban park," Touma muttered. "Pressure and difficulty breathing could mean anything."

"Maybe," Ryo said. "Maybe. I have a few ideas. We'll talk more tonight. You I want in one of those bedrolls in the hovel. You're going to need all the strength you can muster, especially if Seiji isn't coming with us."

"I hear you there. I'll see you tonight."

Go to Part Twenty Two