Chapter 25

Conrad watched the men from his hiding place further back along the road. The group of five seemed to be preparing themselves for a battle. He recognized the restless pacing that was typical before combat. Weapons were at the ready.

Conrad felt sick inside. This was not what he wanted to see.

These people.

This place.

Not good, he thought and unconsciously placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. By the look of the assassins, and how restless they were, it seemed fairly certain in his mind, at least, what was to follow.

As tired as he was from his ride, the soldier felt awake—very wide awake—and could feel his adrenaline pumping.

He glanced at the men again.

Soon. It will be soon.

Conrad walked back to where his horse was waiting for him. He'd scouted out the surroundings. He learned what he needed to know in the short term, at least. With the lanterns that they had set up, it was easy enough to follow their movements even at this distance. So, for now, he would make his way quietly to a more suitable, and strategically more viable, location and wait. Whoever it was that they were planning to ambush would have a little company on his side. Conrad hoped that he would be in a position to help if he could avoid the arrows. Painted arrows… Conrad felt his face harden at the thought of the Boss with the quiver. And, for the first time in a long time, he missed his battle armor.

Even though it was dark, and the brown haired man could barely make out his hand in front of his face, he decided that he needed to send a messenger bird now and inform Gwendal. He had scratched out a message before it became too dark. But he had chosen to hold off-- just in case something else came to the forefront. Now, there really was no alternative. If help could arrive in time, which he doubted, it would be a blessing. If it couldn't, then the message would become the official record until he could get back to the castle. Whether or not he would be bringing with him the person the assassins wanted, he didn't know. But he hoped he would.

The soldier pictured in his mind all of the people he loved and released the messenger pigeon. And it winged its way into the sky.

Wrestling to keep a sour look off of his beautiful face, Günter strode in the direction of Gwendal's study with a handful of letters he'd just finished reading. On each one, there was a note attached which read, "Burn before Little Lord Brat sees this." He really should have left the letters for the administrator earlier, but didn't get around to it. Günter stopped in front of the door, opened it, and then entered before letting loose a horrendous "ACHOO!"

A deeply impatient sigh.

Sniff.

With no little delicacy, he smacked the stack down, took out a pink lace-edged handkerchief and put it to his drippy nose. He'd started coming down with a cold that morning and told himself he'd be better by the opening ceremonies of the festival that night. Of course, he wasn't. He had a bad headache, too, which was not compatible with a festival dedicated to clinking, clanking wind bells. So, his daughter told him to stay in bed—which he easily ignored because he had too much to do in the service of his beloved maou. But, now that he was sneezing harder, he'd begun to wonder if Gisela had been right after all. Maybe a good cup of tea, a few snacks, and a good book would be a much better way to spend an evening when feeling unwell. Günter gave his nose a particularly blubbery blow into the handkerchief. Then, he pocketed it thinking "At least, that is done…" Günter eyed the pile on Gwendal's desk with distain at the thought of an angry Wolfram holding the letters in the palm of his hand. He also imagined them igniting, causing smoke damage to Gwendal's freshly painted office. Then, feeling sorry for himself, Günter tapped the edge of his aching nose with an index finger and grumbled "…and a colossal waste of time it was too…couldn't even spell 'infatuated' right…" followed by another "ACHOO!" He pulled out the snot-stiffened hankie again.

Günter had finished his embarrassingly loud, frustrated "elephant call" when he thought he heard something scratch at the window. Curious, he opened it to find a messenger bird. It flew lightly to his hand and Günter smiled at it in all of his bright red nosed glory.

"Like me, you are very dedicated." After delivering the much deserved words of praise, in Günter's opinion at least, he smiled a little at the lovely white bird that blinked back with deep, brownish-black eyes. From the bird's point of view, the lilac haired administrator had just said "blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah…"

"Oh, yes…the message." He took it and the bird flew off.

Günter rubbed his nose against the handkerchief again absentmindedly as his eyes scanned the paper. It was written in Conrad's handwriting and it might be something that Gwendal would need to see right away. Having the full authority to read it, which was another thing Günter took great pride in, he scanned the report.

"Oh…dear." He honked his nose now. Turning quickly, a little too quickly actually and finding himself doing a drunken pirouette, the advisor fled the room leaving behind, on Gwendal's desk, the handfull of anonymous love letters addressed to Yuuri that had arrived in the mail for him.

With his cape characteristically draped over one shoulder, Shinou walked down the hall and easily avoided a shrine maiden guard who was on patrol. She sported an outfit that said "Don't even think of getting by me" that had a particularly nasty spear to match. His blue eyes shined at her even though he really needed to go on his way. Nonetheless, Shinou did linger for a minute to watch her little heart shaped derriere jiggle as it went down a flight of stairs. Briefly, he thought about giving her the honor of being possessed by him and to have her come on to the Great Sage in his own bedroom—just to see how he'd react, of course. What she'd do with the spear alone would make great sport. Then, with a self-satisfied grin, he tucked that thought away in his mind for another time.

With a sudden jerk of his head, Shinou stared into the nothingness of the wall to his left.

"So…you're back…" Shinou practically growled the words in an undertone. "Then, this is going to be fun, too." Sporting a devilish grin, he felt his spirit jump through the wall and then it fell—like falling from a high window—directly into the penumbra.

Sifting through the ebony seas, he felt the presence. It didn't surprise him this time. What had surprised him was that he hadn't felt it sooner. Most likely, they weren't there at the exact same moment. Or, possibly, they both weren't in as deeply at the same time—not many oracle wielders could journey in this far without getting lost. Either way, though, he now knew without a doubt that he wasn't alone and the muddy reddish aura was identifiable.

And it felt good to be right.

Once again, Marelda's body was freefalling through the penumbra with her brown streaked hair blowing away from her—making her features sharper than they would have been. Three sparkles appeared at a distance and she smiled with a self-satisfied feeling that things were going to improve very quickly.

"The tiles are back," Marelda said in a girlish tone.

She reached out her hands to touch them and they obeyed. "Past…present…future…" The three tiles came and hovered to her right, center, and left. With relief, she noticed that there were only three tiles and they were all shining brightly as they should be. So, nothing had changed.

"Now, let's see the past." She took the tile in her hands and held the shining surface up to her face. The sounds and moving pictures came to her. She saw what looked like an actress on a theatre stage put on a cape and a fox mask. The image blurred for a second and then came back to life. Slightly muffled by the mask, the young Mazoku was sobbing in pathetic tones. Then, she jumped off the stage and ran through the audience for parts unknown.

"I have no idea what that is…but it happens sometimes…" Marelda complained to herself. Yes, there were times when the visions just didn't work out for her because she wasn't there. Then, the tile's surface clouded over. The image blurred again and there was the pleasing sight of a panic stricken, brown-haired Yuuri running through the crowd.

"Could that really be…?" she mumbled. She closed her eyes and focused harder on the tile.

Yuuri's face filled the surface. The young boy king was yelling "Wolfram, no!" Marelda chuckled deliciously at that while releasing the tile in her hands. Yes, it was the king after all.

Good!

Feeling her ego stroked just a little, she reached out for the tile directly in front of her. "Now, for the present…"

The tile began to respond to her voice just as a strong, male presence materialized directly behind her.

"I think you've seen enough, my lady."

Marelda's head whipped around in fear. She tried to stifle a pathetic little cry by putting her hand to her mouth. But it didn't work. He heard it and chuckled darkly.

"Who…?" The woman shook her head. Quickly, she turned her whole body toward the presence behind her. She could feel it—almost touch it with her senses. "W-Who are you?" she asked and immediately imagined a circle of green light to protect her. The green hoop, embedded with ribbons of gold light, rotated very slowly with a deep hum.

Shinou laughed at her but kept back far enough to stay unseen. Obviously, she had never met with anyone while inside the penumbra before—unlike his visits with spirits who stubbornly refused to move on to Paradise and The Great Sage who had his own stubborn qualities as well. And that, in Shinou's marginally humble opinion, was a good thing for the moment.

"What do you want?" she asked again, her voice becoming stronger.

The little bitch really thinks that green hoop is going to protect her. What an idiot.

"As I've already said," Shinou cooed in her direction, "I think you've seen enough."

"I…thought I was…" she stammered.

"Alone?" He laughed at her with a hearty tone. "Nonsense…many are here. And I would suggest that you remember that…" Then, his eyes turned to a steely blue. "What I want to know is why you're bending events to your will…"

Marelda stared into the darkness. She could just make out a male outline. She could almost see a profile. But she wasn't sure if this was an accident or if the owner of the profile was just allowing that much to be seen. Without knowing for sure, Marelda decided to dance around the issue.

"What I do is my own affair…"

"True…very true…" His voice was honey now. "But I don't like what you're doing. And I don't like who you're doing it to." And, with that, he broke through the circle, maneuvered his body behind Marelda's, and grabbed her around the waist. Before she knew it, he had one arm around her middle and the other around her neck—pulling her chin up at an uncomfortable angle.

"S…stop!" she ordered with teeth clinched. Even when at a disadvantage, she was issuing orders. Shinou loved that in a woman. It was just the other qualities that this one had that pissed him off.

"Stop? I think that should be my line," he whispered in her ear.

'Who are you?" She gritted out the words, not giving him the satisfaction of feeling her struggle.

"If you hurt Yuuri Heika or Wolfram, I will be your worst nightmare."

"Yuuri? Wolf…?" Then, Marelda did something unexpected. She laughed. "Oh, so you're either a guardian spirit of some sort or another oracle wielder like me." He could feel her body tense up, but no matter. "And that also means you're the one who kept changing my plans. I should have realized that the futures that never came to pass were because of you. Someone was tinkering with my work."

Actually, a couple of "someones," Shinou thought sourly—remembering the talk he had with The Great Sage.

Marelda continued, "Then, let me tell you that everything is in motion. You can't help him."

Now, it was Shinou's turn to laugh. "While you were looking at the past, some sort of stupid ritual I suppose, I caught a glimpse of that 'present' tile that's now in your hands. Not to mention the fact that the 'future' one confirmed everything I suspected."

"The present? Future?" Her eyes widened.

"You revel too much, my lady…thinking you have all the time in the world. And it will slowly turn you into something ugly." He tightened his grip. Shinou was cheek to cheek with her profile. "Do you really want to be an ugly girl?"

At the mention of the "present" tile, Marelda let it fall noiselessly into the infinite darkness below from her hands which had become black claws. Maybe, there was more to see than the brief image of Wolfram on his white horse riding through the night. Maybe not. But, she refused to play his little game.

"Stop patronizing me," she said with an edge.

"And I know what you are planning." The blond placed his lips closely to Marelda's ear. He could feel her tremble when he did it. Yes, she was much more afraid and uncertain than she was letting on. He liked that. "Do you know the basic rules of nature and the natural order of things? I'll tell you. They're very simple. Even a child can understand. For example, as you have already learned, for a powerful oracle wielder, it is possible to "nudge" events in a certain direction. Say the right thing here, miss a meeting there…meet someone at the right time… All possible."

Shinou nuzzled her cheek. She stiffened.

"However…It is impossible to repeat the exact details of any event in its totality. This also applies to "non-events"—things that never happened but could have. In other words, my dear, you cannot repeat a non-event, either. What's passed has passed. So, when you muck about with shifts in time and natural order, you must accept the fact that once that moment has passed, it has passed forever. In this present time period, you cannot set the stage to recreate that "never happened moment"—which is something you're trying to do now."

There was a gasp.

Shinou smirked. He was correct.

"We both know now that instead of ordering Wolfram to be killed, you should have ordered him to be captured. Torturing him would be so much easier and satisfying for you considering your previous experiences with the ruling figures of Shin Makoku."

His eyes took on a mischievous sheen. Yes, he'd been eavesdropping on Günter's mutterings and research in the library. He was well versed on Marelda's activities now.

Shinou continued with "And, then, you could have killed Wolfram at your leisure…under your own conditions." He chuckled again. "So, right now, Wolfram is trying to meet your little band of assassins for an honorable 'man to man' duel at the fork in the road—a place where the lines of magic join and you, the oracle wielder that you are, can see everything clearly."

"So?"

"So, it's basically the same scenario. It didn't work last time because you planned badly, chose unwisely, and lost your chance. And, happily, I will admit that I played my part, too, in changing the outcome. But, my dear, time has moved on. And, this scenario will only be met with moderate success, now, because the conditions are not the same." He kissed her cheek and she cringed. "Too many people know, my dear, and will help…"

"My men are experts. And I've equipped them."

"Yes, experts at killing…which requires very little intelligence. But you don't want Wolfram dead…well, not right away at least because that won't serve your purposes." He pressed a smirk to her cheek and said, "Are you sure you can trust them with the task of capturing without killing?"

Her head jerked in Shinou's direction. She really wanted to see who she was talking to—who was demanding answers from her.

"As I said in the beginning," Shinou now growled lowly in her ear with his true voice, "if you harm Yuuri Heika or Wolfram…a single drop of blood…and I will be your worst nightmare. I will haunt your every dreaming moment until you end your own miserable life."

And, with that, Marelda lost her concentration and found herself collapsed on her bedroom rug.

Conrad heard the faint sound of hooves on the dirt road. Obviously, the horse in question was at a high gallop. The brown haired soldier tightened his fist at his side. He knew that he would soon be joining someone in battle against the five humans. Surely, they could take on five people. But, he didn't like the odds of five to two—especially when one of them had painted arrows. And a battle of any kind at night, in dim lantern light, had disadvantages.

The grubby men heard the approaching horse as well and steeled themselves.

Conrad got on his horse.

This is it.

The galloping was louder and the men fanned themselves out—taking to the shelter of the trees. The elder, with a sword in hand, stood in the middle of the road. It was decided that he would be the spokesman for this little charade. After all, he was the best liar.

A figure appeared. Conrad strained to see from where he was hiding. Would it be possible to fight the way he needed to while protecting someone else's life?

A white horse.

A blond man with a slim build, white shirt, and blue breeches jumped down.

Wolfram.

Conrad's eyes widened. Wolfram! How can you be here?!

The soldier forced air into his lungs. He had to breathe. He had to stay alert. This couldn't be happening, but it was. His baby brother… It can't…It just can't… Hadn't this been the hellish scene he'd witnessed in his dreams since Wolfram was shot with the arrow? Conrad wasn't there the moment Wolfram was injured, which he regretted and tortured himself over privately, but the other soldiers had told him the story over and over until he knew it so well he could see it in his mind's eye. Yes, the witness accounts had become his eyes and ears of that agonizing moment.

Now, he was seeing it all over again on his own.

Conrad shook his head "no" violently and squeezed his brown eyes shut. When he opened them, it was no better. In the shadow of one of the oak trees, he could make out movement. It was the boss. He pulled an arrow back against the string. The bow string stretched.

It was aimed at Wolfram.

No, not Wolfram…

For Conrad, this moment slowed to a halt. His eyes caught it—more movement. He saw another horse, a dark brown one, approach and stop abruptly. Two figures jumped off and ran to Wolfram's side, breathing heavily.

Yuuri…and The Great Sage!