Riku had chosen to let the other Staves pick where they went, having no particular preference himself. He'd expected to get landed with the fishing behind the castle, but was instead left with one of the three fields.
Along the way he took a moment to find out what the fields actually grew, finding the actual crops changed from time to time depending on what they needed most, but at present one field was growing tall stalks of rice, the second maize, while the third field, and the one he was left with, was a field of wheat.
Each field had only one card harvesting the produce from it, seeming to carefully consider what was worth harvesting now and what wasn't. Despite that selectivity, there was already a somewhat untidy stack of wicker baskets waiting to be taken in to whichever storeroom they were sent to.
The card looked up when he noticed Riku at the head of the field, finishing filling the current basket before he came up to join him. Riku noticed once again that Sora had a knack for showing up at inconvenient times.
"I guess you still don't remember?" he asked resentfully.
"I haven't a clue what you're on about," Riku answered. "I'm just here to do a job. Where do these get put?"
"Through the gates, turn left and take the first door," Sora told him almost automatically. "Go right upstairs then head to the westernmost tower... not that it's much of a tower," he added. Given that the corners of their 'castle' were barely distinguishable from the rest, he understood Sora's additional remark. It was round, unlike the other towers, and appeared to be one of the first stone structures there, also a part of the real castle as well.
"Sounds simple enough," Riku murmured, passing Sora an empty basket as he took the full one off his hands. "Shouldn't take me too long to clear this backlog you've left me with."
Sora said nothing, stalking back down the field to continue his work. Riku glanced back along the way to the compound, noticing that while he couldn't hear him, Sora appeared to be talking animatedly to himself.
At least his directions had proved to be accurate. Given how easily he rattled them off, he suspected they'd been almost drilled into him. They proved to be unnecessary once heading the right way though, since the Swords seemed to have a compulsive habit of putting up signs of directions everywhere inside.
These in turn directed him to the top of the tower, such as it was, where there was a hopper simply labelled 'Wheat intake'. Simple enough.
He quickly noted after a few more trips that Sora refused to stay at the head of the field whenever Riku was there, even going so far as to work quicker just to keep him busy. Well, if it made him feel better...
It was as twilight had started to stain the sky outside that he finally grasped the meaning of the warning given to him. As he started to open the basket to drop the gathered wheat into the hopper, some instinct told him there was danger present.
He became preternaturally alert, remaining as still as he could to listen, then in one swift movement he dropped the basket, turned and called out Way to the Dawn to bar the path of the descending sword he had somehow sensed behind him.
"What?" the figure behind it exclaimed. Whoever they were, they bore no identifying marks or suit or rank. The voice was muffled through a kind of scarf that masked their face, making it difficult to identify, but Riku was certain he'd heard it before somewhere. "No matter," it muttered, then stabbed instead. In the confined space of the tower room, he had little choice but to step back to avoid the thrust, taking a strike back down onto the blade to deflect it.
This was no place to fight, of that he was certain. The wheat entirely forgotten now, it was decided that he'd have to run and find somewhere he could handle this threat more conveniently, almost smashing open the second door beside him in an attempt to leave sooner, grabbing it with his free hand to slam it back into the face of his assailant.
He was outside now, on the top of the structures that made up part of the castle proper. While part of the tower connected to the inside, this part had evidently not. It made little difference to him though, not looking back as he headed for the door inside. Sounds behind him told him his attacker was already in hot pursuit.
The next door was yanked open, then like the last one pulled back in to delay him further while Riku continued on, barely paying any attention to the well-furnished bedroom he was trespassing in, heading for the next doors, a pair of double-doors that left him with little doubt what was on the other side.
Riku headed through anyway, once again closing the doors behind him. As these were wooden and not the heavier metal ones at their own castle, he was barely surprised when a 'thunk!' sound came from the doors, showing the tip of a blade poking through. A throwing knife, maybe.
He noticed Queen Vitesse with Seven and presumably the Queen of Swords, and paused to give them a respectful nod. "Your Majesties," he said. "Excuse the intrusion, I'll be out of your way in just a few moments."
They looked more surprised by this than they had by his sudden appearance.
The doors were opened again, revealing his attacker and, yes, a short knife stuck into the door. Whoever they were, they wanted blood! His delay to explain himself had cost him though, and he was forced to engage them once more.
Several more attacks were blocked or avoided as he waited for an opportunity to strike back, finding it after his opponent had made an upward strike that had been easy to evade. Riku struck hard on the blade from below, sending it out of the attacker's hand and impaling it into the here wooden ceiling.
"Damn you," the attacker hissed, clawing at one side for another weapon.
"Sorry about your ceiling," Riku quickly told the Queen of Swords, then left them, heading through the second set of double doors, quickly navigating not to the opposite door again, but to the one he guessed would lead back into the castle. An idea was starting to form, if he could just get enough distance between him and the still unknown assailant...
The door he wanted led to a narrow spiralling staircase, quickly followed to find the local counterpart to the hall in which they met the page. There was no immediate sound of pursuit, but Riku continued on all the same, not wanting to get caught behind again.
He had to try the doors at random to find another staircase that went up, and by the time he did find it he spotted the black-clothed stranger already descending the wider steps with the sword back in hand.
There was no time to stop and wonder whether he'd been seen or not, taking these steps three at a time in his hurry. At the top he exited onto a short corridor, where to the surprise of both of them, he encountered the Nine of Staves carrying two buckets of fish.
"I'll explain later," Riku told him quickly, then with another idea, dismissed Way to the Dawn and took the two buckets from Nine's unresisting hands. "This too," he added, then sent the two buckets, fish, water and all, slipping and sliding down the stairs.
"Curse you!" a voice shouted up. Riku winked at the now stunned looking Nine, recalled Way to the Dawn again and headed on. He'd spotted what he was looking for – this floor had four, plain, unmarked doors, each one with a lock.
He stopped at the first one, pointed his Keyblade and commanded, "Unlock!"
"That won't..." Nine started, but broke off with wide eyes when the short beam of light found the lock and made it click, causing the blue light to flash out from around the frame.
"You're in charge here now," Riku told him while he waited for it to subside. "Make sure things go alright for me." Then without giving him time to answer, he headed into the newly created portal, noticing almost immediately that this wasn't the one he wanted. Here the wooden planks gave way to the more natural woods that made up the Pentacles' Castle.
There was no sense in turning back though, unless Nine told them, his attacker would have no idea which portal he'd used, and unless they tried to use the same one he just had, he was safe. All he had to do was exit at the other end before they opened the door at the Swords end.
No such luck was with him though. He didn't turn to look when he heard the door behind open, instead pointing Way to the Dawn again and commanding it to open the far door.
"I'll get you yet!" the threat echoed down the portal's corridor to him.
"That's what you think," Riku retorted, heading through the door into the thankfully deserted corridor on the Pentacle side, quickly finding the neighbouring door and repeating the process. This time he got the right one, the white stones of their castle starting where the wooden Pentacle side of the portal left off. This time he didn't wait to open the other side, he unlocked it before he'd even reached the halfway point.
Again when he was almost there, the door behind him opened and his attacker was still on his tail. He'd have to hope Knight was around at the other end, if not that he'd have to lure them out into the courtyard and hope the guards were paying attention. At least if one of them put a crossbow bolt through them, he wouldn't have to worry about it so much.
There was no such immediate luck however, the corridor was just as deserted as it had been at the Pentacle end. Riku barely paused for a moment before heading to the nearest tower, thankful they had the foresight here not to put doors in the way. The sound of metal shod feet rapidly followed him, either Knight in his full armour or the attacker, he didn't care which by now. Either way, it didn't make much difference.
Once again he exited into the hall, this time their own one. Much to his surprise, Page stood in his accustomed place at the top of the stairs, though he said nothing as he watched what unfolded before him.
Riku aimed immediately for the doors outside, chancing a glance behind him to see that the metal feet was in fact the same still masked stranger that had assaulted him, noting in passing that he had a fist full of throwing knives again. He wasted no time in getting out through the doors, hearing the metal ring of the knives on them as he slipped out just in time.
"On guard up there!" Riku yelled up to Three and Four, who looked no less stunned by his sudden appearance. "Ready those bows will you?"
"What for?" Four shouted back.
Riku didn't stop to answer, making sure he had plenty of space around him before he faced his opponent again, who on cue burst out of the doors heading after him again. Now in the heart of his own castle, he felt it was time to face off against his opponent and deal with them.
The stranger attacked with the sword again as soon as he was in range, starting a flurry of attacks with ferocious speed, forcing Riku to give up ground more than he defended himself, and then occasionally getting caught by the sword.
He paid little attention to the light wounds being inflicted, trying to hold off the blows long enough to strike back, but being left no quarter to do so.
"Will you just shoot them already?" Riku demanded loudly. "I can't keep this up forever you know!"
Now Knight put in an appearance, emerging from the main doors of the castle alongside Page. He quickly headed for them with his own sword drawn, but was slowed by the cumbersome weight full armour placed on him.
Riku finally got the chance to counterattack, starting to drive back the stranger toward Knight and even managing to disarm him again, sending the sword this time skittering across the stone paths of the courtyard. The stranger backed away, scrabbling at his side for a weapon, then there was the twang of a crossbow being fired.
What could be seen of their face seemed puzzled for a moment as they stopped moving, then slowly keeled over forward, a crossbow bolt in his back.
"Bullseye," Four remarked from the walls, lowering his crossbow.
"Good gods Ace," Knight puffed, finally arriving. "How in the world did you get here, and just what is going on? And what is that?" he added, gesturing to Way to the Dawn.
"Through the portals with this," Riku answered, holding up his Keyblade, then continued, "because I was attacked by him... or her, I didn't get the chance to tell, without warning at the Sword Castle, and this is just something that came with me. Now excuse me, I want somewhere to sit down before I fall down. It's been a hard day."