Serenity was surprised they were able to find a table large enough for all six of them to crowd around the next morning. They had the map sprawled out in the middle while they each ate their breakfasts.
"We kinda have a choice," Joey said around a mouthful of food. "We could either go to Sapphire City first to visit the Dragon Tamer or the Southern Empire and see the White Mage."
Both options sounded fantastic to Serenity. "Is the Sapphire City really made of sapphire?" she asked.
Joey shrugged. "Haven't made it a habit of visiting the Dragon Tamer," he replied, and he sounded surly about it.
"Sapphires are just really common there," Malik answered. "Although there was a lot of blue in the city when I last saw it."
That was enough to set Serenity's imagination off. To her, the choice was obvious.
"What about the Southern Empire?" Marik asked. "Anything special about it?"
Malik tapped his chin. "Well, Cloud Castle is literally in the clouds. You have to take a special craft to get inside."
Okay, so maybe the choice wasn't so clear. Now, Serenity was envisioning riding up into the clouds on their way to the castle.
"Ugh, I can't decide now," Marik said, and Serenity nodded to him, understanding where he was coming from.
"Shall we flip for it, then?" Yami asked with a smirk, already holding up a coin.
"No need," Bakura said, laying a hand down definitively. "We'll go to the City."
Joey and Yami exchanged a look. "Uh, okay," the blond said slowly. "Any particular reason why?"
Bakura shoveled another spoonful into his mouth, and it looked at first like they weren't going to get an answer. Finally, he said, "I've heard of strange happenings around the White Mage and wouldn't particularly relish his company, is all."
"Oh, yes," Yami said, pondering, "isn't his the domain with the village that vanished?" Then he smirked. "But that's just a tall tale. Don't tell me you're afraid of a children's nighttime story." And he poked Bakura in the side.
"It's not a tale," the other said sharply. "I...I heard it from a reliable source."
Yami chuckled to himself, and even Serenity thought it funny that the brash, confident, self-proclaimed thief was possibly afraid of what sounded like a cheesy campfire story. "Well, anyway, we don't have to go there first," she said. "The whole point was that we have options. Let's go to the Sapphire City!"
"You heard the lady," Joey said, and he stood to roll up the map.
Soon afterwards, they packed into their wagon. Serenity had agreed to ride in the back, figuring that one of her companions would feel guilty enough to switch with her as they approached the Sapphire City. She laughed to herself at her ingenious plan, which caught Yami's attention. He looked up from where he had been arranging some blankets they had found in the town to make the wagon more comfortable and smiled toward the Oracle's carriage.
"Cute, aren't they?" he said.
It took Serenity a moment to realize that he meant Malik and Marik. The two were conversing gravely about something, too soft to hear that far (by design, Serenity was sure). The idea of them bonded was cute, indeed, though in that moment they seemed way too serious. Serenity wondered if Marik was having second thoughts about traveling with them and almost hoped he would resist the temptation to return to the Delphine with his Equivalent. She knew it was selfish, so she made up for it by wishing for a quick conclusion to their quest so he could go back to the Fiefdom as soon as possible.
When Marik finally came over to their wagon, Serenity blushed and quickly turned to busy herself to hide the fact that she had been watching him. "Oh, there you are," she said when he came into her field of vision. "Ready to go?" And she internally crossed her fingers that he'd say yes.
Marik spared a glance at the other carriage, so Serenity did the same. Malik had already gone inside, yet he kept watching until the carriage took off back toward the Fiefdom. Then he nodded. "Let's go."
Yami's efforts weren't completely in vain. The wagon was certainly warmer, which countered the draft let in by the flap and the front window. It was also nice to sit on something softer than hard wood, and the blankets braced them for the bumps on the road.
"So why do you guys think Bakura really doesn't want to go to the Southern Empire?" Serenity asked quietly to avoid being overheard. She hated to gossip, but she was so curious.
"He's probably got a bounty on his head down there," Yami said with a snicker.
Serenity laughed, too. "Or maybe he owes a debt and doesn't want to pay," she postulated. She could imagine the roguish woodsman pretending to work alongside another thief only to double cross him later. "What do you think, Marik?"
"Huh? Oh, what Yami said." And he went back to his silent brooding.
Yami and Serenity exchanged a glance. While the ex-Golem was never particularly talkative, he seemed especially withdrawn, and his companions knew why. Serenity wondered what it was about the Quickening that changed a person so completely. Could Marik have really bonded with his Equivalent that soon? Well, the ritual did have "quick" in its name.
"I've been meaning to ask you, Marik," Yami began slowly, "back at the Fiefdom, we heard that a powerful mage is behind the reappearance of all these Shadow Ghouls. And that mage would have to be quite knowledgeable about dark magic." He glanced up at Marik before looking away. "Is it...is it possible that this mage is...Karan?"
Marik's eyes widened with shock, then denial. "N-no, he wouldn't. He couldn't. Yes, he has knowledge of the darker arts, but rarely tapped into them. I was the darkest thing he'd created."
Yami didn't look completely convinced, but he said, "If you're sure, then I believe you. Still, this mage must be someone intimately familiar with shadow magic."
"Yesterday, Malik told me about someone called the Shadow Lich. He's the reason the Sorcerers can't leave their domains – he cursed them for banishing him." And he explained the rest of what Malik told him.
Serenity's eyes widened. "So that's why we have to collect the artifacts."
"If this Shadow Lich was able to curse the most powerful mages in Serendom, then he could absolutely be behind the return of the Ghouls," Yami said. "But why now?"
Serenity felt bile rise in her throat as something occurred to her. "It...it might have to do with me. My illness brought me here, remember? What if crossing worlds also brought back the Shadow Lich?" She shivered just thinking about having caused something so catastrophic.
Marik squeezed her shoulder consolingly. "Remember, the Ghouls started appearing well before you arrived. And if the Lich is behind that, then he was active long before you, too."
Serenity gave a brief smile. "Thank you. And anyway, feeling guilty doesn't solve the problem. How and why is the Shadow Lich back?"
And they each fell into their own thoughts, pondering the Lich and the fate of Serendom.
