A Tale of Two Torrents

By Dixxy

Chapter Five: Lord Termini's Domain

(Cye)

The ride didn't take too long, but it gave me enough time to think. I wasn't sure if I trusted out "savior" in the full, which isn't a good sign, especially coming from me. Why would a Dynasty lord (presuming he was some type of lord) save a couple of kids from the Mortal Realm when most lords try to DESTROY it? Was he just the black sheep of Dynasty lords or something?

On top of that, something was definitely not right about that man. When he and his men saved us from the pack (group?) of butt-monsters, I had felt something that felt familiar. A bad familiar feeling. But. . . what was it? And, assuming I wasn't imagining it, what was it?

In less than an hour, we reached the man's home. It was a large, mansion like home surrounded by a tall wall. When we got closer, I saw that there was also a moat surrounding the barrier, a few dorsal fins making it seem as if there was something not so nice living in the waters.

The leader of the men raised his hand, causing a drawbridge to lower. He snapped the reins of his horse and all of the purple horses (ours included) went inside. Sara and I looked around to see a training grounds where more men were training with swords and staves, bows and arrows, and battle axes that looked like they could end my life before I could give out a counterattack- physical or magical. Young men and women in brown clothing were offering water and towels to the training men.

"Welcome to my humble abode, Calvin and Serena," he said.

Sara raised her hand. "I'm sorry, but we never caught your name."
"Lord Radcliffe Termini, my lady," he said, taking his hat off as he bowed slightly forward. He took Sara's hand and kissed the back of it. Sara blushed slightly, and I felt a slight sense of sudden jealousy. He gave her a somewhat toothy grin as he straightened himself. "But please, Lord Termini or just Termini shall do, milady. I welcome you both, Calvin and Serena, as my honored guests."

Sara was still blushing. "No need to bow," she said.

"Ah, but you and your husband are my guests, you see," said Termini.

I raised an eyebrow. He thought Sara and I were married? "Um, sir, you've-"

"I'll have a group lead you to the young girl. To my knowledge, she's in the hospital wing awaiting someone to come pick her up. After that I'll have a servant show you to your room," said Termini, getting off his horse. "I'll see the three of you at dinner tonight."

"But we need to get home before-" Sara started, but by then we were already being ushered inside the great doors. The two of us looked at each other in confusion. This man wasn't going to let us leave anytime soon. But, the question was, why wouldn't he let us leave?

The hallways of Termini's mansion were huge and elegant, lined with fancy decorations that had a definite British touch, making me feel a little at home. The carpet was soft and plush, as creamy white as the walls and ceiling. Sara was looking around in amazement at the sheer size and wealth of the place. She looked at me, questions in her eyes. I didn't say anything- I wasn't sure if she was still mad at me.

And actually, I was kind of hurt by her words about my being a "mistake". I know that the circumstances around my. . . beginning, were all but normal, but, did my parents consider me an accident? Did my mother feel that way about me? Was that why Sae (my older sister) seem to hate me? Did Anubis question himself about my existence?

The servant who had led us down the long hallways brought us to a room and opened the door. A young, brown haired woman dressed in pink was tending to Sue Lee, who was unconscious on the bed. A large, bushy gray pillow of some sort was on the floor by the bed, probably some sort of an extra chair.

The nurse looked up and smiled. She placed the back of her hand to Sue Lee's forehead. "She'll be fine. Poor thing is only sleeping, but she should be awakening very soon, perhaps in the next half-hour." The nurse then stood up to walk out of the room. She closed the door, leaving us alone with Sue Lee.

Sara started to walk over to Sue Lee, looked down at the gray thing, and stopped short. She back herself up against me, staring at the pillow in fear. I placed my hands on her shoulders and placed my head down so she would know I was looking for an answer. "Uh oh," she said.

"Uh oh what?" I asked. Then I got a better look at the "gray pillow". I gasped.

It was a butt monster.

"Mmm. . ."

We both looked over to see Sue Lee stirring. Good, she was all right. She sat up and yawned, slowly opening her large, violet eyes. She stared at the two of us in mild confusion. "Cye? Sara? What. . . where, where are we? Why am I in a bed? How did I get here? What's going on?"

I raised my finger to my lips. "Calvin and Sara, please," I said. I quietly walked over to her bed and sat down at the foot, explaining why we weren't using our real names. Sue Lee nodded, understanding. She looked around and eventually saw the butt monster beside her bed.

"Sue Lee, do you know why that thing is there?" asked Sara.

"He's a nice butt monsters," she said, reaching down to pet him. "He was only hungry, remember?" The butt monster woke up, yawning and stretching. It then laid its furry head on Sue Lee's lap. The scar across its eye told me it was the one that had messed up my backpack earlier that same day. The small girl began to pet his head.

"Are you sure?" asked Sara. She nervously sat next to me, placing herself between me and the strange creature. She then tried petting the wolf-like creature for herself. A strange, almost purring sound emitted from his throat, causing my partner in arms to smile.

"Are you sure it's a boy?" asked Sue Lee.

"I don't know. Why don't we ask someone?" asked Sara.

"Before we worry about our furry. . . friend," I said, "we need to figure out what's going on around here. I don't think I trust Termini. Something about that guy gives me the creeps. His aura is just. . . I can sense something I don't like on it." I bent my head down as I tried to think of what it was.

Sara nodded. "Yeah, he thinks we're MARRIED! Where did he get that idea?"

"Well, we were arguing pretty badly for a while back there, I suppose," I said, scratching my chin. "Kento's parents argued a lot and they had a VERY happy marriage. Heck, my last count was five kids, though Lord knows they've had more since then. Kento is convinced they don't sleep between taking care of children and MAKING new ones."

"Ha, ha," said Sara. She sighed heavily, edging closer to me. She looked down at her lap, where her folded hands were. Sara then looked back up at me, her large pink eyes filled with emotions of what seemed like remorse. "Look, Cye, before we were attacked, I wanted to say something."

"You were attacked!" asked Sue Lee.

"A pack of the butt monsters," I said. I turned to Sara. "Yes?"

"I. . . I'm sorry I got mad at you over the bikini-top thing. I'm sure that any of the others could have just as easily done it. Besides, I shouldn't have ben wearing that in the first place," she said. "And about hitting you. And what I said about you being a mistake. Cye, how you were conceived isn't important. It's what you do once you get here that IS important."

I sighed heavily. "I said some things I shouldn't have said, either. That whole running around topless thing was a very foolish and cruel thing to say. Then to top it all off I swore at you and said you didn't deserve your armor," I said. I held my hand out to her. "I think we both said some foolish things. Friends?"

Sara accepted it. "Friends."

Sue Lee cheered. "Yay! You're friends again!"

I raised a finger to my lips, but I did smile at Sue Lee. She was so sweet, so naïve to the ways of the world. So much like Yuli. Both had unwittingly found themselves involved in an inter-dimensional fight for humanity. "Okay, now that we have THAT settled, there's something else we had to address."

"What?" asked Sara. She, Sue Lee, and the butt-monster leaned towards me.

"Something is obviously up, and we need to find out what it is. Sara, we're going to humor Termini about the marriage thing and play the role. He seems to really like that idea for some reason, and pretending we're married might let us figure out why. Can you do that?" I said.

Sara nodded. "All right. And Sue Lee?"

"Friend," I said. Sue Lee nodded. "Now, what about our. . . friend?"

"He's nice!" said Sue Lee. "He stayed with me sand saved me from another butt monster."

"For himself or for your safety?" I asked. The butt monster growled at me in response. I held up my hand protectively and it backed away. "Hey, calm down there." I looked him over again. "But it seems that they aren't common pets. Like wolves or tigers are unusual pets."

"Ria has a tiger," said Sue Lee.

"As I said, they aren't COMMON pets," I said, laughing. "You don't see people walking their tigers or bringing their wolves to the vet on a regular day basis. I know exactly two people who own tigers as regular old house pets. Yes, Ria is most definitely one of them. The other one is Ryo."

"Ryo?" asked Sue Lee.

"Ryo is the Ronin Warrior's Wildfire," said Sara. She looked at me, visibly asking if she was right. I nodded, confirming what she had said to be true. "Yup, Cye says I'm right. To put it into perspective, think of it this way. I am to Cye what Ria is to Ryo. Sam is Sage what Ria is to Ryo. Understand?"

"Nice analogy," I said. "Let's let him. . . uh. . . her. . . it stay here for a while. If it is on our side, then it could be useful." The monster growled again. "Hey! I don't know if you're a boy butt monster or a girl butt monster! Heck, I don't even know WHAT you are! Give me a break!"

"We can ask someone around here or try and find some sort of a library. You guys are good at stealing restricted books," said Sara. I smiled, remembering one time that Kento, Sage and I had once broken into one of Trulpa's more selective libraries. We'd nearly been shredded by killer books, but we'd somehow escaped with our lives and the spell books connected to Wildfire and Strata (we already had the other three).

"True," I said. "So, let's get situated and find out what's going on around here."

An hour later, Sara and I had been given a room and a change of clothes. The room and the clothes were less than desirable. One bed in the room ("You can take the floor," Sara had so kindly offered), and part of my outfit included a pair of tights. I changed in the bedroom while Sara took the bathroom we'd been provided with.

The outfit was straight out of the renaissance. The shirt was a light blue in color, baggy and striped with embroidered blue thread. The boots were a darker blue and velvet, something that looked very expensive. But the tights were. . . tights. Blue tights, yes, but they were tights. And I didn't want to wear to the tights.

But, since I didn't want to run around in my underwear (or, God forbid, NO UNDERWEAR), I decided it was better than the alternative. Six failed attempts at putting them on by hopping around the room and four runs later, I was able to get into pair of tights number five. I was pleased to find they were more comfortable than they looked. I was just putting on my boots when Sara came out of the bathroom.

"Hi," she said. The dress was a beautiful floor-length pink gown with long sleeves and a low neck that revealed a little more cleavage than she probably would've liked. The bodice was laced with small beads arranged in a floral design. She had tied her hair back, giving her a mature look that I wasn't used to. Sara was usually so care-free and juvenile at times. This was. . . so. . . different.

I stared at her in stunned silence.

"Cal, my darling, you can pick your jaw up off the floor now," she said. She spun around for me, which is when I saw a nice bow at the small of her back. She stood facing me again, the skirt of her dress continued to twirl for a slight bit before settling back into place. "How do I look? Do you like it?"
I shook my head. "Um, nice. Very, very nice."

"So do you," she said, looking me up and down. "Honestly, I don't know why guys run around in such baggy pants. I think they look much nicer in the tight pairs they wore back in the eighties. Come on, I'm interested in finding out what's going on around here. Let's get to dinner and meet with Termini."

I nodded in agreement, offering an arm to her. "Shall I escort you to dinner, darling?"

"Of course, sugar buns."

"Sugar buns?"

"Humor him."

"Oh, right."