Disclaimer:
The usual, none of this is mine.
I know the
chapters are kinda short but that's how it was written and I don't feel like
changing it. And I just realized that
my computer has more problems than I realized so don't be too concerned if a
chapter ends up in like French Script at 72 pts.
Sovereign Warrior
Chapter 2
"Dynasty?"
The word had been playing on everyone's mind, but no one had been able to pull themselves to the conclusion. After Talpa's defeat, the Ronin's lives had returned more or less to normal. Since then, none had mentioned, much less even thought the name. And this was everyone's worst fear. Kayura found that all their expectant gazes had fallen on her. Except for the warlords, who had become unsettlingly quiet since their arrival at the Ronin Manor.
"Nothing unusual has happened recently, unless there's something I should know about?" She said, directing the last part towards the silent warlords. Dais was the only one to respond, speaking for all of them, by shaking his head and returning his leer to the floor to admire the carpeting.
The reply didn't have much
affect; it only left more questions to be answered. Who or
what was this thing and, if not the Dynasty, where did it come from?
"It had to be an animal, like a cat of some sort." Sage supplied form the couch.
"But there's no cat large enough
to make marks like that, not even White Blaze."
"White Blaze would never do
anything like that, Rowen, and you know it!" Ryo threw back. What had been left of his patience had
snapped the moment they had convicted his tiger.
"That's not what I was saying."
Rowen remarked quickly.
"Quiet!" Mia was almost yelling
everyone fell silent. "This isn't getting us anywhere. We have to figure out if this thing is going
to strike again and when. Then you can
fight about what it is."
Ryo leaned back in the chair,
defeated, and continued seething in silence.
* * * * *
Cye's consciousness crept back to
him slowly, and the first thing he became aware of was the sudden change in his
surroundings. Afraid, he bolted upright, jarring his injured side. He groaned and lay back onto the
pillows. He finally realized where he
was when he had sat up. Cye was home,
in the room he shared with Kento, in Mia's mansion. He let out a relieved sigh and waited for the pain to fade.
Once it ebbed to the point where
he could ignore it, he took another glance around the dark room.
Asleep in an armchair he had
dragged next to the bed sometime earlier that evening, was Kento. A smile tugged at Cye's lips. His snoring was almost inaudible. The warrior of trust reached out and weakly
shook his knee. After more than a
moments hesitation Kento abandoned sleep and slowly opened his eyes. Immediately noticing Cye, his face lit up to
see him awake.
"How ya doing buddy?" He asked,
jumping from the chair to his knees next to the bed, he rested his arms on the
edge. "How do you feel?"
Cye smiled at his friends
concern. "I don't remember much of what happened, but, otherwise, fine."
"So, I guess, then you couldn't
exactly tell us what happened, how you got those scratches."
Cye could tell by the look on
Kento's face that his injuries went far beyond just 'scratches'. "How bad is
it, really?"
"Five broken ribs and between
each of them a gash, about two or three inches each." Kento's face had taken on
a guiltier look.
"Didn't Sage-" He cut him off.
"He tried," Kento said in a
solemn voice. Seeing the questioning
look on his comrade's face, he continued. "But something happened, we aren't
sure what exactly. When he tried to
heal you, something just zapped his power and he fainted. He's still out as far as I know." His gaze
turned in the direction of Rowen and Sage's room. Cye was speechless; a worried look creased his face. "You should
get some rest," he said quietly and returned to the armchair.
Cye wanted to keep awake and
think about what Kento had just told him, but exhaustion was pulling back into
sweet oblivion. In only a matter of
minutes he was once again asleep.
* * * * *
The next day went on without a problem. Kento had helped Cye down to the den so he could watch TV while he recovered. Feeling useless, he often insisted on cooking meals, which Mia always said she could handle and threatened to tie him to the couch if he didn't stay put so he wouldn't hurt himself any further. He felt better as the day went on, but he would glance expectantly toward the stairway every so often, wanting Sage to just appear there and be perfectly okay. But he never showed and Rowen wasn't seen at all either because he was up in their room watching over him.
Cye had fallen asleep too easily
that night, but Kento just lay there restlessly. He listened silently to his friend's slow steady breathing while
he thought. What happened to Cye, would
that explain what happened to Sage? What kind of animal would do something like this? The questions only stopped when he, too,
fell asleep.
* * * * *
Cye's eyes fluttered open and he
took a quick, worried glance around the room.
"No, please, not again!" He
pleaded under his breath, as he sat up fighting back waves of pain. Throwing back the covers he stepped out onto
the carpeting, which should have been blue but had turned a hard, depressing,
stone gray. Blood ran down the walls
like an unfinished paint job, making him nauseous. Cye glanced towards the bed on the other side of the room;
unfortunately Kento was nowhere to be seen. Crimson moonlight streamed in through the window, beckoning him
closer. He opened the glass door and
stepped out onto the gallery.
The moon hung low in a star-less
sky and a cold wind stirred making Cye uneasy. He caught movement in the corner of his eye and he turned his gaze
toward the dew-soaked lawn.
There, not twenty feet from the
house, burning like a white bonfire in the stale, red moonlight, was his worst
nightmare. It was the fire cat.
* * * * *