** disclaimer: Digimon does not belong to me. Takeru, Hikari, Cody, Yolei and Davis don't belong to me. If they did, I'd be rich. So leave me alone you vultures!
Pilgrimage: Chapter Three
**two days later**
"I'm fine TK!!" Kari snapped for the fourth time as she adjusted the sling on her left arm without breaking stride. "Really, I am!"
Kari had been enduring Takeru's well-intentioned but ultimately annoying questions about her welfare for the past five hours. Deep inside, she was touched, but as the questions went on and on, even the normally tolerant girl's patience had begun to wear thin.
"It's not like I'm dying or anything, it's just a chipped collarbone! It's not even broken!" she added hastily at the hurt expression on his face, even as she continued to march resolutely. "And the pain-killing herbs Davis' healers gave me are working. Don't worry!"
People around the small, travelling column of Taelidani kept shooting them curious glances as they walked. Takeru had the distinct impression that the murmurs going around were centered around the two of them. Altogether, Davis' column numbered around a hundred. However Takeru had been told that the Taelidani nation numbered nearly a hundred thousand.
The number surprised him. The Taelidani were rarely seen, and they never seemed to stay in one place. It was not as if they entirely shut themselves off from the outside world, but contact was rare. And where contact happened, the Taelidani tended to be very close-mouthed about their inner workings. The peoples were divided into numerous tribes and wandering caravans, so an accurate estimate of their actual numbers had been impossible. Some had ventured a guess of several hundred. Some had guessed several thousand. But what Takeru was learning here, was that the Taelidani were an organized nation, just as populous and powerful as any other kingdom.
Behind the pair, Cody cleared his throat carefully, jerking the blond boy back to the present with a blunt question. "Are you two always like this?" he said in standard Gaean. Although Kari and Takeru were fluent in Rek'hessen, Gaean was the language they were all the most comfortable with.
Kari looked embarrassed. "Not really."
"And why do you call Takeru 'TK'?"
Kari and Takeru looked at one another, and shrugged. "I don't know," the girl answered. "It was a nickname from when we were seven. And it's stuck ever since. His father seemed to call him that, so I guess I picked up on it."
"Really?" Cody looked interested. "Any other nicknames?"
"Well," Kari said slyly as she caught Takeru's alarmed glance. "Quite a lot actually…. Laesbube, to start…"
Cody laughed, and Kari smiled. But Takeru, looking around, only made an embarrassed grin. People were turning from all around the caravan at the sudden noise. And even his grin faded as he realized that everyone else was dead serious.
The entire tribe traveled in strained silence, save for a few playing children. Several men trudged along on either side of the trio, trying to remain inconspicuous as they kept one hand on their weapons. In the back corner of his mind, the blond boy wondered whether Davis had ordered them there, or whether they were there of their own volition. Either way, it was obvious the men weren't there to protect them. They were there to protect the tribe from them.
As Takeru watched, one five year old girl, too innocent to know what might be bad for her, suddenly decided to wander over to see what the blond boy was all about. Clutching a toy, she walked trustingly up to Takeru, her eyes big with curiosity. Smiling, Takeru extended a hand towards her, glad that at least someone was recognizing his presence.
But almost immediately, an older woman, presumably the girl's mother, pulled her back. "Takokujin," she whispered sternly into her child's ear, giving Takeru with a distrusting glare as she herded her away. The boy felt the smile fade from his face as he lowered his hand. Perhaps the mother did not know that he spoke perfect Rek'hessen to have said the scornful "Outsider" aloud for him to hear. Or perhaps he was meant to hear that. Beside him, Cody and Kari had noticed the incident as well. Cody frowned, while Kari merely gave Takeru a sideways glance.
"That mother was afraid of us," Kari observed frankly, still in Gaean. No use giving away that both she and Takeru had understood the mother's insult perfectly.
Cody opened his mouth to deny it, but closed it again as he looked around. There was a wide berth of space around the trio, as everyone strove to put some distance between the strangers. To deny it would be like trying to prove the sun rose in the west each morning.
"Not afraid," a voice suddenly said beside the blond prince. "Perhaps wary is a better word."
Takeru whirled around to see Yolei strolling along casually at his left. Instinctively, the blond boy's hand went for his sword, only to relax and drop again. He couldn't recall sensing her, which was surprising. Very few people in Gaea could sneak up to him without him knowing it. "Don't do that again," he admonished.
Yolei backed off a step. "Sorry," she said, her hands held up. There was a small smile on her face, but it did not reach her eyes. "It's not right for guests to be treated like this, but it's not often that we get visitors. That mother was only trying to protect her child."
Takeru and Kari glanced at each other. It was the formal response of a host, delivered like a memorized line. Neither of them had much experience in picking up hints in other people's body language and tone of voice, but even they could read between the lines. "We understand," Takeru replied, just as formally.
They were not welcome here. The Taelidani did not like them, did not trust them, and were scared of them. Cody, and perhaps Yolei and Davis wanted them to stay, but the others did not. Even without Yolei's words, Takeru would have noticed that allowing the two of them to travel with the column was not a popular move with the people. He was not familiar with the inner workings of Taelidani politics, but he got the distinct feeling that Davis was undermining his own authority with a move like this.
At the first opportunity, Takeru decided, they would leave. It was the only courteous thing to do. But as he turned his thoughts away from the troubling subject, he gave Yolei's face a strange glance. The first time they had met, he hadn't really gotten a good look at the girl. Now, in the sunlight…
"Yolei," he said hesitantly, "what is that on your face?"
Yolei touched the crystal lenses in front of her eyes self-consciously. For a brief moment, the self-assured mask faltered. "These?" she said. "They're spectacles. Glasses. They're supposed to help you see better."
Kari looked puzzled. "You weren't wearing them when we first met, and you were using a bow and arrows."
Cody smiled. "She doesn't really need them," he explained. "Those lenses are just plain crystal, and they don't help her see better at all."
"So why does she wear them?" Takeru asked, puzzled.
Yolei shrugged. "It makes me look smarter," she said hesitantly.
"Oh," Kari said simply. Then she couldn't resist a smile as she continued, "I never knew Taelidani were concerned with looking smart."
Yolei looked away. Takeru glanced at her incredulously. Was Yolei Inoue, the cold Taelidani leader he knew, actually blushing?
"Hey, everyone's entitled to something, aren't they?" Yolei said as she reached up to take the spectacles off. "Just 'cause we're Taelidani doesn't mean we're not human."
Kari's hand rested lightly on Yolei's arm, and the purple-haired girl looked up, startled. Her gaze met the Kurtalian girl's smile. "Don't worry, keep them on," she said. "They look good on you."
Yolei nodded, and lowered her hand, a sudden twinge of confusion flashing through her mind as she glanced at Kari. This Kurtalian girl, despite their history, would deign to comfort her? They dropped back into a silence, but this time, it was no longer hostile. The tension had eased a little with the banter.
"How far are we from Maran?" Takeru finally asked.
A day ago, when Kari had awoken, nothing Takeru did could stop her from pushing on. He had been all for letting Kari rest for a couple days at least, and the healers had backed him up, but Kari would have none of it. The best he had managed was to make her stay put for one day, but after that, he could do no more. Hikari Kamiya was not a girl to be coddled. And so, amused, Davis had broken camp, and led his Taelidani onwards.
Yolei looked the boy up and down. "Why? Are you tired?"
"No, I'm just worried about Ka- " The blond boy stopped at the suddenly murderous gleam in Kari's eye. "I was just curious," he finished meekly.
With another glare, Kari turned back to Yolei and repeated Takeru's question, "How far?"
Yolei shrugged. "We're very close. It should be over that dune-top to the left. See? Davis is almost at the top already. We should be there soon."
Takeru looked up. Yolei was right. Davis was already standing at the top of the dune, looking down at something on the other side. Looking down, the blond boy concentrated on climbing up the steep slope, being careful not to slip on the sliding sand.
"What's it like?" he heard Kari say beside him.
"You've never heard of it before?" Yolei asked.
The blond boy shook his head. "No," he answered truthfully. "We're from out west, from the mountains, and it's the first time we've been in the desert."
Yolei looked down to concentrate as they began ascending the dune. "Maran's just a small village, and we're just going there to pick up some water to replenish our supplies. Five hundred inhabitants or so. Nothing important, 'cept some stubborn farmers just refuse to leave this land in favour of some of the better farming grounds to the east of here." The girl shook her cloak a little to dislodge the sand coated on the hem. "It used to be fertile farming ground around here till around a decade ago. It was dry, it was hard, but it was fertile. Well, nowadays the crops seem to be getting worse year after year. Who knows why?"
Cody shrugged, and Kari shook her head as Yolei looked at her. "I have no idea," she confessed. Then they all fell quiet again as the slope increased. It required too much concentration to navigate the slippery sands now to talk.
I wonder what Maran looks like, Takeru wondered as he trudged uphill. Is it anything like Kurtal…
Then Davis's yell broke his train of thought as effectively as a mallet might shatter glass. "Taelidani, arm yourselves! Yolei! Razul! Get up here right now!!"
Shouts of alarm began spreading across the Taelidani column as the men instantly unsheathed their weapons. Yolei broke out in a dead run for the dune top, alarmed at the slightly crazed note in Davis's voice. Takeru, Kari and Cody looked at each other, then quickly hurried after the girl as she clambered her way up the dune sands.
"Davis?!" she called out as she neared the dune top, Takeru, Kari and Cody close behind her. "What's wrong? What's the matter?!" Then she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. From behind her, as they hurried to catch up, Kari could see Yolei's hands fly up to cover her mouth.
"What the hell happened to Maran?!!"
Takeru's eyes widened as he crested the ridge. Before him lay the skeletal remains of a small town, completely laid waste to. Where there had once been fields that supported crops, there were now only charred ashes. Even from this distance, he could see the bloodied bodies and corpses that littered the streets. The buildings were all gone, burnt to the ground, leaving behind only their fire-blackened stone foundations.
The blond boy closed his eyes as a violent explosion of memories flooded back. Kurtal. Kurtal had looked exactly like this, except where Kurtal had still been on fire when they found it, Maran looked utterly wasted. Whoever did this had left days ago. This is not Kurtal, he thought to himself as he took a deep breath, this is Maran. Another innocent village that suffered the same fate.
For a few moments, everyone on the ridge-top was frozen with shock. Nothing stirred except a light sigh of wind. Davis was the first to snap out of it. Hurriedly taking off his pack, he laid it in the sand, speaking with his second, a large man named Razul. "Make sure everyone stays right here, on this dune-top," he ordered as he put his hands together, unconsciously reaching for the kodachis sheathed along his forearms. "Yolei and I are going down there to see what happened to Maran."
Razul shook his head. "Whoever did this might still be around. Are you sure it is wise for you to- "
"I'll be fine," Davis said impatiently. Pointing at several men, he snapped his fingers. "Onam, Han, Jerem, you're with me. Yolei, you too. Razul, I want you to organize several parties of warriors to search for survivors. Go for a grid pattern, and do it as fast as you can. Get some healers ready as well, just in case. The rest of you, stay put!"
"What about me?" Cody asked as he pointed to himself. At the moment, he looked very scared indeed.
Davis ruffled his hair. As Cody was now an orphan, the two T'rakuls had assumed responsibility for the young boy. "Stay here with everyone else. Don't do anything, or go wandering anywhere, until I get back." Together with his men, he prepared to set off.
"We're coming as well," Takeru said firmly as he dropped his pack. Beside him, Kari nodded determinedly.
"No, I want you to- "
"We want to see what happened to Maran," Kari said defiantly.
"It's safer here in the dunes. Like Razul said, whoever did this might still be- "
"We want to see what happened to Maran." Kari's glare challenged Davis to make something of it.
Davis stared at the girl for a long moment. "All right then," he finally said. "Follow along if you wish." Then, turning his back, he started the trek down towards the massacred village.
**********
The devastation was even worse up close than it was from afar. The ground was stained patchily with blood, as if puddles of the stuff had dried all over the streets. The buildings were nothing but charred hunks of black, and the crops were completely destroyed. And the smell was overpowering. Here and there, littered haphazardly across the street as the helpless civilians tried to run for it, were corpses. Dozens of them. The stink was horrible, the sight horrendous.
Takeru's eyebrow twitched when he saw a pitiful sight. A man lying facedown in his own pool of dried blood, a farming scythe held like a weapon in his hand, slumped in his own house's blackened doorway. The door had been smashed into splinters, and even the wooden doorway was destroyed, as if someone had gone crazy with an axe. Inside what remained of the dimly lit shelter, the blond boy could see a mother, and three children lying on the floor amidst the wreckage of their own home. The children's bodies were backed up against a wall, and their mother was slumped over them, killed in a futile effort to take the blows meant for her children. The slashes that had killed them were so savage that they left red streaks on the walls, where the victims' blood had been sprayed.
"Aman no Tenkamus, uwano f'air Tenken," Yolei whispered as she carefully turned over the dead women, and closed her sightless eyes gently. Beside her, Kari sighed. It was a fabled saying in Ancient Gaean, the language of the Council. Yolei continued, her voice growing low and spiteful. "'And there shall be no war, for the Tenken has been fulfilled." The words sounded horrifically ironic under the circumstances. As she got up, she kicked the ground savagely, throwing up a small cloud of dirt.
"Complete and utter bullsh*t!!"
Wisely, Kari did not comment on the blasphemous statement. But Yolei was right. The Tenken was meaningless now. These are violent times we live in, she thought as she picked her way around a fallen wall. And getting more violent every day. Even peaceful farmers won't be allowed to stand aside. If your neighbour's house is on fire, don't believe for a moment that you are safe. The flying embers will eventually set yours alight as well.
Her eyes hardened as the line of thought continued. Just like those same embers floated our way one fateful day…
They continued to march into the ruins of Maran in silence. For Takeru, the search was almost surreal. It was almost like he was back at Kurtal again. After one year, the painful memory was back in full force, and he squeezed his hands into fists. He had his own hunch about who it was, but he kept his mouth shut. He had no proof. Not yet.
"Split up," Davis said grimly as they reached a crossroads. "Yolei, go with Kari and check out the eastern section. Onam, Han and Jerem check out the west. Takeru and I will be here in the center."
Nodding, the three pale Taelidani split off. The search parties that Razul headed spread out, searching among the corpses for survivors. Yolei gave Davis a rather strange look, then set off with Kari beside her. As his people dispersed, Davis turned, and began combing the inner streets. "Come on, let's keep looking. Search for survivors. But look for some evidence of who did this as well."
"Which flag does Maran hoist?" Takeru said.
"Ichijouji's," Davis said curtly. Takeru felt the bitter taste of confirmation flood his mouth at the name as Davis continued dryly. "Yeah, there'll be hell to pay over this all right. Someone's going to find themselves at the receiving end of a very large, and very angry Ichijoujan army."
Takeru frowned. "But why does any of this concern you?" His eyes narrowed. "The Taelidani don't care about outsiders."
"Are you accusing the Taelidani of something?" Davis said angrily.
"Of course not," Takeru said. "Nobody's contesting that. But then…we also know what this attack means…"
Davis paused. "It concerns me because I have to find out the players. Who's involved." The boy looked pained. "There may come a time when we will have to pick sides..."
Takeru nodded. "Fair enough," he conceded.
But he stopped as he realized Davis had turned around, and was giving him a strange look. "Takeru, your stand can fly, can't it? I thought I saw wings last time I saw it."
Takeru self-consciously touched his breastbone. "It can," he said cautiously. "Though not very far. The farther they get, the weaker they become. I'm sure you and Yolei have discovered that already. Why?"
"Mine can't fly. But would you mind taking a look for us? From above? It might speed things up considerably."
Takeru raised an eyebrow as he considered it. Why didn't he think of that? For that matter, why didn't Yolei think of that? Her stand could fly, couldn't it? Searching from the air would indeed be much faster than along the ground. So he shrugged. "Sure," he said simply. Then he closed his eyes.
Davis shielded his eyes from the sudden blast of sand and light as Takeru's angel stand exploded out of the blond boy's slim form with a high-pitched hum. Again, the Taelidani saw the six white, feathered wings unfurling as the angel hovered above Takeru, its staff pulled into a defensive position.
Takeru lifted his head, and his stand shot straight up into the air. Higher and higher it went, up into the sky over the village, where it stopped abruptly. As Davis craned his head back to look, Takeru's stand seemed to hover in one spot, slowly turning in a circle, and scanning the ground.
"What do you see?" the Taelidani said quietly as he put his hand on Takeru's shoulder. The boy, who still had his eyes closed, seeing the world through his stand's senses, did not answer.
The bond between stand-master and stand is absolute. After all, what is the stand, but a spiritual manifestation of the stand-master? It was exhilarating, this feeling of utter power as one placed one's consciousness into that of one's stand. It had nearly overwhelmed Takeru the first time he had summoned it, and it had taken almost a year to get over the disorientation and dizziness from looking at the world through something that was not your own eyes, or from touching the world through something with something other than your own flesh.
That was why the boy closed his own body's eyes whenever he focused on his stand's senses. Because through his stand's vision up in the sky, and his own vision on the ground, the dual perspectives were so disorienting that the blond boy had thrown up the first time he'd tried it. He had gotten a lot better since then, but he still hadn't quite mastered it yet.
But, he reminded himself, it's only a matter of time…
The edges of his vision expanded until he could almost see three hundred sixty degrees without turning his head. He flexed his right arm, feeling the weight of the golden staff in his hand as he spun it into a resting position, tucked out of the way where it wouldn't interfere with his wings. He was no longer on the ground, but up in the sky, feeling the high winds whistle through his hair, feeling the great wings flexing on his back as he soared…
Suddenly, Takeru frowned. Above him in the sky, his stand suddenly stopped circling and stood still, staring down fixedly at one spot. His finger twitched imperceptibly, and his stand went into a steep dive, disappearing somewhere in the village.
A moment later, Takeru opened his eyes. "Let's go," he said as he began walking in the direction his stand had dived in. "I think I've found something."
"What'd you find?" Davis said as he hurried to catch up with Takeru.
"I'm not sure," came the tempered reply. "I couldn't tell from the air. It certainly looked strange though..."
At length, Takeru led them to a large, main street where the buildings looked particularly devastated. His golden stand was waiting there, the angel's eyes glowing a strange, piercing blue that mimicked Takeru's own. The young stand-master extended a hand, and the angel flew over, and merged back into its master's body, fading away like golden mist.
As Davis looked around, she realized that the villagers must have been up some kind of last stand here, however ineffectual it might have been. The fighting had been more severe here, the surviving walls were blackened with fire, and heavily scored with slash marks. But on the ground, there was something strange.
Walking over, the Taelidani used his foot to turn the corpse over. The man was wearing a green uniform, with a crimson crest emblazoned on his chest. In his hand, the dead man clutched a bloody katana, snapped off about a foot along the hilt.
"Sheid?!" Davis said incredulously as he recognized the crest. "Sheid?!"
Takeru didn't say a word as he got down on his knees and searched the man. The soldier possessed no pack. A search of the pockets yielded nothing. But as he checked the sides, his fingers closed upon a dagger in a sheath, and he pulled it out quickly. The crest of Sheid on the pommel stone, a symbol resembling a heart composed of lines, gleamed in the late afternoon light.
"Well…," the blond boy said as he sat back on his haunches, "he's definitely from Sheid. There's no way Sheid can deny this…. Diplomatically, that is."
"'Diplomatically'? Then you admit that Sheid would never do something like this?" Davis asked.
Takeru straightened up as he brushed his hands off. "Davis," he said quietly, "the Sheid I knew would never do this."
Sheid was located to the north, along the edge of the desert in the cold tundra, rocky soil and boreal country that bordered Ishida. And most notably, it used to be a stand kingdom, one of the six pillars of the Council of Old. One of the most ancient kingdoms of Gaea, it was also one of the most peaceful.
Unlike most other kingdoms, it's army had never been very large. Queen Layla Sheid had always been a voice of peace in the Council, always against the military. To her, if a conflict ever escalated to the point where militant action was necessary, she would already consider the first battle to be lost. The battle for peace. The nation maintained a small guard force in the event of an invasion, nothing more. Even in the worst of times, it had never stooped as low as launching an unprovoked attack against unarmed civilians.
Davis however, narrowed his eyes. "I sense a 'but' coming…," he growled.
"But then, it's been fifteen years," Takeru's eyes looked grim as he regarded the dead body. "Fifteen years of revolutions, coups and turmoil. You said it yourself. Things are changing throughout the land. Strange things are happening.
"After the Age of Gods ended, who knows anymore?"
**********
For the first few minutes, Kari and Yolei walked in silence. Every once in awhile, the shouts of Taelidani soldiers as they combed the streets reached their ears, but they were, for the most part, alone. As they walked, Kari began looking around in puzzlement. There was something wrong about the whole pattern of destruction. Several buildings looked like they had huge gashes carved into them. The pattern of destruction was indiscriminate, unthinking.
As the girl passed the scarred wooden walls, Kari put out her hand and trailed her fingers along the wounds thoughtfully. Why would anyone want to waste time hacking at walls? she wondered. This didn't look like the work of a soldiers. It looked like the work of an army of madmen going crazy with swords.
But that's not it… Kari put her hand to her head, frowning as she looked around again. Something was pressing against the back of her mind, the small detail her unconscious had picked up on, but her conscious had not. And it was irritating her to no end. What is wrong with this scene?
At length, they rounded a corner, and arrived at the oasis of the village. The well-spring that allowed life to exist in this hinterland. The edge of Kari's mouth twitched in fury. Well-spring of life, she thought darkly as she looked at the corpses, how ironic….
Yolei took a deep breath, and some of the colour returned to her deathly pale cheeks. Resolutely, she strode forward, and began systematically checking the bodies in hopes of finding a survivor. Mechanically, Kari began searching as well, placing her finger against the necks of likely victims in hopes of finding a pulse. But she knew it was useless. It was nothing but a formality now. She had smelt death before, and this place reeked with it.
Then Yolei frowned. "Hey, Kari. Check this out."
Kari brushed off her hand, and hurried over. Yolei was kneeling beside one particular corpse. "Take a look at her wounds," Yolei said quietly as the girl arrived. Turning the dead woman over, she pointed, "Do you know any manner of weapons that might cause that?"
Kari peered closely, her crimson eyes narrowing in apprehension. "Those aren't sword wounds," she said. "They aren't arrow wounds, or spear wounds, or the wounds of any weapons I know. In fact," she said as she raised her worried eyes to meet Yolei's, "these look like teeth marks!"
Yolei nodded. "And look at his leg."
Wincing from the smell, Kari inspected the man's leg, and almost fell back in horror. "This looks like it was gnawed off!" she said horrified as she dropped the body. "Something gnawed this man's leg off!!"
"Maybe scavengers came later and did this," Yolei said hesitantly.
Kari shook her head. "No, look at how much blood spilled from the leg wound," she said as she pointed down at the stained ground. "When this man lost his leg, his heart was still pumping."
"T'rakul?!"
Yolei turned to see Onam waving at her frantically from the edge of the oasis itself. Beside him, Han and Jerem were also systematically checking for survivors. "What is it?" she yelled back. "Did you guys find anything?"
"Find anything?" Onam looked more than slightly edgy. "Oh, we found something. You'd better take a look at this." Yolei exchanged a puzzled glance with Kari, then set off running to see what had spooked Onam so badly. Kari followed as well, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Once they got there, Onam beckoned them over quickly. Without another word, he led the two stand-masters to the shoreline of the oasis. The edge was lined with several large blocks of granite, most likely planted there by villagers to prevent erosion. "Take a look at this," he said, as he pointed at the rock. Yolei lifted an eyebrow, and bent down to see.
She sucked in a breath in surprise.
There were three, deep gouge marks that looked like it had been slashed into the solid rock. Kari inspected it carefully. The edges were jagged and recent. But no sword could have carved that without snapping. No man-made weapons could do this, and no man on earth had the strength to carve apart rock.
"What would have the strength to do something like this?" Yolei wondered as he put his hand up to the marks. Carefully, she slid her fingers along the gouges, and pulled her hand away. Her fingers were now glistening with half-dried flecks of blood. Holding her hand up to her face, she stared at it. "Carve apart solid rock like it was…like it was cheese!"
"It's a demon," a pale and sweating Onam said. "It's got to be."
"It is not!" Yolei said firmly. "And I won't have any talk like that in this group."
"A stand-master could," Kari suggested. "I might be able to do that."
Yolei shook her head. "Yes, a stand-master could," she agreed as she traced the ragged gouges with her finger. "But this wasn't the work of a stand-master. Or if it was, not a sane one anyway. It's too…feral. Too beast-like," she added, gesturing at the gnawed and torn apart corpses littered around them.
Then her own violet eyes caught Kari's own. "Onam," she said without looking away. "Could you give us a moment please?"
Onam looked confused, but backed off to join his comrades in their search for survivors. Yolei glanced at him to make sure he was safely out of earshot before she spoke again. When she did, her voice was no longer the confident tone of a leader. It was the scared whimper of a child.
"Kari, what's going on here?" she said as she grabbed the girl's shoulders. "What the hell is that mark, and what happened to this village?"
**********
The search continued for several hours. The parties took no rest breaks until they had combed the entire city in their search for someone still alive, but it was in vain. Every living thing in the city, from the smallest rat to the last human, was dead. Maran was now a ghost town.
The stand-masters had combed the village several times themselves, but they eventually retired to the dune-top as the day wore on. New Taelidani scouts came in to replace those coming out though, and Taelidani reports continued to come in for Davis as he rested on the dune-top.
The village was dead, yes. But even searching on foot, the Taelidani picked up an entire host of small mysteries. And the more Davis heard, the more he became convinced that something was wrong. As Davis rested on the dune-top, overlooking the village, he ran them through his mind over and over again, trying to find anything, any logic he might have missed…
Takeru had summoned his stand again, and picked up a large, winding column of footprints leading away from Maran. But the strict, ordered formation was that of an army's. Takeru and several Taelidani trackers inspected the prints many times, but could discern little from the jumble of sandy prints. Who had done it? And why?
Sheid, Davis thought wearily as he rubbed his temples, in the few times it has actually waged war, has never fought like this! So what…
Then the soft crunch of footsteps on sand broke his chain of thought. Looking up, he saw Takeru approaching, his face set in stone. As he saw Davis' expression, the wanderer shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "We didn't find any people."
Davis took the update in silence. Turning, he stared hard at the ruined remains of Maran. "Takeru?" he said softly.
"Hmm?"
"Tell me about those footprints you found."
Takeru shrugged. "A straight line of footprints," he began. "A lot of them, at least several hundred. They were all in strict rank and file. It didn't look like survivors, if that's what you're thinking," he added grimly. "Prints of survivors would be scattered all over the place, running away, and generally stirring up the sand. These were too ordered. More than that, I can't tell. Three days of wind-scouring smudged them too badly to make out any details."
"I also think Razul found another line of prints along the southern dune," Takeru added. "Leading towards the village. And here, whoever it was was running fast. He thinks they were the prints of the attackers."
Davis however, waved his hand. "I'm not interested in those. Where did the departing footprints lead?"
"North. All of them."
Davis swore. "Damn...," he muttered. And Takeru sympathized. North was the direction in which Sheid lay.
Then Davis lapsed back into silence, and Takeru did nothing to disturb him. It was a private sort of hell, the kind of hell made worse if someone intruded on it. Instead, he stepped up and looked over the dune-top at Maran as well. The village seemed like a smudge of black in the afternoon desert, like God had smitten the earth with a great, jagged bolt of lightning.
Abruptly, the brown-haired boy beside him stood up, and began striding back towards the Taelidani camp on the other side of the dune. Takeru gave Maran one last glance, then turned and followed Davis. Together, the two of them trudged through the sand to rejoin the others.
As they came within the camp, Cody and Kari caught sight of them, and ran up to join them. But as they approached, their questions died in their throats as they saw Davis' intense glare. Takeru shook his head at them, and they remained silent. It was better to not disturb Davis.
"Yolei," Davis said as soon as he came within the camp. Startled, the girl looked up at him. "Find Razul. Perhaps you two should lead these people to the nearest safe haven. That would be Sai Auia. Alert them with what happened to Maran. Kari, Takeru, you're welcome to come with us," he added with a nod at the duo.
Yolei frowned. "Sai Auia? Why?"
"We'll take refuge there for awhile, but for now, I don't want to risk them running in the open desert with a phantom army on the loose. I'll join you there in a couple days."
"And where might you be going?" Yolei asked as she eyed Davis walking purposefully toward them.
"I want to track them," Davis said in return. "Find out who they are, and what their plans are. There's no need to take any more people. I'll be back in a couple days."
Protests burst out immediately. All around them, Taelidani turned their heads to see what the commotion was about.
"Are you crazy?" Yolei shouted. "Whoever it was just slaughtered an entire village! And you want to go find them?"
"I want to see who they are!" Davis yelled.
"It was probably some band of marauders. Granted, a large band of marauders. But this kind of thing happens!"
Davis shook his head. "If I had just seen the village, then yes. I'd probably believe that as well. But we found a soldier wearing the full uniform of the Sheid army. Marauders don't leave uniforms like that behind- "
"The uniform proves nothing," Yolei said heatedly.
"It would be proof enough for-"
But Yolei was shaking her head vigorously. "Look, aside from it being totally out of character for Sheid, it makes no sense! Sheid is involved in devastating wars with Arei and Hun along their northern and western borders. Their resources are strained to the limit as it is. To start a war here, now, would be sheer lunacy. And quite frankly, suicide. Relations between Sheid and Ichijouji are not the best, but they are neutral. If anything, Sheid should be desperately seeking Ichijouji's allegiance!"
Cody snorted. "Well, fat chance of that now."
"And even if they decide to start a war," Takeru said as he picked up the argument thoughtfully. "Start a war for what? Even at their peak, Sheid could never hope to overthrow Ichijouji entirely. The best they could hope for was to gain a couple hundred square kilometers of territory. And what is there to gain here?!"
Kari looked around the empty wasteland. "Wars have always been fought over resources," she mused. "The better forest. The better farmland. The better mines. But if Sheid had to start a war, why over the Seara desert?"
Davis sighed. "I…I don't know what to believe anymore. Everything is changing. In the past fifteen years, things we took for constant are changing radically. All I know is that the Sheid I thought I knew doesn't attack innocent villages like that. Sheid would never kill civilians for no apparent reason. And Sheid does not use attack beasts."
There was a moment of silence. Then Cody summed it all up in one simple sentence, spoken with the innocence of a child.
"I really, really hope it isn't Sheid…"
Everyone sympathized.
"If it's not Sheid," Kari's quiet voice sounded out. "Then whoever tried to pull off this deception was abysmally stupid. It was far too obvious. But who stands to gain from conflict between these two kingdoms?"
Davis whirled around to face her. "Any one of the minor countries Sheid and Ichijouji are battling right now. To start a war would force both countries to pull valuable forces back from the frontlines."
Yolei frowned. "But how did they manage to get past the battle-fronts, travel all the way to the desert, and level a village here? An army that size would be nearly impossible to hide. They'd have to be damned near invisible…"
Nobody answered. Takeru and Kari exchanged alarmed glances.
"Well, all right. You're going to track them," Yolei said edgily when no-one picked up her question. "What are you going to do once you've found them?"
Davis sighed. "I…I'll come back," he said quietly. "I'll meet you guys at Sai Auia once I've found out who was behind this."
"You promise me you won't do something as stupid as trying to take on an entire army by yourself," Yolei all but screeched.
"I promise! I'm just doing some scouting! If all goes well, I won't even have to draw my weapons!"
"It's still too dangerous!" Yolei insisted. "At least take some men with you!"
Davis shook his head stubbornly. "It only takes one to deliver a message. And I want every man available to be here to protect the people. Yolei, that's why you simply must stay here."
Yolei gestured helplessly. "Maran was not our village, it was Ichijouji's. We have no obligations to them-"
"Yolei," Davis said through gritted teeth, "this means war. If nothing is done about this, there may be a battle raging across the desert in less than a month."
"We could always remain neutral…"
The brown-haired boy rubbed his eyes wearily. All of a sudden, he was very tired of it all. "Yolei, think about it. If war erupts, the Taelidani would never be allowed to remain neutral. We can't shut our eyes and pretend that a bloody battle is not being waged all around us. Second of all- "
"Even if it doesn't concern you Taelidani completely," Takeru said softly, "it would still be worth it to prevent a pointless war that started over an incident that never happened. Thousands of Sheid and Ichijoujan lives hang in the balance."
Davis nodded his relief. "Thanks Takeru- "
"That's why I also want to come."
This time, the silence from the gathered people was deafening.
"You're mad as well," Yolei finally said at length. "You're both going to die."
"With two people, it's much easier to watch one another's backs," Takeru said. "And besides, if two stand-masters can't do it, nobody can, and we might as well resign ourselves to our fate, because you know Ichijouji won't stand for this."
Davis and Yolei looked at each other. "Why?" Davis finally said. "Why would you do this? This isn't your home. This isn't your land."
Kari looked up. "Good heavens, is everyone going to question our motives?"
Takeru stared back. "There are five million people, and the peace of two nations at stake. Do I need a personal stake?"
Davis and Yolei still didn't respond. Finally, Takeru sighed. "Davis, you know you can't stop me from coming," he finally said.
Nobody could think of a reply to that. A tense silence descended upon everyone in the arguing assembly. For a moment, nothing could be heard except for the ever-present desert breeze. Davis' brown eyes burned as his mind raced, struggling to make a decision. Finally, Davis turned away and surveyed the ruins of Maran one final time.
"Then it's settled," he said firmly. Quietly, he addressed his second. "Yolei, do you think you can get everyone ready to move within the hour?"
Yolei still didn't look happy, but she nodded. "Half an hour," she conceded.
"Good. Please do so." Then Davis gave Takeru an appraising stare. "And would you please outfit Takeru with a Taelidani bow and arrow, and ready two fast hunting horses? We are leaving immediately."
Yolei gave Takeru a strange look and left. Takeru nodded at Davis with a small smile. "Thanks."
Davis waved a hand as he walked away. "I need to get my people ready. Do you need to bring anything personal of your own?"
Takeru looked down at his cloak and his katana. "I'm carrying everything I need."
"Make sure you are. We're leaving as soon as Razul can get our supplies ready."
Cody looked at Takeru with a strange expression on his face. "Good luck," he said simply to the blond boy. "I hope you come back safely." Then he too turned, and ran off to follow Davis.
And then it was only Kari and Takeru left, standing on the edge of the Taelidani column. For a moment, they just stood and watched the Taelidani ready themselves. As simple wanderers, they traveled light, and carried most of their belongings with them. They didn't really have anything to prepare. So Kari watched as Davis withdrew to make final arrangements with his people, arguing with Yolei all the while. Razul recalled all his search parties from Maran. Cody helped the halted caravan of desert travelers prepare to leave again, drawing water from Maran's now deserted wells to replenish their supplies.
"You're determined to go through with this?" she asked as she turned back to face her childhood friend.
Takeru sighed and sat down on a nearby rock. He unsheathed his katana, withdrew a small file from his pocket, and began to quietly sharpen the blade. The sight sent a pang through the girl as she stepped up to him. Takeru rarely sharpened his katana. It was not a pastime he enjoyed. "Yes," he answered.
"Why?"
Takeru sighed. "Kari, I went over this with Davis. You heard me."
"You were holding something back," Kari accused. "You and I both know it. Don't try and hide something from me TK. I know you too well."
"Kari, you know why," Takeru said softly as he tightened the band of cloth covering the Ishidan insignia, adding a strip of leather for good measure. One of the most infamous katanas in Gaea was not easily missed, and he had a feeling he'd be unsheathing it sometime soon. Sharpened his blade one final time, wiped it with a cloth and put it away.
"Maran was just another Kurtal," he continued. "It was Khaydarin. You and I both know it, but we don't have a shred of proof. I can't go around throwing out baseless accusations. That's why I have to go. To- "
"To prevent any more Kurtals from happening." Kari's eyes looked sad as she finished his sentence for him. "To stop the embers from spreading."
At this, Takeru looked up from his sword, and gave Kari a small grin. "Exactly."
TK, when two people can get this intimate, it's hard not to understand them better than they understand themselves. And I know better than anyone how annoyingly altruistic you can get. There are times when I wish you had the slightest streak of selfishness in you.
Takeru tilted his head, trying to decide how best to deny that. But something else had come through on the mind-link…
You don't want me to go.
At this, Kari was silent. But her crimson eyes, which Takeru could read like a book, told him everything. All around them, the Taelidani were beginning to move again, due east for Sai Auia. They would have to part ways soon.
If it wasn't for this stupid injury, she thought back in return, nothing in the world would have stopped me from coming with you. You know that.
Takeru gave her a worried stare. Kari, you were never very good at dodging my questions. Like you said, you and I know each other too well. Is something wrong?
They stared at each other for a moment. Several Taelidani scouts jerked their reins, sending their mounts plunging forward ahead of the main body. Kari looked into the blue eyes she had known all her life, and suddenly realized that she could hide nothing from Takeru. Just as he could hide nothing from her. She paused as she took a deep breath.
TK, I'm worried. she thought bluntly. I'm worried that you might get hurt, or killed or something. A friend is entitled to that, isn't she?
Takeru opened his mouth to answer, but Kari shook her head. "All I have left of my past life, my childhood," she said aloud softly, "is a collection of memories and images. Richard. My mother. Mr. Fujiyama. Mr. and Mrs. Izumi. Remember them?" a small smile played across her face. But it was a smile stained with sadness, a longing for a world that would never exist again.
"TK," she finally said. "You are the only one left. I don't know if you've realized this, but if you leave me, I would be truly alone. And frankly, I'm scared to death."
"Hey Takeru! We've got your supplies, and we're set to go!"
"Just a minute!" the blond boy yelled back. Then he turned around and held Kari firmly by the shoulders, careful to avoid hurting her injured shoulder.
"Do you remember that time," he said suddenly, "when we were both…oh…ten years old. I remember you had a pet bird. A sparrow. Nothing spectacular, but you loved it to death. For some strange reason, you named it Miggy. And one day it escaped from its cage, and flew away into the mountains. And when you came to me, crying about it, I left Kurtal, promising that I would be back with your bird? Remember that?"
Kari tilted her head. "You idiot. I still can't believe you did that," she said, "You went and searched in the mountains for an entire night, just for my pet sparrow. In the middle of a storm, no less. And when you came back, you were hungry, dirty and dripping wet. But you had Miggy nestled in your hands, safe and sound, just like you promised. Richard was beside himself with worry. He said he didn't know whether to hug you or slap you. And as I recall, I asked you if you were crazy…"
Takeru nodded. "I still remember my reply. 'Am I crazy? Maybe. I don't promise much, but what I do promise, I consider sacred. And if I have to be a little crazy to fulfill it, then so be it.'"
Then his blue eyes turned serious. "One year ago, I promised you I'd go with you, all the way to Ishida. I promised that you'd never have to go on your own strength alone, because you'll always have mine to draw from. Do you doubt me?"
Kari gave Takeru a very, very small smile.
"No."
"Good." Takeru brushed a lock of hair out of Kari's eyes. "I'll be back in a couple days, maybe a week. Don't worry about me. Go with Yolei and the Taelidani. Take care of Cody for me, I've grown kind of attached to the kid. You'll be safe with these people, and safe at Sai Auia."
Kari's lips trembled, then she threw herself forward and enfolded Takeru in an one-armed embrace. Surprised, the boy hugged her back securely. Holding the slim boy tightly, she murmured into his ear. "Come back safely, OK? Don't play the hero and try to fight them. Just…find them, and come back."
"I promise," Takeru said softly into her hair. "No heroics. Not this time."
They stayed in each other's embrace for a little while, just enjoying each other's touch. Then Kari did something she'd never done before. Indeed, neither of them had even thought about.
On impulse, she stood up on her tip-toes, and planted a small kiss on the boy's cheek. Turning, she ran off into the dunes to join the band of marching Taelidani, her face burning a bright red. Behind her, Takeru was left holding his cheek, looking more than a little stunned.
"Hey Takeru!! Sometime today would be nice!"
Shaking his head, Takeru turned to see Davis gesturing impatiently beside two horses, with two small packs of supplies ready. Still holding his cheek, the blond boy jogged over, and mounted his horse. The two young stand-masters set off at a canter to follow the tracks, leaving the Taelidani column behind.
As they rode, Davis gave Takeru a very strange, piercing glare. "Do you care for Kari?" he asked.
Takeru hesitated, then nodded. "We…grew up together. We're very special to one another," he said in response.
"Good." The suddenly cold tone in Davis' voice sent shivers down Takeru's spine. "A warrior cannot fight effectively when he has nothing to protect."
Takeru drew up the hood of his cloak until it obscured his face. "Indeed."
**********
Behind them. Yolei gazed stone-faced at the two departing stand-masters. Some distance away, Yolei saw Kari finally turned away from the sight, and began walking along with the rest of the column. Beside the Taelidani girl, Razul shifted slightly, waiting for her to leave. But to his surprise, Yolei suddenly began speaking.
"Razul," she said in a soft voice, "what I am about to tell you is for your ears only. It must not go any further than the two of us."
Razul frowned. This was unusual. But he stepped closer obediently. "My lips are sealed."
Yolei paused, then continued, still gazing at the receding figures of Davis and Takeru. "Before Davis set off, he left one final order. Razul, I want you to help me keep a very close eye indeed on Kari."
The older man frowned. "Why?"
Yolei shook her head. "This is why what goes on in this conversation must not be heard by anyone else. If we were wrong, the results can be devastating."
When she looked back to Razul, the man was struck by the slightly sad look in her amber eyes. "Davis doesn't know for sure, but he thinks that Takeru and Kari might be involved in Maran's destruction."
Razul was stunned. "T'rakul, are you certain..."
"Think about it," Yolei argued. "Who discovered the Sheid uniform? Takeru. Who found the footprints heading north? Takeru. And who insisted on accompanying Davis? Takeru."
The man sighed. "That is not enough to accuse someone," he said cautiously. "And she is a stand-master. God's chosen servant, and upholders of justice. Do you really believe-"
Yolei's face was stony. "Davis said it himself. He doesn't know what to believe anymore. The land is in turmoil, shifting before our very eyes. Two of God's chosen servants may just have become the devil's greatest weapons. The T'rakul decided to play it safe."
Razul's voice was grim. "God help us if we are wrong…"
Yolei nodded. "That is why we must keep this quiet. Davis agreed to let Takeru come along so he could keep an eye on him personally," Yolei said. "But he also knows that Takeru might be leading him into a trap. That Takeru insisted on coming along just so that he could kill him quietly, to prevent him from ever finding out who destroyed the village. So he left a certain...safeguard. Just in case he's threatened." She took a deep breath.
"Both of us sincerely hope that we are wrong. If we are, you will forget everything I said. Everything." Her eyes burned into Razl like twin glowing embers. "But if we are right..."
"Remember Davis' order. If we do not hear from him within a week," Yolei paused. "You and I must kill Hikari Kamiya."
** Author's notes: Sorry for this taking so long, but I'm really swamped with homework right now. I really have no idea how long the next chapter going to take. And I know this isn't the best chapter so I apologize. To those who insist it's actually very good, (you know who you are), well I'm glad you enjoyed it. But in my eyes, it wasn't a very good chapter. And if you want to complain about my repeated self-bashing, remember this. Self-bashing is a good way to keep humble. I don't measure against other fanfic authors, I measure myself against professional ones. That's why I keep saying I suck. (no duh…) ^_^
Oh yes, the thing with "Miggy", Kari's sparrow. Uh…if you've watched Card Captor Sakura, you'd recognise it. It's that kawaii little story about how Syaoran Li went to look for Meiling's lost bird, adapted to fit. If you have never seen CCS, well…that's a microscopic spoiler for you.
On another note, since author-alerts are now gone, I'm setting up a little email list for those who want to know when I'm posting the next chapter. If you received an email about this chapter, then you're already on it. But if you're interested in signing up, just tell me in the review, or by email. But if you're doing it by review, remember to leave your email address!
Is this a way to "cheat the system"? *grumbles* Damn right it is…