Daphne: "Hi! I am going to hurry and write this while Kero is over at Eli's house, so I won't be bothered. I just want to remind you that CCS does not belong to me. (I wish it did!). I really hope that you are enjoying this story, and I hope that you will R+R!!

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Palace of the Wolves.

by: Daphne Li

Chapter 6.



"…and then Sorcerer Mattock admitted to us that we didn't belong in that time period at all, and that we weren't really supposed to be born at all. Why we were born in that time, I will never know, but I do know that we have to solve a mystery before we can return to our full human forms. Sorcerer Mattock said something about reincarnation and a wolf…I think…" Landon faltered. Nora and Naoko looked at each other.

"A mystery? About a wolf? That's strange." Nora commented thoughtfully. Tryon smirked.

"Not as strange as you!" He laughed softly. Nora glared at him.

"So then what happened?" Naoko asked, trying to stop the argument.

"Well, soon after that, many people became mysteriously sick and died in our kingdom. Somehow, it was blamed on Tyron and me. Since our parents had died years earlier, we had no idea what to do. Luckily, Sorcerer Mattock turned up before the mob did, and then saved us. Unfortunately, he was killed soon after that by the mob. That room we were in this afternoon was our old play-room. We spent most of our free-time there, because there was nothing else to do." Landon explained.

"What room were you in when…you know, it happened?" Naoko asked.

"We were in the music-room on the second floor, but that was only because that was the first room that we could find that had a lock on it." Landon answered. Nora smiled, but Naoko was looking thoughtful.

"Wolf…reincarnation…wolf…Library!" Naoko cried, startling them.

"What?" Tryon asked, sneering at her.

"The library! I am sure that is has some books about this place. It has too. Maybe a book about legends too. That might help." Naoko exclaimed. Nora nodded.

"I am sure that we can find something…but when are we going to tell the others? We will need their help." Nora reminded Tryon, who was glaring at her.

"We'll take care of that. You just worry about finding those books!" Landon answered. Naoko smiled at him, and for some reason, a red tinge appeared on his blue/white cheeks.

"Wait! I have a guide book about China in my suitcase! Maybe it has something in it!" Naoko cried, grabbing Landon's arm and pulling him out of the room. Tryon turned and sent Nora a sly smile.

"Oh, they left us all alone!" He simpered. Nora glared at him.

"Keep away, bub! Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" She asked. His grin widened.

"Then I'll just go where you can't hit me!" He laughed, and then disappeared. Nora stifled a shriek and looked around her room wildly. Nothing.

"I am seriously going to hurt you if you don't come out right now!" She threatened. Suddenly, a pair of arms snaked their way around her waist and held her in a firm grip. She gave a disgusted and half-fearful moan, and turned to see Tryon's grinning face just above her. She was about to elbow him in the stomach, but he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"Ah, ah, ah! I obeyed you! I came out when you told me to, so you can't hurt me." He said, his ghostly eyes sparkling. Nora glared at him

"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed. His grin widened.

"Your help, of course! We need you to help us solve this mystery and set us free." He answered. She nodded, and gently pried his arms from around her.

"Ok I can do that…but what would my brother do if he were to walk in here and see you hugging me like that?" Nora asked slyly. Immediately, Tryon's grin disappeared.

"I didn't mean it like that, and you knew it!" He hissed. She giggled and nodded.

"I know. I just wanted you to let go of me." At the end of the sentence, she gave a big yawn and sank back into her pillows.

"Goodnight." She whispered, already half asleep. In a few moments, her breathing became regular and her face became peaceful and almost angelic. Tryon stared at her for a moment, and then a real, kind smile came to his lips.

"I also need you to be my friend." He whispered, gently rubbing her cheek with his hand. Then with another soft smile, the young man disappeared into the night.

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~ …I also need you to be my friend…I need you to be my friend…I need you…~ The words kept repeating themselves in Ellanora's dreams all night. But where had she heard them before?

"Nora." Came a voice. Nora rolled over and mumbled something incoherent.

"Nora! Wake up!" Came the voice again. This time, Ellanora didn't move.

"That's funny. Naoko isn't waking up, either." Came another voice. The first sighed.

"Something obviously happened last night, so we had better let them sleep." At these words, Nora turned over and mumbled something that resembled the words,

"Come…back…Tryon." And then she went silent again. The two people who had been talking looked at each other.

"Who is Tryon?" The Meiling hissed.

"How should I know?" The Syaoran replied, as they left the room. Nora turned over again, restlessly. After about an hour more of sleeping, she began to cry in her sleep, softly at first, but then it raised to a wail.

"Nora!!" Shouted Syaoran, running into the room, followed by Eriol, Meiling, Tomoyo and Sakura. The girl was tossing frantically around in her bed, and whimpering. Suddenly, she gave a terrified scream.

"NO! Please don't hurt them! I'll do anything you want, just leave Xiao- lang alone! Ying-fa, run!" The girl shrieked, tears cascading down her face. Suddenly, Naoko came into the room, pale and looking as though she had just been through a world war. She quickly ran up to Nora and gently pulled the distraught girl into a hug. Nora's eyes opened, and she looked around wildly.

"Ying-fa! Xiao-lang! I…Oh, Naoko!" The girl sobbed, when she realized where she was.

"…It was horrible! I don't understand! In the dream, I saw everything so clearly…as if I were there, but now, I can't remember anything! But I was sad…and scared!" Ellanora whimpered, looking around the sun-lit room. Syaoran looked pale.

"You kept yelling my name. You seemed to think that I was going to be hurt." He murmured, giving her a hug. Tomoyo looked thoughtful.

"What does Ying-fa mean in Chinese?" She asked. Syaoran looked shocked.

"It means Cherry Blossom…or Sakura!" He said, turning even paler.

"I knew it was a bad idea to go up there! Something messed with your minds!" Touya said, walking into the room and glaring at Syaoran. Suddenly, Nora stiffened.

"Our minds aren't messed up! They are probably clearer than they have been in some time! Don't you see what is happening?" Nora asked, looking exited. Everyone except for Naoko looked at her in confusion. Seeing this, Naoko rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.

"The mystery is starting to pull together. Nora had a dream, but it does not fit together with the other dream that we all had; Therefore showing, that this dream came from a different source than the other one. Also, Nora can't remember the dream, so this proves that it did not come from one of her direct memories, like the last one that we all had, did." Naoko explained, making everyone but Nora look even more confused.

"DON"T YOU GET IT, YOU MAROONS?" Shouted an unknown voice. Nora and Naoko looked at each other and grinned.

"Hey, guys? You wanted to know exactly what happened to Nora in that room, right? But I seem to remember us promising not to tell…so…they will tell you for us!" Naoko announced, bouncing off the bed and opening a window- curtain.

Sakura, Meiling and Tomoyo all screamed and Syaoran let out a yell; for there, looking quite guilty, stood Landon with his hand over an outraged- looking Tryon's mouth.

"Uh…Hi!" Landon said in a would-be cheery voice. Nora stomped up to Tryon and made to hit him over the head, but he was too quick. With one swift movement, he had her arm bent behind her back, and her back pressed to his chest.

"As you can see, we have had encounters with Ellanora." He hissed in a carefree way. Syaoran growled and stepped forward menacingly.

"Leave Nora alone, you…you…" Syaoran trailed off, unsure what to call the brothers. But it was Landon who made the come-back this time.

"I would have thought that you would remember us, even after all this time, Xiao-lang." He whispered in a hurt tone. Syaoran stopped in shock, closed his eyes, and then started to sway, as though he were remembering something shocking.

"Landon?" He asked hesitantly, opening his eyes in amazement. Landon nodded slowly, and Syaoran smiled.

"I…I don't know how I forgot. I suppose that as I got older, you seemed more and more like a dream. How come you didn't show yourselves before this?" Syaoran asked. Tryon snorted.

"You would have run away, that's why. Anyway, we had a hard enough time trying to convince your sister and Naoko to believe us." Tryon's voice had lost its viciousness, and actually sounded quite nice. He loosened his grip on Nora, who turned towards him.

"You said the mystery had something to do with a 'little wolf' and 'reincarnation'. Maybe… maybe my dream had something to do with the mystery…if only I could remember it! It was almost like I was there, and it wasn't really a memory at all…" She whispered. Tryon looked startled.

"You mean that the dream you had may have been a memory after all, but not from this time period! How rare is it for a person to be reincarnated?" Tryon asked eagerly, turning to Eriol, who shrugged.

"Pretty rare…but I still don't understand something. Is it true that you used to play with Syaoran up there? You actually used to communicate with him?" Eriol asked. The brothers nodded.

"Yes. He used to visit us every day and we would play in our old playroom." Landon answered. Tryon wasn't paying attention to this conversation.

"Reincarnation…we weren't in the right time…Ugh! How does this all fit together?" He moaned. Nora stared at him in shock. This hard-thinking and focused young man was nothing like the one who she had met the day before! Why, this boy was acting decent and sane! Almost like a *live* human would! At this thought, Nora gave a soft giggle.

"Poltergeist-boy is going soft!" She murmured into his ear. For some odd reason, he stiffened, and if you looked closely enough, you would have seen a red tinge to his usually blue/white cheeks.

"Maybe so, but at least I am trying to solve this." He countered. She glared at him, but silenced.

"Wait, I think that Tryon is onto something." Eriol commented. He looked over at Tomoyo and whispered something to her. She nodded.

"We are going to the library." He announced, taking Tomoyo's hand and dragging her out of the room. The others looked after them in amusement, but Nora looked thoughtful.

"Syaoran, isn't there a legend that Wei once told us about this place? You know, about the boy who talked with the wolves?" She asked. Syaoran's eyes lit up.

"Of course! That was a long time ago, even before Clow Reed." He answered. She nodded.

"And Landon, you said that the Sorcerer told you that you didn't belong in that time. Did he ever mention why?"

"No. I think that that is part of the mystery…although I can't think why." Landon answered. Suddenly, Tryon's eyes lit up.

"Wait! I have a theory! Syaoran, isn't there a pack of wild wolves somewhere near here?" He asked excitedly.

"Yes, they like to come out a lot at night…"

"Good! Then tonight, we are going out there to see them!" Tryon said triumphantly. Suddenly, the whole group was nervous.

"To see what?" Sakura asked. Tryon grinned.

"To see the wolves, of course." He answered.

"HOEEEEE?" Sakura cried in fear. Touya glared at the ghostly boy.

"What are you trying to pull?" He hissed at Tryon. Tryon backed up a little.

"I think that we should." Nora defended him. Tryon looked at her in astonishment.

"Wh…what?" He stuttered. She grinned at him.

"My power is with animals, right? Well, I have a distinct feeling I know what you are getting at, and I want to help. Besides, that's what friends do." She said, smiling at him. His face turned from stunned to…as red as a ghosts could possibly get, which is pretty red!

"Yah, that's what friends do." He mumbled. Suddenly, Naoko's stomach growled.

"Um, sorry to break up this little love-fest…excuse me…friends-fest," at these words, Nora and Tryon turned bright red and turned away from each other with a 'humph', "…but I think that it is about time for Nora and myself to get something to eat. We skipped breakfast, if you haven't forgotten." She reminded them. Everyone quickly agreed that it was about time for lunch, and hurried down to get Tomoyo and Eriol for lunch.

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*Eriol/Tomoyo POV*

"Eriol, what exactly are we trying to find?" Tomoyo groaned. Eriol grinned and held up an old, leather-bound book.

"This." He answered, walking over to the couch and sitting down. Tomoyo sat down next to him and watched with interest as he turned to a certain page and began to read outloud.

"…'It is said that every night, the 'Mystery Prince' would go into the forest and play with the wolves, thus earning him the nickname of 'little wolf boy'. This is also believed to be the translation of his real name, though there is no proof of this. As this boy grew up, it is said that he fell in love with a lovely Princess. It is not known what happened between this time, and the time both he and the Princess disappeared, but it is believed that they ran away together, leaving behind the Prince's distraught sisters and mother, and also the Princess's betrothed. Sadly, there was no proof to go along with this tale, so the legend eventually became almost non-existent. It is said, however, that ghosts haunt the palace now dubbed as the 'Palace of the Wolves'. Some say that the ghosts are the Prince and Princess's. Others say that there is only one ghost, and it is that of the Princess's betrothed. Whatever the story, there is little proof behind the tale, so we must label this as a legend, or a fable." Eriol finished. Tomoyo's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"No proof, huh? Eriol, this is starting to fit together! Reincarnation, 'Little Wolf', and everything else!" She cried, jumping off the couch. Suddenly, voices drifted into the room.

"Wait until they hear…Tomoyo! Eriol! Lunch! And do we have a story to tell you!" Came Sakura's voice. Tomoyo and Eriol grinned at each other.

"Coming!" They shouted in unison.

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D.L:

Daphne: "So did you like it? I know that it was horribly confusing, but it will all fit together in the end! The only other thing that I want to ask is that you REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Please?!"