Part Ten
The next morning, Davis awoke early at his usual time, around dawn, though it was difficult to tell because there were no windows. Ken was gone, probably on an early morning raid. He chuckled to himself and dressed, going through his morning exercises. When he finished, stepping into the main room, he found Ken sitting in a chair, sipping something steaming from a ceramic tankard.
"Good morning?" Davis said in a cheerful but awkward tone.
"What's so good about it?" Ken mumbled, taking a deep draught from the cup and making a face.
Sniffing, Davis scented some of the strongest teas that he knew of, as well as very powerful herbs known for their stimulating effects lingering in the air. "Why in hell are you drinking Black Fire teas? That stuff is so strong half a cup can keep an ox going for two days straight and isn't it at least TEN silvers for half a pound?"
"Aren't we observant?" Ken sniffed haughtily. "Yes, and I've been needing it lately because of these... dreams I've been having." Davis then noticed that below the veil of cool haughtiness, Ken's dark eyes looked haunted and faint shadows loomed below his eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, looking at the other boy in concern.
"Just fine," Ken said primly, setting down the tankard and absently swirling the dregs of the drink around. "It's been, well-" But his words were cut off as guards suddenly swarmed in, all bearing swords.
"What the hell!" Davis swore, looking around and reaching blindly for the sword that wasn't there, left foolishly in Ken's room.
"Ken Ichijouji, you are accused and are now under arrest for various crimes, including murder and thievery. Your companion will also be tried for being in the company of a wanted criminal," their leader said coldly.
Ken coolly got up, his eyes sapphire cold and glinting like dark glass. "If you want to try me, gentlemen-" His tone at the title was sarcastically emphasized. "Then you'll have to catch me."
In a movement too quick to be seen, he ran forward and soon the leader was on the ground, dead. Luckily the room was slightly crowded, a perfect situation for a knife fighter to be set against a sword fighter. For the next few moments, it was absolute chaos. Davis dodged occasional blows and swipes easily, soon seizing up a pair of spare throwing knives Ken had left on a table. Carefully siphoning his anger, controlling it with an iron, experienced hand, he fought viciously and soon he and Ken were the only ones alive in the room.
"We have to get out of here," Davis said flatly, setting down the borrowed set of knives and leaning over to seize his possessions.
"Of course," Ken snapped. "We'll have to go through the catacombs though." He started to stuff things into an already half packed satchel. "I anticipated this. Damn them." He snarled curses in several languages, but packed quickly.
When they were done, Ken pushed aside a tapestry, revealing a passage. Gesturing to follow him, the older boy went through boldly, satchel and sword swinging by his side under the dark cloak he had donned earlier. With mild trepidation, Davis followed. After going down a maze of stairways leading down, he breathed in the musty air of tunnels with a faint sickly sweet smell of decay. Making a face, he followed Ken however silently. A number of rough torches lined the walls at certain intervals. At one point, Ken picked up a lantern and lighted it.
Eyes slightly narrowed, Davis looked around with the slightly brighter light and soon found himself face to face with a grinning skull. Shuddering, he hurried on. "What were the catacombs used for?"
"They used to be underground temples then cemeteries," the thief said quietly, walking on as though he hadn't noticed all the bones poking from niches in the wall. "Now these are the homes of some of my people."
"Your people?" Davis mumbled.
Ken gave him a sharp look. "I am the King of Thieves here, am I not?"
"Well sorry," Davis muttered softly to himself.
"Apology accepted," the older boy replied tartly. "Thank you so much for enlivening my life. I was having an relatively good time here until you showed up." The ironic humor and irritation in his voice mingled irregularly.
"Ha," the younger warrior retorted. "You would have gotten caught sooner or later, remember?"
Ken sniffed. "That was merely a precaution, I am too slick for them to be caught."
"Yeah right," Davis growled to himself then stumbled on something on the ground, biting back a string of coarse curses.
"Be careful, you never know what's down here..." Ken looked back, his face slightly shadowed and his voice emotionless and curt, so Davis couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
"You're kidding, aren't you?" Davis ventured to say.
"Now why would you think that?" The thief set down the lantern at the foot of a ladder. "This leads to just outside of the city."
"Good." All Davis was interested in was getting out of the city as soon as possible and on his way.
"Impatient one," Ken murmured and started to climb up nimbly, cloak swinging.
Davis did not want to dignify that with a response so he merely followed. At the top, the older boy slid a slab of thin wood over. Climbing out, he walked off as Davis scrambled to follow.
"Thanks for waiting," he mumbled sarcastically, recovering the entrance.
They were at the outskirts of the city, in a clearing within a forest. Ken ignored him and they walked in silence until around noon (but it was hard to tell due to the dense foliage), and Ken stopped by a stream.
"That was refreshing," he remarked, wiping off his forehead daintily.
"Speak for yourself," Davis retorted, pulling out the bag Jyou had given him.
He reached into it and pulled out a chunk of bread and some cheese. Reminding himself to eat in moderation, he made his grudging and grumbling stomach deal with what he had.
Ken gazed at him with a bemused look. "There's a lot more to you than it seems, young Davis."
"Yeah, I'm not always a bumbling idiot," he snapped, splashing his face with water and closing his eyes.
Ken smirked. "Yes, sometimes, but not always."
"I'm not going to dignify that with a remark."
Ken chuckled very softly to himself and leaned against a tree. "You know, I always wanted to go on adventures when I was little."
"Well it's a tough world, tougher in respects to that of a city." Davis shook his hair and droplets of water flew everywhere.
"Of course, then again, I was a sheltered little book-bound idiot until around age eight."
Now it was Davis's turn to smirk. "Unlike the big book-bound idiot you are now?"
Ken lazily yawned, unperturbed by the barbed remark. "I mean, I was willing to accept the good and the bad if I was going to be an adventurer. Everything in life has its different sides."
"Well, being an adventurer is often more than that," Davis said dryly. "I learned that the hard way. Yes, being beaten half to death in training sunrise to sunset every day for the last seven years."
The older boy raised an eyebrow then smiled ever so slightly, a pure smile of amusement without a hint of a smirk. "I know, you should have seen the bruises the weapons trainer my parents hired inflicted on me when they weren't aware. But my parents never did really care about me."
"Mmhmm," Davis nodded, leaning against a tree himself. "Wake me up a bit later will you?"
"Sure," Ken shrugged. "We should get as much rest as we should."
Davis didn't answer because he had drifted off to sleep. His companion shook his head with an almost amused look lingering in his eyes then leaned back, half closing his eyes.
It was late afternoon when they both started their traveling again. Using the light of the soon setting sun to check on his map, Davis cursed softly. From their position, it appeared they had chosen the hard road to where he had to retrieve the sword.
"Damn it, damn it," he swore. "We just had to face the direction of the most difficult and longest road."
"Your problem," Ken retorted. "Might as well make the best of it, come along."
They kept to that schedule, traveling by night and slumbering by day. Though they had their disagreements, both boys found themselves growing fond of the other, like brothers, though they would most likely never admit it truly to each other's face.
"So this is the last town we go through until we get to the shrine of the Dragon?" Davis asked one day, looking through a useful spyglass that Ken had thought to bring along at a group of not-too-distant buildings.
The former thief nodded, checking the map. "We will have to buy supplies here. After this, it's about a-" He mused for a minute, making a few quick calculations. "It's about a three to four day walk to the shrine, if we keep this pace up."
"Ah, then we better rest in the town. Beyond it's mostly desert plain."
"Intelligent, for once." The blue haired boy rolled up the map and handed it to the brunette with a mocking bow. Both of them were on good enough terms that they were able to tease each other easily without any bad feelings between them.
"Ken, if the legends I heard were true..." Davis fingered the spyglass carefully. "The plains are filled with particularly reclusive but sometimes very savage nomads. They are known for their horses, I've heard. Best battlesteeds one could ever dream of, worth twice their weight in gold."
"So you've heard of the stories of the Hsu Mai?" Ken had a strange glint in his eyes.
"Su- what?"
"Su- mai," the other boy said patiently. "They are very real, trust me."
"Then how are we going to get through? If they do exist, what can we do to prevent from waking up to find several inches of their blades in our gut?"
"Leave that to me."
Davis didn't like the tone his companion used but bit his tongue. Curtly, he said, "We better get going then, if we're going to find an inn."
They reached the town a little before sundown. It was a rather ordinary place, and after receiving some directions from a nearby guard, they soon stopped at an ordinary inn to stop at. After some shrewd bargaining, both managed to get a room for a good price.
"Some of the Hsu Mai are here, from what the gossip in the common room is," Ken yawned, reclining on his bed.
"And?" Davis said, raising an eyebrow as he sat on the other bed in the room. "You know, it's a good thing we managed to get a room with separate beds. No use implying that we're lovers."
"Perish the thought!" Ken shuddered. Davis's reply was hurling a pillow at the former thief's head.
Downstairs, little did both know that the tables might have been turned on Ken's plan.
The next morning, Davis awoke early at his usual time, around dawn, though it was difficult to tell because there were no windows. Ken was gone, probably on an early morning raid. He chuckled to himself and dressed, going through his morning exercises. When he finished, stepping into the main room, he found Ken sitting in a chair, sipping something steaming from a ceramic tankard.
"Good morning?" Davis said in a cheerful but awkward tone.
"What's so good about it?" Ken mumbled, taking a deep draught from the cup and making a face.
Sniffing, Davis scented some of the strongest teas that he knew of, as well as very powerful herbs known for their stimulating effects lingering in the air. "Why in hell are you drinking Black Fire teas? That stuff is so strong half a cup can keep an ox going for two days straight and isn't it at least TEN silvers for half a pound?"
"Aren't we observant?" Ken sniffed haughtily. "Yes, and I've been needing it lately because of these... dreams I've been having." Davis then noticed that below the veil of cool haughtiness, Ken's dark eyes looked haunted and faint shadows loomed below his eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, looking at the other boy in concern.
"Just fine," Ken said primly, setting down the tankard and absently swirling the dregs of the drink around. "It's been, well-" But his words were cut off as guards suddenly swarmed in, all bearing swords.
"What the hell!" Davis swore, looking around and reaching blindly for the sword that wasn't there, left foolishly in Ken's room.
"Ken Ichijouji, you are accused and are now under arrest for various crimes, including murder and thievery. Your companion will also be tried for being in the company of a wanted criminal," their leader said coldly.
Ken coolly got up, his eyes sapphire cold and glinting like dark glass. "If you want to try me, gentlemen-" His tone at the title was sarcastically emphasized. "Then you'll have to catch me."
In a movement too quick to be seen, he ran forward and soon the leader was on the ground, dead. Luckily the room was slightly crowded, a perfect situation for a knife fighter to be set against a sword fighter. For the next few moments, it was absolute chaos. Davis dodged occasional blows and swipes easily, soon seizing up a pair of spare throwing knives Ken had left on a table. Carefully siphoning his anger, controlling it with an iron, experienced hand, he fought viciously and soon he and Ken were the only ones alive in the room.
"We have to get out of here," Davis said flatly, setting down the borrowed set of knives and leaning over to seize his possessions.
"Of course," Ken snapped. "We'll have to go through the catacombs though." He started to stuff things into an already half packed satchel. "I anticipated this. Damn them." He snarled curses in several languages, but packed quickly.
When they were done, Ken pushed aside a tapestry, revealing a passage. Gesturing to follow him, the older boy went through boldly, satchel and sword swinging by his side under the dark cloak he had donned earlier. With mild trepidation, Davis followed. After going down a maze of stairways leading down, he breathed in the musty air of tunnels with a faint sickly sweet smell of decay. Making a face, he followed Ken however silently. A number of rough torches lined the walls at certain intervals. At one point, Ken picked up a lantern and lighted it.
Eyes slightly narrowed, Davis looked around with the slightly brighter light and soon found himself face to face with a grinning skull. Shuddering, he hurried on. "What were the catacombs used for?"
"They used to be underground temples then cemeteries," the thief said quietly, walking on as though he hadn't noticed all the bones poking from niches in the wall. "Now these are the homes of some of my people."
"Your people?" Davis mumbled.
Ken gave him a sharp look. "I am the King of Thieves here, am I not?"
"Well sorry," Davis muttered softly to himself.
"Apology accepted," the older boy replied tartly. "Thank you so much for enlivening my life. I was having an relatively good time here until you showed up." The ironic humor and irritation in his voice mingled irregularly.
"Ha," the younger warrior retorted. "You would have gotten caught sooner or later, remember?"
Ken sniffed. "That was merely a precaution, I am too slick for them to be caught."
"Yeah right," Davis growled to himself then stumbled on something on the ground, biting back a string of coarse curses.
"Be careful, you never know what's down here..." Ken looked back, his face slightly shadowed and his voice emotionless and curt, so Davis couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
"You're kidding, aren't you?" Davis ventured to say.
"Now why would you think that?" The thief set down the lantern at the foot of a ladder. "This leads to just outside of the city."
"Good." All Davis was interested in was getting out of the city as soon as possible and on his way.
"Impatient one," Ken murmured and started to climb up nimbly, cloak swinging.
Davis did not want to dignify that with a response so he merely followed. At the top, the older boy slid a slab of thin wood over. Climbing out, he walked off as Davis scrambled to follow.
"Thanks for waiting," he mumbled sarcastically, recovering the entrance.
They were at the outskirts of the city, in a clearing within a forest. Ken ignored him and they walked in silence until around noon (but it was hard to tell due to the dense foliage), and Ken stopped by a stream.
"That was refreshing," he remarked, wiping off his forehead daintily.
"Speak for yourself," Davis retorted, pulling out the bag Jyou had given him.
He reached into it and pulled out a chunk of bread and some cheese. Reminding himself to eat in moderation, he made his grudging and grumbling stomach deal with what he had.
Ken gazed at him with a bemused look. "There's a lot more to you than it seems, young Davis."
"Yeah, I'm not always a bumbling idiot," he snapped, splashing his face with water and closing his eyes.
Ken smirked. "Yes, sometimes, but not always."
"I'm not going to dignify that with a remark."
Ken chuckled very softly to himself and leaned against a tree. "You know, I always wanted to go on adventures when I was little."
"Well it's a tough world, tougher in respects to that of a city." Davis shook his hair and droplets of water flew everywhere.
"Of course, then again, I was a sheltered little book-bound idiot until around age eight."
Now it was Davis's turn to smirk. "Unlike the big book-bound idiot you are now?"
Ken lazily yawned, unperturbed by the barbed remark. "I mean, I was willing to accept the good and the bad if I was going to be an adventurer. Everything in life has its different sides."
"Well, being an adventurer is often more than that," Davis said dryly. "I learned that the hard way. Yes, being beaten half to death in training sunrise to sunset every day for the last seven years."
The older boy raised an eyebrow then smiled ever so slightly, a pure smile of amusement without a hint of a smirk. "I know, you should have seen the bruises the weapons trainer my parents hired inflicted on me when they weren't aware. But my parents never did really care about me."
"Mmhmm," Davis nodded, leaning against a tree himself. "Wake me up a bit later will you?"
"Sure," Ken shrugged. "We should get as much rest as we should."
Davis didn't answer because he had drifted off to sleep. His companion shook his head with an almost amused look lingering in his eyes then leaned back, half closing his eyes.
It was late afternoon when they both started their traveling again. Using the light of the soon setting sun to check on his map, Davis cursed softly. From their position, it appeared they had chosen the hard road to where he had to retrieve the sword.
"Damn it, damn it," he swore. "We just had to face the direction of the most difficult and longest road."
"Your problem," Ken retorted. "Might as well make the best of it, come along."
They kept to that schedule, traveling by night and slumbering by day. Though they had their disagreements, both boys found themselves growing fond of the other, like brothers, though they would most likely never admit it truly to each other's face.
"So this is the last town we go through until we get to the shrine of the Dragon?" Davis asked one day, looking through a useful spyglass that Ken had thought to bring along at a group of not-too-distant buildings.
The former thief nodded, checking the map. "We will have to buy supplies here. After this, it's about a-" He mused for a minute, making a few quick calculations. "It's about a three to four day walk to the shrine, if we keep this pace up."
"Ah, then we better rest in the town. Beyond it's mostly desert plain."
"Intelligent, for once." The blue haired boy rolled up the map and handed it to the brunette with a mocking bow. Both of them were on good enough terms that they were able to tease each other easily without any bad feelings between them.
"Ken, if the legends I heard were true..." Davis fingered the spyglass carefully. "The plains are filled with particularly reclusive but sometimes very savage nomads. They are known for their horses, I've heard. Best battlesteeds one could ever dream of, worth twice their weight in gold."
"So you've heard of the stories of the Hsu Mai?" Ken had a strange glint in his eyes.
"Su- what?"
"Su- mai," the other boy said patiently. "They are very real, trust me."
"Then how are we going to get through? If they do exist, what can we do to prevent from waking up to find several inches of their blades in our gut?"
"Leave that to me."
Davis didn't like the tone his companion used but bit his tongue. Curtly, he said, "We better get going then, if we're going to find an inn."
They reached the town a little before sundown. It was a rather ordinary place, and after receiving some directions from a nearby guard, they soon stopped at an ordinary inn to stop at. After some shrewd bargaining, both managed to get a room for a good price.
"Some of the Hsu Mai are here, from what the gossip in the common room is," Ken yawned, reclining on his bed.
"And?" Davis said, raising an eyebrow as he sat on the other bed in the room. "You know, it's a good thing we managed to get a room with separate beds. No use implying that we're lovers."
"Perish the thought!" Ken shuddered. Davis's reply was hurling a pillow at the former thief's head.
Downstairs, little did both know that the tables might have been turned on Ken's plan.
