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Magic Chapter by Angel and Ucchan

37. ^_~ KOUSHIROU

The two of us materialized in the familiar kitchen. The white-haired captain took his hand off my shoulder and coughed into it. The taller man grumbled, "I don't get it. How can you possibly travel like that? Any longer distance and I'd have suffocated."

He had seemed rather disgruntled lately. From about the time we rescued Duchess Sora and on, he had been doing very little outside scowling and complaining. I hoped he would be more pleasant after all the stress of this battle was over though. I looked at his red eyes and whitened hair, "Much to my advantage, I don't have quite so potent a magic sense. I simply have a notion of its involvement. It doesn't assault my physical person," I explained.

"Lucky you,' he scowled, still hacking," And leave the hair out of this." He intoned defensively.

I didn't understand; I hadn't even said anything about his hair, what was he so anxious about? I shrugged it off and turned to the kitchen's exit. There was no one here, so I reasoned that we would have to scour the castle for the Queen. The dark hallway was lit with dimly burning torches, casting shadows here and there. I noticed Yamato's footsteps catching up behind me, "So, we're in," I stated, "Now we have to go about finding the Queen," hoping for some suggestions.

"Well, you're the wizard here, can't you think of something?" he replied sarcastically.

I shot him a glance over my shoulder, annoyed, "I'm working on it," I defended, "Why don't YOU come up with a brilliant plan, Captain?"

His voice was taunting, "The plan was that I'm supposed to take control of the army," he paused, "it's YOUR job to save the Queen… so you MIGHT want to hurry it up," he sneered and pushed passed me in the narrow torch lit passage.

He knocked into my shoulder along the way, and I was beginning to wonder if he was *really* on our side. At any rate, I was more agitated than before, "Isn't it a knight's duty to protect his Queen? What happened to chivalry, Sir Knight?" I retorted with sarcasm.

The white-haired captain narrowed his angry blue eyes, it made a striking contrast to the shadowed hallway, "But it's also a knight's duty to protect his Queen's castle and country, or did YOU forget that?" he snapped.

His insult was pointedly uncalled for, he was far out-of-line, and I needed to know here and now what his problem was. If he was going to be this anal-retentive, there was no way we could even hope to save the castle. I stopped, drawing his attention, my fists clenched, in a desperate struggle not to fry him with a fireball, "What is WRONG WITH YOU!?"

His angry gaze pierced into me, "YOU REALLY WANNA KNOW, IZUMI? _You_. You're my problem, YOU'RE what's 'wrong with me'!"

ME?! What? What did he mean? Thoughts raced through my head, he'd been upset about something since we rescued Sora. Was he upset that I was the one to cast the spell, that I stole his spotlight? No, he's the one who kept the Ogre away while Mimi and I worked it out. Well, then, maybe something Sora said? She mentioned girlfriends, maybe he's thinking about some bad break-up… 'Did people normally act like this when they go through a break-up?' I thought, not knowing much about relationships, I had only just started an official one with Mimi when Sora asked Yamato she was his girl. It dawned on me. Yes, Yamato was jealous, his green-tinted blue eyes showed that, but it wasn't because I stole his spotlight.

Insulted and angered by his arrogant jealousy, I shouted at him. "I'M YOUR PROBLEM?! Why?" I asked, then more snidely, "Is it because you're _jealous_ that, for once, your 'wonderful appearance' didn't get you any special attention from a certain female member of our friends?"

The captain recoiled, hurt, I had obviously figured it out. He bit back, "I don't know what she sees in you ANYWAY!" he insulted me directly, "Why would she want some short skinny little KID?!"

That made me livid. The whiny bigheaded captain had just about pulled the trigger that would set off a fiery rain of hell from my fingertips. Biting my mouth closed to keep from casting, I hissed, "Maybe because it's better than dealing with an egocentric pretty-boy JACKASS?!"

He looked shocked, I didn't often curse; it was a pointless and unintelligent way of expressing anger. But at the moment, I was all but ready to chargrill his white-haired form. He lowered his face, releasing the searing glare between us. He stuttered out a piteous, "I…!" and stopped.

I heard him groan and lean desperately against the corridor's wall, his face hidden in his gloved hands. I still followed him with my eyes, not sure if I could really trust him.

The once-blonde captain sighed and then muttered, "I'm sorry," under his breath.

"W-what?!" I spat without thinking, confused, "You're… sorry?" A wave of confusion washed over me and receded, sending my fury adrift, leaving me empty of emotion as I took in his words.

"Yes, I'm sorry," he apologized, rather grumpily, but sincerity painted his voice. "I've been a jerk; a stupid, envious, quick-tempered jerk."

I cleared my throat, "You forgot thick-headed." I jibed.

The taller man rolled his blue eyes and crossed his arms, "Yes, yes, that too…" he paused (for effect, maybe?), "I hope you and Mimi are happy…" he grunted mirthlessly.

I felt my cheeks crimson, I coughed, and cleared my throat again,  "U-uhh… Thanks."

There was an uncomfortable silence, then Yamato snapped to attention, "Now, to save this place!"

Thankful for the end of the uneasiness, I nodded, "Affirmative," I tugged my cloak closer to my body so as not to catch on anything, "Where do we start?" I inquired.

"Well, I would say the armory would be a good place to search," the blue-eyed knight began, "If I know the Queen… and I do… I just know Her Majesty would take the front on something like this," he added, "she can't stand that Joe guy, either."

I nodded, it did seem like something Queen Kari would throw herself into, and I was sure Joe would be counting on something like that, "You're right," I acknowledged, then conveyed my thoughts to Yamato, "Knowing evil alchemist Joe, he would use that to his advantage and somehow manage to drug her or attack her from behind or cheat off of her test…" I realized I had begun rambling, "Errr, well, he always did that to me back when we were in Wizarding school…" I trailed off.

Yamato smiled, then suggested, "To the armory?" he asked.

I nodded, my best chance to find Queen Kari would be found in the midst of the action. "To the armory," I confirmed.

After that, we set off from the shadowed hallway, and Yamato blazed ahead while I kept pace behind. Yamato knew the castle better than I did. I spent most of my time holed up in my tower-room, working on spells or traveling about the kingdom's vast lands, but rarely did I socialize with the castle's occupants. So there was never a need to know the intricate twists and turns. I mentally berated myself for this now, realizing that this knowledge may have proven useful. Yamato turned sharply and I had to skid to keep from overshooting the doorway. My cloak fluttered out in a twist of cloth that resembled a rug being beaten then hung out to dry. He dashed through an empty room and out the other side to a wide hallway that I recognized as precursor to the armory. Yamato ceased his dash and now walked deliberately towards the double doors of the armory.

I could hear sounds coming from inside that I could tell Yamato was very intent upon, as he got closer to the doors. He muttered comments about the sounds, apparently he could make out what was going on, but I caught that there was definitely a battle going on behind those doors, and the Queen could be in trouble. Since I really didn't want end up under rule by evil alchemist Joe or worse, Duke Kamiya, I sincerely wished my Queen to live through this. Yamato lingered by the doors a bit longer.

But this was taking too long, not nearly efficient enough, so I decided to warm up my magic a bit. I mumbled a chant quickly, "…sylphen energies of the strongest winds…" Yamato looked back to see what I was doing, but I was too busy to bother with the silver-haired captain right at that time, I felt the pulse of the energy rising up within me, and I shot out my hands to focus the oncoming blast. After that, it was like everything moved in slow motion, the air around me began to whirl, my auburn hair whipped against my forehead, and my cloak strained to go flying skyward in the current, tugging against my neck. Then it all suddenly swirled into one point and orbited out from it, careening from my body and towards the double doors just as I shouted the final words of the chant: "GLAIVE WINDS!"

I was vaguely aware of the heavy doors bursting inward on themselves with a thunderous noise. My head was still a little fuzzy from the spell, but it cleared quickly.

Sir Yamato remarked, "Nice entrance," a smirk on his pretty-boy face. Then he dashed in, intent on his purpose.

After a second's rest, I took a deep breath and plunged into armory itself, desperate in my quest to find and rescue my Queen. The room was littered with weapons of every sort, knocked down, thrown about, or impaled on some unfortunate soldier. Those soldiers still standing (and there were plenty of them, as there are in every fantasy story) were fighting bitterly with each other about the armory's high ceilinged area. I kept near the busted open doors, which no one paid any heed to in their furious fighting. Brushing the hair out of my face, I scanned the room for Her Majesty.

To the left, fighting soldiers! To the right, more fighting soldiers! And straight ahead, Captain Yamato leading the –gasp– FIGHTING SOLDIERS! And yet, no Queen Kari to be seen. Well, obviously, if she's not here, she must have been driven elsewhere. I turned and trounced passed the fallen bodies in the doorway and headed further into the castle's winding armory rooms. I kept my eyes peeled and ears intent as I scoured through several mostly-empty rooms with nothing more than rows upon rows of weaponry.

And that's about the time a random body came flying through my field of vision and cracked against the wall opposite the doorway from which it had been thrown.

"Ah, I believe I've found her," I said wryly to no one in particular. I peered through the archway and was met with a rather humorous scene. Her Majesty stood in all her glory, with two blunt objects (which were unrecognizable by this point) one in each hand. Around her were about four not-so-eager assailants who were practically arguing over who would be the next to approach the empowered dusky-haired woman who was apparently displeased with her situation. As some might put it, she was 'mad as hell and she wasn't gonna take it anymore'!

I finished musing over the idea, and quickly returned to my objective, to save my Queen from this fate. Taking a stance just to the side of the entryway, I steeled myself for a quick spell to take out the remaining guards. With Queen Kari safe, then we could concentrate more on the problem of Joe's surrogate army.

I stifled a chuckle as my Queen beat down another of the armed guards. I needed to hurry with my spell however, as the soldiers looked as if they might be planning something – not to mention the Queen's 'weapons' weren't quite up to par any longer.

I held my hands out in the direction of the plotting soldiers and focused on the earth-based spell as the familiar tingling began to flow from my toes to my fingertips. I forced the energy forward and mumbled the short incantation, "No time for incantation now, etc. etc.," and prayed for good fortune. The magic poured through my body and shot to the castle floor beneath the onrushing soldiers, a thin beam of light tore out from the stone and swiftly encircled the trio. The floor then erupted; teetering the assailant's equilibrium and sending them tumbling to the level below.

Queen Kari was a bit taken aback by her sudden lack of opponents, yet she lightened when she saw me rushing inward to greet her. The Queen smiled warmly, "Wizard Izumi," she spoke with her appeased royal voice.

I was infected with by her smile and greeted her in return, "My Queen," still moving forward to reach her.

Her Majesty's smile suddenly turned sour, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? Did it really take you SO long to turn a girl back from a statue?"


I stopped in my tracks, a bit embarrassed, "Well, you see… It's a long story… REALLY…. About 92 pages by now…"

The Queen's glare softened, "You know, much of this could have been avoided had you returned sooner," The woman adjusted herself, as if preparing to go, "but right now, we have more important problems to amend."

I nodded, happy to be off the hook for the time being. I swept my cloak to side and reached for the Queen's hand to lead her onward.

And I caught Joe's deep blue eyes.

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38. -_-* TAICHI

I smiled merrily as we careened through the air on the back of a big turtle called a racing Seadra. It was like a roller coaster, with the up and down and up and down and UP and DOWN of the… you know, I'm suddenly not feeling so happy anymore… I wonder why that is…

But suddenly the countryside caught my eye… At least, I THINK it was the countryside, it was hard to see through my hair… Kari-chan keeps telling me I should cut it, but I say that having lots of hair builds character and keeps your brain from getting too much sun! She always sighs in defeat after I tell her this, I guess she just can't argue with my logic.

Staring at the trees and fields, which lined the riverside, I noted that many of the trees were blooming. They must be gumdrop trees! I can never remember why they are called gumdrop trees, I've never seen any gumdrops on them. Maybe they should call them bubblegum trees. I wish I had a bubblegum tree right now… My stomach churned suddenly and I didn't feel much like eating anymore.

Meanwhile, Captain Yamato was singing with joy, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!~!" He was a bit off-key, but he seemed very jovial about the exciting roller-coaster-like ride. His younger brother was peacefully resting. I guess he wasn't very excited, but I just don't understand how he could be so unexcited especially after the others bonked him on the head with a stick. I would have been upset myself. Unless it was a SOFT stick; soft sticks are nice. But it's so hard to find a soft stick nowadays.

I think Wizard Izumi was sick or something though. Maybe he was thinking about bubblegum trees, too. His face was very red, he might have a fever. I think the bardess was leaning so close to him to make sure he was okay. I guess since she was smiling so much he must be okay… or maybe she can't see how sick he looks, hmm…. I'll try to give him a checkup later. I'm royalty after all, I KNOW about these things.

The roller coaster ended about then, and we all got off the racing seadras… right in the middle of a GIGANTIC PARTY!! All these people in metal costumes were dancing and spinning around. Of course, just like at my diplomatic parties, everyone was yelling and through sharp bric-a-brac. I had to tilt my head to avoid being impaled by one of the darting objects. How improper… don't these partygoers know that throwing things might hurt someone? One of the rowdy guys went running by and I yelled to him, "HEY! DON'T GO RUNNING WITH SCISSORS!!"

I stood around and pretended to be busy while the others dismounted. I think it was believable because none of my dear friends thought to talk to me. I must have looked REALLY busy! The captain was looking a little tired, it must have been all that singing he did. He was hunched over the river, staring at it for a long time making funny noises. I think he might have been praying. It might have been some weird ritual that blondes do. Blondes are weird that way… kind of dim, too… but Sir Yamato's a good friend.

The knight stood up from his leaned over posture and addressed us all, "Well, so, here's where things get fun…"

"FUN?" I asked, I began to get excited again and so I stopped pretending to be busy, "OOOH, will there be CLOWNS?!" Clowns are my favorite, it can't be fun unless there are clowns!

Captain Yamato muttered something that I couldn't hear. Then he started talking very solemnly to us, but he wasn't being very interesting so I stopped paying attention. Instead I started to contemplate the time when my good friend Yamato and his brother saved from a horde of those awful, terrible, teeth-gnashing, bone-crunching, blood-sucking BUTTERFLIES. I shivered and scary music played through my head. Butterflies are evil, kids, don't play with them! Other things you shouldn't play with are large bodies of water that surround a castle. These bodies of water are called moats, because the person who invented them decided to call them something that would be REALLY hard to spell. That reminds of a time when I asked some young kids to help me fix a part of the moat at our duchy. Since I knew it would be a hard job, I decided it would be best to get it done with as soon as possible and as quickly as we could. It was unfortunate that it was hurricane season and that only a few of the soldiers volunteered to help us. Also, if I remember correctly, nobody instructed us as to how to empty the moat of the monsters. And then there was that gay soldier… Oh it's a silly story anyway. Maybe it'll make a good party joke sometime. I think I'll ask Sir Yamato about it.

I looked around and I suddenly noticed that Captain Yamato and Wizard Izumi were missing. I'll bet they went to an Elvis concert without me! I asked young Takeru about this and he just sighed. Apparently, he wasn't invited either.

"So now what?" Lady Mimi asked, looking to the page-boy, an expectant look on her face.

The young page's gaze was distant and I remembered my mental note to have a chat with him about his sighing problem, before I could speak however, the squire answered the bardess, "Well, my brother said we have to get into castle to help him. There's no quick way to the top, but there's a good way for us to get around the fighting."

"What do you mean, TK?" I heard a voice and whirled around to see… the most gigantic butterfly I'd ever seen in my entire existence. I stood aghast.

"TK? Where'd you get that?" The page asked as I stood frozen.

Lady Mimi interjected, "He seems to like giving people cute nicknames… There's was this one girl I knew named Miyako, and he seemed quite taken with the idea of calling her 'Yolei'."

Young Takeru blanched, "Yuck, what an awful nickname, how did you come up with THAT?"

The giant butterfly replied, "I get my inspiration from American television shows." This aberration smiled cutely, allowing me a glance at its horrid fangs of doom.

I finally managed to scream and point, "BUTTTERFLY!!!!~!"

The bardess and the squire let out quick gasps as I shouted loudly enough for them to hear me (I made sure to get close to their ears). The two of them brought their hands up in terror of this fearful being.

"KILL IT QUICKLY!" I instructed so as to let them know the best course of action to follow when dealing with large butterflies.

The taller girl and the young boy exchanged glances that I interpreted as cowardice since neither of them seemed to want to attack the foul beast. Lady Mimi spoke, "Maybe we should just let this butterfly go, your Grace, otherwise its brethren might come looking for it, and who KNOWS how big they'll be…"

The page-boy chuckled, then stiffened up. I pondered for a moment, and nodded reassuringly, "Yes, good plan, glad I thought of it, now, enough of your silly banter, young ones, let's get looking!"

Mimi turned to the young boy, "Do we even know what we're looking for yet?"

"Just let the good Duke look, I'm sure he'll find it…" Takeru showed his support for my cause.

So I went about my task of looking, it was hard to concentrate sometimes on my very difficult task due to the fact that the evil vampire-butterfly was still hovering nearby, but I mustered my courage as I'm sure the others could clearly see.

"We will have to take the back entrance into the castle if we're going to be any help to the Queen." Young Takeru explained. It reminded me suddenly that my sister happens to be a Queen, I wonder if they know each other. The boy went on, "Yamato and I used to play in the entrance a lot when I was younger. Sometimes we'd play hide and seek, but my brother would always find me. I can't see the entrance very well anymore though, there's too much brush."

I looked over at them, "Yes, a brush would be nice," I stated firmly, a plan forming in my mind, "If we had brushes, we could all COMB OUR HAIR!"

Lady Mimi smiled, "Great idea, your Grace, your mane could definitely use some grooming."

"Why thank you, good lady, but I'm married," I told her calmly. Don't get me wrong, she was lovely, but Sora-chan was the only one for me.

The girl smiled, it was obviously a heart-broken smile; it looked as if she was going to throw up. I had obviously hurt her, "Of course, your Grace."

I walked away from her, trying not to see her sad face, and traipsed through the brush. I could her the two of them talking behind me as I continued my quest to search for… whatever it was. I looked high and low, but it still seemed to elude me. Now if I was a hidden secret passageway, where would I be? If only I could remember what dad told me once…

It was then that I heard an odd metal clanking sound and suddenly the world fell out from under me and I was plummeting to my doom. THUD. Thud thud thump tump thump thud boom. Crash. Ouch. I had fallen down some stairs in the middle of the wooded area. What a stupid place to put stairs! I voiced my opinion with a loud royal whine.

I heard footsteps over my head and the sound of Lady Mimi and young Takeru's voices floated to me, "Oh by everything that holy and sacred in this world, he's found it…"

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39. ^_^!! TAKERU

The Bardess Mimi and I hovered over the opening (previously covered by a iron grate. But thanks to our 'Brilliant Leader' the rusted obstacle had been cleared) to the castle's escape exit, a simple stairway carved into the floor of the ledge we had been searching. I gazed down into the dark gaping maw. The sun glared off of the age worn steps making the shadows of the passage deeper and even more foreboding.

"Lovely place." Mimi commented dryly. "And you and your brother used to play here?" She lifted a dainty eyebrow, questioning.

I ignored her inquiry, refusing to rise to the bait, and instead bowed deeply. "Ladies first."

She glanced nervously at the stairway. "Um… Let's forgo chivalry just this once. Okay?"

After another moment or two of who wanted to go first, we both found ourselves at the bottom of the stairs in a painful undignified heap.

"What took you?" the Duke asked as I helped the Bardess to her feet and I ignored him. After a moment my eyes adjusted to the pitch darkness and I scanned the room quickly.

For Starters: It was Dark. Very dark. The kind of dark that even with the sunlight pouring through the entrance above was still just as unforgiving.

But other than that, we where standing in the foyer of the aged passageway. The ground was still damp from the recent rains and puddles littered the floor. The sound of dripping water could be heard somewhere in the dark. An ornate archway graced the far wall of the tiny room.

"Well, this is place is delightfully uber creepy."  Mimi snorted.

And with this happy note, we began to climb the steep damp steps of the 'secret passage'.

I had pictured this as being torture with the Duke. Not three minutes into the trek His Grace found joy in bouncing his annoying high pitched voice off the stone walls. I was SURE that people in the castle TOWERS could hear his caterwauling! Thankfully, Mimi threatened to sick Pata on him if he didn't can it. Suddenly recalling the 'butterfly's' presence the Duke thought it in his best interested to concede.  Thank God!

Unfortunately, left with only the impregnable darkness and silence. There was nothing to detract me from the reality of the present situation.

My brother had given me a startlingly powerful task. I was the backup. It didn't sound like much at first, but I was in charge of the lives of not only those with me, but also the Queen and anyone else who would need help. My brother trusted me with this assignment, and I was grateful for his confidence, but I wasn't sure I could handle this responsibility. And if I didn't live up to these expectations, some one would die. Maybe the queen, or worse, my brother himself. If I failed my brother, he could lose his life, and if that happened… I broke away from that line of thought before I could finish.

I was going to battle! A real battle not the petty squabbles and skirmishes that pass for fight scenes for the first half of this damnable story!

We where about to run head first into a fort full of blood-thirsty hired hands armed with a Bardess, an Idiot and a flying mythic bat-pig. I tried to look at the bright side… Well, maybe we can call them an enchanting Songstress, a Royal Noble, and Magical Creature of Ancient Lore. I sighed, still no use… Unless the Bardess wants to beat someone senseless with her lute or the Noble could talk some one to death. The Magical Creature of Ancient Lore however…is still useless… maybe it could masquerade as a vampiric butterfly…That would scare…the Duke.

We're screwed…

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