Broken Worlds 8

Thieves in the Night

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon tamers and if I did…it wouldn't have ended so darn soon! {There'd be a second season to it too.}

After eating her dinner, Ruki fought to keep her eyes open.   It was getting darker and colder.  Her meal made her belly full and her body ready for rest. She shivered and rubbed her arms. 'Can't fall asleep,' she thought, 'or…they will come for me again…. can't fall asleep…they will come for everyone.'

Noticing this, Ryo pulled off his cape and draped it around her shoulders.  She gasped in surprise, looking back at him. He smiled and sat down a little ways behind her. 

"Are you going to stay up the rest of the night?" he asked her.

"Yes.  You?"

"Of course. Just in case you do fall asleep."

"I won't."

He lowered his head, "Ruki I don't think you got all the sleep you needed the night before.  You went days on end without sleeping.  You'll need days of rest before you can stay up past midnight."

"Someone has to keep watch."  She pulled the cape tighter around her.  "They could come."

"Who?"

"The demons," she replied, her voice so small and low, that he could barley hear her.  In fact, it didn't sound like her true voice at all.  Ruki almost sounded as if she was hypnotized.  "They could come and they would.  They wait…they wait until we fall asleep and they feed on us like we're sheep.  They're out there."  She looked up at the sky and shivered, hearing the creepy voices of the night.  The howling of wolves, hooting of owls and chirping of crickets filled the air.  "They're out there just waiting…waiting…waiting…waiting until we fall asleep.  But it doesn't really matter if we're asleep or wide-awake.  Oh, no, it doesn't matter if it's midnight or dawn or noon.  They come.  They come always.  I can feel it.  They're trying to scare us by not showing up, but they'll be here.  Maybe not to night, or in the morning, but they'll come."

Her talk of this made Ryo shiver.  He wished that she would fall asleep, but not just because she needed the rest, but she was making him anxious the way she was talking about the demons.  He already knew the world was in danger.  He always knew that.  She didn't have to talk like a madwoman.  Ryo cleared his throat, "Ruki, we will be ready for them.  It's our destiny."

She laughed, "our destiny.  Yes, our destiny, to destroy them.  Mark my words, Ryo; I will make damn sure they are all destroyed.  Not another demon will take another life or prey on our souls again.  I will not let them do to anyone what they did to me.  If they want someone, they'll have to take me once again."

"Please, stop talking about this!" Ryo exclaimed, standing up from where he had been sitting.  He frightened the birds that were roosting in nearby trees and they flew off.  He lowered his voice and sighed.  "What they did to you was unforgivable.  It was…inhuman.  Don't talk about it. Please. Don't even think about it.  Push it away from your mind.  You're a demon seeker now.   In the morning we'll meet with Shibumi and he'll tell us all we have to know. It will all end soon."

"Soon," she nodded. "Very soon."  Her eyelids grew heavier and she blinked.  "I'll be free, once and for all.  I can still feel them you know but now I am awake.  I know what that demon made me do and what it wanted me to continue doing.  I can still hear him speaking to me and feel him inside me.  It's this world…. what became of it.  Still too much darkness and evil.  It's crawling everywhere. But we're going to stop it…"  she blinked a few more times as she fought to stay awake, "We will stop it. We shall not fail.  We cannot…the world…depends…on us…" with that last sentence, she closed her eyes, drooped her head and fell asleep. Ryo sat down next to her and stroked her hair as he leaned her head on his shoulder. 

"Shh," he said when she sighed quietly.  He kissed her forehead.  "Just sleep, Ruki.  If we're going to destroy the demons, we'll have to be in our best condition.  It's just what Yamaki taught us. To fight, we have to be ready and rested and trained." He tightened his arms around her.  "We'll fight better when we are rested…." He yawned and felt his own sleepiness gripping on him.  Sunrise was four hours away but even then, it wouldn't be much of light but perhaps enough sleep.  He couldn't stay awake. Sleep tempted him and he submitted.  He fell asleep.

****

While the camp slept, they were unaware that they were not alone.  There were quiet footsteps around the camp and hushed voices.  Two hooded figures looked over the campers and their supplies.  As one began digging through the supply bags, another stopped at the sleeping, yet snoring Hirokazu.  It bent down and its eyes gazed on the crossbow in his arms.  If there was an attack in the night, he was ready for it.  The figure could've gone on to pick pocket the others but it chose to try and get the crossbow.  It reached inside its cloak and pulled out not a sword or knife or any other weapon, but a doll--a simple, girl's rag doll.  Slowly, the figure picked up Hirokazu's left hand and pushed it down a little. The individual now lifted his right hand and placed it over the doll as the figure removed Hirokazu's fancy crossbow from his grasp.  The figure put Hirokazu's left hand over the doll and left Hirokazu not cuddling his crossbow, but a toy.  It stood up and looked at the other one who was looking through the supplies.  It walked over to the other and spoke.

"Have you found enough?"

"Just two days worth of food here."

"Weapons?"

"Some arrows and blades.  Nice crossbow."

They conversed quietly, though someone in the group felt something was not right. First her eyes were moving quickly underneath her eyelids and they started to twitch and blink rapidly. She sniffed a couple times in her sleep and not because she was catching a cold, there was unfamiliar scent in the air.  Finally, they opened wide and she sat up and looked at the thieves.  Being with animals long enough gave her animal instincts of her own to know when something was wrong.

"Who are you?" Shuichon demanded.  "What are you doing?" She saw them looking through their supplies and focused on Hirokazu's crossbow.  She gasped. "THEIVES! Wake up everybody!"

The thieves turned and dashed away.  Shuichon jumped to her feet. "Stop! Thieves!"

Shuichon's shouting alerted the others, Jeri waking up first.  "Shuichon, what is it?"

"Thieves!" she ran after them.
"Shuichon, wait!  They could be dangerous! It's too dark!"  Juri exclaimed, taking out her card of radiance.  It glowed like a torch, but not with fire, but with magical means.  Juri went after her.

"Wh-whut's going on?" Kenta said quietly.

"Thieves?" Hirokazu sat up. "I hate thieves!" he held out the doll, which he thought was his crossbow.  He focused on the doll and could not believe it. "Attack---muh--my crossbow is gone!"

"I never knew you slept with dolls, Hirokazu," Kenta grinned, "and I thought I knew everything about you, blood brother."

"Shut up, you fool!" Hirokazu tossed.  "My crossbow has been stolen!"

"At least they left the bolts alone," Kenta mumbled, noticing the untouched crossbow bolts.

"What a good are crossbow bolts without a crossbow!?" Hirokazu groaned and scrambled to his feet. "Oh when I find out who---Juri, wait for me!"

"Shuichon, where's Shuichon?" Jenrya demanded.

"Juri?" Takato got up.

"Thieves," Kenta explained as Hirokazu ran after Juri.  "They took Hirokazu's crossbow."

"Did you see them?" Takato asked.

"No, Shuichon did."

"Come on," Jenrya urged.  "We don't know what kind of thieves they are."

"I wonder how Shuichon knew there were thieves here," Takato said, following Jenrya.  "I heard nothing."

"Me nether."  Kenta said.  "Your sister must have a good sense of hearing, Jenrya."

"Yes, but it's not just the noise that let her knew there were thieves," Jenrya explained as they ran away from camp.

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"The scent.  She could tell we were being robbed by the scent of the thieves."

"The scent?" Kenta and Takato said in unison.

"What's going on?" Ryo joined the others.

"I heard shouting," Ruki said.  "Is it the…?"

"Thieves," Kenta said.  "Thieves."

***

The thieves jumped over dead logs, looking over their shoulders for their pursuers.  "I think we lost them," one breathed. 

"How did that girl know we were there?" the other asked.

"I don't know. We weren't talking loud enough for anyone to hear us. Let's keep going!"

"Shuichon, where are you?" Juri questioned, moving the illuminated card around.  She heard a snap of a twig.  "Hirokazu?"

"Ow!" he muttered.  "Did Shuichon catch them?"

"I don't know…. I lost her. She moved so…so fast, even in the dark."

"Well, I hope she does," Hirokazu said.  "I want my crossbow back!"

Shuichon sniffed the air and swung up in trees for their scent.  Instead of going behind them, she tried to cut them off.  More than an ability to talk like animals, fight like animals, she could see like one and smell like one.  She could see perfectly in the dark like a cat or a wolf.  Her sense of smell was keen as well as her hearing.  She climbed down the tree and ran off.   She knew where the thieves were headed, but they wouldn't get far.

The thieves kept running through the thickness of the forest and stopped to catch their breath.  "I think we're safe now."

"No you're not." Said a voice above them.

"What?"

Shuichon landed in front of them and kicked them both square in the chest, flinging their cloak hoods back and revealing their faces. The thieves were just around her age, a girl and a boy.  They stepped back but the girl held on to Hirokazu's crossbow tightly.

"Give me back the crossbow!" Shuichon shouted.

"Come and get it!" said the boy.  He pulled out a poisoned dart and blew it toward Shuichon. She moved out of the way and charged them. 

"Give me the crossbow and I'll let you live!"

"I can hear her," Juri said, "this way, Hirokazu!"

Juri lead Hirokazu toward Shuichon's voice while the others ran blindly after them in the night.

"What good is a crossbow without the crossbow bolts to go with them?" Shuichon questioned.  "You should've gotten Hirokazu's bolts while you had the chance! Now give it back!"

"This pretty thing will feed us for a month!" the girl sneered.  "Thank your friend for us!"  She hid the crossbow inside her cloak and attacked Shuichon with a dagger.  Shuichon stepped back, dodging the swipes.

Juri and Hirokazu came up while Shuichon was fending off the thieves on her own.  "She found them!" Hirokazu gasped.  "Shuichon, if you get my crossbow back I'll give you a reward!"

Shuichon grabbed the girl's wrist and twisted it to make her drop the dagger.  The boy growled. "Let go of my sister!"  He shot another poisoned dart at Shuichon, but Shuichon moved around so the thief girl was shot.

The boy gasped. "Ai!"

"Makoto…." She mumbled.

Shuichon reached inside Ai's cloak, pulled out Hirokazu's crossbow and threw it to him.  "I think this belongs with you, Hirokazu!"

Hirokazu caught it. "Thanks for getting it for me!" he looked at his crossbow as if it were a lost love. "Oh, there you are! Mhwa! Mhwa!" he kissed his crossbow about ten times.

Shuichon pushed Ai to Makoto.  "You should've just given me the crossbow back."

"We needed it more," Makoto muttered, removing the dart he accidentally shot his sister with.

"Shuichon! Shuichon!" Jenrya cried.

"She's here, Jenrya!" Juri called out. "I found her. She's all right!"

The others came up and they were amazed that Shuichon warded off two thieves all on her own and even succeeded in getting the stolen item back.  "Shuichon, are you all right?" Jenrya questioned.

"Yes, I am fine."

Juri walked to Makoto and Ai.  She gasped when she noticed matching purple amulets around their necks.  They were amulets…just like Juri's and the other demon seekers.  "Oh my…you're amulets."

"They look like ours!" Jenrya exclaimed.

"Then that means…they're demon seekers like us?" Shuichon questioned.

"How do we know they weren't stolen?" Hirokazu grunted.

"They weren't stolen!" Makoto exclaimed.  "They were given to us."

"By what?"

"By a fairy."

"A fairy?"

"Yes, a fairy!" Makoto sneered. "A fairy from the other world!"

"Other…world?" Takato asked. "Like the world Alice told us about?"

"This fairy granted wishes and gave gifts.  We found it one day while we were very sick and tired and hungry.  We wished for food and water, so it gave it to us, along with our amulets.  It told us it wasn't from this world, but from another world."

"Who are you, boy?" Juri asked.

"My name is Makoto and my sister is Ai."

Kenta looked at Hirokazu. Hirokazu gasped. "What? I told you they were just kids!"

"And one of them just stole your crossbow," Kenta said.

"Well, they're good for a couple of kids." Hirokazu mumbled, "never would've thought about switching a crossbow with a doll before…"

"If you have an amulet," Juri said, "then that must mean you're a demon seeker like us.  I suppose it is destiny meeting you like this."

"Destiny?" Makoto questioned.

"You and Ai will help us stop the demons."

"I can't…my sister is…the poison…"

"No she isn't," Juri said.   "Take her back to our camp.  I can make her better."

"You can?" he asked.

Juri gestured to Ryo and Jenrya, "these men were half dead when they were brought to me.  That was just a night ago.  They would've been dead or they would still be healing from their wounds.  Trust me, if I can heal them, I can heal your sister."

Makoto looked up at Jenrya and Ryo. They both nodded

"We will talk about our quest more," Juri explained.  "You're one of us now.  We could probably use your talents in our group."

"Exactly," Hirokazu said.  "You can sneak into places for us and…"

"Hirokazu?" Kenta muttered.  "They're outlaws!"

"But we already have an outlaw on our team," Hirokazu told his partner, "What's a couple of young thieves against an assassin?  The bounty were' after now are the real outlaws, demons! Blood brother, demons!"

Kenta frowned.

"Let's just hope we get paid," Hirokazu groaned.

"There's an hour until sunrise," Ryo said.  "Let's get back to camp before it's all gone."

The others nodded and returned.  Juri healed Ai and those who could rest, did while the others waited for the morning to come.  Shibumi was waiting for them and so were the demons.

TBC