Author's Note: Okay! Yet another chapter for you peeple… hope you like! Thanks again for all the *sniff* touching reviews!
Naga walked the length of the hall, listening to her footsteps echoing in the emptiness; he had been gone so long, her master. As the days had passed, slow and with a silence that was deafening, she had begun to wonder if the youkai would return. Perhaps he is dead… But how could he die? I saw the mortal wounds-- but he is immortal… isn't he?
She had seen him that day, watched her master fade away into the horizon till he became but a speck in a vast expanse of blue. For a minute the slave had been mystified; her lord had not said one word to her that day and yet he had seemed to burn strangely, eyes flickering like flame. He is angry with me… Maybe he seeks to punish me. But why in this way?
At first, Naga had been afraid to venture from the rooms she knew; but as the days passed her fear had dulled. She had begun to roam more freely about the youkai's domain. In all the young slave's life, she had never seen such exotic and strange things; there were foreign drawings made of paint on the walls, razor sharp weapons decorated the halls; some still retained traces of old blood. Naga had paused when she had seen them, wondering if he had ever used them.
There were so many rooms-- too many for the human to count; they were narrow, wide, oblong and square, all with high, drapery hung ceilings. It had taken Naga a fistful of days to fully explore them; each and very single space was filled with artifacts and intrigues from so many different origins that only the master himself could know what it all meant.
But after the first day or so of discovery, Naga had come upon a seemingly deserted place-- it was the inner most heart that she found. Dust coated all horizontal surfaces, what little metal still clung to the walls was tarnished and marred with age. As she had gone deeper, signs of decay were increasingly notable-- Naga knew they had not been touched in years-- maybe decades. What strange worlds has my master traveled too? Surely there is nothing like these things on the earth… And it is all so old… As if the lord hasn't touched them for so long… Why? He seems to have forgotten it all.
After five days, she had grown tired of her discoveries; the origins of the objects and curios that peppered the halls had become too intricate for any explanation that Naga could conjure. She knew that when the youkai lord returned, he would never tolerate her questions… even if she had still had the breath to speak them. So she would keep her explorations to herself, if only because she could not voice them.
One place had intrigued her, though; in the southeast corner a courtyard remained, open to the sky and overgrown with vegetation. Vines crept up the wooden pillars that held the roof, and a few gnarled trees provided shade in the dim light. Bushes, grasses and moss clung to every surface, coating the courtyard with life and muffling with its leaves the world just outside the weathered doors.
Sounds of running water had lead her to a secluded spot were a pool lay; in its murky depths Naga thought she could see the flashes of shimmery scaled bodies of fish among the water plants. A small waterfall stood at one end, rushing over the jagged rocks and down into the otherwise still water; it seemed to whisper in the stillness of the verdant garden.
As Naga knelt beside the pool, fingers brushing its surface lightly, the bright fish came to the surface, roused by the disturbance. Long gauzy tails and fins trailing behind their sleek bodies, they mulled about curiously as the slave with drew her hand from the water. For a moment, Naga thought she saw someone staring back at her through the glassy surface; a slim white face stared back, framed with large dark eyes, inky hair cascading loosely over small delicate shoulders.
For a minute, the girl stared at the face before her, transfixed. Slowly she reached out a hand to touch the image before her… and with a slightly startled expression drew back. When she looked back at the pool, the face was gone. After a long moment, Naga rose from her kneeling position and turned back the way she had come. A troubled expression was on her face as she stepped through the age roughened doors. I should be more cautious in these places; strange things inhabit these walls… And that girl trapped in the pool; is she an image brought on by my delirious mind? I am not so sure I wish to know…
Silently the weathered doors swung closed on rusted hinges, once more shuttering the garden from the world.
Hiten stared across the table, eyes guarded as he mulled the proposal over. The other lords looked at him expectantly.
"Yes," The youkai finally answered. "A fortnight's stay at my fortress would not be unattainable. You have my permission."
"Excellent. Then we shall depart tomorrow?" The lord at the head of the table nodded thoughtfully.
"We will travel more quickly by flight." Hiten looked steadily at those around him, the lesser lords and generals. After a minute's pause, he rose to his feet. "I trust you will be prepared."
Without any further pause the great lord left the hall, lesser youkai bowing and scraping decorously.
As he passed through the door, a thought suddenly struck him. A month… a month has passed. Has my servant remained? Or has she escaped past the wards? Would I bother to find the wench if she did? With a start, Hiten realized the thought bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
With a growl, the youkai stormed down the hall, steps echoing angrily. This lord does not fetch a mere slave. If I find the little fool has dared to flee, I will run her down and slit her throat as I should have from the very beginning.
Author's Note: Hey! This is a little bit different from what I usually write, but I thought it would be interesting to go a little in depth about Hiten's so-called lair… so this was just for a change of scenery. Tune in next time to see what Hiten's been doing for the last month… and its not what you think. o__O