Twisted Well

An Inu-Yasha / Sorcerer Hunters fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  I still don't own these series, but I do have a desktop wallpaper of Carrot.  He's looking serious for a change. ;)

As of this point, I have seven reviews.  Thank you for your encouragement.  It helps to keep me writing.

I am giving another warning, the shows are coming up this week for my school's musical, and I cannot be at my laptop writing.  I'll try doing it by notebook paper, but who knows the insanity that can go on during a show?  If I'm lucky, I'll have an hour each day to work (In which time I'll be typing my hands off).  Now that I have an audience, I can't keep you waiting, can I?

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Chapter 5: Plea for Help

            She twirled around in the mirror.  I haven't been able to wear a fancy dress since that suitor came to call on me.  Maye smiled towards her reflection.  There was a time for everything under the sun – in her case, a time to be a fighter and a time to be a lady.  Yes, she loved fighting, but the duties of a Lady from a large house were admired in her as well.  Some women who could fight never learned how to, she thought, so they diligently worked at home for those who did.  She sometimes had more respect for those women than the few she knew that were fighters.

            Finishing getting ready, she got the bag out from under the floorboard.  Why she felt the need to hide her possessions in a church, she had no idea.  Taking out the necklace, she undid the clasp and held it against her neck.

            At her Coming of Age celebration, it was true that her father gave her his real present in secret.  Traditionally, at the ceremony, each parent gave one gift.  It was to symbolize their hopes for their child, and how they wanted them to grow up.  If the person had siblings, the girls would conspire with their mother for the gift, and the boys with the father.  It was why her knives were so precious.  Not only her father and four brothers, but also her sister Aprile.  It was breaking tradition for her younger sister to help, but her little sister also had the ability to become a fighter.

The necklace had been her gift from her mother and seven sisters.  Maye was reaching the age when her social obligation was to find a husband, and the jewelry was like an early wedding present.  I wouldn't mind getting married… if I found the right guy.

            Fastening the necklace securely, she moved to put on her bracelets as well.  When that was done, she made one last check in the mirror.  Her hair was done in a braid yet again, but this time it was more elegant.  Some of the long braid was wrapped into a bun, while the rest hanged from her head as normal.  Ladies did not usually wear long braids when they went to church, but Maye's hair was too long to do anything else with it.  The other ladies would have outrageous updos, which she didn't approve of.

            It has gotten to the point that some women don't go to church anymore to worship, just to show off their hair.  Since they had to wear their fancy clothes already, Maye thought it was rude to flaunt.  Many people came into church in rags, but it was the best they had.  Alienating people in a congregation from each other was a fatal political move.

            Her appearance passed inspection.  Not even that apprentice could recognize me now.  She laughed hollowly at the reaction she would get from the nobles and sorcerers in the next prayer service – most of them the ones who snubbed her earlier.  They would welcome her with open arms; after all, she wasn't like the riffraff at the back of the church… and what family was she from? … She didn't look familiar, where did she live?  Not all nobles were bad, but she hated having to deal with the hypocrites.

            The next prayer service wouldn't bee for another two hours.  It would give her enough time to talk to Father Ossowo about her problems in Lemon, and if the Sorcerer Hunters really did exist.  So as to not waste any more of the Father's time, she hurried downstairs – the whole time carrying herself, as a proper lady should.

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            Marron walked back into the clearing.  He had hoped to figure out why so many things were happening.  Big Momma didn't have a single lead.  Usually, when on a mission, she could tell them some information, or there was a client who could inform them upon arrival.  Someone always knew _ something _, but now they were in the dark.

            Mille Feuille looked at him across the camp.  He was talking to Gateau.  Knowing he'd have to tell them sometime, the mage slowly walked over to the two.

            Gateau could sense the anxiety in his presence, so decided to delay on showing off his muscles again.  Since Carrot wasn't around, Mille was still serious.

            "Any luck?" the Haz Knight asked.

            "None," Marron stated quickly.

            "He's still blunt!" Gateau chuckled.  "There's no fancy word games with Marron.  He tells it like it is."

            "When you say 'no luck,' do you mean the cards didn't read anything – or that you didn't understand it?" Mille inquired.

            "I didn't understand it," Marron looked away.  "Even when Zacher Torte came back, I got a clear reading.  I knew that it was a terrible danger that had to do with Brother.  This one, I got a message, but…"

            "What was it?" Gateau wondered.

            "First, it said that the demons had a free will; that part was understandable-"

            "-and it proves that the Genneu was telling the truth." The fighter finished.

            "Yes.  Yess…." Mille murmured.  "Go on…"

            "Then it said that the demons are foreign, and so is this power source."

            "Since the demons are free willed, that makes sense too," Gateau pointed out.  "But how could we have a foreign power source like this one?"

            "If it were from another country, Momma would've still sensed it," Mille said.  "Well, we'll just have to figure that out later.  What else was there?"

            "Something seeks the revenge on someone who is a friend and an enemy-"

            "Huh?" both men exclaimed.

            "That's what I thought.  And the second is my brother.  The revenge is so strong, this thing seeks their deaths."

            "Are you sure?" Gateau asked.

            "Positive.  The red rose that stands alone, heralds a blood-revenge hunt."

            "And Marron doesn't misread the cards.  We may not understand it, but it is not Marron's fault because of it," Mille was enjoying this situation less and less.  No one likes going in blind in a fight, and this was just another unlit candle.

            The crash in the brush told the three that the Misu sisters were back with Carrot.  He was unconscious, and red from the wire burns.  Tira normally healed him a day later, after he had to sleep and walk with them all over his body.  It was what she had always done.

            "Tira, you're going to have to heal Carrot right now." Mille ordered.

            "But Mille, this was supposed to be a punishment!"  Chocolat shot out.  "How will Darling ever learn if his rebuking is taken away from him?" She was still mad about Carrot's 'cheating'.

            "We're meeting up with Éclair and friend of mine tomorrow.  Their mission is harder than Big Momma thought, and is sending us in as reinforcements.  Carrot will not travel well if he doesn't get a good night's sleep tonight."

            Tira saw her logic sooner than her older sister.  Kneeling down next to his body, she started to whisper some words.  The power of gaeis coursed through his limbs, and the burns quickly disappeared.

            It won't be long now, before Brother wakes up, Marron thought.  He was always a light sleeper, even if he didn't want to get out of bed.

            Sure enough, the older Glase brother began to stir.  As soon as he woke up, he tried to scurry away from Chocolat.

            "Brother, you need to stop.  Chocolat won't hurt you right now."

            "You didn't get burned with her wire, either," he pointed out.

            "I'm sorry Darling," Chocolat apologized.  "If I'd known that we were about to get a new mission, I would've waited."

            Somehow, Marron didn't think that statement reassured his older brother.

            "What mission?" he asked.

            Mille then informed Carrot of the plan to work with Éclair and Cranberry.

            "They have been trying to track down the main power source.  It will be about a half-a-days walk from their camp, and their camp is about three miles away.

            "There is a very good chance that were going to have to fight whatever is there, so you all need your sleep.  Even the best fighters don't operate well tired."

            Relieved to try to get some rest, Carrot practically ran to his sleeping spot in the clearing.

            Big Brother has the right idea.  The eastern magician sighed as Chocolat made an attempt to sleep with Carrot.  Gateau and Tira rolled their eyes, and Mille laughed.  His shouts cold be heard across the campground.

            "AUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!  CHOCOLAT, GET OFF ME!"

            "Come on Darling, let's make a baby!"

            "YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL ME FIVE MINUTES AGO!"

            "No, I was just punishing you.  Some men liked to be hurt before getting it on."

            "WELL, ONE OF THEM ISN'T ME.  WILL YOU LET ME GO TO SLEEP?"

            "Not until we make a baby!"

            A light bulb went on in Carrot's head.  "Chocolat, it takes a lot of energy for a man and a woman to be joined in such a way.  It wouldn't be good for the mission tomorrow if we were both groggy."

            Accepting his point, Chocolat backed off, and went to her own spot.  After this incident, the Sorcerer Hunters slept well the rest of the night.

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            The chi-detecting lesson had been exhausting.  Not physically, for she was already past that point.  No, this was a mental exhaustion that was greater than anything she had felt before.  It had been easy enough to feel the energy levels of other things, but distinguishing them was the key factor.  Cranberry assured her that once she learned the trick, it became second nature to use.  With her level of expertise, she just needed one intensive lesson to get it down.  Still, even on the elite, such drills could take a lot out of someone.

            Unable to think anymore, Éclair closed her eyes and went to sleep.

            Cranberry looked at his student warmly.  It had taken himself about two days of training to detect chi to the level at which a fighter needed.  Éclair had done it in about two _ hours _.  With her new skill, she didn't have any chi attached to people yet, except himself.  It would take her about ten seconds to mark her brother's signature and his friends in her mind.

            It was a good thing he taught her now.  With this strange power source, she needed her wits about her.  The beauty of chi detection is that people who are careless can never sneak up on you.  Since chi suppression was not a common skill (well, neither was anything to do with manipulating the fighting spirit) she would have no trouble infiltrating different areas.  The girl looked exhausted, both mentally and physically.  Knowing they did not have time to have her recuperate, he cast a deep sleep spell over his pupil.  This was a special survival technique that gave you all the sleep your body needed in the time you had available.  By morning, she would be out doing her katas again, back to normal.

Many sorcerers and nobles sought out the rest given by an enchanted sleep, but only the Rubicon family could perform the trick.  Cranberry's sire had enough kids and cousins to satisfy the demand.

Again, he contemplated his father's nefarious legacy.  No Rubicon could perform their magic to the extent that the Heir to the Title could.  It drove his family nuts trying to find the heir, not knowing throughout their extensive search that it was the son of a concubine – not even a son of his own wife – to which he gave the blessing.  He was still at large, and as long as his family and the fear behind the name existed, he would be simply Cranberry.  He smiled wickedly again at the thought of his father's family if they found out the heir was a Haz Knight – an elite Sorcerer Hunter.  He was the personification of the greatest irony on the continent of Spooner.  Well, weirder things had happened.  As long as his identity wasn't public knowledge, he could lead a normal life.  Well, as normal as a Haz Knight can live.  He had had hopes for a family, and knew that it was possible:  Onion Glaze proved it with two sons.  Then again… he IS the Haz Knight stationed at the village.  The rest of us are to stay by Momma's side.  Maybe that's why the rest of the Knights were single.  Mille may not be interested in girls, but the rest of us are still straight.  He shook the thought aside.  There was no chance in Heaven or Hell that he'd get a family with that attitude.

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            There was no one in the chapel.  It was a time of individual prayer, and anyone who wanted to pray by thereself on the altar was allowed to.  Not knowing when a chance like this would come up again, Maye walked through the huge rows of pews to the front.

            The altar was gilded with silver, and studded with diamonds.  When in here, it felt like one was really in the heavens – with the diamonds sparkling in the soft moonlight that shown from above.  In the center of the enclosed room, above the altar itself was a glowing purple orb.  She had known that the purple orb was always there, but her mother never said it glowed.

            Maybe it only does that for a person in prayer, she thought, but then dismissed it.  Augustus, her second-oldest brother, had come here to pray about discernment over a political matter with the nobles and the Count in the Valley, and he had told her what the room was like.  He did NOT say the orb glowed – it was just "there."

            Not wanting to risk her good luck at finding a free time to pray in such a holy place, Maye kneeled in front of the orb and began.

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            Big Momma had been through many sleepless nights worrying over the matter of the power source.  It was worse when Mille told her of Marron's card reading.  The power of the Shikon Jewel was foreign, but she didn't have the slightest idea where.  Onion had gone through every record of power anomalies with Grandpa in the Sorcerer Hunter archives.  He had also checked anything that had to do with foreigners, but none was helpful.  Mille and Cranberry had found good clues, but there was nothing to point evidence at.  Another one of her knights had found out something to help him with his own mission, and she was about to contact him now.

            However, she was surprised (a very hard thing to do to a goddess like Big Momma) when it was not her Knight she saw, but a young woman.  She must be about 17 years old, Momma thought.  Her outfit states she is a Lady of a large noble family.  Momma was going to shut off the communication's orb when she felt that the girl seemed desperate.  Well, girl, I care about all of my people, but I hear their requests from my priests.  It was the girl's lucky day.  Today my child, I will listen to your request personally.

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            Maye kissed her fingers, and laid them on the Star Jewel in front of her.  She decided to start with the blessing she had been taught all through her childhood.

            "Saint Mama, the savior of our continent, and our humanity, may all praise be to you.  May the stars twinkle in your favor, and the flowers perfume your day."  The blessing done, she moved on to an introduction.  "My name is Lady Maye of the house of Juune, fifth child and first daughter of Lord Janus I and Lady Guacamole."  Removing her hands, she clasped them together, bowed her head, and closed her eyes.

            "Saint Mama, ever since I was a little child, my mother and father raised me and my siblings to respect life, for we ourselves are mortal.  We came to church once a month, because our house is so far from this Church.  In the times when we could not come, my mother taught us (my siblings and I) about the many works you have done for mankind.  It was amazing to hear, and I pray that the childlike faith I had then would still be in me today.

            "My home had been peaceful through my childhood; you had given the Rubicon lands that had been confiscated to the Pepper family before I was born.  It took a long time for trust to build between this nice sorcerer family and the people, with the deeds of the Rubicons fresh in their minds.

            "By the time I had turned ten years old, all sentiment of that sort had left.  In the back of our minds, we still knew that a majority of Sorcerers were evil, but we were lucky enough to have a good one.

            "For years, we were never bothered by the problems that the parsoners around the continent had with the evil sorcerers.  It made us careless.

            "Saint Mama, six months ago, there was a terrible plague in the Citrus Valley.  The make of this disease was unknown to any of the doctors.  Even my cousin, who is an expert in herbal medicine, could do nothing for it.  It slowly took people's lives away.  My four older brothers went to Count Pepper's estate to try to help with the sick there.

            "While they were gone, my four youngest sisters fell ill.  With my mother, father, me, and my three other younger sisters, someone was always there with the sick ones.  But disease knows no social status, and they died," her voice broke, but she soon recovered.

            "They were the first in my family to die, but not the last.  Soon, my three other sisters caught it, and their health began to decline.  Right before they died, my parents came down with it as well.  For some reason, the longer the plague lingered in the city, the faster people died from it.  It was reported that the first person had the disease a week before dying.  My parents died five hours after my sisters.

            "When I sent word to the Count for my brothers to help me bury our family, I received a note that he could not.  He said that my brothers, while trying to aid the many sick servants of his own, had caught the disease and died themselves.  The mass graves were staggering, but he was able to honor my family by telling me that he made sure that my four brothers had their own mound to themselves.

            "So, I had to bury my own family.  In the course of a week, I had lost everything.  Both of my parent's families believed in the importance of having lots of kids, so I had an extremely huge extended family – out of which only my cousin Chili and I survived.

            "I had no idea how I never got the plague, but with it's speed of death, I did pray for it many times.  Chili did too, I know.  Saint Mama, I loved my family.  My father raised me to be a fighter, but here my skills were useless.  My mother raised me to be a lady, but grace and politeness will get you nowhere when lives are lost.  My four older brothers, my seven younger sisters, all of them were special to me, and I only had my cousin now.

            "My cousin is why I am here in the first place.  After the plague, we worked together with our friends to help bring order back to the town of Lemon.  We buried the dead, fed babies, and cleaned up houses – anything that needed to be done.  For about a month, everyone chipped in to try to get life to return to normal.

            "One month after the plague, the kidnappings began.  With the losses in my town so staggering, everyone knew the survivors like their own family.  When one went missing, it wasn't hard to spot their absence.  It was gradual at first, and grew as time went on.  My friends and I grew more worried each day.

            "Chili found out that it was Count Pepper that was kidnapping the people.  Why he just didn't come to us if he needed something, I don't know.  All I know is that he is not the person he used to be.

            "Soon after Chili tipped us off, he started public raids.  Everyone caught was taken into his estate, and we haven't heard from any of them since.

            "I haven't been able to escape, due to the fact that someone would miss me.  But two days ago, Count Pepper went on another raid.

            "This time, Chili was taken.  I was not with her, but I could hear her scream, and knew I had to go for help if it was the last thing I did.  So, dressing as a lowly huntsman, I packed my bow and quiver, and this dress.

            "I have heard the legends ever since I was a child, but never knew if they could possibly be true.  The death of Count Rubicon plagued my mind, and it was why I traveled here for help.

            "Legend has it that You have a secret organization called the Sorcerer Hunters.  I came here to ask of Father Ossowo if it were true, but I ask you now.  If you do have such an organization, could you please send a hunter to the Citrus Valley?  I'll help them in any way possible.  I want to free my cousin, and avenge my friends.  My life is in shambles, and I would sacrifice myself if it meant the safety of Lemon.  Please, Saint Mama, please send help…"

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            Her heart felt like it would burst.  How could she, the goddess of this world, let such a matter get out of hand?  Big Momma was mad at herself.  The Citrus Valley has slowly slipped out of her mind.  As she focused her attention on the area, she realized it was dark magic that removed this land from others.  A dark Sorcerer _ did _ live there.

            The girl has courage, she thought, willing to abandon her friends to help them – at risk of her own life.  There is no way that she could have gotten here so quickly.  Well, she'd have to talk about her with the Knight who was coming soon.

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I am sorry about the weirdness of this chapter.  Lucky you guys, I got on a roll, and put up two chapters in one day.  Ok, well – read the note I left for you all at the beginning of chapter 6.

Well, I can't say until next time, so…. See you in a minute!