Chapter 7
The Dark Phoenix stormed through the hall and arrived in his private chamber. Sitting down, he called for his servants.
" Bring me tea!" He commanded. The satyrs hurried off to bring the angry phoenix tea. The Dark Phoenix sat down.
So the child is still powerful, and still has allies. The spirit sighed. It will be hard to approach him. Perhaps direct attack will not do. Spies?
He took the tea and drank, letting the liquid soothe his soul.
Who would be a good spy?
Someone sweet and charming, with the cunning of a fox. Someone with an innocent cherub face, gentle manner. Someone who was beautiful.
Someone like Sakura...
" We're here." Chid announced. The city was large. Tall walls surrounded it and many cottages
surrounded the fort. Syaoran briefly recognized the feudalistic look to it.
" Is the lord here?" He asked Chid.
Van asked some of the guards. They all shook their heads.
" That's mighty odd." Van said to Chid. " I sent a messengar."
" Perhaps he did not arrive in time." Chid answered.
The fort suddenly opened. Out stepped a lovely princess, beautiful beyond belief. She wore a crown of jewels. Her hair was black. Her eyes were green. She was tall and pale, fair as snow. A gown of gold shimmered like water, adorned with gems, and threads of gold and silver. She wore rings and bracelets, necklaces of pearls. On her forehead was a golden star.
" Welcome," The princess bowed to the company. " My city and I are pleased to have such guests.
My father is not home because he left before we received your message, however I knew he would
be pleased."
" Thank you," Syaoran stepped foreward before either lords could reply, " We thank you greatly
for your hospitality, but I fear urgency calls."
" Hai, I understand." The princess answered. " My name is Hilderna. I am the Princess of
Akstrone."
" I don't like her." Syaoran said to Chid as they sat down in Chid's quarters. " She has this perfect
aura about her. It seems too fake for my liking."
" Just because she's polite doesn't mean she's necessarily untrustworthy." Chid answered. " Look at
Allen."
" Exactly. Look at Allen." Syaoran stood up. " I had no instinct against Allen. His aura was pure.
Why do you suppose that I did not like Eriol but I had nothing against Allen? It turned out my
instinct was right. For better or for worse, Eriol was hiding something behind that mysterious
smile. Allen was not. But this girl, this princess, is no doubt hiding something. I see mischief
crouching in wait."
Chid looked at Syaoran. " If you truly wanted to see what is going on," the boy began, "
Why don't you use your powers?"
" That's another thing." Syaoran answered. " I can't seem to see through this Hilderna. There is
something blocking me."
Chid looked down. " So what are you going to do."
" I don't know." Syaoran answered, and he looked at Chid. To the lord, it seemed that the Phoenix
Dragon had aged, despite he had not grown taller or shorter. Syaoran had a weary look about him.
" I use to think that just being on my guard would be enough." Syaoran continued. " And for a
while it was. But gradually I realized that my guard was beginning to weaken. I was kept on getting
taken by surprise. Now, Chid...now I can't even be on my guard. And it's...it's frightening, knowing
that all of the sudden I have to depend on others just when there's no one to help me."
" We're here to help you," Chid answered quietly, hurt by the immortal's words.
" Perhaps." Syaoran answered. " Let's hope that's enough."
The Dark Phoenix followed the princess with his eyes. The princess was indeed beautiful,
but she was cunning, though not wise. Hilderna looked at him.
" So you want the boy, and I can have the rest." She answered. " The...Phoenix Dragon, as you
say."
" Hai." The Dark Phoenix nodded. " You can do to the others as you please."
Hilderna smirked. " I like that." She was not smart enough to ask why the Dark Phoenix only wanted the boy.
" How will you do it?" The Dark Phoenix asked.
" Like I do everything else." The princess smirked.
" I'm sure he's here," Yue looked around. " There was a sudden darkness about the place."
Syaoran looked up. Yue wrapped his arms around the boy.
" Don't worry. Whatever happens, we'll protect you." the guardian told the child.
Syaoran sank into Yue's embrace. Yue was an alert guardian. If anything happens, Yue would know. The child allowed himself to relax.
Van entered the room.
" Shh!" Yue warned. The boy had fallen asleep. Van paused, and approached the guardian.
" Bad news." He said to Yue quietly. " Merle said a group of five just entered Akstrone and the
princess just went out to receive them. I don't know who they are, but if they're out for evil, Syaoran
is doomed."
" And to think, we're now face to face with our enemies!" Yue sighed. " But tell everyone not to tell
Syaoran. The child is too exhausted to bear this. He cannot bear losing his friends the second time,
or the possibility."
" But what are we going to do?" Van asked. " If the princess is actually on evil's side, she'll do
something to ruin us."
" Ruin Syaoran." Yue corrected. " he's the center of this chaos. To refuse food for fear of poison
will give our knowledge away. If we leave now we'll also give it away. Syaoran might be able to
prevent you being poisoned, but I don't want to worry him. Alright, let's put it this way. Kero and I
cannot be affected by poison. We'll be your food testers. We can detect if anything is amiss. Then
we'll tell you."
" What about sleeping potions?" Van asked.
Yue looked troubled. " We won't be affected by that either, but we won't detect it. Those
things are clever magic."
" Will Syaoran be affected?"
" He's not made of magic."
" Then what are we going to do?" Van asked.
Yue told him to stay quiet as he tucked the child into his bed.
" Tell Allen, Chid, and the girls to come." Yue answered. " Kero!"
" Aww, he's so kawaii," Said a Phoenix. " Too skinny though. Come here, Syaoran, don't be
afraid,"
Syaoran shrank back against a tall woman dressed in purple.
" It's okay." Said the Dragon. " Her name's Raishim. She's a Phoenix, like you. Come on, she
won't bite ( not that she could anyway, with beaks)."
Raishim scowled, then smiled at Syaoran. Syaoran approached her tentatively. Raishim
spread her hands out in a welcoming gesture and Syaoran ran to her embrace.
" There there," the Phoenix smiled. " You're with your family now. Don't worry, nothing will ever
happen to you again..."
Hitomi woke up to Van shaking her.
" Huh?" She blinked. Van let go of her. " What's wrong?"
" Lots of things." Van whispered. " Akstrone's going against us. Best be on your guard."
" How?" Hitomi asked flatly. " It's not like I can do karate."
Van blinked. He didn't know what karate was, but he's pretty sure it was a type of fighting.
" Come with me."
Hitomi got out of bed and drowsily followed Van. They went down the long hallway and Van opened a door.
Syaoran woke up. Van whispered something to Hitomi, and Hitomi nodded. She sat down
by Syaoran's bed.
" What's going on?" The child asked, tension leaking into his voice.
" It's okay." Hitomi whispered, comforting the child. " Don't worry."
" One card face down." Kero instructed. Hitomi obeyed.
Kero sighed. " Now flip over the three middle cards with your left hand."
" Firey, Dark, Glow."
" The Dark Phoenix. Now flip over the bottom card."
" Lock card." Hitomi blinked. " Who's locked?"
" What are you doing?" Syaoran blinked, then walked into the room.
" Trying to figure out what to do using the cards." Kero answered.
" Hitomi bonded with them already?" Syaoran raised his eyebrows.
" Kami-sama!" Kero slapped his paw on his head.
For the first time Van heard Syaoran laugh. It was a child's laughter, ringing and happy, but filled with caution. Syaoran was amused.
" So, stuffed animal, Kerberus, Guardian of the Clow Cards, Beast of the Seal, forgot to mention
that the cards won't be accurate to the reader unless the reader is their master. Smart move, Kero! I
think you just forced Hitomi to waste about whatever time she took to sort out those pieces of
paper! Lock Card! Indeed! Did you forget that reincarnations change their auras? Last I remember,
Sakura-san did not have the ability to read the future-"
" Yeah, yeah," Kero looked unhappy. Yue smiled.
" You could've reminded me!" Kero snapped at the other guardian.
" I know." Yue answered. " But suddenly I experienced a playful streak. I couldn't resist letting you
make a fool of yourself."
" So right now I just sorted everything out for nothing?" Hitomi asked.
" Hai!" Syaoran nodded his head and everyone burst into laughter.
" You stuffed headed stuffed animal!" Syaoran joked, giggling and wacking at Kero. " What kind
of baka are you? You are a guardian of these pieces of paper!"
Kero stuck his tongue at the laughing child and said nothing. Chid snorted in amusement.
" Does Kero always commit these kinds of mistakes?" Chid asked.
" Hai!" And Syaoran proceeded to tell how he and Kero were chasing the Change Card, and
because Kero wouldn't let go, they switched bodies.
" Nani?" Kero shouted. " You were the one who wouldn't let go!"
" Excuse me," Syaoran smiled, " I wouldn't let go because I believe you were too small to stop the
card. If I let go, Change Card would have brought you along for the ride, but Sakura wouldn't have
caught it."
" Really? You think?" Kero challenged.
" I know so." Syaoran nodded. " How much do you weight, like four grams? You think the Change
Card would be bothered by a four gram stuffed animal?"
" Hey!" Kero shouted, very much insulted now. Syaoran ducked behind Yue, who separated the
two.
" Don't go around biting the poor child when he's beginning to lighten up." Yue warned Kero
quietly. To Syaoran he smiled and rubbed the boy's head. " Don't start getting smug."
Syaoran giggled.
" So how do you bond with the cards?" Syaoran asked Yue.
" I'm not too sure anymore." Yue answered. " What should have happened was Hitomi would let
the cards escape and gain their respect by capturing them. However, first that's not happening,
second, even if it did we don't have the time to go around capturing them one by one."
" Know what," Syaoran answered, " I'll make an artificial bond. I ought to have some useful powers
as a Dragon Phoenix. Phoenix Dragon. Whatever."
" But don't you need an incantation for that?" Millerna asked.
" Make one up. It doesn't matter. As long as it rhymes." Syaoran scowled.
Yue and Kero looked at each other and smiled.
" Actually, I don't like incantations. They're too confusing." Syaoran thought for a while. " Hitomi, give me your hand."
Hitomi blinked and gave Syaoran her hand. Syaoran pricked her wrist with a sewing needle.
" Ow!"
" Don't whine." Syaoran let the blood drop on to the Sakura Book. The book glowed in response.
Syaoran closed his eyes and concentrated. The blood disappeared through the book. After a
while Syaoran opened his eyes and the book stopped glowing. This time it was purple, and instead
of the words SAKURA on it, it said HITOMI.
" Well this is just jolly. Sakura Cards became the Hitomi Cards." Syaoran answered. " As long as
I'm alive, for now anyway, these cards will remain loyal to you. As you use them, my influence will
gradually be no longer needed, so that even if I do die, the cards, if they find you worthy, will
automatically make you their master. But for now you depend on me." He frowned. He moved his
hand over Hitomi's wrist and the scratch healed.
" That's the advantage of being immortal, eh?" Allen smiled. Syaoran suddenly froze.
" What's wrong?" Van asked. Merle waved her tail back and forth in apprehension.
The door suddenly opened.
" Greetings, guests." Hilderna bowed. " I am pleased to find you all here. My father has returned
and wishes to invite you all to the banquet along with several new guests I'm sure you'll wish to
meet."
" Many thanks, princess." Allen answered.
" When the banquet is ready I will call for you." She said.
" Thank you." Syaoran answered stiffly.
Hilderna's eyes rested on Syaoran and Syaoran stiffened. She smiled, bowed, and left the
room.
" How primitive." Syaoran muttered. " This is like ancient Japan. She's overly polite so she forgets
her rank. And I sense magic from her. Too much magic. And also, Chid, you told me there are
many sorcerors here. Why don't I sense them?"
" I don't know." Chid answered. " It's mighty odd."
" Somehow I don't feel like discussing the Phoenix matters." Van answered. " I don't trust
Hilderna."
" I don't either." Syaoran answered. " But I'm too tired to distrust anyone. Yue, Van, you do all that
for me."
Van smiled. " So the boy's taking a vacation, eh?"
" What do you mean?" Syaoran muttered. " I just feel tired."
" You need to eat." Cerene answered. " You're too skinny."
" Oh, that again. Do you think you can do me a favor? Kero, why don't you play spy. Go and check
on the princess, and make sure you're not seen. For extra protection, Hitomi, use the small card and
make Kero extra small. Whether you'll change him back or not I'll decide."
" Hey!" Kero cried.
" Your punishment for goofing with the Sakura Cards-a full day as a mosquito!" Hitomi laughed. "
Small Card! Release and Dispell!"
" Why don't I see any children around here?" Syaoran suddenly asked.
" Why?" Chid blinked. " Finally decided to earn some friends?"
" Not funny." Syaoran answered quietly. " Somehow these days on Gaea I've never seen any kid
my age. Except you, but you're older."
Chid blinked. " You do want friends."
" Stop saying that."
" What, am I not enough for you?" Chid grinned. Syaoran frowned.
" Stop teasing me."
" But it's funny."
Syaoran sat down. " Look, I'm not asking for more friends, alright? I never had a lot of friends and the few that I had got killed. So drop it."
Chid realized Syaoran was especially sensitive to this matter and fell silent.
" Little seashell floating by,
Seas are blue and sun is high,
Little seashell drifts to land,
Stranded on the golden sand..."
" Syaoran?"
" Yeah, Aunt?"
" What are you singing?"
" It's a lullaby my mom sang to me when I was a child."
The Dragon sat down next to the little one.
" Do you miss her?"
" Yeah. Especially when I realized I never really showed her that I cared. I always turned away
from her..."
" She understands. Your mother is compassionate."
" But I'm not."
" Don't say that." The dragon wrapped her arms around the child. " It's only because you didn't
fit in. You're different. The only Phoenix and Dragon in all the world. You have the pride of the
untamed, yet the tenderness of the gentled. It's a good combination. You're destined to be a great
being."
" Iie." Ray answered as he tilted his head. " I don't think it would be wise. If this...Dark Phoenix is
going to attack, we better defend. The Phoenix Dragon sounds important."
" Who is the Phoenix Dragon?"
" Hilderna is a baka. How could she make an alliance with the Dark Phoenix?"
The sorcerors were distressed. They knew something bad was going to happen, and it had connections to this Dark Phoenix and Dragon Phoenix. Then there was this girl from the Mystic Moon and her cards...
Tiny Kero folded his arms and floated in the air as the sorcerors murmured before the meeting began.
Yeah, this is fun. He thought bitterly. Syaoran always gets revenge.
One woman went over, her cloak trailing behind her. Kero looked around. There were about sixty or so sorcerors, all powerful, all grumbling. What's wrong with these people?
" Ladies and Gentlemen," The woman who just went over began. " My name is Lorenil. I am the priestess of Akstrone. We are forced to take care that the Lady Hilderna does not hear us, but I will take this time to welcome those of you who had come from abroad to our realm."
There was a silence. Kero scratched his head. What was going on?
" Akstrone received a message several days ago from Fanelia." Lorenil continued. " The letter said that Lord Van Fanel, Lord Chid, and Sir Allen Schezar will come to Akstrone with the girl from the Mystic Moon as well as a being called the Phoenix Dragon. It mentioned that the Dark Phoenix is after the Phoenix Dragon and will undoubtedly ruin the world if he lays his hands upon it. At the same time the Dark Phoenix will destroy anything that prevents it from taking the Phoenix Dragon."
There were murmurs. Kero nodded. Smart Lorenil.
" The letter briefly described that both beings are gods from a separate world and are the two most powerful gods out of the entire immortal circle." Lorenil paused. " However, the Dark Phoenix is evil, while the Phoenix Dragon is young and inexperienced. Lord Van requests our magic as assistance to defend this evil."
More murmurs. Kero tilted his head. How did this woman know so much?
" Lady Hilderna is a fickle and irresponsible sorceress." Lorenil continued. " Had the letter been seen by her, all would be lost. Right now she has made an alliance with the Dark Phoenix. Fortunately, the letter reached me first, and with my magic I was able to modify it so that the Lady would not understand why the lords have come to our realm. This has improved the odds, but time presses. I, representing Akstrone, request that you, the best sorcerors in all of Gaea, to offer assistance to the Phoenix Dragon as well as the lords that brought it, for the fate of Gaea depends on the welfare of that being."
Go Lorenil! Kero thought.
" Tell us more about this Dark Phoenix." One sorceror said quietly. " That way we know who we're dealing with."
Lorenil paused. " The Dark Phoenix, from what the marks show," Kero wasn't too sure what she meant by that," Was once a powerful Dragon." Kero's mouth fell open. " He somehow angered the rest of the dragons so that they disowned him. The Dragons raised a war against him as he was very powerful, and in the end destroyed him. But his spirit was restless, so he invaded the body of a Phoenix, and drove the original spirit out. Vowing vengeance, he used this Phoenix' powers to its ultimate height. He is capable of turning any planet into a ball of flame and ash. Like the rest of the Phoenixes, he is able to conquer the air. He acquired the loyalty of all beings that are evil, including satyrs, ogres, orcs, trolls, serpents and vultures. But the worst of all was that he lost the weakness that all phoenixes fear-the weakness towards water. No thunderstorm can hinder his flight, no lake would mar him. His flames are no longer capable of being put out."
New development, new development. Kero thought to himself. First, that Hilderna formed an alliance with the Dark Phoenix. Not good. Second, this Dark Phoenix was a Dragon? How odd! And he can't be harmed by water? Double odd! But bad too!
There was a silence.
" What of this Phoenix Dragon?" Asked another sorceress. " Who is he?"
" The Phoenix Dragon is created when a Dragon fell in love with a Phoenix." Lorenil answered. "
Somehow the Dragon disappeared-we know not how. The Phoenix mingled with the Li Clan that
resided on the Mystic Moon and there the child was born and raised. When the boy was twelve
years old the Li clan and the Phoenix were destroyed, how we do not know. Afterwards a quarrel
rose between the Dragons and the Phoenix and each tried to claim the child for their own. How this
was settled is unclear, but it is obvious that the two sides eventually solved what argument they had
and the child was briefly able to travel between the families. A short time later the Dark Phoenix
heard of this child's existence and had a plan to acquire the child's power for his own. The Dragons
and the Phoenixes hid the boy on the Mystic Moon for fifty years, resulting in their own
annihilation. The child has the powers of both the Phoenixes and the Dragons. He can conquer
water and fire, wind and earth, lightning and the sky. It is said that his powers are infinete, but the
child cannot control them yet."
Kuso, the kid's powerful. Kero thought.
" Is he still a child?" Asked a sorceror doubtfully.
" Later you will see him." Lorenil answered, " At the banquet, hopefully if the child is not as
cautious as his reputation, he will appear."
I'll make sure of that. After all, I like these sorcerors. Kero whipped out of the room.
" Really?" Syaoran asked. " There were so many?"
" Many more, no doubt." Yue answered. " And they are powerful. If they are all on our side, then
the odds for us are improving."
" That's good." Hitomi smiled. " And no doubt they can train you."
Syaoran's face fell. " I don't want to train anymore. I'm tired of training for useless things."
Yue rubbed the boy's hair. " Don't worry. I'm sure that this is going to be different. This
time they will help you survive, not accomplish anything too..."
" Rash." Syaoran answered. " Fine. I'll go to the banquet."
" You have to anyway. Everyone's expectin you." Cerene laughed. Syaoran smiled at Allen's sister.
" You're different from your brother." He observed.
Cerene giggled.
" Come on," Allen poked his head in. " Syaoran, Hitomi, Kero, Yue, Cerene, come down. They are having the banquet now."