Mark of the Magi
Chapter 9
By
Lily of Trust
Disclaimer: *in Lily's place is a little yellow sticky note, reading 'YST is the sole property of lots of people that aren't me. I would sell my soul to be able to draw manga that nicely. Sadly, my soul is being held captive by the evil that is Honors Government. More on this when I finish my homework'.
True to Kenbukyou's word, a clearly beaten path wound its way between the densely packed trees. These woods held very little in common with the tropical near-rainforest where they had battled the Sea Serpent scarcely five days earlier. The trees here were mostly fragrant pine, but scrawny from lack of moisture and soil. Unlike the tremendous forests further south, where the root system of single trees often spread throughout twenty feet of ground or more, these were packed closely together. They seemed to grudge even the narrow space allotted to the path.
At least things were cooler here than the scrub land. Fallen pine needles crunched dryly underfoot as the four young men traveled through the shade. Though the view of the sky was obscured by the treetops, the rising and falling of the temperature around them marked the passage of time. They paused for a rest about midday, passing around the canteens Kenbukyou had given them. The stream had been left behind long hours before, but the water had been carefully rationed throughout the morning. Plenty of water sloshed about inside the stretched hide.
Shin and Shu spoke quietly together as they rested against the rough bark of an ancient pine. Touma plopped down beside the path, and Seiji stood alone, gazing in the direction they headed.
"What Kenbukyou said before," Shu mused as Shin took a long draught of water. "About misleading our pursuers? Sounds like he thought we were being followed."
"I don't see how that's possible," Shin replied, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth. "When you get right down to it, we don't even know where we are. That encounter with the ghost ship could have washed us ashore anywhere. All we know for sure is that now we're only a few days away from the man Seiji's looking for, when before we were weeks behind him. How could any followers have kept up?"
"That's a good point." Shu leaned his head back against the tree trunk and dropped into a sullen silence. Shin re-corked the canteen they'd shared and sighed to himself. He recognized the broody expression on his friend's face. Shu seemed to get that look every time he mentioned the events that had lead to the shipwreck.
"Shu, what's been going on with you lately?" Shin ventured to ask. "Since the Vassaar-"
"What about it?" The other man said sharply. "There's nothing to tell Shin. We fought a ghost, broke the spell, and sank the ship."
"There's more to it than that, and we both know it," Shin kept his voice firm but low, so as not to attract the others' attention. "How could either of you have dispelled a curse that held for hundreds of years?!" He jabbed a finger just below his friend's breastbone, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he glared at Shu. "I was dying, Shu, and then I wasn't. Explain that to me. Something happened to reverse the cold touch, something that has Touma living in a daze. You're the only one of us who knows for certain, but for some reason you're being a stubborn ass about it!"
Shu winced and leaned back away from the painful prod of Shin's finger. It wasn't often he saw Shin genuinely angry, much less at him, and the irate gleam in those green eyes was thoroughly cowing. He found himself stammering a reply, though he hadn't meant to say a thing.
"It was...Touma...I mean, he-"
"Quiet you two!" Seiji said sharply, slicing his hand through the air. "Something's coming this way."
Silence fell like an axe-head. Touma rose quietly to his feet and took a step back from the path. His movement scarcely stirred the pine needles underfoot. From some distance away came the sound of rustling and snapping branches. They hadn't seen any animals large enough to brush the low hanging branches, but most humans knew better than to make so much noise when traveling such a little used trail.
"We're supposed to be a half-day away from other people yet, aren't we?" Shu murmured under his breath to Shin, who nodded and shifted forward into a crouch.
The crunching and cracking grew louder. An absent, tuneless whistle could now be heard over the din.
A man turned the twist in the path, his whistling faltering for a moment as he met four wary pairs of eyes. He wore plain homespun trousers stained some indeterminable color by constant use, and an equally battered pair of heavy work boots. He wore no shirt, though one was tied about his waist. Old scars crisscrossed his chest and stomach, leaving pale lines through the tanned skin. Upon his shoulder he carried a load of quartered logs. Each one was easily as thick as a man's wrist, and there were perhaps two dozen in the bunch. Lashed to the top of the bundle was a hatchet, the blade scarred with frequent use.
"Eh?" The stranger pushed sweat-damp bangs, so dark a blue as to be nearly black, from his forehead. Piercing blue eyes, calm but sharp nonetheless, swept over them. An inverted cross-shaped scar marred the skin beneath his left eye.
Shin wondered what he made of their haggard little band. Their threadbare clothes had been badly frayed by the wind and sea and sand. Their garments were ill fitting, as it had been nearly three days since they had swallowed anything but water or grit. They were scraped, bruised, and held themselves in the wary posture of hunted men.
"Afternoon," the woodcutter said genially, shrugging a shoulder to ease the load. Shin was wryly amused to note that the tips of his fingers settled lightly against the butt of the axe. Perhaps he thought them to be bandits or cutthroats. Shin wasn't sure if such things were common in this countryside.
"Good afternoon," Seiji replied for them. His right hand closed over empty air at his hip as he groped instinctively for a hilt that was no longer there.
The stranger's eyebrows rose slightly at the sound Seiji's foreign, aristocratic accent coming from someone whose clothes belonged in a rag-bin.
"You'll have to pardon my surprise," He said dryly, "But this trail is used only by myself and a few bush-deer. It doesn't see much human traffic."
"We were not expecting to see anyone else either," Seiji replied. "I apologize if we startled you, but we were told we might find a town out this way, or at least someplace to barter for food."
"If you'll pardon my saying so, you don't look like you've got a damn thing to offer in return for it," The stranger said skeptically.
"That tends to happen when you're shipwrecked," Touma spoke up. He sat cross-legged, his chin resting in the palm of his left hand.
"Shipwrecked?" The man said incredulously. "But there haven't been any storms! And there are no rocks or reefs here-abouts to crash into." He snorted and shifted the bundle of wood again. "You must be mighty poor sailors."
Shu bristled angrily, and Shin reached out to quickly grab his shoulder. "It's a little complicated," He explained, smiling apologetically.
"Well if nothing else, it seems you can offer a story for your supper," The woodcutter suggested. "I can think of someone who might be interested to hear about your travels."
"Can you?" Shin sat up a little straighter, hunger prompting him to pursue the possibility.
"It so happens this firewood is for him. I doubt I could keep the four of you from following me if you had a mind to," The slight smirk that pulled at the corner of his mouth told them otherwise. That said, he continued on his way, gaze fixed pointedly on the path ahead.
"Food for a tale?" Touma snorted skeptically. "Who'd be senseless enough to accept a trade when the benefits are that one-sided?"
"You're a thief, Touma," Seiji said reasonably as he stepped out onto the path. "You are aware that some people pay for information, aren't you?"
"Yeah?" Touma raised his chin from his hand, looking at Shin and Shu incredulously as they too stood to follow. "So?"
"Think of it as a meal for information, instead of a tale," Seiji called back over his shoulder. "I have the feeling that would be more accurate anyway."
~
The temperatures dipped a little as late afternoon wore on. Goosebumps pricked at bare flesh, though they panted from the exertion of the walk. Attempting to trek day in and day out with nothing but a few swallows of water sloshing around in ones' belly is not a wise idea.
"He had to go this far for firewood?" Touma grumbled under his breath, shooting a baleful glare at their guide's back. "And what would anybody need a fire for anyway? It's summertime!"
"It gets chilly at night," Shu said shortly, conserving his breath for walking. "And most people don't hack up the trees around their houses. Makes for an ugly view."
Touma snarled something that should have made Shu's ears curl up, and transferred the glare on the larger man. Shu just smiled faintly, apparently too used to the curses, or too tired, to be affected by them.
His irritation spent, Touma sidled in closer to Shu and tipped his head back over his shoulder, indicating Seiji and Shin following several paces behind.
"They've been awfully quiet."
"Not everybody feels the urge to ruin a perfectly nice silence with talk."
Touma scowled, though it was more thoughtful than angry. "I mean it's not like Seiji to be so withdrawn. He's kind of sucking into himself. Have you noticed?"
Shu plodded along silently for a few moments. He had indeed noticed the change. Seiji had always been stoic, but now he was just plain brooding
"Yesterday he said we were close to the man he's been searching for," Shu lowered his voice, that neither Seiji nor the woodcutter might overhear. "Maybe we're nearer than he thought. Maybe he's feeling some kind of side effect, or he's just trying to figure out what he'll do when he finds that man. He did say he wasn't sure what would happen when they faced each other again."
Touma nodded, the scowl smoothing out into a small frown. "And Shin?" His eyes flicked back towards the younger man, who walked quietly beside Seiji. There was an unusual amount of worry in the glance, as though Touma feared the heat really was affecting the Water Elemental.
Shu chuckled. "The Shrimp's pretty good at picking up on moods. He probably figured that something was bothering Seiji way before you did. My guess is he's just being silent support."
Shin smiled to himself and shook his head. Shu might have taken care to speak under his breath, but his furtive manner betrayed the fact that he didn't mean for anyone but Touma to overhear what he was saying. It was obvious to him that they had finally noticed Seiji's sullen silence. The Magi had been behaving oddly since they had begun following their strange guide. Though he didn't know it, Shin had come to the same conclusion as Shu; that Seiji's odd mood had something to do with the proximity of his old teacher. It had been some two or three hours since they had left their resting place behind, and the blonde had yet to say a word.
"Seiji?" Shin said quietly, trusting that Touma and Shu would be too involved in their own conversation (which had predictably escalated into bickering) to overhear. "What's the matter?"
Seiji's mouth tightened into a thin line. His gaze slid over to Shin, raking him up and down as if considering something. Intentions flitted behind violet eyes; would he tell the truth, or feed his pupil some line of reassurance? Shin hoped fervently for the former.
"We're close, aren't we?" He asked, more or less limiting Seiji's options.
The older man sighed, dropping his eyes to focus on the tangled path they trod. He raked a hand through his hair, attempting to tuck it back into the short tail. Shin waited patiently, though the answer, when it finally came, was much briefer than he had expected.
"Yes."
Okay...well, he could work with that. He held his tongue a few moments more, giving Seiji the chance to elaborate before prompting him once more.
"Do you think he's living in the village up ahead?"
"No," Seiji's lips twisted into a wry, humorless smile. "I think he's the man we're to meet over dinner."
Shin started, almost tripped over an exposed tree root. He stumbled forward, struggling to regain his footing before either Shu or Touma noticed. Seiji grasped him by the elbow and helped him get his balance back, the smile holding the faintest hint of amusement.
"Wh...what makes you think that?" Shin blurted once he could walk without aid. "Is it that sense of yours?"
"Yes," Seiji nodded, lifting his head to stare fixedly at the woodcutter's back. "But more than that, that man carries traces of his power."
Shin frowned, thoroughly confused. His knowledge of magery was severely limited; what little expertise he could claim lay solely within his own abilities, and Elemental magic was by definition confined to a single element.
"I don't understand."
"Think of it like this..." Seiji began slowly, brow furrowing as he attempted to translate what he sensed into terms Shin could understand. "When two people spend a great deal of time around one another, they begin to 'rub off' on each other, do they not? They may adopt characteristics of the other." Shin nodded, able to grasp that concept "When Magi spend time among others, they leave an impression of their own power, their aura, on those people. Since everyone's aura is unique, it's easy for another Magi to notice when traces of one person's aura is stuck to someone else's."
Shin frowned, struck by the image of people unknowingly walking around with streamers of glowing light trailing from their bodies.
"And you felt your teacher's 'aura' on this man?"
"Precisely." Seiji nodded now, "Our guide strikes me as a solitary person, unlikely to enjoy living within the boundaries of a village. Why else would he spend so much time alone in the middle of a forest? I find it hard to imagine him associating with too many people. It's only logical to assume that he shares living quarters with the person he's bringing the wood to. Given the aura impression, I figure it must be my quarry."
Shin sighed. He was too tired to run through such convoluted paths of logic. His head hung low out of exhaustion as they walked. He turned this new information slowly over in his mind, straightening suddenly as something occurred to him.
"Seiji?"
"Hm?"
"If a Magi leaves traces of his power on those he associates with, that would mean that your power is impressed on me, Shu and Touma, wouldn't it?"
"Correct."
"And some of mine would have rubbed off on you?"
"And Shu and Touma, yes."
"...So when, if, we're found...the Guard Magi will know all of you are involved with me."
Seiji shot him a sidelong glance. "Well that hardly matters now, does it? We're who-knows-how-far away from Kichis. And Shu is an Elemental in his own right, now. In a short while he too will begin leaving impressions on all of us." He looked thoughtful. "In fact...this reminds me of something Shuten said, when we were on the Vassaar. That he could ' sense several strong spirits', but they intertwined and overlapped so that it was difficult to discern one from the others."
Shin's shoulders slumped. "I don't really want to think about the Vassaar."
They both fell silent for a few minutes more, before Shin's churning mind popped out another question.
"Seiji?"
"Hm?"
"Wouldn't your teacher have left an aura trace on you? And you on him?"
The corner of Seiji's mouth quirked up into a crooked smile.
"How did you think I was tracking him?"
The implications of that statement were not lost to Shin, who stared at the blonde man and swallowed hard.
"Then he knows you're coming."
Seiji smiled grimly.
"Undoubtedly."
~
The sun was only just beginning to set when the trees fell away sharply. The ground had been sloping steadily upwards for some time, but now they could see they had been climbing a hill, and that someone had cleared the trees away from the upper half. A modest house sat atop the summit, a few sheds and outbuildings squatted just behind it on the downward slope of the hill. Lights shone in two of the four visible windows and a thin wisp of smoke curled from a slightly lopsided chimney.
The woodcutter continued his steady trek. The trail they had been following all day widened into a well-tended path, absent of vindictive tree roots.
"Please, please tell me that's our stop," Touma begged, his plea directed at no one in particular. Shu rolled his eyes and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. He was tired; his limbs dragged with a bone-deep weariness that only weeks of rest could dispel. Too bad they didn't have weeks. Hellfires, they'd be lucky if they got more than a day.
The woodcutter grunted in what could have been meant as an affirmative.
Shin sighed in relief; he could barely take a step without tangling his feet together; a problem that had nothing to do with a still-growing frame. He was too exhausted to even consider that they might not be granted shelter that night, and far too tired to care that the house itself was likely owned by a man who would have no reason to grant courtesy to Seiji.
The Magi had gone silent again. His hands were clenched tightly at his sides, his mouth compressed into a thin line once more. There was no doubt in Shin's mind that the man he sought was indeed here.
They reached the top of the hill, and clattered to a stop as the woodcutter climbed the two uneven steps to the door. He rapped the knuckles of his free hand against the solid wood planks and stood back as the door swung open.
"I'll stow this around the back," He said gruffly. Then, almost as an afterthought, he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "People to see you."
He stepped down off the side of the stair and disappeared around the side of the house, leaving them to face their host.
He was much as Nasuti had described, pale from head to foot. Though his face was unlined by age, his hair was alabaster white, left unbound to fall to his shoulders in loose waves. His skin so fair it was easy to imagine he had never set foot in the sunlight. Even his eye was nearly colorless, a blue almost as faint as the first hint of morning sky. Indeed, eye. As the witch had told them, he wore a black silk patch over the empty socket of his left eye. Aside from it, his face bore no other scars or marks that spoke of injury. He wore a light gray tunic over loose trews several shades darker. His feet were bare, and he stood with them hooked casually at the ankles as he leaned against the doorframe.
That pale eye flicked from face to face, registering Shu, Touma and Shin, and dismissing them out of hand. Though his neutral, almost bored, expression never wavered, his gaze sharpened as it settled on Seiji.
The blonde lifted his chin, somehow incredibly dignified despite his bedraggled expression. All the lavender bled out of his eyes, leaving them a steely gray that openly challenged the washed out blue. The two of them stool perfectly still, measuring the other by sight alone...or perhaps there were arcane examinations underway that the other three were simply unaware of. Tension crackled openly on the air. The temperature seemed to drop several degrees.
Touma swallowed loudly, almost (but not quite) intimidated by the sheer hatred in Seiji's eyes, and the pale man's cold, calculating stare. Shu remembered suddenly that he needed to breathe, and sucked in a quick breath to dispel the dizziness brought on by lack of air. He reached over and grabbed Shin by the elbow, pulling him back away from Seiji almost protectively. Shin looked at him questioningly, and found nothing but a grim expression on Shu's face. He didn't want his smaller friend in the line of whatever fire might be coming.
"Well, Seiji," said the pale man. His voice was deep, but cultured. It carried the same aristocratic lilt that colored Seiji's. "I wondered when you would find your way here. For a while I thought you had given up." The barest hint of a smile ghosted about his mouth. "I suppose I should have known better. Though I am curious as to how you regained so much ground so quickly. Would the tale have anything to do with your empty scabbard?"
Seiji's fists tightened. His knuckles stood out whitely against skin tanned a few shades darker by long days on the deck of one seafaring vessel or another. When he spoke, it was in a very clipped voice, as though he was afraid his words would betray his control.
"That is irrelevant. What matters is that I am here now."
"Yes," His old teacher said, amusement plain in his tone. A muscle jumped at the corner of Seiji's jaw as he fought to keep his composure. "So you are."
"You know why."
The others drew back at the sheer rage in his voice. Shu's grip tightened on Shin's arm, though whether it was out of fear or to make sure neither of them moved forward and got in the way, neither was sure. Touma stood his ground, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. There was something in his eyes that spoke of knowledge, of approval. He knew something they did not.
"Actually," Something shifted in the pale man's stance. Muscles tensed almost imperceptibly beneath the gray tunic. He expected trouble. Shin would have been willing to lay odds that he'd get it. "I do not."
Seiji rocked back, shock openly displayed on his features. He hadn't been expecting that response.
"How...but you..." Lavender eyes narrowed, seethed with anger. "You-" He spat. Either he was about to launch into a rant, or launch a fist into the man's good eye.
"I," The man in question drawled dryly, "Would like to know whether you came here looking for your teacher, your errant brother-in-law, the man who shamed your sister, or..." He let the sentence dangle in midair. Shu and Shin held their breath, though they weren't certain why. Touma waited, the something in his eyes now akin to sadness. Seiji's eyes widened, his mouth dropped open as though he could somehow halt the words about to be spoken.
"Your lover."
((AN: ...Well...I live, apparently.
It's been how long since I updated this story? Since last September? *winces* Goddamn...I can't possibly make an excuse for such a long, unexpected hiatus.
I can offer a couple things in my defense. Like college applications, finals, a fledgling webcomic, original fiction that needed attention, scholarships...assorted other Real Life crap. But really, I could have finished this at any time, so I'm not going to make erroneous excuses.
Bluntly put, I didn't want to write this story anymore. It was turning into a chore, not something I was doing for fun. And y'know what? If you don't enjoy what you're doing, then it's just not worth doing, dammit! So I took a break. Admittedly, an unexplained one. I didn't offer any warning, I just kinda vanished from every fandom on the face of the earth.
Then the other day I just decided randomly to stick up an old one-shot fic I wrote ages ago. And I looked at this fic, and saw that some strange souls (Destiny's lot, Prosopopeia) left reviews asking where I'd been, and warning me not to drop this. And I saw how many reviews the last chapter got, how many reviews I never responded to. Then I remembered everything I wanted to do with this story, and how many plot twists I was letting go to waste.
Owchie on me.
So yeah, I'm getting back into fanfiction now. The school year's almost done, I've got this webcomic thing more or less under control (kinda sorta...), and the lovely Rae (MistressCale to most of you) has started a YST RPG. It kinda rekindled my interest in the fandom ^^ I get to play Shin again!
I don't really expect lots of reviews for this chapter. Truth to be told, it's been sitting half-written on my harddrive since last October. I figure I've lost most of my readers, and if I hear anything from them at all, I will die of shock. Of course, the odds are good that if I do hear from you guys, it'll be something "AUGH! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING DISAPPEARING LIKE THAT?!" And I have it coming too. I doubt Risa, or Strata-chan, SumSum, Angel, or Khisanth, not to mention oodles of others (naming all of whom would make this AN so much longer that it already is -.-) will be too pleased, if they happen to read through.
So um...that's about it. I dropped a bomb this chapter ^-^; I can guarantee that the next one won't take me seven-eight months to write, but I'm not imposing any deadlines on myself either. It just makes for stress that I don't really need right now. In other words, I'll see ya when I see ya, and I'll be bringing fic with me *grins* Great Good God, I forgot how much fun these characters are to play with!