Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Knights, Mineko Ohkami does.

Ch.4 Meeting on the Mountains

" Man!" Rath cried happily, as a cool breeze of air blew gently against his face and ruffled his hair, "This feels a lot better than it did in Draqueen!"

: Are you talking about the air or the freedom: came Fire's question on a sign.

"Both," the child proclaimed fiercely, "I had more fun last night and this morning, than I ever had back in that stuffy old castle!"

Which was true. The three run-aways had spent the warm night sleeping under an apple-tree(with Rath using Crewgar as a pillow and Fire for a foot-stool). Then the next morning had eaten a delicious apple breakfast with Rath climbing the tree, dropping the red fruit for Crewgar, as he munched his own. Fire, meanwhile, flitted in and out of branches searching for the ripest apple he could find, before perching on top of the tree eating it, so Rath could not come up and steal it.

Now the trio was walking uphill towards the Snowy Mountains because Rath had claimed, "It was the best place to find demons to fight!"

: I bet everyone is out looking for you: Fire wrote.

"So? They'll never me up here!" Rath declared as he struggled to carry his heavy sword up the steep slope, " Man, this is hard! Fire, transform big and carry me!"

: I'm not a transportation device: the little dragon protested hotly, whacking his master's head with his sign.

"Ow!" Rath complained, massaging his head, "You're so mean! Crewgar's nicer, I'll bet he'll carry me, won't you, Crewgar? Crewgar? What's wrong , boy?"

Rath and Fire stared at the demon-dog who had stopped walking and now stood stock-still looking skyward, his whole body tense.

The black-haired boy and the fire dragon glanced up at the sky in the direction in which the demon-dog was staring.

" Oh, wow!" Rath breathed softly, taking in the amazing sight, "He can fly!"

For there in the sky, a man garbed in white drifted through the open air, his long cloak billowing behind him. On each of his shoulders perched two birds-both with shiny black plumage. The sun behind him illuminated his outline, turning the man's gleaming white hair an almost golden sheen.

As the black-haired child gaped in wonder, he could not help but think that this wonderous creature could only be some sort of angel.

Suddenly, the "angel" turned his head towards the three where they stood on the hill. The man's direction altered as he made his way through the sky to them.

Rath gasped, clutching his sword to his chest, "Uh-oh, I think he's seen us!"

Angel or not, any strangers made the child weary.

The white-clothed man descended slowly earth-wards until he had landed in front of the young boy, his cloak settling in gentle folds around him.

The white-haired man smiled down at the dumb-struck child in front of him, "Hello…little one."

Rath stared up at the man too numb to speak. Something about this stranger terrified him. He did not like the way in which the man smiled at him-it was a surprised and pleased smile, as if the man had discovered a rare treasure that was now his for keeps. And the man's birds stared down at him solemnly and unblinkingly as if they knew of an unspoken fate that awaited him. The boy shivered. He no longer thought the man looked like an angel.

"What is your name, little one?"

Rath felt as if he had no control over his tongue, "R-Rath," he whispered, trembling, "Rath Illuser."

The white-haired man's smile grew wider, "Rath?" he mused knowingly, "I believe that is a Dragon Tribe name. Are you one of them?"

Rath nodded wordlessly.

"Yes, I thought so," the white-haired man said, "Having a name like 'Rath'…now, that makes me wonder…why do you have a Dragon name, 'Rath'…fitted with a Yokai name, Illuser?"

"W-What?" Rath asked in shock, stepping closer to Crewgar. Deep in his throat, the demon-dog began to growl.

A shiny crystaline flake drifted down slowly from the sky…then another…then another. It had begun to snow.

"Illuser," the white-haired man repeated, "It is a name of Yokai origin. Did not your Dragon Tribe explain that to you?"

The black-haired boy shook his head fevertly, still trying to comprehend what the white-garbed man was saying.

"Perhaps they did not want to trouble such a young mind as yours, with such a heavy, unfortunate matter," the man said, simperingly.

Rath's feeling of forebodement was growing stronger and stronger.

"Troubling?" he whispered, huddling closer to Crewgar as Fire hovered near him wearily, "Why would it be troubling for me to know one of my names is Yokai?"

The white-haired man bent down towards him and put a gloved hand to his cheek only to yank it away as if it been shocked by electricity. The man kept the smile on his face, but now it looked strained as if he was greatly annoyed by something.

"Think about it, little one," he said, speaking in a condescending manner, "If your name is Yokai, then you, yourself…must be one."

"NO!" Rath yelled, all his former fear turning to anger, "I'm not a Yokai! I KILL demons!"

The white-haired man seemed to smile even more, "Would you kill me then, Rath?"

"What?" the child asked, a bit taken-back.

"I, too, am Yokai," the man claimed, staring deep into the child's eyes, "I am the Renkin Wizard, Kharl the Alcchemist."

"A Yokai!" Rath cried, shock passing through him.

Crewgar's low growling changed into a high snarling.

The snow began to fall more swiftly.

Kharl ignored this, continuing to talk to the black-haired boy, "Whether you believe it or not, I am a Yokai, as are you. Do you need proof, little one?" the alchemist made as if to brush the bangs away from Rath's eyes but did not touch him, "I was drawn out of my place of residence by an enormously, large amount of passing Yokai power. I sought to look for it, and where should it lead me?"

The man's hand moved towards the back of Rath's neck, "Straight…" the hand fingered a string it had found, "to…" the hand gripped it tightly, "you."

The string was yanked away from the black-haired child, revealing itself to be a necklace with a long, red crystal hanging on it. The necklace lay grasped in the Yokai's clutch, casting crimson sparkles onto the snowy ground.

Kharl smiled down at the young boy who now stared unseeingly in front of him. The sword fell from Rath's limp grasp and the child's arms hung uselessly at his sides.

:MASTER: Fire waved the sign frantically in front of him :MASTER! WHAT'S WRONG:

Crewgar's snarling turned into ferocious, wrathful barking; he pulled back the folds of his mouth to reveal several, long, needle-like teeth.

Heavy masses of snow poured from the heavens and the wind blew freezing and harshly.

The alchemist turned his attention to the boy's companions just as the demon-dog sprang at him. The white-haired man flung out an armful of ash into the dog's face. Crewgar was hurled backwards several feet away.

"Tsk, tsk," Kharl repreminded the fallen demon-dog, "Such an insolent puppy. Someone should teach you the virtue of obediance."

The alchemist flung his left arm in the air, alighting the bird on it, "Left Bird, get him!"

The ebony black bird swooped down towards the fallen figure on the snow.

Crewgar lifted his head in time to see the bird's claws sink into his flesh. Yelping, he was lifted high into the air and dropped down to the earth, before being lifted again, then dropped several more times.

Kharl watched the scene with sadistic amusement when suddenly the red, crystal necklace was snatched quickly out of his hand.

"What?" the alchemist started, his gaze falling on the Fire Dragon who had hastily tied the necklace back around Rath's neck, and was now hurriedly slapping his master's cheeks with his sign.

:MASTER! MASTER! WAKE UP:

"W-Wha'?" Rath murmured blinking, coming out of his trance-like state.

"Foolish lizard," Kharl stated, narrowing his eyes. Flinging out his other arm, he sent his remaining bird after them, "Right Bird, retrieve the necklace! And take care of that annoying little reptile as well!"

Rath finally broke free of the haziness surrounding his brain. He shook off the effects in the time to see the black-feathered bird shooting straight at him, his long sharp beak stretched out in front of him.

The child knew he would never reach his sword in time. Yelling in terror, he curled up into a ball, instinctively tensing, expecting to feel a razor-sharp beak plow through him.

Nothing came.

Cracking his eyes open hesitantly, the black-haired boy's vision widened in shock as he saw a gigantic red, winged-beast looming in front of him, protectively.

"FIRE!" he cried.

Kharl did not seem to be worried in the slightest, however, "So that's the way the lizard wants it, eh?" the alchemist drew a small pouch from within the folds of his cloak and sticking his hand inside, cried, "Right Bird, grow!"

Ash flew through the air from the Renkin wizard's hand. Circling the black bird, it settled upon it finally and as the ash touched the bird's feathers, the bird began to grow. And grow…and grow…until it was a large as the transformed Fire Dragon himseslf.

"Attack," the alchemist commanded calmly.

The ebony bird hurled itself forward, as so did the Fire Dragon. They collided in mid-air and began fighting-the giant bird tearing savagely at the dragon's skin and wings with it's beak. Fire pushed the bird back, regardless of the pain, leading it well away from Rath.

The child watched the battle in awe through the heavy sheets of snowfall, hardly daring to believe that Fire had transformed just to protect him.

"Now, it is just you and me, little one."

Rath spun around. He had forgotten the white-haired Yokai. Edging backwards, the black-haired boy groped for his sword on the ground, pointing it out in front of him when he had it in his hands.

"Now, now," Kharl said, crossing his arms and smiling as if unbelieving what he was seeing, "There's no need for that. I'm just going to take what I came for and be gone."

Rath clutched the red crystal necklace tightly to him, "I won't EVER let you touch this!"

The alchemist laughed amusedly, wiping tears from eyes, "Oh, dear, dear, is that what you think I'm after?"

The child faltered, "Aren't you?"

"No," Kharl whispered softly, his eyes almost glowing, "Not the necklace…you…my little Yokai."

Rath felt as if someone had dropped a bucket of ice down his veins.

"You see," the alchemist continued as if they were in a field of flowers instead of on a windy, snowy mountainside with a battle raging about them, "I can't seem to touch you when you are wearing that, so I have to take it off in order to do so. However, it seems that when I remove it, you become a little…shall we say… 'out of it'?"

The sword was trembling in the boy's hands.

Kharl's smile deepened, noting this, "I believe that the necklace not only restrains your enemies from touching you but supresses your power as well. Now, ask yourself, little one, why would your precious Dragon Tribe give you a necklace that does that…unless they are afraid that without it, your Yokai abilities would grow too strong?"

Rath's arms were shaking violently now. He wanted to cover his ears and scream at the man that it wasn't true, but it all made perfect sense…

Suddenly, from behind him, he heard a painful yelp. Whirling around he saw in horror, Crewgar lying spread out on the snow-long, deep gashes all over his body, spewing scarlet-colored blood on his white coat and ground. The demon-dog stayed where he layed, too weak to move. Above him, the left demon bird hovered in the sky, ready to make his final kill.

"CREWGAR!" Rath screamed, darting forward.

And the demon bird dived.

Perhaps it was the alchemist being too sure of himself, for Kharl did nothing to try and stop the child-only watched with amusement. Perhaps it was the demon bird's concentrating on the victory near at hand and nothing else. Perhaps it was Rath's impulsive and rash behavior. In any case, in the next split second, a sword plunged through the demon bird's chest halting it in mid-flight.

Rath gazed at the bird stuck on his sword. He was horrified by it's sightless eyes and the blood which dripped down his silver blade. No matter how many times Rath had gone off fixating on how awesome it would be to be a demon-hunter, he had never killed anything before. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

"L-Left Bird?"

The black-haired chid glanced at the white-haired Yokai whose smile had finally vanished from his face. Now the alchemist stared at the unmoving bird on the sword in shock. Time seemed to come to halt, then…

A strong gust blew up and snow whirled about them. Kharl tore his eyes off the bird and fixed his eyes on Rath. There was no more pretending manner, no more kindly smile, only an evily, dangerous anger.

The Yokai flung out another handful of ash in Rath's direction and the snow leapt up to form a mighty wall and begin to hurtle towards him. The black-haired boy stood frozen to the spot, too dumb-struck from it all to move. The rushing wall of snow towered above him…and the child was shoved out of the way by a reddened-white form. The demon-dog was swept under the strong current and carried away down the mountain under vast amounts of snow.

But the alchemist, it seemed, wasn't finished then. Throwing out another handful of ash where his remaining bird and the Fire Dragon still fought, he made a mighty billow of wind which caught the dragon up in its gale and propelled him backwards through the air, slamming him into a mountain's side. The dragon lay locked in place for a moment, before the mountain began to crack and boulders from the top rushed downwards in an avalanche of stones, sweeping the dragon along in its path, burying him under a huge pile of rocks at the bottom.

"NO!" Rath cried from his kneeling position on the ground, "FIRE! CREWGAR?"

Rath felt a hand sieze the back of his shirt and pulled him to his feet, but before he could even begin to struggle, the red crystal necklace was slipped from above his head. The child blacked out, slumping over.

Kharl stared down at the unconscious child in his arms. The Yokai was still smoldering in hatred. How easy it would be to kill the arrogant brat who had killed his Left Bird! But no…how very strange of him to let his emotions run away with him like that. Though, the child had made him loose his temper-something no one hardly ever did anymore. Yet, as much as he would dearly love to rip the little brat's throat out, the child would prove more useful to his purposes alive. After all, what was the point of gaining such a tremendous power, if you were only going to destroy it?

The alchemist shifted the black-haired boy in his arms, sprinkling some ashes over his cloak. Then alifting into the air, he held out his arm for his last bird.

The demon bird flew over, perching on its master's arm, gazing curiously at the small bundle which rested, nestled securely in the arms of the Yokai.

"Come, Right Bird," Kharl said, "Let us go home. It would not bode well, to keep such a special guest waiting."

And the three drifted through the air, into the heart of the Snowy Mountains.

A/N: Please share your fav parts, thanx!