-Saira-
Chapter 11: The Hidden Castle
Myike was tired. Very tired. And he didn't care who knew it. He could complain very loudly.
Saira stopped suddenly from her position at the head of the trio, silently made her way over to Myike, and lightly cracked him over the head with her fist. Then she started walking again.
That was another thing, Myike thought dizzily. Saira hadn't been hitting him as often lately. She'd been pretty distant since the new moon. It was worrying him. It was also costing him rest as she no longer paid any attention to his ranting about having frequent stops. He sighed, letting his feet lead him, listening to the drone of the insects.
In the week that they had been traveling since the new moon, the hierarchy of the group had changed subtly. Saira was still the self-proclaimed leader of their group, but Myike and Mikkoku had ceased their normal bantering. The princess would pursue a conversation with the farm-boy and he would remain silent and indifferent.
Something weird was going on, Saira thought glancing back at him. Myike would do anything to impress a female, and here was a single heiress right in front of that idiot.
He only spoke to Saira now, to complain. Her hitting him had put him out of commission for the moment. It was still morning and the only sounds around were the crickets and tippety-tap of the Lady's slippers against the dirt trail.
It was a little unnerving to Saira. The quiet was starting to get to her…
"Say something dammit!"
Myike blinked at her sudden explosion. "Like what?" There really wasn't much to talk about. They hadn't gotten any leads yet. How could they?
Saira didn't know what the place they were headed for looked like, not that any villagers would trust her anyway with her demonic features and temper.
Myike had had the idea of asking around if anyone remembered some type of explosion in the area. So far they weren't having much luck in that prospect either. There were too many villages to cover and not enough positive answers.
So far the search had been pointless and Myike feared they were running out of time.
Saira was still fuming. "I don't know. Talk!"
"You just hit me for talking."
Stupid logic! No matter! She could find something to entertain herself!
With a huff Saira stormed ahead- and vanished into thin air.
Myike watched the tree line in shock.
How the-?
Looking around there was nothing but rocks and trees. He was about to call out to Mikkoku when he noticed another very important fact.
I'm alone.
"Hime?" Now he didn't normally like to initiate any type of talk between himself and the biased princess but this was serious.
Maybe she had gotten eaten or something. Oh well. "Saira?"
Now Saira didn't normally wander off, or vanish into thin air. Even in her worst tempers.
Something weird's going on. It must have something to do with the danger around here.
Though they didn't know the precise location of the grave of Saira's parents, they knew they were in the right area. Reports from villagers they had gotten stated so. Most of their memories weren't reliable from age so the group was traveling on guess work.
Now, if I hadn't gotten turned around the demon-girl would've gone… that way!
The spinning until you were dizzy and picking a random direction had never let Myike down before. He figured it'd be worth a try now.
It didn't let him down.
The boy tromped off in the direction he'd picked and was immediately hit with an odd tingling as he passed through something that felt like a film. The air around his body glowed and charged with blue light energy and he could feel the magic all around him.
It was making him slightly nauseous.
He felt great resistance and pressure as he moved through it. Something was trying to keep him from passing. He could feel his own aura fighting against the blockage. Myike felt like he was drowning, he couldn't breathe. The magic was so strong here. He concentrated on the energy he felt around him, trying to push his way through.
The pressure finally started to die down.
He came out on the other side of the 'wall' and promptly fell to his knees, completely drained. He sat there panting and bracing himself on his legs, trying to catch his breath.
"What took you so long? I didn't leave you guys that far behind," came a cranky voice. Myike looked up and standing in front of him was none other than the very demonic priestess he'd been looking for. "Get up and take a look at this, Lazy. Jeez, you'd think we hadn't just taken a break four hours ago."
She was as understanding as ever.
"Hold on" -pant- "a second."
She waited a second. "Done yet?"
"Are you saying that girl's not here?" he asked suddenly. He had a growing suspicion…
"What girl? Mikkoku-san? I thought you were watching her."
So I was right. It must've been a barrier. Himes don't normally have holy powers. "Did you feel anything when you came here?"
"Come on, Myike. Stop with the questions. We can look for the princess later. I just found something really important." She helped him up, and although he was a little unsteady on his feet at first, he had regained enough energy to walk properly.
The boy followed her through the thicket he had entered from that strong barrier and to a tall hedge. Saira reached under one and started pulling some branches out of the way of a little wooden gate. It was quite old and aged, looking as if it would fall down at any moment. She pushed it aside roughly and it collapsed.
She stepped through first, followed by Myike, whose eyes widened in astonishment.
Before them, was a ruined mansion. The biggest castle he had ever seen, but then again, he was a 'farm boy'.
According to that immense spiritual barrier around it and his newly discovered priestly intuition, this was the place they'd been searching for.
They'd found the grave.
--
Saira was so proud of herself.
She'd just wandered aimlessly around Japan for a month and a half and still managed to end up where she wanted to get to. Now she could get the answers she'd wanted to find for so long.
Mikkoku's disappearance didn't bother her at all. It was still daylight and not many large demons came out during the day. She could evade the forest creatures easily enough if she wasn't a complete half-wit.
Who was she kidding? Saira was just glad the girl was out of her hair. Lady Mikkoku could go search for her new husband by herself.
Saira really did feel bad for Myike. He was pale and drawn and she could only guess it was from his worry over the girl. She felt a spike of jealousy, but pushed it down as they continued to search the halls of the abandoned castle.
It looked not so much a castle as it looked like an abandoned battlefield. The state rooms didn't retain much damage since they were on the outside of where there had been some kind of fire, but the area inside was completely leveled. It seemed as if the rooms had been cleared and unlived in before whatever had happened there. Absolutely nothing was left.
There were dark burns everywhere, reminiscent of some kind of explosion. This, more than anything, made Saira feel that they were on the right track.
There was another uncharacteristic silence, but this time it didn't bother Saira. She was too busy lost in her own thoughts, excitement, and fear.
They were making their way to the center where most of the damage was. The main courtyard. The hollow around it inside the castle was completely burned away. There was nothing left.
They stepped out into the courtyard and Saira blinked in the bright sunlight. It WAS like a battlefield. Or a graveyard. It was deathly still. Not a thing grew in the dust settled on the ground. There were no animals, trees, nothing.
"There's nothing here?" Saira thought aloud. "It can't be."
She stepped further out, looking at the blank expanse.
"How-? But there was supposed to be something here!"
Myike came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "There's still time to find Toutousai."
"No!" She pulled back, throwing a tantrum like a child. "It isn't fair. There was supposed to be something important here. I could feel it. There has to be something here! We're so close."
Saira started running through the empty expanse. "There has to be something." she muttered.
Myike waited patiently and guiltily as she searched desperately. He had been sure they would find answers in this castle as well. But it looked as though it truly was just a grave. That they would never find out what had happened to Saira's parents and only wasted time and let Saira get further into her 'illness'. He should never have--
"Myike!" He started at her shout and quickly ran to where her voice had come from.
"What is it?" he asked breathlessly, his eyes widening as she pointed.
There was a giant serpent youkai attached to an old crumbling section of wall that he hadn't noticed before. There was something else strange about this youkai. It was pinned to the wall with an arrow. And, although the monster had obviously been dead for quite a few years, part of the monster was glowing bright pink.
He stared open mouthed for a moment before he noticed that Saira was moving. Her golden eyes clouded as if she was in some sort of trance, she reached out to touch the demon. She looked almost… charmed.
At the last possible second Myike realized the danger of the situation.
Her touching a glowing demon could be really bad, especially with her bad luck and clashing energies.
"Saira stop!" He yelled as he rushed to grab her.
But it was too late.
Her hand brushed the pink glow in the snake's ribs as she turned to look at him questioningly. She looked almost half asleep. "What?"
The boy watched as the most horrific thing he could ever dream of at that moment, happened.
The snake's broken and rotting flesh began to reform. Brilliant red scales began to grow on its back and belly. It lifted its hulking head and opened its mouth to hiss menacingly at them, showing off its pus-yellow teeth. Then its glowing eyes opened to glare at them.
Myike had no way of knowing that he was on his way to seeing many worse things.