Only Hope
Chapter Six – Night's Alarm
by: Mel
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Disclaimer: [insert clever disclaimer]
Sakura let out a satisfied sigh as she lay in the warm water. It felt so good to relax again. She could forget everything that had happened and pretend she was back at home. Closing her eyes, she began to doze off. All too soon, a voice called her name and Sakura opened her eyes groggily, turning her head to see Lady Shikaro framed in the bathing room doorway.
"Would you like servants to attend to you?" the Lady asked.
Sakura shook her head sleepily, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. "I've never had servants before so I'm used to attending to myself. Thank you for your kind offer." Sakura contently slid deeper into the water and closed her eyes again.
"I believe it best if you have servants attend to you at the moment," the Lady said decidedly after a moment's pause. "You look exhausted and if you sleep right now, you might drown." She then said something strange, something that made the air around her ripple. Sensing the change, Sakura half-opened her eyes in time to see two maidservants appear behind Lady Shikaro before allowing her eyes to close again.
The two maidservants stepped into the bathing room while Lady Shikaro stepped out, closing the door gently behind her. Going to her oaken wardrobe, Shikaro opened it, peering into its depths with a slight frown. What could Sakura wear? The formal court gowns were definitely not for her; even Lady Shikaro found them stifling. It was too early for a dinner gown and the Lady doubted that anyone lacking training could move properly in a ball gown. Lady Shikaro finally settled on a pale pink walking gown with golden lining, moments before Sakura emerged from the bathing room swathed in one of Lady Shikaro's own robes.
"Thank you very much," Sakura said shyly, "for letting me use your bath tub, Lady Sy-sy…"
"Shee-car-o," the Lady said in her perfect noble's accent.
Sakura tried again, but only managed with to say Shy-kero. She sighed, "I'll never be able to say your name right since I haven't got a noble's tongue."
Lady Shikaro patted her shoulder, "You'll be able to once you've been around nobles for a while, and anyway, I would prefer for you to call me Tomoyo. Shikaro is my formal name. All nobles, except the king, need to have them for court functions and public appearances, but most of us like to be called by our given names."
"Lady Tomoyo," Sakura said without difficulty as the name lacked the ee, air, and l sounds that Sakura couldn't get her tongue around in formal noble names.
The Lady smiled, "And you are Miss Kinomoto."
Sakura made a face. "Only my father calls me that when I've done something seriously wrong. Please call me Sakura."
"Then you must just call me Tomoyo," Tomoyo said with a smile. She moved toward the bed in which she had laid out the dress.
"Here, let's have you try this on."
Sakura gaped at the dress. "Oh, no. It's not mine and much too fine for me. I'd ruin it!"
"Nonsense," Lady Tomoyo said briskly, picking up the dress delicately with long-accustomed ease.
Sakura opened her mouth to protest more, but instead, could not suppress the huge yawn that had been threatening her mouth, cutting off her words.
"Oh what a terrible hostess I've been!" Tomoyo cried, swiftly calling for her maids. "Taila, go get one of my night gowns, the blue one. Meimin, send for a dinner plate. We'll have to put off trying the dress until you've had a proper rest, Sakura."
Sakura only nodded sleepily, finding she had to force herself to stay upright. She barely noticed being dressed and only because she was ravenous could she keep awake long enough to get down food. She was asleep before her head brushed the pillow.
Tomoyo smiled gently to see the poor girl finally asleep. It had been close to physical pain to see Sakura struggle to stay awake. Tomoyo liked the girl profoundly; she had no arrogant mannerisms and assumptions, but a sweet countenance instead.
Tomoyo dimmed the glow-orbs and padded silently out of the chamber, closing the door quietly behind her.
The king, Xiao Lang, stood brooding before the window, the panes refracting the sunset onto his stoic face. The Clow Book had been found. At the cost of the life of one of his mages, it was in his possession. And he had no clue what to do with it. It refused to open, refused to give any power, it seemed utterly useless. Had Rakan's life been sacrificed in vain? The king's face remained as impassive as ever, but his thoughts roiled in turmoil. If the Book of Clow was useless, what was he going to do? And he had no time now, no time.
The king punched the stone wall.
"I would like my wall to be dentless, if you can manage," said a dry voice behind him.
The king's only reaction was to say "Eriol."
"Yes." There was a little pause as Mage Lanxian of the First Order, commonly known as Eriol, arranged himself comfortably in an oversized, deep blue armchair.
The king slowly turned to face his most trusted magician and adviser, who also happened to be one of his distant cousins. "What do we do now?" a calm question that, coming from Xiao Lang, was equivalent to an ordinary person crying with desperation.
Eriol said nothing for a few moments, then strangely, "What do you make of Sakura Kinomoto?"
The king allowed a tiny frown to crease his forehead. "Sakura Kinomoto? Who?"
"The girl who Rakan gave the Clow Book to to deliver it here."
Xiao Lang frowned more. "The girl who delivered the Clow Book…yes, I remember her vaguely. A commoner. Why?"
"What was the color of her eyes?"
The king was losing his patience. "Eriol, this had better have some relevance to—"
Eriol interrupted him. "Just try to remember, I know you can remember even the smallest details."
Now Xiao Lang's face was glowering, but he complied, knowing Eriol loved being obtuse and hating him for it. He thought back to earlier in the day when the girl with the Clow Book had stood before him. The color of her eyes was…he couldn't remember. Surprised at himself, the king said, "I don't remember."
Eriol let a satisfied smile show. "I was right." He waited, the knowing smile Xiao Lang hated still upon his face.
"No games, Eriol," the king growled. "Tell me what I need to know and be done with it."
Eriol sighed, as if to say he was no fun. "Before, I could not be sure, but now I know that Sakura Kinomoto has a very powerful and unique ward on her that makes anyone with a substantial amount of magic forget about her the instant attention is drawn away from her. It's not that people will forget her existence, just that they won't think about her unless she is brought up specifically, but even then, she seems vague, like a figment of the imagination. Also, the ward makes it seem like it is not a ward. It took some concentration for even me to notice it."
"I was not aware such a ward was possible."
"It usually isn't. Someone must have given up all their magic to create that ward, a process that is equivalent to cutting off an arm…" Eriol lapsed into thought.
"What could be the reason for such an act?"
There was no answer for a moment. "Sakura is someone's secret," he said at last.
Making her sure way through the castle, Tomoyo finally came to a tower. Heaving a sigh, she prepared herself for the rather long climb. At the top, she found herself before an ornate dark-blue door. Seizing firmly the heavy golden knocker fixed in the middle, Tomoyo rapped twice.
"Enter," a voice said.
Tomoyo pushed the door open into a circular room occupied only be the king and Eriol.
Turning directly to the blue-haired man, Tomoyo place her hands on her hips and said in a teasing voice, "You really ought to get a new door Eriol. The current one is a bit gaudy with that golden knocker."
Eriol gave a mock long-suffering sigh. "I must maintain my image as the King's best Mage. People don't take me seriously unless I appear their image of a mage. They expect me to have a secret lab with a terrible door in the highest tower of the castle in which I do all kinds of dangerous experiments."
Tomoyo raised a dainty eyebrow. "Hardly a secret if everyone knows where it is," she said dryly. "And your door wasn't even locked."
"It was magically locked; no intruders would have been able to enter," Eriol said smugly. "Now what did you want to see me about?"
"Actually, I came to talk to Xiao Lang."
For the first time since Tomoyo's entrance, the king spoke. "How did you know to find me here?"
"Where else would you be?" Tomoyo said with a smile, then immediately sobered, lowering her eyes. "In times such as these, you are either with the Counsel or Eriol."
There was a pause.
"What did you wish to see me about?" Xiao Lang asked quietly.
"It's about the girl, Sakura Kinomoto. Since you have appointed me her charge, I would like to know what you are planning on doing with her."
Xiao Lang turned away, staring out the diamond-paned window. "Keep her here for the time being."
"Her family will be worried."
"Send a letter to them. Tell them their child is safe within the castle and they may come visit if they so wish. The girl may send a letter to them also."
For a moment, Tomoyo looked as if she was about to say more, then nodded her head, "Yes." She should not question the king, even if he was her betrothed. She began to leave the room.
"Wait," Xiao Lang said and then was silent for a few moments.
"Yes?" Tomoyo asked tentatively.
"Have her attend the ball tomorrow eve," was all he said.
Tomoyo was startled, but nodded, "Yes." And left the chamber.
As the door thudded shut, the mage turned to his king. "So you took my advice."
"Yes."
There was silence.
It was dark, so dark. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. She could see nothing, feel nothing. It was so cold, so lonely.
"Onii-chan?" she called out tentatively, hoping, wishing, wanting desperately for an answer, anything to keep back the dark. "Otou-san?"
A haunting melody began to play, the notes tugging at Sakura's heart. They told her to come, to follow. They sang of comfort, of family. Sakura began to walk towards the source, faster and faster until she was running, her pattering feet a counterpoint to the haunting song. She ran and ran, yet the music seemed to get no closer. Tears began to course down her cheeks. She couldn't reach it, she couldn't reach that beautiful music. Oh, where, where was it? She had to get to it, had to find the source.
Eriol paced through the east garden, unable to sleep. Something was bothering him, but the fact that he had been unable to pinpoint exactly what was wrong was the most disturbing. He knew it had to do with that Sakura Kinomoto, but exactly what was eluding him. He knew about Sakura's ward, but he wasn't sure that was what bothered. Eriol had never been this confounded in his life. It didn't help that whenever he thought about the girl, it was like wading through quicksand. He considered tackling the ward itself, but knew until he knew more about Sakura, he could do nothing.
"Mage Eriol! Mage Eriol!" a frantic voice called. A moment later, as he turned, Eriol felt someone collide into his side.
Grasping the person by an arm, Eriol gently pulled him away. What looked to be a child in the dark was shaking and blubbering apologies. Eriol called forth some light and saw that the child was one of his newest novices.
"What is it, Lynol?" Eriol asked kindly.
The poor child froze upon seeing Eriol's face, his moist eyes wide. Then, he cried, "Oh, Master Eriol, I finally found you! They sent me to get you…they told me to tell you…the wards around the city are under attack!"
Eriol blinked. It wasn't uncommon for the city wards to be attacked. They protected the city and therefore had to under attack now and then. And when they were, his advance student mages handled it quite well on their own.
"Why has that put you in such a state, Lynol?" Eriol mock-frowned playfully. "As my novice, I would expect you to be tougher than that."
"B-But the wards are breaking!" wailed the little boy.
Eriol drew in a sharp breath, all pretenses abandoned. The wards around the city were not meant to break; they were some of the strongest ones set.
"Where is the attack centered?" Eriol said, his mind racing.
"The w-west w-wall," the frightened novice stuttered.
Eriol was silent for a moment, then broke into a swift walk. "Please inform the king. He'll know what he must do."
Tomoyo awoke with a start. Something was gravely wrong. She quickly called a glow-orb, giving herself a moment to adjust to the sudden light before flying over to the bed of her charge. Sakura was gone. At the sudden quickening of her heart, Tomoyo tried to reason with herself. Sakura could be anywhere and perfectly fine. She could have gone to the bathroom or just gone for a walk. 'There's no reason for me to get so anxious,' Tomoyo told herself.
The bed on which Sakura had slept was a mess. A pillow was on the floor and the bed sheets were terribly tangled with half sliding off the bed. Tomoyo couldn't make sense of it. Why would Sakura leave her bed in such a state? Try as she might, Tomoyo couldn't get rid of the ominous feeling.
Shaking her head in an effort to clear it, Tomoyo turned. She decided she would just check the hallway to see if Sakura had returned from wherever she had been.
Moving through the sitting room to the main entrance door to her suite, Tomoyo frowned slightly. The door was wide open. Though Sakura was a commoner, even she should have known to close the door. Something was not right.
Tomoyo stepped into the common castle hallway in time to see several people rush by. Curious, Tomoyo stopped a boy in a novice tunic.
"What has happened?" she asked in her fluting voice.
The child dropped a wobbly bow. "The w-wards are under attack, lady. Some have broken."
"Indeed?" Tomoyo was alarmed. Eriol had said the wards were close to invincible. She nodded to the boy. "Thank you for informing me." The boy ran off.
If the wards broke, Tomoyo wasn't sure the city would be safe anymore. She had to find Sakura.
The notes were there, she just couldn't quite reach them. They flowed all around her like a tangible wind, yet whenever she reached out, they disappeared. Not yet, the cadence seemed to say. Follow us…follow us…
Eriol stood before the west battlement, eyes trained on the tiny figure balanced on the outward edge of the parapet. She was leaning forward enough to have fallen, but instead, her body seemed to touched something that sent networks of electric blue lines spreading before her. Eriol's face was perfectly calm, showing no sign of the disturbance within as he watched one of his shields begin to yield to the body of the young girl.
Someone or something was powerful enough and desperate enough to break through his wards to get this girl? He had suspected her to be extremely powerful, but had not expected her power to be such that the usually careful enemy would risk exposure and blatantly attack his wards. And the enemy had exposed much. Eriol could now sense how powerful the enemy had become. He smiled grimly to himself, he would not underestimate the enemy again.
He whispered a few words and a golden sun staff appeared in his hand.
Time to get down to work.
She was almost there. Just a little further.
Tomoyo, having rushed to the west battlement in search of Sakura, watched horrified, as the girl of her search put one arm through Eriol's ward, blue lines crackling all around her. What was going on? Why was Sakura on top of the battlement in the first place? Tomoyo thanked Eriol silently for the ward that prevented Sakura from falling, not truly comprehending what was going on.
Just a little further, just a little further. She would be where she wanted to be. She would be home.
Eriol frowned. So that's why they broke a few wards first, a trance couldn't be cast through a ward. The girl's will must be strong if the enemy resorted to trancing her. Eriol couldn't break a trance easily without hurting the victim. Eriol realized the breaking of the wards were a diversion also. If anything had slipped past the wards, which was uncommonly rare, he would have felt it. But beat mercilessly on the wards themselves, Eriol didn't maintain them, so he wouldn't know until too late and when he did find out, he would focus in only on the ward, the trance spell slipping right past him.
Eriol cursed himself as he wrapped lines of his power around the girl. He would have to do this very carefully, she already had both arms through his ward. Once outside, she would be lost.
Sakura reached and reached. Almost there. Suddenly, something gripped her body. She could not move. The once beautiful melody crescendoed into a shrieking wail, batting at her body, her face, her ears. Sakura struggled to move, to speak. The shrieking wail dragged at her, but Sakura no longer wanted to follow. Something wasn't right. The wail seemed to have realized this as it increased even more in volume. She tried to cover her ears, but her limbs refused to move. Sakura felt tears dripping down her face. She was pressured in on all sides, yet being torn in two at the same time. It was horrible, feeling that her life was in someone else's hands. She couldn't bare it…
"NO!"
Tomoyo gasped as Sakura's scream resounded through the night. In the next instant, Sakura was flung back from the ward, Eriol's mage lines still surrounding her.
She had come free long before he was ready. Eriol curse silently again. She was flying over the parapet too fast. It should have been very easy to catch her with his magic but her magic resisted him, most likely reacting with her panic. Eriol gritted his teeth, she was strong enough to hurtle through his magic, rather like slippery soap that he couldn't get a firm hold of. Just as he thought this, Sakura flew over his head, falling by degrees. Eriol began to run, all thoughts blown out of his head except to catch the girl.
Only dimly registering that something was happening to her, Sakura's main thought was to sleep. She felt so tired and her eyelids refused to stay open any longer.
Eriol ran. He knew he had to catch up to the falling girl, but he was rebuilding the wards as fast as he could as well as whipping out lines of power to slow her descent and was beginning to tire. It was the wards that sapped out most of his energy. Wards like the permanent ones around the castle took days to build and here he was trying to build them up in a matter of minutes. Normally, Eriol would have just thrown up a temporary ward until he had time to deal with it, but if the enemy would break through the city's wards for the girl, then temporary wards would do no good.
Too far, too fast. Eriol couldn't reach her in time. She was going to crash.
Despite all her lady training, Tomoyo was running, as if, as far away as she was, she could save Sakura. As Sakura began her impact with the ground, Tomoyo screamed.
A pink light blossomed in the night, encasing Sakura in a brilliant cocoon that penetrated the darkness. A high, inhuman scream resounded in the night from beyond the battlements, followed by a furious fluttering of something, then all was quiet.
As the bright light diminished and finally extinguished itself, Tomoyo rushed over to Sakura, terrified of seeing a mangled body. Instead, Sakura lay on the earth perfectly intact, her eyes closed, as if she had only been sleeping. Tomoyo sighed in relief. Sakura had been saved.
Eriol walked up behind her. He had stopped running when he saw Sakura's body encased by her magic and had smiled ruefully to himself. The girl was becoming more and more of a mystery every minute. Only highly trained mages could establish an automatic self-defense mechanism that operated for a few hours when unconscious and yet the girl's magic protected her even though she didn't seem to have been trained at all.
Tomoyo knelt on the ground next to Sakura, regardless of the silk of her sleeping gown. She felt for unconscious girl's pulse, and laid a white palm upon her forehead. Strong beat and no abnormal heat. Satisfied, Tomoyo began to send a command for servants to take Sakura back to her room when a hand descended upon her shoulder. She almost squeaked, whipping her head around to gaze startled at Eriol behind her. It was dark, but she felt his smile.
"Don't bother with servants. I'll take her in myself," he said kindly.
Tomoyo opened her mouth to protest and say that she knew he had a million things to do, but he had already bent down beside her and was sliding his arms underneath Sakura. Tomoyo closed her mouth and helped instead.
Author's Note: I LIVE! I have come back from the dead! Gomen, gomen for dying on your guys! wow, last chapter I said I hoped to get this chapter out before August. hehe, well look at that, it's August (of the next year). I am EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY sorry! See, I made this chapter longer than usual (past five pages!) to try and make up for my lateness. Well, actually, there should be even more important info in this chapter, but I knew it would take me even longer to write so important info will be in the next chapter too. Please forgive!
BTW, does anyone know if there will be more than one volume for Legend of Chun Hyang by CLAMP? I really, really hope so. I stumbled across the manga yesterday at the bookstore and bought it. I really enjoyed it and hope that there will be more installments. I gonna die again if they aren't gonna have anymore volumes. Please, if anyone has any info about more volumes, let me know? I'd really appreciate it!
Anyway, so what did you think of this chapter? I can't make any promises about when the appearance of the next chapter will be ('cause I always seem to break those promises scratches head sheepishly) but I can say that I've gotten about half the chapter written up (just wonder how long the other half will take wince). So please review (you can bash me a couple of times on the head and dunk me in the pool for posting so late).
Thank yous to moezy-chan, Onigiri Momoko, Adli, Sakura Moon, pnaixrose, Black Kitty Kat, Black Wolf Chics, Crystal jade2, Big Fan, Blue-Dreamz, and enigma-spirit for reviewing chapter five! Re-reading those reviews allowed me to finally get this chapter written. Thank you! (oh, oh, I got over 100 reviews! Thanks so much everyone!)
August 8, 2004
Mel
P.S. Sorry about the formatting. When I uploaded the chapter, all the formatting went away and refused to come back. It would be better with my original formatting, but alas, there's nothing I can do. Sorry again.