Digimon Slayers

by SilvorMoon

Part 7 up! Ruki and her friends want answers, and the mysterious priest Ryo seems to have them, but his motives are suspect. Throw in a slightly spacey sage, a desperate sorceress, and a mysterious program... Ruki can't back down now, can she?

5. The City and the Princess

The City and the Princess
By: SilvorMoon

There was only one thing Ruki could really appreciate about rising before the sun to continue a journey, and that was having the privilege of watching the sun rise. The part of her that appreciated beauty liked seeing the sky go from gray to gold, finally flaring into a blaze of orange and pink, laced with violet-blue clouds. The air started to warm again, and morning breezes brushed past flowers that opened to the new sunlight. Then, too, there were the voices of other living things coming awake...

"I'm hungry!"

Voices like that. Ruki turned and glared at the speaker, and Terriermon gave her a sour look.

"Well, I am," he said.

"Me too!" Culumon groaned.

"Me three," said Guilmon mournfully.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" she demanded. "I can't pull food out of thin air, if that's what you're thinking."

"Huh? But you're a sorceress!" said Hirokazu. "I saw you burn down a chunk of the forest yesterday! Coming up with a little thing like breakfast shouldn't be that hard."

"If she were a standard-issue magician, maybe," said Jenrya. "Ruki's a Cardmage. Her spells are tied up in the Cards. Don't expect magic to solve everything."

Ruki gave the prince a grateful look.

"The Digimon are right, though," said Takato. "There's only so far we can go without food. Why didn't you get more when we were back in town?"

"Because there's only so much we could carry," she answered, "and because I was only buying food for three humans and five Digimon. Don't complain; I paid for it with my money. I could have gotten just enough for me. And Renamon," she added as an afterthought.

Kenta had the grace to look guilty, for all that he had eaten very little of their food. Hirokazu and Guardromon looked anywhere but at Ruki; after all, Guardromon was a large Digimon, and it took a lot to keep his engine running. The bounty hunter hadn't exactly slighted himself, either. Even tiny Marine Angemon needed feeding, more than one would expect from such a diminutive beast. Having four unexpected additions to the party had done its part to drain the communal food stores, and they'd had little dinner the night before, and no breakfast.

"We'll just have to tighten our belts and deal with it," said Jenrya philosophically. "It's not that far to go, anyway. If memory serves me, we should be in Mainboard in time for lunch."

"Ooh..." Guilmon complained. "I want lunch now!"

Renamon gave him a withering glance. "You have no stamina. How did you ever survive in the wild?"

"I didn't walk around so much," Guilmon replied. He dropped to all fours and hung his head. "I'm tired and hungry and thirsty and tired and hungry..."

Without a word, Antieramon walked off the road and vanished into the forest. Moments later, the others heard a wooden thud, accompanied by a soft pattering and a rustle of leaves. When Antieramon reappeared, it was with his large paws filled with an armload of fruits. He kept five for himself and distributed the rest among the group.

"Food!" Guilmon squealed rapturously. "Thanks, Antieramon! You're the best."

The rabbit bowed his head in polite acceptance of the compliment.

Privately, Ruki agreed with Guilmon's assessment - there was a lot of good to be said for the noble Digimon. No one who had been there could forget how he'd put his life on the line to protect Ruki and Jenrya. He had shown himself to be both loyal and honorable, to friends and enemies alike. He'd shown no sign of lusting for battle, the way people claimed most Digimon did, but he was a formidable warrior when given cause. He gave his all for the group and never complained, no matter how difficult matters got.

*There should be more Digimon like him,* thought Ruki as she took a bite of her breakfast. The fruit was a bit overripe, but hungry as she was, it tasted wonderful. *After those Fuugamon, it's nice to be reminded there are still good Digimon out there, too...*

"Say, Jen," she said, "where did you find this guy, anyway?"

"Hm?" said the prince. "Who, Antieramon? I didn't find him. He was... given. Appointed, I guess is the better word."

"I was created," said Antieramon.

A few people jumped; they were so used to the rabbit being silent, it was easy to forget that he could talk when he felt like it.

Jenrya nodded. "All of the Devas were created. Don't ask me for the details of how. My father might be able to explain it, but..."

"What's a Deva?" asked Hirokazu blankly.

"Yamaki's soldiers," Jenrya answered, "or they were, before Ruki removed most of them."

"Um, yeah," she said. "No offense, I hope?"

"None taken," said Antieramon graciously. "We never cared for each other."

"Yamaki magicked them up to search for Culumon," Jenrya said. "It wasn't a bad idea, objectively. They could go anywhere they needed to, steal anything they liked, and most people would be too afraid of them to try to stop them. Of course, it didn't take long for them to start getting ideas of their own, especially that Makuramon."

"Is he the one who was mouthing off to me when I first showed up?" Ruki interjected. "The little monkey creature?"

"That was him," said Antieramon. "He was the most ambitious, and appointed himself our leader. It was he who encouraged us to steal the treasures of humans and ransack their villages for his own gain."

"He attracted a lot of unwelcome attention," said Jenrya. "I was put in charge of keeping them all in some kind of order. Of course, it didn't last very long. I suppose if he'd kept to his own orders, Ruki would never have heard of them all..."

"And I wouldn't have come and blasted him to bits," Ruki finished. "Well, I guess he got what was coming to him... It's a good thing you didn't get hit, though, Antieramon."

"And that's the closest she'll ever come to saying she likes you," Terriermon piped up.

Ruki glared at him, but didn't try to correct him.

Antieramon was perhaps embarrassed by even such mild praise, because he drifted towards the back of the group. When he was gone, Jenrya said, "I always did think he was the best of the bunch. There's something different about him. When I asked, he said he was the last one to be created. I've never decided if Yamaki got it right on the last try, or whether he was so tired after all that work, he didn't put in his full effort."

Ruki nodded, only half paying attention. She was thinking that if Makuramon hadn't gotten greedy and caught her attention... if she hadn't been moved by an out-of-character impulse to free Culumon... If Hirokazu's rivalry hadn't driven Takato out of town just in time for him to rescue her... If Hirokazu hadn't just happened to rescue a certain Healer, or to take a job from a certain sorcerer... Looked at from this angle, the events of the last few days, or months, or years, appeared to be a long string of coincidences, making sure that this odd little group had all gotten together alive. It was entirely possible that if everything hadn't happened in just the way they had, at least one of them, and probably more, would be dead by now. Ruki thought she heard the wheels of Fate grinding in the distance, and shook herself. No doubt that if things had fallen out differently, the new pattern would look equally coincidental, but still...

Lost in contemplation of the cosmic conundrum, she almost missed the first sight of Mainboard City.

"Hey, Ruki, where are you going?" Takato called.

She stopped walking. She had been trudging down a hill with her eyes on the ground, not really thinking very hard about where she was heading. Now she stopped and looked up. In the distance, shining at the top of a hill, was a large cluster of white buildings. Now that she could see it, she backed up to the top of the hill, so she could admire the view properly with the rest of her friends. It was worth looking at. This was no town of tumbledown huts and wooden fences, but a thriving city of gleaming white stone. The outside was encased by a sturdy wall, and even from this distance, they could see the spires of the royal palace, banners flying in the breeze.

"Now, there's a place to live!" said Hirokazu approvingly.

"I don't like it," said Renamon. "I am a forest creature. It escapes me how humans can want to live stacked on top of each other like that."

"It escapes me how anyone can be happier living in a forest without having walls to protect them," Guardromon answered.

Ruki shrugged. "To each their own! I like the open roads, myself, but I can handle hanging out in the city for a while. You Digimon might be better off staying out here for a while, though."

"You would kind of attract attention," said Takato, tilting his head back to look up at Antieramon. "We're lucky not many people have been using this road."

"Not all of the Digimon attract attention," said Kenta, clutching Marine Angemon protectively.

"True," said Jenrya. "And I guess we shouldn't let Culumon out of our sight. There's no telling who might show up while we're gone."

"All right," Ruki agreed. "Culumon's not that much trouble, and he's easy to hide, and I guess Marine Angemon can come along if he wants." She looked thoughtfully at Renamon. "I guess you could probably stay out of sight, if you wanted to come."

"Not I," she replied. "Someone needs to stay and keep the others out of trouble. If I sense you are in danger, I will come."

Ruki nodded her agreement. Privately, she thought she would have felt better if Renamon could come along, but she was willing to admit that Renamon was probably right. Cities weren't the fox-woman's natural habitat, and the others would need watching.

They trekked into town. As they drew nearer to the gate, Jenrya pulled up his mask and hood, leaving nothing but his eyes showing.

"What did you do that for?" asked Takato. "This is your home, isn't it? You shouldn't be hiding here."

"I'm dead, remember?" Jenrya replied. "The last thing I want is to start a panic. There's no telling what kind of attention it might draw."

"We are kind of trying to keep a low profile," Ruki agreed. "If Yamaki's tracking us, he'd notice a thing like all of Mainboard going into a ruckus because their prince has mysteriously reappeared."

"Or because some stranger is claiming to be the prince," Jenrya added.

"Oh," said Takato, looking embarrassed. "Good point."

They reached the gate. It was really little more than an opening in the wall, just wide enough that a cart could have gotten through it. It was an attractive thing, with decorative carvings running around its arched perimeter, and a glinting protective stone set at its peak. More importantly, it was flanked by a pair of armed guards, who crossed their spears as the group approached.

"Halt! Identify yourselves," one barked.

"We're here on legitimate business," Ruki answered. "My name is Sophia Keywright; I'm a jewel merchant. My companions are soldiers, hired to protect my wares. I wish to take a booth at the market."

The two guards looked at the group suspiciously.

"That one doesn't have the look of a soldier," said one of them, pointing at Kenta.

"He's a wizard," answered Ruki. "Not especially powerful, but he casts wards and other protection spells, to discourage people from getting too curious about my wares. He came very reasonably priced; I couldn't resist the bargain."

"A white mage, then," answered the guard, glancing at Kenta's white cloak and nodding approval. "Well enough."

The other guard wasn't so easily convinced. "I see no jewels with you, miss. Where are these wares you're so determined to protect?"

"Do you think I'm fool enough to travel with them openly?" answered Ruki, clearly shocked at his idiocy. "They're well hidden. Just look."

She opened her cloak and reached into some invisible pocket, drawing out a large leather bag and tipping its contents into her hand. Out spilled a pile of gems in an array of colors - some cut and polished, some rough, some that even shone with magic. Some were as small as a grape seed, some large enough to play marbles with, and a few were larger than that. The guards stared; she was holding more treasure in her hand than they might earn in their lifetimes, and the bag was still more than half-full. Ruki made sure they got a good look before dumping her treasures back into the bag and making it disappear.

"You are what you say you are," said the guard who had questioned her. "You and your attendants may pass."

"Thank you," she answered. She beckoned to her friends. "Come along - I want to at least have time to rent a booth today."

The others hurried after her. Once they were inside, they were eager to congratulate her on her performance.

"That wasn't a bad act," said Jenrya. "I almost believed you, myself."

"I've had to do it before," she answered. "If I tell people I'm the most famous Cardmage in decades, they're not always inclined to believe me."

"I was impressed with your illusion," said Kenta. "If I didn't know better, I would have sworn those jewels were real."

Ruki stared at him a moment. Then she laughed.

"You're so naive, it's almost cute," she said.

"You mean those were real?" Hirokazu exclaimed. "Man, what are you doing out here? You could retire on that! Heck, all of us could retire on that!"

She shrugged. "I'd get bored."

"You'd get bored," Hirokazu repeated. "Do you hear her? She says she'd get bored. Man, I would love to be that bored."

"Don't worry," a voice interjected. "Next season, she'll probably spend it all on magical curiosities, anyway."

Ruki didn't even have to turn around to know who was talking, but she did anyway, if only to glare at him more effectively. Half-hidden in a shadowed corner was Ryo, leaning casually against a wall and eating an ice cream cone.

"What are you doing here?" Ruki demanded.

"Watching you," he answered. "Don't worry, I'm not in this chapter. I just came for the ice cream."

"Figures," Ruki sighed. "If you're not going to do anything useful, go away. Go kiss a dragon!"

"I can't possibly look that stupid," he replied. "But if my company is that unwelcome..." He winked, and abruptly disappeared.

"That was strange," said Jenrya. "Do you think he's spying on us?"

Ruki shook his head. "No, he's just here to make in-jokes. He did remind me, though - it's lunch time, and we need to restock our supplies. Is there anywhere around here that we can buy food?"

"The market is further into town," said Jenrya. "There should be restaurants nearby, though. Granted, I've been away for three years, but... the Frothing Gomamon should still be open. It was the best place on this side of town, last time I was here."

"Sounds like our best bet, then," Ruki replied. "Lead the way."

Jenrya obeyed, guiding his friends through his city. It was a good thing he was guiding them, or they would have gotten lost. The streets ran at peculiar angles to each other, making it difficult for a non-native to keep their bearings. Ruki also noticed that there seemed to be an inordinate number of walls running around that didn't appear to have anything to do with the local architecture. When she asked the prince, he explained that the walls of the city had been built to form the pattern of a giant protective seal, with the entire city inside it. His forefathers had built magic into the walls, to protect its people from everything from plagues to fires to armies, and each successive generation renewed and strengthened the spells, adding their own mark to the layers of magic. As they passed one of the walls, Ruki set her hand against it and felt the power tingling against her skin. She almost pitied anyone who tried to breach this city's defenses!

Eventually, they came to a well-kept building distinguished by a swinging sign above its door. The picture showed a Gomamon afloat on its back, a tankard of ale balanced on its chest, its face bearded with the foam as it grinned foolishly. It was a strange phenomenon - no matter how much people feared and distrusted the Digimon, they still showed a propensity to name their restaurants and pubs and hostels after them. Every once in a while one might crop up called the King's Head or the Dancing Cat, but the Crowned Leomon or the Bearmon's Arms were far more likely. It was a puzzle that no one had ever adequately explained, but it seemed to work, for this restaurant, at least, had plenty of patrons. Now it gained five more, as a dusty band of travelers (two with unseen Digimon tucked under their cloaks) found a table in a dark corner and ordered their lunches.

"I don't know if I like this very much," said Takato, glancing around at the busy restaurant. "It reminds me too much of that other place where we ran into Yamaki."

"I sincerely doubt Yamaki would show up here," said Jenrya. His expression seemed to harden, even behind his mask. "Not without inside help."

"Lighten up," said Hirokazu. "Ten to one we gave him the slip miles ago."

"Where do you get those odds?" Ruki asked irritably.

"Well, he hasn't bothered us yet, has he?" Hirokazu replied.

Ruki decided the best way to deal with lapses of logic like that was to ignore them. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"Well, he hasn't, you know," Kenta offered, apparently feeling the need to defend his friend.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," answered Jenrya thoughtfully. "I do have to wonder why a bunch of fire Digimon would randomly wander into a temple dedicated to water - even a defunct temple. Violent creatures like that normally stay out of temples, don't they?"

"Usually," Ruki answered. "You think they might have been sent?"

"I wouldn't be surprised at all," said Jenrya. "We can't afford to let our guard down, or assume that anything that happens to us is coincidental."

Ruki nodded. She was coming to appreciate the prince's good sense. He was a levelheaded, practical sort, hardly what she would have expected from royalty. In these strange and wild days, a ruler's influence didn't always extend very far beyond the walls of his home city, and even though King Janyuu was the titular ruler of all the land between a range of mountains in the east to the ocean in the west, she imagined that Yamaki was probably as much a ruler in New City as the king was here - perhaps more so. After all, Janyuu was a peace-loving man, more interested in his books and spells than in making conquests; obviously Yamaki had broader interests. It was apparent Jenrya would be a different sort of leader, one with his father's knowledge and level nature, but also with a certain amount of magical power and some martial skills as well. He might be a great king someday - might even get this mixed-up world straightened out a bit. That was, of course, provided he lived that long...

She was distracted by the arrival of a waitress, who plopped their food down in front of them with no particular grace and flounced off again, looking rather harried. There was a group of rowdy young men up at the bar who were shouting loudly for service of one kind and another. Ruki looked down at the meal she'd been brought, recalled that she'd ordered a salad and not potatoes, looked at the waitress and what she was doing, and decided not to complain.

"Now, this is more like it! Real food!" said Hirokazu through a mouthful of baked chicken. He was holding a drumstick in one hand and a chunk of buttered bread in the other, occasionally swapping one or the other for a mug of something. Takato and Kenta both eyed it skeptically.

"Hey, don't worry, man," Hirokazu said, catching the look. "It's lemonade, all right?"

"Just checking," said Kenta.

"So, now that we're here, what do we do now?" Ruki inquired. "Does anyone have any plans?"

"The obvious thing to do would be to have a talk with..." Jenrya hesitated a moment, then went on, "...with my sister. She was in authority here, last I looked. She'll be able to help us if anyone can. The only thing is, we'll have to ask her in such a way that nobody else finds out we're here."

"Okay, that makes sense," she replied. "So, how do you arrange formal audience with a princess without getting noticed?"

"That's easy," said Hirokazu with his mouth full.

Ruki and Jenrya turned to stare at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Okay, wise guy," said Ruki. "If you're so smart, tell us how we're supposed to smuggle the prince into his own palace to talk to the princess without anyone noticing."

"Same way you got through the gate," he said. "Make it look like you're somebody else."

"Are you sure that will work?" she asked doubtfully. "Won't the castle have guards and spells and things on it? I know I would put down a few, if I had a castle."

"There are spells," said Jenrya thoughtfully, "but most of them are keyed toward hostile intents... I know there's a truth spell on the front door, but anybody with any legal training can get around that."

"So we just have to think of something to tell them that's the truth, but not all the truth," said Kenta, offering an olive to Marine Angemon. The little Digimon inspected this strange object, decided it wasn't edible, and instead began balancing it on his nose like a seal. "We ought to be able to manage that."

"No problem," Takato agreed. "Ruki's good at thinking of stuff, aren't you, Ruki?"

Ruki sighed. Why was it always her?

~*~

A short while later, a rather tense group could be seen winding their way through Mainboard's twisting streets. Ruki had always felt she had a reasonably good sense of direction, but she was finding it difficult to figure out exactly where she was going right now, for the roads turned at odd angles and seemed to double back on themselves. Sometimes they seemed to be walking towards the castle from the east, and sometimes from the west. Was this more magic, or was it just a way to try to keep invaders from easily reaching the castle? Either way, it was effective for drawing out nervous tension.

*I can get out, if things get crazy,* she reminded herself. Certainly she'd gotten out of worse situations, completely on her own... but that was the catch, wasn't it? She could get out, but what about the rest of them? Well, Takato and Hirokazu were fighters, they could probably hack their way out of trouble, and Kenta and Jenrya could probably magic a way out, and Culumon would sneak out with somebody... Ruki sighed and shook her head. Takato's offhand remark in the restaurant had lodged in her mind, and its import was clear. These people had decided she was going to be their leader, and they were counting on her to somehow guide them through this mess. They were all her responsibility now, and strange as it was, she didn't think she could bring herself to just walk away from them.

*Let's face it, if you were going to walk away, you would have done it days ago. All it would take is a quick don't-see-me spell, and you could have packed up in the night and walked off. Then I wouldn't have any Digimon following me around or any sorcerers out to get me... What the heck am I doing here?*

She told herself that she was just the kind of person who was born to go looking for trouble, and that it would have gone against her grain to walk away from a challenge, but that didn't feel entirely right, either.

She lost both the time and inclination to ponder such mysteries as the group arrived at the front gate of the castle. Like at the front gate, there were guards here, too, but those had been fat and lazy, with blunt weapons, there mainly for show. These were younger and tougher and better armed, and overall looked like they knew what they were doing. Upon seeing this odd group descending on them, they snapped to attention.

"Halt! Who goes there?" one barked.

Ruki glanced at Jenrya, and he nodded ever-so-slightly before looking back at the ground. The signal was enough to tell her that this was the gate where she would be required to tell the truth. She took a breath and did her best with an answer.

"Travelers," she answered simply. "We need an audience with the princess. We have important news for her."

The guards looked skeptical. One of them fixed her with a glare.

"You're sure it's important?" he asked.

"Absolutely sure," she answered. "Very, very important. It... concerns the missing prince."

The guards were startled now; it looked as if they were doubting their truth spell was still in effect.

"What kind of news have you got?" one asked.

"We can't tell you," Ruki answered.

There was a faint keening in the air, and Ruki grimaced. So much for the spell!

"I mean," she amended, "we could, but it would cause an awful lot of trouble. We'd really prefer it if we could talk to the princess in private."

The guards narrowed their eyes and whispered to each other. Eventually one turned back to her.

"What is your name?" he asked her.

"That's private information! The last thing I need is for my name to get blabbed around and heard by someone who shouldn't. There are people on my trail who don't want this information to get out, and if they hear about me, I'm in big trouble."

The truth spell didn't object. The guards looked at each other.

"You swear you aren't here to cause trouble?" one asked.

She sighed. "It's not our intention to cause any. It just follows us around. We don't mean the princess any harm, at least. The opposite, probably."

The truth spell remained quiet. The guards didn't appear pleased, but the one who appeared to be the more senior of the two said, "I'll see what I can do."

He wandered off, leaving the nervous group to stand on the doorstep and try to look like they belonged there. Oddly, Hirokazu and Takato managed the best; presumably they had taken work in noble houses before, and felt at home there. In his pale cloak, Kenta seemed to simply fade into the background against the castle's white walls. Hidden under Ruki's cloak, Culumon squirmed, plainly bored by the delay. Jenrya was more nervous than Ruki had ever seen him, shifting from foot to foot and fidgeting with the clasp of his cloak. At last, the guard returned.

"She says she'll speak with you," he said, "but keep in mind that there will be guards stationed around the doors of the room, so if you try anything..."

"All right, we get it," said Ruki.

A servant was produced and told to escort the group to a side chamber. Ruki noticed that while the servant was wearing a fairly ordinary uniform, suitable only for a page or a messenger, he also had a pronounced shimmer of magic about him. He wasn't quite in her league, but there was still enough that the average visitor would have had reason to be wary of him.

"Should we be worried?" Takato whispered to her.

"Do you think we should?" she replied.

"Well, I don't want to be an alarmist or anything, but that guy's got a weapon under his tunic."

She looked at the servant.

"Are you sure?" she hissed.

"Positive. Watch how he's moving his arms. He's trying not to let it show."

Ruki looked again. Now she could see what he was talking about, but only because she'd been told it was there. She wondered how many other times someone had been hiding something like that from her. She reassured herself by remembering that she normally didn't let an enemy ever get close enough to her that they would be able to use a weapon, hidden or not.

*I'm going to have to start traveling with a mercenary from now on,* she thought wryly, *at least until I learn some of these tricks!*

At length, the group was deposited in a spacious chamber, lined with comfortably upholstered furniture and with artworks hanging on the walls. Their entrance was silenced by a thick blue carpet, fired to sapphire hue by a dozen mage-lights that hung from the ceiling. For a princess, it was probably too dull to spend much time in, but by everyday standards, it was lovely. Dirty and disheveled from walking, the travelers tread on the carpet with reluctance and looked at the furniture askance. Even Jenrya looked ill at ease, tugging at the edges of his cowl and cloak as if he thought pulling them tight enough would make him invisible.

"They've redecorated since last time I was here," he said. His face was mostly hidden by his mask, but something in his eyes said he was trying for confidence and failing.

"It'll be okay," said Kenta. "I mean, this is your sister you're here to see, isn't it? She won't let anyone do anything bad to you, will she?"

"I don't know," said Jenrya. "I mean, I know she wouldn't have when I left, but... it's been three years. Anything could have happened. She could have changed. She might not remember me enough to recognize me. She's been ruling this city on her own for a long time, now... What if she's angry at me for leaving her? What if...?"

"You can what-if yourself to death," said Hirokazu. "If your Terriermon were here, he would tell you to shut up and quit feeling sorry for yourself - and he'd be right, too."

Jenrya laughed a little. "You're right. That's exactly what he'd say. Thanks, Hirokazu."

"Don't mention it. What are friends for?"

"Shh!" said Ruki, catching a hint of motion behind the closed door. "I hear something!"

The armed page had returned, slipping through the door and fixing his guests with a disapproving expression.

"Lady and gentlemen," he announced, "I present to you, Princess Shuichon, ruler of Mainboard."

The door swung slowly open, and silence fell as everyone held their breath in anticipation.

~*~

The door was ajar. Reika stared at it a moment, wondering whether it was invitation or carelessness that had made it so. Lately, interrupting Yamaki while he was at work had been leading to less than pleasant consequences. She had been lucky so far in not incurring his wrath on herself, but she had already witnessed the fate of two cleaning women who had made the mistake of trying to tidy his chambers while he was still in them, and after what he'd done to the brave servant who had tried to bring him his breakfast, she wasn't sure she wanted to test his mood. She was just considering shutting the door herself to make sure no one else got in trouble, when a voice issued from behind it.

"I know you're out there, so you might as well come in."

Still, she hesitated. She thought she knew him well, living with him all this time, and she'd thought they understood each other fairly well, but she couldn't quite read the tone of his voice. Was that an invitation, a request for her assistance, or a rebuke? Frowning a little, she stepped into the dark room. That puzzled her, too. He didn't know the difference between a lit room and an unlit one, but he did at least understand that most people liked the lights on when they entered a room, and he usually left his rooms and workshops illuminated for the convenience of others, if not himself. The lights shouldn't have been left off unless someone had been very careless and let the mage-lights run down, or unless he was doing a working that required darkness. She didn't like that idea, either.

Entering the room, she found the mage seated - not working at his desk, but in an armchair off to the side, leaning back in it as if half-asleep. She would have thought he was asleep if it hadn't been for a tingle of magic around him that meant he was doing something. He didn't stir as she entered, though he must have sensed her approach.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm searching," he answered. "I had thought I had finally managed to pin down those people with the Culumon, but they've escaped me again. I suppose I shouldn't have trusted a pack of monsters to do a man's job..."

Reika blinked, puzzled. "The Devas, you mean?"

"No, though they were certainly useless enough. I was talking about the Fuugamon I sent to harry them. I should have known a renowned sorceress like Ruki Makino could handle a few paltry ogres. I'll have to think of something different next time."

"Fuugamon? Those are some of the most vicious Digimon alive! They would have killed someone if they'd caught them!"

"Don't worry yourself. It didn't happen. That girl and her companions are too strong to die so easily - especially now that they've got that Healer tagging after them."

"And if something happened to their Healer?"

Yamaki couldn't glare properly with his eyes sealed shut, but he managed to give a good impression of it anyway.

"I don't know why you're so upset. That girl and her raggle-taggle friends are little better than glorified criminals. She's a thief, and she's been given plenty of chances to surrender peacefully. I will have that Digimon, and I will teach her to flout my authority."

"What authority?" she asked warily.

"My authority as the greatest mage in living memory," he replied, "and if this experiment works, I will have earned the right to call myself the greatest sorcerer of all time!"

"Shibumi was the greatest mage of all time," she said. "Everyone knows that."

"Shibumi was a fool who allowed his obsessions and experimenting to nearly destroy our world," Yamaki snapped. "All because he wanted to open a door..."

"And yet," said Reika slowly, "you let yourself become obsessed with this artifact of yours, the key that can open all doors, and you don't see anything wrong with that, not even when there are lives at stake. You're going to have to explain the difference to me, because I'm afraid I don't' see it."

"Don't you dare take that tone of voice with me!" he barked. "I take you in, I teach you, I house you, clothe you, give you everything you could ask for... Without me, you'd still be slaving away back in that village of yours, raising the brats of some dirty farmer! You owe everything you are to me, and this is how you speak to me?"

"I speak to you this way because I used to think you thought of me as an equal," she answered.

"I treated you that way because I thought you had some sense!"

"Oh, I see how it is now - I'm only worthwhile to you when I agree with you. I see. I had thought you had some respect for me, but I see now that I was mistaken. Since you obviously don't have any use for my opinions, it looks like I had better leave."

She turned and started to stalk out of the room. Yamaki surged to his feet and reached out a hand to stop her.

"Reika, wait."

"Why?" she asked. "You aren't listening to me."

"Just give me a little time," he said. "I... I don't know what's gotten into me lately. It's so frustrating, being this close and being balked, and it's affecting my mood. I keep finding myself saying things I don't mean."

Reika wanted to forgive him, but what he'd said had hurt. She turned to face him and found him looking back with an expression that mirrored the pain and confusion she felt.

"You sounded like you meant them," she said.

"I know I did. I'm sorry I said them."

"I'm sorry we're fighting about it," she answered. She sighed tiredly. "All right. I don't like all this - you know I don't, but if we can get it over quickly..."

"It will be. Ruki and her companions are at the heart of Mainboard City as we speak. If I alert the city guard to their presence, the guards should be able to surround them in sufficient strength that they can be captured without hurting them. I'll see to it that all of them are freed without harm. How is that?"

"Fair enough," she said, "as long as they aren't hurt."

"I will be very sure to tell the guards to take them unharmed," Yamaki promised.

"Then go ahead," she said. "The sooner this is all over, the better."

"I know how you feel," he assured her. "Don't worry. This will all be over by this evening, and everything will settle down. You'll see."

"I hope so," she replied.

"I'll deliver my message at once," he said. Then he did something he hadn't done in days, and leaned forward to kiss her gently.

Reika left feeling somewhat reassured. Maybe this would be all right. After all, she'd never known anything Yamaki tried to go wrong before. Much as it sounded like bragging, he had probably been right when he said he was the greatest mage alive, and probably one of the greatest in history. And surely even the famous Ruki Makino couldn't hold off a whole city of guards! All this would be over before the sun set today... before the sun set...

...The sun was setting, making the battle-torn ground glow like fire, covering the jagged edges of rocks with a bloody light. A body lay on the hard packed earth. His dark cloak was crumpled around him like a shroud; his shirt was crimson. Crimson? Yamaki never wore any colors but black and white. Looking closer, she could see the red gleamed wetly. There was blood on his face...

Reika reeled back from the vision. Where had that come from? She had experienced magical true-seeings before, but never one so vivid, or so horrifying. Could it really have been a vision of the future?

*I'm no Seer!* she told herself frantically. *The worst vision I've ever had was foreseeing the pantry running out of flour! This is just my overactive imagination - all this worrying, not enough sleep. It isn't really going to happen...*

She walked quickly to her own room, and closed the door tightly, as if by doing so, she could shut out even the thought of what she'd just seen.

~*~

Everyone stared. The princess blinked back at them, eyes lively with curiosity. She was clearly younger than her brother, probably just into her teens, and youthful-looking for her age. With her wide eyes and button nose, she could have passed herself off as being only ten or eleven. She was dressed in simple white garments with only a bit of pink trim at the hems, making her look more like someone's apprentice than a princess. Even her hair was worn short, pulled back in pigtails to keep it out of her face. Ruki was surprised; she had been expecting someone more like Jenrya, someone cool and aloof. This girl was already looking around at her visitors with quick, birdlike jerks of her head, as if just itching to hurry over, greet them, and start pelting them with questions about who they were and why they were there.

"Your highness," said the servant haughtily, as if determined to make up for his princess's lackluster appearance, "these travelers wish to speak to you privately. They say they have news of great importance."

"Really?" asked the girl brightly. "Is it something nice? Is it a surprise?"

"Yes," said Ruki. "It's a surprise, so he has to go away."

The princess turned to her servant. She drew herself up, half closed her eyes, and suddenly seemed to age ten years.

"You may go now," she said, grandly, waving a negligent hand. The servant bowed and scuttled off. She waited until he was gone, and then dropped her noble manner so fast one could almost hear it break.

"Okay, he's gone now!" she said brightly. "What did you want to say? It's good news, right? I'm tired of everything always being bad news. Everybody always wants me to listen to boring things all day long, but you don't look boring. What's your surprise?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain..." Ruki began, slightly daunted by the flow of chatter. She wasn't used to people who chattered. She was saved from having to say anything else when Jenrya cleared his throat, drawing all eyes to himself.

"Shuichon..." he said.

She stared at him, an expression of slowly dawning comprehension on her face. Slowly, Jenrya removed his mask and hood, letting them fall away to reveal his face. He raised his eyes to meet hers. She shrieked.

"Jen!" She hurled herself at him, flinging her arms around him and hugging him with all her strength. "You came back! You're not dead! I knew it! I knew you wouldn't really die!"

"It's okay, Shuichon," he said, a catch in his voice. "I'm back now. Everything's going to be okay..."

Watching the reunion, Ruki realized with a start that there were tears on the prince's face. She looked away, uncomfortable. She wasn't sure she had the right to be watching this kind of personal episode. There really should have been a way to let all this happen in privacy...

She was startled by someone touching her shoulder. Looking around, she found that Takato had come to stand next to her.

"It's okay," he said.

She blinked, confused. "It is?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I mean, I know you must miss your family, after not seeing them so long... but it's okay. We're your family now, too."

"Oh," she said, nonplused. Then, because she knew he meant well, she added, "Thanks."

He smiled, apparently pleased that he'd been of use, and went back to watching the sentimental drama unfolding before him.

Meanwhile, the newly reunited siblings had released each other, and were now standing at arm's length, still staring as if they'd never seen each other before.

"You've grown," said Jenrya. "I remember when I left, you were only this high..."

"I'm a real princess now," said Shuichon proudly. "They stopped treating me like a little kid and started really listening to me. They had to, after Dad left." Her face fell. "I wish he'd come back, though. It's no fun, doing everything all alone. Why did you have to go and leave me all alone?"

Jenrya sighed. "I'm sorry, Shuichon. You don't know how sorry I am. It's just... well, the reason I left was..." He took a deep breath, lowered his eyes, and said, "The reason I left was that I was looking for Dad."

"You were?" asked Shuichon. "But I thought... they told me he went to visit his friends. Did he get lost?"

"No, he didn't. He was kidnapped," Jenrya replied. "The sorcerer Yamaki has him, and I've been working to free him."

"Is he all right? Where is he?"

"From what I've been able to find out, he's being kept in a cell in Yamaki's tower in New City," Jenrya replied. "Unfortunately, I can't get him out without help. Yamaki's got too many spells and too many helpers for me to stand up to him alone. That's why my friends and I came here - to ask you if you'd help us."

"Of course I will!" the young princess exclaimed. "Wait right here, and I'll be right back!"

Before Jenrya could say another word, she sprinted out of the room, leaving the door swinging in her wake.

"Is she always like that?" Hirokazu asked.

Jenrya shrugged. "She was when I knew her. It's nice to see things haven't changed much."

"I noticed you didn't exactly tell the whole truth," said Ruki, raising an eyebrow.

"I know. I meant to, but... I just couldn't. I can't tell her I helped put my own father in a dungeon! She'd never forgive me." He sighed, hanging his head in a posture of profound shame. "It could have been much worse. I ought to thank you, Ruki. You were right. I never should have helped Yamaki even for a minute."

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I have the feeling you'll have plenty of opportunities to un- help him in the future."

The group waited, becoming more tense - or bored, in some cases - as the minutes ticked by, and still the princess did not return. Jenrya had begun pacing the floor, his cloak swirling around him as he continually doubled back on himself. Hirokazu, plainly tired of waiting, had taken out his sword and started trying to polish a few nicks out of the blade. Kenta had settled down in a corner and was quietly playing with Marine Angemon with no apparent concern for safety. Culumon had fallen asleep, and Ruki had to wrap him up in her cloak to muffle the soft sounds of his snoring. Takato leaned against the wall, staring at the ceiling.

"What's taking so long?" he complained.

"I really have no idea," Jenrya admitted. "Shuichon is usually quick with anything she does. I suppose it's just a governmental hangup. Nobody ever could do anything around here without arguing their way past a dozen advisers and minsters and things."

"One reason why I hit the open road as soon as I could," said Ruki. "It was bad enough back home, and my dad was just a knight. I hate to think what it would be like if I'd hung around after Mom got married..."

Hirokazu gave her a piercing look. "You never said you were noble."

She glowered. "I'm not."

A possible argument was headed off by the sound of footsteps hurrying down the hall, and the entire group looked up, hoping the commotion meant someone was finally planning on doing something for them and dreading that someone might have decided they were there to make trouble. They were entirely surprised to see Princess Shuichon return - not so much because they hadn't expected her to, but by the state she arrived in.

She had swapped her princess's slippers for a pair of sturdy traveling boots, and over her clothing she had tossed a long, white, hooded cloak. She had a staff in one hand and a bow slung over one shoulder, and a pack on her back bulged with supplies. She looked around expectantly, eyes bright and eager.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she said.

"Ready?" asked Ruki, nonplussed.

"To go," Shuichon clarified. "Sorry it took so long. I couldn't find my extra arrows. But I'm ready to go now!"

"Um," said Ruki. "There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding. Did you think that when we asked you to help us, we meant we wanted you to come with us?"

"Didn't you?" Shuichon replied.

"Well, now that you mention it," said Jenrya, looking supremely embarrassed, "we were mostly planning on just asking for - for official protection, and supplies and things."

"Oh," said Shuichon. She looked disappointed for a moment, and then raised her chin stubbornly. "Well, you can have those, too, but if you're going to look for Daddy, then I'm coming too, and you can't stop me. I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing. I'm coming with you!"

Ruki and Jenrya looked at each other.

"Conference," said Ruki.

The two of them walked off to a far corner of the room and began a whispered conversation.

"Tell me you didn't know she would do this," said Ruki.

Jenrya cringed. "I should have. There's no point in trying to argue with her now; once she gets an idea in her mind..."

"I was afraid of that," Ruki sighed. "Well, I guess we could just disappear again, if worst comes to worst."

"She'll find us," said Jenrya. "There's no way we could get out of range in time."

"Great," Ruki muttered. "No offense, Jenrya, but can she do anything? I mean, I know she's your sister, but she's still a princess, and she's awfully young..."

"She can fight, a little," Jenrya offered. "She knows the hand-to-hand combat they teach ladies to defend their honor, and she can use the weapons they teach noblewomen - short bow, quarterstaff, and the shukusen fan..."

"Not the most formidable weapons in the world," said Ruki. "Can she manage a sword?"

"Never held one in her life, as far as I know," Jenrya confessed.

"Fat lot of good that bow will do in close combat," Ruki muttered. "How about magic? Is it too much to hope she's got some of that, at least?"

"Everyone in my family has it, to some degree," said Jenrya. "She never did get the hang of Cards, though. She's better at white magic - you know, light spells, glamours, healing-"

"We have a healer already," Ruki pointed out.

"And she can cast wards," Jenrya finished.

"Well, those are moderately useful," said Ruki grudgingly. "Is she any good at it?"

"Good enough. I can't break through them, anyway," Jenrya said. "Not that that's my specialty, but most of the time, when she wants to hide something, it stays hidden."

"Well, let's find out," said Ruki practically. "Princess, a word with you?"

"Sure," said Shuichon brightly. "What do you want?"

"Your brother here tells me you're pretty good at warding spells," she said.

Shuichon nodded. "They're what I do best. Do you want me to show you?"

"That's exactly what I want. I'd like to see how good you are. Do you think you could ward, say... him?" Ruki pointed at Kenta, who looked up warily, as if he expected something bad to happen.

"I think so," said Shuichon, sizing him up. "Do you want it so you can't touch him, or just so you can't find him?"

"Either way. Both. Show me your best," said Ruki.

"All right," said Shuichon.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her youthful face suddenly turning serious. Ruki saw a wave of sunset-pink magic rise from her like a thin shawl blowing away in the wind, drifting across the room to wrap itself around Kenta and Marine Angemon. For a moment, it domed above him like a bubble, and then dissipated into a thin fog, taking the young man and his Digimon with it.

Ruki blinked. One minute, she had been looking directly at Kenta, and now he was nowhere to be seen. Experimentally, she walked closer to where she knew he had to be and reached for him. Her hand encountered a vague resistance, as if it was trying to push through fast-running water or a powerful wind. The more she pushed, the stronger the force became, until she had to step back again. She closed her eyes and tried to detect the young Healer through her magical senses. There should have been a phenomenal concentration of magic in the area, with Kenta and Marine Angemon sitting so close together, but all she could get was a hazy wash of magic, like the residue from a powerful but ancient spell. Concentrating as hard as she could, she could see a vague flickering, but it was no more than she'd see from the life-force of a small animal. She opened her eyes, impressed in spite of herself.

"That was interesting," said Kenta's voice from nowhere in particular. "Is this how a ward is supposed to feel? I've never quite gotten the hang of it."

"It looks to me like it's working fine," said Ruki. "Okay, Shuichon, you can take it down now."

Shuichon let her guard down with a sigh of relief. "That was hard work. He's strong, isn't he? Not even our chief Healer has magic like that."

Kenta blushed, apparently not yet used to being recognized for his talent.

"So, what do you think?" asked Jenrya. "She's good, don't you think?"

"As you said, good enough," Ruki replied. "And we certainly could use someone to hide us from Yamaki. For somebody who can't see, he sure does like to spy on people."

"Assuming he's still watching us," said Takato. "I mean, we haven't seen any sign of him..."

Suddenly, there was a loud commotion echoing up the hallways, as of many soldiers responding to a call to arms. Ruki gave Takato a sardonic look.

"You were saying?" she asked.

~*~

A few moments earlier, the Captain of the City Guard was doing his usual job of protecting the city, which he usually did in the comfort of his own office with his boots propped on the desk, having his pretty serving girl see him provided with a steady supply of the liquid refreshment he needed to combat his stressful job. It was a job he was eminently well suited for. He had started out as a not-particularly- skilled young guard who had been more interested in collecting enough wages to buy beer than he had with protecting the local citizens from anything - indeed, he'd been known to occasionally enforce previously unheard-of taxes and fines if he discovered his monthly wages weren't quite going far enough. It was only natural that someone promote him to a level where he wouldn't be required to do anything much, thus putting him into a position where he'd have no influence over anything important and making room for people with more talent and scruples. All he was ever required to do was to occasionally put his name on a piece of paper, report to hearings looking appropriately grave (and hopefully sober), and occasionally process a tip or complaint. Since the only tips or complaints he ever got were from people too naive or misguided to realize he would be of no help, he had to perform this function so seldom that he usually didn't remember he had to do it at all. Since this usually led to the issue being shifted to someone with more sense, nobody ever bothered to remind him.

On that particular afternoon, the Captain was dozing peacefully, when he was startled from his official napping by a peculiar sound, like a great glass bell being rung. He sat up with a start, wondering if it were some kind of alarm, and whether or not he would be called upon to actually do something. The sound rang out again, and he realized it was coming from somewhere in his office. At last he realized that the sound meant his official magic mirror wanted his attention. Muttering a curse, he began digging through he heaps of papers strewn across his desk, spilling several of them on the floor and knocking over his tankard, causing him to curse with new intensity. He sincerely hoped that whoever was on the other end of the mirror-link, it wasn't the princess. It seemed to him that ever since she'd taken over as ruler-pro-tem, she'd been calling him at least once a week with some bright new idea that would make life easier and happier safer for everyone but him, since most of them required him actually getting up and doing something. At last he found the mirror stuffed under a heap of obsolete maps that he'd never bothered to throw away, and he clumsily waved a hand over it in what he hoped was the correct answering-the-mirror way. Much to his relief, the mirror began to swirl in bright colors. Suddenly, its silvery surface was replaced by the image of a blonde man in dark glasses. The Captain of the City Guard let his jaw fall open in an uncharacteristic display of shock.

"Well?" said Yamaki. "If you're there, say something. I can't see you, you know."

"Er, yes," said the captain. "Er. This is, ah... I mean to say, this is Captain Muroi of the Mainboard City Guard speaking. What did you - no, that's not right. I mean, how may I help you?"

"Ah, the Captain of the Guard. Just who I wanted to speak to," said Yamaki. "This is Mitsuo Yamaki of New City. Perhaps you've heard of me. I'm calling because I need to make a report."

"All right. Hang on a minute."

The Captain of the Guard went rummaging through his desk drawers in search of the correct forms to fill out. His hands shook slightly. It wasn't every day he was called upon to deal with great mages like Yamaki. As a matter of fact, it wasn't any day, until now, that he had been called upon to deal with great mages. Well, except maybe the king, but that was different. King Janyuu was a pleasant, agreeable sort whose magic was largely academic. If rumors could be believed, then even allowing for exaggeration, there was probably very little Yamaki couldn't do if he put his mind to it. It was definitely true that if Yamaki desired corporeal power, he could have made himself king any time he wanted to, and very few people would have dared argue with him. Within a week, there wouldn't have been any of those left. The Captain finally gave up trying to find the correct forms and pulled out a blank sheet of parchment instead.

"All right, I'm ready," he said at last.

"Took you long enough," Yamaki snapped. "This is urgent. Listen carefully. I have received intelligence that a certain practitioner of black magic is traveling through your city with a collection of companions - mages and warriors and the like - as well as a small but deadly band of Digimon. She will probably be using an alias, but she is actually the mage Ruki Makino."

"The lady Cardmage?" the Captain interjected. "Begging your pardon, but isn't she, well, a legend?"

"Are you contradicting me?" Yamaki snapped.

"Nossir."

"Good. Now, listen carefully. Among the girl's companions is a young man, a mage of considerable power and cunning. He is using a glamour to disguise himself as the lost Prince Jenrya. I believe that he and the girl Cardmage are planning to lure the young princes away with some wild story - probably having something to do with going to rejoin her father. Once she is removed, there will be nothing to stop the imposter from announcing himself as the rightful heir to the throne. They must be stopped before they can lure the princess out of the city, is that understood?"

"Yessir," said the Captain, who understood completely. If an impostor took over, he would probably be ruthless enough to relieve the Captain of his job and replace him with someone he liked better. "I'll get right on it."

"And another thing," said Yamaki, as the Captain moved his hand to cut off the mirror connection. The Captain froze. "Several of the Cardmage's companions are deserters from my service. I desire to administer my own discipline to them. Furthermore, I am curious about the methods of this sorceress. She has been employing spells with which I am unfamiliar. And I have an intellectual curiosity about these Digimon. I want the entire group captured unharmed and in a situation where I can claim them as soon as possible. If this is done as I ask, there will be a certain amount of monetary compensation bestowed upon the one who arranges it. Do I make myself clear?"

"Er... come again, sir?"

"Do as I say, and I'll make it worth your while."

"Yessir. I understood that completely."

"I thought you might. See that it is done. I'd hate for King Janyuu to return home to find his kingdom in ruins because of you."

The mirror connection blinked out before the Captain could say another word. He shook himself.

"Lieutenant!" he shouted. "Where's my Lieutenant Captain?"

"Right here, sir!" called a voice. The Lieutenant came marching in. He still had a polishing cloth in his hand, and his gleaming armor showed signs of fresh attention.

"Lieutenant, I have an urgent report! We've got a load of mages and things to capture! We've got to get to the palace on the double!"

"Capture, sir?" the lieutenant repeated. "It's tough work to hold them mages, sir. Maybe we oughta just shoot 'em and be done with it?"

"Idiot!" the captain snapped. "You can't just go around shooting people! We aren't some uncivilized border town, we're the capital city, the home of the king! He'd have your hide if you shot someone without giving them a proper trial!"

"But we've done it before!" the lieutenant protested. "And I dunno where those silver chains went. We'd hafta find 'em if we wanna keep mages captive."

"Well, find them!" the captain barked. "Or I'll have your ears for inkwells! Move!"

The lieutenant moved. The captain sighed and began shuffling out of his office.

"It would be easier to shoot 'em," he muttered.

~*~

Ruki and her friends watched in dismay as soldiers flooded into the small room. There actually wasn't enough space for all of them, and a loud clattering could be heard as the ones in back ran into the ones in front, rattling armor and swords as they collided.

"Stop!" shouted one of the ones in front. "Stop, in the name of King Janyuu and the law of Mainboard!"

"What do you mean, stop?" Ruki asked. "It's not like we're going anywhere."

The soldier scowled. "Don't take that tone of voice with me, mage. We know what you're up to!"

"Really?" she said. "I don't. Enlighten me."

"Let me handle this," Shuichon said. She turned to face the guard, drawing her regal manner around her once more. "What is the meaning of this?"

"My princess," said the guard, making a bow, "we've come to arrest these intruders."

"These aren't intruders," she replied. "These are my guests. We were just having a nice talk before you showed up. And besides, in case you haven't noticed, one of these people is-"

"Shuichon, don't say anything!" Jenrya hissed urgently.

"-is my brother," Shuichon finished. She crossed her arms and glared at the guard, clearly waiting for him to start babbling apologies and hustle his cronies out of the room before she could get angry at him. Instead, he just gave her a pitying look.

"Princess, I understand your confusion," he said gently, "but we've been told that this is not the prince."

"What do you mean, it's not him?" asked Shuichon, plainly puzzled.

One of the other guards piped up. "This is an impostor, princess. He's wearing a glamour to make you think he's your brother."

"He is not," said Shuichon. "I'm a mage. I know a glamour when I sense it, and he's not wearing one. None of these people are. They're Jenrya's friends, and they're helping him look for my father - and I'm going with them!"

A few of the guards exchanged uneasy glances.

"That's just what they'd say if they were imposters," said someone. "They're trying to lure you out into the wild so they can kill you!"

"They are not!" Shuichon insisted. "Listen, I am the princess! You have to obey me, and if I say you can't arrest these people, then you just can't! So there."

"Princess, be reasonable," said the first guard who had spoken. "Maybe you're right. Maybe this is the prince. But we've had a reliable witness say he's not, and if we don't at least try to make sure he wasn't mistaken, there could be all kinds of trouble. You don't want to make the most powerful sorcerer in the country angry at you, do you?"

Ruki and the others exchanged worried looks.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Yamaki, would you?" asked Hirokazu.

"How did you know?" retorted a soldier.

"Well, come on!" Ruki said impatiently. "How many powerful sorcerers can this place, hold, anyway?"

Shuichon was beginning to look confused. She looked from her soldiers to her brother and back again.

"Was it Sorcerer Yamaki who called you?" she asked the soldier at last.

He nodded.

"Well, I don't believe him," she said. "Jenrya said he's the one who caused all this trouble in the first place, and I trust my brother."

"Princess, I think you should let us handle this," said the soldier. "Your objectivity is clouded. You need to step aside while we sort through this."

"No!" she said. "Why won't you listen to me? I'm the princess!"

"Listen to the lady," said Hirokazu. "We didn't come here looking for trouble."

"I'm not taking the word of a mercenary," the guard spat. "You'll work for anyone who waves cash under your nose, no matter what they want."

"Shuichon, maybe we ought to go along with them," said Jenrya. "If we take a minute to talk this over rationally, I can prove who I am."

Shuichon shook her head stubbornly. "No. I'm not letting them put you in jail over a bunch of lies. You're the prince, and they ought to respect you."

"I'm not a prince to them any longer," said Jenrya. "I'm willing to go along quietly if it will keep us all out of trouble."

"That's right," said the guard. "If you'll just sit quietly until Master Yamaki gets here, we'll have everything sorted out."

Jenrya gawped. "He's coming here?"

"That's right," the guard answered. "He can't be fooled by a glamour. He'll know if it's you or not."

"Yeah, I'll just bet he will," Takato muttered. "Something tells me we won't be coming along quietly, after all."

Ruki shrugged. "There's only one way to find out."

She whipped out her sword, making the soldiers jump away. Takato and Hirokazu followed suit, and then, reluctantly, Jenrya did the same.

"Let's re-negotiate this," said Ruki. "Either you let us go free right now, or we have a big nasty fight. Take your pick."

There was a moment of hesitation. Then one of the guards lunged at Ruki, waving his sword. She parried him neatly and dropped into defense position, with one hand going automatically for one of her Cards. The other guards immediately followed in their comrade's wake, but Takato and Hirokazu moved in quickly on either side of Ruki, preparing to defend her. Kenta flicked something blue-white at the nearest group of soldiers that sent them toppling backwards like bowling pins. There were shouts of fear and anger from the guards, and the fighting began in earnest.

Meanwhile, far outside of town, a small collection of Digimon were huddled in the shelter of some shade trees.

"I'm bored," Terriermon complained. "When are they going to come back?"

"Patience," said Antieramon. "They will return when they are finished."

"But I miss Takato," said Guilmon. "I want him to come back."

"Do you think perhaps they've run into trouble?" asked Guardromon, almost hopefully.

"They can handle trouble," Antieramon said. "We were told to wait for them, so we must wait."

"Hm," was Renamon's only comment. She looked off into the distance, where she could just barely see the shining city through the trees. "And yet, I wonder..."

In a blur of golden fur, she leaped straight up and landed in the spindly branches at the very top of the tree, resting there as lightly as a bird; the slender limbs scarcely bent under her weight. Emerald eyes turned toward the city, searching for something she could not name. Her nose twitched; her sensitive ears flicked back and forth. All she could hear was the rustle of the wind and the twittering of small forest animals. Her nose picked up only innocuous scents: the heavy machine-oil smell that was Guardromon, Guilmon's reptilian musk, warmer animal scents for Terriermon and Antieramon, and the smells of tree resins and decomposing leaves, with just a hint of the distant smoke and human smells that wafted over from the city. All seemed to be in order, and yet... and yet some other sense was telling her that something was wrong. It tingled at the roots of her fur; it thrummed in her heartbeat and burned in her blood.

Suddenly, pain struck her, and she clutched at her side. She had felt something slash her to the bone, and yet when she looked, her hide was still whole and her fur unruffled. Even so, she could feel a heat like blood running from an invisible wound. Renamon dropped down from her tree.

"We move," she said. "Now."

"Are we going to find Takato?" asked Guilmon brightly.

"We're going to find them all," Renamon said. "Ruki has been injured. If she is in danger, they are all in danger. Come!"

She shot forward, more like a comet than a living being.

"To the rescue!" bellowed Guardromon. He fired up his rockets and rushed after her, flattening several saplings in his enthusiasm. Guilmon loped after him, with Antieramon bouncing alongside them in huge bounds.

"Hey, wait for me!" shouted Terriermon. "Come back here! I can't keep up!"

Antieramon stopped so suddenly that his huge feet left deep gouges in the ground. He reversed his course long enough to snatch up Terriermon in one of his paws and set him gently on his head, where he was tucked safely between his ears. Within a few leaps, Antieramon was able to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Wheeee!" Terriermon cheered. "This is fun!"

Within moments, they were charging up the main road to the city. Travelers in their way leaped off the road into clumps of shrubbery or hid in ditches, while their wagons were tipped over and their horses took fright and raced off at full gallop. A city guard, seeing their approach, took a brave stance in front of the gate and raised his halberd.

"Halt!" he shouted. "You can't-"

BANG. Guardromon fired off a rocket. The guard just barely had time to dive out of the way before the explosives struck the door, obliterating it and a large chunk of the wall. The Digimon raced through the newly made opening while the unfortunate guard watched, dumbstruck.

"Sorry about that," said Guardromon as he passed, "but desperate times call for desperate measures!"

Somewhere inside the palace, Ruki staggered backwards, clutching at the wound in her side and thinking curses to herself. Mainly she cursed the princess's beautiful waiting chamber. These guards she was fighting were city warriors, made fat and lazy in a city where the good king had always kept trouble to a minimum and where there was little for them to do but catch pickpockets in the markets and keep their armor polished for parades. If she had been outside, she could have easily out- maneuvered them even without magic, but inside, they could easily get into formation and overwhelm her by force of numbers alone, and she couldn't use any of her best spells without the risk of blowing up a friend. The fact that the room would no longer be quite so lovely now that it had a fair amount of her blood spilled on its expensive carpet was little consolation. She was bleeding profusely, and her efforts to staunch it were thus far failing. Already she was becoming a bit light-headed. If this went on much longer, she was liable to faint, and that would be worse than embarrassing.

Her only consolation was that the others were having marginally better luck. Kenta had immobilized several soldiers by a well-placed sleeping spell, creating what looked like a small barricade of snoring soldiers, and there was no way for anyone to get near him without stepping on a comrade. Now he had switched to Freeze Arrows, and the ground around him was littered with chunks of ice or people groaning over frostbitten hands and feet. Hirokazu and Takato stood back-to-back, slashing and stabbing at anyone who came close. A cut was dribbling blood across Hirokazu's cheek, and Takato had a hole in one sleeve, but so far their skills were proving superior to the palace guard. Jenrya stood in a corner, occasionally making a stab with his sword or firing off a small spell, but for the most part, he was being left alone. The reason for this was that the princess had situated herself in front of him and was using her staff to smack anyone who dared try to harm him. Her skill with the weapon was not nearly enough to hold off a regiment of soldiers, but they seemed uncertain as to exactly how to deal with the fact that their princess was picking a fight with them.

*I've got to hand it to her,* thought Ruki. *She's got guts.*

Then she jumped backwards, barely avoiding a slash that would have kept the same from being said about her. Fortunately, she had anticipated the move in time, and her intestines stayed safely inside her. She deflected the blow and winced as the movement pulled at her fresh wound. She winced; she would have to get herself stabbed in her right side. She considered switching her sword to her left hand. She could fight left-handed, but she wasn't nearly as coordinated that way. Of course, she wasn't doing very well this way, either...

Someone dove at the princess, hitting her from the side and pinning her to the ground, keeping her unharmed but immobilized. While she screamed in rage and struggled to throw off the larger, heavier man, another soldier moved in to drive his sword at Jenrya. Jenrya deflected the attack and riposted, driving the other man back a pace. The soldier was not put off for long, though; he was a veteran of several fights, old enough to have gray in his hair and scars on his skin, but still young enough to have power in his muscles and quickness in his responses. Good as Jenrya was, he was hard- pressed to keep his opponent from scoring. There was a clash as the two swords met and locked. The soldier's eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

"Jenrya!" he exclaimed. "Prince Jenrya, it is you!"

Jenrya blinked in surprise. Then a light of recognition crossed his fingers.

"Yes! I remember you," said Jenrya. "You're Yosuke, aren't you? You taught me the sword when I was just a little thing..."

"That's right! I knew it was you!" said Yosuke the soldier. "Let them say all they want that you're beglamoured, but I'd know your style with a sword anywhere."

He shouted above all the ruckus, "Hold, off, men! This is the prince! You're making a mistake!"

A few people stopped what they were doing to look at him questioningly. Some seemed inclined to believe him, but others still wore looks of open skepticism.

"The prince is dead," said one of the soldiers.

"He is not, because this is him," said Yosuke. "I'd bet my life on it!"

"You're caught in his spell," someone else said. "If you won't fight him, than I will!"

The soldier sprang at him, and Yosuke moved to block him. He did not move fast enough, and staggered backwards with blood fountaining from his shoulder. Jenrya stared in shock.

"How dare you!" he shouted, and rushed towards him with sword raised. The movement prompted several of the other soldiers to rush toward him, and there was no doubt in Ruki's mind that they had forgotten temporarily about bringing back captives - the expression on their faces said they were out for blood. Ruki made a move to draw a Card, hoping that she could find something that would discourage these soldiers from taking revenge for "bespelling" their friend, but she wasn't sure she could cast a spell in time...

Something banged. All heads turned toward the door as several Digimon burst in - some more literally than others. The door wasn't quite wide enough to admit Guardromon, who simply ripped out the doorframe and tossed it aside. Antieramon seemed to be suffering similar difficulties; the ceiling wasn't high enough for him to stand up. He compensated by reaching up and giving the ceiling a shove, pushing it into the room above and causing several shouts of alarm. Plaster rained down on friend and foe alike. Everyone stood still and stared. Renamon stepped forward, climbing easily over the body of one of the guards. He wasn't hurt - he had simply taken one look at the giant beasts who were bursting in on him and fainted.

"I am under the impression," she said in her deep, soft voice, "that there are those here who mean harm to our friends. I can only hope that such people are willing to fight for the privilege."

"Monsters!" someone shouted. "How dare you enter this castle! Get out!"

He leaped at the nearest Digimon, who luckily happened to be Guardromon. His sword rebounded off of his heavy metal plating with a resounding clang. He staggered and looked up at Guardromon with a look of shock. Guardromon casually pulled the sword out of the soldier's numb hands and snapped it in half.

"Any other takers?" he inquired.

The soldier replied with a roar of anger. He unhooked a mace from where it hung at his side and swung it at Guardromon with all his strength. Unluckily for Guardromon, this was the kind of weapon that could damage him; the heavy weapon's sharp points dug deep into his plate armor, and the robot winced in pain and staggered backwards. The other soldiers, heartened by this proof that these monsters weren't invincible, rushed forward to do battle. In the commotion, they seemed to have forgotten about their previous opponents. Ruki took the opportunity to move closer to the others - particularly to Kenta; her rib was aching fiercely. She found him crouched over the fallen soldier, Yosuke, with pink light streaming from his fingers.

"Is he going to be all right?" Jenrya asked, as Marine Angemon hovered over his partner's shoulder and cheeped worriedly.

"He'll be fine," said Kenta vaguely. "He's had some damage to his blood vessels, though... It will take some time to fix."

Ruki watched the battle that the Digimon were staging with the palace guard. Renamon was leaping nimbly through the tumult, dodging swinging swords and other weapons as if they were motionless. She appeared to be enjoying herself.

"Our Digimon have good timing," she commented. Now that she had a moment free, she could concentrating on dealing with her own injury. She couldn't heal it as well as Kenta could, but she could stop it from bleeding until he was ready to do a more thorough job. She leaned against the wall with a sigh of relief. Surprisingly, Jenrya wasn't doing anything like copying her example.

"What's eating you?" Hirokazu asked. "Your buddy's going to be okay. Kenta said so, and he should know."

"It's not that," Jenrya replied. "I mean, I am worried, but... Did anyone see where Shuichon went?"

The others exchanged glances. The princess was nowhere to be seen.

"Bet she ran off to her room to get away from the fighting," Hirokazu opined.

"Not her," said Jenrya, shaking his head. "She'll be out in it somewhere. She's going to get herself hurt!"

Without waiting to see what anyone else's reaction would be, Jenrya plunged back into the fray.

Meanwhile, Shuichon was wading through the crowd as best she could. She had managed to escape the guard who had tackled her while everyone's attention was on Yosuke. Now, though, she was having trouble deciding what to do next. Like any other person, she had a certain amount of distrust for Digimon, but... judging by the things these were saying, they seemed to be here to protect Jenrya, and she couldn't argue with that. Watching the creatures array themselves between the soldiers and her brother and his friends, she decided that her place was fighting alongside them. She whipped out her bladed fan and slashed her way through the ranks to stand with them.

"What are you doing here?" asked the great rabbit.

"I'm helping," said Shuichon. "You're protecting my brother, aren't you?"

The rabbit swung a heavy double bladed axe, using its flat to knock away a group of fighters who came too close. He looked down at the princess, blinking his ruby-red eyes in dawning understanding.

"You are Shuichon, Jenrya's sister," he said. "He talks about you often."

She blinked. "He does? You know him? Are you his friend?"

"Yes," said the great rabbit slowly. "He is my friend. He was before I even knew the meaning of the word. I came here to defend him, but now that I've met you, I will defend you as well. Perhaps it is only because of the love I know he bears for you, but I feel I already know you, and I feel you are already very dear to me, little princess."

Shuichon gazed up at him, her innocent brown eyes meeting his ruby ones, and an understanding seemed to pass between them, something that went past Shuichon's understanding of humans and monsters. For a moment, she thought he was right, that there was some connection between herself and this noble beast...

"Get your filthy paws off the princess!" someone shouted.

Shuichon and Antieramon both turned at the same time - too late. A swordsman had lunged at the great rabbit and drove his blade deep into the rabbit's side. Antieramon gave a high-pitched cry and crumpled to the floor, and all eyes turned to him as he fell, whimpering and clutching at the wound.

"How dare you!" said the princess, rounding on her soldier, who looked thoroughly taken aback. "He was just trying to protect me, and you hurt him for it!"

"But - but princess..."

Shuichon ignored him. She knelt next to Antieramon and stroked his fur.

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" she called. "Please be okay, Digimon..."

She bowed her head and sobbed, as a puddle of something reddish-purple slowly spread away from Antieramon's wound. He was bleeding heavily; it was doubtful that he could be saved even by Kenta's abilities at the rate he was losing blood. He looked at her with pain hazing his eyes.

"If by life or death I have served..." he whispered faintly.

Ruki was staring. It didn't seem possible that the mighty warrior who had borne so much for them already could be felled by a single sword stroke from a misguided human warrior. While she gawped, trying to imagine some course of action, she became aware of a strange noise. Something under her cloak was blipping and beeping in a frantic manner. She reached into her hidden pocket and withdrew the box that held the last two Arks. The pink one was flashing crazily. Without thinking of what she was doing, she pulled it out and threw it.

"Princess, catch!"

Shuichon looked up and saw something bright and shiny sailing through the air. She cupped her hands, and it seemed to soar to them as if drawn by a magnet. As soon as the box touched her skin, a pure white light shot from it to strike the prone form of Antieramon. He began to glow with a light of his own, pink and white and ruby shimmers that traveled over his entire body. Much to the amazement of all onlookers, he began rising slowly off the ground to hover in midair. There was a clamor of shouts and exclamations of amazement; there was only so much the superstitious soldiers could take. In a moment of dire peril, they could steel themselves to battle ferocious Digimon, but ferocious Digimon plus strange magical lights were a bit much for them. Most of the soldiers broke ranks and ran; those made of sterner stuff saw their comrades abandoning them and thought the better of staying behind when they were outnumbered.

Gradually, the glowing lights diminished. So, apparently, did Antieramon. Within the veil of light, he seemed to dwindle and shrink until he was only a fraction of his size. Then the lights faded, and he drifted gently to the floor again. The wound in his side was gone - as were most of his distinguishing traits.

"What happened?" said Hirokazu. "He shrunk!"

"He devolved," Jenrya murmured. "It happens to Digimon, sometimes, when they're badly wounded - at least, so I've heard. I've never seen it happen before, though."

The Digimon who had been Antieramon sat up and looked around, blinking bright black eyes. He now stood less than two feet high, and was covered in pale brown fur with patterns of pink. He bore a surprising resemblance to Terriermon.

"What happened?" he asked. "I feel... odd."

"Are you okay?" asked the princess, leaning closer to him for a better look.

"I think so," he answered, "but..." He looked around, twitching his ears in puzzlement. "Everything is much bigger all of a sudden."

Jenrya dredged up a smile. "I expect it's a passing phase."

"Oh, he's so cute!" Shuichon squealed, picking up the little Digimon and hugging him. "Can I keep him?"

"Yes," said Ruki. "I expect you can. Well, Princess, it looks like you're officially a part of our little band."

Terriermon trotted over to have a better look at this new arrival. "Hey, you look just like me! Kind of. What are you now?"

"I'm a Lopmon. Do I have to stay like this? I'm not sure I'll be much use as a fighter this way..."

"Hey, look on the bright side," said Takato. "At least you won't eat so much this way."

Jenrya seemed not to be paying attention. He was staring off into nowhere, listening intently.

"I think we should discuss this somewhere else," he said. "I have a feeling this place is going to be getting quite lively very soon, and I don't want to be around when it does. Shuichon, can you ward us so we can't be seen? I don't want anyone to be able to find us, with eyes, ears, or magic, until we're far, far away from here."

"Does that mean I can come with you?" Shuichon asked hopefully.

"There doesn't seem to be much choice," Ruki replied. "Better focus your wards on Kenta and me most of all. We stand out to people with magic-sight. No offense, Jenrya."

Shuichon nodded, and again the veil of pink light rose up to cover them all, human and Digimon alike. Ruki felt a brush as of soft silk against her skin, and she knew she was under the protection of a strong but subtle spell. It might just hold up against Yamaki's spying eyes, for a while. She looked around and realized she couldn't see the rest of the group... or rather, she could see them as vague and flickering shapes. She doubted anyone outside the spell could see them at all.

"All right, gang," she said, her voice muffled within the spell. "Let's get going."

So, covered by their veil of secrecy, they slipped unnoticed through the busy castle and vanished into the streets of the city.

~*~

A messenger stood uneasily before the door, shifting from foot to foot. The expression on his face said clearly that he would much rather be elsewhere, and certainly not delivering the report he had to offer. The only thing that was good about his situation was that the lord of the manor had locked himself into his room and was refusing to come out, allowing the hapless junior sorcerer to deliver his report to the more gentle-natured lady of the house. Reika listened to his news with a frown, but she had no words of criticism to give him.

"Why did I have a feeling things would go this way?" she murmured, more to herself than the miserable young man.

"I'm very sorry, my lady," he said.

"Don't apologize. None of this was your doing," she told him. Her lips tightened to a thin line. "I shall find the one responsible for this and give him a piece of my mind. You are dismissed."

The messenger bowed to her and scuttled from the room. Reika heaved a deep sigh of frustration, shook her head sadly, and began walking briskly through the halls of the house to seek out her mentor.

Naturally, the door to his room was closed. She rapped against it sharply, ignoring the sparks of magical wards, meant to keep out people who did not belong. Such a person would receive a nasty jolt. She received only twinkling lights to let her know he was in no mood to talk to her, but at the moment, she did not care.

"You are going to let me in," she said firmly. "I refuse to talk to you through a closed door."

"What is it now?" Yamaki snapped.

"Your plan has backfired," she told him. "Badly."

"How?"

"Come out of your hole so I can talk to you."

There was a rustling within the room, and the door opened. Yamaki could not look out, precisely, but he did at least step up to the door to meet her there, and she did not quite like what she saw. There was something wrong about him, making him look drawn and pale, and there was a sheen of sweat on his skin.

"I am... not in the best of moods, at present," he said. His voice sounded hoarse. "What has happened?"

"A fiasco, as far as I can tell," Reika replied. "Some people are saying the Princess of Mainboard has been kidnapped. Some people are saying the crown prince has returned. Some people say an impostor disguised as the prince tried to usurp the throne. And some people are saying you sent a mob of vicious Digimon to attack the royal palace. It seems to be a fact that at least three people were injured. We agreed that they would be taken alive and unharmed. Would you like to explain the meaning of this?"

There was a long silence.

"I was not expecting that," he said at last.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" she asked.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Reika, please... I'm not feeling well right now. Perhaps we can discuss this some other time..."

"Mitsuo, can't you see what this is doing to you?" she whispered. "It's eating you alive. I have been so worried about you lately. You're not yourself. You're not eating. You're not sleeping. You're going to kill yourself if this keeps up. Is it worth losing your life for this?"

"Perhaps you're right," he said heavily. "Something is draining my strength. I don't know that I have the power to do anything else today. I should sleep. I'm not thinking clearly."

"You should sleep," she agreed. "Is there anything I can do for you, or get for you? A sleeping drought, perhaps?"

"No... no... Solitude is what I need now."

"But you've been locked inside all day!"

"It can't be helped. Try to understand, Reika... something has gone wrong, and I need to fix it. Until it is mended, it is dangerous for you. Stay away until I tell you I am ready."

"But-"

"No buts. I'm doing this for your own good, Reika."

She sighed. "I hope you mean that, and you aren't just saying that."

"I do. Goodbye, Reika. I will see you in the morning."

He closed his door gently. Reika stood there for a moment, puzzled. Something was not right here. He had been so confident just this morning.... Where had things gone wrong? Even as she stood there, she thought she heard strange sounds coming from within the chamber, something that sounded like a pleading voice, and something else like deranged laughter. Both voices sounded familiar, and most disturbing of all, they both sounded exactly the same.

To Be Continued