Chapter 15

The Quest

Koronue and Youko had put their energies together to make another portal to Makai. They disguised themselves and went to the streets for any information on Raden von Wolfblut. After a few days of fruitlessness, Koronue found a very interesting bit of information from a group of drunken poker players.

"It seems the family von Wolfblut is a clan of werewolves. They are aristocrats in this world."

"Well, that narrows down our area search a little. Don't werewolves like to live in forests?"

"Normally, but what about Tou-Kou's clue about the castle? One can't build a castle in a forest; trade would be too difficult; perhaps it's near a forest or next to it."

"There are only about a million forests in Makai!"

"Don't lose hope, Youko. We'll find her." Koronue put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I know. I'm just a bit frazzled. I don't like the air in Makai; it makes my fur spike up." Youko smoothed out his tail. Koronue laughed. "You're such a whiner."

"Shut up. Lets start searching the forest around here."

"We'll need some maps."

"Should we steal some?"

"Why, bother? Any library will lone us some for free; plus, we can study them during a decent hour of the day."

"Lazy."

"Whiner."

At the nearest library, Youko and Koronue still kept their disguises, but split up to search for two things. Youko looked at maps, while Koronue looked up the von Wolfblut family. They met up with each other at noon, on top of the library. "I found nothing about the von Wolfblut clan. Apparently, they like their privacy."

"Great, that really helps. Well, I managed to get a map on major forests and castles. There are about twenty castles near forests." The closest one is here," he pointed to the map. "Lets get started."

Raden sat on the edge of the stone table, twirling Gabriel's tresses with one hand. "Do you still hate me?" he crooned.

"With a passion." She replied venomously.

"I still like you."

"Obviously not a whole lot if you chained me to a table."

"Now, now, don't get testy again." He let go of her hair and began to trace her face. "I'm only doing this for your own protection."

"Protection? Give me a break!"

"I restrained you so you would not harm yourself."

"Why would I want to harm myself?"

"No, I mean, I don't want you to rebel against me so I do not have a reason to punish you."

"You're crazy." She spat at his hand. He slapped her. "You see why I have to restrain you?" he kissed her hurt cheek. "You shouldn't make me have to do that. Maybe if you're good, I'll let you off with good behavior."

"I hate you."

"Well, I still love you." He kissed her. When he pulled back, she looked confused. "If you love me, why do you keep me here?"

"So I can love you. Don't you understand? I can give you anything you want, love, money, and fortune- anything. Just name it; if you want to get out of this squally prison, love me and I can give you anything!"

"If you really cared, you would give me my freedom. You've hurt me more than words can describe. Freedom is an alienable thing, it's like taking away my breath!" tears began to well up in her eyes out of stress, "it goes against the very foundation of being a sentient being to do this! Set me free and I will have a reason to love you." he slapped her again.

"You're only hurting yourself with your babbling." He said coldly. She stared back at him in horrified disbelief.

"You're a monster!"

"Silence!" he brought his fist across her cheek. "Oh, you're making me damage your pretty face. I hate to punish you so, my pet." He seemed sadly upset; leaning his forehead on hers, he hugged her lithe frame close.

"Hate this," She growled and sank her teeth into his face. Her human teeth were just sharp enough to pierce his skin and scrape the muscles in his cheek. He cursed and drew out his werewolf claws, digging them into her throat while his other hands beat her mercilessly.

When he had finished, she was crying softly, covered in both their blood, cuts, bruises and a cracked rib. His anger melted away as he gazed down at her with pity. He stood up and walked toward the door. "Sorry, pet, I couldn't help it." With out another word, he left her alone again.

The skills of the fox and bat were put to the test; they infiltrated, questioned, searched and wondered. It had been nearly a week since the search began. No clues about the whereabouts of the von Wolfblut family came up. They had only searched about a fourth of the area on the map of castles. Youko was becoming impatient.

They had made camp near a large forest surrounding a mountain chain that spanned hundreds of miles. Searching the towns around it would take months. "Koronue, there has to be a better way. What if the name of the family was a fake, a cover up story?" Youko paced around the campsite.

"I can't think of a better way at the moment. Perhaps if we had a mage at our disposal, we could find the exact spot through a process called dowsing. The problem is, mages are hard to come by these days."

"How would one find a mage?"

"I haven't the faintest clue. We would have to stumble upon them by sheer luck!"

"Damn." Youko paced some more. "I know of a plant that seeks and feeds on magic, but it needs a scent, or a sample of magic, to get it started."

"Well, maybe you should walk around a black market with that plant. One can find even semi-enchanted objects all around."

"You think? Well, it's worth a shot." sighing, the fox pulled one of numerous seeds out of his hair and fed a little reiki into it to make it grow. A black vine curled lazily out of the seed shell; its leaves were not unlike that of feathers. The longest tendril hung down from Youko's hand, and then slowly inched toward his pocket. "What's it doing?" Koronue asked, perplexed as Youko. The plant wriggled into his pocket, searching for something; "Oy!" Youko wrenched it out indignantly, but his anger was turned to surprise. The black leaves were curled around a familiar silver sphere pendant. "Tou-Kou's necklace is magic?" he mused.

"What does it do?" Koronue stepped closer and examined it. "Only one way to find out!" Youko pried it from the plant's grip and slipped it over his ears. No sooner had it fell ringing on his chest, Koronue jumped back startled. "Youko! Your reiki just skyrocketed! You must be at least ten times more powerful than before!"

"So that's what this does; it's a reiki amplifier. I wonder where she got it from…"

"Uh, Youko?" Koronue pointed to his friend's arm. The plant had grown along with Youko's power and was in the process of engulfing his arm and waist.

"Down! Back you devil!" he tried to beat it off as it covered his face.

"Take the necklace off!" Koronue said, not waiting for his friend to react he yanked the pendant off him. The plant instantly shrunk back to its original size. "That pendant's magic must have penetrated through me, so this plant thought I was of magic blood." Youko deduced.

"Look, it's moving again!" Koronue pointed downward. The vines had trailed to the ground and were slithering due south. "It has the scent. Lets move!" he released the plant and followed it as it wormed along the ground at a rapid speed. An hour after noon, the vines had located its prey. A lone mage had been working in her garden when it attacked and began to strangle her.

Youko approached her slowly, as if he was just passing by. "Hello, are you being attacked?" he asked.

"Yes," she managed to rasp; her white cloak was drawn about her arms and legs, preventing her from spell casting. "You are a plant manipulator, can you help me? I'll give you anything you want." She was struggling to breath now.

Youko leaned his cheek on his hand, "Hmm, anyyythiiing?" he drew out the word lazily.

"Yes! Yes! Anything, please hurry!"

"Will you use your powers to dowse and help me find something?"

"That's oddly specific…Yes! All right! Just get it off me now and I'll help you!!" her lips began to turn blue. With a flick of his wrist, Youko had unwrapped the squirming tendrils from her throat and turned it back into a seed. She stood up, straightening her short hair; mages are not obsessed with vanity.

"Well, what is it you want me to find?" She jumped as Koronue stepped up beside Youko. "I know your faces, you're bandits!" she took a step back and raised her hands to cast.

Youko held out his hand with the seed as if it were a weapon, "If you want to live, you will keep your promise to me!"

"Why should I help you? How do I know you won't just kill or rape me when you have what you want?!" her arms were frozen in the air. Youko sighed sadly, he reached in his pocket, the mage eyed him warily, and he took out the silver frame he had taken from Gabriel's room. The mage looked surprised and looked closer.

"I'm looking for a girl that looks exactly like her mother. I love her and I have to save her. You do not have to worry about being violated by me."

"You are in love?" he nodded, "Well, that changes things!" she giggled and rubbed her palms together. "Do you have a map perhaps, that I could dowse with?" she asked. The fox relinquished his map of castles to her. She laid it carefully on the ground and pulled a quartz crystal from her pocket. Humming and chanting softly, she let the crystal sway on its chain. The bandits observed in fascination. The crystal swung around it in a circle for several moments before she stopped chanting; it froze in mid swing, the tip of the crystal pointed diagonally from its chain to a far corner of the map. The mage marked the spot and handed the map back to Youko. "That spot should be directly where she is."

"How will I know if this really works?"

"You see love is the most magnetic magical force there is. I could not have found it so easily if you two did not really love each other a lot." She explained, putting her crystal away.

"Well, thank you." He blushed, having been baffled.

"You're welcome, I wish you luck on your journey, sirs."

"Thanks, oh, and if you utter a word of this to any one-"

"Don't worry, helping those in love is what I use my magic for! Confidentiality is part of my policy." She laughed and went back to her gardening, when she turned around again, they were gone.

Random reviewer-Raden is a bitch!

Me- yes, isn't he deliciously disgusting?

I really don't know crap about witchcraft and stuff but I know what dowsing is; I just made up the details. I saw it on Charmed, what do you want?-

Plz r&r