Chapter 17

Swayed judgment

The familiar darkness, the well-known shaft of light; her guardian was back. He seemed tired; his black eyes had lost their sparkle, and his hair drooped downward. "My child, are you well?" he asked, sitting beside her; apparently she was still chained to the ground.

"I don't know. The full moon is only a week and a half away." She said weakly.

"You can't lose hope, not yet- where is your pendant?" he touched the foreign stone around her neck.

"I threw it away when I came back to Ningenkai."

"You should not have done that, it had the power to protect you, to make you stronger. This stone around your neck now hides you from others who can sense reiki."

"I have to take it off, so Youko can find me!"

"He is searching for you, my child, you must help him find you. Also, someone close to you is betraying you to Raden."

"Who is it?"

"You have to figure that out on your own," he began to fade away.

"Wait! I have to know who you are, and why are you helping me?"

He smiled as he faded, "You aren't ready to know that yet, it would spoil the surprise in the end."

Raden looked down at Gabriel; she was murmuring in her sleep. He shook her slightly, she still mumbled, he sighed and patted her cheek "Wake up, pet." Her eyes slowly opened. "What are you dreaming about?" he asked. She looked deep into his eyes, shook her head and shifted in his arms, "Nothing; nothing at all."

Two weeks since the quest began, the bandits had reached their goal. They stood on the right spot on the map, but the castle was between the forest and a city; the forest was a monster filled nightmare; the city was as tightly sealed as an army base. One had to be pretty crafty to break in.

Attempt number one: the main gates were open. Traders, visitors and local huntsmen walked freely here, but armed guards strode between them thicker than the pedestrians together. The two bandits thought better than to rush in, even though they were strong enough to take on these petty rent-a-guards. Youko had to know exactly where to look for his goal, but her reiki was nowhere to be felt. His first plan was to scope out the castle and plot an escape route. The cover: the enemy itself.

It was the very night they had arrived; Youko had lured away two straggling guards; probably first-timers. They were talking and joking, swinging their spears playfully. They had obviously had quite a bit to drink, because they were walking in a crooked line toward the forest. Youko flitted out in front of them, his hair and tail shining mysteriously in the moonlight. The guards stopped and stared at the wraith in front of them. Youko glided across their plain of view, then stopped as if he just noticed they were watching him. He put his hand to his mouth as if to gasp. The two guards looked at each other, rubbed their eyes, and looked at Youko again. A dramatic layer of fog drifted around their knees, adding to the dream-like atmosphere. Youko began to walk backwards, beckoning them to follow. They ambled awkwardly after the silver fox, staring in wonder. They came close enough to him to toss their hats to him; he turned, with a dreamy laugh and pranced into the shadowy boughs of the forest, leading his prey to a trap.

Koronue managed to part with his lucky black hat, at least for a while. The disguises Youko 'had appropriated' were a bit too small for him and a bit too large for Youko. The hats looked like something Peter pan wore, with a hideous feather and everything. Koronue let his hair down while Youko just used the hat to hide his ears. The sur-coats were a very offensive shade of maroon with a white sash. Koronue had let his hair hang over his shoulders to hide his wings, which were very uncomfortable in the sur-coat. They walked casually along the front gate holding their spears.

Mingling with the crowd, they easily slipped into the city walls, but were stopped inside by a higher-ranking officer. "I haven't seen you around here before, what are your names?" he said, scrutinizing them. Youko answered for both of them, "Okoy, and Eunorok." (Oh-coy and yew-nor-awk, their names said backwards.) The senior officer narrowed his eyes at them, "Who exactly hired you two?"

"Well…uh," Koronue stepped in to save them, "We are related to the Master Raden, sir." He said a bit sheepishly.

"Oh, is that so? Then why have you got grub work if you are kin to a noble?" the officer tried to trap them in their lie. "We are…bastards. The children of his chamber maids." Youko hung his head shamefully but really he was smiling. The officer looked at them a bit longer. "I see; he hooked you up with a job. Better than my father ever did for me." He said mostly to himself, "Carry on." He waved them away.

Keeping their eyes mostly to the ground, the walked around the city, memorizing the layout of the streets and all entrances to the city and the castle. The castle was much harder to infiltrate than the city. Seasoned soldiers guarded the entrances and carefully inspected all who came and went with out proper identification. The bandits were rejected from entering the building; being told they were, "no bodies meant for the low tasks of guarding the gates." They turned away, and made for a small inn. Koronue suggested renting a room to stay in, but Youko pointed out that normal every day guards had residences of their own. Ditching their costumes, they raided a clothing store and snuck out with out paying. After renting a room, with money some rich people had 'generously donated' with out knowing, they formulated a new plan to get into the castle.

"I can't think of anything right now, I'm too anxious." Youko paced the floor rapidly. Koronue had half a mind to hypnotize the fox into sleeping again. "Maybe we should sleep on it," the bat suggested.

"You're trying to trick me into taking care of myself aren't you?"

"No, well yes but, you think better when you are fresh." He pleaded. Youko sighed and leaned against the wall of their room. "I'm going for another walk around the market,"

"No, you have to rest now, the day is almost done."

"I'll sleep on the weekends," he grumbled. A scythe hit the door where Youko was about to reach for the doorknob. "No. Rest now. Don't make me force you." Koronue commanded.

"How about we compromise. I get to walk around one last time, and I will be in bed asleep by the time the sun goes down."

"You swear?"

"I swear on my tails." He put his hand over his heart.

"Alright, but no later than sundown." Koronue wagged his finger at the fox disapprovingly. Youko raced out of the inn and went through the market. He found nothing to his interest for the first half hour; then he noticed a sale in a special herb used in healing. (Aww, Youko is shopping!) He began to inspect the said herbs for a good bunch when he over heard a rather loud-mouthed woman talking to a gangly young demon boy. "Be sure to get some vandal root, Toko." His ears snapped at the familiar sounding name. "The master's pet needs it after her episode with the sleeping potion. They used too much, she's still a bit loopy."

'Master's pet?' he thought angrily. Gritting his teeth and keeping his head low, he followed the two healers. The woman was a very heavy built person; she had stopped at a restaurant to catch her breath at one of the patio tables. "Toko, take the supplies back to the castle, then meet me at the square; I'm awfully tired of walking." She wheezed. The scrawny demon nodded to the older woman and departed. Youko strode in and sat down across from the lady. "My, you look parched, madam. May I by you a drink?" he offered politely, pretending to be attracted to her. The woman looked at him and tried to flirt back. "Well, a drink does sound nice," she smiled. Youko ordered them some alcoholic beverages; while the woman downed her glass, he left his own untouched. "So I hear you and your friend work in the castle." His voice was perfectly toned to make her even giddier than the alcohol.

"Well, yes we do, don't we?" he ordered her another drink. "What's your job?" he pried.

"The younger boy and I are healers, personal healers to the Master in fact."

"The Master Raden von Wolfblut?"

"Mm-hmm!" she said while drinking. "When we aren't tending to him, we take care of his little girl-pet." She babbled on.

"Pet, who is his pet?"

"Shh. Don't tell anyone I told you, but she's a human girl." The woman was swaying as she spoke. "She is being held captive until the Master thinks the time is right…or some rubbish like that-hic!" Her eyes began to dilate.

"How do you and your friend get in and out of the castle so easily? The security is very close there."

"Oh, well the guards know most of the servants by names because the servants sometimes put in extra hours with the guards (if you know what I mean!)." she giggled. "But we all are identified by the Mark in our eyes."

"Your eyes?"

"Yes, we all have a magical tattoo in our eyes that has the family name on it. See? You can see mine if you look closely." She opened her eyes wide and leaned forward to show him; oblivious of the drink she knocked into her lap. Her green irises clearly spelled out 'von Wolfblut.' "The mark cannot be removed or placed on a person by any one but a member of the von Wolfblut family."

"Fascinating, check please!" he found out what he needed to know.

"Are you leaving? Where are you going?"

"I was never here, madam, I'm just a figment of your imagination." He purred, patting her head as she fell into a drunken sleep.

Youko walked happily back into the inn room. Koronue looked up and pointed to him, "Sleep time now."

"But I found out something!"

"No buts; sleep now, talk tomorrow!"

"But-"

"No buts!!" Youko growled and went to sleep.

Gabriel sat on the bed, not looking at Raden. He was trying to peacefully win her heart. "Why are you so cold to me? You have to admit I've been treating you a lot better." He pleaded.

"I do not love you. I never shall, so just accept it."

"That's rather ungrateful of you."

"I am ungrateful you stole my freedom."

"I could give you more freedom if you would warm up to me. Maybe if you are nice to me for a change, I will take those chains off." He could not control his hands; they wandered up her arms and curled around her back. "I could be such a good lover to you if you would just let me. I could take you any time I felt like it, but you seem more special than just a chambermaid."

"No." she said plainly, with out any emotion in her voice or on her face.

"I know you are in love with that bandit, Youko Kurama." She bristled at this. "What you don't know is that he doesn't love you. He sees you as property, just like all the others, all his past women. He wouldn't come save you if you were in trouble. I would come to your rescue faster than he could ever hope to." He said. He began kissing her neck. "You can be happier with me than with anyone else in the world."

"No! No, you're lying!" she shook her head to make him stop kissing her.

"No, I'm not." He said sternly. "Sooner or later you will stop lying to yourself and realize that I'm right. When you finally pull your head out of the clouds, I will be here to catch you." He gave her a brief kiss on the lips and coldly stormed away. When she heard the door close and lock, she pulled her knees to her chest and scooted to the headboard so she could wrap her arms around herself and cry.

Me- Raden is so mean TT

Give me a day or so to upload some new chaps, i have gotten quite far when i forgot to update. it doesn't mean i don't love you all, in fact, i write better when i don't have a deadline, so this is a treat for you all.

i love you guys, you keep me going when the happy pill and caffine wears off