kale's Once and For All: The Takari Saga Chapter 4: Moya's Treachery, a digimon fanfic

"How is he?"

Kiara glanced over her shoulder at the gentle sound of T.K.'s voice, leaving the damp cloth on the forehead of the fallen a'ladon soldier. She dried her hands on the hem of her skirt thoughtfully, and shook her head slowly by way of answer. For while she was very learned and very wise she was no doctor, and did not have the skill to make anything more than a guess at this point. The gaping lesion that had been cut in the center of his back was deep, but to her eyes had not damaged anything that was absolutely essential for him to live. His partner, however, had not been so lucky. He had already been long dead before the battle had even ended.

The woman closed her eyes wearily and allowed the younger human's arms to enfold her, leaning her cheek against T.K.'s chest. Since the battle had ended she had been working nonstop trying to repair the damage that the sudden, unprovoked attack had done to her little village. It was tiring work for the woman, who was having to deal with far too little sleep the night before as it was.

Kiara was comforted by the feeling of T.K.'s strong, hairless arms around her shoulders. But then, by way of explanation to the boy, picked up a large wooden bowl on the stand beside the bed and showed it to him. Inside was a very bloody, very putrid smelling rag. He had wondered where the smell had been coming from. It was almost making him nauseous. The young human glanced at it once, then looked back down to her. "Poisoned?"

She nodded. "It's called Brown Clover, Tekay, but don't let the innocent name fool you. It's horrid, vile stuff. Almost always lethal, and vicious in the ways that it attacks the body. But I'm thinking he'll live, if only because it's not the type of poison one would normally use to coat a weapon. It loses a lot of its kick when it's exposed to the air for too long. If I had to guess, I'd say that whoever tried to kill him didn't really know what they were doing."

"He'll be okay then?"

The woman exhaled a quiet sigh. "I didn't say that. I think he'll probably live, but he won't ever be the same. I've gotten most of the poison out of his system, but some of it had already seeped into his bones. He's going to be in a lot of pain for as long as he survives, though whether that's one day or one thousand I couldn't even guess. Chances are good that he'll never walk again."

T.K. looked grim. The woman adjusted the moist cloth on the soldier's head. "I was able to deaden his hurt for a while by having Eloan play Great Peace over him... you remember the song?" T.K. nodded, the memory of T'Kai's soothing lullaby being quite prominent in his memories of that time. Kiara had sung the words to complete the melody so as to ease Davis' pain when he'd been struck blind by the Saurian. The other boy had later told him that it wasn't really that the pain had disappeared, but rather that he had just been separated from it for a bit. "But that's really only going to give him a more peaceful sleep. When it wears off... I'm afraid that his hurt will be bad."

The boy reached down and touched her cheek gently. "Be strong, Kiara. Do what you can, then try to get some rest. Eloan's little friend Delia already said she'd watch him for a while if you needed a break."

Kiara smiled. "Delia has a very big heart, Tekay, but I'm afraid she'd make no great nurse. Faints at the very sight of blood."

T.K. took the woman by the paw and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, Kiara. She may be no nurse, but she's got enough sense to wake you if you're needed. And you can't help him if you're falling asleep while you're watching him."

The other allowed herself, reluctantly it seemed, to be led from the room. Just on the other side of the door, Eloan was playing a gentle little serenade for Delia on the small fife dangling from his neck. A fire burned on the other side of the room where Ailora and Shay sat in animated discussion, the boy having removed the armor that he had donned for the battle and set his weapons to the side. Though he was still wearing the helmet and kilt, T.K. noticed. He wanted to have a word with that one. But first...

"Delia?" the young human asked, interrupting Eloan's song. The girl turned to him. T.K. smiled. "Sorry to interrupt. Can you watch over him," he nodded to the open door, "while Kiara rests for a bit?"

The red-haired girl leapt to her feet enthusiastically and gave a cute sort of curtsey to the two of them as she scurried inside the room, her patchwork dress swirling around her legs as she went. T.K. nodded and marched Kiara down the hallway, away from the room and the reddish glow of the fire. "Now go lay down, Kiara," T.K. ordered, opening the door to her room. "And try to get some sleep. I mean it."

"Tekay," she chided softly, the faintest glimmer of a warm smile behind her eyes. "You shouldn't speak to me like that. I'm older than you."

T.K. grinned back at her. "Yes, but I'm bigger than you and I love you too much to let you do this to yourself. So if I have to take you in there and sit on you 'til you promise to get some sleep, I guess that's the way it will have to be."

Kiara gave a mock sigh, thankful to have someone around to make her do what she knew to be necessary. "Oh, very well Tekay. Since you put it that way, I suppose that I don't have much of a choice." She glanced over her shoulder for a moment, then lowered her voice to a furtive whisper. "But please look in on Delia from time to time. More than any, I would not see her come to any grief."

The boy turned and looked over his shoulder to where Eloan sat, himself peeking inside the slightly ajar door as if watching over Delia while she watched over the fallen soldier. He turned back to Kiara and nodded, smiling. "I think I understand."

The woman looked at him curiously, the fond smile still on her lips. "You know, you're very wise for your age, Lord Takeru. I suppose that you would have to be, being what you are, but having you here again has reminded me of just how true that is." T.K. did not miss the fact that she had slipped back into addressing him as 'Lord'. "Those men outside, you would have had every right in the world to strike them all dead, you know. I'm afraid that I had not thought of any alternatives to doing that outside of simply releasing them to cause more mischief. But with that one harmless display of power and your words of peace, you not only spared their lives and saved us from any more harm by them, but you may very well have saved their souls in the process."

The young human, long used to modesty whether it was warranted or (as usually was the case) not, would have denied what she had said... until the utter reality of it came upon him. He had done more than even she knew. For he had, in his last words to the leader of that group, shared a gift and a truth that no a'ladon could ever possibly share with another. And so he nodded. "Yes... yes, I guess I did, Kiara. Now go. Get some sleep. I need to talk with the others for a bit and decide how we're going to go about this."

The woman nodded and, without another word, slipped wearily into her room. T.K. watched her go, then turned back to the younger group still in the common room. Even as he knew that he must stay for the time being and speak with them about all of this, the further delay galled him mightily. Now he had wasted two days here, with the promise of the remainder of this night still looming. For Kari's sake he knew that he must go as soon as possible, but for now he was needed. And if Eloan were destined to go with him, there was more that he needed to know.

He looked to the fire. But first, Shay. His proficiency during the battle had astounded, even startled, Kiara's family. And now he had become cold and moody, trying his best to avoid any conversation with any of the others... though each of the three had taken turns badgering him on one point or another. Now T.K. himself would have to take a turn.

The young human seated himself between the pair, the reddish glow of the firelight reflecting on his smooth skin. There was a moment of silence, then T.K. looked to Ailora. Somewhere in the back on his mind, he wondered what she looking at him like that for and who it reminded him of. Kari, almost, though he wasn't sure why. He wondered if perhaps the parallel between their names portended an even deeper connection.

"Ailora, I wonder if you could do me a favor?" he asked, leaning close to the girl. At his nearness, the girl's eyes grew wide and she trembled as she nodded a 'yes'. "Could you stay with Delia for me while she watches? Your mother already told me she's afraid of blood."

"Of... of course," the other stammered, almost leaping to her feet at once in her haste to do so. T.K. managed to keep the frown off of his face. Eager to please, or just anxious to get away?

In any event she did go quickly to fulfill the charge, and T.K. watched her go and did not speak again until she was in the other room and safely out of earshot. When she was, he turned back to Shay. The silver-haired boy was staring into the fire, his eyes vague and his brow furrowed as if lost in deep thought. And through that focused state he managed to display a great deal of anger and sadness. His dark mood had been enough to alarm Kiara earlier in the evening. Before this, she had told T.K., he had been the most carefree and impishly charming boy that one would ever hope to meet.

"Alright, now she's gone Shay," T.K. said seriously. "You won't talk about it with any of them around, so now it's just us. Will you tell me what this is all about?"

There was a long period of silence, during which Shay just continued to stare into the fire. Every now and then a burning ember popped from the blaze and crackled harmless to the stone floor at the young creature's feet. When it appeared that his cold silence wouldn't deter the other's question, he managed a perfunctory glance over at the human. "Don't you know? Aren't you supposed to be omniscient or something?"

T.K. frowned in a chastising manner at the boy . "Kiara would've already told you that's not true. Now tell. What is it that you've been trying to hide from them? That you've been taught to fight? That you're not really what you were trying to look like? Or that you come from a wealthy family?"

The boy turned on him, his eyes dark, and T.K. knew that he had hit close to the mark. "You can't hide this from me, Shay. I've been around a great many of your people over a very long period of time. Longer than you can imagine. That armor that you wore and those swords that you were swinging around out there must have cost a great deal. The armor was made to fit you perfectly, and you've obviously used the swords before, so you didn't steal them. I'm not omniscient, but I'm not stupid either. The others will eventually come to the same conclusion, so you might as well tell now."

Shay closed his eyes in evident regret. He was right. All these years of hiding beneath the facade of a wayward child and acting just as he had wished, gone in less than a day. And not when he would have chosen, either. But the attack on the village... that was something that he could not have foreseen. The only thought that had crossed his mind when Takeru had said that they were under attack was protecting her... them. The clothes and weapons that identified him as who he really was were secreted away in a cave a very short distance away. The children of the valley probably passed by it a hundred times each day, but would easily miss it if they didn't know what they were looking for. It had been really a very simple matter for him to fetch them in time to turn the tide of the battle.

"Promise that you won't tell her... them, first."

"I won't, Shay. That's up to you, though as I said they're likely enough to figure it out sooner or later anyway. But you know something about this, something that I have to know. The life of someone that I love very much is in the balance here. I saw your anger about what the other a'ladon had said."

And then, as if conjured up by the human's words, the angry scowl was back in the boy's eyes again. "Very well then," he snapped. "Ailora had told me... repeatedly, I might add... that you will never break your word. Yes, my family is rich. Very rich. And yes, I've been taught to fight. Taught by the very best instructors that money can by." His tone was bitterly sarcastic and he seemed to be getting more angry as he went on, as if the wealth was something that he resented. "And as for why I'm angry..." The boy trailed off, biting his words off at the lip and apparently giving thought as to whether or not he should continue.

But that had been enough for T.K.. After what he'd learned from Kiara he'd had a suspicion gnawing at him anyway, a suspicion made all the more certain that he had met the boy before. "You heard the others say that this is your father's fault. You don't want to believe it... or do believe it and are angry about it... and you're worried about him going into Cypress."

Shay stared closely but silently at the human. His brow furrowed with uncertainty. "Are you omniscient?"

T.K. shook his head. "I've seen him before, Shay. When I was here last, and he was much younger. You must favor your mother, but there is something about your eyes that very much resembles his." He paused, something else bothering him. He wasn't certain that it was important to all that was happening, but perhaps it was. "Shay, I have to ask you something else. The coloring of your fur. Is that some sort of trait from your mother? Because the only time that I've ever seen that color on an a'ladon was when Eloan and Ailora's father was transfigured and left his earthly body behind in favor of its divine form."

Shay allowed some of his pent up anger to fall in favor of a small, a very small, smile. "Gives me away faster than anything, this does," he said, stroking the fur on his arm. "And no, there's nothing divine about it or me... especially me. My mother's people come from the extreme northwestern parts of our land, and both my coloring and this," he tugged at the hem of his kilt, "come from her people."

T.K. nodded, about to ask after the boy's father, when he felt the footfalls at his back. He turned, catching Eloan approaching the two of them with a sheepish grin on his face. When the two gave the boy a pair of questioning looks, the smile became even bigger and more sheepish. "Ailora kicked me out. Said I was making too much noise 'showing off' with these," he indicated the wooden flute around his neck," and distracting Delia."

Shay nodded. "Well you probably were, and you know you don't have to try to impress her. For some reason she seems to like you anyway."

Eloan coughed with an awkward attempt to switch the subject. "What were you two talking about? Anything important?"

T.K. looked to Shay to answer, hoping that the boy would be forthcoming to his friend... hopes which proved to be sadly unfounded. "No," he answered shortly. "But now that you're here, I guess we can." He looked over to T.K. "When were we planning to leave? Soon, I hope?"

T.K. was hesitant to answer, torn between two responsibilities. He knew that he had to set off, and soon, to prevent the unspeakable disaster that was about to occur. Indeed, he may have already wasted too much time. On the other hand, he was sorely needed here. It galled him to think that the two a'ladon raiders who had escaped were waiting for the village to be left defenseless to attack again... though that was by no means a certainty.

He also looked at the two boys. First to Eloan, then to Shay. Eloan, though he had won the day for them in the end, had frozen up terribly during the fight. He was clearly not ready for what lay ahead of them, which almost certainly would include more fighting. But then, T'Kai had already given his blessing to the boy to go on the journey... and he was in a much better position than T.K. was to judge his son's worthiness to help.

Shay was as much a problem. Not for his lack of skills, as he clearly had an abundance, but rather for a questionable motive. He had already confessed to Kiara that his interest in the battle was different than T.K.'s, but what was it? Did he want to stop his father Jeron, or to join him?

T.K. was becoming overwhelmed, and felt the eyes of the boys on him. "Tomorrow morning," he answered, his head in his hands. He knew that he might be making several wrong choices, but could do nothing about it. As he had once mentioned to Kari, he again felt that he was forced into making a wrong decision simply because there was no right one. And just waiting here certainly wasn't going to put either Kari or Kiara out of danger.

With satisfaction, the young human watched as both of the a'ladon boys received this news not with happiness, but with stoic acceptance. He had (unconsciously like Kiara before him) been worried that either or perhaps both of the pair might look on his journey as a chance for entertainment instead of the deadly serious undertaking that it was. But evidently he need not have worried. Neither of the boys looked as though they anticipated there being anything fun about what they had committed themselves to do.

"You both heard what I told Kiara yesterday? What I'm walking into? That if we're not fast enough, I could well be going there to fight against D'assan again?"

Shay looked determined. "That thing doesn't scare me, Takeru," he said with utter sincerity.

T.K.'s face was almost emotionless. "He should, Shay, and if it should come to that, he will. You simply can't come face to face with a demon without being frightened of it. No one can. I've fought against them before, and each of those times there was very little that I wouldn't have given to be allowed to run away instead of stand and fight. You saw what happened to that soldier outside when I was threatening them. That one who was throwing up and ended up passing out from fear? That's what happens to those who face against a demon without conviction. I've seen the terror that those things can cause actually kill people before..."

Eloan looked concerned, but Shay was smiling grimly. He stood, pushing his sliver helmet forward to where his eyes were staring at T.K. from just beneath its brim. "I have conviction. And if Jeron can face it down, so can I," he said darkly, then moved towards the stairs. T.K. did not miss the message behind the words that was veiled from Eloan. "I'm gonna get some sleep. If we're in that big of a hurry, best to start off as early as we can tomorrow."

************

Kari woke early the next morning and tiptoed to the window just in time to see the orangish sun peak over the horizon and begin to once again try to fight its way through the murky fog that enshrouded the city. Despite everything that was happening, Kari was still feeling positive. The room that she and the digimon had been given to stay in was very comfortable, bordering on luxurious. The bed was soft and was large enough to accommodate all three of them, despite having been designed for a'ladon and not humans.

Kari grinned at the sight of Gatomon and Patamon sleeping side-by-side, Patamon's long ear draped protectively over the little feline and she unconsciously snuggling in it. She wished she'd had her camera.

Moya had been gracious the night before, providing the girl with every comfort and courtesy. The meal that she had been served had been fit for a queen... or perhaps a goddess, the girl mused, and she had learned much about what had happened since she and T.K. had departed the last time. Though, disappointingly, no one had been able to provide even a guess as to where the boy might be now.

She had learned that there was once again a king on the throne of the a'ladon, and his name was Jeron... a name that the girl thought sounded disturbingly familiar, if she was unsure just why. And she had heard a rumor (which Moya would not comment on) that the king's son Shay should be here in this very house but had apparently 'run off again'.

But despite her positive mood, something was still bothering the girl... like an itch that she could almost scratch but just kept barely missing. It wasn't that she didn't feel welcome, because after all, Moya and the staff of the house had been almost tripping over one another to cater to her every wish, no matter how much she begged them not to.

Perhaps it was Gatomon and the Crest of Light. Both of them seemed quite uncomfortable here, as if both could sense a kind of calamity building just below the surface and ready to explode at any moment. Gatomon was, by her very nature, a rather cagey creature and never took anything at face value. But to have her Crest, even subdued as it was by the gloom of the city, alerting her to the same... that was something else altogether.

Kari wanted to be off. Standing by the window as the morning sun struggled against the darkness, she leaned against the sill. "Where are you?" she mouthed silently, sending the unspoken words off to T.K. as she pressed her hand flat against the glass.

She closed her eyes, needing to see his face again. And behind her eyelids she still could... smiling with a kindness and affection towards her that made her whole body glow with a kind of warmth. It was as though he was right there with her, that if she could just reach out to him she could take his hand in hers and everything would be well. "Oh, T.K., " she once again murmured silently. "Why did you have to go? Why couldn't you tell me?"

She knew how he would look if he'd been there to answer. In her mind, she could see the hangdog expression on his face as his eyes turned downward to avoid hers. And she'd laugh, and hold his hand, and then everything would be all right again. At seeing him so easily flustered, no one would ever mistake him for the holy hero that he truly was... because, after all, heroes just didn't look like that, did they?

Kari smoothed the sides of the sheer gown that she'd been given to wear to bed against her hips. She, too, might have thought like that when she was younger and when she hadn't known him as well. T.K. just didn't look like a hero should. He wasn't six and a half feet tall, a great mass of pure muscle with an expertise in the martial arts. He was still just a boy. A bit on the skinny side, straw-blond hair that he could never seem to keep out of his eyes for more than two minutes at a time and conversationally awkward almost to a fault. Plain. No. The world would never see a hero in T.K.

But she did, even if it wasn't the same one that his enemies might see. Heaven had done that much very well. Disguising greatness beneath a shroud of humility. She smiled. A bit like the biblical Christ in that way, though T.K. would have been genuinely humbled (and more likely quite uncomfortable) to have her even think of such a comparison.

She almost chuckled. She was in love with Clark Kent.

"We'll find him, Kari," Patamon murmured quietly at her back.

Kari blinked away from the vision of the boy, then turned to face his partner and caught him out of the air. Tightly she held him against her chest, resting her cheek against his head. After a moment of silence during which a tear fell from her eye onto his furry face, she nodded. "I know, Pata... I know. It just can't come soon enough." And the little creature did not miss the fact that Kari had adopted T.K.'s nickname for him as her own.

The girl looked back to Gatomon, still asleep on the bed. And in her sleep she looked so quiet, peaceful and unworried. Kari wondered if she herself had looked that way to T.K. when he had slipped into her room that night to say that he was leaving.

She wanted desperately to be off. Staying here, in this gloomy city and so far away from what she had come here to do was almost maddening to the girl. And yet, neither could she leave until she was certain that those poor a'ladon that she had saved the night before would not be bound into slavery. Apparently the decision was still in the hands of the girl Moya and though Kari was beginning to like her, there was still the fact that she had been willing to see them given over to the Saurians in the first place.

There came a gentle tap at the door. Gatomon was on crouched on three paws at once, the fourth paw drawn back over her shoulder in preparedness to strike. Patamon fluttered away from Kari and landed on the bed as the girl left her seat at the window, dried her eyes with the back of a sleeve, and went to answer the knock. On the way she patted Gatomon on the head, trying to calm the little creature. As much as she appreciated the other's split-second vigilance, she didn't feel as though it was really warranted at the moment.

A tall, thin young a'ladon stepped forward into the room at Kari's behest, bowing deeply from the waist. "Lady Hikari, I was bidden to invite you and the familiars to dine with Mistress Moya and some of the families of the men on whose behalf you had spoken last night. They have words of thanks and questions for you, if you are not too tired to do so."

Kari thanked the creature, saying that she would be down in a few moments. Having delivered her brief message the other left, missing the angry glare and bristling fur on the back of Gatomon at having been referred to as a 'familiar'. According to some human literature that she had read some months ago, such a term had evil connotations... though neither Kari nor Patamon seemed to have noticed.

The girl dressed quickly, anxious to have this over with. She decided that if she could only wring some sort of promise out of Moya that the a'ladon would not be turned over to the Saurian money-lenders, that alone would be enough for her. If not, and despite her anxiousness to be off... she would have to stay for as long as it took to do so. She considered it no less than her unavoidable duty...

*****

Downstairs, Moya had gathered with her a small contingent of the feasting party. These pathetic creatures had never seen, let alone been invited to eat, such a meal. And of those hundred or so that she had invited, she had handpicked three dozen women and children whom she judged to be the most desperate, pliable and subject to what she had planned. What she needed now was a very public, very violent crime to be committed by the Lady Hikari in front of a great number of witnesses. That was how she had decided to see this through, and had already worked out the details in her mind.

But even in their desperation, it would not be easy to convince this group... or any a'ladon, for that matter, to betray their goddess. And so as to cushion the possible lack of acumen on her part or a greater integrity on theirs, she also wove into her words a bit of the dark power that she and her sister had been granted in return for their help in this endeavor. Not much, and certainly not enough to tire her out, but just a pinch of black magic would be plenty to do the job.

"Very well then," she murmured soothingly, a drowsy sort of sensation accompanying her words. "Each of you have your assigned roles. Just remember, do your parts well and those husbands and fathers that all of you have seen imprisoned will soon be returned to you, their guilt assuaged and their debts paid in full by the Crown." But now the girl's voice became stern and the sleepy feeling became one of hunted fear. "Do them poorly or attempt to betray me, and there will be very severe consequences for each of you. And those consequences will not only be meted out to the traitor, but to each and every one of you who hears my words. So each of you had best keep an eye out to your neighbor."

And those that listened to the girl speak cowered beneath her eyes, fearing her threat and feeling the crushing weight of an even greater horror lingering over their heads at the moment. And though each of them, to an individual, felt horrid about what they were going to do, all also felt that it could not be avoided. Moya held all of their fates in her little black paws at the moment... to resist was to see all hope die.

************

Jeron cowered in his tent, his breath coming in short, rapid gasps and his paws fidgeting together briskly. He had doubled the normal guard outside his tent and then, thinking better of it, had tripled it. He'd never been so scared in all of his life.

Lord Takeru had returned. The creature was after him to avenge the death of T'Kai all those years back, he was certain of it. Aine and Moya had told him as much several months ago, promising him that if the other should ever catch up to and lay hands on him again that it would mean his end. They had promised him such torments at his hands that the words alone had made him almost cringe in terror.

But at actually seeing him in Aine's vague dream-world, it had been all the worse. All of the imaginings that had plagued his nights since the sisters had warned him of Takeru's vengeance had seemed to enclose and envelope him in tangible fear at that moment, trying to smother the life out of him. And for one who had been afraid many times in his life, it struck in his soul a whole new height of terror.

Though he could hear the rapid panting of his own breath in his ears, he still couldn't seem to get enough air to fill his lungs. He desperately wanted to pass out or, failing that, to have the strength to call for Aine. But as much as he earnestly tried, he couldn't seem to make his own, weak voice call out for the girl, and some damned little glimmer of fortitude in his body kept him from passing out.

The mountain... came the sound of the wind whispering at the entrance to his tent. Jeron turned to look, then scampered away from the sound. And then he dove on his cot and under the covers, trembling there in fear until the rustling of his sheets echoed the whispering voice back at him again. The mountain... king... safety...

Yes! he thought in exultation as he thought he heard the word 'safety' whispered in his ear. Or perhaps his brain, he was never quite certain which. But it gave him hope that, whatever he was to do or find down there in the depths of Cypress, it would keep him safe from Takeru. The vague notion stood the monarch back on his feet where nothing else would and, if his hands continued to tremble, at least his teeth had stopped their continual chattering. It was something to cling to...

Jeron swayed on his feet for a moment, then straightened his back and adjusted his robe and crown to hopefully appear more regal. He was a terrible coward, yes, and moreso since having taken the throne, but he was no fool. He knew how to keep hold of such a chance.

"Guard!" he snapped, sticking his head outside his tent and addressing one of the young soldiers there. While this one and his counterpart actually seemed to be watching out for trouble, very few of the others were doing the same. They were lounging around in a circle a fair distance from the tent, a small fire built in their midst to keep the chill night air away as they laughed and chatted amongst themselves.

"Majesty," the young creature replied, bowing his head before the other. What Jeron did not realize that these two who had stayed at their posts had been specially selected by Kueren to guard him. They were the youngest of the group and really the only two who still held the monarch in any type of esteem at all. Though that too would likely disappear the longer that they were exposed to the words of the other, more experienced soldiers.

"Where is Kueren?" Jeron demanded.

"At the work site, sire. The entranceway has almost been completely cleared, and the Sergeant wanted to make certain that work was finished as soon as possible. He left word, if you should ask sire, that we should be able to enter as soon as the day breaks."

The king smiled wickedly, tapping his claws together with a thoughtful furrowing of his brow. Good, he thought. "'When next I meet him my doom is at hand', indeed," he muttered scornfully, thinking back to the worried glances that Aine and Moya had shared as they prophesied his pending downfall. Now he knew why he had come to this mountain. To be safe from Takeru, of course. It was beginning to make perfect sense. The warnings from the girls. The nightmares. The voices in his head, telling him that it was where he had to be...

A foolish giggle escaped from the man's lips before he could catch it, and the two young guards looked closely at him. "Majesty?" the second queried.

"One of you go tell Kueren to get me in that mountain at daybreak or heads will roll," Jeron said, not looking at the two as he spoke and instead focusing on the larger group of his guardsmen gathered around the fire a short distance away. "And the other... go bring me some of whatever it is that those men are drinking."

****

Heads did not roll, as the fissure that gave entry into Mount Cypress was opened at daybreak as promised. Though Jeron was hardly in any condition to have anyone executed if it hadn't been. For while his kingly constitution was well trained to deal with excesses of the more tame vintages of his own private wine cellars, it proved no match for the thick spirits that his soldiers had been drinking. By the time the others were prepared to descend into the depths, Jeron was so heavily inebriated that he had to be literally carried from his tent.

Aine and Kueren had argued this point for some time, the girl insisting that the expedition begin at once and the sergeant countering that they could certainly wait for the king to sober up. But in the end and with much debate, Aine had won the day... since technically she did outrank him. And so the man rounded up the entire camp, perhaps two dozen a'ladon and the eight Saurian workers, and formed them into lines in front of the crumbling entranceway to the mountain. To bring Jeron inside with them he had formed a type of litter for the king to ride on, and this was toted along two of the larger lizard-people. The mounts that they had brought, the primitive Saurian beasts, were left tethered outside, still munching contentedly on whatever it was that such creatures ate.

Aine trailed behind the group, silently scoffing as the soldiers adjusted their armor and readied their weapons in anticipation of trouble. As if they had any idea what they were walking in to. And then she glanced back over her shoulder at the creatures they had left behind, and stared at them thoughtfully. After a quick check to make certain that none of the others were watching her, the girl grabbed a fistful of small, sweet-smelling granules from one of the pockets of her robe and tossed them in the direction of the creatures. She was satisfied to see the beasts start to gobble them up quickly, then turned and scampered off at the rear of the others. Let mighty Lord Takeru deal with that...

She had been in constant contact with her sister of course, though the two were a great distance apart. The spirit that bound them both was one, and that was really all that mattered. She knew of the other's plan to trap the Lady Hikari and to bring her to the designated meeting point far below the mountains on the far side of this great range. An she knew that Shay had vanished yet again, something that in ordinary times might have troubled her... but not now. They were only a short time away from their ultimate ambition, and she could spare no time to plot yet another death before this was all done.

The smoke from the burning torches that the soldiers had lit to illuminate the cave burned the girl's eyes and set her to coughing quietly. She silently thanked the spirit that had chosen the two of them to be part of all of this, the one that had promised such rich rewards. No longer would she have to be content with just being smarter than everyone else or having such meager magical powers. Why, just in the time that they had agreed to serve as vessels for the spirit look what it had already done for her! Only a few in the entire history of their race could claim to have held more power than she did now... and that was while their Master was still only a shadow in their land. When finally he was unleashed in his full glory and power, and when Lady Hikari had become his bride and supplemented his greatness with her own he would reward her again... and then, she would be as a goddess!

A'ladon men from all over would worship her! Would bow before her, catering to her every whim and desire. She would be kind to those who pleased her, terrible to those who did not, and nothing would be denied her ever again!

Glancing scornfully at Jeron, the girl removed a small cup from one of the bags at her waist and pulled a small pinch of herbs from another pouch. Crumbling them into the cup, she poured a few drops of liquid in after them and watched as the two mixed violently together, bubbling as an acrid smell rose from the little clay vessel. Damned fool, getting drunk at a time like this. The only one powerful enough to get into this mountain and at the same time foolish enough to think that something down here would save his life, and it just had to be him. Even as she looked at him she could still feel his grimy paws all over her body, and it disgusted her anew.

She could feel the giddiness of the foreign spirit residing within her body start to stir as she followed the procession through the dark and shadowy passageways of the huge granite monster. Above she thought she could feel the tremendous weight of the stone, many thousands of tons, groaning in resentment at their trespass... as if it knew what was to come and longed to stop their blasphemy. The Reverend Cheyne had set this mountain itself as one of the barriers to anyone doing what they were now attempting, and it seemed abashed at having failed at its duty.

"Give him this," Aine snapped to one of the Saurians, trooping alongside Jeron's makeshift throne with the end of one of the poles held tightly within his scaly claw. The creature looked down at the girl with a bored look of indifference on his stupid face, the took the cup that she had thrust at him and forwarded it on to the king. Jeron, in turn, looked at it with the face of one buried well beneath the blanket of a drunken stupor, then took the concoction and downed it in one turn.

Jeron spat and sputtered at the foul taste of the drink, hurling the clay cup away into the darkness and swearing loudly enough to wake any demon that might be slumbering away in these caverns. "Gods!" he swore, wiping a paw across his mouth and continuing to gag like a child who has just been forced to eat something that he doesn't like. "Poison! Pollution! Hoi, Aine! Next time, have some rancid milk along with you to get the taste out of my mouth, girl!"

The girl slipped in between two of the Saurian porters, lifting her black, velvety robes off the ground to keep them from being trod on. "Grow up!" she hissed, pulling her cowl back and focusing on her king with fury in her eyes. "What do you mean, getting drunk at a time like this? You think fate is going to smile down and save your miserable hide?"

The king looked away for a moment, then turned back to her with a stupid grin on his face. Aine's teeth snapped together in anger and she whirled away from him, stomping back to her place at the rear of the procession. Even now the tunnel was sloping downward, the heat surrounding them becoming more and more oppressive. The time would soon be at hand for him to do what she needed him to do, and now she had to wait for the herbs to do their job and sober him up!

Jeron, for his part, continued to smile stupidly at the girl, Takeru and his own prophesied death far out of mind. How charming she was. A little girl, playing her little game. Mischievous. Spunky. Acting all grown-up and in charge. He decided at that moment that he liked her better than Moya, if only for her vigor. "Better in bed, too," he murmured stupidly, his head still lolling about and watching the shiny black robe lick around at the girl's ankles. It was good to be the king...

************

T.K. and the two a'ladon boys were up at daybreak the next morning. Of the three, only Shay had slept well. He was still flush with the bravado and overconfidence of his youth, and had managed to get through the night with neither the heavy concerns and responsibilities of T.K. nor the self-doubt that haunted Eloan. He was, of course, still concerned about his father, but he sensed a grand adventure in the offing and was really more anxious than afraid. This was no longer him practicing at being a warrior. Now, he would truly be put to the test.

Eloan hefted a rucksack filled with everything that his mother thought that he might need onto his small shoulders. T.K., despite knowing her, had still half expected to see Kiara stuffing the pack with items more useful on a peaceful camping trip than the hell that she was actually sending him into. But he was, in the end and once again, pleasantly surprised to find that she seemed to be completely prepared to acknowledge what they were about to do. She had girded one of the swords taken from the fallen a'ladon warriors on the boy herself.

Shay was dressed as he had been in the battle the day before, donning his chain habergeon, shiny yet unadorned helmet, kilt... and of course, the two deadly-looking blades dangling in their scabbards, one on each hip.

Ailora and Delia had come with Kiara to see the three off, with Delia's little brother Cian taking a turn watching the injured soldier inside the house. T.K. in particular watched Ailora, certain that the girl (at least, from what he had seen thus far) would not take well to having been left behind. Kiara had already mentioned in passing that she and Eloan had never, since their mutual births, been separated for more than an hour or so. And, of course, the girl was proving to be a bit handier in a fight than her brother... at least thus far.

But to her credit, the girl's only words were of good luck and a safe journey. And despite what T.K. had seen thus far since his return, that the girl was the far more adventurous of the two, never once did she seem jealous at having been left out of the party. Perhaps she had the best sense of all of them, the human boy thought ruefully and reminded of just how much danger he was leading these two boys into.

T.K. watched the five a'ladon quietly, his ties with the group not being as strong as those among themselves. Watched and listened to all that was said... as well as a great deal that was being left unsaid. Funny how he could notice things like that now. When he was younger, he'd been perhaps blissfully ignorant about how deep feelings between people could sometimes run and yet how difficult it was to express them. Growing up had changed all... well, some of that.

Of the three, he was worried most about Kiara. She had already lost her mate in one battle against D'assan, now she was sending her only son into the same danger. And she had seen the beast before and knew what kind of power it held, what kind of terror it inspired. He tried to imagine what it must have been like for her to allow the boy to go on just the word of the departed T'Kai... then found out that he really couldn't, never having faced the same situation himself. He knew that she trusted the fallen Paragon with everything that she was, but there were some things that even faith found it difficult to overcome.

But still she did not look worried. She was, of course, but she hid it well.

T.K. walked up behind the two boys and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "C'mon, you two," he murmured, softly and seriously and trying to keep the melancholia out of his voice. "If we don't start now, we never will."

Kiara stood between the two girls opposite the troop and nodded. "Of course."

Shay's eyes remained locked with Ailora's, and wordlessly he lifted up a single paw in a gesture of farewell. Ailora did the same, then reconsidered and moved her own paw forward until it was palm-to-palm with the boy's. They stayed that way for several moments and though neither spoke, there was significance enough in that gesture to make up for a thousand missing words of farewell.

Delia, for her part, was still sniffling quietly as she stood at Kiara's side. When T.K. and Kiara had both spoken to put an end to the parting of ways, her tears became less than silent as she leapt forward and threw her little arms around Eloan's neck, pulling his head down and squeezing him tightly. The boy, though, looked unready for the gesture and had his breath taken away by the suddenness and force of it and felt his little wooden reeds crushed against his chest. But Delia released him shortly thereafter and turned and fled back into the house, not once looking back. And though the door slammed at her rear, T.K. could still hear her furious weeping as her sorrow found a voice.

Kiara turned and watched as well, then looked back over her shoulder and nodded to the three. "Take care of my boys, Lord Takeru," she said simply, bravely, then followed the forlorn Delia back into the house.

Shay and Ailora let their paws drop at the same moment, then the girl looked over to her brother. "Pop him once for me, 'k 'loan?" she grinned.

"I promise, 'lora."

And then Eloan and T.K. had to turn and scramble off quickly to catch up with Shay who, having said his farewells, had already set off on a brisk pace as the morning sun just started to peak over the crest of the smaller mountain range to the east. It was not exactly a trot, not as steady as a march, but it was clear to all that the boy wanted to waste no time in beginning their journey.

And still, as the three became smaller and smaller as they traveled down the great road that led to Mount Cypress, Ailora watched. Watched until they were out of sight, then watched still as creases of concentration appeared on her forehead. And she heard a voice in her head, one that had been gabbing at her for several hours now...

Well, I did promise to serve Lord Takeru if he ever came back again... and Eloan's just not ready to fight... Shay will cause some kind of mischief if someone doesn't keep an eye on him...

************

Moya licked her lips nervously as her 'guests' started to file in to the lavish dining room and began to take their assigned seats. Most of their eyes glazed over as they entered the room, stunned by an opulence the like of which none of them had ever seen before... and never would again, the girl thought with a sniffle. She almost cringed as the first of the peasants climbed into their chairs at her right side. Filthy yokels. Even while they had each dressed in what they considered their 'best clothes', it still looked to her to be an organized field trip from the nearest shantytown. Imagine, turning the third richest of all the royal mansions into a veritable soup kitchen. She made a mental note of have all of the cutlery and crockery burned and replaced after the meal.

Of the hundred or so in attendance, Moya had arraigned to have her conspirators scattered liberally throughout. She had guards posted at every entrance, guards whose weapons were well honed and who were well versed in their usage. This was unlikely to be concluded without a fight. Damn Hikari for bringing her familiars along with her, anyway!

On the underside of the chair that had been set aside for Lady Hikari, the one at the head of the table, Moya had already etched the pentagram that would serve as a portal for the relatively unimpressive demon that she intended to summon to set all of this off. The spirit that inhabited her had told her that the presence of such a creature anywhere in the goddess's vicinity would cause her magical talisman to become instantly and visibly active, and would thus serve as the cue for her chosen guests to begin playing their roles.

And after a few minutes when the rabble had finally (and mercifully) taken their seats, the young a'ladon that Moya had sent for the human girl led her and her creatures into the room. Many gasps of astonishment were heard as the peasants once again caught sight of their goddess, draped in a flowing and glimmering gown that held tightly to her sides and with her guardians marching at her side. Moya looked, then nodded in satisfaction. Good. The creature had brought the talisman of Light with her. She had been irrationally afraid that the other would not, causing much of her plan to go awry.

Moya looked on, a bit concerned to find that there was nary a dry eye at the table as each individual watched the figure of the human flow smoothly to her seat at the end of the table. Even most of those in her conspiracy were openly weeping, and she once again worried at having to use the fools. Just one of them changing their mind could upset this entire scenario.

Though it seemed forever, it was actually a very short time later when Hikari and her two companions took their seats at the end of the table next to Moya. The hairs on Gatomon's back still bristled at the nearness of the young magistrate, though even she was uncertain of just why. It wasn't the look of the girl, nor the smell, nor the feel that was wrong. It was just that she was certain that something... was.

Moya stood, her velvety robes falling about her as she rose, and tapped the side of her goblet with a spoon in order to silence the table. But in reality, with the exception of the muffled sounds of weeping coming from a few of the more emotional creatures in attendance, it could not have been more silent in that room as each and every eye stared down the length of the table to catch a better glimpse of the Lady Hikari. Their 'LightBringer'.

"I understand," Moya began, "that each of you is anxious to hear our Lady Hikari speak. And I am certain that, in her grace, she will. But first, let me welcome you all to the house of your king and bid you feast well at his table. Please eat and drink your fill, each of you, and afterwards we will hear from our guest of honor." And by way of closing, the girl gathered the robes about her body and sat down once again.

With that signal, the doors opened and a veritable army of servants entered the room, each bearing a dish that he been specifically concocted for this occasion. At Kari's side, Gatomon continued to fidget nervously, even as her stomach continued to snap angrily at her for not paying less attention to her nerves and more to the feast that even now was being set before her. But even the greatly desired food would not calm her at this moment, and she continued to want desperately to lash out at whatever it was that was making her feel this way... to seek it out and bring it to battle.

She glanced furtively to the side. Patamon, for his part, didn't look worried in the least. Or if he did, his main worry at the moment seemed to be that the steaming fish that had been set on the plate in front of him would grow legs and attempt to walk away before he had a chance to tackle it. She was almost angry at him, not feeling the concern that she did.

And then the little feline looked across the table to the a'ladon Moya. The girl was clearly nervous about something, toying with the hem of her garment as she was and her eyes shifting from side to side as if she were waiting for something to happen. And though the magistrate's paw was placed strategically in front of her mouth, Gatomon was certain that the girl was whispering something to herself in a quiet, sing-song fashion. It made her all the more edgy.

And then, just as Gatomon watched Kari put her fork to meal, the hell that she had been privately anticipating quite literally broke loose.

The crest of Light, resting against the girl's chest, quite suddenly and unexpectedly flared into life with a violence that Gatomon had never witnessed before. Nor Kari either, it seemed, as the girl stood up in alarm and confusion and clutched at the pink talisman while staring at it with brown eyes wide open. Explosive flashes and angry, heated light flared repeatedly from the surface of the item, engulfing the girl and illuminating the room with a display of pyrotechnics brilliant enough for any celebration.

Pandemonium instantly ensued, as Moya tumbled out of her chair and fell to the floor, moaning in (what Gatomon took to be theatrical) agony. The demon prompting her from inside knew, better than any, that the explosive bursts from Kari's talisman would be harmless to his chosen vessel. That Crest, unlike the boy's, was not really a weapon... it simply existed as a safeguard for the girl. Still, he was wary enough not to attempt to have his present host be the one to seize her.

Kari could only manage a quick glance at the fallen Moya as she clasped the talisman tightly within her fist. Now the spirit of the crest was in her mind again, forcing fast and angry warning impressions upon her...

Danger... Betrayal! The Fallen!

The girl reeled away for a moment, feeling faint as the spirit within the Crest once again overwhelmed her with its violent and insistent demand for her attention. She simply couldn't process all the information that it piled upon her so quickly. Danger...? Where...?

Now Gatomon watched as several more a'ladon in the room cried out and fell, moaning, to the floor. And she could hear one of them on the opposite side of the room whimper loudly, "No! No more, Lady Hikari!. Send it... send it away, I beg of you!" and wave its paws frantically in front of its face.

Gatomon looked, but could see nothing to frighten the creature. But now the squirrel-like child directly to her right gave a scream and scampered away from the table and hid behind a tall, marble pillar. And, as near as she was, Gatomon could see that there was mischief on that one's face. He was not truly frightened, but rather acting out a role. Doing it rather well, yes, but still pretending. And then he gave another screech and called out to Kari, "Please... please m'lady! What did I do to anger you? Why are you mad at me?"

Scripted, Gatomon was now certain, but as she turned she found that there were no less than twenty a'ladon (mostly women or children) in similar straits of 'misery'. And Kari still looked to be in a sort of daze, staggering backwards with the explosive glare of the Crest of Light still clutched tightly within her hand.

"Lady Hikari!" Moya shouted insistently, on her feet again and holding both paw up defensively towards the girl, who was clearly in no shape to respond. "Lady Hikari, please stop this!" And now each of the a'ladon in the room was either cowering away from the human girl in fear or attending to one who was.

The screeches were filling Gatomon's ears, some more convincing than others, but all directed at Kari and Kari alone. Patamon, for his part, looked confused and in a bit of pain as the all of the shrieking assailed his quite excellent sense of hearing. But it was clear that he had not yet come to the same conclusion that she had.

This was a hoax of one sort or another. Gatomon was about to act, to get Kari to safety, when she heard Moya cry out once again. "Lady Hikari, stop! Witchcraft of any sort is forbidden in our lands! In the name of the king, I order you to stop all of this at once!"

So that's it, the little feline thought, watching perhaps a dozen guards start to pour into the room from the nearby doors, each of them with a spear at the ready. This was all some kind of setup.

Gatomon vaulted over the table with ease, landing on Kari's chair and drawing back one gloved claw to strike at any who might seek to do the girl harm. The little feline was quite ready to take on each and every one of the guards that were rushing at her partner, when out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Moya whispering to herself and gesturing at the chair on which she herself was perched.

Gatomon yelped as she felt the icy grip of a skeletal claw reach from beneath the chair and attach itself to her leg, yanking furiously in an attempt to dislodge her. She looked down and saw the black, bony appendage holding on just above her ankle, and though it looked to be quite frail, she found that its grasp was like the grip of death itself. She was shaken violently and about to fall when she called out, "Patamon! Help Kari!"

But the call came an instant too late. For at that very moment Patamon, still overwhelmed by the chaos and confusion in the room, had been taken from behind by a pair of the a'ladon guards and been shoved, struggling, into a brown, burlap bag. Gatomon was horrified at the sight and slashed repeatedly at the arm of the creature that was trying to drag her away from the betrayal, desperate to get to Kari's side. But the strength of the thing was beyond hers, and in a moment had dragged her beneath the table and much too far away to help the human girl.

Now one of the a'ladon guards, shielding his eyes from the explosive brilliance of the Crest in Kari's fist, crept up behind the girl and delivered a savage blow to the back of her head with the butt of the spear in his hands. The human girl did not even have the chance to cry out as the weapon struck, knocking her to the floor and senseless at the same instant. And as she fell the light in her hands died and the 'terrified' a'ladon suddenly managed to regain some semblance of composure... all right on cue, of course.

Moya hid a smile as she brushed the dust from the floor off of her fine robes. That should do quite nicely. Now, in a few hours, the story that the Lady Hikari had attacked the innocent a'ladon with her 'witchcraft' would be spread through the city not only by those that she had corrupted, but by all hundred in attendance. She could, even now, see the genuinely horrified look in the eyes of the simple peasants.

But it was not over yet, of course. For even now, she heard somewhere from farther down the hall a shout. "Burn the witch!"

Moya stepped forward and pulled the Crest of Light from the still hand of the Lady Hikari, tossing it among the ruined and scattered crockery of the table. Where she was going, she would have no need of it.

And now others had picked up the cry, calling out to have the 'witch' burned. Not many, of course, but a few. A couple even who had not been swayed over to her side by the promise of freedom from their loved ones. It almost astonished her. Not one day ago these creatures had welcomed the creature back to their land and had sang in praise of her. Not an hour ago, every single one of their eyes had teared up at her presence. Now this. Not even those she had saved would speak out on her behalf...

But she would not be burned. Not yet, at least. What the devil lurking inside Moya's body wanted to do with the bitch once he had wed her was his own concern, and it might amuse him to eventually do something like that. But not until then. And not until she and Aine had gotten their reward.

Moya shook her head in mock consternation, and held up a hand to quiet the raucous crowd. "No!" she insisted as her guards bound Kari's hands behind her, dragging her limp body off in one direction and the bag that held the still struggling Patamon in the other. "No, no burning! We are a society of law, and do not resort to such barbaric or irresponsible acts. Despite all appearances, there may be a rational explanation for Hikari's acts here tonight!"

Cue angry outburst here...

"Rational, nothing!" a mother raged as she knelt by the side of her quivering son, the one that Gatomon had credited with being a half-decent actor. "She attacked my boy! For no reason! I demand justice!"

"And you will have it," Moya snapped back. "But I would not take it upon myself to be a judge for one such as Hikari. I will take her to our king, and he will decide what will happen to her. In all the land, only he dare make such a decision."

Moya could hear assorted grumbling by those whom she had not brought into her plan that justice for such a seemingly severe attack would not be meted out immediately. But on some faces she also saw confusion. Though they had never met the Lady Hikari before, all of the old legends had described her as entirely benevolent. The girl mentally shrugged off their concern. This entire scheme had been worked up simply as a way to have the 'goddess' removed from the city with little or no outcry. If these creatures eventually worked it out among themselves that the 'attack' had been none of Hikari's doing or if one of the fools that she'd had doing the acting for her eventually cracked and told the truth... by then it would be far too late. Truth was often a latecomer in such times.

For now, she would rest. The bride had been captured, and she and her familiars were going nowhere. And Moya needed to regain her strength in order to open another gate to where she would meet Aine and the groom. Opening the portal that had brought the little, unseen demon to this party had been extremely tiring, and she dared not attempt another gating so soon.

As the girl turned and started to leave the room by the same exit through which the guards had taken the unconscious Kari, she chanced to glance back over her shoulder at the table. The imp had taken the familiar that she had called 'Gatomon' underneath there. She wondered what the little demon had done with it. Eaten it, more than likely, she supposed, then exited through the gate and back to hell.

And the other. The Patamon. She'd have to remember to tell the guards to drown the thing in the river or beat it to death before she left. Assuming that they didn't have enough initiative to do something like that on their own.

She smiled evilly as the remainder of the guards filed the rest of her 'guests' out. That had been quick enough, and none of them had really gotten anything to eat after all. Perfect. Just like everything else thus far. Perfect. Hikari was captured, Aine was almost at D'assan's resting place and had managed to keep Jeron from getting himself killed yet. Takeru had been sufficiently delayed, and Aine had promised more for him to come. She calculated that, in another day or so, all of this would be completed and then... then would come their reward.

How gratifying that would be.