CHAPTER SEVEN: A Game of Tag

"W-We're, uh, I---" Hikaru tried to say they were from the castle but Clef had instructed them to not say anything about where they came from.

"We're from the town of Coda," Fuu answered, recalling one of the far northern towns of Cephiro. The mustached man and several of the people looked the women up and down. When the baby began to cry, the people put down their weapons. One woman looked at the baby and gasped, "A baby!"

A man shouted from behind the crowd, "It's Yuner and his family!" The people turned around and headed for the cart. Many of them began to wail and weep for the bodies they saw there were terribly mutilated and destroyed.

The mustached man dug his spear a little deeper into Hikaru's neck. Hikaru winced but did not buckle down.

One of the armored men, the one with the dark purple hair, swung his scimitar and threw it down to the ground. The blade buried itself up to the hilt.

"Put the spear down, Sergei."

The mustached man glared at the Magic Knights and did not put his spear down nor did any of the other armed townspeople.

"I said put the spear down!" The force in the voice of the purple-haired warrior startled the people and they put down their weapons to their sides. The purple-haired man and another man, a dark blue-haired one, stepped forward. The mustached man backed away from Hikaru and her friends. The purple-haired man approached Hikaru and bent down to peer at the crying infant. He held out his arms and Hikaru gave the baby to him. She and her friends exchanged glances.

"This is Yuner's youngest son, all right," he said in a baritone voice. To the Magic Knights' surprise, he winked at them.

"You have saved the children of our friends. We thank you," he told them gently. When he saw Hikaru's bleeding shoulder and the wound on Umi's forehead, he ordered, "Get our guests some fresh, clean clothes and medicine to heal their injury. After that, we prepare a feast for them."

"A feast?!" the mustached man sputtered, coming forward. "Yuner, his wife Eila and brother Amon are now dead! We cannot have a feast!"

"Er, I think Mister Mustache here is right," Hikaru said but the purple-haired man merely brushed the disagreeable man aside.

"Nonsense. We have already spotted you and your companions coming out of the wood before being followed by the monster out into the light. We would still have held a sumptuous feast for you, visitors from Coda. For now, you must have your wounds cleaned." He then handed the baby over to one of the women.

"N-No, really, were f-fine," Fuu argued but several women have taken the task of making life comfortable for the Magic Knights. They bathed them, dressed them (their breastplates were sent to the cleaners, too), and bandaged their wounds. Fuu tried to explain to them that she had her own medicine but the townspeople did not understand what she was saying about "iodine", "alginate bandages", and "antisepsis".

When they were cleaned up, the three women were led to a giant hut in the center of the small town. Many people were already there. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu were taken to the back where three high platforms stood.

"What are those?" asked Hikaru, gazing up. One man, bearing a torch, climbed up on each platform and lit the bundles on top.

"Cremation platforms," Umi muttered. The people around them bowed their heads and whispered some form of prayer. The three could not understand the words and so bowed their heads and each whispered her own prayer for the dead. When they were finished, the purple-haired man announced, "Now, let us prepare for the night feast for our guests and the return of Yuner's sons!"

None of the three expected any cheering. Faces were of a solemn mood and the cremation of their friends stood in their minds. Umi started to feel a little guilty for enjoying the way she was pampered a few hours before the cremation. Hikaru, on the other hand, felt remorseful for thinking about food and looking forward to the feast. After all, she and her friends had missed lunch. Not that they would have enjoyed it very much after seeing those corpses and the bloodbath between the two warriors and the monster...

The women who took care of Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu left them to participate in the preparations for the feast. The three looked all about them and realized that they have been left to their own devices.

"What was that sound?" asked Umi. "Did you hear that? It sounds like a monster's coming."

Fuu listened and when she realized what it was they were hearing, she laughed. "Umi, it's just Hikaru's stomach." Hikaru clutched at her midsection and grimaced. Umi shook her head pityingly at Hikaru.

"I'm so hungry, I think I'm going to faint," she said. "Mokona... Oh! Where is Mokona?"

"Who cares?" Umi said, uninterested. "That creature can take care of himself---"

"There he is!" Hikaru pointed to a young boy---the same one they have rescued from the monster---who was playing with Mokona. Mokona seemed very happy, doing all sorts of tricks and making the boy laugh and maybe forget the harrowing experience of his family's murder. The Magic Knights stayed with the boy and Mokona for a while.

"Hello," Hikaru said gently, so as not to startle the boy. The boy did not turn to look at her. She looked at Fuu and repeated her greeting. Again, the boy did not answer. Umi shrugged. Fuu bent down and snapped her fingers close to the boy's ear. She also clapped her hands. When the boy remained oblivious to their presence, Fuu said sadly, "Deaf. Probably mute, too."

Hikaru instantly felt sorry for the boy. No sense of hearing, no voice, no parents. What could be worse than that happening to a child? She placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and only then did he look up at them. He grinned and pointed at Mokona.

"I think Mokona's too full of himself to realize that he's not adorably funny but stupidly funny," Umi remarked. Mokona stuck out a tiny pink tongue at Umi and continued with his acrobatics. Umi "hmph"-ed and walked away.

"Where's Umi going?" asked Hikaru. Fuu replied, "To find something worthy of her time like fashion."

Soon, even Fuu got tired of watching Mokona display his tricks over and over again. She told Hikaru, "I'll be walking around to see any likely candidates for you-know-what."

"What's that?"

Fuu cleared her throat. "You know---"

Hikaru giggled, remembering. "Ah, that I know."

"You should keep your eyes open, Hikaru. You were the former you-know-what and only you can know who's the next you-know-what."

Hikaru nodded. "Okay, Fuu! I promise I'll do that. But I guess it won't hurt to mingle with these people first, eh?"

Fuu guessed it was okay and afterwards left Hikaru with the boy and Mokona. A few minutes later, having exhausted all his tricks, Mokona decided to play tag with the boy. Mokona tapped the boy and ran. The boy, quick and smart, tagged Hikaru and ran. Hikaru laughed and ran after the boy. The boy hid behind a large barrel and she pretended not to see his head sticking out from the top. Hikaru did spot Mokona, though, and easily tagged him by pulling at his ear. Mokona tagged the boy behind the barrel. Hikaru purposely exposed her foot under one of the large vegetable stands and the boy tagged her toes.

The three of them ran and ran all about the center of the town, with Hikaru careful not to chase or let the boy and Mokona chase her out of the center's boundary. Hikaru tagged the boy for the hundredth time and watched as he ran after Mokona. But Mokona was too fast and the boy could not tag him. Instead, he tagged the nearest person to him.

Hikaru could not see who it was the boy tagged, only a large mark on the arm of the person, but she ran, anyway. The squeal she heard told Hikaru that Mokona has been tagged. Hikaru ducked behind a group of elderly women and passed by Umi who was talking with two young women. The boy tagged Hikaru, then she tagged Mokona, and the boy tagged her again.

She was running and running, laughing and laughing, enjoying herself and feeling like a child again. Hikaru tripped over a basket of vegetables but managed to catch herself on time.

"Whew! That was close!" Hikaru squatted on the ground and wiped the beads of sweat from her face. The grin on her face disappeared, replaced by wide-eyed disbelief, when she saw the person standing right in front of her.

"Eagle," her lips breathed.

Mokona had spotted the boy and he tagged him. The boy ran away from Mokona and saw Hikaru. He went for her but saw the man. Grinning, he tagged the man.

Hikaru's voice disappeared. The boy tugged at the man's cape. "Nga! Nga!" the boy tried to get the man's attention.

"W-We were playing t-tag," Hikaru managed to say. The man smiled at her kindly and offered his hand. Hikaru took it and he pulled her up to stand.

"Tag," he said softly. His lips were not smiling but Hikaru saw the mirth in his eyes.

Hikaru grinned. "Tag you back." He did not let go of her hand and she saw the long mark of the branch of a plant that traversed the length of the man's right arm.

"Game over."

The boy pouted, not glad to see the game end. Mokona jumped into his arms and let the boy hug him. Hikaru smiled down at the boy. Much to Hikaru's embarrassment, her stomach gurgled.

"You must be famished," the man who looked like Eagle said to her. Hikaru nervously chuckled. Hehehe, thanks for stating the obvious.

"Come." The man let go of her hand and Hikaru followed. The boy, preoccupied with Mokona, walked just a few paces behind her. The man weaved his way through the crowd of people, especially in the marketplace. Hikaru did not have a hard time following his lead because of his height. He could easily be spotted. She followed him out of the crowd and into an alleyway.

They stopped walking. There was a curtain front of them and the man pushed it aside to let Hikaru, the boy, and Mokona in. It was a small house with a low ceiling.

It was almost dark outside and the man went to light the house up with numerous lamps. Only then did Hikaru see the full interior. A round table stood at the corner, with three chairs. There was a small dugout in the center of the room where the remains of a fire had stood. Black kettles, cauldrons, knives, spatulas, spoons and forks hung on one wall. At the far back of the room were stacks of what looked like mats, pillows, and blankets.

The place was devoid of any decoration save for the lamps and a row of similar potted plants on the windowsill. After lighting the lamps, the man turned away for a while and kept himself busy with something at the round table.

The boy pulled Hikaru down to the laid-out mat on the floor. He put Mokona down to get some square pillows for Hikaru to lean her back on. Only then did she remember the wound on her shoulder. She raised her hand to touch the bandage.

"It does not hurt anymore, does it?" the man asked, offering her a wooden bowl. Hikaru took the bowl and drank from it. She immediately felt her hunger ebb.

"Thank you," she said, finishing the soup. "It's delicious." She also noticed that there was no need for a second helping for Hikaru was already full, a rare occurrence.

The man sat across her. Hikaru watched as he pulled out a pouch from his belt and extracted a leaf. He blew on the leaf and uttered unintelligible words. He threw the leaf into the dugout and it burst into flame. Hikaru saw the leaf turn into a small bonfire.

"Amazing!" Hikaru said. "How did you do that?"

"Fire-breather," he answered, offering her one leaf. Hikaru thought it looked just like an ordinary leaf. "It requires some spells to use that."

Hikaru thought of her own skill with fire and the flame-throwing incident at the forest.

"You must be skilled with fire yourself," he suddenly said. Hikaru was surprised. How did he know?

"I heard your voice in the forest," he told her calmly. "You called out to the Rune God, Lexxus."

Hikaru kept her mouth closed. No, she promised Master Clef she would not reveal anything about their origins to anyone outside the castle.

The man fixed his intense green eyes at her. Hikaru realized she must have mistaken him for Eagle Vision. This man could not be her old friend. This man was a stranger... and she's in his house!

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hikaru lied. The man continued to look at her.

"Perhaps you don't. I apologize for my impertinence."

Hikaru sighed, relieved. It would not do well for them to be found out this early. How he could have heard her made Hikaru wonder about the man. The boy took the empty bowl from Hikaru, with Mokona wrapped around his back like a papoose, and went to the back of the small house.

"He seems to know his way around here," said Hikaru, desperate to change the subject.

The man's lips smiled. "Yes, he does. He has spent more time here than his home."

"Really? You must like children very much." Hikaru smiled back at the man. "He's a sweet boy. I don't even know his name."

"His name is Don and he is my nephew."

Hikaru's eyes flew to the man. "Oh! I had no idea."

The man gazed into the fire at the dugout. "His mother, Eila, is my twin sister."

Hikaru remembered in detail the grisly corpse of the woman in the cart. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Hikaru! Hikaru! Where are you?!"

It was Umi. Hikaru stood up quickly. The man stood up as well.

"My friends are looking for me," she said dumbly. The man opened the curtain door for her and walked out back onto the street. The boy saw her leaving and his eyes started to water. Hikaru bent down and patted the child's head.

"You can keep Mokona here for a while," she said, motioning for Mokona to stay. Mokona was only too willing to say yes.

"Puu puu puuuu!"

Hikaru straightened up, thanked the man for the soup, and ran back into the market to search for Umi.

-----

Hikaru found Umi peering inside every vegetable and food stall in the marketplace.

"Umi!" Hikaru waved. Umi waved back and ran to her.

"Where do you keep going off to, Hikaru?" Umi asked exasperatedly. Hikaru gulped.

"Me? Er, nowhere, really. Just looking at stuff and for you-know-what."

Umi looked confused. "What do I know?"

"You know...."

Umi frowned and then she remembered their mission. "Oh, yeah. Right. Found it yet?"

Hikaru shook her head. "No, sorry."

Looking around her, Umi asked, "Have you seen Fuu?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, the women I've been talking to told me that the feast would be after dark. I can't seem to find Fuu anywhere."

"She must be looking for you-know-what," Hikaru suggested. Umi shrugged. "Anyway, we must be getting prepared now. We can't look like rags when we come to the feast, right?"

"No, but where will we get---"

"Come, Hikaru!" Umi was already dragging Hikaru towards a group of women about their age. "They're going to lend us some clothes!"

-----

The hour of the feast came. Dressed up and ready, Umi and Hikaru met up with Fuu (who had been asking questions discreetly about what the people of Vena thought of the alliances) at the large hut. There, they saw the purple-haired warrior, towering above the other citizens. Thee feast has not officially started yet.

Fuu whispered to Hikaru, "Hikaru, I've been hearing something about you going off with this strange man---"

"What?" Umi asked, overhearing. Hikaru's cheeks went beet red.

"I just accompanied the deaf boy---his name's Don, by the way---to his home and I was with Mokona. No big deal, right?"

Fuu andd Umi exchanged dark looks. "I don't know, Hikaru," said Fuu. "I saw the man and he does not look trustworthy."

Hikaru wanted to tell them that he heard her call out to Lexxus but she could not. Umi's new friends approached and talked to Umi. An elderly woman came to Fuu. Without anyone to talk to, Hikaru went outside. Almost everyone was at the hut. Only the guards stood outside and at the gates. In the light of the torches, Hikaru saw the man---Don's uncle---speaking with a guard at the gates. She then heard a guard walk out of the hut to stand nearby.

Hikaru walked over to him. The guard looked at her. "You the guest?"

"Er, yes."

"Hm, right." He ignored her for a few seconds. Hikaru saw Don's uncle inspect a scimitar in the light and to her astonishment, the guards opened the gate and let him out.

"He went out! In the dark!" Hikaru exclaimed. The guard behind her made a smacking sound with his lips.

"Of course he went out," he said. "He's supposed to."

Hikaru turned to look at the guard. "Why? Isn't he going to come to the feast?"

"Come to a feast after the death of the last members of his family save for two children he now has to care for? Besides, it's his shift. We do rotations here, you know. His brother-in-law, Yuner, was among our greatest warriors. It was his shift last night."

Then what was his family doing out there with him?

Hikaru voiced this out and the guard clucked his tongue. "Amon's shift had been a week ago. When he did not come back, Yuner went to look for him beyond his shift. He came back emptyhanded. But Eila had a friend who sent her a message from the castle and she had to go through the forest."

"And there they met the monster," Hikaru added. She wondered who that friend in the castle could be. How stupid was that, sending one's friend into the pit of danger just to have a visit! And with the children, too!

"Adolphus had wanted to come after his sister and her family but it is heavily forbidden for anyone to go out of the town if it is not his or her shift for patrolling."

Adolphus. So that's his name.

The truth was, Hikaru did not feel like attending the feast either. Hikaru left the guard and was on her way back in when an idea struck her. Careful not to let anyone see her, most especially Fuu and Umi, Hikaru crept towards the town wall a few meters from the great hut. She glanced around her, looking for any signs of Fuu or Umi or anyone else.

She waited for one of the wall guards to walk away. Skillfully, Hikaru scaled the high wall up and bent low. The guard was looking at another direction. Hikaru looked over the wall and out at the forest beyond. She could see Adolphus walking under the pale light of Cephiro's moon.

"Okay. Here goes."

She jumped.

-----

Message from the Author: Yeah, this chapter is among the boring ones. It's really dragging but I have to make it so 'cause some of the people introduced here are going to affect much of what happens to our protagonists as the story moves along. I'll try to make it up to you, though, by writing more exciting chapter next time. Thanks for the patience! By the way, I wish to state that a lot more characters (aside from the ones I mentioned at the Disclaimer portion) will be added.