Now that we're out of the Fruits Basket world this might start to take on a slightly different feel.  But I've made up an original mini fantasy world just for this story, and I hope you enjoy it, but be prepared.  Fruits Basket family antics and humor will return in due time. ^_~  Thanks for reading!

Evermore

Chapter 12

By Zapenstap  

            His first conscious thought was that this was not Japan.  He was back.

            Belduine opened his eyes to a dirt floor in a dimly lit room, his muscles stiff and aching and his head throbbing from the blow that had rendered him unconscious.   Experience warned him of other presences in the room.  By reflex he managed to twist to the side just before he was kicked awake. 

            "Okay, okay," he mumbled into the ground in an effort to prevent further attempts at abuse.

            "On your knees."

            The two guards leaning over him were not magicians.  They were citizens of the city loyal to the Order, swathed in rich scarlet cloaks with the Esper's Crest pinning the material over their leather jerkins, each carrying a long hafted spear.  Their faces were grim as they seized him by the arms and dragged him to his knees.  Belduine obliged without protest, hanging loosely in their grip, but when he attempted to put his feet under him to stand, he was kicked back down.  Positioned on his knees between the two guards, he slowly raised his head.

            The circular room was lit by torches burning brightly from the sconces cemented in the stone.  It was occupied by more than Belduine and his two guards.  Magicians lined the far end of the room, standing as still and silent and mysterious as they always did when confronting anyone who was not of their Order.  Azaren was with them, separated a little from the rest by his position in front of the semicircle of cloaked men. 

            Belduine knew when he saw them why he was here.  He winced, rolling his head, and wracked his brain to try and formulate ragged answers to the questions he knew he was going to be asked.

            "Leave him," Azaren commanded. The guards left Belduine on his knees and stationed themselves at the doors.

            The Head Wizard's hood was thrown back, revealing a man well into his prime, his face so hard his cheekbones looked like they were chiseled from stone.  His face was pale and his lips red, an eerie contrast to the gray-streaked black beard and mustache on his upper lip and chin and that barely resembled a few weeks' growth.  Azaren kept his facial hair well trimmed, the beard on his chin a perfect triangle not daring to hang away from the face, his mustache shaped to cover the space just above his upper lip.  His eyes were ice cold blue, sharp and smart and penetrating.

            "You have some explaining to do," Azaren said. 

            Belduine settled back on his legs and lowered his head in a gesture of shame while he glanced covertly around the room.  This circular space was not an audience chamber.  It had the feel of being underground, rock walls devoid of any color or trappings.  But his eyes were drawn more to the folded table in the corner and cruel devices that hung on the walls.  He thought he recognized where he was.  This was a torture chamber in the underground prison of Cabadan.  Fortunately, the hooks and ropes and blades had not been used in some time.  Many of them were rusted.  Even so, the atmosphere was intimidating.  It helped that he'd been here before and had the memory of leaving without being harmed.  There was always a greater sense of security in a familiar place and he needed as much sense of security as he could invent.

            Slowly, he lifted his face to meet Azaren in the eye.  "I can explain."  He wished he knew how.

            Azaren did not give him the chance. "I don't know why the Esper deigned to take a simple commoner like you into Her service."  He said it mildly and smiled, but the undertone in his voice was black with contempt, the smile condescending.

            "I have magic…" Belduine began, but he knew it was hopeless.

            "Magic?  Don't be a fool. You can't turn cream into butter.  You lost control of the simplest of attack bolts."

            Belduine hands clenched and he locked his jaw to bite back an angry retort. There was nothing he could say, no counter argument to make against the truth.  He needed to keep his temper and play this cautiously.  

            "You are little more than a rogue," Azaren continued.  "You came to us as a foreigner pledging your service to the Esper.  What did you expect? Did you think we would teach you magic?  You have no parentage to recommend you and the dribble of magic power you have is corrupted.  By rights you should be begging on the streets with the rest of the rabble.  The Esper is merciful to allow you to be her errand boy.  And yet you failed to carry out your errands.  It didn't surprise me when you returned from your first mission with nothing but a bracelet and your sly lies.  I suspected your true nature from the beginning. I recall having ordered you locked in a prison cell; what I don't understand is what meager magic tricks you used to escape your confinement.  How did you pass between worlds to warn the Cursed?  Why did you do it? What did they promise you that you would risk opposing the hunger of the Esper in an attempt to save a few Cursed Ones?"

            Belduine said nothing.  He could think of little other than lies to tell and though they came easily to mind, he knew Azaren would not believe them.  There was no hope of reconciling this botched affair by magic or guile.  Let Azaren think the Sohmas had some special bargaining chip.  He had to do things the way he was used to doing them.

            Azraren took a few steps toward him.  Belduine cast his eyes to the ground, trying to relax the muscles in his body and create a sense of serenity in the mind.  But Azaren leaned over him with a distinctive leer, and the magic energy that crackled around him made Belduine's muscles tense.  He took deep breaths to calm himself, nerves vibrating in the proximity of so dangerous a source of unnatural power.  "They must have promised you something," Azaren murmured. "What is it you want?  Why pledge your service only to betray us?"

            "I helped them," Belduine replied in as smooth a tone as he could muster, "out of the goodness of my heart.  I don't like to see innocent people caged up and abused."

            No expression passed over the Head Wizard's face, but the jolt that shocked Belduine from the crown of his head to his toes was the muscle-cramping sting of electricity.  Belduine keeled over until his face was in the dust, blinking tears out of his eyes and working his fingers spasmodically until the jarring ring in his head began to fade.

            Azaren's voice was a deep and icy cold.  "You lie like a common thief.  You must be getting something out of this.  I will not force you to tell me here, but you will tell me, and when the Esper is done with you, I will see you hanged.  If Ranlath did not want to hear your story I would kill you now.  I would throw your carcass into the streets for the beggars to pillage."

            What do you know about thieves and beggars? Belduine thought bitterly, but the way Azaren mentioned Ranlath by name in a tone loaded with contempt and jealousy pleased him.  He wanted to nettle the overbearing, arrogant bastard further.

            "The Master Magician is here?" he asked in a weak voice.

            Azaren's voice had the splintering quality of ice so cold in cracked.  "We came here to Cabadan because he was rumored to be here.  Even now he is attending to your little friends.  When he is finished we will transport this catch to the Holdings of the Esper."

            Belduine closed his eyes and chose to say nothing.  Speaking would only bring pain and he had heard enough.  He was insignificant, completely beneath anyone's concern.  He was good at getting people to believe that.  He wished he did not so often believe it himself.

            No passion touched Azaren's tone, but the chill in his voice was hateful. "This new catch must be able to communicate with us.  The Esper will want to converse with such interesting Cursed Ones, linked together as they are. That is the only reason his assistance is solicited.  You must remember that he is not one of us.  One day I will unwork his secrets.  I am the Head Wizard.  That charlatan learned some impressive tricks wherever he came from, but he is young and weak and a fool. Before he came I was the greatest, and I will be that way again.  There has never been a wizard more powerful than I.  You would do well to serve me faithfully.  Perhaps your life will be spared.  Do not presume that this so-called Master Magician will save you.  He was most angry when he learned what disaster your antics almost caused.  I would not be surprised if he voices consent to have you destroyed."

            Belduine clenched his jaw shut to keep from saying anything, kept his face pressed to the dust out of sheer will power.  He had to remember what he was about, keep his head and hold in his personal feelings. 

            Perhaps sensing his determination to hold something back, Azaren bent over him with a freezing smile.  His whispers stung like slashes of a whip, goading him, but Belduine gritted his teeth and tried to endure it.

            "If I spare your life, I will transfer you to the slave Holdings. If you show that you know your place and tell me what it is you hoped for by betraying Her Divinity, perhaps I will allow you to serve me again.  This time you will learn to grovel in the dirt at my feet. I will work the spirit out of you and allow you to watch as I enjoy the pleasures of my position. Do not think there will be any women and dances and drinks to comfort you.  I know where you spend your time out of service.  Perhaps I will make your favorites my Handmaidens…"

            Belduine's control wavered. Tears stung his eyes. "Shut up." 

            "…I know there is one in particular that you seek to enjoy.  Rumor has informed me that there is a mysterious someone."  He laughed.  "Fancy yourself in love perhaps?  Is that confusing to a vagrant like you? I'll find her. I'll make her beg…"

            Belduine lunged at him savagely, seeking to claw his eyes out, unaware of the shriek that ripped from his throat.  His hands made contact with the wizard's robes, but Azaren stepped smoothly back as the guards moved in, dusting off his clothes grimly as if he'd been contaminated.  As he was seized from behind, Belduine thought about lashing out with magic, and knew instinctively that all he could hope to do was scorch his own hand bad enough that the pain in his heart would be numbed.  Frustration burned in his heart.

            The guards flung him bodily to the floor and choked on his own breath.  Azaren's hooded eyes had not changed.  Shaking, Belduine remembered where he was and buried his feelings.  Never.  He would never allow it.  One day he would succeed.  "I'll kill you," he choked.  One day. "I'll kill you, Azaren."

            "I'm sure," Azaren replied coolly, and turned his eyes from him to the guards.  "Lock him up with one of the others."

            Belduine was dragged unceremoniously from the presence of the wizards, the elite, the members of the Magic Order to which he did not belong.  Damn them, he didn't want to be!  He was used to being treated like a criminal.  He was a criminal, or had been, but it bit like the piercing of knives when he was trying to do what was right and lawful.  He never used to care about the law.  Things had been so much easier then.

            His guards hustled him roughly from the room and down dimly lit, underground hallways.  Belduine's anger always came and went like a flashflood.  By the time he was out of the room he forgot about Azaren and was already focusing on his next move.  He had always been a survivor.  Quintessentially, that's what he was at the core.  But it was new to him to have to look after the welfare of other people. He looked around him curiously as was herded through a labyrinth of tunnels, eyeing the cells spaced side by side in some corridors and spaced farther apart in others.  He doubted the Sohmas would even be all in the same wing.  Azaren was not that stupid.

            As he walked, Belduine was pleased to realize that he was right.  He knew this prison.  He'd been locked up here before.  He remembered the cells of Cabadan to be little more than holes dug into the rock with crude doors and small holes drilled into the stone for the passage of air.  It was not comfortable.  He worried about the Sohmas, innocents in these politics, ignorant of this place and era.  Some of them were fragile.  And there were the girls.  He did not relish any them having to remain here, though he would do what he had to do.  He wondered how many of the group the Master Magician had seen so far.  He wanted to know how much time he had.

            "Here," one of the guards murmured to the other as they halted before a door at the end of a hallway.  He produced a ring of keys and Belduine watched carefully. "We'll lock him up with this one."

            "They say they're all enchanted animals," the other murmured. "Seems cruel to put a cat in a suspended cage."

            Belduine grimaced.  It was cruel to lock up animals?

*****

            It was pitch black.

            Akito's hands crawled along the walls, nails scraping the stone, digging at the rock.  He didn't know where he was.  He couldn't see anything.  He couldn't move more than four feet in any direction without colliding into cold stone walls.  He was trapped in a dark box, a physical box much like the one that ensnared his soul. The darkness was everywhere, pressing inward onto him even as it pressed outward from inside.  Demon voices gnawed at his ears, whispering terrors that smote him horrific blows.

            You're alone.  You're alone.  You're alone.

            "Help me," he whispered, clawing at the rock until his fingers bled.  "I'm sick.  Please…"

            But nobody came.  Nobody heard.

            The panic made his limbs shake, his stomach weak.  He felt nauseous and ill and knew he was becoming fevered.  Akito knew how to get a fever.  By piling distress upon distress he filled his head with a mixture of real and phantom symptoms until his body actually broke down and someone would have to take care of him.  Now real fear made him feel like he was going to throw up and he suddenly wished he was stronger.  He sunk pitifully to the floor, throwing his arms around his knees and huddling into the corner as icy chills rippled through him. 

            He wanted Hatori to come and put him to bed, to check his temperature and prescribe him pills and tell him to sleep until he felt better.  He wanted Shigure to come and hold him like he used to, to soothe him and remind him that he was the most important.

            I am god! 

            He wanted Yuki to come over and play with him like when they were children.  A momentarily chill passed through him as he wondered about Yuki in a room like this, but it wasn't nearly as important to him as his own distress.  In a way, he thought bitterly, Yuki deserved it.  Yuki was just a rat.  Yuki didn't really love him.  Nobody did.

            I am god…

            He wanted to hurt somebody.  Hurt them hard enough to make himself feel better.

            They all hated him.  They all wanted to be free of him.  Because of that, he hated them too.  Cursed.  They were all cursed.  There was no hope.  Sometimes he just wanted to die.

            He was so lonely.  He had never been ignored before.

            I am…

            His fingers clutched at unyielding stone.  He would give anything to see any of them again.  They were his.  All of them.  They were all he thought about.  They were all he had.

            A door swung abruptly open.  "So.  You're the god."

            Akito buried his pain and squinted grimly into the light.  It was not a voice he recognized.

*****

            Yuki huddled in the corner between one wall and the next, keeping his eyes firmly on the door in front of him.  The darkness was suffocating, black as ink, like the ink Akito once used to scribble voraciously on the walls when they were forced to play together as children.  He couldn't help but think of Akito, remembering how his eyes had been wild then, glinting with a madness that had never been there before.  It was in a dark room like this that Akito started saying horrible things.  So many horrible things.  Yuki believed them then.   Even now he was compelled to believe them.

He continued to stare at the door.  Eventually, someone would come through it.  Eventually, someone would let him out.   He tried to believe it.

            He had had only one visitor, a magician who woke him up at of an exhausted, stress-induced sleep to speak to him in riddles, demanding nonsense answers Yuki gave in a confused voice.  Then he left and the door had clanged shut behind him, taking the light with it, and Yuki fell back asleep.  He wasn't sure now what part of the conversation he had dreamed and what part was real, if any of it.  He thought that someone really came, but when or who or for what purpose he couldn't be sure.  He didn't think he was told.   All he knew was that it was some time ago and that the man had brought him no water.  He was dreadfully thirsty.         

            He lifted a hand to his face and felt the wound on his cheek again.  It stung, but the memory was worse than the tenderness of ripped flesh.  In his time alone in here he had managed to scrub off most of the surrounding blood, but the feel of the knife pressed to his face didn't go away.  He had thought he was going to die.  To instead be marred…  He tried not to think about it.

            I'll just have a scar, he thought.  Maybe they'll leave me alone now.

            But he hated being alone.  And why was he thinking into the future with the assumption that this nightmare was going to end and he would one day wake up to find everything back to normal?  He might be in here or some place like it for the rest of his life.

            No… God, please…

            A familiar squeak interrupted his thoughts.

            Rats.  Or mice.  In a place like this, it shouldn't surprise him much.  Natural rats liked darkness and solitude, frequenting the quiet, kept away places.  But was Yuki really a rat?  Or was he really a person?  He could never fully decide.  He was both and he was neither.  He both hated and loved himself and a large part of his conception of who he was came with the curse.   The feel of whiskers poking his fingers did not scare him.  He turned his hand over and let the animal crawl onto it, bringing it gently up to his knee.  It was either a large mouse or a small rat, soft and furry under his fingers, its body giving curiously under the pressure of his hand.  It seemed content to nibble on his fingers, though not hard, and after awhile Yuki began to talk to it.

            "How pathetic am I?" he said.  "To have to make a friend out of you?" 

            It was a surprise when a voice from behind the wall where his head rested talked back.

            "Is somebody in there?"

            "Yes," Yuki said, startled, and turned to face the wall.  "Hello?  Haru?  Shigure?"

            "I'm afraid not.  My name is Temien Rauol."  The speaker paused as if he expected his name to be recognized.  Yuki didn't think he could pronounce that last time if his life depended on it.   When he didn't say anything, the man continued as if he had not stopped.  "Are you one of hers?  The Espers?  Never mind.  You must be.   I'm sorry.  I won't ask what's wrong with you that it would attract her interest, but you have my sympathy."

            "Thank you," Yuki replied.  "I wish I knew what was to happen to me.  Why are you here, if I may ask?"

            "A political misunderstanding.  I won't be here long.  Is it the rats you were talking to?  These cells are near the granary.  The place is crawling with them."

            "Yes," Yuki replied. "If they're bothering you, I can try to convince them to stop."  It didn't matter to him if this fellow thought that strange, not in this place.  It seemed that people here already knew.

            "You can do that?" his companion exclaimed.  "Well, I'd appreciate if they didn't chew holes in my clothes and try to devour me in my sleep, but before you they were the only company I had.  Funny.  I used to hate rats."

            Yuki leaned his head back against the wall and smiled.  "I see," he said.  "I'll tell them not to chew your clothes."

            He laughed and it was a pleasant sound in this dark place.  "You're a polite fellow.  That's very decent of you.  If there's ever a favor I can do for you, I will be happy to oblige.  I can't conceive how it might happen, but my name might win you assistance in Breneth.  That's the country to the northwest of Evermore, if you didn't know."

            "And where are we now?"

            "Cabadan.  In the prison cells on the edge of the last town, only a few dozen miles from Evermore and the Holdings of the Esper."

            Yuki's rat climbed over his wrist, its nose poking into Yuki's shirt sleeve and its feet digging into his palm.  Yuki gently pushed its head aside, indicating that he did not want it crawling into his clothes.  The rat understood his thought.  It was always that way.

            Cabadan.  Evermore.

            What insanity had brought him to this point?  All his life he had thought being cursed was the most dreadful thing that could happen to him, had feared his destiny of living always at Akito's side more than anything.  And now he was in a prison cell, alone with a rat and a kind stranger whose name he could not pronounce.  He wanted to go back home where things made sense, to be annoyed in Shigure's house by the loudness of his family, even the members he didn't like.  Was Shigure somewhere in a cell like this?  Was Kyo?

            And what about Tohru?

            His heart stopped beating.  The rat in his hand sensed the change in him and bleated, hunkering down close to his skin in a gesture of comfort.  If Tohru was in a place like this…  He had to get her out.  He didn't know where he was but a society where innocent people were locked up in dark holes without water had to be a barbaric one.  Tohru was too innocent to be here.  She meant more to him than any one else in the world.  She was his shoulder to cry on, someone he felt loved him unconditionally in a way no one ever had before. She needed to be protected, kept somewhere safe and out of harm's way.  He couldn't stand the thought he her trapped in a room like this.

            "What is the matter?" his friend asked him.

            "There are others here," Yuki replied.  His voice was surprisingly controlled, diplomatic and restrained, the princely voice he used when he was most afraid to be himself and reveal how he was truly feeling.  "My family members.  Fourteen of us together… plus three girls who are not a part of our curse."

            "You're cursed," the man said.  It was not a question.  "Fourteen of you, you said?  That is a large catch for the Esper.  Usually it is individuals that are sent to her Holdings."

            Yuki fingers clenched.  "Have you been to the… to the Holdings?"

            "Sort of.  I will do what I can to help you and your family."  He paused. "These women, they are important to you?"

            "Yes," Yuki replied, and knew that his feelings were clear in the way he said it. A sense of foreboding in the other man's tone alarmed him.  "Why?  Are they in more danger than myself?"

            "Perhaps.  It depends why they are being taken with you."

            Yuki closed his eyes, feeling like his companion was holding something back and furious at his own sense of helplessness.  "Listen," he said.  "I feel powerless.  If there is anything you can do, anything at all, there is one girl in particular, Tohru Honda, which concerns me.  She doesn't belong in a place like this.  She's innocent, protected, like a princess…"

            "A princess?" the man said.  He sounded surprised.  "I'll see what I can do. What's your name?"

            "Yuki Sohma.  It's a pleasure to meet you."

            "I'll remember."

*****

            Hatori wanted a cigarette.

            Since he had woken up in this forsaken pit it was close to all he could think about.  He had a pack in his pocket, but no lighter.  It stood to reason that he might want to start thinking about quitting.

            He was otherwise more concerned about the condition of his family.  Akito had been in ill health lately.  A dark, underground room would not be good for him.  And there was also Yuki to consider, who had a history of being claustrophobic in dark places because of what Akito had done to him when they were children, not to mention his weak lungs and the nasty cut on his face.  He didn't want to think about the condition of Ayame's psyche when trapped alone in a place like this, or Momiji's unattended head wound.  The list of family maladies was never ending.  The physical and mental torment of the Sohma household took no vacation and he was everybody's doctor.  It was exhausting.

            But what was he now?

            Whatever he was, he had a responsibility to all of them to maintain their physical health as best as he was able.  It unnerved him that he was unable to attend them when they were hurting.  Somehow over the years he had developed a compulsory disorder over keeping everyone in physical health.  It was the best he could do to help them with the pain of the curse.

            His other ability was of the mind, not in healing it but in erasing it.  He always thought his gift was ironic, like it was taking the easy way out of dealing with a problem.  He hated using it, hated the way it made him feel.  It always felt like he was cutting holes in a piece of fabric when he erased someone's memory, destroying threads in someone's life.  He sometimes felt that even if the fabric was ugly and stained, it would have been best to keep it connected.  Miscommunication was the center of discord in so many problems.

            He wondered if what he did with the memories of people was anything like what that strange magician had done to him.  The man had entered his prison without accompaniment, commanded him to rise and looked him straight in the eyes for several long seconds.  They exchanged a short, meaningless conversation, after which he felt strangely dizzy.  Hatori had never had his own memory erased, but he imagined it must feel something like the roaring that had rushed through his head and the clamoring of voices in his ear.  Only, instead of making him lose information, whatever the fellow had done to him somehow increased his understanding.  He knew instinctively what had happened, and it was marvelous, particularly if his whole family was being treated so. 

            But lost as they were in this strange world, he had to wonder if it would be any real help to them.          

*****

            Kyo's cage hung roughly twelve feet above the ground, suspended from an iron cable threaded through a crude pulley.  The height didn't bother him as much as the cage.  He was used to heights, but the bars that surrounded him on all sides were another matter.  There was just enough space to stand up or lay down and not a hair more.  He lay on his side and tried not to move, staring at the strands of his own hair that he could see.  It was the most colorful thing in the whole room.  He'd always hated his hair because of the jokes people made about it, but now he stared at it just to remind himself who he was and that all of this was real.  In his dreams it was often a different color.

            He didn't know how long he'd been here.  He guessed he'd been awake roughly three hours and cursed his inability to sleep very much at a time.  When he woke up he'd thought he'd been dreaming at first.  When he realized it wasn't a dream he got scared, and fear always made him angry; most of his emotions converted into anger, so much so that he wasn't always sure what he was feeling.

            The room was lit by a few torches flickering on the wall and there was another cage in the room that was empty, but somehow it only made him feel lonelier.  But it was hate he had to avoid. 

            It came upon him after the fear subsided and memory returned.  Just the bare glimmers of it pushing in on the edges had made his body convulse and start to change shape.  He remembered everything with vivid clarity.  He and Ritsu had scrambled to the top of the roof, and peering down, the first thing he had seen was Shigure kneeling near Hatori with an unconscious Momiji on his lap.  Momiji was an annoying little brat, but for some reason anguish filled him when he saw those limp blonde curls matted with blood.  Kyo had almost transformed right then and there, but even if it would have done some good against those magicians, he did not want to be a monster. 

            He gasped in an effort to control it, and then he saw Yuki look up, meeting his eyes for a second with an expression that changed from hopeful to the characteristically condescending almost before Kyo saw the change.  But he did see.  Yuki had looked at him and felt hope, though it had turn it into something else when he realized it was the stupid cat he was looking at.  Whether out of indignation or challenge or something else, it had given Kyo the courage to grit his teeth, shout "run!" and leap into the circle.

            What happened after was a blur.  He unleashed his rage on the robed figures around him, barely aware of Ritsu tumbling off the roof after him and flailing around in a panic.  Only now did he wonder why the magicians didn't use magic if they really were magicians.  Unfortunately, Kyo didn't think it was because they couldn't.  It seemed almost as if they didn't think they needed to, that the situation was under control. 

            And then they proved it.

            The knife slicing through Yuki's cheek still haunted him.  He couldn't chase it out of his thoughts.  It replayed over and over again in his mind, and it wasn't merely the horror at something so perfect and beautiful being carelessly damaged like that.  It was the way he felt when it happened, the revulsion that twisted his guts and weakened his knees.  He saw the way Yuki's face paled, the way his eyes widened and shifted to look at the knife approaching his skin with terror.  And then the blade penetrated, slicing into his cheek in a crescent, and Yuki's eyes clenched tight as he screamed.  Kyo had trembled with fear at the sight.  When the blade moved to his throat, and seeing the blood on Yuki's face, Kyo had almost shouted "stop!" before Akito did.

            It's because I can't fight him if he dies, Kyo told himself in his cage, closing his eyes against the pain. I wouldn't be able to redeem myself if someone else killed him. I hate Yuki.  He's Akito's favorite.

            The strangled cry that ripped from Akito's throat had been wild.  Everyone else had been stunned, but when Akito ordered them to surrender they obeyed without question.  Kyo didn't even consider anything else.  It was clear that they had lost.  He had sunk to his knees in a stupor, only half aware of what was going on around him until Tohru's life was threatened.  The helplessness he felt then was worse than any feeling he had ever known, but fortunately it ended before he could gather the strength to retaliate.  Had the situation been different, he hoped he would have found the strength to try and save her even at the cost of his own life, but he couldn't be sure.  The thought scared him.  Was he a coward as well as a monster and a stupid, angry fool?  He had observed all that happened feeling lost and worse than useless.  When something hard and heavy struck him on the back of the head, it had been merciful to sink into darkness.

            Things didn't improve when he woke up.  He found himself in a cage hung above the ground.  It had been the fate he had dreaded all his life.  After awhile there was nothing to do but accept it and lay down.  Now he was trying to conserve energy, drifting in and out of a restless sleep filled with dreams.  But waking or sleeping he was always caged.  He supposed it was his fate.

            Don't give up!

            "Tohru." He breathed the name into the air and opened his eyes again.

            The door to the room opened and he sat up in alarm.  He had yet had no visitors.

            The man who entered was no one he had ever seen before.  He was tall with dark hair and his eyes swept through the room briskly, his expression a grim mask wrapped in inward thoughts.  Kyo thought he was a magician, but he couldn't be sure.  He was cloaked as they were, but his cloak seemed closer to blue than green, and his face seemed more youthful than the faces of the wizards who had surrounded them in front of the main house, though just as mysterious.  And yet, he had the same air about him as the others, an impressive, forceful presence that reeked of something dangerous and supernatural.  He glanced at Kyo almost negligently, condescension radiating from every poor. When he opened his mouth, he barked at Kyo in a hurried, irritated tone.

            "Look this way, now, right into my eyes.  I haven't got all day for you."

            Kyo looked at him, mouth parting to demand to know who he was, but the man's sharp eyes cut him off before he could speak.  Something about him was intimidating, if in a different way than the murderous looks of Azaren or the contempt of Akito.  It was like looking at an avalanche that was about to bury you, and Kyo had the feeling this man would care less than the avalanche.

            "The Cat, are you?" the man continued. "Don't look surprised.  It's my business to know.  Whose confounded idea was it to string you up there?  I haven't got time to lower the cage.  Look here.  Pay attention." 

            Anger boiled up in Kyo—he was looking, damn it!—but he found it impossible to yell at this man.  He seethed in silence.

            "Don't get irritable.  Just repeat after me:  One kind word can warm three winter months."

            Kyo repeated the proverb in some confusion.

            "Very good," the man murmured, seemingly more to himself.  The look in his eye was penetrating.   Slowly, something in the back of Kyo's head began to feel like wind in a cave.  The man's voice seemed to echo strangely.  He blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to listen.  "Again please," the man continued. "The flower goes back to its root."

            "The flower goes back to its root," he repeated.  The ache suddenly began to build, as if some kind of dam was forming behind his eyes.  Sitting up on his knees, he clenched his head between both hands.  "Ow.  Geez.  What are you doing?"

            "It's a bit difficult at this distance, but nothing to cry about.  Just one or two more.  Look at me."  Kyo looked.  It didn't hurt exactly.  It just felt like his brain was being dissolved or submerged.  The man's voice seemed to undulate in intensity, as if he was hearing it at varying distances.  It made him uncomfortable.  He didn't understand what was happening and he hated the feeling of being left out, of not knowing what was going on.  The man paid him no attention. "Again.  Pain is the result of pride."

             "What is the point of this?" he demanded.

"faber est quisque fortunae suae."

            "What?"

            But in a moment he didn't care.  A wind roared in his ears.  There was no breeze in the room, but he heard the rush.  What had been building in his head suddenly overflowed into a torrent of voices that cascaded down upon him in a waterfall of noise that left him blinking and dizzy.  The voices spoke languages he couldn't understand, whispering, murmuring and bellowing words that didn't make sense. One kind word can warm three winter months.  He heard the phrases he had repeated spoken again, softly, separated from the din by his trained ear.  Slowly, one by one, all the voices repeated the same phrases, gaining a sort of basic coherence.  He shook his head to clear the sounds away, and was relieved when they dissipated.  He frowned as he tried to recall that last phrase he hadn't been able to understand.  Everyone crafts his own destiny

            "Now," his visitor said brusquely, "can you understand me?"

            "Yeah," Kyo said, rubbing the back of his head.

            "Can you still understand me?"

"What?  Yeah.  I already said I could."

"Excellent.  You have perhaps two hours to remain here. I still have to work through the south and eastern wings."

            "What are you talking about?  Hey!  I'm talking to you!  What did you do?  Who…?"

            But even as he was talking the man was leaving, the heavy door slamming shut on his heels.  By the time Kyo finished his first question, he was alone again.  He leaned back against the walls of his cage, bewildered and suddenly tired again.

            Time ticked by and he drifted slowly in and out of consciousness.  He wondered where the others were and also tried not to wonder about it.  That Tohru might be locked in a cage like this wrung his heart.  He couldn't help thinking and worrying about her.  She was always on his mind. She should be at home making dinner or the doing the laundry or studying for her exams.  The thought of her in a cage or a prison cell was enough to make his heart stop.  He wanted to protect her, to hold her.  Sometimes he wanted to hold her so bad it hurt him deeply.  He sat close to the bars and leaned his head down against them, closing his eyes and trying to think of something, anything he could do to help her.  She should not be trapped in a place like this.  She could not smile the way she was supposed to in a place like this.  The little flower that he loved…

            When the door opened again, Kyo was less startled, but no less intrigued.  When it was Belduine that appeared as a captive between two guards, he grimaced.  Not that kid again…

            "Here," one of the guards murmured.

            Belduine glanced up at the other suspended cage as the other guard crossed the room to operate the pulley mechanism that lowered it to the ground. 

            "Whose idea was this?" Belduine demanded.

            "Just cooperate," the guard beside him said grimly.

            When the cage was lowered, the other guard removed a ring of keys from his belt, flipped through them and shoved one into the iron lock on the door.  With a little jostling, it opened and Belduine was escorted through.  He stepped through without protest, his expression as mild as ever.  Kyo watched furtively, trying not to be noticed.  Once the cage door was shut and locked behind him, Belduine reached through the bars to boldly grab the guard by the sleeve.

            "Hey, will there be water?" he asked.  "I'm dying of thirst." 

            The guard slapped his hand away hard enough to bang Belduine's wrist into the bars.  "Touch me again and I'll break your fingers."  The boy winced, but made no complaint, merely shaking his hand as the guard turned his back on him.  Kyo swallowed, wondering if the guard really would break someone's fingers for asking for water.  He was thirsty too.

            "Raise the cage."

            Belduine sat down as his prison was lifted into the air.  As he became more level with Kyo, he smiled circumspectly, almost appearing to be enjoying himself.  When the cage came to a halt, Belduine grabbed onto the bars to steady himself as it swung, peering down at the guards beneath them.  The two men did not stay long. They spoke to one another in inaudible voices for a few minutes and then left the prisoners to themselves.  Once again, the door swung shut behind them.

            "So you're a captive too," Kyo said blandly.  "Unless this is yet another ploy to get us to trust you."

            "No," Belduine said.  He stood slowly, balancing himself, and reached through the bars of his cage to fiddle with the lock.  "For good or evil, I've thrown my lot in with you.  Unless you'd rather stay here."

            "What do you mean?  You know, I've already tried opening the…"

            Belduine's door swung open.  Kyo lost track of his words, staring at the cage across from him, the door swinging ajar on its hinges.

            "How did you do that?  Magic?"

            "No," Belduine said with a regrettable sigh.  "And I can't even claim to have picked the lock.  It would have taken me some time to work it open that way and time isn't something we've got.  It's riskier this way, but if I'm going to help you, I don't see any other way of doing it."  He juggled something in his hand, something that jingled.  "I wish I was a wizard, but you'll have to settle for the slight of hand of a lightweight thief.  It's what I fall back on most of the time.  Here."

            With a light toss, Belduine lofted a ring of keys into the air.  Kyo reached out a hand and caught them before they could get caught on the bars of his cage, surprised at how large and heavy they weighed in his hand.  By the time he got his cage open, Belduine had climbed out of his prison and dropped to the floor.  It was a bit of a drop, but not too bad.  Belduine stumbled a little but otherwise didn't seem fazed by it.  Kyo growled under his breath.  He could do better than that…

            He finally found the right key and was satisfied to hear the door click open as he twisted it.  Tucking the keys in the pocket of his jacket, he slid to the edge of the open door, grabbed tightly to the bars, and slowly lowered himself out of the cage the length of his body.  Once he was dangling from the edge of his former prison, he took a deep breath and let go.  His feet hit the ground almost before the thought of falling registered in his brain.  He landed with a grunt, knees bent to absorb the impact that jolted his body, but he did not stumble. 

            "Any idea how much time we've got?" Belduine asked him.  "Did Ranlath come to you yet?  He's supposed to talk to everybody.  Did he say anything useful?"

            "Who?" Kyo asked.  "Some young magician came right before you did, if that's who you mean.  Talked nonsense for the most part, but he did say something about having to do the south and east wings.  He said I have perhaps two hours left."

            Belduine grimaced. "Then we've got less than that now.  We'll have to make the best of it.  Let's get going.  They'll miss their keys soon and I don't want to be discovered here."

            Belduine led and Kyo followed, both of them at a cautious run.  For the first time in a long while, Kyo felt more excited than scared.  Charging in on a group of wizards might have been a bad idea, but he was all for escaping from prison.   If they were caught they were caught, but no way in hell was he going to stay here!

            Belduine stopped in an ill-lit corridor where heavy doors lined one side of the wall at uneven intervals. He knocked on each of them, whispering "Sohma?" in a voice just loud enough to be heard.  There was no response.  After a dozen seemingly empty cells, Belduine showed no signs of despair, but he was starting to look a little frustrated. 

            "Tohru," Kyo panted as they came to a corner, halting to check both ways for the movements of any guards.  "We have to save Tohru.  Where do you think they might have put her?"

            Further down the hall, a pair of spears hung on the wall, the blades crossing a quarter ways down the haft.   Belduine turned to them as Kyo knocked on another set of doors, still with no answer.   When he turned back around, Belduine had pulled one of the spears off the wall and was inspecting the blade.

            "I don't know," Belduine said in answer to his question. "Hopefully the way we have to go.  There's an exit in the north wing by the edge of town.  It's guarded, of course, but not much, or not the last time I was here anyway.  This is supposed to be a minimum security prison, a holding ground where offenders await trial.  Luckily, I've been here for such an offense before.  I don't think Azaren knows about it or I doubt he would have chosen this place.  But fortunately Azaren knows very little about me."   With a sudden movement, Belduine tilted the spear and broke it sharply across the knee.   It splintered, the last two feet of the shaft dropping to the ground.   Belduine twirled the remaining four foot weapon in one hand. "This way, I think," he said, gesturing with the weapon to a darkened passage leading down a tunnel where some of the torches had gone out.  "Follow me."

            Kyo followed.  "I hope you really mean to rescue people this time," he muttered.

            "Oh, don't worry," Belduine said.  "I'm as concerned about Tohru as you are.  Arisa and EC too.  It'd be nice if we could spring a few more from your family as well.  I'm a little worried about leaving Akito here.  And Yuki."

            "Okay, I understand about Akito, but why Yuki?"  Belduine couldn't possibly know that Yuki was afraid of the dark, or that he had asthma.

            "Because of the way he looks," Belduine said quietly.

            Kyo didn't get it.  So Yuki had a girly face, so what?  "I don't understand."

            "Well, he's probably safe since he's cursed. For the most part, people leave anything that belongs to the Esper well enough alone.  But the culture in Evermore is peculiar.  Except for a few exceptions, the staff is all male.  All the magicians are male, all of the servants are male.  The only women in the province are those that make up the Esper's cursed collection and the handmaidens."

            "Handmaidens?  I don't know what that is."

            "It's…kinda what it sounds like.  The handmaidens are in Evermore because every few years or so one serves a function for the Esper.   They are girls sent to the Holdings as gifts from the nations that tithe to the Esper, but they usually end up becoming the property of the magicians.  The magicians hold places of power in Evermore and throughout the world.  They are a class of their own, an Order they call it, but they are still men."

            What Belduine was getting at dawned on Kyo suddenly and he almost missed a step. 

            "Magicians don't get married and they don't raise families," Belduine explained.  "Some of them find it demeaning to associate with women as if they were equals at all.  But they still have appetites.  That's one of the functions that the handmaidens serve, though not their only function."

            Kyo was horrified, his mind scrambling to get around the idea.  "What's that got to do with Yuki?"

            Belduine sighed. "Probably nothing since he's cursed.  But…" he hesitated, "not all men like women.  And those that don't sometimes tend to be more aggressive about it.  I worry that Yuki is too tempting."

            "Shit."  It was the only thing Kyo could think of to say.  When boys at the school joked about Yuki being girlish it was funny, particularly because Yuki was so sensitive about it.  But this was not funny.  This was sick.  He had ever never wanted to think about...  "Wait a minute!" he said, struck by something else.  He was at first relieved by the distraction, but when he realized what it was he was thinking, it terrified him.  "What about the Yankee and the Psychic?  What about Tohru?"

            "Yeah," Belduine said grimly.  They emerged into another one of those long hallways lit periodically with torches.  Against the left wall were doors every couple feet, six or seven cells all together. "That's why they're a priority," Belduine said, knocking on the first door with his spear, waiting for a reply, and then moving onto the next.  "And why we need to hurry."

            "Damn it," Kyo said.  He was shaking with nervous anger, his revulsion welling up in sickening waves.  It wasn't possible.  He wouldn't allow it.  If anyone ever touched Tohru without her explicit consent he would kill them.  He would rip their head from their neck!

            "Kyo?"

            It was not Belduine who spoke, though Belduine whipped his head around when he heard the voice.  It came from one of the cells further down the hall, muffled by dirt and stone but still audible.

            "Kyo, is that you?"

TBC

A/N:

It's 4:30 am and I am dead tired.  Therefore, feedback for feedback will be short. I do it only to express my gratitude and out of the hungry wish that readers will continue to respond so marvelously.

Melinda the D poet:  I am sorry to hear that you are ill and I am praying that you recover quickly from whatever ails you.  I send you all my best wishes and am tickled pink that you would print out my story!  I hope you continue to like it and keep reviewing.  I can't tell you how amazing and uplifting it is to get such a wonderful response from you.  I try not to switch POVs in the same scene.  If I do, it's unusual.  As for grammar and spelling mistakes… they happen in every chapter.  I'm just too lazy to fix them.  Lol.  As for Hana… I take a creative license with the material, but she shocks the fangirls, right?

Niana Kuonji:  Bel-chan?  I squealed when I read that!  That's so cute!  I never thought of calling him that!  It pleases me greatly when readers like an OC.  Thank you very much!  Please review this chapter.

Sakura: I love CCS.  I just decided that I did.  *contemplates SxS fluff fics* hmm… Anyway, thank you very much.  I hope you keep reading.

Tc-3:  Wow! Thank you!  I really like reviews. Thank you for reviewing both chapters.  That really meant a lot to me.  ^_^  I hope the story is still suspenseful even though I'm getting into more original stuff.  Please tell me what you think!

R Junkie: lol. I'm sorry about Yuki.  That's all I can say at the moment.  But some yukiru moments will be coming up soon, so you should stay tuned for that.  ^_~  As for the globe thing, it doesn't hurt anyone.  It just identifies them. Like a blueprint. I'll probably explain it in more detail later.

Kisu:  I think you are new!  Thank you very much for reviewing!  I hope you return to read this installment.  The story is original, yes.  I'm a little worried it is going to be TOO original, but my hope is that people who like fantasy will dig it.  As for Akito showing compassion, yes…sort of, as you said.  Heh heh.  Your compliments are encouraging.  Thank you.

Grrl N:  Yay!  Happy to see you back again ^_^.  That action stuff is hard to write so I hope it wasn't too confusing.  *sweatdrop*  I tried to be coherent without getting too bogged down with tangents.  Anyway, thank you very much and please tell me what you think of this chapter.

Calendar:  Hey, glad to see you.  You wrote a very panicked review, and I like panic.  It made me grin.  Anyway, I hope you are still interested and following along. 

SAL-chan:  Your review was so awesome!  I don't know if I really made you yell or not, but you're pretty convincing about it and that's so cool! As for Belduine, he's a tricksy character, but I hope you "get" him eventually, when he starts to show his consistencies.  As for your story, I am definitely going to read it, and review it too, but it's late and I'm stressed out at the moment.  If I like it, I will also recommend it to other people.  Thank you for reading!

The Great Thing:  Welcome back!  It's good to see you. And thank you for the compliments!  I don't know if I'm cut out to be a real author but I'm trying.  Now that we're in Evermore, this story is going to take on a different feel out of necessity.  I hope it is still good though.  Thank you very much for your kind words!  Please tell me your reactions to this chapter.

Merryday:  thank you very much! I hope you didn't have to wait too long.  ^_^

Tri:  *giggles*  You know, I really enjoyed reading your review.  It just made me tremendously happy.  Reactions from readers (even fake ones) are so quality and you mentioned specifically the things that made you react that way.  Momiji will wake up in the next chapter.  ^_~   As for Belduine… well I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Kyra Rivers:  Holy Cow am I glad I solicited YOU into reviewing.  I've NEVER had a reviewer as wonderful as you and I can't express how much I gaped in astonishment while reading your… essay.  I LOVED IT.  However, don't feel compelled. I want to her all your thoughts and it excites me that you are obviously a very intelligent reader and a critical thinker and yet still like my story, but I don't want to feel like I'm forcing you.  Your comments were dead-on, though, and pleased me greatly.  ^_^ I hope I keep getting comments from you.  Heh heh. I feel so proud that you like Belduine now. He's got issues, but I'm fond of him.  *hugs original character*.   As a bonus, I'll let you know that thouh Momiji wasn't really in this chapter, but he will be in the next one! 

Mizaya:  Thank you for BETA READING !!!!   You are awesome.  Your comments were helpful.  I added some stuff to the end of the scenes plus a Hatori scene.  Some of the information is important so please let me know what you think!  Anyway, it's 5 am now…  O_o  and I have school tomorrow.  Good luck with your presentation.  I'll talk to you later.  ^_^

*silently hails the silent readers* 

Thanks everybody.  Please take a moment of your time to review this story.  It would mean a lot to me.  ^_^