Feathers of love

Chapitre Seven: The Escape


For the whole day, Haku hid in the room of Sakura and Nadeshiko. He was only dozing, and would wake up whenever he heard footsteps nearby. He was on the alert, in case the soldiers caught him. However, later when Sakura and Nadeshiko came back to sleep, they found Haku still in the room, watching them as they prepared to go to sleep.

Sakura was still a bit nervous in front of him, but she put up a brave front as she sat down and said, "Good night, Haku and mother."

"Good night." They chorused as they went to sleep, except Haku, who was still awake, on the alert. Somehow, his senses told him that that night would not be good, as if someone was hiding and would spring out to catch him.

He was right, for later, just before dawn, the soldiers came barging into the slaves' quarters, looking for him. Unfortunately, Haku sensed sorcerers with the soldiers, which meant that he had a less chance of escaping unless he did so immediately. When Haku looked at the two sleeping forms who allowed him to hide in their room, he felt something, something like pity. He did not know why but he felt as if he should help them escape, even if he was not able to help all to do so. Thus, he shook them awake, gently, and a warning look.

The two of them were quiet as they listened to the footsteps of the soldiers coming towards the slaves' quarters. He mouthed the words 'soldiers and sorcerers are coming' and when seeing their scared faces, added 'don't worry, I am getting the three of us out'. Nadeshiko and Sakura nodded their heads and looked at where Haku was looking at the moment, the dirty wall that faced the featureless landscape. It was easily the only means of escape, for if they were to get out through the door, they would be in the way of the soldiers and sorcerers, and get caught by them.

Haku gestured with his hand, telling them to move back. He changed into his dragon form and it was of course a bit of a squeeze, but what choice did they have? Using its weight, the dragon slammed the wall with all its might. The wall gave way and a gigantic hole that was large enough for a dragon to pass.

"Hurry! If we are to go now, it has to be now! They would be alerted to this! Come on!" Nadeshiko said as she ran to the dragon.

"I'm sorry, but I guess we have to ride on your back, if that is all right?" The dragon nodded its head and both Sakura and Nadeshiko climbed onto its back. However, they were about to escape when the soldiers came. Regardless of whether they would get injured, the dragon flew out of the hole, and into the night sky. The good thing was that there were clouds for them to seek cover and thus they would not be shot that easily.

The dragon flew quickly and went to the cherry blossom tree to retrieve the harp. It changed back into its human form and approached the tree. Haku broke the spell and took the harp out of its roots.

"We have not time to stay anywhere for long. Let's go!" Haku commanded as he changed back into his dragon form, the harp he passed to Sakura. There, they went into the sky again, and into the clouds. A long time passed, before the dragon made a landing. Clearly, it was tired and it needed a rest.

"Come here." Nadeshiko said as she walked towards the dragon, where it sat down, resting and catching its breath. "To thank you for helping us escape from that dreadful place, I shall place a spell on you so that you can get home more quickly while we get back to Clow and lie low there."

Sakura watched her mother do the spell in wonder. She was not able to do such a spell. Nadeshiko closed her eyes and chanted a spell while placing a hand on the dragon's forehead. The dragon regained its energy in moments and changed back into its human form yet again.

"I'm sorry that I am not able to bring you to my country, which I have to return to Yubaba. I will not be able to protect you all from now on but please be careful, for I sense that the sorcerers are strong. Go now. Before its too late."

"Which country are we near to?" Nadeshiko asked.

"Near enough to Clow. Go. Just run the twenty miles north. If both of you are caught up, run separately, and remember, do not look back, for it will increase your fear."

"Yes. Thank you for your help."

"Yours too."

"Sayonara." Sakura and Nadeshiko said as both of them bowed low before running in the direction Haku had pointed. Then, he too, turned into his dragon form and flew towards his country, the one he called home...


A few hours later, Sakura and Nadeshiko, tired out from their run, trotted and though they were not able to run as fast as they could, they tried not to walk, for fear of being caught up by Debonair's soldiers. The sorcerers would be after Haku, no doubt but the soldiers would be after them, so they had to be on the move, until they could hide somewhere safe preferably in the house of their loyal civilians.

Unfortunately, the soldiers had the magical horses that had the speed to catch up with them and they had no choice to run away from each other in a new burst of speed as they were within the range of two miles.

"Sakura! Remember! Do not look back!" Nadeshiko shouted as she ran off, a group of soldiers after her in a direction different from Sakura. Sakura did as she had said as she ran on, not stopping at all; her fear of getting caught and punished severely kept her going.

She ran on and on, changing directions constantly, not knowing where she was in the end, for she sought shadows whenever she could and now did not know she was. She did not know how her mother was and hoped that she would not be caught. She ran on and on, until, she saw something...

She saw an ancient forest, full of age-old trees. Sakura ran into its cover, hoping that the foliage would camouflage her better as she tried to escape and on to somewhere else. Then...she came across something red and gigantic, with two small things in front. It was enormous, and she was not sure what was written on the sign, for it was so weathered that the words were very faint.

Thinking that it was the gate to her home, Clow, she ran towards it. However, she sensed something funny about it. Sakura panted as she rested for a while. She thought about going into the tunnel, which stretched as far as she could see. She looked back, and with no choice, stepped into the tunnel, and into somewhere else...

The soldiers who were after Sakura, seeing where she had went into, grinned and said to each other, "Well, I guess we need not chase her anymore. She is bound to be dead there anyway, with all the Gods she has to serve. Better go back and tell the Queen that we have lost the young one as she had gone into that tunnel herself."

"Yes. But don't you think that she would punish us?" another one said.

"Well, it's not our fault. She went into the tunnel herself...let's go." Thus, the soldiers, under this reason, went back to Debonair's palace.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the storyline and the plot!

Done! Got to go, so just to keep it short, enjoy! :D