I feel compelled to explain something to all of you lovely readers. You will not like this chapter, and when I wrote it the first timeneither did I. You're not alone. Keep reading even through the author note. If you don't you'll really hate me, but it won't be my fault.
Chapter 9
By morning Sakura had lost her body again and the magic would only speak of it's excitement of the closeness of the Lost Tomb. She sat by the ashes of last night's fire, nibbling on bread and murmuring annoyingly to Syaoran. He crunched his fruit angrily, not having slept well the last several nights. Thoughts of Sakura and dancing plagued him throughout this early morning.
"Chief! Chief! Chief!" A guard only half dressed came running up the caravan as if all his personal demons gave chase. "We've lost all seven guards from the dawn watch!"
Zalton's Uncle popped out of his tent, hurriedly straightening his own clothes. "I want a complete inventory: people animals, supplies, and merchandise!" He bellowed and tied his robe.
Sakura continued gnawing at her bread, and Syaoran dropped his pawpaw. Men and women started about their day, each given some list of things to do. The children huddled together in different tents, too sleepy to understand the dilemma. Only Sakura remained at her original task.
"Syaoran! Syaoran! We've got a problem! I can't find Tomoyo!" Eriol came running up the line, stumbling in his hurry. "You-you haven't seen her, have you?"
Syaoran suddenly felt every thing in his stomach turn to rock. "Sakura, please tell me where Tomoyo is."
She lowered the bread and closed her white eyes. "I'd think that answer obvious. Sal made the raid last night and took her. He hasn't made good time getting away though; Tomoyo causes a lot of trouble for him."
The green blazed through her eyes, and she jumped up. "We have to—" but the words ended abruptly by a clatter of new sounds, rather like two people trying to speak out of one mouth. "Must stay rescue Tomoyo egg danger protect my everything fault stupid girl—" She danced around, one moment flailing her arms wildly and the next still as stone.
"Sakura! Sakura!" Syaoran clung to her shoulders and forced her to look at him. Swirling green and white eyes met his brown ones. "The magic's right; we need to get that egg first. But we won't leave Tomoyo behind. Eriol and Touya can rescue her while we visit the Shrine."
She nodded mutely, still clearly angry at the less then satisfying solution. Her eyes slowly cleared of their color. "We'll have to move quickly."
Finger print bruises littered Tomoyo's arms and she rubbed them lightly. Five unsuccessful, very stupid escape attempts failed, each bruise an almost painful reminder that she had to get away.
Tomoyo peeked through a hole in the side of the tent at her guards. They hadn't moved from the four corners, not even to scratch. Good. She darted between the cloth doors and ran for freedom, determined to make it one step farther then last time. Her tracks ended almost fifty feet from the caravan, and now she wanted fifty-one.
The guards noticed almost immediately the escaped captive. "You can't get away Princess! We'll just catch you again!"
But Tomoyo didn't hear. She lifted her skirts high as she reached step fifty and turned to look at her pursuers. Twenty feet behind, Tomoyo continued her wild dash for freedom all the way until step fifty-seven.
They surrounded her on all sides, and Tomoyo slumped in the sand. "Stop this foolishness Princess! Those men wanted to kill you! Don't you understand that?"
She looked up, eyes fierce and determined, but she refused to stand. "You're an idiot Sal, sure as Tomoyo's my name. Syaoran and Eriol wouldn't hurt me, and you know it! So stop this charade!"
"Pick her up and tie her up in the tent. I do so hate to do this Princess, but it's for your own good." Sal's handsome face stood out among his hardened men. "Those men are dangerous. Now, please, be good; these attempts are very tiresome and fruitless."
'They're supposed to me.' Scowling, Tomoyo submitted to the rope and walked with her head held high. Time to plan for step fifty-eight.
Half-way back, she turned back to admire her effort and give one more wistful sigh at her true goal. The rocks nearly a hundred yards away would make a good place to hide. A glint caught her eye and she whirled back around thinking.
If she hadn't imagined it, and there actually was a glint, then something had to make the light reflect like that. And that mean—"Eriol!" She whispered and slumped back into the tent.
And of course, Eriol mean rescue.
Sand shuffled across the ground, due mostly to Syaoran and Sakura's foot steps. The sun radiated its obscene heat, and Syaoran found himself longing for the ice moon of Iaga. "How much farther?" He asked, remembering the way the freezing wind had nearly ripped his skin off.
"There." She pointed to a few stone structures jutting out of the ground. "Those ruins mark the entrance to the Shrine."
"As if you can really call those rocks ruins." Syaoran mumbled, suddenly understanding why Eriol grumbled all the time. Sakura stopped moving and looked down at her feet. "What'd'ya stop for?"
"A back door, this entrance is closer to the egg, and doesn't contain booby-traps." She explained.
Giving her an odd look, Syaoran crouched down by her feet and inspected the sand. He brushed it away hastily and pulled up the stone barrier only a centimeter or two down. It moaned as old gears sprung into life, and Sakura dropped silently into the black hole.
Syaoran peered into it and didn't see anything. "Eriol would call this a repeat of the blue mist fall." Sakura's footsteps grew faint. "Ah, damn it all." He jumped and ran to catch up to her fast pace.
Cool, worn stone, musty air, and the charged feeling, they were all more then slightly familiar. "Aren't these the same tunnels as those in the palace?" He asked.
"The first Princess, after returning from here, could not live in that world any longer. She felt as if the very air rejected her, much as Sakura on occasion felt. Because of that, the old Princess had to tunnels made. One day, you too, may seek refuge there. "The pseudo-Sakura stopped suddenly. "This is the point of no return. Once we pass this threshold, the future is set in an unstoppable motion. Can you handle the consequences of this venture?"
Looking a little pale, Syaoran nodded. "Yes, I can."
"You are very brave to accept that which you cannot yet understand. Sakura wishes to tell you something. She says be careful and continue to go forward; she would choose to do that too." The magic paused. "No! I will not do that you silly girl—alright—Alright! Fine! I'll tell him. She says that when all this is over, remember your promise and that she has something to give you. Yuck! Humans!"
"Thank you for the message." He walked passed her and gingerly pushed open the door. As calmly as possible while visibly shaking, he walked into the room, unable to explain the fear in his bones.
Syaoran ran his hands along the wall as he walked the circular perimeter. Intricate carvings meant for seeing and touching spiraled their way across the walls. They told the history of the land starting at the very beginning with the first human and ending with the placement of the Last Dragon Egg. Syaoran felt the sorrow, pain, and joy made in each chip of the chisel.
"Wow!" He hardly dared to think about the historical wonders around him. It didn't dawn on him to wonder why he needed to come to the room.
Sakura allowed a smile to cross her lips as she walked towards the very center of the room. A block of marble served as an altar and as her destination. She bowed respectfully to it and removed the simple dagger from its place on the altar. Right next to it sat the Egg on a silken pillow. Sakura ran her fingers across the fist-sized smooth shell.
"Such a small thing for such a big dragon." In one smooth movement she sliced the egg and her wrist. "Let's get you out of there."
The blood pooled and drop by drop splashed on the floor while the dragon slowly pecked away at the shell. Sakura knelt down before the altar and held out her hands as if making an offering. Peck, peck, plop, plop, the tiny dragon barely three inches in length hopped down. Her long tongue flicked out and liked the blood from the floor.
A moan and a crunch jerked Syaoran's attention from the walls, and he flipped around in time to see the dragon bite eagerly into Sakura's wrist. The blood in his veins froze as the dragon devoured her flesh and blood. He ran to Sakura's side.
"This—this is the way." She opened her eyes and Syaoran could see the magic draining. "I was—was the guardian and—and now I return it." She withheld a second cry, and Syaoran cradled her body in his arms as the dragon continued to consume the cursed blood.
Syaoran felt his own blood vibrating at the very end. Sakura screamed a wail that buried itself in his heart, a wail that even after the end would continue on.
"That's the third escape attempt in the last hour. The steps end about a hundred feet away. What's the plan?" Touya badgered Eriol. "She's too erratic to count on and we need to act!" If Eriol hadn't been sitting on the hem of his shirt, Touya would have jumped up and given away their position.
"Calm down, we'll get Tomoyo, in three minutes you leave from that end of the rocks and I'll go from the other."
"And then what?"
"Then," Eriol gave him the hairy eye. "We get Tomoyo and get the hell out of here."
Touya didn't dare retort for fear of losing his head or another important piece of his anatomy. At the third minute they both ran towards Sal's camp, throwing caution to the wind whistling in their ears.
The guards chasing after Tomoyo (who was attempting step seventy-one) froze when faced with two hundred pounds of angry male testosterone. Fists, feet, and the occasional head but had the guards moving in all kinds of directions including straight up. And Tomoyo didn't even notice until she reached eighty-five.
Neither Eriol nor Touya had a weapon, but it didn't matter. And when Tomoyo realized what had happened, she managed to throw in the occasional good punch. But the damaged done by Touya and Tomoyo together and multiplied by two couldn't compare to Eriol.
He saw a guard raise a club behind Tomoyo, and Eriol briefly lost touch with his humanity. Kicking, tearing, biting, Eriol took on the characteristics of a mother lion defend her children. With that much anger, he did at least six times the damage of anyone one else. Of course it helped that he also lost control of his magic. The men with clubs suddenly became his personal play toys, and not the kind a mother would approve of.
"I'll kill her!" Sal shouted over the din. "I'll kill her, and you'll never find that stupid Egg!"
Everyone ceased fighting and dropped their weapons at Sal's words. Tomoyo laughed, her giggles echoing flatly around the group. "You fool, you giant stupid fool." She couldn't control her laughing, and Sal dropped her. "Oh did the Sear manage to best you! Have you ever wondered why I don't resemble the King and Queen?"
The stares grew more and more amazed as she laughed harder. Sal started muttering under his breath, and Eriol beamed like the proud lover he was. Touya managed to look pleased but still vicious.
"The Princess and I were switched at birth." Tomoyo grabbed the blade from Sal's hand and sliced three of her fingers. "Red, red blood, you great—" she grinned and wiped her fingers across his shirt. "You great bloody fool." She stood and walked over to Eriol and Touya.
"Where's Syaoran?" Sal bellowed. "Where's Syaoran?"
Eriol responded by smugly displaying his middle finger for Sal as they disappeared into the desert.
"Damn it!" Sal's voice chased them into the distance. "Damn it!"
The people all over Aisha celebrated that night. Somehow they all knew the Second Age of Magic had arrived. For a thousand years they had waited, and Syaoran did not begrudge them the party. But he would have none of it, not the food or drink, the loud noises or bright fires.
Touya, Eriol, and Tomoyo had recently returned and were enjoying the fun outside. He could hear them through the tent, Touya joking with the guards and Eriol telling an exaggerated version of Tomoyo's rescue, ending of course in a passionate kiss. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, Syaoran would have to tell them, but tonight he would let them have their happiness.
He smoothed Sakura's hair, noting the fading red in her cheeks and lack of movement in her muscles. Beautiful and lively to contained and sophisticated to cold and lifeless in twenty-four hours. Life had been too cruel to Sakura. A few tears and sobs too soft to be heard over the commotion outside stood as his last testament to her selfless sacrifice.
Cold hands, cold face, Syaoran laid down next to her cold body and cried for the lovely flame she had once been. After twenty minutes, he dried his face and scooped her into his arms. Together they took one last journey into the desert, one last trip together.
See, I told you. You hate it, don't you? I figured y'all would, so I tried to write a "Part 2"...note the word tried...it didn't turn out very well. I got very frustrated because by this point I had realized something and thus the epiloge!
A young woman sat on a sand dune, watching the sunset and looking pensive. Her face was contorted into an odd expression of thankfulness and longing. Two years she had passed on Aisha, two years to heal the pains of her past, two years to adjust to her new life, two years to remember. Many of the strains of her old life had eased away in the wind. 'Yet, still some scars would remain, possibly forever.' She thought and looked down at the fading marks on her wrists.
The wind carried a voice over the hill. "It appears that-"
The woman quickly turned around and barreled into the man. "Syaoran!" Oh! You came back! Oh!" She clung to his neck. "I missed you."
"I've only been gone a few days, silly! Didn't you believe me?" He swung her about and laughed. "The wedding was beautiful. Tomoyo sends her love, and Eriol asks if you've scared the life out of old Hakkim yet? I haven't seen him yet...you didn't do anything...did you?"
And then there was a sound not so rare as it once was, but still breath taking. Sakura laughed. "Not much." She smiled and whispered in his ear, just likeany other young woman.
So, what do you think? Good? Bad?...all of you who read but didn't reveiw, this is your chance to speak up!