Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Chapter 9: Espionage!
Cy ran alongside Svrion as they followed the long side of the triangle to where it supposedly pointed. It was not a very straight path they were following. Several times, they had to take detours due to the fake walls and dead ends they encountered. The twodarted in and out of the real Labyrinth and the flowery gardened area. It made Cy really worried.
"We're never going to make it to the top!" she whined. Svrion looked back at her. "I don't think this is going to be very easy."
"Now look who's being doubtful," he muttered under his breath. Cy growled and made a note to keep future comments to herself.
"Hey, I think we are here," Svrion stopped abruptly, and like in all popular cartoon shows where characters do that, Cy bumped right into him, and the two toppled down on each other.
"Don't do that!" Cy exclaimed. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Her mind suddenly giggled at that expression. In what way? A panic attack or a love attack? Cy slapped herself.
"What?" Svrion asked. Cy realized she had done it physically instead of mentally.
"Oh…nothing…I just felt like randomly slapping myself." Svrion looked at her with a very hesitant expression. After all, Cy did say a really stupid line right there.
"Here we are!" That touching moment was soon interrupted by Hufanse's triumphant voice as he, Aundren, and Celton emerged from the other entrance to the clearing. They stopped to catch their breath and look around at the "escape route".
It didn't look any different from all the other neatly gardened areas in the Labyrinth. Little rose bushes sprung up all around them, throwing their joyous scent into the air. The soft walls were made of carnations that fluttered in the absence of wind. It was a very romantically beautiful spot but contained nothing that even hinted of escape.
"It's just a rectangle with two entrances," Celton stated flatly. "Wow, what a wonderful escape route this is."
"Well…let usmake sure we are indeed correct," Aundren suggested. "A triangle has three points, one of which is right above us. If Cy and Svrion were in the one to our left and Celton, Hufanse and I were in the one to our right, then this must be the top point. Then we can conclude that there must be something special we must do, by chance a secret password?"
"What?" Hufanse chuckled. "Like Open Sesame." The others smiled at his joke before realizing it wasn't a joke. Seriously. The tip of the triangle above them emitted sparks that shined like stars. They floated over to the northern wall and created a dancing circle. Then, slowly, each spark connected to another in one long crisscrossed golden line. It was like a musical without the music. The dancing was so wonderfully synchronized. And hypnotizing.
"What is it doing?" Cy asked. The others shrugged and watched in interest. Finally, the number was over. The sparks seemed to wink and bow to their audience as they finally cast a portal to the outside world. The Celton, Aundren, Cy, and Svrion looked at it warily, not quite trusting a passage through. However, Hufanse was oblivious to their unconvinced stare.
"WHOO! We're free!" he shouted as he shot like a bullet through the gateway. It took only a second of blinking for the others to shout his name in protest, quickly change their tone to worry, and jump through themselves.
………
Anyone who had been on the other side of the portal would have been quite frightened out of his or her mind. Let's say someone was there, sitting in the grass clearing and for no reason at all looking at a huge boulder. Then suddenly, the boulder started streaming golden light and when the rays were at their brightest, five teenagers suddenly appeared on top of each other. The person would probably blink a few times, look to the side for the nearest escape route, and bolt out of there.
The group of five got a similar reaction from all the animals that were happily grazing in that part of the forest. Why they were grazing in the middle of the night, no one will ever know. Maybe they were nocturnal? Deer…nocturnal? This was a weird part of the world. Are deer nocturnal?
Yeah, I doubt that was what Hufanse, Aundren, Celton, Cy, and Svrion were thinking as they moaned and struggled to get off of each other.
"We're out!" Cy breathed a sigh of relief, looking over at the others. They all stood silently for a few seconds. "We're out!" The words shook sense into the other guys.
"WE…DID IT!" Svrion yelled, hugging Cy and twirling her around as she laughed. The others did their own little jig and had a five-minute celebration. Then, they calmed down.
"Whoo…" Cy sighed. "That felt good." They welcomed the sound of silence and peace that resonated silently around them. Peaceful silence sounded good, especially after being trapped in a Labyrinth that hummed with the Labyrinth Tanks' breaths.
"So…" Hufanse started, clearing his throat. "What do we do now?"
"Get out of here!" Celton said. The others looked at him. "I'm serious. I think we got so caught up in celebration that we didn't realize what happened. Do you not realize that the five of us in some way assisted in rescuing each other, and therefore, helped each other break out of jail? On top of that, we beat five Labyrinth guards in a crushing Duel? Or that… we did succeed in breaking out and in turn, breaking the law!" The others looked at each with shocked expressions as the words hit them like falling stones. It was all true. They were convicts now.
"What do you suppose would befall us now?" Aundren queried nervously.
"Well…" Celton thought. "I don't know what will happen to us or what we should do exactly."
"I know," Svrion suggested. "We should run to the Dark Kingdom." The others looked at him, looked at each other, widened their eyes, and all yelled in perfect sync,
"WHAT?" Svrion stepped back from the combined shout. It was so powerful that they must have somehow practiced. He didn't think his reasonable statement would get such a shocked response. He was sure that anyone within a mile would have heard that. Or at least, they would have seen the night birds suddenly take to flight in alarm. And it all pinpointed the exit clearing.
"Shush!" he instructed. "Think about it. If we go back to our own kingdom, we will be punished severely. If we stay out here, we will be caught or killed. If we go to the Dark Kingdom…well, we can at least try to fit in." The others pretended to think about it. Only Aundren took it in the slightest of sensibleness.
"You do offer a good position," he assented. "I presume that the Light Kingdom will not take to us kindly if we go to them right after breaking out of jail. But, if we give them a reason for our act of treason, I imagine you could call it that based on the circumstances of our actions in literal terms, then perhaps they would consider our apology if we so wish to give them one." The others shrugged, but Hufanse looked at his friend in a confused way.
"Circumstances of our actions in literal terms?" he questioned. "Can you tell me what in the world that is even supposed to hint at sayin'?" Aundren sighed, but Cy answered for him.
"Don't you get it? What did Svrion and I literally do? We broke you guys out of jail."
"Specifically," Aundren explained. "They assisted in the escape of two enemies of the Light Kingdom, against the law and rightfully treason. I mean, if we really were enemies, what Cy and Svrion would be doing would hurt the entire kingdom. They would supposedly be betraying the oath to their own government."
"I guess you are right."
"And the other part of what Aundren was saying," Celton said, "is that he believes we should give them a reason for what we did. So, if we somehow go to the Dark Kingdom and defeat the new threat of war, our rulers might see this in a different light and forgive us." The five of them considered the options one more time and decided that was the best choice. Dark Kingdom was the only way left.
"So…" Hufanse said, "What are we doing now?" The others sighed and looked around in exasperation.
"You're so stupid!" Cy exclaimed. "What do you think the whole conversation was about, retard?" Hufanse cringed.
"That's Harsh!" Aundren whispered.
"I know," Hufanse said.
"We should do something about it." Hufanse looked over at his worried friend.
"It's okay man, I don't have a chance anyway."
"What do you mean? This is a perfect opportunity! We must follow…"
"Look… she likes Svrion okay, I can tell. Nothing I do is going to stop her." Aundren suddenly stopped talking and looked over at Hufanse with a quizzical expression. Hufanse noticed that and the fact that the other three were staring at the two of them. Perhaps they were trying to make out what the duo was whispering.
"That isnot what I meant," Aundren said. Hufanse raised his eyebrows. "I meant that isHarsh. As in… your brother." Hufanse's headsuddenly snapped up and the others looked around.
"What?" Hufanse demanded. Aundren pointed to a path in the woods. Sure enough, two men were walking. One of them definitely looked like an older version of Hufanse. "What the Shadow Realm is he doing here?" Aundren shrugged.
"I'm confused," Cy declared behind them, but the two had seemingly forgotten that the other three existed.
"Let usfollow him and see what he is up to," Aundren decided. Hufanse muttered some thing about his "damn brother" and then "walking outside the Kingdom" and then proceeded to follow with the plan. Svrion, Cy, and Celton – suddenly very confused on what was happening – had no choice but to follow.
"Do you get what in the name of Obelisk they are doing?" Celton muttered. Cy shrugged her shoulders.
"Not a Ra-damned clue!" But, we all know, they had no choice but to follow the Dark Kingdom pair as they followed another Dark Kingdom pair on the path to the deepest section of the forest. Scary, huh?
………
After a few minutes, Cy, Svrion, and Celton had caught up to Hufanse and Aundren. The two were crouched at some bushes that outlined the perimeter of another clearing. The bright campfire light illuminated a small circle of men that gathered around it, and in the background tents stood faintly visible against the dark backdrop of the forest. The flickering flames reflected off the faces of the group of men as they all were gathered together to discuss some very important matters. Hufanse and Aundren had been careful to choose a part of the bushes where the blackness of the surrounding woods had suddenly marked a definite boundary so it was impossible for them to be seen.
"What's going on?" Cy whispered slightly. Hufanse put a hand to her lips and pointed to the band of warriors.
"Dark Kingdom," he mouthed before turning back. Cy leaned closer and squinted. She suddenly pulled back with a gasp.
"Juoro!" she cried. "Juoro's there!" Celton hissed as he clamped a hand over her mouth and the other three quickly made her duck. From her outburst, the eight men that were gathered around the fire quickly looked in their direction. Only the shadows of the forest met their gaze.
"It is nothing," said one of the men, a Dragon Master Knight who looked very familiar. "It is our imagination. None of the Light Kingdom's warriors will be spying here." The others nodded and proceeded to tuck their knees under their chins and wrap their arms around their legs.
"It is a bit cold isn't it?" said the youngest of the group, a black-haired teenager with freckles that our heroes had already identified as Juoro. The Dragon Master Knight that had recently assured the safety of the group put an arm around the teenager.
"Tolerance…and determination. That's what makes you one of us, Juoro. Now tell me, it seems you have done your job, right? What did we make you do…oh yes, act like a student in the Dark Magic Academy. What did you find out?" Juoro looked over at the fire.
"Well Randren Sir… your younger brother, Aundren, and Harsh's brother Hufanse were in the Light Kingdom, just like you had suspected, Sir. This one student named Svrion, Sage Morlen's great-great or something grandson, was hiding them there. The three of them were sent to the Labyrinth. Ah, and you know Magic Swordsman Neo? His daughter, Cyrrielle, is also in that Academy…Sir." While we let Randren ponder out this new info, let's go back to the other group.
"He's going to tell our whole life story if we don't stop him!" Cy growled. At the moment, Svrion, Hufanse, and Celton were all forcibly making her kneel on the floor, holding down her arms and shoulders. If they hadn't, she would have probably charged at the other group like a Mad Sword Beast. Aundren was still crouching near the bushes, looking over with a venomous glare at his older brother.
"I should have suspected that my older brother would be up to this. He was never one to shirk his duties to the Dark. I feel ashamed to call him my older brother with the amount of destruction he plans to bring upon the Light Kingdom. Randren…how could you?" Cy stopped wriggling and the other three let her go. She crawled over to Aundren and put a hand on his shoulder.
"The leader, Randren, he's your brother? Wow… that must be hard." Cy and the others once again took their positions behind the bushes and watched the firelight circle as Randren prepared to speak.
"Okay…so now we have Svrion, Hufanse, and Aundren to worry about. Those three must know that we would be camped here." The others looked at one another.
"It does not matter though," a Lord of Dragons said, throwing back his brown hair like some showy teenager. "Those three are in the Labyrinth. There's nothing they can do to us."
"Ha!" Hufanse scoffed from the sidelines. "Harsh…you don't know how wrong you are!"
"Yes, but we must use extreme caution!" Randren warned, looking over at Juoro. "Now, my dear apprentice, tell me about this girl. Cyrrielle, was she called?"
"They're going to talk about me…oh, I'm a celebrity!" Cy sighed happily as she flipped back her blonde hair, lay down on her stomach, and prepared herself to listen to comments about herself. She rested one hand on her cheek and the other she used to study her nails, acting like one of those overly popular girls that expected good things about themselves from everybody. Of course, she was only pretending.
"Well…that girl, Cy she goes by Sir. Anyway, it's quite unusual that she's in Dark Magic Academy. She's weak, stupid, blonde, and quite unappealing." Cy's arm gave away and her face came in contact with the grass. Did he just say…unappealing?
"I'm going to teach that maniac a lesson!" she cried, literally pouncing out of her position.
"NO!" the other four cried as they also threw themselves on top of her and strangled her to the ground. This immediately attracted the attention of the Dark Warriors.
"Now, that definitely was not hallucination!" Randren determined, looking over at one of his gang. He made a quick nod with his head and the warrior swiftly got up and vanished behind the tents. Randren resumed his talk, warily looking over in the direction of our heroes every now and then, his piercing green eyes really scaring our five. By Aundren's intelligent thinking, they moved over to a different spot to resume their espionage.
"Anyway, these four are probably the only ones to give us trouble. But then we have to count Sage Morlen and Swordsman Neo as well…that's six people we will need to be cautious of when we pull of this attack."
"Attack?" Cy, Hufanse, Aundren, Celton, and Svrion all simultaneously whispered, forgetting their present position and suddenly wondering what was going on.
"Ah yes, my brilliant plan!" Harsh suddenly announced, straightening his hood. Randren gave him a withering look.
"I should have known it would be my brother's idea!" Hufanse growled from the side. "Let me guess…he's going to use the Dragons!"
Randren looked back at the fire with a very serious, penetrating stare. The others grew quite as they saw their leader look so dark and grave.
"Eight people…" he said, "…and eight Dragons… will that be enough to get past the guards, capture the King and Queen, and get out?"
"Certainly!" Harsh replied. Cy, Svrion, and Celton gasped. Hufanse and Aundren growled.
"They're planning to launch a surprise attack!" Cy whispered. "If we don't do something, our Kingdom is in danger."
"We have no choice do we," Svrion said. "Now we can't stop these men. Instead, we have to go to the Dark Kingdom and stop any further attack they may be planning. If we can try to knock out the base of the pyramid, the whole thing will hopefully come down." Cy bit her lip. What had started out as a simple wish to be the first female Dark Magician had turned into this war that threatened the entire realm.
Did I just hear what he said? Did he just say we have to stop the Dark Kingdom? The five of us? Just a few days ago I bet, we were just three students helping two refugees. Now, we have suddenly turned into a group of heroes! What can the five of us do that will change the fate of millions of people? Cy stopped thinking as she felt someone breathe down her back. It wasn't a small whoosh of air. It was a hot, down-to-the-bone blast of air that made her shiver.
"Svrion…" she whispered.
"Yeah…"
"What's behind me?" Svrion scrunched his eyes and turned to look behind the back of his friend. Suddenly, his eyes grew wide. His voice refused to leave his throat so he scampered back and hit Hufanse.
"What man…oh, dang Ra!" Cy was visibly trembling. Slowly, she turned around her. Two icy blue eyes stared her down. Cy's own eyes traced the creature's long silver neck lined with perfectly tessellating silver scales. By this time, Aundren and Celton had also been alerted and the five of them looked at the Dragon with frightened expressions. They could only do one thing in a situation like this.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"