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Chapter 17

"Era?" Touya questioned the water maiden since he wasn't sure what was going on.

By now the others had stopped and were watching her carefully. Era turned her head away from Touya and spat out the blood in her mouth.

The ice master was shocked, not because she had spit, but because it was completely filled with blood. "Era! What's wrong?!"

"I'm- alright," she told him, pausing between words. She brushed her hair out of her face and wiped away the bit of blood that clung to her lips.

Kurama came up and looked her over, "I think some of that gas got into her system."

"You've got to be kidding!" Touya exclaimed.

"Does your chest hurt?" Kurama asked Era, passing off Touya's comment.

"A little," Era replied with a nod.

Touya put the back of his hand to her forehead, "She's a bit warm too." Seeing his outstretched arm Zeek jumped onto it, minding his sharp claws. Touya carefully took the wrymling off his arm and placed him onto his shoulder. "I think you should sit down for a while," he told Era after dealing with Zeek.

Era shook her head, "I be alright. I heal."

Kurama looked at her skeptically, "Be careful, if you need to stop just let us know."

"Alright," she replied with a nod.

"Let's get going then," Kurama said to the entire group.

Touya gently took Era's arm, "Let me help you."

She shook her head, "I'm alright. No worry." She slowly took her arm away and walked up to the others, who were waiting patiently despite the threat of Van-Gareth.

The ice master watched her in confusion and worry. She was perhaps too stubborn for her own good, particularly at times like these. Zeek squeaked from atop his shoulder and without looking he gave the wrymling a pat. "She's stubborn enough Zeek, she'll be fine." How fine she would be however was unclear to even him.

When Touya was with the rest of the group they took off running.

vvvv

Van-Gareth sat on the grassy ground in his rightful form. He was thinking of what had just occurred and at how close he had come to spilling the water maiden's life all over the ground, not to mention his mouth. Despite his failure to kill her at that time he was anything but annoyed.

He had poisoned her after all.

He was sure that the deadly effects had begun to set in by now. The poison breath of a black dragon was not to be underestimated and Era was to find that out the hard way. He smirked as he recalled releasing a small bit of his deadly dragon's breath before he had been thrown by Era's water trick.

He figured she had breathed in enough to make her death slow and painful.

vvvv

"Era, are we going in the right direction?" Kurama asked.

The water maiden nodded, "We right for now."

Jin looked over his shoulder at her, "'ou alrigh'?"

Era just nodded and kept running. In truth her chest hurt her but she could endure the pain, for now.

The Spirit Detective was still out cold over Kuwabara's shoulder, but he looked much better than he did back in Ensuren. Most of his cuts and bruises were healed and the few broken bones he had were either mended or on the verge of it. He was healing rather quickly, which would have been surprising had the others not been worried about Era and Van-Gareth.

Era covered her mouth as she coughed, when she pulled it way she saw it was splattered with blood. A sudden jolt of pain surged through her chest causing her to stop in her track and sit down indian style. She put her chest down on her legs and placed her hands under her head to rest on.

The group stopped when they heard Touya ask if she was alright, which got no response. Touya knelt down and rubbed the water maidens back, "Era?"

"I-I-I'm al-right," she stuttered.

Touya continued to rub her back, not sure of what else he could do. He could see the small flow of blood coming from her mouth to drip onto the ground. Her condition was becoming much worse, everyone could see it.

"Is there something we can do for her?" Rinku asked.

Kurama shook his head, "I wouldn't know how to cure dragon's poison."

Era coughed once again, splattering blood on the ground, "I'm al-alright."

"No you're not," Touya told her sternly.

Era sat up and whipped her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt. "I be alri-alright. No wo-worry." Her skin was paler than usual and her eyes seemed faded.

Touya put a hand to her forehead, "She's burning up!"

With a groan Era lay down on her back, swallowing some of the blood that was in her mouth. Jin knelt down beside her and laid a hand on her stomach, causing her to groan in pain. The wind master quickly removed his hand.

"It's eating her from the inside out," Kurama said as he felt her forehead.

"Era," Touya put his head over hers, "What can we do to help you?"

"Nelien gaia," Era mumbled in her language.

"What does that mean?" Kuwabara asked

Kurama shook his head, "Not sure. Touya?"

"Something good," Touya tried to translate. "I'm not sure what the first word was."

"Nelien," Era mumbled again, her eyes closed.

Touya summoned part of his energy to his hand and put it to Era's forehead. The chill of his hand on her forehead was pleasing and she groaned softly. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the ice master.

"Ai nale ne-nelien," she murmured, stuttering on the last word.

"Era what are you saying?" Touya asked, keeping his hand on her forehead.

The water maiden groaned in pain and coughed, causing blood to trickle down her jaw. Her blood seemed darker than normal, which made everyone believe that the poison had entered her blood stream.

Touya wiped away the blood with his free hand, "Era, please be alright."

vvvv

Koenma, the prince of the spirit world, sat in his office with mounds of paper work before him. He was currently in toddle form so he wore tan pants, a blue tunic with red trim, a large blue hat and black slipper like shoes.

He mentally sighed at all the work he had to catch up on because he had been too busy with helping Era and the others before to do it. The endeavors of the ancient beings were more than a handful and needed all his attention and then some, but his other duties needed attending to as well.

"How close to the forest are they?" Koenma asked himself aloud.

With the click of a button the screen on the other end of the room flashed to life to reveal a map. There were two circles, one red the other blue, which represented the group and the supposed location of the temple. Countless books and old maps had been looked over and studied to find where the temple was and Koenma hope it was right, but he was aware that Era knew exactly where to go.

He groaned when he thought of where Van-Gareth was and wished that the ancient beast couldn't evade the scanners he used. "At least they'll be there in about a day, then this whole thing will be over and done with."

Koenma sat back in his chair and sighed. Strange things had been going on as of late; the appearance of a baby dragon, odd reading from the forest and Van-Gareth's almost complete evasion of the Reikai's scanners. "What else could go wrong?" he asked the air.

At that moment Botan came barging in, "Koenma sir! Era's dieing!"

He just had to ask.


Yipes! If something not done quickly there's going to be hell in all three worlds, literally speaking!

Please review. Thank you

Till the next chapter.