Chapter 9 Temple

There was no fallen leaves in the Temple, no plants - nothing to show that centuries had passes since people lived there. The ground was hard, black and bare,
shining in the sun. The alien build - beautifully and carefully carved - rose without break from the rock of the streets. If any tower was not part of the mass of rock beneath their feet, they did not find it. The city rose like a cluster of needles stabbing into the sky.
"It's very nice," Alanna said with approval when they were just inside the gate. "Now let's go back." She remembered suddenly that her mother had said to come to the forest of Ever Life to deal with her issue with the ghosts. Was she meant to be here?
Well, if so, she was scared.
"You can go," her friend replied, running a hand over a carving. "I'm looking around some more"
Sakura shrugged and followed, her hand on her sword's hilt. Maybe this was what she had to do. Looking at the walls, they showed strange animals and stranger people; men with heads of lions, women with bird's wings, great cats with human faces.
Sakura had never seen anything like it. Now that she had, she wished she hadn't.
"I don't see any ghosts," Syaoran whispered. "Those Desert People just made up those stories to scare people"
"Then why are you whispering?" Her voice was equally soft.
The Prince looked around, searching the windows and doorways. "I'm not sure -
Yes, I am. This place is evil. Whatever has or hasn't happened her, the city is still evil,
through and through"
"I'm glad we left the horses outside," was her only answer. As they ventured deeper and deeper into the city, she kept close watch on the doors and windows around them.
They turned a sharp corner, and the Temple's central square lay before the,. It was a wide, flat reach of stone, carefully polished and yet reflecting no staring into a huge pit covered with glass. It took all her nerve to step onto it, but step she did. The sides were columns of plain black stone. The roof separated itself from the columns with a border of stairs, great doors beckoned. She and Syaoran climbed up to the doors, feeling smaller and smaller as they climbed. The doors stood open and waiting.
Like the stone of the Temple, the black wood of the doors was covered with exotic pictures. The edges of the carvings were lined with gold.
When they reached the doors, her necklace began to humming, its pendent trembling in Sakura's hand. "Syaoran - I don't think -" she stammered.
"Hm?" The Prince was eyeing the doors.
"I don't think we should go in. My necklace is - it's humming"
Syaoran shook his head. "I'm going to find out what's going on." He stepped inside the Temple.
Sakura tightened her grip on her necklace, wishing she had not left her sword on the horse, and followed. "You know I can't let you come in here by yourself," she snapped a she caught up with him.
Syaoran grinned at her. "Of course. Why did you think I asked the teacher to let you come"
Fitting all the pieces together in her mind - That was why she was the only page going. "You planned this all along!" she accused.
"I hate mysteries. This place has been one for years. I knew you's have the guts to come with me"
"But - Yamazaki, Eriol, Takah," she protested. "They would've - "
"That's would've grumbled all the way here and then knocked me over the head when I tried to enter the Temple. I knew you'd come and keep quiet"
"That's because I'm the Sun you idiot, and I can't let you die," she grumbled.
Syaoran laughed, and the sound was eaten up by the air inside the Temple.
They walked forward slowly, Syaoran hand on his sword hilt, Sakura gripping her necklace. There were no windows or torches, but a weird yellow-green light came from somewhere. The walls were carved from the glassy stone, catching the light and the making it rippled along block of dark stuff that swallowed the light without reflecting it.
"The altar," Syaoran whispered.
The light moved in a blinding wave across the room. When the eyes of the two humans cleared, a woman stood in front of the altar. She was so beautiful that it hurt to look at her for very long. Her power flashed and rippled around her body in a dance of green light.
"It has been so long," the woman in red said with a sigh. The woman stretched a hand out to them. Her fingernails were long and red, like claws. "Feel the life in them. It is a flame"
Sakura edged closer to Syaoran's side. Her necklace began to hum louder. "This was your idea," she muttered.
"Who are you?" Syaoran demanded of the stranger. His voice was clear and calm. He showed no sign of fear.
"You speak with no fear," she sneered. "And look at the girl. She will hit me with a sword, if she had one"
She laughed. Sakura looked around to she who she was talking to and noticed a man in the corner. Drawing her attention back to the woman as she waved a careless hand. She had silver-white hair that showered around her slim shoulders. Her crystal blue eyes shown with laughter, "Your mortal weapons cannot hurt me," she boomed. "I am Makoto. I am immortal. My flesh is not like yours"
"You cannot keep us here," Syaoran replied steadily.
"I must kill you and avenge my husband's entrapment by your Clow Reed," the claw woman's eyes glinted. "Prince, you think that your father will hunt for me and destroy me"
She laughed. Sakura wanted to put her hands over her ears and shut out the dreadful sound. But she forced herself to remain still, moving her feet so she would be totally balanced when the attack came.
Makoto smiled. Syaoran took a deep breath. "I don't need my father's soldiers. I am going to leave here, and you are not going to keep me"
"Listen to the princeling!" mocked the red-clawed woman. "How you roar, young lion"
"Don't you dare speak so to him!" Sakura cried. She drew forth the necklace and morphed it into a sword using the Sword card in a single swift movement. The crystal on the hilt blazed out, throwing a harsh light into the darkness around them. The woman shrank back against the altar, trying to keep the light from their eyes.
"So. You come armed with their weapons," Makoto said. "But can you use them?" She turned to the man in the corner, "I did not know that they came armed with my father's weapons - I cannot fight this! Where did you get these weapons?" she snapped, staring at Sakura.
"None of your business!" Sakura replied, focusing on the re-gowned being. For a second she felt a touch in her mind, like claws raking through her head. She yelled. The Sword flashed, and the woman with claws collapsed against the altar. She was gasping for breath.
"Don't give them an opening like that again," Syaoran warned. Already the air around him was shimmering with green light. Sakura brought up her own shield of pink magic, keeping the Sword outside - just in case.
"I didn't plan to give them that one," she murmured.
Makoto had gotten her breath back. Suddenly she was laughing. A rope of magic was traveling from Makoto to the man in the corner. His power seeping into her. Her power became overwhelming. Before Sakura could bring the Sword's crystal up, power from Makoto smashed into her defenses, breaking through. She doubled over in pain. It was over as swiftly as it began. Sakura held up the Sword's crystal, letting its light burn into their eyes. The crystal dimmed. The man's voice boomed from the side, "separate them"
Instinctively Sakura gripped Syaoran's hand. Emerald and Rose power collected at their intertwined fingers.
"The Wall of Power," Syaoran hissed. "What's the spell"
Sakura began the verses. Syaoran's voice joined hers, the words thundering in the great chamber. Slowly a wall of green-pink light rose between them and Makoto.
The immortal covered her eyes, unable to look at it for long. She retreated.
"You defy me?" Makoto cried. "Pay the price, mortals"
Tearing pain shot through their joined hands.
"Don't let them part us," Syaoran said. He held on so tightly Sakura's bones creaked. She ignored the pain, keeping her mind on the Wall. The woman came closer,
her body simmering with yellow-green magic. Furious, she threw bolts of power at her prey. Syaoran and Sakura concentrated, bringing up all their power to keep their defenses strong. The Wall stood. Makoto touched it and screamed.
"You can feel pain," Sakura taunted.
"How long do you think she will last?" Makoto asked Syaoran, softly. "Another few moments? Not even that? She is a girl. She is weak. She will give way, and where will you be"
It was the same small voice that taunted Sakura from within whenever she faced a taller, stronger opponent.
"You think so?" Syaoran shouted furiously. "Have you heard of the Sun"
"Try this on for size!" Sakura yelled with growing confidence at what the Prince had said. A slender thread of pink fire snaked through the wall, wrapping itself around Makoto's throat and tightening. The immortal did not have a chance to scream before she fell to the ground.
Sakura didn't have time to gloat. The man from the side. He helped up the woman, his eyes covered by his long hair. "Are you alright, my love?" he questioned.
Sakura frowned, where had she heard that voice. Both standing, his face became clear - one brown eye, one blue eye. Feimie. At the joined hands of Makoto and Feimie power collected at the center of their formation in a small evil ball.
"Syaoran?" Sakura whispered. This kind of magic was beyond her, but she knew Syaoran had spent more time studying books of sorcery then she had. Syaoran spoke, using words she had never heard before. Sakura felt her own magic flowing into her friend's body. Slowly the Prince reached through the Wall. Magic lanced from his fingertips, shattering the immortals formation. Sakura blinked, trying to clear her eyes of the blaze that had resulted in the attack.
They joined hands again, and power gathered to them.
"Ak - hoft!" Makoto cried. The wall vanished as if it had never been.
"Who are you?" Syaoran asked, trying to catch his breath. Sakura wiped her sweat - beaded face on her sleeve. She was tired, so tired her bones ached.
"I am Feimie, this is my wife Makoto. The enemy of Clow Reed and the murderer of the Sun's family. I will destroy you and rule this world"
Syaoran looked at Sakura with sad eyes. Sakura only looked forward with angry eyes. Syaoran's voice was even and strong. "Your time is past. You no longer belong here or anywhere else ever again"
Makoto and Feimie raised their linked hands, chanting in a language that made the two humans shudder. Outside thunder crashed. The weird glow that lighted the Temple vanished. The only light now came from their magics.
"Syaoran?" Sakura whispered.
He looked down at her. "We're not beaten yet. Sakura - can you become what you were the night you saved me from the fever? When you brought me back from death"
"I don't know," she whispered, eyeing the evil couple.
"You have to - and you must take me with you. Otherwise - "
Syaoran didn't have to elaborate. The light of the immortals' magic was getting stronger.
Sakura looked at their linked hands, shining with the green-pink of their combined Gifts. Already she was falling out of herself into that light. She could feel Syaoran with her. Her eyes burned as their magic grew brighter and formed a globe around them.
"Goddess," she whispered in her woman's voice. "Great Mother - "
"Dark Lady," a man added softly, "open th Way for us." Did she really hear Syaoran the man? She wasn't sure.
Needle-sharp bolts of magic were lancing into their interlocked hands. Pain shot through their physical shells. Makoto and Feimie stood before them in a wheel of yellow-green power. Fire streamed from them and broke on the newly formed globe of magic that held the bodies of Sakura and Syaoran.
For the second time in her life Sakura heard that female voice, the one that made her scream with pain. This time she didn't scream. She was too busy concentrating on keeping their globe of power in one piece.
The voice echoed in her mind. Place your trust in the sword - and fight.
Sakura had dropped the Sword during the earlier fight. Now the Sword jumped into her free hand, the crystal blazing. She could feel it trembling as she gripped the hilt.
"Just don't let go of me," Syaoran cautioned.
"I won't." Holding Syaoran fast, she stepped forward. The Sword sang in her hand.
A black two-edged blade appeared in Feimie's free hand. Like Syaoran, Makoto did not let go of her companion. She stayed close, keeping step behind him.
Feimie brought down his sword in a ferocious arc. Sakura blocked it swiftly, her arm muscles screaming as she stopped the down-sweeping blade. The Sword blazed and - miraculously - did not break. The dark sword drank in the Sword's fire as Feimie backed away. His big chest was heaving, and there was sweat on his face. Sakura circled him, her eyes never leaving his sword. Syaoran squeezed her hand reassuringly. She felt better now. This was what she had been trained for. She turned all her attention to the swords, letting Syaoran control their sorcery. Feimie, suddenly wary of her, lanced at her in a series of rapid thrusts. Sakura stopped each of them, feeling her confidence grow each time she stopped the immortals. Powerful sorcery he might be -
but swordsman he was not.
Syaoran was speaking softly, uttering words she paid no attention to. The fire surrounding him and Sakura blazed, and the girl yelled with triumph. She swung the Sword up and around in a complex move that brought the swords together, hilt to hilt.
Feimie's sword shattered with the impact. Sakura slashed at the immortal's linked hands. The globe of yellow-green light exploded, and the two screamed with rage and fear. Syaoran uttered one word of command, throwing the last reserves of their Gift into the spell. Green-pink light flooded over the immortals. Makoto flared up like a giant torch. Feimie cried out as he saw his wife disappear. "I will return and avenge her!" He disappeared in a poof of smoke as he teleported. Then everything went black.