Ren stood, leaning against the doorway of the armory. He watched Kakeru study the broadswords on the wall and Yasuo look warily at some rapiers in the corner. Sierra started, "Okay you all heard the story, so . . ." But he cut her off quickly to avoid confusion, "I don't do swords."
Everyone stared at him for a moment then Yasuo said, "Well, I don't either but we have to do this."
Ren continued, "No. Give me a few knives, then I'll do this." Yet again they all stared at him, not believing that he would possibly make such demands of people who had taken him in when they really didn't have to, "Okay, I'm not into all this Dungeons and Dragons shit. You all know I've used knives before and I know that I'm good with them. Let's just leave it at that." Then he looked around, "Don't you have a set of knives, daggers, whatever?"
Caldina looked thoughtful, then turned around to pick up an elaborately decorated box. She opened it and showed the contents to Ren, "Here use these. I know you didn't 'think real hard' or anything, but these are good daggers. I bought them at a Chizetan market place before I left. They're the best I could find and the best I've ever owned," she pat her belly with a small grin, "I won't be using them anytime soon anyways. And you can give 'em back to me when you get your escudo and whatnot."
Ren looked down then away, "Thank you," he said quietly.
"Well," Sierra continued, "Since you boys seem to know weapons a bit better than the girls did why don't you just pick one? It doesn't really matter that much anyway. You'll be back with the escudo in no time." With a glance at Yasuo Corsica giggled, "Don't worry I'll help you."
By the end of it Ren had Caldina's daggers, Yasuo had a very nice saber-like short sword, and Kakeru had the long sword that looked almost exactly like Hikaru's, which he had picked up the day before to fend of Clef. They were prepared. The only thing they were missing was Makona. "But," Sierra said with a heavy sigh, "There's no way to contact him, wherever he is. You'll just have to make due until he finds you."
"Oh!" Corsica gasped, "Armor!"
"That's right," Sierra continued. "Come this way. I've kept them in the study. Thank goodness I was able to save them - and the girls' swords for that matter - from the palace. Here they are." They had entered the large study and were now standing before a small case holding three white, fingerless gloves, each set with a different colored stone, blue, green, and red. Sierra opened the case and stared at the contents for a moment before saying, "I don't know which color goes to whom."
"I guess now is the time for the thinking real hard, then," Corsica suggested.
The three men looked at each other and Kakeru shrugged, resigned, "I guess it can't hurt anything but our pride." Yasuo grabbed Ren's arm and dragged him up to stand so that all three of them stood before the case that held the gloves. Ren glared at him but closed his eyes when the other three did.
Sierra watched as the red-jeweled glove started glowing and rose in the air to float in front of Kakeru. Then the blue in front of Ren and the green rose slowly before Yasuo. Yasuo opened one eye, cautiously and gaped at what he saw. Kakeru raised an eyebrow as he put the glove on. Ren stared at the floating glove as if it were covered in green mold but put it on anyway and mumbled, "Kinda weird how it fits."
When Yasuo finally put his on, the three men glowed their respective colors, seemed to disappear for a moment in the light and reappear wearing white breast plates and a single shoulder pad each, armor identical to the first armor worn by the original Magic Knights. Those original Magic knights appeared in the doorway; Hikaru beaming, Umi clapping, and Fuu watching thoughtfully.
Kakeru took Umi's arm and guided her a little away from the others as they all made their way to exit the fortress, "I have to leave, sweet."
Umi laughed, "Oh my brave Magic Knight, don't worry. You'll seriously be back in no time and I'm not going anywhere without you."
He smiled slightly, "You're sure?" he breathed as their mouths met. Umi opened her eyes and realized that . . . EVERYONE was watching them! "Don't you guys have your own goodbyes to say?"
Yasuo looked around then said, "See ya, Hikaru, Fuu!"
"Bye, Yasuo," Fuu replied.
"See you in a few days!" Hikaru waved.
Umi made a face then cried, "Shut up!" as she dragged Kakeru's face to hers. When she was through she pushed him away and waved good-bye. Caldina handed Yasuo a bag food and a few sleeping rolls as she said, "Just until you find Mokona. Well, bye, Y'all. Don't worry Kakeru we'll take good care of Umi! Ren you better not lose my knives! Bye! Bye! . . . Bye!"
And the three Magic knights set out for the Spring of Eterna.
The three men of Tokyo walked silently down the wide forest path. Kakeru looked down as he sauntered, hands in his pockets. Yasuo eyed his long time friend and smirked. "Thinking of her, Kakeru? We've only been gone two hours."
"Shut up, Yas, you're thinking about my sister just as much," Kakeru replied without thinking, or even looking up.
Yasuo stopped dead, as Ren exploded into a hearty laugh. They all looked at each other and doubled up. Yasuo was on the ground before he gasped, "I can't believe I thought you wouldn't notice!"
Ren leaned against a tree beside the path and grinned, "It was a little obvious."
"Not that obvious," Kakeru defended his friend, "It took me a few years to figure it out." Kakeru studied their companion and estimated, "You're just good at reading people, right?"
Ren blinked and the easy smile vanished from his face, "Yes, I've heard that said about me."
Yasuo stood and said, "Hey we should get going. Fuu said it took them about two days to get there, and they were running most the time. Running!" he cried.
"They must have been in some shape," Kakeru smiled.
"Must have been? Still are," Ren added with a mischievous glint in his eye and dashed down the path.
"Watch it, punk!" Kakeru called and ran after him, with Yasuo close behind.
Tatra paced the halls of the dark palace aimlessly, wishing to the gods of her home world that she had something to occupy herself with, something to do to keep the horrible thoughts and the darkness that surrounded her at bay. A dark force shared the palace with the prisoners; and they were all prisoners, even Clef. A blind person could see that Clef was the prisoner most heavily guarded. But none of them could leave. The palace doors were opened only for those that Clef gave permission to. And so only those that served could leave and only they would return. Talon had been the last to do so. And the walls of the palace shook with the anger of the being that resided there when Talon returned.
Tatra did not understand its purpose. It seemed bent on the destruction of everything that Cephiro held dear. She had been in the palace for nearly three months now and still had no idea what it was that kept them all there. There was a room in the highest tower: what used to be the crown room where it resided. She had nearly entered it many times, but she could not bring herself to do it. The aura that spilled from that room was pure power and pure corruption. She feared it more than anything.
She kept walking without really paying attention to her path and soon found herself at the entrance to the main garden, overhearing a depressing bit of news.
"Sang Yung! San Yung! Guess what, guess what!" the child Sable ran up to him. She was young and when many of her playmates had disappeared from the palace three months before she had grown attached to the much older but still willing friend.
"What is it, Sable?" he asked with a chuckle as he hefted her onto the bench beside him.
"Clef has given me a game and I am to go out of the palace to play!"
"What kind of game?" said Sang Yung, a bit sobered.
"I am to be a hunter and hunt the bad men in the Forest of Silence," she replied, excited.
"Not Lantis or Ferio? They live in the fortress there now, you know."
"No, Lantis and Ferio are not bad men. These are other men, from another world. Clef said one has Umi under a spell and the other hurt Fuu in their own world," the little girl explained.
"You . . . you mean the Magic Knights?" Sang Yung looked stunned.
"Yes, yes, they've returned. And Clef says I am to help them by getting rid of the bad men." The child looked at the sun and said, "Sang Yung, I should go. Do you want to come with me?"
He smiled, "I doubt Clef would allow that, Sable. You go and be careful."
"I will!" She cried as she ran off through the long corridor.
After Sable left Tatra showed herself, "Frightenin' news, Sang Yung."
"Yes," he agreed without looking up. "If the Magic Knights are back Clef's got to be after Umi."
"And if he's sendin' Sable after these men that came with the girls, they may not be as bad as Clef is makin' her believe." Sang Yung sighed and Tatra continued, "We can only wait and see."
All of the people at the fortress sat down to dinner that night at the end of the great long hall that had held the girl's swords. It was not a silent dinner. All there laughed and remembered old times. The girls discovered that Corsica had actually been there with them in the palace during the battles between them and the minions of Debonair. At one point Umi asked, "Sierra, you said something about Clef opening a school for children with magic?"
"Yes, well an informal school. They were six students who lived with him, well with all of us at the palace and had daily lessons from him."
"And those are the children that act as his minions now? Has the power that has corrupted Clef corrupted them as well?" Fuu asked, with concern in her voice.
Lantis answered, "Well, only four of the six are there. Liesse was one and Mira too. Delorian may have been corrupted but we know that Talon was under Delorian's control. We know that Sable and Minica are there but we have not heard from them. The Princess Tatra of Chizeta and Sang Yung of Fahren, we know are there as well as his prisoners."
"What were Tatra and Sang Yung doing there?" Hikaru said.
"Acting as ambassadors; all three countries sent us ambassadors as we did to them after the Rebirth, but Geo and Zazu had to return to Autozam right before Clef's betrayal. We sent massages for them not to return until we have sorted this out. There is no sense in their getting mixed up in this as Tatra and Sang Yung are."
"That was good thinking," Fuu commented as Hikaru looked disappointed she could not see her friends again.
"What are the specific powers of these children?" Umi inquired.
"Delorian's you know and Talons' as well; he raises the dead using patterns of pebbles and bones. Minica's power is directly related to ice as Alcione's was. And Sable's power is similar to Ascot's. She speaks to animals and can ask or force them to do her bidding," Lantis explained.
Ascot corrected him, "Actually there is not much of a connection between our powers. Sable speaks to animals not beasts or monsters. And she doesn't summon them: they come at her call. She can speak to any animal with her mind. I can only understand my own beasts." He grinned at Lantis who looked a tad annoyed.
"So what do we do now?" Hikaru asked after the meal was over. They all knew that she meant until the Magic Knights came back from the spring.
"Well," Lafarga answered, "We keep sending out patrols, we keep training, and we keep up our defenses."
Umi smiled at her two friends from her own world, "We all need to brush up on our fighting skills."
"Maybe not you two," Fuu laughed, "Hikaru has kendo and you're still fencing. But I know I need it, I quit archery a long time ago and I've never touched a sword except in Cephiro."
They had been walking for a very long time. It was nearing dusk when Ren finally just stopped and said, "Do we even know where we're going?"
"What?" Kakeru surfaced from deep thought.
"How do we know it's on this path? Or what if we got off the path by accident? How do we know this is the way to that spring?" he elaborated. All three of them looked at each other. No one knew.
"Well, let's sit and think about this for a minute," Kakeru suggested.
Ren shook his head, "You guys sit; I'm gonna go take a piss."
"Nice," Yasuo said sarcastically.
And Yasuo and Kakeru sat until they heard a stifled yelp from the direction Ren had gone. They hurried over to find him, knife in hand, trying to get up from under a small, limp, and bleeding horse-like creature with a small horn protruding from its forehead. "Ren!" Yasuo cried, "You killed a unicorn!"
Ren looked up and seemed almost panicked, "It attacked me!"
"Unicorns don't attack people, Ren," Kakeru reasoned.
"It did. I'm not lying."
Yasuo walked over to pull the creature off of Ren as he lamented, "Unicorns cure wounds and purify water and prance around looking pretty. They don't attack people."
Ren stood up and tried to brush the blood off his pants as he said coldly, "Look, you don't have to believe me, but this unicorn . . ."
"My unicorn!" a small voice pierced through their conversation. "You bad men, you killed my unicorn!" They looked around and found a small girl of six or seven seething in the bushes.
Ren really looked panicked now, "I didn't know it belonged to someone. And it attacked me! I'm sorry little girl . . ."
Other forest animals started to gather around the girl. "You killed my unicorn," she said in a deadly serious voice, "Now, now you're going to pay!" As she said it, all the animals around her advanced on the three Magic Knights.