Here we go… chapter 7 and the Sacred Hunt. That's pretty much all that happens in this chapter, and even so this is longer than my chappies have been lately…
Review Responses:
Ouvalyrin: "He's all jealous little brother-like, I think." ::grin:: I was aiming for something like that, good to hear it's working. And… ::poke:: ish not a crappy review… it's not even close to a 'crappy review'. Thanks! : )
Yami-loverOB1: You have to wait a little more to find out about Evayne… This chapter deals only with Jou and Seto. We'll see Ryou again in the next chapter… and I think Evayne will re-emerge in the ninth. Thanks for the review!
Sarasusa: Wow. Feel free to give your 'grammatical notelets', if you have the time to do that. : ) They really are quite helpful. As for the books, they are worth reading. ::nods:: Not the best books I've read, but still… I just started to read the Sun Sword series, which is kind of continuation to them – and it's even better (so far). Anyways, thanks a lot!
And thanks to Rayne-Jelly for betaing this!
Chapter 7
The sound of the drums filled the air, steady and deep, with a tuneless music all their own. Seto listened to them as he tried to restrain the overly eager dogs; it really felt like they were trying to tear his arms off… Jou stood beside him, already absorbed by the trance, and Seto was really happy about that.
Seto well knew that it wasn't very wise, to begin the Sacred Hunt while they still were at odds. They should have settled their quarrel last night when they had the chance, but last night had not gone well. Especially after he had spotted a very familiar tri-colored head among the guests…
-
"Hey, where are you going, Seto?"
"I'll be right back." The tri-colored head of hair had disappeared into the crowd, and Seto quickly followed after it, leaving his hunter and the two young ladies they had been talking with to stare after him in bewilderment.
There. It was Yami, there was no doubt about it. By now, Yami had also noticed him, and was walking towards him.
"I was wondering whether I would meet you here," Yami said bowing slightly as they reached each other.
"I have to say that I am a little surprised to meet you here," Seto answered returning the bow.
Yami shrugged. "My 'hunt' lead me to this city," he said, "and I thought that I might use this opportunity to take care of few things here."
Seto nodded slowly. There were many questions he wanted to ask, far too many, and he knew that he couldn't voice even half of them. Still, there was one thing he had to know.
"You are god-born, right?"
Yami smiled a little crookedly. "Goddess-born, if so can be said…"
-
Seto shook his head. That was all he had been able to get out of the short mage. Goddess-born? That had made him even more worried than he had been before. Then there was the fact, of course, that since Yami was in the city, apparently Ryou too was there somewhere. He had wanted to be alone for a while and had slipped out to a balcony without anyone noticing. Needless to say, Jou had not been happy when he had finally found him. They had exchanged some angry words, and spent the rest of the night avoiding each other's company.
Goddess… that wasn't a good sign. Once again, as he had countless times before, he recited all the Goddesses he knew by memory. There weren't that many.
Mother, first of all… highly unlikely. He really couldn't imagine the cold-eyed man as mother-born. Then there's Kalliaris, Goddess of luck. Doesn't sound probable, either. And Laursana and Karatia aren't really female… or male, they're both… or neither.
That left only one choice... The Lady.
The bringer of death.
Somehow, that felt very fitting.
Seto shifted anxiously, but then he heard it: one single, haunting note of the King's horn. Together with his thoughts, it shattered all the noise around him and was soon followed by three shorter blasts. He saw Jou and the other Hunter Lords raise their horns to their lips. They played them in unison, in such a perfect harmony that Seto wouldn't have believed it to be possible. As the hunters lowered their horns he suddenly noticed that he had already raised his own. He blew it, exactly at the same time with all the other huntbrothers: one short note, one long, two short notes, one long. The drumming got faster and faster, filling the clearing where they were standing with thundering notes. And then, finally, all thoughts of Ryou and Goddesses and death slipped away from his mind, the Hunt was about to begin.
-
"Damn it!"
Not again. Seto listened to the dogs and knew that he was once again being left behind. He shook his head in frustration. This time, there was no reason, no excuse… except that he was sure that Jou had never been this fast before. He was really utilizing his trance to the fullest.
He did the only thing he could: ran.
-
Somewhere ahead of him, Jou ran with his dogs. A young stag was flying from them through the forest, he could see a glimpse of it every now and then through the eyes of Corral, who was running foremost of his dogs right now. He knew that he would get this stag; never before had he felt the connection between him and the dogs as strong as he did today, never before had they obeyed him this fast and well. It was as if they were parts of his own body, in direct control of his mind.
All his attention was on his quarry, and so he didn't notice how the bushes somewhere behind him rustled and the shadows stirred.
He didn't notice, not before he felt a twinge of panic, fear, pain from Gira, a red-brown bitch of his pack… and then… nothing.
With a wordless cry he stopped running, almost stumbling down. The dogs stopped as well, knowing that something had happened, something bad, something that shouldn't have happened… Out of breath he glanced over his shoulder, at the brutal noise of feeding.
There was something among the trees, something big, something whose shape he couldn't determine, as though it were shadow; from one beast to other, he couldn't really make out its shape, it… Suddenly the thing raised its head and looked straight at him, and as Jou gazed at its multicolored eyes, he knew what he was facing. Something that his uncle had told him came suddenly to his mind.
"No one knows what the Hunter's Death looks like… all who have seen it have died."
He turned around and began to run.
-
Jou…
A sudden rush of pure fear had made Seto stop as well. 'Jou, what is it?' he asked through their bond, but didn't get any answer. 'Jou?'
There was nothing, just the fear and terror. He began to run again, faster than he had run ever before.
-
Behind him, Jou could hear the roaring of the great beast, and he ran, ran so hard he was afraid he would choke on air. His dogs ran around him, growling every now and then at the beast that was after them, but he didn't have the strength even for that. A quick, random thought flashed in his mind, I guess I should be proud that my death's going to ensure the well being of our people next year… but it was very soon replaced by a quite desperate I don't want to die! (1)
The beast was close, he knew that, he was sure that it'd reach him during the next minute or so. It was fast, very fast, there was no way he would ever be able to outrun it… For a moment he considered turning around and facing it instead of running like a rabbit, but then again, the stag hadn't turned around and faced him. Suddenly he felt a little sorry for the stag, wondering whether it too had been this terrified.
He could almost feel the beast's hot breath behind his back – or maybe it was only his imagination. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that it was close, too close. His side was hurting more than it ever had, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep on running much longer. Suddenly he came to a stumbling end, turning to face the beast, knowing he couldn't run anymore. Gasping for air he stared at the swiftly approaching monster, clutching his spear in his hand.
Suddenly he saw from the corner of his eye a flash of something black, something that struck its teeth at the beast's right elbow… It shook its head howling in anger, and with one quick movement sent the black dog flying across the air. The dog hit against a tree trunk with great force, fell down and didn't move anymore. Jou fell down as well, staring at the dead dog in dumb pain as another life-bond was shattered. 'Corral… Corral?'
The only thing that was able to draw him away from his dull state was the twinge of pain he felt from yet another of his dogs. 'Ger…' He raised his head abruptly just in time to see how the beast seized the neck of a gray dog between its jaws, and crunched.
"Gerin!"
He sprung to his feet, suddenly full of blind anger, and hoisted his spear again. "Leave my dogs be!" he shrieked as he threw the spear at the monster. Despite his anger his aim was good, and the spear hit the beast's left eye. It roared, this bellow of pain reducing its previous ones to the sounds of weak puppies, and Jou fell to his knees again. The spear didn't seem to have any effect. It stuck out of the beast's eye, snapping in two as it hit a tree trunk when the beast shook its head. It turned to stare at the kneeling boy – suddenly Jou realized that he really was kneeling – with its one good eye. The dogs around them growled quietly, wanting to attack the one who threatened their master, but Jou held them back, knowing that they wouldn't be able to bring any harm on this one. He didn't want to lose any more dogs before he died.
Just then he heard a blow of a horn. He had never before heard a note like this, it wasn't any of those he had practiced, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't any of the huntbrother's calls either. It was long, very long, he knew that whoever had blown it must have been quite out of breath when it finally ended. Soon it began again, a long, desperate note, drawing the beast's attention to itself.
As he watched, the beast turned to look at the direction from where the call came. It stared into the forest, and suddenly, as silently as it had in the beginning followed him, it ran away.
-
From somewhere ahead of him, Seto heard a roar of some great beast, such a roar as he had never heard in his life before, and never wanted to hear again. It brought terror to his heart, as great as that which he felt from Jou, and he ran desperately towards it, fearing it to be what he knew it was.
Not him, Lord, not him… He tried to pray as he ran, although he knew that it wouldn't help. The Sacred Hunt was not the right time for praying. And he knew that their mother, as well as Shizuka and Mokuba, had already offered their prayers for their safe return. If they weren't enough…
The dogs were growling, he could hear them too now. Suddenly there was an angry shriek, like a scream of pain, and he shivered as he heard it, for he knew the voice all too well.
"Leave my dogs be!"
Roaring. He had to stop running and press his hands on his ears as he heard it, and still he had difficulties in staying on his feet. Jou… I'm coming, hold on… Jou…
He raised his eyes from the ground in despair, knowing that he would be too late. Suddenly he realized that his right hand had grasped his horn, a beautiful and delicate horn made of some wood he didn't recognize that he had gotten from Kagemi. He stared at it for a moment, and raised it then to his lips. He blew into it, not any of those notes he had carefully practiced, just blew, putting into that one note all the feelings he had, all the fear and despair, as well as his prayer. Not him, Lord, please…
He didn't stop blowing until he was forced to draw breath. He inhaled deeply, and placed then the horn back to his lips. Another long note echoed in the air, as desperate as the previous, but this one had also a challenging tone in it.
As he lowered the horn again, he listened keenly, but didn't hear anything. Still, as he stared into the silent forest his instincts told him, very clearly, to run away. Carefully he reached out for Jou, and to his relief realized that the other boy was fine… at least physically.
With one more look into the forest he turned around and began, once more, to run.
-
Jou stared dumbly after the leaving beast. His mind refused to comprehend what just had happened, he knew that he should be dead by now. But the beast was leaving. He couldn't anymore see it among the trees, nor hear a sound that it made. The forest was silent and peaceful, as if nothing unusual had happened. Except… slowly he lowered his eyes to the dead dogs lying on the blood-covered land.
'Corral? Corral, please… Gira, Ger, don't… please…'
Something wet touched his cheek and he turned to look into sad dog eyes which stared at him unblinkingly. 'Feron…' He wrapped his hands around the dog's neck and buried his face into the soft fur. Silently all the remaining dogs gathered around him, eyes watching keenly the surrounding forest, as if they were standing at guard – which they were.
-
As he ran, Seto glanced quickly over his shoulder. It seemed to him that something moved there among the trees, rustling softly their leaves. After that he didn't look back again. If that thing is what I think it is, I really don't want to see it…
When he had blown his horn, he really hadn't thought about what he was doing. It had been an instinct, something he had to do, to save his hunter. Now he was beginning to wonder what he had gotten himself into, and how on earth he'd ever survive it. Frantically he tried to remember exactly where in the forest he was, and whether there would be anything near that might help him. Small rocky hills to the left, and a little river somewhere on his right side… too far. Besides, he didn't really believe that a river would stop his pursuer.
At least Jou is safe… he's a pain sometimes, but don't even imagine that I'd let you kill him… He resisted an urge to look back. After all, he didn't have to. Now he could hear the noise the great beast made, and he realized that it was catching up with him quickly.
Running won't help… but what the hell can I do? That thing doesn't leave before it's got its quarry…
He ran on, gasping for breath and still grasping his horn in his hand. Jou turned to face it… He was sure about this, although he hadn't seen it. But that doesn't help either, it can't be killed.
He took a quick glance around. There was nothing that could be of help, just ordinary forest. But just ahead there was a small hill, a great oak tree growing in the middle of it. There were no other trees around it; the oak seemed to rule the forest from its throne. It caught Seto's attention and he aimed his way towards it, running again a little faster. As good a place for dying as any other.
He ran up the hill, and as he reached the oak he turned swiftly around and leaned against it, gazing intently into the forest. Something was moving in there, approaching fast. Still quite out of breath he realized that he was still holding his horn, and placed it again on his lips. He closed his eyes as he winded it once more.
Come then, come and get me. I'm not afraid of you, not anymore. I've fulfilled my oath, hunted with my hunter and protected him. He lives, and that's what matters.
Eyes still closed he lowered his horn, listening for its sound echoing in the forest, slowly dying away. When the silence fell, it was complete. The only thing Seto could hear was the humming of blood in his ears, and he placed softly his hand on his heart, trying to calm it down.
Nothing happened.
What's taking it so long…?
As the silence stretched into long moments, Seto carefully opened his eyes. There was nothing around. The forest was still, nothing moved in it, and he took few steps forward glancing around in bewilderment as he realized that he really was all alone.
-
Feeling more tired than he had ever before, Seto walked out of the King's Castle heading towards the kennels. He had spent a long time talking with Lord Kawai and his huntbrother about what had happened. He had told them everything he knew over and over again, but it didn't seem to satisfy them. In the end, Jou's uncle had just stated (shaking his head in disbelief) that the two boys really had to be Kalliaris's favorites. Kagemi hadn't said anything, but he kept on staring at Seto's horn, as if wondering what other notes could be produced from it.
Now he was, for the second time during the day, searching for his hunter. Last time it had taken him a very long time to find Jou. After he had left from the small hill, he had tried to reach the other through their bond, but hadn't received any answer. Still, what he had felt from Jou had been answer enough for him, and he had carefully blocked out all the feelings that were flowing towards him. One of them had to keep his wits about him, and that had always been the huntbrother's job.
The hunt had been called to a close before he had found the blond boy sitting on the ground under the forest's great trees, gently holding the head of a dead dog in his arms. He had helped Jou up, and in silence, and they walked to the others. There he had avoided, as much as he could, looking at the dead huntbrother whose body was carried out of the forest. He knew that the man had died in his place, that it was really a miracle that he was still walking on this land. And the same applied to Jou… The thought had made him to shiver a little, and to tighten his grip of his hunter's hand.
This time he did not have any doubts where he would find the blond boy. Without hesitation he walked into the kennels and headed towards the place where he knew that their dogs were kept. The boys who had been cleaning the kennel floor glanced after him, but didn't say anything, they could easily guess where he was going.
As he reached the cage of their dogs, he saw that its door was open. Stopping by it he looked inside. Jou was sitting there on the floor, in the middle of what looked like a pool of dogs, holding one of them in his arms. Some of the dogs raised their heads and glanced at Seto quietly, but when they saw who the intruder was, they lay back down. Silently he stepped inside, and the dogs moved a little to make him room as he sat on the floor beside Jou. It seemed as if Jou didn't even notice that he had arrived, but after a while the blond boy leaned softly against his huntbrother, a quiet sigh escaping his lips. Seto embraced him gently, not saying anything. He knew well that this wasn't the right time for words.
As the night slowly crept over the city, filling the streets and homes with its silence, the two boys sat together on the kennel floor, leaning against each other, drawing warmth from the pack dogs that surrounded them.
(1) To make Jou's thoughts a little clearer – remember what Seto was told in the first chapter? "Once in a year the Sacred Hunt has to be called. All the Hunter Lords and their huntbrothers gather to hunt in the King's forests, and the God comes to Hunt them. Every year, one of the Lords or their brothers dies in that hunt." If that doesn't happen… let's just say that the results will be much worse than just one person dying.
-
Yes, I know… I'm 'breaking the rules'. Jou should be dead by now, after seeing the Hunter's Death, but for Pete's sake, I can't kill him off! Then I'd have to kill Seto too, and this story would be over… ::sweat drop::
(... Pete's sake? Why Pete? Why not John, or someone else?)
Anyway, I'm glad I managed to update today – I'm heading for Alaska tomorrow. Plane leaves at 7 am… (x.x) Hee! I've never been that far away from home – the time difference between Finland and Anchorage is 11 hours. (Let's see how I'll survive it…)
Next chapter will be out… some day. I guess it'll take two weeks at the least, since I'm not going to do anything about it next week.
…leaving tomorrow! ::is getting excited::