Sorcerer Hunters
"Starstone"
Chapter XI
Author's Note: I actually wrote this scene before watching the OAV with Mille Feuille and the Death Master. The only other thing I have to say about this chapter is--the plot thickens
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Marron tossed another ofuda at another undead warrior with deadly accuracy, pulling yet another replacement to his fingertips, ready to destroy the next target he chose out of the swarming horde. While seemingly every one of the enemy warriors wanted to attack Carrot, the Misu sisters darted back and forth, combining their talents to kill large sections of the swarm at once.
Gateau stood a few feet ahead of the young mage, watching for any of the undead that might have made it past Marron's ofuda and traps. He threw stones at the approaching enemy with as much ease and effectiveness as the mage's magic parchments, never tiring.
Marron decided it was time to use a bigger spell. Single-target spells took no effort at all, but the numbers they were faced with called for a large-scale attack. Was Gateau humming?
The mage glanced at his tall friend, who appeared to be enjoying himself immensely as he systematically crushed undead warrior after undead warrior. Shaking his head, Marron aimed his new, intricately-runed parchment at a mostly un-decomposed enemy who marched in the center of the encroaching ranks and stood nearly twice as tall as the others around him.
He tossed the ofuda with a deft flick of his fingers. It burned through the air straight to its mark, where it exploded in a giant sphere of red flames.
To his shock, his target began to grow.
Marron heard Carrot yelling across the battlefield, "He's a zoanthrope!"
"No way." Gateau pushed a boulder down the hill, taking out most of the troops charging towards them. "Like Carrot?"
"Brother!" Marron yelled, ofuda flashing as it left his fingertips.
Across the field, Carrot squealed. "No no no no noooo! I hate this joooooob!" he howled as Marron's parchment hit him, forcing him to transform.
Marron's targetted undead warrior was now towering over the small hill he and Gateau stood on. "It's an undead sorcerer," Marron told Gateau. "Be careful." The blond nodded.
The zoanthropic zombie finished its transformation, and the sorcerer hunters took in the sight with disgust. It was a monster, half-lizard and half-bird, its flesh no more alive in this form than the previous. Milky eyes swirled in their sockets, focusing on Marron.
The mage prepared another ofuda. "This isn't going to work, Gateau," he yelled. "Get away from here!"
"Like hell I will," the brawny blond retorted as the giant zombie's head turned towards them. "Marron, get out of the way!" He charged up to where the mage stood, but not fast enough. The zoanthropic sorcerer opened its rotting mouth wide and shot its lizard-like tongue at Marron, spearing him through the shoulder. Roaring, Gateau attacked, tearing the monster's tongue from its head as Marron fell backwards down the backside of the hill.
Now fully transformed, Carrot attacked the undead head-on, with Chocolate and Tira backing him up, wire and whips cutting through flesh and breaking bones.
Gateau raced over the hill to join them. He arrived just in time for the broken remains to clatter to the ground and turn to dust, along with the few remaining undead from the earlier horde. While Tira turned to reinstating Carrot to normal, Chocolate followed Gateau back over the hill. "What happened?"
"Got Marron in the shoulder," Gateau gritted out as they ran. They topped the hill and slid down to where Marron lay, and kneeled next to him. The zombie's tongue had turned to dust, leaving a gaping, bloody hole where it had been.
"Oh my god," Chocolate whispered. "We... we have to find a doctor immediately." She stood up. "I think I remember seeing a medic's sign in the village. I'll be right back–don't let him die," she instructed Gateau, then raced off.
Marron was sweating, his normally pale face now deathly white with pain and bloodloss. "Y-you need to get my robes off," he mumbled, nearly incoherant. "Th-the doc... tor..."
Gateau nodded, and immediately ripped Marron's robes from the collar to the waist. "This isn't what I'd hoped for when I wanted you to ask me to take your clothes off," he muttered. Try as he could, there was no way to painlessly pull the ripped and bloody cloth away from the wound, and he winced as Marron gritted his teeth and tensed in pain, causing more blood to flow freshly from the wound.
"Cut that out," Gateau whispered, worried. Where were Carrot and Tira? He was no doctor. Where was Chocolate? "You'll only make it worse."
His hands shaking, Gateau tried to stop up the wound with bunches of clean cloth from the rest of Marron's robes, knowing that it was not enough. He jumped when the hand on Marron's uninjured arm waved jerkily at him. "Marron?"
"Pen..." Marron whispered, his eyes closed tight. "...En... dant... p-pendant. Ta... ke it." With that, his head fell back. Gateau surged forward, fearing the worst, but saw from the continuing rise and fall of his chest that his friend was still alive. He was unconscious.
"Pendant..." he murmured. He did not see any chain around Marron's neck. Then, on a second glance, he saw slightly reddened skin, as if the mage regularly wore something around his neck that rubbed against the skin. Gateau traced the red line, and was surprised to feel something like a heavy chain offset from it. Yet he saw nothing.
As soon as he pulled the chain free from Marron's neck, it became visible. It was made of thick, sturdy links of silvery metal. Most impressive was the polished stone set into the central link. It was pitch black, yet Gateau could see through it as if it were glass. A six-pointed star inside the stone gleamed a dark blue.
A cloud of dust made him look up. Chocolate was returning, towing a medic behind her, and Carrot and Tira were racing towards him as well. After a moment's thought, he slipped the pendant into his pocket, deciding that it was obviously something Marron did not want to share.
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"It's really nice," Gateau told the young mage the next day. He fastened the clasp behind Marron's head and watched, amazed, as the entire necklace faded and disappeared, leaving only Marron's pale skin and the layers of bandages to be seen. "Where'd you get it?"
"Thank you." Marron reached up to touch his collarbone, where the stone would be if it were visible. "It was... a gift. And thank you for not showing the others."
Gateau grinned at him. "That another one of your secrets?" Marron's deadpan expression made him laugh. "Just asking."
Marron sighed and winced in pain. Gateau frowned. Looking up from his hospital bed, Marron raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Gateau?" he asked.
"I thought you were gonna die."
"How romantic."
"I was worried about you, Marron."
"Oh? I'd think you were more afraid that I'd lose my boyish beauty with scarring."
Gateau's eyes glittered. "That's not–"
Marron's smile was small, but well-meant. "You were just afraid I was going to die a virgin."
Gateau laughed. "Now that," he agreed, "Would be a tragedy." He leaned over to kiss Marron softly. "Get some rest," he instructed him, squeezing his hand.
The young mage squeezed his hand in return. "Only if you stay here," he said, looking Gateau in the eye. The tall blond took the bait, and settled into a chair as Marron let himself fall into a recuperative sleep.
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