Chapter 7: Stowaway
I am currently tying this with a paper cut on my middle finger and a slightly burnt hand…the things I do to write…incidentally, Onihime is actually a Japanese girl's name that, I think, literally means "ogre princess". Why did I call him that? The meaning will all become clear… : )
Onihime nearly fell off the chair.
" Did you just say…yes?"
"Yeah, you're on. Sure you can come. You might prove useful."
"But…why?"
Sora smiled.
"If there is one thing I believe. It is in the workings of Fate, and right now Fate is telling me I have to bring you along."
"Uhhh…" Onihime became very suddenly embarrassed. It meant he was going to live with him. This strange boy called Sora, whom he had only known for five minutes.
"What? Don't you want to go?"
"Well, yes but, I wasn't really thinking."
"Uh huh." Sora crouched down in front of him, and fixed his eyes with a stare.
"Listen, if you come with me, and I can't guarantee you won't get into any danger. I know what I'm meddling with, and I also know it would be extremely perilous to put anyone else in my situation. So, if you want to come, be warned."
This is your chance Onihime! Onihime's brain cut in, this is the chance you've wanted all your life, to be with a person who understands you! To learn about someone who is the same as you!
Onihime steeled his resolve, and looked up at Sora, his little face set with determination. His pale grey eyes had gone silver.
"Yes, I will go!"
Sora gave him a perfect white grin.
"Good!" Onihime blinked. Sora had stood up and crossed the room in a fraction of a second.
"How did you just do that?" Sora smiled again.
"It's a secret! I have to go, I have something I need to do. I will come back for you later, when the light of the Umbris fades. It's best to operate under cover of darkness. You sure you want to go?"
Onihime waved goodbye to him.
"Definitely! Don't worry about my Father, he will hardly care if I'm gone."
"I see. Well, see you later." And then he was gone, leaving Onihime alone in the little library, to wrestle with his excitement.
Some hours later, and Onihime was packing some of his belongings into his little cotton carry-bag. Some of his plainer robes, a picture of his mother, a facecloth (he would have to wash after all) and a few other bits and bobs. He hurriedly shoved it under his bed as he heard footsteps and Morged came into his room.
"Why do you never knock?" Onihime asked him angrily.
"Begging your pardon, my Lord." The placid servant bowed to him, "the Lady Sorgota has requested your detention be lifted. I have brought you some supper."
Onihime's eyes widened at the sight of food. He was starving. Morged left the tray on his table.
"Tell my Mother thank you." Onihime mumbled.
"Very good, my Lord." Morged bustled around his room for a bit. Onihime watched him as he put away the mess strewn across the floor. He had always been a bit of a brat towards Morged, but his manservant had always been more of a father to him than his own had.
"I'm sorry, Morged," he said. The servant looked up, and for a moment astonishment crossed his normally expressionless features.
"Pardon, my Lord?" Onihime shook his head, and hugged his knees to his chest.
"Nothing."
The light of the Umbris had faded. Onihime lay in the dark, hiding his outside robes beneath the duvet of his bed, listening to the sounds of the last servants preparing to go to bed. The same, familiar sounds he had heard for many sleepless nights as a child. He lay in half an hour of shadowed silence, willing himself to stay awake. When he was sure everyone else was asleep, he quietly got out of bed and retrieved his little cotton bag from beneath him and his sandals from the corner of the room.
Sneaking down the coridor, he thanked the thick carpets that muffled his footsteps, when a dim light coming from one of the rooms caused his heart to leap at his throat. Was someone still awake? Peeking his head around the door, he saw it was only his Mother, who had left on her reading light. He tiptoed in, and stood over her. Mother's soft hazelnut hair was pulled back into a messy bun, her cheeks flushed, her lips parted as she breathed. She had a book on her lap, and a thick shawl around her shoulders. Mother was a beautiful woman, just foolish. Even so, Onihime loved her greatly, and he bent and kissed her forehead. Mother had been there to nurture him when his Father hadn't. Like the time when he climbed the big apple blossom tree in the yard and had fallen, or the time when he had poured a whole bottle of brandy into the soup the cook was making, or the time when he had wanted a pet and ended up with thirteen stray dogs in his room. All those times Mother was there to scold him, hug him, nurse his wounded pride and bruises, to stay his Father's wrath.
So this was what a goodbye felt like. It was bitter.
Onihime turned slowly, creeped back out again, and down the stairs. The first steps had been taken to his becoming a man.
Minerva was winding her way through the labyrinthine side streets that criss-crossed the city, she had been lost for some time looking for the shop the Master had sent her to, and the map he had drawn for her wasn't helping. Through the murky dark and the rain she couldn't see a thing, she could only hear the laughter and the smells of food from the taverns that lined the street. No one came out at night in Vila, everyone was afraid of the dark. Pulling her hood up tighter around her face, she reached down through the folds in her robes and her hand grabbed the hilt of her knife. She had made the knife herself, a long time ago, and had payed dearly for it. The knife's blade was serrated, and poisoned, so that if anyone survived its deadly stab they would die anyway from the poison. The hilt was made of quicksilver, a magical metal, with a single opal set at the top, the knife was her most trusted friend.
Minerva was on the point of giving up looking for this place when a yellow glow caught her attention. Peering through the dark, she saw a sign swinging in front of a building, Marvolo's Magical Marvels.
Look for the sign of the crossed staffs.
Ah hah! Score! Slipping through puddles, she stumbled over to the front door and shoved it open with her shoulder. Water was pouring down her face and clothes, but the inside of the little shop was pleasantly warm. Minerva turned around, and surveyed her surroundings with a critical eye. How...quaint. The whole shop was extremely purple, crystall balls, wands and books lined the walls and at the far end a little man in equally purple robes was sitting behind a darkwood counter. His robes had stars on them. Silver stars. Minerva grimaced, what kind of self-respecting wizard wore stars on his clothes? He was probably nothing more than a petty street magician who thought he knew about Magic, Minerva didn't think she would have any problem getting what she wanted. The little man looked up, he had a face like a wombat, and beamed his best smile.
"Oh! A customer! Can I help you with anything? You look like a lady who knows what she wants!" Minerva smiled. He must be this Marvolo person.
"I'm looking for something very special-" she began, but Marvolo cut in.
"Ahhhhh! A present, ay? I have just the thing here..." while he bumbled around the shop, muttering about wands and books, Minerva took a look around herself, and saw what she had come for. It was beneath a pane of glass set into the little counter. Minerva pressed her hands against the glass, she could feel power vibrating from it. A little box, made of wood, with a single sun engraved on the lid. It sat on a little purple cushion, looking disconcertingly harmless. Minerva inhaled gently.
"Hmm? Oh that is a curiosity, yes? I'm afraid that isn't for sale, miss. Now can I interest you in-" Minerva turned to Marvolo.
"I want that." she said quietly, pointing at the box. Marvolo put his hands on his hips and stared at her.
"I just said it ISN'T for sale!"Minerva stared right back.
"And I just said that I WANT it! I'm not leaving until I get it, and if you won't co-operate..." In a flash Minerva unsheathed her knife and leapt at the little man with the speed and ferocity of a rattlesnake. Marvolo yelled, rolled onto his back and kicked her viciously. Minerva fell on her side and propelled herself to her feet, he had moved surprisingly fast for one so old. Marvolo stood up, and pushed up his sleeves.
"If I have to kill you to make you leave, I will." He assumed an ancient wizard duelling stance, arms outstretched. Minerva began to think she had been wrong, and this fight was about to get a little more interesting. She held out her knife in front of her chest, the opal was glemaing blood-red.
"ASPARA GAEA UMILOS!" Marvolo screamed at her. A level one spell? Surely he wasn't strong enough to perform such a powerful incantation? Streams of rainbow light burst from his hands and tore across the room, aiming straight for Minerva's heart. He had just performed a curse, oh dear.
"SHIELUS MUATH!" Minerva shouted. A barrier of light shimmered around her. She could only manage a level two shield, which nearly broke under the power of the light. Minerva was thrown off balance and crashed into a shelf of books, and narrowly missed being hit in the head by a stone bust of some wizard. Marvolo stood above her, sneering.
"Oh my, it seems I forgot to mention I am a Master Wizard! A lowly witch such as yourself doesn't stand a chance, your barrier crumbled under my power." He held out his hand to her, "now leave, before I really do have to kill you."
Minerva scowled, if there was one thing she hated, it was being weak. She would not leave without her prize, if her honour as a witch meant anything. She snarled ferociously, and swung her knife at Marvolo's hand. The knife left a deep gash in his palm, and Marvolo yelped in pain. Minerva smiled, soon the poison would kill him. She backed her right foot against the wall, threw herself at the wizard and grabbed his arm in midair. Twisting it behind his back so violently she actually felt a tendon ripping, she landed on top of him, and he was now pinned on the floor, helpless.
"You put up a good fight little man, you just didn't count on my skill at hand-to-hand combat. I just hope the Gods like a wizard," she chuckled.
"Wha...wait! Wait please!" Marvolo pleaded. Minerva closed her ears to his begging and brought her knife down hard into his back. Marvolo shrieked horribly and twisted like a headless eel. Minerva staggered to her feet, he would be dead soon. A glint of gold caught her eye and she bent down, her fingers brushing cold metal. A death coin. Death coins were a little piece of gold given to the dead in ancient times so they could pay the ferryman to take them over to The Land of the Dead. Minerva tucked into Marvolo's clenched fist.
"You'll be needing that where you are going," she smiled. Marvolo's wide, frightened, paralysed eyes watched her. He had gone pale, drool hung from his open mouth, his face forever contorted into an expression of horror. Laughing at her little joke, Minerva broke the heavy glass pane on the counter with the hilt of her knife and retrieved her prize, tucking it safely into her waist purse.She straightened up and surveyed the damage she had caused, the shop was a total bombsite.
"Oops!" she giggled. Striding casually out onto the wet streets, she looked around her. Marvolo was dead and she felt no remorse for it, her heart had died a long time ago.
"I really hope no one heard any of that."
It had been a whole hour since Onihime had started waiting for Sora, and he still hadn't come. Onihime felt like kicking himself. He had only just met Sora, and now he was expecting him to take him to live with him? Just like that? Sora was probably joking.
Ugh. I am such an idiot.
Now he had been standing out in the bitter cold and the rain for an hour when he could have been at home in his warm bed. Watching over his shoulder for any sign of Sora coming, Onihime sadly started to trump back home, when a familiar voice behind him said,
"Where are you going?" Onihime was so shocked he fell over. Sora was standing over him, looking down at him like he was nuts.
"Ai-ya! You came! You came!" Onihime was so happy, but then he got mad.
"What time do you call this! I thought you were never going to come!" Sora grinned sheepishly, and scratched his head.
"Sorry, I got held up." He turned on his heel walked on a little bit, then stopped and turned round.
"Well? Are you coming or what?" Onihime started to laugh, perhaps one of the only times he ever did. He had never been so excited about anything before.
"Yeah!"