Chapter Four
As Valon ran down the marble corridor, rounding a corner, the unmistakable smell of smoke began to become obvious. The Australian coughed, covering his nose and mouth, and plunged forward. Before long he ran right into Mokuba coming from the opposite direction. Both of them went sprawling onto the hard floor.
Valon gave a cry of shock. "Hey!" he exclaimed when he saw who he had crashed into. "What's going on? You should've watched where you were going, kid." He started to get up slowly, suddenly wondering if anyone had been hurt when the fire had been started. There was the matter of that scream he had heard. . . . Suddenly he was disturbed and worried. How had someone broken into the palace anyway? Or . . . what if they had not? What if this was an inside job? He supposed it could have been accidental, but Ishizu had spoken as if it had been deliberately done.
Mokuba looked at him, his blue-gray eyes watering from the smoke. "I've gotta see if Seto's alright!" he replied, getting up himself. His heart was pounding. He had seen how the fire had been started, but it perplexed and frightened him. Without warning a torch had just suddenly come loose from its fixture and had fallen to the floor, as if lifted and thrown—only no one visible had been there. And when Mokuba had tried to run forward to pick it up, he had been thrown back by an invisible barrier. He was afraid that perhaps some unseen intruder was roaming the palace and might hurt everyone within.
"Aw, I'm sure he can take care of himself," Valon said. "But do you know anything about the fire? That could cause trouble for all of us."
Shakily Mokuba explained what he knew. "It's back that way," he said then, pointing to the way he had come, "but I don't know how to put it out! I was hoping maybe Sapphire would know some kinda spell that could break the barrier or something." He swallowed hard. The smoke was thickening. "If there's a barrier there, it probably wouldn't do any good to get some water and try to put it out with that," he continued, resuming running down the hall, with Valon following. "It'd probably just hit whatever was blocking me from going over!"
"Well, maybe not," Valon called to him, "but it couldn't hurt to try. Are there fire extinguishers around here!" Mokuba did not answer or stop, instead continuing to run and hoping to find Sapphire's room. Valon sighed, shaking his head, and turned around to go to where the torch had fallen and try his luck with it.
As he did so, he met up with Marik and Kade, who were just emerging from a panel in the wall. All were startled to abruptly run into each other, but Valon quickly got over that and explained what was going on. Marik listened grimly while Kade looked worried.
"Mommy would know how to stop it," the child chirped, "but she's not feeling well right now. . . ." He tugged on Marik's hand. "We have to do something, Mister Marik! Everything could burn up!"
Marik swallowed hard, knowing that was true. "We will try something," he reassured the young boy, drawing the Millennium Rod from his belt. "Let's try this and see if it can break the barrier. Kade, take Valon to where there's water and then come back here." With that he ran down the hall, heading right for the source of the smoke. He did not understand how the torch had fallen, but he had a very bad feeling about it all.
And when he actually did manage to penetrate the barrier and Valon managed to put out the flames before they advanced beyond the part of the floor and the wall in the immediate area, Marik's bad feeling only worsened. It could be passed off as an accident, he supposed, but that was not likely. He felt that it was a test . . . or a warning. Perhaps it was meant to be taken as a signal that someone with strong powers was watching them all. But if so, who . . . and why?
Sapphire was highly concerned about the incident when she was informed. She, too, felt that it had definitely not been an accident. And upon inspecting the fixture from where the torch had fallen, it was obvious that it was still in top condition. It had not suddenly weakened and broken, causing the beacon to collapse. Indeed, it looked as though Mokuba had been right about someone merely lifting it up and then purposely sending it to the floor. But if someone could actually be invisible to do that, then what else were they capable of doing?
Sapphire also wondered if the culprit had even actually been in the palace when the crime was committed. If immense power was to be had, perhaps they had manipulated things from a distance. But there was actually a much worse possibility than that—the Talisman could have done it. It had behaved so oddly before its disappearance that Sapphire feared that it was behind Juno's destruction in some way. She sent her guards to scout the palace grounds, and her guests volunteered to investigate inside for anything suspicious, but nothing was found—as the ruler had predicted. And since nothing could really be accomplished in the nighttime, everyone at last opted to simply go to sleep and deal with things in the morning.
Marik remembered the sunrises of Juno. The sky would erupt in a burst of colors—varying shades of orange, pink, red, lavender, and purple—as the sun rose into the Eastern sky. But though that was the way it had been in the past, it was that way no more. Now it seemed that the sky remained a grayish black even in the daytime. Marik came to this conclusion the next morning as he stirred, stretched, and awoke to a still-darkened room. He blinked confused lavender eyes, wondering if it was still storming, but as he rose and went to the window, he saw it was not. Everything looked calm and still, the sky appearing cloudless, yet darkened. The Egyptian boy frowned.
"I sense a disturbance," the soft voice came from behind him. He turned, meeting Ishizu as she came out of the room that was a part of the large suite the three of them had been given. His older sister looked calm, though he recognized the worry in her eyes. She touched the Tauk around her neck as she came closer.
"Does it have anything to do with the sky out there?" Marik wanted to know.
Ishizu sighed. "I cannot find the explanation for that," she replied. "It seems that the sun cannot be seen from Juno any longer, though we know it still exists and is in the sky, since Juno is a parallel universe to our own and is somewhere on Earth." She came to the glass and looked out at the palace grounds and the surrounding area. "Everything has changed so much since our first visit. . . ." And of course, if the sun did not return soon, the conditions in the land would only grow worse. The waters would dry up and the plants would wilt and die. Most of the plants were already dead, she knew.
Marik clenched a fist in frustration. "That's an understatement," he remarked bitterly. "I don't like this new Juno. And I don't like the troubles it could cause." He paused, mulling things over in his mind. "Actually, it already is causing troubles," he knew. "Did you figure out what was causing Sapphire's headaches, Sister?"
Ishizu shook her head. "Both of us are confused. All that she can determine is that it has something to do with the devastation of this land . . . and possibly the Talisman, as she was its wearer before it started misbehaving." Suddenly catching sight of something, she leaned forward and stared out through the clear pane at the ground below, her cerulean eyes narrowing in confusion and perhaps disapproval as well.
"What is it?" Marik asked, coming over closer to look out the window with her.
"Look down there," Ishizu instructed, nodding toward the sparse and brown grass. As Marik looked, he caught sight of an all-too-familiar spikey-haired brunette wandering about. He frowned darkly.
"What's Valon doing out there?" he muttered in irritation.
"I would assume he wished to explore his new surroundings," Ishizu remarked with a sigh. "We can only hope that he isn't planning to leave the palace grounds by himself." She knew that the Australian teenager was curious by nature, but this was not the time or place to exercise such inquisitive behavior—not when an unknown foe was tormenting the land. There was no telling what Valon might run into on his own.
"Oh, he probably will," Marik muttered, rolling his eyes.
Slowly he opened his eyes, finding that he had dozed off uncomfortably in the straight-backed chair in the center of his concealed lair. It would not be the first time. Talking with Colchis always wearied him. That man seemed to have so little intelligence. From what he had heard, Colchis's brother Fafnir had been given the brains in the family. He could believe it. But he supposed that Colchis's ignorance could prove to be a good thing. Colchis seemed to be too busy preening to realize that his new associate was actually a traitor.
He straightened up and stood, walking to the window as he had done the previous night and looking out at the darkened sky of Juno. He had seen so many skies like that in the past—blackened by storms and sometimes by other such things. There had been one sky in the long ago past that he particularly remembered, a sky that had loomed over the gloomy sight of a battle.
I was treacherous then, he mused to himself, ruled by the influence of the Orichalcos. I even turned against my own family. For millennia I wandered in loneliness and solitude, sentenced to be alone because of my own, foolish actions. I thought I could purify the world . . . and maybe even resurrect Phiona. But it was not to be. In the end, I could do nothing. I was powerless to change what was. Humanity has rolled on, just as it always has.
The door opened slowly and he turned to greet whoever was approaching. The young brunette girl was peeking in through the crack, as if worrying that she would disturb the room's occupant. Upon finding him awake she smiled hopefully and opened her mouth to speak. "Father?"
He smiled in return, his golden eyes softening. "What is it, my child?" She was beautiful, so like her mother in many ways. . . . And for a moment he was again carried away in his thoughts, remembering the woman he had loved so many ages past. Why had it been her lot to die? Why had he been forced to . . . never mind that now.
"I'm sure you already know this, Father, but Queen Sapphire at the palace brought several guests to the kingdom last night," the girl reported, opening the door more and coming inside. "Do you think that they'll be able to help stop what's happening?" She bit her lip, gazing out the window that her father had been looking out of a moment before. The last thing she wanted to witness was the destruction of this land. There had been so much devastation already, and she, unfortunately, had seen much of it. She was not all that she would appear to be to a casual observer. "It would be so horrible if Juno fell. . . ."
"It won't," he said calmly, walking over to her. "I'll make certain of it. You don't need to fear."
She looked up at him. "You seem so certain, Father," she remarked hesitatingly. "I know what you're trying to do to make sure that Colchis and his rebels are stopped, and I believe that you can do it, but . . . I'm still worried. . . ." Juno was such a strange and different land, and she did not know what sort of secrets were lurking within it. Her father might be getting into more danger than he would be able to deal with. Somehow she sensed something very ancient about this place—ancient and foreboding.
"Don't be worried, Chris," he smiled gently. "And as for Queen Sapphire's guests, they may indeed be able to help Juno." Either that, or they will become an enormous hindrance, and that's the last thing we need.
Chris sighed. "I hope so," she said slowly. "But I still don't understand why she even brought Mokuba Kaiba here. . . . He's only ten years old!" Her eyes took on a very sad, regretful look. "Kids like him shouldn't have to see wars. . . ." She had, when she had been around the same age as Mokuba was now. Though she still looked around that age, she had lived over ten thousand years ago. Life had been so much different then, in some ways—while in other ways it seemed to have not changed much at all.
His own eyes grew sad as he reached to pull her close to him. Words could not accurately express his feelings, so he remained in silence. But his heart ached as he remembered what she had witnessed—and why.
Valon wandered about the palace grounds in boredom. He had hoped to find some clues as to who their unwanted intruder had been (if someone had actually broken into the palace at all), but everything looked normal—or at least, as normal as it could look under the circumstances. The boy frowned, kicking a stone aside as he surveyed the dead and dying gardens. He could tell that they had been beautiful once, perhaps not unlike the grounds at the church where he had lived as a child, but now the grass, flowers, and trees were all wilting and dying. It was rather depressing.
Abruptly an arrow shot past him to slam into a nearby tree. Immediately he came to attention, turning with annoyed and flashing eyes in the direction that the arrow had come from. Seeing nothing, the Australian frowned and looked back to the arrow. "Hey, what the heck's up with this?" he yelled, just as another arrow whipped by again, this one grazing his shoulder.
Now he was angry. Valon turned again, and seeing only a large tree near the edge of the grounds, he headed toward it. The branches were mostly bare and twisted, but he thought he caught sight of something moving around the back. Then he heard the straining of a bow as it was pulled back to allow an arrow in. Swiftly he ran around the rotund trunk from the opposite direction, tackling the assailant before the third weapon could fly.
They struggled on the grass for several long moments, first one getting the upper hand and then the other. Valon tried to pin the other person down, but he proved to be a formidable opponent and fought viciously, kicking the brown-haired boy back against the tree. Valon gasped in pain, dazedly watching the other man get up and grab for the front of his shirt. "Hey, what's the matter with you anyway?" he burst out then as he recovered from the blow. "I didn't do anything to you, but you were shootin' off your arrows at me!" With that he reached out, taking firm hold of the man's wrist.
His opponent glared at him from behind a mess of unkempt black hair that fell to his shoulders. His build was slightly more muscular and broad than Valon's, and he looked to be somewhat taller. His age, however, was most likely the same or similar. "One can't be too careful, in these parts," he retorted then. Valon was slightly surprised by the dignified tone to his voice. He had been expecting something rough and gravelly.
"You're a stranger here," he continued, grabbing at Valon with his free hand. "Why should you be lurking around the palace grounds as if you own them? That's in poor taste." His brown eyes flashed suspiciously.
Valon was definitely not pleased. With his own free hand, he struggled to pry the person's fingers away from his shirt. "You almost act like you own 'em," he retorted. "Come on, the Queen let me come here—not that it's any of your business, mate." His mind raced as he tried to figure out what would be the best tactic in dealing with this obstinate person. He could always use one of his battle techniques, he supposed, if things grew too rough. It was tempting to simply strike and kick the man backwards, but Valon tried to restrain himself.
The raven-haired fighter frowned at him incredulously. "The Queen let you come?" he repeated, as if it was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. "You lie! She hasn't welcomed any guests since she reclaimed her throne. And ever since, strange things have continued to happen here! That means that I, Volker, have to live up to my name and defend the people!"
Valon stared at him in disbelief. "So . . . you're gonna defend the people by shooting at them?" he cried.
Volker frowned. "You're trying to put words in my mouth," he scolded. "You're a suspicious character. How would I know what you might be up to?" He continued to grip Valon tightly, and seemingly had no intentions of letting him go any time soon.
"How the heck would you know that you wouldn't be shooting at some bloke who wouldn't be trying to cause trouble?" Valon shot back in annoyance. "Come on, mate, if you're gonna defend the people, you can't be all haphazard about it." This was perhaps a hypocritical statement coming from Valon, but he did not stop to think about that. He was too irritated about being shot at by a zealous vigilante.
"Oh, and you think you could do a better job?" Volker demanded. This absurd boy was wasting his time. Maybe he was doing it on purpose, trying to distract him from the truth! Perhaps he had a partner in crime who was slowly sneaking up on them. He must not allow himself to become distracted. Then his mission would most likely end before it even truly began.
Valon felt his eye twitch. This person seriously knew how to press his buttons and what would make him angry. Just how much of an idiot is he! he cried in his mind. This is just stupid! "I never said I wanted your job," he snapped, "but yeah, I could do better than you without even trying!"
As their argument escalated, neither one realized that they were swiftly being surrounded by Alister, Raphael, the Ishtars, and Sapphire. The newcomers watched disapprovingly and with annoyance before Sapphire at last brought things to a halt by stepping closer and grabbing at their shoulders. Her headache had been gone upon awakening, which she was relieved about, but she would not doubt it if these two managed to get it started up again.
"That's enough from you, Volker," she said sternly, "and from you, as well, Valon." Both of them started and looked up at her in surprise as she continued. "You should be allies, not enemies! Juno is falling apart. We can't afford for possible friends to quarrel. In this time of need, we need all of the strong fighters we can get."
Volker frowned suspiciously. "Then . . . he truly was brought here by you, as he said?" he asked, dumb-founded. Alister raised an eyebrow at how familiarly he addressed Sapphire. There was something more at work here. Obviously they knew each other from elsewhere.
"That's right," Sapphire replied firmly. "Both of you, let go!"
Slowly Volker and Valon both did, though they glared at each other once more before starting to get up.
"This crazy idiot tried to kill me!" Valon said indignantly. "Then he kept spewin' some garbage about how he was gonna defend the people!" He went over by Alister and Raphael, who both looked annoyed by the whole matter.
"That is what his name means," Raphael mused, mostly to himself with narrowed eyes, "in German." But that baffled him. He had not known that Germans would be living here in Juno. It seemed like more of a Celtic land. Judging from Ishizu's furrowed brow, she was confused as well. Raphael wondered just many secrets this other dimension was still keeping.
"Aw, who cares," Valon muttered. Volker glared at him and was about to retort when Marik suddenly spoke.
"Well, who is he?" The Egyptian looked Volker up and down, as if trying to discover some meaning behind his presence. Why had Sapphire not mentioned him before? Was he unimportant? Marik would be inclined to brush him off as such, though since Volker was proving himself a nuisance, that was an important enough reason to have been informed about him.
Sapphire sighed, shaking her head. "He is a friend of mine from when I retreated with Kade to that village," she replied, turning to head back to the palace. The others, including Volker, followed her. "He is outraged by what has been happening in Juno and he does his best to fight against its enemies. He thinks of himself as a hero of sorts, and I will admit that he has stopped several rebels' plots." But though she cared about him as her friend, Sapphire often had to admit to herself that he usually did more harm than good. She had not told him about the arrival of Marik and the others, as she had known that he would zealously want to involve all of him in his plans, and that would have only ruined Sapphire's. She was afraid that Volker's impulsiveness would get him killed someday.
"That's right," Volker broke in, his eyes narrowed. "I do my part. I hope the six of you will each do yours."
Alister walked in silence, studying Volker from behind his honey-colored sunglasses. After exchanging a look with Raphael, he knew that they were both thinking the same thing—that they would have to try to make certain to keep Volker out of their way. He seemed to be erring too far to the right, being extreme in his views of who was a criminal and who was not. As Valon explained in more detail what had happened, Alister's feelings were only more fully confirmed. Volker did not think before acting, much like Valon himself—only Valon was not quite that rash. Volker could have killed Valon if he had been aiming better, or if Valon had not been able to dodge the arrows.
Though . . . if Volker truly was as terrible with his aim as it might appear, and so reckless, then how could he have ever accomplished anything? Alister supposed that maybe Sapphire had not meant that he had stopped the rebels' plots with the help of his arrow and bow, but in any case, it would take a man of intelligence to stop them, someone who could use mental as well as physical skills. Alister continued to ponder over this, wondering if Volker had never meant to actually kill Valon at all.
Colchis glared out at the land of Juno from the large window in Dartz's room. "You can see how fast it's crumbling," he growled, gesturing at the glass pane. After breakfast he had presented himself at the Atlanteans' home again, and neither Dartz, Chris, or Ironheart were very happy to have him back again so soon. And Dartz was not happy with what Colchis had come here to propose. It was nothing that he had not heard before.
"We have to find that Talisman," Colchis said now, slamming his palm down on the windowsill. "It's causing all manner of destruction! But while we look for it, we have to continue infuriating the rebels about the Queen. They don't realize how they're being used by us, but they're proving extremely reliable. As long as they keep turning the kingdom upsidedown, we have more time to go about our plans!"
"Yes, yes, I know all that," Dartz answered boredly from his position at the small table. "But there's not much more that you can do right now. You've been working the rebels day and night to ready them for battle." He paused. "You've never told any of them that the Talisman itself is doing this," he observed then. "You've simply let them believe that the Queen is destroying Juno deliberately and that it's proof of her treachery."
Colchis gave a firm nod, smirking slightly. "Naturally," he remarked. "If they knew that the Talisman was acting on its own, it might change their view, and we can't have that. I want them to take care of eliminating Sapphire now, so that when the Talisman turns up and I've tamed it, I can immediately ascend the throne. I can tell the people that Fafnir would have wanted it that way and they'll all accept me as their king!" His eyes gleamed greedily as he pictured himself delivering this message and all of Juno rejoicing. He would have the power that his brother had desired. Nothing would stand in his way of it.
Dartz raised an eyebrow at him. "Tell me," he said slowly, voicing a question that had been on his mind for some time now. "You keep saying how you're going to tame the Talisman after you find it. But I don't see how. It doesn't want to be ordered around by anyone. It wants to be the master." Queen Sapphire is actually lucky that it decided not to stay around, he mused to himself. I wonder why it didn't. By controlling her, it could have claimed endless power. Maybe it was afraid that she would still overcome its power in the end.
Colchis turned to glare at him. "My family has special secrets," he snapped, "and you certainly will not learn of them! How would I know that you wouldn't decide to betray me and try to tame the Talisman for yourself?" He smirked then in his trademark way. "No, my friend. I won't tell you anything. Not until you've completely proven yourself." He walked over to the table. "But I can tell you this—I tamed part of the Talisman in the past. Remember, I told you I was in possession of a piece for quite some time."
Dartz merely put up his hands in defeat. "Alright, then," he replied. "If you're so confident that it isn't beyond your abilities, I won't try to discourage you." He's even more insane than I thought, he growled silently. He doesn't even realize that the piece was most likely just using him! I doubt that he ever managed to "tame" it. Probably it only stayed with him until it felt that the time was right to move on.
Colchis relaxed, turning back to the window. "It will be time for the battle soon," he breathed, "and what a glorious battle it will be!" He clenched a fist tightly, and Dartz knew he saw a smirk creeping over the man's features again. He had the feeling that Colchis was planning something especially devious for the battle, something that he had spoken nothing of yet. The golden-eyed man studied him, musing over what might be in his mind and how to go about picking it for the answers.
"There is something else that I find interesting," Dartz spoke again after a brief silence.
Colchis turned back to him, looking puzzled. "And what is that?" he wanted to know, his brow furrowing.
Dartz shrugged, making it look as though he did not care one way or another what the response would be. "There was a dragon in the myths—Scandinavian, I believe—and it was called Fafnir. An interesting coincidence, wouldn't you say?"
Colchis blinked in surprise, but then laughed. It was a cold, harsh sound, and Chris always hated to hear it. "Indeed," he declared. "An interesting coincidence."
Dartz nodded. "He was originally a man, according to the myths, but he turned into a dragon because of his excessive greed." He leaned back in his chair, looking up at Colchis calmly. Over his ten thousand years of existence, Dartz had learned many things. He had traveled from land to land, reviewing the peoples' cultures and beliefs. He had studied Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Scandinavian mythologies and had compared them with each other. He had tried to become familiar with everything he could about humanity—and yet he knew that there was still much that he did not understand. "Eventually," the turquoise-haired man continued, "he was killed by the warrior Sigurd, which is sometimes translated as Siegfried."
Colchis shrugged now. "While that's all very interesting, I certainly have no intentions of turning into a dragon myself," he smirked, "if that's what you're insinuating."
Dartz grunted. "We'll see," he responded, looking unimpressed.
