A/N: Hello, I'm back! I just have an extra bit to add to the disclaimer here… The Li'anon Lullaby, while I wish I had written it, is actually taken from a book and it's sequel called- The Book of Dead Days and Dark Flight Down. They are a pair of very good, gothic, fantasy novels and I recommend them to you all! Anyhoo, on we go…

Finally free from the grip of the forest, the heroes are ready to find the Princess. First, however, they must get through Noxell…

Part Three- Circus

Noxell wasn't nearly as exotic as Ryou had imagined. In fact, the other side of the Scar looked very much the same as the side they'd entered from. There seemed to be the same plants, the same animals… The buildings were a little different, built primarily from wood and not stone, but that didn't make much of a difference. He supposed that the differences came culturally.

After all, why would two countries so alike fight so much if they were exactly the same?

It was some way from the Scar to the nearest town, but Seto- or Tomasu, as they were now careful to call him, thought they could make it by nightfall. However, they didn't even get that far before they were called upon to perform, by some merchants travelling the other way, hoping to trade in Nrefder.

It was time to perform.

'Tenzo' started them off, juggling first with the balls and tumblers they'd brought with him, and then with anything the merchants cared to throw at him- loaves of bread, hats, even an expensive vase- Yugi, inside the professional exterior, was marvelling at his sudden ability and wondering why he wasn't dropping anything. But he chose to ignore the doubts, and keep the objects spinning around and around, plus all the stunt throws- under his legs or over his shoulder and a dozen other things he hadn't realised he could do. Again, he tried not to think about it, eventually finishing by throwing everything back to it's proper position when they grew tired of him. He went to the background, finally allowing his mind to sigh in relief. The extra practise had done him good.

Of course, he wasn't aware of Ryou and Danielle muttering things like 'Coordination', 'Speed', 'Accuracy', 'Skill', 'Height', 'Balance' and similar useful things behind his back in the secret tongue. It was a blessing that they were both very fluent, and the more words they had, the more they could do with them.

'Isamu' followed up the act with his own. As he had so adequately put it, he 'balanced stuff'- gradually building up to taller, thinner objects, until it became quite unbelievable. He finished with a large stack of the merchant's cups on his chin, another pile on his leg, bent up behind him, and, for some reason, a small, straight piece on metal resting on the back if his finger. It didn't so much as wobble, and, this time, Danielle and Ryou were silent. He disassembled himself, grinning cockily, but the merchants weren't done with him yet.

"Here." One said, holding out a long, thin piece of metal. It was perhaps only a millimetre or so thick, and stood tall, sharpened on three of the sides, the top to an evil point. "This is what we use to settle arguments around here. You put the blunt end on your chin. If it's falls, you get cut; it's as simple as that. Let's see how good you are."

Silence fell. Slowly, the entertainers began to notice just how many members of the party sitting on the grass before them- women and children as well as men- bore scars or other disfigurements on their faces. Parts were missing, like eyes or nose, or half hanging on, or seemed to have slipped down, or had been pushed aside by hideous scars. More then one stomach knotted as they realised just who they were trying to please. Danielle wondered what kind of goods these awful men sold.

"Fine." Jonouchi said easily, confidently, just as a real entertainer would have done. He took the blade.

"Care…" Ryou whispered.

"Confidence…" Danielle added, so quietly she could hardly hear it herself.

"Patience."

"Balance."

They continued on in this train, thinking of every word they could to help Jonouchi out of this predicament. And yet, he seemed to be doing fine on his own. As a knight, coordination and balance was necessary, and he was good at it in his own right. He knew that if he could balance everything from a fork to the cups up there, he could do this. It wasn't any different to the other objects. He had to keep reminding himself of that, or he'd freak out and it would come tumbling down. He tipped his head back, placed the metal on his chin, and stood there looking completely unconcerned.

Then, one of the men cheated. Before anyone could stop him, he had leapt forward and pushed Jonouchi so that he stumbled backwards. The blade wobbled, and fell. And yet…

Somehow, he'd managed to move his head so that he caught it between his teeth, without so much as cutting his tongue. The merchants laughed and cheered, pressing a mug of beer into Jonouchi's hand- he seemed to have gained their approval, at least. Reassured by his success, and the fact that the audience had been continuously drinking since they began, Ryou and Danielle went next.

Their routine was relatively simple. They had a decorated box and bag to use, but that was about it. That was really all they needed. It was just a matter of hiding something, yelling a load of gibberish with the real word mixed in their somewhere, putting in some dramatic pauses, arm movements, and general showmanship; and there they had it. But once again, the merchants weren't satisfied with things disappearing and reappearing, multiplying, splitting in two and fitting back together again. Another challenge was set. The men wanted to see 'Real' magic. It was then that they found out what the merchants were traders in.

Animals. Dangerous animals. And, today, it just so happened that they were carrying scorpions.

Three boxes were brought to the front, and the scorpion, a deadly red-black colour with his poisonous tail arching up in anger, placed inside one- although neither of the two knew which. The challenge simply was 'Do something with that'. It was Danielle that took the initiative.

"First," She began, heart pounding, and hoping she could pull this off. "I must prepare the boxes!" She bent down, pretending to examine each one. On the third, Jozan scratched her ear while Amnis simultaneously sneezed. A strange signal, but one she'd understood. She was glad they, who had seen the Scorpion being hidden, had picked up on what she needed. She waved her arms over the box, shouting random gibberish again. The only real words, the only important parts were 'multiply' 'two' and 'conceal'. She moved onto box number two. More gibberish. More arm waving. And the words 'Change' and 'Yellow'. The same with box number three, 'blue', this time. "And now, I'll open them, to reveal…"

She hoped this had worked. She hoped this had worked, she hoped this had worked… Muttering the words for deception and illusion just in case, she opened the first box. The merchants remained unimpressed- the original scorpion was sitting there. It wasn't a big deal. The man in charge of them, wearing large gloves, came and forced it back into it's cage. Quickly, before they thought that was it, Danielle moved on. Box number two opened to show, to her immense relief, a scorpion the same as the first, but a sunny, yellow colour.

There was an uproar in the audience, even some applause, which only increased in volume when she opened a third door to show a blue scorpion. Bewildered, the animal man put them in the cage to. The merchants liked that act. Very much. But still, they weren't satisfied.

And so, it was Seto's turn.

"It should be dark enough now…" He commented on the night that had now fallen. He sounded completely different to his usual self. Danielle had to admit, he acted very well. Seto took a single, flaming torch from the camp and swallowed the flame. Danielle had to control herself very hard not to gasp, remind herself that she had been with them five years, had seen it all before a million times…

Now that he had their attention, Seto's real act begun. Danielle had honestly never seen anything like it. He did tricks with fire and smoke unlike any she'd ever seen, teasing it easily into shapes so intricate she couldn't tell how it was done. She wondered where Seto had learnt to do it- but, like everything else in Seto's past, she would never know. Finally, Seto placed the torch, still burning brightly, having been relit only once since he had swallowed it, back into it's stand and turned to face the men.

"Now, then…" He said, good naturedly. "If you gentleman enjoyed the show, there is a matter of our payment…"

The leader snorted. "We haven't seen everything yet! What do those two do?"

He pointed at Jozan and Amnis.

"These are my sisters." Seto replied, before turning to them. "Why don't you show them what you do?"

Jozan raised an eyebrow. "My stories? Oh, I'm sure these men would not appreciate them, brother…"

Of course, as it so frequently did with people of poor intelligence, this statement caused the men to argue most angrily against it.

"Are you sure?" Jozan checked, riling them up even more. Her voice had changed to, dropping low and silky even as it took on her rough, uneven version of a common Noxell accent. "I can tell stories that will make the very hair on your chests curl… if you have any."

The men howled with laughter at this rather poor joke, and pressed her for a tale. Amnis appeared from behind the cart with a type of four stringed guitar, ready to provide the backing, influence the atmosphere, as Jozan weaved her web of words.

"Alright." Jozan said, getting to her feet. "I shall tell you the story of… the beginning." She paused for dramatic effect, ensuring the light from the fire and torches caught her face in exactly the right places to cast her features into sharp relief, and give her a more ominous look. "A long, long time ago; when the world was not yet so old and the sun was finding everything new, when it had barely begun to shine on the first blades of grass, there stood a single country. It was a land of plenty, that wanted for nothing; where gold was so opulent that was often thrown away because there was nowhere to put it; where words like 'hunger' and 'want' were missing from the language…"

The story continued for some minutes, and Danielle watched, fascinated, at the expression Jozan put into her face as she spoke, and the way she used her hands to emphasize. Amnis' hands worked their way skilfully over the guitar, hitting the right notes at just the right moments to emphasize the mood. Between the two of them, Danielle almost forgot she was sitting around a campfire in the middle of nowhere with some very shady men, and was taken back, back, almost to the beginning of time.

As the story went on, two characters came in; one handsome, intelligent, kind, generous and honest; the other his pole opposite. The tale told of their successes or failures respectively, and, as it developed, told how the families spread, until eventually the country was inhabited half by good, just people; and half by stupid, cruel, malicious people.

Eventually, it came to battle, which ended in the good people chasing the bad ones over the river, and planting a single tree to mark the spot of their victory. The tree became the Scar. The good, light side became Noxell, and the other Nrefder.

Danielle approached this sceptically as Jozan went on to describe the struggles, the recent wars between the two. Just as she had said, originally, the two nations had been one, and divided by civil war. Yet, she knew that if they had been in Nrefder, the 'goodies' and 'baddies' would have been the over way around. It was a simple story, designed to amuse simple minds, but the merchants lapped it up; laughing at the slightest of implied insults to Nrefder.

It wasn't as simple as that.

Ever since, there had been struggles to unite the two countries again- the problem was, would Noxell absorb Nrefder, or the other way around? Neither side was even fighting for dominance now, but merely to keep their independence. Now, this rare peace time was an opportunity for merchants to trade with the other country, for the two nations to grow and become fruitful again. But, if they didn't get Anzu back, this would be the end of it.

At last, Jozan finished. The merchants seemed quite prepared to discuss payment now. However, they wouldn't be as successful in their work as they were without knowing how to drive a hard bargain. And so, they did.

"What do you want?" The leader asked Seto, calmly.

"Food, drink, and a place to sleep." Seto answered, equally calm.

"But we are only poor merchants… we have so little food…"

"And we have none." Seto folded his arms. "That is our price- you must pay it."

"Well…" The man glanced over at Jozan and Amnis. "How about if you throw in your sisters?" He winked at Seto. "I'll give you a good price for the pair. It's a big business now, you know. I mean, just the other day, we saw some guys taking a girl to the town just over the hill. Pretty little thing. I bet she'll fetch a lot…"

And it was as simple as that.

Seto stuck to his guns, and managed to get what they wanted without selling two of their party, and they slept that night amongst men they were terrified would slit their throats.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The next day, they came to the town the man had spoken to; and repeated their show again- without the dangerous challenges, this time, and Jozan chose to instead tell a story of two lovers who, due to a curse, could never be together. They were taken to the inn, where they got 'payment'- bed, board, and lots of booze- both for those that partook, and those that pretended to. They had to at least pretend to have no qualms about alcohol. And, once again, someone let slip about men that had hurriedly passed through, with a woman who didn't look too happy about it. Once dawn had broken, they headed out of the valley and towards the next town through open meadows, of crops or wild flowers.

They should have known it was going far too well.

Unbeknownst to them, someone had overheard their enquires in the inn, had stood up, and slipped out the door.

No more did they know the danger that lay before them.

"I must admit," Yugi commented, as they walked along. The day was bright and sunny, the sun the sole relief to a lonely blue sky. "I don't know these outer parts of Noxell too well. But the towns are pretty spaced out here. It could take us as much as two days to get to this town. It could only take two hours. I don't think it's very well organised…"

"I know these parts." Jonouchi said, walking beside him. "You're right- they get closer together, bigger to, as they go in, but out here… That first town was Fleon, the nearest town to the border. We should come to Muwal next."

"How long is it going to take?" Seto asked gruffly, still driving the cart slowly along as the others walked alongside. They'd already been travelling for several hours, since dawn, and it the shadows were drawing ever closer to their midday positions.

Jonouchi shrugged. "You can never be too sure… but I reckon maybe a day and a half, two days…? The journeys will get quicker as we get closer to the centre of Noxell."

"I'm hoping we don't have to go that far." Ryou commented. "I want to find Anzu as soon as possible."

"We all do." Danielle replied, nodding.

"But, on a more important note…" Amnis put in. "I hope we meet someone before we get to the next town. We have no food and I'm hungry already."

Jozan sighed. "When are you not hungry? You have a stomach like a bottomless pit…"

Danielle and Yugi looked at each other, and then at Jonouchi, who feigned innocence for a moment, and then gave in, laughing.

"Alright, alright…" He said, placing an arm on Amnis' shoulder. "Girl after my own heart…"

"Well, we could probably eat some of these plants…" Danielle suggested, pointing at the hedgerow, marking the edge of someone's farmland, that they were travelling alongside. "Look! Blackberries! And down there, wild elia and rees nuts! And there…" She trailed off, looking to the side of the edible plant she'd been about to point out. "Oh, no…" She groaned. "It was bad enough in the forest!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jozan demanded, as the others stopped walking.

"Look!" Danielle said frantically. "Look there!" She pointed down at one of the plants growing at the foot of the wild hedge.

The plant she was indicating appeared to be a flower, with a yellow centre; and petals all the colours of the rainbow; each one with two colours on it. Red and green and blue; yellows and oranges and purples… it was beautiful. But as they looked more closely, they saw it wasn't a flower at all, but a toadstool, made up to look like it's less dangerous counterpart.

"Oh, a mushroom!" Amnis said, moving forward slightly. "Can we eat it?" She stretched out an arm to poke it suspiciously, but Danielle pulled her away.

"Don't touch it!" She said, urgently. "You touch that thing in the wrong place, and you're dead!"

"I think I've heard of these…" Ryou said, slowly. "They called it Funke Yurin in the old days… I think it means something like 'The colour of death'. The most poisonous mushroom in the world. The top is the part containing the poison, in the yellow part. When an insect lands on it, it's instantly dead. If an animal tries to eat it, the same again. And it can germinate from the seeds, on the underside of the cup, or from the root. It doesn't burn. It can survive underwater. It's almost impossible to kill itself, but has enough poison in it to kill several people without breaking a sweat. It's quite amazing, really."

"Well, you needn't sound so admiring!" Danielle snapped at him, pushing parts of the hedge aside so she could see through. "Oh…" She said, quietly. "Oh. We're in trouble."

"What is it?" Yugi asked, but Danielle turned instead to look at Jonouchi.

"Jou… This Muwal. It doesn't happen to have a large tower in it's centre, does it?" She asked, deceptively calm.

"Um…" He considered. "Now that you mention it, I think it does. If I remember rightly, it's actually the Town Hall… Why do you ask?"

"Oh." Danielle said, checking back through the hedge again. "…Yep. We're screwed." She turned back to face them, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "Through that hedge there," She explained. "Is a whole plantation. A whole field. And if we're going to get to Muwal, we're going to have to get through it."

"A plantation?" Jonouchi echoed indcredously. "Who would want to grow something like that!"

"The roots are very rare, very valuable." Danielle explained. "They're used to make jewellery and such. The mushrooms may not be rare, but people willing to try and harvest them are."

"It's fine." Seto said, speaking up at last. "You say only the yellow part is poisonous. Then we won't touch the yellow parts. Let's go."

Reluctantly, cautiously, they did. But it wasn't just the toadstools that they had to worry about.

There were men waiting for them. As they got to the centre of the field, the furthest from any escape, they appeared, had been hiding in the hedgerows and trees dotted around. They moved quickly, silently, and before anyone had chance to react, they were surrounded.

"Wow!" Jozan said cheerily as they swung frantically around in circles, finding men on all sides, armed to the teeth with swords or vicious, sharp, axes. There were nine of them, large, muscled and angry. "You were right, Danniru! We really are screwed!"

"Yeah…" Danielle agreed. "I don't really think they're here for a friendly chat."

"No, neither do I…"

"Seto!" Amnis yelled. All heads turned to her. Somehow, she had managed to make it into the back of the cart with no-one noticing. From where it had been hidden, she tossed Imasque to Seto, who caught it one handed and smirked evilly at the men before him. Meanwhile, Amnis was still chucking out the weapons at high speed. "Jonouchi! Yugi! Ryou! Danielle!"

Danielle caught the staff, and swung it in front of her as she had been taught in the Scar.

"Looks like our practise may come in handy after all." Danielle commented, as Jozan was tossed her bow and quiver. "Let's hope it pays off…"

They two groups stood, a circle within circle. The strange, vicious men were surrounding them, and the heroes stood in a circle staring back at them. Amnis had joined them now, throwing stars in hand. But still, no-one moved.

"Um… I have a problem…" Jozan confided in Danielle, who looked at her worriedly.

"You mean besides the men about to kill us and the deadly fungus all around!"

"Uh… yeah…"

"What do you want from us?" Seto asked of the men, steely, oblivious to the whispered conversation.

"My arrows don't work at close range like this! What do I do!"

"I don't know! I've never been in a fight in my life!"

"Isn't it obvious?" The leader of the strange men smiled back at Seto. "We want your blood."

For a moment longer, things continued to remain still. And then one of the men rushed forward, and within half a second, it had begun.

At first, it was just a melee of crashes and shouts as the two forces collided, in too tight a space to even move very far, let alone get any attacks in. Gradually, though, the combatants spread out, and no-one could take very much notice of what anyone else was doing in favour of trying to stay alive.

Danielle tried to back away from the fighting, so that she could look back and make sense of all this confusion, but it was too late. One of the men, swinging a large axe teasingly at her, followed; evidentially thinking she would be easy prey. She intended to prove him wrong. The cruel weapon swung for her neck, but she ducked, avoiding it; the power of his swing carrying him forward so that he tripped over her, stumbling straight into the mushrooms. He was lucky- he managed to keep his head up, and the poison would not get through his clothing. But in the time it took him to get to his feet, Danielle had gone.

Or so he thought. Something came slamming down on his head with such a force he immediately slipped back down to the ground, out cold. Danielle let her invisibility fade- it was too hard to keep up, and kicked him contemptuously onto his back. She wasn't vindictive enough to let him get his face in the deadly poison. Not yet, anyway.

"Hey, it really is the best way to knock people out…" She grinned, twirling the staff in her hands. She ran forward to join back into the fray, heading towards where she saw Jonouchi and Yugi standing back to back, trapped in a triangle of three men. The odds weren't looking good.

But then, Jonouchi swung at the man before him, and Yugi did the same at that precise moment. Two of the men stumbled backwards, bleeding. The two sprang apart, ready for them if they came back for another go. Unfortunately, they'd forgotten the third.

"Look out!" Danielle screamed at them as the man, the largest of the lot, raised a sword above his head, ready to bear down on them. She wanted to help, but she was too far away, too far, no matter how fast she ran she wouldn't… Yugi and Jonouchi whipped round.

"This is how we settle things in Noxell!" The man shouted, but then crumpled, falling forward stiffly as Yugi and Jonouchi leapt to the sides to avoid him as he crashed into the Funke Yurin. Ryou was standing behind him, staff still in the air, looking rather surprised at what he'd done. Then he smiled.

"…That's how we settle things in Nrefder." He explained, lowering his staff. There was no more time to talk as the other two came upon them, ready for another round.

Meanwhile, some feet away, Seto was having problems of his own. The other five men, including the leader had descended upon him. They stood all around him, weapons at the ready. Seto glanced around, calculating. If an attack came, there'd be no way to avoid it. The second he moved, he'd be impaled on the other side… Unless he was very, very fast.

Seto happened to think he was.

Smiling, the leader raised his sword with a cry, ready to bring it swinging down and bring Seto's death about- only to find that, now his arms were out of the way, Seto had managed to get him in the stomach. He fell back, a surprised expression on his face. Seto jumped over him, removing his sword as he went. Unfortunately, the others had been ready for this, and one was behind him now, readying for a swing.

Before it so much as touched Seto, he gave a cry of pain, and dropped the sword. An arrow was sticking out of his shoulder.

"Yes!" Jozan exalted, crouching on the ground some feet away, her sister close by, looking over towards where Jonouchi and Yugi were. "You help those guys, I've got Seto's back!"

"Right!" Amnis nodded, getting to her feet to run a little closer. "Hey, Jozan!" She called back, as she ran.

"Yeah?"

"Fifty points for the head, a hundred for an eye!"

"Forty in the shoulder, twenty for the stomach and ten in the back!" Jozan completed, firing another arrow off. It embedded itself into the back of one of the men surrounding Seto. "Better hurry, I'm beating you, 'Nis!"

Amnis ran over to where the others were, the two men, and the four of her companions, stood facing each other. The men had their backs to her. One raised his arms to take a swing at Jonouchi, who brought his blade up, parrying easily. Amnis threw herself through the air, grabbing him around the neck and knocking him off balance. She then pulled her legs up, using him as a springboard as she landed neatly next to her friends and he toppled forwards.

"What did I miss?" She asked, as the man, outraged, came running at her. She booted him in the stomach, and he staggered back, but then tumbled forward, an arrow in his back.

"Jozan!" Amnis yelled angrily. "That was mine!"

They could faintly make out her next words. "Sorry! Ten points to me!"

Jozan turned her attention back to Seto. He was doing pretty well on his own. The man she'd put an arrow in the back off was still lying on the ground. He wouldn't be dead, but he wouldn't be waking up for some time, and neither would the one Seto had dispatched. However, the one she'd shot in the shoulder had merely swapped weapon hands and was now chasing Seto along with another man, as Seto lead them on, teasing them, getting more space.

As she watched, the two men leapt together onto Seto, yelling battle cries, but he didn't seem unduly concerned. He threw his sword to the floor, and followed it, perfectly balanced. He was now behind the two, and before they knew what was happening, he had picked up both their swords from the ground and tossed them aside. Now he was the only one that was armed. They looked at him fearfully, and he smirked, embedding the tip of his sword into the ground.

But wait… Jozan narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Hadn't Seto been fighting five men…? She counted mentally. Seto was in hand-to-hand combat with two. Two were on the floor. So where had the fifth got to…?

She swung her head the other way. Amnis, Jonouchi and Yugi were dealing with their final thug. He was proving quite troublesome to them, being very fast, dodging every swing Yugi and Jonouchi took, leaping backwards, constantly out of range. Then he screamed, and dropped his weapon, clutching his face.

"Yeah! A hundred points to me!" Amnis screamed joyfully, but the man was already ignoring the pain and had picked his sword back up. He swung at her angrily.

"'Nis!" Jozan screamed, but she needn't have bothered. Yugi was right there in front of her, blocking the blow. He forced the man off her, kicking him in the stomach as he passed, and he fell back to where Jonouchi was waiting. The two stood apart, holding their swords before them, ready to engage. The two ran at each other, slicing and yelling, the swords moving so fast Jozan couldn't keep track of them. Then she located the man that had run from Seto. Danielle was having fun with him.

As Jozan watched, the man suddenly shot up into the air, flying up into the air and zooming back across the field, crashing painfully and skidding several metres before lying still. It was strangely reminiscent of the Rock Toad. Danielle glanced at him in satisfaction.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Jozan called over to her, impressed.

"No, neither did I! How many points do I get?"

"None! Points are for achievement!"

Seto brushed himself down, ignorant of the conversations going on around him, and, indeed, the two unconscious men at his feet. They hadn't been hard to deal with at all. One of them groaned. Seto stamped on his head.

"Be quiet." He commanded irritably. "I'm trying to think." He stamped again for good measure. The man fell silent, and still. "An ambush…" Seto considered, looking around at the carnage he had caused with indifference. Then he shrugged. "Well, at least we know we're going the right way."

Jonouchi, to, was just finishing up. The two men were tired now, weakening; but he wasn't done yet. At last, he got a hit in, to the man's knees, just as with the Guard. The man stumbled, and fell backwards, where he was immediately hit with two staffs, the flat of a sword, and someone's foot just to make really sure he was unconscious.

Seeing it was all over, Jozan lowered her bow, sighing in relief. "Thank goodness…" She whispered, unaware that Danielle's old friend, the man knocked out at the very beginning, was back on his feet and standing right behind her. He placed his sword into it's scabbard, seeing no use in it to dispatch of this nuisance. He hadn't yet noticed that his comrades were taking unexpected naps. He kicked Jozan in the back, and then crouched down, forcing her face into the ground. He knew what these mushrooms were, and he knew exactly what they would do. So did Ryou, the only one who saw what happened as the others busied themselves heaping all the unconscious bodies into one place and tying them up. He knew that if he didn't get there quickly, she would be dead. Ryou began to run, and Amnis, seeing what had happened was only seconds behind him. The man backed off Jozan, smirking, but then saw the fate of the others, and his eyes widened in horror. He began to sneak away, but Ryou wasn't concerned with him. He ran over to where Jozan lay, rolling her over onto her back. Her eyes were closed. Ryou cursed more violently then he thought he knew how. He, to, was unaware as the man came up behind him, silently pulling out his sword again. The man raised it, and, with the determination of a man with nothing to lose, he plunged it maliciously into Ryou's back, and he kept on pushing, and pushing, until he could see the end of his sword protruding. Then, when he was sure the deed was done, he kicked Ryou, sending him toppling forward, and pulled his sword out. He ran.

Amnis saw it all, watching in horror. She screamed, but Ryou didn't make a sound. He fell gracefully, the only sound a slight gasp as the air was forced from his lungs. He fell silently, the only sound a slight thud as his body hit Jozan's. He fell still, and there was no sound at all.

The others whipped around, alerted by the scream, but it was too late. The man had gone, and with him had taken Amnis, grabbing her brutally on the way past to try and shut her up. At least now he wouldn't return to Prysen empty handed… Amnis' travelling companions, however, weren't looking, didn't see. They stared in shock, in horror, at the sight of Ryou, lying face down on the ground. There was a hole in his back. And there was a lot of blood. An awful lot of blood.

Feeling came rushing back to Danielle's limbs, and she ran over, biting her lip in horror as she hauled him off Jozan, laid him so he was the right way up. He was in a bad way, to say the least. He was, undoubtedly, dead.

Or, at least, he should have been.

He was still bleeding. A wound cannot bleed if there is no heartbeat forcing the blood out. She listened, and yes, there it was, the tiniest, most shallow breathing. He was alive. Not for much longer, but he was still alive, for another few heartbeats, at least. The wound, to, was already beginning to congeal and scar up at the edges.

"But… how…?"

And then she saw. The tiniest of white sparks, dancing around the edge of the wound, fighting a losing battle with the crimson. Around Ryou's neck, he wore a small pendant; this much she had noticed before. The realisation hit her then. He knew about spelling inanimate objects! He must have put a healing spell into the pendant! She smiled, but it quickly faded. It wasn't enough. It couldn't handle this. She scoured her mind, trying to remember the word for 'healing', but it wouldn't come; she couldn't remember. Hoping against hope, she grabbed hold of the pendant. She might not know, but it did. She directed all her magic into it, and the sparks, that had been running from it so fleetingly, so randomly, before, began to gain energy, until it was almost a constant stream of white, leaping from the necklace and into the wound.

And yet… It still wasn't enough. The wound was healing slightly, but not enough. The blood kept flowing. There was so much blood. Too much blood…

"I can't do it…" Danielle realised, numbly. "I can't stop the bleeding! It just won't stop! Hang in there, Ryou, hang in there… I'll think of something…"

But she didn't need to. Shakily, his arm rose, and clasped hold of hers. The light increased even more, and, slowly, slowly, the wound closed. Danielle prised her hand away, and closed her eyes, drained, exhausted.

Ryou's eyes, however, flickered open. With difficulty, he struggled to sit up.

"Jozan…" He said, tiredly. "The poison… He poisoned her…"

They looked to the girl, having almost forgotten about her in the face of something that had looked so much worse. She was lying still, her face grey, but she, to, was still alive.

"We have to heal her…" Danielle muttered to Ryou. "Or she'll die… But I'm just so tired…"

"Me to…" Ryou muttered, but, none the less, the two mages managed to stagger over and pump her full of every last bit of magic until no more would come. "There…" Ryou said, approvingly, swaying where he stood. "She won't die… It won't be much fun for her, though…" He sat down, heavily.

Danielle nodded, sagging to. She would have fallen, but Yugi blocked her way. He held her up, but to his amazement, she was asleep. Ryou, to, seemed to be slumbering, his head dangerously close to falling into the toadstools to.

"Um… guys!" Jonouchi yelled. "This is not a good place to take a nap!"

Danielle mumbled something no-one could understand.

"I've seen her do this before…" Yugi said, quietly. "It takes a lot out of you, casting that much magic. They must have really given it their all." He smiled. "She'll be fine after a good sleep. I bet she'll snore something awful, though."

"Well, this is just wonderful." Seto said, looking around. "We have three unconscious people, we've lost the squirt, and we're standing in a field full of poisonous mushrooms and men that want to kill us, a good day's travel away from anywhere."

"For once, you have a point." Jonouchi nodded. "We'd better get out of here. I hope you don't weigh too much, Ryou…" He commented, lifting the Mage in question.

Eventually, the three were put into the back of the cart, and Seto, Jonouchi and Yugi began to slowly, carefully, get out of the field.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Surely you won't run?

When your boat is ready to sail

Surely you will stay?

And face the gentle rain.

The haunting melody invaded her feverish dreams, of half-formed monsters, in a world where everything was swathed in fog and nothing was clear; except the feelings of fear, the impulse to run, and knowing it was useless… And all the time, the words cut through, haunting, but, in some way, soothing. She knew them. Jozan knew them. She hadn't heard them for a long time, but she knew them well… She began to focus on the words, and even as the dreams began to release her, the song did not, gripping her groggy mind. Yes… It was the lullaby of Li'anon. Her mother used to sing it to her when she was ill, so did all the mothers to their children… but it had gone. It had burnt with Li'anon. No-one had sung it in years… yet, someone was now. It wasn't just part of the memory-muddled dreams, but a real, solid voice, calling her back…

In the morning you should think you might not last unto the night

And in the evening you should think you might not last unto the morn.

The words were found, by many outsiders, to be strange, even disturbing, but for her, they carried a kind of comfort with them. As the last two lines inevitably came, Jozan's eyes finally won the contested struggle to open.

So dance, my dears, dance

Before you take the dark flight down.

She was looking at a ceiling. A real one, not one made of branches; although it was missing in places and through the cracking whitewash she could see the rafters of the roof. And still, someone was singing, beginning again. She didn't know who it was for a second, then recognised Danielle's voice as she struggled to her feet. She moved to the door of the tiny room she was in, and saw her sitting on the grass outside. The Mage hadn't noticed her.

"Surely you won't run? When your boat is ready to sail…"

Then, a more pressing need arose, and Jozan pushed past her, running to a nearby tree and proceeding to vomit all over it. This was the first Danielle had seen of her for almost three days, and she followed; having seen enough sick in her time not to be particularly bothered by it. Oh, the fun they had.

"You'll be doing that for a while." Danielle commented cheerfully, as Jozan stood, doubled over, repeating her earlier routine. "Your body is just rejecting the last of the poison- nothing like a good purging, you know. Once it's over, you'll feel fine. Of course, it won't be very nice in the process, but it should be over in… Oh, I don't know… I mean, I've seen people spew constantly for-"

"Surprisingly," Jozan ground out, taking deep breathes. "That isn't helping!" She continued where she had left off.

"You're very good at it, though. Most people get it all down themselves."

"Danniru-!" Jozan began, only to interrupt herself.

"Sorry." Danielle paused, wincing. "Oh…Urrgh. Yeah, that's nasty. Eww."

Jozan would have glared at her if she hadn't been a little…preoccupied. She vowed to aim at Danielle next time.

At last, the nausea passed, and Jozan slowly straightened up, moving away from the vile smell. She sat down in the grass in front of the hut, resting her pounding head in her hands.

"That song…" She said slowly.

"Oh, you heard me?" Danielle frowned, a little embarrassed. "I remembered it when we were in those vines. I think it must have been a lullaby or something. Still, I guess you might not recognise it… My mom used to sing it, but-"

"Danniru. Please. Be quiet."

"Sorry." Danielle sat down next to her. "I haven't spoken to anyone since this morning."

Jozan lifted her head up, looking around properly for the first time. There was the small, one-roomed hut that she had awoken in, and then a small grassy glade, surrounded by trees. The cart and April stood there, but no-one else. "…Where is everyone?"

"Foraging. Seto, Ryou, Jonouchi and Yugi. They're looking for food and water. I stayed here-"

"You didn't have to stay." Jozan said, harshly.

"To get a fire ready." Danielle completed, looking rather hurt as she indicated the pile of fire wood to their left.

"You didn't have to stay." Jozan repeated, bitterly. "Where are we?"

"In a little wood, not far from the next town. We've had to move rather slowly since you've been ill. You got poisoned during the fight in the toadstools, do you remember?"

Jozan simply nodded. "Why aren't I dead?" She asked, bluntly.

"Well, Ryou and I managed to…" She trailed off, and the two fell silent. "But you cut it close… We didn't know if you were going to wake up."

"…Thank you." Jozan said, eventually. Then, suddenly, something that had been irritating her penetrated her thoughts and she was at last able to identify it. "Wait. You didn't mention Amnis in that list. Where is she?"

Danielle bit her lip.

"Danniru! Where is Amnis!"
"The men… they took her… We think to the same place as Anzu."

Jozan stared at her for a moment, and then began to laugh.

Of all the reactions Danielle had anticipated, this hadn't been one of them.

"Oh…" Jozan shook her head. "Oh… They kidnapped her? Oh, they're going to regret that…" Then she caught Danielle's quizzical look and her smile broadened. "She's not going to take that lying down. And once she's angry… Oh, this should be good. Still," She sobered up, and stood, stretching. "We'd better mosey on and rescue her, before she kills someone."

"Well, if you're feeling up to it, we can-" Danielle began, only to have Jozan run past her and back to the previously affronted tree to finish what she had begun before. "Wow. I didn't realise you even had that much inside you." She commented, admiringly.

It was just then the others returned.

"Jozan's awake." She explained, unnecessarily.

"It's about time." Seto sniffed, as she stood shakily and turned to face him. "You've held us up a lot, Jozan, and it's your sister that-"

He didn't finish his sentence. Jozan's nausea had just reasserted itself over his boots. "Hmmph." Seto snorted, after a long pause. He had nothing else to say on the subject.

But Danielle did. And the second she had him alone, she would tell him.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The opportunity came that very night. As they were in completely unfamiliar territory, and still unnerved by the ambush, they were taking it in turns to keep watch; staying up in pairs, with the exception of Jozan, who, they reasoned, needed the rest. This, of course, had resulted in an odd number, but Ryou had volunteered to go alone, while Jonouchi and Yugi went together. That had left Danielle with Seto. Their watch was almost over. Finally, she built up the courage to confront him.

"You didn't have to speak to Jozan like that." She told him. "She's been very ill and wakes up to find her sister gone! Give her a break…"

Seto gave no sign to indicate he'd heard her.

"It wouldn't kill you to be kind to someone, you know." Danielle added. Still, he ignored her, and now she was frustrated. "Why do you have to be so distant all the time, huh! What, are you allergic to friendship? But then, you can't be, because you get on with Az well enough…!"

At last, he turned to face her. He didn't look happy. But still, she didn't stop.

"Did you ever think we might actually understand!" Danielle demanded. "That you're not the only one who's experienced pain! Jozan's lost her home and family, so have I, so have Amnis and Ryou, just like you have! And… and… How do you know that we don't love someone just like you do! You'll never know unless you take the time to find out!"

"Don't talk to me about love." He said, suddenly, bitterly. "Who are you to talk to me about love! Can you even imagine …Imagine loving someone so much you would die to protect them and not being able to touch them!"

"Yes!" She screamed. "Yes, I know exactly what it's like to love someone you can't be with! I know it exactly! Because I'm here trying to rescue his flipping fiancée!"

She sat, breathing deeply, as Seto raised an eyebrow at her confession. Just then, Ryou appeared in the doorway to the little shack.

"What's all the commotion?" He asked, blearily. "Is my turn?"

Seto stalked past him and inside, but Danielle hung around for a moment by the waning fire with him, thinking.

"Everything alright?" Ryou asked.

"Yeah…" She answered. "But… do you mind if I talk to you?"

He looked surprised, but shook his head. "Not at all. I'll help if I can…"

"I'm sure you can. You see, there's a spell I've been wanting to ask you about…"

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

They managed to reach Muwal at last just an hour or two after dawn, the following day, although it was hard to tell, as the sky was covered by heavy grey clouds that offered no gaps or relief for the sun to sneak through; it was completely wrapped up inside. The town seemed rather grey to, shops not yet open, market stalls not yet in place at this early hour. It was eerily silent, not another soul to be seen. It seemed almost… scared.

"We need to find where we're heading as soon as we can." Seto instructed quietly, although they still hadn't seen another person as they walked down the empty street; heading always, unerringly, towards the large tower Danielle had seen all those days ago. It was an impressive feat of architecture, the huge stone blocks used to construct it standing out and dwarfing all the wooden buildings gathered around them. It rose high up into the sky, immediately drawing the eye and the town to it's needlessly impressive centrepiece. There was no point to a town hall being built like that, except perhaps to satisfy the whims and wills of a boastful mayor. "We've already been held up too long by all the… problems. We must hurry."

"Just who are you?" An old, creaky voice demanded. It was only by his slight, shuffling movement that they saw him, curled up in the shadows of the tower, back pressed up against the cold stone.

"We're entertainers." Seto recovered quickly from the surprise. "Where is the mayor?"

The man laughed bitterly. "You could say… I am."

"Excuse me?" Seto blinked, politely.

"Well, I'm the only one left, you see." He laughed again. "And a circus is the last thing I need! But I think it's the last thing you are as well…"

"But… Where is everyone?" Danielle asked, unsure if what he said could be true.

"Gone! Up and left! This was a nice town…" He looked at her with eyes that begged her to believe him. "It really was. But then the harvest failed in the fields all around… Money got scarce… And the Mayor sold the town hall."

"Who brought it?" Seto demanded urgently, abandoning all pretence now.

The man shrugged. "No-one knows. But they used it to store… things. Evil-sounding things. Weapons that can kill a man from many feet away… things that explode… Everyone got frightened and left. I don't blame 'em. It wasn't just the weapons. People started to disappear, dragged away in the night. And not just people from here, either! The soldiers kept coming through, pulling people right through the town and…" He trailed off.

"And?" Jozan prompted. The man shook his head.

"No!" He said, with sudden resolve. "If I tell you that, you kids are going to go chasing off after it, aren't you? It'd be the last thing you ever did, to!"

"We're not 'kids'." Seto said stonily. "But you're right. We're not a circus either. Do you know who we are?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "I am a knight of Nrefder. The one they call 'The Silent Wind'. And with me, I have another knight, two mages, and the Prince of Noxell." The man gawped at them, but knew from Seto's tone of voice he wasn't making it up. "We need you to finish that sentence." Seto commanded, silkily. "Are you going to argue?"

The man wavered, but then nodded. "Yes, I'm going to argue! I don't care if you're Jack the Giant Slayer, I can't tell you!"

"Please…" Jozan begged him quietly. "They have my sister, and the Princess of Nrefder to. If we don't rescue her, then it'll be bad for everyone. And if we don't find my sister…"

The man bit his lip, and then he sighed, pointing an arm at the road before them. "You just keep heading that way. There's nothing for miles except a cluster of buildings. That's where they take them. And that's all I know; except that it's death to go there! You want my advice? Turn around and go back to being a harmless circus, you'll do better!"

Danielle couldn't help but laugh. This man was blissfully unaware of all the difficulties they had already faced. They walked off down the road, and towards their final destination.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The clouds, ominous and rapidly turning from grey to black, seemed to echo the sentiments of those hurrying along beneath them, although the affairs of mankind were surely too small and too insignificant for the skies to worry about. Perhaps they to were locked in some kind of struggle, in the palaces and islands of water vapour.

On the ground below, the heroes- if that was the correct term for such a higgledy-piggledy arrangement of potential rescuers- hurried alone. The clouds' actions were not as unimportant to them as theirs were to the clouds, in fact, three of their number kept shooting worried looks upwards, and then around them.

Outside of the town, they had seen what the man had meant. They had been travelling on, after one or two derelict farms, over barren moor land, sparse and flat. They were the only things upon it, except a slight black smudge on the horizon, and the blue winding line of a river. Danielle looked at the smudge, and even from this far away, it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Ryou, she noticed, looked similarly bothered. Somehow, they just knew something bad was contained within those walls. But what they wanted was in there to. They had to go forward. They could never go back.

Yet, whatever else there was on this moor- and there wasn't very much of that either- there wasn't any shelter at all. Which could be bad for the Mages amongst them. Very bad.

"I think it's going to rain…" Danielle said, worriedly.

"We'll have to hope it doesn't." Ryou answered, grimly.

No-one needed to ask for an explanation. With every drop that fell, there would be another ripple. Another vision. Thousands and thousands, all one on top of the other. Normally, they could shelter indoors, in the centre of the building, and sleep through the entire thing, the visions occasionally slipping into their dreams. With the shelter from the thick foliage of the Scar, Jozan was usually fine too, although she also went indoors. But there was none of that here.

As in their worst dreams, the sky creaked and groaned with the first rumble of thunder, as the clouds fought, strained, to hold the downpour back. It was followed only moments later by the flash of light as the doors to the heavens creaked open, and the rain began to fall, in a light drizzle.

"This won't end well." Danielle predicted, drably, already feeling the ghostly pull of futures, of other worlds, running it's fingers over her mind. She pushed it aside, but if it got any heavier, she wouldn't be able to do so.

"There must be somewhere we can go…" Ryou said, looking from side to side in desperation. Even as they spoke, the drops were falling thicker and faster, having already doubled in volume.

Jozan, her hearing now amazingly acute, cocked her head to one side. For a moment, Danielle understood why Seto had referred to it as 'Dog hearing'. "There's… I'm not sure what it is. But there are two men there. One's sleeping, the other is tiptoeing around, trying not to wake him… The echoes make it seem like a large place… Probably some other buildings scattered around to, but it seems fairly abandoned. It's far away, but not as far as that." She pointed back at their original destination, and then over to the West. "If we move quickly and the rain gets no heavier, we might be okay. It's over there… somewhere… Behind that line of trees…"

Seto squinted over, and could indeed see some trees a good mile or two away on the flat ground, although they swam in the mist of rain. Could they make it? It was their only choice… "Can you get us there?" He checked with Jozan.

She nodded. "Yes. I… think."

Danielle may have been more impressed with this display, at last, of what Jozan could do, had she not been fully occupied with trying to keep her mind tethered to this time and place, though it got harder and harder with each drop that fell. The second she succumbed, that was it. Vision after vision would crash upon her unprotected mind. Mages better than her had died that way. She shivered slightly as they followed Jozan, who was scurrying across the moor, occasionally changing her angle slightly, but always roughly towards the forest. However, as the storm worsened, with the thunder screaming and shouting overhead, the water soaking them to the bone, she found it harder and harder; and every time she stopped to reconsider the angle that they entered at, it took a little longer. Yugi noticed she was biting her lip slightly, little gasps of pain escaping. Then, she raised her hands to cover her ears, sobbing slightly.

"Are you alright?" Yugi checked, water dripping from his hair and down his face in streams.

"…You bet." Jozan smiled weakly, dragging her hands away. "It's just… all this noise… ow…"

"Please, Jozan." Ryou asked, tiredly. The strain of fighting the ripples was taking it's toll on him just as much as it was on Danielle. "I don't know how much longer I can stand up to this…"

"Me either…" Danielle admitted, and the second she opened her mouth, the visions came crowding in, fogging her mind. She beat them back, but only just. She had to focus her mind somehow. She forced something else into her head- the only thing she could think of was the Li'anon lullaby. She thought she could hear Jozan whispering it to herself as well, though it was wavering and painful, occasionally interrupted by soft whimpers of pain as her ears took a battering.

They continued on, the rain no longer falling in drops but appearing as a constant waterfall before them. Danielle tried to fight it, but there was no more she could do. She fell, and the last things she was aware of before a thousand visions cascaded into her mind at once was Ryou falling at almost the same moment, and Jozan crying in pain…

Seto cursed, pulling the cart to a halt- no mean task, as April, scared by the thunder and lightning, was going as fast as she could, as Jonouchi and Yugi ran back to the two mages. It was not a pretty sight, as they writhed there on the ground, twitching or crying out as if infected with some deadly poison as they were thrown without relief from one world to another, plummeted from one time to another.

"Seto…" Jozan whispered, uncertainly. She was crouching on the ground, shaking. Seto ignored her. They had more pressing matters. He watched as Yugi and Jonouchi placed the other two into the somewhat limited space in the cart, and mentally cursed again. He had wanted no more hold ups…! He heard a soft sound at his feet, that he could only just make out over the rain. He looked down at Jozan, and even he took a step back in fear or disgust at what he saw.

She, to, had fallen to the ground, and was now curled up in a little ball, there in the mud that the moor had become. She whimpered softly, blood pouring over her fingers as she held them to her ears. The sound was unfamiliar. A person so strong emitting squeaks so soft, so scared, conveying so much pain, was quite unnerving. But they couldn't stay here.

Seto sighed and knelt down next to her. "Jozan. Jozan. Come on. We need you to guide us. I need you to hang on… Jozan? Jozan, can you even hear me?"

She continued to stare blankly through him, tears rolling down her face, hands over her bloody ears. It was fairly obvious she had gone, to where, he did not know; but too far to hear him. Sighing again, he picked her up, just as he had done on the day she'd got herself poisoned- and, noting this was becoming a familiar scene, managed to find room in the cart for her as well. Only, then, it had been Jozan in the real danger, and the other two only temporarily out of the game. This time it was the other way around. Ryou and Danielle could easily die, whereas Jozan would be fine the moment the rain stopped- for the moment, the sheer volume of noise had been too much for her ears.

Still, it was a nuisance. Without Jozan to guide them, finding this supposed shelter would be a lot harder. And, if he was honest- which he would never be- he didn't want Danielle or Ryou to die.

…Not that he liked them. He'd just grown accustomed to their being there.

Yugi and Jonouchi, meanwhile, glanced at each other in surprise. Seto had taken uncharacteristic care moving someone he seemed to hate so much… But then, Yugi supposed, you couldn't know someone for years on end and not at least get to know them a little.

"I suppose we ought to just head for the trees," Seto said, having to shout to make himself heard over the rushing wind. "And we should be able to see it from the other side."

Jonouchi shook his head. "Like I said, I know these parts!" He said, with a hint of hesitation. "…I can show you the way." They struck off again, despite Seto's mental doubts about trusting the other knights.

"How do you know these parts, Jou?" Yugi asked as they went. He was the Prince, and even he rarely travelled over these moors. Jonouchi had been in the palace, miles away in the centre of Noxell, since he was seven, so how had he come to know this land so well?

Jonouchi took a long time to answer. Eventually, however, he did.

"Because the land we're heading towards…" Still, he hesitated, wondering if he could really admit it. "…Belongs to my father."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Jonouchi didn't seem to want to say anymore, so, for now, they left it at that. As it happened, they had bigger problems. Ryou and Danielle were in deep trouble. Maybe Jozan to, although her life didn't hang in the balance. They thought, at least. However, Jozan proved this herself just a short while later, as the trees loomed just ahead.

"Seto! Stop!" Yugi called, having heard rustlings, movement, in the back of the cart. A moment later, Jozan hopped down, looking a little zoned out, and dirty, with dried blood on her hands and side of her face, but otherwise okay. "Jozan… Welcome back!"

She blinked at him in confusion.

"Hey!" Jonouchi smirked at her expression. "You in there, Jozie!"

Her expression changed suddenly, moving through a swift progression. First, the confusion deepened, then she stared in disbelief, before biting her lip slightly.

"You okay?" Yugi checked. Seto, having not even turned around, spoke up.

"That doesn't matter now! Every minute out in this storm brings the other two closer to death! I might not care, but, if you do, Jozan, you'd better take the lead again."

Seto didn't like rain.

Jozan didn't answer. In fact, she gave no sign of having heard.

In fact, it almost seemed as though…

"I don't think she can hear you." Yugi said, slowly, quietly. "I don't think she can hear anything…"

"What!" Jonouchi yelled.

"It must be the storm. If she's hearing all that so loudly, it's no wonder her ears couldn't hold up for long… I think she's deaf."

Seto gripped the reigns slightly harder then necessary, though no-one saw it. "I couldn't care less right now!" he snapped. The other two stared, appalled at the harshness of his words. "As long she can walk, let's go. If not, get her back in the cart, and let's go."

"Yeah?" Jonouchi said, scathingly. "Well, tell me this, then- how are we supposed to tell her that? She can't hear us. She can't lip-read. She grew up in a forest, so you can bet she can't read. What do you suggest we do?"

"We walk." Seto replied, evenly, brushing the wet hair dripping into his eyes aside. With that, he started April off again, at high speed, so that the others struggled and stumbled to keep up. Jozan ran along with them. She may have been crying silently, but there was already so much water running down their faces they were unable to tell.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Jonouchi wasn't happy. Not even slightly.

For a start, he was soaked to the bone. Utterly drenched. His clothes sucked on his body like a limpet, like an extra layer of skin; that he, like a snake, desperately wanted to shed. His hair hung floppily around his face, and kept falling in his eyes and blocking his vision. It was cold and uncomfortable, impossible to see even a few metres ahead, and that alone was enough to put anyone in a bad mood.

Then there was the fact that this entire mission, that had started so routinely- Go on a quest, rescue a Princess, and be home in time for tea and medals- had gone so far out of control. No matter how Seto behaved, Jonouchi cared that his friends were hurt, or in danger. Jozan had become, in a matter of moments, totally deaf; and she had got off lightly in comparison to the other two. They could, quite possibly, collapse under the pressure of all these contesting visions in their minds and simply shut down, never come back. And Seto's callous, careless attitude wasn't helping.

Needless to say, Seto was a third, and possibly largest, annoyance. Jonouchi begrudgingly admitted that he was good at his job- he had, after all, managed to deal with the forget-me-nots, not to mention the six men he took down in the mushrooms- but this, to him, made the 'Silent Wind' even more insufferable. Jonouchi couldn't, hard as he tried, believe Jozan's story about him loving Az- he was sure Seto's heart had been torn out and replaced with a stone. Although, of course, being with Az would explain where he had disappeared to all the time in the Scar…

The fourth part of his irritation was a mutation of nerves at where they were headed. He fingered the key around his neck. He had swore to go back one day, but now it came down to it…

He sighed. I'll see you soon, Dad…

They passed through the line of trees that they'd hardly been able to see in the rain. On the other side lay villages and farms; the buildings abandoned and falling down, the farms indistinguishable from one another as weeds and grasses grew where they wanted, irrespective of borders. If Muwal had been a ghost town, this was a graveyard. Jonouchi looked around at it in horror. Was this it? Was this all that remained of them, their clan, their family…? He felt eyes on him. He turned and saw, lurking in the darkness of one of the shacks, it's roof all but gone, a woman looking at him in suspicion, her face pinched and unnaturally thin. The baby in her arms began to whimper as she withdrew into the remainder of the building. They didn't see anyone else, and Jonouchi was almost glad of it.

"I said, where do we go?" Seto repeated, irritably, snapping him out of his musings. Jonouchi blinked at him. He wouldn't be here himself if it wasn't for the sake of his friends! And yet, Seto did nothing but repeat the question for a third time.

"I guess…" Jonouchi said, slowly. "We head to the only building in this place that still has a roof on it." And he pointed, towards the edge of the cluster of dilapidated cottages, where a single, large home stood, iron gates standing austerely, barring a luscious garden of healthy grasses and bushes and flowers from the poverty outside. The house was in such a good state, it looked almost new. It hadn't changed since Jonouchi had left it nine years ago.

It had been raining then, to.

Jonouchi pulled the key from the thread around his neck, and put it into the lock on the gate. It was time.

He twisted it, and, with a creak, a warning, it opened; and they walked over the threshold.

"What now?" Yugi prompted, as Jonouchi stood, staring at the house. He desperately wanted to know exactly what had happened to his friend in this place, but didn't want to pry. So, instead, he focused on the task at hand.

"We'd better-"

"You'll find no shelter here." A weary, bitter voice called out to them, and they turned. All except Jozan, who wasn't aware anyone had spoken until the others looked away. "Leave this accursed place."

Jonouchi turned, and saw the old man standing in the doorway, watching them. A lump rose in his throat. He swallowed, and took a step forward. The man's eyes had never been excellent.

"Jacob…"

The man blinked at him, and then, slowly, recognised him. "Jonouchi! You're alive after all! After all these years!" He squinted at the cart. "A circus! Is this the fate that has befallen you!"

"Um… Not exactly…" Jonouchi smiled a little sheepishly, as the man embraced him. "But… um… I'm in a spot of trouble, I'm afraid."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Jacob answered, wryly, gesturing at them to come in. He appeared a little surprised when the cart spat out two feverish Mages, but decided not to ask, instead calling inside. "…Celia? We're going to need more bedding! Immediately!"

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The room was still, except for Danielle occasionally rolling over in her sleep. But, now they were indoors and protected by the walls, she seemed reasonably peaceful. Ryou, to, was sleeping through the rest of the storm, their minds refusing to let them wake up while they were still at risk. Jozan had her knees pulled up close to her, her head resting on them. She was staring at a wall with interest, although she didn't seem to be seeing it. She was probably deep in thought in her strange, new, silent world, oblivious to the conversation as Yugi pondered aloud.

"Noxell is divided just as Nrefder is, with land given to knights and their families that only have to answer to the King. Of course, it's only passed down the line if the son is worthy of receiving it, but no-one's been rejected yet… I suppose this must be one of the jurisdictions. I didn't realise Jonouchi came from such a family. As far as I knew, he'd come to the Palace when we were seven, off the streets. He became a squire, and, eventually, a knight… but all this time, I'd assumed his parents were dead." He sounded vaguely guilty. "I wonder what caused him to leave? And what made the land turn out this way? It's so… abandoned, so ruined. Perhaps-"

"I envy her." Seto said suddenly from the other side of the room, nodding at Jozan. "At least she doesn't have to listen to your blather." He shut his eyes, settling back against the wall. This seemed to be the way he always slept, as far as Yugi knew. He had never seen him lying down. He wondered if it was paranoia of being attacked, where he'd need to be on his feet quickly, or if he actually was more comfortable that way. "Who knows how long that fool's going to be? I suggest we sleep while we have the chance…"

The fool he was referring to, of course, was Jonouchi; who had slipped away with the old man and woman that seemed to be the only servants- and only inhabitants- of this strange, empty house.

"I'd like to see my sister." Jonouchi said, the instant they were alone. They had found bedding for the others, and a room; everyone had bathed and had a change of dry clothes. And now, at last, he could ask to see Shizuka. It had been a long time.

He had been seven when he left, she had been five. She'd be fifteen now. He should have come home sooner, much, much sooner.

"Wouldn't we all?" Jacob sighed sadly. "She awaited your return for years, but once she turned fourteen, she could wait no longer. She left, just like everyone else with any sense, before she starved. Your father is here, but… I think it would perhaps be best if you didn't speak to him. He is…indisposed."

Jonouchi snorted. "He actually noticed I'd gone? I'm impressed."

Jacob said nothing.

For as far back as Jonouchi could remember, things had been like this. He and Shizuka had been raised by Jacob and his wife, while his father had gradually wasted away under the influence of alcohol. Unable to make sensible decisions, and putting taxes unreasonably high, the land under his control, once so proud, had begun to fall into ruin. At seven, Jonouchi had been able to stand it, unable to stand his father's violence, and the fact there was never anything to eat. He had more to eat even in those first few months, when he slept on the streets and spent the day stealing food and whatever else he could grab. He had promised Shizuka he would come back, with a new home to whisk her away to, away from him. But the path of his life had not lead that way, and here he was, back where he had started; with the land in wreak and ruin, it's citizens long having abandoned the ever sinking ship.

"The doctors say there's no point even trying to stop the drinking now." Celia commented quietly. "He's dying, almost dead. And he's quite mad. He keeps ranting about your mother, talking to her- he believes he sees her ghost, and it torments him. He keeps speaking of leaving this place, to get away from her…" She looked at him, almost hopefully.

"You are the rightful heir to this territory." Jacob reminded Jonouchi gently. "Like it or not, once he's gone, it's yours. You could say it belongs to the King, that such a small area is insignificant, but it's your responsibility. You can leave it like this… or you can make something of it."

Jonouchi smiled grimly. "That's talk for another day. I am a knight of Noxell, and at the moment… I'm working. I need to sleep. It's been a hard journey and we'll be heading off again in the morning."

"Won't you stay just a little longer?" Celia asked, sadly. She had been unable to have children of her own, and when the children's mother had died when they were so young… she felt as if they were her own.

"I can't. But don't worry. I'll be back soon, to take what's mine. I promise."

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Danielle remembered walking with the others in the storm, rain so thick she could hardly see the others in front of her. After that, there was just… chaos. Flashes of futures, moving so fast that the mind couldn't track them and they became a blur. The sickening, lurching sensation of high-speed outer- dimensional projection; barely having time to become established in one before being flung into the next or being dragged back to her own. Her mind was buckling with the strain of trying to cope, and just as she was sure it would explode, it settled down; and she drifted into a deep sleep, with occasional visions rippling and bubbling up into her dreams.

Outside, the storm raged through the whole night, screaming and crying in anger at being ignored, sending barrages of rain up against the house, the wind howling around the rooves looking for a way in. By the morning, it had retreated, and although the ground was treacherous and muddy, the sky was clear. First, however, there was one issue to be resolved.

Danielle yawned, sitting up. "Oh, that was a good sleep…" She mumbled appreciatively. Ryou emitted a kind of agreeing grunt.

"Alright for some." Yugi commented, although he smiled. "We were kept up all night by the storm!"

"Jozan seemed to manage alright…" Danielle commented, as the girl roused herself. Yugi's face fell, and, slowly, he explained.

Danielle and Ryou looked at Jozan, and then at each other.

"Oh, we can fix that in a jiffy." Ryou dismissed, going to kneel at her right side. Danielle nodded, going to the left. Jozan looked between them, nervously.

"Still… This is the part of the job I hate…" Danielle commented. "On three. One… Two… Three!" She cried, following it immediately with the word for 'hearing', Ryou echoing it.

She and Ryou both jabbed their fingers into her ears.

"Ow!" Jozan protested, falling backwards in surprise, rubbing her insulted ears. "What was that for!"

And then she realised.

"Sorry." Danielle apologised. That's the only way to direct the spell to the right place…"

Jozan grinned. "I forgive you. And I tell you what, I have never been so glad to hear your verbal rubbish!"

"Charming."

And that was that.

It was time for them to move out. They left the cart, and April behind. There was no use in their disguises anymore. They left Jonouchi's home dressed in their own clothes, and with their own weapons strapped on at hips or over their backs. They had work to do.

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