The Crystal Gate

Part Sixteen: Fly!

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all characters and whatnot, is not mine. Plot is mine. Don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to moo.

Moo.

The battle in the woods had delayed the travelers quite a bit, and so they were not nearly as far along on their journey as they had hoped to be by the time night fell. They stopped on the road only two hours from the place where the battle had been. The sun was setting, the air slowly growing cooler, and their legs growing so weary that there was little choice but to stop.

They had followed the stream north and west until they reached the small pond into which it flowed. Miyako, easily the most tired of them all, set the bag she had carried on the ground with a decisive thump. Shijo, following her lead, set down his own pack and began immediately to examine the food rations he carried. They'd taken some fish with them that they'd caught previously, and there was enough of those to eat for dinner, tiresome though they might be. Ken knelt by the stream and took a few gulps of water with his hand before refilling his canteen with the clear, cool liquid. Only Daisuke did not seem eager to stop. He took a few steps further along the path before finally stopping and glancing back at the others with an expression of disappointment.

"We can't travel all night and day," Miyako said in answer to his frown, and sat down in the grass beside her bag. She'd long since bothered to be greatly concerned about things like cleanliness – her dress had become tattered and tired from battles and desert crossings – but she still sighed at the sight of herself.

Shijo set about preparing the fish for the meal, washing them a bit in the stream and then skewering them on long, pointed sticks. Having refilled his canteen, Ken began to gather twigs and sticks for firewood. A few tall trees surrounded the pond, and kindling was not hard to come by. After some time, Daisuke declined to argue, and so sat down in the grass beside his partner, who had been lying lazily beside the pond for some time now.

The air was damp and humid, warning of approaching rain. The skies were clouded, but not completely overcast, and no drops yet fell. "It's a bad sign," Daisuke mumbled, looking up at the sky.

"It's probably the same storm that Koushiro said was in Hida," Miyako answered with a shrug. She shut her eyes, feeling tired. "Storms do travel, you know, sometimes in odd ways."

For a few moments, there was no noise but the leaves rustling in the wind as a cool breeze blew past, smelling of rain. "Since when do you worry about signs?" she wondered.

He shrugged absently. Miyako opened one eye and squinted at him through the haze of her magical vision, wondering how much of his memories had returned and how much he was still missing. Certainly the spell was still present, for she could still see it, though not as powerful as it had once been. Perhaps being apart from Hikari had done this, or was it simply the natural course of things for the magic to lose its potency?

Anything else she might have thought to ask was interrupted when Ken unexpectedly dropped his armful of twigs on the ground, startling her out of her daze. He began to rearrange them into a suitable pile for starting a fire, and Miyako watched him for a few moments, a completely different set of questions beginning to form in her mind.

The evening was not particularly warm, but the air was dense and humid, and when he had finished his task, Ken paused to take another gulp of water from his canteen, a bit of sweat beginning to appear on his forehead, and then turned back to the pile.

It burst into flames before he could even begin any attempts to light it, startling Shijo from his work on the fish and even managing to momentarily jolt Daisuke from wherever his mind had been wandering. V-mon, who had been watching the others through partly closed eyes, was unaffected, and Wormmon showed no sign of alarm. Poromon continued sleeping as he had been doing for some time now, and Agumon frowned, for he had been pleased with taking the task of lighting the fire to prove his usefulness. Ken, however glanced toward her with the same strange expression that he had used when she had raised a shield to protect him.

"What happened to being tired?" Daisuke questioned crossly – he was still in a bad mood about having to stop – frowning in her direction. Miyako chose to ignore him and did not glance in his direction as she removed her own magic from the flames of the fire and let it burn on its own, consuming the wood.

"Won't be long now before we eat," Shijo said cheerfully, oblivious to or perhaps choosing to ignore the tension in the air. Having finished skewering the fish, he plunged the sticks into the fire so they could cook. Almost immediately, the scent of roasting meat began to fill the air.

There was silence for a long time as they waited for the meat to cook. V-mon, still appearing to be only half awake, idly watched some fish swimming in the pond below. Wormmon, too, seemed only partly awake, and Poromon dozed in his partner's lap. Shijo kept close eye on the fish, partly to assure that they cooked well and partly to assure that his partner did not eat them all. Daisuke, still with an intent frown on his face, was watching the darkening skies.

Miyako watched him for a few moments, wondering precisely what it was about him that managed to infuriate her so easily, and what it was about herself that could easily infuriate him. Thinking in such a manner made her tired, though, and thinking further on Ken made her even more exhausted, so she gave up on thinking about either of them and shut her eyes, choosing to meditate instead.

Hikari had spent much of the past few days immersed in books. The wizards and mages of the palace (especially Koushiro) had more books than could be counted, and no one knew everything that was written in all of them. She had brought a few books of magic home with her from the Sanctuary Island, but she knew that the answers she was looking for were not in those books. It was unlikely they were in any of the books of the palace, either, but it would do no harm to try.

There were easily a dozen rooms in the palace filled entirely with books, libraries with tall bookshelves stretching to high ceilings so that ladders were required to reach the farthest shelves and a fear of heights was a great liability. Some of these were filled with histories and manuals on a great number of things having nothing to do with magic. No less than twenty books (at the least) were dedicated to the genealogy of the royal family, and another two or three dozen chronicled the families of the other lords in the kingdom. The books Hikari sought, however, were magical.

As slavery of any sort had been banned in Yagami at least three hundred years before and dark magic had never been favored within the borders, finding a book on how to create or destroy such a spell would likely be virtually impossible. There were, so far as was known, no dark wizards in Yagami and there had not been for a hundred years. Someone, however, had come to Yagami and performed dark magic, however, so somewhere in the world dark mages still practiced. Willing though she was to find a way to break the spell, however, Hikari was not quite willing to seek out a dark mage for his advice.

"If there's no other way, though," she thought aloud, and her voice echoed off the high ceilings, startling her.

It was early morning, so that the mages in the palace were all likely still sleeping. Hikari had selected a number of books and taken her pile to a distant corner of the library, hoping that she would neither disturb nor be disturbed by any students who came there to study. She'd been working for several days now, and the effort was tiring, her lack of results upsetting.

"No other way?" Tailmon questioned sleepily, looking up from where she'd been napping atop a tall pile of books.

"I was thinking," she answered, "that if what he said is true – that the counter spell is truly lost for all time – and I cannot create one of my own strong enough to break it…."

"You did well enough," the feline digimon returned. "Better than they'd thought possible."

"Yes, but the spell is still there," Hikari disagreed, shaking her head, "and so long as it is there, I am concerned."

Tailmon studied her partner with a questioning expression for a moment. "Xiao," she said then, and Hikari shivered.

"If there is him, there are others," she answered, frowning. "I don't think that we have seen the last of him. Even the mention of his name troubles me. So long as the spell is there…."

"There is a risk that someone else may activate it," Tailmon finished. Again, Hikari shivered.

"If I cannot find a counter spell or create one, perhaps it would be best to seek out someone who could."

"You want to ask a dark mage to help you?" her partner questioned, eyes wide. "For what reason do you suppose they would?"

"I don't know," she confessed, "but if there is no other way…."

Tailmon shook her head, her disapproval obvious, "I would not advise it," she said ominously. "I don't suppose Daisuke would, either."

"No," Hikari admitted, sighing. "Probably not."

"And where would you search for a dark mage, anyway?"

"That I cannot begin to answer," she replied. "I am certain, however, that it might be easier than finding a spell." She turned a page in the book before her and saw a spell that would help flowers to bloom brighter and bigger than before.

"Certainly it is not in amidst gardening spells," Tailmon remarked with an ironic smile.

"Doubtful," Hikari agreed, turning the pages for a few moments before she shut the book in defeat. "I can't give up, though. I have this feeling – this terribly bad feeling – that spell might be his downfall."

"Downfall?" Tailmon echoed, noting the serious tone in her partner's voice. "Was it not already his downfall – making him forget?"

"Yes," she answered, "but I think it will come to worse than that if I cannot break it."

There was thunder rumbling when the sun rose, but the rain was far off and the sun was visible through the mist of the mountains. Koushiro was frowning at the sky when Takeru emerged from the mansion, sleepily rubbing his eyes at the early hour.

"Still wise to fly?" he questioned the wizard, noting the thunder to the north. "It seems a storm is building in the mountains."

"It would take two or three days if we walked or took a carriage," Koushiro answered, still glaring at the clouds above the mountain. "Flying will be much faster."

"Yes, if we're not hit by lightning," Patamon remarked from his partner's head where he was perched.

"In which case it might be a faster way to death and the ground below," Tentomon agreed.

Takeru yawned. The previous night he had not slept well, continuously coming awake and pulling a blanket over him in a futile attempt to ward off cold that was not in the air. "Don't say that," he scolded when he could speak again. "I'd rather not think about it."

"Think about what?" Iori questioned from behind him. He was dressed in suitable clothing for traveling by air – a thin jacket thrown over his clothing and a hat atop his head, pulled low to cover his ears. Over one shoulder he carried a drawstring bag stuffed with a few necessities. In answer to his question, thunder rumbled distantly, and Iori glanced toward Li Tan, the Airdramon tamer, who was at that moment stepping outside behind him. "Is it wise to fly in this weather?"

The tamer shrugged lightly. "I've flown in blizzards and thunderstorms and windstorms of all sorts," he answered, "I'm not a bit afraid of a bit of thunder or rain if you're not."

"Not the thunder or rain so much as the lightning," Takeru said, eyes on the sky. So far there had been no sign of any such thing, but where there was thunder there was likely to be lightning.

Li Tan was quiet for a moment, frowning at the sky, and then he shrugged again, apparently unconcerned. "It's not ideal, truly," he admitted, "and yet it's not so bad as it might be. If you don't want to fly, we could wait, but I believe the sky will clear south of here. That storm is likely over the mountains, and we'll fly south faster than it will travel."

"Unless it is a magical storm," Koushiro said. After a moment of silence, in which all looked to him for the answer, he sighed heavily, shaking his head. "I sense no great concentration of magic," he admitted, "and yet, as I said, I know very little of weather magic."

"I say we go," Iori spoke up. "If we must, we'll stop and wait out the storm as long as necessary, or proceed on foot."

Takeru grinned. "Well said, Lord Hida," he said, patting him on the shoulder. "Let's fly."

Miyako awoke before the sun had risen, jolted from sleep by the same strange dream of red, flashing lights that had been bothering her since the crystal had been stolen. She sat up sharply, shivering despite the warm night air. Overhead, the moon was but a slim crescent, yet it was bright enough that she could see the other three and their partners nearby, still sleeping. Hawkmon, too, was faintly visible a short distance away.

Though she laid back down and shut her eyes, Miyako knew that it was not likely that she would fall asleep again. Her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest, and the dream had greatly disturbed her. She'd not been awakened by nightmares since she was but a child, and she had never had a dream reoccur like this one before.

A dark cloud passed over the moon making it seem even darker than before. Rolling on to her side, Miyako tried again to shut her eyes and sleep, but it was useless, for she saw the flash of red light that jolted her back to wakefulness right as she began to feel as though she might return to sleep.

After a half-hour or so, she gave up and sat up again. Moving quietly so as not to disturb the others (who were all blissfully slumbering away), she pushed aside the cloak she'd used as a blanket and made her way barefoot to the nearby pond. Shijo mumbled quietly in his sleep and rolled over, but none of the others stirred in the slightest.

The air smelled damp, hinting, as the dark cloud had, of approaching rain. Miyako sat on the edge of the pond and dipped her bare toes in the water, feeling some of the traveling grime mercifully wash away from her feet. For a moment, she forgot about the disturbance of the dream and lay back in the cool grass, feeling as though she might soon reach sleep once more.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, jolting her awake once more. Miyako pulled her feet from the water and hurried to put her shoes on again. She waited for what felt like a near eternity, but there was no lightning, and the thunder seemed far off. Then it sounded again, this time louder, and she shivered, pulling her cloak around her even though it was not particularly cold.

"A storm is coming?" said a sleepy-sounding voice, and she turned to see that Ken was slowly sitting up, rubbing his eyes. "That will make travel fun."

Miyako shivered again, shaking her head. "I don't want to be out here when the lightning comes," she said with a frown. "I'm not very fond of thunderstorms."

"It's not likely you'll be hit," he answered, and in the dim though increasing light she saw that he was pulling on his shoes. Another, even louder clap of thunder sounded, this time jolting Shijo awake. The boy was not particularly happy about the idea of waking however, and so he pulled his own cloak over his head and lay back down, mumbling to himself.

"Still, I don't like it. I'd like…."

"You'd like…?" Ken asked when a few moments had passed and she had not finished the sentence. Having finished with the task of tying his shoes, he turned toward her with a questioning expression. "Something wrong?"

"I don't like this," Miyako said again, shaking her head. She backed away from the water and looked around her as though expecting something to leap from the shadows.

Another clap of thunder sounded, and now Shijo sat up reluctantly, a frown on his face. "The sun isn't even up yet," he complained.

"Actually, I think it might be," Agumon disagreed, "It's too cloudy to be seen."

Daisuke had not yet woken, but he rolled over in his sleep, a strangely intense frown on his face as though he was displeased with something. V-mon, a short distance away, was lying on his back, mouth opened wide, snoring quietly.

"We're not far from the palace, right?" Shijo questioned, glancing toward the others with a hopeful expression. "Maybe if we leave soon we might get there before the rain is too heavy."

Another loud clap of thunder sounded. "I doubt that," Agumon stated glumly, looking toward the sky.

"Something feels bad," Miyako said in a quiet voice, and shut her eyes. The moment she did so, however, the same flash of red light from her dream reappeared, distracting her. "Very bad," she amended, shivering.

A drop of rain fell into the pond nearby, a quiet drop that echoed in the silence for a short while. A half-second later, Daisuke sat up, suddenly awake where he had been sound asleep a moment before, drawing the attention of the others. V-mon moaned a complaint and sat up, rubbing his eyes, but his partner seemed to have no sleepiness.

Another clap of thunder sounded before anything could be said, and then Daisuke was on his feet before the rumblings had faded. "Damn," he mumbled, paying no attention to the others as he gathered his cloak in his arms and threw it over his shoulders, then sat down on the grass once more to pull on his shoes.

"No matter how fast you run, you won't make it there before the rain starts," Hawkmon intoned wisely, having recently awakened as well.

Daisuke paused long enough in his task to frown in the bird digimon's general direction, and then shook his head. "It's not the rain I'm worried about."

"What then?" Miyako demanded, and he shook his head again.

"I don't know. All I do know is that I've already wasted enough time as it is." He got to his feet once more, frowning even more severely than before. "I never should have left."

"You never should have stayed," Ken disagreed.

"Are we leaving now?" Shijo questioned, hurrying to put on his shoes and gather anything else he would need to carry. "We haven't eaten…."

V-mon yawned loudly, rubbing both his eyes with his hands. Daisuke seemed to have no time even to wait for his partner to wake up, however, for he had picked him up and taken a few steps forward even before V-mon finished yawning.

"Daisuke, wait," Miyako called, but he didn't.

"Do you have any idea what you're heading in to?" Ken asked, and this did make him stop. Slowly, he turned around, a questioning expression now intermingled with his impatience.

Ken sighed heavily before he spoke again, folding his arms in front of him as he did so. "If the storm in Hida was magically created, perhaps this one is, too."

"So?"

"Who do we know who might want to create a magical storm?" he asked, opening one eye.

"Arachnemon?" Miyako asked. "Has she that sort of power? This is a big," she paused as another clap of thunder sounded loudly, interrupting her, "very big storm."

"Maybe not," he answered, turning that eye from Daisuke now toward her. "I can think of something that might, however. Some magical object, very powerful, that she's come into possession of."

"The crystal," she concluded, frowning now, clenching one fist in anger partly at fate and partly at herself.

"All the more reason I should hurry back," Daisuke stated, turning once more to leave.

"Yes," Miyako said, getting to her feet. "All the more reason you should wait for the rest of us. If she wants that crystal," she gestured vaguely towards him, for he carried it, "she'll have to wait for you to bring it."

"And what do you suppose she'll do in the meantime?" he demanded. "Sit and wait for it?"

Readers who do not look ahead to the future may wish to ignore the implications foreshadowed in that section with Hikari. It's relevant to this part of the story, but much more relevant to someplace that I want to go in the future. I am not yet sure if I'll ever actually get to that place, but I'd really like to.

That said, I hope to have this installment finished in under 20 chapters. Not certain yet if I will actually meet that goal. Thanks for reading!