Chapter 9

As the party of eleven traversed into the new, unknown territory on horseback, accompanied by a large pack of twenty large wolves and an immense flock of birds, forest animals fled to the neighboring area where they had come from, the soil darkened beneath the thundering hooves of the lead male and female's large horses. A cloud of locusts devastated the surrounding vegetation and the water muddied, becoming undrinkable. The sky darkened as if night followed them and lightening crackled in the distance. What wasn't destroyed by the locusts became riddled with disease and quickly wilted amongst the poisonous, glowing, blue mushrooms that rapidly sprouted.

Kimiko Morizumi and her slavers had no idea what they had unleashed in High Mistress Juliena's precious lands as they were being unwittingly followed by wrath, pestilence and disease. They had no idea that the tattoos on the twin toddler's bodies served as protection and tracking spells that their mother, father, tribe members and the large pack of wolves could sense with ease. Instead, they covered them with clothing and soil. they would collect their reward for delivering two very blond, unique, healthy little boys to the eccentric Mistress and be on their merry way with a large purse of gold.

"Mistress Kimiko, are you certain that she won't notice their markings?" Her accomplice asked with worry.

Kimiko smirked. "Who cares. It's not like they can do anything about it. What harm can one little stupid, foreign tribe do anyway. They're probably just a bunch of healers like all the others." She winced a little as the sky darkened, then lit up with with streaks of lightening across the blackness. "We should find shelter before this storm starts." She told her as they endured an earsplitting thunderclap.

"I believe we are nearly there. I think we can make it to the estate before the storm begins." Her accomplice commented.

Kimiko smirked. "Ah, perhaps she'll share in her hospitality as well?"

"It's worth a shot." She smiled back and adjusted the toddler she had tied to her saddle.

Kimiko sighed. "Fine, I really don't want to deal with these little brats any longer than I have to." They spurred their horses to move faster.

As the small war party drew closer to their final destination, the fertile soil beneath them became dried and cracked. Birds swooped from the sky to terrorize those that were caught in the open, courtesy of Sho and Aki.

~xoxo~

"High Mistress Juliena, I have brought you two very special little gifts. I do hope that the reward still stands for such delightful little treasures." Kimiko and her accomplice sat the twins next to each other and the boys scrambled to each other's arms for comfort.

Juliena squealed with delight. "By the goddess! They're adorable! Where in all the lands did you find them?"

Kimiko smirked. "Oh nowhere special. Just a little community miles and miles away. No one will miss them." She smirked as the storm grew closer and the sky darkened further.

Juliena gasped. "Oh my. It sounds like it's getting closer. You should rest here until it's safe."

Kimiko bowed to her. "Why thank you High Mistress. Your hospitality knows no limit."

The toddlers looked toward the large doors that led to the outside and began to howl like wolf cubs, jumping up and down happily.

"W-What are they doing? Why are they behaving like filthy animals?" Juliena sputtered out in shock.

Kimiko looked at her partner in crime in confusion. "I..." The collective howls of twenty wolves was heard in response.

"Mama! Papa!" They danced around happily repeating their little mantra then howled again.

Kimiko's face went white. "Not possible." She murmured. "They were just stupid healers."

Juliena furrowed her brow. "What are you talking about?" She asked as they heard the beat of a thousand pairs of wings at the windows of the estate. "What is going on? Who are these children?" She demanded.

"Soso! Kiki!" They squealed. "Mama! Papa! Spirit! Fang!"

The large doors flew open and the females screamed in surprise. A black and a white streak flew past them and settled near the children, Nightfang and Spirit stood guard near the children as the boys hugged and fawned over the vicious wild creatures.

Protect yourself as we have taught you, cubs. Your mother and father have come for you and do not wish for you to witness what will happen. Spirit gently commanded.

The little ones nodded and a nest of vines grew up from the marble floor and wrapped them and the wolves in a protective cocoon.

"What are they!? What have you done Kimiko!? Who did you take these children from!?" Juliena demanded frantically, with a look of terror twisting her features.

"I swear I didn't know! I thought they were healers!" She screamed.

A look of fury fell over Juliena. "Clearly they are not! So what the hell are they!?" She demanded.

"They are my sons... Mother!" A deep rich masculine voice spat out as he entered the room, one that she hadn't heard in years. "And those that are responsible for my time in the mines... stole them from me and my mate!"

Juliena gasped.

"Return my children to me or I will turn everything you own to dust!" Kyoko took position in front of Kuon and growled as she slammed the end of her great-staff on the marble floor causing a crack slither its way to Juliena.

Dark One, calm yourself. Your hatchlings have covered themselves. Sho squawked.

She searched the room to find a tangle of vines off to the side that was large enough to cover two large wolves and two talented toddlers. She nodded to Sho. She approached Kimiko and the woman that Kuon pointed out as Tina, as the pair writhed on the floor gasping for breath and attempted to frantically break free of the demons that Chiori and Reino had turned on them.

"Kuon?" Juliena breathed out to her son.

Kuon flinched. "You have no right to that name, High Mistress... Not after gifting me to those two vile vermin on the floor. The pair that you showered with gifts and gold. The pair that sent me to the mines to die. The pair that accused me of murdering my best friend and expected me not to mourn him."

"Kuon..." He felt Kyoko's warm hand on his face. "Take our sons. Kanae, Yuki, Lory, Ten and Yamagutchi will accompany you with the pack. Sho and Aki along with Chiori, Reino, Erika and Sayou will stay with me. I will negotiate an end to this travesty. You need not trouble yourself any longer My Love. If I can mend things, I will. There are too many broken spirits here, more are not needed." She told him gently. "Especially yours."

He nodded to her, walked to the tangle of vines, tapped them with his hand and they receded. "Come little ones. Sora, Riku it's time to go home now." He turned to the two wolves as he picked up his sons. "Spirit, Nightfang... Thank you for protecting our cubs."

It is our pleasure Light One. Spirit smiled softly. Now go and take them to safety. We shall follow.

Kuon nodded and took the boys to their mother. She kissed each one and rubbed the caked on mud from their skin, revealing the extensive markings on them, removed the course clothing from their little bodies and wrapped each one in a fur that she took from her own clothing. "There, much better my little hearts. Go with Papa. I have much to do here." She smiled softly and waved to them as they left. She turned back to Juliena who was horror struck at what she had just witnessed. "I see that you understand the mistake of your two slavers. Tell me, what does it feel like to send your own son to his death? What did you receive from their family in return? Jewels, clothing, gold, this estate? Was it truly worth it? You saw his tribal markings and those of our sons... We are not a community of meek healers as those two would suggest. My mate and our sons are three of the most powerful Shamanic Mages that you will ever encounter along with myself. The other members of my tribe, male and female alike, are equally as powerful. We will not stand helplessly by and be intimidated by that filth! If you would care to witness the result of their careless actions, just open a window and look." Kyoko encouraged and Juliena rose from her seat to do as Kyoko commanded.

She gasped in horror at what she saw. Death and sickness covered in a black sky at midday. "Y-You did this?"

To prove her point Kyoko slammed the butt of her staff on the ground once more, and a crisp finger of lightening struck a nearby tree, setting it aflame. Kyoko raised a brow. "Do you understand now? I will return your lands to their former condition only if I have your solemn vow to never touch another member of my tribe. Those that do so will be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly." Kyoko waved her staff towards Kimiko and Tina, then murmured something in a language that Julie couldn't decipher.

The pair writhed in agony and screamed as their bodies shrank, grew fur and tails sprouted. She had turned them into a pair of rats.

Kyoko smirked. "How fitting. That suits you as the vermin that you are. From this point until the end, you shall wallow in filth. Your meals shall be the scraps you can scavenge and your precious fine skin shall be plagued with parasites. Ladies, enjoy your true and final form." She turned to Juliena. "I do not usually kill my enemies, but there are things worse than death... Wouldn't you agree?" She smiled sweetly and gestured to the pair of rats scurrying about.

Juliena nodded.

"You may not appreciate the fine treasure that your son is, but I and many in my community will fight to the death for him. He is a Shaman, a mage, a healer, a scribe, a scholar and so much more. I pity the women like you. You will never know the true joy of being the mother to a wonderful son. I however, have been doubly blessed by the ancestors and will treasure every... single... moment. If you or any of yours dares to cross into my lands, I will make an exception and strike you dead where your foot touches. I will then feed your skinned carcass to my pack after your head is removed and set on a spike for all the world to take as warning. Do we have an agreement?" Kyoko informed her in an eerily even tone.

Juliena nodded nervously. "I'll do whatever it is that you ask."

Kyoko smirked. "Very well... Does the Father of Kuon still live?"

Juliena nodded shakily.

"Good, he will be leaving with me as payment for your slight." Kyoko informed her. "I suggest you clothe him properly after you bring him up from your little dungeon. A man of his stature should be treated with respect. Kuon obviously didn't receive his gifts from you." Yes, it was just as Kuon had told her. Juliena had placed Kuu in chains when he protested the gifting of Kuon.

Juliena called to a servant to retrieve Kuu and clothe him.

The two female servants of Juliena roughly brought Kuu to Kyoko and shoved him before her after he had been clothed. Kyoko glared at the two women, snapped her fingers and lightening struck near both of them, knocking them down. She knelt before prostrated Kuu and took his face in her hands as she had done to Kuon when they first met. Her hands glowed a cool blue once again and this time, traced from his left cheek, down his neck, to his shoulder and down to his fingertips, leaving a trail of runes and animal tattoos that marked him as an Elder of her family. She pulled him up from his position and hugged the startled man. "Stand proudly Father. You are an Elder of the Lake Tribe. Tonight I shall take you to Kuon and your grandsons."

"T-Thank you Mistress..." He told her with tears.

She shook her head. "Not Mistress to you, Father... Daughter."

As they left the terrified women, a healing rain began to fall over the damaged land, gradually restoring it to its pristine condition. Leaving only a terrifying and horrible memory of that night, along with two new female rats in High Mistress Juliena's compost heap and a large, winding crack in her marble floor as a reminder of the warning.