The natives bowed low before their Tribal Shaman, humbling throwing themselves down into the snow at his feet under his stern and very angry glare.
"You acted rashly and with foolhardy intent." He told them in their native tongue, his tone almost spiteful. "We may be readying ourselves for battle but that does not mean we start striking down innocent people. You let your anger and hatred for the settlers cloud your judgement and minds. You all have severely disappointed me." His eyes moved onto their leader who was face was not angled down like the others, but rather staring up at him. "Especially you Running-Swift. I thought you, of all the tribesmen should know better." The youth's eyes burned with blazing defiance and contempt. "I will talk to these people to see if they will agree to a tribal punishment for your actions, but if they wish to see justice done their own way I will not deny them."
"I mean no disrespect my shaman, but these people are in league with our enemy. We should kill them before they have a chance to rally." Galuda pushed his lips into a very unimpressed frown.
"Is it your logic that all the settlers are our enemy?" He asked. Running-Swift seemed to gain more courage, rising from his knees.
"They stole from our forefathers, raped our women and shot our people." The youth replied. "They would rally to the enemies call because it is in their nature. They must be destroyed before they can do us more harm!" Galuda didn't hesitate in bring a wide arm up sharply and then down, smacking Running-Swift down on the chest. The blow forced him back several steps nearly toppling him over.
"You are a blind, impetuous young fool." The shaman almost hissed, encroaching anger clear in his eyes. "Your ancestors would be ashamed of you." With that he marched off, leaving the boy with his given dishonour.
Falcon and Ryoma had been watching from a safe distance. It occurred to the Englishman that these men had not been acting with the permission of their tribe and now were in serious trouble for shooting their ship down.
The shaman approached them, trudging his way through the snow. Ryoma made no sudden moves, but kept his hand on the hilt of his katana blade. The man stopped jus short of the swords reach and bowed his head low.
"Again, I must apologise for this terrible act of violence." He stated, punctuating each word with force. "Were any of your people harmed?" Falcon opened his mouth to reply but the captain of the Turbine Ship beat him to it, pushing past the Englishman and the samurai angrily.
"You're damn right we're harmed." He announced with his arm in a sling. "I never believed the stories about you red-skins before this, but now I've seen your true colours…. Rest assured I'll be letting the army generals know…" While the man was ranting Galuda reached into a cow skin purse attached to his belt and removed several specks of fine red coloured powder that he held delicately between his fore finger and thumb.
Ryoma watched him carefully as he held the power up high on the edge of his fingers before muttering something under his breath in his native language. Then he breathed sharply across it, blowing the powder into the captains face. The man inhaled sharply in exclamation, drawing in the cloud through his mouth.
The Englishman and the samurai staggered back away from the red cloud as it expanded out into the air. When it faded, a strange silenced settled over the four of them.
Slowly, the captain lifted his arm out of the sling; finding that, somehow, his fracture had mended completely. There wasn't a single twinge of pain in his arm whatsoever.
"By Saint George, that's incredible." Falcon breathed looking astonished.
"I can not expect you to forgive this act of aggression." Galuda stated with his head held low. "These men were not acting with the consent of my people and will be punished by Tribal laws for their actions." He glanced up through his hair curtains. "However, should you wish to take them for your people's own justice then I will not stop you." The captain flexed his arm, testing it; still quite unable to believe the quite miraculous thing that had occurred.
"Well Julia, it's your expedition; what do you think?" Falcon asked, turned as Miss WhitePearl made her way towards them. The annoyance was clear on her face from twenty yards.
"I want somehow to pay for the damages to my family's private Turbine Ship." She stated, gesturing behind her to the wreck which by now was half buried in snow. The crew had the fires under control and the wreckage was being pulled from the underside of the hull. "But I do not think these men have the money to afford the bill for repairs." She looked Galuda in the face wit hard eyes. "Take them; let them see your people's punishment." With that she stormed off, angrily stamping her way through the snow.
Falcon did not notice Galuda staring at him. The native was studying his face in great detail, his expression emotionless and eyes hard. Ryoma noticed the scrutiny and was instantly suspicious. He seemed far too engrossed to be merely curious.
Without a word Galuda saw to those who had sustained injuries personally. Even broken bones he healed within moments using the different powders in his bag. The ships doctor tried to gain a sample of this miraculous substance but Galuda refused, stating that contained within were secrets known only to his people.
"Again I can offer only my deepest apologizes for this." The Shaman stated. "These men will be punished and there will no more acts of aggression on my tribe's behalf." With that he led the shamed pack up the hills and into the trees, vanishing into them as if they hadn't even been there in the first place.
"We should follow them." Ryoma stated.
"What for?" Falcon demanded in reply.
"Trust me." The samurai murmured, heading off through the snow after them hardly leaving a footprint behind him. Falcon blinked before grumbling something and running after him.
"Hey where are they going?" Ayame asked, watching the two of them vanish up the top of the slopes.
"Hey, can I get some help here?" Gournmand demanded, trying to pull several large pieces of debris clear from the ships hull. Throwing the matter aside, the girl and Wang-Tang ran up to his assistance.
By the time and samurai and the Englishman reached the top of the slope any trace of the men who had been there was completely gone. There wasn't so much a trail of footprints to follow.
"Ryoma, aren't you being a little overzealous about this?" Falcon asked as the samurai began searching for signs of a trail, looking over for broken branches or twigs to suggest something passed this way.
"One can never be overzealous about people who shot at us with anti-aircraft shells." Ryoma replied with a good deal of annoyance in his voice. He knelt down in the snow suited the ground with keen interest, then stood up slowly and walked forward through the trees. "I wise man worries, a fool is complacent." He uttered before disappearing through a large bush.
"Lord, if I ever understand that man strike me down where I stand." Falcon muttered, rolling his head towards the sky before he ran after him.
The trees seemed to never end, an expanse of snow toped ever green that blocked the sky from sight. As they walked further into the forest, an unnatural silence filled the air. The only things that broke it were the sound of their feet crunching upon the snow.
Ryoma was following a trail Falcon could not see, wandering his way through the trees keeping his eyes locked on the ground just in front of him as he walked as if watching for invisible indicators as where to go.
Falcon lost track of exactly how much time had passed since they started wandering but before too long the darkness around them started to increased, a powerful shadow spreading through the undergrowth.
It began to unnerve Falcon as he was sure it was far too early for the night to set it. They had been walking for some time but not quite that long.
"I'm not sure venturing out here was such a good idea Ryoma." He stated glancing up at his friend, but the samurai was nowhere to be seen. Falcon staggered back in surprise and glance around. There was no sign of Ryoma anywhere. It was like he simply vanished.
Falcon was taken aback and now worried. He was sure he had been there a moment ago. "Ryoma!" He called out, the echo passing through the trees several times before dissipating. No reply came. "Ok, this is getting spooky now." He muttered to himself, trying to retrace his steps but when he turned around the path he had been treading through the snow was gone as well. There wasn't even any sign of the footprints he had been treading through the snow.
Now most alarmed, Falcon looked around desperately for some point of reference but there was nothing. Only endless trees half shrouded in darkness that grew more and more powerful with each passing moment.
A long howl broke the eerie silence and Falcon froze, recognising the call of a wolf. The howl echoed for a moment before dying away. Then it came again, only this louder and more highly pitched, revealing the animal itself to be nearer. The heart in Falcon's chest began beating hard and fast and sweat dampened his forehead.
He swallowed hard as the sound of paws padding through the snow began to circle around him.
"Nice doggy…" He muttered, backing up against a tree. "Nice doggy." He couldn't see the creature but he knew it was there. He could hear it, smell it and even sense it as is slowly circled through the darkness around him.
"Falcon…" A distant voice called to him. "Edward Falcon." A pair of glowing blood red eyes snapped open in the darkness and the Englishman froze. "Falcon!" Rows of gleaming razor sharp teeth gleamed in the semi light and the beast shot from the darkness.
Falcon screamed.
A slap was brought hard across his face and he blinked, his vision blurred for a moment before he found Ryoma standing before him.
"Get a grip Baka!" The samurai snapped at him. Falcon found that he was lying down on the ground, half buried in the snow and his arms and legs thrashing about.
"Wha…what happened?" He asked, running his hand across his face. Coming away with his fingers was a powder, rust in colour and finely ground like chilli powder but its smell was anything but chilli. Ryoma reached up and pulled something that was attached by a string off from a branch.
"You walked straight into this." The samurai replied. It was a small canvas purse of some kind, broken open and still spilling a little powder. "It's some sort of hallucinogenic." He added rubbing it between two fingers and giving it the briefest sniff he could safely take. "This smacked you straight in the face." Falcon sat up and quickly rubbed the staff off his face, wiping it on the snow as quickly as he could. Had all that simply been a hallucination? It had seemed so real. "Only the natives and that shaman in particular would have knowledge of how to make substances like this."
"Well, that means it pretty damn clear that they don't want to be disturbed." Falcon muttered almost incoherently as he stood up quickly, desperately glancing around to make sure there weren't any more traps hidden amongst the trees. "What say you to getting back to the others?" Ryoma growled and pressed on through the trees away from him.
"Come on, and watch where you're going this time." Now very unnerved, Falcon followed slowly behind him; eyes darting up to the branches overhead; looking for anymore bags of drugs on strings.
More traps were scattered through the forest and not all of them relied on hallucinogens. There were pitfalls, trip lines and other forms of more convention traps strewn everywhere. Ryoma was now certain there was something to see hidden in this forest that those natives didn't want them here for. Why else had their ship been shot down?
"Look Ryoma, if they don't want visitors then who are we to impose themselves?" Falcon asked.
"Shooting us down lost them any curtsey they might expect from me." The samurai replied sharply. "They're hiding something valuable enough to risk military action to protect and I want to know exactly what it is." The two of them came out into a clearing and Ryoma stopped, a confused expression passing over his face. "Now that strange..."
"What?" Falcon asked, now spooked as he glanced around for any signs of possible ambush.
"Their Ki line disappeared." Ryoma replied, slowly drawing his katana blade with a loud hiss. "Ready yourself." Falcon looked alarmed. "I think we've been led into a trap." Without warning a mist seemed to rise from the snow, spreading out into the air to form a near impenetrable barrier that allowed neither of them to see through.
The sound of foot prints upon the snow was brought to their attention and slowly, a dark shape began to advance out of the gloom.
"You pursue. Why?" A voice asked from the darkness, the shape stopping just out of recognition.
Dark shapes began to appear all around them, all staying within the mist to mask their features but the forms of men holding spears and axes were recognisable.
"They are evil just as I said..." Someone else declared. "Kill them both!"
"Running Swift, stop!" A man came hurtling out, a stone axe held high. Falcon's fist came flying through the air, meeting the attackers face in mid air. The blow sent the Indian flying backwards to smash into the ground. "Enough of this foolishness!" The first voice bellowed. "Lower your weapons, now! The next who tries to kill will be severely punished." The shadows backed off a little and the Indian made a break for it, vanishing into the mist completely.
"Forge the shaman." Another of them suddenly declared. "Kill the eastern settlers!" Bows were raised and arrows came flying out of the darkness. Ryoma slashed at them with his katana and the projectiles slid apart, flying off harmlessly to one side.
A stone axe was hoisted up before being thrown at them. Falcon snatched it out of mid air and sent it right back to it owner, the blunt end striking the man in the head. The Indian went down with a loud exclamation.
Two more men came rushing out of the darkness armed with more axes with a battle cry high in the air. Falcon dodged one swipe before his boot connected sharply with the mans chest.
Ryoma dealt with the second on, the hilt of his sword landing a solid blow against the back of the head. The man swayed before going down
"Enough smoke and mirrors Shaman." The samurai declared into the darkness. "Haven't we past enough of your tests yet?"
"Tests?" Falcon repeated. Almost immediately the mist and the shadowy warriors vanished. The world around them morphed and churned and then spun out of control.
Falcon's eyes flew open as normalcy returned and he found himself lying in the snow staring up at the sky through the snow topped trees.
Sharply the Englishman sat up, shaking the snow off his hair and clothes. He ran his hand across his face, finding more of the rust covered powder on his skin.
"Ah not again!" He exclaimed staggering up to his feet before falling over again. All around was normalcy. Gone was the darkness and mist. In fact, he was standing just within the trees overlooking the slope. He could see the crashed Turbine ship from here.
Lying in the snow nearby was Ryoma, snow covering half his body. He was asleep, with a pile of snow across his arms and legs. Across his face was more of the powder, a thick layer of the rusty substance spread over his eyes and nose.
"So you finally realized the illusion." A voice started. Falcon looked around and sitting on the end of a fallen tree was Galuda.
The shaman had a plain smile on his face as Falcon looked around, now more confused than ever.
"Was all that a dream?" He asked. The Indian nodded once in reply. The Englishman put a hand to his chest. "But it felt so real…"
"It was real in your mind." Galuda stated, poking at the foliage on the ground with a short stick. "And what your mind perceives as real, it made real for you." He tapped the side of his animal skin purse. "And the mind is not always right."
Falcon brushed the dust of Ryoma's face and shook him, bringing the samurai out of the drug induced sleep. Ryoma almost flew up, sword in hand with a loud curse in Japanese.
"Once again my ancestors have not led me astray." Galuda remarked. "In the walk of dreams they told me that you would be the guiding light in the darkness.
You could have killed, and were in a position where it was more than justified, but you held back and did not shed blood." He bowed low. "Forgive the cruel test, but I had to be certain of your hearts intent." The Indian stood up and breathed out in a long sigh. "Come, follow me. We have much to discuss." Without waiting to here any Japanese words from an irritated Ryoma he walked off, trudging his way through the snow.
Falcon followed quickly with the samurai just behind him.
"Perhaps now you've led us around a while you can tell us what's going on?" Ryoma asked impatiently.
"My tribe is preparing for battle with a great evil." The shaman replied without looking back. "The tides of change already move across the world and we must be ready. I am sorry that my tribesmen misinterpreted my words, believing I was instructing them to rebel against the settlers." He led them through a small grove of trees into a path leading down between two short cliffs.
"Why exactly were you testing us?" Falcon asked walking forward faster to catch up with the Indians longer stride.
"Because in my meditation I had been shown a vision of you, your companions and your quest. At such a perilous time I could not fully trust my visions so I had to test you to be sure you were the ones."
Through the small canyon he led them until they reached a small opening in the cliff face. Galuda pushed a large rock obscuring half the opening, causing it to widen and advanced inside.
Falcon made a move to enter but Ryoma blocked his way with his sheathed sword, sending the Englishman a glance that said 'don't be stupid'. The samurai went in first, one hand on the hilt of his blade.
Within was a small cave, the roof low and the floor uneven. The tattered mess of old pines and broken branches suggests this had been a bear's home at some point. Galuda sat himself down in the centre and crossed his legs.
"Come, we dream walk now." Falcon just shrugged at Ryoma and sat down, mimicking Galuda as best he could. Ryoma, still maintaining his distrusting expression stood for a moment longer, before sitting down himself.
"Where are your tribesmen?" The samurai asked.
Galuda smiled grimly before drawing something in the dirt on the ground before him using his finger. It was a type of icon neither Ryoma nor Falcon recognised. Slowly the Indian reached into another animal skin purse around his waist and took out more powder. This was blue rather than rust. Before either the Englishman or the samurai could do anything, he lifted it to his mouth and blew across it.
A blue cloud expanded out into the cave and the three of them inhaled it.
Falcon closed his eyes against it and waited. After a moment when he felt nothing change, he risked it and pushed one eye open gently.
"Great Saint George…" He muttered, gazing out at the landscape around him. He was standing on the edge of a long stretch of coastline that stretched from horizon to horizon on the abyss of a purple sea. Behind him were impassable cliffs that stretched as far as the beach.
The sky above was a pale yellow and despite the abundance of sunlight there was no sun.
"Ryoma!" He called out but there was no reply.
A soft rustling round reached him and glancing back he saw that perched on a rock nearby was a bird. It was a Falcon with long brown feathers and a spotted underside. Its flaxen eyes kept locked on the Englishman. Edward stopped, sudden finding himself transfixed.
"Avast!" A shrill voice cried from behind and the Falcon vanished. The English shot around to watch the bow of a ship came souring out the ocean. The figurehead on the bow was an Octopus with its tentacles wrapped around the figure of a woman.
Cannons began firing from the starboard side as it swung around clearing the water, the striking sending the sand flying into the air.
Pirates lined the deck, waving their cutlass' and their pistols high. Ryoma, Gunrock, Julia and Apollus were kneeling on the deck clad in chains and tied down by straps. At the helm of the ship, sheering at the Englishman as the ship swung past was Jonathon Cross; the man more commonly referred to as Kraken. His metallic pincer was lifted high and circling around it as if in orbit were all nine Power Stones.
Falcon jammed his hand into his pocket but his stone was nowhere to be seen.
"I win landlubber!" Kraken cried to shore, his laughing ringing in across the heavens. Suddenly another ship went sailing out from the horizon, trying to make it towards the shore. It was a cruise ship, with heavy damage inflicted across its port side. Falcon recognised it almost immediately.
Kraken spotted the vessel and grinned evilly.
"NO!" Falcon cried out running forward as the pirate king raised his arm and the nine stones around them started glowing brightly, sparks of intense elemental power surging through them. The English tried to desperately to run but it was if he was running on the spot, his feet moving but his position remaining the same.
The heavens carved themselves open and a bolt of destructive energy arched down, cutting the sea like a knife and slamming at full force into the cruise ship.
"Alicia!" Falcon cried in despair, sinking to his knees as both ships vanished; the echo of Kraken's horrible laughter lingering for a minute before fading away. "No…" He utter, biting his lips. "This is a dream." The pain in his lips forced him to remember these events had already happened and that nothing he was seeing was real. Nothing but an illusion.
He wiped away the tears from his eyes and looked up.
His surroundings had changed once again. No longer was he standing on the edge of some miscoloured coastline. Now he was bore a settlement of some kind, nestled deep within the depths of some forest. The tepees in the settlement identified it at once as an Indian encampment. A large totem pole stood in the direct centre of the settlement.
If the shaman was down there Falcon wanted to know exactly what the point of this was. He was halfway down the slope towards it when he saw another Falcon perched on the edge of a tree stump. No, it was the same bird he had seen before. It stared him down just before.
"By degree of the government of the Untied States of America, this land is the property of the State of California." A voice stated loudly and the bird instantly disappeared. Falcon looked out into the village to see half a dozen men standing at the entrance. Most of them were holding guns. Their leader was a fat man in a black cowhide hat and was holding what looked like a land deed up in his hand. The natives were staring at them with hard eyes, even the children. "You have until noon to leave these premises or you will be under arrest for trespassing."
The natives were silent but it was clear they were angry. One of them, an old man in a headdress made from eagle feathers moved forward. In his left hand was a staff of some kind.
"This is the scared land of our ancestors." His stated, his English clearly learned. "I already know that your government had allowed us this land."
"Well they changed their minds pops." The fat man retorted with a thick sneer. "Get out, or we force you out." Undaunted the man lifted his staff and pointed the end of it towards them.
"You do not fool me. That deed is a fake." The fat man paused. "I can see it in your eyes, smell it in the air around you." The old man smiled grimly. "And also you failed to use the official stamp of the Presidential office on the corner. All official documents must include five stamps in order to be passed through congress." The fat man brought the deed bake to his face, examined it and swore. "If you're going to try and con my people, at least make a good attempt at it."
The annoyed, the American thrust the worthless deed back at one of those behind him. "Idiot." He told him. "Ok then old man. We'll do this the hard way." He reached for his pistol.
"Leave him alone." A young boy stated, rushing out into the space between the old man and the ruffians.
"Galuda, get back." The feathered headed man told him but the boy did not listen. He stayed there, staring up at defiantly through curtains of long black hair. "
"Jericho…" The fat man began and a man behind him glanced up. "Kill him." The shorter man looked stunned. "What's the matter you idiot? Show these red skins we're serious and kill the boy."
Jericho was a young man in his twenties with short dirty blond hair and blue eye.
"No." He replied. "I won't do it." The fat man swung around to face him, anger clear in his podgy features.
"You'll do as I tell you to do boy!" Without warning the environment whirled as if it was an oil painting and Falcon had to close his eyes against it. Once he opened them again he found that once again he was in another place.
This time he was sitting down on a long stretch of grassland that seemed to go forever.
All this jumping about was playing havoc with his emotions. He was having a hard time keeping them together. Was this another of the Shaman's tests or something? In the air above him a bird soured high, circling tightly.
"Something wrong dear?" He glanced to the side to see Julia sitting beside him with a wide smile on her face. Her hair was let down and her cheeks decidedly rosier than usual. In her arms was a child; a baby with sprouting blonde hair.
"No nothing." He told her without thinking, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'm just fine."
"Aww there's that grandchild of mine!" As if appearing from nowhere, Pride Falcon marched out to waltz right up to the two of them. Falcon caught himself at the sight of his father. A man who looked a great deal like himself, accept for his grey hair and smartly trimmed moustache. Dressed in his aeroplane pilots outfit made from cow hide with a white scarf wrapped around his neck, he knelt down and Julia past him the baby. "Ah, this takes me back to the day you were born Edward my lad."
Pride lifted the child high above him and it started to giggle. "Have you decided on a name for her yet?"
"Well… I was sort of thinking about…" Falcon began but he paused. Pride looked down at his son and smiled.
"Mel it is." Julia stated with a wide smile of her own.
"I'm sure she would have been flattered Edward." Pride told him. "Mel Falcon, you're the latest in a long line of adventurers. What have you to say about that?" The baby simply sucked the large toe on its left foot.
With a sudden wrench Falcon swayed and then blinked, finding the world changing around him.
Now he was floating amongst the stars; an endless blackness beneath him and an expanse of the heavens scattered across above for him to gaze at.
Hovering before him was the Falcon bird that had been hounding him.
"Who are you?" Falcon asked.
"I am your spirit guide." The bird replied without moving its beak.
"Spirit guide?" Falcon asked.
"All souls, be they young or old, have guides that watch over them; help them through the difficult challenges." The bird explained. "I am your guide in your life as Edward Falcon and so shall I be in your next incarnation." Edward put on a confused face. "You have been walking amongst the highway of dreams. You have seen events that where…" Around them the image showed Kraken as he lowered his arm to discharge a magical bolt at the cruise ship. "Events that are…" The scene morphed to show the Indian encampment and the cold war between the tribal chief and the fat con-man. "And events that may be." The image of the child passed before Falcon's eyes.
"That may be?"
"The future is never fixed. It change warp and bend on the decisions made by those alive in the present, just as the present warped and bent by decisions made by those in the past." Falcon just hovered there looking more confused than ever. "Yours is a path that can never be predicted accurately. Your fate is linked to that of the Power Stones and their power is such that they can play with the factory called Fate as if it were a Childs toy.
Anything can be possible in your life."
The Falcon morphed, spreading itself up and out until it took the shape of the Englishman's reflection.
"Is this another test?" Falcon asked.
"Life itself is a test." Was the reply. "Test after test after test."
"What for? What is the point of these tests?"
"Challenges. There is not point to life without a challenge to overcome." Falcon wanted to argue that point but found that he had nothing to say in defence.
"Your journey is only just beginning." The guide continued. "It will bring you to the four corners of the Earth and beyond and you will leave the face of the work change possibly forever. Can you change the blood soaked history the world has already prophesied? I wonder…"
"I don't understand."
"You will."
The double faded away, vanishing completely and Falcon was left alone. A moment later another from appeared and the English recognised the figure of Galuda the Shaman.
"We have spoken to our guides." He stated. "Let us walk the dream state no more." He clicked his fingers and light flares in the Englishman's eyes before his centre of gravity altered dramatically and sensation returned. He was now lying on his back with his arms spread out either side of himself. Above him was the ceiling of the cave this had begun in.
He hoisted himself up and brushed the blue dust away from his face.
"I'm staying away from ALL narcotics from this point on." He told himself. Galuda rose to his feet in front of him.
Ryoma pulled himself up beside the Englishman, sighing out load as he shook the dust away.
"You seek the Power Stone of Wood." The shaman stated. "Your friend, the blonde haired woman is taking you north to see the old Shaman who has possession of it. Is that not right?" Falcon blinked, brushing the powder out of his eyes.
"Yes." Ryoma replied for him.
"You are too late." Galuda added. "The village to which you head was burned down last summer. The shaman is dead. He sent his stone away before those who came for it could seize it."
"Then where is it now?" Julia asked once Falcon and Ryoma had returned to the crash sight ship.
"The Indian said Kew Gardens in London." Falcon replied. "So I guess it's back to England for us."
"Not in this rust bucket we're not." Gunrock remarked, gesturing to the wreck behind them.
"It's not that bad." The captain reassured him. "A month in a repair yard at most and it'll be fine." Falcon growled in response and scratched the back of his had.
"We can't afford to give Kraken a month's head start." He told him. "I'm heading back to Britain on the first transport I can get."
"Then I'm coming with you." Julia told him. "We may not be using my ship anymore, but it's still my money that's funding this expedition." She added, reading his expression. "Unless you want to dip into your family's treasury…"
"My mother would kill me." Falcon grimaced, shuddering a little.
"Me and mah boys'll go with you too." Gunrock added quickly.
"And as always I'm at your side young master." Apollus said proudly, thumping his fist against his chest. "Aren't you Gournmand?"
"I plan on getting back to my job." The Italian replied sourly. "Enough fiasco's around the world."
"I'm afraid I won't be joining you." Ryoma stated. "I'm afraid I must return to Japan." Falcon glanced up looking confused. "Only temporarily. I should report in to my sensei and Dojo. As soon as I am finished I will meet you back at your estate in England."
"Why? What's wrong?" The Englishman asked. The samurai hesitated briefly.
"I saw some things in the Walk of Dreams that confuse me and I need to get my head on straight. I will return with you as soon as I am able." He bowed low in departure and turned, threading his way through the snow in the western horizon.
"I should go with him." Ayame started. It was Wang-Tang's turn to look a little confused. "I have family in Japan and I should visit them."
Falcon smiled.
"Ok then, I guess we'll see the two of you back in Bristol at some time later."
"Make that the three of us." Wang-Tang added. Ayame glanced up in surprise. "I won't find seeing Japan. I haven't had the chance to go there yet." He added, looking down at her with a wide smile. She felt herself blushing hard.
"Don't spend too much time sight seeing now." Falcon remarked with a raised eyebrow.
Watching them from the top of the slope, Galuda regarded the group with intense scepticism. Running Swift and those young fools had almost doomed them all. If they had killed these people then all hope for the world was lost.
Soft padding through the snow caught his attention and glancing back he saw a wolf approach. It moved up to him and then sat in the snow. It watched them with him, his eyes never leaving them from a moment.
"Accel worries too much." The Indian told the creature. "Let him prepare contingencies if it suits him. But I have faith." The shaman smiled and looked down at Falcon. "These people will change the world."