The Masked Knight
Disclaimer: Mostly the main characters all belong to Clamp, and the detailed ideas too.
Chapter Five: Raging Star
The guards informed everyone at the gate that there was going to be a lockdown for the next three days to inspect the city for any Mikaysium spies.
Sakura was compelled to inform Syaoran of this kink in their master plan. They had to leave this city… all together with Madison, Jake, Kero, and Touya. Now that she knew Syaoran is the Prince of Northern Star, she had to help him because he is the savior of this war between the two kingdoms.
On her way back she dropped by the apothecary shop and bought a few materials such as charcoal, saltpeter, and sulphur to create her Raging Star. She hoped that this time her invention would work now that she has her Clow Cards.
"What are you doing here?" Madison spotted Sakura near by the shop.
Sakura ran up to Madison and whispered, "I came back to tell you guys that the city is going under a lockdown. We have to get out of here! Prince of Northern Star might die here. His duty is to his kingdom and his people."
"How did you know Syaoran's true identity?" Madison's eyes widened.
"We don't have much time. I'm here to help you guys escape," Sakura explained.
"How are you going to help us?" Madison asked.
"With this. I can use this as a distraction by blowing half of the city into bits," Sakura held up her medicine package with a smile.
"By yourself?" Madison raised her eyebrow. "Yeah," Sakura nodded confidently.
Madison couldn't wrap her head around what Sakura truly meant. She paused not knowing what to say or expect. Not that she doubted Sakura's ability, the truth was… she had no idea what Sakura was capable of. Syaoran did say Sakura was a highly intelligent girl, and she trusted Syaoran's judgment.
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Touya was pulled onto the stage where he will be hanged to death. While Jake and some of their men disguised themselves as guards. They waited in the military formation patiently for the right time to strike.
When Spinel commanded that it was time for the execution. Jake signalled his team with a nod. They first took out a row of men in front of them, followed by the men behind, and quickly headed towards the stage.
Jake made it first to the stage cutting off the rope that was tied to Touya. His men were behind him keeping other foot soldiers away from the stage. Then Spinel commanded his archery team take their shot at the imposters.
In the midst of the chaos, Syaoran jumped out of nowhere and held his sword against the Spinel's neck. To everyone's surprise all of them stopped attacking.
"It is you, Prince of Northern Star. I knew you would come. I finally get to see your real face," Spinel smirked.
Then a carriage rushed to the scene that was driven by Kero. Syaoran took Spinel as a hostage while Jake and everyone else got into the carriage. They made their escape with Spinel's soldiers followed behind.
Soon enough Madison followed Kero's carriage with another horse of her own.
They were then pursued by a group of armed soldiers on their horses.
"Just relax we are almost at the gate," Syaoran assured Touya that they are going to get out of this mess alive.
"I have some important news to tell you," Touya said while catching his breathe at the difficult. The pain was hard to bear as it is, and with increase of blood loss Touya felt he was slowly drifting away. He yelped in pain with blood slipping down the wound on his forehead and the wounds with blood that stained through his shirt.
"You can tell me after we get out of here," Syaoran said worriedly.
"This-can't-wait! You have to know, King of Moon Gates, Eriol Hiiragizawa gone missing within the kingdom of Mikaysium. He is leverage, you have to find him!" Touya fainted as soon as he finished his sentence.
Both Jake and Syaoran turned their attention to Touya. Spinel sought this opportunity and quick jumped out of the carriage and landed harshly on the ground. He then quickly dodged Madison's horse that was coming at him.
"Go after them!" Spinel commanded the soldiers on their horses. Spinel instructed his men to split into two groups to cover more ground.
Kero led the carriage towards the gate, while Madison created more chaos from behind. She was able to block the street by knocking over everything onto the street using her whip.
Spinel led one of the groups and headed to an alternative route towards the gate, but strangely enough when they reached the gate, it was closed.
He figured Syaoran and his group must be nearby. He looked around and noticed blood drops on the ground. Spinel followed the trail of blood to wards the back corner of the street.
Syaoran and his men were hiding in a corner only a few blocks down from where Spinel and a few of his men stood. Jake and a few of his men drew out their weapon quietly and prepared for an attack.
When Spinel almost reached the end of the trail when suddenly explosions fired all over the city. In several parts of the city, the storage base for food was lit on fire. Everyone turned their attention to the explosions happening one after another like a chain reaction.
"General, our food storages across the city are on fire from this strange sparkling light spirit," a soldier came running in reporting this devastating news.
"Get all the soldiers to the storage and contain the fire before we lose all of our food source," Spinel commanded, "I am going to head to the storage that hasn't been lit on fire."
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"Fiery card sure comes in handy. Saves me the trouble of lighting my Raging Star with spark rocks," Sakura held the card in her hand happily.
"Jump card, release and dispel!" Sakura made her way to the next storage that hasn't been blown up. When she landed she quickly put the cards in her shirt, and turned her staff back into a key.
She began mixing the materials together into a bamboo bottle. Just when she put her hands in her bag the general caught her red handed. Two soldiers walked to Sakura and held their swords against her neck.
"You are the one who lit the storage on fire," Spinel looked more closely at Sakura, "So you are Li Xiao Lang's new bride."
"What bride? I am just a commoner to live about three blocks down that way. I don't know what you are talking about," Sakura quickly denied everything.
"Take her!" Spinel angrily walked off with his soldiers following from behind taking Sakura with them. She bit her lips as she now became a hostage. How is she going to get out of this one…
Syaoran and his men finally made it to the gate. It was heavily guarded and they had to come up with a new plan - fast.
"Sakura told me to give this to you," Madison took out three tiny square packages of paper, "She said to place these two package first together, then light this one on fire and put it with the first two package simultaneously."
Syaoran looked back and saw that there were torches on the both side of the gate not far from the wall. It was placed perfectly for Syaoran to aim the arrow at such an angle that it goes straight through the fire and pin it to the door.
"Are you sure this will help us?" Jake doubted.
"If she can destroy more than half of this city's food storage, she can definitely help us bust our way out of there," Madison assured Jake.
"Alright worth a shot," Syaoran attached each package to an arrow that was hidden inside the carriage. He aimed each arrow closely to one and other, with the last arrow on fire. The material mixed and created a huge explosion with heavy black smoke coming out of the doorway.
When the smoke cleared, the doors were gone and the soldiers all knocked unconscious.
"There is no doubt that she is the descendent of Clow Reed," Syaoran was impressed. They safely escaped the city and into the forest.
"Madison, is something wrong?" Syaoran asked noticing her uncomfortable posture and worried facial expression.
"Sakura and I agreed to meet out here after destroying the storages… she is still not here yet," Madison worried. Syaoran felt something caught inside his throat immediately knowing that Sakura didn't escape the city.
Sakura opened her eyes and noticed that she was upside down. She was dangled from two stories above the water. She looked down below her feeling the blood rushing into her brain. Suddenly, she dropped two feet from where she was before. She cried out in fear. It almost gave her heart attack.
"Are you scared? If you are, then tell me where is Prince of Northern Star now," Spinel demanded.
"I don't know!" Sakura yelled. The general commanded his soldier to let go of the rope.
Sakura scream as she fell into the water with only half of her body submerge from head to waist. After a few seconds she was lifted up to where she was before.
"Do you want to die or do you want to lie?" Spinel asked.
"I don't know. I really don't know!" Sakura yelled and took a deep breath. The general did the same command and Sakura found herself back into the water again.
"How did Prince of Northern Star teach you to create such fiery destruction?" the general asked again.
She coughed getting rid of the water in her lungs, "He didn't teach me. Besides, you are not going to catch him. He is not supposed to die here!"
"You are smart little girl. Unfortunately, intelligence is going to take your life sooner."
"You can scare me all you want. He is never coming back. You are not going to catch him!" Sakura was running out of breath. She tried to catch her breath as much as she could before she drops again.
The silence broke when there was sound of fighting coming from the bottom of the stairs. Syaoran fought every soldier who launched at him. The soldiers were no match for his level of martial skill and sword fighting techniques.
His movement was deliberately fast and accurate leaving no time for the soldiers to think what to do next. He made his way to the second floor of the building where the end of the rope was attached a pulley system.
Spinel pulled out his sword and prepared to fight Syaoran. Syaoran ran towards Spinel aiming quick and hard. Spinel was definitely a tough opponent and very well trained. Spinel was quick enough to attack and block every single sword swing Syaoran stroke at him.
With the last shot, Spinel flipped back towards the pulley and cut it with his sword. Sakura fell into the water below with a piece of the metal pulley that latched onto the rope.
Sakura struggled with a piece of the metal pulley pulling her down deeper into the water. She could not untie the rope that was wrapped around her legs.
Syaoran pointed a sword at Spinel's abdomen and pierced lightly through his skin missing all of his vital organs.
He then jumped down from two stories high and into the water. Sakura was completely running out of breath.
Sakura felt the rush of water began entering into her lungs. Syaoran first swam towards the rope to break Sakura free. Then he swam up and grabbed Sakura by the waist. Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck until they made it out of water.
Sakura coughed hard clearing the water that clogged her lungs. With Syaoran's face only inches away from hers. Sakura quickly blushed with her arms around his neck.
"What are you doing here?" Sakura continued coughing to expel more water along big deep breaths to replenish the oxygen she lost.
"I should be asking you the same thing, Sakura," Syaoran felt a great relief knowing that she was alive.
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That night Syaoran organized a dinner for Sakura by a pond near the base.
"This is to thank you for risking your life today to help saving my good friend," Syaoran walked Sakura to her seat.
"My only regret is that I couldn't help with healing Touya's wound with my limited medical knowledge," Sakura frowned.
"You went out of your way to help us. It's more than anyone could ask for. I know asking you to marry me was crossing the line. Thus, I hope you will forgive me for such request," Syaoran apologized.
"Don't worry about it, Syaoran," Sakura smiled. She then took the carved jade ornament and handed back to Syaoran, "This is valuable, and I want to return it to its rightful owner."
"No need. This was a gift for you. I want you to keep it just in case you want to come to Mikaysium to find me," Syaoran said.
"I shouldn't be coming back. My granny said in your life, there is a girl with surname, Reed. She will be your wife," Sakura held the jade ornament tightly in her hands avoiding eye contact with Syaoran.
"But… I don't know a woman with Reed as her last name," Syaoran was confused.
"When the time comes, you will meet her," Sakura smiled with disappointment, "My granny is never wrong when it comes to predicting the future. Just like…" Sakura stopped herself from revealing Syaoran's destiny.
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Sakura got dressed in the morning on the next day. She looked at the jade stone in her hands. She knew her feelings for Syaoran, but those feelings are meaningless if she was not the love of his life.
Sakura grabbed her bag and met with Madison outside of the tent.
"Hey, Madison," Sakura greeted.
"Hey Sakura. I prepared some money for you get home," Madison handed Sakura a small bag.
"Madison, thank you. Please always remind Syaoran that he needs to be careful. He should never become fixated during battles. In order to win this war, he has to be alive," Sakura advised.
"I will. Have a safe trip!" Madison hugged Sakura.
"Thank you! And for the money," Sakura smiled. She made her way out of the gate without turning back. She knew once she leaves, she wouldn't see Syaoran again. Their separation was inevitable as predicted by Sakura's granny.
Syaoran watched as Sakura walked out of gates, "Your grandmother was right. You are not meant to stay in the outside world. It's too dangerous for you. I hope that you will have a safe and peaceful life."
"Your highness, May I asked for her name?" Captain Avalon asked.
"Sakura Avalon." Syaoran replied.
"It can't be a coincidence. Sakura Avalon. It can't be her," Avalon mumbled to himself.
"What do you mean?" Syaoran wondered what he meant.
"Sakura just reminds me of my missing daughter. My daughter's full name was Sakura Reed Avalon," the Captain explained.
"It can't be. Can it?" Syaoran wondered to himself.
"Sorry for the interruption, my lord. I have questioned myself many times about the circumstance that Sakura had the ability to destroy the food storage across the city in Valkyrie. I came to believe that it was done through magic, more specifically Clow Reed's magic," Kero stated, "She has to be using the Clow Cards."
"She is the descendent of Clow Reed," this was the last piece of the puzzle that was missing from Madison's deduction of Sakura. She knew there was something about Sakura that was… different.
Next time on The Masked Knight:
Sakura knew the right thing to do was to return home to her village. Somehow she often finds herself back to where she wanted to be. An unexpected meeting between two rivals. How will it end? Who will win and who will die?