Cloaks

by sarehptar

After the fact, an alchemist drinks Darjeeling and does a great deal of talking. It's not like things ever went according to plan anyway.

16. Master of Macabre

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Author's Notes: Well, here it is, chapter 16. Only one day late, not bad considering it is, yet again, the longest chapter. I'm so sorry these are so long; I really didn't plan it being that way. But this chapter goes all the way to Bierrez's invasion of the castle, so there's a lot to talk about! Hopefully I managed to make everything clear and yeah… I know there is some crazy stuff in here that no one else was expecting. Sorry, but that's just the way things have to be. (Wink!) I actually have an ending planned, so if something seems off to you… It's probably foreshadowing! Ha ha, you didn't hear that. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. I like Garfakcy, a lot. I am just realizing that. He's such a… Well, he's going to end up a major role in everything I write for this series, I just know it. Speaking of that, I already have a new story planned for when I finish this story (Gasp, I never believed I'd make it that far!) You can check out the sketchy summary in my profile. Have fun reading this chapter! (Don't die of eye strain!)

Note: At this point in time it may be useful to have books 4 and 21 at your disposal.

Disclaimer: I filed a petition with Ohkami-san askingfor herpermission to claim Kharl and Garfakcy as my own. I was rejected, thoroughly and immediately. Looks like they're still not my property. Which is probably a good thing…

Background Music: Siren Song (Kajiura Yuki)

Let's throw a party: With the edition of this chapter, Cloaks officially became the longest Dragon Knights fanfiction posted on this site!

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Cloaks
By Sarehptar
Chapter 16-
Master of Macabre

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"L-Lord Alchemist… I've made a grave error!" The air in the room could not have gotten thicker if Nadil himself had chosen that moment to stride through my door. You looked at me, confused and demanding and she looked at me, desperate and even more demanding. With a sigh that was half fake and half serious, I dropped my head onto my arms, crossed on the railing, and muttered in a mock tone of exasperation,

"I think tea and cake are in order," and then the smile slipped back onto my face, betraying my less than testy mood.

"You must understand! This situation is—"

"Quite dire?" I nodded sagely down at her, disliking the entire affair. Couldn't horrid news wait until after I was dressed? "Forgive me Hime-sama, but I am not at all ready to receive you. A few moments are all I need—perhaps you would take this time to calm down a bit?" As if admonished, her pale face colored and she shrunk in her flowing white dress.

"O-Of course, I wasn't thinking…" A dismissive wave eased her embarrassment. Had she just realized how bold she had been, invading my castle without warning? With a glance that I tried to make stern, I turned on you. You must remember her visit—do you remember the way your face looked? Utter and complete distrust and confusion. I almost laughed; it was as if, in your mind, you could not reconcile the beautiful princess standing elegantly beside you and the tousled youkai I was, half asleep on the landing. I could almost see youdoing the math in your head and drawing a blank.

"Garfakcy, take the lady to the drawing room. I think Chamomile tea would be best." You gave a curt nod to me, and then with an acidic glint in your green eyes, lead the princess away. I had the feeling, as I ascended the staircase again, a thorough explanation on my part was long overdue. Thoughtlessly I pulled out the first set of decent clothing I could find, some traditional confection of greens and blues and a stiff high collar. Still struggling with the unmanageable waist sash, I wandered back out of my room, stepping over the night clothes I'd carelessly tossed down.

I did not hurry, though leaving a woman, particularly one who was so clearly not a demon, unattended in my dangerous castle did not strike me as the wisest of ideas. I did not really want to see her now, did not want to hear what ill she bore this time. I was afraid that she might have come only to give me warning about another pain I could not avoid… But making her wait would not get rid of her, and I had a feeling that if you had to serve tea without me in the room, the entire meeting would become a greater catastrophe than it already was. I picked up my pace reluctantly.

It was to my weak relief I arrived before you. The Star Princess had taken a place in one of the carved mahogany and velvet chairs, near the small hearth. Though it was early, light seemed not to shine strongly in the room, giving it a warm and pleasant air. Normally the delicate furniture and closed quiet of the room would have comforted me, but today I wanted nothing more than to throw myself back into bed and pull the covers over my head. I did not let this hesitance show and took a chair beside her with an utterly fake half smile. She knew how I was really feeling, and I was more than grateful that she did not comment on it.

I had finally opened my mouth to ask for her ill news when you bustled through the door, bearing a busier tea tray than I had ever seen. How you had possibly whipped it all up in the few minutes it had taken me to dress was beyond me. Warily I checked the cakes on the Princess' side, just in case you'd decided to treat her to ash rather than your wonderful cooking. To my surprise, everything appeared to be edible and smelt delicious. You really had pulled out all we had: lemon cakes, butter biscuits, jams made from fruit I didn't even know grew in our garden, perfectly tapered sugar cubes, the finest china and the Master's favorite silver spoons…

I knew you must really have disliked not knowing what was going on—the fine meal was clearly meant not only to humble the princess but to make me feel guilty for cutting you out of things. Success, by the way. Still, I wondered if maybe the obsessive care that had gone into the tea and snacks was also testament to something else. You were naturally jealous, and the fact that I showed someone who was not even a demon –someone who appeared to be a useless, fragile little woman– such a high level of respect must have irritated you like nothing else. Undoubtedly, you (maybe you didn't even notice your actions) were trying to illustrate just how much more useful you were to me.

"Thank you." I offered crisply, clearly indicating that while I was glad for the excellent tea, there were things to be talked about that you were not allowed to know. With a look that told me you were going to find out what was really going on if it took my life, you left us alone. For a few seconds we sat in silence, and then she surprised me.

"He worries a lot about you." She had read beyond the prickly aura you'd exuded around her. I smiled, genuinely happy for the first time since I'd woken.

"With good reason." My grin must have grown a little sheepish. "I would have neglected myself to death without him." Or starved, but my ineptitude was not easily admitted. She smiled in return, and it was easy to forget for a moment that she had come here bearing grave news. I poured the tea, enjoying the heavy and calming scent of the Chamomile steam. Holding the china cup in both of her delicate hands, she sipped it cautiously.

"I hate to darken our meeting, but you came here on dire business. Is there something we should discuss?" She lowered the cup slowly, and the sudden sadness in her eyes was almost oppressive. I offered her a tea cake, there seemed to be little else I could do.

"I should have realized, I don't know why. I never tried to see him, it's difficult…"

"Dire as it may be, let's try to go through it logically." She took a deep breath and another sip of her tea, silently trying to lay her thoughts in order.

"When you… When you met Rath in the mountains, the Light Dragon tried to prevent you taking him." I tensed visibly at the memory, putting my tea cup down quickly to avoid crushing it. "It expended itself, and could not be saved." The Light Dragon was dead? I had killed one of the Dragon Tribe's most precious treasures and not even known? "But Lord Rath cannot sustain himself without the Light Dragon—there are too many conflicting powers. Without Shin's strength to stabilize him, Rath is falling apart." I heard the words, but somehow I could not understand them. Because of what I had done, Rath was dying? I had…

"There is a way… There was a way to save him. I thought, if the Light Dragon's soul could receive power, it would be able to maintain itself, and protect Lord Rath…"

"But in order to pass power over to the Light Dragon, the holder of such would have to be immensely strong."

"Hayate." She murmured the word and did not need to say more. She had intended to use the Wind Dragon's power to fortify Shin's. "I instructed Blue Officer Kai-stern to search for the Wind Dragon, but it was an awful mistake…"

"Nadil has already destroyed it." I took another sip of my tea, contemplating her words.

"I didn't know, I never tried to see that man, I never would have imagined… I gave them so much hope! I told the Officer that he could save Lord Rath… How can I face them and say that I was wrong?" Her roseate eyes glimmered with unshed tears.

"You came to me." And some of the reason for her visit was making itself clear.

"There is something, a part of the Wind Dragon's power…"

"The Wind Staff." I offered, into the rim of my teacup. She nodded barely, pink locks drifting like strands of spider web across her slender shoulders.

"It cannot be avoided now. Lord Rath is going to die." I felt a chill pass down my spine at the thought. "But if I can restore the Wind Staff that Nadil has destroyed…"

"Even if he dies, Rath can be resurrected." The lengths to which she was going to protect my son warmed me, though the inevitability of her newest warning stabbed as sharply and as surely as a blade. I smiled wryly, knowing now exactly what she needed of me.

"My mother forged the original Wind Staff." This surprised me, but not completely—an item and creature so powerful, so impossibly magical, seemed apt to have mysterious origins. "If I could find even one piece of the old staff, I'm sure I could create a replacement strong enough."

"And now we come to the real reason for your visit. You want something that belongs to me, don't you? Something I toiled to find and bring into my possession. Surely you must know the danger I went through to make it mine…" Her eyes widened, her lips parted quickly as if she meant to make some plea to me. I cut her off. "You should also know that I would never begrudge anything that might save my son." She smiled, a pure genuine look of relief, and I felt better about the situation just looking at her. "If you would not mind following me?" She set her cup back on the tea tray and stood gracefully, lighter on her feet now without the weight of error on her shoulders.

I don't remember exactly when I discovered Nadil was the Wind Dragon Knight (although one can hardly call him that, as he fought no more for the protection of Dusis than I did). By the time I had figured out the truth, Hayate was already dead—Nadil's survival against Lykouleon's blade seemed to suggest he'd devoured the dragon even before Ruin had possessed Illuser's body. But I know that as soon as I discovered the Demon Lord's dubious origins, I went looking for remnants of power. Curiosity has always been an overly active part of me, and I was not about to allow an immense magic go unresearched. It had taken months of secrecy, bribery, blackmail and outright threats, but I had finally gotten my hands on a fragment of the Wind Staff, perhaps the most powerful magical tool in this world. If what I was led to believe was true, the piece in my possession was the last piece in existence. Nadil had been thorough in his destruction—fortunately, his sneaky and none to loyal minions had been more thorough in their thievery. I had intended to carve it apart and learn its Dragon secrets down to the minutest of details, but then I had gone to meet Rath in the mountains. I could not bring myself, after that, to touch anything of theirs, to think about them…

Together the princess and I departed the drawing room. The morning sun had brightened, and the corridors were awash with pretty golden light. For a few moments we wound our way into the heart of the castle in silence, even our feet failing to make the sound they should have. At last, she sighed, a sad breath that seemed terrible coming from someone with such a gentle heart, and said to me, with a heavy voice,

"I think I must tell you the future. It is only fair that you know, that we try…" She stopped, bit her lower lip, setting her words once again in order. "We can perhaps prevent more mistakes. I think we can save Lord Rath." I nodded solemnly, staring down the dustily-lit hallway with eyes that did not really see. She took a quiet, unsteady breath. "In less than a year's time, the third of the Dragon Knights will join them. The Dragon Lord will reluctantly give them theirfirst realmission: to cut off and collect Nadil's head." That Lykouleon would send them on such a dangerous task so early on shocked me, and I wondered if the man was really in his right mind.

"They will succeed and fail at this mission. It will be Lord Rath who confronts the Demon Lord in the end, and though he will manage to remove Nadil's head, he will unknowingly create an opening for the Demon Lord's survival." Anger, as strong as could appear in such a delicate woman, flashed in her roseate eyes. "Nadil will live on inside Rath, capitalizing on the Knight's ability to hold separate souls inside him. He is going to give his henchmen exact orders for his revival… And when the time comes, he is going to kill Lord Rath." She saw me tense and lifted a light hand to comfort me. "If I can manage to forge a new Wind Staff, if we can secure that future, Blue Dragon Officer Kai-stern and the Dragon Dog Crewger will die in order to restore Lord Rath's life. A glorious gem will resurrect him." She paused, the barest of the frown evident on her face, and then continued.

"Beneath the Dragon Castle is an ancient tomb. Please understand me when I say that I cannot tell you more about this place. It predates your reality—there are secrets imprisoned there that must remain secret."

"I won't ask." But I wanted to, desperately. What secrets? My reality… Why would she choose this place for Rath's revival? I felt there was something important, some imprisoned secret I should have known…

"Over this tomb I will place two guardians.(1) They will keep it safe at my orders. Lord Rath will live again, if I can succeed, but further than that I cannot hope to fathom. We must make sure that the correct future comes to pass…" She looked at me, a gentle solemnity shining in her gaze. "I want Lord Rath and Lord Alchemist to be happy. I want this world to have peace." I valued the sincerity in her plea, and the innocence, but I knew the bitter truth. There could never be peace in this world. Not with Rath so far from me, not while the Demon and Dragon Lords lived… It surprised me to find us suddenly before the laboratory doors, and I wondered how me has managed the long walk so swiftly.

She lingered behind me as I pushed open the heavy set of oak doors. The laboratory lay out before us, orderly from your ministrations, and I brushed through the aisles and tables with more care than normal, hoping not to cause a single mess (and thus maintain my dignity). The room was dark, the air was thick with centuries of magic and death, and suddenly I wished I'd retrieved the piece myself and left her in the warm, bright drawing room. She did not belong here… Yet still, she shone like a star in the darkness. How apt her name seemed in that moment. Her step was softer than mine and only a second behind, making an echo to my feet that sounded almost eerie in the vast room.

Through it had felt like only seconds between the tea room and the laboratory, it seemed to take an eternity to reach the far back wall of the room. At last, I ran my fingers along the rough stone, turning left and searching quietly for the tiny cabinet I knew was there. I found it quickly, snugly ensconced in other shelves. Its dark wood doors were almost overly ornate, carved in miniscule patterns of armies, flowers and –had I never noticed before?– dragons. The irony was laughable. I turned the tarnished gold handle carefully, mindful of its age, and tugged open the doors. Silent as the dead, the fragment of the Wind Staff laid inconspicuously on its carven stand. No part of it betrayed the unstoppable and immense power lurking beneath its jagged and crystalline surface. Despite the lack of light, it seemed to glitter of its own accord—even broken it was beautiful. With steady, light hands I pulled the blue-white shard from its stand. It was uneven, but its many facets were not rough to the touch. I could feel the unrestrained power ringing through my arms, as wild as Hayate suggested.

Then she reached out to take it from me, her gentle angular nails brushing ghost-like against my bare hands. The moment her fingers closed around it, something shattered. Power bloomed violent and massive as a tempest, ripping at the dangling edges of our clothing, lifting her coral locks and tugging them back and forth like invisible and indecisive attendants. She felt it too—her roseate eyes widened, but just as I did not move (could not?) she remained still, her delicate hand brushing both of mine as we clung to the shard. Yet I could feel somewhere, unconsciously, that the pressure of the Wind was not harmful: she and I were ensconced in the heart of the storm, just another part of the power… As if my understanding of its truer nature had unlocked some secret, I felt warmth suddenly course through me, all encompassing and benevolent. There was magic in it, ancient magic in the very air I was breathing, and for a moment it was like being weightless, as unbound as the wind itself.

And then, as suddenly as it began, the power was gone, receding into the fragment and leaving me cold and tussled. The energy in the wind dissolved, and the air in my lungs seemed empty and not enough to sustain me. We were both gasping slightly, to regain the thickness that had seemed more normal than oxygen. Then that feeling too was gone, we were just standing as we had been. Her hair was out of place, but did not look any less beautiful, and somehow during the gusts, half of my Frog clasps had come undone. We looked a mess—but, I was stunned to observe, not a single piece of laboratory equipment was out of place. Not one glass bottle had been broken by the storm of power… A book on the table beside us was still open to the same page as when we'd entered.

With reluctant hands, I released the shard of the Wind Staff and let her take it from me. I felt like I should say something, but could not find any words worth saying. In the silence of the room, I could feel the future changing. What kind of world were we creating, she and I? I was eager and afraid to know.

Outside the laboratory, the sun shined immaculate and hot across the tile, and I was glad for the half shade the open air colonnade provided. She ran a disinterested hand through her hair as we walked. As if our minds were one and the same, we shoved aside thoughts of death, of pain and the imminent future, and talked of lighter things. I remarked on the heat, and I seem to distinctly remember her telling me not to wear green—something about how it made me and my blooming lilac hair look like a walking flower. When I nodded in agreement, making my bangs flutter like jostled petals, she laughed a high and pure note. I was reminded suddenly about how rarely I kept company, how few people I really trusted enough to laugh with like this…

But I don't think I could even go so far as to call her my friend. We were too completely different breeds of life, two sides of the sky, dark and light. For this twilight moment, we were aligned. Would it always be this way? Could we always be allies, aides to each other as we pursued a mutual goal? I did not think such a thing was possible. Selfishness and selflessness cannot be comrades; the sunrise of a new future cannot bind night and day forever. Would we one day have stood on opposite sides? I won't live to find out, and for that I am grateful.

I knew something about her now, something that bated nervously inside me like an anxious bird. I crushed the feeling, tried to hide it. I did not want her to know that during the maelstrom of the Wind Staff's unexplained reaction, I had felt not only Hayate's power, but a part of hers. A little of her heart had been conveyed to me, and the feeling was shocking, because it was familiar. I knew her spirit as if I had felt it everyday of my life. I had—because the power she had unknowingly exposed to me was the power that beat in the heart of the forest outside my castle, the power that crashed in the waves of the sea, so close, the power that rung in the steel of the Arinain King's sword, in his heartbeat… Her soul felt like Arinas. It frustrated me, confused me, but I could not face it, I ignored it. She has no connection to the Eastern King, I promised myself, She has no ties to this world, no ties to that man… She is too sweet to ever be my enemy, I lied.

If she knew what I had seen about her in the darkness of the castle depths, she never said a word. We had wound our way to the main hall again, but I had not guided her there, and I had not even realized that was where we headed. The door she had pushed open in her haste had been left open in order to bring a breeze inside. For a moment we both stood on the threshold of the changing outside world and my shadowed castle. It was awkward to say the least: how could I thank her for what she was doing? How could I ask why someone who felt like power that had long opposed me was suddenly my aide? I was spared all the questions I did not want (and did want) to ask, because another made its way to the fore:

"Is something bothering you Hime-sama?" Even though I had easily surrendered my fraction of the Wind Staff, even though she had what she needed to keep Rath safe, I sensed that some thing still weighed on her. It did not look like pressingly serious, but I could see the barest creasing of her brow.

"It's nothing," she tried to reassure me with a smile. "I was just thinking of my fiancé. He did not want me to come here alone. Sometimes he worries too much." I nodded along, only a little lost.

"Well, he has a right to—Garfakcy can be quite a dangerous guard dog when he puts his mind to it." We both knew this was not what this mysterious "he" had worried about, but she smiled again, and the previous tension in her seemed to have evaporated.

With her free hand, she reached out and clasped my arm. The gentle pressure of her fingers and the warmth of the gesture seemed to say more than any words could have hoped to, and I can not even begin to explain what transpired between us in those few seconds. I could feel her gratitude, I know she could feel mine, but it was more than that. It was the feeling of watching a sunset, the feeling that secret holders get looking at each other. It was a feeling of dread and of comfort, of camaraderie and sadness. It was wordlessly a 'Thank you' and a 'Good-bye'. I watched the quick determined steps that carried her away and increased Rath's chance to live until she vanished into the forest that seemed now more mysterious and other-worldly. It felt as if she had taken away not only the Wind Staff shard, but a part of me as well.

"A-hem?" Your voice, caustic and dark, bubbled up behind me, accompanied by an ominous tapping of your brown boot on the stones. I was almost afraid to turn around and face your wrath. "Just who was that?" Oh dear, some little voice in the back of my wailed, RUN AWAY! I wanted very much to obey it, to scuttle off like a crab and hide in a big shell until your anger abated. I'm not a crustacean, no such luck. "I'm waiting…" You ground out, but it didn't sound patient to me at all.

"Heh heh," I laughed sheepishly while searching for a proper story. Instead, some other words leapt up to fill the empty air and crossed my lips before I ever had a chance to think about them. "Garfakcy, what's a 'fiancé'?"

"What!" I thought I might have given you a heart attack right then and there. Obviously, my less than opportunely-timed question had only made things worse. "She didn't call you that, did she?.!"

"No…" I offered placatingly. "She said her fiancé didn't want her to come here." You looked at me for a moment, and then slammed your face into your palm.

"Like that's any better!" A glare that could have curdled milk stung me from between your fingers. "A fiancé is a mate, and hers doesn't like you."

"Oh!" I nodded, educated. "It makes sense now." I had about a moment to marvel at how well adapted you were to both the human and demon worlds before you straightened and gathered your wits for another verbal attack.

"What was she here for anyway? How do you know her? She's not a demon and she's not a human so what the hell is she? What did she take? What was so urgent?" There seemed to be no end to the questions, and I felt like I was being interrogated by an angry guardian rather than my housekeeper. With a wary hand I steered you, still firing questions, toward the drawing room. We could hardly let all that excellent food go to waste…

I tried to answer your questions, but I failed on almost all counts—I knew so little about her, and the things I did know I had to keep secret. I could not very well tell you she was a woman from another world hell-bent on protecting my son, who was himself a member of the Dragon Tribe. You would have died of shock, or killed me for keeping such big secrets. For a bare moment, while I munched on a lemon cake, I thought about telling you truth: everything about Rath, about what I had been so desperate to do, about what the Star Princess and I had done. But the desire passed quickly, and I returned again to feeling that telling would cost my dignity, that speaking would weaken something...

"She's called the Heaven's Star Princess, and she's a fortuneteller." If my answers got anymore concrete, I can't remember. But with evasive tidbits like, "She helped me previously and needed me to return the favor today," I know you came out of the interrogation with more questions and almost no knowledge you didn't have going in. Dodging the issue is a skill of mine.

Later that night I turned her words over and over in my head like an hourglass. Numbly I watched the grainy thoughts tumble end over end. Crewger and Kai-stern, the very two who had stood against me that morning the Snowy Mountains… A beautiful gem… Predates your reality… Nadil will kill Lord Rath… I wondered how she could stand knowing everything that was to come—even the vague truths she left me with plagued my mind. How would Rath die? How could a gem resurrect him; why would a Dragongive his lifefor my son? That night, I slept fitfully, waking often to stare out my window and imagine the future, nightmarish as it was going to be.

The short months after her visit I waited on bated breath, watching the Dragon Castle from afar and searching for any sign of her in our world again. I wanted desperately to know if she had succeeded in creating the replacement Wind Staff, if she had seen any further into the future. But as if utterly eclipsed, I could not find a trace of her anywhere in our world—not even when her predictions began to come true.

The rumor, news, came to me slowly from sources completely unaware they were revealing secrets to a youkai. A human boy, intent on stealing the Earth Dragon, Riku, had invaded the Dragon Castle, but instead of waking the dragon with his ministrations, he had ended up possessed by Shydeman in some attempt to kill the Dragon Lord. Clever, if ineffective, Shydeman had clearly underestimated both the strength of human hearts and Lykouleon's readiness to strike down any threat to peace. Whatever battle occurred, somehow the young man had not only survived, but ended up commander of the Earth Dragon, the third of the Dragon Knights.

Though I had been told what was to come, when the knights were dispatched to Kainaldia, I was none the less irked. It seemed a fool's order, sending three little boys to do what a Dragon Lord had failed at. It was obvious to me that Lykouleon was capitalizing on Rath's demon nature: because Hayate's power prevented another Dragon weapon from harming Nadil, the Dragon Lord had sent a warrior capable of wielding a demon's sword, capable of using youki directly to attack. I wonder then if he had any idea what evil he was inviting into my son. I became convinced he knew all along that Rath's soul was different, convinced that he knew what might occur… Did he consciously send my son to serve as a net and damper for Nadil's soul? The large part of me that saw him as a sly enemy believed so.

Regardless, the future she had predicted rolled on without fail. More than once, I wanted to step in. I could have found some way to stop Nadil from infiltrating, I could have found some way to destroy his body or his soul permanently—I could have kept him from killing Rath. But all it took to still my hand was the memory of blood tears on pale cheeks. If I did the wrong thing, changed the wrong thing, I could have ended up ruining all the Star Princess was striving for. I could cause more pain, I could be hurt worse. Perhaps it was cowardly of me; maybe I could have improved the future, saved lives… I was tired of risking maybes. Instead I sat back and allowed Nadil to take a place in my son's soul. If anything could have made the Demon Lord less my comrade, that was it—yet I don't think he ever knew that Rath and I bore relation. He was the sort not to care.

With more than their fair share of difficulties, Rath and his companions (the other of which I had not really been interested in happened to be the Faerie Prince; the irony tickled me to giggles) ended up back in Draqueen. But this was not what really caught my eye at all, because a demon had taken up residence in the castle, and I wanted to know why. Can you imagine my surprise? A little spying in Kainaldia on Right Bird's part revealed her to be defunct from the Demon Army, though that was the least interesting fact he discovered. We lost Cesia… When Lord Nadil awakens, he will only need Cesia, Shyrendora and I…

Cesia. Who was she? Why was she necessary, and now in the Dragon Lord's hold? For the first time in several years, curiosity took a firm hold of me. Things were changing, quickly. Pieces were falling on both sides like pawns on a chessboard. Moreover, Right Bird brought news that one among the demons knew Cesia had gone to the Dragons. The very idea of whatever clash might occur between the two eternal opponents made the blood run quicker in my veins. And when the forces of light and darkness finally did meet, I was certainly not disappointed.

The same demon who knew Cesia's whereabouts was also able to evade the Dragon Lord's barrier and slip inside the castle. You were witness to my delight and intrigue, and I know you enjoyed the sudden threat of battle more than I did. I watched the young youkai, Bierrez, struggle through one hasty incursion into the heart of Draqueen. He met with Rath and was driven back—hearing of that entire affair stunned me, and I learned more from it than I ever expected. Cesia was rumored to be under the protection of a Light Dragon amulet—was she, like Rath, harboring a power dangerous to the Dragon Tribe? But what unsettled me was my son's willingness to protect her. Every previous display, every shred of evidence about what he had become since joining the Dragon Tribe seemed to be at odds with his reactions.

Rath hated the demon kind (for more than a few reasons). By all means, one who had lied, cheated, murdered and had the audacity to talk back should have been dead in minutes. No order of Lykouleon's could have stopped Rath had he ever really wanted to kill the girl… If I was forced to admit it, I would say I was instantaneously jealous of her, and only more deeply curious. Precious to the Demon Army, protected by the Dragon Clan, pardoned by my son… She and this upstart young demon were unknowns to me, and it made me all the more determined to cast my hand back into the roiling fire that was Dusis.

I set you on Bierrez's tail almost the very next day, do you remember? You absolutely hated the assignment. There was something about him the boy that set you off, made you surly and unpleasant. I never did find out exactly what it was about him that irked you, but I always imagined it was his expressions… The simple way he managed to express things so clearly, the waythat neither of us could. But maybe that was only my imagination; maybe you had other reasons to find him an irritating presence…

After his first tentative steps into the castle, Bierrez was far more careful. You don't even have to imagine how gleeful I was to discover he was not only clever but ruthless—he used the Demon Bible (resourceful little youkai, to actually have gotten his hands on a copy) to create drones from his poisoned blood. Without a second thought, he sent them in with every intention to kill. The single-mindedness of his pursuit drew me to him, and I recognized immediately that he could not have been working under the orders of Nadil's lackeys, who would never have allowed such a reckless strike. The thought that he was operating freely and had a power I had only dreamed of made me want to meet him… Made me want to manipulate him to my own ends.

Watching with your eyes through a crystal, I saw Rath and the orange-haired rouge clash again. Instantly I knew something was wrong. Though they both fought eagerly, there were too many words I could not hear passed between them. The grim look on Rath's face did not match his normally excited battle countenance—moreover, he did not hesitate to use his ice magic, something he never did where others might see him. I felt as if, with all the mysteries I had yet to unravel, there was too much I did not know, too much happening that I could not see. It made me feel weak, which I loathe, and I knew I had to bring the situation under my control. The air, though I could not directly feel it, was alive with a wild and churning magic around both the younger boys, and I was reminded suddenly, strangely, of Hayate—but then this too was gone, and the rain began to fall. It seemed sourceless, dangerous but also pure. Rath and Bierrez fought on as if the evening sky had never been clouded over at all, knocking each other back mercilessly and foolishly.

At my orders, you primly interrupted the battle and ripped Bierrez away just when it seemed Rath would land a finishing blow. That was your first face to face glimpse of my son. What did you think of him? I will never know now—we never truly spoke of him. I could never bear to tell you the truth, could never find a way. Did you hate him, did you ever suspect? You're so much more intuitive than you like to show… Perhaps, like me, you've been keeping secrets for years.

I have the habit of profiling people on first meeting, discerning their baser natures within a few minutes and filing this away. Normally I find it eerily easy to read others, which is why it irritated me so much when, upon first meeting him, I could not see through Bierrez. In all aspects, I underestimated him. Dripping wet, you tossed him down in the middle ofmy darkened, vacant parlor. Through the crystal he had not seemed as young as he really was. He could not possibly be a fraction of my age, and this was probably an understatement. If he was evenfifteen years older than Rath, who had undergone forced aging, I would have been shocked.

Instead of the hardened and stable warrior I'd expected, the youkai who faced me was a child with powers he didn't fully understand and a desperate wish that was bound to get him killed. By your standards, Bierrez was a little brat with more words than strength to back them up—but I saw something else. Here was a demon brave enough to ignore the orders of youkai more than physically his superiors, bold enough to waltz right into the nest of his enemy, and foolish enough to bend to my every whim. That he had blatantly disregarded Shydeman's plans showed a degree of independence I would never have predicted… and told me that his goal to retrieve Cesia from the Dragon Tribe had nothing to do with Nadil's need of her. Bierrez was working only under the ministrations of his own emotions, and for a moment, I pitied him. Like me, this youkai, not even old enough to be more than a boy, knew how to feel guilt, grief, and love.

The feeling was not enough to make me regret my decision. I was going to mold Bierrez into my puppet and set him back on his task with all the appearance of acting as a benevolent outsider. If he succeeding in removing Cesia from the Dragon Castle, I would simply force a possession and have him bring her right to me. The chances that he might survive another encounter with Rath were slim, but I thought if he posed a great enough distraction, I could do nothing but benefit from the situation: the Dragon Tribe had more than one thing I wanted.

Wary green eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light, focusing on me for the first time.

"Welcome. My sincerest apologies for dragging you out here."

"Who are you?" He brushed dripping tangerine bangs from his forehead, and the strange water rolled off of him and puddled on the tile. From where you rested on the windowsill behind me, I could almost feel indignation (on behalf of the floor) darkening the air.

"I am Kharl, the alchemist." Right Bird bated to a place on my shoulder, voicing his dislike of the stranger in my ear. "I've made a modest life for myself dabbling in things demonic. Surely you've heard of me?"

"You wrote the Demon's Bible." The wariness I had first sensed in him had just, to my amusement, grown. He crossed his arms defensively around himself and I found it a wonder he didn't draw his weapon then and there—naturally he was not naïve enough to think me harmless.

"Ah, did you find it useful?" I could not hold back a knowing smile, "Or at the very least, compelling?" If his eyes could have narrowed further, they would have looked like a fox's slit-eyed stare. He answered my question with a derisive 'Hmph!' inching almost subconsciously against the mantle.

"Why did you bring me here?" I could feel his nervousness at the situation: like any animal, he could feel the pressure of a cage falling down around him. I had to remind myself not to push him too far and risk a bite. Despite this, the fact that he was tensed and ready to run at any moment (trying to hide it made it all the more apparent) tickled me, and I took a few playful steps forward, not quite able to ignore the opportunity to frighten a weaker demon. He was well within my territory, knew it and disliked it.

"You are the only youkai capable of entering the Dragon Castle." Fun had, I aimed to placate his surliness with a bit of supplication—if he realized he had powers I did not, he would feel safer. Believing I needed him alive, he would be far more likely to accept my aide. He would make himself much easier to manipulate.

"Am I?" He queried, not at all ready to hold a civil conversation with me. I wondered suddenly what strange rumors he might have heard about the Alchemist in his hidden castle… "Your spooky little tree stump over there seemed to get through easily enough." Spooky little tree stump? I thought the nickname was quite cute, but even without turning I could feel you bristle like a cornered cat. I half expected you to scold him with a well-placed blow over the head and a 'Respect your elders!' but you surprised me.

"I'm a human, not a youkai." For you to admit this to someone who clearly already held you in disdain was surprising—though, I thought again, perhaps not. The fact he had failed to identify something that should have been starkly obvious from your ki made him look less sufficient than you, ningen that you were.

"A human, using magic?" Like every demon you had met, there was the typical disbelief. But a thorough explanation was not in order, and as much as I enjoyed talking about my accomplishments, there were things to be done that were far more important.

"Garfakcy uses magical ashes that I've created. He works for me." With a blunt summary and a chipper smile that was probably more cold than bright, I told Bierrez wordlessly to forget the subject.

"So what's the famous Alchemist Kharl doing these days? Your reputation precedes you, a Master of the Macabre, so to speak." Master of the Macabre? Bierrez was simply full of apt names, and I jokingly thought of suggesting he become a writer. With a hand that was strangely pale, he brushed the last of the water from his two tone hair. A plausible answer to his question came easily across my lips.

"They were beautiful once, but Left Bird died, and Right Bird is not as adept at sculpting their brains. It has forced me into an early retirement." I avoided speaking of Rath for more reasons than the obvious one. Perhaps I had convinced myself that if no one knew, if I could forget, it would not really have happened—Left Bird would simply have died, not been killed, Rath would not have reason to hate me, the Star Princess would not need a tool to undo Rath's now imminent death… More still, it had not been Left Bird's death that had ceased my creation of demons: I had more than enough power and Demon Seed to make another ten legions. Rather, after Rath there seemed no longer to be any point in making them. I could create nothing more beautiful, nothing more powerful. Yet what business of that was Bierrez's? I left him with the vague lie, knowing he would swallow it.

"However, your emerging onto the scene has given me renewed inspiration." Nursing an almost predatory stare, I focused all my sharp attention on the young intruder. It unsettled him, and I could sense a momentary confusion. This he shoved aside in favor of exasperation, and leaning on the mantle in mock nonchalance, gave an impatient sigh that suited his excitable nature. I was reminded suddenly of Rath, and the feeling stunned me. Were they alike? Yes, in a way—both young and foolish, rouges on opposite sides, even squabbling like brothers over a toy that seemed to dislike them both… But this thought only encouraged me to manipulate Bierrez. I suppose I have become a biased father, one certainly not above giving my son an unfair advantage. And I have always been a man most definitely not above cheating to improve my own position.

"You brought me here to be an audience for your 'renewed inspiration'?"

"No." I answered with a smile that did not betray the truth. I had brought him there to become my inspiration. "You wish to recover a demon named Cesia, a young girl of particular interest to Nadil and his malodorous hordes… Don't you?" He tensed, and I wondered if it was because I knew more about him than he about me, or if it was because I knew of Cesia, the youkai other demons seemed to be tripping over themselves to protect. His fingers twitched as if any moment he might summon a weapon and demand to know what I wanted with he and Cesia. You sensed it too, and as if you had never had to reach for them, the ash shifted threateningly in your hand. I smiled again, anticipation bubbling inside me. Finally some way to involve myself without endangering Rath's future, a way to benefit myself and limit the power of the Dragon Lord. "I'm sorry you're having trouble Bierrez. Would you like my help?"

I didn't know then what I had started, was about to start. I worked around a set of vague predictions, tried to intervene in matters I thought free of Rath's fate… Maybe I should have realized that everything in this world seems tied to Rath. Maybe I should have seen how selfish I was being. But at that time, the only things in my head were the visions of renewed power, new topics of research, new ways to protect and be near Rath. It was like being reawakened, like regaining feeling after paralysis. Every part of my mind tingled with raw potential. And it would all be so sickeningly easy… Bit it had to begin with Bierrez and a good portion of everything I wanted to do rested on his willingly subjecting himself to my "aide".

There was really no question in my mind whether or not he would agree or not—in the world of demons I had made my name so well known and kept my powers secret enough to become the stuff of horror stories, rumors and books written by people who never have and never will meet me. Even seeing me, though Bierrez would never have showed it, is something mo youkai of his stature would ever have expected (or wanted)—I wondered briefly again what exactly he thought of me and looking into his guarded and brash eyes, I could come to no solid conclusion. More than once since our meeting began I had felt the natural defensive fear from him, but I could also see direct disregard as if he thought he could say just through his gestures that he didn't care in the slightest about me. Still, there was under all this a deep intrigue. As a reader of the Demon Bible, he surely had to wonder about not only my powers but what sort of man could deal so heartlessly with souls.

Perhaps in the end the only question was whether he would trust me enough to go after Cesia directly without checking what I had done to him first. If he hesitated and discovered the poison I would fill him with, I would gain nothing. I would have to make sure there was no reason for him to doubt me. I listened to his tread as we brushed down the darkened hallways toward the laboratory—where my steps were silent his were defiantly loud, ringing on the marble and echoing through the high-ceiling corridors like heralds to his approach. It seemed as if he intended to do everything exactly the way he wanted to, without a care for anyone's expectations. His stubborn attitude was amusing and familiar, and I got the sudden impression that just as he was like Rath, Bierrez was also like me: fixated on a single thing and undoubtedly selfish in all other aspects.

I purposely left the lamps unlit in the laboratory, and the immense room remained seeped in darkness even the waning moon, shining through a dusty window, could not hope to brighten. If this made the younger demon uncomfortable, he said nothing. Weaving through the tables with practiced ease, I led Bierrez to a free corner, full of just the things I would need. Impatiently, he shifted his weight from foot to foot, until finally I reached out and snatched one of his folded arms. I had noticed it earlier but thought nothing of it—now, with a sudden memory, the hand intrigued me. The skin tone was not right. Bierrez had peach skin erring on the side of tan; the hand just free of his right sleeve was paler, more delicate, a distinct contrast.

"Your arm… It's not yours. You've attached someone else's to replace your own."

"A monster," his eyes were dark with fear and hate, "A monster… Ice Illuser… Rath cut mine off a long time ago." He stared at me, daring me to refute his claims. A monster…

"I've heard of that creature." I could not say more than that, could not bring myself to correct his opinion. "I heard the Dragon Lord killed it. But he really ended up taking it in, didn't he?"

"What was the Dragon Lord thinking? He actually took in that horrible monster and made it Dragon Knight!" His voice trembled with what sounded like betrayal, and for a moment I could not bear to meet his eyes. He was afraid of Rath, what he knew Rath to be, and could not understand that souls are capable of changing. The fact that his fear was so real, not simply instinctive but an actual terror, sent a twinge of bitterness through me. Rath was not a monster… was not supposed to be a monster. A wan smile crept across my lips as I regretted every strange coincidence that had brought us to that point.

"He… wasn't always that way..."

"What?" He stared at me with eyes that were bright with confusion and intrigue. I did nothing but let him digest the words in silence. Let him make of them what he will… When I thought he might ask again, I cut him off with an intentional tug on the arm that was not his. A pointed, sharp stare forced him to swallow his questions and answer the one I had not bothered to speak. Who…

"A good friend sacrificed his life to give me this." Then I was correct—this boy was the second source of blood I had smelt the night I'd chased Ruin to Nadil's castle. That was how he was able to pierce the barrier: he had gone after Illuser's body, and when Rath had attacked him, he had become infected by the Dragon Lord's blood. How had he survived that? By all means, once the blood got into his system, he should have burned from the inside out. Yet there he stood before me, functioning not only with his own body but with another demon's limb. I considered for a moment telling him that I had met his 'good friend', and that the strangely mangled demon had still been alive, but decided against it. The singleness of Bierrez's thoughts was integral to my plan.

As if suddenly realizing I had a firm grip on his weapon hand, he shuddered and drew back none too gently from my gloved grip. I almost laughed.

"Well Bierrez, shall we tip the scales now?" Instantly all traces of the false relaxation, frustration and confusion he had previously exhibited were drowned out by wariness and a subtle anticipation. With a disinterested hand I gestured for him to sit on one of the long stone tables at our sides. I did not feel the need to tell him that most things that laid there died, and he did not the feel to ask me about the long swath of red across its surface, though I saw him eye it with suspicion.

"What are you going to do?" The hand that was his own clenched defensively.

"I'll only make you stronger," I grinned the vulture-like smile that always puts people on edge, "Why don't you just go to sleep?" The ash, laden with anesthetics struck his system with blunt force of a brick wall. It took perhaps half a second for him to sway and crumble, another half for consciousness to fail him entirely. There was no chance to question my actions.

It was a simple thing to turn Bierrez into my puppet. It was made even easier by the arm he bore—it belonged to a demon capable of surviving almost utter mutilation, a power anyone would have enjoyed having. A series of tiny incisions, the correct amounts of poison and Demon Seed, enough chemical buffer to insure his blood (difficult and rare as it was to work with) would adapt to the toxins… It was a matter of an hour at most, ending with a set of neat and measured stitches that would pointless by the end of the night. He slept as if dead, his chest barely rising and falling. I left him, artfully arranged like a body in a coffin, and when I shut the thick stone door behind me, I locked it. It wasn't necessary for me to do so: I could have kept Bierrez asleep for months with just a little more ash than what I'd used on him—nevertheless, overconfidence had been my downfall more than once. Bierrez would need at least two of three days to adjust to the poison, and this timing could not fit more perfectly into my plan.

As if you knew all my movements, you met me just down the hall, an inquisitive look in those angled jade eyes. Even without your asking, I knew you were curious as to what had become of the orange-haired intruder.

"Sleeping off the effects of invasive surgery." I smiled as wandered back up through the castle corridors. I lit candles as went, casting off the gloom I'd used to unsettle Bierrez. Similar to me, you walked silently, and we passed like a ghost and his slender shadow into the warmer halls of the high castle. "In a few days, you will go with him to the Dragon Castle. While he attempts to destroy the Dragon Knight of Fire, you are to penetrate their defenses and retrieve for me Nadil's Head, which they have spirited away, and which is far too valuable a power to leave in the hands of our enemies." You stared up at me with steady and obedient eyes, as if you would not be risking death entering the Dragon stronghold and stealing their most protected hoard.

"Of course Master Kharl." You smiled, obviously excited to have something to do for me again. For a few moments I walked on in silence, turning the many plans over and over in my mind. Outside, a strong night wind rustled the trees and sent thin clouds dancing in front of and away from the moon.

"We've… We've been without Left Bird for a long time now." I watched the misty moon follow us through the stone columns. Beside me, I felt more than saw your slow nod. As with all forms of work, you had developed quite a love of caring for the birds, and it had been a blow to you as well he died. I think it is time to restore what has been lost…

I knew it was wrong, cruel, I knew before I ever began—but I did not care. It was part of my grander scheme, part of something I had to do. My heart beat feverishly, thinking of the future to come. And I thought it was only fair, honestly, I did. Left Bird had been stolen from me, Rath had been stolen from me—it was restitution, not massacre.

"Garfakcy, ready yourself and go to the Faerie Forest."

"Faerie Forest?" You skipped a pace and stared in blank confusion.

"Yes," I looked solemnly into your gaze, impressing the importance of the order. "I need you to bring them to me. Capture them and bring them to me—every last one."

"I'll go—"

"Don't kill them, bring them alive. I need their souls, do you understand?" You drooped like a dying flower at the knowledge there would be no grand bloodshed, but nodded nevertheless.

"Yes Master Kharl. I'll go now." You took a half step back, and with a snap of your fingers, disappeared in a swirl of ash that drifted white and grey through the barely lit air. That night, I dreamed of magic and bloodshed, of Rath, Bierrez and Left Bird. I dreamed of the faeries whose souls I would harvest, of the mangle of untransformed flesh in its glass prison below, waiting for their power… I dreamed of the creature such an unholy mixture would produce—of amethyst eyes I had seen into in the Snowy Mountains, of the power to govern spirits, of snow and of ice…

Both you and Bierrez lived up to my exact expectations: like a Death God of legend, you reaped the faeries for me with merciless efficiency, leaving no crevice of their forests unscathed. The destruction had not been part of my orders, but I cannot say I had not expected it. It was the speed which stunned me. You ripped through their ranks so quickly it was as if they were sheep lining up to be slaughtered.

Bierrez awoke exactly two full days later, a few hours earlier than I'd anticipated, and he awoke with such an eagerness for battle that it was a chore to hold him back. He did not want to wait for dark to fall, and he most certainly did not want to wait for you to return and accompany him. I bought a while with the excuse that I needed to assure his arm was functioning correctly, but by the time I had performed the routine check-up thrice over (forward, backward, and out of order) he was beginning to suspect. Just when I was certain he was thinking about beating me over the head and making a run for his rendezvous with Rath, you wandered up the stairs, dusting ash off your hands.

"A big one and three little ones just now." You had obviously been down in the dudgeon where we were already growing the demon that would assume Left Bird's place.

"Garfakcy, our guest is more than ready to continue what we so rudely interrupted. Would you be so kind as to take him where he needs to be?" The real message was 'You follow him to the Dragon Castle now and use his attack as a rouse for your real goal.' I could feel Bierrez become jittery with excitement and fear. You nodded, and underhandedly, I gave you both the Waking Kernels, and the orders that you were to set the entire castle under a sleep spell—it would not be of any use to me if you were captured by an insomniatic Dragon Officer lucky enough to stroll by Nadil's head.

Without so much as word, you vanished with the younger demon to do what, at the time, seemed like one of the most dangerous orders I had ever given you. Perhaps there was for a moment a flare of the old bitterness—you, a human, and some upstart demon too young to have left the nest could both do what I could not, could both go where I could not. For all the Dragon Lord's protective power, you could have walked right up and touched Rath… while I, his father, could do nothing but watch jealousy from afar. It was this feeling that caused the mission to go array, that caused Bierrez's death…

Forced to wait behind, I had to satisfy my curiosity by watching through the crystal and through you. After so many years together, it was simpler than breathing to hear your thoughts, and to let you hear mine. With deliberate silence you dropped Bierrez atop the castle. Below you both the castle grounds were lifeless, far to quiet for a tribe of people who should have been on their guard. For a moment, I was uneasy, but with expert care you cast the spell. I watched the ash fall like centuries of dust over the spires and walls, snow-like when illuminated by windows open to the night air. As if collectively, I imagined all the Dragons falling into slumber.

You handed Bierrez one of the kernels of antidote—it struck me as strange, until I realized that you did not know Rath was a demon. For you, he was just another of the pesky Dragons, albeit with a homicidal obsession to rival your own. Bierrez knew what you did not, and severely insulted, crushed the antidote under his foot. There was always in him some air of honor that did not suit a youkai: any other demon in his place would have leapt at the chance to kill their opponent off his guard. Perhaps I should have realized from all this (that his blood could handle an infection of Light, that he could love, that he was so chivalrous) that he was not normal demon—but it never occurred to me that all along he had been a Dragon. It never occurred to me that one could be both…

With a last few words you left him. You told him that we needed him to return safely in order to gather information, but this was an intentional lie. You knew that if I had given you orders contrary to his, he was no part of our little team. The chance that Bierrez would live through this encounter was extremely slim, and I could see that knowledge smoldering in the last smirk you sent him. I split my conscious to watch you both dashing in opposite directions. Bierrez summoned his glaive and rushed, with typical brashness, toward Rath's ki, which was also moving further from the main part of the castle. Unlike the younger demon, you moved with measure experience, sliding in and out of the shadows like a hunting cat. Dragon Fighters who had previous kept themselves well hidden littered the halls, dreaming uneasily. When one face jostled my memory, I called for you to stop.

'Garfakcy, wake up the one on your left.' Dragon Officer Ruwalk lay among his Fighters like a napping child. 'Ask him if…' Weakened by the spell, he was easy prey once awoken. Watching you torture a reply out of the man was like watching a kitten killing an overgrown rat—it did not seem the correct order of things; with you, there is really no correct order. If the question or the answer confused you, you said nothing.

'Is that what you wanted to hear Master Kharl?' The answer Saffron Officer had spat out was both what I had and had not expected, and I mulled over the words for a few moments. There is nothing we can do…

'Sweet dreams Ruwalk.' I heard you mutter. Lord Lykouleon is trying… Determined now, you turned away from your bleeding victim and back to the original task.

'Nadil's head will be very deep inside the castle, far from places liable to incursion. Search for the highest concentration of Dragon Magic—they will be guarding it to the best of their ability.' You nodded visibly and wandered off again, ash weapon in your hand now too as if any moment some enemy immune to my magic might assault you in the darkness of the hallways.

Simultaneous to your attacking Ruwalk, Bierrez and Rath met in an empty darkened room that appeared to be unused—Rath, contrary to whatever excuse he gave Bierrez, was very conscious of his own dangerous power, and more conscious still of the fact that very few knew he was not naturally a Dragon. My son took the battle away from others to protect himself as much as to protect them. Without your being there, it was difficult to directly hear there words. I could have performed a stronger magic, but it would have been noticed… Impatience burned at me, but there was little I could do. Rath drew both the Imperial Dragon Sword(2) and the dark unrestrained fire his Dragon Knight rank provided him. Bierrez had already had his weapon ready, but I could see him begin to exert ki on the arm I had manipulated.

With typical boldness Bierrez did not wait to wear Rath down but called on the paralyzing agent immediately. The force of the power destroyed the window and dropped Rath to his knees among the dusty glass. Like a hungrier spectator than I, the heavy moon peaked through and bathed the room with clearer light. Another part of my mind watched you rip aside a tapestry hiding the deepest set of stairs you had come across yet. A cobweb danced across your cheek but you ignored it with a single-minded determination that I could never have hoped to emulate. Bierrez leveled his glaive, ready to strike a blow fueled half by rage and half by obsession, protection, love of the mysterious demon Cesia… You reached a set of doors so deep within the fortress that mist from the heated water of the underground pipes drifted openly through the hall. Through you I could feel the weighted power of magic thickening the air. Nadil's head was most assuredly just behind those doors…

A tiny intruder slammed through the window, spreading himself between Rath and Bierrez, and for a moment, I could not help being stunned. Another demon inside the castle? That I had not before noticed his presence seemed impossible. He was small yes, but with a face one could not forget—there was something eerily familiar about his purple-red eyes (so like wine in color), and about the ivory white horn nestled in his hair…

'Stand down!' I could hear his voice stunningly clearly through the crystal, and though I knew I had never seen him before, it felt as if I had known the child demon forever. 'I won't let you kill Rath.' Bierrez stared for a moment, utterly taken aback. 'As long as I'm here, I won't allow you to harm Rath or Cesia!' So he also had something to do with the shadowy woman…

'Protected by a battery of Dragon Officer spells, na? Could be tough.' The ash spilled around, knowing and obedient to you as ever. 'But the Red Officer's spell is missing, so I'll start there.' The sharp ring of steel being raised started both of us, and then I heard unlike any of the others I had heard that night.

'So you want to steal Nadil's head.' It was delightfully cold and warm, harsh but also young, and the condescendence inside suited the woman wielding it more than anything. How can anyone hope to properly describe Cesia? She is at once striking, beautiful and magnetic in the way a hurricane draws Storm-chasers. The confidence in her movements and voice fit perfectly with the power I could feel rippling beneath her gentle frame—I was instantly and sharply reminded of another woman who was so much alike and unlike the dark-haired demon standing in your way. What was it about her? What in her wide golden eyes, what in her rose-lipped smirk inspired the utter devotion that drove Bierrez and the strange child youkai… What was it about her that could make an almost-gentleman of the murderer my son had become?

Somewhere in the back of my mind, it registered that Rath was shaking off the poison (slower than I'd expected, yet he proved immune nonetheless), but this could barely hold my interest—like so many other youkai, I had had attention stolen completely by the girl who is as much a part of the future of this world as Rath.

'The Dragon Tribe is short-sighted. They shouldn't lock Nadil's head away—they should put it to use. Don't you agree? The possibilities are limitless, Youkai-hime.' The ease with which you spoke and the name you chose to call her stunned me. Had you also sensed some inexplicable similarity between the fragile fortuneteller who had my deepest respect and the steel-sharp youkai threatening your life? Had she somehow gained your favor, tamed your temper as she had tamed more violent men? I watched Bierrez breakdown into shocked laughter at the intruder demon from one eye and saw you with the other. I watched the Dragon Amulet drift like a pendulum around her neck. Your conversation was of little importance to the direct situation, but both what you offered her and her reaction amused me. You claimed my ultimate goal was to revive Nadil, something we both knew was a bold-faced lie.

Though I had not told you why I wanted to retrieve the head from Dragon claws, you of anyone knew that on matters concerning the Demon Lord, I had decided to resolutely maintain my own side, and whether my aims aided or hindered him was of no interest to me. That he was dead made quite a few things easier for us, and knowing what I did about the future, I would never have made a move to revive him. Nonetheless, it was a clever lie: if one thing can snare a normal youkai's attention, it is an open offer of power. Being directly involved with the Demon Lord's resurrection was a promise few demons would have passed up. Apparently, you had felt my interest in the girl clearly enough to want to bring her over to our side.

But when she gave her biting replies, we both learned that Cesia was really no average demon.

'The fact that I'm a youkai doesn't matter in the slightest. I hate Nadil! I'm glad there's nothing left of him but his rotting head!'

Is she hiding something? You voiced the very thought that had been fluttering in my head. Something about her righteous anger did not ring true with the light-hearted way you had offered. More still, that she hated Nadil and was hiding in the Dragon Castle intrigued me. Lykouleon would not have taken her in for no reason—whether she was going to be of use to him or had been of use to Nadil, I wanted to know. And then she said something that grated on your nerves so much that I could feel it distinctly through our connection.

'You're a human siding with Nadil.' You were sorely affronted, and if I had not intervened, you might have shouted right then and there who you really owed your allegiance to.

'Garfakcy, restraint is exceedingly important in this situation. Let her think what she wants.' I heard your indignant 'Hpmh!' that had nothing to do with Cesia ordering you out, and could not help but smile. With all the blatant disregard that is so much a part of you, you told Cesia that if she wanted you gone, she would have to remove you herself—but when she took you up on that offer, I was a little startled. You drew the ash weapon speedily to block the blow she had meant to strike you over the head. But my attention was split again, because Rath was stumbling to his feet, common place murderous smirk back in place. The scorpions lay burnt around him.

I wasn't even aware Cesia had pushed you up the stairs and into the open corridors until the tempest of ki engulfed the castle—it was such a raw, immense power that it momentarily stole my breath away, even sitting so very far away. If there was no mistake, if this power truly was Cesia's… I was watching you battle a demon with more untapped potential than Nadil and I put together. Her wind –wind, could things have been more convoluted and ironic?– ripped through the trees, through your ash, through the shattered window where Bierrez, Rath and younger demon stood tensely. All three of jerked in recognition, turning to stare out over the gardens where you were holding Cesia's miraculous power barely at bay. Single-handedly, she was able to strike at your with pure energy, and if not for the absorbent powers of the ash, you would surely have died. She was inexperienced, could not even keep her own feet on the ground for all the wind flowing through her. It was this and this alone that made it possible for you to hold your own against her.

'Her strength… It surpasses that of a normal youkai! Such strange power…' I sent a Transmission Feather for you to bear, and answered you observation with my own desperate curiosity.

'That's why she's Nadil's favorite Garfakcy.' This strength, the sheer destructive capability she possessed… Had she remained in Nadil's hold, she would have made him a perfect weapon, a tool decidedly strong enough to crush the Dragon Tribe… And in Lykouleon's hands? Would she prove capable of destroying demons with that other-worldly energy? I did not doubt it. Cesia was only more infinitely curious to me with each passing moment. 'Aren't you the least bit curious? Don't you want to learn the secret behind this phenomenal power of hers? Nadil hid her with good reason, no?'

'Master Kharl!' You used the word to voice your confusion at my query. What exactly did I want you to do, you asked me with just my name.

'She's the one we need. Bring her to me, dead or alive. I can always revive her.' Just as simply as that, you gave up your previous grave mission for another—it was not that I did not want Nadil's head any longer, by all means if I could have taken Nadil's power as far from Rath as possible I would have leapt on the chance. It was simply that Cesia was too great a power to pass up. Leaving her in the Dragon Lord's thieving hands was as dangerous us to our fate as leaving in her Nadil's. Bierrez, Rath and the tiny dark-haired demon raced down the hall, side by side. If I had not known they were enemies I would have sword they were some elite guard of Dragons, rushing off to save the damsel in distress. 'Let the Dragon Knight tear Bierrez apart.' I chuckled knowingly. If you could remove Cesia from the castle, Rath would have no reason not to destroy Bierrez. The thought of either of them coming to chase after you… The opposite prospects thrilled me.

'I can kill her, na?' You shifted again, taking to your feet unsteadily, the only sign that battle against her had shaken you. 'I'll do it!' With nimble fingers, you tossed a Death Seed at her with unfailing accuracy—but it was not pale skin or cloth is struck. Snowy white fur flashed before my eyes, and instantly bile-like fear rose in my throat. Crewger! Cradling his dying form, Cesia fell to her knees. Ash and magic stained his fur, and his amethyst eyes flickered weakly. The air grew cold, and every strand of my hair stood on end in the escaping energy of his soul. For a moment they sat together, as if speaking, and then the dog's majestic white head fell onto her knees, and his eyes closed forever.

Rath's savior was dead, on my orders. Dead, when I had determined I would do nothing to endanger the future… I held my tongue and thoughts tightly, could not let you know that my grief was almost as strong as Cesia's… Tears rose in her eyes and spilled over like wavering crystals. I think you must have felt it, must have in some way sensed the sudden discord from me. Was it my fault it had happened; how could I have known?

I stopped for the barest of moments to breathe. Crewger was dead—but this did not mean I had caused damage to Rath's fate permanently: Illuser had also been dead when he began to serve as Rath's body. If Crewger's physical form could be protected, Rath would still be safe. Nevertheless, guilt pounded in my temples. It seemed that I could do nothing right… Yet to call you back now was unthinkable, not when I had worked so hard to put all of the pieces in the correct places. If I could still remove Cesia from the Dragon Castle, I would at least feel justified, at least feel as if I had not made another blind flight into failure…

'The orders stand Garfakcy. Bring Cesia to me.' As if you had never paused, you struck out silently with the ash magic, preparing a transport spell while she mourned the loss of Rath's companion. Better still for me—Crewger was wrapped in her arms, and if they could both be brought, I could easily protect the body, or even resurrect him. Before the spell was completed, she rounded on you with a scalding tirade that could have curdled milk, and an even more furious glare, demanding to know your true aims.

'My Master Kharl the Alchemist, wants you dead or alive Hime. You should feel honored.' No one but you would have suggested a person ought to feel honored to meet me. Regardless of your words, Cesia fought valiantly against the ash magic. It was a failing battle, and for a moment, barest moment, I thought that I had been victorious, that soon both Rath's newest body and Nadil's little treasure would be mine… But because I had been so focused on your actions, I had failed to keep Bierrez and Rath in my sights, and proving the twice the distraction she should have been, the orange-haired rouge forced his weapon between you and Cesia. Concentration broken, the spell fell to pieces. Inside its reaches, the youkai princess wavered once, golden eyes finding Rath with desperation that I could not understand. While you confronted Bierrez on his failure to incapacitate his opponent, she leapt unsurely to her feet and, still crying pearly clear tears that reminded me all too much of another woman, called to my son in a voice that did not suit the reluctant acquaintance role they both played.

'Rath! Oh Rath!' Unlike hers, his voice was almost impossible for me to hear—a testament to not only the blood that differed between us but the walls he had built around his heart.

'It's okay… I knew… It's my fault.' His eyes were riddled with pain that could not reach his voice, and guilt pressed on me again. Rath had loved Crewger. It was just one pain I had caused him, one more thing lost… And he blamed himself, when the fault really laid with me. I longed suddenly to beg him to forgive me, to be there myself.

'Well Bierrez, were you able to work out your differences with the object of your scorn? Or did Rath beat you?' I could hear the sneer in your voice as you cut short Cesia's whimpering.

'I'll kill Rath later. Now, I want to know what you want with Cesia.' He leveled his weapon again, a clear threat to you whom he had considered (hesitantly) an aide only half and hour ago. As if completely calm facing an overly eager demon and a notoriously homicidal Dragon Knight, you patiently pulled the Transmission Feather I had given you from your jacket and activated the spell.

'Master Kharl…' Free to work on the same plane as the rest of you, I could see the smile spread onto your face, "Has changed his mind."

"Kharl!" Bierrez shouted rudely, ignoring all means of respect.(3) Rath only tightened his position before Cesia, arm thrown out to protect her. From the look on his face, I could see he could remember me—and it was no positive memory that put that fear and fury in his crimson gaze. Bierrez took several steps toward us, ready to strike at whatever he could reach. The vanity of the effort amused me.

"You can't stop me, I control you Bierrez." Single-handedly, I triggered the spells I'd woven into his arm. It contorted, twitched of it own accord and bubbled up with power and poison. He screamed raw and desperately at the sudden pain that coursed through him. "I've riddled your arm with so much poison and Demon Seed you are now mine, mind, body, and soul." He curled in on himself, clutching the mutating limb in an ineffective attempt to blunt the agony. Kill Cesia! The words struck his mind, struck every nerve in his body with an electric shock that set every synapse in his brain to violently reacting. The toxins and spells in his arms hurried to obey my orders. As if anticipating his movements, you paralyzed Rath again to prevent his involvement. It would not last long, not with his body already growing immunity.

"Bierrez don't!" I could hear Rath's shout more clearly than before, but was more determined—I could bring under my control, could prevent Lykouleon from gaining another weapon to use against me… Against his will, the borrowed hand ripped outward and crushed her throat in a stone-like grip. She choked instantly, blood pooling and trapped her in cheeks. The Dragon Amulet burnt to life, ripping apart the jagged flesh of his limb. Blood ran freely through the fingers and across her dress, but as I had predicted, the arm retained its incredible power: even as it began to crumble under the corrosive Light, it still functioned. Just like the demon who had offered it to Bierrez, who had been ripped apart by Illuser, by Ruin…

"Bierrez, let her go! Bierrez, that's Cesia!" The tiny demon yelled as forcefully as his lungs could manage, pleading because he knew he did not have the strength to stop my puppet. The familiarity of that voice…

"It's no use, Master Kharl controls him now." You grinned condescendingly from where you had retired to watch the events. He ignored you utterly and continued to beg.

"You're going to kill Cesia! That's Cesia!" For a moment Bierrez continued to crush the breath from her, and then, with shuddering, bare movements, he pulled his hand back. Deftly, he dug his own claws into the rotting limb and slammed it against the cobblestone pavement beneath them all.

"He let her go? That's impossible!" You voiced the very words I had been thinking. How could he have disobeyed my order? How could I have failed to manipulate his perfectly? I had not made a mistake, I knew I had not…

"Rath… You must… Kill me." Bierrez panted the words pain and magic would not let him freely say. "I'm becoming a monster. A monster like me should die." Rath gave a curt nod, all the coldness of a murderer slipping into his eyes. "But… don't hurt her. She has great power… You need her power." I had relaxed the spell enough that he could let go of the arm. Cesia, bruised and barely breathing, had fallen into Rath's waiting hold. "I don't care what happens to me, but… I just can't kill her." I had underestimated the strength of his heart, hadn't I? Like Shydeman, I had had my perceptions so clouded by my own superior strength, I forgot to consider the power of will that drive Bierrez. I forgot that above all, he was acting on emotion; I had forgotten that love is a motivation strong enough to drive a dead man from his grave.

"Zouma!" Rath finally revealed to me the younger demon's name, and the way he carried Cesia away from Bierrez, around a corner where she would nothing should she awaken, was a sign to me. "Get that human kid out of here." He ordered, and the child shot you a glance that said he was more than willing to harm you, who had endangered Cesia.

'Master Kharl!' You called, awaiting orders to advance on this new and measly opponent. But I had done enough damage for the night, been thwarted enough times… I had made enough mistakes and was afraid to make another.

'Come back Garfakcy.' You allowed Zouma to chase after you for almost a kilometer, just for the sheer fun of taunting an enemy, and then, when it seemed he might actually catch up, you vanished in a burst of ash. Seconds later, I heard you climbing through the main door upstairs. But I was hardly paying attention to you—because the Transmission Feather still lay intact within the Dragon Castle. I was impossibly glad I had called you back when I had.

Instead of just beheading him with the Imperial Dragon Sword, Rath gave Bierrez a death that would have left you with nightmares. If you had seen what I could not help but watch, you would never have accepted Rath, would never have understood my love for him. Rath would have been to you a monster—because it was a monster he became. With clawed fingers, he held Bierrez still. Was it that he thought the rouge demon would run from him? With a sudden and terrible ease, his Dragon body crumbled. As if mocking the chrysalises of a silk moth, the white skin and black clothing unwound like thread. But it was no harmless insect that emerged—it was the true form Rath bore, the frightening form of Illuser.

It was as if I was seeing again the soul I had lost. His body was malleable ice, inhuman and impossible. Behind him, five tails thrashed impatiently. But it was his eyes that sent fear through me. In the golden-red depths there was nothing but chaos, nothing but sheer unstoppable bloodlust. There was nothing redeeming in them, not a shred of mercy, kindness, hope… This was a creature of nothing but darkness—and this was the monster Lykouleon had faced and spared! Could I have done the same, were Ruin anyone else's son? No. I would have killed Illuser, would have struck done with frightening animal without the slightest hint of reluctance. How could there be anything of Ruin, of Rath, behind those eyes? How could this be my child?

He tore Bierrez apart without a moment's hesitance, fangs ripping indiscriminately through flesh and bone until there was nothing left of the young demon, not even his soul… Like the dog he was, Illuser, Ruin lapped at the blood that had seeped between the stones of the road. Suddenly, he stiffened, all four icy paws tensing. His already shard-like fur bristled as he spun to face the feather that had drifted into the brush. I thought he had surely sensed my presence and would tear apart my means of watching—but at that moment, Rath reasserted his logical control over the monster that composed his form. The ice receded, the fur dissolved until there was only my son again, hunched over on the path. In his eyes there was a desolate sadness, exhaustion, a deep disgust.

He spat the blood in his mouth back onto the stones, and as if each movement was the hardest he had ever made, he turned and walked away. With a backward stare that wavered and burnt, he lit the feather on fire. His image crumbled like ash, until all I was left with wasthe memory of the look in his eyes and what it had said to me.

I hate you. The words rung like a bell in his weary crimson depths. But it was what I saw behind that troubled me—because more than he hated me, his gaze shone with a far worse feeling. I hate myself. I hate what I am. What you have made me. How could I not pity the unhealing wounds his eyes bore, the true feelings that belonged to the soul, the son I had longed to create? How could I not regret every tiny thing that weighed on his half-lidded eyes? Alone again in the castle room, I felt my heart pounding painfully inside my chest, felt the pressure of blood and guilt rushing in my ears. I could not help but shudder at the memory of Illuser's heartless eyes, could not help but shudder at Rath's, full of pain. I dropped my head into my hands, unable to stand my own thoughts.

It's… It's all my fault.

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Translation Notes:

1 – Tomb Guardians: Though I maybe wrong about they actual roles, there are two official Dragon Knights characters that are associated with the Star Princess but who have never actually been drawn into the manga. Their names are Natasu and Ringa, and you can find one of the only Mineko Ohkami drawn pictures of them here: http/ www . animevisions . net / Pictures / dragonknights / Epic21 . jpg Make sure to take out the spaces.

2 - Imperial Dragon Sword 1st Rank: The official name of the Dragon Lord's sword. The 1st Rank sword is the official home of the Light Dragon, but there are obviously other Imperial Dragon Swords, because Lykouleon is described as having the "Imperial Dragon Sword 2nd Rank" after Rath took the 'big one'… More than likely, the 1st Rank is reserved for the Dragon Lord, and the 2nd Rank for a prince or so…

3 – 'Name' Calling: This is an important deal because it doesn't happen in the English language. In the Japanese culture, a lot of which has seeped into Dragon Knights (for the obvious reason), it is custom to give each person a suffix. Between friends or lovers, it's not a big deal to say the first name without suffix (Lykouleon wouldn't call Raseleane 'Raseleane-chan'). However, if you are not friends, and don't have a close relationship, it can be seen as EXCEEDINGLY rude to use just a plain first name. When Bierrez yells Kharl's name, it's basically like an English speaking person yelling a rude word. Sorta—using just his first name says that Bierrez doesn't have one ounce of respect for Kharl. But Kharl let's Rath get away with it… Because Rath is special! XD

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Author's Notes: It was a day late, sorry. Unforeseen circumstances and all that. Anyway, is everyone excited today? It's the English release of Dragon Knights 23! Saabel, yay. Not really. He's kind of irritating. But he and Rim Kaana would make a good match. He's so stunningly girly it's hilarious. I thought Rune had the lady-like cake taken, but Saabel beats him HANDS down. Anyway, expect the next chapter about the first week of September. I had planned on having it earlier, but I just don't think it's going to get done. I'm a little short on ideas for it, and not sure if I should run with what I have or a more pointed focus version… Oh well, I'll figure it out. Maybe I'll actually get to write something about Rune and Thatz, like finally. Did you like it? Pleasseeee tell me what you thought, I love reviews:D

Review Responses:

Firefly12: Hee hee, I'm glad you like it. Here's that next chapter, and you can keep track of post dates by checking my Profile. I always list when the next chapters will be up there. Yes, I did get a lot faster after 11… After one of my friends told me I would face an ugly and painful death if I didn't write fast I… Uh, got inspired, yeah. Anyway, hoped you liked it!

Random Irony: Yeah, long is the right word. Worst, this one is just as long! I was really trying to avoid that, but I couldn't help it. I don't want to split anything up now, not when I'm catching up! But this chapter doesn't feel as long to me as the last one. As far as page count goes, this one is 18 pages, and the last one was 25. I don't know why, because this chapter has more words than the last one… (Confusion!) The pace went a lot faster on this one, but I think that was because I don't like writing Kharl being evil. It was just not right what he did to Bierrez! Poor Bierrez… But he comes back, so it's all good I guess. Hope you enjoyed this one!

Leeayre: You got my last message right? I hope so, it was another really long one and all that jazz… Anyway, I hope you didn't mind this chapter. It was long again (I really didn't mean for it to turn out that way, it just happened!) but I think the pace moved a lot quicker than last time… I hope it did. V.V Anyway, thanks for being such a faithful reviewer, and for giving me so many fun times talking about Dragon Knights!

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