Chapter 14
Four Servants
The yokai territory was deep in a valley that was once rich and green, but now was black and barren. Even the bright morning sun was cold and gray through clouds of foreboding. The trees clung to their brown leaves, rattling in the chilly breezes. As the Tantei and company began their slow, timid descent into the valley, they were silent and grim.
The first sign of any life at all in the village came lumbering up the path. The tall, thick-bodied trolls stomped up the path. Their clothes were in disrepair and covered in grime and questionable stains that had to be blood. They attacked by swinging their huge fists at them. Hiei's katana rang against their flesh, which was hard as rock. Yusuke fired a shot to the closest ogre's stomach, forcing him back a few feet; the distance was small compared to his height of ten feet. In a flash of flowers, the huge yokai fell to the ground with vines and flowers growing out of cankers in his skin. Kurama stood behind the fallen foe with death-plant seeds in his hands. "As roots will expand and destroy concrete so shall my plants destroy you blundering boulders." he said.
Six there were; though they were destroyed quickly, their damage was not small. The first twelve inches of Hiei's katana broke off; Jin had a bloodied nose and a broken wrist from trying repeatedly to punch one of the towering yokai; Kuwabara had bruised ribs yet remained standing; and Gabi's left arm was fractured. "How are we going to handle the rest of the yokai that live here?" Kuwabara wheezed.
"One at a time," Hiei said, sheathing the veteran blade, "They're all slaves. Some bigger force is brainwashing them." His Jagan glowed from behind his white headband.
"Lets find the source then," Gabi said staring again down the path. Kurama stopped her, "You can't go on, you are injured, and these foes are greater than you can handle."
She gave a wry smile, "I've had worse. And besides, you have no idea as to what I can and cannot do. This may be the time I show my true colors."
"We must see to the wounded first." Kurama had been given the first-aid kit; a colossal white trunk with a red cross on the lid, containing every thing from band-aids to shock-paddles. (What are those called?) While they had stopped in the woods to bandage their injuries, Gabi, with her arm in a sling, had girt herself with her chain of stones, and her rei-guns. Kuwabara, Jin and Gabi were seen to and they continued. They stuck to the cover of the trees and walked alongside the path two or three yards to their left. The small territory consisted of a few smaller dwellings in a rural area outside of the main city, a mass of stones that resembled a ruined castle. They slipped into the city, wondering why security was so loose, and hid in an uninhabited room. Hiei tried to locate the source of the bizarre energy controlling the people, but it seemed omniscient.
"How can we take down the bad guys if we don't know where they are?" Kuwabara mused in a quiet tone, not really as stupid as most think he is.
"The head honchos hang out in the highest most centered place, just like in government buildings and video games." Yusuke said. "Find a way up and sooner or later we come to the brains of the operation."
"Lets split up, there are more of us here than normal, so we can cover a lot more ground." Kurama said, "Do the communication mirrors still work?" Yusuke pulled four out of his bag. "Jin and Touya, you are already partners, so you go together. Yusuke, you go with Kuwabara; Hiei and I will go together. Gabi, that leaves you with Chu. He can fight if worse befalls you and you can't defend yourself with a broken arm."
"No worries Sheila, you can count on ol' Chu t' protect ya!" the Drunken Fighter said, messing up her curls with his huge hand.
"Like you did last night," she said adjusting the sling on her left arm.
"Heh, yeah, that…" The Tantei and company separated and went in different directions. The halls of the castle were more maze-like than the primitive construction looked. Touya, Jin, Yusuke, and Kuwabara were led up and up, while Kurama, Hiei, Chu and Gabi were led down and down. They kept going, rather than back track to reach the higher levels where, as Yusuke hypothesized, the 'boss' would be.
Chu and Gabi found themselves in a long corridor. There were rooms on either walls with no doors, and the stench of death poured out of them. "Is this a dungeon?" Chu pondered aloud wrinkling his nose is disgust. Gabi restrained her gag reflex, "No, dungeons have doors. I think these rooms were used for healing; look inside: the beds are lined up like a hospital, and there is the faint smell of herbs used in medicines."
Chu looked into the rooms; in the beds were yokai like the ones they had fought. Their bodies were emaciated and colorless. "All these blokes 'ave croaked. How come no one moved the bodies? They look like they've been stiffed for about a day." Gabi held her breath and entered the room; she looked at the charts at the foot of each bed, they all were written in a text she could not read, but the patterns of the letters were all the same on each chart. She picked one up and handed it to Chu, "Can you read this text?" he nodded and looked at the clipboard; his eyes skimmed over it before they went wide as saucers. He dropped the clipboard, snatched the smaller girl up and bolted out of the room. "Damn! We shouldn't have come down this way, Sheila!" he cursed.
"What? What's wrong? What did it say?"
"Never mind that now, we got a job to do." he said. 'I hope the others don't run into rooms like that,' he thought to himself.
Hiei and Kurama found the dungeons of the castle; all were conveniently empty. "The walls are covered with dust; no has been kept in here for some time." Kurama noted. "So they'd rather kill each other than be put in time-out. Big-deal," Hiei scoffed. Kurama flipped open the communication mirror and called the others. The circular screen divided into three sections, each showing a view of Yusuke, Touya, and Gabi. "How goes the search so far? Hiei and I found the dungeon, but there are no prisoners at all."
"There is a hospital in here," Gabi said, "but all the patients are dead and seemed to have died of the same cause."
"Nothing up here but a library the size of a baseball field." Yusuke said.
"Jin and I have traveled up to the top of the castle; there are no signs of any one here at-"
Crash! Touya's screen went blank. "Every one get to the top floor! Jin and Touya may have encountered enemies!" Kurama said and closed the mirror. The two former bandits dashed at break-neck speed to the stairs that had led them down and went to the stairs that went up. Chu and Gabi came behind them as fast as they could. They met up with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Jin and Touya battling it out with an infantry of troll-people. Gabi unloaded a clip and felled fifteen, her mark never missing. She aimed to wound, not kill. The yokai suddenly stopped and ran away.
The eight companions perused them and were led to a large, circular room with an incredibly high domed ceiling. The foes had disappeared completely. "Where'd they go?" Yusuke growled, clenching and unclenching his fists. Four figures jumped down from the rafters of the ceiling. Three of them were male, the fourth female. The males had pale skin of a slate blue color, short dark hair and eyes, and were dressed in long robes and boots of cool dark colors. The female was completely different: her clothes were all black, leather pants, leather boots, a baby-t with a fish net shirt over that. Her hair was black and tied back in a bun, her make-up was black, her talon-like nails were black, and her eyes were a burning yellow. A pair of black bird wings protruded from her shoulders to compete her devilish look. "Who are you clowns?" Yusuke barked across the room.
The male dressed in greens stepped forwards, "We are the four servants of our master, and the reason you have been sent by Koenma. I am Icelus, this is Phobetor, Phantasus, and Ká." He gestured to the man in gray, the man in purple, and the woman in black.
"Why the hell do you freaks want to control the people of this area?"
"Our reasons are our own, and our masters." Phobetor said, crossing his arms. "But I suppose we could at least tell you who our master is. I believe you know his name: Oneiros Morpheus."
"You four are the ones who brainwashed these people!" Kurama said. 'And me.' He added silently.
"Brainwashed? Don't slander the power of our master. They are living in a different world, where they are obligated to be obedient, a world in each of their heads. They can escape anytime they choose to, they are not 'brainwashed.'"
"So they're living in a dream world; a world of lies." Hiei said, narrowing his eyes.
"To them it is paradise. No worries, no cares. They are taken care of, and in exchange they do the master's bidding."
"Slavery with a smile is still slavery." Gabi said.
"As I have said before, they are not enslaved; they have the freedom to leave, they just don't know how. We will not mince words with you any longer. Ká," he motioned to the black clad harpy. She stepped forward and brandished her nails like weapons. Kurama bristled, thinking of the black feather he had found in the cave at the beach. "Ká is the master's pet raven, he turns her into a human or another animal now and then so she can do his bidding; for now her task is to kill you." Yusuke rose to her challenge and came toward her. "Urameshi! You can't fight a girl!" Kuwabara yelled.
"Shut up, Kuwabara!" the detective snarled over his shoulder. He charged the ebony fighter. She flew out of his way, zipping up to the ceiling. Yusuke readied himself to run as she power-dived him. The air sang around her wings; Yusuke threw himself to the floor, but her talons caught the back of his neck. He pressed his palm to the four stinging cuts. "Yeow!" She swooped around and landed on her feet, running towards him. She was surprisingly fast and limber for wearing boots and leather pants. Her attacks were lightning fast; Yusuke was almost over whelmed. He aimed his index finger at her chest, preparing his reigun. She flew out of the way at the last minute, circling him like a vulture, dodging his shots. "Hold still, Tweety!" he muttered angrily.
"Urameshi! Tag me in!" Jin called, "You ain't got a chance with her flying like tha'!" Yusuke ran back to the group and slapped Jin's hand, "Go, super-elf!" he said. Jin took off like a rocket and slammed Ká into the far wall with a punch. A strangled cry like the shriek of a bird came from her lips, being unable to make human speech. Jin wasted no time, meeting her punches and kicks with his own. The others became distracted as the floor became water, and they were treading in chilly brine.
"Where did all this water come from!" Yusuke sputtered.
"Did I ever mention I'm not a very good swimmer?" Kuwabara said, treading clumsily.
"It's just like riding a bike, once you learn how, you never forget; start pedaling and swim!"
Chu, being monstrously tall, was only up to his neck and still touching the floor. He looked around for the source of the water, having heard no sound of a pump or hatch opening. He saw one of the three men, Phantasus standing on one of several stones that seemed to come out of nowhere. He moved his fingers, sifting through glowing purple threads that streamed from his hands and faded into nothing in the air around him. 'He's weavin' all this outta nothing!' he thought, 'that must be his power. I wonder what the other two blokes can do… hey look, a shark-' "Frogs on a spit! The water's full of sharks!" he cried; blade-like gray shapes sliced through the surface of the water. Icelus and Phobetor were busy weaving strands of their reiki, each in their respective colors. Phantasus supplied the water and stones; Icelus wove the sharks and Phobetor created a cloud of small dark birds with razor talons and hooked beaks.
"Climb the rocks, baka!" Hiei shouted, scrambling out of the water that was far too wet for a fire youkai's liking. Between the hundreds of teeth of a shark and the flesh-rending feet of the birds, he chose birds. Yusuke and Kurama clung to a tall pointy rock; Touya was able to freeze a small glacier and climb on top of that; Kuwabara, Chu and Hiei fit snuggly on a low rock, a little too close to the water for comfort; Gabi drifted in the center of the room, nowhere near any rocks. She floated helplessly in the water, watching the telltale dorsal fin come closer to her. Hiei cringed for a moment, then dove into the water, floundered for a bit, and then splashed over to the victimized girl. He drew his broken katana, ripped the bandage off his arm, and prepared to attack, forgetting he needed his arms to swim and sunk like a stone. The yokai clung to the closest thing to him, Gabi. She clung to him in return, touching the burning tattoo on his arm; being the medium she was, the Dragon released.
The water, the sharks, the rocks, and the four servants of Morpheus were swallowed up in the darkness and light the Dragon gave off. A deafening roar filled the air; Jin stopped his fight long enough to grab a hold of Chu, who grabbed Touya, who grabbed Yusuke, who grabbed Kuwabara, who grabbed Kurama, who watched two of his friends left behind. The castle caved in, then exploded in a glorious star of brilliant flames and tongues of raw energy, flinging huge stones and fragments of walls hundreds of feet into the air. Jin flew up as fast as he could with his chain of friends like the tail of a kite. He was hit a few times by smaller stones, but no more injured than he already was. Having a broken wrist and nose put him at a tactical disadvantage in his fight with the raven-woman.
Jin set the human-chain down roughly a kilometer away from the wreckage of the castle. They caught their breath and tried to piece together why exactly the building had been reduced to gravel. Upon counting each other, they discovered Hiei and Gabi were missing. They divided up into two parties, Jin, Kurama, and Yusuke in one, and the others stayed behind. Jin flew back to the site, in the same manner in which he left; carrying his friends like a chain.
The ruins were horrendous; bodies were strewn in and across the wreckage. Some had been dead for a while, some were new, some were still alive, relatively unharmed due to their tough skin. The towering yokai stood up, shaking their heads, wondering what the hell had happened and why their heads hurt. Kurama searched for Hiei's familiar scent, while Yusuke felt for Gabi's memorable reiki. Nearer to the center of the mountain of rubble, a ki signature flared angrily. Kurama scampered up the pile and dug feverishly through the stones. Yusuke joined him, while Jin blew away some of the larger pieces.
They came across a rather broad piece of stone; as soon as most of it was uncovered, it was heaved up from underneath by a black-swathed foot. From the way the stones had fallen, Gabi and Hiei were nearly completely submerged in a pool of water from the top of the tower. Hiei jumped out, relatively unharmed but for a few deep, nasty gashes across his arms and chest caused by the broken rock fragments. Gabi was trapped with a rather sharp, heavy stone on top of her ankle. She was unconscious, and sported a burn on her right hand from touching the Dragon. The four removed her from the wreckage (and the wreckage from her), and set her on flatter ground.
She woke with a jerk, crying out. Her arm had come out of its splint, and the fracture was misaligned. Yusuke took her right arm in his hands, not touching her burn. "Well, you sure gave us a scare, Miss temper-tantrum," he said.
"Yusuke? Where- Hiei, what was that … thing that came out of you?"
"That was the Dragon of the Darkness flame. How were you able to release it?"
"You're just a human, or is there something you have not been telling us?" Kurama asked suspiciously.
"Its because I'm…I'm a shaman, a tetsujin." She said, trying to block out the pain of her physical injuries. Hiei 'hmphed'.
"I don't believe it."
"Yusuke, could you lift me up?" the detective gently pulled her to a sit; she outstretched her good arm towards Hiei, glowing with reiki. Particles of light separated from her aura and peppered then gashes in Hiei's skin, healing them completely. He touched the skin in disbelief, "You are a tetsujin,"
"Yes, and healing is a bit more difficult to do than my other traits. Nighty-night." Fade to black.