The closest location to the building where he could catch sight of the fountain was slightly uncomfortable, at an angle that led to him practically standing in the bushes like an awkward spy. If the guards caught sight of him like this, they would have happily arrested him on suspicions.
He stepped out to make sure no soldier ever got the satisfaction to do that. From the glance he had gotten, the fountain made out of white marble enchanted to constantly shoot water up for the purposes of decoration hadn't changed from the last time he had seen it. Still large enough to hold twenty men within its pool, still carved with the images of Ladies Aria, SeeU and Cul as well as smaller creatures, and still being a fountain by spraying water.
What was the point on a fountain? It shot water up in the air, the water fell down back into a pool, and magic was wasted in the process of it all.
He didn't get the point. It was water. Going up and then down. There wasn't even anything beautiful in that.
Ia plunged her hand right into the small patches of flowers and picked the prettiest blossoms before arranging them into a bouquet. She pointedly looked at him and then at Mizki, who was frowning in concentration.
"Yeah," he answered the question he was guessing she was asking. "I think she'll like those. I wouldn't pick any more, though. People work hard to grow those things. Have to make the database look pretty for the scholars with their nose in the books."
She nodded, grave and serious as ever, but didn't run off to Mizki like he expected her to. Instead, she checked her surroundings like she was waiting for someone and then looked back at him.
"What's wrong?"
Ia shrugged. So nothing was wrong, she just didn't want to jinx anything? Alright, Yuma understood that.
"Well, how about giving me and Mizki – sorry, Mizki and I a little hint as to where to look for clues?" Mizki was eternally trying to break him of his grammatical errors in speech. So far it was partly working.
Ia shot him an unreadable look before dumping the small bouquet on his feet. Then she began skipping off towards the fountain.
Yuma looked at Mizki, who was still staring at the white marble that was blinding with the sun shining on it. She needed some time alone, away from her bumbling partner.
Careful to not step on and crush the flowers, Yuma hurried after Ia, sword bouncing off his leg every now and then.
She managed to reach the fountain before he caught up to her. He blamed it on the dawn's ambush that had led to him not getting enough sleep. That, and Ia's surprising speed. "Are you actually giving me a hint?"
Ia just took some water from the fountain's pool and splashed him with it.
Oh. Just a water fight, then.
Half-heartedly, he grabbed a fistful of water warmed by the sun and threw it at her before the liquid could completely trickle out through his fingers. It was stupid, but he was disappointed that all she had led him here for was a water fight.
About to splash him back, Ia dropped her water back into the fountain and opened her mouth into a wordless scream. She pointed at the sky behind him, still shrieking.
Unsheathing his sword, he spun around to find the threat. There, in the air. Eagle demons. Three of them. Large ones, too, and with three they could carry off a grown man to his death. A child like Ia? One alone could do the job easily.
"Ia, get down on the ground!" he pushed her down with a firm hand when she stayed frozen like a little marble statue. No time to be nice or gentle. With a squeal she dropped, small hands covering her head.
His sword ready in his right hand, Yuma drew a second, shorter blade with his left. There was no cover around the fountain, which meant that he had to worry about protecting not only his own back, but also Ia. And protecting his own back was plenty hard when there was a pack of eagle demons.
Strange. Normally the discouragement charms placed in large, public and very important institutions like the database warded off demons. Maybe the terrorists had deactivated those charms while attacking.
The three predators circled above him, looking for an opportunity to strike. One, he could handle. Two? With two blades? Sure. Three?
That's what partners were for with members of Auren. Unfortunately, he had ditched his partner.
Taking a risk, he raised his left hand to his mouth and whistled as loudly as he could. If Mizki wasn't coming already to see what the scream was about, she was sure to come now.
Seeing the slight lowering of defense in his guard, two of the eagles swooped down in their infamous, deadly aerial strikes, talons sharper than knives ready to shred flesh and tear bone apart to shed human blood.
His sword stayed still until the last moment. Then, just as they were close enough that he could see the emerald green flecks in their amber eyes, he lashed out.
The eagle demon farther away from him managed to pull up in time and fly up, safe past the reach of his sword. The one that had been closer to him was a bit more unfortunate. Its deadly striking speed combined with his sword's swipe, its head was cut off cleanly with his blade.
The head flew off somewhere in the general direction of the building. The body, however, smashed into his torso, making him stumble from the weight. Instead of falling off of him as he would have liked, the talons clung to his clothes and the carcass of the demon hung from his tunic. To make matters worse, the blood splattered into his face and obscured his vision.
Yuma heard a triumphant shriek. Two of them, actually. Hurriedly wiping off the blood, he backed up and shielded Ia as much as he could. Two eagle demons couldn't carry grown men. If the demon predators wanted to take Ia as a meal, they'd have to go through him instead.
That, thankfully, never happened. The triumphant shrieks were abruptly cut off when two bolts of magic of a light fuchsia colour that he knew to be Mizki's favourite shade smashed into the aerial demons from behind. They fell, paralyzed by the magic.
Mizki came running, freed pink strands of hair flying everywhere like a witch's and her hairpin staff still sparking a bit from her magic. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, searching his face for wounds.
Right, the blood.
"It's nothing," he assured her. "I'm not hurt."
To prove his point he began to reach into the fountain to wash his face when Mizki grabbed his hand and stopped him from touching the water. "No, Yuma," she shook her head. "No washing off blood in fountains."
Gods and goddesses, women with their manners and public appearances. "It's just water," he pointed out. "It's not like it's melted gold or anything."
"And no one likes to see blood in public places."
Which would then have led to the whole 'why fountains are useless' talk, but Ia looked ready to cry. "You alright?" he asked her instead of further arguing.
She nodded and gingerly reached out to lightly touch his face.
"I'm not hurt," he reassured her. "See?" To prove his point, he opened his flask of water and dumped the contents onto his face, scrubbing with the back of his sleeve to aid the water in washing away the demon blood.
When he was done, Ia leaned in, eyes roaming around his face to inspect it for damage. Apparently satisfied, she nodded and leaned back.
His inspection completed, Yuma took out a pill made out of condensed herbs and swallowed it dry. Demon blood had many side effects, one common trait being their ability to eat away at most spells with holy ties or alliances. If there weren't any holy ties or alliances, the essence in the blood would make demonic ties and alliances. The herbs would neutralize any effect demon blood had up to a certain point. These pills were enough for eagle demons.
"I sent a magic summon. The guards should be here to investigate soon," Mizki paused. "If you feel yourself turning into a madman, tell me."
Healers. "Eagle demons don't have venom blood," he reminded her.
"But they are demons. Gods know what they ate – Ia, don't touch that!"
For someone who had screamed at the sight of them, Ia sure didn't seem too scared of a demon now. Maybe she didn't have a problem with dead, headless demons. Currently she was holding the eagle he had beheaded, holding it in a careful way to ensure that she didn't get blood dripping on her clothes.
No blood on her. They wouldn't have to worry about demonic contamination.
"Put it down, Ia," Mizki ordered. "It's dirty and there might be demon fleas on it."
"Demon fleas?"
"Duchess Sonika told me that a few mages are working on a thesis involving fleas that feast on demon blood. Either they were demon in the first place, or – Ia!"
Their little blond ward had tossed the carcass into the fountain. The blood began to spread, turning the water into a translucent pink.
"Oh, I'll clean it up," Mizki rolled her sleeves back and began to mutter incantations under her breath when the fountain stopped sprouting water up. "Great, the spell must have been nullified due to the demon's blood."
"Can you fix it?"
His partner shot him a look. "No. The mages who make fountains use specialized magic and they cast a lot of incantations to make sure that the fountain's spray contains blessings and charms for good luck. The demonic essence probably ate away at all those and disabled its ability to function as a fountain."
Spells and charms. He really wasn't interested in the mechanics of those. What he was interested in was . . . "Expensive?"
Mizki looked behind his shoulder to check how far away the girl was from them before she leaned in and quietly whispered, "Very."
"Can we pay it?"
"Yes."
Yuma shrugged. "Then it's all good."
"Yes, I know, but I don't know how to teach her that it's not alright to go around throwing dead demons into enchanted – Ia!"
There was a splash. Yuma whipped around and saw Ia wading in the bloody waters of the fountain.
"Ia!" he yelled, panicked now. Wading in demon blood was not good. He had built up a slight resistance to them after ten years of being splashed with demonic lifeblood, but Ia was just a child. She didn't have his built-up immunity or a strong body to fight off the influence easily. "Get out of there! Now!"
Ia looked at them and he swore in his panicked state when she smiled and waved at them. Gods and goddesses, what had happened to the mature child?
A brief glance down to check what footwear he had on – boots, excellent – before he lunged into the waters, splashing like crazy to get at her and yet not too crazily in an attempt to avoid getting more water on her. A few more sounds behind him told him that Mizki was right behind him.
Right before he wrapped his arms around her small torso, Ia reached out and pressed a small sculpture of a dragon's head on the fountain.
There was a loud sound that he could only describe as a hungry growl from a non-living creature. He had once heard sailors speak with spirits freeing their tongues about a whirlpool, a large hungry hole made out of cursed waters that roared and sucked at boats foolish enough to get too close. All the evil-minded, dark water sprites were to blame for such cursed things, the seamen said. The sound was something that would send a shiver down the spine of any man, brave or otherwise.
He definitely got a shiver down his spine. This wasn't one of the ocean's whirlpools, but it did drain the fountain of its bloodied water within moments through a hole that had opened up beneath the centerpiece.
Once the water was completely gone, the dragon's head – the only dragon on the fountain featuring the goddesses of life, wisdom and warriors – seemed to wink at them with milky eyes before the entire centerpiece began to withdraw into the ground, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the marble fountain.
Yuma looked down, unable to help his curiosity. There weren't any light below, and the hole didn't seem to end. As far as he could see, there wasn't a way to climb back up from this seemingly bottomless pit.
Ia squirmed, trying to get away from the pit. It was probably a bad idea to hold her so near the hole. She must have been scared of the idea of falling down into the pit.
Yuma placed her on the ground behind him. "You alright, Ia?" he asked, checking for her health first even if he wanted to scold her for being reckless.
Ia threw her entire body at his legs and knocked him over. Normally, he would have placed either a leg behind to steady his balance or spun around mid-fall to cushion the impact with his arms the way the Order of Auren's trainers had taught him, but the marble was still slippery with the bloody water and there was no solid ground behind him, just a gaping hole.
That, and Ia had her arms wrapped around his legs, tight as bands of enchanted steel.
In the middle of his falling struggles he hit his head against the edge of the hole. Sharp pain throbbed once, twice, thrice in the back of his head before his consciousness flickered out like a candle in the path of wind.
"Yuma!"