~.~.~
Title: Maoh, A Day Late
Summary: Yuri and friends go on a trip to a lake. It's not very relaxing.
~.~.~
Part VI, Chapter 2
You and I
~.~.~
"Murata and I are going on a trip," Yuri announced cheerfully.
There was a moment of silence. Then, Gunter burst into tears.
"So you figured it out already?" Wolfram said over the sound of Gunter's sobs. "Naturally, I'll be coming with you. Weller too." Smiling, Conrart nodded.
"Sure, the more, the merrier," Yuri agreed. "But what did we figure out?"
"So that's your plan! That's why you were so calm!" Gunter accused. "You weren't planning on being separated from His Majesty from the start!"
"Of course! There's no telling where the last Box is or who might be guarding it!" Wolfram pointed out haughtily. "Not to mention that someone has to come along to keep Yuri in from doing something stupid. And I guess Weller has some experience with the other world, so he might be helpful too." The last was added almost as an afterthought, though no one was fooled.
"The last Box? Why are you bringing that up?" Yuri wondered.
Hiding a smile, Murata pushed up his glasses. "You're severely overestimating our research skills," he said. "Shibuya and I are still a long way from figuring out a way back to Earth. The place we're going is actually the home of the Lake Shore tribe."
Taken by surprise, both Wolfram and Gunter fell silent. They had both been quite sure in their assumptions.
"Oh, Your Majesty!" Gunter exclaimed, throwing himself at Yuri. "I'm so glad you'll be with us for some time yet!"
"Hmph. Well, I'm still coming," Wolfram said, rallying himself and crossing his arms.
Conrart's eyes darted to Gwendal thoughtfully, though his expression gave nothing away. "Josak mentioned he was heading to that area," Conrart noted, smiling blandly. "Perhaps we can meet up with him there."
Extricating himself from Gunter's octopus-like embrace, Yuri turned to peer at Conrart. It took Murata a moment to realize that Yuri was mentally comparing his expression to the sort he had worn while telling them that this time would be great to escape, not that he, a loyal soldier of Cimaron, would ever suggest such a thing.
'Damn Gurrier,' Gwendal thought, feeling a headache coming on. 'Why is he so good at everything except keeping his mouth shut?'
Murata's eyes met his, and Gwendal scowled at the message he could read in the Great Wiseman's gaze even before his eyes flickered to Yuri meaningfully.
'Tell the king? Ridiculous,' Gwendal grumbled mentally. What good could it possibly do? The boy would run off half-cocked, as always, and do something terribly rash.
But what other choice was there? Keep him in the dark? He would inevitably find out once they reached the lake. And it's not as if Gwendal could stop him from going. Even if Gwendal insisted on going as well, there was little chance of hiding things from Yuri. The situation at Van Da Via was a clear example.
Better to just get it out there and try to deal with fall out now. Perhaps he could try to mitigate the fallout and curb Yuri's more... wild responses.
Sighing, Gwendal announced, "I sent Josak there after Lady Ulrike reported a powerful soul suddenly appearing in the area."
Seeing Wolfram and Yuri exchange a blank look, Murata explained quietly, "Ulrike is able to track the movements of powerful members of the Demon Tribe, in particular the Demon Kings, past, present and future. She was very surprised when a powerful soul just suddenly appeared without warning."
Gwendal held up the short missive. "The Lake Shore people are very isolated and secretive, but according to Josak's report there have been rumors... of a double-black appearing out of the lake."
"Double-black?" Yuri repeated. "Like me and Murata? ...We haven't snuck out or anything, I swear!"
Gwendal sighed.
"A powerful double-black, appearing out of thin air - or out of the water, I guess," Wolfram mused. Shooting Yuri a look, he thought, 'Doesn't that sound sort of familiar?'
Conrart's eyes narrowed as he regarded Gwendal thoughtfully. "You believe that this person may have traveled here from Earth," he deduced.
"I believe that it would be very tempting bait," Gwendal said cynically, "which has already proven effective in the past. Josak also mentioned that this mysterious double-black is said to have come with a large wooden box in tow."
"Then... somebody brought the Bottom of the Mirror to this world?" Yuri wondered.
"That's too convenient!" Wolfram burst out.
"That's exactly the problem," Gwendal agreed.
"We should go check it out," Yuri decided, making both brothers twitch in irritation.
'I knew he'd say that,' Gwendal thought, closing his eyes and trying to will away his growing headache.
He also knew that Yuri would be getting his way, no matter how much or how little Gwendal approved. Why had he ever wished for a strong-willed, determined king?
~.~.~
The forest was about three days' ride from the castle, located on the frontier. Which presented something of a problem, since Yuri still hadn't gotten very far in his horseback riding lessons, and there was no point in taking a carriage, since the terrain was far too rough for it.
With him riding double behind Conrart, the trip took quite a bit longer. Of course, their unscheduled detours extended the trip far more.
"This really is the middle of nowhere," Wolfram grumbled, after they had finally turned off the main highway and traveled down an almost invisible trail through the surrounding desert. "I'm not even sure which territory we're in."
"Wow, the Demon Kingdom is so amazing!" Yuri marveled. "Who would have expected it to have a Wild West section too? And that town was really like something out of a western movie!"
"Aren't we headed to a lake?" Wolfram wondered. "There aren't even any rivers here."
"The spirits of nature are still abundant in these lands," Murata commented. "It's good to see that the covenant is being preserved even out here on the edge of the kingdom."
"What nature spirits? It's a desert," Wolfram pointed out.
"Our kingdom has many wonderful sights," Conrart agreed, "and I hope you have the chance to see them all one day, Sire."
"How is this a wonderful sight?" Wolfram muttered.
"It's Yuri," the boy behind Conrart insisted, taking the opportunity to pinch him in the ribs. It tickled more than it hurt, and Conrart shook a little as he tried to muffle a chuckle. "Anyway," Yuri continued, "I hope so too. I still have so much to learn about the Demon Kingdom... I know! How about we go on a nationwide tour, after we deal with the Boxes?"
"I will follow you wherever you choose to go, Yuri," Conrart assured him.
"Stop practicing your lady killer smile on me," Yuri grumbled.
"Have fun," Wolfram muttered. He added, "Don't forget to visit the Von Bielefelt territory. We'll show you all the best of the Demon Kingdom, far better than some dusty desert." He beamed with pride.
They rode for a little while longer, the sun blazing down on them, bright enough that Yuri became quite grateful for the hooded cloak Conrart had given him. Finally, Murata glanced up, peering into the horizon.
"There it is," he said, pointing to a faint shadow shimmering in the heat haze. "That's the lake."
Wolfram and Yuri both stared in surprise as they got closer. The change was sudden and almost unnatural. What had been desert suddenly became a thick, lush forest. As they moved into the shade of the trees, the temperature seemed to drop sharply, and they were left blinking against the darkness.
"How is this possible?" Wolfram asked, looking around with a frown.
"Magic?" Yuri suggested, breathing deeply of the cool, fresh air.
Murata nodded. "That's right. This is the home of the Lake Shore tribe, and they use their magic to cultivate this land. Before they settled here, it was a barren wasteland."
"They must have some pretty powerful magic," Yuri said.
"If I remember correctly, they chose this place because it had a large deposit of demon stones," Murata said, shrugging. "They used them to purify the land, together with the Wincott family."
"So we're in the Von Wincott territory," Wolfram noted, nodding to himself. "We must have gone north, over the border from the Von Crist lands..." He glanced at Conrart. 'Must be pretty close to Luttenberg, actually...'
"The Wincott family, huh?" Yuri muttered, before sneezing. He had been glad to get out of the heat, but now he was starting to miss the warm sunlight. Shivering a little, he moved closer to Conrart. "It's kind of cold here, with all the shade. There's even fog..."
Conrart's eyes narrowed as he looked around the forest, where mist was seeping from among the trees. It grew thicker as they traveled, and pretty soon little could be seen beyond the first row of trunks.
His eyes met Murata's, and the Wiseman nodded. "This fog isn't natural," Murata said quietly, moving his horse closer to Wolfram's. "Don't get separated."
Unfortunately, none of them were much good at following orders.
The attack came swiftly and silently. Conrart noticed the shadows among the trees only a instance before they moved, dashing at the three horses and four Demon Tribesmen. Yanking the reins sharply, he managed to pull their steed aside, simultaneously drawing his sword to deflect a dagger slash.
Wolfram's and Murata's horses reared, neighing loudly and breaking out into a sudden gallop. Rather than their riders, they had been the ones targeted by the mysterious assailants.
"Wolfram! Murata!" Yuri yelled, looking desperately at the disappearing figures of his friends. However, there was nothing he could do but cling to Conrart.
Their attackers, clad in concealing white cloaks, drew back out of Conrart's range. They seemed to exchange some invisible signals and as one backed away further, soon disappearing into the thick mist. Everything was suddenly silent again, leaving only the pounding of his heart in Yuri's ears.
"What should we do?" Yuri whispered.
"We need to regroup," Conrart answered quietly, his eyes still scanning for any sign of movement. "For now, let's dismount and go on foot. Don't worry. We'll find the others."
Yuri nodded, steeling his nerves as Conrart quickly slipped off the horse and helped him down. Conrart regarded their steed for a moment, then shook his head and tied the reins to a nearby tree. Yuri couldn't ride alone, and Conrart doubted they would have time to both mount if they needed a quick getaway. In any case, he suspected that the forest would soon become too thick for the horse to travel through easily.
'Even though the fog is this thick, I'm not sure any illusion will work,' Yuri thought. 'I can almost feel them watching us. At a time like this, having true sight or scrying would be much more useful...'
Unfortunately, he had never been particularly good at that branch of magic.
Pulling his hood further down, Yuri pressed close to Conrart as they followed the tracks left behind by Murata's and Wolfram's runaway mounts.
~.~.~
As Yuri and Conrart would soon discover, the other two Demon Tribesmen had not gone far before being forcefully dismounted.
Momentarily stunned and winded, they had been left easy prey for the masked, robed assailants and were quickly captured. Catching Wolfram's gaze, Murata shook his head sharply to stop him from fighting further. They were clearly outnumbered, and Wolfram had already lost his sword.
'These are the Lake Shore people. They were always isolationist, so I suppose it's no surprise they wouldn't take well to trespassers,' Murata thought. 'But unless things have really changed, they probably won't hurt us. If we're lucky, they'll take us to see Ondine, and we can clear all this up...'
Wolfram scowled viciously, but refrained from struggling too much even when one of the robed figures tossed him over one shoulder and, with his companion doing the same to Murata, took off into the trees.
A short, bumpy ride later, they arrived at their destination - a village in the trees. But rather than take them up to one of the houses, built among the branches of the massive, ancient trees, their cloaked bearers dumped the Demon Tribesmen onto a wide, open area, seemingly designed for some ritual, with a complex circle fashioned in its center.
The white-cloaked figures moved away, some remaining behind as guards, but surprisingly, Murata and Wolfram were not left entirely alone. Another prisoner was dragged into the circle. Despite wearing the same white robes as the others, it was clear he didn't belong to the Lake Shore tribe.
Looking up at them, he grinned wryly.
"So they caught you too," Josak commented. "This certainly isn't going too well."
Murata shrugged, smiling sheepishly, but Wolfram glared. "What about you? How did you manage to get caught? I thought you were supposed to be good at this!"
Josak pouted, a terrifying expression completely unsuited to his features. "I don't get it either. I did everything right, but it's like that double-black's got some way of telling that I'm not one of them," he protested.
'That sounds almost like...' Murata thought, his eyes narrowing.
A commotion among their guards made all of them fall silent, tense and waiting. Suddenly, the villagers broke ranks, parting hesitantly but deferentially before a young man who was clearly not one of them.
Looking down at the bound Demon Tribesmen, he frowned and pushed back the hood of his cloak.
Wolfram's eyes widened at the sight of black hair and black eyes, so much like Yuri's, but Josak's more calculating gaze noted that this man shared many more features with their king than just his double-black colors. His expression, forbidding and judgmental, was completely different from Yuri's, but the curve of the face, the shape of the eyes were the same. Their resemblance was subtle, but far exceeded that between Murata and Yuri.
The recognition in Murata's eyes was also clear.
"Hello, older brother of my friend," Murata greeted the young man, smiling disarmingly.
But something about the words seemed to anger the other double-black, and his severe gaze narrowed further.
"Don't assume you have the right to call me that any longer," he said coldly, as if passing down judgment on some great crime. For a moment, his resemblance to the Demon King was clear.
Murata sighed. "I can imagine why you're angry, but let's just be clear - I didn't make Shibuya do anything he didn't want to," he said. Seeing the unabating dark look at was still directed at him, Murata sighed again. "Can you at least call Ondine? Do we can clear this up before Shibuya does something stupid?"
"Ondine is otherwise occupied," the other double-black snapped. "And I'll get Yuri myself."
Turning sharply, he stalked away, his hurried pace just short of a jog and at odds with cool, composed disposition.
"Wait, Lord Shori!" one of the lake people called out, moving hesitantly as if to stop him. "The other trespassers..."
"I'll handle this," Shori said over his shoulder. "Meanwhile, have someone report to Ondine. And keep an eye on those three, especially him!"
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Moving slowly, but without encountering any real obstacle, Yuri and Conrart had reached the edge of the lake.
A faint golden light had begun to filter through between the tree trunks as they approached, making Conrart slow wearily. But even diffused by the mist, that light did not appear to be from lanterns or torches.
Now, standing on the shore, they could see that the golden glow came from the lake itself. The water glimmered, stretching away out of sight.
"Is that normal?" Yuri wondered. On Earth, he would have considered radioactive waste or even magic, but in the Demon Kingdom, it could very well be some kind of natural phenomenon.
He leaned closer, peering into the glowing depths, but even Yuri knew better than to just touch it. A sudden ripple distorted the steady light as the skeleton of a fish poked its nose out at Yuri. Catching a glimpse of its impressive, sharp teeth, he quickly backed away.
"What should we do now? There wasn't any sign of the others," Yuri said, turning to Conrart.
There was no reply. Conrart's form had become tense, and his eyes scanning the misty treeline. Biting back his questions, Yuri moved closer to his companion.
"Someone's coming," Conrart explained quietly, drawing his sword. "But... they're too loud. Not like the locals."
"One of ours?" Yuri whispered back.
It was possible, but Conrart was not that optimistic. 'They're coming right toward us,' he thought. 'How can they know our position so clearly?'
Soon, even Yuri could pick out the sounds of someone approaching through the forest, unnaturally loud in the still air. A figure appeared among the mists, its blurred silhouette solidifying as it drew closer.
Yuri's widened and his breath caught as the hidden features sharpened into something painfully familiar.
"Shori!" he exclaimed, unthinkingly darting toward his brother.
However, Conrart had expected it this time. One strong arm held Yuri back, ignoring his struggles.
"Conrad! Let go!" Yuri protested, trying to push him away. "That's my brother! Shori! Shori!"
"Please consider the situation, Your Majesty," Conrart tried to reason, even as his attention remained fixed on the young man in front of them, whose expression had darkened dangerously. "How and why would your brother be here? There has already been one attempt to trap you using the image of your family. You can't rush in blindly."
"You're wrong! That's Shori!" Yuri insisted.
"He's right, little brother," Shori said, his expression twisting unhappily. "You shouldn't trust so blindly, not even someone who looks like me. Your perception abilities are terrible. There's no guarantee you could see through a fake."
Yuri scowled, familiar irritation rising as being lectured yet again - and right after they finally met!
Shori's gaze turned to Conrart, narrowing in a glare. "But don't think that gives you the right to take liberties like that with my younger brother," he declared. "Just who are you, exactly? What is your relationship?"
"Conrad's my friend, Shori!" Yuri said, glaring right back.
"Call me Big Brother," Shori said, holding out one hand and gesturing as if waiting to be handed something.
"Not a chance," Yuri shot back.
That well-worn exchange made them both smile, some hidden tension slipping out of the two brothers as they finally really looked at each other again after so long apart.
But as Yuri tried to move toward his older brother, Conrart held him back again.
"Come on, Conrad! That can't be anyone but Shori," Yuri huffed. "Who else would be so annoying?"
"Nonetheless, I can't let you do that, Your Majesty," Conrart remained firm.
Watching him, Shori bristled. "I acknowledge your dedication to my younger brother's safety," he growled, "but don't start thinking that gives you the right to push him around!"
The two matched glares, neither willing to back down, as Yuri stared at them in disbelief. 'Doesn't anyone care what I think?' he wondered. 'Idiots!'
It seemed as if Conrart had the advantage, being the one with a weapon and the training to use it. Shori had no combat skills that Yuri knew of. But at the same time, he seemed too assured of his position as he watched Conrart with a calculating gaze.
'He must sense something we don't,' Yuri realized, finally recognizing the confidence Shori exuded. He shivered, feeling something intangible shift around them, deep in the core of his soul.
In the next moment, the fog abruptly dropped away. The speed at which it dissipated left no doubt that it had not been a natural phenomenon. On the clear lake shore, previously hidden figures, clad in the forest dwellers' white cloaks, were suddenly revealed.
Conrart reacted quickly, trying to turn to face the new threat while still keeping Yuri away from Shori, but a soft voice called out, "Wait!"
One of the figures - far shorter than the rest - stepped forward, drawing back her hood. Thick braids spilled out, framing the round face of a young girl. She looked pale and worn, much like Ulrike since the three Boxes had been assembled under her care.
"Please wait. There's no need for anyone to fight. I can vouch for Lord Shori's identity," she beseeched, spreading her small, delicate hands. "I am Ondine. His Eminence has explained the situation to me."
"Murata? So he met up with you okay?" Yuri wondered, peering around Conrart.
"Indeed. His Eminence and the young lord Von Bielefelt are both at our village. I apologize for my people's hostile reaction. We are... unused to visitors," Ondine explained, bowing deeply. "Please, come with me. There is much to discuss."
Conrart still looked distrustful, but when Yuri tugged at his sleeve, he glanced down. Their eyes met, sharing the same thought.
There was nothing else for them to do. And wasn't rushing straight into things Yuri's way?
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((This is based on episode 46, "The Priestess in the Forest," with a slight reference to episode 53, "Dear King Yuri." Yes, Yuri and company pass through Gloria's wild west town. It's stated to be far out west, on the frontier, which one would assume is the same frontier where Ondine's forest is located.))
((If you look at the manga/novel map of Shin Makoku, the Wincott territory is on the west side, in the north. (There is a reason I mention this, I promise.) Under it is the Christ territory, under that - Rosheford. Luttenberg, the place where Conrart was born and many other half-breed lived, in next to the Wincott lands, just north of the border with Christ.))
((I'm a little unsure why, but this is probably where the war twenty years ago was fought, out west. It's supposed to have been against Big Cimaron, which is on a different continent, so what country is out here? None at all?))
((The geography of KKM is a mysterious thing.))
((Also, this was a terrible time to realize that I have no idea what Shori is like. Oh well~))