Chapter Nine – The Lord of Ice and Dragons
Yugi leaned against the railing and gazed at the land far below. It was still shrouded in shadows, even though the sunrise blazed bright enough just over his shoulder. He watched as the line of light marched across the ground, brightening it from dull gray-green to emerald. Clumps and dots of white moved in aimless patterns across the emerald field. Yugi knew they were the vast herd of sheep kept near the Aerie even though he was far too high to hear any sort of noise from them.
"You are up early," a voice said behind him. Yugi turned, and threw his arm up to ward the bright morning sunlight from his eyes. Dazzled, it took him a moment to recognize Lord Seto. The Aerie's lord stepped forward to look down upon the land as Yugi had.
Yugi turned and gazed downward again, too. "It's funny. At home, I'd still be in bed, trying to sleep if I could, until Mom chased me awake with a few well-placed ladle whacks."
"Not a morning person, then," Lord Seto observed.
"Not at all."
"Why so early today?" The question was couched in a bored tone, but Yugi somehow sensed that nothing Lord Seto did was without purpose.
"The suite we are in faces east. The sun just blazed in at more or less full force out of nowhere," Yugi explained. "Blinded me awake, actually."
"Hmm." There was a note of smug satisfaction in the tone, and Yugi turned sharply to gaze at his host. Sure enough, Lord Seto was smirking. Warned by this, Yugi wasn't surprised by the next question. "What did Lord Yami do?"
"Lord Yami," Yugi ground out in a tightly controlled, clipped tone that highlighted how upset he was, "turned away from the window, cursed, and summoned sufficient shadows to surround his bed and block the light. He didn't think to offer me the same sort of comfort."
Lord Seto laughed.
"Look." Yugi turned abruptly to face Lord Seto. "I don't know and don't care about whatever happened between you and Yami. Tease him and tweak him all you want – but you better not catch me again with one of your pranks in the process. And, you better not pull any of this sort of stuff when it matters. We can't have strife on our side when we are facing the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos."
Lord Seto looked down his nose at Yugi. Yugi felt vaguely ridiculous, and suddenly vulnerable. Lord Seto could pick him up and toss him off the edge, if he had a mind to. There wasn't anything Yugi could effectively do to stop him, and no one else around to interfere.
"You're not a pushover. And, you aren't slavishly devoted to Yami to the detriment of your own common sense. Two things I could not have learned so quickly without my 'prank'. Furthermore, you believe you are the Hero, and are taking such responsibilities seriously."
"It was – a test?"
"Not really. I just wanted to annoy Yami, but learning a few things about you 'in the process' is a satisfactory side effect."
Yugi growled just under his breath in frustration. He could see why Yami didn't much care for Lord Seto, if this was how he behaved.
"Stop glaring at me," Seto advised. He waved his hand in Yugi's direction. Yugi's mind twisted oddly, and his balance shifted. "A gesture to show my willingness to help the Hero – if you are truly he."
Yugi turned his head and realized he wore wings. He recognized the weird mental twist as some sort of magic to alter his perception so that he suddenly just 'knew' how to fly. The wings – his wings – were made of feathers like a bird's, a deep red color that changed to yellow on the trailing edge. Yugi turned his head from examining his wings to say something to Seto.
"Do see if you can keep up – Hero!" Lord Seto called in a mocking tone of voice from the space just in front of the railing. He floated a moment more on his white dragon wings before folding them and diving straight down.
I can do that, Yugi thought. He knew how to generate enough speed to gain the lift necessary to launch himself from a flat area, but that would give Seto too much of a head-start. Yugi climbed to the top of the railing, and threw himself into the dive instead.
The next half hour was pure exhilaration for Yugi. He followed and chased Lord Seto through many aerial maneuvers while laughing and playing in the wind. He now knew why the White Knight hadn't tried to speak when carrying him. Flying was hard work! Rewarding, but hard. It was difficult to project his voice enough to be heard even to his own ears, much less by someone else. There was no way with his very soft voice the White Knight could ever be heard while flying.
An intense hunger pang took him by surprise. He faltered in the air at the shock of it, then found the rhythm of his wing beats again. Lord Seto flipped over on a wing to turn and run an assessing eye over his flying comrade.
"You are not used to this, and you haven't eaten today. We must return to the Aerie, now. Follow me." Yugi noticed how the Lord of Dragons seemed to have no difficulty projecting his voice over the wind.
Suddenly the Aerie, which had been the rough center of all their wandering around the sky, seemed a million miles away. Yugi wasn't sure he could make it against the gnawing pain where his stomach was supposed to be, but the slightly disdainful look on Lord Seto's face sparked his determination. No way was he going to show any weakness in front of this arrogant lord!
A shadow crossing his face made Yugi glance away from watching, and following, Lord Seto. He was doing his best to try to draft off the Dragon Lord's flight. The White Knight grinned beside him, and pointed down. Seto's giant silver dragon flew just under him. Yugi realized that if his strength gave out, he would fall from the sky – but only as far as the dragon's back. Relieved at the concern of the Lord of Dragons, (for who else could have summoned the White Knight and the silver dragon?) Yugi still resolved to make it back to the Aerie under his own power.
It took all his concentration, all his will, and nearly all his energy, but he did. His landing was not going to be noted for grace, but it did efficiently deposit him on the solid landing platform of the Aerie where Seto led him. His wings disappeared and his mind did the peculiar shift to orienting him as a land-bound being again. From his impossibly tall height, Seto stared down at him.
Yugi suddenly realized the lord was trying to decide whether or not to lean over and pick him up. Yugi ended that dilemma by shakily scrambling to his feet. "That was fun! When can we do it again?"
Seto's expression cleared and brightened into the first genuine smile Yugi had seen on the Dragon Lord's face. "Perhaps a shorter flight, after you've eaten and the meal has settled," he replied gravely despite his grin.
A short while later, Yugi returned to the suite. Shadows still writhed softly around Yami's bed, and a faint snoring could be heard. Yugi looked over to where the Purple Knight stood watching his lord, or rather, the shadows around his lord, and rolled his eyes. Yami's Guardian shrugged his shoulders. Yugi waved his hands frantically in the shadows over Yami's bed. Obligingly, they thinned and parted so he could see Lord Yami.
Still deeply asleep and still snoring slightly, Yami looked somehow younger asleep than he did awake. The Shadow Lord was hardly scary at all flopped onto his stomach and hugging the pillow that cradled his head. Yugi looked over again at the Purple Knight. The knight nodded slightly, the gesture reassuring Yugi that the Guardian has his back – if needed.
"WAKE UP!" Yugi shouted, while taking hold of Yami's shoulder and shaking it roughly.
"Huh?! What?" Yami blinked in confusion and tangled himself into a glorious mess in the sheet that had been draped over his legs.
"Didn't think to let me sleep a little longer by sending some of your shadows to keep the light from my eyes, did you?!" Yugi yelled. "No, no – as long as 'Shadow Lord Yami' can sleep peacefully, all is right with the world! It doesn't matter to you that I was bored and left alone to wander around – met Lord Seto, dove off a balcony, and spent the morning flying, and just ate a monstrous breakfast that would have given my poor mom a fit if she'd seen how much food I put away! As long as you can sleep..."
"What? What?! Yugi – are you okay?!" Yami struggled to get up, but still tangled with his sheets only managed to fall out of the bed.
"Hmph!" Yugi turned and stalked over to where the Purple Knight stood.
"Are you unharmed, Hero?" the Purple Knight asked. "Perhaps I should have followed you, instead of attending to Lord Yami."
Yugi smiled up at the Guardian. "No, I'm fine. Just irked at Lord Dark-a-lot over there that he didn't think of me at all this morning. Although, if he had, I would have missed learning how to fly. Lord Seto made certain I was safe."
"You do have this talent for getting to the heart of things. And people," the Purple Knight noted softly.
"Pardon?"
"Just thinking aloud. Pay me no mind."
Across the room, Yami, still tangled in his sheets, tried unsuccessfully to stagger to his feet. He only managed to conk his head on the frame of the bed, and started muttering curses. The shadows swirled ominously in that part of the room, almost as if they were a gathering storm cloud.
"If you excuse me," the Purple Knight said. Yugi waved his hand toward Yami and managed to swallow his chuckle at the Shadow Lord's predicament. Yami had terrified him at their first meeting. Seeing him like this reminded Yugi that even though Yami was a lord, he was still just a human being – even if Yami didn't believe it of himself.
"By all means, help him before he erupts completely. I'll be downstairs. The White Knight is going to show me around the castle – and then I hope I might have a chance to try flying again."
Yugi did have that chance, later in the afternoon. Not surprisingly, Lord Seto forced Yami to remain land-bound until Yugi shot an impatient glare at him and said that as far as he was aware, he was supposed to be the Hero of legend and not the referee of idiotic feuds between the 'kindly' lords. Seto smirked and waved his hand in Yami's general direction, using his unique power to give Yami wings of shadow once more.
Hours later, pleasantly fatigued from the tour of the Aerie, and the physically demanding but rewarding rigors of flying, Yugi was ready to call it a day. He stumbled slightly on the way to his bed and found two sets of arms and a wave of shadows waiting to catch him. He laughed, a tired laugh, but a laugh nonetheless, and assured the Purple Knight and Lord Yami that he was fine – just tired – and would Yami please be so kind as to do something to dim the sun in the morning for Yugi, too?
Yami grinned and in preparation crafted a shadow curtain that covered the window. Exhausted, momentarily content, Yugi fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
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Author's notes –
Next chapter teaser – Chapter Ten -- The Lord, the Hero, and the ???