Chapter Eleven – The Lord of Fire and Warriors
Yugi considered belting Yami one in the face. If he thought Yami's Guardian, the Purple Knight, would let him, he might actually try it. Yami's shadows had snared him from the air and pulled him into Yami's embrace as soon as he flew into the dining hall. Lord Seto has snickered at that, then shown the Frostblade to his Guardian Knight. Yugi had finally gotten Yami to stop hovering all over him, but couldn't seem to get the Lord of Shadows to leave him alone.
Pools of shadows danced upon the floor wherever he walked. Eyes stared at him with unblinking gazes from every shadow on the wall. And Yami made every excuse in the book, then some, to prevent Yugi from leaving his sight. Yugi had finally appealed to the Lord of Ice and Dragons, as the ruler of this realm, to override Yami's power with his own so that Yugi could attend to a call of nature without the Lord of Shadows spying on his every move. Seto was only too happy to oblige.
Yugi was touched by Yami's concern, he really was, but it was so stifling! Besides, the Pendant of Pharaoh, or the Hero's Heartstone, or perhaps both, had kept him safe. It's not as if Yugi had been in any more danger than when he'd been in Yami's Shadow Realm – less actually, since Seto's Ice Realm hadn't been populated by evil spirits of Ice, or Cold Dragons, or something nasty like Yami's Shadow Realm had been. Yami hadn't been pleased when Yugi pointed this fact out to him. He had stopped hovering over Yugi – but only until Yugi's Pendant started glowing again, indicating the next leg of their journey. Not surprisingly, it pointed South, toward the lands under the keeping of Joey, the Lord of Fire and Warriors.
Once they left the Aerie, Yami started behaving like such a mother hen that Yugi was quickly reaching the end of his patience. Lord Seto's smirk did nothing to help Yugi's temper, either. He was ready to try to ditch both lords and go it on his own if they didn't stop it – and soon.
That was when the ground at his feet decided to spit a fireball at him.
"Gah!" Yugi yelped as he dodged sideways.
"Oh, goody. We've made it to the Flame Marsh," Seto noted drily.
"The Flame Marsh?"
"The Lord of Fire and Warriors' domain is harsh, and only sparsely populated. The reason is the ground itself is highly unstable. If not for the seaport, there would be no reason for there to even be a lord here," Seto explained.
"Flame Haven, the port itself, is well-populated," Yami contradicted mildly.
"Only because the ground there doesn't belch fire," Seto countered.
"Lord Joey uses the natural harshness of his land as the first test of worthiness for his warriors." Yami turned toward Yugi, evidently deciding to ignore Seto. "A prospective warrior has to make it to the Lord of Fire's Warrior Stronghold under his own power. The Flame Marsh changes all the time, so there are no reliable maps showing the safe path. Indeed, there are times there are no 'safe paths'."
"Couldn't we just fly there?" Yugi asked, watching as the ground spit another gout of flame into the air.
"It's a sign of respect to the Lord of Fire and Warriors if we manage it on foot," the Purple Knight replied.
Seto snorted. "Respect!"
"My lord..." the White Knight's voice carried a hint of disappointment.
"I can't be happy to be forced to thread the needle of this hellish place just to speak to the dimwitted Lord who rules here!" Seto flared on his own.
"It can't be helped. I'd rather shadow-walk us all to his doorstep myself, but he's just as hot-tempered as..."
"...as his idiotic Flame Marsh?" Seto finished.
"I was going to say 'as you are' but that works, too." Yami winked at Yugi, then reached to take Yugi's hand.
Yugi flared on his own at the presumptuous Shadow Lord. "Leave me alone, Yami! I'm not a child – and I won't tolerate being treated like one!" Yugi stalked off, following the glowing side of his pendant.
"Can you believe him?!" Yami groused. "All I'm trying to do is keep him safe! How dare he...?"
"Yami," Seto interrupted.
"What?!"
"You might want to jump."
"What?"
"You're standing on a ..." Seto paused. The ground beneath Yami erupted into flame.
"Gah!" Yami jumped just in time, narrowly avoiding getting singed. "You might have warned me!"
"I tried." Seto smirked at him. "Yugi has a point. You might want to tend to yourself before trying to keep him safe. He is the Hero, after all." Seto jumped to one side as the ground to his left gouted fire. "Shall we follow our Hero so we can do whatever his pushy pendant wants him to do and get out of here as soon as possible?"
"Before this place melts the cool you are maintaining on your temper, eh, Lord of Ice?" Yami smirked at Seto. Seto growled and would have lunged at him, but the White Knight pulled him back, just in time to save him from another gout of flame.
"I take it back. With how this place smells, the land isn't belching at us, it's farting." The White Knight hooted his strange laugh appreciating his lord's humor. Yami tried to maintain a severely reproving expression, but as soon as the ground ripped another fire-gout into the air with a very appropriate sound, he laughed, too.
"We'd better hurry before Yugi goes out of sight," Yami finally suggested.
– – – – –
Yugi hadn't gone too far. A massive circular area, that seemed free of the burps and belches of fire from the ground, was serving as the arena for two knights. Yugi watched entranced as the two knights sparred one another.
They were magnificent. Each bore full plate armor, but each seemed gifted with beyond human strength and grace to move easily in it. Their movements seemed so fluid it was as if they were dancing instead of sparring. Only the occasional ring of sword on sword, shield, or armor and the grunts of two men trying their darnedest to beat the other, suggested this was more of warfare instead of art.
One of the knights bore gleaming gold armor, and a massive sword the blade of which was easily double the length of any blade Yugi'd seen before. This knight didn't bother with a shield, using his weapon for both offense and defense. Yugi's wrists hurt just watching as the knight accepted crashing blow after crashing blow on his sword.
The other knight wore bright red armor, grasped a red longsword in his right hand, and defended himself with a red shield bearing a stylized flame device. The gold-helmeted knight turned his head enough to realize they had an audience, and rained a flurry of blows that broke through the red knight's sword defense to ring against the red knight's shield repeatedly. Under that barrage, the red knight finally dropped to a knee, signifying acceptance of his defeat.
Only a moment after beating the red knight so soundly, the gold knight stood in front of Yugi. Up close Yugi suddenly realized how bulky, and heavy, the full suit of armor had to be, and further realized how he stood completely unprotected before this example of knightly excellence. He had no way of knowing if the aggression he'd just witnessed was confined to only the knight in red. Belatedly he realized the knights might think he was trespassing – and take offense. Shifting his eyes slowly to the left, away from the imposing gold-clad warrior, revealed nothing that suggested there was any sort of escape.
"Hey!" The word echoed oddly in the suit of armor. A gleaming armored arm reached up to undo some sort of catch under the chin, and pull the gold helmet from a nearly equally gold head of hair. The face revealed once the helmet no longer obscured it was young, open, and confident.
"Aren't you a little short for the Hero?"
"Uhm... Er...?"
"Yeah, pal, I can tell you're the Hero," the gold warrior tossed a cocky grin Yugi's way.
Not quite trusting the accolade so easily from someone he hadn't yet proved it to, Yugi made a puzzled sound deep in his throat without really meaning to. The gold knight laughed.
"Believe it. My skill lets me just know it."
"I'm not going to have to fight you, or go on some quest, or otherwise prove that I'm the Hero?" Yugi asked in a small voice. Such trust seemed unreal given everything he'd already been through.
"Well..." the gold knight dragged out the syllable. "I admit, I had thought about having you prove yourself, by making it to the Stronghold on your own, or forcing you to fight your way through a standard tournament, before you could talk to me, but... What's the fun in that? I'm gonna guess ol' Gloomy and ol' Doomy already put you through your paces – so I don't have to."
Yugi only nodded.
"So, what's say we set all that silliness aside, and just go eat the feast I've got all set back at the Stronghold for you? I'm famished from sparring with Red over there. Oh! I'm sure you've figured it out, but I should formally introduce myself. I'm Joseph, the Lord Champion of Warriors and Fire." Incredibly enough, the knight not only managed a deep, flamboyant bow, complete with an unnecessary flourish, but managed to make it look graceful. "You can call me 'Joey'," he added with a wink. "Come on over, Red, and introduce yourself to the Hero."
The red knight also undid the clasp to his helmet as he walked over, so that Yugi could see his bare face. This knight had white hair, but some timeless quality to his features and demeanor didn't make it seem as if it was that color from old age. The knight in the red armor bowed low toward them.
"It is my pleasure to make the acquaintance of the Hero. I am the Red Knight, Akai."
Yugi shook his head as a sudden dizziness overtook him. Somehow, reality seemed far too fluid, and uncertain...
A flash of purple under his chin caught his eye. He reached up and clutched the Hero's Heartstone in his hand. The dizziness abruptly passed. "Aka-i?" he repeated uncertainly. He had the oddest feeling he somehow knew... But, he didn't recognize the knight, and the name itself was unknown in his far to the east lands.
"N-no. The Red Knight. Such things as personal names have no meaning to one of the Guardians," the Red Knight stammered.
"O-okay."
Yami and Seto, followed by their attendant Guardians, still bickering with each other, and still dodging gouts of flame from the ground, finally appeared. As they approached Yugi, Joey, and the Red Knight, Joey nudged Yugi in the ribs none-too-gently with his armored elbow. "Ol' Gloomy and ol' Doomy! Am I right?"
Yugi smiled, even as he rubbed his bruised side, somehow not only liking, but instinctively trusting, in this third 'Kindly Lord'. "Well..."
– – – – –
After the promised feast, Yugi watched the matches in the vast practice field attached to Joey's Warrior Stronghold. The stronghold itself was a wonder, a massive castle set in the middle of the Fire Swamp. It was divided in two; one side serving as the central armory and barracks for his proven Warrior Knights; while the other housed the many young men and women vying to prove their worth to Joey, the Lord Champion of Warriors, seeking to become one of his Knights. Set between both halves of the castle was a gigantic tower, easily twice the height of any other feature of the structure.
"How does one prove to be worthy to be a Warrior Knight?" Yugi wondered aloud.
"One displays the knightly virtues, and shows a willingness to work hard refining individual combat skills," the Red Knight replied. Yugi whirled. He hadn't realized he had company. "I didn't mean to startle you!"
Yugi looked up into the Red Knight's face. There was still something – odd – about Joey's Guardian, that somehow made the hackles at the nape of his neck stand up. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he would work at it until he figured out why this Guardian, unlike the other two, made him so uncomfortable.
"Is that all there is to it? Just – being knightly and working hard at it?" Yugi wondered aloud.
"Not all, but the core of it. One does have to have some aptitude for combat. There are those who make their way here, train to the best of their ability, but still fall short of becoming one of the Warrior Knights. Even though they weren't quite able to grasp the prize the tried so hard for, their training here makes them prized for their combat skills when they return home. To fail at earning the right to be a Warrior Knight of the Stronghold is not a complete tragedy."
"It won't hurt you to take part," Yami said as he, along with Seto, Seto's Guardian, and his own, approached the practice field. Evidently, they'd been arguing.
"You're an idiot. As is Joey for thinking this up. We are the other two lords. His peers, at the very least! What need have we to prove ourselves?" Seto sneered. Both he and Yami walked over to stand near where the Red Knight and Yugi gazed at the various matches on the practice field. "It would be stooping to his level."
"If you are so sure you aren't up to the challenge," Yami began while tossing a very obvious wink toward Yugi. "I'm sure Joey will permit you to forfeit."
Seto drew himself up to his full height. "Forfeit?" he demanded. His eyes narrowed. "I don't ever just quit!"
"Then accept the challenge!" Yami said. "It's not like I don't have to prove myself, too."
"If both of us refused..." Seto began.
"Then I'd know both my fellow lords are either craven or don't take me seriously," Joey interrupted as he neared the group.
"Bravery has nothing to do with it," Seto stated. "We don't take your seriously."
"Speak for yourself," Yami added immediately.
"What's going on?" Yugi asked.
Joey grinned at him. "I thought to ask my fellow lords," He stressed the two words. "to join me on the practice field and show me what they are made of – as warriors – and not just as lords."
Yugi's answering grin at the thought confirmed Yami's willingness to take part. "That would be cool to watch. That is, if it's... Well, I'd hate for anyone to get hurt..."
"A special enchantment had been placed over the practice field ages ago – long before even I became the Champion Lord of Warriors..."
"Lord of Warriors," Seto amended.
Joey decided to ignore Seto's interruption. "...no one is ever injured on the practice field, so it's a great place for not only warriors to practice, but for me to assess warrior skills." Joey eyed his fellow lords with a sour glance. "I've crossed steel with Yami – not as a lord, but as a warrior would – but that was years and years ago. Who knows if his skills are still there – disused for so long? And as for Lord Dragonbreath, we've only ever clashed against each other as the lords commanding the forces under us. For all I know he's all dragons and ice and can't hold his own in a non-magical battle."
Seto growled. Joey laughed.
"I'm willing to spar against you," Yami told Joey. "I wager you'll find my skills not at 'disused' as you suspect."
"Awesome!" Joey grinned at him. He donned his golden armor with just a thought. Holding his now-gauntleted hand out toward Yami clad his opponent in equally impressive inky-black armor. "A dark knight comes to challenge the Champion Lord of the Stronghold!"
Seto rolled his eyes at Lord Joey's melodrama. Yugi's eyes were riveted to Yami's now steel-protected form as Yami swung his arms and took a few steps to get used to the new feel of the armor.
"It's light enough to move in." Yami's voice boomed from within the armor. The Purple Knight approached and lifted Yami's visor. "Thank you. How is it...?"
"It'd hardly be fair to have an advantage over you, aside from my actual combat and sword skills, that is, from the get-go. Giving you appropriate armor and the strength and skill to use it is just one of my lordly powers. Should we see how you fare?" At Joey's gesture the Red Knight handed over a sword. Yugi noticed it wasn't the insanely long one Joey had used before, this one appeared to be a mundane longsword. Joey shook his head minutely when the Red Knight offered a shield. To Yami he suggested, "use your Gloomblade."
"But..." Yami began in alarm. Joey's sword was a normal, standard sword, and the Gloomblade a highly mystical one – further he hadn't discovered all the Gloomblade's abilities. He'd hate to trigger a power in the midst of a more-or-less friendly sparring session, and potentially hurt Joey.
"Relax. None of its powers will work unless you really will for them to while on the field. Unless you concentrate for it to be more, even the Gloomblade will be just an ordinary sword out there." Joey pointed to the practice field. "I'm not about to give you even a moment to concentrate on anything!" Joey shot a cocky grin Yami's way before becoming more serious. "Still, you should use it, so you can get used to how it feels and balances as a normal, non-magical sword. We are soon to confront the Chaos Dragon, and we have no idea the extent of his powers. Denying us the use of our mystical abilities might be one of them."
"Good point," Yami admitted. Even Seto looked thoughtful at that.
– – – – –
After sparring with Joey for as long as he could manage, Yami succumbed to Joey's superior battle skill and found himself battered to the ground under a rapid hail of blows. The Purple Knight helped Yami to his feet. Joey extended his hand in what appeared to be a simple handshake. Given how the watching warriors stilled, though, it seemed to be something more. "I can't accept you as a Warrior Knight as I would do with one of my own," Joey looked around at the audience that had gathered to watch them spar. "because that would put you under my say-so, since I am the Champion Lord of Warriors. But you just displayed all the skills necessary to be a Warrior Knight. That skill in you I can admit."
"But... I lost." Yami said.
Joey smirked at him. "Everyone loses against me. I'm the Champion Lord of Warriors. The only one who will win against me is the one who takes that title away from me – the next Lord of Warriors. Until then, when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, I'm the best." Joey smirked, turned, and struck a heroic pose. "Now, Lord Seto, are you really going to forfeit?"
Seto growled. There was no way he was going to forfeit with the entire population of the Stronghold watching. Joey smirked again, extending his hand toward his rival. The armor that suddenly encased Seto was white.
"Cool!" Yugi exclaimed.
"What?" Seto demanded, as Yugi's eyes were fixed on him.
"Oh, you can't see the details. Your armor appears to have scales, and, er... well, maybe fins?" At Seto's dubious look Yugi clarified. "It's not weird-looking – it looks like dragon armor!"
"Of course. That's why Yami's armor was black and shadowy. I don't choose the armor's appearance. It magically suits itself to the wearer," Joey explained. "But I'm not concerned about explainin' how my magic works, right now. I want to see how Lord Dragonpants handles himself in a fight without his magic."
Seto lifted the visor of his helmet at the insult and glared at Joey for a full minute. Joey laughed. "A sword fight, Seto, not a staring contest!" Seto dropped his visor, and gestured for his Frostblade. The White Knight handed it to him, and bowed.
Just a few minutes later the White Knight was helping his lord up from the practice field. "And the point of that was...?" Seto spat out at Joey.
"Proving my worth to the Hero," Joey grinned. "Oh, don't get all upset! It was also to see what I could safely do to enhance your fighting skills, too. Quite a bit more than I thought, it turns out." Seto looked slightly mollified at the near-compliment. It was only after Joey smirked at him that he realized it could be an insult, too.
– – – – –
"How do I get myself into these situations?" Yugi wondered. He faced a warrior in green and gold armor and held a sword in his hand. Despite Joey's magic enabling him to wear it, the armor felt uncomfortable. It wasn't that it was too heavy, or too hard to move around in, even though he knew it should be, it's that he felt like he was playing dress-up. He had no right to wear the armor of a warrior!
The sword in his hand was an equally unfamiliar burden. Evidently the eastern lands that were his home weren't as wild as these ones to the north, south, and west, or perhaps it was just that he was caught up in a world so completely different than his own. Maybe there were more modest people with more modest lives and skills in these lands, too, but being in the company of the Kindly Lords and on the adventure of the Hero made it so he didn't get to meet them.
He tried to lift his sword to deflect the attack of the other warrior on the field. He did, but caught it upon the flat of his blade which stunned his hands.
"Twist the blade when you catch someone's weapon like that, Yuge," Joey shouted the advice from the sidelines. "You won't feel it in your arms as much, and by sliding their blade along yours, you throw them off-balance."
Yugi nodded tightly under his gleaming silver helmet. Helpfully, his opponent came at him with the very same attack. It took him a moment to figure out how to turn his wrists to twist his blade, but once he did, it was as Joey said. The green and gold warrior staggered a step toward the left. Yugi took that opportunity to twist his blade the other way in a sweeping undercut that the other barely managed to catch on his sword, instead of letting Yugi's blade hit against his armored leg.
"Good!" Joey called. "You're getting the hang of this!"
Yugi's sparring session was quite a bit different than Yami's and Seto's had been. First of all, even though Joey magically garbed him in armor (bright silver, for Yugi) Joey didn't face him as his opponent. He said he could tell with how Yugi carried himself that he'd never trained in the combat arts. As such, it would be unfair for Yugi to go up against the Champion Lord of Warriors for his first match. Besides, if Joey watched, he could tutor Yugi from the sidelines. Waving a hand, Joey had beckoned one of his armored warriors over to serve as Yugi's opponent, instead.
Curiously, as the fight went on, Yugi's skills improved – dramatically. He finally held up one hand mutely asking his opponent to pause. Immediately the other's sword tip dropped, pointing to the ground. A nod of the helmeted head granted Yugi a break.
Yugi strode to the sidelines where the three Kindly Lords watched. That action almost gave him pause. He never 'strode' but it seemed the only way to walk in armor.
"Lookin' good, Yuge! Why'd ya stop?" Joey said as Yugi approached.
Yugi lifted his helmet and narrowed his eyes at the Lord of Warriors. "What are you doing?"
"Wha–?"
Yami looked from Yugi's face to Joey's. "What do you mean, Yugi?"
"He's doing something – with his power – to me," Yugi stated.
"Of course I am. Once you do something right, I'm locking it in place for you. That's what my power does with Warrior Knights," Joey replied. He shrugged. "What's the problem?"
"It's not fair," Yugi said.
"Fair?" Seto asked.
"It's not fair to the others – the real warriors!" Yugi turned to point toward his sparring partner, and found that the man had followed him to the sidelines and stood right behind him. Others were approaching, too, to find out what was going on. Yugi dropped his voice so that the other warriors couldn't hear him challenge their lord. "Why should I get special treatment? Why don't I have to prove myself worthy, and learn the skills the way they do before you enhance them?"
Joey opened his mouth, but the reply came from behind Yugi.
"You are the Hero," the green and gold armored warrior said in a calm voice. "You need the skills and don't have the time to spend months here learning them."
"Yeah, pal. What he said," Joey nodded. "We talked it over once I knew you were coming here. Actually, the suggestion to help you like this came from them." Joey nodded to where all his warriors, both the proven Knights and those who still trained, surrounded them in a circle.
"But, it's not fair!" Yugi said.
Joey smiled. "It's not for you – or me – to determine what's 'fair' in this case. Yugi, just as some of Yami's power comes from his Shadows, and Seto's from his Dragons, mine comes from my Warriors. They want me to do this for you – and their will gives me the power to do so. If I go against their wishes in something important like this, I risk losing their faith in me – and that's not something I'm willing to do. Not even for the pride of the Hero."
Pride? The word made Yugi pause. Was that all it was? It didn't seem fair that he was to be given something that others had to earn, and work so hard for. Something that some of them would never quite be worthy of, no matter how hard they tried, if what the Red Knight told him was true. Maybe there was some pride in it. He didn't think he would mind this – augmentation – of his skills if they were ones that he had actually worked for. If he'd earned the right to the touch of the Lord of Warriors' power.
"But..." Yugi started to protest, again.
A gauntlet-clad hand dropped to his shoulder. Yugi looked up, into the earnest and serious eyes of one of Joey's Warrior Knights. "A warrior, even one who is not a Warrior Knight, recognizes another. That you haven't trained as a warrior before doesn't make you less of one. It is only right to give you every advantage in your fight against the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos."
There was that. Yugi knew it, but his mind kept shying away from it. He didn't mind learning how to fight. He just didn't want to think too long on why he was learning such an unfamiliar skill. He still, even after everything that had happened, couldn't quite believe that he was the Hero of legend. The Hero had responsibility – to everyone in the land, and he wasn't sure he was up to the burden. He didn't want the burden. Joey's magic brought him one giant step closer to assuming it. Yugi sighed.
"Hero," the Warrior Knight called softly for his attention. "All of us agree that you need whatever abilities our Lord Joey can enhance in you. Once you've defeated the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos, if you so wish, you can return here and train with us to prove to yourself that you deserve those abilities. We know it, but if you must make things hard on yourself – we are only too happy to oblige. There's nothing we like more than a good sparring session!" All throughout the Warrior Knight's speech, the others, full Warrior Knights and those yet in training, nodded their agreement.
Yugi hadn't fought against Yami when the Shadow Lord pulled a guardian shadow from his blood. He hadn't complained to Seto when the Dragon Lord gave him wings and taught him to fly. It wasn't fair to Joey, or his knights, to fight against the Warrior Lord like this. Perhaps it was because he knew it normally was a merit system, and he felt he didn't earn it. But, in the face of their earnestness, the best thing would be to give in.
No – the best thing would be to accept their gracious gift, defeat the Chaos Dragon, and come back here, as suggested, and prove to himself he'd been worthy of the gift all along. "O-okay."
"Excellent!" Lord Joey beamed. "But, I'm not happy with your weapon. You're short, so learning the sword puts you at a reach disadvantage. What to teach you, though..." The Red Knight approached with a staff in either hand. Joey grinned. "Perfect!" He looked up to the warrior who had been Yugi's sparring partner. "Can you fight with a staff?" The man nodded. "Good! We are all set then!"
Somehow this change made things easier for Yugi. Perhaps it was that Joey's knights told him this was their decision. Perhaps it was that he was learning how to use a common staff, a weapon anyone could afford and use, instead of the more knightly sword. Perhaps it was a combination of both. He appreciated the patience extended to him by his sparring partner. The man would start by telegraphing his attacks very broadly, allowing Yugi's natural ability to lead him in the right direction to avoid, deflect, or parry the hit. He would then repeat the same attack at slightly faster speeds, or after a feint, so that Yugi felt he was learning it on his own – before Lord Joey's skill enhanced it magically within him. By the end of the day Yugi was exhausted, but he felt, a tiny bit, as if he'd earned his fighting skills, despite the magical augmentation by the Lord of Warriors.
"Thank you," Yugi said to his sparring partner, after he removed his helmet. The knight in green and gold likewise removed his helmet. Yugi gasped.
"No, thank you, Hero," Celedor grinned broadly at him.
"Celedor!" Yugi forgot he was still wearing armor until it crashed chest to chest with Celedor's in his attempt to embrace the elven warrior.
Joey laughed before removing both sets with a mystic wave of his hand. "I guess you know each other."
"Hero," a soft voice interjected as Yugi pounded Celedor on the back in greeting.
"Vialla! You're here, too?"
"How better to bring my skills of healing to those who need it most than to understand the ebb and flow of battle?" Vialla replied.
"She is learning defensive tactics, only," Celedor supplied. "Even though I've urged her to pick a weapon and learn how to..." Vialla shook her head. "She's stubborn, but her skills of healing will be helpful in battle. With her training here, even though she won't be able to become a Warrior Knight, I'll know she can avoid being killed in battle – I hope."
"But – why are you here?" Yugi asked. "What about your town?"
"After you were forced away, when you needed help so greatly, we talked about it. We think we can do more to help people if we travel about helping people, instead of staying in one stuffy, frightened town. It seemed best to come here, to train, first – even if I never become a Warrior Knight," Celedor explained.
"I refuse to learn how to harm someone with a weapon, but the warriors are kind enough to teach me how to defend myself and how to survive on a battlefield. If I can learn enough to help my brother in our travels, I am content," Vialla added.
Yugi imagined it. Celedor and Vialla, sibling elves wandering about the lands helping any who needed it. He smiled. "I know you will do well, and help many people."
Vialla smiled at him, before a frown creased her brow. "You're exhausted! We should stop talking out here and go inside. I am certain my Lord Joseph has a chamber prepared for you."
Bone-weary and mentally wrung out from his day, Yugi closed his eyes as soon as his head hit the pillow. His body cried out for sleep, his limbs already heavy and sluggish as they tried to drag his mind into the sleep they craved, but his thoughts raced.
Yugi's mind was tired, too. Sleep, even if it came with dreams, would help him sort out his thoughts and feelings about what had happened and what he'd learned, today. Why did he take such an instant and instinctive liking to Lord Joey? How was it that meeting this third of the Kindly Lords had almost felt like coming home? It seemed almost familiar – accepting instruction to 'toughen up' from Joey, even though he'd never met him before today – and before today had never touched a sword to use it.
And the staff? Why did that feeling, wrapping his hand around a piece of wood of that diameter, weight, and balance seem so familiar? The staff he'd used today was a light blond wood, but in his mind's eye, his memory kept trying to substitute another color. Green. A soft, pearlescent, nearly glowing green, like, like...
Yugi's eyes snapped open. The bell! The bell at the Water Sage's pool. That was the color his mind kept trying to make the staff in his hands.
Yugi forced his eyes closed again, and tried to let his mind drift on random thoughts instead of uselessly worrying at a problem that made no sense. Perhaps someone he met today reminded him of the Water Sage, and that's why the connection, as erroneous as it was, was there in his mind.
Not Joey. There wasn't anything calm or settled about the third of the Kindly Lords, and those were the first two words that sprang to mind to describe the Water Sage. Though, it had been an unexpected and wonderful surprise to meet Celedor and Vialla again. Hadn't they told him that they knew the Water Sage? Perhaps seeing them again is what made him think of that.
It was interesting that none of the knights-in-training seemed to mind that Yugi somehow just instantly merited that which they fought so hard to earn the right to. Yugi knew he took the responsibilities of being the Hero very seriously, even though he still wasn't sure that he was the Hero. It seemed everyone in the Stronghold thought he was the Hero. Yugi supposed it was understandable, since Joey believed it, and Yugi had arrived in the company of the other two Kindly Lords.
The legends about the Hero were so vague! In fact, there wasn't any one legend to point to. The Hero was mentioned in bits and pieces throughout many stories in the past, and as someone who would do many more things in the future. Nowhere did it quite say who he was, or what he was to do. In fact, the legends never specifically said the Hero was a he!
Perhaps the Hero wasn't really to do anything, other than gather skilled people around him and focus their power and attention on a single task. Yami, Seto, and now Joey all had impressive powers and abilities. Perhaps the extent of Yugi's 'heroism' was simply to get them to stop arguing with each other long enough to focus their attention as one on taking care of the Lord Dragon of Blackness and Chaos once and for all.
But the Guardians...
From various things they'd each said, and how they all seemed to share some secret awareness, and how each seemed to know he was the Hero upon sight, Yugi wondered if perhaps they had some knowledge no one else did. The adventuring party, such as it is, had grown so much, Yugi wasn't certain he could get the Purple Knight away from everyone else long enough for a private conversation. The White Knight had saved him, true, but Yugi still felt closer to the Purple Knight, somehow. If anyone would share hidden knowledge with him, Yugi was certain it would be the Purple Knight.
He realized he'd never learned the Purple Knight's proper name. He knew that at one time the Purple Knight had been human, an adventurer, traveling at Yami's side. It seemed odd to know that much detail of something so tragic, and yet still not know the name of the one who'd endured it.
And, despite his reluctance, Yugi's mind wandered over to the subject of the Red Knight. Just as he'd taken an instant liking to the Champion Lord of Warriors and Fire, he'd discovered an odd antipathy toward Joey's Guardian Knight.
It made no sense! The Red Knight was just as polite and concerned as both the Purple and White Knights, and yet Yugi found his mind shouting alarms whenever he noticed the Guardian. It was weird. Of the three Guardian Knights, he was the most 'normal'. The Purple Knight, Yami's Guardian, was a massive suit of armor filled with shadows. Seto's White Knight was a drake. Joey's Red Knight was a man in armor. He had silvery white hair, and calm, gray eyes. He didn't smile, much, but that made sense in a warrior. He hadn't done so much as give Yugi a cross look, so Yugi couldn't understand why he had such a strong and instinctive alarm about him. A pulse throbbing over his heart distracted him.
His hand crept up to touch the warmth of the Hero's Heartstone.
"Please help me to be fair to the man. He hasn't done anything wrong. It's me... It's – me..." Oddly comforted by the gentle pulsing under his fingers, Yugi's mind finally quieted and he drifted off to sleep.
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Author's notes –
Next chapter teaser – Interlude