Sophia was sitting in a tall tree and she could hear cracking noises far away. It was too loud and many to be only Aido coming. She looked far and with the sun slightly lighting up part of the forest, she could see small movements around the trees. She jumped down and ran to the others. When she came to the beach, she screamed that someone was coming. They all put the boats in the water and got out on it. They looked at the trees and soon some island people appeared. There were a lot of them coming out and they had many weapons with them. Gon looked at one of the people that came out and he looked like he was in charge.
The beach was filled fast and the sun slowly touched the beach. They were standing quietly until the leader spoke. He had a heavy accent but they could hear him say he demanded the holy stones back. They looked at each other and then Gon said he only wanted to borrow them for a while. He then said that he would return them and the ones that were already gone as well. The leader repeated again to bring the holy stones back and pointed to the left. When they turned their heads, they could see Aido. They could see he had been severely beaten and coughed out some blood. He looked up but got a strike of a cane that made him look away and scream in agony.
Tiger brought his magic stone out and said he wanted the monk released before he gave the magic stone back. The leader said there would be no negotiation and ordered the holy stones back right away. There were several men with bows aiming arrows at them. Even the greatest of warriors could see that they were in a disadvantage. The waves were hard to go against and if the men started to fire the arrows, they might have to abandon the boats to hide amongst the sharp rocks. The man with the cane lifted the cane again and pointed to Tiger. He then pulled the edge off and revealed a sharper edge. He then held it towards Aido and looked at the leader.
The man in charge said that if the holy stones were not back within the next seconds, the monk dies. Aido suddenly screamed that they should not give them back and flee then. Tiger was conflicted as he had known Aido for a couple of years and decided to pick the magical stone out. He looked at Gon who was still wondering what to do but had a feeling he should not give back the magical stones. Sophia took her Alumrylite stone out and was about to throw it back when, suddenly, without notice several arrows were shot towards her. They were also headed for her father and both of the pupils. They had to quickly take cover by jumping off the boat into the shallow water.
Fon was too slow to react and got hit by two arrows. He stayed in the boat and breathed fast. The leader told them again they would die if the holy stones were not returned immediately and the time for saving their friend was up. Tiger looked over to Aido and he locked eyes with the man holding the cane who started to smile. He was holding the cane towards the monk and with a quick move, he stabbed Aido through the heart. Tiger shouted no and looked over to the leader who laughed.
The man in charge ordered more arrows to be shot and Tiger and Eesa were just able to get the boat behind a big rock. The others were also hiding and had moved their boat next to some smaller rocks sticking out and it didn’t give much of protection. They had to go and Gon wondered how the magic stones worked and tried his but nothing seemed to be able to activate it. Sophia was doing the same and didn’t notice the men on the beach preparing to aim for her. Gon told her to watch out and when she looked up, a lot of arrows were about to hit her and she was unable to get away in time. She screamed for her father and breathed fast as she held the magic stones in front of her hoping that the arrows miss her.
A voice called to her and she suddenly felt warm were she sat. She realised the arrows never hit and never heard anything hit the water either around her. She opened her eyes and saw the Alumrylite stone shone slightly with some pulsating glow. She then saw the arrows that were coming towards her. They had stopped and were floating in the air above her. The others were looking at the amazing thing happening before them. Sophia heard someone whisper to her but she couldn’t hear clearly but it felt kind and helpful. The Alumrylite stone started to increase its glow and the area where they all were got enclosed with the protection field. The men on the beach fired more arrows but they stopped and hovered above them.
The leader said that they had managed to activate the time stone and ordered one of the men to attack with one of the holy stones from the tower. It was the wind stone and as soon as he brought it up, he started to stroke it. The mist cleared more and the waves start to move them as they sat in the boats. Both Gon and Tiger tried to get the other magic stones to work but were unable to do so and Tiger felt his hands were hurting when holding up the magic stone he had. The waves were strong and they struggled to keep the boats under control and then they had to keep them away from the rocks to not smash the boats against them.
There was a small tornado coming towards them from the back and if it hit them then they would be forced towards the beach where all those men were waiting for them. Gon said if they could stop the magic stone then they could use the waves to get out. Tiger looked at his Alumrylite stone that he was so uncomfortable with and told the others to get ready. He took aim and with his adrenalin pumping and anger because of Aido being executed, he threw the magic stone in an impressive speed towards the man with the wind stone. There was a noise coming from the man’s skull as it hit him and the wind stone fell from his hands as he collapsed down. The wind stopped and the tornado vanished instantly.
The waves continued but then changed direction and pulled them out towards the mist. They were quick to paddle out and Sophia was still holding the time stone. The leader ordered a full scale attack and then all the men shot arrows at them. They all missed as the time stone was holding off the arrows. The finally hit the mist and disappeared from vision. The leader screamed to continue the assault, but the arrows didn’t reach them anymore. Sophia took the magical stone down and when she relaxed, it stopped to shine but a last sound from the Alumrylite stone made her think they had got something big on their hands ahead.
Nightmare for Gon
Gon wondered how she got the Alumrylite stone to work, and she said she could feel the magic stone, and while she was holding it, she could hear it as she thought it spoke to her. Tiger sat quiet and rowed together with Eesa. Luma was tending to Fon and had managed to stop the bleeding but the arrows were still in. After some time, they came back to the big ship and boarded it again. They lay Fon on some fishing ropes and examined him. He was starting to lose consciousness, they could easily tell. Gon brought the light stone and tried again but nothing worked. He gave it to Sophia but she could not make it work either. They brought the book up that Senji bought and looked through it for clues.
Tiger and Luma with Eesa readied the ship and started slowly to move out. Gon had to help and Sophia stayed to try to learn from the book. She looked at the Alumrylite stones in the book and saw the light stone was shining under a sun on a page and she said to her father that perhaps the magic stone needed light to work and because there was no sun yet in the morning over them, it might not have worked. They would not reach any sun for some time and with the rocks and sunken ships all around them, they would have to be careful going around.
Fon finally passed out and they could only wait and hoped he stayed alive until they reached the outside of the mist. While on the way, they all mourned Aido and stayed quiet. Sophia told her father she could feel something else in the magic stone and she could almost know what to do when she held it. Gon said they would have to learn to handle the Alumrylite stones before they used them. When they finally could see the mist clear off, they brought the light stone out and it started to shine but still did not work and no matter what they tried, it seemed to have no effect.
They found the magic stone smooth and Gon’s fingers got chills from touching it. He got frustrated when he saw Fon slowly fade away in front of him and he felt bad and thought about the possibility of losing him if the light stone didn’t work. He shook it and pleaded with the magic stone but only a faint shine was coming from it. Gon was finally ready
to drop the magical stone but when he was about to and took a deep breath, he could hear a faint voice in the air. He held his breath and listened. He focused on the voice and he didn’t recognise it but it was getting stronger, and suddenly, the words started to make sense in his head.
The world around him became slow and he could feel the energy from the magic stone. Something from the inside of the magic stone told him he needed to give himself to the magical stone fully for it to work. He then closed his eyes to focus and blocked every other noise out and then he heard the voice coming from the Alumrylite stone clearly. He opened his eyes and looked inside it that suddenly started to shine strong with someone he couldn’t fully see looking back at him. Gon then felt the same way Sophia felt and could see deep inside the Alumrylite stone. He could sense the power and the voice told him to bring the magic stone to his pupil. He moved towards Fon while the others also felt the magical stone and became calm.
Gon held the Alumrylite stone above him, and he started to move more. The arrows were suddenly coming out as if there was someone pulling them out and the bleeding stopped immediately. The light stone ceased to shine, and they looked at Fon who was opening his eyes. He touched where the arrows penetrated him and they were all gone. They asked how he felt and he rose slowly up. He said he felt great and walked around then looked up into the sky. He held his arms out and thanked them for what they had done for him. The others were happy and gave him a hug.
The ship was moving with a good speed and the mist could no longer be seen. They sailed until nightfall and Tiger offered to take over the ship and let the others rest. They headed downstairs and sat in the captain’s cabin. There was some dried fish hanging there and there was plenty of wine plus the bottle of Redoli. Only Sophia and the previously injured Fon drank the wine and celebrated that they were able to get the magic stones. The others were tired and soon went to bed but not until Gon got one cup of his favourite drink. It tasted great and filled his head with memories of a different time that felt far away then.
When Fon tired, Sophia was still going. She liked the wine and it was the first time in a while that she could relax, she thought and continued drinking. She decided to walk down to the room where she saw the gruesome treatment of the prisoners and looked inside. The smell was still in the walls around the room. She thought she could hear the sounds of the people being tortured and the woman she talked to being raped. It became too much and she threw the half full jar on the wall and breathed fast. A tear came down her cheek, and she closed the door hard. When she walked up, she took the bottle of Redoli and walked up to Tiger. He could see she was drunk and told her to be careful and not go too close to the edge of the ship in case she fell in. She told him not to be worried and that there was nothing in the world that could kill them then and took a mouthful of the beverage. She said that when they meet the dead army, she would kill Kemi.
Tiger wondered why and he thought they were going to save them. Sophia said she knew something about Kemi and when she had the chance, she would cut her head off and swung a sword belonging to one of the dead pirates. It hit the side of the ship and got stuck. She tried to get it out but was not steady on her feet and fell on her ass. She took a last sip of the alcohol and then threw the then empty bottle overboard. She got up and walked over towards the door leading into the inner hull but before she could open it up, she stumbled and fell on some of the sails. They had been taken down so Tiger would have more control over the ship from the steering wheel. She never got up again and fell asleep there drunk.
When the morning came, she was awakened by Eesa who told her there was some breakfast ready. Her head was heavy and when she tried to stand up, she could feel herself getting sick. She remained sitting and Eesa brought her a plate of fresh caught fish from the ocean. She tried to eat but put it away and instead crawled towards the edge of the ship. She puked several times and said to herself “never again” while the others laughed at her and she did as well. She stayed there for an hour and then got up when the others had raised the sail again.
Tiger had gone to bed after the breakfast and slept deeply. The others then steered towards the small fishing town and they hoped not to run into anyone on the way. The whole day was spent with a hangover for Sophia and not until the night was about to come did she become her old self. She emerged from her hiding place and joined the others for dinner. When she sat down, her father told her they had discovered something about the Alumrylite stones. She watched as Eesa held the time stone and activated it and Luma jumped through the air and got stuck until Eesa stopped the magic stone from working. He said the magic stone could get activated by emotions and that was why it worked so well during the attack from the island people. The magical stone reacted to her as she was about to be hurt by the arrows. Her father added that the light stone worked great now that he knew how to activate it. He said they tried them out many times during the night and he showed his arm where he had a scar before that he got from the last tournament and it was completely gone.
They also discovered that there were different abilities and they might be able to influence time with the time stone but had not figured out how yet but they then knew why the book had a picture of an hourglass behind it. The dinner was enjoyed by them all and the fishing had been great and there was a lot of food to go around. This night, Fon would steer the ship and the others would sleep. Sophia fell asleep right away after dinner and snored loudly. Tiger had a drink with Gon and they talked again about the fights in the tournament. They laughed and Gon made an effort to ease off Tiger’s sorrow for his friend.
Tiger wanted to ask about something he heard Sophia say and told Gon about her feelings about Kemi. Gon was surprised and didn’t know why she would want to kill her. As far as he knew, Kemi had been really nice to Sophia and Isabel. Perhaps she was just drunk and people said things they didn’t mean when they were drunk. Gon said that he might still ask her if there was something she wanted to tell him. They all went to bed and slept till morning. It was just after breakfast when Fon noticed something on the edge of the sea. It was a ship and quite a big one as well. The ship closed in and they then would have to prepare for whatever could happen. To try to escape would be of no point as the ship coming towards them was much bigger and would catch up with them fast.
They agreed to pretend to be sailing towards Thado port to stock up on material to sell to other countries. The ship came closer and then they saw a flag that made them wonder what might happen. The ship’s flag was the same that was in Thado port town as the town’s flag. It got closer to soon sail with them and then joined up to the side of them. They were asked to slow down and be inspected and had several canons aimed at them. If they were to resist, then the ship would most likely fire at them. They stopped and a couple of men came aboard with some papers.
Tiger recognised one of them from the port as they were looking for reasons for them being there and for trading in Thado. Tiger would act as the captain again and talked for them. One of the men asked them where they were headed and Tiger said they were on the way to Thado to pick up a variety of things. The man looked around and wondered where they were going after the Thado and Tiger said Redonia was the destination. The man that talked to them in the port wondered where they got the ship from as it looked familiar. He then said he thought this was the ship from the pirates that were making trouble before. The man looked at Tiger who said it was correct and they had bought it as the pirates were killed by Redonian armada and they got it cheap.
The man didn’t expect that answer and had no real reason to not believe him as Redonia would capture or kill any pirates coming to their shores. He asked if he could inspect the ship and since they had nothing on board, they let him and the others look around. They found nothing and thanked them for their cooperation. They started to get ready when Gon heard a familiar voice as he was about to raise the sail. He was very quick to take cover and jumped down a hatch leading down to the hull and when Sophia heard the v
oice she knew right away who it was and tried to find somewhere to hide but as she was about to open the door leading down to the captains quarter, she could hear the voice of Mr Chien who told her he was happy to see her. She stopped and turned around to face him. He had locked his eyes on her and he was walking over to the ship. She took a deep breath and said hello. She asked if there was anything they could do for him as they seemed to have more questions with annoyance in the voice.
Chien told her to relax and he only wanted to see her and invite her to come over to his house after they had docked. She knew there were a lot of his men on the ship but she didn’t care and told him she was not interested to come over. Chien laughed and said it was not a request and his men tightened the grip on their weapons. She could see from the side of her eyes that Gon was holding his staff and was eager to start a fight. She knew that if she gave the signal, they would attack. The magic stones were put away and she didn’t want them to be known.
Chien was not a patient man and showed his true self. He said he wanted her to come with him and it would help if she came voluntarily so he didn’t need to sink the ship. The canons were pointing directly at the ship. Chien could see the rest of the people together with her were looking like they could make trouble so he told them to not engage in any confrontation unless they all wished to die. Tiger looked over to the ship and he could tell it would be a hard battle to win. Chien walked up to Sophia and grabbed her arm. He told her to look at the fire power of the ship. When she screamed “no” as he tried to pull, Gon couldn’t take it anymore and jumped up. He landed and told Chien to let her go or be killed.
Sophia made a move so he lost his grip on her and stomped him on the foot. He screamed in pain, and she ran to her father. Chien couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked upon Gon. Some men walked up with drawn weapons but Chien told them to back down. He made a tiny smile and then said he never thought he would lay eyes on him again. He laughed and said he had wanted to take revenge on Gon for so many years and never thought he would find him again. He then looked at Sophia and let Gon knew he would then make Sophia work in the brothels. Sophia said she would kill anyone coming close to her and brought her hands up. The others were ready as well with some weapons drawn.
World of Taroo Page 63