“Go and inform Sebastian of your findings, I’ll watch over him,” Dumon directed to Solomon, who was stood there in a daze.
Solomon snapped out of it and bowed to the demon, walking out of the room at a brisk pace.
* * *
Sebastian had remained in contact with Uriel the whole time using a magical relay that Solomon had set up a while ago. It transmitted the voice of its user but presented no image, so Uriel had to intentionally lace his tone with venom, though his words indicated his true interest in some of the things the Demon King was telling him. When Solomon burst into the room, Sebastian excused himself for a minute, giving the angel time to calm himself.
Solomon briefly explained everything that had occurred. Sebastian, on the one hand, was pleased they had found something, but he did not appreciate the implications of their findings. He placed Solomon’s hand onto the relay, and Solomon quickly became aware of Uriel’s presence on the other side.
“Tell him,” the King ordered, causing Solomon to flinch. He had wished to delay informing Uriel about Arariel’s condition for as long as possible. With a sigh, he conceded and reiterated everything to the relay, noticing Uriel remain silent for the whole thing, minus the odd shuffle. Uriel remained silent for a moment longer once he had finished, considering what he had just been told.
“Pass it back to Sebastian.”
For once his voice sounded sincere, much to Solomon’s astonishment. He had expected Uriel to lay into him over Arariel’s injuries. Without question, he let the relay go and gestured for the King to retake it, who did so with a raised brow.
“I think we need to pay a personal visit to the Magi Council.”
The Angel Monarch was aware that they would know something of this situation if they weren’t being upfront and honest about it.
Chapter 8: Dancing Shadows
Sakura awoke to find herself nestled against Ciel’s chest, having been wrapped in several layers of blankets which bound her wings to her body. She remained still for a while, listening to his chest as he breathed in and out before staring up at his face. He appeared to be sleeping deeply, which made her wonder just how long she had been unconscious for. The events of the day were still firm within her mind, though she couldn’t remember much after she had started carrying her father back. She tried to look over his shoulders to see if she could see anyone else, but Ciel’s wings blocked her view. The room was quiet, except a crackling fire, not giving her any hint if her father had woken or not.
Turning her head back she paused for a moment to think, she needed to wake Ciel up somehow. Contemplating many methods, she opted to go with the gentlest one first. Prying an arm free from the blankets, she began to stroke his cheek. The plan had appeared to work, as not long after Ciel had begun to stir. He looked down at her and smiled, glad to have her wake up so swiftly.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” he whispered to her, not wanting to disturb the others yet.
“I’m fine, I think. How is my father?”
Ciel gazed over to Drake, though to what he could see Amnur was still unconscious.
“He hasn’t woken up yet,” he responded, causing Sakura to sigh and lean further into his chest. Ciel blushed as she did so, tightening his arms around her. Something in the hut was wrong to her, though. The shadows cast by the fire appeared to writhe as she watched them. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Her recent ordeal must be playing tricks on her.
“Is something wrong?” Ciel queried, after being clipped by one of her horns. Once again she looked at the wall, but this time the shadows were still.
“…No,” the girl replied. Would he even believe her if she said such a thing? She had no idea, but she felt that she would just embarrass herself if she brought it up. Ciel peeked up, on the wall was a peculiar device that functioned as a clock, which showed that it was still early in the morning. His back was starting to become sore from being sat up for so long, and he would need to change position to sleep the rest of the night. He laid onto his side, resting his head on a pillow and Sakura’s head onto his arm.
“It’s still night,” he commented, though Sakura looked slightly more sceptical to his reasoning. She accepted it, however, wrapping her now completely freed arms around him. The last thing she wanted was to be alone right now, not with her mind playing tricks on her.
* * *
Crono woke as dawn broke, not that he expected it to be obvious if he looked outside the house. The fire had started to run low now, burning through its last reserves of fuel as it crackled away. He stretched and heaved himself up to fetch more firewood as they would need to cook some food to eat once everyone had woken up. As he returned from the pile of firewood he noticed Ciel and Sakura sleeping together and smiled, it was a sweet sight to see the two of them. Judging by the way she had her arms free of the blankets, he guessed that she had already woken up once. Amnur still lay unconscious, though, his wounds were greater than that of his daughter’s but he had expected him to wake up by now.
He paced over to Drake and gazed over Amnur’s body and spotted the book he was holding tightly. It appeared old and worn and evidently it was important. Crono carefully reached over and pried the book free, placing it down by his bedside before stoking the fire. He sat down after returning, opening the book in an attempt to work out why it was so important to him, but he was greeted only by a language he could not decipher scribbled on old parchment. Admitting defeat, he put the book down as the one person who could read it was still incapacitated.
A thought made him glance over to Sakura. Had Amnur by chance taught her the language present within the book? It was his best hope right now. Crono strode over to her side and bent down and began to gently shake her, causing her to wake. She retracted her arms, and he lifted her up, causing Ciel to groan but not stir. Lowering her down to the bed, he sat her on the edge of the mattress before settling down next to her, showing her the book in question.
“Can you read that?” Crono enquired, watching her open up the book. She skimmed through some of the pages. While she had been taught the language, she had never been given this book to read before.
“Somewhat. Some of the handwriting on the pages is hasty and not the easiest to read, though.”
Sakura intently stared at the pages before her, trying to decipher the text. The style of writing hinted at a form of a field journal, as whoever had written it had not settled down on a table to do so.
“Would you be able to find out what was so important that Amnur risked his life over it?”
It was a sizable book, to read through it in detail would take some time.
“I can try, sometimes he leaves hidden marks on pages to indicate the ones he was looking at,” she replied. Finding the marks required a sharp eye, and she had located many of them before when reading the texts he kept. Crono left her to it and started gathering the supplies he’d need to make the breakfast meal and put them in a neat pile to one side. After last night, everyone was probably keen to have some extra rest. He then went up to the door and pushed it open, staring outside. It was bleak, and the snow was still drifting in, but he could see no immediate signs there had been any trouble during the night. Shutting the door behind him, he set about to do some routine chores around the house while he waited for the others to wake.
* * *
Not long after, the others sleeping within the house began to stir. Ferdan woke and soon joined Sakura on the bed, enquiring about what she was reading. Meanwhile, Drake woke, only to find that Amnur had not woken up. He walked off to rest Amnur on a spare bed, giving Ciel a nudge as he passed by. Ciel jolted awake, giving Drake an annoyed grunt as he strolled past before turning his attention to Sakura. She still appeared disturbed about something, seeing that her whole body was tense and her fiery attitude was dulled. He wanted to talk to her, to comfort her but was unsure how she would react to him; she hadn’t rejected him last night, but she also wasn't so quick to accept his embrace.
Ciel j
ust sighed. Considering her relations it was a silly person to chase after, but he could not deny his feelings for her either. He knew his father would never agree to her, nor did he expect Amnur to agree to him.
Breakfast preparations soon got underway with the peculiar aroma of the marinated fish filling the air as it cooked over the fire. The new companions had not become used to the strange taste of the meat. It was sweet and salty with hints of bitterness, an odd mixture of flavours to have together. Ferdan tried to pry Sakura away from the book for her to eat but she was disinterested, a fact he was rather shocked by. In the short time Ferdan had been with them, the one thing he noticed was that Sakura would never deny a meal.
"What's wrong?" he asked in a whisper, not trying to actively alert the others. Sakura's hands tightened around the book, she took a deep breath before turning to Ferdan.
"Nothing," she snapped back, causing him to jerk back slightly. Her attitude was not hiding her worry well if anything it was making it more obvious. While she had been reading, there had been a voice reverberating around her mind, causing the shadows to dance and the words on the pages to swim. Sakura repeatedly tried to purge it from her mind, only succeeding for short periods of time before it started up again. With her father unconscious, she felt unable to talk to anyone currently here about it. Perhaps she should approach Ferdan over it, she wondered. His knowledge of magic might be able to help her. "I'm sorry, could I talk to you in private later?" Ferdan was curious over her sudden change in behaviour, as her voice was shaky with worry.
"Sure, whenever is good for you." Trying to reassure the shaken girl wasn’t a simple task, but he hoped to be of some aid. She smiled, setting the book down to one side and started prying the blankets that surrounded her off. "Ah, we had to remove your body armour," he admitted, causing Sakura to pause and blush. "Hang on, I'll get you something to cover yourself with."
With a swift movement, he dropped off the bed and moved over to Crono, who was shuffling around preparing some plates. "Excuse me, is there a spare top for Sakura?"
Crono stared at him for a second before silently walking off and returning with a cloth top, although it appeared overly thin for the weather outside.
"It'll probably be too big for her, but it will last for now," he commented, handing the top to Ferdan. He had been surprised with the human's politeness towards him, as he didn't always even get such a thing from his own race. Ferdan bowed to the demon and returned to Sakura's side, handing her the top. He looked away out of respect while she pulled off the rest of the blankets and slipped the top over her head. The wide collar allowing her to get it on without catching her horns. Ferdan offered her a hand once she was done, helping her down to the floor where they sat next to each other at the fireplace.
Ciel watched on from a distance. Resentment was building deep inside him as he watched her with Ferdan. She reacted to him in a friendly way, more than she had reacted to him during the night. Another strong nudge brought his attention back to Drake as he sat down next to him, blocking his view to stop his continued stare.
"You like her, don't you?" Drake whispered after he had leant over closer to Ciel, to keep the conversation private.
"Maybe.”
He sighed, trying to avoid eye contact with the massive demon. Drake thought on the subject for a minute. He did not want to crush his friend's hope, but at the same time knew he needed to cheer him up.
"Have you tried directly talking to her?"
Judging by Ciel's reaction, he guessed the answer to be no.
"Do you think it's worth a shot?"
"What do you have to lose?" he chuckled. Ciel knew he was right, there was no point just remaining silent.
"I'll talk to her later, let's eat first."
Drake was agreeable to this suggestion, he was rather hungry after last night.
The food had been finished and was distributed between those present, along with a warmed berry juice drink. Light-hearted chatter spread around regardless of the events of the previous night, although it still loomed deep within their minds. As the meal came to a close, the discussion turned to a darker subject, and the close bonds between them could only keep their spirits high for so long.
"Ciel and Drake will go along with the others on a scouting party," Crono stated. Ciel went to protest but was held back by Drake. He wished to stay behind and straighten things out with Sakura, but he would have to wait for later.
Soon after, they said their farewells and departed, leaving Ferdan, Crono and Sakura together in the room. Sakura had returned to browsing through the book. Her visage was calmer now, but Ferdan knew that snap earlier was not caused by hunger. Ferdan wondered whether to inform Crono, he knew the girl well enough to tell if she was prone to strange episodes like this, or if it was something new.
"Can I have a word?" Ferdan asked Crono, after following him off into a smaller side room.
"What about?"
"Is Sakura prone to strange or aggressive episodes?"
He noticed the demon's surprised expression when he said it, evidently, this was news to him.
"It could be the stress of having her father injured," Crono tried to reason, but Ferdan shook his head.
"It was more than that, she was rather freaked out."
While he was watching her, he felt fear, not worry.
"I'm wondering if the weapon that injured her was laced with chaos magic," Ferdan stated, "such a thing could infect her mind."
Crono gritted his teeth at the suggestion, he wasn't brilliantly versed in magic, but he knew enough to know what the mage was indicating. Such a thing could drive her insane, and she was a dangerous individual to possibly have turned against them.
"I also have a feeling there is more to Amnur's wound."
Crono's face turned to an expression of pain as the thought of possibly losing both of them was excruciating.
"Can you help them?" he groaned. No one could have foreseen this coming, and it did not bode well for the future. Ferdan wondered himself; he had never come across anything like this before, his only experience came from books.
"I can always try. At the very least I could attempt to subdue the symptoms for now."
Ferdan knew his first priority should be Sakura as her condition could quickly cause problems for them. Crono had hoped for a more solid answer, but it was better than complete rejection.
"Do you wish to join me while I talk to her?" Ferdan asked the large demon, but he hoped that bringing Crono along would not upset her. He nodded, and the two of them returned to the central room.
They noticed that Sakura had moved from the bed, leaving the book propped open on a certain page. She was sat by Amnur's side, holding his hand. Despite this, something appeared wrong, a view they both shared as they approached. Ferdan quietly knelt down behind her, resting his hand on her shoulder. Her expression was blank, her eyes were soulless. "Are you alright Sakura?"
Feeling his touch, her arm snapped around and grabbed his wrist tightly, shooting burning pain down his arm. Ferdan tried to pull it free, but all attempts only made her grip tighter. The stare she gave him was cold, and he could see the dark shadows dance within her bright eyes. It was not her controlling her actions. Crono reacted swiftly and bound her arms tight, causing her to release her grip on Ferdan's wrist.
"She's not in control of herself, careful!" Ferdan shouted out in warning, his rapidly bruising wrist being the evidence of his claims.
Crono laid her on the floor, using his weight to keep her from moving. With his good hand, Ferdan placed it on her head and began a mild suppressive spell, hoping it would be enough to pull her mind free of the torment she was experiencing. Her body tried to move away from him, but Crono was pinning her completely. She began to growl, but Ferdan ignored it and carried on. Sakura shouted in some incoherent language before her body fell limp, her aggressive outcry replaced with desperate panting.
"This is going to be a problem," Ferdan said, letting out a long sigh, cradling h
is injured wrist. Crono released his grip on her, happy that the incident had passed for now. The one advantage he had was that he could subdue her easily if he could get close to her.
Sakura glimpsed at Ferdan’s wrist and felt ashamed, as she was still conscious enough to have been aware of her body’s actions during that.
“I’m sorry,” she spoke; her voice was unstable, and her body was shaking, causing her to wince due to Crono previously putting pressure on her.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Ferdan speedily replied, “though I can’t deny the pain in my wrist.”
Crono sat down and dragged Sakura up to his side in an attempt to comfort the girl; without her father, she would not cope with such a thing well.
“I can try to subdue it while I work on permanently curing you of this.”
Ferdan acknowledged his uncertainty was causing her to worry more. He too hoped that he could be more certain of the whole thing. From one of his pouches, he pulled out some coloured inks, before deciding on a light blue colour and returning the others to the pouch. “It’ll be easier to see while I prepare the spell and it’ll disappear once I’m done.”
He dragged himself closer to her and untied a small paintbrush that was bound to the ink phial. Popping the cap off the bottle, he dipped the paintbrush in and held it poised and ready.
“The ink is rather viscous, it shouldn’t drip down,” Ferdan remarked to Sakura’s sceptical expression, though he knew another fact of the ink was the thing that was likely disturbing her more. It smelt awful, an unfortunate side effect of the materials it was created with.
He began painting an intricate connecting pattern of runes and branches across her face and around her head, wherever he felt necessary to create the most protective seal he could. She watched on silently, her eyes following the paintbrush as it went. The ink mask was not needed in order to perform the spell, but it certainly made it easier to cast it. When Ferdan had finished, he wiped the paintbrush off on a small cloth and repacked the phial, returning it to his pouch.
Skies of Fyir Box Set Page 29