In case you don't remember, "~this~" is Mia speaking in French.
CHAPTER 7
"I'm bored," Kento said for about the hundredth time that day.
"We know, Kento," Sage replied, sounding irritated, for about the 98th time that day. Ryo rolled his eyes as he watched Cye and Rowen train with Mia. They'd been outside for an hour, learning how to fight the way magic users do. They had learned how to form a leech-shield, and were regaining the energy they'd lost. Now Mia was working on their hand-to-hand combat, trying to improve their reflexes.
"You expect to stand a chance against Jared fighting like this? Pathetic! I thought you were Ronin Warriors!" Mia scolded, sending one of Rowen's arrows back at him with a flick of her wrist. Cye charged with his yari lowered, but Mia flipped over his head and kicked his butt. Cye stumbled, and Rowen laughed at him. Mia turned to face him, hands on her hips.
"Oh, so Mr. Strata thinks it's funny?" Twirling a jitte in one hand, Mia stepped closer to Rowen. "Does Blue Boy think he can do better?" Mia lunged at him, then brought her jittes down. Rowen raised his bow instinctively to block, and suddenly Mia's jittes were pressing down on a yellow quarter staff. Blinking, Rowen realized his bow had transformed. Mia backed away just enough to attack again, and once more Rowen blocked.
"Finally! C'mon, Ro, keep using your instinct to fight me!" she instructed, even as she attacked again. Rowen blocked and dodged, and didn't even notice how fast he was moving. Cye sat on the ground and watched, his yari resting on his crossed legs. Rowen was almost as fast as Mia, which was impressive, considering he'd just learned how to fight in battle-form. The battle continued until Rowen, not used to all the magic in him, wore out and was defeated.
"Good job, Rowen," Mia praised, helping him sit down next to Cye. "Go ahead and rest while I work with Cye." She pressed her index fingers to Rowen's temples, and his connection to the universal magic was severed. Rowen collapsed as the power left, unused to the transition between battle-form and regular. Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Mia called on Cye to help her carry Rowen back to the house.
"Hey guys, look at this!" Ryo laughed from the house. Sage and Kento came to look out the door, and they began laughing as well. Sage grabbed a camera and took a few pictures before Mia and Cye reached the house. Imagine, if you will: Rowen's upper body was in Mia's arms, and Cye supported Rowen's legs. Rowen was unconscious, so his head flopped around as Cye and Mia struggled to the house.
"Want some help, you two?" Kento asked when they reached the door.
"Take . . . him," Cye panted, ready to drop Rowen's limp-and incredibly heavy-form. Grinning, Kento left the house and took Rowen, slinging the deceptively thin Ronin of Strata over his shoulder. Ryo and Sage just tried not to stare at Mia and Cye, who were still in battle-form.
"How can someone so thin be so heavy?" Mia muttered as she leaned in the doorway.
"You were no feather pillow yourself yesterday, Mia," Sage commented. "It probably has something to do with the whole battle-form thing. Rowen could probably figure out a way to explain it, since he _is_ a science teacher, and I'm just a kendo instructor."
"You're probably right," Mia acknowledged. "C'mon, Cye, you still need to learn how to fight properly." Cye sighed, rolling his eyes (which looked kinda weird), and followed Mia back out to the area of the yard used for training and sparring.
* * * * * * *
Cye finally figured out how to utilize the universal magic while fighting, and when he was used to it they went back into the house. Rowen was awake, pigging out on cookies since the best cooks were busy. Cye decided to stay in battle-form until dinner was ready and eaten, while Mia powered down as soon as they were in the house once more. After a long dinner, Mia helped Cye power down-he dropped to the floor, unconscious, as soon as she did-and then had a meeting with the rest of the guys to formulate a decent plan for rescuing Yuli.
"So it's settled then. We'll wait three hours before we make our rescue attempt. You guys will stay put and keep my candles lit. I'll write down the prayers to keep each candle going, and you may need to call Kayura and the Seasonals to help you out. The candles for water, air, and love are most important, so you must keep them lit at all costs. I'll fight Jared while Rowen and Cye get Yuli. There's a teleportation spell I know; I'll have to teach you two how to use it. Is there anything else?"
"I got a question," Ryo said. "Why is it that we need to keep the candles representing air, water, and love lit more than the others in the circle?"
"Those candles keep the doorways to their elemental magicks open, in case Jared tries to block us from battle form. Water is Cye's element, Air is Rowen's, and Love is mine. Rowen and Cye will pass out if they're disconnected, and I will have a very hard time fighting Jared. That is why you need to keep the candles lit." Ryo nodded, getting the picture, and raised a hand to his amulet. It was warm and comforting, like fire when Ryo wore his armor. Leaning back on the couch, Ryo spoke again.
"Be careful, Mia. Jared will obviously stop at nothing to get you, and I wish I could protect you like I used to, but since I can't I'll just pray for your safety to any deity willing to listen and do all I can to help."
"Thank you, Ryo, and I will. I'd hoped we'd never have to trade places like this, but I guess it was bound to happen."
"We better get to sleep if we want to stand a chance against Jared and rescue Yuli," Rowen said. "Wake me up when it's time to leave." Rowen stood and went to his room, and Kento and Sage followed his example. Mia pulled out a thinner spell book the guys hadn't seen yet, and began to flip through. Ryo watched her, absently scratching behind White Blaze's ears. When Mia found what she was looking for, she tore some paper from a message pad and began to write. Looking up, she noticed Ryo was still there.
"Was there something else?" Ryo started, then blushed.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, um, I was wondering, uh, what the specifics were of that one spell Jared put on you a long time ago. You know, how long it was supposed to last, stuff like that."
"Well, the spell was meant to last until Jared released me or until I found true love, whichever came first. You can probably guess which broke the spell."
"Oh," Ryo replied, then looked at White Blaze. "Who was it?" he asked a little while later.
"What?" Mia asked in reply. Her mind had drifted as she continued to write.
"Who did you fall in love with? To break the spell?" It was Mia's turn to blush, and she moved to replace the spell book as she answered.
"I'd rather not tell you, Ryo. It's too embarrassing, and don't think you'll weasel it outta me. Now I'm going to bed, and I suggest you do the same." Mia finished putting the spell book away, straightened, and walked upstairs to her room for a well-earned few hours of sleep. Ryo watched her, then decided to take her advice and get some rest. Stretching out on the couch, Ryo drifted off as White Blaze did the same.
* * * * * * *
The world was nothing but black and white. That's all Yuli saw, anyway. He wasn't sure it he was awake or dreaming, because Yuli knew that so much was possible. It was like that for so long, and sometimes he felt pain when something from the black lashed out. Then something changed. Yuli saw colors, small spots in the black and white that grew slowly larger. One spot was blue, another aquamarine, and the third and largest was red. The colors felt so familiar . . .
* * * * * * *
Mia was on guard as she, Rowen, and Cye teleported to Jared's Tokyo apartment. The residual magic was strong here, and it was obvious Jared had lived here for a while. He wasn't here now, though, and neither was Yuli. Struggling to control her temper, Mia began to search.
"What are you looking for, Mia?" Cye asked, warily scanning the living room as he tightened his grip on the yari. Rowen had an arrow ready, calling on his experience during the Dynasty Wars.
"Jared has to have left some sort of clue. I was always able to find him; he managed to leave a clue every time. The clue will help us find Jared and probably Yuli. The sooner we find Yuli and take care of Jared, the sooner we get back to a nearly-normal lifestyle."
"Point taken," Rowen said, his eyes resting on a notebook that lay on Jared's old brown couch. "I wonder what that is." Rowen walked around the couch and bent to pick the notebook up, but pulled away when his wizard sense suddenly alerted him to the harmful spell covering the notebook. "Uh, Mia, I think Jared wanted us o find this. Do you know what it says?" Mia focused on the words, and recognized them as the language Jared's father had sometimes used. She mentally translated it, lips curving into a frown as the message became clear.
_"I know you want to rescue the boy, Morgan. You are simply too predictable. I expect you'll be angry that I'm not able to greet you, but I'm a bit preoccupied. You always loved a challenge, so here is mine: Save your friend Yuli and defeat me, and I will consider letting you go. See you when you find me!"_ Mia read the paper to Rowen and Cye, her anger threatening to explode.
"Where could he have taken Yuli?" Cye muttered. Mia pushed her anger aside once more and focused on a searching spell. Jared would most likely have opened a portal from somewhere in the apartment, and if they followed the portal they would eventually find Jared and Yuli.
"~Portal detector!~" Mia uttered, and her vision changed. _Why didn't I think of this before?_ she asked herself when the portal's remnants appeared. "I found a portal, guys. Let's see where it goes." Mia reopened the portal, then stepped through. Rowen and Cye followed her, and the three found themselves in front of an enormous old Japanese castle. It reeked of Jared's magic, derived from the magic of Order. The three friends glanced at each other, then walked to the door of the castle.
It was time to fight Jared.