CHAPTER 8
"I swear I am going to KILL that stupid cobra!" Kayura yelled as Tickles slithered behind a cabinet. He'd swallowed the message orb again, and it glowed inside of him as the Ronins tried to contact her. Of course, the guys were all asleep, so Kayura had to chase Tickles down by herself.
Tickles poked his head out just enough to taunt Kayura. She could have sworn that the vile creature grinned at her before retreating into the shadows again. "That's it!" Kayura growled. "SEKHMET!" A few moments later, the green-haired warrior appeared in the doorway, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he adjusted his robe.
"Whadda ya want?" he grumbled, annoyed that Kayura had interrupted a weird dream involving singing tigers and horses that drank tea. Sekhmet was pretty sure there'd also been a fat man in a purple tutu. He'd wanted to see where that dream would go, but then Kayura's screeching had woken him up.
"Your stupid snake swallowed the message orb again, and it's going off!" Kayura informed him. "Now I can't get Tickles out from behind that cabinet. It's your snake, so you have to help me get him." Sekhmet glared at Kayura, but walked over to the cabinet and spoke to Tickles in snake language (hissing, or Parseltongue if you read Harry Potter). After a moment, Tickles slithered out into the open. Sekhmet helped him regurgitate the message orb, then handed it to Kayura and left the room, hissing comfort to his newest pet troublemaker.
Kayura rolled her eyes, then activated the orb. An image of Ryo, Kento, Sage, and White Blaze appeared. "Good morning, Ronins. Sorry about the delay, but Tickles struck again."
"That's okay," Ryo said, grinning at how her statement had sounded. "You think you four can make it over here soon? Mia just left with Rowen and Cye, and Mia left specific instructions for us."
"They left? Where did they go at this time of night?" Kayura asked, confused.
"They went to rescue Yuli and fight Jared," Sage explained. "Mia took Cye and Rowen because they can use magic like she can, with some practice." Kayura nodded, then spoke again.
"I'll get the morons up, and then we'll be right over. Later, guys," she finished, and turned off the message orb. She quickly changed into her usual kimono, then grabbed the Ancient's Staff and went to wake up Dais, Sekhmet, and Kale.
It was going to be a long morning.
* * * * * * *
The door of the castle swung open, and Mia, Cye, and Rowen warily stepped inside. Jared was obviously expecting them; there was no getting around it. Mia tuned her wizard sense to detect any normal people. She could sense Yuli to the east, but his signal was very weak. Mia then adjusted to detect Jared, and his signal was strong in the west.
"Well, which way do we go?" Cye asked.
"You guys go east. Yuli's over there. I'll go west to Jared," Mia answered. "Once you've got Yuli, get outside and teleport straight home. I'll take care of Jared. Got it?" Both men nodded. "Good. Now get a move on." Mia set off to find Jared, and after a moment Cye and Rowen went to find Yuli.
* * * * * * *
The red light separated from the blue and aquamarine lights, and Yuli watched as they went in opposite directions. The shades of blue came closer to him, and the feeling that Yuli knew them grew stronger. Then the black lashed out at him again, and Yuli was aware only of the pain.
* * * * * * *
Cye and Rowen walked quietly down the hall, listening to all the noises that came their way. Occasionally they heard cries of pain and, assuming they came from Yuli, followed the cries. They ended up in a large room with high walls.
"Yuli! Can you hear us?" Cye yelled. His voice echoed around the room for a few moments longer than was really necessary, but there was no answer.
"This room is weird," Rowen observed, looking around as the echoes of Cye's voice faded. He wasn't really exaggerating. Everything in the room was either black or white, and the only apparent objects of any sort were unusual-looking black sculptures, to match the darker parts of the room.
"Guys? Is that you?" a voice asked. Rowen and Cye spun to face the person, and saw a bloody, battered-looking Yuli. The two men relaxed visibly.
"Thank goodness we've found you," Cye said when he recognized Yuli. "Mia had us working our butts off so we could rescue you. Turns out Rowen and I can do magic."
"So that's why your eyes look funny." Yuli coughed, and leaned against a sculpture that almost revealed a clawed hand. "Can we go now, guys? I'm getting tired of this place."
"No problem. Let's go," Rowen said, and turned to the doorway. The doorway wasn't there, though. Rowen turned again, but there was no door anywhere. "Uh, Cye, I think we have a problem."
"Oh, really?" Cye and Rowen looked at Yuli, the one who had spoken. He was no longer leaning against the statue. In fact, it seemed his injuries no longer bothered the boy at all. A dark red aura surrounded Yuli, and he shrank to three feet tall. Psuedo-Yuli's hair shrank into his scalp, and his skin turned the green of iceberg lettuce. Cye and Rowen realized too late that Jared had set a trap, which they had fallen into far too easily.
The black parts of the room swelled, and the two men lost consciousness.
* * * * * * *
Mia found herself in a circular room soon after heading off on her own. Jared was somewhere in this room; she was sure of it. This room was black and white, same as the rest of the castle's interior. It made sense, seeing as Order was Jared's magical element.
"Jared, show yourself!" Mia cried, growing impatient. The air wavered in front of her, and Jared appeared in battle-form.
"Morgan! So glad you could make it, dear!" Jared raised his sword and lunged at Mia.
* * * * * * *
Kayura and the Seasonals got to the house a few minutes after the Ronins had contacted them. The nine candles were already in place and burning steadily. Sage handed each of them a slip of paper with one of the candle prayers on it.
"What is the point of this?" Dais asked. He was extremely cranky after being woken by Kayura, who had dumped him out of his spider-web hammock.
"We're doing this to help Mia. She, Rowen, and Cye went to rescue Yuli from Jared. We need to keep these candles lit so they can stay in battle-from. Just read what's on the paper if the flame starts to get low on the corresponding candle. Okay?" Ryo finished explaining to them, then gave them a hard, don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-go-pyro-so-fast-you'll-be-toast-before-you-know-it look.
"Got it." The former bad guys looked reasonably intimidated. Everyone got settled in front of their designated candles and prepared to be sitting for a long time.
* * * * * * *
Almost an hour after everyone had gotten comfortable, the Air and Water candles began to flicker. Kayura and Sekhmet had been put in charge of these candles, and when they saw the flames shrinking each began to recite the necessary prayer. The candles burned a little while longer, but after a few moments they were snuffed out.
"Uh, guys, I think we have a problem," Kento said, noticing the same thing had happened to most of the other candles. Everyone followed his gaze, which was now focused on the candles of Order and Love. The flames had grown, taking on the shapes of Jared and Mia respectively.
The situation didn't look too good.
* * * * * * *
Mia crouched behind a pillar, breathing heavily. Her connection to the magic grew smaller by the second, even with her leech-shield. There was nothing but Order magic here, and with Jared controlling it, Mia's door would soon be closed. He could no longer sense Cye and Rowen, and had to assume they'd been able to escape with Yuli.
Reaching a decision, Mia ran for the entrance. Jared was too strong for her to fight alone.