I capture the castle
Chapter I
The land was a single sheet of white spreading eternally into the distance, the sky a parallel plane of endless navy, dark and dotted with stars. Cotton flakes of snow drifted lazily across the barren land, the wind whispering across the frozen earth as it danced through the snow. The two men trudged through endless amounts of white, working their legs hard to move against the high snow that hindered them.
"Damn, it's cold," Kurogane grumbled, his breath coming out in short wisps of white vapour.
"Then you should come better equipped, Kuro-pin," Fai tugged the hems of his inner coat, appearing completely at home in their icy environment. He smiled carelessly at nothing in particular, his gaze drifting slowly across his new surroundings with a mixture of curiosity and childish delight shining in his blue eyes.
They made it several metres through the thick, numbing snow. Traipsing their way across the infinite white when the two men were shortly joined by two children making their way to them from the east.
"There's something that way," Syaoran pointed in the direction from which they had just came. "It looks like a town or some kind of settlement. Sakura-hime and I only went to the outer edges of it."
Sakura stood wrapped in Fai's outer, fur-lined coat. The whiteness of it almost blended perfectly with the snow and succeeded in making the young girl look like a well-rolled snowball. "We didn't get a good look but we couldn't see any people about," she said as she lifted up the back of the coat so that it would not trail across the ground.
Kurogane snorted. "Who would live in a place like this anyway?" The desolate, bleak, and not to mention freezing environment was not particularly endearing to anyone, least of all the gruff ninja.
"You never know," Fai smiled, "some people might not have a choice. We should check it out, right?"
It was times like this, when their surroundings looked the least hospitable that they were reminded of their purpose - more accurately, Syaoran's purpose - in each world and that they could not simply jump world when the one they landed in was not to their liking. They had a feather to find and a whole heap of snow to search.
It was times like this that Fai wished Sakura's feathers were multicoloured and came with sparkling lights. A giant arrow from the heavens saying 'Sakura's feather here' would have been helpful too, but he digressed.
The settlement consisted of grey, listless buildings that huddled together in the snow. They were bizarre, tiny little homes with curved roofs and sweeping archways. Paved roads snaked through the town, curving this way and that and sometimes ending abruptly in snow. No smoke or lights betrayed any sign of life within the town.
In the distance, a castle levitated eerily above the town. Its crumbling torrents and spiralling peaks were worn, eroded by time and harsh weather. A stump of what it had once been. Only the luminescent wing-like projections remained stunning, shimmering as the starlight refracted across it.
"Mokona senses something!"
The company turned to their fifth and often over-looked yet most important travelling companion. Without the white creature there would have been no journey at all.
"Is it the feather?" Syaoran asked almost hastily.
The white creature paused for a second. "I don't know," was its final verdict, "there's a lot of different kinds of power drifting about. Mokona can't tell."
The hint of disappointment was erased when Syaoran smiled gratefully at it. "Maybe we should search the area. If we find people, we can get some information," he suggested. If they could only question the locals about any strange occurrences or legends then finding the feather would be much easier.
They approached the town with mixed feelings. Ruined pillars that seemed to hold no meaning surrounded the entire settlement. Cracked stone littered the base of each column, icy and stiff with cold.
Fai paused before one of the columns, placing a tentative hand on the frozen stone.
"This is…"
His heart jumped a little, but his inward alarm never reached the carefully constructed outer mask.
"What is it, Fai-san?" Syaoran asked as he too approached the pillar of stone that punctured the white snow.
Fai's hand slid off of the stone structure. He smiled. "Why don't we split up? We'll cover more ground this way."
For a brief moment, he felt Kurogane's gaze burn his back but it was gone by the time he turned round to face him.
The ninja was pointedly watching Sakura and Mokona talk. His stood protectively, ready for anything that happened. He did it more often, and thought that no one noticed how he trailed behind the company in case of attack, a surly protector or a reluctant bodyguard. His current stance was wary but showed no indication that he had ever been looking at Fai.
"Well…" Syaoran hesitated at the idea splitting up again. The town was not particularly large and most of it was in ruins.
Kurogane sighed. "Fine, I'll go this way with the idiot and we'll meet back here in an hour."
Syaoran paused then nodded.
"Don't worry, Syaoran-kun, Kuro-wan's got a big sword after all. He'll protect me," Fai laughed as they made their way in opposite directions.
Sakura and Syaoran only had time to hear Kurogane yell, "I might kill you first!" before a sudden gush of wind drowned out their voices.
The children scoped out the east of town, walking down the paved roads in comfortable silence.
Mokona hesitated, wondering whom to follow. Sakura had that nice fluffy coat to cuddle in but Kurogane sauntered down the grey path just waiting to be teased. The white manjuu opted to follow the latter.
"Kyaa! Kuro-puppy just wanted to be alone with Fai!" It squealed with delight, hopping safely into Fai's arms.
"That's not it!" Kurogane flared, then turning to the mage said, "Hey, do you know where you're going?"
"Of course not, Kuro-muu, I've never been to this world after all," Fai smiled and continued to lead the way.
The ninja glowered at the mage's back. Fai's pretence did not amuse him the slightest. "Don't play dumb!" he snapped. "This is your world, isn't it?"
The corners of Fai's lips dropped into what was not quite a frown, but a half a millimetre too short to be classified as a smile.
"No."
He spoke plainly. One who did not know him would almost call his manner curt.
However, Kurogane had been with the blond for long enough to know the mage's cheery habits. He also knew that there was usually a cool, calculated mind somewhere behind all the girlish giggling and idiocy Fai displayed to the rest of the world. "I said - " Kurogane bristled. He took it as an insult to his intelligence whenever the wizard tried to conceal things from him.
"It's not," Fai interrupted. "It looks similar though, very similar. That's why I was surprised…but from walking around I can tell that a lot of things are different." He turned back to gaze at the town, and more importantly to the crumbling castle in the distance. "For instance, there are no steps leading to the castle in this world, and the shapes of all the houses are slightly different. There was a town square in my world too."
Kurogane stared sceptically but let the blond drop it at that. He tested a door to one of the houses at random. It was locked.
"Where are all the people?"
"Maybe they've gone out?"
"Don't be stupid!" He snapped as he pushed at another door. It swung open rather forcefully under the strength of his push and he stumbled in.
Stumps of candle dimly lighted the walls. It was a large tavern painted in dark grey and navy blue with sturdy oak barstools and tables arranged in circles across the cold stone floor. More than a dozen pairs of eyes stared at them, blue, green and grey pairs full of apprehension and traces of hostility.
Fai peeked from behind Kurogane at the gathering. He realised that the two of them standing on the stone floor before the open door was the last thing the townsfolk were expecting.
Kurogane's foreign clothes were especially unusual. As for Fai…his garb was only vaguely similar to theirs. Most of their clothes were either white of blue with the occasional appearance of black or gold. They were heavy, made for winter wear and sometimes lined with fur. Their robes trailed to the floor, split at the leg to reveal black trousers and boots.
"Well, this is interesting," Fai murmured. Kurogane gave a noncommittal grunt.
"Who are you people?"
A woman emerged from the crowd wearing a similar but more feminine style robe and glasses; her brown hair was tied into two firm plaits on either side of her head. Around her, the crowd gathered, ready to throw them out or invite them in at a word from the woman.
"Who are you people?" she asked again.
XX
"There's an epidemic going around?"
Regrouped and rested, the four travellers and their transportation device sat at one of the sturdy tables in a semicircle across from their host. Fai supposed that they should be thankful that they had been welcomed, albeit reluctantly and warily, into the midst of the congregation instead of being thrown out or even attacked.
The woman had introduced herself as Kaede Saitou, the acting head of town. Acting, because the current leader had fallen to their latest crisis.
"It's not chickenpox, is it?" Fai asked and grinned like a simpleton.
"It's because of that stupid castle!" a voice in the crowd raised it just enough to be heard over the uncomfortable shuffling and whispers amongst the tavern folk.
"The castle has caused the epidemic?" Syaoran asked, his natural curiosity piqued by this sudden information.
"Yes," Kaede nodded. Her gestures and speech were a good deal more restrained than that of the crowd, who seemed frustrated and angry at their situation. "We've tried many times to destroy it but it is shielded with protective magic from a hundred years ago and all the wizards have died out."
"What makes you so sure that it's the castle causing this outbreak?" Syaoran inquired.
"Last time I checked, lumps of stone couldn't make you sick," Kurogane grunted. His surly comments were his way of letting his opinions be known without having to feel involved.
"It's not just any castle."
"It's cursed!" Someone from the crowd yelled, followed by angry and fearful mutters and cries of agreement.
Fai chuckled slightly. The sound of his laughter was an unfamiliar noise that echoed lightly across the gloomy walls of the tavern. "Now, doesn't this sound familiar?" he smiled. "An old creepy castle…curses…"
"Like in Jade," Kurogane finished.
Syaoran nodded. "By the way, what is the name of this country?"
Kaede propped her elbows on the table, resting her head in the cradle created by her linked hands. Candlelight flashed across her glasses, obscuring her eyes for one brief second.
"I hear that in the warmer parts of this world, our frigid little country is known by different names. However we have always called this land by one name," she said, pushing her glasses to the bridge of her nose. "We call it Ceres."
Ah, that was fun! So, is this country really Ceres or just a look-alike world with the same name? Why is it different from the one Fai remembers? Answers will come shortly (depending on how fast I update) in the next chapter. This is the first in a long time since I've done a chaptered story (the Dummy's guide doesn't count) so comments are always appreciated. Pairings, if any, are still unknown.