Spirit Unbreakable

Riumi was staring into the eyes of the vilest creature that he had ever seen. He could feel its hand closing around his throat. He could barely breathe.

Its piercing yellow eyes stared at Riumi with an unbridled hatred. He could smell the stench of its breath as it spoke, “What did you do to me?”

He inhaled sharply as he opened his eyes. Mikomi was staring at him with deep concern. The tight grip she had on Riumi’s hand lessened when his eyes opened and he glanced in her direction. Riumi turned his gaze away from her, noticing that the airplane that he and Mikomi had been in for the last thirteen hours was no longer moving.

“Did you have another strange dream?” Mikomi asked finally letting go of Riumi’s hand. Riumi just nodded his head and glanced around the interior of the plane. Most of the crowd has dissipated and Riumi could see that the flight attendants were looking at Riumi cautiously. Riumi grabbed his katana and wakizashi and secured them on his back. Mikomi grabbed the bag that held the small amount of belongings they had and the two of the left the plane. The flight attendant at the door gave them a low bow as they departed and Riumi heard her exhale as the tension left the atmosphere. He knew that commercial flights were not used to the presence of a Guardian on their aircraft, but it had been Riumi’s only option with the short notice that Damian had given to the airport. With so many Guardians leaving, the aircraft that usually carried the bulk of the Guardians had been full. The passengers of the commercial flight had been startled by the sight of Riumi’s weapons and the ensuing tension had caused problems for the flight attendants on the long flight. There was nothing that Riumi could do to alleviate any of it, so instead he had just tried to get as much sleep as possible in an attempt to have his body adjusted to the time difference. His body was trying to tell him it was three in the morning when in reality it was eight at night in France. Mikomi was dragging her feet trying to carry the weight of the pack on her shoulders while trying to keep awake. She had never been on an airplane before and her excitement had made it almost impossible for her to get any sleep. Although Riumi had slept most of the way there, Mikomi had spent most her time on the flight fiddling with her Flimsy, scrolling through items on the Web, watching shows, and staring out the window at the endless array of clouds and ocean.

When they had made their way through the maze of corridors and reached the place where the ’Busa waited, Riumi turned and regarded Mikomi. “I was going to ride to Clamecy tonight and find a place to stay there. It will take us about two hours; do you think you can stay awake?”

He watched Mikomi consider and then she nodded. “If we can stop at a café first and get some espresso.” Riumi conceded, took the bag from Mikomi, and tossed her her helmet. After their belongings were secure, he got onto the ’Busa and waited until he felt Mikomi’s arms reach around his waist. He looked at the streets all around him and realized how very little traffic there was. Taking a glance into the sky he watched hundreds of cars flying by overhead. He could only assume that permits for air cars were more accessible here in France.

Riumi pulled away from the airport and entered the heart of Paris. Every street he went down had a little café or bistro on the corner. Riumi soon realized that Paris’ traffic was almost exclusively by air with more people wandering the streets than vehicles. Only the truly wealthy, those who could afford vehicles with histories much like Riumi’s motorbike, were traversing the streets of Paris. It helped to keep the atmosphere as ancient and relaxing as the Romanesque architecture that dominated Paris. Riumi loved that these people had kept close to their heritage, and instead of dominating the city with modern buildings, they took the functionality of such buildings and built a façade around them from the past. He preferred this open history instead of what he encountered in Japan, where their history was hidden in amongst the garish modern structures that tried more each year to push beyond the last in function, but offered none of the intricate beauty that the buildings of the past did.

As he neared the outskirts of the city, Riumi pulled over to a quaint little café that looked less busy than those closer to the centre of Paris. Most of the pedestrians that littered the street were openly gaping at Riumi’s ’Busa. Ignoring them, he had the sudden thought that maybe bringing such a conspicuous vehicle may have been a bad idea. It was all I had, he thought. He grimaced, as Mikomi pulled him into the café to order, thinking how Eiji probably hadn’t had covert operations in mind when he had given Riumi his bike.

Mikomi ordered two café noisette and gestured for Riumi to pay. He proffered his Guardian tattoo which the barista scanned. She smiled at Riumi and spoke in Common, “Glad to see you are a Guardian.”

Riumi was acutely aware of the katana and wakizashi at his back. “You have a lot of people coming here with steel that are not?”

The woman laughed nervously. “Of course not. It always sets one at ease to know that they are serving a legitimate Guardian and not someone posing as one; less hassle with the UNG that way.”

Riumi grabbed the café noisette that another barista set on the counter and nodded to the first. “Glad things didn’t have to get complicated,” Riumi said.

Mikomi led him back out onto the street to look for a table. There were only a few tables out on the street, all of which were filled. Mikomi looked disappointed. A few of the patrons at the table noticed Riumi and Mikomi and quickly vacated their seats with a cursory nod in their direction.

Mikomi looked at them and back at Riumi who was stone faced. As the couple walked past them into the café Mikomi bowed, trying to balance her espresso on the saucer as she bent low, and spoke, “Thank you very much.” Riumi caught her cup just before it slipped off the saucer and rolled his eyes.

“Just come and sit,” Riumi replied and sat at the small round rod iron table. He watched the pedestrians as they passed by and took a sip of his espresso letting the strong smooth nutty flavour invigorate him. A slight breeze was blowing and he watched as vines that clung to the edifice of the nearby buildings rustled in the breeze. The sun was dipping slowly behind the horizon casting a fiery orange colour on the buildings. Riumi felt as if he had slipped back into the bamboo forest back in Japan. He could almost forget about his fool’s errand. He didn’t know that he could feel as comfortable in a city as he did in the forest.

Mikomi watched him ardently while she sipped at her espresso trying not grimace at its strong flavour. Riumi seemed to be enjoying himself here. He seemed a lot more relaxed now than he had when she had woken him up on the airplane. She didn’t tell him that the reason she had squeezed his hand so hard to wake him up was because he had stopped breathing. She hoped that he could find answers before his dreams got worse. Whatever he was seeing, she was sure that it wasn’t just a dream. It seemed to be affecting him physically as well. It scared her.

Riumi suddenly glanced at her and she changed her solemn look to one of elation. He gave her a timid smile in return. “So, when we get to this place where the Ravvon’s are. What are you going to do? Do you think they will have the answers that you are looking for?” Mikomi was talking in Japanese now, obscuring their conversation from the people that surrounded them.

Riumi responded in kind. “I don’t know. If they don’t have the answers, I’m not sure what I will do,” he paused and decided to shift the topic, “Were you worried about me on the airplane?”

Mikomi shuffled uneasily in her seat and took a big gulp of espresso, her eyes widening as it hit her stomach. “Well, yeah,” she said dumbly.

“Maybe I should tell you what is going on, now that I think I know what I am experiencing.”

Mikomi leaned in closer to Riumi expectantly.

“I’ve been having visions. It’s like I am having small glimpses of someone else’s life. I don’t think they are from earth. I think they are from the same place that I am from.”

Mikomi’s eyes were wide, “You mean you’re telepathically linked with aliens?” Mikomi grinned completely enthralled with the idea and at the same time forgetting the dangers she had seen these visions pose to Riumi. She forgot about his black out and his halted breath. Instead she was imaging herself figuring out this trick and all the conversations she would have with the aliens in her mind.

Riumi frowned and pushed aside his espresso cup. “It sounds ridiculous when you put it that way, and more than a little crazy.”

“I think it’s really amazing. Could you teach me how to do it? Or is it one of your alien powers.”

“It’s not voluntary, Mikomi, it just happens. It seems to be just powerful moments, the ones where she is feeling with intensity.” He ignored her alien comment.

“She?” Riumi nodded.

“She kind of seems familiar somehow too,” Riumi mused and shook his head to rid himself of the thought. He grabbed his espresso and gulped down the last of it and let the stone mask cover his face one again. “Let’s go. It will be dark soon and I want to be away from this city as soon as possible in case we were followed.”

Mikomi drank the rest of her espresso as fast as she could and followed after Riumi.

When they were moving once again and were free of the confines of the city out into the gentle roll of the farmland Mikomi squeezed Riumi a little tighter, happy that he was finally breaking from his stoic demeanour and trusting Mikomi more.

Mikomi watched the blazing sunset off to her right as they rode. She felt the temperature of the wind blowing past her change from dull spring warmth to chilly cold as the sun disappeared. She was glad for the riding suit that Riumi had picked up for her. She had put it on before they had left for the airport back in Kyoto and was glad she had. It was specially built for fast travel on air bikes and adjusted its temperature settings to the changing climate. She felt the icy cold slip away after a few minutes and gazed overhead, watching the stars slowly appear in the sky.

As they slipped further and further away from the lights of Paris and deeper into the countryside, she saw the starry sky in more detail. Looking into the vast sea of stars with the wind tugging her at high speed she almost felt as if she were flying. She loosened her grip slightly on Riumi as she forgot that the UNG were after her and just let herself fall into the sky, lost in the thought that one of those stars held the alien girl that was talking with Riumi. She wanted to go there. She wanted to go there with Riumi and meet this strange presence that Riumi sought.

Riumi navigated the road before him, glad of the silence that riding a motorbike offered. His thoughts closely mirrored Mikomi’s, but without her unabashed abandon of consequences.

It was almost midnight when they arrived in Clamecy. The town glowed in a wash of street lamps illuminating the disarray of buildings which meandered around the river that forked through the town. The town had the same feel that Paris did, donning its heritage proudly. As Riumi passed over a sturdy bridge, he decided that he couldn’t tell if the stone nature of it was faux or real. He felt Mikomi tap him lightly on his back and he saw her small gloved hand pointing at a building close by. Riumi pulled up to the three story gothic style building and read the small sign at the door. It read Chateau Les Roches. Mikomi was already pulling of her helmet, her eyes red with sleep.

“Can we stay here?” Mikomi asked. Riumi gave a nod, noting it looked rather small for an inn and realized it must be a home modified for travelers. Almost like the traditional Japanese inns and temple lodgings.

When Riumi and Mikomi knocked on the door it took a moment before someone came. A burly man with a grey beard and almost no hair on top of his head answered the door. Mikomi took a step back behind Riumi scared that she had made a mistake about this being an inn.

Riumi let his eyes wander to where Mikomi had leapt and slowly turned them back to the man in the doorframe.

“I am sorry to be bothering you so late in the evening, Sir, but would you have a room available?” Riumi asked politely in common.

The man’s expression turned from slightly annoyed to an ear to ear grin when he realized that he had customers.

“Of course, come in. Can’t leave you standing in the cold,” the burly man said as he ushered Riumi into the door. Riumi gestured for Mikomi to grab their bag from the ’Busa and strode through the doorway following the man.

“You just passing through town, or do you plan to stay for a while?” the man asked. He turned and regarded Riumi as he went behind a small counter and brought his console to life, the screen shimmered to life on the counter surface. He gave Riumi a slight frown suddenly and Riumi realized that the man had finally noticed the weapons that Riumi was carrying.

“Are you a Guardian?” the man asked.

“I am. We will be staying just tonight,” Riumi replied.

“Anything in particular that you are looking for?” the man asked. He had assumed the regular tone that people regarded Guardians with, deference for his position, but hesitant as well. One did not want to be on the bad side of a Guardian.

“Yes, but I would like to leave my questions for the morning,” Riumi replied.

“Of course,” the man said and gestured Riumi to come forward. The man scanned Riumi’s Guardian tattoo. The encrypted information that filtered onto the man’s screen gave him just enough information to confirm that Riumi’s Guardianship was legitimate. It gave no name and no other details. It left all other decisions on what information to present to Riumi.

“Is there a name I can use to call you?” the man asked.

“You can call me Arashi. The girl with me is Chiisai,” Riumi replied. Mikomi had walked in at this moment and gave Riumi a grin. Riumi could only guess the grin was in response to the fact that she could call him Arashi-san as freely as she wanted to for the duration of their stay in Clamecy.

“I’m Lamar. When you come down for breakfast in the morning I would be happy to answer whatever questions you have, Mr. Arashi.” Riumi nodded his thanks and let Lamar lead them to their room on the second floor.

Lamar left them at the door holding an ancient key. Unlocking the door, Riumi entered the room and scanned the interior which had a French window that overlooked the river behind the inn. There was an array of antique furniture that filled the suite with two rod iron beds. A private en suite was off to the left. Riumi closed the door behind them and locked it watching as Mikomi surveyed the room picking the bed she wanted and staring out the window. Riumi disentangled himself from Ichi no Tsubasa and the wakizashi and set them near the head of the bed that Mikomi had left for him.

“You should try and get some sleep, Chiisai,” Riumi said.

“It’s too beautiful to sleep,” Mikomi replied. Riumi sighed. He went to the window and stared at the view with Mikomi. The river was built up with stone walls on both sides. Lazy river boats were tied up to various poles that dotted the riverside. A holly tree stood in the yard of Chateau Les Roches which was just a shadow in the pale light reflecting off the water from the surrounding street lamps.

“This is the first time I have been away from Nihon,” Mikomi added, “I didn’t know that everything could be so different. I guess just because we are all united, doesn’t mean that we are all the same, does it?”

“Does that scare you?” Riumi asked.

Mikomi shook her head and yawned, “No.” She sounded exasperated that Riumi would think that of her. “I just meant that I’m glad that I left Nihon. That way I can get to know how everyone else lives their lives. I wonder what it would be like to live in a boat on this river.”

Riumi put his hand on Mikomi’s head and shuffled her towards her bed. “Go to sleep and maybe you’ll dream about it.”

“This is your first time leaving Nihon as well, isn’t it?” Mikomi suddenly asked.

“The first time that I can recall clearly. I do have memories of a place that was very different from Nihon,” Riumi replied.

“Maybe that same place that girl in your mind is from?”

“I think so.”

“Guess we’ll find out tomorrow,” Mikomi replied.

“Guess we will.”

Mikomi, having had no sleep on the flight to France, slept deeply. Her rhythmic breathing had left Riumi the perfect focus as he meditated. The thought of possibly finding the answers to his past left him unable to share Mikomi’s deep sleep. Instead, he reflected; the same as he did when he had wandered into the bamboo forest outside of Kyoto, or whenever he shared the view with those long dead in the mausoleums. His mind blossomed in an array of colour as he tried to force the strange connection that he shared with this woman from another world. Crimson dominated his view bleeding into the rich oranges and yellows surrounding it in the sky. He could see the silhouette of mountains, a dark blue and bruised purple in contrast to the rich warm colours of the setting sun. He was watching this scene from a balcony, a high tower above a moonlit town nestled between the mountains. At the moment that he was watching this scene with this woman he wondered if she was aware of him in her mind. He wondered if he could call out to her and she would hear. Can you hear me? He called out in his mind. The woman turned and Riumi saw a man appear in her vision. Suddenly he felt a light touch on his arm and he opened his eyes wide to the darkness of early morning.

“Were you talking to me?” Mikomi asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and staring at Riumi curiously.

“Did I say something?” Riumi asked.

“You asked if I could hear you, so I thought maybe you had asked me a question that I didn’t hear because I was still sleeping.”

Riumi unlaced his legs and stood up off his bed. “I wasn’t talking to anyone. I was just thinking out loud, I guess.”

“I can be ready in a few minutes if you are anxious to go,” Mikomi said as she grabbed her small pack and ran into the en suite. Riumi gathered his things and once again donned Ichi no Tsubasa and the wakizashi. True to her words, Mikomi emerged a few minutes later wide awake and ready for the day wearing her riding suit.

When they came down the stairs, Lamar was already waiting near the front desk with the morning paper dominating his Flimsy. He set it on the table he was sitting at when Riumi and Mikomi entered the room.

“I figured you would be early risers. My wife can get breakfast ready for us. I have fresh café ready while we wait. I’ll answer any questions you have.” Lamar gestured to a room off to the left that held a number of tables. Riumi followed him into the room and waited until everyone was seated and sipping at café.

“I’m actually here on a simple mission. Chiisai’s parents have asked me to deliver her safely to her relatives here in Clamecy,” Riumi said.

Lamar regarded Mikomi with more interest. Casting his gaze at Riumi once again, he said, “I don’t know anyone of Asian descent around here. Are you sure you have the right town?”

“Well they are pretty distant relatives of mine,” Mikomi offered.

“What is the name? I know everyone in these parts,” Lamar said shrugging.

“The family name is Ravvon. You heard it?” Riumi asked.

Lamar’s face went pale and he grabbed at his beard. Leaning back in his chair he gave Riumi an auspicious look. “I know the name. If your ward’s family sent you this far, I guess they didn’t hear the story about how the Dorsalin and Ravvon families suddenly vanished from these parts. No one around here will forget that anytime soon.”

“Vanished?” Riumi asked.

“I best tell you the whole story. It was about two years ago now. It started with a lightning storm that went over the mountains. After the storm and for the next week there was an eerie blue light coming from the mountain side on the Dorsalin property.

“About five days after the light appeared I saw William and Monica Dorsalin in town. They said that they were going on an extended holiday. Thinking back I should have thought it was strange, but at the time I didn’t connect the two events.

“The Ravvons also started to close up affairs in town, making it clear that they were leaving town for good. In both cases, no one ever got a straight answer as to where they were going.

“It was the last day that I saw the light that the UNG suddenly appeared in our town. Rumours were that they were tracking a terrorist cell; one of those ones that they say is trying to construct laser weapons. Something serious went down on the Dorsalin estate and another group from the UNG passed through town. They spent a good six months up there. No one was allowed near the two estates. I know that a friend of mine went hiking up in the mountains and nearly got shot when he got too close to their operation. We were all real glad when the UNG left.

“Even though they implied that the Dorsalins and Ravvons were part of a terrorist group and we had to alert them to their return, no one in town really believed they were terrorists. We had known the Ravvons for more generations than I can count and the Dorsalins were real good friends with the Ravvons. So, had they ever returned, we had no intention as a town to turn them over to the UNG. They never came back and the small unit the UNG left here left a year after the incident.”

Riumi didn’t know how to respond to this. It sounded like something he read in the conspiracy magazines that dominated the tabloid shelf in the bookstore. “Well that explains why Chiisai’s parents couldn’t get a hold of their relatives here,” Riumi finally said.

“You don’t seem too surprised by this,” Lamar replied.

“It was a possibility that something had happened here. Part of my mission was reconnaissance for the Ravvon’s in Japan,” Riumi replied.

“If that’s the case, than I should tell you the strangest part of the whole event.

“The Dorsalin’s had a young daughter, she was a little older than you are, just turned twenty. Her name was Reniko Dorsalin. I only mention her because she was training in the Blade with Dertrik Ravvon.

“Anyway, a day after the light appeared, she came into town and bought a large amount of mountain climbing gear. That was the last time anyone in town saw her. When her parents came in and said they were leaving on holiday, Reniko wasn’t with them. I say that the Ravvons and Dorsalins vanished, but really they both went into hiding.

“The person who really vanished without any explanation was Reniko. Everyone has theories on what happened, but no one knows for sure. I think that she was killed up in those mountains. Maybe by whoever had caused that eerie light, maybe just in an accident, but everyone is real interested in finding out what happened to that sweet girl.” Lamar stopped and sipped at his café.

“You say the UNG abandoned their post on the two estates?” Riumi asked. Lamar nodded. “Is there still anything worth looking at around there?”

Lamar grabbed at his beard again pondering the question. “Well, the estates are pretty much the same as how the two families left them. As you are a Guardian, I am sure that you could get past the security easy enough. No one has had the heart to cross the UNG on the matter. Also, there is the cave that the blue light was coming from. It’s been sealed off by the UNG, but as I don’t think they would bother the likes of you, I could draw you a map from the Dorsalin estate to it.”

“Could you give us a map on how to get to both the estates as well?” Riumi asked.

“I’ll give a map to your Flimsy to the Dorsalin estate, the Ravvon’s estate is the next drive down from it.”

“I’m very grateful to you for all of this, Lamar. I’ll be sure to compensate you for your information,” Riumi said finishing off his café.

“The best compensation that I could get is to find out what really happened on those estates two years ago. You find out any information when you’re up there I would be really glad if you would pass it on. I can give you my word we would do nothing to hurt the Ravvon’s or the Dorsalin’s. We would just like some peace of mind on the event.”

Riumi looked at the older man before him and just nodded. He wasn’t sure how much of what happened he could tell, especially if that event two years ago had anything to do with his past.

Lamar’s wife came out then with plates of food. Riumi was anxious to go, but could see that Mikomi was ravenous. He looked out at the sky and realized that the sun had still not risen. As they had a better chance of finding clues in the daylight, he decided to linger.

Riumi was glad for the lack of traffic on the roads as he travelled down Route Buissonnière. He watched a heavy amount of traffic flying by overhead, cars all above the tree line, and wondered where they were all coming from and where they were headed. When he came to a turnabout, he first missed the turn that he was to take onto the D951 and was glad, as they came around again, that Mikomi was there to tap him lightly on the shoulder. Only a few minutes more down the D951 and Riumi saw a road off to the right heading up into the mountainside. He slowed and pulled onto the road. It had been a nicely paved road at some point in time but over the last year or so of disuse he could see nature reclaiming it. He felt mildly uncomfortable on the small winding road. He was unable to see very far ahead and was uneasy with the blind corners. A dark atmosphere descended upon them in the thick of that old forest and Riumi started to feel uneasy, as if something terrible waited for them at the end of this road. Minutes later, they came into view of a large clearing. In the middle sat the large dominating home of the Dorsalin’s.

When he has stopped the bike in front of the estate and both he and Mikomi had taken off their helmets, they stood staring up at the house. The state of it gave him a chill. Already two years of disuse had had its toll on the mansion. The grounds, which had been perfectly tended to, were now in disarray. Riumi could tell that the UNG had made this their home base while they had been here. Quite a few things were scattered about the grounds that seemed to have been forgotten when they had left their post.

Mikomi took a few steps towards the building and stopped. She turned back to Riumi and shivered, clutching her arms. “I feel like something terrible happened here. What if the UNG come back here, Arashi-san?”

Riumi looked at the Flimsy that Lamar had dumped his maps into and then back at Mikomi.

“I know this is strange, but I think that the blue light, and the disappearance of this Reniko girl, has something to do with me. It’s too coincidental that such strange events happened here. The Ravvon’s led us here and I think that whatever is in that cave the UNG sealed is what I am looking for. I also think you’re right, Mikomi-chan. I think that we won’t have very long before the UNG come looking for us here. If they were this involved with the past events here, I’m sure it won’t take them long to connect those events to me.”

“So what do we do?” Mikomi asked.

“Let’s find this cave and see if the UNG left anything behind that can help us.” Riumi pulled up the three dimensional map that Lamar had used to trace a linear path to the cave and began to hike deeper into the estate. Mikomi followed closely behind. They reach the tree line a few minutes later and Riumi stepped into the deep darkness that it held.

Even with the sun out, only a small amount of light filtered through the oak, beech, and holly trees that built a solid canopy of leaves overhead. Mikomi dodged her way through the thick bracken that covered the forest floor, hiding the gnarled roots of the ancient trees, trying to keep pace with Riumi who seemed to be in a trance. He didn’t even notice the yellow blossomed cowslips and violets that dotted their path, in full bloom.

Mikomi was having a hard time keeping focused on following Riumi instead of wandering about to pick wild flowers. She knocked the childish thought out of her head and shuffled after Riumi. Right now was not the time to act carefree. They had the UNG hunting them, and more specifically hunting her. The thought sobered her enough that she walked without protest up the mountain side after Riumi. She was intently focused on walking the path that she didn’t notice when he stopped. She bumped into him and heard rocks cascading down the cliff that they now stood on the precipice of.

She turned away from the precarious drop and focused her gaze on the item that held Riumi’s attention.

A flickering hologram filled the entrance to a large cavern a message scrolling on its surface, “DANGER: All trespassers will be prosecuted by the UNG without impunity”. Mikomi thought that it was a poor security device. There wasn’t even an electric charge to the hologram to deter trespassers.

“They really think that they are going to stop anyone with that?” Mikomi asked incredulously. She took a step towards the cave entrance. Riumi grabbed her shoulder and held her back.

“If you break that field it will record your implant profile and immediately alert the UNG. For most people that is enough of a deterrent. Besides, if they electrically charged it or made it a solid field, they wouldn’t have anyone attempting to go through. This is a trap. They want people to go through here. Those with enough interest to come here and walk through are most likely going to be the people that had something to do with that blue light. In a way, this trap was built for me.”

“So what do we do?” Mikomi asked.

“I guess we spring the trap, and hope that we have enough time to get out of here before the UNG can send someone out to investigate,” Riumi said and stepped through the hologram field knocking it out with his encrypted Guardian info.

“What if that isn’t the only trap in here, Riumi. If they have a slow response time, don’t you think that they would have set something else up to keep you here?”

“Most likely,” Riumi replied, “but I don’t think they were planning on catching a Guardian. Anything they use is rendered inert by my Guardian tattoo. I don’t plan on waiting around to see. We have a time limit, Mikomi-chan, and it has started. Let’s move.” He stepped deeper into the cave which became steadily illuminated by lights that were hung on the walls all activated by the movement as Riumi and Mikomi went by.

The cave tunnel had been well tended to and more recently excavated, it was a straight path to the very back of the cave which opened up into an enormous cavern. Riumi stared into its depths gazing at the empty room with slight disappointment. He knew there was only a slight chance that anything would have been left behind when the UNG were done here, but he had had to try.

“Doesn’t look like anything got left behind; what do you suppose was in here?” Mikomi asked going to the edge of a pool of water where a spring bubbled up. She looked into its depths and peered closer. “It looks like something used to be in here,” she said suddenly.

Riumi joined her at the pool’s edge and saw something metallic glint at the bottom catching the light of one of the sconces. Riumi peered deeper into the water and released Ichi no Tsubasa and the wakizashi from his back.

“What are you doing?” Mikomi asked as she watched Riumi set down the blades and walk into the icy water.

“I think there’s still something down there,” he let the water wash over his legs as he waded deeper into the icy pool of water. It was only chest high for the most part, except about a four foot section from which the spring bubbled from. It caused loose sand to make a false bottom. Riumi hopped over the spot and dived under the water to grab the metallic object that was wedged in the rock. He gave a gentle tug and the object freed itself from the rock it was entangled on. When he came up out of the water he was gasping from the severe cold. He opened his numb hand and realized that he was holding a silver chain, part of a necklace.

“What is it?” Mikomi asked as Riumi made his way back over to the rim where she stood. He held it for her to see.

“Do you think that it’s that girl’s? You know the one that went missing two years ago, Reniko.”

Riumi held the chain in his hand and wondered. Had that girl been in this cave? Is this where she had vanished? Had she slipped and fallen into the spring and been swallowed into the false bottom?

“I don’t know. But why would the UNG be so interested in that. Besides, I don’t think that this pool of water was the cause of the blue light that Lamar and the other villagers saw. There is a lot more to this and it seems that the UNG are the ones with the answers.”

Riumi thought back to his conversation with Shanahan. The red haired man had told him that he wanted to help fill in the blanks. Did that mean that Shanahan O’Reilly was one of the people from the UNG that had had involvement here in Clamecy?

Riumi was distracted out of his musing when he saw Mikomi inching closer to a violent crack in the wall to one side of the spring pool.

“Do you think there is anything in there?” She asked trying to peak her head into the crevice. Riumi pulled her back and gave her a stern look.

“I think maybe it’s better if I go first. After all, we haven’t encountered any traps yet, remember?” Mikomi nodded and made way for Riumi. Riumi pushed past her and squeezed through the crevice to the cavern on the other side.

Once on the other side, he was bathed in an immense impenetrable darkness. He shivered, still chilled despite the riding suit that was insulating him.

“Arashi-san, what is over there? Is it safe for me to come?” Riumi glanced back at the crevice and realized that he had left all his gear by Ichi no Tsubasa when he had gone into the water.

“Just wait, I’m coming back. I forgot my light on that side and I can’t see a thing on this side,” he didn’t hear a reply from Mikomi and headed back to the crevice. He reached his hand towards the crevice and was stopped short, his hand colliding with an invisible wall. He suddenly felt intensely afraid for Mikomi.

“Mikomi!” he shouted pounding on the solid field that held him back. He could see the emitter now clearly illuminated in the light from the other cave. It was on the other side of the field making Riumi unable to disable it. He saw a shadow pass over the opening of the crevice and he shouted louder. “Mikomi, it’s a trap. Run and get ready to defend yourself.”

Riumi’s warning was too late. Mikomi stood on the other side surrounded by no less than four Guardian’s, their tattoos clearly visible on their necks. The moment she had sensed movement in the cave behind her she had pulled free her tessen.

Looking around at her opponents, she suddenly felt inadequately trained. I don’t know how to fight again Guardians. She thought about her training with Riumi against stun weapons and realized that neither of them had thought that the UNG would hire rogue Guardians. She watched as they each freed a cold steel weapon from amidst the folds of their clothing. Confronted with a wall of lethal steel she was suddenly very afraid. She heard Riumi shouting to her from the other side of the crevice and glanced at the katana and wakizashi lying at her feet. The Guardians also followed her gaze.

“Don’t try something foolish, little girl,” the Guardian closest to her said, “We aren’t here to harm you. We need you if the UNG is going to barter with your Guardian friend for what they want. Come quietly and we won’t have to hurt you.”

Mikomi was taking deep breaths trying to will away her fear. “Why would you help them?” She suddenly whispered, tears in her eyes.

Another Guardian spoke startling Mikomi with his sudden close proximity. She heard her tessen clatter on the stone at her feet joining Riumi’s weapons uselessly on the floor. “They pay really well.” She let out a shrill scream and remembered no more.

Riumi stopped his useless pounding on the solid field when he heard Mikomi’s terrified cry and his anger flared. He was willing the tears to stay out of his eyes but felt them spilling onto his cheeks nonetheless. He had never been so angry in his life. Angry at letting himself fall into this situation. Angry at not being able to protect Mikomi. Angry at the UNG for using her to get to him. His scattered thoughts coalesced when a shadowy figure filled the space on the other side of the crevice.

“You must be a real prize to the UNG,” the voice said. Riumi didn’t reply. “They are going to great lengths to make sure their custody of you is legal. They must not plan on letting you go for a very long time. Usually they care less about the legality of detaining a Guardian as long as they have you long enough to get the information they need.”

“What are you going to do with Mikomi?” Riumi asked. His voice was frigid. It was at that moment that he realized that he was dealing with a fellow Guardian, mostly likely a rogue.

“Guess they picked the right tool to set you in motion,” the voice replied.

“You didn’t answer my question,” his tone remained flat. The Guardian on the other side stared at the shadowy figure before him. With his shockingly white hair and icy voice, he almost thought he was speaking to a ghost. He suddenly wished he wasn’t the one crossing this person.

“We’ve left instructions on where to come and negotiate for Mikomi’s release on the Flimsy that was in your bag. It’s unfortunate that you left all of that behind. I was going to suggest that you head to the other side of the cavern you are in and hike back down to the Dorsalin estate. Mind you, it is a longer hike, as you end up on the other side of the mountain, but at least you would have something constructive to do with your time. Seeing as you’ve gone and left everything on this side of the solid field, I guess you are just going to have to wait the thirty or so minutes that is left in the power source. Either way, we will be long gone. I wish you luck in your dealings with the UNG. Looks like you were dealt a bad hand.”

Riumi felt no need to reply and moments later the shadowy figure vanished from the crevice and Riumi was left alone in the deep darkness of the well laid trap that he had sprung.