Yume Ja Nai Yo
Chapter 1
by Ashna
I'm stealing, erm, borrowing a creature from my all time favorite author
Mercedes Lackey. The Wrysa are just too
cool and freaky! But they are not my idea!!! They belong to her! Copyright
and everything!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snap.
"Ouch!"
Crunch.
"Kuso!"
Snap.
"Stupid friggin branches!!!"
Takeru sighed and turned around as he gave up on silently wishing his
partner would be just as silent. Daisuke was making
his way several lengths behind him and making as much noise as a herd of
stampeding cattle.
"Daisuke could you be a little bit on the quiet side?" Takeru asked as soon
as the burgundy haired boy got within normal
conversation range.
Daisuke looked at him sheepishly and shrugged. It wasn't really his fault
that twigs and branches kept lashing out at him.
This forest was only traveled by local hunters and large animals. There
were no trails to be seen through the under
brush. So he had to force his way through the brush in only shorts and a
short sleeved tunic. Takeru would have bought
him something more practical but the long cold winter had dried them out of
cash. So far they hadn't been able to find
high enough paying work even though the summer was about over.
"Sorry Takeru. I'll suffer in silence." He answered with a grin and promptly
shut up.
When they first became partners Daisuke would have whined and complained
about the entire assignment. But three
years of following Takeru around as he worked for the people and solved what
problems he could had toughened Daisuke
up. Now he complained only as a habit and would generally be quiet when asked.
This time they were investigating what appeared to be some larger, maybe
magical in nature, creature who had scared
away all the game in this forest. The local villagers were quite desperate
to begin hunting before harvest set in. Then
they would be too busy gathering in the crops to hunt for their winter meat.
While most villages would just hunt
throughout the winter this far north things tended to be buried in meters of
snow by the end of October.
So far Takeru hadn't seen any signs of a larger creature at all. Not even
the tracks of something normal for the area.
No deer, bear or wolf tracks. He couldn't even find the tracks of bobcat or
coyote, one of the smaller predators. Also, he
couldn't sense any traces of a magical creature that had set up shop.
*This is weird... And the only animals I am seeing are birds, squirrels and
the occasional rabbit.*
Pushing onward Takeru moved deeper into the forest expanding all his senses
as far as he could. He wanted to be open
to any hint whatsoever of any disturbance in the magical fields of the
area. Still, nothing seemed wrong.
*Except this forest has about as many creatures in it as a city garden.*
Daisuke followed close behind every now and then letting out an involuntary
yelp or curse when a particularly large, sharp
twig snapped into him.
Finally after walking for most of the day Takeru changed direction. He'd
sensed a break in the surrounding foliage and
decided to stop and take up camp there. He knew Daisuke could probably keep
going for a few more hours but with
keeping his senses open and searching all afternoon he was a bit worn out.
When Daisuke saw the clearing he happily charged through the bush and
collapsed into a thick circle of green grass.
"All right break time! Are we just taking a rest or setting up camp?" He
asked flopping back to lay spread eagle, flinging
their supply bag off his back to lay it beside him.
"We're staying all night. I'm a bit worn out and hungry for that matter."
Takeru said sitting down on a downed log.
Now that he looked around, the clearing had been used by hunters before.
There was a circle of rocks for a fire and the
log had been clearly dragged in from the forest to serve as a seat. Daisuke
had already jumped up and begun starting a
fire to cook whatever Takeru lured towards them and to warm the loaf of
bread one of the villagers gave them.
Takeru was more then content to let him do all the work. It was the reason
all sorcerers were forced to have partners
after all. A sorcerer often would exhaust themselves working a piece of
magic or simply be too tired to do anything.
Their partner would be the one to keep them eating ad make sure the sorcerer
didn't pass out into the snow or out in
the rain or any number of stupid things. Daisuke had always seemed happy to
do these things for Takeru, saying it was
better then mucking out stables for the rest of his life. That and at least
Takeru didn't kick him as a horse would when
he tried to help him.
Eventually, Daisuke had a small rabbit cooking over the fire slowly, the
bread on a nearby rock to warm and went to sit by
Takeru to wait until their food was done. Takeru smiled a bit tiredly at him
as Daisuke settled down on the ground beside
him using the log as a back rest. That was when he noticed how many angry
red welts were across Daisuke's legs and
arms from the branches.
"Oh geez, I'm sorry Daisuke." Takeru said sliding off the log to kneel
beside Daisuke.
"For what?" Daisuke asked looking confused.
"For this. I shouldn't have let you come with me this time. You don't have
the right clothes for trekking across the
forest." Takeru said taking one of Daisuke's arms and frowning at the
scratches.
"Not this again. Look if I didn't come along you'd probably still be sitting
on that log without a fire, not even thinking
about eating. Then you'd probably just go to sleep on the ground without
anything warm and probably catch pneumonia.
Then I'd feel horribly guilty for not coming and etc etc etc." Daisuke said
with a smile even though he was lecturing.
"I know, I know but I'm just going to do something about these. We're
probably going to be out here for a few days and I
don't want them becoming infected." Takeru said putting his hands over the
welts.
Daisuke shrugged and Takeru didn't notice how he blushed slightly as he ran
his hands over the cuts. He extended his
magic just a little bit more then he had searching and force-fed Daisuke's
system energy to heal at a faster rate. It
would make him feel a lot more tired but he didn't mind. After some food and
rest he'd be back to normal. By the time he
finished with the last cut the first one were only thin pink lines that were
quickly fading into nothing.
Then Daisuke got up and checked the meat while Takeru sat back against the
log with a tired sigh. Healing was difficult
work and not part of his specialty. He was best at finding things like a
disturbance in what was normal for an area's
magical field. He was good at fixing what was wrong too. He could
settle out an area where magic had built up and
detect where magic was hidden in places it didn't belong. When he got older
and couldn't travel any longer he'd probably
end up working at finding other talented children to train in their powers.
For now, he best served at helping people on the
outskirts of the country where help from the capital was hard to receive.
Daisuke came back and handed him some of the rabbit meat pressed between to
slices of the bread. Takeru nodded his
thanks and ate it slowly. Whenever he worked magic he lost his appetite and
Daisuke always made sure he ate. The other
boy sat beside him with his own portion and handed him a flask of water.
They didn't say much, mostly because Takeru was too tired to talk, and ate in
silence. Takeru made himself finish off the
food and leaned his head back against the log and closed his eyes for a bit
just to rest them and promptly feel asleep.
He woke up as Daisuke pulled him up onto his feet. He let himself be lead to
the blanket Daisuke had laid out beside the
fire and collapsed onto it with a sigh. He felt Daisuke cover him up with
his scarlet cloak, the only other source of
warmth they had and fell back asleep again. He woke only once again, at near
twilight, when Daisuke climbed under the cloak
with him. It being much too cold at night to sleep alone. Daisuke curled up
against his back and Takeru let himself drop off
again.
~~~~~~~~
There was golden grass that shimmered in the intense light that surrounded
Takeru completely. The sky would have been blue except
that the light burned away all traces of any gentle blue. The grass was tall
and reached up to Takeru's waist. The world seemed
surreal as if this place couldn't exist anywhere else but here. There was no
sound but that of the wind that blew the grasses gently, but
Takeru couldn't feel its gentle caress.
He began walking, maybe to see if he could find some end to the grasses
that stretched beyond his vision. It was mostly the light's
fault. It burned away not just the blue sky but also the distance before
him. He could see nothing but light beyond twenty feet. Yet, it did
not bother him. He did not have the urge to squint and shield his eyes.
Instead, the light seemed just another fact of this place that
shouldn't be.
After a time, he stopped walking and simply watched the rippling grasses
knowing he was waiting for something but not able to remember
quite what. There was nothing to wait for here. He was alone in this place
as none but him was allowed there. This was his place alone
and no one could intrude upon this gentle solitude. Being alone didn't
bother him. One wasn't supposed to be with another here. It was
his alone to enjoy and he would hold that close to him forever.
Then as suddenly as he'd appeared within this place, it changed. The intense
light was gone and the sky faded to a brilliant indigo
splayed about with stars. The grass now stretched out beyond to the horizon.
Though the light was gone the grasses themselves
glowed and gave light to the dark sky. He now could feel the gentle breeze
against his cheek. Then the air was squeezed from his
lungs in a tight grip and he felt himself be pulled backwards by some unseen
force.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tada chapter one!!! Whatcha think? And just to set things
straight for the hopefuls out there, no Takeru
and Daisuke are not involved. They are not a couple. I wasn't sure if I made
that clear or not. Anyway that's all for now!!!
Hope you liked!