Chapter 12: Discovered Check
The trip to Winter was longer than expected, given all the circumstances. By the time Yukita had returned to White, Ameko had discussed her plan with Domani, and he had agreed to it after some deliberation and alteration of details. The snow demon had been interested to hear the plan, but had said nothing further beyond agreeing that it was a good idea.
Daisuke and Keisuke had been elected to stay behind in the White Rook in order to guard the kingdom, and Talira had volunteered to stay with them, as had Yukita. The female Cheshire had also offered to go search for Aizaem if he was needed. "He doesn't look it," the cat had told the rest of the group, "but he's one hell of a magic user. Then again, I suppose the guardian to the door of time would need to be such."
"What exactly is the door of time?" Domani had wondered.
Talira shrugged. "It's a hole in time, I guess you could say. It's said to be the birthing point for the White Kingdom. Of course, it moves around like everything else in the forest, so it's the guardian's job to keep it well hidden. I imagine Aizaem uses the door quite a bit to get to where he needs to be, or rather, when he needs to be. That's about the extent I know of it, though."
Jun and Emi, naturally, were returning with their king to Winter, but Domani had ordered Rosabella to stay behind with Fia. "I do not want to put her in danger. If something should happen to me, Fia is the hope of Winter. I won't have us in the same place at the same time."
"What if White is attacked?" Jun asked with a frown.
"If need be, we'll run away," Daisuke told him. "Into the forest. There isn't much that can catch a cat in the forest when he doesn't want to be found."
Rosabella frowned. "I understand the idea, but all the same, I'm worried about you, Domani."
"Have some faith in me," he told her gently, kissing her forehead. "I've gotten a bit stronger. I'm not going to fall apart because you aren't there, I promise."
She looked at him with a scowl, then held out her hand. "Shake on it."
Nikado laughed as Domani shook his wife's hand seriously. "You'll never be in trouble with her around, Domani."
"Don't I know it."
"And then Nikado and I are coming with you," Ameko said, looking over the map of Wonderland absently. "We're both needed for what I have in mind."
Nikado shook his head. The cat must not have been worried about his name being used in front of the others, for the expression in his ears and tail didn't change. "I wish I had a clearer idea of what we were doing."
"You and Domani get to attack the bloodturner when he comes. That's all you have to worry about."
"What if he doesn't come?" Emi asked.
"He will. It's a gambit he can't help but take. We're going to turn the bait around on him."
Domani looked over at the rest of the group. Two kings, two knights, two bishops, a queen, a former queen, a cheshire, and a snow demon. "Then I suppose that everyone is spoken for. Does everyone have any questions about their roles?" he directed at the table.
Keisuke shook his head, saluting. "Leave the defense of White to us. We'll make sure everything is okay."
Ameko smiled, reaching over and ruffling the boy's ears. "I know you will. Let's leave in the morning, then. Everyone have a good rest and prepare yourselves."
It was late in the evening, after dinner had long concluded, by the time the meeting had finished, and Domani caught up with Ameko as she left. "I can't help but agree with Nikado," he said in a low tone. "I wish I had a better idea of what was expected of me."
"Cut off his attack, make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. That's all." She looked at him and smiled. "What's the matter, don't you trust me?"
"More than I did," he confessed. "When we first met, you did not seem like you had much of a handle on things."
"When we first met, I didn't have much of a handle on things. But I've found people I can rely on," she said with a nod. "That includes you, you know. I'm glad that we've been able to make an alliance."
"This is the first time to my knowledge that Winter has ever made an alliance with another kingdom," he noted. "At least in recent history. I hope it pays off."
"I think it already has. You can reserve judgement for when we take back Winter, though." She paused outside her door, and gave him smile. "Good night, Domani. Pleasant dreams."
He looked toward his own door, where his wife and daughter were waiting. "I will. Thank you."
The trip to Winter took a little longer than Ameko had hoped for initially, primarily due to the fact that the party was on foot. Emi had only brought one of the great wolves from Winter when she had fled Winter with an injured Domani and exhausted Jun, and five people would be a bit much for the beast. "I hope this works," Jun muttered to himself for what had to be the umpteenth time.
"Are you nervous, Jun?" Domani asked.
"A bit. It's a lot harder to go up the bloodline than down, I know that much. And he's several generations removed from us. It's not even easy for him to use it against us." He paused, then added in a softer tone, "I had hoped you wouldn't find out about it."
"About what?"
"About our ancestry. About the fact that Emi and I are bloodturners." Jun looked over at Domani with his soft green eyes. "Do you think less of us, sire? Because we have such a disgusting ability?"
"That disgusting ability is hopefully going to save Winter," Domani pointed out, then sighed. "I think at one point, I would have been. I still get jumpy at the shadows. I'm still not sure about the cat or even the snow witch. But it's what I need to do to save Winter, and Ameko, at least, I feel I can trust." He reached over, and put a hand on Jun's head. "I have known you since we both were children. I know you would never willingly turn against Winter."
Jun sighed, and Domani withdrew his hand. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, nothing. It's just...Never you mind," Jun reassured after a moment. "We don't have the luxury of being distracted by such issues right now. Let's focus on the task at hand. Your wound isn't bothering you?"
He shook his head, touching a hand to his side. "No, the scar is barely visible. Thank you, by the way. Ameko told me of what you did for me when I was unconscious. She said it was because of you that I lived. I owe you my life, Jun."
The knight shook his head, deflecting the thanks. "I'm your knight, sire. That's my duty that I've sworn to do. Anything less would be rude."
"Still, you did it even though you knew I might find out about your ability. That it might cause me to turn from you. I don't know that most people would have the courage to do that, Jun. You are a very valuable ally...and a very valuable friend."
Jun looked down, his long eyelashes almost obscuring his eyes from the angle Domani was at. "I owe the royal family my life, as does Emi. What I've done is nothing compared to what you and Lady Rosabella have done for me, sire. We've both nearly been killed before, by our own mother, by the townspeople in the village we grew up in, trying to burn us for being monsters. No one ever asked questions of us, or wondered why they had tried to kill us. No one in the castle ever looked at us with disgust and mistrust in their eyes like we had experienced before. All I've done is save your life, sire. But you and Lady Rosabella saved our spirits."
Domani looked over at him, then put a hand on his shoulder. "I am glad we were able to do that for you, then. Shall we focus on the task ahead now, then? The task of saving our beloved home?"
Jun nodded, smiling slightly. "The next stream is up here," Nikado reported from ahead, ears flicking about. "This should take us right to the border of Winter. Can you release the seal once we're at the edge of the forest, Domani?"
He nodded. "How long will it take us to get to the Winter Rook from there?"
"An hour, maybe two. How long do you think it will take the bloodturner to get there?"
"Hopefully a little longer than that. We'd better hurry so we can set up our defenses properly. Let's go."
"The barrier is down."
"Yes, the barrier is down."
"So it seems, the barrier is down, lord."
The bloodturner rolled over on to his stomach, letting the sidhe soothe out the muscles in his back, the touch of her hands light against his bare skin. "You lot are sure? Winter is open again?"
"Yes, lord. It awaits your attack."
He rose from the table, rolling his shoulders as he held out a hand for his shirt in the dimly lit room. A sidhe handed it to him. "Then I'm departing now. Inform the King of my abscence. I will report back shortly with news of Winter's demise and return to Neverland."
"Are you sure?" one of the sidhe whispered. "You could die, you know."
"Yes, you could die."
"You were rebuffed before, were you not?"
The bloodturner smiled thinly. "That's true, but now I know what to expect. No one fools me twice." He cracked the knuckles in one hand, smiling to himself. "Besides, those two are ones that escaped me. I think it's time to return them to my grasp. The boy is of no use to me, but the girl is valuable for continuing my line. I'll keep her."
"It won't be easy," a sidhe whispered, and others murmured agreement.
The bloodturner frowned. "What's with the lot of you? Once I annihilate the Winter Rook, you lot will be allowed to feast on the remnants. I don't take any prisoners. Just leave the girl alive."
"We hear and understand, lord."
Sweeping out an arm, the man cast out a few drops of blood, and then he had vanished into the darkness.
The bell began ringing insistently as Domani took a seat in his throne. Jun rubbed at his wrist nervously, feeling the reaction of his blood. "He's trying to come. He's trying to get here."
"Will it hurt you if he comes through you?" Nikado asked. "Like Kanjiro did to me?"
"Not if I let him. I know spells to make it easier. Should I do that?"
Ameko nodded. Nikado's ears went back as he put a hand on his sword. "It makes me uneasy, you know. Kanjiro could do such magic, and that blood's in me."
"It's not in your bloodline," Jun told him. "Kanjiro must have taught himself, somehow. Possibly from the King of Neverland. He did create the bloodturner, after all."
Nikado sighed at that. "It just makes me wonder if he's got any plans for me himself."
"If he does, we'll stop that, too." Ameko pulled out the cloak, fastening it around her shoulders. "Let him in, Jun."
Emi pulled out a knife, readying it as Jun drew his own sword, letting some of his blood fall to the floor. With barely a trace of power, the bloodturner appeared in the room, glancing toward Jun. "I see you understand your place, boy. Hello, Winter King. I've come to take your head."
"Understand this," Emi growled from behind him as she cut open her own hand, tossing out a line of blood. Jun did the same thing from the other side, the two looping it around the bloodturner's neck.
"Clever," he said, breaking apart the lines of blood. "But not clever enough."
"I think it's clever enough," Jun stated, stepping back, Emi moving back as well.
The bloodturner frowned, then on an impulse, looked behind him. The siblings' blood had dripped onto his shadow behind him, and red runes burned there, imprinting a pattern on his shadow, sealing up some of his ability. "I see. You think that will save you?"
"It'll do for the moment," Domani said, waving a hand as he surrounded the room with a barrier. It was not a moment too soon, for the screeching of sidhe could be heard outside the room as they were trapped between Domani's two barriers.
"So you've done a bit of anticipation," the bloodturner observed. "It won't save you. Your power is still far inferior."
Nikado stepped out from behind Domani's throne, the Sword of the Lion and the Unicorn in his hands. "Then I guess we'd better even the odds, huh?"
The bloodturner looked at them for a moment, and then moved, his branded shadow following as he charged at the Winter King, pulling an arm back to deal him a hard blow. Domani did not move, and a small shield of ice formed in front of him, perfectly positioned and sized against the attack. And then Nikado moved to the attack, bringing the sword down in a blindingly fast slash, pivoting the blade as the bloodturner backed away hastily. Pressing his advantage, the cat moved nimbly after the bloodturner, forcing him back. Even as he was pressed, the bloodturner did not look alarmed, blocking the blows with little lines of blood.
Then something ran into the backs of his legs, and he stumbled back, glancing back in surprise. The object behind him was a chair, one that looped swift lines of ice over his arms to trap him there even as he landed. "I guess making all those chairs paid off," Domani noted.
The bloodturner looked at him calmly. "So what are you going to do, then? Murder me in cold blood?"
"No," Ameko stated calmly, walking up behind him and placing her hands on the chair's back. "We're making a capture."
For the first time, the bloodturner showed some surprise at the words, jerking to try and break the bonds. Taking careful aim, Nikado positioned the sword, and then cut into the bloodturner's neck, letting out blood that hung thickly in the air instead of spraying out like a normal wound. Ameko closed her eyes, murmuring something under her breath, and then the blood took on form, runes forming in the air. The bloodturner's eyes widened, and he tried to say something, but his throat was already cut. The rest of the blood drained from his body, and then his body itself turned into blood, completing the rune that burned in midair.
"Check," Ameko whispered, and she let the cape drop to the ground, touching the rune with a single finger. It vanished in midair, and Ameko could feel part of herself travelling with it, rushing through space at a speed that blurred everything around her, and then she could see a figure, reclining on a throne with bored, soulless eyes that narrowed as she approached.
YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE BETTER OF ME, MORTAL!
The next thing she knew, she was laying on the floor of the Winter Rook, Nikado looking down at her face. "Ameko?" he murmured. "You may have overdone it a little."
"He got away," she sighed, sitting up partway. "He got out of check. But he's wounded. He won't be able to bother us directly for a while."
"Who are you talking about?" Emi asked.
"I believe she's talking about the King of Neverland," Domani said slowly. "Aren't you? That was your target the entire time."
She managed a brief nod. "My ancestors left me an opportunity, a location. That's what it was. And we've used it, but I wasn't able to finish him off."
Domani considered, then shook his head, kneeling down and putting a hand on her shoulder. "You did very well, Ameko. Our kingdoms are safe and will be for some time while he recovers his strength. It will give our neighbors time to gather their strength as well."
She sighed, then nodded agreement. "It isn't as bad as I thought. Let's pick up here and we'll settle things. By the way...that really is a beautiful chair."
He looked at it, and laughed suddenly. "I suppose it is, in its own way. All the same, I do not think I will be keeping it."
"Understandable." Ameko groaned, leaning against Nikado. "I think I need to rest. Maybe I did overdo it."
Domani spread his hands. "Then you should stay and enjoy the hospitality of the Winter Kingdom, Ameko, Nikado. It's the least I can do for you. I will have a room prepared for you."
Jun smiled as he watched Domani bustle off, presumably looking for a servant to help him with the preparation. "He really is happy to be home. Thank you, Ameko, Nikado," he said, ducking a bit at the use of the cat's true name. "We owe you another debt we cannot repay."
"Friends and allies don't keep running tabs, Jun. You've done more than enough for us."
"Aren't you glad, big brother?" Emi said excitedly, twirling around in her glee. "Winter's safe and now that man can't come after us ever again. Everything worked out for the best. Hey, Lady Ameko, are you all right? You look a little green."
"I'll be fine. I just need some rest."
Ameko's condition didn't improve for a few days, and so Jun went to White to fetch Yukita, suspecting the cause to be magical in nature. She returned with Rosabella and Fia, the wife more than happy to be reunited with her husband. "Hm," Yukita mused after she had looked over Ameko. "This is most unusual. It has been a few months since you consummated your feelings with your husband, has it not?"
Ameko turned red at the question, but Nikado nodded. "Closer to a year, really. But what does that have to do with it?"
"White Queen, this may come as a bit of a surprise," Yukita stated calmly, picking up a nearby tea cup and sipping at it. "You are pregnant."
"P-Pregnant?" Ameko blurted out. "I don't see how that's possible, the last time I...well, it was back then!"
"That is precisely why this is so unusual, White Queen. Although I have heard of such a thing before, this is the first time I have seen it in action."
"Yukita, remember how you promised to be less obfuscating? Are you going to honor that promise?"
The snow demon cracked a smile of amusement, trying to hide it with the teacup. "You are currently pregnant with the twins you will bear sometime in the near future. Although you conceived when your love was first consummated--and I have heard that royal lines are more likely to have such a thing happen for the necessity of securing heirs--your body recognized that in the current state of White and the danger from Neverland, that you had little chance of carrying your children safely to term. So your body had itself frozen in that state, keeping your children safe by not letting them develop. Now that you are safe and your kingdom is well on its way to a full restoration, it has released the power, and your body is returning at an accellerated rate to where it would be. I would suggest feeding her well," she addressed to Nikado. "I imagine the event will occur in about a month, if my math is correct."
Nikado shook his head. "That's crazy."
"Is it any crazier than anything else that has occured recently, White King?"
"Any crazier than me becoming king? Any crazier than Ameko going from a girl on a farm to a Queen? Any crazier than going up against two generals and one sub-general of Neverland and winning all three times? Any crazier than going up against the King of Neverland himself and doing some damage?" He shook his head. "You've made your point."
Yukita smiled at that. "I would say that your reign is off to an impressive start, White Queen. You have set the standard quite high."
Ameko sighed, sitting back in the bed. "You're right. I suppose the only way to live up to that from now on is to destroy Neverland for good."
