Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire- Chapter Seven

The mention of our destination jolted me awake with a start; Hayden woke up grumbling when my foot made contact with his ribcage. He stretched and then winced, rubbing at a spot under his heart.

"Ow..." he complained, glaring at me with impossibly blue eyes. Seeing was a much different experience when connected to a Dragon. "What was that for?"

Instead of answering him, I turned around to face my friend fully and announced, "Yín sè said that we're almost at the mainland!" A mixed expression of nervousness and excitement filled his face.

"I'm going to have to drop you off in the water, so they don't see me. Both of you can swim, right?" Hayden and I nodded.

"We'll have to keep our bags above water, but that should be easy," Hayden was checking to make sure all of his items were in place. "The water is pretty shallow, even when you get this far out."

Yín sè circled down slowly, giving us time to prepare ourselves for the coming swim. She landed gracefully. I could feel the tropical water on her belly as she settled herself in the warm ocean, then soon I felt it on my legs and stomach when Hayden and I slipped down from her back. Being disconnected from her was like blurring my mind; nothing was as clear as it was through her senses.

I tugged on her Běnzhí with my mind. Luckily I'd given my bag to Hayden for a moment, because when she finally disappeared into the Other World I was pushed back into the ocean. I blinked, glaring at Hayden as he laughed strongly.

Once I had my bag again the two of us set out for the coastline. It was about ten minutes before we reached it, and the sun was just beginning to tint the water a dark pink.

Fortunately we'd found somewhere that wasn't inhabited, seeing as the sight of two Xuétú was sure to draw attention. There was even an abandoned hut that, by the looks of it, hadn't been used in years. I stripped down to my underthings, wringing out the drenched Apprentice robes with equally wet hands.

"I forgot to mention," Hayden piped up while shaking the water off of his leggings, "I borrowed some of Trainer Mitsu's casual clothes, to help us fit in. They might be a little big for you, but Mitsu's the thinnest Trainer on the Isles." I nodded, catching the bundle of brown and green that he threw my way.

Finally my body was dry enough to dress myself. I made do with the clothing from Hayden, not used to having clothes that weren't engineered especially for me.

The loose green tunic fell limply about my small frame, half-covering the tight pants that came to just under my knee. I cinched the tunic around my waist with a corded brown belt that held my swords at my sides quite nicely. Then I slipped on the dark-coloured cloak that hid the swords from view, in case anybody got suspicious.

Hayden and I inspected each other's outfits. Hayden's was similar to mine, except without the belt and swords.

"Nice," he observed. "You look like those paintings of city people. Except..." He reached behind me to grab one of my braids, nimble fingers undoing the bindings that kept my messy hair in place. I gave him a questioning look. "When they realize we've disappeared they'll give descriptions to everyone. The braids are just too... you." He smiled at me, then his smile faded slowly and he cursed vehemently.

"What?" I asked, watching him as he began to pace around the small dwelling.

"Our tattoos!" he hissed. I finished unbraiding my hair and shook it out, letting it hang over the right side of my face.

"Well, I'm good on the tattoo front. But I don't know what we can do about y-"  Hayden stared at me as I grabbed his slightly damp leggings, brown eyebrows raised in confusion. The confusion went away, however, when I wrapped the red bottoms around his head like a scarf. Red material covered his face, leaving only an opening for his eyes and ears. His brown hair fell messily over the leggings and stuck out through gaps in the wrappings.

"Perfect," I grinned, stepping back to admire my work. Hayden no longer looked like Hayden, but like a city dweller that had an aversion to showing his face.

"Gods, it's hot in this thing."

"Don't complain, Hayden. Do you want it off and then get caught?" Once again Hayden was left speechless. Finally he rolled his eyes and shrugged his backpack onto his shoulder. I copied his action, then straightened my swords and the moss-green tunic.

"Let's go find those records." I swung open the door, letting myself out into the morning light and scrunching my toes when my bare feet met gravel.

We walked for about three minutes when the sounds of people talking and laughing and some other strange things that were new to my ears started to emerge. The smell of pastries was dominant, along with smoke and human body odor. We seemed to be leaving the abandoned area and entering the hustle and bustle of the main city.

When we turned the corner onto a busy street, I stopped dead. Hayden had also halted, seemingly taking in all the new stimuli. There had to be hundreds of people walking about on the street, all dressed in drab colours in simple designs. Most were men, although occasionally I saw women attached to the arms of some of the men. Nowhere was there a woman out by herself.

I threaded my arm through Hayden's, seeing as we didn't want to stand out and everyone else seemed to be doing it. He didn't even respond, just stared in awe at the several-stories-tall buildings that towered over the cobbled streets. A wooden cart pulled by- what were those?- made a clickety-clack sound on the road. Another one of those strange animals passed by, almost right in front of us.

Whatever it was, it had a very long face and what looked like hair. The body was large and strong, with legs that ended in some sort of strange feet. Its tail seemed to be made up of hair too! There was a man settled upon the back of this creature, who took his time to stare down and leer at me.

All of the sounds were overwhelming. In every direction there were new things to see, and Hayden and I kept veering off course to see what the fuss was all about. We didn't have any coins, but even just seeing some of the shops was enough. One elderly man was even nice enough to let us sample something he called "s'mores". They were gooey and sweet and delicious.

There was so much to see that we didn't even catch sight of what must have been the palace for two hours. It was a tall, imposing building, designed in red and black, covered in towers and spires and what Hayden said were guard outposts. He must have learned about them in his special royalty classes.

"You're gonna live there someday," I nudged Hayden in the side. It was obvious even from far away that the palace was very expensive and very lavish.

"Someday," he said wistfully. Almost like he was counting the days until he could become a Zhǔ and live up to his birthright.

"Now we find the Records Hall," I announced, tugging on Hayden's arm in what I assumed was the right direction. "We have to figure out who- what happened to L-Lucas." Hayden nodded determinedly.

Suddenly the memories of seeing Lucas dead rushed back to me, and the city didn't seem so wonderful anymore. It just seemed like another thing we had to get through before we could solve the murder.

Oh, Reiara. Don't worry, everything will be fine. The two of you can do this, I'm sure of it. Thanks, Yín sè. I try to make myself forget about it, but that only makes it worse. So I try to accept it, but that doesn't help either. That happens to anyone who's just had something horrible happen in their life. It will get better. You just have to give it time, and your mind will heal itself. Stay strong, little one.

The direction I'd thought the Record Halls were in eventually led us to the dead end of an alley, making me groan in frustration. I was just about to turn around when voices sounded behind us.

"Well, looky here. I wonder if these two have anything valuable in their bags?"

"Who cares. Even if there's nothing, there's still that little girl. She's got real long hair. I like my women with long hair."

Without even having to turn around, I knew that we were in deep trouble. Very deep trouble.

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Duh-duh-duh-daahhhh! Finally, completed chapter seven! How are you guys holdin' up? Still reading? Enjoying the story so far? Absolutely hating it? Tell me what you think in that comment box right down there!

I'm going to the cottage for the weekend, so no working on the next chapter until monday. Sorry if that'll make you hate me.