Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Kodansha USA in the United States, NOT by me.

Other characters are also the property of their respective creators and owners, not me.

Some characters created by kafka'sdragon for his 'Markham Chronicles Negima' story are used here with his permission. Kafka'sdragon often contributes ideas, paragraphs, or entire sections of a chapter, and such help is much appreciated.

(-)

"A operation conceived, planned, and executed originally on my own authority; I informed Speaker Xander of its existence only verbally; without ever physically or electronically recording the details anywhere except in this written journal. Because there should be no possibility of a security breach concerning its existence; I have high hopes for the operation to infiltrate the Mercenary army in Zephillia…"
-Colonel Joseph Beria, Chief of Military Intelligence, Northern Alliance and Megalo-Mesembria

Mage War

Chapter Seventy-Four: A Tiger and a Mouse

(-)

(Southwest of the Island of Bermuda, November, 2050, USS North Carolina)

"THRILLING! ISN'T IT, GENERAL MARKHAM?!"

Standing on the open deck above North Carolina's bridge, bracing himself against the railing as the refitted battleship plowed through a heavy sea, wasn't exactly what General James Markham would normally refer to as 'thrilling.' However, the excited look on the face of the young transfer pilot, bordering almost on a maniacal grin, showed that Konrad Adenaur Jr. clearly thought otherwise.

Like a Harbor Pilot would normally guide a vessel in or out of a harbor anywhere in the world; Konrad had been sent to the North Carolina to guide it where it needed to go. Apparently the son of the former head of the Adenaur Group in Ariadne and the former Magistrate of Granicus City in the Mundus Magicus; the boy was apparently the one who would activate whatever sorcery would deliver the battleship and all the personnel and equipment secured on board to that war ravaged place.

Of course he was aware of the transfer gates; but apparently they were going to use some 'once every twenty-or-so years' alignment of the planets and magical energy the Adenaur Group had discovered to move the battleship, everything, and everyone on board to some location in the Cerberus Sea. From there they would head for Elysium and Dracogenia; rendezvous with resistance and other military forces native to the Mundus Magicus, and make the final preparations for an attack it was hoped would bring the war to a rapid end.

Looking down towards the ship's bow as it plunged into yet another wave; he worried about he covers protecting several Osprey aircraft as the green waters crashed against them and flowed away through the scuppers and back into the sea. So far there hadn't been any failures in the seemingly flimsy constructs, so he briefly gave a thought to the danger posed by some turncoat naval unit which might attempt to intercept them, then faced Konrad once more, "I'm not sure how thrilling it is to everyone that's down with motion sickness; but I will admit this is different than riding a helicopter or MAC aircraft through a thunderstorm."

North Carolina's bow split another wave, and the spray rose high enough and in great enough volume it would have soaked both of them if that wasn't already the case; "EXACTLY! You can't encounter ANYTHING like this back home! Biggest storms there are the sandstorms out in the more barren regions; on the sea, the most you see is normal rainstorms. So dull…!"

A flash of lightning filled the sky, and left it illuminated in a weirdly roiling wash of colors that reminded James about a movie where the old USS Nimitz somehow traveled back in time to right before Pearl Harbor…

"NOT MUCH LONGER NOW, GENERAL MARKHAM!"

James watched with slowly widening eyes as North Carolina's bow began dropping into a wave trough so deep her felt the amount of water which would crash across the ship would surely sweep everything but the ship's superstructure away…

…just as the bow cut into the following wave though; there was a flash where the colors of everything around James suddenly inverted…

…and North Carolina was sailing across a calm sea, nighttime stars visible and not a cloud in the sky…

Throwing back his raingear's hood, Konrad spread out his arms in an encompassing gesture, turned, and smiled at his companion, "General Markham! I welcome you and everyone on board this fine ship to Mars and the Mundus Magicus!"

Momentarily confused by the sudden change of environment, James looked dazedly around for a moment, then up at a clear night sky and the two moons he'd gown quite familiar with during his previous visit. Reaching out, he shook the grinning Konrad's hand, then opened and reached inside a waterproofed box for a telephone handset. Pulling the device from its cradle, he punched a button that connected him to the North Carolina's bridge, just below his feet, "Captain Lee; we've arrived. As soon as the navigators confirm our position, set a course for Dracogenia."

"At once; General Markham."

(-)

(Near Zephillia, Mundus Magicus)

With Northern Alliance forces advancing steadily closer to Zephillia, Gwen Sevensheep knew Hiro Sasuki would probably send her and the other five Valkyrie Cadets away from the city. It most likely wouldn't be back to Ariadne, but she had been encouraged not to be too curious about where their destination might actually be.

In any case; the use of the Valkyrie Cadets as scouts would soon be pointless anyway… when the Northern Alliance attack was fully developed, it would be painfully obvious where they were…

Having located several units that were pushing aggressively towards Zephillia, Gwen turned and began leading everyone back towards the city. As soon as they delivered their report, they would probably be ordered to get ready to leave.

("I wonder if Mister Sasuki is going to stay in Zephillia, or if he will go to the new base as well?")

Grinding her teeth slightly, Gwen looked over towards Mimiko Inugami. Despite the scare he'd given her on Matastica Island, the Inu-Jin girl still had a bit of a crush on Hiro Sasuki. ("Whether he goes or stays isn't any business of ours, Mimi.")

Her posture showing a bit of dejection, Mimi nodded.

As bad as being attracted to the man who had been living with Commandant Monroe since long before the current war was; at least she wasn't being chased by a ne're-do-well rouge.

Arête Ayase had somehow managed to attract the attention of Kuroshi Nekome, the Nek-Jin air fish pilot who had come to pick them up from Matastica Island. As much as was possible without being a complete bother, Kuroshi had been the short Valkyrie cadet's constant companion ever since returning from some kind of mission he'd been hired for by Colonel Sasuki.

Recalling the end of the conversation when she'd tried to warn Kuroshi to stay away from Arête still set her teeth to grinding...

"I think Arête is pretty cute… What's the matter? Don't you think it would work out between a guy like me and a girl like her?"

"NO! I DON'T!"

Kuroshi's laughter as he walked away showed how little he was intimidated by her warning... ("Hopefully we won't have to worry about that stray cat hanging around anymore once we leave.")

Flattered by Kuroshi's attention, particularly since she didn't consider herself to be the most attractive of the six Valkyrie cadets, Arête shook her head in response to Gwen's comment. ("Come on Gwen: Kuroshi's not that b-waAAAGGHH!")

Feeling a 'thump!' in the air just before nearly being dismounted from her fight staff, Gwen turned to see Arête and her staff spiraling and falling separately towards the ground. Before she could even shout out the girl's name, another barrage of anti-air sagita from the hidden battery that was apparently responsible rose up from the ground. ("Heavy sagita fire! Watch out!")

Bursting with ugly black puffs and designed to damage whaleships, the anti-air sagita were easily capable of obliterating something as small as a single Valkyrie; IF they could score a direct hit…

Even as Mimi and the other girl's split up and evaded generally towards Zephillia, Gwen tried for Arête; but to no avail… the surprisingly accurate heavy sagita chased her around the sky, preventing any real attempt at rescue until Arête finally disappeared into the forest growth below.

Sickened by the thought the loss was her fault due to not paying more attention, she bit her lip and reluctantly turned to race off towards Zephillia.

(-)

After a noise like the end of the world, the first thing Arête Ayase felt like doing when awareness returned was vomiting…

("I wouldn't do that if I were you…")

Despite what the soft mental voice said, Arête felt as if she wouldn't be able to help doing so…

Her ears were ringing and she was being tossed and jolted about like a sack of tubers… Taken together with being unable to tell which way was up, her nausea was nearly overwhelming

A tiny, different, voice in her head said Northern Alliance forces were nearby, and that to leave ANY kind of spoor would be highly unadvisable…

Since lack of awareness seemed like the only refuge, she surrendered to it, and passed out once more.

(-)

(Zephillia, whaleship landing field)

Followed by Arête's stray cat, Gwen broke into a trot to keep up with Hiro Sasuki, "Please Colonel Sasuki! I have to go back to try and get Are… I mean, Cadet Ayase!"

Concerned with the thousand details necessary to transfer the majority of his mercenary operations to Elysium before Zephillia could be overrun by the Northern Alliance, Hiro Sasuki wasn't in much of a mood to listen to a distraught cadet leader… at least Kuroshi was keeping quiet, but it was obvious he wanted to go after Arête as well, "Listen; you don't even know if she's still alive. I'm aware of Valkyrie tradition; believe me I am; but I can't risk the other five of you, or Kuroshi and his air fish, for someone who might be dead!"

Reluctant to do so, but seeing no other option; Gwen reached for and pulled a tall card out of her back pocket, "What if I can prove she's alive?"

Suddenly leery; Hiro stopped and faced Gwen, "Oh really… how can you do that…?"

Without hesitation, Gwen held out the Magister's copy of her provisional contract with Arête. The presence of all the information indicated that her Ministra was still quite alive.

Narrowing his eyes, Hiro gave Gwen a look of extreme disapproval, "Aren't you a bit young to be making provisional contracts? Though I can see now by the artifact how you likely managed to acquire your armor."

"So then, can I…"

Before Gwen could get any further, Hiro interrupted and turned to her companion, "Kuroshi; you I can trust to do what's necessary… I want you to take Cadet Leader Sevensheep, the other four girls, and your cargo load down to Elysium. If she resists, get Tosaka and his gang and hogtie all of them! I know you're also worried about Arête, but getting moved has to take precedent."

Ready to grab the suddenly indignant and flushed Gwen Sevensheep if she tried to bolt, Kuroshi nodded, "You'll wait as long as you can though, right?"

With a final, silent and affirmative nod, Hiro turned and continued on to his other tasks.

Realizing she'd been defeated, Gwen turned to see if she still had an ally in Arête's stray cat… The look on Kuroshi's face said that was no longer so… When he reached out and tried to take her arm again, she jerked it out of the way, "Don't touch me!"

As Gwen turned and stalked off towards where the Hawk was parked, Kuroshi shook his head. If only she knew Hiro as well as he did… 'Wait as long as possible?' It was likely his father would wait until he was clobbering Northern Alliance troopers with his fists before finally giving up on the possibility of Arête returning…

(-)

(Near Zephillia)

Over several blinks, Arête finally opened her eyes again…

Her mouth felt dry, and it seemed hard to move, but at least she was still alive… ("My head's killing me… that's still better than being in the belly of some creature, or strung up on a Northern Alliance torture rack…")

Reaching up, Arête felt something across her mouth, and realized she'd been gagged… a few more blinks focused her vision slightly, and revealed her wrists were bound… panic was ready to set in when a shadow eclipsed whatever light was illuminating the area.

("Are you finally awake? Good… what with your delirious moaning and thrashing, I had to restrain you.")

A single hand reached up and loosened the gag, then began working to loosen the wrist bindings. Since what little light there was kept getting blocked off, she began to wonder if it was night…

("It's past midnight, but Alliance troopers are close enough to spit on, so I wouldn't do anything to draw their attention if I were you.")

Panic tickled at Arête's mind again, but rumors about what had been done to Valkyries captured alive on Cythera Island were more than enough to inspire clamping her mouth shut.

As she sat in the dark, unmoving, her ears and eyes slowly began to adjust to the environment. Whoever was helping her seemed from his outline to be some kind of beast man; while outside of their hiding place she could hear sounds of movement and muffled voices.

Eventually, the sounds ceased. The beast man remained unmoving and silent though, so Arête followed his lead. When he finally did move again, after what seemed like the passage of many hours, she waited until a gesturing hand indicated it was safe to follow before even daring to move.

If she wasn't completely disoriented, it looked like the sun was just starting to come up, "Where are we?"

Finally, visible enough to be recognized for what he was, a tiger Nek-Jin with a bandaged hand turned to face Arête, "Not far from the camp of that unit that shot you down. They've been going crazy trying to find you. If I hadn't happened to be nearby when you came down I'm sure they would have."

Since she was only wearing her under-armor shrift, spats, and boots, Arête understood the tiger-man had probably removed and left the Valkyrie armor behind. Not the best of outcomes, but better than having to play host to the attentions of Northern Alliance troopers. A quick panicked patting revealed her contract card with Gwen was still safe in its pocket, "Please accept my thanks for your help."

Seemingly satisfied there wasn't anything immediately threatening nearby, the tiger-man turned and faced Arête directly, "That's all fine and well; but aren't you a bit small for a Valkyrie?"

Such a comment caused Arête to flush crimson. Only the huge grin on the tiger-man's face, indicating he was just teasing, kept her from replying.

Raising an eyebrow at her reaction, the tiger-man seemed to realize he'd been closer to the truth than his jest was intended to be, "Anyway; now that these guys have moved closer to Zephillia, we need to get going before someone else moves into their old camp."

When the tiger-man knelt and indicated for Arête to climb on his back, she quickly did so. It wasn't long; however, before it became obvious they were heading away from Zephillia, "Why are we…"

Ears folded back as he ran, the tiger-man nodded to acknowledge Arête's implied question, "I was trying to get into Zephillia myself when you fell in my lap. Since the direct way there is blocked now, we'll cut out to one side and try to get around another way."

Nodding, Arête remained silent, alternately tightening and loosening the grip she held around the tiger-man's neck and shoulders as needed while he ran.

Several days passed, with barely a word between them, before he changed directions and she knew they were finally heading towards Zephillia.

After settling into and old tokage burrow to rest one night, Arête bumped the tiger-man's bandaged hand, and it seemed like all he could do to keep from screaming.

Fretting and apologizing as he writhed on the floor of the burrow, holding his wrist, she waited until the thrashing stopped before coaxing him to sit up and gingerly beginning to remove the bandages. Despite how little she knew about medicine, smell alone told her there was something seriously wrong before the last strip of cloth finally came free.

Obviously in tremendous pain, the tiger-man continued holding his wrist as Arête gently turned it to see what she could see, "Stupid porcu-thistles… set my hand down and one nailed me before I realized it was there."

Based on the redness and fluids weeping out of the entry hole for the porcu-thistle's barb, Arête could tell the hand was seriously infected. Despite the tiger-man's fur, the redness starting to extend up his wrist was not a good sign, "You need to get the barb out before gangrene sets in, if it hasn't already…"

Drawing his hand back as he did so, the tiger-man shook his head, "Don't you think I'd like to? I have a blade… but the angles wrong; I can't do it myself…"

Staring blankly for a second, Arête finally realized what the tiger-man meant by his pause and started shaking her head, "No… no way! I've barely had anything more than basic first-aid and healing spell training! I'm not qualified to do something like that!"

Taking out his blade, the tiger-man held it out hilt-first to Arête, "Who else is there to do it? If I go delirious with fever, how will you make it to Zephillia by yourself?"

Looking at the infected hand, Arête felt her nausea returning… The tiger-man was right though… there wasn't really any choice…

Reaching up, she touched the contract card in its pocket and muttered the activation phrase under her breath. Taking the Orbis Sensualium Pictus when it appeared, she plopped down on the spot and opened it up "Gi… give me a few moments to work myself up to it."

Curious, the tiger-man moved closer and leaned over Arête's shoulder, "Quite the toy you have there."

Startled, Arête looked up for a moment before returning her attention to the book, "Not really; it's just an encyclopedia I've acquired that has a hammerspace storage function."

After a few moments of searching, she looked up at the tiger-man again, "If you would, please go find me a stick or branch about an inch or two thick, and about a foot long."

Know what the purpose of the request was, the tiger-man rose up and left the burrow.

When he returned, Arête was standing there, her book floating in the air to one side, "Give me your belt and your blade…"

Nodding, the tiger-man pulled off his belt, then handed it and the blade over. When Arête indicated a nearby root, running from the ceiling of the burrow to its floor, he put his arm up against it, near the wrist.

Trying not to think too much about what she was about to do, Arête quickly secured the tiger-man's wrist to the root, then took the blade and turned to face him. As she grabbed the arm behind his wrist, opposite the infected side; she had a sudden thought and looked up, "I'm Arête. What is your name, anyway?"

"Pi."

Resisting the urge to start laughing, Arête continued studying the Tiger-man's hand, "Like from math? …put the stick in your mouth…"

Wincing as Arête's grip tightened; Pi shook his head, "No… there was some movie from the Mundus Vertus my grandmother liked where that word was part of the title."

Since she didn't get the reference, Arête shrugged and repositioned her hands a bit as Pi put the stick in his mouth and bit down, "I'll do it on the count of three…" Feeling Pi nod, she positioned the blade to lance the infection, "One…"

Suspecting what was about to happen, but still not sure, Pi bit down harder on the stick but tried to keep his arm relaxed…

Not giving Pi any further chance to tense up, Arête stabbed the tiger-man's blade deep into the center of the infection, opposite the entry point of the porcu-thistle… As the Orbis Sensualium Pictus had said to expect, the thistle shot out of the wound, propelled by the pressure of the infection behind it…

…it was all she could do not to throw-up at the sight of what came out after that…

Above Arête, Pi was biting down so hard the sound of splintering wood could be heard, followed by a few bits of wood which caught in her hair. Shuddering and trying desperately not to thrash; the tiger-man's pained, muffled growling soon escalated the point of screaming.

Leaving the blade in the wound, Arête squeezed Pi's hand until most of the fluid coming out was dark, but relatively normal looking blood. Pulling out the blade, she stabbed in into the root as an expedient, then turned to her artifact and began chanting the marked and sterilization and anti-bleeding spells.

In so much pain he could hardly stand, Pi finally slumped down and allowed the remains of the crushed stick to fall from his mouth.

When her spells were complete, Arête realized with horror that she'd not prepared any new bandages to bind Pi's hand up with. Sterilization spells were easy enough, students at Ariadne learned them early for lab classes, but much more than that was currently beyond her ability. The hand would have to be bound up, kept clean, and allowed to heal the rest of the way more naturally.

Faced with no other choice, she jerked off her shrift and began using it to bind up the wounded hand. When that was done, all that remained was to remove the belt from around Pi's wrist,

When it came free, Pi immediately cradled the wrist to his chest. He remained that way for a long moment, moaning softly, before realizing the pain was actually less than it had been just a little while before. Looking up, his eyes went wide at what he saw.

Too in shock over what had just happened; Arête found she didn't have any strength left to be concerned over her lack of modesty, "Well, Pi, you seem to be a bit better… If you don't mind, I think I'm going to faint now…"

Despite his injured arm, Pi jumped forward to catch Arête before she could hit the floor of the burrow.

(-)

Waking up with a start, Arête felt panic trying to take hold until the scent of fur and the rumbling sound of something big breathing reminded her of where she was…

Sleeping on the floor of a tokage burrow of questionable cleanliness didn't bear thinking about, but with Pi curled around her protectively, she felt unexpectedly safe…

Eyes growing heavy again, think about another 'cat' she knew, Arête pressed up against her companion for warmth and quickly drifted off to sleep once more.

(-)

A deep rumbling noise brought Arête out of her slumber to find Pi no longer in the tokage burrow. Sitting up, she rubbed at her eyes and realized there was a shadow in the burrow's entrance. Rising and a few steps brought her out far enough to stand beside the tiger-man, "What's happening?"

Towards the pre-dawn horizon; the flash of sagita artillery firing and impacting could be seen.

Still cradling his wounded hand protectively, Pi looked down at Arête, "Northern Alliance units are bombarding Zephillia's outer defenses… we'd better hurry if we want to get there before it's too late."

Glancing up and noticing Pi's mildly amused gaze, Arête covered her exposed chest reflexively.

Chuckling, Pi reached over and patted Arête's shoulder, "You sleep next to a grown man when you're nearly naked, and now you're embarrassed? When her ears flushed red, he pointed off in a different direction, "I think I can see a village over that way. We'll go see if it's safe; then try to find you some clothes."

Nodding, Arête abandoned her modesty once more and followed Pi away from their hiding place.

By the time the sun was directly overhead, the two of them were hidden outside what looked like an abandoned village.

"Why isn't anyone here? You'd think the Alliance would at least have scouts or something occupying a place like this…"

Next to Arête, Pi was rubbing his chin, "Well… maybe they don't want to waste the effort to watch every little village? As long as the people they consider to be vermin are gone, why should they care?"

Seeing the logic in Pi's words, Arête started to rise up, but Pi's hand pushed her back down, "You stay here; even with my bad hand I can still run faster than you if there's trouble."

With a nod, Arête settled down and watched as Pi made his way into the village. He slipped into the first home and remained inside for several minutes, then came out carrying what looked like a cape. After going through several more homes, he left in a different direction than he'd entered, and eventually made his way back to where she was hiding.

Giving a hand signal, Pi directed Arête to follow, the turned and headed back into the woods. After moving what seemed a reasonable distance, he turned and handed over the salvaged clothes, "Sorry about the wait; but it looks like the Alliance has been in that village… and not in a good way… I wanted to make sure they weren't coming back before we stopped."

Unwrapping what seemed to be a cape; Arête saw the somewhat skimpy offering inside and gave Pi a raised eyebrow, "Pervert… and what's with this cap? It looks like it has ears…"

Not seeming remorseful in the least Pi smiled and shrugged, "Most everything else was torn up or… less than clean… The cap with ears must have belonged to some kind of Nek-Jin."

Sighing, Arête proceeded to put on a pair of shorts, a too-big chemise-like top she closed around her waist with a ribbon, then finally and the hood with the ears, "This really isn't the best choice in terms of camouflage, but at least it's big enough to conceal my face in a pinch…"

First nodding in approval of the image Arête now presented, Pi turned and started walking, "As long as we stay far enough away from Alliance troops, that won't matter. It may still take us a number of days to get to Zephillia, so another reason for the headgear is so you'll have a cover if it rains."

As right as Pi had been about things, Arête was tempted to throw off the cap out of pure spite… Lectures by her mother usually didn't make much sense until later; but she was starting to understand one of them now… Being treated like a child by someone just because of her stature, even if it was happening unconsciously, was irritating in the extreme…

"Coming Arête?"

Sighing, Arête took off at a trot and soon caught up to Pi.

(-)

Less than a day later, Arête was glad she'd not given in to her emotions. Rain was pouring from the sky, and the wideness of the cap kept the water out of her eyes and made it easier to see, "I hope we don't walk into a Cerberus Cloth-Eater pit in this mess."

After a brisk shake to throw off the moisture accumulating on his facial fur, Pi paused to look around before moving off in a slightly different direction, "That shouldn't be too much of a worry… they're not usually found much further beyond the Cerberus Forest than Albor."

When Pi suddenly sneezed, Arête took a step back, then resumed following the tiger-man, "I heard a few fools have tried using them in ornamental gardens…"

Giving a short, barking laugh, Pi shook his head sniffed loudly, "I once knew someone who did that… the idiot never seemed to comprehend why people stopped coming to visit him."

Following another sneeze, Arête reached out and gently touched Pi's arm, "Should we stop and try to find some shelter? It sounds like you're starting to catch a cold."

Sheltering his eyes with a hand, Pi looked up and studied the sky for a bit, "Not yet; it's barely past midday. We're two, three days at most from being able to reach Zephillia. The further we can get today, the less we'll have to travel tomorrow or the next day."

Shrugging in resignation, Arête stepped out after Pi as he began moving again, but began looking as much as possible for any place that might work as a potential shelter.

(-)

Having found a small cave capable of supporting a fire that wouldn't be seen from the outside, Arête had used her magic to dry and ignite some wood, then promptly fallen asleep.

Pi sat on the other side of the fire, tending the flames, shaving splinters off a stick with his knife, and drying his fur.

Looking over at Arête, lying curled up in a ball, he watched the slow rise and fall of her chest as she slept… the fire popped, causing him to blink, and when he looked again, there seemed to be… something… standing over the girl…

Whatever the apparition was, it was watching him intently… If it had been one of those 'dog' creatures from the Mundus Vertus, he had the feeling it would have been growling a warning at him…

Another pop came, and the creature was gone.

Tossing the stick onto the fire, Pi sheathed his blade, lay down, and went to sleep.

(-)

Having cut so far to one side in order to get around the Northern Alliance army attacking Zephillia, Arête had nearly forgotten it was under attack. As she and Pi closed on the city, the continuous rumble of sagita artillery quickly reminded her of that fact… "Things don't really look that good… are you sure we can get into the city?"

Standing beside Arête on a hill overlooking Zephillia, Pi could see the flash of smaller sagita shots from individual attackers and defenders nearly surrounding the city, "Our biggest worry will be to avoid getting shot by the defenders… After that we better hope there's a way out if the city gets surrounded; otherwise all this running around we did will have been for nothing."

On the one road that still seemed to be open, Arête could see a steady stream of refugees, trying to avoid the occasional long-range sagita artillery shot as they moved towards questionable safety in the Hellas Empire or Ariadne. Air fish transports would also depart occasionally from the city, chased by anti-air sagita until they either escaped, or thankfully rarely; fell to the ground in flames.

Roaring in low over the hill they were standing on, an air fish she recognized raced in towards Zephillia and quickly settled down somewhere on the landing field, "Come on!"

Surprised by Arête's sudden excited call, Pi loped off after her as she ran down the hill and towards the road.

It took several hours to do so, and many refugees called out to them that they were going the wrong way, but the two of them eventually reached a guard post where they were stopped.

"Please! Just contact Cadet Leader Sevensheep of the Valkyrie Scout Squad, or Captain Nekomi of the Crescent Hark, or even Colonel Sasuki! Any of them can confirm my identity!"

As he continued covering what looked like a kid and a mangy tiger Nek-Jin with his sagita weapon, the mercenary officer in charge of the guard post wavered over what he should do… Anyone trying to get into Zephillia was likely either an idiot or a spy. The easiest thing to do would be to just shoot them both down, and worry about the consequences later.

Seeing the guard's weapon shift slightly, Pi took a half step forward to draw the man's attention away from Arête, "Were you asked to watch out for a LIRP scout trying to get back into the city?"

THAT got the guard's attention, and he turned towards another mercenary standing just outside a makeshift guard shack, "Contact central communications. Tell them we might have that scout we're supposed to watch for."

Surprised, Arête looked up at Pi, who just shrugged.

The two of them didn't have long to wait, but the person who showed up wasn't the one guards seemed to expect.

Riding a sidecar equipped air bike, Kuroshi Nekomi raced up and skidded to a stop that sent dust and a few pebbles scattering towards the guards, "Arête!"

Even though Gwen had told her to stay away from the Nek-Jin rogue, Arête found she was genuinely happy to see him.

Jumping off his bike, Kuroshi stopped and hesitated a bit, sensing Arête's worry, before just stepping forward and drawing her into an embrace, "Hey girl… You really had me worried…"

Tears suddenly running down her face, Arête retuned Kuroshi's embrace, "Tha… thank you."

Arriving at a more sedate pace, a small Orca air fish arrived at the gate. Two heavily armed mercenaries climbed out, followed by a smaller individual who immediately came over and pricked both Arête and Pi with the paper blades built into a pair of ofuda tags. Satisfied with what the spells revealed, he nodded, and the two mercenaries stepped back and indicated for Pi to get in the transport.

Seeing that they didn't seem to care about her, Arête remained where she was. After the Orca departed, she went over and climbed into Kuroshi's sidecar, "Where are the rest of the girls?"

Gunning the bike's spirit engine, Kuroshi lifted off and headed back into Zephillia, "Hiro made me take them where I'll probably wind up taking you. I was supposed to stay there; but an excuse came up to return here, so I did. I was monitoring the guard post communications after I landed, and that's why I knew you were here."

Nodding, Arête pulled off the cat-eared cap and held it in her lap. Feeling an odd warmth as they neared the Crescent Hark; she reached up and found her contract card was hot. Taking it out, she flipped it over and saw that the broom part of the image was actually glowing. The stupid thing never came out when the Orbis Sensualium Pictus was summoned, so she'd always figured it was something symbolic for her incarnation of the artifact, and not actually a broom.

"…to be true when I heard you were back."

Something Kuroshi said suddenly made Arête's mind and heart race, "What? What did you just say?"

Seeing Arête nearly standing up in the sidecar, Kuroshi gave her a worried look, "I said; when I heard you were back I almost thought it was too good to be true."

"Too good to be true…"

That thought brought the memory of one of Colonel Oishi's lectures to the fore; 'Where something sounds too good to be true; it usually is.'

Escaping certain capture after landing in an area overrun with Northern Alliance troops, leaving her armor behind, the seemingly abandoned village he stopped her from going into, a few other things… ("And I helped him get into Zephillia!") "Ku… Kuroshi! Where's the Colonel!?"

Easily realizing Arête was on the verge of panic, Kuroshi pointed off towards the control tower for the landing field. Probably over there, coordinating the evacuation, why?"

Hoping her mother's stories weren't all foolishness after all; Arête pulled out her contract card and jumped from Kuroshi's bike, "ADEAT!"

Instantly the broom appeared; carrying her off towards the control tower; with Kuroshi falling helplessly behind as he tried to follow.

(-)

"I'm glad you were able to get through with your intelligence about how quickly the Alliance units are moving up. Now it should be a bit easier to judge how much longer we can reasonably expect to be able to hold out."

When Colonel Oishi stopped and squinted at something in the distance, Pi tuned and saw what seemed to be a pair of growing dots in the sky…

(-)

Seeing the movement, Arête realized trying to get close enough to really do anything was now hopeless… Remembering what one of her mother's stories about the broom, she unhesitatingly threw herself off, "Sick-EM!"

Responding with what may or may not have been a draconic roar; the broom shot towards Pi and Colonel Oishi.

Expecting to hit the ground, Arête instead felt the welcome embrace of Kuroshi's sidecar.

"What in the name of two worlds were you thinking girl!?"

Ignoring Kuroshi, Arête watched as her broom flashed across the intervening space and slammed Pi up against the control tower wall just as it seemed like he was starting to make a move towards Colonel Oishi. The two guards from earlier immediately brought up their weapons, so she raised her hands.

Covered by the sagita weapons and Colonel Oishi's hard gaze; wondering if he should have stayed away from Arête after all; Kuroshi guided his bike down to a landing before joining her face down on the ground when the two mercenaries came over and ordered them to assume that position.

After watching for a moment as Arête's broom defied every attempt at capture, Hiro walked over to where she lay on the ground, "Explain to me please why I shouldn't be upset."

Rising up just enough to allow herself to speak, Arête continued to face the ground, "Colonel; didn't you tell Gwen and the rest of us on Matastica Island at one point that too many coincidences aren't that, they're a deliberate plan?"

Letting his anger subside only slightly, Hiro nodded, "Go on…"

(-)

As she stood and watched Pi being readied for transport to Ariadne for interrogation, Arête could see that the injuries he'd received had finally been enough to collapse an amazingly extensive disguise spell, revealing him to be a Hu-Jin. Despite being secured in a stretcher, he turned slightly and saw her standing there with Kuroshi. Motioning with his eyes, he indicated a desire for her to come over.

Moving to interfere, Pi's guards were stopped when Colonel Oishi shook his head.

Stopping next to the stretcher, Arête looked and saw that Pi's hand seemed a lot better now, "Was that all part of your plan?"

Glancing down, Pi looked at the hand, then lay back and shook his head, "No… you really did do me a favor with that."

Noticing the broom Arête was holding, he gave it an odd look before shaking his head, "I guess I really did see something that night in the cave when it was raining… I thought about killing you, but there seemed to be something standing over you like a loyal guard-beast."

Understanding was easy, but it still gave Arête a slight chill to realizing how close she'd been to death… In the cave hadn't been the only time though… "Even if it was part of your plan, you still saved me after I was shot down, so thanks again for that."

Giving a nod, Pi held Arête's gaze for a moment before lying back as two air fish crewmen arrived with a mercenary guard to carry him onto the transport.

As the air fish took off, chased by the usual anti-air fire, Colonel Oishi came over, "Fortunately, Kuroshi, you'll be loaded to the gills with refugees for the trip back. Thanks to that I know I won't have to worry about Sevensheep's wrath when I arrive myself."

Sensing Arête blushing furiously beside him, Kuroshi turned to face Hiro, "Of course; I will most certainly be on my best behavior as I transport Arête, I mean, Miss Ayase, to where she can rejoin the other Valkyrie Cadets."

Knowing better than that, and also that the only way to avoid what might happen would be to chain Kuroshi and Arête to stanchions at opposite ends of the Crescent Hawk, Hiro shook his head and turned to walk away, waving them on as he did so, "Get going; I've got people I need to go meet, and a war to win."

Reaching out Kuroshi took Arête's hand, "Time to go; are you ready?"

Gripping Kuroshi's hand in return, Arête nodded before following him off towards whatever role the Mage war still had left for them…

tsuzuku

Author's Notes:

"a movie where the old USS Nimitz somehow traveled back in time to right before Pearl Harbor…" the 1980 film, 'The Final Countdown.'

"No… there was some movie from the Mundus Vertus my grandmother liked where that word was part of the title," the 2012 film, 'Life of Pi.'

Next: The Greatest Raid