Supper was a quiet affair, with questions lingering at the back of Takayoshi's throat. He did not think it would do to be direct. It would put Alice and Jasper on the offensive. But at the same time, he needed answers, and he had never been known for his tact. He and the others had to know if Jasper and Alice had been the ones to remove the map piece, and if they had, where it was hidden.
Alice cleared her throat when the silence got to be too much. "Did you find anything today?"
"We did, actually," Estia said, zir eyes glancing to Takayoshi and Claudia to see if they agreed with zir continuing. Takayoshi gave a small nod. If any of them could get the information they needed without putting their hosts on their guard, it would be Estia.
"Oh?" Jasper leaned forward, his elbows bracing himself on the table. He looked far too eager and interested. Takayoshi saw something flicker in his eyes, something he had not noticed before, hunger.
"There was this weird hollow in the tree in the courtyard. We think maybe the piece of the map we're looking for was in there." Estia shrugged, leaning back in zir chair. "But it's gone now."
Takayoshi's eyes narrowed, watching for any tells on Alice and Jasper's faces. There was something, twitching at the corners of their lips. Something like concern perhaps. He was not sure. And before he could identify it it was gone.
"Ah. Well, that's too bad." Alice frowned.
"We should head back to town, and regroup, I think," Claudia said, taking a sip of her tea.
Estia nodded zir agreement. "No sense in intruding on our hosts's time any longer with this when what we're looking for isn't here. Right Takayoshi?"
"Yes." Takayoshi kept his eyes trained on Alice and Jasper who both had their lips pursed as if trying to refrain from saying something. "We can head back after dinner."
"No," Alice rushed, her fork clattering to her plate as she reached for Claudia's hand. She stopped mid-motion, her fingers hanging limply in the air, face contorted into something almost like fear at what she had almost done. "I mean, you're not intruding. Please, stay another night, you can leave in the morning for the village."
"Alice is right, it's already much too dark for you to travel through the forest tonight. You might get hurt on your way." Jasper was smiling now, the expression too wide for his face, all teeth. Like a snake unhinging its jaw about to swallow its prey whole.
"And if you got hurt, we'd never forgive ourselves. Never." Alice shook her head, giving them a distressed look that on the surface seemed genuine enough.
"Besides, the rooms are already made up, and you'd still have to pack to leave." Jasper leaned back in his chair with a little shrug. "The village will be there in the morning."
"And you might find a clue as to who took the map piece," Alice said, and then looked like she wished she had not. Jasper looked at her from the corner of his eye, but did not say anything.
"Very well. One more night. But we must leave before lunch tomorrow." Takayoshi nodded, taking another careful bite of his supper. "We should return to the courtyard to investigate the hollow more thoroughly after dinner. Perhaps there will be a trail of some kind to follow."
"Good idea. You said something about magical signatures. I don't know if we'll be able to get one off where the piece was, but maybe. It's worth a try." Claudia took a big bite of her stir fry, chewing thoughtfully. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. The minutes ticked by Takayoshi in strange fits and starts.
It was full dark by the time they were finished. The window in the back door out to the courtyard showed nothing but black beyond.
"Looks like you'll just have to continue your investigation in the morning," Alice called, a note of delight in her voice from where she was at the sink washing the dishes.
"She's right. Why don't you three head to bed so you can get an early start in the morning?" Jasper smiled winningly. "Shall I take you up to your rooms?"
"No. I think we can find them on our own. Thank you." Takayoshi gave a small bow, and led Claudia and Estia out into the hall.
They reached the stairs up to the second floor, a good distance from the kitchen so as not to be heard, before Claudia said, "They know something."
"Of course they know something. They knew exactly what we were looking for when we arrived." Estia huffed, crossing zir arms over zir chest. "The question is, what have they done with it?"
"Perhaps it is in their rooms." As much as Takayoshi hated the idea of poking around someone else's private space, he had to admit, the possibility was very likely.
"We can't search their rooms now. We'll have to wait till tomorrow when we know they'll be out in the courtyard working on that piece of furniture for a while." Claudia's glasses lifted as her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose.
"We're going to have to wake up early, aren't we?" Estia groaned.
"Yes." Takayoshi nodded.
"Then I'm going to bed, right now. See you two in the morning." Estia trotted down the hall to zir room, shutting the door behind zir a little harder than it needed to be. Not quite a slam.
"Ze’s right, we should turn in early. I feel like tomorrow is going to be a long day." Claudia stopped in front of her own door, tapping the toes of her boots on the floor.
"You should lock your door this evening." Takayoshi was unsure where the words had come from, but once he had said them, he knew they were true. They should all lock their doors. They should all be careful. They should all sleep with one eye open.
Claudia yawned into the back of her wrist, nodding. "Yeah, you're probably right. Good night Yoshi."
"Good night Claudia." Exhaustion dragged at his senses, weighing down his shoulders, but Takayoshi waited until he heard the lock click into place before proceeding down the hall to his own door. He leaned against it for a moment, blinking heavily, and trying not to yawn. When the sensation passed, he locked his own door.
The handful of steps between the door and the bench at the end of his bed seemed to take forever. He slumped down onto the bench, bending to untie his boots, and kick them off. And had just enough energy to slide out of his cloak before settling beneath the covers.
He could not move. He could not move and someone was shouting. Who was it? What were they saying? Takayoshi strained his ears to hear them above the sound of his heart beating in his ears.
"Get up! Get up! Get out while you still can! Yoshi! Wake up! Get up!"
Cricket. Takayoshi could not move and Cricket was shouting at him to get up. Why was Cricket shouting at him to get up?
"Stars above. Open your eyes!" Cricket's voice sounded panicked. Takayoshi had only ever heard it like that a handful of times before, and only when things had been going very badly. When it seemed that hope might be lost. Takayoshi hated that tone. Cricket should never sound like that. He should always be smiling. Happy.
"I know you're awake!" Something cold pressed his cheek, the pressure moving to his eyelids almost as if someone with very cold hands was trying to pry them open. "Open your eyes Takayoshi! Right this instant! That is an order from Your Prince!"
Takayoshi forced his eyes open, immediately meeting Cricket's deep blue gaze. It was slightly lighter, slightly washed out, as if he were a ghost or a shadow of Cricket, but it was still the shade of the first rays of moonlight over the horizon. The only shade of blue Takayoshi had known for the last twenty years.
"There he is." Cricket breathed, the scar just under his eye crinkling with something not quite a smile but close enough to make Takayoshi's chest warm. "Can you move at all?"
Takayoshi forced himself to take stock. To try to shift first his fingers, and then his toes. Nothing. No movement. His eyes widened, looking up at Cricket as panic gripped his throat in a vice. He could not even open his jaw to say a word. To ask Cricket what was wrong with him. How he had gotten here. What they should do.
"Okay. Okay. Don't panic." Cricket's voice was soft, soothing, but it did little to help the heaviness in Takayoshi's limbs. Weighing them down, and prohibiting the thrashing he knew he would be doing otherwise.
Something creaked in the hallway, making its way toward his door. The heaviness in the air grew, seeming to press Takayoshi further into the bed. He felt his eyelids growing heavy with it. He blinked and Cricket was across the room pressing his back to the door to keep it closed, scrawling characters across it in chalk too small for Takayoshi to read.
"Don't fall back asleep."
Another blink, and then Cricket was hovering above him on the bed again. His weight did not even dent the mattress. No warmth seeped into the coverlet from where he sat, just cold, like the chill of his fingers. Takayoshi widened his eyes, forcing himself not to blink.
"I'll stay with you as long as I can." Cricket reached out to brush the backs of his cold fingers along Takayoshi's cheek. They had gotten longer, and thinner, since last Takayoshi had seen him. All of Cricket had. Growing into a man, a king, instead of the gangly teenage prince who had fallen over himself to flirt with Takayoshi that first day. "I don't know how long I can keep them away."
Something was thudding in the hallway. Like someone slamming on the door. Takayoshi wondered why whatever it was had come to him first. Why not go to Estia or Claudia? Why start with him?
"You're the biggest threat, obviously."
Takayoshi frowned, unable to control his expression with exhaustion tugging at his awareness. So tired. He was so tired. He blinked again, and only Cricket's cold fingers pressing against his cheek kept him from slipping into unconsciousness. When he opened his eyes, Cricket looked more faded than before. Takayoshi could see the armoire on the far wall through him.
What a strange dream.
"Help is on the way. How much longer do you think you can fight the sleeping draught?"
Sleeping draught? Is that what was making him so tired? Is that what was making him unable to move his arms and legs?
"I would have thought your magic would have burned it away by now. But they've been feeding it to you for days. Still, you're much more powerful than you were a year ago." Cricket was muttering to himself again, his hands twisting and turning through the air as he thought out loud about whatever it was he was talking about. Takayoshi was not even sure anymore. Cricket was talking too fast. He did that when he was working out a problem. It was adorable.
"Maybe that's why you're awake and the others aren't," Cricket said when Takayoshi was finally able to drag his mind back to the soft words. Cricket looked down at his hands, his freckled nose wrinkling. "Stars, I'm fading faster than I thought I would."
Takayoshi wanted to reach for him. Surely in a dream, he would have been able to reach for Cricket. He would have been able to take Cricket's hands, and hold him there with him. But between one blink and the next Cricket had faded so much that Takayoshi could no longer make out the character carved below his eye, or the smattering of freckles across his nose.
"I have to go now, Yoshi." Cricket sighed, his gaze lifting to meet Takayoshi's, and hold it. "Help will be here soon. Just try to stay awake until then. If you're awake, even if you can't move, your magic will protect you. Trust me. You trust me don't you?"
Takayoshi tried to nod, but he could not. All he could do was move his eyes up and down. Cricket seemed to take it for what it was, and his smile went from strained to relieved.
"Good. Good. That's good." His cold fingers brushed Takayoshi's cheek once more, the touch featherlight. "Well, I'll see you when I see you then."
Takayoshi closed his eyes, trying to force his lips to open so he could give this strange hallucination a proper goodbye. It might not be Cricket, but that did not mean he should not be polite. However, when he opened his eyes again, Cricket was gone.
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