FicWad

We must have traveled for hours, but it felt like an eternity. Habagat and Bunsoy got along together about as well as I could sing. They sniped at each other constantly. I'd lost track of all the times I'd had to make them stop making pointed comments and insults that invariably ended in Habagat threatening Bunsoy with dismemberment and Bunsoy retreating behind noisy theatrics. I kept myself between them, and with every step I could feel the dull ache in my temples building. It had been so much easier when it was just Bunsoy and me. Sweet Lady forgive me, but I really wished I'd never dragged my brother along.

We came upon a small, clear pool with a waterfall, and despite our being pressed for time we found ourselves slowing down. I knew I couldn't keep putting it off any longer. Sooner or later I was going to have to tell my companions that we had run out of food. The kapre hadn't seen fit to repack my rice and salted eggs when they took my sack, and we'd already gone through the fruit Bunsoy had pinched. Just thinking about the quarrel between Habagat and Bunsoy about the rationing of the fruit made me want to hide underneath the nearest rock. Refereeing another tiresome round of "it's your fault we're starving!" was the last thing I wanted to do.

I glanced around the pool, listening to the splashing water and tasting the crisp air. For some reason, my senses seemed to be growing more and more acute. I could see the swirling patterns of the breeze, hear the whispering conversations of the trees, feel the quiet presence of the rocks and the humming thoughts of the forest animals, each one as unique as the other. Sensations flooded my mind in a growing tide of awareness. It unnerved me at first, but I soon grew used to it. When I wasn't mediating between a hot-headed human and a whiny /tikbalang/, I practiced stretching out with my newfound senses as far as I could and was rather pleasantly surprised at the results.

Groaning loudly, Bunsoy plopped down on a patch of grass underneath a guava tree, panting as if he'd just run up the mountainside. At my brother's disgusted look, the tikbalang threw an arm over his face and let loose with a gusty, lip-flapping sigh.

"Useless freak," Habagat muttered. Bunsoy sighed even louder.

"Stop it, you two," I said distractedly. Something felt strange about this place. The air was too sweet, the colors too bright, the water too bubbly. Even the rainbow arcing over the waterfall seemed like garish caricature, like something someone would have painted on the wall of a child's room. I rubbed my arms, suddenly realizing that I'd begun shivering. We had to get away from this place, I thought. The sooner the better.

I turned to see my brother crouching down at the edge of the pool with his hands halfway into the water. "Don't, /Kuya/," I warned. "Whatever you do, don't drink the water or eat anything from this place. We have to go. Come on, Bunsoy."

The tikbalang gave a guilty start and spat out the seeds of the guava he'd just gobbled up. "I was hungry," he mumbled when I glowered at him.

Habagat snorted. "You're crazy, Amihan. There's nothing wrong with the water here." He bent down again and scooped some water up.

"Don't!" I felt my stomach roil from the weird atmosphere of the place. "Don't drink. Bunsoy, don't you dare pluck another guava from that tree. This place is enchanted, I can feel it. Come on, we have to get moving."

I tugged at my brother's shoulder, and he slapped my hand away. "We have to do this, we have to do that," he mimicked. "Since when did you get so damned bossy, Amihan? You think you're some high and mighty priestess just because you did some middling bit of magic back there? A few days ago, you didn't even know which end to think with."

"I'm not trying to be high and mighty," I said tightly. "I'm telling you this place doesn't feel right, and it's better we have as little to do with it as possible."

"Yeah, and what would you know?" he sneered. "Stop trying to be Sinag. You don't have what it takes."

I looked away to keep him from seeing how much his barb had hurt. "Just trust me on this," I whispered, marveling at how much easier it had been to get the kapre to trust me than my own brother.

He eyed me contemptuously. "You forget, Amihan. I'm your older brother. I make the decisions." Before I could stop him, he bent and took several hearty gulps of water, then proceeded to make a show of splashing his face and shoulders. The instant he did so, the air gave an odd ripple. Wrapping my arms around me, I stepped back and glanced around warily, wondering what sort of spell we had triggered. The aura of magic was so thick I was trembling with it, and it didn't feel like friendly magic at all.

"Really? Why would you think that, lovely maiden?"

I spun around. Sitting on a rock, surrounded by a nimbus of sunlight, was quite possibly the most perfect-looking male I had ever seen. He looked to be around my age, but with none of the gangly awkwardness that plagued the boys in town. Waves of pale gold hair framed a chiseled face, and vivid green eyes regarded me with such frank interest that I could feel my face heating up. His lips parted in a smile, displaying a row of sparkling white teeth. He was dressed exquisitely in a smooth, cream-colored silk shirt with black laces down the front topped with a vest of forest green velvet, tight-fitting breeches and a pair of sandals like mine. Languidly, he uncurled himself from the rock and strode toward me, and as he drew closer I noticed that his ears were pointed. And that--and this was alarming--I had somehow lost the ability to move.

Long-lashed green eyes swept over me. "Well, hello. It's been a long time since a mortal visited our kingdom, and now I find one as lovely as you. And in the company of a /tikbalang/, too. Will strange things never cease?"

Kingdom? My heart sank to my toes. This charming young god was /engkanto/. The pool was probably one of the gateways to their kingdom, which explained the heavy aura of magic. Either that, came a dark thought, or this pool had been deliberately created as bait to lure unsuspecting humans. This place was a trap.

He smiled again, making my insides do queer little flips. "So untrusting," he reproved lightly as he circled me. "We engkantos have been unfairly labeled if a human as perceptive as you would act so guarded around us. I won't hurt you, sweet maiden." He halted in front of me and trailed a finger over my cheek. "I could never do anything to mar beauty such as yours."

I fought against the urge to melt into a puddle at his feet, forcing myself to draw away from his hand, although I still couldn't move away. Strangely enough, it was his repeated allusions to my non-existent beauty that brought me back to reality. At my retreat, his green eyes widened slightly, but other than that he showed no reaction to my resistance. "What do you want from us?" I said in a low voice.

His smile turned knowing. "Oh, but you have it the other way around. It's you who want something from us/. Mortals lead such pitifully short lives, yet you insist on filling those short lives with pain and suffering. We /engkantos simply try to guide you toward the joy you seek but refuse to take. See for yourself."

He gestured with his hand, and my body unfroze enough to allow me to turn and look at my two companions. What I saw filled me with dismay. More engkanto had appeared, all of them paragons of beauty and grace. Several stunning females in low-cut gowns flocked around my brother, cooing admiringly as he strutted and flexed his muscles for them. Some distance away, an entire clan of engkanto/, male and female alike, appeared to have thrown an impromptu party, complete with a long buffet table filled with cakes, pastries, bread, salads, fruits and nuts and eggs of every size and description. They laughed and called encouragement to Bunsoy, who was in a world of ecstasy as he fell upon the banquet like the perpetually starving /tikbalang he was. In my companions' eyes was the odd, blank glaze of sleepwalkers. No amount of yelling on my part could get them to snap out of their trances. Habagat and Bunsoy were well and truly bewitched.

Horrified, I glared up at the /engkanto/. "Nothing with flesh or blood in the feast. You knew exactly how to get to him, didn't you? To both of them."

He beamed at what he apparently took as praise. "Yes, of course. It's a special gift of ours. We know what you mortals want, and we give it to you. Isn't that a sweet deal?"

"Bunsoy isn't mortal!"

"Yes, but he was trespassing, just the same." For a fleeting moment, his green eyes grew hard. The moment vanished and his smile returned, as warm as ever, making me wonder if I'd imagined it. "I apologize. Being around you makes me forget myself," he said with disarming ruefulness. "I am called Magno, and I beg the honor of knowing your name, sweet maiden."

He had taken both my hands in his, and I could only stare in wordless fascination as he lifted them to the level of his lips. My head was spinning so badly, I was actually seeing sparkling lights at the fringes of my vision, and it only served to heighten his striking good looks. "A-Amihan," I stammered. "My name is Amihan."

"Amihan." With that, he pressed his lips upon the backs of my hands. "As in the sweet, gentle southeastern breeze. It suits you."

"Um," I replied cleverly.

"Amihan," he said again, stepping closer to me. "You'll come with me to my kingdom, won't you? There is beauty there, and joy beyond your imagination. I know what you've always wanted, what you've longed for. I can give it to you, Amihan. You'll be respected and loved and admired. No one will ever laugh at you or mock you for a child again. Say you'll come, Amihan. Say you'll come."

His words ensnared me. I opened my mouth to say 'yes,' but nothing came out. Deep within the bubbly haze in my mind, something stirred. This was wrong. The way he said my name reminded me of something, of someone very important to me, but his voice sounded all wrong. Part of me urged me to give in, while a growing part fought against him. As the silence dragged on, a faint frown appeared on his face. "What's wrong, Amihan? Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."

Sweat beaded on my forehead, and my trembling returned with greater violence. Finally, I wrenched my hands out of his grasp and stepped back so abruptly I tripped over my own feet and landed on my rump. I scrambled upright, unable to believe that I'd actually managed to break his spell.

I wasn't the only one. Magno's mouth hung open, and if he hadn't just tried to bewitch me into abandoning my companions and my quest, I'd have giggled at the look on his face. "It didn't work?" he asked dazedly.

"No. It didn't," I growled. "Now let us go. We're running out of time."

He frowned. "But no one can break through my charm spell, I'm sure of it."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at that. "If you tell the others to release my companions, we will never bother you again. You have my word."

He continued to ignore me. "So the rumors are true, then. They say a powerful babaylan is journeying through the spirit world to the Diwata's realm. A priestess you might be, but you still have the same weaknesses as the others of your race, the same base desires. You're still /human/."

Before I realized what he intended, he grabbed me by the arms, pulled me close and covered my lips with his. My eyes shot wide open, then drifted shut of their own accord. The feel of a warm mouth moving over mine threw me into a storm of memories. I waited for golden sparks and rainstorms and molten fire. I waited for magic as powerful and timeless as the stars, magic that could send my own spiraling out of control. There was no magic, though, and this mouth felt different, and the energies were wrong, and this man--no, this stranger was wrong, so very wrong, because he wasn't...he wasn't...

He wasn't Skyblade.

With a burst of strength I shoved Magno away, and was appalled to find that I was crying. By the Lady, why did he have to do that? Why did he have to kiss me and make me remember? I turned away from his darkening expression, scrubbing at my tears with my fists. I couldn't think of anything to say to him, so I simply kept quiet.

"Skyblade!" The anger in Magno's voice took me by surprise. "You're in love with Skyblade? Now I understand why you're so resistant to me."

I glowered at him. "Stay out of my head, Magno."

"You know it's impossible, don't you?" He crossed his arms and smirked. "You, a pathetic mortal, in love with a dragon lord? Hah! How deluded can you humans get?"

I flinched. Like my brother, he had a knack for grasping the truth and bludgeoning me with it. "First of all," I began, my magic sparking right along with my temper, "I never asked for your opinion because it's none of your business. Second of all, I never asked you to kiss me either. And third, what I did ask you is to let me and my companions go." My voice had grown steadily louder and my body began to glow blue. I raised my hands, my fingers trailing silvery streaks of light in the air as I did so. "However, since asking politely didn't work, I'm going to more direct. Free us, or I destroy this place."

Magno had grown very white around the mouth. "You can't."

I smiled without humor. Just a bunch of playground bullies. How right you were, Ate Sinag. "You've heard the rumors. Do you want to find out just how true they are?"

He glared at me for a moment, then uncrossed his arms and sighed. "All right. I hate to have to do this, but you leave me no choice."

I narrowed my eyes. "Do what?"

Something moved behind me and I turned, but not before something poked hard at the base of my neck. I stared at the engkanto male who had crept up behind me and struck me. /Not again/, I thought, the silvery-blue energy dissipating harmlessly as I sank into oblivion once again.