Kai - Part 5

Spears were in their faces in a matter of seconds. Kai looked calm but Tori could feel the tension in his arms beside her. He raised one hand with two figers down and one crooked. Slowly the spears were dropped.
"Who are you stranger?" came a crackly voice. An old man stepped before them. Although he was small he had a powerful aura around him.
"I am Kai." Kai's voice rang around he gate. It radiated enough power to make the apparent leader step back.
"I'm Tori sir." she glanced at Kai whose eyes were fixed on something she could not see.
"Kai and Tori, eh? It's a long time since i heard the name Kai. It belongs to the custom of the village." The little leader nodded, "You may pass through these gates but i shall want to see you both first thing tomorrow."

Kai walked briskly into the village. He made himself look as calm as he could but inside he felt as mixed up as a lost child wondering where home was. He felt Tori beside him and he felt slightly better. He looked around. It had not changed all that much, nor for that matter had his parents. He had seen them in the crowd.
"Tori follow me." He lead her to the inn.
It was called The Tigers Cave. Smiling grimly he entered. Every head turn to them. He felt panic rise up in Tori but the bar man broke the akwardness quickly.
"Now what can i get you young stranger's?" he smiled,"A room? Food? Drink? Name it."

"A room please and two whiskys one weak and one strong." Tori said emerging from behind him. He realised she had known he would not have been able to speak sense even if he had wanted to.
" Alrighty then. You can have room number 16. Great room that is." The bar man handed Tori a big silver key,"I'll send Davey up with the drinks."
"Davey? Davey Rook?" Kai managed.
"Why yes sir. Sad tale tha' is." the bar man sighed, "Why it happened right here with me Billy Rankins when it happened."
"What happened to him?" Kai sounded concerned.
Tori glanced at him. She saw an odd look in his eyes. It was not familiar to her eyes.
"The poor boy was sent to an Abbey in Feir View's Valley. When he came back his mind was crushed under the pressure he had been put under. We tried to heal him and we succeeded but in a storm in the Golden Days of Summer he came in here."
"Yes?"
"He had been caught by lightening. Lost an eye and his leg. Then he go' ta letter. His condition never became any better after that. No, he, if anything, became worse. He had lost his best friend Ray in that last bombing on a school. They were like brother's those two. Even when Ray started talking about demons. It all feels like it happened yesterday." The bar man shook his head and then looked up cheerfully," Well then you go an' have a rest. I'll wake ya for you're appointment with The Leader, Killan."

Kai slowly climbed the stairs. His legs felt like dead wheights. Davey Rook. He wished he had sent him the letter he had written to say he had survived now. Even back in the Abbey, Davey had been his one weakness. A weakness he thought he had grown out of.
The room was as good as Billy Rankins had said. It was not as nice as the hotel before but as he flopped on the bed he realised it was equal in comfyness. Then again how could it not be. He had never been in this inn and not been comfy although all the other times he had been had been with his father or Davey.
Tori sat next to him and brushed his hair out of his eyes so he could see hers.
"Was it you? Are you Ray?" she whispered.
He nodded slowly.
"Why didn't you tell him?" Her voice was soft. He relaxed slightly.
"The Tiger." His words were simple but effective.
"I'm sorry Kai. Why didn't you mention him before?"
"I don't want him to know. He might hate me for it. I didn't want you to know because i never wanted anyone to know."
"If he really was your friend you will tell him know or later in a letter." she smiled down at him,"He won't hate you."
Kai felt like a child. There was a knock at the door. His heart was beating wildly. The door opened. Boomba Boombaba Boomba BoomBoombaba.

A small defigured man hobbled into the room. He looked no older than sixteen. Yet when he lifted his face it was like looking at someone who had lost everything and nothing. Like a person who had no face at all. Tori went to help the little person but it refused and with tray in one hand and crutch in the other, set the tray on the small table between the beds.
Tears pricked in Tori's eyes as the pathetic creature set the tray down. It gave them a small bow.
"I hope you enjoy your drinks." Davey's voice was small like his body but gentle. His one eye looked at them. It widened as it took in Tori and even wider when it saw Kai.
"Ray..." he muttered,"You're Ray."
Kai looked at Tori for help but she knew she could not interfere.
"Help us Ray." Davey dropped his crutch and fell over, "It's all wrong. Help us. Remember the time."
Kai shook his head like a confused animal.
"Please Ray!" davey's soft voice turned to a shout,"Ray fight it! Save us!"
"Davey." Billy Rankins appeared.
"Keep away from me!" Davey pushed himself away from the man,"I can't bear you. I can't stand today. I don't want to live this time through."
"Come now Davey. It's not so bad. It's not the end of now." Billy pulled the boy up.
"RAY! PLEASE!" Davey screamed as he was carried out of the room. Then there was only a grim silence in which Kai discovered he had done wrong. He had lied. Everything he had learnt came to the same conclusion. Not saying the truth is as bad as lying. He may of said nothing but it was all the same. Stiffly he stood up and walked out.

Tori watched Kai from the window. He disappeared into a strange looking alley. She knew he could look after himself in this town so she stopped watching, but she could not help worrying. This was a wierd town. All the time Davey had been yelling she had heard it. The soft voice of the bar man had even carried a strange message.
"Not the end of now." she said under her breathe, "What an odd thing to say?"
"Yes it is, isn't it?" said a voice. A woman with long white hair had appeared. She wore the sae sort of clothing as Kai.
"Are you a WhiteTiger?" Tori asked.
"Yes, novice. I am." the woman laughed, "I am Maia."

Kai wondered down to where he had used to live. The frontdoor was the same colour, the handle was the same tiger paw. He knew that foolishness had brought him home but he no longer cared. Even before he had knocked the door was flung open. A familiar face peered at him.
"What do you want stranger?" his father's voice plummeted him into the past.
"Don't you recognise me?" he replied after a brief pause, "Am i that irrelevent?"
The man open the door wide enough for him to pass through, "I think you'd better come in."

It was dark and a shadow passed through cobbled streets. The shadow was slow and limped slightly. It knew where it was going, it knew the path well. After all he did work there even if he had been sent home. All the shadow knew was that it had to warn his friend.

Kai was lead to the kitchen. He smiled slightly as he saw how little it had changed. His mother still lived there it seemed. She still stooped over her stove as if a visitor might arrive any moment. -To day.- he thought, -You do have a visitor. A home come visitor.- It was then that he realised something was wrong. He could feel it and it was not just here. He had felt it as soon as he stepped through those gates. Everything felt so old normally but these buildings felt different. In a way he could not pin point.
<Tori!> he called. <Tori.>
<Kai? What is it?> she replied.
<Listen find Davey. I can feel something and i think he might have the answears.>