Maiden of the Wind
Chapter 1: In Her Time of Need
The Cait Shelter mages guild, a small little establishment located somewhere within Fiore's northern forests. Its members generally live peaceful lives with most, bizarrely, following somewhat out of the ordinary customs and traditions.
All save for one.
A girl hardly ten years of age was sitting alone with her companion at a bench not too far from the main guild building, which befitting of its name, resembled that of a large cat head. She was merely enjoying the weather, which at the time consisted of a mild warmth radiating from the midday sun, coupled with a refreshing breeze that drifted through the land.
The small white feline sleeping on her lap snored softly and she ran her hand through the fur of its rather large head. The human in this scene was Wendy Marvell, and the cat on her lap was referred to as Carla.
Nothing seemed truly out of the ordinary that day save for the occasional loud noise emanating from within the guild, yet even the various random noises were just an everyday occurrence. Like usual the courtyard was empty, usually, around this time her guildmates were either out on jobs or inside for one reason or another.
All was at it should've been that day.
That is until she heard a pair of frantic footsteps approaching from the forest. Turning just in time to see a man collapse by a tree, she jolted slightly at the unexpected sight.
Outsiders, she was never too familiar with them as she rarely ever left the guild. As a matter of fact, the only thing she really knew about them was that they dressed and acted a lot different than the members of her guild, and even then, specifics were unclear.
Still, he appeared to be in distress and, as a healer, she couldn't just ignore the natural instinct to help those in need. Even if she was scared half to death of this man simply because he existed.
She closed the distance between the two of them as quick as she could, kneeling beside the man upon reaching him.
"A-are you ok?" she stuttered out.
The man's clothes were torn but surprisingly, he had not a scratch on his face.
"Yeah... our camp got attacked a little while ago. The beast is dead now... ngh! But my friends need help!" he stuttered out through pained breaths.
"I-I know a few healing spells if that'll help!"
"Healing spells? B-but that's lost magic- n-nevermind! Please... my friends, are down that way, the camp is straight down there. W-when you get there, tell em Seth sent you!"
Wendy nodded and rushed off in the direction he was pointing, having thrown all caution to the wind.
The man watched her until she disappeared from his vision. When he was sure she couldn't see him, he grinned and stood up.
"Dumb kid," he muttered before turning to the guild. "Heh, now to have a few words with the head honcho-"
A rustle in the trees above him caught his attention. Dead silence followed.
"What the-"
*CRACK*
The sickening sound broke the silence and startled the local birds nested nearby. The sounds of dragging could be heard faintly amid the rapid flapping of wings.
Wendy came barreling out of the forest, stumbling over a some scattered rocks and branches and falling flat on her face in the process.
The campsites inhabitants were caught off guard and turned to one another for a brief moment. Collective smiles crossed their faces shortly after.
Pushing herself to her feet and dusting off her dress, she bowed and screamed at the top of her lungs, "I-I'M WENDY AND IM HERE TO HELP!"
The men began to circle around her with one whispering into the ear of another.
Wendy could faintly make out the word, "bait" but quickly discarded the thought. People needed her help!
Allegedly at least.
"U-um... could you p-point me to the hurt people?" she asked shyly, somewhat embarrassed by her earlier outburst.
"Lemmie guess, Seth sent you?"
"Yeah, that's right!"
"Heh, sick sonova bitch he is haha! I hate to break it to ya kid, but there are no wounded here."
"I-I don't understand."
"You will in a minute. Tie her up boys, the negotiations are bouta begin!"
Wendy's eyes widened at the proclamation. Before she could even turn to run, she found herself pressed up against the leg of a much larger, much more intimidating, and much more muscular man.
She spun around, stumbling backward in horror.
"You'd best hope your boss can satisfy our demands," the large man stated. "If not, we might just have to hurt ya real bad!" His tone had grown darker with every word, and his face loomed closer to hers as he approached her.
His rancid breath made Wendy want to vomit.
A terrible chill washed over Wendy as she watched the man brandish a rather rugged rope and reach towards her. Frozen in fear, she couldn't run even though she desperately wished to do so. Losing her footing, she tripped and fell on her rear.
She begged internally for someone to come save her, for master Roubaul and the others to come rushing in to save her. But, being this far out in the woods, and having told no one where she was going before setting out, she knew those chances were slim.
Wendy started to cry as she found herself being tightly wrapped within the rough rope line, its scratchy surface had begun to cut into her skin and breathing became difficult.
There was laughter from the men, then a brief silence as they all turned their heads to face the forest.
She hadn't heard or seen anything, her whimpering and refusal to open her eyes made that so. Then, the ropes were released.
Her eyes still held shut, she could only listen on in confusion and slight terror as the screams of the men filled the campsite. Various cracks and thuds, pathetic begging for mercy, and other general destructive noises were all she heard for a moment. And then there was silence.
Had master Roubaul come for her? Was it perhaps Carla? Or... was it something far worse than the men who just received what sounded like the most savage beatings of their lives?
The only way to find out was to open her eyes, and so she did, only to come face to face with a pair of vibrant blue eyes belonging to the face of a grinning young man.
"Whats up?" he said.
Wendy went to squeal only to be silenced by the man who quickly put a hand over her mouth.
"Whoa whoa! Hey, it's alright, I'm a good guy I promise!" he said, gently removing his hand. "Those guys sure were a bunch of jerks huh?"
Wendy averted her gaze, her face beaming red with embarrassment and discomfort. "I- um..."
The man frowned and stood up, having previously taken a knee. "Hey if I'm making ya uncomfortable then I'll just head out then! Nice to meet ya by the way!"
"W-wait!" she called after him, stopping him before he could fully turn to leave. "T-thank you!" she cried, bowing.
He grinned once again, knowing full well she wasn't going to let him leave so abruptly. "Hey don't mention it, kid. I just happened to be passing through when I saw that little scene go down and I just had to step in! I mean... what kind of awesome hero would I be if I didn't huh?"
She couldn't help but giggle at the exaggerated tone he adopted.
"By the way, the names Naruto, and you?"
"Wendy."
"Wendy huh? Well, Wendy, you ought to get back to your parents, I'm sure they're worried sick!"
"I um... don't actually have... I mean I do but-"
"Say no more, I get it. But uh, you have to be staying with someone. That building a little ways from here, that your home?"
Wendy nodded. "It's my home and my guild. I don't have any other place to stay."
"Ahh, well lemme walk you back to your guild then. I'll take care of these scumbags when you're safe and sound back at your guild, sound good?"
Wendy nodded once again, her expression now happy and relieved.
"Alright then! Let's get a move o- OOF!"
A trail of saliva came jutting from Naruto's mouth as a small mass came darting from the forest, into his gut. He landed flat on his back, eyes completely blanked out and drool seeping from his mouth.
"That'll teach you to abduct my dear Wendy, you ruffian! Come, let us return to the guild before he wakes!"
"Carla! H-he saved me!"
The small, flying white feline widened her eyes and looked to the mound of unconscious bodies piled up not too far from them, and the man strung up from the tree just beyond that.
"Oh my," she muttered before the blond started to come too.
"Oh... what happened."
The cat flew over to the confused man and offered a slight bow. "My sincerest apologies, it seems I regrettably... jumped the gun, so to speak."
"W-what the- you can fly!?"
"Yes, I can fly you ingrate! And don't shout so close, my ears are rather sensitive," Carla said rather snobbishly.
"Whoa cool!" Naruto stated before standing up and holding his hands behind his head, "Hey, hey, are you a summon? Sorry if I sound all excited, but man if you are a summon that'd REALLY take me back!"
"I have no clue what you're talking about."
"Oh... so you're just another magic creature thing. Jeez, magic is weird."
"Indeed. Now come Wendy, we must return before master Roubaul notices our absence."
Wendy nodded timidly and began to follow after the flying feline. She had just caught up with her when she turned back to look at Naruto who was still standing in the same place, arms behind his head and smiling. Her gaze softened into a smile of her own and she slowly waved goodbye, to which Naruto responded with a wave of his own.
"Catch ya around kid! Oh and don't go following strange men into forests next time!"
"I-I won't!"
When Wendy turned to face forward, Carla quickly flew in close to her face. "What a strange fellow. What in the world is a summon anyhow?"
She shrugged. "I dunno, but... he was really nice."
"Yes... too nice, and very strange and lacking any sort of manners. That aside, you ought to keep your guard up Wendy! Imagine if he DIDN'T come to your rescue, or if he had malicious intent! You might not be here right now!"
Her harsh tone proved to be too much for the girl whos frail frame was matched only by that of her very own confidence as tears began to form in her eyes.
"Hmph, crying doesn't help anything Wendy. Starting tomorrow I am going to give you a full rundown on the concept of stranger danger first thing in the morning!"
"A-alright," she said with a sniffle.
"Good... now let's find some tissues for those tears and get some food in that stomach. Come tomorrow morning following your lesson, we're going to be practicing your dragon-slaying arts, understand."
Upon hearing this she nodded. "Right!" she said, her expression, while still teary-eyed, was now brimming with a never before seen confidence.
Sadly it only lasted a mere second before she reverted back to her old demeanor.
Taken aback by this, Carla couldn't help but smile afterward. Despite the whole situation having been an overall negative experience for someone as young as Wendy, she couldn't help but feel as though it had helped her in some way.
Perhaps it had awakened a dormant fire within her, one that would help her become stronger.
A squeal followed by a thud brought Carla out of her thoughts. Turning to see Wendy lying face first on the ground, her foot barely inches away from a tiny pebble sticking out of the ground, the cat let out a sigh.
The aforementioned fire still remained to be seen.
Yo! I'm back after months of silence with a rewrite of my most recent story!
So lemme just get this outta the way. Yeah, I deleted the stories I had on my profile mainly due to the fact that they were never going to be finished. "Liar Thief Hero?" was well... to my dismay, somewhat unenjoyable for me to read after so long. Maybe it was just me looking back on it and saying, "God why did I write this?" and truth be told I couldn't really stand it.
So with that out of the way, here you have the start of the only story I'm going to be focusing on. Bear in mind that I'm pretty busy these days with work so I won't be able to get around to updating as often, but do know that I have given this story A LOT of thought these last couple of months and am finally ready to put it into words.
Lemmie know if I'm a bit rusty as I've not really gotten around to practicing my writing as much as I would like.
Just like always, I hope you enjoyed reading my stuff!
Later...
Next: Chapter 2: The Sky Dragons Return