AN:MERRY CHRISMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year its supposed to be the end of the world! (Mayan calender ended or something like that.) Who here actually believes in that? Anyway enjoy this new chapter of The Druid of Zero! I would also like to thank Bakapervert, Mzr90, Jiopaba and R'N'Rer for taking the time to review my last chapter.
Remember read and review please!
Aelfgar walked down the stairs and almost immediately got lost. "why do all the stone corridors resemble one another? Couldn't they have, I don't know, painted them different color so one could find his way in this stupid castle maze they call a school!" He thought.
He rounded a corner only to bump into someone. "KYHAAAA!" Cried a feminine voice before it stopped with a loud thud. Aelfgar looked down to see a woman with black hair that was shoulder length she was rather busty and had a cute heart shaped face with big blue eyes which stared up at him.
"O! My apologies!" He picked her up off the ground before brushing off some of the dust that had settled on her.
"It's quite alright" She answered with a sweet voice "accidents happen" she said. From his clothing she had guessed him to be a commoner but when she looked up her smile froze into one of shear terror.
"Whats wrong?" He had seen her change in expression.
"Please don't kill me!" She blurted out.
Confused he looked at her "Kill you? Why would I kill you?"
"We-well you're an elf and El-elf don't really like humans. A single elf is reputed to be able to take out entire armies by themselves!" She said trembling.
"Well I guess I know why humans are so afraid of elf here." He thought "Well in that case you don't have to worry cause I'm not an elf so there no worries!" He said a huge smile spreading across his face.
"You're really not an elf?"
"Nope! If I were one what would I still be doing here?"
She looked carefully at him before saying "Now that I look at you, you don't really look like an elf from legend. I mean I am pretty sure the elves didn't have fur on their ears and that they were rather slim."
Smile still in place he asked the maid "Good now that its settled why don't you tell me what you were doing with all these clothes?" having noticed the pile of clothing that now laid on the ground.
"Actually" She answered "I was going to wash them." Her kind smile naturally coming back on her face.
"PERFECT!" He exclaimed "Then could you lead me to where we can wash these clothes? Louise asked me to wash her clothes but I got lost and I simply couldn't find the way out! By the way I never got your name? Mine is Aelfgar also known has the Madbear." He did a short bow before her.
Her smile wavered a bit before she simply "Hum if you want to go to the courtyard you're in the completely opposite direction of which you should go. And my name is Siesta."She told him.
His cheek became slightly red before he turned to the maid and said "Lets keep the fact that I got lost our little secret ok, Siesta?"
She simply nodded before leading him down the hall towards the courtyard. Has soon has they could see outside Aelfgar ran to the middle of the court. "FRESH AIR, CRISP, BEAUTIFUL, SWEET, FESH AIR!" He then dropped down on the ground to feel the grass and the earth on his arms.
Giggling Siesta came up to him "Mister Madbear weren't we going to wash these clothes?"
In one swift movement he got up before saying "You're right! Lets go!"
They went to the fountain and the maid told him "You know you could leave these clothes for me to wash since I'm doing these anyways."
"Nonsense!"He told her "I came all the way here might as well do it!" He took Louise before starting to wash it with precise stroke.
"Wow!" Siesta exclaimed "You look like you did this all your life!"
"Well I often worked has a healer and when magic isn't enough there's nothing better than a simple clean cloth to stop the bleeding!" He told her with a smile on his face. "I also had lots of students and when they where training I would often do their laundry so they would have nothing else to worry about."
Curious Siesta stared at the Haumain "What did you teach?"
He kept his eye on his work but a fond look appeared on his face "Well I mostly taught them how to commune with nature and to get along with it. I also showed them various healing techniques and medicinal plants and other such thing."
"Interesting." They both went back to their work. They worked in silence.
"Well I'm done with these clothes. Ill start on my own then!"
After a while Siesta turned to Aelfgar to ask him if he was done only to be shocked to silence by the sight that greeted her. His shirt and Louise's clothes were already hung up to dry while he was working on his pants only wearing his underwear!
"KYAAAA!" She screamed.
In an instant Aelfgar was up on his feet and ready to fight. He looked around for something but he couldn't find anything. He finally looked at Siesta and asked "Whats wrong?"
"You-your clothes!" She stammered
"My clothes? What about my clothes?"
"PLEASE PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" She burst out. She covered her red face with her hands.
"Ho right! Modesty." He sighed before heading towards his belt and pulling out a long brown cloak that was made for physical labor more than anything else. The maid couldn't help but sneak a few peaks from between her fingers.
"There" He said "better now?"
"Yes, thank you." She said with a deep blush "I hope he didn't see me peak at him!" She thought.
"Hey Siesta?"
"YES!" She squeaked
He looked a bit surprise before shaking his head and telling her "Since were done want to go grab a cup tea?"
"I would love to." She said with a smile.
"Good then lets go!" He helped her up before they both went to the kitchen. Aelfgar pulled the hood of his robe up to hide his ears. People kept shouting whenever they saw them and honestly he was quite tired of it. Siesta went to fetch some hot water to make some tea but before she could begin brewing it the Haumain grabbed her arm.
"Allow me."He said with a grin. He reached to a pouch on his belt and mixed some of the content of the pouch with the water. A sweet fragrance came out from the mixture before he poured a cup for Siesta and himself. She tried a sip and it was quite sweet. It tasted like a mix of apple, cinnamon, blueberry and something else she couldn't identifies.
"This is very good!"
"You like it? I'm quite proud of this, its my own original brew." He said with a smile clear on his face.
"Really? Wow, you're good."
"Thank you."
They enjoyed their cup of tea and talked about various things before soon they had finished both of their cups and Aelfgar left to join with is master. Siesta told him a simple routes so that he wouldn't get lost this time. He thanked her before going to retrieve his clothes an put them back on and his cloak back in his pouch. In the room Louise was already fast asleep. He made sure she was okay before going to the window. He jumped out before turning into a bird. Making sure to close the windows behind him so Louise wouldn't get cold he looked around for a garden.
"No way am I going to sleep in a building if I can avoid it!" He told himself.
Before long he found what he was looking for. Turning back to his natural form he found a bush big enough to accommodate him and made it his nest for the night. In a short time he was fast asleep.
"GOOD MORNING MASTER!" Aelfgar yelled for the eighth time. With his master stubbornly sleeping he felt his patience growing thin.
He took a deep breath before shouting even louder then all of his previous attempt "GOOD MORNING MASTER!"
When her only reaction was to take the pillow besides her and put it on her head Aelfgar decided he had enough. Drastic time call for drastic measures. With a huff he put his hands on the bottom of the bed before flipping the entire thing sideways.
Louise woke up with a start. "KYAAAH!" She yelled before being buried underneath the mattress, sheets and pillows. She fought with her bed before finally emerging from the remains of the bed. Has soon has she could see her familiar she glared at his smiling face.
"HOW-HOW DARE YOU!" She exclaimed before going to her dresser. She pulled out what looked like a horse whip. "I was wro-wrong! Up until now I have treated you like a human when I should have treated you like a DOG!"
She charged at her familiar that, even thought he was being attacked by a girl wielding a whip, never lost his smile. She swiped furiously at him only to miss almost every time. Aelfgar was simply too fast for her and he had years of experience. He could easily avoid the swipe of a furious 17 year old girl! It didn't take long for her to figure it out. Panting she glared at her familiar who was still grinning. Furious she stomped over to her dresser once more but this time she took out her wand.
"A bad familiar needs to be punished." She said in a eerily calm voice before pointing her wand at her familiar's chest
The smile vanished off his face and he stared wide eyed at his master. She simply stared back before chanting "FIREBALL!" Before Aelfgar had even time to react he was blown out the window by a huge explosion. She went to the window before shouting "AND YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT EATING TODAY!"
She slammed her window shut before she noticed how dark her room seemed. Turning around, she noticed that it wasn't dawn but the CRACK of dawn! You could barely see the sun peaking over the horizon. She stood there dumbfounded. Not only had her familiar woken up her in the rudest way possible, but he had also woken her up at least an hour early! She was furious! He would pay for this o yes he would! She sighed. No point in going back to bed at this point since she would probably and up being late for her class if she did. She proceeded to lazily accomplish her morning ritual of brushing her hair and such. At least her familiar had done his job right and her clothes were clean and ready for her.
"OK, note to self: NEVER WAKE UP LOUISE LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Groaning Aelfgar piked himself off the ground. He had a number of nasty bruise as well has a fractured rib and two broken one. "Could have been worse" He thought. He put his hand on his chest before muttering a quick chant. Healing energies flowed from his hands to him healing the bruises and knitting the bones together. "Good as new" He smiled. "Well it looks like my 'Master' won't be feeding me today. Might as well go to that lovely garden I sleep in."
Whistling he set out to the garden to get his breakfast. Looking carefully at the plants he took a few of them whose fruits, roots or anything else were edible. Taking out a portable stove from his belt he started a small fire to make himself breakfast. That's where Siesta found him, happily sitting in front of a stove with a warm boll of stew in his hands and humming to himself.
"Mr. Aelfgar?" She said surprised to see him.
He turned around and smiled "Siesta how are you? Would you like to sit with me and have a boll of stew? Its delicious!"
"What are you doing here? I thought you were with miss Valiere?" She asked puzzled but taking a seat next to him anyways.
He offered her a boll of the strange brown mixture but she declined. He sighed before speaking up. "Well apparently my master did not like the way I woke her up this morning so right now I'm in the mist of avoiding her and extra broken ribs."
She gasped "she broke your ribs!"
"Yep send me flying from her window!"
"But she lives on the fifth floor! How did you survive!"
"Well I had worse. Besides it wasn't a big injury so I healed it instantly!"
She looked like her eyes would jump out of their sockets. "you call having broken ribs and falling off the fifth floor not a big injury!"
He laughed "Well when you had... hum I'm sorry Siesta but we will have to talk later."
Swiftly he pocketed the stove and stew. She stared wide eyed has he stashed a stove that was half his size in a small pouch the size of fist with ease. He winked at her before staring in front of him. Curious she looked at what he was looking. She noticed a mop of pink hair. Louise was looking around probably in search of her familiar to exact 'proper' punishment on him. Luckily she hadn't noticed them yet. Panic clear in her eyes she turned to look at Aelfgar only to notice that he was already long gone. She blinked a few times and looked around her. She was so busy looking for the haumain that she didn't notice when Louise had gotten so close to her.
"Maid" She said.
Siesta almost jumped out of her shoes but nonetheless she turned around to face the short pink haired noble "Yes, miss Valiere?" She put on a practiced smile.
"Have you seen my familiar?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid you just missed him miss Valiere"
She looked annoyed but told the maid "Well if you see him tell him I want to see him immediately! We have much to discuss including how to treat his master."
Siesta shivered slightly but managed to keep her smile. With a polite bow she told her "Of course miss Valiere if I see him again I will try to get him to see you."
"Thank you" She said before walking away.
Has she watched Louise's retreating back she thought that Aelfagr was right in hiding from her. You could see the aura of anger surrounding the pink haired noble.
Meanwhile Aelfagr was watching from the sky has a hawk. When Siesta had looked away he had immediately turned into a bird to avoid Louise. Now she was heading inside and probably to class. He chuckled. He was safe, for now. He was lazily flying through the sky when he saw a strange menagerie of animals. There where cats, snake, howls and other animals. There were even more exotic animals like a flying eyeball, a fire lizard and even a dragon! Curious he went down to see the animals.
Louise was furious. Not only had her familiar woken her up so badly but now he had simply up and vanished! She had not seen hide nor hair of him since this morning. She rounded a corner to simply stop and stare. She was speechless at the scene at the scene that greeted her. There was her familiar, along with every other familiar. He was comfortably resting on Tabitha's dragon, Kirche's salamander was at his feet were his tail laid near Aelfgar's Feet warming them against the chilly wind, two cats were resting comfortably on top of his laps, some birds were on his broad shoulders while a dog was playing with his tail and he was petting what looked like a very large mole with left hand. The bugbear was floating calmly over the scene all in all it looked like a moment of peace.
But the snake was hungry and went to try to eat one of the birds. The haumain hit it on the nose before he hissed at the snake. Either Louise was going insane or it looked like her familiar was chiding the snake. The snake even looked sheepish! Smiling he reached for his belt before giving the snake a few dead rats, it happily gobbled the snack before curling up and sleeping. Smiling down at it he looked up to see a mop of familiar strawberry pink hair.
"Louise! What are you doing here? Wanna sit with us? Its really comfortable!" He said still smiling.
"...What are you doing?" She said in a monotone voice.
"Taking a sun bath?" He said unsure if that was the right answer.
"O so after waking your master up in such a crude manner so early in the morning and have her looking everywhere for you, you stay here and enjoy the sun!" She said in barely contained anger.
At this point all the animals had their instinct yell at them "GET THE HELL OUTA THERE!" and so they did leaving Aelfgar to deal with his master's anger.
"O shit, she has not calmed down. Lets try good old fashion logic!"He thought. "Well it wasn't that early, I usually wake up much earlier! I can't believe I overslept so much! I'm usually up a bit before the sun comes up. As for the way I woke you up that's how I wake up all of my lazy students who won't get up int the morning and to be frank I was avoiding you cause you looked rather peeved at the way I woke you up this morning so I thought I would leave you to calm down a bit before I went to see you." He said in a quick breath. Smiling he looked up at Louise's face to see two dots of anger where her eyes should have been.
"So not only has my familiar been avoiding me, he planned on waking me up much earlier and instead of trying to be nice he throws me off the bed and now you are telling me that not only were you gone but you were HIDING!" She was breathing hard murder clear in her eyes.
"Hum...Yeah?" He said, hesitant.
She had enough. She whipped out her wand in front of her familiar "AND I AM NOT LAZY!" She cried before a huge blast exploded directly in front of her familiar.
"Oh shit! Logic has failed me once again!"He thought before it hit him.
The explosion launched Aelfgar through the wall behind him. Most of the debris fell on top of him half burying him.
"From now on you are to wake me at eight in the morning and in a calm comfortable way. When you are ready you will join me in the garden for tea." She said in a hash tone before briskly turning around and leaving.
"Oww. Ok that hurt." He pushed the boulders off of him with ease before assessing the damage his little master had done. He nodded, nothing he couldn't handle himself. He pulled out a piece of clay from his belt and with a quick chant he fashioned the clay into a wall. The stone came alive and gently floated in the shape he had molded. Slight modification and there, done! Good as new. Satisfied with his work he went to meet with a certain pink haired girl. Along the way he put on a strange ring made out of pure white gold.
"You're never leaving my finger again! Especially with that girl running around." He mumbled.
A few moments later he joined Louise at her table.
"Well then, Louise, what did you want to see me for?"
"Nothing special ,familiar, its just that today is a day to learn and bond with our familiar."
"O ok." He turned the seat around before sitting in it. Staring at Louise he said "Who are you?"
"Wh-WHAT! I am Louise Francoise de la Valiere, your master and-"
He dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Thats not what I meant, I know your name and what you are but what I want to know is 'who' you are"He said emphasizing the who. "I mean what do you like, what do you hate, do you have siblings, are both your parents alive, what are your dreams and aspiration and other such things."
She simply stared at him. She would never admit it but she was touched that somebody cared enough about her to try and understand her. Unfortunately just has she was about to speak up a certain busty red hair came up to them.
"Yeah Louise tell us about yourself."
"Kirche! What are you doing here?"
"Well its just that my flame here will be lonely when I am in class so I thought him and your familiar could become friends so he wouldn't be so lonely!" She said "That and I couldn't pass up on a perfect opportunity to tease you a bit." She thought.
"Wait you named your fire lizard Flame?" Aelfgar asked "Isn't that like naming a salamander Lizard?"
"Its my familiar so I don't need a complicated name. I want to be able to call on him fast."She answered she turned to Louise "Isn't your familiar a bit rude? Well I guess it can't be helped, after all the women from the Valiere family have always had difficulties controlling their men after all."
"What was that you big breasted monster!" Louise said furiously at Kirche.
Thus started another verbal sparing round between Kirche and Louise. At this point Aelfgar realized that is only chance at a civil conversation between him and Louise had been taken away. He asked the fire lizard if he wanted to go for a walk, it agreed and they left the two arguing mage together. They walked around the tables a bit before Aelfgar saw a flamboyant blond boy with a rose sticking out of his frilly v-neck shirt. He was walking quickly to a table surrounded by boys. But he was walking too fat and a small purple bottle fell from his pockets. Picking it up the haumain walked faster to catch up with the young man.
"So Guiche who is the girl you are going out with?" Asked a plumb boy.
"Ah! You know that a rose is made to be admired by all and not to be taken by only one! I couldn't possibility go out with one girl and deny the others their chances with me now could I?" He answered in false modesty. The boys laughed at that.
"Excuse me." Aelfgar said to the blond boy "But I believe this is yours." He said putting the purple down in front of Guiche.
The young boy ignored him.
Thinking that maybe he had a problem with his hearing the haumain spoke louder "Excuse me but I think this I yours!"
Guiche turned around and said "This isn't mine, commoner!" Before he turned back to the crowd of boys.
"Hey isn't that Momontrency's perfume? You know the one she mixes for herself?"
"Yeah your right! So that's who your seeing!" Another one exclaimed.
"Has expected of Guiche!" They exclaimed before bursting out laughing.
"No no you got it all wrong! You see..." But before he could complete that sentence he was suddenly holstered into the air by the frills on his shirt. Aelfgar had come to a conclusion and unfortunately for him it wasn't the right one.
"You thief! You stole this from this Montmorency girl!" He yelled out at Guiche's face.
"NO!Your wrong! She gave this to me because we started going out!" Terrified at the shear anger he could see in Louise's familiar eyes.
"O? Then why did you say it wasn't yours? I clearly saw this fall from your pockets and when I went to give it back to you, you said it wasn't yours and then those boys said that it was Montmorency's perfume! Why else would somebody deny having something that belongs to somebody else?" He snarled in his face.
"Well you see its.." But he never got to finish is sentence. He spotted the brown haired girl that he was courting the night before.
"So it was true" She said "you really are seeing Montmorency! But I thought you said I was the only one!" Tears ran down her cheek and she left running.
"KATIE WAIT!" He yelled, but he couldn't break free of Aelfgar's iron grip.
"So this isn't is first offense!" He thought. He opened his mouth to reprimand the boy when he was cut off by a small blond haired woman. She had blue eyes and a frog on her shoulders.
"Guiche who was that ?" She said anger clear in her voice.
"MONTMORENCY! I can explain." He said sweating heavily.
"O really?" She said with an icy tone. "You can explain to me why a first year came up to you and said that you told her she was the only one and then left in tears?"
He laughed nervously "You see its a funny story where..."
She had heard enough "YOU TWO TIMING BASTARD!" She yelled before slapping him with all her might.
Poor Guiche was still held in an iron grip and was forced to take the full force of the blow. She turned around and left. You could practically see the steam rising from her anger. The slap had left a perfect hand print on his cheek in a vivid red color. Thinking he had been punished enough for his crime he simply dropped him. Guiche fell unceremoniously on his butt. Aelfgar picked up the bottle with the intention of giving it back to its owner when.
"Where are you going commoner?" Guiche said gracefully getting back up a rose in his hands.
"I'm going to give back what you stole." He said looking at the boy with a bland look.
"You are not going anywhere commoner!"
The boy, having his name and honor dragged through the mud did the only thing he could think of to get his honor back, lash out at the person responsible for this whole fiasco!.
"It seems you have not learned how to threat nobles and you also made those girls cry. It is up to me then to teach you proper respect for your betters! I challenge you to a duel!" He said dramatically.
He thought he would get a look of terror and that the familiar would beg for his life which would let him off the hook. He was surprised when instead of terror the haumain's face lit up like a kid on Christmas eve.
"REALLY! You really want to challenge me!" He said eagerly.
Surprised he answered "Of course! If I don't teach you proper manner who will?"
Aelfgar had small squeal of joy before yelling "WHEN! WHERE? Its been nearly a decade since the last time I dueled anybody!"
Guiche blinked a few time. "What? This familiar has already battle experience?And a decade? How old is he? He barely looks in his twenty!" He thought but still answered "At the Vestri court in fifteen minutes." With that he left.
Has soon has he left all the students started talking excitedly. They were betting on how long The Zero's familiar would last against the young Gramont. None were foolish enough actually bet on the victory of the Haumain. Meanwhile Aelfgar wasn't listening to any of them savoring the chance to duel somebody after so long. Of course he wasn't planning to kill the boy! He just loved the challenge and the excitement that it brought. This was the reason why he had gone adventuring in the first place! For the thrill of it! He stopped daydreaming only to see a pale looking Siesta staring at him.
"You're going to get killed."She said tears in her eyes before she ran.
"Siesta, WAIT!" He was going to run after her but he felt something tug his shirt. He Turned around to see Louise holding it.
"What are you doing?" She asked before proceeding to drag him away.
"Where are we going?" He asked.
"Were going to go apologies to Guiche, Maybe he will be kind enough to let you go with a warning."
He frowned and stopped. No matter how hard Louise tugged at his shirt he didn't budge a muscle. "Apologies? Why should I apologies to that thief? Besides he was the one who challenged me to that duel." He said anger shining in his eye.
"Exactly! He is a noble! A commoner has no chance of beating him! If we apologies now we might be able to save your life!" She said determination clear in her eyes.
Aelfgar liked the determination in her but unfortunately she was NOT going to rob him of his chance for some fun in this strange new universe. "Louise, I have survived countless battles with far tougher opponents then that snot nosed mage who thinks he is so superior to everyone." He smiled before ruffling her hair "Besides ill make sure not to kill the kid k?" With that he left to find a certain maid who also seemed worried about his health.
"Fine you stupid familiar! Be that way!" With an angered huff she left.
Aelfgar searched through the castle using his keen nose to find the young maid. He found her near the fountain sobbing while washing some clothes. He silently approached her before kneeling down next to her. With a yelp the startled maid jumped back before recognizing the figure that was besides her. An insane hope shined in hey eyes.
"Aelfgar! Have you decided to quit the duel and come here to ask me to hide you?" She asked.
"What? Of course not! Why would I do that? I came here to comfort you. I'm not going to quit a duel after been so long without a sparring partner."
The tears returned, with friends. "But us commoner have no chance against nobles! If you go out there you will be badly hurt! You could even die!" She sobbed.
He cradled her in his arms where she sobbed quietly. "There, there, I won't lose. Let me tell you something. Do you know why its been a decade since my last duel?" He said looking at her. She looked up and shook her head. "Its because its been that long since anyone had the courage to challenge me. Its not because I can't fight its because nobody wants to." He was a little sad at that. After all fighting was fun for him! But because of his powers nobody had the guts to challenge him in a while.
"Really?" She said surprised to hear he was actually a strong fighter.
"Really! And if you help me with a little something I promise you I won't lose!"
"Are you sure? I mean are you sure I could help you with something?"
"Yes! Now come on! I wouldn't want to be too late for my first match in a while!" He exclaimed half pulling half dragging the maid to Louise's room.
And there! A little cliffie I know. What could Aelfgar possibly want with the maid? Well I guess you will find out next time.
Read and review please!