Scene 1

The weather was slightly overcast, but the sun was bright and warm, the slight breeze a relief. I looked to see Wolfram relaxing in a tense way, watching the pool behind him for the slightest sign of life, Conrad smiling his handsome, human way at our younger brother. Gunter was absently caressing the towel he had brought with him for the Maou when Yuri decided to heed the call of the Head Priestess. I sighed, stroking my horse's dark, soft head. My one weakness, cute animals; an odd Achilles Heel for a demon.

I smiled as Conrad motioned for Gunter to come closer to the pool, the waters swirling as they did when the Maou arrived. Gunter's obsession with the King was highly unhealthy and sick. The visits of ours had become so increasingly frequent the Priestess' gave us free reign of the outer most walls. All because our Maou could not decide where he wanted to be more; here or there. The bubbles were become larger, more frequent. He was arriving any second now.

"Yuri." I whispered with the same amount of respect and love for the Maou that maybe Cheri, my mother, had.

"Gwendal!" A lesser priestess shouted as Wolfram yelled at Yuri, who came spluttering out of the clear waters.

"My Lord." She smiled at me, not bowing but I didn't care, we were in a Holy place, titles did not matter. I nodded my head, attempting some sort of friendly behavior. I watched the scene unfolding before me, Yuri in his odd clothes; snippets of their friendly and loving banter tickling my ears. I wished I could show my emotion like that... so much had made me bitter, hardened, cold. "I am supposed to let you know that there is a breech in our security."

I snapped out of my thoughts. My personality came out best in situations such as these. I may be a lesser character of the Maou's story, but I ruled the world behind the scenes of Yuri's life. I leapt upon my horse, riding towards Conrad, who rushed to my side, all ears, all attention. He too, functioned well under pressure, for a human man. "Conrad, brother, take Yuri to the Eastern Castle as quickly as possible." I looked at our king, garbed in some strange fashion, his lips not matching the words he said. Japanese, he called it, yet we heard English.

"What is wrong?" Conrad asked; the smile still on his face, probably to keep from alarming Yuri.

I felt a stab of indignation that I had not noticed the young man watching my brother and I interact before Conrad had. I waved back at the Maou, "We have a mysterious wanderer in our kingdom that the Priestess did not summon here."

He smiled and turned around, answering to the beckoning our King hailed. "In your hands, Gwendal."

"As he is in yours." I replied, swiftly turning my steed and racing off the grounds. The younger priestess had said that the person who had not been summoned was in the western parts of our country, somewhere around the Western Castle that Yuri and Wolfram had hatched bumble bears from. The little ones were adorable, but the larger one kind of gave me the creeps. Too big to be cute. Mentally I corrected my train of thoughts.

"Yuri first." I whispered to my horse, urging him faster.

The scenery passed by us in nothing more than a blur, I thanked the Original King for his grace upon me, to have bestowed such a gift as the ability I have with animals. In my worst times of need, I usually had an uncanny way of dealing with the animals, the creatures around me. Not a common gift.

An ear splitting scream rumbled through my brain, a commotion rattled my thoughts. Something was happening. I urged my horse faster, able to focus on nothing, random attacks of my brain sent miscellaneous thoughts through my mind.

The clatter of my steed's hooves on the brick, magnificent walk-way to the castle, shifted my mind onto a single target; my thoughts narrowed in on this one intruder.

This was territory I knew and covered, this was land I mastered as skillfully as any swordsman his knife or bowman his bow. I jumped from my horse; using stealth was foremost in a situation such as this. Carefully I drew my weapon, everything was dangerous and life threatening until proven otherwise.

There was a gasp, and something mumbled that I couldn't quite understand. A soft scraping noise was being made again and again as the intruder came closer to the corner I had been poised behind.

Closer. I urged, Just a little closer, and this will all be over. My grip around the hilt tightened as my excitement and anticipation built. For who, any longer, had the gall to just be on the Maou's land without the okay of his decree?

None other than a murderer. I hissed, my loyalty and love for the Maou creating a disgusted hate for this being who wished harm on my master and king.

There was a scuffle, and I stepped from my hiding place, pausing before the attack, knowing that, before I mutilate this creature I should be able to visually place who it was, and who hired it.

I was excepting someone vicious, someone horrible and strong. I was not expecting the soft, delicate skin of a woman, nor the green eyes that gazed up at me in such terror I immediately knew that there was no reason to attack. Hesitantly I lowered my sword, her eyes never leaving my own. It was unnerving, no one but my mother and Anissina looked at me so intensely, everyone else was afraid to.

Startled I completely had put away my weapon, holding my hands in a form of harmlessness.

"I am Gwendal, I am here to help you. What is your name?" nothing, she had actually started to pale. "Miss, your name? Do you know where you are?"

And then she passed out. Alarmed I rushed to her, taking her hand in mine, finally noticing something besides her eyes. Her hair was a brass-gold color, her skin was pale, but with more of an olive color than a really white toned person. She was human, and was wearing clothes just as outlandish as the Maou. Her skin was cut and bruised, her clothes were torn and dirty.

And then it hit me I was alone with this person, our mystery intruder. Nothing more than a harmless woman who passed out at the sight of a man made for war. Some where in me I felt a bit of sorrow for the fact that she, a stranger, feared me as well as any who had ever known me; my reputation was a blessing and a curse. People either feared and respected me, or feared and hated me. The Maou just seemed to be fearful and confused.

Though he needn't be, I dedicated my life to him long ago, before he even knew, and I even knew, that he was to be King. In fact, the moment I first met him, when he proposed to Wolfram, I knew I was loyal. If a bit disappointed. I had wanted to be the next Maou so badly, and the possibility of being elected was so very near at hand, too.

I sighed, the sun hot and warm above us, my clothing restricting my ability to cool off. I huffed, picking the girl up, amazed, once again, at the frailty of humans. But, she was a beautiful… I shook my head of the thought. She was still a suspect for the attempt to murder the Maou.

Shocked at the thought, I noticed swelling around her wrists, in an oddly familiar pattern. I wrapped my fingers around her wrist, and then realized she was the one who had screamed. The clatter of feet had snapped me from my musings over this female. Calmly I raised my gaze to a couple ruffians who looked worse for wear.

"What have we here?" I asked no one, drawing to my full height, placing a hand on my sword to emphasis their mistake to be on the royal grounds, "A couple of trespassers? Should I kill them?" I smiled wickedly, drawing my sword and placing it under one mans chin so fast they didn't have the time to blink.

"No!" He blurted out, gulping against the stress of the situation. "We're just here for the girl, we found her first."

This piqued my interest, "Found?" I mused, pressing my sword a little closer to the man, "what do you mean by 'found'?"

"What he means," Came a voice that startled me, "Is that they had tried to force me to…" her voice cracked "...to... be with them."

I looked at the girl, who was still pale, more angry than frightened now. "Is that so?" I asked her, turning back to the men.

"Well," I hissed, "If I ever find you on the Maou's land again, I will slit you from gut to gills, understand?" I waved with my sword to indicate exactly what 'gut to gills' meant.

The man who was standing off to the side began to argue when his friend silenced him, "This is Gwendal, you fool! Want me to die?"

They both looked at me as I withdrew my sword, sheathing it. "Run." I commanded, amused as they obeyed.

The sound of shuffling made me look to the woman behind me.

I rolled my eyes, holding back a sigh as she scrutinized me, as if awed and confused. "Where am I and who are you?"

I smiled, shaking my head, "Those are my question, Miss. You are on the Maou's land, you answer to me."

She looked confused, "What's a 'Maou'? And why are you so important to him?"

I looked to the sky as a skeleton passed overhead, clacking away madly.

I groaned inwardly, looking at the girl and my one horse. "We must go…" I tried to explain, "I am being summoned, however, I will explain the best I can."

She looked at me warily. To her I was the enemy, it was as if I was at war, trying to help a wounded member of the opposing side and they couldn't trust the help. "Where are you taking me? Where am I? Who are you? What's a Maou?"

"I will explain as we move. Like I said, I am being summoned." I began to lose my temper with this girl. "Are you not used to following the orders of a man, female? I said MOVE!"

Much to my surprise, she got mad at me. "I don't have to listen to a man, I am my own person with more intelligence than you could muster in your life-span! How dare you treat me so disrespectfully."

She turned her back to me, stalking the other way, which would not do. I had to bring her to the Maou. Angrily I fought with my pride and doing what was right all the while watching her walk further away from where we needed to go.

"I am sorry!" I yelled after her, which made her freeze. "My name is Gwendel, we have a long trip, and I need you to listen. You are new here, and I know the land. So what I say goes, just for this short amount of time?" I walked after her, yanking along the horse.

She turned back around, smiling. "Okay." She began walking back towards me, a moment of awkwardness passed as we stood face to face. She cleared her throat and I snapped back to reality. Embarrassed I helped her mount my horse and swung on behind her, the blush covering her face was cute.

I shook my head, No, no no no no! She's not cute. She's a human. And then my little devil spoke in seductive words, She's a beddable female. She's got a very full form. From my vantage point I could see directly down her shirt. And then the voice dealt a killing blow. She's never been touched. And the images that went through my mind, well, I had to imagine that one time Conrad went running around naked in the snow to counter the affects of my inner voice.

We traveled for hours, stopping for a quick meal, and I explained the best I could of the Maou, being our King, of our land and customs. She was awed, taking in as much as she could.

In turn she told me about the land she came from, she told me about America, and this traveling thing called a bus that could have had us at the castle in half and hour instead of this four hour ride. She explained how women were independent and stubborn and did their own thing. Immediately Anissina came to mind. I shuddered at the prospect of hundreds of her.

And then I did something stupid, "So, how is it you have not gained a man then, if you are of the right age and have the correct body shape?"

She reddened, "Umm… well… My age, for where I come from, is still really young."

"But you can have children, and you are fine to look at…" I clamped my mouth shut. Where are these words coming from? I had been able to withhold my body and mouth from women for years, why was I becoming such a dumb fool around this one outlander?

I glanced at her, though she was still blushing. I smiled slightly, she was really cute.