Jack Crow – Rouge Tactician
By FutureCam
Chapter three: The Shrine of Spirits
A/N: I hate life. I'm doing well (80+%)in every subject at school other than French (49%), so now I have an over-demanding tutor to go with my over-demanding parents. For those who can't read between the lines, Me failing French = NO TIME TO WRITE! GAH!
At least this isn't that off-schedule. Thank (Insert your higher deity here.) for small mercies.
Maybe I should change my update schedule to 'Whenever Possible'.
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Crow shook his head and moaned. He slowly sat up, ignoring the searing pain in his side, and took in his surroundings.
Some kind of Shrine He realized.
"Deja Vu, much?" A feminine voice said with a slight laugh from behind him.
"I guess so, Lyn" He replied, smiling slightly. "Where am I?"
"The Shrine of Spirits" She explained, walking over to him. "It's said that there is a strong connection to the spirits here. It's also the location of the famed Mani Kati."
"This kills two birds with one stone" Crow commented.
"How so?"
"Well, you'd want to receive blessings before your new journey, and I needed a healer. Sorted." He said offhandedly, getting up. Lyn looked away quickly, hiding her blush.
"What?" Crow said, throwing on his shirt "Never seen a guy with his top off before?" he teased.
"Oh, shut up." Lyn said, her cheeks still flaring. "And I have – although both times I was preoccupied with stopping him from bleeding out." She continued with a mock-furious look at Crow.
He laughed and shook his head. "Point. So-" He said, grabbing his swords "What's the plan?"
"We go to Caelin to see my grandfather with those knights." Lyn said, checking her own sword.
"Again, two birds with one stone" He said, offhandedly "The other remaining Lorca is in the mountains above the capital. We could use his help in getting rid of Lundgren, if he really plans on stopping you arriving."
"Excellent." Lyn agreed. "Now, all we need is-"
Crow shushed her.
"Can you hear that?" He said, worriedly.
Lyn strained her ears. She could – people had broken into the shrine. At that moment, Kent and Sain burst into the room.
"Milady Lyndis! Bandits – they're attempting to steal that sword you mentioned!" Kent said, sword already drawn.
A slow grin crawled across Crow's face.
"Do they know we're here?" He asked.
"No" Sain replied, shaking his head "They're too occupied by the local militia."
Crow smirked.
"This. Is. Too. Perfect." He said "They won't know what hit them."
He immediately went into 'Telepath' mode.
'Kent? Sain? Can you hear me?' he sent.
"What the hell?" The two knights yelped, shaken.
'I'll take that as a yes' Crow sent, sighing. He switched back to vocalization. "I'll explain later. For now..."
He sneaked a look out the door. A group of axe-armed bandits were holding the priests prisoners, while their sword-armed leader was attempting to pull the Mani Katti free.
"Okay. I have a plan" He said. 'Nod when you receive my instructions. Sain, you go get the leader. You're lance can slip past his defences.'
Sain nodded.
'Kent. I want you to go and help the local militia outside. The village must not fall.'
Kent nodded and left through a side door.
'Lyn. You and I shall save the hostages' He sent. Lyn nodded.
'Ready...GO!'
Sain charged out, yelling a warcry as he went straight for their leader. Lyn and Crow turned the corner and killed the first two out of five bandits they came upon. The others charged forwards, and Crow found himself fighting one while Lyn handled two.
"I wish I was healed completely" He muttered, slamming his sword into his foe's shoulder, before slicing the main vein at the groin with his other scimitar. He jumped to the side to avoid the spurting blood.
"They'd all be dead by now if I was." He muttered, pausing to take stock of the situation. Lyn had felled one of her foes, and the second was badly injured, while she wasn't even scratched.
She's got potential He noted, smirking. He turned to face Sain's fight with the bandit leader, and watched as his lance slammed into the bandit's shoulder, going all the way through and breaking the collarbone as well as causing the extreme bleeding. Crow winced.
"Painful..." He muttered. At that instant, Kent and his horse burst through a wall to the leader's left and, lance extended, charged straight at the stunned bandit. He rode past, looking like he had missed, but Crow saw the thin sliver of blood on the lance, but what really clued him in was the ridiculous spray of blood that came from the leader's throat. His hands went to his neck reflexively, and he collapsed to the ground, very, very dead. Kent rode back over towards Crow and Lyn.
"Milady Lyndis, Master Crow, the threat to the civilians was eliminated." He reported, dismounting.
"I noticed" Crow said, dryly "You did finish them off quickly, though"
Kent shrugged.
"I believe they were more there to prevent priests from escaping the shrine more than anything else, Master Crow" He said "They seemed rather surprised to see a fully-armed knight charge at them with his sword drawn."
"Oh? Did I miss a chance to revel in my heroism in front of the civilians?" Sain asked.
"Yeah, yeah, if by that you mean 'show off for the girls'" Crow muttered. Sain looked at him in shock.
"How did you-"
"I'm a telepath, you moron." Crow said acidly.
"Just how did that happen?" Lyn asked, curious. "You've never told me..."
Crow froze.
"I don't like to talk about it." He said, darkly "If you want to keep friends with me, then do not ask again."
**********
Sirocco's log, entry 3
By now, rumors have begun to spread among the Taliver – that the Crow of Freedom was back from the dead and moving towards Caelin with a young girl, the last survivor of the Lorca.
With this knowledge, gained from one of our raids into Taliver territory, we are filled with confidence that Kalut's mission will succeed. To prepare for their arrival, we are finding out all we can about the rumors of Lundgren attempting a coup for the throne. Lundgren has never liked Crow on the odd occasions we collaborated with Lord Hausen to help prevent bandit raids. Lord Hausen, on the other hand, enjoyed Crow's company immensely. That's the main reason we haven't been chased out of the Hunting Ground yet...but if Lundgren gets control, The blackwings are, for lack of a better term and to take a page out of Gale's book, really, really screwed.
**********
After finding the head bishop hiding in a chimney stack, and giving him the time to change into clean robes, the four companions were standing in the - slightly – cleaner altar room as the locals attempted to clean it up.
"Could we have made any more mess?" Crow asked, mystified by the destruction they had caused. At that point, a chandelier that had been weakened by Kent charging through a wall earlier, smashed to the floor.
"I guess so" Lyn muttered, slightly ashamed. At that point, the bishop came bustling in.
"Thank you, brave warriors, for protecting the Mani Katti-"
"And the town, and your lives" Crow muttered. He'd never understood religion.
"As a reward" The bishop continued, glaring at the black-haired man, "I shall allow you to attempt to draw the blade."
"Thank you, holy one" Lyn said respectfully, sending a very pointed glare at Crow, and she walked over. Her hands clasped over the hilt of the sword, her fingers moving carefully around it. It felt...right.
She held the hilt with her left hand and slowly pulled on the hilt. To her surprise, not to mention Crow's, as he'd watched the bandit leader attempt to draw it for almost the entirety of the battle, it came out completely with that small effort.
Pretty much everyone there dropped everything – unfortunately for one of the injured priests – and turned to look at them.
"Oh, bugger" Crow muttered. "We have a fan club."
As Sain opened his mouth, Kent cut in with.
"No."
"But-"
"No"
"But I only want to-"
"No"
"Just one-"
"NO!"
"Please-"
That one was cut off with Crow and Kent punching him in the gut at the same time. He sank to the ground, writhing in pain.
"Is he always like this?" Crow asked Kent curiously.
"Unfortunately, yes"
"God's give me strength."
During that conversation, Lyn came back, the Mani Katti now strapped to her waist.
"Ready to leave, boys?" She asked, playfully.
"Yeah. I see you got a new sword" Crow said, bluntly.
"Seemingly, I'm the only one that can wield it." Lyn said, confused "Apparently, if someone else tries to draw it, it used to just stay stuck, but now they'll get a scorched hand."
"Nice" Crow said with a grin. "Come on, then" He continued, walking towards the stables "Let's get out of here before they decide they want it back"
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A/N: Little bit of comedy at the end there – Sain is so fun to make fun of :)
See you again....eventually. If my French teacher/parents/tutor/overenthusiastic cat don't kill me first.