Chapter 3
Zagato informed his minions about what had happened to Dinah.
"Neither of you are to disturb her...especially you, Alcyone," said Zagato, giving Alcyone a steely stare. He felt it was a disgrace that he had to tell Alcyone to behave herself since she was old enough to know how, but if he didn't tell her, she would devise any diabolical deed she could.
Alcyone knew better than to protest when Zagato spoke in that tone.
"Yes, my lord," said Alcyone, bowing respectfully. She would just wait until the fire sorceress was on her feet again to annoy her. She harbored a great amount of jealousy toward Dinah.
"Poor missy..why must she be so stubborn?" wondered Caldina. The news upset her greatly, since Dinah was her best friend.
"Dinah is sure missing out on all the fun," said Ascot.
"Enough!" barked Inouva. He then assigned Caldina, Ascot and Lafarga their areas they would cover in Cephiro. He was about to give Alcyone her assigned location.
"Please give me another chance to take care of those magic knights, Lord Zagato," begged Alcyone.
Zagato had little patience for failure, and he certainly didn't tolerate questioning.
"Those girls from another world are entering the Forest of Silence...magic cannot be used there. There are monsters which dwell in the Forest of Silence. We do not have to lift a finger," said Zagato, smugly.
"Yeah, but-" Alcyone started to protest.
"End of discussion," said the high priest, firmly. With that, he left the spacious room.
"Wait! Lord!" Alcyone called after him. She hoped that he would eventually give her another chance. 'Those girls just got lucky...but they won't defeat me again.'
Inouva gave Alcyone her assigned location she would cover. Alcyone did not like taking orders from him at all. But she knew she had no choice, if she valued her life. She decided that in the meantime, she would come up with the perfect scheme to defeat the girls from another world.
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Dinah was sitting up in bed, reading a book. She didn't bother trying to go to sleep, as she knew that her condition would hinder that. The numbness in her legs seemed to have gone away, which was good. But now she felt excruciating pain in her left calf.
' Oh great. Don't tell me I pulled a calf muscle,' thought Dinah. She thought that she heard something pop when she had collapsed, but she couldn't be sure, since she was feeling lightheaded and things were starting to fade into pitch blackness. She hope it wasn't as bad as it felt, otherwise she would have to stay off of it for a bit. And at this point, she doubted that her unwavering loyalty to Zagato would enable her to be fairly active. It was something that had helped in the past, however., even if the agony was severe.
Oh, did she wish that Princess Emeraude was free. Princess Emeraude's nursing skills were excellent, and Dinah could use some right about now. She didn't know if High Priest Zagato was the one who brought her to her room or not, but she felt that it was quite generous of him if he had. After all, he had other things on his agenda to worry about. He was not necessarily obligated to worry about her. Now she was worried about how he would react to this new injury she had managed to sustain. She did not want to burden him with her problems. She wondered how Emeraude was doing. She hoped that she was feeling better. When she had seen her earlier before she fainted, she looked extremely depressed.
The fire sorceress tried moving her poorly leg, and regretted it immediately. She swore out loud. She hoped that Zagato would come and check on her after he was finished with whatever he had to do. At this point she had a "please kill me now" feeling. She tossed her book aside and just sat there. Reading wasn't something she could concentrate on at the moment.
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Meanwhile, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu had finally made it to MasterSmith Presea's house, after an encounter with a monster. However, there was one problem. The girls were not sure how to get inside the house.
"Well, what do we do?" asked Umi.
"We can try knocking," suggested Fuu.
"There are no doors!" said Umi, crossly.
Hikaru calmly walked up to the front of the house, and touched the wall. The wall moved on its own, much to the amazement of Umi and Fuu.
"Voila! Let's go," said Umi. She was a tad annoyed with herself for not thinking of that. She, Hikaru and Fuu entered the house.
"Hello! Anyone home?" called Umi. There was no answer.
"I guess we have no choice but to go ahead," said Fuu.
"You may be right," said Hikaru. She and the other girls continued on, and spotted what appeared to be a library. They entered the library, and saw a heap of white papers scattered all over the floor. More and more sheets were falling on the floor.
"Hello? Are you Miss Presea? We're here because Mage Clef told us to come ," Hikaru said to the white bunny-like creature in the chair. This was NOT Presea, but a magical rabbit named Mokona.
"Pu pu pu pu!" said the magical rabbit.
Unexpectedly, a cage fell and trapped the 3 girls.
"What the...?" Umi started to ask.
A woman with nutmeg coloured hair entered the room. This woman was known as the mastersmith Presea. She laughed out loud.
"You sure fell for it, Mokona! You always get away with making a mess in my study," she said. She didn't know whether to punish him by pulling on his ears to see how far they can stretch, or by hanging him upside down in the front hall.
Presea noticed Hikaru, Umi and Fuu.
"Who would have thought that 3 mischievous children inhabited this study. What would be a fitting punishment for you?" wondered Presea, "should I pull on your cheeks to see how wide your mouth can open? Or perhaps it would be better if I boil the three of you in a big pot!"
Umi began to feel bad. Although she and the other girls were innocent concerning the mess in the study, they had entered the house without permission.
"Because of that, she has every right to suspect us," she said
"We didn't mean any harm, Presea. Clef told us to come here. When I touched the wall, it moved on its own. I apologize for any inconvenience we caused," said Hikaru.
Presea thought about what Hikaru said. She recalled a time when Mage Clef told her that 3 girls from another world would appear during a time Cephiro was facing a crisis. The magic knights were the only people the door would open automatically for. She concluded that these were not ordinary children at all, but the legendary magic knights that Clef spoke of. She was destined to make weapons for these girls. She never thought that the legend would come to tuition this soon.