Sorry it's taken so long everybody. The beginning of my New Year was abysmal. My grandmother went into the hospital, followed by life support within hours. Days later, my mom and dad rushed off to Elkhart Indiana, (where my grandmother lives) since it was said she didn't have much time. I spent the next four days taking care of my two younger brothers, (11 and 14) providing all transportation, food, and entertainment.
They got home, and 24 hours later, my grandmother died. We didn't have the finances for my parents to go back to attend the funeral. They also couldn't miss any more work than they already had. So, therefore, they missed it.
I was very close to my grandmother. It hurt to loose her. I've been going through some hard times….and especially with my social circle of friends. I'm loosing a lot of close friends, some by my decision, and some not so much, and some people are treating me in ways that I never thought my close friends were capable of.
A warning readers: everyone is capable of the unknown's.
Anyway, this is part of why I haven't been writing in a while. I really hope I start writing faster. Book 25 has already come out. I've read it six times, and now its sitting on my shelf. The next and last book should be translated into English and put on the bookstore shelves in several months. I NEED to hurry up…..so therefore, encouragement would be appreciated.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Night Silver's Whisper
Chapter 5: Part 1: Finders Keepers.
Treisha's breath came fast, and her muscles were straining. There was a throbbing in her temples, and her lips felt chapped. They'd been hiking up this hill for what seemed forever. Rune and Thatz had given up on calling to Rath, who was way ahead of them. So far, any attempts to catch the Fire Dragon Knight's attention had been ignored. Rath was merely a shadow skirting up the hill, toward the top of the mountain. Rune and Thatz were both gasping for air just as much as Treisha, and seemed to be as tired of racing after the Fire Dragon Knight as she was.
Not to say the two didn't know what they were doing of course. Although tired they obviously were, and irritated even more so, Treisha could tell their steps on the rocky terrain were confident, their eyes focused ahead, and their voices, although annoyed in tone, were still full of strength. Every movement the Earth and Water Knight made, whispered of their Dragon Clan power. Treisha found herself incredibly envious.
"This is getting old." Rune muttered, and shoved his hair out of his face. He wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.
"I think it got old in the first two hours." Thatz replied irritatingly. He gave a snort. "I'm not this paranoid am I?"
"If it concerned treasure or money instead of demons?" Treisha said before Rune could form the words, but as if to make up for this, Rune said the response right at the same time she did. "Yeah." She exchanged a smile with the blond Knight, and then pushed on in silence.
Treisha was quite sure the two Knights were going slower so she could keep up. She hated this knowledge, but forced herself to accept it. She was human after all, and even though Thatz was too, he was a Dragon now. She, however, was very clearly, not. The two had offered to stop for breaks more than five times in the last three hours, and she'd turned them down each time. She wanted to be seen as strong in their eyes. One day, she even hoped they'd treat her as an equal.
Although, this last wish would probably have to wait until they arrived in Draqueen.
The sun beat down on them, making sweat run between Treisha's shoulder blades under the long sleeve green shirt she wore. The two layered skirt she wore weighed her down significantly. She wished she could rid herself of it, the whole outfit in fact. She refrained from that urge though. It was so heavy, and made her extra hot. Why had they given her an outfit better fit for winter?
She found herself picturing wearing a tank top and breeches like they the DK characters did later in the series. She sighed. For a few moments, she fantasized with the image of herself as a Dragon Fighter, no matter how foolish and childish it made her feel.
She saw herself in a slightly roughed up blue tank top and a pair of black breeches tucked into the green boots Rune had given her. Her skin was tanned to a darker shade, and she was grinning. She saw a sword in her hand, shining silver as if it wanted to do battle as much as its wielder. Her shoulder length brown gold hair flew on the air, but her gray blue eyes didn't waver from its excitement, or its target.
They'd reached the top. Thatz went over the crest first. Rune followed him fluidly. Treisha was right behind. She calmed her breathing, as she tried to appear not totally exhausted. She realized the other two were looking straight ahead.
"There he goes." Thatz said, his eyes gazing at the black haired blur racing toward the only building set on the mountain. It appeared to be an information cabin, and apparently was Rath's destination. It was a visitor's center, actually.
"Come on." Rune announced with a groan. He ran after Rath. Treisha followed last. She was so tired from climbing she felt ready to drop, but she wasn't going to tell the Knights that. Her pride was getting in the way, she admitted to herself. Her pride, her confidence, her ego, whatever. It was keeping her from letting down, from looking weak in the Dragon Knights eyes. It was keeping her from failing in trying to compare herself to them, which was an impossible feat she shouldn't even be attempting. Her pride was too strong though. It was taking a bit of control. No matter her exhaustion, her pride would push her on.
She had a fleeting idea at this notion however, and that was: I wonder, would this be a quality Thethues would look for in a Dragon Fighter, or something that would get them thrown out immediately?
A moment later they reached the steps up to the Visitor's Center. Surprisingly, they found Rath waiting on the top step. He grinned broadly at them, perhaps albeit a little smugly, and then entered. The other three entered only steps behind, gasping for air.
"Hello!" Rath was announcing, smile still firmly in place. Rune bent over, placing his hands on his knees, where as Thatz was resting a hand on a nearby table for support. Both were muttering to themselves, supposedly about the stupidity, and the irritation toward their black haired friend. "Do you have a copy of "Fodor's Demon Guide?'"
Treisha glanced around at the room. She took in the walls of books, the wooden floor at her feet, and finished with the desk directly across from them. Behind it sat a man with brown hair held back with an orange and black bandana. He was smiling at his new customers from behind a pair of large glasses.
"Oh, that guide? Hmmm….let me see…." He rummaged around a bit in a book he withdrew from beneath the desk. It probably contained the stores records. Treisha, and it seemed it went for the other two as well, was far to out of breath to throw anything at Rath, or cry out exasperatedly at what he was requesting of the store keeper.
"It's sold out." The man replied a second later.
Rath looked shocked. Rune and Thatz had both just collapsed. Treisha covered her mouth with a hand, as she tried to hold back laughing.
This was probably one of those things Mineko Ohkami had planned. This was the twelfth store they'd visited after all, and what was the likeliness of all of them being sold out? Yeah, Treisha held Mineko accountable for this! Not that she minded. Any time with the knights was good time. Any time that got her closer to Draqueen and beginning Dragon Fighter training was also good.
Treisha saw a box saying, "free" on the side. She shuffled through the books. She found ones about demons, the local touristy places to visit, and good restaurants. She paused when she found something in particular. Draqueen: The world inside the gates. She flipped it open slowly, as if she were afraid it would unravel. The first page had the Dragon Lord and Lady on it. She sucked in her breath at their magnificence. Her eyes were drawn to the five men standing behind the two, all dressed in their finest.
The Officers.
They were graceful and strong in their postures, expressions and smiles…or lack thereof when it came to Tuethese's face.
Treisha wondered if one day she could be strong enough, respected and trusted enough, to stand by them. Not in drawings like this perhaps, but maybe in other ways. Would she ever rise that high?
"I won't let you!" Thatz was announcing as he whirled around toward her, and Treisha would have been thrown into the wall of books, but stepped aside just in time to avoid him. Thatz didn't even notice, as he placed what looked to be a map back among others on a shelf. Treisha glanced between him and Rune, who looked ticked off for some reason.
If she was not mistaken, she'd missed something while her mind had been lost in her "Draqueen daydreaming."
"Um, sir?" Said the store clerk behind the desk, and Treisha ignored the lot of them. She knew in a moment, the clerk would offer the Knight's the opportunity to play a game to win prizes. She instead flipped through the book again, and was glad that whoever had thrown her into this world had been intelligent enough to make sure everything was in English, and not Japanese.
Books away from where she stood now, when she would finally get to Dusis, she'd see what their world was really like. She would stay in one of their rooms, the grandeur of which she couldn't imagine. She would get to go before the Dragon Lord, and pay her respects. She'd get to watch Alfeegi bothering Ruwalk about giving Kai-stern more money for his adventures than was allowed.
She slid the book into the pack that Rune had given her a few days before, just as she heard a sound behind her. She glanced around a corner carefully, wondering if there was anybody else in the store. This was a long way for any commoner to travel. Any further noises the person might have made were drowned out by the noise of that Dragon Knights winning their prize behind Treisha and back at the counter. She smiled. She kind of remembered where this was going. She waited for the responses she would hear.
"SAY WHAT?" Came Thatz's shout.
"Thanks," Rune then shouted over Thatz. "But we can't accept it. Is there a runner-up prize?"
Treisha kept looking around the corner. She remembered who it was who came in, she was just waiting for her to make her appearance. It would be showy, as thieves often made their entrances, and it should be coming any time now. Treisha sent her eyes around corners, but didn't see the female thief.
Then Treisha saw her.
Kitchel was perched on top of one of the bookcases, which was why Treisha hadn't seen her immediately. She wore a small black T-shirt that showed her belly-button, and a small white jacket over it that was shorter than the layer underneath. She wore some ornate necklace on her upper chest, that had white beads hanging. She had some kind of band around her neck that looked leather, black gloves on both hands. Last, she wore yellow shorts that were the shortest Treisha had ever seen in the entire world of the Dragon Lord and Demon Lord. Kitchel also had a bag slung about her waist the color of gold, and wore ankle high purple boots, with white socks up to the knee. Last of all, her eyes were covered by large, thick sunglasses.
"Hey," Treisha said, cocking her head to the side. She saw Kitchel glance down towards here, snicker and grin, and then the thief took action. She used come kind of contraption she must have picked up on her many thieving adventurous, and used it to snap the ticket for the treasure hunt that the knights had just won, along with Rune's precious map to Dusis, right out of the hands that grasped them.
"Got the treasure map!" Kitchel exclaimed, smiling. "Bye!" And then she had leapt down from the bookcase, and was out the door before anybody had moved a muscle.
Treisha ran around the bookcase and back to where the others stood just in time to see the predicted chaos breakout. She had to lunge out of the way just as the knights went racing past her and out the door, Rath being dragged by Thatz.
"Come on Treisha!" Thatz yelled back at her, and she was about to take off, when she paused to glance back into the store. Her eyes caught the sight of the store clerk's head bouncing off of its neck.
"Nice trick, Jilge." Treisha mused, and then turned to race after the others.
It was a good thing that in her world she spent a lot of time hiking and camping. Most normal commoner's bodies wouldn't hold up very well under this kind of strain. Treisha smiled to herself at this thought though. When had she started using the word commoner?
She eventually caught up with the others Knights. She saw them grouped up behind a cluster of trees and bushes. In the greenery, the Knights were gazing out at the entrance to a cave. In front of it sat a wooden podium with a woman behind it. Even though she wore glasses and her hair black curls of hair was drawn up, Treisha still knew it to be Jilge, the woman who used to work for the Demon Lord Nadil, and who was now leading all four of them into a trap.
It was a rather silly trap.
But it was important. The Knights would run across something crucial in this place, called M---- Cave. A piece of priceless weaponry that wouldn't come to use for a long time, not wielded to protect the Dragon Tribe's palace in its darkest hours. Treisha knew there were many battles, deaths and blood to be spilt before they would come to that day. It's not a day she looked forward to. Now were the days she knew what would happen. Now were the days she would learn to fight so that she could protect the Lord, and his subjects. Now was the time to be without concerns and any fatal dangers. Later, would come the time when she'd miss these peaceful afternoons, and take up the sword she would carry, in the name of the one Lord L-----.
Treisha had been remembering and visualizing long enough, that when she glanced up, she realized the Knights had already entered and were out of sight.
Damn it. They didn't like to wait for her did they?
Treisha looked over to the podium, and saw that Jilge had already vanished.
This was a good discovery. Treisha was intelligent enough to know that keeping her name away from Shydman and Shindora for as long as possible was smartest. If they learned of her, and what she could do….the danger it would throw her in could jeopardize everything.
However, despite her precautions, Lady Jilge hadn't left quite yet. She was standing just inside the cave, in the darkness. She smiled as the 17 year old girl raced past her after her friends. She whispered to the demons that took her orders without thoughts, only with grimaces. As of right now, this girl was nothing more than an oddity trailing after people who were above her. Nothing more.
For now.
Treisha had hoped to see the Knights inside, bickering. However, apparently she was too late. She was standing at a fork in the trails, and didn't know which way to go. If she remembered right, Rune and Thatz went one way and Rath went the other. But still…didn't Rath end up trapped underground? She didn't want to end up down there. Without some sort of sword or weapon, or dragon for that matter, she didn't have the means to escape such a situation as the Fire Knight did. Therefore, her choice in directions could be a dangerous one.
She ended up going left.
A few minutes later, she feared she was lost. Treisha felt incredibly stupid and foolish at this point. She should have circled the cave, and gone to the exit. It would have been easy enough, but inside she'd gone inside. She didn't have Map pieces like Kitchel did, or a stone that the Dragon Lord had given the thief to navigate her way through this labyrinth. She didn't have the Knights, with their wonderful senses of direction…not that they were remotely good.
Suddenly, something sprang at her that had three eyes, and one of those said eyes was hanging by a string off the yokai's nose. Treisha shut her mouth tight so she wouldn't scream, as she stumbled several steps backwards. She then laughed at herself as she saw the fake demon in front of her.
How stupid of her!
How idiotic!
She'd forgotten this place was filled with fake demons and traps.
Just then, as if Jilge didn't want Treisha relaxing, the ground under her feet gave a shudder, and she nearly lost her balance. She steadied herself by gripping a rock in the stone wall next to her, and when the tremors had faded, she grinned again.
"And that would be Rath getting himself stuck underground." She mused as she righted herself.
Treisha took another step and the ground gave out under her. Half her body went down and through it, and the only reason she didn't fall all the way through into the pitch darkness salivating below, was because she grabbed onto the ledge with both hands.
"Shit." She muttered, not typically one to cuss, but when the situation called for it, she believed it a necessarily reaction. This felt like one of those times.
"Waaaaaaa!" Came a scream. Treisha looked up, to see that somebody was screaming and waving something in Treisha's face frantically. "Another demon!" The female kept screaming, and Treisha realized it was sunglasses being waved in her face. It didn't feel that good.
"Hey!" Treisha called, but wasn't heard. "HEY! KITCHEL!"
Finally, Kitchel stopped waving the pair of sunglasses in Treisha's face, and pulled back to look down at what she was seeing and what was very obviously….not a yokai.
"Kitchel, help would be appreciated." Treisha said, trying to hold onto the sides before the darkness below decided to eat her.
"Oh, okay." The thief finally said, and then assisted Treisha back up onto solid ground. "How do you know me?" She asked once they were both standing again, and Treisha was brushing herself off.
"Long story." Treisha replied, and laughed at herself inside. How many times would she have to use "that" answer when people asked her how she knew their names? She'd just have to be more careful about calling people by their names before they introduced themselves to her. "Short….I know you work for the Dragon Lord." Treisha had weighed the pros and cons of mentioning that part.
"What?" Kitchel snapped at her. Treisha pressed on.
"You work for the Dragon Lord, and you're here on official business decreed especially by him. That's why you're here." Kitchel stared with wide eyes, which quickly moved on to being accusatory.
"Do you work for him too?" She asked. "You don't look like somebody who does."
"You don't either." Treisha threw back amusedly. "You look life a common roadside thief." Treisha chuckled at this, and as surprised when Kitchel laughed too, however, it was Treisha who paused in puzzlement.
Reading the Dragon Knights series, she'd never liked Kitchel. She'd been her least liked character. She'd never seemed to serve the books a purpose, and she didn't help the plot along at all. She didn't "do" anything other than acquire the Three Treasures/the Map Pieces….which yes, were helpful in the end, but….Treisha had just thought up until now that when she met up with the female that they wouldn't get along at all. So why were they chatting so easily?
Whatever.
"I don't work for him currently." Treisha finally admitted. "But I am currently traveling to Draqueen in order to undergo Dragon Fighter training."
"Right…." Kitchel trailed, but didn't finish.
"Kitchel," Treisha said and motioned down the cave. "Let's get going. Who knows what kind of treasure is up ahead?" And she turned her back to face the other direction.
Oh yes, what kinds of treasure!
Such as the Snow Sword, perhaps?
If Thatz knew what was up ahead, he'd surely be salivating already.
Treisha herself was highly anticipating the coming excitements.
So, I know I left off in a slightly odd spot, but I really wanted to get a chapter posted since it has literally been FOREVER. I do apologize for that! I am working on the next chappi immediately.
Oh, and for those who were interested, when I get to writing "That's the Way the Fortune Cookie Crumbles," that chapter will have the Knights finding out the ability that Treisha has, and that when they'd said she didn't look like she was from around here….how right they were!
But especially, the chapter after that, titled "Dark and Stormy Knights," is when Treisha gets to do some fighting of her own! Finally! I hate writing her as somebody who doesn't get to participate in that. If she's going to be a Dragon Fighter, she has to be stronger and tougher! That's more the character I want her to be.
So please tell me what you thought!
Night Silver's Whisper
