Shadowed Heart--Part 10
See disclaimer in Part 8
:too lazy to remove old AN... hehehe:
Author's Note: Okay, so how do you like the Makoto storyline so far? One of my beta readers keeps demanding more fights, so I hope the eighth chapter satisfies him (it's Winter Break, so for once you'll be getting this before he does). This is possibly the biggest story on that I'll have up here for a LONG time; I doubt that even my next FFTA story, Dreams to Come (not being put up till MUCH later since it has major spoilers), will be able to rival it. Try to keep me motivated; another of my stories just sort of ran dry after the eleventh chapter; I haven't posted anything on it for a while either.
In the words of Kaelle-chan, fellow Llednar-kun fan, there's another story I must "plug". It's "The Hero Gaol", a retelling of the infamous hero's tale, and I've found it to be very good. I just hope the author updates soon, because I WANT MORE I WANT MORE I WANT MORE! ;; This story assumes that Gaol was also a biskmatar, and has gotten to be overall very decent. Ne!
In other news, I've upped the rating on this story, as it's going to get... er... stuff... soon. And definitely more violent. We're going to have some, let's say, hitokiri-Battousai moments. chibi face And I'm not saying any more cause it'll spoil the story for you! smile ducks bricks thrown by POed readers
Okay, so I continue now. And review, darn you, or I'll send the evil Hiei bats to get you. Or maybe just give you to my muse (Ghaleon)'s girlfriend to "play" with. (Did I mention that she likes to torture people?) Or maybe even give you to my muse's secretary (Karst), who loves to burn things and needs something else to torch besides my personal belongings. Or maybe I'll just have Llednar-kun use Omega on you. ...I think you get the point by now. ;;;
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Mewt, Daryle, Babus, and I headed over the dead hills and plains of the Jagd, moving towards the meetingplace that Clan Shadow had set for us. Marche and Ritz were busy at the tournaments in the Bervenia Stadium, so Montblanc, being in charge, sent the four of us to deal with the challengers.
"These places just get creepier and creepier every minute," I said under my breath. "I swear that somebody keeps em like this on purpose. How people can actually live in places like this is so totally beyond me."
"You're scaring the prince," Babus said drily. Mewt did look awfully pale.
"You can really... die here, can't you?" he said shakily, looking around.
"Well, that's what you're here for," I replied. "You're a white mage. You're here to take care of us and keep that from happening. And Babus and I are here to take care of you so that nobody will think they're sneaky enough to try to take you out while Daryle takes care of business."
"I guess so..." Mewt still looked uncertain.
"Llednar!" came a very familiar voice from behind me. My heart stopped as the blood drained from my face. No. No way she'd gotten all the way out here.
Makoto, looking indignant, was standing maybe seven feet behind me, panting a little and glaring in my general direction.
"What are you doing here!" I cried helplessly. "I thought I told you to stay in Cyril with the others, where it's safe!"
"That's boring," Makoto shot back sullenly. "I wanna follow you."
I glared at Daryle and Babus, who were choking back laughter. "You shut up!" I turned back to Makoto, coming forward so that I could talk to her. "D'you remember what happened to your parents? The very same can happen to you or any of us right here! And not just that, but there are more palace guards like the ones chasing you yesterday who are out looking for you. They want to kill you! You need to get back to Cyril, now."
Makoto looked at the ground, a dismal expression on her face. "But-- but I just wanted..." She looked up at me, pleading, tears starting in her eyes. "I-I didn't want anything bad to happen to you..."
I sighed. She'd gotten the better of me. I was so unused to having people worried for my sake that that kind of thing got to me every time. "Look, I know how many people you've lost. And I know that you don't want to lose anyone else. But our biggest concern is that someone is going to get to you. We can't let your family's deaths be in vain. Okay? You can come, just this once. I'll ask the boss of Clan Shadow, Hanzou, to just let you sit off on the sidelines so you won't get hurt. The Clan Shadow codes call for strict fair play."
"YAY!" Makoto glomped me, all trace of tears gone. "Thank you thank you thank you!"
Curse all manipulative little girls.
---
The five of us headed down into the deserted town of Ahli, where as promised, Hanzou and his clan were waiting for us.
"Hanzou!" I called. "We're here from Clan Dragon. Before the engagement, I have a favor to ask of you." Clan Shadow's representatives were all ninjas and assassins. Wonderful. We really had our work cut out for us.
One of the ninjas, a young man dressed in deep navy blue, stepped forward. "I am Hanzou. What is it that you want?"
"This girl..." I pointed to Makoto. "We didn't really want her along, but she followed us anyway. Give us your word that she will not be harmed."
The ninja, Hanzou, nodded. "We don't attack children, unlike some clans. As long as the girl stays out of the fight, we can guarantee her safety."
I pointed to a leafless tree that looked as though it were still quite strong. "Makoto, go wait for us there. Hopefully, we'll be done soon." Makoto looked a little sulky, but she nodded and went over to the tree, hoisting herself onto the lowest branch and getting into a position where she could watch.
"Babus, guard Mewt," I said quietly. "The two of you need to stay back here while Daryle and I fix those Shadow peons. If anything happens and we see it, we'll come over to help."
"No need to worry," Babus assured me. "I've been serving the royal family all my life, and this is what I've been trained for."
"Whatever you say," I murmured as I studied the opposition. The other two ninjas each carried two swords, as I did, although the younger of them, dressed in forest green (the other was in shades of deep violet), didn't look too experienced. One of the assassins was close to Hanzou--intimately close. If the two of them were a couple, they'd probably be very good at working together. The remaining human and viera looked confident and sometimes flicked their gazes to their leaders--meaning that Hanzou and the assassin gave all the signals.
"Victory conditions depend on the defeat of each side's leader," Hanzou stated. "As I am the clan leader here, I will fill that role. Who is your leader?"
"Good question." I looked at the others. "Who is the leader anyway?"
"You are," Mewt said simply. I took a few steps back. "It's true. Since we came here, you've been the one calling the shots. You're definitely the best tactician here. We look to you."
Nonplussed, I turned back to Hanzou. "I guess... I am."
Hanzou nodded thoughtfully. "Right then... begin!" He shot forward with incredible speed, leaping into the air towards us and heading straight for Mewt. With a quick look, I signaled Daryle forward as I knocked away the kunai that Hanzou sent in our direction. As the ninjas' leader drove down towards us, drawing his katana, Babus raised his morning star to block the hit and swung at Hanzou in return. Hanzou dodged the hit, and tried to get around to Mewt, who was busy casting an auto-regenerate spell on his mage and himself.
I flipped Excalibur and SaveTheQueen out of their sheaths and ran to meet Hanzou's rush, blocking him with both blades. "He's not your opponent; I am."
"Very well, then." Hanzou dashed backwards and started forward again towards me, moving at a speed greater than any I'd ever seen.
For me, time seemed to slow down as Hanzou headed forward. I saw and analyzed each step he took. As his attack was an acceleration attack that would probably also utilize the unsheathing of his blade, he had to move with godlike speed. With each step he took, I anticipated his lunge. Six steps was the necessary advance for this type of attack; seven whole steps would throw off the speed needed, and the user would probably crash or hit the wrong target as the intended victim got away. (Note from Llednar: When I say "steps", I mean what you'd probably think of as two steps: One with your right and one with your left.) But after the sixth step, Hanzou thrust his left foot forward, actually balancing his entire body weight on it for a split second as he prepared to spring.
The guy thinks of every damn thing. Got to give him credit for that, I thought as I headed out to meet Hanzou's strike with my own. For some reason, he was still going really, really slow. It was easy to jam the hilts of my swords into his diaphragm, totally disabling him.
Hanzou collapsed, gasping, as I dug my heels into the ground and skidded to a halt. Time was "normal" again now. The leader of the ninja clan struggled to get up, but collapsed. The fight was over--we'd won in a single fell swoop.
"Tsubame!" Hanzou called to his assassin partner. "That's enough!" The viera Tsubame was still locking blades with Daryle. Hearing her leader call, Tsubame hurried over to his side, completely ignoring her former opponent.
"Hanzou..." She knelt beside him and inspected the wound. "Hanzou, this..."
"You're good," Hanzou told me with a little grimace. "Almost too good. Biskmatar, right?" I nodded proudly. "I thought so. Everyone's talking about the new clanner in Dragon, a renegade biskmatar who broke off from the palace."
I shrugged. "Not exactly renegade... I follow Mewt here, and since he does a lot of hanging out with Clan Dragon, so do I. Besides, the queen and I really do not see eye to eye on a lot of things."
Makoto suddenly tackled me, throwing me to the side. Her grip on me was tight enough that I was finding it hard to breathe. "Ouch! Makoto! Get off!"
She didn't. "Over there... in the bushes--!" A silver dart whistled from the area she'd indicated, heading straight for her unprotected back. Knowing that I couldn't get out of the way in time, I raised Excalibur's blade as a shield.
The dart hit the sword's blade, and there was an awful cracking sound. It had actually gone through the sword, and was stuck in the middle. The cracking continued, and thin lines spread all across the sword from that focal point.
The blade of Excalibur shattered, leaving me with a single jagged edge near the hilt and several dozen little shards.
"Shit," I hissed under my breath. Dropping Excalibur's hilt, I flipped SaveTheQueen into my right hand, shook off Makoto, and took a few menacing steps towards the bushes in question. There was a little yelp, and a human hunter took off towards the edge of the ghost town.
"Oh, no you don't!" I chased after the hunter, a ball of absolute fury building in my core. He broke my sword, dammit! I had all the right in the world to be a little pissed at him! Catching up, I tackled the young man. He wasn't much more than a boy--maybe three or four years older than me. "Who sent you!"
"I don't know!" the hunter cried. I placed a foot on his back and rested my weight there. He yelped. "I onestly don't know, sir! E came all dressed in black, and offered me a bounty for yon broad!"
I stepped harder. " 'Yon broad', as you put it, is only a little girl! Where the hell is your decency!"
"Beg pardon," the hunter gulped, "Th' man said that th' chit had t' be found, for her family's sake..." Oh, I had so had it with him--!
Feeling the pupils of my eyes slit, I lowered my voice to a malicious whisper. "She is not a broad. She is not a chit. She's a scared little nine-year-old girl who lost her entire family to vultures like you two days ago! Now, if you don't know who the hell recruited you, then you can at least tell me this: Who's the best blacksmith you have knowledge of?"
"Blacksmith, sir?" The hunter looked painfully bewildered. "Why are you askin' a pore ol' unter like me about a blacksmith?" My temper finally snapped. The scruffy youth found himself staring at SaveTheQueen's business end.
"Because you broke my sword," I said through gritted teeth. "And it was the last legacy of a paladin too frail and pure-hearted to last in this world. Now you are going to direct me to someone who can fix it, or I am going to slit your throat and find someone by myself. Feel like talking yet?"
The hunter gulped and licked his lips, his eyes trained on the point of my knightsword. "There's... Blacksmith Buckles, a bangaa... you might be able to find im on the outskirts of Muscadet, if e's around. E'll fix your sword for you, if you can defeat im in battle and bring im the right stuff."
I removed SaveTheQueen from the hunter's face. "Get out of here, before I change my mind about killing you." The boy nodded and fled. I turned back to my friends and went over to them slowly, falling to my knees and gathering the shards of Excalibur. I slowly fingered one piece, nicking my thumb on the jagged edge.
I couldn't stand it any longer. I collapsed into a little ball amid the ruin of Gelarto's sword and cried.