Chapter Ten
Fate Does Not Always Smile Upon the Innocent
He was so warm, so safe.
Nothing else mattered; In his arms, the world stood still.
Things like the Curse of the Endless Night did not exist, could not exist.
Nina breathed in as much of him as she possibly could, feeling his scent reach into her, relax away the anxiety brewing in her soul. "I can't bare to be without you any longer, Ethan...!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzled deeper into his scarf. "I don't care what you've done, I forgive you...a million times over I will always forgive you!"
Dark eyes gazed down at her, a boyish smirk played gently on the love of her life's lips.
"Will you promise not to leave me, Ethan?" she asked, grasping him tighter. "Promise me your life again..."
"Actually, I would like you to promise not to get this close to me ever again."
Blissful pink clouds bubbling and dancing about her head suddenly parted, and her nose crinkled with the distinct smell of blood. Ethan's smile vanished.
That voice...it wasn't right. Nina blinked. The face wasn't right either! She blinked away more haze, and her stomach plummeted to her feet when she realized, with extreme embarrassment, she had herself wrapped around Ryu. She squealed and pushed herself hurriedly from him, scooting as far back as she could against their room's dark bark wall. "I...I'm sorry..." she stuttered, averting her eyes, cheeks pulsing heat. Between them, she could feel their souls fighting to consume one another, as they always did when she and the dragon came in close contact. "I d-didn't mean...I-I...was dreaming of Eth-"
"I don't care to know why, just don't let it happen again," he interrupted, pulling himself up from their dingy, leaf ridden pallet. He leaned against the wall across from her, brushed dirt off of his cloak.
Nina's eyes came back up, shot him a glare. "You act as though I'm some sort of horrible beast, yet you're the one still stinking of innocents' blood!" she snapped icily, rubbing her nose hard. "Besides, I didn't much like being so close to you either!"
"For the last time, soldiers are not 'innocents'," he growled back.
"And again, what golden throne are you on, to make that sort of judgment?"
He fished burrs out of his tangled hair. "You're alive, aren't you?"
"So?"
"Then I don't think you have any place to argue about my judgment."
She bit her lip. There wasn't a thing for her to say; he was infuriatingly correct. Instead, she continued scowling at him, wishing she had the guts to jump up and kick him in his shins as hard as she could.
He yawned and glanced up. "Dawn will light the sky in an hour or so. Plenty of time for another lesson before I hunt breakfast, don't you think?"
She yawned from watching him yawn and it was so wide, her jaw popped. "Are you serious? I can barely keep my eyes open..."
He snorted at her. "At least teach me a few more phrases before your lazy carcass sleeps another day away."
Her frown deepened. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, he didn't allow her to leave their hideout!
"So, how about it? A few words, maybe a sentence?"
She sighed loudly at him, "You only want to learn curse words, Ryu. You don't want a real lesson! It's a waste of my time, so let me sleep alright?"
"Not entirely true. I would like to learn other things as well."
She raised eyebrows at him. "Why then, did you continuously harp at me all day yesterday because I wouldn't teach you...what was it again? 'son of a whore' and, 'rat bastard'?"
"If you remember, he did almost kill me," Ryu said, "I would like to be able to...exchange words with him the next we meet."
Nina rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against wood, staring up at moonlight trickling in through cracks in their tree house's ceiling, How she wished he would shut the hell up so she could go back to sleep...
Some days ago, the Goddess finally -after many, many desperate prayers from Nina- blessed them enough to find a place that was -for the most part- comfortable. Wolfmen of Tantar frequently built their dwellings inside of the colossal trees native to their forests, and, as luck would have it, the two stumbled across an uninhabited one a few miles into the heart of the woodlands.
It had some loose, creaky boards, was extremely dusty, and had to be shared with all types of birds, small mammals and insects, but it had a kitchen with a stone fireplace, a cauldron and utensils, as well as a few spices in the cabinets and a bedroom containing a mattress with pillows for them to sleep on. It wasn't a castle, but it sure as hell beat being in a cave or out in the open along side monsters in that awful No Man's forest.
"Fai'en, I'm speaking to you!"
"Alright, what, what do you want me to teach you!'?"
"Hmmm..." He clutched his chin in his hand, rested his elbow against his knee. "How about...'unskilled ogre's ass'?" He smiled at his own humor, she threw her pillow at him.
Ryu caught it before it came anywhere near striking him, and laughed when she crossed her arms and turned her nose up haughtily, "Hmph!"ing like a spoiled child.
What could he expect? She was a princess after all.
Her soul, however, was different. Almost every night, it literally begged for him to allow her to help him learn common. Of course, it wasn't until she begrudgingly included curse words into the equation, that he entertained the thought.
Not long after its bratty container calmed down enough to settle back into dreamland (without uttering so much as a word for him to dwell on), Ryu found himself falling in as well, listening to crickets chirping peacefully.
The next thing he knew, he was lounging in Wyndia's fields, the crickets transitioning into birds singing sweetly into the breeze. White winged Nina was there, eager to teach him anything he asked for.
"Try not to roll your 'r's so much."
"So we meet again, bastarrrd sworrrdsman."
"Hmm," Nina's head went to one side. "Your accent is so thick...it's hard for me to understand you sometimes."
Ryu leaned back against a broken white stone wall marking some old Fae ruins the Wyndian told him she used to play around as a child, and stared out into a clear, blue sky. Flowers swayed back and forth all around him, beads of early morning dew sparkling on their brightly colored petals. "Aren't you a part of me? How come I don't simply already know this tongue?"
Nina shrugged, turning her attention back to a flower wreath she was making. Behind her, two Wyndian soldiers watched a child Nina and her brunette handmaiden friend run around laughing hysterically. "I wouldn't stress over it. You are learning what I do teach you at a remarkable rate..." she frowned. "Although...if only for a teensy tiny bit...I wish we could stray from only learning insults for Ethan..."
"It didn't take me too long to learn Fae. I'm...good with languages I suppose," he said, folding his arms behind his head. "As for your swordsman, I'm not over him stabbing me quite yet."
The glowing winged Wyndian gave a soft sigh of defeat and plucked a pink flower near her. She held it up for what looked like some strict inspection. "I've been curious to ask you, Ryu," she said, tucking it into the front of her wreath, apparently satisfied. She set it daintily on the top of her head. "Why would a dragon prince, such as yourself, need to know Wyndia's first language so fluently?" In the background, her smaller clone dropped down into the grass giggling. The handmaiden ran and placed a similar flower crown into the little girl's head.
He gave Nina a sidelong glance. "My survival depended on it," he said, then scowled at the pity pouring over her porcelain face. "But I wasn't so hard up I need your kind to worry so."
"I'm sorry," she replied gently, taking the flowers off of her head, "but you look and always talk like you've led a very hard life."
"You know nothing of my life," he growled.
"I know of the Kaiser."
"And what? What exactly do you know about the Kaiser and I, Fai'en?"
"Well, I don't have to know specifics..." she started to anxiously pull apart the wreath, looking away from the scary face he was making. "I know...that he invades you, every part of you." She bit at her lower lip. "He...violates...Goddess, it's so much worse than anything someone like Vahn could ever do to me. That would have only been my body, whereas the Kaiser affects...the mind...the soul..." Her delicate, pale hands shook. "It's like none of your thoughts are your own anymore. He digs up your worst fears, throws them into your face, mocks the things you love... Makes you hate...so...much..."
Ryu's face relaxed, became expressionless.
"How...does a child deal with that? I don't understand how you are still able to hold onto your sanity after having a demon like him tormenting you for so long..."
The dragon lowered his head, hiding a majority of his face inside of his cloak collar, and was silent for a long time. "It'd be best if you didn't hold me on such a high pedestal," when he finally did speak, his voice was rough, "My mind is not as sturdy as you may think."
She took a deep, ragged breath, as if holding back tears. "...How do you justify yourself to keep on living...after all the horrendous things he makes you do?" her voice grew so timid, even he had trouble hearing her.
He realized she was also talking about herself.
"There isn't a day I don't question that as well, Fai'en," he replied with a fragility that shocked the little soul. Ignoring her incredulous stare, he picked a flower beside him. "'Flower,'" he murmured in common, holding it up.
She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and cracked a minuscule smile. "You didn't roll your 'r' there."
"Mmhm," he rubbed the flower's stem in between two fingers, watching the dew on its petals fly off in every direction. "I guess I am a fast learner."
"There she is..."
"It's really her right? That gorgeous girl really is the slayer of Liordon?"
Two Wyndian soldiers cautiously leaned out from behind a corner to see Ivory walking down their castle's main hallway, happily humming an upbeat tune and balancing a covered tray of food in one hand. She was, as usual, wearing a sheer garment draped around her that could barely be classified as clothes.
"They say she's crazy for Von Buren."
The other soldier gulped, "Yeah, she's crazy alright. You remember what she did, right?"
"Hi there, can I help you boys with something?"
Both soldiers froze. They had merely blinked, and she was standing right in front of them.
Her ruby painted lips parted into a smile, as she ran her free hand through luscious hair. "I'm assuming you were trying to add me to the conversation, but I was too far away, right? Because you surely wouldn't be talking about lil ol' me behind my back, now would you?"
Clankity Clank Clank went them shaking in their armor.
"I...w-we..." one stuttered. She walked closer and hooked a finger on his scarf, pulled him terrifyingly close. His eyes looked like they would fall out of their sockets.
"I guess I should thank you for calling me 'gorgeous' though, huh~?" she whispered, giving him a small peck on the cheek. She let go, watching with amusement him stumble back into the wall. The other was too afraid to try and steady him. "At ease, boys," she saluted them with a giggle, and turned to continue down the hallway, picking up her song where she left off. Behind her, the soldiers ran for their lives.
"Lunch is se~rved!" The faerie girl sang, flinging open the door to Ethan's sickroom.
He paid her no attention, he was too busy jumping around throwing kicks and punches into open air.
She walked on in and set the tray down on his bedside table. "Didn't that frumpy healer of yours tell you not to stress your leg?" He didn't reply. She sat down on the bed against his pillows, crossing her long legs, and watched him intently. He was wearing only a pair of white shorts, only bandages covered his arms, leg, and chest. "I guess I should stay quiet and enjoy the show, huh?" She flirted, eying his toned, pale body glistening with sweat.
Ethan threw a few more kicks out higher than his head, and turned back to her, panting. "What's for lunch?"
She brightened at his notice. "I told them to make your favorite! Steak and potatoes!" He sat down on the edge of the bed, she slithered closer to him, rubbing her palms in circles on his back between his wings. "If you want, after you eat, I could massage those tired muscles," she purred into his ear.
He took the top off of the platter. Steam billowed out. "When I'm finished eating, I'm going to continue training."
Ivory let go of him and sat back in a huff, crossing her arms. "What for?" she whined. "It's just a stupid dragon!"
"You've never seen 'just a stupid dragon' before, have you?"
"Well, no, but I don't think it's going to be that hard. Especially since he and the girl might have some sort of weird physical link, or whatever you said," she waved her hand around nonchalantly.
"When she pulled Jonston's arrow out of her, the dragon took a similar injury, as if from a ghost," Ethan had repeated that line out loud and in his head so many times in the past few days trying to analyze it, it was starting to sound rehearsed.
"So we kill her and he's done. Simple as that, right?."
"It's the 'getting to her' I'm worried about."
"This dragon, is he really that strong? I know you told your king he wasted a dozen soldiers in seconds, but...well, honey, you and I can do the same," she said matter-of-factly.
Ethan's jaw clenched. "He was strong enough to where I believe I am still here solely because the princess had him spare my life." The faerie girl's mood darkened. He stabbed a fork through his steak and picked the entire thing up.
"You better go through with it this time," Her voice bit his back like harsh winter wind. "Because if you don't, I will not hesitate to take care of her myself."
"I am well aware of how you work."
She instantly switched to a wide smile, and clapped her hands together, wings fluttering. "Okay! As long as you know!" She threw her arms around his neck. "Maybe this just might be a little fun...a trip with you to fight a dragon...maybe a demon...two things I haven't had the pleasure of killing yet!"
He brought the steak to his mouth and ripped a chunk of it off with his teeth, Ivory rubbed her face in his wings, humming happily. Just a few more days, he thought, chewing and eying the bloodied bandages on his right leg.
A few more days and that dragon would pay.
"So what exactly can you do with those sprites of yours?"
"Excuse me?" Nina tossed a pinch of salt into a cauldron of boiling water, vegetables, and rabbit meat, and peered over her shoulder at Ryu doing pull-up exercises on a branch running across the ceiling of the kitchen behind her. Two small chipmunks sat on one side of it, chattering loudly watching him curiously with twitching heads.
"I saw you use two of them back in Wyndia. Can you summon any for combat?"
She shrugged, opened up a small bottle and sprinkled dried pepper flakes into her mixture. "I've told you before, Princesses of Wyndia aren't taught how to fight."
"So you really only use them as say, oh, a night light or something, eh?" he asked, then smirked at her questioning stare. "Don't feel bad, it sounds about right. She would have me connected with someone completely useless."
She flushed. "What don't you understand about 'I wasn't taught how!'?"
He did some more pull ups, then hooked his legs over the branch. "As a person of your position in a world infested with monsters of the creature and humanoid kind...why wouldn't you have the sense to make someone teach you?" He crossed his arms over his bare chest and pulled himself up so that his nose touched the branch. He repeated this motion several times. She couldn't help looking at the strange black runes lining his sides and spine splotched with crimson scales. What were those, anyway?
"Because Ethan was supposed to take care of me," she muttered with a clenched jaw, turning away sharply and throwing open a cabinet. "Dinner's ready," she snapped, pulling out two bowls and chucking one back at him.
Ryu dropped down from the branch nimbly and caught it. She turned her nose at him when they passed, and sat down at a table in the middle of the kitchen with her share. He filled his bowl and sat down across from her. She said a quick prayer to the Goddess. He dug right on in.
"I wonder if we can find a place with some clothes," she grumbled, stirring her soup with her spoon harder than necessary.
"Why?" Ryu drank his straight from the bowl. "Who are you trying to impress in the forest?"
"That's not the reason. Chain mail is hot and annoying, and when the sun gets on it, it's agonizing, and unlike you, I can't walk around without it on," she grumbled, pointing her spoon at his naked torso.
He lowered his bowl and shrugged at her, "No one said you couldn't. For the thousandth time, I do not care for the likes of Fae women."
"Yeah, so you've said," she left one suspicious eye on him for a moment, then took a sip of soup. A surprisingly tasty medley of flavors hit her tongue. She smacked her lips. Good, not too spicy like last time. Everyday, she was getting better at preparing meals; a surprising talent she would have never thought in a million years she would be forced to hone.
He slammed his bowl down and put his feet on the table when he was done eating. Dried mud cracked off the bottoms onto the surface. "So why would you learn how to control sprites if you were only going to use them for pointless things?" he tipped his chair back so it teetered on its hind legs.
With a glare, she brushed dirt off onto the floor, away from her food. "What did I do to you today, huh? Why are you jumping all over me?"
He shrugged. "Nothing, I'm only saying apparently you went through a whole lot of trouble becoming fluent in another language for no good reason-"
"I use them just fine, Ryu, I only don't know how to fight with them," she interrupted through gritted teeth.
"Correct. You do not know how to use them. Your pampered life in the castle is over Fai'en. You'll be lucky if we ever get a few days of peace like this again. It would be wise of you to use your spare time to think of ways to use what you do know, to protect yourself."
"Tell me how am I supposed to do that if I don't know the first thing about combat?"
He shrugged. "When you met me, you tried to encase me in ice. Moderately impressive."
Nina finished her soup, got up to put (throw) the bowl in a wash basin. "Yes. That was the plan, but as you saw, it didn't work out too well."
"Might've if dragon skin and fire talent didn't get in its way."
"If only they hadn't," she muttered to herself.
His dragon ears picked it right up. "Now that's not very nice."
She blew air up into her mangy bangs and stifled a frustrated scream of 'you're one to talk!' "You know, we should get going, Drogen's not getting any closer with us standing here." She crossed her arms tight. She was done him with him and his attitude. She couldn't wait to find his stupid dragon town and get rid of him!
"No traveling until we are completely healed. I do not wish your boyfriend to kick me while I'm down, if that's alright with you." Her eyes traveled back to his torso. The wounds Ethan inflicted on him were smaller blotches of scales now, but were still prominent on his olive skin. Underneath her chain mail, a shoulder full of the same scales still throbbed, as did the slits in her palms. "Not to worry, a few more sunsets and we'll be off to rid ourselves of one another. Don't think I am not also looking forward to it."
She pursed her lips and jumped into the air. She didn't have to sit here and listen to this. "I'm going outside."
"Let me catch you trying to leave the tree again, and you'll lose that privilege."
Nina stuck her tongue out at him and flew up, past a few more floors built into the middle of their gigantic hollowed out tree filled with dead leaves, bird and animal nests, and came out at an opening in the roof. She perched on a branch just below it, and sat back against the tree's massive trunk with a snort. In front of her, clumps of leaves with little white flowers ruffled in a warm late afternoon breeze. Birds and chipmunks played about in the branches near her. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her knees.
Ryu was such a bastard to her all the time...and for what? Because she was a Wyndian? Everything she did wrong, had her pinned as a 'useless bird'. She didn't know what had happened to him or why he was sealed or even when, for Goddess sakes. And either way, he was wearing Wyndian armor when she found him... If he hated her people and country so much then how come he apparently served it?
Her brow furrowed when she thought about that a little more. When would Wyndia have ever had a dragon fighting for them anyway?
She shrugged to herself, stumped. If her country ever had control of anything with power like the Kaiser, it would have been in the history books...right?
Asking was out of the question. Talking to him was akin to self torture. Every remark coming out of his mouth towards her dripped with sarcasm. Conversations with him always ended up in a yelling match she was then later scolded for, and forget it if he happened to give her one of his silent stares with those eyes...
She shuddered at the thought. He still scared the hell out of her at sometimes; no matter if he had a good motive notto hurt her. He was so animal-like in some of his mannerisms, so cold... He could prowl around in complete silence; she was never sure when she was being watched.
She tried to leave the tree one night to fly, when her mind was too cluttered with thoughts of Ethan's leg and soldiers with bones sticking out of their heads to sleep, but never made it off of the roof. He had gone from dead asleep on the bottom floor to right in front of her astonished face seconds before she lifted off, shaking his head disapprovingly, locking those pale orbs unnervingly on her. They were enough to stop her in her tracks, like a mouse trapped in the gaze of a snake ready to strike. There was no befriending that monster, and she didn't think she'd ever want to.
Tears wet the edges of her eyes and she rubbed them on her knees. What she wouldn't give to have Chasta here right now...
If Drogen didn't exist, would she ever see her best friend again?
No, she couldn't think like that, she had to believe...had to keep holding onto that tiny thread of hope Chasta didn't think she was a monster like Ethan did. She quietly sobbed into her pants fabric.
Gods, she just wanted her life back...
The night sky above castle Ludia's courtyard was alive with flashes of white light streaking through the air like shooting stars.
"No, no! The target over there, Lissa!"
Crackle! "No, not the gazebo!"
Crash! "...or the gates..."
Zip! "Yeeeeeoooooowwww!"
"...or the gardener..."
Lissa dropped to lacy, black stockinged knees. "It's too ha~rd, Vahn! I can't control this damn ring at all!" Her right hand harboring the glowing ring twitched.
Vahn grasped his forehead. Handmaidens rushed to help a slightly toasted, but generally okay gardener back into the castle, out of danger. "Stand up and try again."
"I don't wan~na!"
The blonde prince pointed downwards, and a patch of ground in front of her burst into flames. She jumped to her feet instantly. "Try. Again," he growled.
"Alright, Alright," she muttered, dusting herself off and turning around. In front of her, a life-sized human dummy dangled from a low branch in one of the courtyard trees. She pushed her feet apart, and pointed at it. The magic ring flashed, and a jolt of electricity burst from the tip of her finger. There was a crackle like lightning and Lissa was thrown back hard on her rear end. A white beam of light streaked just past the dummy and singed its arm. Lissa rubbed at her backside. "Look! I hit it! Is that good enough to stop for the night?" she asked, throwing Vahn a wide smile.
"P-prince Vahn, I have important information for you!" a strained voice called from behind the prince.
It was a good thing. Vahn was practically biting through his lip to keep from frying his idiotic excuse for an apprentice. He took a deep breath, and turned to see his acting adviser rushing his way, chubby cheeks rosy with effort. "Yes?"
"S-sire, I have word the Angel has been seen near Tantar!" the man wheezed, bending over and clutching his knees to catch his breath.
"Are the wolfmen mobilizing?"
"I'm not sure...but Wyndia's also called on the AG. Are you wanting to contact them yourself-?"
"Who did they send?" Vahn interrupted, glancing over at Lissa. The girl was poking a beetle skittering on the ground near her.
"The S-slayer of Liordon, sire."
His pale blue eyes widened. "Her? Gods, she'll rip my love into pieces! Lissa!"
She jumped up, afraid he might light her on fire if she didn't. "Y-yes, Vahn?"
"We aren't stopping until you hit that target correctly!"
"What? Are you serious? I don't wanna...! N-no...no no wait, I'm sorry! Vahn, I said I'm sorry alright!'?, stop pointing that thing at me!" Lissa squealed, eyes on Vahn's menacing finger.
"Get to work," he said slowly, lowering his hand. "If we are too late, and that," he shuddered. "Unstable bitch finishes her off... You better hope execution is the worst that happens to you."
Lissa blinked at him, suddenly at a loss for words.
"Sire, it doesn't matter...just as long as she's dead, right?" the old man asked.
"Actually, it does matter." Vahn turned his head up, gazed at Elanaar's two beautiful moons casting their soft teal and emerald lights down onto the earth. "I have decided this is true love...and I will do absolutely anything to have her in my arms again, no matter those silly black wings."
He thought back to her wriggling beneath him, smelling and tasting like the classiest beauty should. He'd tried to drown out his longing with a different woman every night since he lost her, but none came anywhere near exciting him like those few magical moments the winged girl was in his hands.
His adviser's jaw dropped. "Th-that's crazy, she's...she's the Angel of Death! Wait until your father hears about thi-"
A single white dart of magical energy suddenly zipped through left side of the old man's body.
"Absolutely anything..." Vahn murmured, lowering a smoking finger, and catching the lifeless robed bag of fat in his arms.
Lissa stared at her prince, bright blue eyes wide as saucers, hands shaking at her sides.
"Now...how about you try that training dummy again while I go let someone know about this terrible accident?" Vahn asked, looking back at her, flashing an award winning smile.
Nina blinked once. Twice.
Instead of crimson, this time, the fuzzy looking distorted dream hallway was white. The Wyndian stood alone in the middle of it, peering down at endless doors lining the walls for miles.
Her eyes went to the floor. It wasn't moving. She reluctantly placed a hand on one of the walls. No creepy crawlies under the surface there either. Was all this due to the Kaiser's mysterious absence? Curiosity drew her eye to the nearest door. If so...what kind of rooms would these be? Her hand encircled a cool brass knob and gripped it tight. No Kaiser meant no murderous shadows coming after her...right? Hand shaking, she slowly turned it and pushed the door open.
A study in an old stone walled castle greeted her. Drogen, she presumed, after that being the only other stone castle she had ever seen. Further proof was draped over a desk in the corner; a deep royal blue cloth with a silver embroidery of a dragon threaded onto it. Soft light from stubby cream candles in bronze holders sitting atop it, flickered throughout the room, over a large globe in another corner, hundreds of monstrously thick novels jam packed in multiple bookshelves, and tapestries lining the gray walls depicting prehistoric-like models of white and black dragons. Through an open window with dark blue curtains, red sunlight pooled on a large, circular blue rug in the middle of the floor.
Nina started to walk over it to one of the tapestries on the wall to take a closer look at its ancient looking art, when the room's real door creaked open slowly. Normal eyes would have perceived the entrance possessed, but the Wyndian's 'special vision' clearly saw a stealthed child Ryu creep inside and shut it behind him gently. He came out of the shadow realm near one of the bookshelves panting heavily, clutching his arm.
Nina's eyes went to a large, deep purple bruise underneath where he was holding it. "Ryu? What happened to your arm?" she asked. He paid her no notice. Memory Ryu, she realized.
"WHERE DID YOU RUN OFF TO, BOY!'?" a male voice suddenly boomed, sounding like it was right outside the door.
All the blood drained from the little boy's face, and he shuddered so hard, he stumbled. Catching himself quickly with a small, frightened gasp, he fell back into the shadows just as the door burst open.
Nina turned to see a tall, well dressed, pale skinned man looking in his early thirties, with a clean shaven face and long navy hair tied into a low ponytail in the back, storm into the room, growling angrily to himself and darting around the brightest green eyes she had ever seen. He stomped over to the desk, and threw the chair sitting under it across the room against the wall, inches from where she was standing. Books and tapestries clattered noisily to the floor. She squealed and hurried over to the corner near where little memory Ryu was huddling.
"You're in here, you little dark bastard..." His rasp chilled Nina's bones. He bent down, peered underneath the desk. "I can smell you!" He stood and grabbed the edge of the furniture. Roaring like a wild beast, he sent it flying into another wall.
Beside Nina, the little boy gasped out a sob, then hurriedly clamped both hands over his own mouth, eyes bulging.
The man instantly turned his head towards them, eyes wide and nostrils flaring. Nina's heart stopped.
"Sire! Sire! Are you alright? What in the world is the matter Tristram!" another clean shaven blue haired man – this one younger with short, spiky hair- rushed into the room. He gasped and stomped out a small fire the candles on top of the desk created when they fell on what was left of it.
The maniac Nina now knew as Tristram turned away from them, and her heart lurched back into motion. He paused, took a deep, ragged breath. "He has Fyrion's blood running through him..." His fingers came up, grasped the bridge of his nose. "...all because of that whore!"
"Sire, w-what are you talking about?"
"Ryu," Tristram's lips curled into a sneer above large fangs, "is that bastard Fyrion's son!" He whirled and punched the wall. Cracks spread through the stone like his fist had struck thick glass.
The younger man shook his head in disbelief. "F-Fyrion? Th-that's impossible! H-how?"
"I don't know, Nyveh," Tristram growled. "But the little brat stealthed. He stealthed in front of me!"
Nyveh bit his thumb. "...Well, Ryu is darker than most...I know he loves to go outside, but so does Ana...and his eyes are a peculiar shade." the hand dropped. "W-wait he, he knows how to stealth?"
"Sereina thinks me a damn fool!"
"This is bad! So very, very, very bad...!"
The boy whimpered beside Nina. Her heart melted when she looked down at him. He was in worse shape than when the Kaiser was before him poised to rip away his sanity.
Tristram paced angrily back and forth across the room, sniffing.
"W-we have to kill him Tristram," said Nyveh nervously, "If he ever transforms, we might all be done for-"
"I want him and Fyrion dead."
"The boy is easy, but we released Fyrion from the dungeon only a few days ago. We can't just-"
Tristram was in Nyveh's face before he could finish. He gathered the young man's maroon tunic front in his fist and lifted him off of his feet. "I said I want them both dead! Do you hear me!" he snarled, shaking him. "Do I make myself perfectly clear!'?"
"Y-y-yes sire!" Nyveh stuttered. Tristam tossed him to the roughly to the floor.
"Off with you!" he roared. Snapping his mouth shut, he scrambled to his feet and hurried from the room.
Nina's blood froze. Tristram's wild eyes again swiveled in their direction. She knew he was only a fragment of Ryu's memory within her, and there was nothing he could do to hurt her...but the look of hatred on his face... It took everything she had to tear her vision away from a somehow even scarier pair of dragon eyes than Ryu's.
She looked back to the child, who was trembling harder now than she had ever seen anyone shake out of fear; including herself. "Oh Ryu..." she murmured, finding herself reaching out to him. "You poor thing..." Instead of consoling, her hand went straight through his shoulder.
"I'll kill you both in front of her...yes...that's what I'll do..." Tristram hissed, coming closer.
The boy suddenly sucked in his breath, and broke free from his shackles of fear. He darted swiftly through shadows to the other side of the room near the window and slid to a stop. Tristram's head snapped in his direction. Nina's heart skipped a beat. He was only a little kid! How was he supposed to escape?
Then, the boy of probably no more than eight years surprised her. He jumped onto the window sill, and pulled off the hunter green cloak hugging his shoulders. He rubbed it on his forehead and neck to soak up as much sweat as he could, balled it up, and tossed it hard across the room.
Tristram caught it in the air before it went past him. Fabric faded into view in his hand, and he sniffed it. "You think you're so damn smart, do you?" Ryu dropped out of the window, just as Tristram leaped by a bewildered Nina and landed on the sill. "You're dead boy!" he screamed, jumping out after him.
She ran to the window and peered out, grasping warm, sunlit stone in her hands. Nothing. No Tristram, no Ryu. Her wide eyes frantically scanned the castle rooftops. She lost both of them that fast?
"There's nothing you could do, even if you tried."
Nina pulled her head back inside. Behind her, a slightly older, very familiar child Ryu, was standing in the other doorway framed by her dream hallway's fuzzy white walls. "Th-that man..." she swallowed. "H-he was...?"
"A man I thought was my father until that day." Bits of red-orange light lingering from the setting sun turned Ryu's eyes into molten gold.
"He...you..." Her eyes again went outside. "You were so scared of him..."
Ryu shrugged. "I suppose you felt the same, when you were told you were to be executed for a reason beyond your control."
"It's not the same," she shook her head slowly. "I'm nineteen. You...What were you...? Seven? Eight?" she looked back at him. "I can't imagine..."
He smirked. "Fate does not always smile upon the innocent, Fai'en. This you know as well as I."
She tried to think back. What kinds of things was she doing at eight? Blurs of tea parties with Chasta and games of tag with Ethan flashed through her mind; certainly nothing like running from a monster screaming for her death.
"We need to get out of here. I'm sure 'I' won't appreciate you snooping around too much in our business."
"What do you mean?"
Child Ryu nodded, crossing his arms. "My body. Me. The rest of my soul."
Nina stared at him. "You mean...I'm not...dreaming you up? You're...Ryu's soul?"
"The part of it inside of you, yes."
"So you...are Ryu."
"In a sense, yes."
"I'd rather talk to you any day," she said, sighing. "Your body is a real jerk to me, you know."
The boy shrugged. "Maybe one day, I'll show you why."
Nina's scowl softened. "Really?" There was something worth knowing! "Why not now?"
"Unfortunately, you're about to wake up."
The ground shook, and she lost her footing on stone crumbling away all around her. Cracks spread through the room, the sky, the air. Ryu stepped back through an undamaged door into an untouched hallway, a small smile on his lips. "Prove to me you deserve to know something like that, Fai'en."
Nina watched his image crack in front of her, and realized just as he burst away into blackness, that the dragon's memory had been fully in Draconian...and she somehow understood every single word of it.
Beep, Beep, Beep-bloop! Beep, Beep, Beep-bloop!
What the hell was that noise?
Nina groaned and wrapped her pillow around her head. "Ryu what is that?"
Beep, Beep, Beep-bloop!
She sat up, looked wearily around. "Ryu?" She brushed a thick, wavy blonde strand out of her face. No dragon in sight. "Ryu~!" She cried up into the tree. No answer but birds flying around the top floors.
Beep, Beep, Beep-bloop!
Wait a minute, that was starting to sound familiar. Nina shook more sleep from her head and listened again to a tune of electronic beeps that promptly skipped her heart.
Chasta's communicator! She thought she had lost it!
It sounded like it was right underneath her. She jumped up excitedly and tore the mattress off the floor. Sure enough, embedded into the ground, was the communicator Chasta had given her, flashing and beeping indications another was trying to make contact with it. She plucked it from soil and held it gingerly in her hands. But how? How had it survived everything?
"Ah, I see you've found your machine box bracelet," Ryu said, materializing in the window. Nina threw the gray box up into the air in fright. "I forgot to give it back to you."
She caught it clumsily with a series of juggles. "I really wish you wouldn't just appear like that!" she cried, glaring at him.
"I thought you could see me in either realm?"
"It doesn't matter if you don't make any noise!"
Ryu smirked. "Oh?"
She was too curious about the box to continue back and forth, "Where did you get this? Did they not take it off of me before the execution?"
"You were covered in so much grime from your jail cell, and amidst all the chaos...I doubt they noticed it on you."
"I don't remember ever taking it off..."
"That's because I did when I bathed you. Technology is not supposed to get wet, right?"
"Tech-? Oh, I see what you mean, yeah you're right...-wait, when you what!'?"
The dragon frowned at her reddening face. "I changed your clothes in Wyndia, I bathed massive amounts of blood off the both of us. You would have been eaten alive by insects in the night if I hadn't, we've gone over this."
"B-but...I wasn't really aware...I...you..."
"Anyhow, didn't your mate give that to you? The brunette one?" He pointed to the communicator.
"Yes, but...d-don't you try and change the subject!"
"Now maybe you can talk to her and stop keeping me up at night with your excessive whimpering."
Nina made a face at him. "My 'whimpering'? What are you talking about?"
Ryu nodded. "You're like a newborn pup. You go on and on in your sleep every night about her. Chasta is it?"
Her cheeks flared harder. "I...cry...for Chasta?"
"Yes. Her and the swordsman."
"E-every night?"
"Every night."
The Wyndian felt her ears light on fire. "W-well...I...I miss them alright!'?" she cried, looking away from him sharply.
"Save it for your box." he turned around in the window. "I'll be right back with breakfast. I only came back up because I heard you screaming for me, which by the way is something you do not need to be doing." He hopped down out of sight before her pillow hit the side of the tree. Some sticks and rocks followed.
She was furious. She knew -although chose to forget- he had changed her clothes, but bathed her? No, them!'?
Suddenly a memory flashed in her mind of a nasty bug bite she got during their stay in No Man's forest because she forgot to clean blood off of her arms after being too close to Ryu making a kill.
His soul was taking his side huh?
She sighed. Alright, she got it. So he was right. He was always right.
Beep Beep Beep-bloop!
The communicator! Only that idiot dragon would make her forget about something so important!
She took a deep breath and peered down at its screen. It was flashing the word 'INCOMING' at her. Someone was trying to contact her again? She couldn't remember what button Chasta told her to use. She pushed some random ones, and a map of the Eastern Lands flickered into view. "No, I don't want the map! Wait..." In the top corner, a dot -she assumed that was her- flashed, and in the bottom... Her eyes widened. Another one sat at the edge of No Man's Forest and the Grasslands.
She stared at it for what seemed like ages, confused. Was this thing broken? There was no way Chasta could have made it through that hell of a forest; even flying over it would have taken more than a day straight. Her heart pounded.
Could she possibly have talked some sense into Ethan and they were now heading to save her from the dragon all by themselves?
She pressed some more buttons. She had to find out!
The first few warranted nothing, not even wrong menus. Nina shook it, pressed more buttons. Again, nothing. She sighed and was about to turn it off when the speaker suddenly crackled with static. "N...i...na...? Is...th...a..t...you...?" It was broken and hard to understand, but it was a female voice saying her name, and that was all she needed.
"Yes!" she cried, tears in her eyes. "Chasta? Chasta, I've missed you sooooo much! How in Elanaar's moons did you get through No Man's Forest?"
"...w...ant...to...see...y...ou..."
"Want...to see me?" Her spirits rose to the sky. "Yes! Yes, of course you can see me! When? Where?"
"T...om...orrow...ni...ght... I...co...me...to...see...y...ou... No...d...ra...gon..."
No dragon? "You want to see me...without the dragon?"
"N...o...dra...gon..." Chasta repeated, and the signal cut out.
Nina stared at the communicator. Chasta was coming tomorrow night to meet her? It sounded too good to be true, but she was almost positive that was her voice. Who else would it be?
The 'no dragon' request was odd, but upon giving it more thought, she decided Chasta was probably too frightened to visit her with him present after seeing the huge dragon at her execution. Her brows furrowed. It was going to be a hard one to fulfill.
Ryu appeared again in the window sill suddenly, front side splattered with blood, gripping a small rabbit in his jaws. Nina screamed and tossed her communicator up into the air for a second time. "What did I just tell you about being so loud?" he scolded, taking the animal from his mouth.
"Stop doing that then!" she cried, heart pounding painfully against her ribcage. He didn't hear her conversation just now, did he? He looked like he was eying her suspiciously. Then again he always looked like that.
Geez, she was being way too paranoid.
"Come, lets make breakfast," he said. He put the rabbit back into his mouth and hopped onto a ladder leading to the next floor.
She nodded nervously and followed behind him, fastening the communicator snugly onto her arm.
Ice blue eyes narrowed. A tongue ran over cherry lips. "Too easy," purred a voice like honey.
Dreamroot.
Nina wondered how much it would take to knock out a thing like Ryu.
Wild potatoes, mushrooms and chunks of deer meat bobbed about in water furiously frothing in the cauldron beneath her.
It really was the dragon's fault for reminding her of the herb last night, when he threw a handful of it at her and told her to take it to give him a 'Ladon forsaken moment of peace.' For the life of her, she couldn't remember what they had been fighting about; once that root was in her hands, the gears began to turn.
Anxious amber eyes swiveled over to a neat pile of minced greens lying on the counter beside her. To try and fool his nose, she mixed in an abundance of green onion stems.
Outside of the kitchen window, the sky was a blanket of dark gray. Heavy winds rattled the top of the tree house, the animals above skittered nervously about.
Ryu was gone investigating a pack of wolfmen he caught wandering too close to their hideout when he was out hunting yesterday's dinner. She was glad. No way in hell could she have done this with those eyes boring into her back.
After checking her surroundings for hazy, violet sneaky dragons, she quickly sprinkled half of the greens into a bowl, adding the rest after she sloshed soup into it. She stirred it, made a face at how it was all clumping up onto the vegetables and meat in a very noticeable manner. Hopefully he downed the whole thing in one gulp like he did everything else he ate.
She washed off the spoon and poured herself a bowl, garnishing it with heaps of green onion stems, just in case he actually looked at his food long enough to notice the heavy seasoning. Hands shaking, she made sure she remembered which bowl was which, and set them both on the table. She sat down and took a slurp of her own, grimaced at the strong oniony taste.
A thump beside her jostled her heart into overdrive. Shadow's melted off of Ryu's body. "I couldn't find anything," he grumbled when he was in full view, plopping down in the other chair at the table with a sigh. Nina tried to nonchalantly keep an eye on him. "The bottoms of those clouds are going drop out any minute now. Maybe they won't come after us in such a storm." He was looking towards his bowl now... She raised a trembling spoon to her mouth.
He looked towards her bowl. Sniffed. His brow furrowed, her heart skipped painfully. She had to keep reminding herself not to bite her lip. Could he tell? Could he smell the root even through all of the onions?
"Smells...like a lot of onions," he said, picking his bowl up. Nina gripped her spoon so tight her knuckles turned white. "Another experiment?"
She swallowed. Keep it short, she told herself. Under no circumstances could she stutter. She jammed food into her mouth. "Whaa...you dun 'ike onions?" she mumbled while chewing.
He shrugged, said, "Nah, I didn't say that," and tipped the bowl up at his mouth. Nina stared at his throat moving with his huge gulps.
Success!
Now all she had to do was wait, and hope she used enough.
No sooner did he set his bowl down onto the table did a funny look cross his face. He cocked his head, licked his lips, furrowed his brow harder than before. "Wait..." he picked his bowl back up, sniffed it. She watched his pale eyes suddenly widen and go straight to her. "Do I smell dreamroot?" he snarled, baring his teeth at her. "You would drug me!'?"
Nina jumped up from her chair. He tried to do the same, but the root was already taking effect. He stumbled and grasped the table for support. "Ladon...how musshh...di' yo use..." he slurred.
"You don't understand!" she cried. "There's something I have to do without you!"
He was trying to focus on her, but his angry yellow eyes kept stubbornly rolling back into his head. His legs gave out beneath him. "Y...You...id'ot bird..." he dropped to his knees, then the floor. "W...wolfmen...will k...kill you..." He grew quiet.
Nina stared at him for a good minute or so before cautiously bending down and waving her hand in front of his face. No response. She pulled his red cloak from around his shoulders and threw it over her own. Thunder cracked, sending her adrenaline pumping and the animals on the top floors scattering about. "I'm sorry, Ryu," she said combing her hair with her fingers as best as she could and tying it back into a knot. "But, for my sanity, I have to see Chasta!" She pulled part of the cloak up over her head and jumped out of the window.
Lightning flashed. Thunder shook the forest. Clouds as dark as night let loose their fury.
Rain pelted through Ryu's cloak, soaking Nina to the bone in seconds. It was coming down too hard for her to fly; she was forced to trudge through thick mud with one bare foot in the direction her communicator was telling her Chasta was waiting.
Chasta...with her stories and her jokes that always had Nina laughing so hard she cried.
She wanted nothing more than to have that again. To be able to laugh until she cried...with no worries...no sins...
The communicator beeped. She looked down at it. On the map of the Grassland Regions, her and Chasta's dots were now overlapping. She peered again in front of her through the rain. That meant her friend was just over that hill! She broke into a run.
Maybe this was the part where she was saved and Good things started to happen... Where there was someone else in this world willing to help her try and get rid of this plague upon her soul so she could return to her normal, happy self...
She reached the top of the hill, and her blood froze solid in her veins.
Water fell down in sheets, plowing her and the ground with a deafening roar, but it was nothing compared to the roar of her own heartbeat in her ears.
Standing alone waiting for her in a clearing, was Ethan.
Her stomach was on the ground. Surely any second now he was going to dash up the hill with a speed she couldn't possibility comprehend and take her head off before she could blink.
But he didn't. Instead, he did something that made her heart lurch for a different reason. He unsheathed both of his swords, brought them out in front of him, and dropped them to the ground.
She bit her lip and felt it again, him grasping at her heartstrings, pulling her, begging her...
Her friend, her love, spread his arms out, and all her inhibitions fell away with the rain. "Ethan!" she cried splashing towards him through the mud, dragging heavy soaking pants. She jumped into his arms. "Ethan, you understand!" she sobbed in common, wrapping her arms around his neck and gripping him as tight as she could. "You understand I'm not a monster!" She felt his arms around her, he pressed her close to him. "Please say you're here to take me away...," she pleaded, staring up at his dark, beautiful eyes. "Please Ethan..."
He touched his forehead to hers. "Nina..." he murmured.
Her heart fluttered. Did he...actually call her 'Nina?' Before she knew what was happening, she was kissing him, and to her amazement, she felt him kissing gently back.
Nothing mattered. Not the rain, not the dragon...the only thing occupying her mind was Ethan, and his loving touch. Ethan and his warm, soft...quivering lips?
Something was wrong. Nina pulled away. "Ethan what's-?"
He grasped the back of her head and brought it to his shoulder. "I truly am sorry, Nina...," he whispered into her ear. "It'll be over soon, I promise."
She blinked through water pouring down onto both of them. "Eth-?"
Metal unsheathed. Ethan gripped her tight and with shaking hands, slid a knife deep into her back.
A/N: Some of my punctuation might look funny, i.e anything with a "!" and a "?" together. I have to write it "!'?" or it doesn't show up when I upload it onto the site. I need to go back to some of my other chapters and fix this, since I've only just now noticed it. I use Open Office...so I'm not sure what the problem is.
Tytyty for all the great reviews! As always, they keep me revved up to continue! I'm glad people liked Ryu and Ethan's fight scene =3 Hopefully next time I try my hand at some action, it'll be way better!