Chapter 13 – Promotion
Natsuki sat rather nervously in one of the many oversized mahogany chairs that ringed the large gold plated war-room table. The halfling however hid her unease well from the rest of the rooms occupants. To her immediate right sat a very stoic looking Shizuru, and across from them sat both King Ferir, and Prince Reito.
It was very early in the morning, Natsuki had scarcely five hours of sleep since she, and the others had returned to the capital city. Fighting back a yawn, Natsuki wondered what they were waiting for. The group had been sitting in silence for what seemed like nearly a quarter of an hour. She was about to question the very fact, however the King beat her to the punch.
With a loud clearing of his throat, Ferir stood, the chair making a loud grating noise against the stone floor, "Well, it seems our good commander will not be joining us this morning." He started, walking to a nearby window, "So we will continue without her." He paused for a long moment before continuing, "I assume you both know why you are here. So I'm just going to right out, and say it. What exactly happened in that forest?"
"Father, we merely went to investigate the inside of the ruins." Shizuru responded plainly. Natsuki was shocked at the princess' audacity.
"Then how do you explain the massive cave in, and you going missing for nearly two days?" Reito asked sarcastically.
"Please Reito, let me ask the questions." Ferir told his son, turning away from the window, and back to the center of the room, "Now Shizuru, I don't want any of your usual antics here today. I want the full story, exclude no details. No one is leaving this room until I hear it from your own mouth." The king said straightly, as he sat back down in his own chair.
Silence permeated the stifling room, and Natsuki's unease only fed, and grew stronger in the situation. She thought briefly of coming clean, but quickly quelled the rogue idea. Instead she started to to think whether or not she was going insane. The halfling took a deep breath to calm herself down, she was overthinking things as usual. There was no way anyone would believe Shizuru if she told the truth, so she had nothing to worry about. Or at least that was what she wanted to believe, there was no telling what kind of things these people might believe. Hell, if the princess was any sort of indication, then there had to be something abnormal about the family as a whole Natsuki reasoned.
Thankfully however Shizuru broke the silence finally, "It was my fault, Father. I wanted to explore the ruins as soon as I was able." Natsuki had to keep to fight the look of surprise from showing on her face at the princess' remark.
"I don't believe that for a second." Reito quickly answered, "You were suffering from exhaustion, and it was only the two of you. I know you sister, you are smarter than that, what are you hiding?" Though she didn't really want to admit it, Natsuki had to give the prince some credit for his rebuttal.
"Yes Shizuru, your brother has a point." Ferir agreed with the prince, "Would you care to explain yourself?"
"Well..." Shizuru began, taking in a deep and audibly breath, "First, and foremost, I thought I was more than capable to enter the ruins on my own volition. Secondly, the ruins were a labyrinth of tight tunnels, and sharp corners. You were inside of them as well Reito, you cannot say that traveling inside that complex with a large party would be anything short of folly." Shizuru paused, waiting for the prince to respond to her.
Reito peered at the princess for a moment before he sighed, "You are right, despite the idiocy. Having a small group would be far more reasonable than a large one."
"See, so I was not so wrong when I decided that the two of us." Shizuru indicated Natsuki before she continued, "Would be just fine inside."
"Hmm..." Ferir mused, "You there..." The king pointed to Natsuki, "Is what she saying true. Did she propose to go into the ruins?"
"Ah..." Natsuki stalled, she wasn't expecting to have to answer anything, she had been more than content with being a passive observer to the events unfolding. She looked to the princess for a moment, before deciding that she should just go along with whatever the women was planning, "Yes, your highness."
"And did you say anything against this?" The king questioned, "Surely you were afraid of going inside, especially since you are unable to use magic."
Natsuki shook her head, "No. I don't think I should have to question an order when it comes from royalty. Nor do I think my fear should be allowed to overcome me,Your highness." She figured that if she was going to go along with the princess' story, she might as well make it good.
"Ahahaha." Ferir let out a roar of a laugh, "Spoken like a true knight. If only we had a few more who thought like that." Ferir continued, oblivious to the truth, "Ahem," Ferir cleared his throat when the rest of the room was silent, "Well then, moving on. Continue with your story Shizuru. Leave no detail out."
"Very well then Father, I will tell you everything. We entered the ruins from what looked like the main entrance. However as we traveled deeper, and deeper in we did not come across any traces of the excavation team nor of any sort of undead creature. So we kept going farther inwards. Eventually we came across a haphazard stash of Airies armaments hidden in a back room, and that's when we were attacked. There were at least a dozen of the things, they blocked the only exit out of the room. In retrospect they must have been waiting for us to come to a dead-end room. It really is quite amazing how smart they were, I had always thought undead were quite dull, and slow myself." Shizuru paused for a short break, and Natsuki couldn't help but think that the women could put even the best bards to shame. Though she kept the slightly amusing thought well away from her facial features, as she listened on with outward passiveness.
Clearing her throat Shizuru continued her tale, "Seeing as how we were trapped in a very small room, with no real way to fight back. I let loose a spell to take care of the lot in one attack. The fireball, and subsequent explosion did what I had intended to do, however I did not foresee the repercussions the attack had. It seemed that the ground beneath the ruins had long since given away, and it was quite remarkable that the ruins had not collapsed already. Because of the explosion the flooring broke apart almost instantaneously, and sent both of us falling through a large hole." Shizuru paused for another break, and Natsuki wondered how exactly she had come up with such a story. However, looking at Ferir, it seemed that the princess had him enthralled, which is right where she wanted him, the halfling assumed.
The room was quiet, as everyone waited for Shizuru continued, even Natsuki herself was somewhat wondering what the princess was going to come up with next, "We fell quite a ways down, before the pit opened up into a massive cavern, filled with a veritable sea of water. And thankfully it was water, and not earth. The cold liquid broke our fall, though not without it's own complications. If Natsuki had not been there with me, I surely would have drowned because of the weight of my armor. Thankfully she managed to pull me to a safety upon a nearby rock."
"After getting over the initial shock of our predicament, we tried to discern an exit from the cavern. However, it was much to big, and so we could not find anything through the darkness. But it was Natsuki, who noticed that the water was not staying to still like an enclosed body of water such as this would naturally be. Instead she noticed that it was flowing steadily in one direction. Deciding that anything would be better than freezing to death in the frigid water, I shed my armor, and we made our way with the flow. As luck would have it, it was only a short swim to our very destination, a path carved by years of erosion sat into the cavern wall. A layer of water flowed through the tunnel, but luckily it was no so deep that we could not walk through it."
"Not having any other options, we started our trek down the dark pathway, unsure of if it would actually bring us to a way out. We walked for what seemed like hours through the darkness, and just when we thought we were never going to make it out, the path opened up to the outside. A river sat at the other end, and the sky was dark. We were to exhausted to think of anything else, and so we made camp. We would decide how to make it back to the ruins when we were rested."
"River? What river?" Reito interrupted suspiciously, "I have never heard of a River in that forest."
"Much of the world is undocumented on paper. Just because it is not on a piece of paper does not mean that it is not there in reality." Shizuru effectively shut the prince up.
"Going on..." Shizuru said with a small cough to clear her throat, "In the morning, I had still not recovered fully, at least not fully enough to bring us both back to the ruins. So, after figuring out where we were in relation to the ruins I teleported us as close as possible. Which was not very close may I add. We had to walk the rest of the way, which took us the entire day, as Reito can tell you since we met him after midnight."
"That's quite a story sister." Reito spoke leaning on the table with his elbows, "But, that does not explain the beast that you brought back with you."
"Kiyo is not a beast." Shizuru retorted calmly.
"Yes son, dire wolves are not to be mixed up with normal wolves." Ferir said with a nod, "But Shizuru, how did you exactly come to find such a creature. They are quite a rare sight, especially when humans are involved. I am sure that you acquiring such a pup could not have been an accident." Natsuki cocked an eye at the King's statement. She wondered how the man would have known such a fact.
"I do not know what to tell you father." Shizuru replied without missing a beat, "As we were walking through the forest we came across her. She was alone, we meant to leave her be, but she followed."
"Is that so..." Ferir mused aloud, somehow Natsuki didn't think that the King believed his daughter at all, "No matter, I guess it doesn't really make much of a difference either way." He said before he stood again, "You know Shizuru, that's really quite the story." He sounded slightly grave to Natsuki, whom immediately thought that he hadn't believed a word of it. However her thoughts proved false when the a wide smile spread across his face and he spoke in an over the top jovial mode, "Sounds just like the adventures I had when I was your age. Ahahaha!" He ended in a laugh so strong his face started to turn beet red.
"Father?!" Reito exclaimed surprised, "How can you believe in that ridiculous story? Surely she is not telling the truth."
"Oh, come now my boy." Ferir calmed down slightly, "She's back, and no worse for wear. Which is all that really matters to me. There is no need to know exactly what happened."
Reito was silent, "I guess your right." He said grudgingly.
"Of course I am son." Ferir said with another laugh, "However!" He exclaimed as he pointed to Natsuki, "You there..." He paused for a moment, "What's your name again?"
"Natsuki, Your highness." The halfling responded, slightly confused.
"Is it true that you saved my daughter's life?" He asked.
"Eh?" Natsuki faltered for a split second before she caught herself, "Y-Yes, I guess so."
"Guess so?!" Ferir roared, "Be a little more confident woman!" He again calmed down, Natsuki wondered how such a person was the king of this country, "Ahem, excuse that. What I mean is that, if you saved my daughter's life, you should be rewarded as such."
"I don't think that's really necessary, Your Highness. I just did what any knight would have." Natsuki replied.
"Nonsense!" Ferir said walking around the table to Natsuki, "Do not be so modest. Would you care to stand up please?" The halfling complied wondering what the King had in mind, "Good, now face me." Natsuki complied again.
"Now, En garde!" The King shouted out, and from the great big sleave of his robe pulled out a shortsword. With a lightening quick sideswipe, which Natsuki was amazed by thinking that he was just some old man, he attacked the halfling. However, while the man was fast for his age, he couldn't keep up with Natsuki's elvish qualities. Her instincts taking over, Natsuki dodged the blow by ducking then grabbed Ferir's arm, and with a quick toss. She both disarmed the man, and sent him to the ground in one fluid motion.
Ferir let out another roar of a laugh as he stood, "Excellent, Excellent. Just as I thought. You really are quite something, my dear. Perfect candidate for the spot."
"Spot?" Natsuki asked confused.
"Yes, yes, spot." He repeated, dusting off his clothes, "You see, I have been trying to fill the position for quite sometime now. However, everyone I interview never seems good enough, but you my dear. You seem to fit the bill perfectly, and since it seems that you two get along so well. It just makes sense, you know."
"Y-Yeah..." Natsuki responded, though in truth she didn't know what the hell the King was talking about at all.
"Good, good. At least we're on the same page. So you will accept then? You will have full roam of the castle, and many privileges. And to think, you were just a common sell-sword a couple days ago, it must be fate, eh?" Ferir said clapping Natsuki on the back, before he took his sword out of the halflings hands.
"What am I accepting?" Natsuki asked utterly confused.
"Oh dear me, did I not say it?" Ferir sounded generally confused, "I guess I really am getting quite old. From henceforth, you shall be my darling daughter's personal bodyguard."
"What?!" Natsuki exclaimed.
"Oh,ho. I knew you would be excited." Ferir laughed, "I won't take no for an answer, just so you know. And around here my word is the law."
"Isn't that great Natsuki? Now we can be together, all the time." Shizuru's voice resounded from behind Natsuki.
Natsuki couldn't speak, she had had enough of the princess for the rest of her eternal life. Yet now she was going to be forced to spend every waking moment with the infernal woman. She wondered if her life could get any worse.
"See, look kids. She's speechless." Ferir laughed, "Though it's to be expected, this is quite the promotion."
"I-I don't think I'm qualified for the job, Your Highness." Natsuki responded as adamantly as she could.
"Cold feet eh?" Ferir laughed, before he turned to Reito, and Shizuru, "Do you mind leaving for a moment, while I go over the job, and get this girl to see why she should accept."
"Yes, Father." Both Shizuru, and Reito replied in unison, and both got up to leave the room.
Shizuru paused at the door, "Take care Natsuki, I hope to see you later." She said with a grin, and shut the door.
"See Natsuki, look how excited she is. You wouldn't want to disappoint her now would you?" Ferir asked as he walked to the door, and Natsuki had to fight back from saying yes, "However, now that those two are gone. There is something I would wish to speak with you about." Ferir shifted from being over joyful, to deathly serious in an instant. Natsuki suddenly found out where the princess had received that particular trait.
"What of?" Natsuki asked suspiciously.
"Well..." Ferir started, and locked the door, the click ringing through the room.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't want any interruptions for this one." Ferir replied. He walked from the door, to a window on the opposite side of the room in silence. The uncomfortable noise continued for what seemed like ages to the halfling before Ferir sighed and spoke, "-What exactly happened in those ruins?-"
Author's Note: For anyone that might not remember, any speech in the format "-words, words, and m ore words-" is used for elvish.