A/N: Uhm, yeah. Will make food, soon, I'm hungry. Wherein Aster is a weirdo, and Emil does something stupid and gets hurt.
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Part XIII: Knight
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The elemental cargo made it to the other continent with no problems at all (aside from Raine's hydrophobia, despite being in a secure vessel that quite separated her from the water). Their group, plus Emil's monsters, was a big one, so they had to move in separate teams, and to stay off the road. The objective was the same for all concerned: to get to Sybak. Lloyd's group wanted to take Presea to Kate (which piqued Aster and Richter's interests), and there were supposedly Key Crests for sale in the city.
No Exspheres yet, but it was a start, and better than nothing.
Unlike in Meltokio, Emil wanted to remain with Aster and Richter. He felt as though he owed it to them. Besides, he thought Lloyd's group needed a bit more time to warm up to him. Though the ice had broken, it was still quite solid, cold, and sharp.
Luckily there were thick forests aplenty near Sybak. Going on open grassland, even if they were away from the road, was nothing short of stupid. Though they battled more monsters, fights were easier with the wolf and water drake, and Emil managed to make a pact with a new monster: a Furie named Leste. She learned healing artes, which were great for her to have in addition to her wind magic.
"But what's she doing down here?" Aster inquired. Harpy type monsters preferred higher ground, in the mountains and such. Latheon Gorge and the Fooji Mountains were on different continents.
"Ventus isn't in Tethe'alla," Emil said, brow quirked. "There's no serious imbalance of mana--it'd have been more than just one monster."
"Then again," Richter interjected, "Are monsters sensitive to Centurion power?"
"Yeah." Emil replied. "They all answer to Centurions."
"Then is it possible that Leste sensed an increase in Solum's power and thus responded?"
Emil blinked. He felt like a dying dwarf star compared to the shining galaxies like Aster and Richter. Nonetheless he nodded. "That's probably it."
Sybak was no more than an hour's walk from where they befriended Leste. She took to Ripplescale well, as they both could fly, but she was more wary around Titan. The wolf thumped his tail and insisted that he needed none but Emil. That made him resolve to find another canine monster for Titan to befriend.
Whenever Leste lost feathers after a battle, Aster would gather them up and make them into quill pens. The bright green pens were rather attractive. Aster hoped sometime to be able to make monster grimoires, if only a blank one a Katz could fill in later.
--
They were cramped in the leafy boughs of a tall tree; Titan hid in the bushes, Ripplescale in a nearby stream, and Leste perched on a thick branch. Emil sat on a fork of two branches, holding adjacent ones to keep his balance. His fingers were getting sticky with tree sap oozing from underneath the bark. Across his tree sat Richter and Aster in another, kneeling in a crown. Aster was beside the half-elf, and ... licked the tree sap from his fingers.
"You weirdo," Richter hissed.
"Thank you, Leste," Emil whispered to the Furie. Down below were Papal Knights, five of them. Undoubtedly they were looking for Zelos, Genis, and Raine. Sybak utilized mana signature tracking devices, so when they detected signatures from half-elves, humans, and monsters all in close proximity, an investigation was the smart thing to do.
Silently Emil hoped that Lloyd's party was far off elsewhere in the woods. At least they weren't the Desians Richter had hinted at.
Unfortunately, even with Leste's shrill warning, their ascent into the trees had been a hasty one, and some of their travel bags remained on the forest floor. They couldn't contain anything important, of course, maybe just some food or odds and ends--
One of the Papal Knights shook out the contents of the bag. Out fell three monster grimoires, the Sorcerer's Ring, and Aster's locked dual spinner. Emil's stomach fell into queasy hell. Aster's bag. Those Papal Knights had Aster's bag. Aster's. Bag.
Aster's.
Bag.
Aster's ...
Emil glared at his mirror image sitting in the other tree.
"You are so dead." He mouthed, emerald eyes narrowed. Aster shrugged; there was nothing he could do about it now.
"Here's the missing Sorcerer's Ring." The Papal Knight said, picking it up. He examined the monster grimoires. "Spell books. Those half-elves must be nearby."
Emil looked at Leste, whispering an order. The Furie nodded, spreading her wings as she began casting magic. Silently as he could, Emil drew his broadsword. He inched along the tree branch, hoping that Leste's magic would buy him enough time--
The Papal Knights shouted.
"Up there! In the trees!"
One of the Knights, an archer, aimed and fired an arrow at Emil in quick succession. Dammit! The sunlight must've glinted off his sword! He knocked the arrow away, but he also lost his balance, falling out of the tree.
The Knights went after him as he tried to get up, but intense pain flared in his wrist, in his sword hand. Oh crap. Crap. He must've hurt it in the fall. He tried to lift his sword; no use. It hurt too much; it was probably broken. He couldn't fight like this! There was a rustling of tree leaves.
"Surprise!" Aster shouted, landing with a loud thud on the back of the Knight nearest Emil. He couldn't get to his spinner, but he stole the Knight's halberd and charged the others. Which of course ended badly. A Knight gripped the halberd, throwing Aster to the ground. Emil shifted his sword into his left hand, running to Aster's aid. But he was a clumsy left-handed swordsman; his strikes glanced off the Knights' armor. In another instant he was disarmed.
"Dammit Richter!" Emil shouted as the Knights twisted his and Aster's arms behind their backs in order to arrest them. They heard iron cuffs clinking.
"Don't just sit there!"
Leste abandoned the Turbulence she had been casting for, instead swooping out of her tree, talons flying. Richter leapt to the ground, sword and axe at the ready. With a Mortal Spring and Enduring Summer he knocked out two of the five Knights. Aster thanked Richter, grabbing his spinner. In no time the sound of whirling blades clanging against armor echoed in the forest.
Titan burst from the bushes as a blur of dark fur, tackling another Knight. Ripplescale appeared after him, sensing Emil's discomfort and casting a healing arte. In record time Richter and Aster along with the monsters had all five Knights unconscious beneath the trees. Ripplescale's First Aid dulled the pain in Emil's wrist, but it was still quite broken. It hurt to move it. Richter, after making sure the Knights were indeed out cold, approached Emil.
"Let me see it."
"I-it's fine! Ripplescale--"
"Did nothing for it. It's broken, Emil. Let me look at it."
Reluctantly Emil obeyed. His hand stuck out at an odd angle, and there was a sickly lump in his flesh that really ought not to be there. Richter held the injured wrist gently, gingerly prodding and feeling the bones.
"Oh god that hurts!" Emil hissed, eyes squeezed shut.
"Stop whining," Richter retorted. "Are you a dog, or are you really a man?"
Emil cringed, but not only for the pain in his broken wrist. He sighed; he also argued back.
"At least I don't bite."
"I'unno," Aster sang over Emil's shoulder, handing Richter a roll of gauze along with a few broken arrow shafts to act as splints to fit Emil's wrist. Richter sent healing artes to the injured wrist, dulling the pain as he set in the bones in place.
"If the right buttons were pushed, you just might."
Emil grimaced as Richter squeezed his wrist. The half-elf saw this and cast another First Aid.
"I'll have to work on it a couple times a day." Richter said. "So no swordsmanship for a while. We don't want that wrist worse than it is."
Emil's head whirled. No fighting until the wrist healed. No fighting. Richter could fight, and Aster now that he had practiced with Marta's spinner, and there were the monster companions, too. He would be reduced to standing on the sidelines, giving commands. It was less reassuring than being on the battlefield himself.
I know what you're thinking. Is that a good idea?
We can't fight. We need the authority for the monsters, too. They won't respect or obey someone who can't fight. Words are cheap.
True. Which one?
You know which one.
You do realize the irony of that, don't you.
Shut up and let me do this.
Tch. Fine.
Now that Aster was packed up, Richter made to leave, but Emil hung back.
"Wait. I have something to say."
Even the monsters looked back curiously at Emil. He looked at Richter, their eyes locking. He breathed in deeply, gathering the courage to say what he had to.
"Richter, you were wrong. I'm not a bioengineered weapon created by the Desians. But I am dangerous. I'm ... a Knight of Ratatosk."
Behind the glasses, Richter's eyes narrowed. "A what?"
"Ratatosk made pacts differently than other spirits. To help keep the mana balance, humans, elves, and half-elves were granted a portion of his power to make pacts with monsters and strengthen the Centurions and Ratatosk. I'm the newest Knight Ratatosk accepted in centuries."
"I thought Ratatosk was dormant?" Aster asked, brow quirked.
"He is," Emil said, never missing a beat. "But I made a pact with him through a Centurion. That Centurion got injured and returned to its core state and therefore it returned to its altar. That was two years ago." The corners of his mouth twinged into a half smile. "That's why I can use mana. It's Ratatosk's power."
"Really." Aster folded his arms, thinking.
"Where are you going with this?" Richter asked at once.
"I want to make one of you a Knight. With more monsters we'll be better protected."
"Who did you want to make a Knight?"
Emil took in a deep breath.
"Aster."
Startled, the scientist looked up. "What?"
"I want to make you into a Knight of Ratatosk."
" ... That's an honor, but why?"
Emil smirked. "Won't this help with your research?"
"Well, yeah, but ..." At a weary look from Richter, he broke into a grin. "What the hell, why not? Go ahead and knight me, Emil!"
That sounded so wrong.
Shut up, Ratatosk.
Hehe.
"It's traditional to forge pacts through Centurions." Emil said, digging in his bag for Solum's core. "You can choose how you want to base the pact: on a vow, your mana, or life ... though I wouldn't recommend that last one."
The crest on Solum's core glimmered a blinding white before it took to the air, hovering over Emil's outstretched palm. The rich, heavy scent of the earth, as though a fertile field were freshly plowed, permeated the air. The Centurion's core shone as its shape changed from a small sphere into a humanoid likeness.
In an instant, standing before Emil was Centurion Solum in the likeness of a boy no older than ten, with the black pointed ears Centurions had, short dark brown hair, tanned skin, golden brown eyes, and robes of earth tones embroidered with leafy green. A circlet of gold sat upon his brow.
"Greetings." Solum took a deep bow, first to Emil, then to Aster. "I am Centurion Solum. How may I be of service--" His eyes flickered to Emil, who thought as hard as he could, Knight of Ratatosk, Knight of Ratatosk. Their bond must have been solidifying, because Solum continued, "--Knight of Lord Ratatosk?"
A great inward sigh of Emil's relief. He motioned to Aster, who, along with Richter, eyed Solum most curiously. It was the first time they had seen a Centurion.
"Solum--will you make Aster a Knight of Ratatosk?"
A glimmer of interest in those golden brown eyes. Solum whirled around, his cloak swishing in his wake. He stood at half Aster's height, but even the scientist could feel the heavy power that was Solum's influence.
"Upon what will you base yourself to Lord Ratatosk?"
"A vow, like other Summon Spirits do. Is that a problem?"
"Not at all. State your vow."
"I, Aster ..." He stopped. He turned to Richter. "Hey. What should I vow?"
Richter slapped his forehead with an open palm. "How should I know. It's your vow!"
"Well," Aster said helplessly, "This is more Emil's journey than ours; I already have a third of my thesis done. He has a reason for wanting to awaken Ratatosk!"
"Just something easy to uphold, then." Emil supplied. "We wouldn't want to keep renewing your vow."
"Okay, okay--I, Aster, vow to complete my research in the relations of monsters and mana, and ..." He did say something, but Emil hadn't heard in the undertone. Richter, however, had, and he went pale. He looked to Solum.
"No! Don't make that last bit part of the pact, please!"
The brown glyph was already under Solum's feet, and he looked confused. "Why not?"
"What did you say, Aster?" Emil asked, brow quirked. Aster smirked as Solum continued to process the pact and its vow--in the whole.
"To be with Richter forever and ever~"
Wow.
Agreed. I'm accepting that as part of the vow.
You're such a--never mind. Whatever.
Hahaha.
"Lord Ratatosk accepts the vow. Henceforth you are now a Knight of Ratatosk, Aster!"
The scientist shuddered as the Centurion--and Ratatosk's--power flooded through him. Solum's crest flickered on Aster's forehead before dimming, as if it had never been. Emil tilted his head to one side, curious at Aster's unchanged attire.
Wait. No costume change? No mysterious disappearance of old clothes?
That was just Tenebrae's style. But--
No sooner could Ratatosk complete the thought did something materialize about Aster's shoulders--a cloak of rich earth tones, embroidered on the hems with green leafy designs. It was closed together with a gold brooch whose surface was engraved with a tree that looked like a Giant Kharlan Tree.
"That is no ordinary cloak." Solum said. "You can use it to blend in with your environment. After all, my power is to deceive others."
"Thank you very much, Solum!" Aster said giddily, examining his new cloak. It was smoother and softer than silk. Any self-respecting elfish tailor would be envious of this garment! He felt rather proud of himself.
Emil knew he was pulling out all the stops in order to achieve his goal of saving Aster's life. Now that he was made a Knight of Ratatosk, he was binding himself in the most explicit way possible to the Sybak scientist. This bond was actual proof of Emil's new mission.
He would not kill Aster this time.