So, with my birthday a few days ago, and the fact that I am only a month away from finally heading home, needless to say, I was in a good mood. So without further ado, here is Chapter 14. Hope you all enjoy!
_
It was high noon as the carriage made its way down the cobblestone road. Natsu sat in the driver seat alone; Gajeel and Levy were inside. To be more precise, Levy was tending to Gajeel's injuries in which he sustained that morning. Natsu couldn't help but think back on Levy's shocked face and laugh.
"Why did you drag me out here so early," Natsu yawned deeply as he stretched his arms in front of him, "the sun isn't even up yet."
Gajeel was holding onto Natsu's cloak and was literally dragging him through the woods.
"Cause you wouldn't get up," Gajeel grunted as if that explained everything.
"Well wake me up when we get there," Natsu accepted the reason and fell back asleep, letting Gajeel do all the work.
Thinking back, Natsu probably shouldn't have allowed himself to be dragged the five miles through the woods; now he would have to wear his other cloak seeing as a large hole was worn into the backside of his brown travelers one.
Natsu gave the horse on the right a small tap with the whip, keeping it from trying to stop and eat some leaves from a nearby tree.
"Hey now, I just gave you three apples not two hours ago!" Natsu huffed at the horse, after it had displayed its displeasure not eating. "You can have a break in another hour or so," Natsu finished before returning to his thoughts.
"We're here," Gajeel tossed Natsu into the little clearing.
Sitting up with his legs crossed under him, Natsu stretches again. His yawn this time turning into a groan at the end, "Already? Man, that was quick."
"Whatever," Gajeel crosses his arms over his chest and turns his head, looking away from the man he just dragged five miles, "You've been out for about an hour, and if I didn't want your help I would have thrown you off one of the cliffs we passed."
"Yeah yeah," Natsu grumbles. "So what's this about you wanting my help?"
Gajeel glances over at the mage before he looks away again. It's obvious he isn't used to or even comfortable with asking for help as he mumbles something inaudible.
Or at least it would have been to anyone with out the senses of a dragon, but Natsu wasn't going to let the big brute off that easily.
"I'm sorry," Natsu grins, "What was that? I didn't quite hear you."
"I said, 'I want you to teach me magic.' What? Are you deaf too!" Gajeel turns to glare at the pinkette, knowing full well that he was being toyed with.
"You want to learn magic?" ignoring the insult, "Why?"
"Does it matter why?"
"I don't want to teach a student who is only going to use it for personal gain or for evil purposes," Natsu crosses his arms in front of him as he stares back at the brute.
The two mages stare at each other for a couple of seconds, before Gajeel realizes that Natsu isn't going to budge until he is given a good enough cause.
With a huff, Gajeel turns his back on his fellow mage before stating quite confidently, "I want to be able to protect her."
Natsu was stunned into silence, not because of the man's reason, he had already known why he had been dragged out here, but because of how quickly and confidently the man had given his reason. Natsu had been sure that it would've taken another three minutes before he was given the true intention.
Recovering quickly, Natsu conjured up a small flame and sent it towards his student.
"Shit that's hot!" Gajeel yelps as he jumps away from the flame, rubbing his backside.
"Rule 1: Always be aware of your surroundings," Natsu states while holding his finger up for the burnt mage.
"What the fu..?"
"Rule 2:" Natsu interrupted, holding up his second finger, "Always be ready. You never know who you can trust, or who is your enemy."
Gajeel had stopped tending to his burn and was now watching the culprit, watching for the next attack.
But it never came, instead Natsu stood and dusted his pants off.
"Now, before we continue any further, you must understand what kind of magic you use and it's properties," Natsu intertwined his fingers behind his head, "So go ahead, show me what you got."
Gajeel relaxed a little, taking in a deep breath as he tried to conjure up his magic.
When Natsu saw Gajeel close his eyes, he was half tempted to attack him and yell something about Rule 2, but that can be later. Right now Gajeel just need to focus on one task at a time, especially since his magic has been asleep for so longer, it was going to take more concentration to activate it.
After a minute, Natsu grew bored, conjuring up three small fireballs.
Finally becoming frustrated with nothing happening, Gajeel grunted and opened his eyes. Looking over towards the fire mage, he could help but feel insulted.
There in front of him was Natsu juggling three fireballs, not paying any attention at all.
"Hey!" Gajeel yelled out, his frustration evident in his voice.
"What?" Natsu quickly returned his attention to his student, the three fireballs hovering in the air where they were left, "You finally get something?"
With a deep growl, Gajeel turned and begun stomping away.
"Hey, metal fists? Where do you think you're going?" Natsu called out to his student, "The lesson isn't over yet."
Without turning around, Gajeel growled out, "Well I'm done. It was a mistake asking for your help."
"Well, you're never going to be able to protect Levy with those half-assed fists," Natsu replied nonchalantly.
Spinning around, Gajeel yelled back, "I don't need magic to protect her," lifting his left fist in front of him, "I can protect her just fine with... this?" Gajeel's anger turning into bewilderment as noticed his hand.
Natsu couldn't hide his grin, which only brought anger back into Gajeel's posture, even though his eyes shined with pure bliss.
"So," Natsu broke the silence, "Shall we continue?"
It was late morning when the two mages returned to the camp and Natsu happily called out to Levy and waved at her when she turned around.
The smile on Levy's face quickly turned into one of worry as her mind finished processing that Natsu was carrying an unconscious Gajeel over his shoulder as if he weighed no more than a sack of grain.
"What happened?" Levy cried out as she ran to where Natsu was dropping the unconscious brute.
"Huh?" Natsu cocked his head to the side before realizing the question was in reference towards his unconscious student. "Oh him? Yeah, he thought it would be smart to fight some bear, as if it was some good method of training," Natsu was talking as if it was a no brainer, "Do we have any food left? I'm starving!"
"A bear?" Levy cried out once more, "Why would he fight a bear?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Natsu turned around with a questioning expression, "I feel like this conversation is going to get repetitive. Now, about that food?"
"Natsu!" the tears in Levy's eyes made Natsu stop asking about food. Apparently, he wasn't going to be able to change the subject. "Why, why didn't you help him?"
"Come on now," Natsu walked back to where the crying bluenette was and crouched down, moving a hand up and began rubbing her back, "He is going to be fine. None of his injuries are that serious, he is just exhausted that's all. Besides, there's no way I'm going to start a fight with a bear, that's just stupid!"
Levy was no longer listening as she reached down and grabbed a hold of her bodyguard's hand, "Gajeel..."
Smiling, Natsu sighed, "That's one hell of an idiot you've got there," then standing before he continued, "Make sure you hold on to him."
Levy looked up into Natsu's smiling eyes with a questioning look.
"He may be an idiot, but he's your idiot," Natsu smiled.
Levy quickly whipped her head away, trying to hide her blush as she stared down at where her small hand held the larger hand of her companion.
Groaning, Natsu tilted his head back, "Man, if I had just taken it a little easier on him, I wouldn't have to be the driving today." Returning his gaze to the endless road before him, he muttered, "But it's worth it. At least now he can turn his arms into iron pillars."
Some movement ahead of the carriage quickly caught the pinkette's attention as it darted into the woods.
Slowing the horses down, he discreetly rapped on the carriage wall behind him, doing what he can to alert the occupants inside that something was afoot.
The carriage continued to move forward, only now, Natsu tried getting the horses to move faster, to bypass whatever plot was being spun around them.
Blood quickly splattered across the road as the carriage crashed to a halt and spun around.
Natsu had seen the attack, but not soon enough to cancel it. A blade of wind had flown from the tree line, killing the horse on the left bringing the carriage to it's crashing halt.
Natsu swung off the right side of the carriage, while grabbing his pack which contained his bow and quiver. Quickly stringing the bow and notching an arrow, he peeked around the corner trying to spot their attacker.
Inside, Gajeel was still unconscious and Levy was crouched beside him with a short sword. Her attention was constantly moving between the man laying beside her and the doors on either side of her.
Outside, Natsu had released two arrows practically simultaneously at one of their attackers who had charged from the tree line. The first arrow embedded itself into the assailant's wooden shield, while the second one embedded into his iron breastplate. The assailant never made it to the road.
"Levy?" Natsu called out, "Is everyone alright in there?"
The small voice of the bluenette filtered out of the carriage, "Natsu? Yes everyone's alright. What's going on?"
"Ambush, left side. Right side is safe," a thud interrupts Natsu's report, "Correction, right side is not safe. We're surrounded."
Natsu pulled the arrow, that had embedded itself into the carriage next to him, out and briefly examined it before tossing it aside and pulling his own arrow back and releasing it into the tree tops. He was rewarded with a solid thud of a body slamming into the ground. No where was safe from Natsu's vision.
A cold voice rung out from the trees where the initial attack came from, "Surrender now and we will let you live!"
"That's interesting," Natsu shouted back, "I was just about to say the same thing to you all!"
Peering back around the carriage, Natsu tried to locate where the voice was coming from. The glint of sunlight reflecting off of metal provided the archer his next target.
Releasing his forth arrow, he watched as it flew towards his target, only to see it get blown into the air.
"Like I said," the cold voice returned, "Surrender now. Your archaic ways are not match for a superior race."
"If you were going to let us live if we surrender, then why stop us in the first place?" Natsu called back, his mind racing to find a memory related to what he had just witnessed.
"Leverage," was the cold reply, "Give us the girl and you can be on your way."
"Leverage for what?" Natsu was stalling for time now, he didn't care what their reason was, they killed Torton the horse and he wasn't going to forgive them for that.
"Does it matter? You are wearing on my patience."
"Of course it matters!" Natsu yelled.
"To enact our revenge on the Council, now hand her over and you can leave, anything else will solidify your demise!"
After a short pause, Natsu shouted back, "Promise?"
A small gasp came from the carriage and Natsu knew that Levy had heard the whole conversation.
"I promise," came the cold response.
"Good," Levy's heart fell with Natsu's response, "then come and take her."
The next audible sound that Levy heard was the yelling and cursing of someone to the carriage's left, "That fucker shot me in the leg!"
Confusion swam through her head, she had been sure that Natsu had planned on handing her over while her protector laid unconscious; but Natsu's laughter seemed to tell a different ending.
"HA! There's your answer you bastards!" Natsu's voice rung through the air.
Before any hope could return to Levy's heart, the war cry of their attackers and the cold voice giving orders had her feeling sick again.
"Kill them! Kill them all!" ordered the cold voice, "Bring me their heads!"
Ten henchmen burst forth from the tree lines, six on the left and four on the right.
With the tree line being a hundred meters from the road, Natsu had thirteen seconds before the assailants were upon them. Thirteen seconds to release five arrows, bringing down three of the assailants on the right side.
The forth assailant came crashing onto the road only to have the end of the bow brought across his next, breaking it and leaving him paralyzed where he fell.
Turning, Natsu quickly brought the bow up, using it to block the downward blow from a sword. Falling backwards, the assailant fell on top of Natsu, keeping him pinned to the ground. A second assailant came and stood at Natsu's head, he wore an evil grin upon his face. He brought his sword up, ready to plunge it through Natsu's face.
As the sword reached it's peak and the swordsman began to bring it down, Natsu jerked the man pinning him down forward. The human shield cried out a deadly screech, slowly turning into a deathly gurgle as the sword plunged through his body.
Rolling with the corpse, Natsu effectively rendered the second attacker weaponless, as the hilt jerked out of the man's hands and the sword remained embedded in the corpse's back.
Now that he was on his hands and knees, Natsu dove at his attacker, driving his shoulder into the man's gut, crashing to the ground and knocking the breath out of the soon-to-be dead man. Straddling the man's legs, the pinkette sat up, only to come crashing down on his prey, bringing his elbow across the man's face, and then bringing his elbow back the other way across the other side of the man's face, rendering the man incapacitated.
Picking up one of the abandoned swords, Natsu looked for his next target. That's when he noticed the carriage rocking, and then another death curdling cry.
Yanking open the door to the carriage, the pinkette's view was blocked by the bluenette's back. On the other side of the carriage was one of the assailants with the hilt of a short sword protruding from his chest. As he fell away from the carriage, he took the sword with him leaving the girl defenseless.
Just from taking in the situation, Natsu immediately knew what had happened, Levy used the element of surprise. Levy had positioned herself facing the door and as it opened, she rushed forward. The man wasn't ready for the attack and left himself wide open for the inexperienced diplomat to plunge the sword, hilt deep, into his chest.
With the next attacker rushing the door, Natsu stepped into the carriage, pushing Levy onto Gajeel, and then stepped out the opposite door. Bringing his sword up and across his body, Natsu blocked the slashing attack from the swordsman, but exposing himself as an archer released an arrow aimed for his chest.
As the arrow was inches from its target, Natsu brought his free hand around and swiped the arrow out of the air. Bringing the sword full circle, Natsu brought the sword up, catching the swordsman unguarded and practically cleaving the man in half, with the sword lodging itself in the man's spine.
Recognizing the unmistakable sound of a bow string, Natsu dives to the side as another arrow becomes a part of the carriage. Picking up the discarded arrow from earlier, he rolls to his feet preparing for his next attack.
However, what he is met with is a strong burst of downward wind, causing him to fall to one knee.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the cold voice from earlier coos from a few feet away.
Working against the wind, Natsu lifts his head as he watches a man in a black robe holding a scythe float to the ground in front of him.
"You would make a great addition to my gang," an evil smirk spread across the hidden face.
"Yeah, and you would make a great addition to my bodycount," Natsu glares back.
"Now, now, there's no need for hostilities. I believe you an I want the same thing," the cloaked figure slowly lowered his scythe until the blade was level with Natsu's neck.
"You want me to remove your head from your body too? Wow, maybe we can be friends," Natsu smirked.
"Impudent fool!" the man removed his hood so that Natsu could see his face, "Do you not know who I am?!"
"Of course I know who you are," Natsu's eyes constricted with hatred, "Your'e the scumbag Erigor. The one going around destroying villages for mere pleasure."
"Yes, and you are the great Salamander," Erigor leaned in and whispered, "The one that the Council wants dead. So," standing back up, "what shall it be? Will you join me, or shall I do the Council a favor for once and end you hear and now?"
"How about neither?" With that, Natsu lurched forward with the arrow in his hand. The arrowhead had barely started cutting into Erigor's face before Natsu was slammed against the carriage behind him.
The sudden attack had surprised Erigor, but he recovered quick enough to send a giant and steady burst of wind at his attacker and pin him to the carriage wall.
Lifting his free hand to his face, Erigor felt his cheek where he had been cut. Upon pulling his hand away, he inspected the blood that adorned his fingertips.
"Why you..." Erigor brought his scythe up over his head, "I'll kill you right here and now!"
The scythe silently fell too the ground. Confused, Erigor looked over at the scythe laying on the ground, his hand still grasping the shaft. It took a minute to realize that his hand had been severed from his arm, but when he did, the wind shattered with a blood curdling scream.
Natsu fell to the ground just in time to see Erigor fly straight up into the air. Where Erigor once stood, there was now a knight with scarlet colored hair staring up into the sky, her sword had only a few drops of blood on it.
"Come down here," ordered the newcomer, "You must be punished for your crimes!"
"This isn't over!" cried Erigor as he clutched his arm. He had used his wind magic to stop his arm from bleeding. "I will be back," he cried as he flew away.
After watching Erigor fly away, Natsu turned his attention back to the new stranger, who had obviously done the same.
"And what is your story?" asked the female knight, "Friend or foe?"
Natsu was about to reply with 'Friend,' but quickly stopped himself when he saw the crest of the Third Legion adorned above the knight's heart.
"Neither," was his reply instead.
"Neither?" the scarlet lady raised her eyebrows, "Interesting. Explain," she ordered.
"I am simply a traveler, making my way home after months of being gone," Natsu stood and brushed the dust off of his grey cloak. It wasn't his favorite cloak, but it served it's purpose none-the-less.
"A simple traveler can't create such devastation," the knight countered, taking in the carnage around her, "What is your name?"
"I believe it to be impolite to ask one their name when you haven't given one your own," Natsu crossed his arms over his chest.
"Erza Scarlet, Captain of the Third Legion, now what is your name," Erza ordered once more.
"Nah, I don't feel like telling you," Natsu turned to the side.
"I gave you my name, now give me yours," Erza stepped forward.
Turning back towards his interrogator Natsu countered, "I never asked for your name, and I would have been perfectly fine without ever knowing your name, but you gave it to me freely and now that is a burden that I must bare. So again, I am not inclined to give you my name."
"Do you wish to die, boy!" Erza roared, rage evident in her eyes.
"I wish to be left alone," with that Natsu turned and walked back towards the open door to the carriage.
"Why you!" Erza walked forward bringing her sword above her head ready to strike.
"Captain Scarlet! You really shouldn't," cried out a small voice from behind everyone.
Erza stopped where she was, rage billowing off of her, and Natsu quickly turned around taking in the situation with keen eyes, ignoring the fact that there was a crazed women with a raised sword. Instead, he focused on finding the source of the familiar voice.
There she was, not too far from the edge of the road, holding onto the reins of the two horses. When their eyes met, the two of them couldn't help but smile, it had been so long since they had seen each other.
Levy emerged from the carriage, distracting Erza before she started becoming suspicious of the two.
"Miss McGarden, I didn't expect to run into you here," Erza's mood returned to normal, "I thought I was to meet you at the border."
"Ah, Captain Scarlet, what a surprise to see you!" Levy exclaimed loudly, followed by a question, "To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting a captain of the Third Legion all the way out here?"
"We received reports of an increase in crime along this road, and as a delegate for the Kingdom, we were dispatched to escort you. It appears that the reports weren't too far off," Erza again looks around and notices the pinkette and her Care over by the horses.
It didn't take long for Levy to notice the pair either, although it was a little easier since Erza stood between her and them. It didn't take much to sneak peaks around the tall redhead. In fact, Levy had even seen the odd pair share a too familiar of an embrace before Erza had turned around. If she had to guess, this wasn't the first time those two had met, but that was for another time.
Levy's attention was quickly returned to Erza as she started walking around, "Is it just you two? Anyone else? Where's Mr. Redfox?"
"Gajeel is in the carriage, he's currently unconscious," Levy answered, sadness evident in her voice as she lowered her head.
"What? Unconscious? He better have a good reason for allowing a delegate to be attacked! I will have him removed from protective detail in a heartbeat!" Erza stormed over to the open door in the carriage.
"Well, um, actually, he," Levy stuttered out.
"He was knocked unconscious after taking on three of the bandits at once. He just finished beating one or two of them before the other ones jumped him from behind. We tossed him into the carriage during a lull in the fighting, that way we could try and make a quick escape. That's when they killed our horse, stranding us here," Natsu interrupted.
He and the young bluenette, Wendy, had made their way over to where the other two stood. Levy staring at him with a confused expression on her face.
"But, I thought," Levy tried asking but Natsu quickly cut her off again.
"Do you really think a proud man like Gajeel, would allow any harm come to anyone under his protection?" Natsu quickly winked at Levy, "Gajeel did a great job, and these two make a great team. Removing him would be a disservice to the Kingdom."
Catching on to what Natsu was doing, she quickly mouthed the words, 'Thank you' to the quick witted pinkette.
"Anyways," Natsu continues, changing the subject, "We should get going, it's still a couple of hours until we reach the next town."
"Yes, I agree," Erza nodded her head and moved to where her horse was, "I will gather a full report of the incident once we find lodging."
It took a couple of minutes for Natsu, Levy, and Wendy to cut the carriage loose from the dead horse and then to set it up for a single horse. Erza watched the pinkette's every move, not trusting a man who refused to give his own name when she thought she asked so kindly for it.
Once the carriage was set and Wendy had remounted her horse, they made their way down the road. Erza Scarlet, the Legionnaire, led the way, with the carriage slowly following behind her, and Wendy trotting along side the carriage.
Levy sat with an sleeping Gajeel, trying her hardest to hear what the pinkette and young bluenette were talking about, not wanting to miss a single word about how Wendy had linked up with their friend and how that said friend was looking forward to seeing Natsu again.