Disclaimer: I do not own Magic: The Gathering, only my OCs
Chapter 20-Acrimony
"What were you thinking getting her in a duel?" snarled Arrathir.
"It's not like I really had a choice," said Charles "They challenged us."
"Why did you let Eva duel? How could you put her in danger like that?"
"I wasn't about to duel them alone," said Charles "And for your information, she handled herself remarkably, dealing both of the killing blows. She was in no serious peril."
"I knew I should have gone with her! This never would have happened if she'd been with me!"
"Again with the over-protectiveness," sighed Charles.
"How could I not be? She is my mate. I love her," said Arrathir "If any harm were to come to her, I would hunt down the person responsible and tear out their fucking heart!"
"Pointless," said Charles "That would fail to achieve anything."
"It would send a message telling people to stay away from my mate!"
"Is that all she is to you, a prize?" asked Charles "Do you only see her as yours to possess? Well, there's a trait worthy of the Keeper of Black Mana."
"Blow me," snarled Arrathir, releasing Charles.
"Tempting," said Charles, stepping back "But I wouldn't want to put your whore out of a job."
In a flash, Charles was on his back, the scythe of Arrathir's kusari-gama at his throat.
"Never speak about Eva like that ever again!" he roared.
"Arrathir! What are you doing! Get off him!" yelled Eva, who had just returned.
"Stay out of it!" snapped Arrathir. "This is between Wainscot and me!"
"Quinn, I'll only ask once," threatened Eva, her hand bursting into flames. Grumbling, Arrathir banished his weapon and glared hatefully at Charles before getting off him.
"What is your problem?" asked Eva, standing before Arrathir with her hands on her hips.
"He insulted your honor," said Arrathir "His jealousy has no limits."
"Charles, I thought we'd been over this," sighed Eva.
"I cannot idly stand by as you remain mated to him. Maybe one day, you will realize that he's not the male for you," said the blue Keeper.
"OK, what is going on here?" yelled Eva.
"Quinn is upset because you duelled," said Charles "Do you really want a mate who seeks to control you in such a way?"
"At least I protect her! You're the one who put her in mortal peril!"
"Mortal peril? Oh please, spare us the drama!" scoffed Charles.
"Are you looking for a fight, ioqi?" asked Arrathir.
"Against you, ghell? Don't make me laugh."
"ENOUGH!" Khell's booming voice rang through the air. The three Keepers turned to find the green Keeper standing on a roof across from their present location. With a wave of Khell's hand, vines sprouted from the stones, interweaving in a bridge that allowed him to cross over to them.
"Look at you two!" he scolded, standing before the Keepers. "You're bickering like children! This is not the time for this! Unless you've forgotten, we are currently being hunted by a maniacal Planeswalker who wants us dead, and the only way we can stand a chance against him is if we are united! Bickering will only spread dissention, which in turn, will weaken us. Arrathir," he said, turning to the black Keeper. "Eva is a fully-qualified summoner, and you know Chiruu would take over if she was in any real danger. Instead of preventing her from dueling, you should be encouraging her to do so! In this way, she will become better acquainted with her abilities. It is inevitable: she will be dueling again sometime in the future. You can't always be there for her, so would you rather she face these new foes without more experience?"
"I get the point," said Arrathir, rolling his eyes.
"Charles," added Khell, turning to the blue Keeper. "Eva has chosen Arrathir as her mate. The choice was hers to make and she knew full well what she was getting into. Even if you do not approve of their union, it is not your place to criticize it. They are together and bitching about it is not helping things! Grow up! And Eva," he continued, but then realized he had nothing to reproach her. "Why do you have two tails?" he finally asked.
"What?" asked Eva.
"You have two tails now," said Charles, tilting his head to look behind Eva. Craning her neck, Eva could see that she indeed now had a second tail poking out of the hole in her dress. It was identical to the first and Eva found she would easily move it, as if she had always had it.
(Chiruu?)
(Yes, one thing I forgot to mention: I was a nine-tailed kitsune. I suppose this is a sign of your growing power. As you continue to awaken, more tails will appear. Once you fully always, all nine tails should be present.)
(Nine tails? That must be incredibly difficult to manage. Don't they get caught on things or get in the way?)
(You can simply shift forms to only display a certain number of tails. I usually only kept three tails present, except for formal situations where it was necessary to display the full authority of the Keeper. The nine tails of a kitsune are a symbol of great power. Having nine tails also has some…alternative uses which you'll discover eventually.)
"Well, it seems the extra tail is due to my continuing awakening," Eva told the other Keepers.
Chikuro, no other extra appendages you might want to tell me about?
None that I can recall.
That's reassuring…
"Did you find any survivors?" asked Khell. "Anyone who could help us identify who is responsible for this tragedy?"
"Yes," said Eva. "Mira, come up!" she called. The girl's frightened face appeared over the edge of the roof. She peered fearfully at the new arrivals and ran to Eva, hiding behind her. "This is Mira," Eva told Arrathir and Khell. "Her parents died in the attack."
"Hello, Mira," said Khell, squatting so he was eye level with the girl. "My name is Khell. Tell me, do you like animals?" Mira nodded slowly. Taking a single orb of green mana, Khell fashioned it into a small brown mongoose with black stripes on its back and a long, bushy tail. "Here you go," said Khell, handing the animal to the wide-eyes girl. "Your very own pet."
Mira accepted the mongoose, speechless. The mongoose was not frightened by the girl and climbed up her arm, wrapping its furry body around the girl's neck. Still speechless, Mira gently petted the mongoose's soft fur.
"Do you like him?" asked Khell. Mira nodded, her eyes showing how grateful she was for the gift.
"Eva, can we speak?" asked Arrathir. "Alone," he added, nodding to Mira.
"Mira," said Eva, kneeling beside the girl. "We need to have some grown-up talk. Khell will stay with you and you can play with your new pet, all right?" Mira nodded.
"What are we going to do with her?" Arrathir asked Eva, when they had walked to the far side of the roof.
"She's an orphan. We can't just leave her," said Eva/
"We are not bringing her along," hissed Arrathir.
"Well, we are not abandoning her! Maybe she has family elsewhere. We need to find someone who will care for her."
"Out of the question," said Arrathir "Look, I know what happened is sad, but that's just how nature works. We can't waste time looking all over for a possible relative!"
"So you think saving a child's life is a waste of time?" snarled Eva. "Charles, you know I'm right," she added, the blue Keeper having wandered over their way.
"Actually, I have to agree with him," said Charles "It is not in out interest to help her. She will only slow us down and be another mouth to feed."
"I cannot believe you two!" growled Eva. "Has becoming a Keeper stripped you of all humanity? She is a child!"
"Helping her is not a priority," said Charles.
"What are our priorities?" asked Eva.
"Well…" said Arrathir.
"We need to find Chihowaido and stop him before more cities are razed, all the while preparing to defend ourselves from further attacks from the One," said Charles.
"How do you propose we achieve this? Do we even know where we are headed next?" asked Eva. Arrathir opened his mouth to speak, but evidently could think of nothing and merely stood there, his mouth open and one finger in the air, as if he was about to make a point.
"Catching flies?" asked Charles. Arrathir's mouth snapped shut and he shot the Keeper a venomous glare.
"Well, since neither of you have any idea what to do next, we should help Mira! It is better than sitting around, waiting to get attacked!"
"She has a point," shrugged Charles.
"You're going along with this?" asked Arrathir.
"I know Khell will agree with her, so you're out-voted," said Charles "If you feel like striking out on your own, by all means, go ahead. Send us a postcard once in a while."
"Fine! Do as you will!" snarled Arrathir, throwing his arms up in exasperation.
"We need to find out if she knows of any relatives," said Eva, heading back to Mira, who was cuddling her mongoose in her arms, the animal nuzzling her neck. "Mira, do you have any family that lives elsewhere?" asked Eva.
"Uncle," said Mira.
"Do you know where he lives?"
"By the sea. He catches fish," said Mira.
"Have you ever visited him?"
"Yes," said Mira "Once with mamma and papa."
"And do you remember the name of the place where he lives?"
"I think it was called Wlusu," said Mira, after a few seconds of thinking.
"Do you remember how long it took you to get there?"
"Days," said Mira. We took a wagon with a horse."
"Any idea where this is?" Charles asked Khell.
"There are many fishing settlements along the coast," said Khell. "If we make our way down the coast, I'm sure we can find out where this Wlusu is."
"Just have Tyr Planeswalk us there," said Eva. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
"He was right behind me when we saw the dragon," said Arrathir. "He'll show up soon enough."
"What did he want to tell you?" asked Eva.
"I'll tell you later," said Arrathir.
"Well, I'll send out some creatures to find Tyr," said Charles, summoning several Aven Envoys. The birds took off, dispersing as they began searching the ruins.
The Keepers sat down, Eva taking Mira in her lap, and waited for Tyr. The minutes passed by with no sign of him. Occasionally, one of Charles' Avens would fly overhead, but none of them gave any indication that they had spotted the Planeswalker.
"Where is he?" snapped Arrathir after they had been waiting an hour without any news.
"He buggered off, I reckon," said Charles "I can't find any trace of his mana anywhere in the city."
"Well then," said Khell "It appears we are now on our own. We should make our way down the coast and try to find Wlusu."
"Any way you could Teleport us there?" Arrathir asked Charles.
"Why sure," said Charles, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Even with my mana severely depleted after that duel, I'm sure I could manage to Teleport all of us to a place I've never seen before over a distance we have no idea of, that is, if you don't mind the strong possibility of leaving half your body behind!"
"I was just asking…" grumbled Arrathir.
"Could we fly?" asked Eva.
"Your mana is too low to manage anything that could carry the five of us," said Khell "As well, we'd be traveling over populated areas and we don't want to cause a panic."
"This whole incognito thing is starting to piss me off," said Arrathir "Why do we have to keep hiding like this? Why can't we just reveal who we are? If we're supposed to be the saviors of the Multiverse, wouldn't people be glad to see us?"
"They would fear us," said Khell "They see summoners as half-gods and the idea of such powerful beings walking among them is frightening. We do no know how they might react. They may even attack us."
"Bring 'em on," muttered Arrathir "I'd rather slaughter the lot of them that all this sneaking around."
"How can you be so nonchalant? They are human beings!" said Khell.
"And we are half-demons!" said Arrathir "Why should we have to hide who we really are? It's taken me a while to accept what I am, so why should I have to hide it? If we're superior beings, we shouldn't have to fear mere humans!"
"Oh shut up!" said Eva "A little walking won't kill you!"
"Fine then. Let's get moving," sighed Arrathir, standing up.
"Come on, Mira," said Eva, gently shaking the girl who'd fallen asleep in her lap. The group made their way through the ruins until they reached the outskirts of the city.
"We have a long trek ahead of us, so we'll need to forage what we can along the way and maybe stop at a settlement for additional supplies," said Khell "We don't know how long it will be before we encounter the next settlement, so we'll have to start rationing the food and water."
The group set off across the plains, walking in a single file. Khell led the way, parting the tall grasses with his staff. Eva followed, Mira walking beside her. She seemed glad to be out of the city. The mongoose was curled around her neck, murring happily. Behind Eva was Arrathir. The Keeper of Black Mana followed sullenly, staring down at the ground before him. Charles was last, taking an occasional glance back at the city, from which a dark plume of smoke rose high into the sky.
;Déja-vu…;
To be continued…
Author's note: There you go. My birthday present to all my readers!