Chapter 21
I do not own Claymore
I t was nearly dawn when Teresa called a halt at a cane break, she had set up a fearsome pace designed to shake off any lesser warriors who may have followed them from Hanel village. The cane break would provide them a form of shelter for the day and after catching her breath, Sheila uncorked her precious cider jug and handed it over to her companions who drank from it to wash down their way rations and quench their thirst. After they ate and drank, Teresa said quietly, "Riful, you and Cynthia and Sheila catch some shut eye. Clare and I will stand watch for a couple of hours while you three get some rest." Riful literally flung herself upon the floor of the cane break while Sheila and Cynthia joined her in a bit more of a dignified manner. While they slept, Teresa and Clare sat quietly gazing outward, alert for any signs of pursuit. Teresa murmured, "Before I met you I was a proud number one, I thought I knew the way of things. The organization gave me an order and I carried it out, I was their top warrior and I was strong!" She smiled at Clare and said softly, "Then a little orphan girl came into my life, the most stubborn child I ever met. She turned my whole sense of order inside out and turned me against the very thing that had created me. Now some fifteen years later, I am sitting here with that same girl, except she now carries her own sword and was once with the organization too."
Clare looked at Teresa for a long moment and then asked her, "If we should run into Priscilla and she attacks, have you thought about what you or we, will do?" Teresa looked up at the fading stars above for a long moment and said half to herself, "Trying to survive will be my first priority, and part of that will involve running like hell, if needs be." Clare blurted out in alarm, "But you're the strongest warrior! You fought against Riful and beat her..." "I fought her to a standstill, she backed off because I had wounded Dauf pretty badly and he needed help. I took advantage of her being so distracted to get the hell out of there! That was part of the reason I never mentioned it to the organization, failure to complete a mission was severely punished. Even if it wasn't a part of the mission originally." Interjected Teresa, she smiled at Clare and said softly, "I am still a human you know, I may be the strongest warrior right now, but the organization is no doubt working on a warrior who could even take me out."
A rustling in the cane came to their ears and they saw Riful sit up and look around at them. Rising to her feet, she came over and sat down with them. "I could hear you guys talking and you've mentioned something I've wondered about myself. What to do if we meet Priscilla? She's crazy strong and defeated Isley within seconds, she always seems to be out of it, but in battle she is frightening. I couldn't tell you why she spared me and Dauf that day, maybe that big man she was with has a calming influence over her or something." She grinned at Teresa and remarked, "I did back off from our fight because I was concerned about Dauf and it was a very big distraction. Not that I plan on picking another fight with you, you proved to me that you are a true number one and a monster in your own right." Riful looked off into the darkness and said quietly, "If you awakened, you would definitely become an abyssal, perhaps the strongest ever, on that I have no doubts." Riful shrugged and commented, "Running would be a good survival strategy, that and avoiding Priscilla altogether, would be another good idea."
Clare muttered, "I am curious as to who that big man could be, the description you gave me made him sound like he was Raki, but he knows about yomas and awakened beings. He lost his entire family to a yoma and I can't imagine him knowingly traveling with an awakened being on his own volition." Teresa shrugged and remarked, "I'd like to meet this "Raki" I've heard so much about, he must be quite the character!" Clare smiled wistfully and said quietly, "He was brave, stupidly brave. When Ophelia was tormenting me, he took a swing at her with a sword and cut her. He really had no idea what he was up against, she could have killed him with her bare hands in seconds even if he was highly trained and well armed. There was a reason why they called her "The Blood soaked Warrior", she was certifiably crazy. She turned it into a cruel game where she cut off both of my legs and gave me just so much time to reattach them before she finished off Raki. Fortunately the awakened being we had been sent to hunt appeared and in all the confusion, Raki and I made our escape and were separated."
Sheila sat up and yawned hugely, Cynthia soon joined her and after a big yawn and a stretch, they were officially awake. Cynthia looked over at the trio sitting watch and asked, "Is it our turn now?" Teresa replied, "We'll be leaving soon, don't worry about it." Gathering their few belongings, they set out again towards the town of Stora. About midday they noticed the smell first, the sickeningly sweet odor of rotting flesh. Next, they found a corpse, it was a yoma's all bloated and very putrid, the air abuzz with flies. A short distance away, more dead yomas lay, their carcasses also crawling with flies and small beetles. Teresa muttered, "That's three so far, what else are we going to find?" Soon enough, they got their answer, a small area littered with bodies and bits of bodies all covered with flies. Lying amongst this carnage was the body of a warrior, her massive sword buried in the chest of her final assailant, his clawed hand had thrust into her chest right through her heart.
Riful murmured, "She died a warrior's death, she deserves a warrior's grave!" Wordlessly, they set to work using their matchless swords for digging a large hole. To Sheila fell the task of preparing her corpse for burial, she pulled the sword from the dead yoma's corpse and cleaned it up. Next, after removing the dead yoma's arm from her chest and closing the rents in her uniform. Sheila noticed that the warriors face was remarkably unspoiled, it was while gazing at her tranquil face that Sheila realized who she had been. Tears came unbidden to Sheila's eyes and soon, she was crying as her grief poured out of her. Looking up from the dead woman's face, Sheila saw the others gathered around looking at her. "I know who she is or was, I didn't really know her, but I remember her from training." Seeing the questions on their faces, Sheila answered, "She was that muscular girl who confronted you right after you were revived Teresa. I think she is the one they were looking for back at Hanel!"
Teresa said quietly, "She was a true warrior after all, she has earned my respect!" Teresa took her huge sword and saluted the dead warrior. Then she knelt beside her corpse and tenderly wrapped her short cape around her for a burial shroud, Teresa then gently lifted the wrapped bundle and laid her in her grave gently. They spent a little while filling in the grave and arranging whatever rocks or logs they could find as a marker. Lastly, Teresa took the warrior's great gleaming sword and thrust it deeply into the ground for all to see. They formed a silent circle around the grave and saluted her. Teresa declared, "I am sorry we didn't meet again in a more pleasant manner. Rest in peace young warrior."
Leaving the grave behind, they pressed on towards Stora and soon stood at the banks of the river. It had rained up river recently and the waters had risen in response to the downpour, occasionally a clump of vegetation or a tree torn loose would drift past on its way to the sea. Eyeing the murky water, Cynthia muttered, "Even I am having a hard time mustering up any enthusiasm here. All I see here is a long, cold swim ahead of me. This is what we get for being in hiding, if we were still with the organization, we'd just walk about as if we owned the place. Instead, we sneak about like thieves and swim across rivers instead of using the bridges." Clare frowned at her and retorted, "If we were still with the organization, we'd be dead by now. Don't forget who threw us under the wagon up there at Pieta!" Cynthia shot back, "I haven't forgotten Clare, I lost friends there too, remember?" "If you have the time to argue over nothing, then you have the time to figure out a way across, instead of wasting time!" Snapped Teresa. The four warriors looked back and forth at each other until their mutterings were interrupted by a girlish laugh. Riful stepped forward and said brightly, "I can carry all of you ladies at once you know, you won't even get your feet wet!" Teresa quickly grinned at her and replied, "Okay, you're on. This, I gotta see!" Riful grinned at them and stripped off her clothing until she resembled a young girl in the nude. Handing her clothing to Sheila and stepping back, she began changing in shape and growing in size until her immense true form loomed over all of them, a vast, open structure of dark, ribbonlike strands writhing and weaving themselves into a great, basketlike form with Riful's upper body at the peak. She smiled at them and said cheerfully, "Hop on!"
One by one, they leapt into the air and landed on Riful's springy network of strands. Teresa said to her jokingly, "Now that you have us, what're you going to do with us?" Riful replied happily, "In the old days, I wouldn't have believed my good fortune in having four warriors voluntarily coming along with me!" and she laughed. The warriors held on as best they could while Riful rose on her tendrils and extended them across the river to grasp onto the opposite bank. Once she was anchored, Riful simply shifted her body mass along the springy bridge created by her tendrils and the warriors rode along with her. After making the crossing, Riful withdrew her tendrils from their former anchorage and after the warriors hopped off, she returned to her human form. Sheila handed her her clothing and she quickly dressed again. Glancing back the way they had come, Teresa remarked, "No wonder so few warriors could get away from you, a trick like that is hard to beat!" Riful just shrugged and replied, "To tell you the truth, I never really had to resort to crossing any rivers if I was after someone. I usually just sprang the trap before they knew they were in one."
Having crossed the rain swollen river, the scouting party set out once again for Stora. It lay downstream and was an easy day's walk distance away. They walked until evening fell and settled down for the night, not bothering to build a fire, they quickly fell into a sound sleep. Just before daybreak, Sheila gently shook her companions awake and after the morning's ritual of stretching and bending to relieve the kinks that always settled in during the night. They resumed their trek, before long they encountered the sluice gate that diverted a part of the river's current to flow through the large stone building alongside the river. It was the mill, the mill contained a series of water powered machines and depending on which machine was in use, it could either grind various cereal grains into flour or it could hammer out a heavy iron forging with large trip hammers. Stora was a properous town that nearly rivalled the city of LaCroix in its wealth and industry, only the Holy City of Rabona exceeded them both. For the moment, the mill was closed and the great waterwheel was stationary. "Is there a market day coming up?" muttered Riful, "Ordinarily, this place is humming with activity, it's kind of funny to see it closed."