Chapter 27
Drew paced back and forth in Ash's family garden, they decided it was a smart choice to spend the next day or two in Lar-fisto to gather information and rest, Drew was only doing one of these.
"How long has he been doing that?" Levy asked Misty who was sitting in a chair near the lit fire whilst reading a book "A while" she answered calmly "Aren't you worried he's gonna get sick or something?" Levy asked glancing back to the young man "He'll be fine, if he's still out there past midnight then we'll just have to force him inside" Misty said calmly as if she'd done exactly that before.
Levy sighed and rested her head on the window seal, Drew wasn't the only one worried about May… she just hid it better.
Ever since Leaf announced her relationship with Gary, Chase has been too preoccupied with making sure he was the right guy for his sister, it was his own way of keeping his mind from worrying, but at the same time he left Levy alone to stress about the situation.
Misty was obviously using reading as a distraction, while Ash was busy strategizing their attack plan, in all the years Misty had known Ash, she had never seen him take such initiative, in just one day he was bossing Brendan and his crew around.
Dawn's family have provided weapons and medicines just as they had hoped, they were more than ready to make their move… but there was still the issue of Marlow being a serious anti-Desolate town to the point that if you want to enter via normal means then you have to have papers that guarantee you aren't a Desolate, so Dawn's mother has been contacting a few of her underground network connections to get convincing fake documents so they could enter the area. Oddly enough if you were to leave they wouldn't care how, you're someone else's problem.
Levy was snapped out of her thoughts when the front door opened and several pairs of footsteps entered the house's entrance.
Misty knew they weren't expecting anyone anymore since it was night time. She shot Levy a look of slight worry, Levy understanding it shifted into her snake from and slithered under one of the lounges, ready to attack if needed.
Misty closed her book and slowly wondered out to the entrance, teeth already slightly sharp in case of a surprise attack.
As she reached the entrance she calmed down instantly "False alarm Levy… I know these two" she said with a smile as she rushed over to Steven and Brawley and hugging the both of them "I thought you two were in the desert trading goods with the citizens of Granite" she stated as they both smiled at her "We were but when we heard about what happened we stopped the trade and came back" Steven said calmly "Is that smart for a merchant?" Misty asked warily "I own a merchant guild, I doubt one trade will make a difference" Steven said calmly "Famous last words" Levy commented as she walked over to the trio "Who is this lovely young lady?" Steven asked, being a gentleman.
Levy snickered at the word Lady, knowing she was anything but that, but held out her hand "Levy Revvits, it's nice to meet you whoever you are" she said casually as Brawley shook her hand "I like you kid, you're pretty chill" he commented "Likewise" Levy stated. Misty smiled "Levy this is Steven and Brawley, they use to regularly work in the castle when Drew still lived there" she said calmly as the men nodded their heads as their names were said.
"Steven? Brawley?" Ash asked as he walked downstairs from the study "Ashy boy!" Brawley yelled enthusiastically as he man-hugged Ash while Steven calmly walked over and gave him a handshake, Steven wasn't much for physical affection of any kind… so pure XD.
"What are you two doing here?" Drew asked as he walked inside "Prince Andr… sorry… Drew, how have you been holding up?" Steven asked as Drew shrugged, knowing they would have heard what they needed from Dawn if they knew where to find them "You didn't answer me" Drew said simply as Brawley chuckled "Straight to the point huh?" he commented before Steven gestured for them to all go into the sitting room, all seated around a large coffee table.
"We heard you were gathering soldiers to capture Giovanni for the queen of Rota and figured you wouldn't mind us helping out" Steven said calmly as Brawley firmly nodded "We also have something that might help you out" Brawley said as he took out a piece of paper with a fancy G sketched on it "Giovanni has recently been using branding as a trust exercise when people become his worker, if you don't brand yourself then you get kicked out or killed" he explained before Steven took over "What's worse is that since he likes to collect rare Desolate, he's begun branding them too, no doubt your friend has already been branded" he explained, glancing at Drew to see he was clearly not happy with what he was hearing.
"I know that mark" Leaf stated.
Everyone looked to the girl, shocked, they didn't even hear her come downstairs or her bedroom door open.
Steven handed her the paper "Are you sure?" he asked seriously as she took the paper "Yea… I saw a guy by the port this afternoon while you guys were unloading the ship, I thought it was a tattoo or something, clearly I was wrong" she stated as the others stared at her "What was he doing there?" Misty asked as Leaf shrugged "It's not like I actually went up to the guy and started a conversation, he was only there for a short time, before I knew it he was gone" she explained as Steven went into thinker mode "If we're lucky that was just a scout, if not they might still be watching us" he mumbled "They aren't" Drew said confidently "How would you know?" Levy asked curiously "I'd have smelt their scent by now if they were anywhere near here" he said calmly "He's got a point" Ash said "But even so, why would they be looking here for Desolate?" Misty asked as Leaf interjected "Around a quarter of the citizens here in Lar-fisto are Desolate in hiding, Desolate traders are good at distinguishing human from Desolate, to them Lar-fisto is a slave trading gold mine" she said darkly as she remembered the several times Gary had covered for her.
~o~O~o~
"I'm hungry" May mumbled, they had been traveling along mountain roads and across rivers for the entire day, not stopping once to eat. Now that it was dark and everyone was eating dinner, the caged Desolate, and the occasional human, were drooling over the smell and sight of juicy meat and steamed vegies only to get a very small proportion of cold soup that had no flavour "I miss Wally's cooking" May mumbled as she sprawled her arms and legs through the cage bars and stretching.
She laid there for a few minutes, having eaten the flavourless slop, and just stared up at the stars again "If you look carefully you can see the Virgo constellation tonight… that's you star sign, right?" Cora asked as May looked at her with a quirked eyebrow "What's a star sign?" she asked as Cora looked at her a little surprised but then remembered how May grew up "Each month has a constellation, your birthday's in September so it means you're a Virgo" Cora explained "That sounds pretty useless" May commented, to hungry to sugar coat it "Some people can tell your future just from your star sign" Cora informed, getting May's attention "How?" she asked but just got a shrug in return.
"Stop your chatting!" a man yelled from his makeshift bed next to the fire "Make me!" May yelled, again too angry to sugar coat things.
The man got up and started storming over but was stopped by Giovanni "Calm down my good sir, it's just hungry" Giovanni said, stepping between May's cage and the man. The man turned around with a grumble and wondered back over to his bed. "I'd really rather you not provoke my workers May" Giovanni said while rubbing his temples "And I'd rather you not treat me as an object, but we can't all have what we want can we?" May shot back with a glare.
Giovanni glared at her slightly before pulling out two apples and putting them next to her cage "Eat, you're a bitch when you're hungry" he commented as he walked away.
May stared at eh apples for a split second before snatching them "Cora, catch" she whispered as she reached her hand out as far as possible before doing a tiny toss so the other girl could catch the fruit "Are you sure?" she asked as May smiled, biting into the one she kept "Eat. You need energy if you want your wing to heal" she informed as Cora smiled at her "Thanks" she mumbled as May rolled over to go to sleep.
~o~O~o~
"Wake up snow flake, we're leaving" Wally announced as he pushed Brendan off his bed. Brendan sat up grumbling "Don't you start using that nickname too" he mumbled with a yawn before looking outside "Wally the sun isn't even up yet… why are we leaving now?" he asked before his coat was thrown at him "We have little time to spare so leaving earlier is only logical, just sleep in the carriage if it's that bad" Wally said before leaving the room "just three days ago he'd be too chicken to do that" Brendan mused, he felt like he should be mad at the young teen… but he felt more like a proud older brother.
He left his cabin and disembarked the Equaliser "I'll see you in a while" he said to the mumbled before heading to the Ketchum mansion.
Once arriving he was surprised at the number of both humans and Desolate that were there. The crowd was mainly chatting amongst themselves about the situation they got themselves into.
Brendan gradually made his way to the front to see Wally with Levy, Chase and Leaf "About time you get here" Leaf commented right before the crowd went quiet.
Brendan looked up to see that Ash was standing on the balcony "Welcome Human and Desolate alike, we are gathered here to discuss a threat to both species" he announced "Giovanni has terrorised this country for too long, taking anyone he thinks is valuable no matter if they are human or Desolate" he informed as several people in the crowd cheered and yelled agreements "Well I say no more! No longer shall we live in fear of that man! In a few short minutes we will begin our track to the small town of Marlow where we will capture him and bring him to justice!" he yelled as the crowd erupted with cheer and some war cries, several Desolate yelling in their animal calls.
Ash put a hand up to silence the crowd "Alright now… for those of you who would like to sit this one out… this is your last chance to back out… I won't blame anyone here if they'd rather stay behind to protect their family" he announced calmly.
After a few discretely left, the rest cheered, ready to fight "Alright then! Let's go get that scoundrel!" Ash yelled as the crowd began to move out.
