29. DECISIONS (ANGELA)
The Fairy had been pressuring them to move on to the God-Beasts ever since she had been rescued, but Hawk was adamant about staying to organize his people. As the days went on, her buzz got louder and louder.
"They're growing in strength!" she told the group one hot(ter) afternoon. The heat was making them all lazy, and Lise, laying across silken cushions with her head in Hawk's lap, looked as if she would happily never move again. In public, they were reserved - Angela agreed, they shouldn't rub Jessica's nose in it - but it was not a secret to anyone here.
"How much stronger, Fairy?" Duran asked, his sweating brow furrowing in concern.
"In a century or two, they'll take over the world!"
The group gave looks at each other, but no one spoke, leaving Angela to respond to the Fairy. Why was it always her job? Oh yeah, she was the Fairy host. Still, someone could do the talking when the Fairy was out of her head.
"So, how much will it change in a week?"
"Well... not so much..." the Fairy admitted.
"How much time do we have, realistically?" asked Angela.
"Well, the God Beast of Darkness has not been released, since no one has unsealed that stone... The God-Beasts cannot merge without it, so I think we are safe from that for the moment. But as one dies, the remaining will grab at whatever Mana they can get from it, and be a little stronger every time."
"So at this point, it's not so much time, but how many we have defeated," Angela reasoned.
"Correct," confirmed the Fairy.
"In that case," Angela decided, " we have enough time to plan. We can rest, equip... and if we can get more information on the God-Beasts, decide which one to go after first."
"Shouldn't we be trying to get the Sword back?" interjected Hawk.
"That's still a priority," the Fairy admitted, "but the problem is that Koren may be able to not just release, but control the God-Beasts. The Goddess herself is unsure what could be done with the Sword in the hands of a human. We might find Koren, only to face all eight God-Beasts together."
"Not my idea of a good time," Hawk answered.
"It feels like we are being distracted from our real mission." Duran was frustrated.
"I'm sure that was the reason Koren did it," answered Angela. "I can't think of another reason why he might unleash them, and if he can control them through the Sword, then he could always confine them again, after they killed us."
"They won't," Kevin said. When he got that stony look on his face, the Beastman was in fact a bit frightening.
Lise sat up, paying attention now. "I've been reading this book about the Stones, from the library in Forcena - " she was always reading books, when not with Hawk - "and apart from recording the names of the God-Beasts, nothing seems to indicate that one is more dangerous than the other, they start equal in power."
"But it does mention that Dangaard, in Rolante, can fly, so I think that would be the one to challenge first." And the one in her homeland, Angela thought.
"Well, there's a short and direct route from the Mana Stone of Earth to Forcena, so that Beast could reach the city first," Duran objected.
"Not any shorter than to Altena! My mother used to visit the Stone every week!"
With Angela's outburst, the discussion rapidly descended to loud arguments over whose homeland should be protected first. They were never this divisive, she thought, even as she could hear her own voice yelling at her friends. Carlie resorted to bursting into tears. "My Grampa is too sick to protect Wendel!"
Hawk tired of the quarrel first. "For Goddess's sake, let's pull names out of a hat!"
Everyone stopped to look at him, including the Fairy. This was not generally the way to decide a master plan.
"I'll get some paper," offered Lise.
"Not paper," Angela countered. "Who has money on them?"
Duran was the first to comply, spilling out the contents of his wallet onto the table next to Angela's coins. As she began to sort through them, the others began to understand what she was doing.
The Luc coins were all the same size and weight. Not even Navarre dared debase the currency; they had plenty of other ways to make money.
But each country (or organization - Navarre being not truly a country) rich enough to have the honor of minting currency stamped its own pattern on the backside, opposite the same Goddess image depicted on the ubiquitous statues. She finally was able to find a rare coin from Diorre to complete the set.
Hawk leaned in holding his empty wine goblet for her to put the coins in. "I'm the luckiest."
"And the cleverest," Angela retorted. She did not doubt that in Hawk's hands, the first coin would be of Navarre, or possibly Rolante. "Perhaps someone a little more pure of heart." Her tone was teasing, not insulting; nevertheless, she took the cup and slid it across to Kevin.
Kevin had been relatively silent, barely arguing for a trip to the Moonlight Tower first, and now he shook the goblet calmly.
All leaned forward to see where they would be going first.
The coin Kevin pulled out bore a sword across a book.
"Forcena!" Duran cheered.
The next one shone so brightly it had obviously been minted only in the last generation. They did not need to see the triple moon to know it was of the Beast Kingdom. In contrast, the next was so tarnished they could barely make out the tower with the ray of light that marked Wendelian minting.
Lise breathed a sigh of relief when the mountain of Rolante showed.
Angela started to get very nervous when she saw the double die of Navarre.
Two to go. The tree of Diorre spilled out first.
Kevin handed the cup back to Angela. There it was, the snowflake of Altena, in the bottom. It appears her homeland would have to hold out a little longer.
Kevin looked at her, sympathy on his face. "Only decision now, Angela, when to go."
"Right now, right now!" Carlie bounced in her chair.
"What day is it?" murmured Lise dreamily, having returned back to her lounging position after her kingdom placed fourth.
"Salamando's day," Hawk answered.
"Of course it is," sweated Duran.
"Well, we would want to fight an Earth beast on the Wind Day, right Angela? They're opposites, let's take every advantage we can get," Lise suggested.
"That's three days from today, Fairy. Soon enough for you?" Angela challenged.
The Fairy seemed resigned. "I suppose it will have to be."
--
Even after the group had dispersed, Duran and Angela stayed up late talking, with occasional interjections from the Fairy.
The God-Beasts... They could use the Sword to defeat them, but if Koren could control them, they would have to be defeated first just to get to Koren. Duran couldn't help feeling that the God-Beasts was a distraction from the real problem, and Koren had probably planned it that way. Even if the God-Beasts were destroyed, Mana had already been unstable, and it would probably take the strength of the Sword to right it; it seemed the Goddess herself was now too weak to do so. And Koren himself had to be defeated sooner or later. Duran had a nagging feeling the wizard was somehow affiliated with the Dragon Emperor, since the Darkshine Knight seemed to be, but he felt his anger rise as they discussed the possibility, and Angela shifted the conversation away quickly.
And then there was the missing Stone of Darkness. Where was it? And could they find it in time?
--
The three days gave Hawk enough time to wrap up his loose ends. Jessica had recovered fully in her time at Deen, and while her father rested, she rapidly took over his responsibilities.
But finally, they found themselves in the pre-dawn light in front of the gates to the Sand Fortress, everyone's donated desert clothing residing in Hawk's room for the moment as they all returned to their travel attire. Lise, back in her leather armor after a couple weeks of the sensual silk dresses the Navarrese women wore, stood far away, her spear at attention. He loved her as much in her armor as in the wisps of fabric that clung to and swished around her body.
He couldn't dwell on that right now. In front of a gathering of thieves and citizens, Jessica gave him a hug and a chaste peck on the cheek. Judging by the looks some of the men in the background were giving her, he suspected she would not be lacking for companionship without him. If she hasn't found it already, nagged a jealous voice.
"Be well," she whispered. He could only nod, then turned away and joined his friends as Kevin swung Flammie's drum in the air.
