Chapter 38
I do not own Claymore
A few days later, they arrived at the ruins of Gonahl and its castle.
The town and castle had suffered greatly during the awakened being attack that led to Clare and Raki being summoned to meet with the warrior who turned out to be Ophelia, the number 4 warrior of the time.
The subsequent battle between Ophelia and the awakened being had caused even more damage and the few remaining inhabitants fled, never to return.
Riful looked the ruins over and remarked, "This was a very nice town and I like the castle, I could've lived here!"
They soon found the remains of the awakened being, the fragments of her bones littered the battleground, mute evidence of the violent death she met at the hands of Ophelia, the blood soaked warrior.
Even Riful muttered, "This Ophelia person...She had a few issues didn't she?"
Teresa replied quietly, "Miria told me a few things about her and her obsession with killing awakened beings. She definitely earned her nick name. Clare told me of her encounter with Ophelia and how she lost her right arm to her. If Ilena hadn't been nearby she would've been killed, along with her boy Raki."
Teresa smiled and said, "Funny thing though, Ophelia turned her sword on Ilena and was badly wounded by her, so much so that she awakened and was later killed by Clare who had been lent Ilena's right arm and her knowledge of the quick sword technique. Kinda ironic if you ask me. An awakened number 4 being killed by a number 47, supposedly the weakest of all warriors."
Riful smiled and remarked candidly, "Your Clare gave me and Dauf a real run for our money several years ago, I swore I'd get even for that little embarrassment. I never expected to end up on the same team as her and grateful for her aid in saving my life that day."
They camped among the ruins of the castle that night, enjoying a cheery blaze built up by Sheila using wood from a dead tree she'd cut up.
Dinner was a wild goat that failed to dodge Sheila's thrown sword, a trick she had picked up from Yuma, who had refined the technique to achieve deadly accuracy at long ranges.
As usual, Teresa and Sheila ate sparingly while Riful cheerfully polished off the rest by herself.
Teresa spent a little time jotting down notes in a little book she carried in her shoulder bag. Closing up her book, Teresa remarked quietly,"It's almost too quiet. Since leaving Lido, we've hardly seen or felt any warriors or other creatures we need to be concerned about. It's as if they've abandoned the northlands and are concentrating their forces elsewhere."
Sheila mulled over her comments and remarked,"Do you think we should go any further north then? If something big happens while we're poking about up north, we could be too far away to make any real difference in the outcome."
Teresa said quietly, "We'll sleep on it tonight and make a decision in the morning."
The next morning all hell broke loose in the Lautrec region to the south and west of them.
Teresa and Riful suddenly stood still as if listening for something, then Sheila felt it.
Far to the south and west of them, an enormous outpouring of yoma energy suddenly exploded in all directions.
The land itself seemed to shake beneath their feet and their horses became so agitated that they broke free of their tethers, and galloped madly away in fright.
Sheila cried out, "What the hell is going on?"
Teresa looked over at Riful and she cried, "They've awakened it, some idiot woke it up, that thing I'd found in the south. It's awakened!" Riful was shaking as she said this and she remarked ruefully, "I see now why I should've left it alone, God help anyone in that forsaken land!" She held out her hand and it was clearly shaking.
Even Teresa seemed to shudder as the relentless waves of yoma energy swept over them like an incoming tide.
Sheila suddenly wanted her mommy, she wanted to snuggle into her father's mighty arms, she wanted to cry.
After an eternity of fear, the rolling tide of yoma energy calmed and the land held its breath, what next? Everything seemed to be asking.
"Now what?" Asked Riful, "Even the horses are smarter than we are, they ran away!"
Teresa closed her eyes as if she was listening, "I sense several warriors near there, including Clare and her squad, they're okay, thank goodness!"
Moments later, her forehead furrowed and she remarked,"They've released Alicia and Beth, they're traveling at high speed towards the Lautrec region."
"Alicia and Beth? Who're they?" asked Riful.
"They were supposed to be the ultimate weapon against the abyssals, only the abyssal feeders did their job for them. I guess the organization was keeping them in reserve just for this sort of thing." Replied Teresa.
"Okay...What made them so special?" asked Riful.
"They're identical twins that can synchronize their youki. One can awaken in battle while the other one holds onto its reins, so to speak. The problem as I saw it, was that if the one holding the reins also gets attacked, they can both awaken."
Sheila asked, "So what good will they be in dealing with this thing that just awoke? It's gotta be huge if even Riful here is afraid of it."
She glanced at the small abyssal and asked her, "You are afraid of it aren't you? I know I am."
Riful grinned through her fear and replied, "Absolutely shitless, but we gotta help Clare and her squad... I'll panic later."
Teresa smiled and said, "We'd best get going now, if we plan on joining in."
Riful muttered, "I hadn't wanted to do this 'cause it takes so much energy to do it."
She stripped off her clothing, stuffed it into her saddle bag and handed it to Sheila, "Hold onto this for me, please."
Moments later, the immense awakened form of Riful of the west loomed over them both.
The chestnut hued form of Riful at the top of the vast open lattice work of ribbon like strands grinned at them and said cheerfully, "Going my way?"
They hopped up along side Riful and hung on as she returned south at an appalling speed that no horse could equal.
There was a second discharge of yoma energy as the awakened thing Riful had found launched a massive attack on the land of Lautrec itself.
Riful seemed to slow as she forced her way through the staggering tide of energy pouring forth. She grunted and said grimly, "The youki is so strong, it's like running against a torrent of water."
Grimly holding on, Teresa and Sheila each placed a hand on her slim shoulders and added their yoma energy to hers. "Thanks!" she cried as she continued battling her way south.
Raising her voice over the wind of Riful's passing, Sheila cried out, "So what's the plan when we get there?"
Teresa cried back, "I haven't a clue, we'll see when we get there. Riful's gonna be exhausted when we get there, we'll have to protect her from Alicia and Beth at the very least!"
Sheila yelled, "What about our oath not to take any warrior's lives?"
Teresa grinned and hollered back, "That doesn't mean we can't injure them a little bit. I've wanted to take them on for sometime now, woman against woman, sword against sword!"
Sheila cried, "How can I help?"
Teresa grinned, "You can stay out of the way when I finally go wild!"
Riful paused briefly in her headlong rush southward to pluck a fat steer from a herd and devour it on the fly, leaving only a pile of bloody bones to mark her passing.
The young boy watching the herd, stood open mouthed in astonishment as he saw Riful's true form sweeping over the land, pause briefly to eat a whole steer and continue on her way.
He barely noticed the two flaxen haired, silver eyed warriors hanging on for dear life.
By day's end they arrived at the scene of devastation from the thing's awakening. The land itself was badly wounded, whole areas of the forest were now only burned and blackened stumps dotting what had been a green and pleasant land.
Here and there, these odd looking rod like things were lying about. The ones that lay on rocky ground were inert, devoid of life while the ones that had landed on or in an unfortunate person or large animal, were twitching and changing as they took over the bodies of the unfortunate souls they'd hit.
Riful had finished dressing when she remarked, "What the hell are those things?"
She peered at one closely, then suddenly stepped back before yelling, "Get away from them, they're awakening!"
All around them awakened being were rising from the ground and coming towards them, some of them had vaguely humanoid features while others resembled the animals they had risen from.
Teresa and Sheila dropped their cloaks and shoulder bags and drew their swords at once.
Teresa urged Riful to get between them for her safety and Riful cried in protest, "I can fight y'know, I'm not a weakling, I can kill all of these...Things."
Teresa snarled, "And you can also attract Alicia and Beth and the attention of the organization that thinks you're dead! Get between us and stop arguing!"
Teresa grinned at Sheila, "You ready for this?"
"Do I have a choice?" replied Sheila through gritted teeth.
Riful huddled low to avoid getting clipped by a massive claymore during the upcoming fight. And the awakened beings attacked.
They were huge and powerful but lacked experience, a disadvantage when attacking Teresa or Sheila.
Teresa neatly clipped off the head of her first opponent and was horrified to see more of the rodlike things sprouting from its neck stump.
"Shit!" she cried,"Watch out, there's more of them inside!"
Her quick response was to chop her attacker into a bloody ruin.
Sheila's reply was to turn her sword into a glittering shield as she hacked off limbs, heads and torsos at will.
The awakened beings came at them in droves and they fought them off furiously.
Sheila saw an attacker to her right and cursed the luck that had her engaged with a powerful foe at the moment.
The creature coming in on her right suddenly flew into hundreds of bloody fragments as Riful's ebon blades went on the defensive.
"Fight fair, you bastards!" She heard Riful yell as the small abyssal joined the fray, using her razor sharp hair to fight with.
As suddenly as it began, the battle stopped. The last of the awakened beings fell to Teresa's sword and the sudden stillness seemed almost too good to be true.
Sheila stuck the point of her blood caked sword into the bloody ground and she bent over slightly while she caught her breath.
Riful's muttering , "Oh pooh! Now I have to wash my hair!" Struck Sheila as funny and she began laughing.
Teresa grinned and said gaily, "Have you lost all sense? We've just fought a real battle and you're laughing?"
Sheila replied cheerfully as she gestured at the carnage in front of her, "I've just fought the biggest battle of my life and Riful's comment about her hair just seemed so out of context, that I just couldn't help laughing at it."
The small abyssal smiled at her and said cheerfully, "Glad I could help!"
Teresa grinned at Riful and remarked, "Thanks for your help, it was getting a little hairy there and you didn't reveal yourself."
They looked around to evaluate the bloody scene around themselves.
There were several awakened beings lying there stone dead without a mark on them, while the ones that had attacked them, had been chopped into bloody bits.
"What gives? Some of them are dead like Mayflies, not a mark on them. The ones that attacked us being dead makes sense, we killed them." Remarked a puzzled looking Riful of the west.
"I don't get it either, but I'm not complaining. That was a pretty good workout!" Replied Teresa of the faint smile.
Sheila asked, "What next? I'm sensing some of our people nearby, do we hook up with them?"
Teresa paused and after a few moments, remarked, "I can feel Cynthia's and Yuma's auras but Clare's is very faint and it's mingled with that monster's...What has that little idiot gone and done this time?" She smiled, "Helen and deneve are here too."
Riful said quietly, "They're going after her, Clare that is. Cynthia and Yuma are fine for now...Oh crap! The twins, they're here!"