WARNING: This chapter has a special warning! This chapter (and this chapter only) contains yaoi in a silly context. Whilst it will not be graphic and will be confined only to this chapter, if it offends your sensibilities please skip this chapter, and please, may people refrain from flaming as you were warned.
Author's note: I humbly beg for your forgiveness for the ridiculous length of time it took me to update! My sincerest apologies! I had a million things going on, THEN I had to go out of town for a couple of weeks, leaving my precious computer (and thus, fanfic) behind, and I did also fret quite a bit over this chapter. Regardless, I gave up fretting and eventually decided that I simply could not have this chain of events happen any other way. In compensation for my tardiness I have made it the longest chapter yet and have also liberally laced it with many Hawk/Angela moments. Be warned: This is the chapter in which I use every romance cliché as many times as possible.
Response to the Reviewers! (Thanks for your patience!):
Feyenal Dragon: Update took forever, I know, I'm so very sorry! I'm amazed so many reviewers have put up with it so far, and will be even more amazed if I have any left after this latest stretch. Sorry, if I told you the surprise via E-Mail for this chapter, it wouldn't be much of a surprise now, would it? I suppose I'll tell you now. The surprise is: I actually made story progress. Wow. Bet you weren't expecting that. (Thanks for the cookie).
Wingnut: I have just put 'lexicon' away into my lexicon of words to use. Five Hundred reviews? (Checks.... Stares.) Did I go to sleep for ten years and no one woke me up? The Duran/Angela canon comes almost entirely from a scene in Angela's ending that only occurs if you have Duran in the party, so I probably have to agree with the presumption. Same with how the Hawk/Riesz canon comes entirely from one scene between the two in Rolante. It's all we've got, really. Thanks for the review!
Sorrow in Shadow: Thanks very much! (Secretly, I agree with you about Hawk, but then, I'm not so sure if that's so secret.) :P
Just Call Me Angels: You and Poptart managed to create a discussion! You should feel proud. Mwa ha ha! The torture! I hope you like this chapter. You contributed to the inspiration (mostly due to the Duran-as-Hulk thoughts sending me insane.)
Demon Wolf: Welcome! Thanks for the high praise! (I'm typing this response extra-slow to help your computer deal with it). Hope you keep reading and reviewing!
Freeloader1: Mind you, Fruits Basket and X wasn't in the same day. (Too much... shojo...). I have been repeatedly called crazy, so perhaps it is true. Ah well, you'll keep my company in my insanity, right? Thanks for the review!
Frickin Evil Poptart: Ah, she picks up on the technicality. I was going for the metaphor, really. (Laughs). A detailed battle on every Godbeast? I think not! I value my fingers! You will see my lazy way of addressing this problem at the start of this chapter. You have impressed me with your observations. If last chapter made you giddy, please ensure that you're sitting in a padded chair for this chapter. Your plot ideas are not so bad! I even kind of used one... so thanks! For that and the review! Woot!
Truewind: ;;
Lady Storm: SURPRISE! WEDGIE! Whoops, sorry. Rabid kittens? That's going to be tough to explain to my neighbours.
Wings of Lead: Ah, once again you pick up on all of my attempts at foreshadowing! I find I quite like your idea about the items for the class change, I might just use that, thanks! I somehow find Flammie far too cute to be carnivorous, but it's an entertaining image. I was considering writing another Hawk fic some day looking at his past, but now that I've said that, someone else will probably beat me to it. (hint hint). Say, this would explain the muse I found in the Artic last week. Thanks very much for the review!
Cookie Pixie: (treasures three cents.... Only 205, 497 cents to go until I can buy a new computer.) Thanks very much, I thought very much the same myself upon reflection, hence the occurrences of last chapter. Always a pleasure to hear from you.
WaterDragonerS: You wrote an SD3 fic? (Throws a parade in your honour). I'll have to stop by and check that out after I upload this chapter. Kentucky Fried Chocobo. LOL. (Adds a mystery thanks for the review.)
Ignorantly Grinning: Thanks!
: Well, the Duran/Riesz thing doesn't actually exist, though everyone seems to think I'm suggesting it, but it's simply just Angela getting irrationally jealous, and inventing relationships that don't exist. Me, write Hawk as a jerk? Where was everyone when I sang his praises? Thanks for the review!
Lone Ronin: Time to go kill stuff indeed. Almost. I keep putting that off somehow. I promised a Carlie appearance? (I really should stop writing Author's Notes while I'm half asleep.) Well, no doubt she'll appear again, but how soon is anyone's guess. I'm afraid that there's crap fanfiction in any fandom (at least, all of the ones I've visited), it's just the bigger fandoms that get more of it I suppose. But there's lots of good ones too. Thanks for the review!
ThunDaGa: Dryad as a HE? I've never even considered it. She always seemed so feminine in her dialogue, but I suppose what sold me on that was the official Squaresoft designs – Dryad definitely had an hourglass shape. Thanks for the review!
The One and Only T: You are psychic. Thanks for the review! Go Hats!
More than enough from me! Hope you all enjoy the chapter, and sorry again for the wait.
Another Witchmaker
Chapter 38 – Things That Will Always Backfire
By Sinnatious
Angela was sorely regretting not buying better shoes instead of the halfway compromise she made while in Altena. Walking through the Ancient Ruins of Light had tested her new footwear more than she expected, what with rubble and puddles all of the over, and while the Molebear Highlands they were currently making their way through were fairly easy on the feet, she didn't doubt that when they entered Gemstone Valley that would change. The place simply SOUNDED painful to walk on. Hopefully wherever they found the God Beast of Earth, it would be a nice, big, flat clearing, rather than the maze of dangerously unstable pillars they'd confronted the God-Beast of Light on. She was so busy concentrating on her aching feet that she was only half-listening to Duran and Hawk's conversation - with liberal commentary from the Fairy - in the background.
"That thing sure was ugly," Hawk contemplated, obviously still reliving the experience of destroying the first of the God-Beasts; the God-Beast that had been sealed in by the Mana Stone of light.
"Sure was," Duran agreed, "I don't remember anything that ugly since way back at the Cave of Waterfalls." Well, in all honesty, the giant bouncing eye wasn't so much ugly as just plain weird. At least the battle hadn't been a terribly hard one - that is, nowhere near as hard as they were expecting after the grandiose tales of God-Beasts they had heard. Logically, being freed from the Mana Stone of light, the monstrosity of Mana had been terribly weak to Shade's power, which most fortunately, Angela discovered she had in spades. A few sure swipes from Duran's sword and a barrage of Dark Forces and Evil Gates, and one God-Beast was down, with seven left to go. Or six. No one was exactly sure WHAT was going on with that God-Beast of Darkness.
"It wasn't that hard," she announced, "I think this God-Beast stuff is overrated!"
"What about that spell it cast on us - what was it called? Saint Beam?" Duran asked.
"That's what Wisp called it. Turns out those trinkets your mother gave us were useful after all! We could have been dead without them!" the Ranger replied.
"Those TRINKETS happen to be Altenan royal family treasures, used only in times of war!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, they worked a charm! Must have cut the power of that spell in half! I bet I could sell them for a fortune in Byzel."
"YOU'LL DO NO SUCH THING! HOLY BALL!"
Hawk picked himself back up off the ground a moment later, and straightened his robes. "See? What did I tell you?"
"You shouldn't be so overconfident," the Fairy scolded. "After all, the God-Beast of Light was still only half-formed! It hadn't even had the chance to develop a proper hide or armour yet! Rest assured that the remainder of the God-Beasts won't be so easy."
"If we spend forever walking around looking for the damn things, it wouldn't surprise me," Angela grumbled. "It took long enough just to get through the Ruins, and we haven't even made it to the entrance of Gemstone Valley yet! Why couldn't that damn dragon drop us off closer?"
"She was spooked," the Ranger replied, "A sure sign that one of the God- Beasts is near. After all, we had to jump off her back to even get to the ruins."
The Princess shuddered, not particularly wanting to remember that memory. Just because the thief had an uncanny sense of balance didn't mean that the rest of them were immune to falls from great heights.
"The entrance to Gemstone Valley is just ahead," Duran assured them. "But I don't think we'll be able to find the God-Beast before night falls, and I'd rather not walk around down there in the middle of the night if at all possible. I think that we should stop here for the night and recover our strength."
Angela raised an eyebrow at that. She thought for sure that the Forcenan would be keen to kill the God-Beast so close to his home turf as quickly as possible. Then again, his points were all good ones, and though she and Hawk had both slept in Wendel's inn after coming down from the Ruins, the Fairy had been so kind as to inform her that the Knight had spent the entire time wide awake fretting over the loss of the Mana Sword and the danger to Forcena. Shrugging, she found a suitable rock to settle herself on. After staying with the dwarves and the elves, and the even less enjoyable times of napping on Booskaboo's back, camping no longer so seriously offended her royal sensibilities.
"You'll have to set up a fire to keep the wildlife away - the molebears seemed more skittish than normal. And someone will have to stay up and keep watch," the Fairy ordered.
The Delvar glared at the tiny deity. "Who died and made you Goddess? We're all going along with this crazy quest out of the sheer generosity of our hearts, gnat! Don't presume to boss us around!"
There was a long silence as everyone present attempted to contemplate Angela being generous. Eventually, the thought became too difficult to handle, and Hawk broke the silence by unceremoniously dropping a few of his things on the ground, then announcing, "Well then, I'm going to go hunt down some dinner. Anybody here allergic to rabite? No? I'm off then!"
Trying not to blanch at the idea of eating roasted rabite, even IF Riesz had once assured her that it was delicious, she shifted to a better rock partially under the shade of a particularly tall tree and began running a hand through her hair in the effort to find any twigs or leaves that may have wound up there during the trek through the Highlands. She positioned herself just so that she'd have a good view of Duran without being too conspicuous - he had set himself up on another rock nearby and was gazing at the sky that was turning a myriad of reds and ochres as the sun began to dip towards the horizon. He was still worrying over the Sword, no doubt. The Forcenan had still been quite useful in battle, but outside of that, he often seemed distracted and didn't even talk to Hawk or the Fairy as much as he normally did. Koren was obviously still very high on the mission list, she imagined.
It was then that the Delvar noticed the small pouch the thief had left behind. Usually he carried it inconspicuously on his belt, so she'd never really wondered what he kept in there before. Now, with Hawk not in the immediate vicinity, was her opportunity to find out. Still, knowing that the Ranger had a tendency to appear with no warning, she opened it cautiously and as quietly as possible. Inside were many satchels of different powders and herbs, to her surprise, all labelled in Hawk's distinctive handwriting. Most were what she expected a wily thief to carry around - sleeping powders, powders to mask someone's scent - presumably how he had originally avoided the Beastmen in Jad until their escape, one to make a mist of all things, a couple of energy herbs....
The one that caught the flirtatious Princess' eye, though, was one labelled 'aphrodisiac'. She knew that the guy was known for hitting on ladies to an alarming degree, but still, he struck her as the type who was more likely to just lose out with the ladies in preference to using an underhanded trick like an aphrodisiac. But what WAS he doing with a love powder? It obviously hadn't been used - the package was still sealed. She was glad - she wasn't sure if she wanted to imagine who he could have used it on.
The sunset seemed to brighten for just a moment. The Delvar had an idea.
She cast a glance over to where Duran was sitting on a rock, brooding as was the new usual. What could it hurt? Maybe if his own natural inclinations were boosted, she'd be able to actually get his attention for more than ten seconds!
Before either her conscience or logic could convince her otherwise, she scanned the instructions quickly - he even wrote instructions! Then again, he had so many of the crazy satchels it'd probably be nearly impossible to memorise them all. 'Throw powder into the air by target and hold your breath for one minute until it dissipates to avoid self-contamination. Target will breathe the compound in, and it will immediately take effect.' Huh, simple. And made all the more effective with Jinn's help.
Grinning manically, Angela took a deep breath, held it, then all in one movement ripped open the satchel, threw the fine powder into the air and used Jinn's power to summon a breeze just powerful enough to waft it in the docile swordsman's direction. Counting down in her head, she finally let out a breath and waited to see whether it had worked or if Hawk was just playing mind games.
Nothing. Duran hadn't even lifted his head at the sudden breeze. Angela began to feel annoyed, and looked more closely at the instructions, wondering if maybe she'd missed something. Hey, she was a royal princess, she didn't miss anything, but maybe....
Oh wait, there was an extra note attached. "Caution - remain hidden! First thing target sees they will fall desperately in love with!" She read out loud. Oh well, then, the only thing Duran could fall in love with was the sunset. She'd better get over there and - Angela suddenly muttered out a string of expletives that no well-brought up girl should have known when she saw that Hawk had returned with a dead rabite in hand and was tapping Duran on the shoulder.
Duran turned as if in a bit of a daze, glazed eyes finally focusing on Hawk's face. Hawk was repeating himself, after not getting any response the first time from the spaced-out knight. "Hey, Duran, I said it's time to start making dinner already! You have the honours today!" He thrust the dead rabite in the Knight's face impatiently.
"Hawk?" Duran asked, in a tone of voice that didn't sound quite right for the swordsman.
'Shitshitshit', Angela thought, getting up, looking around in panic for something, she wasn't sure what. What could she do?! What was she supposed to do? When she was trained to be Queen she'd never been taught how to deal with situations like this! Where was the Fairy when you needed her?
"I don't think Hawk's going to be too happy with you, Princess." Fairy in question chose this moment to shimmer into existence next to the panicking princess.
"What do you mean?" Angela demanded. "And why did you come out now?"
The Fairy just pointed one tiny, slender hand towards the thief and soldier.
Hawk was frowning, waving a hand in front of the dazzled Knight. "Duran? You okay? Angela didn't flash you or something, did she? You look like you've fallen in love or something."
Goddess, if he only knew how close he was to the truth. She should probably warn him, but she wasn't sure what Duran's reaction would be yet, though the blanching look on the Fairy's face suggested the worst. Okay, warn him then.
"Um, Hawk!" She called out. "You should probably watch out!"
"What?" Hawk looked over, and Angela cursed herself, for that one fatal moment of distraction was when Duran chose to make his move.
In one swift movement that surprised even the wily thief, Duran reached out, snatched his hand, and pulled the shocked Navarrian into a deep kiss. Hawk's eyes were as wide as saucers as he tried to pull away, but the Knight simply stood up with him, not letting him out of it for something like a minute.
There was a gagging sound to Angela's right. It was obviously too much out- of-characterness for the Fairy to handle, and to be honest, she felt pretty sick too, though that may have also been the wracking waves of guilt and irrational jealousy. None of them looked more confused, or as scared witless, as Hawk though. Finally able to breathe again, the thief yelled out, "Duran, what's got into you?! You're supposed to like ANGELA, remember! If we want to be general, you like GIRLS! As a matter of fact, I prefer girls too!" He tried to wrench away, but even the master of escaping narrow situations couldn't break Duran's vice-like grip on his wrist. The Knight was possessed! "If it bothers you that much, I can cook the rabite just this once, okay?!"
"Hey! You shouldn't say stuff like that out loud!" Angela complained belatedly at the Navarrian's open comment about her Duran's not-yet- existent relationship, momentarily forgetting her situation.
Hawk was still trying to free his wrist to get as far away as possible without hurting Duran - not that it would be that easy. Duran was after all, physically stronger than him, and had no intention of letting his newfound love interest escape before he could arrange a marriage. He seemed to be in the middle of spouting nonsensical love poetry that sounded disturbingly like limericks he had learned in the army barracks of Forcena. Some plans of introducing the family seemed to be thrown in there as well. Seemed she had been somewhat accurate in predicting that when the Knight DID get romantic, it was certainly in an old-fashioned sort of way.
The Ranger was finally beginning to get more than suspicious. "ANGELA! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
The Princess scratched the back of her head in embarrassment whilst the Fairy sighed next to her, moving in to sit on her shoulder to watch the whole ugly affair play out. Hawk, busy yelling at her, once again failed to noticed Duran's next move.
Angela watched in horror as Duran pulled a squirming and pale Hawk closer in to him, and leant in to whisper something in his ear. The pale Hawk suddenly blushed a deep crimson, and Angela was aware of the Fairy gagging again.
"What's your problem this time?"
"I'm connected to Duran's mind," she admitted. "And that was just dirty. You really have to help poor Hawk."
"How?!"
"Why do you think I know the answer to everything?! We don't have to deal with this kind of stuff in the Mana Holyland!"
Angela resumed looking around for what she didn't know. Maybe there was an antidote! "Hawk! I, um, I mean Duran breathed in some of your aphrodisiac, is there an antidote in here somewhere?!"
Somehow she thought a solution to the problem might calm the thief down, even as he was being wrestled into a compromising position on the ground, but it only made him worse. "WHAT? You did WHAT? Do you have any idea how powerful that stuff is?"
"Okay, okay! I screwed up! Just please tell me there's an antidote!" she begged, on her knees rummaging through the pouch looking for the appropriate label.
"There is no antidote, it's- Mmmmph-" Hawk was cut off from yelling at the magician as the suddenly hormone-crazed Duran smothered him again.
"I'm too young to be watching this, the goddess would be so displeased," Fairy muttered.
Once Hawk had managed to push the eager Knight back temporarily, he continued, "That stuff lasts for like twelve hours!"
Twelve hours? Duran was freaking them all out beyond belief in less than five minutes! Hawk would never be able to survive that kind of mental trauma! The Fairy looked like she was going to crack from it already!
"What do I do?" she asked, wringing her hands helplessly.
Hawk currently reminded her of a caged wild animal with his frantic scrabbling. "Just get him off me! I don't care how you do it!"
"Ummm, ummm.... I know!" Angela held out her staff and called upon Undine, who materialized into the air in a matter of seconds. "Undine, we need a lot of cold water!"
"And hurry it up," the Fairy added next to her, covering her eyes.
The water spirit seemed puzzled at the situation, but complied, as a large volume of icy water appeared above the two struggling men and fell to the ground, drenching them. With Duran temporarily stunned, Hawk used an elaborate series of twisting movements to get out from underneath the Knight's grip, and scurried up the nearest tree with only the agility a crazed and downright scared fighter possesses.
The cold water hadn't seemed to take care of all the effect, as moments later Duran was at the foot of the tree, calling up to Hawk. But the Ranger knew there was no way the burly Knight could ever make it up that tree without help, and didn't budge.
"But Haaaaaaawk," Duran whined, then grinned, seeing Angela standing nearby with a guilty look on her face. "Hey Princess, could you give me a boost up?"
"No way, and have Hawk kill me even more slowly than he's going to kill me now? I think not," she retorted.
Grumbling, Duran seemed to content to sit at the base of the tree and light a fire to dry himself off so that he didn't freeze, given that he had just been doused with a large amount of ice-cold water and night was beginning to fall. He set to work cleaning and cooking the forgotten rabite - it was something for him to do while he waited for his new-found lover to come down.
Angela stared. No kidding that was powerful stuff. Duran's change was.... so eerie.
She sat down and ate dinner, realising in the back of her mind that she didn't even taste the roasted rabite, keeping a wary eye on Duran and not sure what to do next. With no input from Hawk huddled up in the tree she decided to just wait until Duran either gave up or went to sleep. He was so sexy though, he'd gone after Hawk like a tiger, if only things hadn't backfired so horribly.....
She was waiting a long time. It was lucky that she HAD slept in the inn in Wendel, otherwise she'd never have been able to stay awake. It was growing near daybreak, and probably not that long until the aphrodisiac wore off, when Duran finally nodded off to sleep in front of the fire. The Fairy, having become bored at one point, emerged again once he was asleep and flew up into the tree to see the freaked-out thief. After a minute or two, she floated back down. "I think you should probably check on Hawk. I'll lend you a bit of my power to get you up there."
Angela nodded, moving to the other side of the tree so that Duran wouldn't be able to interfere in time, not that the one-tracked minded knight would notice anything else at this point in time. She made a mental note to also ban all love potions and similar products when she was Queen of Altena, so that future foolish Princesses would not make the same mistake as she. The Fairy lent her just enough energy to give her a big enough boost to reach the first branch - how did Hawk get up here? Sheer adrenaline? - and she climbed the rest of the way to where the thief sat near the crown of the tree.
Once she reached up to the branch he was sitting on, she sat there, letting her feet dangle. She was afraid to meet those golden eyes - no doubt in a couple of days, Hawk would find the whole situation ridiculously hilarious, but that HAD to be a shock to the system. It wasn't every day your friend - especially when your friend is a straight guy - decides they want to make love to you, and suffered a major twist in attitude while they were at it.
"Ummm... sorry?" she finally offered.
"I am going to kill you," he said quietly. "And I am going to kill you very slowly."
Well, there wasn't much she could do about that, she supposed. She just hoped that Hawk wasn't serious. "Eh heh heh..... What a disaster...... Hey! What WERE you doing with an aphrodisiac anyway?" her tone quickly changed to accusatory. Better to keep him from getting angry at her by keeping him on the defensive, she figured. She dangled her bare legs over the branch. It was cold this morning; she wished she'd worn her leggings or something. Hopping from continent to continent, she often forgot about the different climates and seasons.
"Thieves use it to keep people occupied. It's the ultimate distraction; usually people overcome with passion don't notice someone breaking into their lockbox. You can even get into Rolante castle using it. Though, two amazonesses suddenly falling in love does sometimes cause a bit of a ruckus. And then there's the morning-after effect....."
She laughed, not nervously this time - apparently Hawk didn't hate her TOO much if he could joke around. "Well, I'm glad you at least had a good excuse. I was starting to think you were some kind of pervert!" Which was no different to usual, but it didn't hurt to be nice when someone had just screwed up in a very embarrassing way.
"Yeah well, I try....." He struggled to mask a cough.
Surprised, the princess turned to actually look at the Ranger for the first time. He was huddled against the tree miserably, his forehead glistening with sweat, and shaking almost invisibly.
"Hawk..... You're shivering!"
He tried to shrug. "Well, you did soak the two of us with ice water and I've been sitting up here in the cold for most of the night. It's natural to be a little cold."
"Jeez, you should have come down!" She held a hand to his forehead. "You've got a fever! You idiot!"
"Yeah, I guess so. But we don't really have to worry about catching colds in the desert. I didn't even think of it."
Angela rolled her eyes. "It's obvious. You're - HAWK!"
The Princess almost shrieked as she noticed the thief had slumped in his nook of the tree, unconscious, the effort from talking obviously too much. She grabbed him before he could slide to his death, calling frantically to the Fairy to help them down. She floated up a moment later, frowning at Hawk's condition, purple hair hanging over his face.
"I THOUGHT this would happen. You should have gone up there earlier to help him, Angela - after all, this is all your fault!"
"Oh, shut up with your editorialising, do you think I even DARED go NEAR the foot of that tree with a potentially jealous Duran standing guard?!"
"Which wouldn't have even occurred if you hadn't decided to go through Hawk's stuff!"
"I was curious!" Angela nearly dropped Hawk to shake a fist at the Fairy, but remembered herself at the last minute.
The Fairy rolled her eyes, wings fluttering extra hard as if to accentuate her opinion. "Well, after that painful display your pathetic crush on Duran is horribly obvious to everyone..... except Duran."
The sorceress glared at the little deity. "Big deal! There's only three of us here, and of course I would know about it! And as for Hawk, he's currently unconscious and probably sick as a dog, so will you STOP lecturing me and help us down here?"
"Fine," she mumbled, using some of the tree's natural energy to float them down to the ground, following moments later. Once she landed, Angela hurriedly laid Hawk's limp form on the ground. Chewing her lip, she regarded the fallen Ranger for a moment, the Fairy alighting on her shoulder. Casting a quick glance at the still-sleeping Knight, the Princess sighed. He wouldn't be any help, and if he wasn't over the effects of breathing in that powder yet, she wasn't terribly sure if she WANTED his help.
"Let's see," she said out loud, more or less for the Fairy's benefit, even if the little insect could read her thoughts. "In Altena, people who go out into the snow catch chills all the time. The doctors would first....." Angela paled, but gritted her teeth in determination. Such things shouldn't bother her, of all people. In Altena, the doctors would always first get them out of their wet clothes and into dry ones.
She immensely enjoyed it every time Duran would take off his shirt, such as when he had in the desert. Why was she so nervous about the idea of Hawk then?
Laughing to hide her embarrassment, again more for the Fairy than anyone else, Angela pranced over to Hawk's other pouch, hoping against hope that he had a spare tunic stuffed in there somewhere. After some effort, she located one that was a couple of shades darker than the one he was currently wearing.
"Must be for when he goes robbing people," Fairy commented.
Angela cast her only conscious companion a dirty look. "He's helping you on your crazy little quest with Duran to kill the God-Beasts, isn't he? And it's his so-called 'robbing' skills that's saved us and your tiny ass several times now, isn't it?"
The little deity huffed. "Since when did you start defending him?"
"Since you started picking on him when he wasn't conscious to defend himself!"
"Don't be so uptight! You don't think I'm worried about him? We're lost without him! Um, Angela, what are you doing?"
Angela was proceeding to remove Hawk's tunic. "This thing is soaked. He'll never get warmer with this on. Jeez, what's all this stuff?" To say she was shocked by the number of shruiken, throwing daggers, and even a couple of arrows for Goddess's sake, that all fell to the ground, not to mention a packet of needles and his legendary pair of short swords - would have been an understatement.
Even the Fairy was mildly impressed by Hawk's miniature arsenal. "Wow, who needs Inventory when you have Hawk?"
Angela found herself not paying enough attention to the Fairy to even ask what Inventory was as she found herself blushing at the sight of Hawk's naked, tanned torso. He wasn't all bulging muscles like Duran, but it was still ... her discomfort was momentarily displaced when she noticed a garish scar streaked across the thief's stomach, stark against his bronzed skin.
"Hey, Fairy, where do you think he got this?" Angela asked, laying a hand on the thief's chest to rise and fall comfortingly with his breathing.
The Fairy left her perch upon the larger girl's shoulder and hovered above Hawk, illuminating him with her faint light, though it was less noticeable now that the sun was beginning to rise. She frowned, not an uncommon expression on their guardian's face.
"I have no idea. He's never received this kind of wound from any battles since he's been with us. It must have come from before."
"But who could have done this kind of damage to Hawk of all people?" Angela protested, finally removing her hand after the Fairy gave her a stern look. She was so concerned she didn't even notice the compliment she'd accidentally awarded the thief. It just seemed so weird that someone she could hardly ever hit with even her broader area spells would ever get wounded so badly.
The Fairy looked uncomfortable, but finally admitted, "Well, he had to escape from Navarre, didn't he? I doubt that would have been easy, considering the kind of trouble we had with just a few ninja. I'm thinking that when we met Wisp he healed it up for Hawk. He should have told me."
Angela was beginning to get mad, suddenly recalling how painfully the thief had cringed when Riesz had whacked him with her spear handle back when they first met at the inn in Jad. "He was injured that badly all the time until we found Wisp?! You're right, he should have told us!"
"Actually, I was saying that Wisp should have told me."
On cue, the Elemental of Light shimmered into existence in front of them. "What's your problem, Fairy?" Wisp asked, trying to sound as congenial as he could.
The Fairy glared at the Elemental. Deciding that maybe its presence would make things worse instead of better, the Elemental of Light vanished back into nothingness a moment later.
"Hey, wait!" Angela cursed. She wanted answers, dammit! She'd just have to beat them out of Hawk later.
Hawk! She's almost forgotten about him!
Hurriedly pulling the dry tunic on over his torso, Angela breathed a brief sigh of relief. Why was she so frazzled? It was just Hawk. Granted, for someone who acted like such a ladies' man he displayed a freakish amount of modesty, but still, it wasn't like she hadn't seen a good-looking guy with his shirt off before.
Chewing once again on her lip, she briefly regarded him. His pants were still soaked, but given her current reactions, she'd probably pass out if she tried to change those. The Fairy would too. He'd be warm enough as is.
She moved him closer to the fire, grabbed Duran's blanket and wrapped the unconscious Ranger in it instead. The sudden rush of cold shocked Duran awake. The Knight blinked and looked about blearily, seeming confused. His eyes focused on Angela kneeling protectively over an unconscious and an uncomfortably pale Hawk, ready with staff just in case the Knight decided to take advantage of the unconscious Navarrian.
"What's going on? Hey, what's wrong with Hawk?"
Angela blinked, and looked at the Fairy, who shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm linked to his thoughts, so I can assure you that he really doesn't remember anything. He was watching the sunset, then he woke up."
Duran's hearing was sharper than it usually appeared. "Do you know something I don't, Fairy?"
The little deity starting sweating, and moved in closer to Angela, trying to hide behind her violet hair for protection.
"Don't you dare bail on me!" she whispered fiercely. "This is as much your fault as it is mine!"
"MY fault?! HOW?!"
"For being so useless!"
Duran coughed politely, trying to get their attention.
Angela sighed. Well, at least Duran was easier to lie to than most. "Erm.... we were attacked by some of the wildlife last night. Wisp healed us all up, but, ah, it took a while to find Hawk and he developed a fever." Was that the best she could do?! All those years of lying to her mother about sneaking out at night or skipping Jose's lessons, and the best she could come up with a feeble story that had more holes in it than the Cave of Waterfalls! She must still be in shock.
"Oh," Duran accepted. "I didn't even realise. Thanks, Princess, I cannot apologise enough for failing to be on my guard." Grand, he was pulling the 'Princess' routine on her again. She was beginning to wonder if even the aphrodisiac would have worked, had she not been held to the same cliché of messing up the application of a love powder as everyone else. She was becoming quite sure that as far as she was concerned, Duran would have been immune, simply because she was royalty.
"No, no, can't have the Mana Knight tiring himself out before we even get to the God-Beast," she dismissed casually. If he was going to pull that act on her, she'd start pulling the 'Mana Knight' act on him.
"Well, we really should continue on. Shall I call up Wisp to take care of it?" Duran suggested. Angela blinked at him for a long moment, still trying to reconcile the Duran she was facing now with the possessed Knight of the evening before.
"I don't know if that would do much good. Even Wisp can't cure the common cold," the Fairy admitted.
Duran sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. "How long do you think it will take him to recover enough to continue?"
"Some people in Altena can take up to a week, but given the situation, he'll probably be ready to move by the end of the day," Angela conceded. She really had no idea, but she knew if they waited any longer than that, the Knight was bound to get impatient and move on without them, and she wasn't so sure she wanted to be left alone with the thief right now.
"Right. Well, seeing as we're standing in-between Forcena and the God- Beast at the moment, I suppose we can spare a day. I'm kind of tired for some reason anyway, I suppose, and I'd rather all three of us go into battle. If we're still vulnerable to the local wildlife attacking us, we probably shouldn't take chances with a God-Beast," he decided after a prolonged moment of thinking it through. He added as an afterthought, "Is staying her sufficient, or do we have to return to an Inn?"
Murmuring from the thief indicated he was coming around, so Angela hurried to his side before she could answer the Knight. "Angie? Is that you? Did I die and go to heaven?"
The Princess raised an eyebrow at that. "You, go the Heaven? Unlikely. How do you feel?" It was weird being in this position. Previously it had only ever been her fawned over by royal healers or servants whenever she fell ill. Such duties never fell to the Princess of a Kingdom, after all. But it wasn't like Duran would know what to do, and one could hardly trust the Fairy to do anything right, so she'd simply have to do.
"Like a rabite is jumping on my head, but never mind. We have to go find the God-Beast right? Ack! Duran!" Hawk's words came out in a jumble - he was clearly disorientated as he leapt - well, more like swayed - to his feet while Duran watched in confusion.
"Ahahahah, don't worry Hawk, it wore off," she assured the thief hurriedly before the Forcenan could grow suspicious. Hawk seemed to relax, at least, a little anyway, though he still kept a wary eye on the Knight in case. Wow, that was going to be an awkward situation to deal with later on.
"Well, that's good I suppose. We're off to kill the God-Beast then? When do we leave?" Hawk asked, eyes wandering before finally focusing in on the Fairy, who flitted about him nervously. His brow creased as though the rapid movement was causing him a headache.
"Jeez, Fairy, stop it, you're making ME dizzy with all of that buzzing about. And you! Don't you even THINK about running off to fight the God- Beast like that! Duran's decided to spend a day here so you can get rid of that damn fever before we go fighting any monsters. So lie back down and don't move unless I tell you to!" she ordered in her best monarch voice, finally pushing the thief down by the shoulders when he seemed reluctant to comply.
"Why Angie, I never expected you to be so forward!"
It seemed that the thief was feeling better already. Of course, with the Goddess's blessing, it didn't seem like anything would keep them down long. Before, with only the help of the Fairy, they had all somehow survived a ridiculously long fall to the bottom of the Cave of Waterfalls. A simply cold shouldn't keep any of them down for more than a few hours in that case, making her relieved that her rushed assumption of day's recuperation wasn't as far off as she feared. "Remind me to flay you with a spell when you're feeling better."
"I feel fine!" the Ranger protested. "I've got some herbs in my pouch that'll take care of it well enough! I'll just take those and we can be on our way!"
"Honestly! Are all men such lousy patients?!" she reprimanded him. "I SAID, if you weren't listening, to just lie down and take it easy and I'll take care of it. We hardly need you exhausting yourself by dragging yourself around when you're sick. I can find the herbs if you want, but even then, you're not budging until at least this afternoon!"
Hawk made a face at the fuss she was creating, but begrudgingly settled himself, attempting to mask another cough as he did so. Angela just rolled her eyes. She supposed, she reflected a little sadly, that the thief probably simply was used to having to take care of himself if he ever got sick or injured. She somehow had difficulty imagining any of the ninjas or thieves in the Guild doing so. Then again, wasn't there that girl - what was her name? - Jessica? She snorted at the image in her head. The thief would have probably spent all of his time trying to be too macho for his own good around such a dainty flower.
'Thinking bad thoughts about the dead and departed now, are we? What other lows can you stoop to in the next twenty-four hours?' the Fairy's voice echoed from inside her head.
'Shut up, gnat! And get out! Go bother Duran for a while!'
Huffing, the Fairy left her head and floated over to a concerned-looking Duran, but not before the tiny deity flashed her a smirk that implied the gnat knew something that she didn't. Goddess's emissary or not, she was going to kill that fly someday.
"Duran, why don't you go kill some rabites for us to cook? Hawk didn't.... um, that is, none of us.... had the chance to eat last night."
Looking pleased that he could at least be useful, the Knight nodded affirmatively and strode off to complete his mission. Angela let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding in when he was gone. That taken care of, she resumed rummaging through Hawk's pouch for any curative herbs. Wisp might not have a cure for the common cold, but there was a good bet that one existed on the black market.
She finally located a bag of herbs for fever reduction and a powder that was labelled as a cough suppressant. "I'm not even going to ask where you found these," she sighed, trying not to picture Hawk ransacking clinics.
"Good," he replied, taking the herbs and sitting up. "Um, could I have some water please?"
The thief was being polite. He was more ill than she thought. She dug out an empty flask and filled it, once again courtesy of Undine. She was beginning to understand why her mother was particularly fond of that Elemental.
"I suppose those herbs take a while to take effect?" Angela guessed.
Shoulders sagging in defeat, Hawk nodded, looking uncomfortable. "I hear they have better ones to Altena."
They did. It was nice to hear that her own Kingdom hadn't been too badly ravaged by bandits without her knowledge. Well, now was as good a time as any to satisfy her curiosity. "So, Hawk, seeing as neither of us are going anywhere, humour me. How did you get that scar?"
The stony look that came over the Navarrian's face as he glanced down, finally noticing his changed tunic, only served to pique her interest. Finally, seeing the determined expression on the Princess's face, he admitted, "Eagle."
"What?" It sounded like a name, one that seemed familiar, but she couldn't pin why.
"Eagle. Jessica's older brother, and Flamekhan's son. He was my best friend. I crashed in on Eagle confronting Bigieu, and she possessed him. He was a lot stronger than I was. He got me with his sword before I managed to knock him out. It probably would have been fatal if he didn't resist her influence at the last minute." The thief's voice had a bitter tone to it. He shrugged. "It was all for naught. She killed him anyway, and then threw me into prison to die. I was lucky Nikita managed to break me out."
No wonder Hawk had been so upset at his failure to save Jessica. Fighting off a wave of awkwardness, the Princess simply patted the thief on the shoulder comfortingly, feeling like a right idiot as she did so. He confessed something like that, and all she could do was sit there and pat his shoulder?
The moment was broken when a voice sounded from within the Princess's head again. 'Awww, that's so touching.'
Angela flailed her arms about as if she were having a fit. "DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO GO WITH DURAN?!"
'And miss this touching display of sentimentality? Actually, Duran's just coming back now.' The cheeky Fairy reappeared on her shoulder. Conniving little....
Duran crashed back into the clearing, carrying some rabites to make up for the one Hawk never had the chance to eat the night before. He grinned at them. "Hawk! Take your time to get your strength, back, okay? Princess, I hate to ask, but do you know how to cook rabite? I noticed some molebears lurking around here and I thought I'd go take care of them."
"Um, yeah, okay," she agreed hesitantly, deciding that now wasn't the time to confess that all of the instances she'd actually cooked something in her entire life had been in the time she'd been in exile.
"Great, I'll be back in a few minutes then."
With no further ceremony, Duran headed out on patrol, while Angela contemplated how exactly to roast a rabite. Seeing Hawk's bemused expression, she hurried through the gruesome task of skinning it, trying to look like she knew what she was doing before he could even consider commenting. Several minutes more with Salamando's power, the rabites were done, just as Duran entered the clearing again, wiping his sword clean of molebear's blood.
"Finished cooking already?" the Knight asked, seeming surprised. Grinning in satisfaction, she served him some of the rabite, then giving Hawk some and taking a serving for herself last. She waited to see how Duran reacted before taking a bite herself.
The Knight, seemingly hungry despite the fact that he had eaten the evening before, dug in hungrily, taking a generous bite then chewing. A moment later, his jaw stilled and his eyes bulged, as he ran to the bushes and spat the bite he'd taken out. A moment later, looking appalled for his manners, he apologised to the Princess profusely. "Oh, excuse me Princess, I suppose I wasn't quite as hungry as I realised. I mean no offense."
Angela struggled to keep her face from falling as she took a bite herself, though managed to at least gag hers down. He was right. It was appalling. How did she manage to find a way to make something as supposedly simple as roasted rabite taste so horrible?!
"You must have a special skill to make something taste that bad, Princess. I was under the impression that Duran would eat nearly anything," the Fairy remarked.
"Princesses never need to know how to cook, gnat! Just as I wouldn't expect a chef to be able to run a Kingdom!" she retorted angrily at the bruise to her ego. So she wasn't the image of the perfect housewife! She had bigger things at stake!
She suddenly realised that Duran was staring, and after a moment of hopefulness, realised that it wasn't at her. For half a second she had a mild panic attack, thinking that the aphrodisiac hadn't quite worn off, when she realised the Knight's expression was one of utmost shock and maybe a little respect. She turned, surprised to see Hawk calmly chewing, already halfway through his portion of rabite.
He blinked at them. "What? It's good."
Well, one's sense of taste did tend to get dulled when ill. Either that or the herbs weren't working and he'd taken a toll for the worse and was now delirious. All the logic aside, she couldn't help but allow herself to wallow in the compliment for a moment, even if a tiny part of her mind suspected Hawk was trying to flirt with her.
Shaking himself from his state of incredulity at the Navarrian's mental strength, Duran took his chance to escape. "Well then, I'll go on back on watch while you two eat. Have fun!" He half ran from the campsite, likely fearing a literal firestorm of the Princess's wrath to begin raining down any moment.
Shrugging, Angela ate as much of the rabite as she could in a bid to reclaim her dignity as a cook. That wasn't much, as every bite she had to fight the urge to throw up, before she eventually gave up and threw the rest into the bushes. If nothing else, perhaps it could act as poison for any molebears who made it past Duran's guard. Hawk finished his own portion not much later.
Angela noticed then that Hawk, despite all of his denials, was looking exhausted - she had almost forgotten that neither of them had slept the night before. And if the flushed pallor of his face was anything to go by, the medicine was still battling with his fever. Sighing, she found some of the sleeping powder he'd used on Carlie once, and stealthily slipped some into his flask of water. "You have to keep your liquids up. Have a drink."
Apparently too tired to even argue, he took the flask and drank deeply. His eyes widened at his sudden sluggishness. "You...," he choked out, dropping the flask. "Sleeping powder.... I think I'm a bad influence on you."
The Princess couldn't help but grin as his words faded off into a murmur and he fell to the ground, unconscious. She settled on her knees next to his sleeping form. Duran would likely be on patrol for a while, treading a wide circle around the camp, so with little else to occupy herself, Angela concentrated on forming a cooling mist around the Ranger to keep him comfortable until the herbs managed to kick in. The Delvar suspected the Knight felt bad for his supposed failure earlier in being knocked out, and was making up for it now. Not that he really had anything to make up for, but the Princess certainly wasn't going to deal with the repercussions of dissuading him of that notion.
It must have been at least an hour later, Duran only coming back to check on them once, that Angela noticed that the thief's temperature had gone down and he seemed to be sleeping more comfortably. Relieved, though unwilling to examine the reasons why, she covered him with the blanket and settled herself back to make sure the fever had truly broken. She attempted to stifle a yawn. She hadn't slept at all the night before either, and all of this taking care of sick people stuff was truly exhausting, she decided, suddenly feeling keenly sorry for the many court healers she had tortured over the years.
Sighing, she shifted to keep herself aware. She failed to see what was driving her to keep vigilance like this - after all, this was hardly something that would keep Hawk down for long. She herself had tried everything in her power to kill the Ranger. From Holy Balls to Fire Balls to her potentially lethal cane, and the damn thief still lived. Flourished, even.
Slowly, she felt her head nodding. Damn Navarrian. He'd be the death of her, if the Fairy didn't manage to kill them first.
Please don't forget to review, but no flames please.
Author's note: I humbly beg for your forgiveness for the ridiculous length of time it took me to update! My sincerest apologies! I had a million things going on, THEN I had to go out of town for a couple of weeks, leaving my precious computer (and thus, fanfic) behind, and I did also fret quite a bit over this chapter. Regardless, I gave up fretting and eventually decided that I simply could not have this chain of events happen any other way. In compensation for my tardiness I have made it the longest chapter yet and have also liberally laced it with many Hawk/Angela moments. Be warned: This is the chapter in which I use every romance cliché as many times as possible.
Response to the Reviewers! (Thanks for your patience!):
Feyenal Dragon: Update took forever, I know, I'm so very sorry! I'm amazed so many reviewers have put up with it so far, and will be even more amazed if I have any left after this latest stretch. Sorry, if I told you the surprise via E-Mail for this chapter, it wouldn't be much of a surprise now, would it? I suppose I'll tell you now. The surprise is: I actually made story progress. Wow. Bet you weren't expecting that. (Thanks for the cookie).
Wingnut: I have just put 'lexicon' away into my lexicon of words to use. Five Hundred reviews? (Checks.... Stares.) Did I go to sleep for ten years and no one woke me up? The Duran/Angela canon comes almost entirely from a scene in Angela's ending that only occurs if you have Duran in the party, so I probably have to agree with the presumption. Same with how the Hawk/Riesz canon comes entirely from one scene between the two in Rolante. It's all we've got, really. Thanks for the review!
Sorrow in Shadow: Thanks very much! (Secretly, I agree with you about Hawk, but then, I'm not so sure if that's so secret.) :P
Just Call Me Angels: You and Poptart managed to create a discussion! You should feel proud. Mwa ha ha! The torture! I hope you like this chapter. You contributed to the inspiration (mostly due to the Duran-as-Hulk thoughts sending me insane.)
Demon Wolf: Welcome! Thanks for the high praise! (I'm typing this response extra-slow to help your computer deal with it). Hope you keep reading and reviewing!
Freeloader1: Mind you, Fruits Basket and X wasn't in the same day. (Too much... shojo...). I have been repeatedly called crazy, so perhaps it is true. Ah well, you'll keep my company in my insanity, right? Thanks for the review!
Frickin Evil Poptart: Ah, she picks up on the technicality. I was going for the metaphor, really. (Laughs). A detailed battle on every Godbeast? I think not! I value my fingers! You will see my lazy way of addressing this problem at the start of this chapter. You have impressed me with your observations. If last chapter made you giddy, please ensure that you're sitting in a padded chair for this chapter. Your plot ideas are not so bad! I even kind of used one... so thanks! For that and the review! Woot!
Truewind: ;;
Lady Storm: SURPRISE! WEDGIE! Whoops, sorry. Rabid kittens? That's going to be tough to explain to my neighbours.
Wings of Lead: Ah, once again you pick up on all of my attempts at foreshadowing! I find I quite like your idea about the items for the class change, I might just use that, thanks! I somehow find Flammie far too cute to be carnivorous, but it's an entertaining image. I was considering writing another Hawk fic some day looking at his past, but now that I've said that, someone else will probably beat me to it. (hint hint). Say, this would explain the muse I found in the Artic last week. Thanks very much for the review!
Cookie Pixie: (treasures three cents.... Only 205, 497 cents to go until I can buy a new computer.) Thanks very much, I thought very much the same myself upon reflection, hence the occurrences of last chapter. Always a pleasure to hear from you.
WaterDragonerS: You wrote an SD3 fic? (Throws a parade in your honour). I'll have to stop by and check that out after I upload this chapter. Kentucky Fried Chocobo. LOL. (Adds a mystery thanks for the review.)
Ignorantly Grinning: Thanks!
: Well, the Duran/Riesz thing doesn't actually exist, though everyone seems to think I'm suggesting it, but it's simply just Angela getting irrationally jealous, and inventing relationships that don't exist. Me, write Hawk as a jerk? Where was everyone when I sang his praises? Thanks for the review!
Lone Ronin: Time to go kill stuff indeed. Almost. I keep putting that off somehow. I promised a Carlie appearance? (I really should stop writing Author's Notes while I'm half asleep.) Well, no doubt she'll appear again, but how soon is anyone's guess. I'm afraid that there's crap fanfiction in any fandom (at least, all of the ones I've visited), it's just the bigger fandoms that get more of it I suppose. But there's lots of good ones too. Thanks for the review!
ThunDaGa: Dryad as a HE? I've never even considered it. She always seemed so feminine in her dialogue, but I suppose what sold me on that was the official Squaresoft designs – Dryad definitely had an hourglass shape. Thanks for the review!
The One and Only T: You are psychic. Thanks for the review! Go Hats!
More than enough from me! Hope you all enjoy the chapter, and sorry again for the wait.
Another Witchmaker
Chapter 38 – Things That Will Always Backfire
By Sinnatious
Angela was sorely regretting not buying better shoes instead of the halfway compromise she made while in Altena. Walking through the Ancient Ruins of Light had tested her new footwear more than she expected, what with rubble and puddles all of the over, and while the Molebear Highlands they were currently making their way through were fairly easy on the feet, she didn't doubt that when they entered Gemstone Valley that would change. The place simply SOUNDED painful to walk on. Hopefully wherever they found the God Beast of Earth, it would be a nice, big, flat clearing, rather than the maze of dangerously unstable pillars they'd confronted the God-Beast of Light on. She was so busy concentrating on her aching feet that she was only half-listening to Duran and Hawk's conversation - with liberal commentary from the Fairy - in the background.
"That thing sure was ugly," Hawk contemplated, obviously still reliving the experience of destroying the first of the God-Beasts; the God-Beast that had been sealed in by the Mana Stone of light.
"Sure was," Duran agreed, "I don't remember anything that ugly since way back at the Cave of Waterfalls." Well, in all honesty, the giant bouncing eye wasn't so much ugly as just plain weird. At least the battle hadn't been a terribly hard one - that is, nowhere near as hard as they were expecting after the grandiose tales of God-Beasts they had heard. Logically, being freed from the Mana Stone of light, the monstrosity of Mana had been terribly weak to Shade's power, which most fortunately, Angela discovered she had in spades. A few sure swipes from Duran's sword and a barrage of Dark Forces and Evil Gates, and one God-Beast was down, with seven left to go. Or six. No one was exactly sure WHAT was going on with that God-Beast of Darkness.
"It wasn't that hard," she announced, "I think this God-Beast stuff is overrated!"
"What about that spell it cast on us - what was it called? Saint Beam?" Duran asked.
"That's what Wisp called it. Turns out those trinkets your mother gave us were useful after all! We could have been dead without them!" the Ranger replied.
"Those TRINKETS happen to be Altenan royal family treasures, used only in times of war!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, they worked a charm! Must have cut the power of that spell in half! I bet I could sell them for a fortune in Byzel."
"YOU'LL DO NO SUCH THING! HOLY BALL!"
Hawk picked himself back up off the ground a moment later, and straightened his robes. "See? What did I tell you?"
"You shouldn't be so overconfident," the Fairy scolded. "After all, the God-Beast of Light was still only half-formed! It hadn't even had the chance to develop a proper hide or armour yet! Rest assured that the remainder of the God-Beasts won't be so easy."
"If we spend forever walking around looking for the damn things, it wouldn't surprise me," Angela grumbled. "It took long enough just to get through the Ruins, and we haven't even made it to the entrance of Gemstone Valley yet! Why couldn't that damn dragon drop us off closer?"
"She was spooked," the Ranger replied, "A sure sign that one of the God- Beasts is near. After all, we had to jump off her back to even get to the ruins."
The Princess shuddered, not particularly wanting to remember that memory. Just because the thief had an uncanny sense of balance didn't mean that the rest of them were immune to falls from great heights.
"The entrance to Gemstone Valley is just ahead," Duran assured them. "But I don't think we'll be able to find the God-Beast before night falls, and I'd rather not walk around down there in the middle of the night if at all possible. I think that we should stop here for the night and recover our strength."
Angela raised an eyebrow at that. She thought for sure that the Forcenan would be keen to kill the God-Beast so close to his home turf as quickly as possible. Then again, his points were all good ones, and though she and Hawk had both slept in Wendel's inn after coming down from the Ruins, the Fairy had been so kind as to inform her that the Knight had spent the entire time wide awake fretting over the loss of the Mana Sword and the danger to Forcena. Shrugging, she found a suitable rock to settle herself on. After staying with the dwarves and the elves, and the even less enjoyable times of napping on Booskaboo's back, camping no longer so seriously offended her royal sensibilities.
"You'll have to set up a fire to keep the wildlife away - the molebears seemed more skittish than normal. And someone will have to stay up and keep watch," the Fairy ordered.
The Delvar glared at the tiny deity. "Who died and made you Goddess? We're all going along with this crazy quest out of the sheer generosity of our hearts, gnat! Don't presume to boss us around!"
There was a long silence as everyone present attempted to contemplate Angela being generous. Eventually, the thought became too difficult to handle, and Hawk broke the silence by unceremoniously dropping a few of his things on the ground, then announcing, "Well then, I'm going to go hunt down some dinner. Anybody here allergic to rabite? No? I'm off then!"
Trying not to blanch at the idea of eating roasted rabite, even IF Riesz had once assured her that it was delicious, she shifted to a better rock partially under the shade of a particularly tall tree and began running a hand through her hair in the effort to find any twigs or leaves that may have wound up there during the trek through the Highlands. She positioned herself just so that she'd have a good view of Duran without being too conspicuous - he had set himself up on another rock nearby and was gazing at the sky that was turning a myriad of reds and ochres as the sun began to dip towards the horizon. He was still worrying over the Sword, no doubt. The Forcenan had still been quite useful in battle, but outside of that, he often seemed distracted and didn't even talk to Hawk or the Fairy as much as he normally did. Koren was obviously still very high on the mission list, she imagined.
It was then that the Delvar noticed the small pouch the thief had left behind. Usually he carried it inconspicuously on his belt, so she'd never really wondered what he kept in there before. Now, with Hawk not in the immediate vicinity, was her opportunity to find out. Still, knowing that the Ranger had a tendency to appear with no warning, she opened it cautiously and as quietly as possible. Inside were many satchels of different powders and herbs, to her surprise, all labelled in Hawk's distinctive handwriting. Most were what she expected a wily thief to carry around - sleeping powders, powders to mask someone's scent - presumably how he had originally avoided the Beastmen in Jad until their escape, one to make a mist of all things, a couple of energy herbs....
The one that caught the flirtatious Princess' eye, though, was one labelled 'aphrodisiac'. She knew that the guy was known for hitting on ladies to an alarming degree, but still, he struck her as the type who was more likely to just lose out with the ladies in preference to using an underhanded trick like an aphrodisiac. But what WAS he doing with a love powder? It obviously hadn't been used - the package was still sealed. She was glad - she wasn't sure if she wanted to imagine who he could have used it on.
The sunset seemed to brighten for just a moment. The Delvar had an idea.
She cast a glance over to where Duran was sitting on a rock, brooding as was the new usual. What could it hurt? Maybe if his own natural inclinations were boosted, she'd be able to actually get his attention for more than ten seconds!
Before either her conscience or logic could convince her otherwise, she scanned the instructions quickly - he even wrote instructions! Then again, he had so many of the crazy satchels it'd probably be nearly impossible to memorise them all. 'Throw powder into the air by target and hold your breath for one minute until it dissipates to avoid self-contamination. Target will breathe the compound in, and it will immediately take effect.' Huh, simple. And made all the more effective with Jinn's help.
Grinning manically, Angela took a deep breath, held it, then all in one movement ripped open the satchel, threw the fine powder into the air and used Jinn's power to summon a breeze just powerful enough to waft it in the docile swordsman's direction. Counting down in her head, she finally let out a breath and waited to see whether it had worked or if Hawk was just playing mind games.
Nothing. Duran hadn't even lifted his head at the sudden breeze. Angela began to feel annoyed, and looked more closely at the instructions, wondering if maybe she'd missed something. Hey, she was a royal princess, she didn't miss anything, but maybe....
Oh wait, there was an extra note attached. "Caution - remain hidden! First thing target sees they will fall desperately in love with!" She read out loud. Oh well, then, the only thing Duran could fall in love with was the sunset. She'd better get over there and - Angela suddenly muttered out a string of expletives that no well-brought up girl should have known when she saw that Hawk had returned with a dead rabite in hand and was tapping Duran on the shoulder.
Duran turned as if in a bit of a daze, glazed eyes finally focusing on Hawk's face. Hawk was repeating himself, after not getting any response the first time from the spaced-out knight. "Hey, Duran, I said it's time to start making dinner already! You have the honours today!" He thrust the dead rabite in the Knight's face impatiently.
"Hawk?" Duran asked, in a tone of voice that didn't sound quite right for the swordsman.
'Shitshitshit', Angela thought, getting up, looking around in panic for something, she wasn't sure what. What could she do?! What was she supposed to do? When she was trained to be Queen she'd never been taught how to deal with situations like this! Where was the Fairy when you needed her?
"I don't think Hawk's going to be too happy with you, Princess." Fairy in question chose this moment to shimmer into existence next to the panicking princess.
"What do you mean?" Angela demanded. "And why did you come out now?"
The Fairy just pointed one tiny, slender hand towards the thief and soldier.
Hawk was frowning, waving a hand in front of the dazzled Knight. "Duran? You okay? Angela didn't flash you or something, did she? You look like you've fallen in love or something."
Goddess, if he only knew how close he was to the truth. She should probably warn him, but she wasn't sure what Duran's reaction would be yet, though the blanching look on the Fairy's face suggested the worst. Okay, warn him then.
"Um, Hawk!" She called out. "You should probably watch out!"
"What?" Hawk looked over, and Angela cursed herself, for that one fatal moment of distraction was when Duran chose to make his move.
In one swift movement that surprised even the wily thief, Duran reached out, snatched his hand, and pulled the shocked Navarrian into a deep kiss. Hawk's eyes were as wide as saucers as he tried to pull away, but the Knight simply stood up with him, not letting him out of it for something like a minute.
There was a gagging sound to Angela's right. It was obviously too much out- of-characterness for the Fairy to handle, and to be honest, she felt pretty sick too, though that may have also been the wracking waves of guilt and irrational jealousy. None of them looked more confused, or as scared witless, as Hawk though. Finally able to breathe again, the thief yelled out, "Duran, what's got into you?! You're supposed to like ANGELA, remember! If we want to be general, you like GIRLS! As a matter of fact, I prefer girls too!" He tried to wrench away, but even the master of escaping narrow situations couldn't break Duran's vice-like grip on his wrist. The Knight was possessed! "If it bothers you that much, I can cook the rabite just this once, okay?!"
"Hey! You shouldn't say stuff like that out loud!" Angela complained belatedly at the Navarrian's open comment about her Duran's not-yet- existent relationship, momentarily forgetting her situation.
Hawk was still trying to free his wrist to get as far away as possible without hurting Duran - not that it would be that easy. Duran was after all, physically stronger than him, and had no intention of letting his newfound love interest escape before he could arrange a marriage. He seemed to be in the middle of spouting nonsensical love poetry that sounded disturbingly like limericks he had learned in the army barracks of Forcena. Some plans of introducing the family seemed to be thrown in there as well. Seemed she had been somewhat accurate in predicting that when the Knight DID get romantic, it was certainly in an old-fashioned sort of way.
The Ranger was finally beginning to get more than suspicious. "ANGELA! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
The Princess scratched the back of her head in embarrassment whilst the Fairy sighed next to her, moving in to sit on her shoulder to watch the whole ugly affair play out. Hawk, busy yelling at her, once again failed to noticed Duran's next move.
Angela watched in horror as Duran pulled a squirming and pale Hawk closer in to him, and leant in to whisper something in his ear. The pale Hawk suddenly blushed a deep crimson, and Angela was aware of the Fairy gagging again.
"What's your problem this time?"
"I'm connected to Duran's mind," she admitted. "And that was just dirty. You really have to help poor Hawk."
"How?!"
"Why do you think I know the answer to everything?! We don't have to deal with this kind of stuff in the Mana Holyland!"
Angela resumed looking around for what she didn't know. Maybe there was an antidote! "Hawk! I, um, I mean Duran breathed in some of your aphrodisiac, is there an antidote in here somewhere?!"
Somehow she thought a solution to the problem might calm the thief down, even as he was being wrestled into a compromising position on the ground, but it only made him worse. "WHAT? You did WHAT? Do you have any idea how powerful that stuff is?"
"Okay, okay! I screwed up! Just please tell me there's an antidote!" she begged, on her knees rummaging through the pouch looking for the appropriate label.
"There is no antidote, it's- Mmmmph-" Hawk was cut off from yelling at the magician as the suddenly hormone-crazed Duran smothered him again.
"I'm too young to be watching this, the goddess would be so displeased," Fairy muttered.
Once Hawk had managed to push the eager Knight back temporarily, he continued, "That stuff lasts for like twelve hours!"
Twelve hours? Duran was freaking them all out beyond belief in less than five minutes! Hawk would never be able to survive that kind of mental trauma! The Fairy looked like she was going to crack from it already!
"What do I do?" she asked, wringing her hands helplessly.
Hawk currently reminded her of a caged wild animal with his frantic scrabbling. "Just get him off me! I don't care how you do it!"
"Ummm, ummm.... I know!" Angela held out her staff and called upon Undine, who materialized into the air in a matter of seconds. "Undine, we need a lot of cold water!"
"And hurry it up," the Fairy added next to her, covering her eyes.
The water spirit seemed puzzled at the situation, but complied, as a large volume of icy water appeared above the two struggling men and fell to the ground, drenching them. With Duran temporarily stunned, Hawk used an elaborate series of twisting movements to get out from underneath the Knight's grip, and scurried up the nearest tree with only the agility a crazed and downright scared fighter possesses.
The cold water hadn't seemed to take care of all the effect, as moments later Duran was at the foot of the tree, calling up to Hawk. But the Ranger knew there was no way the burly Knight could ever make it up that tree without help, and didn't budge.
"But Haaaaaaawk," Duran whined, then grinned, seeing Angela standing nearby with a guilty look on her face. "Hey Princess, could you give me a boost up?"
"No way, and have Hawk kill me even more slowly than he's going to kill me now? I think not," she retorted.
Grumbling, Duran seemed to content to sit at the base of the tree and light a fire to dry himself off so that he didn't freeze, given that he had just been doused with a large amount of ice-cold water and night was beginning to fall. He set to work cleaning and cooking the forgotten rabite - it was something for him to do while he waited for his new-found lover to come down.
Angela stared. No kidding that was powerful stuff. Duran's change was.... so eerie.
She sat down and ate dinner, realising in the back of her mind that she didn't even taste the roasted rabite, keeping a wary eye on Duran and not sure what to do next. With no input from Hawk huddled up in the tree she decided to just wait until Duran either gave up or went to sleep. He was so sexy though, he'd gone after Hawk like a tiger, if only things hadn't backfired so horribly.....
She was waiting a long time. It was lucky that she HAD slept in the inn in Wendel, otherwise she'd never have been able to stay awake. It was growing near daybreak, and probably not that long until the aphrodisiac wore off, when Duran finally nodded off to sleep in front of the fire. The Fairy, having become bored at one point, emerged again once he was asleep and flew up into the tree to see the freaked-out thief. After a minute or two, she floated back down. "I think you should probably check on Hawk. I'll lend you a bit of my power to get you up there."
Angela nodded, moving to the other side of the tree so that Duran wouldn't be able to interfere in time, not that the one-tracked minded knight would notice anything else at this point in time. She made a mental note to also ban all love potions and similar products when she was Queen of Altena, so that future foolish Princesses would not make the same mistake as she. The Fairy lent her just enough energy to give her a big enough boost to reach the first branch - how did Hawk get up here? Sheer adrenaline? - and she climbed the rest of the way to where the thief sat near the crown of the tree.
Once she reached up to the branch he was sitting on, she sat there, letting her feet dangle. She was afraid to meet those golden eyes - no doubt in a couple of days, Hawk would find the whole situation ridiculously hilarious, but that HAD to be a shock to the system. It wasn't every day your friend - especially when your friend is a straight guy - decides they want to make love to you, and suffered a major twist in attitude while they were at it.
"Ummm... sorry?" she finally offered.
"I am going to kill you," he said quietly. "And I am going to kill you very slowly."
Well, there wasn't much she could do about that, she supposed. She just hoped that Hawk wasn't serious. "Eh heh heh..... What a disaster...... Hey! What WERE you doing with an aphrodisiac anyway?" her tone quickly changed to accusatory. Better to keep him from getting angry at her by keeping him on the defensive, she figured. She dangled her bare legs over the branch. It was cold this morning; she wished she'd worn her leggings or something. Hopping from continent to continent, she often forgot about the different climates and seasons.
"Thieves use it to keep people occupied. It's the ultimate distraction; usually people overcome with passion don't notice someone breaking into their lockbox. You can even get into Rolante castle using it. Though, two amazonesses suddenly falling in love does sometimes cause a bit of a ruckus. And then there's the morning-after effect....."
She laughed, not nervously this time - apparently Hawk didn't hate her TOO much if he could joke around. "Well, I'm glad you at least had a good excuse. I was starting to think you were some kind of pervert!" Which was no different to usual, but it didn't hurt to be nice when someone had just screwed up in a very embarrassing way.
"Yeah well, I try....." He struggled to mask a cough.
Surprised, the princess turned to actually look at the Ranger for the first time. He was huddled against the tree miserably, his forehead glistening with sweat, and shaking almost invisibly.
"Hawk..... You're shivering!"
He tried to shrug. "Well, you did soak the two of us with ice water and I've been sitting up here in the cold for most of the night. It's natural to be a little cold."
"Jeez, you should have come down!" She held a hand to his forehead. "You've got a fever! You idiot!"
"Yeah, I guess so. But we don't really have to worry about catching colds in the desert. I didn't even think of it."
Angela rolled her eyes. "It's obvious. You're - HAWK!"
The Princess almost shrieked as she noticed the thief had slumped in his nook of the tree, unconscious, the effort from talking obviously too much. She grabbed him before he could slide to his death, calling frantically to the Fairy to help them down. She floated up a moment later, frowning at Hawk's condition, purple hair hanging over his face.
"I THOUGHT this would happen. You should have gone up there earlier to help him, Angela - after all, this is all your fault!"
"Oh, shut up with your editorialising, do you think I even DARED go NEAR the foot of that tree with a potentially jealous Duran standing guard?!"
"Which wouldn't have even occurred if you hadn't decided to go through Hawk's stuff!"
"I was curious!" Angela nearly dropped Hawk to shake a fist at the Fairy, but remembered herself at the last minute.
The Fairy rolled her eyes, wings fluttering extra hard as if to accentuate her opinion. "Well, after that painful display your pathetic crush on Duran is horribly obvious to everyone..... except Duran."
The sorceress glared at the little deity. "Big deal! There's only three of us here, and of course I would know about it! And as for Hawk, he's currently unconscious and probably sick as a dog, so will you STOP lecturing me and help us down here?"
"Fine," she mumbled, using some of the tree's natural energy to float them down to the ground, following moments later. Once she landed, Angela hurriedly laid Hawk's limp form on the ground. Chewing her lip, she regarded the fallen Ranger for a moment, the Fairy alighting on her shoulder. Casting a quick glance at the still-sleeping Knight, the Princess sighed. He wouldn't be any help, and if he wasn't over the effects of breathing in that powder yet, she wasn't terribly sure if she WANTED his help.
"Let's see," she said out loud, more or less for the Fairy's benefit, even if the little insect could read her thoughts. "In Altena, people who go out into the snow catch chills all the time. The doctors would first....." Angela paled, but gritted her teeth in determination. Such things shouldn't bother her, of all people. In Altena, the doctors would always first get them out of their wet clothes and into dry ones.
She immensely enjoyed it every time Duran would take off his shirt, such as when he had in the desert. Why was she so nervous about the idea of Hawk then?
Laughing to hide her embarrassment, again more for the Fairy than anyone else, Angela pranced over to Hawk's other pouch, hoping against hope that he had a spare tunic stuffed in there somewhere. After some effort, she located one that was a couple of shades darker than the one he was currently wearing.
"Must be for when he goes robbing people," Fairy commented.
Angela cast her only conscious companion a dirty look. "He's helping you on your crazy little quest with Duran to kill the God-Beasts, isn't he? And it's his so-called 'robbing' skills that's saved us and your tiny ass several times now, isn't it?"
The little deity huffed. "Since when did you start defending him?"
"Since you started picking on him when he wasn't conscious to defend himself!"
"Don't be so uptight! You don't think I'm worried about him? We're lost without him! Um, Angela, what are you doing?"
Angela was proceeding to remove Hawk's tunic. "This thing is soaked. He'll never get warmer with this on. Jeez, what's all this stuff?" To say she was shocked by the number of shruiken, throwing daggers, and even a couple of arrows for Goddess's sake, that all fell to the ground, not to mention a packet of needles and his legendary pair of short swords - would have been an understatement.
Even the Fairy was mildly impressed by Hawk's miniature arsenal. "Wow, who needs Inventory when you have Hawk?"
Angela found herself not paying enough attention to the Fairy to even ask what Inventory was as she found herself blushing at the sight of Hawk's naked, tanned torso. He wasn't all bulging muscles like Duran, but it was still ... her discomfort was momentarily displaced when she noticed a garish scar streaked across the thief's stomach, stark against his bronzed skin.
"Hey, Fairy, where do you think he got this?" Angela asked, laying a hand on the thief's chest to rise and fall comfortingly with his breathing.
The Fairy left her perch upon the larger girl's shoulder and hovered above Hawk, illuminating him with her faint light, though it was less noticeable now that the sun was beginning to rise. She frowned, not an uncommon expression on their guardian's face.
"I have no idea. He's never received this kind of wound from any battles since he's been with us. It must have come from before."
"But who could have done this kind of damage to Hawk of all people?" Angela protested, finally removing her hand after the Fairy gave her a stern look. She was so concerned she didn't even notice the compliment she'd accidentally awarded the thief. It just seemed so weird that someone she could hardly ever hit with even her broader area spells would ever get wounded so badly.
The Fairy looked uncomfortable, but finally admitted, "Well, he had to escape from Navarre, didn't he? I doubt that would have been easy, considering the kind of trouble we had with just a few ninja. I'm thinking that when we met Wisp he healed it up for Hawk. He should have told me."
Angela was beginning to get mad, suddenly recalling how painfully the thief had cringed when Riesz had whacked him with her spear handle back when they first met at the inn in Jad. "He was injured that badly all the time until we found Wisp?! You're right, he should have told us!"
"Actually, I was saying that Wisp should have told me."
On cue, the Elemental of Light shimmered into existence in front of them. "What's your problem, Fairy?" Wisp asked, trying to sound as congenial as he could.
The Fairy glared at the Elemental. Deciding that maybe its presence would make things worse instead of better, the Elemental of Light vanished back into nothingness a moment later.
"Hey, wait!" Angela cursed. She wanted answers, dammit! She'd just have to beat them out of Hawk later.
Hawk! She's almost forgotten about him!
Hurriedly pulling the dry tunic on over his torso, Angela breathed a brief sigh of relief. Why was she so frazzled? It was just Hawk. Granted, for someone who acted like such a ladies' man he displayed a freakish amount of modesty, but still, it wasn't like she hadn't seen a good-looking guy with his shirt off before.
Chewing once again on her lip, she briefly regarded him. His pants were still soaked, but given her current reactions, she'd probably pass out if she tried to change those. The Fairy would too. He'd be warm enough as is.
She moved him closer to the fire, grabbed Duran's blanket and wrapped the unconscious Ranger in it instead. The sudden rush of cold shocked Duran awake. The Knight blinked and looked about blearily, seeming confused. His eyes focused on Angela kneeling protectively over an unconscious and an uncomfortably pale Hawk, ready with staff just in case the Knight decided to take advantage of the unconscious Navarrian.
"What's going on? Hey, what's wrong with Hawk?"
Angela blinked, and looked at the Fairy, who shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm linked to his thoughts, so I can assure you that he really doesn't remember anything. He was watching the sunset, then he woke up."
Duran's hearing was sharper than it usually appeared. "Do you know something I don't, Fairy?"
The little deity starting sweating, and moved in closer to Angela, trying to hide behind her violet hair for protection.
"Don't you dare bail on me!" she whispered fiercely. "This is as much your fault as it is mine!"
"MY fault?! HOW?!"
"For being so useless!"
Duran coughed politely, trying to get their attention.
Angela sighed. Well, at least Duran was easier to lie to than most. "Erm.... we were attacked by some of the wildlife last night. Wisp healed us all up, but, ah, it took a while to find Hawk and he developed a fever." Was that the best she could do?! All those years of lying to her mother about sneaking out at night or skipping Jose's lessons, and the best she could come up with a feeble story that had more holes in it than the Cave of Waterfalls! She must still be in shock.
"Oh," Duran accepted. "I didn't even realise. Thanks, Princess, I cannot apologise enough for failing to be on my guard." Grand, he was pulling the 'Princess' routine on her again. She was beginning to wonder if even the aphrodisiac would have worked, had she not been held to the same cliché of messing up the application of a love powder as everyone else. She was becoming quite sure that as far as she was concerned, Duran would have been immune, simply because she was royalty.
"No, no, can't have the Mana Knight tiring himself out before we even get to the God-Beast," she dismissed casually. If he was going to pull that act on her, she'd start pulling the 'Mana Knight' act on him.
"Well, we really should continue on. Shall I call up Wisp to take care of it?" Duran suggested. Angela blinked at him for a long moment, still trying to reconcile the Duran she was facing now with the possessed Knight of the evening before.
"I don't know if that would do much good. Even Wisp can't cure the common cold," the Fairy admitted.
Duran sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. "How long do you think it will take him to recover enough to continue?"
"Some people in Altena can take up to a week, but given the situation, he'll probably be ready to move by the end of the day," Angela conceded. She really had no idea, but she knew if they waited any longer than that, the Knight was bound to get impatient and move on without them, and she wasn't so sure she wanted to be left alone with the thief right now.
"Right. Well, seeing as we're standing in-between Forcena and the God- Beast at the moment, I suppose we can spare a day. I'm kind of tired for some reason anyway, I suppose, and I'd rather all three of us go into battle. If we're still vulnerable to the local wildlife attacking us, we probably shouldn't take chances with a God-Beast," he decided after a prolonged moment of thinking it through. He added as an afterthought, "Is staying her sufficient, or do we have to return to an Inn?"
Murmuring from the thief indicated he was coming around, so Angela hurried to his side before she could answer the Knight. "Angie? Is that you? Did I die and go to heaven?"
The Princess raised an eyebrow at that. "You, go the Heaven? Unlikely. How do you feel?" It was weird being in this position. Previously it had only ever been her fawned over by royal healers or servants whenever she fell ill. Such duties never fell to the Princess of a Kingdom, after all. But it wasn't like Duran would know what to do, and one could hardly trust the Fairy to do anything right, so she'd simply have to do.
"Like a rabite is jumping on my head, but never mind. We have to go find the God-Beast right? Ack! Duran!" Hawk's words came out in a jumble - he was clearly disorientated as he leapt - well, more like swayed - to his feet while Duran watched in confusion.
"Ahahahah, don't worry Hawk, it wore off," she assured the thief hurriedly before the Forcenan could grow suspicious. Hawk seemed to relax, at least, a little anyway, though he still kept a wary eye on the Knight in case. Wow, that was going to be an awkward situation to deal with later on.
"Well, that's good I suppose. We're off to kill the God-Beast then? When do we leave?" Hawk asked, eyes wandering before finally focusing in on the Fairy, who flitted about him nervously. His brow creased as though the rapid movement was causing him a headache.
"Jeez, Fairy, stop it, you're making ME dizzy with all of that buzzing about. And you! Don't you even THINK about running off to fight the God- Beast like that! Duran's decided to spend a day here so you can get rid of that damn fever before we go fighting any monsters. So lie back down and don't move unless I tell you to!" she ordered in her best monarch voice, finally pushing the thief down by the shoulders when he seemed reluctant to comply.
"Why Angie, I never expected you to be so forward!"
It seemed that the thief was feeling better already. Of course, with the Goddess's blessing, it didn't seem like anything would keep them down long. Before, with only the help of the Fairy, they had all somehow survived a ridiculously long fall to the bottom of the Cave of Waterfalls. A simply cold shouldn't keep any of them down for more than a few hours in that case, making her relieved that her rushed assumption of day's recuperation wasn't as far off as she feared. "Remind me to flay you with a spell when you're feeling better."
"I feel fine!" the Ranger protested. "I've got some herbs in my pouch that'll take care of it well enough! I'll just take those and we can be on our way!"
"Honestly! Are all men such lousy patients?!" she reprimanded him. "I SAID, if you weren't listening, to just lie down and take it easy and I'll take care of it. We hardly need you exhausting yourself by dragging yourself around when you're sick. I can find the herbs if you want, but even then, you're not budging until at least this afternoon!"
Hawk made a face at the fuss she was creating, but begrudgingly settled himself, attempting to mask another cough as he did so. Angela just rolled her eyes. She supposed, she reflected a little sadly, that the thief probably simply was used to having to take care of himself if he ever got sick or injured. She somehow had difficulty imagining any of the ninjas or thieves in the Guild doing so. Then again, wasn't there that girl - what was her name? - Jessica? She snorted at the image in her head. The thief would have probably spent all of his time trying to be too macho for his own good around such a dainty flower.
'Thinking bad thoughts about the dead and departed now, are we? What other lows can you stoop to in the next twenty-four hours?' the Fairy's voice echoed from inside her head.
'Shut up, gnat! And get out! Go bother Duran for a while!'
Huffing, the Fairy left her head and floated over to a concerned-looking Duran, but not before the tiny deity flashed her a smirk that implied the gnat knew something that she didn't. Goddess's emissary or not, she was going to kill that fly someday.
"Duran, why don't you go kill some rabites for us to cook? Hawk didn't.... um, that is, none of us.... had the chance to eat last night."
Looking pleased that he could at least be useful, the Knight nodded affirmatively and strode off to complete his mission. Angela let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding in when he was gone. That taken care of, she resumed rummaging through Hawk's pouch for any curative herbs. Wisp might not have a cure for the common cold, but there was a good bet that one existed on the black market.
She finally located a bag of herbs for fever reduction and a powder that was labelled as a cough suppressant. "I'm not even going to ask where you found these," she sighed, trying not to picture Hawk ransacking clinics.
"Good," he replied, taking the herbs and sitting up. "Um, could I have some water please?"
The thief was being polite. He was more ill than she thought. She dug out an empty flask and filled it, once again courtesy of Undine. She was beginning to understand why her mother was particularly fond of that Elemental.
"I suppose those herbs take a while to take effect?" Angela guessed.
Shoulders sagging in defeat, Hawk nodded, looking uncomfortable. "I hear they have better ones to Altena."
They did. It was nice to hear that her own Kingdom hadn't been too badly ravaged by bandits without her knowledge. Well, now was as good a time as any to satisfy her curiosity. "So, Hawk, seeing as neither of us are going anywhere, humour me. How did you get that scar?"
The stony look that came over the Navarrian's face as he glanced down, finally noticing his changed tunic, only served to pique her interest. Finally, seeing the determined expression on the Princess's face, he admitted, "Eagle."
"What?" It sounded like a name, one that seemed familiar, but she couldn't pin why.
"Eagle. Jessica's older brother, and Flamekhan's son. He was my best friend. I crashed in on Eagle confronting Bigieu, and she possessed him. He was a lot stronger than I was. He got me with his sword before I managed to knock him out. It probably would have been fatal if he didn't resist her influence at the last minute." The thief's voice had a bitter tone to it. He shrugged. "It was all for naught. She killed him anyway, and then threw me into prison to die. I was lucky Nikita managed to break me out."
No wonder Hawk had been so upset at his failure to save Jessica. Fighting off a wave of awkwardness, the Princess simply patted the thief on the shoulder comfortingly, feeling like a right idiot as she did so. He confessed something like that, and all she could do was sit there and pat his shoulder?
The moment was broken when a voice sounded from within the Princess's head again. 'Awww, that's so touching.'
Angela flailed her arms about as if she were having a fit. "DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO GO WITH DURAN?!"
'And miss this touching display of sentimentality? Actually, Duran's just coming back now.' The cheeky Fairy reappeared on her shoulder. Conniving little....
Duran crashed back into the clearing, carrying some rabites to make up for the one Hawk never had the chance to eat the night before. He grinned at them. "Hawk! Take your time to get your strength, back, okay? Princess, I hate to ask, but do you know how to cook rabite? I noticed some molebears lurking around here and I thought I'd go take care of them."
"Um, yeah, okay," she agreed hesitantly, deciding that now wasn't the time to confess that all of the instances she'd actually cooked something in her entire life had been in the time she'd been in exile.
"Great, I'll be back in a few minutes then."
With no further ceremony, Duran headed out on patrol, while Angela contemplated how exactly to roast a rabite. Seeing Hawk's bemused expression, she hurried through the gruesome task of skinning it, trying to look like she knew what she was doing before he could even consider commenting. Several minutes more with Salamando's power, the rabites were done, just as Duran entered the clearing again, wiping his sword clean of molebear's blood.
"Finished cooking already?" the Knight asked, seeming surprised. Grinning in satisfaction, she served him some of the rabite, then giving Hawk some and taking a serving for herself last. She waited to see how Duran reacted before taking a bite herself.
The Knight, seemingly hungry despite the fact that he had eaten the evening before, dug in hungrily, taking a generous bite then chewing. A moment later, his jaw stilled and his eyes bulged, as he ran to the bushes and spat the bite he'd taken out. A moment later, looking appalled for his manners, he apologised to the Princess profusely. "Oh, excuse me Princess, I suppose I wasn't quite as hungry as I realised. I mean no offense."
Angela struggled to keep her face from falling as she took a bite herself, though managed to at least gag hers down. He was right. It was appalling. How did she manage to find a way to make something as supposedly simple as roasted rabite taste so horrible?!
"You must have a special skill to make something taste that bad, Princess. I was under the impression that Duran would eat nearly anything," the Fairy remarked.
"Princesses never need to know how to cook, gnat! Just as I wouldn't expect a chef to be able to run a Kingdom!" she retorted angrily at the bruise to her ego. So she wasn't the image of the perfect housewife! She had bigger things at stake!
She suddenly realised that Duran was staring, and after a moment of hopefulness, realised that it wasn't at her. For half a second she had a mild panic attack, thinking that the aphrodisiac hadn't quite worn off, when she realised the Knight's expression was one of utmost shock and maybe a little respect. She turned, surprised to see Hawk calmly chewing, already halfway through his portion of rabite.
He blinked at them. "What? It's good."
Well, one's sense of taste did tend to get dulled when ill. Either that or the herbs weren't working and he'd taken a toll for the worse and was now delirious. All the logic aside, she couldn't help but allow herself to wallow in the compliment for a moment, even if a tiny part of her mind suspected Hawk was trying to flirt with her.
Shaking himself from his state of incredulity at the Navarrian's mental strength, Duran took his chance to escape. "Well then, I'll go on back on watch while you two eat. Have fun!" He half ran from the campsite, likely fearing a literal firestorm of the Princess's wrath to begin raining down any moment.
Shrugging, Angela ate as much of the rabite as she could in a bid to reclaim her dignity as a cook. That wasn't much, as every bite she had to fight the urge to throw up, before she eventually gave up and threw the rest into the bushes. If nothing else, perhaps it could act as poison for any molebears who made it past Duran's guard. Hawk finished his own portion not much later.
Angela noticed then that Hawk, despite all of his denials, was looking exhausted - she had almost forgotten that neither of them had slept the night before. And if the flushed pallor of his face was anything to go by, the medicine was still battling with his fever. Sighing, she found some of the sleeping powder he'd used on Carlie once, and stealthily slipped some into his flask of water. "You have to keep your liquids up. Have a drink."
Apparently too tired to even argue, he took the flask and drank deeply. His eyes widened at his sudden sluggishness. "You...," he choked out, dropping the flask. "Sleeping powder.... I think I'm a bad influence on you."
The Princess couldn't help but grin as his words faded off into a murmur and he fell to the ground, unconscious. She settled on her knees next to his sleeping form. Duran would likely be on patrol for a while, treading a wide circle around the camp, so with little else to occupy herself, Angela concentrated on forming a cooling mist around the Ranger to keep him comfortable until the herbs managed to kick in. The Delvar suspected the Knight felt bad for his supposed failure earlier in being knocked out, and was making up for it now. Not that he really had anything to make up for, but the Princess certainly wasn't going to deal with the repercussions of dissuading him of that notion.
It must have been at least an hour later, Duran only coming back to check on them once, that Angela noticed that the thief's temperature had gone down and he seemed to be sleeping more comfortably. Relieved, though unwilling to examine the reasons why, she covered him with the blanket and settled herself back to make sure the fever had truly broken. She attempted to stifle a yawn. She hadn't slept at all the night before either, and all of this taking care of sick people stuff was truly exhausting, she decided, suddenly feeling keenly sorry for the many court healers she had tortured over the years.
Sighing, she shifted to keep herself aware. She failed to see what was driving her to keep vigilance like this - after all, this was hardly something that would keep Hawk down for long. She herself had tried everything in her power to kill the Ranger. From Holy Balls to Fire Balls to her potentially lethal cane, and the damn thief still lived. Flourished, even.
Slowly, she felt her head nodding. Damn Navarrian. He'd be the death of her, if the Fairy didn't manage to kill them first.
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