Chapter 16

I do not own Claymore

Teresa and Clare glanced at each other for a moment until Clare shrugged and said, "I don't see any problems with it, a night with a roof over our heads would be nice."

Teresa grinned at the couple and replied, "We'll take you up on your invitation!"

Riful grinned and clapped her dainty hands together.

Chronos got up and said to her, "Come with me, my lady, I'll show you the trunk." and they left the room.

Octavia leaned closer to Teresa and asked quietly, "What exactly are you guys doing? Seeing four fugitive warriors, and Riful of the West being all chummy is a bit unusual.

"Chronos might be the polite one and not ask, but I am curious and I'm asking!"

Clare cleared her throat and replied, "We are part of the survivors of the war in Pieta almost nine years ago now. Teresa and Sheila joined us very recently. Our long term goal is to overthrow the organization, our team was sent out to do a survey of the west.

"Meeting Riful was not in our plans and it was really blind luck that we found her when we did. The abyssal feeders had found her again and were closing in for the finish when we happened along."

Octavia smiled and remarked, "That explains her gratitude, you saved her life. Be careful that she doesn't forget her life debt to you."

She glanced at the doorway and said in a low voice, "We've kept our distance from her for good reason, we knew about her recruiting efforts and shied away from her and that great brute, Dauf. She didn't just kidnap warriors, she also kidnapped awakened beings too."

Sipping at her tea, Octavia smiled and said happily, "I have not had a chance to talk with any one other than other awakened beings and playing the hostess is kind of new to me."

Cynthia smiled at her and said cheerfully, "This is my first time talking to an awakened being and not drawing a blade. Frankly, I like this alternative, it's so much more pleasant!"

Octavia smiled and nodded in agreement then said, "I would like to keep it this way too. We raise the sheep for their wool and their meat, the garden is his idea for green food instead of just meat. So far, it's working nicely, we get our food and we can resist the cravings for human organs. Nobody fully human knows we're awakened beings and we'd like to keep it that way."

Riful's voice could be heard chatting happily and she reappeared wearing a rather tomboyish outfit consisting of snug fitting brown trousers, a long sleeved tan shirt and a hip length brown jacket.

A pair of laced up boots covered her feet and over all this, was the long cloak Sheila had lent her. Riful grinned and said happily, "Now, I won't stand out so much when we get to Rabona!"

Both Chronos and Octavia gaped and she blurted out, "You're taking her to Rabona? The Holy City? How is that gonna work?"

Clare remarked, "We have an arrangement with the temple and the city guards and we live atop the temple itself."

Chronos sat down heavily and said, "Woof! That's a piece of news, how did you pull that one off?" Cynthia smiled and said pleasantly, "We saved Rabona from Bloody Agatha when she attacked the city. Clare here had saved them before from a large yoma that was hiding in the temple and so, we negotiated a place to stay!"

"Did you kill Bloody Agatha?" Asked Octavia.

"No, we didn't kill her, we defeated her and drove her out of the city." Replied Clare.

Octavia smiled and said, "That's good news, it used to be an awakened being would be hunted to extinction, you're learning to adapt just as we are learning how to blend in!"

Teresa commented, "That and times are changing, the organization is losing its grip on this land. Before, when a warrior went rogue or tried to hide from them, they would send out a team or in my case, a special warrior one without a ranking number, this warrior's sole purpose was to enforce the rule about desertion. I think they had revived me to carry out that duty,"

She grinned, "but they forgot about my rebellious streak!"

Riful said quietly, "They had Rafaela doing that for a long time until she finally hunted down her sister, Luciela. Apparently Luciela got into a big fight with Isley when he came south after the war in the north.

"She lost badly and while she was fleeing the scene, Rafaela caught up with her and killed her. At least that's what I think she did."

"You think she did? Asked Clare, "What do you mean?"

Riful shrugged and replied, " I found their corpse, or I think it's them, it's hard to say really, it looks pretty weird."

"Weird?"

"Yeah, it's like they sort of melted together!"

"Melted together?" Asked Clare.

"That's what it looked like! Melted together."

Teresa leaned closer and asked, "What did you do with it and where is it?"

Riful looked away for a moment and then smiled and said, "This tea sure is good, where did you get it?"

"Riful!" Snapped Teresa, "Answer my question, where is it and what did you do with it?"

Riful looked uncomfortable and squirmed in her seat a bit, then she answered reluctantly, "It, is in the ruins of my last home, I had Dauf bring it there after I had found it. I was trying to figure out what it was and how I could use it. I was trying to find a warrior who was really good at reading youki."

She took a sip of her tea and muttered, "We couldn't find any cooperative warriors and while out looking for a possible candidate for a youki reader, we ran into Priscilla and that big man she was with and everything just went to hell after that."

Clare frowned and leaned closer to Riful, "Could you describe this 'big man' you keep mentioning?"

Riful grinned at her and said teasingly, "Why do you want to know, could he be someone you knew at one time?"

Clare scoffed and said, "I'm just curious that's all. I'm curious to know what kind of a man could be traveling with Priscilla and not know who or what she is?"

Riful shrugged and replied, "I can't answer that one, he didn't seem particularly surprised by Priscilla's actions, it was kind of like he'd seen it before. He just kind of waited 'til the fight was over and they walked away together like it was nothing."

"Nothing?" Exclaimed Clare.

"That's what I said, nothing."

Clare frowned again then said, "I'd still like to get an idea of what he looked like, if you don't mind."

Riful grinned and said, "What I do remember was that he was tall and broad shouldered with light brown hair and brown eyes. He carried a claymore and wore something like what you're wearing, y'know lightly armored to protect critical areas without being cumbersome."

She looked away for a few moments and scratched her head then she said, "Oh yeah, he had a fairly prominent scar alongside his head, just behind his left eye. It ran straight up and down and was a bit jagged...?"

Clare had gone even paler than her usual pallor and had a far away look in her eyes.

"Clare? Are you okay?" asked Teresa, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Clare put her right hand to her head and covered her eyes briefly then she said in a far away voice,"He's still alive... He's still alive..."

She looked at Riful and asked, "Did you hear his name by any chance?"

Riful looked at Clare's expression and replied gently, "I was fighting for my life and Dauf's, I'm sorry, I didn't catch any names. Was he someone you knew?"

Clare leaned back with a mysterious look on her face and she replied, "He was someone I traveled with for a time, I told the organization he was my cook to justify having him with me. We got separated when Ophelia realized I was partially awakened after I was sent to join her on an awakened being hunt, she went after me after she had killed the awakened being.

"Things got pretty crazy and afterwards, I couldn't find him. I've searched for him since then."

Octavia grimaced and said, "I'd heard of the 'Blood soaked warrior' she was definitely a twisted sister there, she specialized in hunting awakened beings and was very obsessive about it."

Chronos remarked, " To avoid her, 'Tavia and I went into a pretty remote part of this land and stayed hidden in a village of humans, humans who had never heard of yomas or the organization." Riful commented, "I'd heard of her myself but never got to meet her, the organization pretty much left me alone. I guess they were hoping I'd die off or something."

"Where was this village you spoke of?" Asked Teresa, "I thought I knew most of them from my travels."

"It was at the westernmost end of this land, a little hole in the wall town called Strah, near the Ticelli hills." Replied Chronos.

Teresa smiled at Clare until Clare said testily, "What?"

"Oh, nothing." replied Teresa, "I just find that our lives are almost like a bit of history repeating itself."

Clare frowned and commented, "I have considered that myself, I followed you despite your telling me not to, Raki followed me despite my telling him nearly the same thing. The difference is, he saved me from awakening while I couldn't save your life."

Teresa grinned at her and replied, "In a way you did. By your wanting my flesh placed into your body. The organization retrieved my body and placed it in nutrients, the flesh they took from me to plant in you actually grew back.

"Lord Dae got the idea to attempt reviving me because of that. So I think you did save me without realizing it at the time."

Finally, after several hours of talking, yawns began creeping into the mix and soon everyone was stifling one yawn after another.

Octavia finally declared, "I think we all need to call it a night! I'm yawning so much it's embarrassing, I'll see you folks in the morning. Just make yourselves at home where ever you can find a place to lie down, I have some blankets if anyone wants one."

She stepped over to a small closet and handed out homespun woolen blankets to everyone. A few minutes later, the lamp was blown out and the house was littered with the recumbent group composing themselves for slumber.

To Sheila's surprise, Riful bedded down next to her and she said, "I hope you don't mind and I'm not funny or anything, but I was really used to sleeping all curled up with Dauf and you're about the closest to him in size here."

Sheila just patted the floor next to her and said, " Go ahead, I don't mind a bit."

Sheila woke the next morning to find herself entangled in both Riful's limbs and in her hair, which seemed to have a mind of its own and it had wrapped itself around Sheila's long form while she had slept.

Looking around, she saw Teresa sitting at the kitchen table with Octavia and the two were smiling at her as if they were sharing a private joke, most likely at her expense.

Teresa put her finger to her lips, then pointed at Sheila.

Sheila looked down at Riful and saw her snuggled against her side with an expression of utter peace on her adorable little face.

Riful's eyes fluttered open and she saw Sheila smiling at her benignly, Riful sat up and withdrew her hair from around Sheila's body, she stretched and smacked her perfect lips while scratching idly. Riful said happily, "I haven't slept that soundly in a long time, that was great!"

Rising from the floor, Sheila gathered and folded the blankets they'd used, she glanced around and asked, "Where is everybody?"

Teresa grinned and said cheerfully, "They've been up, you two sleepyheads were sleeping like logs, so we just left you be."

Octavia smiled at them and said, "We have some breakfast for you, if you'd like some before you leave?"

Sheila grinned at their hostess and said, "Breakfast would be great after a sleep like that." The two sat down at the table and tucked into the hot cereal and small steaks that Octavia served them.

Hot tea washed it down afterwards, Sheila sighed as she leaned back and said, "I promised I'd help Chronos get some lumber before I left. Is he around?"

Octavia replied, "He's been outside getting some logs ready for you." Sheila grinned at her and gulped down the last of her tea.