Seven reviews till four hundred ;) Never thought this would get so far, but here it is.
I'll try to compress the arc a bit so we don't get too distracted, but I'm still not sure since I feel like the 'words by progress' bar seems a little large. Hopefully the pace can be quickened a bit. I don't need to focus on every single little thing they do, so I'll be skipping segments that add nothing at all that a blurb wouldn't be able to explain/replace. So fight scenes that are better imagined than shown will count on this.
One thing to say, though: Maybe I should drop the romance tag. Or at least, drop it till Julio appears since it's his romance that gains most focus. Just because the Vampire's are female does NOT mean they're here to be romance partners - They have more of a connection to the Valliere family and Tristain's black ops in general, which I find interesting because the black ops does jack all during the twenty volumes. So can we stop the romance questions, please? I'm not gonna think about that seriously/critically till about Saxe-Gotha. Before that its mostly teasing or for story purposes.
As stated before, I'll try to make Raziel's segment focus more on Wales and the loyalists a bit more. Oh, and a cookie to anyone who can catch the shout out in this chapter.
"Get down!"
Louise ducked her head just in time before a shot flew over her head, missing her by a mere few inches. Frowning, Wardes grabbed the rectangular table and flipped it onto its side to use as a makeshift shield against the bullets and crossbow bolts being pelted at them. The wooden structure wasn't going to last too long, so they had to get out of here as quickly as they could.
"What are we going to do?" Louise squeaked out a yell as one of the arrows the mercenaries fired embedded onto the table. Far too close to comfort, "How many people are there? I can't see from here." She peeked her head out from the table's edge only to lower it quickly as she saw one of the musket wielding attackers aiming at her forehead. Standing up was tantamount to suicide right now.
"...At least a dozen," Wardes dodged the crossbow bolt aimed at his head. These mercs were accurate, which was doubly impressive considering the darkness of the night outside, "There are civilians being forced onto the floor between us and the entrance. Spells aren't going to work unless we want to kill or injure any innocent people," He looked to the bar's counter, "The one who owns this place is gone as well. It's likely that he was paid off to ensure that the inn would be used this way and that any guards or knights coming wouldn't be alerted to what they were doing. We can't wait for help"
"Then what are we going to do?" Her hand went to her wand before she grimaced. What was she going to do? Make them cough to death? Her explosions were strong - sometimes even able to knock people into walls or unconsciousness when she was angry enough - but they could only target at most one person at a time. Killing one of them would prove useless unless she was sure she could keep firing of strong enough explosions rather than just loud puffs of smoke.
A set of footsteps coming from the stairs behind her interrupted her thoughts. Raziel ran down the stairs quickly, the two Vampires and Guiche trailing behind him, "Hurry-" A gunshot interrupted whatever he was about to say, "Uwaaah!" Guiche yelled and quickly ducked his head, putting both arms in front of him as if it would stop the projectile.
"Get down!" Amethyst ran to the blond noble and tackled him to the ground, avoiding the following barrage of crossbow bolts that would have punctured his chest, "Everybody, stop standing and get down! You'll get shot otherwise!" She grabbed the nearest table's edge and flipped it onto its side, similar to Wardes, using it as a makeshift barrier. Although it was painfully obvious to her that the 'shield' wouldn't last long.
Following her yell, both the Undead and the Firstborn crashed dropped to the ground, each grabbing for their own table to use as a cover, "Standing seems to be dangerous," Raziel deadpanned, looking up from his already prone position on the ground. He looked around briefly before he spotted a familiar head of of pink hair, "Master is there with the Viscount."
"We'll be shot if we try to move to them," Daphne grimaced as a hole suddenly appeared at the table's right side. While Vampires were naturally more hardy compared to humans, attacks still hurt them and they were under explicit orders not to expose their status as Firstborns to anyone under threat of being burned at the stake like heretics. That wasn't even mentioning the fact that Raziel and Guiche were human - although the former had a bit of a condition - so they would no doubt be impeded heavily if they allowed themselves to get shot.
"Wh-What do we do then!?" Guiche yelled. Normally he would be ecstatic over the fact that Amethyst was clinging so close to him, but the fear of getting his brains splattered on the wall reduced the 'Charm's' effect heavily, "We can't leave the two of them out there and we can't move unless we want to get shot! Oh Brimir, this is too much! This was supposed to be a quick and easy task!"
"Please be quiet," Amethyst grabbed for a bottle lying on the floor and tossed it against the left wall. Hearing the sound, six gunshots reacted and bombarded where the bottle landed before the mercenaries realized no one was there, "Six shots," She mumbled, "From what I can see, there are 18 people with muskets with 6 in a row each. Every time they fire they need fifteen to thirty seconds to reload, so the the row behind them takes point while they recover. Assuming they get at least half a minute before having to fire again, they can keep going so long as they have ammo to spare."
"We are trapped then," Raziel grabbed for his bow and arrow before lowering it with a small frown. There was no way he would be able to aim at them fast enough considering his missing eye and their better armaments.
"There is one way," Daphne interjected, "If we can trick them into shooting continuously and without giving them a chance to reload, that should give as about 15 seconds at most to make it to where your friends are," She looked down at the floor in frustration, "But that means one of us has to go out into the open and risk being shot. I think I should do it. I may not be as fast, but I can heal better because of what I am."
She was tempted to use a sleep spell, but the range of the attack would hamper them in the long run. Unlike the Elves, a Vampire's spell was naturally weaker due to their lower connections to the spirits - If she used a sleep spell, there was a likely chance they wouldn't be able to get hem all, especially not at this range and due to their lack of water to use as a spell catalyst. She'd already burned out her flask of water trying to put Raziel to sleep, and that proved useless as well. At this distance she would do nothing but place Guiche to sleep.
"No! We were told that we couldn't expose ourselves to anyone unless they were willing to keep our secret," Amethyst interjected quickly, "There are people outside being kept hostage and the mercenaries can see everything. Even if we get out of this we'll be branded as heretics unless we manage to keep our secret intact. We have to find another way."
"What other choice do we have-"
"Enough," Raziel got into a kneeling position and looked up at the table's edge carefully, "I will distract them. I still need to make it to master's side, so this is the most sensible course of action."
Daphne looked like she wanted to argue with him before Guiche raised a shaking hand to interrupt, "U-Um, pardon me for interrupting, but does it have to be a person that distracts them?" She found the question odd, but shook her head regardless. As long as it distracted then it didn't matter if a mouse was the one running around, "Then might I suggest using my bronze golems instead? They're human enough in shape and can take a decent barrage of bullets before giving in. Once I send them out we can just run to the Viscount's table."
"...Genius," Raziel laughed slightly at the student's suggestion. He had almost forgotten that the noble, despite his tendencies, was a mage from this land.
"Alright, I'll send them all out once. One of you count the shots and we'll go after the eighteenth one passes," At their nods, he waved his rose wand and summoned three kneeling golems, "Go, my Valkyries! Charge the entrance!" The constructs stood up stiffly before beginning their mad charge towards entrance. The mercenaries looked surprised at the charging constructs and immediately peppered them with their guns, ignoring tactics altogether.
"Now!" At Amethyst's yell, the four of them stood up from their tables and ran to where Louise and the Viscount were taking cover. The mercenaries seemed to realize their mistake and tried to aim for them, though they quickly found that their guns were empty and unusable. They had all fired on the golems in their panic to keep the people in. They weren't going to fall for tricks like that again.
"I see you made it," Wardes commented nonchalantly as the four nearly crashed onto the table in their hurry, "I'm not gonna bother asking who your two friends are, but I'm going to assume they're allies?" Raziel mouthed a "Yes" as he grabbed for his bow again. He was closer now and he could aim better, though he still doubted his capabilities, "Then I hope we can trust them to help us here."
Louise looked past her Familiar and gasped as she caught sight of the two figures, "Big sis Daphne! Big sis Amethyst! What are you two doing here?"
"Louise! You're here as well!" Daphne replied, surprised at the sight of the tiny pinkette.
"You are acquainted with these two, Master?" Raziel grabbed for the bottle and mimicked Amethyst's trick from before, but no gunshots moved to greet the sound this time. They had gotten clever to their tricks. Sighing, Raziel grabbed for an arrow and started stretching the bowstring. He couldn't aim just yet, but he could still prepare the bow in case he needed to make a quick shot.
"Yes, they're-" A gunshot rang out again and Louise felt her ear ring as another piece of the table - this one just two inches from her ear - flew off at the bullet's, "You know what? I'll explain later. We need to get out of here first!" She placed both hands on her head as more bolts embedded on the table's front. While the main rows mainly used muskets, some of the mercenaries off to the side still threw potshots at them with crossbows just for a laugh. Though why they didn't attack them sooner with it she had no idea.
Something was wrong. They had enough guns that they could easily perforate the table and all of them in it. But so far they seemed to be content to only shoot at them whenever they tried something or when a noise resounded inside. They could have killed them by now, and yet they stayed outside and refused to charge in or fire unless they looked to try and escape. This was both inefficient and a waste of resources.
"Agreed," Daphne pulled Guiche and the Raziel closer and whispered, "Louise doesn't know of our condition, so please take care not to mention it. Her mother would be appalled if she found out."
"O-Of course!" Guiche immediately answered. Raziel contented himself with nodding slightly, "So do we have a plan in motion, Viscount?" He turned to the Griffon Knight, "Surely you can use your magic to blow apart those mercenaries! Or perhaps you could call your Griffon down from the sky and command it to lay siege to the men standing outside!"
"Unfortunately not" Wardes shook his head in refusal, "There are people outside being forced on the ground, likely to be used as hostages and human shields. Any spell I use will have the heavy risk of either injuring or killing them if I try it. Same goes for my Griffon, since it's likely that they'll shoot people if they think that they're going to lose control of the situation."
"What about a back entrance?" Louise suggested.
"Its possible, but they likely already covered that as well," Wardes sighed, "Although there is a high likelihood that there are no hostages on the back side due to it leading to the alleyways and canals; there wouldn't be any room to hold hostages, at least not more than about two or three. Regardless, its all pointless since we can't run to the back without getting shot in the back."
"What about a wind shield?" Louise suggested again. Wardes was a Mage trained by her own mother, so surely he was capable of making a barrier.
"Too small," He replied, "I can make one for one person, two if we push it, but there are at least six of us here. I can make a tornado around us, but that won't stop us from getting hurt by the wind or the place collapsing on us if I try it. A barrier that reflects bullets is very much different from a gust of wind. And before you suggest using wind clones, know that won't work either. I can only make copies of myself and, even if they somehow ignore the fact that there are multiples of the same people running around, we still have to deal with the fact that there are eighteen of them wielding muskets. I can make six at most and at that point one shot would be enough to dispel them. It won't stop them from shooting at us."
"I could try my golems again," Guiche cut in.
"You already tried it once," Raziel was the one to reply this time, "They will not fall for the same trick twice and it is likely that they know that one shot to the head is enough to stop the Valkyries from moving."
"...Then we're doomed..." Guiche wailed, throwing up his arms briefly before suddenly slamming them back down. He would have gotten shot if he exposed his arms from the top of the table, "We're stuck in this table, none of our spells work, they have a plan to keep us in place so long as they don't get tired, both entrances are sealed, and then Tristain and Germania are going to stop their treaty because we couldn't complete the mission. Once our failure reaches the royal palace we'll all be tried as incompetent, and that's if we all don't die here and become buried in an unmarked ditch."
"Calm down," Raziel punched him in the shoulder lightly and rolled his eyes in annoyance, "We must keep calm and think normally. There are eighteen of them out there and there are no distractions that can be used to ensure that all six of us can escape." He internally scowled. By all accounts they were trapped, and since they weren't dead yet it was likely that they were being kept here rather than killed. They had more than enough chances to shoot at them and yet they didn't take it. If they did nothing then they would be the one to lose here.
"...Damn," The Undead stood up suddenly and aimed his bow at the row of musket wielders. Letting his luck handle the draw, he let the arrow fly loose and watched as it...bounced off harmlessly against the mercenaries metal armor. He could hear some of them laughing at his pathetic aim before they raised their rifles to shoot at him. He barely heard his master's voice to tell him to get down before pain erupted on his right shoulder.
"Ah," He fell onto his back and clutched at his shoulder. Blood and damnation, why did those things hurt so much? For such tiny things they surely contained a strong amount of power. Blinking away the white spots in his vision, he used his left hand to try and grab for his bow again. It was the only way to attack them that didn't place anyone else in danger.
"You idiot!" Louise smacked him at the top of his head and dragged him closer to the table, "Do you really think you can shoot them all down with just a bow and one of your eyes? Don't be a moron," Raziel didn't answer, "What would you have done if they shot the people on the ground? We were asked to do a mission, not to kill innocent people. Don't do something like that again. You already pushed your luck before."
"That's enough, Louise," Wardes grabbed her shoulder gently and pulled her back, "This is not the time to argue right now. Whatever you have to say to your Familiar, it can wait until after have escaped this situation," He turned to Raziel, "Are you capable of moving? We need to run out of here if we're to have a chance of escaping this problem."
"Yes, it is a minor injury..." Despite his words of warning, his eyes narrowed at the sight of Raziel's shoulder. His bloodless shoulder. He had been shot by a musket, he'd seen it, and yet her fiancee's Familiar appeared to be physically fine apart from the hole in the white tunic he wore, "They are wearing armor. Projectiles will do little but distract them."
"Should we just surrender then?" Guiche suggested, ignoring Louise's scowling reaction, "I mean, we're not going to do anything just sitting here behind this table, and newcastle could be getting besieged while we argue on ways to escape. Mercenaries only care about money, so maybe we can bribe them and then they'll let us go?" Louise continued to scowl at him, "It was just an idea! What else can we do!?"
"That has to be one of the stupidest-"
"Actually, I think it might work," Daphne interrupted before Louise went off on her long tangent, "Me and my sister could feign surrender and then attack them from behind. During the confusion the four of you can escape using the back door."
Louise immediately refused, "No! Do you have any idea-"
"Its the best plan we have," Wardes spoke over her, "Are you two Mages by any chance? I recall seeing you two in the palace from time to time, but I assumed you were simply ladies in waiting. Do you have any combat experience?"
"I'm a triangle class wind Mage and my sister's the same, only her element is earth," Amethyst answered, reciting the lie that she and her sister were instructed to use everytime someone asked them about using magic, "We lost our wands due to an incident earlier, so could we trouble you to lend us a spare wand? We'll use it to cover your escape and we'll give it back when we see each other again at the castle. You are part of the Griffon Knights, if what Sir Guiche said is correct?"
"Yes," Wardes placed a hand inside his cloak before pulling out two wands and handing it to the two of them, "Once you feign surrender and start casting the spell, we will run. Make sure to keep the people safe and to get away yourselves once you accomplish the task." They were lucky that he had spare wands on him. Every Mage with ranking positions in the army always made sure to keep three wands on them at all times; in his case it was two spare wands and his sword-wand - Or swand, as some people liked to call them.
Raziel was sure glad that the mercenaries were letting them talk this long. He would have shot them already if their positions were reversed. Must be because they were trying to distract them rather than actually kill them, although he doubted any of them would care if they got killed by a stray shot.
"I still don't think-"
"Its alright, Louise," Daphne placated, interrupting her yet again, "Whatever it is you're doing here, I assume it to be important. We'll be fine."
Louise opened her mouth to complain, but her voice got caught in her throat. She knew she should have protested more, she knew she should have pointed out that they would be disarmed if they surrendered, but something was telling her to let her mother's friends handle it, "Okay...just make sure to be careful..." She stared at the floor and took some calming breaths. They would be fine, something was telling her that they would be okay.
Raziel stared at his master's odd behavior before throwing a slightly disapproving glance Daphne's way. She was using the 'Charm' magic to placate her.
"Let us begin then," The two Vampires stood up and slowly walked to the entrance, holding their hands up in surrender. The soldiers were tempted to fire before catching sight of the two females. Some of them immediately licked their lips; their intentions were rather clear to Louise. She gagged at the thought and was half-tempted to call out for them to come back, but Wardes pulled her close before she had the chance.
"Louise, once they start casting we'll have to run. Do you understand?" She nodded, her eyes never leaving the entrance, "Louise, look at me," He cupped her chin gently and made her face him, "The back entrance will be less occupied, but we'll still have to fight. At close quarters your wand won't be able to do you any good. Take this," He pressed something cold and firm into her hand, "Whenever you feel like you're in danger, do not even for second hesitate to use it. Its your life or theirs and you need to make that choice without any reservations."
Louise looked at what he had passed into her hand and shivered as she saw the small dagger. It was sharp and of fine make, but the size of it was far smaller than most of the daggers she had seen when they went shopping for supplies the last two times. It was just perfect for her, "How did-" The sounds of screaming interrupted her. She turned her gaze back and saw the mercenaries scream as the earth beneath their feet began to crumble and the plants started grabbing at their legs and arms. She winced as some of their comrades were smashed against the walls by the buffeting wind, the armor making a loud crash on impact with the wall. That had to hurt.
"Now!" Wardes grabbed her hand and ran quickly towards the back entrance. Louise screamed in both fear and frustration as some of the mercenaries tried in vain to shoot clumsily at them, missing them by just a few feet. Trailing behind her, Raziel was shooting his bow to distract them and Guiche was summoning all the golems that he could to use as makeshift shield, "Doing that is pointless! Keep running" Wardes shouted back at them.
He tightened his grip on Louise's hand and pushed the door open with a slam, "Hey, who are-" There were two mercenaries stationed in the back. The first ones eyes widened briefly at the sight of the unfamiliar people before Wardes used his free hand to stab him in the neck with his rapier, "Argh khp!" Blood spilled from his mouth and he crumpled to the ground in a heap.
"You'll pay for that!" The second merc attempted a charge at Wardes before he found his neck unceremoniously being separated from his body by the blade of a rusty sword. Raziel winced as he shook his right shoulder slightly. Dismembering was far easier to do to the people here compared to Lordran, but the bullet wound was still annoying to move around with. The attacker's 'soul' left his body and entered the Undead's.
"Thank you," Wardes nodded at him, "Come then, we must get to the boat before it leaves port. I suspect that our trials aren't over yet."
Tabitha petted Sylphid's nose affectionately and offered a loaf of bread to the dragon's drooling maw, "Kyuu!" The blue dragon squeaked affectionately, chomping at the offered treat with barely restrained hunger. She hadn't gotten anything to eat since they had left the academy for La Rochelle and no one in the inns approached her or ran away when she tried to pester them for food. Jeez, she wasn't going to eat them! Just because she was a dragon didn't mean she was a monster. She liked to think that she kept her urges restrained, even if there were times she wanted to bite people's heads off for annoying her.
"Do you really have to do that?" Fouquet asked back, not even surprised when the bluenette didn't deign to give her a reply, "Just make sure to keep watch. This is uncomfortable enough as it is," She reminded her.
They'd arrived in Albion early - again thanks to her impromptu partner's dragon - so that meant they were still under cover of night. Unfortunately, that meant that the rebels observing the area were free to detain anyone they saw due to their own self-imposed curfew. She sighed. The royal family was really falling if the rebels could openly impose their own rules without anyone stopping them. The majority of the populace supporting them was the final nail on the coffin, although many of them did it in the hope that they would be treated better by the new regime once they took power.
Of course, that was all a lie. She'd heard of the reputation of King James of Albion. He'd killed his brother many years ago, along with most of his brother's vassals, supposedly for some kind of power grab. She knew the truth, of course, but the truth and the rumors did mix somewhat: He'd murdered Tiffi's father because he also held power over the royal funds. He wanted to build warships and little brother wouldn't give him the key to the royal banks. When he'd found out about his brother's heretical actions he had made sure to kill him publicly along with all his vassals in servants to make sure no one opposed him.
Of course, the king failed to realize that killing your brother and refusing to explain yourself out of pride made the populace think of you as a monster. Her grip on the dress tightened as she began to strip out of her clothing. She would have preferred to change at an inn rather than a dark alley, but they needed to appear as a mistress and her young servant to anybody who passed by; the new regime didn't bother nobility so long as they didn't claim to support the Tudor line or be loyalists in general. She should have changed sooner.
Her father had been one of the first killed; he remembered him running into the house one day and telling her and her mom to wake up, and that they needed to run. She remembered the Mages set fire to her house and how her father stayed behind so they could both run. She and her mother had been hunted down like animals in the forest and...
She shook her head to dispel her thoughts. Now was not the time to reminisce. She finished putting on the clothing before hiding her wand in one of the long sleeves; no one would see her as a threat and she was willing all too well to take advantage of that.
"Orders?" Tabitha turned back to her after whispering for Sylphid to take flight; she didn't want her to stay around or to stay in human form since they needed to fake being a simple pair of being nobility and servant. Her Familiar would come for her if she called for her.
"It says we have to wait at the inn near the edge of the city and the closest to Newcastle," She tossed the rolled up parchment to Tabitha, daring the girl to try and verify to see it herself if she didn't trust her, "We'll meet someone there in a few hours and he'll give us the details on what to do next," She looked up into the sky, "Rumor has it that Newcastle's going to be under siege come tomorrow morning, so we either have to steal from the vault come the next morning or during the night. I doubt Reconquista's going to leave the vault untouched by the time they finish, so we have to finish this before the royal family falls."
Tabitha peeked her head out of the alley and made a quick observation of the street they were about to pass: No townspeople save the occasional drunk or the bored Reconquista sentry. She turned back to Fouquet and gave a barely noticeable nod, one that was returned quickly. They had to avoid the sentries if they could, but at least they had a disguise if things ever went south.
"...Ready..." Tabitha nodded and pocketed the parchment. It was time to wait.
Louise took a deep, relieved breath as she saw the ship passing through the clouds and up to the skies above La Rochelle. The captain had tried to deny them passage by claiming that there wouldn't be enough windstones that they carried weren't enough to take them to Albion till morning came - excusing himself by saying that the floating island's position wasn't close enough till the morning came and that they would need either extra windstones or be content to come crashing to the ground without support.
But of course, her fiance had thought of a brilliant idea: Rather than wait around and let the mercs possibly catch them - although the only they would have been able to do that was by passing both Daphne and Amethyst, and she didn't want to think what that meant - he had suggested that he use his own spells to help propel the ship, at least until they reach Albion. Right now he was busy preparing and that meant she was alone with no one to talk to but the crew around her. And she didn't particularly care to talk to sailors who had nothing to converse about beyond the mastheads or wind intensity for sailing.
She could have gone back to her designated cabin, let herself get some rest after everything that had happened, but she found the idea of sleeping hard right now. It wasn't that she wasn't tired - she'd spent only about half an hour resting before she found her fiance waking her up to warn her about mercenaries - and yet everything that had happened made the idea of sleeping till everything was over difficult. She wouldn't allow herself to feel at ease till she found Prince Wales, got that letter and finally returned it to her dearest friend.
Burning the letter was also an option, but she doubted that she could ever push herself to do that. It meant so much to the princess and she couldn't imagine her heartbreak if she found her lover's final reply turn to ashes. She knew that she should have disapproved of her friend's secret relationship, but all she could find in her heart was pity. She was to be wed into the emperor of that barbaric country Germania, a man known for his odd tastes and careless nature. The man who imprisoned his extended family in a mansion and waited till their corpses became cold before even seeing them again. She wept for the trials her friend faced.
Her eyes scanned the deck. Nobody but sailors not paying her any attention or deckhands tying and untying escape boats or inspecting the cargo they contained - apparently sulfur was really valuable right now and fetched a fair price, provided one took the risk of transporting the cargo. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as the smell of rum and other assorted alcoholics wafted into her nose. Because they had forced the ship to go ahead of its departure time, most of the sailors were still barely sober and running on fumes. She just hoped they wouldn't crash and kill them all.
Another glance and she found her Familiar's recognizable form sitting against one of the ships railings. She rolled her eyes and, with a tired sigh, began to walk over towards him. The idiot was probably going to fall to his doom; some of these railings could be so fragile that it was ridiculous. And she supposed that talking with him was infinitely better than standing around and thinking about how things could go wrong. Guiche was already asleep in his own designated room and she certainly wasn't going to wake him up and tell him she wanted someone to talk to since her fiance was busy. The fop might get the wrong idea.
"Raziel," She called out his name once she stood in front of him. His left eye twitched slightly but he didn't reply, "Hey, I'm talking to you," She called out again, slightly more irritated this time. He looked up at her briefly before turning to look to the side. He didn't want to talk to her now, especially since he still felt sluggish from both the drain and the gunshot wound from earlier.
"What is it that master wishes to say?" His voice came out as forced, which was surprising since she was used to his flat affect.
"What...What are you doing?" She fumbled quickly. She didn't actually plan on what to say to him or what to talk about. If Brimir above was so kind she would have preferred to talk to her fiance instead, but Jean-Jaques was busy using his magic to ensure that none of them went crashing into the ground. Truthfully she would have preferred to vent on his idiocy during the incident days ago, but she was beginning to get a bit tired of yelling.
"Looking out to the majestic sights," He replied half-sarcastically. While the view in the sky was indeed vast and all-encompassing, the darkness of the night and the clouds blocking the way made it so that anything he looked at was likely to be either too dark or covered by clouds for him to see properly. His lack of complete eyesight wasn't helping in this regard.
"Stop lying," She rolled her eyes as the jab and sat down next to him, though making sure to keep at least a couple of feet between them. She didn't even know what she was doing here. Her Familiar obviously didn't want to talk to her and she was too jittery right now to sleep, so perhaps all she wanted was a distraction? That's what she'd been doing for the three days that they prepared for this trip. He ignored her and she ignored him. She had every right to be angry at him; he had committed what amounted to treason and she could have killed him. And yet she trusted him.
"I would never lie," He lied again.
"Just...stop," She was getting irritated. Sighing in frustration, she scrambled her mind to think of a topic for the two of them to discuss - Anything to pass the time till they arrived in Albion, "How did...Oh, right! How did you meet Big sis Daphne and Big sis Amethyst?" She saw his right hand immediately grab for his neck. Odd, that wasn't what she was expecting.
"We met due to a mistake," He answered quickly. A bit too quickly, "They...had gotten her room wrong and Guiche insisted on talking to the one you refer to as Amethyst. The remaining sister and I did not talk much; she apologized for getting the room wrong and I did not press her on it," He rubbed his neck again as he felt the sting of the embedded fangs, "Guiche came back soon after and informed us of the bandits. Nothing else happened.
"Guiche? Why am I not surprised," She shook her head exasperatedly. The playboy never could pass up the chance on trying to woo a female so long as he thought them worthy enough to spend time on. Granted she didn't think he would have much luck; Her mother's old friends were kind, but they were mature despite their young age. They reminded her of Big sis Catt in a way.
"...You seem to be acquainted with them," Daphne had mentioned it earlier: Louise wasn't aware of their...condition. He couldn't help but smile slightly. They likely had no idea that she was his master or that she was aware that she harbored an Undead. He had to make sure to tell them if he ever met them again or if they survived that distraction. They would have found the entire thing ironic.
"That's right," She brought her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The night wind was cold and fierce, "They're my mother's old friends. I don't know how she met them or why they're so close considering their large age gap, but both father and mother told me that they were friends of the Valliere family," She smiled wryly, "Actually, they're not the only ones. The Gramonts and the Grandples are supposed to be close allies to us as well, but that didn't stop Guiche and Malicorne from ridiculing me at school. I suppose it doesn't concern us children."
"..." Raziel said nothing as he gave a blank sideways glance at his master.
"The last time I really met them was when I was twelve; three years before I went to the academy," She suddenly frowned, "Something happened - I'm not sure what - and then they just stopped visiting. I was really surprised when I saw them in the inn, and I wish I got a chance to talk to them. Its been three years and they haven't changed at all."
"One wonders why," He found his master's cluelessness about the whole thing to be slightly amusing. Had she known the truth, would she accept it with open mind like Guiche did, or would she push her mother's old friends away like they were monsters? He never could tell if she accepted his Undeath as a part of him or if she was secretly repulsed with who...what she had summoned. She never gave strong reactions to it and always told him to keep it a secret not out of disgust but because she didn't want to be branded a heretic.
"Raziel...we need to talk about what happened at the Count's estate," His remaining eye widened slightly, though he still said nothing, "Don't keep quiet. We haven't talked about it since we went back and we need to get it out of the way," She took a deep breath before continuing, "Jean-Jaques his strong, but I can't expect him to shoulder protecting me during the entire trip. I thought we would be able to do this without any problems, but we were attacked in that inn and they were trying to keep us in. I think they were trying to keep us busy so our mission would fail.
Raziel saw her hands make her way to her skirt's pocket and caress the dagger that Wardes had given her. He doubted she would ever use it, but he wasn't going to say that out loud; she would likely take it as a challenge, "I have nothing to talk about," He rubbed the back of his head and let out a tired breath, "You saw the experiments on the Count's lower floors, the people that had their feet cut off. Would you prefer that he continue unhindered?"
"That still doesn't excuse what you did!" Louise instantly rebuked. He pursed his lips together and resisted the urge to argue back, "Do you have any idea what you did? It wasn't just the fact that you killed the Count; you murdered all his guards too. How many of them were in on the Count and how many of them were just doing their jobs? You can't just kill people in your way when you think they deserve to die."
None of the sailors paid attention to what she said. Just as well; the Count's death didn't spread far enough to La Rochelle considering its location and low population. Besides, it was the words of a few sailors over the word of a noble. Even if they decided to make the two day journey to Tristain in order to accuse her of the crime, no investigation officially took off and the testimony of a few drunk guards wouldn't hold up very much compared to the word of the third daughter of the Valliere family.
"They attacked me, I fought back," Raziel replied, slight annoyance seeping into his tone, "I did not kill any of the servants since they did not attack me. I made no effort to attack them first and the women in the cellar made it clear that the guards were the ones who brought them food. I did not do it out of a desire for justice; they had made attempts on my life and I responded in kind."
"And that's what you tell yourself whenever you kill people? I don't know if I can ever live with that kind of weight," She looked down, her expression a mix of sadness and frustration, "Raziel...killing people is wrong. I should be angry with you right now, and I am, but I'm not going to throw you to the dungeons in order to save myself. But I was so tempted to take the Count's offer and just leave you to rot...that wasn't a joke about your...you know..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Listen, alright? We need to work together now. I have no idea what's going to happen but we can't waste our time snapping at each other. We need to work together. I'm your master and you're my Familiar."
He didn't understand it. From where he had come it was standard practice to kill whatever posed as a threat: It was almost instinctual for him or any Undead to do so, to attack and fight back against a world that wanted to see them eradicated. And yet his master talked about mercy, about how every human life mattered. He would never understand her.
"Why...did you not kill me?" He asked hesitantly. He honestly didn't understand why she hadn't killed him when he had gotten his eye gouged out. Granted he probably would've just revived and killed the Count when he came back, but he had no idea where the nearest bonfire was. He wasn't even sure if it was the same land as Lordran and its surrounding isles. He'd certainly never heard of elemental magic or Vampires before he had come here. By contrast they had never heard of Undead beyond stories and any demons they talked about came from legend and hearsay.
"...I don't really know," She admitted, "I guess I trusted my gut...or it was a temporary lapse in judgement that I'll be carrying for the rest of my life," She started fingering the dagger again, "I'm still not even sure if I made the right choice. If my mother saw me now she'd punish me either way: Either for treason or for letting my Familiar get out of control. I guess that's why I've been so frustrated while we were preparing to come here. First I summon an Undead for a Familiar and then he starts massacring people left and right. I decided to trust you and I made the decision before I could think more on it."
"...Th...Thank you..." The two words of gratitude came out softly, but Louise heard it all the same and smiled slightly.
"Don't thank me: I'm still not sure if I made the right choice," She waved off his words, "In either case, we need to cooperate if we don't want any more incidents. Jean-Jaques was given the location of a secret passage by the princess that's known only to the royal family that she found out from Prince Wales. While this means we have a secret entrance in, I can't discount the fact that it could be a trap or that someone could follow us in; anything could happen, especially since we were attacked at an inn where no one should be able to figure out where we were."
Raziel glanced around the deck of the 'ship' that he had been forced on. Riding it was a first experience for him, but he had learned to stifle his surprise since everything about this place was pretty much new to him. The members of the crew that weren't too busy with their duties were preoccupied with gawking at the Viscount's Griffon, which he had summoned to land when they first arrived. According to him, Griffons were unable to fly the distance to Albion and that was why they had to go through the trouble of hiring a ship.
"Speaking of which, how are your injuries doing?" Louise questioned, "I know what you said about injuries before, but we can't take any chances now. Our failure here means more than us; Tristain might have to face any threat alone and without Germania's help if that letter were ever to get out. Your injuries need to be checked so we can make sure if you can still fight effectively."
"I am capable," She gave him a disbelieving stare. Sighing, he started unbuttoning his shirt and removed the right side to show her his bare shoulder. Louise was acutely aware that it looked like she was forcing him to strip - and she kind of was - but she needed to put it behind her. She could deal with the jeers and whispers of a few sailors over death and the collapse of her beloved country. And if that meant looking somewhat perverted then she could deal with it.
"...Ew," These were the first words that passed Louise's lips. She grimaced as she saw the bullet wound - While there wasn't any blood to speak of and no sight of the bullet at all, she could make out the destroyed skin and what looked to be misshapen bones that came from the impact hitting against his flesh . She raised a finger and gently poked it, earning a small hiss and forcing Raziel's eye to close. His Undeath allowed him to ignore it and keep fighting, but it didn't change the fact that injuries still hurt him like it did any other human being; albeit to a marginally lesser degree compared to most normal people.
"This looks bad. The skin's misshapen and it looks like the bones got fractured when the bullet hit it," She bit her lip frustratedly, "I don't know what I can do to heal it." All of the knowledge on medicine she knew came from the books she read about them when she was younger. Beyond water magic, commoners were also capable of healing, although they were never as good as even a novice water Mage. Movement likely wouldn't help in its healing at all, but she needed her Familiar to be capable of swinging his sword around rather than lying down like a cripple or Guiche after too many drinks of wine.
She was kind of starting to regret not buying him armor. Or even a shield.
"It will heal on its own," Raziel replied, "Your...water magic is incapable of healing me and it will not take long. An Undead's body cannot truly break unless they Hollow, and I still have all of my senses, much as I wish at times to lose it completely." He 'joked'.
She gave another wry smile before pointing at his eye, "Right, we need to check that next. See if it healed at all." She could see Raziel's mouth turn into a slight frown at the command, "Come on, I've already seen it before, so there's no need to be shy," She teased slightly. His frown briefly turned into a smile at the light jab and he lifted the eyepatch.
"...Ew," She remarked again, causing him to sigh. While the eye looked better than before, it was still noticeably ravaged and appeared to be beyond healing - Though both them knew that this wasn't the case. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the small yet nasty looking scar that covered his right eye. When he opened his eyes all she could see was the whites of his eyes. She winced and turned away, which he took as a signal for him to return the white eyepatch to its place.
"Alright, so its still not healing," She shook her head; half in disbelief and half in dark amusement, "You know, you remind me of one of the stories I read when I was younger. A world where people lived forever and no one ever truly died. While those who died did decompose, they remained alive in agony: Just clinging to their past selves. The main character of the book was a man who called himself 'Humpnie Humbert' - A play on the Germanian legend about a monster called the 'Man Eating Doll' - was someone who was immortal in the sense that he never aged and that he never truly died."
"Humpnie Humbert? ...What a silly name," He commented, completely ignoring the irony in his statement.
"It was a Germanian story, what did you expect?" Louise agreed half-heartedly, "But in any case, you're not as impressive. Believe it or not, a part of me actually felt elated after I calmed down. I thought I got an immortal and indestructible Familiar," She eyed him up and down before sighing, "I guess immortals like that really are just a legend. Even the Elves have limited lifespans and Vampires need blood to stay alive, not to mention their weakness to sunlight."
If he wanted a Vampire for a Familiar then she had two she could have had right under he nose. Although a part of him felt slightly offended at the notion that he wasn't particularly impressive. While he didn't like to brag, he liked to think that taking on the remnants Lordran's Gods was impressive in its own right. Especially since no one else in the entire history Lordran apparently managed to do it. Or maybe they did and the time distortion kept it from being- He was getting confused. He hated thinking about time travel or temporal distortions. Solair and Logan were the experts in that regard."
"But I suppose I'll take what I can get," She sighed with forced drama, "So are we in agreement, then? Whatever feelings of hostility we have against one another and whatever disagreements we may have, we'll get along at least until the duration of this mission. We can't afford to waste our time with petty squabbles while the the entire country of Tristain is in distress. We can go back to hating each other after this, but lets just make sure that we're both alive after this."
"If it is what master desires," She could hear the slight relief in his voice. She guessed that he wanted to avoid conflict as long as it wasn't necessary.
Louise was about to reply before the sounds of loud yawning interrupted her, "Huwaaaaa~ Hey, what I miss?" Derf clicked, raising his hilt up slightly before suddenly slamming back down on the sheath. His place on Raziel's back ensured that he would have fallen of the railing's empty space if he moved around too much. And while it wouldn't hurt, he wasn't exactly looking forward to the idea of falling off a ship and plummeting to the ground.
"Nothing, you stupid sword," Louise replied with a bit of cheer. Derflinger raised an obviously metaphorical eyebrow. Where was her sour look and barely hidden anger? He must've been asleep for a while, "Right, then we should start preparing our things. We'll be arriving at Albion soon and from there it's going to be a straight path till the end. Come on, Humpnie, we should wake up Guiche."
"As you wish..." Raziel rolled his eye and laughed slightly at the obvious joke.
"Hey, partner, what the hell happened while I was sleeping," Derf clicked as Raziel stood up from the railing, "Did you and Pinky have a heart to heart or something? I dunno. Last I remember we were still at the academy. How long was I asleep."
"Two or three days," He shrugged. He wasn't sure for how long Derflinger was asleep, "And nothing happened."
"Heh, like I believe that," Raziel ignored him as he followed his master to the inner deck.
"Haa..." Wales placed both hands on the basin and placed the water against his face, breathing a sigh of relief as the cooling liquid relieved his skin. Blinking away the excess water, he grabbed for one of the spare cloths and wiped at his face roughly, doing his best to wipe away any traces of blood or anything else that would have made the others worry.
A tremor shook the castle briefly before all became quiet again. Weary blue eyes framed by bright blond hair looked up at the sound, though there was no surprise. His gaze drifted back to the mirror; he still appeared largely the same, but the dark circles under his eyes and the pastiness in his skin - caused by his third night of no sleep - was beginning to become more and more obvious, "Damn..." His hands grabbed against the dresser's edge and he gripped it tightly. He had kept himself awake through the use of water magics from his supporters, but it was obviously beginning to take its toll on him already.
The tremor just now was the ship called the Royal Sovereign, now called the Lexington - what used to be the royal family's largest ship - bombarding the castle again as a show of force. The rebels had overtaken it and now they were using it bombard newcastle both as a show of force and to taunt the remaining loyalists with the fact that it was their new ship that was being used against them. Wales had to admit that he found the dark comedy slightly amusing. His father's pride and joy - the one where all the taxes went to - was no used to ensure their enemies power.
Wales closed his eyes and pressed his face against the mirror, breathing sighs of relief as the cool material touched against his forehead. He was the prince of Albion...well, the only prince of Albion left at least. All his brother's - younger than him for he was the eldest - had been killed either during the fighting or being poisoned by untrustworthy servants and vassals. The Tudor line had been cut down to just him and his father, and come tomorrow they would die as well in here. They all convinced themselves that they would die with honor and fearlessness.
"Henrietta..." His tired eyes stared at the ruby of wind that was resting on his right ring finger. It was one of the Founder's artifacts and one of the things the two of them shared. Henrietta was an only child and he was the eldest of his brothers, so they both inherited the rings. He liked to think that it signified their bond in a way. Ah, but those were merely frivolous thoughts.
"Lord Wales!" A knocking at his door interrupted him, "Lord Wales! Our sentries spotted four people making their way through one of the passages!" The Voice of Gerald, his father's head butler, reported frantically.
"Which one?" He asked back. The royal family had many escape passages, most of which the enemy had already blocked or sealed off in some way. There were still a couple that they didn't know of, but for the most part it was pointless; all of them were going to die here and any that wished to leave had already been given a chance to leave. Although the sheer number of them made it quite evident that his father and those who came before him were paranoid to a fault. Either that or they were extremely careful.
"The southern passage! They don't carry the flags of the rebels, but neither do they carry the flags of the Albion royalty,"
Wales gasped softly at the news. Only he and his father, along with some servants, knew of the passages location. And all of the servants that knew were still in the castle, making it quite clear that no one else could have known where it was. The only person outside these walls who knew the passage's location was...no, he couldn't afford to make idle daydreams or false hope. They were alone here, and that was that.
"Stay calm. I will be there to meet with them personally," Gerald gave a quick "Yes" before he ran away quickly to inform the sentries. Something told the prince that whoever was using the passage was no foe. He would have to believe they weren't, else they were in for an early execution.
He stared at his reflection one last time before smiling and donning another mask of cheerfulness and courage. After all, it was the prince's duty to keep calm and instill courage in their subjects. No matter how scared or angry they were, it was their honor bound duty to do this. He was the last of the heirs and the burden fell on his shoulders.
...No matter how much he wished it didn't and how much he hated it.
So I wanted to advance the arc more, and then I made a chapter that was essentially filler :/ Ah well, the next chapter is the next part of the Albion arc with (hopefully) more emphasis on Wales, Wardes, and the loyalists. Oh, and Tabitha and Fouquet along with their pursuers, of course.
Question time. I'll try to keep it short.
Der Kaiser - Artificial, so she didn't have a Firekeeper Soul.
Strogg Grunt - ...When did I ever say he was unkillable? He's strong, but he's not immune to death. He says point blank in Chapter 18 that Daphne could have killed him if she wasn't holding back. He'll die if you lop his head off.
Demons Anarchy - Mott wasn't in the manga; he's anime exclusive. Oh, and I'd like to know what made you think they were romance partners considering their most meaningful interaction was Raziel jamming a knife into Daphne's neck and ignoring Amethyst. Just because someone's female doesn't mean they're there for the purpose of a pairing - I would have made them male if they were male in canon. While ZNT is harem rom-com, Dark Souls isn't - it actually comes off as kind of anti-romance given the state of the world - and I'm using themes from both medias. So please don't assume every female is there for Raziel's benefit or to be paired off. Hell, the only reason they interacted at first was due to a mistake on info.
BloodTrinity - I'll be honest now: I HATE the dream sequence excuse. Yes, its canon to Fate Stay Night, but nowhere is it canon in ZNT or even Dark Souls. Nine out of ten times people use the dream sharing with no excuse beyond 'Well, Hill of Swords used it so I'm using it too!'. That and it forces the characters to talk rather than making them suck up their vitriol and talk it out like adults. If Raziel and Louise want to get closer, they have to suck up and deal rather than having some kind of dream bond force them into talking.
ConstructiveWriter - I have an ending in mind, two of them in fact, but the journey to get there is subject to change. So don't worry about it having a 'Gainax ending' and just ending on an weird note.
Delinquent Author - Maybe. They interact more with the Valliere's in general later on, but Raziel's not really important to them since he's not really a friend.
Guest - Doesn't know. He'll find out when he finds out.
CodeGeassAddict - Not clamoring for Henrietta/Kirche/Tiffania like everybody else? That's new.
TimUnderwood - Except that's even worse than a badly written fight scene. For a comedy scene? Maybe. But for a serious scene? No way. I hate writing them, but I hate my story losing any seriousness it has or killing off build up even more. I do it if its not story essential or breaking, however, as shown in the first part of this chapter
XcelltasticX - Tabitha arc is too far off, along with the Jormungand, so its a bit soon to ask on it. He'll be stronger by that point, so there's that. Pyromancy charges respawn for him, albeit slowly. There was an off-hand mention of who you're looking for in chapter 15, though whether its her or not is up to you to guess. Oh, and he already saw Sylphid's human form - Though he didn't know it was her. Tiffania wouldn't bug him either since he's not a native of Halk and Dusk of Oolacile - According to official art - has pointed ears so he wouldn't really care.
And not sure about death. You can make an excuse that he's tethered to the Asylum by the one who dropped him there, but Louise's Familiar bindings aren't strong enough, as shown by his incomplete runes. So that won't work. Regardless, death is dangerous for him: He wouldn't care about tactics otherwise if he can insta-respawn whenever he wants, and then the story gets boring cause there's no tension.
Joe - Thanks, that clears it up.