Kings and Traitors: Chapter 6
AN:
…...there is no AN……
Disclaimers:
I do not own Escaflowne.
"V-Van, do you by any chance know the name
of the evil sorcerer?" Hitomi asked uneasily.
Van's
face paled. "E-Erebos….."
'No!
It can't be true!!' he thought. 'Erebos is my best friend! He's not evil!! I
probably have the name wrong anyways…after all, I haven't heard the legend
since I was four…Besides, I never remembered his name before! I was too young
when I first heard the legend!! Yeah! That's it! The only reason I thought his
name was Erebos all of the sudden was because Hitomi's been going on and on
about how he's the traitor….Wait!! Why am I blaming Hitomi!! I should trust her
more than Erebos, right? But he's my friend….what if Hitomi's right? Should we
confront Erebos or should we play along till we find out more of what's going
on?? But even if he is my friend, if he was the one who took Merle I can never
forgive him-'
Van's
thoughts were cut off when he finally realized Hitomi was calling his name and
waving her hand in front of his face.
"Van!
Van!! Answer me!!"
"Huh?
What??"
"Van,
I'm sorry…I know you trusted him…this must be really hard…"
"How
would you know?! You're wrong, Hitomi!! Erebos isn't the sorcerer!! He's my
friend!!" Van screamed in anguish.
"Van…"
Van
looked away, his back to Hitomi, trying to hide the tears threatening to spill
from his eyes.
"Van…,"
Hitomi repeated. "Van…th-there's still a chance…that maybe…maybe it's not the
same Erebos…but no matter who it is, he's got Merle and she could be in
trouble. We have to save her…"
"You're
right," said Van, suddenly turning around with a look of grim determination on
his face. "Let's go. There's no time to loose."
Hitomi
could only nod.
~~~
Tiger
couldn't sleep, no matter how tired he was…he had a bad feeling. Merle was in
serious danger. He had to find her…no matter what…
He
slowly got up and once again wandered the halls, not even noticing that he had
already searched these halls many times before…but this time it was different…his
heart was leading him.
"Hang
in there Merle…"
~~~
"You
know, kitten…you're beginning to be quite troublesome…perhaps it would be best
to simply get rid of you…," said Erebos in mock sweetness.
Merle
growled.
"Do
you want to die, kitten??" Erebos asked, his tone hardening.
Merle
just glared at him.
Suddenly
two figures appeared in the doorway.
"So
it really is you, Erebos…I didn't want to believe it, but it is really you…,"
said Van.
"How
did you find me?!" he asked, outraged.
"Wouldn't
you like to know," said Hitomi, her voice filled with hatred.
"Van…help!"
said Merle, her voice scratchy from screaming or crying or chewing the rope, or,
worst of all Van feared, all of the above.
"Let
her go," said Van, unsheathing his sword.
"You
think you stand a chance against me?" asked Erebos, his voice not hiding his
amusement at Van's challenge.
"I
said let her go!" said Van as he lunged at Erebos.
A
swordfight ensued and it was obvious to anyone Van was loosing.
"Van!
Noo!" Hitomi screamed as Erebos's sword left a large gash in Van's left arm.
'We're
not going to make it out of here,' Hitomi thought. 'We're going to die.'
~~~
As
Tiger ran down the hallway aimlessly, he heard someone scream. He quickly
retraced his steps and took a side passage to his left that seemed to lead down
to some dungeons. 'I never knew Fanelia had any dungeons…,' he thought. 'This must
be where Merle is!'
As
he turned a corner, he saw by the dim light of a few candles, Van and Erebos
sparring. 'Why are they sparring? It's the middle of the night!'
But
as he came closer, he could see that Van and Erebos were definitely not
sparring…no, the intensity of the battle, the looks on their faces…they were
fighting to kill.
As
he came closer still, he saw the rest of the room. Hitomi was standing in the
corner, frozen in fear and…
"Merle!"
He
quickly ran towards her cage and desperately began to untie the ropes holding
her as Erebos dealt blow after blow to Van, Hitomi unable to even get close
enough to pull Van back.
Without
warning, there was a scream from the doorway. It was Yukari.
'Of
course,' thought Tiger. 'I had her stay in the room right over this one! The
noise must have woken her up! Now she was in danger, too'
Hitomi
couldn't take much more…Van was dying…Merle -and now Tiger, too- were in danger…..then
Yukari screamed. Now Yukari would be killed too…she had seen too much….they
were all going to die…she couldn't take it much longer…she was going to die,
but not without a fight.
"Van!!!!!!!"
she screamed as she ran towards him, ignoring the flying of swords and the
clashing of steel, she ran through it all, and as she ran, her pendant began to
glow.
"No!
Hitomi!! You'll be killed!!!!!!" screamed Tiger a he saw her running towards
Van.
"Hitomi!!!!!!!"
screamed Merle, her voice still scratchy. She was out of the cage and clinging
to Tiger for dear life.
Yukari
covered her eyes and shook her head. "No! This can't be happening!! It's just a
dream! Just a bad dream!!"
'No,'
thought Hitomi, 'This isn't a dream. This is real. We can't die. Not here. Not
now. We have to get out of this alive, otherwise Gaia doesn't stand a chance…we
have to live…'
The
pendant glowed brighter than ever.
In
a sudden flash of light, they were gone.
AN:
Climax!!! You like? Then review!!! More to come soon! (hopefully) ^______^
Merle
Vanz_cat@yahoo.com