Author's Note: This is a long chapter.
Wish
Chapter ten: Taking A Walk
Folken and Colubra had stayed up until dawn planning everything up and solving the holes in Sara's knowledge about the technology. Finally at dawn, Dilandau was sent in to wake them up. Actually it had been a draw of straws, and Dilandau had gotten the short one. He grumbled all the way there, then knocked angrily at the hard steel door.
Colubra answered, hair tousled, luckily wearing the same clothes she had had on the night before. He gave her a once over then talked.
"We move today, you're needed, and – you slept through breakfast." She blinked at him. Then smiled and laughed. He stared at her, not understanding what was so funny.
"Ok, Dill. When am 'needed'?" He frowned at the nickname. And looked past her to see Folken awake from his desk.
"Now, actually. Interrogation of a suspected spy. I think he might have important information, then we'll see." She raised an eyebrow. He'd think I'd like it? Well she would, but still.
"I'll be there in five." She said, and went back into the room, collected some rolled up papers, and headed to her own quaters to change.
***
What looks intimidating? She asked herself as she scanned over Sara's clothes. The jeans, dark blue and baggy, definitely. But for a shirt? A tank top, yes, to show her muscles. Then some dark make-up. She looked in the mirror in her room,
'Scary.' Sara responded to the silent question Colubra was asking of how she looked.
"Shut up." She said coldly and walked out of the room, towards the dungeon, and to the person she would be interrogating.
***
The dungeon was cold and dark, metal everywhere, the bars, the floor, the ceiling, it sent chills down her pine. I like this place, she thought.
Dilandau led her down another flight of stairs, it must be near the base of the fortress, if it ever crashed, the prisoners would go first, nice.
"Here he is, he's been tough all morning and night, maybe you know a tactic that could work? He has important knowledge, we believe he is very close to Allen Shezar, a knight for Austuria." Colubra stared at the man, hunched over in the corner of the cell, it had been lit, but he had thrown a rock and broken the light, the effect made him look small yet she could tell he was powerful. "he hasn't said a word, but we have orders not to kill him." Colubra smiled. That was easy, not killing someone, maybe torturing this man would relieve some of the tensions she had when she wanted to fight.
"Does he have a name?" She asked, her eyes never leaving his form,
"Gadess." She smiled and opened the barred door, leaving Dilandau and a guard behind her.
"Leave us." She said, then approached the huddled form.
***
It had been four hours, she had missed her lunch and Gadess had not said more than a moan of pain since she got in, yet she refused to give up. Her assignment was to get the whereabouts of King Fanel, and she planned on getting it. She lay beside the bruised man, staring at his face, dried blood on his lips and around his eyes.
"Why don't you tell me?" She asked delicately, like a small child, he stared blankly through her.
"My loyalty…is to Allen Shezar…I will…not forsake him." He worded. She sat up, and sighed.
"I don't know why, it's not like he cares for you. He hasn't even noticed your gone, he still thinks your out in the forest on your day of rest, why then, if you're so loyal to him, does he not even send out a search party?" The mental barrier that he had held for so long was slowly deteriorating, she could tell, she just had to wait. "Does he even care for the years of your life you've spent giving your heart and soul to that crew? You've gotten him out of many scrapes I'm sure, and yet – he doesn't come when you need him? What a jerk." Colubra stood, staring down at the young, muscular man huddled in the fetal position at her feet.
"It's not like this piddling piece of information will hurt anyone." Finally his silence stuck a chord.
She reached down and pulled his raven black hair back, exposing his face to her fist. "Do you want me to hit you some more?! TELL ME WHERE HE IS!!" She drew her arm back and whipped her fist across his face, slamming his head to the cold floor. He coughed – a spot of blood stained the floor.
He wearily brought his back up, on all fours, then, using the wall for support, dragged his body upwards. He leaned against it, staring at her almost drowsily. She stayed quiet, arms folded across her chest, her fists making her biceps even larger than they were.
"I will never tell you." And he spat at her, she smiled, even started to laugh, then brought her knee into his stomach, he fell once again to the floor. Colubra crouched down near to his face to hear the words he was whispering. "…the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…" She stood to leave,
"Mmm…well you'll fear me."
***
Dilandau had come in every now and then to check up on her, and had marveled at her ruthlessness. Even his dragonslayors weren't that rough, and she had kept him alive too. Finally she emerged from the depths to the dining hall where lunch was being served. Dilandau had eaten late so was the only one left sitting there, she sat by him, eating the same gruel that was served to him. She looked exhausted.
"Anything?" He asked between bites, even with her hair messy and her eyes droopy she was beautiful.
"No, but if he's so intent on not letting us know, then his commander must be close to the king. This guy practically worships him, so wouldn't dare let him get endangered by the likes of us." Dilandau watched her eat hungrily, yet neatly.
"So you think he's with the knight?" he asked, taking a sip of water. She smiled,
"I don't know, but he has to be Austuria. Quite frankly, I don't care whether either of them have important 'information' for Dornkirk, I just want to fight them. I heard the King was a great swordsman." She noticed Dilandau stop his eating. And with a cold voice he said,
"You can fight Allen Shezar, but leave the dragon to me." He glanced up at her, she looked hurt and he instantly regretted what he said and tried to make up for it. "If it interests you, he has a girlfriend who constantly gets in the way, if you got rid of her, that'd be a help." Then she smiled, got up, walked over to him and gently kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks, Dill." She said a little too perky, Dilandau blushed beet red, trying to contain his urge to smile unsuccessfully as she walked out.
He put his hand up to his cheek like a love-struck fool, only his feelings were dashed as he realized she had kissed his scar. Why does the dragon always come back to haunt me!?
He'd kill him, he'd kill that dragon one day.
***
Folken had a plan. The next day she suited up and got ready to go out, her assignment was to a) get Allen Shezar to cough up information about a secret weapon Zaibach had heard rumors of and/or b) get the girl from the Mystic Moon, Earth, Hitomi. The second one interested Sara immensely, because it might be a way for her to return home, but Colubra just wanted to fight someone, and for Dilandau, to impress him. Both ways were up to her to decide how to execute, a big responsibility, apparently her performance with Gadess had impressed someone up the line.
Colubra and the mechanics had installed night-vision into one of the guymelefs, and since she didn't know how to use one, she would need a dragonslayer to go with her. Dallet was picked, because he was the only one with a girlfriend and considered 'capable' to handle Colubra.
At the briefing, Folken explained the route which we would take, it was through an underground cave system, and ordinarily would be not maneuverable because of lack of light, thus causing it to be unguarded by the alliance. But with the new installation onboard, they would have a safe, and secretive journey to the outskirts of Austuria, closer than anywhere else they could get without being noticed. Dallet was excited to be picked for this mission, but Colubra kept sending him dirty glances to keep him humble.
***
We went down through the mountains, travelling quickly in flight mode, and invisibly near inhabited areas. Any discovery of a Zaibach guymelef would be forwarded to Austuria immediately and it would be ruined. Dallet was a good pilot, finally, they found the cave entrance and descended about a hundred feet.
"Dallet, now switch it on." He obeyed and she smiled at his reaction.
"Everything's green! I can see everything! It's like day in here." After the pitch black of the cave, the light he saw must have been comforting. Colubra was at home in the darkness.
"Do you see which way we are to go?" She asked, quick to get back to business – she had decided to stay outside the guymelef, on its shoulder, the cockpit would be rather squished if she had gone inside.
Dallet nodded and we continued in silence. The dark, dank pit echoed every sound, and the silent flying guymelef made no sound. Dallet's heart rate was getting faster, she could hear it only so short a distance away.
"Just breathe Dallet." It echoed and he quickly obeyed. Now I know some of the power Dilandau has, they completely trusted and devoted themselves to him. She wanted to share that power with him. Finally a spark of light was seen ahead. "Do you see that?"
"Ya, how can I not? It's so bright!"
"Turn off the night-vision, Dallet." He obeyed.
"Oh ya, thanks." As the light consistently got bigger, the guymelefs speed slowed. I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the bright light, and brought my hand up to my face to help. The sun was shining down in the cloudless day, the forest surrounding the caves exit, the trees towering above. The guymelef stopped, and I jumped down from its shoulder so that it could transform back into normal mode so stealth cloak could be applied. "What now, boss?" Dallet asked, settling the Guymelef beneath a tree. She didn't answer for a moment, off in her own little world.
'I look forward to this.' She thought, the beautiful landscape, the trees, birds chirping and the soft, cool ground beneath her feet calmed Sara, and distracted the girl from Colubra thoughts of fighting. The forest reminded her of home, even Colubra seemed to enjoy it. 'Enough of that.' She cut, she couldn't get distracted from the mission at hand. Dallet jumped down from the cockpit, still awaiting her answer.
"Hear, throw this on." She said, whipping out a civilians outfit and threw it at him. He stopped short.
"Uh…where?" She turned,
"Here. Now, don't be ashamed." She smiled at his childishness. "I've seen it all before, I had a brother." Sara swore at her for using her memories like that, and stealing her life. Dallet gave her an odd look, she had that blank look on her face again. He quickly used the opportunity to slip on the pants. Colubra snapped out of it just in time to see his abs being covered by the shirt. 'These dragonslayors are friggin gods!' She thought, containing her urge to smile and jump him. Dallet was still giving her an odd look. "What?" She asked, and he turned around to put his uniform back in the cockpit.
Dallet now looked like any other citizen of Austuria and Colubra looked, well, normal. She never wore armor. "Come now, we will go to the castle and kick some Shezarade ass!" Dallet laughed and they continued through the forest, well, about a hundred feet, until they were ambushed.
Colubra sensed them first, and immediately knew they were out numbered. She walked up close to Dallet, took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. Before he could jump away, she practically ripped his hand off. "Dallet, we're surrounded, keep walking, you're my husband, now, understand? Let me do the talking." She whispered in his ear smiling. Then giggled, he caught on and did the same. Soon the men on horseback and off ran out of their cover and surrounded them. Colubra screamed and buried her face in Dallet's chest, "Do you recognize any of them? Or are these just bandits we can fight off?" Dallet looked around, the men looked pretty ragged, except for one, he had the royal armor of Austuria on. Dallet sneered.
"These are Allen Shezar's men, he's one of the heavenly knights. As a matter of fact, he's here now." Colubra swore, she had just finished torturing one of his men yesterday, she'd have to keep her cool. She turned, still in Dallet's arms. Allen was riding a white horse, his sword dangly dangerously close on his thigh.
"You there, what are you doing so far out in the forest? There are threats of war you know." He yelled at them. Colubra grinned and muttered, "fool." To Dallet, then turned pretending to sob into his chest.
"We're on our honeymoon, we were just taking a walk when we got lost." She whispered into his ear and Dallet relayed it Allen in a commanding voice. Allen smiled,
"All right, just be careful, there might be Zaibach spies around." Dallet nodded vigorously,
"Ask him if we could hitch a ride to the city." She whispered.
"What? Are you crazy?" Colubra shot him a look, she was in command, he will obey her. He grumbled, and soon she was on the back of Allen Shezar's horse, with Dallet on another's. She felt like removing the dagger from her boot and stabbing him in the side now. But she was tired, and decide she should keep her energy to fight him in store for later. Sara enjoyed his manly musk, and the fact that she could feel his abs with her arms wrapped around his stomach. Colubra rolled her eyes.
The horse had to jump a fence at one point and on the landing, Colubra yelled, the stitches in her side had torn. She gritted her teeth as Allen's horse stopped and the one Dallet was on did also, but the other went ahead.
"You alright milady?" She felt like punching him. She withdrew her hand from her stomach to see the blood.
"Carsio, you son of bitch, you'll die for this." She grimaced, keeping her jaw tight with the pain. Allen stared at her for her use of such language. "Sorry, it just hurts a lot." She covered, and Allen nodded.
After some first aid treatment, Allen took it upon himself to bring us to the castle for treatment – I smiled at Dallet. It couldn't get any easier than this.
***
TA DA! Yup, that's my favourite Dragonslayor that hasn't been mentioned yet. And I got to beat up Gadess, even though I love him so, just makin Colubra extra evil….moo ha ha….well anyway. REVIEW thanks. J