Author's Note: Why doesn't anyone review my chapters? Do you not like them? Do you not want to read more? *sob* please review, its my water, it's my life! Oh please? Thank you! And tell me what you like so I know what to put, kay?
I spent a long time on this chapter, please be nice ^-^
Wish
Chapter eleven: Fair-weather Friend
Colubra sat up in the bed, it was comfy, pillows everywhere. Some girl name Millerna gave this whole speech to Allen about him ruining our 'honeymoon' and therefore should be treated royally. That is why Dallet was sitting in the overstuffed chair beside her and a nurse was attending to her wound. She had gotten fresh stitches, and the wound was once again healing. Quite frankly, it pissed her off and she swatted the woman's hand away. The short woman sighed and then left. Once she was sure she was gone, Colubra turned to Dallet.
"I knew Allen was a knight, but I think a less physical maneuver will be necessary to get any information on this 'objective'." She said lowly, guards were everywhere, but with her voice little more than a whisper; her discussion would just be considered 'sweet nothings' in her husband's ear. Dallet nodded. At least he was being professional about this whole ordeal, she couldn't say that if someone like Chesta had come, but he was cute all the same – cute – a word that Sara described him as. Colubra couldn't let her in; she had to remain control. Dallet snapped her out of her inner battle.
"Colubra!" He stared at her confused at her silence, for he had been trying to get her attention for a while now. "Are you awake?" She flashed him a reassuring smile.
"Yes, it's just the loss of blood, you know, its taking its toll." He nodded, not quite sure whether or not to believe her.
"How will we do this? This non-physical attack on Shezar?" Right down to business, that was Dallet.
"Oh" She hadn't thought that far ahead, but an idea popped into her head, "how does snooping sound?" He raised an eyebrow. "You know, try to find files? We don't have to fight him, especially if he's as hard as his men, he's probably harder to get information out of, so it'd probably be wiser to just look for files, there has to be a treasury or main headquarters." Dallet nodded, again. Then her brain proposed a flaw in her plan. "But anything this big pertaining to the war would be highly classified, it may not even be in a known room in the castle."
"You mean a hidden room?" He asked, intrigued, Colubra nodded, then smiled.
"That's it! Now, all we have to do is some listening in and you know, follow them around. Actually, it'd be easier if we were on good terms with them, then be the last suspected." Dallet watched the soldier formulate the plan in her head, smiling at her revelations and strokes of genius. "Dallet?" She turned back to face him, "get comfortable! We're stayin' awhile!"
***
"Help! Help us! My wife!" Dallet yelled outside to the guards, instantly the two opened the door. The first went to her bedside; the second went to get the nurse, or Millerna. Dallet followed that one, leading him by the shoulders into an empty hallway, where he was abruptly knocked out cold by Dallet's fist then shoved into an unused closet. Dallet shoved a small needle into the unconscious mans arm, which would strip him of any memory of the event and keep him under for 48 hours. Dallet quickly put on the man's uniform and went back to the room, where he found Colubra standing, adjusting the gloves on her knew guards uniform, with the other guards body, injected with the same serum laying outside her window.
Dallet shot her a look; "You put him outside?" She smiled and nodded,
"With a bottle of gin and the smell of alcohol-drenched clothes, I thought it was more interesting." Dallet couldn't help but laugh. "Come, someone important is bound to realize there are no guards here." So they both went outside, and as if on cue, Allen Shezar and Millerna walked by.
A proud knight would never look a mere door guard in the eye, so they had no problem with him recognizing them. Millerna was the first to ask, and Dallet answered, not wanting to draw attention to Colubra's female voice.
"How are our guests?" Just like rehearsed, Dallet answered swiftly.
"They went to the market, milady." She frowned. And Allen tapped his foot impatiently, apparently he had somewhere better to go. Colubra decided that maybe she should follow, at a safe distance of course, she was just as impatient as Allen to get this brief annoyance out of the way.
"They weren't supposed to leave, oh well, did they leave their things?" Dallet affirmed her. She smiled, then left with Allen. Colubra looked over at Dallet, he nodded, he knew they were to follow. After the couple walked around a corner, they turned and walked briskly behind them, acting like guards do.
Down the halls of the castle they went, Millerna ended up turning off at one point, but Dallet and her continued on Allen's path, Colubra leading the pursuit. Luckily for them, Allen was in a hurry, and therefore led a pretty direct path to his objective. At one point she noticed the other guards dressed like themselves standing at attention, then abruptly bowing. She noticed a boy, around her age, most likely younger, and a girl accompanying him. Dallet whispered in her ear,
"The King of Fanelia, Van Fanel." The two stared the boy down as they passed, of course he didn't mean to look the guards in the eyes, but the second he did, he knew that in the future, their paths would cross again. Colubra grinned, she couldn't help herself, she was looking at a boy with a price on his head, and Dilandau wanted to kill him, which was enough to excite them both. Then she noticed the girl beside him, or, Sara noticed her. Her light brown hair hung around her eyes and she wore a classic Japanese school uniform. That girl was from earth, Sara's earth. My earth. She wanted to go to her so badly, she wanted to talk to her, ask her a thousand questions, her green eyes met with Colubra's dark blue ones, and a look of sympathy crossed her face. They were connected, and that tie brought Sara into control, for a brief second, but she couldn't move her feet, she couldn't bring herself to go to her. And soon they passed, the image of their back's allowing Colubra to regain composure. She shook her head, Colubra's thoughts were much different than Sara's. For she wanted to take Hitomi, take her away from her boy, and teach her to fear, to fear Colubra.
***
They had lost Allen. The knight had continued on, avoiding the small convoy of royalty to get to his destination, and Colubra cursed herself for it, or at least Sara. She had to keep in control of this girl, this body, if she wanted to succeed with her mission. They decided to go back to their room and undress, maybe get a little closer to the Fanelia King as civilians, and Colubra closer to Hitomi.
Colubra had changed and was waiting outside for Dallet, when Hitomi passed by. She was with a young cat girl, Colubra stared at her, her appearance stirring a memory within her. Not Sara's, her own, something about her past. Unfortunately she was programmed to ignore it and couldn't dwell on the idea too long. She stared at Hitomi, had she come to see her? Sara became excited. She approached Colubra.
"Hello." She said, the cat-girl cowered behind her at the sight of me, I guess my strong arms and cold look would scare someone so small. It made me smile. Hitomi smiled back, fool girl. I stared her down, what did she want? Could I pull off taking her hostage now? No, not if I wanted to get that information on the secret weapon Austuria had. Unless…
An idea came into being in Colubra's head, another stroke of genius on her part, another plan that would keep make her ride to the top of Zaibach intelligence all the sooner. She remembered her admiration of Folken, truly he'd be proud. Hitomi did some annoying small talk before Colubra invited her in, to meet her 'husband'.
***
Dallet had been showering, apparently the guard's uniform he had stolen was sweaty, and sweat was his pet peeve, this just made Colubra roll her eyes. Hitomi and the cat-girl, which she had introduced as Merle, sat in two chairs by the window, the body of one of the guards about ten feet away from them. She prayed that they wouldn't notice his scent. Colubra threw the guards uniforms under the bed before they noticed, maybe they'd come in handy later. She went over to the two and sat across from them.
"I'm sorry, I had hoped you could meet my new husband, but he is showering." Colubra smiled the nicest smile she could as she pictured the different ways of killing the sweet girl of the dragon. Sara hated her, she just wanted to know how to get home, and get away from the demon that was Colubra. Unfortunately, Colubra was in control of her mouth. Hitomi and Merle laughed politely. Then Hitomi spoke up.
"I noticed that you wore some extremely different clothes, may I ask where you got them?" Colubra, almost in self-defense stared down at what she was wearing. What was wrong with her clothes? Oh, Hitomi recognized them, her designer jeans and tank top was not something you would find on Gaea very often.
"Oh this? Why, I…" Colubra stuttered, she couldn't let Hitomi know who or what she was. "found them. I found them." If Hitomi started to talk or ask questions about Earth, she didn't know what Sara might do. Hitomi nodded sullenly. As if any hope she had had was gone. There was an awkward silence, thankfully, Dallet emerged soaking wet wearing only a towel to distract them all from the conversation, even Merle's eyes went wide at the wet, toned muscles that was Dallet. The boy stood, stunned, in front of them, before running behind the door. Colubra laughed, joined by the other two, Hitomi had politely averted her eyes, but Merle just stood there blushing like crazy at the hot, half-naked boy before her. I smiled at them.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, I'm not sorry I had to though." We all laughed heartily as the boy struggled to get some pants on behind the door. When Dallet finally came in, I whispered in his ear to stay quite, and the conversation was normal, female stuff. Mostly clothes, hers and mine, all very proper conversation. Finally, after about half an hour of the dull dabble, and Merle and Dallet were so bored they could sleep, Hitomi suggested to leave; I had to stop myself from literally jumping at the opportunity. Once they left I leaned on the back of the door, exhausted from the pathetic conversation.
"I think she thinks you like her." I opened my eyes and smiled, Dallet was just standing there, eyeing me.
"Perfect, then it'll be easier to betray her." He grinned, understanding my plan.
They slept together that night, in the same bed, not any sex, though Dallet did find her snuggled against his chest in the morning. She smelled of outside, fresh air and forest, with her own sweet fragrance, she reminded him of his girlfriend. He rolled over, his back turned to her, he knew the way Dilandau looked upon her, all of the dragonslayors could see it; and he wouldn't dare get in his way.
***
The next day, the couple was invited to have breakfast with Hitomi, which meant Van would be there, and Allen as well. She recalled images from Sara's past, of school shootings where they took machine guns and shot everyone there. Wouldn't it be efficient if she could do that. Why the authorities and general public was so shocked from the action on Earth, she didn't understand. Teenage boys always went to war, some still did on earth, some younger than that. No surprise that something like that would happen, it was a shame, but not a surprise. Colubra wondered what her past was like, if she had ever experienced sadness like that. She new, deep down she had, maybe with her family, she wasn't sure, but she had. She closed her mind off from the thoughts as she and Dallet walked down the hallway to the dining hall. Soon she would be on the road to trust from Hitomi, then it wouldn't be long until her plan would be in full swing.
***
Colubra had asked Hitomi to come in after breakfast to her room, Dallet was there as well, though she didn't know it, and the girl had complied. Unfortunately, Merle had invited her self as well, that was alright though, she mattered a lot to Van as well, and maybe, with his strong will of protection over the two, it might be enough to get Allen to spill. All they wanted was information, and with Hitomi, Allen's current love interest and Van's cat-girl as hostage, Colubra was sure that one or the other would succumb.
Hitomi stepped into the room, with Colubra leading her, Merle was quick behind, raving about the theatrical performance that was scheduled for that night, and Dallet was standing out of view behind the door. As much as Colubra wanted to bash the girl's head in, being the dragon's girl, that had caused Lord Dilandau so much strife, she settled to the same way that she had gotten the guards clothing. With one swift movement she grabbed the girl, wrapping her hands behind her back and stabbing the needle into her neck. Within seconds the concoction began to work and with a faint scream she fell limp in her arms. Merle had turned to run but was now struggling with Dallet, Colubra was ashamed that the boy was limping from the small cat-girl's hard kick in his manhood, so she delivered a high kick to her head, knocking her unconscious, and saving one of the small needles for later use.
"I thought you said we weren't to harm them." Dallet asked, out of breath,
"You were taking too long." Colubra sighed, she then cocked her head to one side. "Damn, they heard her scream." She said as she heard the rushing guards to their room. Quickly Dallet, lock the door, we need to get onto the roof." He immediately obeyed, and with her carrying the Hitomi and Dallet carrying the cat-girl, they escaped through the window of their room.
***
Millerna came running into the private meeting that was with King Aston himself, King Fanel and Allen Shezar, out of breath. "They have Hitomi!" She managed. Allen immediately got up and helped her into a chair, as Van put his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Who?" He raised his voice at her. Allen shot him a glance, but Millerna brushed it off.
"That couple, they are holding Hitomi and Merle, we don't know yet, but they're asking for you two, Allen and Van. People think they're soldiers, but no one knows." Van clenched his jaw and Allen noticed the gesture, and returned it with a concerned sigh.
"We have to go to them." Allen decided, "King Aston, may we reconvene after this is resolved?". The king nodded, dismissing them, and the three abruptly left.
***
Colubra had decided that they would do best above the courtyard, the roof had defensive stones built into it, to protect it from direct attacks from arrows and such. The good part about this part of the tower, was that they could only be attacked from the bottom, each side they had booby-trapped, in which only she knew how to get out of, and she let Dallet in on a few as well. She sat, looking through the cracks at the small crowd below, which consisted of Allen Shezar, Van, Millerna and a few guards keeping the maids and other servants away from gawking. Colubra enjoyed this, and knew, if she had to, could run through a passage she had discovered that was a secret tunnel to the outside. She got Dallet to routinely check it, no one ever guarded it, so it was assumed to be too old to be remembered. Finally after a lot of low whispering, Allen stepped forward.
"Tell us what you want." Colubra looked down at the figure below, it was around noon, and the man seemed not to be too threatening.
Colubra stood, to the surprise of the crowd, most of the rumors were that the husband had gone mad and held his wife captive as well. She grinned down at the knight. "Hello, Allen Shezar. I was just wondering, you know, if we could make a trade." Allen grinned.
"If you want money, all you have to do is give us back the girls and we'll send you on your way with as much as you want." He said, Van stood nervously behind him.
"Money? Why that would be nice, but what we want is information." She reached down below her to where Hitomi was 'sleeping'. She lifted the girl with her left arm, holding her by the back of her shirt into plain view. "Pretty, isn't she?" Van immediately stepped forward.
"Let her go!" he yelled. Colubra laughed and put the girl down behind her.
"Why Van, you understand don't you? You want the cat too? All I want is Allen for an half an hour, unguarded, no weapons, that's not too much to ask." She smiled down on them, Van shot a look at Allen. Would he comply? Allen turned his back on Colubra, and worded something to Van. She stared at them, noticing every movement they made, and the one mistake they made that probably saved her life; Van glanced at the archers Allen was referring to. Now she knew.
Hitomi was coming to, Colubra squatted down beside her, Dallet held a knife inches away from the already awake Merle, it was near dusk, they had been there all day, and still no one had complied. They knew that the couldn't shoot the arrows randomly there in risk of hitting the hostages, the same with smoking them out or any other kind of force. Allen had often threatened them with torture or death, but Colubra just laughed it off. Finally, with Hitomi awake, she had more cards on her side.
"I had, the weirdest dream…" She moaned, still drowsy, Colubra smiled innocently.
"Did it have anything to do with the me kidnapping you and threatening to kill you if I didn't get the information I wanted from your lover? Allen?" Hitomi, still groggy nodded, then realization sunk in, and her eyes grew wide with fear. Colubra laughed and held a sharp, bone dagger to her throat. Hitomi screamed, but Colubra clapped her hand over the girl's mouth, and dragged her to the edge of the roof, where Van and Allen had stood when hearing the scream. A writhing Hitomi, hands tied behind her and throat exposed, stared down from the height. Van yelled her name. Colubra once again cackled evilly.
"Come on, Van, if you love her so much, just let me have the information. All I want is the information!" She screamed down at him.
"You'll pay for this bitch!" He yelled back. Both Allen and Van knew that the 'information' had to do with the secret weapon, the chance that these were Zaibach spies was pretty high, but they couldn't declare war unnecessarily, especially if the two hostages had no importance to any of the countries in the alliance, only a knight and a king of a demolished country. Colubra knew this, but also, after the long delay and constant pleas of ignorance realized that they weren't going to give in. She didn't let Dallet know this though.
***
Colubra sat beside the tied and gagged girl, Merle had managed to fall asleep, along with Dallet, but Hitomi had stayed awake, along with Colubra. She stared lazily at the girl from the Mystic Moon, Earth. The moon was up and it cast a devious glow around all her surroundings. How she would love to slit her throat for Dilandau, but Sara wouldn't let it. No, Sara had a power much like Hitomi's, and she would not let Colubra sever that connection. She reached over and pulled the piece of cloth from the girl's mouth. She moved her jaw to get the stiffness out of it and Colubra leaned back again.
"Thank you." She mustered. Colubra noticed very little fear in her eyes,
"Why don't you fear me like you should?" She asked, genuinely perturbed. Hitomi just smiled.
"I don't think you'll actually harm me, you just want to do this for another reason, not to kill me." How did she know that? How could she have such faith?
"Is that it?" Colubra looked down at her hands folded across her legs which were bent upwards against the other side of the roof. The passage was only wide enough for one person to walk down, so it was slightly cramped. Then and there Sara wished this stupid thing would just end, get away from Austuria and go back to Zaibach. Colubra agreed, 'But not without a fight.'
***
Near dawn, it was completely silent, a few birds chirped their morning song, and the dew dusted everything. Allen had gone in for the night, but Van had stayed in the courtyard. Hitomi was asleep, along with Merle and Dallet. Colubra hadn't slept at all that night, she had been thinking too hard. She crawled over to Dallet, who woke with a start. She pressed her hand against his mouth to prevent him from making a loud sound. With a quick flick of her wrist he understood that they were moving. He motioned to the sleeping girls, she just shook her head. Then he turned to leave; they crawled along the roof in the pre-dawn light, behind the cover of the large stone walls, until they found the entrance to the secret passage. Dallet went in first, and Colubra followed, just as she was turning to close the door, she saw Hitomi, awake, staring at her – without the gag in her mouth. Colubra raised a finger to her mouth, "Shhh." And Hitomi smiled, she had to trust the girl, it was her only way out. Dallet ran down the stairs, Colubra turned, right on his heels. Praying Hitomi would keep quite. They got to the outside of the castle grounds and broke into a full fledged run through the streets of Austuria, a market day, people were up getting their carts ready as they ran in and out of them. Finally they reached the outskirts of the city, and the edge of the forest, panting like dogs. She smiled at Dallet, and they started to laugh hysterically, they had pulled it off! They walked into the early morning forest, fresh and new it was. The walk to their guymelef would be much longer on foot than by horsehide, halfway there, the lack of sleep caught up on Colubra, and she decided the would rest, so they found a patch of fresh, green grass and lay down.
"So much for the objective." She mumbled as she lay back, the sun warming her body and lulling her to sleep, Dallet agreed, and they fell into a exhausted sleep.
~ah…thank goodness that's done!
I spent a long time on this chapter, so please review and tell me what you think (now don't be shy and tell you're friends about it if you think it's good, cause I need all the people reading this I can get!!!)