CHAPTER 4
As soon as Sioned regained her focus, Rohan hurried to her side and asked her what his squire found in the desert.
"So?" he inquired impatiently. "What did they find in the desert? Was it something that a diarmadh'im did? Was it dangerous? How are Daniv and Morwenna doing?"
"Hold on, Rohan! One question at a time," Sioned put her hands out to hold him off. "Daniv and Morwenna are fine. It wasn't any of diarmadh'im's doing at all. And it's not an It, but rather they. There are three young people at the place where you saw the flash. Two men and a woman. Morwenna said that these people wear strange clothing and one of them have lavender-colored hair while the girl looks like Meiglan. She's not sure if they're sorcerers but she feels they're more like Sunrunners. She's not certain if any of them is dangerous. Daniv invited them over for dinner so we may see them firsthand." She filled him in with her conversation with Morwenna.
"Good thinking on the part of Daniv. Inviting them over, we'll be able to measure them all up." He nodded in approval.
"The oddest thing about them, as what Morwenna told me, was that she can't really pinpoint any of their colors except for the brightest gold she'd ever seen in any Sunrunner's color. The girl's distinct color is a bright pinkish gold," she told him with a frown. "Why is it that most of their distinct color is gold? I seldom encounter a Sunrunner with such color. Well, maybe you and Pol but yours aren't that bright. No offense intended," she placated Rohan.
"None taken. I trust your Sunrunning ways. If you say it's a rare thing, then I believe you." He said absently, obviously in deep thoughts. He was startled out of his contemplation when he heard the commotion outside.
Sioned raced to the window, forgetting her blistered feet and her age of sixty-two winters, with Rohan following right behind her at a more sedate pace. They saw Daniv's horse entering the gate with a blonde girl infront of him. When Sioned saw what the girl was wearing, she was appalled. The girl, Marron, was wearing a very short skirt. So short that it bared her legs and thighs. The only consolation was that the girl was trying to cover her bare skin with her hands unsuccessfully. The next horse that got in was Morwenna's. Rohan saw a mop of spiky black hair and a young man's clean face. The man is a little tanned but even through the loose clothing he had on him, it can't hide the strong build of his body. This man is a warrior, thought Rohan upon seeing him. The next horse with two passenger on it was something of a surprise. The young man is like the other one, a bit tanned and of strong body — clearly also a warrior — but have short lavender-colored hair. Even through the distance, both royalties can feel their strong presence.
When they dismounted, the three gathered together in support of each other. What both royalties and the rest of the kingdom saw were three very beautiful people if a little worse for wear. From their rigid stance, Rohan can tell that they were expecting a fight and ready to handle it. A perfectly natural reaction since most of the guards had their swords drawn as soon as they got off the horses. When he saw the way those three held themselves, he surmised that the girl was also a warrior however dainty she looked.
"What can they do against swords?" puzzled Sioned.
"I don't know but it seems like that fact doesn't frighten them, just wary." Rohan observed. He sighed and decided to get this thing over with. "My people, please put your swords away. These children are my guests," he announced to the public.
Having heard this, the people heaved a heavy sigh and relaxed. Most just discovered that they had been holding their breath when they saw the strangers coming in. The guards sheathed their swords and the Sunrunners relaxed.
Both Sioned and Rohan suddenly turned around when they heard a loud gasp behind them. Camigwen just had a brief glance at their three guests and the vision simply took her breath away.
"Enchanting, aren't they, Jeni?" Rohan chuckled at Camigwen's reaction. She just nodded her head, too stunned to utter a single word. "Why don't you come with us so we can formally welcome these strangers?" Sioned invited her to join them in meeting the handsome black-haired man.
All three went down to the hall and waited for the new arrivals.
As the door opened, Daniv and Morwenna came in with Trunks, Goten and Marron trailing behind them, looking about the room and marveling at the grandeur of Stronghold.
It was even more remarkable to see these young people face-to-face. What looked like unkempt black hair in the distance looked perfectly natural in close quarters and they just discovered the black-haired man is quite tall indeed. Both men were clean-shaven and absolutely handsome. The girl was petite but not frail and very pretty. Rohan was not prepared for Sioned's reaction to them. Her eyes widened in astonishment when she was almost bawled over by Trunks' and Goten's power. Morwenna was right. The men's colors were the brightest gold she had ever seen. In fact, so bright that she was almost blinded by their brilliance. It was confounding to see both men suddenly look at her and raised their brows in question, as if they felt her touch and knew it came from her alone. She avoided their eyes and turned her attention to the girl. The girl was all soft colors; the most distinct is pinkish gold.
Who are these people? Sioned wondered.
Morwenna joined the royalties and allowed Daniv to introduce the three to their graces.
"Your grace, may I present to you Trunks," he pointed to the man with strange hair. "This is Goten," he pointed to the tall man with black hair. "And this beautiful young lady is Marron," he took her hand and tugged her closer to his grace, Rohan. "I'd like you all to meet their graces, High Prince Rohan and High Princess Sioned."
"Your majesties, I am Trunks of Satan City. I am 24 years old." He curtsied gracefully, aware of how to treat royalties being a son of a prince himself. "We are honored indeed to be in your presence. We apologize for intruding at this late in the day."
Goten bowed and followed Trunks, "Your majesties, I am Goten of Satan City as well and I am 23 years old." Then he bowed lower when he turned his attention to Camigwen, "My lady, I have not had the pleasure of knowing your name. If it's not too inconvenient, may I know your name?"
Camigwen was too flustered to respond at once so Sioned rescued her. "Goten, this is Lady Camigwen of Castle Crag and she's 19 years old." She gave Jeni an amused look when Goten took her hand and kissed the back of it in such a gallant gesture. Quite surprising to see Goten in such a gallant manner, in fact, it's really out of his character. But then he just saw a play last week entitled "Camelot" that the girl he was courting with put him through. Seeing that the whole ambience of this dimension is that of the medieval period, and that he's standing right before an enchanting creature, it seemed fitting to borrow some of the words and emulate the characters of the play.
Then it's the girl's turn, "I am Marron, your Majesties. I am eighteen years old and not related at all to these guys, but like them, I, too, came from Satan City." She declared while glaring at the two. "You must forgive Goten, Camigwen. He's just like that when confronted with a very beautiful lady." She smirked at Goten while he scratched his head in embarrassment. "Trunks is a natural since he's the son of the Prince of Vejiitasei. Both of them are Saiyajins while I'm just a plain Earthling." She told the natives the truth while oblivious to the glares of the two Saiyajins.
When the two started glaring at Marron, Sioned felt a sudden burst of energy from them. She was even more astounded when both of them turned to her.
"We are both honored to make your acquaintance. You are a powerful woman, your majesty. You have a very strong ki, even stronger than that of his majesty." Trunks told them.
The two royalties just looked at each other while Camigwen, Daniv and Morwenna gaped at them.
Seeing that the no-longer strangers have nothing more to say, they all shook themselves up. "Thank you, Trunks, for the compliment. You all took us by surprise. You can just call me Sioned and he's Rohan. We'd like you to be as comfortable as you can be so let's skip the formalities, okay?" She smiled sweetly at them. "But if you'd like to be formal, please use 'your grace' instead of 'your majesty'. 'Majesty' is too much. We don't like Rohan to get an idea." She chuckled while jabbing Rohan's ribs with her left elbow.
"As you wish, dear grace." Goten bowed low and did the same thing to Sioned's hand like what he did to Camigwen's.
Morwenna was amused by the display. It seemed this Goten will compete with the korrus Kazander at flatteries.
"Welcome to Stronghold!" Rohan declared. "Daniv, please call Isriam and tell him to bring our guests to their rooms."
"At once, Rohan." Daniv hurriedly left the hall and searched for Isriam. When he found him, he started telling him of the girl he brought with him from the desert leaving out the fact of the two men who accompanied them. Isriam was doubtful but since he was ordered to bring guests to their rooms, he thought that somehow, there's an ounce of truth to what Daniv told him. He hurried to the hall and was totally taken aback at what he saw. Daniv was right, she is beautiful but her expression looked like a thundercloud. The men she was with looked the same. He's more impressed with the men. Just like Rohan, he thought that they must be warriors, even the girl looked like one. Rohan, Sioned, Camigwen and Morwenna were no longer around. Only the three were left behind awaiting his arrival. He can almost hear their bickering.
"What's gotten into you that you blurted things out!?" Trunks snapped at Marron who winced at the sharpness of his tone.
"I didn't say anything wrong. I just told them the truth. Why? Did I tell them that you two are the next most powerful in our world after Vejiita-san and Gohan-san? Did I tell them we can fly or manipulate energies? NO!!! I didn't. I just told them the basics. Besides, I doubt they know about Saiyans or Earthlings for that matter." She replied putting her hands on her hips to stress her point.
Maybe he heard her wrong. She couldn't possibly have said that they can fly or powerful people in the world. That would be ridiculous. Only dragons and birds can fly. Humans don't fly or do they? Now, Isriam is entirely confused.
"Marron! Someone might hear you!" Goten warned her. But when he saw Isriam standing near the foot of the stairs and saw his facial expression, he knew his warning was uttered too late. "You and your big mouth, Marron. Someone did hear you and here he comes." He pointed to Isriam.
"Good evening to you. I am Isriam of Einar, another squire of High Prince Rohan. I am here to show you to your room so you can freshen up for dinner. Dinner will be served in two hours' time." He informed the three while leading the way up the stairs to their rooms. He's head was so full of questions but afraid to ask them. One thing he was sure, though, Marron may be very beautiful but she's certainly a loudmouth from what he had heard of their conversation. He guessed that she was not a person to be trusted with a secret.
Goten looked at him and guessed what he had in mind. "Go ahead and ask us. I guess you heard what Marron said awhile ago, huh?" he inquired.
He just nodded, tongue-tied and afraid that he might offend these two formidable men. "Is what she said true? Can you really fly?" he blurted out, no longer able to stop himself from asking that question.
Trunks groaned and sighed in defeat. "Yes. We can fly, been doing it since we were children except for Marron. She just learned it two years ago. I hope you're not like her who can't keep her mouth shut." He stared at him. I guess we do need someone who knows all about us that we can trust so if we blunder, someone will be able to explain. It's going to be hard refraining ourselves from flying since we've been doing it since we were kids. It had become instinctive already, Trunks thought to himself.
"No, I'm not like her. I can keep a secret. You have my word on that..." Isriam assured them. "Uhhmm... since there isn't anybody around, can you show me?" He asked, eager to see them fly and prove their claim.
He was totally caught off guard when Goten just jumped from the top of the stairs. He would have screamed if he hadn't seen Goten stop in midair. He was just floating, ten feet from the ground. Then he flew down and flew back up to where they were. Then all three were floating a few feet from the ground and flew in circles above him. They flew for about 5 minutes before they decided he had enough and so settled back on the ground.
Isriam was dumbfounded and could hardly believe what he just saw. "Are you people also warriors?" He inquired. "You look like you are from the way you people carry yourselves," he hurriedly added.
"Yes, we are." Trunks told him. "In fact, in our world, we were part of the group called the Z Warriors. Oh and one other thing, we're not from your world. We're from another dimension. We're stranded here because our machine was not equipped with a 'return' console. Thus, the strange outfit and powers," he added. "Can we trust you not to tell anyone about us?"
Isriam took a big gulp and nodded vigorously, "You can trust me. And besides, even if I tell someone about this, I doubt they'll believe me." Isriam assured them as they reached one of the rooms assigned to them. They let Marron take the first room. "We noticed that you didn't bring any change of clothes so I'll just ask one of the maids to send some that will fit you." He informed her.
The next room was chosen by Goten and then Trunks took the last. Just like Marron, Isriam told them that he'll send someone up to bring them some clothes. He will wait for them down the hall after two hours and lead them to the dining room.
Trunks and Marron were in a dilemma for they were used to the luxury that technology had furnished them. Goten didn't have any problem at all because at the mountains where he grew up, he was used to accommodations worse than this. Instead of fumbling around, both Trunks and Marron asked the maids who brought the clothes to show them how to use the thingamajigs (for the lack of better term). It didn't take long for Trunks and Goten to get ready. They went out of their rooms, met in the hallway, decided to go down the hall and wait for Marron and Isriam to arrive.
Looking about the room, Goten noticed that no one was around. "Uh... Trunks, I don't see anyone around yet. Are you up for some sparring to while the time away? Besides, we always know when someone arrives so we'll have ample warning." He asked eager to do some round of warm-up before meal.
"Sure but no kame-hame-ha and we'd better be careful that we don't destroy the whole place. Let's just sweat out a bit for thirty minutes and that's it. I don't want anyone catching us in the act while we're too busy with sparring." Trunks warned him but willing to get into some action even for a short while.
Unknown to the two warriors, Myrdal was already in the hall but hidden in an aperture. Being the Commander of Stronghold guard, she wanted to see the strangers when they're by themselves. But now she wished she hadn't seen them. What she's seeing right now made her gawk and feel a little faint. Goten and Trunks were punching, feinting and attacking at a speed that her eyes couldn't follow. They were so fast that Myrdal only saw them when their punches connect. But the thing that betrayed her position was when they started sparring on thin air — definitely flying — and she saw this, she couldn't help herself but gasp out loud and take a step back that she fell flat on her bottom. She almost fainted when the two suddenly appeared in front of her with horrified expression on their faces.
When Goten and Trunks heard a gasp and something falling, they immediately went to the place where they heard it happening. They were completely taken aback when they saw that source of the noise was an old lady. An old lady on the verge of fainting. They were so worried that the woman is having a cardiac arrest that Trunks picked her up while Goten was fanning her face to give her some air.
"Obaasan, please don't die. We're so sorry for scaring you. We didn't know that you were here." Goten said to her while fanning her with his hand.
Trunks looked at him in disgust for blurting out the truth. He was thinking that maybe they can make it appear that the old lady was just seeing things. However, since Goten already apologized, making it appear that they really did something out of the ordinary, that idea just went up in smoke.
"Obaasan, are you alright?" he asked Myrdal when she had gotten back her cool.
Looking at the boys, she couldn't help but chuckle at their expression. "You boys just took this old bag of bones by surprise. And no, I'm not going to die yet. I'm too young to die anyway." She laughed harder when they snorted at her in incredulity. With their help, she stood and dusted herself up. "Sorry about that, I'm not usually faint-hearted." She gave them a broad grin. "By the way, I am Myrdal. Cousin of High Prince Rohan and the Commander of this keep's guards. And you are?" She held out her hand to Trunks. The man with strange hair color.
"I am Trunks. Pleased to meet ya!" He grinned back at her for the spunk that she showed them.
"And I am Goten. Pleased to meet ya, Obaasan!" He shook her hand when she turned to him.
"Pleased to meet you, too, boys!" She smirked at them. "Hold on, what is this obaasan I keep hearing from you two?" she asked.
"Well, Obaasan in our language means grandmother. But please don't be offended. It was uttered with a highest regard to you," Goten explained as he and Trunks bowed low to her.
"Well, well... such respectful children you two are." She snorted at them when she saw them scratching their heads abashed. "Don't worry about me. It seemed you people were trying to keep your powers a secret, and from what I have seen, they are immense indeed! It would do no good if the rest of the people here find out about them. Besides, the faradh'im and the diarmadh'im will be absolutely jealous. I surmise that what I have seen is just the tail of a dragon," she queried.
Both nodded but there's a quizzical expression on their faces. "Ano--- what are faradh'im and diarmadh'im? We had heard of them saying those words but we don't know what they mean." Trunks asked her.
"Oh, faradhi or faradh'im are Sunrunners in the Old Language while diarmadhi or diarmadh'im, also in the Old Tongue, are Sorcerers." She explained but when she saw their blank looks, she clarified further. "Sunrunners are people who can weave themselves with sunlight or moonlight. Out of these weavings, they can create fire and talk to other Sunrunners in the distance. Sorcerers are those people who use starlight in their weavings, and they can create illusions and sometimes shapeshift. Same as Sunrunners, they can also communicate with others like them from a distance."
"How would one know if the person is faradhi or diarmadhi?" Goten probed deeper.
"Simple, Sunrunners have very low tolerance of water crossings while Sorcerers don't." Myrdal said a matter-of-factly.
"Am I the only one who knows about your powers? Does the girl have the same powers?" she asked them in concern. Not wanting someone else to know their abilities.
"No, there are two of you. The other one is Isriam. The girl with us happened to blurt out what we are capable of, thinking we were alone. Unfortunately, we weren't because Isriam was there by the foot of the stairs all agape." Trunks snorted at their carelessness. "Marron can fly and fight, but does not have the same powers as we do," He told her.
"I'm glad to know that Isriam is the other person who knew the truth. He's a very discreet young man. You can depend on him to keep all of your secrets to himself. The same with me, you can place your trust on me." Myrdal assured them as they heard Isriam entering the hall and Marron coming down the stairs.
"But I'd like to have the chance to see the full splendor of your powers one of these days. I might manage to find a place where you can spar at full strength with no one around, just me and Isriam. I'm sure that he would like to see you three fight." She chuckled at the idea. "Well, that's that. Why don't we all go to the dining room and have our dinner. We don't want to keep our graces waiting now, would we?" She laughed out loud at the comical expressions that the four exhibited. She can hardly wait for the day she can see them fight.
--to be continued.
As soon as Sioned regained her focus, Rohan hurried to her side and asked her what his squire found in the desert.
"So?" he inquired impatiently. "What did they find in the desert? Was it something that a diarmadh'im did? Was it dangerous? How are Daniv and Morwenna doing?"
"Hold on, Rohan! One question at a time," Sioned put her hands out to hold him off. "Daniv and Morwenna are fine. It wasn't any of diarmadh'im's doing at all. And it's not an It, but rather they. There are three young people at the place where you saw the flash. Two men and a woman. Morwenna said that these people wear strange clothing and one of them have lavender-colored hair while the girl looks like Meiglan. She's not sure if they're sorcerers but she feels they're more like Sunrunners. She's not certain if any of them is dangerous. Daniv invited them over for dinner so we may see them firsthand." She filled him in with her conversation with Morwenna.
"Good thinking on the part of Daniv. Inviting them over, we'll be able to measure them all up." He nodded in approval.
"The oddest thing about them, as what Morwenna told me, was that she can't really pinpoint any of their colors except for the brightest gold she'd ever seen in any Sunrunner's color. The girl's distinct color is a bright pinkish gold," she told him with a frown. "Why is it that most of their distinct color is gold? I seldom encounter a Sunrunner with such color. Well, maybe you and Pol but yours aren't that bright. No offense intended," she placated Rohan.
"None taken. I trust your Sunrunning ways. If you say it's a rare thing, then I believe you." He said absently, obviously in deep thoughts. He was startled out of his contemplation when he heard the commotion outside.
Sioned raced to the window, forgetting her blistered feet and her age of sixty-two winters, with Rohan following right behind her at a more sedate pace. They saw Daniv's horse entering the gate with a blonde girl infront of him. When Sioned saw what the girl was wearing, she was appalled. The girl, Marron, was wearing a very short skirt. So short that it bared her legs and thighs. The only consolation was that the girl was trying to cover her bare skin with her hands unsuccessfully. The next horse that got in was Morwenna's. Rohan saw a mop of spiky black hair and a young man's clean face. The man is a little tanned but even through the loose clothing he had on him, it can't hide the strong build of his body. This man is a warrior, thought Rohan upon seeing him. The next horse with two passenger on it was something of a surprise. The young man is like the other one, a bit tanned and of strong body — clearly also a warrior — but have short lavender-colored hair. Even through the distance, both royalties can feel their strong presence.
When they dismounted, the three gathered together in support of each other. What both royalties and the rest of the kingdom saw were three very beautiful people if a little worse for wear. From their rigid stance, Rohan can tell that they were expecting a fight and ready to handle it. A perfectly natural reaction since most of the guards had their swords drawn as soon as they got off the horses. When he saw the way those three held themselves, he surmised that the girl was also a warrior however dainty she looked.
"What can they do against swords?" puzzled Sioned.
"I don't know but it seems like that fact doesn't frighten them, just wary." Rohan observed. He sighed and decided to get this thing over with. "My people, please put your swords away. These children are my guests," he announced to the public.
Having heard this, the people heaved a heavy sigh and relaxed. Most just discovered that they had been holding their breath when they saw the strangers coming in. The guards sheathed their swords and the Sunrunners relaxed.
Both Sioned and Rohan suddenly turned around when they heard a loud gasp behind them. Camigwen just had a brief glance at their three guests and the vision simply took her breath away.
"Enchanting, aren't they, Jeni?" Rohan chuckled at Camigwen's reaction. She just nodded her head, too stunned to utter a single word. "Why don't you come with us so we can formally welcome these strangers?" Sioned invited her to join them in meeting the handsome black-haired man.
All three went down to the hall and waited for the new arrivals.
As the door opened, Daniv and Morwenna came in with Trunks, Goten and Marron trailing behind them, looking about the room and marveling at the grandeur of Stronghold.
It was even more remarkable to see these young people face-to-face. What looked like unkempt black hair in the distance looked perfectly natural in close quarters and they just discovered the black-haired man is quite tall indeed. Both men were clean-shaven and absolutely handsome. The girl was petite but not frail and very pretty. Rohan was not prepared for Sioned's reaction to them. Her eyes widened in astonishment when she was almost bawled over by Trunks' and Goten's power. Morwenna was right. The men's colors were the brightest gold she had ever seen. In fact, so bright that she was almost blinded by their brilliance. It was confounding to see both men suddenly look at her and raised their brows in question, as if they felt her touch and knew it came from her alone. She avoided their eyes and turned her attention to the girl. The girl was all soft colors; the most distinct is pinkish gold.
Who are these people? Sioned wondered.
Morwenna joined the royalties and allowed Daniv to introduce the three to their graces.
"Your grace, may I present to you Trunks," he pointed to the man with strange hair. "This is Goten," he pointed to the tall man with black hair. "And this beautiful young lady is Marron," he took her hand and tugged her closer to his grace, Rohan. "I'd like you all to meet their graces, High Prince Rohan and High Princess Sioned."
"Your majesties, I am Trunks of Satan City. I am 24 years old." He curtsied gracefully, aware of how to treat royalties being a son of a prince himself. "We are honored indeed to be in your presence. We apologize for intruding at this late in the day."
Goten bowed and followed Trunks, "Your majesties, I am Goten of Satan City as well and I am 23 years old." Then he bowed lower when he turned his attention to Camigwen, "My lady, I have not had the pleasure of knowing your name. If it's not too inconvenient, may I know your name?"
Camigwen was too flustered to respond at once so Sioned rescued her. "Goten, this is Lady Camigwen of Castle Crag and she's 19 years old." She gave Jeni an amused look when Goten took her hand and kissed the back of it in such a gallant gesture. Quite surprising to see Goten in such a gallant manner, in fact, it's really out of his character. But then he just saw a play last week entitled "Camelot" that the girl he was courting with put him through. Seeing that the whole ambience of this dimension is that of the medieval period, and that he's standing right before an enchanting creature, it seemed fitting to borrow some of the words and emulate the characters of the play.
Then it's the girl's turn, "I am Marron, your Majesties. I am eighteen years old and not related at all to these guys, but like them, I, too, came from Satan City." She declared while glaring at the two. "You must forgive Goten, Camigwen. He's just like that when confronted with a very beautiful lady." She smirked at Goten while he scratched his head in embarrassment. "Trunks is a natural since he's the son of the Prince of Vejiitasei. Both of them are Saiyajins while I'm just a plain Earthling." She told the natives the truth while oblivious to the glares of the two Saiyajins.
When the two started glaring at Marron, Sioned felt a sudden burst of energy from them. She was even more astounded when both of them turned to her.
"We are both honored to make your acquaintance. You are a powerful woman, your majesty. You have a very strong ki, even stronger than that of his majesty." Trunks told them.
The two royalties just looked at each other while Camigwen, Daniv and Morwenna gaped at them.
Seeing that the no-longer strangers have nothing more to say, they all shook themselves up. "Thank you, Trunks, for the compliment. You all took us by surprise. You can just call me Sioned and he's Rohan. We'd like you to be as comfortable as you can be so let's skip the formalities, okay?" She smiled sweetly at them. "But if you'd like to be formal, please use 'your grace' instead of 'your majesty'. 'Majesty' is too much. We don't like Rohan to get an idea." She chuckled while jabbing Rohan's ribs with her left elbow.
"As you wish, dear grace." Goten bowed low and did the same thing to Sioned's hand like what he did to Camigwen's.
Morwenna was amused by the display. It seemed this Goten will compete with the korrus Kazander at flatteries.
"Welcome to Stronghold!" Rohan declared. "Daniv, please call Isriam and tell him to bring our guests to their rooms."
"At once, Rohan." Daniv hurriedly left the hall and searched for Isriam. When he found him, he started telling him of the girl he brought with him from the desert leaving out the fact of the two men who accompanied them. Isriam was doubtful but since he was ordered to bring guests to their rooms, he thought that somehow, there's an ounce of truth to what Daniv told him. He hurried to the hall and was totally taken aback at what he saw. Daniv was right, she is beautiful but her expression looked like a thundercloud. The men she was with looked the same. He's more impressed with the men. Just like Rohan, he thought that they must be warriors, even the girl looked like one. Rohan, Sioned, Camigwen and Morwenna were no longer around. Only the three were left behind awaiting his arrival. He can almost hear their bickering.
"What's gotten into you that you blurted things out!?" Trunks snapped at Marron who winced at the sharpness of his tone.
"I didn't say anything wrong. I just told them the truth. Why? Did I tell them that you two are the next most powerful in our world after Vejiita-san and Gohan-san? Did I tell them we can fly or manipulate energies? NO!!! I didn't. I just told them the basics. Besides, I doubt they know about Saiyans or Earthlings for that matter." She replied putting her hands on her hips to stress her point.
Maybe he heard her wrong. She couldn't possibly have said that they can fly or powerful people in the world. That would be ridiculous. Only dragons and birds can fly. Humans don't fly or do they? Now, Isriam is entirely confused.
"Marron! Someone might hear you!" Goten warned her. But when he saw Isriam standing near the foot of the stairs and saw his facial expression, he knew his warning was uttered too late. "You and your big mouth, Marron. Someone did hear you and here he comes." He pointed to Isriam.
"Good evening to you. I am Isriam of Einar, another squire of High Prince Rohan. I am here to show you to your room so you can freshen up for dinner. Dinner will be served in two hours' time." He informed the three while leading the way up the stairs to their rooms. He's head was so full of questions but afraid to ask them. One thing he was sure, though, Marron may be very beautiful but she's certainly a loudmouth from what he had heard of their conversation. He guessed that she was not a person to be trusted with a secret.
Goten looked at him and guessed what he had in mind. "Go ahead and ask us. I guess you heard what Marron said awhile ago, huh?" he inquired.
He just nodded, tongue-tied and afraid that he might offend these two formidable men. "Is what she said true? Can you really fly?" he blurted out, no longer able to stop himself from asking that question.
Trunks groaned and sighed in defeat. "Yes. We can fly, been doing it since we were children except for Marron. She just learned it two years ago. I hope you're not like her who can't keep her mouth shut." He stared at him. I guess we do need someone who knows all about us that we can trust so if we blunder, someone will be able to explain. It's going to be hard refraining ourselves from flying since we've been doing it since we were kids. It had become instinctive already, Trunks thought to himself.
"No, I'm not like her. I can keep a secret. You have my word on that..." Isriam assured them. "Uhhmm... since there isn't anybody around, can you show me?" He asked, eager to see them fly and prove their claim.
He was totally caught off guard when Goten just jumped from the top of the stairs. He would have screamed if he hadn't seen Goten stop in midair. He was just floating, ten feet from the ground. Then he flew down and flew back up to where they were. Then all three were floating a few feet from the ground and flew in circles above him. They flew for about 5 minutes before they decided he had enough and so settled back on the ground.
Isriam was dumbfounded and could hardly believe what he just saw. "Are you people also warriors?" He inquired. "You look like you are from the way you people carry yourselves," he hurriedly added.
"Yes, we are." Trunks told him. "In fact, in our world, we were part of the group called the Z Warriors. Oh and one other thing, we're not from your world. We're from another dimension. We're stranded here because our machine was not equipped with a 'return' console. Thus, the strange outfit and powers," he added. "Can we trust you not to tell anyone about us?"
Isriam took a big gulp and nodded vigorously, "You can trust me. And besides, even if I tell someone about this, I doubt they'll believe me." Isriam assured them as they reached one of the rooms assigned to them. They let Marron take the first room. "We noticed that you didn't bring any change of clothes so I'll just ask one of the maids to send some that will fit you." He informed her.
The next room was chosen by Goten and then Trunks took the last. Just like Marron, Isriam told them that he'll send someone up to bring them some clothes. He will wait for them down the hall after two hours and lead them to the dining room.
Trunks and Marron were in a dilemma for they were used to the luxury that technology had furnished them. Goten didn't have any problem at all because at the mountains where he grew up, he was used to accommodations worse than this. Instead of fumbling around, both Trunks and Marron asked the maids who brought the clothes to show them how to use the thingamajigs (for the lack of better term). It didn't take long for Trunks and Goten to get ready. They went out of their rooms, met in the hallway, decided to go down the hall and wait for Marron and Isriam to arrive.
Looking about the room, Goten noticed that no one was around. "Uh... Trunks, I don't see anyone around yet. Are you up for some sparring to while the time away? Besides, we always know when someone arrives so we'll have ample warning." He asked eager to do some round of warm-up before meal.
"Sure but no kame-hame-ha and we'd better be careful that we don't destroy the whole place. Let's just sweat out a bit for thirty minutes and that's it. I don't want anyone catching us in the act while we're too busy with sparring." Trunks warned him but willing to get into some action even for a short while.
Unknown to the two warriors, Myrdal was already in the hall but hidden in an aperture. Being the Commander of Stronghold guard, she wanted to see the strangers when they're by themselves. But now she wished she hadn't seen them. What she's seeing right now made her gawk and feel a little faint. Goten and Trunks were punching, feinting and attacking at a speed that her eyes couldn't follow. They were so fast that Myrdal only saw them when their punches connect. But the thing that betrayed her position was when they started sparring on thin air — definitely flying — and she saw this, she couldn't help herself but gasp out loud and take a step back that she fell flat on her bottom. She almost fainted when the two suddenly appeared in front of her with horrified expression on their faces.
When Goten and Trunks heard a gasp and something falling, they immediately went to the place where they heard it happening. They were completely taken aback when they saw that source of the noise was an old lady. An old lady on the verge of fainting. They were so worried that the woman is having a cardiac arrest that Trunks picked her up while Goten was fanning her face to give her some air.
"Obaasan, please don't die. We're so sorry for scaring you. We didn't know that you were here." Goten said to her while fanning her with his hand.
Trunks looked at him in disgust for blurting out the truth. He was thinking that maybe they can make it appear that the old lady was just seeing things. However, since Goten already apologized, making it appear that they really did something out of the ordinary, that idea just went up in smoke.
"Obaasan, are you alright?" he asked Myrdal when she had gotten back her cool.
Looking at the boys, she couldn't help but chuckle at their expression. "You boys just took this old bag of bones by surprise. And no, I'm not going to die yet. I'm too young to die anyway." She laughed harder when they snorted at her in incredulity. With their help, she stood and dusted herself up. "Sorry about that, I'm not usually faint-hearted." She gave them a broad grin. "By the way, I am Myrdal. Cousin of High Prince Rohan and the Commander of this keep's guards. And you are?" She held out her hand to Trunks. The man with strange hair color.
"I am Trunks. Pleased to meet ya!" He grinned back at her for the spunk that she showed them.
"And I am Goten. Pleased to meet ya, Obaasan!" He shook her hand when she turned to him.
"Pleased to meet you, too, boys!" She smirked at them. "Hold on, what is this obaasan I keep hearing from you two?" she asked.
"Well, Obaasan in our language means grandmother. But please don't be offended. It was uttered with a highest regard to you," Goten explained as he and Trunks bowed low to her.
"Well, well... such respectful children you two are." She snorted at them when she saw them scratching their heads abashed. "Don't worry about me. It seemed you people were trying to keep your powers a secret, and from what I have seen, they are immense indeed! It would do no good if the rest of the people here find out about them. Besides, the faradh'im and the diarmadh'im will be absolutely jealous. I surmise that what I have seen is just the tail of a dragon," she queried.
Both nodded but there's a quizzical expression on their faces. "Ano--- what are faradh'im and diarmadh'im? We had heard of them saying those words but we don't know what they mean." Trunks asked her.
"Oh, faradhi or faradh'im are Sunrunners in the Old Language while diarmadhi or diarmadh'im, also in the Old Tongue, are Sorcerers." She explained but when she saw their blank looks, she clarified further. "Sunrunners are people who can weave themselves with sunlight or moonlight. Out of these weavings, they can create fire and talk to other Sunrunners in the distance. Sorcerers are those people who use starlight in their weavings, and they can create illusions and sometimes shapeshift. Same as Sunrunners, they can also communicate with others like them from a distance."
"How would one know if the person is faradhi or diarmadhi?" Goten probed deeper.
"Simple, Sunrunners have very low tolerance of water crossings while Sorcerers don't." Myrdal said a matter-of-factly.
"Am I the only one who knows about your powers? Does the girl have the same powers?" she asked them in concern. Not wanting someone else to know their abilities.
"No, there are two of you. The other one is Isriam. The girl with us happened to blurt out what we are capable of, thinking we were alone. Unfortunately, we weren't because Isriam was there by the foot of the stairs all agape." Trunks snorted at their carelessness. "Marron can fly and fight, but does not have the same powers as we do," He told her.
"I'm glad to know that Isriam is the other person who knew the truth. He's a very discreet young man. You can depend on him to keep all of your secrets to himself. The same with me, you can place your trust on me." Myrdal assured them as they heard Isriam entering the hall and Marron coming down the stairs.
"But I'd like to have the chance to see the full splendor of your powers one of these days. I might manage to find a place where you can spar at full strength with no one around, just me and Isriam. I'm sure that he would like to see you three fight." She chuckled at the idea. "Well, that's that. Why don't we all go to the dining room and have our dinner. We don't want to keep our graces waiting now, would we?" She laughed out loud at the comical expressions that the four exhibited. She can hardly wait for the day she can see them fight.
--to be continued.