Their Armor
In the common room nothing unusual as Viole entered. Tired
from practice she was far from happy to spend free time lazing about
with the others. But Dilandau had canceled their practice and their
was nothing else to do. Gatti and Guimel were playing billards
across the table, Dallet was on the couch, the whole couch lounging
with his head on the floor and his hair spread out reading a journal.
How can anyone read upside down? She parked herself on the edge of a
stool and looked for any of the journals that she hadn't read. They
were all so tedious and inane. Dallet was the only one who actually
read them for enjoyment.
Dallet of course was imparting his boundless wisdom about
dating and women. Viole sat through it and looked at the cartoons.
And turned to the novels page.
"But gifts never work out, that was your first mistake, with her. You get a girl
ciocolates she'll say they'll make her fat. You get her roses she'll
say that she wanted lilies." Dallet said. "Girls don't know what
they want."
"Bah. Ciocolats work. I don't go after skinny prudes like
you. I like women with some curves." Gatti shot the blue into
Chesta's zone. "There was Ginga of Kindra or no it was Cathy I
forget. She liked my ciocolates."
Dallet groaned, "They always backfire."
"You just want some willowy tall beanpole." Gatti said
scornfully. "That's why you like Guimel. I want to be able to tell
the difference between a woman and a boy. If I wanted to fuck a boy
I would have had my way with you a long time ago."
"Oh how flattering. Let me just jump into your arms."
"Stop flirting you two." Guimel groaned, "Or I'll have to
break my foot off in your-
"Yeah Yeah."
Gatti smiled focusing on the shot.
"Dallet, I wish very much so that if I live through this war,
you would show me your sister, she'd be well moneyed of course and
with the curves in the right places. And huge tits."
Kanik drew the outline of a woman on the old dusty score
board, complete with nipples.
Gatti looked over at the couch casting a kiss at Viole.
"Tell me Viole-kun?" Gatti glared straight at her. Which do
you prefer girls with large breasts or girls with huge breasts?"
Gatti asked.
Moran glumped, afraid what she would do.
Viole stopped and continued reading her journal. He just
loved to forget who she was. That she did not debase her mind with
such low thoughts. Her mind was free from such inane distractions.
"I'll not-"
"Play it safe and say huge breasts. Good boy." Gatti smiled
and continued playing. "We'll make a man out of that one yet." Gatti
lowered his head much too close, "I should have guessed."
"Listen you—" Viole sniffed.
"That is why you fit in so well with us lads. You don't have
to worry about all those fresh young girls at Academy."
Viole could not believe what he was insinuating that she'd
let such feelings effect her. She was a soldier, not some goof off,
and certainly not some sexual deviant.
Guimel shoved him back towards the table. He really wanted
to get in a game tonight. Viole didn't even blink at his
accusation. She would not let him say such things.
"Cool off you two. Or I'll go get-" Guimel snapped his
fingers.
"Just funnin' Viole-kun." Gatti flicked his tongue at her name.
Dallet laughed easing the room.
"Thank the Gods, I'm the only one in my family." Dallet
shook his head, "The thought of you being my blood frightens me."
"Well I'll find some dark haired lady somewhere. Someone
with cash-"
"With your reputation, I wouldn't let you near my sister."
Chesta said, "Our clan is blond anyway."
"All 13 of you? Don't you get blinded in the summer time?"
"Yes. Dorun has red hair, but it's light. He's probably the
fieldhand's baby."
Gatti chalked up his cue.
"The way I see it if you are gay, why would you want to be
with such a girly boy. I detest a manly woman." Gatti said.
"I'm not gay. I passed the test. I'm not a freak or
anything like that." Dallet shook his head. "I like pretty boys and
pretty girls. I think a boy can be pretty." He explained, "If I were
some kind of freak wouldn't the test have shown it, right?"
"You're right." Gatti said.
Miguel entered the room agitated, brushing past all of them.
Lifting Dallet's feet up. "Move." He looked as if he sat in
something wet, like he had something on his mind. All the other
slayers said to leave Miguel alone. He got moody sometime. Some
even accused him of getting the vapors, lovesick, languishing in his
room crying or just watching the ceiling. That was what made the
boys fall so mad for him. He was somber, chaste and quiet. She
supposed that if boys could fall in love with girls because they were
virtuous, boys could be attracted to another boy's chastity too. She
wondered if there was such thing as a male damsel in distress. That
would definitely be Miguel. No one ever said anything about Miguel's
upbringing. Viole guessed it must have been pretty good considering
how handsome and genteel he acted.
He lifted his head towards her. What are you reading Viole-
chan?" Miguel-sempai always had something nice to say to her even if
it was only her name.
"The Fashion Journal. `Escape From The Desert Island.' It's
dreadful. Cost a half a pid. At least it's not a romance,
or `Elena' or something. Girls are so foolish."
Dallet looked at it "Which one you got?"
He looked on the cover. "Issue three."
"Wow. You are behind. Did he escape the-"
"No no. Don't tell me." Viole shook her head, "I want to be
surprised." Viole continued reading and Dallet peaked over her
shoulder. Giggling ever once and a while. He was such a spastic fop.
Moran scratched another tally against Chesta's name over the
ladies boob.
"How dare you desecrate my wife?" Gatti put his hand on his
hip as if he'd draw his dagger.
"You really are a child, I mean really." Chesta rolled his
eyes.
"Come on Gatti if you want gab to Dallet, let someone else
in." Guimel whined.
"It's my turn."
"Then play and stop talking. It's my turn next." Guimel
said.
Moran smiled. "Don't worry it's 13 to 3. Chesta's going to
grind him."
Chesta smiled cockily.
Dallet peaked over her shoulder.
"Ooh. Have you gotten to the part where he got away? On
page-"
Viole glared at him "No. I'm trying to-"
"I'm just explaining to the others. See Rikan Telemachae,
he's the hero. He escaped the realm of the Jungle Queen of the
Mystic Moon and her cannibals. In the dead by night." Dallet
grabbed the journal away "Here listen to this It's so exciting—"
"Dallet if I wanted to know what happened I would read it
myself." Guimel said, "Shut up."
"It's a good novel in here. I like this one almost as good
as the `Youth of Janga.' It is all about a Captain who is trapped on
a Southern Island and must survive on an island alone. Then he finds
that there are vicious savages on the island with coal black skin and
dark eyes. They are Draconians and they worship a volcano god.
Taka. And so they were going to sacrifice the beautiful maiden
Annalita and-"
"Good. I'm glad you are enjoying it." Guimel said lining up
his next shot. "Now leave Viole alone."
"Thank you Guimel-sempai." Viole grabbed her paper back.
"No problem Viole-kun. He's beginning to irritate me."
Dallet could get on anyone's nerves for long periods of
time. Miguel stood up banishing him from his lap and the couch he
rolled onto the floor.
"Well one never knows what one should do if you met
cannibals."
"There are no cannibals. The only savages are the ones over
the borders of Zaibach. Besides I've met many of them. They are
just men with dark skin or white hair or wings or whatever. They
aren't cannibals." Miguel shook his head.
"Do you think Prince Van is a cannibal, Dallet?" Guimel
laughed.
"I don't know what he is." Dallet said laughing, "But I
don't think I have to worry about him unless he pulls out a fork."
"Barbarians don't use forks." Guimel said, "Folken drinks out
of his soup bowl. Like it was a cup."
"It was so cute. He just picked it up and started drinking
it down."
"He eats tubers with his knife."
"Well he's gonna have a heck of a time eating me, without
utensils." Dallet said.
"They are from Fanelia. They are strange. I mean bonking on
his own brother like that. That is barbarous." Gatti
nodded, "Ungodly…"
"Come now," Dallet sat up "You are such a hypocrite. That's
the way royalty has always been. They all do it to keep themselves
pure. They get married to their sisters and stuff. It was that way
until Dornkirk-sama came to bring us out of ignorance. Royals mingle
with their own kind. Why should they screw around with people of a
lower quality?"
The ball went bouncing past. Chesta's blue eyes screwed up
into tight beams. Chesta growled and grabbed the ball.
"Folken-sama would never do such a thing."
Gatti fluttered "Of course not wonderful beautiful perfect
Folken-sama." Gatti leaned on his cue, "We have to remember they are
barbarians. No matter how we can dress them up. They don't know
better."
"Prince Van is still what you would call a handsome boy. I
don't think there would be a man who could resist him." Miguel smiled
weakly. "I think that he's very pretty."
"It must be fun to be the prince. Just choose whomever you
like and let the devil care. He could take his brother into his
bed." Gatti said, gleaming mischief in his eyes.
"Folken wouldn't-" Chesta tapped his cue.
"He would have to. That's how it works in those countries."
Gatti said, "They have no morals."
"But he wouldn't-"
"Fine then he wouldn't." Guimel shook his head. "Who
cares? This is a stupid discussion. They were not sleeping
together. I mean all you saw was Van in his bed."
"Yeah. He was holding him."
"Didn't you ever sneak in your brother's bed when you had a
nightmare?" Guimel brushed hair onto his nose.
Dallet stared and shook his head "Finish the game."
Gatti looked at his reflection in the mirror. He couldn't
think of anything else after that business with Miguel. He liked
Miguel a lot, and knew his silence couldn't be good. Gatti knew that
Miguel was on edge. He did not want to think it was what he said
about Dilandau. That would be a mess. Miguel was just horny. You
got horny, you got laid and you moved on. There was nothing else to
it. Girl, boy, it didn't matter and it was all over in a few days.
Chesta, his neighbor continued quietly sitting, and not
talking. Reflection he called it. Prayer. Chesta didn't have the
balls to call it that. Not that Gatti would have the balls to pray
at all. He had heard tales of the things they did to certain priests
in the Dawning of the New Era. Like holding a guy next to a vat of
hot grease or shooting some priests holed up in their temple, making
the stones of the shrines red veined. Then there were the people who
just vanished. Guimel's father just disappeared one night. No one
seemed to check if the priest had a three-year-old son. He wore out
his shoes trying to find where his father went. He wandered all the
way to Dallet's house ten miles away. Dallet had a thing for
protecting him ever since. It seemed like a silly thing to stand up
for. I mean at least the gender deviants were getting some action.
Chesta was in reality the only person in his life who was not
a gender deviant of some sort. But that was by default. The boy so
much hadn't had a dirty dream since puberty. He was an anti-
sexualist, by practice if not political party.
Gatti realized he was staring at himself in that mirror much
too long to look manly. Dilandau preened like a bantam rooster, look
how that got poked at. Gatti was very proud of himself. He could
rest knowing that he had done a pretty good job with his day.
That whole business with Viole-kun was priceless. He
expected her to run off and cry after all that business with that
dirty talk. She had a thin skin. He could see her eyes tremble.
How anybody like that could be such a demon with a sword confused
him. She could dance in her guymelef. Rather than shirk she leapt
into battle like a panther. The sways of her destruction and power
sweeping over her enemies, it took a girl to make it look
beautiful. The only one he had ever seen match with the balance of
grace and power was Dilandau, but it was not the same. Dilandau had
no technique, no precision. Of course he could be exaggerating.
Lots of new Dragon Slayers showed promise and then got rolled out.
He harbored no grudge to Viole-kun, she was a good soldier
who was adjusting to well to the training. No bitching, no
complaining. She was as good as they came and she'd give her life
for Dilandau. If anything she was no threat, harboring no huge
ambitions. She wanted to be a Captain of her own squad of Guymelefs
some day. She just had a steady determination and nerves of ice.
Something that he would have to break before Dilandau would
throw Viole out of the Dragon Slayers.
He wasn't going to give up his place without a fight. He had
always been Dilandau's second in command. His foil, his rival. Now
in this stranger he was being replaced.
Dilandau had asked Viole to bout him three times last week
after 1900 during the rest period. This week he only asked Gatti
twice. Dilandau was being beaten. Viole had a cuff over her ear,
and one on her neck. A classic decapitation blow. Gatti had noticed
that Dilandau had scarlet bruise on his shoulder as he got undressed
in the gym. He had tried to hide it. Viole was out for blood. What
kind of fiend could attack his shoulder? Looked like teethmarks.
It would be like that. You bout someone for years and then
they get familiar, they get boring. And Gatti didn't need to bruise
Dilandau. Dilandau would no longer favor him how could he stay
lieutenant for long.
He remembered the first time he and Dilandau bouted.
D-chan in those days, before D-sempai or now Dilandau-sama.
D-chan unpacked his clothes in silence out of his valise. He also
had the habit to stare at walls. But they had known he was a made
and not worthy of any notice. Until that first night…
Dilandau unfolded his linen sweater. Inside, a flat beastman
doll. It was black and torn. With one of it's glass eyes missing.
It seemed more the case of a doll than a doll. Gatti had a little
sister. He looked at Dilandau. Curl into his bed.
Gatti rolled over in his bed and laughed to himself. That
little boy stuck in his doll. He laughed very quietly, to himself on
that first night in the bunks.
That night a pair of boys were playing rounders with small
pieces of metal, very fancy, Dallet owned these. He talked to Dallet
and his free slave Guimel. They asked him if he was bunking under
the monster boy. They had heard those homunculi didn't to drink the
souls of dead people to survive. Gatti had no idea. He only laughed
and told them about the boy's secret doll. After that the idea of D-
chan being a dangerous homunculi was laughable.
Of course it couldn't end there. Soon they had decided that
the funniest thing in the world would be to steal that doll from the
weird silver haired boy and show it to everyone. So they struck out.
The boy hid his doll behind his back.
"Hey what you got there?"
"My Jajuka."
"Oh."
"He's not really black. He turned that color. He was
brown. When I pulled it out of the fire. It turned black."
"You pulled it out of a fire?"
He nodded. "The lab was on fire and I grabbed it before it
burned up.
"Huh?"
He stared at it, "It's a nice Jajuka, even if it doesn't say
anything and it's crispy smelling."
"Say. Can I see it?"
D looked at him "Okay."
Guimel took the doll and smiled back.
"Yes."
D-chan smiled.
"Now we play keep away." Guimel tucked the doll under his
arm and ran.
D-chan growled. And for the first time any of them noticed
his eyes were not brown, but bloody and mad. It made Guimel nervous
for a second.
"Give that back," the boy said quietly.
Guimel tossed the doll over to Gatti. D ran over to Gatti.
Gatti dangled it over his head. He tried to grab it.
Dallet laughed "Do you want your dolly back?"
Dilandau gritted his teeth. His face tightened.
Dallet quickly passed it back to Guimel. He panicked. He
tossed it into a bunk aimlessly. D chased them around the bunk room
as they tossed it back and forth.
Guimel looked around and stuffed it under a bed. They sat in
a line as the other boys began rousing at the noise of the poor
silver haired boys cries.
D-chan looked at him.
"Where did you throw my Jajuka?"
"Um… What? I don't know what you are talking about."
"Yeah. What kind of silly boy would have a doll?"
"Yeah, Only girls like dolls." Dallet repeated.
"If you want to be a girl, why aren't you in the girls
barracks?"
They poked him.
"It was mine. Why are you doing- You mean- mean— you're
mean!" The tears were coming out of his eyes. He wasn't even
trying to hold them back. They laughed.
"Go to the girls tent then. Go see your dolly. It's
probably there."
D wandered back to his bed, trying to make sense of his fate,
as they cloistered, triumphing at their dominance.
It was only the next day after they had lost his doll that
they first began to practice with swords. D-chan was small. Not as
small as Chesta, but still skinnier than any of them, as if he grew
up eating rice and celery. He was stuck with one of the longer
bokken. And when Gatti beat him easily, he broke down in front of
them again. He cried. He didn't run he just covered his face and
cried. Gatti felt very good.
That night at dinner the other boys were around him marveling
at his skill.
"Ne, Gatti-sempai. You beat everyone." Dallet said, "You're
the best in class."
The pale silver haired boy walked into the room, looking down
at his feet. He'd stopped bawling.
"It's D-chan."
"He's probably going to talk to his dolly." Gatti said. The
others laughed. He knew he was on top of the world.
At this everything began.
Gatti was walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
D-chan closed the door. He heard the click of the lock.
"What are you doing Doll baby?"
D-chan stood his ground. He lifted his soft dark eyes into
Gatti's.
"What's a matter scared of the dark, too? Dolly-chan?"
D smiled.
"What are you smiling at?"
He slammed Gatti into the sink, chipping his nose against the
stone, slamming his face against the sink. Gatti howled in pain.
And D-chan smiled. He had the strength of about four or five boys and
the fury of an army. D-chan slapped and punched him in the face And
D-chan smiled. "Take it back." The boy creature snarled.
"No. You fucking…"
D-chan grabbed his shampoo bottle and flushed the soap
against his face, in his eyes, in his mouth, everywhere. He was
choking and dying as his face burned and bled with heat and poison.
And D-chan smiled
"Got to hell." But the soap only went into his mouth.
"You're not better than me." D-chan laughed, "No one is
better than me. No one. I am made for this. This is my destiny.
So you either kill me or just except it. I will not tolerate your
pity or your disrespect."
When he ran out of shampoo. So with a slap to the back of his
head, he stood up.
"I can't see." Gatti wailed "Why did you-"
"You're nothing. Do you really think I have no experience in
battle. You might be a wizard with a f*cking sword, but how many
have you killed? If you think I'll let you make a fool out of me,
you're the fool." D said lightly yanking the nape of his neck.
Gatti began whimpering "Gomen Nasai. Forgive me D-san."
Dilandau left the water running. So he could wash the pain
out of his eyes.
"I loved my Jajuka. And now he's gone. And I blame you and
that curly headed sheep boy. Don't anger me again or I'll hurt you."
The next day, after the attack they fought again. Dilandau
gripped the sword a little surer now. But Gatti had forgotten
himself. He wanted vengeance.
"I'll show you to jump me." Gatti already felt the sting of
bruised honor. He descended on Dilandau with the wrath of a god with
his sword. Dilandau looked like a rabbit before a lion. He defeated
Dilandau again.
"Good point. Don't attack so aggressively. Some could see
his vulnerabilities."
And so Gatti continued his day. He walked in the hall from
recitations, a subject he never did excel at. But if he wasn't
careful he'd be stuck back a year with the new plebes. And he knew
someone was watching him. He held his notebook closer. It seemed so
quiet.
He was crushed against the ground.
Nothing. He couldn't even hear a noise before he was on the
ground.
He was in so much pain. Dilandau stepped on his chest.
"You are still nothing. You are a nothing without your
sword. Don't beat me again." He dropped the slate broken in half
over his head with a stream of nose blood on it.
It would only take a few more times before Gatti stopped
winning to Dilandau, after recitation, after lights out and that
other time,
Gatti limped into the barracks. His whole body ached. His
nose was bleeding. The boys crowded around him, poking at the blood
on his face. The boys looked at him asking him what happened.
"Gatti why were you skipping recitations?"
"Yeah what happened?"
Gatti wept, he would let his new fellows in on it. He would
tell them the truth and maybe he could stop the monster, "D-chan beat
me up."
There was one laugh.
"D-chan. That little wimp."
Then there was more laughter.
"We have to get him." Gatti said.
"Yeah right. D-chan is a fraidy cat. You saw how he always
cries."
Gatti shook his head. "He jumped me in the bathroom."
They stared at him "You can't be afraid of that baby. He
likes dolls and you beat him with a sword. Why are you so scared of
that wimp?"
"It's just…"
Gatti knew his newly won fame was gone. Guimel rolled his
eyes. How could little D-chan be so vicious? Gatti was no longer in
charge. Dilandau's brutality had cowed him. He had been bested.
Dilandau knew he must be the best. Gatti only let him.
Gatti tried everything to get back at him. There was a night he did
try to ambush Dilandau with a sword. But Dilandau heard him and
defended himself with a wood club he found when he broke his chair.
In the end they realized that it would be best to give up the
rivalry. But no it wasn't a rivalry. Gatti knew it wasn't. It was
never a rivalry, except between the truth and reality. Gatti knew he
was better than Dilandau, but Dilandau would never let him be.
Gatti trained with Dilandau in the night while most slept and
played cards. They watched the upper classes. They nearly cut each
other to ribbons. They came close to killing each other several
times. The power of steel seduced him. There became nothing better
than a good fight. From the teachers they hid their skill. But in
combat and competition they shined. Gatti easily beat everyone,
bragged about it and brandished his title of greatest fencer in the
academy like a badge of honor. The girls were impressed early on.
They all fell for him at some time and then usually lived to regret
it. Gatti at one point had 5 different girlfriends. It was an
honor. The honor Dilandau allowed him. Without it that would have
meant nothing.
Yet Dilandau would spare his skill he would hide it. His
technique soft and soothing, quick and straight and then he'd pull
out the attack in the last point. And always when he bouted Gatti he
won. Because that was his right. He was the best.
Dilandau was the best at everything. He couldn't help but
be. And when he wasn't he got violent. He believed in competition,
as long as it let him win. Even in academics when he began to fall
behind he demanded to get better. In 3rd year mathematics he dropped
a desk from the 2nd story to scare his rival into getting a bad grade.
Soon stories of D-san were plentiful. Only Gatti talked to
him, not that he had that much to say. He would sit alone at meals,
at study and everyone was afraid of him. It was good for him as a
captain to learn his place, above everyone else. He was always
lonely at worst.
No one really paid any attention to Dilandau's dubious skills
until they were all in their 4th year. There was a 6th year
teamleader who was sniffing around, looking for some bitch to shove
around. He predated most of the smaller boys. Guimel became afraid
of going to the showers and whispered such frightening things in
Dallet's ear. That was when Dallet became edgier and Guimel's spunk
seemed to fade into dullness. From that point on Dallet was quick to
get out his sword.
When D-san asked Guimel why he was crying, he gritted those
impossible white teeth and kicked a hole in the wall. They all had a
feeling that Dornatti had met his match. No one happened to tell him
about the wild homunculi maniac. With his beauty, D-san was a
pervert trap. Soon Dornatti had vanished from the center and a new
command position opened. Everyone was thankful to D-san for getting
rid of him, even the officers. D. Albatou was the only person to be
elected team leader while still under probation. The soldiers who
once feared him looked up to him. They called him by his full name,
Dilandau. No one even knew he had a name until then. He had never
had people looking up to him. It did not go to his head because he
couldn't believe it, for a long time he wouldn't talk to anyone but
his original four.
But Dilandau-sempai became a real power in the school. He
was not as violent as he used to be. When someone was pawing at
Chesta like a horny goat all he had to do was drop his coffee mug and
smile very grimly and the guy abandoned the pursuit. Of course
Chesta thought that meant he was Dilandau's bitch after that, for
nearly two months. Dilandau was much too preoccupied with school to
ever even look at any of them in that way. He made his decisions
long ago. He'd rather have power than sex. Though he did find Chesta
sweet. If he had wanted a relationship before Miguel came along, he
probably would have paired off with the petite blond Dragon Slayer.
Of course after Miguel they learned he was all business, and never
wanted any of them. Well Gatti had his doubts on that. Dilandau
would never let himself, anymore than Gatti would bed his sword or
Chesta get friendly with one of his racing mounts.They called them
Dilandau's pets. That much more appropriate than Dilandau's Harem.
They all knew he failed the Gay Tests, or Gender Propriety.
No one but the Generals and the boys in the center knew the
most beloved and lusted after boy in Zaibach was gay. Before
Dilandau was anybody, he had stood before the school. Everyone who
did was put on display with placards saying nasty things. They all
had to walk past and read them. He'd taken it four times each time
cast out with all the other perverts. He looked as if he could die.
But the bastard didn't even cry. The whole time from Reveille to 8th
Watch. Even as they laughed and scorned, some of the students tossed
dust at him. And thankfully for them he had to stay up there the
whole time, or he probably broken their jaw. The bastard never even
cried. It was the only time Gatti could ever remember how that boy
had held that little doll close to him.
They stood and helped him down from the gibbit. Gatti,
Guimel, Dallet, even Chesta. He shook the dust out of his hair.
They all said they would stand by him. Dilandau said didn't turn
around. He rolled his eyes "Where else would you go, you dirty
fucks?" He turned around and walked to bed. That was one of the
sweetest things anybody had ever said to Gatti.
They became extensions of Dilandau's power. They became his
tools. And because he was such a heartless bastard they only kept on
getting better.
Dilandau had given them a lot. With Dilandau he was one of
the most powerful soldiers in the world.
Now there was another who would take Dilandau, take his honor
away from him. Viole did not fight for her skill. It was blasted
upon her. It was no gift, just a fluke. And when her luck run out
she would be nothing. Gatti spun the mirror around, and rested in
his bed. He dreamt of a lovely darkhaired girl feeding him a goblet
of milk and a goblet of fire.
Guimel walked towards Miguel who had wafted out of the common
room. He stopped Miguel before he could sneak down the hall. Dallet
followed behind them.
"Come on Miguel we can't play Jewels with only two players.
It's just one game of cards."
"We can do it tommorow."
"Miguel, look, stay up. You've been acting strange. We just
want to talk." Guimel said.
"Yeah like something crawled up your ass and died." Dallet
popped down. "You look like you're so lonely. You haven't look that
way in a long time."
"What way?"
"Before… before what? Yesterday, last week. How do you
think you can tell me something like that?" Miguel snapped.
"What's wrong?" Guimel asked.
Miguel knew he could trust Guimel.
"Dilandau is sleeping with the Prince."
Guimel stared "Aha I knew it. I just knew it. I was right"
Dallet blinked "What?"
"Shh. Chesta will hear. Then he'll go tell Folken and then-"
"Wait you mean Folken and Dilandau are-"
"Dallet. Chesta will tell Folken and Folken will get
angry." Guimel said evenly.
Miguel looked at his feet.
"So who is on top?"
"How long has this been going on?"
"Since Fanelia." Miguel said.
"We burned it down."
"He came to fight us off and well you know-"
"Dilandau is bonking the Fanelian Prince after the invasion
of Fanelia? It has to be true. It's too unbelievable." Dallet
said, "He's found more than one way to master Fanelia."
"But you mustn't tell Chesta or any of the new ones."
"Who else knows?"
"How did you find out?" Guimel asked.
"You pimp you." Dallet squealed and punched him in the
shoulder "You're helping them aren't you? Passing their messages,
giving each other presents. You are Dilandau's go between."
"He is a very fine gentleman. It is an honor to help them."
"That is why Dilandau was keeping you awake. For awhile we
thought Dilandau had found himself a new bit of rough."
"No no. Dilandau would never. He wouldn't-"
Guimel smacked him lightly, "I guess we were wrong about
that."
Dallet "Gods, you are lucky. I wish he trusted me enough.
No wonder you're all edgy. I would have thought it a broken heart."
Miguel smiled "They think everything is because I've got a
broken heart. I'm just worried that Folken will find out."
"Gatti said that you'd found someone and that's why you were
out prowling nights. Does that mean Gatti knows too?"
"Gatti knows. He's been chaperoning them, kind of."
"Yeah he's been going on about you and Malliel."
"He's full of shit. Mal's like 13. I don't like kids."
"It must be so exciting. Does the Prince write him letters?
About how he pines and languishes for his fiery touch."
Miguel looked strangely at Dallet.
"And Dilandau responds about how he cannot submit to the
temptations of his burning passion out of duty and then the Prince
responds how he will die…." Dallet grabbed Miguel's shirt
enthusiastically "Is that why he was sick? Because he was getting
the vapors over Dilandau? Wow was he lovesick? He's so sensitive
he'll die of a broken heart and madness."
"Remember Dallet this is the same guy who beat you up."
Guimel said, "I don't think he'll die of a broken heart."
"Your story is much more interesting than mine. Why don't
you just tell it to yourself?" Miguel shrugged Dallet off.
"That's how these grand romances go. They do write letters
to each other don't they?"
"They don't have much time between… you know."
Dallet chuckled, "Wow this is exciting. Well don't you
worry. We'll bury this secret with us. I won't tell a soul."
Dallet beamed brightly at him slapping him on the soldier.
"I wish I could be in your shoes. You must be his favorite."
Miguel smiled thinking, I'd rather be his whore than his
favorite soldier. He continued to gab with the two until they went
to Guimel's room off by themselves. He walked back to his own room
and his soft bed, alone and free.
Viole sat looking at the ceiling, and the drawing on her
wall. It was coming down. The corners were worn by pins and
needles. She pinned it back up onto the wall in her bunk.
Viole couldn't believe the level of disrespect that went
around here. They were gossiping like schoolgirls about a prince and
saying such vulgar things. Viole would never understand men, even if
she had an aversion to women.
But she had seen some things. She wondered if The Prince
would be the kind who would ignite the passion in her commander's
heart.
She had seen the prince walking around the observatory
looking at the sky and the guymelefs. The Fanelian. Her brain could
call him few things but Prince. He was radiant and majestic. A
magnificent savage. She could see why Dilandau could be interested
in him. Van was as natural a king as Dilandau is a natural general.
It would be a splendid friendship. Like a star in the night
sky. They belong together, despite the sounds of struggle from their
chambers. No one said that it is an easy union. They must argue
terribly. Since they can no longer battle each other on the field,
they chose this bedroom. They were very noisy when they argued,
sometimes reduced to growling like animals and then noises she
couldn't describe as talking at all. It was a good thing that we do
keep secrets in our squad.
She did not want to think about them. She remembered the
first time that she ever spoke to Dilandau. He was recruiting when
she was in her 5th year at Girls Center. She knew he had been there.
When they first spoke she was standing on the gibbit. She
had failed her Gender Propriety. Somehow she knew she wouldn't. She
did not lose her head over boys, she was a warrior and she could not
force herself into cowing and sweet behavior. She was not a woman.
She would never be Gender appropriate. Dilandau knew what it was to
have that burden. Most of his men had passed in varying degrees.
Dilandau walked past the crowd and stood next to her.
"Stop crying. We're soldiers. We won't have those thugs
think they are better than us."
Dilandau stood alongside her. Most of the girls just walked
away, after seeing that. Dilandau Albatou, captain of The Famous
Dragon Slayers was helping the man girl.
"What will you do then Viole?"
She didn't think. People like them really didn't have a
choice. They became anti-sexuals, so they would not be
disgraced. "I will make my oath. I will be an anti-sexual. I will
not betray myself."
"You are a good citizen Viole. A better one than I am."
Dilandau leaned in closer. Very close, very warm. As if he
was looking for something in Viole. Viole coughed in his face. He
stood back
Dilandau brushed his hand against hers making a very confused
face.
"Have you ever been with a woman at all?"
"No. Why…"
"Me neither. I never could think about it. It leaves me
cold."
"Well… sir."
Dilandau stared at her "I can't believe someone as pretty as
you would ever have a girlfriend."
"I could never. Of all the things to say. I am a decent and
god-fearing woman."
At this Dilandau paused and covered his mouth
"You used to be a girl?" Dilandau smirked, "I should have
known you were a girl. They are the only ones tough enough to go for
the crotch. Of course most commanders wouldn't complain." Dilandau
winked as he stood up there with her. Almost lounging. She could
not easily connect the two images, Dilandau hardnosed and proper and
this boy.
"I've seen you bout. You are magnificent with a sword
Deren. It floats in your hand. You're not too shabby in a brawl
either. You must join my men."
"I don't know. I have many positions open once I- Why
should I join your squad?"
"My men are the best and of the best."
"But I- I might have my own command."
"I warn you. You will die in low command. They will not
know your grace and beauty. They will only see your tits."
"I can do it Dilandau."
"Be my Dragon Slayer and you will be a captain too one day."
"You want me to be your lieutenant?"
"I am very fickle Viole-kun. I want you to fight for me.
You can have your title or fly with destiny. You can prove your
place. That is if you're strong enough to survive me."
Viole looked into his eyes. She felt supported as if she
could follow Dilandau into the depths of hell and come out alive. He
must be the devil himself.
"I will. I pledge my service, beyond this life. I will be
the great warrior. And all the girls born under the stigma of their
gender shall know what they may."
Dilandau stared at her that once.
Dilandau held her arm. "Last time it did not work."
"What?"
"I'm not going to be cruel and tell you lies. She did not
fit in. She refused. She thought being herself was more important.
She suffered horribly. It was my fault. She was unworthy."
"That would apply if I was a woman, Dilandau-sama. I'm not."
Dilandau's eyes danced strangely, confused.
"Will you be a Dragon Slayer, Viole?"
"I'll serve you well."
"I know. You are a good soldier. There isn't a doubt that a
woman can't be a good soldier. But can you be a Dragon Slayer first?"
"Yes. I swear. That is who I am now."
Dilandau smiled.
"Dilandau-sama. May I take this picture with me? It will not
interfere with my-"
Dilandau pecked her on the cheek "You are adorable, you know."
Dilandau crossed his arms and walked ahead, chuckling.
Late in the night in one room of the Vione two boys were no
longer sleeping in one bed.
"Dallet." Guimel let all his guards come down and grabbed
his lover.
Dallet wrapped his arms around Guimel "What's with this
then? It's not even 3 yet. We have until the 5th hour till I have
to go. Did you miss me in Dreamland?" Dallet smiled. He knew that
the best thing for Guimel was to forget his dreams and feel safe and
silly. It was easier with Dallet their.
"I don't want to sleep."
"Fine then."
"You know that it is worse. Because I never saw him die. I
dream a new death each night."
"Guimel."
"I dreamt he was changed into stone after the S-iden took
him. Everything, his eyes his skin his clothes, like a Medagarg
stared at him. Then I had something else. I dreamt that a strange
girl with short hair and a red bow on her chest. She sent her white
dragon after you, and it bit Miguel in half."
"Well that is a common dream. They call Van Fanel, the White
Dragon, for his protector is Escaflowne."
"Miguel was rather angry and crawled back into his guymelef.
And he could operate the Alseides without his footpedals."
Dallet scrunched his eyebrows. That was dreams for you.
They never did make sense.
"When you can't see what is going to happen that is worse. I
hate the night. I hate it."
"You were never scared of the dark. I thought the dark was
scared of you. Because you were so fair haired.
Dallet rested his head "You were always the hero when we
played. I didn't think there was a thing that could scare you."
Dallet smiled "Remember when Oni-sama brought us that book
about the dragons of Fanelia."
"You wanted to go kill them and then they'd make you king of
Fanelia."
"I didn't I just suggested that. You were the one that made me go
out and be your squire because you were taller."
Guimel laid back, but kissed Dallet instead. Dallet smiled
at him.
"I like touching you, Guimel, It's almost as good as looking
at you." Dallet mused, "Sometimes I just want to touch you and close
my eyes."
Guimel softly closed his eyes.
"You know, Have you ever thought about wearing a blindfold
and then you let someone touch you… You never no where it will touch
you. It's kind of exciting."
Dallet kept his eyes closed. It was Guimel's scent that
assailed him first, soap clean but spicier. He kept himself very
clean and smooth. Dallet couldn't even say how wonderful it was too
touch him.
His hand skipped. That must be his navel. He placed his
finger inside to make sure. Guimel squirmed back.
"Watch it." Guimel snapped.
"It's okay. I'll be careful. Just keep your eyes closed.
This will feel good."
Guimel trembled and tried to relax, his eyes shut. Dallet
smiled. He wanted to taste his skin. He wanted Guimel to feel his
tongue lash hot suction onto his body. He wanted Guimel to feel as
good as he looked.
Guimel squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't see. That was
the little game Dallet wanted. He could trust Dallet. He would not
have to worry. Dallet was licking his sweet spots on his chest, each
one spiking pleasure. This was a good idea to try. Maybe he'd have
to try it with the blindfold. He smiled and tried to kiss Dallet.
His lips touched his fingertips.
Guimel nibbled the fingers, sucking them slowly into his
mouth. Their eyes were closed to each other. Dallet chuckled.
Guimel wished he could see Dallet smile. Slowly Dallet withdrew his
fingers and kissed Guimel's lips. This was a very nice idea. He
could feel Dallet's erection against his leg. It was so hard and
hot.
Guimel gulped. He could trust him not to hurt or scare him. It felt
so strange to feel his lust against him. It was one thing to play
with each other but another to feel his cock like this. Guimel
shifted. He loved Dallet and he could…
Guimel only felt the wet cool fingers invade him. He bucked.
"Please, get off."
Dallet hummed "Yes. Gods. You taste so" Dallet thrust his
fingers deeper.
Guimel froze. No no. He didn't like this. It was too dark
to. How could he know it was Dallet, how could he know anything. He
didn't want the guy touching him like that. He never asked. He just
came in the night... Where was Dallet? Where was his Papa? He
shoved the guy away hard as he could.
"Dammit get off." He shoved him opening his eyes.
He saw Dallet blink. "Guimel."
Guimel shook his head. "I don't want any of that nasty
stuff. It's not-"
"What do you mean?"
"Just keep you fucking cock away from me. It feels…"
"Guimel, what's wrong I thought you wanted this, you said…"
"This is- I don't like this. I just want to get out of
here."
Dallet pet him "You don't have to worry I won't hurt you. I
just thought you'd-"
"Dallet-koi. I'm so sorry. I just feel. I don't want it
like this. It's just too damn dark."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. We'll just slow down." Dallet pet
his chest. "Just look at me. You can look at me. See you know I
like your eyes too."
Guimel was going to get up.
"You know when I look in your eyes I am completely stupid. I
can't even move."
"Yes."
"One day we'll get around to it. It's going to be so
sweet." Dallet kissed his shoulder, "You're going to give it to me
and it won't matter if it's in the dark or in the light. Because I
love you."
Guimel turned around and kissed him.
Dallet looked in his eyes and his head twitch "Can I buy you
something? A present. Then you'll like me more."
Guimel laughed and kissed his lover on the forehead.
Van was in the corner this time in his bed. He didn't even
run out of the room this time. He was improving, Dilandau thought as
he nursed the bruise on his cheek. Gatti had seen the friendly
little bite on his shoulder. Van had a matching one down the right
side of his body.
"Come on Tenshi. Come to me." He whispered to the boy. "I
won't bite… again."
"Maybe tomorrow Dilandau. Folken might come-"
Dilandau stared sternly at him.
"Come to me Van Fanel."
Van pulled himself to his feet. That lean barbarian body
trembling. His loincloth still cinched up tightly
"See it's not so bad. There is no need for your shame."
Van stared at his own feet.
"You've come far in your journey Van, my tenshi-sama."
Dilandau said brushing strands out of Van's eyes. His gloved hands
slid against his body.They kissed deeply. Van trembled deeply. It
was only Dilandau keeping him from falling over.
"You must give yourself over to Zaibach." He backed the
young Prince against the wall.
As Dilandau kissed him, he tried to feel the wall. Ignore the
fire burning his lips, the cruelty stabbing against his thigh
"Take off your loincloth."
Van stared up, eyes liquid with shame and fear. Dilandau
untied the ends of it.
"Let me have your body. I won't hurt you tonight." Dilandau
said almost with honesty
The cloth fell away revealing Van's naked body. Van was a
joy to look at. Dilandau had to smile. That was his glory. Van may
have had the strange guymelef, but there was no one who could look as
appetizing as he did naked, trembling, thick tears coming out of his
eyes, trapping those thick eyelashes like flies in a web.
Dilandau kissed him. Van placed his arms over his head trying
to submit, to let Dilandau take what he deserved. Dilandau held his
wrists against the wall. Van made a weak little noise, as Dilandau
offended him again and again with that mouth….
Van began panting in fear as Dilandau finally threw aside his
loincloth.
"Please Dilandau. Just tomorrow. I promise." He muttered.
Dilandau let him fall to the ground.
He closed his eyes.
Dilandau played with his chest.
"Please leave me alone." Van shivered. Dilandau kissed his
neck. Van squirmed a little. The prey was trying to escape him. It
would make it so much sweeter when Van was under him panting like an
animal. It would make the pleas for his kisses with his eyes louder.
He wanted to feels his wanton hips curving up into his body. All the
while, his lips were begging him to stop, the words sucked away by
his body's urge.
"You can't do this to me I am King of Fanelia." Van tried to
shove him away.
"Good for you." Dilandau said. "I'm going to play with the
king, tonight." Dilandau tickled his thigh. Van bit his lip as
Dilandau traced his finger upwards into Van's genitals.
"You still won't give yourself to me. Zaibach can't trust
you." He only smoothed the sweat against his cock. Just a stroke.
"Just get out…" Van cried, and answered with a kiss, betrayed
himself again. Van collapsed into that sweet hot bond.
Dilandau pressed Van's naked form into the bed. He knelt
over Van's thighs pressing them out gingerly as if he were making his
bed. Dilandau stood over him. He caressed his manhood gently,
handling and starting his erection. His fingers smoothing the flesh
along his balls. Van looked up at him with feverish eyes.
The candlelight painted him in fire. Dilandau looked like
something made out of paint. So bold and unreal like something that
was meant to scare children and stir up lust in adults. Van waited
for Dilandau, spread over the blankets, feeling like nothing.
Van waited for the kisses to fall. They did. Dilandau
couldn't resist tracing his lips and tongue over Van's flesh, sending
the blank and hollow sensation to his brain. His teeth don't exist
until kissing was no longer enough. He sucked on the flesh in
strange strangling noises. All the while awakening his lust with his
soft hand.
Van shuddered at the sounds of his own mouth.
"Yes Tenshi. Touch me."
Van's fingers clawed into his flesh. He felt the gentle
scratch of his nails sliding into Dilandau's skin past the layers,
down to the pain. It must have stung.
He paid attention to his fingers in Dilandau's skin. They became an
anchor in the world of the mouth and his gentle hand.
He was disappearing into feeling, as tight as he clawed into
Dilandau. He was afraid. He was so afraid. Now his body felt
comfortable and safe and tired. His nails raked through the layers
of Dilandau's skin.
Feeling was so dangerous. He cried, anything to stop
feeling. He wasn't afraid of the way Dilandau was making him feel.
It was too big. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to stop it. If he
could just think or reason about it, he could live through it. There
would be no pain in it. He was doing what he had to, to save his
life. It would make Dilandau trust him, and easier to manipulate.
But if he felt too much. Too much confusion, his nerves and
body being played like a flute, Dilandau's lips at his head: sucking,
kissing and blowing into him. His hands and fingers covering,
coaxing and manipulating his most intimate and vulnerable regions,
like the frets in a pipe. He had no idea how he should feel, but he
did.
Then there were the frightening feelings. When he hated his
body for this. When he should have killed Dilandau for this
disgrace. Beyond even the acute sensation of this feeling the idea
running through his brain, like a religion. /I should kill him. I
don't want to kill him. I'm supposed to want to kill him. I don't
want to kill him./
That was the worst of it. His feelings were telling him
things he knew were wrong. That is why he was afraid.
Dilandau kissed him and the world went blank. Delicious
seconds past in pure sensation. He leaned back.
"Hmmm. This is nice." Dilandau said drumming his fingers
over Van's taut abdomen and blazing groin. Van closed his eyes.
"Isn't that nice? Tenshi"
"It's-" Van's voice felt so weak. There was not enough
strength in him for a word. Van didn't know what to answer.
Anything that feels so good and wonderful is wrong. He's the one
making me feel this way. That made it worse than poison or pain.
"Do you like it?" Dilandau kissed him licking his eyes like a
kitten. "You do."
Dilandau's loose hair fell all over the strange tiara,
brushing against his stomach. His hair was very stimulating, he
noticed quietly. It looked like a starburst. Van brushed it away,
only to have it tumble back. No wonder he wore that against his
chest. He sighed. Dilandau ran his fingers through his black hair.
His hair flipped back over his eyes.
"Well Van. I really do think you had better undress me."
Dilandau said.
He wouldn't have far to go. Van's hands pried themselves out
of his back, along the silky ties of his undershirt. It felt like
floating. He just wanted this to end so he could sleep. Dilandau
petted him as his own shirt came off.
Van sighed. How he wanted to hurt that flesh, dominating him
like this.
Van's teeth dug into Dilandau's chest over his nipple.
Dilandau groaned.
"Hmmmm. I have to watch out for those teeth."
Van clamped his teeth and Dilandau's nipple. And he
shuddered too."That hurts."
Van only released his tongue a little before biting again.
Dilandau squealed.
"MMM?" Why are you acting like this? He asked. But his eyes
weren't protesting.
Dilandau would have to take his pleasure with an edge of
pain, some evidence of Van's presence.
Van wept and muttered something quiet out of Dilandau's
ear."No, no no."
Was it a prayer? Was it a curse? He didn't even know
himself. When could he leave? Must he feel everything in the world
before he could escape?
Van's wings burst out and bucked him forward. And explosion
of white feathers surrounded them. This was new. Van had been able
to control his wings before. Now in the panicked flight they burst
out. They couldn't flap in this tiny room. They trembled and
stiffened. As if they were but the outer manifestation of his soul.
The need to fly and the fear to go.
Van blinked and blushed.
"Please don't look at me."
Dilandau was overcome, staring at him with such softness in
his eyes
"Stop looking at me, as if I were nothing. Stop it."
"I like to look at you. You're so beautiful. You are the
only one I can look at." Dilandau pet his hair out of his eyes "Why
are you trying to run?"
"I don't want to feel this. You hurt me Dilandau. I don't
like it when you look at me."
"I don't mean too." Dilandau kissed him.
"I know. But you know it is all a lie. You know what I am
inside. You know and I can't hide it anymore. You know how I- You
know my secrets." Van wept silvery tears against his pale
skin. "You know what I am."
"Yes, you are beautiful."
"Anything can be beautiful. You are beautiful." Van let it
slip out.
"I never want to look away."
"Why don't you see this curse? Can't you see I am a demon?"
"Tenshi. You are my demon. Whatever you are I have
conquered it and I desire it." Dilandau said.
Van looked up at him
"I like your wings. They're pretty."
"Do you think so?"
"They are the wings of an angel. If I love them how can they
be ugly?"
"Do you really think they are pretty?"
"Of course I do."
He kissed their thick knots of muscles, brushing his fingers
through feathers.
Van tilted his head back and hummed sweet noises as Dilandau
continued kissing his body. Dilandau kissed him.
"Don't stop. I like your hands on me too." Dilandau
said "I even like it even when I can't see you."
****
The next day Folken decided would be the perfect opportunity
to take Van to the armourers. It would not be long until this storm
cleared up and Narya could come and get him.
Folken looked at the bruise on his neck, really red. It was
the strangest thing. He thought that it would have cleared up.
Instead it was paired with one along his hip. Van closed the
dressing door and Folken decided that it could not harm him too
badly. Swordcraft often left strange bruises. Van would think he
didn't trust him.
The frock coat style was all the rage. Having a modern
elegance that full plate could not. Van could wear a different
collar than the Dragon Slayers and the regular soldiers his throat
clasp was the royal crest. Van cast aside any hope of wearing a
helmet. It did give him a childish appearance. Van tsked and
grumbled through the process. He had no love of fine armor there was
no doubt. If he could have he would have addressed the assembly in
that red shirt and cloth breeches.
But Van insisted. Folken watched his brother. He saw
flashes of a younger boy, carefully watched in all manner of
deportment, dress, and carriage; Van being scolded for nodding his
head, cuffed for slouching. No one could enjoy that. Folken had
been as schooled as Van. Van had the eyes that knew someone was
watching him.
Folken knew that his tutor was strict in her understanding of
royal comportment. Folken had received Mistress Lemeon's training
too. That menacing grace was a result of too many swats on the
shoulder with a paper fan. The joke in Zaibach said that Folken
seemed to float in his Madoushi cape, like a bat. It did lend to his
presence. They thought that it was natural to act like a king. That
was absurd. No one could stand that straight forever. No one could
walk for all that way and not rest his hand upon a pole, or his hip.
They thought it natural to be a king, something you were born into.
Van remained so aware that were looking at him. Disgarding
reds so he would not be associated with the Dragon Slayers. He
disgarded three styles of cape (he didn't want a full cape and risk
being associated with Madoushi. To make himself appear more
distinctive and Fanelian he decided upon a more elaborate Daedalian
buckle. He picked out a yellow sash. It gave him an Eastern, exotic
look though his armour was similar. Just different enough to attract
attention.
Folken sighed. He only hoped this was not all for naught.
Armor was nice, but could it give him the confidence and poise he
would need to bluff the Generals of Zaibach. He had seen this boy
fall apart in a matter of weeks. He had plunged into the depths of
madness. Now he was going to try to start here. He should not rush
himself into his duties so quickly. Van would only shrug off and say
the country was in crisis and go to do more work. Either he was not
good with words, or this address was harder to write than anything
Folken could have imagined.
Van would need to justify his continued sovereignty and
somehow garner assistance to rebuild and rescue his starving and
homeless people. How could he do both? If he needed help how could
he say he was a good king? The boy a thousand times in their
conversations said he was unworthy. Yet Fanelia needed him. He was
so worried he could not sleep. He took to roaming the ship and
visiting the Dragon Slayers at odd hours. No wonder Dilandau wanted
to kill him. He must have kept all the boys awake during quiet
hours. Van was probably going to talk to his friend, Miguel. Van
said that the boy had been a slave in Astoria for a while. Folken
was uncomfortable and surprised that Van could find such a strange
fellow to befriend. He supposed it was Van's nature to be curious
and friendly, even if it was not apparent now after all his trials.
It was a wonder that Dilandau did not complain about him.
Fraternizing with his men. Perhaps he had been lucky and Dilandau
realized that he was outmatched by his brother and it would be best
to leave him alone.
Van looked at himself. He was short. The Gods would never
grant him any height even amoung boys his own age. He could not even
match Dilandau. He was a short boy in black armor with wide eyes.
They were so large.
He looked at his face, at the tiny imperceptible scab on his
chin, from some cut. He picked it off at blood rushed forth. What
was worse despite the fact he was short and small and dark as a
little speck he was mortal. There would be nothing there to save him
from his fate when he died. The blood gelled over his wound.
He broke the bead of blood with his thumb and looked at it.
Then he placed it on his forehead in a red dot. Soft.
He tried to remember when he first saw it, a dot of blood on
dry skin. It was ochre then, on his mothers blue pale face.
*Flashback*
"When you put this on, it is not you they can see. They can
see this dot. This red blood sun. When you wear this no one will
see your eyes." She said, she touched his face.
"Will I be invisible? Like the wind."
"Someone will find you." She said. "The one who was meant
to. They will see everything and never close their eyes. Their eyes
will never ever leave you. They will watch you until they die. That
is the soul bond."
She grabbed his face, and makes her look into those black
eyes "It is very bad thing to be watched. Be so careful Van or you
will never escape. And everything that you hold onto will tie you
closer and tighter to this world. If you get to close they will
shoot you down. And I want you to be free. That would make me happy
if you don't know what I am talking about."
"Mama."
"Listen to me. Be Careful about all that watch you. It's
bad manners to look on a king. It will rip you apart. It will bind
you to the ground. I looked at a king once and I've been on this
Earth since. You will never fly once you are bound by another. For
those cannot be broken."
She panted and held his face between her two hands.
"Do you understand me. Don't let them look at you, Van."
"Mama."
She looked at him bewildered for one second as if she were
holding something ugly in her hands, not his face but some piece of
dirt.
"I love you, Mama."
She dropped his face and let him down, then she walked away.
That was the day that Folken went to the dragon.
He was in the temple praying for guidance and valor. He had
been there so long like a night. The Gods would bless him with a
good kill. He would return and Folken would stand before the four
generals and show the Drag energist. And Mama would be happy again.
She would not scare him and would not be scared. She would no longer
act peculiar. She would not break windows with her strange silent
war songs whose inhuman tones were not her voice. She would not tear
down the tapestries anymore. Her dark claret eyes wouldn't be like
dark moons, and she would not walk like she wasn't living. She would
be happy.
He had wanted his mother to be happy again. Had she ever
been happy again? Had she ever found one moment before her life had
started again?
***
Van looked into the deadness of another's face.
In that flying ship he stood alone about to enter a room of
men who would see him dead or a slave. He worried the red paste into
his skin on his forehead, and no one was there. No one would see him.
In the assembly, the generals, Adelphos and Helio, the honor
guard of the general, the Dragon Slayers, the Honor Guard of Adelphos
and of course the battle crew of the Vione.
"You will not need to shout."
"How will they hear me?"
"The microphone will handle the noise for you." Folken
nodded. "It will make your voice loud enough at normal level."
"Really?"
"It is designed that way. Speak at normal voice otherwise it
will be too loud. When I was addressing the Madoushi they made fun
of me for this."
"Anything else? A monster won't steal my soul and say my
address so I won't have to."
The addressing hall seemed dark and limitless except for the
strange screen of black glass floating in the machine from which
Dornkirk spoke. The hall was so black. While the Dragon Slayers
were familiar, the others seemed only a faceless wall of blackness.
Van walked to the podium.
The Dragon Slayers didn't really turn their heads, that would
be a breach of protocol. But they did blink and gawk.
The King of Fanelia was clad in black armor glorious and
tall, his green cape and strong stance. He wore only a fine band of
gold no thicker than a string with two dots of ochre paste on his
forehead. He stormed in. This was the King of Fanelia, the prince
they had been smuggling, transformed and revealed to them. It hadn't
seemed real to them.
He approached the podium and looked down on the assembly. An
audible breath against the microphone escaped his lips. His voice,
rich and strong and dead like a broken gong began to ring.
"I am Van Fanel, son of Goau, son of Fieusas, son of Korous,
son of Lesser Jaris, son of Goau, son of Alkou, son of the Great
Jaris, son of Daolous, son of Peneous who was the youngest son of
Nausicaa, Great Empress of the Far Sea, the man fated to destroy the
first dragon and named King of Fanelia."
"As due to the right of Kingship by your own law, a King is
treated with the honor and respect as accorded to the sovereignty of
his own realm. And I applaud such prudence. A kingdom can be
nothing without her king to defend her rights and dignity in the face
of the world. And I come to you, despite trial and misdirection as
King of Fanelia. Her champion and defender in this dark time."
"I was almost slain along with the hope of salvation and
retribution of the people from the attack of our most holy and sacred
citadel. I have survived to approach your Emperor with a reasoned
and most painful compromise. I come to surrender."
There was no noise. Dilandau rolled his eyes.
"In our surrender I only wish that from this day our nations
will be united to achieve the ideal and perfect destiny. We tell
this. We shall fall to the commitment of Umae Kayim."
"That is why, we have made it our cause to aide and abed the
invasion of Astoria."
Folken blinked.
Dilandau smirked."Alliance with Fanelia?"
"Our complete and total harmony, and the effort of our troops
and warriors to achieve this purpose."
"You think we'd let your backward rednecks fight with us."
Dilandau muttered. General Adelphos raised his eyebrow. Trust
Dilandau to say what was on everyone's mind
"Despite our rustic and redneck nature. My Samurai are
renowned and feared for their bravery. And I am still alive. That
is some mark that you had valued my life. As the pilot of
Escaflowne, I do have some effect, some humble role to play in the
war for our perfect destiny, a destiny in which the sting and misery
of war shall be healed. So shall end the cycle of ignorance and
suffering in my kingdom. In this treaty I will fight for Zaibach.
Otherwise, you might as well kill me here. It is the king's right to
declare surrender to your Empire, and only for the Emperor himself to
judge what shall happen to my sovereignty."
Dilandau's eyes glittered.
Adelphos addressed the king.
"We could not change our battle plans to accomadate you. The
situation that arose at the death of Allen Schezar has created a
problem with our allies. We must move faster than we had intended."
Van didn't let the question form in his brow. He had not
heard that. He would not.
"As you know, I have only been recently informed on the
attack on the Crusade. In the Crusade's attempt to engage the Vione,
Commander Folken was forced to open fire. He struck down the ship
and it crashed. The Kingdom is most eager to speak. The Princess
Millerna may be a problem. She demands we withdraw from our
stronghold in the Fanelian border immediately."
"She's only a spoiled idealistic brat. King Fassa will not
listen to her." Helio said.
"She probably had a crush on that Schezar chap. Shameless
man. He had his fortress full of foreign whores, drunkards and
brigands. Any scum that survived the Death of Fanelia. I'm glad I
burned that place down to the ground." Dilandau said smiling, "He
was embracing her in my presence. Shameful."
Van felt as if he swallowed a stone, but he hadn't heard
anything.
"She probably has no idea what we are really planning. No
one does. She's just a girl." Dilandau said.
Van brushed his thumb against the tips of that finger.
Because he didn't hear that. He could not have heard it. He would
hear it later and know the truth."
"That is why Folken is going, to smooth them over."
The hall remained silent until the screen rumbled. Van was
startled that it was not a painting. He had been warned. The black
screen swirled and rumbled as if he were before them. Van was amazed
by such magic.
"Your offer will be considered." Dornkirk said, "We are
eager to speak further Great Dragon."
The generals looked at the screen. Their emperor was going
to listen. They nodded.
"In gesture of our faith we shall issue a decree among my
people, the war with Zaibach is over, in exchange for the king's
services as a warrior."
Adelphos wandered to the back of the room out the door as the
king greeted the captains. He did not want to touch that slippery,
uppity little bumpkin.
Helio followed him.
"General Adelphos. It seems Dilandau and your men got
entertainment out of this nonsense. It could be funny."
"I don't find it humorous. I destroyed Fanelia and he dares
to defy us still. We should strike him down before he has enough
power to strike back." Adelphos frowned.
"I don't think we should eliminate him. He could be a very
useful tool."
"He is one pilot. He is not as amazing as he thinks he is."
"As a spy he could be of use. A lone king in search of
vengeance, fled from the Zaibach empire. We could learn if Astoria's
pledge was true. If they are true they will cast him out."
"Or dispose of him for us." Adelphos smiled.
"I like that. If Dornkirk agrees to this lunacy." Helio
shook his head, "Then we'll see how eager he is to help us. We will
send him to Freid, his brother won't be able to follow him their.
Under our Treaty, the Duke must kill him if he declares himself an
enemy of Zaibach."
"Excellent. I was getting tired of worrying about him. I
hoped Dilandau would have killed him by now. You know tied him to a
bed naked and lit him on fire or whatever those Anti-sexuals do. Our
Dilandau is a pervert in more ways than one."
"How so?"
"He likes boys. He failed the Gender Propriety test four
times."
"Four times. He must be having a naughty time with that
barbarian."
"No haven't you heard. He's an Abolitionist. It says so in
all the journals."
Helio laughed, "You read that trash?"
"My Nieces drop it in my lap when I get a free break. They
each want to marry and hope I will introduce them."
Dilandau walked heavily along not listening to their prattle.
"Captain."
"General Helio.
"How are you Captain Albatou."
"I fare well General. I'm waiting for our next victory."
"Quite a display. None will dare question the might of
Adelphos's men"
Dilandau blinked "I should be insulted. I was the one burned Fanelia
myself. It is an ash heap. The castle is a pile of ancient smoking
stones. What kingdom does he have?"
"As for this speech, what do you think of his gaul?"
"Gaul? I'll admit but he is not above himself. He is the
finest warrior who ever lived. He is worth an army of spoiled
obnoxious Astorians. He is glorious."
"You seem impressed by him."
"Impressed, is not the word. He is a lovely creature."
"You burned it down and he is the one who will destroy it."
"I did that all without one glance or word from Adelphos but
where. I would think he needs me more than I need him."
"Your triumph in Fanelia is not going unnoticed, Captain.
But you must not say things that make you sound like a foolish boy."
"And as for my party, sirs I am not old enough to vote. I
haven't reached Plurality. Personally I don't think the
Abolitionists would have me. Tell your nieces Dilandau Albatou
greeted them warmly." Dilandau said. That ought to end their
useless gossip. He walked passed them and bowed to the king.
Helio smiled, "I knew it. He has been in his bed. The
little worthless jackal has caught himself a prince."
Adelphos smiled "It might be easiest to let him handle the
Prince for now. Until it becomes convenient to eliminate them both.
If Dilandau can survive his next battle."
"You realize the second he thinks he is your heir Adelphos he
will kill you."
"He's nothing. A moody, undersexed, psychotic, emotional
bastard. He isn't fit to clean my boots. Zaibach will be a better
place when he and his benighted Dragon Slayers are dead and
forgotten. I just hope he has his fun with that uppity barbarian. I
hope they rip each other's throats out."
Dilandau bowed to Van. Along with the rest of the Dragon
Slayers in unison. The Captain of the Green Beta Squadron bowed to
Van. The Generals saluted. Then He turned to Folken who bowed low
to his brother. He patted Folken on the head twice as was custom for
the royal family. It was a ridiculous sight to watch the elder
brother bow before the younger.
The King left as the Fanelian fanfare left the room after him.
But it was Van who went into his grey room and slumped into
the ground. He wept into his cape, tearing it around him hiding from
the pain. His mouth wrapping around the cloth. The red ochre
sliding down his face with his tears. Folken walked in the room.
"Van."
Van sat up.
"It's alright. I'm here."
The paint fell from his face dripping like bloody tears.
"Folken."
Folken wrapped his arms around him.
"There is- Do not weep. They gave their lives to achieve a
greater destiny. If you cry and lose your hope how can their deaths
mean anything."
Van stood up, "And have none mourn them? You will not tell
me how to feel. You will never do that. They were... They were only
helping me..."
Folken turned his brother around and lifted his head. He let
Van look at him as he spoke these words.
"You will not grieve. You did nothing."
Van's face was leaking red over his nose
"Don't cry. You have no reason to cry. It is not your
burden."
Van let the tears flow and run across his chin, without
wiping them, without touching them.
"I killed them. It was all me Van. Hate me but do not
despair. I sent the order to destroy their levistone. They crashed
so we would not be implicated."
"I don't hate you-"
"Hate me all you wish for my sins. But do not take them as
yours. I never want you to suffer for what I have done."
Van began crying again, just the tears, no words.
"Then get out of my life. Leave me alone. Then you won't
have to worry about it." Van hissed.
Van looked at him. His eyes were so cold, like he was
looking at something in a menagerie. As if he Folken was no longer
something human. But some bizarre and terrible creature.
"Do not talk to me. I will come to you when I can look at
you again." Van said, he turned away.
Folken felt the heat of his own eyes. His throat felt as if
he had swallowed part of his eyes. He tried to swallow the tears
still in his eyes, and his the nose in his nose blocked.
"I am sorry, Van. This war makes us do terrible things."
Tears across his nose, he wiped them away. Van let his own trickle
off his chin bright red. Could someone cry blood?
"Yes. But that does not make you right either. Only what
you do. Not even what you feel, that's what makes you right."
Folken bowed his head low, in gesture of a serf and walked
out of the room.
TBC