Chapter 2 The Fire

It was the next morning. Dilandau was wide-awake, however Kida was not. She wanted to sleep in for once, as promised by her father. Though Dilandau showed up, wrecking all of her own plans.

Dilandau sat on his horse, annoyed yet ready to go. Kida got on her horse, though slowly and stiffly. She was still quite asleep. Dilandau expected more out of the girl. He would have thought she'd be up to it like some sort of a nature girl, but she was no different then any other soldier of the sort. Slacking off, and trying to get as much rest as possible.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes. We'll head into the western areas first. They're the most important areas of Gaea. It won't take long, we should be back before dinner."

"You better be right. I couldn't leave my Dragon Slayers alone in conidtions like this. They would end up destroying this place."

"And you would care why?"

"Well, I wouldn't be able to keep the picture of your shocked face, I know I would soon forget it. Shortly after that is, can't stay in love with the same thing in over ten minutes."

"You're pathetic."

"Oh am I?"

"Yes, pathetic and crazy. You don't know what your heart is for."

"My heart is black. Not pure gold."

"I didn't say that."

"You may as well."

They rode on into the forest. It was going to be a long day, and Kida knew it. She hated this man, no matter how many times she had repeated it over and over in her head, this was pure hatred. And never had she even felt hate towards a person before. Not even a single member of The Wolf Tribe, making this quite strange. Then again, she could tell the good from the bad automatically. Practically a sixth sense. Or maybe even her common sense. ____________

A few hours had passed, it was finally noon. Meaning that only a few more hours could Kida finally get rid of Dilandau. They had to go through the forest atleast one hundred times so he could remember every tree marking and every different type of plant. He wondered why these people spent most of their lives doing this. Now that was pathetic.

"We've passed this tree atleast fifty times," Dilandau spoke in annoyed tone.

"Good, that means we're making progress. Now, where exactly are we, nature boy?"

"I'm not a little school boy! I know exactly where we are."

"Then prove it."

"In the middle of the forest."

"Good boy. You deserve a treat!"

Dilandau would have slapped the girl, but again . . . he had to restrain himself from doing so. He hated the girl, though he had no idea how much she hated him in return.

"Let's go back, I'm sick of baby-sitting," ordered Dilandau.

"Fine by me!"

He then realized that instead of pacing herself like a normal woman would do on a horse, she was already ahead of him by a far. He raced after her, not sure where he was going, until she stopped her horse abruptly.

"Why did we stop?" Dilandau turned to face her.

"Because I knew you had no idea where we were. I was heading east, we're supposed to go west, and you followed me. Looks like we'll be spending a little more time on your sense of direction," Kida explained.

"Damn you, woman!"

Dilandau then directed his horse to the west and kept on riding, Kida followed, though not too closely behind him. She wanted to keep her distance from him. Though, she knew she was going to have fun with this. He had no idea where he was.

______

As they grew closer towards the small camp, Kida could smell smoke . . . something was burning. Dilandau could smell it too, and he enjoyed it as well.

"Something's burnning, do you smell that?" Kida asked.

"Of course I do."

Dilandau rode his horse towards the smoke in the sky. They had made it into a clearing when they noticed that it was the Humming Bird's camp that was on fire. Everything was burning. Kida panicked and rode up to it, Dilandau tagging along. He loved the look of the fire; it's reflection shinning in his eyes. His Dragon Slayers emerged from the fire. They had soot covering their faces, while sweat dripped down.

"What happened!?" Dilandau shouted.

"Sneak attack, Lord Dilandau!"

"Did anyone survive?" Kida asked, wondering if her father was still alive.

"Everyone got away safely. Kida, your father wants you to stay with Lord Dilandau. Everyone had to split up because they didn't want the Wolf Tribe coming after them," Chesta explained.

"I understand. Thank goodness no one is dead."

"Well . . . an old woman refused to leave. Her exact words were: I grew up here, and I'm going to die here. She didn't believe in running away," added Dalet.

"I knew some day she would pull a stunt like this," moaned Kida.

"So, a crazy old woman . . . go figure," Dilandau remarked.

"She was a sweet woman! You don't know anything about us! I'm going to find my father!"

Kida was about to get off of her horse and just walk towards any direction of any footprints that she saw. But, Dilandau's Dragon Slayers stopped her.

"Sorry, but we have strict orders to keep you under our attention. Meaning that you're coming with us," Dilandau spoke in a taunting voice.

"Then I'll make your life a living hell."

"Then I won't follow orders."

"Since when do you follow orders?"

"She's got a point there, Lord Dilandau," Chesta interrupted their small argument.

"Was I speaking to you? I didn't think so!"

"Sorry, Lord Dilandau."

"Let's head towards the castle," ordered Dilandau.

"Castle?"

"We're currently living in an abandoned castle north of here. It's unknown, and we plan to keep it that way!"

"I see . . ."

"Come on!"

Dilandau and his Dragon Slayers then headed north. Kida took one last look at the burnt ashes of her home. She knew this war was going to be huge. Maybe not publically huge, but huge in her own mind. People were going to die . . .

Author's Notes: Ok, so what'd ya think? Pissed off I stopped it there? Lol, k well, plz Review cuz that would mean so much to me! You have no idea! Plz, plz review!