I'm not gonna tell you which one of the guys who' gonna get Lise yet, and it'll be quite a trip. I'm just uploading a chapter whenever I've got the time, you've got a looooong story to look forward to :) I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing this stuff.
As for this chapter… I have read some fics showing a Kevin who's a bit retarded or acting like a child. But I don't think he's stupid, even if he can't talk properly… I'm trying to be fair to my characters. :)
Chapter 8, RevelationWater cascaded around Kevin as he spun around in it. The cold and exhaust was tearing at his body; the sun was sinking, with cold winds announcing the nearing end of another day.
The half blood went ashore and waved at the three birds that sat on a stone each, working on eating their dinner. Fish again. Not that they were complaining.
Kevin sat down in the still warm sand, ignoring that the tiny stones would get stuck on his wet pants. From the depths of his light backpack he brought an apple and chewed on it without any spirit at all. His bedroll laid on the other side of the trees growing above the sand, safe from the cold winds of the ocean. On the same spot as last night, and the night before that, and the night before…
How many days now, since he had parted from his friends? He had tried not to count, but knew that it was one week and two days.
And he still felt the same worry and frustration.
By now the monsters stayed away from him, well aware of his ability to easily beat them up.
They had never been a match for him, and even though his training in the water did show result in slightly increased speed Kevin knew that he should move along to some place where there were opponents that could challenge him.
He needed something that could clear his mind.
To truly worry about someone was a new experience, and he didn't like it at all. The thought of Hawk and Lise cornered by a dozen ninjas kept him awake at night and had several times caused him to go on moonlit hunts for monsters. He was getting better at transforming and could do it quicker now, at least there was something good in his troubles.
Absentmindedly Kevin reached backwards and scratched his back through the vest. The wounds had healed so much that he had removed the bandage and put it in his backpack a couple of days ago. But they still itched a little in the recovery process.
His arm dropped and he looked up at the birds.
He could have sent two of them back to the Beast Kingdom long ago; he only needed one and they'd be better off in their natural environment. But he hadn't. Maybe only because he hoped that Lise and Hawk would need a bird each again…
The half eaten apple dashed into the air and disappeared into the ocean, the splash violent above the smooth whispering of the waves.
Kevin stood up, shook a little to get rid of the sand and headed towards the inland. He needed to do something in order to get his mind off his two friends. He thought a lot about Karl too, but he didn't need to worry about the pup since the wolf couldn't feel any pain now. Nothing to worry about there, only wish to avenge.
But he didn't want to feel that kind of security for the thief and the princess.
The bushes along the golden road twitched as the normally violent creatures fled at the mere sound of Kevin's feet. They had learnt to fear that sound.
As the first star twinkled on the sky, the son of the great Beast King reached Byzen. He had been there a couple of times to buy some more food after another patrol down the road, now that it was open to travelers again. However, those visits had been paid during daytime.
Kevin had no real goal, just trying not to think. So as he remembered that nighttime in this joint meant an open black market he headed to the great building in the eastern part of town. Not that he was interested in shopping but it could at least give him something to do.
The market wasn't exactly crowded, but there were quite a few people moving around in the duskiness. The smoke from the torches itched Kevin's sharp nose, but not more than he could stand.
Without greater interest he moved between the more or less suspicious looking merchants and their overfilled tables of goods. Some had mysterious oil they loudly claimed had a healing effect, others had claws and fangs from different monsters, peculiar jewelry and strange clothes.
It was when he was close to one of the building's darker corners that Kevin's ears caught a piece of a chat between a skinny merchant and a muscular man whose clothes put him on the list of "Presumed pirates". Scabby, one eye and a slightly rusty sword by his belt. The usual stuff.
"Sorry, I'm out of slaves. Got rid of the last one just a short while ago," the merchant said and smirked, "some blond kid who kept saying he was a prince. Feh."
Kevin's eyebrows twitched.
Blond little prince?
"Who buy that boy?"
Both the merchant and the pirate looked up and around with slight irritation at the question. Then their reaction shifted. The merchant got a nervous glistening in his eyes, which Kevin normally would have smelled too if it hadn't been for the torches and the pirate's stench. The bigger man looked a little interested, with his eyes measuring the young man who was about just as tall and muscular as himself.
"Why would you like to know?" the merchant snorted, pushing the nervous surprise aside.
"Might know him," Kevin coldly said, "how old was he?"
"Look sir, I don't have time…"
One mistake that many did was to believe that Kevin lacked intelligence. The truth was that the only problem was his speech problem, and that was simply caused, as Hawk had considered, by the fact that his parents' genes clashed.
The mistake was to thereby underestimate the young man.
Kevin held up his right hand. With a low, hissing sound the nails of his fingers turned into one inch claws.
It was enough that it was nighttime; and the show was enough too.
The merchant and the pirate both recoiled, staring at Kevin's hand.
"No time?" the half beastman growled, his white teeth glistening and turning eerily dark as if with blood in the dancing torchlight.
"I… I just sell them!" the merchant stuttered, "I don't k-keep track…"
"Better try," Kevin snarled, "start with boy, then."
The slave trader nervously licked his thin lips.
"He was b-blond and his clothes s-seemed green and blue beneath the dirt," he finally managed to croak.
Green…
Kevin growled; the merchant tried to turn flat against the wall.
"And who buy?" the half blood demanded.
"He had red eyes!" the put under true pressure man squeaked, "that's all I remember, I swear! I only sell them!"
"Better stop that," Kevin growled and lowered his hand, "not healthy."
And with that he turned and walked away.
Blond boy with green clothes, saying he was a prince… could it be Eliott?
They couldn't be too far, the market had just opened!
Kevin sniffed the air, just by instinct but knowing it was pointless. He couldn't make out any particular smell, nothing relating to Lise. People from the same home tended to smell a little alike, but with the torches and all the people moving around it was impossible to feel anything specific. It wouldn't even help if he transformed to increase his sense of smell. Besides, transforming in the middle of a crowd he had no plans to fight wasn't a good idea. People always got nervous the first time they saw a beastman's body change.
Hmm, red eyes?
As far as Kevin knew, that was pretty rare.
He walked over to the guard by the exit closest to the slave trader.
"See a man with red eyes and a blond boy leave?" the half blood asked.
The man eyed the questioner without much interest. He was used to the brutes coming into the black market; after all he was hired to deal with them if they caused more trouble than necessary.
"Yeah, a pale freak with a funky gray hair-style and a black cloak walked out about twenty minutes ago, dragging a kid who looked like a sleepwalker along," the guard finally answered, bored.
"Thank you."
Kevin hurried out in the deepening night. Twenty minutes…!
The wind from the ocean had thrown all smells around, and besides that many people had passed through the door. For the moment Kevin seemed to be the only one out and about. He hurried up to the small town square, straining his nose…
"I'm telling you, it was a ghost!" a young man's voice called from the small alley leading down to the regular trading area.
"Mataro, get a life!" another man groaned, and several voices laughed.
"But I saw them disappear through the shadow!" the first one grumbled, "a pale man in a black robe and a child!"
There were five people in the alley, four of them chuckling tiredly at the fifth who was resolutely touching one of the solid stone walls. At Kevin's sudden appearance two of the smiling ones fell over of the mere shock. The other three stared at the muscular creature; in the duskiness it was impossible to see exactly what the stranger with the mane was.
"You saw them disappear?" the creature demanded in a grunting voice.
The one touching the wall, Mataro, pushed his fear aside.
"Do you believe me?" he happily asked, "I'm an expert of paranormal activity, but nobody ever listened to me before. Yup…"
He hit the wall a couple of times.
"I saw it!" he proudly said, "they went straight into the shadow here and disappeared, just like that!"
"Pale man, had he red eyes?" the stranger asked.
"I wasn't that close, sorry."
The creature breathed deeply couple of times.
"Thank you," he finally grunted, absentmindedly.
"You're welcome!" Mataro said with delight, happy that somebody finally believed him.
His friends eventually got to their feet, all of them warily watching the stranger thoughtfully rub his chin.
"One more thing," the creature said after a moment, "in which direction is Rolante?"
"It's a three to four days sail to Palo from here, straightly to the west," Mataro gladly informed, "but I'm afraid you won't find a ship going there right now, not with the recent war and all that."
"Ah, no worry about that. Thank you."
In the creature's voice was a friendly smile. Then he turned and rushed towards the town gate.
The birds looked up as Kevin ran into their sight, his bedroll hastily rolled and clutched in a tight grip. He strapped it onto his backpack and hung the bag in place. He didn't even need to whistle, his feathered friends left their stones and one of them swept down so that he could grab his legs. As if they had only waited for his decision tonight.
"To the west, gah!" Kevin eagerly told them, "to Rolante!"
The warm screeches of the birds echoed between the cliffs as they soared upwards, riding the sky on their friend's command. In Kevin's nose the memory still lived from the alley; weak but he had caught it. The smell of a child, with an edge that Lise's smell also had. And another scent, dry and sharp with evil. Kevin knew that he had felt that smell before, or something similar. But he couldn't place it.
But for now that one detail really didn't matter.
The son of the Beast King was on his way.
'Four days since they left, I wonder how much longer…'
Lise was in the main cave, idly working on sharpening her spear. The days that had passed had been tense for her; everybody was overjoyed with having her back safely and wouldn't let her out on patrol. Scared of the mere thought of loosing their dear princess again.
She was glad that they cared, but after all she was the leader of the army and not made of porcelain. But any offer to lead the spying troops was discussed aside.
Hawk had won everybody's trust by now; despite his promise to be careful he had climbed into the castle last night and brought back a report that there were less guards than they had presumed earlier. He had also brought refreshing tales of that the fire that the refugees' memories had seemed to swallow the whole castle really hadn't caused too much damage, not on the parts that he had seen.
He hadn't got caught and nobody had sneaked in his tracks to the hideout; the fact that it still was safe proved that. He was taking a well earned nap now, tired after the night's late adventure.
It was all well.
But Lise felt utterly useless. She couldn't even plan the attack, if there even were to be any. Not before, if, Duran and his friends returned with Don Perigon's advice.
She sighed.
There was nothing she could do, or was allowed to. Only wait. And when she had nothing to do her thoughts started to wander, and they were drawn towards either Eliott or Kevin all the time, shifting between the two. The princess was worried about both of them, even though she tried to tell herself that they would be alright.
Sick of the nervous boredom she threw the whetstone aside and hooked up the spear on her back. Then she headed for the exit.
"Miss?" the guard by the entrance of the tunnels hesitantly said.
"I'm just going up to the flower plateaus," the princess said and tried to hide her irritation.
She was outside and through the bushes hiding the entrance before the amazon had time to think of a clever reason to keep her leader inside of the safe caves.
They just wanted her to be out of danger; she was their only leader now, their hope. Even though she could understand their worry it was getting on her nerves.
Lise sighed as she walked up to the plateau of the sleeping flowers. Since she had been poisoned once, she was now resistant to their sweet poison.
The flowers and the grass swayed peacefully in the silk wind, the bushes and small trees hanging on to the cliffs whispered softly by the same force. From here it was a fantastic scenery of nature, the distant horizon softly buckling upwards hardly noticeable. Everything below was so far away that it was turned warmly blue. And above it all the sun resided, still approaching its highest placement. It wasn't exactly morning, but not midday either.
"Hello there, miss," a voice behind her said.
She looked around and tried to smile.
"Hello, Martin."
"Beautiful, isn't it?" the old man said, walking up beside the princess.
"Yes."
They watched the blue world together in silence for a while. Then Martin suddenly spoke again.
"There is something I wanted to talk to you about, miss," he said.
"Call me Lise," the princess said and turned to him, "we go back far enough for that, don't we?"
He smiled a little.
"Very well, Lise. What I wanted to say is that when we have retaken the castle, I don't say if but when, mind that, then we'll have a little practical problem."
"What then?" Lise said, a little worried by his pick of words.
Martin sighed a bit.
"Well, technically you are our queen from that very moment," he said, "in reality you already are, but it won't be official to us nor to the world before you have a country to rule."
"I…"
Lise fell silent. She hadn't really thought about that, busy with other things. But…
"But I can't stay around, I have to find Eliott!" she pointed out, brought off balance by the slap of realization.
'Goddess, it's true… father is dead… I am supposed to be a queen?'
She had always known that it would happen some day, but now she was suddenly shocked. Queen sounded so distant and heavy compared to princess…
Martin slowly nodded.
"I knew you'd say that," he said with a small, bitter smile, "and you are right. It is your duty as the queen of our nation, the leader of the army, to find your brother. Though I'd rather see you sending someone else, I know you wouldn't and it's really the right thing."
"Martin, I…" Lise began, but Eliza's shout cut in.
"They're coming back! Duran is back!"
Lise and Martin spun around to see the captain of the amazon army come running up to the platform.
"What?" the princess said, smiling widely with new hopes.
"They're coming this way!" Eliza called out, too exited to keep a normal loudness of her voice.
"Praise the goddess!" Martin smiled.
Lise turned and looked towards the lower plateaus, seeing a distant group of three coming up the natural stairs.
Duran's visor and armor sparkled in the sun, Angela's hair was flying behind her in the wind like a softly purple dream, the bells of Carlie's hat tingling songs of hopes.
"You're back!" Lise called as the helpers reached the same plateau, "did you speak with Don Perigon?"
Duran stopped and tried to catch his breath after the run in the high mountains. His two female companions weren't in any better state. After a couple of seconds the mercenary looked up, grinning.
"Yeah, just watch!" he proudly said, "Jinn, it's your turn!"
A tubby, blue creature with loose orange pants and a round little hat in the same color resting between two long, pointy ears faded into existence beside Duran's head.
Lise had seen pictures of Jinn, but they had all been old and often carved in stone. She had carried a mental image of a much bigger and more impressive creature. Still, there was something about him that felt familiar as the country itself. And he was… she had to admit it… cute.
"Here, right?" he said, "just leave it to me!"
His voice was strangely echoing and singing, and at the same time whispering like the leaves as they were tickled by the summer breeze.
The elemental raised his short arms, and immediately the smooth wind grew in strength, howling and cheering as it danced around the group on the plateau. The grass, trees, bushes and flowers waved wildly. Lise grabbed Martin's arm to help him keep his balance.
"Wheee!" Carlie cheered and giggled as her hat almost blew off, the two long ends of it twisting before her face.
"You always have to overdo everything, right!?" Angela shouted over the wind's war cry.
"Says who and it's not my fault!" Duran shot back.
He tried to be clever, but it took him a couple of seconds to even think of an answer.
Softly red petals began to swirl to the air, spreading their pollen in the wind. Towards the castle. Lise laughed loudly and triumphantly as she realized what the plan was. The ninjas would fall by their own trick!
"Fantastic!" she shouted to be heard, "thank you all!"
"No problem, princess," Jinn said and winked with one eye at her.
He didn't speak very loud at all, but his voice softly pierced the wind anyway. Lise smiled at him and turned to Eliza.
"Get the troops ready!" the leader of the army ordered with a wide smile, "we're attacking!"
"At once, miss!"
"Assembly by the upper rope bridge in half an hour, step on it!"
With her own war cry cutting through the wind Eliza rushed towards the hideout.
"We have to move quickly, are you coming?" Lise asked Duran and his friends.
"Sure thing, you can count on us!" the swordsman announced and drew his sword, proudly holding it towards the heavens, "you have my word as a warrior of Forcena!"
"Carlie will knock the bad guys!" the child shouted, jumping up and down with a double flail in her hand.
Is that… um, real?!
"Like I have a choice," Angela grumbled, but as she grabbed her cane in both hands a small grin of excitement touched her lips.
"I'll be with ya all the way!" Jinn grinned and began to turn transparent.
In a couple of seconds he had disappeared, and the wind slowly started to calm down.
"Then let's go!" Lise grinned and brought forth her spear.
"Good luck!" Martin shouted after the four young warriors as they rushed down the stairs, towards the cave that lead to the mountain area.
He smiled to himself. When princess Lise beamed like that, they couldn't lose.
She should really smile more often, the brave girl. Her true beauty really showed then.
The three birds screeched in anger as they were forced even longer out above the sea again by the treacherous winds. The nature force almost seemed alive, and in a dangerously joyful mood.
Kevin was glad that he had chosen to take a rest during the night before continuing towards Rolante, otherwise he and his three friends could have crashed in the water when they came closer to the mountains. A smaller island in the sea had provided a resting place for the four travelers.
If they had been as tired as they could have been they wouldn't have stood a chance against the playful wind. It seemed to dance in from the ocean, collect power between the incredibly high mountaintops and then bounce back over the water. The bird carrying Kevin had almost dropped him of the sheer surprise the first time, and there had been a battle to keep flying.
And there would be trouble ahead. How were they supposed to reach the land? Even though the route now was kept at a safe distance from the mountains the winds sometimes reached out and caused trouble. Landing below the mountains would take a miracle or a peninsula. And there was none of the later, they had already scanned the coastline in a five miles radius and turned back again towards the small town just below the cliffs. Except for there the mountains seemed to go straight upwards all the way.
Wasn't that a small beach?
Kevin strained his eyes. Yes, there was a tiny line of light brown just to the west of the town that had to be Palo (he hoped). Since he and his company came from the west, that beach was much closer than the town. And the cliffs were cracked above it; he thought that he could see a path leading into the mountain area.
Well, he just had to take a chance if he wanted to get there. The birds wouldn't ever be able to land in the mountains or in town because of the winds.
Kevin looked up.
"You two, go back to Beast Kingdom, gah," he said.
All the three birds looked at him in surprise. He nodded at the two that weren't occupied with his weight.
"You, go home," he grunted.
They chirped, hesitating for a moment. Then they swept upwards and increased their speed, not waiting for the friend who was slower because of his burden. That one bent his head and looked at the young half blood, chirping questioning.
"Try get lower and closer to land," Kevin told him, "ah, as close as dare."
If the bird had had eyebrows, it would have raised one. He straightened up with a chirp sounding suspiciously like a human's "Aye, these crazy youngsters…". Kevin could only hope that his friend would manage to get not too far from the land; it was long ago that the half blood had swum last and his arms were aching badly after the long flight yesterday and today.
Even if he did his best, it was still about three hundred yards to the beach when the flight got insecure by another wind and the bird chirped a warning.
"Let go, go home," Kevin said, clenching his teeth at the cold that he knew awaited, "and thank you."
His feathered friend chirped one last time as a goodbye and then released his grip of the young man's wrists.
The water was just as cold as Kevin had feared and at first he was almost paralyzed by it, his already aching arms screaming in pain. But he clenched his teeth and forced himself to swim, focusing on the small beach for what it was worth; his only salvation.
When he finally managed to crawl up on the warm sand, exhausted by the circumstances and shaking because of the water he laid down and fell asleep immediately. Or rather, he collapsed.