Chapter 12, Lost ally, new hope
"… Bigeau fled when Bill and Ben were beaten, Duran and the others had no chance to capture her. But at least Rolante is safe now," Lise ended her summary.
"Living enemy, ah, not good," Kevin grunted and grimly shook his head.
Lise glanced at him. It sounded so… cold, clawing at the kinder side of her friend. But then he added:
"Must be careful, dangerous."
Somehow it made the princess feel better. A merciless Kevin tore up her view of him; no, it just couldn't be. He wasn't like that, and she knew it. The added phrase created a feeling of concern instead of practical planning.
They left the mountain area behind and entered Palo.
Now what do we have here?
"We better find Hawk before I'm recognized, because then we're never getting out of here," Lise muttered.
Kevin grunted something wordless for an agreeing reply.
Is it possible? But how?
There was a lot of dancing and laughing in Palo; the news had obviously reached the village. The princess briefly wondered if an amazon had come down into town before her, or if her three saviors had brought the news. In either case, everyone knew. Lise bowed down her head as she and Kevin walked through the town, she felt much better now than when she had been alone in the garden but still she wasn't in the mood to be cheered. It had always made her feel embarrassed. Now she just wanted to find Hawk and plan for their next step.
It doesn't matter how he managed…
Suddenly Kevin stopped, in the middle of the street.
"What is it?" Lise asked as she looked up and saw that he was frowning, his nostrils almost seeming to vibrate.
He didn't reply, but his eyes bolted back and forth as if he was searching for something.
"Kevin?" the princess said, frowning, "are you alright?"
"Hmm?"
He blinked and shook his head.
"Feel strange smell…" he muttered, frowning even deeper, "don't know, but gah… don't like it."
"What is it?" Lise asked, automatically glancing around.
It seemed as if his sudden apprehension was very contagious. Kevin scratched his head in an attempt to calm down and find an answer. But there was none.
"Don't know," he finally said with one last look around, "familiar but can't place it. Gone now…"
But he still seemed concerned to Lise, and he really was. Which made her tense as well.
They started walking again.
Kevin tried to remember the smell he had felt. It had made his mind wobble of disgust, but he didn't know what it was. It teased his memory, he had felt it before. Just didn't know where… couldn't draw a line to anything similar either.
It's him, it's really him… I better keep a distance, he's as good as his father with that sense.
Above the town a cliff raven circled, but even though the body was high above the ground the spirit listened closely to the words of two certain travelers visiting Palo.
He could laugh and roar of triumph, but knew that he had to be still and patient a while longer. He had Bigeau's order to keep the disappearing of princess Lise a secret. And besides, he wouldn't want to risk a direct attack at prince Kevin. After all that boy had a bad heritage… oh, that heritage…
It would make Lise's abduction a bit more complicated, but that was a small price. No, it wasn't even payment, it was the greatest price for the victorious one!
Boy, you have no idea what joy you have brought me by walking straight into my hands!
"I wonder where he is?" Lise said, looking for Hawk and trying to shake off the feeling of unease.
"Somebody see him, maybe," Kevin suggested, also battling the tension.
"Yes."
"Me can ask, people know you."
Lise looked up and smiled a bit, glad that he understood her wish not to be surrounded by cheering admirers. When she did so he looked back with a bit of his sweet shyness and carefully returned the smile.
Watching only each other like that they almost bumped into the back of a young man, just a bit older than they. He looked around by the sound of Lise almost stumbling and said:
"Hey, watch it."
Not unfriendly, more amused at that an amazon almost fell down before his feet.
Lise regained her balance and smiled a bit embarrassed. At that Kevin took his chance.
"We're looking for a friend," he said, "ah, a Navarre traitor. He helped to retake castle, then went down here."
"All the ninjas have left," the man said with a shrug of his shoulders, "sorry, he must have ran away from you."
"If he hadn't blue hair; then he was carried off," another man beside the first one said with a chuckle.
"What?!" Kevin and Lise choked simultaneously.
"Oh, that was him?" the second man said with an excusing smile, "sorry if I scared you folks. No, he wasn't dead, just unconscious. I saw it, some of the guys tried to catch the last ninjas before they fled. That blue hair was talking to a big cat, seemed like he didn't want to get on the ship."
"What happened?" Lise asked, completely forgetting her wish to remain anonymous.
The watcher shrugged his shoulders.
"One of the weirdoes on the ship jumped onto the harbor and knocked the blue boy out cold with his bare hand. Then he carried the sleepover to the ship, followed by the cat. Your friend seemed to consider being massacred better than leaving for some reason, I got the idea that he really didn't want to flee."
Kevin and Lise exchanged glances.
"He… the ninja taking him aboard…" the princess finally forced out of her throat, "Hawk was considered a traitor, I mean…"
She couldn't put it into words, the new explosion of worries piercing her young hopes.
The amusement ebbed away from the two men, and they looked at the suddenly slightly crouching woman with compassion.
"Sorry about that," the second one awkwardly said, "I didn't understand that he was such a close friend."
He scratched his head.
"But you know…" he said, "I got the idea that the ninja was saving a friend, not catching a traitor."
His friend nodded, gravely.
"Well, we can just pray for that…" Lise said, attempting to straightening up.
She tried to force her deep concern away in order to calm the men down, didn't want them to feel bad about what they had said.
Always caring for others, soothing any kind of wounds. She felt better when she helped, strange as it could seem in this case.
And the half blood friend of hers was there now, to make even her feel better.
"Hawk strong and smart," he calmly said, "if danger he'll think of something."
'Thank you, Kevin…'
"Yeah, you're probably right."
Lise managed to create a small, natural smile.
"After all he's gotten out of worse situations," she added and turned to the men, "don't worry, if he's in trouble we'll help him somehow. Thanks."
"Sorry," the first man said, imitating his friend.
"No, it's alright."
Lise nodded and turned to walk away. She could hear Kevin follow her, but she hardly thought about where she walked.
Damn it…
Suddenly Kevin's hand landed on her armored shoulder, she only felt the metal swing and no real touch. Still she stopped and looked around in surprise. His yellow eyes watched her with a concern that nailed her onto the spot.
"Leave town and talk," he gravely said.
Nothing else.
It took Lise a moment to nod, and they went past the inn again. Kevin guided her to a small beach close to town and sat down in the sand. Without a word the princess placed herself beside him.
The waves caressed the beach, painting the borders darker in an endless dance. A few stars had appeared on the darkly blue sky.
Lise could remember coming there a few times when she was a child, to bath with her friends and her family… her mother had been alive then. It was a sad and happy memory, and for a moment it eased her troubled mind.
When she looked up Kevin was watching her again, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms resting upon the top of his legs. She couldn't read his gaze.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked after a few seconds.
He slowly tilted his head, a small, small frown appearing on his forehead.
"Hawk be fine," he gravely said, "me sure."
She tried to smile a bit at that.
But he wasn't really honest.
What he really thought about was Lise. Sure he was worried about Hawk too, but his instincts said that the thief was out of danger.
However… Lise. She cared again, she worried so much that the concern turned into a thick cloud around her. She had even tried to excuse the men for making her even more anxious.
She cared, and that was good.
But when would she care for herself?
The thoughts almost made him confused. Was it really bad to care for others? No, but she seemed to forget her own being.
Now that she thought about it, it was always "search for Eliott", "are you alright?", "worried about this and that…". The only time she spoke of herself was in terms of "I have to…" and "I must…".
If only the birds had been able to land… even though Kevin wasn't too familiar with shipping he knew that it probably was too late for that. They didn't even know where the escape ship had gone to. Where would refugees from Navarre hide? Not in their castle in these circumstances…
It just couldn't be good for her.
And what he felt made him slightly surprised; Kevin just knew that he wanted to help her more than he ever had wanted anything else before the wish to avenge Karl. The wishes stood beside each other now.
Lise and Hawk were the only friends he knew now. The thief seemed out of reach, but Kevin was settled on not loosing another ally. Lise was the only friend alive and present now, and the half blood was set on making sure she stayed safe. He had had enough of losses.
He wanted to tell her that, but didn't know how. The thought was nice, but he knew his tongue after fifteen years of acquaintance. If he tried to speak out his mind's treasures the muscle would fail him. As always. It couldn't grip the words that his brain had such a hold on.
Yet…
"Lise, ah… don't worry," he grunted, sighing inside of his mind, "it will be fine."
It was as good as it could get…
She turned away, staring at the ocean.
"I'm so glad that you came back, Kevin," she said in a strangely tight voice and looked at him again, "otherwise all three of us would be alone now."
'All three of us… what about simply you?' Kevin thought, concerned.
Her eyes were so tired, she smelled exhausted. He felt his frown grow deeper.
One more try, please…
"Be fine," he said again, forcing his tongue to move again, "I'm here, and help you."
She became surprised, which didn't feel bad at all.
And she smiled, unforced this time.
Yes!
"Thank you, Kevin," she said, honestly.
There was that sad happiness again when she said that, stronger and more peculiar than ever. But somehow he liked it now.
As he watched her some part of him wanted to reach out and touch her face, but he wouldn't do that… he had no idea how she would react. He didn't dare to. When he was fighting he was never afraid, in battle his instincts lead the way and he always knew what he was doing. But he knew nothing about other humans. He didn't even know anything about other beastmen, come to think of it.
He didn't allow his eyes to move away from hers, even though he started to feel a little embarrassed after a moment.
'Why is she still watching me? Should I say something more?'
He didn't know what to say, but didn't want to turn away.
Now he looked shy again, even though he was fighting it. Lise's smile kept alive.
If he hadn't come she would have been alone just like in the beginning of her journey, since Hawk was gone. She was utterly relieved that at least one friend was present, even though she would have been glad to have both of them around.
Kevin… he was amazing. Had he really traveled from Maia just to tell her about Eliott? She hadn't realized that before now, should really thank him better for…
Eliott.
He's still in danger…
Have to find him.
She looked away, frowning as she tried to assemble all clues she had. Kevin kept watching her, unsure what he felt as her gaze fell away from his.
"Say…" Lise slowly, thoughtfully said after a few seconds, "didn't you say that the red eyed man smelled a bit like Deathjester?"
He frowned, but nodded reluctantly.
"Think the same," he admitted, "gah, or could be smell of black magic…"
Before she had time to speak again he held up a hand and continued.
"Possible know each other. But me no bring Lise to Moonlight forest, too dangerous. Not safe for me either."
He shook his head.
"Deathjester hide behind Beast King, me too weak still."
There was so much she could say to protest, like that she wasn't a baby but a warrior and that he should believe in himself. But something held her back, maybe only common sense. He should really know what he was talking about.
Then there was only Bigeau, in Navarre. But that wasn't exactly safe either. Besides, did she use "black" magic or just regular for evil?
If only we were stronger…
Stronger?
A memory sparkled in the back of her head.
The three moons shed their light, it was more a little dusky than really dark. And since she had been sleeping a few hours during the day she wasn't exactly sleepy. Kevin had been sleeping too, he had said so. It could be possible to climb the mountains tonight without greater troubles.
Maybe…
Worth a try, isn't it?
She looked at Kevin again.
"Have you ever heard of classchanging?" she asked.
Now that wouldn't be pretty…
The cliff raven watched the two highnesses stand up and start walking up the mountain path. Kevin silently listened to Lise, interested but with a good portion of hesitation left in his eyes.
Hmm.
Classchanging? He wouldn't really want to see that happen. Of course there was no guarantee that they would success, but still it was a threat.
How ironical that princess Lise went to the Mana stone where she was meant to be sacrificed… if only master Jagan had been ready to teleport to the magic rock right away the problem would be solved easily. But in order to teleport that far a magical station needed to be set up in the right spot, and that hadn't been taken care of yet. Rakadra couldn't hurry up before the travelers and do it himself; he lacked that knowledge. That kind of task were for lesser servants. A small demon was on his way, but he hadn't been sent from Navarre until yesterday when Bigeau had informed Jagan via telepathy that the amazons attacked.
A mistake that they hadn't thought of much, it wasn't that bad.
Or so it had seemed.
Well, it could be mended, even though it seemed a bit stupid that this opportunity fell out of the underworld's hands.
If they succeed in the classchange they might be a problem, however… at least the boy.
At the sight of a small group of zombies Kevin bent his neck backwards and howled.
A bigger problem.
Rakadra watched the fight.
Doubtlessly he would be able to defeat either of the two royalties if they were alone, but not if they fought together. The zombies hadn't the slightest chance and soon fled by stumbling over the edge of the cliff before they were thrown in that direction.
During the night Rakadra's powers were on their finest, but so were Kevin's due to his heritage.
The cliff raven smirked to himself.
It's in our bloodlines, boy. You belong to me.
He could of course get the ninjas and give it a try, but on the other hand…
There was a fine opportunity here. More human sacrifices would always be appreciated.
Oh yes, that was a sweet plan.
Classchange all you want, both of you. There is one place that you soon must visit, where the prince will have no strength…