The winged angel or the fire beast

A/n and after a very long time, I have finally updated. Thank you for having so much patience and thank you so much for putting up with me. I have gone over some of the past chapters so there should be less mistakes, and less 'whilsts.' ^_^. Well on with the story, at last…….

Dedicated to Time Whoadie and her support

Chapter 11

'Untitled'

Glancing around her new room, she caught sight of a uniform folded up neatly at the food of her bed. Venturing further in to the room, she picked up the uniform and held it against herself. It was just like all the other Dragonslayers, slighter different in the upper areas of the armour, but it still held that same deep shade of blue. Feeling insecure even in her room, she opened the door to her bathroom to get changed.

The bathroom was small and poorly lit. Reaching in to her pocket she found some matches that Gatti had given her earlier. Lighting a candle on a nearby ledge, she could see that the bathroom had no shower or bath. 'Great,' she sighed. 'I'm on a floating rock full of men who have been deprived of even the sight of women, and there's no shower in my bathroom.' She rolled her eyes, and went over to the sink to wash herself as she got changed.

Half an hour later, she opened the door to her room, to see Gatti still waiting outside. She watched as Gatti's eyes bulged slightly and his face grow a deep shade of red.

'So, how do I look?' Helena asked as she twirled around, showing off her new tight fitting armour.

'…amazing,' Gatti replied, unable to think or say anything else less to the point.

Helena grimaced at Gatti's discomfort. Although it was cruel, Helena still enjoyed flaunting herself at time to time. 'Well, are we going to the training hall or not?' She inquired, still smirking.

'Erm, yes of course. Follow me,' Gatti said, just about taking his eyes of her as he turned to lead the way.

Helena followed Gatti down numerous identical corridors, trying to remember her path so she could try to imitate the route again at a later date. After five minutes of winding corridors, she gave up.

Turning another corner, they eventually came across the two large wooden doors that presented the entrance to the immense training hall. Outside stood all the dragonslayers, the team she was now part of. She smiled to herself, she belonged to something, no matter how distant they felt at the moment. Scanning over the faces that looked at her in awe, her sight finally fell upon Dilandau. Despite the dragonslayers making her the centre of their attention, Dilandau seemed focused on not even looking at her.

'You're late Helena,' he said, his face still turned from her. 'Next time you will be punished for your lateness as any other Dragonslayer would be,' he continued.

Helena's heart sank. She had been so looking forward to learning to be a Dragonslayer that she didn't expect the first thing that she would do would be punishment worthy. 'I'm sorry Lord Dilandau,' she said sadly, remembering formalities.

'Miguel, Chesta, open the doors. Enough time has been wasted,' he ordered, ignoring Helena's apology.

'Yes Lord Dilandau,' they both answered simultaneously, pushing forward at the doors. The great old doors heaved as they crept open, creaking until they were fully open. Helena's mouth dropped open as she stared in at the training hall in disbelief.

She was so used to the Vione being so dark and poorly lit that she never expected the hall to radiate with such a powerful light. Following the others inside, she could for the first time see the grandeur of the room at its best. Above her, the raised balcony over hung the grand hall, hugging the great stone walls. She could hear her boots clatter on the floor beneath her on the wooden floor, and then bounce off the walls. It was beautiful; yet the hall was only used for training in. Nothing seemed to do the hall justice. Breaking Helena's amazement at the room, Dilandau split the silence.

'Dragonslayers, by my order, Helena is to become a new Dragonslayers,' he said sternly.

Despite some surprise on their faces, none spoke or disagreed with Dilandau's words, and Helena's heart unclenched in their silence.

'You shall treat her as any other Dragonslayer, and fight her with the same determination and skill as any other man. Understand?' He questioned.

'Yes Lord Dilandau,' they answered en masse.

'Good, begin training,' he ordered. He turned to Helena, as she stood confused as to what to do. 'And Helena, you will come with me.'

'Yes Lord Dilandau,' she replied warily.

'You shall train with me for now,' he said without looking at her as they moved away from the other Dragonslayers. But first you must have a sword.'

'Thank you,' she answered, feeling uneasy about Dilandau's unreadable mood.

Walking to the furthest corner of the room, Dilandau pushed open a door to a small room. Following him in to the dark room, Dilandau tugged at a cloth allowing light to break in to the room through a large window. Helena turned to her right where light seemed to be reflecting in every direction. Rows of swords were hung proudly in a cupboard, with sharp edges facing outwards as if in hunger for battle. She felt uncomfortable, feeling that her armour would be no protection against the blades of the swords. The hilts, some simple whilst others more highly decorated made her hands itch to hold them. They were stunning, shining in all their glory.

'This one is yours,' Dilandau calmly spoke, opening the cupboard to lift out the indicated sword.

She had seen the other Dragonslayers swords and they seemed fitting for their purpose, but the sword that Dilandau now handed in to her possession was remarkable. It appeared light, yet when in her hand the weight was contradictory. Her arm fell in her surprise, but she recovered as she used both hands to lift it back level to her waist. She examined the hilt. A deep blue strap wrapped and clung itself around the handle, weaving in and out of other shades of deep blue as it went. Gazing up the sword, she shivered at the sharpness of the blade. It held a dismaying potential to cause such pain and death to those who were on the unfortunate end of a concluding swoop. She reached with her glove hand to touch the edge of the hypnotizing blade.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' Dilandau said coolly. 'It's sharp for a reason,' he continued, smirking as Helena jumped from his intruding voice.

'Erm, yes, sorry Lord Dilandau,' Helena said, blinking rapidly and shaking her head as the saber broke its spell on her.

'Well, are you going to train with me or admire that sword all day,' he asked sarcastically.

'I'm coming Lord Dilandau,' Helena said, closing the door to the shimmering room and following to join Dilandau.

'Stand opposite me Helena, over there,' he pointed as soon as she came level with him. 'Now hold your sword like this and your feet at this basic stance,' he continued, demonstrating what he meant.

The rest of the day continued much like that, Dilandau giving orders and Helena trying to keep up and understand the different stances. However, he often lost his patience with Helena's amateur skills, occasionally snapping at her causing Helena to panic and flounder. Soon enough though, in defiance of Dilandau's impatience, Helena was learning quickly and she eventually found herself was dueling with him.

Soon though, Helena's muscles began to shriek with pain. It was as if gravity had ten folded and the sword with it. On many occasions, the tip would scrape along the floor as her arm neither had the strength nor will to pick it back up. Even though Dilandau could evidently see Helena's pain, he continued to push her for whatever energy she had with his overpowering strength.

He clashed swords again with hers, forcing the hilt out of her hand and the sword to twist and drop to the floor with a loud clatter. Dilandau moved back into a relaxed stance, his sword flung over one shoulder.

'Pick it up Helena,' he ordered calmly.

'I can't- I can't do this anymore,' Helena pleaded as she sank to the floor, breathing heavily.

'Yes you can. If I were your enemy, do you think I would stop and not kill you just because you were tired?' He said in a matter-of-fact way.

'I know Dilandau, but I'm not going to hurt anyone. I'm not going on to the battlefield,' she replied, insisting her defense to discontinue the duel.

'Just think of this as a way of teaching you self defense then. I know how weak and pathetic you women are, you need all the help you can get,' he said, letting a smirk cross his face.

Helena looked at him hard. If there was one thing she hated, it was sexist comments like that. She could feel her anger start to turn her face a deeper red as she reached over to grab the sword that was lying at her side.

'Oh, now you want to fight. You might as well go now though, an old man who was slightly blind in one eye would be able to beat you so what chance do you think you have against me?' He taunted, allowing his devilish smirk to spread to his eyes.

'Look Lord Dilandau. I've had just about as much as I can take from you and your narky comments. I'm only new to this and your not even giving me a chance!' Feeling the anger inside of her swell into action, Helena ran full force at Dilandau, the sword tip facing him.

'It's about time you got angry. You can't fight without hating your opponent,' he replied, readying himself for Helena's onslaught.

Moving ever closer towards Dilandau, she could feel herself sweat under the pressure which he had previously put her under. Then, she could feel what must have been the pendent underneath her armour burning against her skin as she charged, it felt as if her energy was being drained from her, causing the pendent to burn more ferociously. Feeling her legs go weak, she looked down as her feet as they tripped over each other, sending her stumbling high speed towards Dilandau.

'Damn it,' Dilandau hissed, as he threw down his sword. Helena unable to control herself, dropped her weapon as she fell into Dilandau's open arms. The speed of her fall, forced Dilandau to the floor with Helena following shortly behind.

'…that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be,' Helena said dazedly as she raised her head, suddenly realising her embarrassing predicament.

'So you've come back for more then, heh Helena?' Dilandau looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.

'Get a life Dilandau,' Helena replied brushing hair from her eyes and pushing herself up with her hands on Dilandau's chest.

'Geez, did you have to use me as a support to get up,' Dilandau muttered, slowly getting up. Helena smiled faintly back, before picking up her sword and heading towards the large double doors. 'What are you doing Helena?' Dilandau called after her, pulling himself to his feet.

'Giving up. I'll never make a good Dragonslayer,' Helena replied without turning.

As she opened the large doors, she felt tears starting to roll down her cheeks in rebellion to their suppression. 'Who was I kidding, I'm useless,' she muttered to herself, before disappearing from Dilandau's sight.

A/n she tried I suppose. The pendent thing will be explained……later. Van will be in next chapter. I'm sure ive said that before, and well I'm planing to update definitely a lot sooner than this chapter did. So thank you for reading and please review. It's just nice to know if people like your story or not.

Thanks again,

Lady whitewolf

xXx

ladywhitewolf_inabluemoon@hotmail.com