Author's Note: OK, starting now, I'm gonna try to do a little more
character development. I feel like I haven't really gone very deep into the
characters yet, but that changes now. For those of you who don't know,
Shade was having a flashback when he was half-dead in Kashua Glacier. Well,
now he's having another one. Don't ask me how he's managing to do it while
walking through the streets of Deningrad. He's talented. Go with it.
Chapter 21
"Why did you do it, son?"
"I didn't! Get a grip! Why the hell would I kill my own brother? I'm telling you, I was set up!"
"There was always something strange about you! Now we know what some people have said all along was true! You're a cold-blooded killer! Get out! You are no longer part of my family!"
Shade's father hurled a vase at his retreating form. The porcelain shattered on impact with his shoulder blade. Shade had suffered much worse physical pain in his seventeen years, but this pain would go deeper than any wound could. He fell to the ground, causing a cloud of dust to spiral through the air before settling back down onto the land. He pushed himself up with his arms, and scrambled away from the place that had once been his home.
By that time, it seemed like everyone in town thought Shade had killed his older brother. The twenty-year-old had been found with his stomach slashed open, with Shade's serrated blade bloodied at his side. The only person that did believe Shade was his sword master.
"So you don't think I did it, Master Kohima?"
"No, I don't."
"Why?"
Master Kohima turned to look at his teenage student. Out of all the members of his dojo, he was one of the students that showed the most talent in the field.
"It's simply not your style. Investigators always search for MOs and yours doesn't fit here. If you had killed your brother, you would have done a much cleaner job of it. A simple thrust through the heart with your weapon- catcher and he would have been dead within seconds. You also would have had the brains to wipe the blood off your sword after he died."
"So you believe me capable of murder?"
"All of the disciples of the sword are capable of murder. We are taught to kill without compassion."
"But there is a difference between killing in combat and murder."
"True, there is a line. But the line is thin, and not always to see."
It had been ten years now. What if the line became invisible? What if, sometime when it was most crucial, he stepped over that line, and lost everything he had once accomplished?
Shade snapped out of his daydream to find himself in an entirely different part of Deningrad. He was just as far away from the Crystal Palace as he had been when he was in the hospital, but now it was in a different direction. Shade sighed and sat down on a public bench, his face in his hands.
Kyra found the motorhome parked in a multiplex parking lot. It was the same one, she was sure of it. But was the Silver Dragoon inside? There was only one way to find out. She teleported to the inside of the vehicle. Creeping softly, so as not to wake any sleeping inhabitants, she made her way to the bedroom. There, in one of the bottom bunks, the Silver Dragoon lay sleeping. Kyra smiled. This was too easy. She grasped the girl's wrist, startling her awake, but before Dawn had a chance to react, they were already gone.
Phil strained once more against the chains that bound him to the wall, but it was useless. The manacles were obviously made of a metal that even the increased strength that was one of the post-effects of transforming to a Dragoon could not break. His train of thought was interrupted by two figures that appeared suddenly out of midair. One was the Wingly that brought him here, and the other appeared to be Dawn.
Kyra held her vicious claws up to Dawn's throat. She kept her other hand open, waiting.
"You know what I want."
Dawn was given the same choice as Phil; give up the Dragoon Spirit or die, and if you die, we'll take it anyway. Naturally, she opted for the former. She placed the diamond into the Wingly's hand, and Kyra instantly let go, sending Dawn tumbling to the floor. She left without another word. She didn't even chain Dawn up. She didn't need to.
Rayen brought the motorcycle to a stop in the streets of a small city. They had been on the road for nearly three days now, and they needed a place to stop and rest. Rayen and Sean unbuckled their helmets and dropped them both in the sidecar.
"Too bad about those Dragoons. All those things they might have done, gone to waste."
"Yeah. It's a shame that guy died."
"Well, yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. I mean the criminal one."
Rayen looked puzzled. He hadn't the faintest idea what Sean was talking about.
"What, you mean you haven't heard? Where the hell have you been? I mean, I don't have a TV and I know about it."
"What happened?"
"Well, nobody really knows. There were no witnesses left alive. Basically, a Dragoon broke into a bank during the night, stole everything, killed everyone in the bank, and left."
"How do they know if it was a Dragoon if no one saw it?"
"Well, it must have been a Water Dragoon, because the entire inside of the bank was incased in ice. All the guards were frozen before they could do anything stop the Dragoon. When they tried to thaw out the bodies, but they shattered. I remembered it because it was the bank in this city."
"Lucky us."
Rayen suddenly stopped. His gaze rested on a man in a trenchcoat and a scarf, leaning against the walls. Their eyes met, and the man nodded.
"Sean, why don't you go ahead? I'll catch up later."
"What? Why?"
"I have something I need to take care of."
Sean shrugged and left. Rayen walked over to the wall and leaned against it, next to the heavily clothed man.
"Shade?"
The enigmatic pedestrian merely slipped a folded-up piece of paper into Rayen's hand. Rayen unfolded it and glanced over its contents. It was a set of directions, followed by a hastily scrawled '10:00 PM tomorrow'. Rayen looked up, confused, but the man in the trenchcoat was gone.
Author's Note: Is Shade really innocent of killing his brother, or has he just played reverse psychology for the past decade? Which of the remaining Dragoons will Kyra go after next? Who the hell is that guy in the coat? Find all these answers and a duck-billed platypus in the next riveting chapter of... oh hell, you know.
Chapter 21
"Why did you do it, son?"
"I didn't! Get a grip! Why the hell would I kill my own brother? I'm telling you, I was set up!"
"There was always something strange about you! Now we know what some people have said all along was true! You're a cold-blooded killer! Get out! You are no longer part of my family!"
Shade's father hurled a vase at his retreating form. The porcelain shattered on impact with his shoulder blade. Shade had suffered much worse physical pain in his seventeen years, but this pain would go deeper than any wound could. He fell to the ground, causing a cloud of dust to spiral through the air before settling back down onto the land. He pushed himself up with his arms, and scrambled away from the place that had once been his home.
By that time, it seemed like everyone in town thought Shade had killed his older brother. The twenty-year-old had been found with his stomach slashed open, with Shade's serrated blade bloodied at his side. The only person that did believe Shade was his sword master.
"So you don't think I did it, Master Kohima?"
"No, I don't."
"Why?"
Master Kohima turned to look at his teenage student. Out of all the members of his dojo, he was one of the students that showed the most talent in the field.
"It's simply not your style. Investigators always search for MOs and yours doesn't fit here. If you had killed your brother, you would have done a much cleaner job of it. A simple thrust through the heart with your weapon- catcher and he would have been dead within seconds. You also would have had the brains to wipe the blood off your sword after he died."
"So you believe me capable of murder?"
"All of the disciples of the sword are capable of murder. We are taught to kill without compassion."
"But there is a difference between killing in combat and murder."
"True, there is a line. But the line is thin, and not always to see."
It had been ten years now. What if the line became invisible? What if, sometime when it was most crucial, he stepped over that line, and lost everything he had once accomplished?
Shade snapped out of his daydream to find himself in an entirely different part of Deningrad. He was just as far away from the Crystal Palace as he had been when he was in the hospital, but now it was in a different direction. Shade sighed and sat down on a public bench, his face in his hands.
Kyra found the motorhome parked in a multiplex parking lot. It was the same one, she was sure of it. But was the Silver Dragoon inside? There was only one way to find out. She teleported to the inside of the vehicle. Creeping softly, so as not to wake any sleeping inhabitants, she made her way to the bedroom. There, in one of the bottom bunks, the Silver Dragoon lay sleeping. Kyra smiled. This was too easy. She grasped the girl's wrist, startling her awake, but before Dawn had a chance to react, they were already gone.
Phil strained once more against the chains that bound him to the wall, but it was useless. The manacles were obviously made of a metal that even the increased strength that was one of the post-effects of transforming to a Dragoon could not break. His train of thought was interrupted by two figures that appeared suddenly out of midair. One was the Wingly that brought him here, and the other appeared to be Dawn.
Kyra held her vicious claws up to Dawn's throat. She kept her other hand open, waiting.
"You know what I want."
Dawn was given the same choice as Phil; give up the Dragoon Spirit or die, and if you die, we'll take it anyway. Naturally, she opted for the former. She placed the diamond into the Wingly's hand, and Kyra instantly let go, sending Dawn tumbling to the floor. She left without another word. She didn't even chain Dawn up. She didn't need to.
Rayen brought the motorcycle to a stop in the streets of a small city. They had been on the road for nearly three days now, and they needed a place to stop and rest. Rayen and Sean unbuckled their helmets and dropped them both in the sidecar.
"Too bad about those Dragoons. All those things they might have done, gone to waste."
"Yeah. It's a shame that guy died."
"Well, yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. I mean the criminal one."
Rayen looked puzzled. He hadn't the faintest idea what Sean was talking about.
"What, you mean you haven't heard? Where the hell have you been? I mean, I don't have a TV and I know about it."
"What happened?"
"Well, nobody really knows. There were no witnesses left alive. Basically, a Dragoon broke into a bank during the night, stole everything, killed everyone in the bank, and left."
"How do they know if it was a Dragoon if no one saw it?"
"Well, it must have been a Water Dragoon, because the entire inside of the bank was incased in ice. All the guards were frozen before they could do anything stop the Dragoon. When they tried to thaw out the bodies, but they shattered. I remembered it because it was the bank in this city."
"Lucky us."
Rayen suddenly stopped. His gaze rested on a man in a trenchcoat and a scarf, leaning against the walls. Their eyes met, and the man nodded.
"Sean, why don't you go ahead? I'll catch up later."
"What? Why?"
"I have something I need to take care of."
Sean shrugged and left. Rayen walked over to the wall and leaned against it, next to the heavily clothed man.
"Shade?"
The enigmatic pedestrian merely slipped a folded-up piece of paper into Rayen's hand. Rayen unfolded it and glanced over its contents. It was a set of directions, followed by a hastily scrawled '10:00 PM tomorrow'. Rayen looked up, confused, but the man in the trenchcoat was gone.
Author's Note: Is Shade really innocent of killing his brother, or has he just played reverse psychology for the past decade? Which of the remaining Dragoons will Kyra go after next? Who the hell is that guy in the coat? Find all these answers and a duck-billed platypus in the next riveting chapter of... oh hell, you know.