A/N: To Blue Dreamer, I'm honestly not sure that Hitomi will be in this story. And if she is, I'm not going to guarantee her a prominent spot in the plot that the other two characters will be receiveing. And to my dear bud of five years, Peridot Pooka, you know I do it simply to piss you off to no end. Am I doing a good job? You're more than welcome to come over and hover over my shoulder like a mother hen *^^* and yell at me when I do my grammar, spell, consistency and flow checks. ^_~ Ja ne minna!!
Chapter Two
The quiet of the forest rippled with the gentle song of birds as they flew between the bright rays of sunlight that pierced the leafy canopy of treetops. A slight groan echoed around the area as one of the dusty figures in the middle of the road, sat up, rubbing their head with a yawn.
"Oh crap man. Storm is going to kill me. We slept all night in the park." Tara looked around before she saw Storm lying a few feet away, snoring her head off with a small trickle of drool running down her cheek. "There's an attractive morning face." Tara muttered. "Storm wake up. Wake up Storm!"
"Bugger off you little sod..." Storm frowned in her sleep before she relaxed again with a smile and started mumbling about dragons and horses.
Tara rolled her eyes. 'I don't believe this. She took last night's conversation to heart too much.' She shook Storm roughly. "Wake up you lazy-" she stopped in shock as a lazy hand came flying at her face and whacked her squarely on her nose. 'Oh, that's it.' Tara sat up on her legs and smacked Storm across the face. "Wake up you lazy bitch!"
Finally Storm opened one belligerent eye to scowl at Tara. "What the hell is your problem? I was having the best dream ever. Dragons are the best you know and-"
"We slept in the park all night Storm." Tara gave an exasperated sigh as Storm looked at her stupidly. "Shall I repeat that again for you?"
"Please do. Because I distinctly remember someone saying that she'd wake me up when she was ready to go!" Storm glared at her. "You let us sleep here all night?! We're lucky nothing happened to us! Christ, is my sword still here?"
Tara rose as Storm scrabbled around until she found her sword case and clutched it with relief. "Are you done already? Your mother is going to kill the both of us."
"You fell asleep on me. Wake me up when you want to leave, never again will I ask that." Storm muttered crossly as she strapped the case onto her hips. "For once you let me sleep when I shouldn't have!! And you want me to go to the graduation party afterwards?! I'll be too dead and grounded to attend the damn party!!"
"Would you quit bitching and start walking? If we get there, maybe we can sneak in before she wakes up and finds out that we were gone all night."
"We? Suddenly invited yourself to sleep over did you?"
"Why yes I did." Tara flashed her a smile. "Now can we get going? What? What's the matter?"
Storm was looking around slowly with a rather shocked face. "We aren't in the park."
"What?" Tara looked around carefully this time to see that Storm was right. They had fallen asleep on a hilltop; now they found themselves in the middle of a dirt path stretching to either side. 'What the hell is going on?'
"I don't know...but I think I see someone coming...maybe we can ask them."
"Good idea." Tara said as she noted the small cloud of dust that rose up into the air.
They waited patiently at the side of the road, as the horseback figure drew closer. Tara stepped forward with a smile as the cloaked figure stopped and looked down at them.
"Hello." Tara said, flashing a radiant smile that she knew attracted guys. "Are you heading towards a town?"
The cowl was pushed back to reveal a thin, grizzled face covered by a massive beard. "Yes, I am. May I ask where you are heading?"
"We...ah...found ourselves rather lost this morning. Where's the nearest town that we can find a," she paused looking over the man's clothing. "Inn?"
"Hm...that would be the town of Fanalia, where the castle is. It's just back down the road that way...probably two...three days travel from here." the man peered over her shoulder to see Storm lurking by the trees as he rubbed his nose. "Is that your friend there?"
Tara looked back to see a dark scowl on her friend's face. "Yes. If you would excuse me for a minute Sir..."
"I don't like him." Storm said as Tara came up to her. "Something's not right about this. I say we leave now and try to find this 'Fanalia' by ourselves."
"All right, if that's how you feel. I'll just go and wrap this up." Tara said as she walked away; she also the fact that Storm's hand was resting on her sword hilt hadn't escaped her. "So you say that Fanalia is three days from here? East or west?"
"West." he said pointing in said direction. "Are you young ladies looking for an escort? These woods can be quite dangerous if you don't have some form of protection."
"No we aren't. Thank you for your time." Storm said as she took Tara's arm and led her westward.
"That was pretty rude, you know." Tara said as they started walking. "Why are we going so fast?"
"You don't realize it, but that guy has men in the forest. One of them just tried to sneak up on me. The sooner we're away from him, the better."
"Well, why didn't you say that in the first place?"
"And let him know that I know? No, we are going to have to push hard to reach Fanalia safely. It wouldn't surprise me if that creep was a slaver." Storm looked back apprehensively.
"All right but-" Tara stopped abruptly as a loud crash came from the trees. "That wasn't an animal was it?" she saw the tight grip that Storm had on her sword. "Couldn't we lose them in the forest?"
"Most likely. It would be the best idea at the-"
Storm didn't have a chance to finish as men suddenly burst out of the forest coming for them with drawn swords and clubs. She drew her sword easily enough and charged into the fray. Tara gritted her teeth and dove right in also. 'Not even ten minutes and we get into a life and death fight. What kind of place is this?' Soon enough, Tara could see that they weren't a match for the group of men; they were simply outnumbered. Meeting Storm's eyes, she saw the same conclusion there. Wrenching herself free from a greasy grip, she socked the guy in the face and darted into the forest, Storm close behind, her sword back in it's sheath.
"So where the hell are we going now?" she managed as she jumped over tree roots and loose rocks.
"Just run and don't worry about it!" Storm gasped as she stumbled over a particularly large tree root.
The forest bled into a streak of green and yellow, interspersed with more and more chunks of grey. Tara veered off a bit, going around a massive boulder and when she came around, Storm was nowhere to be seen.
"Storm?" she called out loudly, "Storm, where are you?"
She looked back, hearing more of the loud calls of their pursuers that made her start running again. 'Great, we're obviously separated now and in some sort of quarry of some sort. What could possibly be any worse right-'
"Tara, stop!!"
She screeched to a halt just in time to see Storm, with her arms outstretched in an attempt to stop her. She collided with Storm and came to a breathless stop to see her friend start fall back into a deep black hole.
"Storm!" she reached out with her hand and grabbed her wrist sharply.
Storm jerked sharply, smacking right into the rock face and hitting her head on a large piece of rock that jutted out. Tara grabbed on with her other wrist as Storm body went completely slack. 'Christ, not now...I can't do that...but it's the only thing I can do.'
"There she is! Get her!"
With a supreme effort, she swung Storm and let her start to fall down into the void. Whirling around, she faced her pursuers with a blazing expression of anger. He hands balled up into fists as she spread her wings fully, the white feathers gleaming in the sun.
"May you all rot in-"
She didn't even finish when the men took back off the way they came, shrieking with fear. Ignoring it, she flew down into the void, seeing Storm's body plummeting like a rock. Folding her wings back, she picked up speed until she was whistling down. Catching up with Storm, she grabbed her and spread her wings, flapping until they had slowed down considerably.
"Christ, she weighs a ton." Tara grunted as she started to fly back up and head for the other side of the rift.
Finally resting on the other side, she let Storm fall before she folded her wings away and crouched down to see Storm's head better.
"There's a nasty bump." she murmured seeing the swelling that had already started. "Alright Storm, let's move you to a safe spot." she managed to sling Storm over her shoulder and headed into the forest with a mutter. "I am going to give myself a hernia if I keep this up."
Seated in the back of the tavern, Av nursed a pint of beer along with his black eye. He looked up from time to time, glancing at the other patrons in the tavern; a couple of serving girls, the barkeep and a few soldiers lingering over their drinks. 'Zaibach...' He would much rather that they left and never showed back up again
"There you are Av. I've been looking all over for you? How did today go? Find anything interesting?"
Av looked up at his friend Ramo before he glowered back down into his mug. "Isn't my eye telling you anything?"
"Besides the fact that your old lady may have had to show you a thing or two, no." Ramo said taking a seat beside his friend; he was used to the bruises his friend sported from time to time, normally when he was found out for one of his affairs.
"Funny." he replied in a sarcastic tone.
"All right then, how was work today?"
"All well and good until Div decided to capture these two girls he encountered on the road today."
"That's how you got a black eye? From a girl? And not a woman? Man, you are growing weak!" Ramo said with a slight chuckle. "Sorry; care to tell me what happened?" he asked when Av shot him a dirty look.
Av sighed before he took a quick swallow. "It was all well and good. They were beautiful girls mind you; they would have brought in plenty of money. Kings would pay for slaves that looked like these two."
"Eh heh. Most kings don't seem to know what's what. Keep going."
This one girl, she knew something as wrong from the start. Black hair like midnight and one of those bodies..."
"You mean all..." Ramo made a curvy motion in the air that Av nodded at. "Heh...sounds like I could like this girl. Keep on."
"You always liked curvy women. Anyways, black hair, the body of a goddess and the most intense pair of eyes you ever saw. I swear they were blackish brown. The other girl, there's something I have never seen before. Red hair that looked like so many things; fire, copper, gold..."
"You sound like a love sick fool, you do realize that right?"
"Would you shut up and let me finish? I am being kind enough to let you know." Av said with a scowl. He gave a small sound of triumph at Ramo's nod. "Now she was also curvy and she packs one mean punch."
"You mean she's the one who gave you that black eye?" Ramo asked incredulously. "You can barely see out of it."
"Still think my old lady did it?"
"No. she'd leave you with some eye to see out of. So you could do all the stuff she wants you to do for her." Ramo paused. "And what did the other one do?"
"Nearly ran me through with her sword." he unconsciously rubbed his side gingerly. "She just nicked me and she didn't have the intent to kill; maim most likely."
"How can you be sure?"
"If she was going to kill, I'd be lying on the side of the road dead and not here enjoying my beer." Av shook his head after he drained the rest of the mug. "I tell you, they fought like demons. They beat up half of us, left us with bruised pride and tried to escape."
"Did they? Escape I mean."
"Yes. The girl with the red hair...she has wings." Av said in a low voice.
"Wings...but that would mean that she's a Draconian."
"And you know what they say about them. What good is a cursed slave?" Av started into his mug mournfully, wishing there was more beer there. "When we saw that, we high tailed it out of there."
"Smart move my man." Ramo clapped him on the back. "I would have done the same. Don't you remember what happened when King Goau married that Draconian? Nothing but trouble from the start."
"And you wonder why I didn't stick around to catch her? If she didn't have the wings, she would have been worth it."
"And the other girl?" Ramo asked.
"Dead; she fell into the old gully out in the forest."
"Damn; you lost two potential slaves there, didn't you?"
Av sighed. "Yes. This hasn't been a good day for me. And now I have to go home and face the wife. I swear it's like those two girls came from somewhere else."
"And why do we say that?"
"They wore the strangest clothes. These pants that were blue and close fitting somewhat and these tops that showed arms and their...chests."
Ramo snickered as Av blushed. "You sell people into bondage for a living but when it comes to describing 'certain female attributes' you become shy. You have an interesting set of morals my friend."
"Anyways," Av continued. "All in all they certainly weren't from around here. I wouldn't be surprised if they..." he trailed off as a tall lanky solider walked beside their table as he moved through the crowd. "If they came from the Mystic Moon."
Ramo paused as the man who had just passed by glanced back before heading out of the tavern. "I don't think you should go around with that part of the story my friend. Now why don't you have another beer and not go home early? Plus you can tell me about these girls again."
Footsteps echoed down the metal corridor as the solider strode towards the door at the end. Opening it, he walked in to see the slight girl seated beside the other door.
"Is Lord Folken in?" he asked.
"Lord Folken is talking to Emperor Dornkirk at the moment. If you could just wait and-"
"I need to talk to his Lordship now."
The girl nodded before she opened the door and ducked in rather hesitantly. The solider started pacing around anxiously; perhaps this was the step he needed to get that promotion he wanted so much. He looked up as the door opened again, the girl walking out once more.
"Lord Folken says that it must wait whatever it is. He is currently-"
The solider ignored her, pushing past her insistently; this couldn't wait. The room was dark with a faint glow that came from around a corner.
"Our future has changed much in the past few hours." the ancient voice sounded slightly sonorous. "You must find a way to counteract this and-"
"Your Lordship? Emperor." the solider said, bowing slightly as he rounded the turn. "I have rather urgent news."
The tall cloak figure turned around with an expression of slight displeasure. "You know that you aren't allowed in here. Explain yourself."
The solider swallowed a bit nervously; perhaps this wasn't the best idea, but he was here now. "I couldn't help but overhear what the Emperor was saying I believe that I may have the answer Lord Folken."
"I'm listening." Folken said with a faint tone of interest.
"I happened to pay a visit to Fanalia earlier in the day. There was a man talking of two girls he attempted to capture."
"For what purpose?"
"Slaves your Lordship. But they failed for one supposedly died and the other they didn't wish to capture after she revealed a certain fact to them. The girl had wings and the man believes her to be a Draconian as well that the girls came from the Mystic Moon."
"A Draconian? From the Mystic Moon? Are you sure that you heard right?" Folken said.
"The man was quite clear in his description and rather irritated by the fact that he suffered a black eye during the attempt to capture the girl before they knew of her nature."
Folken remained silent for a few minutes. "Thank you. You may wait outside until I am finished here."
The solider bowed and promptly made himself scarce.
"It would seem that providence gave us our answer."
Folken turned back to look at Emperor. "That it would. Perhaps you should allow me to investigate this for myself. This 'Draconian' and the other girl may be the reason why the future has changed so much."
"Hn." the image of the Emperor's face grew pensive. "I'll leave this in your hands Folken. I know you won't fail."
Folken remained silent as the image faded before he walked out of the room. He spied the solider leaning against the wall with an anxious expression on his face. He motioned for the boy to walk beside him as he left the room.
"Shall I be demoted for my actions my Lord?"
Folken smiled faintly at the quiet words. "No, you shall not. I want you to find out what else you can of these so called girls and about the girl that died; confirm that. Search the area as discreetly as possible. We don't want the future King of Fanalia objecting to what we must do."
"Am...I working for your Lordship now?"
"Yes. Who's your commander?"
"Lord Dilandau."
"I'll have a talk with him. I'm sure I can persuade him." Folken said. "Rest for the night and get started in the morning."
"Yes my Lord." the solider bowed before he took off the opposite way.
Folken continued down the hallway until he came to his laboratory and seated himself down t his desk. Schematics and rough plans littered the workspace and the table before him, Mind turning, he looked over at the chess set that lay by the window, a temporary escape from all the work. Going over to it, he noticed, two pieces had fallen to the floor. He bent down and picked them up,a queen and rook, placing them back in their respective spots before he gazed at the board reflectively. His finger lingered for a moment on the crown of the queen as he mulled over the black and white squares.'Just how great an effect can two girls have here if they come from the Mystic Moon?'
