And now, a word from your author:
Don't kill me. Really, I was busy! I apologize to all my readers for this long lack of an update. As a reader, I know how crappy it is to see how no one's updated for months. However, I hope to pick up the pace, once more. Thanks to all who sent e-mails to me, as well as everyone who's reviewed my work. It was the number of complaints I'd gotten in the last few days that really encouraged me to get around my writer's block, so therefore, bitching = more chapters. :D Once again, read and review, and don't hesitate to send flames to my e-mail. This series is far from dead!
Chapter 9
Anri looked up, startled, as the White Ring on her hand began glowing brightly.
"What the..." she exclaimed, startled. The glow emanating from the White Ring continued to grow , until it was almost blinding. As suddenly as it had started, though, it stopped, leaving Anri wondering what that could be about. Perhaps it was due to the fact she hadn't called upon it's magic for a while? It had never done anything like that before. Anri sighed, and decided to let it go. She sat back in her somewhat comfy chair: being a queen had its perks.
It had been a few months since she had arrived back home, along with her fellow Shining Force members. She had become a queen, and assumed the duties and responsibilities her father had left behind when he died all so suddenly at the hands of Kane. Her first responsibility had been to rebuild Guardiana, after hit had been left half-ruined. It had taken an surprisingly short amount of time: the people of Guardiana were a hardy bunch, and were well up to the daunting task. Guardiana had returned to the splendid glory it had possessed before the arrival of Runefaust had spoiled it.
Now, Anri's attention was turned to other matters. Running a kingdom was hard work. There seemed to be endless council meetings, and many minor dignitaries who kept on running up to her with some small detail that required her judgement. Anri missed the old days: the sense of camaraderie she had shared with the rest of the Shining Force. Just them, against the forces of evil. All you had to worry about was staying alive. Anri's life now, though, was really, really, boring! Which was why she had a special idea...
Anri's thoughts where interrupted by a soft knock on the door.
"Come in."
Mae stepped through the door, habitually checking around for threats. Old habits died hard. Mae had also been fairly busy, in her new role as the Commander of the Guardiana army. That meant not only was she responsible for Guardiana's defence, it also meant she was in charge of training new recruits, maintaining supplies, keeping equipment in tip-top shape, and making sure everything was running smoothly.
"Busy?" Mae asked.
"Not really. Come in! Something to drink? I can ask the cook to whip us up a late night snack." Anri gestured Mae over to a chair, which fortunately, accommodated centaurs as well as humans.
"No thanks. Just tired of all this work, decided to take a break. How are things going?"
"Can't complain. Running a kingdom is mind numbingly mundane. I was thinking of the good old days, just us against Runefaust. No worrying about petty squabbles...at least you knew who your enemies were. Politics are boring!"
"You don't say? You don't know how many pointless and endless meetings I go to...Ok maybe you do," Mae hastily corrected as she spotted Anri about to launch into an counterattack, "but really, the pointlessness! These people can't even decide on what pencils we should use! How they got to power, I don't know. Politics." Mae snorted.
"Oh, by the way..." Mae said, with a mischievous smile beginning to appear on her face.
"Yes?"
"There's a rumour flying through the castle, about, how shall we say, a cozy get together you and Prince Gerad had." Mae winked. "Come on, share the details!"
Anri snorted. "You mean, that dinner we had? Where he tried to put the moves on me, and I was obliged to put him face first into the main course? It was a grisly sight, to tell you that...and Chef had spent all night slaving over it."
"Oh? I heard there was something happening between you two?" Mae looked surprised.
"Bah. That snake. I wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole."
"You know how many prospective suitors you've turned down? Whatever happened to that cute Prince Ralsed?"
"Waddles like a duck, has bad breath. And drones on and on about the most mundane things! Like I really care about the state of the Elonia National Art Museum."
"Well, how about that young Duke of Milead?"
Anri grinned. "Apparently, he doesn't have a thing for women that are stronger than him. He was boasting to me about his oh so great combat skills. So I simply said "Oh, you mean skills like this?" and summoned some magic."
Mae winced. "Oh yeah, I remember that. Don't you think you went a little overboard on the freeze spell though?"
"He thawed out, once Tao applied a fire spell...about twelve hours later." Anri grinned in remembrance. The frozen expression on the Duke's face was priceless.
"Well...how about that foreign prince, Diade?"
"Heavy accent. He was a nice guy and all, but he had some pretty...forceful views about women, and their role in the world."
"You're way too picky. Isn't there any man that matches up to your standards?"
Anri's expression grew sad. "There was." She unconsciously rubbed the White Ring."
"Oh no. Are you still..." Mae asked, concerned.
Anri sighed, went over to her bed, and flopped down on it, and stared up at the ceiling. "Yes, I know Max is dead. I know marrying anyone of these people would benefit our kingdom tremendously...but..."
"But...there'll always be a small piece of me that belongs to him. If I married someone else, they would just end up being disappointed with me."
"Anri...you have to let go. Max is gone, but he didn't die in vain. He brought peace to the world, after all."
"I know. Maybe someday, I'll love again. Just not right now. Besides, I don't see you with any boyfriends?"
"Ha!" Mae grinned. "You think YOU'RE picky?"
"Oh come on..." Anri said, grinning. "Now, let me tell you the rumour I heard from my maid-in-waiting. Apparently, you and Ken went out on a little ride together..."
"Yeah, well um...the thing about that is..." Mae panicked, and began casting her eyes around the room for something she could talk about to change the topic. "Hey, what's this?" Mae pointed toward an crude, vague sketch Anri was working on before Mae had shown up. It currently showed two knights in shining armour, locked in mortal combat. "And you call this masterpiece...?"
"Very funny. Magic is my specialty, not art. If you must know, this is the concept sketch for a little idea I have..."
"Uh oh. A little idea?" Mae asked, raising one eyebrow.
"OK, more like a big idea. My idea is simply this: a really big fair and festival!"
"That's your big idea?"
"Nonono!" Anri exclaimed enthusiastically. "I've got all sorts of things planned out. There's going to be jesters, I'm thinking of asking the circus to come in at that time, games, food festivals, and some other neat stuff. Like that new invention Kokichi told me about...I think it's called a 'Merry-go-circle' or something like that.
"Ah, that crazy old man. Hasn't he retired yet?" Mae smiled, remembering the old man, and his wacky flying device.
"Nah, still busy as ever. This is all going to be centered around one thing: a tournament!"
"A tournament?" Mae's ears perked up. "What kind of tournament?"
"A chess tournament, what do you think?" Anri said sarcastically. "No, I'm taking about a tournament of combat!" Each region will send their own champion in, and will face each other. Winner gets, I don't know, honour, prestige, money, maybe a chance to meet the famous Queen of Guardiana." Anri grinned.
"Great way to meet cute guys huh?"
"Exactly."
"Bah. You'll probably end up meeting some half-witted moron, who can't manage to string together a sentence with more than two syllables per word."
"You mean like Arthur?" Anri grinned.
"No, I'm not going to go that far." Mae grinned as well.
"Besides that, this is going to be a chance for us to all have a big reunion! Up until now, everyone's been two busy to meet up again, but with this excuse, they can go! I'm holding an archery tournament as well, to get Diane to go...maybe some tracking contests, so Zylo's in for sure..." and maybe an exhibit to show off your inventions! That way, we rope in Kokichi!"
"And a magic contest, of course?" Mae said, knowingly.
"Can't let you guys hog all the fun." Anri said, her eyes sparkling.
"Incidentally, this brings up an interesting story. Ever hear of a group called Adom's Mercenaries?"
Anri thought it over. "I believe so. Pretty nasty gang of slavers, I've gotten some complaints about them."
"Very good." Mae praised. "I was just getting together a force to take care of them. We'd received a warning that they were about to pillage and burn the town of Landwoa."
Anri frowned. "I don't think I've heard of that town."
"You probably wouldn't have. It's a small, backwoods village. Small population. Probably couldn't defend themselves against a group of rabbits, which was why I was about to lend aid."
"Then why are you still here? I thought you would be out traveling by now then?" Anri asked, confused.
"Well, it appears our aid is no longer necessary."
"Huh?"
"Apparently, Adom's mercenaries have been wiped out. Completely. Some of the surrounding farmers and villagers banded together, and wiped them out in an ambush." Mae smiled. She was fond of preemptive strikes, unlike Max. Max had always been one for fair, and honourable combat.
"Wow. That's great! It's about time they stood up for themselves. Too bad though...how many casualties did they suffer?" Anri wondered. A bunch of farm boys up against ruthless criminals? They must have paid a pretty heavy toll for their victory.
"Here's the interesting part: None."
"Huh?" Now Anri was really amazed. "How!"
"Apparently, they were well trained."
"How many people did it take to finish off Adom's group?"
"Around 12, I think."
"Huh?" This was an understatement. As Anri recalled, Adom's group was well-equipped, battle-hardened, and numbered in the range of three dozen, by last estimates. For a group of twelve villagers to actually defeat Adom, and with no casualties to boot! "What happened?"
"They were well trained. Apparently, the credit for the whole victory goes to some fellow named 'Peregrin.' I've heard some strange rumours."
"Like what? And who is this guy?" Anri wondered. She rolled the name, 'Peregrin' around in her mind. Didn't ring a bell.
"Well, apparently he managed to defeat dozens of Adom's Mercenaries by himself...of course that tale's probably exaggerated. And he can summon magical bolts of energy to slay his enemies."
"Hmm. Ariel?" Anri called out.
Her lady-in-waiting opened the door, and bowed.. "Yes, your Grace?"
"Please send for the court scribe."
"Yes, your Grace. Right away." Ariel bowed, and disappeared.
"What are you doing?" Mae asked.
"Sending an invitation. This Peregrin character looks like he would be a suitable candidate for the tournament." Anri smiled.
"Bah. Probably some small fry out of the provincials, who thinks he could defeat Max himself." Mae snorted.
"Probably. But I'm intrigued, none the less." Anri yawned. "Blimey, I'm tired. And hungry."
Mae smiled knowingly. "You're always hungry. I don't know how you can eat so much, and stay so thin."
Anri grinned. "Magic users have an high metabolism rate." That's why Tao and I can stuff our faces, yet remain the young beauties we are." Anri posed like a model, for Mae's benefit. However, her pose was broken up as she was startled by the sound of stone being broken. "Huh? What's that?" Both Mae and Anri ran to the window.
Lying in a pile of rubble was Arthur. He looked scorched.
Anri frowned. "I didn't know Arthur was in town. How come no one tells me these things? I'm not THAT busy that I can't meet up with old friends!" Mae shrugged.
A high pitched, musical laugh rang into the stillness of the night. Anri recognized this laugh to be Tao's. "Stupid Arthur. Everyone knows you can't combine those two spells together! Go back to mage school, moron!"
Arthur groaned. "But it sounded like such a cool idea..."
Mae and Anri both broke out into loud, uproarious laughter. Arthur looked up at the window. He waved. "Hey, you guys!"
"Hey Arthur!" Anri shouted out. "You hungry?"
"Yah, sure!"
"You guys come up to the castle! We'll get a bite to eat!"
"It's 2 in the morning!" Mae reminded her.
"I'll get someone to whip us up something. Being a queen has it's perks.
"OK! Just as soon as I dust myself off! Damn Tao..." Arthur muttered. He dissapared into the large, Arthur-shaped hole he had flew out of.
Anri smiled. "Should we go, Mae?"
"Let's."
*
Author's note: And the plot thickens! I realized I hadn't gotten back to Anri and her gang for a while...thought I would! Next, Max receives the invite! Can he bear to return to the land of Guardiana once more? All on the next chapter, of Hero's Rest!
Cheers!
Don't kill me. Really, I was busy! I apologize to all my readers for this long lack of an update. As a reader, I know how crappy it is to see how no one's updated for months. However, I hope to pick up the pace, once more. Thanks to all who sent e-mails to me, as well as everyone who's reviewed my work. It was the number of complaints I'd gotten in the last few days that really encouraged me to get around my writer's block, so therefore, bitching = more chapters. :D Once again, read and review, and don't hesitate to send flames to my e-mail. This series is far from dead!
Chapter 9
Anri looked up, startled, as the White Ring on her hand began glowing brightly.
"What the..." she exclaimed, startled. The glow emanating from the White Ring continued to grow , until it was almost blinding. As suddenly as it had started, though, it stopped, leaving Anri wondering what that could be about. Perhaps it was due to the fact she hadn't called upon it's magic for a while? It had never done anything like that before. Anri sighed, and decided to let it go. She sat back in her somewhat comfy chair: being a queen had its perks.
It had been a few months since she had arrived back home, along with her fellow Shining Force members. She had become a queen, and assumed the duties and responsibilities her father had left behind when he died all so suddenly at the hands of Kane. Her first responsibility had been to rebuild Guardiana, after hit had been left half-ruined. It had taken an surprisingly short amount of time: the people of Guardiana were a hardy bunch, and were well up to the daunting task. Guardiana had returned to the splendid glory it had possessed before the arrival of Runefaust had spoiled it.
Now, Anri's attention was turned to other matters. Running a kingdom was hard work. There seemed to be endless council meetings, and many minor dignitaries who kept on running up to her with some small detail that required her judgement. Anri missed the old days: the sense of camaraderie she had shared with the rest of the Shining Force. Just them, against the forces of evil. All you had to worry about was staying alive. Anri's life now, though, was really, really, boring! Which was why she had a special idea...
Anri's thoughts where interrupted by a soft knock on the door.
"Come in."
Mae stepped through the door, habitually checking around for threats. Old habits died hard. Mae had also been fairly busy, in her new role as the Commander of the Guardiana army. That meant not only was she responsible for Guardiana's defence, it also meant she was in charge of training new recruits, maintaining supplies, keeping equipment in tip-top shape, and making sure everything was running smoothly.
"Busy?" Mae asked.
"Not really. Come in! Something to drink? I can ask the cook to whip us up a late night snack." Anri gestured Mae over to a chair, which fortunately, accommodated centaurs as well as humans.
"No thanks. Just tired of all this work, decided to take a break. How are things going?"
"Can't complain. Running a kingdom is mind numbingly mundane. I was thinking of the good old days, just us against Runefaust. No worrying about petty squabbles...at least you knew who your enemies were. Politics are boring!"
"You don't say? You don't know how many pointless and endless meetings I go to...Ok maybe you do," Mae hastily corrected as she spotted Anri about to launch into an counterattack, "but really, the pointlessness! These people can't even decide on what pencils we should use! How they got to power, I don't know. Politics." Mae snorted.
"Oh, by the way..." Mae said, with a mischievous smile beginning to appear on her face.
"Yes?"
"There's a rumour flying through the castle, about, how shall we say, a cozy get together you and Prince Gerad had." Mae winked. "Come on, share the details!"
Anri snorted. "You mean, that dinner we had? Where he tried to put the moves on me, and I was obliged to put him face first into the main course? It was a grisly sight, to tell you that...and Chef had spent all night slaving over it."
"Oh? I heard there was something happening between you two?" Mae looked surprised.
"Bah. That snake. I wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole."
"You know how many prospective suitors you've turned down? Whatever happened to that cute Prince Ralsed?"
"Waddles like a duck, has bad breath. And drones on and on about the most mundane things! Like I really care about the state of the Elonia National Art Museum."
"Well, how about that young Duke of Milead?"
Anri grinned. "Apparently, he doesn't have a thing for women that are stronger than him. He was boasting to me about his oh so great combat skills. So I simply said "Oh, you mean skills like this?" and summoned some magic."
Mae winced. "Oh yeah, I remember that. Don't you think you went a little overboard on the freeze spell though?"
"He thawed out, once Tao applied a fire spell...about twelve hours later." Anri grinned in remembrance. The frozen expression on the Duke's face was priceless.
"Well...how about that foreign prince, Diade?"
"Heavy accent. He was a nice guy and all, but he had some pretty...forceful views about women, and their role in the world."
"You're way too picky. Isn't there any man that matches up to your standards?"
Anri's expression grew sad. "There was." She unconsciously rubbed the White Ring."
"Oh no. Are you still..." Mae asked, concerned.
Anri sighed, went over to her bed, and flopped down on it, and stared up at the ceiling. "Yes, I know Max is dead. I know marrying anyone of these people would benefit our kingdom tremendously...but..."
"But...there'll always be a small piece of me that belongs to him. If I married someone else, they would just end up being disappointed with me."
"Anri...you have to let go. Max is gone, but he didn't die in vain. He brought peace to the world, after all."
"I know. Maybe someday, I'll love again. Just not right now. Besides, I don't see you with any boyfriends?"
"Ha!" Mae grinned. "You think YOU'RE picky?"
"Oh come on..." Anri said, grinning. "Now, let me tell you the rumour I heard from my maid-in-waiting. Apparently, you and Ken went out on a little ride together..."
"Yeah, well um...the thing about that is..." Mae panicked, and began casting her eyes around the room for something she could talk about to change the topic. "Hey, what's this?" Mae pointed toward an crude, vague sketch Anri was working on before Mae had shown up. It currently showed two knights in shining armour, locked in mortal combat. "And you call this masterpiece...?"
"Very funny. Magic is my specialty, not art. If you must know, this is the concept sketch for a little idea I have..."
"Uh oh. A little idea?" Mae asked, raising one eyebrow.
"OK, more like a big idea. My idea is simply this: a really big fair and festival!"
"That's your big idea?"
"Nonono!" Anri exclaimed enthusiastically. "I've got all sorts of things planned out. There's going to be jesters, I'm thinking of asking the circus to come in at that time, games, food festivals, and some other neat stuff. Like that new invention Kokichi told me about...I think it's called a 'Merry-go-circle' or something like that.
"Ah, that crazy old man. Hasn't he retired yet?" Mae smiled, remembering the old man, and his wacky flying device.
"Nah, still busy as ever. This is all going to be centered around one thing: a tournament!"
"A tournament?" Mae's ears perked up. "What kind of tournament?"
"A chess tournament, what do you think?" Anri said sarcastically. "No, I'm taking about a tournament of combat!" Each region will send their own champion in, and will face each other. Winner gets, I don't know, honour, prestige, money, maybe a chance to meet the famous Queen of Guardiana." Anri grinned.
"Great way to meet cute guys huh?"
"Exactly."
"Bah. You'll probably end up meeting some half-witted moron, who can't manage to string together a sentence with more than two syllables per word."
"You mean like Arthur?" Anri grinned.
"No, I'm not going to go that far." Mae grinned as well.
"Besides that, this is going to be a chance for us to all have a big reunion! Up until now, everyone's been two busy to meet up again, but with this excuse, they can go! I'm holding an archery tournament as well, to get Diane to go...maybe some tracking contests, so Zylo's in for sure..." and maybe an exhibit to show off your inventions! That way, we rope in Kokichi!"
"And a magic contest, of course?" Mae said, knowingly.
"Can't let you guys hog all the fun." Anri said, her eyes sparkling.
"Incidentally, this brings up an interesting story. Ever hear of a group called Adom's Mercenaries?"
Anri thought it over. "I believe so. Pretty nasty gang of slavers, I've gotten some complaints about them."
"Very good." Mae praised. "I was just getting together a force to take care of them. We'd received a warning that they were about to pillage and burn the town of Landwoa."
Anri frowned. "I don't think I've heard of that town."
"You probably wouldn't have. It's a small, backwoods village. Small population. Probably couldn't defend themselves against a group of rabbits, which was why I was about to lend aid."
"Then why are you still here? I thought you would be out traveling by now then?" Anri asked, confused.
"Well, it appears our aid is no longer necessary."
"Huh?"
"Apparently, Adom's mercenaries have been wiped out. Completely. Some of the surrounding farmers and villagers banded together, and wiped them out in an ambush." Mae smiled. She was fond of preemptive strikes, unlike Max. Max had always been one for fair, and honourable combat.
"Wow. That's great! It's about time they stood up for themselves. Too bad though...how many casualties did they suffer?" Anri wondered. A bunch of farm boys up against ruthless criminals? They must have paid a pretty heavy toll for their victory.
"Here's the interesting part: None."
"Huh?" Now Anri was really amazed. "How!"
"Apparently, they were well trained."
"How many people did it take to finish off Adom's group?"
"Around 12, I think."
"Huh?" This was an understatement. As Anri recalled, Adom's group was well-equipped, battle-hardened, and numbered in the range of three dozen, by last estimates. For a group of twelve villagers to actually defeat Adom, and with no casualties to boot! "What happened?"
"They were well trained. Apparently, the credit for the whole victory goes to some fellow named 'Peregrin.' I've heard some strange rumours."
"Like what? And who is this guy?" Anri wondered. She rolled the name, 'Peregrin' around in her mind. Didn't ring a bell.
"Well, apparently he managed to defeat dozens of Adom's Mercenaries by himself...of course that tale's probably exaggerated. And he can summon magical bolts of energy to slay his enemies."
"Hmm. Ariel?" Anri called out.
Her lady-in-waiting opened the door, and bowed.. "Yes, your Grace?"
"Please send for the court scribe."
"Yes, your Grace. Right away." Ariel bowed, and disappeared.
"What are you doing?" Mae asked.
"Sending an invitation. This Peregrin character looks like he would be a suitable candidate for the tournament." Anri smiled.
"Bah. Probably some small fry out of the provincials, who thinks he could defeat Max himself." Mae snorted.
"Probably. But I'm intrigued, none the less." Anri yawned. "Blimey, I'm tired. And hungry."
Mae smiled knowingly. "You're always hungry. I don't know how you can eat so much, and stay so thin."
Anri grinned. "Magic users have an high metabolism rate." That's why Tao and I can stuff our faces, yet remain the young beauties we are." Anri posed like a model, for Mae's benefit. However, her pose was broken up as she was startled by the sound of stone being broken. "Huh? What's that?" Both Mae and Anri ran to the window.
Lying in a pile of rubble was Arthur. He looked scorched.
Anri frowned. "I didn't know Arthur was in town. How come no one tells me these things? I'm not THAT busy that I can't meet up with old friends!" Mae shrugged.
A high pitched, musical laugh rang into the stillness of the night. Anri recognized this laugh to be Tao's. "Stupid Arthur. Everyone knows you can't combine those two spells together! Go back to mage school, moron!"
Arthur groaned. "But it sounded like such a cool idea..."
Mae and Anri both broke out into loud, uproarious laughter. Arthur looked up at the window. He waved. "Hey, you guys!"
"Hey Arthur!" Anri shouted out. "You hungry?"
"Yah, sure!"
"You guys come up to the castle! We'll get a bite to eat!"
"It's 2 in the morning!" Mae reminded her.
"I'll get someone to whip us up something. Being a queen has it's perks.
"OK! Just as soon as I dust myself off! Damn Tao..." Arthur muttered. He dissapared into the large, Arthur-shaped hole he had flew out of.
Anri smiled. "Should we go, Mae?"
"Let's."
*
Author's note: And the plot thickens! I realized I hadn't gotten back to Anri and her gang for a while...thought I would! Next, Max receives the invite! Can he bear to return to the land of Guardiana once more? All on the next chapter, of Hero's Rest!
Cheers!
