Chapter 3:
Jezabel had long left the bursting streets of Fanelia, and now hiked through it's lush forests following a map that Allen had provided for her. Her senses remained sharp, she didn't want to encounter another dragon. Even if she had the dragon charm.
According to Gaean legend the spinning whistle gave off a frequency to ward of the beats. Whether or not it was true, she felt better knowing that she had it with her.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"Sir?"
"Yes." Dilandau hissed. Now was not the time to disturb him. The search was coming up empty-handed.
"We have located the traveler. It's a female, sir."
"What? How is this so? A girl?" He sighed stroking his cheek.
"Permission to speak sir."
Lazily he waved his hand. "Permission granted."
"I do not think we should underestimate our opponent, until we have an accurate assessment of them."
The general stood fry apparent in his eyes. "Don't you think I know that!" Dilandau rewarded his subordinate's insolence with a resounding slap.
"F-forgive me sir."
"Send out the troops, I want her here, unharmed."
"Yes sir." The messenger bowed, scampering out of the room.
"Alright, listen up." Dallet addressed the Dragonslayers. "We have her location. Yes her." He commented seeing his comrades amused expressions, "We are to apprehend her unharmed, and return her to the Vionne. He pointed to a spot on a yellowed map. She is believed to be in the Southwest corner of the Fanelian forest. Gatti you come in from the North, Chesta!
"Yeah."
"Northeast. Guimel."
"What?"
"South – Southeast. Miguel you get the southwest, and I'll take the Northwest. Understood? Any Questions?"
"Weapons?"
"You will use stealth cloaks," Dilandau's voice answered from the doorway, "Liquid metal to apprehend her if nessary. But do try to make an ally, not an enemy."
The selected Dragonslayers rushed into position greeting their commander. "Yes sir!"
"I expect a successful mission, I'm sure you can handle yourselves." Red eyes glowing he turned out of the room. Battle was one thing, retrieval missions tended to bore him. They were too easy; Lord Dilandau liked a challenge.
Calmly waiting, Jezabel had begun to prepare herself a supper, the aroma of rabbit and various vegetables sizzled, tempting her taste buds. A well-deserved meal, hunting the rabbit had taken far too long, not to mention the crossbow was a new weapon to her. As the meat cooked she busied herself by making camp, not wanting to seem too conspicuous, but at the same time she didn't want to miss her ticket in. Wonder how long till they find me, Jezabel thought. She rolled out her sleeping bag, and kept the rest of her things conveniently stored in a pile. Nearby the sound of a river lulled her ears, providing the bass line for the nighttime symphony. According to her map the river was Luster, a suitable name considering the clarity and pureness of the water. And the second longest on here. Wherever here was.
Gaea was like Earth in so many ways, but it differed just as greatly. Jezabel could never recall seeing a day sky so rich, or a night so velvety black. The air was cleaner, fresher, and stronger. Everything seemed so full of life it was, magical. To the south was the moon, and Earth. It looked so beautiful from afar. If only things were as they appeared.
She shook her head with this last thought and returned to her cooking.
A twig snapped behind her, 'What the?' she silently groped for her sword, flames casting eerie shadows against the bushes. Suddenly it didn't feel like a camping trip anymore.
Two green orbs gleaming like emeralds peered out at her from the bushes, not another dragon. She hoped. The creature crept closer, a small dragon? She held her sword guardedly; Jezabel was having her doubts about what a piece of metal could do against those scales.
Gradually it came out, softly as though walking on air. The flames light bounced of the bright sword.
"A cat?" she echoed her thoughts. Relieved Jezabel sheathed the sword, which she had conveniently forgotten to tell Van she had 'borrowed.' Jez wanted to study it further. "You know," she said to the cat, "It isn't polite to sneak up on people. Come here." Cautiously the cat came forward, in the fireglow Jezabel could see it's matted coat, and travel-worn paws. It gazed up at her, blue eyes pleading for food.
'Weren't those eyes just green?' she dismissed the thought and picked out a couple of chunks for the cat to eat. "Poor thing." Jezabel muttered in an undertone.
Immediately the cat began consuming the meat. Something about cats eating daintily passed through Jez's mind, another dismissed thought. She watched with an amused expression on her face as the cat's eyes changed colors, amused and puzzled.
'I'll just accept it and move on.' but Jezabel still found it unnerving. Still the night was progressing on, and Jez was finding it harder and harder to stay awake. She stoked the fire one last time before drifting off into a light sleep.
The moonlight peeked through the above canopy illuminating the serene spot, and the tranquil water sounds of the night soothed even the weariest of souls.
*****
Jezabel awoke with the sun, other than slightly stiff from the hard earth she felt completely refreshed, more so than she had in days. The dying embers were all of what remained from last night's cheerful fire. Quickly, she went about rebuilding it, and looked for some more wood, and edible fruits. Breakfast went quickly, and the rest of the day went without incident. Except for a minor run – in with a squirrel.
To pass the time Jez swam in the deep waters of the river, it couldn't have been more than twenty, maybe thirty feet across. And so she enjoyed her solitary camping experience, after all swimming and sunning all day wasn't that bad. Not too mention the fact that she was beginning to lose the sickly pale look from English winters.
But, her stay was soon to be over. Jezabel was about to turn in for the night when she heard a loud footfall behind her, and more soon after. She grabbed the hilt of her sword, the cool leather hilt was somehow reassuring. Slowly she slithered behind a tree to await the Zaibach soldiers. The pounding stopped, and all she could hear was the subdued calls of the nighttime forest.
"Stupid me," she muttered stepping out of her hiding place when nothing else was happening. Before she had even re-entered the clearing one glove hand covered her mouth, while another clasped around her waist.
She tried to scream, but it was muffled. Without hesitation she bent down, flipping the attacker over her back, sending him to land in the shrubbery. "Baka." she glared and jumped out into the clearing. "Come out!" she demanded, "I know there is more of you!" Jezabel tried to sound confident, but she was all too aware of the shaking in her voice.
Even so her command was headed, four soldiers stood before her, surrounding her. Even the one she had thrown re-appeared. Five to one, the odds were definitely against her.
"Feisty, aren't we?" One of the soldiers drawled.
"Who are you? What do you want?" If her guess was correct, they were Zaibach men, and if that was true she knew exactly what they wanted. But, they didn't know she knew.
"Relax lady."
Jezabel's eyes narrowed, but she bit her tongue. Later she could tell him off for calling her a lady.
"We're on a simple retrieval mission, well I should say it could be simple if you cooperate. If not, it just makes things more interesting for us."
If he could be cynical, so could she, "I'm a retrieval? I never knew you lost me."
A different boy spoke, "May we please explain ourselves, Dallet never has been very diplomatic you see. I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression here."
"You're talking now." Jezabel growled. Her golden brown hair caught the moonlight bouncing off various highlights as she tossed her head back nonchalantly. "I don't see why you need to ask permission."
"As you wish my lady."
Again that title, she hoped everyone wasn't this formal, but still she reminded herself, patience was a virtue. Unfortunately hers was running low.
"Our leader, Lord Dilandau Albatou, has sent us to retrieve you and bring you to him. I understand that you are foreign to this land, you are from the Mystic Moon, right?"
"The what?"
The one she had earlier thrown answered, "Mystic Moon, up there in the sky my lady…" He never got to finish his sentence. Losing her composure Jezabel charged at him sword ready. He barely had time to draw his own, or else was merely playing with her.
"Calm down," He said expertly flinging her sword away. "Now, are you ready to listen to reason?"
Jez struck a fighting pose, her weight resting mostly on her back foot and arms readied for combat.
"So now you want to fight? Don't you know when to give up Madame?"
Ignoring his last comment she smirked, "Never underestimate your opponent." Before the soldier could react she had applied her years worth of martial arts training into one fight. For every jab, punch, and kick she dished out he was ready to block, but he had no time to throw in an attack of his own. The other men watched on in silence, each of them making mental notes of her fighting style and the amount of skill she possessed. Miguel was one of their best swordsmen and hand-to-hand combatants, yet she was giving him a run for his money.
The style was so different and new that she controlled the element of surprise, but his stamina, and quick reflexes might prove to be too great. Even so she didn't give up. Attacking from the front wasn't helping. Quickly she sprung into the air and landed behind him. As he swirled around Jezabel crouched sending a low kick sweeping Miguel off his feet. The boy rebounded jumping to his feet, but Jezabel had anticipated this and one well placed blow to his chest sent him reeling.
"I told you not to underestimate me. Now no more titles or formalities if you want to remain intact. Agreed?"
The earlier spokesman answered, "You demonstrate a very high caliber of skill, and I'm sure you will accept our offer."
"And what would that be?"
"This of course is the decision to be made by Lord Dilandau, not myself, but I believe that with the proper training, and a bit of dedication you could easily join our ranks of Dragonslayer Elite Soldier."
"Why? What's in it for me?" this was the chance she had been waiting for, but she needed to be careful no to seem over-enthusiastic.
"You'll be out of the wild, live in the Vionne – one of the finest and most advanced facilities on Gaea, or maybe money talks. You would receive payment of 1,000 gidaru a month, if you make to the elite ranks. Otherwise I believe it is 700."
She frowned, slightly perplexed, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with your monetary system."
"Of course, the average meal costs about fifteen gidaru, depending on where you go. But most of your necessities are given to you in the Vionne. So you shouldn't need to worry about it very much. Do you accept?"
"I don't see that I have much of a choice, I accept. Where is this so called Vionne?"
Someone new spoke, a blonde – somehow he didn't look like the violent type, but appearances could be deceiving. "It's located about six hours from here. I suggest that we get moving."
"Let me pack up my things, I'll only be a few minutes." Quickly Jez tightly packed the few items she had brought with her – clothes, CD player, and other various things. Rolled up her sleeping bag, and tied it to her backpack. Jezabel slipped on her black nylon jacket, the night air was starting to chill her. "How do we get there…"
Before her stood five large robots. Her eyes stared at the large feet in front of her slowly rising to it's head. She let out a low whistle, "And you guys can pilot these things? Incredible."
Beside one of them was Miguel. "You okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine, the wind was knocked out of me."
"Sorry, I have a short temper, it took too much energy to stop me from hitting that guy over there, the one with the brown hair." Her head jerked in the general direction.
"That's Dallet. Don't worry, he's always like that - arrogant, conceited. Still a good soldier though." He began to climb up the massive suit of armor. "Follow me,"
Jezabel did. According to Gaean units this guymelef had to be about seven maybe eight costas in height. Miguel disappeared into the cockpit, but his voice came through the metal. "Stand on the arm." He instructed, "And don't worry this stuff won't hurt you. Just take in as much air as possible and hold it."
Above her the giant arm moved so it was parallel to the ground, 'This is just like walking on a balance beam.' she told herself balancing carefully. Steeling her nerve Jezabel walked out towards the hand.
"Stop."
Immediately she halted.
"Just stay relaxed, expand your waist as far as you can and hold it."
Bewildered she did as was told. At first all she felt was a cool breeze by her ankles, but it kept climbing up her leg. A silver fluid was making its way up her body, encasing her like a cocoon.
She panicked, what was this stuff. 'Stop it. Breathe deep, do what Miguel said.' Mentally kicking herself, Jez filled her lungs with as much air as possible while the cool metal-like substance crawled up her torso, stopping at the base of her neck. "What is this stuff?"
Calmly he explained, "It's liquid metal, this way you won't fall off while we're in flight mode. Hope you're not afraid of heights." There was something sinister about his tone.
"No, I'm not." she replied, "Should I be?"
"Nah, I'll wait till you get used to it before I try anything drastic."
Somehow she wasn't reassured, "Thanks…I guess."
"Ready?" Jezabel recognized the voice as Dallet's. "Let's move!"
As one the crew leaped off the ground as Jez's heart leapt into her throat and they flew off into the starry night. She chanced a look to the ground below and saw two haunting eyes slowly changing from garnet to a soothing green.
'We will meet again Jezabel, I can assure you that.'
A/N: So whatcha all think? Interesting? I hope so. I spent six freaking months doing the rough draft, talk about not having a life. ^_^ Anyway, I guess people like the whole Allen bashing thing. I admit, I had fun. But don't get me wrong I do like Allen…bashing that is. LOL, Sorry to all Allen lovers out there. I guess he's an okay guy…poor thing so much suffering and I just had to put him through more. Upps. ::angelic grin:: Anyway a word of warning: I will update as often as possible…hopefully once a week or so, but if I don't that's because I either couldn't get on the computer, or I'm taking extra time to make sure its perfect. So I'm not putting any deadlines on myself cuz otherwise I feel rushed, and then the chapter is crappy, and I've put too much effort into this thing already to make it suck. But don't worry I have no intentions of making people wait two moths between updates, unlike some authors I know (no names mentioned ^_^) but anyway please review, they make me feel so loved. Oh and btw, the unit of height is a costa, the unit of weight is a peizo, and gidaru is the official currency on Gaea. (I looked this up, it is factual according to the creators of Esca.) And in case you're wondering, "Baka" means idiot in Japanese. Okies that's all.
Ciao!
Ice Eyes