Chapter 5:
The blonde haired servant guided Jezabel down the twisting passages to the dining hall. It was a large room that resembled a small school cafeteria, but was much more elegant. Great tall teak doors marked the entrance, and the center table was deep rich brown, similar to the doors, but more of a cherry wood look to it. High-backed Victorian chairs graced with red velvet and studded with gold were occupied by the Dragonslayers and a girl.
Jez couldn't see her face, but there seemed something oddly familiar about the long sleek blond hair, the arrogant posture, and…that laugh. Jezabel could never forget that sound, "Kana!" she exclaimed with hidden disgust into the table chatter.
The girl whirled around, hair flying over her shoulder. "Jezabel Gylynn." Her voice was calm with a hint of maliciousness and a smirk on her pale face. "How nice to see you again."
Jezabel's eyes narrowed, "Like wise." she spoke glaring at Kana.
When Jezabel had lived in the United States she and Kana Askara had been extreme rivals. The two competed with everything, grades, and athletics. Jezabel easily won in the later department, but Kana - her mind was uncannily sharp and calculating. Though both were smart and strong each one had their strengths. And both had the determination to succeed.
It seemed like they were constantly getting revenge on each other for one prank or a defeat, and they were constantly getting sent to the principal's office because of it. Obeying authority was the last thing on their minds.
When Jezabel moved to England she had never seen or heard of Kana until this moment. She looked the same, so not much had changed. Still the same fair, pale skin, and still the same strong physique. Not too mention her twisted humor, sarcastic remarks, and insane laughter seen to have remained in tact as well.
Spying an open chair still left at the table Jezabel pulled it out and plopped down well, almost plopped down. "Ouch!" she hollered leaping to her feet sending the chair over backwards. "Who put needles in my chair?"
Kana was fighting hard to keep a straight face, Dallet was shaking, and the others were laughing out right.
"Welcome to the ranks Jezabel." Dallet held out his hand.
Forcing a smile Jez accepted it. "Thanks," She then twisted his arm sending him a straight flight to the floor. "I appreciate it." Now it was her turn to laugh. Pulling all pins from the chair she sat down much more cautiously. "You okay Dallet?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Sorry, you set yourself up for that one. I couldn't resist."
Dallet just rolled his eyes, "Do you realize that it's a crime to strike a ranking officer. In case you haven't noticed you have not earned the Elite title."
"Yet."
Scowling and leering simultaneously Dallet responded, "I'll take care of you during training. I pity you."
"We'll see." She was confident, but hopefully not over. By now the food had been served, once the cooks figured that it was safe to enter and the table was laden with food and drink.
Without faltering Jezabel poured herself a glass of milk into an exquisite goblet, and served herself a few slices of buttered toast. As she ate Jez debated ways to get revenge on Kana. It was obviously her that had placed the pins on the chair, it was just the sort of thing she would do, simple yet effective. She also pondered over what Dallet had in store for her. If there was hand-to-hand she might have a fighting chance, but with swords she was doomed to failure.
But why was Kana here? Maybe the two of them had more in common than not. Maybe that was the reason they were such heated adversaries.
Flinching at the touch of someone she jerked back to reality. It was Miguel who had been sitting on her left. "Hmm?"
"Time to go, training starts in five minutes." he replied pushing his chair in.
Jez followed suit, "Oh, thanks. Where do I go?"
"Follow me. Word of warning, Dallet is our best swordsman, and with his pride bruised he is not going to take it easy on you."
"Why are you telling me this? I'm the new kid, shouldn't you be picking on me or something? And how do you know I'll be fighting Dallet?"
"Everyone fights him the first time. Believe me this isn't a little kid's game, you could get seriously hurt if you're not careful. I also know you're swordsmanship is very amateurish. You won't stand a chance against him."
"Gee, thanks. Nock me down a little more why don't you."
Spinning around on his heel Miguel came to look her in the eye, "This isn't about building up egos. I'm telling you the truth, nothing more. Now be careful, the stakes are very high this time around. Dallet has a tendency to not know when to stop."
"I can take care of myself." Her expression softened, "But thanks anyway."
All she got was a 'humph' in response and the rest of the small journey was done in silence. Jez tried to remember all the twists and corners that were taken, but directions were not her strong point and she was thoroughly confused by the time they reached the training facility.
It was like a large gymnasium, littered with mats to break their falls. At the far end was a rack of swords, and grinders for sharpening them. Jezabel now saw her leader.
"I heard about your skirmish at breakfast." Jez's cheek throbbed after coming in contact with his fist. There was already a bruise forming there, now it was going to be worse. "Your second lesson." he sneered, then yelling at the group of soldiers, "Dallet!" he barked.
Dropping to his knees in front of the general Dallet addressed him, "Lord Dilandau."
A swift kick to his stomach doubled him over even farther. "Rise."
He did, not letting the pain show on his face.
"I want to see how she fares against you in swordplay."
"Yes sir."
Calm as Jez looked on the outside that was not the case, she truly was more nervous than she had ever been in her life. 'Stay calm. Just stay calm.' It wasn't working. Oh well, Jezabel knew that once the fight started she'd forget all about being nervous.
She stepped onto the blue mat, same blue as the Dragonslayers's armor. A servant handed her a sword. Dallet had his own drawn ready to do battle.
At a signal from Dilandau Dallet charged. Caught by surprise Jezabel quickly threw up her sword to block his attack. Summoning her strength she pushed Dallet's sword back.
This time it was Jezabel that charged. Dallet blocked her easily, he was a seasoned fighter whereas Jez just barely knew the basics if even those. She winced when Dallet hit her in the stomach with the butt of his sword, but she refused to give in. Not this early in the fight not this easily.
Feelings of rage were building as Jezabel recovered from the wound. Rushing at him as he charged her, Jezabel weighed her chances. Before the last possible moment Jez dropped and rolled out of reach on the floor.
Quickly reacting Dallet leaped and pinned Jezabel to the floor, holding the blade of his sword to her throat. "You lose sweetheart."
Jezabel struggled and twisted, "Don't call me sweetheart." wrinkling her nose in disgust she spat in his face.
"You whore!" As Dallet's grip loosened Jez kicked him in the stomach a little higher than she aimed for but it still served the purpose. She took the chance to get away from her restrained position.
Both were seeing red, blinded by fury. They continued blocking, charging and delivering blows. Jezabel knew he was toying with her. He was barely out of breath and showed no signs of slowing down. But her honor demanded her to persevere. Her pride was at stake, and adrenaline kept her going.
Without warning Jezabel felt a sharp pain in her leg. Dallet had hurled a low kick to her shin, noticing this she attempted a back handspring to recover her footing and failed. Jezabel collapsed, coughing up blood.
Weak with exhaustion she felt the floor spinning beneath her as the world around her went black. She had lost, but her honor had been defended, if not maybe a little bruised.
The clatter of porcelain hitting stone woke Jezabel up. She was in bed, light peeping in from the cracks in the canopy curtains. Carefully she pulled them open, her eyelids fluttering as they became used to the brilliance of the sunlight.
The servant, noticing that she was now awake, walked or more so skipped to the bed. "So you're awake. You know you were out for awhile. Lord Dilandau won't be happy about that, although it was an impressive fight, for a beginner of course. No one thought you would last that long. The first time you were down we were sure you were done for. Amazing, by the way was that bowl over there a family heirloom or something?" Her eyes traveled to a heap of broken ceramics. Her voice was perky, and she spoke very rapidly.
Groaning as her head throbbed she answered, "No, weren't you the servant from yesterday? What are you doing here?"
"Yes, I was here yesterday, and when you first came to the Vionne. As for what I'm doing here I've only been nursing you're wounds you ungrateful miserable piece of whatever you are!"
"How long have I been out?"
"What! No thanks? Ugh."
Jezabel's small amount of patience was thinning, "How long?" she repeated.
"Three days."
"What!" she sat upright, and then cursed herself for doing it as the blood rushed to her brain. "Dilandau will never let me become a Dragonslayer now." Again she questioned what she had gotten herself into.
What surprised her the most was how much she had changed in the short period she had spent on Gaea. She didn't remember being quite this bold, and before such a thing as honor would have made little difference to her. Well, at least not as big. Already she was adjusting and felt like she belonged, not out of place like she did on earth. But yet she felt like she had to prove herself worthy to Dilandau, to make her feeling of belonging become material. Jezabel seemed compelled to join his team of men, and not because of her aforementioned mission.
Slightly taken aback the blonde spitfire restated her answer, "Sheesh I was just kidding, it's been about a half a day. Well, listen you got beat up pretty bad, so just lay down and rest."
Ignoring this advice Jezabel tried to stand up, but the servant's hand forced her roughly back, she was stronger than her thin frame indicated.
"I told you to lie down!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Jezabel yelled back.
"You ungrateful snob! I've been taking care of you, and in return I get treated like scum? I saved your life for crying out loud!"
"Get out! And don't talk to me like that, I rank you!"
The servant's face twisted in anger retorted, "God, I can't believe Van wants me to send messages from you! You of all people!"
"What? You? You're the median? Good lord help me." As Jezabel finished her last line the door to her room opened to reveal a tall imposing figure.
"I see you met Eva." The cloaked man said, "You really should be resting." He advised seeing Jezabel sitting bolt upright, her face flushed from arguing.
"I feel fine, I'd feel better if she wasn't in here." Jez glared in Eva's direction.
"As you wish, Eva please remember that she does rank you." Despite his intimidating figure, his voice was calm and soothing.
"Yes Lord Folken." She muttered before exiting, her eyes throwing daggers to Jezabel.
"How are feeling?"
"I feel fine…sir." she added thinking it best to at least be courteous.
"Lord Dilandau wants to know how much time it'll take you to recover, I told him you'll be able to in a day. Is this feasible?"
"I can go now."
"No, you do need to rest. You'll thank me for this later. I'll inform Lord Dilandau you'll be detained until tomorrow morning. If he or any of the other dragon slayers give you any lip say that I detained you. Which is the truth." His face expressionless, but his eye's seemed to twinkle as he exited.
*****
"Lord Folken?" Miguel asked emerging from the shadows of the hall, bowing his head respectively.
"Yes Miguel?"
"How is the new recruit doing?"
"Jezabel is doing fine, she suffered several injuries. Surprisingly she didn't break any bones, although that last kick was enough to do that."
"But she's recovering?" Miguel pressed much relieved. Jezabel had been in bad shape when he and Viole had carried her to her quarters. Blood had run rampant across her face and arms and her limp form seemed extraordinarily light.
"Yes, but she seems to make more enemies than friends. Already Dallet, Kana, and a servant are out to get her."
"I see, is it possible to see her?"
"I leave it to her discretion. If she wants to see you it's her choice."
"Understood sir." He saluted stiffly and quickly walked to Jezabel's quarters.
*****
Jezabel's random thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "What?" she asked exasperatedly.
The brown haired soldier cracked the door open a bit, "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Fine." she didn't care if she was offending a ranking officer. Her being headstrong hadn't changed a bit.
Seeing her laying sprawled on her back, staring at the velvet canopy. Miguel came over to the edge of the bed and sat down clasping his hands together.
"How do you feel?"
"That's the third time I've been asked that. I ache, I hurt, and my head throbs. Nothing major, I've been through worse."
"You don't give up easily do you?"
Spunk and sparkle returned to her voice, "Nope. Plus anger gives you energy."
"Yeah, it does." Miguel knew that all too well. "You should see Dallet though, he's been gloating that you're still out like a light."
"He's gloating because he beat a girl? That's not very impressive considering my skills."
"Well, no one expected you to last as long as you did. A little surprising for the most of us." he smirked a little remembering the fight, "Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"Through my Sensei. He taught me everything I know. He was stern, but he loved all his pupils dearly. I hated to move away from him to a new country, but I had to."
"You sure you're feeling okay? You don't look so hot.
Her eye's flashed with anger, "Why does everyone insist on babying me? You, Folken, Eva, and just everyone!"
"Clam down! I'm not babying you, we don't baby people. Believe me life here is not all peaches and crème."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?" Miguel rarely lost his cool, but he was starting to now.
"I don't know!" She got up and started pacing around the room, astonishingly her pains ebbed a away to a dull ache as adrenaline took over her body. Her hair was disheveled from her sleep and matted with traces of blood giving her a wild savage look.
Sternly Miguel sauntered up to her and roughly forced her to sit back down.
"Listen, you're trying to hard and don't know what you're doing. People treat you with compassion because they care about you and respect you as a lady."
"I don't want to be treated like a lady! I don't like fluffy frilly and pink. I just want to be treated as an equal. I can tell the way you treat me, you think I'm some kid with too much spunk. You, Dilandau."
"Lord Dilandau." he corrected.
"Lord Dilandau. You can tell Dallet was toying with me, he could have beaten me easily before! I only defeated you that one time because you underestimated me! Ever since I've come her it's just been one thing after the other." Jezabel almost mentioned her run-in with the Knight Caeli, but stopped herself. She was angry but not stupid.
"Is that what you think?"
"I don't think, I know." Jez had calmed down considerably, Miguel's cool exterior seemed to be rubbing off on her. Calmed down, but with a renewed energy; Similar to stepping out into the sun after a month of rain.
"One question for you then."
"What?"
"Why do you hate Kana Askara so much?"
Smirking Jezabel started her spiel, "Actually it's more like extreme rivalry. You see when I lived in America we attended the same school. She moved to my town in the sixth grade, and we never hit it off. I guess you could say we became unspoken enemies, obvious rivals. My parents really weren't happy with my repeated visits to the principal's office. Luckily I had good marks, that was the only thing that kept me from getting expelled.
"A few weeks before I entered my ninth grade year my family moved to London. I never heard of Kana until now. In fact I almost forgot about her." Jezabel's eyes narrowed at the thought of her loathed companion.
"I think you need anger management classes." Miguel said shaking his head in disbelief. Here was girl, and she was far from ordinary. She could fight – showed great potential, was from another world, and all at once was angry at the world for making her a girl. Angry at the weakness that plagued her.
"So now you're saying I can't control myself?"
"No, look now wait, just forget it. If you really have that much energy you might want to start you're training. You're acting like a caged animal."
"I feel like one!"
"Maybe I'll see you there.." He headed for the door, and only paused when Jezabel said softly.
"Wait. I'm sorry for what I said, but that's just the way I am."
Saying nothing he smiled and walked out of the room.
When the door latched behind her Jez set about cleaning herself up. She ran a brush through her hair, and then washed it using a basin when she saw the dried blood chunks fall out. She switched the nightgown-like infirmary shift for her uniform and headed to an impending doom.
A/N: Well? (I ask this every time, sad really…oh well ^_^) Anyway, umm…can't think of much to say other than this seems to be coming along much faster than I originally thought. Scary. and I only have about 400 more pages to write (notebook pages that is…I'm on page 57 as of now.) So as you can see this is very very long. ^_^ But nothing more to say… Wait one more thing. I don't care if the reviews are anonymous, but if you sign in once (I'm only asking once…if you're registered) I can find out, well kinda find out who you are (no I'm not a stalker) But reason is I usually end up reading some fics that are written by people who have reviewed. But if you don't want to heck I don't care, but I just think it's fun to read stuff, I'm just really slow at it…upps. At any rate I'll stop rambling on aimlessly and R&R! (please)
Ciao!
Ice Eyes
The blonde haired servant guided Jezabel down the twisting passages to the dining hall. It was a large room that resembled a small school cafeteria, but was much more elegant. Great tall teak doors marked the entrance, and the center table was deep rich brown, similar to the doors, but more of a cherry wood look to it. High-backed Victorian chairs graced with red velvet and studded with gold were occupied by the Dragonslayers and a girl.
Jez couldn't see her face, but there seemed something oddly familiar about the long sleek blond hair, the arrogant posture, and…that laugh. Jezabel could never forget that sound, "Kana!" she exclaimed with hidden disgust into the table chatter.
The girl whirled around, hair flying over her shoulder. "Jezabel Gylynn." Her voice was calm with a hint of maliciousness and a smirk on her pale face. "How nice to see you again."
Jezabel's eyes narrowed, "Like wise." she spoke glaring at Kana.
When Jezabel had lived in the United States she and Kana Askara had been extreme rivals. The two competed with everything, grades, and athletics. Jezabel easily won in the later department, but Kana - her mind was uncannily sharp and calculating. Though both were smart and strong each one had their strengths. And both had the determination to succeed.
It seemed like they were constantly getting revenge on each other for one prank or a defeat, and they were constantly getting sent to the principal's office because of it. Obeying authority was the last thing on their minds.
When Jezabel moved to England she had never seen or heard of Kana until this moment. She looked the same, so not much had changed. Still the same fair, pale skin, and still the same strong physique. Not too mention her twisted humor, sarcastic remarks, and insane laughter seen to have remained in tact as well.
Spying an open chair still left at the table Jezabel pulled it out and plopped down well, almost plopped down. "Ouch!" she hollered leaping to her feet sending the chair over backwards. "Who put needles in my chair?"
Kana was fighting hard to keep a straight face, Dallet was shaking, and the others were laughing out right.
"Welcome to the ranks Jezabel." Dallet held out his hand.
Forcing a smile Jez accepted it. "Thanks," She then twisted his arm sending him a straight flight to the floor. "I appreciate it." Now it was her turn to laugh. Pulling all pins from the chair she sat down much more cautiously. "You okay Dallet?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Sorry, you set yourself up for that one. I couldn't resist."
Dallet just rolled his eyes, "Do you realize that it's a crime to strike a ranking officer. In case you haven't noticed you have not earned the Elite title."
"Yet."
Scowling and leering simultaneously Dallet responded, "I'll take care of you during training. I pity you."
"We'll see." She was confident, but hopefully not over. By now the food had been served, once the cooks figured that it was safe to enter and the table was laden with food and drink.
Without faltering Jezabel poured herself a glass of milk into an exquisite goblet, and served herself a few slices of buttered toast. As she ate Jez debated ways to get revenge on Kana. It was obviously her that had placed the pins on the chair, it was just the sort of thing she would do, simple yet effective. She also pondered over what Dallet had in store for her. If there was hand-to-hand she might have a fighting chance, but with swords she was doomed to failure.
But why was Kana here? Maybe the two of them had more in common than not. Maybe that was the reason they were such heated adversaries.
Flinching at the touch of someone she jerked back to reality. It was Miguel who had been sitting on her left. "Hmm?"
"Time to go, training starts in five minutes." he replied pushing his chair in.
Jez followed suit, "Oh, thanks. Where do I go?"
"Follow me. Word of warning, Dallet is our best swordsman, and with his pride bruised he is not going to take it easy on you."
"Why are you telling me this? I'm the new kid, shouldn't you be picking on me or something? And how do you know I'll be fighting Dallet?"
"Everyone fights him the first time. Believe me this isn't a little kid's game, you could get seriously hurt if you're not careful. I also know you're swordsmanship is very amateurish. You won't stand a chance against him."
"Gee, thanks. Nock me down a little more why don't you."
Spinning around on his heel Miguel came to look her in the eye, "This isn't about building up egos. I'm telling you the truth, nothing more. Now be careful, the stakes are very high this time around. Dallet has a tendency to not know when to stop."
"I can take care of myself." Her expression softened, "But thanks anyway."
All she got was a 'humph' in response and the rest of the small journey was done in silence. Jez tried to remember all the twists and corners that were taken, but directions were not her strong point and she was thoroughly confused by the time they reached the training facility.
It was like a large gymnasium, littered with mats to break their falls. At the far end was a rack of swords, and grinders for sharpening them. Jezabel now saw her leader.
"I heard about your skirmish at breakfast." Jez's cheek throbbed after coming in contact with his fist. There was already a bruise forming there, now it was going to be worse. "Your second lesson." he sneered, then yelling at the group of soldiers, "Dallet!" he barked.
Dropping to his knees in front of the general Dallet addressed him, "Lord Dilandau."
A swift kick to his stomach doubled him over even farther. "Rise."
He did, not letting the pain show on his face.
"I want to see how she fares against you in swordplay."
"Yes sir."
Calm as Jez looked on the outside that was not the case, she truly was more nervous than she had ever been in her life. 'Stay calm. Just stay calm.' It wasn't working. Oh well, Jezabel knew that once the fight started she'd forget all about being nervous.
She stepped onto the blue mat, same blue as the Dragonslayers's armor. A servant handed her a sword. Dallet had his own drawn ready to do battle.
At a signal from Dilandau Dallet charged. Caught by surprise Jezabel quickly threw up her sword to block his attack. Summoning her strength she pushed Dallet's sword back.
This time it was Jezabel that charged. Dallet blocked her easily, he was a seasoned fighter whereas Jez just barely knew the basics if even those. She winced when Dallet hit her in the stomach with the butt of his sword, but she refused to give in. Not this early in the fight not this easily.
Feelings of rage were building as Jezabel recovered from the wound. Rushing at him as he charged her, Jezabel weighed her chances. Before the last possible moment Jez dropped and rolled out of reach on the floor.
Quickly reacting Dallet leaped and pinned Jezabel to the floor, holding the blade of his sword to her throat. "You lose sweetheart."
Jezabel struggled and twisted, "Don't call me sweetheart." wrinkling her nose in disgust she spat in his face.
"You whore!" As Dallet's grip loosened Jez kicked him in the stomach a little higher than she aimed for but it still served the purpose. She took the chance to get away from her restrained position.
Both were seeing red, blinded by fury. They continued blocking, charging and delivering blows. Jezabel knew he was toying with her. He was barely out of breath and showed no signs of slowing down. But her honor demanded her to persevere. Her pride was at stake, and adrenaline kept her going.
Without warning Jezabel felt a sharp pain in her leg. Dallet had hurled a low kick to her shin, noticing this she attempted a back handspring to recover her footing and failed. Jezabel collapsed, coughing up blood.
Weak with exhaustion she felt the floor spinning beneath her as the world around her went black. She had lost, but her honor had been defended, if not maybe a little bruised.
The clatter of porcelain hitting stone woke Jezabel up. She was in bed, light peeping in from the cracks in the canopy curtains. Carefully she pulled them open, her eyelids fluttering as they became used to the brilliance of the sunlight.
The servant, noticing that she was now awake, walked or more so skipped to the bed. "So you're awake. You know you were out for awhile. Lord Dilandau won't be happy about that, although it was an impressive fight, for a beginner of course. No one thought you would last that long. The first time you were down we were sure you were done for. Amazing, by the way was that bowl over there a family heirloom or something?" Her eyes traveled to a heap of broken ceramics. Her voice was perky, and she spoke very rapidly.
Groaning as her head throbbed she answered, "No, weren't you the servant from yesterday? What are you doing here?"
"Yes, I was here yesterday, and when you first came to the Vionne. As for what I'm doing here I've only been nursing you're wounds you ungrateful miserable piece of whatever you are!"
"How long have I been out?"
"What! No thanks? Ugh."
Jezabel's small amount of patience was thinning, "How long?" she repeated.
"Three days."
"What!" she sat upright, and then cursed herself for doing it as the blood rushed to her brain. "Dilandau will never let me become a Dragonslayer now." Again she questioned what she had gotten herself into.
What surprised her the most was how much she had changed in the short period she had spent on Gaea. She didn't remember being quite this bold, and before such a thing as honor would have made little difference to her. Well, at least not as big. Already she was adjusting and felt like she belonged, not out of place like she did on earth. But yet she felt like she had to prove herself worthy to Dilandau, to make her feeling of belonging become material. Jezabel seemed compelled to join his team of men, and not because of her aforementioned mission.
Slightly taken aback the blonde spitfire restated her answer, "Sheesh I was just kidding, it's been about a half a day. Well, listen you got beat up pretty bad, so just lay down and rest."
Ignoring this advice Jezabel tried to stand up, but the servant's hand forced her roughly back, she was stronger than her thin frame indicated.
"I told you to lie down!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Jezabel yelled back.
"You ungrateful snob! I've been taking care of you, and in return I get treated like scum? I saved your life for crying out loud!"
"Get out! And don't talk to me like that, I rank you!"
The servant's face twisted in anger retorted, "God, I can't believe Van wants me to send messages from you! You of all people!"
"What? You? You're the median? Good lord help me." As Jezabel finished her last line the door to her room opened to reveal a tall imposing figure.
"I see you met Eva." The cloaked man said, "You really should be resting." He advised seeing Jezabel sitting bolt upright, her face flushed from arguing.
"I feel fine, I'd feel better if she wasn't in here." Jez glared in Eva's direction.
"As you wish, Eva please remember that she does rank you." Despite his intimidating figure, his voice was calm and soothing.
"Yes Lord Folken." She muttered before exiting, her eyes throwing daggers to Jezabel.
"How are feeling?"
"I feel fine…sir." she added thinking it best to at least be courteous.
"Lord Dilandau wants to know how much time it'll take you to recover, I told him you'll be able to in a day. Is this feasible?"
"I can go now."
"No, you do need to rest. You'll thank me for this later. I'll inform Lord Dilandau you'll be detained until tomorrow morning. If he or any of the other dragon slayers give you any lip say that I detained you. Which is the truth." His face expressionless, but his eye's seemed to twinkle as he exited.
*****
"Lord Folken?" Miguel asked emerging from the shadows of the hall, bowing his head respectively.
"Yes Miguel?"
"How is the new recruit doing?"
"Jezabel is doing fine, she suffered several injuries. Surprisingly she didn't break any bones, although that last kick was enough to do that."
"But she's recovering?" Miguel pressed much relieved. Jezabel had been in bad shape when he and Viole had carried her to her quarters. Blood had run rampant across her face and arms and her limp form seemed extraordinarily light.
"Yes, but she seems to make more enemies than friends. Already Dallet, Kana, and a servant are out to get her."
"I see, is it possible to see her?"
"I leave it to her discretion. If she wants to see you it's her choice."
"Understood sir." He saluted stiffly and quickly walked to Jezabel's quarters.
*****
Jezabel's random thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "What?" she asked exasperatedly.
The brown haired soldier cracked the door open a bit, "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Fine." she didn't care if she was offending a ranking officer. Her being headstrong hadn't changed a bit.
Seeing her laying sprawled on her back, staring at the velvet canopy. Miguel came over to the edge of the bed and sat down clasping his hands together.
"How do you feel?"
"That's the third time I've been asked that. I ache, I hurt, and my head throbs. Nothing major, I've been through worse."
"You don't give up easily do you?"
Spunk and sparkle returned to her voice, "Nope. Plus anger gives you energy."
"Yeah, it does." Miguel knew that all too well. "You should see Dallet though, he's been gloating that you're still out like a light."
"He's gloating because he beat a girl? That's not very impressive considering my skills."
"Well, no one expected you to last as long as you did. A little surprising for the most of us." he smirked a little remembering the fight, "Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"Through my Sensei. He taught me everything I know. He was stern, but he loved all his pupils dearly. I hated to move away from him to a new country, but I had to."
"You sure you're feeling okay? You don't look so hot.
Her eye's flashed with anger, "Why does everyone insist on babying me? You, Folken, Eva, and just everyone!"
"Clam down! I'm not babying you, we don't baby people. Believe me life here is not all peaches and crème."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?" Miguel rarely lost his cool, but he was starting to now.
"I don't know!" She got up and started pacing around the room, astonishingly her pains ebbed a away to a dull ache as adrenaline took over her body. Her hair was disheveled from her sleep and matted with traces of blood giving her a wild savage look.
Sternly Miguel sauntered up to her and roughly forced her to sit back down.
"Listen, you're trying to hard and don't know what you're doing. People treat you with compassion because they care about you and respect you as a lady."
"I don't want to be treated like a lady! I don't like fluffy frilly and pink. I just want to be treated as an equal. I can tell the way you treat me, you think I'm some kid with too much spunk. You, Dilandau."
"Lord Dilandau." he corrected.
"Lord Dilandau. You can tell Dallet was toying with me, he could have beaten me easily before! I only defeated you that one time because you underestimated me! Ever since I've come her it's just been one thing after the other." Jezabel almost mentioned her run-in with the Knight Caeli, but stopped herself. She was angry but not stupid.
"Is that what you think?"
"I don't think, I know." Jez had calmed down considerably, Miguel's cool exterior seemed to be rubbing off on her. Calmed down, but with a renewed energy; Similar to stepping out into the sun after a month of rain.
"One question for you then."
"What?"
"Why do you hate Kana Askara so much?"
Smirking Jezabel started her spiel, "Actually it's more like extreme rivalry. You see when I lived in America we attended the same school. She moved to my town in the sixth grade, and we never hit it off. I guess you could say we became unspoken enemies, obvious rivals. My parents really weren't happy with my repeated visits to the principal's office. Luckily I had good marks, that was the only thing that kept me from getting expelled.
"A few weeks before I entered my ninth grade year my family moved to London. I never heard of Kana until now. In fact I almost forgot about her." Jezabel's eyes narrowed at the thought of her loathed companion.
"I think you need anger management classes." Miguel said shaking his head in disbelief. Here was girl, and she was far from ordinary. She could fight – showed great potential, was from another world, and all at once was angry at the world for making her a girl. Angry at the weakness that plagued her.
"So now you're saying I can't control myself?"
"No, look now wait, just forget it. If you really have that much energy you might want to start you're training. You're acting like a caged animal."
"I feel like one!"
"Maybe I'll see you there.." He headed for the door, and only paused when Jezabel said softly.
"Wait. I'm sorry for what I said, but that's just the way I am."
Saying nothing he smiled and walked out of the room.
When the door latched behind her Jez set about cleaning herself up. She ran a brush through her hair, and then washed it using a basin when she saw the dried blood chunks fall out. She switched the nightgown-like infirmary shift for her uniform and headed to an impending doom.
A/N: Well? (I ask this every time, sad really…oh well ^_^) Anyway, umm…can't think of much to say other than this seems to be coming along much faster than I originally thought. Scary. and I only have about 400 more pages to write (notebook pages that is…I'm on page 57 as of now.) So as you can see this is very very long. ^_^ But nothing more to say… Wait one more thing. I don't care if the reviews are anonymous, but if you sign in once (I'm only asking once…if you're registered) I can find out, well kinda find out who you are (no I'm not a stalker) But reason is I usually end up reading some fics that are written by people who have reviewed. But if you don't want to heck I don't care, but I just think it's fun to read stuff, I'm just really slow at it…upps. At any rate I'll stop rambling on aimlessly and R&R! (please)
Ciao!
Ice Eyes