Chapter 9, The archenemies meet
Flea was standing by his desk in the middle of his "office", muttering to himself as he scratched dark lead from a sharp pencil over a paper. Surely over a hundred pieces of papers were spread across the table, carrying more or less finished sketches of likewise more or less possible new assassins.
At this rate, thinking of new beasts to send at the accursed royal wizard was more a hobby than an obsession.
The magician didn't look around as he heard one of the high windows open and slam into the wall.
"You're back?" he just said, tapping the pencil against his lower lip as he pondered the arms of the peculiar creature on the paper he held.
Lizard-beings had proved interesting before, but maybe five arms would make it too hard for it to keep its balance…?
"Yes master Flea, I…" the mantis began.
On a side note, that m-word combined with the name made both the Prince and the Pawn cringe with shared memories.
"Wow, you must be the first one in, what, two years or so who's been able to come back and still talk…" the cross dresser/body absentmindedly interrupted.
"Master…" the mantis growled, irritated.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll have your new body ready in…"
Janus crashed on the desk with a snarl, sending most of the drawings flying across the entire room.
The sketching pad and the pen fell out of Flea's hands.
"Now that was uncalled for," the wizard dryly said, sending the mantis a frosty scowl before he turned to coldly meet his archenemy's rather shocked stare.
It took Flea a moment to recover enough for turning to the grasshopper and cutely just bend his wrist with the pointing finger stretched to point at the surprise guest.
"You caught him?" the magician said in a slightly high-pitched voice.
"That's rather obvious, isn't it?" Janus said with sarcasm dribbling from his voice, before the grasshopper could comment.
'Will you stop trying to cut our link?' the Prince growled to his mind, 'it's bad enough that you tried to throw us out of your mind before!'
'Yes, we're not leaving you alone here!' the Pawn furiously agreed.
'I don't feel you need to see this, neither do I wish you to,' Janus replied rather frostily, 'please go and subconsciously help Glenn and the others find the way instead.'
'We're not leaving you here!'
It was the Prince who sharply said that, not the teacher repeating himself. Janus nearly, nearly smiled a bit at that fact. But he was too frustrated.
'You know what the black wind said! I don't want you to watch, you don't have to!'
'We're not going to allow this!' the Pawn snarled.
'And what can you do? You're only here as spirits and it would take you a long time to get here with your bodies! And you can't teleport here since the memory you have is too old, isn't it?'
The warlocks exchanged glances again, their red eyes growing thin. The teleportation spell might not work on such old memories, no, and none of them were sure if it would be safe to use it for a place only visited in spirit. In full honestly that magic was not among the least dangerous ones; if something went wrong one could be thrown anywhere.
The silent conversation took merely a couple of seconds since it was entirely held with thoughts. That was all Flea needed to regain his composure.
"How very interesting…" he said, leaning his chin in a circle of thumb and pointing finger.
Janus said nothing, but didn't turn his eyes away either.
"Well, this is simply wonderful!" the magician cheerfully said and gave the mantis a lovely smile, "be a dear and tell everyone to assemble in the throne room, and send a couple of goblins here."
"Oh please," Janus dryly said, turning his bound legs over the edge of the table so that he could sit a bit more properly, "can't you think of anything better than goblins for dragging me to the ground before Ozzie's fat feet?"
'I can't believe I just said that…'
'Well, we're three on that matter…' his old teacher absentmindedly grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose as he furiously tried to think of some way of saving his student from the fate he had chosen.
The mantis just glared, but Flea covered his smile with one hand.
"Oh, but cutie," he said, "to name a few I'm afraid that free lancers and skeletons aren't strong enough to hold you back, imps are too small and your older assassins would probably kill you at the first chance they get. And we can't have that, can we?"
"Perhaps. But after all this time as enemies, all you're going to give me are goblins?" Janus sarcastically said, "I am disappointed."
"So sorry, sweetheart."
Janus' cold glare turned almost literally deadly.
"Don't you call me sweetheart, Flea," he said in a dangerous voice, "I warn you."
"Touchy, are we?"
"Yes, we are."
"How vulgar!"
Flea shook his head and turned to the mantis again.
"Go and fetch everyone, dear," he smirked, "and make it clear that I'd appreciate if they wait for me."
"Yes master."
The thin creature zoomed over to the door, opened it, went through and closed it again.
"You know, I think there's something fishy about this," the magician stated while turning around, tilting his head.
"Oh really?" Janus replied, emotionlessly.
"It just seems strange to me that my grasshopper there would have been able to capture you, and with so few wounds."
"Ah yes. Do you mind if I heal myself?" Janus dryly said, motioning at his torn, bloodied sleeves, "I have a feeling that I'll be bleeding more than this in a while and these have been stinging for half an hour."
"Sure, go ahead cutie," Flea said with a sneer.
'Something's wrong,' the Prince grimly warned, 'he should have been clawing your eyes out by now, it's not like him to share anything with the others.'
'Can you read his mind?' Janus thought, holding back a frown as he tried to concentrate on the spell.
'No, he'll sense us and in this state we can't risk that he manage to ban us back to our bodies and time streams,' was the third one's dark reply.
'Better be ready for anything, then…'
The magician reached out to shuffle some of the many papers left on the desk around while Janus muttered his healing spell through clenched teeth.
"You know…" the Mystic said with a ironic smile, "this is going to wreck my life. Now what will I do twenty-three hours a day if not planning on killing you?"
"I hear going to Hell is pretty popular this time of the year."
"Such foul language…"
Janus just rolled his eyes then. With a sigh Flea dropped some of the papers on the floor, until one caught his attention and he smirked a bit.
"Remember this one?" he said and held up the drawing.
The beast on it was only partly humanoid, looked mostly like a cross between wolf, human and skeleton with its thin body, fur, protruding nose and long ears.
"My face does," Janus tiredly said and pointed at his scar, without moving his tied up hands from his lap, "I never understood why you were so obsessed with skeletons."
"Well, you always seemed to hate them, sweetheart."
"Don't call me sweetheart."
"Oops," Flea said and mocked an apologizing look with wide eyes and stupid smile.
'I don't know about the two of you, but he's starting to make me nervous,' the Pawn said through clenched teeth.
'Agreed,' the Mystic's former king muttered, 'he's stalling something.'
'Now you're all making me even tenser…' Janus grunted.
"A piece of nostalgia, this one," Flea said and threw the drawing over his shoulder like a piece of trash, "that was, what, five, six years ago? You were really exploding with growing power at the time."
"Are you planning to remember me to death before your friends have assembled?" the wizard sardonically asked, "I'm sorry but I don't see where you are going."
"I'm getting there, cutie."
Janus rolled his eyes.
'The temptation to tear myself free and break every bone in his body is getting a bit too strong,' he growled, 'damn Glenn for just having to prove himself…'
'I suppose this is what the black wind meant with "shame",' the Pawn muttered.
'Hmm…'
The oldest spirit carried a deep frown, glaring at the thin air behind Janus.
'What is it?' the former slave asked, his eyes narrowing at the same spot.
'I do hope that this surge isn't what I think it is…' the Prince hissed, 'don't look, there's nothing there.'
'What is it?' Janus said with apparent tension in his voice, 'I don't feel anything.'
'I think we're about to find out why the people of Guardia suddenly knew that the Masamune was so dangerous to the Prince of Darkness,' the one mentioned growled, 'take this spell, I think you'll need it…'
"Alright, alright," Flea said with a chuckle, "don't give me that look, I'll get to the point."
Janus said nothing, trying to concentrate on getting a hold of the new power that the Prince was attempting to hurriedly copy from his own mind to the younger one's.
"One day those years ago something pretty strange occurred, you see," Flea said, crossing his arms with a smirk, "I suppose you did notice that your assassins suddenly got better again, since you still have a few marks from that."
"So it might be."
Janus had to strain himself to keep his voice calm now. He wasn't sure what the two spirits could sense better, or rather what they believed that they perhaps sensed, but it wasn't getting him and neither them into a better mood.
"You're cute when you're feeling tense," the magician sneered.
"Will you get to the bloody point, Flea?" the wizard shot back.
"Tsk, tsk…"
Flea waved with a pointing finger, shaking his head.
"What kind of language is that for a prince?" he said.
Very slowly Janus let out a deep breath before he spoke.
"Did Lavos tell you that?"
"Lavos?" Flea said and laughed, "Janus my dear, I'm evil, not insane enough to meddle which such powers."
'I swear, next time I die I'm going to kill him!' the Prince roared.
'He's alive?!' the Pawn shouted in rage.
"Then I suppose," Janus said in quite a peculiar voice, "that if I turn around now I'll see my own father again."
"Quite right," Dalton said, smirking.