Chapter 4, Another shorty
"We are walking straight into a trap, and we're well aware of it too. This better go to the history books," Lai grunted.
They could see the dark walls with their flashing lights in a short distance, just behind the trees. Janus had managed to calm down well enough to walk instead of running, though it had taken his friends a while to get him to that state of mind.
He was still very irritated.
"Hopefully," he murmured through his teeth.
Attempting to settle a little for practical things, he held up his free hand without slowing down and created an illusion of a reddish, vaguely glowing orb in his palm.
"And if you see anything at all with this color, we have to scatter immediately," he warned, "I'm not sure if it goes for everything but most of Dalton's traps have this hue. He can't hunt all of us at once."
"Understood," Frog nodded.
Lai just muttered something, glaring ahead at the darkness.
"I hath a query," the knight said in a neutral voice while Janus hand fell, dissolving the image, "dideth the lass tell us that there was a giant snake in Schala's group?"
"Yes, but I don't think there's any reason to worry about that," the wizard said while his staff met the ground along with his steps, "if Schala trusts him he can't be a danger."
"And you find nothing strange about that?" Lai dryly commented.
She met the meaningful gaze of two dark and two red eyes.
"Forget I asked…"
"Not possible I'm afraid, your voice is too memorable," Janus informed.
He absentmindedly bent away from the elbow.
"Sometimes I think you would have been better off growing up among the Mystics," Lai snorted with a smirk, "then maybe you would have acquired those social graces we were talking about."
"You mean Flea could have done a better job raising me than the allied forces of Guardia castle?"
"I am certain he would have educated thee in the fine arts of diplomacy and preservation instincts," Frog dryly commented.
"Oh, he taught you how to jump around like a giant lice, has to be a good teacher…"
"Dost not tempt me to cleave thee."
"I'm drowning in all these empty threats… ow!"
Janus almost fell flat on his face due to the small, gloved palm smacking the back of his head.
"Show thy superior respect, soldier!" the knighted general growled with faked anger as he landed again.
"I'm a civilian now!" Janus protested while still working on his balance, "and don't talk like lieutenant South, you're making me nervous."
Frog snorted, trying to sound shocked.
"I dideth not sound like that old demon of a lieutenant!" he snapped.
"Yes you did," Janus smirked, "let me hear you say 'Into the mud, now'!"
"I refuseth to hear thy outrageous accusations, blasphemer!"
They had to pause for a moment to pick Lai up from the hysterics. Then they could continue the walk.
But as they stepped out on the other side of the trees and looked down the sand dunes towards the fortress that rested just by the softly green ocean, all amusement was sent down into the depths of their minds.
Silently the three warriors slid down the hills of sand and continued their journey into the scorpion hole.
At least silently until the front gate opened, which released a stair going down to the ground.
It also released three muscular creatures reminding much of bulls, but with thicker legs and longer heads. Their color was a yellowish hue with a dull gray on the sides of their bodies.
"Oh boy, he's got cattle," Lai grimly muttered, not even bothering to reach for her daggers, "what are those?"
Frog unsheathed the Masamune without a word, eying the incoming warm-up with thinned bulb eyes.
"They are monsters formerly inhabiting the lower caves of the Earthbound ones," Janus said, glancing around for something to release the staff's blades with in the sand, "and they carry the glorious and prominent name 'beasts'."
"The people here have little imagination, neh? I guess that gives you a good excuse for being you."
"Oh, thanks. I think."
'Just what in all the powers' name is that?' Dalton sent, sounding rather curious through the amusement.
For the moment Janus gave up the search for something solid and raised his free hand to his forehead. Since the nearsighted beasts were still working on determine where their still distant enemies were, the wizard felt no real stress about those.
'To me they look like beasts from the Earthbound caves,' Janus dryly replied, 'do you want me to dissect them and write an essay about their anatomy for you?'
He could have sworn that he heard a faint intake of breath, like Schala used to do when she had wanted to laugh but was too afraid of her mother's wrath to do so. But the sound was suppressed, and Janus wasn't so sure if he had heard it or not afterwards.
'You know what I'm talking about,' Dalton snorted but made an exaggerated mental pointer.
Being pointed at like that kind of itch Lai noticed. She snarled and batted at thin air just above her head as if trying to chase away an irritating bee.
"Cut that out, you pansy!"
Frog pressed a hand against his massive lips in a theatrical attempt to stifle laughter while Janus "coughed".
"I fear he dost not understand the word, my friend," the knight said, smirking slightly.
'I say,' Janus sent via telepathy, only since the rest of the people in the fortress most certainly couldn't hear the words spoken in a normal way, 'she's got an extraordinary sense of judging character, being able to call you a pansy before you've even met.'
He could feel Dalton's last eye grow thin in rage.
'Have fun while you can,' the master of the fortress snarled in a chilly voice, 'but I swear you'll see both of your friends die.'
"Oooh, scary!" Lai mocked, glaring towards the dark walls.
Janus, who had been about to reply to Dalton's threat in a similar way, found his anger cracking before the lady's snort.
'Cunning enough to summarize the feelings of three people within two words, and on top of that pretty indeed,' the wizard smirked, placing a hand on Lai's shoulder, 'I thought you'd like to meet my fiancée, father.'
It took a moment before the reply came, as if Dalton had to take in a deep breath. Then:
'Oh please. Don't make me sick, boy.'
"No matter how I try, I just can't regard that as an insult since it comes from a moron like you," Lai snickered at the fortress.
"It breaks my heart to disrupt thy family bonding, my comrades," Frog interrupted the flow of insults, "but it appears that the beasts have finally noticed us."
And indeed, the bull-resembling creatures had caught sight of the distant blur and were approaching as fast as their bulky bodies and the sand allowed. It was obviously a strain for them to run in the soft ground.
"To roast or to fry, that is the question," Lai murmured, cracking her knuckles thoughtfully.
"I've have always preferred the roasted alternative," Janus suggested and gave up the idea of using the staff's blades as there was nothing to release them with. There was obviously a crack in his planning after all…
Lai tilted her head and winked at her friends, smiling in an eerily silly way.
"Anything for my sweetheart!" she cooed.
And she knew exactly what she was doing to the audience.
Inside of the throne room, Dalton's pride allowed him the small gesture of pinching the bridge of his nose.
'And here I thought they came with the plan to kill me, not torture me…' he sarcastically thought.
It wasn't the first time he'd seen Lai since he had watched his son's progress, but with Janus' treatment of her the spy had never imagined that they would end up an item. Not that it was very surprising to it's core, the plain idea of sour little prince Janus considering marriage was simply… disgusting.
Dalton glanced downwards. A figure in purple robes stood like a statue by the side of the throne's stair, lush blue locks flowing around her shoulders and almost touching her eyes. No hair in the world could however mask the astonishment in the green crystals as they stared ahead, through all the space that kept them from the outside of the fortress.
Princess Schala was watching the small group of warriors as well, and her thoughts were written all over her beautiful features. They were practically screaming out "Is that Janus?!" in the purest case of bewilderment that history had ever seen.
The king of the castle leaned back and flicked his vision back to the outside, watching the two opposing sides meet with interest. The Masamune flared with magical electricity from Janus' hand as Frog cleaved a thick head in one cut, Lai carefully aiming a swarm of fireballs at the second beast who dared to charge towards the wizard.
'Wonder, princess. You and me both.'
In a dark, damp room a man uneasily shifted, his whole being itching as the movements made his chains jingle cruelly. The sound echoed in the thick silence, laughing scornfully at him. And still, confused hope had been lit and refused to leave after the strange telepathic calls had rung out.
His eyes had since long gotten used to the weak light, and he could see his fellow prisoner well. Not that this one had moved much as of late, and never had been one to talk. Sometimes his body language was violent though, but never quite readable.
Blood eyes seemed to glow in the dusk, one half of Molor's massive body raised high above the floor. He appeared to be listening to something that Cered couldn't hear.