Chapter 9, Ah, the parallels, the parallels…
It was a practical truth that in order to make it into the castle in broad daylight without getting spotted, one would have to be invisible. Peace with the Mystics did not change the fact that there always were guards by the gate.
That was, unless they saw something really surprising that caused them to run inside and yell in euphoria at the people in the throne room. The message turned all heads and drove the king and queen up from their thrones in relieved joy, but before they could rush to meet the bitterly missed friends, Frog, Lai and Janus entered behind the happy guards.
"You're alive!" rung through the castle.
Schala stopped in the gate to give her brother and new allies a chance to explain themselves, Cered standing just behind her. He held back a chuckle as he watched her facial expressions.
That Frog kneeled to greet his king and queen did not surprise Schala at all. Neither that Lai did, really. But though the big sister had gotten an inkling, the picture of her Janus gracefully going down on one knee before the much older man in the red robes was still a sight that shook her universe.
She could feel Cered shake with silent laughter as he put a jocularly calming hand on her shoulder. Meanie.
"Your Majesties…" the three said almost simultaneously, but were cut short.
"Stand up, all of you," king Guardia smiled, on the brink of grinning of joy, "you had us worried."
"We apologize from the depths of our hearts, my liege," Frog smiled as he stood, still courtly bowing his head.
"The troop that came back from the eastern island told us that you had ordered them to flee because Flea was alive and had caught general Frog and wizard Lai, Janus," the king continued, his smile fading a bit, "but you claimed that he was dead a year ago, did you not?"
"It was my full belief that he died," Janus nodded without looking up, "but somehow he must have escaped the final blow. As monsters disintegrate when they die, it can be difficult to be absolutely sure. As soon as I heard a rumor about him being alive I returned here."
He cleared his throat.
"I apologize for giving your soldiers orders without the authority, my liege," he added in a somewhat jocularly serious tone, "my intent on the old Mystic island was however pure."
"Blasphemer!" Lai muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Leene hid her smile with her fine, gloved hand, and as many times before many found it natural to mirror their queen.
"I will let it slide this time, Janus," the king said, fighting to contain his laughter.
"I am most grateful, my liege," the former royal wizard said, throwing a fake glare at his successor.
Schala bit her lower lip not to chuckle aloud, shaking her head to herself. This was truly nothing like the honor-heavy throne room of Zeal kingdom. Glancing at Cered, she saw a glistening of the same disbelief in his eyes. He had never been in the palace of Garadia, but the people of his homeland were very serious about status and what was appropriate. This was an entirely different world for both of them.
"The most important thing is that you and the soldiers are safe, after all," king Guardia said after assembling his endangered composure, "I am most relieved about this. And you are truly welcome back, Janus."
"Thank you, my liege," the wizard said, smiling.
Schala listened more to his tone than his voice, and a warm glow of joyful pride bloomed in her chest. In her brother's words was true happiness, mixed with respect and gratefulness. To stand before the much older man and greet him offered Janus far more joy than any pleasure that his homeland could have provided for its sad prince.
Only halfway knowing about it, she placed her own hand on Cered's, which rested upon her shoulder. He softly smiled just behind her pointy ear.
With her lips twitching with the merry knowledge of the reactions that the news would bring, Lai sunk back onto one knee.
"My liege," she said and bowed her head in a rare show of respect that was almost as shocking as Janus' improvement over the years, "I wish to resign from my position as the royal wizard, for I believe that there is one who deserves it better."
This earned her a few slightly confused glances.
"I respect your wish, Lai," king Guardia somewhat hesitantly said and looked at the smiling, blue-haired man, "but…?"
Janus gently shook his head.
"My liege, there is nothing that calls me away from Guardia now."
He turned around and held out his hand towards the gate.
"Your Majesties and my friends, this is my sister, Schala. And her traveling companion Cered."
A little hesitant about how to greet royalty that was not his emperor, Cered settled for stopping one step behind Frog, press his fist against his heart and bow. Schala took Janus' hand when she could reach it, and curtseyed with her other arm crossing her chest, moving surprisingly gracefully considering how strict her new skirt seemed at first glance. Her heavy blue locks tumbled around her shoulders for every movement she did.
"I wish to thank you from the bottom of my soul for all you have done for my little brother, Your Majesty," she softly smiled as she straightened up, the words and warm tone screaming against her earlier "are you sure…" comments.
It took a couple of seconds for the surprised inhabitants of the throne room to digest this information. Janus fought back a fond chuckle at the blinks.
"Since I now know that she is safe," he warmly spoke, "I have no reasons not to return to your service, my liege."
Schala regarded him and smiled, her lips twitching.
"You truly, truly have changed since I last saw you," she murmured, trying to wipe the laughter off her lips with her free hand.
"I thought you had realized that already," Janus retorted.
Leene reached out and placed her fine, gloved hands around the siblings' grip of each other.
"I cannot say how happy I am to know of your success, Janus," the queen gently said, and turned her softly blue eyes to the sister, "you are warmly welcome to Guardia, lady Schala. So are you, Sir Cered."
"I thank thee, Your Majesty," the man of Garadia smiled, sending surprised and briefly amused glances flying between him and Frog – who smirked slightly as he had expected it.
"If you keep this up, Janus, Lai," king Guardia said and shook his head with a smile, "we will have to think of a ceremony for appointing new royal wizards. You would like that, wouldn't you, chancellor?"
The elderly man allowed himself a rare chuckle that was shared by several in the room as Janus shook his head with a pained look.
Frog crossed his arms, faking a thoughtful expression.
"A query comes to mind," he said with a gentle snicker, "would the title be an inherited one?"
"What?" Leene said, looking down as Janus moved his hand to reveal the ring on his finger.
The queen opened her mouth again, but Lai came in between, raising her adorned hand.
"I got him!" she triumphantly announced, grinning from ear to ear.
"I think that would be something Flea would say…" Janus grunted, but smiled at her.
For a moment, the throne room was silent.
Leene turned her head and looked at her husband.
"I believe that I won, dear," she declared, smiling widely.
King Guardia looked at his wife in surprise at first, but then started laughing.
"And the cook owe me now!" the chancellor triumphantly nodded.
"Curses, I lost ten silver coins!" the knight to the right of the king's throne sighed.
Similar mutters were heard from several directions.
Janus blinked.
Then he tugged his hand free from the grip of the two royal women and pressed it against his face, closing his eyes.
"Isn't there anybody who doesn't place bets on my life?" he grunted, glancing at his snickering fiancée.
"I dost not," Frog helpfully informed.
Then he cleared his throat, innocently looking up at the ceiling.
"'Tis merely too simple, I know thee too well," he admitted.
"Oh, don't worry Janus, so far I haven't let you down like that," Schala promised, putting her hand on her groaning brother's shoulder.
She looked around.
"Say, Cered… would you like to guess on whether…"
"Schala!" Janus cried in a tragic voice, raising his hands to the sky as laughter exploded around him.
Letting his arms fall he folded them across his chest and stoically waited for the laugh to die down and give him a chance to speak again. Finally, as Leene was drying her eyes with a handkerchief, the wizard tilted his head a bit.
"Now, I believe that we have covered most of the issues…" he said and coughed, "this might be a little more difficult though. There's another friend of Schala and Cered's, but he's not a human."
Frog froze for a second and then cringed, giving Janus a pleading look.
"Is he a monster?" king Guardia asked in mild confusion.
Before the wizard even could open his mouth, the green general held up his hand.
"I beseech thee, Janus," the knight sighed, "leave at least this matter to one whom is a better diplomat."
Janus smirked at that, but nodded.
"Fine," he said and stepped back.
"My liege," the knight said, shaking his head with closed eyes while he could feel Lai snicker at him, "this last companion was hidden by Janus due to his appearance. Molor as he is named is indeed a beast, yet not a monster. He is a snake, but he can speak."
"Don't look at me like that, he's Cered's pet," Janus defended himself as quite expressive gazes turned on him.
"But I notice that he hast been favoring thee since thee met," the man from Garadia mildly commented.
"Snake," Leene spoke, flatly.
"Aye, a huge one," Frog sighed, bowing his head.
"Do not worry, Your Majesties," Schala gently tried to smoothen the expressions, "I assure you that Molor is a friendly creature."
"And he can speak for himself, after all," Janus said as he bent down a bit, stretching his arm downwards with the palm turned to the floor.
"Eh…" king Guardia hesitantly began, but was cut off as the gigantic, white head gracefully arose from the wizard's shadow.
Frog quickly stepped up before Leene, turning his back defensively at her to assure the queen that she would be safe. He did not feel like taking chances about her fainting.
Armored backs hit the wall as knights and soldiers without thinking stepped back in shock, eyes widening in fearful fascination as the pure white creature continued to crawl out of Janus' shadow, seemingly for an eternity. But all the while, Molor kept his head resting against the wizard's hand, which made it rather clear that he was calm.
For the sake of Leene Frog was not very amused, but his traveling companions had to fight hard not to grin or chuckle.
As the tip of his tail finally made it above ground, Molor calmly curled up before the wide eyes around him. And chuckled slightly.
"One would think that I was at least twice as big and had three heads," he said in his softly hissing voice.
"Or spat fire," Janus said to add up.
But as he spoke out those words he felt a faint pang of anguish deep down inside his friend's mind, but it was so well hidden that he hardly caught it. And before he could ask, king Guardia spoke.
"Good God."
However it was more tiredly than in fear, and the king leaned his cheek in his hand while shaking his head to put more emphasis on his state of mind.
"Ah, simply regard me as a friendly… what are they called? Mystic," Molor said, a smile to be heard.
"Mystics are normally smaller," the king commented, but now he was straightening up.
The mere fact that he replied strongly proved that though he was still quite hesitant, there was a chance that he could grow to accept the gigantic creature before him.
Janus could feel Lai bite back a comment about Ozzie for the pure sake of diplomacy, though there were no monsters present.
Or so he thought.
On the wall outside of one of the throne room's windows, the wind found itself taking turns around something that it couldn't see. Something that growled and took off at amazing speed however, heading towards the island carrying the crumbled remains of a castle.
Upon arrival into the great cavern, the creature was quite shocked to find that its ghastly companion was being throttled by their master, but as it eventually got the explanation from the others it could only wince.
Flea was in a worse mood than ever, and for a bloody bad reason as he expressed it himself. While the royal wizard and his friends discussed more practical matters such as rooms for the night, the magician made a decision.
"You people are true optimists," Janus said as he with a pleasant sigh had looked around his old room to find it in the exact same state that he had left it in.
"Either that or stubborn as hell," Lai nodded, stepping in behind him, "hey!"
The small shriek was due to the fact that Molor slithered inside past her moving feet and curled up on the simple blue carpet beside the bed with a content hiss.
"Sleeping in a dungeon is not very comfortable even for me," he said, resting his big head on top of the tower that he had created out of himself.
Schala stepped inside the room, closely followed by Cered.
"Neither is a prisoner's bed, I assure you," the princess somewhat dryly informed, but then smiled, "it's a nice room, Janus."
It sounded a little awkward coming from her, as she was not used to rating her brother's choice of life just yet. But the wizard just smiled.
"A bit empty now, I'll take care of that. Tomorrow."
He added the last bit while rubbing his neck, glancing at the reddish evening sky outside of the window.
"The guest rooms that the king promised you are down the…"
He didn't get further as running steps came down the corridor outside. The wizard almost closed his eyes, instinctively knowing that this meant the end of any plans of a peaceful evening.
The guard diving into the doorway was no calming sight with his wide eyes and face red with the strain of his dash.
"What?" Janus demanded with a scowl, absentmindedly reaching for his staff while his sister and Cered turned around in surprise.
The moment it took for the poor man to gain enough control of his breathing to gasp out the broken information stretched out like ages.
"Queen Leene… Flea!" he finally choked.
"Where?!" five voices shouted in shock.
"Royal… room…!"
"Damn him!"
Janus didn't think, he simply teleported. And stumbled on the floor of the royal bedroom just when Frog leaped over the heads of five shocked guards and the king, uttering words that seemed alien coming from his knightly lips.
Flea glared daggers at the room in general, standing by the far back wall behind the royal bed. The all too well-known mantis was with him. And the insect was holding one of his sword arms against the queen's neck. Leene meanwhile was desperately gripping the steel-hard, thin green arm pressing her shoulders backwards into the armored chest, her face pale as death with tears of horror flowing from her eyes.
"About time," Flea said in a cold, bored voice, folding his arms.
Janus narrowed his eyes further, confusion being added to the rage. There was no triumph in the magician's voice, only a dull hatred despite his obvious upper hand. This was strange enough to cut though the anger that otherwise clouded the wizard's head.
"Release the queen, thou bastard!" Frog roared, the green fingers turning white-green under his gloves as he clenched his hands around the Masamune's hilt.
In any other situation, such a phrase coming from the knight would have driven anybody off focus, but right then it was too diminutive to bother with.
"I'm not talking with you," Flea just said, his icicle glare not for a second leaving Janus.
"Let her go, Flea," the wizard hissed, his fingers twitching as he dearly wished that he could have summoned his staff without endangering Leene's life further.
"No."
Janus opened his mouth again, but whatever he desperately was trying to think of was cut off by Schala's telepathic shout.
'Lai says that she's calling for help, try to win time!'
The wizard wasn't in the right mind to care to ask, he didn't have time for that. Gripping for hay he desperately replayed what had been said so far.
"What, no nicknames for us today?" he dared, with a rapidly sinking feeling realizing that he was pushing a limit which he couldn't see as Flea's teeth became visible in a growl.
"No, Janus, not today, not ever again," the magician hissed, "and your queen is going to die."
Janus clenched his teeth tightly while Frog tried to keep himself under control. Vaguely he heard king Guardia suck in his breath and saw Leene tense further, her already wide eyes growing even bigger in fear. Armors clanked hesitantly as the soldiers made movements only to realize that they were worthless in the next moment.
'Schala!' the wizard shouted to his sister's mind, on the verge of pleading.
'Hang on, he's on his way she says!' the princess harshly replied.
Janus opened and closed his fists, his brain racing for ways to delay Flea's plan.
"Why Leene all of a sudden?" he finally said, hoarsely.
"You'll suffer."
The chilly reply was not exactly what Janus had expected, but it gave him more options though he didn't dare to look at Frog, nor anybody else in the room.
"There are other ways that you could make me suffer," the wizard said in a controlled voice, though large parts of him were screaming things similar to "not again, not again, good powers, not ever again!".
He had at least expected Flea to sneer, but the magician's cold, indifferent face did not change.
"This is the way I choose," he said, in the same way as the whole conversation had gone in.
Leene made a pathetic squeaking sound as the mantis' grip tightened.
Janus' jaw almost broke.
"No, Flea, listen," he quickly said, all pride discarded for the safety of the queen though it left a bitter taste of hopelessness in his mouth, "you've got me, alright? You win."
The last words did have an effect, however it was yet again nothing that was expected. Flea's eyes closed and his head fell a slight bit.
"No… I don't," he muttered, bitterness lacing his voice.
Even Frog lowered his weapon a little in pure surprise at this.
"Flea…" Janus said in a much softer voice, through the confusion aiming for the sudden weakness.
This again did not have the desired effect as Flea snapped back up with rage flaring in his eyes. The wizard tried to fight a wince to little avail.
Without another word the magician raised his right hand, pressing the thumb and middle finger against each other to snap his fingers as a signal to the mantis.
"No!" half a dozen voices shouted in despair.
Flea's lips were pressed white as the muscles in his fingers constricted.
Suddenly the room was showered in a rain of broken glass and the mantis stumbled aside to avoid the blade cutting through the air. A pair of leather boots hit the ground, a pure white jacket fell to wave behind a tall monster as he straightened up with the pieces of the broken window still hitting the floor around his feet. The sinking sun outside painted flames on his bare, purple head and the Slasher's thin edge.
"Put the queen down, you damn insects," Slash said, cold as ice.