© November 2002
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Esca. ( I stopped crying about it a long time ago). Read on.
ALL I NEED
By Youjibaracuda
~*~THREE~*~
Irishiko ran her eyes over the dingy shack she was standing outside of. The place had a musty odor that was by no means appealing to the senses. The structure looked like it was centuries old and would fall to pieces any moment, the grey wood rotting on the outside and the tiny window clouded over with dust.
"Really home-y, isn't it?" Ero asked her.
Her lips curled in disgust. "I don't remember it being this disgusting."
They were near the outside gates of the main entrance of Fanelia, in a part of the wilderness that apparently could not be tamed.
"Do we just go in?" Ero asked, looking around.
"No," the woman answered, as she made her way to the door of the shack, "We're going to have manners and knock."
Ero looked after her for a moment before following her.
She lightly tapped on the molding door and waited for a response. None came, so she brought her hand back up to knock again, when the door opened on its own. The place was incredibly dark and the rays of sunlight coming in limited visibility.
Irishiko's eyes narrowed, but before she would move, Ero brushed past her, his crossbow ready and raised. Annoyed that the man was treating her like a weak female, Irishiko pushed the door open wider and pulled out her sword. She moved through the darkness stealthily, with tricks she had been taught by her sword master years ago.
"Disappear," he had always said, "Surprise is the ultimate weapon."
And surprised Ero was when he nearly tripped over Irishiko, who was kneeling on the floor in front of him.
"Iri-sama, what—"
"Quiet," she spat, not even looking back while her long sword touched his neck.
Ero knew that she would never actually kill him, but he realized that he had offended her earlier by treating her like a defenseless woman.
He had never known a woman like Irishiko ever in his life. She had often proved that could be the equal to any man, and, in some cases, even a superior.
The cold blade was bluntly reminding him of that fact, while Irishiko picked something up off the floor.
Sliding the blunt end of her blade against Ero's chest, she pushed him back outside while she inspected the blank envelope in her hand. Frowning, she broke the black seal and opened the letter.
Ero watched as she read the sheet of paper.
It was a rare thing to see Irishiko without her mask. All the Akan wore black masks, but their leader seemed to favor them a lot more than the rest of them did. On this occasion, however, since they were making a visit to an old friend, Irishiko had thought it best to be straightforward.
Gods, he loved her.
She was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. She hadn't changed a bit from the first time he had seen her, five years ago, when he swore allegiance to the Akarui Kon. The only evident sign of the passage of time were her battle scars.
There were those on Gaea who did not look at the Akan's work with a friendly eye. One time there had been an assassination attempt on one of the Akan's major patrons. Irishiko found out about it in time and went with four others to protect the old man. However, the assassin still came.
Ero remembered that night perfectly.
*flashback*
Irishiko let her eyes slide across the building in front of her before turning to Ero.
"He's here," she said simply, "Most likely on the roof somewhere so that he could have a clear shot."
She turned to the carriage behind her where Karia, another member of the Akan had been dressed as the old man. Though Karia was thirty-two, she had a small frame and could therefore easily don a disguise.
"It's safe," Irishiko said loudly. "You can enter your home now, my Lord."
Karia stepped out of the carriage and adjusted her broad-rimmed hat, being closely followed by the old man in a dark cloak that covered all of his features. Karia took the man's arm, appearing to be leaning on him for support, though it was he who was leaning on her. They entered the house, followed by Ero, while Irishiko stayed outside to make sure no one followed.
Just then Ero had this sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. He turned around to look behind him, when just then he saw him.
The archer was standing on the roof of the opposite building, arrow raised, ready to shoot his target—Irishiko.
Ero's grey eyes widened as he realized that the assassination target had never been the old man, but the leader of the Akan. It had been a trap!
He opened his mouth in warning, but he was too late. The arrow had already left the bow and was traveling towards Irishiko's head.
He didn't know what was going on, but the next thing he knew he was sliding on the wet ground and with his legs made Irishiko fall backwards just as the arrow whizzed by.
Ero promptly aimed his crossbow and fired at the damned man across the way.
Satisfied once he heard the man's lifeless body fall, Ero turned to his leader.
Though the arrow fired had not made its intended mortal wound, Irishiko's mask had been torn, revealing that her pale skin was gashed in a straight path from her eyebrow to the middle of her hair line. She was on the floor, bleeding, and in an utter state of shock.
"Iri-sama?" Ero looked down at her, "Are you alright?"
She looked at him strangely as she lifted her hand to his cheek and smiled at him.
That was the first time in the two years he had known her that Ero had seen her genuinely smile.
He knew then that was falling in love.
*end flashback*
As Ero contemplated all of this, Irishiko finished the letter.
"Damn it," she spat, as she quickly moved to the horses they had left tied to a nearby tree.
Ero snapped out of his reverie and turned to look at her.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Irishiko had already jumped up on her spotted mare and turned in the direction that they had come.
"We have problems," she said simply before kicking her horse into a gallop.
Ero quickly mounted his own steed and followed her as best he could.
Expecting her to return to where they had encamped, he decided to take a short cut, but when he saw that she was instead heading the direction of the entrance of the city of Fanelia.
Surpirsed, Ero made an about-face and once again followed his leader.
For one that only but rarely visited Fanelia, Irishiko knew her way around the city. She wove in and out of the busy streets with great precision, and appeared to know exactly where she was going.
Unlike most countries in Gaea, Fanelia had shut themselves off from the 'progress' that Zaibach technology had brought. They continued to live rural lives, being farmers for the most part, and having just enough political stability to keep them content and safe. So it was needless to say that though Fanelia had no budding industries, they also didn't have the filth of factories or the extreme poverty that plagued the rest of Gaea. Therefore, what you would consider a Fanelian slum would be the same of a high middle class in any other country.
Ero realized that Irishiko had come to a stop in one of these slums, and seemed to be looking around for something. He rode up next to her.
"Iri-sama, what—"
"Shh," she said, her eyes wandering over the houses, looking for something.
He stared at her when she rode up in front of a house in the far corner of the street.
She jumped off her horse, stone faced, pulling her sword from its sheath and barged in through the door.
Ero quickly jumped off his own horse, wondering what had possessed Irishiko to enter the place in such a way, but he had his crossbow ready.
He entered the dark house only to find Irishiko's sword on the floor and Irishiko herself with a sword across her throat held by a figure that also held her right arm behind her back.
"Shoot that arrow and she dies," the dark figure said sternly, guessing Ero's next move. "Put it down."
Ero growled in response, not about to give in to the creep's demands.
"Do it," Irishiko said. Ero looked at the woman who stared back at him, and he saw that she had no trace of doubt or fright in her features.
Hating to give up so quickly but figuring that she knew what she was doing, Ero lowered his crossbow and placed it on the floor and raised his hands in surrender.
"Good boy," the dark figure said with an unseen smile.
"I want to see him," Irishiko demanded.
"Yes, he knew you would," the figure said, releasing Irishiko. He moved to close the door that was letting in all the sunlight, and the darkness that came revealed that the room they were in was incredibly small, and not really a room at all, but more like an entrance of some kind to something larger.
"Follow me," the figure said, taking a candle and opening part of the wall to reveal a long dark staircase leading down.
As the figure disappeared down the stairs, Irishiko bent to pick up her sword and Ero's crossbow.
"I need you to stay here," she said to him, handing him his weapon, "Just in case."
"Will you tell me what's going on?" Ero demanded.
"I'm not really sure myself," she answered, "But I have to see him."
She walked over to the staircase and began to descend.
"Who?" Ero called after her.
Irishiko paused and looked back at him.
"Korin."
~*~
TBC…
I want to thank everyone who reviewed this story! You guys are *so* the best!!!! It is a major ego booster and makes writing feel worthwhile!
I want to make it clear to everyone that this is not A/U!!!!
Okay, so this is the next chappie, and I realize that it's terribly confusing. That's why there's another chappie to go along with it! ^_^
R&R!!
--Youjibaracuda
"Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, in Greenland???"
--The Princess Bride