On Sapphire Wings

Chapter 3

It's been awhile

Since I could hold my head up high

It's been awhile

Since I first saw you

And it's been awhile

Since I could stand on my own two feet again

And its been awhile since I could call you

And everything I can remember…

It took Lloyd several minutes to realize that he was awake as he lie in the fire-warmed bed. His mind danced amongst many thoughts, unable to focus on anything specifically. He had no idea what he wanted anymore.

With a sigh, he decided he'd better get up.

His orange eyes shot open, and he lay there, waiting for any sign of life. Under normal circumstance, the unfamiliar setting would set of an inborn caution in his mind, but he couldn't see the place anyway.

"Your finally awake. I was ready to get Wink to drag you away." Said the sharp, slightly accented voice of Shakahna. Lloyd looked over to the source of the voice, habit taking over. He grunted softly, and sat up. There was a wicked, fiery agony in his gut, and he inhaled with a hiss.

Shakahna chuckled. "Good job."

Lloyd said nothing, standing up slowly and much more carefully.

Even the best learn from mistakes.

That had been something Lenus had once said. The pale wingly clenched his teeth at the thought; she'd slipped on a rock and fallen into the water when she said that. For some strange reason it had been incredibly funny then, which only added to the pain of the memory. She was always falling down, not necessarily because she was clumsy – she'd been more agile than him – but because she didn't pay much attention to walking.

He'd taken her for granted. She was so damn giving; he'd gotten used to be able to lean on her that he'd gotten preoccupied with himself. And then he'd lost her.

He was such an idiot.

"That should heal up in about a week or so. It must have been some attack on ya, it wiped out your vision, but that'll be back by sometime tonight."

The voice snapped his mind back to the present. He shook his head as if it explained it and said, "Thank you for your help."

"I didn't do it for you." He could almost see the laughter in her eyes. By her voice alone, he pictured her as a youngish human girl, probably at least half Tiberoan, with slanted eyes. He wasn't sure why he pictured her eyes the way he did, something about her cynical voice reminded him of some sort of animal, a wolf perhaps. Dangerous yet protective.

"I know why you did it." Lloyd said in a low voice. "I'm sorry to waste your time."

"Don't get that attitude going. That's not why Wink brought you here." There was something about the way that she said this that was very enigmatic. This was a very intense woman. "She'll be back soon, within a half hour or so."

"Alright." Lloyd replied.

There was a small laugh. "Oh yeah, you can't see. Here, just a sec."

A chair scraped the ground as Shakahna walked over to him and led him to what he imagined was a couch. He sat down slowly with her help, hating feeling so vulnerable.  

Shakahna sat down beside him. "So…tell me about it."

"What?"

"The, uh, moon objects, and that crap. I wanna hear your side of the story."

The smallest of smiles crept up on Lloyd's lips. "I'm not a great storyteller."

"I can deal." He assumed that she shrugged. "Come on, I'm trying to make conversation!"

Lloyd nodded and told her about the times before the Serdian War, when he'd lived in a costal town in Serdio with Lenus. Melbu Frahma, disguised as the legendary man who liberated the humans, Diaz, had been passing by the town, and had told Lloyd and Lenus about the moon objects, which he said, would unite the humans with winglies. Foolishly, Lloyd had aided him in the plot. He had understood that many would die, but the thought of not having to hide from the humans pushed him on.

There was a war between two countries, Basil and Sandora. It had only required a slight push to bend it to Lloyd's will, suggesting that capturing the moon child, whom Diaz said was a woman named Shana, would help Sandora defeat Basil.

After that, Lloyd just had to repeat to Shakahna the story she'd most likely already heard. She didn't interrupt until they got to the Lenus's death.

"Dart killed her?" She asked in a shocked tone.

Lloyd glared at the floor, though all he saw was the scarlet blackness. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have left her there…"

"No one ever told me that…they really didn't mention her…"

"Why should they? It was my actions that sealed her fate, they were just the messengers."

"I'm so sorry…"

"So am I." Lloyd replied, trying to keep the self-loathing from his voice.

Wink hadn't realized how late it had become until the sky was an elegant indigo shade, the clouds a strange violety-blue against it. Taking in a deep breath, she began out of the castle.

As expected, the captain of the guards, Kira, immediately asked if she wanted an escort.

"I'm just visiting a friend, I'll be fine." Wink protested.

Kira gave an apologetic expression and shook his head. "Beggin' your pardon, your highness, but there are – weird folk out at night. It's not safe."

Wink smiled lightly, her mind off in a whole different place. "I'm only going to Shakahna's house. If anyone bad comes, someone'll notice."

"Well, okay…"

"Thank you."

Without looking back, Wink sped out of the castle doors.

The city was far more intimidating by night than by day, with the houses looming down on her and casting sinister-looking shadows, and if her mind wasn't so preoccupied, Wink might have seen the figure watching her from the alleys.

She took one step towards the alleyway, and a tough, callused hand stifled her scream. Her eyes widened in her head as she was pulled close to a powerfully built figure and hushed by a long, bloodstained knife that shimmered in the moonlight, resting near her neck.

The hand at her mouth moved away suddenly, and one scream pierced into the night before the scenery flickered and disappeared.

The slightly muffled cry startled Lloyd and Shakahna both into silence until Shakahna demanded, "What was that?"

At Lloyd's shrug, she rose to her feet and rushed over to something, most likely a window. He followed in curiosity.

"Oh crap." She cried. "Wink!"

The Wingly's mind was instantly on alert. "What?"

Shakahna brushed past him without a word, and the door was flung open. Trying to avoid running into anything, he dashed outside just in time to hear the scream.

His hand flew to his hip with the speed of instinct, but as it did he remembered he had no weapon anymore. It was too late anyway. He recognized the sudden rush of power, followed by complete blankness.

"What the hell was that?" Shakahna demanded to who knew what.

"That was a Wingly." Lloyd told her with an uncontrolled rage in his voice. "He hasn't gone far."

"What do we do?" A slight weakness in the wolf-like voice.

"I need to go after her." Then reality hit. "But I can't see."

"I'm coming, I'll be your eyes."

Silver wings burst from his shoulders, and he shook his head. "I'm using a means not available to you."

The mental picture he was forced to rely on of the woman turned a cynical gaze on him. "What do you suggest?"

He debated it with himself for a moment, and then with a sigh, he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up, rising in the air. Luckily, she was very slim and light.

She let out a loud, disgraceful gasp of surprise, followed by, "Jesus Christ! Warn me before you do that next time!"

"Noted." He muttered, beating his wings to give the two of them elevation. Shakahna busied herself with wiggling into the most comfortable position she could under the circumstance.

A sudden spark of energy informed Lloyd that Wink's attacker had teleported somewhere not far away, though he had no idea whether it was North, South, East or West. Relying simply on the magical ambience the other Wingly gave off, he flew away from the town.

With a slight hint of wonder in her voice, Shakahna murmured, "Sonuvabitch, I'm flying…"

Lloyd said nothing, though under a different situation, he would have found her reaction amusing. It was a good thing she wasn't scare of heights.

As if reading his thoughts, Shakahna latched onto his neck and pulled herself as close to him as she could as if he was her only lifeline. "God, we're really high aren't we…"

"I won't drop you." He told her in a monotone voice.

"You better not! Where are you going?"

He shook his head, "You tell me."

"Okaaay, we're headed for the forest. Is he close?"

"Yes. Whatever he wants, he wasn't planning on going anywhere specific."

With a curse, he realized that he was tiring, and his stomach felt like it was on fire. He pushed on as much as he could, but he prayed for all gods sake they were getting close.

"I see him!" Shakahna yelled out. "Down!"

Reacting to her sudden remark, Lloyd let his wings stop, and they began to plummet at extreme speed. His flight companion let out a small shriek of surprise and her fingernails dug into his neck in fear.

"You're gonna hit the ground!" She cried, swearing venomously. At that cue, he caught the wind expertly with his wings and stopped in midair, lowering himself carefully to the last five feet until his feet touched the ground.

"Lloyd, help!" Came Wink's voice. At the sound, a magical flame came into his hand.

"Don't move!" Said a masculine voice. It sounded somewhat familiar…

Bardel. Hadn't Lloyd killed that egomaniac?

"Lloyd, he's got a knife." Shakahna informed him slowly. "Do what he says."

In one swift moment, Lloyd leapt towards him and kicked him as hard as he could.

He didn't need vision. This fool was giving off so much energy, Lloyd could see him perfectly in his minds eyes. He watched as the Wingly toppled over in surprise.

Though he could only see the Wingly, he knew he'd made a mistake. Wink made a small grunt as the knife slashed into her.

And then, with a startling suddenness, he could see her, and everything else. It all had that weird red tint, but his vision had returned like Shakahna said it would.

He squinted against the sudden light, and turned his attention on Wink. The blade had grazed her on the arm, but she was intact.

"Get back." He commanded, turning on Bardel. Yes, it was definitely the guy from before, but shorter and less bulky. Perhaps a relative.

The Wingly looked up at Lloyd, and paused, deep in thought. "Hey – your that guy that killed my brother! Die Bastard!"

The knife dug deep into his leg, and Lloyd toppled over in surprise, gritting his teeth against the pain.

There was a grunt beside him, and Bardel's eyes rolled back as he fell unconscious. Shakahna had kicked him in the head.

"Are you okay?" She asked, looking down at him.

He nodded. "Just a scratch." He stood up and looked over at Wink. "Are you alright?"

With a startling suddenness, she wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him tightly. "Thank you!"

Shakahna laughed slightly and turned back towards the unconscious Bardel. "What do we do with him?"

Lloyd thought a moment, then knelt beside the Wingly. With a small amount of energy, he summoned up a small blaze in his palm and held it to the face of Bardel. It flickered and then seemed to melt into his skin.

Lloyd stood, nodded to them and said, "Let's go."

"What did you do? Did you kill him?" Wink questioned.

Lloyd shook his head and took a look back at the man who'd kidnapped Wink. There was a bright red scar where the fire had burned into him, shaped perfectly in the shape of a diamond with a moonlike crescent in it. "No. But we shouldn't have to worry about him."

Not four miles away, three Wingly's sat around a fire. One was female and the two other were male, and all of them had the traditional silver hair with the slightest hint of blue in it.

The woman looked up at one of her companions, a tall man with an almost feminine, slender body and strong muscles lining his arms and torso. His amazingly pale face was deeply engrossed in studying the depths of the fire, and he hardly moved.

"Bardel's been gone a long time." She told him in the language of the Winglies.

"I know." He said.

The other Wingly, Kianako, smiled grimly, the fire casting shadowy tattoos across his face. He was not exactly bad looking, but the constant viciousness of his expression gave him a look that frightened most woman out of any thoughts of him being handsome. "He's found the girl that killed 'is brother, and you know how Bardel is about that stuff. He'll most likely come back late."

The woman nodded. "So what's the plan?"

She and Kianako looked to their stoic companion, who never twitched his gaze away from the fire. "We wait for him to come back, and then we attack the Palace. Anyone we don't kill is going to be kept as a captive, preferably someone from the royal family."

"Okay Ky. What about the Wingly you felt here?" Kianako asked. Kyris shrugged.

"Kill him too."

A/N: The proofreading may be really bad here, I was really tired when I looked it over…if it's too bad I'll delete the chapter and add it back on after really proofreading =)