Chapter 5:
The sun was now coming out over the horizon and the sun's rays began to stretch over the land. Once its golden glow had touched the stream where the two winged beings slept, it began to cast a veil of sunlight onto there figures. As the reflected light began to shine directly into Krad's face his eyes shut tighter then began to twitch. Slowly after the light had awaken him from his sleep, his eyelids slowly opened reveling his two brilliant gold eyes. His vision was blurry for a moment or two as he viewed his surroundings and then remembered where he was. He would have gotten up but he couldn't help but feel this weight on him that brought him such warmth, it was most comfortable and brought him such comfort and...peace. Just as he was about to drift back into sleep, he couldn't help but notice dark hair pressed up against his chest with...a head attached!
"Wha..." Krad began then once he realized who it was, his eyes snapped wide-awake, "Dark!"
"Mmm..." Dark moaned and clung to Krad tighter, "Five more minutes darling..." He mumbled and curled closer to Krad.
"DARK! GET OFF OF ME!" Krad shouted and with much effort, shoved Dark off of him and quickly stood up. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?" Krad demanded still shouting at the now slowly waking Dark.
Dark yawned and rubbed his eyes as he sat up, "Well...I was sleeping...until I was so rudely interrupted..." Dark said with morning grogginess and another yawn.
Krad's face was red with anger and surprise, "Dark...how long were you asleep on top of me?" He growled.
"Hm? Oh...well...I didn't think you'd mind...since you seemed to enjoy it so much last time..." Dark said a bit more awake now and with a smile. "Besides, you looked cold. And I would have taken our clothes off to conserve body heat...but I was just way to tired and didn't want to disturb you."
"Ga! What? You..." Krad started then decided not to press the subject further for fear of bringing up a past event that haunted him. "Grrr...let's just concentrate on getting out of this place..." Krad said with a scowl.
"Okay...let's find the nearest city." Dark said as he stood up and stretched. And then he noticed...his wings were still attached. "Hmm...that's odd..." He thought and realized something else odd too, his wings felt odd, and they felt attached like permanently attached! "Oh no..."
"Hmm..." Krad thought not even paying attention to Dark in the least, "Well, we'll have to go into the city and since none of us can turn back into Daisuke or Satoshi, you'll have to take off those wings of yours and I'll just hide mine...now..." Then he turned around to see Dark trying to pull off his wings, "Um...Dark...what are you doing?" He asked with a 'have you lost it?' tone.
"Wiz! Hey WIZ! Wiz this isn't funny, come off!" Dark said still trying to tug on the wings that now surprisingly started to hurt; he'd never felt pain from his wings before since they were Wiz. "Krad, they won't come off!" Dark exclaimed and gave up on trying to pull them off of him.
"What? But aren't they that ridiculous rabbit of yours?" Krad asked crossing his arms and starring at Dark confused.
"Yeah...but they won't come off! And worse I can feel pain from them now!" Dark said worriedly looking at his black wings.
"So basically...when we went through the painting...the wings become one with your body?" Krad asked with a 'let me get this straight' tone.
"Oh no..." Dark groaned, "Well this is gonna look a little odd...do you think people would notice?" Dark asked as he folded the large black wings on his back.
"No, because everyone on this planet is blind...OF COURSE THEY'RE GOING TO NOTICE!" Krad yelled in his frustration. "Arg! And you don't even have anything to cover them up!" Krad said holding his head with one hand.
"Well excuse me! This hasn't ever happened before! Plus it's easier to maneuver without a trench coat! I'm surprised you can even move at all with that thing on!" Dark countered in his own defense.
"Well arguing about it isn't going to help!" Krad stated finally and put his white coat on over his wings but still had the easy access. "I'll just have to go into the nearest town and you'll have to stay out of sight..." Krad said buttoning up his coat, "Got it?"
"What?" Dark exclaimed, "And what do you plane to do in this town?" Dark asked a little angry at the thought of being left out.
"First I need to find out where the hell we are, then I'll have to find something to hide your wings in, got it?" Krad said walking up the stream away from Dark.
"Wait!" Dark called out and finally caught up with him, "And how do you know there's a town down this way?" Dark asked suspiciously.
Krad sighed and continued on forward while looking at Dark to his right, "Because Dumb ass...think about it...most intelligent civilizations build their homes near or by water. SO if we follow the water, we're bound to find people on way or another got it?" Krad said and then looked forward and the two stopped.
"Yeah Krad...ya found the people..." Dark said as the two starred out unable to move, "Problem is...they're all dead..." Dark finished starring out at the carnage before them.
It was the same battlefield that Daisuke and Satoshi had found earlier, and the sight was still one of silence. The smell that arose from the now day old dead bodies was horrendous. Dark could barely breath and backed up slowly a bit and put his arm in front of his face.
"What the hell happened here..." Dark asked with a cough. The sight didn't nauseate him or make him uncomfortable, but the stench made breathing near impossible.
Krad simply looked over the sight that reminded him how much he hated humanity, their stupidity and brutality and their unsanitary method of killing made him sick. Krad's idea of a kill was clean and quick, or if he really disliked the person, a bit of torture was in order, but not a slaughter of this scale. There must have been thousands of bodies, and not just soldiers, but unarmed civilians it looked like it too. Men, woman, children...whoever did this wasn't concerned about the innocent bystanders. This was just a mass genocide.
"Humans..." Krad mumbled in a low voice.
Dark spread his wings and flew high over the sight and looked around, even high up in the air the stench was overwhelming. He scanned around and could see just how vast this carnage was; it stretched on for at least a mile, and where most of the bodies seemed to be was around what looked to be a burnt village of ash. Quiet a large farming village it seemed, most likely the villagers were trying to escape when the armies came through...but didn't make it out in time. He turned back and looked away from the field of blood and saw what appeared to be a large kingdom about ten miles from them to the south.
"Krad!" Dark called down to below him, "There's a large kingdom it looks like to about nine or ten miles from here that way!" He said pointing back from the way they came.
Krad soared upward to meet him in the air, "I see...then we'll head there..." Krad said and looked back down at the field of blood below, "Nothing much to see here..."
"Agreed...we might as well fly since walking would take us at least three days..." Dark replied as Krad nodded.
The two didn't look back down at the sight and just flew to the kingdom afar without a word to each other. Neither one could think of a thing to say to one another. Every time Dark tried to say something, he remembered how much Krad hated humans and after what they had just seen...Dark was beginning to as well...so he decided to say nothing, which was something new to the thief.
Finally, after a few hours of flying they reached the edge of the forest, which was only a few yards away from the outer walls of the Kingdom. It looked like the wall protected the city within and in the center of this city was an enormous castle. There was a mot around city wall and a draw bridge that seemed to have a check point that was stopping comers from coming in and people from going out without an intense search and inspection. On top of the wall were several look-out posts, soldiers with bows and arrows pointing out to around the perimeter stood on top of them waiting for the chance to fire.
"A classic military strong hold..." Krad said under his breath.
"Getting in won't be easy..." Dark said as the two were hidden in the forest below the wall, "Charging the gate doesn't look like an option and doesn't look like flying over will work either...do you think we should wait till night fall?" Dark asked and turned to Krad who seemed to be looking for a point of weakness in their defenses.
"No...it'll take to much time...I don't want to be here any longer then we have to..." Krad replied.
"Okay, then how do we get in master thief?" Dark said with a scowl. Even he the master thief couldn't see a way into this one without having to "silence" someone.
Krad ignored Dark's comment and looked over at a portion of the wall that seemed to be not as well guarded as the other parts, "I've got an idea..." Krad said with a devious grin and looked over at Dark who stared back confused.
"What?" Dark asked confused.
Next thing the guards knew, there was a huge explosion behind the south wall and everyone was in a frenzy! Every guard and soldier ran to the newly formed hole in the wall, suddenly they saw a dash of a figure through the forest and soon every guard and soldier was down the wall (or through the hole) after it.
'This is insane! HOW DARE HE PUT ME AS A DISTRACTION!' Dark found himself screaming in his head as he ran as far away as he could from the hundreds of armed and angry guards that were on his tail. 'KRAD I HATE YOU!'
Back at the now severely thin spread defenses, Krad easily glided over the wall and landed quickly hiding his wings back under his coat without being seen. He looked around at the mass of chaos that Dark had caused and walked past it all to the inner reaches of the city. The large buildings were made of brick and stone; Krad could defiantly tell that this time period was indeed medieval. The streets were a combination of dirt and stone, the streets were long a narrow and stores and pubs were in every direction. Towards the inner parts of the city the chaos was...none existent. It seemed that either the people were use to people blowing holes in the walls or they just didn't care. There was noise though defiantly, people haggling with the price of goods, what seemed to be bar fights breaking out in every pub, the local police arresting people left and right, and the sound of horses on the streets. The only pleasant sound that could be heard was a small group of children playing an old beaten up ball. The city didn't seem to be a pleasant or highly prosperous one as there were few nobles around in carriages and beggars on every corner. Krad was no stranger to the time period; he had been living for hundreds of years now so this sight didn't shock him. But what did was how miserable the people of this city were. He had seen many large medieval cities before...but this would have to top the worst.
Suddenly he felt a slight tug on the bottom of his coat. He looked down to see a small brown haired child whose ball had landed by his boot.
"S-Sorry m'lord..." The young boy said obviously afraid of him. Who wouldn't be? But Krad guessed that he looked like a noble and the nobles around here didn't treat the under class well...
"That's alright..." Krad said and picked up the ball. The boy looked surprised and scared at this action. "In fact could you answer me something?" Krad asked. The young boy stood speechless and nodded, "Could you tell me what this city is called and the year?" Krad asked.
"S-Certainly m'lord...uh...this be Madria...und its the year of our lord Felix Verruckt..." He said trembling.
"Felix Verruckt?" Krad asked, "and how long has he reigned?" Krad asked now kneeling down to the boy's level.
"We-well..." He began, "'is not our first king...'is only ruled 'ere since 'is father passed away...'bout a year ago m'lord..." He lowered his head trying not to look Krad in the eyes. "'is father the true king, as my mum called 'im, says the 'e was murdered...but she can't say 'nuttin cause it's against the law to speak 'is name any more..."
Krad was now starting to get the picture; this king of theirs was most likely the one who's responsible for the field of blood that he and Dark stumbled onto earlier today. "Thanks. Here..." Krad said and handed the lad back his ball and patted his head, "That's all I needed to know..."
The kid took his ball and ran back to his friends who were eagerly awaiting his return. Krad knew the name of this place seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Krad decided that it wasn't safe to stay around here long and he had to find Dark. But just as he was about to go he heard a scream from behind him, he turned and saw the young boy he was talking to earlier being suspended in the air by a soldier of this city.
"Damn kid! How dare you kick that ball at an officer of this city!" The man yelled as the kid apologized and screamed over and over again.
"We should teach him a lesson..." Another armed guard said with a laugh.
"Agreed..." Said the man holding the boy. He took out his sword and pointed the tip to the young boy's neck, "Can't kick a ball if yer dead now can ya, kid? We'll make an example of you..." Then he began to raise his sword.
Krad couldn't believe it! All this kid did was kick a stupid ball, and no one was even stopping to help him! Even an Ice Demon like him couldn't stand it when children were the victims of some jack ass's lust for blood.
"Say good night!" The soldier said and just as he was about to bring the sword down on the kid's head, Krad grabbed the sword wielder's wrist and held it tight.
"Leave the kid alone..." He said in a dangerous voice, "Or try to swing your sword at me..."
The soldier starred in shock at Krad's actions and words and narrowed his eyes; "You dare to put your hands on a Soldier of His Majesty Lord Verruckt?" He growled.
"Hmph...I have no love of your king...and if this is what he let's his soldiers do to his people...then I have no respect for your tyrant." Krad said and squeezed the soldier's wrist so hard it broke.
"Ahhh!" The soldier screamed and dropped the kid onto the ground and he took off running. "You bastard! You'll pay for this!" The man screamed.
His partner blew a whistle and all of the people ran as the remaining armored soldiers in the city surrounded Krad who just stood there with his arms crossed.
"So weak that you have to summon help? Hmph, what cowards..." Krad scowled.
"Kill him!" The soldier screamed.
Notes From The Author:
Yay! Another chapter (and a long one at that) is up! I'll try to post the next chapter tomorrow if possible and I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Please Review! bows That you!