Chapter 22

End of peace

He once thought that he hated routine. Now he learned to enjoy it. Day after day was much the same, only slight varients were in his life. Where others might have found boredom in this, he found joy. Routine ment peace, it ment that all was well. He sliped out of the room at sun rise. Started a fire in the fire place, then would make a very light lunch for himself, set up breakfast for Anna, then check on Lloyd. Noishe would whine as he entered, his tail a wag. At that quiet sound Lloyd would stir, wake up, and greet his father. Lloyd was walking now, was growing, and soon would be too large for the crib his father had made for him. Kratos as always would pick his boy up, hold him for a bit, then set him up for breakfast. This morning Lloyd was having mashed potatoes and greens. Lloyd looked at his Father's food, then at his own, then considered the spoon he used.

"Do not even think about it."

Lloyd only smiled, and he didn't think about it, he did it. Kratos sighed, spent a bit of his morning cleaning the table and himself free of Lloyd's play. Anna came into the room at that point, rolled her eyes, then went through her routine. She kissed Lloyd, protozoan, then husband, then went through her second trip around the room ruffling hair. No longer having acess to Kratos' wings Anna was making do with what she could. With pracitce the Seraphim learned how to get out of Anna's grip before the comb came out, Lloyd thought wasn't as apt as his father at avoiding the comb. He glared at his father as Anna decended, and Kratos winked at his boy. Lloyd "humph"ed, or tried to, and crossed his arms while his mother lovingly combed his hair. A snicker on his part made Anna look up, a thoughtful dreamy look was in her eyes. Kratos muttered something about taking Noishe for a walk, tried to get away. It was too late, he was caught, and sat down by his son. They both had thier hair combed, styled, and were both mothered over.

Lloyd giggled at his father's surly expression. Anna was oblivious to it all, she just lovingly smothed back thier hair, then drew out a small bowl of water. Lloyd winced as the cold water slid down his neck, Kratos grimaced as the liquid slithered down his back. Niether feeling hot or cold, having water touch him was a very unsettling sensation. Anna of course was thrilled, and fetched a peice of mirror that she had bought a few months ago, so that they might see her work. Lloyd's expresion was much what his father thought of the hair style. Lloyd "ick"ed and stuck his tounge out at his reflection. Lloyd's hair was slicked back, and parted to the left, the back was flipped up as much as Anna could manage. Anna rolled her eyes then handed the mirror to her husband.

Kratos stared at himself for a long time, fighting to keep his expretion nutreal.

"Anna, a woman styles her hair like this, not a man."

"But it looks adorible!"

"I have to go to work in less then an hour, please fix this."

"Fix what? It looks good, it'll be just for one day..."
Kratos looked at himself, his hair had been tossed to the side, and fluffed. Fluffed! His banges had been thrown to one side, and the back of his hair had been flipped up. Having more hair to work with Anna had made her husbands hair look very very fluffy. Noishe padded into the room, and took one look at Kratos' hair. He fell over, howling, his paws were kicking at the sky as he writhed around laughing.

"See!" Kratos pointed at Noishe. "Even our dog thinks it looks bad! Anna fix this, please!"

"Well I like it! You can fix it yourself Mr. Ruian, if that's what you want! But if you do fix it we will be eating spaggettie tonight."

Kratos winced, considered his stomach and his masculine dignaty. Being what he was did have it's advantages, he really didn't have to eat. But Anna always made him eat at least five bites of every meal. He weighed those five bites against a day.

"Can I at least cover my head? After all I don't want tar getting in my hair."

Anna considered, then sighed.

"Fine. It's such a shame really I mean I work on your hair for so long and you have to cover it up all day long."

He decided to keep to himself how much of a blessing it was. And if he decided to say... wet his hair and slick it back while on the job... it wouldn't hurt anything. He could just lie a little, tell Anna he fell into the water or something. Or he could arange to fall into the water and avoid the lieing part.

"Well, I best get going, Urik's temper with me these days has been short."

With any luck he'd be able to get to his work early enough to conviently slip and fall without an audience.

"Have a good day, or try to."

She kissed him, and he smiled. He hugged her, breathed in her scent, and kissed her. Lloyd "ick"ed from his chair, and Kratos laughed.

"I will try my love, I believe Lloyd's having a problem of sort with our affection, so I will be off."

"Hmm... It's not that bad, is it?"

"I will survive."

She hit him, dilevered a playful punch on his sholder.

"Scoot!"

"Yes, mi'lady." He mock bowed and she rolled her eyes. Then shooed him out of the house with a broom in mock rage when he moved to linger.

Xxxx xxx xxx

"Take it off." Syt was waiting for him, he leaned against one of the suport beams at thier station. By the looks of his red face and twinkling blue eyes he had heard the stroy of Kratos hair and had run here to see it. Kratos flushed, growled under his breath, then pulled off his bandana. Syt laughed, staggeded back, and fell into the water. Well at least Kratos had his reason to get wet...

"My Goddess! It looked horrid, and she what? Threatened to cook somethin' you don't like so you'd wear it? By Martel man, I'm happy I'm not married to your wife, she's a sneaky one." Syt was vigerously rubbing at himself dry with the towl Kratos had brought. Kratos was trying his best to slick his hair back and get rid off the fluff in it.

"Heh, sneaky is not the word."

"Birds of a feather..." Syt grinned then ducked under thier newest assignment. "Hey, get under here, this one's gunna be tough and I need your help here."

"Tough?" Kratos crawled in the false wooden cave, then rolled over and hissed through his teeth. "My God this one needs to be destroyed, there is nothing left to even fix!"

The whole belly of the ship was ripped out. One or two planks held, Kratos slithered to one of those planks and put just a slight bit of preasure. The wood snapped like a twig.

"What the hell!"

Kratos turned and looked at Syt in surprise, that was perhaps the fiercest language he'd ever heard the fisherman use. Syt pressed agianst the space between two of the supports, and there was a ripple in the air. Mana made the air tingle around them. There was a twang, almost musical, a familier hiss... Kratos snarled, grabbed the younger man's legs and dragged him to the center of the ship. Kratos could hear a rope slither, could hear the pully that it was attached to rattle as the strain of the fast moving rope upset it. Still retaining his grip on Syt, Kratos dragged them as far away from the front of the boat, from the pier as he could. The boat shuddered, there was a loud creek, then a loud crunch as the boat fell on the frame. The parimitive ceiling shuddered and the wooden beams that were to serve as supports, all of them cracked, lines marred every one of them. The exit, the one way out, was no impassable for the supports were bent in, the supports twisted in, made a baracade that was impassable. For one horrid moment there was stillness, a second where the world held it's breath. The wooden support, the ceiling cracked, then pitched and what might with time and effort be torn down and made passable again was now replaced with the front of the ship. Ominously the other side of the structure creaked, shuddered, and a rain of splinters came from all sides. When it died down both men coughed and choked on the dusty air, and lay wild eyed in center of their station.

"Damn it Ruian I want to see my family, I don't want to die here!" A hand gripped him, shook him hard. "Wake up, think of somthing, for the love of Martel do something!"

There was only one thing he could do, he would have to reveil himself, draw on the power that was in him. Any other mana besides angelic and he would announce his presence to every one of his enemies. Syt gasped when the sholder he had been gripping turned bloody. He scrambled back as far as he could when what little space they had was filled with those wings of silver blue that were coated with crimson.

"My God what are you!"

Kratos didn't have time for an explaination. Merely called forth his power. A familier humming took his wings, the shivered then with a sharp flap three razor sharp feathers slammed into the platform. The wood broke, ripped open under the power that was stored in those feathers. Another crack from above, louder then before. Kratos felt his world sway, he had lost a great deal of blood, not having drawn his wings in so long left him vulnerble to this. A rough hand grabbed him, dragged him to the hole he had just made, then he was falling. His wings flapped in blind instinct, but weighed down by blood they could not even slow his decent. Water, slithered around him, pressed all around him. Wieghed him down... His wings were absorbibing the water, adding wieght that he could not endure. Arms wrapped around him as he was about to go under, held him up.

"Damn it man, draw them in!"

"Yu..Yuan?"

"Damn it!" for one second he was forced under the water. He came back sputtering and more awake then before. Kratos' vision cleared, and he took in the sight of the pale, shaken, Syt. "Your wings, draw them, fold them, whatever, put them away! I can't keep this up much longer!"

Muzzly Kratos did as ordered, and if he could have wept would have, as his wounds absorbed the salt water.

"Come on, hold on! Just a bit longer!" He flet like he was being pulled along, dragged through a field of heavy air. "Almost... almost there.." Syt was panting like Noishe after a long run. "Need to get a little farther away so that when it falls... Damn it need a boat... send a boat..."

The world was tingued with grey, Syt's voice was fading in and out at random intervals. Then a flash of crimson, he heard himself scream as if from far away. Dazed he looked behind him, to see a piece of bloody wood inbedded in his back. Then the red world went black.

He lay on the dock, Syt stood over him with a knife, wrenching out the wooden stake in Kratos' shoulder. Anna had been summoned by one of the fisher folk, the words Ruian and hurt were all she needed to hear before abandoning her home and making a mad dash for the docks. She trembled while she watched Syt work, but refused to look away. Men, bloodied men, grown men, looked away, a few turned green at the massive amount of blood Kratos was spilling out on the dock. A rough voice snarling profanities was comming closer, ordering the men to go back to work. Anna trembled, but this time in rage, as the man she thought to be Urik bulled his way past his men and came to what was causing the camotion. He paused, stared at Syt and Kratos, then had the gall to order the fisherman away from her husband. To tell him that if he didn't get back to work he was fired.

"Fine then!" The fisherman snarled, "fire me if that's your way!"

"Bah, he's good as dead. I'll give the bastard a mercy killin' and you'll git back t' work, ye hear!"

Anna stepped forward, stood in front of her comotose husband.

"You'll have to get through me first!" She shivered as the man's pigish face curled into a smile. As he dismissed her as nothing.

"So yer his little bitch..." Urik laughed, cricked his knucles, and advanced on her. "Protectin' yer own are we... When I'm done with ye I'll have some sport with ye no fear o' that..."

Syt shook himself, then brandished the knife at his employer.

"Leave her alone you bastard."

"I can take care of this myself." Anna shifted her skirt and drew out the knife she carried on herself at all times. The hilt flet strange in her hands, cold. She regreted that she had not taken up her husbands offers of training. "You wont hurt anyone, and if you try I swear I'll kill you."

"Heh," Urik looked to Syt, smiled, then with one punch lifted the man off his feet and sent him flying. Urik then looked at her, and a horrible familier light filled his eyes. Anna had seen that look before, knew that the man was not jesting when he said he'd rape her. "Well yer a liar, already I hurt someone, and I thinkin' I'll do more then just hurt you..."

"Well then," Anna shuddered as the other work men actually began to obay this monster's orders.

There are no heros in this world. All the heros are dead in this mockery of a world.

"I'll have to kill you then, wont I?"

"Ye can try little miss that ye can try..."

"Then I will, and I wont fail."

Anna dashed across the slippery dock, her sandled feet slapped agianst the sea sprayed wood. Startled Urik froze, then bent down in a bull rush. Bad mistake, he ment to force her down, to burry her in a tackle and then force himself onto her. Knowing the move Anna managed to slide out of the mans rush, catch her feet, and whip around to deliver a parting slash along the man's back. There was a moan, Syt was just coming around. Urik growled low in his chest, charged, and this time did not crouch. This was no tackle, but a true attack. Anna managed to bring the knife around, managed to get in a deep slash along the big man's chest, his massive fist connected, and she was thrown to the side like a doll.
"Yer a fighter, a Hell Cat, I love breakin' fighters..."

Anna lifted her head, stared at the man as he walked across the dock. She fought her fear, found her feet, and grimaced as she felt the nasty bruise along her face begin to throb. The knife, she cursed in angelic as she realized that she had lost her knife! Now the odds were against her, Anna took a step back, felt terror in her heart like all the times before. Urik screamed, clutched at something behind him, then whipped around and lashed out with his fist. Syt yalped, and landed against the wooden deck. There was a loud crack, a groan, and the fisherman lay on the deck whimpering, tears of agony rolled down his face. Urik snorted, ripped the dagger out of his side, and threw it, it sank into the wood with a thump. To get to it Anna would have to charge the man, rip the dagger out of the deck and try to use it. All the while she would be vulnerble.

You can't protect me beloved, no one can. I have to protect you and everyone else. I can't fail this, if there is a Martel, a true Martel and not just a tortured woman, then help please help me. If there isn't then Origin, Gnome, ever summen spirit out there, help me to help him!

"Make it easy fer yerself, give up, I'll be gentle."

"Go to Hell you bastard!" With a defient shriek Anna charged, dove for the knife, wrenched it out...

A wieght heavy and rough slammed down, swated her aside like a fly. She hit the deck, heard something snap inside of her. She held onto the knife though, held onto it for dear life, and tried to find her feet. It was her leg that was broke and it could not support her, she could not stand, but only kneel. He laughed, she could hear that slobery laugh as he came closer.

"No I wont let you hurt her!" Syt gasped, he tried to get up but failed.

"Yer both weaklings, I'll deal with yer man first Hell Cat, then you, and yer little friend.

Urik walked over Anna, absently kicked her as he passed. She shuddered in pain, and through the tears only had one goal. She lashed out with the knife, dragged it across the big man's lower leg. Urik screamed as he was hit, then whipped around, bloody murder in his eyes. Anna closed hers, she tried to see Kratos, Lloyd and Noishe in her mind, tried to hold onto a peaceful moment. She remembered that morning, with Lloyd in her hands and Kratos sulking as she combed his hair, how Noishe lay on the floor howling in laughter. She tried to remember that, to feel that, insteed of the hands that rolled her limp form over. She held onto that moment even as she flet the hands go over her neck, even as they tightened.

A snarl, a animal's snarl made her eyes snap open. Urik let her go, cried out, and a familer silver green blur slammed into the big man. Limp with relief Anna lay unmoving, even though she could make out Urik's screams over the howling and snarling of Noishe. She lifted her head, and watched in horror as the dog's mane bristled like a lions, how the wild crest on his scalp spread behind him. Noishe arched his back, took a deep breath, and roared at Urik. It wasn't a howl, a snarl, but a roar. Noishe, his snout covered in blood, his paws booted in red, drifted across the deck, stood between Anna, Syt, Kratos, and Urik. He curled his lips back, and with no sound bared his teeth at the fisherman.
"Damned beast I'll..." Anna heard a glass break, some worker must have left a wine bottle out. "I'll skin ye alive!"

Noishe let out another roar, then threw himself across the deck. Urik managed to get a thrust in with his weapon, and Noishe took the hit without complaint. He whipped around the man, bit down on the leg that Anna had slashed, and hamstrung the fisherman with ease. Screaming in agony Urik fell on the deck, blood pouring from his wound. Noishe wasn't done thought, he calmly walked across the man's back, and dug his claws in. He racked them across the sun worn skin and drew even more blood, ripping old scars open and creating new ones. Urki howled, tried to dislodge to dog, and Noishe lightly valted off the man's shoulders, landed in front of the man. Syt shuddered, his eyes were wide in shock. Anna flet the blood drain from her face as Noishe calmly tilted his head to the side and considered the raving Urik. It was a gesture so much like Kratos' , so human on the face of something that was obviously not human...

Then with a detached air Noishe camly bent his head, and ripped Urik's throat out.

From far away Anna could hear the other fishermen coming over, she could also hear Nosihe's roars keeping them back. No one in his sane mind was coming over to this part of the dock with the crazed dog roaring at people.

"Anna.." Syt coughed, he crawled over to her. "You alright.."

"Yeah," Gritting her teath Anna rolled over, brushed off the man's outstretched hand and looked dazedly for her husband. "Kratos, is he alright..."

"Kratos... Ruian?"

She cursed herself for her lapse, but felt too sick and weak, to care all that much at the moment.

"Syt, what happened?"

"I.. the boat just colapsed and... Ruian.. he saved me, he just grew wings and..."

"Shhh..." Anna glanced around, her mind paniced, but no one was close enough to hear. "We'll talk about it after... after..." Noishe, he whimpered, almost in her ear, how had he? She couldn't keep track of time, the world was going fuzzy.

"Docter are they going to be alright?"

"I don't know, come on, you there, help me carry them off, and fetch a vet for that.. that thing."

"Aye sir!"

Hands, human, warm, picked her up.

"Ruian.. where's Ruian?"

"He's alright little miss, just out cold... Don't worry he'll be fine."

Lies, she had seen him, he had been dieing.

"Can't believe it meself miss, looked royal bad an all, but the doc says it's just a nasty tear in his skin, that's all. He should be up and about in a day or so."

The world went grey, then balck, and she welcomed the darkness behind her lids.