Chapter Eight: The shadow that follows he who is king...
Ralph was busy sharpening his blade when the door of the of his bedroom burst open hitting the wall, like a bat out of hell came Gaddes looking panic stricken. "Boss, I've got some bad news," Gaddes huffed. Ralph sat back in his chair placing his sharpening stone on the table, the few soldiers that were in the room with the short brown haired man looked towards their comrade with perplexed expressions.
"What is it Gaddes?" Ralph asked curiously. "Well, I was . . . going to bring the kids their lunch when I found their door locked, I knocked the door diwn and found a large hole in the ground. They were gone when I got inside," He said. "What? They've disappeared?" Ralph blurted sitting up from his chair. "Yes, sir. We have no idea where they went," Gaddes said. Ralph smiled wryly. He had expected Duo to something like this, but as quickly as he did. That kid wasted no time apparently. "I do. Hey! Prep Scherazade!" he shouted.
Hilde felt her feelings waging a continuous battle inside her as she followed Duo and Mole-man through the neatly structured tunnel. Her better judgment was screaming at her, telling her to go right back to the room like a good girl and tattle on Duo, preventing his escape from Ralph's camp, while the other part of her was stating that she knew Duo (despite how little) longer than Ralph and despite his brash decision to leave should follow him, just on the that basis, however. Nothing good could come out of their disobeying Ralph's orders to remain in the quarters they were assigned to, especially if it was for their own good.
She tried her best to stare at the walls instead of Duo's backside which right in front of her, because in reality Hilde could not stop mentally commenting the skinny demeanor of the young man's body; the pants and his red shirt made him look as though he had been deprived of food all his life, his shoes just added on to the "poor boy" style and his braid (which at the moment was clamped between his teeth) looked so scraggy she was tempted to un-braid it in that moment and give it a good shampoo/conditioning. "Duo, I really don't think this is a good idea," Hilde spoke as they exited the narrow tunnel way and entered a more spacish environment.
Duo looked at the young woman over his shoulder with an indigent look on his face not even sure why she was with him if she disagreed with his leaving the camp so much. He turned his attention back to Mole-man as he pulled himself up into a crouched position, he followed after the smelly old man without a second thought. Hilde's face became red with anger upon realizing that Duo had no intentions of answering her at all, she wanted so badly to choke him with his own braid the temptation was overwhelming.
"Your such a ----," Duo turned abruptly in her direction glaring all the while. Hilde swallowed her spiteful words her eyes moving from one place to another praying he decide to harm her. Duo watched her for a brief minute before resuming his stride ultimately passing by Mole-Man who was blinking unsure if he had seen the young man that was behind him just pass by. Gathering his wits he headed off to catch up with Duo. Hilde followed reluctant to even think of what would haven if they were to be caught in an ill-attempt to escape the base Camp of Ralph's.
Wallowing in her own misery, Hilde never bothered to listen in on the explanation Mole-man was giving Duo about his would-be origins, Hilde wasn't the least bit interested in the fowl ol' perverts life story and paid no attention to them. "I'm just a poor thief, y' see...," He began. "I screwed up and got caught here in the castle a while back. But that's okay. I am a mole, after all. So I dug a hole like this last night, and I went for a walk. But while I was out, the lady's pretty stone caught my eye, and...," The three of them paused when he revealed Hilde's duffle bag, the girl's eyes brightened with overwhelming joy as she removed the item from the overweight man's grasp into her own. "So that's why you attacked me," She said in a monotonous voice. Mole-man nodded in response.
Duo rolled his eyes at her behavior wondering why she even thought those things were important at all; it would just get lost again. He continued forward through an entrance into a bigger and large room carved out into the underground cave they stood in. He looked about his environment, he began to scowl until he noticed a large Gymelef sitting up in the corner of the room. Upon this discovery the Mole man was speaking to him, saying, "This is the Gymelef storehouse." Mole man along with Hilde paused at the sight of the ominous Deathscythe draped in its blood-red cape lying dormant awaiting for its master's return. Duo grinned happily at the sight of his machine.
"What a magnificent Gymelef...! That's an Ispano design, isn't it?" Mole-man asked, to no one in particular. Duo wasted no time in getting to his Gymelef, with his swift catlike reflexes he climbed the leg of Deathscythe pulling himself up the rest of the way with assistance from the cape. Hilde watched him with nervous eyes as he placed his palm against the jade stone in the middle of the giant's chest. She knew if she was stop him now was the time to do it. "Hang on a second, what do you plan on doing?" She cried rushing over to the machine.
Deathscythe's chest opened revealing the entrance to the cockpit, Duo bent over leaning into the dark cockpit. "Taking Deathscythe and returning to Fanelia," He responded curtly climbing inside. Hilde was not surprised by the response she received, as the large black machine whirred to life rising from its sitting position she rushed over to it, Deathscythe thundered across the floor toward the exit of the storehouse causing her to lose her footing momentarily but she continued stumbling or not. "Stop, Duo! Didn't you hear what Ralph said! Duo! Don't!" She cried in vain as he got closer to the exit.
Duo ignored the young woman's pleads, he wanted nothing more than to leave this unhelpful place and return to his homeland where he knew he could do so much more than was possibly already being done. He had failed Balgus, he could not fail his homeland as well. Deathscythe continued in its approach towards the storehouse exit when its master noticed the large wooden door being opened. Bright sunlight flooded inside the dark store house onto Deathscythe, Hilde, and Mole man who retreated to the back of the room.
And there, stood the majestic Gymelef, Scherazade that belonged to none other than Ralph Kurt. "Duo, I thought I told you not to leave the castle," The older man snapped. Duo glared angrily as he moved Deathscythe forward. Hilde grinned almost automatically at the sound of Ralph's voice and his large gray Gymelef. "Ralph-sama!" She cried happily. Duo glanced angrily at the girl wondering what she could possibly be getting at with her support for that pansy knight of whatever country he protected. He had more at stake than Ralph of Hilde did. Deathscythe's mask lowered revealing the face of the young man who was red in the cheeks with anger. Ralph studied the contorted facial expression on Duo's face wondering if the young man actually thought he was going to leave. "But if you insist, fight me. If you beat me you can leave with miss Hilde and return to Fanelia," Ralph said.
"I accept your challenge," Duo shouted cockily sitting back. Deathscythe's mask covered the young man's face once more as he thundered forward. The machine's jade eyes glowing to life. Scherazade walked out of the doorway toward the large space-ish area in which he had chosen to use as their arena. As much as he hated to admit it, he loved the chance of putting the cocky young man in his place and perhaps impress the young Hilde while he was at it. Scherazade placed himself on the far end on right just as Deathscythe came around the bend. Its long flowing cape draped over its figure made the Gymelef look like a shadow sticking out in the sunlight. All around them hoots and shouts from the 'merry' band of Ralph's men could be heard; some of them muttered things like who should bet on the kid and how long he would last against their boss.
Duo ignored them as he threw back the cape behind him and reached for his secondary weapon. Deathscythe grasped the handle of his weapon as he pulled it out from behind him. He brought the short hand out in front of him causing all ruckus to fall silent, Duo's cobalt blue eyes shifted from side to side at their silence. Ralph blinked in confusion; Duo planed on fighting him with a short stick . . . something his sword could easily cut through? There was a sudden eruption of laughter from all directions originating from Ralphs men. They pointed at the short object mocking the prince for all his worth.
Duo squeezed the grip he had on the handle tighter. In that moment the laughter was silenced immediately when it elongated itself to the length of Scherazades sword, a thick rectangle like object flipped forward and out of its nozzle sprung a seemingly green flame-type scythe blade appearing as sharp in every aspect of the word. Looks of awe from the men hanging above the camp walls were all that could be seen as Deathscythe spun the scythe effortlessly above him in one hand and brought it down into a defensive manner. Ralph had a feeling this fight was not going be as easy as he originally thought it to be.
Hilde came rushing out of the storehouse as fast as she could with Gaddes trailing behind her. "Duo, why are you fighting with Ralph?" She shouted up to him. The German teenager was answered with a loud stomp on the ground from the Gymelef's foot. Hilde was sent stumbling backward into Gaddes' firm grip. Hilde lowered her arm turning to meet the grinning face of the blue haired man. "Gaddes?" She mumbled, surprised. The man nodded his head in acknowledgment staring up at the two large giants. "I think it best if you move," He said leading her away from Deathscythe. "But--!" Hilde as abruptly cut off by a tug from the man. "C'mon already," He muttered, pulling her over to the sidelines. Hilde made no more objections to moving out of the soon-to-be battle zone, for the second she was standing beside Gaddes, Deathscythe had launched itself toward Scherazade.
The beam-scythe plowed through the ground leaving destruction in its wake, Duo's eyes widened at the lightening reflex of Scherazade's sword when it came up in front of its body just as his scythe came up to slash the so-called Gymelef's arm off. The beam met with solid steel in a fury of sparks, both of the machine's arms were trembling from the immense collision of their weapons as they tried to shove the other away. Scherazade was the first one to gain the advantage upon noticing the hesitation in Deathscythe's arms when they drew back, Ralph made a face of disgust.
This boy was certainly an amateur in the works. Scherazade gave a strong shove sending Deathscythe stumbling backward and the men shouting jests and encouragement aimed at their boss, Scherazade swung its sword at Duo's midsection only to have it blocked by the long handle of the scythe, Ralph grunted in annoyance. Duo grinned lifting his leg and smashing it into Scherazade's stomach. The blue-gray Gymelef stumbled backward falling to its knees, giving Deathscythe enough time raise his scythe and bring it down onto the distracted Scherazade.
Ralph raised his arm just in time to block the attack, Duo's breath was caught in his throat at the image of Balgus being impaled by the invisible Gymelef's spear. His arms trembled. "You don't attack aggressively enough, Maxwell," Ralph shouted shoving Deathscythe back. Duo blocked another attack stumbling backward from each mighty blow that came at him, the shouts and booms coming from all directions irritated Hilde to no end as she watched Deathscythe stepping back in an offense manner blocking the relentless attacks from Scherazade's sword that was easily becoming covered with kicks. She hoped Duo would know when to thrown in the towel. Duo grunted in pain when the handle of Scherazade sword smashed into Deathscythe's face when its arms lowered.
He heard a grunt of disgust from Ralph as he blocked yet another sword attack with his beam-scythe. "Balgus wouldn't hold back like this!" Ralph snapped. Duo did a double take at the mention of his late swordmaster, but this time he kept on the alert. "You knew Balgus?" He blurted in surprise. Duo could feel his arms growing tired as sweat rolled down them, his throat was dry from his ragged breathing and he felt as though he could give at any moment. "Of course!" Ralph snapped indignantly. "He was my swordmaster!" That did it, Duo's defenses were lowered, Scherazade rammed its sword into Deathscythe's torso sending the Gymelef reeling. Duo grunted in pain when a shock went up his arms, Deathscythe hit the ground with a thundering boom sending dust flying through the air.
Hilde covered her face with her arms as the dust came in her direction. Once the pain had dissipated in his arms Duo lowered the mask on Deathscythe's face and looked up only to be greeted with the pointed end of Scherazade's sword. "Come out of your Gymelef, peacefully and calmly," Ralph instructed. Duo gritted his teeth as he Deathscythe's chest plate opened up and the mechanisms that held him inside the Gymelef body suit, he felt the seat lower itself once it had released from the fastened locks and slowly, he climbed out of the Gymelef with a somber defeated gleam in his eyes. Ralph did the same. He looked around with a semi-disappointed and victorious expression listening to the congratulations from his men when he noticed a gaping hole of his Gymelef's arm. His eyes widened in disbelief. When did he do that? Ralph thought as he searched his mind of memories of their battle. Duo stood upright gazing up into the cloudless sky tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "Balgus . . . I lost," He whispered to the heavens lowering his head.
Hilde walked up to the fallen machine, sympathy running through her at the sight of a defeated Duo Maxwell, his posture wasn't the same proud one she had seen in him and his thick wild bangs only added to the look and feel despair she sensed from him before she noticed the emerald upon Deathscythe's chest glow to life. Hilde was hit with same cold feeling she had many other times she was in the company of Duo. Only this time it was void of any particular person or thing, it felt like an evil creeping up toward the entire base camp.
"Ralph!" She cried, almost hysterically catching the attention of the entire camp as well as Duo's. "Run . . . its -- its!" Hilde found herself attacked by a vision of fire surrounding her, bombarding her with hot air and eating at her legs with its deadly dance that threatened to devour her entire being. Hilde threw her hands up in front of her face at when the fire came up at her, it rushed passed her and showed her the horrific vision of Ralph's base smoldered in flames with not a soul in sight. He mouth opened to scream but she could not find her voice as the fire leapt into her mouth and burned the inside of her body. The next thing anyone knew Hilde let out a blood curdling scream.
(TBC..)