I can't believe it... Amethyst Bubble's newest chapter was pure bliss... now I can die happy... (Happy sigh)
(Kicks Renault)
My inspiration attack ended... aw, man... I hope I get another one. (Eh heh heh heh...) I'm such an absent-minded authoress who is missing the essential ability to plan ahead of plot, 'cause guess what? I made a very HUGE mistake that actually affects the plotline, just by forgetting to type two friggin' words! (Sob) You see, in the third chapter, the list states that they found 'a young Sacean male, dressed in blue and carrying a sword' (which everybody figured out was Guy). But, in the fourth chapter, Guy clearly states that he was unarmed- meaning he didn't have his sword with him when he was attacked! (Whacks herself for being so dumb) So, uh, yeah... when I find the time, I'm going to fix that... for now, pretend that the list says 'dressed in blue and carrying an empty sword case'. Okay? (Sweatdrops)
(Kicks Renault)
Disclaimer: Hey! Look on the left- it's a DISclaimer! It's DISSING the claimer! AHAHAHAHAHA... it's not that funny... well, if I was claiming these characters, I wouldn't have put a DISclaimer there- I'd be DISSING myself! So... HA! (Gets a tomato in the face)
(Kicks Renault)
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Chapter Five
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"It is time for lunch," Kent stated. "I must wonder- why are so many people missing? Especially the people who are fast to come to meals... I haven't seen Nino, Jaffar, Lucius, Erk, Canas, and..." Kent gasped, causing Sain to turn to him, looking more than a little concerned. "... and... I haven't seen Guy... at lunch... something must be really wrong..."
"Hm? Oh, wait, I just locked him in the closet," Sain remembered. "Come to think of it, I think I forgot to let him back out, too..."
"You what?" There was plenty of shock in his voice when he asked this. "Why did you lock him in a closet? Go unlock him now!"
"It was only another one of those Priscilla things... besides, he looked like he needed cheering! I wonder how Princess Priscilla is doing, too..." Sain got out of his lunch chair and headed toward the room with the closet.
"Sain! That is improper behavior, and disrespect toward a lady!" Kent got out of his lunch chair also and followed Sain. "Besides, didn't you say you'd stop calling her 'Princess'?"
Sain shrugged while he continued running. "Old habits, hard to break." He brought out a Door Key and walked into the room. He stopped short, causing Kent to bump into him.
"Ouch! Sain, what...?"
"K-kent..." Sain was frozen, staring at the space in front of him, barely able to speak. Then he turned around and gave Kent a big, scared hug. "Oh, K-kent... it's... it's..."
"It's what?" Kent looked over Sain's shoulder, and paled. He saw the messy room, the mussed rug, the tapestry stained in blood, and lastly- the open, and empty, closet. His eyes went over to the window, which was open, curtains swaying in the breeze. He gently pushed Sain off him and walked over to the window, looking down to the grass below. There were two unmistakable sets of footprints, right underneath the window, where the people must have jumped. "Sain... come look here."
Sain walked over and looked over Kent's shoulder, noticing the footprints. "Oh... what... what would those mean?"
Kent looked at the size and depth of the prints. "They're both too big to be female feet, and they're imprinted too deep into the ground to be a regular human size... what could that mean?"
Sain tried to put the logic together, but he wasn't too good at guessing games, and the fact that Rath had just stormed into the room, slamming the door hard, didn't help. They both jumped when they heard the slam, and were even more surprised when they turned to see Rath, possibly fuming. The nomadic archer sat down on a chair, picked up a cushion, and started stabbing it furiously with an arrow, until it was only a pile of feathers and blue cloth. He threw the pile on the floor, making the room even messier than it already was. Then he reached for another cushion and started stabbing that one as well, this time much faster and much more furiously. "... ... ... I'll kill them... ... ..."
Kent and Sain inched closer to him, careful to take it a little at a time in case they accidentally blew his top and he decided to start stabbing them next. "Uh... Rath?"
"What?!?" Rath hissed, and the two cavaliers simultaneously jumped. The nomadic archer usually didn't say much in that tone of voice; it had to be something very bad.
"Uhm... nothing." Sain slowly inched away from Rath, hoping to live a long, healthy, romantic life. He dragged Kent with him, because the orange-haired man was also the one he wanted to live his long, healthy, romantic life with.
The door opened again; this time, it was Jaffar. The Angel of Death threw himself onto another chair, and put his face in his hands. Almost immediately after, Raven stomped in, kicked the last chair over, and sat on the floor, pounding his fist into his palm.
Kent and Sain exchanged looks. "Rath and Raven... both extremely angry at the same time... and Jaffar extremely depressed... something's happened," Kent whispered. Sain nodded in agreement. Then every occupant in the room looked up- either confused, depressed, or extremely angry-- toward the direction of the door. There was now a lot of talking from the hallway on the other side, and when the door opened, a large portion of the army swarmed in.
"Raven, please understand," Rebecca said worriedly. "It... they didn't mean to... he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... please, Raven..."
"Off," Raven growled, shaking the female archer's hand off his shoulder. "They not only have Lucius, but the have Priscilla, too! They're not going to live to regret this once I'm through with them..."
"... ... They've taken Nino... ..." Jaffar muttered, resting his chin on one palm. "... I'm the one who'll cut them down..."
Kent walked over to Lyn, who was shaking her head and looking like the whole situation was her fault. "Milady, would you know what is happening here? Why is everyone so...?"
Lyn looked up at him, still looking like she was regretting something. "Oh, Kent... you don't know, do you? You weren't at lunch..." She unrolled a piece of parchment that was in her hand, and showed it to him. "Th-this... I told everyone about it at lunch and... and..."
Kent took the parchment, and read through it, his face paling more and more after every sentence. "It... milady... Sain and I... we were at lunch, but he remembered that he'd locked people in closets again, so we came to free them, but..."
"But what?" Lyn asked, though she sounded like she'd rather not know.
Kent gulped and walked over to the open closet door. "But... they were already gone... and we found this..." He pointed to the bloodstained tapestry, and Lyn gasped. "There were other things wrong with the room, but nobody can see now... that's the worst."
Karel walked over. "This place reeks of blood..." he fingered his sword and licked his lips.
Lyn looked at him, then looked at the list of descriptions on the parchment again. "Karel! You're still here... that means it was Guy they were talking about!" She read the description. "You were both sword-using Saceans that wear blue, so I couldn't tell..."
Karel's eyes settled on the tapestry. "... Green-braid? Yes... this smells like his blood..."
Lyn looked over at Kent. "Kent... who was the other person that was locked in with him?"
"Well... if I recall correctly, it was Priscilla who was also locked in, milady," Kent said.
Lyn nodded. "Well, it's been confirmed." She held up eight fingers, and pulled one down after each name. "They've got Serra, Lucius, Nino, Legault, Heath, Wil, Priscilla, and Guy." She looked through the crowd. "Oh, and have you seen Rath or Matthew anywhere? They weren't at lunch, so we were worried about them..."
Kent motioned to the first chair, where Rath was now snapping his arrow in half. "Rath is over there, but I think it's best that you do not disturb him... he's a little angry about something. Matthew I haven't seen..."
Just as he said those words, Matthew walked in. "Greetings! I'm sorry I wasn't at lunch; I had a little practicing to do, to improve my speed, you know..." he laughed cheerily, and stopped when everyone turned toward him. He smiled nervously, looking around at all the faces. "Erm... is something the matter?"
Lyn sighed. "We discussed this at lunch, but you weren't there, so..." she handed him the message. "Here. Just read it yourself."
The thief's eyes skimmed through the message quickly, his hands starting to shake when he read the last bits. Without looking anyone in the eye, he handed the message back to Lyn and started walking back out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Lyn asked. Matthew turned, and forced a smile on his grim features.
"Why, I'm simply going back outside for a little more practice. That... is alright with you, I assume?"
Lyn nodded. "Yes, but... we were wondering if you had any idea as to why Guy's blood is on this tapestry."
Matthew's eyes widened, and the smile disappeared completely. "Wh-what?"
"Do you have any idea as to why Guy's blood is on this tapestry, in case you inflicted some wound upon him? We did not want to assume right away that these people would hurt an innocent."
"How... what... why... how would you know it's his blood?" Matthew looked at the blood-covered tapestry, looking as if he didn't want to believe anything Lyn was saying. "It could as easily been someone else's blood..."
Lyn pointed to Karel, and Karel smiled his bloodthirsty smile. "I've been around your pet for awhile; I've long since memorized the smell of his blood."
Matthew stared at Karel for a long, silent time, before turning around and heading back for the door. "No... I have not recently injured him. I... I need to go."
He disappeared behind the door, and as the door closed for the umpteenth time that day, Rath stood up. "... ... When do we leave... ...?"
"Huh?" Lyn looked over at Rath. "Leave? Where?"
"... ..." Rath glared at the parchment in Lyn's hand, and she figured out what he was talking about.
"Oh, you mean, to go after the people who did this?" The nomadic archer nodded, but Lyn continued to look confused. "We may leave tomorrow morning. The army needs time to pack and to adjust to new strategies not involving the missing people. Why do you ask?"
"... ... No reason." Rath got up and left the room, fingering his quiver and bow. "... ... I'm going to practice... ..." he mumbled.
Soon after Rath was gone, the rest of the army fanned out of the room to prepare new weapons and new strategies.
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Five more logs were chopped cleanly in half, and Matthew threw them in the quickly growing pile of firewood. He reached over to the second pile, with complete logs, and propped them up, only to cut them into thirds merely seconds later. He stared at the bits of wood, panting, before slicing them up into splinters. When he had hacked the logs enough to vent out a bit of his anger, he brushed them aside with the side of his boot and wiped his sweaty forehead.
"The blood... why does it bother me that much?" he hissed to himself. "I've seen blood plenty of times in battle... I've seen his blood plenty of times, too... so why... does it bother me?"
He pondered for a few minutes, trying to understand himself, but didn't stay that way for long. Growling in frustration, he stabbed at the pile of splinters he had kicked aside earlier. He did feel himself improving; his endurance had gotten better over the last few minutes, and he had been able to stab into the center of every single bit of wood in the pile, regardless how small they were. He stared at the pile again, flicking off the pieces that had stuck onto his knife, and sighed. He was going insane.
Matthew placed a hand on his hip, and hit it against something. Curious, the thief fingered through his pocket and pulled out a worn piece of paper. He looked at it. "It's the Fell Contract the tactician gave me three days ago..." he laughed to himself. "How foolish of me to forget such an important thing." The thief shrugged and pulled out a quill from his belt. He was about to sign the contract when his hand suddenly stopped. "... What did that idiot say it did again?" He read over the things the contract said, and he raised his eyebrows. "Hm... become an assassin, eh? I don't know, it says here I can't steal anymore..." He thought about it for a long time. Then, lifting his quill to point to the sky, he stated five words:
"This is for you... Guy."
Then, without further hesitation, he signed a fancy, curved 'Matthew' on the dotted line.
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"Nrgh..." slowly, Wil opened his eyes. He sat up tiredly and looked around. "Where... am I...?" After waiting for a reply and not getting one, he sneezed. "Ack... it's so cold in here..."
Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the light, and he was able to see what was around him: cages. He stood up, alarmed, and looked up. Thankfully, the ceiling of the cage was very high, but he wasn't pleased to discover that he had been locked up. He peered into the other cages, and immediately recognized who was on the stall next door. "... Lucius...?"
Normal archer number three reached a finger through his own bars and into his companion's cage, tapping him on the head. "Lucius? Is that you?"
The monk's eyes blinked open delicately, and suddenly widened. "Wil! I didn't expect to see you." Blue eyes looked everywhere. "Do you... know where we are?"
Wil shook his head and sneezed again. "Nope... I woke up in this cell." Then he shivered. "Why is it so cold in here?"
Lucius sent him a blank look. "Cold? That's odd... to me it feels a little warm..." He jumped slightly when the archer sneezed again. "Are... you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine, just a little cold," Wil sniffed. "Can you see anybody else in the cells?" He pointed to the other cells in the room, and Lucius squinted.
"No, not really... wait! That's Serra, next door to me!" Lucius walked over to the cleric and took a look. "She's okay... she's only sleeping."
"Lucius... Wil..." the monk and archer turned at the voice. "That... is you, right?"
"Yes... who are you?" Lucius asked, walking over to the front of his cell, where the soft voice drifted from the cell across from him.
"It is I, Priscilla." The red haired troubadour walked over to the front of her cell as well, revealing her face. Her eyes looked even sadder than usual. "My head... hurts." She rubbed the side of her head, where the pain was. "Why... are we in these cells, anyway?"
Lucius shook his head. "I don't know, and Wil doesn't seem to know, either."
Wil sighed. "Does anyone remember what happened before they woke up in their cells?" He sneezed again. "I don't really... but for some reason, I'm so cold."
Lucius nodded. "I think I remember... I was comforting Serra about her fight with Erk this morning, at breakfast, when an assassin came in from nowhere. I wasn't fast enough to destroy him, and..." his eyes closed, and his eyebrows drew together, looking pained. "And... I don't remember anything beyond that." He lay down, shifting his belt out of habit so that he wouldn't sit on his spellbook, when he noticed how unusually light his belt was. Surprised, he jumped up.
Wil noticed the sudden movement and sneezed. "What's wrong?" the archer watched as Lucius patted his waist frantically.
"I... I lost my Aura book!"
Wil jumped. "You... you did?" He fingered his shoulder, and was relieved to find his Longbow still there. "You... you didn't drop it, did you?"
"I... might have..." Lucius paled. "I didn't have a very tight grip on it, and if they got me all the way from the castle to here, there's every possible chance that I could have dropped it on the way here." He sighed. "Lady Lyndis will have a fit. That tome was quite rare."
A moan sounded from another one of the cells, and the three turned toward the sound.
Heath opened his eyes, groaning from the massive headache. "Ow..." He tried to move his hand up to rub it, but he couldn't. Being the superstitious person he was, he immediately jumped to conclusions. "No! They've got me! I don't care where you are, or if you care about my well-being, but I have a wife and six children at home and I just hope that you'll consider them before you execute me!"
Wil, Lucius, and Priscilla, who was in the cell next door, all winced and slapped their hands over their ears. "Heath!" Wil hissed, recognizing the voice instantly. "Heath! It's okay! It's only Lucius, Priscilla, and I. Well, and several other people, but we can't see who they are. Just calm down, if we're all here, these are most likely not Bern soldiers come to execute you. Walk up to the front of your cell so that we can communicate better."
"Easy talk for you!" Heath called back. "My hands are tied up!"
"They are?" Wil unconsciously glanced at his own wrists, even though he knew quite well that they were not tied up. "Well, neither Lucius, Priscilla, nor I are tied up in any way. Do you have any idea what you're tied to?"
"Well... well... no..." Heath struggled against the bonds. "But whatever it is, it's driving me nuts. Augh..."
The other three people sighed. Priscilla continued to look around, trying to recognize people, but she couldn't see too well in the dim light. She could make out a lock on her cell door... wait... "Does anybody else have a lock on their cell door?"
"Of course there's a lock on our cell doors," Heath snorted. "If there weren't, we'd be able to escape, right?" He struggled some more, and his stomach dropped when he heard a moan directly behind him. "Did... did anybody else hear that?"
"Yes, we did. It's most likely somebody else coming to," Lucius said. "Good thing, maybe that person will have something sensible to say..."
"It's coming from directly behind me..." Heath reported, turning his head desperately to see what it was, but his armor prevented him from looking anywhere further than a 90-degree angle from forward. "I can't... see what it is..."
"Ngh... Ow... flux that Quill kid..." a voice said, and Heath froze stiff. "How many Nosferatu spells did he use on me, anyway? I feel like I'm going to puke..."
"L-l-l-..." Heath didn't seem to be able to force that one word out of his frozen lips. "...Legault...?"
"Hm?" The voice asked. "What is it?"
"I... you... what... why..." Heath, for the first time, rubbed his hands against whatever they were bound to, and shivered in fright when he felt out a pair of hands.
"Stop rubbing my hands," Legault grouched. He usually woke up grumpy, and the extreme drainage of energy didn't help brighten his mood much. "It feels awkward."
"Get used to it," Heath growled back. "My hands are tied to yours."
"They're what?" Legault's cloudy mind registered the digging feeling on his wrists, and didn't bother to struggle against them. "Shit."
"That's too bad," Wil sighed. "Since Legault's a thief, he might've been able to pick these locks and let us out of here."
"That's it!" Lucius exclaimed. The other four heads turned to him. "That's why they tied him up! So that he wouldn't be able to pick the locks!"
"Why'd they have to tie him to me?" The sentence nearly sounded like a whine, and Heath regretted asking it in that tone of voice. "They could have just as easily tied him to something else!"
"Well... I don't really know why they tied him to you, okay? I'm not them!" Lucius cried, frustrated. He sat himself down and rested his chin on the back of his hand, sighing. "I still want my Aura book back."
"Yes... and I want my personal space back," Heath mumbled.
Wil sneezed.
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I'll end it right there, because it was starting to sound like a rant. (To my ears, anyway.) I'm sorry everyone was so out of character, but it was for the sake of making it corny... and yeah. I don't know whether to start with the castle, where everyone is going to sleep, or in the cells, where everyone is waking up and being tormented by one of the bad guys, or to go to the bad guys and see what they're doing. Why don't you people choose, because I really don't know what to do next. (Sigh...) Castle, cells, bad guys?
(Kicks Renault a million times)
I think by now you people know the drill. If you don't, well... reviews make me happy, and in this case, help me decide where to write about next; flames are accepted (although this privilege is not to be abused, a-HEM); I know Amethyst Bubble's on vacation, but another chapter in her now blissful story would help, too.
Oh, I almost forgot! There are now two people in the 'Kick Renault' Listing:
RianneHime
Amethyst Bubble
I'm such a lazy bum, I should go work on that... (Sweatdrops) Have a nice day. (Kicks Renault)
(Kicks Renault)
My inspiration attack ended... aw, man... I hope I get another one. (Eh heh heh heh...) I'm such an absent-minded authoress who is missing the essential ability to plan ahead of plot, 'cause guess what? I made a very HUGE mistake that actually affects the plotline, just by forgetting to type two friggin' words! (Sob) You see, in the third chapter, the list states that they found 'a young Sacean male, dressed in blue and carrying a sword' (which everybody figured out was Guy). But, in the fourth chapter, Guy clearly states that he was unarmed- meaning he didn't have his sword with him when he was attacked! (Whacks herself for being so dumb) So, uh, yeah... when I find the time, I'm going to fix that... for now, pretend that the list says 'dressed in blue and carrying an empty sword case'. Okay? (Sweatdrops)
(Kicks Renault)
Disclaimer: Hey! Look on the left- it's a DISclaimer! It's DISSING the claimer! AHAHAHAHAHA... it's not that funny... well, if I was claiming these characters, I wouldn't have put a DISclaimer there- I'd be DISSING myself! So... HA! (Gets a tomato in the face)
(Kicks Renault)
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Chapter Five
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"It is time for lunch," Kent stated. "I must wonder- why are so many people missing? Especially the people who are fast to come to meals... I haven't seen Nino, Jaffar, Lucius, Erk, Canas, and..." Kent gasped, causing Sain to turn to him, looking more than a little concerned. "... and... I haven't seen Guy... at lunch... something must be really wrong..."
"Hm? Oh, wait, I just locked him in the closet," Sain remembered. "Come to think of it, I think I forgot to let him back out, too..."
"You what?" There was plenty of shock in his voice when he asked this. "Why did you lock him in a closet? Go unlock him now!"
"It was only another one of those Priscilla things... besides, he looked like he needed cheering! I wonder how Princess Priscilla is doing, too..." Sain got out of his lunch chair and headed toward the room with the closet.
"Sain! That is improper behavior, and disrespect toward a lady!" Kent got out of his lunch chair also and followed Sain. "Besides, didn't you say you'd stop calling her 'Princess'?"
Sain shrugged while he continued running. "Old habits, hard to break." He brought out a Door Key and walked into the room. He stopped short, causing Kent to bump into him.
"Ouch! Sain, what...?"
"K-kent..." Sain was frozen, staring at the space in front of him, barely able to speak. Then he turned around and gave Kent a big, scared hug. "Oh, K-kent... it's... it's..."
"It's what?" Kent looked over Sain's shoulder, and paled. He saw the messy room, the mussed rug, the tapestry stained in blood, and lastly- the open, and empty, closet. His eyes went over to the window, which was open, curtains swaying in the breeze. He gently pushed Sain off him and walked over to the window, looking down to the grass below. There were two unmistakable sets of footprints, right underneath the window, where the people must have jumped. "Sain... come look here."
Sain walked over and looked over Kent's shoulder, noticing the footprints. "Oh... what... what would those mean?"
Kent looked at the size and depth of the prints. "They're both too big to be female feet, and they're imprinted too deep into the ground to be a regular human size... what could that mean?"
Sain tried to put the logic together, but he wasn't too good at guessing games, and the fact that Rath had just stormed into the room, slamming the door hard, didn't help. They both jumped when they heard the slam, and were even more surprised when they turned to see Rath, possibly fuming. The nomadic archer sat down on a chair, picked up a cushion, and started stabbing it furiously with an arrow, until it was only a pile of feathers and blue cloth. He threw the pile on the floor, making the room even messier than it already was. Then he reached for another cushion and started stabbing that one as well, this time much faster and much more furiously. "... ... ... I'll kill them... ... ..."
Kent and Sain inched closer to him, careful to take it a little at a time in case they accidentally blew his top and he decided to start stabbing them next. "Uh... Rath?"
"What?!?" Rath hissed, and the two cavaliers simultaneously jumped. The nomadic archer usually didn't say much in that tone of voice; it had to be something very bad.
"Uhm... nothing." Sain slowly inched away from Rath, hoping to live a long, healthy, romantic life. He dragged Kent with him, because the orange-haired man was also the one he wanted to live his long, healthy, romantic life with.
The door opened again; this time, it was Jaffar. The Angel of Death threw himself onto another chair, and put his face in his hands. Almost immediately after, Raven stomped in, kicked the last chair over, and sat on the floor, pounding his fist into his palm.
Kent and Sain exchanged looks. "Rath and Raven... both extremely angry at the same time... and Jaffar extremely depressed... something's happened," Kent whispered. Sain nodded in agreement. Then every occupant in the room looked up- either confused, depressed, or extremely angry-- toward the direction of the door. There was now a lot of talking from the hallway on the other side, and when the door opened, a large portion of the army swarmed in.
"Raven, please understand," Rebecca said worriedly. "It... they didn't mean to... he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... please, Raven..."
"Off," Raven growled, shaking the female archer's hand off his shoulder. "They not only have Lucius, but the have Priscilla, too! They're not going to live to regret this once I'm through with them..."
"... ... They've taken Nino... ..." Jaffar muttered, resting his chin on one palm. "... I'm the one who'll cut them down..."
Kent walked over to Lyn, who was shaking her head and looking like the whole situation was her fault. "Milady, would you know what is happening here? Why is everyone so...?"
Lyn looked up at him, still looking like she was regretting something. "Oh, Kent... you don't know, do you? You weren't at lunch..." She unrolled a piece of parchment that was in her hand, and showed it to him. "Th-this... I told everyone about it at lunch and... and..."
Kent took the parchment, and read through it, his face paling more and more after every sentence. "It... milady... Sain and I... we were at lunch, but he remembered that he'd locked people in closets again, so we came to free them, but..."
"But what?" Lyn asked, though she sounded like she'd rather not know.
Kent gulped and walked over to the open closet door. "But... they were already gone... and we found this..." He pointed to the bloodstained tapestry, and Lyn gasped. "There were other things wrong with the room, but nobody can see now... that's the worst."
Karel walked over. "This place reeks of blood..." he fingered his sword and licked his lips.
Lyn looked at him, then looked at the list of descriptions on the parchment again. "Karel! You're still here... that means it was Guy they were talking about!" She read the description. "You were both sword-using Saceans that wear blue, so I couldn't tell..."
Karel's eyes settled on the tapestry. "... Green-braid? Yes... this smells like his blood..."
Lyn looked over at Kent. "Kent... who was the other person that was locked in with him?"
"Well... if I recall correctly, it was Priscilla who was also locked in, milady," Kent said.
Lyn nodded. "Well, it's been confirmed." She held up eight fingers, and pulled one down after each name. "They've got Serra, Lucius, Nino, Legault, Heath, Wil, Priscilla, and Guy." She looked through the crowd. "Oh, and have you seen Rath or Matthew anywhere? They weren't at lunch, so we were worried about them..."
Kent motioned to the first chair, where Rath was now snapping his arrow in half. "Rath is over there, but I think it's best that you do not disturb him... he's a little angry about something. Matthew I haven't seen..."
Just as he said those words, Matthew walked in. "Greetings! I'm sorry I wasn't at lunch; I had a little practicing to do, to improve my speed, you know..." he laughed cheerily, and stopped when everyone turned toward him. He smiled nervously, looking around at all the faces. "Erm... is something the matter?"
Lyn sighed. "We discussed this at lunch, but you weren't there, so..." she handed him the message. "Here. Just read it yourself."
The thief's eyes skimmed through the message quickly, his hands starting to shake when he read the last bits. Without looking anyone in the eye, he handed the message back to Lyn and started walking back out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Lyn asked. Matthew turned, and forced a smile on his grim features.
"Why, I'm simply going back outside for a little more practice. That... is alright with you, I assume?"
Lyn nodded. "Yes, but... we were wondering if you had any idea as to why Guy's blood is on this tapestry."
Matthew's eyes widened, and the smile disappeared completely. "Wh-what?"
"Do you have any idea as to why Guy's blood is on this tapestry, in case you inflicted some wound upon him? We did not want to assume right away that these people would hurt an innocent."
"How... what... why... how would you know it's his blood?" Matthew looked at the blood-covered tapestry, looking as if he didn't want to believe anything Lyn was saying. "It could as easily been someone else's blood..."
Lyn pointed to Karel, and Karel smiled his bloodthirsty smile. "I've been around your pet for awhile; I've long since memorized the smell of his blood."
Matthew stared at Karel for a long, silent time, before turning around and heading back for the door. "No... I have not recently injured him. I... I need to go."
He disappeared behind the door, and as the door closed for the umpteenth time that day, Rath stood up. "... ... When do we leave... ...?"
"Huh?" Lyn looked over at Rath. "Leave? Where?"
"... ..." Rath glared at the parchment in Lyn's hand, and she figured out what he was talking about.
"Oh, you mean, to go after the people who did this?" The nomadic archer nodded, but Lyn continued to look confused. "We may leave tomorrow morning. The army needs time to pack and to adjust to new strategies not involving the missing people. Why do you ask?"
"... ... No reason." Rath got up and left the room, fingering his quiver and bow. "... ... I'm going to practice... ..." he mumbled.
Soon after Rath was gone, the rest of the army fanned out of the room to prepare new weapons and new strategies.
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Five more logs were chopped cleanly in half, and Matthew threw them in the quickly growing pile of firewood. He reached over to the second pile, with complete logs, and propped them up, only to cut them into thirds merely seconds later. He stared at the bits of wood, panting, before slicing them up into splinters. When he had hacked the logs enough to vent out a bit of his anger, he brushed them aside with the side of his boot and wiped his sweaty forehead.
"The blood... why does it bother me that much?" he hissed to himself. "I've seen blood plenty of times in battle... I've seen his blood plenty of times, too... so why... does it bother me?"
He pondered for a few minutes, trying to understand himself, but didn't stay that way for long. Growling in frustration, he stabbed at the pile of splinters he had kicked aside earlier. He did feel himself improving; his endurance had gotten better over the last few minutes, and he had been able to stab into the center of every single bit of wood in the pile, regardless how small they were. He stared at the pile again, flicking off the pieces that had stuck onto his knife, and sighed. He was going insane.
Matthew placed a hand on his hip, and hit it against something. Curious, the thief fingered through his pocket and pulled out a worn piece of paper. He looked at it. "It's the Fell Contract the tactician gave me three days ago..." he laughed to himself. "How foolish of me to forget such an important thing." The thief shrugged and pulled out a quill from his belt. He was about to sign the contract when his hand suddenly stopped. "... What did that idiot say it did again?" He read over the things the contract said, and he raised his eyebrows. "Hm... become an assassin, eh? I don't know, it says here I can't steal anymore..." He thought about it for a long time. Then, lifting his quill to point to the sky, he stated five words:
"This is for you... Guy."
Then, without further hesitation, he signed a fancy, curved 'Matthew' on the dotted line.
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"Nrgh..." slowly, Wil opened his eyes. He sat up tiredly and looked around. "Where... am I...?" After waiting for a reply and not getting one, he sneezed. "Ack... it's so cold in here..."
Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the light, and he was able to see what was around him: cages. He stood up, alarmed, and looked up. Thankfully, the ceiling of the cage was very high, but he wasn't pleased to discover that he had been locked up. He peered into the other cages, and immediately recognized who was on the stall next door. "... Lucius...?"
Normal archer number three reached a finger through his own bars and into his companion's cage, tapping him on the head. "Lucius? Is that you?"
The monk's eyes blinked open delicately, and suddenly widened. "Wil! I didn't expect to see you." Blue eyes looked everywhere. "Do you... know where we are?"
Wil shook his head and sneezed again. "Nope... I woke up in this cell." Then he shivered. "Why is it so cold in here?"
Lucius sent him a blank look. "Cold? That's odd... to me it feels a little warm..." He jumped slightly when the archer sneezed again. "Are... you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine, just a little cold," Wil sniffed. "Can you see anybody else in the cells?" He pointed to the other cells in the room, and Lucius squinted.
"No, not really... wait! That's Serra, next door to me!" Lucius walked over to the cleric and took a look. "She's okay... she's only sleeping."
"Lucius... Wil..." the monk and archer turned at the voice. "That... is you, right?"
"Yes... who are you?" Lucius asked, walking over to the front of his cell, where the soft voice drifted from the cell across from him.
"It is I, Priscilla." The red haired troubadour walked over to the front of her cell as well, revealing her face. Her eyes looked even sadder than usual. "My head... hurts." She rubbed the side of her head, where the pain was. "Why... are we in these cells, anyway?"
Lucius shook his head. "I don't know, and Wil doesn't seem to know, either."
Wil sighed. "Does anyone remember what happened before they woke up in their cells?" He sneezed again. "I don't really... but for some reason, I'm so cold."
Lucius nodded. "I think I remember... I was comforting Serra about her fight with Erk this morning, at breakfast, when an assassin came in from nowhere. I wasn't fast enough to destroy him, and..." his eyes closed, and his eyebrows drew together, looking pained. "And... I don't remember anything beyond that." He lay down, shifting his belt out of habit so that he wouldn't sit on his spellbook, when he noticed how unusually light his belt was. Surprised, he jumped up.
Wil noticed the sudden movement and sneezed. "What's wrong?" the archer watched as Lucius patted his waist frantically.
"I... I lost my Aura book!"
Wil jumped. "You... you did?" He fingered his shoulder, and was relieved to find his Longbow still there. "You... you didn't drop it, did you?"
"I... might have..." Lucius paled. "I didn't have a very tight grip on it, and if they got me all the way from the castle to here, there's every possible chance that I could have dropped it on the way here." He sighed. "Lady Lyndis will have a fit. That tome was quite rare."
A moan sounded from another one of the cells, and the three turned toward the sound.
Heath opened his eyes, groaning from the massive headache. "Ow..." He tried to move his hand up to rub it, but he couldn't. Being the superstitious person he was, he immediately jumped to conclusions. "No! They've got me! I don't care where you are, or if you care about my well-being, but I have a wife and six children at home and I just hope that you'll consider them before you execute me!"
Wil, Lucius, and Priscilla, who was in the cell next door, all winced and slapped their hands over their ears. "Heath!" Wil hissed, recognizing the voice instantly. "Heath! It's okay! It's only Lucius, Priscilla, and I. Well, and several other people, but we can't see who they are. Just calm down, if we're all here, these are most likely not Bern soldiers come to execute you. Walk up to the front of your cell so that we can communicate better."
"Easy talk for you!" Heath called back. "My hands are tied up!"
"They are?" Wil unconsciously glanced at his own wrists, even though he knew quite well that they were not tied up. "Well, neither Lucius, Priscilla, nor I are tied up in any way. Do you have any idea what you're tied to?"
"Well... well... no..." Heath struggled against the bonds. "But whatever it is, it's driving me nuts. Augh..."
The other three people sighed. Priscilla continued to look around, trying to recognize people, but she couldn't see too well in the dim light. She could make out a lock on her cell door... wait... "Does anybody else have a lock on their cell door?"
"Of course there's a lock on our cell doors," Heath snorted. "If there weren't, we'd be able to escape, right?" He struggled some more, and his stomach dropped when he heard a moan directly behind him. "Did... did anybody else hear that?"
"Yes, we did. It's most likely somebody else coming to," Lucius said. "Good thing, maybe that person will have something sensible to say..."
"It's coming from directly behind me..." Heath reported, turning his head desperately to see what it was, but his armor prevented him from looking anywhere further than a 90-degree angle from forward. "I can't... see what it is..."
"Ngh... Ow... flux that Quill kid..." a voice said, and Heath froze stiff. "How many Nosferatu spells did he use on me, anyway? I feel like I'm going to puke..."
"L-l-l-..." Heath didn't seem to be able to force that one word out of his frozen lips. "...Legault...?"
"Hm?" The voice asked. "What is it?"
"I... you... what... why..." Heath, for the first time, rubbed his hands against whatever they were bound to, and shivered in fright when he felt out a pair of hands.
"Stop rubbing my hands," Legault grouched. He usually woke up grumpy, and the extreme drainage of energy didn't help brighten his mood much. "It feels awkward."
"Get used to it," Heath growled back. "My hands are tied to yours."
"They're what?" Legault's cloudy mind registered the digging feeling on his wrists, and didn't bother to struggle against them. "Shit."
"That's too bad," Wil sighed. "Since Legault's a thief, he might've been able to pick these locks and let us out of here."
"That's it!" Lucius exclaimed. The other four heads turned to him. "That's why they tied him up! So that he wouldn't be able to pick the locks!"
"Why'd they have to tie him to me?" The sentence nearly sounded like a whine, and Heath regretted asking it in that tone of voice. "They could have just as easily tied him to something else!"
"Well... I don't really know why they tied him to you, okay? I'm not them!" Lucius cried, frustrated. He sat himself down and rested his chin on the back of his hand, sighing. "I still want my Aura book back."
"Yes... and I want my personal space back," Heath mumbled.
Wil sneezed.
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I'll end it right there, because it was starting to sound like a rant. (To my ears, anyway.) I'm sorry everyone was so out of character, but it was for the sake of making it corny... and yeah. I don't know whether to start with the castle, where everyone is going to sleep, or in the cells, where everyone is waking up and being tormented by one of the bad guys, or to go to the bad guys and see what they're doing. Why don't you people choose, because I really don't know what to do next. (Sigh...) Castle, cells, bad guys?
(Kicks Renault a million times)
I think by now you people know the drill. If you don't, well... reviews make me happy, and in this case, help me decide where to write about next; flames are accepted (although this privilege is not to be abused, a-HEM); I know Amethyst Bubble's on vacation, but another chapter in her now blissful story would help, too.
Oh, I almost forgot! There are now two people in the 'Kick Renault' Listing:
RianneHime
Amethyst Bubble
I'm such a lazy bum, I should go work on that... (Sweatdrops) Have a nice day. (Kicks Renault)