Heyla, everyone! Thanks for your comments. I'm taking down the so-called Author's Note of mine, and relocating it to come after this chapter. I'll try to answer some of your questions there. Meanwhile, go ahead and read this chapter, always remembering the eternal disclaimer, bla bla...
Golden Eyes
"Captain Nieva!" The scout looked about ready to burst. Her face was flushed from the run, and her eyes blazed with suppressed surprise.
"What is it?" The tall woman with golden hair was dressed much like any other soldier of the army of Reason. Her big, pointed hat marked her as a magician, and its peculiar shade of bright, royal blue showed that she was from Altena.
"It's Princess Angela!"
Before the scout could finish her report, three figures came crashing down on the bridge at a breakneck pace. Nieva's throat caught from shock as she recognized the first figure.
Angela? What are you doing here?
She turned to her fellow soldiers.
"Get the Machine Golems!" At her command, blue-capped soldiers scattered to collect the necessary equipment to operate Master Inventor Victor's automated creations.
I'm sorry, Princess.
"Princess Angela!" She called out to the girl with the violet hair.
"Yes?" The girl stopped running halfway across the bridge, and her companions stopped as well.
"By order of the Queen of Reason, we are to kill you on sight."
Nieva's voice was thick with the emotions that threatened to break free of her mental barriers.
"What? What did I do?" The princess fell to her knees, and Nieva cringed inside.
"Uh, now, ladies. Can't we work something out?" The man began to back up slowly, putting up his hands in surrender. Angela's other companion was not so easily overwhelmed.
"No matter what, I can't let that happen!" Riesz thought back to the terrified face of her younger brother as the two ninjas had kidnapped him. She interposed herself between captain and princess, brandishing her long spear menacingly. Nieva just sighed, and raised a pale arm.
"Nieva, is that you?" Angela's voice was soft. "Why are you doing this, Nieva? Don't you remember me?"
Of course I remember! But orders are orders.
She was a battle-hardened soldier, and emotions take no place in war. Nieva had taught all of her pupils that, including Angela, and the captain was not one to ignore her own advice. She dropped the arm, and the deadly robots were released.
No, I won't let them hurt Riesz and Hawk!
Angela pulled her body to its feet and whipped out her staff, worn from use in recent battles.
"I won't let you hurt them!" She closed her eyes, and sought the warmth of her own personal stock of magic.
"Holy orbs of shining light, gather here and banish the night!" When she opened her eyes, they flashed with an inner light that was not the usual shade of sunset violet.
Her eyes were gold.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
:Let the Mana flow through you, princess.:
The voice of her old teacher rasped in her mind. She could almost see him sitting before her, in his favorite rocking chair, lecturing her as he had so many times before.
:Form is not everything. You concentrate on the form of the spell, but the spirit of it escapes you. Let the Mana flow through you, instead of trying to force it into a particular shape.:
The Mana? Let it flow through me?
Great orbs of silver-white light spun away from her as she lifted her staff high into the air.
So this is what he meant...
The orbs whirled around the battle-droids in two massive rings of holy flame. When the spheres of light finally dissipated, the robots were scorched and blackened, but they still came on.
"Angela?"
Riesz clasped a cool hand on the magician's cheek, bringing her out of the elemental trance she had been in. The golems fired missiles at them, but Hawkeye just deflected the rockets easily with his daggers. Angela lifted a hand, and placed it over her friend's, then turned to face her, eyes gleaming.
"Let's do it."
The next volley of missiles was easily burnt away by Angela's magic, freeing the other two fighters to take the offensive. Riesz wasted no time, and leapt down on the first robot with a fierce amazon's battle cry. Hawkeye lingered for a moment, debating on whether or not to leave the princess when she was so deep in spellcasting.
"Go on, Hawk, I'll be fine." Angela murmured, through the fog of her magic.
He nodded, and vaulted over to the second golem without a second thought.
Nieva surveyed the impromptu battle with mixed feelings. One part of her wanted to cheer for the princess, her heart was nearly bursting with pride.
If only Valda could see her now.
But the other half of her, the frigid soldier, spat in disgust. The amazon with the spear was easily sparring with her mechanized opponent, having already discovered its simple fighting plan. She was obviously very skilled with that spear of hers, the captain could tell from her lithe, almost careless movements. But that carelessness was deceptive, for the golem had hardly marked the tall young woman, and it was already beginning to lose steam.
And the man, Nieva had never seen anyone quite like him. Men in the army served only as healers or cooks, so the Mage Captain had never seen one in a fight. This one moved so quickly that his knives were like rings of steel, reflecting the bright sunlight. He would dart into melee with the sluggish robot, pull off two or three strikes, then dodge out of the range of the automaton's counterattack. The two robots had long since exhausted their supply of rockets, and were being forced to fight with their spring-loaded arms.
Victor's going to have a fit when he finds out what happened to his precious robots.
"Oh!" One of the scouts let out an exclamation of surprise, and pointed directly at Angela. Floating there, just above the princess' head, was the spirit of light, Wisp. He seemed to be grinning, though Nieva could not tell from a distance.
She has the blessing of an Elemental? So that's how she broke Jose's seal! I'll bet that old fart is laughing his eyes out at us right now!
One of the machine golems exploded as Angela unleashed a final blast on it. The other was pinned, helpless, to the ground by the amazon's spear. The troops began to turn to their captain with pleading looks in their eyes. None of them would ever ask her to let them retreat, but the looks on their faces were enough to convince her. She sighed.
"Astra, give the order to retreat. Calaris, set off the self-destruct sequence. You remember the spell, correct?"
The scientist Victor had assigned to go with the troop nodded, and spoke a few arcane words.
"It's done." She did not seem very pleased about it. Nieva remembered that Iris had been one of Angela's few friends at the castle. In fact, she had been the one to introduce the princess to the master scientist.
"Then let's go."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Where are they going?"
The Altenan soldiers were retreating swiftly.
"I don't....what's that noise?" Hawkeye looked around warily. A loud siren split the air like the screams of a banshee. "It's gonna blow!"
They tried desperately to get to the end of the long bridge in time.
BOOM!!!!
The explosion sounded behind them.
"Look out!"
The resulting shockwave tossed them into the air. Riesz and Hawkeye were thrown clear onto the cliffside, and they rolled on the rock until they came to a stop. When they had gathered their wits and stood up, Angela was no where to be seen.
"Angela?" Riesz called out into the abyss.
"Angela?" Echo was the only one to answer Riesz's appellation. The amazon slumped to her knees.
It can't end like this! Not like this!
"Angela!" Hawkeye was not so easily put off. He shouted the name several times, until his voice went hoarse. He choked, then tried once again.
"Angela!"
"I'm down here, you dolt! Would you cut the melodrama and toss me some rope?"
Amazon and thief leapt to booted feet and dashed to the cliff's edge as one.
"Angela? Is that you?" Hawkeye asked, not quite believing his ears.
"Of course it's me! That rope would be nice right now!"
Riesz laughed. It was a pleasant, sincere laugh. It was nothing like Jessica's high-pitched giggle.
I always complained to her about that. Come to think of it, I was complaining most of the time I was with her.
He shook himself. How he felt did not matter, Jessica still needed to be rescued, and there would be plenty of time to talk about his feelings later. He tied one end of his rope to a large rock, tossed the long cord down to his friend, and sat on the rock to be sure it would not move. Angela clambered up the sheer rock face carefully, and struggled onto the cliff. She muttered a soft thanks, and pulled herself to her feet shakily.
"Sorry everyone, this is all my fault. They were after me."
:Actually, I don't think so. You just happened to be here at the wrong time. They were probably after the Mana Stone in Forcena: said the faerie.
"The Mana Stone in Forcena...but how are we going to get over there now?" Angela pointed at the wide chasm forlornly.
"Maybe someone in Maia knows another way around. Let's ask around. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a better way!" Riesz began to walk back the way she came.
"Uh, Riesz? What are we going to do about your spear?" Hawkeye asked. The amazon's spear had disappeared in the explosion.
"I'll just have to get a new one." Riesz was determined to be optimistic, since Angela seemed to be so melancholy. "Let's get going."
Huh? It's done? Wow. Well, if anyone can guess what the significance of the captain's name is, he/she gets a cookie. With sparkles if you like. Anyway, I'm sorry about the lame battle description, I'm not feeling particularly militant today. If you want to see Nieva again, (or Iris), just post it in a review, and I'll try to work it out.
~Truewind
Oh, ew... I'm so sorry guys! I tried submitting this as a word file, and the result was disastrous. I'm trying to fix it, just bear with me here.
Golden Eyes
"Captain Nieva!" The scout looked about ready to burst. Her face was flushed from the run, and her eyes blazed with suppressed surprise.
"What is it?" The tall woman with golden hair was dressed much like any other soldier of the army of Reason. Her big, pointed hat marked her as a magician, and its peculiar shade of bright, royal blue showed that she was from Altena.
"It's Princess Angela!"
Before the scout could finish her report, three figures came crashing down on the bridge at a breakneck pace. Nieva's throat caught from shock as she recognized the first figure.
Angela? What are you doing here?
She turned to her fellow soldiers.
"Get the Machine Golems!" At her command, blue-capped soldiers scattered to collect the necessary equipment to operate Master Inventor Victor's automated creations.
I'm sorry, Princess.
"Princess Angela!" She called out to the girl with the violet hair.
"Yes?" The girl stopped running halfway across the bridge, and her companions stopped as well.
"By order of the Queen of Reason, we are to kill you on sight."
Nieva's voice was thick with the emotions that threatened to break free of her mental barriers.
"What? What did I do?" The princess fell to her knees, and Nieva cringed inside.
"Uh, now, ladies. Can't we work something out?" The man began to back up slowly, putting up his hands in surrender. Angela's other companion was not so easily overwhelmed.
"No matter what, I can't let that happen!" Riesz thought back to the terrified face of her younger brother as the two ninjas had kidnapped him. She interposed herself between captain and princess, brandishing her long spear menacingly. Nieva just sighed, and raised a pale arm.
"Nieva, is that you?" Angela's voice was soft. "Why are you doing this, Nieva? Don't you remember me?"
Of course I remember! But orders are orders.
She was a battle-hardened soldier, and emotions take no place in war. Nieva had taught all of her pupils that, including Angela, and the captain was not one to ignore her own advice. She dropped the arm, and the deadly robots were released.
No, I won't let them hurt Riesz and Hawk!
Angela pulled her body to its feet and whipped out her staff, worn from use in recent battles.
"I won't let you hurt them!" She closed her eyes, and sought the warmth of her own personal stock of magic.
"Holy orbs of shining light, gather here and banish the night!" When she opened her eyes, they flashed with an inner light that was not the usual shade of sunset violet.
Her eyes were gold.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
:Let the Mana flow through you, princess.:
The voice of her old teacher rasped in her mind. She could almost see him sitting before her, in his favorite rocking chair, lecturing her as he had so many times before.
:Form is not everything. You concentrate on the form of the spell, but the spirit of it escapes you. Let the Mana flow through you, instead of trying to force it into a particular shape.:
The Mana? Let it flow through me?
Great orbs of silver-white light spun away from her as she lifted her staff high into the air.
So this is what he meant...
The orbs whirled around the battle-droids in two massive rings of holy flame. When the spheres of light finally dissipated, the robots were scorched and blackened, but they still came on.
"Angela?"
Riesz clasped a cool hand on the magician's cheek, bringing her out of the elemental trance she had been in. The golems fired missiles at them, but Hawkeye just deflected the rockets easily with his daggers. Angela lifted a hand, and placed it over her friend's, then turned to face her, eyes gleaming.
"Let's do it."
The next volley of missiles was easily burnt away by Angela's magic, freeing the other two fighters to take the offensive. Riesz wasted no time, and leapt down on the first robot with a fierce amazon's battle cry. Hawkeye lingered for a moment, debating on whether or not to leave the princess when she was so deep in spellcasting.
"Go on, Hawk, I'll be fine." Angela murmured, through the fog of her magic.
He nodded, and vaulted over to the second golem without a second thought.
Nieva surveyed the impromptu battle with mixed feelings. One part of her wanted to cheer for the princess, her heart was nearly bursting with pride.
If only Valda could see her now.
But the other half of her, the frigid soldier, spat in disgust. The amazon with the spear was easily sparring with her mechanized opponent, having already discovered its simple fighting plan. She was obviously very skilled with that spear of hers, the captain could tell from her lithe, almost careless movements. But that carelessness was deceptive, for the golem had hardly marked the tall young woman, and it was already beginning to lose steam.
And the man, Nieva had never seen anyone quite like him. Men in the army served only as healers or cooks, so the Mage Captain had never seen one in a fight. This one moved so quickly that his knives were like rings of steel, reflecting the bright sunlight. He would dart into melee with the sluggish robot, pull off two or three strikes, then dodge out of the range of the automaton's counterattack. The two robots had long since exhausted their supply of rockets, and were being forced to fight with their spring-loaded arms.
Victor's going to have a fit when he finds out what happened to his precious robots.
"Oh!" One of the scouts let out an exclamation of surprise, and pointed directly at Angela. Floating there, just above the princess' head, was the spirit of light, Wisp. He seemed to be grinning, though Nieva could not tell from a distance.
She has the blessing of an Elemental? So that's how she broke Jose's seal! I'll bet that old fart is laughing his eyes out at us right now!
One of the machine golems exploded as Angela unleashed a final blast on it. The other was pinned, helpless, to the ground by the amazon's spear. The troops began to turn to their captain with pleading looks in their eyes. None of them would ever ask her to let them retreat, but the looks on their faces were enough to convince her. She sighed.
"Astra, give the order to retreat. Calaris, set off the self-destruct sequence. You remember the spell, correct?"
The scientist Victor had assigned to go with the troop nodded, and spoke a few arcane words.
"It's done." She did not seem very pleased about it. Nieva remembered that Iris had been one of Angela's few friends at the castle. In fact, she had been the one to introduce the princess to the master scientist.
"Then let's go."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Where are they going?"
The Altenan soldiers were retreating swiftly.
"I don't....what's that noise?" Hawkeye looked around warily. A loud siren split the air like the screams of a banshee. "It's gonna blow!"
They tried desperately to get to the end of the long bridge in time.
BOOM!!!!
The explosion sounded behind them.
"Look out!"
The resulting shockwave tossed them into the air. Riesz and Hawkeye were thrown clear onto the cliffside, and they rolled on the rock until they came to a stop. When they had gathered their wits and stood up, Angela was no where to be seen.
"Angela?" Riesz called out into the abyss.
"Angela?" Echo was the only one to answer Riesz's appellation. The amazon slumped to her knees.
It can't end like this! Not like this!
"Angela!" Hawkeye was not so easily put off. He shouted the name several times, until his voice went hoarse. He choked, then tried once again.
"Angela!"
"I'm down here, you dolt! Would you cut the melodrama and toss me some rope?"
Amazon and thief leapt to booted feet and dashed to the cliff's edge as one.
"Angela? Is that you?" Hawkeye asked, not quite believing his ears.
"Of course it's me! That rope would be nice right now!"
Riesz laughed. It was a pleasant, sincere laugh. It was nothing like Jessica's high-pitched giggle.
I always complained to her about that. Come to think of it, I was complaining most of the time I was with her.
He shook himself. How he felt did not matter, Jessica still needed to be rescued, and there would be plenty of time to talk about his feelings later. He tied one end of his rope to a large rock, tossed the long cord down to his friend, and sat on the rock to be sure it would not move. Angela clambered up the sheer rock face carefully, and struggled onto the cliff. She muttered a soft thanks, and pulled herself to her feet shakily.
"Sorry everyone, this is all my fault. They were after me."
:Actually, I don't think so. You just happened to be here at the wrong time. They were probably after the Mana Stone in Forcena: said the faerie.
"The Mana Stone in Forcena...but how are we going to get over there now?" Angela pointed at the wide chasm forlornly.
"Maybe someone in Maia knows another way around. Let's ask around. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a better way!" Riesz began to walk back the way she came.
"Uh, Riesz? What are we going to do about your spear?" Hawkeye asked. The amazon's spear had disappeared in the explosion.
"I'll just have to get a new one." Riesz was determined to be optimistic, since Angela seemed to be so melancholy. "Let's get going."
Huh? It's done? Wow. Well, if anyone can guess what the significance of the captain's name is, he/she gets a cookie. With sparkles if you like. Anyway, I'm sorry about the lame battle description, I'm not feeling particularly militant today. If you want to see Nieva again, (or Iris), just post it in a review, and I'll try to work it out.
~Truewind
Oh, ew... I'm so sorry guys! I tried submitting this as a word file, and the result was disastrous. I'm trying to fix it, just bear with me here.