Chapter 10
Van paced back in forth in the dungeons, glaring ever once in a while in the direction of the stairs. They were alone, Josceline huddled up in the corner, his arms resting on his knees as he watched the restless king.
"If they see you doing that they'll get suspicious." Josceline told him quietly, but Van ignored him.
"How could she think this stupid plan would work?" He muttered. "Now we're all trapped here, we have to wait for Allen and the crusade."
"I think Hitomi planned it this way."
Van turned towards him now, his eyebrows knitted together. "What?"
Josceline was silent a moment, then continued. "I think she planned all of this. The dungeons, everything... She is a seer."
"And she'll come down here and get us will she?"
"She said she needed to retrieve something... perhaps it will help us." Josceline shrugged, then, muttering just audibly, "She's counting on one person to help us, I see it now."
"Who?"
"My brother." Josceline met Van's gaze now. "He was in the throne room, he knows I'm not your cousin obviously, but he lied to the king."
"That Celestial that brought us down here." Van decided to take a seat and listen to what Josceline had to say. Sitting across from him, cross-legged, he waited patiently.
"I don't think Hitomi knew he personally would help, but she knew we would get help..." He hesitated a moment before continuing. "Kaiomi is loyal to the throne, but he is also loyal to his family." His voice was forced as he spoke, and he looked down at the ground as he spoke. "I still can never forgive him."
Van watched him silently for a moment longer before standing up again and moving to look out into the dingy room. "If he lays one hand on Hitomi I will tear him to pieces." He was talking about the king again, remembering the pale man's dark gaze and creepy grin. He had Dilandau beat by far.
"I'll help." Josceline muttered from the corner.
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Hitomi was pacing back and forth in her room, ignoring the constant opening of the door by the Celestial on guard. Whenever he stuck his blonde head through the door, she turned from her spot and glared furiously at him, raising her hand threateningly to the necklace charm at her neck which still hung with her pendent. He would retreat immediately, but she heard him laughing with his brotherhood through the door at her expense.
Finally, her waiting paid off as she plopped herself down onto her bed as the door opened slowly. She blinked up in surprise at the tall man in the doorway.
The Celestial from the throne room was standing in her doorway, watching her with that same curious look he had given her earlier.
"Your very clever." He told her, coming into the room and closing the door behind him.
"As are you." She told him, her breath coming out slightly breathy due to the fact this man was giving her mind a small pull. His grey eyes penetrating into her in a way that Josceline's never did. "Your Josceline's brother..."
He nodded, "I am."
"You betrayed him." She couldn't even add an ounce of conviction to her words he had put such a spell on her.
He was silent a moment, simply coming further into the room. "I wanted to meet the women that made Josceline's heart change towards women."
Hitomi blushed slightly at his words. "Josceline is my friend."
"A pity..." He came all the way over to her now, kneeling down so he was eye height with her. He wasn't smiling, only watching her. "You would suite him." He took her hand in his and lightly placed his warm lips against the back of it, his eyes never leaving her face.
She made a small noise of alarm and pulled her hand away. "Celestial's can't be with women."
"No..." He was silent a moment, then stood, turning away from her and walking towards the window. The instant he did so, Hitomi felt his hold over her break. She stood, staring at his back.
"Your going to help me. Your the one."
He half turned to her again, his eyes on the floor. "I will, if only to make it up to my brother." He looked up at her and she found herself trapped again, despite all her will not to be. "You are the rightful ruler... women or not"
She took a deep, shaky breath and moved closer to him. "I need to get something from the tomb."
He eyes fell back over the castle grounds, out into the garden below. "Of course..."
"You'll help me get it?"
He nodded, turned, and walked back to the door. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Tonight?"
He turned, his hand on the doorknob, a smile on his face. "As soon as possible."
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Allen was pacing back and forth quietly under the docks, ignoring the frothy water that lapped up every once and a while at his boots, and the strong smell of fish that clung to the air. They could hear the sounds of fishermen walking along the dock above them constantly, and ever so often the heavy clump of Celestial boots and horses looking for them.
They had followed the tunnel through the city, twisting along dirty stone passageways that were dank and moulding from the moisture the climate here provided. It seemed they had been walking for hours when the cold blast of salty air hit them and it fully registered to them what was going on. They had lost Hitomi, Van and Josceline.
Luckily they still had the mage, Corilith, to guide them around the city and keep them away from the Celestials. But it was still very irksome to Allen that they had managed to loose the one person they'd been trying to protect on their journey. He was deeply regretting allowing her coming along with them from Asturia. She would have been much safer with Millerna, Merle and Griffin back at the castle.
"Allen, calm down, we need to figure out a way to get onto Dryden's ship." Selena made a vague hand gesture towards the harbour as she spoke, giving her brother a glare to top all others. "You are honestly not making the situation any better."
"The situation wouldn't be like this if that damn women and Van hadn't gotten themselves taken." Dilandau muttered.
Selena shot her other self a glare to match the one she gave Allen. "You shut up."
Dilandau snorted so loudly that Corilith looked up from the small magical fire she had created in the darkness near the tunnel. She had been attempting to contact the other mages, but finding it very difficult due to some interference.
"I need quiet please."
Selena raised her eyebrows in Dilandau's direction then went back to wrapping her hand in a dirty rage (she had cut herself in the tunnel and wasn't able to find something cleaner at the moment). She was silent for a moment before mumbling in Gadess's direction. "It doesn't matter anyway, I bet Hitomi had a reason for doing what she did."
"Something I'm quite convinced of as well." Corilith had abandoned her attempts and stood from her pile of burning driftwood and dried seaweed. "She could have overpowered those guards if she wanted to."
Allen turned away, glaring at Corilith now. "Hitomi could have surpassed the strength of 5 Celestials?"
Corilith regarded him carefully for a moment before turning to Selena, Dilandau and Gadess. "Ever since she took on the identity as the first queen, she has held an extreme amount of power that is only rivalled by King Damis himself. Even then, she had managed to defeat him once in the past."
"How come she hasn't used her powers yet?" Selena asked curiously, tying a knot in the bandage.
"She has shown us some strength... like her predictions. They took very little effort for her... they would normally tire someone out greatly."
"Being a seer has it's advantages, yes, but it doesn't mean Hitomi can fight with the rest of us."
It was Corilith's turn to glare at Allen. "Hitomi has other strengths we have not seen yet. She is like any other mage... not simply a seeress."
"And in the hands of that King, she is a weapon to this city, to this world."
They all turned in shock to the source of the withered voice, Allen, Gadess and Dilandau drawing their swords.
An old wrinkled women stood along the sloping side of the rocky shoreline, hidden in the shadows of the pier above them. Allen moved forward carefully, but Corilith held out a hand, watching the old women with narrowed eyes.
"Lady Marqueis. Surely you do not care what happens to the queen of this country."
"I do, if it means I loose my home in the process." She hobbled forward, apparently unaware to the fact the group had drawn weapons against her. "I was just thrown out of the castle, bastard wanted me killed. Luckily one of those Celestials has a head in the right direction and let me go."
Corilith stepped forward in turn. "You told them that Queen Hitomi was coming."
"No, the Celestial did that. I refused to help the king... he didn't like that."
Corilith felt suddenly very chilled. "So he is planning on destroying the city."
"Oh yes..." She smiled a very broken smile, her blue eyes dancing. "And he thought I would be willing to assist him."
"You can't... it goes against your work."
The old women tilted her head in what seemed to be respect to the younger mage. "Quite right. Destiny is on the Queen's side, as always."
She came closer to them now, right past Corilith, taking a seat next to Selena who hastily made room for her. "Your attempts at calling the Chain will go unanswered, I have made sure of it."
Corilith visibly paled, but didn't speak as she walked over.
"The Chain will only make matters worse, I have seen." She shook her head as if the outcomes of such an act were too horrible to envision or speak of. "The queen needs to succeed in this on her own."
"Why did she get herself caught?" Selena asked curiously when the women took a long pause.
Lady Margueis turned to Selena with a small smile, several teeth missing. "She needed to retrieve something from the castle grounds. A sword, to be more precise." She turned to Corilith again. "It didn't make too much of a difference in the king's defeat long ago... but perhaps she wants the circumstances to be the same." Corilith nodded for her to continue. "Queen Sahra gave an enchanted sword to a young man that worked as a stable boy at the castle at the time. He assisted her in the King's defeat. The sword pierced through the king's defences easily... in the hands of the young dragon king, the sword might be even more powerful. That is what she hopes for. It lays in the section of her tomb that the king was sealed in."
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Hitomi pressed a hand to her stomach as she headed down the corridors heading to the dungeons. She was growing more and more nervous the further they got through the castle. Kaiomi was pressing close behind her, holding her arm as if guiding her to their destination by force.
She wasn't sure how the Celestial managed to convince the king to let her come see Van and Josceline, but that was where they were headed. She looked down unconsciously to the sword that was now hidden under her layers of robes and gave a small shuddering breath, forcing herself to look away.
"Almost there." Kaiomi whispered at her side. She could feel his hot breath at her neck and his grasp tighten slightly as they steered around a corner. He gave a curt nod to a short Celestial standing guard at the top of the dungeon stairway. He backed away as they swept past him, but watched them suspiciously as they descended the stairs.
Once they came to the bottom, Kaiomi moved to light a lantern that hung along the side of the wall. The light flickered then grew steady, lighting the whole dark hall with bared cells lining the walls.
Hitomi stepped up to the first cell, watching as Van moved towards her then stop himself, changing his look of relief quickly to one of hatred, eyeing the Celestial behind her careful. Josceline didn't move from his spot near the wall, his head remained bowed as he stared at the ground, his new black hair hiding his face from her view.
"It's all right." She whispered to Van as she heard Kaiomi shuffle back up the stairs halfway, keeping a lookout for her as planned. Van moved forward a bit more carefully, his eyebrows together in obvious confusion. "He's helping me."
"Helping you do what?" He walked closer to her, wrapping a hand on around a bar, watching her fiercely. "Retrieve the item or get us out of here?"
"I've already got the item." She pulled a layer of robes as she spoke, and quickly unhooked the sword from the belt she had borrowed from Kaiomi and hid underneath. She handed it to Van through the bars.
Van eyed the sword carefully for a moment before turning to give an acquiring gaze to Hitomi. "A sword."
She sighed, apparently in irritation and shoved the weapon back towards him, as he had been trying to hand it back to her. "Not just any sword, Van. And I got it for you."
He looked down at the sword again with some confusion, then turned towards Josceline. "Josceline, get up."
The disguised Celestial did so, his now brown eyes looking over Hitomi for the first time since she arrived in the basement, then his eyes drifted past her to Kaiomi who was watching them from the stairway. "How is he planning on us escaping." His said, his voice colder then she had ever heard it.
"The escaping part was part of my idea actually." She said, turning his attention back to her. She was smiling slightly as she walked over to the lock on the cell, muttered a few words, and the lock fell open helplessly. Van hesitated before walking out as she opened the creaky cell door, watching her with slight amazement.
"Now what?" Van asked, staring up the stairs past Kaiomi, knowing full well there was Celestials all over the castle.
"Escaflowne." She whispered, her voice slightly excited, edgy... a tone he had never heard from her before. Her eyes were dancing with mirth. "Now that I have what I came for, I don't mind causing a bit of damage... as long as nobody in the city is harmed."
"Are you crazy?" He breathed out, just as Josceline stepped out of the cell behind him. "You want me to call Escaflowne from Dryden's ship to come and take us away?"
She nodded, a small smile on her face. "Damis doesn't know about you and Escaflowne, it was after his time. He knows of Escaflowne of course..."
He was staring open mouth at her, wondering what brought on this sudden change in her so much, when she answered his question for him.
"Please Van. We're so close now, I can feel it."
"If it means beating Damis..." He was still watching her slightly worried when Kaiomi stepped down the steps towards them.
"Ready?"
Josceline watched his brother with very little trust in his eyes and he backed away from him as he approached, just itching for his daggers.
Van passed Hitomi a quick look without even thinking about it, and, seeing what he thought he would find when she was looking away, a small bruise along the bottom of her chin and jaw where the king had obviously hurt her. That made up his mind, and he clutched the new sword tightly in his grasp as he nodded to Josceline's brother.
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AN: Another new chapter... I did this one fairly fast... I'm just itching to get this part of the series over with so I can move onto the next part.
reviews please!