A short chapter...Angi Kitty says I'm torturing my poor fans :))
Chapter 10
West Cape – 1000 A.D.
What a silly thing, Crono was telling himself, while pouring soda on the ground, in front of a tombstone.
I've talked to this man minutes ago...and now he has been dead for four hundred years.
Toma the Adventurer had asked them to offer a bottle of his favourite drink to his own grave.
«Rather disturbing, isn't it?» Lucca whispered, voicing her friends' thought.
Travelling through time could be sad, after all...talking to people knowing they're already dead...On the other hand, they were also still alive in another time and you could visit them, and this was comforting. What a mess.
The companions jumped away from the gravestone and Marle shrieked seeing Toma's ghost appearing in front of them. But he was smiling, and seemed carefree as ever. Perhaps afterlife wasn't so bad. Perhaps for Toma it was like some friendly pub that never closed, where he could always have free soda.
«Thank you, friends!» he said with a large grin «I've got good news for you. I can tell you where the Rainbow Shell is...and I will open the place for you. But you must come back to my time, because the isle doesn't exist anymore in this era»
They followed his advice and soon they were running through gloomy caves and corridors underground.
«So strange. It's similar to a prehistoric castle» Lucca observed, just some seconds before meeting a pack of angry dinosaurs.
***
The final battle with the bigger monster hadn't been so hard after all. And the Rainbow Shell was surely worth fighting for it. It was beautiful, sparkling even in the dim light of the cavern, enlightening the companions' faces with bright and changing colours. They stared at it in awe for several minutes.
Then Crono turned away to examine the small mouth of the cave. He looked again at the enormous Shell.
«We can't take it» he murmured, «It doesn't pass through the corridor»
«No?» Marle asked with sarcasm «I thought our backpacks were bottomless...We are carrying tons of equipment, why can't we take the Shell too?»
Lucca touched the wall around the cave.
«We need help to dig out another passage...or to enlarge the existing one. Let's go to the King's castle!»
«Of course, we have magical powers, but not a shovel or a pickaxe...well...» Marle grumbled, following the group. She had been sulky all day.
Crono was the last to leave the cave.
«Thank you, Toma» he whispered, and then he smiled.
Once again, Toma had asked for a drink before giving him some information.
***
Ozzie's Fort - 600 A.D.
Auree had met the tailor and the shoemaker, both humanoid Mystics like Flea himself.
If she had ever doubted that androgynous appearance could be common among those people, the shoemaker had reassured her. He was a muscular man with a long mustache, speaking with a deep, rumbling voice. Only the unusual colour of his eyes –yellow- and, of course, his pointed ears showed he wasn't human.
The tailor, on the other hand, was a tiny old woman who liked Auree at first sight and treated her like a grand-daughter.
Surely Flea was more feminine than those two.
Oh, great. He's actually more feminine than I am!
But when Auree saw her own reflected image on a great mirror in the corridor, she was surprised. She wasn't aware of how much she had changed in those last three weeks. She was wearing a stylish silky dress -made especially for her-, her face embellished with a carefully applied make-up, her brown hair well combed. She even wore a silver necklace and some rings, nothing really valuable but shiny cute little objects that she liked so much.
She looked quite astonishing, almost unrecognizable.
Flea had personally taught her how to use mysterious items like lipstick, powder and mascara.
Everything had begun one morning when Auree had entered her master's bedroom to change bedsheets. Flea was there, applying mascara on his eyelashes. The scene was so similar to something buried down in the farthest of Auree's childhood memories -her mother, in their happiest time- that she had stared in fascination. So he had invited her to sit besides him at the vanity, explaining the importance of cosmetics (he always talked a lot!) because beauty should be observed in all aspects etc.
«I know many people criticize me for using this stuff. They even laugh. But, who cares, I'm beautiful and they're not! Tell me, Auree, how rough and ugly human males must be, if elegance is always mistaken for effeminacy?»
While talking, Flea had opened a small jar full of some white substance and had begun absentmindedly smearing it on Auree's face. She had been too surprised to protest.
The cream was cold on her skin and smelled strangely.
«I've already told you about those cretins who somehow managed to defeat Magus, right? Well, when they entered my part of the castle, I was ready to teach them a lesson...I was following them around disguised as a bat»
He had smiled, pleased by that memory, and had taken other cosmetics from the table.
«Can you close your eyes just a second, dear? Good. They hadn't noticed me, the fools! They fought a monster I had put on my throne, they easily won and began celebrating, really believing to have defeated me, the great Flea! How stupid! So, I appeared from the air in front of them...their faces! That was a dramatic entrance! But...the silly frogman ruined everything, saying something like: Beware this woman! and so on...You can open your eyes, Auree, but stand still, please...I got very angry indeed. I yelled: Hey, are you blind or what? I'm a GUY, you know...Do you think the problem was settled? No, they dared to insist: But it's exterior is that of a female!, like I could be wrong about myself...Open your mouth slightly, will you? Those are humans, breaking into other people's houses and attacking without a reason, and believing they are the good ones! I can't stand them...Done! Look, Auree!»
She had looked at the mirror and had seen the pleasant face of an attractive woman.
«Make-up shouldn't be too...showy. Just a little thing...but it makes a difference, can't you notice?»
She had simply nodded, enchanted by her own image.
Flea had then provided her with some cosmetics and she was learning to use them. But now, before that mirror in the corridor, she was asking herself some questions.
Am I really doing this just for myself? Not to please him?
Ah, it was fun, however...
She sighed, her peace of mind suddenly ruined by an annoying thought. Nobody was going to believe that she hadn't done anything to deserve her master's presents. She could hardly believe it herself. Flea...well, he had asked her something, some kisses...not exactly asked, though. Sometimes, while he was talking to her, he suddenly went and gently kissed her, without a word. She let him do it. Why not? It was so satisfyingShe felt euphoric and light-hearted like a teenager with her sweet secret.
She realized she was blushing at the memory and got angry because she was walking among a lot of people and they could notice. Well, there had been very intimate kisses. She had never ever known that kisses could be like that.
How ignorant, she blamed herself, How many things you don't know, stupid old girl.
When her mother had explained her the mystery of birth, she hadn't mentioned kisses, caresses or whatsoever. She hadn't even mentioned love. Only many years later Auree had discovered -from other girl's comments- that those things could be pleasant. She had nurtured an abstract desire of experiencing them, but...only with someone really special.
And now, what was happening...A bright hope abruptly enlightened her. Perhaps...perhaps Flea was courting her. Perhaps he was a gentleman, he was waiting because he didn't want to abuse his position.
Stupid woman, stupid Auree, she repeated, fighting the urge to slap herself Don't delude yourself, he's a monster, he doesn't care about you!
Ah, kisses...his strawberry-flavoured lips, his soft tongue...She couldn't stop a warm feeling of happiness from filling her heart. She didn't want to.
But while she was hurriedly walking toward Flea's quarters, she met the worst person she could have seen in that delicate conjuncture.
Yulanna. The ominously fat woman nodded to Auree. She nodded in response, her dreaming smile quickly fading. Then Yulanna smirked, showing horrible yellow teeth, and winked.
Who am I, Auree thought, Don't judge her, don't judge...
She was not judging, but she couldn't help but thinking of Yulanna kissing Gorgl and almost retched. She scuttled away.
And things worsened when she reached her chamber. That Hench, Gorgl, Flea's chief bodyguard, was with her master in the parlour. Auree could hear them talking, the affected tones of Flea's voice sharply contrasting with the Hench rough speech. They were discussing something about soldiers and rotas, when the Hench suddenly changed issue.
«And your chambermaid» he asked, in a heavy allusive tone «Is she learning, eh?»
There was a long silence.
«She is a delightful girl» Flea said, nonchalantly «Just a bit too self-conscious»
«I saw her...what a change! If you like that kind of female, of course. Is she experienced?»
Flea sounded annoyed. He pretended not to have understood the meaning of the question.
«Well, no. But...she works hard, and I am content...You now have your duty, right?»
«...yeah, if you like strange things, sir, who am I to...»
«Yes, strange things unknown by you, like having a bath every day and changing my clothes! You have smeared mud everywhere with your filthy boots and you smell of rotten eggs! Go away!»
«Yessir!» Gorgl answered, in mocking reverence.
Auree heard him stomping toward the main door of Flea's apartments.
«Perhaps Yulanna can teach her a thing or two...»
Flea sounded enraged.
«Out of my place!»
Auree sat on her bed and sighed, almost in tears.