I do not own Legend of Dragoon or any of the characters.


Hired

Cade focused, using his magic to dry his clothes, then pulled them back on. When they'd reached Donau, a young girl had mistaken them for bandits by how dirty they'd been. He hadn't really minded, plus he was more concerned by the fact that Dart's Dragoon Spirit was stolen, as was Rose, but Shana had convinced everyone to get cleaned up before they did anything else, so they had gone to the inn to do it.

As soon as Cade was dressed, he walked back out of the inn, looking around. There was a church just to the left beside the inn and directly across from the entrance to the village, a stairway to the right of the church, which lead to the bar and shops where Cade had managed to find a slightly more worn spare poncho and had bought some extra clothes, then a road to the other side of the inn which led to the raised path up to the mayor's house, the road continuing under that path to reach the city's port. Cade walked back toward the village's entrance, resisting the urge to threaten the information out of one of the bandits around the city. They basically owned the city, all of them belonging to the Gehrich Gang, but if he threatened one, he'd probably cause more trouble, for himself and the people living in Donau. Instead, he walked to the village entrance, then to the first house inward from it, knocking on the door. If he needed to find out about the bandits, the best people to talk to would be the people the Gehrichs were threatening and extorting.

After a moment, the door opened, a young woman with tan skin and long, wavy brown hair opening the door, wiping her eyes as she looked at him suspiciously. "What do you want?"

Cade leaned forward slightly, keeping his voice low. "I'm trying to find the Gehrichs' hideout so I can take something back from them, and probably also take out their boss."

Her eyes widened and she quickly stepped out of the way, beckoning him in urgently. He stepped inside and she closed the door again. "You can't really mean to go against the Gehrichs alone, can you?"

"Oh, I'm not alone," Cade said. "There are actually six of us. Uh, I'm sorry, but, do you mind if I ask your name?"

"Oh, I'm Kate," she said.

"It's nice to meet you Kate," Cade smiled, then frowned. "Is there something wrong? It seemed like you'd been crying when you opened the door."

"It's my fiancé," Kate said. "When I came home from running errands this morning, he had left a note saying that he went to speak with the Gehrichs. He wants to ask them to pull out of Donau. I'm supposed to wait here for him."

"That's not wise," Cade said. "I doubt they'll simply agree to let go of something they consider their property. They'll probably make your fiancé their prisoner."

"Oh no!" she said, covering her mouth as her eyes watered. "I...I still have the note! I could show it to the mayor! Maybe he could do something! He's Lynn's father!"

"Let me," Cade said. "You should wait here in case he comes back. And since I'm going anyway, I can help out anyone the mayor sends."

Kate nodded, handing him the note and smiling gratefully. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," Cade said. "Do you know where they are?"

"Only that they're past the Barrens," Kate said. "But the mayor should know better."

Cade nodded. "I'll go and talk to him now, then. Thank you again."

"Please, bring him back safely," Kate said.

"I'll try," Cade said.

Lynn nodded and Cade left the house, walking toward the mayor's house just as the others all walked out of the inn.

"There you are!" Dart called, he and the others walking over to meet Cade. "Where'd you go? And what's that?"

"It's a letter one of the villagers left for his fiancée when he left to meet with the Gehrichs' leader," Cade said. "I'm taking it to the mayor for her, and offering our services in getting him back and dealing with the gang."

"Why?" Rose asked.

"Because we're going to their hideout anyway, and doing this, we can find out where that is," Cade said. "Also, it's the right thing to do."

"Fair enough," Rose said. "The mayor's house is up there, right?"

Dart nodded and they all headed up to the mayor's house, handing the letter to his butler. Within two minutes, they had been ushered inside and were speaking with the mayor. He asked them to leave so he wouldn't involve them in Donau's problem's anymore, but they assured him they were already involved because the gang stole something precious from them. The mayor informed them that they came from the Valley of Corrupted Gravity, but that was all they knew. After a moment of the mayor and his butler discussing whether or not they could afford to send anyone after Lynn, Dart volunteered their group as the entirety of the rescue party, the mayor thanking them several times before sending them on their way. As they were walking down the path back to the road, however, Cade glanced down at the road and raised an eyebrow just as a young girl, barely more than a child, slapped a Gehrich member who was shirtless with metal vambraces, shin guards, and red pants with bare feet and a bald head except for a black ponytail at the back.

"Hey, you drunk!" the girl snapped. "How dare you touch my butt!?"

"Don't be stupid!" the bandit snapped. "Why would I want to touch the but of a kid like you!?"

Cade glanced at the girl again. She had silver hair tied into a ponytail that reached the base of her neck using a blue ribbon tied into a bow, with her bangs loose, and wore an extremely revealing, blue dancer's bikini with a cloth wrapped around her hips and tied into a massive bow in the back with a short length of cloth hanging down in the front, the top only covering the bottom half of her breasts, being a thick leather that was about three inches wide and wrapped around her torso barely lower than her breasts, only barely reached high enough in a pair of points to cover her nipples, if Cade was judging it correctly, and had a spall spike in the middle with a pair of rounded arches on either side of it like the top of a heart. The top had intricate gold decorations in the front and a strip along the bottom of it, and was held on by a leather harness consisting of one strap running up between her breasts to a ring just below her collar bones, then two more straps out to a pair of straps around her shoulders. She wore a blue choker with gold around the bottom, the cloth wrapped around her hips was white, had a gold clasp for the strip handing in front of her, and the ends were mostly blue with water-like designs, and gold highlights near the edges and where the blue switched to white. She had on a pair of blue vambraces with gold cuffs and white in a pair of opposing spirals around them, a pair of blue shin guards with gold highlights, and blue and gold sandals.

"What'd you say!?" the girl demanded as Cade and the others reached the bottom of the stairs. "I could forgive you if you'd just admit that I am too sexy to ignore and apologize!"

"Huh?" one of the two bandits standing with the one she'd slapped, both of whom looked exactly like the ones Cade and the others had killed while fighting Mappi, asked. "Is this kid dreaming or what?"

"I can't stand it anymore!" she shrieked.

Then, she punched both in one swing, hurling them both backward before twirling gracefully. The third drew his knife and lunged at her, but she slammed an uppercut into his chin that sent him airborne. All three lay there in a daze for a moment before pushing themselves up.

"Ouch!" one of the two low-level thugs groaned. "You don't know who we are, do you!?"

"Oh, I know," the girl said calmly.

"You think you can get away with this!?" the bandit without a shirt demanded.

"Let me see," the girl said, pretending to think before a wicked grin spread over her face. "I think so."

All three bandits backed away for a moment before fleeing, one of them warning her that she'd pay. Cade chuckled, walking over to her.

"Well done," Cade said.

She grabbed a hammer from off to the side, turning to him as she raised it effortlessly. "Are you with the Gehrich Gang? Do you want me to smash you?"

"I'd prefer my head intact, thanks," Cade said. "We're not with them. We're looking for them. They stole something we need back."

"She has the same hair as you and Lloyd," Albert said.

"Indeed she does," Cade grinned, the girl's eyes flicking to his hair. "I'm Cade."

"Meru," she said suspiciously, swinging the hammer around behind herself where a metallic "clink" sounded and she released the hammer's shaft, which swung down behind her to rest diagonally a few inches from the ground. "You don't look like my groupies. Who are you?"

"I'm Dart," Dart said. "Who are you, exactly?"

"I told you, I'm Meru," Meru said. "I'm the best dancer in Donau."

"We don't have time to play with a kid," Rose said.

"I agree," Albert nodded. "We can't waste any time if we are going to help Lynn."

"Sorry, but we gotta get going," Shana said.

"You said Lynn!?" Meru asked, rushing over to Rose. "Then, you guys are going to rescue Lynn!?"

"As I said, the Gehrichs stole from us," Cade said. "We're going to get it back, so we agreed to rescue Lynn while we're there."

"How did you find out about Lynn?" Dart asked.

"I heard if from Kate!" Meru said. "But the people in this city are all chickens, right? So I was gonna go make a raid on their hideout! Then those bastards gave me a hard time! I guess they didn't take me seriously 'cause I'm alone." She held her hands behind herself, staring at the ground and scuffing one foot, only to straighten back up, smiling confidently again. "You know what? I'm going to go with you guys!"

Dart grimaced.

"Hey!" Meru said, walking over and leaning forward to try and get in his face. "There's no need to make that face!"

"Just ignore her," Rose finally said. "Let's go."

"Hold on!" Meru said. "Do you guys even know where the hideout is?"

"It's somewhere in the Valley of Corrupted Gravity, isn't it?" Dart asked.

"Wow, how naïve!" Meru snorted. "You make it sound easy, but you can't go through such a Hell of a mess kind of place without someone like me who's totally knowledgeable and totally pretty!"

"So, basically Rose," Cade said, tilting his head toward her as she rolled her eyes.

"No me!" Meru snapped. "Besides, you need the permission of the King just to enter the valley! Don't ya know that?"

"We do now," Cade said.

"What are we going to do, Dart?" Shana asked. "This girl is serious."

"Ah, let her come," Cade said. "If nothing else, we can make her carry our stuff."

"Hey, that's rude!" Meru said.

"I'm not babysitting," Rose said. "She's not my responsibility."

"Fine," Dart sighed. "You can come."

Meru began to cheer and do some weird kind of dance as she celebrated.

"Why?" Rose asked.

"We can trust her intentions to rescue Lynn," Dart said. "Besides, we don't know the place. We might need a guide."

"Right!" Meru nodded. "He's completely right!" She ran past the other before stopping and twirling. "Now, let's go! Beautiful danger Meru, and friends, form a posse for dealing with the Gehrich Gang!"

She threw a fist into the air and everyone groaned, Rose shooting Cade a glare, Cade simply shrugging, then pointing to Meru before swinging his finger around to himself. She raised an eyebrow before sighing and shaking her head, raising her shoulders in a shrug. Meru ran on ahead of them and they followed. As they left the city and started back toward the Barrens, Meru began to pepper them with questions. Where they were from, what their homes were like, what they liked to do, even their favorite colors and food. The others began to quickly tire of her cheerful attitude, but Cade was kind of enjoying it. She was like a constant ray of sunshine. Plus, he could sense her magic, and he was dying to ask her what it was like living among Winglies. He had so many questions for her. He hoped she hadn't either run away or been banished young. By his estimation, based off what his mother told him about a normal Wingly's lifespan, he was placing Meru's age somewhere between thirty and forty years. Barely sixteen in human years. But, of course, he'd have to wait until the others, probably including Rose, weren't around to ask. He could tell just from what little time he'd been around her that she wasn't ready for them to know.


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