Sorcerer Hunters

"Starstone"

Chapter X

Author's Note: I wrote this chapter because I fell in love with a pic of Marron I've seen on a few fansites now. Besides, it adds to the Gaterron loving, which makes me happy.

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Marron looked up from his book. The shade from the awning he sat beneath kept him cool, while the rays of sun lit up the pages perfectly for him to read. Comfortable and relaxed, he watched Gateau go through an extra-long workout in the inn's practice yard. He knew that his tall, vain friend was only staying out in the heat as a result of the numerous young girls who had arrived to watch him.

It was just as well that Gateau was there to attract the young girls; Carrot was chasing away three for every one that arrived.

Gateau picked up a bow and easily bent and strung it. The girls on the fence sighed and swooned as he picked his arrows and began to practice his archery.

"Darling is really starting to get on my nerves," Chocolate gritted out as she sat next to Marron in the shade. "Why does he have to chase after all of those girls when I am right here, willing to..." A dreamy look came into her eye, and Marron decided to return his attention to his book.

"Marron," Gateau called a few minutes later. The young mage looked up to see the tall blond approaching him, bow and quiver in hand. "Give it a try?"

The mage shook his head. "I'd rather not."

"Yeah?" Gateau grinned at him. "Judging from the look of those girls out there, you could shoot and never hit the target once and they'd still be all over you."

"You are not amusing, Gateau." Marron flipped a page and continued reading.

"Bah." Gateau set the bow and quiver on the table and reached for a towel to pat the sweat from his neck.

"I guess we got here in time," said Tira, setting down her lunch plate. "I just hope we guessed right."

"This is the most logical place for them to attack next," Marron reminded her. "It fits the pattern, and it's a small enough town that they won't expect much resis–"

His words were cut off by an explosion of dirt and flying wood. He sighed and shut his book. "That would be them," he said, standing.

The girls that had gathered around the fence screamed and ran in all different directions, as many running towards the site of the explosion as away. More explosions burst from houses, trees and walkways, showering everyone with debris.

"That's definitely them. Are you ready, Tira?" Chocolate stood up, ripping off her coat.

"I'm always ready to put bad boys in their place," Tira said. In a shower of rose petals she stood, ready for battle, her whip in hand. She laughed. "Ahahaha! Here I come, boys!"

"Tira, look out!" Gateau yelled, too late, as a flying ball of blue light hit her in the stomach and detonated, throwing her through a wall.

Carrot dodged more balls of blue light as the dust from the explosions began to die down. Three women stood in the clearing where the town hall used to be. One of them wore armor and carried a giant spiked hammer as if it weighed nothing. The other two had sorcerer's marks on their forheads, that flashed brightly in resonance with the exploding balls of light that danced around them.

"We're not boys, whoever you are. What's this?" one of the sorceresses laughed. "Sorcerer hunters? Oooh, I'm so afraid! Ahaha!" Her laugh was obnoxious and piercing, making the sorcerer hunters grit their teeth.

"Look," said the other sorceress, her voice lower and her expression sour. She waved a hand to where Tira lay unconscious, "We've already done away with one of them. The others should be quick work."

"You'd like to think so." Chocolate jumped up, wielding her hooked wire. "No one defeats the sorcerer hunters that easily!" Straight as a pin, the deadly wire flew at the second sorceress.

The wire never reached its mark. The muscular, armored woman retaliated with a strike from her warhammer, shattering two yards of Chocolate's garrot wire. A large stone thrown by Gateau was similarly batted away.

"Who's the weak link?" the sorceress' bodyguard laughed. She caught sight of Carrot, who was panting from exertion from evading the sorcerer's magic blasts. "You!" she decided, swinging her warhammer in a wide arc.

"Yowp!" Carrot yelled as he realized his danger. He jumped and ran to avoid the bodyguard's attack, too late. The blunt end of the warhammer caught him in the chest, knocking him flat.

"BROTHER!" Marron roared. A flash of light blinded Gateau, Chocolate, and the trio of attackers. As the world dimmed again, Marron raced towards the sorcerers. His voice shrieked with magic and anger. "How dare you hurt my BROTHER?" He jumped into the air so fast, it appeared as if he were flying. Then he came down on the sorceresses, the runes on his ofuda flaming even before they hit their marks.

The world was silent for a moment. Then the ground beneath the pair of sorceresses exploded in flames, and the sorceresses with it.

As the dust settled, Marron ran to his brother. "Are you alright, my brother?" he asked, his voice soft and concerned.

Carrot tried to sit up and winced. He wrapped his arms around his ribs. "I... no," he coughed.

Marron carefully lay him back down. He pulled off his outer robes and draped them over Carrot's body, then placed an ofuda parchment on his chest. "Stay here," he commanded. "I'll get you a doctor."

"Be careful, Chocolate," Gateau warned. "Their bodyguard is still running around here somewhere." Fists clenched tight and ready, he braced himself, looking around.

Chocolate waved the settling dust away from her face. "Er... not exactly," she called back at him. Her eye twitched and her mouth hung open as she stared at the debris. She looked slightly sick.

It took another moment of dust dissipation before Gateau could see what held her attention. When he could, he walked over.

The bodyguard's eyes were glazed over, drying blood caked with dirt trickling from her mouth as she lay slumped over the crumbling cornerstones of what had once been a building. Three arrows stood out of her chest, half-shaft deep, in a straight line just below her collarbone.

After staring at the body for a moment, Gateau looked at Chocolate. "...I didn't know you could shoot like that," he said, still stunned.

"I... don't even know which end of a bow is up." Chocolate looked at him. "You didn't do that?"

Gateau shook his head. "Wasn't me."

"Tira can't use a bow either," the elder Misu sister mused.

"Oh, that's just not fair," came a groggy voice from nearby. Chocolate and Gateau looked over to see Tira pushing herself into a standing position. "I missed the whole fight?" she groaned, staggering over to them. She took a moment, herself, to stare at the arrow-riddled body. "Wow, Gateau... good shot."

He shook his head again. "I'm telling you–it wasn't me!"

"Darling!" Chocolate cried, running to where Carrot lay on the ground.

"Ugh," Carrot groaned, his vision blurry.

"Oh, Darling, you're hurt," his admirer crooned. "What's this?" She peered at the ofuda on his chest. "It's one of Marron's isn't it?"

"...C-can't... move..." the elder Glaice brother gritted. His face tightened and his fingers twitched, but he appeared to be unable to sit up.

"It was to keep you still, brother dear," Marron explained, standing over the gathered team. An old woman stood next to him, panting, carrying a medic's bag. "You need a doctor."

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Marron sighed as he slowly lowered himself into the hot spring water. Carrot was strapped to his bed to prevent him from aggravating his injuries–or from chasing after the doctor's young assistant. A thick wall separated this spring from the next one over, where the girls were soaking their bruises from the day's fight.

He placed his towel on a rock where it would not fall, and found himself a place to sit comfortably. As he submerged his left arm, he winced.

"I thought so," Gateau's voice was unsurprised, although it startled Marron, who looked up. His large friend was leaning over a pile of rocks above him, looking down on him. Jumping over the rocks, he landed next to Marron with a splash, soaking them both.

Gateau gently took Marron's left arm and turned it wrist-up. In the light from the bath house, they could both see the red welts on Marron's forearm.

"You're sure protective of your brother," Gateau commented. He stood, grabbing his towel from a nearby rock and wrapping it around his waist. He waded out of the spring, only to return a minute later with a cloth bandage. He sat back down, and Marron silently allowed his friend to bandage his arm. "I've never seen you pick up a bow before."

"Brother... wanted to learn, once."

Gateau tossed the extra bandages to the bank of the pool. "Never seen him shoot a bow, either."

Marron smiled. "He became bored with it quickly, but Mother made us continue our lessons. He's actually not bad."

"It only took one shot to kill that bitch." Gateau leaned back against a rock and put his arms behind his head.

Marron determinedly closed his eyes and settled himself lower into the steaming bath. He had no intention of playing his vain friend's games.

"And," Gateau went on, not seeming to notice that Marron was not admiring his muscular body, "It only took one shot to rip half the skin off your arm." Marron slipped off the seat-ledge to sit lower in the water, hoping his friend would let up, to no avail. "But you shot her three times. Remind me never to challenge you at archery. And I'll make sure to stay away from Carrot, too." He glanced down at Marron, who was all but eyes and ears underwater. "Any other skills I should know about?"

Marron sighed, then regretted it, as the air rushed out of his mouth. He was forced to pull himself back out of the water and onto the ledge to inhale again. "I can use a sword. Mother made sure that my brother and I learned how to fence."

Gateau stretched and rubbed his neck. "Anything else?"

"I'm not going to give you all my secrets, Gateau."

The brawny blond laughed. "Better that you don't, I guess." He grinned at the small mage. "Hey, Marron..."

Marron looked up at his friend. "Yes?"

The blond's grin nearly split his face. "I was hoping you'd say that," he said. In one swift move he pulled the young mage into his arms. Fistfuls of long, black hair clenched in his hand as he braced Marron's head and pressed their lips together.

Too shocked to react at first, Marron stared at Gateau's face, so close to his, feeling lips on his own for the very first time. As he tried to come back to himself, his slender fingers scrabbled over Gateau's thickly muscled shoulders, slippery with water, trying to find a grip. Finally, he gave in, wrapping one arm around Gateau's back, the other running up to bury his fingers in blond hair, and he closed his eyes as he relaxed into his friend's embrace.

After a few moments, Gateau pulled away, still grinning from ear to ear. Marron tried to sit back, but found himself well-entangled in muscular arms. "What are you smiling about?" he demanded.

"Just wanted to know if you'd do that," came the pert reply.

Marron frowned. "You're obnoxious." He half-heartedly tried to push himself away, only to find himself nose to nose with Gateau, and eye-to-eye with bright, ice-blue irises.

"And you're sexy when you're on the offensive," Gateau murmured, pulling Marron in for another prolonged kiss. This time when they parted, it was just enough to breath. Their lips barely touched as they inhaled the steamy hot spring air. "Okay," Gateau said, his breath short, "You're actually sexy all the time." He butterfly-kissed Marron's open mouth.

"You keep saying I'm sexy," Marron panted. Gateau looked through the mage's lowered lashes to see darkening amber eyes. "But I know you just like me because I think you're attractive." He pressed his head forward and kissed Gateau hard, something the other man did not seem to mind at all. Their hands grappled over each other's backs as they tried to pull closer to one another.

Suddenly Gateau turned the tables on the young mage, flipping him around in the water so that he faced away, then pulling him against his chest. Marron craned his neck up and backwards, trying to see Gateau's reddening face. "...Gateau?"

Gateau buried his nose in the tangled hair on Marron's neck for a moment, inhaled, then set the younger man gently but quickly down. He stood swiftly and waded back to the bathhouse, re-wrapping his soaked towel around his waist again as he went.

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