SEEKING TRANQUILITY: In For Another Deal
Fallen scrubs of collected leaves; old and fated to detach from their branches and rest on the muddy forest ground incasing the castle; shrank deep in the mud with each taken step from Allen.
One time. No mistakes.
The light rain that had begun on his-- as well as his troops' arrival-- had grown into an incessant and nagging rain that was weighing down his troops armor with all the water it had collected.
Luckily for him, Allen hadn't much favored armor in all his years, and his part-take in finding Van, would be much less of a hassle without a loud piece of metal making a racket for him.
" Barricade the front!" Allen quickly swerved behind a tree, delicately shifting his thing frame behind the trunk and peering at the soldiers shuffling about the entrance in a frenzy.
He panicked.
Do they know? They can't possibly have spotted us in this weather!
Truth be told, Allen and his men had specifically been sent out on such a day. With all the rain and with how dark it had gotten by now, their chances of being spotted by one of Dilandau's dragon slayers, was slimmer than it would have been tomorrow.
Allen crept closer, hoping his blonde hair that stood out, wouldn't form as an attracting device and get him imprisoned.
That's the last thing I need…
" We've got word from Dilandau," The soldier that seemed to be in charge; ordering and wearing a different style of armor from the rest, spoke up again to two other dragon slayers crowding around him.
" What'd he say?" A meek looking slayer spoke up in the quietest voice, oddly baring a much less harmful appearance than the rest.
Perhaps he wouldn't have to worry so much over that one.
" Quit asking questions and get to your stations!"
" Yes, sir!" Both the men scattered away, but he noted the young-looking one had gone inside.
Perhaps he is the one I should be keeping my eye on…
Chesta briskly entered the castle, rain dripping off his clad-armor body as he scrambled down to the cell in the lowest floor.
He couldn't believe Dilandau had really betrayed Hitomi on his word, and had recently thrown her in the dungeons along with Van.
Hell, he of all people knew Dilandau was not one to keep promises, especially to the enemy. But Hitomi was different. She was of no harm, much less one to go back on her word.
" Quit daydreaming and keep your eye on the girl,"
Chesta stumbled back when he came face to face with Dilandau at the door entrance that lead to the cell chambers below.
Chesta nodded mutely, avoiding the red orbs that always seemed to over-look him with a predatory and suspicious manner.
But that was Dilandau for you. He didn't trust anybody. Not even his own men.
" What are you waiting for? MOVE!!"
Quickly, he swerved out of the dragon slayers way, avoiding any further conflict with him. Dilandau was never a happy camper when something was nagging at him.
More so, he looked ready to pass out; exhausted from not a blink of sleep on his partake.
Dilandau slammed the door behind him. Everything had gone according to plan. He'd caught the King of Fanelia, and not only that, but he had managed to fool the moon girl into siding with him.
She betrayed her stupid little prince charming just to save him!
His teeth sunk together. " How utterly disgusting,"
That girl. The moon girl. She was so fathomed with that damn tart Van. It was so damn obvious. Even if you were blind you could see it!
Why! She'd risked her own life for him. Agreed to his terms to save him. And what did that prude do in return?
The idiot got them both locked up in a cell!
And why did he throw Hitomi on in there with Van? Why it was simple!
She cared so much for him she'd do anything! Even demise a plan against him and somehow get them both freed.
She'd betray him. Like all the rest.
He wasn't stupid. Or born yesterday. That girl, the way she spoke of Van. So…..fondly.
How could someone even like a maggot like him!?
Not only that, but he was actually thinking of freeing that girl. Of all things! And he thought he was insane. Now he knew for certain he was insane!
Bowing his head till his hands encased it, he shakily drew in low breaths as he sat at the edge of his bed.
And why, why wasn't he enjoying this as much as he'd thought?
Shouldn't he be leaping with joy? Mocking every soldier--to the damn last--that he knew had doubted him once?
Or at least down in the cells spitting in Van's face and doing all the things he'd wished to do since the day of his very birth!?
Well…practically……..he couldn't remember a time he liked Van.
Van was a pond in his game. A challenge in fact.
And he'd see fit the arrogant king would be stepped on like the very insect he was.
In unison, Van and Hitomi looked up when someone came down the stairs and into the cell area.
Hitomi immediately recognized him from before.
" Chesta!" Oh thank God! He's come to save us!
Hitomi couldn't help but note he looked mildly surprised for a moment. Was it because she remembered his name?
" I-I brought you some clothes to change in,"
Hitomi smiled, taking the offered clothes from Chesta before the boy meekly offered a different set of clothing for Van.
Van spat at the clothes, a scowl marring his tanned face. " I want nothing to do with the likes of Dilandau or his servants,"
Hitomi was shocked. Van really did hate Dilandau. So much he even detested anyone who worked under the dragon slayer.
Hitomi couldn't help but guiltily study Chesta's expression. He reflected off her shock with a look of pure horror of his own.
Van briskly turned his head to the side, away from Chesta's viewing. " Tell Dilandau he can shove those clothes--"
" Van, stop this!" Hitomi cut him quickly before things got messy. Or for that matter, gaining Dilandau's attention. His room was after all, practically right above the cells.
Van's jaw tightened, his maroon eyes swerving to send Chesta a vicious glare. " How can you trust him so easily, Hitomi?"
Hitomi was momentarily glad his voice had toned down to a low, soothing murmur when he spoke to her. Chesta had even managed to notice how Van's voice had respectively taken on a whole change when he spoke to the moon girl.
" He's not like the others. Trust me," Hitomi had known bad people, and Chesta just did not come of as one of those type of people.
Van laughed, but it was nothing short of happy. " Just like you trusted him,"
She found herself wishing him to talk like he usually did, without sounding so mildly bitter. And as for his response, it was completely rhetorical.
Both knew the answer. She dreaded it herself.
Dilandau had gone back on his word, and now look where she was.
I trusted him. Van's right. How could somebody……..break a promise like he did?
It wasn't the fact that he had broken his promise, but the way he had done it. Without a speck of guilt or remorse for betraying her.
It was like he had done it a million times before, and he could do it a million times again if he had the chance.
He'll pay for lying to me.
Hitomi was one not for vengeance or revenge. But of all the things she hated. She hated it when someone went back on their word.
" Damn it!"
A loud clash rang throughout the vicinity, even reaching the ears of the soldiers standing guard outside.
Dilandau panted heavily, chest rising and lowering as he studied himself in the mirror he'd just punched with the last bit of his strength.
Shards continued to fall from the crevice made in the center of the mirror where he had directed the blow.
He didn't care that his right hand was bleeding, knuckles marred in gashes and stinging like hell.
No…….what he was so pissed off about was the fact that he wasn't experiencing sheer victory by getting that ass of a king.
He continued to over-look his appearance in the mirror. God I look like hell.
Even through the broken glass, he could clearly make out the dreary fatigue paling his normally creamy hued skin, to a sickly chalky white.
Lifting his left hand, he watched his movements through the mirror, as if this would further verify that the sickly, ghostly man that was being reflected, was really himself.
What's wrong with me? Why do I look so damn weak!?
He smothered his face with his hand, inhaling the unique smell of the black leather glove that left the fingers bare, giving him an almost menacing look.
He spread his fingers out over his face, looking back at the mirror to see his left eye visible and staring intently back at him.
Damn it. Damn it all!
Looking in a damn mirror all day wasn't going to make anything better, or for that matter, cheer up his foul mood.
Perhaps it was the weather?
His hand slid and eventually fell off his face to land back on the dresser in a fisted manner.
No…..weather like this surprisingly felt right. Rainy days like these seemingly reflected off him so well.
Gloomy. Dark. Mysterious. Unpredictable.
He laughed lowly to himself. Definitely unpredictable.
He cradled his right hand in his left, running his fingertips over the gashes carved in his bloody knuckles. Releasing his wounded hand, he pounded both fists furiously atop the dresser, causing the remains of the broken mirror, to rattle and shatter to the floor.
Chesta peered inside, hesitantly entering and studying Dilandau's slouched frame over the dresser across the room.
" What is it?"
" He--the clothes--he didn't want them," Chesta blurted, swallowing audibly.
Dilandau's back began to shake before he was sonically laughing.
" So the King thinks he's too mighty to accept offered clothes from me. That it?"
Chesta gripped the masculine attire to his chest tightly as Dilandau began to turn.
" And the girl?" He demanded, voice hitching up again.
" She took them, Dilandau, Sir,"
He immediately bowed his head, finding his feet to be of some interest.
" Look at me!" Dilandau shouted, before a smirk tugged at his lips. " She took them, did she?"
Before he could even answer, Dilandau was pacing his room, cursing all the while.
That was when Chesta had time to see what Dilandau had been doing in here to make such a ruckus.
He spotted the broken mirror, as well as the shards of glass that were littered atop the dresser and around it. He also couldn't help but notice several glass shards to be completely covered in blood.
Dilandau stopped suddenly--mid-pace--to glare viciously at Chesta. " What are you still doing here?!"
" I thought I told you to keep an eye on them!!?" He bellowed.
Chesta abruptly escaped from the room, slamming the door behind him just in time to block the vase Dilandau had attempted to throw at his head.
Chesta heaved shakily. Sheer luck.
Dilandau sneered when the vase smashed into pieces as it impacted against the door.
Next time, he'd be sure to hit that idiot over the head to knock some sense into that empty head of his. Maybe then, he'd get to doing something useful around here.
Hitomi cradled her head against the wall that connected her cell to Van's, quieting herself to listen to his steady breathing from the opposite end. He'd obviously fallen asleep.
She however, was far from tired, or for the matter, able to sleep. She had too much to think on.
She fumbled with the folded clothes in her arms, hesitantly letting her fingers brush over the key that was hidden beneath the blouse's flaps.
No doubt, Chesta had slipped it in her robes to assist in hers and Van's escape.
But why? Why would he possibly risk his own life just to save hers and Van's? Sure he'd been kind to her. But was it really worth losing his life for the enemy?
She couldn't do it. Her conscious kept saying that it wouldn't be right to take the offer and have him most likely killed.
I'm sorry Chesta. But I just can't take that risk.
He may be the enemy, but to her he was just a boy who had no choice but to play "follow the leader" with Dilandau and the other dragon slayers.
She hurriedly shoved the key back in the robes when a pair of footsteps could be heard.
Chesta arrived, and she let out a relived sigh when she saw it wasn't Dilandau.
" Your still here?" He crept close to her cell, kneeling the slightest and keeping his tone hushed to where she even had to struggle to hear his words.
" I can't. I appreciate this a lot. But I can't take that risk,"
She shoved the garments back into his arms through the bars, avoiding his stare.
" But you have to. If you stay here any longer….." He paused, turning his head to scan behind him for reassurance, before lowering his voice and continuing.
" Dilandau might kill him and you,"
She rested her forehead against the metal bars as she gripped them to hold her steady in her knelt position.
" I know but……..I can't risk your life. It would be wrong,"
He bit his lower lip, studying her face to find her completely serious. He quickly scurried away from her cell when the door opened to reveal Dilandau.
" Well, well. Having a nice little chat with the enemy are we?"
Chesta swallowed hard. What would he say? He couldn't exactly tell him he'd given the enemy the key to escape.
Hitomi propped her head up, glaring at Dilandau. " I was asking him if I could change somewhere else,"
Dilandau absently tended to his now bandaged hand. " Ah, so does the princess also wish for a luxury bath as well?"
She remained still, not allowing the sarcastic gleam in his eyes to throw her off guard.
" Chesta, leave," He ordered. The boy did as asked, curtly bowing toward Hitomi before fleeing up the steps and out of the lower floor.
" I have a deal that you might find interesting enough to think on,"
" You mean another bargain to break?" She snapped.
He laughed, a laugh she found herself shuddering at the sound of. So menacing…
" And to think I thought you were desperate enough to have your prince charming freed," He drawled, before a grin broke out on his face when she suddenly jumped at his words.
" What do I have to do?"
" All you have to do is do my bidding, care for me if I'm ever to be wounded in battle, cook for me, clean for me, bathe me….."
His smirk grew ten-fold. " All you really have to do is become my servant till I find you no longer of use,"
" And if you lie again and keep Van locked up here?"
He knelt down, capturing her chin in his hand. " I have far more worth keeping you than him. You are of greater value,"
She glared up at him. " I'll do it, after I see Van is safe and back home in Gaea,"
He grinned, releasing her chin and standing. " You have yourself a deal,"
" Let's see if you can just keep your word,"
" On the contrary, I will if you will,"
Her face hardened. This time he wouldn't fool her. This time he would have to free Van in order to keep his end of the bargain.
And being his servant till he got bored of her? Well, heck, he'd get bored of her in a matter of days, if no less.
She peered over at Van's cell just as Dilandau made his exit. It's time for me to pay you back for all those times you protected and saved me. Think of this as a thank you, Van.
" I'll do it. For you,"
Dilandau leaned back against the door after retreating from the cell.
A servant? I suppose I do need one….Not to mention she'll be quite the nice little instrument to have around when I get bored. She'll be of some use to me. But only for awhile. After that, she can go back to her stupid Van.
And with the help of the moon girl with her rumored psychic abilities. He'd be the ruler of Fanelia in no time.
" And as I said before, let the real games begin," A cynical laugh followed before he headed in his room.
Tomorrow at dusk he'd free that damn Fanelia king and get his share of the deal over with. Then, then he could concentrate on using the moon girl's abilities for a much more better cause.
Ah yes, being King soon was definitely starting to brighten his day.
Allen stirred against the bushes, haven fallen to a lucid sleep after waiting for hours beyond end, and still not one slayer had managed to seal their eyes shut.
Dilandau really does keep these guys on leashes if they've managed to not get a wink of sleep since mid-morning.
Drearily, he slid his hand over his face before narrowing his eyes in an attempt to clear his blurred vision.
It seemed the soldiers were yapping about something important.
" Allen, Sir,"
" What!?" He hissed, turning his head and glaring at his troops standing shakily behind him.
" We've been waiting for hours, and still we can't get a long enough time to slip inside,"
" You think I don't know this?" He snapped, turning his head back around and waiting for them to duck behind him.
" They will. In good time they will,"
One of the men briskly rubbed his arms in an attempt to bring some warmth to his soaked body. They were all soaked in fact, having been in the pouring rain for hours in hiding just to wait for some stupid guards to fall asleep.
" What're they talking about?" Another chattered, lips blue and face a deathly pale.
" If you'd be quiet I might hear," Allen murmured, scooting closer in the hiding of the bush to get a better leverage of the conversation going on between the soldiers crowded near the front.
The lead one--biggest of all--spoke up in a brutal tone. " We can't go against Dilandau's wishes. We do as asked and take him back to Fanelia by dusk tomorrow,"
Take who back?
Allen noticed the fair-haired boy from earlier, walking out of the castle with an ashen expression.
He sure looks down. Allen arched a perfect fair brow in suspicion.
The big-boned solder turned and faced Chesta. " Well? What'd he say?"
The one now known as Chesta, gave a meek shrug. " He's releasing him tomorrow. That's all he said,"
A brunette man spoke up. " I can't believe this! None of you find it odd that Dilandau is actually going to free Van?!"
" Of course we do. But like I said, we do our orders and nothing more," The bulky man poked the brunette in his chest before crossing his arms and staring ahead.
" We don't question why Dilandau does these things. Our job is to just follow orders,"
Allen gaped in shock.
Free Van!? Something's not right! Why would Dilandau free him just like that!? Does he have some kind of plan up his sleeve? There's no way it's that simple….
Allen turned and faced his men. " We're heading back,"
" What!?" One hissed, eyes wide.
The other three men followed, giving off looks of their own shock.
" You heard me, we're heading back now,"
" What about the King?" One nagged in a hopeless tone.
Allen sighed. I have a feeling what those slayers said was true……
Allen glared at them. " Your under my orders. Stop asking questions and get a move on,"
The four men nodded hesitantly before scattering about the forest and back to Gaea.
Allen glimpsed the castle one more time. I just hope that stupid feeling is right about all this. If Van isn't back by mid-day tomorrow, then I screwed up. And I can't allow that.