Drunken Lullaby :: An Erk and Serra Story ::
Chapter 2: Taking Over Me
"I lie awake and try so hard
Not to think of you
But who can decide what they dream?
And dream I do...
I believe in you
I'll give up everything to find you...."
-'Taking over me' Evanescence
It had all begun again. That gnawing feeling he no longer was vulnerable against now took him victim as he sat before Lord Unther of Ostia and the now much less of a rascal, Lord Hector of Ostia. The table evenly divided their righteous presences to the other, equals all in the same room. Hector's blue hair had grown, now in a ponytail, much like Lord Pent's, on his shoulder armor. His eyes were softened by the way of his ladylove, the tactician journeyman, Lita.
Lita was an apprentice underneath the tactician who had planned all their battles. She stood beside the seated Hector and Unther awaiting a decision to be decided. The six-year older sage that sat before them had not said anything from the moment he was told his assignment. This assignment was given to Erk personally so they knew he had no right to decline.
The sage looked up underneath a mass of purple hair. His amethyst eyes glowing in a dark color as if he was tempted to use his anima magic to get away. Pausing, he shook his head in thought. The lord of the Lycian League gave this assignment.
He knew he had to do it.
"When do you need her by?" He asked in his monotonous voice waiting for the answer rather patiently. His jobs as of late did not consist of helping pretty frail women get from somewhere. In fact his business as of the last six years included two campaigns, one with Lady Lyndis, the other with Lord Eliwood, reading about many different tomes, and experimenting with magic while still undertaking many magic specific jobs such as helping the Lycian League lords from time to time, like this assignment.
"Within four years. If she doesn't come in person, then we cannot go ahead with our plan. None of the priestesses within any of the orders have enough power to help us seal this foul magic away, besides the orders are very corrupt and there is not a priest or priestess you can trust as far as you can throw them. I trust you will keep the details of your mission to yourself, Master Sage?" Unther answered. His scarred face betraying little emotion though the sage could tell that he dislikes the idea of an unsealed artifact.
Erk's ready hands swept through a side bang then settled back onto his lap. He mulled over the subject in particular. The person in the mission needed to be tracked. The person had been away from the order they hailed from for almost six years. No contact with anyone when they left. Hector obviously trusted his choice and he knew that everybody needed a little reminder of what they often left behind.
He had to hunt down Serra. Hector explained that he was the only one in the entire campaign and the order that knew her completely and utterly. He even said she would most likely come with someone who had been a comrade in arms, even a familiar face. Erk had been cold to Hector when he mentioned that tormentor's name.
Ever since she had left six years ago without a trace to her whereabouts, he had barely been able to ever get to sleep and in his free time she tormented him along with the voice of their child. He often found himself wondering what the child was like. Shaking his head, he returned to the job at hand.
He had to accept. He would be able to see her again if he did. Erk could also maybe see a glimpse of the child he never saw hide nor hair of. No one had learned of Serra bearing his child except for Lucius and Lord Pent. Both times he had been utterly drunk when it had happened but from what they both had explained was that he had called out to Serra and asked how their child was doing and why she felt that she couldn't tell him about his child. They also said he turned into a sobbing mess as he longed for her.
"Is there any rumors of her?" Both lords shrugged and told him more than likely she wasn't in Caelin or Phaere, or Ostia where people might know her. What he knew of her also suggested that she would not be in Bern. She found the wyvern riders distasteful and hated the military attitude in Bern. So she was either in another country or within Laus. So far what he remembered of her was that she loved Lycia and would never leave.
Unther commented that it had taken her a whole lot of bribery on even leaving to Etruia. She knew of Etruia and its sages and knew that it was a country more or less of study than anything. He seemed discontent with that fact but merely pushed it aside. Getting up, he nodded to Lord Unther.
"I'll do it. I'll leave tomorrow morning. Would you please have a horse ready and a few tomes of elfire and a few healing staves waiting for me in the morning, my lords?" Both had nodded their consent, Lord Unther requesting a servant almost immediately. Both stood up and waited for Erk to bow and leave.
"Shouldn't you have told him the real reason, my lord?" Lita asked Hector as the door closed. He chuckled, brushing a strand of hair out of her somewhat fair face. His deep-throated chuckles caused her to tilt her head in question. Sometimes, Hector just acted weird, especially around her. Placing a gloved finger on her nose, he grinned.
"For a tactician, Lita, you don't have much tact." He laughed a little more, tapping his finger on her nose. "If he knew the real reason why he was fetching Serra then he would have insisted he was fine until he worked himself to death. He needs to see her along with her little brat. Lord Pent requested this out of a favor for concern of Erk. "His tactician made a face then shook her head. Lord Pent, the fatherly man that he was, came to Lord Unther with a plan to get Erk stubbornly out of his books and into the world once again.
Erk had been working continually and hadn't stopped for sleep for a near of two days. He finally had gone to sleep only after Lord Pent got him drunk enough then dragged him to his chambers within the sage's hall when Erk asked for Serra and their child's well being. It made a lot of sense now to Hector as he had read her letter. In it she thanked him, with a heavy heart then said he was a pigheaded moron that needed to learn manners in order to get a wife.
He had shaped up sharply as he had to deal with court people nowadays. With a smirk, he held his arm out for the lady tactician and went out to the dining hall to eat their dinner. Unther came down, following them a ways back from where they walked.
Erk was going to go find the person the needed he most, whether he stubbornly liked it or not. Hector's thoughts hit it head on.
"Healer!!" A small girl with her hair in pigtails ran down the hill to the small white cottage. The foliage of green trees and plants over gave the place a sort of mysticism that Serra was more than happy to allow. Coming out of the nearby garden, a woman with long pink hair down to her bum, the obvious healer, took this chance to watch the small wayward child.
"My name is Serra, not healer," The pink-haired woman told the girl when she had stopped in front of the woman. Her small tiny breathes coming in pants. Her hair was a light blonde-blue frizzed to say the least. She clutched the healer's skirts in hope, and also to steady her small human body. "And that would be Ms. Serra to you, Nyne. (Nigh-nee)" She added as an afterthought.
Nyne nodded in confirmation. No person went against the healer's commands. Serra, as the pink-haired bishop was named, had protected the nearby village and healed the sick or wounded whenever needed with the condition that she did not get paid but instead had favors given instead. The innkeeper would give Serra and Reka, a boy about Nyne's age, any meal everyday for free for saving her husband from yellow fever a year back. Everyone allowed the Healer to mainly get what she wanted. She was their main warrior and also their healer.
"M-Ms. Serra!! O-one of the b-b-boys had an acci-accident at the river!!" Nyne looked up towards the calm faced woman. Serra was willing to show emotion but you could see everything was fake unless it came to Reka or the untouched subject of his father. The Healer stood there and nodded, understandingly to the child that began to have tears come to her eyes.
"Take a few deep breaths and tell me what has happened. A panicked mind helps no one, remember that always." Her voice didn't change but showed that she was concerned to say the least. Earlier that day she remembered Reka going off with some of the village boys and some of the tomboyish girls. They had decided to go play in the river since it was such a warm day. She worried endlessly about her Reka and was always relieved when he barely would ever get hurt.
"One of the boys went to far in the river and was getting carried away. Reka and some of the other boys followed him to where he got picked up by camped bandits. Reka and the boys hid in the bushes and told me to get you!!" She was scared out of her wits. Nyne's hands were clamped at her sides, clutching her trousers; she waited for Lady Serra to collect her thoughts. A soft hand patted her head and she glanced up to see a small smile upon the Healer's visage.
"You did good. Tell your mother that I will come by later to see her. I need you to go tell Klaja the baker leader to get the soldiers and tell him what you told me." Serra got up and began wandering towards the exit out of her small piece of storybook life. "Now. It wasn't a suggestion!! And do it calmly!!" Serra exclaimed at the small frozen girl. Nyne nodded and ran out of the area before she could take another step.
Placing a hand upon a small volume, she looked towards the sky. It would be a good day to use the small volume. Silently, well as silently as a running bishop could be, she ran through the woods to the river nearby. She was afraid deeply within her being, the cold grip of fear swirling her already turbulent mind. She may have looked calm to Nyne, but she had been very frantic in her own mind.
'Well, those bandits will just have to learn that messing with a woman and her son is a very bad thing.' She thought darkly as she ran down the riverbank waiting for some sign of her son, the sunshine of her dreaded life.
It had been at least two years since he had gotten the order to find Serra and eight years since he had last seen the pink-haired minx. He sighed, sitting up on his sleeping blanket. It was night and he knew that he would be coming to the last village in Laus that was even near the border of Ostia. They had been in Ostia eight years ago, on the other side of the Ostian Territory near Caelin so if she had went the way they had come from, she would most likely be in Laus.
Sighing, he laid down on his back, his eyes staring up at the stars. He prayed to St. Illumine that she would be safe along with their child. On nights when he was often in his study, he found himself looking out the window, gray shutters against the stonewashed building. His eyes would wander to and from each blinking light while his mind would remember a night like this once many years before when he had traveled with Serra.
He could remember that he had been watching the stars since her 'highness' needed her beauty sleep. It had been in the middle of night, sometime between midnight and one when he felt her presence settle right beside him. He hadn't said anything for a while and neither had she. Her pink hair up in buns to sleep in as her fingers rose to the sky pointing to a star.
"Do you know much about the legends of that star?" She asked. He had shaken his head in answer and in wonderment as she almost immediately replied. "As I suspected. That star is called Luna's signal. Many eons ago, a woman named Luna had decided to allow her son, Artemis, to walk the earth with normal people. Under the guise of the name Reka, he wandered with the humans for many centuries leaving Luna to watch her child from afar."
"That must've been sad and regretful for her." He commented off-hand. Serra's piercing glare told him that he had interrupted her. He could feel the burning gaze strip away his soul as she sighed; shaking her kept up lockes and decided to continue. Her body turned to face him as she continued.
"Well, Reka met a young cleric woman named Serra." He had a faint idea that she was now making this entire thing up. "Don't give me that skepticism, Erky. She's the one I was named after all." She paused, glaring at him still. "Well, he met Serra and had fallen in love with her after many trials in where he had to save her. The day he learned that she was growing weak against her illnesses, he went to commune with his mother. Luna was happy to commune with her son if only to talk about her son's wife's sickness."
"He asked if she would allow them into the star realm where everyone stays immortal. Luna so happy that her son was coming home told him yes, She told him that she would distract the two soldiers of the Gods by sending a scorpion and leave her signal for them to come home." Serra had allowed a breath to catch up to her mind. "The scorpion sent the two soldiers," With this she pointed at the scorpion constellation then the two bear constellations." Running away from the gate they were supposed to guard. Luna's signal went on but the light of the Gods, the moon, caught Reka and his bride, Serra. They stand waiting for the Gods to turn their light away to reach Luna's signal."
She pointed to the pair of stars that looked as if they were twins. Her finger traced he path to Polaris, the star that was Luna's signal. "The myth says that on the new moon the twins try to get closer but their path is forever ingrained on that spot. They can never move because the Gods' light turned them into stone." She had been smiling at him then had flipped herself back upon her spine.
"So what do you think of it, Erky?" She asked brightly. He had been nothing more than eager enough for the silence to prevail so he hadn't said anything, keeping his eyes closed and his breathing slowed so that she would get the hint. He could feel a frown be set upon her face. In truth, he guessed that the story was a bit sad and made him think that the two lovers were a tragedy.
"Erky?" She raised herself up and looked over at him. Sighing, seeing that he had fallen asleep, she rose up and went back into her tent to get something. A few minutes later, he felt the soft caress of her favorite blanket. Another body coming under the soft cover followed the soft blanket. It was a mutual agreement between them he supposed as he really did fall asleep alongside Serra.
He sighed closing eyes until the next morning.
Serra's swiftness caught a bandit trying to sneak to the area where her son was. She had them in sight and she definitely knew that she would not allow such a brute to touch the children let alone her precious Reka. Her arms outstretched with her staff and she released a small light spell that couldn't make a lot of noise. Getting the bandit's attention, she focused upon another.
Each hit of her spells caused him to stagger until she decided to cast a sleep. He didn't have any resistance and found that sleep came well welcomed. Reka rushed over to his mother as he saw her.
He was a bit tall for a boy his age, lavender hair short and wavy much like his father's. Serra seemed often sad when she remembered the fact that her son did look like his father more than her. His open beige shirt showed his somewhat tanned skin. He was often outside, she made sure, helping his mother or playing. Whenever he could though, he usually read whatever tomes his mother had or the town had.
His eyes soft and big were worried as he hugged his mother and pointed to the other boys. There were only two out of the five he usually hung out with. Going over to the boys, she told them discreetly to follow her out of the forest and not to make much noise. The two boys were scared and nodded, following the Healer. Reka's eyes kept roaming the forest. He wasn't afraid for himself at all, he was afraid for his friends, Thom, Vern, Ikus, and Ena. Ena, Thom, and Vern had gone off in the woods to try to get Ikus back from the bandits. Instead Miles, Reka, and Gin had stayed where they were until Reka's mother came.
Once out of the forested part of the area, Serra stopped and turned to the boys. Miles's blue eyes seemed to be holding back tears. His light blue hair in disarray and sweat from running after Ikus. Gin with his floppy red hair and red eyes weren't in a much better state. She looked over to her son, her pride and joy and watched a frown mar the usually happy face he had.
"Miles, Gin, go home and take a small bath. Tell your parents that you'll be seeing me later on tomorrow morning. Reka, its nearly time for dinner. Let us go eat." The two boys nodded, dismissed running to their mother's skirts. Miles was the most timid of all the village children, while Gin was one of the smartest. Reka was always the most controlling of his emotions. So she understood quite well what happened to the other three.
Ikus, being a huge tomboy, was the bravest girl in the village while Nyne was the most kind. Thom was such a fool and Vern was just athletic and probably only smarter than a box of rocks, sad to even think. Ena was just Ena. He was the weirdest child, destined to be some sort of philosopher. Serra walked the road home, Reka following slowly behind her. He was infuriated that his mother didn't immediately go out and help his four friends.
As they got home, he kept his frown on throughout his dinner of pot roast and vegetables. His eyes were heavily focused upon his plate in deep thought. Serra, who sat across from him, noticed that her son was angry. It was a mother's intuition she supposed, as she stayed quiet to him. Sooner or later he would be ready to talk she surmised, picking up their plates and putting them in their sink to wash.
"Take a bath, Reka. After that, I'll tell you a bedtime story if I must, but go to bed." His mother's voice sounded as calm as if the bandits hadn't taken any notice of his friends being kidnapped by stupid bandits. He grit his teeth at his mother, secretly wishing that he had a more sensible woman be his mother. He stripped off his shirt and trousers and stepped into the small metal tub that was already warmed by his mother magic.
Reka could remember when he had turned four. Serra, his mother, had danced around with him, parading him in the small dancing hall that Klaja had set up many years before. She had picked him up and was teaching him to dance even if he hadn't wanted to. He didn't like the fact that she wasn't being nice enough to let him go but when she gave him a look of concern when he allowed a frown to show his displeasure, he nearly cried.
So then he went on with her and smiled as she continued to teach him to dance. His mother was a rather carefree woman so, he barely had to smile to see her happiness overflow. He growled washing his lavender hair, the curls dripping down straight to a little past his chin. He couldn't believe that they were taken and the only person that had been able to help them immediately had walked away; in fact, she was sitting on their bed, reading a small letter that was yellowed and old.
It was the only thing they had of his father. His mother didn't like anyone to know of Reka's father. It was an untouched subject and only once did she mention him to Reka. It had been when he was training with her one morning. He had excelled and memorized the fire tomes that his mother had bought a few years before.
'That's good, Reka. You're going to be a great mage like you father. He would be proud of my little Reka.' She had smiled sadly at him then felt a small tear fall down her cheek. Her son, six years old, was doing excellent at his magic training. She had bent over him and patted him on his head when she felt the torrent of deeply hidden emotions break.
Reka had watched his mother sob. Her body kneeling over him, her hands holding his head to her chest. He didn't know if it was bad or not, but he at least had a general idea of his father. It was the first time he had heard his mother say anything about him. 'Don't cry, mama. I'm sure he didn't want tears. Reka doesn't want tears but smiles and hugs. Mama needs to smile, no tears....'
He felt her head snap up sharply then settle back onto his hair. Her fingers deftly stroking his hair. She then bent down to his level and smiled sadly.
"No tears. Promise?"
"Promise."
That had also been the last time she had cried in front of him. His mother and him were well off and Serra acted enough to be both a mother and a father so he had never asked any questions of his father. He really had no need to. Smiling at the warmness of the bath, he heard his mother's call to get dry. Once dry and in warmed clothes, he walked over to their bed, and lay down.
"Now, in the morning, you will have to help yourself to some of the leftover porridge from this morning. I'll put it on the able with a small shield spell. You know how to break those. I will expect that you'll be done when I get back, all right, Reka?" She told him of her morning plans to go and get the soldiers at dawn then to face the bandits with a small strategy she had surmised.
"Ikus, Thom, Vern, and Ena will come back safely. I'm sure that the bandits won't hurt them and if they do, then it just helps make more trouble for them when Klaja puts them on trial." She kissed his forehead, wiping away some lavender curls. Laying down beside him, soft, warm arms enveloping him like usual, Serra held her son in a motherly fashion.
"Mama?"
"Yes, my little Reka?"
"Sing me a song please...."
"A song? Which one?"
"Any."
"All right....."
"It's magic from the moon, shalle a le rilla, whispering with sweet voices. If I could grant myself one wish, I wanna hold your hands and laugh with you. In my dreams....or maybe my memories, I'll see you again, won't I?"
He dozed off to the sound of her voice only to slowly reawake to the soft song she sang.
"It's magic from the moon, shalle a le rilla. If you can overcome the sadness and sorrow, and if I can e touched by a merciful gentleness, then I wanna sleep beside you. When the spell breaks apart, then the farewell would come again. So if I can show you all my heart now, then I wanna hold your hands and dance with you. "
As Reka felt his eyes closed briefly, he could hear his mother start to become sleepy. Her voice becoming softer at the end of the song. Her grip upon him was looser and her eyes dropped closed as she finished with her nicely tuned voice.
"Into the lights, where we belong, someday, somewhere.....I know we'll meet again, and until......then......."
He closed his eyes and thought once more to the events that had perspired that afternoon. Four of his friends were gone. His mother didn't seem to hold a care in the world if the bandits were to kill them and he had followed his mother's skirts and ran away from his friends.
Looking over in the darkness of the house, he saw his small traveler cloak and his tomes. He felt as if he wouldn't be able to sleep through the injustice of it all. His mother had always taught him to go with his gut feeling when it warned him of something. She had also taught him that justice was the only way to live.
'Never kill. Cripple a man enough that he can be caught for justice and tried in a fair court of people that can judge. Never kill a person, Reka. St. Illumine frowns upon it and so does the world.'
His mother's words stood out in his mind as he eased himself away from his mother, replacing himself with a nearby throw pillow. He strapped on his leather boots, making sure they were the worn in ones, then dressed himself in a green vest over his beige blouse, tightening the strings of his blouse.
His cape draped itself over him, a dark green cloak swathing his small figure. He grabbed his scribe bag and put in a vulnerary, a thunder tome, and a fire tome then in a second thought, added some biscuits. He was probably not going to return in the morning even if he kept his hopes up pretty damned high.
His eyes concentrated around him looking for an exit that wouldn't cause a lot of noise. If he went through the door, he knew the door would creak very loudly. His mother had yet to go up to the village to get some oil for the hinges. If he went through the barn, he would scare his mother's horse and his small filly, Luna and Diana.
His last choice, which was the best, as he knew, was the window. The window shutters were normally open during the late summer evenings so it wasn't unusual for there to be a small noise. The other side of the window would only be a small fall and there wasn't too much harm in falling two or three feet. He placed his hands on the sill, pulling himself up and flipping a leg over the other side, straddling the white wood.
Balancing quite well, he flipped his other leg and slowly dropped to the ground with a small 'oomph.' He paused to see if his mother was going to the window to pop over and tell him to get back inside. His heart thudded loudly in his ears as he waited with growing anticipation. Seeing that she hadn't woken up, he walked away quickly from his home to go find his captured friends and to free them.
Little did he know that he would find something that could change his mother's and his lives.
Okay, I'm done with this chapter. The song that Serra sings to Reka is 'UK' by Gackt. It took me nearly a whole day to find he perfect song for her to sing so that is why this chapter is a little later than usual. So far I think I'm gong to prolong the series past eight chapters to maybe ten. If its past ten then I am shooting myself, hands down.
I want to thank all my reviewers!! You are all so kind!!!! When I first put down Drunken Lullaby I actually thought it was a Christmas day since my guy friend's mom got me a cool looking garb-dress, then a leather belt with a gold plate, and shirt to go with everything for my foam fighting!! Then I also got to eat a half a pan of brownies for free!! I paid for it later though by having to run nearly all afternoon.........but the brownies were so worth it.
Anyway, I gotta go. I hope that my marks will still be there. I noticed in the last few chapters that took them out ad kinda mashed in the scenes which wasn't suppose to happen. Hopefully my dividers stay.
Anyway, Please review!! Thank you!!
Chapter 2: Taking Over Me
"I lie awake and try so hard
Not to think of you
But who can decide what they dream?
And dream I do...
I believe in you
I'll give up everything to find you...."
-'Taking over me' Evanescence
It had all begun again. That gnawing feeling he no longer was vulnerable against now took him victim as he sat before Lord Unther of Ostia and the now much less of a rascal, Lord Hector of Ostia. The table evenly divided their righteous presences to the other, equals all in the same room. Hector's blue hair had grown, now in a ponytail, much like Lord Pent's, on his shoulder armor. His eyes were softened by the way of his ladylove, the tactician journeyman, Lita.
Lita was an apprentice underneath the tactician who had planned all their battles. She stood beside the seated Hector and Unther awaiting a decision to be decided. The six-year older sage that sat before them had not said anything from the moment he was told his assignment. This assignment was given to Erk personally so they knew he had no right to decline.
The sage looked up underneath a mass of purple hair. His amethyst eyes glowing in a dark color as if he was tempted to use his anima magic to get away. Pausing, he shook his head in thought. The lord of the Lycian League gave this assignment.
He knew he had to do it.
"When do you need her by?" He asked in his monotonous voice waiting for the answer rather patiently. His jobs as of late did not consist of helping pretty frail women get from somewhere. In fact his business as of the last six years included two campaigns, one with Lady Lyndis, the other with Lord Eliwood, reading about many different tomes, and experimenting with magic while still undertaking many magic specific jobs such as helping the Lycian League lords from time to time, like this assignment.
"Within four years. If she doesn't come in person, then we cannot go ahead with our plan. None of the priestesses within any of the orders have enough power to help us seal this foul magic away, besides the orders are very corrupt and there is not a priest or priestess you can trust as far as you can throw them. I trust you will keep the details of your mission to yourself, Master Sage?" Unther answered. His scarred face betraying little emotion though the sage could tell that he dislikes the idea of an unsealed artifact.
Erk's ready hands swept through a side bang then settled back onto his lap. He mulled over the subject in particular. The person in the mission needed to be tracked. The person had been away from the order they hailed from for almost six years. No contact with anyone when they left. Hector obviously trusted his choice and he knew that everybody needed a little reminder of what they often left behind.
He had to hunt down Serra. Hector explained that he was the only one in the entire campaign and the order that knew her completely and utterly. He even said she would most likely come with someone who had been a comrade in arms, even a familiar face. Erk had been cold to Hector when he mentioned that tormentor's name.
Ever since she had left six years ago without a trace to her whereabouts, he had barely been able to ever get to sleep and in his free time she tormented him along with the voice of their child. He often found himself wondering what the child was like. Shaking his head, he returned to the job at hand.
He had to accept. He would be able to see her again if he did. Erk could also maybe see a glimpse of the child he never saw hide nor hair of. No one had learned of Serra bearing his child except for Lucius and Lord Pent. Both times he had been utterly drunk when it had happened but from what they both had explained was that he had called out to Serra and asked how their child was doing and why she felt that she couldn't tell him about his child. They also said he turned into a sobbing mess as he longed for her.
"Is there any rumors of her?" Both lords shrugged and told him more than likely she wasn't in Caelin or Phaere, or Ostia where people might know her. What he knew of her also suggested that she would not be in Bern. She found the wyvern riders distasteful and hated the military attitude in Bern. So she was either in another country or within Laus. So far what he remembered of her was that she loved Lycia and would never leave.
Unther commented that it had taken her a whole lot of bribery on even leaving to Etruia. She knew of Etruia and its sages and knew that it was a country more or less of study than anything. He seemed discontent with that fact but merely pushed it aside. Getting up, he nodded to Lord Unther.
"I'll do it. I'll leave tomorrow morning. Would you please have a horse ready and a few tomes of elfire and a few healing staves waiting for me in the morning, my lords?" Both had nodded their consent, Lord Unther requesting a servant almost immediately. Both stood up and waited for Erk to bow and leave.
"Shouldn't you have told him the real reason, my lord?" Lita asked Hector as the door closed. He chuckled, brushing a strand of hair out of her somewhat fair face. His deep-throated chuckles caused her to tilt her head in question. Sometimes, Hector just acted weird, especially around her. Placing a gloved finger on her nose, he grinned.
"For a tactician, Lita, you don't have much tact." He laughed a little more, tapping his finger on her nose. "If he knew the real reason why he was fetching Serra then he would have insisted he was fine until he worked himself to death. He needs to see her along with her little brat. Lord Pent requested this out of a favor for concern of Erk. "His tactician made a face then shook her head. Lord Pent, the fatherly man that he was, came to Lord Unther with a plan to get Erk stubbornly out of his books and into the world once again.
Erk had been working continually and hadn't stopped for sleep for a near of two days. He finally had gone to sleep only after Lord Pent got him drunk enough then dragged him to his chambers within the sage's hall when Erk asked for Serra and their child's well being. It made a lot of sense now to Hector as he had read her letter. In it she thanked him, with a heavy heart then said he was a pigheaded moron that needed to learn manners in order to get a wife.
He had shaped up sharply as he had to deal with court people nowadays. With a smirk, he held his arm out for the lady tactician and went out to the dining hall to eat their dinner. Unther came down, following them a ways back from where they walked.
Erk was going to go find the person the needed he most, whether he stubbornly liked it or not. Hector's thoughts hit it head on.
"Healer!!" A small girl with her hair in pigtails ran down the hill to the small white cottage. The foliage of green trees and plants over gave the place a sort of mysticism that Serra was more than happy to allow. Coming out of the nearby garden, a woman with long pink hair down to her bum, the obvious healer, took this chance to watch the small wayward child.
"My name is Serra, not healer," The pink-haired woman told the girl when she had stopped in front of the woman. Her small tiny breathes coming in pants. Her hair was a light blonde-blue frizzed to say the least. She clutched the healer's skirts in hope, and also to steady her small human body. "And that would be Ms. Serra to you, Nyne. (Nigh-nee)" She added as an afterthought.
Nyne nodded in confirmation. No person went against the healer's commands. Serra, as the pink-haired bishop was named, had protected the nearby village and healed the sick or wounded whenever needed with the condition that she did not get paid but instead had favors given instead. The innkeeper would give Serra and Reka, a boy about Nyne's age, any meal everyday for free for saving her husband from yellow fever a year back. Everyone allowed the Healer to mainly get what she wanted. She was their main warrior and also their healer.
"M-Ms. Serra!! O-one of the b-b-boys had an acci-accident at the river!!" Nyne looked up towards the calm faced woman. Serra was willing to show emotion but you could see everything was fake unless it came to Reka or the untouched subject of his father. The Healer stood there and nodded, understandingly to the child that began to have tears come to her eyes.
"Take a few deep breaths and tell me what has happened. A panicked mind helps no one, remember that always." Her voice didn't change but showed that she was concerned to say the least. Earlier that day she remembered Reka going off with some of the village boys and some of the tomboyish girls. They had decided to go play in the river since it was such a warm day. She worried endlessly about her Reka and was always relieved when he barely would ever get hurt.
"One of the boys went to far in the river and was getting carried away. Reka and some of the other boys followed him to where he got picked up by camped bandits. Reka and the boys hid in the bushes and told me to get you!!" She was scared out of her wits. Nyne's hands were clamped at her sides, clutching her trousers; she waited for Lady Serra to collect her thoughts. A soft hand patted her head and she glanced up to see a small smile upon the Healer's visage.
"You did good. Tell your mother that I will come by later to see her. I need you to go tell Klaja the baker leader to get the soldiers and tell him what you told me." Serra got up and began wandering towards the exit out of her small piece of storybook life. "Now. It wasn't a suggestion!! And do it calmly!!" Serra exclaimed at the small frozen girl. Nyne nodded and ran out of the area before she could take another step.
Placing a hand upon a small volume, she looked towards the sky. It would be a good day to use the small volume. Silently, well as silently as a running bishop could be, she ran through the woods to the river nearby. She was afraid deeply within her being, the cold grip of fear swirling her already turbulent mind. She may have looked calm to Nyne, but she had been very frantic in her own mind.
'Well, those bandits will just have to learn that messing with a woman and her son is a very bad thing.' She thought darkly as she ran down the riverbank waiting for some sign of her son, the sunshine of her dreaded life.
It had been at least two years since he had gotten the order to find Serra and eight years since he had last seen the pink-haired minx. He sighed, sitting up on his sleeping blanket. It was night and he knew that he would be coming to the last village in Laus that was even near the border of Ostia. They had been in Ostia eight years ago, on the other side of the Ostian Territory near Caelin so if she had went the way they had come from, she would most likely be in Laus.
Sighing, he laid down on his back, his eyes staring up at the stars. He prayed to St. Illumine that she would be safe along with their child. On nights when he was often in his study, he found himself looking out the window, gray shutters against the stonewashed building. His eyes would wander to and from each blinking light while his mind would remember a night like this once many years before when he had traveled with Serra.
He could remember that he had been watching the stars since her 'highness' needed her beauty sleep. It had been in the middle of night, sometime between midnight and one when he felt her presence settle right beside him. He hadn't said anything for a while and neither had she. Her pink hair up in buns to sleep in as her fingers rose to the sky pointing to a star.
"Do you know much about the legends of that star?" She asked. He had shaken his head in answer and in wonderment as she almost immediately replied. "As I suspected. That star is called Luna's signal. Many eons ago, a woman named Luna had decided to allow her son, Artemis, to walk the earth with normal people. Under the guise of the name Reka, he wandered with the humans for many centuries leaving Luna to watch her child from afar."
"That must've been sad and regretful for her." He commented off-hand. Serra's piercing glare told him that he had interrupted her. He could feel the burning gaze strip away his soul as she sighed; shaking her kept up lockes and decided to continue. Her body turned to face him as she continued.
"Well, Reka met a young cleric woman named Serra." He had a faint idea that she was now making this entire thing up. "Don't give me that skepticism, Erky. She's the one I was named after all." She paused, glaring at him still. "Well, he met Serra and had fallen in love with her after many trials in where he had to save her. The day he learned that she was growing weak against her illnesses, he went to commune with his mother. Luna was happy to commune with her son if only to talk about her son's wife's sickness."
"He asked if she would allow them into the star realm where everyone stays immortal. Luna so happy that her son was coming home told him yes, She told him that she would distract the two soldiers of the Gods by sending a scorpion and leave her signal for them to come home." Serra had allowed a breath to catch up to her mind. "The scorpion sent the two soldiers," With this she pointed at the scorpion constellation then the two bear constellations." Running away from the gate they were supposed to guard. Luna's signal went on but the light of the Gods, the moon, caught Reka and his bride, Serra. They stand waiting for the Gods to turn their light away to reach Luna's signal."
She pointed to the pair of stars that looked as if they were twins. Her finger traced he path to Polaris, the star that was Luna's signal. "The myth says that on the new moon the twins try to get closer but their path is forever ingrained on that spot. They can never move because the Gods' light turned them into stone." She had been smiling at him then had flipped herself back upon her spine.
"So what do you think of it, Erky?" She asked brightly. He had been nothing more than eager enough for the silence to prevail so he hadn't said anything, keeping his eyes closed and his breathing slowed so that she would get the hint. He could feel a frown be set upon her face. In truth, he guessed that the story was a bit sad and made him think that the two lovers were a tragedy.
"Erky?" She raised herself up and looked over at him. Sighing, seeing that he had fallen asleep, she rose up and went back into her tent to get something. A few minutes later, he felt the soft caress of her favorite blanket. Another body coming under the soft cover followed the soft blanket. It was a mutual agreement between them he supposed as he really did fall asleep alongside Serra.
He sighed closing eyes until the next morning.
Serra's swiftness caught a bandit trying to sneak to the area where her son was. She had them in sight and she definitely knew that she would not allow such a brute to touch the children let alone her precious Reka. Her arms outstretched with her staff and she released a small light spell that couldn't make a lot of noise. Getting the bandit's attention, she focused upon another.
Each hit of her spells caused him to stagger until she decided to cast a sleep. He didn't have any resistance and found that sleep came well welcomed. Reka rushed over to his mother as he saw her.
He was a bit tall for a boy his age, lavender hair short and wavy much like his father's. Serra seemed often sad when she remembered the fact that her son did look like his father more than her. His open beige shirt showed his somewhat tanned skin. He was often outside, she made sure, helping his mother or playing. Whenever he could though, he usually read whatever tomes his mother had or the town had.
His eyes soft and big were worried as he hugged his mother and pointed to the other boys. There were only two out of the five he usually hung out with. Going over to the boys, she told them discreetly to follow her out of the forest and not to make much noise. The two boys were scared and nodded, following the Healer. Reka's eyes kept roaming the forest. He wasn't afraid for himself at all, he was afraid for his friends, Thom, Vern, Ikus, and Ena. Ena, Thom, and Vern had gone off in the woods to try to get Ikus back from the bandits. Instead Miles, Reka, and Gin had stayed where they were until Reka's mother came.
Once out of the forested part of the area, Serra stopped and turned to the boys. Miles's blue eyes seemed to be holding back tears. His light blue hair in disarray and sweat from running after Ikus. Gin with his floppy red hair and red eyes weren't in a much better state. She looked over to her son, her pride and joy and watched a frown mar the usually happy face he had.
"Miles, Gin, go home and take a small bath. Tell your parents that you'll be seeing me later on tomorrow morning. Reka, its nearly time for dinner. Let us go eat." The two boys nodded, dismissed running to their mother's skirts. Miles was the most timid of all the village children, while Gin was one of the smartest. Reka was always the most controlling of his emotions. So she understood quite well what happened to the other three.
Ikus, being a huge tomboy, was the bravest girl in the village while Nyne was the most kind. Thom was such a fool and Vern was just athletic and probably only smarter than a box of rocks, sad to even think. Ena was just Ena. He was the weirdest child, destined to be some sort of philosopher. Serra walked the road home, Reka following slowly behind her. He was infuriated that his mother didn't immediately go out and help his four friends.
As they got home, he kept his frown on throughout his dinner of pot roast and vegetables. His eyes were heavily focused upon his plate in deep thought. Serra, who sat across from him, noticed that her son was angry. It was a mother's intuition she supposed, as she stayed quiet to him. Sooner or later he would be ready to talk she surmised, picking up their plates and putting them in their sink to wash.
"Take a bath, Reka. After that, I'll tell you a bedtime story if I must, but go to bed." His mother's voice sounded as calm as if the bandits hadn't taken any notice of his friends being kidnapped by stupid bandits. He grit his teeth at his mother, secretly wishing that he had a more sensible woman be his mother. He stripped off his shirt and trousers and stepped into the small metal tub that was already warmed by his mother magic.
Reka could remember when he had turned four. Serra, his mother, had danced around with him, parading him in the small dancing hall that Klaja had set up many years before. She had picked him up and was teaching him to dance even if he hadn't wanted to. He didn't like the fact that she wasn't being nice enough to let him go but when she gave him a look of concern when he allowed a frown to show his displeasure, he nearly cried.
So then he went on with her and smiled as she continued to teach him to dance. His mother was a rather carefree woman so, he barely had to smile to see her happiness overflow. He growled washing his lavender hair, the curls dripping down straight to a little past his chin. He couldn't believe that they were taken and the only person that had been able to help them immediately had walked away; in fact, she was sitting on their bed, reading a small letter that was yellowed and old.
It was the only thing they had of his father. His mother didn't like anyone to know of Reka's father. It was an untouched subject and only once did she mention him to Reka. It had been when he was training with her one morning. He had excelled and memorized the fire tomes that his mother had bought a few years before.
'That's good, Reka. You're going to be a great mage like you father. He would be proud of my little Reka.' She had smiled sadly at him then felt a small tear fall down her cheek. Her son, six years old, was doing excellent at his magic training. She had bent over him and patted him on his head when she felt the torrent of deeply hidden emotions break.
Reka had watched his mother sob. Her body kneeling over him, her hands holding his head to her chest. He didn't know if it was bad or not, but he at least had a general idea of his father. It was the first time he had heard his mother say anything about him. 'Don't cry, mama. I'm sure he didn't want tears. Reka doesn't want tears but smiles and hugs. Mama needs to smile, no tears....'
He felt her head snap up sharply then settle back onto his hair. Her fingers deftly stroking his hair. She then bent down to his level and smiled sadly.
"No tears. Promise?"
"Promise."
That had also been the last time she had cried in front of him. His mother and him were well off and Serra acted enough to be both a mother and a father so he had never asked any questions of his father. He really had no need to. Smiling at the warmness of the bath, he heard his mother's call to get dry. Once dry and in warmed clothes, he walked over to their bed, and lay down.
"Now, in the morning, you will have to help yourself to some of the leftover porridge from this morning. I'll put it on the able with a small shield spell. You know how to break those. I will expect that you'll be done when I get back, all right, Reka?" She told him of her morning plans to go and get the soldiers at dawn then to face the bandits with a small strategy she had surmised.
"Ikus, Thom, Vern, and Ena will come back safely. I'm sure that the bandits won't hurt them and if they do, then it just helps make more trouble for them when Klaja puts them on trial." She kissed his forehead, wiping away some lavender curls. Laying down beside him, soft, warm arms enveloping him like usual, Serra held her son in a motherly fashion.
"Mama?"
"Yes, my little Reka?"
"Sing me a song please...."
"A song? Which one?"
"Any."
"All right....."
"It's magic from the moon, shalle a le rilla, whispering with sweet voices. If I could grant myself one wish, I wanna hold your hands and laugh with you. In my dreams....or maybe my memories, I'll see you again, won't I?"
He dozed off to the sound of her voice only to slowly reawake to the soft song she sang.
"It's magic from the moon, shalle a le rilla. If you can overcome the sadness and sorrow, and if I can e touched by a merciful gentleness, then I wanna sleep beside you. When the spell breaks apart, then the farewell would come again. So if I can show you all my heart now, then I wanna hold your hands and dance with you. "
As Reka felt his eyes closed briefly, he could hear his mother start to become sleepy. Her voice becoming softer at the end of the song. Her grip upon him was looser and her eyes dropped closed as she finished with her nicely tuned voice.
"Into the lights, where we belong, someday, somewhere.....I know we'll meet again, and until......then......."
He closed his eyes and thought once more to the events that had perspired that afternoon. Four of his friends were gone. His mother didn't seem to hold a care in the world if the bandits were to kill them and he had followed his mother's skirts and ran away from his friends.
Looking over in the darkness of the house, he saw his small traveler cloak and his tomes. He felt as if he wouldn't be able to sleep through the injustice of it all. His mother had always taught him to go with his gut feeling when it warned him of something. She had also taught him that justice was the only way to live.
'Never kill. Cripple a man enough that he can be caught for justice and tried in a fair court of people that can judge. Never kill a person, Reka. St. Illumine frowns upon it and so does the world.'
His mother's words stood out in his mind as he eased himself away from his mother, replacing himself with a nearby throw pillow. He strapped on his leather boots, making sure they were the worn in ones, then dressed himself in a green vest over his beige blouse, tightening the strings of his blouse.
His cape draped itself over him, a dark green cloak swathing his small figure. He grabbed his scribe bag and put in a vulnerary, a thunder tome, and a fire tome then in a second thought, added some biscuits. He was probably not going to return in the morning even if he kept his hopes up pretty damned high.
His eyes concentrated around him looking for an exit that wouldn't cause a lot of noise. If he went through the door, he knew the door would creak very loudly. His mother had yet to go up to the village to get some oil for the hinges. If he went through the barn, he would scare his mother's horse and his small filly, Luna and Diana.
His last choice, which was the best, as he knew, was the window. The window shutters were normally open during the late summer evenings so it wasn't unusual for there to be a small noise. The other side of the window would only be a small fall and there wasn't too much harm in falling two or three feet. He placed his hands on the sill, pulling himself up and flipping a leg over the other side, straddling the white wood.
Balancing quite well, he flipped his other leg and slowly dropped to the ground with a small 'oomph.' He paused to see if his mother was going to the window to pop over and tell him to get back inside. His heart thudded loudly in his ears as he waited with growing anticipation. Seeing that she hadn't woken up, he walked away quickly from his home to go find his captured friends and to free them.
Little did he know that he would find something that could change his mother's and his lives.
Okay, I'm done with this chapter. The song that Serra sings to Reka is 'UK' by Gackt. It took me nearly a whole day to find he perfect song for her to sing so that is why this chapter is a little later than usual. So far I think I'm gong to prolong the series past eight chapters to maybe ten. If its past ten then I am shooting myself, hands down.
I want to thank all my reviewers!! You are all so kind!!!! When I first put down Drunken Lullaby I actually thought it was a Christmas day since my guy friend's mom got me a cool looking garb-dress, then a leather belt with a gold plate, and shirt to go with everything for my foam fighting!! Then I also got to eat a half a pan of brownies for free!! I paid for it later though by having to run nearly all afternoon.........but the brownies were so worth it.
Anyway, I gotta go. I hope that my marks will still be there. I noticed in the last few chapters that took them out ad kinda mashed in the scenes which wasn't suppose to happen. Hopefully my dividers stay.
Anyway, Please review!! Thank you!!
