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Merle growled in the back her throat as she snuck with the others out to the stables. Van hadn't included her in his plans on going into the forest and she had been more than just a little annoyed. Without her who would watch over Van and Hitomi at night? Sure the guards were great and all but none of them could see in the dark as well as she could.
Tina had been left behind to watch over Rosie while Pennin and Aidren rode with the King and Queen. Chritopher had also stayed behind. The young knight hadn't been happy with Van when this had been announced but he understood the need to have a few very trusted men watching over Fanelia while her king was away.
Tar had insisted that he would be needed at the palace and wished Hitomi luck as soon as she was awake that morning.
"Why won't you come?" she asked.
"It would only complicate things. Believe me I am better off being here."
The horses snorted uneasily as the group approached but Hitomi calmed them quickly and within minutes they were making their quiet way out into the morning's light. Silence was golden as the group crept past sleeping dragons. The night before had been spent with Hitomi as everyone was taught how to clear their mind.
Surprisingly enough, Selena seemed to have a lot of difficulty in the task. Nearly two hours passed before the Queen declared her ready to enter the woods.
Dryden joined them, leaving Millerna and Inda to keep the council in line. Dryden was very skilled at blanking out his thoughts and moving unnoticed. It was a skill Van hadn't known the merchant, now King of Asturia, to possess.
Everyone was tense as they led their horses nearer to the trees. Great shapes in the shadows showed more sleeping dragons. Most had started to wake with the rise of the sun. Other creatures, shaodwed and hidden were also waking but thankfully none took notice of the royal company walking past them.
Hitomi quickened her step to walk next to Van and Merle saw them join hands without even a glance at the other. Any thoughts at this moment could awaken the anceint reptiles to their pressence. Merle quickly stopped thinking and focussed on her breathing as Hitomi had instructed her to do.
"Count in threes." Hitomi had said to them all the night before "One, two, three as you inhail and three, two, one as you exhail. It clears your mind and relaxes your body."
As the shapes of dragons and unknown creatures slipped further and further away Merle could see Hitomi looking from one side to the other and the cat knew Hitomi was trying 'feel' if there was anything near to them. Anything that could be a threat.
"We're safe." She said at last, still taking care to keep her voice low, "But I don't know what else could be out here."
Van nodded to everyone and slowly the group mounted. The horses seemed to relax knowing that they know had a purpose and a task to perform.
Tren pushed his horse up next to Merle without a word. The knight kept his eyes on Hitomi's back as his twin moved to ride behind Selena and Dilandau. The fact that there was a set of twins on guard for another set of twins wasn't lost on Merle. Also the fact that both sets were undescribably dangerous was something that sat uneasily in the back of the cat girl's mind.
What would happen if Tren and Cailas were forced to fight the blonde twins? Merle shuddered. She'd seen how evil Dilandau could be and knew that Selena was as evil if not worse, but she had also seen Cailas take down four men at once when Van's life had been in danger. The rebuilding had just started when a rebel group tried to make trouble. They struck while everyone was distracted. It was an unspoken fact that had Cailas hesitated Van would have been dead 3 months after the end of the destiny war.
The day wore on and Merle became increasingly bored.
The others rode in silence.
Merle was just getting ready to say something to Hitomi about playing a game when Selena's horse faultered and fell. The blonde managed to jump free before being crushed by her mount but the ground seemd to be dissolving around her.
Van and Dryden were off their horses and rushing to her aid before Dilandau had had time to take in a breath to warn them of what was happening.
Van grabbed Selena's arm as Dryden hurried everyone away from the hole in the forest floor.
Hitomi rushed forward to grab Selena's other arm and porceeded to help her husband pull Selena to safer ground.
No one yelled, no one spoke as bits of earth fell away from underfoot of the royals. From moment to moment they stood one air as more earth disappeared.
"There." Van said, deciding that the ground had given up on swallowing them, "This forest is old. After the fire the trees grew back on their own. They grew back to their original girth and height. They are more than trees, the draconian's always suspected it, and they are not happy with strangers in their home. Watch your step everyone."
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Selena rode quietly behind Dilandau.Her horse had been lost to hole.
She was in shock.
Van and Hitomi had saved her.
The day before they had saved her brother. She had thought that had been just a ploy to try to get him to talk about Zaibach's plans. But now they had gone and saved her as well.
It would have been too easy to just let her fall and say they couldn't have reached her in time to pull her out. It would have been smarter for them had they let her fall. What purpose could thay have had with saving her?
Surely they didn't think she would come trust them as her stupid twin was begining to? They knew she was smarter than that.
Then why had they done it?
Selena straightened her back when she noticed Hitomi turning to look at her. Stupidity- thats what had to have driven them into helping a foe. She could see it in Hitomi's eyes as the Queen gave her a small 'are you ok?' smile.
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Van placed a gloved hand over his chest. It felt like the trees around him were tugging at his soul- asking for help.
A quick glance at Hitomi showed that she felt it too.
The others seemed uneasy but weren't as effected as the the King and Queen.
"I believe we should rest and have lunch." Van said, feeling the pull lighten as he spoke.
Everyone agreed quickly. It had been hours since they set out from the Fanelia palace and more than a few bellies were begining to grumple.
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Dear journel,
I know I haven't been writing everything down lately. Things have been crazy and speaking of crazy that's how I've been feeling. For one, I was worried because I hadn't been writing down my days events (as if anyone ever sees this but me) and two, suddenly there's been Dragons everywhere.
We, and by we I mean Van, myself, Merle, Tren, Kailas, Dryden, Pennin, Aidren, Selena and Dilandau have gone into the woods on horse back to find the cause of the Dragon's distress.
I'm worried because anything that can force a Dragon to leave it's home of its own will must be something big. I'm not even from this world and I know that.
Selena keeps staring at me. Van and I had to pull her out of a hole that swallowed her horse when the ground collapsed. Sadly the horse was lost but ever since Selena has been looking me as though she expects me to grow a second head.
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Van handed Hitomi a chunk of bread and his wife smiled at him before closing the small book she had been writing in. He knew what it was and why she was writing in it. Rosie was a smart woman and he hoped that the journal would help Hitomi keep her thoughts straight and her stress level down. Especialy since the council was pushing to have their wedding sooner than they agreed.
As the food was finished being handed out everyone fell silent, lost in their own thoughts and worries.
Merle wrinkled her nose, feeling the ground tremble slightly beneath her.
"That's wierd." she said to herself, her eyes on the ground.
A few seconds later it happened again and she saw that everyone felt it that time.
"What is that?" Dilandau asked as he looked into the distant trees.
Everyone followed his gaze only to see a monstrous shape moving in the darker area of the trees. With it's every step the ground shook.
"That can't be good." Dryden said quietly as he began digging through his pack of books.
Hitomi reached out carefully trying to 'feel' the thing's mind. Her thoughts moved out in a circle- it was the only way she knew how to direct her mind and as she touched Selena she felt the blonde flinch and mentaly pull away.
Hitomi frowned and tucked that bit of info away for a better time.
As Hitomi's thoughts reached the dark shape she could hear a soft humming. The creature was a Dragon for sure but it was possibly the biggest, oldest Dragon the Fanelian forest had ever seen.
"Are you the one driving the Dragons out?" she asked both aloud and with her mind.
"No." came the slow reply.
"But why did they leave?" Hitomi was moving before she even realized it, walking towards the Dragon.
"Death hassss usssss in it'ssss ssssightsssssssssssssss." the voice was more of a sigh and Hitomi was suddenly reminded of the huge turtle from the Never Ending Story.
The fanelian Queen shuddered. That turtle had been so scary to her when she was little. The worst part of the movie, in her opinion.
"But what drove them out?" Hitomi forced her mind to spread out abit more to included the others in the conversation. She had a feeling that hearing all of this second hand just wouldn't be the same.
"Are they not safer here?" Dryden asked, walking long behind Hitomi, not even fazed by the fact that he could suddenly hear the thougts of an ancient Dragon. He continued flipping through one of his books.
"No." the voice was so smooth and so old.
"Does this have anything to do with Zaibach?" Van asked.
There was a deep rumbling and everyone stopped, unsure of what was happeing. It took Hitomi only a second or two to realize the Dragon was laughing.
"Them?" more deep rumbling followed and Merle shrank back, "They are but a fly, born one day- dead the next to ssssssssomeone of my age. I do not fear them."
"You should." Selena sent back angerly.
The large form stopped moving and swung around to look at the poeple it had been talking to. This whole time they had simply been watching the outline of the Dragon's rear end as it swayed with each step.
Now they were face to face with it as it stretched it's neck out to see them better. It's eyes stopped on Selena. For her part the blonde didn't faulter or flinch though what little color there had been in her features it was suddenly and completely gone.
"You believe ssssssssssssso, young one?" a smller rumble came this time. Hitomi thought of it as a Dragon chuckle, "I am far too old to worry mysssself with the affairssssssss of humansssss."
"Please," Hitomi had to get it's attention back on track, "But why is death coming?"
"Death alwaysss comessssssssss." was the solemn answer.
"No riddles, Grandmother." Van said, using the respectfull title, "Dragons have moved into our home lands. How do we make them leave?"
"Have you ever ssseen a Dragon die of old age, hatchling?" when no one answered she continued,the hiss almost leaving her voice entirely "Of course not. Dragons have always been killed and hunted for their energists. As rare as it is when a Dragon dies naturaly their energists are more powerfull and all those connected to the bloodline feel the pain of that death."
"Are you dying, Grandmother?" Hitomi asked quietly.
"Yes. I am." The great Dragon turned her eyes on Hitomi and lowered her head, "But I have a gift for you."
"And is this gift the reason the other Dragons have left the forest?" Dryden asked, looking up from his book with a deep frown.
"Come closer, hatchling." the Dragon said, ignoring Dryden completely.
Hitomi took a few steps and felt Van slide his hand into hers.
"I am as old as the land you stand on." the she-Dragon sighed, "And it's pain is also my pain and through me it is all Dragons' pain. That is why we react to anger and hate- the land feels it. Human battles and human pride have brought many great forests and Dragons down. I am but the last Ancient to walk the world. And to you two, also the last of your kind I give you this," The Dragon pushed her great head forward and lightly touched Hitomi and Van's stomacks, "You children and their children after them will be true Draconian. Your blood line will live on as others fade."
Van felt uneasy looking into the large pale eyes and found himself blurting out, "But why did the other Dragon's leave the woods?"
"Because as I die others are arriving. If I were you I would hurry back to your home to see the events that will be talked about for years to come." and just like that the Dragon was gone, leaving only a dark purple energist that Van picked up slowly.
As they all stood there staring at the stone a voice, as if on the wind whispered, "Back to your homes, Hatchlings."
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A/N: It took me only three days to type this but finding time to type was what took so long. My apologies. Oh, and to those of you who find my comments about Scott random and unconnected- he is away at college (sob) and it's a 3 hours dirve to get there. When I last updated I was getting ready to get visit him. Also that means I will be in the car for 6 hours tomorrow. Blah. But hey, I can deal as long as it means my Love is home for a few days. :)
I'm sorry I didn't respond to any of my reviewers last time around. I've been way tired and working a lot. I'll try to get to most of you this time.