Welcome back ladies and gents!
So in the last chapter, someone pointed out that I spelled Scarlet with to t's instead of one. I'm sorry about that, it's an instinct when i'm typing. I'll try not to make that mistake in the future, but if it happens, don't worry about it too much. It's just an extra letter.
Okay, here we go!
Chapter 5:
Erza
The next morning, I awoke to a loud trumpet horn splitting through the window. I jerked awake and almost banged my head on the ceiling plank above the bed. I groaned as the noise screeched in my ear, not allowing me to get my bearings. I stumbled out of bed and pulled my leather pants back on, the trumpets never ceasing, and strapped on my sword before trudging down the stairs. There was no one in the inn and I made my way outside, cursing every god in existence for waking me up so early.
I stepped outside and saw a number of people walking through the streets toward the sound of the trumpet. A mother pulled her child along with her, as he screamed and wailed that he hadn't had any sleep. A group of teenagers trotted together, huddled up close from the chilly morning air. A family of five making their way carefully down the street. all of them toward the trumpets. I concluded that it must have been some kind of announcement, and decided I should be following them as well.
I made my way through the streets, following the other citizens. I tried to keep myself from drooping my eyelids too much, and I could still feel the remnants of sleep taunting me.
We reached the square in the middle of the lower town and I found out where the trumpet was coming from. There was a young man standing on the execution platform with a horn in hand, a large scroll by his side. He was dressed officially, with the royal seal on his shoulder. He must have an announcement from the palace.
Finally, he stopped and scanned the town square to make sure that enough people were around, then he pulled his scroll out and cleared his throat, ready to shout over the crowd.
"People of Edolas, this is an official announcement from the royal advisor, Gildarts Clive. Last night, Prince Jellal Fernandez was on his way to the kingdom of Fiore to wed the next heir of the throne, Her Highness Princess Wendy Marvel. During his journey, our brave prince was abducted by Caelum Soldiers and is being held hostage behind Caelum's walls of steel."
An audible gasp passed through the crowd. I was awake now. As much as the prince annoyed me, and didn't do his job correctly, I never wanted this. He was our only hope of getting out of this war and now he was gone. Why were they telling us this? Why were they making it so public?
"The royal advisor is looking for volunteers to go on a special mission to rescue the prince from his iron prison. All participants will receive a hefty reward to each their liking, guaranteed by Sir Clive himself. We ask this of the people of Edolas to put forth your lives to save our prince's for the greater good. Please, help him. To volunteer, please step forward and claim your spot."
At first, there was absolute silence. Nobody moved, nobody breathed. Soon, strange looks passed between people, as if asking who in their right mind would go on such a mission. Then, there was movement. A middle-aged man stepped forward and climbed onto the platform.
"I will volunteer. For my family and my kingdom." He said. The official smiled in relief and nodded to a place behind him for the man to stand.
More silence followed until one by one, young and older men began to trickle forward. I watched the movement, feeling my heart pound in my chest. If I went on this mission and saved the prince, he would give me anything I wanted. A house and a property away from here, away from everything. He could also give me all the gold I could ever want. But most of all, he could give me my rightful place in the army. As much as I wanted to run, I also wanted to stand and fight against Caelum, the people who destroyed my home and murdered my family, and now had taken my prince.
It was that thought that had me walking toward the platform, pushing past the crowd and receiving shocked looks from all around me. I climbed onto the platform and looked the official directly in the eye. He looked like he wanted to say something to me, like he was going to warn me how dangerous it was and ask if I was sure. But I think he must have seen something in my eyes and he didn't say anything. He simply nodded to the end of the line and I took my place next to about a dozen men from the crowd.
"Thank you for your bravery and your sacrifice. Please follow me." The official walked off the stage, the volunteers following behind him slowly. The families of the volunteers were protesting lightly and some were crying, but all in all, they were letting us go easily. I knew what most of them were thinking. They were glad it wasn't them, but at the same time, they wanted to be the ones to save the prince.
It was a fight between cowardice and pride. Unsurprisingly, for most people, the cowardice won.
For me it wasn't. I still couldn't really understand why I was in this line, but I had a feeling I couldn't back out now. It was what Simon would have wanted. I imagined him smiling at me from the crowd in both pride and sadness. I had nothing better to do and this was the only chance I had of fighting Caelum knights and doing something for the country as well. Maybe this was what I was meant to be doing. Maybe everything had happened for a reason and that's why I was here.
It didn't matter anymore as we followed the official to large carriages waiting outside the square. Half of the volunteers went on one of the carriages, and half went on the second. I was in the second half of the volunteers and ended up sitting next to a young man, maybe a few years older than me. He was giving me a strange look and couldn't seem to take his eyes off me. In fact, all of them were staring at me.
"Do I have something on my face?" I asked harshly, causing most of them to shift their eyes away from me. The one next to me didn't. he continued to stare at me, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Yeah, the features of a woman. What are you doing here?" He said bluntly, causing me to be slightly taken aback. I was expecting him to cower down like the rest of them. I cleared my throat and recovered, glaring at him.
"Same as you. Volunteering to save the prince." I said back, causing the others to look at each other nervously. The man next to me was not backing down.
"But you're a woman." He said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Yes, and you're a pushover. Now that were through stating the obvious, I suppose silence is in order." I turned away, hoping that would shut him up, but he wasn't done.
"You know that snark can't hide the fact that you shouldn't be here. You may think I'm being ignorant, but I don't think you'll be much help on this mission. You'll only slow us down." I felt anger boil in my stomach as I turned back towards him, but I felt my body move on its own, my voice coming out eerily calm.
"You know, I would slap you, but that would be considered animal abuse." I saw him visibly flinch at my insult and a smirk curled on my lips.
"I chose to be here and this is where I'll stay. So, don't be alarmed if I end up stabbing you in the back when we're out on the mission. I'm not afraid of the Black Knights. And I'm certainly not afraid of you." I gave him a wink and then turned back around, distancing myself as far from him as I could.
The ride went smoothly and silently after my little outburst. Nobody bothered to look at me again, or speak to me. Not that I was complaining. They were all sexist pigs as far as I was concerned. I was set on just leaving them all behind to save the stupid prince myself once we were set forth.
Finally, after a good half an hour of riding in the carriage, we came to a stop. I peered out through the curtains and realized that we were inside the citadel itself. This was where the king himself dwelled, sick and fragile. This was where the decision was made to ignore my village and allow it to be burned to the ground. My hands clenched in my lap as the official opened the door to both carriages and stood aside, waiting for us to descend.
I was the last to get off and step into the plaza of the citadel. The castle was built in a rectangle, with the main building on one of the edges. There was a tower at each corner of the rectangle, with center serving as a plaza of sorts. Today, it contained large white tents, flying the Edolas seal. There were soldiers and guards and officials marching around the plaza, some in a rush, and other simply walking. There were people walking in and out of the main castle and the towers. The citadel was alive with movement, but none of it was lively. It was tense and apprehensive. A place that should have been majestic and strong, now only felt fragile and scared.
I saw the official directing each of the volunteers to one of the tents. I made my way to the front of the line and the official turned to me. He gave me the same look I'd been receiving since I volunteering. Skeptical and pitying at the same time. He gestured to the tent in the back.
"A doctor should be along shortly for your physical examination." He said solemnly. I nodded and proceeded to the tent.
I entered the large white tent, about the size of the hotel room, and looked around. There was a medical table in the middle with a white piece of clothing folded on top of it. I walked over to the table and saw that the article of clothing was a gown. There was note on top of the gown. You may leave on your undergarments. I rolled my eyes. How chivalrous of them.
I looked around awkwardly, realizing that the only thing separating me from the view of hundreds of men was just a white sheet. Biting my lips, I stripped out of my clothes and pulled the gown on at record speed. Once I was comfortably in the gown that safely fell to my knees, I grabbed my sword and re-strapped it to my waist.
I hadn't so much as turned back around when the flap of the tent opened swiftly, and an aging man entered. He was short with a kind face, but dark eyes that held a lot of memories. He gave me a smile and approached slowly, as not to alarm me.
"Good morning. My name is Macao and I am one of the physicians of the castle. I am here to perform your physical examination. Please do not be alarmed, we just want to make sure that you are fit and healthy enough to go on this mission. We can't anyone with health issues or disabilities on the mission, as they might pose a fatal threat to our prince. You understand?"
I nodded as he came closer.
"Good. Might I ask your name and where you hail from?"
"Erza Scarlett. I'm from Rosemary Village." I replied, noticing the visible raise in his eyebrows at the mention of my village.
He spread his arms and gestured as if to ask if it was okay to touch me. I shifted in approval and he took my arms, pressing his fingers to my wrist. He began to take my pulse and fell the heart rate in my neck and wrists. He also placed his hand on my chest to test my heart rate over my heart. Then, he started to move the joints on my arm and shoulders to make sure they were functioning.
"So why did you decide to volunteer? I understand that Rosemary was nearly obliterated not too long ago. Should you not be recovering?" He nodded to the scars on my arms and chest that were still fresh. I clenched my fists as he gestured for me to stand.
"I don't need to recover. I'm fine. And I can fight. I want to fight." The doctor had me do some squats to make sure my knees were working before asking me to hop on one leg. I felt pretty ridiculous, but he was acting like this was perfectly normal.
"You do know, that if all goes as planned, you won't need to fight at all." The doctor gestured for me to sit back down, and pulled out a notebook to write something down.
"I'm not talking about this mission. I'm talking about afterwards." The doctor glanced up, willing me to continue. "If this mission goes as planned, we will have rescued the prince and he will grant me any reward I want. I want to join the army, because for some reason, women are forbidden from joining. I'm going to prove myself during this mission and take my rightful place in the front lines, fighting Caelum's knights until this war is finally over."
The doctor tucked his notebook away, looking at me curiously.
"Very well. Now one last thing before I go enter the results, I must take your weapon." I flinched and my hand automatically went to the hilt of my sword. The doctor sighed and held his hand out. "I'm sorry, but we need to confiscate all weapons for the time being. Don't worry, you'll get them back shortly, we just need to follow the safety procedures, you understand."
My hand still hadn't moved and I was glaring at him. I wasn't about to let this sword go, even if I knew that I was safe in the walls of the citadel.
"Failure to cooperate will result in expulsion from the mission. I'm sorry." The doctor said again, not sounding very apologetic at all. I realized that he wasn't taking no for an answer and if I truly did not cooperate, I could be back out on my ass where I wanted to avoid in the first place. I sighed and unstrapped my sword, handing it to him reluctantly. He took it and tucked it under his arm.
"You may get dressed now. Someone should be along shortly to take you to the next checkpoint." With that, the doctor turned and strode out of the room, his long robe flowing behind him almost majestically.
I quickly changed back into my clothes and tossed the gown on the table, feeling significantly barer without my sword. Why did they want my sword anyway? Did they not trust their own people not to turn on them? I supposed I had to give them some credit. I wouldn't trust me either, even if I did volunteer to sacrifice myself to save the prince.
I sat back down on the table, rubbing my hands together. I hoped I wouldn't have to wait long.
My wishes were answered with the sound of a shrill shriek. I gasped as the flap to my tent opened and a knight barreled into my tent, his helmet, covering his face. His armor was pitch black and he had his swords drawn in offense. I felt my heart skip a beat and I processed the chaotic noises happening outside, I fell over the table and stood behind it as the knight advanced on me.
They were here. They were in the citadel. How? How were they here?
I couldn't think about that now as the knight raised his sword and swung down at my unprotected body. I dove down and somersaulted under the table and through his legs to end up behind him. I jumped up and drove my elbow into the cinch in his armor at the neck. He grunted and fell forward slightly. If I'd been paying attention, I may have noticed how unnaturally young his voice sounded.
I used his momentary stupor to take a dive for his sword. If I could just disarm him, I would stand a better chance of killing him. As my hand wrapped around his wrist, his elbow shot forward and connected with my stomach, causing the air to rush out of me and my body to violently jerk backwards. I fell over and tried to ignore the sting in my abdomen as the knight turned back around to strike at me.
I dodged the first blow by rolling on my side. The second came horizontally, so I sat up, dodging it by a hair. I could hear the sword fly my ear. I took that opportunity to intertwine my fingers and strike at his crotch as hard as I could. He audibly groaned and stumbled back, I tucked my legs under me and sprang forward, knocking him to the group. His sword clattered next to him and before he could grab it again, I drove my elbow onto his face, knocking the helmet up a bit.
Then I dove for the sword. My fingers wrapped around the hilt and tried to scramble to my feet. His hand clasped around my ankle and kicked behind me, feeling my foot connect with metal. He shouted and his voice came out much clearer as something clattered to the ground. I sprang to my feet and whirled around pointing the sword at his chest.
Just as I was about to stab him, I froze. The knight's helmet had been knocked off in our scuffle and I could see his face. It wasn't a knight. It wasn't even an adult. It was a child. A young boy, no older than fifteen, stared at me with wide fearful black eyes. He was trying to glare at me, but his eyes were terrified. What was a child doing on a Caelum raid? I knew I had to kill him, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
Before I could make a decision, a noise from the entrance to the tent startled me. I jerked as the sound of clapping filled my ears.
The doctor strode in, followed by the official, both of them smiling and clapping. I stared wide-eyed as the official spread his arms and smiled wide. He spoke loud and full of pride, as my head seemed to spin at the words coming from his mouth.
"Congratulations, Erza Scarlett. You have passed the test."
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