Those who Favor Fire
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Five: Mentor
"Who are you?"
"The Order's Paladin… Told them, can't be both his mentor and his executioner."
Angel gave the three upperclassmen confronting him a disinterested glance. He estimated that they were at least two years older than he was but still wearing exwire jackets rather than the calf-length coats that indicated a ranked exorcist. Angel couldn't see any tells for the tall one on the right, but the red-head in the center had a fighter's stance, a knight-hopeful and the heavy-set one on the left was clearly a dragoon-candidate from the bulge under his jacket.
"The thing is, we don't buy that you're not using that demon of yours as a crutch," the tall one said. It was far from first time this had happened since the tamer aptitude test the previous spring but it was the first time someone outside of Angel's class had taken it upon themselves to question his honesty and his ability.
"Yeah, the whole sissy braid thing? That's just you saying you don't use your demon pal to cheat." The would-be dragoon was practically bouncing with eagerness. Angel frowned. His classmates were obnoxious but nothing ever came of their harassment and he'd long since decided that having friends was over-rated. Even in London his peers had never liked him and within his first month of attending an Academy instead of being tutored at home Angel had convinced himself that he didn't he need them or their nonsense. This felt different. There was a charged air to the three older boys that put Angel in the mind of battle.
"We want real proof you aren't secretly making sacrifices to it," the other knight-candidate, clearly the leader of the trio, concluded with a nasty grin. He glanced around at the small crowd of students who'd gathered to watch the altercation. "Strip," he ordered.
"No," Angel stated. His stance shifted slightly in preparation for violence.
"I guess we'll just have to make you then," the eager one exclaimed as he and the tall boy lunged at Angel.
Angel side-stepped the dragoon and drove his fist into the tall boy's windpipe in a single fluid movement. Without hesitation he took the fight to the leader of the little gang. The older knight-hopeful managed to knock aside Angel's punch but wasn't ready for the speed of the follow-up kick that caught him along-side the head. He dropped like a puppet with the strings cut.
The last boy recovered from his failed attack and turned to see both his friends laid out in a matter of seconds. The dragoon-candidate pulled his gun. In a flash, Angel scooped up a handful of gravel and pitched it side-arm into the other boy's face. Then he grabbed the gun and wrenched it out of the older boy's hand, breaking several fingers in the process.
Arrogantly Angel tossed the gun into a nearby fountain. "I don't mind an impromptu spar but at least make me break a sweat," he sneered, speaking to those who'd gathered to watch as much as to the three he'd dispatched.
The crowd silently parted and allowed Angel to pass.
"Don't resist."
Before Angel's sleep fogged brain could digest the order he was yanked out of bed and forced to his knees. Reflex took over. Angel shoved himself backwards ramming his skull into the the face of the person holding him. When the hand on his arm loosened he twisted free and grabbed the sword under his bed. Hearing a gun cocked Angel swept the still sheathed blade toward the sound. The heavy falchion blade knocked the dragoon's feet out from under him.
There was a loud crash as the door of the dorm room was thrown open. Angel whispered a quick verse, throwing up a weak barrier as he came to his feet and discarded his sword's sheath.
"Exwire Angel, stand down!" Angel recognized the voice of his knight-mentor, Upper First Class Exorcist Talwar, and lowered both his sword and the aria barrier he'd created.
With the fight stopped Angel took a moment to look around and try to make sense of what was happening. There was a bullet hole in his roof and the small dorm room was crowded with people in exorcist's trenchcoats: Two were holding Caliburn in barrier gleaming with power, one was on the floor with a bloody nose and another was picking himself out of Angel's wardrobe. Talwar stood in the doorway, forcing the last exorcist's gun toward the ceiling. "Arthur, you need to surrender now," the older exorcist said. "You've been accused of using your demon sword against your fellow exwires."
"I never use Caliburn," Angel protested as he laid his falchion on his bed.
The knight he'd bloodied grabbed Angel's arm and wrenched it viciously behind his back then handcuffed him. "You asked for what happened," Talwar reprimanded the other knight.
"Respectfully Sir, this is a matter for the Inquiry Branch, you have no business here," the second dragoon, apparently the squad leader, said as he freed his arm from Talwar's hold.
"Of course I do. Exwire Angel is my student," Talwar said. "Not to mention you're all damned lucky I caught wind of this foolishness. If I hadn't intervened, my bet is at least two people would have died tonight. Utter stupidity when all you really had to do was let him wake up enough to recognize you and surrender."
"We couldn't take any chances. Not if he's begun using Caliburn's powers," the other exorcist protested.
"Did he actually reach for Caliburn?" Talwar asked. "No. You were prepared for that and wouldn't have gotten half as trashed if he had." The older exorcist shook his head. "I can't believe we've sunk this low. A gaggle of schoolyard bullies get humiliated and it ends with you lot dragging a kid out of bed in the middle of the night."
"Three seventeen-year-olds against one fourteen-year-old and he walks away clean while they're lucky none of them died: A crushed larynx, a fractured skull, we still don't know if the last boy'll keep his eye."
Talwar sighed. "How many times have I told you to fight nice against your fellow humans?" he asked Angel. "Most of your classmates aren't as advanced in their training as you are. You can't go around hurting them, even in… Let's call it an informal spar."
"The last one pulled a gun on me," Angel protested.
"Well none of the witnesses reported that part," Talwar replied. He glanced at the other exorcists. "But it explains his broken fingers, now doesn't it?"
"We're not here to try Exwire Angel, just to arrest him."
"Then talking to you is a waste of my time," Talwar said. He put a hand under Angel's elbow and helped him to his feet. "Well, get on with it. Lead the way to someone with the authority to use their head for more than growing hair."
Angel spent the rest of the night in a cell beneath the True Cross' Admin Building. Early the next morning Ernst Egin arrived outside the cell looking sorrowful.
"I didn't do it," Angel told him. "I swear, I've never called on Caliburn's powers."
"I believe you," Egin assured him. "But it is still a very serious accusation. We have to prove your innocence beyond any doubt. I've arranged for your trial to be today. We need to head this off before any rumors gain momentum."
Angel nodded. "Has my mother been informed?" he asked uncertainly.
Egin grimaced. "She was ecstatic to hear that you'd given in to the demon sword. She's petitioning for your withdrawal from the True Cross rather than allowing you to prove your innocence. It is her feeling that your family's goals and those of the True Cross no longer align since we consider attacking a fellow student with demonic powers to be a punishable offense."
"They attacked me," Angel protested. "I only defended myself... And I didn't use Caliburn!"
"I know, I know," Egin said placatingly. "Some members of the student body are overzealous in trying to rid the True Cross of demonic influences. I know you are only Caliburn's jailor not the sword's conspirator. But children sometimes fail to reach true understanding and act on appearances."
Later that morning Angel was led from the cell to a shadowy courtroom. As he stepped into the pool of light concentrated on the defendant's stand Angel realized he wouldn't be able to see either his accusers or those who would judge him.
Talwar stepped up beside Angel and patted him on the arm. "What this comes down to is one person's word against another's," Angel's mentor said addressing their invisible audience. "Exwire Angel says he didn't use his demon sword in the brawl yesterday with his three of his classmates. They say he did."
"How else could a little brat like that win against us?"
Angel recognized one of his tormentor's voices. "Because you're pathetic," he shot back.
Talwar sighed. "Impolitely put but essentially true. Exwire Angel is from a long-standing exorcist family. He's been trained as a knight since birth and was invited to study at the Academy of Rome because of his talent. Exwires Cancion, Karabin and Mes, like most bullies, picked what they thought was an easy target. They are older, larger and outnumbered Exwire Angel, but they started their training a mere two years ago and only one of them is studying to be a knight."
"Arthur Angel does hold a demon sword, does he not?" A new voice asked.
"Yes," Talwar admitted. "He inherited the demon sword Caliburn upon his father's death two and a half years ago. Since then Angel has made a point of not using Caliburn… As the squadron who arrested him can attest to."
"The demon sword is powered by blood sacrifices," Egin's voice rang out from the darkness. "A simple examination should prove his assertion that he has never used the sword."
Loud, obnoxious laughter filled the courtroom.
"Pheles, you aren't welcome here!" Egin snapped. "Haven't you realized that yet?"
"A necessary evil, wasn't that what your last secret cabal was forced to conclude?" Pheles replied lightly. "One of many. Oh how it amuses me to see your expression when confronted with such truths, Ernst Frederick Egin: The Order of the True Cross, like all other exorcist sects, is dependent on power lent to them by benevolent deities like myself. No matter how you curse that fact you cannot change it."
"If you've finished inflicting your presence on us, we have serious business here," Egin growled.
"Yes, yes, the matter of Exwire Angel and his silly little fight. However, my dear judge and jury, what I said about necessary evils is entirely pertinent."
"How so?" a new voice asked.
"Whether or not the boy has ever used the powers Caliburn granted to his family is immaterial," Pheles said. "The True Cross always has and always will use fire to fight fire, to pretend otherwise is absurdity. The only question here today is whether or not he used Caliburn's powers against these worthless brats, which is fortunate. Given the size of Caliburn's blade you might, possibly satisfy yourselves that the boy has never bloodied himself with it. But you will never be certain that he hasn't cut so much as a strand of his hair."
Angel heard whispers rising from the jury and audience.
"Thus it is fortunate that there is both a simple and entertaining way for either accusers or accused to substantiate their claims," Pheles continued his voice effortlessly drowning out the whisperers. "Let them fight again. I shall even offer my services to see that Caliburn is unable to interfere. If the accusers speak true, I'm certain they would be eager to reclaim their honor… After all the three of them were ignominiously thrashed by an underclassmen, one of the year's youngest freshmen in fact. If there were extenuating circumstances they must wish to prove that they aren't so pathetic as they appear to be."
Everyone in the audience could hear the predatory smile in Pheles' voice as he continued, "Or perhaps not. If they lied then there is no reason to think that the outcome would be any different than before. You still have one eye left to lose, yes? And you, so lucky that there was a Doctor-candidate nearby and sufficiently skilled to clear your airway before you suffocated. And lastly, our little ring-leader, the force of a blow needed to fracture a skull? If the angle had been just slightly different it might easily have broken your neck. But, of course, everything will be different when Exwire Angel's demon sword is contained. You won't be in any danger of being maimed or dying should the three of you pick another fight with him. Isn't that right?"
"I- I recant," one of the older exwires said. After a moment the other two followed suit.
Pheles laughed softly. "So you do have a sense of self-preservation after all. I've seen Caliburn in action with several of Exwire Angel's predecessors and from the nature of your injuries, I can conclude that the only way you would think your accusations were at all plausible would be if you had never seen Caliburn's power unleashed."
The trial wrapped up quickly after that. As he was leaving Angel saw Egin confronting a tall man wearing an archaic, lime-green suit. "Now they'll always question whether or not he's used the demon sword," Egin accused.
"Ahh, did I tarnish your little symbol?" the other man said mockingly, his hat cast his face in shadows. "No matter. Today they frown upon him because he may have used the sword. As soon as there's trouble they'll beg him to use it. Humans talk endlessly about their principals but when the rain comes their memories are so very short."
"I will never turn to demons for aid," Egin declared grandly.
"Who cares that you are a stubborn old man?" the other replied. "You've served your purpose and now your star is falling. The child growing in your daughter's belly will ensure that your day is done."
As Pheles predicted Egin fell from favor within a few short months, blamed for inciting the Blue Night. Since he'd disassociated himself from Angel after the trial, Egin's fall had little impact on the young exwire. Angel eventually passed his Exam and continued climbing the ranks of the True Cross for the next fifteen years until he was named Paladin. And then Angel was ordered to become the knight-mentor to Egin's half-demon grandson, the inheritor of Satan's flames.
"I heard you up and wandering about the apartment all night," Lightning remarked.
"It was nothing," Angel said. "I've been called to another council meeting about Rin."
Lightning waited.
"When I first started at the Academy of Rome, I was put on trial because of Caliburn," Angel continued. "My mentor was the only one who spoke for me without having ulterior motive."
"Sounds like someone I would have liked to meet," Lightning said.
"He was killed on a mission while I was- indisposed," Angel finished awkwardly.
"It wasn't your fault."
"You always say that whenever she comes up, no matter how tangentially," Angel remarked.
"I was there, I know what happened but you still make it sound like you had a case of mono," Lightning replied, "So I think it bears repeating that you aren't responsible for what she did."
"There's something big coming," Bon called in a low voice, waking Angel and Rin. He gave them a moment to gather their wits then said, "It went through my outer barrier like it was paper."
"And the small fry are following in it's wake," Karura added as he landed on Bon's shoulder.
Rin and Angel scrambled to their feet and took positions between Bon and the threat. They waited until they saw the eight foot humanoid shambling toward them, every movement opened cracks in the creature's rocky crust revealing glowing magma beneath. The Cherufe had pulled themselves out of the ground and followed after it like loyal dogs while the fire-drakes flocked around it.
"Your verse Suguro, followed by barrages from Karura and Okumura," Angel instructed.
"So naught was the answer of his people except that they said: slay him or burn him; then Allah delivered him from the fire; most surely there are signs in this for a people who believe," Bon shouted. The flames wreathing the cherufe's lizard-like bodies dimmed. "Karura, seal of Fire Powder!" he exclaimed and Karura took to the air. The phoenix beat his wings, raining down flaming feathers on the weakened cherufe and their master.
Rin drew his sword. Bracing the blade against his free hand he recited, "Agni Meeley Purohitam Yajnyasya Deva Mritvijam Hotoaram Ratna dhatamam," one of the sutra Ucchsma had taught him to help control his demonic powers. A sheet of blue flames exploded from Rin's sword, the fire-drakes and the cherufe who had survived Karura's attack burned to ash. Even the greater demon that led them was staggered as the blue flames washed over it.
Angel didn't wait for it to recover. Caliburn gave a satisfied hum as Angel pulled back the sleeve of his coat and cut into his forearm, the white cloth was already speckled with red from previous cuts. The paladin lunged through Rin's flames and drove Caliburn's glowing red blade into the creature's stoney chest. It grunted and reached up to grab Caliburn but Angel yanked his sword free, spun round and decapitated the demon.
In the stillness that followed the short, decisive battle Rin and Bon stared across the ground at their enemies' fallen forms, startled by the devastating effectiveness of their attacks.
"I take it we're all thoroughly awake now?" Angel asked rhetorically. Once the last of his blood was absorbed into the demon sword he sheathed Caliburn. "If I told you to go back to sleep it would do no good so we may as well walk a few more hours. Once the adrenaline has worn off we'll stop again so the two of you can get your full measure of sleep," he declared. Angel ignored how worn he himself felt although he had already taken his turn to rest.
Note: Quran Chapter 29, verse 24: "So naught was the answer of his people except that they said: slay him or burn him; then Allah delivered him from the fire; most surely there are signs in this for a people who believe"
Brahma sutra 1: In the Rig Veda, the first word of the opening verse is 'Agni'. It says… 'Agni Meeley Purohitam Yajnyasya Deva Mritvijam Hotoaram Ratna dhatamam' The Vedas glorify the worship of Agni, fire. Agni is verily Narayana. The first sound of the Vedas is Agni.