Another 21 Aug'11
Disclaimer: G-boys are not saru's... and saru already forgotten the details of the anime too.
chapter 2
The rain fell with an unending hissing sound, that's what his ears picked up.
"ACHOOOOW...!"
He cocked his head a little to the direction that sound came from behind him; Odin was striping his drenched clothes and pulling out his blankets stock. Someone who had a death wish might say that the man's sneezing sound was cute...
He turned his head back facing forward; the sky was grey and thunder rumbled low every now and then.
That's why he thought about tents and NOT blankets... but his owner had strange judgments more often than always. Taking him in was one of them, despite everyone's sneer of contempt and downright condescending stares and offensive words.
He should be thankful about anomalies in life.
...wasn't he one, too?
"Sheesh... so much for sleeping in the woods, hu?" The man said while drying his short hair with his sash, already draped a thick blanket on his shoulders.
He turned around, his eyes dropped on the blanket part that was sliding off from the man's left shoulder. The wind blew and swirled in the narrow cave. Odin shivered for a short second and dropped the sash uncaringly to the ground, lifting the blanket rim open inviting his pet into his embrace.
He stared the man for several seconds; then complied.
"I'm not that wet...!" he objected when Odin's hands tried to rub the blanket ends to rub his hair dry. He wasn't that wet since Odin gave him his cloak sheltering him from the rain.
He didn't like to be spoiled; he didn't like to interact at all if it's up to him...
"...the rain smells like smoke..." he said silently.
Odin took him down sitting on the cave floor, taking his jacket off and started unbuttoning his baggy shirt.
"Some people must have used explosives passed these mountains. You know in the past century wizards made the liquid-fire in glass balls and used them for bringing down the dragons; then they made liquid-fire throwers that even non-magic users could use..." his agile hands already had the relatively dry shirt slid off the slender shoulders of his demon.
"Ha!" the man smirked in disdain; "That what ended their own usefulness; if magic isn't needed anymore then there's no use keeping magic-users exist!"
He blinked as the man's arms pulled his small body onto his broad naked chest.
"Now the non-magic users use those to bring down each other...!" Odin sneered.
He frowned.
"Your skin is cold." he said flatly.
The man stared down at him.
"I'll get warmer soon...!" he said embracing his demon's body with both arms, cocooning both of them in the blanket. His demon stiffened a little, presumably by the cold contact of his skin, but didn't utter another word in objection. Odin watched his long eyelashes drooped, and his eyelids fluttered close and open several times as if fighting sleep, before he surrendered to its claim. The silence kept them company as the hissing rain sounded far away.
The strong heartbeats owned his consciousness.
He needed the man to survive...
"...It's ugly!"
Odin said with a grimace.
He only stared generally at the land down the cliff, several smoke towers still trying to make their ways to the sky above, his ear-wings flicked in discomfort.
"Cover your wings, Heero...!"
He heard his owner said his name. It's an order. He did as told but he didn't like the feel of other substance rubbed on them, eventhough his owner had given him the softest fur he could find to make his hat.
"A life is left..." he said silently, staring at ground bellow. The full moon gave him more than enough light for him to see clearly.
Odin didn't react to his words; he only led his horse to move further from the sight of the battlefield.
He stared the man for some time..., then pulled the rein of his lizard.
"If the soldiers had just had a battle near here, they'd be very alert of strangers; we don't want to get involved in something-..."
His demon had gone from behind him.
"HEY, HEERO...!" the man shouted watching the lizard's tail flapped wildly balancing its fast descend down the steep cliff. Then he tsk-ed and could only wait on the edge of the cliff; his horse couldn't take the same way down.
Lix didn't care about the things it trampled under its feet, a few bits of charred flesh and bright colored mud trapped between its claws. The sound of dying breath reached his ears louder than the sounds of crushed dead bodies the lizard made occasionally. Lix knew where its rider wanted to stop.
A battered soldier lied between others, half his body was covered by the mud and broken pieces of what to have been weaponries, his visible arm seemed bent in a weird angle and one of his legs was battered beyond recognition. His bloody breaths showed he had some broken ribs too, and some punctured organs.
He stared at the soldier's eyes already lost their awareness.
The soldier's comrades must have missed him when they retreated, he must have lost consciousness by that time and they had thought he was just another casualty.
The broken dying voice made sense to his ears, though; the soldier was singing a broken piece of sleepsong. He must have young children back home.
Lix rested on its belly; he dismounted his ride and stood at the side of the soldier's head, staring down unblinking.
Squatted down, and found the soldier's eyes kind if lit up as his shadow covered his unseeing sight. A small smile tugged on those bloody lips, the man was trying to call out some names unfamiliar to his ears.
"Welcome home, father..." he whispered apathetically, knowing the soldier must have seen him as his children somehow. The dying man's breath became labored for a short span, trying to say some words in vain; then he stopped moving just like that.
He blinked at the sudden stop; then closed the soldier's eyes with his right hand. The rain had relatively washed away the dirt from the soldier's face; he only had a light smear of blood left on his palm. After that he stood and mounted his Sauria again and left without looking back.
Lix used its scythe-like parts protruding from its front legs to help it climbed up; Odin didn't look too pleased when they got on the edge of the cliff again. He didn't make excuses for his act and just proceeded with their trek.
Odin rode at his side and threw him his water bottle. "Wash that blood off your hand...!"
He complied without a word.
The woods smelled blood carried by the winds, especially when that blood was moving.
"UWAAAAGH...!" a scream sliced the night air and a peasant man came tumbling down the sloping land covered by thick bushes.
Odin only lifted one of his thick white brows when the peasant's body landed ungracefully in front of his horse. The peasant hurriedly straightened his body on his butts and using his hands and feet backpedalling in panic trying to get away from whatever seemed to be chasing him.
The horse snorted.
The peasant froze.
After exactly 5 seconds passed while he stared at the soldier on his horse as he stared at Odin blankly; the peasant continued his panic, trying to say something and pointing to the general direction from where he tumbled down from. Odin only frowned in disagreement as he tried to make out what the peasant was trying to say to him.
Several black shadows, sized bigger than bulls, lurked behind the trees; staring them down with countless red-shining small round eyes.
He looked up and stared at those shadows, "...mountain-broughams..." he said without alert; being a demon as he was, the other creatures would generally feared him more than he feared them, whatever kind of monsters they were.
His owner turned to the shadows' direction and generally ignored them; knowing those creatures had stopped moving closer as they recognized his demon.
Lix rumbled in curiosity, its drools dripped from its muzzle when it recognized there were preys closing around its perimeter. Its rider tucked the reins into the collar and jumped down from its back; Lix stared at him with shining eyes, all it needed was a nod of permission from its demon-rider and it launched to chase the shadows.
The peasant yelled in surprise when he realized what creature was once behind the man on the horse. He only had a glimpse of the lizard's fast move and the shadows ran scattering into the depth of the woods.
"...wha-... wha..." the peasant struggled with his words, pointing to the now gone lizard.
Odin steered his horse forward and stopped behind the man. "Are you from a village around here?" he asked calmly.
The peasant gaped at him, trying to panic more when he saw that there was a demon standing not so far from him but his strength betrayed him. Mimicking Odin's calmness, or just surrendered to his fate the peasant slumped and pointed generally to the direction of his village. Several beastly screeches reached their ears, and the peasant jumped; already knowing what things were screeching and what made them to. He rather had no monsters at his tail and a lizard with full stomach tailing him home.
"What happened behind the mountain back there?" Odin asked with a frown, flicking his head to the direction they came from.
The peasant took deep breaths before he found his voice back; "...ummm... you are..." he glanced at Odin's ring crest; "...the Commander from the Castle..."
And there's no one else in that country that would bring a demon-escort with them.
The peasant sighed; "Sir, we could talk more comfortably in my dwelling..." he bowed.
Odin stared him down for awhile, and nodded. Just as he pulled his rein to move, the lizard came back with a very satisfied face a lizard could make. The peasant hurriedly got up and led them down the path to his village, occasionally glancing behind nervously at Odin's demon on the lizard's back.
"So... what took you to this part of woods, Sir?" the peasant asked a little nervously, the teapot he was pouring spilled a little.
Odin took the seat on the dining chair; the peasant's house was small and cozily adequate, the dining table and chairs were the only big furniture on that floor.
"That battlefield behind the mountain?" Odin ignored the peasant's chit-chat and repeated his question back then.
The peasant paused for a short time; he was in his early twenties and seemed quite bright.
Clearing his throat, the peasant took out some food from the kitchen cabinet, and sat down across Odin. "When you passed, what did you notice, Sir?"
Odin stared the young man with a stare; he wasn't used to be answered with questions by people he questioned, moreover by peasants; especially since his men feared him for his strictness.
"Only one uniform-..."
"That's right, Sir...!" the peasant cut and Odin stared him more. "Those were Darque and Roude army...!"
"Roude...?" Odin's left brow curved up in surprise.
"Yes, Sir. The very Roude behind this mountain; that's why villagers are gone seeking refuge to other places...!" the young man nodded vigorously.
That explained the empty village streets and the abandoned houses; at least he was relief that his demon's arrival didn't cause a stir as usual.
"Why Roude?" Odin stared intently at the peasant; unlike Eretta and Gertt, the city-fortresses which always had a clash with each other, since they were formerly enemies before surrendering to his kingdom; Darque and Roude were originally one state before the former ruler divided it into two regions for the two heirs. They even have the same uniform for their soldiers.
"Uhhh..." the peasant seemed a little nervous and bent closer to speak silently to the Commander. "It's only rumors, but the heir to Darque's Lord that was just born last year said to have the Lord of Roude's traits...!"
Odin's brows shot up at that info; he knew that the two Lords, despite having the same father, they had different mothers of different origins. And it seemed that those siblings competed in every aspects of life, including in their relationship with women. That meant he had more things to settle than just a few border-men in this area.
"How could you distinguish opponents when you're wearing the same uniform?" Odin asked curiously.
"Darque soldiers wear red band, while Roude's wear yellow band, Sir..." the peasant nodded spiritedly again. "The other villages situated between the border of Darque and Roude had been emptied too in the past month, what's with the soldiers had been engaged in open battles too..."
"You don't leave?" Odin took a piece of bread from the table.
"I..." the peasant looked a little baffled, "...my sister went on a journey last week, and she hadn't come back; I'm waiting for her to return or to inform me about her whereabouts..." he scratched the back of his head, looking down. Odin stared him while eating the bread.
"Living alone means you're vulnerable to monsters attack...!"
"Uhmm, yes. But they usually didn't enter the village's edge; and didn't come out of their lairs before sunset."
"So, what were you doing in the woods alone in the night, without weapon to defense yourself too?"
"Aahh...hahahh..." the peasant laughed shyly; "I was searching for mountain vegetables and hiding in a cave when the battle suddenly broke, and fell asleep when the rain started. By the time I woke up, it was already passed sunset and I thought I could run fast enough back home. But never thought I'd be freaked out hearing those spiders closing in around me that I'd run in panic and got lost..." the words faltered.
Odin stared at the young man's beet red face.
"Oh, if you'd like I could brew you the vegetables I got today...?" he brightened.
Odin stared at the young man suddenly changing the topic.
"And... and... I could put the talisman hung by the door into the second floor so your escort could enter and have some dinner, too?"
Odin blinked, took a swig off the earthen teacup and stood up. "He doesn't eat...!"; then nodded his thank-you to him.
The peasant seemed uneasy when they left, possibly because he felt saver when a soldier was with him instead of being alone.
"The village has barricade against monsters..."
Odin glanced at his demon as he mounted his steed. "Definitely didn't work against humans...!" He meant the disputing soldiers.
"Strong enough to repel evil spirits." he ignored his owner's words altogether.
"Really?" Odin steered his horse taking the only road to get across the village. "That young man thought you didn't come into his house because of the talisman he had hung on the door...!"
The houses by the sides of the road were dark, indicating that they were empty.
"What makes you uneasy?" Odin asked noticing his demon somewhat being alert keeping his eyes open to everything around them from the time they entered the village.
"There's no one here..." he said softly.
"Humph...! The young man said the villagers had taken refuge elsewhere avoiding the battles."
"All of them?"
"Seemed so if we don't find anyone else, right?" Odin said uncaringly.
He silenced for some time, taking the lead in anticipation if anything went wrong; his owner followed him without a word more.
"Do you notice the stone statues placed in between some houses had spells written on them?" he asked. "And all the houses of this village located along this single road?"
"Don't you find it unusual...?" he turned his head to see his owner, and found him slumped unconsciously on his horse.
He stopped right away.
Lix suddenly let out a hysterical screech.
A hot thing stabbed him on his chest near the right shoulder and pushed him off his ride, nailing his body to the dirt road.
He narrowed his eyes, his left hand gripped the hot thing that shone in the dark; it sizzled by the heat. He couldn't move. His Sauria screeched in panic as it was tangled in something invisible.
A humanoid black shadow screened over him, with a leer showing sharp fangs in its mouth.
"Demon...!"
"How nice of you coming into my parlor...!"
Somehow the shadow's hiss sounded melodious.