Another -10 march'12
Disclaimer: G-boys are not saru's... and saru already forgotten the details of the anime too.
chapter 11
A flare.
Black.
A brighter flare.
Frowned.
A whole-bucket worth of thick liquid splashed on the face.
Now, that felt like a good enough reason to-...
"...shhh! Don't disturb him too much...!"
Two faces in the light above his...
"...I told you a bucket of puke or two should do it...!"
A pair of wide golden round eyes reflecting his frowning face like mirrors.
"-idiot! Don't say it out loud...!"
A thumping sound.
A surprised yelp of pain or fear.
...that's a good enough reason to give a murderous death-glare, alright! Odin leered treacherously.
"Co... Commander...! Don't wake up suddenly, you're still in need of some rest!" one of the soldiers tried with an uneven grin, but he was inching backwards with fear in his eyes.
"The Lieutenant is stirring...!" an almost victorious call stole their attentions from Odin; the two soldiers instantly scooted over to where their leader was lying on the ground, joining their two comrades who might have tried poking the Lieutenant to wake for some times.
That only left a pair of wide round eyes staring Odin openly with something akin to worry and curiosity. Odin frowned at the still dripping liquid from the side of the slender muzzle. He never dreamt there would be a day he would have to be puked at by the lizard to help him in emergency-
He tsk-ed and didn't finish his thought, it only annoyed him more.
"...what?" he grumbled, flexing his arms roughly to splash the thick liquid that was all over him.
Lix blinked once and stared him the same like before. There was something the lizard wanted to ask him, Odin thought, it just didn't know how-... no, he just didn't understand its language.
"...-... we dead?"
"No, Sir. But you sure gave us the creeps...!" Odin heard one of the four soldiers surrounding the Lieutenant said, almost childishly. They were the four bedridden soldiers, Odin realized with a deeper frown; the four who should be bedridden still and not be the ones most vigorously bouncing around and treated them like they were the ones neared death's door instead. The last thought earned a much deeper frown.
Looking around from his sitting place, he found he was on the single dirt road; not quite safe and sound by the looks of it, what's with the blue-black bruises on his skin, the bloody scrapes here and there already dried a blackish color.
"When we woke up this morning, the rest of you lied unmoving for gods know how long. We feared the worst when we couldn't wake you up at all...!" the eighth soldier that was supposed to be with the worst condition, by Odin's memory, said worriedly, bouncing his head with matter-of-factly nods and wide eyes; they glanced at Odin a couple times and at the other three soldiers beside Cail that were lying on the ground with Odin at the center.
That fact brought Odin instantly to his feet.
"Commander...!" one of the soldiers tried, "The others are alright, as far as we see..."
Odin wobbled a little but managed to keep his pride as he knelt beside the soldier lying nearest him and checked the man's condition. To his relief the others' conditions were just as said, they were conscious enough with only minor bruises and half-healed scrapes in various places left on their bodies; the only down side was that they seemed to be really exhausted. Nothing a good supplement-soup couldn't handle, though, he thought to himself, and just realized...
"Where is he?" he asked as he stood up all rigid and alarmed.
"He, who...?" one of the three soldiers asked back in alarm and incomprehension.
"The peasant!" Odin barked.
The four soldiers jumped in surprise and looked at each other with baffled expressions.
"...what peasant, Sir?" one of them braved himself to ask.
Odin stilled and looked around. They were on the single village road where old stones carved with what seemed to be spells of some sort were placed in intervals on either sides of it, just as he remembered it, the only thing missing was the village itself.
"Perhaps..." Cail started softly, sitting up; "...the village was supposed to be on that side all along, Commander." pausing as he inspected cursorily on his surroundings; "...it's not supposed to be here...!"
The birds chirped lively on the trees pulled Odin's eyes to some trees where they tied their horses yesterday; next to the house of the peasant's sister... which was nowhere in sight; leaving a grassy clearing on the ground.
"You're saying we entered a door to another realm...?" Odin glared grudgingly at the grassy ground, the horses snorted feeling uneasy with the weight of his glare.
The soldiers silenced and looked at each other.
"...but you're the one leading us there, Sir."
Odin looked back at Cail; the Lieutenant's eyes told him that the younger man remembered what happened... perhaps only to some extent, as Odin saw some bafflement shaded Cail's eyes too. When he thought back, Lui was the one finding them -he and his demon- and the one led them to the village that night... perhaps the one he after was the demon; so Odin was only an extra, which explained why he was drugged to sleep that first time. But thinking that he eventually managed to keep the demon away from this mess gave him a sense of satisfaction; that for some reason the peasant changed his mind and left the demon alone.
"I did, didn't I...?" Odin's brows relaxed from the tight frown. His mood seemed to be suddenly turned significantly lighter. "What about the beasts at our backs?"
"Ah, we checked around before, to the end of this road, they didn't seem to be lingering there, Sir." One of the four soldiers reported with visible relief, pointing to the other end of that road.
"...and to think we sprawled on the ground unconscious the whole night with the beasts around...!" another one mumbled with uneasiness.
Odin snorted. "We'll camp here for now; restore our stamina before we head back to the Palace."
"We're not going to search for the young master?" Cail quipped half surprised. His men stared him half surprised by the proposition.
"How are we going to find him if neither of you prepared a rendezvous point, now?" Odin asked with annoyance, feeling satisfied when they averted their eyes from his with various levels of guilt. "If anything, my-demon should be heading back to the Palace..."
"You sure he wouldn't use this opportunity to run away?" Cail asked half reflexively, without even considering such doubt could earn him his Commander's wrath.
Betraying his subordinates' fears, Odin smirked confidently, as if enjoying the trust-game; "Ask the Lessard, there...!" he pointed with a flick of his head.
The said lizard was still eyeing Odin widely, from above Odin's head behind him. A wet gurgle and a heave later, Odin turned from smirking to fuming.
"LESSARD! What's this for...?"
Lix turned its head to the sides, inspecting its work of a dripping fuming-Commander; its round eyes still wide and looked more and more perplexed. Lix walked circling Odin while clucking its bafflement. The treatment only fueled Odin's annoyance.
"WHAAAT?"
The lizard blinked rapidly and stared Odin face to face after it finished circling and stopped in front of the man.
"What?" Odin reined in his anger a little; "If you ask me, they look worse than me...!" he pointed the still exhausted looking soldiers on the grounds who huddled together on some point and were rigidly shaking their heads at the lizard. If not by fear, being puked at was still not something pleasant to be experienced, right?
Lix ignored the men and unusually put its muzzle on Odin's left shoulder, just like it did to fawn on its rider.
Odin silenced for a moment, a realization hit him; "...something with Heero?" he breathed to the lizard. Lix's tail swayed a couple times on the ground. Odin frowned in a different kind of alarm, glancing at his subordinates; now that the beasts were not on their tails, he could at least let the lizard to find his demon. "You want to find him...?"
To Odin's incomprehension, the long sleek tail swayed its negation, he was sure the lizard would grab any opportunity to leave them and find its rider at any moment.
Then Odin changed his mind. "You who could run and about, find things to eat and the herbs I'm going to tell you; the other set fire. We'll leave in an hour!"
"Whaaat...?" the soldiers objected collectively but they knew they couldn't say no to the order, not in such manner when the Commander looked like he was ready to fight a war.
"...Heero...?" Duo tried, gently dabbing the wet handkerchief to the demon's visible parts of face, minding not to touch the feathers that were tightly sticking to the pale cheeks. The sight giving him the idea of how a dead demon would look like on his funeral; which he tried to chase away from his mind the whole time the demon didn't give him any reaction.
He knew he didn't help in any kind, dabbing that wet cloth and all, but he didn't know anything else to do. He tried calling to the demon over and over gently, knowing he didn't want to make a ruckus and attracted his pursuers again; he was grateful his slip when the demon suddenly fell still before didn't resulted in the bad way... or maybe not yet?
Duo had taken the demon, who was surprisingly didn't weigh as much as he was supposed to judging by his looks, to some nook in an old tree's intermingling roots near their last spot; fixing his amulets on the barks to hide their-...his signs of existence. He found a suitable enough spot for the demon to sit and recline, head lying back on his spare cloak used as pillow; his deathly-face facing up, while Duo stood beside him and could do nothing but worry his heart out.
After what felt like a couple hours had passed since the time the demon fell unconscious; Duo decided he should at least try something.
"Ancestors, please don't let this become a mistake..." he whispered, and closed his eyes; putting a hand palm-down on the demon's chest and one on the demon's head. He concentrated his mind's eyes to search in the darkness, blindly and tentatively; the first try he stopped when he felt he was about to plunge into an endless fall. Cursing under his breath as he fought to control his awareness, Duo took out a small candy from his bag and put it in his mouth. The sweet flavor should 'tie' his awareness to his mouth to some extent; then he tried again.
He should find his own core first, that idea popped out in his mind, guiding him to the innermost parts of his self; the blackness there was familiar and he felt he was not as blind like before. Then, spreading his awareness to the outer layers of his mind he tried to focus his concentration again to penetrate the demon's wards. Some tens minutes passed without anything; his small candy had long gone in his mouth, leaving only a faint aftertaste which couldn't be classified as sweet flavor anymore.
And suddenly; he felt a spark.
Gentle, but sharp at the same time.
Frowning and intrigued, Duo concentrated to that feeling.
Feeling...
Yes, it's a feeling from inside him, he realized. It wasn't from the demon's still body.
It wasn't...-
A warm tear slid down from his right eye; his core rippled with a sigh.
Oh...
so, it's you... there was a sudden relief crushing him from inside, trying to explode out of his core, swallowing him whole.
Duo opened his eyes slowly, making another tear rolled down from his other eye down his cheek. His head swayed a little, and he fell behind unconscious on the intertwining roots.
The breeze was blowing gently, bringing the smells of various greeneries and the coolness of water. On the top of a pointy cliff stood a young man; stilled with eyes closed. The scenery around him resounding their voices and colors into his heart; he smiled longingly. The clouds rolled lazily in the sky above his head.
"Take a look at that, Commander...!" Cail pointed at a giant white tree, significantly protruding from the forest canopy, its white crown blown by the winds and looked like scattered white grains from their viewpoint.
"I know. Just ignore it." Odin said levelly leading the men on horses. His steed snorted its indifference.
"But... it exists! We could see it...!" Cail objected; truth was he felt curious enough like a boy seeing a new toy in the store. He was not the type to leave things hanging.
"I bet you even if the whole Palace's soldiers are here and make this forest bald, no one is going to find that tree." the fifth soldier quipped in low voice, but everyone could hear him anyway. Before he fell unconscious in the obelisks clearing, he had a slight chance to witness the white tree growing from the creature's light, even while he was losing his consciousness.
Odin ignored the men talking about what happened with hushed voices and soon they followed his example and ignored the whole thing, or at least tried to. One of the soldiers at the back line held the rein of the young master's horse; behind them the lizard followed silently, all the while staring at Odin with wide anticipating eyes that it somehow made the man felt uneasy.
After some minutes passed, the men fell silent and Odin welcomed that quietness; his heart was filled with the concern about his demon and his mind already linked everyone on his opposing side to be the culprit of the ambush, especially the ones who secretly opposed The General; but knowing what kind of man The General was, he knew this ambush was expected, baited even. With a frown, Odin vowed to give The General a wallop if anything ever happened to his demon.
"Scary. You're the type to hold grudge, aren't you, Commander?"
A shift in the air behind him, and Odin had his sword swung slashing the source of the voice.
The men's horses neighed out their surprise and took some distance back.
A small black-dragonfly, slashed into two, liquefied onto the blade's surface, turning to black liquid which streaming up the blade defying gravity and formed its previous shape, floating above the glinting blade.
"Heeheehee..." the dragonfly let out a pleasant chuckle answering Odin's leering growl. "I thought you'd want to ask me a few questions, while I intend to see to your belly-wound, Commander. I did promise you to give you something for the bleeding, didn't I?"
"I see you don't have the courage to hand it face to face...!" Odin growled.
The dragonfly let out a longer chuckle.
"I'm sorry... but I see you don't need it, anyway."
Odin glared poisons to the proxy-creature, sheathing his sword, and straightened his body forward; continuing his ride.
The black-dragonfly floated to his side.
"Don't you want to know what really happened back there...?" the peasant's voice asked levelly.
Odin knew his men would like some explanation to ease their minds, but he's the type to finish what was in front of him first and after he's satisfied he'd go back to see to some grudge to be evened. Right now he minded about his demon and itching to hit The General waiting for his report in the Palace.
"I know something about your demon that you wouldn't hear from him even if you ask him hundreds of ti-..."
A pop. A splash. Another pop.
And in a flash the dragonfly was in Odin's water bottle.
He stared the bottle for a second, and then shook it hard, and inspected it. After finding nothing black's leaking from the cap, he was going to put it back to his saddlebag; snorted his indifferent satisfaction.
"You're not very bright about this kind of thing, are you?" the same voice asked with a tinge of amazement.
Odin stilled his hand and stared down at the bottle. Slowly a picture of the black-dragonfly became visible on its surface, after it turned fully black it liquefied back into its floating material shape.
"This is not drawn by ink, Commander... don't you want to know what this black thing is?" the voice asked when Odin continued his ride ignoring the dragonfly.
"It's the same as that menacing cloud swirling around you right now..."
Odin's steed snorted.
"It's grudge." the voice said with a closing tone.
Odin pulled his steed to stop and turned halfway as if blocking the way using his steed's body. "What do you want?" he asked flatly. His men followed him at some distance, not really wanting to be involved if anything broke out within that kind of air, but close enough to hear the conversation.
"I want to thank-you for- ...you'd want to hear certain things about your demon which I'm going to tell you." the peasant immediately changed the subject when Odin was about to turn forward again.
"I don't need to hear your stories again; I don't even know how much of them were true and how much were bullshits...!" His men knew when Odin started to use curses in his speech then they should let him be.
The peasant chuckled briefly. "I am a witness-by-proxy; I know things I don't even care to find out, Commander."
"Ha! 'Sucks to be you!" Odin scoffed.
"And I know things about your demon's past. He wouldn't let anything pass his lips even if you torture him for years, you know..." the peasant baited. Odin's eyes turned grim and his frowning face darkened at that.
"...I know because I witnessed it happened. Didn't you intend to ask him about what happened before he was entrusted to you by The Palace?"
"I'll ask him myself."
"I'm telling you he won't answer to such questions..."
"Then I won't hear it from anyone else's mouth-" Odin pulled his rein to move his steed.
"You SHOULD know because he WILL destroy your kingdom!" the peasant's voice held enough alarm in it.
Duo stirred from a very pleasant slumber with some small uneasiness poking his mind endlessly. He moaned his objection and scrunched his face up, opening one eye a slit and waiting patiently for the blurry view to slowly focus to reveal...
"HEEmph!"
The demon pushed him by the head to the roots back, while Duo's hands which stretched out in the middle of trying to give the demon a bear hug were now trying to pry the demon's hand from his face.
"Hmmm-mphh...!" his objection was muffled by the demon's palm. His eyes only saw a glimpse of the demon's face before his sight got covered too.
"What did you do?" the demon asked in alarm, and Duo stilled when the demon's hand pulled down to his mouth; he shook his negation after that, realizing the demon wouldn't let him speak for the time being, conveying his honesty into his eyes.
But a second later it wavered when he remembered he was -only- dabbing a wet cloth to the demon's face; surely that wasn't an offence, right? He stiffened at the thought, but when he looked closely now, he realized the demon's wings were still flattened onto his sides of face like before, and his eyes were somewhat unfocused.
"What did you do...?" the demon asked again, with a frown; but it seemed to take much effort as his head swayed backward and he looked like he was going to faint again.
Duo instantly grabbed the demon's hand from his mouth and pulled him to his front, guarding his body from falling using both hands around his back. The demon was weak enough when he tried to struggle free and failed miserably. "How many are outside...?" Duo breathed; and the demon stilled.
". . . many." he answered breathlessly.
Duo bit his lower lip, suppressing a tsk from coming out his mouth fearing his pursuers would hear it. Pausing while thinking some possibilities, he eventually asked; "...can you run?"
The demon took a long time to mull at the answer; Duo knew he wouldn't be able to run in his current condition. He had an option to leave the demon alone, knowing it was himself that was the target of the beasts; but he didn't know what was wrong with the demon and didn't want to leave him, too; not when he's so weak like this.
But he had to make a choice.
"Li...listen...!" he began, "I'll divert the beasts' attention from here. You stay and rest. I'll get back to you as soon as I lose them. Alright?" he made it sound like a promise.
The demon's quivering eyes stared at his for a moment. ". . . stay . . ." he whispered tiredly.
"Yes. You stay here-"
"Stay..." the demon repeated. Duo clamped his mouth when he realized the demon wasn't repeating his option, but asking him instead.
"Bu-... we can't..." Duo silenced when the demon's knees buckled and brought him together to slide down the roots in a heap.
"Heero..." he braved himself to ask, "...you're not alright, are you?"
The demon didn't answer.
...what did he do?
He let a spark out...! His mind admonished himself.
Odin narrowed his eyes, frowning his warning, reflexively leering to show his fangs to the dragonfly.
"You think he wouldn't?" the peasant asked again, with lighter tone that felt like testing Odin instead.
They both silenced for about 30 seconds, reading each other, or waiting for the other party to react. The men on their horses waited patiently, knowing they're about to witness something important, and perhaps forbidden for their level of ranks; something that most likely after this event passed Odin would tell them to forget about it ever happened.
"You seemed to have that much faith in that demon."
"And those words based on what, may I ask?"
The peasant and Odin said almost at the same time; the peasant sounded like he was genuinely amazed or relief, while Odin sounded like he tried the polite way to threaten the other.
The dragonfly let out a long amused chuckle again. Odin thought that must be 'Rudd' mostly overlapping with Lui.
"So..." the peasant started with a gentle tone, everyone could hear the smile in his voice; "...do you care about him, or do you care about him being the Peace-contract?"
Odin smirked, "How about you? What do you see of him; a dead-demon or a war tool?"
The peasant took a moment of pause.
"...both." he eventually said levelly; "That's what he is; which I really don't feel very fond of that idea."
Odin was about to say something, but swallowed it back when he heard the last part.
"Your answer, Commander?" the peasant demanded.
"Something told me you wouldn't let me say 'both' as an answer to your question." Odin criticized.
"Then I shall change the question; do you care about him, or do you care about the Peace?"
"And those are two different things?"
"Yes. Those choices differentiate your action. If you choose him, you should set him free and sacrifice the Peace and that means sacrificing your Kingdom. If you choose the Peace, then you should sacrifice your fellow humans, or else your demon will destroy this Kingdom because of them."
Odin frowned in dislike. "You seemed to like on insisting that part about him destroying this Kingdom!"
The peasant chuckled. "Oh, please; don't tell me you Palace-people hadn't already realized it that whatever the demons sent to you is not impossible being a weapon capable to destroy your whole party in a mass destruction...!"
Odin narrowed his eyes dangerously; "Heero is not a betrayer." he said flatly.
The peasant sighed out his boredom, "Oh, so you care about him more than Peace."
"He wouldn't betray the Peace that he's in charge of-" Odin snarled.
"-because of what? Because it's his duty? You should ask him the real reason; the Demon Kingdom is the betrayer... the whole of that Kingdom!" the peasant sounded exasperated.
"His real reason?" Odin asked in perplexed, but the peasant cut him again.
"He wouldn't be broken down. He wouldn't wither away. He will never betray his loyalty." the peasant said hotly; "...that's his vow; but you know what? The Demon Kingdom betrayed him first; they killed his whole family and eradicate his race. Ask him how he died in their prison...!"
Odin was taken aback by the last words that he forgot to frown; the men showed their surprise too and they looked at each other with uneasiness.
". . . and you know this, how?" Odin asked levelly. "You witnessed all that by yourself?"
"No." the peasant lost his fire too.
Odin snorted and steered his steed to turn facing forward again.
"My proxy-eyes didn't reach that older span of a past; but they saw the demons talking about those happenings as facts."
"Huh...!" Odin snorted skeptically; "How long in past was that?"
"I witnessed it from over a hundred years ago." the peasant said with a closing tone.
"And you're old enough to do that?" Odin tested.
"My predecessor had the same ability as mine-... no, I took after him; and so, I could see from his proxy-eyes he left anywhere too."
Odin turned his face to the dragonfly again, giving a generic displeased expression.
"...though that purging-incident happened about over a hundred and fifty years ago, if I count." the peasant sounded tentative at the end; "But are you sure you'd want to trust them with their truce, either way?"
Odin looked somberly serious for a long moment.
"...I'll keep the Contract as long as it is worth keeping." he closed, and urged his steed to continue walking.
The dragonfly didn't conduct anymore words from the peasant, it just floated in the air on its spot watching Odin's back leaving it.
The men looked uncertain but they followed their Commander, watching the black-dragonfly as they passed it. No one spoke.
The young man on the cliff-top opened his eyes slowly. There was sadness shading the color of his eyes, making them looked like a pair of inhuman eyes. He watched the greenery spreading under his standing-point with solemnity; wishing that he could be elsewhere and not alone.
"...just tell them." 'Rudd' whispered soundlessly, using the young man's lips.
"For next time, I'll be the one talking...!" 'Row' hissed his warning.
The young man thinned his lips tightly, and closed his eyes again; looking like he was about to cry.
"My name is Luica Elts-Glay." the dragonfly said with loud enough voice to reach the retreating men on their horses.
"Luica in Druid's language means 'heaven'. Druids-of-plants used it to call a place where they believed as heaven; a place that purify all sins and keep souls to live for eternity."
Odin ignored it as he kept his steed moved forward steadily; some of the men looked behind but they still followed their Commander.
". . . the same name to call that white-tree. It's a 'Heaven-tree'; a tree that purifies uncleanness and keeps souls to live forever."
"You've entered the place yourselves. Especially you, Commander; you've been purified. That's why any links corrupting you has been severed. That means the demon's links to you-" the peasant's words stopped abruptly when Odin glared at the dragonfly, and it floated towards Odin knowing that the man wouldn't ignore him now.
The dragonfly let out a long sigh.
"That white worm-like creature you saw in the array was... a seed. The Heaven-tree seed..." the peasant began. Odin didn't seem like he was interested; the others turned all ears at that explanation.
"The...-", a long sigh again; it seemed it took a lot of effort for the peasant to put his knowledge into words.
"The wounded Magan-Glay's child..." he continued; "Despite having saved by Magan-Glay's beasts... was still hunted, even after the King died. So the beasts took the child to a druid village to hide."
"So, the Druids-of-plants managed to cure the child's severe wound, but the child left the druid village regardless of the druids' offer for safety, and sought shelter in the Covenant of Mothers instead ...Why?"
The men showed various level of realization, especially the ones who'd heard the peasant's story about the creation of the Maggart. ". . . The Maggart was still around!" Cail said with alarm.
"Not quite..." the peasant sounded like he tried to chuckle but failed into a cynical snorted; "More like, for having part of the father's soul, the Maggart hunted the child down, wanting to own, to sate its hunger to love..." the peasant paused for a brief moment; "The child was hunted by the father's love... that was not what a Heaven-tree could protect from."
"When the child turned adult, there was a girl druid, one of the young generations of the Druid-of-plants, who was about the child's age, and proposed an odious way to keep the Maggart at bay."
"They married?" Odin eventually spoke up, though sounded disinterested, beating his men from commenting first.
"Yes." the peasant sounded somewhat ashamed; "She feared that when Maggan-Glay's child died in the Covenant without bearing any descendant, the Maggan-Glay's soul inside the Maggart, would go berserk for his missing child and brought catastrophe on this world. That's why she came up with an idea to keep the bloodline to be the Maggart's target, but at a safe distance...!"
No one commented after that, wanting to hear more, wondering what kind of a way they'd do if they were in the same situation but failing miserably for they didn't have enough requirement for such.
"They sacrificed their child to the Maggart?" Odin quipped flatly.
The peasant chuckled, "Close." he took a deep breath and continued; "The Druid put a blessing in her bloodline; that every first child of their descendants' would be a girl, who will be the other-child's protector. So there's always two children in every generation; the first would be a daughter, the Druid's descendant; the younger child would be a boy, Maggan-Glay's descendant. And they sacrificed the daughter into the Heaven-tree, so that when a Maggart was close enough to the other child carrying Maggan-Glay's curse, the daughters could keep the Maggart away... at least until the next curse-carrying child born."
At mostly baffled faces, the peasant chuckled merrily, genuinely finding the reaction funny. "That worm-like creature was a seed that only had one purpose of existence; which was to eat."
There were collective gasps and paled faces, and the peasant seemed to actually enjoy it for once.
"So that Maggart is contained until you have a boy?" Odin asked with disinterested concluding tone.
"Yes."
"So it didn't have anything to do with Darque and Roude's war?" Odin asked again.
". . . their soldiers..." the peasant said carefully, not wanting to let his hatred showed too much; "...once every ten years the gate to the daughters- ...sisters' realm is opened. So I could see them... because the heaven-tree seed converted physical substance to pass through the gate to that realm."
"My sister was 9 years old when I turned 5; the exact age when my cursed blood ignited, when I started having abilities from my bloodline." the peasant paused to swallow a bitter memory. "One day my father took her away, just before my fifth birthday; and he returned alone. My mother knew what happened; but she couldn't let go... she never spoke again till the day she died. My father left to serve the Darque Lord -before he split the land into two- and never came home again, even when my mother died of illness four years after."
He sighed, "I learned about the realm's opening from his fellow soldier; that my father used to tell stories about a village of Druids-of-plants which only open once in a decade, and that the druids would heal everyone in need, because they are the healers of all ages..." there was a tinge of melancholy in his tone, but it soon disappeared.
"His fellow soldier told me that when he informed me about my father's death in the war of Darque and Roude. But that was something he chose..."
"What I couldn't forgive was..." the peasant's voice started to sound angry, "The soldiers looked for that village with thoughts that they could find valuable druid's things. They're wounded and my sisters helped them and they plundered the village..."
"So you did arrive too late." Odin stated, referring to the conversation they had in the night they're treated in the peasant's house.
"Yes, I was too late; the barrier was already broken and the Maggart found the leak and swallowed some of my sisters... and that's why you could enter the village without being converted or in the verge of death."
"So what does it have to do with my demon?" Odin scoffed.
"When my turn comes, I wouldn't want to feed my daughter to that creature!" the peasant said with certainty that his voice trembled slightly.
"If your demon could end it in my generation, even if I have to sacrifice myself, I'd finish it. Right now, I couldn't die freely because I have to carry the curse of that Maggart, and if I let myself die without a descendant to carry it, and let the Maggart run rampage and caused a catastrophe... then I'd be betraying my sisters' sacrifices!"
"I WANT TO END IT...!" the peasant yelled in anguish.
The horses snorted in discomfort, while Odin didn't show any emotion.
"...my demon?" Odin repeated slowly.
The peasant took several breath spans before he answered in a low snarl-reining voice, ". . . he's in the same kind of situation, so I want him to have his freedom. Preferably causing harm to your Kingdom in the process, too...!" he chuckled conspiratorially when admitting the last part.
"What I'm saying is..." he continued with a more reasonable tone, seemingly a little remorseful that he slipped and let 'Row' overlapping his self. "If the Contract is inevitable to be breached, which I think the demons party only used this truce to reinforce their army, and that your party is not wholly think that they want to have a real peace with the demons; if any option will still leads to war... why don't you keep that demon out of this mess? ...because he will be sacrificed anyway, either by your party or by the demons party."
Odin stared the dragonfly levelly, his face unreadable. His men would surely think that he will do something for the demon first, because they had often witnessed how much Odin was being possessive of that demon. Some people often said that he was being possessed by that demon, that the demon drove him insane, and used him to infiltrate the Kingdom. The men didn't know which were true, and they didn't really interested in power struggle; but they obviously needed to have a good faith in their leader, so they wanted to know Odin's reasons... whether he was really blinded by that demon like what the rumors said or not.
Odin smirked at the dragonfly, like he was hearing something ridiculous. "That..." he said slowly with a low voice almost growling it out; "...is not of your concern!"
And with a swift jerk he urged his steed to move again, faster, almost as if he wanted to run away... perhaps forgetting that he ever heard such facts about his demon.
The peasant was not satisfied with only that.
"Do you know that you have a Demon's-touch in your blood, Commander?" he called out, and the dragonfly followed between the riding men behind Odin.
"It's something you've been denying since you were young, right? That your blood had a demon's power in it; perhaps you or your ancestor had lived with them for one time... of which, I couldn't really know; but you knew...!"
Odin spurred his steed that it started to canter, slowly leaving his men and the disconcerting dragonfly.
"I said you've been purified...!" the peasant called out again, "Right now your demon has no link to support him. And for thinking that he chose you by conditional chance is your mistake, Commander. He chose you because you have that Demon's-touch in your blood; the only human in the Palace that can support him is you. If not he's going to cease to exist! I'm sure he's waning right now-...!"
A fast scraping metal noise, and Odin's sword was out of its scabbard once again, his steed neighed as it pulled to stop suddenly, standing on its hind legs half turning to face the dragonfly... but the sword was aimed to a point in the vast forest where rock cliffs protruding from the canopy at a very far away distance from them.
The young man on the cliff opened his eyes a little, amazed at the glinting light from the shiny blade visible from his standpoint. A smile touched his lips.
"You could see me..." he whispered through the dragonfly, "..., couldn't you, Commander?" an amused question.
A light chuckle.
"My father was afraid of you; or your blood..." he arched one shoulder, although the other party wouldn't see it. "He used to warn me about 'Odin the man-hunter'. He was afraid if the Kingdom would send you to hunt him... You see..." he chuckled again; "...being a Magan-Glay's descendants we're very paranoid about King's desires...!"
Odin glared deaths to the point where seemingly the peasant was standing on the far distance. "I've warned you about my-demon...!" he hissed his warning.
"So, what?" the peasant sounded bolder, "If the demons learn that your-demon was harmed, they would take it that your party wants to breach the Peace-contract. But if you have a good intention and let him free, the Demon Kingdom would still take it as a breach of the Contract, and will result in a war. Like I said; if every option would still be resulted in the same outcome, why don't you pick one?"
"No." the peasant corrected himself; "...I want you to choose!"
"If you still waste him like this, I'll use him for my own predicament...!" he threatened.
Odin gritted his teeth, snarling at the dragonfly.
"Why don't you say it?" the peasant challenged, "Say that you're not wasting him. Say that your party wants this Peace, too?"
"You can't, right?" the peasant decided the answer, "Because you know that human hearts cannot be trusted; that you have treacherous hearts no matter how righteous you are!"
The steed felt Odin's anger and started to jerk and jolt.
"That demon will never betray his loyalty; that's why he will destroy your Kingdom, because you will betray his Peace!"
"I KNOW THAT ALREADY...!" Odin's voice boomed and echoed in the forest, jerking the men and their horses and the birds that flew away from the trees.
"I knew that!" Odin hissed, "You don't have to tell me his reasons. I already know he's sacrificing himself for something he's not obliged for! But that's NOT of your concern! If you keep insisting to use him, than I will hunt you down no matter if that dirty wind-bag of a Maggart's going to get berserk for not finding his little-toy anywhere anymore...!"
The men silenced and sweated, they could see how much Odin was at a lost; they just thought that they should be grateful for not having such predicament as Odin or that peasant. Having a trivial life and trivial meaning wasn't so bad, after all.
The peasant silenced for a long pause, probably watching Odin fighting to gain back his coolness.
". . . ummm-" he started hesitantly, almost apologetically.
". . . . . . you're just as indecisive as I thought that such a thing is impossible for you, aren't you." he stated slowly.
"Don't drag me or my men or my demon into making decisions for you, you insane peasant...!" Odin growled.
"Hmm..."
"You're saying you're just as lost as me...?" the peasant asked again. "Then what should I do if you couldn't decide what I should do?" that sounded almost too childish.
"Shut up and go back into your hiding hole! At least my demon decided to face forward; at last, I wouldn't care if he'd decide to level this Kingdom eventually or not, because he'd paid for it!" Odin barked seriously and sheathed his sword back with a snort and steered his steed galloping down the mountain road, leaving the black-dragonfly floating in its silence not giving away any feeling its Shepherd felt at that moment.
After about two hours of fast ride, Odin took his men to a stop on a clearing, resting their horses. The darkened stones of fort that was Eretta stood gloomily in the far greens of the forest under the mountains; if they keep their pace they'd reach the Palace by tomorrow night.
Odin stared at Lix drinking from the small stream keeping its distance from the horses; he waited for the lizard to finish, somehow knowing that it's keeping its eyes on him.
When Lix was going back to where the men rested, it found Odin giving it the stare with his soldier-pout, saying nothing. Lix stared him back, clucking nothing.
After a few minutes passed, Odin eventually spoke up; sighing heavily first. "Is that why you puked at me a whole lot, Lessard?"
Lix blinked.
"You know that his links to me are severed, and you tried to build them up again but couldn't; so you didn't want to leave me to find him because you wouldn't want to lose me from your sight? You thought I'd run away or something...?"
Lix let out a raspy long purr and a low lizard-cry, which almost sounded in human language as 'hmmmmm- ...oh, well...'
Then they both let a che in their own sounds, and walked away. Lix went to find a place to curled while still be able to watch the humans; Odin went to sit with his men and had lunch.
"Forget about what you heard; you wouldn't want your name to be in some assassin's list." Odin said flatly. His men looked at him half surprised, mostly at the last part, and gave him their obedient answers.
They ate in silence; the atmosphere was somewhat cold so no one dared to break the quietness and just concentrating to eat. Odin finished first, he threw a stare at the lizard still watching him closely; at least he took a positive view and thought that if the Lessard was keeping him close that meant his demon should be coming to his side again. He cursed to some severed links under his breath and growled out his frustration.
"Listen...!" he spoke up rather sternly, gaining all attentions from his men; "When you got back to the Palace, don't try to be righteous and thought you could be friendly with the demon just because you felt for him." Some of his men choked on their food with a caught expression.
". . . he doesn't like to endure pestering humans." Odin said as if that was the answer to every question about demons.
Lix let out a lizard-moan of agreeing on its spot, watching the humans lazily.
The young man was still standing unmoving on the cliff-top. His awareness was watching a faraway place.
"...if you couldn't decide..." his lips breathed gently. "Wouldn't it be okay if I take over? I won't let your sisters be wasted..."
The young man stared down at his hands, face devoid of all emotions.
"You won't have to dirty your hands..." he breathed again.
"The end is inevitable..."
saru's note:
next chapter should be mostly of Heero's trip (and Duo); ' thought you'd be waiting for that... right?
didn't mean to make Odin/Lui's part this long, but it's done... hehehe