A/N: On a funny note, my spellchecker seems to think that the correct spelling for "guymelef" is "Telefunken". I just might have to use that on a chapter title, lol... Enjoy!
Chapter 7: Not a stuffed flower
When he had been a wee little lad who played with wooden toy swords, Gaddes had loved hearing stories from his mother about the incredibly strong and brave Knights Caeli who lived far away in the capital and protected the King and the people from Evil. Those stories had stood unchallenged as his favourites throughout childhood, and he supposed that somewhere in his subconscious mind, they had played a part when he had decided he wanted to join the Asturian Army.
Even as he grew up and began to understand that the high-flung tales of the deeds of these near super-human men were just that - exaggerated stories, his admiration remained. Instead, he started to appreciate other things about the knights, like their never-faltering honesty and prowess with a sword. They remained every bit the heroes that battled away evil-doers and defended the weak in his dreams, and as he matured, the added humanity only deepened their appeal. He still never missed the chance to play in a game of 'knights and scoundrels' with the other kids in his village whenever he could, and he always played the part of knight.
When he was finally old enough that his parents let him leave for the city, he did not hesitate. He packed his bags and left with the Asturian Army recruiting caravan that visited once a year, headed towards Palas. Throughout the following years of training, his childhood dreams were finally realised, and he came to see several of the legendary knights in person on many an occasion – learnt from them at the Academy, even!
But, as was the case with all things too good to be true, the perfect image of the men his mind had cherished for so long had not come out unscathed from those encounters.
They were cunning warriors, yes, and some of the things they could do with a guymelef were still beyond Gaddes' comprehension. But their skills had made most of them arrogant and aloof. They had grown too comfortable in their positions and acted more like puffy aristocrats than men willing to sacrifice themselves to keep the common people of Asturia safe. While their understanding of strategy never failed to humble Gaddes and his simple straightforward thinking, it felt to him like they never used that knowledge where it could make an actual difference.
Bottom line: for all their awing skills, it turned out that the heroes of his childhood were a bunch of arrogant ponces. Luckily for him, Gaddes had grown into a practical enough man by the time he realised this, to not let that disappointment affect him much. But he still held on somewhat childishly to the notions he had of what the knights from the stories his old mother told him were supposed to be like.
On this day, standing on the edge of the little town called Castelo next to Allen Schezar, another ground-shattering event in the long history of those notions was currently unfolding, and Gaddes was not sure whether it would resolve itself into a change on his impressions for better or for worse.
The knight was staring off into the distance with a little smirk, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in concentration as he considered his next move. He had a little splatter of mud on one of his cheeks, but that did nothing to lessen the intensity of the startling expression on his face.
He looked positively devilish in his determination, and that was not something the sergeant liked seeing on the face of a commander. He had heard too many stories from fellow soldiers about fanatical leaders and what they were capable of doing.
Sparing a look at the small group of men and the large blue kneeling guymelef assembled behind the two of them, Gaddes wondered if this was the case and whether or not he should be wary of whatever it was the man intended to do.
He and Allen had just met up with their reinforcements, after having a charming encounter with Cutty at the bar he liked to frequent, earlier that morning. Gaddes now thought back with apprehension on the things the knight had said there, and that neither he nor Cutty had taken seriously...
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The place was not as empty as one would expect in the early hour, but as Gaddes took a closer look at the patrons, he noticed that most of them were actually sleeping off their late night partying rather than monetarily contributing for the flourishing of business.
The group closest to the door caught Gaddes' attention, and he suddenly found himself hoping that Allen had a bad visual memory: they were men from the Fort. He tried to gesture to them surrepticiously to leave, but no one was looking his way. He sighed and followed the knight, figuring that if he hadn't said anything, it was because he hadn't realised who those people were and Gaddes wasn't about to give them away.
They found Zänninger sitting on the same table where Gaddes had found him before, like he had been glued to the plush seat. His entourage had left, for the most part, but the thin hair on the back of the sergeant's neck stood on end as he recognised the lean, blond man who had taken their place. He made a grab for Allen's arm to stop his advance, but the knight had already too much of an advance on him.
Schezar strode confidently towards Cutty, without even waiting for his second's confirmation that that was, indeed, the renowned crime-lord who ran Castelo. Gaddes' mind needlessly drew a comparison between the unfurling scene and that of a sacrificial lamb walking into a hungry wolf's den. He hurriedly caught up with his commander - the man would need the reinforcement soon enough.
They had yet to reach the table, when the blond who had rattled Gaddes' nerves intercepted them. He took a stand in a manner that just blocked their view of the crime-lord.
"May I be of assistance, gentlemen?"
"Are you Mr Zänninger?" Allen asked, blatantly inspecting the smirking white-clad man and the sword at his belt in a manner that shouted that he was not intimidated. Behind him, Gaddes was praying to his deities, wishing that the young knight would tone down his determination - he was talking to a very dangerous, very deadly man.
The blond laughed out loud at the stranger's naïveté and spoke in dulcet, patronising tones: "No, that would be my employer, who is sitting behind me and does not appreciate being disturbed while he is having his breakfast. I am Sonje."
Gaddes took the opportunity to step in and lean close to Allen's ear, whispering: "Sir Allen, maybe we should come back later..."
"Nonsense", the knight replied levelly, and neither Sonje nor Gaddes were sure of which of the two the reply was meant for. "Mr Zänninger will just have to make an exception to see me."
Sonje raised a wondering eyebrow and opened his mouth to give another negative reply, but the voice that was heard then was not his.
"Let them pass", the burly man at the table said, as he wiped his mouth his a napkin that had seen better days and pushed his plate away from him. "That there is the uniform of a Knight Caeli, Sonje. I can take the time to receive such an esteemed guest. I am Curtiwald Zänninger, but please - call me Cutty."
Sonje immediately made a ninety degree turn and allowed his head to incline deferentially to let the knight pass. Gaddes followed, but did not miss the deep interest in the gaze the tall, thin man was directing at Allen's back.
"Mr Zänninger", he stated with impeccable accent, "thank you for receiving me. I am sir Allen Schezar, the new commanding officer of Fort Castelo."
Cutty gave a brief chortle and spared Gaddes a mocking glance. "Lost your job, sergeant?"
Allen did not give his second-in-command the opportunity to respond. He did it for him and in a way that left the dark-haired man stunned.
"On the contrary, I have simply been reassigned here from Palas. Sergeant Gaddes has performed his duties admirably up until now and I am even recommending him for promotion." Evidently pleased that he had retaken the upper hand, after seeing the uncertain look that crossed Cutty's face, Allen continued: "But that is not why I am here. I have come to talk to you about a certain bounty you placed on one of my men. Reeden?"
"What of him? You should be thanking me that I have relieved you of that little rat."
"So, you have taken him."
From his position standing rigidly on Cutty's side, Sonje's placid eyes shifted to his employer for a fleeting moment. The crime-lord did not acknowledge the move or said anything, but Allen had just been given all the confirmation he needed.
"I demand that you release him and the other men you are holding prisoner."
Cutty chortled again. "Or what?"
"Or I will find myself forced to take action against you."
This time, even Sonje laughed alongside his boss. Gaddes sighed. Brash and noble statements like that were really thrilling when they were spoken by the heroes in a story, because you always knew that oceans would burn before anything stopped them. But Allen - in all his puffy-sleeved, late adolescent glory - just wasn't convincing enough. The young knight seemed to arrive to the same conclusion at the same time.
"We will be seeing each other again in the future. Perhaps sooner than you might think", he said, before exiting the place with Gaddes close behind him.
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Gaddes sighed, and hoped that Allen was not drawing his attitude from the same fantastic stories about the Knights Caeli that he had heard in his youth. Standing up to Cutty was all well and good, but actuallymoving against him... Sonje and his goons would cut them all down before they had a chance to do anything to their boss.
Or before he got his promotion, Gaddes recalled. That little tidbit had really perked his ears.
"Were you serious about that promotion thing you told Cutty?" he asked his commander, who still looked as firm and as convict as a rock.
"Of course, sergeant. I will send out the request to Palas as soon as I get to know you better and think you have earned it."
"But you told Cutty-"
"I told Cutty", Allen interjected with a slight smile, "that I was recommending you for promotion. I never said when."
Gaddes buried his slight disappointment under a layer of amusement. He hadn't really been expecting it to be true, but suddenly, he felt like a junior trainee back at the Academy in Palas all over again, during one of those times when the instructors slipped him a trick question which he always fell for. He studied Allen's profile again.
It was hard to believe that he could be a Knight Caeli, when Gaddes could not even imagine him wielding a sword. Not only was Allen younger than him, but it was also startlingly easy to conjure up an image of the blond tripping over his skirt if he tried. But he seemed to have the brains for the position so far, not to mention the courage.
Facing up to Cutty and Sonje with the level of coolness he had demonstrated was not an easy thing to do; Gaddes could attest to that. And in the process, he had even found the time to stick up in defence of his second-in-command. Gaddes did not regret telling him about Reeden; he was sure that he had done the right thing now.
His friends might be upset that their sergeant had ratted on them to the "prissy new commander" when they got back, but whatever happened they stood a better chance of rescue if the Knight Caeli was involved. Gaddes could have acted by himself if he wanted, but splitting his attention between keeping the knight out of the loop and the search parties going, would only diminish their chances of success. And when the time came to face the music for their actions afterwards, he had a feeling that Schezar would be fair.
Now, if only the man would get that fiendish look off his face! It was making him nervous, and Gaddes did not like to be nervous. He was not sure if he would be able to stop the knight if he decided he wanted to do something stupid.
Suddenly, Gaddes heard something moving in the midst of the trees dead ahead. His hand immediately strayed to the sword hanging by his belt, already envisioning a huge land-dragon on its way to attack them. It was a good thing Schezar had brought his guymelef because they would need it if that were the case, but a quick glance at his commander found him unrattled, like he had not heard a thing.
Was the man crazy not to recognise the potential danger they were in, or plain deaf? He reached out to shake his shoulder, but too late - whatever was coming their way had reached them.
And it was Teo.
Gaddes frowned heavily. He was puzzled. He remembered seeing Teo at Cutty's bar, but how did he know they were there? Could Schezar have planned this? He wanted desperately to ask what was going on, accustomed to being in charge and therefore in control of everything his men did, but decided to bid his time and wait to see if Allen would enlighten him on his own.
"Don't know what you expect to get from this, but the men are doing what you told them to as we speak, sir Allen", Teo reported.
The knight's smile widened, reminding Gaddes of a content predator who had set his trap and needed only pull the string to spring it. Gaddes shuddered and decided that he had to know what was going on now.
"Sir Allen? What are those men doing? And what are we doing?"
"Sergeant, you told me last evening that if Reeden and the rest really were with Cutty, you had a good idea of where he might be keeping them. Well, now we know that Cutty has them: it's time you and I go get our men."
Gaddes' heart stopped beating. All he knew was that he had a sudden urge to shout in the foolish knight's ears that he was not invincible and that he could not expect to just waltz into Cutty's place and ask around for Reeden and the others to be released. It was not that simple.
"Are you mad?" he said instead.
"Not at all. I just ordered a group of our men to go into the bar where we met Zänninger and do something that they're quite good at. I told them to create enough confusion to keep Cutty and his henchman there for some time. While they are held there, you and I will slip in and out of Zänninger's hideout with Reeden, Katz, Pyle, Ort and Kio."
"But there will be guards!"
Allen reprimanded him with a look for the outburst, before explaining. "Cutty is too confident in his position. There won't be many guards. He doesn't see the need for them when, from his perspective, no one around would dare go against him. And besides, you, me and a few of these men will be more than enough to take care of them."
"Are you sure about that? It's quite a decisive bit of your plan to leave up to a guess", Gaddes said dubiously. "And what about Cutty? Do you have any idea of what he will do if he catches us?"
"The Asturian Army will not cower before a petty crime lord." The look Gaddes threw him let Allen know that he thought Cutty was anything but 'petty'. "It is our job to save our own and stop him, a job that has been postponed long enough."
Gaddes surrendered, feeling a pang of guilt at his commander's final argument. Knowing he had done what he could to deter the man, he let go of his doubts and steeled his nerves. All he could do now was follow Allen Schezar and try his hardest to ensure that both of them got out of this with all limbs in the right place.