Chapter 6: War Song of the Gentle Beast
The tall, muscular woman was standing with her boots securely planted to the ground, one gloved hand leisurely placed on her hip while the other was resting on the hilt of her sword.
That was her favourite stance; it made her feel relaxed, in control, powerful.
Power.
It was so much more than just a word. It was a concept, an ideal. It was said to be deliciously seductive – irresistible, even – but also mercilessly deceptive; sweet promises of glory and fame laced with pain, betrayal and death.
It fascinated her.
Power, indeed.
And yet, she couldn't quite explain what it meant to her; it irked her to no end, but she was still undecided on the matter. However, what she did know with uttermost certainty was that without it you were nothing.
It had been the first of the many painful lessons her older brothers and sisters had taught her, and the only one for which she was grateful. Although she never talked about her childhood, she wouldn't have denied that growing up at the royal court had been hell, had someone unexpectedly possessed the courage to ask her. She had been surrounded by the normal webs of lies, rumours and petty intrigues; she had grown up in the midst of pitiful scrambles for scraps of influence, looked down upon by the court nobles, hated by her own half-siblings and simply ignored by her aloof father who had been far too occupied with ruling the Empire and grieving for his dead wives to care about her. Not that she minded very much.
The second Empress, Seness' mother, had hailed from a proud, fierce warrior clan from the Northern Territories. But the stifling cold reception by the court, her stepchildren's obvious disdain and the sniggering servants weakened her resolve, and she had died shortly after the birth of her only child.
The princess had not been spared the sharp tongues and malicious gossip; boredom and active encouragement from her older siblings ensured that the rumours about the dead woman continued to circulate around the court even years after her death. She had been a savage, refusing to adhere to even the simplest of protocols; a rash, unprincipled barbarian, who had sunk her claws into the king through witchcraft and spells. She had brought with her a pack of magnificent snow white wolves, and it had been obvious to all but the king that the unnaturally tame animals in fact were messengers given to her by an evil spirit. The first of her animals had been discovered only a day after their arrival, bathing in its own blood, and none had remained alive after a week.
But no wonder, the Empress had been a she-beast, barely fit to be called human.
"Beast Princess" they had called her, her step-siblings, obviously hoping to add insult to injury. When she was finally old enough to understand, she had wondered what she could have done for them to hate her so. She possessed no memories of her mother; she had neither a face nor a voice to recall. Seness' mother had been but a stranger to her daughter, but whose cursed legacy she inevitably and unfairly inherited, and yet she had never borne any resentment towards the dead. She had recognized the thinly veiled jealousy in the voices of those most articulate about the Empress' many wrongs.
That knowledge, however, had done little to soften the blows. But as she hardened her shell and retracted further and further into herself, they came to hurt less and less.
She had consoled herself with the few friends she made among the servants, especially Eirote, Drake and Ruce, who all followed her once she had obtained permission from her father to form her own organization. She still savoured that particular memory with grim satisfaction. Her brothers had been furious, but the king had not yielded to their protests. After all, despite of her tender age, she had shown much more promise as a leader than they.
Indeed, Seness was well aware of why they resented her, why they feared her.
It was cowardice.
They were afraid of her potential, afraid of her abilities, afraid that she would claim the throne; terrified that if she did, they would be unable to stop her.
Afraid like the whimpering, incompetent fools they were.
It was for this simple insight that she had withstood the insults, borne the blows, gritting her teeth, patiently biding her time. Someday, she would show them; she would show everyone just who the Beast Princess was. She would finally force them to their knees, and they would watch her and tremble. Someday, she would outshine them all. She would, simply because she knew that she could.
As proud as she was of Scarlet's efficiency, which she knew was unrivalled among the Empire's many organizations, it wasn't enough; not even when she sent her pompous brother's fleet to the bottom of the sea had she been satisfied.
No. She could do better.
And she had. When her lance pierced through the Peacemaker, penetrating its monstrous head like a knife through soft butter, she felt certain that she had finally gained enough power to blow them away completely.
But an immediate revenge would have to wait – she shaded her eyes with one hand as she raised her head to gaze up on the three immobile giants in front of her – because there were more pressing matters to be dealt with first.
"EIROTE!"
"Yes, ma'm?"
"Progress report!"
"All three Gigas are currently nonoperational, but the automatic regeneration process has been initiated." Eirote pushed her glasses a little bit further up on the bridge of her nose before she consulted the contents of her clipboard. "We are currently running a diagnostic on basic defence systems AF-012 to ZB-759. Primary scans indicate that we can increase the output for the weapons systems, so as soon as diagnostics are completed, we'll upgrade them as you requested."
"EIROTE!"
"Yes, ma'm?"
"How long is that going to take?"
"There is no way for us to be certain, but by my calculations—"
"How long?"
"A day, but that's at the very least. Drake's Giga suffered the most damage; we are going to have to reroute four major systems and—"
"You have until this evening."
"I understand. But..."
"What?"
"We'll need the assistance of a Dragoon if the Gigas are to be fully operational in such short amount of time. But since Natalie is bound to the Skid, we can't utilize any of her systems which surpass ours in both efficiency and power. Without her, we can't—"
"I'll talk to Shannon Casull about borrowing his Dragoon. How does that sound?"
"That would make things much easier. Thank you, Princess Seness."
"We're going to have to go over to their camp, anyway. The Special Forces guy promised fresh intelligence. We're leaving in ten minutes."
"Yes, ma'm."
-#-
Fafal had been staring into the camp fire, trying to make sense of the morning's incident, but she looked up when she heard Jill approaching. "Is Christopher back yet?"
"Yes, I saw him talking to both Sutton and Dennis about an hour ago. It looked like he was apologizing." Jill sat down next to Fafal. "But I'm not surprised that you didn't know that he's back. It looked like he didn't want to be seen."
"Jill?"
"Yes?"
"About this morning… I don't like it. I've never seen him worked up like that before."
"I know. I haven't either."
"Do you have any idea of why he acted like he did?"
"No. Do you?"
"I'm not sure, but maybe..."
"Fafal, if you know something we do—"
But the concerned Jill couldn't finish as a familiar low voice interrupted her.
"Fafal. Jill."
Chri-boy. Fafal involuntarily twitched at the sudden sound of his voice. She hadn't noticed that he had slowly walked towards them and when he finally spoke, she was ashamed to say that he had startled her.
What's wrong with you, Fafal? she silently berated herself. You're still an Obstinate Arrow for crying out loud! You've been in the Special Forces for most of your life, damn it! This is not acceptable, so pull yourself together and quit acting like some green, snot-nosed recruit!
"I've already talked to both Sutton and Dennis, but… I want to apologize. For what happened earlier."
Chris forced himself to calmly looking at both women in the eye rather than down at the ground, feeling incredibly stupid and still quite ashamed over his behaviour.
"Eh?" As hard as she tried to think of a more acceptable response, Fafal was lost for words.
"That's okay, don't worry about it."
Jill smoothly covered for her friend's temporary muteness, and Fafal sent her a thankful glance. Of all the members of the Obstinate Arrow unit, Jill was by far the most level-headed and diplomatic; and when Fafal thought about it, the seer was also the least violent, although Jill certainly knew how to give as good as she got.
"I sent Sutton and Dennis to the Holy City on another reconnaissance mission." Chris hoped that he didn't look as relieved as he felt. "Also, I thought that they might want some time away from... everything."
Fafal and Jill exchanged a glance. Away from you, you mean.
"So we're to wait until they report back?" Fafal asked once she was sure to have regained full control of her voice.
"That's the plan. We'll have another meeting when they return. I've already informed the Casulls and the Giat princess should be on her way."
Both Jill and Fafal nodded their affirmatives, but despite that they had seemed to accept his apology already, Chris was unable to shake the uncomfortable feeling that it hadn't been quite enough. "But about earlier, I hope that—"
"I said, don't worry about it." Jill's voice was unusually sharp. "Isn't that right, Fafal?"
"Of course." Fafal flashed him a reassuring smile and to her relief, Chris seemed to relax.
-#-
Seness and Eirote entered the clearing where the Casulls and the Obstinate Arrow unit had set up camp; and while Eirote walked towards the camp fire where Christopher Bailaha currently was engrossed in a seemingly captivating conversation with two of his subordinates, the Giat princess strode towards Shannon Casull, who was speaking quietly with his Dragoon.
"Shannon Casull" was the full extent of Seness' greeting before she extended a short nod towards Zefiris to show that she had acknowledged the small weapon system's presence.
"Princess Seness." Shannon's reply was equally curt.
Seness almost smiled with appreciation. She never did understand why most people insisted on inquiring about irrelevant things like the weather or the state of one's health. "Eirote needs to borrow your Dragoon as soon as the meeting is over."
"That's alright by me. But you really should ask her." Shannon glanced down at his Dragoon. "Zefi?"
"Yes?" The weapons system's features were as inexpressive as usual.
"Will you help Eirote?"
"Yes, I will comply with the request."
"Good." Seness rewarded the Dragoon with a small, but genuine smile. Eirote would be pleased.
"Dennis and Sutton have reported back from their mission to the Holy City." Chris briefly entered the conversation and motioned towards the camp fire where Jill, Fafal and Eirote had been joined by Sutton, Dennis and Raquel.
"Very well. Let's go."
Seness was about to follow Chris and Zefiris when Shannon took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. It was now or never. "Wait, Princess Seness."
"What?" She turned around, looking at him questioningly, one hand on her hip.
"Um." Shannon knew that he wasn't very good at this kind of thing, but he had to show his gratitude somehow. The princess and her Gigas had saved both him and Zefi from certain death; it was the least he could do, and he had put it off too long already. "Thanks. I mean it."
"For what?" She was genuinely puzzled as to why he would feel a sudden and wholly unexpected need to be grateful. What had she done to merit a thank-you? She wasn't used to friendly gestures from anyone outside Scarlet, and the members of her organization were her loyal subordinates. This Shannon Casull, on the other hand, was somehow, despite his humble heritage, her equal and also only a very recently acquired acquaintance. Therefore, she didn't really know how to respond. Or to what.
"For earlier." Shannon nodded towards the sky. "The Peacemakers."
"Oh, that. That was nothing," Seness said truthfully, relieved that she finally understood what was going on. Preparing for war and planning elaborate ambushes were child's play compared to these sorts of things. "I always wanted to operate a Dragoon, but I guess that a Giga is second best. Besides, we took out one of those bastards. That's enough for now."
"But I still owe you, Beast Princess." He smiled at her nickname inwardly. Shannon didn't know how she really felt about the name; although she claimed that she bore it with pride, he wasn't sure. But he was suddenly struck by how well it suited her; when the princess recalled the battle, the gleam in her green eyes had almost been feral.
"Come on. They're waiting." With those simple, gruff words, she turned her back on him and started to walk away with her usual briskness.
Shannon just stood there, staring after her. Normally, he would have been annoyed over the way she had – or rather how she hadn't – accepted his thanks.
That woman, she was definitely something else entirely.
