Chapter Thirteen: The Conspiracy
"I think I can run now, if you're getting tired from carrying me," the brunette said with concern.
"No, Haru. We want the king to think I'm kidnapping you, remember? I want the village to remain unmolested just as much as you do."
"Oh, right," she giggled softly while blushing, nervously glancing over his shoulder every once in a while to keep track of the pursuers. "If you can keep up this pace, we should lose them entirely in ten minutes," she reported, crossing her arms over her chest so that the pursuers wouldn't see her arms around Humbert.
"We don't have that long," he replied grimly as he approached the top of the mountain, and hopped onto the tallest rock with feline grace. But instead of watching the trees at the bottom of the rock pile, he watched the sky intently. "Darling, pretend you're unconscious so we won't have to explain why you haven't been able to escape from me by now."
Haru immediately allowed her head to flop over Humbert's arm, and one of her own slim arms fall off her midsection to dangle convincingly from her 'kidnapper's' hold. Keeping her eyes closed, she could hear the foot soldiers come to the base of the rocky pile, gasping noisily with exertion.
"Halt… in the… name of… the…" was all one of the soldiers was able to say before he collapsed to the sandy ground.
Haru had to fight hard to keep her face relaxed as more and more soldiers came, breathing very slowly as a familiar voice came to the area below them.
"Give her back!" the king snarled angrily as he tried desperately to climb the rocks, but he hadn't done anything so strenuous since he was his son's age. "That's my queen!" he roared, oblivious to the 'kidnapper's strange appearance.
"You didn't marry her, so she isn't a queen," Humbert said in a bored tone, a slight undertone of amusement clear that he was enjoying watching the king try to climb the rocks. "As for giving her back, I have no intention of doing so. I'm afraid I have plans of my own for Yoshioka-sama, and they don't include you."
"Shoot him down!" the king barked at his soldiers, making two archers tiredly pull an arrow from their quivers and set them against their long bows.
"Is that really such a good idea?" Humbert asked with an amused purr. "With how hard their hands are shaking, it's quite possible that they'll shoot the girl by accident. Even if they managed to hit me, I would drop her and she could quite possibly break her neck on the rocks."
The two archers stopped short of aiming for the cat man, and looked at their ruler fearfully.
He grunted angrily, looking up at the orange and cream feline. "I hope you know that Haru makes a donkey look docile! If she were awake, she'd tear you limb from limb!"
"But she isn't, is she?" Humbert said with an evil grin. "Besides, from what I've gathered about her, she'd probably tear you apart first."
"She wouldn't dare! Not with the village to worry about!"
Humbert shook his head angrily, and held the 'unconscious' brunette closer. "You are quite possibly the most disgusting person I've ever had the displeasure to meet, King. I think between the two of us, Yoshioka-sama will be much happier with me."
"Why should I care about her happiness?!" the old monarch demanded. "It's her duty to submit to my will, not to be happy! She should be concerned with making me happy!
One of Haru's limp fingers twitched slightly, as she struggled not to make a fist and destroy the illusion of slumber. How dare that old pervert say such things?! Did he really think that he'd have lived long after the wedding, if he had even gotten that far with her?
Humbert's voice turned colder than ice. "If I weren't concerned for Yoshioka-sama's safety right now, I'd challenge you to a duel to the death for that insult, right here and now. But that will have to wait for another time, I suppose." Sharply, he whistled a loud clear note, one that seemed to echo down the mountain and far into the surrounding heavens.
"Come down here and fight, you coward!" the king demanded frothing at the mouth as he tried yet again to climb up the rocks without much success.
"Another time, King," Humbert said firmly, a grim smile of satisfaction on his lips as a small ship burst from an overhanging cloud, and headed straight for the mountain's peak. An unseen sailor from the flying vessel began launching fireballs, which landed merely inches away from the soldiers and monarch, splashing flames all over their clothes.
Haru and Humbert were quickly forgotten as the pursuers frantically began beating the flames from their clothes, even rolling on the ground or tearing off their clothes to keep from getting burned.
The cat man chuckled softly, and whispered a single word. He hovered off of the rock pile, and began rising higher with his fiancée still wrapped up in his arms. Familiar with the sensation of empty air beneath her, Haru quaked slightly, and her mouth trembled a little in fear.
Humbert looked down at her with surprise. He held her even closer as he gracefully floated into the flying vessel, and landed firmly on the main deck. "Shh," he comforted her, setting the girl against the side of the ship and kissing her forehead gently. "It's not so bad, once you get used to it."
"You promise?" she whispered softly.
"Of course," he answered lovingly before kissing her lips again. "Toto, Muta? Take us home, please."
"Sure thing, Baron," a familiar voice grunted, making the brunette look towards the helm with shock.
Muta was steering the ship, and Toto was keeping himself busy with what looked like several slingshots, all connected by a single rope that would release the balls of tar after the dark swordsman lit them on fire with a whispered spell.
"You two were in on this?!" Haru said with shock as Muta sharply turned the helm and jerked around a kind of stick that was stuck in the floor next to him. A strange rumbling growled underneath their feet as the ship roared appreciatively, and sped far from the mountain, back into the cloud it had been hiding in.
"That's right," Toto said cheerfully, sitting next to the strange weapons thankfully. "We were originally trying to get hired by the prince to carry you straight to Baron, but Natoru was moving faster than the prince was."
"Then this was all a joke?" she asked in horror, making Humbert laugh and sit down next to her before dragging the girl into his lap and cuddling her happily.
"I already told you it was, love. But it was more on Natoru and the king then you. Besides, wasn't it more interesting to find out this way than to have Toto and Muta just deposit you into my arms blindfolded?"
"I wouldn't have minded that," she giggled tiredly, "but you're right. As usual." She nestled her head happily into his shoulder. "So, do I get to find out what happened to you yet?"
"Are you sure you don't want to rest first?" he asked worriedly, making her growl in irritation.
"Talk. Now," Haru ordered firmly, her grip on his neck tightening slowly like a noose.
"All right, all right," Humbert gasped, making the girl loosen her grip dramatically.
"Has she always been this way, Baron?" Toto asked curiously.
"More or less," the orange and cream cat answered the swordsman with a slightly silly grin, holding the slim brunette even closer.
Haru looked up at her fiancé sharply. "Baron?" she asked him in confusion, despite the fact that she had heard Muta call her beloved by that name earlier.
Humbert coughed uncomfortably. "Certain opportunities arose that needed to be taken, if I ever wanted to see you again, Haru. If I had rejected the title when King Valorous offered it to me after I saved his life, I probably wouldn't have been able to return to you."
Haru stared at him with amazement, and gripped the front of his baggy black shirt with both fists. "What part of 'talk now!' did you not understand?!" she demanded, making him wince slightly.
"All right, love. Here's what happened." Humbert sighed, his glorious green eyes fading with memories. "Five months after my ship put out to sea six years ago, we hit a terrible storm. I don't know if it reached your area or not, but it absolutely destroyed the ship. I clung to a piece of the main deck as long as I could, although the freezing water was seeping through my body. Right before I finally passed out, I saw a bright light, and thought that I was going to die.
"But, when I woke up, there was this very tall and old rabbit woman sewing up a long cut I had received over my chest." The orange and cream cat pulled a rueful face. "I'll be honest, Haru; I panicked. I thought she was going to eat me," he added while blushing adorably with embarrassment.
"A rabbit?" the slim brunette asked skeptically as Toto and Muta roared with laughter. "Humbert, you know rabbits don't eat flesh."
"Yes, yes, I know," he grumbled while glaring at the two chortling sky sailors. "She laughed at me even harder than those two. A tall man with wolf features came into the room about then, and cleared up what had happened. We both knew that vessels have been going missing on the open water for centuries, but what we weren't told was the fact that the ships that disappear ran into a disaster of some sort, and that the sky pirates always kept a careful watch over the oceans to save what lives they could. I was the only one from that ship that they were able to save."
Haru's heart froze over, remembering all the times she had feared him to be a victim of a storm, and she kissed him impulsively. "So, what happened after that?"
"Well, Captain Ashwood, the wolf-man, informed me that I would never be able to return to my old world, because I had seen for myself that shape-shifters weren't really a myth. It involved a treaty between the kingdoms, after that war Hiromi's grandmother told us about, that any human the sky pirates saved could, and would, be claimed as one of their own." He hugged the girl tighter. "Those were terrible months, Haru. Suddenly joining a band of sky pirates and knowing I would be initiated as one of their own after another two years wasn't such a big deal, but… the thought of never seeing you again, wondering if you would forget about me… I wanted to die."
"I'm glad you didn't," she informed him lovingly, still holding his head tight within her arms. "But how come you and these two were able to come back to this world?"
"That part was tough," Muta grunted as he adjusted course to sail over a vast cloudbank. "You have to petition the king, and give him a very good reason why you have to visit the human world-"
"You're jumping ahead of the story, you fatso!" Toto suddenly yelled as he slammed one hand over the giant's head. "It's Baron's story, so let him tell it!"
"But he's taking too long!"
"It's not bugging Haru, is it?!"
"Do they usually launch into random fights like this?" the slim brunette asked while struggling not to laugh as the fighting duo began madly wrestling across the top of the flying vessel.
Humbert sighed, and gently pushed the love of his life off his lap, and guide her around the epic battle so that she could stand next to him in front of the helm. He gripped two polished handles of it, and gently led the ship back onto its original course. "Frequently. It's another thing you learn to ignore after a while. Do you have problems with how I'm telling the story?" he suddenly asked with concern.
"The only parts I hate are when you get distracted and stop telling it. Please, what did you do, those first months among the sky pirates?" she asked with genuine interest.
Humbert sighed again. "Actually, I performed the same duties I had done on the sea-sailing ship. Captain Ashwood was very experienced with welcoming homesick members to the crew, so whenever I was done with the daily chores, he'd assign one or more of his crew members to teach me something new, to keep my depression at bay." He looked at her from the corner of his slanted eye, and grinned wickedly. "They had no clue that I had already been learning swordplay and hand-to-hand combat from you and your father, so I was actually able to provide a challenge for the other sailors, once they realized that I needed to be taken seriously."
"I certainly hope it didn't take them long," she scoffed tenderly, wrapping her arms around one of her fiancé's.
"It didn't," he assured her with a grin. "But it was kind of fun to learn about all those different techniques, and Captain Ashwood was quite impressed with my progress. I hope you'll forgive me, love, but I spoke of you quite often, late at night while the men were swapping stories. They were all convinced that I either made you up or was exaggerating wildly about your abilities."
"But we're cured of that now," Muta said dryly, after delivering a half-hearted punch to Toto's face. "I still think it's unnatural that you really are the way Baron described you, but at least I believe him now."
"Ditto," Toto wheezed as he limped to the side of the flying vessel to favor his unseen wounds.
"You two were on that ship?" Haru asked politely.
"Yep," Muta said casually as he pilfered through a cupboard built underneath the helm. "We were two of Baron's teachers. It's still a bit embarrassing that he can take us down any time he feels like it. Water?" he asked, holding up a water skin to the two.
Haru took it from him, and uncorked it before handing it to her furry fiancé.
He took it with a grin. "Mind holding the helm steady for a minute?"
"Um, okay," she replied uncertainly as he stepped back and used one of his hands to wrap hers around two of the polished handles of the helm.
"Just keep it on course," Humbert, or Baron, she supposed, told her gently as he put the water skin to his lips.
So entranced by his story, Haru hadn't been able to appreciate the scene sailing over and around the ship. Clouds crashed against the front of the boat like waves as she skimmed the top of the misty bank, the sun beginning to set majestically, turning the sea of clouds into varying shades of lavender and soft pink.
"It's beautiful up here," she breathed reverently.
"Yes," Baron answered softly. "But I bet you can't beat my view."
A single glance to her left told her that she was the center of his attention, and not the scenery, making her blush with pleasure and giggle helplessly. "Flirt," she accused him while punching one of his arms playfully.
He grinned roguishly while handing back the half-empty water skin so that she could drink and he could resume control of the ship's course.
She drained the skin, and corked it before handing it back to a smirking Muta. "All right, Baron; what happened next?"