War Call, part 3 by Vanessa S. Quest
After being carefully escorted to the dining hall, through a sickening number of soldiers, Yuuri found his seat at the large, round table.
Conrad was amazed that Gisela had managed to find him, after all, he had regretfully misinformed her twice as to where to find Yuuri. The dinner itself was anything but relaxed, the set of retainers' eyes all cast about the room scanning for any strange movement while Yuuri had a great difficulty in practicing the foreign table manners with only one working hand, he wound up using some spork-like device as his weapon of choice.
Yuuri did seem to be grumbling about that, he really was pitiful looking like that; however, his alternative of using a knife and fork had failed miserably twice already. He sighed in exasperation after attempting and failing for the now third time at using his knife. What was he, a little kid? Needing some grown-up to cut his meal up for him… He chose dignity over that, until his stomach growled loudly. He slumped over, completely put-off by the day.
Conrad gracefully switched his main dish with Yuuri's, as if he were just delivering it out of the kitchen, the others acted as if it had been unnoticed, but realistically exfoliating skin cells flaking to the ground would have been caught by the amount of surveillance. Yuuri happily wolfed down the food.
He could hardly be embarrassed by that! Going maoh always took a lot of energy from him, plus he had done that when he was already over-exerted from that whole squirrel-bite… in fact just thinking about the progression of the day made him slump back in his chair, yawning indiscretely.
Gunter commented to Yuuri, "Your majesty, did you wish to retire for the evening?"
Yuuri merely repositioned himself in a more polite position, "Eh? Oh… yeah, maybe I should… oh, wait, no one else has finished yet. I'll wait."
He attempted to regain his focus, making sure not to lean back in his chair; instead he wound up nodding off drooping toward the table.
Conrad put his hand on Yuuri's left arm, springing him awake. "I'll escort you to your temporary quarters, Yuuri."
Yuuri blinked daftly, then, after a moment the words registered. "Okay." Everyone doubted whether he was even aware of how long he was in that position, to be in such a deep sleep in less than thirty seconds…
Conrad was quite glad that he could operate on fewer reserves than that to keep fully functioning in a tactical maneuver; after all, he might be calling on that energy for just that tonight. Taking Yuuri's hand he escorted him to the door, maybe to just bring some normalcy back Wolfram quipped, "Conrad, I'm relying on you as my brother to protect my wimpy fiancé and make sure he doesn't try to chase any skirts until I can take over again!"
The brunette lowered his head, "Of course, of course… I'll see to that." He internally added you little brat.
Much to everyone's amazement, Shin Madoku had gone without incidence the remainder of that evening, as the night began to wane, Conrad continued to watch Yuuri, keeping his tactical profile of his room ever in mind.
The two areas of vulnerability and escape- a window with a drop onto a lower floor's balcony that lead to the service areas, and the doorway, presuming there wasn't an actual physical barrier, merely enemy agents, the hallway narrowed to only allow for a full axis swing of the sword plus five centimeters to each side until a juncture down the right that led through a set of service entries that anyone inexperienced with would easily get lost within. The two other directions led to the main halls, one passing Gwendel's office as well as Gunter's, the other led toward Yuuri's chamber or the baths depending on which exact route taken later on.
The schematics of Covenant Castle and the surrounding grounds, as well as the village and countryside outside of that, were all in easy access to Conrad's mind's eye.
Yuuri had seemed to recover some energy after a fifteen-minute power nap, leaving him scanning the surprisingly minimalistic room.
Well, how would that really be surprising, he is a soldier after all, and normally they would only keep absolute essentials and very few personal effects, but really—what he saw was kind of shocking saying as how warm and sentimental Conrad was, he had very few mementos.
Let's see, he had his mitt and a ball, a rubber duck… Gwendel didn't make that did he? He had a map, no that looked more tactical than memorabilia for his travels. There was his desk, no photos on it—wait, did Shin Madoku even have photos? Yuuri doubted people painted miniature portraits, either, so that was understandable. The blanket seemed to be a quilt, though.
Maybe his mother Cheri had made it, she was surprisingly interested in sewing. He mused for a moment if that's where Gwendel got it from.
Yuuri's scanning eyes caught onto Conrad's, Conrad had been looking at Yuuri for a moment, aware of the younger man's actions.
"Oh… a… it's just that I've never really been in anyone's private rooms. I thought it might be something a little different, but, ha ha ah, this makes sense too." Yuuri felt nervous, he was scratching his head and felt a cold sweat.
"I actually don't display most of my priceless possessions, with the exception of that," Conrad pointed to the rubber duck, "and the heirloom bed-dressing."
"Ah! Then I shouldn't be sleeping in your bed… I wouldn't want to accidentally do anything to it…"
"Don't worry, your majesty, I trust you with it." Conrad smiled, if anything, that quilt had been absolutely worthless until Yuuri had slept in it, if anything it was just an old quilt his mother had given him after rediscovering it—she claimed how the blue shade from the stitching was just the perfect color for him. He only kept it out of convenience; it was warm enough after all.
Yuuri still seemed on-edge after being trusted with something so precious to Conrad. "Oh… ah, so why is the rubber duck?"
"Ah, it was a gift from someone very close to me, from my stay on Earth in a transitional period of my life." He smiled just hoping he didn't have to tell Yuuri how he had given it to him back on Earth as a baby.
"Oh… I see, haha, I was wondering how Gwendel could have made something plastic. But that… still makes no sense. Why a rubber duck…? Oh! I didn't mean to question it, it strangely suits you… er, no, not strangely. No, it just suits you." Yuuri smiled, hoping by bringing his lips together he might be able to close his mouth.
"Really? I just thought it was rather cute. It even squeaks."
"Ah…ha…haha…" Yuuri felt flustered, there was the sentimental side he knew Conrad had to have somewhere. He just wondered why he seemed to have such quirky taste, first the bad puns and overall damaged sense of humor, now this… his perfect Conrad… well, it made sense that there was a flaw somewhere!
Yuuri stretched back and yawned, he then tensed and relaxed his right hand. Earlier, the pain had been pretty rough, after the anti-venom, even, it felt like it was burning-hot, being pressed tight in a vice. Over the span of a few hours and painkillers, the vice felt like it was loosening, but now it was weird, it felt tingly and almost cold, like an electrical shock—the feeling when it jumps from a faulty switch to the hand, but at the same time, that's not even really a COLD sensation… oi, this was just confusing and his dull pounding headache had only gone away so much.
He figured that this was better than before, at least. Yuuri checked his hand and left shoulder, his hand sported a pretty big bruise, probably from being roughed up by that sorcerer …guy. As for his left shoulder, that was already scabbed over.
"Yuuri, would you like to play that card game now?"
"Oh, yeah, sure that would be great!"
The card game had proceeded rather well, to Yuuri's surprise, he knew Conrad was losing for him, which was a little disheartening, but he figured it was just a teaching game then. Toward the last round, Yuuri's hand was twitching out of his control, even managing to move his fingers as it did, he noticed it when his right hand was supposed to pull up a card but instead caught five of the eight cards left, spilling them face up.
He tried to remove the cards with his left hand, covering them and trying to laugh it off but Conrad merely laid his cards down.
"It's time for you to rest, your majesty, you're pushing yourself too far."
"But… Hey, that's Yuuri!" He sighed after causing himself to lose his own momentum, he leaned back onto the bed a bit disheartened, his left arm propping him up slightly, "You're going to do rounds then, aren't you?"
"Yuuri?"
"You're going to leave…" Yuuri looked remarkably sad and lonely.
"Ah, I see, my rounds are as your personal guard tonight, Yuuri."
"R-Really? Really-really!"
"Yes, really." Conrad patted Yuuri's hair, "Do you need anything to help you relax or sleep, painkillers for your hand, your head…?"
"N… No, I think I'm fine." His hand clenched causing Yuuri to wince in pain. "Well… maybe for my hand…"
"Of course, just stay there." Conrad turned to face the shelves nearest to the door.
"Ah, uh, never mind… I don't want to make you run an unnecessary errand…" Yuuri was thinking to himself how wonderful this day was turning out as far as time with Conrad went, though everything else about it really REALLY sucked. Really. He didn't want to give that up so quickly by falling asleep, which was probably how he managed to stay up until a little before midnight with all that had happened.
Conrad turned to face Yuuri and smiled, "It's no trouble at all, after all, I keep some of these medicinal herbs in my satchel in case I need to use them, here put this under your tongue." He handed Yuuri something that looked like a rolled up sage-leaf.
Yuuri took it with his left hand and did as he was instructed.
"That relaxes muscles, I have a balm if your right arm still hurts, so please let me know at once if you require it."
Yuuri nodded drowsily toward him. His head fell back into the pillow, he was down for the count. Conrad noticed how Yuuri's hand and wrist was still twitching tensely, the blood vessels bulging. He took out the salve and applied a light coating before returning the container of salve to his bag.
The gentler look he had directed at Yuuri and had kept up while Yuuri was awake dissipated into narrowed eyes, steeply perched eyebrows and a straight face. The Lion of Ruttenberg was assuring his domain was not being encroached upon.
Keeping his back to the wall he peered out of the door into the hallway investigating a soft noise.
No, soft noises weren't made in this hallway, not unless someone was purposefully trying to hide their presence, that meant someone was sneaking around. Hand still on the hilt of his now drawn sword he caught three shadowy figures maneuvering toward his door and other doors of the hallway.
He cursed internally, scouts, trying to find the room Yuuri was in, no doubt.
He returned to Yuuri's bedside after silently closing the door, putting the blanket completely over the sleeping dark-haired beauty, he wondered if they might overlook his room. It looked as though they were coming from the main hall, nearest to Yuuri's room. Good, that meant they hadn't heard he was moved, it had surprised them.
The bad news, however, was how far did the other teams get when fanning out to search…? Were they on the same floor still? How the hell had that many people infiltrate the castle perimeter, even?
Apparently, the entire guard would have to be put through a formal investigation to flush out any remaining spies or imposters.
He readied to strike when his doorknob jiggled, when it opened a crack then wavered, he used the reflective surface to know why. One of the masked figures was signaling frantically to pull back.
The man whispered, "That's the head guard and maoh's bodyguard! Don't just open that door, gas it first…"
Conrad's eyes narrowed, he had to wait for one to approach first, then attack. The doorknob jiggled again, Conrad pulled the door open quickly, chopping downward with the butt of his sword knocking the one man out, the second and third tossed a smoke screen forward and seemed to be signaling for backup. Conrad's lion eyes were working in his favor as a veteran of war as he moved through the gas, drawing sparks on the stone with the tip of his sword and finding where to strike, after knocking back a fourth and fifth he re-entered the doorway to his abode and glanced down at Yuuri who had shifted in his sleep, bringing the blanket away from his face and head.
He knew they were signaling each other, somehow, something like this was far too well choreographed. He took Yuuri, wrapped in the blanket sheathed his sword and jumped to the balcony below. After getting within eyesight of the sentry he observed one dead guard and a missing second. They had integrated into the private guard. How long had this plan been in design?
Taking Yuuri over his shoulder he found Gwendel, himself busy with dispatching his troupes.
"Gwendel!"
"Conrad? What are you doing here, and with his majesty…" He massaged the bridge of his nose.
"Only one of the sentry from the West tower is dead, the other is missing. They've integrated with the guard, or a traitor is supplying them."
Gwendel nodded, "It appears so, it seems that was the initial plan, heighten military presence so they could blend in, and with him in that state, no less…"
"We need to pull this outside of the grounds."
"You should worry about his majesty's safety, perhaps the shrine…?"
"It's far too dangerous to move him currently."
Just as Conrad was beginning to wonder where Yozak had went, a very muscular maid approached.
"Ah, just in time, Yozak."
"Ah, Captain Weller, how did you figure me out already…" he pouted before looking more serious. "They seem completely unfamiliar with the service passages, a handful were lost there."
Conrad looked at Yozak with a fiery energy, "Then we should be able to keep a stronghold in the treasure room, get the members from the internal guard and Gunter. Gwendel, if we send a decoy carriage off with Wolfram we may lure out some of the insurgents."
"Alright, Yozak, please assist in spreading a 'message' to the guards that the maoh will be making an exit via carriage and to clear a path."
"Yes sir, I'll be right on that." Yozak winked at Conrad then mentioned, "Your blanket's starting to move."
Conrad nodded once then proceeded to follow the fastest route to the vault-room.
Once securely inside, he checked on Yuuri, who was just starting to come around. "Yuuri?"
"…Huh?" He rubbed his eyes, "Eh? The treasure room now! When did the rooms decide to start changing on me every time I woke up?"
Conrad knelt toward Yuuri, "I'm sorry, I had to transport you for your personal safety. The castle is under siege. We managed to evacuate the civilians, mother is with Greta at the temple, however, we are unable to evacuate at this exact moment."
"Why would I evacuate Covenant Castle? Didn't the first maoh swear to never abandon here? So, I can't disrupt a tradition like that if avoidable."
"Of course, your majesty."
"Not that again…!" Yuuri pointed with his right hand, "Eh? My hand's not sore…"
Conrad turned to face him, "That's due to a medicinal balm, the damage has not been repaired yet." He said it with a stricter voice as if anticipating where Yuuri might be trying to go with that.
"But if I can use my…"
Gunter entered the room then barred the door. "Conrad, your majesty, are you here?"
"Yes, Gunter. Yuuri's woken up as well."
"Ah, your majesty, I'm just so glad you weren't hurt during this…"
Yuuri gave Gunter a look, "Wait, how bad IS it out there?"
"It's a large siege, though it is limited to foot-soldiers."
"They have already released the prisoners in the holding cells, this may turn into a blasting frenzy soon…" Gunter added, honestly, while advising.
"Gunter!" Conrad corrected, looking over at Yuuri suggestively. "I'm sure it will be contained soon, Yuuri."
"…Conrad, you're lying to me." Yuuri's eyes gave away a brief wave of anger. "There are a lot of casualties already. Aren't there?"
Conrad sighed, this was exactly what he had wished to avoid. "Yes, but that can not be helped, especially by you at the present moment. You're currently too weak to attempt to safely maintain your maoh state or any strong magical attacks. By going up there you would be doing exactly what the enemies want."
"I have an obligation to try to help…!"
"You have the OBLIGATION to stay alive for your kingdom and people! Those soldiers are sacrificing their lives to protect that very life, by just throwing away their sacrifice and endangering yourself you'll be more of a hindrance than help." Conrad pushed Yuuri to put his back against the wall.
Yuuri's eyes watered, Gunter was seriously taken aback, though what Conrad had said was true, it was also quite hard for Yuuri to hear, especially from him of all people—even Gunter knew how much Conrad means to Yuuri. "I…" His eyes sharpened drastically, "Then I'll need my retainers to be in their best form to make sure I'm NOT a hindrance. I am not staying here to just let my soldiers or other citizens just get slaughtered for nothing!"
The tension that had momentarily weighted down the air in the room vanished, Conrad's features changed to one of a calm strategist, knowing that the maoh was destined to get his way in this, too.
"Then let Gunter and I think of a strategy before you leave the room."
Conrad knew that 'knocking Yuuri out and hogtying him' would not fly as an affective plan, though he wished it would.
"Yuuri, we were penetrated from the Western corner, therefore if we have a surge our soldiers can cut off any reinforcements they may send, then by attacking in the Eastern and Northern areas we can drive them toward the Courtyard. The Southern line was not focused in their attacks, so Gwendel's forces were able to quickly secure it. If you enter from the Southern wing, it would give you a secure window of entry and escape from the courtyard. Also, by doing this, our men can pinch in and thus have them surrounded."
Gunter nodded, "This is the best tactical plan, with Wolfram's forces pulling in from outside the Western perimeter we can be sure to further prevent any would-be escapees or any additional men."
Yuuri nodded once, "Alright, then." He whispered to himself to build his own confidence, "Bases are loaded, bottom of the ninth, we're up by one point, two outs, two strikes, Shibuya Yuuri, don't drop the ball..."
--To Be Continued-- by Vanessa S. Quest