15: Rescue
I was relieved when I woke up. I was still in my haystack, neither Siesta nor Louise was in it with me, and I was still fully clothed. If we can keep this up for every other night, then I have nothing to worry about.
"It's morning! Siesta, as my personal maid, would you mind heading down to the kitchen and getting some soup for me?"
She sits up immediately and rushes out the door. Louise is still trying to will herself into being awake, to little effect.
"You know, it looks like a nice day. I think I'll go for a walk around the academy." I think I see her nod, but she could just be falling asleep and waking up at almost random intervals. When I'm at the door, I remember what happens tonight.
"Hey, Louise. It's that masquerade ball tonight, isn't it?"
"I think so." She's still tired, and it shows.
"What, or should I say who, are you going as?" I really didn't hear whatever they said last night, but I figure that they made a similar, if not identical bet. If I played to Louise's side of the bet, I could stop the second potion event from happening. Hopefully. Events still seemed to happen in this timeline no matter how hard I tried to stop them.
"I was thinking about going as Cattleya, why do you ask?"
I give one of my patented shrugs. "Well, it'll be hard to find you at the ball if I don't know who you are, right?" I wink and walk out, leaving her to wonder how I knew.
*Scene Break*
So the walk was boring. Nothing happened. Disappointed, I killed time until the ball began. Being a familiar, I didn't have to change into anyone, which was a relief because it would be embarrassing if I turned into Louise, or the Princess or something like that. Come to think of it, the whole idea behind this ball is rather flawed. I understand that you're supposed to use the mirror of truth and become the person you most admire and socialize with people even if you have no idea who they are, but what happens if you fall in love with someone? What do you do if you fall in love with this one person and you never know who it is? Or what if its someone who's the same sex as you? My point was proven when a few students tried to hit on this one girl, and she was really the headmaster, Osmond. Their reactions were amazing.
I looked around for Louise, but I didn't see her. Maybe she hasn't arrived yet. It would definitely not be good if she decided to go as someone else. Then how would I find her? I looked towards the balcony and saw Louise, or should I say Henrietta disguised as Louise. I made sure not to go in that direction. Last time, she kissed me, Louise got really upset and ran off into the forest where she got kidnapped by Myoznitnirn. I had a feeling that would happen again, but I didn't really know how.
I stuck my hands into my pockets absentmindedly, and noticed something that shouldn't be there. I pulled out a piece of paper. It wasn't my time stream cheat sheet. I left that back in Louise's room. I unfolded the note and read it.
"Gandalfar, I have your master. We're hiding in the forest. Have fun finding us! Also, if you're wondering how I got this into your pocket without you knowing, I used one of my magical artifacts. I have an artifact for just about anything. Myoznitnirn. P.S. You talk in your sleep."
Well, that explains a lot. A little too much, actually. I walked up to the balcony.
"Hi Princess!" She turned towards me instinctively.
"How did you know I was the princess?" She sounds surprised.
"So I was right, anyway, just wanted to let you know, that person we told you about, Myoznitnirn, is back and kidnapped Louise. Don't worry, I'll save her."
Before she can respond, I vault over the balcony and run off towards the forrest. I had Derflinger with me, just in case, So I used my Gandalfar powers to get there even faster. Then she showed up.
"Ah, hello Tabitha. Here to kill me I suppose?"
She nods, if she's surprised that I new that she doesn't show it. Instead she shoots some icicles at me. I dodge.
"Very astute Gandalfar! Now, do you kill this girl, your friend, or do you let your master die?"
I turn and see Myoznitnirn riding on the back of what looks like a giant (When I say Giant, I mean 60 feet wide and 80 feet long) manta ray, Louise standing behind her, her eyes blank. Mind control. I wonder how Myoz could possibly do that, and then I notice the ring on her finger. Myoznitnirn was wearing the ring of Andvarri, the one that was originally from this time. I'd need a way to snap Louise out of it, get the ring, and take down Tabitha without killing her. It was kind of hard to think with Tabitha throwing ice spears at me all the time. Then I got an idea. I grabbed one of the ice spears that was launched at me and tossed it, end over end, at Louise. The blunt side hit her on the head. She stumbled backwards, but she looked like she was back in control.
"Great! You're back! Get the ring off of her hand!" I yell at her.
Before I can check to see how she does in that effort, I run towards Tabitha. I dodge her ice spears and absorb her air hammer. I jump up and land right next to Tabitha. I hit her in the stomach and she falls down. I aim my sword at her head. If I just bring it down now, I can save a whole lot of trouble in the future.
I hesitate, but I make my decision and bring the sword down. Tabitha blankly looks at me, and I see some blood on her cheek. I guess she did manage to hit me with her magic.
"Why?" Her eyes look like a mix between confusion and relief.
I pull Derf out of the ground next to her head. "Honestly I just couldn't kill someone who has helped us so much." Before I can continue, I hear Louise scream. It looks like she's having a fist fight with Myoznitnirn on the top of that flying manta ray. I'm so proud of her sometimes.
"Tabitha, get Slyphid!" I figure that I didn't kill her, even though I had the chance, so she at least owed it to me to rescue Louise.
She whistles and Slyphid comes down. We jump on and fly towards them. When we get closer, I jump off and Tabitha casts levitation on me to slow my descent. I land on the Manta Ray and see Louise crumpled on the ground, Myoznitnirn standing over her. As much as I'm proud she tried to fight her off, I can't help but think how much of an idiot she was for trying that. I'll worry about it later.
Myoznitnirn opens her mouth to speak, before the tail of the Ray explodes. I look up and she a giant ship flying above us, a single cannon trained on the manta ray. I see Kirche and Mr. Colbert standing on the ship. Before I can say hi, I use the moment to grab Louise and jump off the Ray. Great timing, considering the rest of the thing explodes at that moment. I don't let go of Louise when the explosion happens and I don't let her go when hundreds of pieces of shrapnel fly into my back, even though my back has about a hundred new holes that it shouldn't.
Then she wakes up and looks at me, her eyes fill with anger and sadness. "How could you! How could you do that with the princess! I hate you! I hate both of you!"
I guess she's referring to some lie that Myoznitnirn told her to get her to follow.
"Louise! Stop struggling! Do you want me to drop you?"
"No! NO! Let me go! I hate you!"
I break out my secret weapon and kiss her. She shuts up, stops struggling, and eventually gives in. Perfect, now we can both die from the fall in peace. Luckily, Slyphid grabs the two of us and throws us onto the ship.
Louise looks at me, her eyes looking a little watery. "I-is what she said true? D-did you do those things with the princess?"
I sigh, "Really? You honestly believed the person who's trying to kidnap and kill you?"
She blushes and looks down. "I-I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
Then she perks up, like she remembered something. She reaches into her shirt pocket and tosses me something. I catch it out of instinct and look at it. So Louise got the ring of Andvarri after all?
I smile. "Great job, you've done good Louise, Now go find a bed or something and go to sleep, it looks like you've had a long day." I say while pocketing the ring. I should give it to the water spirit, but I think I'll hold onto it. Just in case.
She nods, and walks off. I decide to try and find something to eat. It's been a while since dinner and I was hungry after that whole episode. We'd talk about it later.
*Louise POV*
I couldn't believe myself. I can't believe I let myself believe Myoznitnirn. How could I be stupid enough to trust someone who tried to kill me? I felt even worse about attacking Saito after he had just saved me. I just needed something to take my mind off this whole night.
"Louise!" Cried Siesta. Perfect! Just what I needed to get my mind of this.
"Soooo? Did Saito find you at the ball?" Siesta asked me teasingly.
I gave a brief thought as to how I should answer this. "In a manner of speaking, no-"
"Then I win!" She started jumping up and down
"I wasn't finished." That shut her up. "He didn't find me because I wasn't at the ball. I was kidnapped and he came and saved me. If anything, I'd say that means I win. Get it?"
Siesta looks incredibly disappointed. "I understand. I will stop trying to make advances on Saito."
It felt much better than it should have to hear those words. "Its not all bad, you can still be his maid, you just can't try to steal him away from me."
Siesta still looks saddened, but seems slightly mollified that she can still be around him. "Okay."
I smile, give her a pat on the back to reassure her, then I continue my search for a bed. I get the feeling that tomorrow will be a big day, but I don't know why.
*Scene Break*
*Saito POV*
Well the night was interesting. It was great seeing Colbert again, and it was even better seeing that Kirche had moved on from trying to get me and has now set her sights on Colbert. He explained how he worked on the Ostland, the ship we were on, in Germania. He pointed me to where the lodging was. I found Louise's room and fell asleep on the floor. I knew that tomorrow we would be heading out on another adventure, this time to Gallia.
I woke up and went to the academy's courtyard to meet with the rest of the Knights of the Water Spirit. We basically rejoiced in having our fifth member, Reynal. We had more people, but they all quit when I told them that you should not be part of this just to pick up girls. That cut the numbers down pretty quickly. Louise and Montmorency were there too for some reason, but that didn't stop them from getting completely drunk.
"Saito, I hate your guts, you know that right? Your's too Guiche." Said Malicorne.
"Oh really. Would that be because I've done more in a few months than you ever will in your life?" I ask him. Through years of training I have built up a resistance to alcohol so only amounts that would kill someone used get me as drunk as the rest of them were. A whole bottle used to only get me tipsy. Siesta shoving that bottle down my throat a few months back was the final step, and now I am incapable of getting drunk.
"NO you ****er!" He says angrily. This outburst surprises everyone else, but not me. I simply begin counting down in my head. 5...
"You got girls throwing themselves at you!"
4...
"And you Guiche! You got Montmorency!"
3...
"I don't got anyone!"
2...
"You people just got good luck raining down like meteors!"
1... 0
"Kyuuuuuuii!" At that moment, a girl with long, dark blue hair landed on top of Malicorne. She was about as tall as Montmorency and was rather pretty, I suppose, but the way she acted was like a child. Especially considering she didn't have a stitch of clothing on her and didn't seem to care. She looked around and saw me.
"Big Brother!" She grabbed me in a big hug.
"It's alway Saito." I hear the pile of dust that was once Malicorne grumble.
"Nice to see you again Irukukuu." Yes, this was Slyphid disguised as a human. "Would you mind putting this on?" I say, handing her my cloak. She puts it on.
"Saito, who is this girl, and why did she call you her brother?" Louise is the first to regain a shred of cognitive function.
"This is Irukukuu. She's Tabitha's sister." Everyone gasps.
"Tabitha has a sister?" Asks Montmorency.
"Yep, I met her once on accident when she came by to visit Tabitha. I gave her some food and now she thinks of me as her big brother." Not a complete lie, just not the whole truth.
"Big brother! You have to rescue big sister!" Slyphid exclaimed.
"What happened to Tabitha?" I already know the answer, but that would look weird to everyone, so I ask what's wrong.
"They got her! They got big sister and took her away!"
"What! They got Tabitha?" says Kirche. When she got here I have no idea, but it looks like she heard the whole conversation.
"They got her! You have to go rescue her!"
I look around and everyone agrees we need to go investigate.
"Let's go find out what happened to Tabitha. Irukukuu, would you mind getting Slyphid so we can fly to Tabitha's house and look for a lead?"
"Of course big brother!" She runs off.
*Scene Break*
"Absolutely not," said Henrietta.
"That was quick." I didn't expect to be rejected like that so quickly.
We had gone to Tabitha's house where Irukukuu told us, she let everyone know she was really Slyphid in disguise, that an elf had taken Tabitha away. Tabitha's butler told us that they had taken Tabitha's mother away to Alhambra Castle, so we made that our destination. First we had to get Henrietta's permission to cross the border into Gallia. And so here Guiche, Louise and I were.
"Princess you must understand, Tabitha is our friend, we can't just abandon her!" Said Louise.
"I cannot permit you to cross into Gallia. You are all members of this court, if something goes wrong, Gallia will blame Tristain and declare war on us!"
Considering the world has wars every year, I doubt that there's much trouble from another one, my inner monologue says to itself.
"Than lets make this conversation short," I say while removing my awesome cape.
"W-what are you doing?" Asks everyone in the room.
"There, now I'm not one of your knights. Go ahead and lock us up. We'll break out, you put out a wanted call on our head or something, we head to Gallia and rescue Tabitha, and we come back. There won't be any trouble for Tristain if the people who walk into Gallia are wanted fugitives."
Everyone just stands in silence for a minute. My logic would be more impressive if this wasn't what happened last time and I didn't already know that this was a winning strategy.
Henrietta sighed. "Guards, arrest him." I let myself be taken by the guards.
I wait in my cell for a while, before Guiche and Louise join me.
"So how'd it go?" I ask cheerfully.
"The princess says we are absolutely forbidden from leaving, or she will punish us." Louise says sadly. I notice that neither of them are wearing their cloaks. I guess they gave them up too.
"Don't worry, it's almost nighttime, help should be arriving in-"
I'm cut off by an explosion followed by the guards falling onto the floor.
"Now."
Kirche and Colbert arrive and undo our cell. They hand Guiche and Louise their wands, and I get Derflinger back.
"Did the plan work?" Asks Colbert.
"Well we're in here so... yes." I respond.
"What plan?" Asks Louise, sounding very confused.
"Like I said earlier, there's no problem for Tristain if the people who enter Gallia are wanted fugitives, right? I simply asked Colbert for some help getting us out of here."
Before anyone can ask any questions, I push Guiche out of the cell and grab Louise and pull her along while we get out of here.
*Scene Break*
"I hate this plan. I hate this plan very much." Montmorency complains.
"Stop complaining, it suits you well," says Kirche in a teasing voice.
After getting out of the jail, we met up with the rest of the knights and Montmorency. The knights and Colbert would fly the Ostland away from where we were heading to try and confuse any forces that would chase after us. Me, Louise, Guiche, Kirche, Slyphid (as Irkukuu) and Montmorency would march towards Gallia, disguised as a traveling circus. Kirche and Montmorency were disguised as dancers, and as such were wearing just enough to be considered clothed, which is why Montmorency was complaining. Guiche had a fake mustache on, and Louise and I were dressed in peasant clothes. Apparently I was supposed to be a sword dancer, but I didn't see it.
I expected a lot of resistance from guards chasing us while we headed for Gallia, but none came. I guess the princess went along with the plan after all. We got into Gallia without a hitch. Alhambra castle was in view within just a few days, even if the traveling itself took about 2 weeks on foot.
"There it is. Alhambra castle." Said Guiche.
"Right, before we go further, we need a plan." I tell everyone.
"Plan?" Is everyone's reply.
I raise an eyebrow. "You thought we would just march in through the front door, grab Tabitha and walk out with a fight?"
They all seem to get it, which is good.
"How about this, what if we put all the guards to sleep?" Suggests Montmorency. "We can buy some wine, mix sleeping potion into it, and give it to all the guards and put them to sleep. We walk in, get Tabitha and walk out with no one realizing a thing."
Everyone's silent for a minute. Did everyone here have the ability to read my mind?
"Um... right. That'll work. I think."
*Scene Break*
"I can't believe that worked!" Cried Louise. She insisted on being a dancer too, and was dressed up in the same outfit as them. The exact same outfit that barely covered anything. Needless to say, I had a hard time controlling the blood that was ready to gush out of my nose and cause me to pass out again.
The plan was a complete success. All the guards were put to sleep and no one was left awake. All that was left was to go get Tabitha, walk out, and fight an elf. I might have forgotten to mention to them that the elf was probably there, but I hoped that it wouldn't.
Needless to say, I have a habit of thinking a little too positively at times.
Within seconds of Louise finishing her sentence, an explosion was heard. We went over to investigate and found Kirche, badly burned. I look over and saw a guy with a nice hat standing near the wall.
"Ah, my apologies. I know you're here for the Gallian princess, so how about you all just walk away right now. I hate fights and you can't win." He says calmly.
"Who are you to tell us what fights we can't win?" Asks Guiche. The man responds by taking off his hat, revealing long pointy ears.
"He's an elf, obviously." I say, taking Derflinger out of his sheathe, ready to fight.
The elf sighs, "So you choose your destruction? Very well"
"Louise, I can't win this if you don't help. I need to you make the strongest dispel you can and cast it on Derflinger. That's the only way we can get past his counter magic." Well, the only way unless Louise happened to have a fully loaded World War II Tiger Tank, which I highly doubt.
"You've done this before, haven't you?" She sounds scared beyond measure.
"How'd you know?"
I charge the elf and she starts chanting. He barely puts up a fight. In fact, he just stands there, not moving. I know its useless but I keep slashing anyway. Each strike is deflected off the air in front of him.
"Yes, Counter is a particularly useful spell for someone like me. Not a single one of your attacks will make hit me. But all of my attacks can hit you." He punches me in the stomach and I go flying back. I land near Louise and get up. She's still chanting, so I just have to muscle through.
"I command thee, let the earth rise up and attack those who oppose me," says Mr. Elf.
As he says that, about a dozen rocks the size of my head rise from the earth and come towards Louise and I. I stand in front of her and ready myself for the intense pain that's about to come. The rocks start flying and I try to deflect them. I do well, until one collides with my skull. My vision goes fuzzy, and I can feel myself about to pass out. Through sheer force of will, I push through. Then Louise finishes her spell. She fires it, and I have Derflinger absorb it, who promptly starts glowing. Using this power, I rush towards the elf and slash at him again. Derflinger slices cleanly through the counter magic and I point the blade at his throat.
"As you can see, I am now in a position to kill you. I would really rather not, so if you could just step aside and let us get Tabitha and her mother, I would be really grateful."
His response is to run away. Without a word, he simply leaps into the air and runs off. I turn to the rest of the group.
"There. Elf's done. Let's go get Tabitha." Then I fall flat on my face, unconscious. That whole thing would have been a lot more awesome if you didn't pass out. Just saying. I wake up a few minutes later, thanks to Montmorency's healing. We run up the tower and approach the room at the top. I try the door and find that it's locked. So I do what any logical person with three powerful mages around him would do, and I kick down the door. We find Tabitha asleep on her bed next to her mother. I pick up Tabitha and piggyback her out of there, while Louise and Guiche get her mom. Montmorency has Kirche, who is still unconscious. A feeling of victory over the group, we exit the castle and start heading home.
*Louise POV*
I couldn't believe it. Saito had won against an elf, one of the most feared creatures in all of the world, and he won thanks to me. I was worried when he collapsed after the battle, but thankfully Montmorency is a great healer. We took Tabitha, her mother and Kirche out of the castle, set up camp, and thought about our next move. We couldn't just head back to Tristain, considering we were wanted fugitives. Than an owl with a letter landed on my shoulder and gave me a letter. Sometimes I wondered just how these owls tracked down the people who they deliver the letters too.
I opened the letter and read it. My face paled immediately.
"What's the matter, Louise?" Asked Saito, trying to hide the fact that he already knew.
"It's from the princess. When we've rescued Tabitha, she wants us to come back immediately so she can talk to us."
"What's the problem then?" Asks Guiche.
"She wants us to meet back at my family's house." Saito immediately pales, no doubt he remembers why we shouldn't got back to my estate.
"It is going to be trouble explaining this to your parent's isn't it?" Asks Montmorency.
I shake my head, "You don't understand. I'm scared out of my wits at the moment so I'll give the short version. My mother is Karin the Heavy Wind." Then everyone's face pales.
"Yes, my mother, one of the most feared commanders in all of the military before she retired, has to talk to me about directly disobeying the princess and illegally crossing the border." I don't mention the event with the boat, considering no one needs to know about that, even though that's what's likely going to be the death of me.
The conversation ends right there and everyone decides to go to sleep. I think about all the things my mother is going to do to me for everything I've done, and I unconsciously scoot next to Saito, almost snuggling, for comfort.