whiteshade of blackness 'gaku may 30, 2006
Disclaimer : G-boys NOT Saru's...story n concept, though...hehehh
4 wolfhounds
It's been hours passed searching for the fled small boy, but they couldn't find him everywhere. Deia had scanned for her Prussian since her feet touched the white grasses of the Castile's yard below her chamber, somehow the smell of the Fine-grass woken her somewhat from her befuddled state. Her mind still empty, but the image of a frightened Prussian sagged on the corner of her chamber's floor kept flashing uninvited, the repeated thoughts of his echoed in her heart 'what should I do...what should I do...' as if mocking her and her futile attemp to find him.
They've tried everywhere they could think of in the Castile, even the farmstead, the barns, stables and soldiers' barracks ( of which ladies usually wouldn't enter). After gathering some search parties from the places they passed, Lyea took Deia who submissively followed her to the Castile's dungeons, the underground Castile of the ancestor's and even the underground passageways of the Castile. All along Lyea held her sister's hand, saying something comforting and relieving. But since Deia didn't seem to be affected by them, she contented herself by singing softly along the narrow passageways aligning the water canals of the underground tunnels. Her soft quiet voice echoed in the maze.
In the outside, they knew it's already passed dusk.
"...He's not here..." Deia's quiet voice almost unheard "...Prussian's not in the Castile anymore...!" Then she stopped her reluctant heavy steps.
Lyea stopped too and looked at Deia's demeanor, she still loked like a frozen statue with face a mask of indifference and empty stares at nothing in particular, the sunny air around her had dimmed to cloudy shadow and her eyes lost their light.
Lyea studied her for sometimes, then stroked her cheek lovingly. "...Dearest Duo...!"
"Stop calling me THAT..!" Deia exclaimed with hard voice "..If I couldn't have that name, don't call me by it...!" and snatched the hand in Lyea's grasp then turned and walked back to where they came from.
Lyea watched her sister's form vanished by the intersection, and stood still at her spot. The soft glow of light-crystals embedded in the walls at certain intervals casted soft shadow of hers on the floor. She looked at it with sad eyes. After about ten minutes she walked to where Deia had gone.
Passed a few turns, she found Deia balled in the passageways' corner hidden from the soft glow of the light-crystals, hugging her knees and hiding her face between them. The small white-dressed form didn't move nor tremble...didn't even seem to breath..., her hidden eyes stared blindly at the waters.. Lyea stared at her from the intersection quietly, then slowly sat next to her on the floor without saying anything, and stared at the slow flowing water in the canal in front of them. They sat there unmoving for a long time...
"...Miladies...!" Howard's soft call echoed in the dim tunnels. Lyea turned her head to where the voice came from, and found Howard at the near intersection Castileward.
"The Lord was anxious of your whereabouts up there, and Odin was agitated enough to cast murdering glance at everyone including myself after finding the state your chamber was in...!" the Old Charms smirked amusedly, and Lyea smiled at him. Deia didn't move a bit next to her, then Howard squated in his usual un-Charms-ly pose in front of the small balled form.
"We'll find him... I had almost all the other Charms I could contacted to help search for him... Noone's hurt, is it?" he said softly to the unresponsive little girl, while sending soft waves of comfort to her. The girl's tight ball slumped a little in defeat, and a shaky exhalation heard slowly.
A sniff.
A cynical snicker.
A soft hum almost like a moan.
A loud sigh...
A few seconds later a soft voice he never heard before greeted him.
"...Hi, Howard..."
The old Charms blinked once, and stared at the child in front of him who lifted the head and faced his face. The impassive face had hard mask and cold empty eyes. Then, Howard knew he'd met the real person behind Deia's mask, the one he could almost sensed in the pasts but had never really got a hold off of its presence.
After a few moments staring at the eyes of the child, Howard smiled friendly. "...Hello, child ..!"
The child in Deia's feature nodded once, then resumed her empty contemplation to the water flow.
"...We could find him back... but I couldn't win..." the child said in emotionless tone.
"Of course you could win his trust back, you're..-"
"It hadn't even given to me yet...! And I charcoaled it under my feet..." the empty stare wavered a little.
"Child..." Howard lifted his right hand to her, but stopped as a sting surged his hand when he brushed the child's personal space. It almost felt like the sting from the boy's craft-plate..
"Does it hurt, Howard..? When someone you tried to help rejected you like that...?" the empty eyes glimmered a little with a layer of tear "...I know it hurts more inside...!" but the voice still unemotional.
The child sigh slowly "...I'm sorry..." then said the words defeatedly.
"Say it to him when we find him... Now, come on, ...he doesn't have anywhere else to go to. If he fled outside the Castile, we would've felt it because of the Castile-Spell!" Howard stood
"...anyway, he wouldn't have that much strength to get pass the Castile-Spell, it would've thrown him back inside if he ever tried..! Besides, people are still afraid of him..."
"He's not a monster, Howard... I am...!" the child spoke slowly but firmly.
"I killed The Lady of Archantra and her unborn daughter, and you people took me in to bear her unborn identity..! Called Beloved and got to call you family, and Father, and Sister..-" the cynical sentence stopped abruptly as a slapping sound echoed in the maze of tunnels and canals.
"We wouldn't want to say something we would regreted later, would we, Dearest...?" Lyea's soft voice tinged with sadness, with a smile in front of the child's face. The eyes stared back at her, though surprised they were still empty. Lyea softly stroked the slightly reddened cheek with her thumb appologetically, then took the child's hand and stood "...Let's go!"
And they walked back up to the upper grounds.
After passed midnight having no sight of the missing boy, Lyea insisted her sister to take a rest in her chamber, knowing even though Deia's chamber had been rearranged, the fresh memory of the incident that day in that chamber would agitated the restless little girl. She still held the younger child's hand in the bed till dawn comes, although she could feel Deia didn't -couldn't- sleep at all all night, staring at the ceiling of the bed's canopy.
Before the Stratus started to diffuse the first morning light to some layers of aurora-like lights, Lyea asked Deia if she would like to start search Prussian again. Without a word for answer, she walked off of the bed and to the coridors in her nightgown and fuzzy sleepers. Lyea called out and ran after her wearing her robe with a pashmina in her hand, and draped it around Deia's shoulders. Following closely behind her who was in sleepwalking-like state.
Deia's empty-minded steps brought her to the Castile's yard again, at the inner backyard where underground stables for dangerous animals were. They'd searched him there yesterday, but not finding anything out of the ordinary, they'd looked somewhere else. The damp Fine-grass felt cool to her feet and wetted her gown where it brushed the white leaves, but in her dreamy-haze sight she paid no heed, she just followed a vibe of pull towards the stables.
At the stable's yard, a few soldiers and beast-trainers huddled near the entrance, they looked troubled and surprised when they noticed Deia were walking towards them, followed by Lyea close behind.
"...Miladies...!" they uttered in startlement. Lyea nodded at them once in acknowledgement, while Deia kept walking pass them.
"...- go get Howard..!" Odin's voice was heard from the underground stables, and a Charms nearly stumbled to Deia in his haste. He surprisedly stopped and gave her a nod, then hurriedly continued his way. Loud growls and snarls were heard from the inside, almost drowning any other sounds and voices.
Deia descended the stone stairs slowly to where the enormous cages were planted in the walls and floor. Soft gasps and murmurs of greetings was heard from the people in the stable, some Charms, guards, beast-trainers and their assistants. She stopped behind Odin who crouched at some distance in front of the enormous cage where they kept the pack of wolfhounds, talking in low voice with one of the pack trainers.
He gave her a nod "...The wolfhounds acted strange this early morning..!" and said in level tone "They've been growling and guarding the cage entrance and along the cage bars for hours, the beast trainers couldn't even tried to get near to feed them without a flock of frenzied wolfhounds gnarling and barking at them and freaked them out!" He pointed to the cage with his chin. A few massive wolfhounds stared at them with feverish wild-eyes and growled madly.
Deia walked slowly towards the enormous cage and lifted her right hand to them. "...Let me in...I won't hurt anybody...!" She whispered softly. A few disapproval and worried murmurs from the people around her were ignored, Deia let her hand inside the cage bars with open palm to the frenzied beasts.
"...I won't let anyone hurt him..., I promise..!"
"...Let me get to him..., please..." The growls and snarls had decreased after that, but the wolfhounds guarding the cage bars were still standing in alert ready to pounce anyone who enter the cage, their four-ears pricked back flat to their skulls. Deia touched the massive locked cage door, it clicked once and opened slowly. The people around her backed off in alarm.
Deia stepped inside the cage, the few wolfhounds near the door stood guard and started to growl in a new frenzy. She stared at them with cold empty gaze, stood there like a goddess of apathy and dispiritedness, unwavered by everything around her, the void in her felt by the wolfhounds shut them up after a few moments. They whined and moved around agitated and uneasy by her presence, but still determinedly blocking the way to the farther side of the cage where the light dimmed by the shadow of the cave walls of the stable.
"...Ah, I see...!" Howard's voice sounded loud in the sudden silence of the underground chamber "The collective protection-wills..!" he said astonished behind Odin. "That's why the Charms couldn't scanned him anywhere in the Castile's vicinities!"
"I've heard something like that...!" Odin frowned. "But never seen it given for other creatures outside their own kind...!"
"Huh... He must be special to them, then..!" the old Charms brushed it off with that as if it explained everything.
In the far corner, secured between the curled body of a big hound was a small head with brown locks tucked on the beast's thick furred body. The big hound stared at the humans with feverish golden-eyes, revealing its sharp teeth with an angry snarl, its head bowed forward on its front paws which bearing their blade-nails out. The small boy was asleep with calm but exhausted face, the discolorations on his exposed skin was easily distinguished even from the distance. It was from the crash with the chamber-Spell, luckily he'd managed to flee through it before Deia's lashing increased the power of the waves, or else he would have been incinerated to black-ashes right then and there.
The hound was curled in the dark shadowed corner, but it was different from the wolfhounds that bred in the Castile. The white wolfhounds had short-furred coats, and longer around their necks and chests, four ears, shorter and bulkier muzzles, two-tails like lion's, and two long upper-cuspids. While the hound coddling the boy had long thick light-golden coat, the band of long-furs around its neck and chest was of shiny-lightbrown color, two ears, two small white triangular horns at its forehead, longer and more slender muzzle, six blade-like nails on each of its front claws, a tail with long furs, and four long upper-cuspids which the fore-pairs slightly shorter then the ones behind them.
"That looks like a wolf..!" Howard said amused. A Wild-wolf in the cage of wolfhounds that were trained to hunt wolves..!
"Yes, the trainers said so too...but nobody ever saw a wolf with two ears and one tail before..!" Odin frowned deeper "Besides,...those nails look really blade-like, I wonder if they're made of somekind of alloy..!"
"...Hmmmmm...Aren't the animals in midlands have a pair of ears and single tail..?"
"We've never seen beasts with six-nails on their front claws, sir!" one of the trainers spoke in low voice to Howard. "We don't know how that beast could be mixed in there, it wasn't there yesterday..!"
"Well it's not a summon-beast, so I don't think it got in there by teleportation or similar ways!" Howard frowned too.
The whines of the wolfhounds receded, the agitated ones stilled and sat on their hindlegs. One in front of the others slowly moved forward, and licked the fingers of Deia's stretched out right hand.
"Good boy..." Deia stroked its muzzle in front of her face with both hands "...Now, let me get to him, alright..?" She asked in hushed voice. The wolfhound whined and waggled its two-tails, the others chaffed and looked anxious at the golden-hound, whined in defeat and flattened their four-ears. They didn't look fearful, though, only acted like saying 'sorry, couldn't help you more than this'. A few of them rested on their bellies, watchful of Deia's movements, the one stroked by her moved to her side and sat as if taking guard of her safety.
The people in the chamber watched in varieds levels of amazement. Lyea watched silently with interest, the golden-hound was now assessing all of them, mostly at Deia, watching the procession with calm impassive face, as if calculating. Its golden eyes shining with something intelligent higher than any other animal's. She didn't like to acknowledge it, but she was kind of unnerved by the looks in its eyes.
Deia shifted her empty gaze at the brown haired head in the safety of the hound's curled body, he looked so small and vulnerable balled between a beast's limbs like that. But the peacefull expression on his face brought waves of pleasantness to her void-heart, along with stabs of guilt and joy altogether. She looked at him through halflidded eyes, before breathed softly.
"...Prussian..."
The brown head pricked minutely and stiffened, ever so slowly the small body curled tighter. After quite sometime one eye flickered open a slit, the prussian color glowed in the darkness.
"...Come back.."
There was a soft grating sound echoed by the cave-walls of the stables. Deia blinked once in surprise, it was the sound of her Prussian growling at her. Her impassive face fell, she couldn't win now...her Prussian's frightened of her, may be even hate her.
"...please..." she whispered in saddened voice. The wolfhounds whined again.
The boy growled louder, Deia held his gaze repentantly. The whines got louder too, either of fear of the boy's growling or by Deia's repentance, people couldn't tell. Suddenly the growling stopped, the whines of the wolfhounds ebbed too, albeit not instantly. The prussian eyes now bore at Deia's with dead-gaze, like when he was brought to the Castile the first time, by the mercenaries and frightened villagers.
A new stab of guilt painfully hit Deia's heart. She's no better than those abussive men, then. May be even worse, she could've killed him so easily if he didn't flee her wrath that time. Giving hopes of security and pleasantness then betrayed it with only one explosive wrath was certainly much meaner than what they'd done to him, to think her anger wasn't even caused by the small boy's deeds...
The boy hissed at her, bearing a neat line of sleek needle-sharp teeth.
"Those teeth are not of human's!" one of the startled guard murmured. Odin's eyes flickered at him sidelong, he noted the golden-hound too flickered its eyes to the man. -That beast's eyes are too much like human's ..!- He thought warily.
"I'm sorry...please, Prussian...?" Deia said a little louder. The boy stopped hissing but his eyes still held waryness. "...Please..?" she lifted both hands open palmed at him, sending waves of tender kindness she could muster desperately.
The boy blinked, he looked hesitant for a while, his eyes cleared for a slight bit before widened and darkened again. His breath hitched and he looked at the golden-hound's eyes with a slight panic, then a small bruised hand clutched the beast's fur from under a too long tunic sleeve. Deia widened her eyes, she'd forgotten that her Prussian had contradictions with Harmony.
The golden-hound straightened its posture, the wolfhounds too rose in alarm. When the golden-hound rouse and stood up on its four limbs, the wolfhounds whined and lowered their bodies in defeat. The people widened their eyes in surprise. "...It's BIG..!" Howard breathed with appreciation. The beast's back was even taller than a horse back.
Deia opened her mouth to say something more, but the beast had decided to flee. Odin grabbed his talisman-sword, sensing something was going to happen. The golden-hound bowed and hammered its head to the opposite sidewall where a stable for smaller-bred hounds was, the stone wall crumpled in debries, a thin layer of dust clouded the air, leaving a big hole in the wall. Not a half second later there was a loud clang heard from the other stable. The metal-cage door thrown so violently it embedded in the opposite wall of the stable next to the stone-stairs. Then a flash of blurry golden fled on them through the chamber entrance. It happened so fast that the surprised people only managed single squeaks or exclamations for the entire series of events. The hounds in the cages howled long and barked.
Deia stood wide-eyed at her spot with quivering lips, still looking at the corner where the golden-hound was before. Her Prussian was nolonger there, knowing the beast used its head and back to break away, he must be clinging to the beast's stomach. Worry filled the void-heart with monstrous force.
"...wait..." Deia breathed barely a whisper. "Wait...!" she exclaimed with more focused eyes, the violets gleamed with power.
The wolfhounds jumped in fear to take some distance from her darkness-circle formed under her feet, flashes of black lightning accompanied the black void. A big black dragonfish immerged from the circle and fled trough the cage bars with Deia on its back to where the golden-hound had gone.
The cage bars bended by the impact. People ducked to the ground and stared openmouthed at the ordeals, the beasts in the stables shrunk in fear and surprise.
Odin rose from above Lyea on the ground, he had instinctively coverred the small girl with his body when the black dragonfish dashed over them. The General then swiftly barking orders to pursue them.
"...Well... That's fast..!" Howard said unrepentantly.
"Uh-hmm..." Lyea nodded frequently "Well, let them have it till they're satisfied, then.." she patted her clothes to get rid of the dust (although it's white dust on white-clothes).
"Trust is mutually given, not something gained by conquest..!" she added.
There was a commotion sounds at the front of the entrance, then a baffled and anxious looking Lord in rumpled damp sleeping robe poked his head in. "What's going on in here..!"
"First I almost got trampled by a BIG dog on my way to this place, then Deia's dragonfish almost pound on me at the entryway ..!"
Lyea gigled at her father's antics. "THIS is not funny, Lyea...!" the Lord furrowed and pouted.
"I'm so sorry, Papa dear..." she cuckled "I'm glad you're not hurt..!"
"You're sorry and you're glad and you're laughing at me...!" the Lord's pout deepened. And Lyea let out a girly laugh.
"Milord..!" Odin ascended the stairs swiftly.
"Whaat...!" the Lord still pouted asked in annoyance.
"I'll take a few men and Charms to pursue Lady Deia and the boy..!" in full mision-mode, Odin ignored the Lord's antics.
"...Do as you see fit ..!" he said pouting foul-moodly "..Bring them back safely!" and added in level tone. Odin gave a small bow and leave with his men, followed by Howard who smirked at the Lord. The Lord narrowed his eyes and pouted at him, seizing the old Charms' eyes all the way. Outside, he heard the old man laughed outright.
"It's NOT funny..!" he sweatdropped and whined at his daughter. Lyea gigled again softly and use her robe sleeve to wipe some dirt off of her father's nose. Well, he'd fallen backward to dodge the BIG dog, and dove forward to dodge Deia's dragonfish...SINCE it happened to HIM, then it's NOT funny.
"...it's noooot...!" the Lord whined again sounding like an indignant 5yrs old boy.
"Yes, of course, Papa..!" Lyea smiled soothingly, embraced the Lord's right hand with both of her hands.
The golden-hound ran like wind! As if it had no weight, and its movements were so fluid it must be no ordinary animal... If it was an animal, at all!
Deia kept her eyes only at the beast in front of her, all the time worrying about her small wounded Prussian. What if the boy fall off in this kind of speed and heights..! The hound was taking aerial routes by the rooftops and towers. In a few seconds, they had come to the Castile's Spell where it planted surrounding the outerwalls. Deia gasped as the big hound jumped and passed through the invisible Spell with its forelegs and head first. There was a loud crashing sound and a bright explotion of white light when the beast's head touched the Spell, its triangular-horns glimmered and became transparant for a second. Sensing with her charms, Deia knew there was a hole in the Spell the beast had made for it to pass.
Great..! A magical-beast! She thought sarcastically, then increased her Harmony waves for her dragonfish to exit the Castile-Spell.
Outside, she saw the beast descended the mountaining-elevation of the Castile's outerwall to the city far down by flying. Deia widened her eyes in disbelief, it had wings grew from its back made of liquid-alloy... The liquid-metals!
The beast flew faster above the city like a comet.
"...Faster, Darken ..!" Deia spoke in telephatic Harmony to her summon-dragonfish, and let loose waves of stronger Harmony to feed the dragonfish to boost it faster.
Note: AAAAAAAHHHHH... Saru need a break!
The story is too slow, Saru think... Saru got a habbit of detailing everything... (yet the environmental descriptions are still in the blinds) Sorry! "