Hello! ^^ It has been a long, long time since I last updated, but now that my university exams are over, and I got my results, I thought I would celebrate with another chapter! Let me know what you think :) and thank you to those who have given me many encouraging words"
Flynn couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked at the dark haired figure sitting alone at one of the tables in the dining hall. Alone, presumably because Yuri was shooting murderous glares at anyone who even dared break a smile at him.
"Let me guess", Flynn said, sitting opposite him with his breakfast. "Was it Miss Mordio?"
"Leave it..." Yuri warned him. Flynn couldn't remember seeing Yuri in as foul as mood as this. Yuri stabbed angrily at a piece of food. "Don't even start."
"I like it," Flynn grinned, ducking as a fork flew his way. "It's more practical too."
Yuri's eye twitched as he tried to ignore Flynn. He went to run a hand through his now, short hair, before fisting it and frowning deeply.
"Just keep her out of my sight," Yuri growled. "If I see her she will be in no state to be helping you today."
"That might not be such a bad idea actually", Flynn said dejectedly. "She's not really a great help."
"Now, now Flynn. Violence isn't normally your thing. You normally leave that kind of thing to me."
"Violence seemingly is also Miss Mordio's thing too. I'm surprised you two don't get along better actually. It could be something for you two to bond over."
"Not when she uses it to burn my hair off." He ran his hand through his hair again and gave a frustrated grunt. "She is so moody recently. More moody than usual that is. So what brings you here? Thought you would be getting ready for tomorrow."
Flynn gave a weary smile, that very worn and well practised smile that Yuri still couldn't see through. "I thought I better eat. I'm not hungry, but I need to set an example for the other men. They need their strength for their work. "
"Eat or be eaten?" Yuri smiled.
"Precisely", Flynn grinned back, and he could feel the strange aura between them melt and ebb away. "Besides, can't let you eat it all fatty."
"What?" Yuri asked, fork poised midway to his mouth. "I think after my traumatic experience I should be allowed to console myself with some croquettes."
"You're eating it as if it will grow your hair back. Besides, what is wrong with it? I'm sure Lady Estellise will approve. It is far more practicable when practising your swordsmanship."
"My hair never stopped me before. And this is just...weird. Unnatural." Yuri shook his head, unaccustomed to this new light feeling of his head. "Guess I don't have to feel so guilty now."
"Guilty?" Flynn frowned.
"For making her work with you. She hates it. Its great! She gets so annoyed at soldiers. I was feeling a bit bad, but now she can lump it", Yuri faltered as he caught Flynn's deadpan stare, his smirk quickly turning into a nervous grimace. "I mean – she- she's a great help, but, this is – it is for her good, you know, working with you. "
"For her good?" Flynn quirked an eyebrow, waiting for the response. Yuri looked like he wanted to eat the words he had just said along with his croquettes. "How can being annoyed by my soldiers, getting in our way and distracting her from her work and undermining my authority as commandant be for her good?"
Yuri set his fork down carefully, trying to formulate a tactful answer.
"Er, well...that is...It gets her out into the fresh air. She gets to meet and greet new people. Hopefully she can make new friends and..." Yuri flinched under then frosty stare Flynn was shooting his direction. His explanation was obviously not enough to convince the observant knight. "Aww heck Flynn. It wasn't my idea...not completely anyway."
"What wasn't completely your idea?" Flynn asked, eyes narrowing as Yuri averted his gaze.
"Maybe Estelle thought it would be nice for... for you and ...well, for you two to hang out and..."
"Spill it Yuri."
"She thought you two would be a nice couple. Oh look at the time..." Yuri stood suddenly, looking behind Flynn towards an imaginary clock. "I better see How Estelle's day went! She always gets annoyed if I don't see her!"
"Hold it!"
"Sorry, no can do Flynn! The princess waits!" Yuri called back to his, waving his hand nonchalantly to bid him farewell, before speedily exiting the room.
"Yuri Lowell!" Flynn bellowed, but all he could hear apart from the echo of his voice was the very fast pace of Yuri's footsteps before they skidded around a corner and towards safety.
Flynn was fairly certain his face has turned red. He didn't really like people meddling in his affairs, let alone his romantic affairs. Who said he wanted romantic affairs anyway? He was a busy man! A busy man with an army of busy soldiers who had an entire city and its people to protect! There was no room for romantic affairs not when he had military and leadership affairs vying for his time. Plus he had to deal with the mess this whole grand romantic scheme was making.
Flynn inwardly groaned as he thought of what Rita would do if she caught wind of this. Hopefully she wouldn't, or he would personally make sure that Yuri was left entirely bald.
Rita had been up for most of the night when she finally figured out how to set her grand scheme into motion. It was a little rough around the edges, but it would work, and it would get her out of blondie babysitting duty until the mana grid was up. It might even help improve the mana grid's efficiency, but that was research for another day. When she crept out of her study in the castle, it had been dark for hours, and the guards did not bat an eyelid at her presence. They knew better than to interrupt her, and wisely chose to trust her and let her go about her business, lest they wanted to eat her magic.
She made her way out of the castle and stood outside surveying the town lights sprawled out in circular layers in front of her. She wondered where the best place to put her new contraption would be. After several minutes, and odd looks from the surrounding guards, she finally decided that the best place would be just outside the lower quarter, near the house that Estelle had given Rita when she refused to live in the upper quarter. It would make sense to put it there, that way she could monitor it easily to spot any flaws in the mechanics or magic. Besides, she hadn't been to her house for a few days because of this Blondie trouble, and it would be nice to get out of the stuffy castle.
She made her way slowly down the steps, trying not to jostle the machine that rested in the satchel slung over her shoulders. Zaphias was so peaceful at night, and she was reminded of her old home town of Aspio. Yet, strangely, she found that she didn't miss it at all. She may have been keeping busy researching, but it had been lonely. She never spoke to anyone, and no one spoke to her, until her house was gate-crashed by a princess, a guild failure and a long haired yob. And she couldn't have asked for a better awakening. As much as she moaned about the constant noise, constant travelling, constant old man-ness, she found herself feeling quite content with the motley bunch of people that were her friends. Perhaps not when the old man kidnapped Estelle, maybe then he wasn't her best friend then (or to put in other words: he was number 1 target to have his face punched in at that time).
As she walked by the inn below Yuri's room, she found that she liked the noise of the town people having a laugh and relaxing. The few people outside raised their drinks to her as she passed them, and she gave them a sarcastic response to which they laughed heartily. She shook her head and carried on, failing to notice the lone figure in the shadow of the inn, until he stumbled out and into the middle of her path.
"What yerrr god there?" he slurred, and she recognised the man as one of the particularly thickest of the Blondie's soldiers. An eyeing the belly on him, probably one the most unfit of the soldiers.
"I've got a fist and spell with your name on it if you don't move", she replied carrying on as if he wasn't there.
The guy followed her, joined by another goon from Blondie's so-called army.
"Shhhez not schtelling me whass shez got!" The belly soldier whined to the second soldier, who looked like he was not a jolly drunk like Mr. Belly.
"Oh really eh? What you up to missy? Off to your comfy little place after giving us hard working men a tough time eh?"
Rita groaned. She really did not need two drunken loafers following her. She wanted some relative peace to set up the machine. It was for their benefit after all.
"Look, it's not my fault you couldn't manage one little spell. Besides, it doesn't matter now anyway."
"Naw, naw, naw- Ave been pratishing!" The belly soldier called after her. "En I Rody?"
The soldier named Rody threw his bottle to the side and carried on following Rita. "That's right miss fireball. We've been working on that sodding spell all day. Want to see?"
"Great, great..." Rita said wearily. "Use it tomorrow or something. I'm busy, get lost."
Belly soldier laughed, stumbled sideways before straightening himself up again. "Aww, but ish relly, relly good."
"Yeah miss mage, forget this stupid thing", and with those words Rody hurried forward and snatched the satchel sitting on Rita's soldiers from behind her, holding it too high for her to reach. "You don't need this – we can use it for the demonstration, right? Right Trevin?
Trevin, the belly soldier, nodded enthusiastically. "Yeh, yeh, we can use tha' for da spell!"
Rita felt her blood boil as she saw Rody slung the satchel unceremoniously over his shoulder, causing the contents to make a muffled snapping noise. It was taking every ounce of her self control not to torch the idiots. Actually, torching seemed too boring for them- a meteor shower seemed much more fun right now. But either option would destroy her machine, and result in another day or so working with similar imbeciles such as Trevin and Rody.
"Just...just give it back already, okay? Otherwise-"
"Ov-wise what?" Trevin sneered.
"Otherwise she'll run off crying...because that is what little girls do."
Rita felt her eye twitching, and her fingers flexed almost instinctively, but she managed to quell her anger enough before a nasty spell or two came tumbling from her little girl mouth.
"You idiots! That bag is not a toy and if you break even one little thing I'm gonna make sure you two are permanently wedged under a meteor!"
"Not if you can't reach us!" Rody yelled, cheering as he ran off towards the boundary, Trevin woozily lumbering after his friend.
"IDIOTS!" Rita spat, chasing after them.
She managed to keep up with them without tripping over the cobbles, or losing sight of them in the increasing darkness. Their deranged laughter was driving her mad, and she was just about to resort to magic when they stopped, right outside her house. Even though there was only a single dim street light further down the road, she could see the delirious grin on their faces, and it hurt so much not to just up and punch them right there.
"I think its show and tell time!" Rody wooped before dumping the satchel onto the ground. Trevin clapped and cheered as Rody gave an exaggerated bow to an imaginary audience.
"Leave it alone you dung-heads!" Rita screeched, stomping towards them, fists shaking with restraint. "You've broken it already- you happy? That was a ticket for you and all your soldier buddies to go back to whatever dumb stuff you do, but now you're gonna have to work with me. Happy?"
"Well then...if that's the case, let me show you what I've been practising", Rody replied calmly. He approached Rita and knelt down to her level, leering directly into her face. "Let's see how flammable this piece of junk is."
Her anger died suddenly, possibly because of the dread that had now sent her heart into her throat. Rita yelled, leaping forward and trying to grab his shirt. But her fingertips skimmed the cotton fabric, and before she could do anything, Rody had leapt back, and with uncanny precision repeated the incantation she had been yelling at them this morning.
A flash of burning white. The result was instantaneous. What had been the dim light cast by the street light and the stars turned into blinding, furious heat and light, immediately engulfing the satchel and blasting Rody, Trevin and Rita off their feet and into the brick wall of a nearby house. Rita felt the wind leave her lungs and she gasped, trying to fill her flattened lungs again, but all she got was large sickening mouthfuls of smog. She tasted the toxic scent of the mana in her machine burning, and wheezed, stumbling forward onto her knees, doubled over.
She opened her eyes and tried to stand, her mind racing. Through the haze and the swaying of the world thanks to the large cut on her head, she could just about see that the mana in the machine was feeding the fire Rody had started, working to increase the power and duration of the incantation. His spell may have been weak, but her machine wasn't, and it had been designed to take one spell and copy it, aim and fire at monsters. But instead it was now taking Rody's spell, multiplying it and spitting them out indiscriminately, hurling fireballs into the sky and into the surround buildings. What had been a small fire was now a blazing superstructure of fire which was growing by the second. What had meant to protect the town was now turning it into a raging inferno.
Rita's eyes widened with panic and she quickly muttered the complex incantation for tidal waves of water to appear. It worked, but the tidal wave disappeared into a wall of steam when it hit the fire. Whirling round she yelled the incantation again, and again, small chunks of the fire disappearing into smoke. But the blaze continued, and she could see it racing towards the rest of the lower quarter and towards the castle. Screams could already be heard and the sense of panic she could feel in the pit of her stomach increased tenfold.
"AAAAAAArgh!" she screamed, pouring as much water as she could summon over the fire, trying to stem the fire.
She didn't know what to do- she needed to stop it from spreading any further. She turned to the now charred satchel which was still spitting sparks. She drenched it with a spell, and it sputtered but carried on, and it wasn't until she slashed it with a well aimed spell did the machine fizzle out and to leave a small smouldering pile at her feet. But the fire surrounding her was still growing. She looked at the motionless figures of Rody and Trevin lying at the foot of the wall, feeling a strange twinge of guilt that she couldn't help them and a surge of anger that they were the reason for this mess.
"Rita!"
She looked up to see Flynn followed closely by Yuri and some soldiers, racing towards her.
"What happened?" Yuri asked, staring at the scene surrounding them with awe and confusion.
"Just help me put it out!" Rita screamed, not stopping her spellwork for one second. "Get help!"
"The fountain...use the fountain!" Flynn yelled in Yuri's ear, trying not to be drowned out by the roar of the fire. "Get everyone to fend it off using the water from the fountain!"
Yuri ran back through the blaze without hesitation, disappearing in the blackening smoke. Flynn looked around, trying to stamp out the fires surrounding him, but with little effect. He turned to Rita, dying to ask how it happened, but he could see that she was struggling with the task at hand.
"I hope you have a plan mage-" he said to her, stamping out the fires close to him.
She briefly glanced at him, lacking an answer for once. She looked about her fearfully, noting the horrible proximity of the fire to the inn above them. This was all too much, she couldn't put this out with her spells alone, and buckets of water might not stop the fire until it had caused too much damage, hurt too many people. She needed more of her, several of her- that was the only way she prevent it from travelling any further into the city...
Then it dawned on her. She had a spell for this – one she hadn't tried on herself admittedly, but one that she knew worked on inanimate objects. Even if it was only for a short while, that was all she needed – her doppelganger for a little while. But the book with the incantation was in her house, which was now the biggest fire surrounding them.
"Flynn! Help Yuri!" She commanded, darting past him towards the inferno that was her home. She tried to ignore the small explosions as she ran towards it, trying to ignore the sinking feeling of months of work burning away into nothing. She thought she heard Flynn yell after her, but she couldn't be sure because the roar of the fire in her ears as she charged into the house was deafening, drowning out the desperate fear pounding throughout her body.
All she could see in her modest little house was thick, blinding smoke, swirling in nauseating clouds. She tore her belt off and wrapped it around her face several times in an attempt to stop the tightening of her throat and the cough that threatened to overwhelm her. She doubled up, feeling the ground swirl and shake beneath her feet, but she knew it was the smoke, and she stumbled blindly, her memory the only aid to finding the bookshelf that she knew had the book with the incantation. But memory wasn't useful when the house was disintegrating rapidly, large wooden door frames and beams buckling and snapping in the extreme heat. A large piece of her kitchen door suddenly crumbled, sending sparks and ash showering over her, creating small burns over her arms and legs. Rita muttered a spell, drenching herself with her own water, but all it did was cause a fog of steam, hindering her sight even more. The smoke was so bad, that her belt was not helping her breathe in the slightest, and she found herself crawling on the flawing, blindly reaching out and feeling her way to the staircase.
Her lungs were screaming at her, shrivelling at the invasion of smoke in her body. The flames that licked her hands as she found the bottom of her stairs caused her to yell in pain, but she refused to let the pain or her lack of sight stop her. The city needed that book, and a few burns would be a small price to pay to get that book. Choosing to ignore the sore burns, her screaming lungs and the tears forming at the corners of her eyes, she managed to stagger up the first few stairs. But the smoke was making her woozy, and sleepy, clogging her senses and her consciousness, and she found herself clutching to the banister to steady herself.
But it was with a sickening crack that she found it collapsing under her weight, weakened by the flames, and she leapt back heavily, sending her foot through the stairs. The last thing she could remember was the flames shrinking in her vision as she fell through the fragile stairs, and the sound her body as it landed below in the basement with a hideous thud.