A/N: Nomnom~!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything~
Chapter 14: Mysterious Happenings
Arme woke up the next morning lazily, not bothering to do so much as open her eyes as she regained conciousness. Her stomach was hurting much more than it had the previous day, though even if asked there was no way she would admit it. After all, they were supposed to be leaving the Elven forest that day... The magician had almost gone back to sleep when she heard the rustle of cloth, and feet hastily coming towards her bed. Her eyes had almost opened when the footsteps stopped, a hushed whisper heard.
"Amy! What are you doing?"
"I'm waking her up, silly~!" There was no mistaking those voices; Amy and Lass.
"Don't! She still needs as much sleep as she can get right now."
"I agree, but we need to get going! As it is, we're going to have to spend around a month at the abandoned castle!"
"We'll get going. I don't need to wake her up to pick her up."
"Ahh~! I get it~" It was at this point that Arme decided to let her conciousness be known, sitting up on the bed to rub her eyes. When she opened them she saw the two predicted people, Lass standing behind the muse and holding the collar of her shirt in a measure to keep her away from the thought-to-be-sleeping magician.
"Nhh... Good morning..." She mumbled, looking at the pair. Lass blinked, letting go of Amy.
"Hm? Sorry, did we wake you up?" Arme shook her head slowly, still feeling rather tired. Her hand rested on her stomach in a position that she hoped to be subtle; she knew Lass wouldn't be too happy to find out it was hurting. With a light stretch she swung her legs off the bed, somewhat reluctant to stand up due to the pain in her abdomen.
"I woke up a couple minutes ago. What time is it...?" Amy shrugged.
"Early. Wanted to let you sleep, but..." As Lass spoke he sent a glare at the dancer, quite obviously not believing that Arme had been awake before their disturbance. Amy sent him an apologetic look before turning back to the magician, smiling.
"Well, you can sleep while we travel, kay~?" She exclaimed, reaching forward to pull Arme off the bed. Before the shorter girl could resist she was yanked up a bit faster than her stomach could take, nearly sending her to the floor. She winced and forced a smile onto her face for the girl, who seemed extremely concerned.
"Ahh! Arme! I'm so sorry!" She gasped, hurriedly sitting the magician back in the bed. Lass was next to Arme in a second, looking at her seriously.
"Are you alright?" The magician nodded, taking a moment to look at the vibrant blue eyes staring back at her. She had always been told her eyes were pretty, but surely they weren't that sparkly? She was unable to hide her laughter at the thought of actually telling Lass that, and she recieved a confused glance. Remembering the question, Arme nodded.
"I'm fine, Lass. You don't need to worry!" He tilted his head to the side in the slightest, still looking at her intently.
"You're sure...? If you need some rest, we can postpone leaving." He said quietly. Arme actually did consider the offer for a second, then shook her head. Admitting that she wanted to stay would be admitting that she was in a fair ammount of pain. And by the sound of Amy's speech earlier, they needed to get moving pretty quickly... She would have enough time to rest at the castle.
"I'm fine, Lass." She repeated, watching his expression carefully. The assassin bit his lip lightly, observing her for a few more seconds and then sighing.
"Alright, then. Your stuff is already packed, so we should get going..." He leaned forward almost unconciously, and Arme blinked as he pressed his lips to her forehead.
"Aww!" Lass shot back as though electrocuted when he heard Amy's voice, a blush painfully evident on his pale skin. His eyes widened as he looked back at Arme, the magician staring back with a small smile.
"I-ah...N-no-! Sorry!" He stuttered, holding his hands out infront of him. Both girls in the room laughed lightly at the assassin's unusually flustered demeanor, Arme attempting to push herself up and off the bed.
"I don't mind!" She commented, standing up wobbily. His concern outweighing his embarrasment, Lass reached out with an arm to steady her.
"So, let's get going?" He asked, still quite red. Holding onto the offered arm heavily, Arme shook her head.
"I don't really want to travel in my pajamas..." She commented. Lass looked at her for a second, and then down at her apparel.
"Oh! Are you sure you'll be fine to change on your own, though? Do you need help?" He asked. The magician blushed heavily and shook her head, only then allowing the white haired boy to realize the implications of his words.
"Not me! I-I meant Amy! I-I didn't..." He let the sentence out shakily, the flush on his face intensifying. It was at this point that Amy came over, holding Arme's other arm to support her.
"I think we got it~ Don't worry about it, you can go outside and tell everyone Arme's up and getting ready~!" Lass nodded at the instructions, seeming grateful for an opprotunity to leave the room. He sent Arme one last glance before heading out the door, the two girls watching. Amy sighed, a grin on her face.
"You know, some days he's the smartest guy I've ever met. He doesn't think through his words very well when he's nervous." Amy commented vaguely, turning to Arme.
"So, do you actually need help?" Arme thought for a second, and shook her head.
"I should be fine... I think." She stated uncertainly. Amy giggled, then looked back at her.
"Alright~! I'll wait in the bathroom, cuz if I go outside without you Lass'll get worried." She explained, giving a small wave as she headed over to the small bathroom. Arme sat back down on the bed for a second, sighing before looking around for her bag. It was a little ways away on the desk, causing the magician to frown. She almost called Amy in for help, but instead stood up with determination. It was only a few feet away... In somewhat a repeat of what she had done the first time she had woken up after she was bitten, Arme took as large a step as she could and stumbled forward the rest of the distance, grabbing onto the ledge of the desk before she could fall. Her stomach protested to the action, causing Arme to bite her lip. She pulled her clothes out of the bag as quickly as she could, using the desk as support while she changed. It wasn't the most graceful act, but she certainly felt much less helpless than she would have if she had needed assistance. Finally struggling into the purple outfit, Arme gave a sigh.
"Amy, I'm done!" The mentioned pink haired girl entered the room quickly, looking at the magician.
"Let's go, then~?" Arme nodded, allowing herself to be lightly supported by the dancer. They made their way out of the small, dimly lit room the moment after, Arme looking around. Most of the other chasers had gathered around the entrance as they waited for the purple haired girl to exit. Lass was predictably the closest, relieving Amy of carrying Arme the moment they were close enough. He was more cautious than usual picking her up, and he grabbed her bag from her. Arme almost protested as it was tossed to Jin, but the fighter didn't seem to mind. He was one of the few that didn't carry a bag of his own, Amy's most likely holding more than enough for both of them. Instead, the magician turned her attention to their surroundings. It was eerily dark, and Arme found it quite a bit less plesant than when outside the village. The village itself contained several less of the glowing mushrooms than the forest, depriving it of the glow that made it almost mystical. It was most likely better for sleeping to, though... With a sigh she rested her chin on the assassin's shoulder, taking a glance at all the others. Her eyes lingered on Ryan for a moment, and she wondered what exactly had happened the previous day after she had gone unconcious. Was he any better now...? Most likely not, jugding by his distance from the rest of the group. He was almost glaring at her, though even through the dimly lit forest she could see that his eyes didn't hold malace. That was good...
"Okay, guys! It'll take two days to get to the castle, and from there I'll go over what we need to do again. There aren't any villages in between here and there, so we'll be camping out!" This elicited both cheers and sighs from the group, Arme one of the less joyful people. She allowed her eyes to close as the group began walking, the slight sway of Lass' steps easily luring her into the sleep she had been in moments ago.
A large jolt awoke Arme, her eyes opening slowly, and then flying open the rest of the way. She stared in shock at the scene infront of her, her first instinct to get on solid ground. They seemed to be in the middle of a battle, several enemies with purple cloaks surrounding them. Large orcs with hammers were staggered inbetween the tall purple monsters, a strangely grey colour. It was nowhere near the forest, and they now seemed to be in the middle of a large open field. Bushes were scattered across the dull grass, though there were few.
"What's going on?" She demanded as Lass managed to maneuver them out of the ever closing circle. Letting her off his back, the assassin still held her by the waist as he backed away from the monsters, all seeming to have turned to look at them. Her feet were a few inches off the ground, giving her no opprotunities to move as she looked at Lass, taking in the confused expression on his face.
"I'm not entirely certain right now. Damn it..." He unexpectedly leapt back to avoid a bolt of thunder coming from the staffs of one of the purple cloaked monsters, Arme grabbing onto his shirt tightly.
"Elesis, What the hell is going on here?" He yelled loudly, giving Arme a second to try to figure out where the mentioned redhead was on the battle field. She finally spotted the knight when she yelled out a response.
"I don't know, Lass! We'll figure it out when our lives aren't in danger, alright?" Arme nodded in agreement with the statement, pushing away from Lass.
"Put me down!" The thief looked at her like she was crazy, holding on tighter.
"Arme, they're all after you! There's no way you can dodge all their attacks, do you know how dangerous-?"
"The faster we get rid of them, the safer it'll be! I can keep myself protected with a saver and teleport, I'll be fine!" Lass looked down at her for a second, and then back toward the hordes of enemies.
"Tch..." He took another leap back, pulling her as far away from the enemies as he could before setting her down. When he did he stared at her seriously, a frown on his face.
"Be careful, Arme." The hand he had still been holding her by let go reluctantly after giving her back her staff (she wasn't certain of when he had taken posession of it, though she supposed it didn't matter), and one last glance was sent in her direction before he went to join the others. Arme wasted no time in casting a saver around her, grateful her legs were supporting her properly; she had been partially worried she would collapse the moment Lass set her down. The pain in her stomach had dulled, hardly bothering her as she surveyed the battle scene. Ronan and Elesis seemed to be holding up fine against the odd monsters, Ronan's gon attempting to help as it often did. Slightly further away were Amy and... Her eyes widened. Where's Jin? Looking through all the monsters, she hardly had time to see the red haired fighter caught and held in the line of a thunderbolt. Gasping, Arme did the first thing she could think of; teleporting inbetween the monster and her comrade. Eyes clenching shut, she noticed with relief that she hadn't been shocked. When her amethyst eyes opened she could see the lightning twisting around the sheild, fading off into nothing. Soon the flow stopped completely, a kick from the slightly bruised fighter knocking the weapon out of the dark magician's hands.
"Thanks." Arme nodded, holding onto her staff tightly and praying Lass hadn't seen her stunt. She had been lucky enough that the saver had taken the blow, but... Thinking again, Arme quickly set another layer of defense through her saver before, casting a hasty cure on Jin.
"Arme, watch out!" The magician followed a command from Ronan without thinking, teleporting several feet away before turning back to the spot she had been standing. She shuddered slightly at the sight; most of the monsters had been swarmed behind her. A hammer was embedded a few feet away from the spot she had previously been standing, .
"Dragon Arc!" The horde appeared to be good for something, as with them all in one spot it was increasingly simple for the large dragon who flew in from seemingly no where to roast them all with one large, consuming flame. If that wasn't enough to destroy the enemies (which it wasn't, judging by the several burned ones left standing), Amy dropping a piano on the remainder certainly was. By the time the instrument had faded away there were only a few left, quite easily decapitated by the female swordsman and Lass as they came to join the gathering group. Most eyes were on Elesis, confusion evident on the faces of nearly every chaser.
"What just happened?" Arme was the one to begin the conversation, quite easily the most confused in the group. Elesis glanced at the magician out of the corner of her eye, appearing frustrated. Finally Ronan responded, looking just as frustrated as the knight.
"Those were dark magicians and Orc Zombie Warriors... But they aren't supposed to be here- anywhere near here, in fact! The Forsaken Barrows are still a five day's travel away!" Sighing, the knight looked over at Elesis, "Do you have any ideas?" The redhead shook her head, looking at all the others. Hesitantly, Jin raised his hand.
"Haven't monsters been acting up for about a month? Maybe they just went to attack a village or something and got lost?" Elesis bit her lip, hand on her chin.
"I suppose so, but... That doesn't sound right to me." The knight let out another sigh, looking at the others again, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it right now! Let's just get moving, It might make more sense when we get to the castle... Until then, everyone keep an eye out! We don't need something like this to catch us off guard again!" Arme nodded, turning to look for Jin. She found him standing next to Amy and made her way over, waving to the pair.
"Can I have my book from my bag, Jin? I don't think I'm going to be getting much sleep with this stuff going on." The fighter nodded, handing her the entire bag to allow her to rifle through it. The book was surfaced in a short period of time, Arme handing her bag back to Jin with an apologetic look and turning back to where she knew Lass was standing. She waved the book in the air to show him as she approached, a smile stealing onto her face as she remembered that she had nearly lost it. The assassin simply nodded, crouching down to allow her to easily get onto his back. The magician's joy didn't recede at all, even as the pain in her stomach was beginning to intensify. It was something she had begun to expect over the previous day, realizing it would most likely happen until the wound was fully healed. She skimmed through the pages quickly, taking the time to make sure all of the english writing was still there. It was, as expected, yet it still caused her to breath a sigh of relief. She finally opened to the page she could last remember reading, checking over the last couple of sentences before continuing on. The group had began moving at a fast pace, everyone clearly eager to get where they needed to go. The silence that hung through the air seemed different than it normally was, confusion and worry voiced in the void of noise.
The group had been travelling for what Arme was certain were hours before Elesis finally stopped them for the purpose of lunch. Arme was personally grateful; she hadn't eaten breakfast, and the fact that they had been fighting off and on since the first battle wasn't helping. The others seemed equally or more so exhausted, mainly due to the fact that they had also been running. Another though came to her, and she nearly jumped off the thief's back. He looked back at her curiously, seemingly unfazed by all of the running. But... He was carring another person as well, and Arme was certain it must have been exhausting. The magician felt more than slightly guilty at that point, looking at Lass with worry. Turning her head back to Elesis, she saw the knight peering back at her.
"I'm not sure what all there is to cook around here... Ronan, what kind of foods do we have avaliable?" The spell knight thought for a second and then shrugged.
"Aside from eating those dark magicians we killed a while back," He paused here, shuddering, "I'm not certain. We can always find something, though; travelling by dragon is pretty fast." He looked over to Elesis, who nodded.
"Hmm... Anyone feel like going on a dragon ride today?" She asked. Arme almost raised her hand, then stopped, thinking about the most probable reactions (and concequences, should she actually be allowed on). Amy's hand was the next to shoot up in the air, though it was quite quickly pulled down by Jin's own. Remembering the incident from the Gorge of Oath, Arme chuckled. Amy would be about as haphazard as her on a dragon... The pink haired girl pouted, holding Jin's hand back tightly. Blushing, the fighter looked away. Arme probably would have continued watching the couple if Elesis hadn't spoken up again, her voice loudly demanding the attention of the other members.
"Alright, then. Since no one else wants to go, or is too much of a hazard to themselves to go, Ronan and I will get the food. Arme, can you start a fire while we're gone? And Lass, since your the fastest I need you to go check ahead. We don't want to be caught unaware... If there are any enemies just come back straight away, no fighting. Let's see... Ryan, I'd like you to collect some dead branches off the bushes nearby for Arme to burn. Jin..." She turned to look at the fighter and caught sight of Amy, who was now spinning around in a circle and dragging Jin with her, "Never mind." Walking over to where Ronan was, Elesis waited patiently for the knight to call back his dragon. The rest of the group watched until the pair were gone, Ryan the first to depart after the dragon had flown away. Arme turned to watch the druid, her attentions on the orange haired boy until she just barely saw Lass moving from the corner of her eye. Before he could move completely out of her sites Arme twirled around, hands grabbing onto his arm. The assassin looked back at her, eyebrows raised.
"Hm?" Arme bit her lip, eyes to the ground.
"Lass... Are you sure you're alright to go? I mean... You've been carrying me for hours and running and fighting! That has to be tiring... If you stay here, I can go check ahead! You should rest for a little bit." She explained quietly, concern lacing her voice.
"You're worried?" Arme blushed at the statement, keeping her eyes to the ground when he chuckled lightly, "Ah. Arme, don't worry about it. You're far too light for it to actually bother me to carry you... To be honest, I forget I'm carrying you most of the time." There was a slight smirk adorning his face when she dared to look up, and he ruffled her hair softly, "Thanks for the concern, though." Pulling his arm out of her grasp, the assassin turned around.
"I'll be back in a little while." Arme watched quietly, her cheeks still red, "Be careful!" This earned another laugh from the silver haired boy.
"I should be telling you that!" With that he was gone, leaving only Arme, Amy and Jin in the area. Looking over at them, Arme noted with shock the scimitar on the ground. Well he was told not to fight, and I guess travelling would be faster without it... Deciding not to worry over it, she turned to look at where Jin and Amy were playfully bantering. Catching the mage's gaze, Amy waved her over.
"Arme, get over here!" The short girl complied, walking over to find out what was going on.
"It couldn't be that dangerous for me to be on a dragon, right?" She asked, looking between Arme and Jin. The purple haired girl almost laughed at this, looking back at the dancer.
"I think she's on my side, Amy." Jin said, watching Arme with amusement. The pink haired girl huffed, yet there was still a smile on her lips, "Fine~ What should we do for now?" Arme shrugged, pulling her staff out of her bag on the ground to summon a few fireballs, a habit she had gotten into over the last few weeks. It was a waste of her mana, though it didn't really take out enough to matter. The trio watched the flames spiral and twist in the nearly non-existant breeze for a while, the magician allowing them to disperse when they ceased amusing her. Her head turned in the direction Lass had departed, watching quietly.
"Lass won't be back for a while~" Amy called in a sing-song voice, grinning widely. Arme flushed ever so slightly, hitting her over the head with her staff.
"I wasn't looking for him!" She retorted, turning her gaze back, "I was wondering how far away the castle we were going to was!" Jin looked over to follow her gaze. There was only grass for a long way, small shrubs covering the edge of the horizon.
"It's still a day and a half's journey, so it's only normal that you wouldn't see it yet. When you see it, you'll know... They say it was the old castle of Serdin before Gaikoz Castle, the Marsh of Oblivion and the Forsaken Barrows were infected with evil. I don't think that's true, but... " Jin shrugged, "You never know." Amy, rubbing her head where Arme had hit it, nodded. Arme was about to comment when a low rumble caught her attention. Attention focused back on the horizon, she waited anxiously. Amy and Jin seemed to have heard it too, they had both gone silent. Her hand tightened around the handle of her staff as a figure appeared, and she was nearly ready to stone curse whatever it was when she realized quite suddenly that it was Lass. The white haired assassin was approaching the group rapidly, closing the space between them in less than a minute. Eyes wide, Arme watched as the thief finally got to them.
"Lass, what's going on?" She asked, the rumbling growing louder. He didn't respond immedeately, instead going for his scimitar. When the blade was firmly in his grip, he turned to the others, looking around.
"Where's Ryan?" He demanded quickly, watching the dancer and fighter as he stood ever so slightly infront of Arme, in between her and the horizon.
"He's not back yet, but-"
"Then go get him, Amy! He shouldn't be far!" The pink haired girl nodded, the tone in Lass voice clearly indicating that there was no time for questions. Knowing she most likely wouldn't be getting any answers at that point, Arme began charging. It was the best course of action she could think of, seeing as the rumbling was getting louder and louder. Soon a large group of dark blotches were in sight, still too far away to properly make out, yet not far enough to be completely hidden.
"..." At this point Lass turned to Jin, who was watching confusedly.
"Get ready to fight, I'll explain what's going on when Amy and Ryan get back. Elesis and Ronan can't be expected back for about half an hour... We'll just have to hold out until then." Arme's face paled, Lass' voice completely serious as he handed out instructions. When he recieved a nod from Jin he finally turned back to Arme, a frown adorning his face. He glanced back to the line of whatever was approaching and then returned to looking at her, apparently not quite certain of what to say. He hesitated, finally reaching out to grab her arm and drag her further away from the enemies.
"Arme, please listen to me here. This battle is going to be dangerous. Stay as far away from the enemies as you can, and keep yourself protected." Arme nodded quietly, feeling her arm released when Lass deemed her far enough away.
"I got Ryan!" Amy's voice drew the attention of all the people standing around, and they turned to see the muse and Ryan running back over. Lass motioned them over, glaring at no one in particular.
"All right then, I'm going to be brief about this. From just what I've seen, It looks like there are enough dark magicians, skeletons, pumpkins and orc zombie warriors for them to have emptied out the entirety of the forsaken barrows. There are also some of the harpies from the Marsh, and I'm pretty sure there are a few of the swamp slime." Arme's eyes widened at the ammount, but Ryan scoffed.
"Is that all you're worried about, Lass? We fought a much larger horde of enemies when we were at the Kastulle's Ruins. If that's all-"
"It's not." Lass hissed, looking again at the horizon, "They have three Lich with them, and we're down three members from that point! They're moving at an extremely fast speed as well, considering what they are." At this there was a loud gasp from all the members of the group, Arme the only one confused.
"T-Three? Lass, are you-"
"Yes, I'm sure. Without Elesis and Ronan here, we're going to have one hell of a time trying to fight all three of them at once... Any plans?" He questioned. There was silence, everyone looking anxiously at the horde of approaching monsters. Ryan was the first one to make a move, stepping towards the large group.
"I say we go up to meet them, and try to keep them as far back as possible. We don't want them reaching the forest. If we can hold out until Elesis and Ronan get here it'll be a lot easier. We should also gang the Liches one by one... It's the best way I can think of to get them down." Lass nodded, preparing his scimitar.
"Let's go, then!" Arme watched as the group charged ahead, knowing better than to think the order was for her as well. Lich... Arme set her thoughts on trying to find a monster different than what she had seen before, wishing she had asked Lass what a Lich was before he had left. She had never encountered a slime before either, but that seemed rather self-explanitory... The distance from which they were fighting made it difficult to identify much of anything, save the harpies that spiralled about in the air, circling the battle like vultures. She was charged nearly full, and was beginning to wonder if her meteor would even work from that distance. I could get closer, but... She quickly shook the thought away, remembering Lass' previous words. It wasn't so much the request itself, just... She had been easily able to hear the worry behind them. With a sigh she cast a saver around herself, then re-cast it to give the defense extra strength. Casting as many fire balls as she could at a given time, Arme sent them towards the horde of harpies. If there was a repeat of the Elven Forest battle... The harpies here seemed much more aware, most able to dodge the small balls of flame, those hit able to extinguish the fire before it could catch to the rest of their feathers.
The magician had to laugh quietly when she saw a piano appear, crashing down into the horde. If she watched closely she was able to identify the attacks of several chasers, mainly centering around the same enemy. She was still unable to identify it, but... The group was getting steadily closer. Every few seconds she was able to see the enemies with more clarity, moving closer and closer to her. She needed a few more minutes to be ready for a meteor; it seemed that was all she would be given. When they came within eyesight many of the zombie orcs began running, and Arme was able to see the true volume of their problem. She had been previously relating the ammount of enemies to the strength of the rumbling ground; she was only now beginning to realize over half of the enemies were floating or flying. Twirling her wand and holding it up, Arme prayed she would hit enough to lower the number of enemies.
"Meteor!" This cry earned the attention of all the others on the battlefield that weren't previously focused on her, including the interest of a large, ominous creature. With a white mask over it's face and a large brown cloak covering it's entire body, the enemy with a large staff reminded Arme immediately of one of the smaller dark magicians. She quickly counted the total number of them as meteors began raining down, totaling up to three. So that's a Lich, then... Teleporting further back to avoid the closest of the orcs, Arme watched the enemies. The only of them that seemed to be affected by the meteors at all were the harpies, most screeching loudly as the firey rocks smashed into their wings and bodies. several fell down onto the ground monsters though they were mostly ignored, save the harpies that tried to regain their balance by clawing into the orcs. This resulted in a small battle, though it ended quickly with the orcs as the victors.
Summoning more fire balls, Arme attempted to send them towards the large Lich that the other chasers seemed to be gathering towards, though they didn't do much. After two lit the edges of the robe on fire the rest were destroyed by a swing of the staff, the edges of the cloak icing over to prevent the flames from going further. The aura surrounding the Lich seemed palpable, causing Arme to shiver. Even outnumbered the monster seemed to have no problem attacking, the multiple nicks and cuts in the staff and cloak not seeming to deter him in the least. It's eyes were now locked on Arme, paying no heed to the other people around it. The purple magician took a step back as the monster began hovering towards her, lowering it's staff. A last second memory was the only thing that saved Arme from the electrocution that followed, the thought of the magician that had attacked Jin coming to her and reminding her of the long-distance capabilities of the monster. She teleported away just in time, looking with frustration at the enemies that were beginning to surround her.
"Reverse Gravity!" The monsters in the circle around her were lifted quickly into the air, though before they could fall Arme twisted her staff around, aiming it upwards and at them.
"Stone Curse!" The petite magician grinned as the enemies were encased in stone, dropping like deadweights to the ground. Their entire bodies shattered as they crashed down, forcing Arme to cover her eyes to prevent getting shards of the rock in them. She opened them again just in time to see Amy's violin being used to hit a hammer out of the way before it smacked straight into her face, the musician looking at her worriedly.
"Never shut your eyes like that in battle, Arme!" She yelled before rushing off again, headed towards the Lich they were still trying to get down. Arme gasped as it took a swing with it's staff, hitting Lass and sending him flying a few hastily teleported over to where the silver haired boy had landed, a hand hovering over his stomach as she applied a light heal. He looked up at her for a second, and his eyes widened. She hardly had time to think as he twisted, somehow managing to grab her and push them both out of the way of a rapidly approaching hammer. Arme instinctively grabbed onto his arm, teleporting them to a safer area on the battlefield. Her instincts had been right; there were several hammers following the first.
"Thanks!" She called after she was released by the assassin, recieving a nod as he returned to the battle. Biting her lip, Arme looked at the battle. The enemies she had taken out with reverse gravity didn't seem to have affected the numbers at all, and they were still attempting to crowd around her. Moving further out of the battle, Arme looked back at where the Lich was standing. There were several enemies surrounding it, and Arme aimed a lightning bolt as quickly as she could. A few inches off, all it did was out several enemies and give Jin a nasty surprise. He yelled something back that Arme couldn't hear, the magician simply shrugging as she continued fighting. The necromancer was beginning to look weaker, using it's staff as a stand to hold itself up before lifting it into the air. More orcs appeared from seemingly nowhere, and Arme groaned. Fireballs were the best she could do from that distance, and she sent as many as she could forward to assist in the battle.
*thunk*
Arme's eyes widened as the Lich's staff slammed back into the ground, a slight cracking heard. She was hardly prepared for the hands that came up, discoloured and rotting with long fingernails that dug into her legs as she was heaved down onto her knees. The half-skirt on the back of her dress was also grabbed, rendering her nearly immobile. She held her staff up high to protect it from the hands, and was more than surprised to feel a cool, hard pressure twine around her wrists, holding them tightly together.
Dread filling the small magician, she looked up slowly to find herself looking into vibrant eyes of a bloody red, a white mask with symbols painted on it looking down at her from a tattered brown hood. The hand pinning her own in place was in fact made of bones, another skeleton hand to the left of her wielding a giant staff. They have three Lich with them! ... There was more than one Lich... Arme's face paled as the Lich standing behing her's aura surrounded her, making her struggle in vain. Her arms and legs were held too tightly to escape, and she doubted at that height the other chasers could even see her.
"Why does this always happen to me?" She groaned, voice fairly quiet. With a swift move, the staff held in the Lich's other hand slammed into her head. The impact made her vision fuzzy, and in the state of the headache she had been given all she could think of was how grateful she was that it hadn't hit her stomach.
The fingernails that were embedding themselves into her flesh slowly and reluctantly released her, the magician lifted up from the ground by her wrists. Sensing an opprotunity to get away, the half-unconscious Arme made a weak attempt to release herself from the necromancer's grasp. The Lich seemed somewhat displeased to realize the mage wasn't completely blacked out yet, though another swift blow to the head remedied it quickly.
"Nhhh..." Arme's head was heavily throbbing when she regained conciousness, senses dulled. She couldn't tell where she was, could hardly remember what she had been doing right before she had fallen asleep. Fallen asleep...? That didn't sound right... Oh..! The Lich! She slowly remembered being caught by the necromancer, the blow to her head that had knocked her unconcious. Heartbeat speeding up in fear, Arme's hand flew to the side of her head as she willed her eyes to open. They did ever so slowly, letting a bright blue sky enter her vision, obscured by several blotches of grey and green. Where...?
"Ahh! Lass~! She's awake!" Something stopped, and Arme quite suddenly came to the comprehension that she had been moving. That meant... Allowing her hand to move off the soft bandage she had felt on the side of her head, Arme reached out to the large blotch of greyish white. Her vision was clearing out, and she was almost able to make out the strands of hair before she touched them. Even so, she did. The white hair felt soft, and Arme smiled drowsily.
"Lassie~" She stated lazily, tugging on his hair gently. It was something she was certain would have annoyed him at any other given time, but for a reason she wasn't certain of, she knew he wouldn't get mad at her. The rest of the chase was slowly filing into her vision, and she waved to them with as much enthusiasm as she could.
"W-What happened?" She mumbled quietly, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision a bit better. It worked partially, and soon her eyes adjusted to the bright lights. Lass set her down so she was sitting, the blanket that she hadn't realized was draped over her falling underneath her. Lass was evidently uncertain on how well she could hold herself up; he stayed behind her as a prop even when she was sitting. She noted dully that Elesis and Ronan were back, and turned to Elesis seeking an explanation. It was Amy, however, that began.
"Well, it wasn't a very nice surprise for us when we noticed you in battle being carried away by a Lich~" She started, Jin decidedly continuing after her.
"We were looking for you after the first Lich was nearly defeated, and we realized that one of the other Liches were moving away from the battle field. Lass went to check it out and found out that it was carrying you... Needless to say, we tried to get you back. It was difficult, and the damn Lich was pretty determined not to let you go... If Ronan and Elesis hadn't shown up then, I'm not sure how that would have gone. Having the force of a dragon on your team makes fighting hordes a fair lot easier." He explained, looking over at the two knights.
"We came back about five minutes after you were knocked unconscious. After fighting the Lich and getting you back Ronan took you up in the air on the dragon so we wouldn't have to deal with any more possible mage-thefts. After the harpies were dealt with it was easy enough..." Elesis said cautiously, kneeling down to look at Arme on eye-level, "But are you alright? From what I've seen, the Lich hit you pretty hard." Wincing as she touched the bandage on her head, Arme nodded.
"Y-yeah... How long have I been out for?"
"A bit more than a day. The Lich cast some sort of sleeping spell on you after you were knocked out... Between myself and Amy we were able to undo most of it, but it still lasted for a day. Judging by the initial strength of the spell, I'd say it wanted to take you somewhere pretty far away." Eyes down, Arme nodded at Ronan's words.
"Sorry about that..." She murmured softly, a sigh erupting from her throat. She felt a hand on her head, and looked over to see Lass.
"It wasn't your fault... Something wierd's going on." Everyone else nodded in agreement, and Lass pointed forward. Confused for a second, Arme's eyes followed the direction he was pointing. When they finally located what he was pointing at she gasped, eyes going wide as she stared at the large wreckage of a castle a few miles ahead. The large towers that Arme could only imagine had been grand long ago were now strewn along the ground, large chunks of the castle everywhere. Ivy had grown along the sides, giving it an ancient appearance. Excited to see how it looked inside, Arme shot up. This was apparently a bad idea for her headache, her vision spinning. She would have fallen had Lass not been behind her, catching her before she could fall to the ground.
"Be careful, would you? You're already injured enough right now." Arme nodded sombrely, leaning back to look up at him. She reached her hand up to tug on a strand of his bangs idly, still feeling somewhat tired.
"Sorry..." She said, the meaning settling in with the assassin a second later. He chuckled quietly, picking her up.
"I'll have to admit I was a bit less than happy when I found out the Lich was carrying you, but... You're a danger magnet, I suppose you can't help it. And, despite my thinking that it was against your best interests, you got to ride the dragon, so... " In her drowsy state Arme seemed to find this amusing, and she began laughing quietly until fatigue took over. All thoughts of exploring the castle were forgotten as she rested her head on Lass' chest carefully, falling asleep again moments later.
A/N: Whootz, done :D I was completely at a loss for how to start this chapter until I remembered a certain review I got~ The beginning piece is for AmytheDancer :3 Two more exams and school is over! You can expect more updates from me~
-Utsuro