Also Titled: Skeptics...Skeptics Everywhere...
Half the day of them walking through the forest had passed before the group of Nelwyns stopped. The baby was fussing and seemed close to throwing a tantrum. Arthur stopped and gently pulled off the papoose. "Hold on, Tino."
Tino looked over his shoulder and paused. "What's wrong?"
"We have to stop!" Arthur yelled over the baby's wails.
Heracles looked at him. "Why?"
"I think the baby's sick," Arthur muttered as he pulled her out of the papoose.
Sadiq snorted and snatched up the baby. "Let me see!" he demanded crossly.
The baby suddenly burped and a trail of white vomit hit Sadiq squarely on the face. He blindly handed her back and everyone sniggered as a warrior tried to wipe off the goop.
"She'll be fine once she gets some rest," Arthur said, snickering. The baby cooed in agreement.
Three guards outside the door to Ivan's throne room shook in fear as they listened to the conversation going on inside. Even though they couldn't make out exactly what was being said, Ivan sounded really angry.
Inside, Ivan glared down from his throne at his sister. "I don't recall asking you to bring me a dead peasant. Natalia, you're useless!"
"I'm backtracking the peasant's trail. I'll find where he hid the baby," Natalia promised. Ivan scoffed and absentmindedly played with the scarf around his neck. They both turned as the doors opened and an armor-clad figure approached them.
Ivan grinned. "Ah, the General. At last."
The man passed Natalia, his head concealed by a skull-shaped helmet, and kneeled before Ivan's throne. "My king. I have destroyed the castle at Galladoorn," he rumbled in his thickly accented voice.
Ivan's grin grew bigger, more feral. "Well done. But now I have another task for you. Help my sister to find that tiny, helpless baby that continues, somehow, to elude her!"
Natalia flinched and glared at the general, whose head whipped upward in surprise, revealing dark, hooded eyes.
"The baby of the prophecy? The one who would destroy you?" he questioned.
"I need that baby alive," Ivan commanded curtly. "I must perform the ritual that will exile that child's spirit into oblivion. Find her!" As he spoke, a purple aura appeared around him and his mages backed away nervously.
Natalia quickly protested, "I don't need his help, brother!"
"You'll do as I say," came the icy reply. The general sneered softly as he realized that, for now, he was the favored one.
Natalia nodded jerkily and spun on her heel. The general followed her out of the room. Slowly the aura disappeared, and one of Ivan's mages approached him.
"I have read the signs," he whispered. "One day, I fear, your sister will betray you."
Ivan snorted. "I trust her loyalty more than I trust yours."
The traveling Nelwyns had stopped for a break. Arthur had just finished changing the baby when Heracles paused in the middle of drinking from a water skin and looked around sharply. "Listen!" he hushed.
Now that they were paying attention, everyone could hear the faint sounds of dogs barking and men shouting. The Nelwyns gather up their supplies and hid in a cluster of thick bushes. Black horses with armed riders appeared and the baby fussed in alarm. Heracles and his warriors held their spears at the ready. A lone rider rode to the group right in front of the bushes.
"The Nelwyns have got the baby," Arthur heard the Daikini say. "We've searched the village, but a group of them are on the road somewhere." The Nelwyns all glanced at the baby.
"They couldn't have gone far! Widen the search and report to Natalia!" another Daikini shouted.
The riders urged their horses forward, and soon they were out of sight.
Sadiq let out a spluttering sigh and Heracles pointed in a different direction. "We'll have to keep to the woods."
A few hours later Heracles pointed to something through the thinning trees. "That's it! The crossroads!" The giant Daikini roads intersected at one spot in the middle of a barren field, where nothing but tufts of grass and sturdy, gnarly trees grew.
Arthur shuddered as they neared it. Several cages occupied by skeletons and bundles of rags hung from long beams next to the road. Obviously, they had once been criminals left there to die.
The baby squirmed and cried out softly, and Tino didn't look much better. Arthur set the papoose down and was reaching for the child's milkskin when a far-off shriek made them all jump. It wasn't a sound that came from any Daikini or Nelwyn. The warriors grabbed their spears and Arthur nervously backed up until he was close to one of the cages. Something latched onto the front of his tunic in a viselike grip with a sudden ferocity, and Arthur screamed as he was hoisted into the air and flipped around. The cage that he'd assumed was empty actually contained a living Daikini!
This Daikini had dirty blond hair that was matted around his face except for one strand that defied gravity in the front. Arthur struggled to get out of his hold, but the Daikini only brought him closer to the cage bars. There was no pity to be found in those wild blue eyes.
"Get me some water, peck, or you die," the Daikini growled. Heracles ran forward but stopped when he saw the man's other hand grip Arthur's throat. Arthur gasped for air and nodded weakly.
"Do you understand?! Water," the man repeated.
"Y-yeah," Arthur choked out. The man let him go and he fell to the ground, moaning. He got to his feet and tottered to where his group was waiting.
"HURRY UP!" the Daikini shouted, his voice tainted with desperation. He snarled when they did nothing. "Get me some water, you measly little runts!"
Sadiq leaned in close to Arthur and Tino and whispered, "It's a Daikini. We're in luck."
Arthur looked at him in disgust- well, more disgust than usual. "We can't give her to him!"
Tino nodded. "Somebody put him there for a reason."
Sadiq shrugged carelessly. "We've got to get rid of her. Those soldiers are after us!"
Tino hushed him. "Shh! …He's looking right at us." The trio looked back at the violent Daikini, who smiled slyly at them.
"We've got to give that baby to somebody," Heracles said, not bothering to keep his voice down.
The Daikini lurched forward, clutching at the bars of his cage. "Dudes, I'm somebody." The Nelwyns looked at him suspiciously. "Let me out of here, I'll take care of the baby." He puckered his lips and made smooching sounds, trying to make the baby laugh. The baby raised an eyebrow and gave a half smile as if to say "Really?" but she didn't seem to find this man a threat.
"I trust him completely," Sadiq said airily.
"But he tried to strangle me!"
"I want to go home!"
Arthur stomped his foot. "NO Sadiq! We should wait!"
Sadiq reared up to his full height and looked down at Arthur. "Are you challenging my authority?"
Arthur faced him bravely. "As far as this baby is concerned…yes."
"Don't listen to him, Sadiq!" the Daikini yelled.
Sadiq hmphed and walked past Arthur. "Fine. You two stay here alone, but we're going. Get the gear, men!" Arthur approached Heracles desperately.
"Heracles-"
"It's not his decision!" Sadiq said.
Arthur finally lost his patience: "You're troll dung, Sadiq!"
"While you're standing here your fields aren't getting planted! Think about that," Sadiq taunted.
Arthur clenched his fists. "I'm gonna-"
"You're gonna what?" Sadiq challenged. Arthur clamped his mouth shut; he couldn't do anything against Sadiq.
Sadiq laughed uproariously and waved to the rest of the company. "Let's go!"
Heracles looked at Tino. "Are you coming?"
Tino shook his head. "I'm staying with Arthur."
The Daikini watched them as they passed. "Sadiq, let me out! I'll take care of the baby, I swear! Just let me out of here. Please! Heracles, let me borrow that spear. Just. For. A minute."
The warriors ignored him as they walked back into the forest.
"At least get me some water! Don't leave me alone with these two!" he shouted in a last ditch effort. He let out a frustrated grunt and sat back in his cage.
The baby started crying and Tino asked nervously, "What do we do now?"
"That was really stupid, peck," the Daikini called from the cage.
Arthur spun around. "Don't call me a peck."
The man looked at him in mock contrition. "Oh, I'm sorry…peck. Peck, peck, peckpeckpeckpeck!"
Arthur lurched toward him. "You be careful! I'm a powerful sorcerer!" He pulled out one of the acorns in his pocket. "See this? I'll throw it at you and turn you to stone!"
The Daikini's expression changed from mock contrition to mock fear. "Whoo-!" he gasped melodramatically. "I'm really scared! No, don't! Don't!" He looked around wildly. "THERE'S A PECK HERE WITH AN ACORN POINTED AT ME!" He sneered at Arthur and stuck out his tongue.
Arthur looked down at the seemingly innocent acorn. "Oh, I wouldn't want to waste it on you anyway," he mumbled.
"Ha!" the man yelled, calling his bluff. "PeckpeckpeckpeckpeckpeckpeckPECK!"
*evil snickers* Oh yeah, they can totes trust this Daikini. Woot! My favorite character from the movie appears, acted out by my favorite country!
Also, for those of you who have seen the movie and are wondering, "Da heck, Viva?! Who's General Kael?" Well... I'm keeping it a secret. Partly because it plays a (small) part in the plot later and partly because I don't want to get killed by angry fangirls... (Please don't fill your reviews with "Is it so and so?" because I will ignore and possibly delete them.)
And yes, I'll been going by the movie for most of the time but I am changing some things. Ya know, fleshing out some parts and ideas that I'd liked to have seen more of in the movie.