Fantasia
Arc2: The Quest
Chapter4: The knight, the maid, & the imp
While they are at Clavia, Juan and Marcy had such a peaceful day in the named fine town, unfortunately to end up by them encountering a band of rogues, the orange head thought that this is a dead end for them but the two were saved by an armored man and a maid.
Juan stood still with eyes widely opened, unaware that another tear had dropped from him examining the knight; he was a young man, probably of his same age, he was slightly taller and even though he was covered in cooper pieces of armory and blades from his shoulder to his feet he knew that his strong build is closer to his twin brother Roné.
Then he raised his eyes to the face, the knight had a square face with round brown eyes topped by thick eyebrows, his hair was almost as brown as his eyes, and it was messy and spiky that made no big contrast with his tanned skin.
However Juan didn't stare for that long, since the word "Majesty" coming from the maid caught his attention, he turned to the other savior to witness a young aged lady, with her slender body and buttocks length braid of blond hair, in a simple black maid dress trimmed with light colored velvet linings that goes from her collar to each shoulder, then to pass by her noticeable bosom down to reach the knee length limits of the garment.
When she raised her pale face, Juan couldn't tell the age; she had that cute allure of the youngsters, yet her cold light green eyes that reflected many mysterious feelings told him that this face had seen enough of this world.
He was stunned for a moment unable to hear what the maid is saying, only following her red lips to wake up with the cold sensation of the metal gauntlet of the armored man on his shoulder:
"Ya okay buddy?!" the knight asked in a rural accent.
"Ah yeah, I'm okay, thanks noble knight!" Juan answered with ease, for this tone was very familiar to him.
"Good! Thought that ye'r gonna die there, huh?"
"Um, Yeah, thanks! You see, I'm pathetic in fighting alw…" Juan was about to answer but the knight's attention was diverted easily to the maid:
"Hey! Marceline! I thought this mission was only for me!" the knight boasted.
"I'm sorry but I promise that you'll get your fee complete, as long as we got the princess back." The maid answered bowing showing apology.
"Pr…Princess!?" the shepherd said looking at Marcy, with a look that demands answers.
"I'm sorry Juan, I lied to you Marcy is actually Marceline's pet-name, I actually am Princess Cecilia Heinz."The green haired girl answered.
At this very moment, Juan's doubts and questions about "Marcy" all came into his head, this explained everything! This was the reason of her cultural level! This is where all her money came from! That's why she didn't visit her house!...But wait! Why was she on the opposite direction of the tower if she was going save her dad?!...a flash blinked before the wall of his memories! Marcy!...No her majesty Cecilia Heinz is a runaway princess! Running away from her marriage with Prince Zoldeo Artemiciano!
"Is he always like this?!" The knight asked with a silly tone, while waving his palm in front of Juan who was in total obliviousness and only a light smirk on the right side of his mouth was noticed.
"I think the young sir here is still shocked from the incident, very well I think we should get going!" Marceline suggested.
After like half hour, the four of them were sitting around a table in a restaurant with the sun about to set, they started knowing each other:
"So Juan eh? I'm Dean an Espadaian knight!" The knight introduced himself.
"Espada! Wow! My brother thinks that among humans you are the best!" Juan responded with joy.
-Espada: A human village, on the western part of the continent, the people of this rural land are much exalted in archery and horsemanship, they take living basically from farming, hunting, and craftsmanship, but most youth as in the case of Dean, like to act as bounty hunters and Mercenaries who travel from a town to another taking missions assigned usually in bulletin boards that one would confront in bars and clubs, the symbol of this village is a cross-like sword vertical with ancient runes carved on it which meant in native tongue: "We all serve one, We all served by one".-
"Yes! Have I told you that Juan, is actually a beastman who've been cursed to look like a human?" Cecilia claimed.
"That would be interesting to hear, is it true mister Juan?" Marceline asked.
"Whoa! You! A beastman! Gosh you no differ from us! Can'ya spit fire?!" the knight youth asked in excitement.
"No! No! Believe me I can't use magic at all…" the orange head answered timidly.
"Nah that's fine! I barely have magic too! Look!" Dean said while tilting his left hand making a dagger he pulled from his belt float in harmony with the movement of his palm to land on the table.
"Telekinesis…impressive" the maid said albeit her accent didn't show any signs of "impression".
"Well I think Marcy would show us some…" but before the princess could finish her talk her bracelet disappeared in a flash, and a shadowy figure could be seen flickering away to a dark alley, of course Dean didn't spare a moment and rushed toward the tracks of the shadow, Marcy and Cecilia followed him too, and finally Juan, but the latter halted for a moment to check his shoes, and what he saw made him yell at them to slow down.
But they couldn't hear him; Dean was too excited that he pulled a small blade, while Marceline asked the princess to stop, but she refused and kept tracking them, and so their run led them to a collapsed hut in the end of the street.
The knight approached the dark room, grinning, drawing the image of an enjoyable fight, while a small spark flashed between Marcy's thumb and index, Dean shouted: "Charge!" making a heavy step toward the red single eye of the thief that was glowing below his sight, he suddenly stopped, and his feet felt like they were glued to the ground, and for a sudden he felt a cold skinny hand strangling him, despite the force wasn't that great but it was enough to shorten his breath and make him drop his weapon.
He turned his head slowly to see that the same thing happened to the girls, he refused to lose so he pulled his strength and manipulated his blade to make it pierce the hand of the aggressor, breaking his neck free, and with a swift move he pulled another blade, and jumped at the thief in anger…but "Stop!" is heard.
It was Juan who said it, he was breathing heavily, carrying an oil lantern and a towel, he walked directly toward the enigmatic person, as all eyes were looking at him questioning this weird act:
"Easy now, I know you are scared…but it's okay here I have this for you" the orange head said while lifting the towel.
Slowly approaching, the light of the lantern revealed a little detail about the identity of the rogue, a little girl…no! A midget! She was a small pale albino woman with flowing white hair that covers her left eye, and with some effort one can see that her hidden eye is under a dirty ragged bandage.
She wore an oversized loose gray kimono, with dark vertical lines, interestingly despite the cute and infantile body she had, her chest was those of an adult, seeing her catching her breathes coupled with her weakened long lashed red pupil-less eye, made a pitiful image that made even a reckless angered person like Dean calm down and feel sorry for her.
"It's fine we are not gonna hurt you" Juan said offering the towel.
The woman lifted her earlier pierced arm, but Juan ignored that and put the towel on the red thick cloth around her waist, but that was no red cloth, it was actually a pale pink one but the blood was that much to soak it.
He rubbed her injured waist gently which made her stress go, that she pulled her other "two arms" back , making her drop the bracelet saying with a congealed voice: "I am really sorry!" before she drops on the floor unconsciously.
…
"Who's she?"
"I dunno! She looks like humans but she had horns"
"Princess I think you shouldn't go that close"
"She's badly hurts, her waist seemed like it was gnawed by some sort of wild animals, and she lost her left eye but the injury seems older than her waist's."
"So is she gonna be okay doctor?"
"She'll be fine by two days here"
This gibberish conversation wasn't clear in the midget's mind, she felt that there are people around her, but she didn't try to open her eyes until she felt silence, slowly her lids separated from each other, to see the blurry sight of Juan, Marceline, Dean, and Cecilia, she raised her hand slowly toward the orange head stuttering: "Ina…ri?", but her vision got paired and of course Juan wasn't who she thought is:
"Oh she's awake!" Juan said in joy.
"Where am I?" the midget asked.
"You are in a clinic! Thank God you are safe! You were bleeding rivers back there!" Dean commented.
"Oh! Where are our manners? We didn't introduce ourselves to her! "Cecilia commented.
The pigmy ignored her and kneeled on her four limbs with her head down that one only can see her two pointy red horns and the flowing pile of her hair:
"I'm extremely sorry for what happened there! I don't know what got into me! Please accept the pathetic apologizes of the servile Tsukiname!" the woman apologized with tears filling her eyes.
"Tsu…wha?!" Dean expressed his exclamation toward the name.
Juan tried to talk to her but she was knocked out again…
Several hours later, Tsukiname woke up, this time she had time to check her surrounding, a vast room of sky blue ceiling and white walls, which were blurred by some semi-transparent veil hanging out from an iron bar in a higher level than the comfortable bed she was laying on, her eye moved down to see a young orange headed man in black shirt, reading a book, then she felt the draught in her throat so she tried to reach her hand to a glass bottle of water on the table next to her but the bottle instead moved toward her lifted by the gentle man next to her, after she put out her thirst she thanked the man:
"Thank…you"
"You are mostly welcome my name is Juan, Juan Rocux, and you Tsuki…name I presume." Juan responded.
"Um yeah… (She tilt her head left and right) where might your companions be?" she asked.
"Well they left…to the royal palace"
"It shames me, I couldn't apologize to the green haired girl" Tsukiname said seeing the bracelet she stole in her wrist understanding that the girl gave it to her, as she didn't want to bother herself asking why.
"Ah you mean the princess, it's fine, she said that you don't need to apologize, because she understands your situation…by the way Tsukiname you are a shadow imp aren't you?" Juan asked upon closing the book he was reading.
-Shadow imps: A very mysterious magic tribe, imps usually have small bodies and infantile appearance even for adults like Tsukiname, despite rumors say that they shape-shift themselves to look like this, they are a very exalted magic users and very agile hunters, but their blood thirst and beastly extinct against any other tribe was the reason why they live together in a hidden village; the shadow village: Eikoku, known to be very sensitive to sunlight, legends were drawn that they'd die if they stood directly in the day light, seeing them in human realms is rare to impossible, which drives puzzles about Tsukiname's motive to be in Clavia-
"Ah yes" she answered with a sad accent then: "Back there, how did you know about my injury?" she added.
"Oh it was simple, when you started running I stepped on a blot of your blood, I read too much about your people, and I know that your blood is darker than cauldron's soot,I assumed that you are an injured shadow imp who was desperate, that's why I thought that bringing a towel and a pale lighted oil lantern would be a good idea." Juan explained.
Tsukiname was stunned to hear every word the young man said, he was a kind human who treated her nicely and didn't prejudge her like the others, she knew that he's something special, but she couldn't express nothing of this, and only smiled kindly bowing to thank him again.
"Oh I almost forgot!" Juan claimed pulling a simple straw hat with a pink bow on it.
"What's this?" She asked.
"It's a gift, I and Dean bought it for you, and so you can walk in daylight without problems."
Tsukiname grabbed the hat and felt the harsh straw edges with her fingertips and told herself: "Inari…I think this is where you soul resided", then she asked:
"So the thin girl was a Princess?"
"Yes, but for a princess she sure is a tomboy, mean she ran away from her wedding."
"She's getting married! How sweet!"
"Yeah but I don't know if she's happy with her wedding."
"Why is that?" the imp asked.
"Her marriage seemed in purpose to save her village from other villages; namely Arcadia, I believe she's going to meet Prince Zoldeo Artemiciano tonight at the palace" Juan explained.
"Zoldeo…huh?" Tsukiname said with her accent turning from interested to a cold tone, and before Juan note that, she smashed the window with her arm extending like rubber and jumped out of the clinic!
To be continued