Author note: for the shameless self-promotion time, if any of you is a Yu Yu Hakusho fan, I'm currently posting a fanfic titled "Vixen on fire (and vice versa)". It contains the pairing Hiei/Original Female Character but it's a slow burn, pun absolutely intended! ^ᴥ^
oxoxoxoxoxo
Morning came and after taking turns at the stream to wash, the group resumed its travel and the more they walked, the more often they passed a village in ruins. Even Jan could not find anything cheerful to say when faced with the physical evidence of the toll the plague had taken on that land, the lives lost, the families destroyed and the fields soiled with blood and decay, the very air around the broken houses was thick with pain and despair.
Sarevok's amber eyes darted around with sadness and pity, "It reminds me of Saradush", he murmured under his breath, guilt gnawing at his insides as he remembered the destruction that the fiery boulders launched by Yaga-Shura's catapults had brought down upon the Tethyrian city before they could kill the Fire Giant. "It's worse than Saradush", Imoen replied, shaking her head, "Here there's nothing we can do to stop this mess". "I know".
"Only God could stop it", Swire commented, shaking his head, "But from the looks of it, He's not going to do it anytime soon", he added, then snapped his mouth shut when he noticed Ulric glaring at him out of the corner of his eye. In the hopes of dispelling the foul mood, Sekhmet spoke up, "So, you are all experienced warriors, right? Care to share some of your battle stories with us?". Wolfstan tilted his head to the side, thinking, "Well...There are many in my past, I've been a soldier for several decades now. But never have I seen anything like this...", he trailed off, his gaze drifting again to the ruins.
"Can't say I have either: the last time something similar happened in my homeland, it was long before I was born", the Firewalker said, "But I've heard of such devastating plagues and they're usually caused by evil powers". At those words, Ulric turned to her, "Indeed, this disease is not God's work: it was caused by the devil himself, or at the very least by a powerful necromancer in his service. And our task, finding and capturing that necromancer, is the Lord's cure".
She smiled, "We are but His humble servants", she agreed and Imoen couldn't help snorting. "Humble, you? Sure thing, Sek", she said, earning herself a withering glare. "Har har, very funny", the Thayan deadpanned. "Just sayin'. I mean, you're not exactly a paragon of humbleness". "I don't doubt this plague was caused by the devil", Wolfstan said, black eyes strangely sad, "And yet, I can't help but feel we had a part in bringing it here as well".
The pink-haired thief frowned, "How so?". He sighed, "Three summers past, we fought in Crecy, in Normandy. For every score of our own soldiers, there were at least a hundred French ones. The French...Oh, the French, they felt the victory, they tasted it. But that day, our archers used the longbows", he said in a low, haunting tone, his gaze lost in the gruesome memories, "Their short bows were fast, but useless, they couldn't reach us. But ours...Ours were like a deafening hissing dark cloud. At the end of the day, the battlefield was littered with their wounded and their dead. After a fierce battle, it's our custom to use misericordy".
"What's that?", Meg asked curiously. "It's a clean death", Mold answered, taking out his dagger and making a stabbing motion, "You plunge the blade straight into the heart. Quick and painless". "Ah", she nodded and bit her lower lip, "So you gave a clean death to your enemies?". "No", Wolfstan shook his head, "Not that day. That day was the end of chivalry: king Edward ordered that every French soldier still alive had to be killed without mercy. Hands, arms, legs were ripped off".
Osmund shuddered and his voice came out in a horrified whisper, "But...What does this have to do with the plague?". "We opened the door to Death, that day. And it hasn't left us ever since". Sarevok broke the tension by snorting, "We've seen and faced worse in our travels. Let the devil himself try to mess with us: he'll regret ever leaving his flaming hole", he stated and the terrestrial men looked at him with a mixture of surprise and awe.
Imoen nodded, "Yeah, let that bufflehead come at us, he'll get his ass handed and forced-fed to him by Imoen the Magnificent! And I'll dye his tail pink too!", she added, dissolving every remaining trace of unease as only she could. Everyone laughed at that, except for Ulric, who scowled and quickened his steps, his stiff shoulders betraying his irritation.
Sekhmet noticed it and hurried to fall into step with him, "Imoen means well", she said, "I know she's disrespectful and cheeky and her jokes and pranks sometimes make me want to strangle her, but she is a good girl, just a little too energetic". He shot her a glance and relaxed a bit, "I understand. And I do not mind her cheerfulness, nor Sarevok's confidence, but I do not feel at ease with people speaking of the devil so carelessly. We are up against a dangerous enemy and it is not wise to underestimate him".
"They're not underestimating our enemy, believe me: they are experienced fighters, more than you would think. More than people their age should be", she added with a sad sigh, glancing briefly at her friends. "What of you?", he asked, bringing her attention back to himself. "Me? Well, I've been on many a battlefield myself, truth be told. The high priest of the church I was trained in sent me because I'm good both at fighting and at healing".
"I know", his lips curved in a small but warm smile and at her questioning gaze, he elaborated, "You did exceptionally well against the bandits. I have never seen a woman that skilled before". "Oh", she blushed slightly but smiled back, "Thank you. I have been trained since I was a child and when I visited my cousin's home, his teacher was nice enough to share some of his techniques with me...In secret, of course: I was not supposed to learn such skills and besides, Edwin would have probably been jealous, since he wanted to be the only one to teach me", she chuckled, "He's such a sweetheart!". "You seem quite close to your cousin", he noted.
"We grew up together, being only a year apart in age, so we are more like brother and sister than cousins. He's my best friend, my closest confidante and the only member of the Odesseiron family whom I truly love and trust without reservations. He's amazing", her eyes glazed as she lost herself in the past and she smiled softly, "We often got each other in trouble when we were children, coming up with crazy ideas which seemed perfectly reasonable to us at the time…But unfortunately for us, our parents and his teacher disagreed. I think our antics caused the poor man to age twice as fast than normal!", she added with a laugh.
Despite himself, Ulric couldn't help noticing how different she looked when she smiled and laughed: her face lightened up, her dark eyes shone and her features softened in a way that he found positively enchanting and that soft sound coming out of her lips sent a wave of comforting warmth spreading through him, like sitting close to the campfire during a cold night.
"What about you? Were you a little rascal as a child too?", she asked with a mischievous grin and he chuckled under his breath, the sound sending a warm tingle running down her spine. "I am afraid you would have found me rather boring, had we met as children: I was quiet and reserved and when I was not helping my father at the mill, I was at the church, learning to read, write and count and losing myself in every book I could put my hands on". "So you were a scholar? That's not boring at all, quite the contrary! I like men who use their brain".
"You do?", he asked, a hint of pink on his cheeks. "Yes, very much", she nodded, then blushed as well as she realized how close that sounded to flirting, so she fixed her gaze on the road ahead, "I-I mean that...I have a deep love for knowledge myself and so does Edwin and I like being around people who share my same interest in it, I could never fall for a brainless oaf", she rambled, her blush darkening. He was about to reply, when they heard shouts and the sound of horses rapidly approaching and they all drew their weapons as more than thirty people came from the forest.
"The bandits!", Meg exclaimed, baffled, "I thought they'd had enough the first time!". "Some people never learn", Sarevok replied, his full lips curving in a cruel smile as he unsheathed his Sword of Chaos, "Let's make sure they won't bother us anymore". Imoen quickly took her bow and fired arrow after arrow, Jan put his crossbow and his patented Flasher Master Bruiser Mates™ to good use and everyone else (save for Osmund who'd run to find himself a safe hiding place as soon as he saw the lowlives) ran forward to engage the enemies in close combat.
Ulric's sword flashed like lightning, every strike finding flesh and spilling blood and Sekhmet couldn't help her gaze straying to him more often than she should have, admiring his strength, his agility, the focused and ruthless look on his handsome face, the steely light in his eyes...Searing heat coiled in her lower belly and spread through her and she bit her lower lip, but her mouth flew open in a cry of pain as her opponent took advantage of her distraction to strike at her left thigh, not deep enough to damage the nerves and bone, but just enough to make her stumble to the ground.
Ulric heard her cry and shot her a glance and when he saw her in danger, a scumbag standing before her with a dagger posed to strike, he beheaded his opponent and quickly ran to her, impaling his sword deep into the chest of the bandit. She took a trembling breath, hating how vulnerable she had felt for a moment and when the terrestrial knight offered her his hand to help her up, she hesitated for a second before accepting it, "Thank you".
"Be more careful next time", he said sternly, but his gaze was soft and worried, "Are you all right?". "Yes", she nodded and smiled at him, barely resisting the urge to place a kiss on his lips, "Let's take down the rest of those lowlives". He smirked and there was a flash of admiration in his eyes before he gave a quick nod and they threw themselves back into the fray.
