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Fantastic Valencia - Chapter 2 |
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Fantastic Valencia - Chapter 2
Aemilia had relaxed as her siblings prepared for the trek into the woodlands. It was good that they did not need rest, as it meant that she could set them to guard an encampment or to make whatever preparations while she rested. Perhaps if they succeeded tonight, Matthias would given them life. And perhaps if they did exceptionally, he would correct Aemilia's flaws. She wanted to head out after darkness, more out of habit than practical reasoning. It simply felt safer at night for the assassin. It was a time she could blend into the shadows. And because they were heading into the woods, they would not have to worry about the moonlight spoiling their presence.
Midnight was swift in its approach, as was the trio's exit of the palace out the seldom used royal escape tunnel. Her master had no need of such stealthy escapes. He had other means of leaving and that meant that the old tunnel was perfect for Aemilia's needs. Hoods drawn, the three of them went into the city streets and quickly vanished into the warren of alleyways that sat beyond the main row of businesses and homes that lined the central street to the palace. Even though she had the king's blessing to silence those who discovered or impeded on her actions, she had a preference to avoid unwanted bloodshed. She tried to remember her earliest educations. What was that old adage? A tool used frivolously quickly dulls. The homunculus was seldom used herself, and she seldom pulled her blade. Oh, she used it, and used it well, but she did not waste attacks on worthless targets.
She made her way to her private stables. She kept horses long journey's, though she seldom left the kingdom in recent years. Sea travel made her ill and most kingdoms sat beyond the great forest. It was a natural barrier to trade with other kingdoms, taking nearly a month to traverse by wagon. A brisk horseback pace could cut nearly a third of the time off the journey, but still, the journey was time consuming. Aemilia wasn’t going around this time though. She was cutting to the heart. It was a few hours ride to the edge of the woodlands. And another half into the heavy woodlands that was the territory of the woodland peoples. "Are you ready siblings?" She asked the other two.
"Yes, sister." Sveta replied coldly.
"As we always are, sister..." Vincent's flat voice added.
Aemilia nodded and spurred her horse on. They would head straight to one of the guard towers to leave their horses before trekking into the woodlands. It was more or less standard for scouts to do so, knowing the high attrition rate they faced by going into the woodlands.
The moon was beginning its descent as the homunculi left the city. They had one chance to not screw this up. And they knew failure was not failing in their objective, but was instead failing to return at all.
*******
Dexter sat up late into the evening, pouring over all the old records he could get his hands on regarding the forest and its denizens. To say records were scarce would have constituted lying. The most detailed record he could find was in regards to the marriage of the last king. And the only person who had seen the Jadu settlement in living memory. Probably the only person in the last thousand years even. He had gone in alone, and had come back months later with a fiancée and a peace treaty of sorts with him. And it was the first time that anybody had seen one of the Jadu. They came in droves to attend the wedding of the king, each paying their respects before vanishing back into the shade.
Nothing made sense.
And to make matters worse, he could not find anything on the Varjadu. The mythical golden eyed warrior of the woods. So far, all he had was the stories that had been passed to him by his father and his father's father. It was a creature that existed only in folklore for him. Yet he had come face to face with it And even that boy, that creature, seemed wholly unaware of the fable.
He shut the books late in the evening. He was likely to find nothing more this night. Looking up, the angel met the eyes that were patiently watching him. Steely wings, taloned feet, red hair. Dexter blushed deeply. “Thelyta! What are you doing here!?” More importantly in his head though, he wondered how long she had been there. The general usually did not like the harpies. A vast majority of them were bloodthirsty killers. Hired goons more than trained soldiers. Instead of arresting them, the king gave simply made them soldiers. Essentially giving them a full leave to be the animals they were. Though he had to admit, that unlike her brothers, Thelyta had something about her that was… Tame. Something civilized. She was still a harpy. And had her wild streak. But she seemed more in control than the others.
The harpy woman stepped forward, pushing gently off the door frame which she rested. “Please, you know I hate Thelyta… and you know I’d rather you call me Tayte…” She said somewhat irritated. Tayte hated her given name. It was probably the one thing that drover her nuts about her position. Everybody called her Thelyta. And they couldn’t right call her General Fallon either, as that was a distinction she held with her elder brother, Laurant. “And the answer is I’ve been watching, you, you idiot…” She was affectionately harsh with the angel, playing on the emotions she shared with him.
Dexter gave a weak smile… “Sorry, Tayte… It’s been a long day… I’m trying to figure something out. I didn’t mean ignore you.” He said, sliding the books across the table to her. “No doubt you heard about my spectacular success this day…” The angel was ashamed to admit that he failed to make any progress on his assigned task. But the truth of it stood. And there was so much more he had to be ashamed and afraid of. Namely if the other general Fallon found out about Dexter and Tayte’s relationship. It was very likely that her brothers, all three of them, would kill him on site. Hell, Tayte had nearly killed him when they first met.
“The whole incident in the woods, I take it. Well, more like you walking away alive from them despite all history to the contrary.” Tayte brushed her hair out of her face and then sat down, looking over the books. “So, history of the woodlands? Geez, you of all people should know that there is hardly anything on them.” The harpy knew her boyfriend better than that. Though they had never made it all the way. There was too much of a chance of getting caught. “What’s bothering you, McBane. You’ve got twenty seconds to spill before I walk out that door and don’t come back. What the kingdom knows of that forest could be written on a single page of the smallest tome in the library. There is something else, isn’t there?”
“Legends. Myths. And the sudden realization that I was facing one directly.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Well, if it’s that bad…” She quipped. “Go to bed, you idiot. Tomorrow I’ll go with you and we’ll try to get some answers.”
“But, Tayte! It’s too dange…”
Tayte reached in and gave the angel a kiss. “Dexter. No. I’m going with you, that’s that.” She put her food down, and once she did that, there was not talking her out of it. The harpy had made up her mind, end of argument. Dexter knew better than to argue with a harpy. Better just to let them get it out of their system. Tomorrow they would go find some new information.
“Fine.” He threw his hands up. He stood up and yawned. “I guess it is time for sleep.” Dexter stepped forward and embraced Tayte. “I still don’t understand what you see in me…” Dexter always wondered why he had fallen in with the beautiful harpy. Still, she had fallen for him. He brushed the hair out of her face again. All he could do was caress her face for now. But soon enough, he would have his way with her.
Though it was more like that she would have her way with him. Either way he would enjoy it.
*******
Aemilia set her horse into the stables at the watchtower, her siblings doing the same. The moon sat near the horizon. All the homunculus had to do was wait a few more minutes before the moon set. Then they would have perhaps a two hours to get as far into the woods as possible. In the mean time, she had to deal with the guards in the tower.
“What are you doing here!? This stable is for…” He didn’t have a chance to finish as the three homunculi had their blades wrapped around the guardsmen. The guard couldn’t see any movement as the three of them moved in. From the soldier’s position, the homunculi just appeared at is throat, swords drawn and poised to cut into him Any movement meant he would quickly become a blade filled idiot.
Aemilia looked at him calmly. She didn’t want to hurt the man, but she would if she had to. “We are representatives of the king. And we are on a mission. As we cannot take our horses with us, they will be staying here. Now, we don’t have a lot of time, so please, understand that we would rather not have to deal with you and your friends.” She explained it as calmly as possible. The guard gave a half nod. It was all he could do to not press into the shortsword that was held to his throat.
“Yes’m…” He said quietly. On key, the assassin’s stepped backwards, letting the man relax. They quickly turned around and began to walk to the deep forest. Behind them the moon began the final part of it’s descent over the horizon, before finally fading into the aether.
The three homunculus burst into a run. One chance. That thought kept crossing into Aemilia’s mind. No matter how this turned out, she had to go on. The white haired boy looked at her. “Sister... was it wise to leave him alive?” He asked. Logical as ever, the leader sighed. Vincent was right. The guard would probably raise the alarm, cause some sort of commotion. And probably even sell their horses. On the up side, none of the guards were likely to follow them.
Aemilia pushed on in silence, keeping pace ahead of her siblings. “Yes…” was her answer to the other homunculus. She didn’t want to argue wisdom with a person who couldn’t understand empathy or mercy, a lacking that Vincent and Sveta displayed stronger than even their creator Saria. Instead, Aemilia wanted to move on in silence. She could move quietly, she could stay low and not be seen. And as the woods became denser, the more imperative silence was. She pushed on for several hours, her siblings keeping close on her heels. She sighed. There was something off about this forest. And despite her worldly experiences, she couldn’t figure it out. She had seen so many kingdoms, so many lands, and so many kinds of magic. Yet this place reeked of something far older than the magics that existed in her world. The king of old magic that hung around Lady Saria.
The homunculus suppressed a shudder as she thought about those implications. The kind of magic that the lavender haired witch used was something that the king feared. Why then did he keep the small woman around? No matter how Aemilia looked at it, this whole situation was screwed up.
The three ran hard for almost four hours before they stopped, finding a quiet hollow under a tree in which they could wait out the oncoming day. The air was close this deep in the woods, and it was amazing that the forest dwellers could move so unimpeded in it. The Jadu patrols would likely be on top of them within a few hours, and the homunculi would have to be absolutely quiet. “Sveta, Vincent… Give me your arms…” She said in a whisper. The other two lifted their arms, and Aemilia smeared out the runes on their arms. The two dropped limp into her arms as she did so. Pulling the earthen colored cloaks out of their bags and wrapped them around the limp forms. After a moment, the pair was hidden in the small space. Grabbing the third blanket, she wrapped it around herself and took up a position to watch the canopy for movement. Within a moment, only the homunculi’s eyes could be seen from beneath her cover. And even to a more dedicated observer, she was more or less invisible.
*******
Arana arose with the crack of dawn as she always did, her vibrant red hair tied up so it didn’t strangle her in her sleep. The scarlet haired Jadu hated waking up with the hair in her face, and as a habit tied it up nightly. Still, as was always the case, a few strands managed to make it out and into her face. The girl looked across the communal bedroom to where her brother slept. Hopping out of bed, she snuck over to her sibling and poked him in the ribs. “Hey, wake up, sleepy head…” She smiled a bit as she did so. The black haired young man turned over, his eye half open.
“Why should I?” He asked, half asleep. The young man was not an early riser, and he had an tendency to oversleep when there was a task at hand. Still, his sister was the dead opposite, and had a tendency to be in the kitchen before their mother even. A trait that was shared with aunt Ayria. “Well?” He asked.
Arana shrugged. She just felt alive in a way that others in her family did not at this time of day. “I’m headin’ to the market… Do yah want me tah pick yah up some of the candied nuts yah like?” She gave a smile. The girl had something on her brother. And that was her ability to twist him to her will. It wasn’t like she was malicious about it, she just knew what made Shasta tick. And what incentives worked.
Shasta yawned and opened his eyes. “Yeah, that would be nice, except yah always seem to pick the ones that ain’t fresh.” He reached around on the ground below him, trying to find his tunic. He fumbled around, eyes half closed as he tried to find it. It wasn’t long before he felt a wad of fabric hit him in the face. “He-mph!” Shasta sat up with a bolt, the bright blue fabric and silvery linings of the hanging limply on his face. “That ain’t funny!” he said, throwing his pillow at his sister. Arana dodged it and let out a giggle as she grabbed her own clothes.
“Yah need tah start cleanin’ yer clothes more often, Shasta~!” she said mocking him, before dashing off to the wash room to get ready for the day. Shasta looked around. She was probably right, but he wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of that. He pulled the loose tunic on, the bright patterns and colors made him smile. His normal day wear was so much better than his hunters gear. The young man loved the vibrant patterns of his people. He had to wonder if the Lacenvians had a similar love of color or if they were more like the beast folk, with a more down to earth sense taste. He yawned and stretched, pulling his tunic on before searching for a relatively clean pair of pants.
After he was fully dressed, the nymph made his way to the kitchen to snag a bite. As was the case, Arana was already there waiting for him, as was their aunt. “Mornin’ auntie…” He said with another yawn. The older ginger haired woman gave a smile and greeted them, her peculiar way of talking obvious. “Good morning, Shasta. Arana says you two are going to the market, so if it would be possible, can you two get some things for me?”
Shasta shrugged and gave his aunt a smile. “Sure thin’ auntie.” He said happily. Family was family, and that was important. “Just give Arana the…” His sister held up a scrap of parchment with things written on it. “…list. I guess that works…” He pushed his sister a back and fiddled around in the storeroom, trying to get something to eat. He found a block of aged cheese and a bit of cured meat. Sticking his head out of the room, he looked at his sister and aunt. “Do we have any bread?” he asked. Arana shook her head.
Shasta, took his scraped together meal and wrapped it up. “We ready to go?” Arana asked him. The dark haired boy nodded and smiled. “We’ll be back later…” She gave her aunt a smile before grabbing her brother by the arm and dragging him along. They made their way out in the town. The sun was beginning to filter in through the trees. The guards were beginning to douse the overnight lanterns that lit the streets at night. Still, there were already plenty of people awake at this time. Shasta pulled his hat down over his eyes, the wide brim bringing his face into shadow a bit. People had a tendency to stare at him, especially the traders who were not locals and did not know about the golden eyed lad.
Arana looked at her brother, she still didn’t understand why he was so ashamed of his eyes. “Yah really shouldn’t be so ashamed brother…” she said pulling the hat back a little. “It’s unique, like yah are.
Shasta sighed, he didn’t agree, but he would at least humor his sister. “Okay, Arana…” he said sheepishly, taking the hat off and putting it on his sister. She gave a nod to him.
“I’m gonna go get the flour that aunt Ayria asked fer… Be right back!” she gave a smile and ran off to the particular stall in question, leaving Shasta on his own for a few minutes. Every day was a new adventure in the market. Food producers, artisans, traders. If it was wanted by somebody, it could very likely be found in the market. Shasta walked over to one of the artists, the woman behind the stall had several small necklaces from one of the southern villages. They were beautiful, and the style was unique to the south. After a moment, he turned around, running directly into another woman, knocking her over.
“Ow! Oh my gosh! Are yah okay!?” He said, reaching down to help the woman up. “I didn’t see yah!” he said apologetically. The woman had short red hair, very similar to his sisters. However, unlike his sister, this woman had pointed ears. Her fair skin shown underneath the loose folds of fabric. The most striking thing about her was the ornate cloth that wrapped around her eyes. She gave the boy a smile.
“It’s quite alright, young man…” She said reassuring him, and accepting his help up. “I’ve been blind my entire life, so it happens.” She said happily. She pulled Shasta sideways and ran her fingers down his arm, examining something with eyes that could not see.
“Uh, ma’am?” he asked somewhat nervously. The woman had come out of nowhere and was now looking him over, if that’s what one could call the blind examination.
“Shhh!” she silenced him as she continued to examine his arm. “Yah are special young man.” She said to him in a hushed tone. “Yah have so much untapped potential. Yet yah don’t even realize it. Yah could be a great mage one day if’n yah practiced, young one.” She said it cryptically, but Shasta stood transfixed on her words. Even if he didn’t believe it on the surface, a part of him wanted it to be true. It was the greatest honor in the Jadu lands to be selected for mage training of any kind. “But yah will never be a mage…” Shasta’s heart sank a bit as she said that. “No, yah have a different destiny…” She continued.
Shasta thought about this for a moment, trying to process it all as the woman continued to examine him. She was obviously a soothsayer of some kind, so perhaps she would have an answer to the question that had been bothering him since the day before. “A man called me ‘varjadu’ yesterday, does that mean anythin’ tah yah?” He asked quietly, so only she could hear him.
Her face came level to Shasta’s. He could feel her gaze, despite having her eyes bound behind a cloth. “Aye, it does. And yah’d best not repeat it tah anybody. It isn’t time fer yah to worry about it.” She pulled one of her necklaces off and handed it to the boy. “I am Aesta, soothsayer tah the Queen. When yah are in true need, yah can use this tah summon me. Now, yer sister is lookin’ fer yah. Protect her. She’s the most important person in yer life right now.” The crimson clad woman stood up straight and looked at Shasta. “Until next we meet…” She said before walking away. Shasta couldn’t place it, but there was something off about the woman’s voice.
Arana came up suddenly, her task complete. “Shasta, who was that?” she asked him.
“I dunno… She said she was Aesta… Soothsayer tah Queen Astoria…” Arana looked just as confused at that as well. Both Jadu knew that the capital was in the heart of the forest, still a good day’s trek away. Why the queen’s most trusted servant was here in their town was baffling. And why it was Shasta that had encountered her was even more so. “This week is becomin’ stranger still…” He said before turning towards their next destination. The boy hated soothsayers. Not that they weren’t good people, but because they were always so damned cryptic. He slid the necklace on, and began to follow his sister, snagging his hat back from the girl.
Arana shrugged as she walked along. “Consider yerself lucky. Most people don’t ever get a personal readin’ from the queen’s soothsayer.” She said, trying to lighten the mood. “I saw a vendor sellin’ fresh sunroot. The trader was from the far side of the forest… kept callin’ it Jenjer… want tah get some? I’ll make some sunroot stew fer yah when we get home~!” She said happily. She always did know what her brother liked.
Shasta gave a very large nod. It was probably the best thing he heard all day. “First thin’s first though. Yah owe me a bag of candied nuts…” He said coyly. He had been dragged to the market early in the morning, and he wasn’t going to leave without the bribe that had been promised him. The black haired boy grabbed the flour from his sister and onto his shoulder. “Onwards.” Sunroot stew made any bad day better.
Ryoko Konton · Mon Mar 17, 2014 @ 04:28am · 0 Comments |
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