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The Lyrebird War. Chapter three.
~ By Sweetdeily.
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“What are these?” A blonde head pokes up and I meet baby blue eyes with a cool red gaze.
“I think they’re a specialized weapon, Quatre.” I reply uninterested. Below me a solider moans and I touch his face absently. His eyes go wide before he slumps. I watch the spirit rise away into the night. There are a few spirits hovering over bodies, their eyes follow my every movement. I cannot send all of them on, some are already too long dead to send to the afterlife.
A clump of dust issues up from where Quatre is and I turn, raising an eyebrow to see him pull the strangely shaped pair of weapons up from the ground. It had flooded around this area, and dried too quickly, so there were quite a few things half buried in the ground.
“How many dead can you see, Duo? Are there any who look like they know what these are?”
I glance around. There are around fifty in total spirits that I can see. “Not many. A lot of the soldiers who fought here will live.” I look around, examining the spirits closer.
“There don’t seem to be any who’ve noticed those things. Probably alive somewhere.”
Quatre smiles and slices through the air with the strange weapons. “I like the curve and the metal. I’ll keep these and learn what they are, okay, Duo?”
I nod absently, ignoring him as he chats on about some sort of money he’d found on an important looking soldier. Most of the soldiers were unconscious to a big degree. You could have lit a fire under them and they wouldn’t have stirred.
Only a few days ago I started being able to see the spirits of the dead on the battlefields. It alarmed me a great deal and I had begun fighting the spirits before I realized they were not real people but murmurs of the dead.
Quatre sighs and glances at me. “I don’t think there’s much else for us to do here, Duo. I’m getting a sinking feeling that we’ve been here too long. Salvage teams will show up soon.”
I sigh, hand ghosting out from under the folds of my black cape to touch another half dead soldier.
“Sure, Quatre.” I glance across the other side of the gulley, swallowing softly. There was a very big sinking feeling I was beginning to get.
“We should get out of here.” I say absently. Quatre frowns at me before motioning me to follow.
“Let’s hurry, okay, Duo?” He asks.
I nod and we begin to trot away. Quatre grabs a stray horse and mounts it in one go. He sets the animal into a canter and I run fast to keep up. Without a horse Quatre is physically slower than me, but on the animal I am forced to run near full pelt to keep up. It doesn’t bother me.
As we clear the gully I hear the sound of marching behind us. I breath in and out softly and I wonder if Quatre had a sixth sense that there was an army approaching. I glance up at the riding prince. His short shaggy blonde hair is flying everywhere and I see his blue eyes gleaming in the light as he enjoys the ride.
I can only wonder.
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We arrive back at the inn during the first rays of the eve, the horse we leave to wander on the outskirts of town and to its own devices.
Quatre’s pack is full and his purse is heavy with coins. I am glad at this because it means we can spend a night indoors and get some supplies for him and a hair cut and some new sets of boots and clothing.
Quatre walks with a spring in his step. “Do you think we can pass by a weapon smith before you become adamant on feeding me? I want to find out what those weird weapons I found are.” He turns pleading eyes on me and I smile softly and nod.
“Sure, Quatre.”
He smiles happily. It’s only been in the recent year that I’ve seen him smile. It’s been five years since we left Hilde in a small village somewhere far away. Quatre and I have grown and he is healthy now. He talks to people and his personality is so nice. But he shies away from physical contact, and he has horrible nightmares, to which when he awakes I can hear his screams from outside.
I don’t sleep. When he wakes up after one of his nightmares, it makes me thankful of this fact. When his eyes are haunted after a night of sleep.
I enjoy the fact that I am so different that I cannot feel the horror of reliving those events. And Quatre envies that about me. A summer ago he tried to go without sleep or food like me and got himself in trouble because he became so thin and gaunt he could not move properly. So now I make sure he eats twice a day at least and get four or more hours of sleep. He finally accepted the fact that he could not become like me and settled to at least become bodily stronger than me.
Quatre grins as he spots the weapon smithery up ahead and bounds onward. I walk slowly to catch up, letting him greet the man at the anvil with a bright smile and a cheery heart. I draw my black cloak thicker around my body as I approach.
“-I was wondering how much gold you charge to identify a weapon and where one can find a trainer of such weapons?” Quatre is saying as I get nearer. The weapon smith smiles at Quatre and only glances at me for a moment.
“The going rate it three gold, cause of the war and all, but I’ll make a deal with you for two gold. Don’t get many well mannered young people these days.” The man says. Quatre pretends he doesn’t hear the soft offers underneath and gives the man two gold before producing the strangely carved blade’s he’d picked up.
“Wow! Been a while since I’ve seen them. Excellent close combat weapons, but they aren’t much good when up against swords or the like. Sai’s I believe they’re called. About three towns over there’s a weapons master who knows how to use these things, he’s good with all weird weapons and such, you should go see him.” Quatre smiles brilliantly and bows in thanks.
“Thank you. You’ve been a big help.”
I motion for him to follow and he slips the sai’s away into his pack. The weapon smith looks about ready to say something else but forgets it as we leave. Probably just as well for him.
Quatre bounds ahead of me and grins. “I bet I learn how to use them really quickly, Duo.” He says, slipping into his chitter mode. I smile and nod.
As we approach the local inn I gather my hood around me and withdraw my flesh into the robes of my cloak. Quatre opens the door for me and lets his cheery expression become stony.
The inn is musky and the tap room is full of stale pipe smoke, a few old men sit around smoking pipes and adding to the stench. The floors have been recently washed and the wood is dark, but with dusty spots from where people have trod over it. I make out several recent military footprints.
I blink suddenly, trying to remember a vision I had five years ago of such a place.
“Quatre…” I cough and add rough accent to my voice,
attempting to sound old and weak. “I don’t feel like a beer, want to go and
chat with
Quatre blinks and looks up at me, before he finally gets what I am saying. “Sure, whatever you say Mister errrr… Maxwell.” He coughs and shrugs silently in apology. I wonder where the word Maxwell came from but I shrug it off mentally.
“Come on. Take me home.” I say. Quatre nods and we move to leave.
The door swings open just as we reach for it and a soldier steps through.
The tavern is suddenly quiet. Quatre and I become deadly still. I can tell this soldier is of pretty high ranking by the cleanliness and steal caps on his boots. The soldier’s eyes are obscured by a strange silver mask that resembles a bird of prey in a way.
He looks around the room, not moving from in front of us. Quatre and I only stand there, breathing; I keep my face down and try to remember the vision I had concerning this place.
“Right. Nothing looks amiss here.” He says slowly, his gaze stretches across the room before it comes back toward us. He gives Quatre a once over and glances at me for a moment. I feel my insides churning; I can feel his gaze on the top of my head.
My throat is dry and I want desperately to swallow.
He frowns at me. “You, old man, take off the hood for a minute. I have my routine inspections to keep up on and I’ve got to check everyone even remotely suspicious.”
Oh god. I swallow and reach up slowly, squeezing my eyes shut as I do so.
Please, oh please don’t care about the beauty. I whisper to myself. Beside me Quatre is quiet and his blue eyes scared, one of his hands is inching toward his pack, ready to draw his new sai’s and try his luck if things get ugly.
I grip my hood and pull it back slowly, without a flourish.
Even if it had been a flourish the result is the same.
The room gasps and flies into whispers suddenly. The soldier seems unphased.
“Hmm, what color eyes does she have boy? I was told to look out for a red eyed absolutely stunning lad of the age of 11 to 17. The age and the stunning seem to fit, although it was a boy I was told to look for, but boys don’t come that pretty.” He says to Quatre.
Quatre turns wide blue eyes on him before glancing at my eyes. I know they are lavender because there isn’t enough light to irritate me in the room. “Her, uh, eyes are lavender, sir.” The prince whispers out breathily. He probably sounds stunned by my beauty as opposed to scared at being found out.
“Ahh well, we were close. Well, young miss, ye’d do well to get some muscle men. A girl of your beauty shouldn’t wander alone in the eve. But, as it is, since I’ve finished my rounds I’ll volunteer to guard you for the night, if ye will, it be a soldier’s duty to any noble or young.”
Quatre turns to stare at me outright. I blink rapidly.
This is bad.
~ To be continued…
Sweet notes: Ahh, slipping into the story better, but my grammar is feeling bad. Ack. Thank you for beta-ing Brit-chan!!!!!!! Reviews anyone?