Sorcerer Stabber Orphen Fan Fiction ❯ It's in the Blood ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: The usual, I don't own any of the characters in SSO.

This is set after Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge. This is based off the Anime only and the English ADV versions at that. Warning Spoilers!

Chapter 2*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*

On the day before they arrived in Cleo and Majic's hometown, the group received a visitor.

"I am the assassin of the night…."

"It's Shrimpman!" Cleo shouted excitedly, interrupting his speech.

"Will you let me finish it for once!?!? I am the assassin of the night …"

"Where's Crab Girl?" inquired Majic, also interrupting.

"ARRRGGGH…Why don't you ever let me finish? I am the assassin of the night…. "

"So, what are you doing here, Hartia?" Orphen said.

"So, why aren't you riding something?" Cleo asked simultaneously.

He wilted dejectedly, "Oh, I give up, and it's New Black Tiger. I'm here to …what in the world?" Hartia broke off as a large group of red, scaly monsters charged down a nearby hill at the party.

"Cleo, Majic, get back! And for once, stay out of the way!" Orphen shouted, as he launched Sword of Light at their attackers as they descended on the group. He picked many of them off with his spell, Sword of Light, until they came close enough for hand to hand. He then called forth his magical sword, and agilely started to slice and dice the creatures. Meanwhile, Hartia had refused to cast spells while dressed as "Shrimpman" and waited until the creatures were close enough for him to attack with his scythe.

One of the monsters had particularly intense red eyes and seemed to be focused on getting past their defenses, but avoiding the sorcerer, Orphen. The closer it got, the more Cleo felt a buzzing in her inner ear. She was trying to figure out what was going on; when she saw one of the other creatures take a swipe at Leki. She grabbed her sword from the pack Majic was carrying and charged past Orphen, towards the monster and Leki. Before she could reach them, Leki blasted the monster himself. Once in the fray, she didn't hesitate, hacking a couple of the monsters in two without even realizing it. She was like a berserker, acting on instinct alone, focused on one thing, one enemy…the one with the intense red eyes, even though he hadn't threatened Leki and he was no longer in danger. She didn't even notice that the others had finished off all the other creatures. Once she got within striking distance of her target, she suddenly dropped her sword and clapped her hands over her ears. Everyone watched, horrorstruck, as she teetered, then collapsed, practically at its feet.

"Cleo!!" Hartia, Orphen and Majic screamed, as they saw the monster standing over her reach down, scratch her right arm and lick the blood off his claw. Hartia was in a position to see the monsters face and to his great revulsion; it smiled after it had tasted her blood. It was still smiling even when Orphen assisted by Majic attempted to blast it with spells. The creature barely flinched from the joined spells, although it seemed to blur and loose some of its red coloring.

The creature looked around hesitantly, as if assessing the situation, and then it squared its shoulders and seemed to make a decision. It reached down, picked Cleo up, and threw her over its shoulder. Leki howled in anger and blasted it, sending Cleo and it flying towards Hartia. They landed right in front of him. The force of the impact separated them by a few feet.

From the woods nearby, there was a howl answering Leki's. The creature's shape seemed fuzzy at the edges and its color had completely changed to gray. As it stood up, Orphen and the others moved to surround it. Seeing no escape, it cast a teleportation spell.

As soon as it disappeared, Cleo opened her eyes and slowly stood up, surprised to find herself surrounded by three concerned sorcerers and Leki. Leki jumped up into her arms and licked her face anxiously.

"What in the hell were you thinking?!"

"Why did you just collapse?"

"Miss Cleo, are you ok?"

"One at a time, geez…I was thinking I wanted to protect Leki but I don't know what happened. I was all set to get that thing with my sword when I felt..uh…like a buzz in my ears, which kept getting more intense, until I couldn't hear or feel anything. I guess fainted. It's gone now. I'm all right."

"Well, Leki returned the favor. He blasted the monster when it decided it was going to pick you up and take you with it. He sure has grown. His power has increased too, unless I miss my guess, even without the bracelet." Hartia said.

"Oh, it sure has, Hartia. Just wait till you get blasted out of a sound sleep by him because his mistress can't stay in her own bed."

"Oh…you sleep with her often?" Hartia smirked. "I didn't think you had it in you Orphen."

Orphen glared at him in response

Cleo stuck her tongue out at them and snuggled Leki, "So you saved me, you sweet little pup. You're the best protector ever. Much better than that moody sorcerer."

As Orphen opened his mouth to fire off a retort, he looked out and saw a single Wolven approaching the road.

"Look out! Cleo, Majic get back!" Hartia took up position beside Orphen as they prepared to cast against the Wolven. The Wolven growled lightly and stopped advancing on the party. Leki jumped out of Cleo's arms and ran out in front of Hartia and Orphen. Orphen, prepared for what he knew was coming, put his arm out to prevent Cleo from charging past them, and going after the young pup. Leki barked and yapped at the Wolven who seemed to answer. It occurred to Cleo that this was probably one of Leki's parents.

Leki started toward the Wolven, then back to Cleo, and repeated the process. When he got close to Cleo on the third pass, she picked him up, hugged him and said "A visit?" Leki nodded happily, licked Cleo's face, and went off to the Wolven. The Wolven looked at Cleo and she heard a female voice in her head, "Tell the sorcerers to stand down young Huntress. I will not harm anyone this day." Cleo thought, `Huntress what does she mean by that?'

Cleo looked to either side of her to see Hartia and Orphen, with their hands out, charged up to cast at the Wolven if she did anything aggressive. "Relax, she said she won't harm us. I think she's Leki's mother."

Raising their eyebrows at her statement, they relaxed. Orphen guessed that if she'd wanted to hurt him like before, the Wolven would have done it already. After Hartia and Orphen relaxed, they began clean up the remains of the fight and discussing where to camp for the night. The Wolven female continued speaking to Cleo.

"You are correct, he is my pup. He will return to you. There is more traveling he wishes to do and he says you take very good care of him." She sniffed Leki and he leaped into the fur of her neck. "You are going to your own mother, so it is a good time for him to stay a while with his." Cleo smiled, nodded, and watched as Leki jumped back down holding a pendant in his mouth. "If you need him or you are going to continue your traveling, rub this and call his name…. his Wolven name, Leiakipenipu." He ran back to Cleo and dropped a small blue wolf pendant in her hand. Leki yipped at his mother and, with what could only be described as a Wolven sigh of patience, she added, "You are asked to wear this always, as the pendant works both ways. If for some reason, he needs you, you will know through the pendant. As he grows, communication such as this will be possible without a pendant. For now, the pendant will enhance that and allow him to better understand you and sense your emotions. Understanding is good for partners." The Wolven glanced at Orphen, who was now leaning against a tree, waiting with Hartia and Majic for Cleo. "Patience, too." Cleo nodded, but winced, as she thought of her other "partner." Leki ran back to his mother and they departed.

Unseen by the others, Cleo slipped the pendant on the ribbon around her neck, which she wore with her traveling outfit, a short wraparound skirt, sleeveless shirt and boots, and then turned to rejoin the others.

Some time later, Hartia was just sitting down next to the beginnings of a fire Majic was busy building. Cleo tripped over her own backpack and fell across Hartia's lap giving both Orphen and Hartia a great view of her underwear. A snort and the word "Klutz" was heard from the tree. Cleo quickly rolled over, looked up at Hartia and blushed. Hartia hugged her close and, to his surprise, felt her lean into their embrace. He also watched Orphen surreptitiously through his bangs. "Get a room," suggested a bored voice, but Hartia could see Orphen was glaring daggers at him.

Hartia smiled and whispered to her, "Oh, light of my life, I'm glad to see you too, but don't you think we should wait until the children are asleep?" Cleo had started to pull away when Orphen spoke and began struggling in earnest when Hartia teased her. She blushed furiously, because she'd been thinking how nice it felt to be held and wishing…. Well, she felt those wishes were foolish for her. She got up, started to go over towards Orphen, but saw his look and went to her pack and started digging in it for something.

Observing the group, Hartia was thinking about what happened and quickly realized that he couldn't tell Orphen about Lai's vision as he'd originally intended. Aside from the fact that Orphen would never believe that he would get so emotionally riled, Hartia had a strong feeling that the encounter they'd just had was directly related to Lai's vision. And if he read the battle right, the monster's target would strike a deeper, more painful blow, than death to Orphen. Of course, that presented Hartia with another problem. If he didn't mention the vision, how was he going to explain his arrival? Orphen would know he wouldn't leave the Tower without a reason.

"So, Hartia, why are you here?" Orphen said interrupting Hartia's musing.

Hartia started to answer, when Cleo stood up in triumph, clutching a well-crumpled letter and something else. "Did you know, Shrimpy, that my sister's getting married next week? We're heading to the wedding. I'm going to be the bridesmaid."

"Dragged is more like it." Muttered Orphen. Cleo stuck her tongue out at Orphen, "If you don't start being nicer, I'll sic…. oh…. Well, I'll get you, two-bit magician. Anyway, since Majic and Orphen are already invited, would you like to be my escort?"

Hartia looked at Orphen, who snorted indifferently, before replying. "Why Cleo, I'd love to."

"Great! Now that that's settled. Hey Majic!" and she went off to talk to Majic. She handed him the first aid kit she'd retrieved from her pack and asked Majic to help her clean the cuts and scrapes she got from the battle. Majic was surprised she asked him to treat her injuries when Master could have quickly healed them, but he figured Orphen was in one of his moods again.

"So, Hartia?" The brat's interruption hadn't deterred Orphen from his goal of finding out what Hartia was up to.

"Lai told me that Cleo's sister was getting married, of course. I figured I'd come around to kiss the bride, or maybe the bridesmaid."

`Quick thinking Hartia,' mused Orphen. Out loud, he said, "Yeah, right, since when have weddings interested you?" `Something else brought you out of the tower and it wasn't a wedding. Hold it…escort and kiss her?!'

"When I know the bride and bridesmaid." Orphen's eyes narrowed with what Hartia suspected was jealousy. Then, he added with a grin, looking meaningfully at Cleo, "Especially when I know the bridesmaid."

Hartia launched into a monologue about all the comings and goings at the Tower, which ended with news of Orphen's `sister', "Azalie sends her best. Childman's about a year old now but he looks like he's two or three. In some ways, it's spooky, a baby with adult eyes. It's amazing, but he can already write a little now and is talking some. He really is working towards something, but I don't know what. Whatever it is, it takes a lot out of him though, Azalie too." He saw that Orphen was relaxing a little, so Hartia decided to shake him up again.

"So Cleo, will there be dancing at the wedding?" Hartia knew he was skating on thin ice but he just couldn't resist.

"Absolutely, Mariabella and I are wonderful at all the dance steps. And I got this great new dress"

"Show me."

Hesitantly, "The dress or the dancing?"

"Both"

"But there's no music."

"We'll make our own."

Cleo came forward, "Ok, I certainly could use the practice."

"You said something about a dress? Come on, let's have a preview."

"Not right now. It's just that I'm a mess and this doesn't seem to want to stop…." She gestured to a clean area on her right arm where there was a scratch, which was still bleeding. She figured that was because she'd just had Majic help her clean it up.

`Here, allow me…." Hartia stood up and came towards her. He was about to cast a healing spell when Orphen walked up, shouldered Hartia out of the way to check on her, and cast the spell first.

"Thanks," Cleo said to Orphen's back as he returned to the tree. "Hartia, I still want to take a bath before I put the dress on." She was feeling suddenly shy around him and wanted to put this off. He was acting different than he usually did.

"I shall be waiting with baited breath for your return my lovely."

Cleo blushed furiously and started walking towards her backpack, without looking where she was going and tripped again. This time Hartia was ready since he saw how distracted she was. He moved so when she tripped, she would fall right into his arms. It worked. She thought for a second that Hartia was going to kiss her. If he did, it would be her first, when she'd really wanted to save that for…well…Orphen. So, just as she was about to turn her head to avoid any potential kisses, a very familiar voice issued a challenge.

"Cleo it's your turn to cook dinner. Follow the recipe this time so you don't poison us."

Majic shook his head, realizing the gauntlet has just been thrown down and the fight was on. He watched as Orphen engaged in what Majic suspected was one of his favorite pastimes, Cleo baiting. Majic realized that Hartia had been flirting with Cleo to see what Orphen would do. `Could Master have been jealous?' Majic shook his head. `If Master were jealous he would actually have to acknowledge that he had some feelings for Cleo. He'd never do that. But I wish he would.'

Just then, Cleo and Orphen's fight ended the usual way, with her storming off into the woods, Majic was surprised that, for once, she actually thought to grab her bag and her sword.

Hartia watched the exchange without really seeing what it was building to. He was too surprised at himself. He wanted to kiss Cleo. He really wanted to kiss her and he wanted her to look at him the way she looked at Orphen sometimes. `Great, your stupid flirting has caused you to develop a crush on your best friend's girl. You're really hopeless Hartia…whoa…. where does she think she going? Damn it, she was the monster's target and Orphen just drove her off!?!?'

"I can't believe she just took off, doesn't she realize it's dangerous out there?"

"For whom, " Orphen smirked.

"Master Hartia, this happens all the time, Cleo's run off about 30 times now. They do it all the time. Don't worry though, she always comes back. Usually when she gets hungry. "

"Actually, it's 33 times," Orphen added with a shrug.

"You keep track!" Hartia said, unaccountably angry with Orphen.

"Relax Hartia, she's got…uh…. uh oh."

`Right Uh oh…you idiot! …that monster!" Hartia went tearing off after Cleo.

Majic watched as Orphen, slowly walked to the forest. Once out of sight, Orphen started to run and search for Cleo. He cursed Hartia, for stirring things up. He realized he'd forgotten when he started taunting her that Leki had left.

Hartia found her bag and dress hanging on a tree near a pool. He stopped and hid in the bushes. Just in time to see Orphen charge into the clearing and trip over her bags. Actually he tripped over Hartia, but all he saw were Cleo's things. He landed face down, almost at Cleo's feet, as she was entering the water for a bath. She quickly dove in to hide from the intruder.

"A bath? Is that what you always do when you run off?"

"No, not always. Why did you follow me? Peeping again?"

"How could you be so stupid to run off when you don't at least have Leki to protect you?"

"As if you care!"

"I don't!" The answer was automatic, if untrue.

"Then why are you here?"

"I…" Orphen started. "err…. if anything happens to you, your mother and sister would kill me and I really don't want to deal with hysterical women anymore than I already have to."

"Well, go away, I'm bathing. I'll be back shortly."

"And that's supposed to make me go away. I don't think so, I'll turn around and you finish fast, or I'll drag you back by your hair. I don't want to leave Majic alone long either."

Hartia quietly sneaked away from their hideaway. He then made a great noise like he was searching this way. He `arrived' just in time to see that Cleo had finished bathing and had put on the new dress. His mouth went dry when he realized that feisty little Cleo was nothing short of breath taking. The dress was styled to accent her small waist and cut low to show a fair amount of cleavage. `She has a figure, and…. whoa!' When he could finally take his eyes off her, he saw he was facing a very annoyed looking Orphen. Orphen still had his back to the pool so he hadn't seen Cleo.

Cleo watched Hartia when he arrived in the clearing and saw his eyes and mouth widen in surprise. It was very flattering, but she didn't understand it coming from Hartia. She didn't quite know what to make of it, but she figured she'd better set him straight about a few things.

Orphen looked at Hartia menacingly and said, "Cleo, you'd better be dressed."

"Yes, I am."

"Then lets go back."

"Oh vision of true beauty, allow me to escort you back to the camp," Hartia said, as he brushed past Orphen and offered her his arm.

Orphen glared at Hartia as he walked past him, and finally turned to see Cleo. It was hard to cover his reaction. `When the hell did my Cleo become that stunning? Whoa …where did that come from…and she's not my Cleo. And why is Hartia drooling all over her? Is she why he came?' That thought constricted around his heart. He didn't understand or like how that felt.

As soon as they we out of earshot, Cleo stopped and surprised Hartia again. He realized he kept underestimating her intelligence. She acted ditzy, but she didn't miss much, especially when it came to Orphen. `Orphen, you don't know how lucky you are to have her, and you're going to mess it up if you're not careful.'

"You never really answered Orphen about why you're here. I want to know. Now." She thought again and added " and what's with the flirting? You never did that with me before."

"Ah…Hold on a sec…." Hartia could hear Orphen starting to return to the camp so he hugged her close and said "To the other side." Suddenly, they were well away from the water and the camp but not far enough to miss hearing "Hartia!" screamed. `I'm going to be in trouble when we get back, but I don't want him to hear.'

"Well, the flirting, I…. uh starting doing it to annoy Krylancelo."

"I could have told you that wouldn't work." She smiled weakly "Tried it…he really doesn't care that way. I'm about ready to give..Whoa, wait a minute, started?

"Well…I…."

"Shrimpy, you're a great guy, but I..."

"You never let me finish anything. I was about to say that I started flirting just to annoy Krylancelo but almost immediately realized I wanted you to look at me the same way you look at him. I know how you feel, sorry, but it's obvious to me. I just want you to know, if you ever need someone to…." She stopped him by putting her fingertips on his mouth.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For caring, for trying to help, for being a friend to both of us…. just everything"

"You still didn't let me finish," Hartia whined, but he beamed at her heartfelt words. He could also see resolve in her eyes that said he wasn't off the hook with her other concern.

"Now…. what really brought you out of the Tower?"

"If I'm not going to tell Krylancelo, why do you think I would tell you?"

"Because dress or no, I'll beat the crap out of you if you don't."

He grinned, "You think you can."

She grabbed his ear pulled him down and whispered menacingly, "You really want to try me?" Hartia sighed and explained a few portions of the vision Lai had.

When they returned, Hartia almost immediately found himself tied from head to toe in rope hanging upside down from a tree, with a gag in his mouth, and Orphen was giving Cleo lecture 1001.

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The dark figure stormed back into the cave near the place where he'd been imprisoned thousands of years ago, furious. He saw that he still had company. "Agan, you didn't tell me the other was a girl as well. Girls never inherit."

"So, she wasn't the source of the power you feel?"

"No…she's the source. She's just coming into her skills and she's already gained her familiar. The strength she must have flowing in her veins to have earned a Deep Dragon as her familiar. I saw it with my own eyes and I still don't want to believe it. She's the key to returning my strength."

"Then, I'll have my men capture her."

"Only if you want to waste your men."

"What? She can't be that tough."

"No, but she's traveling with a fighter and 2 sorcerers… well I'd say a sorcerer and an apprentice. He and the girl were ordered away from the battle. I knew the fighter wasn't the hunter because he didn't react to my presence. Then I thought the apprentice was the hunter as I approached the group. When I saw the animal in the fighting, I knew that he was a familiar and that if he were threatened, the hunter would act and reveal himself ..err herself. She entered the fight as soon as the familiar was threatened. The girl is definitely a Hunteress. Once incited to fight she almost immediately focused on me."

"So how are we going to advance the plans if we can't take her?"

"We need to create a rift to separate her from the others, or lure her here, or both."

"I've got to get back to town or I'll be missed, let me know what you intend to do, Garik."

"I already have an idea. Do not go overboard, stick to the letter of the plan, for I sense she could irritate any man to anger. Now, here's what you will do…."