Fan Fiction ❯ Gelden ❯ Zephyr Ruined and Hardis ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: Zephyr Ruined and Hardis

Before Falon had anytime to think about what had just happened, she had been knocked unconscious. The last thing she heard was a oily voice muttering about how one of the thieves had been caught. Blackness had overcome her mind and she fell into the world of dreams.

There were three men and one woman in the room. The woman looked over Falon.

"I recognize her…" She said. It was Aurora Targa. "She was at the Culver Serpent earlier."

He partner Lodon Camlin was also there. He nodded to her and picked up Falon's limp body. "Thieves… When will they ever learn…"

"Sir Camlin… Do you think there were any others down there?" said a younger soldier. Lodon gave a cruel laugh.

"Let `em burn to Nazet Gar in that blaze they've brought upon themselves. Shame some of my men were down there, though…" Lodon growled. Aurora stared at him.

"Let's get outta this place… We'll lock the girl up in the prison… Let her rot for awhile…" Aurora said. "We should have suspected her earlier with that company she was keeping…"

The five people headed out of the burning building, Lodon carrying Falon. They got outside into the stormy street where people had begun to gather. Lodon turned to his two other men. "Clear these people out. This buildings gonna be completely overtaken by the flames in a matter of minutes…we don't want any other casualties…"

The two soldiers began towards the people. Lodon and Aurora headed off towards the city prison with Falon. Behind them, there was a blast and people began screaming as something in the Guild exploded. Lodon swore at the sound.

"Cerik certainly was ill prepared for something like this." Aurora muttered miserably. "The Watch and Knights should have responded by now…"

Although the city was ruled by the Order of the Magus, Cerik's security system was based on a city Watch. The Watchmen were various patrollers set to find any wrongdoing in the city. The Knights were whom the Watchmen alerted to carry out the laws. Knights also served as Guards for many of the important buildings in the city. Lodon and Aurora were guards for the Guild of Magus. They had high status in the Art of Knighthood, and were probably the most skilled knights in the city.

The Magus, on the other hand, were people who used there magic `for the good of people'. Most of the time those considered magus had immensely powerful magic skills, but there were different degrees of Magus. Even though they used magic, they mostly researched magic. They kept their studies and various magic objects in the Guild, as well as taught classes there. Magus from all over the world sent their finds to Cerik's Guild. Cerik was one of the first Magus founded city, created almost 900 years before, when the Order first came into being.

"All the magus around here are too damn lazy to get their asses down here to help stop fires… And the people who want to help stop things like this, the Knights and Watch, don't get enough support from the people…" Lodon growled. "But the people with the power to stop them, never lift a bloody finger."

Aurora didn't bother interrupting his angry grumbles. Lodon was one who hated putting up with the magic users. He believed they took power and respect from his fellow knights, while doing nothing to gain it. Aurora half-agreed but only because the Magus were becoming much more popular and the Art of the Knights were becoming obsolete to Magic. She wanted to help preserve the old Art.

Lodon shifted Falon to his other shoulder. "No… they just want to sit and research magic, not caring what happens to anyone else… I lost almost fifteen men tonight… They could have been saved if a single ice magus had decided to wake up and help us stop that fire…"

They both went silent the rest of the way to the prison. Thunder clapped above them. They reached the prison and went inside out of the storm. The Knight Captain and Keeper of the Watch looked wearily at Lodon and Aurora. They were drenched and carrying a girl whom was burned, and also drenched.

"Sir Camlin… Lady Targa…" The knight captain greeted. He treated them formally. They were lower rank than him in the city, but to the Art of Knighthood, they far outranked him. Lodon nodded his head as a greeting and set Falon down. Aurora glared at the Keeper; she hated dealing with Watchmen. They were bloody squealers and cowards.

"A thief… broke into the Guild trying to steal something in the third basement… started a big fire that killed fifteen of my men…" he grunted. "If it were a man, I'd have already killed him…"

"Just lock her up… keep her there for a few decades or something…" Aurora said angrily. The knight captain looked slightly confused.

"Yessir… and ma'am…" the captain said and waved at the Keeper to bring Falon.

"And get some of the Watchmen to help out at the guild." Aurora ordered. She liked to bully the little coward Keeper. "We need this fire under control."

The Keeper nodded rather nervously. With that, the two Guild guards left the prison. The Keeper dragged Falon into a dark prison room and slammed the door, locking her in.

The rain was beginning to lighten slightly by the morning. It appeared that the storm was coming to an end after a long few days. Daylight could be seen through the thinning clouds. For the first time in over three days, people were coming out of their houses all over the city. Mostly to see the ruins of what used to be their beloved Guild. Birds were coming out of their shelters and flying freely again. The only thing to dispirit the citizens of Cerik was the smoke and steam still coming from the ruins. Knights were busily keeping noisy people back, while the Magus searched for important documents and artifacts. Many of their most important objects had special protection spells on them to keep them from damage from fire, water or any other natural disasters. The Magus searched and counted off each one of their items retrieved.

Juno Illumin stood across the street watching the Magus sift through the ruins. She ran her hand through her streaked hair and after glancing at the Magus one last time, she shifted her gaze to the people standing around. Hers eyes searched for any sign of Traque. She had a funny feeling that he had been the cause of the fire. The Guild, after all, had been their meet-up building after he went chasing after the Aryhpez woman.

What is so important about her anyways…" Juno muttered. After deciding that Traque truly wasn't in that crowd anywhere, she began down the alley she had spent the night waiting for him in. "Ruthless bastard…"

She decided to head back to the Culver Serpent. She figured Traque probably went back there. Unless he had forgotten about her. Her eyes flashed dangerously.

She wandered down a few streets, towards the docks. It was very quiet, as most of the people were back at the guild. The only other person on the street was heading towards the Guild. He had a long sword and Juno vaguely remembered seeing him somewhere before…

He passed her, though he seemed to widen the distance between them considerably as they passed. She thought this was odd, but continued on her way. The road turned ahead towards the little pub. She got around the corner and stopped. There was a tingling sensation on the back of her neck. Quickly she grasped the crossbow at her back and turned. The bolt shot straight at the man following her.

Traque calmly reached out and grabbed the bolt and inch from his heart. He had an amused look on his face as he snapped the bolt in two. He threw the pieces aside, annoyed.

"I could kill you for attacking your commanding officer…" Traque said calmly and Juno looked flustered. She briefly noticed a half-healed cut on his forehead. It hadn't been there last night. If he had just gotten it, how had it healed so fast?

"Sorry sir… With all the mobs today…" She quickly said and strapped her crossbow back in place. Traque smiled mischievously.

"I don't blame you, foolish girl…" Traque stepped toward her. His expression was unreadable now. Juno swallowed. His words were emotionless. "I have an order for you…"

"Sir?"

"Head back to Mendob on the next ship out…" Traque said. "And give this to Kione…"

Traque reached into his cloak and withdrew a letter The seal on it had an H design similar to the one on their belts. Juno stared at it for a moment. Kione… Juno's eyes flashed again hearing that name. Kione was the mysterious witch that was rumored to be equal in status only to Traque, just under their infamous leader, that hardly anyone believed existed. Why would Traque need a letter delivered to the witch?

"May I ask what this is?" Juno asked. Traque gave her a cold look that obviously meant it was none of her business. "Nevermind then, sir… I'll be on my way."

"To Hardis…" Traque said and began to walk off again. Juno looked at the letter, then shoved it deep into her uniform.

"To Hardis…" She repeated softly. She glared at Traque's back. Now she was a messenger. She didn't join Hardis to run errands for the leaders right hand man…

She headed towards the dock quickly. The sooner she got back to Mendob the better. At least there she was treated as a soldier…

Light streamed into the small room Falon was laying it. Daylight… she thought briefly...the storm is over. The floor was hard and somewhat wet. Drowsily she sat up and looked at her surroundings. The room was very small. It was made from a thick stone of some sort, like a dungeon. It was bare and only had one small open window with bars in it. That was where the light was coming from. There was a bench with a blanket on the far wall and a large wood door next to her. The door had a very small hole in the bottom.

Slowly Falon crawled to the hole and peered out. A pair of feet were standing next to the door but that was all she could make out. She began to stand up but even as slowly as she did, she became dizzy and sat back down again. She began to wonder where she was and how she'd gotten there. The memories of the night before began to come back. No wonder she felt as groggy as she did.

Falon looked at her singed clothes and ash covered boots. They were a little damp, probably from the rain. She remembered being dragged from the fire by someone… then a voice claiming that one of the thieves had been caught.

"Must have been me…" She groaned. She crawled over to the bench and laid down on it, her head resting on the blanket. She began to sleep again.

A few hours passed before Falon woke up again. This time, a scrapping had woken her up. She looked over to the door where someone had pushed a bowl under the hole in the door. Her stomach growled at the site of it. A ravenous hunger overcame her and she started for the bowl. She stood up, immediately followed by a horrible head rush, but she was too hungry to care. She sat down next to the bowl and picked it up. There seemed to be gray pasty soup in it. There was also a chunk of hard bread half submerged in the paste. She smelled it and winced. It had a horrible smell.

A slide near the top of the door opened and a pair of eyes appeared in the slot.

"So you are awake…" said the man outside through the slot. "Careful when you eat that bread… It's in the soup to soften it…"

Falon began to eat, hardly acknowledging the man. The stuff tasted almost as bad as it smelled, but she ate it none the less. Anything to fill her stomach. The man watched her silently through the slot.

When she finished she set the bowl down and leaned against the door.

`Push it back through…" The man said and Falon did so. She crawled back to the bench. The man slide the slot back again. Falon lay on the bench, looking out the window, thinking. Judging by the light, she figured it was getting late into the day. She wondered what happened to Adem and Cedar. Adem…

She shuddered, thinking about what might have happened to him. She wasn't worried about Cedar as much. Cedar was full of mysteries and probably had a plan to escape the fire when she chose to go after her statuette. But although she knew that Adem probably got out all right, she felt scared. Adem had been with her for a little over two years. He was one of the only people too know her true identity.

She was not just a common thief, as Adem and herself had led Cedar to believe. She was actually a princess from the ruined capital of Mendob, Zephyr.

Zephyr was a leading kingdom in both Magic and Knighthood. Second only to Valgor, a neighboring kingdom and ally to Zephyr. It also was the oldest and greatest surviving kingdom in the known world, dating back to over a thousand years. Or at least it had been.

A small army had been growing in Northern Mendob. The leader of this group, called Hardis, was a man of mystery, known only to few. He was also apparently an incredibly powerful Magus whose only companion was an odd woman named Kione. They had formed Hardis from scratch and within a year, Valgor had fallen to them. Right around the time Valgor had been taken by Hardis, Falon had left Zephyr to study in Temyna, a distant kingdom on another continent. Her father, the king of Zephyr, had ordered this done since Falon had recently been discovered to have extraordinary magic skills by a group of Magus called Prophets. He had believed that if Falon was to be a good queen, her skills should be studied and honed. Temyna had recently lost their own Princess and had two sons with similar powers to Falon's. She had been very young at the time. But that was when her nightmares had begun.

Falon began to see Zephyr destroyed, every night in her dreams. When she first told anyone about the dreams, they had just believed she was suffering from severe homesickness and that it would go away with time. Falon began to believe it herself, but the dreams continued. And in every dream a man would laugh at the ruins of her kingdom staring out with cold demonic eyes. Traque…

But beside her dreams, Falon began to become used to Temyna. She even made her best friend with the youngest Temyna prince, Rendar. Time went by until two years before, when the news of Zephyr's destruction reached Temyna. The news hit Falon incredibly hard, since that was her home and her entire family had been killed. But also, the pain was set deep, because Rendar had recently died from a wasting sickness. Falon had no one to grieve to and could no longer take the sorrow.

Deep inside she had blamed Zephyr's destruction on herself. She had ignored her dreams and believed that she could have done something to prevent it. She ran away from Temyna, wandering aimlessly.

One week later she had been attacked by Hardis soldiers, only to be saved by Adem. Her hooded rescuer had kindly decided to go along with her as he was also wandering with no destination in mind. Falon had been travelling by the name `Lady Aryhpez' and that was the name she had introduced herself as, but that was it. Adem didn't mind that she never talked about her past, and she didn't mind that he didn't either. After being attacked twice more by Hardis within a month, Falon finally had told Adem who she really was. Adem hadn't acted very surprised that she was a princess and told her that he was also running from a tragedy. They became good friends, as Adem came up with plans on how to avoid Hardis. Falon felt almost like she had around Rendar. She trusted Adem more than anyone else.

A year and a half went by and they met Cedar. Cedar had attempted to steal Adem's weapon, but she was amazed when he caught her. Cedar immediately wanted Falon and Adem to help her and so the three of them `went into business' together. For a few months Hardis after meeting Cedar, Hardis seemed to have withdrawn from their tracking of Falon. Falon never once expected that Cedar had been the cause of it.

But then last night at the Culver Serpent, Falon had seen the uniforms of Hardis. She and Adem had both agreed to leave quickly and silently. They had never told Cedar about their troubles with Hardis, and she had seemed rather confused about leaving last night. But now, Falon was alone and imprisoned. She wasn't worried about breaking the laws so much as if Hardis discovered her here. Especially if that man, Traque showed up again. She was scared of him and he could easily find her here.

"Adem…" Falon muttered. He would find her. Wherever he was. Slowly she became aware or her wet cheeks. Had she been crying? She supposed she must have been. Remembering her past was something she hated doing. It was too tragic to think about and it had been a long time since she had dwelled on it. Now with the absence of anyone's company memories would bubble up. Yes, she must have been crying.

A loud slamming noise tore her from her thoughts. She looked up at the window and noticed that it was growing dark. She walked to the door and listened.

"Stop it you, damn toadeaters! I didn't do a bloody thing… Blast it!" Cried a muffled voice. There was a shuffle of feet.

"What's this?" came another voice, this one the Knight Captain. A pause. "Oh nevermind. It's just him again…"

"Yeah I just the popular guy `round here!" Came the first voice again. There was another shuffle of feet and a small cry of pain. "Take that ya bloody leechsucker!"

"Silence him." The knight captain said. "You ok?"

Apparently the knights had taken in a particularly reckless prisoner who also sounded somewhat drunk.

"Yessir… I'm fine." Another wheezy voice said. "He just knocked the air outta me… sir."

"I'm gonna knock more outta ya if ya don't lemme go!" The first voice cried angrily. There was a sound like someone hitting a table. A clink of metal. "Hey, gimme m'sword back!"

"Shove him in a cell. Maybe this time he'll learn…" The knight captain said angrily. Obviously they had dealt with this ruffian before. Falon suddenly hoped they weren't gonna put him in her cell.

Unfortunately, her worse hopes were confirmed when the guard opened his slot. The guards must have changed because the man outside that was definitely not the nicer person that had gave her that grotesque paste from before. This man had a hard, unforgiving look about him, a nasty scar and leer to match.

"You little thieving wench, ya got company now." He sneered at Falon. He opened the thick door and three guards threw their prisoner in. The door slammed and the man ran at it pounding.

"You toadeaters are gonna pay, dammit! I didn't do anything this time, you bloody…" The man stopped and turned his head slightly, noticing Falon for the first time. His manner immediately changed. A man pretending to be the perfect gentlemen had suddenly replaced the drunken ruffian. "I'm… sorry… if I offended you…"

Falon blinked. The man looked vaguely familiar.

"You didn't offend me…" She said quietly. The man shrugged and walked over to her. Falon edged over slightly, not sure of him.

"Well, I'm still sorry, if I scared you with all that ruckus. Idiots, they are… And those fools call themselves knights…" The man muttered and gave a small laugh. "M'name is Lyle Cunningham, of the Crimson Eagles…say… your beauty is captivating and somewhat familiar… have we met before?"