Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Prayer ❯ The Masquerade ( Chapter 9 )

Stolen Prayer

Chapter Nine- - The Masquerade

Nicholai carried the extra set of clothes under one arm, while the other held a wooden staff that had been purchased at the weapon shop. When he spotted Wink, she was sitting obediently on a fallen tree, her feet swinging just a little against the wood. She glanced up at the sound of his footsteps, the Wingly's well-built physique towering over her.

"Here are your new clothes, Princess. Hurry up and get changed." He imparted the clustered pile to her and she stood, saying nothing, as she walked over to a tree, hid behind it, and began to shed her clothes.

"Thanks," She called out from behind the tree, as she reached over for the new garments.

"No problem."

"How much were they? I'll pay you back."

"Don't bother. I have enough money to retire on."

She stared blankly at the pair of black pants before her. "Your parents were rich?" Wink asked after a moment before slipping into them.

"I suppose you could say that. They weren't the agnostic Winglies that I am. They believed in fate and so what they had was apart of fate too." Nicholai grunted. He regretted what he had just said.

"I see," Wink straightened her shirt and then sighed, stepping out from behind the tree. "Well?" She spread her arms, showing her new look off.

He nodded in approval. "They look good on you. Good thing too. I didn't know what your body measurements were."

"And you never will," She snorted as she looked down at herself.

The black corduroy pants hung loosely on her hips, nearly falling and would have if they had not been suspended by the brown leather belt around her delicate waist. Petite brown boots encased her diminutive feet and they were comfortable, she noted. A long-sleeved gray shirt hugged her top as a black vest hung loosely over it.

"Sorry I got you men's clothing," He shrugged. "But I figured that it was better you look rowdy than prim and proper, don't you?"

She glanced up at him momentarily. "I'm all in black…like you."

"I have it all planned out," He told her. "We're going to play pretend, Princess. And in this game of pretend, you're my sister."

"What?" She barked, her eyes narrowing.

"If you want to hang around me, we have to terminate every ounce of evidence that you ever were a Sacred Sister. We don't need everyone knowing who you are." He pointed to the long silky braid cascading over her shoulder. "And your hair has to go too."

She instantly seized her golden hair. "You're not hacking off my hair!"

"We don't have to if you don't want to. I was just implying that we had to change it around a little bit."

Wink settled down, but her cagey eyes did not leave Nicholai. She stepped back, still staring at him, and stooped low to pick up her cardigan, skirt, and boots. "How do you plan to change my hair around?"

"What? Men aren't allowed to know the things that women do? I'll do it." He motioned her towards him. "Sit down on the tree I found you on and untie your braid."

She dutifully did what was asked of her, the apprehension leaving her. He stepped up behind her as she handed him her blue ribbon.

"Don't slouch," He scolded lightly and she straightened her back. He took the river of hair in between his fingers, scrutinizing it vigilantly. "Hmm…" He slipped his black leather gloves from his hands, handing them to Wink.

"Where did you learn how to deal with hair?" She asked as she took the gloves from him and set them in her lap with her other clothes.

"My mother," He answered, reaching into his pant pockets for some bands that he had kept for times like these. "She always loved dealing with hair. People would come from all over town to sit and talk with her while she did up their hair. Most times I liked to sit and watch while she did so." His voice fell into a whisper. "…Everyone loved my mother."

Wink listened intently, her eyes falling to the pile of clothes in her lap. "Did you admire your mother?" She asked.

He paused, holding the white bands in his hand. "Yeah," He said. "I did." Nicholai held the bands out for her to see. "These belonged to her. I'll use them in your hair for now until we get a hold of some real ribbons, so don't lose them."

She was prepared to object. How could he use something so priceless on her? But he was adamant about it, and she didn't want to sit in the forest forever.

Nicholai took two separate strands on each side of her head and pulled them together, combing through them with his fingers. "You're going to need a false name too. Any in mind?"

She paused, pondering thoughtfully.

"Make sure it's nothing that people will be suspicious of," He added. "A name like Theresa or something like that will make people think twice. Besides, you're supposed to be my sister, so don't call yourself anything stupid."

"And why would I do that?" She glared at him.

"Don't move your head!" He pulled her head back into position. After a moment he spoke again. "My last name is Delgado. We won't be telling anyone that but in case something like that is necessary, your name should fit with mine."

"Stop with all of your inane rules already!" Wink sighed. "The more you keep talking, the less I can think. Besides, I highly doubt anyone would care about whether or not my name corresponded with yours."

"You never know," He shrugged. "Anyway, what do you think?"

"I'm not very creative," She admitted overtly. "Elizabeth? Janet?"

"Are those names something you REALLY want to be called for the next few months?"

"Why? Is that going to be how long it takes for you to find the Azurakey?"

"Probably not, but I didn't want to make it sound like a lifetime. Anyway, keep throwing names."

"Uh…Margaret? Sylvia?"

Nicholai sighed. "You're right. You AREN'T very creative. You can't go running around with such banal names."

"Thank you Captain Obvious," She muttered grimly to herself. "Don't you have any special Wingly names? Like Sizmu or Meatra?"

Nicholai eyed her in stupefaction. "Did you just make those up on the top of your head?" He continued playing with her hair. "All right, all right, give me a moment." He contemplated the matter briefly before speaking again. "Acacia. It was the name of a woman from one of the many stories my mother used to tell me when I was a child." He half expected her to reply with something snide like, 'You? You were a child once?'

But to his amazement, she didn't. "That's very pretty," She whispered, barely above audibility. "I like it."

He could not stop the smile tugging at the ends of his lips. "I'm glad you do." Then he stepped away from her. "Well then, Acacia, I'm done."

She looked back at him. "Don't you have a mirror?"

"Unfortunately I don't. But you can see it when we get to the inn in Furni."

He paused, staring at the back of her head for a while longer. He had taken a thick lock of hair from each side of her head, braided them, and then pulled them around the sides of her head until they connected in the back, where he had bound them together with one of his mother's bands and two separate braids streamed down her back. With the rest of the hair, he had pulled it through the loop where the two separate braids connected, spun the first half into a bun, and pulled the rest of the golden locks through the bun and tightened it like a knot. Then he braided the hair that poured from the bun and looped it around her head like a tiara and fed the ends of it back through the bun.

The hairstyle was so familiar and yet so distant. She was not her, the one he had remembered from before. When he had the heart to feel- - to YEARN for affection. Just like he had for her, and vice versa. How he missed her now…

'…Zeellia…'

"It feels weird," Wink said, shaking her head back and forth to get a feel for it. The two braids slapped against her back.

"Well, be careful not to wreck it." He tilted his head, looking at her. "You do look different though," He said as she stood up and faced him.

"That's a good thing then, I assume?" Wink smiled and nodded towards Furni. "Well then, shall we go?"

"Oh wait," Nicholai arched forward to pick up the staff he had bought. "Here. When it gets dark tonight, I'll practice with you."

Wink took the staff and weighed it in her hands. "It's good," She observed.

"If YOU can impress me, I'll buy your weapons. No matter how expensive."

She pulled her eyes away from the staff. "Are you serious!?"

"I don't lie," He shrugged. "But don't think you're getting this easy. It takes a lot to electrify me."

Dart was accosted by the two knights on the verge of dusk. He had finally finished that roof that Shana had been bugging him about…but what was this?

"Gentlemen?" Dart slapped his hands together, and then wiped the sawdust from his body. "What seems to be the problem?" He felt like he was talking to authorities…say, a knight or a guard?

"Master Dart?" A knight on horseback called out to Dart.

"With the exception of the 'Master' part, yes that's me. What can I do for you?" By now both knights had halted in front of Dart. He pretended not to notice the fretful crowd drawing around them.

"Master Dart," The knight closest to Dart spoke, his lungs depraved of air. "Have you not heard of the incendiaries of Deningrad?"

Words were being thrown at Dart that he could not comprehend. Did this man just say that Deningrad had been torched?

"…What?" Dart asked stupidly.

"Have you heard about the maelstrom that hit Deningrad just yesterday?" The knight repeated, suppliantly.

The crowd began to undulate as they all turned to one another, speaking words that were too low for Dart to catch.

Dart's jaw was left agape. "Are we not speaking articulately enough for you?" The second knight questioned.

"No, no," Dart replied, pulled out of his stupor. "It's just…" He did not evince any signs of discomfort, which surprised him. He felt like dying on the inside. "Are you serious? Deningrad has been…or it's…well…" Dart's verbiage befuddled the knights and they stared at each other, conjecturing about whether or not the other knew what the man in red clad was attempting to say.

"C-Come inside," Dart motioned with his hand, but the knights refused.

"We have no time to make ourselves at home, Master Dart," The first knight told him uncompromisingly. "Another attack may be launched at any given moment upon the refugees and we will not be there to help them. We are beseeching you, as the Dragoons, to accompany us to Neet so that we may regroup."

"Wait, wait, wait," Dart waved his hands around. "Who's in Neet? Who survived? Just…TELL me what's going on!"

"Very well," The second knight obliged. "However I must make this brief. It is nearing nightfall and we must be back to Donau by morning."

The townsfolk were paralyzed in terror as the knight explained the bastion that had swept over Deningrad like an ocean, the flood and terror, and most of all, about the death of their beloved Queen Theresa and the disappearance of Wink and Miranda. The knights expressed the exigency of the quandary and through the garrulous babble of the knights, Dart was able to glean bits and pieces of the situation.

"This is ghastly," Dart whispered, staring down at the ground in disbelief, as though he were demanding for the dirt to come up with all the answers to his problems. "And now we have lost two Dragoons…" He shook his head. "Who could be doing this? What could be troubling the earth now?"

The crowd continued to watch, as though they were in a theater watching a popular drama.

"Master Dart…? Will you join us?"

Dart looked up, his eyes no longer discouraged. "I am Dragoon before human. Of course I will venture with you." Dart looked back towards the house. "But Shana must stay here. I cannot place her in anymore danger."

"The only danger around here will be for you Dart!" Every eye was turned to the

shadow in the doorway. Shana was already dressed, armed with her bow, and gave a deadly look that dared anyone to try and stop her from leaving. "I'm going with you."

"Shana, no." Dart told her. "You can't come."

"Stop treating me like a child, Dart!" Shana stamped her foot against the ground and huffed out towards him. "I'm going and that's FINAL!"

"And just what can you do?" He argued. "You're not a Dragoon anymore, Shana." And then he gave silent eyes that told her, 'You're the Moon Child. The reason WHY Sandora came after you in the first place.'

"And what if THEY come and torch Seles again? Huh!? What then Dart? Are you going to come and rescue me again? How do you know that they won't come again?"

Shana was referring to Hellena, when Emperor Doel had given the order to find Shana and incarcerate her within the prison. Although he hated to admit it, his significant other was correct. There was ALWAYS the possibility that this new enemy was after her. And the reason that Melbu Frahma had even gotten his hands on her in the first place was because he had not been there to protect her.

"All right, all right," He concurred, finally defeated. "But just because you're going with me doesn't mean I'm going to let you prance around during the war. You'll stay put where I tell you to and WHEN I tell you to."

He was cut short, becoming conscious that Shana had not even made an effort to pay attention to what he had just said. She was already on the back of the horse of one of the knights, ready to go.

"Are you planning on staying here ALL day, Dart?" Shana asked him bitterly. He rolled his eyes and climbed on the back of the other horse.

"What about the other Dragoons?" Dart asked.

"His Majesty Albert will be in Donau with us by morning. Word will be sent to the other Dragoons but for now, we must get you three to Neet. The Sacred Sisters are waiting for you."

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A Foresight Into Episode Ten:

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?" Wink gasped as she attempted to help him to his feet. Instead, Nicholai jumped back up, and brought the sword to her neck.

"NEVER let your guard down! NEVER help your enemy up! Had I been so inclined, I could've KILLED you just now." Wink trembled, her steps faltering. "Now pick up your staff before I disembowel you!" Nicholai threatened.

Wink obliged, terrified of him now.

"This is a life or death situation Princess! If you DON'T do as I tell you, I'll KILL you."

Wink's hands fumbled with the staff as the Wingly drew nearer, the sword rising slowly above his head.

"I'll cut you into two," He told her.

She quivered with fear, and held the staff in front of her, protecting herself. Her eyes were closed and she bit her lip so hard that blood had begun to trickle down her chin. He stalked closer and grabbed the staff from her hand. "What a pitiful display," He growled. "Your cowardice is painted in such garish colors that it is disgusting to even look upon you. It was an illusory to think that you could outwit me."

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Kat