Original Stories Fan Fiction / Angels Fan Fiction ❯ Angel and Demon Wars ❯ Chapter Seven - The Plan ( Chapter 7 )

Angel and Demon Wars

Chapter Seven

© 2008 Ohne Sie

 

 

Ichigo awoke first the next morning. She got out of bed quietly, dressed quickly, and tiptoed out of the room in order to avoid waking anyone up. She walked downstairs, where the innkeeper was seated at his desk. On a shelf behind the desk was the knife they needed.

 

“Good morning,” Ichigo said cheerfully, walking toward the innkeeper. He nodded.

 

“Mornin',” he said.

 

“Are you selling that knife, by chance?” Ichigo asked.

 

“It's not for sale,” he replied. “It's an old unicorn hunting knife, passed down from my father. It's illegal to hunt unicorns now, but I like to keep it around in memory of my father.”

 

Ichigo nodded. “I don't suppose you know where I could find one for sale.”

 

The innkeeper shook his head. “No. What do you need it for?”

 

Ichigo shrugged. “Cutting things,” she said. “It looks very strong.”

 

“It is,” he said. “I'd be willing to lend it to you. For a price.”

 

Ichigo frowned. She took her knapsack off of the back and searched through it for the money Miya had given her. “Is…a thousand coins enough?” she asked, placing all of the money she had on the table.

 

The man raised an eyebrow. “You don't know how to bargain, do you, girl?” he asked.

 

Ichigo shook her head. “No, I'm sorry. Is that not enough?”

 

The innkeeper sighed. “It's more than enough.” He counted out two hundred coins, and handed the rest back to her. Then he took the knife off the shelf and handed that to her, as well. “Be careful with it,” he said.

 

“I will. I'll bring it back later today, I promise.” She smiled. “Thank you!”

 

The man nodded as Ichigo ran back up the stairs to her room. He sighed, staring at the empty place on the shelf where his knife had been.

 

“Guys, wake up!” Ichigo cried, barging in the room. The response was a chorus of groans. “I got the knife!”

 

The others sat straight up, staring at her. “How did you do that?” Maeko asked. “I tried to buy the knife from that guy last night and he refused.”

 

“Well, you weren't exactly nice about it,” Sadako said. “How much did you buy it for?” she asked Ichigo.

 

“I didn't buy it,” she said.

 

“You stole it?” Maeko asked. “Score!”

 

“No, I didn't. I rented it. I have to bring it back later.” She rolled her eyes at Maeko. “So we should get this done as quickly as possible.”

 

“May I see the knife?” Ami asked from behind Ichigo. Ichigo turned around and handed her the knife. Ami turned it over, inspecting it. “It looks like…” She frowned.

 

“It looks like what?” Sadako asked, trying to grab it from her. Ami turned away from her.

 

“Diamond,” she said. “The blade is made of diamond. I can't imagine how much it must be worth.

 

“And the innkeeper just let you rent it?” Maeko asked her sister. “Man, after we're done with this quest we can sell this thing for a lot of money.”

 

“No, I promised I'd bring it back,” Ichigo said. “He said it's a family heirloom.”

 

Ami ignored the others and continued, “I can understand why it would be diamond. It must be nearly impossible to cut off a unicorn's horn. I imagine that a diamond blade would be just about the only way to do it. It's amazing that anyone was able to afford a knife powerful enough to do this.”

 

“Maybe they stole them?” Maeko suggested.

 

“What is your obsession with stealing things?” Sadako asked, exasperated. “Keisuke said that it was a bad idea to steal the knife, okay? So we're going to get the horn, bring the knife back to the inn, and bring the horn back to Miya.”

 

“And then we search for the sorcerer,” Ami added.

 

“That's nice and all, but don't we have to focus on our main objective?” Maeko asked. “It's probably more important than running around looking for people and things.”

 

“We don't want people to die, sis,” Ichigo said.

 

Maeko sighed. “Yeah, okay. But I don't think this whole sorcerer thing is so important. Can we at least delay that?”

 

“We'll figure it out later,” Ami said.

 

“Well, if our leader says we'll figure it out later,” Sadako started, but Maeko interrupted her.

 

“Since when is she our leader?” she asked.

 

“Well, you know, Keisuke always talks to her and not us, and always appears after she says something. And she's already been kind of our leader this entire time,” Sadako said.

 

“I think that if we're going to have a leader, we should elect her. And I nominate myself for leader,” Maeko said.

 

“I nominate Ami,” Sadako said.

 

“Anyone else?” Maeko asked. Ami and Ichigo were silent. “Okay, let the voting begin.” She grabbed her bag from the foot of her bed and pulled out four piece of paper. “Write down your choice, fold it up, and put it in that pot over there,” she said, pointing to an empty flower pot by the window. “Then we'll read them and decide who our leader is.”

 

Within the next minute all of the ballots were cast. Maeko picked them out of the flower pot and cleared her throat. “Okay, the first vote is for Ami.” She tossed it aside. Then she unfolded the next one. “The second vote is also for Ami.” She tossed it aside as well. Unfolding the next paper, she read, “Maeko!” Then she tossed it aside. She unfolded the last paper and read, “Ami.” Sighing, she bowed toward Ami. “I concede. You're our leader.”

 

Ami frowned, confused. She looked at Maeko. “Why didn't you…?” but Maeko shook her head to silence her.

 

“What are we doing, leader?” Maeko asked.

 

Ami continued frowning as she said, “Well, we're going to cut the unicorn's horn. But first, we're going to think of a way to defeat the troll.”

 

“Maybe we could distract him with a riddle again,” Sadako said.

 

“Yeah, but that won't defeat him,” Maeko said.

 

“We could distract him and then hit him with something,” Ichigo said quietly.

 

“Wow.” Maeko looked surprised. “I can't believe those words came out of your mouth.” Then she grinned. “Cool. Okay, so we distract him with a riddle, and one of us goes around behind him and hits him with something, since it's apparent that our offensive magic and our flying doesn't work.” She shrugged when everyone looked at her. “I tried attacking Sadako, okay? But what can we use to hit the troll?”

 

“How about this?” Sadako asked, reaching under the bed and producing a long sword. The others stared at her, dumbfounded.

 

“Where did you get that?” Ami asked.

 

“It's a secret,” Sadako said. Then she added, “I stole it.”

 

“Nice,” Maeko said, grinning. Sadako grinned back.

 

Ami sighed. “Well, I guess it worked to our benefit, but really…” She shook her head. “I don't like the idea of stealing.”

 

“Relax, it was only one time,” Sadako said. “And nobody noticed. Not even you guys.”

 

“That's true,” Maeko said. “Whoever she stole it from will never know it was her. Hey, Sadako, can I see it?” she asked.

 

“I guess,” Sadako said. “Just don't try to attack me again.” She handed the sword to Maeko, who swung it around a few times. “I don't suppose you also stole the sheath?”

 

Sadako shook her head. “Sorry.”

 

“Oh well. That's something we can ste—I mean, buy—later,” she said, noticing that Ami had narrowed her eyes.

 

“Okay, here's the plan,” Ami said. “Sadako will pester the troll with a bunch of questions, because she's good at that.” Sadako nodded. “Meanwhile, Maeko will sneak up behind him and attack him. Ichigo will stand by to offer assistance if Maeko needs it.”

 

“What will you do?” Sadako asked.

 

“I'm not sure,” Ami said. “We'll probably figure something out later. For now, I'll carry all of our bags, so that they don't become a hindrance when we go.

 

“One question,” Maeko said. “How am I supposed to hide this sword so that the troll doesn't see it when I sneak up behind him?”

 

Ami frowned. “Well, if we send Sadako first, and she starts asking her questions before the troll sees the rest of us coming, he'll probably be too distracted to notice the sword. But just in case, you should do your best to keep it out of his sight. Could you hide it behind your back or something?”

 

“I could try,” Maeko said. “I am so glad I took all of those fencing lessons from Suoh,” she mumbled.

 

Ichigo smiled. “Yeah, you always were the best in the class at fencing and magic…and, you know…dating your teachers.”

 

“Only one!” Maeko protested. “And be quiet. I don't want them to know.” But Sadako and Ami weren't paying attention.

 

“Okay, are we ready?” Ami asked, loading all of their bags up on her shoulders. The others nodded. “Then let's go. Sadako, make sure you have plenty of questions ready for the troll.”

 

Sadako nodded. “They're already in my head,” she said, as they walked through the door.