Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Dilandau's Revenge ❯ The Two Faces of Dilandau ( Chapter 4 )

This chapter is a little short. Sorry about that, but that's just the way it worked out. I was hurrying to get it done this week, so if it feels rushed, I apologize.

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Chapter 4: The Two Faces of Dilandau

“How are the repairs coming?” Vulcan was sitting up in bed and he almost felt normal. At least, he did if he didn't try to move too much. It seemed like there were bruises everywhere.

“Pretty good,” Amano replied. He was seated on the foot of Vulcan's bed. “They've got the arm servos all reconnected and most of the internal stuff. Now they're mostly just finishing up the surface repairs, resealing the outer skin, that sort of thing.”

“Good.” Vulcan sighed. “I feel like such an idiot letting the Escaflowne get so badly damaged.”

“Don't feel bad. Allen said he saw the Escaflowne in much worse shape after some of Father's fights.”

Vulcan grew thoughtful. “That was when Father bonded with the Escaflowne. He almost died while they were making repairs.”

Amano nodded solemnly. “Yeah. When the Escaflowne's makers came back to fix it.” He fixed large eyes on his brother. “You better not try to bond with the Escaflowne like that. You might…” He stopped, his lower lip quivering. “You really scared me Vulcan. I thought you were dead.”

“I'm sorry.” Vulcan leaned forward and put his hand on Amano's knee. “I won't try to fight Dilandau again. He's got too much experience. He's a better fighter than I am.”

Amano sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “In a guymelef, anyway. I bet you could take him in a sword fight.”

“Maybe.” Vulcan pushed his blanket down. “I should get up. All this lying around is making me feel useless.”

“You're hurt!” Amano grabbed the blanket and tossed it back over Vulcan's legs. “No one expects you to be up and around for a few more days. At least wait until Dr. Boles says you're all right.”

“I'm fine!” Vulcan grumbled, but he stopped trying to get up. He smiled wryly at Amano. “I suppose you feel like the big brother getting to take care of me for a change.”

Amano smiled back. “Maybe. But I'll tell Dr. Boles you think you're ready to get up. If he says it's all right, I won't try to keep you in bed.” Amano slid off the bed and stood up. “I'll bring you back something to eat, too.”

“Thanks, Amano.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

“There it is again!” Gaddes exclaimed. He pointed into the trees. “I saw a light flash.”

Allen folded his arms across his chest and frowned. The Crusade was parked in a clearing in a heavily forested valley far from the nearest Zaibach settlement. They were invisible except in the event that a floating fortress passed nearby, but they were so far from everything, that seemed unlikely. Yet there was clearly something else also hiding in these woods.

“I think we better send a patrol,” Allen said. “I don't want to get caught off-guard. Take Amano with you.”

“Are you sure about that?” Gaddes asked as they returned to the Crusade. “He's just a kid.”

“He's a damn good swordsman,” Allen replied firmly. “And I want to stay here with the Crusade, just in case.”

“If you say so.”

Amano was excited to be assigned to the patrol, but he followed Gaddes' orders and stayed in his assigned place in the patrol pattern. Gaddes was impressed. The boy might be young, but he was very well trained. It was late in the afternoon when their patrol of twelve men set off into the trees, moving carefully in the direction of the light Gaddes had seen.

They were making a silent patrol, spaced out so that each man always had at least two other men in sight on either side so they could signal each other without speaking. Gaddes had purposely placed Amano close by, mindful of Allen's concern for the young man's welfare. It was clear that Amano had been raised in a wooded area, though, because he moved extremely quietly. Gaddes could hear the man on Amano's other side, but not Amano.

About twenty minutes into the patrol, Amano stopped and signaled Gaddes. He beckoned for Gaddes to come over and pointed at the ground in front of him. Gaddes immediately signaled to the man on the other side of him to stop and gestured for Amano to do the same. When he was reasonably certain that everyone had stopped, Gaddes joined Amano.

“What is it?” Gaddes whispered.

“It's a booby trap,” Amano whispered back. He dropped to one knee and traced a strand of twine with his fingertip without touching it. Then he pointed up the side of a tree to a suspended log overhead, half-hidden by tree branches. “There are probably others.”

Gaddes nodded. “You spread the word down the line that way. I'll tell the men on this side. They need to keep their eyes open for more traps. Someone lives around here and they don't want company.” He had barely finished speaking when a scream cut through the silence. Gaddes jumped to his feet. “Draw swords! Watch for ambush!” Then he turned and ran in the direction of the cry. Amano followed close on his heels.

They came quickly to where one of their men was down, his leg clamped in a spring-loaded trap. Blood was gushing from the wound and one man was trying desperately to clamp it while two others tried to winch open the trap. All three were cursing furiously. The wounded man was already pale and unconscious.

“Dammit!” Gaddes swore softly. “Fan out!” he shouted as other men arrived on the scene. “Form a perimeter. And watch for other traps! We can't afford to lose anyone else.”

“They're coming!” Amano cried suddenly and he leaped forward. He took up a position a dozen or so paces beyond the wounded man and the men trying to rescue him with his sword at the ready. Three other men moved up to flank him just as twenty men charged from the cover of the underbrush and raced toward them shouting battle cries.

“Zaibach deserters!” one of the men beside Amano shouted.

The attackers were wearing Zaibach uniforms, but the tattered and stained condition of their clothing made it clear they had been living rough for a while. And this far from any settlement or garrison, they were obviously in hiding. It was simply the Asturians misfortunate that they had chosen to hide in the same place. The remaining Asturians, except for those helping the wounded man, rushed forward to meet the challenge.

With a clash of swords, battle was joined. The Zaibach forces had clearly expected to take them by surprise and overwhelm them with numbers, but they had not reckoned on running into a fighter like Amano. The young samurai-in-training moved so fast, his sword was just a blur as he slipped inside the guard of the first man to face him and gutted him. Amano didn't stab his opponents, he slashed them, to avoid having his sword get hung up in someone's skeleton. But his slashes were just as effective as he slit throats, spilled intestines and severed tendons with brutal efficiency. Within seconds, the Zaibach advantage of numbers was turned to a disadvantage and the survivors broke and ran.

“I'll get them!” Amano exclaimed and he dashed off after the fleeing soldiers.

“Go with him!” Gaddes ordered and five men dashed off after Amano.

Gaddes returned his attention to the wounded man. He had been freed from the trap and a tourniquet applied to his crushed leg, but his skin was clammy and pale and his breathing was extremely shallow.

“He's lost a lot of blood, Gaddes. I don't think he'll make it.”

“The two of you carry him,” Gaddes ordered. “Try to keep his leg elevated above his heart. Get back to the Crusade as fast as you can.” Gaddes looked at the other two men. “Go with them. Make sure you don't run into any more traps.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gaddes watched them go, feeling a cold fury. Traps designed to kill men in such a cruel way were cowardly. He turned to follow in the direction Amano had gone. The trail was easy to follow, since it was spattered with blood and the occasional dying man. He caught up with Amano and the others where the Zaibach soldiers had turned to make a last stand rather than be run down from behind, but the fight was over.

“Did you get anything from them?” Gaddes asked.

“They were deserters,” Homdin, one of Allen's fellow Knights of Caeli, replied. “They've been hiding out here since the end of the war.”

Gaddes stared. “Twenty years?!

“Apparently, the penalty for desertion is death, so there's little motivation to return to society.”

“I guess not. And Zaibach soldiers aren't exactly welcome outside their empire.”

“Even so.”

“We'd better get back. I think it's time the Crusade moved on. There's probably more where these came from.”

“Most likely, and they'll probably come looking when this lot doesn't return.”

Gaddes nodded. “I agree. Let's get back to the Crusade.” As they returned, however, Gaddes noticed that Amano seemed a little subdued. “Is something wrong, Amano?”

Amano shook his head, but he sniffled a little. “I've never killed anyone before,” he said quietly. “It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I guess I'm a little surprised at myself, that's all.”

“It's always hard, the first time.” Gaddes replied. He patted Amano's shoulder. “A man has to be able to kill when he needs to, but he shouldn't enjoy it. You'll be all right.”

Amano smiled faintly. “Thanks, Gaddes.”

They arrived back at the Crusade to find that the wounded man had died before reaching the airship.

“It could have been worse,” Gaddes reported to Allen. “If Amano hadn't spotted that one booby trap, we could have walked into others. And you were right about the boy's skill. He made the difference today.”

“I expected as much,” Allen replied.

“You might want to have a chat with him, though. He was a little upset to find how good he is at killing. He could probably use a father-son sort of chat.”

“I'll do that. In the meantime, I'm taking your advice. We're clearing out of this valley. The Escaflowne should be ready for battle day after tomorrow and Dr. Boles has cleared Vulcan to return to duty. It's time to get back to work.”

“Do you have some idea of where to go? We've completely lost track of Dilandau now.”

Allen nodded slowly. “Vulcan said Dilandau was talking to himself about killing the Zaibach scientists. The scientists are all at the Zaibach capitol so, sooner or later, Dilandau has to turn up there. We'll go there and wait for him. Hopefully, we can stop him before he gets himself, and Celena, killed.”

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Vulcan found Amano sitting on the flight deck, leaning against the wall outside the hanger doors. He sat down stiffly next to his little brother.

“How do you feel, Amano?”

“I don't know. All right, I guess.”

Vulcan studied the side of his face. “You look a little down.”

Amano sniffed. “It's just…” A tear slid down his cheek. “They were afraid of me. When I ran after them, they were screaming.” He wiped another tear from his face. “One man was crying when I cut him. He didn't want to die.” More tears spilled from his eyes. “Am I a bad person, Vulcan?”

Vulcan put his arm around Amano's shoulders. “No, you're not a bad person. You did what needed to be done, the way we were taught. Remember what Father told us: if someone attacks you, fight to the best of your ability. That's what you did.”

“But I didn't show any mercy. Once we had them beaten, maybe I shouldn't have gone after them.”

“You did the right thing,” Vulcan growled. “Those men were cowards. They set traps designed to maim men and make them die horribly. Think about what happened to Roald. Did they show him any mercy?” Vulcan put his other arm around Amano and hugged him. “If those men had run back to their comrades, they would have returned in greater numbers, and maybe attacked us before we could get the Crusade off the ground. You bought us the time we needed to get away. I'm proud of you and I know Father would be too. You were a man today, Amano.”

Amano leaned against Vulcan and wept softly. “It hurts to grow up,” he whispered.

“That's how we know you'll be a good man.”

“I'm glad you're my brother, Vulcan.”

“I'm glad you're my brother, too, Amano.”

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Dilandau sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the Scheherazade, munching on some edible root. He didn't know what it was, but Celena did. She seemed to know all kinds of odd things. But it was useful that she knew what sort of things could be picked off bushes or pulled out of the ground and eaten. Destroying guymelefs was hard work and he kept getting hungry.

“I'm glad you didn't kill the boy,” Celena whispered.

“Van Fanel's son,” Dilandau muttered. “He was as old as Van was when I fought him. How old am I?” Dilandau looked at his hand that was holding the root. The skin was smooth and unblemished; not an old man's hand. “Why don't I look old?” He touched his face. The skin there was smooth, too, and beardless. “I should be old enough to grow a beard.”

Celena giggled. “I'm a girl! Girls don't grow beards.”

“I'm not a girl!” Dilandau protested.

“But you're me.”

Dilandau shook his head. It was all so confusing. How could he be Celena and Dilandau? “I'm Dilandau!” he whispered anxiously. “Aren't I?”

“Yes.”

“But you said I'm you!”

“You are.”

“How can I be two people?” Dilandau asked with rising panic. “That's not possible! I have to be one or the other!”

“Why?”

Celena's simple question stunned him. Dilandau stared blindly at the ground in front of him. One person or two? Man or woman? He didn't know anymore. He might have known once, but he had suffered too much, lost too much.

“The scientists made us this way,” he whispered. “They made it so I don't know who I am.” He clenched his fist, slowly mashing the root in his hand. “I'll kill them all and then we'll know who we are.”

“Yes,” Celena agreed. “When the scientists are gone, we can remember who we are.”

Dilandau shoved the rest of the root into his mouth and stood up, wiping his hand on his trousers. The sun had set and deepening twilight filled the canyon with shadow. He was tired. Five days had passed since his fight with the Escaflowne and he had run into Zaibach patrols twice since then. The Scheherazade was starting to show the wear and tear of all the battles. I need to sleep.

So do I, Celena's thought echoed his.

He looked up at the Scheherazade. He would sleep in the cockpit again so the sensors could alert him if another patrol found him, even though it was uncomfortable and he could never do more than doze.

“I need to end this,” he said to himself, and to Celena. “It's time to go to the capitol. That's where the scientists are. Their forces are spread all over the empire now, trying to find us. So now we will strike at the heart of the beast and destroy them.”