Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon's Future ❯ Unbreakable Bond ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 14: Unbreakable Bond

Darvi was frustrated and angry when the search party returned to the castle. They had had no luck searching for the priest, Brevan Ramone, nor in capturing any of his followers alive. The few men they did find who declared themselves to be “one of the faithful” fought back so viciously, the samurai had been forced to kill them.

“Do you suppose we got them all?” Petran asked. He sounded as tired as Darvi felt. None of them had slept for two days.

“I hope so. These people are insane. That priest damages their minds, somehow.” Darvi shook his head, feeling sorry for them despite his anger.

Petran looked ahead and frowned. “Who's that?”

Darvi followed his gaze and saw a petite young woman with long blond hair standing outside the gate. She didn't move as the soldiers approached. As they neared her, Darvi suddenly bristled.

“The priest's scent is on her!” he exclaimed. “She's been with him recently!” He dashed forward, ahead of the others, and grabbed her by the arm. “Where is he? Where is the priest?”

The woman looked at him blankly. “Do you mean the Master?”

“Yes!” Darvi shook her. “Where is he?”

“He went in there.” She pointed at the gate. Then her lip quivered in a pout. “He said I must wait here.”

“Darvi! Look here!” Gaddes shouted. The Asturian was kneeling beside the body of a Freidian soldier, partly concealed by the shadows at the base of the wall. “He's out cold!”

“He went to see the Fanelian princess,” the woman continued in a petulant tone. “I did all the things he wanted to do. Why does he need to see another woman?”

Darvi cursed furiously and shoved the woman at Petran. “Don't let her leave!” he ordered and rushed to the gate. It opened to his touch and he swore again. “The bastard's in the castle!” he shouted. He raced inside with the samurai and Asturians on his heels.

Allen stepped over the wall carefully in Scheherazade and then jumped down to fall in with the others as they charged across the courtyard. Chid appeared on the steps as they approached.

“He's in the castle, Chid!” Darvi shouted.

“I know!” Chid held up restraining hands. “It's all right. He's dead.”

Darvi stumbled to a halt and stared at him blankly. It was not what he expected to hear.

“Yukari killed him,” Chid announced calmly.

“What?!” Darvi, Allen and several others exclaimed in unison.

“Yukari killed him,” Chid repeated, “when he tried to attack her in her rooms.”

Darvi went pale. “Is she all right?”

“She's fine. She was not injured.” Chid smiled. “But our young princess is turning into a most resourceful woman. Why don't you go see her? She has been more worried about you then herself, it seems.”

Darvi nodded slowly, still quite stunned. “I'll… do that.”

“I'll show you the way; she's staying in a different room tonight.”

Darvi followed Chid feeling a little overwhelmed. He was exhausted, both from lack of sleep and the wild swings of emotion he had experienced during the past few days. He really needed to get some sleep, but he couldn't do that until he saw Yukari for himself and knew she was all right.

“We think Brevan Ramone came here to kill Yukari because she is a draconian,” Chid explained. “I personally think he must have come from the Mystic Moon, like Yukari's mother, because from what you and Yukari have said, he seemed to know very little about our history.”

Darvi was only half listening. Mostly he was wishing Chid would walk a little faster.

“In any event, his plan failed because he knew so little about us. His power of mind control didn't work on Yukari.” Chid stopped. “This is her new room. Don't stay too long, you both need to rest.” He smiled at Darvi and walked away.

Darvi knocked on the door. Yukari answered it in her nightdress. Before he could say anything about the inappropriateness of that, she caught his hand and pulled him into the room.

“I knew it was you,” she said with a smile. “I don't answer the door this way for just anyone.”

Yukari had bathed and she smelled of fresh water, soap and scented bath oil. There was no trace of the evil priest about her at all. Darvi studied her carefully, looking for any mark or injury. She watched him look with a faintly amused expression.

“Satisfied?” she said finally. “I'm not hurt.”

Darvi was suddenly livid. “That bastard came here and tried to kill you!”

“Yes, but he's dead now.” Yukari sounded cool and matter of fact. “I stabbed him with my sewing scissors.”

“Where is he now?” Darvi cried. “I want to hack his body into pieces!” The terrifying fear of nearly losing her filled him with an unreasoning rage. He was barely listening to what she was saying. But then her words sank in and he stared at her. “You stabbed him with your sewing scissors?”

“Yes. In the neck. He bled to death.” She smiled as if she found the thought amusing. “That's why I changed rooms. My sitting room was a mess. They'll have to burn the couch and the rug.”

Darvi continued to stare at her. It seemed that lately, Yukari could surprise him at every turn. The fury inside him faded away, leaving a tremendous sense of relief. “I can't stop thinking about what might have happened, even with you standing right here unharmed.”

“I know.”

Yukari moved to stand in front of the open window. Light from the Mystic Moon shimmered through her nightdress, showing the shadowy outline of her shape beneath. Darvi knew he should not be looking, but he looked anyway. He already knew her shape, just as thoroughly as he knew the mind and heart inside her. Being alone with her brought its usual ache of longing and desire. He wanted things he dared not ask for; things he suspected she would not deny him if he did ask. Although they had been companions for most of their lives, she could never be his. So he didn't ask. But he watched her and savored the graceful way in which she moved.

Then she turned to look at him and his heart stopped. Her gaze was so intense, it pinned him in place. She closed the distance between them in four quick steps and put her arms around his neck.

“Darvi, I can't bear this any longer!” she whispered. “I need you so much, I can't think of anything else but you.” Before he could move, she pressed her lips against his.

He felt a growing panic. The kiss was too sweet, too deep, to resist. He wrapped his arms around her as he kissed back. They had kissed before, but not often and always in a very brotherly-sisterly way. But this was no sister's kiss she was giving him. Her lips parted and her tongue stroked gently against his lips. Darvi felt helpless as he responded, opening his mouth and letting his tongue stroke against hers in return. His body was on fire with arousal. If he didn't somehow manage to stop this soon, he was not going to be able to. With every grain of willpower he possessed, he pulled his mouth away.

“Yukari,” he whispered breathlessly, “we can't do this! You don't belong to me. We can't be together!”

She looked into his eyes. “Darvi, the very first words I remember you saying to me were `we belong together'. Since I was a baby, I have always known I would spend my life with you. I'm nothing without you. Please don't try to deny what you know to be true.” She leaned her head against his shoulder, the fluffy softness of her hair pressed against his cheek. Her breath warmed his neck as she continued to speak softly. “I can't pretend anymore that I don't love you more than anything in this world. If I can't have you, I have no reason to live at all. Please, Darvi.” She lifted her head to look into his eyes again. “Stay with me tonight. Make love with me.”

Darvi couldn't move and he couldn't look away. The need in her eyes destroyed the last trace of his willpower. “I love you!” he whispered and pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss awakened his passion completely. He swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bed, not caring any more. Let King Van execute him for this! Nothing else mattered but finishing the journey he'd started when he first set eyes on Yukari the day she was born. This was his destiny. It always had been.

Intimacy with Yukari was more than physical. They knew each other so well, every touch, every caress, every pleasure, was compounded by the bond they shared. Sexual fulfillment was joyous; the emotional fulfillment was ecstasy. Afterward, exhausted by the intensity of their coupling, Darvi held her in his arms, his face nestled in her hair.

“You're purring,” Yukari murmured. She sounded utterly content.

“I should think so, under the circumstances,” he answered softly. “I have never been so happy in my life.”

“Me, too.”

“Of course, when your father cuts my head off for this, I may experience a moment of doubt.”

She punched him in the ribs. “Father is not going to cut off your head!”

“You think not?” Darvi wheezed. “Yukari, you're a member of the royal family. I'm fairly sure both your parents are going to take a dim view of this.”

“Let them!” She rubbed her hand gently over the spot she'd just punched. “Besides, what's done is done,” she added quietly. “I meant what I said: if I can't have you, I have no reason to live.” She snuggled closer to him. “I'm not going to live without you anymore. I don't care what anyone says.”

“I shouldn't stay the night. Everyone will know.”

“I don't care!” Yukari repeated defiantly. “I want to fall asleep listening to you purr. It's been ten years since I got to do that.” Her voice took on a plaintive tone. “Please?”

Darvi sighed. He knew it was foolish to think he was going to start being sensible where Yukari was concerned now. He'd had eighteen years to figure out how and he still couldn't do it. “We are going to get in so much trouble.”

“Let's worry about it in the morning.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Yukari.”

“I love you, too.”

-o-o-o-

Darvi rose early in the hope that somehow, no one would have figured out that he had spent the night in Yukari's room.

It was a fool's hope.

He'd barely managed to finish changing into something other than what he'd been wearing the night before when a servant knocked on his door to summon him to Chid's audience hall. He arrived to find Yukari standing stiffly in front of Chid, her fists clenched at her sides and her face pale. Chid was seated on his cushion on the dais at the front of the hall. His handsome face looked much younger than his thirty-three years, but he was still managing a paternally stern expression.

“Ah, Darvi,” Chid said when Darvi entered. “Yukari thinks your relationship is none of my business.”

Darvi was pretty sure he did not want to step into that statement. “Our relationship?” he ventured.

“Don't be coy!” Chid retorted. “And don't pretend nothing happened! Yukari is under my protection while she's under my roof. How am I to explain such an egregious failure of duty on my part to King Van and Queen Hitomi? Especially following on the heels of allowing her to be kidnapped and then nearly killed?”

“I was never in any real danger!” Yukari interrupted angrily. “I thought we agreed that it was not your fault.”

“Don't try to change the subject,” Chid replied. “We are discussing my lapse in allowing two people to be alone who obviously should never have been allowed this freedom.”

“I don't see why we need to discuss it,” Yukari said. She was starting to sound more ashamed than angry.

Chid leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Because at some point I am going to have to explain to your mother why the maiden who came to my court is not being returned in the same condition.”

Darvi bit his lip. “My lord, it was not your lapse, it was mine.”

“If anyone is to blame, it's me!” Yukari snapped instantly. “I asked Darvi to spend the night with me. It was my choice and my decision.”

“I beg to differ, Your Highness,” Chid placed heavy emphasis on her title, “two people were involved, not one. Darvi is your family retainer. He knows his duty. So, I'll ask you again,” he fixed his gaze on Yukari, “do you care to explain the nature of your relationship with Darvi?”

Yukari returned his stare for a long moment, and then her shoulders slumped. “I love him, Chid!” she said pleadingly. “I have loved him all my life. I just…” she waved her hands helplessly, as if casting about for the right words. “I just can't live without him anymore!” Darvi stepped up beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. Tears were sliding down her cheeks.

Chid sat back and regarded them in silence for a moment. Then he smiled, making him look even younger. “That's all I wanted to hear: the truth. Don't cry, my dear. I will write to your parents and suggest that they give up fighting the inevitable and let you two get married.”

Yukari stared at him.

“My dear child, while it is not my place to make such a decision, I have seen you two together long enough to understand that certain things cannot be changed. I'm sure your parents already know that.” Chid stood up. “Come, let's have something to eat. Over breakfast, we will discuss why you will not be compromising my hospitality any further.”

Darvi wasn't sure how Hama found out, but when he was summoned to the barracks later that morning, he received a dressing down that belied the Chief Assistant's bedridden condition. Darvi took the reprimand at rigid attention and in complete silence. He then accepted without complaint what amounted to nonstop guard duty for the remainder of their stay in Freid.

And on those few opportunities he had to see Yukari, it was under the close vigilance of no less than six maidens, and sometimes Allen or Duke Chid as well.

But fortunately, they only had to put up with this scrutiny for a few weeks. When Hama and the other injured samurai were recovered enough to travel, at least by air, Allen offered to take them home on the Crusade.

“If I leave Scheherazade and the Asturian knights here, except for my crew, we can easily fit the Samurai and their horses on board. I can get you home in a few days.”

“That is very kind of you, Allen.” Chid said. “I am sure King Van will be glad to have his people back so soon.”

“Will you go with us, Chid? I'm sure Hitomi would be glad to see you.”

Chid looked a little pained. “That's all right. But maybe you'll carry a letter for me.”

Allen grinned broadly. “Be glad to.”

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

The journey back to Fanelia seemed long, even though it took only a few days on board the Crusade. But constantly surrounded by samurai, and always under the watchful eye of Allen Schezar, there was no chance of being alone with Darvi, no matter how much Yukari wanted it. But then, Yukari wasn't sure it would have made any difference. Darvi had somewhere acquired a will of iron, and seducing him had become ridiculously difficult. She was fairly positive he'd been avoiding her, their last few days in Freid, and now, on the journey home, he'd developed an uncommon fascination for the operation of the levi-ship. Whenever she was able to talk to him, he simply refused to let her get close enough to kiss him. It was maddening. She couldn't forget their night together, and not getting to experience it again was driving her slowly up the wall. It didn't help at all that Allen seemed rather amused by her increasing frustration. When he came upon her in an empty corridor quietly pounding her head against the wall, he laughed out loud.

“Your Highness, have a care! My men will think you've gone insane.”

“I have gone insane!” she grumbled. “Is a single kiss so much to ask? Just one?” She thumped her head against the wall again. “He's killing me!”

Allen laughed again. “Perhaps he fears he cannot stop at one. I know, for my own part, I could never stop at one when it came to kissing a woman as lovely as you.”

She groaned. “From you I get compliments! From him, nothing!” She gripped Allen's lapels. “I'm begging you, Allen! Lock him in a room with me for ten minutes! Please!”

He clasped her hands. “Princess Yukari, you'll have noticed that Duke Chid chose not to accompany us to Fanelia. He is wisely staying well clear of Queen Hitomi until after she has gotten over finding out you and Darvi succumbed to your passion for each other. I myself am thinking of swinging the two of you down on a rope and keeping as much airspace between myself and her as I can when we arrive.”

Yukari banged her forehead on his muscular chest.

“But if it will make you feel any better, I plan to reiterate Chid's recommendation that the two of you be allowed to marry as soon as possible.” He patted the top of her head. “If only to spare the walls.”

“Ha-ha,” she mumbled into his coat.

But Yukari had to admit his trepidation about facing Hitomi had merit. Van, Hitomi, Merle, Sesston and Yukari's siblings all came to meet them in the wide meadow outside the city gates where the Crusade landed, which was the only place large enough to accommodate the levi-ship. Allen took the lead as he led the party from the ship, and he marched right up to Van and Hitomi and handed them Chid's letter.

“Allen!” Van cried as he reached them. “It's good to see you! Thank you for bringing our people home.”

“Your Majesties,” Allen bowed in greeting. “It was a bit cramped, but we managed. I left Scheherazade and most of my men in Freid.” He pointed at the letter. “You might want to have a look at that while we get your samurai's horses and gear unloaded.”

Van lifted a questioning eyebrow as he broke the seal and unfolded the letter. Hitomi read over his shoulder. Her face first paled and then flushed. She looked up once at Yukari and then back to the letter. Van pursed his lips and glanced at Hitomi to see if she was done reading. Then they both looked at Yukari. She flinched at the palpable heat in Hitomi's glare.

“Are you aware of what's in this letter, Allen?” Hitomi asked without looking at him.

“I am,” he replied gravely.

Her eyes flicked to him for a second. “I suppose you agree with Chid.”

“I do.”

Her glare darkened and Yukari trembled under the weight of it. “Give me one good reason why I should not lock this rebellious young lady in her room for the next ten years.” Her question seemed directed at no one in particular, but Allen answered.

“Because they love each other as much as you and Van do.”

Hitomi met Allen's eyes and some of the heat went out of her gaze.

Then Van put his arm around her waist. “I think we should just give up, my love.” He chuckled softly. “I think we lost her to him years ago. But,” he turned a stern gaze on Darvi, “she is still our daughter, and we expect her to be loved and cared for with all the diligence and attention she deserves.”

Hitomi shook her head in resignation and smiled. “And we still expect you to keep her out of trouble.”

Allen leaned over and whispered loudly to Darvi, “I'd recommend getting her pregnant as soon as possible. It might slow her down a little.”

Darvi and Yukari both flushed, but Yukari also grinned broadly. Vulcan and Amano both laughed and Bethany clapped delightedly.

“Enough of this!” Van announced. “Let's adjourn to the palace. We'll prepare a banquet. We have many things to celebrate: the end of the war in Freid; the visit of our good friends Allen Schezar and his comrades; and our daughter's engagement.”

“And this time,” Hitomi added, “I'm planning the wedding. If we let Lord Kilbrin do it, Darvi and Yukari may well be parents before they're wed.”

Yukari flushed bright red.

 

-o- The End -o-

 

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

Oh, I forgot! I was going to mention something about the next story in this series. There will be kind of a sequel to this story, but it's mainly for the two people who asked “why can't Dilandau be in this story”. I have come up with a story that is a follow on to Dragon's Future, called Dilandau's Revenge. It will feature Dilandau, Allen Schezar and several characters from Dragon's Future, mainly Yukari's two younger brothers, Vulcan and Amano. So, keep an eye out for that; I'll try not to make you wait too long, but I'm trying to cut back to writing just two stories at a time.