Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Of Two Kingdoms ❯ Chapter 9

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter Nine

Everyone kept vigil by Celena's bedside as the morning rolled in unwarranted. Denevive was there, seated by the foot of her bed. Jadik sat near the young samurai while Van leaned against the wall opposite the window, his arms folded and head bowed as he began to doze off in the early morning light. His two other samurai were there as well, sitting on the floor as there were no chairs left for them to sit. Mallie, their cook, stood by the door next to Misshel. The curly red-head stood with his head bowed, suppressing sobs while the plump little woman next to him wiped tears away with a corner of her apron. Finally there was Allen . . . he was seated next to his sister, his head bowed in vain prayers, his long hair falling over his face and hiding his tears. All they could do was watch - and wait.
The pale girl, once spirited and full of life, now lay feverish among damp sheets, unconscious and trembling. Her hands lay across her abdomen, her hair disheveled about her head in a silvery crown. No one in the room wanted to admit that she was dying.
"She won't survive another day like this." whispered Jadik, mostly speaking to himself but his voice was heard by everyone.
"What was that?" Denevive asked weakly, "Jadik you must at least have hope."
"I have hope." Answered the Advisor quickly, "But I'm realistic as well."
Allen could not help but interrupt the rude whispering. "Keep your realities to yourself then. I'll not have you speak of such things here." His voice cracked and he cringed at how the words sounded but he just couldn't bear to hear such things - not his sister. He had just found her and here the gods were to take her away from him again. It simply wasn't fair.
"He's right though." Van said quietly, lifting his head and straightening from the uncomfortable position against the wall.
"How dare you!" Allen stood, turning on the young king with a look of fury and grief in his reddened eyes. "You speak of it as if he were commenting on the weather! My sister is dying, Van, and there's nothing anyone can do to save her! At least have some respect for what she did for your country." The distraught knight hadn't meant to raise his voice. It simply came naturally, reflecting his feelings on their commentary. His hands covered his face, weak from lack of sleep and finding his knees almost buckling. He stumbled back to his chair and there bowed his head again.
Denevive, in defense for his king being verbally attacked, no matter who it was and what the situation was, stood and warned Allen, "Watch your words to my liege, Sir Allen. He is still king!" It seems that the recent events have riled everyone up to an edge. Denevive most of all, feeling a guilt that was deeper than he had ever felt. After all, it was his blade that bit through the young lady's flesh and most likely sent her to an early death.
Allen lifted his head slowly, somewhat aghast. "I know very well who I speak to," he muttered, too weak at the moment to raise his voice a second time. "You'll watch your own tongue, while in this house and in my presence, Sir Denevive."
The samurai sputtered ungracefully at those words, standing his ground and a snarl coming to his face. "He is my king and it is my duty to protect him no matter what the cost. This house and your presence do not have the priority that the royalty I serve does!" He could feel sweat gathering in his palms as he held his fist clenched at his sides, keeping them restrained from doing something he'd regret and ignoring Van's protests that this bickering was not necessary.
Allen could have laugh--could have, were his throat not already so twisted. "Your duty? Think whatever you like." He leaned back in his chair, regarded the knight with a cold eye. "I know your king better than you do, young man. More importantly, you of all people have no right to speak against me at this time. You should be grateful that I'm not as vengeful as your king once was."
"N-now see here, Allen!" stammered the samurai, stepping past Jadik as the advisor scolded him for this meaningless quarrel but Denevive paying him no heed. "You insult me as well as my ruler with your words..."
"No, he doesn't..." Van tried but was cut off.
"...and I demand that you apologize for your rudeness - lest - lest your honor be on the line and questioned!"
"My honor questioned?" Allen's tone dropped to something low and threatening, and his eyes seemed to spark in the relatively dim lighting in the room. "I wasn't the one who struck down a sixteen-year-old girl, Denevive."
This made Denevive gasp with a near look of horror on his face as he remembered the day prior - blind fighting and catching the girl firm on his blade. "You know as well as any in this room that it was not my intention!" he raised his voice.
Allen pushed out of his chair once more. "I don't care what your intention was!" he fairly shouted, trembling. "My sister lies dying--and you accuse me of having no honor! How dare you. How dare you even step foot within this place!"
Denevive took a angered step closer to the knight, fists still tight by his sides. "She would have died bleeding if I had not fetched and done everything you've asked of me! You would have let her die among the dust as you wept!"
"She will still die!" Allen raged. It took every bit of his willpower not to strangle the boy where he stood. "Damn you--do you think that will make me hate you less? It will not change the fact that it was your sword that made her bleed!"
"So you hate me do you?" he countered, shoving the knight backwards in his rising anger. "Perhaps you should consider it was the brat's fault for getting into the middle of it! You should have kept her on a tighter leash as the pet that she is to you!"
Allen struck him--there was no thought necessary in the action as he fist flew to meet the boy's jaw. It connected firmly, as he'd hoped, though he gained very little satisfaction from it.
Denevive did not notice the amount of shocked gasps erupting from everyone in the room, all watching them fight with horrified expressions. He didn't hear Van or Jadik as they yelled at them, trying to get them to come to their senses as Denevive reeled from the blow. He staggered backwards for a moment, seething and returned the punch without question.
Allen took the blow--didn't try to defend, didn't even seem to feel what must have been a painful attack. He was too enraged and distraught to consider blocking. Forgoing all matters of gentlemanly combat he simply dragged the boy forward, wrapped his hands about his throat in a crushing grip. If he couldn't make him bleed as his sister had, at least he could feel his flesh grow cold.
Strangled gasps escaped Denevive's lips, clawing at the choking hold Allen had around his neck. Van finally decided that yelling by itself was not enough to calm them and he went in-between them, physically trying to force them apart. He was able to get Allen to release the startled, choking samurai; Denevive falling to the ground, gasping for breath. "Enough of this foolishness!" cried the Fanelian king. Jadik was promptly next to the boy-king, casting glares at both knights.
"This is no way for knights to behave!" scolded the older man, "We're in a time of great need and you two bicker and fight like children! You're countries are shamed by your behavior, to act with such poor manner in the presence of the ill! Have you nothing to say for yourselves?"
"Damned be the country I shame!" Allen shouted, not so easily soothed. "For it was the cause of this from the beginning! And damn you all for thinking me foolish, when my sister...." He trailed off, choking, his posture slumping weakly. "When my sister lies dying...."
Denevive regained his composure and stood unsteadily on his feet, pain lingering in his neck. Van stood there silent as well, watching the grieving knight sadly but it was Jadik who stepped up to him, a slight smile of hope etched on his features and said, "There might still be a chance to save your sister, honorable Knight of Heaven."
"Please, trouble me no longer." Allen sank back, finding his balance only when he was seated once more, and even then he was shuddering. He hid his face beneath a gloved hand. "All of you, please leave me be."
Slowly, footsteps were heard leaving the room and the knight to grieve in silence and solitude. Jadik, however, remained standing quietly by the young man and regarding him with a wisdom seldom seen around Gaea in that day. "Young lad, you must heed my words," said the advisor quietly, "There is no time to waste. There is a way to save the girl but you must have faith."
Allen looked to him, his eyes dull but glinting with perhaps a bit of hope. "How?" he asked, somewhat strangled. "How?"
"Faith." He answered, taking the boy by the shoulders and looking down at him with a fatherly expression, "But we must act hastily. She won't survive the day like this. We must travel to Fanelia."
"To...Fanelia?" he repeated, bewildered. "Why? What are you talking about?" He thought briefly, with a flash of regret, that if his sister was to die, he would have wanted her to stay here, in the home she knew....
"The breeding grounds. There is a mystery about them that will help the girl. But there's no time to explain." He glanced down at the pale-stricken maiden, a sad look in his eyes. "She's worthy enough to receive the gift - if she would save her own brother from death so readily."
Allen followed his gaze, his shoulders dropping. If there was even a hope.... "Yes. Yes, if there is hope...I'll do it." He pushed slowly to his feet. "What's to be done?"
"First and foremost, we must reach the sacred ground before nightfall lest she not have the chance to live. Quickly, we must arrange for a ship in Palas..."
"It will be done," he assured immediately. "If you would perhaps...watch her a moment for me...." He looked to the old man, his eyes pleading.
"Aye, lad" Jadik nodded, "Hurry along. Don't take anymore time than you have to."
"Thank you. I am in your debt." Allen bowed stiffly, then hurried out the door to complete his task.

After preparations were made and the crew of the Crusade hastily gathered, the ship was boarded by the Fanelians first. Allen, having carried Celena on board, lay her down in his quarters on the ship. Everyone endured the flight to the mountain country of Fanelia warily, all carrying the knowledge that the Crusade had not been flown in two years since the Great War. That and only have the crew could be found and gathered in such short notice, Gaddes only have vague ideas where the men were stationed or staying but was pleased when they readily complied to help their old commander. As the sun began to set on the horizon, Fanelia drawing nearer, Van approached Allen with a cautious look in his eyes.
"So - explain to me again what we're doing?"
"I have only a vague notion myself," Allen admitted, leaning against the window with his arms crossed. Gaddes had convinced him to take a moment away from Celena to gather his thoughts. "Your man Jadik is behind it all."
Van subconsciously mirrored the knights movements, gazing intently at Allen's face and not sure what he was searching for. "I have to admit that he's somewhat of a mystery. Older than anyone else I've known and served Fanelia for three generations. It's very much like him to pull out a secret like this."
"Well, I'm only hoping that it works..." he murmured, distracted.
"What did he say it was that we were to do, anyway?"
"He didn't say. I'm as confused as you are. All I know is that it has something to do with the breeding grounds." Allen sighed quietly. "A bit ironic, isn't it?"
"The breeding grounds?"
Jadik, on the bridge next to Gaddes, watched through the windows closely and nearly shouted at the man at the wheel, "Stop! We're passing them!"
Allen jumped slightly at the man's tone, turning back to the wheel. He spread commands to his crew to stop the ship. "Are we there?" he asked of Jadik.
"See for yourself." He pointed towards the windows of the bridge. Down below could be seen, as plain as day, a circle of white stones in a grove of trees. It was the middle of nowhere, surrounded by thick forests and surely dragons roaming about as well. "This is the place where miracles occur. Where life is said to exist in an essence unknown to man but felt by the dragons of the land. They breed here because they feel the magic of life emanating from the very ground."
Allen viewed the scene with mixed wonder, hope, and dread. "We won't be able to land down there," he observed with a frown. "Is there a clearer spot?"
Jadik approached Allen with a wise air about him. "I'm afraid this place is not made for man's machinery. All I can suggest is setting down the ship in the circle of stones, disembarking the ship and having it lift off while we're down there." he shrugged, "I'm only an advisor. Not a pilot."
"Thank you, for your counsel." Allen moved to Gaddes's side. "What do you think, friend? Can you land us in that small space?"
"Hell," smirked the scruffy sergeant, "I can land us in just about anywhere. No problem, boss." He ordered the men to lower the ship, Crusade readily obliging and just barely touched the forest surrounding the sacred grove as she landed. "We'll lift up after you've all gotten off and hover off to the side where we'll still be able to see you. That good, commander?"
Allen smiled. "I appreciate it. Van, Sir Jadik, I'll meet you below," he said as he moved off the bridge, to his sister's room. He checked her briefly--was a bit disturbed by how still her body seemed--before gathering her up in his arms.

Everything seemed to happen very quickly after that as everyone involved in this mysterious plan exited through the hull of the ship; Denevive trailed behind as the other two samurai, Jadik and Van walked outside following Allen with Celena in his arms. They all watched from a safe distance within the grove as the Crusade slowly hovered up and lifted into the air, leaving the quiet forest and circle in an eerie silence. They looked around, Van looking at Jadik.
"Now what, Jadik?" he asked.
Jadik took a breath and admitted with a shrug, "I honestly don't know."
Allen turned on him, though he was very careful of the precious weight in his arms. "What?" he asked, confused. "What do you mean you don't know?"
Jadik gazed at him seriously. "I know only of legends over three hundred years old that speak of this place. That speak of its magic. In it, a wounded Fanelian king was laid down in this sacred circle to be his death ground and mourned here. The next day, the king was found alive and healthy on his throne. Or so the legends say."
Allen sighed in annoyance and regret. "So we've been chasing a legend," he muttered, glancing about the forest that was quickly beginning to lose its wonder.
The old advisor still regarded the younger man seriously, everyone around them quiet as he spoke. "Remember what I said, sir knight. Faith. It's just as precious as the life you carry in your arms. Are you sure you have it?"
"I..." Allen faltered, grit his teeth. "I would do anything for her. I would give my life, if I could. So, if you say there is magic in this place...I believe you." He started slowly toward the ring of stones. "I must, for her sake. Please, Celena," he whispered against her brow. "Please be strong, a while longer."
The rest watched from the far end of the grove as Allen placed his sister down on the ground in the middle of the encircling stones, being as careful as if she were porcelain. As soon as he had done that, a low gurgling sound came from the forest near the circle. Then heavy thumps, like thunder, came to everyone's ears. The noise made hearts race and blood burn in fear, all except for Van and Jadik. Denevive was the first to spot the beast as a large, reptilian head poked out from the trees and peered straight at the Schezars. "Allen! Look out!"
Allen froze, raising his eyes to the dragon moving towards them. He felt transfixed by the blazing orb eyes of the beast, dropping to his knees at his sister's side. Was this...the legend's idea of peace? A swift death in the jaws of a beast? Or...or was there perhaps something more? He lowered his head, waiting patiently. If death awaited him...at least he would take it with his sister and be done with it all.
Van was the first to stop Denevive from retrieving his sword from its sheath and running to Allen's aid. "You must not fear. The dragon's feed off of fear." He said to Denevive before yelling towards Allen, "Allen! Get out of there. Quickly!"
"He must leave her there." said Jadik hurriedly.
"Leave Celena there!" relayed Van to Allen.
Allen stared at them, licked his lips, and shook his head. "No--no, I can't. I have to stay." He turned his eyes on Celena, felt his heart twist. "I can't leave her."
"You must!" cried the advisor as the large reptile came closer to them. It peered down at Allen with a blank look in its ghastly eyes, gurgling at him and bringing its tail up.
Again Allen shook his head, ignoring the movements of the animal looming over him. "No, I can't! I won't!" He couldn't leave her, not again, not when he needed her. He had failed too many times already.
Without wasting any time, the gargantuan beast swung its tail towards the knight, knocking him smartly away from Celena's prone form. Already, Van was sprinting to where Allen landed near the edge of the circle. "Allen! Are you all right?" He grabbed the knight's arm and tried to help him up, noticing with a small grimace at the thin trail of blood that appeared on the knight's face where he had hit his head on one of the surrounding rocks.
"Celena!" Allen tried to push to his feet but faltered as pain spread through his ribs and skull. He slumped again to the ground with a groan. "Celena...God, please...." He scratched at the earth, trying to lift himself up enough to see.
Van pulled him back, lifting him by an arm and nearly dragging him out of the circle as the dragon loomed over Celena, as if examining her carefully before lifting up his body to its full height. The sac where the drag-energist rested in the great beast's heart swelled and began to glow brightly.
Allen stared, faint and horrified. "Celena..." He pulled against Van, though weakly, trying to reach for her. "Celena!"
"No, Allen! Stay back! Let her be!" He kept his grip firm, pulling Allen away from the circle despite the struggle the knight made.
The giant reptile, although seemingly opening its grand jaw to summon the fire that stirred in its belly, released something else. Its head pointed to the sky, its fire sac swelled and glowing, and from its mouth came a light. It was white and erratic yet looking as if smooth in texture as it was released into the night sky like smoke. A humming began around the startled men, making the ground tremble so much that no one noticed the sound of more giant steps until three more dragons appeared and waddled patiently into the stone circle. It took all of Van's strength to hold the Knight Caeli back, gripping him by the shoulders.
Allen continued to struggle, albeit weakly, desperate to be at his sister's side. He prayed over and over that she would be safe, that by some miracle she would be all right....
"Look at that!" shouted the astonished Jadik, pointing as all four dragons now participated in the mystical event and mirrored the first dragon's actions. They surrounded Celena, the humming making the ground rumble even more and the light emanated from them magically lighting the darkened grove to an illumination equal to daylight. The brightness made everyone squint and just barely able to make out Celena's form, surrounded by the light and hovering in the air in her prone position. The men stood, watching awestruck as a few moments passed by and the light faded, leaving them blinded for a moment as their sight returned to the natural darkness. The dragon's long, heavy steps could be heard again as they entered the forest and vanished within the safety of the trees.
"It's over..." Jadik dared to whisper, rubbing his eyes.
Allen slumped to the earth, momentarily shocked. Gradually he regained his senses enough to shake Van off of him and dash to his sister's side. Fearfully, he touched her cheeks, hoping he would not find them to be cold. "Celena? God, Celena, please..."
At his touch, Celena's eyes fluttered as they opened slowly to focus on her brother. Her eyes looked tired from so much sleep but more alive than any other time in her life. They almost glowed with the same magical light the dragons demonstrated. She smiled up at Allen, having the strength to sit up on her own.
"Allen..." she whispered.
"Celena..." Allen gulped a thick lump from his throat, lifted her in his arms slowly. "Are...how do you feel?"
"It's all right, brother. I can stand."
Allen bit his lip, overcome with emotion. He carefully released her, watching as indeed she was able to climb to her feet. He, however, was not as successful. He could only stare up at her, amazed and overwhelmed.
She knelt when she saw he did not follow her up, not noticing the awe-struck faces of the men just beyond the circle or noticing that her surroundings were different from where she last was at all. She did, however, noticing Allen's head wound and the blood that matted his blond hair.
"Oh, no." She said softly in sympathy. "You're hurt." She reached to touch the wound, and with a flicker of lukewarm white light, it was gone. She stared at her hand, shocked by its sudden act of magic and unable to speak.
Allen barely noticed; his eyes were only for her. He reached to her, hesitantly, touching her face once more. "Celena, are you all right?" he asked, feeling dazed. "Just tell me you're all right."
The glow in her sapphire eyes was gone, as the last of the residual dragon magic was spent on her brother's minor wound, but her eyes were still bright with life. "I'm all right, brother." She said calmly. Suddenly her brow furrowed in contemplation, "Where are we? What - what happened?"
"You...." Allen couldn't answer. He swept her up in his arms once more, trembling, his face hidden within her soft hair. She was warm--so wonderfully warm against him. "Thank God," he whispered, clutching her against him. "Thank God you're all right...."
Startled, but not displeased, as Celena was squeezed fondly in her brother's elation and she managed a slight giggling. "Allen - yes, I'm fine. I - I don't know what happened. I thought for sure that I would have . . . "
"I was so afraid I'd lose you...." Allen eased her back, his face reflecting sincere joy. "But you're back...thank God." He climbed to his feet, pulling her with him, and turned toward where the others were still huddled. "And thank you, Sir Jadik. I am in your debt."
Jadik stepped forward, a proud smile beamed towards the bright young lady before turning his gaze to Allen. "It was my pleasure to help, Sir Allen. Besides," he laughed slightly, "selfishly it was an honor for me to simply see such a miracle performed."
"Lady Celena!" Came Denevive rushing up behind Jadik and brushing past him to take the lady's hand. He knelt and kissed the delicate skin. "I'm so content to see you well again, my lady!"
Allen glared at the boy, though he was too caught up in giving thanks to bother with any resentment. He wasn't shy, however, about showing Denevive through his gaze exactly what he thought of him at the moment.
Although Denevive noticed Allen's glare and seemed to tremble a bit by it, Celena only smiled down at the handsome young samurai. "Thank you - Denevive." Even she had to admit that she was wary of him after being run through by his sword, even though he didn't mean it. She pulled her hand back, watching the bashful young brunette stand and step away from them, and turned once again to her brother. "So . . .," she looked around, squinting, "What - exactly - happened?"