Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Return to Fanelia ❯ Twenty-three ( Chapter 23 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Allen was now staggering across the desert. Up ahead was a cave, where he decided to rest. He had a deep gash on his shoulder as well as a broken ankle, but other than that he had escaped from the dragons.

Finally making it into the cave Allen collapsed into a fitful sleep. He was quite lucky that dragons didn't inhabit the cave, but that wasn't his only concern. He kept dreaming about Celena; he knew she was in trouble.

* * *

"What are we going to do now?" asked Millerna, who was probably the most disgusted and upset about the whole situation (except for Gaddes.)

"Well, we must stop Dilandau," replied Van who still was full of hatred for him.

"Don't forget about saving Allen," reminded Hitomi.

Merle slumped down. "And I though we were finished. We saved Freid, destroyed most of the rebel army, killed Balgus, killed the sorcerer, got Lord Van back from the desert in one piece, and got back to Fanelia… what more could anyone possibly want?"

Naturally everyone was amazed at how much Merle knew, half of the stuff no one had even told her. It seemed that Merle was better at eavesdropping than anyone had suspected. Dryden was particularly impressed.

"Well, anyway," Gaddes started, trying to ignore that weird cat girl that chased Van around all over the place, and was always where she shouldn't have been, "we need to get to it. We have much to do, and time is of the essence."

"It would be easier if we knew where Dilandau was going," Van started. Hitomi began to take out her pendant and map again. "Wait, we can reason this out. No need to depend on you again. If we put all of our brains together-" Van then looked around the room. An annoying cat girl, a ditzy princess, a fickle girl from the Mystic Moon, an overzealous rich man, and a man who was still very much in shock upon finding that his love interest was both male and female… all were in this room. "Well, I suppose that between the-" Van then counted on his fingers, "six of us we can figure this out."

"Well," started Millerna who was looking forward to helping out, "there is no more Vione, so he couldn't have gone there."

"Yes, and the sorcerer and Balgus are both dead. So he couldn't have tracked either of them down," Hitomi offered.

"I could definitely see in his eyes that he looking to spill some blood," shuddered Van.

"I've got it," Gaddes was probably the most capable out of the lot of them when it came to matters of the brain, "She… I mean he… no wait… um, IT probably isn't as dumb as it let on. Dilandau probably knows all that Celena does, so I think he'll probably track down what was left of the rebel army. I know we didn't completely destroy them, we just kind of assumed that they would give up after the sorcerer was killed."

"That sounds about right," agreed Dryden.

Van was by now getting quite tired with this war that would just not end, not matter how hard he fought. "I'm sure that by flying within the proximity of Freid, we should be able to find their flying fortress. Once in there I plan to get Escaflowne back and then we could probably take down their army, which has been greatly weakened (of which I am sure.)"

"And then save Allen," reminded Hitomi again.

"Right, and save Allen," Van agreed.

"To the Crusade then!" declared Gaddes.

* * *

"Who do you say you are again?" asked one general.

"I am Dilandau. I was placed under the order of Lord Dornkirk and fought next to Folken Strategos much of the time. I was at much of the same battles of the four demon armies," Dilandau explained.

"Oh… next to Folken Strategos?" another general said, quite disappointed. They whispered amongst themselves for a while. "I suppose we can give you a chance. We will have a guymelef specially made, in return for your Escaflowne."

"Only if you make it exactly according to how I want it?" Dilandau grinned evilly thinking of his red guymelef, capable of burning down an entire country.