Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ When Escaflowne Rescued Trilladen ❯ Strange Bonds ( Chapter 23 )

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CHAPTER 23:

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strange bonds

The couple was older, but not aged. They would have looked handsome and striking had they not been suffering so from the cold and huddled so with fear. Dilandua strode up to them purposefully, wanting only to intimidate them, but they looked so pathetic he doubted he would gain much pleasure from it, still it was better than being bored.

The king looked up to see the stranger and nudged the queen. She looked up and saw Dilandau for the first time and sympathy filled her eyes. This child is a tortured spirit. She got up to her feet and looked regal, frail and beautiful. Her black hair streaked with silver giving her an air of wisdom as she stood to greet him. The king followed suit and too was transformed once again into a Nobel Sire, beloved, strong and handsome with winsome ways that endeared him to everyone. He oozed charmed and grace.

This took Dilandau by surprise. One minute they were a pitiful older couple, the next they were a vision of romance and glamour. He stopped in his tracks and glared at them, wondering if magic was too blame for the change.

"You are welcome here stranger. The night grows cold and we've only our cloaks to offer to you for warmth, but we will gladly lend our own body heat to help you through this chill in the night." The queen spoke serenely to the monster lurking before her.

Dilandau was taken aback. How dare they offer kindness to me! They should fear me! I will show them! He walked purposefully up to the insulting queen to slap her face, but her eyes never wavered from his, never were cast down in fear, he saw only acceptance and something he had not seen since Jajuka was alive. He was less than two feet from her and he saw that she was tall, just as tall as he. He raised his hand up to strike her, yet the look on her face never changed. He moved his hand quickly to make harsh contact with her delicate skin, but stopped in mid-stream.

Dilandau's brow creased in confusion and feeling troubled he looked at her. "Who are you?"

"I am the queen of this island yet I am a refugee trying to escape death to save our people."

"And I suppose you are king." Dilandau replied in snide manner.

The king looked at Dilandau and nodded. His eyes revealed caution as well as compassion.

Dilandau let his hand fall. "I will not harm you or reveal you to anyone."

"You have our thanks." The king responded. He put his arm out to invite Dilandau into the warmth of their embrace. Slowly, Dilandau walked into it. The king and queen put their cloaked arms around him and they huddled close to each other and settled onto the hard ground.

"What is this place?" Dilandau asked.

"It is the replica of the ruins of the ancient city Atlantis, our home of origin." The king told him quietly. "It was built as a reminder of our grief and as a warning never to repeat history."

"Why don't we build a fire, this isn't working, I'm still cold." Dilandau shivered.

"If we do, we will be seen, and then Mugwa will kill us." The king warned.

"Whose Mugwa?" Dilandau asked.

"He is the high priest of the holy temple containing the ancient knowledge of our ancestors. He is corrupt and horrible, aged and worn beyond his years from practicing dark magic." The queen answered.

"Does he have a big pointy nose and looks ugly as sin?"

The king chuckled, "That would be him."

But then Dilandau got that troubled confused look in his eyes. There are pieces to this puzzle that I don't have yet. I thought…

"What is it? You look bothered by something." The queen asked with concern.

Dilandau looked at her as if to ask her something, but just shook his head.

"While there is still some light, I will find weathered fire wood that won't smoke. As soon as it is dark, we can climb to the other side of this mountain to avoid the fire's light from being seen. We will not survive the cold otherwise, the air grows colder by the moment, and our body heat alone will not help us soon." Dilandau reasoned.

They both looked at each other and then to him and nodded affirmatively. In a maternal fashion, the queen put her hand on the side of Dilandau's head and leaned his head against her shoulder. He took the comfort he offered her.

"I do not feel like myself. I do not know what is happening to me?" Dilandau spoke softly.

"Then accept our loving kindness as if you are our own son. I doubt you've known enough." The king replied.

"Don't pity me!" Dilandau snapped at him. He sat up stiff looking angry.

"Are you not suffering?" The queen asked. "We are concerned for you, and wonder at your suffering. What causes it, my child?"

Dilandau turned his head around quickly to snarl at her. Again his eyes were met with sweetness and maternal concern. Something inside him cried for a mother and his heart shifted painfully in his chest as Celena tried to exert herself. Dilandau shook his head violently and then held it in his hands.

The queen grew concerned and pulled him close to her and she hummed a lullaby. Her voice was melodic and soothing. Her mothering comforted him in the deep recesses of his tormented soul and he fell asleep as if he were a newborn being held by his mother. This reprieve lasted until the light faded from the skies. The ominous clouds of the constant typhoon rumbled in the distance causing Dilandau to awaken suddenly. The queen soothed him, allowing her mothering to work a healing balm to his spirit.

He looked dazed and sleepy, but soon remembered his mission. He got up and cursed. "Blast it, it's going to be harder to find firewood in the darkness." Dilandau complained.

"Soon the two moons will rise above the clouds and settle into the eye of the storm and provide blue light to assist us in our search." King Han reasoned.

"Dilandau, come back and be warm, my son. You must allow for that time to look for wood. Stay here with us until then." Queen Natalia spoke up. Dilandau walked back and sat in between his surrogate parents sullenly who embraced him again with even more love. His heart that had been hardened by sorcery and cruelty began to soften. He did not consciously note this change.

The moons rose majestically in the night sky and shed light onto the shivering makeshift family at the ruins. Dilandau rose first to his feet and helped the queen up to her feet as the king hoisted himself up. They carefully walked up the mountain trail and hiked over the mountain for privacy. Along the way, Dilandau bent down to pick up good pieces of firewood. Soon his arms were full, so he handed the load over to the king and as they walked down the opposite side of the slope, Dilandau gathered more wood.

Soon they settled by the campfire, safely distanced from the city and the temple where Mugwa was. "Before dawn I must leave here and fly back to Asturia. I have a mission to complete." Dliandau said sleepily. The king glanced over at his wife and gave her a knowing look. She removed her cloak from her shoulders to cover Dilandau as he slept then moved close to Han and snuggled into the warm protective embrace of her lover and best friend.

They awoke at dawn, cold but safe. There was no sign of Dilandau and they knew he had left the island. He had. Destroyer had flown back from the shores of Asturia where Mugwa had set up residence in Palas. There he kept prisoner a young king whose will was usurped by a parasite guided by evil high priest. Dilandau remained still in the clutches of the griffin, somehow not enjoying the trip back to more familiar territory. His thoughts rested on the queen of Trilladen with longing. He missed her nurturing quality as soon as he left her there on the other side of the hill to find the evil griffin.

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Cerise was astounded at the immensity of the floating fortress. She signaled for her followers to take cover, yet it was too late. Asturian fighter pilots had spotted them on the Chantal mountain range and dove down to attack them. Some witches panicked and ran, getting fired upon immediately. Cerise cried out for everyone to stay low. Most did, some were too frightened to be rational. Those unfortunate ones died quickly.

Folken and the crew of the bridge of the Floating Fortress saw the distress of the people on the land down below. He only noticed their presence when Asturian Jet stream fighters flew above the mountain's horizon and attacked them. Barking orders like a Naval Admiral he had guymelef pilots out immediately to defend them. Using Zaibach technology, these new guymelefs employed the same stealth cloaks used by the Floating Fortress and could now fly and be invisible at the same time, thus effectively defeated the fighters trying to kill the people on the mountain. But it was a bloody battle…

"Commander, there's something else in the air with us!" The first fighter pilot yelled into his communicator.

"Nonsense! I see nothing!" The commander replied annoyed.

"There's a jet stream of heat only made by engines. My sensors are picking it up!"

"Nonsense, we've a job to do, now fire at will at the target!" The commander ordered.

Just then a liquid sword materialized and sliced through the commander's fuselage. The pilot didn't know what hit him as the ground below rained his blood. The first fighter screamed in terror, not having encountered something like this before. He began firing in all directions. He hit a target: a young guymelef pilot had been hit out of pure bad luck and was free falling to the ground in his giant armor. The ground below shook from the impact and the helpless witches and healers cringed in dread fear for their lives.

The last fighter pilot wanted to make his escape, but it was not to be so. Falling back on the tactics of his Zaibach training, Folken ordered no survivors or prisoners and both fighters were mercilessly hunted down and slashed out of the sky. The guymelef pilots scanned the ground below to find their fallen comrade. When his body was located they made arrangements for him to be collected along with the rescue operation of the people below that had been attacked.

Chid was in the conference room waiting for Mugwa to join him. He looked straight ahead with a blank stare as if over tired. Soon, the great doors opened up to let the ugly high priest in. He ruled all of Palas, if not the entire country by now. He was delighted how well his spiders had taken to their new homes. He felt so clever and happy with himself. Walking over to the young king he sat down beside him and gave his first real order to the brat.

"I need you to show me the seal, the key that unlocks the ancient powers of Atlantis where human will becomes reality. To do this I must read your mind, or meld with it. Tonight, after you sup alone, go out into the garden and wait for me there. I will use my powers to know your history." Mugwa imperiously got up and left the room. Chid didn't say anything, only nodded absentmindedly.

Dilandau arrived on the shores of Asturia. The griffin dropped him on the beach unceremoniously. Dilandau stretched and worked out kinks in his muscles. A young woman, a comely wench, walked up to the griffin and knelt down before it. She took a knife from a pocket in her gown and slashed her neck to bleed. The griffin took that as an invitation and ripped her to shreds and devoured her. Normally, Dilandau would have found such violence invigorating, but he was puzzled. Why would the woman offer herself to the beast?

He noticed the sand shifting at his feet. Then he felt an itching at his ankle. He looked at it and saw tiny spiders climbing and biting his flesh. Disgusted with the creepy scene he waded into the salty ocean and rubbed his flesh clean. As he started back to shore, he noticed that the sands were filled with these tiny spiders. Not trusting the situation, he decided to swim the waves to the stream up to the Chantal mountain range and avoid the ugly pesky creatures all together.

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Allen never left Princess Edwina's side. As he slept in the chair beside her bed he dreamed again of his lost love, Marlene. This time she was a bride walking down the aisle. Her face was as smooth as stone, but her eyes were gazing upon him as he held his sword up and stared straight ahead. She was looking at him with longing and grief. Her eyes met his and suddenly she asked him as she passed him by, "Why didn't you stop this? I love you. Why didn't you save me? Don't you love me anymore?" Allen woke up with a start and remembered where he was. That was the second nightmare he'd had about Marlene and he began to worry that she did not rest in peace.