Post by Yoshiko on Apr 21, 2006 13:20:07 GMT -5
Chapter Seven! Yep. Comment, if you'd like. (Hahaha! XD)
The Shadow of the East
Chapter Seven
Rose and Roger Servenoire
“Shut up.”
“No.”
“Shut up.”
“No.”
“Please! Roger, just shut up. I’m trying to navigate.”
“Yeah, and we both know just how bad you can be at it.” The young man sneered teasingly at the slightly older woman, as she glared at him with a hint of fire in her pupil-less blue, silvery eyes.
“Roger, please silence yourself. I’d like silence while I read the map.” The woman replied, trying to calm herself.
“Rose, give it up. Let me navigate. We’ll find him much more easily.” The boy, Roger, said back to the girl, Rose. “Dramoor honestly can’t be too far ahead of us, but with you leading, who knows where we’ll end up? Back in Xiovi, most likely!”
“For the last time, Roger, I’m keeping the map.” Rose replied, firmly.
“What? Just because you’re two years older than me, you think you can command me as you wish? Nice try.” The boy answered back, before adjusting the purple cloak sitting on his shoulders.
“Well, Mother and Father, before leaving to Falthalym, entrusted you to my care.” She smirked devilishly, before turning her gaze back to the map.
“But back then we were seven and nine! I don’t think it matters anymore. We’re seventeen and nineteen now.” Roger presented his argument quickly, and Rose merely silenced him with a quick slap to the cheek. He stared at her a moment, as if anger were welling up deep inside of him, then simply sighed and looked ahead.
“Now… According to the map, Dramoor should really only be about, oh, fifteen miles in that direction.” Rose finally said, according to Roger, twelve minutes later.
“Really now? W- wait! Isn’t that…? That’s ‘im!” Roger practically shouted, pointing his small, fragile hands in the direction of a group of three, walking down an old, dusty road, though, when compared to Roger and Rose’s, was a nice, comfortable, cobbled path.
“What? Roger, calm down. What’re you talking about?”
“It’s him! It’s that guy we’re after!” Roger exclaimed, before making a quick run towards the group. Rose extended a lithe arm, and pulled him back, her arm wrapped tightly ‘round his neck.
“We make no rash decisions. You go up to the front, try and distract him. I’ll go around the back, and make an attack.” She hissed in the foolish boy’s ears, before releasing him. Roger nodded, and then casually walked to cut off the group. Rose, considering it may take her more time to attack the group from behind, began a brisk walk towards the backside of the travelers. When she was in place, all she had to do was wait for Roger to start talking.
“Hey! Give that back, you stupid bird!” Bryan shouted, flailing his arms in a futile attempt to catch Quizzle, who’d just taken off with a large apple Bryan was about to bite into.
“We’re all hungry, Bryan, but I haven’t eaten all day! (This was quite some time, seeing as it had progressed well onto at least three in the afternoon.)
“Hey, numbskull!” Roger waved to the group, but directly looked at Bryan Walker. Lance, Jenna, and Quizzle (who had landed back on Jenna’s shoulder at the call of Roger, after Bryan had stopped to look) turned their gaze towards Roger Servenoire. He had thick, blonde hair, which fell flatly down to the midpoint of his forehead. His eyes were a gentle blue, soft as the sky, and his face was happily full looking. Roger wasn’t tall for a seventeen-year-old; rather, he was quite short for his age at the height of four feet, seven inches, which contrasted greatly when compared with the height of his sibling, Rose Servenoire, at nineteen, five feet, eleven inches tall.
He wore a dark brown shirt, with contrasting white pants. Behind him flowed a thick, purple cloak, which would have ended at his lower ankles, if it had not been for the wind. On his feet were what looked to be a sort of moccasin, though sturdier and thicker, and a dark tan in color.
“Who… Are you?” Bryan asked flatly, a perplexed look slapped on his face.
“Ugh… You’re really a lot stupider than I remember.” Roger replied snappily. “Don’t you remember? Xiovi? You owe a man some money. It wasn’t all that long ago.”
“Ah, yes… Money…” He idly tapped his fingers against his chest, awaiting Lance or Jenna to jump in. However, the two remained silent and idle, watching Roger.
“Now, hand over the five thousand gold, or I will have to use force. They don’t pay me for nothing, you know.” Roger smirked at the threesome as he thrust his hand up into the sky; a small fire ball appeared at the end of it.
“No way; I’m not handing over five thousand gold! Kill me first!”
“Very well; as you wish it – Hae salen!” The words spoken made Lance cringe, though no one seemed to take notice; and, as Roger quickly hissed them, he flung his hand down. Doing so seemed to make the fire ball fly quickly towards Bryan, who instantly drew his sword which looked to be made of ice. A quick twirl and slash dispelled the ball of fire, and Bryan replaced his sword in its sheath.
“Hah! You think you can take me? Besides, you were a lot tougher when that one girl was with you. Even still, she sucked! Ahaha—” There was a cut off to Bryan’s joyous laughter as a large rock hit him in the back of the head, which knocked him from a conscious state.
Jenna gasped, crouching down to the aid of Bryan once more before looking up to see who’d caused harm to befall him. There stood Rose Servenoire, smirking contentedly. She had silvery blue eyes, short black hair which fell just below her ears. For clothing, she wore a black shirt and a blue, unbuttoned vest over it, and on her legs, a pair of white pants matching Roger’s could be seen. Her feet also carried the same shoes as Roger, thick, dark moccasins.
“Hah! Rose, you got him!”
“Roger, grab him. We’re taking him to back to Xiovi with us.”
After Rose finished speaking her few words, she turned only to come face to face with Lance, inches away.
“You go nowhere with Bryan. He’s ours.” Lancelot said firmly, drawing his long sword.
Jenna stood beside Lance – she had already bandaged Bryan’s head again. “You’re not allowed to take him. We need him.”
“Need him? Please, darling, we need him far more than you possibly ever could.” Rose replied, rolling her eyes idly. “Come on, Roger. Make haste.”
“Yes ma’am!” Roger said quickly, bending over and picking up Bryan by his feet.
“Did you not hear my words? I said leave him be.” Lance made a few long strides to the front of Rose and blocked her path once more. “Drop him.”
“Erm… Rose?” Roger asked uncertainly.
“We take him. They paid us for a reason.”
“We’ll double it.” Lance said briefly.
“You know not even how much they paid.”
“It matters not. I will double it.”
“Very well; one thousand gold it is, then.” Lance sighed, digging into a pocket with his right hand, his left occupied with his sword, which, while the two siblings were distracted, lunged for Roger, the holder of Bryan. The young mage let go of his captive, swung around the sword, and threw a quickly conjured sphere of fire to Lance, who simply caught it in his own hand; after doing so, the smooth, round sphere became greatly inflamed, spewing small streams of fire.
Lancelot picked up Bryan, began running, and motioned for Jenna to follow, which she did promptly. Rose and Roger seemed not to pursuit.
“It’s not worth it. We’ll hunt them down later.” Rose muttered. Roger stared wide-eyed at the sky. “What is it?”
“L-look…!” Roger shouted, pointing a finger to a small red ball in the sky: the ball of flames Lance had taken from Roger. The group was now a good distance away, however, but Roger and Rose worried not of that – over that last two seconds, the ball had begun to fall from the sky with a great speed.
The sound was deafening as it came into contact with the dry ground, sending up dust and dirt everywhere. By the time the smoke and dust cleared, however, the two were not to be seen in the large crater left by the small bomb.
“Whew, boy. I’m fine now.” Bryan said, sitting on a rock, completely invigorated. Lance and Jenna stood nearby, panting. Quizzle sat on her shoulder, rocking back and forth gently, as he whistled a quiet filark tune.
“Fine, Bryan? You’re fine?” Lance growled in anger. “In that case… Come here.” As Lance commanded this of his companion, Bryan complied and stood, walking slowly to Lancelot. Once standing in front of him, a mere foot away, Lance rose his hand, and struck Bryan across the face, who flew back and sprawled along the ground. “If you’re just simply fine, tell me who that was.”
Bryan sat up, blinked a few times, and then laughed meekly. “Well, you see – Rose and Roger Servenoire. That’s not the first time they’ve been after me.” He answered, rubbing his right cheek.
“Who are they?” Lance queried once more.
“Money collectors; you see, I, um, owe someone some money.”
“According to those two, you owe someone one thousand gold. Tell me, Bryan, who is this someone?” Here, Lance drew a small silver dagger and crouched down beside Bryan.
“Just another gambler is all. He probably hired them when I skipped out of Xiovi and came here.”
“Fine.” Lance replied, standing once more. He clipped the dagger to his belt, and helped Bryan stand.
“Lance, we’re taking him with us to Falthalym, right?” Jenna asked, worriedly. Lance answered not for a few minutes, as if contemplating, then finally nodded.
“We’ll take him; only because he serves as our protection.”
“Hey! I’m right here, you know! I can hear you!” Bryan cried, standing up from the ground.
“Good. Then you know the only reason you’re coming with us.” Lance said, turning from the group. “We keep moving. We know not whether the man Bryan owes is sending anyone else after him.”
“Lance, you know, we’re all tired.” Bryan said.
“You shut up! You got us here. So you’ve got to cooperate as best you can and follow me.” The Prince snapped back, already walking ahead of the group.
“He’s angry.” Quizzle said quietly, looking to Jenna’s evergreen eyes.
“No, you think?” Bryan said, sighing. “It’s my fault, too.”
“Cheer up, Bryan, okay? He’ll forgive you. Lance is a good-hearted person, no doubt.” Jenna said, trying to calm him down. “Now, let’s go before he gets too far ahead of us.” She took his hand and smiled, pulling him forward…
…Pulling him forward to a new day, and to a new life.
The Shadow of the East
Chapter Seven
Rose and Roger Servenoire
“Shut up.”
“No.”
“Shut up.”
“No.”
“Please! Roger, just shut up. I’m trying to navigate.”
“Yeah, and we both know just how bad you can be at it.” The young man sneered teasingly at the slightly older woman, as she glared at him with a hint of fire in her pupil-less blue, silvery eyes.
“Roger, please silence yourself. I’d like silence while I read the map.” The woman replied, trying to calm herself.
“Rose, give it up. Let me navigate. We’ll find him much more easily.” The boy, Roger, said back to the girl, Rose. “Dramoor honestly can’t be too far ahead of us, but with you leading, who knows where we’ll end up? Back in Xiovi, most likely!”
“For the last time, Roger, I’m keeping the map.” Rose replied, firmly.
“What? Just because you’re two years older than me, you think you can command me as you wish? Nice try.” The boy answered back, before adjusting the purple cloak sitting on his shoulders.
“Well, Mother and Father, before leaving to Falthalym, entrusted you to my care.” She smirked devilishly, before turning her gaze back to the map.
“But back then we were seven and nine! I don’t think it matters anymore. We’re seventeen and nineteen now.” Roger presented his argument quickly, and Rose merely silenced him with a quick slap to the cheek. He stared at her a moment, as if anger were welling up deep inside of him, then simply sighed and looked ahead.
“Now… According to the map, Dramoor should really only be about, oh, fifteen miles in that direction.” Rose finally said, according to Roger, twelve minutes later.
“Really now? W- wait! Isn’t that…? That’s ‘im!” Roger practically shouted, pointing his small, fragile hands in the direction of a group of three, walking down an old, dusty road, though, when compared to Roger and Rose’s, was a nice, comfortable, cobbled path.
“What? Roger, calm down. What’re you talking about?”
“It’s him! It’s that guy we’re after!” Roger exclaimed, before making a quick run towards the group. Rose extended a lithe arm, and pulled him back, her arm wrapped tightly ‘round his neck.
“We make no rash decisions. You go up to the front, try and distract him. I’ll go around the back, and make an attack.” She hissed in the foolish boy’s ears, before releasing him. Roger nodded, and then casually walked to cut off the group. Rose, considering it may take her more time to attack the group from behind, began a brisk walk towards the backside of the travelers. When she was in place, all she had to do was wait for Roger to start talking.
“Hey! Give that back, you stupid bird!” Bryan shouted, flailing his arms in a futile attempt to catch Quizzle, who’d just taken off with a large apple Bryan was about to bite into.
“We’re all hungry, Bryan, but I haven’t eaten all day! (This was quite some time, seeing as it had progressed well onto at least three in the afternoon.)
“Hey, numbskull!” Roger waved to the group, but directly looked at Bryan Walker. Lance, Jenna, and Quizzle (who had landed back on Jenna’s shoulder at the call of Roger, after Bryan had stopped to look) turned their gaze towards Roger Servenoire. He had thick, blonde hair, which fell flatly down to the midpoint of his forehead. His eyes were a gentle blue, soft as the sky, and his face was happily full looking. Roger wasn’t tall for a seventeen-year-old; rather, he was quite short for his age at the height of four feet, seven inches, which contrasted greatly when compared with the height of his sibling, Rose Servenoire, at nineteen, five feet, eleven inches tall.
He wore a dark brown shirt, with contrasting white pants. Behind him flowed a thick, purple cloak, which would have ended at his lower ankles, if it had not been for the wind. On his feet were what looked to be a sort of moccasin, though sturdier and thicker, and a dark tan in color.
“Who… Are you?” Bryan asked flatly, a perplexed look slapped on his face.
“Ugh… You’re really a lot stupider than I remember.” Roger replied snappily. “Don’t you remember? Xiovi? You owe a man some money. It wasn’t all that long ago.”
“Ah, yes… Money…” He idly tapped his fingers against his chest, awaiting Lance or Jenna to jump in. However, the two remained silent and idle, watching Roger.
“Now, hand over the five thousand gold, or I will have to use force. They don’t pay me for nothing, you know.” Roger smirked at the threesome as he thrust his hand up into the sky; a small fire ball appeared at the end of it.
“No way; I’m not handing over five thousand gold! Kill me first!”
“Very well; as you wish it – Hae salen!” The words spoken made Lance cringe, though no one seemed to take notice; and, as Roger quickly hissed them, he flung his hand down. Doing so seemed to make the fire ball fly quickly towards Bryan, who instantly drew his sword which looked to be made of ice. A quick twirl and slash dispelled the ball of fire, and Bryan replaced his sword in its sheath.
“Hah! You think you can take me? Besides, you were a lot tougher when that one girl was with you. Even still, she sucked! Ahaha—” There was a cut off to Bryan’s joyous laughter as a large rock hit him in the back of the head, which knocked him from a conscious state.
Jenna gasped, crouching down to the aid of Bryan once more before looking up to see who’d caused harm to befall him. There stood Rose Servenoire, smirking contentedly. She had silvery blue eyes, short black hair which fell just below her ears. For clothing, she wore a black shirt and a blue, unbuttoned vest over it, and on her legs, a pair of white pants matching Roger’s could be seen. Her feet also carried the same shoes as Roger, thick, dark moccasins.
“Hah! Rose, you got him!”
“Roger, grab him. We’re taking him to back to Xiovi with us.”
After Rose finished speaking her few words, she turned only to come face to face with Lance, inches away.
“You go nowhere with Bryan. He’s ours.” Lancelot said firmly, drawing his long sword.
Jenna stood beside Lance – she had already bandaged Bryan’s head again. “You’re not allowed to take him. We need him.”
“Need him? Please, darling, we need him far more than you possibly ever could.” Rose replied, rolling her eyes idly. “Come on, Roger. Make haste.”
“Yes ma’am!” Roger said quickly, bending over and picking up Bryan by his feet.
“Did you not hear my words? I said leave him be.” Lance made a few long strides to the front of Rose and blocked her path once more. “Drop him.”
“Erm… Rose?” Roger asked uncertainly.
“We take him. They paid us for a reason.”
“We’ll double it.” Lance said briefly.
“You know not even how much they paid.”
“It matters not. I will double it.”
“Very well; one thousand gold it is, then.” Lance sighed, digging into a pocket with his right hand, his left occupied with his sword, which, while the two siblings were distracted, lunged for Roger, the holder of Bryan. The young mage let go of his captive, swung around the sword, and threw a quickly conjured sphere of fire to Lance, who simply caught it in his own hand; after doing so, the smooth, round sphere became greatly inflamed, spewing small streams of fire.
Lancelot picked up Bryan, began running, and motioned for Jenna to follow, which she did promptly. Rose and Roger seemed not to pursuit.
“It’s not worth it. We’ll hunt them down later.” Rose muttered. Roger stared wide-eyed at the sky. “What is it?”
“L-look…!” Roger shouted, pointing a finger to a small red ball in the sky: the ball of flames Lance had taken from Roger. The group was now a good distance away, however, but Roger and Rose worried not of that – over that last two seconds, the ball had begun to fall from the sky with a great speed.
The sound was deafening as it came into contact with the dry ground, sending up dust and dirt everywhere. By the time the smoke and dust cleared, however, the two were not to be seen in the large crater left by the small bomb.
“Whew, boy. I’m fine now.” Bryan said, sitting on a rock, completely invigorated. Lance and Jenna stood nearby, panting. Quizzle sat on her shoulder, rocking back and forth gently, as he whistled a quiet filark tune.
“Fine, Bryan? You’re fine?” Lance growled in anger. “In that case… Come here.” As Lance commanded this of his companion, Bryan complied and stood, walking slowly to Lancelot. Once standing in front of him, a mere foot away, Lance rose his hand, and struck Bryan across the face, who flew back and sprawled along the ground. “If you’re just simply fine, tell me who that was.”
Bryan sat up, blinked a few times, and then laughed meekly. “Well, you see – Rose and Roger Servenoire. That’s not the first time they’ve been after me.” He answered, rubbing his right cheek.
“Who are they?” Lance queried once more.
“Money collectors; you see, I, um, owe someone some money.”
“According to those two, you owe someone one thousand gold. Tell me, Bryan, who is this someone?” Here, Lance drew a small silver dagger and crouched down beside Bryan.
“Just another gambler is all. He probably hired them when I skipped out of Xiovi and came here.”
“Fine.” Lance replied, standing once more. He clipped the dagger to his belt, and helped Bryan stand.
“Lance, we’re taking him with us to Falthalym, right?” Jenna asked, worriedly. Lance answered not for a few minutes, as if contemplating, then finally nodded.
“We’ll take him; only because he serves as our protection.”
“Hey! I’m right here, you know! I can hear you!” Bryan cried, standing up from the ground.
“Good. Then you know the only reason you’re coming with us.” Lance said, turning from the group. “We keep moving. We know not whether the man Bryan owes is sending anyone else after him.”
“Lance, you know, we’re all tired.” Bryan said.
“You shut up! You got us here. So you’ve got to cooperate as best you can and follow me.” The Prince snapped back, already walking ahead of the group.
“He’s angry.” Quizzle said quietly, looking to Jenna’s evergreen eyes.
“No, you think?” Bryan said, sighing. “It’s my fault, too.”
“Cheer up, Bryan, okay? He’ll forgive you. Lance is a good-hearted person, no doubt.” Jenna said, trying to calm him down. “Now, let’s go before he gets too far ahead of us.” She took his hand and smiled, pulling him forward…
…Pulling him forward to a new day, and to a new life.