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Chapter 4 - Silent Hearts

Chapter 4 - Silent Hearts

Chapter 4 - Silent Hearts
Chapter 4

Silent Hearts

Came the dawn and the valley was again still and silent. The smell of dying embers of fire was light in the morning air. Along the base of a rock face amid the trees, giants of metal sat silent and cold. Among them a great white giant seemed to loom over the others shining a dull red glow from its heart. Before each giant were the dying embers some still slightly aflame and some cold black ash. To each fire there was a man bundled against the cold of the waxing morn.

The snow capped mountains rising high above gave a calming blue shadow to the valley below. The glow of the morning roused the men before their great machines. They stirred and stretched in the cold air of the morning. It was still hazy and surreal like the state between sleep and wakefulness. It was so for all but one. He sat atop a high rock ledge on the face of the moutain overlooking the campsite. Around his shoulders was a cape of dark blue and silver cloth with complex and beautiful flowing embroidering fit for royalty. Bundled in equally ornate blankets was his loyal and beloved companion. She clung to him and her long ears twitched as she slumbered, safe in his lap.

As his men awoke the man on the rock gave no sign of movement. Only every once in a while did he stroke the burgundy hair of his companion as she stirred. Some of the men were old and some young, some with long white beards and some scrapped their faces in the morning air. Quietly they went about their business of the morn: kindling kindly fires for breakfast and rousing those who still slept.

As they quietly worked with only a word hear and there they waited for the word of their King who so benevolently watched over them. One man more than the others looked to him. A tall and broad older man in worn but fine clothes, one of the men with a long white beard he was. His name was Cassola, First Brigadier General under his king. Even from a distance he could see the weariness in his king's eyes. Cassola had known his young king well over the last few years and had seen his many troubles. They were troubles that he thought none so young should have to carry but it was his destiny as a king.

The still air of the valley was heavy but fragrant with waning winter smells. The young king ran his fingers though his companion's hair as she woke and looked up at him lovingly. She lay her head on his chest and purred a soft purr of contentment and relief. He smiled down at her and she thought that all was well for them and soon they would be through the tall wooden gates of their homeland to dwell and rule in their blue-roofed home. But the king knew that all was not well and he had doubts of his return being as swift as his companion hopped. He thought of the furies he had faced in the recent months. And most of all the devils he had just faced. But he was hopeful despite his ill feelings.

The king looked to the sky and saw the sight of the coming sun; great rays of light poured over the ridges of the peeks of the mountain the men dwelt under. They filled the sky and it was as if the heavens had opened up and would now give their majestic light to the world endowing it with its peace and its love.

In the air on the breeze the feather flew. The king, still looking to the sky, saw it and followed its path. After a time it sailed to the camp and the king held out his hand to it with a warm smile. It came close to him but then flowed away back up into the sky. His face fell with dismay and confusion as the feather seemed reluctant as if it wished to keep its tidings from him. It sailed into the sky, higher and higher as if it didn't intend to return but in fact to leave this world and all its sadness behind to the heavens above.

'No...' the king whispered as a shadow fell over his face. His companion gripped his cape and felt that the joy of the past moment had suddenly slipped away. The king in his mind felt a dark tiding from the feather. Gently he bayed his companion give him span and she reluctantly took herself from him. He stood casting off his cape to the cold rock under his feet. There was an echo across the canyon of the dull clatter of his blade on his side. He untied the brown tasseled thread of his dark crimson garment also embroidered a handsomely green with ornate kingly designs. From under his attire and from around his neck he drew a small red stone.

With his arm outstretched the gem dangled from his hand by it's golden chain. On the ground below the rock and past the white giant that sat before its master the men peered up in silence. Some mystified and some fearful. True of all but Cassola; he stood stead awaiting his king without fear or wonder. Some of the younger of the men began to speak very softly and cautiously to one another. Word that had been said before about the king. Words of rumor, words of fear. Of their king's power. Of their king's bane.

With the glare of his eyes, Cassola silenced the men for his king to carry on in peace, if peaceful it could be called.

The king stood for a time without movement, his eyes closed, barring the conscious world. The stone hung still. In his mind the land around him was full with light. It brought to the land warmth. It brought to the land life. The green of the trees and the grass never seemed brighter and the blue of the rivers' waters never deeper. The creatures about were nourished by the land nourished by the sun and there was harmony. But a shadow came. It covered the lands; the greens withered, the waters darkened, the animals fled and the harmony was broken.

The faces of many people whom he once knew well went through the king's mind. He recognized the feelings that each brought to him. But he also felt the state of each person in this time. Like the dark land they were cheerless and some even choleric. Among the faces many there was one who seemed to elude his sight. The face of a girl. A girl whom he still held dear.

In the enigmatical void where his mind preserved the things unseen the image of the stone surfaced, still and silent. Quietly and to himself the king spoke in question: "Where?" The stone in his mind grew dim and small as if receding away from him into the unseen. Then there were sound in that distance. Cries of terror or pain. All around him dark hazy forms began to appear. The cries came from them but still sounded as if coming from afar. The forms all around crept closer and they felt cold to the king. He could barely make out the faces on each. Not even could he seclude each form from the other as their haze did not diminish but it covered all of them together like a blanket.

In the darkness they overtook him and he struggled against many hands all around him. The cries grew louder now, not only screams of pain and anguish but now of madness. Many hands the king felt upon his body. He was forced to his knees by the weight of that many. He struggled to no avail but would not give up. The cries and screams filled his heart and mind.

There seemed no hope but then the cries subsided and then ceased. He now felt nothing upon his body. About him the forms were not; they had left him and he felt no ground below him and no sky above but simply nothingness. Suddenly a white light filled his mind. Blinding it was at first but after a moment he could see that it emanated from a pillar of light stretching high above and far below. In it was a shadowed form. He went to it not by his feet but by whatever means used in this place. He was to the pillar of light and he moved into it.

He saw before him a sight he had wished for, for what seemed Forever and Ever. It was not only what he saw though be it the most beautiful sight imaginable in the King's mind, no, but what he felt. A joy and a peace in his heart the likes of which have not words. It was happiness. The sort that only a joining of two easily swayed human hearts can bring. It was her. His one. His love. His no other.

And she looked at him just as he looked at her. But then the light began to dim. The joy on their faces turned to dread. Dread of once again being torn away from one another. The king wished to go to his love and hold her but he could not move from his place. He reached to her in the dimming light and she reached back for him. There was no sound though both wished to yell out the other's name. Away she started to move back and away into the darkness. It felt to the king as if there was some force taking them from one another and he cried out in anguish and anger.

On the rock in the morning light the king suddenly opened his eyes and as he did he saw the stone swing. To the east it swung and that is the way he peered. He saw the light of the sun on the lands. The cheer of it all seemed to mock the king and anger took him.

At least a day's journey away by any means whether it be by melef or airship the Crusade rested upon the ground without flight. The fight of that morn had been brief. With crema-claws, Scherazade had been damaged beyond their capability to repair before an enraged Allen could set foot in its control chamber. The fire of the Zaiboch melefs had forced the Crusade down. After that the Zaiboch withdrew and disappeared. It was several hours since the attack and no one had spoken since. They simply made repairs in silence and did not even look up. It would be not until the night that basic repairs would be complete and the Crusade would be air-worthy again. That is without distraction.

Outside the ship sitting atop the melef carrier, Katz, Oruto, Teo, and Gaddes stood guard in their guymelef all around the ship. Every once in a while there was heard the soft whir of gears and the thump of one of their heavy feet upon the earth as they shifted their positions in if not anxiety then boredom. The minuets dragged by like hours and there was no relief to their toil.
On the bridge Riden, Kio and Pyle were the only ones that talked. To one another and very softly though they spoke only of the repairs. Kio and Pyle did most of the labor whist Riden monitored the valves and needles of the pressure gages or on occasion looked nervously through the periscope. Also on the bridge was Malerna standing in a patch of sunlight at the forward windows. Because sitting atop the tall and wide melef carrier the Crusade was, Malerna could look out and see over top of most trees just barely. She thought to herself that if anyone wanted to find them it would be no trouble at all.

But as she looked out over the trees, their tops painted gold by the rising sun, she didn't think on their position for long. She found her mind wondering back to her confrontation with Allen earlier that night. She thought of what she had almost and was about to say. It wasn't that Allen wanted to get away. Away from his hardships, his disagreements and his dishonor at the hands of his peers. Not only that anyway. Malerna thought that perhaps his troubles went deeper. That his wounds of the war had not yet been healed. As they hadn't been for so many. Yet she thought; that though Allen's behavior had been on a very gradual down-slate since the war, his acts in recent months had been particularly rash. His blatant disregard for her father's authority and his violent temper had been noticeably flaring.

Malerna thought to herself: 'why? why were you so suddenly so stricken with remorse? It is understandable now but why before? Has it been your sister that has brought you so much grief? But when you are with her you soul is as calm as the waters of our crystal blue bay. Is your love for her so strong that it brings you sadness? But what of our love? A love of which I am sure still burns within your heart as I am so painfully aware it does in mine. What of it? What of our love.' Suddenly the princess felt the tears sliding down upon her smooth porcelain skin. Silently and for the first time in so long a time as her memory didn't serve her, she wept for Allen.

She did so but not openly. She stood peering out the window letting the time precious slip by without notice. She passively heard the door to the bridge slide open and then closed but she paid it no mind with the thought of it being Kio or Pyle simply returning from running a repair errand. A few moments passed. As she stood with her head bowed concealing her tears she felt a presence behind her. She felt a pair of hands grasp her shoulders. She gasped as she was startled and turned around to find Allen. For a fraction of a second she feared him but then she saw his face.

It was calm and pleasant; a look that he had not given to her for some time. Somehow weariness and strife had left him it seemed as he looked into her eyes. She looked deep into his. He spoke: "Princess" as he took her hand. But in his eyes and his voice she could feel that he was in devastation. Her eyes did not grow any less sad at his gaze and she felt his hand on hers trembling. It was then in Allen's care so long since felt by Malerna that she realized how weary she was. She felt that sleep was about to over take her and for the first time in so long she in all trust fell into sleep in Allen's arms.

His smile as she now slept faded and he picked her up to carry her to her cabin. As he left the bridge he gave Riden and Kio orders as Pyle was elsewhere: "Go below and make sure of the carrier's anchoring." He said.
"Kio already checked." Riden said. "They're fine."

Allen's face became fierce. "They check them again! The both of you. NOW!" He commanded loudly.

Kio and Riden looked at each other uneasily. "Ye- yes sir." Riden said and the two men scampered off.

Allen went to Malerna's cabin and placed her into bed. He then went to another room within the Crusade. In the room it was dark and humid. Allen's eyes went to the only thing occupying the room; bound still to the chair. The boy barely conscious looked up at the tall man in black with fear as he approached. All the boy could see was the figure of the tall man and the glint of his blue eyes daunting and ominous behind his hanging locks.

The boy watched as Allen tightened his black glove to his hand with a deep leathery squeak in the silent and dark room. Allen lowered his hand to the boy's face and ran the back of it across a bruise. The boy turned his head in evasion but Allen then grasped the boy by the hair with a jerk. The boy breathed scarcely as Allen pulled his head back and looked down at him. The boy then heard the sound of a blade being unsheathed and felt the lifeless cold of metal pressed against his neck. Though all he could see was Allen's hateful gaze.

The next few moment felt like all of time for the boy, and he saw many things and people in his mind. It stretched on and on like a long coast in the night.

Allen looked down at the boy and animosity and hate consumed his mind. The thought of this simply being a young boy did not occur to him. In his mind he saw a demon in league with those whom had taken from him. "No one is innocent." Allen said deeply as he tightened his grip on the boy pulling his head further back.

There is nothing and in the heart only blackness. The mind is clouded as the heart bleeds and grief is our only companion. Of the malice of men and the benevolence of those above; no condolence or comfort to those in pain and in death. The heart bleeds red and it soaks into the earth. All that live are destined to die. That is the will of our world.

The blade moved swiftly without a sound. Blood spattered across the floor of the dark room black as ink. As Allen released the boy from his grip his head fell limp at his shoulders.

Allen turned to leave the room without sheathing his short sword. As the door opened Riden, Kio and Pyle stood outside. They looked at their commander. His weapon hung in his hand. Blood dripped from it and his spattered gloves. The shock on the three men's faces was bleak. If there were a line uncrossed before, there was no longer.

Allen looked at his men without remorse. Then he uttered: "Justice is done."

The day went on and the air about the men was unchanged. Riden and Kio took the boy from the ship and put him beneath the earth with his sword. Malerna still slept and as the word spread to the men on guard of the act no one knew how she was to be informed. The men could do nothing more than their duties while she slept.

Allen was not idle during the day despite his crime, as it would seem. He took to repairing what he could of Scherazade in the hanger. He put the boy out of his mind and thought of their next course of action. It was obvious that they would give chase when they could but what would be done if they found the Zaiboch? They would almost certainly lose any conflict and there was no guarantee that the Zaiboch fleet-ships had even stayed together. It was these thought that went through Allen's mind as he worked but then as he did he glanced to the other side of the hanger to the other melef seat.

It had been long years since he had seen the White Dragon there; it seemed to him that in that time victory was more frequent and times were slightly brighter of mind. Though Allen missed this Dragon as a friend he would be hesitant to extend a friendly hand as his view of him had changed over the years. But still Allen admired his might and thought that indeed his strength would be helpful in these times. But now The Dragon had his own matters and his own people to care for and Allen doubted any aid of his sort.

The day passed without incident of any kind. It seemed that besides the occasional sound of an animal rustling about in the bushes or the call of a bird they were alone in the world. The sun set and night fell. There were no stars and the moons were dim in the sky shrouded by a curtain cloud. The darkness about that land was thick. The trees swayed about with a low wind. The men were called back to the ship as the repairs were almost complete. All that day there had been almost no speech and what little there was, was hushed and quiet.

Most of the men were on the bridge with Allen once again in a foul mood but he showed it little. Their direction had been decided and they were ready to lift off once the final checks were completed. All were on the bridge but Malerna. She was in her cabin and had been perhaps the most silent of all since her awakening earlier.

There was a low hum as Kio brought the energists online and the ship began to come back to life. Riden looked nervously through the dorsal periscope searching the dark skies for any signs of trouble. For a long while throughout the day he had found nothing and was often encouraged by Kio to cease the pointless endeavor but Riden maintained a 'feeling in his gut' as he put it, of a threat.

All around and throughout the ship there was silence. Only the sound of the wind was there but suddenly as he peered through the periscope Riden's shrill voice pierced the silence like a knife. "Commander! A light! I see a red light!"

"Where?!" Allen asked commandingly.

"Wait! it's gone! but it was in the sky and coming toward us." Riden replied still looking about the skies for other threats.
"It may be on the ground now. Take us up, now!" Allen ordered.

"We still can't." Kio said. "The levastones on the carrier and the Crusade's are sill not in synchronous. If their levitation levels are different when we lift off, we could be torn in half!"

"Then we fight." Allen said grimly. He stood for a moment looking into the darkness of the forest and then turned to Gaddes. "You and Katz arm yourselves and get out there. There may be only one but if there are more get back onboard if you can."

Allen's orders were carried out and the two men in their melefs stood with the long bow of the ship above them. The melef were armed with long spears for the stabbing of energests and control chambers. With spears pointed toward the wood the men waited.

With all the yelling and the sound of heavy metal melefs being deployed, Malerna had come to the bridge. As she walked past Allen to peer down at the coming battle she looked away from his gaze for she had since been in the interrogation room where the prisoner was no longer. Though the look on her face was not that of sadness or anger. It simply was with no certain emotion except perhaps that of apathy. She looked out from the windows with her back to Allen thought she could not see the melefs below.

Gaddes and Katz looked into the gloom and dark before them. All was silent again but for the wind. Then the silence was broken by the rhythmic and heavy pounding of melef foot-steps approaching. It was thus far off but a red glow came out of the thicket and Gaddes gripped his spear and opened his eyes wide to perceive more clearly into the trees. His wrist and hand itched for he wished to throw his spear into this demons red heart to rid the world of it but he made himself wait for a sure throw. The pounding became louder in the still silence of the night and Gaddes could feel his heart beating. There was a sound not of pounding in the bushes to Gaddes's left and he quickly turned toward it but all he saw was the disappearance of an animal into the bushes that he thought had maybe been scared away by them or the red glow.

Gaddes returned his attention to the forest ahead. And there he saw it. A red orb flickering as its light was occasionally obstructed by a tree. It swayed from side to side as if with the stride of a tall giant. It was then that Gaddes made his decision that he could wait no longer and he hurled his spear into the forest with a heroic yell.

There was silence. No foot steps. No breath. But the glow remained. There was heard the sound of metal being drawn. Then suddenly there was a shrill whistle as if the air was being cut by a swift knife and the spear flew from the trees. With crushing accuracy it struck the energist on the shoulder of Katz's melef and it fell to the ground with a clamorous crash. Before Gaddes could react a giant form rushed from the trees. Gaddes could see only that it was not the form of a Zaiboch guymelef but to the ground it knocked him anyway. His melef on its back, Gaddes reached for the spear of the fallen melef next to him but his melef's arm was shorn off before he could. As he looked back up to search for the melef that had struck him and Katz down with ease he saw nothing but a shadowed form blacker than the dark of the night. It's arms were raised and the red light glinted off of his sword. The sword pointed down in the dark melef's hands and he thrust it down into the earth through the shoulder and energist of Gaddes' melef.

The two men's melefs were crippled. Gaddes heard the scrap of metal as the sword was pulled from his melef. He felt that the next assault would be the long dark blade plunging through his control chamber. Gaddes opened his melef and fled to the carrier where Katz waited for him having fled his melef at first chance. As he skipped off of it the sword came down crushingly and he just narrowly escaped. Several furlongs the dark melef was from the carrier but it started to slowly close that space and its foot steps echoed throughout.

Gaddes and Katz hurried into the carrier bound for the Crusade expecting to be lifting off any second but at the winding stair to the Crusade's hatch they were met by Kio, Riden, Pyle and Allen. "Come with me and do not draw your weapons." Allen commanded. Gaddes obeyed but kept a hand on his sword. He was confused by Allen's demeanor, he seemed almost entertained. He led them down to the carrier doors; still open from the deployment. As they spilled out Allen stood at front, tall before the great melef approaching. Though the approach was slow, Gaddes and all others could tell that it was a hostile approach. However Allen made no further orders. He simply stood watching, waiting.

After only a few seconds the melef stopped only fifteen or twenty feet from the base of the carrier. With many bright sparks he swept his sword's tip across the carrier's front. The sparks briefly illuminated the melef and it's form seemed hauntingly familiar. It now stood still in the darkness as if it did not wish to needlessly strike down anyone. It drove the tip of the sword into the ground and stood erect. There was the sharp sound of steam and a short flicker of red light and the control chamber opened down. A figure stood upon it and in his hand he bore a long and wide crossbow and at his side hung a sword, its gold glimmering just perceivably in the dull red light.

There he stood for a time pointing his crossbow down menacingly. The red light pulsed out like the beating of a dying heart and all was dark. There was then a deep voice from atop the melef through the placid air. "Who are you that attack without provocation? I come in peace in my own lands and this is how I am met?" His voice was commanding and wrathful. Though now deeper the voice was recognized by all.

The clouds moved and the moons side by side in the sky reveled themselves and their light poured over the land. Illuminated now was the melef and it no longer seemed black as the shadows told but a luminous white shining under the moons like a grand God of Battle. Wide were everyone's eyes with awe and astonishment except Allen's. He peered up at the man high above. "I apologize for trespassing on your land. And for meeting you with force. But now that I see who defeats us I am glad for it. Lord Van."

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Crystal56 on October 8, 2005, 11:19:09 AM

Crystal56 on
Crystal56It seems you have a really solid plotline here going! I commend you! The description is really amazing, you use it more than dialogue. I'm the other way around, using dialogue more than clever description. Yepies, this one is something cool too.

I hope I wasn't to harsh on the Sakura one again...I apologize! This one is really good too!

Wai! So anyways, yeah, you really do have a lot of talent in the field of writing fanfictions too!