An Angel of Peace With Scars of War

An Angel of Peace With Scars of War
Ch. 18
Alliances ~ Family Bonds

~Base of Vran Gata~ *Hona's Point of View*

By the end of our first day of traveling, we had already reached the trees that bordered the slope leading up to the mountain. For the first time since my return, I got to see the ruined result of my father's treachery. The few touches of green that was once part of Vran Gata, was gone, and most of the city's walls had been reduced to rumble. Unbelievingly, sprouting out of the top of the mountain, was the familiar branches of the Moi tree, a bland, dead beige and without leaves. The normally dusty fortress was blanketed by the falling frost of Whitefall.

Suddenly, a pair of spears aimed their selves at us, being held by a couple scrawny, bedraggled Caibis men. Immediately, Caiden and Tristan assumed their fighting stances, but I raised my hands to halt them. "We come n peace," I announced. Just then, I could tell one of them recognized the Tadora on my head. ""Princess Hona?" he guessed; I nodded nobly. They starred at me for a moment, then growled and repositioned their spears. "How do we know you aren't like your father?!"

"Enough!" came a calm voice from the base of the mountain. As the person walked towards us, I recognized his face.

He was a head shorter than Tristan, but his voice would never give away his younger age. His hair was white and scruffy, the tuffs curling out at the bottom of his neck. His wolf ears were large, shooting out as far as the width of his face, and were as white as his hair and busty tail, but pink on the inside. He was dressed in a light gray clothing from head to foot, and a small white kitten was perched on his shoulder. "Casa?" He nodded, then turned to the warriors. "Lower your weapons," he ordered.

"You're Chief here now?" Random asked curiously.

"Of whose left," Casa shrugged. "Since Boteq' has both left and deserted Vran Gata and Sandervaun has been captured."

"Sandervaun is back in Eldenvar," Tristan explained. Then Caiden added, "He's joined us."

"No surprise there," Casa said, shaking his head. "Where are you bound?"

"Huhildar," Eda replied. "Hona's going to try to reason with Boteq'."

"Hmph," he grunted. "Good luck."

"We don't need your opinion, dude," Tristan barked, glaring at the Caibis.

"Of course not, No-tail," Casa replied in a monotone.

"But what we do need are allies," I exclaimed, getting immediate unbelieving looks from my party. Casa raised an amused, knowing eyebrow and perked up his ears. "What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"An escort to Huhildar, and to join us against Boteq'. No one can argue with numbers," I replied.

"He's abandoned you anyway!" Eda added. Casa gave us all thoughtful looks, even me.

"If you allow the Caibis left in Vran Gata to stay in Eldenvar, I myself will accompany you to Huhildar," he decided.

"No way!" Caiden spoke up at once, his one revealed eye fierce. "One Caibis is enough! Aden will go crazy if-" "Calm yourself, Caiden," I said, cutting him off, then turning to Casa.

"Of course, but only until the war is over AND you must fight on our side if it should come to it." Casa nodded his head in agreement. "

"Now come," he said, ushering us to follow. "We will stock up on supplies and leave tomorrow."

~Eldenvar~ *Yami's Point of View*

"Is that the best you can do, Pharaoh?!"

"I'm just trying to go easy on you," I managed to reply as I maneuvered my sword in and out of battle. I heard Aden laugh under his breath as he lept away from my sword and onto the branch of a nearby leafless tree.

"You can't escape!" I told him, throwing my hand out and sending a swirl of snow and ice in his direction. Covering his face with his arms for protection, he was blown out of the tree and knocked to the ground; but before he had the chance to return to his feet, I was over him with my blade aimed at his throat. He looked up at me for a moment, then flashed a fanged grin and admitted, "Good match."

It seems that Aden's sour disposition towards me had passed; although I still attempted to keep myself distanced from Malkiek.

"Aden! My Pharaoh!" came an excited voice from the clearing; we turned to see a bounding Kan running towards us.

"Yes Kan, what is it?" Aden asked, pulling himself up off the ground.

"We've received a message from the Dragon Plains!" the blue-haired Neko exclaimed, handing Aden a scroll.

"The Dragon Plains?" I repeated. "Where the Dragons live," Aden explained without looking at me as he undid the rolled-up parchment. The message was written in the Protected Language, but I could make out most of it:

The last line or so I couldn't understand.

Instead of a signature, the note was wrapped around a sapphire scale.

"The Creviced Plain?" I said. "Reisa Valley," Aden explained. "Their names are different than ours."

"Can we trust them?" I went on. "More so than we can ourselves," the pumpkin-haired warrior replied. "Dragons are bound by a foreign magic that forbids them to tell lies."

"How many of us should go?" I thought outloud.

"You take the other No-tails tomorrow and go. They could use the activity," he told me.

"And the sourness returns!" Yugi thought in out mind.

I told Aden would, then wound my way into the forest to clear my thoughts, a new habit of mine.

I found a small clearing that was nearly hidden in what little brush was left and situated myself in the brown grass. I let the thoughts swim through my head. There were so many questions and ideas I had going through my mind…

How long until Boteq' will attack again?

Will Hona be able to reason with him?

How long until she returns?

Will we be able to defeat him?

And there was just about a million other thoughts to go with those.

I let out all my frustration in a long sigh, with which my cold breath put a glaze of frost over the twigs and roots around me.

"Pharaoh." The voice started me so that I jumped when I turned around to see Rosemary. "Forgive me," she apologized. "I did not mean to startle you."

"It's alright, Healer Rosemary. "Foresgivar," I told her, then watched as a smile spread across her aging face. "You're knowledge of the Protected Language has increased dramatically. You are a very quick study," she complimented. "Thank you," I nodded.

"Pharaoh, can you whistle?" she asked after a moment. The strange question caught me off guard. "Err…yes," I said; I had never thought much of the common talent.

"Whistle for me," she said. I didn't really see the point in this, but I took a breath and whistled an old Egyptian lullaby to her, one that I seemed to self-consciously remember.

"No, not a song. Just whistle," she corrected. I have her a strange look, but did as she ordered. Just then, a churn of wind whipped around me, then faded away as I stopped whistling; the old Neko gave me a proud smile.

"You already know our magic comes from the power of nature. Wind, however, is controlled differently, since its essence cannot be seen. You, my Pharaoh, are a Windwhistler." The situation seemed familiar to me…where had I seen this before?

"If you combine Windwhistling with your ice powers, your spells will be much more powerful. You can even create a blizzard," she told me. I could help but to smile; I had awaken yet another one of my hidden powers.

~Huhildar~ *Chin's Point of View*

Daridun neglected his chores daily now; every spare second, he was in his father's study, either training with his dagger or searching for more information about that "Liliet lady." Sometimes he and I would spar, staff on dagger, but neither of us would be a match for Boteq'.

As on now, I was working my way through the tunnel leading towards the study. Just then, I heard a loud clatter of objects being thrown on the ground.

"Daridun!" I cried, racing for the room, only to find him hovering over an unwrapped scroll on the table, eyes shimmering with excitement.

"I found her!" he declared. "Ha ha, I FOUND her!!" I was beginning to think he had gone insane. I rushed over to see that the scroll was filled with writing. "It's one of my father's journal entries," he said, then began to read:

"I just received word of Liliet's death. Boteq' killed her… and now I will never see my love again. I still have Nove'a, but our relationship was never the same. She's pregnant for the first time. If it's a girl I would like to name her Stacey … that was Liliet's suggestion.

I also heard that Liliet had just given birth to hers and Rauthier's kit, a girl they called Hona. I can't help but wish to meet her, even though she isn't mine. Daridun will never now of his mother or half-sister. I must hide his genetics…it is for his own good…"

The rest of the scroll, Daridun couldn't read. His eyes had lost their sheen and teardrops were beginning to form on his long lashes.

"Ha, I always thought your ears looked strange for a Caibis!" I joked, trying to lighten the mood. Daridun didn't seem to hear me; streams of salty water were now running down his cheeks.

"He never told me!" he wept. "I thought my mother had died during my birth, but NO!! He hid it all from me, just because she was a Neko!"

I put a claw on his shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him. "Daridun…no one has to know-"

"I thought all the family I had was gone! I always knew Stacey was my half-sister, and Nove'a wasn't my mother but she was the closest I ever had! They were both gone, then I lost my father too!" he went on, holding back sobs. "But now I know. I have another half-sister out there…Hona…and she needs my help!!" he declared, glancing up at me. "The rumor is she's Neko Leader now," I told him. He nodded, "She'll be looking to stop Boteq', and I'm going to help!" Then he gave a long, hard look at me. "Are you in?"

I thought for a extensive moment, then a smile crept its way onto my face and I clasped my hand with Daridun's in a brotherly promise. "I'm in!"