18-May-2002
Twisted Fortune - An Escaflowne Fanfiction
By Bonnejeanne and Nixers
Contact: bonnejeanne@yahoo.com and nixerchan@aol.com
Warnings: Spoilers
Notes: Set a little over one year after Vision of Escaflowne's end.
Chapter Fifteen - On the Crusade
Part 37
It was an unusual turn that it wasn't Gaddes' voice that alerted the captain of the Crusade II of an approach. The first mate was content to let the others handle the ship while he passed off the rest of last night's binge, and had deemed himself useless to the world until such time as 'the damned world saw fit to stop spinning and sit still like it's supposed to.'
Allen had only been back aboard the ship for a short time, Kaerin returning with him. He was half expecting the visitor to be some messenger of Adelphos, requesting that he refrain from wandering about the fortress or asking him to raise anchor and get the hell out in spite of the armistice terms. The last thing he expected to see, gazing down from the bridge of the airship, were the two figures approaching.
"Drop the lift," he said to Katsu, who was standing watch on the deck. Then, calling back into the ship, "Visitors - mind your manners, boys."
Several rude remarks, above and below decks promptly informed the swordsman exactly where and what had been done with their manners.
Below the stern of the hovering airship, the two had paused a short distance away, just enough to be within the proximity of the airship without disappearing from sight beneath the railing's edge. The silver-haired one had propped one hand on his hip and looked up at the commotion with an expectant amusement.
The lift dropped, giving the two visitors access. Van stepped onto the platform easily, looking at Dilandau with a slight shrug.
The other boy followed with no obvious signs of reluctance. The slight tension in his posture might have only been evident to Van as they waited for the lift to draw them up into the airship.
The lift moved smoothly through the lower levels stopping just around the midsection of the inside of the airship, the portal that it had descended from closing shut behind it.
Once again, Van stepped off the lift first, familiar enough with the ship, or at least its predecessor to be reasonably comfortable. He looked across and saw Allen waiting, and met the blond swordsman's eyes with a straightforward gaze. However he waited for his companion to speak.
"Van," Allen said. "Captain," he acknowledged the silver-haired youth.
Dilandau returned the acknowledgment with a nod. "Lord Schezar," he returned. After a moments hesitation he drew himself up. "Zaibach would like to make an unofficial request of you."
Allen's expression remained serious and calm. "I'd like to assist Zaibach, if it involves the domestic matter I discussed with your General. What can we do?"
"Just transportation and cover to Freid. It was given to us on good authority that the domestic matter and one of old are mixing. It would be of a benefit to prevent it," Dilandau said, matching vaguarity with vaguarity with a half smirk.
Allen nodded. A slight frown creased his forehead. "Join me below and we'll work out the details," he said. He gestured, and then led the way off the main deck to another room where there were chairs and a table. He tapped on a door as they went by. "Kaerin, if you could join us..."
The door opened after several moments of hesitation. The young knight opening the door as he was straightening his overcoat. A double take of the company that was with the swordsman caused the younger man's eyes to widen and the boy to duck back into his room and emerge a moment later looking a bit more properly composed. "Yes sir," he said, waiting in the doorframe a moment for the small group to move again before falling into a pace behind thoughtfully.
In the impromptu conference room, Allen waited for the other three to enter and to door to be closed. He wasn't particularly interested in keeping anything from his men, but figured things would go smoother with a minimum of disruption.
"So you think the escaped sorcerers are heading for Freid?" he asked the albino directly.
Dilandau crossed his arms. "I received word that they have left and are intent on the power spot. There's only one that I'm aware of."
Allen tilted his head slightly at the phrasing, but nodded. His eyes chilled slightly at an inner thought - he did not like the idea of the most dangerous wizards on Gaea heading towards Freid, and Prince Sid, not one bit.
"When do you want to leave?" he asked.
"After nightfall, my own Alseides is in need of repairs and there are other matters to attend to first. I'm sure you're crew can handle night flying," Dilandau said, lips curving upwards slightly.
Allen ignored the remark about the crew and inclined his head. "That will work," he said, glancing at Kaerin. "We may have some additional... information to share at that point as well."
A silver eyebrow raised at both the tone and the phrasing. Dilandau glanced at Allen and Kaerin, though the younger knight looked down instead of meeting the other's gaze.
"It sounds... interesting," Dilandau replied, noting Kaerin's posture. It was something that had to directly involve the situation, that much was plain to read just from experience with the boy's brother.
"Do you have the cargo room for two melefs?"
Allen nodded. He glanced at Van. Two, eh? "Do you want to load them here or away from the city?"
"The first can be loaded here as soon as it is discreet to do so. The second I will give you the coordinates to enroute."
"Fine." The swordsman looked from one of the young men to the other. "It might be best if your return to the Crusade was also discrete."
The Captain shrugged. "That shouldn't be a problem."
"Good, then we will look for you later. I'll have the crew on alert to bring you in as quietly as possible. There's another access at the rear of the ship, with a retractable ladder, I'll have it down by sunset." Allen waited to see if the Captain had any other questions or comments to add.
"An hour after then...." Garnet eyes fixed on Allen's, though the usual intensity behind them was shuttered. "You seem to be agreeing rather cheaply to all this?"
"Cheaply?" Allen said. He shook his head. "Nothing about this whole affair has been cheap, Captain, it has cost a great deal. Perhaps someday you'll be in a position to understand that." He shrugged as if it weren't of any great importance, but his eyes remained steady.
"I can't say I look forward to such a change," Dilandau smirked. "I didn't mean that there was no cost, I just wondered at the lack of interest in reimbursement. Not that I am complaining of course."
Allen paused a moment, and then said, "Did you consider... the Dragonslayers your family, Captain?"
Dilandau's expression darkened and lost a fraction of it mobility. It was a long moment, and one conscious of Kaerin's presence, before there was any attempt at an answer. "As close at it would be possible," he said shortly.
"And did you consider such thing as reimbursement when your assistance or intervention was called or asked for in such instances?" Allen said quietly. He didn't wait for an answer. "I don't think you did. So perhaps you already understand better than you think."
Still smarting from the quiet explanation, the albino narrowed his eyes slightly. "I would perhaps understand better, if my last name was Schezar."
Allen nodded. He met the frosty garnet eyes without hiding anything. "The more I think on it, the more inclined I am to believe it should have been."
The other seemed caught off guard by this, it seemed too much of a change in his mind from the meeting over dinner or even the interruption of the practice session earlier that day. Involuntarily, his own gaze dropped from Allen's as he quickly tried to find some reply to that statement. Failing, he moved back to stand up. "Tonight then?"
Allen inclined his head and opened the door for his guests. "Tonight it is."
As the two left the small room, and were what was judged to be a safe distance out of earshot, Kaerin shook his head and broke his silence. "I think I'm going a little daft, but he seems calmer each time I've met him," he said quietly, though to himself or to Allen it wasn't entirely clear.
Allen took a deep breath and released it, his face only now showing the strain of the previous exchange. "It's far more likely that I'm going daft than that you are, but I might almost say I have the same impression. He's the same person I met before and during the war, and yet he's not. Something is emerging that I never even guessed at," Allen said softly.
"Well, for one, he simply stands beside Fanelia instead of trying to kill him." The absolute confusion behind the statement made it seem almost like a question. "It goes against everything I thought I knew."
Allen laughed silently. "Yes, it does. I almost imagine I understand something about that, if not how it came about. Serena... It's as if I can feel her presence when he's here, near and yet not the same. When I... I could almost feel her smiling at me at one point this morning, at what just happened to be his moment of greatest confusion."
Kaerin shook his head after a moment. "Reminds me a little of my sister. Should be together, but not that close," he said and shrugged. "She doesn't handle it so well."
The blond swordsman tilted his head, but refrained from asking questions yet. After a brief moment, he said, "What do you know about Van and Escaflowne?"
The other boy shook his head. "Nothing more than legends. Even the Dragonslayers weren't sure of what their target would even look like, just that it was the guardian of Fanelia."
"There's been something uncanny about the combination of the boy and the melef from the beginning," Allen said. "I know, Kaerin, that your brother was killed in Freid. I know that nothing changes that, it can't. But I'm starting to think Van is as possessed by the dragon as it is by him, perhaps more so. What kind of training could have prepared him for that?" Allen shook his head.
"There must have been something," Kaerin said, his brow drawn thoughtfully, "It's said to have been there for more generations than can be recorded. If it can do that, you'd think Fanelia would have been more aggressive in the past, instead of staying to itself for most of history."
Allen shook his head. "Do you know what it took to bring that out of him?" he said. "I do, I saw it. Zaibach pursued him mercilessly. And there is one thing about Van that makes him different from every other member of his bloodline save his brother, who never faced the guardian."
Puzzled over the last, but not entirely willing to ask about it, Kaerin instead pursued more familiar grounds. "It's kind of ... I don't know... strange maybe to think about.... if they'd have sent anyone but the Captain, anyone without such a tendency to obsess, Zaibach might have won the wars." He paused, considering, "Or if Van hadn't cut him..."
Allen snorted softly. "Yes, if he had simply let himself be run through from behind, you mean, I agree that would have changed a lot." The he shook his head. "There's something moving in this, Kaerin. I thought those circles had been completed at the end of the war, but now I see that there were many things left incomplete." He added, "You're polite to a fault, but you've gotten in this far, there's no point in your not knowing the rest. Fanelia's last queen was a Draconian."
The other's eyes widened again and he seemed to almost absently make a warding gesture in the air. Looking sharply out of the door and back to Allen, he gave a tremulous smile. "I suppose .... it shouldn't surprise me that that one is cursed... it fits in luck."
Allen held Kaerin's eyes. "His curse ended the carnage on the Plain of Absolute Fortune. I wouldn't be so sure the luck is all ill. They made this world of Gaea. I've been in the Valley, I know it for truth."
"At the price of their own.... Freid had something of a record...." Kaerin said. "Maybe not ill luck then, just stubbornly even."
Allen nodded at the first remark. "At the price of their own, yes. And Dornkirk recreated their folly. But if a woman dies bearing her child, do we call it a curse and shun the infant or its descendants?" He shook his head, releasing a breath. "I'm not scholar enough for the great matters. I just know enough to be wary of any certainty about what it all means."
"That's where we differ, I believe. I'm afraid I need something to believe in," Kaerin said, ducking his head.
"Then believe this... that boy has a good human heart that is fighting to have a say in what happens to his soul," Allen said, a little gruffly, before moving towards the bridge, none too quickly.
"You're asking a lot," Kaerin said, still looking down. "I ... will endeavor to try."
Allen paused, glancing back. "Test him," he said, them moved away.
"I have, if by accident, more than once. It is one thing to have the result of it, the other to stop doubting a truth."
If Allen heard Kaerin's last remark, he didn't answer it. He was on his way to call a general meeting of the crew to inform them of what was in the wind and make preparations for the night.
When Dilandau and Van had once again reached solid ground outside the airship, Dilandau had unconsciously mirrored his brother's expression. "That went well," he said, though the certainty that the words implied was far removed from the albino's voice.
"Hn," Van said. "Something's up. I wonder what it is."
Dilandau's expression sharpened a bit. Things kept hidden were more along the lines of familiarity. "Perhaps, but they will tell us soon enough. If we'd have questioned, Tomant would have given it away immediately." He grinned a bit. "It's almost like making them wait."
Van looked at Dilandau with a slightly surprised, almost-grin. He shrugged. "As you wish," he said, with a faint touch of that odd streak of humor that surfaced every once in a while. "I gather you have things to do. The faster we get done..."
"Less than I implied," Dilandau said, starting back to the entranceway of the fortress. "Clearance will be a joke to get." He grimaced slightly, his step faltering minutely. "And civilian's clothes," he added with distinct distaste.
Van allowed a faint smile to pull at the corners of his mouth. Then he grimaced slightly, with a thought of his own. He'd born it uncomplaining for long enough. "I want my sword," he growled softly, without any real hope that the problem could be rectified.
"That would depend on how much Basram would like to forestal a second visit," Dilandau replied, giving Van a grin to match the growl.
"Hn," Van replied. He'd no intention on discussing it, just waiting for an opportunity to do something about it, one that hadn't presented itself thus far.
It had taken some doing but the crew was ready for the very different visitors they were scheduled to have, as ready as they could be at any rate. To the casual eye, the ship and crew appeared to be relaxed, but their random appearing stations were carefully chosen to put men where Allen needed them. Gaddes was on the bridge with the captain and Kaerin was in the rear, not far from the service hatch.
"What is taking them so long?" Allen muttered softly, as he affected a careless pose, leaning on the railing,
Gaddes shrugged, in all appearances lazily scanning the night terrain. It was maybe an hour past the time that the Van and the Dragonslayer Captain were supposed to be there. The sorcerer.... all they knew was that it was going to be tonight. "Probably fussing with that damned hair, never understood how he got his bangs like that..." Gaddes commented.
Allen snorted softly, but found he was actually amused by the drollery. "Likely it takes no time at all... perhaps it's Van who needs the extra primping..."
"Well, if he boards with his hair all in place we know what happen....." The smirking retort trailed off as one of the men below tugged hard on one of the anchor lines, causing the taunt lower attachments to rattle slightly, Normally, it would be a typical procedure. "Company," he said, but was unable to make out which type it was.
Allen nodded and rested a hand lightly on the hilt of his sword, waiting.
As their 'visitor' drew closer, while details were still impossible, it was very clear that the figure was a solitary one. It seemed inconceivable that one of their other guests would leave the other, not without some general mass destruction. Below, a square shouldered figure, Raden, Gaddes recognized, moved to meet the one hovering in the shadows of the square.
"Looks like we've caught a snake." Gaddes said, knowing that Allen would have made the same conclusion. They had expected the other two first. "Orders?"
"Get him in here as quickly and quietly as possible," Allen said. "I want him in the second cargo hold, as we discussed. No one take their eyes off of him for a second."
Gaddes nodded soberly, the earlier dry humor gone. He moved to take a line down to join the men escorting the sorcerer personally.
With nearly all the crew's eyes and attention fixed on the sorcerer, only one set of eyes actually spotted the two approaching quietly from the opposite direction.
Picking restlessly at the long billowy sleeves that were currently fashionable, Dilandau muttered another complaint half under his breath as he and Van approached the waiting Crusade. The worst delays came in speeding the repairs and then negotiated for a pick up point, none of the mechanics were willing to move the contraband machine through the city, so after much arguing it was set a few miles outside the outer docks of the capital.
"And it's too damned cold besides," he finished, the thin garment wearing down on his nerves. The heavier armor was folded reverently and kept in a large pack slung over one shoulder. With satisfaction, the noticed a rope ladder drop the rest of the way from its hanging point as they came within viewing distance of the floating airship. With the darker colors that both wore and the cover of night and surrounding buildings it was doubtful that anyone but Adelphos had a clue they were gone.
"I'll help you get warm later," Van murmured almost deadpan, conscious of an odd feeling of reckless delight in making the absurd remark.
Dilandau glanced sideways at Van, a considering expression taking over the sour look of before. "I'm going to hold you to that," he remarked.
Van ducked his head but not quick enough to entirely hide the slight smile.
He reached up and began climbing the rope ladder quickly, reaching the top where the hatch was slightly ajar and climbing in to clear the way.
Taking only a moment to enjoy the view presented, the albino quickly followed, drawing the ladder up after him once safely within the hold.
"A bit late tonight," the quiet voice of Kaerin carried to the two boys, but held no censure, just a faint tone of curiosity.
Van glanced at the young knight and shrugged. He looked around the dark hold and stilled slightly. "Something's up..."
Kaerin ducked his head. "Allen asked me to bring you to the quarters. He needs to take care of ...something first." He glanced at both quickly before turning. "You didn't bring a guymelef?"
"It will need to be picked up outside of town," Dilandau said, a little sharply, the situation behind that was still a little bit on his nerves. It was unsettling not having his orders and whims carried out immediately.
Van watched and listened to Kaerin. He glanced back at Dilandau. He frowned. "Where is Allen?"
The Heavenly Knight shook his head, "Last I knew on the bridge, but he's probably on the second deck by now."
"And we're passing that, right?" Dilandau asked, making it sound somehow like an expectation. Kaerin glanced up at him then back, more intently at Van. A few scattered recollections of the earlier conversations he'd had with Allen surfaced, and the dark haired boy sighed.
"The back stairs *are* a little more convenient," he admitted.
Van frowned a bit more, and then dropped his small pack on the deck and simply went around Kaerin in the direction he thought the Captain might be. His hackles were rising. He'd no intention of ignoring the feeling. He would not let his companion find himself in a trap. It wasn't a matter of trusting Allen, just an instinctive sense of something close by.
A change that Kaerin almost missed for its subtly caused an immediate reaction in the Dragonslayer Captain, all the previous ease completely disappeared under a harder and almost eager expression. A pale hand settled against the waist of the unfamiliar outfit, inches from the hilt of the Asturian sword.
"Dilandau sama," Kaerin said, taking both parcels without complaint, and following in the footsteps of the other two men.
Kauru was experiencing something of a more tense escort. The rake that had greeted him lead the way without much more of a word than the Captain, Allen he assumed, was expecting his presence, and that the escort was for protection's sake. The sorcerer merely attributed the tension in the men around him, to the proper fear and reverence accorded to one such as him. Led down through two layers from the bridge, the sorcerer stepped into what seemed to be a cleared hold, unappointed.
He turned, brows furrowing in consternation as he noticed the men who'd accompanied him subtly flank the sorcerer. The impromptu leader of the group merely leaned against the wall by the door, his expression was patiently companionable.
Moments later, the door opened and Allen came in. His expression was reserved, chilly, but not outwardly antagonistic.
"You are now on Asturian property," he said.
Kauru smiled at that, eyes lidded. "Very well. I will fulfill my part when such safety is assured."
"What further assurances do you need? Allen asked calmly. "We are departing within the hour."
"When this departure takes place then." Kauru folded his arms. Somehow within the lit hold, the figure didn't seem half so impressive as he did within his own territory. "I'd hate to abandon my usefulness so quickly."
Allen turned to Gaddes. "See if our last packages have arrived and been stowed, and if so, cast off."
Gaddes gave a quick nod before pushing off from his place on the wall, and ducking down the hallway. The first mate didn't have far to travel, and his goal came from and unexpected direction. Jumping slightly, the first mate half glowered at the three in the hallway. Regulating his tone of voice to a low hiss he said, "It might be good to see that you got here," he glanced more pointedly at the Third Knight, "But you were asked to use the side route."
Kaerin merely shrugged and gave Gaddes a look that translated to 'And you expected me to stop them.. how?' Gaddes was about to usher them all off to a less volatile route when a resumed conversation faintly became audible through thin wooden walls.
The first voice was obvious to both men as Allen's voice, perhaps a little tighter than either were used to, even audible from the distance and despite the barriers, the second made Dilandau tense slightly. He turned, a smirk on the first mate. "I think I'd like to stay here if you wouldn't mind," he said, eyes narrowed slightly.
Gaddes shook his head, running his hand through his hair simultaneously. Neither men looked like they were going to give ground anytime soon on this. Sharing a suddenly commiserating glance with Kaerin, Gaddes slumped a little. "Fine, just keep a distance all right? I've got to get her in the air."
"Head to the west," Dilandau mentioned, absently, as if only have his attention was on the matter at hand. "The Alseides will also need to be picked up. 32 degrees from this position, half a mile."
Gaddes nodded again, a slight sigh before he turned and departed for the bridge.
Van's expression had become a full fledged scowl as he moved to the other side of the door, his hand moving reflexively to the borrowed sword.
There was a long stretch of silence on both sides of the wall, where only the calls of the crew above deck and the hiss and rattle of the machinery flaring to life filled the void. The ship rocked several times gently as the furnaces were cut, the mooring lines abandoned and the ship rose sharply into the punishing desert winds.
A twin snap of the sails unfurling prequiled a lurch as the ship began its flight.
Allen crossed his arms. "It's time for you to begin payment for your passage."
Kauru shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. "My colleagues are traveling to the power spot," Kauru began. The sorcerer's mostly inflectionless voice actually put some emphasis on the words 'power spot.' "They plan to take control of it using the land around it, in hopes of enough power to stop a backlash that has been building for quite a while. This will not work, and the results are less than would be safe for myself," after a moments consideration he added, as if as a secondary afterthought, "As well as the countries surrounding it that draws its life from it."
Allen's eyes narrowed and he nodded.
"I see," he said. Then he looked up and nodded to the two crewmen who were standing behind the wizard.
One drew a wickedly curved sword and held it flush against the madoushi's back while the other roughly grabbed the startled man's arms, pulling them tightly behind his back and binding them.
Kauru didn't struggle, but his eyes went entirely black with rage. "Release me at once," he hissed. "Or the second part of our bargain will have never existed." He smirked. "Without proper administration, you'll never see your sister again, not while the other is dominant."
Cold blue eyes flashed a rage that quite matched the sorcerer's. "Proper administration of what, you cur? You promise something you could never have delivered, don't you?"
"Hardly, without me, there's a possibility you might lose both. While I can return what has been, there are side effects that may have resurgence." Kauru jerked his bound hands from the grip of the crew member holding him, the sweaty, clammy skin being possibly the only reason for his success. "Betray me if you like, but it is not I who lives with the consequences."
Allen's hand on his sword hilt tightened, his knuckles white. He turned to one of the men near the door. "Get him and bring him here. Now!"
Outside the Captain had hardly drawn a breath since it had become clear exactly what the 'second part of the bargain' was. With a rage that hadn't surfaced since the war, he drew his blade just as the panicked crew member turned the corner. "I DON'T think so," he growled.
The lanky man instantly threw up his hands, trying to take a step out of reach, almost desperately, he sought out Van for aid.
Van simply pushed the crewman out of the way, pushing open the door. He turned and locked eyes with the other boy. "We take care of it."
His own sword was out and ready, the borrowed blade resting in his hand like an extension.
With a wide grin, Dilandau nodded, not sparing another glance at the wide-eyed crewman, now deemed to be impotent in the matter. "You have that right." Moving into the open doorway, with only the slightest of pause to keep Van in close distance, he moved into the storage room, facing his brother. "Such a formal invitation, but for something so elaborate, I shouldn't be surprised," the tone was pleasant, but the albino's voice seemed to rise and fall in almost unusual intervals in the short statement.
Allen met the boy's eyes without flinching in the slightest. He made a gesture to the men in the room which they understood well.
Leaving the wizard with his hands bound, the entire room full of crewmen emptied, leaving no one but Allen in it with the wizard, Dilandau and Van.
"Forgive me, I don't know your anniversary day," Allen said, his voice oddly light and yet tense at the same time. "Whenever it is, consider this your present. Don't say I never gave you anything."
He turned and delivered a last look at the sorcerer. "For the fourth highest sorcerer in Zaibach, you are a lousy judge of character." Then, hand still clenched on his sword hilt, he turned to leave.
Dilandau reached out as the blond swordsman moved to pass, the grip that suddenly was on Allen's arm was tight. There were no words, just a look of consternation and clear confusion directed at the Knight.
Allen's eyes softened slightly. "Did you think I would bargain with this for my sister? I suppose you would. But it was never a possibility. Serena... deserves better and... and so do you."
The hand on his arm, slackened and dropped, a short of stunned disbelief turned into a more predatory expression as the garnet eyes slid towards the sorcerer. "A present then, I suppose I'd have free reign to do whatever I like?" he asked, the defensive tension that had been in his frame slowly melted into something more aggressive and fluid.
The sorcerer in question at those words took another step back pushing back against the unyielding wall. It was rare for any of the wizards to show emotion, but it was obvious that the young one had gone from beyond concerned fear and into terror.
Allen nodded, his eyes chilling again, but the cold was for the captive. "You won't be interrupted," he said simply. He glanced at Van, who simply met his look without comment, and moved towards the door.
THE END OF PART 37!