The Knights' Chronicles Part 5
(Flashback)
Sitting at the sharpening wheel of rock, Heero removed his sword from its sheath at his hip. His right foot fell on the pedal to have the stone revolve with his pumps and he held the blade against the spinning jagged edges. The squealing and grinding of metal filled the air as the boy fine-tuned his weapon with occasional sparks flying around.
Well into his work, a chill ran down Yuy's back and he sat up with a sharp gasp with his sword falling to the ground. Blinking his wide cobalt eyes, the young knight-in-training scanned the trees looming high over him. Focused on the thick cover of the trees, the strange feeling that he was being watched sank into his very bones.
But there was no one anywhere near his little corner of the encampment.
Rising from his chair, Heero's eyes narrowed and he walked up to the tallest of thick branches, "Wufei. Anna. If this is another prank of yours-" He stopped in mid-sentence when there was a loud rustle in the leaves of greens, yellows and browns overhead as they shifted in what would have needed to be a strong gust of wind.
Then, as quickly as the feeling that he was not alone had fallen on him, it was gone.
Instead of relief, Yuy frowned deeply at a strange emptiness that took hold of him at the absence of that mysterious presence. There was no question to him that he had not been as alone as he appeared a moment ago. But there was nothing to prove the sensation.
"You called?" Wufei asked as he and Anna stepped into the maintenance corner.
Turning to face them, Heero rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged, "I could have sworn that the two of you were hiding out in the trees just now." He bent down to collect his sword and cleaned it of the dirt that had spotted it as he stared back to the place where the presence had lingered. "There was something moving around up there."
His 'sister' shook her head, "We were just returning from the stables when we heard you yell our names. Maybe it was a flock of birds." Raising an eyebrow, she smirked, "Besides, if we were playing a prank on you, we would have never given ourselves away like that. And that is not to mention that doing so would be a violation against our pact to never trick each other." The raven-haired swordsman in training beside her grinned and nodded.
Yuy snorted, "True. I should have thought of that, considering how the two of you drag me into your games." The pair chuckled, more than aware that he enjoyed having a little harmless fun every now and then... even if he never would come out and admit as much.
Really, the times that he spent with Wufei and Anna were really the times when he felt the most alive in experiencing and enjoying life. Complain as he tried, there was no real sincerity behind it.
Wufei rubbed his hands together and asked, "Well, do you think you could take a break from your work there to join us at the lake? Since autumn is closing in and we have the afternoon off, we best take advantage of it while we can."
A smile curling his lips, Heero sheathed his blade in his form of acceptance to the notion. Yes, his friends certainly did have a way of seeing that he had something more in his life beyond his duties.
* * * * * *
Swinging from a rope tethered to a tall tree, Wufei let out an excited cry as he let go to splash into the water below. Anna laughed and splashed at her friend when he resurfaced near her. Not far off, Heero dove into the deepest end of the water from a few rocks at the edge and swam up to the others. Taking a deep breath when he came up for air, he chuckled and joined in on the making waves with his friends.
When she resurfaced after narrowly dodging a splash from her 'brother,' the archer's teeth chattered a bit. "This will definitely have to be the last swim for the year, the water is cold even after being in the sun all day," she commented while rubbing her arms.
Heero nodded, content to call their little contest a three-way draw. "It was a good suggestion to get this in now," he declared. "We do not normally get to have this spot all to ourselves very often."
The moment those words left his mouth, the aspiring swordsman felt the same tingle that he had experienced before run up his spine. Eyes wide, he looked upward with wide eyes as his legs and arms continued to move beneath the water in keeping him afloat. "Do... do either of you feel that?" he questioned in a whisper, his gaze still scanning the tree line that surrounded the clearing.
Both Anna and Wufei turned towards their 'brother' and blinked in confusion. Glancing around and above along with him, the Capricorn native questioned, "Feel what?"
"Like there is something watching us," Yuy answered, eyes still searching the cover of trees that wrapped the far edges of the lake. "It is the same feeling that I had earlier... I just know that we are not alone."
The redhead pushed back the hair matted down the sides of her face and frowned to her friend, "Are you sure that you are feeling okay, Heero? I just do not see anything around here that we should be alarmed over."
Shaking his head, the teenager continued to peer above and muttered, "I am not alarmed about it. In fact, I do not mind it other than being a little frustrated that I cannot confirm this sensation with something that I can physically see." He locked onto a tree amid dozens of changing hues and held his attention there, somehow certain that he had found the source of the strange presence.
But as soon as he centered on the thick folds of orange leaves, the high branches moved side-to-side in a loud swish and the feeling was gone once again. "There!" Heero cried, pointing to the tree. "It was right there and it left again."
Wufei and Anna had spun themselves in the water at the sound of the leaves shifting, but like the other knight-in-training, never actually saw if there truly was anything there. "That could have easily been the wind or even some tree-bound creatures," Chang suggested with a shrug and a concerned look on his face.
Heero ran a hand through his wet hair as he sighed deeply, "No, I know that it was something else."
Sure as he was over that, he was not about to draw any more worry from his friends by pressing the matter any further. After a long pause, he decided to appease them by offering, "Maybe I need to get some fresh air beyond the encampment a little more. It seems all of my extended training is making me jumpy."
Relieved smiles spread across the other trainees' faces. "Now how long have I been telling you that you have been pushing yourself too hard lately?" Anna chided in a sisterly fashion. "It is high time you realized that for yourself." Wufei snickered and nodded in agreement.
Laughing, the archer threw in, "And neither of you should have taken your guards down around me when we never actually called an end to our game!" With that, she sent a wave out from either side of her to catch both boys by surprise.
Quickly falling back to resume their match, the threesome filled the air with their laughter and splashes for the remainder of the afternoon.
* * * * * *
That evening, a shrill shriek rose through the encampment. Shooting up from where they were sitting together in the stable, Heero and Wufei watched in wide-eyed confusion as a frantic Anna ran past them yelling, "I need a healer!" Stunned for only a moment before the girl's words took hold, the boys chased after her.
When they reached the infirmary a few buildings away and caught up with the archer who was already there when they arrived, Chang panted heavily and asked, "Anna... what... is going on?" He turned cold when the redhead turned to meet his gaze with tears shimmering in her eyes.
Stricken with fear, Heero stepped forward to rest his hands on her shoulders and urged, "What is it, Anna?"
"I think that I am dying," Fraise breathed, trembling under her bother's hold. Both gasping, the boys straightened with large eyes as the color drained from their faces. Before either of them could ask for any further details, the Lead Healer arrived with one of the few female healers available to the encampment at his side.
The tall, bald-headed man in brown robes smiled and was quick to reassure, "You are not dying, Anna." Gesturing to the slight brunette woman next to him in her pale blue robes, he said, "Diane, here, will be able to take you back so that you may talk about what is happening. This is certainly a... unique thing to have since we have not had a female make it this far in knight training, so I will leave you in her care and understanding."
A warm smile growing on the said healer's face, she opened an arm and urged, "Come on back with me, dear." Blinking in confusion along with her 'brothers,' Anna scanned their faces, but physically eased in the light of the calm certainty that she was going to be all right in spite of what had scared her.
Her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach when another wave of tense cramping hit, the archer walked to Diane and allowed an arm to wrap gently around her shoulders. When their sister had disappeared into the back rooms, Heero walked towards the Lead Healer and questioned, "You are sure that she will be okay?" Biting his lip, Wufei held his breath in wait for the answer.
Chuckling, the man nodded firmly, "Anna is going to be just fine." he held an arm out to one of the other back rooms and offered, "I could explain everything to you, if it would make you feel better. This is a talk that was going to have to come up at some point in your young lives, so no time like the present.
Only all the more confused, Heero and Wufei shared a look and shrugged to each other before following the healer to the room where they would have their discussion.
Moments later, the threesome left their respective rooms with wide eyes and a lot of information running through their minds. Swallowing roughly when his sister approached, Wufei questioned, "Do you want to talk about-"
Quick to cut him off, Anna shook her head with a curt, "No. No, I would much rather we just... move on from this." By the time she finished her request, her face was almost as red as her hair. Sighing deeply, the boys' shoulders sagged in relief and they nodded in agreement.
From the rest of the night, and for the next few months for that matter, they never mentioned their little visit to the infirmary again.
* * * * * *
That strange presence remained with Heero for the next three days. Always appearing whenever the boy was alone, it would vanish the moment its hiding place was discovered. And there was not a hint of hide nor hair to confirm the identity of whatever it was.
Whenever he did feel the arrival of those eyes on him, Yuy never feared his strange shadow, as he came to call it. In fact, he came to grow more and more fond of it with each turn. but he never did mention it again to his friends for the sake of avoiding their consideration that perhaps he was losing his mind.
Maybe he was.
...It would certainly explain why he took every chance he could to go off on his own to play a game of hide-and-go-seek with something that he never saw but supposedly felt. Such a thing would have anyone certain that he may have lost his wit entirely.
Still, Heero never actually felt that way about himself.
After yet another late evening of chasing his shadow, the prospective swordsman headed into the stables to clear his head with friends that he could talk to who would not judge him as everyone else slept. Candle in hand, Yuy made his way down the darkened stretch of closed off stalls. His feet crunching the straw beneath them did little to stir most of the snoring creatures dozing safe in their beds.
One, however, did crane her massive head up from behind her walls.
"Hello, Peacemillion. I am sorry if I woke you," Heero smiled to the grinning face over him. Lowering her head down, the steed reassured no harm had been done by nuzzling her visitor with the end of her snout. Carefully setting the plated candle down, the knight-in-training ran his hands over her scales and sighed, "You would not like me any less if I was losing my mind, would you, girl?"
Pulling back, the dragon tilted her head with a confused expression and a grunt. She quickly picked up on the boy's need for comfort and so licked the side of his face, making him laugh quietly.
The moment was broken when a familiar voice asked quietly, "Why in the world would you think that you might be losing your mind?"
Gasping, Yuy looked back along with Peacemillion to find Odin standing only a few feet away from them. Cobalt eyes wide, the knight-in-training once again was in awe how the man never made a sound whenever he walked... even on straw.
Before his pupil could even ask, the Commander smirked, "Ever since Sergeant Benson received his haircut from Anna last year, we have rotating shifts at night at the officer's quarters. You happened to be wandering around on my watch."
Once again caught off-guard by his mentor, Heero's shoulders slumped heavily at his sides. The exact opposite picture at the moment, Peacemillion wiggled with excitement as her rider approached. Lowering his own plated candle to the floor, Lowe chuckled, "Hello, girl." The beast pressed her muzzle against his chest as he wrapped his arms around to pat her.
When his steed pulled away, the officer met the cobalt eyes on him and folded his arms. "Now, what is going on?" he urged in a non-threatening way that also bore no room for backing out of the question.
Biting his lip, Heero took a deep breath and stared down at the flickering candles at their feet. "I have... something watching me out there," he answered, wincing at how the comment sounded even to his ears. Waving his hand in the air to make vague gestures, he added quickly, "I can never catch whatever it is to say what it is for sure, but I know that have this shadow as I call it."
His gray eyes blinking, Odin took in the boy's words to consider them. Careful to keep anything but thought from his expression as to not have his charge think that he was being judged, he asked, "Could you elaborate any more on exactly what makes you so sure of this?"
Relieved to have in inquiry as opposed to opposition outright, Yuy raised his head of unruly hair and shrugged, "It is a little difficult to explain into words."
Smiling kindly, Lowe nodded, "Why do you not try? I promise not to laugh, if you are worried about that." Peacemillion lowered her head before the child, her golden eyes filled with as much interest and understanding as her rider's gaze.
"Well," Heero began while rubbing the back of his neck, "A few days ago, I just had this feeling like I was being watched... and I mean I know that I am being watched without being paranoid. And it has come back several times since then."
The floodgates opened, he paced about and continued, "I even got pretty quick in figuring where whatever it was that had its eyes on me is hiding when it does show back up. As soon as I find it, it disappears again along with the sensation that they're around without giving me a clue to what it is. I even play along with it now and then, acting like I am not onto it so that it will stay around longer."
Coming to a sudden halt, the knight-in-training froze stiffly with wide eyes in actually hearing what he had just shared. Slowly looking to his Commander, he frowned deeply, "I must be losing my mind. None of this makes any sense, even in my explaining it."
Odin chuckled deeply and closed the short distance between them to rest his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Actually, what you are saying is making perfect sense to me," he reassured. Lowering his hands away, he inquired, "Describe more of the feeling that you have whenever this shadow of yours is with you. Obviously, you must not mind its presence if you trick it into staying for as long as you can."
Not normally one to really focus on his emotions, Heero took a moment to consider his response. Calling back his memories of those times when he was with his 'shadow,' he closed his eyes to remember everything that came to his feelings.
Then, opening his eyes, he peered back up to his guardian's face as the light from the small flames danced across it. "I felt... warm," he finally said, a bit of confusion in his tone. "And almost whole in a way."
A wide smile stretched across Peacemillion's scaly face and she wiggled with excitement again, only making Yuy all the more uncertain as to what was happening. Laughing, Odin slapped his pupil's back and told him, "Very good. Now, can you remember anything in any of the stories that I have told you over the years that sounds similar to that?"
Shaking his head, Heero gazed back down to the candles to wrack his brain over the course of his time with the knights of Sanq. With hundreds to go through, he had not the faintest idea of where to start. After a long pause of consideration, Peacemillion slowly slinked her head closer towards him with a bemused smirk.
It was all the hint that the he needed to have him gasping sharply. Wide blue eyes shooting up, he exclaimed, "Those were the first sensations that you had when you both met for the first time." Raising her head up, the orange beast quickly licked the side of his face, gurgling in satisfaction that he had figured it out.
Odin planted his fists on his hips and nodded firmly, "That is right, lad. The connection between a rider and their dragon is one of the most unique in this world. I am almost certain that your shadow is actually your steed out there that is having a bit of fun."
A dragon. Heero had been chosen by a dragon to be its rider... a dragon that was playing a bit hard to get on top of it all.
Smirking to himself, Heero muttered, "Well, two can play at this game."
* * * * * *
The following afternoon, Heero wasted no time in breaking away from his classmates when they were dismissed from any further lessons for the remainder of the day. Making his way through the front gates of the encampment, he felt his shadow's eyes on him the moment he set foot into the forest and a small smile curled his lips.
Not bothering to search around for the source of the presence watching him, the boy took to his usual foot trail through the trees. Fallen, dried up leaves and twigs crunched under his feet as he kept a steady and sure pace through the woods. Sunlight trickled through the cover overhead to brighten the way, though he could have easily navigated his way by memory in the pitch night if he needed.
While he never did look back or around to pick up on where his shadow was, Yuy could feel it following him closely as it moved from tree-to-tree in great bounds with every skip. That only served to make his smile spread a little further as the smell of the sea filled his nose.
For more than four miles, the knight-in-training silently wondered over the possibility of the conclusion that he and Odin had come to being wrong. But that thought was quickly dismissed and the plan that he had worked out was all that he thought of.
Then, at long last, Yuy broke through the shield of the forest and gazed out to the rocky cliffs that framed the ocean far below. With a deep breath of the salty air, he came to a stop at the high ledge and stared out to the ocean. His hair whipping in the breeze, he closed his eyes and put his complete faith in his shadow that was still hidden back in the tree line.
Clearing his mind completely, Heero kept his eyes closed as he his spread his arms out and bent knees the slightest bit and pushed himself forward from the cliff just as a guttural cry rose from behind him.
Only when he felt himself in the start of his freefall as if he were lying on his stomach did the teenager open his cobalt eyes. The wild wind shooting around him was enough of a shock to the system that he let out a surprised gasp. Nearly deafened by the air rushing past and into his ears, his eyes dripped tears from the sting of the wind flying into them.
Faster and faster, the jagged-rocked floor of the beach rose to meet Heero as he continued to plummet. Heart pounding, he finally wondered if he had made a fatal error in judgment when there was a flash of white and gold that swooped past him to make a roll of its form below and then swooped back up.
In the creature's soar back up, it shot its tail forward to wrap around the falling boy in as easy a catch as they could provide. The sudden change in direction to the sudden ascension was enough to have Yuy's head spinning for a moment before he was able to collect himself.
That initial jolt to his body was quickly replaced with the thrill of flying through the skies. Releasing a sharp laugh, Heero gripped the tail coiled securely around him and enjoyed his brief ride back to the cliff top where he was lowered to sit down amongst the rocks far from the ledge.
With a graceful landing just behind, the beast that had saved him craned its massive head around to reveal brilliant blue eyes and two horns of gold at its top that rose up in a perfect 'V.'
Before the boy could have a better look at the dragon's face, it was instantly moving in to sniff at him frantically in a thorough check that all was well with him. Chuckling when the creature was satisfied enough to pull its head back and smile at him, Yuy reached a hand up to run it over the end of the smooth-scaled snout. "So, you were the one that had me feeling like I was losing my mind," he smirked.
Its tail flapping, the male steed's grin turned sheepish as it ducked its head a bit. "This would make me your rider, would it now?" the knight-in-training questioned, unable to hold back the hope in his tone over the possibility. Lifting its head, the white dragon smiled all the wider and practically vibrated with excitement.
Pushing himself to his feet, Heero gave the great beast a full look over. The mix of white and pale silvers that overlapped each other for the stretch of its hide and wings made him nearly glow under the fading sun. His lips curling up, the teenager whispered in awe, "I have a dragon steed." And he was magnificent.
Lightly patting the muzzle when it stretched out towards him again, Yuy smiled, "Considering how you had saved me, I will name you Wing." More than pleased with that, the white steed wiggled and quickly licked the side of his rider's face.
Shaking his head as he dried his cheek, Heero snickered, "I cannot wait to get back to the encampment and introduce you to everyone." He bit his lip and peered over his shoulder to stare out to the ocean with a longing frown. "But I also have been anxious to fly-" That was as far as the boy got when he was suddenly wrapped back in the long tail and lifted from the ground.
As he was gently placed behind the tall horns at the top of Wing's head, the youth laughed and gripped onto one tightly. "I suppose that you have been anxious for this as well, then?" he grinned to the bright eyes peering up at him. His answer came in the form of their bounding for the edge of the cliffs.
Just as they began to fall through the air, the great steed opened its wide wings to collect the updraft. Feeling them ascend, Heero continued to hold on tightly and let out a rare howl at the thrill of the sensation.
Quickly, the pair climbed into the clear skies to enjoy what daylight they had left in the heavens for what would be the first of many flights together.
TBC...
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