Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Rath's Quest For Demons ❯ Jollying Rune Along ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Thanks Suzaku no miko, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. There are so few fics that read like actual continuations that I thought I'd try my hand. Of course, then I have to make it difficult for myself, with this three fic dealie. Still, your review made me really happy and I hope that it holds for all three.

Thanks Aquajogger, Master of Red Eyes and Kurayama Ryu, you seem to be the only people who're reading all three.

This fic is part of a series of three. The other two are Rune's Quest for Peace and Thatz's Quest for Food. If you want to check them out, you can find them from my profile, although they'll probably be within a page of each other on this site.

Story so far. The Dragonlord has set the Knights a mission in a far-flung part of Dusis. Thatz and Rath have just found Rune and delivered the news.

It was nice to see Rune's complexion turn back to normal. He'd been so pale and seemed so quiet and withdrawn for the past few weeks, but now a healthy pink coloured his cheeks. Thanks to the continued, unrestrained teasing of Rath and Thatz, a natural red blush soon suffused his features. His arms were sternly folded and his right foot tapped out a complicated rhythm, as he tried, badly, to mask his irritation with his two friends.

"It's all right for some to snooze all day, " said Rath, watching Rune's roving foot with glee, "but even Lykouleon's suggested that you're too rusty to go on our next mission."

This comment drained the colour from Rune's face again and his tapping foot froze in place.

"Don't worry," Rath said, clapping him a little too hard on the back. "We told him that we wouldn't go without you."
"You may not be much cop in a fight," Thatz continued, "but your good looks have shaved the cost of our room and board."

Rune swallowed hard and his face betrayed a fleeting loss.

He hates this, thought Rath. It's not fair on him. He's not meant to be a warrior. Rune is at peace when he's meditating and dreaming. He's pretty useless in combat, another me'd be much better, but Rune ... he belongs here, doing nothing. He's always so happy when he gets back to the castle and is settled and comfortable. He talks of nothing but going home, even while we're on the wildest of adventures. He should be a gardener, that'd make him happy. At least it would, if he wasn't too lazy to lift a shovel.

"We're meeting Tetheus at midday, at the North Gate," said Rath. "He's going to accompany us part of the way."

It's so hard to move him, so cruel to pull him away from this place, but he has a job to do, as do I and anger's the easiest way. If he's angry at me, then he's not moping about the place and thinking about what he's missing.

"Midday?" said Rune, panic glaring out from his eyes and replacing the loss. "Are you sure? That gives us no time to prepare!"

"If you want to ask the Dragonlord, he might still be hanging around, wondering why we haven't left," Rath said, covering his mouth and gesturing at Thatz.
"We did say we'd leave straight away," continued Thatz, looking down wistfully, with his hands in his pockets. "We spent quite some time looking for you. If Rath or I had known where you were, we could have been gone an hour by now." He looked directly at Rune from beneath his fringe. "The Dragonlord said it was really important and urgent."

Rune fled before he'd finished speaking. He pounded away down the path without looking back, or wondering why the others weren't as panicked as he was.

"Good job," said Rath simply.
"Do you think we should have told him how much time we actually had?" asked Thatz, craning his neck to follow Rune's scramble. "He might kill himself trying to get to the gate on time."
"Nah," said Rath, dismissing his own discomfort with a witless remark. "You know how long it takes him to pack."
Thatz nodded. "We've got a bit of time," he said, stretching his arms, then patting his stomach. "I'll go and get something from the kitchens."
"You're hungry again?" asked Rath, in disbelief.
"We may as well pick up supplies for the road," Thatz stated with a shrug, "while they're free. Unless you want to pick up the tab?"
"Sure," said Rath sarcastically. "You load up and I'll meet you at the North Gate."

Thatz muttered something quietly, then nodded and left. Rath looked down at the pond, an uncomfortable feeling prickling his shoulderblades. He whistled tunelessly, stuck his hands in his pockets and slinked away, looking for somewhere to kill some time.

Very little ever changes at the Dragon Castle. Ageless faces man the walls, ageless faces tend the gardens. New blood is rare and dragons are easy to predict. Rath's feet took him to Lykouleon's favourite part of the grounds. He hated to be near him. He so didn't understand Rath and he thought he was cool, when he clearly was not, but Rath figured that as long as Rath was hidden and Lykouleon couldn't see him, that it wouldn't be so bad to see him once, before the Knights had to go.

He hid himself in the undergrowth and waited. Soon enough, Lykouleon arrived. He wasn't alone, but he spoke so quietly with Ruwalk, that Rath couldn't hear them, until they were almost on top of him.

"It's so hard to look at him," said Lykouleon, crushing a flower in his hand, then pressing it open and apologising. "It's just so hard when Rath comes home. I can't get through to him. I don't even know how. I can't talk to him, he won't listen to a word I say. He treats Kai-Stern like normal, but Kai can't control Rath either!"
Ruwalk sighed and reached out to comfort his lord. "He was such a good kid," he said. "He was a total handful and so full of energy, but he didn't mean any harm."
"He still is a good kid," the Dragonlord replied quickly. "He just changed. There's nothing we can do to take that experience away from him."
"Every small boy picks up a toy sword and decides that they'll fight demons," Ruwalk said, as he settled himself briefly against a stone wall.
"None of them leave home to do it for real," sighed Lykouleon, joining him with a bowed head.
"We gave him a real sword," he said suddenly.
"In retrospect," said Lykouleon with a wry smile, "that was probably a bad idea."
"He had to learn how to use it. He needed training," pointed out Ruwalk, before he continued more wistfully. "But maybe we should have started a little later, or taken it off him when he wasn't practising."
"We can't change what's happened," said the Dragonlord, straightening up and brushing off his trousers. "We just have to deal with it."

Ruwalk agreed quietly and the old friends continued their walk. Rath didn't move until they'd been gone quite a few minutes. His face had set into a hard grimace and his body had turned to stone. It took several concerted efforts before he could order it to move around again. His limbs finally twitched, then he brushed off the insects that had crawled up his legs and hands and stood up.

I'd better go and meet Thatz, he thought. It should be time.

That took longer than I'd expected to update, but I've been on holiday and I thought the first draft was poo. Mostly I was afraid that it was too angsty and didn't fit with the last chapter. The thing about 3 linked stories is that if I get stuck on one, I'm stuck on all.

Thatz's story will follow along, as soon as I get some time to myself to write it.