The Hunter pack leader beeped at the other two, they turned and nodded in agreement. The three of them began to search through the rubble that surrounded them, they searched for about five minutes before a shape rose up from seemingly no where in front of them. "So, you have come out of hiding, then?" The leader said, if he had had facial features, Angel thought he'd have been smiling.
"Thought I'd just save you the trouble of trying to find me." Angel said matter-of-factly, "Also I can dispatch you much more quickly this way." He drew his claymore from his back and took a ready stance. Normally he wouldn't face opponents this way, he'd have a strategy, but he wasn't too worried about the Hunters, they weren't really too big of a threat. As far as Ares' forces went, Hunters existed solely to hunt the weaker opposition and locate the more powerful ones. They were the forces most expendable. The grunts, as it were.
They weren't exactly harmless. Far from it. Many lives have been lost because they underestimated the power Hunters possess. They were, in Angel's opinion, fools. Angel was no fool, he'd been fighting Ares since the beginning, he knew what to expect from Hunters. He made it one of his life's goals to be a more painful thorn in Ares' side than anyone ever had. He had done a good job at it so far, and now that the princess had appeared, this war would be ending soon. Had there been a formal resistance, Angel would have been the one at it's head, but no one who resisted Ares' control ever lasted long, so Angel had no followers, there was no army waiting to be led to war. Ares' spies made sure of that.
"You have caused master Ares much grief, rebel, it will be my pleasure to be the one to bring him your head." It glared at Angel with it's piercing eyes, it readied itself for a strike, and the other two Hunters did the same.
Angel took a ready position, in a low guard stance, as they did so. "Your move, then." Looking into his eyes, it would have been a safe guess that he had a devilish smile across his lips beneath his mask, then again, there was never a way to be sure. The very tip of his blade rested against the ground. There was a stillness that seemed to last forever, Angel's eyes flitted from Hunter to Hunter waiting for any motion at all. The rain was now only a light drizzle, and he could still smell the beginnings of rust in the air. Suddenly the machines leapt at him in unison, two going high to avoid letting his low guard be effective, the leader staying low to cut off his options. Angel dug his feet in, there was a gap between the three of them as they flew through the air. The lowest of them was about three feet off the ground, the other two were about even at seven feet. They were coming at him in a triangle formation. He shook his head as he readied himself to jump, poor, predictable machines. Angel jumped forward straight for the gap between his three attackers. His sword cut down the leader's back as it flew by beneath him, by the time it hit the ground it had already shut down.
The other two machines landed a few feet in front of their fallen commander, exchanging looks between the two of them and glancing back at the remains of the head Hunter. Had they been able to speak as the leader could, they would have been saying something along the lines of, "He killed the captain, what should we do?" Angel sheathed his claymore and drew two of his daggers, with their leader destroyed the remaining Hunters resorted to their default command which was to rush the target and kill it by any means. The two machines dashed forward with their claws targeted at Angel's chest. Angel threw one of his daggers between the eyes of the Hunter to his left. As that one fell, he sidestepped and avoided the other's attack, slicing the cables connecting it's head to it's body as he did so. It's head fell harmlessly to the ground followed by the rest of it's body. "Hmm. Poor predictable machines." He said, this time out-loud.
Julia waited patiently for Angel's return. It seemed like an eternity to her, alone in the dark. She had felt safe with Angel around, so she never really thought about what a strange new place this was to her, a place where she knew no one and nothing; except that there were people who wanted her dead. It couldn't have been that long since Angel left, before she started to think whether or not he would be coming back at all. Luckily for her, she didn't get to think it all the way through because Angel reappeared out of the shadows. She jumped when she first saw him, not from fear, but from shock that she was seeing him again. She hugged him tightly, "I am so relieved that you are safe." She sighed.
"I'm sorry, your highness, I won't leave you alone again." He said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I couldn't risk you getting hurt." Julia released him, she was slightly embarrassed by her reaction to seeing him again.
"You weren't gone for too long." She said, glad that the darkness was hiding the redness in her cheeks, "I was just concerned for your safety." She said as he helped her into the shadows.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They emerged again a few meters down the path from where the fight with the Hunters had taken place, they still hadn't had much luck with finding Rosary, but at least it had finally stopped raining completely. Julia was beginning to wonder if they hadn't missed it already and it had moved on to a new location. It wouldn't have been completely unbelievable if the town had moved, but Angel wouldn't hear it, he was convinced that the town was still in the Machine Plains, just how he had known was a mystery to her. She was about to bring up the fact that they still hadn't found it, she would have told him to ask for directions if there was anyone to ask, but before she had the chance to bring it up she spotted what looked like a small town in a clearing a few hundred yards in the distance.
"You were right," Julia said at last as the tiny town in the distance began to grew larger as they got closer, "It's still here." Angel just looked at her as if there was never any question as to whether or not it was still there. "Well it took a while to find." She explained when he gave her that look. Angel shrugged at the comment, seemingly in agreement.
Julia was amazed at the condition of the town. The buildings all looked to be made of brick and stone, she reached out and touched the nearest wall. It felt like canvas, but retained it's shape, she'd never seen anything like it. "I thought you said the town was made up of tents." She said as she looked down a side alleyway, every building was similar, they looked as if they were constructed from bricks, and felt like tent canvas. Some of the buildings were as high as five stories up.
"They are tents," Angel said taking a left down the next street, "It wouldn't be much of a mobile town if they couldn't move it." It was amazing. There were pubs, hotels, there were even signs in buildings announcing a room for rent. They had windows, and doors, there was even had doorbells. Some people glared at them as they passed, others cast away their eyes; staring at the ground to avoid eye contact. The town seemed much bigger once you were among it's streets, there were people everywhere. Julia guessed that there had to be at least a population of five hundred, probably more.
"This is impossible," She whispered to herself in amazement, she saw people up on rooftops and opening windows, "How can those be tents?" Angel made a right at the end of the current street they were on.
"Bloody town changes every time I come here, you'd think they be consistent with where they put the buildings." They made another left and Angel seemed to spot the building he was looking for. They walked straight in without even knocking on the door.
It was a small house, dimly lit by candle light, with a wooden counter opposite the door. There were cluttered papers and books spread out on tables and littering the floor, and lining the walls were bookshelves, filled completely with all manner of books. Some appeared to be very old; leather bound with pages falling out. While others appeared to be relatively new, in very good condition with hard covers and crisp new pages. Behind the counter sat a small, old, owl-like man. He wore thick glasses, and a green argyle vest over a faded white, collared shirt. He had grey hair that shot out in several different directions, and it was very thin. His eyes grew wide when he saw Angel and Julia, they looked almost comical magnified through his glasses. "Shadow-Walker," He whispered, "Is this…" Angel raised his hand to silence the old man.
"She is exactly who you think she is, Lyle. I have brought her here to meet her teacher." Angel stepped aside and allowed Julia to walk up to the counter.
Lyle bowed his head, "Lyle Townsend, at your service, your highness." He said in a low, unfaltering voice, though she could tell he was very excited to see her.
"Julia Dodgeson," She said politely, "You are to be my teacher?"
Lyle chuckled to himself, "Oh no, princess, I'm not the man I used to be, though at one point I could have taught you a thing or two about magic." He said as if remembering the days when it were possible.
"That would be desirable compared to who she has to learn from now." Angel said in a low voice, almost to himself.
Lyle couldn't help but chuckle again, "Oh, quiet you. You know he is far more qualified to teach her than anyone else, even if I was still as powerful as I once was." He turned around and began to shuffle through papers and books.
"Who are you two talking about?" Julia asked, she couldn't help but wonder what Lyle was doing back there. Neither of them answered, Lyle simply placed a book on the counter, and gestured to her to open it. "You mean…" She reached out and opened the front cover of the book. It was a heavy book, a foot tall, eight inches wide, and easily six inches thick. It was bound in red leather over hard covers, and it's pages were old, it was possibly printed on parchment. "I don't understand, this is just a book."
She closed the cover again, and she saw in a small portrait on the cover a man in a purple mages cloak, and a tall hat. He looked a little too young to be on the cover of such a book. "I beg your pardon," A voice said. It was slightly high pitched, spoke in a British accent, and it sounded slightly offended, Julia looked around the room for the source of the new voice. Then she noticed the man on the cover crossed his arms, "I am not just a book. I am the Arcane Dictionary of All things Magic." Said the voice sounding very pleased with it's recital of it's title.
"Princess Julia, I'd like you to meet Adam, your new teacher." Lyle's voice sounded very formal when he introduced them.
"You mean a book is going to teach me how to use magic?" She asked turning to look at Angel, who simply shrugged his shoulders again.
"Did you just call me ‘a book' again? Don't make me go through it again." Said the book, "I am The Arcane Dictionary of--"
"Oh, hush up, you." Lyle finally said, "Your highness, believe me, there is no one better suited to teach you magic than a book that is all about magic. Which is, after all, what Adam is." The man on the cover of the book smiled smugly at Lyle's words.
"Yeah, so I believe someone owes me an apology?" Adam added sarcastically, "After all, I don't have to help you, what's it matter to me if you learn spells or not. I already know them all, and I don't have to teach them to you." He crossed his arms again and turned his back, so all they could see of him was the back of his head.
Julia sighed when she saw the look on Lyle's face, and again when Angel nudged her forward, "Look, Adam, I'm sorry." She said in a low, defeated voice, "Even though I'm not quite sure I did anything wrong." She added under her breath. "I'm very glad that I am to have you as a teacher."
Adam turned his head on the cover and looked at her, pouting, "Really?"
"Of course, I can't think of anyone more qualified to teach me than you." She said with a smile.
Adam turned around instantly smiling, "All right, but just remember that you said it, and not me" He had a smug look on his face again, and Julia rolled her eyes. At least the first step of her journey had been taken, according to Angel, she'd have to learn magic to defeat Ares. She still didn't know how, but in the back of her mind she knew that the only way she'd ever get home again was to do this, and there wasn't really another option at this point anyway. "So when do we get started?" Asked Adam rubbing his hands together.
"When we are outside of the town, away from people and buildings that could suffer because of a wayward spell." Angel said picking up the book.
"Hey, be careful with me, Shadow-Walker, I'm older than Lyle over there." Said Adam after being rather forcefully picked up, "Is this the thanks I get for teaching you that every shadow is a doorway?" Angel rolled his eyes, every time he had an encounter with Adam, the book loved to remind him that he had also learned from it's pages.
"My apologies, Adam, but we must be moving on." Said Angel patiently. Julia was surprised to hear the Angel had learned to pass into the Realm of Shadows from the same book she would be learning from, maybe she could learn how to do so on her own too. The thought made her smile.
"It's much too late for you to leave the village tonight," Lyle said placing his hand on Angel's shoulder and pointing out the window at the darkening world, "Stay here for the night."
"Are you sure, Lyle? Ares' spies are undoubtedly looking for us at this very moment." Angel said turning to the old man, "I can't put you at risk for sheltering us, you've already done enough."
"It's no trouble, boy, let Ares' spies look, they will not find you tonight." Lyle said leading the Angel and Julia upstairs. There was a connection between Lyle and Angel, but Julia couldn't place it. She thought that it was possible they were related. He led them to two spare rooms he had upstairs. "Here you are, you'll need your strength for the journey ahead. I'll bring you something to eat." Julia just realized how hungry she was, she hadn't eaten in almost twenty-four hours, but with everything that had been happening, she didn't even think about it. Angel had a look of guilty in his eyes.
"Are you all right?" Julia asked, she'd never seen Angel look like that, never once had his sorrowful eyes showed guilt.
"I'm fine." Was all he said before he went into his room and closed the door behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Julia couldn't sleep, it wasn't that she wasn't tired, she was actually exhausted, but she couldn't stop thinking about the look in Angel's eyes. When Lyle had brought them both food, Angel had taken his into his room after politely thanking their guest, but later Julia discovered that he had barely eaten any of it. Something was bothering him, and it troubled her to no end that she didn't know what it was.
She got herself out of bed, she was wearing a white night gown that Lyle said had belonged to his wife before she passed away. Julia knocked on Angel's door, there was no answer. She knocked again, and waited, finally she decided to go in. The room was empty except for Adam laying on the end table. "Could you be any more disruptive, I might actually fall back asleep if you don't make some more noise," He said sarcastically.
"Where is Angel?" Julia asked the book.
Adam yawned, "Shadow-Walker? The boy went up on the roof, I believe." He closed his eyes and began to snore, Julia stopped for a second and was about to question why a book needed to sleep, but she just shook her head and went up toward the roof.
When she emerged through the small trap-door onto the roof, Angel was sitting with his legs dangling from the edge of the roof, gazing up at the moon. He turned his head when he heard the creak of the trap-door's hinges. "Hello, princess," He went back to gazing at the moon.
"Angel, what's bothering you?" Julia sat down beside him, "I haven't known you long, but I can tell that there is something wrong." She laid a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look at her, there was more sorrow in his eyes than she'd ever seen before.
"This town used to be my home," He said after a long silence, "Before Ares and his armies, before the town had to be on the move. It was even before the Machine Plains. Rosary used to be right in this very spot, back when there was no need to be mobile, when the plains were filled with life." He looked out beyond the town at the extending wasteland of machine parts, "Ares came with his army, and he burned it down. I was out fishing with my brother, John, when we saw the smoke. We ran as fast as we could, my mother and father were trapped inside our burning house, and without thinking I ran in through the flames to try and save them. John was left shouting outside, and then I didn't hear him shouting anymore. I couldn't see anything through the smoke, except for the bodies of my parents, they had died holding each other. I struggled to find a way out, flames licked at my flesh, I finally fell unconscious." He looked away from her, he just stared off into space; his eyes focused on everything and nothing, "When I woke up, I was bandaged, I'd been burned badly. Lyle was sitting beside me, and we were beside the river where John and I had been fishing. Lyle told me that he'd saved me, if he hadn't been such a powerful healer, I probably wouldn't have made it. When I asked him about John, he said he hadn't seen him. He'd most likely been taken prisoner. He told me that his wife had also been taken."
He looked back at her, " I had no where else to go, Lyle took me in and raised me. I was only nine years old back then. I've spent all these years fighting, I will never forgive Ares for what he did." Julia didn't know what to say, she finally understood the sorrow in his eyes, "When the mobile towns began to form, Lyle was responsible for the creation of Rosary. He's done so much for me, and continues to help me. I don't know how else to repay the favor than to end Ares' oppression over the people." He stood up, taking another glance at the moon, "Whenever I come here, I'm reminded of the kindness that Lyle showed me. And also of the pain that Ares caused the both of us, and for that he will pay."
Julia didn't know how to respond, or what to do, she just threw her arms around him. Angel was shaken from his thoughts, and looked at Julia with kindness, "I'm sorry, your highness, please forgive me." It was all he said, he was silent again. He took her down to her room before going back onto the roof.
He sat there all night. Alone. with nothing except his thoughts of revenge and guilt, and Julia still couldn't sleep.
