The Strength
Walking on their way out of town, Mello snagged a map of the southwest end of the Great Continent, making the planning of their route to Ventus a little bit easier. They still had to pass through Moonriver, one of the cities along the way to grab a boat that crossed the biggest river in the continent, Camerick. A little bit further from the river, lies the Namerick great ocean, and finally stopping by its southern shores, where Ventus was located.
Before telling Lizzie that they were already leaving town, he took her to do a little walk outside of the city, but said that she had to grab all of her stuff. Great strategy? Nah. He just didn’t want to make her upset… What didn’t help at all, because she still was angry for leaving the town in a hurry.
“Hey Liz, take a look at this.” – He showed their next destiny on the map. – “A city on both sides of a river. Is that cool or what?”
“Man, how do you do this?” – She said, still angry, but curious.
“This what?” – Mello folded the map and put it in his pocket.
“Like… Steal stuff and nobody notices it.”
“Heh. Stealing is an art. It’s made of many secret techniques. One day I can teach you if you want.”
“Secret techniques?” – These words piqued her interest.
“Yeah. For example, to steal from someone that knows you’re there…” – He closed onto the girl. – “You have to distract them…” – With one hand, he grabbed her shoulder and with the other, touched her on the chin, approaching their faces together and making her red from head to toe. – “And then…” – He approached their lips nearly together, but he backed off from her, showing her book in front of her. – “There.”
Lizzie had her eyes closed, awaiting for that unexpected moment, really thinking that something would happen, but when she opened them again, she saw the guy waving her book in front of her, with the most cretin smile ever.
“You… You… Gimme this back!” – She took back her book and Mello started laughing.
“It never fails. Well, let’s go. There’s still a long way ahead of us between here and Moonriver.”
They traveled for a couple days, skipping the roads and small villages along the way by Mello’s decision. He wasn’t sure if he could trust the people on those places anymore, so he chose to travel between the forests and resting on caves and improvised camps. Lizzie was feeling confident to practice her spells, and trained every day, following the man’s advices that he learned from his sister’s training. Between the cold of the rain and night and the hotness of the day and forest humidity, she practiced whenever she had a chance. Concentration was the key to use magic.
She found out that her fire spells were the easiest to make. Water and wind were also no problem at all. Her only problems were with the ground spells, whose she couldn’t really make and the lightning. Besides from the night on Margewicht, she could never make another spark form in her hands.
Between her training, some curiosity came across her mind about the man.
“Yo, you’re really that good with swordplay or only when necessary?” – Said the girl.
“You want to know if I’m skillful?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm… Well, lemme show you something then.” – He did some stretches. – “Hah… It’s been some time since the last time I’ve trained.”
He took the girl to some trees nearby, took off his jacket and asked Lizzie to step back a little. He kicked some trees, making some leaves fall down. He closed his eyes, put the sword in front of him and concentrated on the falling leaves. When he opened his eyes, he drew the katana and cut every leaf in a single wink of eyes. It seemed like if time had slowed down, and when he sheathed the sword, time went back to normal again. Lizzie only saw him drawing his sword, leaping forward and then sheathing it again. He was so fast in so little time that the leaves started to divide themselves in half one by one until they fell on the ground.
“Holy…”
“Did that answer your question?” – Said the man, smiling and continuing his way.
At that time, he was like a hero that she read on some adventure books that she loved to read. She never imagined that one day, she would met someone with these kind of skills on the world. What was fiction? What was real? She didn’t know, but was loving every single moment of her “adventure” with her new super powerful friend. It was like she was on one of these books, and it made going out of her home a lot better than she would ever had imagined.
It was dark. Well, it’s always dark there, isn’t it? Big blue eyes opened and saw a little string of the morning rays of sunlight trough the cell. It was morning already? Well, it doesn’t really matter… Everyday it’s the same routine. Wake up. Eat whatever garbage the slave lord spared for them. Wait in line for the buyers to chose whichever their foul and warped minds were after.
“Damn… How long has it been? Maybe, if I close my eyes, the nightmare would end…”
“Wake up, bitch.” – Said someone, kicking the cell bars.
Quickly, the blue-eyed slave covered their head from the strong light.
“You’re gonna be his next fighter. You better be ready in five minutes.”
What? Fighter? Well… Better than be a housekeeper… Better put on some wraps around the body then and get ready to break some noses.
A couple more days of forest traveling were enough for our adventurers to make their way into the river-crossed city. On the map, this town was as big as the previously visited one. If the river added to the size of the city, then it would become double sized in comparison to Steinturm.
Anyways, we’re not here to indulge which city is the largest one, are we? We’re here to explore the city a little. Let’s talk about the southern side of the town and its marvels… Or we would talk about it if it wasn’t almost entirely burned to ashes. Its houses, trees and plants were still crisp and abandoned, as if nobody cared about that end at all. The only almost clean part of that mess was the road the two were right now, which was blocked by a great stone fence, dividing the destroyed town from the clean part.
Even if she was curious for exploring the town and figure out what the hell happened there, the shadows on every corner and small, stinky and dark alleyways scared the hell out of her. As soon as they passed through the stone walls, the city was a lot more clean and brighter, but Mello warned her:
“Hey Liz, we’re not gonna stay here this time, ok? We’re only a few days left from Ventus and I want to get there as soon as we can.”
He girl’s eyes filled with sorrow when she heard that.
“But we can at least stay to eat for a while.”
The joy filled her up again.
Lizzie was tempted to crawl through the city’s alleys and small crossroads, but after what happened at her hometown, she became a little scared of those places, staying on the side were it was bright and had at least some people who she could get help if attacked again. Mello was always aware of the tingly suspicions that anyone could be watching from the shadows, but the killer’s presence wasn’t there anymore, at least.
The city movement was becoming busier as they approached the south riverside. Why was it like that? Because the northern side was the better half of town, where the rich and influent people lived, and they often went to the southern side to search for any good salesman, performer, cook, products, beverages, food, anything and anyone that they need for just half the price.
The river itself was beautiful, of a translucent pale blue, where they could see all the different aquatic life of fish and algae from the riverbed and deep into that great abyss filled with water.
There weren’t any boats or canoes docked anywhere or bridges connecting the two sides. There was only a big terminal filled with people and a great ferry that was already halfway through the river, going to the northern part of town. When he asked the people nearby, they told Mello that the only way to travel between both sides was that only ferry, and it only made that course twice a day.
“Tch. We’re stranded here until it comes back this way again.” – Said the man, gazing at the nearly gone ferry.
“Oh, what a pity.” – Lizzie wanted to go inside all of those shops around there. The hell with the ferry.
They walked for a while by the grand riverbed, visiting bookstores, clothes and shoe stores, smiths and forges… There was a little of everything selling over there. Somewhere along the way, Lizzie found a candy shop and made out of there with a bag full of chocolates, her favorite kind of sweet. They stopped and sat by the great stone-carved guardrail on the riverbed, which crossed its entire shore. Lizzie was all-happy eating the chocolates.
“Hey slow down there, girl! I want some of that too!” – Mello was upset because Lizzie was using him to get what she wanted and he didn’t get any of it.
“Nhow waaaay! Ish min!”
The two fought for the chocolate bag, but the girl’s fury was uncontrollable. That chocolate was working an effect of possession on those who had desire for that delicious… juicy… tender… and… and… What? Oh, shit! Their fight made the bag rip and all these small pieces of chocolate went straight down on the water.
“Aw, c’mon! Look at what you did!” – Said the man.
“Aaah… My little candies…”
Somewhere near them, people started shouting and cheering at something. A crowd of people started gathering and forming a big circle.
“Let’s see what it is.” – Said the man, pulling the girl who still tried to grasp for those candies.
At the center of the crowd, there were two people with closed fists and battle poses, ready to fight anytime soon. One of these two was a big and muscular man, whereas the other was a hooded fellow wearing a raincoat and leather gloves and a lot skinner than all that muscle right in front of him. A third person, a tiny man, wearing a suit, necktie and top hat, was collecting money from the people around the circle. They were betting on the fight. When the man with the top hat finally collected the money, he shouted:
“Ladies and gentlemen! Let the fiiiiight… Begin!”
The buff man jumped towards the hooded guy, with heavy steps and ogre strength all focused on those fists in a punch move, whose certainly would break all of his opponents rib cage bones…! If it wasn’t easily avoided with a precise crouching movement by the hooded fellow, who gave the man a hook right on his chin, lifting him up from the ground and making him fall flat with his back again, unconscious. Many people around them started shouting and cursing the top hat man, and some went towards him smiling and getting some money from the bets.
“Ugh… C’mon man, enough about this.” – Said Lizzie, who didn’t like fights. She pulled Mello away from the crowd, taking them away from it, but the top hatted man shouted:
“Hey, you there all dressed in black! Where do you think you’re going?”
Mello looked around, a bit confused and then pointed at himself.
“Yeah, you! Carrying that sword around, you must be strong, yes lad? Do you think you can beat my champion?”
“Well…”
“Don’t do this.” – Lizzie pulled his arm again, trying to take him away from there. – “Let’s go.”
“Oh, what is this? We have ourselves a coward over there!” – As soon as the top-hatted man stopped talking, many laughter from the crowd finally made Mello stop.
“Sorry, Liz.” – He left his sheathed katana and his jacket with the girl, who could only sigh at that.
“Heh, so you managed to get some courage, my lad? Well, okay then! Everyone, place your bets!”
At least, Lizzie could bet on the man, but after witnessing the hooded fellow’s movements… She did a heavy sigh once again.
Mello and the hooded fellow stand before each other on the middle of the crowd. He tried to look inside the hood, but couldn’t quite see his opponent’s face because the guy was trying so hard to not let anyone see that face. The top-hatted man finished collecting the bets and the two fighters did their fighting stance respectively. A little more staring was enough for the match to start.
“Fiiiiiiiight!”
As soon as the man stopped talking, both of them jumped towards each other, with high fists ready to strike, carefully analyzing any opportunity in that short amount of time to give one another a punch where it would certainly hurt. Both focused their arms backwards and the second their feet stood firmly on the ground, the punches followed the movement, with a great amount of force, striking both fists at the same time, creating a big air shockwave, making some people in the crowd give a step back and lifting hats and skirts.
Shortly afterwards, they both did an absurdly fast flurry of punches and kicks. They were so fast that mostly no one in the crowd could accompany the movements, only seeing short blurs. On all of those blows, Mello tried to hit the killer move, one that would certainly win the fight like the one that the fellow did before, but his adversary was a skilled one, managing to dodge all of those moves.
That was a hard fight. It has been a long time since Mello fought like that and started to feel even more excited. His blows were hitting even harder than before. They were so powerful that any hit that the hooded fellow defended, a shockwave made their entire muscles tremble. This was a sign that they were becoming a little bit weaker and that was Mello’s opportunity to finish the match. He waited for the right moment when his opponent tried to punch him right on the head with more power than before, but he missed and his body was sprung a little further than he intended to. A fatal mistake.
Mello strengthened a mortal punch right on his opponent’s chest, who couldn’t defend it. Finally, his fist got in contact with the chest but… it was soft? Huh? How come? His curiosity with the fact that he touched a surprisingly soft chest didn’t make him notice the fellow on the ground, grasping his breath and in a lot of pain. All of the people on the crowd became shocked. How strong was that man?
“Hey, are you okay?” – Mello kneeled near his opponent and offered help.
“I *ahem* I am…” – They hanged their voice pitch a little. – “What’s your name?”
“Mello.”
The hooded fellow was surprised when they heard that name.
“Mello…? Are you by any chance-“
“Hey, you useless piece of trash!” – The top-hatted man cut his phrase and punched on the same place Mello hit before. The hooded fellow lost his balance again, tripping and nearly hitting the ground again if Mello wasn’t there to help. – “You better be prepared for what awaits you later!”
The man pointed forward and the hooded fellow, nearly without managing to stand, started to walk obediently.
Mello felt bad for that poor dude and went back to Lizzie, picking back his sword and jacket.
“See? That’s why I don’t like fights.” – Said the girl, counting the money she won.
“Huh… That’s strange… When I hit that last punch, I felt something soft. It was like…” – He made a gesture like he was touching something round, with his hands on the height of Lizzie’s breasts. – “Well, doesn’t matter. It’s almost evening, so the boat must be coming back.”
The people’s movement around the ferry’s terminal was intense on the evening. Most of them were complaining about going in first or even arguing with the authorities to get any chance to go to the other side. They found out that the price of a single ticket was so high that most of those people were just trying to board the ferry illegally. Finally, when the ferry was very close to the riverside, a sharp whistle came from it, announcing its arrival. Now that it was near them, they could see what it looked like. Nearly entirely made of wood, with two very big and spacious floors to accommodate all of those people.
“How strange… How does it move if it doesn’t have a sail?” – Asked Mello.
“Hm… I read about it somewhere. The king is funding some research on creating new types of cars and boats. This one is moved by paddles and heat from inside a big boiler.” – Answered Lizzie.
“Huh… Is that so? How advanced…” – Even if he was impressed by that, he seemed somewhat annoyed when she mentioned “the king.”
Finally, the ferry docked on the riverside terminal and the huge mass of people rushed towards it. Mello and Lizzie only followed the flux along the top-hatted man who was shoving the hooded fellow with himself.
When everybody that could afford the ticket, even if they bought it with stolen and betting money, the whistle was heard again and the ship’s paddles started moving on the opposite direction, leaving the south side of town behind.
When the ferry was somewhat on the middle of its course, something got everyone’s attention. The moonlight touched the river and all of its extension began to shine light from beneath it, lighting the entire river up in a gorgeous pale-bluish color. Mello and Lizzie looked at each other in awe of realizing the city’s name.
Curious, the man and the girl leaned against the ferry’s handrails, gazing at the mysterious light, trying to discover what was causing it. Was something down there or was only a city’s attraction to draw the tourists attention? Well, upon a very close inspection of what wasn’t entirely dark on that flooded abyss, he saw something that got his eye: it looked like the tip of a building… like a tower maybe? But what was it doing there?
“Hey Liz, do you see that down there?” – Mello pointed at the structure, but he didn’t get any response. – “Liz…?”
The girl had her eyes fixated on the darkness below them, without any emotion on her face. She seemed somewhat in a trance, just like it happened when she saw his dark blade. Mello tried to snap his fingers in front of her, call her name, poke her cheek, but she stood there, gazing at the river expressionless. The only movements that she did were slow steps forward the handrail and then, suddenly, she climbed the handrail and jumped on the water.
“Liz!” – Mello shouted.
He was going to do the same thing to save her, but he noticed someone at his side doing the same thing: the hooded fellow. Both of them jumped on the water and swam on the dark river with glimpses of the moonlight around them, pursuing Lizzie, who was diving deep without even move, like she was being pulled by some kind of force coming from that building underwater.
Finally, Mello and the courageous fellow by his side caught up the girl and swam with her back up, unconscious due to the water on her lungs.
On the surface, they noticed that the ferry was long gone and Mello wasn’t going to risk drowning the girl trying to get to the northern side of the city. They brought Lizzie to the southern shore, on a small forest. They carried the girl until they were completely out of the water, but she still wasn’t breathing and Mello didn’t know what to do in that situation.
The hooded fellow shoved Mello aside and took of the hood, revealing that the dude wasn’t so manly like many people thought.
Long golden hair came out of the hood, alongside with two beautiful topaz-blue eyes. The girl put her hands on Lizzie’s chest, pushed against it periodically with pressure, and then covered her nose with her left hand, opening her mouth with the right hand, pressing their lips and blowing air towards her lungs. She did it a number of times while Mello grasped Lizzie’s hand firmly until the girl suddenly opened her eyes, coughing water and breathing once again.
Still shocked, Lizzie looked around herself and saw a blonde girl touching her breasts while the man held her hand with the happiest face he had ever made until then. She wasn’t sure of what was happening, but the paleness of her face gave place to a tomato-red blush, making her move away from both of them.
“Are you all right?” – Asked Mello.
“Y-yeah.” – Said Lizzie, still scared.
“Whew… Thank goodness…” – The blonde girl was relieved after seeing Lizzie well.
“Erm… Who are you?” – Lizzie couldn’t take her eyes away from those vast clear eyes of the girl.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t even introduce myself yet, haven’t I? My name is Katherine.”
“Why did you help us?” – Asked Mello, helping Lizzie stand up again.
“I dunno. Instinct, impulse, whichever you call it. I was looking at you on the ferry and I saw you jumping on the river. When I noticed, I was jumping too.”
“W-well, anyway… Than-” – Lizzie suddenly lost her energy, became drowsy and fell onto Mello’s arms, unconscious.
“Damn… I think this was too hard for her…” – Said Mello, carrying the girl.
“I think it’s better for you two to rest. C’mon, follow me. I have a place around here.”
Katherine walked towards the forest, followed by Mello carrying Lizzie on his arms.
They walked alongside the glimmering river’s shore on a small forest nearby the city until they stopped by a small wooden cabin built from some wood trunks cut near from it. Katherine approached it first and unlocked the door.
Inside of the cabin wasn’t too shabby, but it worked. There was a small bed, made with cloth and wool; a table with two chairs; a shelf filled to the top with books; a little cupboard with a tea set, some pans and cutlery on the drawer near an old furnace with a teapot on it. All of those furniture were handmade with wood as well.
Mello let Katherine take Lizzie’s wet clothes, dry her and change to some that she had on a bag hanging on the cabin. Then, they put the girl on the bed, covering her with a sheet. After all of that, she finally opened her eyes again.
“Shit… Sorry guys… We lost the boat because of me…” – She said, with the last strength she still had.
“C’mon, Liz. Don’t worry, girl. Tomorrow there’s another one.” – Said Mello, smiling. He made a quick glimpse towards Katherine, a little worried, but she nodded positively.
“Thanks…” – And fell asleep.
“You’re welcome, sweetie.” – Said Katherine.
“Sleep well, Liz.” – Mello patted her on the head.
Some time passed on the little cabin. The moon and all of her splendor was right on the center of the sky. Lizzie was in a deep sleep, Mello was sitting on a chair besides her, watching her gentle and calm sleeping face, and Katherine was looking through a small window pointed towards the river, gazing at its mysterious shining light, with could lighten even inside the cabin.
“Hey, Kat.” – Mello spoke to the girl. – “I’m sorry about the… Y’know.”
He did a punching move on the air. The girl touched her still hurting breast.
“Don’t worry about it. Ugh… But this is kinda bothering me.”
She took off the raincoat, revealing her chest wrapped in bandages. She took those off and Mello tried to avoid his gaze, but those were so big that he couldn’t stop wandering how she managed to put all of that volume inside those bandages. Well, at least she didn’t care at all.
“Ahh… So much better.”
She noticed that Mello’s gaze was almost piercing through her breasts.
“My eyes are up here, y’know.”
“Huh? Oh! Sorry. It’s just… Well… Erm…” – He wasn’t sure on how to proceed at that situation, since every girl he saw naked almost tried to kill him.
After giving the man a towel, she took another from the bag and dried herself. She put on a white tank top and ripped short jeans.
“But man…” – She got close to him and punched his shoulder. – “You hit hard! This really hurt!” – She sat on the other chair and started the long task of drying her golden blonde hair.
“Well… I didn’t know you… had boobs.” – Said Mello, giving Katherine a good laugh. – “But why was that man making you do that?”
The girl’s smile quickly turned into a sad and dismay face.
“How can I put this…”
“You don’t tell me…!” – Mello’s face became worried and scared.
“Yep.”
“Seriously? Are you joking!?”
“If you don’t believe, then I’ll have to show it to you.”
Katherine stood up, bathed by the river’s light and held her hair to the side, revealing what those golden strings had been hiding: a black device held by black chains around her neck.
“I’m his slave.”
Instantly, Mello’s eyes glowed with a pure ruby-red of total fury. His calm and without any worries face turned into one of complete hate when he saw that dreadful thing and heard the word “slave”.
“Mello, calm down. I know your sister, Melissa. This is the only way I had to save her from becoming a slave herself. I know all about your past together.”
When he heard his sister’s name, his eyes turned back to normal.
“You’re her friend?” – Asked the man.
“Yes. After you two got separated, we helped each other. She told me all about you, your travels, your parents… When I saw you near the terminal, I immediately knew who you were. That’s why I asked my… er… ‘him’ to call you. I wanted to see if you were a good fighter as she told me you were.”
The two looked at each other for a while, while Mello still tried to take all of that inside of his head and Katherine was still worried about those evil eyes popping out again. He sat again besides Lizzie and brushed the sleeping girl’s hair.
“We’re going to meet her at Ventus.” – Said the man, serious.
“Really?”
Katherine really wanted to see Melissa again, but those damned chains around her neck wouldn’t allow her to leave town until her “master” control about those chains was undone.
“Want to come with us?”
“You know I can’t becau-”
“I know. I asked if you want to come with us.”
She saw determination on those eyes and for a moment, all of her fears surrounding those chains were gone. She knew what that man had been gone through to save his sister. He was going to save her.
“I… I want to go with you.”
“Great.”
“But… how are you gonna do it…?” – She was talking about the chains.
“Kat. It doesn’t matter. I will do it!”
At that moment, Katherine felt a heavy weight being shortly lifted from her shoulders. That’s something that both he and his sister had in common: when they said they were going to do something, nothing could stop them.
“Tomorrow we’ll take the first ferry to the northern town.” – Said the man, leaving the cabin.
He wasn’t going very far, only a short distance to guard against a surprise attack from a crazy assassin who liked to hide herself around at night.
The cold breeze and the darkness of the night were slowly giving their place to the shining light and the heat of the sun. Mysteriously, the river’s light was fading out as the rays of sunlight shone again.
Lizzie woke up and stretched her arms. She tried to move from the bed, but noticed something heavy on top of her lap… a sleeping person.
“Waaaaaaah!”
She shouted, scaring Katherine, who jumped, lost her balance and fell with her head hitting the ground.
After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Katherine stood up again.
“Good morning to you too…” – Said Katherine.
“Oh! My bad! I didn’t know that was you.” – Lizzie looked around and didn’t saw Mello, who usually was in Katherine’s position. – “Where’s him?”
“Up here.” – Said a voice from the ceiling.
“What are you… Ah, whatever.”
Lizzie got up from the bed and started looking around the cabin, but her sight focused only on one thing: the shelf full of books. She jumped right at it. – “Can I read?” – She was already reading.
“Uh… Sure, why not?”
Lizzie did a quick sweep through some. Mostly all of them were rare books about magic and its elements. “Advanced Fire Blasts”, “How to make Ice”, “Cooking with magic” and a lot more. She took some of those and sat down for reading.
“Wow. And I thought Melissa was a compulsive reader.” – Said Katherine.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. It’s that I’ve never seen these before. But… why do you have these?”
“Most of those are Melissa’s. We left these here after-”
“Do you know her?” – Lizzie looked at Katherine with sparkly eyes.
“Well… Yeah, but-”
“How is she? He told me that she was a great magician!”
“That she absolutely is. When we were together, she always put ourselves in trouble because she was still practicing some of those magic.”
“Really? And how did she became strong?”
“She trained every day. She read stuff from other wizards on these books and tried to do it too. She trained with every kind of element, but had the most trouble with fire magic, until one day-”
“This story is very cool.” – Said Mello from the roof.
“*ahem!* One day, we were taking shelter on an abandoned mansion on the middle of a forest because we were running from a band of thieves who… wanted to do horrible stuff with us. We managed to hide on a distant bedroom, but I was very tired because I had to fight some of them early and they were a lot. Melissa was so afraid. I could hear their footsteps getting closer. At that time we had only one certain: we were going to die. I didn’t know what to do, neither did she. When I saw the despair on her face, the only thing I could think was to save her somehow. I gently touched her cheeks, looked deep in her teary eyes and said:
‘Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay.’
And I shoved her inside a nearby dusty wardrobe and locked it with an iron bar. Soon after, three of the men entered where we were with guns and weapons. I didn’t think straight at the time, so I jumped at them trying to do some punches, but my body was so weak that I couldn’t do anything else. They grabbed me, threw me on the ground and started stomping on me… The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the wardrobe catching fire. It was like the start of a raging inferno on those men’s backs. I don’t know what happened after that, but when I woke up, Melissa was next to me, crying and everything around us was on fire. The trees, the house… After that day, her fire spells became incredible. It was like if all of the difficulty was gone with a simple snap of fingers.”
“Wow…”
“I don’t know how magic works, but it sure is impressive.”
“Oh, you think so?” – Lizzie snapped her fingers and a small flame lit on her index finger.
“You can do it too? Melissa is going to like you a lot.”
“Teehee… Look here.” – She grabbed her bag and showed her spells book.
“Can I see it?
Lizzie opened the book and showed it to Katherine, who took a pair of glasses from her pocket and started reading it.
“Yep. She’s going to like you a lot.”
“Hey girls, the ferry’s coming!” – Mello was at the door, waiting for them.
Lizzie grabbed her clothes which had been out all night long to dry. She told Mello to piss off as she was going to change. But Katherine was still there with a big smile on her face observing Lizzie changing clothes… Naked… Strange… but at least she was a girl. What was the problem, right?
Mello and Lizzie, now accompanied by Katherine went their way once again to the ferryboat walking by the riverside street. Near the terminal, many stores were opening up to receive its rich clients from the northern city. The boat’s pace was a bit slower than usual so it had still a couple of minutes until it docked again.
Lizzie decided to stop at a bakery to eat something followed by a hooded Katherine who didn’t want anyone to see the black chains around her neck or they could call the authorities on her. Mello too followed the girls, but he was having that feeling again, like someone was watching him. The girls sat down by a table after ordering some food and before Mello could do the same, a voice coming from a nearby table echoed around him.
“Hello, Mello.”
Paralyzed for a moment, Mello felt his spine freeze and his face became a mix of a bunch of stuff like nausea, anger and frustration.
A tall man sipped the last of his coffee and stood up from the table, walking towards the silver-haired guy. He had short, brown hair and a short stubble on his face. His eyes were some kind of cyan-blue. He was wearing a white button shirt with its sleeves folded until his elbows and two buttons opened, uncovering part of his chest. He also was wearing dark olive-green pants and high quality fine leather shoes. On his belt he had two short swords, and on his torso, a holster with a combat knife and a pistol alongside cartridges of bullets. Near his table, a greatsword was leaning on the chair across.
He approached Mello and reached out his hand.
“Won’t you greet an old friend?”
Mello turned as slow as he could and spoke, still mad and didn’t even look at the man’s hand.
“Hi… Luke.”
Lizzie and Katherine were surprised when they heard that name.
“Huffy as always.” – Said the man, with an arrogant tone. – “Oh? What do we have here?” – The man approached the girls and sat between them. – “Hello ladies! What are you two doing with this douchebag?”
“You better leave them alone, dude.”
“You know what?” – He stood up and went towards Mello again. – “You annoy me. You’re always surrounded by gorgeous women. You’re a petty thief and I’m famous! Why I don’t have your luck?”
As he was speaking, he went past Mello and drew his greatsword, leaning it over his shoulder.
“Hey, what are you-”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. It will always be the same, no matter what I try. Speaking of gorgeous women, where’s my beloved Melissa?
When Katherine heard that “beloved”, she instantly grew mad at the guy.
“She’s-” – Mello was becoming infuriated with the sudden cuts.
“You don’t get it, do you? I hate you, man. You’ve got everything I ever wanted by mere luck.”
“Everything?”
Mello drew his black katana and pointed it at Luke.
At that moment, Luke changed his scorn face into a serious, hard-looking face. The two men positioned themselves into a battle stance. Some people around, noticing the heavy atmosphere around those two beasts with killer eyes staring at each other, quickly grabbed their stuff and ran away from there. Some still gathered around at a safe distance to see that fearsome combat.
After a few moments of silence, they both ran at each other. Luke swung his huge sword towards Mello, who did a quick swing from below. When the two swords crossed, a big shockwave followed by the hot sparks when the sharp metal met each other echoed around them. The shockwave even lifted chairs, tables and everything on top of it alongside with people who had to step back.
The fight was full of fearsome and extremely violent and powerful blows coming from Luke and quick and precise movements and cuts from Mello, which cut even the air, the ground, people’s clothes and anything else that stood on the way of the blades.
Lizzie had read about some epic swordsmen battles and its awesomeness, but seeing a real one right in front of her live, sure was impressive.
All of Luke’s attacks were full of power, but kind of slow, so Mello didn’t even bother with those, defending and dodging every single one of them. His moves, however, were a lot less strong, but they were quick and precise, managing to do a few cuts on his opponent’s defense flaws. Luke was thinking about a way to break that powerful defense… Of course, his two short swords! He could attack and defend at the same time. Nice strategy!
Yeah, but the moment he lost the focus on the combat, Mello cut his hand, throwing his sword high up on the air. With no further thinking, Luke drew the two swords. This time, his attacks were faster and efficient… Or so he thought, because Mello still managed to defend all of them. His speed was almost nothing compared to his opponent’s.
Katherine was impressed by Mello’s speed and combat posture. Why he could see all of Luke’s movements, defend against all of them and still manage to retaliate? She had a quick glimpse of the moment when Mello defended both of the swords at the same time, and some kind of energy pushed Luke a tiny bit away from Mello, but what was that? Well, she wasn’t certain about it, but right after that, he cut Luke’s shoulder, who screamed and tried to spin his body trying to hit anything.
When he did that ridiculous move, Mello gave Luke two fast cuts on both hands, making him throw down the weapons and a kick on the gut, kneeling on the ground.
With no other options, Luke was going to use his knife and pistol. If the close quarters combat wasn’t favoring him, a medium distance was going to be his certain victory. He grabbed his knife from the holster and stood up, with his hand on the pistol, trying to get it…
*bang!*
A shot came from somewhere, hitting his knife and throwing it far. Mello was right on his back, pointing the smoking gun at him. At some point in the fight, Mello had already stolen his firearm. With no more victory possibilities, Luke lifted his arms up.
“O-ok, I lost…”
Mello walked towards his opponent, still pointing the gun at him. He closed in and pointed it at his head, but then he smiled, spun the weapon on his finger, grabbed it by its barrel, giving it back to its owner.
“You miserable little thief…” – Luke got his pistol back.
The ferry was already there, so Mello walked to the girls, who started bombarding him with questions and a bit of praise while moving towards the boat.
During the slow river crossing, Lizzie was deep in thought sitting beside Katherine on a bench. That name, Luke… It was very familiar…
“Hey, Katherine… That man who fought with Mello earlier…”
“You know his name from somewhere.”
“Yeah… Wait, you too?”
“Yep. I had the same feeling. Luke… Where have I heard that name before?”
The two girls started thinking even harder to remember.
“This guy doesn’t know how to stop.” – Said Mello leaning on a nearby column, with his hand on the forehead, disapproving something.
In front of them, Luke was surrounded by people, mostly hysterical women, waving books at him while he tried his best to sign most of them with a smile on his dumb face.
“Ah!” – Lizzie and Katherine looked at each other, finally realizing where that name came from, speaking at the same time. – “The Flaming Knight’s Chronicles!”
“So this is the famous Luke Redstring…” – Said Lizzie.
“The fantastic Knight who rides his dark brown horse alone at night, defeating villains and saving damsels in distress, brandishing his sword bathed with the fire from his beloved woman…! Yeah, right.” – Said Mello, crossing his arms.
“He doesn’t look anything like the man from the books. And to think that I’ve read them all… *sigh*…” – Katherine was very disappointed.
“I want to ask you two something. When we arrive on the other side, what we’ll do?” – Asked Lizzie.
“Simple. We find the guy, spank him near his death and that’s it.” – Answered Mello, with a devilish smile.
“You’re crazy? Wanna die? We only have to find the key and I’ll be free.” – Answered Katherine, showing Lizzie her black chains.
“Tch. Thrash him would be easier…”
Mello leaned on the ferry’s guardrails and gazed to the bottom of the river, where he saw again that mysterious tower-like structure. Lizzie leaned towards the river with him, making him and Katherine very afraid once again.
“Huh, what’s that?” – Lizzie pointed to the tower.
No signs of trying to jump off the boat again, at least. Katherine was relieved.
“You… really don’t remember, do you?” – Asked Mello, still with his hand on her shoulder, for precaution.
“Remember? What?”
Mello and Katherine looked at each other, smiling and less afraid. He released his hand and the three began looking at the river together. Lizzie saw a bundle of fish passing near the ferry and threw some breadcrumbs from her breakfast, which was cancelled due to the two swordsmen fight and she saved it for later, and the fish started to gather around the water’s surface, nibbling at the food. It was a heartwarming scene…
“So, girls! Where are you headed?” – Shouted Luke, scaring off the fish.
“Goddamit, man!” – Mello punched the guardrails, infuriated. That man’s voice was more than enough to piss him off. – “Stalking Mel isn’t enough so you have to go after every girl around me too?”
“I didn’t talk to you, asshole. I’m talking to the ladies.”
Both men glared at each other and the air around was quickly becoming heavy again. This time, Katherine and Lizzie torn them apart before their blades flew at each other again.
“So… You’re the Flaming Knight?” – Asked Lizzie.
“Oh? You’re a fan? Thanks for reading my works, little kitten.”
“Man… I thought the Knight was a super powerful dude, but after personally meeting him… Meh.” – Katherine became pissed at him after she heard ‘stalking Mel’. She personally hated him now.
“Hey, blondie! Don’t underestimate me just because I lost once-”
“A COUPLE of times.” – Said Mello.
“ONCE. To this dumbfuck. You didn’t saw me fighting seriously.”
“Heh.” – Mello liked his joke.
“Anyway… Where did you know Melissa? She never mentioned you when we were together.” – Asked Katherine.
“Ah, Melissa… My love… We met at… Wait, together?”
“Yep.” – Katherine had a very cynical face on.
“No! My Melissa and you!?”
“That’s right. Two years. To-ge-ther.” – Katherine put her hands on her red face.
“Kh…! No! My sweet Melissa…!” – Luke hated Katherine now. They’re even.
“Ahh… We have a lot of good memories…” – For every word, Katherine touched some part of her body, becoming even redder.
“Tch…! So be it! You’re on my blacklist alongside this fucker!”
“Ah…” – Katherine hugged Lizzie, who was absolutely lost.
“CURSES!!” – Luke ran away, with eyes full of tears.
“W-what the hell was that?” – Asked Lizzie, extremely confused.
“Nothing… Don’t worry about it…” – Katherine was turning back to normal.
“Hey, we made it.” – Mello pointed to the city in front of them.
The other side of the river-crossed town was completely different from its south side. There were a lot of tall buildings, luxurious houses and even mansions at any given open spot they could build something. No signs of poverty or trash anywhere. There were a few smoky automobiles passing by the streets. People walking on the sidewalks were wearing expensive clothes and were accompanied by their slaves with their black chains around their necks, which made Mello want to destroy every single one of those rich fuckers. Because he couldn’t, he just wanted to free Katherine as soon as possible so they could get far away from there.
“Hey, Kat. Tell us where that piece of shit is so we can move on from this hellhole.” – Said Mello, clearly annoyed.
“Chill, man. We’re almost the- GAH!”
A powerful shock bolted through all of Katherine’s body, making her scream while being electrocuted and squirming painfully. Mello and Lizzie couldn’t even get near her, because they would also take the electrocution and it could be even worse.
After that grotesque scene finally stopped, Mello managed to hold Katherine before she collapsed. She nearly lost consciousness, but all of her strength vanished away. Her body was very hot and she still had some spasms.
“Hey! W-what happened? Are you okay?” – Asked Lizzie, trying to touch Katherine, but afraid of getting a zap.
The girl didn’t even have strength to open her mouth anymore.
“Hmph. I finally found you, blondie.” – This voice made Mello’s anger triplicate. – “You love my little shocks, don’t you? Huh…? You’re that brat that made me lose all that money in that fight, aren’t you? Gimme that and run back to your mother, you little shit.”
There stood the top-hatted man. He pulled Katherine from Mello’s arms by her long hair, but because she was weak, she fell right on the ground.
“C’mon, you bitch! Aren’t you super strong? C’mon! Get up!!” – The man started to stomp on the girl.
Katherine, struggling to get up, dragged herself through the ground, and leaning on a wall, managed to barely get up. Mello almost couldn’t control himself. If someone looked at his face at that moment, they could only see one thing: pure hatred. Lizzie noticed that his grayish eyes started to glow with an evil red, like the eyes of a demon.
His hand flew towards his katana, but Lizzie’s courage spoke up and she managed to hold his hand before he made something very stupid and atrocious right there.
When the man noticed the girl’s hand on his, his eyes instantly turned back to normal. The two stood there, observing the man leaving with a stumbling Katherine, while he slapped her on the butt.
“C’mon, Liz. Let’s go.” – Said Mello, putting his hands on his pockets and turning his back to that awful scene.
Lizzie didn’t understand the man. Where his motivation on saving that girl had gone? She tried to say something, but it was too late and she had already lost Katherine from sight, so she decided to stay silent for the moment.
Lizzie was following Mello who was walking apparently aimlessly on the rich streets of Moonriver. They walked for a while until the lack of conversation drove Lizzie mad and then she finally spoke up.
“Hey, Mello…”
There was no response, but she still talked, anyway.
”Why did you leave her behind? After you said you were going to save her and all of that…Wasn’t cool, man. I thought you were nice, but damn. What the hell is wrong with you? What the fuck, dude! Say something!”
Mello stopped.
“W-what now?”
He was gazing at a store. Lizzie did the same and noticed that it was a bookstore with a strange movement inside. She started to investigate with a little more attention, but her disappointed face quickly showed up. It was Luke, giving autographs on his books.
Mello stepped inside the store and sneaked through the crowd of Luke’s crazy fans… Why they were so crazy about him? His books weren’t that good, for god’s sake. Anyway. He finally got through them and stood in front of the man.
“Ah, Mello! If you want one, you have to wait in the line…”
“…I need your help.”
Practically pulled by force by Mello, Luke was taken away from those hysterical women with his books on their head.
They drove off the people and managed to enter a small coffee shop, hidden from the crowds.
“So? What do you want? – Said Luke, ordering something to the waitress.
“Kat was taken by one of those damned slave owners.”
“So?”
“’So’? What do you mean ‘so’!?” – Lizzie shouted, punching the table. – “Aren’t you the great hero who saves damsels in distresses?”
“Look, you little…”
The two started glaring at each other.
“Luke!” – Spoke Mello, with a more serious voice. The two looked at him. – “I promised her… that I would free her.”
Luke sat down again and started to reminisce while the waitress put his coffee on the table.
“Man… I’m sorry… I didn’t know…”
“That’s why I need your help.”
There was a brief moment of silence between the two. Lizzie only observed both of the men staring at each other. What must have gone through their past?
Luke drank his coffee in a single gulp and then stood up.
“Alright. But afterwards, you’ll owe me one.”
He put forward his hand for Mello, who smiled and shook it.
“So, do we have ourselves a plan?”
“First we have to find that piece of trash’s house.” – Said Mello.
“Er… I think I know where it is.” – Lizzie pointed towards somewhere.
It was a luxurious three-story mansion, but with a top hat exactly the same as the slaver had, right on top of the building.
“Ugh… What a… Whatever! Here’s the plan.” – Mello thought for a couple of seconds. – “By evening, we’ll sneak into the mansion. You’ll go through the front door, disguised as two of these rich fuckers who want to buy slaves, saying that you saw the fight and wanted to buy that fighter one. Even if he says no, you’ll show this giant bag full of money here.”
Mello showed them a bag almost as big as Lizzie’s head, full of golden coins.
“You little thief.”
“Burglar.”
Said both Luke and Lizzie, disgusted towards the man’s actions.
“*ahem!* With this, he’ll do anything to yank this money from you. Meanwhile, I’ll sneak over the back, hiding in the shadows. While you both distract the man, I’ll look for Kat and the device that gives the shock.”
“Why?” – Asked Lizzie.
“Because it’s also the key that sets off the chains.” – Answered Luke.
“Understood?” – Said Mello.
“And if it doesn’t work?” – Asked Lizzie again.
“Improvise.”
“I knew it.” – Said Luke, laughing.
“Go buy your disguises while I scout the territory.”
“You mean… Like one of those?” – Lizzie pointed to a highly gaudy woman, wearing a ostentatious dress and a flamboyant umbrella.
“Yep.” – Said both men.
“With a skirt? And laces? And petticoats!?”
“Liz! Do you wanna save Kat?”
“Yeah, but…” – Said she, all flustered.
“Then do this. For her.”
“Grrrr… Ok, fine!”
And turned her back, embarrassed. Luke went with her, to buy their disguises, leaving Mello alone for his scouting. He went towards a high place to observe what was happening on the outskirts of the mansion. He just wanted to burst through, punching and cutting everyone, but he didn’t want to compromise Katherine more than she already was. He was determined to save her.
By evening, nothing seemed to have changed at all inside the mansion. Everything was calm and sometimes, people entered and exited with their slaves. This man must be very overconfident, because only a couple of guards patrolled the gardens and they didn’t even had any weapons.
Mello was leaning against a building over by the front of the mansion when someone spoke near him.
“Hello, good sir. What a pleasant night we’re having, no?”
He turned towards the voice and did a little smile.
“Ah, yes. It’s true, Mr. Luke.”
The man was wearing a navy blue tuxedo with a red bowtie, monocle, top hat and a wooden cane with a blade inside, for precaution only, obviously.
Behind him, there was someone completely embarrassed, trying to hide her face, but Mello made sure to follow her around Luke with a very large smile on his face.
“Oh? And what an honor, Ms. Lizzie!”
He gently grabbed Lizzie’s hand and gave a kiss, turning her completely red.
She was wearing a short white dress with long sleeves and black roses all over it, with a black petticoat underneath it. Long stripped socks covered her legs and platform heels gave her a little bit more height. On her head, a small white hat, slightly leaning towards her left side was tied in with a white ribbon.
“H-hey! Enough with this! Let’s go already…” – Said the girl.
“Remember: try to be the most annoying and stingy person of the whole world. Even when you meet Kat, okay? Let’s go save her.”
“Come, sweetheart.” – Luke reached his arm towards Lizzie.
“Ugh… Can’t we-”
“I beg your pardon? I did not seem to understand you.”
“Tch… *sigh…* Yes, daddy.”
Lizzie was trying to be a sophisticated and cute girl, which was becoming a painful torture for her.
Mello hid on the shadows of the mansion while Luke and Lizzie went towards the front doors of the mansion.
“Ugh, this dress is a pain in the ass.” – Said Lizzie, totally uncomfortable with that petticoat and the heels.
“Miss Lizzie!” – Said Luke, always paying attention to the guards who watched them on the gardens. – “This isn’t the way for a lady to talk!”
Before they could go up the stairs of the mansion, a guard stopped them.
“May I help you?”
“Hello, fellow gentleman. I was walking with my precious daughter on this magnificent evening and she asked me a beautiful slave as a gift, isn’t that right, dear?”
Luke looked at Lizzie, who had a face of a person who was very disgusted upon that scene. The man poked her with his elbow and gave her a serious look. That gesture was saying that if she didn’t get into character, they couldn’t get into the mansion.
“Ah, yes daddy! I want the cutest slave that they have here! That blonde one we saw yesterday!” – She changed her voice to look like she was younger, like a child.
“Hohoho, what I don’t do to keep this precious treasure smiling like that? So? Can we see your boss, lad?”
“Hm… Very well, follow me.”
The guard took them through the stairs until the large doors of the front door of the mansion. On the very top of the building, inside the top hat, there was a small window, where the top-hatted man gazed through a scope all the people who entered his building. When he saw they were clients, he dashed downstairs to receive them properly.
“Hello, noble gentleman and kind young lady! It’s an honor to receive such sublime guests upon my humble residence. Come, come inside!”
The man quickly got them inside and the guards closed the big doors.
Meanwhile, Mello had already infiltrated the mansion, sneaking by the shadows and avoiding all of the security inside it. Like most of the slave houses he’d been through, the slave prison was underground, on the basement with no other means of entrance, only through the stairs inside of the mansion. Oddly enough, there were no security downstairs. Why was that? Was the top-hatted man a complete idiot?
Many questions like that popped through the man’s mind, making his attention to his surroundings drop a little and he was almost hit on the head by a punch that came from somewhere within the darkness. The man didn’t even think twice when he perceived the move. He stepped back and countered with a closed fist on the chest of a man, who flew towards a prison cell.
He entered too, to see if the man was still conscious, but he was blocked by a wall of people on attack positions. Everyone inside had those black chains around their necks. Mello was ready to draw his sword and fight them to ask about the whereabouts of Katherine, but he stopped as soon as he saw the blonde girl behind the blockade, receiving medical treatment.
“Kat…”
Mello put his hands up, signing that he wouldn’t fight with anyone anymore.
“You… I thought you wouldn’t come anymore… Hehe… Urk!”
She still had some burns on her body.
“Katherine, who is this?” – Asked the lady who was healing her.
“He’s gonna free me from here.”
“That’s right. Now tell me, where is the device?” – Asked Mello.
“Heh… It’s not going to be easy. He has it with him all the time…” – Said the man whom he had punched before.
“Is that so? And here I thought this was gonna be a pain in the ass…” – Spoke Mello, confident.
The man showed the two people in noble disguises though the main hall of his luxurious mansion.
“So, my noble friend? What kind of slave are you after? A strong one for your hard laboring services? A pretty woman for your domestic chores? I’ve got anything that you may ask!” – Said the top-hatted man.
“You see, my kind sir. My precious daughter here wants a beautiful slave, who can brush her hair, help her get dressed, make her bed every morning…” – Spoke Luke.
“And she must be blonde!” – Said Lizzie.
“Yes, of course, little missy!”
The top-hatted man clapped his hands and the entire hall became filled with people with black chains around their necks. Men, women, children, elders… All of them were making Lizzie want to bury that snotty little man’s head on one of these fancy walls even more.
“Make your choice, my darling.” – Said Luke, hiding his anger gripping that poor cane.
Lizzie went by every one of those slaves, hoping to find Katherine around there somewhere. The top-hatted man was giving her some suggestions, but she wasn’t paying attention to any words coming from his mouth. She just wanted to find the girl and get the hell away from there as soon as possible.
“…already here?” – Lizzie heard these last words of the man’s voice. – “Since when?”
“I arrived today’s afternoon, sir.” – Said a very familiar voice to Lizzie.
It was a silver-haired man, wearing only a gray t-shirt and he was covered in dirt. Mello was between the slaves, also wearing a black chain around his neck. When Luke and Lizzie looked at the man, they became terrified. What was he doing there? Had he been caught by the guards?
“Hmph. Well, you won’t get picked anyway. Ah! What about this one? – The man grabbed Katherine from behind the “new” slave. – “Look, little missy. What about a big pair of new pillows?” – He grabbed the girl’s breasts.
Luke and Lizzie were almost at their patience limit with that guy. Luke put his hand on the cane, as in to pull the blade out, and Lizzie had some fires on her hand, but Mello was faster than them.
“Sir?”
“What?” – Said the top-hatted man, turning towards Mello. The silver-haired man was holding his black chains, whose he quickly put on the slaver’s neck. Astonished, he looked around and saw the slaves all with their chains on the ground. – “W-what is the meaning of this?”
“*ahem* Have you ever felt a lightning bolt running through your entire body?” – Spoke Mello, playing with the small device on his hand.
“No…! You won’t…”
“No, I won’t. But, Kat, if you may, please.”
He gave the girl, also without her chains, the small device. She looked at everyone that had been mistreated by that horrible man and at her new friends that helped her get out of that terrible situation. Katherine picked the device and everyone stepped away from the top-hatted man.
“H-hey…! Stop this madness!”
A clicking sound was heard by everyone just by a millisecond. The next moment, that same powerful electric current jolted through the man’s body. But once wasn’t enough for Katherine, apparently. She was compulsively pressing that small button. She seemed to be having an enormous pleasure doing that. It was like if nothing else mattered at that moment, only her small revenge. She was almost out of her mind doing that.
Lizzie, worried about that, approached Katherine, touching her shoulder. It was like if the girl snapped out of a trance. When she finally noticed, the man was on the ground, fainted, his skin almost burned to a crisp. Everyone was staring at her, tense as the air around them.
“Are you okay?” – Asked Lizzie.
“Er… Hey, everyone.” – Katherine held the device in front of her and closed her fist, breaking it in a thousand pieces. – “We’re free.”
Everybody still looked astonished to the pieces falling on the ground. They still couldn’t believe that they will leave that awful place, free from the constant threats, tortures… But from now on, freedom. One by one, the ex-slaves started to smile, jump and hug each other with joy.
“So? How’s the feeling?” – Said Mello, poking Katherine.
“…Huh? Ah… it’s cool.”
“Hm? What’s this here? Tears…?”
“Ha, ha… Very funny.” – Katherine wiped her tears and smiled.
Everyone was overjoyed by the moment, but they were forgetting a little detail.
“Hey boss, you here?”
Spoke someone outside of the big hall’s doors. When they opened, one of the mansion’s guards stepped inside. He seemed sleepy and bored.
“I ‘eard some noise and a strange…”
He looked at everyone who froze on the last pose they did. No one even breathed.
Silence…
“Oh, shit.” – Spoke Mello.
The guard went back through the door and alerted everyone else through radio.
“How do we get out of here?” – Asked Lizzie.
“Kat, any ideas?” – Asked Mello.
“There’s an exit through the backdoor!” – Answered Katherine.
But when they turned to run for the exit, a legion of guards came from the second floor, from holes on the floor, jumping through windows and even from the roof, with ropes.
“There’s no time. Run!”
Mello grabbed the two girls by the arms and ran with them throughout the mansion, alongside with Luke. The guards started to pursue them, but the free people, who allied themselves with the four, stopped them.
They ran through every hall that wasn’t guarded, turning at every bullet that was fired against them and cutting and punching every guard that popped in front of them. They found some stairs and flew towards the second floor, where they finally stopped on a room which wasn’t heavily guarded. Mello closed the door behind him and Luke managed to drop a shelf on it, making a temporary barrier.
“What now?” – Asked Lizzie.
A heavy stomp was heard on the door.
“This isn’t gonna hold them for much longer!” – Spoke Katherine.
“Hey, take a look at this.”
Mello pointed at two vehicles being displayed on two circular stages.
“Motorbikes!” – Said Luke, approaching them.
There was a red one, smaller, but with two seats and a side car, and a larger black one, with big wheels and a big, but only one seat.
“Motor…?” – Apparently, Lizzie didn’t have any clue about what were those.
“Hey, look at that!” – Katherine pointed at a big glass window.
“Perfect, Kat! C’mon Luke, I’ll take the-”
“Red one. I know, I know.”
Outside of the mansion, the local security was already alarmed of the assault and made a barricade with their automobiles and some chains all around the mansion’s entrance.
Two of them were talking inside the gardens.
“Hah. Who these people think they are, trying to escape our great force?”
“Yeah, you’re right! Unless they know how to fly, they never-”
A loud noise of glass breaking and shattering was heard up from the mansion and at the same time, the big front doors opened. From the second floor window, two motorbikes jumped with great increasing speed and from the doors, a horde of furious people were rushing towards the guards, who didn’t understand a thing and didn’t even know what event they should look at. It was as if everything was on slow motion while they saw the bikes flying above their heads and soon after, speeding up on the streets.
“Yaaaaaaaahoooooooooo!!” – Shouted Lizzie.
She was sitting on the side car of Mello’s motorbike, with her arms up on the air, happy as hell while the man sped that bike across the streets of Moonriver. Katherine, on the other hand, was gripping Mello’s hip as strong as she could, keeping her eyes closed the entire time.
It wasn’t a surprise that Mello and Luke were racing each other while they sped through anything and anyone, not caring at all to the local security. Their race flag was the exit of the northern town, up on the north.
The two blazed through the calm streets, climbed hills and floated the skirts of any woman passing by them at the moment. That big mess they were causing on the city alerted the other securities around the town, whom sent their own vehicles on pursuit of these crazy people on these bikes. At every corner, a car showed up, making them take other paths on their mad race and stretching even longer their final destination.
“Hey, Mello! This isn’t good! They’ll soon-”
A bullet flew between them, cutting Luke’s speech on the middle. Soon after, more shots were fired and one of them managed to strike the red bike.
“Liz! I need your powers right now!” – Shouted Mello towards the girl.
Lizzie was scared because of the shots, but when she traded looks with the man, a sudden courage burst through her.
“What do you want me to do?” – Asked the girl.
“I don’t know… Something simple… What about… FIREBALLS ON THESE FUCKERS?”
The girl smiled and turned back towards their pursuers.
“Hehe! Let’s see the results of my training!”
Lizzie concentrated and flames started to dance on her right hand. She took aim at a car and shot a fireball towards the sky, because she lost her balance when Mello passed through a hole on the street.
“Hey! Look where you’re driving!” – She shouted.
“Sorry!”
She concentrated again and shot a fireball towards one of the pursuing cars, exploding inside of it, making the driver lose control and tossing the car on another one that was pursuing them too.
“Liz, up front!” – Said Mello.
The girl turned to their front and saw a barrier of cars and guardsmen pointing guns at them right before the town’s exit.
“It’s all or nothing!” – Screamed Luke.
Lizzie concentrated even more than before and the flames appeared on both of her hands, then she put them together and made a big sphere of fire, uniting her energy on both hands. After that, she threw the enormous fireball towards the cars.
At their speed, if she had missed that, the bikes would’ve definitely crashed into the cars. But, because she is a very lucky girl, she managed to land her magic on the car right in front of them, making the guards dodge it and exploding the car, making it fly just barely so the motorbikes could pass through the barrier, finally giving them the opportunity to leave that wretched place, running through a quiet road on the dark night.
The End of The Horizon 