charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400
X-archive-position: 16047
X-listar-version: Listar v0.128a
Sender: ffml-bounce@fanfic.com
Errors-To: ffml-bounce@fanfic.com
X-original-sender: tianadragon@crosswinds.net
Precedence: bulk
X-list: ffml
[The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set]
[Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set]
[Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]
Chapter 9
In the Earth realm, as the Guys and Mia all waited through their school days
for Aideen to return, they were all shocked to feel a scream of pain and
fear rip through them that it all had them out of their respective classes
and jobs and into their armors before they knew what had happened. As they
stopped to think about what was going on, they all met and realized that it
was not Mia. Since the only other female they know that might have had
trouble taking care of herself was Aideen, Sage and Cye were all for taking
off for the Dynasty to find out who the hell hurt her.
As they went back home to report to Mia what happened she surprised them all
by already knowing. "I think it has something to do with the way she had to
have the Tracer spell cast on her. She, unlike me had a shifting aura so
they would have to mark her some how and attach the Tracer spell to that."
As she finished her explanation of what was going on Rowen asked. "How is
it that you knew we were coming and what was going on??" She could only
shrug and offer another conclusion based on her studies. It may be I knew
what was going on because Kayura told me that the Tracer spell that they
place on people that are to be protected by both groups is some how linked
to all nine armors. When she was added to the link, it would only be
natural that I would feel it too.
They all agreed that the explanation made sense, and until they were
contacted by some one in the Dynasty, they would all have to sit tight and
hope that she would be all right.
She was awake. He did not know how he knew, but he did. She was awake and
in time for her practice session on her own and then with Yulie. As he
waited for her confirmation that she was fully awake he found himself
resigning himself to the wait as she would call the Tiger first.
He could understand that since she was in tune with nature and its creatures
as a Wildling and he was not ready to be her first victim if he should
happen to startle her into that state. While he waited he donned his
subarmor since he traded with Cale on the duties of watching Yulie and
sparring. He almost challenged Cale himself after a comment the Jackal had
made about him being so trapped in a web he could not see strait. But
desisted when he realized that Cale for once might be right.
As the curtain was drawn back he found himself not caring what Cale said and
found his eyes drawn to the lone occupant of the bed as she sat up and
looked at Dais. As she crawled out of the bed she greeted him and then
looked around a bit.
"Are you missing something Aideen??" He knew that she would probably want
to change into something more suitable for practice with the Dirks she
carried but he knew and she belatedly remembered that she did not bring her
sparring gear with her.
Aideen looked at Dais and smiled slowly, "Actually yes, I seemed to have
left my sparring duds back in the earth realm and I can hardly do anything
in this get up." She gestured to her current outfit. "Do you know where I
might get a spare sparring Gi?"
Dais stood and walked around her appraisingly and he found himself rather
delighted by her blushing at his scrutiny. When he moved away from her he
poked his head out of the door and mumbled something to the servant that was
obviously waiting there.
When he came back into the room he had in his hand a hanger with a pair of
black parachute pants and an intricately patterned leotard to go with it as
a top. Smiling he presented them to her and actually was surprised that he
flushed when she commented after looking at them, "You know Yulie is not
going to be the only one off his guard with me in this get up."
She turned to the changing curtain and drew it closed and left Dais for a
few moments with his own thoughts until she stepped out. The Sparring
slippers to the hair band everything fit perfectly and as Dais caught sight
of her as she reset her Dirks, One being the one her Wildling side used and
the other being a Gift from Kayura and the other Warlords as a Welcoming
gift.
To Dais he had not seen such a sight of lithe beauty. Her movements
conveyed a sense or slightly animalistic grace, beautiful to behold but
ultimately deadly if not treated with the utmost respect. He had not
foreseen this side of her and now knew why she sometimes had such a hard
time adjusting to new areas as he could see that she was more Wildling in
this world than she was the girl that struggled to survive in some areas of
the world in the other realm.
Here she looked an acted as if she belonged and it warmed Dais to know that
she would not need much training at all to bring the supremely confidant
young woman he saw now out into the light for all to see.
As they walked down to the Arena he could not help but wonder of she felt
anything for him or if his first impression of her had been wrong. He found
that he had to make an effort to push those thoughts aside as he showed her
to the practice ring for her to warm up on her own.
As she stretched and prepared for her Kata he noticed that if she was not
careful he was going to have to step into her sparring duel with Yulie as
right now she was relaxed and in her element it seemed. One wrong move in
any part of her match would send her into the Wildling state and he would
have his hands full trying to dodge her and still get her to calm down.
She ran through the Basic Kata first and as she felt her mind settle into
the meditation pattern for her second Kata she let herself flow from one
movement to the next only making the short moves that indicated a kill or
defense when it was needed. As she finished she knew that she was ready for
any speed of combat and looked at Dais.
Dais snapped out of his reverie of the Paragon before him and sent the
messenger ahead to warn Yulie that his sparring partner was here and ready
for him. When the messenger returned with the all ready confirmation, she
was lead into a large sparring floor. At the opposite end of the floor
stood a boy who looked like he knew what he was about with the Katana that
was in his hands.
As she readied her Dirks she opened her senses all the way for the battle
and felt out her opponent and was surprised to find that he was surprised at
who he was supposed to be fighting. They had not told him that he would be
sparring against a woman today. Kayura was different; he knew that she knew
what she was about with the Twin Jittes of hers. This woman had two short
blades that could have almost been mistaken for very short swords.
He readied himself and called the challenge, as she responded to the
challenge she readied her Dirks, one in offence and one in defense. Dais
noted her stance and saw that it was a variation of the fencing stances,
adapted for the twin blades she was using and approved of her abilities with
the blades more and more.
As the fight commenced it was fast. Yulie had been learning some speed with
the Katana in his lone practice time and it had improved his fighting as he
was better able to meet, parry and attack against this woman who's blades
seemed to bounce off of his with the clang of sound metal.
As Dais watched the contest he began to see the signs of Yulie preparing to
change tactics and all to soon there the new tactics were. As he put Aideen
on the defensive, he was now using less energy in his defense and was able
to pour the strength he was developing into his attacks. Soon enough into
the tactics you could hear a high-pitched humming as Aideen's blades flashed
about in attack and defense. Neither would give ground freely and all to
soon Yulie tried something new.
Instead of attacking with the blade he flipped over her and kicked her knees
out from behind. As he finished the attack with a light trace score on her
back he found himself face to face with a changed woman.
Dais cursed to himself as he had not seen this move coming. The Trace score
had hit her still sensitive shoulder and it had tripped her already maxed
out senses into overdrive and had triggered the change. He called for Yulie
to quit the field and jumped down into the ring in his subarmor so that she
would still be able to see his face. He could only hope that this back up
plan that he had would work. A minor change of scenery and she was back in
Ireland in the woods and he was there in his full armor looking as he did
she mistook him for an oversized spider and tried to talk to it.
He remembered to keep things going as he drew her closer and closer until he
could tangle her in the web he had set. Once he had here he employed the
one tactic he never ever wanted to use with a woman and backhanded her
across her face to make her focus on him.
Once the focus was there she calmed down quickly and her eyes lost the look
that told of her Wildling state. When she had finished gasping from the
strength of the blow she looked at him dully and asked. "Yulie?? Where is
he??"
As Dais removed her from the webbing he answered her. "I told him to leave
as soon as you changed. He got out of here with a scratch, but it will
heal. However you are going to need some healing back in your realm to heal
what I have just done to you." Dais felt terrible about having to have hit
her, but her slow smile reassured him that he was forgiven for the act.
"Will you help me get back.I don't think I could try to do it on my own
right now. Oh what a headache I have." She slumped to the ground almost
before Dais could catch her and he teleported her directly to Kayura. She
agreed that she needed to get back where she could heal herself and so told
Cale and Sekmet that they were in charge while she and Dais returned the now
unconscious Aideen to the Mortal Realm.