It was already two after midnight when Harle heard a knock at the door. It wasn’t unexpected, in fact, Harle had waited the last two hours for this knock. It meant Jack was here, and that could only mean one thing: they had arrived at the shore of Marbule.
It wasn’t that Harle had waited for this knock because she was eager to go on this mission, though. No, the feelings Harle felt right now could only be described as dread. Unfounded, of course. She had no reason to be afraid of this mission, even if some of Viper’s men were to show up. She could deal with them easily and so could Kidd. But somehow, her bad premonition got to her nerves. She had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen, but she couldn’t tell what that something was.
However, before giving in to more contemplation, she stood up and walked across the room to open the door. As awaited, Jack’s smiling face showed up in front of her, giving away the relief of seeing her instead of Kidd.
“Ah, it’s you…err, the captain calls. We’ve arrived at Marbule.” With that, Jack laid his hands onto Harle’s shoulders and nodded, like he always did when either of them set out for a mission. It was his way of wishing her good luck.
But this time, he did something different. Without saying a word, he reached into one of is pockets and took out one of his throwing-knives, gently laying it into Harle’s right hand.
“Take this. I’m sure it’ll be helpful.” Harle wanted to say something, but Jack had already turned around and left.
Harle frowned, looking at the throwing-knife in her hand. How could that knife be any helpful? She had her cards, there wasn’t a big difference between throwing-cards and –knives. Sure, the knives were a little heavier and therefore, they’d make a bigger impact when thrown with full force, but Harle didn’t really get how this would come in handy for her.
After a few moments, she just shrugged, putting the knife carefully into her pocket. Turning around, she saw Kidd still sleeping, oblivious to everything. Harle had to smile at herself while she fetched Kidd’s equipment. Kidd always seemed not to worry about anything, something Harle honestly envied her for. Also, she always seemed so at peace while sleeping, despite her harsh behaviour when she was awake.
“It must be because she doezn’t have zese nightmarez…”, Harle thought sombre. Even though having Kidd by her side every night was extremely reassuring, troubles and fears managed to sneak into her dreams every once in a while. Usually, she put them aside, decided not to think about them too much, but she never managed to ignore them completely. They always seemed so real.
Harle scolded herself inwardly. She was an adult, how could she be scared of some dreams?
“Hey, Kidd. Wake up, ma chère.” Harle whispered into Kidd’s ear, still holding her equipment rolled up in her right hand.
Slowly, Kidd opened her eyes, smiling at the sight of Harle.
“Is it time already? Jeez…”, Kidd mumbled, while trying to stand up awkwardly. Harle just nodded and gave her the equipment. It wasn’t much, about the same weight as Harle’s things, but they didn’t really need much aside from their weapons. A backpack full of useful items would just slow them down.
Kidd grabbed her things and together, they went upstairs to meet the captain, who was already waiting for them, tapping with his foot impatiently.
“’Bout time. Are ya ready ta go?”, he asked, turning his head towards Marbule.
“Aye.” Kidd answered while Harle only nodded.
“Good. Take as much time as ya need. We’ll be waitin’ behind the cliff on the other side of the isle. No one’s gonna see us there. Though ya’ll have ta swim a bit on yer way back.” With that, the captain laughed hoarsely. “Now go and be sure ta find somethin’ useful this time.” He said and smirked.
Without saying another word, Kidd and Harle turned and climbed down the ship, taking a seat in the rowing-boat, which escorted them directly to the shore of Marbule.
Reaching the shore, Harle found Marbule to be almost invisible at night. There wasn’t a single light to be seen, unlike towns like Termina or Porre, where the lights never fully went out. If she didn’t know about Marbule, she wouldn’t see it from the shore.
“Alright, let’s go.”, Kidd said, taking Harle’s hand. Harle always felt a bit awkward when Kidd did this. It wasn’t like they were taking a walk, after all. But this was one of Kidd’s simple gestures to show she loved her, and therefore, Harle was grateful.
They reached the village after about ten minutes. Kidd took out the map they had found and tried to read it with the moonlight as her only source of light.
“Let’s see, I guess the first cross is this house.”, Kidd said and pointed to the almost cave-like house directly after the entrance to Marbule. “The other one…I guess it’s the cave back there.” Again, Kidd pointed at it, but it was too far away for Harle to see from here. However, she knew exactly which cave Kidd meant and she didn’t like it one bit.
Upon seeing Harle’s fearful look, Kidd sighed and rolled the map up again. “I’ll take the cave, and you’ll look what ya can find in that house. Alright?”, she asked, sounding a little bit too cheerful, Harle thought.
“Oui, let’z do it. Be careful.” Harle gave her a quick kiss before they parted and Kidd went over to the cave, while Harle watched her until she got out of sight.
Then, as silently as possible, Harle sneaked around the house, to make sure no one was waiting here to ambush her once she was inside it. To her relief, nobody was there, so she went inside. Again, nobody was there. Harle wondered if that house was unoccupied to begin with. If that was the case, it was a very welcomed coincidence, because it meant less work for Harle.
Quietly, she searched through the clay pots, carefully opening every single one, but finding only stored food in the process. This reminded her of her last mission, where she searched rather aimlessly for something she didn’t even know how it looked. Only this time it was even worse, she didn’t know what she was looking for at all.
Leaving the pots, she walked over to the table, or what she supposed to be one, seeing how it was just one big stone with a smooth and even surface. Again, there wasn’t anything of any value at all. Harle grumbled, but before she could turn around to walk over to the bed, the tip of a sword, being poked rather painfully into her back, halted her abruptly.
“Now what should I find in this bloody cave?”, Kidd grumbled and walked through the water, which reached up to her ankles. She had spent the last fifteen minutes with searching the slippery ground for something striking, something looking valuable. She couldn’t see much in this cave, so she had to feel her way along the walls, which annoyed her greatly. What a stupid way to search for treasure. If she had known this earlier, she would have brought a torch or something like that with her.
“How could someone make a bloody cross on THIS place? There’s nothin’ here!”, she mumbled, unnerved. She had half a mind to kick the wall in frustration, but wisely decided against it.
“Aren’t we enough, lady?”, a voice spoke suddenly, causing Kidd to twirl around.
“Who’s there!”, she yelled, unsheathing her dagger. It was too dark, so she couldn’t see much beside the reflecting surface of the water, which blinded her more than helping her, actually. However, she couldn’t hear any footsteps in the water, which meant they, whoever they were, had to be at the entrance of the cave. Kidd exhaled softly. At least there wasn’t anyone behind her then.
“Whaddaya want?”, she shouted, hoping they would answer this time. She needed some clues as to where they were standing, otherwise she couldn’t do anything at all. The first time they spoke she was too surprised to care about the direction the voices came from.
Suddenly, an arrow whizzed by her ear, startling her. Sweat began to trickle from her brow and she clenched her fists. She looked around hurriedly, searching for something to help her out of this situation. The arrow had been too close to be sheer luck. Whoever they were, they knew exactly where she was standing, while she was completely in the dark, literally.
She had to do something, and fast. She had a feeling the next arrow wouldn’t miss like the previous one. However, Kidd didn’t dare to move, they would hear her steps and know where she was. Just like they did now. For a moment, Kidd wondered what she could have done to have these people been sent after her. If they were Viper’s men, as she suspected, then the map must’ve been worth a lot more than she had initially thought.
Kidd couldn’t dwell on these thoughts for long, though. She heard another arrow being shot several metres in front of her and for a short moment, she could see the iron tip of the arrow, reflected by the moonlight. As quickly as possible, she leapt to the side, not bothering with being quiet anymore. However, she couldn’t avoid the arrow completely and it struck her deep into her right shoulder.
Crying out from pain, she stumbled into the water, clutching her shoulder firmly. It was almost too much to bear, every movement of her right arm caused immense pain. As fast as she could, she crawled behind a rock at the back of the cave. At least that would buy her some time, and if the men were indeed stupid enough to follow her into the water, it would make things a lot easier.
Breathing heavily, she leaned against the rock, closing her eyes, focusing. Then with one quick pull, she removed the arrow from her shoulder. It took her quite some effort not to scream out loud from the pain. She turned the arrow around in front of her face, grimacing at the blood which covered half of it. Pulling it out didn’t make her shoulder feel any better, but at least it wouldn’t hurt her any more than it already had.
Now it was all or nothing. She still didn’t know where these men were exactly, but they had to be at the opposite end of the cave. Slowly, Kidd took out a Volcano element, turning it around in her fingers, still contemplating whether to use it or not. She was sure it would hit at least one of them, but she couldn’t cast another element immediately afterward and also, if the others were left unharmed, there wasn’t much she could do with just her left hand. Although she could use her dagger with both hands, the weakness of her left arm was still undeniable.
It was no use. She had to trust on the Volcano element. If she hesitated any longer, she’d lose consciousness. Standing up, she turned around and cast the element. Immediately the end of the cave was completely covered in fire. Kidd could hear the screaming of two men, as they were surrounded by the flames, their clothes on fire. Kidd knew it wouldn’t kill them, but she hoped it would at least delay them for some time.
Kidd looked around to check for other men before the fire went out, leaving her in complete darkness again. About fifteen metres from her, she saw two soldiers charging her. They were indeed Viper’s men, they wore the same uniforms, Kidd noticed. But before she could give it a second thought, she ran towards them, hoping the flames would brighten up the cave just a few seconds longer.
With full force, she jumped towards the first one, hitting him with her right knee straight into his face. The soldier flew backwards, hitting the wall with his head.
Kidd smiled contently, but instantly turned to face the other one, preparing herself for his attack. The soldier held a mighty Stone Sword and Kidd hoped she had a chance against him. Equipped with a Prism Dagger she had the better weapon, but he was in far better condition. Kidd had already trouble to see clearly, her vision was blurred and began to get darker with each second.
Kidd could hardly see the sword coming down on her, and she had trouble blocking it with her dagger. She managed to do so, but it forced her down on her knee, putting her in an unfortunate position.
And then, there was darkness. For a moment Kidd thought she had gotten blind, before she realized it had only been the fire going out. Nevertheless, she saw worse than ever now, with her eyes having trouble to adjust to the sudden darkness.
Streams of sweat ran down her face, mingling with tears, which escaped from her eyes. It was no use. Kidd’s left arm was shaking under the pressure of the sword, and she knew she could only last for a few more seconds. And even if she managed to beat him, there were most likely the two other soldiers, let alone god knows how many people who stood outside of the cave. Kidd had no doubt Viper wasn’t above sending at least twenty people after them, to make sure they died.
Then it hit her. Harle was in danger as well! Kidd couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of her earlier. She didn’t want to think what those soldiers had already done to her.
“Die already!”, the soldier above her yelled, pressing even harder than before. Kidd couldn’thold it backanymore and jumped to the side, barely escaping the sharp blade of the sword. However, she was lying on the ground now, breathing and coughing, unable to stand up again. With dread she listened to the footsteps approaching her.
“There’s no use in fighting. Just let me get this over with.”, he said and chuckled.
It was only now that Kidd realized who this voice belonged to. It was the same soldier who had caught her in Viper Manor, while she was searching for the Blazing Heart in Viper’s office.
“And after I kill you, I’ll get your little girlfriend as well.”
Kidd’s mind snapped. No matter how weak and tired she was, she refused to give up and die by the hands of this man!
Before the soldier had time to raise his sword again, Kidd was already on her feet and rushed forward. He stepped aside, a futile attempt to escape Kidd’s dagger.
Without screaming or even saying a word, Kidd pushed the blade deep into his chest. So deep that she didn’t even have the strength to pull it out again. It wasn’t necessary anyway. The man broke down in front of her, his breathing uneven and his limbs twitching.
Kidd stumbled backwards, falling into the water, which almost reached up to her mouth.
“Forgive me…Harle…”, she whispered. Tears were still running down her face, and they didn’t stop, even as Kidd had already lost consciousness.
“What do you want? Réponde-moi!”, Harle said angrily as she lifted one of the soldiers up. Two others lay on the ground in front of her, unconscious. They had underestimated her, thinking she was just an ordinary girl. However, there was still the spirit of a dragon within her. A spirit who didn’t like to give up.
After the soldier didn’t say anything, Harle shook the man roughly, tightening her grip onto his collar. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she enjoyed it and it took a little effort to refrain from killing him this very moment.
“Viper…the maps…kill you…”, the man answered between desperate gasps for breath, his eyes full of fear, begging Harle to release him.
“Moi comprends…so ze mapz were zat important, oui?”, Harle asked, but the man had already passed out. Harle didn’t bother to wake him up again and just tossed him aside. She didn’t want to lose more time, she was worried about Kidd. If these soldiers knew where Harle was, they surely knew where Kidd was, as well.
Harle wanted to run to the cave, but thought better of it and decided to drag the soldiers into the house first. She didn’t want the villagers to see these men first thing in the morning.
After shoving the men inside the house, Harle made a dash for the cave. It wasn’t a terribly long way, but Harle had to look out to not fall off the bridge, which connected both sides of the village. The bridge was slippery and Harle thought it better to just jump over it instead of running.
It took her only five minutes to get to the cave. However, to Harle, it was five minutes full of worry for Kidd. She had hoped to meet her on the way, but there was no sign of her at all.
Just when she was about to enter the cave of the Black Dragon, she heard a strange sound behind her. She turned around immediately, already armed with ten cards, five in each hand. She couldn’t see anyone, but the sound remained. As it got closer, Harle identified it as footsteps, but not ordinary ones. The ones she heard were slow and heavy, like something big was approaching.
Fear got a hold of Harle when she realized what these footsteps sounded like. They sounded like a dragon.
Harle’s legs felt weak all of a sudden, as she took a few steps backwards. She shook her head rapidly, telling herself over and over that it could never be a dragon. She herself saw all of them die!
However, that alone didn’t keep her from screaming when she saw him: the Black Dragon. His eerie yellow eyes shone brightly, coming closer with each step he took. Slowly, surely.
Harle couldn’t bear the sight of him. She walked backwards, hands over her mouth. A few tears escaped her eyes as she kept on shaking her head in disbelief.
“Non…non! You are dead…you are dead!”, Harle shouted. Her whole body was shaking uncontrollably. Her mind was spinning, trying to imagine every possible explanation for this. There wasn’t one, though. She just couldn’t think of a reason for the Black Dragon to reappear.
She still remembered…how the Sky Dragon had told them that they couldn’t kill them all. That they weren’t meant to die. That they’ll always come back until she was finally dead.
“Either you give up or we’ll have to kill you.”
Harle raised her head. What was that? Who had spoken to her? It wasn’t the voice of the Black Dragon. Who was it, then?
After a few seconds, Harle gathered the courage to look at the dragon. She saw a man standing closely beside it. A soldier.
“We already have your friend. There is no use in fighting. If you resist, we’ll have to kill you both.”, the soldier said calmly, as if he had practiced that line a thousand times before.
Harle couldn’t believe what she had just heard. They had Kidd! She stared at the soldier, refusing to believe it. He had to be lying. There was absolutely no chance that her Kidd would be caught by a handful of soldiers! It was just plain ridiculous!
“You’re lying!”, Harle yelled desperately, crying.
The soldier took a few steps towards Harle, and so did the dragon. They were only three metres apart, a distance that made Harle shiver.
“Unfortunately, I’m not. You have no chance but to give up. Otherwise your dear friend has to die. And you too, eventually.” The soldier was smiling confidently, a smile that made Harle sick just by looking at it.
Harle tried to walk backwards, but found that there was an edge, with just water two metres beneath it.
“I’m serious. Give up now if you don’t want to die.”, the soldier repeated. The dragon growled, as if in confirmation.
Harle couldn’t stand it any longer. She leapt high into the air, and threw all ten cards at once. Three of them hit the soldier, more than enough to keep him from following her, while the other seven were aimed at the dragon.
Safely, Harle landed behind them, instantly starting to dash off. She didn’t even turn around, she just ran, just hearing the howl of the dragon and the cries of the soldier.
Another time, she might have been happy to hear that a few of her cards were enough to cause so much pain to the dragon to make him howl. She must have aimed pretty well.
But this time, she just ran, without thinking. She didn’t run back into the village, she feared other soldiers might be there to ambush her. After all, this all seemed pretty well planned.
To escape, Harle chose to climb up the rocks at the north-east end of the village. They weren’t ordinary rocks, though. They seemed more like pools to collect water, though Harle doubted that the village would ever be in need of collected water, seeing how there was a river going right through the village.
She didn’t think about that, anyway. She just focused on climbing up, and fast. It wasn’t easy, she slipped more than once, almost losing her balance. Sheer luck prevented her from falling down again…and probably dying.
After reaching the top, she instantly pressed onward, without a moment to catch her breath, without a moment looking back. She ran across the plateau, already seeing the cliff the captain had talked about. It was so close.
But then, she heard this trampling behind her again. This time, she had to turn back and look. And indeed, just like she had feared, it was the dragon. He had followed her the whole way.
“Why? Why are you here!”, Harle screamed, not caring about her tears anymore, which ran freely across her face.
The dragon didn’t answer. Instead, he swung his tail and hit Harle with it, sending her flying backwards several metres. In fact, Harle got a grip on the edge the very second she was about to fall down. She wouldn’t survive a fall from this height.
Harle didn’t care about the broken ribs she most likely had after this attack, she just tried to pull herself up again. It wasn’t meant to be. When Harle looked up, she stared right into the eyes of the Black Dragon. She almost lost her grip from the shock. The dragon stood right above her, ready to stamp onto her hand and kill her with that.
Harle looked down, and then up again. The dragon grunted, raising one paw. Gathering her remaining pieces of consciousness, Harle made a decision.
She wouldn’t have it. She absolutely wouldn’t let herself be killed by that dragon.
And so, she let go. She let go of the cliff and therefore, she let go of everything. Everything she ever had and everything she ever was.
While falling, she could still see the surprised eyes of the dragon, before he turned around and left the cliff.
Harle smiled. At least she wasn’t killed by that dragon.
The soldier smiled approvingly when he saw the dragon returning from the cliff.
From behind him, another person approached with slow, controlled steps. The soldier heard it and turned around. A smile crossed his face.
“Did she see the wings?”, a female voice asked, dark and devoid of emotion.
“No.”, the soldier answered, “It wouldn’t matter anyway. She is dead.”
“Is that so?”, she asked with an evil smile. The soldier nodded and she started to laugh madly.