Regrets of The Fallen (Victis Honor Book 1) (9 page)

The monk gave a smile. “Glad it changed,” she stated quietly. “Sleep better now?”

“From now on, probably,” Isabella said contently. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” Haruka said quickly, hearing the fading tone. She chuckled to herself as she heard Bella sleeping only seconds later despite the cracking thunder, making a soft, almost snoring sound. Honestly, the woman was even endearing while unconscious.

IXH

Haruka awoke in the morning to notice a couple
of things. First of all, the storm seemed to have abated somewhat, as she heard steady rain rather than torrential, and only distant thunder. The light from the room’s sole window was dim and grey, lending a lazy feeling to the morning. The second – and arguably more important – thing she noticed was that she was virtually being used as a stuffed animal by Isabella, who not only had her head on her chest, but her arms around her and body close.

Haru didn’t mind it in the least, of course – enjoyed it even – but the way Bella did it just drove home her former loneliness. She was practically clinging to her, as if she expected the monk to disappear in the middle of the night.
It might take some convincing,
Haruka thought to herself,
to make her believe I’m here to stay.

After a few minutes Isabella stirred, waking up and blinking blearily. Her eyes looked around and she
grew flushed as she realized her position. She started to move but Haruka laid a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down. “You’re fine.”

Isabella smiled, laying her head back down. “I slept… really well,” she said with a hint of surprise. “What about you?”

Haruka thought it over and realized she was right; she’d expected the situation to feel uncomfortable, having always been a solitary person and certainly never sleeping so close to another. “I did,” she replied. “Unusual.”

Isabella gave a teasing smile. “Maybe it’s because you tried a bed instead of a chair.”

“Maybe,” Haruka said, doubting it. “Unlikely.”

Isabella shifted her head, watching her. Haruka couldn’t tell what the other woman was thinking but she could tell it was something important, something that she was even nervous to say. Isabella leaned herself up on one elbow and Haruka watched her gather up the courage to speak, looking down at her. “There’s something…” Bella swallowed, looking in the brunette’s eyes. “Haruka, I-“

“So how’s my favorite patient today?” Vivian said as she opened the door.

The two women shot apart in surprise and Haruka practically threw herself out of the bed, tripping over the chair beside it and knocking it over as she fell to the floor. Isabella sat up worriedly. “Ruki, are you alright?!”

Haruka sat up, rubbing her head with an intensely annoyed and embarrassed expression. “Fine.”

Their attention turned back to the doctor as she smirked. “These beds are for healing only, you know.”

Isabella attempted to stammer out a reply, only coming up with, “W-we weren’t-“

“Mhmm,” Vivian said disbelievingly, moving over to the bed. “I’m just here to check your injury, nothing more.”

Haruka stood and picked up the chair, taking a seat as the doctor examined her companion. Isabella’s face was red; she certainly wasn’t used to being embarrassed like that, apparently. She was mostly quiet as the doctor checked her wounds, really only replying to direct questions. Haru was certain that, whatever kind of moment they had just had, it was gone. She was left to wonder just what it was Isabella had been about to say.

Isabella seemed to get shy when embarrassed; Haruka usually got angry, which is why she reminded herself not to try to punch the good doctor for her intrusion into… whatever that was.
It isn’t like she knew something was going on,
she told herself.
Wait… Was something going on? What was going on? What did she interrupt? Damn it, this is why she shouldn’t have intruded.

Okay, so her attempts to ward off violence only encouraged her towards it. Frustration had a habit of doing that. She had to calm down; after all, Isabella would surely say what she had intended to say later. Except that she’d seemed very nervous about it, and this might have scared her out of saying it at all. Haruka tried not to glare at Vivian.
Two minutes. You couldn’t have come in two minutes later.

The doctor stood up, smiling. “Well, good news, you’re clear to leave if you want. Your sickness seems to have subsided and the infection was defeated, so you just need to be careful what you do for
a while.”

Isabella smiled, standing up from the bed and showing no signs of the fatigue or weakness she had the day before. “Thank you, Dr. Heart. I’m grateful for your saving my life.”

“As you should be,” she said with a smile. She retrieved Bella’s now-clean golden robe as the blue-haired knight counted out a sum of money. She accepted it without bothering to count it as she laid the robe on the bed, smiling. “As with all of my patients, I hope I won’t have to treat you again, but I won’t complain if I do. It’s a compromise between greed and care. Do try to be a bit more careful, though.”

“Believe me, I’m trying,” Isabella said as the woman left the room. She then turned and smiled at Haruka. “And you… The one that
really
saved my life,” she said, continuing softly, “in more ways than one…” She switched to a grin. “We missed some… most… pretty much
all
of the festival, but focusing on the bright side, we get to travel now!”

Haruka stood and stretched. “Get to, have to… Same thing.”

“Yes, but
that’s
not optimism!”

“Realism.”

“Realism is depressing. I’m excited.” She pointed at the door. “Now get out of here so I can change.” She tilted her head. “Or…” She grinned. “I mean, if you
want
to stay and watch…”

Isabella probably expected her to flee in embarrassment. Knowing that, Haruka sat back down and lifted her legs onto the bed, crossing them and keeping her gaze on Bella with a raised eyebrow. Two could play this bluffing game.

Isabella blinked, and then a smile spread across her face. “Oh, I see how it is. Calling my bluff. Well…” Isabella lifted a hand to the top of her robe. “What if I… call
your
bluff?” She smiled at Haruka’s blinking stare as she undid the tie, sliding her hand down the center of the robe slowly, but not opening it fully; just enough to show some skin. “Because you know… I really have
no problem
undressing right here.”

The game seemed to have backfired on
both
of them, as now Haruka
couldn’t
bring herself to look away, her eyes locked on Isabella’s wandering hand. Isabella noticed this change and her self-satisfied smile was unabashed. “Bold,” she said. “But how bold is Haruka…?” She turned her back to Haruka, looking over her shoulder as she pulled the robe off her shoulders, letting it slide down until it barely hung off her hips. With everything above her waist bare, only the way she was facing hid anything.

Haruka couldn’t help the eyes that wandered down, travelling over Isabella’s skin. She noticed some of the scars the doctor had spoken of now; dozens, hundreds of lines showed where long-healed scars had once been, and there were more that didn’t heal, including several nasty slash or stab marks that left raised lines or deep gouges marring her skin. All of it just made her more attractive; damaged, but strong, surviving the injuries that had marked her so permanently. And her figure wasn’t ruined at all, quite the opposite, but once Haruka found herself focusing on her body, her curves, the toned and subtle hints of the experienced muscle beneath, her thoughts headed down an entirely different trail.

That was, of course, too much, and Isabella laughed softly as Haruka forcibly clamped her eyes shut followed by turning her whole chair the opposite direction. She let the rest of the robe fall then, walking over to slip into her own golden one. “You’re getting tougher, Ruki, but you’re still too easy.”

IXH

Two hours later, Isabella and Haruka rode out of the town of Stahl on two fine horses. Stahl was too far outside the Empire to find vehicles, or any technology really, but that was best, as Bella was nervous around such things since her homeland of Areya was still at a ‘horse and cart’ level of technology. They planned to ride all day. They had to get as far away from the city as they could since it was where the Black Sun would look for them first, so they rode east. Stahl was fairly close to the coast, and it was only two days’ travel or so to the port down of Daubin.

From there they would book passage on a ship to the south. In the more populous lands of the Ravakan Empire they would find it easier to lose pursuers. Nature seemed to be against them, though; they seemed to be riding
into
the storm. It grew worse the further they got until they weren’t even sure they were near the road anymore. The lightning above them seemed ridiculous as it sparked between clouds with unnatural frequency, blinding them if they looked up. Both started to get a bad feeling about it, and after a total of five hours of travel their feelings were proven right.

A massive bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of Isabella’s horse. The animal reared in terror, tossing Bella off. She managed to twist and land on her feet but the horse took off in a random direction. Going after it would have to wait, as the air in front of her was shifting as if it was collecting energy from the lightning strike. A vaguely humanoid-like form appeared from chunks of rock and flowing electricity and wind, emitting an unearthly screech that hurt their ears.

“Storm Elemental!” Isabella called out as she pulled her sword from her belt. She had never fought one in the state she was in now, and she didn’t think it would go well this time.

Haruka, who had been about to ride after Bella’s horse, untied the packs from her horse and let them drop to the ground, then leapt off her own mount to help as she couldn’t leave her alone against such an entity. What she’d be able to do against it was probably limited, but they had to stand together.

The thing was like a collection of floating rock chained together by lightning and swirling wind. It “stood” about twelve feet tall, forming hands out of the pieces of rock as it flew forward with a sound like thunder, swinging a “fist” at Isabella. She dodged to the side, striking at one of the rocks floating along its “arm”. Her strike knocked it away and the arm collapsed, but this, she knew, was false progress; it would take one specific strike to defeat it in any meaningful manner.

A bolt of lightning shot out from the elemental, striking her in the chest. She had her armor on so she wasn’t burned, but the gold was all too great a conductor, electrocuting her as she was sent flying and skidding through the mud. Haruka took the opportunity to leap forward and strike three rocks in the center of the creature before a backhand from its remaining “arm” knocked her away. A Death Mark appeared on each rock and the explosion scattered a large amount of the creature’s composition, earning a screech from it.

Unfortunately it simply pulled itself together after that and came at her. She cursed, doing her best to dodge and evade its strikes, but a whirlwind of rock and lightning was difficult to dodge at the best of times and she found herself struck several times before she made it away from the thing. Isabella came back in, flowing around a lightning bolt and hacking away at pieces that came at her. Finally she saw it; a small, round rock floating just under the “neck” bearing a very soft glow and a white rune.

She was knocked back by a pelting of heavy stones before she could hit it, but she made her way to Haruka to share the discovery. “There’s a single stone inside it with a white rune on it. It can move it around so it’s hard to find, and even harder to get to, but if we can destroy that stone, it will collapse.”

Haruka nodded and both women broke into a run, splitting up when near it to attack both sides. It was a frustrating fight where skill and strength meant nothing and reaction time was the only important thing. There were no moves or counters for fighting flying rocks and electricity, only wild dodges and struggling to reach one specific stone that kept moving and getting lost in the whirlwind of debris and light.

When they got close the creature transitioned into a tornado-like form, spinning rapidly and sending both flying with bruises and electrical burns. Another strike came from the heavens and hit the creature, followed by another, and another. Each time it grew in size and ferocity as if it was enraged, and each time their chances of winning shrank. Now twenty feet tall and composed of several near-boulders as well as the chained lightning and large amount of debris, the Storm Elemental headed for Haruka, who could only do her best to dodge what she could.

Isabella stood panting for breath, covered in mud and soaked through. She knew she only had one option. She lifted her sword, pulling away the grey cloth strap that held it tied into its scabbard.
Bai
…

Yes?

I want to protect her
, Isabella said as she watched Haruka narrowly avoid a hurled boulder.

…Then protect her we will. I will give it my all. Will you?

Isabella drew the blade with determination. “Always.” The ensuing scream of pain and burst of light drew the attention of both the elemental and Haruka, the latter of which stared in surprise and confusion as Isabella was lifted into the air and her hair and eyes became a shining gold. Her sword turned bright silver, and a light transferred from it to her left hand where it formed into a golden shield bearing the symbol of a living tree on the front. The light ripped around her in a cyclone of power, emitting a high-pitched keen as it shredded the ground and air at the same time.