"That...was terrible!" sobbed Jewel Lee Ette, clinging pathetically to her lover, Montague Darston.
"Indeed! A tragic tale of True Love, lost!" Montague wailed poetically.
"Well...be that as it may, I'd rather not dwell on it any longer. I explained it to you merely so you would trust my motives for following this old woman." Ronnie said, standing up. "And now, I'm going for a walk. Don't follow me." She strode from the camp into the brush, distressed. The members of her band watched her go, concerned.
"Maybe someone should trail her. We don't want her getting lost again..." Eyesoar said uneasily.
"She wants to be alone." Norman said.
"She'll be fine." Bechno assured the young Winger. Biggs stood up abruptly, and began walking away.
"Don't you listen? Ronnie doesn't want you following her." the grizzled dwarf said sharply. Biggs glared at him.
"Like I've got nothing better to do than follow her around. I'll walk wherever I damn well please, thanks. I'm outta here." Biggs said darkly, walking off in the opposite direction.
"Hmph. Well, that's no loss." the dwarf grumbled once he was out of sight.
******
Ronnie was feeling more than a little uncomfortable. She had just bared her soul to a bunch of men who were supposed to respect her, as well as a few complete strangers. Sure, before they had had an idea of what happened to her---Jaoullin and Scotch having a better idea than the others---but now they knew everything. Add to that the fact that she had just had to relive those terrible events, and you had the deep funk she was in.
The matter of the old woman burned a hole in her soul. What did she know? Why did Ronnie keep seeing her? And where was she now? Ronnie sat in the grass, her back against an old, gnarled tree, lost in thought.
Suddenly, she heard rustling in the bushes behind her.
"I thought I said not to follow me..." she said irritably, turning to face whoever was intruding on her privacy.
Brushing her raven-black hair out of her face, Pauline stepped through the bushes. Hearing Ronnie, she looked up.
"Oh...I didn't know you were back here." she said apologetically. "I'll just---" She made ready to turn back. Ronnie was curious, however, if for nothing else because Pauline actually sounded sorry for something.
"...do you need something?" Ronnie said off-handedly.
"Oh, no...I was just looking to spend a little time by myself as well..." Pauline said. She sat there avoiding Ronnie's gaze for a moment, then added, "Your story really made me think..." Ronnie was interested, now.
"Oh?" she said.
"Y-yes. All that's happened lately---Father's death, the manor, the kidnapping...it's made me wonder if there was ever a way to start over..." Pauline said quietly. "Somehow, now...I think I may be able to. Thanks to your story." Ronnie nodded.
"I'm happy for you." Ronnie said hollowly.
"In fact..." Pauline continued.
"Hmm?"
"There's something I'd like to ask you..."
******
Jaoullin sat and watched as Pauline got up and walked off into the woods. She had said she wanted to be alone, as well. But he knew she was following Ronnie. Whatever she was up to, he decided to let it be. He was tired.
"Never leave me, my sweet flower." Monty cooed to Jewel.
"I shan't, for you are like my rock! A rock against the crushing tides of the sea, who will never break!" she returned.
"We shall be together for the rest of our days!" Monty vowed.
"Nay, for a thousand years!" Jewel added.
"Forever!" Monty cried.
"For eternity!" Jewel gushed.
"For infinity!" Monty professed.
"For eternity plus infinity!" Jewel cried. "Hold me, my Prince!" She flew into his arms, and he held her tight.
"Aren't you guys ever apart?" Eyesoar asked, frowning.
"Apart???" Jewel and Monty chorused, appalled, as if Eyesoar had just suggested they use a True Rune for a doorstop.
"We were apart before, but those were dark days!" Montague said.
"Dark!" Jewel echoed. "Ahh, speak not of those days! I feel faint!!" She fell limp in his arms.
"No!" Monty cried in anguish. "Don't go into the darkness, my sweet! Come! Return to the light!"
"Oh, brother..." Eyesoar said, rolling his eyes. That sap was so thick, he could practically taste it.
*******
Three figures were gathered alone in the dark of the woods. The trees concealed them, and in hushed tones they spoke, as if the shadows themselves might be watching.
"This has gotten out of hand." the tall one said.
"As if that's not apparent." snapped the second.
"Well, what is there left to do? If they will not return..." the third, a short, fat one, replied.
"We shall have to take care of those two. This can't go on any longer. They will ruin everything." the second agreed. "What about you?" The tall one considered, shaking his head.
"I fear she will not return, either. She must be eliminated." The other two looked shocked.
"You...would do this? You know that your practice would end..." the second man cautioned.
"Of course I know that." the tall one said. "But she knows too much. She knows about us, you know. And so does those who now harbor her---the ones who caused all this to happen in the first place. Even if she turns back, they must die, regardless."
"Very well..." the fat one conceded. "It will probably end up the same for us as well. The lovers would rather die than live apart." The second man shook his head.
"When did it come to this? But...it appears there is no alternative." he sighed. "If we are to strike, let it be now."
And so, the three cloaked figures rose, and made their way to the camp of their unsuspecting targets. But little did they know, they too had been watched...
******
"What do you need, Pauline?" Ronnie asked. The fallen aristocrat made ready to sit beside Ronnie.
"Well...I..." she began, but never finished her thought. There was a blood-curdling scream from back at the camp--Jewel's voice.
"What was that??" Ronnie gasped. "Pauline, stay here..." The bandit leader sprang to her feet and dashed off into the brush. Pauline gazed after her, wondering what was amiss.
Jaoullin, Bechno and Eyesoar stood with weapons drawn as Ronnie ran into the area where they had all been gathered. Scotch and Norman were bent over Montague, who was laying unconscious in the grass. Three darkly-clad men were standing on a knoll a few feet away from them. One was tall, with graying hair, and a deadly knife drawn out of his cloak. The second was a thin man with red-brown hair, and a snobbish scowl. The last man was a short, fat, balding man, who had Jewel in a headlock.
The Halfmoon Butlers' Guild had struck.
"Where is Pauline??" Jeeves demanded, brandishing the knife. Jaoullin defended the attack with his Star Ostrich Sword, knocking the blade from Jeeves' grip.
"What's going on here?? What do you three think you're doing?" Ronnie asked angrily. Jeeves regarded her coldly.
"The Butlers' Guild is retrieving what belongs to them." he stated simply, "And eliminating the riff-raff." Ronnie found that to be a bit harsh. As she understood it, Jeeves very fanatically insisted that Pauline return to him, but...attacking them? It was insane.
"You can't have them. Any of them." Jaoullin said. The red-haired man quirked an eyebrow.
"Shall we dispose of them right away, Jeeves?" he asked.
"Of course, Pierre." Jeeves ordered. "Smithers, take Lady Ette away, while you can." The fat butler nodded, and wasted no time in high-tailing it away with Jewel in tow.
"Nooo!" she screamed. "Heeeeelp!" Ronnie charged up her Hate Rune, and let fly with three flaming fire-bullets. Jeeves was suddenly at her side, and he smacked her HARD in the gut. She toppled over. What was this guy made of? He hadn't been that way before!
"He's got some crazy rune or somethin', Ron!" Eyesoar shouted, assailing Pierre from the air. Smithers, meanwhile, was struck in the back by two flaming shots and crashed to the ground. Jewel scrambled from his grip. Of course, she tried to run back for Monty, and got intercepted by Jeeves. He grabbed the girl's wrist, and held it fast.
Pauline emerged from the trees.
"...Jeeves! What are you doing? I thought I told you to stop this!" Pauline gasped.
"Ah, my Lady..." Jeeves said with a hint of his old reverence. "You must come to your senses at once. This people are not your kind. Return to me." He held out his hand in a gesture of forgive-and-forget, but it was hard to find sincere with Jewel Lee Ette struggling and sobbing in his other hand.
"You must be crazy." Pauline said harshly. "I...may have had a sheltered, pampered life, but I'm certainly not as stupid as you're making me out to be!" She stepped toward her former butler in defiance.
Ronnie took advantage of Jeeves' attentions being on Pauline, and blasted him with her Hate Rune. She then charged at Pierre, punched him in the jaw, kicked him, and sent him flying. Smithers, moving so fast he was a mere blur, appeared behind Jaoullin and delivered a blow to the back of his head. Norman suddenly produced two daggers from his sleeves, and jabbed one into Smithers' shoulder. The fat butler howled in pain. He used his other arm to lift Norman into the air, surely through the use of that special rune all of them possessed, the Tributler Rune.
"S-stop, Smithers!" Jewel pleaded to her butler from Jeeves' clutches. Smithers seized opportunity.
"I will not harm him, if you will return to the estate, Lady Jewel." Smithers bargained. She considered.
"I...shall..." she said. Smithers grinned.
"And you must never consort with that foolish Montague, ever again." he added. Jewel's eyes widened.
"N-no! Never! You cannot take my Monty from me, nor I from him! I shall die ere I agree to live apart from my One True Love!" Jewel screamed. She suddenly bit Jeeves' arm, breaking free and running for it. She no longer looked back for her lover---taking the intelligent course for once, she had realized that if he too survived, they would meet again. But her first priority was escaping herself. She bolted for the woods.
"So be it." Smithers growled, throwing Norman like a rag doll. All three butlers seized opportunity.
"Triad Shift, Butlers!" Jeeves cried. They moved like the wind. Jeeves shot forward to Pauline, Pierre shot from where he lay on the ground straight at Eyesoar, and Smithers bolted after Jewel.
Pauline, who had barely avoided getting knocked over by Norman's body, had already moved away from Jeeves' stopping point. She dove behind Scotch and Bechno. The dwarf drew his hand-axe. Pierre wrapped his arms around the Winger's waist, and he could not break free.
"Hey, you big jerk!!" Eyesoar cried, kicking with his taloned feet at the Darston's butler. Smithers, meanwhile, with the aid of his rune, was gaining headway quickly against Jewel, who was tripping and stumbling in her pink ball gown and heels.
"Come...back..here...you little..." Smithers growled, reaching out to snatch the sobbing girl out of the air.
Black and brown swirled out of the forest in a blur, and with a flash of cold steel, Smithers' arm was cleaved entirely off at the shoulder. Jewel screamed in terror and fell to the ground just ahead of the attacker. It was a man Ronnie had met a little too intimately for her tastes: the straggly, shoulder-length brown hair, the green eyes, the scar on the face. Clad in brown and black assortments of capes, armor, gauntlets, and boots. Holding a wicked scimitar that was now dripping with blood.
"Cornelius Anterra-Lobel, hunter of men and beasts, Miss Ette. Worry not, I'm under contract not to harm you, if you remember. I never break a contract." he said nonchalantly, as if he had merely peeled a potato that was in her way. Smithers writhed on the ground, wailing in absolute agony, clutching at where his arm used to be.
"Don't try that again, or I'll take the other arm, too." Cornelius snapped to the butler. He glanced at Jewel. "Run, I'll catch up later. Run, now!" She nodded amidst her tears of trauma, got up, and ran as fast as she could, away. Seeing what had happened to their comrade, the other two butlers shifted into high gear.
As Jeeves tried to grab Pauline, Bechno swung his axe at the butler. He missed, however, and a swift kick to the face sent him reeling. Scotch quickly scooped up the unconscious body of Monty, and attempted to drag him to safety. Jeeves was concentrating on Pauline, and ignored this. Pierre, however, seized hold of Ronnie. With his Tributler Rune currently aiding his strength, she couldn't get away. Eyesoar had escaped the red-headed man's clutches, but Ronnie had now taken his place. She checked herself---no cleavage was showing. She hadn't flashed her underwear at anyone. WHY was it, then, that strange men constantly took the liberty of mistaking her for other women, or just grabbing her and feeling her up in general?? Dammit, it wasn't supposed to happen like that!
"Let Montague go. I'll trade him for this woman." Pierre said. Scotch had known Ronnie long enough to know that she wouldn't stand for this bozo's bargaining, and shook his head. Pierre made ready to brutalize Ronnie, but she caught him off-guard by flipping him over her head and slamming him to the ground. Strange...his magic strength seemed somehow...diminished.
"Agh! We can't keep this up, Jeeves...!" Pierre said, rolling out of Ronnie's immediate range and leaping to his feet.
"We must!" Jeeves said fanatically. He finally caught up with Pauline, and grabbed her wrist as he had Jewel's. "My Lady. This is the last time I shall ask you. Return at once."
From the look on Pauline's face, Ronnie knew what her answer would be before she ever said it. She was fairly sure that Jeeves did, too.
"Burn in hell, Jeeves." she spat defiantly. Jeeves sighed, and withdrew a blowdart from his pocket. Pauline didn't see it.
"Perhaps I shall, my Lady. But not before you." He suddenly released her, pushing her down and firing a dart into her neck before she could react.
"Aaah!" she screamed. Jeeves looked grim.
"I am sorry it had to end this way, Lady Pauline..." Jeeves said regretfully. "That poison will soon seep through your veins, and in minutes you shall know no more. You should have come with me, my Lady. You should have returned to me..." Eyesoar watched in appalled shock, as did all the others. The moment seemed to go in slow motion. Her face turned a sickly color.
Pauline reached up, plucked the dart out of her neck, and looked at it in horror. But then, a dome of white light appeared over her body, and natural color returned to her face.
"W-what??" Jeeves said, backing up. "What trickery--?!" Pauline stood, brushed the hair out of her face, and walked towards Jeeves.
"You forget, loyal servant..." she said smugly. "I own a Turtle Rune. Your poisons are useless." Jeeves' jaw dropped. He, who certainly appeared to know every inner secret of the Fargolon family and its heirs, had forgotten its first claim to fame---her great-grandfather had discovered the Turtle Rune, and every heir after him had one of their own. It hadn't stopped Devon Fargolon, Pauline's father, from dying in the explosion, but it HAD nullified this toxin.
"T-that can't be..." Jeeves said, his amazement turning to malice. "I shall kill you outright...!" He pulled a dagger and charged in a fury, but it was too late. His edge had been lost, and he found himself suddenly impaled upon the Star Ostrich Sword.
Jaoullin withdrew the blade from Jeeves' side, and the lead butler fell to the ground. That was the end of his plans.
"J-Jaoullin..." Pauline said, embracing him. "You saved me..."
"It's all right..." Jaoullin consoled.
"Rrrrgh...you'll all die!!" Pierre blurted, rushing at Ronnie with murder in his eyes. Unfortunately for him, all the butlers' magical juices had run out, and they no longer had the advantage. He was tackled simultaneously by Biggs Amoeba on his left and Norman on his right, and hit with two fireballs by Ronnie. He lost consciousness.
"I see you came back." Ronnie noted.
"Nah, I just forgot...my hat." Biggs explained.
"You don't wear a hat, Biggs." Ronnie said. But she wasn't annoyed at all. Smiling, she was happy he had come back to help.
Smithers, up on the knoll where he had been attacked, scrambled away as fast as he could.
"Let 'im go." Cornelius said, striding into the camp area with superhuman speed.
"B-but he'll go back to his Guild...!" Pauline protested.
"Anything he does now can only hurt himself." Cornelius insisted. "Whatever his Guild is, I'm betting it won't tolerate his failure. This entire attack was meant to recapture the aristocrats and permanently silence the other witnesses who knew the Guild existed. In that, they failed."
******
Things seemed to calm down after that. Pierre, still out of it, had been harnessed to a tree and was under guard by Jaoullin and Norman to prevent his escape. Biggs and Scotch had gone to dispose of Jeeves' body somewhere in the forest. Bechno and Cornelius had gone off to search for Jewel, which left Ronnie, Pauline and Eyesoar to keep watch over Montague.
"I just don't know what to make of it all..." Pauline sighed. "My life wasn't supposed to be this way. I was like a Princess! I had everything I could ever want..."
"We're sorry..." Eyesoar said apologetically. "I never meant for this bad stuff to happen to ya." There had been a time, in the not-so-distant past, Ronnie knew, when Pauline would have turned her nose up at the Winger, scoffed, and told him that she didn't care for his lowly apology and that she blamed them all. But she didn't.
"I...I...don't think it's all your fault..." she murmured. "S-sooner or later...I think Jeeves would have been found out. In fact, I'm sort of glad that he was. It's made me feel like...I was living a lie..."
"Even princesses have bad days." Ronnie said. Pauline nodded.
"That's what I wanted to speak to you about..." she said. Ronnie looked at her.
"Yes?"
"There's nothing to be gained by returning to my old life." Pauline said tentatively. "So I'll be blunt..."
"If you want restitution, I'm sorry, but..." Ronnie said. What on earth could she want?
"I'd like to join your band." Pauline said simply. Ronnie's jaw hit the ground.
She wanted WHAT?!!
Eyesoar's reaction was quite different: he rolled on the ground, bursting with laughter.
"What's so funny??" Pauline demanded with her old indignance.
"Y-y-you might break..a nail!!" Eyesoar wailed, clutching his sides as he shook with laughter. Pauline glared.
"I'm willing to make sacrifices! This...this was a hard decision for me, and now you laugh in my face?" she said irritably.
"No...Pauline. I wouldn't laugh at something like that." Ronnie said, serious. "After all, I've been there. However...it does...er...conjure an interesting mental image."
"Hmph." Pauline scoffed. Eyesoar attempted to stop laughing.
"It IS harder work than you've ever done..." he said, trying only half-successfully to be serious.
"That's true, Pauline. You'd be experiencing a drastic change in life-quality. If you think you can handle it, I've no problem..." Ronnie said. She herself had once been offered the same opportunities by Biggs, and she wasn't going to deny them to Pauline.
"There would be no more fluffy beds. No more vast wardrobes." Ronnie reminded her.
"No servants, for sure." Eyesoar piped in.
"Very few luxuries."
"And it's rooooough..." the Winger added.
"I can handle all of that." Pauline said stubbornly. "With practice, I'll be as great a 'bandit' as any of you!" With that, she stood, turned to walk away dramatically, tripped on the log she had been sitting on and fell on her face.
Oh boy... Ronnie thought. This'll take some WORK.
"Ronnie!" Bechno suddenly cried, running into camp. "We need some help with this, now! Whoever can be spared!" He spared no more information, and scampered off into the woods again with dwarflike agility (which, one might add, was not very agile).
So much for calm...
******
Cornelius Anterra-Lobel, hunter of man and beast, was a very good swordsman. His Holy Rune made his movements swift, and his Flowing Rune kept him healthy. He could move with grace and strike with accuracy against foes, most of whom had no idea where he even came from.
This foe, however, was also a good swordsman. Very good. Now, Cornelius never doubted his abilities, but when the blows had started raining down on him so quickly, he had sent the dwarf for help. They had found Jewel, although now she was unconscious a few feet away, thanks to the man who had attacked them.
The man wasn't really that tall, but had a towering air about him. He seemed to make other people feel smaller. He was clad in a very expensive tuxedo, white gloves, and black shoes that had surely at one point been shined to perfection. His hair was ridiculous---It was slicked back in front, but curved up in the back as if it was a scorpion's tail. He held a longsword in his gloved hands.
"I'd appreciate---" Cornelius said, dodging a strike, "Knowing why..." An offensive strike, "---You're attacking me!"
"You have disgraced the Halfmoon Butlers' Guild." the man said, grinding his teeth. "You and your allies must be eliminated." Well, that explained where he came from. That bastard Smithers probably fetched him.
Man, this guy's even more of a broken record than that Jeeves person was! Cornelius jumped backwards, parried another attack, and made ready to use his Flowing Rune on the butler-guy. If he was like any of the others, he was surely using magical enhancement, which he could put a nice stop to. The man seized the moment of minor distraction and struck Cornelius on the shoulder. Luckily, he had some protection there, though it still stung.
Hmmm...perhaps that's not the best course of action. Might need magic to heal wounds later. Well, there's always...
"Fog of Deception!" Cornelius cast, backing up as the woods suddenly filled with mist. He could hear his attacker swinging madly and hitting nothing but empty air.
"You cannot trifle with us." he said darkly.
Ronnie, and Bechno came into the area.
"What happened here??" Bechno growled. "I can't see a thing in this fog!"
"That's the point." Cornelius said sharply. He heard sudden movement as the irate butler gravitated towards his voice. He sliced at Cornelius and missed, however, the mist was starting to clear up again.
"All right, I don't know who this guy is, but I'm tired of dealing with evil butlers today." Ronnie said, shooting a flaming ball of malice at the guy.
"Do you know who you are dealing with??" the man demanded. "I am Jacques! LEADER of the Halfmoon Butlers' Guild!!!" This news seemed to put Ronnie off a bit, but Cornelius felt differently.
"Good. Maybe if I kill your ugly-ass NOW, you won't be coming back to haunt me later. I have a job to complete." he spat. This, of course, only seemed to further enrage Jacques. Zipping around like a bee intent on stinging someone, he attacked them again and again.
Ronnie was barely dodging the maniac, Bechno had been brushed aside like yesterday's trash, and Cornelius wasn't faring too well either. Their blades clashed again and again, like an endless dance of death.
Suddenly, they both stopped. It was evident each was preparing to deal the final blow to their opponent. Jacques held up his hand, and even though the red glowing light that emanated from his palm was blinding, it was nothing next to the fire in his eyes.
Cornelius held his scimitar up high.
"Rage Rune...triumph once more for the Guild...!" Jacques murmured, "Final Flame!"
"Akularoe, mighty sword of the north!" Cornelius chanted, "uh...whip this guy's ass! He bothers me."
Both men shot forward at the same time. The moment seemed almost to freeze. A single snowflake fell, from where, Ronnie did not know.
Cornelius seemed to glide right through the snowflake, and he didn't even notice it at all. His blade struck first the master butler's rune-hand, stopping the spell, and then ran him through.
The Halfmoon Butlers' Guild had fallen. Bechno wasted no time in running over to collect Jewel, and headed back for the camp without a word. Cornelius stood in silence over Jacques for a moment, then wiped Akularoe in the grass, and sheathed it. Ronnie turned to leave as well. There was nothing more to say.
However, as she turned, she saw what was unmistakeably a yellow-robed figure, hunched over. Unblinking, she opened her mouth to call out to the old woman, but she vanished before Ronnie's eyes.
"W-wait!" she cried, too late. A piece of paper fluttered to the ground where the woman had been standing. Ronnie hurried over and greedily snatched it up. The same spidery handwriting from before danced across the page.
Go South to the North. it read.
******
Ronnie had known all along that Jewel Lee Ette and Montague Darston were madly in love. After all, they spoke of nothing else. But it had seemed so hokey and poetic before.
As she watched Jewel run into the camp with tears of joy in her eyes, and fly into Montague's arms, both of them laughing as he swung her around, she felt she had seen their genuine love for the first time. No poetic metaphors, no fake dying in each other's arms.
"Montague! You're...you're alive!" she cried. He nodded, giving no answer, and just sat there, holding her tight. Cornelius stepped up to them.
"I'm glad you two are back together, but there's one thing left I have to do." he said. Jewel looked at him and grimaced.
"No...I can't ever go back there." she said.
"I'm sorry, but I was hired to bring you back safely, and I'm not about to let you slip through my fingers after they nearly got cut off saving your neck." he said dryly.
"He saved your life, lass." Bechno reminded her. "More than once. The least you can do is show your family you're all right. If, after that, you wish to slip away with your lover, so be it. I doubt this bounty hunter would object." Jewel and Montague exchanged a glance.
"I don't care what you do. As long as you return home, even if it's only for ten minutes." Cornelius said. "If you wanted, I could even insure that you make it back to your boyfriend here. 'Course, it'll cost ya."
"Money's no object." Jewel agreed. "We'll do it."
"Ronnie, what was that all about, just now?" Scotch asked, concerned.
"The leader of the Halfmoon Butlers' Guild tried to do us in. Smithers probably ran right back and told him what had happened." she explained.
"Hmph. I thought YOU said he couldn't do us any more harm." Pauline said snootily to Cornelius. The bounty hunter shrugged.
"So I was wrong." He smirked a little. "But in any case, the Guild is definitely without a leader now. I don't think you or the lovebirds will have any more trouble with them." Pauline gazed imperiously at him.
"Of course I won't. I'm becoming a bandit." she declared.
Bechno, idly whittling at some wood, very nearly had an accident that would have cost him a finger.
"What?!!" he bellowed.
"Excuse me??" Scotch said, blinking. Norman stared in disbelief, and his partner echoed the sentiment. Eyesoar could hardly contain his laughter, mostly at the reactions of his friends.
"How'd you like to join my band, eh?" Biggs proposed, taking a different approach. "I'm sure I could take ya under my wing and..."
"I think not." Pauline scoffed. "Ronnie has already accepted me into her 'crew'." Biggs sighed, disappointed, while the current members of Ronnie's band stared at her like she had finally lost it.
"Dissed again..." Biggs said.
"...Feeling okay, Ron?" Scotch checked.
"I decided to give her a chance, all right?" Ronnie said in her best I'm-the-Boss-So-There tones. "That's my final decision..."
Pauline smiled, proud as a peacock, but Ronnie continued.
"However..." she explained. "I'm taking some personal leave for a while. Something's come up that I need to tend to." She clutched the piece of paper at her side tighter, as if it would turn to dust.
"What's going on, Ronnie?" Eyesoar asked.
"I...need to go south, evidently. I'm not sure why, I just have to." Ronnie said, holding up the piece of paper. Jaoullin rudely snatched it from her grasp and unfolded it, but Norman then took it from him.
"Hey, I was readin' that..." Jaoullin whined.
"Too bad." Norman said simply. "What's this business? 'Go South to the North'?"
"It's some kind of riddle. I'm not sure what it means." Ronnie admitted.
"That's bull." Jaoullin said. "You can't go south and north at the same time. Doesn't make sense."
"Well..." Norman analyzed. "I suppose if you went far enough south, around the southern tip of the world, you would be headed towards the north again..." Ronnie considered this.
"Seems a bit drastic to circle the world, though." Bechno added. "I suppose this mysterious old lass you've been tracking left this for you?" Ronnie nodded.
"Yes, she did..." she explained. "I was thinking the same thing as well. I don't want to go around the world by any means..."
"Oh!" Norman said suddenly. "South of here is the Northern Checkpoint! Maybe that's what it meant." It dawned on Ronnie that he was probably right, as usual.
"That's it. It has to be. There's something at the Northern Checkpoint that the old woman wants me to find." Ronnie agreed.
"Geez, why doesn't she just TELL you what's up?" Jaoullin moaned. "Seems like a lot of trouble."
"Maybe this is the only way she can communicate." Eyesoar said.
"Well, the bottom line is, I'm going south. To the Northern Checkpoint, and even farther if need be." Ronnie said. "I don't expect anyone to come along---"
"That is ridiculous." Scotch snapped. "We just found you again. If you need to search the southern regions of the Empire, then I'm certainly going to help you."
"I've already done this bit." Biggs said cuttingly. "And my efforts weren't appreciated then. They sure as heck won't be now, so I'm off to find my treasure." With that, he left the camp.
"Er...treasure?" Jaoullin asked.
"I swore I wouldn't go after it, but it can't hurt to tell you." Ronnie reasoned. "He's after some dumb treasure that the Dock Brothers are supposedly sitting on top of. Somewhere in the western mountains of Senan." Bechno blinked.
"You don't say?" he asked. He paused for a moment. "Ronnie...know that I would most definitely be at your side when you go south, except...there's something I must attend to. I'm sorry." Bechno said. Ronnie was curious as to what the matter was all of a sudden, but didn't question the dwarf.
"I trust you, Bechno. You don't have to go with me, anyway. Attend to your business." she said. He nodded.
"Anyway, Ron, I'm going too." Jaoullin pledged.
"You'll need someone to keep him in line, then." Norman said.
"And where would ya be without eyes in the sky??" Eyesoar said with a wide grin.
"Well, it looks like we're headed south, then. Pauline, there are a few men remaining at our hideout, if you'd like to..." Ronnie said.
"Hmph, of course not." Pauline said stubbornly. "I won't learn anything from those underlings. If I'm to learn properly, I'm going to learn from the best. I'm coming too." Well, so much for that ploy.
And so they parted. Ronnie, Scotch, Jaoullin, Norman, Eyesoar and Pauline to the south; Biggs to the west; Cornelius, Jewel and Montague to the north; and Bechno to who-knows-where.
As they walked along (or flew in Eyesoar's case), listening to Jaoullin's boasts, Norman and Scotch's idle banter, and Pauline's complaints (she still hadn't gotten that habit out of her system), Ronnie gazed at the sheet of paper. The spidery writing seemed almost hurried. What was the old woman trying to say? Praying she would soon find the answer, she walked on towards the south.
Glancing once more at the paper, she quickened her pace...just in case.
