Chrono Continuum Chapter 28
Aftereffects
By Cain
602 AD
"For one so small, he surely is heavy." Lucca nodded, but didn't waste the effort to reply. They were almost down the mountain, almost to the ruined encampment, and she was tired. Frog's bleeding had ceased, but unless they got him some treatment, he wouldn't last the night. She silently cursed Ledune for putting poison on his blade. Unbeknownst to her, Glenn was thinking the same thing. Although the language in his cursing was much less vulgar. After all, he was a knight. And a knight of the Middle Ages as well. The Middle Ages. It was hard to believe that the time he lived in now would one day be considered the middle, or the ancient past. But it was. And he was with one of the people who thought of it as such, carrying a half-frog-half-human to a burned encampment of his enemies. He blinked. To think that my life has become such.
Eventually, they reached the foot of the mountain, and all but collapsed. The rope ladders had been a great difficulty, with carrying Frog. Glenn and Lucca were both looking forward to some rest. But they couldn't rest, not yet. They needed to help a friend. It wasn't too hard to find their camping spot from last night, and restart the campfire. Glenn pulled off his cape and set it on the ground. Lucca laid Frog down on it carefully. In the light of the campfire, they could see that he was paling. Getting down on her knees, Lucca opened up on of his eyes, and gasped when she saw that it was pink, instead of the normal yellow. After examining Frog some more, she sat back on her heels. Looked up to Glenn.
"I know what poison it is, and it's not good. Frog won't last the night. There is a cure, however," she reassured Glenn at seeing his discouraged expression. Glenn asked, "Dost thou have the antidote on you?" Lucca shook her head.
"No. But I'm hoping that the encampment might have a store that had the ingredients. I'm going to go get some. You wanna come with?" Glenn raised an eyebrow.
"With what?" Lucca smiled.
"With me, silly." Glenn shook his head, no.
"Nay, I'd best stay here. Mine counterpart needeth tending." Lucca began to walk away, but she turned back when Glenn called out, "Oh, and Lucca. P'raps when thou com'st back thou canst help me with mine magic. I understandeth not a good part of mine abilities, and thou wouldst know better than I." Lucca turned again to the fried encampment, and looking over her shoulder as she walked, called out, "Okay. It's been a while since I've been on a study date." As she entered the encampment, she heard Glenn call out.
"I remembereth not the date, save that 'tis May, Lucca, so I knoweth not if 'tis your date for study." She continued on, smiling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same Time
Glenn leaned back against the tree, letting out a breath he had been holding. They would have to get new clothes for Lucca, as hers were fast falling apart. He smiled. She'd probably wear the new ones out just as fast. She seemed completely unbothered by dirt, a trait rare in the women of his time. Perhaps rare in the women of her time as well. She was rare enough.
He looked down at Frog, willing him to get better, but knowing that simple will was futile in this case. He'd have to have magic to... do... He jumped up. He might be able to do it! His magic was new to him, but he had done amazing things with it already. He knelt before Frog, placing his hand on the knight's face. His eyes slid shut. He reached for that power within, now familiar to him. He felt it stir. Opening a channel, he let it flow forth, manifesting in his world. He directed it through his arm, and through his hand, into Frog's head. Inside, he searched. He saw memories of life, and of happiness... but few of love. And something indefinite. He knew he shouldn't probe, but he had to see what the cause was. An image appeared before him.
Darkness. A man stood alone in the darkness, far away. Glenn tried to move closer, but it was like swimming through mud. But each stroke brought on new images. A small boy with blue hair, wearing purple. The boy looked grim, and spoke, but Glenn couldn't decipher his words. A cat ran off after him when he left. The image changed. A blue-haired woman stood before a vaguely humanoid, and deeply disturbing device, as massive as three dozen men. A blue-haired young woman behind her collapsed, but the elder didn't seem to notice. The image changed. The location was the same, but Glenn watched as three men ran into the room. They yelled out, but went unheard or ignored. A surge of energy, and the very air intensified. Small black holes opened up beneath the men, and they fell in. A boy, the blue-haired boy soon followed. A hole opened beneath him, and he was sucked in as well. His cat ran out the door. The image changed.
The boy stood in the darkness, alone and shivering. He cried out, Schala! Soon Glenn could see naught but his face. Another face flashed in its place, but disappeared instantly. Glenn continued to stare at the boy's face, and the second face flashed again. And again. Soon they were overlapping eachother, and Glenn (and Frog he would wager) had trouble distinguishing the two from eachother. The faces vanished, and Glenn was back in the darkness. Before, or rather, behind the man. Glenn found that he was on a cliff, looking out over the sea. A red cape billowed out behind the man, as well as blue hair, as he looked out over the waves. A maelstrom of emotion flowed around the man. Anger. Love. Sorrow. Friendship. Hatred. Pity. The strongest emotions changed with the tide. And then the man turned.
He was pale as a corpse, and equally gaunt. His irises were red, but Glenn detected a hint of violet in them. He exuded anger and pain, but mostly the sense of a wall. He seemed to have a hard, unyielding, ubreakable, strong, And there's nothing you can do about it, way about him. But the face soon caught his attention. The pointed chin coupled with the strong jaw, the widow's peak, the blue hair, the nose, the lips, the cheek bones... It all told him that this was Janus. But he wasn't. Glenn remembered him talking about a Magus that looked exactly like him, and Lucca giving a bad opinion of him. Glenn could see now why Lucca would say it. However, he could sense something noble about him, something good supplied by Frog's memory. In Frog's opinion, this man was awful, but worthy of respect. And Glenn felt more than respect. None of them hated this man, although they all knew they had reason to. Glenn would have to meet this man, who caused such ambivalency.
Pulling out of that area, he once again searched for Frog's magical center. A weak glow was his beacon. As he came closer, he could see that the center was damaged, being destroyed. If left alone, it would fall apart. Glenn hazarded a guess that the poison had been enspelled to destroy his magic if his body survived. Glenn gritted his teeth, so to speak. This was going to be hard.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same Time
As Lucca walked into camp, she could see Glenn, kneeling over Frog. His eyes were closed and his hand was on Frog's face. She wondered what he was doing, but decided to ask after he finished. It might not be wise to interrupt. Well, I'll just do my part. She closed the distance, and knelt on Frog's other side, directly across from Glenn. She reached into one of the pouches at her belt, and pulled out a small vial. She uncorked it with a pop, and placed it against Frog's bottom "lip." She tipped it, and it poured down. When the vial was emptied, she re-corked it and put it back in her belt. Good, she thought. That will help, hopefully. She rose, moved over, and sat back down in front of the campfire. It wasn't cold out, so she found the fire rather useless. She looked over to Glenn, still kneeling in concentration. She sighed. What did she have that she could do while she waited. She smiled. Another bath seemed in order.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same Time
Glenn's eyes slid open as his task ended. He had been fighting the magic deterioration for a while, when the difficulty suddenly ceased. The spell of the poison seemed to lack any backing, and couldn't fight back any more. It was a simple (but lengthy) matter after that to destroy the spell, and shield Frog's mind, to prevent further invasion until Glenn was sure that the problem was over. Eventually satisfied, he had backed out of Frog's mind, and... that's where this paragraph started.
He jumped up at a noise in the bushes nearby, but relaxed as he saw Lucca walk out of them. Her hair hung limply behind her, and he knew that she had bathed again. He didn't see why she bathed so much. After all, he had thought that she smelled rather nice... As Lucca came close, she smiled at Glenn.
"I take it thou hast administered thy liquor?" Lucca nodded, and sat down on one of the logs. She leaned forward, and pulled all her hair together. When she had gotten a firm grip, she twisted , and the water poured down onto the ground. She sat up and swung her head, making her hair splay about her face and shoulders. Glenn raised a green eyebrow. Lucca smiled.
"So what do you think? Is the wild look me?" Glenn sat down opposite her, shaking his head (and hiding his smile). He looked up and remarked, "Thou know'st, I could have washed thee with mine magic faster than the lake could." It was Lucca's trun to raise an eyebrow.
"Not unless you can cast spells while facing away. Now then, you did say you wanted to talk with me about your magic, didn't you?" Glenn nodded.
"Yes." Lucca waited. "Oh, yes. *Ahem* Well, there is this." He pointed upwards, and a bubble appeared over his finger. He lowered that finger, and raised another, and the bubble changed into a ring of water. He dropped his hand, and the ring of water fell to the ground. Lucca nodded.
"Water magic. Is that it?" Glenn shook his head.
"Well, I am seeing colours around people, and I can see moods." Lucca thought this over for a moment. She looked up.
"Auras. Some of those from Zeal were quite adept at reading emotions and circumstances, just by looking at a person. Anything else?" She seemed interested now. Glenn nodded.
"Yes. This." He closed his eyes, and probed outwards. He found it easily, avoiding her thoughts, and shielded. He looked up. "Try to cast a spell on me." She raised an eyebrow, but his expression didn't change. She pointed a finger at him, and willed something to happen. Nothing did. She looked rather surprised.
"How did you do that?" Glenn shrugged.
"I cut off your access to your use of magic. Now that I knoweth how, 'tis quite simple for me to find someone's magical center, and restrict it, or restore it, or break spells on it, although some be harder than others," Lucca nodded, now very interested at the possibilities.
"Is there anything else?" Glenn nodded. His jaw tightened for a moment and then relaxed. He looked Lucca straight in the eye.
"For the last hour, you hath mentally compared me to Rashen, the most handsome man in Truce. And quite favorably, I might add." Lucca's jaw dropped open, she blushed, and she fell off the log (all at the same moment). She quickly scrambled back up. She raised her nose high up, as if indignant.
"I was just thinking that the girls back home would be impressed with you, that's all." She seemed ready enough to forget about that. "Anyway, you can read minds?" Her gaxe narrowed. "Have you been using this ability... often?" Frog stuck his arms out, palms forward.
"Nay, of course not. I hath not read your thoughts, save now. But some thoughts intrude on mine mind, and I cannot help but hear them... Lucca!" Lucca jumped.
"What?" He pointed a finger at her.
"I hath been trying to be serious, and thou art thinking about how nice mine butt is!" Lucca stuttered for a response. Glenn calmed down. "P'raps before I get angry, I should ask... what is a butt?" Lucca looked surprised and relieved.
"You didn't get the image?" Glenn shook his head. She sighed inwardly. "It's only words that you pick up?" He shook his head again.
"Not always. But in your case, thoughts seem mainly to be conveyed by words, rather than the senses. Except for your mental description of how a bath feels." Lucca fixed him with an exasperated gaze.
"Stay out of my thoughts!"
"Yes," a voice interrupted. "Stay out. 'Tis dangerous in there." Glenn turned his head, and Lucca turned all the way around to see Frog sitting up with a smile on his face. Frog stood and hobbled over, to sit down by Lucca. She put her arm around him.
"Same old Frog. Mind like a rusty trap!" Frog smiled wryly, and was about to retort, but Glenn came in on a serious note.
"Frog, now that thou art awake, and I have the Masamune, where do we go?" Lucca nodded her agreement with the question, and looked to Frog for the answer. Frog thought a moment, and then decided. He stood.
"Tomorrow, we set off for the Cursed Woods." Glenn, eyebrows furrowed, asked, "Wherefore?" (Why, for those of you that don't know Olde English) Lucca looked at him.
"What?" Frog waved off her question, and answered Glenn's.
"Home." Lucca nodded.
"Yup. That's where our friends will look for us." She didn't finish by saying, If they come, because Glenn didn't know how small a chance there was that they'd come. She looked to the stars, as Frog explained his choice of housing to Glenn.
If... If...
.
"We cannot leave the haphazard to chance."
-N. F. Simpson
.