The Jaharyn Girl Chapter 2
By Gryphon Rampant
“Halt!” Gabrielle cried. The tension tripled when all the attention was brought to Gabrielle. “I think it will be more of a challenge for me if I use my staff.” Half smirking she remarked to herself, who am I kidding? I can’t even fight a novice with a sword! Glad I have my ‘strategy’. Gabrielle’s staff was fetched and the combat was continued.
“Begin!” barked the referee once more Kara lunged forward with her sword toward Gabrielle. She dodged to the left and brought the bottom half of her staff up to hit Kara in the chin. She fell backward and jumped back up. Kara brought her sword up to make a blow that would break Gabrielle’s staff in two, but Gabrielle was too fast and poked her in the stomach.
She cried in pain, and stepped back from another attempted hit. Kara jumped in the air to make Gabrielle be distracted, but it didn’t work. Gabrielle rolled between her legs while they were still off the ground and swung her staff in a complex movement that resulted in Kara on the ground gasping for air. Gabrielle waited until Kara got up. Kara screamed wildly and ran toward Gabrielle with her sword over her head. Thinking quickly, Gabrielle shot her hand out and made acid sprayed from her left hand. Kara screamed as the acid hit her and fell like a stone. All the Samara cheered while the Manesh booed.
“She used magic!” One shouted.
“She’s disqualified!” Another yelled.
The referee held her hands up to silence everyone. “I will let her win. Although she did use magic she probably would have won without magic.”
The Manesh booed again as two women carried the unconscious Kara away to a cabin.
“That was incredible!” Marle cried when Gabrielle came over to them. Robo walked to Gabrielle’s left side.
“May I see your hand please, miss?” he asked. Gabrielle held out her hand.
“Sure.” She said, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the other hand.
“No cartridges?” he asked. “Then how does your hand emit acid?”
“I have magic.” She told him bluntly. Everyone looked at her with shock.
“How?” Crono asked, finally breaking the silence that fell within the group.
“I really don’t know.” She told them honestly. “I’ve had it since before I could remember.”
“And when is that?” Lucca asked.
“Ten…twelve….I don’t remember.” Gabrielle said.
“You can’t remember before ten?” Lucca asked.
“Well, no.” Gabrielle answered. “Let’s just not make this personal, alright?” She walked off a few feet, turned to face the group again. “Well, are you coming or not?” she asked tartly.
They hurried to catch up with Gabrielle and got the horses. The company rode back to the Samara village in silence. When they arrived, young Samarans took the horses and gestured to the large fire in a pentagon made of logs: the meeting site.
Instead of following the others to the site, Gabrielle headed straight for her cabin. Marle saw her go and ran after her.
“Gabrielle, aren’t you going to eat?” she asked.
“No.” was the curt reply.
“Why not? Don’t you want to celebrate your victory?” Marle wanted to know.
“NO! Why do I have to celebrate? That’s all we do here!”
“But-“ Marle began.
“Go away!” the girl hollered, slamming her door.
“Ok, I’m leaving but, don’t you want me to bring you something-“
“No!”
“Ok, fine.” Marle murmured. She walked back to the fire to eat.
The meal was everything the hungry party could ask for: roasted ham, fruit, stews made from a variety of vegetables and various drinks. The richness of food so high up the mountain puzzled Lucca and Robo.
“It’s because of Shatara.” A young black-haired girl told them.
“Isn’t that a chief Amazon god?” Lucca asked.
“Yes. She’s the mother of us all.” She explained. “She chooses a tribe who has a good leader and makes it her Chosen tribe and is extra generous in her blessings for them.”
“So is the Samara the Chosen?” Lucca asked. The girl nodded.
“Amazon girl, what are you called?” Robo asked.
“I’m Danelari.” The girl replied. “Dane for short.”
“Danelari, so does this goddess give you the food and livestock you have now?” Robo inquired.
“Yes, and call me Dane.” The girl insisted.
“Dane, why does the Manesh think they are the Chosen?” Lucca wanted to know. The girl shrugged.
“Yuri was crazy, so’s Kara.” She said.
“What do you mean crazy?” Lucca asked, popping a carrot slice in her mouth.
“Well, Yuri said all this stuff ‘bout bein’ the Chosen and Kara got sucked in.”
“Isn’t Kara Yuri’s daughter?” Robo asked.
“Yessum. She’s got all the craziness Yuri had and more.” Lucca shot a warning glance at Robo who was going to grammatically correct Dane’s answer.
“Listen, I got to go. My friends are calling to me.” Dane said in a rush.
“Ok.” Lucca said. She watched Dane walk over to a group of girls about her age. Marle came to sit next to Lucca, startling her.
“Oh, sorry.” Marle said. “Gabrielle’s pretty upset, but I don’t know why.”
“Maybe we can talk to her in the morning.” Lucca said. “Until then-“ she got up. “Let’s eat! I’m starving!”
After a rich meal the group turned in and didn’t wake up until a little before noon. Gabrielle though, woke an hour or so after the ten o’ clock chime was rung. Gabrielle was practicing her staff moves in the private practice yards about four hundred feet from the village when a dark shadow fell across the straw-stuffed dummy she was striking. She froze and spun on the balls of her feet; she was presented with a tall, caped, and hooded figure. In his hands was a large, broadsword that had seen better days. Gabrielle shot her staff into battle position, making the figure laugh. The laugh made Gabrielle shiver down to her spine but she kept a hard Amazon-smooth battle face. The figure kept laughing and backed up a few steps.
“Do you really expect to hurt me with that?” He inquired, with a voice that was deep and rumbled.
“If I have to…” Gabrielle panted. She swung it around her waist and struck the side of the figure’s head, who faltered to the side on impact. “Yes.” She finished her sentence. The man felt the side of his head and found a little bit of blood on his gloved hand.
“Brave one…yes, but I think I’d like to see you handle…” he held up his broadsword. “This.” Gabrielle gulped. She had never taken on a broadsword so big or an opponent so confident in using it.
He slashed at her. She blocked, receiving a jolt. He went through a combination of chopping blows that would chop Gabrielle to bits if her staff hadn’t been there. Gabrielle ran into something; the dummy. The figure was so tall, and big, she couldn’t go to the side. There was no way out…
“Well, well, well.” The figure taunted. “Now, it’s getting interesting. Now on the one hand I could run you through now, or back up and get another rap on the ear by that stick of yours.” Gabrielle’s eyes were wide. She figured the only way out was to cheat.
“How about none of those?” Gabrielle asked thoughtfully. Her hand went up but the figure grabbed it. Oh, no. Gabrielle thought. That’s my acid hand! The figure held up his broadsword to Gabrielle’s chest. Gabrielle’s mind screamed as she wished she had learned to use acid with her right hand as well as her left.
Time to bring in the hand to hand stuff. Gabrielle thought.
Gabrielle whacked the sword away with her right forearm. Then she kneed him in the groin making him let go of her fist. She grabbed the sides of his head and introduced his face to her knee. She threw him foreword and picked up her staff and ran for all she was worth.
The Amazons had trained her well in hand-to-hand self-defense and what Gabrielle was most grateful for was running long distances. After a few seconds of running, Gabrielle looked back and saw that the figure had shed his cape and was charging after her, with his broadsword.
Gabrielle looked to the left of her. There was a forest that her tribe used as hunting grounds. She ran for the forest hoping to loose him in. She tried to keep her breathing in even breaths as the Amazons had taught her. Keep going! She screamed and her legs. The figure, which was now revealed as a man, was fifty feet away.
Gabrielle reached the forest and jumped in. She weaved through the trees and shrubs, and dodged all the animals. When she got to the end of the forest, she saw the very edges of the Samaran village a little to the right. She leapt out of the forest only to be tackled by something.
“You’re going to pay for that, little girl.” The man informed her, who was right in her face. He had light blue hair that started on his forehead in a widow’s peak. His red eyes frightened Gabrielle down to her bones. He got off of her and grabbed her arm and pulled the protesting Samaran to her feet. He pointed to the village.
“Is that where you live?” He asked, slightly panting. Gabrielle stayed quiet not even looking at him. He turned her face to him. “Answer me, or I’ll make it history.” He said.
“Yes, that’s my village. And if you so much as touch anyone or anything there, I will kill you!” Gabrielle barked. The man laughed wickedly.
“You really think you could kill me?” He asked. Gabrielle rubbed her left hand.
“There are other ways…” She said thoughtfully.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The man asked tartly. Gabrielle spun and shot acid right into the man’s face.
“That!” she cried. The man clutched his face and screamed in pain. She round kicked him in the side making him fall over. “Nice try capturing me.” Gabrielle said dryly. She sprinted to the village, only to be knocked over by an immense earthquake. Pain shot through Gabrielle making her unable to get back up.
* * *
Back at the village, the gang was getting up. Marle went to Gabrielle’s cabin and knocked.
“Hello?” she called. “Gabrielle? You there? It’s Marle, open up!” She banged on the door a few times figuring Gabrielle was still asleep. Crono came up to the door.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “An Amazon child told me Gabrielle wakes up a few hours after dawn.” He told her.
Crono gave the door a few good hard bangs. “Gabrielle! Wake up!” he called. He turned the knob and walked inside, Marle following. The cabin was empty. Crono searched the table in the center of the room for a note. Marle looked around.
“She made her bed, so she definitely got up.” Marle said.
“There’s no note telling us she went somewhere.” Crono remarked.
“Maybe she went hunting?” Marle suggested. Crono bent down near a wall and held up a bow and a quiver of arrows, with a matter-of-fact look. Marle nodded.
“What else would an Amazon girl do early in the morning?” Marle asked. Crono snapped his fingers.
“Weapon practice.” He said bluntly.
“Of course!” Marle cried. She ran out of the cabin and stopped the nearest person.
“Excuse me, do you know where the practice yards are?” she asked.
“Um…well, if you’re looking for the chief, she went to the private ones about four hundred yards that-a-way.” The woman said pointing to the southeast.
“Thanks, let’s get the others.” Marle said running to the guest cabins. Lucca was the first one they saw. In pants, they explained where Gabrielle was and they were going to see her.
“I’m coming with.” Lucca said. “Robo!” she called. Robo came out of the cabin, his gold metal gleaming in the late-morning sun.
“Yes?”
“Want to go see Gabrielle in the practice yards?” Lucca asked.
“Sure.”
* * *
The small party hiked to the practice yards. When they came to the bushes that surrounded the yard, Crono stopped and put his finger to his lips. He grinned mischievously, and leapt out of the bush, with a yell. The rest giggled and figured to hear Gabrielle scream. But they heard nothing.
“Gabrielle?” Crono called. “Gabrielle!” The group came through the bushes and saw no Gabrielle. “Where’s she now?” he asked tartly.
“Maybe she was coming back while we were coming.” Lucca said.
“Then why didn’t we see her?” Crono asked.
“What’s this?” Marle asked, picking up a cape with a hood. Lucca took it and examined it.
“Hmmm, definitely not Amazon made.” She murmured.
“Hey, look at this.” Robo called. They walked to Robo who was at the edge of the yard. “Footprints.” He said bluntly. “They lead in a northwest direction.” There were clicks as Robo made his vision go farther. “They lead into that forest.” He told them.
“But look at this.” Lucca said. “There’s a second set. Way bigger than Gabrielle’s.”
“D’you think she was attacked.” Marle asked.
“That could be an explanation.” Crono said. “Let’s follow the footprints.” He said.
* * *
Gabrielle lay paralyzed on the ground, as the man recovered from his acid attack. Once he could open his eyes he marched coldly to her and roughly rolled her over. He tied her hands together behind her back, and then yanked her up. He pointed into her face.
“Anything like that happens again, I’ll kill you before you could even scream for help.” He warned her.
“Speaking of which…” Gabrielle muttered. “HELP!! SOMEBODY’S CAPTURED ME!! CRONO! MARLE! GLENN! LUCCA! ROBO! AYLA! HELP!” She screamed as loud as she could. The man punched her in the stomach. He grabbed her shirt and was about to punch her face but froze.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“I was screaming for help, genius!” Gabrielle snarled.
“Who’s names did you just say?” the man asked a lot more loudly.
* * *
The group was still hiking when Crono held an arm out that stopped everyone.
“Did you hear that?” Crono asked. Everyone tuned their ears to hear what Crono was hearing.
“That was Gabrielle!” Marle cried. “She was calling for help, she just said all our names!” She ran for the forest followed by everyone else.
“Gabrielle!” Marle shouted, cupping her hands.
“Don’t do that just yet.” Lucca said. “The attacker might still be with her.” Marle nodded and kept running.
They reached the forest and ran through it trying not to run into a tree or an animal. When they got to the end, they saw Gabrielle, her hands bound with rope and a man standing beside her yelling.
Crono drew his sword quietly, the other followed in suite drawing their weapons. They stood there behind trees waiting for a perfect time to attack. Meanwhile they listened.
“I’m not telling you!” Gabrielle cried.
“Tell me or you’re dead.” The man yelled.
“Then kill me!” Gabrielle shouted. “I really couldn’t care less.” She told him.
“So be it.” The man said.
“Crono,” Marle whispered. “Now?” Crono shook his head.
The man picked a bad looking broadsword and brought it to Gabrielle’s throat. Gabrielle closed her eyes and braced for her death.
“Now!” Crono cried. He leapt out from behind his tree and went instantly into battle position. “FREEZE!” He called. The others revealed themselves and their weapons. Suddenly, Crono froze. So did the man when he saw the group. He grabbed Gabrielle and held her against his stomach and chest and put the sword to her throat.
“One move and she dies.” He warned. “But don’t worry she couldn’t care less.”
Marle gasped when she recognized the man. Gabrielle was struggling to get out of the man’s hold. Suddenly, Gabrielle elbowed the man in the stomach, stepped on his foot hard, and backhanded his nose. The man fell backward holding his nose. She ran to the rest of the group.
“So, this is where you’ve been hiding, eh?” the man asked Crono. “Right under my nose.” He said.
“Magus, I swear, if you come near us, you’ll be sorry.” Marle warned him.
“Ah. Princess Nadia.” He bowed mockingly. “So nice to see you still mingling with commoners.” Marle’s face went tight with anger. Gabrielle looked at Crono who had a nasty snarl on his face.
“Leave this place, Magus. The Amazon lass has already beat’n you.” Glenn told him.
“Good to see you a human at last, Sir Froggy.” Magus commented dryly. Glenn’s smirk was even drier.
“On three…” Gabrielle heard Crono whisper very quietly. “One…two…three…” Lucca shot at Magus’s shoulder with her gun. Marle shot him in the other shoulder with her crossbow. Magus stood there one shoulder charred one with an arrow sticking out of it. He ripped the arrow out in a snarl of pain. He put his arms up; after a few seconds, gray-silver spheres floated around his hands. Crono widened his eyes.
“Everyone get down!” He shouted. Lucca and Glenn got down on their stomachs. Crono and Marle did the same. Gabrielle stood frozen not knowing why her friends were getting down.
“Gabrielle! Get down!” Marle shouted. Magus had already started his spell. An enormous black triangle shot out, spraying raw Dark power at everyone. Gabrielle dropped to her knees her hands covering her face. The triangle exploded into even more raw power, blowing everyone back into the trees in blinding white light. After, a couple second of panting, Gabrielle knew why they wanted her to get down.
“…Ouch…” She whispered quietly.
“Ouch…does not begin to describe that.” Lucca commented hoarsely. “Stupid Dark Matter?” Lucca groaned, throwing a stick out from under her.
“What’s Dark Matter?” Gabrielle asked. Crono sighed and got up.
“You do not want to know.” He said flatly. Gabrielle got up shakily.
“Yes, I do.” She retorted. “Tell me.” She insisted.
“Lucca?” Crono said, gesturing to his friend. “Care to tell her?”
“Sure.” She said getting up. “Ok, All of us, we have magic too. We don’t use nearly as much as you do but we have it.” She told her bluntly. Gabrielle, who didn’t think they were lying, stood there.
“Anyways, the reason we had magic is because we had to fight a force that was going to destroy this planet. Uh…we still are in the mission of doing that. He was called-“ Lucca explained, then was interrupted by Marle kicking her. After, seeing Gabrielle’s reaction to her saying what is going to destroy the planet.
“What was he called?” Gabrielle asked curiously.
“Lavos.” Crono said bluntly.
“Uh oh.” Marle breathed.
“Lavos? Lavos!” Gabrielle cried. “You’re going to kill him? You mean he hasn’t done enough damage already?” Her eyes were filling with tears. “I thought he was gone! He’s still here? Under this…” She gestured to the ground.
“Gabrielle, calm down.” Crono said. “How d’you even know about Lavos?”
“How am I supposed to know about the dreams of my forgotten family being burned and slaughtered by a thing called ‘Lavos’?” Gabrielle sobbed. “Am now you have to remind me about it? Gods! Just leave me alone!” Gabrielle’s voice became a bitter shout. She turned and ran back to the village.
“Ok, what was that about?” Lucca asked.
“When I mentioned Lavos to her earlier, she had a similar reaction.” Marle explained. “That’s why I kicked you.”
“Well, me thinks we should leave her to her thoughts until she cools off.” Glenn said.
“I agree.” Crono said.
* * *
Gabrielle didn’t stop until she reached the back door of her cabin. She slammed the door and yanked out a chair from her table, and sat into it. She banged on the table a few times on the table as hard as she could.
“Now, that isn’t good for you…” a voice remarked from a dark corner in the cabin. Gabrielle leapt to her feet, knocking her chair over.
“Who’s there?” She asked, wiping her eyes. She felt completely unprepared without her staff.
“Oh, I know you’ll recognize me.” The voice said as it became more familiar.
“Oh, gods.” Gabrielle murmured. “Get away from me.” She commanded the voice.
“Sorry, no can do.” Gabrielle heard footsteps come nearer to her. Her breathing got heavier.
Two arms fiercely grabbed her from behind and held her tight. Gabrielle wriggled and thrashed but couldn’t get out. She thrashed her leg out kicking the table over. She stepped on his foot, but no reaction like before. Using strength reserves she had built up that were only used in occasions like this she slammed him into a wall of her cabin. He groaned but still kept his grip. He was much too big to throw over her shoulder or hip; she had to think simpler.
She used her heel to kick him in the groin, then thinking fast she slammed her elbow into his nose. She started to run once he let go, but then he grabbed her right arm. She twirled back on the balls of her feet and let the laws of motion guide her fist into his face.
Backing up instantly, she got her fists ready for another hit. Magus wiped his bloody nose, glaring at the Samaran. He stepped foreword; Gabrielle punched; he grabbed her fist and yanked her to him.
“I’m going to make this real easy for both of us.” He said. Suddenly, blue smoke surrounded both of them. In a blinding flash they were gone.
* * *
Marle paced impatiently around the clearing they were standing in. Lucca was polishing her gun, while Robo was looking at local plant life. Crono and Glenn were practicing sword fighting together.
“D’you think she’s cooled off now?” Marle asked everyone. “I think she has, be right back.” She ran up the slope to the village. She opened the door to Gabrielle’s cabin and found the place a mess.
“Oh no…” she murmured. “Magus…I warned you.” She looked around the mess to find any evidence of what happened. There was definitely a fight. When she saw a ring of blue marks on the floor near the fallen table, Marle knew something was up.
“Magus captured Gabrielle.” She told herself. “But why?” she asked. She found a piece of paper on the floor. On it was a message scrawled out:
Get the Amazon. We need her for the pendant. If she doesn’t have it, kill her! If you fail, your sister dies! Get it to me by sundown, and both of you live.
It wasn’t signed or anything. But someone had Magus capture Gabrielle for a pendant. Marle never recalled Gabrielle having a pendant on. But all she knew she didn’t have it with her, she was going to be killed…
TO BE CONTINUED…