Regrets of The Fallen (Victis Honor Book 1) (21 page)

“You wouldn’t!” Isabella said with widened eyes. Haruka nudged Bella, nodding towards Freya as she whispered something. “What? No, I’m not as good as…” She paused. “Really? Well, if you say so…” She looked back at Freya, giving her a sad look. “You wouldn’t really throw
us
off, would you?”

Freya scoffed. “Sorry, I don’t fall fer that kinda thing.”

Isabella hung her head. “You’re right… I’m really terrible at this… I wouldn’t convince my own mother,” she said forlornly

“Well, it wasn’t
that
bad-“

“No, it was,” Isabella sighed, and Haruka hid a smirk as the blue-haired knight traced a finger along the deck as if she’d decided it wasn’t even worth trying. “I’m just naturally unlikable or something…”

Freya twitched. “Now, that ain’t true… I wouldn’t
dare
ditch you.”

Isabella looked up with wide, hopeful eyes as Haruka coughed beside her. “Really?” she said in a small voice.

“Really!” Freya nodded. “Now don’t be all mopey, you’re a part o’ this ship!”

Isabella broke into a wide grin and clapped, practically squealing as she hugged Haruka. “You were right!”

Haruka laughed, even more so at the look on Freya’s face. The pirate sighed and smacked her own face, turning to leave. “I give up. I know when I’m beaten.”

IXH

Far to the north of
The Black Wake
, the Black Sun Monastery was a tense place. The team that had been sent to retrieve Haruka Saito had not returned, indicating total failure. The halls of the monastery were mostly vacant, as most of the monks there remained in rooms or outside, not wanting to be caught in the halls. The monastery was not as calming as some others; large statues loomed over everyone, more intimidating than inspiring. There were fewer soothing fountains and more depictions of the Black Sun’s most famous kills in relief, painting and statuary. The main colors were black and green, giving a subtle feeling of a dark forest to the place, especially with the lighting being composed entirely of torches or dim enchantments rather than any electric lighting.

Deep in the center of the monastery there was a large circular chamber with an altar at one end. As with nearly every other room
, weapons lined the walls, for every monk trained with numerous weapons regardless of specialty. No one was training in this room, though; at the moment there was only one occupant and no one was bothering him. He was a man who seemed to be in his fifties with a strong, solid build comprised nearly entirely of lean muscle. His hair was short, grey and spiked back, and he had a short grey beard that made him look more refined. His face was weathered and scarred, marking a hard life. He sat on his knees in a bow towards the room’s altar repeating a mantra in a low voice as he touched his forehead to the floor.

He’d been at this for hours, but suddenly his eyes shot open; their brown color was hard, like everything else about the man. He wore clothing similar to the other Black Sun monks, but his outfit was almost entirely dark green with very little black, marking his position, but it seemed his position didn’t need such a reminder – others shot out of his way as he strode through the halls with little patience. He entered a room without any warning, looking around inside; it could be irritating to spot someone in this room with all the semi-transparent curtains of various colors hanging everywhere, giving the room a disorienting and sort of claustrophobic feeling. He noticed the woman getting dressed after a few moments and spoke in a firm voice, “The only reason for the most recent failure has to be this Isabella Enyo. We must learn more of her.”

The woman slowly pulled a gray robe up over her shoulders, looking back at him as she began to wrap one of its many ties. “That would have been a proper course of action earlier, I think,” she said in a teasing tone, a smile touching her black-painted lips. She stepped out as she continued to tie the robe, an odd garment with the texture and appearance of a spider’s web. Her skin was pale and her hair even lighter, a solid white kept waist-length and straight. She tilted her head with an amused look in her purple eyes. “Am I to understand you’re finally seeking my help with your little situation, Kazuki?”

The man grunted, biting back a retort. He hated dealing with this woman, but they needed her. “Yes, Aranea,” he admitted, “and I would appreciate it if you took this more seriously.”

She chuckled, turning away again. “When have I ever taken anything seriously? If you want to learn more about this woman, let me do my work my way.”

“…Very well.”

“Perhaps we’ll even learn just why your daughter chose
her
over you, hmm?” She glanced back, watching with a smile as his jaw clenched and he shoved the door open, exiting angrily. He was too easy. Aranea Lith moved deeper into her room, looking to the ceiling with a smile as she turned in a circle. “Come, darlings, to Mother Lith; we’ve work to do.” In the very dim light of the room the ceiling seemed to move, but the source became much clearer when dozens of spiders began crawling down the many curtains of the room and over the large, extravagant bed in the back. Aranea took a seat on the bed as the spiders crawled over it, smiling as she let one onto her hand, lifting it up to her face and petting it gently. “Oh, yes, we’ve some
fun
work to do.”

IXH

“Cullis,” Freya said, naming the coastal town that was now in view.

Isabella blinked, looking over at her. “It’s a port town named Cullis?”

“Cute, huh?” Freya smirked, leaning on the ship’s rail. “Th’ town’s not as bad as its name.”

“Never been,” Haruka admitted from her spot beside Isabella. “Tourist, right?”

“Yep. Lotsa shops and such. We’re adjacent to Imperial lands now; this town’s here t’ capitalize on people headin’ out for vacations. It
tries
t’be a tourist place. You can decide if they succeed.”

Haruka smirked. “Guessing not.”

Isabella smiled at her. “Hey, don’t judge a book by its cover, even if the cover has a
really
bad name on it.” As much as Bella had discovered she loved sailing, she was looking forward to getting some time on solid land again. Freya said they were stopping here for supplies, but they’d be spending a day there, as her crew needed time on land as well. Tomorrow they would continue their journey south, but today they would take advantage of this opportunity. This was, after all, the first full day she and Haruka were together, so enjoying it was a priority.
Now I just have to hope that nothing goes wrong like it usually does. Wait, no, I didn’t just think that!

Haruka watched her looking around rapidly and raised an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”

Bella looked back to her, blinking and then laughing nervously. “Ahaha, no, nothing, nothing’s wrong!” She gave a sheepish smile. “Truth be told I’m hoping we can go a day without anything bad happening, and now I’m worried I just jinxed us by thinking that. And now again by saying it aloud.”

Haruka chuckled. “You think a god’s listening? Forgot he was gonna curse you, then you reminded him?”

“Maybe,” she replied. “I mean, it sounds stupid when you say it
that
way.”

“Okay,” Haruka said as she leaned one elbow on the railing,
looking at her. “Say it in a way that
doesn’t
sound stupid.”

“Well I…” Isabella paused. “Basically, it’s like…” She huffed and put her hands on her hips. “I don’t have to do what you say, you know.”

The monk grinned. “No, you don’t. Or can’t.”

“No, I
can
, I just… refuse to.”

“Refuse to?”

“On principle,” Bella said with a nod.

“What principle is that?”

“You know what? Just stop asking questions, I don’t have to answer them.”

“Counts as a win for me, then.”

“Does not!”

“Does too.”

“Does not!”

“Does too.”

“Does not!”

“It doesn’t.”

“Yes, it does!”

“Fine, it does,” Haruka said with a shrug.

“That’s right.” Isabella paused, looking over as the monk grinned widely. “Waaaaaiiit a minute…” As Haruka laughed, Bella turned around, yelling at Freya, who had gone up into the rigging. “Captain Black, Ruki’s being mean to me!”

“Am not.”

“Are too!”

Freya landed in front of them, straightening and folding her arms. “Don’t make me turn this ship around, girls.”

Haruka grinned at her. “We’ll behave.”

Isabella stuck her tongue out at the monk. “At least
I
will.”

Freya shook her head. “I’m gonna ‘ave to send you t’ your rooms, ain’t I?”

Isabella clasped her hands behind her back and smiled. “If you sent us to just one room, together, I think we could work it out.”

Haruka snickered and Freya rolled her eyes. “I don’t need
ta hear th’ details. Look, we’re pullin’ in.” She pointed as the ship pulled along the extended pier. “Get off my ship.”

“Now
you’re
being mean,” Bella said with a smile as she skipped towards the lowering plank.

Freya shook her head, looking at Haruka. “She’s gonna drive you mad.”

Haruka shrugged as she started to follow Isabella. “There are worse ways to go.”

As soon as their feet hit the pier Isabella waved to the others, grabbed Haruka’s hand and took off. Haruka’s eyes widened as she was suddenly yanked along behind her excited girlfriend into the town proper. She didn’t even have time to worry about how the people here would stare at her mask or whether someone was waiting for them here or anything like that, and perhaps that was best; with the limited time they had, they couldn’t focus on running and surviving
all
the time.

The town of Cullis was about what one would expect from a place that named itself ‘Port Cullis’; it was very touristy, with lots of shops selling useless but kitschy trinkets or souvenirs. Most of the restaurants seemed to follow some theme to an almost stereotypical level. Isabella found the whole place charming, especially the ‘main attraction’ that many signs spoke of, which appeared to be the fact that an old, large home on the edge of the town was heavily haunted. Bella stopped before one of the signs, tilting her head. “Do you think it’s an actual haunting, or are there just people in sheets and silly costumes waiting to jump out?”

Haruka looked around. “With this town… Could be either.”

“You said you’ve never been here before, right?” Bella looked at her. “Haven’t you travelled this way a lot?”

“Yes, but on business,” Haruka replied. “Never taken a vacation, so I never had reason to stop here.”

“So everything’s new? Good! I don’t want to be exactly like the lame friend coming to visit and wanting to go to all the tourist locations you’ve seen a million times.”

“You’re kinda like that person anyway.”

“Yes, but not
exactly
like them,” Bella said with a smile. “Anyway, we are
totally
going to that haunted house, but you can’t do that during the day, that’s stupid.”

“Yes,
that’s
what’s stupid.”

“Shush.” Isabella turned around, looking over the town. “What time is it? Noon? Let’s grab a light lunch somewhere first. Somewhere fun.”

“Fun or lame? This town has them mixed up.”

“I don’t think you know what fun
is
,” Isabella said with a grin, tugging her along. “Sometimes lame
is
fun. You just have to be in the right mindset.”

“What mindset is that?”

“Childish.”

“Childish, huh?” Haruka suddenly stopped.

Isabella blinked, looking back at her. “What’s up?” she asked, noticing Haruka hadn’t tensed or anything. Haruka just smiled and pointed, and Isabella followed her gesture to see a building that was painted pink and white to look like a cake, which was obviously a bakery judging by the items in the windows. Isabella stared at it. “Wow, that’s, um… Wow.”

Haruka grinned. “In the right mindset?”

“You want to eat lunch in a bakery? Are we going to eat cake for lunch?”

“Yes.”

“Well that’s… That’s just
brilliant
,” Isabella exclaimed as she headed directly for the building with Haruka.

Inside they discovered that the outside of the building’s look made a bit more sense; the woman inside was dressed in perhaps the frilliest white outfit either of them had ever seen, but judging by the beaming smile she had, it was only fitting. “Hello, hello!” she called out as they entered. The bakery was actually almost completely full of people, with only two empty tables.

Haruka would never have even walked into a place like this on her own, but Bella’s widening smile was reason enough to do so. The blue-haired woman hopped over to the counter, matching the proprietor’s energy. “Hi, hi!” she responded with a grin. She looked around at the place that was absolutely full of all kinds of cakes, pastries, breads and other baked goods. She looked back at Haruka with wide eyes. “One of each?”