Brave Soldier

by Jemu Nekketsu

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rune Soldier, or any of the series making an appearance in this work of fiction.

Chapter 1: A Tale of Two Parties

"This is totally against my will. This is totally against - ooh - my will."

'Sure,' Melissa's severely restrained sensual side chided her as she mentally chanted the mantra, over and over, as she was locked in a passionate embrace and returning an equally passionate kiss with the man Mylee had chosen to be her champion. 'You priggish little hypocrite. So this is why you sent Genie and Merrill scouting in the wilderness, huh, so you could get some quality time with this hunk of burning love here.'

"Are you really my conscience? Lord Mylee, why must my conscience torment me so?"

'You could try addressing me directly, sister. I'm not going away even if you ignore me, so you might as well talk to me.'

Louie's thoughts were in shambles. He had acted on one of his famous impulses, where he sat down directly in front of the blonde priestess and put his hands on her shoulders. When she looked up and opened her lovely mouth to inquire what he was about, he just stared directly at her face, willing his current emotional state make itself known in his eyes - curiosity. Wonder. Affection. They held each other in that meaningful glance which lasted forever, and Louie watched in rapture as a scarlet flush crept up and stained Melissa's pale face, making her look absolutely fetching. Totally irresistible by mortal standards - and he was a mere man, only too willing to be enchanted by such beauty. And so he did the only possible thing to do in such a situation - he closed the last inches keeping their lips apart, joining them together and drawing a ragged gasp from her. Whether her gasp was from shock, outrage, surprise, or need, he did not know - and probably wouldn't be in a position to do so while their lips remained joined.

"Speaking of position, man, let's spare the priestess' knees from more affronts, aye?" Louie's conscience asked.

'I'm all for that - how?' was his Spartan reply. Unlike Melissa, Louie was very much in tune with his other side. It was the essence of being a magician - to draw strength from all of ones hidden facets to realize his goals. Recklessness, inquisitiveness, chivalry, stubbornness - all these were useful to him, for the very reason that they were aspects of him. Right now, it was his Chivalry - working hand-in-hand with Lechery - that was guiding him, with Recklessness as usual thumbing his nose at the consequences of what he was about to do.

"Slide your arms down to somewhere above her elbows, push them in so you can lift her when you lie back and drape her over your length. You have to do it quickly yet smoothly, Louie, my friend. Can you handle it?"

'Here goes!' Grasping Melissa like he had envisioned, he lifted her slightly and threw his body back, kicking his legs to make sure he was stretched out - and promptly banged his head against a stone hidden in the grass. "Ow!"

In a flash, the spell was broken.

Or was it?

Melissa found herself straddling Louie, her hands clasped to her respectable bosom, while the magician paid the priestess no heed and was busy trying to keep his brains from spilling out of his head. 'Oh, poor thing. Go, on, girl, do the priestly thing, attend to your champion in his time of need,' Melissa's subconscious urged. 'Head injuries are sometimes more insidious than they appear,' it warned.

"Do they, now?" "Louie, is it serious?"

"Feels like it, though I'm no expert. I'm also not what you'd call an objective witness to this pain."

"I've heard it said that head injuries are sometimes worse than they appear. Let me use my magic on you."

"Oh, you're free to do that anytime to me, Melissa," Louie chuckled at his lame line, and winced as his head throbbed from the effort.

"Shhh. Don't talk now. Can you manage to sit up? I promise the pain will be gone real quick."

Gritting his teeth, calling on his old friend Willpower, Louie sat as straight up as he could. Melissa scooted back a bit, and then stopped when she felt something hard and warm against her bottom. "What in Mylee's name?"

'Forget it for now, sister, get to healing him! Do you have any idea how much his head probably hurts right now from the blood rushing up to it?' her subconscious chided.

Placing her fingers gently on his temples, she chanted. Healing energy flowed from her fingertips, mixed with Louie's vitality, and did a thorough job of cleaning all the damage inside and outside. Louie tensed as he felt the cool rush inside him, slowly erasing the pain, and soon relaxed as the pain vanished. Actually, he was feeling more than relaxed. "Melissa...?"

"What is it, Louie?"

"Thanks," he managed to whisper before his lids fell and he slumped forward, right into Melissa's soft, bounteous chest.

Her first reaction was to scream to high heaven. Next was to implore Mylee's name, then uppercut this lecherous man off of her chest, then stomp him into the ground. She did none of those however, as her subconscious spoke again. 'I'm afraid you can't do any of those, Melissa.'

"Watch me!"

'You just healed his injuries - you want to risk adding more? Seriously, the man is as strong as an ox; doesn't it concern you why he'd blank out after you used your magic on him? In his weakened state, your champion needs your protection more than any other time. Is this any time to be selfish, or be a stuck-up old maid?'

That took the rancor out of the priestess. "I'm not an old maid!"

"Melissa..." Louie mumbled, as if dreaming.

"Louie?"

"...be with you..."

Melissa froze.

"... always..."

'That's points for you, let me tell you, but we might still end up an old maid unless you tell him pretty much the same thing.'

"He wants to be with me, for always?" Visions of being dragged across the continent from one scrape to another day by day filled her mind, and when night fell...

'And when night falls, well, dear, you can probably expect more of that sweet, hot stuff you had going on before Mr. Wonderful here conked himself out.'

"This is so against my will-"

'Oh, put a staff in it, girl. Besides, it's almost sunset and your friends aren't back yet, and you can't just leave Louie and yourself here unprotected.'

"I'll pitch the tent."

'Can you do it properly, on your own?'

Melissa frowned. Before they met up with Louie, such tasks were either relegated to Genie or Merrill, usually decided by a coin toss. She hated to admit it, but...

"I can't!"

'Tsk, tsk. Well, our best course is then to cast a circle of protection where you can both stay and wait for your friends. I mean, I like this guy, but he's getting heavy.'

"He is?"

'Uh-huh. So, gently lay him on his back, watch out for crap on the ground, cast a circle, spread a blanket over him, then cuddle up to keep warm throughout the night.'

"WHAT?!"

'You don't want him dying from cold, just after you saved him with your magic. Actually, what would Mylee do to us if Louie does kick the bucket?'

"I don't think I want to know." A cold breeze blew, and Melissa shivered a bit, despite Louie's warmth that she cradled in her arms. The cold convinced her that her subconscious was right, and got her to moving and following its instructions. As she burrowed into Louie's side for warmth, she prayed for no rain.

Which was the exact opposite of what Genie and Merrill were praying for, up in the branches of a tree some distance from a stream. "You really think rain would throw off those dog-demons' noses from our scents?" Merrill asked her warrior friend.

"It should. If it doesn't, we're in for a real rough time," Genie replied.

"I wonder what those two are doing now?" the little thief asked. There was no need to clarify the identity of the two she was referring to.

"They're probably at each other's throats by now."

"Translated, in better off circumstances than the one we're in right now."

"Marin, what did the spirits say?" an armor-clad swordsman with his dirt-brown hair tied in a ponytail asked his pink-haired feline companion.

"The spirits said that dog-monsters and other basal breeds roam these woods, onii-chan," the catgirl replied, getting up from her cross-legged position on the ground.

"I guess this means a lot of fighting for us," he replied. "Did they say anything about the group we're after?"

"The spirits say that many humans entered this forest to rid it of the evil inhabitants, nya. But this place is not home for them, but a meeting place for them, where they can exchange boasts and settle disagreements without much interference from the outside, nya."

He took a minute to digest that. "Great, we have to locate our target and not draw attention to ourselves if we want out of this mission alive. Plus, there's no telling whether or not we have to fight our quarry once we do reach them."

"What do you mean, onii-chan?"

"It means, kitty, that our mission just got harder. Come, let's tell the others."

The two made their way back to their campfire - an easy feat, thanks to the catgirl's sense of smell - and found the rest of their party absorbed in nighttime tasks. Alicia, their blue-haired buxom ditz of a priestess, was cooking. Clare, Alicia's older sister who could have passed off as her twin despite their ten-year age gap, was polishing her collection of rapiers and her armor. She was an accomplished fencer, and knew some battle magic as well. Her skill in healing was not on par with her younger sister - then again, Alicia couldn't throw lightning spells. It was an even division of skill, all things considered.

And finally, there was the blonde, naive, somewhat selfish princess of Valencia, Karen, who had decided to play hooky from her royal duties for the umpteenth time and barged into this adventure. She was talking with Alicia, probably asking what she was cooking and asking for lessons, as she had never had to do things for herself before meeting with this group. She kept her satchel close to her, which contained, among other things, a magical gun which fired bullets of differing properties depending on the crystal that was currently stuck in the gun.

Alicia noticed them first. "Welcome back, Mr. Swordsman, Marin. Are you hungry? Dinner will be ready soon."

Clare was more direct in her speech, though not unkindly. "Welcome back. Rudy, Marin, how did your quest for information go?"

Rudy replied, "The forest is teeming with inhuman, and many parties have gone in with the intent of cleaning this forest up. It's a safe assumption that our target has taken up one of these foolhardy 'cleanse' missions."

"Or they, could be here for something else entirely," a female voice challenged, "Like the rumored artifact that can grant you three wishes that's in a shrine underneath these woods." Everyone in the clearing turned to see who it was.

"Carol!" they exclaimed. The voice belonged to their well-built, pink-haired, undead-phobic magician friend.

"Impressive. It couldn't have been that easy to locate us. How did you manage it?" Clare demanded.

"She had help, of course," said another female voice. Stepping out from the shadows behind Carol, the busty red-head known to nobles as Rose the Thief but to her friends as Ruby made her presence known. Both girls looked smug.

"Did you track us all the way here?" Karen asked. Carol laughed.

"Of course not, princess. Neither of us are accomplished trackers, despite Ruby's amazing skills."

"So, how then?" Rudy pressed.

"You guys know that I can cast Escape, which allows me to be where Rudy is as long as I've seen spent time with him during the day, yes?" Ruby asked.

"A very useful spell for a thief," Clare said, unable to keep the disdain from her voice.

"WELL, excuuu-se me, Ms. High-and-Mighty. Some of us here believe that discretion is the better part of valor."

The battle priestess and the master thief glared at each other, the air crackling with energy. Carol decided to pick up the explanation. "Escape does have some useful things going for it, but among its limitations are its inability to transport other people with the caster, and that the caster must spend some time with her 'destination' before casting - something that's very hard to do if you're separated by an ocean."

"That means, I guess, that Ruby couldn't just use Escape to bring herself and Carol over here in this continent," Alicia deduced.

"That's right," Ruby confirmed.

"A different spell, then," Clare mused.

"Not entirely a different spell, but a highly modified and mana-intensive version of Escape. I did some research on a series of spells known as Teleport, and used my findings there to convince Ruby to experiment. And it worked! First time we tried it, and here we are!" Carol gushed.

"Wow, that's really lucky - I mean fortunate. What could have happened if it didn't work the first time, though?" Karen asked.

"Who cares? We're here, meaning it works, my theory is sound - for the most part, that is - and we can YAWN lend our aid to your-" Carol never got to finish her sentence, and Ruby's quick reflexes saved her from a bad fall.

"Oi, magician girl, wake up! Seriously, falling asleep on everyone like that," Ruby sighed. "Actually, the trip is more draining than it looks - I'm starting to feel drowsy myself."

"I can give you a sip of purple elixir," Rudy offered, but Clare waved him down. "Why not?"

"It's nighttime, we're about to have dinner anyway and then go to sleep afterwards. If they arrived in the middle of a fight, then yes, the elixir is justifiable."

"Miss Priss is right, Rudy. Just let me and Carol have some shut-eye and we'll be good to go in the morning."

"Don't call me that," Clare said in icy tones.

"Now, now, I'm sure everyone's mood will be better once we've had dinner," Alicia, ever the peacemaker, stepped in. "Shall I serve one up for you as well, Ruby, or would you rather have some sleep first?"

"I'll have something, yes, thank you," Ruby replied.

"Marin is hungry too," the catgirl put in.

"There's enough for everyone, including Carol when she wakes up."

As always, whenever something like a happy family dinner is about to take place in a fantasy setting, it never quite does. The dog-demons, following the scent of the food and smoke, managed to stumble their way through the twisting forest passageways and surrounded the clearing. They were saved by Marin's enhanced senses.

"You stinky mutts can't have any of our dinner, nya!" she yelled, brandishing her spear. The others quickly pulled out their weapons, forming a ring around Alicia and the still sleeping Carol.

The dog-demons, snapping out of their momentary surprise, raised their muzzles and let loose with long-carrying howls, and prepared to fight.

Rudy quickly knelt by Carol and forced some purple liquid down her throat. Her eyelids immediately flew open, and she was at her feet in an instant. Rudy quickly resumed his position in the defensive circle.

"Did you hear that?" Merrill whispered tersely. She hated to admit it, but the sudden cacophony of howling unnerved her.

"Sounds like our canine friends have found something - and look!" Genie indicated the pair of dog-demons stalking them.

Merrill looked. Sure enough, their stalkers were cocking their heads to one side, listening at the howling. Then, as if reaching a decision, they turned tail and left the two women alone in the tree.

"What was that all about?" Merrill asked, still using whispers.

"I'm no expert, but it sounded like one of their patrols found some major opposition and decided to call for backup, meaning all friendly dogs who could hear."

"A rival dog pack, perhaps?"

"Possibly. We'd best use this opportunity to get back to Louie and Melissa."

"Without light of any sort? I don't think moonlight even reaches down here, thanks to the dense cover!"

"Would you rather wait until whoever wins the big beastie brawl comes looking for victory feast morsels?"

"Uh, I'm sure between the two of us we can figure out the way back."

"Smart girl. Let's move!"