What happened? he asked himself, regrettably with no answer. Reality blurred into a vague sense of focus. He felt nothing but a dull pain in his ribs. Gradually memory flooded back like the insistent wash of greyish surf. Luna was depressed. They were both lost. He had decided to take them to Katrin, who might be able to help them locate the Sailor Senshi. They had been on their way there when he had realized they were being followed…
“Well, good ya finally joined us, aye?” a voice said calmly. Artemis tried to shake the darkness from his mind. The fog persisted, keeping him from thinking clearly. “Blimey, that was a disappointin' fight. Next toim, if wanna win, you gotta play smart.”
Though, something in the assurance of his voice told Artemis that this man was used to winning. He sounded comfortable in the knowledge of it. Sluggishly, Artemis became aware of his predicament, and the fact that he was alone.
“Luna-chan…” he mumbled faintly, sitting up in the cage.
The man chuckled. “Yeah, you got't. She's yea,” he paused, “mo'ivation. Me'n my huntas 'r track 'er down, 'n you too. Issa game y'see. O'ever lives, wins. Real plain, see.”
'I will kill you if you've hurt her!' Artemis snarled.
'Do itashimashite Artemis,' he replied casually in shoddy Japanese. “Mind ya, that's all I know. But… y'see, that part'a why ya here. We don' get game from Japan, ehm, 'specially Mind Mel'as.” His pause caused a faint intolerant glare to settle on the war scattered features of the man's pockmarked face.
Artemis' green eyes followed the man as he approached a pair of grand doors.
“Let's maike no mistaike, this ain' fair. Wouldn' be no fun that waiy. Though, ehm, you do staind a great chance'a winnin' hea. So, ehm, good luk.” Before passed through the doors, he added: “Eoh. You go' exactly…” he tapped a wristwatch raised to his lowered gaze, “…one minute t' ge' out'a thea befo' it crushes yea.”
The great oak doors closed, and silence suddenly became quite overwhelming. He fell into a trance, knowing the only way out was to risk teleportation. He knew he could get himself killed, teleporting without a preset destination, but he did not have any other alternative. Luna's life was at stake. Letting his mind focus onto the trace of Luna's aura felt, while the energy coalesced within him, he prayed he had enough time.
He felt the cool musky air of the outside world around him. He opened his eyes. A forest? Perhaps he had a chance after all.
Now, he thought, to focus on Luna. Where are you my love?
He had been running for what felt like hours, with no favourable results. His powers helped little, he discovered. Jumping was no good. A short leap had revealed him to one hunter who had seemed to be quite the marksman. Limping made already cumbersome two-legged travel even more so. He almost hated being human. As a cat, he would have had no trouble negotiating the hundreds of slightly unearthed roots. On the other hand, being human had a number of advantages. The most obvious of which to him at that point were combat abilities. He doubted he would have been able to defeat that hunter in his feline form, or wear his armor.
He held the hunter's energy weapon, not knowing how to use it, other than by relying on the obvious method; pulling the rather self-apparent trigger. Better to risk not being able to use the weapon to full effectiveness rather than being unarmed.
His enhanced strength - by which he was most satisfactorily impressed - had proved to be worthless as well. What good were a few uprooted trees? The trees proved to be little help in anything but hiding. There were plenty of them, but nowhere to go. Artemis was quickly becoming annoyed by the presence of trees. He hobbled onward, still reaching out for Luna's psychic presence.
She felt him. He was nearby. She struggled to her feet, cursing at the pains which wracked her body. There was a guttural growl.
“Don't move,” a slightly muffled voice commanded. Luna felt a very primal anger rise within her. Her mind began to clear. The frustration and pain fled as she thought of Artemis, as she realized the nature of the creature standing in her way.
She hissed, “I will move if I want to.” Her blue eyes narrowed, her hackles risen. “Get out of my way!”
The dog-faced humanoid regarded the woman warily, teeth bared. “No.”
She paused for a moment. “What did you just say?”
“No!” There was an undeniable nervousness in the creature's voice. For a moment the young woman did not know what to do. She reeled slightly, an unreasoning fear gripping her. She cried out angrily at this.
Enough! her mind screamed. I will not be a… “victim any longer!”
The hound faced male took several steps back at her outcry.
“Stupid dog! Don't you talk to me that way!” she snapped harshly, neither impressed nor intimidated.
“I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!” the dog boy replied fearfully. “Master just told me to watch you!” He raised his gauntleted hands protectively.
Luna's voice was quiet when she spoke. “That's better. He did? Well…” she hesitated. “You can watch me if you want to. I'm going to find Artemis.” She turned away from the dog.
He walked around to stand in front of her. “I'm not supposed to let you do that.”
She snarled at him potently, her entire sore body tensing.
He recoiled with a high pitched breath. “I'm sorry! But I don't want Master to get mad at me!” He backed away from her, indicating that he clearly did.
She started to leave, then something occurred to her. “Give me your knife,” she ordered, palm open.
He faltered.
“Now!” Abruptly the weapon moved from his scabbard to her hand. She smiled falsely. “Good boy.”
He simply looked scared. She turned around and followed the sense of Artemis. The humanoid dog did indeed follow her, evidently trying to keep to his master's orders. Luna barely noticed him. She was too preoccupied with the fading psionic trace of Artemis. She wanted to run, but knew she was in no shape to do it. Cavell had not been terribly gentle in his explanations. She shut her mind from that, doing her best not to recall the unpleasant experience.
Eventually, her mind wandered back to the presence of the strange dog creature. He stood tall like a human, but was built much like a dog. His haunches kept him from standing completely upright. His body was completely fur-covered, as far as Luna cared to discern. She dwelt on him. He was nice, basically. He was merely trying to obey his master. What was wrong with that? Everything, as she saw it. His master wanted to keep her from Artemis. Luna was not about to put up with it. It was a good thing the dog was a basset hound. With any other breed she might have had trouble.
“Do you have a name?”
He glanced at her, not quite sure how to respond. “Thomas,” he replied uneasily. She nodded and smiled.
“Thomas. I'm not going to hurt you. You're a good boy, Thomas. It's alright.” He appeared to be pleased by this resolution. It was clear to her that Thomas did not desire to hurt anyone. He only wanted to please whomever he was with.
“Is your master nice to you?” she asked, genuinely curious.
Reluctantly, he replied, “I-i guess.”
Her eyebrows knitted. “You mean you're not sure?”
“Sometimes Master hits me… but he says it's because I'm bad.” His ears drooped slightly. “If I wasn't bad he wouldn't have to hit me.”
Luna suddenly felt badly for him. He mistreated Thomas like he had her. “Why does he say you're bad?”
He was reluctant again. “He wants me to hurt humans, and other dees. I don't want to. When I don't obey he…”
“Dees?”
“Like you. Dimenson… um, diamon…” he stumbled over a few variants of the word before Luna stopped him.
“You mean 'dimension,' right? Dimensional beings?”
He nodded. “Dees, and humans.”
“All of them?” she inquired, prodding gently.
“No. Just the ones he doesn't like.”
She started to ask him another question.
“Wait,” he said, ears
perking slightly. “I hear something.”
She cursed her human hearing as her eyes searched about. It was Artemis, he was close… so close. A figure in what appeared to be body armor jumped out from a thick of brush to their right. In one hand it awkwardly held what seemed to be a futuristic style rifle as it limped slightly towards them. Thomas growled menacingly, and stepped up in front of Luna, who balked, confused and panicked.
“Luna…?” The voice was unsteady, tired and rough. Luna's eyes widened, and Thomas' growl deepened.
“Thomas… it's alright,” she issued faintly as she ran up to Artemis, emotions alight within, making her eyes burn with tears. Slipping off his helmet, he accepted her to his arms, like a blessing. Empathically, Luna whispered, Ssh.
Thomas paced as the two embraced, unsure of what to do with himself.
“Luna?” he asked uncertainly. She looked at him, her head on Artemis' padded shoulder.
“The other hunters might come. Master will come for sure!”
Luna and Artemis broke their embrace, hands remaining joined. “Why?”
Thomas did not answer, looking somewhat sheepish.
“Tell me,” she said firmly.
“You're not dead.”
Luna bowed her head. “Why can't he just leave us alone?” Her voice was hushed and weak.
Artemis took her shoulders in his hands. “We will find a way out of here, Luna-chan. I refuse to give up.” He looked at the dog boy. “Do you know of something that can get us off this island?”
Thomas spent a few moments in obvious consideration. “Master has a whirly-chopter at the house.”
Artemis nodded. “A helicopter. Good.” He looked at Luna, finding her head still bowed. He took her chin in his hands. Hesitantly, her eyes met his in gaze.
“We've made it this far. Luna-chan… are you with me?”
She swallowed, then nodded. 'Hai, Artemis-sa… Artemis.'
“We will survive this,” he proclaimed. For several moments his gaze set in hers. “For the princess.”
“Let's go, Artemis,” Luna said in hushed tones.
The trek to the castle was surprisingly short. Artemis surmised that he must have been traveling in circles. Perhaps the island was not as big as he had thought. Only two problems, rather, hunters, presented themselves. Artemis and Thomas handled the first with little trouble. Superhuman strength apparently overwhelmed the endurance of body armor in rather short order.
Luna stayed out of the way on both occasions, avoiding battle. Artemis refused to let himself worry about it. His solitary concern was her safety. If she did not want to fight, he was not going to argue. After the third obstacle finally fell, they entered the chamber which Thomas indicated led to the helicopter. Inside, they found a silver encrusted throne, the back of which displayed a poetically beautiful serpentine dragon. The dragon was also reflected on the great wall behind the throne, carved strenuously in black marble. The work would have brought awe to the onlookers, who barely noticed the magnificent work for the man below it.
“Well, I say, didn't 'xactly expect this,” said Cavell calmly, “but, ehm, I'm very impressed, yea. Ownly one go' this far. Mind ya, she din' win 'ither.”
He turned on the raised steps of the throne, and walked off to one side, towards a delicately detailed collection of runes embedded in a square section of wall, like a three-dimensional painting.
“So I stuck 'er in thea.”
Eternal entrapment! He is lying! Luna rasped in thought. Impossible!
Even as these thoughts surfaced, she felt a presence within the intricate red-grey stones. Fear, hatred, and pain caused her to reel, and tears to well in the back of her eyes.
“No!” she whispered. “You bastard…” she stepped back into Artemis' arms, and fought her tears.
“You,” Cavell snapped, pointing towards the suddenly scared dog boy. “Not impressed. No. You screwed up, 'n betraiyed me. For tha', I cast ya outta 'm pack.”
Thomas looked already crushed. “Master… no…”
“Yea! I trusted you! Wuha' I get? Betrayul!” He looked fiercely angry. “No toleraten' tha'.”
Thomas stepped back, emotionally torn. “You don't mean that.”
“The 'ell I don'!”
Thomas turned away, but refused to leave. Cavell turned his attention back to the now sobbing Luna, and savage looking Artemis. “Y'know, this ain' been worth i'. I'll hava kill you, jus' t' braike even.”
“Break even?!” Luna broke free abruptly from Artemis' warm hold. The intensity in her voice startled both the white and black haired men alike. It was the only thing they would ever share, aside from their humanity. Cavell snatched his energy pistol from the holster on his leg and pointed it at her.
“You took someone veiry dear to mie. I loved 'im loike a son.”
Luna's anger boiled. “You believe that? Have you seen the way he trembles when yelled at? How he whimpers when he speaks of you?” She felt every muscle in her body tense. Only once before had she ever felt so strongly for anyone. It was that person she missed more than her innocence.
“It's ova fo' ya,” a hiss trailed behind her words as they ended, burning in his ears. “An you cain' stop mie!”
He raised the weapon. Abruptly the seemingly listless Thomas moved with a speed Luna had not thought possible. He jumped at his former master, death in his eyes. Cavell pulled the trigger desperately as Thomas dug his claws into his throat, tearing it out. He gurgled, and died in a crimson splash. Thomas gave with a canine whimper and collapsed to the ground, unmoving.
“Thomas!” she cried as she bolted to Thomas.
“Why did you defend me? No one ever did that before,” he uttered faintly as she cradled his head in her lap.
Artemis moved up beside them as they spoke.
“You remind me of a friend I care a great deal about,” she said softly, in calm, mother-like tone.
“Luna…”
“I feel tired,” Thomas muttered, the stain of crimson trailing over his arm and stomach. “I'm sorry Luna.”
“No… it's okay. Don't.”
ʻLuna-chan, let me see him, please?' Artemis requested gently. Luna nodded, and moved aside as Artemis attempted to gauge the damage done. A grave expression rested firmly upon his face as he stood from the limp creature.
“Artemis-san…?” Luna pleaded.
“I don't know. It looks bad,” he said. “We need to get him back to Katrin, fast…”
Several hours later, they were aboard the helicopter. Luna's tears had dried. Thomas rest on a stretcher, holding his bandaged stomach, while a well set white cloth held his shoulder. After a great matter of fuddling with the controls, Artemis and Luna discovered both a manual (a miracle, to be sure), and a marked map indicating a path to the British Isles. Collaboration with Thomas (who had learned to read maps as part of a hunting game of Cavell's invention) gave Artemis the necessary information to make the trip.
“Luna, did that man do anything do you?” Artemis asked tentatively. “How did you know about Thomas?”
She was silent, eyes intent, locked upon the shallow breathing of her newfound friend. “Luna?”
ʻHai?' She was still caught in the grip of grief. It amazed her to feel so much for someone she had known for a very brief amount of time. Perhaps it was because she identified with him so strongly. He had been abused, and so had she.
“How did you know?”
“He did the same to me,” Luna stated evenly. The loss of control still scared her, but she felt that she was starting to come to terms with it. She had Artemis. Thomas, until their meeting, really had no one.
Artemis found himself lost for words again, and thus breathed a frustrated sigh. “I feel bloody useless.”
“That's not true! I wouldn't be alive now if not for you.”
“Do you think they would have…”
She cut him off with a gesture. “That's not what I meant. You've been here for me. Even when I wouldn't eat, or speak. You… haven't left me
alone, Artemis-san.” She stood up and walked up behind the pilot's seat. “I've learned… I… I don't ever want to be alone again.”
Artemis smiled. “Are you sure, Luna-san?”
“I'm sure,” she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck gently and kissing his forehead.
Chapter 17
An Earthy Guardian
Starlit Ruins Page 18