Viewing Single Post From: The Emblem Kingdom: A Fusion Fic

Viewing Single Post From: The Emblem Kingdom: A Fusion Fic
+Hollie	Jan 31 2009, 10:02 PM
Resident Brit Posts: 6,832 Group: Advisor Member #801 Joined: May 19, 2006	I don't like this chapter as much as the other one. Also, sorry to anyone who likes dogs. Chapter 2 When the soldiers had described a traitor from the palace, Reaver had expected somebody less - well, less like this. PZ had the fat of a few meals too many hanging around his face - it wasn’t unreasonable for a member of the Family, but it made him look younger than he was. His hair was surprisingly short. Reaver had always been told the Family wore their hair ridiculously long. It showed that they didn’t have to work for a living. “You’re a soldier?” PZ asked hesitantly. Reaver realised that he was scared. Not what he had expected at all. “No,” he answered carefully. “I’m a Fire districter.” As soon as he said the words ‘Fire districter’ a noticeable change came over the Earth. The tension all but left his face. “You’re a Fire districter! This is perfect!” Reaver backed away, “I don’t know what you’ve done but I’m not going to help you. I don’t want any trouble. I won’t tell them I saw you, but you have to leave now.” “No, you don’t understand--” the Earth insisted. “I don’t want anything to do with it!” Reaver yelled, clicking his fingers and holding the fire between himself and PZ. He was vaguely aware that yelling wasn’t a good idea, but he was too concerned with the boy in front of him to care at the moment. “They’d kill me if they knew I even saw you! Please, just go--” “I can help you,” PZ said. “I can help your whole district.” Whole district? Despite his fears, Reaver paused. “What?” “Not just the Fire district. I can help all of them. But you have to help me.” “What are you talking about?” he breathed. The fire in his palm illuminated PZ’s sure expression. The turnabout was startling - he didn’t look even slightly worried now. “I know a way to remake the emblems.” Reaver swore that his heart stopped for a second. He let the fire go out. Any thoughts he had had about kicking the stranger out by force immediately evaporated. He’s serious. A way to make the emblems again was something that not even Wirt, the most blatantly rebellious districter he knew, had dared to dream about. The emblems had given power to the seven Families for thousands of years before they’d been destroyed by the Earths when they overthrew the system. A traitor from the Family. Bringing them back would change everything. Being met with silence seemed to make PZ hesitate. “Will you help me?” “Of course,” Reaver answered. He could not call himself a Fire districter and refuse. There was no time for him to elaborate, because he suddenly heard loud footsteps on the stairs behind him. Footsteps accompanied by the heavy clank of armour. Reaver backed away from the door, towards the window, biting his lip as the sounds grew louder. “The keeper,” PZ muttered, “He must’ve--” “No time now,” Reaver interrupted. “We’ve got to get out of here. Won’t be able to get out the way we came in.” “Huh. Speak for yourself,” the Earth said, suddenly clambering onto the windowsill and dropping through the gap. Reaver watched as a huge section of the earth rose up to meet PZ only a foot above the window. Wow. That’s handy. A yell brought his attention back to the room. The soldiers were right outside the door. As they stepped forward, Reaver clicked his fingers and threw the fire forwards. It exploded and, at his suggestion, spread to cover the whole entrance in a split-second. The soldiers were put off, and several jumped backwards from the greedy flames. Good. That would buy them time. It was only as Reaver dropped down on to PZ’s platform of earth that he realised he hadn’t even told PZ his name. “I’m Reaver, by the way.” “Nice to meet you,” PZ said. “I suggest we get out of here while we’ve still got the opportunity.” The rain had slackened off and it was now no more than a light drizzle, but it was still too wet for fire to have any hope of catching. Reaver scowled, knowing that that could cause problems if any soldiers caught up to them. “We need to get out of the city,” PZ said. “Do you know--?” Reaver shook his head, pushing PZ forwards. The soldiers wouldn’t be preoccupied with the fire for long, if there weren’t a group hiding around the back already. “Plans later. Run now.” As they ran, it crossed Reaver’s mind that this could be really bad for Wirt. No, it would be really bad for Wirt. But his boss would have done exactly the same in his position. Hell, he would probably have taken less convincing than Reaver. That thought allowed him to keep running without turning back. “Do you know where the main gate is?” PZ asked him. He seemed out of breath. Reaver knew. He pointed in the general direction of the city’s temple: he remembered seeing the tall building just inside the gate, and the tall dome stood above every other structure in the city. “Somewhere over that way.” PZ nodded, and then ran in completely the opposite direction, taking Reaver utterly by surprise. He almost slipped and fell as he changed direction. “Where the heck are you going?” “Earth architecture,” the boy replied shortly. “Two gates always opposite each other.” “So we’re using the other gate?” “We’re making them think we’re using the other gate,” PZ answered. His expression was grim. Reaver wondered what he was planning, and hoped it would work. But at the same time, this Earth had managed to escape from the palace with the knowledge he had and hadn’t been caught yet. He probably had a good idea of what he was doing. His feet hit cobbles. The market square. It was almost like being back where he had started. PZ stopped abruptly and dragged Reaver towards a stack of abandoned crates. “Wait, what the hell?” “Be quiet,” PZ hissed urgently. “You’ll see.” The crates turned out to contain rotting fruit. He noticed PZ gag, but the boy just shook his head and tried to breathe through his mouth. Reaver did the same. “What the hell are we doing?” “Hiding. Now, don’t move at all.” PZ glanced at him. “I mean it. Keep your feet where they are, or they’ll find us.” Reaver’s legs were already beginning to ache. He gritted his teeth. An Earth knew best how to escape an Earth - or so he hoped. A few minutes passed. His legs were in agony, but he kept still. Suddenly, loud echoes around the square signalled the arrival of the Earth soldiers. Despite the smell, Reaver was suddenly glad of it: one of the soldiers had a huge dog, half as tall as he, that was straining on a leash that looked as though it were about to snap. Reaver had seen ones like it before. A hunting dog. “No sign?” one of the soldiers asked. His white armour marked him out as the captain. “No, sir,” another replied, “There’s still no trace . . . but they can’t be more than 300 yards from here.” “300 yards,” the captain sighed. “If they’ve stopped.” “But, sir, one’s a Fire districter and the traitor isn’t skilled enough to disguise his footsteps completely.” The captain didn’t even bother to look at the solider as he gave a reply. He glanced at the sky instead. “The buildings here are quite close together.” Silence greeted this. “Alright, let the dog try.” Reaver’s heart jumped to his throat as the huge dog was let off the lead and immediately started in their direction. He felt sick. Why hadn’t they just kept running? The dog suddenly faltered. It backtracked, this time going in a completely different direction. Reaver started to breathe again as it stopped for a second time and looked up helplessly at the handler. The rain. The rain’s confusing it. The captain swore. “Useless mutt. We would have been better off not bringing it.” “It’s the weather, sir,” the handler said, appearing offended, “Water runs all over the place, and takes the smell with it. Not the dog’s fault. Anyway, they’re probably heading for the west gate, it’s straight ahead from here.” “What? Why didn’t you mention this before?” “You didn’t ask, sir,” the handler answered apologetically. “Idiots,” the captain muttered. “Move! Now! We might already be too late to stop them escaping.” At the captain’s insistence, the group set off at a fast jog towards the west gate. Reaver almost pitied them. That armour didn’t look light. As soon as they were out of sight he relaxed and started to straighten his legs, but PZ held out his arm: not yet. Reaver scowled. “What are you waiting for? They can’t see us.” “They’re soldiers. They wouldn’t need to.” Seeing Reaver’s quizzical look, the Earth shook his head. “Nevermind. But don’t move yet.” A few more minutes passed in silence. Suddenly, PZ stood up, grimacing. “Come on, we need to get out of here. Run.” “Run?” Reaver asked weakly. His legs didn’t feel capable of keeping him standing. “Look, as soon as we start moving again they’ll be able to tell where we are. But if we can get to the wall before they do, I can get us out. Promise.” He scowled. “How? It’s alright for you, you’re an Earth and you understand them. But I’ve got no idea what just happened.” PZ bit his lip. “I’ll explain on the way. Just move already. Please. Your life depends on it.” Reaver didn’t take much more convincing than that. At least I can see the wall. It can’t be that far away. That was good; the soldiers couldn’t be that far away either. If they did have a way of finding out where he and PZ were it wouldn’t take them very long to catch up. “Our soldiers are specially trained,” PZ explained between breaths. “They can track movement. As long as you’re on the ground, they can feel your footsteps.” “Are you serious? That’s how they were following us?” The thought made him feel a little sick, as he realised how close he’d come to giving them away. “So, when they said about disguising your footsteps . . . ?” “It’s . . . difficult to explain,” PZ answered falteringly. “But there is a way to make it so it’s harder to find you.” Reaver guessed that was what PZ had been doing all along. “So, you can’t do this location thing?” “You only learn it if you enter the army. I wouldn’t be able to tell footsteps from rain.” “So you don’t know where they are now.” “No.” They had reached the wall when a dog howled, incredibly close. Reaver shuddered. “Was that . . . ?” “I don’t know,” PZ answered softly. “But we only need a few minutes.” A few minutes had never sounded like such a long time. Reaver bit his lip so hard that it started to bleed. Any sort of confidence he might have had in escape earlier had disappeared. His heart was beating so fast he thought it might stop; he was expecting the group of soldiers to appear round the corner at any moment. Hurry up, PZ! Suddenly part of the wall nearby collapsed in a cloud of dust. Reaver coughed, blinking as the dust made his eyes water. Through the echo of the fall, Reaver made out a stranger’s voice yell, “They’re over there!” The dust began to clear and he finally saw what PZ had done: part of the wall had fallen away, leaving a gap large enough for an elephant to escape through, much less two teenagers. The other thing he saw was the dog being released by the handler. “GO!” he yelled. PZ didn’t need any encouragement and the two of them scrambled through the rubble. Reaver was all too aware of the dog almost snapping at their heels. Clicking his fingers and talking to the fire like he had never done before, he half-turned and threw it straight at the snarling animal. It’s howl of misery, not quite able to disguise the curses of the handler, followed the two of them as they disappeared into the forest.
	MSN Wirtjr, Speaker for the Dead says: "Be good, because if you're not, Arick will come down that chimney instead of Santa, and instead of toys he has choloroform, a hacksaw, and a burlap sack." MSN... again Wirtjr, Speaker for the Dead says: I'm a horrible rolemodel. HØ¿¿¥ says: I'll take extra care not to blow my neighbourhood up, I promise Wirtjr, Speaker for the Dead says: Also don't jam forks in strange orifices. Wirtjr, Speaker for the Dead says: ...Wait, that didn't come out right Known as Haar on Brand of Flame. Bitch. Formerly Margaret Thatcher, Aleksandr

The Emblem Kingdom: A Fusion Fic · Fan Fiction