Oh wow! Hi there.....(sweatdrop). Okay, please don't kill
me for taking so long to write this next short part you know how stupid and lazy
my butt is and I'm soooo sorry please forgive me. (Breathing
now......exhale.....) Okay now that that's over, this is the big duel that I've
been promising everyone. You know, the knock out, crouching tiger hidden dragon,
kung fu fighting, tekken tag team, WAR (Huh...what is it good for.),...... Okay,
for those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, this is the
mage duel between Zechs and Noin. You will have to review the other chapters to
know exactly what I'm talking about. But enough talk, the fic
starts..............now.
*******-The stars in the middle of the
page show a different situation in the same time period.
*An entire line
of stars shows the temporary ending or beginning of a flashback*
Noin looked at herself in the mirror. Her violet
eyes stared back at her, and she frowned as she looked at her cropped hair. She
had kept it short, from her days as a street rat. For the early years of her
life, she had often pretended to be a boy. Back in those days, it had saved her
from a lot of danger. Being a girl all alone in the world was a sure way to end
up as someone's slave or worse.
It didn't keep those bastards off me,
Noin mused bitterly. She turned away from the mirror. This was not the moment to
be pondering the past. In a few hours, Noin would fight the Victoria Mage
Academy's most power student. The archmages of Lorn had decreed it and she would
either fight this powerful man or die. Lorn... how ironic. The very men that
wish to throw away my life are my teacher's inferiors.
"Damn it, Lorn,
where are you?" she said in despair.
Meanwhile time itself continued as
it did since the beginning of
time.
***********************************
While Noin was almost
sick with worry, Victoria's most powerful mage, Zechs, paced his finely
furnished chambers. A million emotions went through him. Worry for Noin was at
the top of them. He had servants to keep a constant eye on her, in case she
tried to kill herself. However, Zechs knew someone as brave as she was would
never do such an act of cowardice. Damn it, Noin had more balls than most men he
knew. He chuckled bitterly to himself at this line of thinking. Unfortunately,
all of her damned pride was making this situation much more difficult than it
had to be. If she would just submit to being his ward, then they would not have
to battle. Damn her stubborness! If he beat her, she would hate him. If not...
He wasn't even entertaining the idea of her death at the hands of the mages of
Lorn. Prejudice bastards! He glanced at the clock, in two more hours the battle
would begin.
"Forgive me, Lucreztia." he said.
Yet, he could not
have lied to himself; nothing would have pleased him more than to have had
her...
Zechs
knew he had a lot to do the next morning. From what Treize had told him, whoever
attacked Une at Fire Cove, was now after Noin. Why? That elusive answer played a
complex and unnerving game of hide and seek with him. Why indeed? Noin was
forever exploring something. Had she stumbled across something too strong? In
any case, Zechs intended to travel to her keep. She would need his help
regardless of their somewhat 'complicated' history. He was dressed for bed and
he went down his staircase into his library. He lingered over a huge portrait of
a handsome older man. When Lorn had given him this keep as his own, Lorn had
told him that it had been Zech's father's keep.
If anyone could see the
picture of the older man, they would have immeadiately recognized the uncanny
resemblance between the older bearded man and Zechs.
Zechs sighed
heavily.
"I've not forgotten about your kingdom, father," he turned away
before memories threatened to overtake him, and he climbed the stairways to his
chamber.
In his bed, he savored the luxury of his room, knowing that the
three day trip across the lands of Carania would offer
none.
****************************************
Noin looked up at
the white falcon. He had hunted for the beginning of the day and he was now
perched on the outside stand. He watched interestedly as Noin performed a
physical attack on her imaginary opponent. Thrust...parry...thrust....dive....,
she thought to herself. She had performed the movements with perfection many
times before. Being a mage was good protection for a lot of things, however,
know how to fight offered a safety of its own.
These days Noin needed all
the protection she could get.
Even though she had activated the sheilds
that Lorn left in place, she knew that it was extremely meager protection
against who or whatever was after her. Lorn had told her that Une's wards had
been some of the powerful, he had ever encountered. He had been reluctant to
admit that they had been better than his own. If this bastard broke Une's wards,
how much longer would it before he came through her own?
With way too
much on her mind, Noin turned and went back into the house. Moon followed
closely behind. The thing that worried her the most was the safety of Lorn's
keep. It held all of the knowledge Lorn had taught her. Even after his death
Noin had studied hard to control her powers. Everything, books, documents,
grimoires, amulets, spells, weapons, was stored in that keep. She had grown
here, and even though it had been a lonely life, she had been happy. Now she had
to fight alone against something that she knew nothing about. Noin sighed, "It
wouldn't be the first time, little one," she murmured to Moon. It was then that
she lost herself in memories.
********************************************************
