Friday, September 30, 2005

   Chapter 10: The Angel Caravan (part 1)
It stopped raining halfway through the night, starting up again in the morning when they filed down into the kitched for breakfast. Sasheeta, as was expected, ate all the food on Pen’s plate.
“What?!” Nomei’s surprised voice rang through the whole room. “He left already?”
“He said he had urgent business to attend to,” they heard Panda say. “He left this morning, before the rain started again.”
Nomei could be heard for several minutes, complaining about Gerrit’s sudden escape, but their conversation was largely covered up by the talking children.
“Do you think he left because of last night?” Lucifer wondered.
“Could be,” Pen responded. “But I’m pretty sure we’ll see him again.”
“You’re a freak!” Sasheeta put in, pointing at Pen while trying to swallow an exceptionally large piece of egg. “You and that sword!!”
“Thank you for that,” he said sarcastically. “I really needed it.”
“You’re a mean little beastie,” Lucifer growled playfully. As soon as the egg had gone down her throat, he snatched her off the table and cuddled her tightly to his chest. She squalked in surprise and delight, snapping jokingly at his nose.
“You’re squishing me!!” she squeaked, attracting the attention of many nearby tables. Lucifer laughed and sat her back down on the table, where she shook herself like a wet dog.
“You deserved that,” Lucifer told her, taping her nose with a finger. “And don’t you forget it. Pen can’t do anything about the way he is.”
The little dragon bit his finger, returning promptly back to her breakfast. Lucifer shook his head. “She’ll never learn,” he sighed, chuckling.

It took two days for the clouds to pass. For those days, they entertained themselves in many ways. The two boys combined their strength and found a way that they could lift up the beds and lean them up against the wall so that they had room to train. Using broken broomsticks that they had found hidden in the closet of an unoccupied room, they practiced sparring.
Lucifer was a good fighter. He was fast and sure in his movements, but he was always on the defensive. He even seemed reluctant to strike out sometimes, weakening some of his attacks. But when he wasn’t thinking, he could keep up even to Pen. It was hard to believe that he didn’t already own a sword of his own.
When they were tired, they would rest a while. Since neither of them seemed to have very much to say, they spent most of the time in silence, listening as the other kids played games in the hall.
The last day that they were relaxing in the afternoon, they heard yells outside their room. They were louder than the usual games of the children, so Lucifer and Pen exchanged a questioning glance, knowing that they both heard the commotion.
“Give it back, idiot!” a boy’s voice was yelling.
“I didn’t take it,” a girl whimpered. She sounded like she was right outside their door.
“Shut up! I know you have it! You were the last one out of the room!”
“I said—“ her voice was cut off by a grunt of pain as the boy shoved her against the door. Lucifer was up immediately—Pen had never seen him move so fast—and he had flung the door open before anyone knew what had happened.
With one hand, he pulled the girl inside, simulatiously using a foot to kick the boy just to the side of his stomach, so that his breath was knocked out of him. Gasping, the gray-haired elf-boy stumbled back against the opposite wall.
“Are you okay?” Lucifer asked the girl, releasing her. She was a green-haired, blue-eyed elf they had collected on the walk to Goswen Port.
Pen had also gotten to his feet, and he now went out the door and faced the winded boy. “What’s all this about?”
“She took the pocket watch my mom gave me!” he exclaimed, pointing at the girl.
“I didn’t do it! It must have gone beneath the bed or something! I swear!”
“Where’s your room?” Pen demanded. The boy showed him to the room at the end of the hallway, by the stairs.
“I left it right on my pillow,” he said.
“That’s pretty foolish of you,” Pen responded. He got to his knees and checked beneath the bed. “Someone would be tempted to take something that’s just laying around. That, and there’s a good chance it fell off.” He pushed himself underneath the mattress. A moment later, he came out again.
“I hope Lucifer taught you a lesson,” he said. He dropped the watch carelessy on the bed. “Don’t make me hurt you the next time.” Without another word, Pen left the room, leaving behind a stunned and speechless elf.
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