Calis blocked the attack from behind, parrying his opponent and quickly returning the blow. The entire rocky terrain was chaotic with battle. Calis quickly took down the oncoming warriors, then ran to defend the Princess. The Princess of Jupiter, like the Princesses of the other planets, had the ability to call on an aspect of the elements. Her control was over weather and plants. She was fighting valiantly, but even her strength wasn’t enough to keep the enemies back.
Gotta help her! She’s gonna die! Calis charged the swarm of fighters and took down several, the setting sun glinting off his tarnished armor.
“You okay there Calis?” the Princess asked, blasting another warrior with a lightening bolt.
“Fine! Back to back!” he yelled over the clash of swords and the clank of armor. He and the Princess turned to fight off opposing sides, hoping that their warriors were doing well enough to take the Mercurians. We’ve been betrayed. The other side was prepared for our attack, he thought as more warriors piled on him.
“The Martians sold us out! I saw their banner flying with the Mercurians!” The Princess shouted to Calis. “I knew they couldn’t be trusted!”
Calis caught the admonishment in her voice. He had been a large part of the Jupiter/Mars alliance, but he had overlooked the violent past between the two worlds. What to do now? We needed their strength the take Mercury. Without them, we’re lost! Calis saw the wave after wave of Mercurians sweep across the rocky ground. Many of the Jupiterian warriors had fallen and the battle would soon be lost. If I go down, I’ll go down fighting proudly! Calis demanded of himself. His strength was wearing down and he knew that he would never see his home, Io Castle, again, but he stood tall, gathering his nerve and fought.
Suddenly, the warriors around Calis and the Princess fell. Calis looked up in shock, expecting the Knight of Mars or the Princess of Mercury to show up just to deliver the final blow. Backstabbing infidels, he cursed silently. To his surprise, a thin, blonde girl dressed in a ninja-like outfit surveyed the area. She held a huge wooden bow in her left hand and a crescent-shaped dagger in the other.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Thanks to you. Who are you?” the Princess asked.
“Not important. Thank you father for asking for our help when you get home. You’ll need us to get through this battle,” the girl responded. She turned to run, going to help another group of soldiers when Calis grabbed her arm.
“Wait!” For a brief second, their eyes met and locked, her startled gaze turning into one of recognition. “Thank you,” was all he could say. The girl nodded, then turned and charged back into battle, her dagger raised high.
* * *
Thanks to the arrival of help from the Venusians, Calis and the Princess had survived the battle on Mercury. Calis walked somberly through the halls of Io Castle.
What a failure, Calis thought glumly. Calis hated to loose, especially in battle, of any kind. Things hadn’t been going too good in the woman department lately. I wonder who that girl in the battle was? She had been plaguing his mind since the battle three days ago. That brought him back to the battle on Mercury; it had been a serious flop. He hadn’t thought that Jar would have betrayed him to Mercury, but now he was going to pay. The Princess had called for him. Probably to have me flogged and strung up, that’s the punishment for poor generals. He was loosing control of his nerves very quickly, shaking more and more with each step that he took. He reached the door to the throne room, stopping briefly to steady himself. He pushed open the door and stepped into the room, kneeling before the King and Queen.
“Rise Calis,” the King said. Calis stood to look the King in the eye. “In view of your recent failure, we have decided that you must be punished.”
Here it comes… Calis felt like he was going to be sick. Please please please let him be merciful!
“Your punishment will be a month of extensive teaching on Venus. You must learn to be a better diplomat and learn when and where to place your trust,” the King said solemnly.
That’s it? He looked at the King with both relief and, while trying to hide it, confusion.
“Oh? What? Did you think we would have you executed?” The King smiled at Calis. “We can’t loose the Knight of Jupiter. Your service is vital to us. Now, your training begins. The Venusian King has send the Valkyrie are here to discuss an alliance,” the King said. “I thought that the Martians would betray us so I called in the Venusians to help us on Mercury.” Calis bowed and took his place to the King’s right.
“Bring in the Valkyrie,” ordered the King.
The door opened and Calis’s jaw hit the floor. That’s her! She’s the one from the battle!
* * *
“Well, that went well,” the girl said to Calis after the talks. “You Jupiterians aren’t as dumb as people think.” Calis gave her a death-glare. “Geez, it was a joke…”
He smiled slightly and looked away, staring at nothing in particular. “The Martians are the stupid ones, remember?” he joked.
The girl smiled at him, then frowned as they began to walk from the throne room. “We wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for them to begin with,” she said. She quickly pushed the topic away and turned back to Calis. “You’re awfully quiet.”
“Who needs to talk with you around?” He had noticed that the girl had been quite the talker, especially when she became impassioned about something. She’s got a nice voice though.
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Well someone needs to fill the silence.” They walked a little farther down the hall, heading for the dining room. “Thanks for agreeing to be my guide. It’s nice to have a friend here. Not to mention a good looking one too,” she said with a smile.
He tried to pretend that he hadn’t heard her. You’re not too bad either… “Um, thanks,” he replied.
“So what was your name again? I’m so bad with names,” she laughed.
“I’m Calis. I don’t believe I caught yours, umm…”
“Chrysola. I’m Chrysola,” she said, stopping to stick her hand out in front of her. Calis looked at her quizzically. “Come on. It’s just a handshake! I won’t bite,” she teased. “Since I’m going to be here for a few days, where do I sleep?” she asked, continuing to the dining room.
Calis looked at Chrysola, not sure of what to do. He decided to offer the only thing he could think of. “You can stay in my suite.”
Chrysola looked at him in shock, then smiled slyly. “Trying to hit on me already huh?”
Calis quickly caught the hidden implication he had accidentally placed. “No, it’s just that the rest of the people around here aren’t too into the Venus/Jupiter alliance after I screwed up the Mars/Jupiter one…”
“I think you did the right thing. It shows that you’re a trusting soul. We need more of them in this universe,” Chrysola sighed. They came to a huge door and stopped.
“This is it. Dinner awaits.”
* * *
Calis held open the door to his suite for Chrysola. She stepped in but was taken back by the decorations. “Wow. Not what I would have expected from a man.”
Calis looked at her, trying to figure out what she was implying. “I like art. So what?” He stopped to look at his favorite landscape, letting the serenity of the painting calm him down. He still had the aching feeling of failure on his heart.
“Nothing.” She looked around the room, not finding the armor and weapons she expected to find. The only thing she saw was a leather sack that had his armor packed in it and an ornate dagger sitting on top of his dresser. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing to the dagger.
“Ah, that. That was given to me when I passed the tests to be the Knight.” He walked over to where she stood, looking with pride at the dagger. He smiled at Chrysola, eyes shining with excitement.
“What? You have a weird look in your eyes.” Something’s going on. He’s not feeling sad anymore…
“I wanna show you something.”
Oh Gods. Don’t let this turn weird. He’s actually kinda nice. “And what would that be?”
Calis opened the top drawer of his dresser and pulled out a small wooden box. He opened the box and produced a long metal flute. “This is my pride and joy. I love this thing.”
“You play flute?” Chrysola asked. “I love music!”
“Well you are a Venusian,” he smiled.
“Will you play something for me?”
Calis smiled and lifted the flute to his lips. This is going to be an interesting month.
