The Noble Devil

Chapter One

Clang, clang. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang through the darkness of the forest. Ryner and Ferris ran quickly and as quietly as humanly possible towards the sounds, hoping that it was nothing important. They were, of course, wrong.

Men with black cloaks covering their faces, stood in front of a young girl who looked to be about nineteen, with blond hair in a high ponytail, her green eyes shone emerald in the darkness of dusk, and the black clothes that she was in made her almost invisible. The blond was berthing hard, with a knife in her hands, dripping with blood. Even though the girl looked as though she was rather tired, she ran up to the men, knife in hand, and ready to strike.

She took one down with a swipe of her blade that was almost too fast for Ryner's eyes to see, but the others got the girl with their weapons, sending her flying into a near-by tree. Lighting flashed from a storm not very far from where Ryner and Ferris where hiding, letting a carriage be seen from the darkness. Out of it came a girl in a red dress, with brown hair and eyes. This girl looked around twenty years old, and when the lighting flashed again Ryner got a good look at her face, and his eyes widened.

"Ari!" The dark haired girl screamed, putting truth to Ryner's thoughts. Ferris was about to go and help the pair, but Ryner just held her back. She looked at him, and he shook his head, but stayed where he was continuing to watch. The action puzzled his blond friend, but she spoke nothing of it. The older of the two ran to the blond, her back to the pair in the shadows.

"Ari, are you alright? Can you hear me? Ari?!" The one in the dress asked.

"You…..have to….run my lady. Run….as fast….as you….can." The one named Ari said her voice weak.

"I'm not going without you!"

"You…..must."

"Sorry to say this, but your blond attack dog is right. She would just slow you down countess." One of now ten men in dark cloaks said to dark hair. She stood, and lighting flashed again, showing half of her face that was full of anger.

"She is not my attack dog, she is my friend." Her face was completely focused on the men in front of her, "What I seek is the thundering storm, MENOCHE!" Giant blue blots of lighting hit the men in front of her, frying them into little pieces of ash. Not even the bones were spared from the flames that flew down from the sky. The storm that was now overhead disappeared letting the moon shine on Ari's face that was full of shock, and worry.

"C-c-countess?" Ari asked. The other girl looked at her, rushing over to Ari's side. With what little light the countess had, she healed Ari's head.

"I will be able to do a better job tomorrow, when I have better light to work with. Just stay still and don't move your head, please." Worry filled the young girl's voice, and Ryner was sure that it could show on her face as well. It was just something that would never change about her. Ryner was the first one to stand, and Ferris soon followed him over the unwitting pair.

When the young countess stood and turned at the sound of their footsteps, it eyes went right to Ryner's, and something shone in them that to Ferris looked like shock. She took a step towards the pair, and right into the light of the moon, giving Ferris a good look straight at the countess' face. Ferris stopped where she stood, for the young girl was the spitting image of the swords master, always napping friend.

"Countess Seaira" Ryner said with a short bow and a slight kiss on the young girl's hand. That threw Ferris off guard, and she felt something that she never had before. It was like a pit in her gut, and it told her that she loathed this countess (whatever her name was), to an extreme extent.

"Ryner Lute. Now to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?" Seaira smiled at him, and Ferris now understood why Ryner had acted the way he did, they knew each other.

"Now I see why you did want me to help these poor girls, Ryner. You didn't want them to see the man who had taken advantage of them." Ferris said, Ryner turned to her, and was about to start screaming at the blond knight about how he wasn't a pervert, but Seaira spoke up before he could.

"Please Ferris dear, if Ryner where anything like that, he would be dead right now." Seaira said this with a monotone voice, calm face, and she stared Ferris dead in the eyes, telling the sword master that the countess wasn't lying. Ryner smiled at Seaira, and then remembered that he hadn't introduced Seaira to Ferris.

"Right, Ferris I would like to introduce Countess Seaira Rahime, Seaira this is Ferris Eris, my….friend I guess you could say." Ryner stumbled on the last few words, for he really didn't have a name the suited Ferris.

"The name Seaira is not familiar to me, nor is the house of Rahime." Ferris said.

"That's because there is no house of Rahime. It was an offer made by the last queen of Roland, for me to become a noble, have my own house, and what not. I respectively declined the offer. I didn't want to be a part of the deadly politics of the Roland nation, nor the fact that it was all run by men at the time and still to this day, but she instead that I keep the title, so here I am with a title and no power." Seaira explained to the blond. By this time the other blond girl had started to get up, and when she turned to go to Seaira's side, her heart stopped.

"So, Seaira what brings you two all the way out here?" Ryner asked not knowing that Ari was up and staring at his face.

"Well, actually we were just on our way to-" Seaira was cut off by Ari flying into Ryner's arms, wrapping hers around his neck, and crashing her lips into his. This toppled the pair over, and while Ari was fighting as hard as she could to keep the kiss going, Ryner pushed her off rather fast. The young girl tried to back on him, but Seaira picked her up by the collar of her shirt, and dragged her a few paces back. Ari tried as hard as she could to get free of Seaira, but the countess wouldn't let her go.

"Seaira" Ari wined, "I haven't seen him in so long."

"And you can wait five more minutes while you get a fire going, water the horses, and set up the tents." Seaira said, sending a chill down Ari spine. When Seaira let go of her, Ari did as she was told, but with a grim look to her. The girl started mumbling under her berth, "I heard that." Seaira called over to the girl, and she just stopped talking all together. Ryner stood up, and as soon as Ari couldn't see him, he started to spit.

"Come on, it couldn't have been that bad, could it?" Seaira laughed at Ryner, who had now started to scape his tough.

"You didn't have to kiss her." Ryner shivered Seaira let out a little giggle before turning back to Ferris.

"Anyway, as I was say before I was so rudely interrupted," Seaira said this so that Ari could hear, "Ari and me are on our way to the three day gala that the king is throwing. He's going to be there on the third day, but you have to come on the first or I wouldn't be here right now."

"So you wish to see the king?" Ryner asked.

"Yes, I plan on it really. I want to ask the king himself why he had such a change of heart." Seaira said that again with a monotone voice, giving away the fact she didn't really just want to talk. "Now if I may ask you the same question Ryner, what are you doing out here, when your life was taken?" Seaira asked with a joking tone.

"The same reason you are. To kill the man who put me in a grave." Ryner said with the same voice as the countess. Seaira laughed, with him just as Ari called over for dinner. Ferris looked at Ryner, who was backing up, then dragged him by the collar and sat him down. Of course as soon as she did this Ari was right next to him, her head on his shoulder, and her arms wrapped tight around his neck. A smile was playing on Ari's lips, and she kissed him again on the cheek. Seaira sighed, and walked over to the fire, filling a small bowl with the soup that Ari had made for the group. Seaira then stood back up, and walked to the carriage.

"Countess, will you not dine with us?" Ferris asked.

"I would, but I know it's best not to be around Ari when she has Ryner by the neck." Seaira smile a little, but Ari let go and turned away from Ryner. Then Seaira came to sit down, and she sat right in between Ari and Ryner, giving Ryner some berthing room. Ari glared at Seaira, and sat down next to Ferris. Seaira smiled at the young girl who glared at her in response, and Ryner laughed at the two.

"So Ari when did you get so good with a blade?" he asked her, filling up his bowl. He had a spoon full, "And such a great cook?"

"You like it?" Ryner nodded, and started to drink from the bowl, "I'm so happy. As for your other question, Seaira taught me." Ryner looked at Seaira, who was eating.

"Magic isn't the only way I know how to defend myself, Ryner. It's just….well you know me and blood." Seaira was finishing off her soup and Ryner just looked away, the look of sadness in his eyes. The pair both put their bowls down at the same time, Ryner's on top of hers. In the fire light it, was hard for both Ferris and Ari to tell the difference between each other, but the dress helped.

"So Ryner," Seaira said, breaking the silence, "How have you been doing on those tests that your always taking?" She asked him.

"Fine. I just failed once, and another time it got really close, but I handled it." Ryner said, making Ferris rather puzzled. In all the time that she has known him, she had never seen Ryner take any kind of test. Ari saw her face, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"They're talking in code." Ari said, as a really loud whisper.

"We are not talking in code, Ari!" Ryner yelled at her.

"Oh really? Then what are these tests that you keep talking about? I mean ever since I've known you two, you are always talking about tests that Ryner takes, but I've never seen him do it." Ari had pulled out her knife to sharpen it, but started pointing it at Seaira instead. It was a dumb move on Ari's part, but Seaira didn't mind. Anyone who knew Ari knew that she didn't mean anything by it, she just wanted to make a point.

"Ari put that a way if you aren't going use it, please." Ryner said, just making everyone a bit more conferrable. Ari put the knife a way, but still kept her hand on it, in chase that she might need to use the blade. After that Seaira thought it a good idea that they all get some sleep. Ari offered to take first watch, and Ferris thought it a good idea that she keep an eye on the love crazed blond, so she stayed up to.

For a long time it was silent around, but for the sound of the fire cracking, and the steady berthing of the two blond girls friends. Ari finally got around to sharpening her blade, and that added to sounds that weren't talking. The faint light of the fire, and the moon light made Ari look rather like she was ready to kill someone. Ferris would have feared the girl, if not for that fact that she had seen much worse.

"So have long have you know Ryner?" Ferris asked breaking the silence. Ari looked at her, and Ferris saw that the girl's eyes really were emerald, it wasn't just a trick of the light when she first saw the girl.

"I've lost count of all the years, but I've known them since they we were all children. And in all that time Ryner has stayed at arm's length from me, but Seaira is a different story. If something ever happened, she would be the person he would turn to. It was like Seaira was the only thing in the whole world that Ryner trusted, not even Kuway, Seaira's step-mother, could get him to talk. But it did always seem that the three of them were in on something that I wasn't." Ari said. Sadness filled her eyes when she was talking about this. That's when Ferris found out that Ari didn't know about Ryner's alpha stigma, but if they were as good of friends as Ari claimed, why hadn't Ari seen her lose control, or why hadn't Seaira told her.

"I've noticed that about Ryner, he never really dose want to talk, just sleep. But why would Seaira be any different, I mean they don't love each other do they?" Ferris asked, because she just had to know.

"Only in a sibling kind of way, which is why they're both so damn annoying? When you look at them you think they're twins, but they say that they're not related at all. I know that's a lie, but I keep my mouth shut. Not even Kuway will talk about it, and that was a shocker to everyone." Ari said.

"And why is that?" Ferris looked at the girl.

"Kuway is not one to not tell you something, unlike Seaira who wouldn't tell you something, unless your life depended on it, but that rarely happens. It was hard the first couple of years before I really knew them, but after a while you get used to it." Ari said, and it was apparent to Ferris that the young girl truly did care for both Ryner and Seaira even with all their flaws.

After that the girls talked about allot of things, and when the topic of Ryner's perversion came up, Ari was quick to defend him. Ferris soon found that Ari was much like a certain Captain Milk, in the way that she was madly in love with Ryner, thinking that one day they were going to get married and have kids. It was around midnight when Seaira started to wake up.

"You guys get some sleep. Ryner and I can take it from here." Seaira told the girls. Ari didn't want to go to sleep, but Seaira told her that she needed to rest her head, and that was the end of that. Once Seaira was sure that both of them were asleep, she woke Ryner. For some time they just sat in the silence of the night, and that's when Seaira saw him watching Ferris sleep.

"Ryner" Seaira whispered nodding towards the forest, just out of ear shot of the sleeping blonds. They both stood walking over to the spot where Seaira had nodded towards, but even though the other two couldn't hear them when they talked normal, Seaira and Ryner still kept their voices down.

"Ferris knows doesn't she?" When the question was asked both knew what it meant.

"Yeah, she found out when we started to explore the other nations for hero relics. I believe that Sion told her even before we started out, and then when I lost it she helped me come to." Ryner explained to the countess. "I can't believe Ari still doesn't know about it though, I mean I thought you would have told her."

"No, I still think it best that she doesn't know about your eyes quiet yet. If she knew, I don't think that she would be torn between her hatred, and her love for you."

"You call that love? Love is when you don't attack people, love is when you know what not to do when someone is in a bad mood, love-" He was cut off by Seaira's hand.

"I get it, no need to explain any further. But speaking of love, what are your feelings for the Eris girl?" Seaira asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I see the way you look at her, and even though you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you watching her while she slept. I just want to know what you think of the girl that's all."

"I think that she's a good friend, and a caring person. Ferris has seen a lot of pain in her time and all that it's done to her is making her the strong person that she is today." Ryner said, with his head in the air.

"You know that one day I'm not going to be there to help you with this, and you're going to need someone else to do it for me. I don't care what you say right now, but tell me when you have an answer." Seaira told him this, and walked back to the camp site, just as the first light came up from the sun. The angle that the light hit her, made the countess, in her blood red dress, and black gloves, look like a noble devil.