"I'm... Adam! And I'm here to sell... things! Things that you'll need!"
Pisces very gently but firmly shoved the hooded Aries away from the guard, who was suspiciously glaring at the so-called 'Adam'. However, his eyes immediately landed on Pisces and his eyes widened.
"Oh, you're–!"
"Yes, I am Pisces Nereid, the Siren." Pisces said smoothly. "I came here looking for an audience in the taverns of Saturis. After all, where else was I supposed to find the best audience?" With a wink and a teasing smile, she added, "Maybe I'll be able to organise a... show for the guards, soon. I'm sure you all would appreciate a good song..."
"Yes! Of course!" The guard cried, caught off-guard by the famed bard. "I... of course, please do feel free to enter!"
"You're very kind, kind stranger," Pisces let out a high-pitched giggle, "I'm looking forward to seeing you around."
"I–I'd be honoured!"
The guard ushered her through rather quickly. With an incline of her head, Pisces casually led her three hitchhikers through and past the stunned guard.
The wide smile on her face turned into something a little more sinister as soon as they walked past the guard. "Hm, that was just a little too easy. Whoever hires the guards here need to fire some people."
"She's... not what I expected." Capricorn muttered just a little too loudly.
"I'm not!" Pisces agreed, smiling brightly as she led the others around the complex turning of stone walls (again, to make it harder for invaders to enter) into the main city itself; a geometrical grid of streets with concrete buildings surrounding each street in every direction. The crest of Gaebia – the insignia rather than the magic-blessed 'Crest' – fluttered from each lamppost in streaks of green and gold.
However, what was most noticeable were the armed guards plodding down each street. The citizens gave them a wide breach – at least, the citizens that were out and about – as they marched.
"That was a close one," Aries breathed with relief as he glanced back at the entrance to Saturis, "Thanks for the save out there, Pisces."
"You're welcome!"
"Okay, everyone –" The sheepish grin on Aries' face disappeared, replaced with determination. "– we'll investigate."
"So what are we looking for, exactly?" Aquarius muttered as they began walking down the street with the utmost casualness.
"Oh, it won't be hard to spot. If you see suspiciously dressed individuals walking into the same place – most likely a building of sorts – we'll check there."
"And what do you mean by... suspiciously dressed?"
Aries shrugged. "They like wearing white to represent the goddess."
"Well, easy enough. Since there's literally nobody around anyway..." Capricorn glanced at the main street, where the guards were still marching. The citizens they had seen earlier had vanished completely as the guards marched. "Though we probably stick out like a flag on a tower since we're out in the middle of the street alone."
"That means we should go." Aquarius began to walk. "Let's lay low in one of the shops for now... I hope Prince Libra is alright."
-x-x-x-
"You can't sell weapons in the city."
"Oh...?" Cancer's face fell. Her lower lip trembled as she gazed up at the guard with tears in her eyes. "But they're just tomes..." She clutched at the collection of tomes that Pisces had lent her. "They're not..."
"No." The guard's expression remained impassive. "Did you not hear the rules, merchant? The Tellus Republic prohibits weapons to be sold to anyone, including swords, lances, axes, daggers and tomes."
"I–I..." Cancer sniffed. "I just needed to make some money, and... m-my family... I need to help my sick mother..."
"You can only enter Saturis if you do not have weapons on you." The guard held out a hand. "We will collect the tomes here and now, and you can apply to take them back when you leave."
Cancer nibbled at her lower lip and slowly gave the guard a shaky nod. "A...alright..."
The guard passed her a sheet of paper. "Write down your name, the names of each of your tomes, the quantity and the date here. To get them back, you will have to visit the General Office in Section Hyperion, located in the southeast of the city, and fill in the form there."
Cancer scribbled down 'Catherine', 'Thunder x 10' and '11.04' on the paper, passing it back to the guard. "Y-you'll keep it safe, right?" She asked, the waver in her voice apparent as she stepped closer to the guard, pressing the sheet of paper into his hands. "I–I need to sell them in the next town and I need the money..."
"Yes." The guard said blandly, taking the tomes from her and dropping them into the box behind himself. "You can recollect them two hours from now."
"T-thank you..." Cancer slowly shuffled past him. The guard didn't even give her a second glance as he called out to the next person waiting in line. "Next!"
"That was great acting, Cancer!" Libra complimented softly as Cancer slipped around the wall, all ten of the tomes back in her hands.
"That was... unsettling." Virgo remarked. "I... I wouldn't have thought..."
"Oh, right, you weren't here when she joined..." Libra murmured.
"You mean... in the town in Neptae..."
"Galene." Cancer clarified. "And yes... that's..." Her face twisted slightly. "Something I was used to doing."
"Everyone." Scorpio muttered. "Let's go before the guard catches us, otherwise our time taken sneaking around him would be for nothing."
The four of them hurried around the twisting passageway down into the main city. The entrance was situated on a slope of some sort, winding down to the lower half of the city. Strangely enough, some of the windows on the buildings along the slope were situated at floor-level, directly next to their shoes.
"What a strange design..." Scorpio studied the windows across the wide street in front of them. "It would be good for spying."
"Is that... a good thing?"
"Depending on who you're talking about." Scorpio nodded to himself, deep in thought. "Yes, the Eirean Church may benefit from spying on people... though the Eirean hideout in Marsari didn't have these. Then again, Marsari didn't have slopes like these... it could be an intentional design or perhaps this slope..."
"Well, no time like the present. Let's go inside." Cancer had already crossed the road. "There's a door here." Without even waiting for the others, she pushed it open – earning a tinkle of a bell – and headed inside.
"Er, Cancer! Please wait for us!" Virgo called as she hurried across the road after her.
-x-x-x-
After marching straight past the guards with claims to be selling fruit (which, if the guard had considered checking their bags, would have realised that it was a blatant lie), Taurus, Gemini and Sagittarius found themselves in a somewhat sketchy backstreet alleyway. (Perhaps it was also due to the fact Taurus looked Gaebian enough – or just scary enough – for them to be ushered past rather quickly.)
Taurus almost immediately began to walk down the alleyway.
"Hey, wait, where are we going? Do you know this place?" Gemini asked, picking up her pace to match Taurus's long, purposeful strides.
"The alleyways might be a good place to hide a... well, a hideout," Sagittarius pondered as she followed. "Though..."
"I thought I smelled it." Taurus muttered as he stopped directly in front of –
"A bar?" Gemini said, exasperated. "I don't think –"
Taurus gave them a knowing look. "Just follow my lead."
"Are we even allowed to drink...?" Gemini mumbled.
"Just pretend we're allowed in here," Sagittarius hissed back. Taurus walked straight to a table with complete conviction and waved over one of the waitresses, who was had short, badly-dyed blonde streaks in her brown hair and was dressed in a tattered apron.
"A Lemongrass Ale." He glanced at the other two girls, frowning. "And... two Lavender Infusions for the ladies here. Iced."
Gemini watched the waitress nod and shout something over the racket to where another woman was behind a bar counter. As soon as she turned her back, Gemini hissed, "What are we doing? We can't slack off here!"
"Sometimes, rumours are the best way we can get as much information in as little time as possible," Taurus replied, propping up his elbows on the table, "And these backstreet places are the perfect places to get them."
"It's... kind of sketchy in here." Sagittarius mumbled. "And... are we even allowed in here, anyway? Are we old enough?"
"How am I supposed to know how old you are?" Taurus shrugged and leaned back. "That's why I got you something non-alcoholic. Places like these... if you look out of place, you'll get thrown out."
"Aren't we going to be thrown out if we're underage...?"
"That, too."
"Speaking of which, Taurus, are you allowed to drink alcohol?"
"I've drank this before. It's doesn't matter."
"Great..." Gemini muttered. "I should go find Libby. I can't slack off when he's wandering around out there while I sit around –"
"He's with Scorpio. He'll be fine." Taurus nodded at the waitress as she returned with a tray of drinks. The bell-shaped glass was filled to the brim with orange-yellow liquid, the white foam spilling out generously from the top. He took the other two tall glasses – filled with ice and pale purple liquid – and placed them down on the table, leaving behind a coin on the tray. The waitress eyed them up as she nodded as acknowledgment of the tip.
"Haven't seen you around," she commented, leaning on their table and nearly spilling the Lemongrass Ale. "New here?"
"Mm." Taurus replied through a swig of his ale. "Saturis is the best for ale, I hear."
The waitress let out a low, sultry chuckle. "Yes, that's quite right. We serve the best here." Her lipstick-tinted lips curled up in distaste. "Those flashy, mainstream bars out there charge twice as much for drinks that taste like cow dung compared to the quality stuff here. Nobody's getting much revenue anymore after Tellus came around."
She gave the other two girls an apprehensive look, but continued to speak to Taurus. "Besides, we rarely get visitors anymore now we have the rebels and the government fighting like dogs out on the street. What's a man like you doing here? Surely not just for the ale, is it?"
"Of course not." Taurus rumbled, completely at home in the bar, much to Gemini's and Sagittarius's surprise. He gave the waitress the faintest smile – in fact, Gemini might've described it as a smirk, which was... something she never would've expected to see on Taurus's usually stoic face. "Now, now... don't get so ahead of yourself, Miss..."
"The name's Belle." She gazed at Taurus through lowered lashes. "And you, sir...?"
"Taurus Venhaus." The brunette replied easily. "I'm just... passing through here."
"Well, sweetheart. I'd give you a little tip – from me to you. If you're smart, you'd probably stay in for a little longer, seeing as the rebels are planning another crusade through the city quite soon. They'll end up clashing with the guards as usual – not something you want to get caught up on."
Gemini pretended to gag in the background at the overly affectionate pet name.
"I'm just well-travelled. Been around Gaebia a few times." Taurus replied, brushing off her words. "Never mind about me. I'm sure a lady like you would know the latest going about Gaebia...?"
"Why, if it's information, I have all the latest gossip and rumours." Belle purred, completely ignoring the two girls sitting next to Taurus as she leaned against their table, nearly spilling their drinks. "Well, for a start, you know about Lupus in Dione Village."
"Parts of it, yes. What was it about?" Taurus asked casually, sipping his drink.
"Oh, you know. One of the rebel leaders Lupus – you know, the general of the Gaebian army back then – was murdered in a massacre. Nobody quite knows what happened – we've only been given the briefest information by the rebel forces here – but certainly it has to do with the Tellus Republic." As an afterthought, Belle spat "pathetic excuse of a government" and scoffed. "I'd bet it has to do with that thing the Tellus Republic is having with those... people."
"People...?" Sagittarius murmured. Belle pointedly ignored her and continued, "Yes, dearie –" with a flutter of her eyelashes at Taurus, "– it's quite obvious that the Tellus Republic has allied itself with... someone. They keep on claiming otherwise – the filthy liars they are – but I'm sure it has to do with the massacre... or how they managed to overthrow the royal family."
"The royal family...?"
"Huh, you really must travel a lot if you don't know about the royal family." Belle shrugged. "To be fair, not a lot of people have seen them, either. They're very secretive and rarely make public appearances; probably afraid of assassination or something. We don't even know what the heirs look like because of that, though I have heard rumours they have a son and a daughter."
"Where are the royal family now, then?"
"Ah... well, we're not sure. We're suspecting they were murdered in cold fashion in some dark alleyway somewhere like how the Tellus Republic likes to do it – after all, people with silver hair like the Queen aren't exactly difficult to spot if they were wandering about." Belle sighed. "Even if we did overthrow the Tellus Republic, what would we do next?"
"I'd love to hear more from you." Taurus prodded as the waitress fell silent.
"There's a lot I could say." Belle hummed, drumming her fingers on the table.
"How did the Tellus Republic come into power?" Taurus prompted. "I spent my childhood in Vesper but I'd never heard anything about them."
"Ah, the quaint little town of Vesper. A lovely place." Belle chuckled. "I once knew a man from there. He left after a day, but –" She paused. "Hmm, alright, alright. No surprise – the Tellus Republic was such a small political group back then that I'd doubt the smaller towns would have heard of them. One day, they suddenly had an army and the royal family disappeared. Kidnapped, murdered, whatever –" The waitress shook her head. "Either way, it's illegal to talk about them now, so... I'll keep my mouth shut. I kind of need my head on my neck to continue this line of work, yes?"
Taurus chuckled and nodded. Gemini just made a face in the background and Sagittarius prodded her, hissing something under her breath. However, before Belle could continue, the woman at the bar counter yelled "Stop chatting up the customers, Belle! I'll cut your pay in half!"
Belle sighed and shouted back "Alright, I hear you – I'm not some deaf old hag!" With a delicate roll of her eyes and a drum of her nails on the table, she straightened up and flashed Taurus a wink. "Call for me again later after my shift if you need me. Seeya around, handsome."
"Thanks for the talk." Taurus simply replied, tipping his drink towards her before taking another swig. He only turned around after the waitress had mostly disappeared out of sight, his usual stoical expression returning and the lazy, almost smug smile flitting just across his face. "So how was that?"
"Well... I wouldn't have expected someone like you, to, you know..." Sagittarius exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. "I guess there's still a lot we don't know about you."
"Was all of that real?" Gemini asked. "You mean, you actually have a last name like a normal person?"
Taurus gave her a strange look. "...Yes?"
"Anyway, er, guys, beside the point." Sagittarius slammed her hands on the table, nearly spilling her tea again. "That was actually really useful! We now have concrete evidence that –"
"Actually, not quite." Taurus frowned. "We did learn that the Tellus Republic used to be small and suddenly became powerful enough to take over Saturis and the rest of Gaebia, and that the royal family vanished for unknown reasons... and most likely, putting the pieces together, the Tellus Republic allied themselves with someone or a group of people with power."
"Huh, I guess that does make sense, from what she said..." Gemini murmured. "So this group of people –"
"Possibly the Eirean Church. But it's only a possibility. We don't have any other leads and it's not quite concrete evidence..." Taurus swirled his drink in his flask as he pondered. "But if the Tellus Republic has to do with the killing of Lupus and the massacre... and we saw those creatures that the Eirean Church are summoning, alongside the people in the white masks... it's quite likely it might be them."
"I think we're on to something!" Sagittarius leaped out of her chair, grinning. "Oh, the look on Ar – er, Brother's face after we tell him all of this –"
"Sit down!" Gemini hissed as several eyes turned to them. Sagittarius slid back into her chair again, still ecstatic. "I can't believe we got that much just from sitting here and listening – we have to find the others at once!"
"Relax, Sagittarius." Taurus sipped his drink. "I paid for these with my own money, you know. You might as well drink what I've ordered."
"Huh?" Sagittarius turned to the chilled, purple-tinted drink in front of her, having completely forgotten of its existence. "I... well, I guess so."
"Hmm." Gemini took a cautious sip. "Huh, it's actually good! I don't think I've tried anything like this before in my life!" She quickly chugged down the rest of the Lavender Tea; then breathed out sharply and fanned her face as she placed the cup down on the table. "I–I think I drank it a bit too fast... My mouth's all cold and numb."
-x-x-x-
"Hm... nothing." Aquarius set the clothes rack back in place and turned around. "I don't think there's anything remotely suspicious about this place."
"This is a nice hat!" Pisces offered as she plucked one of the wide-brimmed hats and set it on Aquarius's head. "I think it suits you!"
"...no thanks." Aquarius set the hat back on the rack with a frown. "That's not what we're here for."
Capricorn peered out the window at the guards marching away on the street. "I think we can go out now. Is there anything in this shop?"
"Aside from the hat? No, I don't think so." Pisces sighed as she turned around to where Aries was peering at a back door. "Aries, how about you?"
The shop owner hadn't shown up even after they had entered the store (with a tinkle of a bell signalling their entrance). The redhead was peering through a back-door cautiously when Pisces caught his attention. "Hm? No, I don't think so. This looks like a storage closet..." He poked his head through the door and took a glance around. "Nope, doesn't look like anything's out of place."
"It's oddly quiet." Capricorn remarked, looking around. "The guards are gone, but... nobody's returning to the streets. And the shopkeeper isn't here."
"Are we technically allowed to be in here? We're not... like, breaking in to this shop or anything, right?" Pisces mumbled.
Aquarius frowned as she approached the window where Capricorn was standing at. "Hm... he's right, though. It's suspiciously quiet and empty outside." Her heart was beginning to pound from adrenaline and she unconsciously rested a hand on her sword's hilt, which was smuggled underneath her cloak. "I don't like this."
The other two Zodiacs pressed their faces up against the window too to gaze out at the empty streets.
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Capricorn asked, turning back towards the window.
"It sounds like... chanting. No... singing." Pisces murmured, placing a hand against the window. "Singing... what song is this...?"
"Let's go outside and check it out." Aries said firmly.
"I really don't have a good feeling about this." Aquarius muttered, following Aries out the front door alongside the other two.
"To Gaebia! A history long reigns!"
Indeed; as soon as they stepped outside, the rumble of the chanting surrounded them almost immediately. The ground shook as several people in black robes – who seemed to be normal citizens – turned onto the street they had stepped out on, hoisting flags as they walked.
"In faith we march for our cause,
The chains of today — we'll endure every pain!"
"Where did they all come from...?" Capricorn murmured, sounding partially in awe as he watched the waves of dark-robed people begin to march down the street, their singing a low rumble of thunder that swept through the streets.
"We march for the future,
For our freedom once again!
To Gaebia! For our freedom we'll march!"
The short-lived song was shortly followed by chanting: "Free Gaebia!" "Down with the Tellus Republic!" and so forth. Their voices filled the streets and their footsteps hit the ground in tandem.
"They're coming this way," Pisces mumbled nervously as the wave of people flooded towards them. "Do you think we should move aside?"
"What's even going on...?" Aquarius muttered.
"Yeah, let's just –" Aries began, taking a step back towards the shelter of the shop –
– and there was a crackle and a blade of wind cut straight down the street towards the marching civilians, splitting the group in half. At the other end of the street stood several of the armed guards from before, led by a robed mage holding out a tome and an outstretched hand. Without another word, another incantation was chanted and the wind picked up, shoving the dark-robed people back.
"Stay down or we will arrest you for treason!" The mage barked. "We will use force if necessary!"
Instead, this was met with loud booing and screaming from the crowd. Clearly displeased with what the mage said, they suddenly charged forth like a herd of bulls, chanting in a single voice as they marched. "Down with the Tellus Republic!"
"Kapnós!"
The twisting, sinister pale-purple smoke leaped from the mage's hands like a coiling snake, slithering towards the group of civilians in an instant and creating a line between the knights and the protesters.
"What's –" Capricorn was cut off by a cough as the smoke washed over them. With a groan, he covered his mouth and nose with the edge of his cloak.
"I–it burns!" Pisces blinked rapidly, feeling tears unwillingly leap to her eyes as the gas stung her face, and unravelled her scarf to cover her face too. "W-what kind of tome is that?!"
Before they really had a chance to leave, another cry was heard – "Vrochí!" – and rain began to fall over the cloud of purple smoke, dispelling most of it rapidly. Something was chucked across extinguishing border and suddenly the crowd flooded forward again, chucking rocks, bricks – anything they had on hand at the armed guards.
"This is not good," Pisces murmured in a sharp intake of breath, waving a hand in front of her face as if to wave off the remainders of the smoke, as the four of them backed away towards the door of the clothes shop.
The armed guards began to march forwards, whipping out their weapons as they held out their shields with their other hands. Their wall of shields bristled with weapons as they marched towards the crowd in startling silence in comparison to the screaming and chanting of the civilians.
"We need to go!" Aquarius ordered. They made a break for the narrowing gap between the marching protesters, only to be forced back by the waves of black-robed civilians chanting as they marched towards the guards. Caught up in the tide, Aquarius suddenly found herself split off from the others.
"Dammit!" Someone snapped from nearby. She turned to catch a flash of red hair beneath a hood. She nearly called out Aries' name, but caught herself just in time.
Someone grabbed her wrist. "Aquarius!" Pisces yelped. "What should we do?" Another arc of purple smoke blazed over their heads, spitting black and purple dust down onto the people below.
"Gas!" Somebody screamed and the crowd scattered around them again.
"Vrochí!" Pisces called as she held out her tome, following the lead of the civilians and casting rain upon the smoke. Aquarius tugged her away from it in case it did fall, but this only ended up getting them stranded in the middle of the two sides. The chanting – and, Aquarius noticed with a chill – the shrieks and cries of pain – were relentlessly loud and booming, as if it were thunder itself.
Capricorn stumbled his way through the crowd towards where the two girls were, scrubbing furiously at his face. "There's some sort of poison in the smoke. Who knows what it'll do to our bodies if we keep on breathing this in..."
Aries shoved his way through the crowd towards them, swearing under his breath and patting off the pieces of black and purple dust that had emitted from the initial casting of the smoke spell. "Ugh, we need to get out of here before it gets any worse." Raising his voice, Aries began to yell, "Oi! Move it! Coming through!" as he began to shove his way past the crowds of people in black clothes.
"Who are you?" Someone suddenly snapped, grabbing the edge of Aries' cloak. Aries froze as they were met with a glare from a person beneath a black hood who was pushing his way towards the armed guards, like the rest of the crowd was.
"I'm – I'm a traveller."
"You..." The man's gaze flitted down to where Aries' sword – which was in its sheath – was now visible. Aries moved to hide it beneath his cloak, but the man made no attempt to stop him or call him out.
"We need help to overthrow the Tellus Republic. We can't let them get away with all they've done after selling out the heart of Gaebia to those wicked, vile people and treating their own civilians like this.." The man said simply, eyes alight with his own fiery determination. "We could use all the help we can get, traveller." Then as if he had never existed, he was swept away along the tide of people while screaming his own chants at the frustrated guards, who were beating away rows of people who were trying to hit them with their own makeshift weapons.
"Aries, quickly!" Aquarius urged.
The four of them managed to squeeze past the past remaining protesters and duck out into a side street, the sounds of the screaming and chanting from the street over still ringing in their ears.
Aquarius frowned and gave her own cloak a flap, shaking off the powder that had landed on her shoulders. She took a deep breath of fresh air and sighed. "Well... that was something new."
"I've never seen a tome like that in my life," Pisces murmured, "And the powder that came off it... it doesn't look like any normal spell I've seen. Could it be – could it have been...? No, where – or when would they have the time to craft up a spell like that?"
"It's definitely unnatural." Capricorn frowned. "I've heard of a smoke spell, but never one like this."
Pisces glanced up at the sky, a sigh of disappointment spilling from her lips. "Well, never mind about that. It's turning dark. Let's just meet at the inn... I guess we don't have much to report back."
"No, we do." Aries suddenly said, narrowing his eyes. "What the man said... he said the Tellus Republic 'sold out' the heart of Gaebia to an 'evil, vile group'. Is anyone thinking what I'm thinking?"
"The Eirean Church..." Aquarius murmured. "If they were working together, that would explain why they targeted Dione Village — to fulfil the Tellus Republic's aims."
"You mean... this Eirean Church — they're working with the Tellus Republic?" Capricorn breathed, a note of coldness in his voice. "So... they're both responsible for my uncle's death." He turned back towards where the screaming crowds were being dispelled by another wave of wind and poisonous gas.
"We— no, I— I need to avenge him." Capricorn murmured, glaring spitefully at where the mage was casting another spell. "It was also the Tellus Republic's fault for Lupus's death... I always knew they were cruel people, but—!"
"Capricorn, not now." Aries warned. "We have to get back to report to the others." He took Capricorn's arm and turned him away from the chaos, nudging him in the opposite direction. "We'll avenge your uncle... we'll avenge them all." Aries' hand unconsciously curled into a fist against the cloth of Capricorn's shirt. "For Mother and all those lost in the war."
-x-x-x-
Author's Note:
Good job, you just read through 4807 words! This was all over the place but I want to give each group enough screen time. I'll try to limit the size of my A/Ns now since they're probably annoying to read through. I'll see if I can post an extra chapter this weekend (since I have a lot more than I expected to have in store!)