After hearing the lady on the basket let out a pained groan followed by an exasperated hiss, I immediately dashed away from her with my hands raised.
'What? I'm trying to establish that I'm not a threat.'
'I won't take my chances.'
The claw at the end of the lady's wings pulled her up from within the basket, and I flinched a bit, swallowing my saliva with my hands raised even higher in the air. Slowly, a perfectly round pair of eyes revealed themselves from the corner guards of the basket. The Vyur lady immediately sprang up with wings spread wide and legs raised with her talons bared.
"Woah, woah, woah!" I said as I took two steps back with my hands raised even higher than before. "It's okay, miss. It's okay! You're okay."
"Who are you?" The Vyur lady bellowed with gnashed teeth.
'So much for not treating me as a threat...'
"Answer me, human! You're not from around here, aren't you? Who are you!?" She said with a stomp, leaving a nasty dent on the darkened ground.
"My name is Aleph, Lady Gertrude!"
"How did you know my name!?" Gertrude growled with her head raised high and wings flapping slowly, ready to soar.
'Why are Vyurbornes so goddamn hostile? Goodness...'
'Right...'
"Your father ordered me to--
"HOW DID YOU KNOW MY FATHER!? HOW!?" Gertrude was a few feet above the ground now, with the sharp ends of her talons pointed at me. "WHO ARE YOU!? THERE'S NO LIVING HUMAN AROUND HERE ANYMORE!? YOU'RE A FIRMAMENTIAN! WHO ARE YOU!?"
"IF YOU WOULD LET ME SPEAK, MAYBE I CAN EXPLAIN!" I raised my voice, as well. I dropped my hands as I looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows. "I won't tolerate this harassment after all I've gone through for you!"
'I'm not here to play any goddamn games. I only helped her to give me easy access to the Keep. There's nothing more I owe to her; she can follow her father into the grave if she wants!'
The angered expression on Gertrude's face now turned into shock with a twinge of guilt.
"Can I speak now?" I shook my head with eyebrows raised.
Gertrude just remained silent, but her talons are still pointed at me; it didn't seem like she would be attacking anytime soon, though.
"Thank you." I scoffed while rolling my eyes before brushing my hair up to appear at least more presentable for her fancy. "I found you trapped in a net somewhere outside of the Marshes, electrocuted till your skin seared."
Gertrude looked at her body to see black patches all over her body; some have that distinct mark of what seemed like a net.
"Then, I found your father, and--"
"My father is here?" Gertrude interrupted with a raspy voice.
I sighed, shaking my head with eyes closed. "Yes. He allowed me to ride that hot air balloon right there to repay me for my kindness." I then tapped my chest twice, looking deep into Gertrude's round sunken eyes, wanting to exemplify the fact that I, indeed, saved her. "And let me tell you, that was not a good first impression."
"Y-you mean my father?" Gertrude then slowly descended with a much-worried expression; it seemed like I made her panic a bit. And from the looks of it, this is not the first time she heard this. "I'm sorry if father said something inappropriate; I swear in the Roma name that he meant well. We will repay you well a--"
"No, no, no, no!" I interrupted. "No, I mean, I'm sorry, that's not what I'm trying to say. Forgive me. I'm very... Haa... Very tired, Miss Gertrude. Oh, and your father was the one who told me your name; wonderful guy, your father. He had been nothing but kind to me." I then scowled a bit with my eyes up while shaking my hands. "Well, mostly. Look, I'm getting out of track here. What I meant was the balloon. That was the first time I rode that damn thing, and I..." I sighed even more while looking at the tattered balloon with a defeated expression. "I will not be riding one of those damn things ever again."
Gertrude then looked at me with jaws dropped slightly. "Huh?"
I pointed my chin at the damn balloon. "The balloon, yes." Shook my head. "Not a good first impression." And sighed. "Never doing it again."
Silence then took over us for a moment.
And then laughter.
Gertrude let out a hearty peal of laughter, disturbing the stillness of the ravine with her melodious but impertinent-sounding laughter. She leaned her body backward with eyes closed and mouth wide open as she stomped her feet while tirelessly cackling away. The loudness and comical nature of her laughter began to tickle a soft spot in my head, and I started giggling with her, still wary that she might suddenly cut my head off. But our laughter thus enveloped the surroundings, breaking the tension between us immediately.
Gertrude's laughter slowly subsided as she wiped a tear on her eye with her wings. "I am so, so sorry, traveler. I've misunderstood you twice already."
"Don't mention it, miss." I chuckled while scratching the back of my head, not knowing how I got out of this situation after shouting at her earlier. "I just want to get paid already, really."
Gertrude smiled wide once more, shaking her head with an approving expression. "What's your name again, traveler?"
"Aleph." I took a step forward, looking up at her to see if she would react negatively when I approached her, but she didn't even flinch, so I walked towards her, extending my hands forward for a handshake. "Aleph Von Erich. Nice to meet you, Miss Gertrude."
Gertrude looked down at my hands with a puzzled look. "What are you doing?"
Oh, shit. Yeah, she has no hands.
"Err... Nothing." I shook my head with an awkward chuckle. "Never mind it. More than that, I think we should think about heading to the Keep as soon as possible."
"Ah, that's right! Where is father anyway? Did he scout around to find some enemies?"
"Well..."
'You're right. Maybe nice and easy first before giving the hard part.'
"Err... You see, Miss Gertrude..."
"Gertrude is just fine!" She smiled, looking excited for some reason with her head bobbing with an energized look about her. No one would have thought she was found collapsed at the side of the road earlier.
"Right, Gertrude, yeah. So, the thing is, when General Times found you with me, we flew above enemy territory."
"You mean the kapres?"
"Yeah, the kapres."
"He told you about the Marshes' hostility with the Keep?" Gertrude's smile faded, and a look of disbelief painted her face instead.
"He didn't want to tell me, but it's kinda obvious, really."
"Ah, I guess you have a point." Gertrude's smile returned. "So, what about it? It's not like they would find your balloon with all this fog, right?"
"Yeah, well... You see, Gertrude, the kapres found out about our balloon."
"No way." Gertrude looked at me with a giggle, almost as if she thought I was joking.
"Yeah... Yeah, no, I'm serious. They really did find us. And well... Your father..."
Gertrude's smile had completely crumpled upon feeling the sudden forlorn distortion in my tone; her face darkened immediately as if she had already guessed what I was trying to say.
"What about my father, Aleph?" Gertrude whispered, unmoving as her bottom lip shook and her eyes twitched.
'You're right.'
I gulped down my saliva.
"He's dea--"
BANG!
A loud explosion interrupted my words along with the sound of men screaming, an ungodly screech, and blades hitting the surface of solid stone. Gertrude immediately looked at the origin of the sound, and her eyes popped, but a very noticeable grin splattered on her face.
"FATHER!" Gertrude yelled out loud with an energized fit of laughter as she suddenly soared high into the direction of the commotion from afar.
I wanted to pull her back to prevent her from plunging into a possible enemy attack, but she was too fast, way too fast. I ran after her, but I still couldn't
"No, Gertrude, your father is already--"
I was about to reveal the truth behind what really happened to her father in our attempt to fly above enemy territory when I saw it. I still couldn't believe it myself, but Gertrude was right.
A Vyurborne with gold lingerie was soaring in the sky with a harpoon piercing his wing. Strong blade-like breeze pumps out of his wings with blood still spilling out of his wounds. It seemed like
That's Times!
'HE'S ALIVE!?'
I was about to grin just like Gertrude after seeing Times holding up his own against what I could only describe as an uncertain battle against countless kapres. That was when, from below Times, a net suddenly popped and shot into the air, directly into the Vyurborne warlord like a shark, jumping from underneath the seas and chomped him in one bite. Like seeing a messed up deja vu, Times flew before me again, but this time, there was really no way for him to escape. As if the net was not torturous enough, a spark of electricity flashed around Times in a snap and immediately charred his wings.
And then, I heard the muffled, deep voice of a loud man.
"The Vyur warlord is down! Bring his head to me!"
And an ensemble immediately screamed back. "Yes, Lord Bismarck!"