FicWad

note: 'Seville' is a made-up village. All of the other towns on the Lacour cotinent have a European sound to them, so I went and stole the name of a European city when I needed to name the village.


"All right, Celine, you hold onto the book. Those things-" Bowman jerked a finger in Ashton's direction, intending the dragons "-are afraid of you. I'll hold the map, since I've been to Seville before. I hadn't realized any of the junk they kept there was actually real, though."

Seville was an outlying- far past the front line- village in Lacour with a near famous shrine of 'religious artifacts.' Some of them had belonged to Tria, while others supposedly had been touched by the Warrior of Legend. According to Keith, a magical stone needed in the ritual to exorcise the dragons was housed in one of the shrines there, and so Bowman, Celine, and Ashton were off to get it.

"Do you think they'll let us walk in and take it?" Ashton asked anxiously.

"Are you kidding? They'll be glad to give it to you. If we actually manage to exorcise the dragons with one of their pieces of junk, they'll be hailing it as a miracle for years. They'd probably pay you to try it." Bowman folded the map up and slipped into his pocket. Originally only Celine and Ashton had planned to go, but the two of them would never make it to Seville, let alone to the proper stone in the shrine. They needed someone like Bowman to make sure they didn't get themselves killed. Or sidetracked by shiny things, for that matter.

"Um, I forgot to get something- I'll be right back." Ashton leaned his pack against the side of the pharmacy and ducked back inside. Less than a minute later, the man who'd been following Ashton for the past few days came into view from around the side of another building.

That kid had way better senses than anyone gave him credit for. Maybe it had something to do with those dragons.

"Oh, why, hello." Celine's smile seemed even more forced than the one she usually wore in dealing with annoying people. "What can we do for you?"

"I think your friend is avoiding me," he said abruptly.

"Really, darling? Whatever gave you that idea?" Celine asked, false sweetness melting out of her voice like sugar candy dropped in water. "The fact that he runs and hides whenever you come near him? He would have told you off a long time ago, but he really is terribly insecure. If I were him, you would be in a rather unpleasant situation right now- but luckily I'm not him, so if you wouldn't mind leaving before he has a change of heart, darling?"

There was a strangled sound from the other side of the pharmacy door, and Celine shifted her weight subtly so that she braced it closed. The man just looked at her as if he were too outraged to say anything, but after a moment he turned abruptly and walked away. Celine stepped away from the door, looking for all the world as if nothing had happened.

"I think I remember why I broke off that engagement," Bowman muttered. Luckily, Celine either didn't hear him or chose to ignore it in favor of Ashton, who opened the door warily and stepped outside when he realized his stalker had left.

"I can't believe you, Celine," Ashton managed weakly.

"Well, it's not like you'd ever tell him that for yourself, darling." Celine stood her ground, slipping the book into her valise as she spoke to protect it from any further attacks by the dragons. "Are we ready to go, then?"


"I still think we should have called a bunny," Celine complained when they finally reached Seville. They'd spent the past two days walking through the wilderness, often encountering the remnants of the monster horde from El in addition to the usual bandits and wild animals. Not that it was difficult for the three of them to get past anything that confronted them, because it wasn't- it was just tedious after while, beating down things so much weaker than they were. Now it was early afternoon on the third day and they were all ready for a break.

"Well, we're here now. If you want one one the way back, you'll have to harrass Ashton until he agrees." Bowman shrugged. "I take it you two never frequented restaurants, or Ashton would know that you eat bunnies-"

"Now why on earth would I go out to dinner with a gay man, Bowman?" Celine asked him sweetly. "Don't raise your eyebrow at me, darling- you can't tell me it wasn't obvious to you too."

"Um, I am standing right here, you know," Ashton spoke up meekly.

"Yes, darling, we know that," Celine said placatingly. "Anyway, where is this temple we're supposed to go to?"

"Which one?" Ashton asked, looking up the street with a growing look of dismay. The entire main square of Seville was lined with temples and shrines, as if this were some sort of bizarre Fun City for religion. In front of nearly every one there were prosyletizers pressing information on passerby, trying to tempt them into joining their particular sect.

"The main temple to Tria, which is the only reputable church in the whole place- it's further in, it'll be the only one where you don't get mobbed." Bowman directed them through the center of the square, at a safe distance from the evangelists to either side of them, and to the far end of the town. "It definitely wasn't anything like this the last time I was here. Seville used to be about half this size, and the only place of religious interest was the temple of Tria where the artifacts are."

"I think one of those men with the terrible beards just called me a harlot. I wonder if he believes in Heraldry in that religion?" Celine asked, fingers tightening around her staff.

"Please don't incinerate anyone until we're on our way out. The priesthood of Tria sort of frowns on that, and we'll want to make a good impression on them if we want them to let Ashton use that stone." Bowman put a restraining hand on Celine's arm. "When we leave, you can destroy them all."

"I thought you said they wanted me to use it." Ashton frowned.

"That was before I knew the town had gone to this." Bowman removed his hand from Celine's arm and gestured to the mess around them in distaste. "They probably get a lot more people trying to use their artifacts for nonsense now. As long as Celine doesn't torch half the town before we get there, it should be pretty clear that we're not trying to con them- those lizards are as compelling of proof as it gets that you're actually possessed."

"Sir! We can save you from the demons!" One of the prosyletizers that Celine had referred to as 'the men with terrible beards' ventured into the middle of the square to stand in their path. He pointed at Bowman. "We know how easy it is to be led into temptation! The demon and the harlot were put in your path to lead you astray, but you can still be saved!"

"I'm guessing you're the demon and I'm the harlot," Celine murmurred to Ashton, rolling her eyes. Suddenly, as if taken by an idea out of nowhere, she smiled evilly and walked up to the man. He shrank back from her, but she just continued forward relentlessly until there was hardly any space between them at all. "And are you volunteering to take his place?" She raised a finger to his beard flirtatiously- and a spark flew from it, setting his beard aflame.

"You witch!" He bellowed, beating at the fire- which was really only smouldering and letting off a great deal of smoke, not burning outright- and hopping away from her. "You'll pay for standing against the god Alzor!" Celine ignored his threats, walking back to where Bowman and Ashton stood. Bowman looked amused and Ashton just looked lost.

"...Alzor? That has got to be the stupidest name for anything I have ever heard, and that includes the ones in Claude's horrific books." Celine shook her head and led the way onward towards the temple of Tria. Unsurprisingly, the religious fanatics on the street left them alone after that.

"I wonder if any of them would know how to-" Ashton didn't even finish his sentence before Celine cut him off.

"Don't even think about it, darling. These fringe religions come with baggage that you definitely don't need." Celine spoke as if she were suddenly an authority on so-called fringe religions and not a woman who had just been slighted by a priest from such a faction. "Let's just stick with the temple of Tria."

"You might actually have a point there," Bowman admitted. "Now let's go before any more of the clergy of Alzor decides to take offense."

Ashton nodded, resolutely not looking to either side. He was sure (and with good reason) that all of the fanatics were staring at him. And it didn't help that the entire affair put Gyoro and Ururun in a bad temper to begin with; they were alternating between glaring at the crowd, glaring at Ashton, and glaring at Bowman and Celine. He just hoped they would behave.

"Darling, I think it's a little late to worry about them taking offense." Celine spoke as if she hadn't caused the entire incident. Bowman just shook his head, not even bothering to argue with her, and walked on.

"Um- it looks like something's going on up there." Ashton spoke up nervously, pointing ahead towards the temple of Tria.

"Where isn't something going on here?" Celine asked, but she did draw herself up to try and see over the crowd gathering on the temple steps. The temple of Tria was the largest building they'd seen in the town, and that said a lot given the profusion of bizarre alternate religions they just passed. "I have to admit, though, I've never seen such a crowd outside a temple of Tria. Well, except for that one time after the destruction of Clik and everyone thought the world was ending."

"And everyone thought right," Bowman pointed out. Ashton winced at the blatant cynicism, but Celine only raised a delicate eyebrow. "Might as well see what's causing a problem up there. I hope one of these fanatics isn't causing trouble in the legitimate temples now."

"No, darling, it doesn't look like any of them are here," Celine said slowly, as she looked over the crowd. "These look like... mercenaries. I hadn't realized fighters for hire were particularly religious."

"We aren't." Ashton shook his head. "Most of the religions I've ever heard of- and, um, I've heard ot a lot of them looking for good-luck charms- condemn fighting for money. We're supposed to help people for free."

"Then what on earth do they want?" Celine asked, trying and failing to move through the crowd of swordsmen and assorted other adventurers. "Excuse me, I'd really like to get up to the front to see what's going on- oh, what am I doing? I sound like Ashton." She raised her staff and suddenly the crowd parted, cut right down the middle by a gust of wind. Celine walked primly through the makeshift aisle, smiling brilliantly at the angry crowd pinned back to either side by the wind.

"What's wrong with being polite?" Ashton asked, wounded by Celine's offhand dismissal of his methods. Still, he and Bowman followed her through the parted mass of people. "Celine, you could try being nice once in awhile."

"I am nice, darling." Celine turned around and put a hand over her heart dramatically. "It really wounds me that you would insinuate I'm not!"

Unfortunately, she swung her staff when she made the dramatic gesture. The wind slowed and then stilled, and the crowd flowed back around them. The three of them were suddenly trapped in the middle of a crush of people- people who were less than happy with them, especially Celine. It looked like they weren't going to get anywhere in the hostile crowd- until someone jostled Gyoro a bit too hard. Both of the dragons suddenly went totally still, and without any warning launched into an absolute battle-frenzy.

When the fire and ice finally died down and the crowd members who hadn't fled were looking at Ashton in horror, Gyoro and Ururun just blinked at them all innocently, as if they hadn't just completely decimated a crowd of adventurers.

"How could you do that?" Ashton burst out, covering his face with his hands in embarrassment. "I've told you two time and time again, you have to behave in public! You can't just go around being crazy like that!"

"Unless you're Celine," Bowman said under his breath. Celine elbowed him in the side, hard, and then turned to Ashton. Or rather, to the dragons.

"While I very much appreciate your dealing with the crowd, darlings, Ashton is right. There are rules of decorum to be followed in public. Now, if you had done that in the religious zoo back there, it would have been perfectly polite." Celine patted first Gyoro and then Ururun on the head, and they didn't do anything but glare at her. Neither of them would dare try and take her hand off.

Inside the temple, things were a little better. Namely, the adventurers were in three neat lines rather than one disjoined mass; each of the three lines led to a desk manned by a temple clerk.

"What in the world...." Celine trailed off.