Chapter 8: Guardian Stars

“No way!” exclaimed Gregory. “Your name’s Diana?”

“Yup.” Gregory’s face exploded in a smile, and he nearly bounced with joy.

“No way!” he exclaimed again. “Are you the Diana??”

“Maybe.” Gregory’s smile didn’t decrease in the least.

“So, did you belong to the, ahhh ... to the, ahhh...”

“Chikyou,” offered Dana.

“Yeah, the Chikyou! Did you ever belong to them?” He was smiling, but Diana Jade was anything but happy. Snorting, she turned her back to him.

“I belong to nobody,” she insisted. “But if you must know, yeah ... I was once a member of the Magic Stars.”

“And is it true that you were kicked out due to some unusual circumstance?” guessed Dana. Diana let out a groan and craned her head just slightly.

“If you call an accidental murder ‘unusual circumstances’, then ... yeah.”

“No way!” exclaimed Gregory yet again. “You must be the Diana that Zet was looking for! Oh, man! He’s gonna totally freak when he learns that we found you!!”

“Zet? Who’s Zet?” grumbled Diana. Gregory calmed down long enough to give her an answer.

“Hm ... I thought you’d know who he is, but I guess you’ve never met him before.” Diana shrugged, and crossed her arms defensively. In the meantime, Greg and Dana had to decide what they were going to do with their two new companions. Sayrah had given Greg instructions to “take care of them”, and to have them along (for reasons unknown) in their journeys, but her ambiguity made Greg wonder what their purpose was.

He figured that reuniting with Zet was a must. The last time the two travelers had seen the elfish man, he had been so offended by Greg’s friend Sahn that he up and left in a hurry. His whereabouts were unknown, but with Sahn briefly out of the picture, Zet could once again join them in civility and fulfill “his” duty. Zatore Thorndale (his real name) had never given any logical reason why he wanted to protect Diana, only that he felt it was his duty, or something.

“Well, I guess we’d better find him,” said Dana suddenly. Greg agreed, but neither Jerwon nor Diana knew who she was referring to.

“Yeah ... Zet’d have a heart attack when we tell him that we found Diana.”

“Excuse me for a second, but who’s this Zet guy?” came the voice of Jerwon. Greg knelt down to the Leduadian’s height and began explaining--in a most unwise fashion.

“Well, little guy, Zet’s this elf bounty hunter, see, and...”

“‘Little guy’?”

“Yeah yeah ... anyway, he’s this bounty hunter who’s been lookin’ for this Diana chick for awhile now...”

“‘Diana chick’?”

“Yeah yeah ... anyway, he’s been lookin’ for her for some time. Now, he left our party a day or two ago to look for her on his own, and I guess he didn’t have any luck because Dana and I found her first.”

“I hate being called little,” grumbled Jerwon.

“And I hate being called a chick,” grumbled Diana. Dana rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh too hard.

“Hoboy ... Shift, you’re cuttin’ your own throat here...”

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her with a smile. He then turned his focus back to Jerwon, and continued to talk to the Leduadian like he was as young as he looked. “So anyway, kid...”

“‘Kid’?”

“Yeah yeah ... anyway, now that we found this Diana girl...”

“‘Girl’?”

“Yeah yeah ... anyway, now that we found her, we should definitely find Zet again, cuz’ he wanted to protect Diana from some Magic guy or somethin’.”

“(Idiot),” grumbled Dana as she covered her face in shame. Though she was only two years older than her partner, she sometimes felt as if she were watching over a little kid. Greg certainly was acting like one as he spoke to Jerwon, and although Dana knew he couldn’t help it (because of his background), she still grew irritated every time he acted immaturely. Sighing, she walked over to Jerwon and apologized, and apologized to Diana as well. The green-haired Leduadian snorted a little, and forgave the “older” man only because he was a friend of Sayrah.

After the basics of their mission had been explained, Dana and Greg volunteered to take Diana to Zet, and hopefully their adventures on Earth would conclude after that. It was decided that Jerwon would become a permanent part of the team, even though he couldn’t endure Greg.

The young male adventurer meant well, but most of his habits were brought on by years of being raised by wild and extremely zealous parents. Dana had been reared with protocol and etiquette, and although she rarely displayed any of these qualities anymore, she had a whole lot more decorum than her partner. And now with Jerwon in the roster, things would only get stranger.

For the moment, friction between the four of them would have to be put aside. It was true that Jerwon and Greg got off to a bad start, and it seemed as if Diana detested everything except the small Leduadian, but for now they had to work together. Zet had to be found again, and Earth was a big place to look for a single elf, and nobody had the first idea where to start looking.

Luckily, Dana had resources. She gently coaxed Naja to uncoil himself from her arm, and whispered something to the aviaptile. The creature made a hissing sound, weaved its head around for a minute or two, then “spoke” back to his mistress. Dana smiled lightly, and turned towards her three companions.

“He’s got a link,” she said. “It’s not strong, but it’s the best one we have so far.”

“Excuse me,” said Jerwon, pointing to the snake with wings, “but what is that?”

“A mutation,” answered Dana. “It’s called an aviaptile, a flying serpent, and it has some small telepathic abilities. Naja and I are empathetically bonded, so we communicate through a special mind link. Basically, I asked him to scout out Zet for us, and he seems to have found him.”

“Oh. So he’s psychic?”

“A little,” answered Dana. “Naja’s predictions are usually correct, but they’re not perfect. I don’t usually rely on him unless I have to, but he’s got his strong points.”

“Like that vicious bite,” muttered Greg. Dana smiled at his very dry humor, and silently apologized one last time for that “incident”. He shrugged it off, and let his female partner lead the way, since she was probably the only one among them who really knew where to go. Jerwon followed at a distance, Diana close by his side.

After fifteen minutes of walking, Greg slowed his step down a little so he could talk to Diana. Now that she was out of the sacred light that Sayrah’s forest provided, she looked even darker and deadlier than ever. She was almost completely naked, except for a tattered pair of shorts and a shredded tank top. She did not even have coverings for her feet, just those two items. From the looks of it, her clothes had been torn up in a fight, but with demi-humans, one never knew.

“So, what’s the whole story?” he asked. “What’s the connection with you and the Magic Stars? What made them kick you out? Was it because you’re a demi-human?”

“Just shut up,” she muttered, keeping her gaze straight ahead of her. Greg made a face but didn’t give up so easily.

“I just wanna know what’s goin’ on, that’s all. C’mon, I have a right to know.” Suddenly, Diana bolted around, clamped onto his collar, and lifted his entire body off of the ground. Diana was a short woman, but apparently she was powerful enough to lift someone taller and heavier than herself.

“Listen, you!” she snarled. “I don’t wanna be bothered by you ever again! I don’t wanna hear you asking me any more pointless questions, got that?! I didn’t come with you just to be pestered, all right?! So just leave me alone!!” And with that, she tossed poor Gregory to the ground, and continued forward with a huff. Dana sighed and shook her head, and wondered why she felt sorry for her partner, even though he deserved the abuse from his endless interrogation.

“Hey...” Diana paused in her tracks, turned around, and gave Dana a vicious glare.

“What?“

“Ask him what happened to his mother after his father died in the last war,” she said. Diana’s angry face quickly turned into one of confusion, and she gave Greg a questioning look. The young man sighed, rolled his eyes, and apologized.

“ ... Okay, okay, I see your point ... I’m sorry, I really am. I guess I forget what it’s like for other people who have a bad past. I’m really sorry, really I am! Can you ever forgive me?” He paused, and almost got down on his knees to beg for the demi-human’s forgiveness. Diana drew in a deep breath, her face neither angry nor confused, nor anything.

“Yes,” she said huskily, “but not today. I’m still mad at you.”

“Fair enough...” Greg drew up to his full height again, and walked past Diana with the silence of a shinobi. Suddenly, he said, “She married another man.”

“Huh?”

“My mother,” he said, looking first at Dana then Diana. “My mother married another man, about a year after my dad was killed.” A pause, and both women grew somber looks on their face as they began to understand the young man a little more.

“Oh. And?”

“That’s all I can say for now,” he told his partner. “I promise that one day I’ll explain everything, as I hope Miss Jade will explain everything, but not until I’m ready. Okay?” Dana pursed her lips, and silently nodded in agreement. Gregory had never mentioned much about his past, so this was a pretty big revelation. Dana already had a few theories to tie in the rest, but she kept them as just theories and dropped the whole thing for a time.

“I wasn’t always like this,” said Diana suddenly. Both Greg and Dana turned to look at her, and her bitter face grew a little softer. “I didn’t always look like this,” she said again, displaying her claws and tail. “I was once a ‘pure’ human, like you two.”

“I see,” said Greg gently. “Well, I’m sorry for bugging you about it. I just wanted to know what was going on.” Diana shrugged, and a smile came out of the young man’s mouth as she told him that she too would reveal her past when she was ready--just not now.

“There,” pointed Dana, indicating a more sophisticated ale house than what they had seen before. “Naja says that he’s in there.”

“Good, let’s get this done,” said Greg, pulling his pants up a little. Jerwon rolled his eyes and kept his silence as the taller man stepped into the tavern first. It was one of those theme places, where most of the décor represented another time and place, particularly the ancient wooden bars that one might’ve found in millennia-old epic stories. It had tapestries and banners, and shields and swords all hung around the walls, and even the glasses of beer were made out of wood. The place had a medieval look to it, and if the foursome didn’t know any better, they would have sworn they had just stepped back a few thousand years in time.