Ch. 15 -Family Feud

"So then," Nadiel began, "what must we do? What has become of our village?" His former lieutenant, Talya of the Gamaliel family, explained the circumstances that brought her and the others to him. "When the 63 of us first heard the Hierarch's message in our dreams we were struck with disbelief, but every sign he spoke of was the truth. Just as he predicted, the current Lord Ellis began to do needless things just to recover you. He tightened the guard; at this point anything that breathes is designated a threat and will be summarily put to death if they wander even within eyeshot of our borders. I've lost count of how many innocent lives our gatekeepers have taken. He's also sent countless scouting teams to comb the jungle to find even a trace of you, with no regard to whose borders they have to cross to do it. The whole region's up in arms about it, any day now vicious reprisals will come from all directions." Nadiel rubbed his forehead with his fingers as he gently shook his head and let out a slow, rasping sigh. "Its too soon, I wasn't expecting the geezer to lose his patience this early. I'll admit, this isn't good. He has me right where he wants me. He knows that I won't stand idly by when a catastrophe like this is brewing, but he doesn't know what I'll do about it."

A subtle shift in the shadows within the greenery suddenly drew Nadiel's gaze as he remembered about the gigantic observer who had been lurking there for the past few minutes, eager as ever to satisfy her endless curiosity and hunger. After administering his typical muttering of frustration, Nadiel called out to her. "I know you're still there, Crisis, show yourself." She remained motionless for a moment, apparently surprised by his request, before beginning emerge from the brush. Even her partial appearance generated quite a bit of shock and awe within the group of Ellisians gathered there, and almost immediately the lot of them raised their weapons in preparation to defend themselves until Nadiel quickly made a series of hand signals to issue a 'stand down' order. As Crisis' face and form finally appeared in their view, Nadiel raised his arms slightly from his sides, seemingly making a gesture of control over the giant slithering up behind him, which lasted until she began her usual giggling and colloquial banter with him. "What do we have here? Did my cute little klutz find some more goofballs to keep him company?" She said as she began to poke at him playfully, which turned his already depressing facial expression into an even more pronounced scowl. "Dammit, woman, can't you maintain appearances for one bloody minute without making me look like the biggest fool on the continent?" She prodded at him some more with her finger before replying "Guess not" with another round of giggles, which only inspired more shocked expressions from Nadiel's new subordinates, who would have never conceived of a mighty commander being treated in such a way. But her excess in optimism truthfully existed to hide her real concern for the situation. Even if her promise to protect him was taken out of the equation, allowing Nadiel to participate in this futile coup d'etat and inevitably be brutally killed by members of his own species, even members of his own family was an idea that Crisis could hardly stand. She knew that the last thing he wanted was to have to fight against his own flesh and blood, become forced into taking the place as their new master, or die trying. His insistence on taking a course of action that he knew would lead to his own misery confounded her, for her own sense of logic could hardly comprehend the very human trait of honoring painful obligations.

After Crisis tried for a good while to talk him out of it, Nadiel finally took a deep breath and voiced his reasons. "This is a problem that only I can set right. I'm not going to get any enjoyment out of doing this, but it simply must be done. My home and my family are in peril, I can't abandon them now. I'm not the only one you have to watch over. What of Lea and Anna? Will you abandon them just to chase me? Just as I have my family to protect, you have yours as well and they need you right now far more than I do." Crisis cringed with anxiety, she obviously had something to say but held it in. "I'm going now." Nadiel announced firmly as he turned around and signaled to his troop to move out. Dismayed, Crisis just barely got out the words: "But I thought you were my..." while eagerly staring at his back. After letting out a long breath, Nadiel turned to her once more. "Take care" he said earnestly, "and I hope you can forgive me for this." He then swiftly drew his weapon and fired a round that just barely creased the dome of Crisis' skull, but caused a great enough impact to knock her out cold and leave her massive frame to fall unconscious to the ground with a loud thud. "She'll be up and about within the hour." Nadiel explained to the others, "We must move quickly."

After taking his men out of sensory range from the point where Crisis remained, Nadiel gathered the other commanders among him to discuss his strategy. With him was his lieutenant, two infantry captains, and the most experienced of the shieldmaidens, belonging to the Gamaliel, Azaryah, Tarfon, and Eleazar families, respectively. First thing was first, he removed his cloak and handed it over to Tarfon, whose squad was to separate from the rest of the group so that when a certain blonde wakes up from her beauty nap and uses her nose to find out where they went, she would only have a fifty/fifty chance of following the right path to him. Both teams were to begin the trip south and were to regroup before just before dawn of the next morning on the western brim of the Ascarlin Mountains. To infiltrate the village in its current state of utmost security would require the utmost cunning and guile, and to suitably deceive their peers Nadiel's force would have to put on quite a ruse. The idea was simple enough; Nadiel was to be brought straight to the villages gates by his men, posing as though they had arrested him and were bringing him back to face a court-martial. Incidentally, several members of his teams would be missing, supposedly casualties in Nadiel's struggle to avoid capture. These men would use the cover of the returning party to enter the village in secret and wait for an opportunity to free the main force, and then seize control of the village from within. Hardly a perfect scheme, but one that at least had potential for success. As the force began to move they used radio contact to continue their discussion and organize the particulars of the plan. Within a couple of hours of setting off from the meeting point most everything was already laid out. The one detail that was unexpected was that more than one of the jungle's inhabitants followed the team along the way home.

It seem the final confrontation is approaching ^_^
It was a nice chapter but I think you got Crisis a bit out of character here.. once again she is more tactful than that ^^;

Hmm, I was a bit worried that might be the case, I might have pushed it a little too far in a number of different spots. But help me out here, which actions specifically were too far out of character? Her taunting maybe? Or was it her difficulty in understanding his motives, or something else entirely?

Well in general Crisis is more clever than how you depict her. While she clealry has big problems to comprehend anything technical or concepts that are too foreign, her mind is sharp when it comes to certain things like relations between people. You can read her bio on the wiki, it has been updated ^^

I see. This might take some serious rewriting to fix. Tell me if this replacement for the second and third paragraphs sounds any better.

"Hear me, my brethren." Nadiel called to the group, "We have business to tend to back home. Seeing that our former lord and master has gone to such lengths to retrieve me, it is only fitting that he shall receive me. But we will not allow his impudence to stand. Every one of you here only heard the voice of the real Ellis because your bodies and minds have been pushed to their limits, and given the angelic blessings within you a chance to grow and blossom forth. You are the boldest, the swiftest, and the most cunning of our people. He has chosen you because you do him proud. But now is not the time to sing praises. It is our own flesh and blood that we must fight against to set right what is wrong, and it will not be pleasant. Steel yourselves for the worst, for at daybreak on the morrow it begins, with cloak and dagger." With Nadiel's speech concluded, his men turned to their individual tasks to prepare for their upcoming ordeal. Some sat down to rest, others gathered into small groups to perform related tasks. Nadiel gathered his SpecOps team together to brief them on their particular role in his scheme, but was interrupted when a subtle shift in the shadows not far away reminded him that his uncanny observer had not left the scene entirely. "Total, complete, and utter hell..." He murmured to himself, but loud enough for his men to take notice. "What ails you, commander?" One asked, but immediately Nadiel dismissed any notions of being distressed. "Nothing, nothing, pay no mind. I simply have a small matter to attend to. If you will excuse me for a moment..." And with that Nadiel hastily sped up a tree and leaped through the brush to come face to face with his curious golden-haired acquaintance. "You heard everything, didn't you?" Nadiel asked. "More or less..." Crisis answered, still cheerful as ever, but with some noticeable uneasiness at the situation, for if anything she understood it all too well. "In that case," Nadiel continued, "there's hardly anything more for me to say. I'll be off for a few days at least, I'm trusting you to take care of the others while I'm away." Seeing that Crisis was still a little bit dejected, he added: "You know, the old man might send scouts to these parts to look for me, someone will have to give them a warm welcome. It'll have to be someone quick, clever, and covert enough to catch the slippery bastards, and with an appetite to boot. But whom do I know that meets those requirements?" This may not have been the offer that Crisis was hoping to hear out of him, but the gesture did restore the smile to her face. "I understand," She answered, "You can count on me, but those scouts had better be at least half as quick on their feet as you are." For the first time in quite a while Nadiel managed a smile of his own. "Not to worry, they'll at least compare to those nekos you fancy so much. Now run along before my men find out who I've been talking to." The two quietly separated, and Nadiel returned to his troops, but not before wiping the smile from his own face and returning it to its typical scowl to avoid attracting attention. Without wasting any time he organized the resources available to him and moved out.

Ah well this would be something between the two I think.. with her acting still cheerfully, less solmeny, but not mindlessly. But in the story I am not sure Nadiel grasped this aspect of her and would react to it.. for him it seems she is rather primitive

Actually, I never meant for him to think of Crisis as being any less intelligent than he is, just that most of the times that she tried to help him out it ended up going sour so when she would show up in a time like this naturally he would be just a little worried. The relationship between the two is almost like one between a mother and child. Nadiel is at a disadvantage of not having much experience living in the jungle, and I would think that Crisis tries to set him right, but because the treatment is still so rough by human standards, Nadiel is fooled into thinking that she's out to kill him. Because of that he always tries to avoid her when he's trying to do anything serious.