Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 4

Chapter 14: Rain on the Battlefield

(PART 1)

"So my father has died..." said a girl with long black hair that parts at her shoulders.

With her bright blue eyes, she is reading a notice that a man had just handed her. She puts the letter on her desk and gestures to the man to leave the room, the man obliges and leaves her to her lonesome.

She sighs and leans back, she rubs her temples and says to herself, "At least you didn't go out completely disgraced."

The girl rests her head on her hand and looks at a framed picture of she and her father Ditreig.

Ditreig Von Ronheim, the man who was once the Commanding General of the Eiyalazonian military. But due to the failure during the Battle of La'Juune, he was disgraced and demoted all the way to private.

This girl is in a large room that is sparkling clean, but the desk in which she sits is very messy with papers and books scattered on it; hundreds of books rest on shelves that line the circular walls. The entirety of this room is made from fine wood that glosses perfectly in the light.

She sits there in the amber glow of the room in silence, leaning back in her chair when she hears the door knock.

"Come in."

The door opens and in comes a radiant man who looks to be in his early twenties, he has dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"I heard the news..." he said with a sympathetic look on his face.

The girl puffs, "I don't need anything along the lines of pity, Prince Dice."

The man named Dice is the older brother of Daey and Niera, he is the only son of the King of Eiyalazo and the heir to the throne. But one wouldn't know this judging by the way this girl fails to address him as so.

"So skidaddle." she hisses while waving the back of her hand at him.

Dice shuts the door behind him and stays in the room.

"No."

The girl frowns and looks away in annoyance. "Cut it with the honor act, I can see what you're trying to do and it's not going to work." "i just want to be of help to you..."

"I don't need help with anything. And even if I did, I doubt you'd be of any use."

Dice looks troubled and shifts his gaze to the ground, it is obvious that he has been affected by her harsh words but it would seem that he is trying his hardest to hold it in.

The girl glares at him and faintly smiles, "On second thought, perhaps you can help me."

His face lightens up in excitement. "Really? What is it?"

She lifts a pen in her hand and twirls it in her fingers as she says, "I want you to make an exception on the no fighting women clause for the military."

"Huh? Why do you want me to do that?"

She stops twirling the pen and frowns, "I thought you said you wanted to help me?"

"Well yeah, but I won't be able to do something like that without a good reason."

The girl stands and walks to him, she looks him in the eye and simply says, "I want you to convince the King to allow me to fight in battle."

"You meant for you!? I can't just put you into danger like that!"

She lifts her hand and slides it across his face softly. She can feel him melt in her palm as though he were hypnotized.

"Say my name."

"Huh?"

"Just say it, Prince Dice."

He stares into her sky blue eyes and says, "Rain... Rain Von Ronheim."

She again faintly smiles and gently shoves him away. "Very good, now think about that name and ask yourself why I would want to fight."

He lets loose the tension in his shoulders and drops his head when he quietly says,

"Revenge..."

"That's right, I want to find the one who killed my father. I refuse to allow that name to be rubbed into the mud any more than it already has."

Dice has a bad feeling about all of this but he knows how important these kinds of things are to the Eiyalazonian people. This country's residents are filled to the brim with over exhuming pride, so much so that it clouds their better judgment and throws reasoning out of the window.

He turns his back and opens the door, on his way out he says, "I'll see what I can do."

He then shuts the door behind him, leaving Rain alone.

She looks out of the window and looks at the view of massive trees, unlike the forest in which her father died in, this place is more of a tree lined utopia. Almost every house is made of white stone and marble, they do this because even though there is an abundance of wood, in case of a fire they can hide safely in their extravagant homes that are close to completely fire retardant while the firefighters try to stop the blaze. The streets are made out of smooth and hardened wood making the huge city look like it blends in with the forest ground even with the anomalous looking homes and buildings.

Rain takes a deep breath and once again turns away, but this time it is back to her desk. On it sits a large piece of paper that looks a lot like a map.

Looking closely, one can see that this is a battle plan, the green and red marks signify the Eiyalazonians, the yellow marks the La'Juutians, and the blue marks the Trojans. The blue is clashing with the red on the east side and the yellow is clashing with the red on the west.

This is without a doubt a blueprint of the war, she points her finger on the big circle of red and green that is based in the center of Eiyalazo and slides it up northwest, she taps it on a spot of the map that is a part of Troy.

"This is where I'll fight, if I'm correct in my assessment, our troops will head to the Trojan city of Tronoble and fight the main core of Trojan soldiers that are stationed there. Judging by this map, the La'Juutians will most certainly be heading there as well."

Rain doesn't know which opposing army assassinated Ditreig, but she is almost positive that it was the Trojans. And it turns out she happens to know exactly what branch of the Trojan military that was located the closest to her father's location at the time of his death.

(The 105th Specialist Division.) she thinks to herself.

With her finger, she plots out where they will be and finds that their force will be a roadblock on her path to Tronoble.

"Hmph... I will annihilate this division and head to what will be the biggest battle of the war. And with my leadership, there will be a grand victory for Eiyalazo."

Rain is only seventeen, but she is the best Battlefield Strategist in the country. Though there hasn't been a war before this one to show off her skills, much like Prince Noah of La'Juune, she showed incredible genius in her simulations and that alone allowed her to be part of the elite group of non military strategists. But when one of her plans was used in the offensive against Troy and it succeeded greatly, she was promoted, and throughout the four battles she has been involved in she holds a perfect record, thus her rise up to this rank was quick and painless.

She laughs and walks out of the door, she is in what Eiyalazo boasts to be the largest castle in the world, and that is very true. This castle is made of marble and stone just like the other houses and buildings but this is on an other worldly scale; it is at least forty stories high at its high poin,t and stretches more than a half mile from its east wing to its west. On the top of the castle, just above the penthouse is a hundred yards of garden and trees that stand above all else, and this is where Rain is heading.

After walking for quite some time, she reaches the stairway that leads to double doors, once opened, she finds herself in a Garden of Eden type environment.

In the center of this sits a massive tree, and many different kinds of fruit trees are placed decoratively in the area. Other than the small cobblestone pathway that winds through them, the ground is all grass and other crops of vegetables and fruit. Not to be outdone, flowers of every color line the pathway giving this place the feel of a fairy tale that belongs in a painting.

Just ahead sits a bench more towards the edge of the roof, allowing it to own the most spectacular view in all of the country. Rain sits on the bench, sighs, and lays on her back; from where the sun is positioned and the trees that hang overhead makes a partial shadow that casts over her face and body.

She ganders at the sunlight through the trees and listens to the birds sing, their melodies make her a little tired so as soon as she rests her eyes she falls asleep.

"...Rain."

Her name rings through her head and wakes her from her sleep, she opens up her eyes and the first thing she notices is that the sun is shining lower and the scenery has more of an orange tint due to the star's descent behind the horizon. The shadow that once cast over her body is now gone and her own shadow is facing the opposite way.

(How long was I asleep for?) she asks herself as she rubs her eyes.

It is close to sundown and the light is beginning to reach the horizon.

"Did you enjoy your sleep?"

Rain turns to the voice and sees a man wearing a crown dressed in royal garments, he has dark brown hair and light brown eyes. His well groomed appearance exudes class and the way he stands perfectly astute with his chest puckered out makes his statuesque presence domineering. Next to him is a woman, she is rather tall and has very light off red hair and light off red eyes that can be considered pink. The woman smiles and says, "You weren’t in your office, but we always know that we can find you here."

Rain makes eye contact with the two and bows. "I must apologize for having you two look for me."

The man stands astute with his hands held behind his back and properly responds, "That's beside the point, Prince Dice asked us for a favor on your behalf."

Rain stands up and stiffens, "Yes sir."

The man rubs his beard and says, "The rules of the military have been in place since this country's founding, and I do not want to do anything that desecrates the honor of our founders."

When he says this, Rain has to struggle not to frown, she holds it in as he continues.

"But, this is a world war, and if we lose this war we run the risk of not even having a country to honor our ancestors in. So after careful consideration with my wife, I decided to allow you to join the military as a Brigadier General, but I will not allow you to fight. Your skills as a strategist far surpass your worth as an expendable soldier. I hold a strong belief that you leading a mass of soldiers from the front lines will be much needed to secure a future for our country."

Rain once again bows and says to them both, "King and Queen Di'Vore... I give you my humble thanks."

The man turns and walks away into the garden, before he disappears in the greenery he says his final words, "I'll have you sent to the 1st Royal Army division. What you do with them, will entirely be up to you... I pray you don't end up like your father."

"Yes sir."

"Don't take offense in Gile's words about your father... I'm sure he's just worried about you. You are our daughter’s closest friend, as harsh as he can be at times I know he considers you family." said the Queen.

Rain sits back down on the bench and says, "I didn't take offense, Queen Di'Vore."

The Queen smiles and waves her hand, "Now now, no need to be so formal with me Rain, you can call me Dianna."

Rain stays silent, she looks uncomfortable with calling the leading woman of the country by her first name.

Dianna sighs and puts her hand on Rain's shoulder, "I hope one day you can consider me more as a friend rather than the Queen."

Rain bows and seemingly ignores her words when she replies, "I shall try my best to do so Queen Dianna."

Dianna chuckles and begins to walk away. "You know, you mean the world to my son... so please be safe out there."

Now alone, the weight of the King and Queen's presence is lifted off her shoulders, she takes a deep breath and looks out over the city that stretches to the horizon that is enveloping the sun. Rain frowns and feels a gripping pressure in her chest.

"If only you two knew how much I despise you both."

Rain has held a great hatred for King Gile and Queen Dianna ever since the Battle of La'Juune.

She feels this way because of the public humiliation of her father Ditreig when he was dishonored and demoted all the way to the lowest rank in the military. Because they came from nobility beforehand, they still had courtship status so Ditreig shrugged it off and took it in stride. But it really affected an adolescent Rain, she was relentlessly bullied and shunned by all of her peers. Even when she tried to cope, it became impossible to ignore when her mother committed suicide because of the constant harasssment and shame.

Since Ditreig was out doing grunt work in the army, Rain was left alone in what she felt as a hostile environment of the castle at the young age of twelve. In her mind and logic, all of this grief was caused by the King and Queen when they chose to disgrace her father. It was bad enough that the army had failed miserably when victory was in their hands, there was no need to punish their own men by rubbing salt into their wounds. This has grown into such a hate for her leaders that she contemplated assassination. However, due to her friendship with Princess Daey, she internally renounced her intent to do so.

So now the only thing she cares or thinks about is finding who killed her father and exacting her revenge. In an odd way, she is now free to harness the many years of anger built up in her and now has a chance to unleash it onto someone without the fear of consequence.

She still has a lingering thought in the back of her mind of what she would do about this hate if the currently missing princesses were to turn up dead, she doubts she’d be able to hold onto her resentment with no one left to keep her from acting upon it.

Back when she was younger, the only person that came to her aid and comfort was none other than Daey Di'Vore. Daey supported her when her father was dishonored and joined her in mourning when her mother passed, and she did this despite all of their other contemporaries shunning her. With Daey's support, the bullying stopped and she was able to resume her normal life and proceed in her career as a Strategist.

For this she is forever indebted and she will never forget it.

The sun sets and Rain watches the first star shine in the sky followed by the first street light to shine on the ground.

"Though I must give you my regards for allowing me join the military, I must forfeit your order for me not to fight." She stands and walks down the pathway. "I only have one goal, and in order for me fulfill it, I must do it with my own two hands."

Just a few feet in front of her stands Dice, he looks troubled and it seems like he's been there for a while.

"Have you been waiting for me?" she asks.

Dice leans against a tree and replies, "Yeah... so my parent's talked to you right?"

"They did."

"I know my parents gave you their approval, but I must ask you to reconsider."

"No." she very bluntly replied.

Dice frowns and raises his tone, "What if you were captured!? You could die out there! You cou-----"

Rain interrupts his speech by holding her hand out and pointing her index finger up.

"Why would you care?"

Dice's shoulders jolt and he takes a step back.

"Because I... I!"

"Because you what?" Rain asks with a straight face.

Dice again jumps back and shouts, "I care for you Rain! I don't want anything to happen to you."

"That doesn't answer my question, I already knew that. What I want to know is why you even bother with such a useless feeling. I treat you like shit you know? Are you some kind of masochist?"

Her words are poisonous like venom, this really does prove her point on how she treats the Prince.

But Dice doesn't care, with a serious face he takes a step closer to her and says, "I don't need a reason to love someone."

"Pfft..." Rain puffs, "Hahahahaha you've got to be kidding me."

Once again, a brutal reply to the conveying of his feelings.

He stands his ground and stares into her eyes.

Rain folds her arms and asks, "Well, if you're not kidding, I must ask you what kind of love that is?"

"Huh?"

"You should know what I mean Prince Dice, I do believe you have your love placed in the wrong person for the wrong reasons."

Dice looks confused and asks, "I don't get where you're going with this."

"I am trying to say that I'm not your sister. And I don't want you to dote on me the way you doted on them..."

She continues to throw arrows into his heart by saying such harsh words, unfortunately for him this is exactly what she feels.

Back when they were younger, Dice was overly protective of Daey and Niera. So much so that Rain thought he really had a sister complex. When he found out that they had disappeared in La’Juune, the devastation he felt could be seen a mile away, and ever since then he has been acting the same way towards Rain as he did his two younger sisters.

Rain finds this kind of thing pathetic, she thinks it would be similar to her situation if she would run to older men and treat them like her father, or the same with a mother figure. This kind of love is something she wants no part of, and even though she knows this is Dice's way of coping, she won't budge in her decision to ignore his feelings until he realizes that she is not his sister.

"That's not how it is!" Dice shouts as he puts his hand on his chest.

Rain chuckles, "It is, you just don't know it yet. Once we find Daey and Niera you'll forget all about this mess of a feeling you hold towards me."

Dice frowns and squeezes his royal over coat, this catches Rain's attention when she notices something on his hand.

"What is that on your hand?"

"O-On my hand?"

"Yeah, on your right hand, there’s a mark there."

Dice quickly removes his hand from his chest and throws it in his pocket.

"I-I burnt it earlier and put some medicine on it."

Rain runs her fingers through her hair and begins to walk past him. "You should bandage that up then.”

Dice watches her walk out of sight and nervously smiles, "Ah yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking!"

Once Rain leaves, Dice looks very troubled, he pulls his right hand out of his pocket and looks at the back of his hand. It's getting close to being completely dark and he can hardly see what's there, he moves it closer to his face and sees a black pentagram imprinted into his skin. He laughs for a second and then frowns.

"Damn that snake... she’s no different now than she was before, he better not be lying."

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