The mist floated slowly but with seeming purpose along the wall of the masoned tunnel. It somehow maintained a cohesive form in a sort of loose cloud. Flying along at the same speed and in the same direction as the white mist cloud was a delicate, pretty, little fairy. Her tiny face was slightly strained as if she were trying to hear a far away sound. Even the slight melodious hum of her gossamer wings was subdued.
"Here. There's something funny about this wall," she said aloud as she turned and pointed to a blank area of wall.
The mist seethed about for a moment before coalescing into a solid form. The man's cloak swirled about him as he crouched suddenly to avoid hitting his head on the low ceiling. He found that he was required to remain hunched over as the tunnel was too short for him to stand upright.
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed in surprised displeasure. Retching sounds echoed harshly up and down the tunnel.
Fairy giggled. "You sound just like Alucard, Master D!"
She grinned as she teased this older brother of her master. She could have warned him the tunnel was too low for him to stand up in, but what was the fun in that? He always looked so stern and serious, with his looming height, dark cloak and wide-brimmed hat that so efficiently hid his brooding, though beautiful, eyes. Fairy wondered if she could ever tease a smile out of him, as she had been able to do on rare occasions from her master, Alucard. Putting that thought aside, she placed her hands on her hips and glared down sternly at D's left hand.
"Turn the other way! Do you think I want to SEE that?!" she demanded. Left Hand was throwing up all over the tunnel floor. Whatever the substance was gleamed slickly in glowing lime green, ochre and muted violet tones on the floor for a moment before vanishing completely.
"What is that anyway?" Fairy asked curiously.
"Ectoplasm. Ugg! It tastes terrible coming back up," Left Hand barfed again. "Let's solve this damned castle so we can go home, D!" he whined.
"All right," D replied reaching for his sword. He held it in his right hand and rapped the pommel of it firmly against the fragile wall. Due to his slightly hunched over position, it took longer than usual, but D finally broke through. He stepped through the hole and thankfully stood up straight again, brushing the stone dust off his shoulders as he did so.
"Bravo!" a voice, an unmistakable voice D hadn't heard for many, many years, applauded.
D looked toward the center of the room and saw his father sitting cross-legged in a chair, holding up a wineglass in a toast.
"I wondered if you would find a way to make it!" Dracula said.
D nodded in recognition.
"Father."
"D! So stiff, so formal!" Dracula remonstrated, theatrically getting up and striding over. He placed his hands on D's shoulders and looked up slightly to see into D's eyes.
"You are well? It took me a while to realize it was you, not Alucard, solving Castlevania this time," Dracula told him.
"The marble gallery," D stated flatly.
"Yes!" Dracula grinned. "I had to bump the monsters up a notch to give you a challenge, didn't I? Especially as you retained your sword and armor."
"Your hench-specter got an unwelcome surprise when he tried to take them from me," D told him.
Dracula grinned again, baring his fangs ferally. "'Hench-specter'? I like that! Yes, Death was none to happy with you for that. He still can't find some of his teeth."
"Come on. Sit and talk with me," Dracula urged.
"Uhm...?" D replied uncertainly, looking around at the vast arena that was supposed to be the setting for the final big 'boss' fight of the castle. He knew that Dracula was that boss.
"Yes, yes, we'll get to that!" Dracula sounded peevish. "I haven't seen you in ages, so why are you so eager to fight me?"
"In Alucard's place I must protect the humans threatened by this castle," D stated.
"You've taken care of everyone up to me. The monsters that are left are too low power to leave the castle on their own. Nothing will happen to the villagers while you talk with me."
D still seemed unconvinced.
"Oh, I see. You think I am merely this world's, Alucard's, version of Dracula, full of subterfuge and nefarious plans. Well, I am, but I am also your version of Dracula, too. You know I won't break my word," Dracula told him. "I really do just want to talk first. Don't worry, we will still fight." Dracula bared his fangs. "And it won't be an easy fight! You will have to earn your win against me! But later."
Dracula walked back toward the table and chair in the center of the room and sat down.
"There's an extra chair by the wall," he waved. "And more wine. Bring it, would you?"
D stared at his father. Finally he sighed and sheathed his sword. He knew how stubborn his father could be. He wouldn't be able to try to win the final fight until Dracula was good and ready.
"How are you? And Left Hand?" Dracula began politely after D had complied, bringing the chair, pouring two glasses of wine and seating himself across from his father.
"Fine. Both of us are fine," D replied.
"Talkative as usual!" Dracula laughed. "And Alucard's Fairy? She's your familiar now?"
"No, she's still Alucard's familiar," D began.
"I'm just helping D while he's here," Fairy finished, peeking her head out from her hiding place behind D's shoulder. Her wings shivered.
"That's nice of you. D couldn't have solved the castle to get to this fight without your help," Dracula told her politely.
"Thank you...sir..."
"Don't fear, little one. The monsters, even us bosses, are not permitted to attack the familiars. It is one of the rules of Castlevania!" Dracula assured her.
"Interesting rule," Left Hand piped up. "Why handicap the monsters that way?"
"I have my reasons," Dracula told him shortly, with slight displeasure. He took a swallow of wine.
So, D, tell me how it is you are solving Castlevania this time instead of Alucard?" though he was still pleasantly conversational, D recognized the steely demand in Dracula's voice.
"Well..."
********
D eked as much speed as he could from his horse. Aided by cybernetics, the beast was able to weave at an impressive rate of speed through the dense growth in the wood. D had been forced to camp here before. If he could help it, he'd get through to the next village instead. The annoying creatures who lived in this wood delighted in harassing anyone unlucky enough to find himself here after dark.
D reined in his horse, bringing the beast from a full gallop to a stop in a matter of two steps.
"Alucard," D said aloud.
A giant vampire bat detached itself from the deep shadows of a tree and flapped over, shifting into D's brother once he was near enough to drop gracefully to the ground.
"Well met," Alucard replied.
D stared grimly at his brother for a long moment before grinning and swinging down from his horse's back.
"Well met, indeed! What brings you here?" D smiled deeply, an uncomplicated smile at seeing his brother again.
"I need help. What else?" Alucard shrugged.
"'Ware," Left Hand warned.
Something huge crashed through the trees at them, bellowing madly.
"Land dragon!" Left Hand gasped. "A four-headed one, D!"
D drew his sword and surveyed the area. Alucard did too. D felt as Alucard's perceptions locked onto and matched his. The dense tree growth, especially the branches overhead would be a significant factor in the battle, they realized as the land dragon charged toward them on eight reptilian feet.
"Land dragons are fast and vicious. This one is too close to human population for my comfort," D said aloud. Alucard nodded. "Each head must be destroyed before the spiny crest on the neck stands up. Once it does, a solid thrust will sever the dragon's spine and kill it."
Alucard nodded again. D could tell Alucard was thinking furiously about something and that was preventing the complete meshing of the synergy. D sensed it was about Alucard's familiars; Sword needed room, Fairy couldn't use healing on D...
"Ghost," D said. Alucard agreed, which triggered the synergy between them. Alucard had enough time to invoke the Ghost card, summoning the glowing, flaming skull familiar, before the dragon was upon them.
The terrain handicap didn't affect Alucard as much as D. Alucard could leap out of the way and turn into mist before colliding into the dense tree branches overhead. D opted for more ground defense, rolling and sliding through the underbrush to escape counter attacks after landing strikes of his own on the dragon. The differences in their fighting techniques made it harder to maintain the synergy. Each of them instinctively grasped toward reestablishing it if it slipped.
Finally the fight resolved into a battle where D and Alucard, functioning as one as only they could, traded off attacking from the ground or the air fast enough to confuse the dragon. Ghost, despite his fearsome appearance, didn't have a solid form that D and Alucard had to worry about striking by accident. In fact, it was Ghost who took down the first head, draining it completely and sending the stolen life-force to Alucard as healing energy.
D lopped off the next head as it craned back to watch Alucard leap away to escape from its attack.
Ghost harried another head. Even though the dragon possessed enough intelligence to try to avoid Ghost's attack, it simply wasn't fast enough to get away from the determined familiar. The dragon's third head slumped over inert.
Left Hand felt an influx of power and passed the healing along to D. Startled by the feeling, D faltered from the synergy.
"It's just the beneficial effect of Ghost's Soul Steal," Alucard said, recognizing the feeling through the link. "We have the last head and the spine still to go!"
D nodded, meshing again into the synergy. He drew the last dragon head's attention away from Alucard, enticing it to extend and follow him as he darted around a tree. Alucard slashed down from above, severing the head.
The protective crest stood up, revealing the weak spot in the spine at the base of the dragon's thick, main neck. The secondary necks flailed around defensively like enraged, giant snakes. Alucard had to repeatedly assume his mist form to avoid the frantic, random attacks of the dragon's necks. D managed to sneak in under the writhing mass and thrust his sword through the sweet spot. Its spine severed, the dragon collapsed instantly. D went down under the dragon.
"D? D!" Alucard maintained the lightest touch of the synergy so he would know where to look for his brother. He could sense D was okay, but mildly irked at something. Alucard lifted one of the massive, headless necks out of his way to find D flat on his back. D was trapped on the ground with another neck pinning his left hand firmly into the ground. Frantic, muffled screaming could be heard from under the dragon. Alucard laughed.
"Yes, it is funny, but if you don't free him soon, I will never hear the end of it," D observed mildly.
Alucard schooled his face into a concerned façade before reaching over and heaving the massive neck off of D's left hand.
"Ugg! Took you long enough! Pthah!" Left Hand complained as D lifted him out of a hand-shaped depression in the ground. "Do you have any idea how nasty that thing tastes?!"
"Are you okay?" Alucard asked.
"Do I look okay?!" Left Hand screamed. "I've been squished, I'm all muddy, that thing's left a terrible taste in my mouth, we took long enough with this fight we're gonna hafta camp here and those damned imps or dark fairies or whatever the hell they are that live here won't leave us alone tonight..."
Alucard glanced with surprise at D. It sounded as if Left Hand were about to cry. D's face actually bore a resigned sort of concern.
"Let's get you washed up," D told his Left Hand as he stood up. "You'll feel better."
"I just...it's just...too much..." Left Hand admitted in the quietest voice Alucard had ever heard from the parasite.
"I know. Don't worry about it," D replied as he walked off toward his horse supporting Left Hand with his right.
Cocking an eyebrow in surprise, Alucard held out a hand for Ghost. The eerie-appearing familiar obediently came to him and floated just over Alucard's hand.
"Thank you, Ghost," Alucard said. He felt a bit silly talking to Ghost, who was the least interactive and communicative of his familiars. The rest of them could speak directly to him, now that Bat had been transformed to something of a vampire bat. Alucard hadn't found a way to speak directly with Ghost, but he reasoned that Ghost appeared to be a glowing, flaming human skull, so perhaps the familiar understood human speech.
"I'm going to summon Fairy now, but I wanted to thank you for your help," Alucard finished lamely. Ghost chattered his teeth at him and began to float upward.
"I really have to learn more about him," Alucard mused as Fairy floated down.
"Ghost? He doesn't talk much about himself," Fairy told him. "He's very private!"
"Fairy...when D comes back...don't tease Left Hand too much, okay?" Alucard asked out of the blue.
"I saw. We were watching," Fairy told him. "Why don't you get some parts from this nasty dragon thing?"
"Parts?"
"Yes. The crest might be useful, some of the blood and the scales too," Fairy suggested. "I'm sensing faint magic from them."
"Oh. You think they might be useful to Val?" Alucard asked.
"Could be. And you'd be busy when D and Left Hand come back, so it wouldn't be awkward," Fairy concluded.
Alucard smiled. He could see why Fairy was Bat's best friend. She was smart, but she was kind too. He started cutting at the base of the crest with the blade of his sword. Fairy dug a vial out from his pack to store the dragon's ichor in.
D walked up just as Alucard finished scraping the last of the 'useful' dragon scales into a leather pouch.
"Here," Alucard handed the pouch to D. "Fairy thinks Val might find a use for these. She senses magic from them."
"Thank you," D accepted the pouch. "What brings you here?"
"Castlevania rises," Alucard told D. "I can feel it. Normally I would go and deal with it, but eeD has taken hostages. Why, I don't know. If I go take care of Castlevania, I'm certain he will kill them. So I have a problem."
"Where are these hostages? I'm certain I can..."
"No, D," Alucard shook his head to emphasize his protest. "I've been warned that if you get involved with eeD too soon, you'll be killed. And...uhm, I'm going to need you for the final fight with eeD," he finished awkwardly.
"Who gave you this warning?"
"Caludra. She's helped me before, D. Her information has always been sound. She knows what she's talking about."
"Caludra? Undoubtedly a daughter of Dracula from her name," D sighed. "So, why are you here? If I can't get involved with eeD too early and it's not yet time, what can I do?"
Alucard grinned.
"Conquer Castlevania."
"What?!"
"Go in my place, fight the monsters and thread the labyrinth that is Castlevania, defeat Father and protect the people there. I know you're strong and resourceful enough that I won't have to worry. Then I can focus all my attention on getting the innocent people away from eeD."
"Die!" a voice screamed. "Die, die, die, die, die!"
"Is he still bothering you?!" Alucard demanded, vaulting out of the way of the crazed mutant.
"I haven't found a way to make him stay dead yet," D retorted, drawing his sword and letting the mutant skewer itself as it charged him in a blind rage.
"We have more than that idiot mutant who won't stay dead to worry about. While you two have been chit-chatting, it's been getting dark. Those..." Left Hand shuddered, "...things will be coming out soon, D!"
D looked up at the dying sunlight. "He's right. The creatures that live in this wood are bothersome at night."
"'Bothersome'?! 'Bothersome'? What's wrong with you D! They tried to cook and eat me last time!" Left Hand shrieked.
Fairy made a face at that. "Cook and eat? Why? And...uhm, how?"
"They crept up on D after whammying him with some sort of sleeping spell, cut me off, rammed a spit through me and started roasting away!" Left Hand cried out.
"What?!" Alucard turned to look at D. D nodded.
"I am aware this time. That shouldn't happen again."
"'Shouldn't'?! 'Shouldn't'?! You weren't almost cooked alive, D! I was! 'Shouldn't' isn't good enough!" Left Hand inhaled a tremendous amount of air and continued ranting.
Alucard had had enough. He reached out and grabbed Left Hand, lifting D's arm and the parasite up so that it had no choice but to look Alucard in the face.
"Shut up," Alucard told him.
"Why?" Left Hand demanded, momentarily stunned from his diatribe.
"Because if you do, I can get us out of this wood before night. Is that reason enough for you?"
"You can do that? Oh, Lambchop, why didn't ya just say so?! Get us out of here and you won't hear a peep from me for the rest of the night!"
"That'll be the day," D said just loud enough to be heard.
Fairy giggled.
-------------
Author's notes - Obviously (well,
I hope it's obvious at any rate) this isn't the end of the story.
I have never tried to tell a story from a flashback point of view before.
With a bit of luck, I don't make a disaster of it. Hopefully, this
story will serve as a bridge from Insult of the Right Hand to the as yet
unnamed sequel as well. Don't worry! I'm working on that too!
I have no idea why Left Hand had a breakdown! Poor little annoying parasite!
Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!