183Wolf of Anubis: Games of the Gods has been updated already! ^^ Glad you like these!
EndlessDesk: Yeah, she is schizophrenic. And her personality's changed yet again. Beware, for more fluff is coming your way soon! Yeah, the guys are perverted. . .*grabs Varien and huggles him* but not Varien! It's not his fault! Or is it. . .o_0
Black Sheep Alone: *hums* Fluff, fluff, fluff. . .this is probably one of my fluffiest stories. Maybe. . .the last chapters, anyway. Thanks for reviewing and supporting Ren, lol!
Who cares4: Updating, lol!
Drua: Thank you!
Somperson: *blushes* Aw, thanks! And the good thing is, I have the rest of this mostly planned out!
Lorelei Fayeri: I know, aren't those books all fantastic! Thank you for the compliment!
Opal Ballerina: Hahahaha! Your review made me laugh! Hmm. . .I do wonder what it would feel like. I'll try it sometime. . .don't worry, I'm an odd child too! As for fourteen more chapters. . .come on! You can do it! You made it through the first chapter without running away in fear of my weirdness! You're doing great!
Varien has to travel with her because he's her fairy guardian. Guardians. . .well, guard. Lol!
*giggles* Yeah, I love Ren. But she's so hard to write! That's why she changes personalities every few chapters. . . Um, the slug-looking-thingies are monsters.
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"Wheeeeeeeee!" Ren laughed as Seiral shuddered in fright at what might happen if she leaned over just a liiiiittle bit more to the left.
Fall, fall, splat. Yup.
Ren, however, was unbelievably carefree. . .in Seiral and Varien's opinion, dangerously so.
Of course, Varien wasn't with them. Varien was with the army way down below them marching towards Caetlin's fortress.
"Hey, look, Seiral. Now that we're out of that cloud, we can see 'em! Ooo! Look! There's Irindelia! I can see her pink hair!"
A walking, talking target yelling, 'Shoot me! I'm bright pink! Kill me!' in Seiral's opinion. But Seiral had to keep up his appearance of wise, neutral, pacifist dragon with no sense of humor whatsoever.
"Am I too heavy for you?" Ren asked, concernedly. "I mean, I know that this armor's probably hard on you. I can barely move in it."
Frankly, Seiral didn't think that her disguising-self-as-boy routine was going to work. People were sure to wonder what a small person wearing too- large armor staggering about and crazily wielding a carrot sword was. Also. . .Varien was no idiot, however much Ren would like to differ.
Plus, the large bag of magical carrots Ren was now accustomed to carrying around with her wherever she went was a dead giveaway.
"Ack! Stop! Seiral, stop!" Ren hurriedly yelled. "The army's stopped for camping!"
Obediently, Seiral hovered in mid-air, flapping his gigantic wings to keep aloft. "And what should we do, milady?"
Ren frowned. "Seiral, it's Ren! You know that! Erm. . .why don't you land a little farther away from the camp so that they won't see you, and I'll walk the rest of the way."
"Yes, Lady Ren."
Ren shook her head and sighed. Seiral was hopeless.
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CRASH. "Ow!" CLONK. "Crap!" THUD. "DAMN THIS ARMOR!"
The helm really wasn't helping her see where she was going. Ren firmly resolved that after this whole business was over, she was going to illegalize armor. It was a dangerous health hazard.
She took her helm off for a breather, tucking it under one arm. 'I swear, Varien, I am going to kill you for making me go through this.'
"Look, Araleen, we can't afford to use up our limited reserves of magic." The voice loomed closer as two people quietly made their way closer. "You draw your power from whatever elements are around you; therefore, YOU have unlimited reserves. We, on the other hand, draw power from our own strength and health. We'd have fairies falling dead like flies if we used that tactic."
Ren froze.
Of all the people, WHY VARIEN AND ARALEEN?
She let out a squeak of panic. . .forgetting that fairies have unbelievably sharp hearing.
Next thing she knew, she had a dagger against her throat; between that tiny little crack where helm meets armor.
"Who are you." Varien hissed.
Oh, man. He was scary when he was pissed. Ren now fully appreciated that Varien knew Ren as a friend and wouldn't make his eyes go all weird and creepy.
"Um. . .hiya to you, too!" She squeaked.
The dagger pressed deeper.
"Eep! I'm a scout, sir! Reporting for duty, sir! No sign of evil-tyrant- henchmen, sir! Please let me go, sir!" The last part yelped particularly loudly as the dagger dug deeper and deeper. . .just barely drawing blood.
Ren was so proud of herself for lying so believably under pressure.
The dagger was withdrawn. "Name?" Varien asked, a little more courteously.
"What's the magic word?" Ren couldn't resist. Of course, she changed her mind when the dagger returned to her throat. "Uh. . .uh. . .my name is Ren- -er, Renab!"
The dagger was withdrawn slightly again. "Is that so, Renab? Pray tell, what is your position in the army?"
Ren frowned in panic. She didn't know anything about armies and stuff! If she had known that her life would get so much more complicated after she left the palace in Trelayn, she would have spent year studying '1,000,000 Ways to Escape Princess-hood' until she finally ran away.
"Erm. . .uh. . .I'm a. . .soldier, sir!" She winced, inwardly.
"Aren't we all?" Varien's dagger returned to its resting place in the hollow of her throat. Not good. Not good at all. Varien would send her packing straight back to the fairy kingdom if he found out.
"Um. . .uh. . .I'm a common foot soldier! You know, wave around orange swords and fling carrots and intruders and attackers and stuff. . ." Ren realized that she was babbling. And had mentioned carrots. Oh no. Fix the mistake! Must fix the mistake! "Ehehehe. . .ignore the carrots part. I. . .er. . .I had carrot stew the other day and it was delicious and I can't stop thinking about it. . ."
Varien regarded her suspiciously for a moment, before his face cleared and he. . .smirked. "Well, then, Renab. Get back to the ranks. . .I'll send someone for you if I need you to scout around some more."
Ren didn't need to be told twice. Backing away and bowing, she literally ran to the encampment.
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After Renab was gone, Varien practically fell over laughing, leaning on Araleen for support; while Araleen wondered what his problem was.
"Would you believe that girl?" Varien said after recovering, shaking his head amusedly. "I should have known she wouldn't give up."
Araleen, not exactly being the smartest, was still confused.
Varien gave him a condescending look, before explaining, "Did you honestly not know that it was Ren in that massive suit of armor? Especially after she talked about orange swords and carrot stew?"
Araleen's face lit up in comprehension. "Oh! You mean. . ."
"Yes, you numbskull."
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Ren mentally patted herself on the back as she wandered around the encampment. She had fooled them! She had fooled Varien and Araleen! (Although admittedly it didn't take all that much to dupe the ex-villain)
And now. . .She cackled. Now she could play the part of the Runaway- Princess seriously and without any distractions.
She unsheathed her carrot sword, grinning to herself.
WHAHAHA! EVIL TYRANTESS MINIONS, COWER IN FEAR!
"Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else. Have you by any chance seen someone with silver hair and purple eyes wandering about? She's most probably disguised as a boy, yet again. I was just wondering. . ."
Ren leapt up, dropping her sword. When she saw who was at the entrance of the tent, she kicked the sword into the corner, laughing nervously. "Irindelia! How nice to see you! Nope, haven't seen anyone with silver hair and purple eyes. She's probably back at the fairy palace! You know, being an obedient princess and all that. . ."
Babbling! You're babbling!
The pink-haired elf nodded amicably, before saying, "Sorry to have bothered you. See you around." And closed the tent flap shut.
Ren sighed in relief. All this was getting a bit too close for comfort. . .
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As soon as Irindelia left, the pink-haired elf burst out into a fit of giggles.
Honestly. Ren sucked at lying.
Actually, Irindelia had actually meant it when she asked Ren if she had seen, well, Ren. The elf had realized that it was Ren with the first word.
Yeah. Might want to remember that you don't know me, Ren. Irindelia snickered.
And no one wore a complete suit of armor in this weather.
Still giggling to herself, Irindelia scampered off to tell Varien, Araleen, and Irindar.
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Ren was sharpening the Carrot Sword and examining her Magical Carrots for signs of weakness when someone entered the tent yet again. Giving a yell, she fell of the stool in alarm.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was looking for my PlayElf magazines. You don't happen to have any spare, do you?"
Ren flushed, with anger and embarrassment and confusion and more emotions that she couldn't put a name to.
Waaaaaaaaaah! Everyone was coming in! Everyone from her beloved Band of Heroes kept running into her and vice versa! This was so not fair!
Irindar stared as his new tent-sharer zoomed out of the tent, wildly waving an orange sword, a carrot, and yelling and wailing hysterically.
Hm. Rather like Ren.
Solemnly, Irindar observed the bag of Magical Carrots that his new tent- sharer had forgotten.
Oh. It was Ren. How peculiar.
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She flattened herself against the comforting wall of a cottage a mile away. At last! She was safe from all the members of her ex-Band of Heroes!
Plus, her secret was safe!
This was the life. . .she was finally being a proper runaway-princess, none of her Band of Heroes members were around to fluster her, she would get to chop down Caet's minions in revenge for Caet staring way too suggestively at Varien, and no one had found out that she was Ren yet!
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Irindelia, Araleen, Irindar, and Varien peeked around the other corner of the cottage, going in order of height. What one could see, if one cared to look, was what looked like a stack of heads peeking around the corner.
Highly amusing.
"When do you think she's going to realize that we all know?" Irindelia mused.
"Probably not until we tell her." Araleen said, in a rare moment of wisdom.
Silence.
They watched, slightly unnerved, as Ren cackled to herself, stroking her sword and muttering something about 'Secret's safe'.
"Humor her." Varien said, finally.
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"Heya, old man."
"Huh?" Seiral turned around with his mouth full of. . .dead ox.
"'Huh'? Is that the way to greet your best friend? Is that how you greet your best friend, with a dead animal hanging from your mouth? Is that how you greet your best friend after 10 hours of not seeing them?" Varien scolded him.
Seiral dropped the ox. "Lord Varien, what is it that you want?"
Varien's shoulders slumped. He could never fool the old dragon. "Ehwanyuhtuhlkferren."
"Pardon?
"IwantyoutolookafterRen."
"Sorry, can you go a little slower?"
"I want you to look after Ren!" Varien finally yelled into the old dragon's hairy ear. Gross.
"Lady Ren is perfectly capable of looking after herself. She's made it this far already from the fairy palace."
"Yeah, and you were the one who brought her." Varien smirked.
"Quite right. But. . ." Seiral broke off as he realized what he said. "I'm afraid I'm delirious from dragonfever please ignore me as Lady Ren is currently safe in the fairy palace, locked up, and NOT in a suit of armor wandering around the encampment."
"Speaking of which. . ." Varien remarked innocently as what appeared to be a suit of armor came hurtling at them. "Steady now, RENAB." He told the suit of armor as he held it steady.
Seiral silently groaned. He knew it. He knew that Ren couldn't pull it off.
Ren, meanwhile, couldn't see out of the armor, as the helm had closed on her. "Huh? What? Who's there?"
Her voice echoed strangely in the depths of the armor. . .most peculiar.
"Why, hello, Ren. What a pleasure to see you."
Freeze.
DAAAAAAAAAMMMMMNNNNNNIIIIITTTTTTTT!
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"You, princess, are going to stay in this tent if I have to tie you up and gag you." Varien said, with each jerk of the rope as he bound Ray to a convenient chair.
"You're already tying me up." Ren remarked, sulkily.
"Yes, but I'm not gagging you yet, am I?" Varien smirked, patting the last knot. "Now, you be a good girl and stay here. And don't even think of bribing Irindar to let you go because I've already dealt with him."
Ren glared sullenly at Varien. Why couldn't she help fight? Frankly, her parents really couldn't care whether she even lived. She bet that on the 'Lost' poster her parents had put up, it said "Wanted: Dead or Alive".
Comforting.
She opened her mouth to yell at Varien, but he was already almost out the door.
"It's for your own good." He murmured, before closing the tent flap.
Ren could've screamed. But she would be mature, calm, and composed and take all this in stride. She could escape in approximately fifteen minutes. Yes. She was serene. She was disciplined. She was mature.
"VAAARRRRIIIEEEEEEEN, YOOOOOUUUUU AAAARRRRREEEEE AAA DEEEEEEAAAAAADDD FAAAAIIIRRRRRYY!"
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a/n: Just a short chapter to tide you over. Hope you liked! Please review!