Chain the Infamous Chainmaid 19

“Patience  Chain, patience.”

The words spoken by Chain were barely audible within the underground train car that raced through the secret tunnels of the Rattama but they were not meant to be heard. Chain spoke them for no other reason than to try and stay calm. The words she spoke did naught to help however as the train car may have been large enough to hold her it was uncomfortably cramped as it was full of tunnel surveying equipment used by the Rattama to maintain their secret tunnels. Having seated herself on what was more of a seat for her and a bench for the Rattama she watched the engineers scrambling about the car and listened to them chatting away by radio phone. Listening to them discuss tunnel conditions and what routes were open told her that the Rattama she shared the train car with were desperate to get out of the city but the constant mention of detours tested her patience. Drumming her fingers along the shaft of the spear she had made her own Chain lifted her left hand and readied to snap her fingers but did not proceed.

“Don’t Chain. You know Melody likely can’t answer because she’s probably under guard. The last thing you need to do is try to contact her and lose your head because she’s not responding. Besides…”

Chain began to lift her green eyes to stare at the reflection that looked back at her from the instruments of the Rattama but stopped herself with a powerful head shake.

“Stop it Chain! You can’t afford to think about that now.”

Even as she said the words Chain caught her gaze drifting back to her reflection and gritted her teeth in defiance of her own curiosity. Trying to tame that curiosity she turned her attention back to the Rattama and their radio chatter. The battle in the city above was never a direct part of their dialogue but there was no doubt that their constant barrage of questions about various routes and detours arose in part due to the battle. Even trying to piece together the battle above by using the radio chatter as a guide Chain’s eyes continued to occasionally drift towards her reflection. Time and again she caught herself and forced herself to look elsewhere. In the dark tunnels of the Rattama however there was not much to look at except the contents of the train car including her green eyed reflection.

(I don’t get it. I don’t sense a gate and the one I fed my chainmail to try and take on that idiot in the mountains should have closed a long time ago, so why?)

Chain caught herself looking at her reflection only after the question she found herself thinking about. It was too late now to do anything about it as her thoughts had unquestionably found their way to what she did not want to think about; the parallels between her and the dragon Thurlix. Though hard to imagine with the way that Chain had carried herself for the most part upon meeting the dragon in the flesh it was actually the first time she had ever seen one. That her first encounter with a dragon would be with one of the Clan of Chains seemed a cruel joke and Chain looked down at her hand that was garbed in the same chainmail that covered the rest of her body save most of her head as though it were her own skin. Closing her eyes Chain clutched at her left temple and leaned back pressing the top of her head against the wall of the train car.

(Stop being an idiot Link. You know the truth so what are you worrying about. You still have nightmares about the day you found this stupid Relic. Even that idiot Elliot might as well of made fun of you for having nightmares like a child. Ugh, what a pain. I seriously need to pay the Bandit King back for ruining this trip and then Melody and I can get out of here. Of course I have to find Melody first and that means dealing with the princess of Highroot; another damn Hero.)

“What a pain.”

The words were spoken with a groan as Chain opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling and vocalized her complaint and earned curious looks from Rattama hard at work in the train car. Chain did not take her eyes off the ceiling and paid them no heed at all as she contemplated a cruelty just for the princess she had yet to meet.

“It’s a real shame Melody can’t wield the harpy’s curse as a weapon. Then she could have turned that idiot into a harpy and– ?!”

Chain’s eyes bulged in disbelief as a thought hit her hard and she realized that the metal ceiling of the train car again reflected her visage.

“No way!”

The denial that tinged Chain’s words was summoned from the very core of her being. Though she denied the thought with every fiber of her being she still sat up straight again and looked down at her chainmail clad form. A certain horror began to fill her and she uttered the words again as she looked into her reflected green eyes.

“No way…”

The words were not spoken with anywhere near as much power as before as the terror Chain felt stole her strength. Her mind raced back to that fateful day a spring five past when she had accompanied an aged man shorter than she was now who had a bushy mustache and far too oversized golem like hands. Along with Melody and a spectacle wearing maid of some twenty odd springs with long black hair and green eyes of her own garbed in a rather fancy dress and outfit that showed no skin but her head with a sword on either hip she had descended into a ruin from the Age of Ash. The maid was none other than her and Melody’s teacher Swallow Martin and the man the peerless Sorcerer Balgun who would become Chain’s teacher from that day on. This was due to the Relic that Chain now wore springing itself upon her from the shadows unexpectedly and trapping her in a cocoon of chains. For a full year she would be trapped in that cocoon learning of magic and the Builders song from Balgun.

Just remembering those events Chain was filled with both a terror she desired to be long forgotten and a still burning rage at Swallow and Balgun for bringing her and Melody along when Swallow could have repaid her favor to Balgun on her own. It did not matter that it would have been unwise to leave the harpy child on her own as it was never known how anyone would react upon seeing her because Chain had always believed herself more than enough to protect Melody. Her current failure and unwanted thoughts seemed to fuel Chain’s rage and terror even more summoning up her loss of control when Melody had been captured by the very bandits in Black Mast they had joined the contingent of other adventures to root out.

“DAMMIT!”

Chain’s sudden exclamation was emphasized as she smashed her left fist into, and half way through the seat she occupied making all of the Rattama in the train car jump. All of their activity came to a stop as the Rattama all turned their terrified and undivided attention onto the Chainmaid. Her rage giving her focus Chain took advantage of having their undivided attention and spoke in the most malicious of tones.

“Change of plans. Instead of taking me to the Remnant of Automina you can drop me off at the castle. And I won’t hear any arguments cause I’m really, really angry and if I hear any arguments I may not be able to hold out until we get to the castle.”

Copyright © 2018 Joshua D Tarwater