FFV: Toki no Hourousha (The Wanderer of Time)
Chapter 4: Cursed Earth

 

     "Oh crap, I forgot how much I hate heights," Butz muttered to himself as the airship Borak, the first of the secret Iron Wings of the Tycoon military, lifted from the flight strip nestled safely within the mountains beyond the castle. He suppressed his initial fear and turned to reassure the chocobos, who were clearly more agitated than he. Boco especially wasn't used to being off the ground, and made a point to voice his protests as loud as he could.
     "Dammit Butz," Faris's bellow cut sharply into the hold in which the four chocobos were kept. "Can't you calm those birds down?"
     "I'm trying!" he hollered back, and returned his attention to the chocobos. He grabbed Boco's head, forcing him to the floor. The bird flapped and kicked wildly, but was unable to break free of Butz's hold.
     "Now Boco, listen," he stated sternly, locking eyes with the chocobo. Boco gave one last kick in an attempt to loosen Butz's hold, and folded his wings in surrender. "Neither of us wants to get kicked off the ship, now do we? We're going to be here for awhile, so please behave. If you don't, we may either be kicked out, or I hear some of that some of those men Faris brought along rather like roast chocobos. Understand?"
     Boco gave a soft 'kue' and was let go. He jumped to his feet and trotted to a dark corner of the pen, fluffing out his feathers as he folded his legs under him and settled down to sulk. Seeing their elder cowed, the other birds quieted down and stopped attempting to peck at the walls. And as they did so, Butz gave a sigh of relief and exited the pen.
     On the main deck were the ten men Faris brought along to help hijack a sailing ship from Istory, all pirates hand-picked from Benjiro's crew. They were being briefed by Benjiro, while Ridha and Faris stood at the other end of the ship, manning the helm as they watched the others.
     "The Assembly will have your hide if they found out about your pet airship fleet, Mother," Ridha said as he attempted once again to pull the hood of a black robe over his windblown hair. He then gave up and resigned himself to tangled locks.
     "They won't, not yet. If things go according to plan, no one will find out for a very long time."
     "You should know as well as I that plans rarely work out. At least the men Father picked are trustworthy-"
     "Not even they know the Borak is just one in many. This thing's just a luxury yacht compared to the heavy cruisers I have stashed away in those mountains, and that's the reason I picked this one to bring along instead of any of the bigger ships. The Assembly knows I have several airships... they don't know that those ships I did show them are merely toys."
     "Expecting war, Mother?"
     "Never be caught unaware, Red, I made that mistake once and lived to regret it for a very long time."
     Faris looked down at the steering wheel and various controls that dealt with speeds, acceleration, stopping, and landing. It was a complex machine, based on the design of the Lonkan Airship the party used in the war against ExDeath, but much sturdier. The ship didn't need a flag for identification, for only Tycoon had airships, and she made a point to keep the technology to herself, much to the ire of the Assembly of Nations. The Iron Wings were her upper hand and backup should the Assembly decide to oust her from her home and...
     "Red," she whispered softly, indecision hidden behind her careful mask of pride. "Do you think I've gone power-mad?"
     The magelord turned his attention from the rolling landscape far below to return his mother's gaze. "In all honesty, I am not sure myself, and I know you better than anyone else alive. Do you ask because only now have you questioned your actions concerning the country?"
     "I suppose so..."
     "Remember why the Assembly wants to replace you with Aunt Lenna. She is too kind and trusting for her own good... given proper manipulation, she would be a puppet ruler for the Assembly, and they know this. You are naturally paranoid and rebellious, you have been conditioned on a pirate ship for a good part of your life and have seen the true faces of reality. You are used to commanding a group of people and used to disciplining or rewarding as you see fit. They also know this, and because of that they want you off the throne that is your birthright. Quite frankly, I think you are doing great. But then you are my mother, so I cannot really say," he finished with a half-smile.
     A brief smile flashed across Faris's lips at this. "No, you can't say, but thanks anyway. Shall we leave this thing to one of the people we hired to do this so I can indulge in some recreation for once?"

      "Thanks once again for having me, Lenna. I could use a vacation from the Court."
     Lenna looked up from her cup of tea at the blonde girl seated across from her. Krile was five years her younger, more given to quietness now than when she first took up her grandfather's legacy. She bloomed wonderfully over the years, both physically and mentally, and her psychic ability of speaking with animals and others of the same talent increased incredibly since ExDeath was defeated. Apparently very lonely since the death of Galuf too, Lenna thought, for Krile had a habit of keeping people at arm's length until she got to know them better, and given the isolation of monarchy, she probably didn't make any real friends beyond the Light Warriors and the occasional animal either. The moogle returned to its village years ago, and only the dragon presented any real company, from what Lenna read in various letters sent over the years. Well, there were always Ridha's mindlink conversations, of course, but they were rare.
     "You're always welcome here, Krile. Pity my sister couldn't be here, but nothing can be done now."
     "What's the explanation you've given the public," Krile asked before taking another sip of her tea.
     "That my sister is on a short vacation to an island in the Nazalea archipelago with Ridha and Benjiro, and Butz wandered off once again to who knows where. A perfectly mundane story, and not likely to rouse suspicions. And, of course, that you're on vacation too."
     Nazalea was the chain of islands stretching from Jacole, to Crescent, and to Tycoon. Once a property of Crescent, the island chain was now mostly linked by thin land bridges formed by the joining of the two worlds, and had rallied for and obtained its independence from Crescent. It was now a republic with a plump matriarch named Mahina Laban as its spokeswoman in the Assembly, whose affability towards Faris stemmed from her being from Galuf's world and for the most part unaware of the Tycoon queen's past. However, because Nazalea was still a new nation, its spokeswoman's words had little influence on the rest of the Assembly.
     "Tycoon is closer to Crescent than Bal is, and as such less distance for Hugin and Munin to travel just to bring back news. That and Ridha's promised to keep in touch with me on the progress of the Karnac expedition, so I need to be here regardless of what I tell everyone else. I do hope I don't burden you, Lenna."
     Lenna blinked in surprise that her best friend would even think she was burdening her, and smiled reassuringly to the young woman. "No, Krile, you're never any burden. You should know by now that there's always a place for you here!"
     "Forgive me then, Lenna, I am often too self-effacing for my own good. But there's nothing to discuss concerning that. Ridha tells me that the airship has just landed behind the isolated woods of Istory, and that Butz and the chocobos are very, very glad to be on the ground again. By nightfall they plan to snatch a ship off the port and within a few days be on the west coast of Karnac. Nothing much other than that. Is there a message you'd like relayed, dear friend?"
     Lenna thought carefully before speaking again. "Wish them luck for me, Krile, and tell them I hope they will come back safe with Yllesia and her children."
     Krile was silent as she relayed the message, her eyes unfocused in inner concentration. The magelord responded with a message from his party on the other side of the world, one consisting of thanks from Faris for handling all the castle affairs for her and not to do anything she wouldn't do, a promise from Butz that he'd make sure everything went alright, and greetings from some of the pirates who remembered her from when they had her, Butz, and Galuf tied in their ship's hold. And after she relayed the messages to Lenna, she closed the link in relief and slumped back unceremoniously into the soft cushions of the high-backed chair.
     "I'm sorry I'm not very active, these kind of messages take a lot out of me, and it's approaching nighttime in Bal."
     "Don't be sorry. Go and take a nap dear, you deserve it. I'll send a servant to attend to you when you wake up and I will personally see to the needs of your dragon."
     "Thanks Lenna. I shall now collapse in exhaustion and hope not to wake up unless it's absolutely necessary."

     The hijacking of the Mirage-based merchant carrack Hand of Nuada went successfully and without trouble, and the party and crew were well on their way to the west coast of Karnac. It had been a slow day, so Faris and several of the crew jumped into the sea to swim, with Butz and Benjiro watching, and several other crewmen keeping tabs on the masts and wheel.
     "Why aren't you down there too, Inomoto?"
     Benjiro turned his attention from the people frolicking below to look at the traveler. "Same reason you don't like flying, chocoboy."
     Butz gawked in surprise, and tried desperately to suppress a giggle. "I've never heard of a pirate being afraid of water! You've got to be kidding me-"
     "Feh, I knew you'd act that way. Never mind, then." Benjiro then returned to watching his lover attempt to jump an unsuspecting victim, a slight smile on his face. "I don't care much about my fear of drowning, but there are times I do wish I could be down there playing like that. But hey, I'm content with other forms of romping."
     "Why are you afraid of swimming, anyway? I'd figure someone in your occupation wouldn't be at all."
     "Eh, don't tell anyone?"
     "If you don't tell anyone why I'm afraid of heights, which I'll tell you as soon as you tell me your story."
     "Alright... My mother was a highly respected councilwoman in Istory, but she moonlighted a lot as something similar to the town whore. So I was fathered by someone who wasn't her husband, and she did her best to hide the fact. When her husband began to suspect, for no one on either his side of the family or hers had amber eyes or red hair, she took me out one day to the Istory Falls. Tried pushing me off the falls at first and figured it better if I looked like I drowned on my own. Then she took me down to the base of the falls, dumped me in, and left me to die as I called out for her to help me. I was five or six years of age at the time, didn't understand anything concerning my birth. I did drown, but some old fisherman found me struggling weakly and emptied my lungs of water. When I recovered I was turned over to his half-brother Raandel, who was a pirate from Tule, and I've been afraid of drowning ever since."
     Butz turned his gaze from the pirate's saddened face and back to the swimmers below, slightly ill at the thought. He had been lucky to have such loving parents. "Wow, I didn't even suspect that. Sorry if I brought up bad memories."
     "Ah, that's alright, being in Istory longer than necessary was bad enough. So, what of your story?"
     "Not much, I guess, at least not compared to yours. I was playing some little hiding game with a friend of mine, and to hide I climbed up the roof of a storage house. Hours passed and my friend still didn't come to find me, and suddenly the shingles loosened and I lost my footing, slid down the roof, and caught myself on the rain gutter. I hung on for my life and cried out for help, but none would come until my hands tired of holding my weight. I lost my grip, and my fall was broken by bushels of wool the townspeople brought out for me. I don't remember how old I was then... probably three or so since my mother died when I was about that age and afterwards Dad took me with him on his travels."
     "Well, at least we're both cursed with unreasonable fears, but your parents didn't try and kill you..."
     Butz fell silent and returned his gaze to the water, absorbing the scene below. The pirates were obviously enjoying themselves, trying again and again to splacsh each other or dunk someone underneath the waves. He tore his eyes away as he reminded himself that his former girlfriend belonged to someone else.
     "I don't belong to anyone! Not you, Benji, or anyone! That was your fatal mistake, Butz...You want me to belong to you, but I value my freedom too highly!"
     "Listen, Faris, I...I can make it up to you, really..."
     "We're too alike, you and I...We make for better beer-buddies than lovers anyway. You prefer to wander around away from civilization, I'm duty-bound to stay in Tycoon and take care of my little sister. Benjiro at least writes to me when he's away and pays attention to me when he IS here. I'm sorry, but it's really better that we just stay friends..."
     "Ever asked her to marry you, Inomoto?"
     "No, not with the differences in rank between us. It was hard enough to get the Assembly of Idiots to acknowledge Red as Faris's legitimate heir and get him crowned as prince, and to think they'd accept me is ridiculous."
     "You're lucky just to have her," Butz said with just a trace of bitterness in his voice. As much as the two of them had managed to thoroughly hate each other at the end of their relationship, Butz did still feel a little for her. Benjiro seemed to stiffen as he leaned over the rail, as if he sensed the note in the traveler's voice. He just gave a small nod of acknowledgement before pulling away from the rail and moving towards the entrance to the decks below.
     "I know... listen, I'm going to go visit Red, see if he needs anything. He has got to be bored to death below decks without his precious books for company. See ya later, Butz..."

     "Welcome to the Lonkan Consortium of Science at Gohn, how may I help you," a nasally, arrogant tone queried.
     A man draped in the light blues of Tycoon turned his attention from the Crystal of Earth and the machines that harnessed its power. The Republic of Lonka had the greatest technology in the world, and hoarded it zealously so that none of the other countries would benefit from them... save for the current King Tycoon, who had donated a sizeable amount of money to fund the space research program. His amber gaze fell upon a rather plump young student who was no doubt working as a tourguide to pay his education, thinking to himself that this was the crippling thing about the republic's system students needed to pay to learn, though few were actually poor themselves.
     "Zurvan Akarana Highwind here to see Dr. Cid."
     The student gave him a blank look before consulting his notebook. "Uh...but sir, there are five men here by the name of Cid. It's a very common name among families in which science is the career of choice. Cid Lengalen, Cid Padeng, Cid -"
     The boy's demeaning tone was beginning to annoy the king, and Zurvan gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine! Cid Singh, head of the Namtar Project! Either point me in his direction or call him over the intercom."
     The student stared up from his notebook in surprise and made a failed attempt to cover it up. "Very well, come with me. But first I must ask to look at your security pass."
     The king produced a small, flat card of mithril that had his image and security codes punched in with a series of dots and dashes so minuscule they were almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye. He let the student examine it only long enough for him to recognize it as a genuine identity card, and immediately returned it to a hidden pocket in his vest.
     It was a long walk from the entrance of the consortium to Singh's research center situated near the far end of the labyrinth-like complex, and the king began to feel the strain on his weak heart and underworked muscles, but refused to acknowledge the pain. Acute as the fiery pain was, admitting that he was merely thirty years of age, yet weak, to the snotty kid would have been admitting that he was less than what the Lonkan must have thought of him. Although it was rather amusing to see the boy's surprise when Zurvan flashed the ID card. Not every 'barbarian' king was allowed into Lonka, Zurvan thought with a derisive snort.
     At long last they came upon a barrier that held them from their destination, and the student turned on the intercom near the locked doors.
     "A visitor for Dr. Cid Singh, has code blue security clearance."
     "Tell him to go away," Cid's heavy bass rumbled with testiness over the intercom. "I'm quite busy!"
     "But sir, it's a barbarian king from ... what is it ... that little country that holds the Wind Shrine-"
     "Zurvan? Send him in!"
     There was a hissing noise and a heavy thud as the electromagnetic locks were released, and Zurvan strode past the student, who soon retreated the way he came.
     Cid Singh was a tall, lean man with dark features, and in far better shape than most Lonkan scientists were. He stood before a huge chart of the heavens, one that took up most of the wall, and had notes pinned randomly upon it ... most likely research notes and lunch menus from several restaurants. Zurvan's eyes caught upon production notes and sketches of a monstrous robot.
     "Ah, Lord Zurvan, I see you've found Omega. The prototype's still under construction though, will be until after the Namtar Project is done. Or until I get the funding to finish him off, whichever comes first."
     Zurvan's amber eyes lit up as he read the specifications of the robot. Virtually indestructable, incredible reaction time, powerful enough to take out an armada of ships ... "What if I were to offer you the money to build one of these things for Tycoon? Defense, I assure you. Walse has been showing more than passing interests in invading us lately."
     Cid frowned slightly, stroking his black moustache. "If you just use it as defense ... Alright. But it will have to wait until the Namtar Project is done, or at least far enough along so I don't have to dedicate as much time to it."
     "Very well then."
     "First things first, though," Cid's frown turned into a grin of delight. "I hear your wife's with twins. Congratulations, old friend! What will you name them?"
     The Tycoon king forced a smile at the thought. His wife was only five months into the pregnancy, and already she was showing signs of anemia and other illnesses. He did not relish the idea of having children, but it was necessary. "Ahriman, that is what I will name the firstborn, and Ormazd will be the second. But this is irrelevant at the moment. How is the project going?"
     The Namtar Project was conceived originally by Lonkan purists who wanted nothing more to do with the world outside, but it grew into a dream to colonize the vastness of space. To do that they would capture an asteroid big enough to act as a second moon, and start developing a mining city on it that would perhaps one day become the heartland of the Lonkan civilization. Right now, however, they had yet to send man into space.
     Cid pulled out a large sheet of synthetic paper scrawled with diagrams and calculations indecipherable to everyone but himself, and pointed out the main sketch, an oblong object with side and dorsal fins like a fish, but with rockets where tailfins would be.
     "We've built the shuttle that will take the first man into space. Progress following the planned timeline is going perfectly, and by the time your sons come into manhood, Namtar will be functional. And that's why I called you all the way from home. Since you've been the main monetary provider, how would you like to be the first man in space?"

     The magelord drowsily opened his eyes and winced as pain laced through his system when his hypersensitive sunburned skin was rubbed harshly by rough fabrics as his father yanked the covers from him. He had been up the night before speeding the ship along its path, cutting through the doldrums that would have kept the ship still for days, and had kept at it for most of the morning. His pale skin burned easily during the hours he spent perched on the crow's nest pushing the ship along still waters and dead air, and the moment he collapsed in exhaustion, he was pulled down by Benjiro and dragged into his cabin to recover.
     "Wakey wakey, Red! It's already supper-time, and I doubt you want to miss out," Benjiro said, grinning. His cheery demeanor diminished as he observed the peeling red skin of his son. "I did warn you about going outside for an extended period of time with only a vest and shorts. Can you neutralize the pain or do you need another coat of restorative gel?"
     "Another coat...?"
     His father once again grinned as he turned to a small bolted-down chest and opened it to draw out a jar of medicinal gel specially formulated for sunburn. "Fari fussed over you the moment you collapsed, and insisted on slathering you up herself. I couldn't persuade her otherwise."
     Ridha grimaced inwardly and sat up to get a better look at his peeling flesh. "I love Mother dearly, but thank gods I was unconscious. She is not exactly a gentle healer..."
     "Now now, she just doesn't have the patience for medicine, and she was trying her best to be gentle."
     "I know, I know... hand me the gel and I shall take care of it myself," he said, and caught the jar as it was tossed to him. "And Father? We should make landfall by later tonight, so have everyone prepare for the trek to Karnac come dawn. We want to be in town by evening and crack into the jail at night."
     "Hmm, not unless you come down and eat something first, and I mean it."
     The mage sighed as he opened the jar and began rubbing the stuff on his arms. "I will, just give me a minute to make myself more presentable."
     His father left him to spread the healing gel upon his skin and to his own thoughts. As he did so, his mind drifted back to his dream, or what he remembered of it. He wondered vaguely of the king who bore a striking resemblance to him, but brushed it off as being merely a figment of his imagination. There would be another time to ponder his dreams, but now, he had more immediate things to think of.
     Such as planning the infiltration into Karnac's jail.

     Butz and Benjiro waited on the crest of a hill outside the walled city of Karnac, their chocobos tied to a log and grazing contently. Faris and Ridha had gone into town an hour before them... part of the plan, Ridha said, so that no one would get suspiscious of them. As far as Butz knew, the two had gone in with disguises, but he had yet to see them and would probably be unable to identify them in a crowd. And he was stuck here with the one person he least liked.
     There had been no conversation since mother and son left them on the hill with orders not to come until sunset, and then to meet them at the Drunken Afreet. Which was just as well, since Benjiro had a distant look in his eyes and was probably occupied in his own little world, and Butz was busy familiarizing himself with the lay of the land.
     He looked up at the sky and watched the slow decline of the sun as it ran its course and the skies inflamed with the sun's descent. Birds flocked to their nests, and shepherds began driving their sheep back home. And the great torches of the City of Fire lit one by one.
     "Let's go, pirate, it's time."
     Benjiro snapped out of his inner thoughts and sat up, for he was previously laying in the grass looking up at the clouds or slipping in and out of a nap. He stretched and pulled himself to his feet.
     The City of Fire, as Karnac was nicknamed, changed drastically since Butz was last there. No longer did hot coals glow from the moat that surounded the city, no longer were mithril-workers hawking their wares in the streets and stores, no longer were there children playing in the streets. The moment he entered, Butz got the impression that the city was just waiting to self-destruct. Which, considering the current state of the country, didn't surprise him.
     Benjiro lead him to the only traveller-friendly pub in town, the Drunken Afreet. They wandered into the pub, Benjiro made a bee-line to the bar to order a beer, and Butz began to study his surroundings. An old wizard paced in front of a fireplace, a girl in draped in the traditional dark floor-length jilbab-dress and white hijab scarf of Jacolean nomads sang in her lilting native language in front of a piano as a dark-haired man played along, a small group of Karnacians huddled over a poker game while another group drank and made rather crude comments about the Queen, and the door to the room above held an "Off-Limits" sign. Butz sat as far from the drunk Karnacians as he could without being out of earshot.
     The girl sang beautifully, he thought, though it was a pity her garb hid so much of her figure. Only her pale face and dark eyes were exposed, everything else hidden under her headscarf, gloves, and dress. Her accompanist was probably of a rival nomad tribe, as his turban was of an entirely different pattern than that of the tribe Butz figured the girl was from. She was probably being forced to marry a cousin when she loved someone else who couldn't pay the bride-price and ran away with her beau, the accompanist.
     One of the drunkards rose from his seat and made his way towards the singer, followed by his friends, and Butz resisted the urge to stop them, knowing full well that they'd start harassing the girl. He certainly didn't need to lose his cover in a brawl and ruin any chance they had to rescue Queen Karnac.
     They began making suggestive comments to her, which she struck down as politely as she could, but it was clear that she was becoming agitated by the unwanted attention. The pianist stopped and rose, his hand on the hilt of his scimitar, and the girl pulled away and slipped behind his back. Butz sighed and rose from his seat to come to the girl's aid, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed Benjiro coming to join him.
     One of the drunkards felt a hand alight on his shoulder and turned to look into the stern cerulean-blue eyes of a stranger. Butz's voice was steady, almost dangerously so as he demanded that the drunkard go back to his seat. The man sluggishly pulled his arm back to prepare for a punch, but was knocked unconscious by Benjiro's bottle of beer.
     The Jacolean man wasn't doing bad in defending the girl himself, for he was the only one armed and the thugs did not dare any longer to approach him. The leader grunted and ordered the others to carry his comrade away, and nasty threats were made to the Jacoleans as the thugs retreated.
     "Shukran, laken amhmalukah mish damhee," the man said, his dark green eyes sparkling in secret amusement. He smiled and gave the traditional gesture of thanks, and struck Butz as being strangely familiar. The man's face was achingly beautiful when he smiled, emerald green eyes set in a face tanned by years in the sun...
     "Faris!" Butz hissed when he got close to her. "I didn't even recognize you two!"
     Faris's smile turned into a self-satisfied grin as she resheathed her scimitar and Ridha came out from behind her. "The fact that Red has the most beautiful soprano I've ever heard from either boys or girls helped a lot with the illusion. He does make for a beautiful bride, don't you think?"
     Ridha blushed slightly at his mother's statement and modestly pulled the hem of the scarf to hide his blushing... which only made her grin wider, and Benjiro snickered to himself.
     "Now that we're back together, we must discuss our plans," Ridha said once his blushing had subsided. He lead them to a table in the far corner, away from the Karnacians who were playing poker and further away from the thugs.
     After the small party sat and Faris ordered a round of mixed drinks.
    "What we've gathered is that that room marked "Off-Limits" is the meeting place of the revolutionary leaders. I've compiled the list of names, and once I get back home, I'm going to put it to good use," Faris said, frowning. "Also, they have Yllesia and her kids locked up in the makeshift jailhouse at the old ruins of the castle, not far from the reconstruction area. The execution is at midnight, so we better get there as soon as we finish off our drinks."
     "Also, I have plotted the best course to get there. I suggest we all go together, so I can keep up a cloak of non-existance around us and therefore successfully penetrate the security and get the family out of there," Ridha added as he sipped on a glass of iced juice. He removed a glove and traced silver-blue spirit fire upon the table until the pattern revealed a map of the ruins and where the royal family would be held.
     "Queen Karnac is in a cell separate from her sons, most likely as psychological torment. The boys are two cells away, but gagged so they cannot call out to their mother." The magelord gestured over his makeshift map. "Mother will take care of Queen Karnac, Father will take care of the boys. I will need all the concentration I have... so Butz, I request that you keep an eye out for us and warn us of anything that moves. There is something at work here, but I am not sure what, nor am I particularly enthusiatic about finding out immediately."
     He then ran the palm of his hand across the map, and the spirit fire vanished without a trace. Ridha pulled his glove back on and followed suit when his mother and Butz rose from the table.
     Outside, the magelord's Jacolean dress shifted to take the form of the black robes he originally wore, and his staff reappeared by his side. Similarly, Faris's garb returned to their original state, and the scimitar reverted to a sabre. They made their way slowly to the gates of the walled city; and once they were well away from the city, Ridha stopped to pull an ebony mask over his face, its only features two glaring yellow eyes against stark black that seemed to absorb all light.
     The jail was, as Ridha suggested, built on the ruins of old Castle Karnac, just a bit away from the reconstruction of the rest of the castle. Two guards stood chatting amongst themselves, and took no notice when the party slipped past them.
     Yllesia Magus, queen of Karnac since she swindled the throne away from her father, sat on her bed cradling a bottle of vodka. Her hair, once a vibrant green neatly kept up in a tight bun or crown and enhanced with tiny barettes, now fell loosely in dull tangled locks and streaked with grey. She stared listlessly into space, humming an old traditional war song as she did so, and did not look up when Faris broke the lock and knelt before her.
     "Lady Yllesia, please recognize me," Faris pleaded softly, her head bowed. Yllesia had been her closest and most trustworthy friend for years, she had been close by for her in thick and thin. The Queen provided Faris with the money to commission her own ship when she was just a gangly fifteen year old captain, shelter when the law was barking at her heels and influence enough to get her out of jail when she got arrested. In return for the Karnac queen's aid, she would pretend to be her consort whenever she had the time to spare from her duties as captain. And perhaps, inspired by the act they put on... perhaps some of it was real...
     "...so, my shining knight has come to rescue me at last...?" Queen Karnac whispered as her hand alighted softly on the top of her friend's head. Faris looked up and noticed tiny tears streaming from the queen's brown eyes, and rose to wipe them gently away.
     "That's right, Ylles, I'm here to get you and the boys out. Can you walk or should I carry you?"
     Yllesia extended her hand and watched with secret longing for a time long past as Faris took it between her hands and kissed the back of it as any gentleman would. "I am weak, my knight, for my captors did not think I was worth feeding. I would not ask such a thing of you otherwise, but please carry me."
     The former pirate picked up her diminuitive friend, frowning when she realised how much lighter the older woman was since they last seen each other, and kicked the door open to join the rest of the party.
     Benjiro stood with the youngest of the children in one arm, the other clutching his hand, both looking at Ridha in his cloak of absolute darkness in a mixture of awe and fear. The youngest turned and squealed in delight as Faris came with their mother in her arms, and Yllesia was equally relieved to see her two sons once again.
     "Now, we have to get out of here fast," Butz said, his voice a harsh whisper. With the magelord in the lead, the party left the jail and the still-chatting guards.
     Daril, the oldest of the two, stopped suddenly and called out for the party to stop. The party turned as Daril spoke.
     "Who's that guy in black and why does he have a mask?"
     "Daril," Faris bit out in exasperation. "We don't have time for this!"
     "But I wanna know now! Don't make me holler!"
     "He's my son, and he needs the mask to focus for extended periods of time. Satisfied?"
     The green-haired little boy looked down and the party proceeded towards the hill where the chocobos were tied, then ran up to the front of the procession and ripped the ebony mask from the magelord's face. The illusion Ridha wove unravelled, and the klaxons sounded from the makeshift jail.
     "You just had to do that, didn't you," Yllesia scolded from her place on Faris's back.
     "Well, we better run fast," Butz said hastily, scooping up Daril. "And we better hope they don't have chocobos!"
     The party raced as fast as they could, the rebels coming up not far behind. Ridha felt his chest burn agonizingly with strain, along with every muscle in his body. He wasn't used to this, he never had been, and he collapsed in exhaustion. Faris noticed this, and once she left Yllesia in her lover's arms, she ran back to pick up her son.
     "Red! Are you okay," she cried out, quickly approaching him. He looked up and weakly extended a hand...
     ...there was a crack in the air like thunder, followed by a quick burning scent, and Faris fell forward as the bullet ripped into her body, over Ridha's prone form. Shock raced into his system as her blood seeped onto his robes, then horror as his link to her snapped apart. I couldn't prevent it after all...
     The magelord stood, pulling his mask over his face, and rose his staff in front of him. Energy rippled and crackled like wildfire up and down his staff, the focal point of his power, as the eyes of his mask glowed a demonic yellow. He grounded himself, spreading his spiritual roots to the ground and drawing from the power of the Void.
     The words that came to him were not those he earned from any book, nor from any tutor. They were those of one dead years ago...
     "Evil spirits of the earth, vengeful dead without rest... rise up and find new hosts! Grand Cross!"
     Darkness rose from the ground like the blackest of fog, engulfing the oncoming rebels. When the fog retreated, a few of the rebels were turned into frogs, others into statues, and others still into midgets, but still others stood unaffected and continued approaching. Ridha was berserk, casting spells without thinking, and quick upon his lips were the words of another spell.
     "Let the darkness in my heart consume the purests of souls, let it take the purest of lives! Almagest!"
     An explosion of light followed quickly on the heels of the fog of darkness, and most of the remaining rebels fell dead or critically wounded. Only a few survivors were left and those were wise enough to retreat. Yet the magelord cared only for revenge, and began another spell.
     As he did so, Butz turned in response to the flash of light, only to look in horror at the dark form of the magelord standing over his fallen mother, his red-tinted energy fire coupled with the black fog and electrical bolts of the Void. And as the Wind Warrior watched in horror, Ridha cast White Hole on one of the retreating rebels. The magelord began with another spell, the darkness of the Void almost overpowering his fire, and this time Butz could hear ther words as they were spoken. "Infinite nothingness lying beyond substance, dispel the illusion of existence ... Big Bang!"
     Another explosion of light, and most of the rest were dead.
     No more, no more of this, Butz's mind screamed as he raced to find some way to stop the berserk magelord.
     I have to stop him...he may be the next ExDeath...

~end chapter four~

 

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