It was twenty minutes since Seifer made up the tent. Singular. He did not want to carry too much weight between the two of them, incase it delayed their journey towards the valley.
Where is that girl? He thought. Sighing, he went off to look for Selphie.
The path was straightforward and Seifer rather enjoyed the cool night air. The quietness of the forest gave him time to think of the day's occurrences. It was on nights like this that Seifer allowed himself that bit of time to mourn his friends and ponder on what he should do next.
Mercer and Henry were one of his fiercest friends. They would die for him. And they have. They died for his stupidity.
His stupidity for thinking about a girl, a lady, when what he should really have been doing was pay attention to his surroundings. Now, he had hell to pay.
Quistis was currently at the mercy of an enemy he neither knew nor could find. He doubted it was the Pandorians, but that was the best he could think of. They lived fairly near their course, and they did not like King Loire's reign.
However, Seifer did realize that unless the Pandorians were sons of Merlin, it was not feasible for them to disappear into thin air, riding dragons! Magic and sorcery, Seifer frowned again as that M was thought of again. It was highly disturbing that specific word would come up for a second time. But how else was he supposed to reason what he had seen, if not magic then what?
A trickery of light?
Seifer hoped that she was with the Pandorians though, for Quistis' sake, so that he could rescue her without wasting too much precious time. His mission stated it was imperative for him to guide both Quistis and her lady-in-waiting back to Lord Kramer's as soon as possible.
And He felt almost guilty that he had saved her friend at the expense of saving her. He just hoped she was all right.
Hold on, Quistis. We'll come for you. I promise.
Seifer smiled as he remembered Quistis' small beam as she recounted a tale to him earlier that morning about how Selphie had decided to get a pet dog, only to run away crying when she first saw it.
He laughed as he imagined how very fitting it was for a petite girl to be scared of a tiny thing like a puppy. As he traveled further along the path, he heard the girl in question singing by the lake.
He allowed another small smile to play across his lips as he heard the song she was singing in her soprano voice.
Hiding amongst the trees, he listened to the song she sang about knights and nightingales. Happy to hear and seek comfort from the serene tune at the end of a hard day.
'And
on this bed there lyeth a knight
His wound is bleeding day and
night
By his bedside kneeleth a maid
And she weepeth both night
and day'
"Corpus Christi written thereon…" Selphie sang the last notes of the song as she dried her wet hair. She was still unwinding in the cool water, washing away the dirt and grime from the afternoon when she heard the snap of twigs. She stilled and looked around for her dress.
Finding it at the same spot she left it, on a rock formation a few feet from the lake, she hurriedly put it on.
She expected footsteps, Seifer's, but no sound was heard.
"Seifer?" she called out uncertainly. Surely he would not play a joke at a time like this. He did not seem the sort who likes to jest, Selphie thought to herself as she looked around the tranquil lake. Trees shrouded her vision and the stillness of the night did nothing but unsettle her already fragile nerves.
It was only until she turned to start back on her path towards camp that she saw the emerging black of a rather large figure upon her. It took less than a second before her voice rang out, shrill and urgent.
Seifer was startled out of his short nap against the Sycamore tree by the sound of Selphie's desperate cry. Uttering a curse at the foolish girl for being scared of the impending dark, he stumbled about, trying to get his bearings.
It was not as he had imagined, Seifer realized, as he looked witnessed the slip of a girl and the larger silhouette struggle.
"Selphie!" He called out, adrenalin and sword at the ready. The pair did not stop and feeling a sudden rage overcome him at the brute for manhandling a girl, he decided to hold nothing back. However it was not to be as he felt the ground give way and his consciousness slipping into oblivion, with only the frightened gasp of Selphie's to guide him into his black abyss…