~Chapter Eight
October 8th, 648.
Despite Ike's fall, the diversion created by the Greil Mercenaries allows the Laguz Alliance to slip successfully past the Daein army's blockade. Yet General Levail and his Central Army showed no mercy and continued their relentless pursuit of the Laguz Alliance. The weakened alliance was forced to a hard choice: they had to pass through the northern edge of the Serenes Forest. From there, they would try to make their way to a hidden road that would lead them out of Begnion and back to Gallia. From Serenes, however, they were forced to go to the Kauku Caves, with Begnion in close pursuit.
"I hate caves," Deirdre muttered as the Greil Mercenaries walked through the volcanic corridors.
"The feeling is mutual." Shinon replied. "At least these caves."
There was a crack and a hail of fire came down out of nowhere, nearly hitting the two Snipers. Shinon cursed and walked faster. Deirdre had to lightly jog for a moment to catch up to him.
Rolf fell back to join them. "I hope we get out of here soon." he commented. "I'd rather not fight a battle in here."
"The haze is so thick I can barely see twenty feet." Shinon agreed. "Damn place. We never should have come in here."
Up ahead, Ike waved to Ranulf as he saw the Cat coming back to talk to them.
"Begnions up ahead." Ranulf told him. "We have to take them out and clear a way for the wounded."
Ike nodded. "Right. I'll call the rest of the Mercenaries to—" His chest throbbed painfully, a reminder of his fight with the Black Knight, and he stumbled, clutching at his heart for a moment.
Zelgius put a hand on his arm. "You stay behind this time, Ike." he said admonishingly. "You're still hurt. Titania and I will lead the Mercenaries."
Ike nodded. "My turn to take care of Elena." he said wearily.
When they fought in the next battle, Rolf marveled at how far Deirdre had come since Shinon had recruited her, about two weeks ago. He's seen her shoot a few times; he agreed with his mentor, she had natural talent, but she took far too long to line up her shot and she needed to hit a soldier multiple times before he would die. Apparently, Shinon had taken the challenge in stride and dealt with it rather well. She'd toughened up, she was much faster already, and occasionally she even managed to kill in one shot. She even had acquired a few more bits and pieces of armor, so much so she defended herself better when an enemy got into melee.
He watched as she tagged along after his teacher—her teacher too now, he realized—finishing off the occasional soldier that Shinon didn't quite kill. He heard their mentor's loud provocative insults, and then saw Deirdre shoot down the soldier that angrily came charging past Gatrie to attack the offending sniper.
He wanted to go with them, but he had been sent with the others to go down the middle. His job was to watch Rhys and Ilyana. Orders were orders. He saw a soldier approach Rhys and shot him down.
Zelgius took the lead as they approached the commander of the force. A pair of generals stood in his way, but it only took a few solid hits from his silver blade to bring them both down hard. He saw the Begnion commander, a general, flanked by a pair of dark sages.
Titania rode up beside him. "You take out their commander; we'll get the rest of them."
Zelgius nodded and Titania kicked her horse, galloping forward to crash into the ranks of soldiers. Oscar was right behind her. Behind them came Boyd, shouting a war cry; Rolf, raining death from the higher ledge; Ilyana and Soren, bringing the forces of air and thunder to the combat; Rhys and Mist, healing the injured; and Reyson, lending his voice to the battle.
It only took the powerful Zelgius a few moments to get through the interfering soldiers. He approached the enemy commander—a man he recognized, a particularly weak-minded and cowardly, especially when it came to laguz, general named Septimus.
"They told me that the enemy would be burnt by the time I reached them." he heard the general mutter. "The only thing I'd have to do was carry their dead bodies back as proof... It's just my luck that the enemy is alive and well! Why does this always happen to me?"
The dark sages advanced towards Zelgius, beginning to swirl with purple and black magic as the spell began. He scoffed as they sent their spells towards him, the magic harmlessly sliding off his armor and not doing any hurt at all. Fools. Their magic is not strong enough to hurt me.
Titania rode by him, swinging her poleax in a long sweep and knocking one of the sages off his feet. An arrow soared past Zelgius' shoulder and slammed into the other sage, with a second following close behind. The former Begnion general ignored them and advanced to Septimus.
"Wh-Who are you?!" Septimus demanded as Zelgius came to stand before him.
"I am surprised you do not remember." the mercenary replied.
Recognition dawned on the general's face. "G-General Zelgius?"
Zelgius pointed his sword at Septimus threateningly. "Just Zelgius now. I see you do remember me."
"Traitor!" the general spat. "You would fight your own country!"
"Begnion never was my country, Septimus." Zelgius said flatly. "I only ever served for the sake of one man, and now I fight for love of another."
The Begnion general sputtered, then just hefted his lance and attacked. Zelgius saw the weakness behind the blow and didn't even try to dodge, instead knocking the lance aside harmlessly with the tip of his sword. The enemy general recovered quickly and attacked again, but again his attack was harmlessly deflected.
It only took two quick swings from the former Begnion general to defeat his opponent. "I never did like you." Zelgius informed him darkly, pulling his sword back.
"I-I knew it... I knew I would end up like this..." Septimus mumbled as he collapsed, dead before he hit the ground. Zelgius glanced around and saw that the battle was mostly over.
He walked back to rejoin the rest of the Mercenaries, mercifully striking down one Beginon soldier, caught on fire from the frequent rains of lava, as he went. "Are we clear?" he asked.
"For now." Titania reported. "We didn't lose anybody. Haar, Jill, Nephenee, and Rhys have some bad burns, but they'll be all right. Also, Reyson's wings got scorched and he can't fly."
Zelgius cursed. "The hawk king is going to kill me." he muttered.
"And Shinon and Deirdre are missing." she finished regretfully. "Rolf was the last one who saw them."
Zelgius cursed again. "All right. Send someone to tell the others we can move. Boyd, Rolf, Oscar, you're with me. We're going to find the other three. The rest of you, check for any remaining Begnion soldiers."
The others nodded and spread out. The three brothers followed after Zelgius, and Rolf pointed out where he'd last seen the missing snipers. They found footprints going in three separate directions, so they split up to each go one way.
Ranulf came back to tell the others. "I think we're clear! Let's get moving, and fast!" he called, waving for Ike and Skrimir.
Ike waved acknowledgement, then looked down at Elena. "You all right?" he asked.
She nodded, wiping her sweat-drenched hair from her face. "I'm fine. Are we going to get out of here soon?"
Ike nodded. "Yeah. Soon. Come on."
Zelgius and Rolf found a broken bow, not far from where the two Snipers had last been seen. Rolf picked it up and studied it, trying hard not to cry. "This... this is the bow I made for him." he said quietly. "For Shinon."
Zelgius looked around, but this room was apparently a dead-end. The path ended on an island in the middle of a lava lake, which was where they were now. There didn't appear to be any other way out other than where they'd come, and that went straight back to the more open area where Rolf had last seen his mentor and the larger battle had been fought. There was nowhere they could have gone.
"Where could they be?" Rolf asked, looking up from the bow.
"We would have seen them if they'd come back the same way we came." Zelgius answered honestly. "And there aren't any of the same footprints going back."
"But there's no way out of this room!" Rolf protested. "They must have gone back! That, or..."
Zelgius turned to walk back. "Come on. We'll see if the others found anything. There's nothing here."
Rolf looked at the broken bow in his hands. Then he stuck the pieces in his belt and ran after Zelgius.
They met back up with the other two at the entrance to the tunnels. "I didn't see Shinon or Deirdre." Oscar confirmed regretfully.
"I found several dead Begnions." Boyd reported. "Killed by arrows. Their footprints doubled back, though. I figured they must have gone the other way."
"Ours went to a dead end. We found this." Rolf said, holding up the broken bow.
"What do we do now?" Oscar asked. "There doesn't seem to be anywhere they could have gone..."
Zelgius turned back, looking at the tunnel that the laguz had already taken. "We don't have much choice." he said softly. "This place is a death trap. We should catch up to the others and get out of here."
"But Shinon and Deirdre...!" Rolf protested.
"Rolf..." Oscar said gently. "They're gone."
"No!" the boy insisted, tears in his eyes. "I'm not leaving until I find them!"
"Listen, Rolf!" Boyd said. "There's nowhere they could have gone. They're dead. Dead! Probably burned to ashes in this hellhole."
Rolf choked down a sob. "No! They—he can't be dead! He isn't!"
Zelgius looked at the boy sadly. He knew what it was like to lose a mentor...
"It is possible that they were captured." he said.
Rolf looked at him hopefully.
"You three go with the others." Zelgius decided. "I'll look for them for another mark. Any longer and I'll have fallen too far behind."
"I'm going to stay with you!" Rolf insisted. "I'm not leaving until we find Shinon!"
"Go with your brothers." Zelgius said. "I'll be safer on my own."
Rolf looked slightly hurt, but Oscar grabbed him and pulled him up on the saddle. "Don't get killed," the paladin told Zelgius. "Ike still needs you."
Zelgius nodded. "Go on."
Oscar kicked his horse lightly and cantered down the path, towards the laguz. Boyd ran after them, and Zelgius turned back to the tunnels. Where to start? he wondered.
The leaders finally emerged from the caves into bright daylight. "Oh, thank the Goddess." Elena said, vastly relieved, still clutching her dad's hand.
Ducessa, leaning against Ranulf for support, smiled wearily. "Ah... finally!"
"I thought we were finished... I thought my rashness had killed us. But we've lived to see our land again!" Skrimir said excitedly.
"Uh, Skrimir? Take a good, long look around." Tibarn said. "This isn't Gallia."
Skrimir's hopeful expression faded as he took in his surroundings. A long plain, stretching out with seemingly no end. Gallia was a forested country...
A pair of official-looking Dragon laguz suddenly appeared, as if out of nowhere. "Halt!"
"Goldoa." Ranulf swore under his breath. "Frickin' Goldoa. Goddess, did we screw up..."
It may have just been Zelgius' perceptions, but the Kauku Caves grew more violent the longer he stayed in them. Either that, or the other, more ominous option; he was going deeper into the caves, further from the surface.
He'd lost track of the time, and he'd gotten turned around somewhere back there, so he didn't know which way was the way back. Fire rained down constantly, burning him whenever he wasn't fast enough to dodge. He ached and he was tired, but he stubbornly kept looking—for Shinon and Deirdre as much as for an exit...
Then he heard a weak cry. He froze, his hand tightening on his sword hilt. That had been Shinon's voice, he was sure...!
He heard a cold voice, echoing through one of the nearby tunnels; "I grow weary of your stubbornness. Tell me what I want to know."
There was a strangled cough, possibly some words, and he recognized the voice. Deirdre! He quickly determined the direction and went down the passage, his sword at the ready.
The voices got louder. "Surely you would not have him die for the sake of a little direction?" the cold voice asked.
"Damn..." he heard Shinon snarl weakly.
"Silence!"
There was a gory ripping sound and Shinon screamed. Zelgius was getting closer.
"I grow weary of these games." the cold voice said. "Tell me what I want to know, or—"
Zelgius emerged from the passage into a large, open room. It was a lake of lava, but stretching off from the right side was a peninsula that went all the way to the middle, connected to Zelgius' passage by a rather thin land bridge. On the other side, a similar bridge led to another tunnel.
On the land near the right wall, there was a boy. Fifteen or sixteen, by facial features alone, but from the way he held himself Zelgius got the sense he was much older. That, and he was obviously not beorc. His skin was black, his hair the purest ebony, his glowing red eyes without pupil or iris. He held a sword, the crosspiece in the shape of violet-blue wings. The blade was stained with blood and the tip poised over Shinon, who was curled up on the ground, covered in blood, one leg twisted the wrong way. Deirdre was pinned to the wall with a dagger, and it seemed to be she that the boy was addressing. The boy and Deirdre turned to look at Zelgius when he entered the room.
"Ah, but I see we are interrupted." the boy said pleasantly. "Your friend, I assume?"
"Who are you?" Zelgius demanded, approaching quickly but cautiously.
"Not an enemy of yours." the boy replied. "I only require information from the girl, and then I'll be on my way."
Deirdre tugged futilely at the knife pinning her. "How can you say that?" she demanded. "You... tortured him...!"
"Is he a friend of yours?" the boy asked Zelgius. "I do apologize."
Zelgius stopped at the edge of the island, staring the boy down. "He is a mercenary under my husband's command." Zelgius stated. "As is she. You hurt them, then I consider you my enemy."
The boy tilted his head curiously. "Husband...? Ah. You must be the famous General Zelgius. Or just Zelgius now, I suppose."
"Who are you?" Zelgius asked again.
"Dark Link." the boy stated.
Deirdre managed to pull the knife out and shot to her feet, pointing it at boy. "You're the Shadow!" she said angrily. "You killed my brothers!"
"Ah, yes. The Gordin boys." Dark Link said calmly. He didn't flinch—nor did he remove the sword tip from Shinon's throat, an unspoken threat. "Tell me what I want to know, or there will be even more blood on my hands."
Zelgius stepped forward warily. "What do you want to know?" he asked.
The Shadow laughed. "Ah, but that is something only the young lady here can tell. Speak, Deirdre." In the blink of an eye, he swept forward and around the girl, grabbing her wrist and twisting the knife out of it while bringing the sword to her neck at the same time. "Where is Prince Marth?"
She jerked her head backward into his face, pushing the sword away. He dropped her and swept back, only to find himself staring down Zelgius' blade, the former General standing protectively next to Shinon's prone body. "I would challenge you to fight, but I have the feeling that he would not last that long." Zelgius stated.
"An honest assessment." Dark Link replied. "Perhaps I'll return for the duel another day, then. For now, I shall retreat." He sheathed his sword on his back, then spun about and ran twenty feet, straight past the startled Deirdre, and leapt off the island. He did a flip and plunged into the lava, his red cloak twisting around him and turning him into a black arrow moments before he hit the surface. He plunged through the fiery surface and vanished, and the lava wasn't disturbed.
Deirdre barely waited for him to leave before rushing to Shinon's side. "Sensei!"
Zelgius sheathed his sword and knelt down next to Shinon, checking his wounds. He was indeed very near the point of death; his ribs, wrists, and left leg were broken, he had cuts and bruises all over his face, several gashes on his side, and, to Zelgius' personal disgust, his right little finger was cut off. Zelgius quickly produced his vulnerary and forced the man to drink the last of the contents. Shinon choked and spluttered, then swallowed weakly.
Deirdre got up and rubbed the back of her head. "Will he be all right?" she asked worriedly.
Zelgius checked him again. He was sleeping now. "I only had one use of the vulnerary left." he told her. "He'll live, long enough for us to find a healer at least."
Shinon moaned and tried to sit up. "I'm... fine... that stupid... bastard..." he said weakly, then coughed a mouthful of blood.
"Sensei, you're hurt..." Deirdre told him. "Your leg's broken... you aren't fine."
"I'll... live..." He coughed again and tried to get up. He put a little weight on his leg and choked down a scream.
Zelgius abruptly picked Shinon up bridal-style. The sniper promptly passed out, and the former general looked to Deirdre. "Are you well enough to walk?"
She nodded. "Come on. I think this is the way out."
He followed her to the tunnel opposite the one he'd entered, and a moment later they were going up.
"We have to go talk to Deghinsea." Ranulf told Ike, a few hours after they'd left the caves. "We can't wait any longer."
"He should have been out by now!" Ike fretted. "Where could he be?"
"Wherever Zelgius is," Ranulf said, "he'll be able to survive on his own. He is the—er—he is very strong. But we have to go, unless you want to go back in there."
"Those caves are a death trap! We never should have gone in there." Ike said darkly, barely paying attention to Ranulf.
"Ike? We have to go!"
"Where is he...?" Ike mumbled.
Ranulf punched the mercenary's shoulder. "Zelgius will be fine! Come on."
Ike finally noticed he was there. "Go where?" he asked blankly.
Ranulf sighed in frustration.
Rolf sat with Elena, both of them fretting over different people. "Father... Father, please be safe..." Elena prayed.
Shinon... please be alive... Rolf begged silently. Please don't be dead. I wouldn't know what to do without you...
Elena, eventually, got so worried that she had to find her stress reliever. She chased down Soren and began playing with his hair, much to his alarm. Ilyana thought it was funny.
Rolf had no such way of relieving his stress, however. So he just prayed over his mentor's broken bow.
"I can smell fresh air!" Deirdre called, up ahead of Zelgius and Shinon. "We're almost out!"
"Thank Ashera," Zelgius muttered to himself. "I hope we come out near the others."
A few minutes later they emerged into the air. They were up on a cliff ledge, several hundred feet up the mountain. A winding path on their left trailed down the cliffside. It was night, the stars high overhead, and far out before and below them stretched a jungle for as far as they could see. "Gallia." Zelgius breathed. "We made it."
Deirdre looked around worriedly. "I don't see the army." she said worriedly. "Unless we came out miles away from them, we should have been able to see their camp."
Zelgius' faint smile faded. "Oh no... what if..."
She looked up at him. "What?"
"What if they came out in Goldoa?" he asked. "The caves supposedly exit to both places."
Deirdre bit her lip. "What do we do?"
Zelgius set Shinon down gently. The man moaned and curled up again, trying to shut out the pain. "You wait here. I'll go back and see if I—"
"No!" Deirdre said quickly. "You saw how helpless I was," she explained when he looked at her blankly. "If the Shadow came back, he could kill us both. You're the only one here who could face him. We have to stick together."
Zelgius thought for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "You're right. But... we can't go back into the caves, then. We'll... we'll look for a village, see if we can find anyone with a healer." He picked Shinon up again and started on the path down the mountain.
It was a long walk down the mountain. By the time they reached the bottom, the path spilling out into the forest with no visible road, Deirdre was near to collapse. Zelgius stopped her at the bottom. "We should rest now."
"No... Sensei's dying!" she insisted. "We don't know how much longer he has before... before he..."
"Moving him probably isn't good for him anyway. And you won't be much good to him when you're too tired to walk." Zelgius chastised. "You both could use some sleep."
She sighed and sat down abruptly. "Oh, all right..."
He set Shinon down carefully. The sniper didn't even moan this time, or make any sound—not a good sign. "We'll rest for a few hours, if we can... then we have to find a healer." he said decisively.
Deirdre gently ran a hand along the side of Shinon's face sadly. Her finger traced a deep cut over his left eye that had filled his eyes with blood and sighed. "Please..." she whispered. "Don't die because of me... this is all my fault... oh Goddess, please don't die."
Zelgius moved off to get some firewood—the smoke of a campfire might alert the Laguz Alliance, if they were nearby.
"Don't die now..." Deirdre mouthed. "Please... not now... I can't lose anyone else...!"
She dozed off into fretful dreams, reliving her memories...
"I don't want you to go." I begged pitifully, clutching my older brother's shirt sleeve.
My middle brother Kane laughed, pulling his sleeve away. "Relax, Deirdre! We know what we're doing."
"We're trained professionals!" Calhoun, a year younger than Kane, said cheerily. "Father always said I wielded the sword better than anyone he knew!"
"In your dreams." Jareth, my eldest brother, chuckled.
Samar, just five years older than me, took my hand gently. "We'll be all right, Day, I promise." he said comfortingly. Day. That was what all my brothers called me.
"But... the Shadow's killed so many..." I fretted, chewing my hair as I always did when I was nervous. "I-I don't want to lose any of you...!"
Sam pulled my hair out of my mouth, smiling comfortingly."We'll come back." he assured me. "I promise."
I never saw them again. I got a few letters, speaking of the Shadow's advance, but then they abruptly stopped.
I got a letter from their post on the Doluna border. It was a few days before the greater part of the Altean Army, including the senior Royal Knights, would set out for their last stand against the Shadow. It was written by Lyndsay Ogma, my friend Jak's older sister.
"Deirdre. I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but...The border's fallen. The fortress is taken. Your brothers are dead."
No one should have to hear those words... should have to read them on a tattered, tear-stained parchment, and know the implications of those four words, those five syllables, those nineteen simple letters...
"Your brothers are dead."
I remember all the other letters I've read, from my friends. All the youngest siblings of the Descendants, as we liked to call ourselves. As their brothers and sisters and parents were killed by the Shadow.
"Your brothers are dead."
Dustin Abel, staring into nothingness, his face wet with tears. Kester Cain, normally so strong and brave, sobbing into his pillow. Jak Ogma, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably, unable to lift his head. Elwyn and Luna Julian, crying onto each other's shoulders. Will Merric, at a loss for words, crumpling the tear-stained paper with the fatal words on it in his hands. All their friends, their family, and their friends' families... gone.
"Your brothers are dead."
So many have been lost to the Shadow. I am the last of my line, because of the Shadow. I, along with twelve others, are the last Akaneians alive... because of the Shadow. How I hate him.
Her mind flew to her new mentor, her sensei, the man who had chosen to help her for no better reason than the fact that she had 'talent'... or so he claimed...
"Damn this haze!" Sensei said angrily, wiping the sweatdrops out of his eyes. "I can't even tell where the rest of the Mercenaries are!"
"I think they were down that tunnel." I said, pointing one out.
Sensei shot a Begnion soldier that tried to get up. "Are you sure?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No, but it's my best guess."
"Well, better than nothin'." He ran into the tunnel, but waited at the entrance for me.
I ran after him, and I had the feeling my eyes were glowing. I'd only known Sensei for a few weeks, and yet I admired him more than anything. He was such an amazing archer... sure, his attitude wasn't always that pleasant, but he was good to me, and to Rolf—the boy, so much like a son to the experienced Sniper. He called him "Uncle Shinon" but it should have been "Father" because that's how close they were. And yet, I sensed that Sensei had been distancing himself from his young apprentice. Why, I couldn't imagine. I hoped it wasn't because of me.
We ran lightly down the passage. I tripped, and he stopped to pull me to my feet. Could I truly find a friend again, after my entire family had died?
I prayed it was so.
We came out of the tunnel, but got turned around and ended up going down another one. "We're probably going in circles." Sensei complained.
Kane had had an attitude like his. Jareth, too. The same protective-but-pretending-not care as Calhoun. He reminded me so much of my brothers sometimes... it was like having my family back, when I was with him.
We came out into a circular room, a rocky island in the middle of a lava lake. "Damn, we must have taken a wrong turn." Sensei said. He turned to go back, but stopped when we heard a cold, calculating voice;
"I've been looking for you."
My blood ran cold. "No..." I gasped. Sensei turned back again.
Out of the haze and smoke, a dark figure stepped. Sixteen years old. Black skin, ebon hair, glowing red eyes devoid of iris or pupil. "Deirdre Gordin."
"Friend of yours?" Sensei asked sarcastically.
"The Shadow." I said darkly. "The one who destroyed Akaneia."
Sensei's hand went to his quiver in an instant. So protective.
"Ah, so you have heard of me." The boy laughed coldly. "And you have gotten yourself a friend. How... quaint."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sensei demanded. I shot him a quick admiring glance.
"This does not concern you. You might as well leave." the Shadow said. "This is 'tween I and Deirdre."
"If it concerns my apprentice, then I think it damn well concerns me, too. And frankly, I don't trust you." Sensei shot back.
Everything I knew about the Shadow came back to me in a rush.
"You will only interfere with our... hmm." The Shadow seemed to think for a moment. "On second thought, perhaps you can help me make her talk. Yes, stay."
For a moment, I thought my heart had stopped.
"Sensei. Run." I said, as calmly as I could.
He glanced at me incredulously. "From this kid? I can take him."
"Run! He can't—"
Sensei drew an arrow and fired. The Shadow leaned slightly, and it slammed into his shoulder. The boy pulled the arrow out and looked at it curiously, then tossed it aside as the brief blood flow abruptly stopped, the wound already closing itself. "How amusing."
Sensei gaped. "What in the—"
Suddenly the Shadow was in motion, his sword a blur as he charged in fast. I almost screamed and fell backwards, but I wasn't the target; exactly what I'd feared. A line of black smoke came from the Shadow's blade, fanning out to surround the three of them. Sensei vanished behind a swirl of ash.
I felt like I was going to throw up. My head was fuzzy and my mind was a whirl, surrounded by the choking black smoke.
Then the smoke cleared, and we were somewhere else. Another cave, another island in another lake of lava, except this island extended from the wall—the wall I now stood with my back to. And I could now see clearly around me.
Sensei's bow—that one that Rolf had given him—was gone. The Shadow had knocked him to the ground, and his sword tip hovered menacingly over the sniper's throat.
"Sensei!" I cried.
"You will tell me what I want to know," the Shadow said darkly, "or I will make his death more painful than anything either of you have ever known."
Sensei instinctively kicked at the Shadow's legs, but the boy danced around his attack, stomping on Sensei's wrist hard enough to break. There was an audible snap, and he nearly gasped.
"Be still, lest I make the killing hurt more." The Shadow turned back to me, staring me down with those horrible red eyes. He slid a pair of long, thin knives out of hidden wrist sheathes and spun them carelessly in his hands. "Marth Lowell III, Crown Prince of Altea. Where is he?"
I'd vowed not to tell, in the face of any threat. I had lost everything; I'd thought abandoning my life for the Prince would be easy for me. But now... it hurt. It hurt too much...
The Shadow threw a knife suddenly. I barely stepped aside in time, but as it was it stabbed through the barest edge of my collar and pinned me to the wall. Then, without missing a beat, he stepped hard on Sensei's other wrist, slammed one knee into Sensei's chest, and sliced it across Sensei's shoulder, violently tearing the flesh open. Sensei stifled a cry. "How much pain will he take before you speak?" the Shadow taunted.
He was going to do it. He was going to take Sensei from me, and I would be alone again.
"Damn you." was all I could say. "Damn you."
Deirdre started awake to find herself still slumped next to Shinon. Zelgius had made a small fire, and he sat on the other side of it, looking the other way, out into the forest.
She sat up slightly and winced, sore from sleeping in that unnatural position. She stretched herself out, lying down next to Shinon and still gently holding his wounded hand.
"Don't die," she whispered, so quietly that not even Zelgius could hear her. "Think of what it would do to Rolf!"
He rolled over slightly, a quiet, weak moan escaping his lips. "Don't die, Sensei." she repeated. "For Rolf, and for me, you have to live! I... I need you..."
Zelgius woke her two hours later. "He's very weak." he told her softly. "We have to find help, soon."
Deirdre nodded and got up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Are you sure we can move him?" she asked worriedly.
"No, but if we don't he won't have any chance at all." Zelgius kicked some dirt on the fire and gently picked Shinon up, careful not to jar him.
Deirdre eyed the Sniper worriedly, then picked up one of the smaller logs of the fire, blew on it to get it going again, and walked ahead into the forest, torch in hand.
Judging from where the caves were, they got a pretty good guess on which direction the capital was, and made their way towards that. It was fairly slow-going through the jungle, with Zelgius carrying Shinon and Deirdre on the point of nervous breakdown.
They walked for hours, with no signs of laguz or beorc. Shinon was getting worse; his pulse was down to almost nothing and his breathing was nearly nonexistent. What was worse than that, after a long time Deirdre noticed that Zelgius was tiring. He was strong, but even he got tired after going for Ashera knew how long, carrying a dying sniper without a moment's sleep at all.
Now she worried that if the Shadow did appear, Zelgius wouldn't be strong enough to face him.
The sun was rising. Even this deep in the forest, they could see the light creeping in through the foliage overhead. Shinon was running out of time.
Zelgius finally got too tired to go on. Deirdre told him to put Shinon down and rest, and after a bit of arguing he did so. She looked at him once, regretfully, then down to the dying sniper.
"Please live, Sensei." she said quietly. "I'll find help." Then she checked the Shadow's dagger—it was still in her belt, where she'd absently put it after the fight—and ran into the forest.
Alyxaidra, a Cat laguz with bright blue hair and amused violet eyes, was already up and about for the day. She tended to wake up before the rest of the laguz in her village, before dawn—unusual for a Cat, true, but she liked to get an early start. She learned it from the beorc twins that were living with her, she claimed, though her habit had come around a lot longer before then.
She checked her to-do list for the day and decided that the first order of business was to catch something for breakfast. She grabbed a few healing herbs, in case she injured herself, and then trotted into the forest.
It didn't take her long to sense something. While most of the forest creatures were fairly quiet, or subtle at least, something had been crashing around earlier and had left a distinct scent all over. Alyx tested it, then recognized it. Beorc! It wasn't her friends' scent, either... this was some strange beorc she'd never smelled before. Alyx moved cautiously.
Then the scent got stronger, more recent. The beorc was here not long ago... She decided to follow it, and lightly jogged through the undergrowth, following the scent.
She heard the beorc before she saw it, and when she crept up to a tree and peeked around, she was surprised. She'd been expecting a lost child from one of the northern beorc settlements, but this girl had armor and a knife. Alyx's ears went back.
The blue-haired girl was walking slowly through the forest, looking exhausted. The knife was in her belt, which was of some relief for Alyx, but the girl was still beorc...
Alyx stepped on a twig. The girl started and whipped her head about, and Alyx cursed herself mentally. But there was nowhere she could hide, so she just prepared herself to shift.
The girl saw her tense and called "Wait! I—I'm not an enemy!"
Alyx cocked her head curiously and waited.
"I was with the Laguz Alliance." the girl explained. "The Greil Mercenaries? Me and a couple of my friends—we got separated from the rest on the way back."
"Way back?" Alyx asked as curiosity got the better of her. "I thought we were going into Begnion."
"A Begnion general defeated Skrimir." the girl said. "We were coming back and we had to go through the Kauku Caves. We got separated in a battle and came out the wrong exit..."
"Skrimir, defeated?" Alyx asked incredulously.
The girl nodded. "Yes. Kilvas betrayed us."
Alyx sighed. "Well, why didn't you go back through the caves and rejoin the rest of the Alliance army?" she asked.
"Because my friend is dying!" the girl blurted. "He got really badly hurt and we didn't want to take him back through the caves like this but I don't know how much longer he has and he might be dead already!"
Alyx's eyes widened. She didn't know this girl and she didn't know if she could trust her, but she was a natural healer and a dying person was very real to her. "I have some healing herbs. Where is he?"
"I can take you to them." the girl said quickly. "I don't think they're far... I walked in a straight line and I marked a few trees, so I should be able to find them again." She turned around and ran straight past Alyx into the forest. The Cat understood the urgency and raced after her.
"I'm Alyxaidra." the Cat said as they ran.
"Deirdre." the girl replied.
It didn't take Deirdre long to find them again. Zelgius was still asleep, and Shinon was barely breathing at all. Alyx went straight to him, examining him quickly and frowning.
"This is bad," the Cat said, putting some of the herbs on his wounds. "I don't know if I can heal him completely, but I think I can keep him alive if we get him back to my house. I know a healer—she'll be able to heal him better, I think."
Deirdre nodded and looked at Zelgius reluctantly. Then she gently shook him to wake him.
"Zelgius." she said gently as he stirred. "We need you to carry Sensei."
He groaned and sat up, holding his head. Then he saw Alyx, and started. "Who?"
"She's a friend. She's going to help." Deirdre said reassuringly.
Zelgius groaned again, pushing himself to his feet. He looked utterly exhausted despite his rest, and Deirdre felt guilty for waking him, but both her and Alyx were too small to carry the sniper and they couldn't leave Zelgius behind anyway.
"He must be strong to have lasted this long." Alyx commented.
"He is." Deirdre assured her. "He is."
After Zelgius carried Shinon back to Alyx's house and put him in the Cat's bed(she insisted), he promptly sat down against the wall and fell asleep again. Alyx went to get her healer friend. Deirdre sat at Shinon's side.
"If you can hear me," she said softly, "we're safe. Alyx is going to save you." She smiled wryly. "So don't go hating on laguz anymore, okay?" She sighed. "And thank you." She held his hand tightly. "You survived..."
Much to her surprise, when Alyx returned she was accompanied by a very familiar face. "Luna!?" Deirdre gasped.
The elegant red-head woman started. "What—Deirdre?!"
The smaller blue-haired girl practically flew forward to hug her friend. "Luna Julian! It is you!" she cried happily.
"You know her?" Alyx asked, confused.
Luna smiled and patted Deirdre's head gently, nodding to Alyx. "Yes, she's an old friend of mine." To Deirdre, she asked "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be in Begnion!"
"I joined up with the Greil Mercenaries." Deirdre told her, pulling back again. "We were retreating through the Kauku Caves and—we got separated. Sensei is dying!"
"Sensei? You have a sensei now?"
She sighed. "There isn't time to explain that... please... Sensei..."
"Well, that is why I'm here." Luna said, presenting her Mend staff. "Where is he?"
Deirdre practically dragged her into the bedroom. Luna eyed Zelgius in surprise. "Wasn't he in Melior...?"
"Zelgius. Commander Ike's husband, remember?" Deirdre said hurriedly. "Please—Sensei!"
The red-head bent down over the sniper, examining his wounds. She sucked in a breath. "What happened to him?"
"The Shadow." Deirdre said solemnly. "He must have recognized me somehow... Me and Sensei got separated from the others in the caves, and the Shadow found us. He tortured Sensei... to try and get me to tell where Prince Marth is."
Luna's eyes widened. "No! The Shadow... he couldn't have! Not so quickly!"
"I didn't tell him anything." Deirdre said quietly, moving to stand beside Luna. "He... he probably would have killed Sensei, if Zelgius hadn't shown up. He came to find us after we went missing. The Shadow fled, thank the Goddess."
Luna held the Mend staff over Shinon and closed her eyes, mouthing the spell. Healing magic washed over the sniper and Deirdre relaxed. She stepped backward and sat down abruptly next to Zelgius. "He'll be all right..." she murmured. "Luna will heal him... damn you, Shadow, but we've won this time. Yes! He'll live... he will survive."
All her weariness caught up to her at once—that sleep earlier hadn't been very restful—and she leaned against Zelgius' shoulder and fell asleep.
Alyx looked at her sympathetically, then moved to join Luna. "Is she one of the refugees you told me about?" she asked.
Luna nodded, lowering the Mend staff with a sigh. "Yes. She's the youngest of us, besides Prince Roy. I don't understand how the Shadow could have found her so fast..."
"Maybe he was in the area at the time and he got lucky." Alyx suggested.
"She said they were in the Kauku Caves, right? Who would be randomly passing through there?"
"The Shadow would."
Luna conceded the point. "He never was very predictable in his movements." She checked Shinon again. Most of his wounds were healing over now, and his breathing was steady. "I think he'll be all right. He might have some scars—like this cut down the side, here—but he'll live. I have to go talk to Elwyn..."
Alyx shook her head quickly. "I'll get Elwyn. She's still over with Chrystia, right? You should check those two." She gestured towards Zelgius and Deirdre. "They might be injured. I won't be long." Then she walked out of the room.
Luna went over and bent down next to Deirdre. The girl appeared to be murmuring in her sleep—that had always been her habit aboard the ship, Luna recalled. They'd commonly slept next to each other, and sometimes when Deirdre was nervous or scared she kept Luna up for hours with her sleepy mutterings about her brothers.
This time, however, she was mouthing one word, over and over again. "Sensei." Luna frowned and looked back to the sleeping sniper on the bed. What is it about this man that she cares about him so much? she wondered. Calls him Sensei? Deirdre hasn't cared for anybody this much—or called anybody sensei—since her brothers died...
Damn that girl. She's far too stubborn for her own good. And she obviously cares for that man very much... yet she would watch him die before her eyes rather than give me a simple piece of information. Be tortured... for an hour, almost two, without giving in...Strange. I seem to recall the heroes were the ones who gave up the knowledge for their loved ones' protection.
Perhaps she simply does not care for him. Or... maybe she is not a hero. A fascinating question.
