CHAPTER 9:
THE BATTLE OF BURMECIA
They'd recruited Quina with ease, given how Zidane had been acquainted with the rather simple-minded Qu before. The party made their way to Gizamaluke's Grotto, to find the entrance littered with the corpses of Burmecian soldiers. Unfortunately, they were too far gone for Life magic or Phoenix Downs to be of any use.
With grim determination, the group made their way through to the main entrance hall, to find it bedlam. Black Mages were attacking Burmecian soldiers, with Zorn and Thorn giving the orders. Without any warning, Garnet began casting Shell spells, protecting the Burmecians from the oncoming spells. "Crap, that's blown our cover!" Zidane hissed.
"Did you want them to die, Zidane?!" Garnet hissed back.
"No, but you may have exposed us too soon," Freya said quietly. "Never mind. FOR BURMECIA!" With that, she literally leapt into the fray, impaling a Black Mage with her spear.
"It's Freya!" yelled one Burmecian.
"Lady Freya herself!" another called.
Zidane sighed, before he said quietly, "This might be a useful distraction. I'm going after those damned clowns." With that, he crept over, while Zorn and Thorn glared at Freya.
"So, this is Lady Freya Crescent?" Zorn asked.
"Matters, it does not," Thorn sneered. "Die, she will."
"Kill them all!" the twin jesters chorused, only for Zidane to knock them both out, slamming their heads together hard. He then hauled them over to Steiner, Vivi, Garnet, Puck, and Quina. He then rushed back into the fray, dancing amongst the Black Mages, taking them by surprise, while Freya and the other Burmecians fought back from the front.
The morale provided by Freya's appearance, along with Zidane and Freya's help, ensured that the Black Mages fell. "Lady Freya!" one of the soldiers exclaimed. "Sir Zidane! Thank Master Gizamaluke you are here! We were nearly overwhelmed!"
"What happened?" Freya asked.
"We were sent here to guard Master Gizamaluke, because if he should fall, along with his Grotto, then morale would fall too. But those damned jesters used those Black Mages on us."
Zidane frowned. "Did any of them try to speak?"
"All they did was yell 'KILL!' at us. Why do you ask?"
"We're currently travelling with another Black Mage. However, he is but a child, and is more than a mere golem," Freya said. "We travel too with Prince Puck, along with Quina Quen the Qu, and two others."
The soldier frowned, before he said, "If you can vouch for these others, we'll let you through, Lady Freya."
"Thank you," Freya said, indicating for Zidane to go and fetch the others. As he did so, Freya continued, "What news of His Majesty?"
"The last we heard, he was commanding our forces in Burmecia. The last thing we heard was that some airships from Lindblum were supporting us," the soldier said. He noticed the quintet following Zidane as they approached, Zorn and Thorn carried by Steiner and Quina respectively. "Wait, isn't that Garnet?"
"The Princess of Alexandria?" another mused.
"And ain't that Captain Steiner?"
"Princess Garnet came here because she wanted to stop this war, and do what she could to help," Freya said, the tone of her voice shutting down most protest. "Captain Steiner is her sworn bodyguard first and foremost."
Garnet approached an injured soldier, her hands glowing with White Magic, but he recoiled. "Stay the hell away from me, you Alexandrian bitch!"
Garnet leapt back, mortified, while Steiner roared, "HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS THE PRINCESS SO SHAMEFULLY! AND AFTER SHE WISHED TO GIVE YOU UNGRATEFUL BURMECIANS AID!"
Sadly, that provoked a loud argument, before Puck threw down a vial filled with something that made a loud bang and a flash. "Shut up you lot! Garnet's all right in my book, and so's Steiner and Vivi! You wanna argue with your prince?"
Puck's flash bomb had derailed the argument, and Garnet healed the soldier who had objected to her ministrations earlier while she had the opportunity. More calmly, Zidane said, "Look, we've captured these two idiots. If they were leading those Black Mages, they might be valuable as hostages to Brahne."
"…Can you trust Garnet or Steiner? Or that Vivi?" the lead soldier said.
Freya looked at Zidane. Quietly, she said, "My brother trusts them. In any case, Captain Steiner believes that Queen Brahne is under the influence of a Treno arms dealer by the name of Kuja. Princess Garnet has an innate power that Brahne intended to use to increase her military power, and she fled Alexandria for Lindblum when she thought something was wrong. She has headed here to aid the Burmecian wounded. As for Vivi, he came here to find out more about these golems."
The soldier looked at Vivi, poking forlornly at a corpse of a Black Mage golem. "Very well, Lady Freya, but take due care."
They made their way through Gizamaluke's Grotto, pausing only to rescue a Moogle who had been trapped beneath the Great Bell, apparently as a cruel prank by Zorn and Thorn. They then passed through Gizamaluke's chamber, though the divine beast was sleeping.
Finally, they emerged, and saw, in the distance, battle being waged. Alexandrians versus Burmecians. It wasn't as one-sided as it could have been, especially with a few of Lindblum's airships aiding the Burmecians.
"This is madness," Steiner breathed.
"Indeed," Freya concurred.
"Why all this fighting? Why not have talks over delicious dinner?" Quina remarked. "They call Qu stupid, but this stupid."
"You get no arguments from me, Quina," Zidane said. "We need to get behind the Burmecian lines." He then looked around, and grinned when he spotted some Chocobos, tied up nearby. "The soldiers must've used them to get here. You ever ride a Chocobo, Garnet?"
"I've been meaning to try," Garnet said with a smile.
They soon managed to get behind the Burmecian lines, and soon found the King discussing something with his chancellor near the gates to Burmecia proper. "…before long, and we may need to start the evacuation to Cleyra," he was saying.
"Yo, Pops, I'm back!" Puck called out.
The King looked at them. "Puck! Zidane! Freya!" He noticed their comrades. "With a rather motley crew."
Garnet dismounted from her own Chocobo, and bowed. "Greetings, Your Majesty. It's a pleasure to meet you, even in such fraught circumstances. I wish they were better."
"Indeed, Princess Garnet. I admit I'm surprised to see you accompanying two of my most loyal soldiers and my son…and in the company of a Black Mage too."
"Master Vivi is nothing like those soulless golems!" Steiner snapped. "Your Majesty, I must apologise for this. I have reason to believe that my queen been bespelled by an arms dealer known as Kuja. It is the only reason why I have consented to allowing the Princess to be here."
"Kuja?" the King of Burmecia asked. "He came here some months before, asking about the Desert Star of Cleyra. You say he is influencing Brahne?"
"For his own gain," Steiner said.
The King nodded. "Very well. And you, Princess?"
"I am a White Mage, Your Majesty. I wished to help with the wounded where I could."
"And what of these two? They are Queen Brahne's jesters, are they not?" the chancellor asked, indicating Zorn and Thorn.
"They were commanding the Black Mage forces in Gizamaluke's Grotto," Zidane said. "They might have some use as hostages."
"Maybe, but Brahne seems determined…hold," the King said, looking across the battlefield. "The fighting is stopping. Brahne is pulling back her forces."
The chancellor, who took a pair of binoculars from a nearby soldier, looked through them. "I see two riding this way…under a flag of parley. General Beatrix…and…if I'm not mistaken, that is Kuja."
"Can I see?" Zidane asked. He took the binoculars as the chancellor handed them to him, and then looked at the approaching riders, on a Chocobo each.
Beatrix was easy to spot. A beautiful, but cold-featured woman with brown hair, an elegant warrior known for her prowess in battle. But the other was very different. A slender, pale effeminate man with lavender hair framing cruelly beautiful features. He seemed to be wearing a combination of rather revealing robes, and a thong. Was this Kuja?
"I'll have to send someone to negotiate," the King said. After a moment, he said, "Lady Freya, Sir Zidane, I need you to see what they want."
Zidane had to admit, he was actually very nervous. And with good reason. Even his Chocobo was skittish, riding across the muddied and bloodied battlefield, strewn with Burmecian and Alexandrian corpses alike, along with some Black Mages.
But here he was, and just returned to his home, and he was about to parley with General Beatrix, one of the most feared warriors of the Mist Continent. It was rumoured she once slew a hundred men single-handedly in a single battle in her teenage years, before she was promoted to General of the Alexandrian military.
But oddly enough, it wasn't Beatrix who scared him most. It was Kuja. While Steiner's theory was sound, Zidane personally thought that Kuja had not used any magic, instead psychologically manipulating Brahne into the war she had just started. But why, and to what end? It hinged on the Eidolons, Zidane would bet.
They soon met, between the two armies, Beatrix looking at them with both respect and some disdain, while Kuja seemed to smirk, though his eyes had a strange recognition in them when he looked at Zidane. "Sir Zidane Tribal-Crescent and Lady Freya Crescent of Burmecia," Beatrix said politely. "I am, as you may know, General Beatrix of Alexandria. It seems that your King has seen fit to send fine warriors as his representatives."
Freya nodded her head. "Well met, General. Would you introduce your companion?"
"Ah, but where are my manners?" Kuja said. "Excuse my rudeness. I am Kuja, a consultant with Her Majesty on her military supply."
"An arms dealer," Zidane sneered. "Not a warrior."
Beatrix shot Zidane and Freya an apologetic look. "My queen was most insistent on his accompanying me. Perhaps we should hasten to the crux of the matter. Our scouts relayed messages to us that Princess Garnet til Alexandros XVII and Captain Adelbert Steiner had arrived in your company. The Princess was abducted by brigands, but attempts to retrieve her were repulsed."
"General Beatrix, with all due respect, and you are due quite a lot due to your ability and station," Zidane said, drawing upon every ounce of his deportment and etiquette lessons, "Princess Garnet wished to depart from Alexandria for Lindblum. She was concerned about her mother, and was afraid for her own safety. She had stowed away onboard the Prima Vista of her own accord, and I ended up on there through happenstance. I took it upon myself to escort her and Captain Steiner, along with my charge Prince Puck, to Lindblum. What she had to say was concerning and disturbing, to say the least. We escorted her here because she wished to help the Burmecians, as well as understand exactly why her mother has discarded a peace treaty for an act of seemingly unwarranted aggression."
Beatrix frowned. "I see."
Kuja chose that moment to remark, "But her mother was so heartbroken to see her depart, to find that even her own daughter did not trust her. She desires nothing more than her return."
"So she can have her Eidolons extracted?" Zidane said. Surprise bloomed on their faces. Beatrix seemed surprised to learn of that, while Kuja seemed surprised that Zidane had guessed what he had intended. "The Black Waltzes sent after us seemed willing to kill anyone in their way to retrieve Princess Garnet."
"Her Majesty was concerned for her daughter's safety," Beatrix said, though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Kuja, meanwhile, smiled, as was his wont to do. "Which is why we want her returned to her mother forthwith."
"And what if she doesn't want to?" Zidane said.
Kuja tittered. "I do believe she has no choice in the matter."
Suddenly, there was a roar behind them, and screams. Zidane and Freya whirled to find a silver dragon swoop out of the sky and into the Burmecian camp, roaring. "Kuja!" Beatrix yelled. "We were here under flag of parley! And yet you have directed your pet to attack the Burmecians while…"
"Oh, spare me your moralistic objections, Beatrix!" Kuja snapped. "Brahne told me to retrieve Garnet by any means necessary, and as we spotted Zorn and Thorn as their prisoners, we needed to rescue them as well. If violating parley is what is needed, then so be it!"
As screams came from Burmecians the dragon was tearing apart, Freya whirled in her saddle to face Kuja once more. "You treacherous bastard!" she snarled.
Kuja chuckled. "Oh dear, have I made you angry? You shouldn't be. I was the one who gave you your little brother, after all. Then again, he is my little brother too."
Zidane felt a chill run down his spine at that proclamation. But before he could utter any kind of denial or demand, an instinct warned him to leap from his Chocobo, Freya doing the same, before the dragon flew right into the Chocobos, sending them sprawling, their necks, along with many of their bones, broken. Zorn and Thorn were now perched on the silver dragon, conscious and glaring at Zidane and a dazed Freya, while Garnet was clutched in one of the clawed feet of the dragon, semiconscious. That it managed to stand on one leg without looking ridiculous would have been astonishing under other circumstances, but Zidane didn't care. This bastard was kidnapping Garnet!
Kuja leapt from his own Chocobo onto the dragon. "Sorry, but I've got to fly, as they say in the vulgar vernacular. I'm taking them to Treno! Tell Brahne I will be back with the tools for her victory!"
Zidane leapt onto the tail of the dragon as it took off. "You're not getting away with this!" Zidane yelled. Even as the dragon began taking off, he crawled along the writhing tail, no mean task, before he reached the body. He swatted Zorn and Thorn, who, thankfully (for them if nobody else) fell a grand total of a few metres into mud.
Kuja turned to face him. "Well now, aren't you persistent, Zidane?"
"No shit!" Zidane snapped. But as he charged, the dragon bucked, and he nearly lost his footing. By the time he had recovered, they were already high in the sky.
"Language," Kuja chided. "You should show a little more gratitude to the one who gave you a home."
"Even if you're destroying it?!" Zidane retorted. He lunged, daggers in hand, only for Kuja to hold out his hand in a curious, halting gesture. Zidane froze in mid-air, glaring at Kuja.
"People die all the time, Zidane. That's what people do. And I'm of the opinion that you have lived long enough. You have cost me one of my best people in Amarant, not to mention time and resources." With a gesture, Kuja brought Zidane floating so that he now hovered over nothing, just a long drop, and a sudden stop. "Goodbye, Zidane."
Garnet roused herself from her daze in time to see the ground dropping away below them, soon hazy in the Mist. She resisted the urge to scream in fright. Even so, her heart pounded in her breast, her mouth hung open in shock.
Call me.
There it was. One of the voices that haunted her for all of her life. One of her Eidolons. Bahamut, the Dragon King.
Why do you not call me?
Garnet remained silent.
You are afraid.
"Of course I am," she whispered to herself, the words lost to the wind, even as she heard Kuja and Zidane speak above.
We are bound to obey our summoner. You could do great things with your power, Garnet. Or should that be Sarah, of Madain Sari?
Garnet blinked. "What?"
Do you think the name you chose coincidence? No. That was the name your mother gave you, your birth mother. You came to help others, Garnet, but you cannot help yourself, because you are afraid to. Power is a seductive thing, and it is good to be afraid of power…but what use is power if you cannot use it to protect those who you need to?
Suddenly, with a scream, Zidane dropped by, almost in slow motion. No! Garnet thought.
You have a chance to save him. Call me. Because if you don't, HE WILL DIE! DO YOU WANT THAT TO HAPPEN, PRINCESS GARNET TIL ALEXANDROS XVII?! DO YOU WANT THAT TO HAPPEN, SARAH OF MADAIN SARI?!
NO!
THEN CALL ME!
Different fears warred within Princess Garnet. Fear of the power within her…and fear of seeing a boy she had come to like die. He had saved her life many times over already. It was past time she repaid the favour.
Fear of seeing him die won out, and mental blocks, self-imposed, were shattered. Garnet thrust out a hand as Zidane plummeted towards the ground, feeling the magic and the power surge up within her. No fear, save for failing to save Zidane. "I implore you, emerge, King of Dragons, Bahamut! SAVE ZIDANE!"
CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:
Well, there's a turn-up for the books. Garnet's unlocked her ability to summon properly, getting rid of her mental blocks. This was an idea I'd had for some time while writing this, having Kuja abduct Garnet at Burmecia, only for Garnet to turn the tables while Zidane was in trouble. Hope you enjoyed this twist. Hopefully, the next chapter won't be so long coming.
No numbered annotations this time…