Chapter 3 Part II

Apparently, Noobin's charm was broken because Vale would have none of his pleadings. They had time yet to get to Bevelle, but she didn't want to push it.

They ran the mile between working towers in 40 minutes, their shield struck an excess of ten times in the unguarded areas between them. Luca received a superficial cut on his face that bled a lot, but Siddah could not spare the energy to heal him until they were safe again. Luca felt stupid and pressed his hand to his cheek while blood dried on his neck, but he didn't even remember to ask Siddah to heal him when they reached the second tower. It was quite obvious that someone else needed her white magic more than he did.

Two small boys ran to them as they approached, eyes red with crying. Luca recognized them as part of one of the Moon City families that the guado had let pass through Guadosalam.

The twins immediately released their spells and Siddah went with them to where an older girl sat over the form of an unconscious man. "Please, help our father. He got hit. He won't wake up."

Siddah was immediately at the man's side, feeling for a pulse and finding one. She reached over and parted the man's hair. She found charred hair and a small burn on his scalp. She leaned down and yanked off both his sandels. On the heel of his right foot was a small, identical burn mark. She immediately set about casting Curaga to draw him away from death. Then she would ease him down with Cura and then simply Cure to keep him out of shock.

Luca crouched by the two little boys to comfort them. The older of the two tried to explain. "The big-hand people, they gave each family a charm to stop the lightening. But Vincent broke it."

"I didn't mean too!!" the younger boy wailed and broke into a new series of sobs.

"Shh, shh, hey, it's okay. I'm sure it was an accident."

Navazi stepped close. "The anti-thunder charms are very delicate. They do break easily."

"See there?" Luca patted little Vincent's back. The boy managed to quiet his cries to a few sniffling hick-ups.

"It is very dangerous to attempt to cross the Thunder Plains nowadays. More and more towers keep breaking down."

"They're not breaking, they just being knocked out of alignment," Noobin spoke up and got a disgusted glare from Nikolas. He continued, "You see, the conductor cables are being knocked out of . . . of . . ." he saw the blank looks on everyone's faces (Luca included) and sighed. "I can fix them. Easily. Five minutes at every tower is all I need," Noobin insisted and looked at Vale. Slowly, Luca looked at Vale as well as did Navazi and Siddah. The man she was working on was awake now. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he looked at Vale as well, since it seemed to be the thing to do at the time.

Vale gave each of them a long look before rolling her eyes and sighing, "five minutes?"

"Five minutes," Noobin agreed heartily.

"Fine. Then we have to start. Now."

They moved quickly from then on, only resting while Noobin took his five minutes at each defunct tower. At the first tower, they were all doubtful until the air around them rumbled and the tower hummed loudly as it started up. Noobin hooted in excitement, "Next!"

Nikolas was growing darker and darker with each tower the engineer fixed. Still, he said nothing of it to Noobin. He didn't speak directly to the young man at all as they were moving through the Thunder Plains.

- - - - -

By the time the last tower was in sight, Noobin had fixed over a hundred lightening rods. His hands were tired but he was happy. "Hey, did you hear that the dude who built these things was killed by a lightening strike?"

"Seriously?" Luca was doubtful.

"Yep. Isn't that friggen hilarious?"

"I suppose I'd find it funny . . . if I was you."

"Heh, yeah baby!"

- - - - -

It took two days of travel to leave the sound of the Thunder Plains behind. By then, they were deep into Macalania Forest. The peace and beauty was overwhelming. The trees sparkled like crystals and the streams and ponds were clear to the very bottom. The wind sang through the trees in a way that could lure someone to sleep in the middle of the day.

Nikolas stayed away from Noobin and Luca stayed away from Vale. He was upset at her for leading him by the nose without telling him where they were going. Navazi, who could not understand how someone could be so upset while beneath the branches of Macalania, fell back to talk to the young summoner. "It's not her fault, you know."

"What?"

"Vale is a Dolian, is she not?"

Luca frowned, wondering how he could know that. "Yeah . . ."

Navazi nodded. "It's not her fault. She did not know she was leading you to the meeting in Bevelle."

"How could she not? She's been leading us straight to Bevelle since we first set foot in Moon City."

"The Dolian are a people of magic. They are Visionaries. They see future events in their dreams and ceremonies. But the visions are not like watching a vid-sphere. It's not completely clear and understandable to even the most gifted of them. She knew to find you in your village, but did she know it was you she was looking for immediately?"

" . . . No. It took her a few days."

"Because she was unsure. It is the same with Bevelle, I believe. She knew she had to lead you north, but she didn't yet know why. She's been as uncertain as you have this whole time."

What a scary thought to think that the person he was blindly following had no idea where she was going.

"So do not be angry with her. She is doing all she can," Navazi smiled kindly. Luca sighed, feeling kind of bad now for his cold actions to her of recent.

Thanking the guado quietly, he quickened his pace until he was beside Vale who had taken point with Siddah through the twisting, confusing paths of Macalania. "Vale, I wanted to - -"

"Not now, Luca," Vale spoke respectfully but sternly. Her eyes were scanning every inch of the forest they passed and she had both hands at ready upon her pistols. Luca could almost imagine the hackles on the back of her neck raised. What could she possibly be guarding for? How could she feel anything but calm in such a lovely place?

Luca's shoulders slumped and he slowed his steps to fall behind Vale and Siddah. He found himself now in line with Nikolas whose face was still dark and brooding. He seemed to be mumbling to himself about Noobin. " . . bloody evil, no good Yevon-hating engineer . . ." Luca's shoulders curled in defensively and his slowed his pace once more until he was walking alone in the middle of the caravan.