I've been feeling bad about not writing as much lately as I used to. As such, to try and make up for it, I've written an unusually long chapter with a second to follow on soon. I hope you all enjoy…
Chapter 21
The sun was glowing brightly overhead as midday was approaching, and a cool breeze was blowing in from the west as a busy cart journeyed along the road towards Sandros.
Lani was lying on the edge of the cart, one leg casually holding her from falling as she calmly strung and unstrung her bow. Zan was rigidly seated on a small crate in the front of the cart, conversing with Guiness and Kerta from time to time, and otherwise watching the horizon ahead of them. Mist, however, was beginning to enjoy their new companion's company. The two of them had made small piles of uniforms on the floor of the cart and were lying on their backs looking for images in the clouds.
"It's definitely a Moogle, kupo," Rigby asserted, "See. That's the pompom."
"That's the ninth time you've said a cloud looks like a Moogle," Mist chuckled, "Do they all look like Moogles?"
"Only the little ones," Lani quipped, her timing as keen as always, even when she didn't seem to be taking notice of the conversation.
"All I'm telling you," Rigby huffed defensively, "Is that I see Moogles in those clouds. Maybe you see something else, but I have the knack to find really kupo things wherever I look."
"That why you became a thief?" Lani quipped again, on a roll of foot-in-mouth joking insults, another honed ability of hers.
Before Rigby could defend himself, Zan cut in. "Pardon me a moment," he began, "But I think you may all want to see this."
"By Alpha," Kerta gasped.
In the near distance, Sandros was beginning to be revealed from behind a veil of trees, and the sight of it was a bracing shock. All over the town, creatures were crawling across roofs, engaging in scrimmages with sword-wielding warriors or facing off against a flurry of spells from groups of sorcerers. The entire town seemed engulfed in battle.
"Step on it!" Lani shouted, her bow restrung and an arrow ready in hand. She had taken a more sensible and stable position inside the cart but she seemed prepared enough to leap out and join the fray the moment they arrived.
Mist watched edgily as an Ochu let loose a flash of whips with its vines on a group of Nu Mou, "I just hope everyone's OK…"
As the cart entered the town, Lani fired her third arrow, finally at a close enough range to strike her target clearly. The Viper Hound, caught mid-lunge, twitched as the arrow pierced its throat and left it slumped on the ground for a brief moment before fading to smoke. The would-be victim, an Elvin swordsman, nodded his thanks before striding into town to rejoin the fight.
"Finally," Lani sighed, "Shooting from a moving vehicle is harder than it looks."
Zan and Mist leapt out of the cart and drew their swords, sizing up the battle as they did.
"Uhh," came a hesitant mutter from the cart, "I-I've never been in a big fight like this," Rigby stammered, "What do we do?"
Lani picked Rigby up under his arms and, with a great deal of flailing from Rigby, dropped him over the side next to Zan. "First, you get out of the cart, you draw your little daggers, and you use them on the bad creatures hurting the townspeople," she said in a matter of fact way that she still managed to make sound insulting.
"Well what about you?" Rigby scoffed as he dragged himself to his feet, "Aren't you getting out of the cart?"
"I'm an archer," she replied, "I stay away from the fighting and shoot things. It's what I do."
Guiness jumped down off of Lightning and took his broadsword from the saddle. Drawing it, he turned to Kerta, "Take the birdss, and get out of the fray. Wouldn't want them getting hurt."
Kerta nodded and began turning the cart around. "Lookss like you'll be getting closser than you'd like," he chortled as Lani sighed and leapt out of her little sniper's nest.
"Great," she moaned, looking around at her exposed surroundings, "I am not suited to this kind of position."
"In case you'd forgotten," Zan interrupted, "These people could use some assistance."
The sounds of battle raged on from all around them, mostly unseen on other roads, but small skirmishes could be seen further down the town's main street.
"We need to find Meranim and find out what's going on," Mist asserted, "I mean, shouldn't the barrier be keeping these things out?"
"Oh yeah," Lani mused, "What could have happened?"
"Let's find out," Zan replied, turning towards the alley by the side of the road that would take them in the direction of Meranim's house.
The group made their way down the alley, but it wasn't far before they were confronted by a small pack of venomous foes. Three Bite Bugs swooped down from a perch on a nearby roof and lunged towards Zan and Guiness, who were leading the way. Lani let fly a ready arrow and pierced the front bug right through the abdomen, causing the other two behind it to drift slightly to the side, and to slow down, in response. Guiness and Zan took the chance to swing at the bugs but only Guiness' sword had the reach to strike. The second bug, cleft almost fully in half, drifted to smoke on the wind before ever reaching the ground. As though sensing it stood no chance, the third bug opted to flee before the others could strike it.
"Keep moving!" Guiness called back as he started jogging down the alley again.
As the others followed, it seemed that their luck was not with them. At the end of the short alley, a passing pack of Viper Hounds stopped and turned to the approaching party.
"This could take a while," Lani whinged as she fired an arrow through the group, expertly missing everyone and stabbing into a wolf's shoulder.
Skirmish after skirmish continued as they ventured across the town towards Meranim's little stone house. Their luck changed, however, as they got closer.
Guiness swiped his sword in an arc before him, cleaving the end off two of the three tentacle vines of the Ochu attacking him. The vines fluttered violently above the moving plant and began flicking the creature's mildly acidic sap. Dodging past the injured vines, Mist stabbed the Ochu's body from the side and quickly backed away before a small spray of sap gushed from its wound.
"Eww," she grimaced, "I hate things that squish before they vanish."
The Ochu, and its sap, faded away into smoke as it flopped to the ground. Mist flinched as the smoke from her sword blew past her face. "Gah," she shrieked, "Well this just keeps getting better."
"I couldn't agree more," Meranim interjected.
Mist spun around to see Lani already hugging their Nu Mou companion, who appeared a little worse for wear. Her white mage robes were dusty and torn in a spot or two, and she looked more tired than Mist remembered from their last encounter. She knew that Meranim wasn't a young Nu Mou, but she must have been running and fighting quite a bit for her to look like this.
"What's going on, Meranim?" Mist asked her as she bent down to give her a hug, "Did something happen to the barrier?"
"That it did," the kindly mage replied, "They'd been getting closer than normal for days now and one or two little ones had been caught in the street just yesterday, but this morning they just all rushed right in. No one's been able to figure out why, and I haven't been able to gather enough mages together that know how to help me create a new barrier."
Guiness grunted as he swung his sword over his head in an attempt to swat a lonely bite bug, "So what'ss the plan then?"
Lani took aim and ran the bug through when it hovered a moment above Guiness, "Is there anyone in town we can help you find to cast the spell?" she asked as she retrieved the arrow from mid air, the bug having faded away already.
"Unfortunately no," Meranim replied in a saddened tone, "I'm afraid that two of the council members that I would have needed help from were killed a few hours ago when a Malboro attacked the tower gates. It's been there as if guarding the place ever since, and the only way I could teach anyone else to help me is if we were to get to the top of the tower."
Meranim paused for a moment, considering her young companions, "And of course, you three are the only ones to have made it to the top of the tower in a week…"
"I think we've just been volunteered," Zan stated with a hint of amusement.
"Do you think we can do it?" Mist hesitantly asked Meranim.
"If anyone can defeat that hideous fiend guarding our precious tower, it's you three."
Mist looked up from Meranim to see the familiar snowy haired man they had saved in the Mages Tower the last time they had been in Sandros.
The Head Sorcerer walked over to stand beside Meranim and looked down to her as he spoke to her, "These are desperate times, my friend, and we must make haste if we are to save our homes. We will travel to the tower, then I will help these two," he gestured to Guiness and Rigby, "To hold the main entrance as you make your way to the testing room with these three."
"Agreed," Meranim replied, "So, let's get a move on."
The party began making their way through alleys and passages between buildings as much as possible in their way across town in order to avoid as many creatures as possible. A handful of venomous beasts got in their way but were made short work of by the group. Soon enough, they came to the end of a narrow street that emptied into the plaza in front of the Mages Tower.
Nearly directly in front of the tower's front entrance was an enormous, sickly green plant-like creature. It stood on a mass of thick vines that slithered back and forth under it as it meandered back and forth across the ground. Its face, if it could be called that, was another mass of tentacle-like vines that were also in constant motion, and appeared to be dripping with slime. Sap perhaps, since it was a plant, after all. The vines surrounded a gaping hole in the creature's body, which was supposed to lead to an acidic sack in the 'stomach' of the Malboro.
All in all, it was a terrifying creature that was feared by adventurers. Though the most fear was for a single reason. Bad Breath. Bad breath was the most unbearable mixture of ailments and afflictions imaginable all at once. Mist began repeating to herself that she would do everything she could to avoid that.
"Well," Meranim quietly began, "There it is. I don't suppose anyone has a plan?"
Mist looked around, and saw that everyone was looking to one another with hopeful looks slowly being dashed as they realized that none of them had come up with anything.
Lani sighed. "I guess we could just try attacking from all sides to confuse it," she suggested.
"We could," the Head Sorcerer agreed, though hesitantly, "Although, the Tower borders the forest. There's only a half-circle arc for us to use. And who knows if that's safe enough to use without more creatures attacking. Facing this beast alone is one thing, but facing it in the midst of battle with the chaos of other creatures as well is pure madness."
"Madness?" Lani asked, "This is-"
"Suicide!" Rigby interrupted, "That thing is even big enough to eat the big guy here," he gestured to Guiness as he spoke, their heights noticeably contrasted.
With a withering glance at Rigby, Lani continued, "As I was saying, this is easy. It's just a plant, right? So all we need to do is barrage it with fireballs. That ought to work, right?" she asked Meranim, and the Head Sorcerer to a lesser extent.
"Well, it may be worth a try, right Alwin?" Meranim mused, looking to the Head Sorcerer, "If we can all get safely around the courtyard, that is."
"I suppose," Alwin agreed, "I shall stay here with Meranim. The rest of you try to spread yourselves out and signal to me here when you are ready."
"I'm afraid I won't be of much usse," Guiness sighed, "I'm not a spellcasster."
"You can come with me," Lani replied, "I could use some help if I run into unexpected company."
"I would be glad to help," Guiness stated proudly, and he and Lani crept towards the other end of the alley to make their way around the courtyard.
"We'll take this side," Lani called just loud enough to be heard by the others at the far end. She was pointing towards the shorter arc of the town towards the forest. If they all spread out, there would be room for one person on that side and two on the other side of town. Mist suddenly realized what her calculations had deduced, and looked to their youngest companion.
"Sooo," Rigby muttered, twisting his foot on the ground and not making eye contact, "What do I do?"
"You can come with me," Zan announced, "We'll take the far side of town, and two of us can handle the greater chance of encounters better than one. Besides, your skills at sneaking may come in handy." Mist chuckled lightly as the two began making their way out of the alley, albeit somewhat reluctantly in Rigby's case.
"I suppose that leaves me around there," Mist pointed to a gap between houses on the other side of the main road leading to the tower.
"That would be best, yes," replied Alwin, "Now be careful, and remember to signal to us when you are ready."
Mist nodded and turned towards the alley's exit.
"Deary," Meranim quietly called to her. Mist turned back to face her mature friend. "Do be careful," she added.
Mist smiled, reassured by the knowledge that the kindly woman cared so much for her. She nodded once more, and turned back towards the chaos of the streets.
Before exiting the alley, Mist pressed herself to the wall and waited for a flan to flop past. The creature seemed to be just wandering, not actually caring about the conflict going on in all directions. It acted as though it had always lived in the town. The behaviour was strange, but beyond Mist's main concern at the time.
Once she was fairly confident that she could move unnoticed, Mist began to shift from one alley to another, checking for other beasts that would halt her progress. She tried as hard as she could to ensure that she could avoid a fight. Any unnecessary attention from one creature could cascade into a battle she was vastly unprepared for.
Ahead of her, Mist caught the occasional glance of Zan dragging Rigby behind him jumping from alley to alley the way Mist was. They had already passed the main challenge that Mist was worried about, and had just come to. The main road was a very large and exposed expanse for her to cross unnoticed. She would have to time it perfectly or risk being seen, not only by a random creature passing by, but by the Malboro. It may just ignore her from this distance, but if it felt threatened by the possibility of someone entering the plaza then she would be in big trouble.
Mist moved carefully to a small gap between a woodshed and the house at the edge of the road. She peered around the corner and couldn't see any creatures near her or the road. At least, not back in the direction of town. She crept around the woodshed to peer into the plaza and see where the Malboro was. Immediately she pulled back, seeing the creature pointed directly towards her and only a few dozen meters away. She looked around, panicked that she may have unintentionally squealed and let something nearby know of her presence, but there was no change in her surroundings. Looking back into the plaza once more, Mist was relieved to see that the creature was still sitting exactly where it had been, unfazed by her presence. She wouldn't move yet, though. Not till she could be more confident that she wouldn't be seen.
After a moment of watching the green mess of vines, it turned and began to slither closer to the tower. With a quick glance at her surroundings, Mist took the chance to dash across the road. She realized, as she made her way further through the town, that if she was that stunned by the creature in a distant encounter like that, then she was going to have a hard time confronting it with any confidence when the time came. She sighed to herself as she arrived at her chosen alley. Zan and Rigby were nowhere to be seen ahead of her, presumably already in their own hiding place.
Mist walked to the end of the alley and looked around. Zan was peering out of his alleyway to her left, further around the arc of the plaza, Meranim and Alwin were at the alley she had left earlier, and she could see a flicker of movement on the far side of the plaza that must have been Lani and Guiness.
Looking to Meranim, Mist drew her sword and reflected a ray of light back and forth across the alley entrance. Another light flickered from Zan's direction, and another from Lani. To say that Mist was nervous would be like saying that a river was flowing. It's quite plain to see, but the force of the flow is only noticeable if you're in the river yourself. Looking at the Malboro once more, Mist knew she wasn't going to enjoy this conflict. Not at all.
. . .
I'm already working on the next one, cause I'd sort of worked on this as a whole really long chapter and decided "3000 words is enough for this one, so I'll just split it around here." Keep an eye out for more soon. I haven't said this enough lately, but I don't own Final Fantasy. Still working on that degree to let me eventually work for SE, though. Dream big!