Please R&R! I'd like, nay, LOVE feedback!!
Chapter 29
"How can you say that?!" Yuna was absolutely furious now. "They're living, breathing beings just like you are! How can you just dismiss them like this?!" The dragon appeared unmoved by her speech. He lifted his head to the sky as though listening for something.
The other human who speaks with me is calling. He is nearby, and wants me to take you from here. I will do this, because Fate demands it. Come.
"I won't!" she shouted at him, stooping and grabbing her staff. "Try and make me and I will flame you into nothing." A crackling boom that she assumed was a laugh rang in her head as the dragon gave its wings one hard beat. A simply as that, the thin barrier shattered. The resulting wave of energy pitched every human in the vicinity--on the ground and on the wall--hard to the stone and wood they stood on. Yuna, dazed, felt the cold ivory slide around her as the dragon closed a four-fingered hand that was half as big as she around her waist. Being mindful of his razor sharp claws he rose a little into the air and gathered Aragorn into his free palm. By the time the two passengers had their wits about them they were a hundred feet into the air and the wind was whipping fiercely past their ears. Oyu dropped away beneath them and Yuna looked just in time to see the Weapon, suddenly active, bash its way through the gate. The gate at the rear of the town fell as well, and a mass of the huge spiders led the charge.
"No!" Yuna cried out in anguish. Aragorn looked away, seemingly as pained as she was. Never had either of them so blatantly run from an enemy. Never. Not only that, but both couldn't help but feel as though they had sacrificed an entire town to save themselves.
A tear rolled down Yuna's cheek. It was a horrible feeling.
It took the dragon several hours to get Yuna and Aragorn wherever he was taking them. He was forced to slow considerably—nearly to an aerial crawl—as they flew over a dense wood; he appeared to be searching for something. It was a long time before Yuna heard him say in her head, finally:
There. Below them just barely visible past the trees was a small caravan of riders followed by two wagons. The two horsemen leading the train pulled their mounts to halt as the dragon descended as low as it could.
"About time you got here," one of the men called up. Yuna heard the dragon snort before he replied.
Do not toy with me Speaker, he warned. I am not in the mood. These two fools did not want to leave the doomed town.
"I can hear you, you know," Yuna muttered. Aragorn gave her an odd look--she assumed that he couldn't hear the conversation.
"Can you blame them?" the dark-haired man asked loudly. "You just left a defenseless group of innocents to the Dark. Did you honestly think, given what they are, that these two would take that easily?"
Do not lecture me, Speaker. It was not my concern. I did what you asked. That was all he'd say, and a moment later Yuna felt his sinewy serpentine tail coiling itself around her waist. Quickly--and none too gently--the massive creature lowered her through the tree break and dropped her the last five feet to the ground. Aragorn followed shortly after. A fierce burst of downdraft from its wings and the dragon was gone as quickly as that. Aragorn was more than ready: by the time his feet hit the ground his sword was drawn and ready, and he himself set in a firm fighting crouch.
"Who are you?" he questioned. The man that'd spoken with the dragon chuckled. The other rider, a tall slim male, smiled as well.
"I've been asked that a lot lately," the stockier of the two admitted. "My name is Alex Ross." Aragorn opened his mouth to respond but Yuna, very uncharacteristically, took an angry step forward and demanded:
"Are you the one who told that dragon to take us from Oyu?!" The relief of getting two more of the thirteen into their safe keeping faded into the inescapable guilt of letting Oyu fall. "How could you force us to abandon those people?"
"It was not my choice," Alex replied shortly. "And it couldn't be helped. Neither one of you would have made a difference against so many, and we couldn't have let you die. Get over this hero complex of yours and face the facts."
"What?!" That was a chorus between Aragorn and Yuna both. Alex scowled.
"Think about what you're saying: you're angry because we sprung you two at the cost of the rest of the people in Oyu. There remains the fact, though, that we couldn't have saved them anyway--the dragon wasn't willing, and we just don't have the manpower right now. Beyond that, if we'd left you to go down with the ship like you wanted not only would you as well as all of the citizens Oyu be dead, you'd have doomed the millions of innocents from your home worlds. Get my drift? I don't like it any better than you do. We're this country's army--or what's left of it-- and just the fact that you're here proves we can't do our job properly. I completely understand why this bothers you--it bothers us as well. The fall of Oyu was a necessary sacrifice that we couldn't help." He fell silent and kicked his horse back to a trot.
"We need two horses!" Robert called back down the line. A soldier in the Technician maroon uniform and his arm in a sling complied, leading two spares from their hitching spot behind one of the wagons. Just as he passed it, though, a quiet groan emitted from under its covered top. Robert waved the driver to stop; Alex reined in his mount and looked back. A figure emerged, swaggering and leaning against the side of the wagon. The girl held on for balance with one hand and rubbed her eyes with the other.
"Ooh, my head," she muttered groggily. "Why...why is it so cold?" Yuna stared at her in shock.
"Aerith?!" Aerith opened her eyes and was equally surprised.
"Yuna? Aragorn? What are you two doing here? And where are Auron and Leon?" She'd just unknowingly struck two nerves. Yuna closed her eyes and turned away; Aragorn answered her as calmly as he could.
"We were...rescued from a village that the Dark has since destroyed. As for our comrades...Leon joined the Dark and Auron is missing." It was a little much for the drowsy young woman to absorb.
"Huh?"
"A little misinformed," a new voice corrected. "I'm not missing." Everyone turned sharply as Auron stepped through the trees, flanked by the two ninja as well as the two wolves. The Guardian was leading his mount and Scout's; the woman was still draped over her saddle, unresponsive.
"I'd prefer you all explain yourselves in transit," Robert called, turning his mount. "We're close now, and as soon we make it to the safe house we can finally relax a little."
Please leave me a note with the little button! woo!
-K-
