Chapter 8: Flight and pursuit
"What do we have here?" a voice with a Kaipo accent bellowed. "An impasse. Looks like we won't be going to Mist village after all. I guess I'll be taking the hovercraft to Damcyan Castle if it's still in operation."
With that, the merchant ordered his caravans to be on their way north, leaving behind two merchants.
"I've never seen anything like this," another merchant replied. "A complete mountain range where the Damcyan Passage West used to be. This will completely disrupt our trade routes."
"Not to mention the mountains in this area have been inactive for centuries."
"There are survivors here. Look some of the villagers have turned up on the Damcyan side of the range. Let's see if any of them are alive."
"Suit yourself. I'm off to Damcyan. My goods will perish within the week. Besides, desert thieves and monsters frequent this area. I'm better off joining the caravan heading to the hovercraft."
With that, the lone merchant began to inspect the bodies, disappointed that his fellow merchants didn't care to look after the villagers. They were, after all, customers.
Sadly, most of the villagers were dead. The only ones that seemed possibly alive were a soldier of Baron and a green-haired child.
"Good thing I have 99 phoenix downs with me almost all the time," he said to himself. "It helps to own a sundry. Ah, a soldier. This one will be good business."
After reviving the two people, he waited a few minutes before they woke up.
Feeling sore, the dragoon sat up and looked at the sight behind him. Where the land passage to the Mist used to be was now completely covered by a dense mountain range. I need to find Cecil and that little green-haired brat, Kain thought to himself.
"So you're finally awake," the young merchant addressed him. "Maybe you can answer some of my questions. Or maybe you can buy some of my wares. I'm Epaphras by the way, a travelling merchant."
"What do want to know?" the dragoon asked, coming off a bit harsher than he intended. "And, yes, I'll buy some potions, phoenix downs, and a tent if you have any."
"Well, aren't you lucky today. I revived you for free and I'm fully stocked. And I'll even give you a discount if you take the girl to Kaipo. Kaipo's hospitality is the greatest. If you tell the innkeeper Epaphras sent you, he may even let you stay for free, especially with the girl in this condition," the merchant remarked. "Now time for you to answer some of my questions. What happened on the other side?"
"Fair enough. But first let me look for my friend."
"Your friend? Is he a soldier of Baron?"
"He is."
"There's none of those here. Everyone else here is a Mist villager based on their clothing. And none of them are alive except the girl. She must be very resilient to be able to survive a natural disaster on this scale."
The dragoon tensed at the news. He was more angry than distressed about the possibility of Cecil dying. If that girl killed Cecil and nearly killed him, she was more trouble than what she was worth. He felt a very real split with Cecil after what happened in Mist. If they had just killed the girl and fled, none of this would've happened and he probably would be in Baron by now. In fact, Cecil probably made it back before he did.
"I'll tell you what I know. Some villager," he began, not bothering to hide a bitter tone. "unleashed an earth monster – possibly an eidolon in Mist village when I was passing through. That's the destruction you see."
"That's troubling," the merchant responded. "From all my years traveling there, Mist has always been a peaceful village."
Yeah, real peaceful, Kain thought to himself. A child and her mother nearly murdered us twice on our way to deliver a message.
"What I experienced was anything but peaceful. Anyway, it's best I be on my way," the dragoon stated, reaching down to lift up the child. He wanted nothing to do with the child, but he knew he would regret it if Cecil really was dead.
"Wait, one last thing," the merchant cried. "Have you seen a brown-haired Kaipo girl about my age? Her father keeps pestering me about her whereabouts as if we're betrothed or something. Even paid me money to look for her. And listen. Pretty as she is, she's the last person you'd want to be in a relationship with. Can't stay in one place for too long and always wearing disguises to hide from her father. In Kaipo, we like to bet on which town she left for. I'll bet she went to Baron where she studied."
"No, haven't seen anyone with that description."
"Well if you do come across her, please find a sage named Tellah and let him know."
"If I can find her," Kain agreed, not actually caring about the merchant's small-town issue.
The two parted ways and Kain began his long trek to Kaipo, carrying the unconscious child.
"Oh I forgot to tell him, Tellah might attack him if he thinks he's her betrothed. He always thinks she runs off with strange men and flings funny spells he recalls in the moment at random strangers she's with if he finds her," the merchant laughed to himself. "At least I won't have to deal with Tellah's mental health for a while now that I hired that soldier to do my dirty work."
-~o`'*'`o~-
"Listen up," the regiment captain announced. "The rest of the regiment that was supposed to be part of backup is now assigned to Kaipo. The flight crew informed me, we can't land in the desert so we'll be landing near Damcyan castle before taking a boat to Damcyan Desert."
A wave of confused voices erupted.
"Where is the rest of our regiment?" they murmured amongst themselves.
Raising his hand to silence them, the soldiers quickly quieted down.
"One of the captain has been recovered but the other is still missing. Furthermore, the Acting Captain has informed me that the captains may be conspiring to harbor a dangerous blue or green-haired individual from the Mist who caused the destruction we just witnessed and nearly injured some of our troops. Our superior regiment has no casualties and is returning to Baron as we speak to recover from today's mission."
"Golbez thinks highly of our regiment after today. I'm telling you now. If we succeed in escorting the remaining captain back to Baron and killing the troublemaker, you will all be guaranteed to become part of the Red Wings."
"How will we know was the troublemaker looks like?" one of the soldiers asked.
"I'll give you more details once we get there. All I know that there are two sorceresses a blue-haired woman and her green-haired daughter.
"I hope we won't be killing a child," Aria commented quietly. "Just imagine Thorneburgh. Didn't he just become a father?"
"Makes me a bit worried too," Tyrell agreed. "It's Mysidia all over again,"
"Ha, don't worry about it. We all know enemies are never part of our family, no matter how young they are. If it's the king's will, we'll do it," Roland responded a bit too loudly. "And then once we're Red Wings, we'll do whatever we want because we'll be the most elite soldiers outside of military leadership."
Some of the soldiers gave Roland an uncomfortable look, but most were too busy celebrating so they did not notice.
"I don't agree with it either. Good thing I don't have to worry about the politics of it," Tyrell responded. "You don't have to worry, Roland, I would never betray Baron and I trust our regiment captain. An enemy is an enemy and so is anyone who gets in the way. It's something we live by in the military. Roland must be happy about it since he's been a recruit for years."
"Let's not get too down on it," Roland replied, as he grabbed both of their shoulders and tried to push them towards the soldiers that were celebrating. "We'll be Red Wings in no time. Isn't that something to be happy about?"
"I suppose you're right," Tyrell agreed almost reluctantly. "What about you, Pratt?"
"I'd celebrate with you if I wasn't feeling so airsick. I think I'll be back during my next shift in a few hours."
Once she descended down the cabin stairs, she was feeling more and more distressed that she couldn't return to Troia sooner. Not only that but being a soldier was going to be putting her situations against her conscience. Don't interfere, she knew Troia's foreign policy well. How long will I have to fake it before we get back to Baron, she thought.
Movement in her bag reminded her reminded her that Rosa was still here. Making sure no one was in sight, she cast Frog on the white-and-red frog as she sat behind the boxes where she first found the mage.
"We have to make this conversation quick," Aria stated.
"What's going on? Any news of Cecil? I could hardly hear what's happening from your bag," Rosa asked frantically, especially worried when she saw Aria's anxious expression.
"One of the captains was captured and sent back to Baron. The other one is thought to have fled to Kaipo with an enemy from the Mist. My mission is to join my regiment going to Damcyan and then taking a boat to the desert to get to Kaipo."
"So is it Cecil stranded in the desert?" Rosa asked.
"I don't know which one is your fiancée," Aria responded. "If I were you, I would stay hidden away on the airship so you can return to Baron easily and see if your fiancée has returned."
"But what if he's in the desert somewhere and needs my help?" Rosa responded. "He's not going to survive without me. Again, I need to get to him before Golbez does. I'm going with you on your mission."
"If you want to stay alive, I'd suggest you stay on the airship. A white mage travelling alone in the monster-filled desert is not a good idea, especially since you don't have Ice elemental magic. And we can't travel together since it would get suspicious. Already some other soldiers were questioning me about something moving in my bag and why I have so much more stuff than everyone else. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
"I'm certain. Just keep me hidden near Damcyan castle and then crossing over to the desert. After that, we can part ways," Rosa insisted.
"I guess we can do that if it's a danger you want to take," Aria shook her head. "Anyway, the best thing would be for you to leave the camp at night when we get to the desert. Then, see if you can follow the soldiers at the distance as we go to Kaipo so you won't get lost. You have to be conspicuous."
"Don't worry too much. I have my bow, arrows, and healing staff. You've helped me a lot. Let's just follow through with your plan."
With that, Aria transformed Rosa back into a frog and began packing some sundries for her mission in the Damcyan desert.