It has certainly been a hot minute, hasn't it? Well, that's life for you.
This chapter was definitely one of the harder ones to write, with a lot of extra work needing to be done on the side to get it just right. But, I'm happy with the end result, which happens to be the third longest chapter so far, beaten only by the two Coffinwell chapters (cough cough). We can just pretend this chapter is two chapters long to make up for the fact that I missed this story's seven(!)-year anniversary last month.
Anyway, I think I've made you wait long enough. On to the latest chapter!
Disclaimer
Dragon Quest IX is the property of Square Enix and not me and probably not you.
What I do own are my own original characters, including, but not limited to, Michael, Jessica, Allison, and Hope, as well as some of the crazy things that happen to them.
Reviews:
outcast247: Wait no longer, for what happens next is just below for you to see! Let us hope you like it as much as the last one.
Act 2 – Part 14: Unjust Deserts
(Hope's POV)
The intense desert sun glared down upon us as we made our way across the vast Djust Desert. In exchange for getting me back on dry land, I offered to guide Michael's group through the desert to the Queendom of Gleeba. They clearly weren't as accustomed to the region as I was.
"Almighty, this heat is flapping ridiculous," Stella continued to whine. "I feel like my hair is melting."
"Would you feel better if I tossed a Crackle at you?" Jessica irritably offered. "Scratch that. I might just Crackle myself. Anything to deal with this heat."
"I don't know what you were expecting," Allison sighed, taking off her glasses and wiping the sweat off of them, again. "You knew we were heading into a desert."
"Are they always…" I asked Michael, tipping my head back towards the other three.
"Pretty much," he shrugged, not appearing terribly bothered by the whole ordeal at the moment. I suppose he must've experienced far worse as a Celestrian. "Anyway, how much longer is this detour of yours? We could probably reduce some of the complaining if we can get back to the path."
"Shouldn't be too far now," I answered. While surveying the route ahead to Gleeba, Phil had discovered a large gang of Axolhotls waiting to ambush unsuspecting travelers. Normally, the soldiers on the ferry would take care of it while escorting the passengers, but, well… Instead, we had decided to take a detour through the desert itself to avoid them.
"Miss Hope!" a familiar voice cheerfully called out, interrupting my thoughts. "Ah-ha, found you!" Phil exclaimed, flying into view from behind a sand dune. "I finished checking out the rest of the path ahead for you!"
"Excellent," I replied. "Did you find anything important?"
"There's a Parched Peckerel nest near the next sand dune, so you'll want to go the long way around it," Phil explained. "The road is just past that, though, and it looks like a straight shot to Gleeba after that."
"Thanks, Phil!" I praised. "You should rest. I can take it from here."
"Okay!" Phil agreed, happily bobbing onto my shoulder.
"I must say, it seems rather convenient having someone like Phil who can fly ahead and check things out for you," Michael remarked.
I tipped my head, slightly confused. "Stella doesn't do that for you?"
"I suppose not," Michael answered, scratching his chin. "It's not that she doesn't help, though. She actually does quite a lot sometimes," he defended. "I guess I just never considered asking her to do that before seeing you and Phil do it."
"Yeah, Miss Hope and I make a pretty great team!" Phil bragged from my shoulder.
"Phil…" I chastised him, though I couldn't help smiling.
Michael chuckled. "Well, I'd like to think the four of us make a pretty great team, too," he said, looking back at his three bickering companions. "Though, I still think it might be better if we get to Gleeba sooner rather than later…"
"Here we are!" I exclaimed. "The Queendom of Gleeba, as promised." Phil and I stood aside as the other four got their first looks at the desert city. Scattered rows of sandstone houses and open-air stalls sat around a large open area. In the very middle sat a large well, around which many people were gathered. "That's the main square straight ahead," I guided, pointing in the general direction of the well. "To the west is the military district. Should be fairly self-explanatory. North of that, you'll find the…uh… 'entertainment' district. You'll know you're close if you start hearing exotic music. I'm guessing you've already noticed the Mirage Mahal." The principal palace of the Queendom towered over everything else, its polished limestone casing sparkling in the sun.
"It's certainly far more impressive than I was expecting," Michael acknowledged.
"How were they even able to build all this in this heat?" Jessica asked, amazed.
"Not very easily, I can tell you that," Allison answered, equally awed.
After letting them gaze over the city for a little bit, I eventually cleared my throat to get their attention. "Hey, so, thanks again for saving me and all that and…um…good luck with whatever it is you have to do while here," I said, preparing to take my leave.
"You're not coming with us?" Michael asked, slightly surprised.
"Uh…no, I can't," I explained, a little shocked that he would even ask me that. "I still have some rather unpleasant business I have to take care of…" Phil turned slightly blue as I said that.
"Oh, right," Michael realized. "Then I suppose this is goodbye for now."
"I'm sure we'll cross paths again, soon," Jessica smiled.
"It was lovely to meet you," Allison added.
"It was awesome to meet you guys, too!" Phil exclaimed.
"Goodbye, Phil! I think I'll miss you most of all," Stella called out.
Having said our goodbyes, the four companions started making their way towards the main square while Phil and I turned and headed down some stairs towards the military district. I let out a deep breath once I was finally alone.
"That went well!" Phil happily chimed.
"It did?" I asked incredulously. "Which part? The part where I let everyone die, the part where I nearly died, or the part where I had to be rescued?"
"The part where you made new friends?"
"Friends. Really?"
"Come on, Miss Hope. You have to start trusting other people at some point."
"I trust you," I pointed out, "and I trust Master. Everyone else…"
"For what it's worth, Michael's group hasn't hurt you yet."
"Yet."
"Miss Hope…" Phil groaned. "You know, if Master heard you talking like that, he'd say that–"
"That's a terrible outlook to have on life," I finished. "I know. Then again, life has been pretty terrible lately, and I don't expect things to get much better today."
"Reporting to the commander won't be that bad," Phil reasoned.
"She's not the one I'm worried about."
"Oh yeah… Well, one thing at a time, I suppose."
"Speaking of the commander, we should hurry," I realized. "She's probably been expecting us for a while at this point.
We were almost at the military district at that point, so we quickly hurried the rest of the way to the headquarters of the Gleeban Royal Guard. Many Gleeban soldiers were training in the grounds outside the building as we walked by, but I hardly even noticed them as I rehearsed what I would say in my report in my head.
Entering the large building, I quickly made my way up several floors to where the commander's office is. I was almost there when the doors burst open and a group of people arguing loudly came out.
"I understand that 'Her Majesty' hasn't given us any orders," a tall, imposing woman with tan skin declared, "but that doesn't mean we can just allow the monsters outside our walls to continue to grow unchecked."
"But Commander Jasmine," one of the accompanying soldiers attempted to object.
"No more questions!" the commander ordered. "I-" she cut off when she noticed me standing off to the side. "You have your orders, now follow them!"
"Yes, ma'am!" the soldiers saluted in unison before heading downstairs in a line.
Pausing for just a second, Commander Jasmine took a deep breath before turning to me. "It's about time you arrived! You were supposed to be here hours ago! You…are by yourself?" she asked, noticing that I was, in fact, alone. "Where is the rest of your unit?"
"Um…"
"Out with it, girl! The ferry has a schedule to keep."
"About that…" I whispered nervously.
The commander stared at me in silence for a few seconds before turning and marching back towards her office. "Please, take a seat, Hope," she calmly ordered. "I feel we have much to discuss at the moment."
(Michael's POV)
Having said our goodbyes to Hope and Phil, we made our way to the main square. With any luck, we would find some clues regarding the location of another Fygg.
"Welcome, wanderer, to the glorious Queendom of Gleeba, ruled with a well-manicured hand by the divine Voluptua," a woman greeted us as we approached.
"Well, it certainly sounds like the Queen is well liked here," Jessica remarked.
"What would it take to get you guys to start addressing me in such a flapping fantastic fashion?" Stella asked.
"It's not going to happen," I quickly answered.
We continued on towards the well in the center of the square, where a large number of people were gathered, casually chatting while going about their daily business. As we got close enough to start hearing some of the conversations, we started to realize that Queen Voluptua may not be as popular as we were initially led to believe.
"Her Majesty fritters away our precious water as though it were as plentiful as the desert sands," one woman complained as she pulled water from the well. "Perhaps she thinks that a fair face will be forgiven any foul behavior…"
"She has no interest in affairs of state," her husband besides her added, carrying the two large pots that they were filling with water. "She busies herself only with selfish hedonism."
"I heard guests cannot even gain an audience with Her Majesty without bearing some kind of tribute," another woman gossiped. "It is little wonder that Gleeba has seen fewer and fewer visits from foreign dignitaries ever since the Queen took the throne."
"And yet," another woman jumped in, "a wandering peddler was here only the other day bearing gifts, and he was granted an audience."
"Yes, that's right," the gossiping woman recalled. "What was it that he offered again?"
"I believe the peddler presented Her Majesty with a gleaming golden fruit," a nearby chef answered as he grabbed some water for himself. "The lucky fellow's been the talk of the palace ever since."
Of course.
Walking away from the crowds, I sat down on a nearby wall and buried my face into my hands.
"What's wrong, Michael?" Jessica asked, concerned.
"It can never be easy for us, can it?" I groaned. "The Fygg can't just be hidden in a flowerbed or sitting on someone's shelf. Oh, no, it has to be given to the Queen as a gift. And not just any queen; it has to be given to a selfish queen that doesn't grant audiences." I sighed in exasperation as I contemplated what I must have done to deserve this.
"You're right, Michael," Jessica agreed, sitting beside me and putting her arm over my slumped shoulders. "But where's the fun in the easy way? The extra challenge just makes our adventure together all the more exciting."
"I don't find having to worry about you almost dying every few days to be terribly exciting," I countered.
"It makes a flapping good story, though," Stella commented as she flipped through the pages of her Battle Records.
"I suppose I could stand to be more careful in the future," Jessica admitted with a sheepish smile on her face.
"We all can," Allison emphasized. "You guys have become so dependent on my healing, thank Almighty that I've never gotten injured. I mean, remember the Heights of Loneliness? Or the fight against Sarah? Or–"
"I try not to," I admitted, cutting her off, "but, you make a fair point. We should all try to be more careful." Getting back on my feet and stretching, I turned to look at the Mirage Mahal. "Anyway, do you think we might just be able to walk right in and ask the Queen to return the Fygg?"
"It'd be a first," Allison sighed.
"It's worth a shot," Jessica answered optimistically.
"I can't flapping wait to see what Plan C is going to end up being this time."
(Hope's POV)
Commander Jasmine remained silent as she stood up from her desk, having listened to my report of the events that had occurred. Pacing across her office, she finally stopped before a large bulletin board covered in various notes and memos. She pulled one off the board and read over it quickly. "Zachary's gang has been a nuisance for years, but he's never done something on this scale before," she finally said. "The Sinndicate won't stand for it. Not this time." She turned back to where I was sitting. "What happened was undoubtedly a tragedy, but I am grateful to the Almighty that you at least managed to return to us," she said with a kind smile.
"I can't say I feel the same way," I sullenly admitted. "Anyone else's life would've been more valuable than my own."
The commander seemed a bit taken aback by my response, but she quickly composed herself. "All lives are equally precious to the Almighty. Do not discount your own so easily. You stand here today because you still have a role to play in this world."
"Wow, she's really starting to sound like Master, huh?" Phil remarked at my side.
I just shrugged as I replied, "It's a nice thought, I suppose."
"Well, it's a start," Commander Jasmine sighed, shaking her head as she sat back down at her desk. "Speaking of which, let me get started on writing the incident report so I can get it sent to the Sinndicate as quickly as possible." She pulled out some official-looking pieces of paper from out of her desk and began writing. "Now, you had mentioned that only three members of Zachary's gang attacked the ship, including himself," the commander continued as she scribbled away. "Did you happen to have the names of the other two members with him?"
"Uh… yeah…" I answered. "There was a girl around my age named Willow."
"Okay, good," Commander Jasmine replied. "And the other?"
"The other one was, um, he was…" I took a deep breath before continuing. "He was Marshall, ma'am."
The commander stopped writing as soon as the name left my lips and slowly lowered her quill. She slumped back in her chair, a defeated look on her face. "Are you sure?" she asked quietly, gently rubbing a small golden band on her left hand. I nodded affirmatively. The commander shuddered and sighed. "That will be all for now, Hope," she dismissed. "I'm sure you have plenty of other business to take care of this afternoon."
"Yes, ma'am," I said, standing up and heading towards the doors. "Thank you, ma'am."
"One last thing, Hope," Commander Jasmine suddenly added. "Based on what you've told me, it sounds like Zachary believes that you are dead. I would recommend you keep it that way."
(Michael's POV)
"Beyond this gate lies the Mirage Mahal, principal palace of the glorious Queendom of Gleeba," a palace guard greeted as us we approached. "It is a place piled to the rafters with women," he warned. "Try not to be surprised."
"Are you going to be able to handle yourself, Michael?" Stella teased as we made our way through the large doorway.
"Handle myself with what?" I responded, confused. Stella looked like she was going to say something else, but then realized that I was serious.
"It's probably better that way," Jessica remarked with a smile as she pushed us forward. "We wouldn't want to tarnish your good Celestrian image, after all."
"Today is going to be one of those days, huh?" I sighed.
"When is it not one of those days, Michael?" Allison questioned.
"Fair enough."
A pair of female warriors stood before us as we entered the palace. "Welcome to the Mirage Mahal, palatial residence of Voluptua, Queen of Gleeba," the one on the left introduced.
"It certainly is beautiful," I complimented. "But I've heard the Queen is even more so. I would love to have the opportunity to meet her myself."
The warrioresses narrowed their eyes as they immediately saw through my poor attempt at flattery. "Wanderers, should you be entertaining hopes of meeting Queen Voluptua, I would advise that you abandon any such idea," the one on the right answered. "Her high and mighty Majesty will not deign to grant audience to mere…travelers."
"But…we can still go in?" I continued. The two guards nodded in agreement. "And we can just wander around aimlessly, maybe go places we aren't supposed to, and hope to eventually run into the queen?" They nodded again, though much more slowly this time. "Okay, cool. Just making sure."
The women briefly glanced at each other before the one on the left cleared her throat. "The throne room is located on the second floor," she explained. "Any staircase will take you there."
"Of course, she is likely to be currently located in her private bathing chambers. Naturally, you are forbidden from entering there," the warrior on the right added.
"Thanks," I smiled as we made our way past them.
"Well, it was a good attempt at being charming, Michael," Jessica laughed. "You might want to work on it some more before trying again though."
"Maybe he should practice with you?" Stella suggested with a smirk.
"No!" Jessica loudly objected, seemingly surprising even herself. She cleared her throat. "I mean… We have more important things to worry about at the moment." The heat must have started to get to her, as her cheeks had become flushed with a bright red color.
"Anyway…" I said, bringing the conversation back someplace where I could understand it, "Jessica's right. For the first time, we have the opportunity to retrieve a Fygg before it actually does anything. I would like to keep it that way, but that means we have to hurry," I explained. "We can't waste time making friends or running errands for other people this time around."
(Jessica's POV)
"We are experiencing something of a crisis here in the palace at the moment," the Queen's chancellor anxiously explained. "If you were to help us resolve it, I could perhaps pull strings to gain you entry to Her Majesty's chamber."
"We would be happy to help," I cheerfully answered. Allison nodded in agreement, while Michael started rubbing his temples. I could almost feel him cursing his luck from here.
"You will?" the Chancellor confirmed. "This is most excellent news. Now let me apprise you of the details…" He took a moment to collect his thoughts before explaining. "That muddle-headed maiden Misslei has mislaid His Dryness, Her Majesty's beloved and most golden pet lizard. I wonder, could we call on your most exalted aid in apprehending the errant amphibian? Misslei is searching the corridors of the floor below us. Should you wish to help with the hunt, perhaps you could speak with her. His Dryness's importance to Her Highness cannot be overestimated. I hope ardently that we can count on your assistance."
"We will see what we can do," Allison sighed, leaving the poor man to continue pacing around the throne room.
"Alright, making friends and running errands for other people! Just what you wanted, right Michael?" I teased. Michael let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and headed back downstairs without saying another word.
"At least he seems motivated to get it over with quickly," Stella quipped with a smirk.
"Then we should hurry up and go help him," Allison remarked. She clearly didn't find the whole thing as amusing as I did; but, to be fair, she's probably right.
Heading downstairs, we found Michael approaching a royal handmaiden who was frantically searching in, on, under, and around everything in the hallway. If I had to guess, that's probably Misslei. "Your Dryneeess! Draaaaaak! Where are yoooou?" she called out, pulling a nearby torch off the wall to look behind it. "Oh, what am I to do? It is all my fault!" she loudly cried to herself.
"Excuse me," Michael said, trying to catch the woman's attention. It seemed to have worked, as she looked up from under the seat that she was currently inspecting and hurried over to Michael. Much to everyone else's surprise, however, instead of responding, she began searching Michael instead, patting him down across his body. "Excuse me!" Michael repeated forcefully, quickly closing the flap of his bag, which the maiden had opened to search inside.
The woman seemed taken aback as we also hurried over to Michael's side. She shook her head and seemed to finally realize what was standing before her. "Oh, I am so sorry!" she apologized, horrified. "I am afraid I am a little busy with the hunt for His Dryness, Her Majesty's most beloved pet lizard…" she explained while attempting to put some of her fallen strands of purple hair back into place under her headpiece. "I was so focused on looking everywhere, and you were right there, and…well…"
"Well, I can tell you that he's not in my flapping bag!" Stella huffed, ignoring the fact that her complaint went unheard.
Taking a deep breath, the maiden finally asked, "Do you need something?"
"Are you Misslei?" I asked on Michael's behalf. He still seemed slightly caught off guard from what had just happened.
"Well, if you mean the maiden Misslei who mislaid Her Majesty's lizard, then yes, yes I am," she answered remorsefully. "Did you have some business with me?"
"Actually, we were wondering if we could help you with your hunt," Michael offered, finally regaining his composure.
A wave a relief seemed to pass over Misslei. "You wish to help in the hunt for His Dryness? Oh, that's wonderful!" she gratefully accepted. "Thank you so much." She quickly looked around the hallway, tapping her finger on her chin. "Um… I am currently searching this area, so if you could hunt for him elsewhere, I would be very much obliged."
"Do you have any tips on where or how to find him?" Allison asked.
"He despises loud noises," Misslei instructed, "and likes to hide where there are no noisy people around. Were you to go to such a place and make a clap or some such surprising noise, he might well be surprised into the open."
"So, go someplace quiet and clap," Michael summarized.
"Seems easy enough," I smiled.
"I cannot thank you enough for helping in the hunt," Misslei reaffirmed. "You are truly kind."
Leaving Misslei to continue her own hunt, we quickly began coming up with a plan of our own. "Anyone have any ideas on where to start looking for His Dryness?" Michael started.
"Someplace quiet, I guess," I nervously offered, shrugging.
"Well, that is a start, I suppose," Allison responded, rolling her eyes.
"I don't know about you," Stella began, "but if I was this lizard and everyone was making all this flapping commotion trying to find me, I would've left a long time ago."
"Left, as in go outside?" I asked.
"That can't be it," Michael mused. "The sunlight here is far too harsh for a lizard."
"Plus the Queendom is just as loud as it is in here," Stella added.
"Unless…" I thought out loud, "what if His Dryness is hiding around the outside of the palace? It's somewhat separate from the rest of the city, so it would be quieter. Especially if you were to go down around the sides."
"Plus, the palace would provide significant amounts of shade, perfect for a lizard to hide in," Allison supported.
"Well, I'm convinced," Michael accepted. "It seems as good a place as any to start looking, at least."
The sun had started its slow descent to the west, so we began our own hunt in the shadows of the east side of the Mirage Mahal. Michael and Stella stayed near the front side of the castle while Allison and I headed farther back by ourselves.
"Well, this is different," Allison remarked as she clapped near a group of bushes.
"It beats what we had to do to get the other four Fyggs," I replied, clapping underneath a lone palm tree.
"Don't get too excited yet," Allison reminded. "There's no guarantee that'll we even get the Fygg after this little excursion."
"I hope we do," I sighed. "Michael deserves to catch a break. I can't even begin to imagine how much stress he's constantly under."
"I'm sure the fact that he worries about us and our own problems doesn't help, either."
I thought about what she had said for a minute before continuing. "Do you think it's selfish of me to use Michael as a Zachary deterrent?"
"Perhaps," Allison conceded, "but he practically volunteered for the role when he knocked Zachary to the floor at Alltrades Abbey."
"That's a Celestrian for you," I chuckled. "Always jumping at the chance to help someone."
Allison also smiled as she continued looking for His Dryness within the bushes. As she leaned forward to look behind the bushes, however, she suddenly stumbled backwards with her smile being replaced by an expression of anguish.
"Allison!" I screamed as I ran over and caught her. "Are you okay!? What happened!?"
"I… I don't know…" she groaned, gripping her forehead. "But this headache feels like it's going to split my head in half."
"Here, just take a break for a minute and drink some water," I said, resting her against the side of the palace and handing her my water. "I'll keep looking until you feel better."
"Thanks…" Allison breathed as she continued holding her head.
The next few minutes passed in comfortable silence, broken only by the sound of my continued clapping. I was starting to get frustrated as I ran out of places to search when Allison called out to me.
"Jessica?"
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Are you touching my leg?"
"No…"
"Oh, okay."
That seemed to be the end of it, and another short period of silence followed.
"Jessica?"
"Yes?" I replied again, starting to get exasperated.
"Following up from earlier, what is touching my leg?"
"Uh… Let me check for you." Kneeling down by her side, I cautiously lifted the hem of her skirt and looked to see what was bothering her. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a tiny yellow lizard with a pink ribbon wrapped around its neck suddenly darted out and ran away. "It- It's His Dryness!" I exclaimed, leaping to my feet to chase after it.
"What!? Ew!" Allison shuddered, jumping to her own feet. "Catch it before it harasses someone else!"
I tried my best, but the little fella seemed determined not to be caught, moving frantically in zigzags and other random patterns. I dove forward in a last-ditch attempt to catch the lizard, and felt my fingers wrap around something as I hit the ground. I expected to see His Dryness sitting between my hands when I opened my eyes, but instead found someone's ankle. Following the leg up, I was met with an amused look from Michael and a gleaming golden lizard sitting on his shoulder. Drak flicked his tongue at me as I let go of Michael's ankle and stood back up, brushing some dust off the front of my dress.
"I see you guys found him," Michael observed, gently lifting His Dryness from his shoulder. "Of course, I'm the one who ultimately caught him, so…"
"Yeah, well, technically, I caught you, so really I deserve all the credit."
"Unless he also climbed up either of your clothes, neither of you deserve anything," Allison retorted as she slowly walked by. "Let's just take him back to where he belongs before he does something indecent again."
(Hope's POV)
I slowly let out a deep breath, taking a moment to appreciate the view of Gleeba from the rooftop garden of the Mirage Mahal. Despite the apparent commotion inside the palace, it was relatively peaceful where I was standing, which was just what I needed as I braced myself for what I had to do next.
"Th-there's nothing t-to worry about, Miss Hope," Phil attempted to reassure.
"You're a terrible liar, you know that?" I weakly smiled.
"What's the worst that could happen?"
I stared off into the distance. "I can think of some pretty awful things."
"Well, okay, sure," Phil conceded. "But I doubt she's going to cause any of them."
A took another deep breath. "Yeah, you're probably right," I sighed. "Still, maybe we should come back tomorrow and-"
"Aha! I knew I smelled a couple of weeds nearby!" a new voice suddenly interrupted.
I jumped and spun towards the source of the voice: a small floating orb of yellow light that had managed to sneak up behind us. "Oh, hello, Willow," I hesitantly greeted the other soul spirit.
"Hey, what's the big idea, sneaking up on us like that!?" Phil argued, flying up real close to Willow.
"Bold words coming from a paladin pair that can't even stay aware of their own surroundings," Willow calmly sneered. "The captain realized you were here as soon as you stepped foot outside. She sent me to go see what was taking the two of you so long to arrive."
"We were actually just about to go talk to her," I nervously explained.
"I sincerely hope you don't think I'm as stupid as ol' Phil here," Willow retorted.
"Who do you think you are!?" I snapped. "You don't get to talk to Phil like that! I-"
"What I think Miss Hope is trying to say is that we've already wasted enough time," Phil interrupted, flying in between me and Willow. "Go let the captain know that we'll be right there."
Willow didn't say a word, instead turning and flying towards the rear of the garden with a very loud huff.
"Phil…"
"You're welcome, but now we have to go. She's expecting us."
Knowing he was right, I swallowed my nerves and stepped further into the garden. Making my way past some palm trees and a large fountain, I found the captain leaning against the wall. She was a tall woman in her late twenties with dark blond hair, an impressive suit of armor equipped with leather faulds, and a large trident strapped to her back. Willow flew around her as she watched us approach with an unamused expression.
"Brunhild," I greeted.
"Well met, Hope," the other paladin responded. "May I take your presence here to be a sign that your mission was a success?"
"Uh… Kinda."
Brunhild raised an eyebrow at my answer. "Kinda?" she repeated.
"What do you think that means?" Willow laughed.
"Well…um… Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"
Brunhild dropped her head and sighed. "There is no good news. There's never any good news with you. Just bad news and a pile of paperwork to deal with. So, please, just tell me the bad news so I can get started on the paperwork."
"Okay, well, here goes," I began, bracing myself. "So, the bad news is…"
"Yes?" Brunhild pried, eyeing me expectantly.
"Everyone…"
"Everyone what?"
"…is dead…" I whispered that last part so quietly, I wasn't entirely sure if I had actually said anything.
It seems Brunhild heard it just fine, though. Her eyes widened as she physically recoiled away from me. "WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!?" she screamed.
"We were attacked!" I defended. "The whole ship was destroyed!"
"The whole ship…" the elder paladin breathed, grasping her forehead. "Did you even try to stop them!?"
"I did!" I cried. "But the three of them were so powerful-"
"Three!? You lost an entire ship and everyone on board to three people!?"
"She didn't lose everyone," Willow interjected. "After all, Hope managed to survive."
Brunhild turned back towards me, now with a look of disgust on her face. "How exactly did you manage to survive, Hope?"
"We were rescued!" Phil jumped in, trying to save me. "We would've been dead, too, otherwise."
"Rescued…" Brunhild gasped, turning away.
"Good job, you weeds," Willow mocked. "You've actually made Brunhild speechless from how much of a failure you are."
"Hey, we're not failures!" Phil argued, flying right up to Willow. "And you don't get to talk to Miss Hope that way!"
"Oh, please!" Willow remarked. "I can tell a soft-hearted soul when I see one. I always knew you'd let us down."
"You wanna know something?" Phil asked angrily. "You're actually the second Willow I know. The other one actually tried to kill us a few days ago on the Royal Gleeban Aqueus, and yet, somehow, she still managed to be less of a dick than you."
With an angry roar, Willow charged at Phil and knocked him away. Phil quickly flew back and crashed into Willow just as forcefully.
"Phil, stop!" I cried out, my pleas going unheard as the two soul spirits continued fighting each other in the air above us.
Brunhild, on the other hand, had no such trouble taking control of the situation. With a single snap of her fingers, Willow quickly returned to her side, calmly bobbing along as if nothing had happened. "Foolish child!" she scolded the soul spirit. "Don't waste your energies on these two."
"Brunhild, I-" I stepped forward, hoping to somehow find a way to explain.
She raised a hand to cut me off. "Even poor paladins have the power to command souls. But you…" She took a deep breath, glaring at me all the while. "In all my years of serving as head paladin for the Sinndicate, you are, undoubtedly, the absolute worst paladin I have ever had the misfortune of working with."
"But, but, but…I'm still in training!" I stuttered, struggling to maintain my composure.
"And you've clearly learned nothing from it," the Sinndicate agent rebutted. "You failed to devote your life to the protection of even a single person, only to then selfishly allow your own life to be saved instead of dying honorably alongside those in your charge."
"That's not fair!" Phil once again defended. "You don't even know what really happened!"
"And the fact that your soul spirit has to keep coming to your defense instead of the other way around is just embarrassing," Brunhild scolded. "Honestly, I'm actually ashamed to call you a fellow paladin. I don't know who decided you were worthy of becoming a paladin, but if it was up to me, I'd tear up your vocational certificate here and now," she threatened. "Luckily for you, only the president of the Sinndicate has that authority, so a shitty paladin you shall remain. Now get out of my sight and pray we never cross paths again."
Not wanting to take any risks further angering Brunhild, I turned and ran away as fast as I could. I tried to put on a brave face as I descended from the roof, but Phil's current deep blue color betrayed my true emotions. The initial shock of what had happened eventually wore away, and all that was left was unimaginable pain, which quickly overwhelmed me. Soon, I was sitting on the floor in a quiet corner of the palace, crying into my knees, with Phil silently nestled above my aching heart.
(Michael's POV)
"Oh! Can it be?" Misslei excitedly exclaimed. "You found His Dryness?"
"We sure did!" Jessica confirmed. "He was hiding on…er…outside."
"So he was outside after all…" Misslei mused, tapping her chin. "Oh, thank you so much! You are truly wonderful! Please, you must inform the Chancellor. He is on the floor above us worrying himself sick. But whyever would Drak have ventured into the heat of the outdoors…?"
As she continued thinking to herself, we quickly made our way upstairs. I sent a small prayer to the Almighty that the Chancellor is able to keep his promise to grant us an audience with the Queen. Hopefully, we'll be able to convince her to return the Fygg before it gets the chance to cause any harm.
"Chancellor," I called out as we approached the panicked man. His eyes quickly focused on the small yellow lizard still sitting comfortably within my grasp.
"What is this I see before me?" the Chancellor asked. "The lizard with you is none other than His Dryness, the right-honorable Drak!" A wave of relief seemed to pass over the man and I almost thought he was going to start jumping for joy. "You are as good as your word, wanderers! As promised, I will request for you an audience with Her Majesty. If you will just give me a moment to make the necessary arrangements…"
"Your Exalted Majesty, may I present Michael, Jessica, and Allison, the intrepid travelers who discovered His Exalted Dryness, Drak," the Chancellor explained as he introduced us to Queen Voluptua.
The Queen was a strikingly beautiful young woman, with flawless tanned skin and a figure that her outfit only helped draw attention to. A golden crown, decorated with figures of the sun and a serpent, sat atop sleek black hair that flowed down her back, save for two short front braids that framed her elegant facial features. A white partial-skirt embroidered with gold draped over her legs, with her purple silk leggings and polished black high-heeled shoes reflecting the candlelight. She fiddled with her many pieces of extravagant jewelry while reclining against the arm of her large throne, slowly lifting her eyes to spare a glance in our direction.
"Do we really have to talk about your boring old travelers right now?" she sighed, dropping her arm and rolling her head towards the Chancellor. "We have more important things to discuss, don't we, pretty Misslei?" The young handmaiden gulped as the Queen turned to face her instead. "Now, remind me, Drak hasn't run away before, has he? No, he hasn't," Queen Voluptua answered her own question, not letting Misslei say anything. "Which means you must have done something horrible to him, you vicious, spiteful girl! Tell me what you did!"
Misslei jumped at the sudden accusations. "Your Majesty, I, I–" she stuttered. "Forgive me, I was taking the utmost care of His Dryness as always, then suddenly, he was gone…"
The Queen shook her head and closed her eyes, sighing once more. "Please, I'm far too pretty and important to sit around listening to pathetic excuses. Run along and pack your things. You're fired."
Everyone in the room, including the Chancellor and several other handmaidens, seemed taken aback by the sudden dismissal, most of all Misslei. "B-But please!" she pleaded. "Your Majesty, I–"
"Now, what was it you wanted, my little lost travelers?" the Queen finally asked us, ignoring her former handmaiden.
"Well…" I began, clearing my throat, "we had heard that you had recently been given a golden fruit, and we were hoping that you would be willing to give it to us. It is of the utmost importance."
"I see…" Queen Voluptua responded uncaringly. "So you want me to hand over that lovely golden fruit?"
"It's really not the lovely, to be honest," Jessica remarked.
Once more, the Gleeban queen merely sighed. "Well, I'd love to, of course, especially as it's you, but I just can't."
"What!?" all three of us cried out in unison.
"Why not?" I begged.
"You want to know why?" the Queen asked. "Why, I don't have it, that's why." This revelation appeared to be another surprise for everyone present. "I was just slipping out of a lovely, relaxing bath, when I noticed it was gone," she calmly explained. "Oh, I'm so silly and forgetful sometimes! I expect some horrid, jealous girl who works for me probably took it for herself and ate it…" she spat, finally acknowledging Misslei's continued presence.
"Wha–" Misslei objected. "No! Your Majesty, I would never–"
"You Exalted Highness! There is something you must see!" another handmaiden suddenly called out as she came running into the throne room carrying something. "It was found beneath a tree near where His Dryness was recaptured!" She held out her hands to reveal the found object was none other than the golden Fygg itself.
An immense feeling of disbelief quickly fell over me as I spun around to face Jessica and Allison. "It was just sitting there!?" I hissed, upset beyond reason. Jessica opened her mouth, but only breathless sounds came out as she failed to find words appropriate for the current moment.
"Oh, look, it's the golden fruit we were talking about!" the Queen exclaimed, jumping out of her throne, and moving to take a closer look at the Fygg. "How funny!" she laughed, turning to look down at her pet lizard, who was currently sprawled out on the carpet besides the throne. "What on earth was silly old Drak doing with it?" She turned back to face us with a disingenuous smile on her face. "Well, as long as I've got it back, that's the main thing." She stepped gracefully forward until she stood directly in front of us, still wearing the same smile. "So, my intrepid adventurers, I suppose I should hand this over to you, shouldn't I?"
"If you would be so kind," I strained through a forced smile.
A moment of silence passed where we just smiled at each other. Queen Voluptua began to move like she was going to actually hand over the Fygg but stopped herself at the last moment and began laughing instead. "Ha ha ha!" she cackled. "Oh, you are stupid, aren't you? You really thought I was going to give it to you, didn't you? Ha ha ha ha!" Her fake smile morphed into a more genuine look of smugness as she spoke. "No, I'm going to slice it all up into teeny-weeny pieces and put it in my bathwater. A fruit like this is bound to make my skin even softer and more beautiful, assuming that's even possible, of course!"
"You can't do that!" Jessica argued.
"Please, your Majesty, you must reconsider," Allison reasoned.
I said nothing. Anything I had to say would be ill-suited to come out of a Celestrian's mouth anyway.
The Queen's smile simply grew larger as she moved closer until she was mere inches away from my own face. "I'm sure you won't mind the fruit you've been searching so hard for being sacrificed for such a noble cause." I continued to say nothing, instead giving the Queen a look that would've actually killed anything else. Voluptua, however, simply laughed it off. "Come on then, my Drakky-Woo!" the Queen called out, turning back to her pet lizard. "That nasty, dirty traveler touched you, didn't he?" she cooed. "Let's get you in the bath and wash off the filth." With a graceful twirl, Queen Voluptua marched right out of the throne room, with Drak quickly scampering off behind her.
"Ooh, the flapping cheek!" Stella raged. "What kind of a queen is she supposed to be? She's horrible!"
"That definitely didn't go as well as planned," Allison lamented.
"Oi, sockears, were you even listening?" Stella yelled, upset at how calm Allison seemed to be given the current situation. "She said she's gonna chop that Fygg and chuck it in her bath! Who knows what'll happen when she starts cooking up a syrup of Fyggs in her bathtub! I can't imagine it'll be pretty…"
"What are we supposed to do, Stella?" Jessica asked solemnly. "It's not like we can attack the Queen..."
"I don't flapping know, but we've got to stop her!" Stella panickily stated. "Quick, get on down to that big room with all the baths in it! Chop, chop! And don't tell me to keep my hair on!"
The female guard standing outside the royal baths seemed less than amused by our continued presence. "You are aware this is Queen Voluptua's private bathing chamber, yes?"
"Yes…" I answered as innocently as I could. "May we enter? We just want to ask her a quick question."
"No."
"Her Majesty's life might be in danger," Jessica pleaded.
"Which is why I'm not letting you in."
As the three of us continued trying to come up with reasons for the guard to let us in, I started catching bits of voices coming from beyond the door.
"Are you ready, girls?" the Queen's voice called out. "We're going to chop up this pretty little golden fruit and make me a lovely bath with it. Can you slice it nice and thinly for me and pop it in the water? There's good girls. Hurry up, now." We were quickly running out of time.
The guard must've heard the voices from inside, as well, as she reasserted her position on the matter. "Thus does our monarch prepare a regal, fruit-infused bath. You are, of course, still forbidden to enter."
"Why!?" Stella shouted, frustrated. "They won't allow us in. But if we can't make an entrance, they'll slice the whole flapping Fygg to bits!"
"Well, what can we do, Stella?" Allison shrugged. "We can't get through this way."
Crossing her arms, Stella seemed to come up with a plan on the spot. "There's nothing for it, Michael. It's time for Plan C," she answered. "We'll just have to bend everyone in the castle's ears off till we find someone who knows another way in."
I held my hand over my eyes as we emerged onto the roof of the palace. Despite the lateness of the afternoon, the sun still shone brightly over the Queendom as it approached the horizon. Even after splitting up, it had taken longer than I had liked for us to run through the entire Mirage Mahal and ask everyone we saw about another way into the baths.
Understandably, we ended up not making a lot of friends in the process, and most of the staff simply refused to help us outright. Thankfully, one of the handmaidens seemed particularly appreciative of our rescue of His Dryness. She still seemed a bit confused by our request but had at least suggested that we try to find a suspicious old man who loiters atop the palace who might know of a way.
We found only a handful of people at this part of the palace. There was a young woman in the corner who seemed to be in an incredibly bad mood as she worked through several large piles of paperwork. We decided to avoid her, and instead approached a middle-aged man who appeared to be fishing in the large fountain on the roof.
"Um… Excuse me," I said, catching the man's attention. "This is probably going to sound like a really weird question, but do you know of a way to enter the Queen's baths?"
"I beg your pardon?" the man asked, cleaning out his ear with his finger. "Did you just say you wish to know how you may enter the Queen's private bathing chamber?"
"Yes…" I answered, trying to ignore how bad it sounds.
"Hmm…" the man mused, a slight smile tugging at his lips. "I can see that you do not seek such a thing lightly. Then I suppose I must impart to you my most secret knowledge." He gestured towards the gently burbling fountain upon which he sat. "The water that flows by us here runs into the very chamber you seek," he revealed. "Were you to immerse yourselves in it, you would be swept straight to Her Majesty's most private of chambers." He paused. "But I cannot vouch for the safety of such a passage. You may find yourself beaten and bruised after falling such a distance."
"It can't possibly be as bad as falling out of the sky and crashing into a waterfall," I remarked, not really thinking about what I was saying.
"I beg your pardon?" the man asked again, cleaning out his other ear. "Did you just say you–"
"Don't worry about it."
"Well then I would very much like to see how such a fall can be endured without harm," the man exclaimed excitedly. "Show me your mastery of plummeting!"
"Alright," I said as I gingerly stepped into the fountain. The water's current was surprisingly strong as I followed it to the center of the fountain. I soon found myself standing at the edge of a large open pipe that all of the fountain's water drained through. Looking down it, all I was able to see was darkness as the water spiraled down to unknown depths. Falling into Angel Falls didn't seem so bad all of a sudden.
"Michael, I just want to remind you that you're the only one of us who has actually survived something like this before," Jessica pointed out as she and Allison carefully approached besides me. "Are you sure we have to do this?"
"We don't have a choice," I answered.
"We could just wait until something actually happens," Allison responded. "Then we could just deal with whatever it is."
"We can't do that," I countered. "That would require putting others' lives at risk. I can't let that happen, not if I can help it."
"Right. Guardian duties and all that," Allison acknowledged. "Then I suppose we're jumping."
"I'm the least likely to get hurt, so I'll go first," I decided. "Then I can help catch you two when you fall."
"Or we can just use your body as a cushion to land on," Jessica smirked.
"In any case, I just hope we end up somewhere off to the side and unseen."
"Oh, Michael, you know wishful thinking never works out for you," Stella sighed.
"Whatever," I stated, rolling my eyes. "Are we all ready to jump?"
Receiving confirmations from everyone, I nodded towards the man who was still watching us, took a deep breath, and jumped right in.
(Hope's POV)
I took a shaky breath as I wiped the last of the tears out of my eyes.
"Are you feeling better now, Miss Hope?" Phil asked, still concerned.
"Yeah, a bit," I sighed. I turned and leaned against the small handrail surrounding the indoor waterfall located behind the throne room. The sound of the falling water was actually quite relaxing. "I just don't know what I'm going to–" I paused as a screaming man with green hair fell down the waterfall right before my eyes. "Did…did you see that!?" I asked, startled. Before Phil could answer, more shrieking came from above as two women soon followed, one bright red, the other more brownish.
"Was that…?"
"Yeah."
"…"
"I suppose we should probably get going."
(Michael's POV)
I landed in the pool of water with a great splash and a tremendous crash. My senses were all mixed up from the fall, but I was fairly sure I could hear several women screaming. So much for subtlety, I guess.
I tried to lift myself up to see what the situation was but was immediately shoved back under the water as someone fell right on top of me, quickly followed by another after that.
"I thought you were going to catch us, Michael," Jessica whined as she rolled off of me.
"Now is really not the time, Jessica," Allison remarked as I finally got a chance to look around. Unfortunately, all I saw was Queen Voluptua and a line of palace guards surrounding us, and they all seemed royally pissed off.
"What DO you think you're doing?" the Queen demanded. "How dare you barge in on the divine Voluptua's sacred bath time, you beasts!" She glared at us, waiting for an answer, until her eyes popped open in recognition. "Oh, I see… You've come to get that silly little fruit back that you seem to care so much about, haven't you?" Her awful smile quickly returned. "Aww, poor old you!" she mocked. "If only you'd been a little quicker. I'm afraid it's already been sliced up into teeny-tiny pieces."
"No!" I shouted, jumping to my feet and looking around. True to her word, thin slices of the Fygg floated around on the surface of the water. "What have you done!?" I asked, horrified.
She said nothing, instead turning to look at her pet lizard, who had just made a whining sound. "Ohh, my Drakky-Wakky-Wooo!" she cooed. "Were you scared, my baby? Yes you were, weren't you? Well it's alright now, precious."
As she talked to Drak, I noticed the lizard staring intently at one of the Fygg slices. A moment too late, I realized what was about to happen. "Don't let him eat that!" I ordered, but the slice was already gone, quickly devoured by His Dryness. Almost immediately, he froze in place as his eyes snapped open.
"…Drakky-Poo…?" the Queen asked, showing genuine concern.
Within seconds, all of the other Fygg slices quickly surrounded Drak as he started floating in the air and he released a blinding burst of light. As the light faded, everyone's eyes were slowly drawn upwards at the large, yellow dragon that was now sitting where His Dryness had just moments before.
"Aiiiieeeeeeeeee!" Queen Voluptua shrieked as she beheld the massive monster staring back at her with a smile full of sharp fangs and a great pink bow wrapped around its neck. All of the surrounding guards and handmaidens seemed similarly flustered. "Aaaaah!" the Queen continued screaming, shaking where she stood. "My Drakky-Woo! What's happened to you? You've gone all…ugly!" The dragon bent forward, staring even closer at the Queen. "Heeeeeelp!" she begged, her voice breaking. "Heeelp Meeeee!"
In one swift movement, the dragon scooped up Her Majesty in his claws and jumped away. Before anyone could react, it smashed its way into a well in the corner of the room and disappeared with the Queen into the sewers below, causing parts of the floor to collapse behind it.
(Hope's POV)
"Where do we go now, Phil?"
"I think we want to take this next left," the small soul answered, flying ahead to look down the upcoming hallway.
"You know that's not what I meant," I scolded, though I still couldn't help but smile slightly. Despite my best efforts, Phil once again managed to help make me feel better.
"I know," he cheerfully chimed.
Following his guidance, we continued on down the left corridor. Supposedly, we were on our way to leave the Mirage Mahal, but I had ended up wandering a bit aimlessly through the palace instead. I just…didn't feel like leaving yet.
"But, seriously, Phil."
He hummed as he thought. "I guess we could go back to see Master," he finally suggested.
"I'd hate to return to him like this," I lamented. "Besides, I would much rather not go back 'home', if I can help it."
"I know, but what other choice do we have?"
I started thinking of something else we could do, which led to me no longer paying attention of where I was going. As I turned another corner, I crashed into someone else, knocking us both onto the floor. I shook my head and looked at who I had run into. She appeared to be a royal handmaiden, with a head of purple hair frazzled from the fall and a medium-sized bag that had fallen to the side.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I quickly apologized as I scrambled to help the other woman to her feet. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
"My thanks," the handmaiden said as she quickly refixed her hair. "However, I'm afraid I must take some of the blame, as I was also rather absent-minded at the moment. I'm Misslei, by the way," she introduced herself.
"Hope," I returned, handing her bag back to her.
"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Hope," Misslei smiled, "but I really must be leaving. I'm afraid I'm not very welcome at the palace anymore."
"I was actually on my way to do the same," I remarked.
"Then why were you heading in this direction?" Misslei asked, tilting her head. "The entrance to the palace is the other way."
"I… Uh… Oh."
"Whoops!" Phil nervously chuckled.
"Here, why don't you come with me and I can show you the way?" she offered. "It's the least I can do after running into you like that."
"Okay, sure," I accepted, turning to face the proper direction besides her.
"It's actually not too far from here," Misslei explained as we started walking. "Just a short walk down this way and then a right turn at the–"
She was loudly interrupted by a violent noise that sounded like a combination of women screaming and a large dragon's roar, followed by a violent tremor that caused the whole of the palace to shake.
"What was that!?" I shouted, holding onto a nearby wall to steady myself.
"That sounded like it came from the baths…" Misslei breathed. Her skin suddenly paled as she gasped. "The Queen! Come on, we have to hurry!" she ordered as she grabbed my wrist and pulled me down another hallway with surprising strength.
"Wait! Where are we going now!?"
"Wait for me, Miss Hope!"
There sure is an awful lot of drama happening in Gleeba today, isn't there? I told you the fun would now truly begin. And how will all of this drama work itself out? I suppose you'll just have to wait an see. Just, hopefully, not for another eight months. All I can say is that I plan on doing things a little but differently in the next chapter. Should be interesting, to say the least.
As always, feel free to leave some feedback on the latest chapter. It really helps a lot more than you can imagine.
Anyway, this has been D~F. See you all next time.