BOOK TWO: PURSUIT

SEVEN

"Run!"

The others didn't need to be told twice. As the Midgar Zolom shot toward us as if it had been fired from a cannon, I leaned in close to my chocobo and urged him into a gallop. I could feel Aerith's arms around my waist, gripping me tightly as that giant, monstrous serpent quickly closed in behind us. To our right, Tifa and Barret raced toward the line of trees just beyond the southern end of the lake, and I angled my bird toward it as well while Red sprinted just ahead of us and the first drops of rain began to fall from the overcast sky.

As we splashed across the muddy, sodden ground, the wind picked up as the rain fell faster and thunder rumbled not so far away. It wasn't loud enough to drown out the Zolom's sudden, hissing roar as it closed in. I glanced behind us and saw it slithering up out of the lake not fifty yards away, its fangs long, curved, and deadly.

I whipped my head back to the right a moment later when I heard Tifa suddenly cry out. Her chocobo had run right into a wide patch of mud that must have looked more solid than it was. Tifa shrieked as the bird went down and she flew right over it in a forward somersault. She managed to right herself in midair, but she still came down in the mud, her hands and feet sinking right into it when she landed.

Tifa's chocobo wasn't any better off as it struggled to pull itself free from the muck. Barret had managed to stay on, but quickly got off as I brought my own mount around and hurried back toward them, calling to Red as I did so. When Aerith and I got close, I jumped right off and grabbed Tifa's outstretched hands in both of mine. She had sunk nearly to her waist, and I pulled as hard as I could and tried to ignore the loud bursts of magical energy exploding around us as Aerith and Red threw spell after spell at the giant serpent to cover us.

While Barret worked to free his and Tifa's chocobo, I pulled harder to try and get Tifa out. But the ground was slick, and I began to slide as the rain came down faster. I had to crouch down to reach her now, and as Tifa fought to escape the muck, it pulled her in further, down to her chest even as I tried to lift her out of it. The snake's hissing sounded in my ears, and I risked a quick glance over my shoulder to see it looming right behind us, lunging at Aerith and Red.

There was a sudden flash of yellow light from Red's headdress, and then a barrage of energy missiles streaked toward the Zolom and hit it in an explosion nearly as loud as the thunder that suddenly split across the sky as a forking bolt of lightning struck one of the trees nearby and blew it apart. Then the ground around the serpent suddenly rose up in a small earthquake and struck the creature with large chunks of rock as Aerith let loose with some earth magic. Although the spells were doing some damage, the serpent was huge and tough, and it kept on biting at Aerith and Red and lashing its tail at them.

But what captured my attention in that brief moment was the sight of the patch of ground where Aerith had cast her spell. It had been wet and muddy before, but after its upheaval by the magic, it had dried out somewhat and was firmer now. An idea suddenly came to me, and as I strained to hold onto Tifa, I looked to Aerith, who was still on our bird casting her spells at the Zolom and dodging its vicious attacks as much as she could, her staff held high as she fought.

"Aerith!" I shouted. "Your earth magic! It'll dry the ground! I need it to get Tifa out!"

She turned toward us. "Hold on! I'll—"

The giant snake's thick tail suddenly slammed into her side, cutting her off in midsentence and hurling her off the chocobo. She managed a single startled shriek before landing in a heap on the ground. My heart was pounding as shifted my gaze between her and Tifa, worry for both women filling my mind. As I shook the falling rain out of my eyes and strained to free Tifa from the deep pool of sucking mud, Aerith got up and hurried over to us while behind her, the Zolom flinched as Red hit it with another enchanted missile salvo.

"You okay?" I asked Aerith as she knelt next to me.

She nodded. "I'll be alright, Cloud. Just got a little banged up, that's all. We've got to get Tifa and the chocobo out, though."

Holding her staff out before her, Aerith drew forth the earth magic and directed it toward the mud. As with the Zolom, the ground shifted and churned, erupting in a burst of rock and dirt, and just as I'd hoped, the spell broke Tifa loose almost at once, practically throwing her onto me as the chocobo also escaped with Barret's help. As I pulled her free, I fell backward onto the ground, and Tifa landed on top of me, clinging fiercely to me as I held her.

She looked up as a shadow fell across us. "Cloud! Look out!"

Before I knew it, Tifa was pulling me into a sideways roll just as the serpent's tail came crashing down on the spot where we had been only a moment ago. She and I both sprang to our feet as we kept going, and I saw that Aerith had also managed to dodge the attack. She had rolled away as well, but in the opposite direction, and now she was on her feet throwing more spells at the Zolom.

"Everyone back on the chocobos!" I ordered. "Now!"

Barret was already on his, and Tifa leaped up behind him as Aerith caught ours before it could get too far and swung onto it. I struck at the Zolom with a quick blast of fire from my materia before jumping onto the chocobo behind her as Red ran ahead of us toward the trees, which were only a dozen yards or so away now. I hoped the creature wouldn't follow us in there, but it seemed determined to catch us. Aerith had to jerk the chocobo sharply to the right as the thing's head suddenly came down, its gaping jaws snapping at us.

Then we were running again, my arms around Aerith's waist as she bent low over the chocobo's head and urged him into a gallop. Around us, the rain kept falling, faster now as we plunged back into the shelter of the trees and quickly left the clearing and the lake behind. Lightning flashed again, turning the night into day for just a moment as thunder exploded across the sky in a deafening roar.

Behind us, the Zolom kept coming, slithering between the tall, wet trunks of oaks, cypresses, and willows as they flew past us in a blur. We could barely see, so I reached into one of the saddlebags and took out a flashlight. There was no point in not using it now, since the giant snake already knew exactly where we were. I flipped the switch and shone the light ahead of us as I blinked rain out of my eyes and saw Tifa doing as I had and getting her own flashlight out.

As Red had told us earlier, the ground here was more solid, though there were still pools, wet spots, and patches of oozing mud in places. I kept an eye on the path ahead to make sure we didn't have another fall like Tifa had earlier, but the chocobos seemed more sure of which way to go now, picking their steps with care even as they ran while in front of them, Red led us safely through the maze of trees, reeds, rain, muck, and water. The wind whipped around us, its howling rivaled by the dry hissing of the Zolom as it continued to chase us.

But eventually it fell behind, unable to keep up with the chocobos' great speed, and then it was gone, fading back into the night. I glanced behind us at the empty marshlands as we rode in silence, hardly able to believe we had finally escaped that terrible thing. We slowed down, but only a little, keeping up a brisk pace for a while to put as much distance between us and the Zolom as we could. And while the storm lessened, the thunder fading away into a quiet stillness, the rain continued to fall in a steady drizzle all around us as the wind died down to a light breeze that swept across our cheeks.

After riding for about an hour with no sign of the giant serpent, we stopped to rest in a small clearing filled with reeds and tall grass. I had intended to ride straight through the swamp without any sort of pause, but after our encounter with the Zolom and the long chase, I knew we needed some time to catch our breath and rest the chocobos. After we had tethered the birds, tying the reins to the branches of a nearby tree, we all sat down for while, Aerith using her healing wind to tend to our wounds before joining us herself.

Barret sighed. "Guess Bill wasn't lyin' 'bout that thing after all. That snake damn near had us."

"If it wasn't for the chocobos, it would have," Tifa agreed.

Aerith grinned. "If we ever go back to the Chocobo Farm someday, I'm going to give him a big hug!"

"We're not through the marshes yet," I reminded her.

"I know. But we've made it this far. And we've got to think positive, Cloud. We'll make it, you'll see."

I nodded. "We will, Aerith. I don't doubt it."

Tifa glanced at me. "How much farther is it, do you think?"

"We're about halfway there, I'm guessing," I told her. "Maybe a little more. We've still got a long way to go, though."

That was true enough. I had studied the map we had bought at the farm before we had entered the swamp, and I looked at it again now as I sat with my back against the trunk of an old oak tree. If we kept going at a steady rate, I figured we would break free of the marshes sometime tomorrow morning or maybe in the early afternoon. It was getting late now, almost midnight, and weariness seemed to permeate every part of my body. I decided it couldn't hurt to get some sleep while we still had the chance. But before I put the map away and told the others, I looked at where it showed the southern part of the swamp and saw something that sent a shiver of dread down my spine.

I sighed. "Red, come here a minute. We've got a problem."

"What's wrong?" he asked as he padded over.

I showed him the map. "We've got trouble. If what we just escaped from is any indication."

"Three lakes, quite a bit larger than the first," he observed.

"Shit!" Barret spat. "You think there's more of them friggin' snakes hidin' in there somewhere?"

Red nodded. "It is a distinct possibility."

Tifa glanced at me, worry in her eyes. "Can't we go around them?"

"They're all spread out about twenty miles south of us," I shook my head. "It would take too long."

"However, there might be a way through," Red added.

Aerith glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"The map shows a narrow strip of land running in between two of the lakes," Red answered. "Although they are quite wide, much more so than the first one we encountered, they are not as tall, and I don't think it will take us more than an hour to pass them. Perhaps even half that if we hurry and keep the chocobos at a run."

"And the third lake?" Tifa wondered.

I tapped the map. "It's a bit further south than the other two, and it looks to be as big as the others. No easy way past it, though. We'll have to follow the shore and hope for the best. We'll keep within the trees if we can, but if the ground's anything like it was around the first lake, we may not have a choice but to stay near the water."

Aerith glanced at her staff. "You know, my earth magic might help get us through as well. It made the ground more solid."

"Good idea," I agreed. "Be sure to watch your energy, though."

Our plan set, we spread out our sleeping bags and prepared to rest. We didn't put up the tents, though, just in case we had to make a quick escape. We also set a watch, an hour for each of us, and I took the first. Although it would delay our escape from the swamp, we needed to get some rest after the terrifying ordeal with the Midgar Zolom, especially since it seemed more than likely that we would encounter its friends by the time we finally got out of this place.

The rain slowed but didn't stop as I sat there while the others slept. The leaves from the trees kept some of it out, but not all of it. It wasn't coming down hard, though. Not much more than a light drizzle now. I pulled my jacket closer around my shoulders as I listened to the water dripping and the other sounds of the marsh, the wind and the crickets, the splashing of a toad in a nearby pond. It was, as Aerith had told me, a place with a lot of life. I could hear it all around us.

About five hours later, I felt a furred muzzle nudging my arm, and I blinked open my eyes. Red had taken the last watch, and he was now padding around the campsite and waking us up. Despite the rain, I had managed to get a little sleep after Tifa had relieved me, and after eating a quick breakfast, we untethered the chocobos and set out again. Dawn hadn't arrived quite yet, but the sky was starting to lighten a little in the east as we rode onward, the blackness of the night slowly giving way to the deep blue of early morning. If our luck held, we would be out of the swamp by the end of the day. Sooner, if all went well.

I didn't want to think about what would happen otherwise.

We traveled in silence through the swamp, not wishing to alert any of its monstrous inhabitants to our whereabouts, especially more of the giant serpents. As before, I padded ahead of the others, the mud sticky beneath my paws as I tested the ground. The predawn gloom did little to hinder my sight, and I kept my ears alert, listening for anything that might pose a threat to us.

Nothing appeared at first, but as we passed a modest pond, I heard a soft hissing and flattened my ears, growling to warn the others. It was only a moment later that about half a dozen snakelike creatures, much smaller than the Midgar Zolom, suddenly erupted from the water and slithered toward us. They might have been its young, though I couldn't be certain. Their scales were more bluish in color, and they were about six feet long and nearly half a foot thick. Dangerous enough, to be sure, but compared to their parent, far less so.

While Barret fired at them with his gun-arm and Aerith unleashed some of her earth spells, I hit the snakes with another barrage of those enchanted missiles. The materia nestled within my feathered headdress glowed a bright yellow as I used the magic. I had found the little orb in Hojo's lab just after the fight with that twisted specimen of his and had picked it up before joining Cloud and the others.

From what I had seen and heard during my captivity, I knew it was a prototype of sorts, a very different kind of materia that didn't grow in the same way others did. Its draws its power from the energies used by the magical abilities of certain monsters. When those abilities are used against the materia's wielder, it captures those energies and stores them within it, allowing whoever holds the materia to use those abilities as if they were the monster they were taken from.

The enchanted missiles were the only such skill I had learned thus far. I had picked it up from one of the Shinra machines prowling about the badlands around Midgar the day we left, and it had proven a useful tool to use against the various creatures that we had encountered so far in our journey. It did so again now, pummeling the snakes and sending those that survived the blast scattering in all directions only to be shot or crushed by Barret and Aerith's attacks while Cloud and Tifa kept the chocobos under control and on the path.

We pressed onward, leaving the dead serpents behind us as the sun rose above the treetops, the early morning light filtering down through the leaves. The miles wore on, and though we encountered a few more groups of smaller monsters—more nests of those blue-scaled snakes as well as a few dragon-like creatures hovering in the air with two pairs of leathery wings—none of them proved especially troublesome. I did get singed once by the pseudodragons' fiery breath, and when it happened, the materia in my headdress flashed yellow, and I could sense its power growing in response to the attack.

I decided to try out my new skill when we ran across a trio of ugly four-legged things that looked like a cross between a crab and a spider, covered as they were in a hard purple carapace. I dove into myself and called upon the materia's power as they scuttled toward me, and then a moment later, a stream of fire shot out at one of the beasts, scorching it as my friends took out the others from atop the chocobos. It didn't take long, and we hurried on, all of us wanting to escape from these terrible marshlands as soon as we could.

The rain continued falling in a steady drizzle, having stopped only for a short time in the early morning, as we made our way south. It was perhaps an hour or so before noon when the ground ahead of us began to grow softer and wetter as we approached the lakes, and I took more care to choose our path as we slowed down and the conversations that had been passing between us faded into silence.

We came to the narrow strip of land between the two lakes, all our senses alert. I scanned the water, but nothing showed itself, so I led the others across. The natural bridge was only about fifty yards across and choked with reeds, and it went on for almost a mile until it reached the far shore. I don't think we actually breathed as we crept along, moving as quickly and as quietly as we could. My eye kept returning again and again to the lakes on either side of us, but still there was nothing. Only a few ripples flowing over the surface. If there were more creatures like the Zolom lurking underwater, they didn't show themselves. I strained my ears, but even my acute hearing could not find anything aside from the normal sounds of the swamp.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the far shore and passed into the woods. We didn't relax until the lakes were at least a mile or so behind us, however. Now only the third one remained, but it was still some distance ahead of us. After traveling a few more miles, we paused for a brief rest before moving on again. Above us, the clouds darkened into a sullen gray as thunder rumbled in the distance. I didn't like it, but there was little we could do. The storm was heading our way and would catch up to us before long, likely by the time we reached the last of the lakes. Cloud knew it too, from the frown I saw on his face as I glanced back at him and the others.

We kept going, Aerith using her earth magic to harden the ground whenever it proved to be particularly troublesome and difficult to pass. Her spellcasting grew much more frequent as we drew closer to the last lake and the muck became more treacherous. We stayed in the trees at first, but soon it became too hard even for Aerith to form a stable path for us to move upon as mud and wetness filled the ground everywhere and forced us out of the woods and close to the water.

Although the ground here wasn't much better off, it was still solid enough that we could get through, though it slowed our progress down almost to a halt as we had to watch virtually every step. I did the best I could to guide the others while listening for anything coming from the lake. At first there was nothing, just as before, and it seemed as though we might get through without incident. But then, when we were nearly to the southern shore, the rippled on the lake's surface intensified, and we all turned, paralyzed in that moment, as the terror burst forth from the water as it had yesterday, its dry hissing loud in our ears. Only this time, the foul creature wasn't alone.

Not one, but three giant serpents exploded from the lake.

"Oh, shit…" Barret gaped.

The three Zoloms slithered toward us, sweeping out of the water in an instant as they bared their long, curved fangs. But in that moment, I suddenly heard a quick rustle of movement from the trees behind us as something sharp, metallic, and with four razor points flew through the air in a wide arc, spinning as it went and cutting right across the face of one of the giant serpents before hitting the next one and then the third before its trajectory carried it back toward the woods, where a familiar figure caught it easily from atop her chocobo.

"What are you guys just standing there for?" the girl shouted. "Get goin', will ya?"

I stared at her in disbelief. "You!"

It was the young ninja thief from Kalm. She glanced at us over her shoulder as she turned her mount. "Looks like you all caught up to me. No time to chat, though!"

"Wait!" I growled. "We've been looking for you!"

"Thought so. Can't stick around to play right now, but I know we're gonna run into each other again soon. Then we can have at it and find out who's the best! See ya later!"

Then she was gone, disappearing back into the woods as quickly as she had come. I sprinted after her, the others just behind me, while the serpents closed in on us, their tails sweeping over us as we ran. A flash of lightning forked across the sky as thunder exploded around us. Rain poured down faster now, and as we raced into the woods, the serpents followed, smashing through the branches and biting at us. But we kept ahead of them, the chocobos darting swiftly through the muck as I ran at their side. I looked for the girl, but she was already long gone, faster than I would have thought possible.

After many long, tense minutes, the giant snakes at last fell behind as the chocobos and I finally outran them. Soon the only sounds aside from us were those of the swamp and the storm, the smells of rain and mud thick in my nose as we hurried onward, none of us speaking until we had put some miles between us and the lake.

"I hate to admit it," Barret grumbled, "but that damn girl jus' saved our asses back there."

I nodded. "Indeed. We might not have escaped otherwise."

"The hell was she doin' in this friggin' place, anyway?"

"Bill said we might run into her, remember?" Cloud told him. "She bought a chocobo from the farm before we got there."

Aerith blinked. "We're lucky she did, Cloud. That was close."

"No kidding. But we've gotten through the worst of it, I think. Just thirty more miles or so and we'll be outta here."

"Thank goodness!" she breathed. "I'll be glad for that!"

We all shared that sentiment, of course, and so we kept moving, no other creatures showing themselves as we passed. Neither did the ninja girl. The remainder of the journey proved to be thankfully uneventful, and after traveling for a few more hours, we finally reached the fringes of the swamp as the ground grew much firmer and more solid beneath our feet, the long reeds and cattails soon giving way to rolling waves of tall, knee-high grass. Well, knee-high for you two-legs. But as for me, it rose up almost to my shoulders. I almost wished it was higher, though, if only to block out what suddenly came into view before us. I stared at it, a chill racing down my spine, as the others did the same.

We stood in shocked silence at the very edge of the swamp, the last of the trees scattered around us as we gazed at the ominous sight ahead of us. The storm had moved away from us during the last few hours, its fury distant now and the rolling of thunder farther away. But lightning still streaked across the sky as the rain slackened until it was little more than a light drizzle. I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry as I sat on the chocobo with Aerith and my blood turned to ice. Near the entrance to the gorge leading into the Mythril Mines stood a dead, leafless old tree, its branches long gone. And wrapped around its thick, towering trunk was a Midgar Zolom.

What was left of it, that is.

It was clearly dead, impaled through the heart with its head gaping open upside down in the damp, still air. Blood covered its huge, scaled body and ran down the sides of the tree as its tongue hung limply from its jaws. Beyond it, the mountains frowned down at us, but I didn't pay much attention to them. My eyes were locked on the dead serpent, and for a few moments, no one spoke.

Eventually, I broke the silence. "Did Sephiroth… do this?"

I shook my head at my own doubts, remembering then what I had told Aerith. Of course he had. It couldn't have been anyone else. It had to have been him. He had been here, but how long ago? I looked again at the blood, seeing how dry it was. The monster must have been dead since yesterday at least. Sephiroth still had a good lead on us, but I was determined to catch up to him.

"Damn, he's gotta be tough as hell," Barret murmured.

Red nodded. "It's a power we should respect."

"Amazing…" Tifa breathed, her eyes locked on the dead serpent. "I knew he was strong, but… not like this…"

I knew what she meant. Talking about Sephiroth's power was a hell of a lot different than seeing it right there on display in front of us. We had traveled dozens of miles across the treacherous marshlands, barely escaping from these things and hardly even scratching them with all of our attacks and spells. And now, after finally getting out of that hellish place—exhausted, dirty, and covered with splotches of dried mud—we had found this grisly sight waiting for us. All our struggles and escapes, and Sephiroth had gone and murdered this thing just as casually as any of us would have swatted a fly.

Behind me, Aerith was uncharacteristically silent.