Chapter 22: Bevelle's Secrets
A few hours later, Zen returned with a robe, but Shuyin recognized its design immediately. "This is a temple robe. I can't go into Bevelle dressed like a priest of Yevon. That's worse than going in dressed like a blitzball player."
"Temple not under attack. Go to temple. Look like you belong there," the ronso answered.
Shuyin was relieved to hear the temple had not been attacked. That meant his initial idea to stop and ask for food and shelter might actually work. But he wondered why it had been spared since that would have been the more logical place for Bevelle to strike Yevon first. With no other plan at his disposal, he pulled the robe on over his uniform and tugged the hood low over his eyes. Then, he and Zen made their way through the city from the docks.
Having never been to Bevelle before, Shuyin didn't know his way around. But finding the temple was easy because of the way it towered over the rest of the red-walled city. Keeping his head down to avoid any possible recognition among blitzball fans, he followed the ronso past the light posts and down the straight and narrow streets.
Bevelle had always been the center of government on Spira, so it carried an atmosphere of royalty about it. When the temple was commissioned, it was added to the governor's palace. And though it seemed strange, the ronso had been right. There was no siege, and no one questioned their presence—not even upon walking through the heavily guarded doors. Zanarkand had been bombed and invaded by Bevelle on two fronts. Countless people were killed, lay dying, had been injured, or went into hiding. Yet here, no one seemed to know or care because life carried on as usual. It was eery.
"Well, the temple here is not only still standing, but it's also sickeningly calm compared to what the temple in Zanarkand looks like now," Shuyin groused under his breath. "Something's not right." The feeling of mistrust that crept over Shuyin regarding Lenne's temple guardian assignment returned. "Ask someone where the prisoners are being held," Shuyin whispered as his eyes darted around.
The ronso snorted with a low growl. "Zen already question to 'borrow' robe. Look suspicious if too many questions. Human in temple robe not suspicious here." But he planted his lance on the floor, rather than securing it behind his back. And his tail twitched, showing a hint of nervousness about the serenity of their surroundings.
"Fine. Wait here." Shuyin wandered around the semi-circle corridor toward the temple's back rooms, not quite knowing what he was searching for yet. "Excuse me," he caught a passing warrior monk. "I'm … from the temple at Kilika. Our summoners there had a question about our new aeon, Ifrit. I was hoping to speak to the summoner in charge of the aeon here. Do you know where I can find her?"
"Oh. Didn't they tell Kilika? There will be no aeon in the Bevelle temple—not after everything that's been happening in Zanarkand. You'll have to speak with Maester Renuta about that. He's the one that's personally overseeing all aeon and Zanarkand operations."
Shuyin's brows knit together. "What Zanarkand operations?"
"You know—the cleansing."
The blitzball player had to remind himself that ignorance might raise suspicion. Instead of asking more questions, he issued a confirmation. "The temple here is ... cleansing the temple there."
"And everything's going according to the maester's plan, based on what I've heard. In fact, they just took a bunch of Zanarkand prisoners to the confinement chambers below." The warrior monk tilted his chin. "Didn't they tell the other temples about the negotiations reached with the Founders?"
Those bastards! Traitors! Shuyin's heart raced. "No one told us anything."
"Speak with Maester Renuta," the warrior monk suggested again. "Take the lift up to the balcony. You'll find him there, although you may be told to come back tomorrow since it is rather late."
Shuyin backed away and returned to his ronso friend. "Remember Yevon saying something about a traitor telling Bevelle about the location of the water garden aeons? I think we just found them."
"More than one?"
"The whole damn temple." Shuyin was so angry he could barely keep his voice soft as his sharp eyes searched the lift and balcony. "The maester of this temple is behind the attacks. Apparently, they reached an agreement with the Founders without Yevon, and didn't bother to tell Zanarkand the results."
Zen frowned. "Sounds like Zanarkand was result."
"Prisoners are being held below. Lenne's probably among them, but I'm going to go speak to this maester first and try to find out more about what's going on. Wait here, and if I don't come back, go back to Elder Kinan and Yevon. Tell them Maester Renuta is the one responsible for the 'cleansing' of Zanarkand. And it sounds like the other temples will be 'cleansed' of their aeons as well."
The ronso's thick brow furrowed with deep concern. "Bevelle dare not destroy other cities. But if maester betrayed Yevon, maester will not be kind to Lenne or Shuyin."
"I guess Yevon was right after all. The Founders seem to be itching to destroy Spira since we adopted aliens and magic without their approval." Shuyin gave the ronso a wary glance, then stepped onto the lift and looked nervously toward the balcony as he touched the controls. The lift, however, decided to go down, and it didn't stop until it reached the bottom-level landing pad. Stepping off, the blitzball player stared with awe at the pulsing lights and circuitry around him. "Woah. Spira really is a ship." Studying its history was one thing. Seeing it in person was another.
The lift rose back to the upper level, and that probably meant someone else was coming down. A quick survey of the catwalks and conveyor paths left him guessing which one led back up. When the lift touched down again, and the voices of the riders hushed for a second, he knew he'd been spotted.
"Oi! Summoners aren't supposed to be down here."
One thought outweighed that warning: Lenne might be down here somewhere. Shuyin chose one of the halls … and ran. He didn't know where he was going, but he could hear the heavy boots of the warrior monks in pursuit as he sprinted through a large opening and out onto a ledge, barely catching himself in time to avoid a nasty fall to what seemed to be a dark, bottomless pit. Pushing down his hood, he frantically looked for a new escape.
Pumping and grinding machina completely surrounded him. The ship's engine, maybe? There was nowhere to go but down, and though he couldn't see the bottom of the gaping hole, there were floor levels built within the upper rim of it—rings of stacked balconies. He saw no stairs or lifts that led to them, though.
"Stop right there! You're under arrest!" one of the warrior monks shouted.
Stripping off the robe, Shuyin hopped onto the ledge and jumped, landing on a large, thick chain. Sliding down the length of the bumpy chain was worse than going down a playground slide standing up, but a lifetime of surfing and blitzball gave him the sure-footed agility necessary to make it work. Trying not to look down at what awaited him if he fell, he leaped onto the solid surface of one of the lower levels as soon as he was close enough. Then, pausing only to glance up at the warrior monks who cursed his stunt but made no attempt to copy it, he took off running again.
))((
"Just let the fiends get him," one warrior monk said to the other. "There's no escape unless he comes back this way."
"Are you kidding? Did you see who that was? I'd know that uniform anywhere—he's a blitzball player from the Zanarkand Abes. He could be a spy, or worse, considering where he's headed."
"Damn! I forgot about that. I'll get back-up. No way am I going down there alone. Stay here in case he comes back."
The warrior monk who remained behind sighed as his comrade ran back to alert the temple about the security breach. He liked blitzball, and while he did not condone necromancy, of course, it seemed like such a shame to destroy the best stadium and players in Spira. Shaking his head, he readied his gun and kept a watchful eye on the exit the Zanakand intruder had taken.
))((
Running through the tunnels of the lower levels, Shuyin came across some interior towers guarded by large machina warriors. He could have gone back and taken another passage, but towers would either lead him back up or toward the prisoners. Shuyin unsheathed his sword. Thanks to his battlefield experience, he now knew where to find critical circuitry areas. Making the most of his agility and speed magic, he attacked the machina warriors until they were nothing but heaps of buzzing and beeping scrap metal. The tower doors, however, had combination locks on them, and each time he got a wrong combination, more machina warriors were summoned to remove him. He defeated each new batch of guardians, but each fight exhausted him a little more. "Damn it! Open up for me!" he finally yelled at the doors in frustration.
Hitting the last switch, he watched as the combination lock finally turned. But instead of opening the doors, the lock opened the floor. And once again, the path only led further down. "Crud. What kind of sick amusement park architect designed this place? This is worse than Zanarkand's one-way and dead-end streets."
After leaping down each step to the one below it, he ran through the first corridor until it branched in three directions. Fiends began to appear here and there. "Oh, this can't be good." Growling under his breath, he decided forward was still better than backward, picked one of the passages, and headed straight for the fiends, sword ready.
Shuyin avoided and fled from as many fiends as he could, of course. His goal was to find Lenne and escape alive, not waste time or energy on every spirit that haunted the dungeons under Bevelle. But did question why there were so many. Finally, he came to a large opening at the end of one hall and stopped to catch his breath. The room was dark except for a few guide lights around the very high walls and ceiling. Multiple cables spilled from the dome and walls, where they connected to something hovering precariously behind a small round platform over an endless drop into nothingness. It was the largest, most frightening looking machina he had ever seen.
Curiosity got the best of him. Walking toward it with caution, he thought it looked more like a weapon of some kind than part of the ship's engine. Someone at the Zanarkand temple mentioned a rumor regarding Bevelle's ultimate weapon. Was this it? If so, maybe it was big enough to finish off Bevelle's army before they could attack Gagazet. Maybe it was big enough to, at least, take on the Bevelle temple and get them out of the city.
Shuyin checked over his shoulder. No fiends or people had followed, so he sheathed his sword, moved closer, and stopped for another study. Apparently, one had to enter this machina from the bottom and go inside to control it. Should he try? He jogged even closer, then stopped again. Doubts ... No. Determination. "You know, you're all I can count on to save Lenne."
A noise clanged behind him.
Shuyin looked over his shoulder, ready to challenge anyone or anything that tried to stop him, but when nothing came of it, he moved forward again. Entering the giant weapon, he climbed the step ladder under the gun barrel to the controls on top of its horned, skull-shaped head. He was surprised to find the control panel was some type of keyboard—more like that of an organ or piano than a computer. That meant it was probably programmed using musical notation. Sitting down at the controls, he scanned the labels until he heard the noise from the corridor again—a reminder he didn't have long to learn how to do this. He tried pushing various keys and buttons, but nothing seemed to turn the machina on.
"Hostility undetected," an almost human, yet somewhat tin-quality, voice spoke from the control panel.
Startled, Shuyin almost fell out of his chair to duck behind the control panel, but when he scanned the platform below, no one was there.
"Elevated vital signs indicate urgency," the voice spoke again, sounding oddly masculine and feminine at the same time. "Defense mode initialized, but on standby. Awaiting target specifications. Please proceed."
Shuyin's eyes widened with awe. He had forgotten the summoner at Yevon's meeting said it was an intelligent weapon. "I … don't know how." He felt stupid talking to a machina and had no idea if it could hear or understand him.
"Auto-pilot initiated. Specify the target name and/or location. Specify the mode of attack or defense. I will select the appropriate action."
A cold sweat beaded his palms and forehead. "Bevelle's army. Defend Zanarkand and help me get my girlfriend out of here."
"One target per program, please."
Faced with having to choose between defending Lenne and Zanarkand, Shuyin released a painful sigh. "Forgive me, Bahamut. But if we get out of here, we can help fight there. Target Bevelle temple guards and officials. Help me save Lenne."
"Bevelle temple guards and officials—offensive target confirmed. Lenne—defensive target confirmed. Please identify the location of Lenne." Vegnagun guided him through each step.
Shuyin felt a pit grow in his stomach. "Somewhere in the confinement chamber. She's a summoner from Zanarkand who was taken prisoner—a human female with long, brown hair."
The monitor above the keyboard blinked on and began scanning the hanging cages in the confinement chamber one-by-one. "Please select and confirm the location of defense target 'Lenne.'"
Shuyin stared anxiously as the screen displayed several empty cells and unfamiliar faces. Eventually, Lenne's cage was included. "That's her!"
"Location of defense target 'Lenne' confirmed. Seeker sensors locked into position—confinement chamber, cage D-5."
As the monitor locked onto her, Shuyin put a hand to the screen. She looked so sad. "Lenne, I'll get you out of there. I promise."
Her head lifted, and she looked around in surprise. "Shuyin?"
Surprised that she could hear him, he pressed both hands to the screen. "It's me! I'm here. I'm coming for you, okay? Just hang on."
"Where are you?" She stood and looked around more.
"Is there a sphere camera or com link nearby? I see you on a monitor."
The summoner lifted her chin and scanned the ceiling. Small spheres set into the framework around them were positioned facing each cage for monitoring the prisoners. "Shuyin!" she looked straight at him with a pleading expression. "Please, don't do anything stupid! If they catch both of us, neither of us will get out of here alive."
"Program selection for seek-and-protect mission enabled. Ready to begin. Please choose the battle strategy song," the hulking machina prompted.
"Who was that?" Lenne asked.
"It's ... some big machina I found that's going to help us." The visual on the monitor blinked to display a list of songs, which were accompanied by descriptions of battle mode behaviors that the weapon was capable of performing. Apparently, the key to controlling the machina was in knowing how to play the song. There was no sheet music, though. That meant he was limited to songs he already knew. "Thank you, Mom, for all those years of boring piano lessons," he muttered as he made his selection.
"Freeze! Come down out of there right now!" Several warrior monks ran into the room and aimed their guns at him.
Lenne heard the threat as well. "Shuyin, what's going on?"
"Hands in the air! Behind your head!"
Shuyin's eyes darted to the music selections on the screen. All he had to do was pick one and start playing it. However, if he started playing it and they shot him before he could finish programming the command, he would fail to free her. He had already failed his mother and his friend. He refused to lose another life that was precious to him.
"Fire on three." The warrior monks raised their rifles and took aim. "One … two ..."
Shuyin placed his hands behind his head and stood. "Live to fight another day," he told himself as he moved toward the ladder and descended. He was barely off of the last step when he was grabbed by the back of the shirt and thrown against the side of the weapon for a quick pat-down. His sword was removed, and his hands were cuffed behind his back.
"Shuyin?"
He could still hear Lenne's voice calling from the monitor before they led him away from the machina and up to the confinement chamber, shoving him into a cage of his own.
"Zanarkand's not getting its hands on Vegnagun, pal," the warrior monk told him. "You're going to be real sorry you ever found that thing. Oh, and don't be getting any ideas about doing magic to escape. Those bars can withstand any element, and there's a reflect spell on them."
The cage was locked, and his cuffs were removed through the bars. Then, the contraption was lifted from the ground, suspended over the water to further prevent escape. The warrior monks walked away, talking amongst each other, congratulating themselves for their well-timed capture.
"Vegnagun." Shuyin implanted the name in his memory and searched the other cages for Lenne, but she was apparently in a different section of the chamber. After a few long minutes, he slid to the floor, discouraged. He was still alive, so he wasn't giving up completely, but how was he supposed to save Lenne now that he was stuck in a cage?
))((
The following morning, every muscle in Shuyin's body ached from the discomfort of having to sleep on the bottom of the cage floor. At least the plains had grass when he was forced to sleep on the ground. His cage was being lowered, so that was what woke him.
"Rise and shine," a warrior monk called. Moments later, he approached Shuyin with a tray of food and slipped it through the thin slit at the bottom of the cage. "You can go to the toilet now, or you can wait until after you eat."
Shuyin's stomach felt as if it were turning inside out, but for once, he agreed with Lenne that pre-packaged stuff looked unappetizing. "Just get me out of here." Standing, he waited for the door to be unlocked.
"Hands," the warrior monk cued him first. "Turn around."
Shuyin blinked at him with annoyance, but then sighed and obediently turned his back to the bars. "One minute, I'm shooting a blitzball high above a sphere pool, and the next, I can't even go to the toilet by myself."
"You were trying to steal Vegnagun." The monk unlocked the door and escorted him toward the small restroom.
"I was looking for someone," Shuyin groused.
"Yeah. That's why you were up there, giving Vegnagun commands."
"I was lost, and it offered to help."
"Anything below ground level is restricted. You shouldn't have been down there in the first place."
"I didn't know that. The lift took me down."
"Whoever used it last probably forgot to reset the switch." He stopped outside of the restroom door. "You could have easily switched it to go back up, but instead, you went wandering. And nobody's down here but prisoners, fiends, and Vegnagun. So, don't try to act innocent. Zanarkand sent you to steal Bevelle's weapons because they're bigger and better than any aeon. Machina don't get tired. Machina work without complaints, even under bad conditions. And if they break down, it's easier to 'resurrect' them."
Shuyin gave the guard a grim look. "Zanarkand didn't care about your weapons. Zanarkand just wanted to be left alone." He started to enter the bathroom, but then stopped and lifted his wrists out behind him. "Are you going to unlock me, or am I not allowed to this part by myself, either?"
"Inside escorts are only for violent offenders or ones likely to escape." He shrugged and unlocked the cuffs to temporarily release him. "You seem pretty harmless. Just be glad I'm on duty instead of Mapok." The warrior monk gave him a smug smirk. "I hear he has a thing for blonds."
Shuyin considered decking him right then and there and making a break for it, but one natural urge was replacing another at the moment. He stepped inside and shut the door.
))((
The warrior monk shook his head in amusement and looked up at the sound of another guard entering the area. "Rehan!" he called to him. "Is the maester coming down to see the prisoner that found Vegnagun yesterday?"
"Yeah, in a few minutes." Rehan returned as he headed in the opposite direction. "Hey, did you hear that Zanarkand was on its way to attack us yesterday? Like a bunch of ghosts are going to be able to stop a crawler, huh?" He laughed before turning the corner and heading into another holding area to deliver food in there.
The door opened, and the blitzball player stepped back out. The warrior monk turned around to cuff his prisoner again, but then Shuyin decked him and made a break for it.
The warrior monk recovered from the punch, scowled at having misjudged his prisoner, and gave chase. The blitzball player was fast, but the maester had just come into the prison and gave his bodyguards the signal to aid in his capture. Shuyin found himself caught between them and thrown onto his stomach until they could cuff his wrists once more.
"You shouldn't have done that." The warrior monk escort pulled him to his feet and pushed him back toward his cell. "Now, you get an escort inside, as well."
"Who's the runner?" Renuta asked as he drew near the cage where they stopped.
"The guy caught looking for Vegnagun." The warrior monk shoved the obstinate prisoner into the cage and pulled the door shut, locking it before gesturing for him to come near so he could have his cuffs removed.
))((
Shuyin fumed about his failed attempt to escape. He would have left his escort in the dust if those other bodyguards hadn't arrived when they did. "I wasn't looking for Vegangun! What's the maester of a temple of Yevon doing with something like that anyway?" He backed into the rails to have his cuffs removed, the turned to confront the maester of the Bevelle temple, head-on.
"Vegnagun was created to defend Bevelle," Renuta answered.
"From what?"
"Zanarkand, of course."
"Zanarkand never threatened Bevelle with anything like that!"
"Well, of course not. There is only one Vegnagun. But Zanarkand became a threat, so we had to create many, many more machina to defend ourselves from a likely attack."
"We didn't attack you!"
"Then what was that business that happened yesterday in the grasslands?"
"You attacked Zanarkand first!"
"Because Yevon was creating an army of aeons. The question, therefore, is why was he creating an army of aeons, if not to use them for war?"
"He created them because you were mass producing machina weapons."
"Which we were producing because we heard of his aeons. It's pathetic to have to constantly upgrade our defenses to such a degree, I know, but it's better than becoming sitting ducks."
"Is it?" Shuyin sarcastically retorted.
"Well, you tell me. Our army had a complete victory over Zanarkand's, thanks to those cleverly designed weapons."
"At least Zanarkand's warriors aren't a bunch of damn cowards sitting behind remote controls for hunks of scrap metal!"
"The fact remains that our 'hunks of scrap metal' had fewer casualties and won. War really is better suited for machina than humans, don't you think?"
"Except that humans still pay the price in the end." Shuyin glared at him.
Renuta studied their newest prisoner with keen interest. "You're a blitzball player, yes?"
"I was before my stadium was destroyed."
"I rather enjoyed watching the game sometimes." He snapped his fingers as a name and face came together. "What a pity." With a sigh, he turned his back on Shuyin to speak to the warrior monk in charge. "Don't let him out of that cage unchained again. Not for anything. Our army is ready to march through the mountain pass today to finish the cleansing of Zanarkand. I doubt they can do anything to resist us, but we can't risk him attempting to steal Vegnagun again." He cast Shuyin a wary glance. "Have the summoner brought to my office as soon as possible. I'm ready for her now."
The warrior monk that had been with Shuyin raised his cage back up into the ceiling, then left for another confinement chamber.
"Summoner?" Shuyin grasped the bars and pressed his face between them. "What summoner?" His eyes followed the warrior monk's exit, and his mind marked that corridor.
"She is of no concern to you," Renuta curtly answered from below.
"Is her name Lenne?" He called out, but his question was ignored as the maester and his bodyguards left. Shuyin turned his attention back to the corridor the warrior monk had taken. Minutes later, Lenne was escorted through his holding chamber toward the main exit. "Lenne!" Shuyin growled and rattled his cage with all of his strength, wishing it would break and drop him.
))((
Lenne stopped and looked around. "Shuyin? Shuyin, where are you?" But the warrior monk shoved her forward to keep moving. She tried more than once to turn around and run back into the confinement chamber where she'd heard her guardian call out to her, but each attempt met with a stern reprimand and push forward from the warrior monk. So, she told herself to be patient and look for him on the way back.
"Ah, well, I guess maybe he was looking for someone after all," the warrior monk remarked with a smirk. "Too bad, he looked in the wrong place." Walking Lenne back up the other levels to the lift, he rode with her to the balcony. Then, he escorted her into Maester Renuta's office and stepped back without unchaining her hands.
"Now then ... Lenne." The maester seated himself at his desk and rested his elbows on it. "I will get to the point. You are alive only because of who you are. Being Yevon's chosen sacrifice means he trusts you. You know him well, and he's told you things. He told us Zanarkand no longer wished to be part of Spira, so we are going to grant his wish. The army of Bevelle is getting ready to finish the cleansing. There is probably nothing Yevon can do to stop us at this point, however, if he attempted to escape, where do you think he would run to?"
Lenne pressed her lips together in refusal to answer. She closed her eyes at the painful thought of those machina warriors raiding the ronso caverns where her little brother was hiding with all the other refugees.
"All right then, what about this army of aeons? We know about the ones in the east water gardens and temples, but are there any others? If so, where are they located?"
Lenne could hardly call Zanarkand's aeons an army, but she remained defiantly silent.
Renuta's stare took on an impatient chill. "Perhaps, I could offer to spare your life in exchange for those two bits of information."
She lowered her chin, allowing her long hair to form a veil between herself and her interrogator.
"What if I offer to spare the life of the blitzball player?"
Lenne gasped and looked up. To spare Shuyin's life meant condemning everyone else. She was about to say something about the cruelty of having to choose between them, but if he were here, he would not agree to spare his life at the expense of others. She was sure of that. His loyalty was so solid, so strong that he would rather die than betray helpless survivors. Besides, there was no guarantee this maester would keep his word. He had already betrayed Yevon and Zanarkand. Lenne turned her head toward her shoulder and tried not to cry.
"Very well, then." The maester sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Shyness is of no use to us. Schedule her for a plunge, but do it beneath his cage. He might value her life more than she does his."
"You bastard." Lenne seethed as she was escorted to the door. "He won't give in to you! You might as well push us both in!"
"Ah, she does speak." Renuta grinned. "But what kind of fool do you think I am? He's a blitzball player. His execution will be by something other than water. Perhaps we should schedule something for him beneath her cage instead, hm? Take her back to her cage until I can give this a little more thought," he told the warrior monk. "If the Zanarkand prisoners are no help finding Yevon, it might be time to start asking the ronso a few questions."
Lenne started to squawk in protest again but forced herself to keep it in. Any reaction she gave toward the ronso's aid would spell disaster for everyone on Gagazet. She allowed herself to be escorted back without any trouble until she reached Shuyin's confinement chamber. Then, she shouted, "Shuyin! Don't tell him anything! I don't care what he offers, don't take it! Promise me you won't bargain with him no matter what he offers!"
"Silence!" The warrior monk hurried her along the path and down through the corridor into the next confinement chamber.
))((
Shuyin had been sitting in the bottom of his cage, eyes fixed on the exit, waiting for Lenne's return. "Lenne!" Standing, he rocked the cage back and forth, ignoring the tray of uneaten food that slid around his feet. But the cage wouldn't budge. And when he peered through the bars to the ground below, she was already gone. Leaning his forehead on his wrist against the bars, he grimaced in frustration, but at least, she was still alive. He would not give up hope while she was alive.
