Memories
By Dixxy
Chapter Five: In The Dark
Drip. Drip. Drop.
Drip. Drip. Drop.
Glenn groaned, wondering where that dripping sound was coming from. He opened his eyes, his fingers feeling something rough. He forced himself up, feeling something fall out of his hair. He looked down to see lots and lots of straw underneath him. He blinked, confused. What had happened?
He looked around a little more and saw that he was in an area that looked a little like the Viper Manor dungeon, only a lot darker and creepier looking. In fact, he was in one of the cells of this foreign prison. Glenn stood up, shaking his small body to get all of the straw off. His heart hurt and he felt weak, his body aching in several places. Ow. . .
Glenn walked over to the bars, placing his hands on them. "Hello?" he asked. "Is anyone there?" The only answer he received (if it even counts as an answer) was the dull dripping in the background. "Hello?" he asked a little louder. "Where am I? Could, could someone let me out of here? Please? I need to get back home to my daddy and my big brother before they get worried about me."
He heard a very shifty laughter coming from around the corner. Glenn gulped as he saw a very scrappy looking old man in a Porre uniform appear. He had thin, oily black hair that was an absolute mess. His yellowing teeth were crooked, several sticking out of his mouth, pushing past his thin lips. The man's entire frame was thin and wiry, skin sinking into places that gave the man a very skeletal look. Glenn fell to his bottom from shock as he laid his eyes apon the man, scrambling as far into his cell as he could. The man cackled, leaning his back against the bars as he fell to the floor.
"So, little one, you don't like the dungeon?" he said.
Glenn curled himself into a ball, never taking his eyes off the man.
The man turned around, flashing a disgusting display of yellow, brown, black, and missing teeth. "Commander Curtis told me that you were a very special guest. The son of one of the Acacia Dragoons, eh? He should've left you back in the El Nido Archipelago, where you would've been safe from us, eh boy? Eh?"
"Get away from me!" Glenn cried out.
"Oh, I can't do that. I'm supposed to keep an eye on you so you don't get away," he said. "The Commander told me that he thinks he can use you against the Dragoons. Garai, your father, is considered the most dangerous of the Devas. If he tries to fight, then a very, very unfortunate fate will come to you. If the Acacia Dragoons agree to pull out in return for your safety, then we get Guardia."
"But that's not fair!" said Glenn.
"All is fair in love and war, my boy," he said. "Now shut up!"
Glenn bit his lip as he quieted. This wasn't going to turn out very well and he knew it. He sniffled. I should have known better, he thought to himself. Why did I trust that man? Daddy told me not to trust strangers. But, he was working for Guardia! How could he have been working for Porre, too?
A spy, a little voice told him. He was a spy.
Glenn hung his head. I've really done it this time, he thought. I'm never going to see Daddy or Dario or Riddel or Viper or even Karsh ever again! I'm never going to go home again! I'm never going to sleep in my bed again or grow up to be a Dragoon like Daddy or anything!
With that, Glenn started to weep.
"How-"
Pant.
"-much-"
Pant.
"-father-"
Pant.
"-is-"
Pant.
"-it-"
Pant.
"-to-"
Pant.
"-Porre?"
"How-"
Pant.
"-should-"
Pant.
"-ah-"
Pant.
"-know?"
Dario and Karsh had been following Glenn's kidnappers several hours now. They hadn't stopped for anything (though Karsh had made a very quick pit stop behind a tree to take care of some very important business that nature was calling him to do). By now they had long lost track of the men (who had some sort of a high-tech cart of some sort that could move faster than the boys could) and now they were relying solely on guess work. Which wasn't getting them very far.
The boys stopped briefly, taking a seat on a conveniently placed boulder. Dario looked up into the sky, watching the position of the sun. "It's in the afternoon and the sun is going that way," he said. Karsh looked up at Dario, a look that plainly said "what's yer point?" plastered onto his face. "Since the sun sets to the west, then that means we're facing the east, so we go that way."
"How did ye figure that out?" asked Karsh.
"I just explained it!" said Dario. He pointed towards the direction that the sun was headed. "The sun sets in the west. The set is working its way over there! That makes that west! We're looking AWAY from the sun. That means that we're facing the east, so Porre is THAT way!"
"AH KNEW THAT! Ah meant how did ye know where Porre is?"
"Oh," said Dario. "Dad told me Porre was to the south of a big forest to the south of the Zenan Bridge, which we crossed earlier, remember?" Karsh nodded, understanding where Dario was going. His friend nodded, looking pleased with himself. "So we keep heading south until we reach Porre, that's all."
"One more question."
"Yeah?"
"What da we do once we git there?" Karsh asked, placing a hand on his hip. He raised an eyebrow at Dario, stuck one foot slightly out, and began to tap it. He craned his neck forward, waiting for Dario's big answer. "Well, Dario? Cat got yer tongue? What da we do once we git there?"
". . . um, find Glenn?" was the best response Dario could come up with.
The purple haired youth threw his head back and snorted. "Dunt tell me that ye actually think they're going ta leave him out in the open where we ken find him, or is that what ye think they'll do?" said Karsh. Dario didn't answer him. "They're going ta throw him in a prison er something like that. Ye won't find him that easily, Dario. If we want to find him we have to look a wee bit harder than that!"
"We can't break into a Porre military base! That's suicide!" said Dario.
"Ye have a better idea?"
"Well, no, but we can't just charge in there. We're kids!"
"Exactly. Ah dunt recall seeing that Curtis character on the boat. He'd be the only Porre slime on that boat, so we should be able to move about freely without someone getting a tad bit suspicious," said Karsh. "To most of the townspeople we're just a couple of punks. No one'll think that we're the sons of two Devas."
Dario nodded, seeing Karsh's logic. Yeah. They'd be okay until they found Glenn.
If there's anything left to find. . .
Glenn wanted to gag. The entire prison was now reeking with the smell of booze, smoke, and puke. The creepy man who'd been given the task of guarding him had gotten bored and taken out several cigars and a bottle of whiskey, then proceeded to drink himself silly.
The guard was now lying unconscious on the floor.
Getting curious, Glenn cautiously crawled over to the bars. The man was clearly out for the count and his breath smelled really bad. It even smelled worse than Karsh's socks, and that was pretty bad. Glenn backed away from the unconscious drunk. No, that wouldn't do. He might pass out from that smell, too.
He looked around his prison. Maybe he could find a way out now that the guard was unconscious. He started digging through the straw, seeing if he couldn't find a grate or something that would prove some sort of an escape. Sadly, he found none. Glenn pouted. The only was out was, apparently enough, the door.
Glenn walked over to the door (after pulling his shirt up over his nose and mouth) to inspect it. It was simple enough- it had a keyhole that locked and unlocked the door. Glenn didn't know anything about how to pick a lock, so he'd have to find the key. But where would he find a key?
Glenn looked down at the unconscious man. Guards usually have keys, he thought to himself. He knelt down and looked over the man. His eyes widened as he saw the key ring resting on the man's belt. Glenn grinned. Those keys were his ticket out of that smelly dungeon and back to Guardia!
Steadily, Glenn reached through the bars and wrapped his fingers around the key ring. Carefully, he pulled it off the man's belt. He was pleased at how easily they came off. With the keys in his hand, he stood up and began to try different keys. After two unlucky tries, he heard a click and the door squeaked open. Glenn silently cheered. He was free! He pushed the door open, jumped over the unconscious guard, and ran down the prison hallway.
Dark had fallen and there was still no sign of the missing soldier or the three missing boys. The King sighed heavily as he looked out his bedroom window. Ever since Marle had told him what she thought happened, his perception had slowly changed from one of high skepticism to serious worry. Those boys were the sons of Devas. The Devas wouldn't function properly if their children remained missing.
"Crono?" Crono looked behind him to see Marle had come up behind him, shaking her arms around his waist. Crono felt the tension leave his body as his wife rested her head on his shoulder. "You're worried about those poor boys too, aren't you?" she said. "We'll find them."
"I certainly hope so," he said. "They're only children. Children!"
"I know, I know," said Marle.
"Just children," said Crono. "They haven't done anything to Porre. What could they do? At best they've won a few junior championships with wooden practice swords. They're still young and innocent. They have their whole lives ahead of them. Why would Porre want to harm children?"
"To get to the Devas," said Marle. "This just shows how heartless they are."
Crono sighed heavily. "How did this happen? They were just a quiet fishing community just four years ago. Where, where did all of these weapons and machines come from? All these warships and guns. . . it's frightening, Marle. The Dragoons and the Guardia army still use swords. Even if I were to pull out the Rainbow or the Masamune we'd still be no match for them!"
"What about our magic?" asked Marle. She cracked a grin that Crono hadn't seen since he and several friends of his from across time and space had gone to the year 1999 to battle Lavos. "I have nothing against using an Ice 2 against anyone who'd think to harm an innocent child."
"If I had it my way I'd Luminaire the bastards all the way to the Day of Lavos, but we can't do that, Marle," said Crono. "The only people who ever knew about our adventures were you, me, Lucca, Robo, Ayla, Frog, Magus, Melchoir, Gaspar, and Spekkio. Ayla, Magus and Frog have been dead and buried for a long time to come, Robo probably hasn't even been built yet, Gaspar and Spekkio are in the End of Time and Melchoir is still living quietly in Medina. If we used our magic then the people would get suspicious of us. How would we explain something like that?"
Marle sighed. He was right. "Fine. We won't use magic."
Crono hugged Marle and kissed her forehead. "Let's try and get some sleep, hon. It's going to be a very long day for both of us and the Dragoons tomorrow. Until we find out what happened to the boys this castle is going to be a mess. I KNOW it's Porre behind this and I'm not going to let them get away with this."
Dario and Karsh had found themselves in Porre well after nightfall. It didn't seem like much at first glance- a lot of normal houses and cobblestone roads. But then your eyes caught sight of the looming warships and huge warehouses where who-knows-what was kept for safe keeping.
The boys had settled in for a night of sleep in an alleyway. Karsh had gotten to sleep, but Dario was still awake. Glenn was somewhere in this psychotic city ALONE. He was in serious danger and if they didn't find him soon, even worse. Dario shuddered at thought. No. He'd save Glenn.
I guess it really was a good thing that Karsh and I decided to sneak off the boat after all. If we didn't, we wouldn't have known that Glenn had been kidnapped. Well, we might've guessed it, but. . . we wouldn't be here trying to save him. How would any of the adults have figured out where he'd gone?
Dario yawned. It was getting later and later and he was getting tired. I'm no use to Glenn if I'm half asleep, he thought to himself. He yawned again and looked up at the starry sky. "Glenn. . . if I can't save you, I just. . . I just hope you know that I love you. I, I couldn't have asked for a better little brother than you. I, I know that I'm always telling you to get lost and leave me alone, but. . . I really do care about you, I just don't show it all the time. I wish I did show it more often now that you've been taken away by that rotten Curtis man. I'd give anything to see you safe again. Anything."
Dario sighed heavily, leaning up against the brick wall of one of the buildings they slept between. He closed his eyes, breathing steadily in and out as he tried to calm himself. He was in Porre. He was going to find Glenn. Then, the three of them would leave Porre all in one piece and head back to Guardia. He didn't care how long his father punished him. All he wanted now was his baby brother back. And he would not leave Porre without him.
Never.