Chapter 6: My Ruined Nation
"Forgive me."
Cecil's whisper to all of his people pierces his soul like a glass shard cut deep into his skin. His breathing is slightly erratic, his hands shaking, and his eyes blurred with teary shadows; shadows of those who lie dead in the town square, within the hollowed walls of his once glorious castle, and within the hearts of those who remain, whose lives have been tragically altered less than an hour ago.
As he views his kingdom from his castle's perch, Cecil sees nothing but devastation. He looks right, and sees a group of workers digging the graves for the funeral processions to be held later. Cecil looks left, and he eyes many of his soldiers carrying the dead bodies of their brethren into the castle. Ahead of him, Cecil blankly stares at what's left of the town. No building was spared; no landmark was left to stand. A few small fires still burn within the town, as some of its people try desperately to put them out. With cheeks of tears, Cecil turns to his castle—his home—which is nothing more than broken stone and mortar that stands on a foundation that he hoped would last forever. His town, his castle, his kingdom, that he worked tirelessly to build, now lies in ruin on this very cold night.
"Forgive me."
As Cecil closes his eyes in dismay, a pair of arms embraces him warmly from behind.
"It's not your fault," Rosa's voice is soft and sincere, her cheek is pressed against his back. "You can't blame yourself for what happened."
"Then who is to blame?"
"No one is," Rosa's hold on Cecil tightens, her hands pressed against the cold steel of Cecil's breastplate. "This attack could not have been foreseen. Whoever planned this invasion hit us when we were most vulnerable. There was no way to avoid it."
The crease in Cecil's brow grows intensely as his thoughts run wild.
"If I had acted quicker, gotten the soldiers into town faster, if I had been a better king—"
"Stop it Cecil!" Rosa turns Cecil around to face her.
"That's enough! No one blames you. You've made this kingdom into the greatest nation on the planet; everyone knows it. But the world has seen such peace and prosperity for so long that something like this was probably inevitable. If it didn't happen here it was going to happen someplace else; maybe Fabul or Eblana or Toroia; and who knows, maybe they're next," Rosa caresses Cecil's cheek with the soft palm of her hand. "It's alright to grieve for your losses, but you can't just break apart when you're kingdom needs you the most. Everyone's going to be looking to you for guidance, for help, and you need to stand strong to give them that. You rebuilt this kingdom all those years ago and you can do it again. The worst thing you can do now is to give up on yourself," Rosa's eyes begin to water. "You are a better king than all those that came before you, and you can do this."
Cecil remembers those days after the war, after he was elected to the throne, how much work was put into rebuilding and how proud he was when it was completed. There was a great celebration and a glorious parade with streamers and musicians, acrobats and magicians. And now, with the help of Rosa's words, Cecil realizes that those days could be a reality once more. With that one thought now etched forever in his mind, Cecil gives his loving wife a kiss and a "thank you."
"How are the children doing?" Cecil releases his hold on Rosa and leads her down the castle's main balcony.
"They're fine. They're surprisingly strong-minded for their ages. Especially Puvol. He wanted eagerly to see what had happened out here," Rosa takes a quick scan of the area before she follows her husband through the open doors leading into the castle. "You know how curious the little one can be."
"He's a lot stronger than I was when I was his age," Cecil and Rosa make their way down the stairs leading to the main hall. "Back then I had this little wooden doll that I carried around to keep me safe. Violence frightened me to the point where I would scream and run home to my mother." Cecil hears Rosa giggle softly and gives her a stern side-glance.
"I'm sorry dear, it's just a little hard to imagine," Rosa's lips are pressed tightly to keep her from laughing out loud. "It's a very cute story."
"I wanted it to sound serious."
"Well you failed." Another smile creases Rosa's lips.
Just as they enter the main hall, Rosa grabs Cecil's arm to lead him to the south wing of the castle.
"What's wrong?" Cecil asks.
"The council has gathered."
"Wonderful." Cecil's voice lacks any enthusiasm whatsoever.
With that said, Baron's King and Queen head for their inevitable meeting with the twelve members of Baron's High Council to determine what needs to be done next.
"Nanny, when can I go outside?" Puvol tugs at Nanny's dusty, white apron.
"When your mother says you can little one," Nanny continues to straighten up Cecil and Rosa's chambers. "Why don't you snack on those white truffles I gave you?"
"I ate ten of them already," Puvol lets out a loud and disgusting burp, and then sits down on one of the chamber's velvet cushioned chairs. "I don't see why Jero and Sylia got to go out. I can take care of myself you know."
"I know my prince. It's just that your mother loves you deeply and she just wants to make sure you stay safe."
"Does that mean she doesn't love Sylia and Jero?" Puvol's head tilts in contemplation.
"No of course not. It just means that they're old enough to take better care of themselves." After helping to raise all three Harvey children from the days of their births until now, Nanny has had the most trouble dealing with the youngest. Puvol's always full of questions and curiosities that sometimes made Nanny wonder if Puvol really wanted to know the answers, or if he's asking questions just to annoy people. In any case, she always figured he was the cause of all her gray hairs.
"How old is old enough Nanny?" Puvol starts to toss a white truffle into the air.
"When your mother says your old enough little one."
"Sounds like I should be asking mommy these questions then."
Nanny's patience starts to wear very thin.
"I think maybe you should ask your mother those questions my dear, but until then you need to stay in this room."
"Shoots!" Puvol lets out another burp that seems to echo in the chamber.
"Prince Puvol!" Nanny scolds.
"Jeez Nanny, that wasn't even as good as the first one. Tastes a lot better going down." Puvol rips out another reverberating burp.
A knock on the chamber door startles Nanny. After quickly getting her bearings down she opens the door. On the other side stands one of the castle's many maids holding a mop and bucket. Puvol glances at the very pretty maid, storing her profile in his head—average height, a little on the lithe side, brown eyes, and straight, black hair tied into a ponytail with a purple ribbon. Her hair flows all the way down to the backs of her knees giving Puvol the urge to go over and pull on it. Her maids' outfit looked a little tight, accentuating her form, and her face was beautiful in Puvol's eyes, which quickly trails down to her right middle finger. The maid wears a beautiful diamond ring shaped like a star that glitters brightly with the lights in the hall. Nanny and the maid start to engage in conversation, their voices too soft for Puvol's attentive ears.
Then Puvol's face lights up with an idea. Eyeing a small trash bin in the far corner of the room, Puvol begins to conjure up a spell. Whispering quietly and as quickly as possible, Puvol raises his left arm and points his index finger towards the trash bin. A small glitter of light begins to form around his finger, and with one last word the trash bin catches fire. Puvol smiles at his success then quickly wipes that smile away and turns towards Nanny.
"Fire," says Puvol, but Nanny doesn't hear him. Puvol quickly clears his throat, takes in a deep breathe and yells, "FIRE!"
Puvol's yell causes Nanny to jump and scream in fright. Thinking it's another one of Prince Puvol's pranks; she turns around ready to point her finger at him. Instead, Nanny gets an eyeful of gray smoke.
"Oh my goodness!" Nanny and the young maid quickly leap towards the trash bin to extinguish the fire, leaving Puvol free and clear to walk out the chamber door. He runs all the way to the end of the hall, looking back only once to see if he was being followed. After hearing Nanny's shrill scream echo through the hall, Puvol smiles at his accomplishment and heads off on his little exploring expedition.
The council meeting was fairly short due in large part to Cecil's insistence that now was not the time to argue about blame, and who could have been behind the invasion. Now was the time to help as many people as possible, to prepare for a mass burial, and then begin the rebuilding process.
Explanations as to why the reinforcements were so late and few was the main topic of discussion though. Kain, who was located at the western outpost when the attack occurred, reported all three military outposts being hit by small groups of enemy units just minutes before the main strike on the town. The enemies main focus were the airships, particularly the ones already in the air. With those particular airships out of commission there was no way to warn Baron of the attack.
With the clouded skies hovering over most of the continent, the outposts were taken completely by surprise by the air raid. Though human casualties weren't as great, three quarters of the airship strike force were demolished; but the thing that was most disturbing to everyone in the meeting was the fact that a dragon was present at every outpost.
This information left many questions to be thrown onto the table. Is this the sign of a mass resurgence of dragons in the world? Why are they attacking people and cities? And is someone leading these dragons? Kain attempted to answer this last question.
"All the attacks that occurred not only involved dragons, but imps as well," he said. "Always the followers and never the leaders, imps never take on such enormous tasks without someone ordering them to."
That logic seemed very feasible to everyone at the meeting, but with no real answers to any of their questions, the meeting was adjourned.
After leaving the south wing, Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, and Kain make their way through the castle toward the main gate.
"Rydia, I've been wondering something," Cecil turns to his long time friend. "That call spell you had cast didn't look the same."
"You mean Bahamut?"
"Yeah," Rosa remarks. "It looked a lot bigger and more powerful than the one we're used to seeing."
"Well over the years my magical powers have grown and evolved, and in the process so have the creatures that I 'call' to battle."
"That will be very useful in the battles to come," Kain says, his armor clinking and clanging with his movements. "I fear that all the world may be in very grave danger."
"So do I." Agrees Rosa.
"Me…too," Cecil trails off a bit as he eyes one of his lieutenants rushing towards the four of them from the main castle gate. "This can't be good."
"My liege," says the exasperated soldier. "An airship bearing the crest of Fabul has landed in very bad condition just outside the castle walls."
"Let's go people." Cecil orders as the four heroes make their way outside the castle.
It was a wonder that the airship didn't crash with all the damage it has sustained. One of the masts had been completely blown apart, two of the six propellers were bent out of shape, the hull was full of gaping holes, and the deck suffered severe breakage down the middle. Many of the sixteen-member crew is injured while a few others lay dead with their bodies strewn about the ship.
"Get these men some medical attention at once." Cecil points to a few of the white mages standing on the side. With a quick bow to their King, the mages immediately run to the attention of the wounded.
"It's amazing that this ship made it all the way here," Kain runs his hand across the beaten hull of the airship. "If Cid were here, he would be proud."
"Boasting more like." Says Rosa as she helps a crippled soldier down the ships' ramp. Rydia also lends a hand to the weakened.
Cecil eyes one of the ships' men, an ensign, unharmed, carrying a fellow soldier in his arms. The unhurt man lays his comrade on the ground, and with his hand, closes the lifeless eyes of his fallen 'brother.' Cecil kneels down and lays his right hand on the warrior's shoulder.
"I'm sorry." Cecil's words are filled with the knowledge of what it feels like to see soldiers fall in battle.
"It's not as bad as it is in Fabul." Sniffles follow the man's words.
"What happened?" Asks Cecil softly.
"We were attacked by a large strike force during the mid morning," the ensign's words are shakily spoken through bouts of tears. "It was a larger force than I have ever seen in my life. Fabul was in the middle of a festival when the attack came. Everyone was taken completely off guard."
Rosa, Rydia, and Kain gather around to hear the story.
"We lost three divisions of our military in the first wave," The soldier continues. "That only took about twenty seconds. They came in from the south like a wild storm that was to consume our entire kingdom. There were so many shadows on the ground you would have thought it was night. We tried as quickly as we could to get as many of the townspeople to the castle as possible, but the enemy blanketed the path with walls of fire," The soldier's hands begin to shake as he replays the events in his mind. "I've never heard so many screams, so many dreadful screams."
"Calm down my friend. We'll help you in any way we can." Kain tries his best to be comforting.
"I've never seen so many dragons before," whispers the soldier. "So many."
Cecil leans in towards the soldier's ear to whisper back to him.
"How many?"
"Twelve."
Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, and Kain all look at each other, as if asking one another subliminally, 'What are we going to do?'
"Did you say twelve dragons soldier?" Kain hopes that his ears failed him the first time.
"I counted twelve as we left Fabul behind. There could have been more, but I'm positive that there were at least twelve of them," The ensign presses his hand against the chest of his fallen friend, hoping upon hope to feel a heartbeat. "Most of the dragons went for the airships first. Our airship was located in the back of the castle for maintenance when the attack occurred."
"What about King Folster and Queen Saliana?" Cecil asks.
"I don't know what's happened to the royal family," says the broken soldier. "The only one I know of who was alive when we took off was Master Yang. He was the one who told us to come here for help."
"Alright, that's enough for now," Cecil gets to his feet. "You and your men will stay here, and your fallen comrades shall receive a proper military burial."
Cecil walks along a brick path leading to the castle square, his wife and friends walking by his side.
"So we weren't the ones hit first." Rosa says.
"Nor were we hit the hardest." Kain adds.
"Two of the three strongest kingdoms in the world have fallen," Cecil ponders this thought. "Who would have such power to be able to do this in less than a day? Who would have the leadership to control all these dragons and beasts that lay waste to our nations?" Cecil looks to the southern horizon with another thought.
"Rydia?"
"I know Cecil," Rydia follows Cecil's gaze. "As soon as my airship passes inspection I'm going back to Eblana. Hopefully they haven't been hit yet."
"Take whatever provisions that you need," Rosa says to Rydia. "And if this enemy hasn't attacked Eblana yet, you can now prepare for it since you know what to expect."
Rydia nods in agreement.
Cecil turns his attention to the injured soldiers from Fabul.
"I'm going to Fabul." He says.
"Do you think that's wise Cecil?" Kain asks.
"There must be a reason why Fabul was hit harder than us, and Yang did send these men to ask for our assistance," Cecil looks to Rosa. "Keep watch over the children. I don't want them to know any more than what they already know."
Rosa looks down and just nods. The look in Cecil's eyes reminds her of those days passed that used to be nothing more than memories. She knows all too well that with his high position, she could lose Cecil at any moment. Her heart has felt the burden of war before, and now it seems to have started all over again.
Cecil turns his eyes to his Captain of the Guards.
"Kain, I want you to stay here and fortify the castle as best you can. I want all the townspeople to stay within the perimeters of the castle. I don't want any of them in the town until further notice. We can't risk being attacked again until we know what's going on."
"As you wish my friend." Kain bows to his king, his blonde hair blowing in the cool breeze.
A flock of birds fly overhead, toward the direction where the sun will begin to rise over the eastern horizon many hours from now, giving to light the devastation that the night's business has left behind.
"My nation," Cecil whispers. His eyes gaze upon the broken and tattered fields of Baron, upon the splintered ruins of the town, and to the castle surrounding him, which, all encompassing, shall remember the night when the greatest kingdom in the world, fell before the rising of the sun.