Chapter 5
"Where are all the moogles?" Terra concernedly said, "they must be around here somewhere…"
"I hope nothing has happened to them," Cyan muttered, scratching his head.
"No, no more!" Gau growled, leaping onto a rock and wildly looking around.
But they had been down in the mines for three hours, without seeing as much as a small, cute ear. They had even been to the main cave, where the moogles usually always were, five times. Nothing.
"Have you found anything?" Setzer's voice called.
He, Cid and Gogo came up the left tunnel towards Terra, Cyan and Gau. Those who had been waiting shook their heads.
"Maybe Sabin…" Terra said, without much hope.
And as the prince, Strago and his grandchild joined their friends, they were just as empty-handed.
"Where could they be?" Relm said, frowning deeply, "they can't just disappear!"
"I don't get it…" Sabin said, shaking his head, "where could they have gone?"
He looked up at Gau, who still sat on the rock above all the others.
"Hey pal, can't you try to call them in their own language?"
The young man looked down, rather sheepishly.
"Me stupid. Sorry," he said, "should have thought."
"It's alright, just try it."
Gau cleared his throat. Everyone saw it coming and covered their ears.
"Kupo, kupopo!!" the boy shouted, sounding really, really cute even though he was almost roaring.
He sat down on his knees, looking around. His friend removed their hands and nervously listened to the echo.
"Kupo…?"
The people in the tunnel looked up. A small, white and cute face anxiously looked down at them through a hole in the ceiling. As the moogle had seen the humans, he hastily drew back.
"Hey, don't go away!" Relm shouted.
There were a lot of "kupo, kupo" coming from the hole. Then suddenly, about twenty or so moogles fell down through it, landing on the stone ground and kupoing wildly.
"Calm down!" Terra shouted over the confused noise, "where's Mog?"
The moogles fell silent, looking at her for a moment. Then they all began yelling again, waving desperately with their paws.
"What are they saying, Gau?" Gogo helplessly asked, "can you understand them?"
Gau climbed down from the rock and kupoed carefully at one of the upset creatures. It jumped up and down, yelling at him. The boy began to growl.
"We late," he bitterly said, "he say Mog and Umaro taken by Kefka last night."
The moogles all stopped fooling around, turned at Gau and sadly nodded as one single being. Terra had to lean against the wall, Relm heavily sat down, Gogo rubbed his forehead, Setzer went even paler than usual, Cid lowered his head and Strago, Cyan and Sabin clenched their teeth.
"Kupo…" one of the moogles said, patting Gau's shoulder with his small, white paw, "kupopopo, kupo!"
"He say not kill," the once wild boy said, frowning, "only make sleep with poison on daggers and then bring away."
"Why would they do something like that?" Strago said, puzzled, "why wouldn't they just kill them?"
Gogo's head snapped up, and he stared thoughtfully at the wall. Then he shook his head and didn't say anything.
"Wait a moment," Cyan suddenly said, "if they can get Umaro…"
The friends stared at each other.
"Oh God, Locke and Celes!" Setzer exclaimed.
It felt as an eternity passed before they finally reached the daylight. Stumbling and sliding in the snow, with their legs and lunges burning after the desperate run, they rushed through the town of Narshe and down to the airship. The townspeople stared stupidly at the nine leaving visitors as they stumbled past.
Setzer fell as he reached the deck; his legs couldn't take it. Shaking he reached into a pocket and gave Sabin the key to the controls. The prince staggered over to the wheel and fumbled with the key for a few seconds before he finally got the engine to start.
The Falcon rose towards the sky while most of the passengers lay gasping on the deck, trying to regain their breath.
After a couple of minutes, Setzer more or less crawled over to Sabin.
"I'm fine… better now, I'll drive…" the gambler muttered, "you can sit down."
Sabin almost broke the deck as he fell to it, shivering.
"I've never run like that…" he muttered, working on getting his breath under control, "can't be healthy."
"No."
Setzer stared at the horizon. Terra managed to work her way over to the two men.
"What about Edgar?" she said, anxious.
"Nah, he'll be fine," Sabin muttered, "he's got an army standing between him and the rest of the world. Still…"
He frowned.
"We have to hurry to warn him, just in case."
Terra and Setzer nodded.
The evening fell as they soared through the sky, and it was almost midnight when they spotted the distant lights of street lamps in South Figaro. It was even past midnight when Setzer finally managed to land outside of town and they could rush off the Falcon. Most of them were so tired that they hardly could think after not being able to sleep well in two days, but the worry kept them up.
No lights shone from any windows this time; it was too late. But the street lamps shed their soft eerie light over the town.
Cyan hit the door of Locke and Celes' house so hard that the whole building shook, showing no respect to the neighbors.
They waited. Half a minute passed. Nothing.
The swordsman of Doma tried the handle of the door. It opened, unlocked.
The world was silent.
Finally Cyan unsheathed his katanas and grimly nodded at his friends. They nodded back, with their hearts pounding like mad of worries.
Slowly, the whole group entered the house, listening for the slightest sound.
"Celes?" Terra called, "Locke?"
"Up here!" Celes' voice screeched from above.
Her call was followed by another screech, the sound of metal against metal.
"Gotcha!" Locke's voice growled as nine pair of feet hit the floor and stair leading to the upper part of the building.
Cyan entered the bedroom of the house just in time to see Locke kick a loose limbed, robed figure off his sword, while Celes parried the attack of two other intruders with her own weapon. One of the men she was fighting stumbled backwards, into Sabin's reach. The prince grabbed the cultist and smashed the hooded head into the wall by the bed.
Hearing the crash and the growling, the last of the attackers spun around, finding himself surrounded and outnumbered. He didn't hesitate for a single second.
"I serve master Kefka," he chanted and dropped the dagger in his left hand.
Before anyone even had realized what he was doing, he had grabbed the last dagger in both hands and pushed it into his own chest.
He fell to the floor, growling in pain for a moment. Then he became quiet. Locke and Celes lowered their weapons, breathing deeply. She was simply dressed in a light night tunic, and Locke only wore a pair of loose, soft pants. Now was not a moment for embarrassment, however.
"Good to see you," the husband grimly growled.
"Art thee alright, my comrades?" Cyan gravely asked.
They nodded.
"I awoke of that there was somebody else in the house," Celes said, "we just had time to get our hands on the swords from the wardrobe before they stormed in."
"Must be something about being pregnant that make her that sensitive," Locke grinned, draping his arm around Celes' shoulders and giving her a calming squeeze, "but we could have been in trouble if you guys hadn't showed up."
The welcome guests exchanged glances.
"They've got Umaro and Mog," Gogo grimly said.
"What?!"
Celes and Locke stared at their tired, slightly relieved but mostly bitter friends.
"It seems as if they don't want to kill us yet," Strago concernedly said, "the moogles told Gau that our two friends had been drugged and brought away from Narshe unconscious."
"I think they used the same kind of daggers," Setzer said.
He held up one of the thin daggers that lay on the floor, pointing at the edge.
"It smells of something, I think that it's some kind of sleeping drug or poison."
"But why would they want us alive?" Locke said, frowning.
Gogo crossed his arms.
"My brother had a twisted mind," he grimly said, "and it's quite clear that his worshippers are a group of dangerous fools. I fear that they think in almost the same way."
He shook his head, bitterly.
"We can only pray for our two poor friends."
"Wait, if they want to have us alive," Relm slowly said, "then… maybe Shadow isn't dead? We don't have any real proof it, do we?"
"You've got a point," Strago nodded with a weak smile at the rising hope in the girl's eyes.
"Still, the query haunts us," Cyan said, "what horrors dost the cult hath in store for us?"
They all looked at him and shuddered, wishing he could have chosen to use other words. None of them was in the mood for such sayings.
"Hey, this one's still alive," Sabin said, holding up the cultist that he had knocked, "maybe we could ask him a few questions when he awakes. Let's tie him up and go to the Falcon, we have to warn Edgar."
Celes tiredly looked around on the bloodshed in the room.
"Great… what about those bodies?" she said.
"We'll just have to take them too. We haven't got time to clean it up better," Locke sighed, "just give me and Celes a moment to get our clothes."
Gogo bent down clenching his teeth, picked up one of the dead cultists and threw him over his shoulder. Cyan took the other without a word, while Sabin carried the living one. Celes hurriedly brought some proper clothes out of the wardrobe by the wall, and the guests moved out of the room to give the couple a moment to dress up.
"Heard you are pregnant, my girl," Cid said, trying to smile and fight back his exhaust as they walked out of the house a short while later, "congratulations."
Celes tried to smile back, but couldn't keep it on her lips. She locked the door and followed her friends through the sleeping town. Terra walked up beside her.
"How are you doing?" the half-esper carefully asked.
The blond woman sighed.
"I'll be fine. They had no time to hurt any of us, but we were pressed up against the wall as you first arrived. That was why we didn't shout as you knocked. Thank all good powers you came…"
The two women draped their arm around the each other's shoulders as they walked on.
Back on the Falcon Setzer found some ropes that he and Sabin used to securely tie the unconscious cultist with. Without his hood he showed to be a man in his forties, with thin, deeply brown hair. Sabin dropped him in the main room, where everyone could help out keeping an eye on him. The two bodies of the dead cultists were left up on the deck, until further notice.
By then Terra could have slept standing. She crashed on the sofa, heavily leaning back.
"Move…" Setzer muttered and sat down beside her.
"Could I have some room?" Sabin drowsily mumbled and placed himself between the gambler and Terra.
"Sure…" the woman muttered and fell asleep, leaning against the prince's arm.
Sabin didn't notice. He slept already. Setzer snored quietly, more or less lying on the elbow rest. Gau and Relm stole an armchair each, and Strago sat down on a chair.
"One of you will have to drive," he grumbled to the people left awake, "wake me up next week or so…"
Gogo, Cid, Celes and Locke exchanged tired glances as the old man also began to snore.
"I'll do it," the married man finally said.
"Wake me up in an hour," Gogo said and went to a free chair, "I'll take the next shift."
"Alright."
Cid also walked over to a chair, tiredly.
"Hey, somebody have to guard the man there," he muttered, "I'll try to stay awake. You should sleep, Cel."
She shook her head.
"No, I got the idea that me and Locke are the ones of this troop who's slept most in the past days. You just rest, grandpa."
Cid shrugged his shoulders with a tired smile and closed his eyes as he leaned against the chair's back. Celes bent forward and touched Locke's cheek with her lips as he was about to start walking up the stairs to the deck. He sighed.
"I'm sorry, princess," he said, bitterly, "I wanted to protect you, but…"
"I know, love."
She managed a small smile.
"You only wanted the best to occur," she said, calming.
Locke carefully hugged her.
"When this is over, I'll make it up to you," he said and gave a smile with a bit of mischief within, "I'll have you think that you're a queen. Don't strain yourself now, alright?"
She nodded, and he released her to go and start up the airship. Celes sat down on the only chair left, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Waking up in the middle of the night due to intruders doesn't leave you very alert when the shock has worn off.
The engines began to drone softly, and the Falcon shivered a bit as it rose into the air.
Locke rubbed his eyes as he stood by the wheel; it felt as if there was sand in them. What a night… ugh. Well, he couldn't fall asleep.
He began flying west, towards the other continent. It would take the whole night to reach Figaro castle there, they wouldn't be there until close to lunchtime.
But as the Falcon flew by the coast, Locke just happened to look north and noticed that there were lights shining from the desert. With a relieved sigh he turned the wheel, seeing that the castle was on its original place.
Soon they'd have their charming king in the troop too.
"Hey Sabin, wake up."
"Hmm?"
The prince yawned and opened his eyes. His whole body ached after sleeping sitting in a sofa, yet it felt as if he hadn't got as much sleep there as he wanted. And his right arm was numb. As he tried to move it somebody mumbled something in protest, even as she was awakening. Sabin looked aside and to his great surprise found Terra's head on his shoulder.
"Come on, Sabin," Locke said, gravely, "we've landed by Figaro."
The bodybuilder looked up at his friend, frowning. Why didn't Locke comment the fact that Terra had fallen asleep like that, leaning at him? Why didn't the treasure hunter sneer something about "a cute couple"?
Something was terribly wrong.
"What's going on?" Sabin asked, warily.
Locke opened his mouth, but was pushed aside by the chancellor of Figaro.
"Sir Sabin, you must hurry to the castle," the older man grimly said.
"What's happening…?" Terra yawned and straightened up.
Nobody answered her.
Sabin's heart was turning cold as he looked at the silent chancellor.
"Edgar…?" he said, hardly able to speak the name.
"Come, Sir Sabin," the chancellor repeated, "please!"
Fifteen minutes later the prince's fists hit the table of the meeting hall in the castle.
"You can't be serious!" he exclaimed, "you can't loose a king like that!"
General Herath was about to recoil into the wall as he met Sabin's furious gaze.
"The guards were drugged," he stuttered, "the kidnappers shot needles with poison at them…"
"Their techniques are getting very old and irritating very fast," Setzer growled, "still they work…"
Sabin almost fell to his chair, rubbing his forehead.
"That cultist, the living one…" he growled, "I'll tear him into tiny bits of creep!"
The chancellor carefully cleared his throat.
"The prisoner has been put into the prison, still unconscious," he said, "however, there is another, more urgent matter to attend to."
Nobody liked the sound of that, warily turning to the chancellor.
"We don't know what has happened to His Majesty and lady Kanai," the man went on, feeling the landmines around his feet as Sabin very slowly straightened his neck again, "if, of course we don't know and we have to keep hope burning, but if…"
He cleared his throat again.
"Sir Sabin, what I'm trying to say is that you have to rule in your brother's absence."
"Oh, no. No."
Sabin's fists were shaking. His chair fell backwards as he exploded to his feet, making the chancellor and general Herath recoil on their seats.
"I can't believe it!" the prince roared, "it's just as when dad died, you only talked about who'd get the throne! It's pathetic! I loathe your cause, do you hear me?! Edgar's gone and you only care about the crown! Again! It's sickening!"
He stormed out of the room, with curses flowing from his mouth.
"Sir Sabin!" the chancellor helplessly called.
The assembled friends concernedly exchanged glances. After a painfully drawn silence, Setzer turned to Terra.
"Maybe you should talk to him," the gambler awkwardly said, "try to calm him and so…"
"Me?" the young woman said, confused.
But as Setzer nodded without another word, she stood up and hurried after the enraged prince.
There was another long silence.
"I'm sorry," the chancellor muttered, "but it had to be said. Sir Sabin has to face his responsibility."
"We understand that," Gogo slowly said to everyone's slight surprise, "but we all know that Sabin never wanted to be a ruler. And…"
His voice became so bitter that it was pure torture to hear it.
"Loosing a twin brother in any way, be he dead or not, hurts in a way that nobody can understand. Sabin might have problems facing the coming battles with his usual spirit."
"But he can't leave for battles, we need him here…"
"I would advice you not to push him, Sir."
The chancellor sighed deeply and lowered his head. Cid silently placed his hand on Gogo's shoulder.
There was a knock on the door. A guard carefully looked into the room.
"Excuse me," he hesitatingly said, "but the prisoner that Sir Sabin and his friends brought here has awakened."
"Well then," Cyan grimly said and stood up, "we shall ask him a few questions."