CHAPTER 2:
Two days later.Eiko and Princess Dagger floated easily through the south gate, but something was wrong. The gate didn't close after them, and it was already open when they got there, like no one was patrolling the entrances and exits of the airships.
Dagger sniffed the air and pushed her brown hair out of her eyes. "Ugh. Something smells absolutely dreadful."
Eiko hadn't been paying attention to the smell in the air, or to Dagger, really, so she looked up and sniffed for herself. Wrinkling her dainty nose, she had to agree. "Smells like someone has been mixing potions… or using some disgusting kind of magic. Demi sometimes gives off a pungent odor, but nothing like this…"
"I wonder what's going on," Dagger mused.
Since both of the women had been out of Lindblum for a few months, and since communication was generally slow, it wasn't any real surprise that they were both clueless about what was going on in the city, and surprise definitely awaited them inside…
Eiko turned to Dagger and nodded her head toward their rooms. "Why don't we go in and change into our jumpsuits. That way we can go through the city a little bit more undetected than if we were in full royal uniform."
Dagger agreed and they both headed back into the rooms.
A few minutes later, both of the girls came out, looking like simple travelers other than for the aristocratic looks that each of them bore on their faces. Dagger wore a jumpsuit almost identical to the one that her mother had worn those fifteen years earlier on her own adventure. The only real difference was that it wasn't orange, it was blue. Her hair was pulled back with a blue ribbon in the same style, and she would have almost looked exactly like Queen Garnet if it wasn't for her lighter hair and brilliant blue eyes.
Eiko, on the other hand, wore a yellow and pink jumpsuit, that was somewhat similar to the one she wore when she was six. The pants didn't bag out as much, and it fit her womanly figure perfectly. She had her purple hair pulled back at the nape of her neck in a ponytail by the same yellow ribbon that she always wore. It would have been impossible to hide the horn on her forehead, but she didn't care that much if the people in town recognized her, since they were so used to seeing her around anyway.
They got off the airship in the palace, and noticed that the air was even more putrid inside than it had been as they passed the South Gate. Dagger covered her face. "Good God, what is that?!"
Eiko couldn't give her an answer. "I have a better question. Where are all the guards? Where are the usual escorts? There isn't anyone here!"
Dagger pulled her daggers (for she didn't use much magic like Garnet did, but rather favored her father's choices of weaponry), and Eiko got out her flute. They both paused before going forward to re-equip the appropriate abilities and to make sure that both were fully healed. Eiko looked carefully at Dagger. "Be very careful. This is the first time you have ever seen anything like this, and I don't want to be responsible to your parents if something happens to you."
"Uh… okay," Dagger agreed, gulping nervously.
They both crept forward towards the throne room, but encountered no monsters as they passed. They didn't encounter any other people, though, either. Eiko led Dagger forward, and they headed for the hall where they expected to find Cid and Hilda. When they finally did make it to the throne room, Eiko shoved Dagger back with a choking sob. "Don't look!"
All the people of the palace hung gutted from the beams of the throne room, with Cid and Hilda at the front. Dagger and Eiko turned away from the bloody mess, both of them with tears running down their faces. "How could someone do that? Just ruthlessly kill so many people in cold blood?!"
Eiko shook her head to Dagger's question. "I don't know. I just don't know."
"We can't just leave them there!" Dagger wailed. "But I can't bare to try and take them down!"
Eiko sighed, but it choked in her throat on the tears. "W-well, we have to do something. They've been dead too long for me to cast Life on them."
"I know, but we have to do something!" Dagger berated her.
Turning back to face the gruesome sight, Eiko steeled herself to face what she saw. Biting back the tears, she took one of Dagger's knives and began slicing the ropes that held the bodies up. As she got through the last row of them, she looked at the throne. A small note, embossed in gold sat there with her name on it.
"Your Majesty, Queen Eiko of Lindblum-
Greetings.
I have now insured that you will not rest until you come for me. I will be waiting until we meet and I will finally have you in my grasp.
Sincerely,
Your Admirer"
"That's, that's horrible!" Dagger cried.
"Indeed," Eiko agreed, her teeth clenched. "And when I find him, he won't even remember what the meaning of horrible is."
A week later, after the funeral.
"I absolutely forbid you to continue with this!" Zidane roared. He and Garnet had come to Lindblum for the funeral, a few days earlier.
"We can't stop now, Father. We're already involved, and not by choice. We must find who did this to Eiko's family," Dagger tried to reason with Zidane, but everyone knew how stubborn he was. "You're just not as young as you used to be, and I can't very well let her try and find this guy on her own."
"She is right…" Garnet put in.
"Be quiet, dear," Zidane snapped. "No, I absolutely forbid it!"
Eiko stepped in. "We aren't in any danger for now. I'm taking the Hildagard 3 to the Black Mage Village. I've decided that we should skip over Treno. Whoever killed my Father and Mother used a kind of magic I've never seen before. Hopefully, Vivi and his family will be able to help us figure out what to do. They might know something about it. If they don't give us any leads, then we will go to Treno and talk to Doctor Tot."
Zidane was not completely appeased, but he seemed to be less against it. "We-ell, if you're going to visit Vivi, I guess that can't cause too much harm…"
"It won't, Father, I promise!" Dagger said gleefully.
"I guess it will be all right then," he continued. Garnet smiled gratefully at him and kissed him on the cheek.
"All right then," Eiko said, her fists tight and her knuckles white with anger. "Let's go to the Black Mage Village. I want to catch this bastard before he destroys any more lives."