~~~===~~~
Chapter Two: Savior's Betrayal
~~~===~~~
I was climbing the mountains outside of Eblan, near the ruins of the Tower of Babil. Climbing, not jumping, because I wasn't there to travel - I was there to get away from everything. I'd just had a long talk with Rydia and Edge, and they'd told me in no uncertain terms that they thought I was crazy for leaving like that with no idea of what I was looking for.
I hadn't been expecting much help from them, but the least they could have done would be to respect my decision. Guess I should have known better - neither one of them had ever had much use for tact. Maybe it's not too surprising that they never seem to make up their mind about whether or not they're going to make it official. If they did get married, people would expect them to live in the same town for most of the year, rather than their rather haphazard way of visiting each other in their hometowns when they want to see each other.
Ironic, really. They have their love, and they don't know what to do with it. And yet they give remarkably good advice on relationships to anybody who asks them, once you sift through the bravado Edge always suggests.
A particularly slippery handhold interrupted my thoughts, thankfully. I was just a few feet from the next rest station, and I could wait until I was there to be distracted. Digging my gauntleted fingers into the rock with a grip born of years of combat experience, I hauled myself up to the level rock, and sat to take a break. I'd climbed hundreds of feet in full armor - most people would have called me insane. Of course, most people couldn't jump almost that far carrying even more. I pulled my water skin off my belt, and took a long drink, removing my helmet so I could rest a bit more easily.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I looked up towards the peak, just a hundred feet or so further. It wouldn't take too long, and then I could start back down. Good thing most of the birds in this part of the world didn't go this high - I'd had to leave my lance down below, along with most of my gear, and I just didn't like the idea of having to get into a fist fight on the side of a mountain. There was always the chance that you'd run into a roc, but if you kept away from their nests they weren't usually too dangerous. Just had to be careful. The mountain winds whipped my short hair into a frenzy as I stood and donned my helmet, preparing to get started again. Then I heard a cry in the distance, and looked in the direction I thought it came from.
On one of the more distant peaks, I saw signs of movement and a flash of color that wasn't natural. Somebody was dangling from a ledge.
I remember when Cecil and I were children, before Caignazzo slew the king. We'd been taught to always weigh the pros and cons of our actions, consider the costs as well as the benefits.
Times like that I was glad I hadn't paid nearly enough attention to those lessons. Without thinking, I leapt off the ledge I'd been resting on, for the more precarious ones I could see on the intervening peaks. I reached the ledge that the climber, a woman by her voice, was hanging from, and practically fell to my stomach as I reached down to grab her hand just as it disappeared over the ledge, its owner screaming as I caught her, practically ripping my arm out of its socket as I took her full weight.
"Can you pull yourself up," I shouted over the wind. I couldn't hear an answer, but a strong hand clenching my armor just above the wrist gave me enough to know that she was willing to try. I offered a silent prayer of thanks to the gods that I'd taken to strapping my armor on tight enough that not even the lunar beasts could pry it off - that fact alone was keeping me from losing her as she grabbed the edges of plates and hauled herself up, straining my arm further with every inch she moved. When she was high enough, she shifted over to grab onto the ledge again, and I helped to pull her up, offering another prayer thanking them for making this a damned big ledge. While we regained our breath, I looked at her to see just who I'd rescued.
She was gorgeous, that much I could tell immediately - honestly, I thought she was more beautiful than Rosa had ever been. She was dressed in light robes, and I could see that she was wearing light armor under those through the tears from the climb. A pair of swords were slung across her back, thin blades like those that Edge wielded. Long silver hair pooled on the ground around her as she leaned against the mountain, and her skin was the dark tan of someone who lived a life out of doors.
"Thank you," she said, once she'd rested for a few moments. "Twice."
"Twice," I asked. "I only saved your life once."
"I know," she smiled as she turned to look at me, and I realized her eyes were like a pair of amethysts. "But of all the people I've had look me over, you're the first I haven't felt threatened by when you did so." I blushed beneath my helmet, and turned away.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm usually not so rude." She laughed and looked up at the sky.
"Don't worry about it. Rude is when you either deny it, or behave poorly on top of it. I'm used to people looking, I'm not used to them not making me feel like a piece of meat in the process."
"You seem to be a good climber - this actually seems to be one of the easier peaks, compared to the ones I crossed getting over here. How'd you wind up like that?"
"Stupid mistake. One that could cost me years of my life, but a stupid mistake. Lost my notebook."
"You almost got killed over a notebook?"
"It's my life. Literally - everything I should remember is in that book, and I don't know if I'll be able to find it on the way down."
"Where'd you drop it?"
"Straight down from where you found me. I grabbed for it, almost fell." I smiled confidently.
"Well, if you want some help down, we can pick it up on the way."
"Oh," she asked, cocking her head and looking at me like I was crazy.
"Yeah. How do you think I got over here so quickly?"
"I thought you'd been higher up on the peak, come back down."
"No, I came from over there," I said, indicating the mountain I'd been on.
"You've got to be kidding me - not even a dragoon could make those jumps in armor."
"You might say I'm not an ordinary dragoon. At any rate, getting down from here's easy, if you want to do it the fast way. Just jump from here, it's not really all that far to the next ledge down from the looks of it," I said, looking over the edge for the first time.
"The problem with that is that while you may be a dragoon, I'm not."
"I have arms, you know."
"Now I know you're crazy. Don't you need those to make a landing from these heights?"
"I've put spears through flaming hounds from these heights - couldn't use my hands for those landings, and I had to be careful not to land too hard either."
"If you don't mind my asking, who the hell are you?"
"Kain Highwind."
"Captain of the Baronian Guard?"
"Former Captain. I left the position to my second in command and came out here."
"Well then, I guess you can handle the jump."
"That I can. You have me at a disadvantage, though."
"I'll tell you my name when we reach the bottom alive, with my notebook." I raised an eyebrow as I stood.
"You know, I don't have to take you down from here."
"I know, but I can't tell you until then, I swear." Strange, but hardly the strangest thing I'd ever heard. I shrugged and rotated the arm I'd grabbed her with, working out the last of the stiffness in the shoulder. When she stood, I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I looked down again, finding the point I wanted to land at, and visualized the leap in my mind before simply hopping off the ledge as the woman screamed in shock. The landing was a little rougher than I liked, but I worked. And, as I'd expected, there was a small notebook near my feet.
"This yours," I asked, shifting her weight long enough to pick it up and hand it to her. She looked at it in surprise.
"Actually, it is!"
"Good. Now, let's get the rest of the way down before one of us moves out of balance." She tucked the notebook under her robes, between my arm and her body, and resettled.
"Let's go then." Before she was finished with the word, I'd already jumped off the ledge, plummeting towards the ground.
A few seconds later, I had a petrified young woman in my arms, but we were on the ground. I put her down as she started to show signs of awareness again.
"Thanks for the help down," she said, "but I think next time I'll do it myself. I'll still have nerves left afterwards that way." I shrugged, smiling.
"It's the closest you'll come to flying under your own power though. Better than an airship, and better than most magic."
"Must be an acquired taste."
"Maybe. Now, I believe you were going to tell me your name?" She nodded, and pulled the notebook out as she moved towards a small pack at the base of the mountain, presumably hers. As I watched, she pulled a mirror out of the pack and started flipping through the notebook, looking between it and the mirror as she looked at most of the pages. Soon, she nodded, closed the book, and put it and the mirror in the top of the bag.
"My name's Callista." I didn't show how odd the display had seemed, and she didn't seem to want to explain.
"Well, Callista - my gear's about three peaks over, except for my weapons. It's later than I'd like it to be for going back to Eblan, so I'll probably set up camp for the night out here. If you'd care to join me, I could save you some supplies." She nodded and smiled.
"I'd like that, Kain. Why don't you get your things and meet me back here?" I walked off, collected my things, and was back a few moments later, barely noticing her putting the notebook and a small metal case away. Putting it to the back of my mind, I started setting up camp with her help, then spent the evening talking about mountain climbing, before eventually falling asleep next to the fire.
~~~===~~~
It had taken Lord Dragonheart weeks for his servants to learn enough about Castle Baron for him to be ready to make his move. But now, he was standing at the edge of the moat surrounding the castle, holding the wicked spear he had been training with since he'd developed the plan. He visualized the place he wanted to be based on what he had learned from servants whose eyes he had looked through. Once he had the window to the royal chambers mapped out in his mind, he spoke a single word before fading from sight:
"Warp.."
Meanwhile, Rosa was watching Cecil from the tower his old room had been in. He was standing on the balcony on the outside of the tower, watching the night sky, like he had most nights since Kain had left.
"Cecil?" He turned to her, startled.
"Rosa, go back inside - you'll get sick out here like that." She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Love, don't bother. You know as well as I do that the only time I was ever sick was that time in Kaipo, and if I did get seriously ill, I could cure it with a few words." Cecil sighed and chuckled slightly.
"You're right. But you can't be comfortable out here, it's getting cold." She walked up to him, and they put their arms around each other.
"It's warmer out here than it is in our room without you there." Cecil ran his hand through her hair and kissed her softly.
"I'm sorry, Heart. I haven't exactly been the best at joining you lately, have I?"
"Don't worry about it - I'm worried about Kain too."
"What makes you think I'm worried about him?"
"The fact that you've been standing out here through rain, cold, and everything else that hits Baron this time of year, watching the direction opposite the city. Maybe there's another reason, but I don't know what it is." Cecil sighed deeply and leaned his head forward until their foreheads were touching.
"You're right, I am worried about him. It's been weeks since we heard from Yang, and nobody else knows anything about him."
"News takes time to travel, Love, especially if he headed to Agart or somewhere like that, where we don't have as many friends."
"I know, and I know he can take care of himself but -"
"But you worry about him. I know, I'm worried too. But I know he's okay."
"How," Cecil asked, a slightly hopeless tone in his voice.
"You're still here. Think about it, Love, you've been like brothers for years. If something happened to him, you'd know. And I don't think anything could stop you from going to him." Cecil smiled softly, and took her hands in his.
"I guess you're right, Heart. I'll be to bed soon, all right?"
"I'll be waiting for you," she said lowly, smiling up at him before shifting up to her toes to steal a quick kiss before disappearing back into the castle. Cecil chuckled as he turned back to look out towards the mountains, and his face fell back into more of a longing gaze.
"I hope you're right, Rosa. I really do.."
Back in the royal chambers, Rosa had just climbed into bed and propped herself up on her elbow, waiting for Cecil. Then she heard a rustle of movement by the window. She rolled over to see a figure in dark armor, wielding a spear she didn't recognize. The helmet the figure wore concealed all of his face but his mouth with the stylized dragon's head.
"Kain?" The mouth curled into a cruel smile.
"Yes, Rosa. It's Kain." As soon as she heard the voice, she knew it wasn't him. It was similar, but the tone it carried was a cold mockery of her friend's. She threw the covers to the side and shifted to her knees, ready to move quickly.
"What do you want?"
"You're coming with me. The question is whether you're going to come willingly, or after I've beaten you into unconsciousness." The Queen of Baron's eyes flashed at the threat.
"Option three - I kick your sorry ass out that window and you make a loud noise on the ground. Holy!" The dark warrior had just a split second to dive to the side before a burst of sacred energy blew a large hole in the wall behind him, but he used it well. Still, not fast enough to avoid the entire blast, Rosa noted, as he clutched his burnt arm and growled.
"All right, you miserable wench, we do this the hard way - Bio!" Rosa rolled back off the bed just as the hideous slime materialized and began eating through the covers where she had been moments before. She grabbed for the crossbow she kept in the cabinet below, and one of the Artemis arrows she'd converted into a bolt after Zeromus was gone. She loaded it and spun around just as the warrior crashed on top of the bed, ready to bring his spear down on her. She fell to her back and fired, unable to take the time to aim. She rolled to the side as her foe snarled, the bow catching the front of his helm and ripping it off of his head. Rosa looked at the face of her attacker, transfixed.
"Good God - I know you!" Lord Dragonheart sneered at her and shifted his spear to one hand.
"Then I'll just have to make sure you can't tell your husband the full truth," he said, extending his hand towards her, speaking a single word. "Death." A dark force flowed from his hand and caught the stunned Queen of Baron in its tendrils. A lesser being would have been torn asunder by its energy, but Rosa simply passed out after fighting it for a few seconds. Dragonheart picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, replacing his helmet quickly so Cecil wouldn't see his face. Then he took his position at the hole in the wall, and waited for Cecil to respond to the sounds of battle. He didn't have long to wait, as the paladin charged into the room, glowing blade drawn and humming for the blood of the dark knight in the window. But Cecil was dumbstruck at what he saw - the armor, the spear, all of it told him his friend had come back - turned against him once again.
"That can't be you."
"Decide for yourself, Cecil," Dragonheart said, the mocking edge missing from his voice, leaving it a perfect mimicry of Kain's. "I'm taking Rosa with me, and if you try to interfere, she'll regret it." Cecil gritted his teeth, and sheathed Excalibur, not sure if there was a bluff for him to call. All he could do was ask a single question.
"Why?"
"All part of the game, Cecil. You'll find out why when you're supposed to. Until then, make a good guess." With that, the dark figure jumped back, over the courtyard, where guards were waiting for him to land. But they never got the chance - before their eyes, the warrior and their queen faded from sight as they fell.
Cecil fell to his knees as the guards finally arrived in the room, only to flee as the King of Baron cried out his rage to the heavens..
~~~===~~~
End of Chapter Two: Savior's Betrayal
~~~===~~~
Chapter Two: Savior's Betrayal
~~~===~~~
I was climbing the mountains outside of Eblan, near the ruins of the Tower of Babil. Climbing, not jumping, because I wasn't there to travel - I was there to get away from everything. I'd just had a long talk with Rydia and Edge, and they'd told me in no uncertain terms that they thought I was crazy for leaving like that with no idea of what I was looking for.
I hadn't been expecting much help from them, but the least they could have done would be to respect my decision. Guess I should have known better - neither one of them had ever had much use for tact. Maybe it's not too surprising that they never seem to make up their mind about whether or not they're going to make it official. If they did get married, people would expect them to live in the same town for most of the year, rather than their rather haphazard way of visiting each other in their hometowns when they want to see each other.
Ironic, really. They have their love, and they don't know what to do with it. And yet they give remarkably good advice on relationships to anybody who asks them, once you sift through the bravado Edge always suggests.
A particularly slippery handhold interrupted my thoughts, thankfully. I was just a few feet from the next rest station, and I could wait until I was there to be distracted. Digging my gauntleted fingers into the rock with a grip born of years of combat experience, I hauled myself up to the level rock, and sat to take a break. I'd climbed hundreds of feet in full armor - most people would have called me insane. Of course, most people couldn't jump almost that far carrying even more. I pulled my water skin off my belt, and took a long drink, removing my helmet so I could rest a bit more easily.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I looked up towards the peak, just a hundred feet or so further. It wouldn't take too long, and then I could start back down. Good thing most of the birds in this part of the world didn't go this high - I'd had to leave my lance down below, along with most of my gear, and I just didn't like the idea of having to get into a fist fight on the side of a mountain. There was always the chance that you'd run into a roc, but if you kept away from their nests they weren't usually too dangerous. Just had to be careful. The mountain winds whipped my short hair into a frenzy as I stood and donned my helmet, preparing to get started again. Then I heard a cry in the distance, and looked in the direction I thought it came from.
On one of the more distant peaks, I saw signs of movement and a flash of color that wasn't natural. Somebody was dangling from a ledge.
I remember when Cecil and I were children, before Caignazzo slew the king. We'd been taught to always weigh the pros and cons of our actions, consider the costs as well as the benefits.
Times like that I was glad I hadn't paid nearly enough attention to those lessons. Without thinking, I leapt off the ledge I'd been resting on, for the more precarious ones I could see on the intervening peaks. I reached the ledge that the climber, a woman by her voice, was hanging from, and practically fell to my stomach as I reached down to grab her hand just as it disappeared over the ledge, its owner screaming as I caught her, practically ripping my arm out of its socket as I took her full weight.
"Can you pull yourself up," I shouted over the wind. I couldn't hear an answer, but a strong hand clenching my armor just above the wrist gave me enough to know that she was willing to try. I offered a silent prayer of thanks to the gods that I'd taken to strapping my armor on tight enough that not even the lunar beasts could pry it off - that fact alone was keeping me from losing her as she grabbed the edges of plates and hauled herself up, straining my arm further with every inch she moved. When she was high enough, she shifted over to grab onto the ledge again, and I helped to pull her up, offering another prayer thanking them for making this a damned big ledge. While we regained our breath, I looked at her to see just who I'd rescued.
She was gorgeous, that much I could tell immediately - honestly, I thought she was more beautiful than Rosa had ever been. She was dressed in light robes, and I could see that she was wearing light armor under those through the tears from the climb. A pair of swords were slung across her back, thin blades like those that Edge wielded. Long silver hair pooled on the ground around her as she leaned against the mountain, and her skin was the dark tan of someone who lived a life out of doors.
"Thank you," she said, once she'd rested for a few moments. "Twice."
"Twice," I asked. "I only saved your life once."
"I know," she smiled as she turned to look at me, and I realized her eyes were like a pair of amethysts. "But of all the people I've had look me over, you're the first I haven't felt threatened by when you did so." I blushed beneath my helmet, and turned away.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm usually not so rude." She laughed and looked up at the sky.
"Don't worry about it. Rude is when you either deny it, or behave poorly on top of it. I'm used to people looking, I'm not used to them not making me feel like a piece of meat in the process."
"You seem to be a good climber - this actually seems to be one of the easier peaks, compared to the ones I crossed getting over here. How'd you wind up like that?"
"Stupid mistake. One that could cost me years of my life, but a stupid mistake. Lost my notebook."
"You almost got killed over a notebook?"
"It's my life. Literally - everything I should remember is in that book, and I don't know if I'll be able to find it on the way down."
"Where'd you drop it?"
"Straight down from where you found me. I grabbed for it, almost fell." I smiled confidently.
"Well, if you want some help down, we can pick it up on the way."
"Oh," she asked, cocking her head and looking at me like I was crazy.
"Yeah. How do you think I got over here so quickly?"
"I thought you'd been higher up on the peak, come back down."
"No, I came from over there," I said, indicating the mountain I'd been on.
"You've got to be kidding me - not even a dragoon could make those jumps in armor."
"You might say I'm not an ordinary dragoon. At any rate, getting down from here's easy, if you want to do it the fast way. Just jump from here, it's not really all that far to the next ledge down from the looks of it," I said, looking over the edge for the first time.
"The problem with that is that while you may be a dragoon, I'm not."
"I have arms, you know."
"Now I know you're crazy. Don't you need those to make a landing from these heights?"
"I've put spears through flaming hounds from these heights - couldn't use my hands for those landings, and I had to be careful not to land too hard either."
"If you don't mind my asking, who the hell are you?"
"Kain Highwind."
"Captain of the Baronian Guard?"
"Former Captain. I left the position to my second in command and came out here."
"Well then, I guess you can handle the jump."
"That I can. You have me at a disadvantage, though."
"I'll tell you my name when we reach the bottom alive, with my notebook." I raised an eyebrow as I stood.
"You know, I don't have to take you down from here."
"I know, but I can't tell you until then, I swear." Strange, but hardly the strangest thing I'd ever heard. I shrugged and rotated the arm I'd grabbed her with, working out the last of the stiffness in the shoulder. When she stood, I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I looked down again, finding the point I wanted to land at, and visualized the leap in my mind before simply hopping off the ledge as the woman screamed in shock. The landing was a little rougher than I liked, but I worked. And, as I'd expected, there was a small notebook near my feet.
"This yours," I asked, shifting her weight long enough to pick it up and hand it to her. She looked at it in surprise.
"Actually, it is!"
"Good. Now, let's get the rest of the way down before one of us moves out of balance." She tucked the notebook under her robes, between my arm and her body, and resettled.
"Let's go then." Before she was finished with the word, I'd already jumped off the ledge, plummeting towards the ground.
A few seconds later, I had a petrified young woman in my arms, but we were on the ground. I put her down as she started to show signs of awareness again.
"Thanks for the help down," she said, "but I think next time I'll do it myself. I'll still have nerves left afterwards that way." I shrugged, smiling.
"It's the closest you'll come to flying under your own power though. Better than an airship, and better than most magic."
"Must be an acquired taste."
"Maybe. Now, I believe you were going to tell me your name?" She nodded, and pulled the notebook out as she moved towards a small pack at the base of the mountain, presumably hers. As I watched, she pulled a mirror out of the pack and started flipping through the notebook, looking between it and the mirror as she looked at most of the pages. Soon, she nodded, closed the book, and put it and the mirror in the top of the bag.
"My name's Callista." I didn't show how odd the display had seemed, and she didn't seem to want to explain.
"Well, Callista - my gear's about three peaks over, except for my weapons. It's later than I'd like it to be for going back to Eblan, so I'll probably set up camp for the night out here. If you'd care to join me, I could save you some supplies." She nodded and smiled.
"I'd like that, Kain. Why don't you get your things and meet me back here?" I walked off, collected my things, and was back a few moments later, barely noticing her putting the notebook and a small metal case away. Putting it to the back of my mind, I started setting up camp with her help, then spent the evening talking about mountain climbing, before eventually falling asleep next to the fire.
~~~===~~~
It had taken Lord Dragonheart weeks for his servants to learn enough about Castle Baron for him to be ready to make his move. But now, he was standing at the edge of the moat surrounding the castle, holding the wicked spear he had been training with since he'd developed the plan. He visualized the place he wanted to be based on what he had learned from servants whose eyes he had looked through. Once he had the window to the royal chambers mapped out in his mind, he spoke a single word before fading from sight:
"Warp.."
Meanwhile, Rosa was watching Cecil from the tower his old room had been in. He was standing on the balcony on the outside of the tower, watching the night sky, like he had most nights since Kain had left.
"Cecil?" He turned to her, startled.
"Rosa, go back inside - you'll get sick out here like that." She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Love, don't bother. You know as well as I do that the only time I was ever sick was that time in Kaipo, and if I did get seriously ill, I could cure it with a few words." Cecil sighed and chuckled slightly.
"You're right. But you can't be comfortable out here, it's getting cold." She walked up to him, and they put their arms around each other.
"It's warmer out here than it is in our room without you there." Cecil ran his hand through her hair and kissed her softly.
"I'm sorry, Heart. I haven't exactly been the best at joining you lately, have I?"
"Don't worry about it - I'm worried about Kain too."
"What makes you think I'm worried about him?"
"The fact that you've been standing out here through rain, cold, and everything else that hits Baron this time of year, watching the direction opposite the city. Maybe there's another reason, but I don't know what it is." Cecil sighed deeply and leaned his head forward until their foreheads were touching.
"You're right, I am worried about him. It's been weeks since we heard from Yang, and nobody else knows anything about him."
"News takes time to travel, Love, especially if he headed to Agart or somewhere like that, where we don't have as many friends."
"I know, and I know he can take care of himself but -"
"But you worry about him. I know, I'm worried too. But I know he's okay."
"How," Cecil asked, a slightly hopeless tone in his voice.
"You're still here. Think about it, Love, you've been like brothers for years. If something happened to him, you'd know. And I don't think anything could stop you from going to him." Cecil smiled softly, and took her hands in his.
"I guess you're right, Heart. I'll be to bed soon, all right?"
"I'll be waiting for you," she said lowly, smiling up at him before shifting up to her toes to steal a quick kiss before disappearing back into the castle. Cecil chuckled as he turned back to look out towards the mountains, and his face fell back into more of a longing gaze.
"I hope you're right, Rosa. I really do.."
Back in the royal chambers, Rosa had just climbed into bed and propped herself up on her elbow, waiting for Cecil. Then she heard a rustle of movement by the window. She rolled over to see a figure in dark armor, wielding a spear she didn't recognize. The helmet the figure wore concealed all of his face but his mouth with the stylized dragon's head.
"Kain?" The mouth curled into a cruel smile.
"Yes, Rosa. It's Kain." As soon as she heard the voice, she knew it wasn't him. It was similar, but the tone it carried was a cold mockery of her friend's. She threw the covers to the side and shifted to her knees, ready to move quickly.
"What do you want?"
"You're coming with me. The question is whether you're going to come willingly, or after I've beaten you into unconsciousness." The Queen of Baron's eyes flashed at the threat.
"Option three - I kick your sorry ass out that window and you make a loud noise on the ground. Holy!" The dark warrior had just a split second to dive to the side before a burst of sacred energy blew a large hole in the wall behind him, but he used it well. Still, not fast enough to avoid the entire blast, Rosa noted, as he clutched his burnt arm and growled.
"All right, you miserable wench, we do this the hard way - Bio!" Rosa rolled back off the bed just as the hideous slime materialized and began eating through the covers where she had been moments before. She grabbed for the crossbow she kept in the cabinet below, and one of the Artemis arrows she'd converted into a bolt after Zeromus was gone. She loaded it and spun around just as the warrior crashed on top of the bed, ready to bring his spear down on her. She fell to her back and fired, unable to take the time to aim. She rolled to the side as her foe snarled, the bow catching the front of his helm and ripping it off of his head. Rosa looked at the face of her attacker, transfixed.
"Good God - I know you!" Lord Dragonheart sneered at her and shifted his spear to one hand.
"Then I'll just have to make sure you can't tell your husband the full truth," he said, extending his hand towards her, speaking a single word. "Death." A dark force flowed from his hand and caught the stunned Queen of Baron in its tendrils. A lesser being would have been torn asunder by its energy, but Rosa simply passed out after fighting it for a few seconds. Dragonheart picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, replacing his helmet quickly so Cecil wouldn't see his face. Then he took his position at the hole in the wall, and waited for Cecil to respond to the sounds of battle. He didn't have long to wait, as the paladin charged into the room, glowing blade drawn and humming for the blood of the dark knight in the window. But Cecil was dumbstruck at what he saw - the armor, the spear, all of it told him his friend had come back - turned against him once again.
"That can't be you."
"Decide for yourself, Cecil," Dragonheart said, the mocking edge missing from his voice, leaving it a perfect mimicry of Kain's. "I'm taking Rosa with me, and if you try to interfere, she'll regret it." Cecil gritted his teeth, and sheathed Excalibur, not sure if there was a bluff for him to call. All he could do was ask a single question.
"Why?"
"All part of the game, Cecil. You'll find out why when you're supposed to. Until then, make a good guess." With that, the dark figure jumped back, over the courtyard, where guards were waiting for him to land. But they never got the chance - before their eyes, the warrior and their queen faded from sight as they fell.
Cecil fell to his knees as the guards finally arrived in the room, only to flee as the King of Baron cried out his rage to the heavens..
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End of Chapter Two: Savior's Betrayal
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