Author's Note: See, I KNEW you were going to say that, Sors. If not you,
then somebody else. But rest assured, I will not have Dart chop off Lloyd's
head and parade around Lohan with it impaled on the end of Lavitz's spear,
however appealing that may sound. Dart will still lose the battle, as much
as I would like to alter that otherwise, I'm just going to make it more
interesting than the crappy excuse for a battle they stuck in there
instead. If they're going to make a battle you can't win, they should at
least make it look like there's a decent struggle, but nooooo, let's have
Lloyd be retarded and dance around the arena like a ballerina on speed.
Just... forget I'm talking. OK, just pretend you're not reading this.
Anyway, on a different note, I am STILL stuck on Rebirth, and it's driving me INSANE. More so because I've got this really cool idea for a new fic, but I REALLY don't want to start any new ones until I finish Rebirth, because I'm afraid that if I start too many I'll never get around to finishing it. And that would suck. But I swear to the Almighty Bob, I feel like I'm running straight into a brick wall every time I try to write that chapter. Grrrrrrr.
Anyway, yes, I am still going to update Valley and Hobbits, it's just that this fic was literally screaming "Update me, or I'LL NEVER GIVE YOU A MOMENT OF PEACE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!" Well, OK, I might be exaggerating a little.
Aer, Dart is NOT STUPID. Grr. The translation's just crappy, so that particular line maybe made him seem stupid. It's just like when they're at Zenebatos, and Melbu descends from the sky in Zieg's body and calls all the heroes silly when he destroys the Signet Sphere. I mean, it's a dramatic moment, with the evil dude swooping in from the sky, and the evil Wingly dictator calls the heroes SILLY! But nooo, you LIKE Melbu, even though he acts like a total retard for the majority of the game. Sheesh.
Chapter 7
"I really don't see what there is to explain."
I stared at the black-clad woman in disbelief. A Dragon was stomping through the forests of Serdio, a larger-than-life Giganto, from a species that was supposed to have been killed off twelve years ago, had reappeared and nearly cleaved me in two, my father's memento had somehow burst into flame, giving me armor and a pair of goddamn WINGS, and she didn't understand what there was to explain? "Well, for starters, do you have a name?"
The woman tossed her raven-haired head impatiently. "Rose."
One of my eyebrows shot up. "Just Rose? No last name to go with that?"
She glared at me, her gaze icy. "None that concerns anyone present."
My eyes flicked skyward, and I groaned inwardly. Great, I was dealing with one of those types. "All right then. What was that... armor that you and I were wearing?"
She looked at me incredulously. "You mean you came into possession of a Dragoon Spirit and you still have no idea what it does?"
"A Dragoon Spirit? What, you mean my father's old pendant?"
She heaved a deep sigh, as though explaining how flaming armor suddenly emerged from an heirloom was an incredibly simple matter. I felt my impatience mounting. "You're familiar with the lore on the Dragon Campaign?"
"What, the old wives' tales about the human revolution?"
Rose's eyes flashed at my casual dismissal of the myths she seemed to think so important. "You shouldn't discount legends so quickly. Apparently the old wives have more substance in their heads than you do."
I began to grind my teeth. Despite her two unexplained acts of valor, this woman hardly made an engaging conversationalist. "All right, Miss Dark and Mysterious, please elaborate for those of us who didn't pay attention to the old crackpots."
"Very well. When the humans revolted from Wingly rule eleven thousand years ago, assisted by the Dragons. The Dragons were commanded by seven Dragon Knights, or Dragoons, as they are more commonly known."
"Yeah, I know that part, but what does it have to do with my father's memento, or with me, for that matter."
"As I said earlier, your 'heirloom' is a Dragoon Spirit, a gem made from the eye of a dying Dragon that can focus the power of the soul of the ancient beast, transforming it into Dragoon armor, the suits you and I were dressed in last night. Your pendant is actually the soul of a long-dead Red- Eye Dragon."
It couldn't be true. It made no sense. Dragoons were a myth, conjured up to somehow explain the near-miraculous success of the human revolution when they should have been cut to pieces by the dominant Winglies. And yet... weren't Dragons supposed to be fantasy creatures as well, called upon by exasperated parents when their children were making too much noise? I knew now that that was false, for I had nearly been lunch for one of the supposedly unreal creatures. Gigantos were also now supposedly a thing of the past, but they had mysteriously resurfaced as well. Perhaps it wasn't quite as unbelievable as it seemed upon first glance.
At her words, something clicked in my head. It all seemed to fall into place. The sudden flare of the previously dormant Serdian civil war, the gigantic Dragon that had nearly made a meal out of me upon my return to Seles, and a Giganto suddenly appearing out of nowhere, larger than life and tough as nails. It seemed too clean to be coincidental, and if someone was manipulating events behind the scenes, then they obviously wanted the strange power that came from these gems, or at the very least their plot involved them. "But why would my father have something like this?"
I noticed that her expression both softened and twisted whenever I mentioned the word 'father'. "Probably by accident, but it's impossible to tell. Maybe he even suspected what it did. Tell me, where is your father now?"
"Dead. Murdered by the Black Monster when it attacked Neet nineteen years ago."
This had a very unexpected effect on the seemingly impervious Rose. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened slightly, and what little color her face possessed fled it immediately. Lavitz, who had remained silent for the duration of the conversation, spoke up uneasily. "Are you all right?"
The fleeting spasm passed, and at once the imperious, disdainful expression returned as if the other vulnerable, almost frightened face had never existed. "Of course I'm all right. Considering you were nearly hacked to pieces by that Giganto, you should probably be worrying about yourself."
Lavitz, being chivalrous in nature, lapsed back into silence rather than retorting. Taking up the slack for him, I spoke in his stead. "So what do we do now?"
Rose's gaze was aloof and maddeningly superior. "It makes no difference to me. I'm merely along to make sure you don't do anything stupid. That 'heirloom' of yours could cause some serious damage."
I began to actively bite my tongue. She wasn't telling me everything, I was sure. She had much more than a passing interest in this matter, and her manner had made it clear that if she did not have some sort of ulterior motive, she would have no qualms against leaving us all behind and pursuing something else, no matter what kind of power I held. Once I was sure that I could open my mouth without exploding into an angry tirade, I spoke again. "Well, we had better go after that Dragon. It's a menace regardless, and maybe if we go after it we can learn more about whatever the hell is going on."
Rose nodded her approval, and Lavitz looked especially pleased. The knight had obviously been eager to serve his country despite that his knighthood was destroyed and that he had no official orders now that Hoax was secure. "Kaiser told me that the Dragon supposedly lives in a poisoned forest north of here. We'll have to pass through the marshlands first, and there's still some fighting going on there."
"And we'll also have to pass through the Volcano Villude beyond that as well," Rose put in.
Lavitz looked concerned at that. "There's no way around it?"
"Yes, but it will probably take an extra week, maybe more, to go through the swampland around the range. Wading through that is slow going, and unpleasant, possibly even more so than going to the volcanoes in the first place, and we'd certainly have to put up with it for a shorter period."
Lavitz hung his head in resignation. "All right. Let's get going, then."
We stopped for a brief moment to let Kaiser know that we were leaving, and to gather some supplies from the kitchen, where Shana joined us after her brief stint as an army chef. The ground soon turned soft beneath our feet and Lavitz and I began to have difficulties keeping out boots from sinking into the wet weeds. Rose was right, I was very glad I wouldn't have to wade through this for a week. Then I noticed how oddly quiet it was, silent except for the clanking of our gear and our squelching footfalls on the swampy ground. "Lavitz? Isn't there supposed to be a lot of fighting in this area?"
The knight, who was taking up rear guard, looked up from his feet. "Yeah, so?"
"Well, you would think you'd be able to hear the combat, wouldn't you?"
Lavitz didn't answer, but at that moment we stepped past the trees into the marsh itself. I stopped dead in my tracks in shock. "Oh god..."
Shana, who was only a few steps behind me, got the first glimpse of the sight, gasped, and clapped her hand to her mouth. Rose nearly ran into the two of us before she stopped and saw for herself. She said nothing, but I could tell she was hardly unaffected by the scene before our eyes.
The battle lay before us in all its gruesome detail. Several dozen steel- clad knights lay scattered among more numerous dark-clothed Sandoran soldiers. But while the wounds of the Sandorans seemed inflicted in ordinary armed combats, the knights looked almost as though some horrible gigantic beast had mauled them. Here a man was missing his head, but the irregular pattern on his shoulders made plain that no sword had made that cut. Another knight had the lower half of his body bitten clean off. Dismembered limbs were strewn everywhere, and the plants beneath the destruction seemed covered in a sheet of dried blood. This battle had been over for at least a day, probably longer. I had seen some pretty awful things in my time, but this sight made my stomach turn in revulsion.
Lavitz finally saw the grisly remains of the battle, and he clenched his fists, staring out at the mute testament of gore and death before him, trying to fight back tears. Rose was the first to recover from the grief- induced inertia, and she strode forward, examining the dead. Oddly, she began to sniff the air, but she seemed to pick up on something, and she stood up. "This was an ambush. They must have created some sort of distraction to lure the knights out of the fortress, then they slaughtered them. The Dragon was here. The wounds prove it, and I can smell its poison."
Despite myself, I sniffed the air as well. Over the reeking stench of blood and rotting flesh, I could detect a peculiar stench, almost like rust. I heard a loud crash and rattle, then looked back in alarm to see that Lavitz had dropped his share of the gear to the ground and rushed forward. He began rummaging through the bodies, pulling out as many knights as he could find. He now longer tried to hold back his emotions, and his frame was wracked with sobs. He found a discarded helmet with the decapitated head still inside the metal shell, and clutched it to his chest and bowed over in grief.
I strode over to where he sat, kneeling down next to him. After a moment of hesitation, I laid my hand uneasily on his shoulder. The sobbing subsided, replaced by a shaky effort to speak, as though every word was a struggle. "I knew these men, Dart. Many of them were good friends of mine." His voice trailed off for a moment, then got stronger as his rage bubbled to the surface, drowning his sorrow. "Damn those Sandoran bastards!"
I looked up at the forbidding stone fortress. I didn't want any trouble getting to the volcanoes. "Rose, would the Sandorans still be hanging around here?"
She glanced up at me. "Maybe, but they would be in the fortress. If we take some measures for stealth, we could probably get along the pass without being spotted. But we'd have to do something about the... what are you doing?"
Lavitz dashed back to his pack, snatched up his spear, and charged for the heavy oak fortress door, ramming his mailed shoulder into the reinforced wood. The wood cracked and groaned in protest. Lavitz backed up, obviously preparing to make another attempt. Rose cursed softly. "I should have guessed this much. He won't stop until every Sandoran in the fortress is dead. We'd better go with him and keep him from getting himself killed."
As Rose and I unsheathed our blades, Lavitz once again sped forward, propelled by rage and anguish, and the cracks widened, the door bending beneath the force. Several black-clad archers appeared along the battlements, roused by the disturbance, and arrows whistled down from overhead, sticking into the wet ground. Shana took a few steps back, nocking her own weapon, and let an arrow fly. The missile embedded itself in a guard's shoulder, and he clutched the feathered shaft with a hoarse cry, stumbling back and toppling out of sight. This time Lavitz and I charged together, and the combined impact finally did the already straining portal in. By the time I had managed to get a good glimpse of the inside through the shower of splinters, Lavitz was already moving in, spear flashing. Rose and I followed, brandishing our weapons. Shana remained outside, dealing with the archers.
Before Rose and I had even entered the battle, Lavitz had already felled two Sandorans. With a fluid, almost sinuous grace, Rose drove her rapier through another soldier's chest. A Sandoran wielding a short sword swung at me. I parried, balled my free hand and swung, connecting with his jaw. He reeled back, then fell, minus his head. I stepped aside to avoid the crimson fountain spurting from the severed neck. My armor would likely get very dirty travelling through the volcanoes; I really didn't want to deal with blood clotting between the plates as well.
Sandorans were cut down like stalks of wheat beneath the sheer power of Lavitz's rage. Rose darted and wove in catlike fashion, her rapier bobbing and jabbing in a lethal dance. Shana also entered the fray, her quiver full from the spoils of her duel with the Sandoran archers. Several soldiers died before we even reached them, with red-feathered arrows protruding from their stomachs. The tide of our black-clothed foes ebbed, and soon very few remained. But a new figure emerged from the keep, with two spear-wielding lackeys at his sides, and I could tell he was the leader of the group. He was dressed much like the officer I had killed in Seles, but his armor was more ornate, including an embossed horned helmet, which I guessed indicated high rank. He leveled an enormous broadsword at the four of us. Lavitz needed no more provocation.
Shana finished off the remaining soldiers while Rose and I engaged the cronies. Nobody questioned Lavitz's right to the leader. His spearhead grated off the edges of the broadsword, then he withdrew his weapon and struck up a defensive position. When his opponent thrust in, he knocked the weapon down and swung with the butt end of his spear. The wood struck the man's cheekbone, leaving an angry red mark in its wake. Undaunted, the huge sword swung again, and Lavitz caught his spear in both hands to parry, then lashed out. The speed of the blow also made it inaccurate, and his foe suffered a nick on the shoulder, but little more.
Lavitz paid for the move when he was forced to roll over on the ground to avoid having his torso separated from his legs. He settled into a crouching position, then leapt to the side when the officer attempted to cleave him in two. He kicked with his left foot, his hard metal boots crashing into the man's knuckles. The man cursed and dropped his weapon in surprise, and then reflexively brought his other hand to his injured one, attempting to ease the pain. That instinct ultimately cost him his life, as Lavitz impaled the man upon his spear. The body convulsed once, and then lay still.
Rose and I had dispatched our opponents long before this. Shana was gathering as many arrows as she could salvage from the battlefield, wrinkling her nose against the stench of death. Lavitz dropped his spear and heaved a deep, shuddering sigh. I walked over to him, stepping over the bodies, and stood next to the knight, staring out at the dead piled in the courtyard and beyond. We stood in silence for a moment, and then I cleared my throat. "Hopefully the knighthood's reinforcements will get here before the Sandorans return in force, and they'll manage to get a decent garrison ready for them. There's nothing in this place for us anymore."
I marched out of the fortress, and Rose walked just behind me. Once her quiver was full, Shana followed. We had already suited up our packs when Lavitz emerged. He walked slowly, and his bloodstained spear tip was dragged along the swampy ground, as if the weight of the weapon was too much for him to bear.
Author's Note: D'oh! Fixed the error, thanks to the Aerb to pointing it out for me, despite the fact that I'm STILL NOT A DOG. Geez, Sors, you're pretty pissed, aren't you? And I can firmly say that I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'secrecy', because I personally think I've been quite blatant about it. When you say that people have a right to their own opinions, that may be true, but I think that Fifi is truly an Anti-Lloyder at heart. After all, she was so GOOD at it, and we all know how much she loves them Jades... Come back to us, Fifi, or I'll sic the Peeps on you... XD
ME with an ulterior motive, shike? I'm mortally offended. :P Anyway, I want Lloyd to get his ass kicked as much as you and Steelers, but that'll have to wait until after the Hero Competition. Rest assured, Dart will smack the Wingly around a bit before the match is over.
Shade, my personal favorites from Meteora are Somewhere I Belong, Faint, and Numb. You tried cranking up the bass when listening to Faint? VERY cool.
NOT A DOG.
Anyway, on a different note, I am STILL stuck on Rebirth, and it's driving me INSANE. More so because I've got this really cool idea for a new fic, but I REALLY don't want to start any new ones until I finish Rebirth, because I'm afraid that if I start too many I'll never get around to finishing it. And that would suck. But I swear to the Almighty Bob, I feel like I'm running straight into a brick wall every time I try to write that chapter. Grrrrrrr.
Anyway, yes, I am still going to update Valley and Hobbits, it's just that this fic was literally screaming "Update me, or I'LL NEVER GIVE YOU A MOMENT OF PEACE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!" Well, OK, I might be exaggerating a little.
Aer, Dart is NOT STUPID. Grr. The translation's just crappy, so that particular line maybe made him seem stupid. It's just like when they're at Zenebatos, and Melbu descends from the sky in Zieg's body and calls all the heroes silly when he destroys the Signet Sphere. I mean, it's a dramatic moment, with the evil dude swooping in from the sky, and the evil Wingly dictator calls the heroes SILLY! But nooo, you LIKE Melbu, even though he acts like a total retard for the majority of the game. Sheesh.
Chapter 7
"I really don't see what there is to explain."
I stared at the black-clad woman in disbelief. A Dragon was stomping through the forests of Serdio, a larger-than-life Giganto, from a species that was supposed to have been killed off twelve years ago, had reappeared and nearly cleaved me in two, my father's memento had somehow burst into flame, giving me armor and a pair of goddamn WINGS, and she didn't understand what there was to explain? "Well, for starters, do you have a name?"
The woman tossed her raven-haired head impatiently. "Rose."
One of my eyebrows shot up. "Just Rose? No last name to go with that?"
She glared at me, her gaze icy. "None that concerns anyone present."
My eyes flicked skyward, and I groaned inwardly. Great, I was dealing with one of those types. "All right then. What was that... armor that you and I were wearing?"
She looked at me incredulously. "You mean you came into possession of a Dragoon Spirit and you still have no idea what it does?"
"A Dragoon Spirit? What, you mean my father's old pendant?"
She heaved a deep sigh, as though explaining how flaming armor suddenly emerged from an heirloom was an incredibly simple matter. I felt my impatience mounting. "You're familiar with the lore on the Dragon Campaign?"
"What, the old wives' tales about the human revolution?"
Rose's eyes flashed at my casual dismissal of the myths she seemed to think so important. "You shouldn't discount legends so quickly. Apparently the old wives have more substance in their heads than you do."
I began to grind my teeth. Despite her two unexplained acts of valor, this woman hardly made an engaging conversationalist. "All right, Miss Dark and Mysterious, please elaborate for those of us who didn't pay attention to the old crackpots."
"Very well. When the humans revolted from Wingly rule eleven thousand years ago, assisted by the Dragons. The Dragons were commanded by seven Dragon Knights, or Dragoons, as they are more commonly known."
"Yeah, I know that part, but what does it have to do with my father's memento, or with me, for that matter."
"As I said earlier, your 'heirloom' is a Dragoon Spirit, a gem made from the eye of a dying Dragon that can focus the power of the soul of the ancient beast, transforming it into Dragoon armor, the suits you and I were dressed in last night. Your pendant is actually the soul of a long-dead Red- Eye Dragon."
It couldn't be true. It made no sense. Dragoons were a myth, conjured up to somehow explain the near-miraculous success of the human revolution when they should have been cut to pieces by the dominant Winglies. And yet... weren't Dragons supposed to be fantasy creatures as well, called upon by exasperated parents when their children were making too much noise? I knew now that that was false, for I had nearly been lunch for one of the supposedly unreal creatures. Gigantos were also now supposedly a thing of the past, but they had mysteriously resurfaced as well. Perhaps it wasn't quite as unbelievable as it seemed upon first glance.
At her words, something clicked in my head. It all seemed to fall into place. The sudden flare of the previously dormant Serdian civil war, the gigantic Dragon that had nearly made a meal out of me upon my return to Seles, and a Giganto suddenly appearing out of nowhere, larger than life and tough as nails. It seemed too clean to be coincidental, and if someone was manipulating events behind the scenes, then they obviously wanted the strange power that came from these gems, or at the very least their plot involved them. "But why would my father have something like this?"
I noticed that her expression both softened and twisted whenever I mentioned the word 'father'. "Probably by accident, but it's impossible to tell. Maybe he even suspected what it did. Tell me, where is your father now?"
"Dead. Murdered by the Black Monster when it attacked Neet nineteen years ago."
This had a very unexpected effect on the seemingly impervious Rose. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened slightly, and what little color her face possessed fled it immediately. Lavitz, who had remained silent for the duration of the conversation, spoke up uneasily. "Are you all right?"
The fleeting spasm passed, and at once the imperious, disdainful expression returned as if the other vulnerable, almost frightened face had never existed. "Of course I'm all right. Considering you were nearly hacked to pieces by that Giganto, you should probably be worrying about yourself."
Lavitz, being chivalrous in nature, lapsed back into silence rather than retorting. Taking up the slack for him, I spoke in his stead. "So what do we do now?"
Rose's gaze was aloof and maddeningly superior. "It makes no difference to me. I'm merely along to make sure you don't do anything stupid. That 'heirloom' of yours could cause some serious damage."
I began to actively bite my tongue. She wasn't telling me everything, I was sure. She had much more than a passing interest in this matter, and her manner had made it clear that if she did not have some sort of ulterior motive, she would have no qualms against leaving us all behind and pursuing something else, no matter what kind of power I held. Once I was sure that I could open my mouth without exploding into an angry tirade, I spoke again. "Well, we had better go after that Dragon. It's a menace regardless, and maybe if we go after it we can learn more about whatever the hell is going on."
Rose nodded her approval, and Lavitz looked especially pleased. The knight had obviously been eager to serve his country despite that his knighthood was destroyed and that he had no official orders now that Hoax was secure. "Kaiser told me that the Dragon supposedly lives in a poisoned forest north of here. We'll have to pass through the marshlands first, and there's still some fighting going on there."
"And we'll also have to pass through the Volcano Villude beyond that as well," Rose put in.
Lavitz looked concerned at that. "There's no way around it?"
"Yes, but it will probably take an extra week, maybe more, to go through the swampland around the range. Wading through that is slow going, and unpleasant, possibly even more so than going to the volcanoes in the first place, and we'd certainly have to put up with it for a shorter period."
Lavitz hung his head in resignation. "All right. Let's get going, then."
We stopped for a brief moment to let Kaiser know that we were leaving, and to gather some supplies from the kitchen, where Shana joined us after her brief stint as an army chef. The ground soon turned soft beneath our feet and Lavitz and I began to have difficulties keeping out boots from sinking into the wet weeds. Rose was right, I was very glad I wouldn't have to wade through this for a week. Then I noticed how oddly quiet it was, silent except for the clanking of our gear and our squelching footfalls on the swampy ground. "Lavitz? Isn't there supposed to be a lot of fighting in this area?"
The knight, who was taking up rear guard, looked up from his feet. "Yeah, so?"
"Well, you would think you'd be able to hear the combat, wouldn't you?"
Lavitz didn't answer, but at that moment we stepped past the trees into the marsh itself. I stopped dead in my tracks in shock. "Oh god..."
Shana, who was only a few steps behind me, got the first glimpse of the sight, gasped, and clapped her hand to her mouth. Rose nearly ran into the two of us before she stopped and saw for herself. She said nothing, but I could tell she was hardly unaffected by the scene before our eyes.
The battle lay before us in all its gruesome detail. Several dozen steel- clad knights lay scattered among more numerous dark-clothed Sandoran soldiers. But while the wounds of the Sandorans seemed inflicted in ordinary armed combats, the knights looked almost as though some horrible gigantic beast had mauled them. Here a man was missing his head, but the irregular pattern on his shoulders made plain that no sword had made that cut. Another knight had the lower half of his body bitten clean off. Dismembered limbs were strewn everywhere, and the plants beneath the destruction seemed covered in a sheet of dried blood. This battle had been over for at least a day, probably longer. I had seen some pretty awful things in my time, but this sight made my stomach turn in revulsion.
Lavitz finally saw the grisly remains of the battle, and he clenched his fists, staring out at the mute testament of gore and death before him, trying to fight back tears. Rose was the first to recover from the grief- induced inertia, and she strode forward, examining the dead. Oddly, she began to sniff the air, but she seemed to pick up on something, and she stood up. "This was an ambush. They must have created some sort of distraction to lure the knights out of the fortress, then they slaughtered them. The Dragon was here. The wounds prove it, and I can smell its poison."
Despite myself, I sniffed the air as well. Over the reeking stench of blood and rotting flesh, I could detect a peculiar stench, almost like rust. I heard a loud crash and rattle, then looked back in alarm to see that Lavitz had dropped his share of the gear to the ground and rushed forward. He began rummaging through the bodies, pulling out as many knights as he could find. He now longer tried to hold back his emotions, and his frame was wracked with sobs. He found a discarded helmet with the decapitated head still inside the metal shell, and clutched it to his chest and bowed over in grief.
I strode over to where he sat, kneeling down next to him. After a moment of hesitation, I laid my hand uneasily on his shoulder. The sobbing subsided, replaced by a shaky effort to speak, as though every word was a struggle. "I knew these men, Dart. Many of them were good friends of mine." His voice trailed off for a moment, then got stronger as his rage bubbled to the surface, drowning his sorrow. "Damn those Sandoran bastards!"
I looked up at the forbidding stone fortress. I didn't want any trouble getting to the volcanoes. "Rose, would the Sandorans still be hanging around here?"
She glanced up at me. "Maybe, but they would be in the fortress. If we take some measures for stealth, we could probably get along the pass without being spotted. But we'd have to do something about the... what are you doing?"
Lavitz dashed back to his pack, snatched up his spear, and charged for the heavy oak fortress door, ramming his mailed shoulder into the reinforced wood. The wood cracked and groaned in protest. Lavitz backed up, obviously preparing to make another attempt. Rose cursed softly. "I should have guessed this much. He won't stop until every Sandoran in the fortress is dead. We'd better go with him and keep him from getting himself killed."
As Rose and I unsheathed our blades, Lavitz once again sped forward, propelled by rage and anguish, and the cracks widened, the door bending beneath the force. Several black-clad archers appeared along the battlements, roused by the disturbance, and arrows whistled down from overhead, sticking into the wet ground. Shana took a few steps back, nocking her own weapon, and let an arrow fly. The missile embedded itself in a guard's shoulder, and he clutched the feathered shaft with a hoarse cry, stumbling back and toppling out of sight. This time Lavitz and I charged together, and the combined impact finally did the already straining portal in. By the time I had managed to get a good glimpse of the inside through the shower of splinters, Lavitz was already moving in, spear flashing. Rose and I followed, brandishing our weapons. Shana remained outside, dealing with the archers.
Before Rose and I had even entered the battle, Lavitz had already felled two Sandorans. With a fluid, almost sinuous grace, Rose drove her rapier through another soldier's chest. A Sandoran wielding a short sword swung at me. I parried, balled my free hand and swung, connecting with his jaw. He reeled back, then fell, minus his head. I stepped aside to avoid the crimson fountain spurting from the severed neck. My armor would likely get very dirty travelling through the volcanoes; I really didn't want to deal with blood clotting between the plates as well.
Sandorans were cut down like stalks of wheat beneath the sheer power of Lavitz's rage. Rose darted and wove in catlike fashion, her rapier bobbing and jabbing in a lethal dance. Shana also entered the fray, her quiver full from the spoils of her duel with the Sandoran archers. Several soldiers died before we even reached them, with red-feathered arrows protruding from their stomachs. The tide of our black-clothed foes ebbed, and soon very few remained. But a new figure emerged from the keep, with two spear-wielding lackeys at his sides, and I could tell he was the leader of the group. He was dressed much like the officer I had killed in Seles, but his armor was more ornate, including an embossed horned helmet, which I guessed indicated high rank. He leveled an enormous broadsword at the four of us. Lavitz needed no more provocation.
Shana finished off the remaining soldiers while Rose and I engaged the cronies. Nobody questioned Lavitz's right to the leader. His spearhead grated off the edges of the broadsword, then he withdrew his weapon and struck up a defensive position. When his opponent thrust in, he knocked the weapon down and swung with the butt end of his spear. The wood struck the man's cheekbone, leaving an angry red mark in its wake. Undaunted, the huge sword swung again, and Lavitz caught his spear in both hands to parry, then lashed out. The speed of the blow also made it inaccurate, and his foe suffered a nick on the shoulder, but little more.
Lavitz paid for the move when he was forced to roll over on the ground to avoid having his torso separated from his legs. He settled into a crouching position, then leapt to the side when the officer attempted to cleave him in two. He kicked with his left foot, his hard metal boots crashing into the man's knuckles. The man cursed and dropped his weapon in surprise, and then reflexively brought his other hand to his injured one, attempting to ease the pain. That instinct ultimately cost him his life, as Lavitz impaled the man upon his spear. The body convulsed once, and then lay still.
Rose and I had dispatched our opponents long before this. Shana was gathering as many arrows as she could salvage from the battlefield, wrinkling her nose against the stench of death. Lavitz dropped his spear and heaved a deep, shuddering sigh. I walked over to him, stepping over the bodies, and stood next to the knight, staring out at the dead piled in the courtyard and beyond. We stood in silence for a moment, and then I cleared my throat. "Hopefully the knighthood's reinforcements will get here before the Sandorans return in force, and they'll manage to get a decent garrison ready for them. There's nothing in this place for us anymore."
I marched out of the fortress, and Rose walked just behind me. Once her quiver was full, Shana followed. We had already suited up our packs when Lavitz emerged. He walked slowly, and his bloodstained spear tip was dragged along the swampy ground, as if the weight of the weapon was too much for him to bear.
Author's Note: D'oh! Fixed the error, thanks to the Aerb to pointing it out for me, despite the fact that I'm STILL NOT A DOG. Geez, Sors, you're pretty pissed, aren't you? And I can firmly say that I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'secrecy', because I personally think I've been quite blatant about it. When you say that people have a right to their own opinions, that may be true, but I think that Fifi is truly an Anti-Lloyder at heart. After all, she was so GOOD at it, and we all know how much she loves them Jades... Come back to us, Fifi, or I'll sic the Peeps on you... XD
ME with an ulterior motive, shike? I'm mortally offended. :P Anyway, I want Lloyd to get his ass kicked as much as you and Steelers, but that'll have to wait until after the Hero Competition. Rest assured, Dart will smack the Wingly around a bit before the match is over.
Shade, my personal favorites from Meteora are Somewhere I Belong, Faint, and Numb. You tried cranking up the bass when listening to Faint? VERY cool.
NOT A DOG.
