KNIGHTS
By: Matt Taylor
DISCLAIMER: All characters are the property of Squaresoft. I receive no payment for this.
Notes: This takes place after Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi have escaped from Alexandria, leaving Steiner, Beatrix, and Freya to battle the queen's forces.
By god, was there no end?
Beatrix Dubois slammed her sword into the head of another Bandersnatch, turning to slash at another one before the first giant dog-like creature slumped to the ground. Beatrix leapt over the head of this one, and landed on it's back, cutting through it's neck. She spared a look at down the stairway. It seemed like the princess had gotten away safely, and Beatrix allowed herself a sigh of relief.
It was a mistake.
Another Bandersnatch slammed into her side, knocking her for a loop. Beatrix found herself pinned to the floor, half of her body leaning of the side of the stairwell and over into the empty space of the hidden tower. She could smell the things hideous breath, and averted her sight from having to look at its red beady eyes, and long tongue. Suddenly, the thing screamed and fell off of her and into the darkness below.
"Are you alright, Beatrix?" Came a man's voice. Beatrix accepted the hand of Adelbert Steiner, as he helped her to her feet.
"I'm okay." She said, shouldering "Save the Queen." They had been at this for what felt like hours already. Steiner lifted his two-handed Ice Brand with the same ease that a lesser man would lift a dagger, and lead the way back into battle. To the side, Beatrix saw the Dragon Knight Freya battling a group of Type-C black mages, her spear a flash of lightning in the darkness of the stairwell.
Beatrix could see more Black mages entering into the small area where they fought from below. She lifted her sword abover her head, focused magical energy into the blade, and charged. She slashed it down into the group of black mages, as the blade hit, hundreds of streams of red, and white-hot fire slammed through the air from it, burning the mages beyond repair. The Climhazzard had managed to cut down the number of enemies for awhile, but she could already see more entering from a doorway farther down the spire.
"Steiner! We can't stay here!" She yelled over the din of battle, "We can't fight this many!"
"Where can we go then? Not back into the castle?" He said. No, to go that way was suicide.
"Halt!" A female voice called from above. She looked up and saw a large battalion of Alexandrian soldiers charge through the entrance above.
"General Beatrix Dubois," The woman above was dressed in a red body-suit and breastplate, along with purple leggings, marking her as a commander. "Captain Adelbert Steiner, you are both accused of treason in the face of Queen Brahne's law, You are both hereby stripped of military rank by the order of her majesty, and sentenced to execution, effective immediately." The commander motioned with her hand, and the battalion behind her charged. Steiner stepped up to meet them, as Freya continued to battle the now thinning number of black mages.
"Beatrix, don't just stand there, fight!" Freya yelled. Beatrix found she couldn't move. She saw the Alexandrian troops charge at them, her troops. She recognized several of them by name. There was not one member of the current army that she had not trained personally, or had some part of training. Now here they where, charging at her, with the intent to kill. Steiner continued to fight them off, his sword flashing up and down. She could tell just by looking that he was trying not to use lethal force, but they had no such ideas. Steiner was bleeding from several wounds, some of which looked deep. Still, they fell around him, until one of them managed to get by.
Beatrix still stood there, in a trance, not even noticing the deadly sword ramming point-first at her.
"Beatrix, look out!" Steiner's voice yelled. Finally she snapped out of the trance, and barely moved in time. As she did so, the blade slid by her shoulder, cutting deep into it, but not hitting bone. The soldier almost lost her balance, but turned around, and brought her sword up again. Beatrix put her hand up against the cut, and brought the now bloodied glove up in front of her face.
"You...you cut me." She said, her voice only registering an awed type of shock. She had helped train this woman, helped her learn the small amount of magical abilities that was necessary for an Alexandrian soldier. Taught her to know the importance of honor, and loyalty, and to know when to put these aside for the greater good. She had just cut her.
"Death to all enemies of the queen!" the soldier said, and raised her broad sword to attack.
Beatrix vision was suddenly filled with a red field, and heard what felt like a snarl rise in her throat. These people who she had trained, had helped to destroy the people of Burmecia, to help destroy and subjugate all cities that the queen wanted to fulfill her all consuming greed, she was certain that they would help the queen track down Princess Garnet. She saw visions of them chasing the princess down, the princess that she, Beatrix Dubois, Holy Knight, had sworn on her own blood to protect.
Beatrix raised Save the Queen, and met the broad sword in the air, the power of the holy sword literally shattering the smaller sword in it's users hands. The soldier looked up at the general, horrible fear evident for the first time in her eyes.
"General...I'm..." Beatrix heard nothing, and rammed her sword straight through the soldier's chest, blood spurting from the wound, covering the sword. Finally the red field left her eye, and Beatrix looked down at her work. Her sword had nailed the now dead soldier to the floor, her eyes rolling in their sockets. Beatrix felt her hands began to shake, and drop the sword. It clattered to the floor, just as two other forms run up the stair.
"Don't worry guys, reinforcements are here!" both ran past Beatrix, who suddenly felt her legs grow weak, and the world grow black.
_________________________
Would somebody please tell the guy with the hammer to take a break?
Beatrix groaned, and slowly shook her head from side to side. She had a headache worse than any in her life, She tried to sit up but the hammering doubled in intensity, and she fell back again.
"Easy there honey, don't go forcin' yo self up." She heard a strangely accented female voice say. Beatrix struggled to open her eye, and saw a blurry shape, that gradually dissolved into a woman with light blue hair, held in a white bandanna.
"Hey Blank, she's awake." The woman said. From out of her vision stepped a man dressed in short pants, and several belts, along with a large band of leather that almost covered his eyes. He had no shirt, but his skin seemed covered with faint scars that looked like the remains of stitches.
"Beatrix, right?" He said. She tried to nod, but her head hurt even worse.
"Go tell the others she's awake, Blank honey."
"Sure Ruby." With that the man left. Beatrix turned her head and inspected the woman called Ruby. She was about the same height as herself, with a white blouse unbuttoned to an almost scandalous degree, along with a light blue skirt, and dark blue leggings.
"You gave us all quite a scare, honey." She said.
"Wh...where..." She forced out.
"Lindblum, or more precisely a hidden set of chambers underneath Lindblum castle. Blank, and Marcus brought you guys here." With that the door banged open, and Beatrix clutched her head again. From outside a large man dressed in aviators goggles, a vest, and pants and a shirt that where much too tight for him stomped in.
"You're finally up I see, Gwah-ha-ha! That's good." He said.
"Boss, quiet down!" Ruby said. "She's still really hurt."
"Oh, sorry." The man said. "Names Baku, by the way, I'm the leader of Tantalus, it's my boys who saved your lives back there."
Beatrix mumbled a thank you, and felt her eye-lid get heavy again.
"You're obviously still really tired, so get some sleep okay, everything's alright, you guys are safe here."
That was all she needed, and she was asleep again.
________________________
"You know, you're gonna wear a hole in the floor if you keep doin' that." Marcus said from his seat, Across from him a small ugly man in a dog collar sat and ate a large sandwich.
"Yeah man, relax." The man called Cinna said.
"I cannot relax." The object of said pacing spoke. Adelbert Steiner paced back and forth across the worn waiting room, thankfully his armor was placed against the wall on the far side of the room, so there was none of it's annoying clanking sound, still he kept his long broad sword strapped to his back, over a brown tunic shirt emblazoned with Alexandria's royal crest over the heart, and pants, tied around his waist with a black leather belt decorated with a gold buckle bearing the same crest.
He had been like this ever since they had arrived, Steiner had been stuck in a bed for several days, along with the dragon knight Freya. They had both recovered well, with the exception of severe exhaustion, and strained muscles.
"Don't worry, she'll wake up, when she wakes up." Said Marcus once again. While Steiner understood the basic logic of the statement, he couldn't bring himself to follow through with it. He finally managed to stop his pacing, and lean against the wall. It was not proper for a knight to be acting in such a flustered manner, though heaven knows he had done it before. Everything was too confusing right now, why had he entrusted the princess to a thief? Why had he left her to go help Beatrix and Freya when it was his sworn duty to protect the Princess at all costs?
And what about Beatrix herself. He had once stood with her and fought a fully grown Grand Dragon, and she never flinched, why had she reacted like she did in the tower? Too many questions and not enough answers. Steiner sighed and finally sat down, pouring a drink from the flagon of wine sitting on a small table.
"Jeesh! You're really shook up aren't you?" Marcus said. "Don't worry about the princess, she's got Zidane and Vivi with her, she's in good hands."
That was another thing, the princess had gone with a thief to the Outer continent, a continent never explored by anyone from Alexandria, a continent that had been the subject of hundreds of ghost stories, and tales, but he wasn't worried about her! Had he actually learned to trust the thief, Zidane? Could that be it? A few weeks ago, the concept would seem absolutely foreign to him, but now....
The sound of a door opening and closing shook Steiner from his musing. Standing in the doorway of the hidden chambers was a large oglop, with a very funny looking mustache dressed in a red cloth cape, behind him stood a dignified man with long hair, and a beard, and a grey robe of state.
"Ah, and how is everything down here?" The oglop asked.
"Regent Cid." Said Steiner, in his confusion forgetting to bow and show proper respect, something Cinna and Marcus declined to do anyway.
"Captain Steiner. How is the General?" Regent Cid asked.
"She's asleep, she woke up for a bit, but went back to asleep almost immediately after." Came the voice of Baku. The large Tantalus leader walked into the room, followed by Ruby, and Blank.
"So she's alright?" Steiner asked.
"Fine."
"That's good." He said with obvious relief in his voice.
"Well Captain, as you can probably guess, the three of you are in quite a bit of trouble." Said the regent. "Yourself, General Beatrix, and Miss Freya are all wanted criminals in both Alexandria, and Lindblum."
"Lindblum? What do you mean?" Said Steiner in shock.
"Sadly, before you got here, Alexandria launched a very successful attack on Lindblum Grand Castle. We have surrendered the city over to Queen Brahne." Said the minister, Sadness evident in his voice. Steiner leaned down in his seat, and placed a hand over his forehead.
"Thankfully, the majority of Alexandria's military force has left the city, loading up supplies into the ships, and heading back to Alexandria. We can only assume the queen is planning for her next strike, as to where that could be, I haven't the foggiest. She has already conquered all the other nations on the Mist continent. Only a token force remains behind here." Said Cid, as he paced.
"For the moment, you are safe here, but we must request that you not go out into the city, you and the General are far too well known to the Alexandrian soldiers here, we've asked the same of Miss Freya." Said Artania. "The only places where there are not soldiers, is in these underground chambers, and most of the upper portion of the castle.
"Of course, we'll make sure no one sees us."
"Not that you will be alone, of course, There are several large groups of Burmecian refugees in these chambers, Miss Freya is with them now."
"Keeping a load of Burmecians right under Alexandria's nose, huh? Not bad Cid." Said Baku.
"Of course, even during the attack they didn't realize they were here." Said the Regent, with a good amount of pride.
"But enough of this talk for now, get some rest, we'll come up with something. Hopefully, the Princess, and Master Zidane will take care of this Kuja, then we will be able to launch a counterattack against Queen Brahne."
"Yeah, we gotta get back to our base for now, start rebuilding." Said Baku, standing up, as his men (and one women) followed.
"Of course Baku, thanks once again." Said the Regent.
"No Prob." With that, the members of Tantalus marched out the door. Regent Cid turned around and spoke to Steiner.
"Some food will be brought down in a few minutes, for now, get some rest."
"Thank you, your honor." The Regent and the Minister stepped out of the door, and Steiner leaned his head down. What was he going to do now?
********************
"It is so good to see you again Freya!"
"You to, Wei."
Freya Cescent, One time dragon knight of Burmecia stood amid a crowd of Burmecians, peppering her with questions. Her old friend Wei stood in front of her, her husband, Kal, next to her.
"Are you going to be here long enough to see my children born?" Wei asked.
"Looks like it. I am not going to be able to leave this place for quite awhile, it seems." Freya sighed.
"Oh I know. We have to stay in and around the underground complex until the Regent can come up with someway to get rid of these Alexandrians infesting the city." Said another Burmecian.
"I am certain the Regent is working on it, He's already found the source of Queen Brahne's Black Mages, and has sent some people to investigate it. All we can do now is hope for the best."
"Many of us are worried Freya." Said Kal. "Many have lost hope of ever rebuilding Burmecia, with the king dead, and Prince Puck of God knows where..."
"Do not fret, we are still alive, and while we live there is always hope."
"I know you're right Freya, but convincing all these people will be difficult."
Freya sighed slightly, yes, that was the problem wasn't it. Hundreds of refugees, some visibly depressed, and despondent, It was only people like Wei, and others with children, who hoped for the future. It was no surprise, really, Burmecia was destroyed, the king dead, she herself has taken the life of Master Gizamaluke, guardian of the passage and patron of the Dragon people. Burmecia had never face so dark a time.
"Alexandria will pay for this! We'll take a life of theirs for every life they took of ours!" Some yelled out. Several others agreed with this hartily, raising their fists in the air. Freya fought back a grimace.
"That is enough!" She yelled. All faces in the large chamber turned to her. The man who spoke stormed up to her, but Freya beat him to the first word. "The last thing we need is more violence. We need to concentrate on gathering all the refugees here, and starting the rebuilding."
"Yes, but first we need to destroy Alexandria! Make them pay for what they did to us, only then can we rebuild."
"Yes they'll only attack us again if we don't."
"We must do it for the king, and all those who died!"
Other such shouts where added. This was not good.
"ENOUGH!!!!" Freya leapt on top of a table, her spear raised above all of them. "You are fools! Fools!!!! Would you bring about more pain? More death? More senseless destruction!!! Will this return your fathers? Your wives? Your lost children?"
Freya panted visibly. Feeling a type of rage she had never felt before. She always knew that, as a dragoon knight, involved in the defending of her people and country, that she would feel such anger someday, but she never expected to feel it directed at her own people.
"Would you fools bring even more death upon these children who survived the slaughter!? Would you give them more reason to toss and turn at night? To sleep with one eyes open and towards the door? WOULD YOU!!??"
Freya pointed her spear towards the far wall, and spread it out over the whole crowd.
"This is what your so-called revenge would do. It would make no good, only more evil! I am a Dragoon, a knight of Burmecia, and as I knight I have a duty to live to a sworn code of honor! I see other Dragoon's here, some of them screaming for some ill-conceived revenge as well."
As she said this, several of the large crowd hung their head or looked away in shame, but others openly scowled.
"Listen to me, and listen well, We can't, we mustn't bring more war on this continent. The Regent has already sent agents to look into a possible source of Queen Brahne's black mages, and, if they are successful, this war will be over. No! Revenge will do us no good. I plead with you to think about what I've said."
With this she leapt down from the table, gave a last look at Wei and Kal, who nodded in approval, and walked out of the huge quarters, leaving these refugees in a quandary.
********************
"Did you see that?"
"Yes."
"Still nothing?"
"I....feel strange."
Two figures stood in a separate hallway, the Dragoon knight named Freya had not even seen them.
"Just strange?"
"And....I don't know how to describe it."
"Well...I suppose that's a start."
"What will we do, Lord Puck?" Asked the taller of the two. The other was a small Burmecian, dressed in some-what ragged, but colorful clothing, the other was tall and noble, dressed in an armored breastplate, and shin-guards, covered up by a worn traveling jacket, a large brimmed hat, decorated with a white feather, and leather trousers. He carried a long spear with a razor-sharp, curved blade at the end. Blonde hair hung from his head.
"I think," He gave his comrade knowing glance. "That we will be staying in Lindblum for awhile longer."
"If you insist Lord Puck."
TO BE CONTINUED.
By: Matt Taylor
DISCLAIMER: All characters are the property of Squaresoft. I receive no payment for this.
Notes: This takes place after Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi have escaped from Alexandria, leaving Steiner, Beatrix, and Freya to battle the queen's forces.
By god, was there no end?
Beatrix Dubois slammed her sword into the head of another Bandersnatch, turning to slash at another one before the first giant dog-like creature slumped to the ground. Beatrix leapt over the head of this one, and landed on it's back, cutting through it's neck. She spared a look at down the stairway. It seemed like the princess had gotten away safely, and Beatrix allowed herself a sigh of relief.
It was a mistake.
Another Bandersnatch slammed into her side, knocking her for a loop. Beatrix found herself pinned to the floor, half of her body leaning of the side of the stairwell and over into the empty space of the hidden tower. She could smell the things hideous breath, and averted her sight from having to look at its red beady eyes, and long tongue. Suddenly, the thing screamed and fell off of her and into the darkness below.
"Are you alright, Beatrix?" Came a man's voice. Beatrix accepted the hand of Adelbert Steiner, as he helped her to her feet.
"I'm okay." She said, shouldering "Save the Queen." They had been at this for what felt like hours already. Steiner lifted his two-handed Ice Brand with the same ease that a lesser man would lift a dagger, and lead the way back into battle. To the side, Beatrix saw the Dragon Knight Freya battling a group of Type-C black mages, her spear a flash of lightning in the darkness of the stairwell.
Beatrix could see more Black mages entering into the small area where they fought from below. She lifted her sword abover her head, focused magical energy into the blade, and charged. She slashed it down into the group of black mages, as the blade hit, hundreds of streams of red, and white-hot fire slammed through the air from it, burning the mages beyond repair. The Climhazzard had managed to cut down the number of enemies for awhile, but she could already see more entering from a doorway farther down the spire.
"Steiner! We can't stay here!" She yelled over the din of battle, "We can't fight this many!"
"Where can we go then? Not back into the castle?" He said. No, to go that way was suicide.
"Halt!" A female voice called from above. She looked up and saw a large battalion of Alexandrian soldiers charge through the entrance above.
"General Beatrix Dubois," The woman above was dressed in a red body-suit and breastplate, along with purple leggings, marking her as a commander. "Captain Adelbert Steiner, you are both accused of treason in the face of Queen Brahne's law, You are both hereby stripped of military rank by the order of her majesty, and sentenced to execution, effective immediately." The commander motioned with her hand, and the battalion behind her charged. Steiner stepped up to meet them, as Freya continued to battle the now thinning number of black mages.
"Beatrix, don't just stand there, fight!" Freya yelled. Beatrix found she couldn't move. She saw the Alexandrian troops charge at them, her troops. She recognized several of them by name. There was not one member of the current army that she had not trained personally, or had some part of training. Now here they where, charging at her, with the intent to kill. Steiner continued to fight them off, his sword flashing up and down. She could tell just by looking that he was trying not to use lethal force, but they had no such ideas. Steiner was bleeding from several wounds, some of which looked deep. Still, they fell around him, until one of them managed to get by.
Beatrix still stood there, in a trance, not even noticing the deadly sword ramming point-first at her.
"Beatrix, look out!" Steiner's voice yelled. Finally she snapped out of the trance, and barely moved in time. As she did so, the blade slid by her shoulder, cutting deep into it, but not hitting bone. The soldier almost lost her balance, but turned around, and brought her sword up again. Beatrix put her hand up against the cut, and brought the now bloodied glove up in front of her face.
"You...you cut me." She said, her voice only registering an awed type of shock. She had helped train this woman, helped her learn the small amount of magical abilities that was necessary for an Alexandrian soldier. Taught her to know the importance of honor, and loyalty, and to know when to put these aside for the greater good. She had just cut her.
"Death to all enemies of the queen!" the soldier said, and raised her broad sword to attack.
Beatrix vision was suddenly filled with a red field, and heard what felt like a snarl rise in her throat. These people who she had trained, had helped to destroy the people of Burmecia, to help destroy and subjugate all cities that the queen wanted to fulfill her all consuming greed, she was certain that they would help the queen track down Princess Garnet. She saw visions of them chasing the princess down, the princess that she, Beatrix Dubois, Holy Knight, had sworn on her own blood to protect.
Beatrix raised Save the Queen, and met the broad sword in the air, the power of the holy sword literally shattering the smaller sword in it's users hands. The soldier looked up at the general, horrible fear evident for the first time in her eyes.
"General...I'm..." Beatrix heard nothing, and rammed her sword straight through the soldier's chest, blood spurting from the wound, covering the sword. Finally the red field left her eye, and Beatrix looked down at her work. Her sword had nailed the now dead soldier to the floor, her eyes rolling in their sockets. Beatrix felt her hands began to shake, and drop the sword. It clattered to the floor, just as two other forms run up the stair.
"Don't worry guys, reinforcements are here!" both ran past Beatrix, who suddenly felt her legs grow weak, and the world grow black.
_________________________
Would somebody please tell the guy with the hammer to take a break?
Beatrix groaned, and slowly shook her head from side to side. She had a headache worse than any in her life, She tried to sit up but the hammering doubled in intensity, and she fell back again.
"Easy there honey, don't go forcin' yo self up." She heard a strangely accented female voice say. Beatrix struggled to open her eye, and saw a blurry shape, that gradually dissolved into a woman with light blue hair, held in a white bandanna.
"Hey Blank, she's awake." The woman said. From out of her vision stepped a man dressed in short pants, and several belts, along with a large band of leather that almost covered his eyes. He had no shirt, but his skin seemed covered with faint scars that looked like the remains of stitches.
"Beatrix, right?" He said. She tried to nod, but her head hurt even worse.
"Go tell the others she's awake, Blank honey."
"Sure Ruby." With that the man left. Beatrix turned her head and inspected the woman called Ruby. She was about the same height as herself, with a white blouse unbuttoned to an almost scandalous degree, along with a light blue skirt, and dark blue leggings.
"You gave us all quite a scare, honey." She said.
"Wh...where..." She forced out.
"Lindblum, or more precisely a hidden set of chambers underneath Lindblum castle. Blank, and Marcus brought you guys here." With that the door banged open, and Beatrix clutched her head again. From outside a large man dressed in aviators goggles, a vest, and pants and a shirt that where much too tight for him stomped in.
"You're finally up I see, Gwah-ha-ha! That's good." He said.
"Boss, quiet down!" Ruby said. "She's still really hurt."
"Oh, sorry." The man said. "Names Baku, by the way, I'm the leader of Tantalus, it's my boys who saved your lives back there."
Beatrix mumbled a thank you, and felt her eye-lid get heavy again.
"You're obviously still really tired, so get some sleep okay, everything's alright, you guys are safe here."
That was all she needed, and she was asleep again.
________________________
"You know, you're gonna wear a hole in the floor if you keep doin' that." Marcus said from his seat, Across from him a small ugly man in a dog collar sat and ate a large sandwich.
"Yeah man, relax." The man called Cinna said.
"I cannot relax." The object of said pacing spoke. Adelbert Steiner paced back and forth across the worn waiting room, thankfully his armor was placed against the wall on the far side of the room, so there was none of it's annoying clanking sound, still he kept his long broad sword strapped to his back, over a brown tunic shirt emblazoned with Alexandria's royal crest over the heart, and pants, tied around his waist with a black leather belt decorated with a gold buckle bearing the same crest.
He had been like this ever since they had arrived, Steiner had been stuck in a bed for several days, along with the dragon knight Freya. They had both recovered well, with the exception of severe exhaustion, and strained muscles.
"Don't worry, she'll wake up, when she wakes up." Said Marcus once again. While Steiner understood the basic logic of the statement, he couldn't bring himself to follow through with it. He finally managed to stop his pacing, and lean against the wall. It was not proper for a knight to be acting in such a flustered manner, though heaven knows he had done it before. Everything was too confusing right now, why had he entrusted the princess to a thief? Why had he left her to go help Beatrix and Freya when it was his sworn duty to protect the Princess at all costs?
And what about Beatrix herself. He had once stood with her and fought a fully grown Grand Dragon, and she never flinched, why had she reacted like she did in the tower? Too many questions and not enough answers. Steiner sighed and finally sat down, pouring a drink from the flagon of wine sitting on a small table.
"Jeesh! You're really shook up aren't you?" Marcus said. "Don't worry about the princess, she's got Zidane and Vivi with her, she's in good hands."
That was another thing, the princess had gone with a thief to the Outer continent, a continent never explored by anyone from Alexandria, a continent that had been the subject of hundreds of ghost stories, and tales, but he wasn't worried about her! Had he actually learned to trust the thief, Zidane? Could that be it? A few weeks ago, the concept would seem absolutely foreign to him, but now....
The sound of a door opening and closing shook Steiner from his musing. Standing in the doorway of the hidden chambers was a large oglop, with a very funny looking mustache dressed in a red cloth cape, behind him stood a dignified man with long hair, and a beard, and a grey robe of state.
"Ah, and how is everything down here?" The oglop asked.
"Regent Cid." Said Steiner, in his confusion forgetting to bow and show proper respect, something Cinna and Marcus declined to do anyway.
"Captain Steiner. How is the General?" Regent Cid asked.
"She's asleep, she woke up for a bit, but went back to asleep almost immediately after." Came the voice of Baku. The large Tantalus leader walked into the room, followed by Ruby, and Blank.
"So she's alright?" Steiner asked.
"Fine."
"That's good." He said with obvious relief in his voice.
"Well Captain, as you can probably guess, the three of you are in quite a bit of trouble." Said the regent. "Yourself, General Beatrix, and Miss Freya are all wanted criminals in both Alexandria, and Lindblum."
"Lindblum? What do you mean?" Said Steiner in shock.
"Sadly, before you got here, Alexandria launched a very successful attack on Lindblum Grand Castle. We have surrendered the city over to Queen Brahne." Said the minister, Sadness evident in his voice. Steiner leaned down in his seat, and placed a hand over his forehead.
"Thankfully, the majority of Alexandria's military force has left the city, loading up supplies into the ships, and heading back to Alexandria. We can only assume the queen is planning for her next strike, as to where that could be, I haven't the foggiest. She has already conquered all the other nations on the Mist continent. Only a token force remains behind here." Said Cid, as he paced.
"For the moment, you are safe here, but we must request that you not go out into the city, you and the General are far too well known to the Alexandrian soldiers here, we've asked the same of Miss Freya." Said Artania. "The only places where there are not soldiers, is in these underground chambers, and most of the upper portion of the castle.
"Of course, we'll make sure no one sees us."
"Not that you will be alone, of course, There are several large groups of Burmecian refugees in these chambers, Miss Freya is with them now."
"Keeping a load of Burmecians right under Alexandria's nose, huh? Not bad Cid." Said Baku.
"Of course, even during the attack they didn't realize they were here." Said the Regent, with a good amount of pride.
"But enough of this talk for now, get some rest, we'll come up with something. Hopefully, the Princess, and Master Zidane will take care of this Kuja, then we will be able to launch a counterattack against Queen Brahne."
"Yeah, we gotta get back to our base for now, start rebuilding." Said Baku, standing up, as his men (and one women) followed.
"Of course Baku, thanks once again." Said the Regent.
"No Prob." With that, the members of Tantalus marched out the door. Regent Cid turned around and spoke to Steiner.
"Some food will be brought down in a few minutes, for now, get some rest."
"Thank you, your honor." The Regent and the Minister stepped out of the door, and Steiner leaned his head down. What was he going to do now?
********************
"It is so good to see you again Freya!"
"You to, Wei."
Freya Cescent, One time dragon knight of Burmecia stood amid a crowd of Burmecians, peppering her with questions. Her old friend Wei stood in front of her, her husband, Kal, next to her.
"Are you going to be here long enough to see my children born?" Wei asked.
"Looks like it. I am not going to be able to leave this place for quite awhile, it seems." Freya sighed.
"Oh I know. We have to stay in and around the underground complex until the Regent can come up with someway to get rid of these Alexandrians infesting the city." Said another Burmecian.
"I am certain the Regent is working on it, He's already found the source of Queen Brahne's Black Mages, and has sent some people to investigate it. All we can do now is hope for the best."
"Many of us are worried Freya." Said Kal. "Many have lost hope of ever rebuilding Burmecia, with the king dead, and Prince Puck of God knows where..."
"Do not fret, we are still alive, and while we live there is always hope."
"I know you're right Freya, but convincing all these people will be difficult."
Freya sighed slightly, yes, that was the problem wasn't it. Hundreds of refugees, some visibly depressed, and despondent, It was only people like Wei, and others with children, who hoped for the future. It was no surprise, really, Burmecia was destroyed, the king dead, she herself has taken the life of Master Gizamaluke, guardian of the passage and patron of the Dragon people. Burmecia had never face so dark a time.
"Alexandria will pay for this! We'll take a life of theirs for every life they took of ours!" Some yelled out. Several others agreed with this hartily, raising their fists in the air. Freya fought back a grimace.
"That is enough!" She yelled. All faces in the large chamber turned to her. The man who spoke stormed up to her, but Freya beat him to the first word. "The last thing we need is more violence. We need to concentrate on gathering all the refugees here, and starting the rebuilding."
"Yes, but first we need to destroy Alexandria! Make them pay for what they did to us, only then can we rebuild."
"Yes they'll only attack us again if we don't."
"We must do it for the king, and all those who died!"
Other such shouts where added. This was not good.
"ENOUGH!!!!" Freya leapt on top of a table, her spear raised above all of them. "You are fools! Fools!!!! Would you bring about more pain? More death? More senseless destruction!!! Will this return your fathers? Your wives? Your lost children?"
Freya panted visibly. Feeling a type of rage she had never felt before. She always knew that, as a dragoon knight, involved in the defending of her people and country, that she would feel such anger someday, but she never expected to feel it directed at her own people.
"Would you fools bring even more death upon these children who survived the slaughter!? Would you give them more reason to toss and turn at night? To sleep with one eyes open and towards the door? WOULD YOU!!??"
Freya pointed her spear towards the far wall, and spread it out over the whole crowd.
"This is what your so-called revenge would do. It would make no good, only more evil! I am a Dragoon, a knight of Burmecia, and as I knight I have a duty to live to a sworn code of honor! I see other Dragoon's here, some of them screaming for some ill-conceived revenge as well."
As she said this, several of the large crowd hung their head or looked away in shame, but others openly scowled.
"Listen to me, and listen well, We can't, we mustn't bring more war on this continent. The Regent has already sent agents to look into a possible source of Queen Brahne's black mages, and, if they are successful, this war will be over. No! Revenge will do us no good. I plead with you to think about what I've said."
With this she leapt down from the table, gave a last look at Wei and Kal, who nodded in approval, and walked out of the huge quarters, leaving these refugees in a quandary.
********************
"Did you see that?"
"Yes."
"Still nothing?"
"I....feel strange."
Two figures stood in a separate hallway, the Dragoon knight named Freya had not even seen them.
"Just strange?"
"And....I don't know how to describe it."
"Well...I suppose that's a start."
"What will we do, Lord Puck?" Asked the taller of the two. The other was a small Burmecian, dressed in some-what ragged, but colorful clothing, the other was tall and noble, dressed in an armored breastplate, and shin-guards, covered up by a worn traveling jacket, a large brimmed hat, decorated with a white feather, and leather trousers. He carried a long spear with a razor-sharp, curved blade at the end. Blonde hair hung from his head.
"I think," He gave his comrade knowing glance. "That we will be staying in Lindblum for awhile longer."
"If you insist Lord Puck."
TO BE CONTINUED.
