Chapter 07 // Bloody Rights
Author note: Sorry about the LONG delay... end of 2003 was a messy situation in which not much got done. But here we are... back again, and off on a tangent unexpected! Don't worry I'll get myself (and our "heroes") out of this mess! XD Expect sporadic updates as my muse is rebellious and my time scattered.
Johnathan frowned as they turned the bend to the gate for his own home - there were people there. People he didn't recognize. Agrias grabbed him immediately and drug him off the road into the brush before they were noticed.
"Damn! How'd they get out here and why?" she hissed, crouching down.
"Why'd you drag me off, and ho are they? What do they want with my house?"
Agrias growled audibly, her hand resting on her sword. "It's the Glabados Church... they don't normally come out this way at all - the people here don't really follow the church. Too close to 'enemy' boarders for them to care or something." Her breath was heavy and her brow furrowed. "I can't believe they have the nerve... someone must have seen something ... no one knew of hat happened with Ramza here! This makes no sense, and walking into their ... location... is not wise. My name is lightly linked to the death of Funeral and the Temple Knights..."
"I see," he said, frowning. "Someone found out you all were there and tattled?"
"I hope they did not get anyone..."
Johnathan looked around. They were on the opposite side of the road then the farm, and on this side was a wooded lot. "We need to backtrack around the bend, and cross into the Marras' farm and into the woods behind them... and get behind my farm to watch form the woods at the fence. We can't sit here this close to the road..."
"But what if they come out to search the woods?"
Johnathan blinked and swallowed. "We run like hell."
Agrias grinned then. "At least you know when to make a sensible retreat. Guess Ramza doesn't have too much to teach you after all. All right - let's go. Maybe some of the others are in the wood... if we're lucky."
They made their way back, glancing carefully over their shoulders. They crossed the road once out of sight of the carriage and slipped into the Marras' orchard bordering the Chalthriem farm. From there they ducked into the tall wheat, slipping through carefully and watching out for anything. The fence proved difficult, being adeptly designed, and Agrias threw herself across to land on her side. Johnathan barely avoided landing on her and sighed loudly.
"I'm worried for Meredith..."
Agrias sat up carefully. "I know... if they even suspect her of harboring a heretic, they could take her in and possess the farm."
Johnathan just about choked then on the thought. "They - they can't do that! It's hers by right! And she has it set to pass to me after her death! They couldn't take her just for something like that, they have no proof, not even the items of Ramza's. They easily could be mine!"
Agras nodded, then shrugged. "But what would you be doing with a knight sword?"
"...it belonged to my father?" Johnathan offered.
"I doubt they'd buy that... they're here for a reason." Agrias stood and dusted herself off a bit before slipping into the woods a couple dozen yards until she froze mid-step. She glanced quickly to the right as Johnathan stepped behind a tree.
"Agrias?" he heard someone hiss.
"Is that you Mustadio?" she hissed back.
"No, it's St. Ajora back from the grave," the voice replied blandly. "Of course it is. Ramza's way deep in the woods with Alma already, but Beowulf..."
"They have him?"
"And worker 8 ... and the twins. Reis is with me though... Meredith is inside..."
Johnathan hissed, slipping up behind Agrias as she moved over to the voice. "What about Meliadoul?"
"She's out with Alma..." Mustadio looked flushed, as though he had exerted himself to the fullest. "Ramza, Meliadoul and Alma were first out, I grabbed all my gear and booked it, taking Reis with me as Meredith instructed... Beowulf was supposed to be shortly behind but ... we ducked into the grass as some guys came around adn crawled... Reis ahs a cut on her arm."
Agrias muttered a small incantation, a glow covering Reis. "Better," Agrias said. "Why are you two here?"
"Because we were winded, and wanted to know what was happenin-"
Reis tugged on his arm sharply and pointed towards the house. All heads turned simultaneously to see people walking out the back, some robed, a few armored.
"Damn it!" Agrias hissed. "Scatter! Mr. Chalthriem, if you were wise, you'd find your friends. Now. Act as though you haven't lived there in years... get someone to cover your story. Anything. I'm sure that Miss Chalthriem would have tried to keep you out of all implications... see if they leave; just try to get them to unhand the place if they take people... go... get clear of us!"
Johnathan broke into a sprint through the woods behind his house, first heading away, low through the bushes, then cutting to the south, heading for their meeting place. His eyes darted, looking for anything that could be someone trying to get him, his heart raced alongside his mind as he went over all the possible outcomes from this. 'Why today, why now, why did someone have to open their-'
He flew head over heels, crashing into the undergrowth painfully. He winced as his forward sliding stopped, and wondered how he'd managed to not se the root five feet behind. He lifted himself up delicately, and looked around. "Oh hell," he muttered. "I've really gotten out of my way."
He adjusted the sword at his side and brushed the sweat from his brow, frowning. "The Syldreth Fields ... there's a stream through it... Only one nearby really aside the one to the north of the farm but I doubt I'll stumble on that one here." He walked, listening intently to his surroundings, eyes sharp for signs of anything that didn't belong.
After an hour of walking he finally found it, and headed towards the sun, the correct direction he wanted to go. 'Almost there... and then you can tell Lillina and Doran what's ging on an concoct some story to try and get my house back... and then we need to figure out what to do about the others... and ... why now?'
He stopped sharply, jarred by the sound that pierced his thoughts. It was the sound of a female scream, one that he knew all too well. "Lillina!" Summoning up inner reserves after his last sprint this day, he ran alongside the stream, breaking through the brush into the field and halting as his eyes fell on her.
A chill ran through his spine as he saw the blood on her, and the tear in her left sleeve. Opposite her about ten feet was something he wish he'd never had the blessing of seeing - something that only could have come from the thin veil of myths and stories he'd heard. It was easily twice his size, and covered in brown fur. Black leather and chain adorned it as it wielded the huge axe easily with one hand. To top off this hulking monstrosity was a bull's head, replete with dripping snot and drool and fierce red eyes.
"Holy mother of Ivalice," he breathed. "Lillina!!"
She turned, her eyes wide. "J-johnathan....? Oh, god, please get out fo here before this hideous thing kills you!"
Johnathan drew the sword at his side, feeling fury build within the more he saw he terror and injuries. "Hey, ugly, why don't you leave her alone and take on something your own size?"
The bull turned, rd eyes gleaming in the sun as it stared at him. And then it smirked, which threw him completely off. "Foolish little boy," it said, causing Johnathan to step back slightly, "do you really think you can take me? I already proved another little boy wrong..." It reached up, tapping one bloodied horn. "Would you like to meet the other horn?"
'Doran... no...' Johnathan shook with anger, feeling every muscle in his body tense as he stood in a combat stance Ramza had taught him. He was vaguely aware of Lilina standing there, watching with horror. He was completely oblivious to the winds that rustled the long grass as he stared down the demon, or the touch of the grass. All thought was focused on the source of torment in the here and now. The demon that was one straw too many on the camel's back. That which threatened the last thing he had left right now. "Wrong day to screw with my friends," he growled in reply. "I don't care who or what you are, that's my friends and my girl you've hurt... and you damn well better hope Doran's alive, so help your soul!"
The bull laughed, a hollow, haunting laugh that frightened Lillina. She stepped back further, increasing the gap between herself and this maniacal abomination, stepping back until she tripped over Doran's body. "Oh my god, Doran...! I'm sorry..." She started chanting softly, casting a cure spell on his still form. He was not dead, but stunned from the force.
"Come on little one, let's see what you have!" The bull charged, his hooves cracking the dry earth with every footfall. Johnathan gripped the hilt tightly and charged as well, unsure exactly what he was going to do, but unwilling - and almost unable - to back down now.
'First they show up at my house and take my Aunt, and now some raging lunatic bull is threatening the lives of my friends... what more could go wrong?'
"JOHNATHAN LOOK OUT!"
His eyes focused for only a moment as he saw how close he was to the bull - and the impending swing that would cleave him in two. Before he realized it, he was already swinging the sword low and diving, trying to clear the axe before it lopped any part of him.
'For the love of all that is holy and right please don't let me die!'
He impacted with the ground as pain flared viciously in his right side, tears flooding his eyes as they shut. He rolled, the sword flying out of his hand as he continued. He was vaguely aware of a splash of blood on his chest, warm and slick and the dull pain in his leg he was sure was the bull's hoof kicking him as he passed under. The air chilled as he rolled further away and a smile barely passed his lips. 'Second tier ice...' he thought, still rolling from the force, and finally stopped.
It was dead quiet, and he was barely able to hear his own raspy breath. 'Am... I dead?'
A horrible piercing cry pierced the air, but he barely registered it, his chest heaving as he labored for breath. "You wretched child!" he heard and was also barely aware the Lillina was... crying. 'What have I done... I've upset her... I've failed her...'
The sun was blotted out after a few moments. A sudden drip of blood landed on his face, warm and disgusting. He forced his eyes open and found himself staring up at the hideous bull. He could see the gash where he had scored a hit, and the ice-matted regions of fur from the spell. The bull chuckled then, gazing down evenly. "Do you think you've won? Did you truly think you could outdo the Lucavi? You are ill prepared, ill- trained... failing at even the basics. Death is the only thing that awaits you."
"No, it awaits you," he heard. "Get the hell away from him unless you want to fund out what Zalera went through at my hands."
'Ramza...?'
The bull rose up to full height, turning to look at Ramza's figure standing in the grass. Behind him stood Alma to his right and Meliadoul to his left. A snort emanated form the bull and it looked back down at the rasping youth below it. "I would snuff his life here and now, except I have been told now is not the time. As for that offer, heretic, I would take you up on it, but I have other things to attend to and other days to deal with you all. It's only beginning..." The bull exploded into a golden orange light and faded, a symbol of Taurus remaining only longer then the rest before fading.
"I'm thankful we noticed something going on," Meliadoul said, sheathing her sword.
Alma shook her head. "We should have known much sooner..." She ran past her brother, heading for Johanthan's limp form. "Johnathan, can you hear me?"
His eyes stared vacantly to the sky, and focused somehat on Alma, although she was mostly a hazy blur. "Yeah," he gasped, feeling pain in his back as a rock dug into the wound. "Though I'm not sure about my back... or my leg... or my mind..."
"What?" she said, trying to roll him over. "Mind?"
He screamed then as pain flared again from the simple act of moving. "Ahh... I'll..." He pushed himself onto his stomach, biting back the second scream. "Nothing... I'm... gah... why..."
"Ramza, it was horrible," he heard, hearing footsteps through the grass. "Doran and I were here, talking, waiting for Johnathan and this... hideous thing came out of nowhere. It - it tried to kill me but Doran got in the way and he was hurt..."
"Her spell helped me somewhat but... oh man..."
"Well, after that I was trying to get away... oh, Ramza, the things it said... but then Johnathan appeared from over by where the stream enters the woods!" Lillina was there, standing to his right, and Ramza was supporting Doran, who looked as though he had seen better days. Blood stained his shirt and the tear gave evidence to the sharp jab of horn he had received. Alma was cleaning the wound, and he tried his best to ignore the pain, biting his bottom lip. He also noticed Meliadoul had found the sword he'd lost.
"And... after that... ah... careful Alma... please... I... I remember charging... I don't know why but I did... and I hit... and then it came over... and you showed up."
"That was rather foolish of you," Meliadoul stated bluntly. "You could have died."
"I... know that thank... you," he sighed, closing his eyes. "I was... I saw what happened at the house... and then my friends ... I couldn't take it. I was angry... enraged... I didn't think..." He exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry."
Lillina knelt down to cradle his head and massage his right arm. "You're alive... that's all that matters... I'm so useless..."
"Not true," Doran piped up. "Without your magical skills, I would have probably bled to death."
Lillina blushed as Alma began chanting. "Still, I couldn't do anything to stop this..."
"No one could have," Ramza said, shaking his head. "None of this makes sense... Aquarius at dawn, Taurus by noon... I'm afraid to ask just how many damn Lucavi are here. And more importantly why? And how?"
Alma's spell finished, bathing Johnathan in a warm light and flooding his body with energy and vigor. He still felt dull pain as wounds mended, but he already felt so much better. "And why was I spared... ' except I have been told now is not the time' ... I mean, I could have died now, but why not? Who said not to..."
"I don't know, but we'd best get back in the wood and sort things out." Ramza turned, heading back.
Johnathan took the hand of Meliadoul and stood up, feeling dizzy and nauseous. He grasped the sword offered and leaned on it a moment. "Ugh..."
"You okay?" she asked, supporting him.
"Yeah... just... feeling a little out of sorts..." He lifted himself up straight and followed behind everyone else, sheathing the sword and sighing. 'This only gets worse instead of better...'
Author note: Sorry about the LONG delay... end of 2003 was a messy situation in which not much got done. But here we are... back again, and off on a tangent unexpected! Don't worry I'll get myself (and our "heroes") out of this mess! XD Expect sporadic updates as my muse is rebellious and my time scattered.
Johnathan frowned as they turned the bend to the gate for his own home - there were people there. People he didn't recognize. Agrias grabbed him immediately and drug him off the road into the brush before they were noticed.
"Damn! How'd they get out here and why?" she hissed, crouching down.
"Why'd you drag me off, and ho are they? What do they want with my house?"
Agrias growled audibly, her hand resting on her sword. "It's the Glabados Church... they don't normally come out this way at all - the people here don't really follow the church. Too close to 'enemy' boarders for them to care or something." Her breath was heavy and her brow furrowed. "I can't believe they have the nerve... someone must have seen something ... no one knew of hat happened with Ramza here! This makes no sense, and walking into their ... location... is not wise. My name is lightly linked to the death of Funeral and the Temple Knights..."
"I see," he said, frowning. "Someone found out you all were there and tattled?"
"I hope they did not get anyone..."
Johnathan looked around. They were on the opposite side of the road then the farm, and on this side was a wooded lot. "We need to backtrack around the bend, and cross into the Marras' farm and into the woods behind them... and get behind my farm to watch form the woods at the fence. We can't sit here this close to the road..."
"But what if they come out to search the woods?"
Johnathan blinked and swallowed. "We run like hell."
Agrias grinned then. "At least you know when to make a sensible retreat. Guess Ramza doesn't have too much to teach you after all. All right - let's go. Maybe some of the others are in the wood... if we're lucky."
They made their way back, glancing carefully over their shoulders. They crossed the road once out of sight of the carriage and slipped into the Marras' orchard bordering the Chalthriem farm. From there they ducked into the tall wheat, slipping through carefully and watching out for anything. The fence proved difficult, being adeptly designed, and Agrias threw herself across to land on her side. Johnathan barely avoided landing on her and sighed loudly.
"I'm worried for Meredith..."
Agrias sat up carefully. "I know... if they even suspect her of harboring a heretic, they could take her in and possess the farm."
Johnathan just about choked then on the thought. "They - they can't do that! It's hers by right! And she has it set to pass to me after her death! They couldn't take her just for something like that, they have no proof, not even the items of Ramza's. They easily could be mine!"
Agras nodded, then shrugged. "But what would you be doing with a knight sword?"
"...it belonged to my father?" Johnathan offered.
"I doubt they'd buy that... they're here for a reason." Agrias stood and dusted herself off a bit before slipping into the woods a couple dozen yards until she froze mid-step. She glanced quickly to the right as Johnathan stepped behind a tree.
"Agrias?" he heard someone hiss.
"Is that you Mustadio?" she hissed back.
"No, it's St. Ajora back from the grave," the voice replied blandly. "Of course it is. Ramza's way deep in the woods with Alma already, but Beowulf..."
"They have him?"
"And worker 8 ... and the twins. Reis is with me though... Meredith is inside..."
Johnathan hissed, slipping up behind Agrias as she moved over to the voice. "What about Meliadoul?"
"She's out with Alma..." Mustadio looked flushed, as though he had exerted himself to the fullest. "Ramza, Meliadoul and Alma were first out, I grabbed all my gear and booked it, taking Reis with me as Meredith instructed... Beowulf was supposed to be shortly behind but ... we ducked into the grass as some guys came around adn crawled... Reis ahs a cut on her arm."
Agrias muttered a small incantation, a glow covering Reis. "Better," Agrias said. "Why are you two here?"
"Because we were winded, and wanted to know what was happenin-"
Reis tugged on his arm sharply and pointed towards the house. All heads turned simultaneously to see people walking out the back, some robed, a few armored.
"Damn it!" Agrias hissed. "Scatter! Mr. Chalthriem, if you were wise, you'd find your friends. Now. Act as though you haven't lived there in years... get someone to cover your story. Anything. I'm sure that Miss Chalthriem would have tried to keep you out of all implications... see if they leave; just try to get them to unhand the place if they take people... go... get clear of us!"
Johnathan broke into a sprint through the woods behind his house, first heading away, low through the bushes, then cutting to the south, heading for their meeting place. His eyes darted, looking for anything that could be someone trying to get him, his heart raced alongside his mind as he went over all the possible outcomes from this. 'Why today, why now, why did someone have to open their-'
He flew head over heels, crashing into the undergrowth painfully. He winced as his forward sliding stopped, and wondered how he'd managed to not se the root five feet behind. He lifted himself up delicately, and looked around. "Oh hell," he muttered. "I've really gotten out of my way."
He adjusted the sword at his side and brushed the sweat from his brow, frowning. "The Syldreth Fields ... there's a stream through it... Only one nearby really aside the one to the north of the farm but I doubt I'll stumble on that one here." He walked, listening intently to his surroundings, eyes sharp for signs of anything that didn't belong.
After an hour of walking he finally found it, and headed towards the sun, the correct direction he wanted to go. 'Almost there... and then you can tell Lillina and Doran what's ging on an concoct some story to try and get my house back... and then we need to figure out what to do about the others... and ... why now?'
He stopped sharply, jarred by the sound that pierced his thoughts. It was the sound of a female scream, one that he knew all too well. "Lillina!" Summoning up inner reserves after his last sprint this day, he ran alongside the stream, breaking through the brush into the field and halting as his eyes fell on her.
A chill ran through his spine as he saw the blood on her, and the tear in her left sleeve. Opposite her about ten feet was something he wish he'd never had the blessing of seeing - something that only could have come from the thin veil of myths and stories he'd heard. It was easily twice his size, and covered in brown fur. Black leather and chain adorned it as it wielded the huge axe easily with one hand. To top off this hulking monstrosity was a bull's head, replete with dripping snot and drool and fierce red eyes.
"Holy mother of Ivalice," he breathed. "Lillina!!"
She turned, her eyes wide. "J-johnathan....? Oh, god, please get out fo here before this hideous thing kills you!"
Johnathan drew the sword at his side, feeling fury build within the more he saw he terror and injuries. "Hey, ugly, why don't you leave her alone and take on something your own size?"
The bull turned, rd eyes gleaming in the sun as it stared at him. And then it smirked, which threw him completely off. "Foolish little boy," it said, causing Johnathan to step back slightly, "do you really think you can take me? I already proved another little boy wrong..." It reached up, tapping one bloodied horn. "Would you like to meet the other horn?"
'Doran... no...' Johnathan shook with anger, feeling every muscle in his body tense as he stood in a combat stance Ramza had taught him. He was vaguely aware of Lilina standing there, watching with horror. He was completely oblivious to the winds that rustled the long grass as he stared down the demon, or the touch of the grass. All thought was focused on the source of torment in the here and now. The demon that was one straw too many on the camel's back. That which threatened the last thing he had left right now. "Wrong day to screw with my friends," he growled in reply. "I don't care who or what you are, that's my friends and my girl you've hurt... and you damn well better hope Doran's alive, so help your soul!"
The bull laughed, a hollow, haunting laugh that frightened Lillina. She stepped back further, increasing the gap between herself and this maniacal abomination, stepping back until she tripped over Doran's body. "Oh my god, Doran...! I'm sorry..." She started chanting softly, casting a cure spell on his still form. He was not dead, but stunned from the force.
"Come on little one, let's see what you have!" The bull charged, his hooves cracking the dry earth with every footfall. Johnathan gripped the hilt tightly and charged as well, unsure exactly what he was going to do, but unwilling - and almost unable - to back down now.
'First they show up at my house and take my Aunt, and now some raging lunatic bull is threatening the lives of my friends... what more could go wrong?'
"JOHNATHAN LOOK OUT!"
His eyes focused for only a moment as he saw how close he was to the bull - and the impending swing that would cleave him in two. Before he realized it, he was already swinging the sword low and diving, trying to clear the axe before it lopped any part of him.
'For the love of all that is holy and right please don't let me die!'
He impacted with the ground as pain flared viciously in his right side, tears flooding his eyes as they shut. He rolled, the sword flying out of his hand as he continued. He was vaguely aware of a splash of blood on his chest, warm and slick and the dull pain in his leg he was sure was the bull's hoof kicking him as he passed under. The air chilled as he rolled further away and a smile barely passed his lips. 'Second tier ice...' he thought, still rolling from the force, and finally stopped.
It was dead quiet, and he was barely able to hear his own raspy breath. 'Am... I dead?'
A horrible piercing cry pierced the air, but he barely registered it, his chest heaving as he labored for breath. "You wretched child!" he heard and was also barely aware the Lillina was... crying. 'What have I done... I've upset her... I've failed her...'
The sun was blotted out after a few moments. A sudden drip of blood landed on his face, warm and disgusting. He forced his eyes open and found himself staring up at the hideous bull. He could see the gash where he had scored a hit, and the ice-matted regions of fur from the spell. The bull chuckled then, gazing down evenly. "Do you think you've won? Did you truly think you could outdo the Lucavi? You are ill prepared, ill- trained... failing at even the basics. Death is the only thing that awaits you."
"No, it awaits you," he heard. "Get the hell away from him unless you want to fund out what Zalera went through at my hands."
'Ramza...?'
The bull rose up to full height, turning to look at Ramza's figure standing in the grass. Behind him stood Alma to his right and Meliadoul to his left. A snort emanated form the bull and it looked back down at the rasping youth below it. "I would snuff his life here and now, except I have been told now is not the time. As for that offer, heretic, I would take you up on it, but I have other things to attend to and other days to deal with you all. It's only beginning..." The bull exploded into a golden orange light and faded, a symbol of Taurus remaining only longer then the rest before fading.
"I'm thankful we noticed something going on," Meliadoul said, sheathing her sword.
Alma shook her head. "We should have known much sooner..." She ran past her brother, heading for Johanthan's limp form. "Johnathan, can you hear me?"
His eyes stared vacantly to the sky, and focused somehat on Alma, although she was mostly a hazy blur. "Yeah," he gasped, feeling pain in his back as a rock dug into the wound. "Though I'm not sure about my back... or my leg... or my mind..."
"What?" she said, trying to roll him over. "Mind?"
He screamed then as pain flared again from the simple act of moving. "Ahh... I'll..." He pushed himself onto his stomach, biting back the second scream. "Nothing... I'm... gah... why..."
"Ramza, it was horrible," he heard, hearing footsteps through the grass. "Doran and I were here, talking, waiting for Johnathan and this... hideous thing came out of nowhere. It - it tried to kill me but Doran got in the way and he was hurt..."
"Her spell helped me somewhat but... oh man..."
"Well, after that I was trying to get away... oh, Ramza, the things it said... but then Johnathan appeared from over by where the stream enters the woods!" Lillina was there, standing to his right, and Ramza was supporting Doran, who looked as though he had seen better days. Blood stained his shirt and the tear gave evidence to the sharp jab of horn he had received. Alma was cleaning the wound, and he tried his best to ignore the pain, biting his bottom lip. He also noticed Meliadoul had found the sword he'd lost.
"And... after that... ah... careful Alma... please... I... I remember charging... I don't know why but I did... and I hit... and then it came over... and you showed up."
"That was rather foolish of you," Meliadoul stated bluntly. "You could have died."
"I... know that thank... you," he sighed, closing his eyes. "I was... I saw what happened at the house... and then my friends ... I couldn't take it. I was angry... enraged... I didn't think..." He exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry."
Lillina knelt down to cradle his head and massage his right arm. "You're alive... that's all that matters... I'm so useless..."
"Not true," Doran piped up. "Without your magical skills, I would have probably bled to death."
Lillina blushed as Alma began chanting. "Still, I couldn't do anything to stop this..."
"No one could have," Ramza said, shaking his head. "None of this makes sense... Aquarius at dawn, Taurus by noon... I'm afraid to ask just how many damn Lucavi are here. And more importantly why? And how?"
Alma's spell finished, bathing Johnathan in a warm light and flooding his body with energy and vigor. He still felt dull pain as wounds mended, but he already felt so much better. "And why was I spared... ' except I have been told now is not the time' ... I mean, I could have died now, but why not? Who said not to..."
"I don't know, but we'd best get back in the wood and sort things out." Ramza turned, heading back.
Johnathan took the hand of Meliadoul and stood up, feeling dizzy and nauseous. He grasped the sword offered and leaned on it a moment. "Ugh..."
"You okay?" she asked, supporting him.
"Yeah... just... feeling a little out of sorts..." He lifted himself up straight and followed behind everyone else, sheathing the sword and sighing. 'This only gets worse instead of better...'