Knights In Shining Armor

Ramza woke up once more in the same cell. Fink was sitting on a stool near his cell, fast asleep. On his belt, the young warrior could see the keys to his cell. But they were out of reach, there was no way that Ramza would be able to take hold of them and free himself. His only hope was for one of his allies to come and save him from the thieves. A laugh escaped his lips, Ramza was used to be the one saving others, not the other way around. He had no patience for waiting around.

Suddenly, the man saw something in the shadows. But when he turned to get a better look, it was gone. Before he could begin to wonder if he was just going mad, he saw it once more. It reminded him of what had happened with the demons at Riovanes. He had seen them around every corner, just waiting for them to attack the party, hoping to slay the hindrance to their plans.

Ramza turned around. He hoped that by hiding in the corner, the demon would kill just the thieves, and spare his life. For even his sword had been taken from him, and he would be forced to fight with only his fists. Not the way a person wants to go and battle with a demon.

"Get the key," a female voice told her companion, "I'm going to try and squeeze through the bars to see if Ramza is ok. And to heal him if needed be with the item's I brought. Then you open the cell and let the two of us out." The Mage Squire could see a shadowed form entering his cell through the bars. It had to be a slender formed person, or someone who wore little armor.

"Who is it? Do you come as friend or foe?" asked Ramza, a little shaky. He hadn't expected a rescuer to be able to find him so soon. After all, he was being hidden in some sort of thief fort, and he was sure that Deverca hadn't publicized where his home was, it was suicide for a thief to do so.

The voice stated, "Ramza, it's me, Meliadoul. Are you hurt? I switched my secondary to Item just in case we need to heal you. Agrias, have you found where the keys are yet? We need to get him out of here before those thieves wake up again. All of them are punch drunk from partying, and won't be able to bother us anytime soon. Here, can you stand?" She was firing off her questions rapidly, concerned for their current predicament. When battle and rescue missions were concerned, Meliadoul turned from a woman who liked to be alone, to one of the shrewdest tacticians you can find in Ivalice.

Ramza walked out of his hiding place in the corner, and over to his ally. "The keys are on the guard's belt, I just can't reach them. And I'm not hurt at all, it seems that Vormav has some reason for keeping me alive. He wants to talk to me about something, but I can't trust that it'll be anything pleasant."

Agrias grabbed the keys and unlocked the cell. Then, Ramza and Meliadoul stepped out of the cell. The trio then began to sneak out of the hideout. Meliadoul had been right, each of the thieves were knocked out from excessive drinking. As they walked onwards, into the outside light at long last, the only words they could hear from Deverca and his men were the mumblings of drunken fools.

* * *

"And your ancestor really contacted you in a dream!?" exclaimed Agrias, "He told you that he was the original slayer of Lucavi, and he used some holy weapon that Meliadoul's ancestor and the rest of his family had in their possession. That sounds kind of far fetched, if you ask me."


"Well, my mother once mentioned some legacy that she kept safe. But before she could tell either Izlude or me what it was, she succumbed to her illness. I always wondered what exactly the legacy was, it could very well be the sword that Collin told Ramza about," Meliadoul said.

Ramza was beginning to wonder exactly how they'd be able to get the sword. After all, if Mel's mom hadn't been able to pass down whatever secret the sword held, she had no idea how to find it. Now they were all going to have to search over every corner of Ivalice in order to find it. Not something that appealed to any member of Ramza's group, the Ivalice World Tour had ended for them long ago. Some of them were actually thinking about leaving the country, and making a life for themselves elsewhere, far from the corruption of the church, and the status as "missing and/or dead".

Meliadoul told them, "She said that the legacy comes from within, but I don't know what that means. I don't think there's some sort of sword inside my body, the only person in my family who'll get that is Vormav. I'm not going to get away with the wicked ambitions he has. If he wants to go and take over the world after contacting Lucavi, then he has earned the enmity of his own children."


As they headed to the camp, they continued to discuss the aspects of the battle, and how they could go about finding the sword. It all made their heads spin, no one wanted to have to continue their search for the sword. It would be better to just go out and kill Lucavi like they did last year. Ramza could find his mind beginning to wander away. 'What should I do? We did just fine without Paladin last year, but could Atlima have given powers to her allies that makes it necessary this time?'

Suddenly, they could see the sky beginning to distort around them. A blue and pink swirl had appeared, instead of the clear blue it had been a short time ago. Ramza suddenly found himself standing in front of the girls, hoping to shield them, even though they could very well take care of themselves.

"What in the name of God is this?" demanded Meliadoul, "If this is some kind of sick joke, I would like to slash the person who is playing this on us." As she said that, her whole body began to glow. The woman was lifted into the air, followed shortly by Ramza and Agrias.

"This is getting a little too freaky for me," Agrias stated, and Ramza nodded.

The trio went higher and higher into the air. They found themselves floating towards the center of the spiral, as if it was trying to consume them into it. But there was nothing they could do. As the group soared closer, they began to freak out just a little - - but not screaming, they weren't professionals for nothing. Soon, the group found themselves going into the spiral, and vanishing into thin air. Then, the sky returned to normal, and the spiral vanished as well.

- - - -

Yeah, go girls! My kind of rescue. One of the reasons I like Mel and Agrias a lot is that they can kick serious butt, even without using their skills.