Same disclaimer again.
"Ray? You alright?"
I looked up…and up…and up. "I think so. Better than when Lloyd impaled me, anyway."
The Giganto helped me to my feet. "You weren't the only one tossed overboard. We found Shana on the deck, surrounded by skeletons."
"Skeletons?" I shivered. "Just what we don't need. Is this some kind of ghost ship?"
"Precisely." Albert approached, his spear in one hand. "This is the Saint Louvia, a ship which was attacked by the Black Monster eighteen years ago."
"Why this ship?" I had the distinct feeling that I knew the answer. The Moon Child. It has to be.
"This ship was carrying Louvia, a Princess of Mille Seseau, Dart's homeland," Albert responded. "She was just an infant, and yet she was killed."
"Tragic." I knew better than to say what I knew of the Black Monster. Better one girl dead, than an entire world destroyed. I don't envy Rose one bit.
My evident lack of concern irritated everyone but Rose and Methos. Shana was by far the most irate. "Don't you even care what happened here!?" she demanded.
"Certainly. I simply don't think we should be concerned about it at present." Shana reddened. "Shana, listen to me. This happened almost two decades ago, and we have more immediate things to worry about. The Black Monster isn't due to show up again for another ninety years. I submit that Lloyd should be our primary concern."
Mollified, the Light Dragoon nodded. "You're right, sorry."
With our group reassembled, we proceeded to explore the ship, Dart and Shana up front, the Immortals and the monster in the rear, the rest strung in between. For once I was glad to be traveling as part of a group; I'd never been so creeped out. I'd rather have a dozen Immortal duels in a row than face off with the undead.
"Was this Louvia the Moon Child?" Methos whispered.
"Yes," Rose whispered back. "I didn't want to kill her, but I had no choice."
Without warning, a skeleton leaped at me from a corner. I spun and sliced it, only to be faced with two more. "Guys! We've got a problem!"
"No, really?" Lavitz impaled what looked like a legless Grim Reaper. "At least they're easy to kill."
"Define 'easy'," I retorted. A pair of small, flamelike creatures were evading my best efforts to slash them. "These things are almost impossible to hit."
"Diamond Dust!" I jumped back as Meru's spell succeeded where I'd failed.
"Thanks, Meru. That was close."
And then, without warning, it was over.
"What's the deal with this place anyway!?" I demanded of no one in particular. "First it rams our own ship, then we get to duke it out with the undead! This is crazy!"
"They think we're the Black Monster," Dart said bitterly. "He kills people for no reason."
"Stop it!!"
We all looked at Rose in surprise; the only time she normally raised her voice was in battle. Of course. Since she's the Black Monster, she hates hearing it maligned. For eleven millennia, Rose has carried the weight of the world. It's a wonder she hasn't gone mad.
Rose quickly regained her composure. "Sorry. What was I thinking? Let's go." She looked Shana in the eye. "You want to know, don't you?"
We explored the rest of the ship without further trouble. With those weird spirits destroyed, the skeletons and other assorted remains stayed on the deck rather than molesting us. The whole thing was eerie, too much so for my taste. Something's not right here.
Suddenly, I felt it. Methos and I stopped dead. "Here we go again."
"You feel it, too, I take it?" Methos asked.
"Yep. This should be interesting."
"Interesting" didn't begin to describe what we saw. Not one, but two Immortals stepped out of the shadows to confront us. One was tall, dark skinned, and bald; the other was somewhat shorter, with red hair and a pale complexion.
The taller one drew a scimitar and stood before me, about six feet away. "I am Ali Singh," he said. He jerked his head at his companion. "He is Hayden O'Malley. We are here for your heads." The flame-haired Irishman produced a saber from his coat.
I smirked and drew my katana, Methos following with his Ivanhoe broadsword. "It's a team sport, now, eh? Well, I'm Ray Belmont, and this is Methos. If you want our heads, you'll have to work for them." Not waiting for a response, I charged Singh, slashing in a figure-eight pattern that nicked both his arms.
The big African countered with a cut to my leg, which I was barely able to stop. "You fight well, for a neophyte," Singh said mockingly. "Who was your teacher?"
I gritted my teeth. "Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod." I quickly deflected a slash aimed at my head.
"There can be only one!" Singh roared.
"You idiot," I said with contempt. "The Game, the Gathering, and the Prize are nothing more than excuses for our kind to keep slaughtering each other!" I batted his blade aside and pressed my own to his throat. "It's over, Ali." A single strike removed his head.
When the Quickening subsided, I saw Meru standing over me. "Are you okay?"
I carefully got to my feet. "I think so. Don't worry, that always happens after that sort of fight." I caught movement in the corner of my eye. "Looks like Methos is having fun with that Irish wacko."
"Aren't you going to help him!?" Meru asked in disbelief.
I shook my head. "I can't. All Immortal duels are one-on-one. Besides," I said, just as Methos beheaded his opponent, "Methos doesn't need my help." I waited for the lightning to die down, then helped the other Immortal to his feet. "That was interesting."
"You have a gift for understatement, Belmont," Methos muttered. "How could they have found us?"
"Lloyd," Dart said flatly. "It has to be him."
"Why would he go after Ray and Methos?" Lavitz wanted to know.
"Because he knows we're a threat," I said with a snort. "Lloyd obviously knows about Immortals, and he probably suspects that I survived the incident at Hellena Prison. The only reason he was able to impale me in the first place is because I was careless."
"We have more immediate problems," Rose said. "We have yet to check out the passenger quarters."
Before we could get to the passenger quarters, we had yet another problem to deal with, in the form of five ghost knights. I knew perfectly well that Methos and I had little to fear, but I wasn't so sure about the others. This is not going to be fun.
The commander glared at Rose. "You, Black Monster. How dare you come here, pursuing Princess Louvia."
"Wait a minute!" Dart protested. "We're not the Black Monster!"
"How dare you, monster, using human words to fool us," said the second.
"Unforgivable," a third snarled. "Even if it costs us our lives, we won't give you Princess Louvia!"
"Here we go again," I muttered. Ignoring the soldiers, I dove for the commander, getting in a quick slash and jumping back.
The knight was furious. "How dare you!" He swung his sword, clearly intending to behead me.
Shana had other ideas. "White Silver Dragon!" The Dragon summon took care of the knights, then healed a nasty gash Haschel had suffered.
The Light Dragoon rushed the ghost leader. "There is no more Black Monster! Oh, please, suffer no more!"
The knight gazed at her. "You are…Thank God, you made it." He bowed and vanished.
"Am I imagining things, or did that ghost just mistake Shana for a princess?" Methos asked.
I shook my head. "This just gets crazier all the time. What's next?" I would soon be sorry I asked.
The next room held nothing but a chair and an empty cradle. I'd seen plenty of death and destruction, some of it by my own hand, by that point, but somehow none of it was as sad as that little room. Eighteen years ago, that cradle was the resting place for an infant princess, before her death at Rose's hand. Every 108 years, she's had to kill an infant. If this Soa the locals venerated did indeed exist, as seemed reasonably likely, he was clearly no god. Sending the destruction of the world in the form of a baby. There's nothing divine in that.
"Only a child, and yet she was killed," Albert said softly.
"Sad, but it was long ago," I responded. "There's nothing more for us here. Let's get back to the ship." I started for the door, and fell flat before I could reach it. "What on earth!?"
"The ship is sinking!" Dart shouted. "We need to get out of here now!"
We rushed back to the Queen Fury, hoping we could make it in time. We did…or rather, most of us did; Dart and Rose fell overboard and vanished. I heard Albert yelling for a life raft, but I could tell there was no point. The currents in the area were far too strong.
"Waste of time," Methos muttered, echoing my own thoughts. "They'll be long gone by the time Puler can get a raft out."
I sighed. "I hope they're alright. Shana's distraught."
"She would be." The other Immortal shook his head. "You know them better than I do, Belmont. What do you think are the chances of those two surviving?"
"Pretty good, actually." I shrugged. "Dart's a good swimmer, and I somehow doubt that Rose is going to let something like this get the better of her." I glanced at Shana. "Meru's sticking close to Shana. Probably a good thing."
"No argument there." Methos frowned. "Rose said she would never let it happen again. Do you know what she was talking about?"
I thought for a moment. "She was probably remembering the battle of Kadessa. Rose was the sole survivor; everyone else was killed, or, in Zieg's case, petrified." I stiffened abruptly. "Petrified…that must be why Dart and Zieg look so much alike!"
"What do you mean?"
"Since he was turned to stone, Zieg would have been preserved for millennia. Dart told me when we first met that his last name is Feld. I'll bet that just over twenty years ago, the petrification spell wore off, and Zieg was released."
The older man narrowed his eyes. "Just what are you suggesting?"
"That Dart is Zieg's son. It would explain how he obtained that Dragoon Spirit."
"And why they look so much alike, I see." Methos nodded. "I wonder if Rose considered that."
I shook my head. "Not likely. She's had too much on her mind."
"Hey, guys!" Lavitz yelled. "Get ready, we're almost at Fueno!"
"Got it!"
Fueno is best described as a typical port city: bustling, crowded, and loud. As Tiberoa's largest seaport, goods of just about every kind could be found there. It was billed, quite accurately, as the intersection of north and south. I saw things from places as far apart as Lohan and Deningrad, the capital of Mille Seseau.
Lavitz gazed around in amazement. "This place is incredible!"
"You've got that right," I said curtly. Despite my confident words to Methos, I was more than a little worried about Dart and Rose. I knew very little about the oceans of Endiness, but I did know they had sharks. Stop worrying, Ray, I told myself firmly. Dart and Rose would turn sharks into shark steak in seconds.
I wasn't listening.
"We should stop by the hotel first," Albert said. "We might hear some news."
The next hour was spent unpacking our supplies. Let's see, sharpening kit; extra clothes; bandages, handy, but irrelevant for Methos and me; medicine, same deal; food, good, starving to death isn't fun; canteens; bush knife; it's all here.
"Everyone, great news!" Meru charged in, ecstatic. "Dart and Rose are okay! They'll be here any minute!"
Just as she finished speaking, the Dragoons of Fire and Darkness walked in, Dart with a slight headache, and both looking rather waterlogged, but none the worse for wear. I felt a slight grin tugging at my face when I saw Rose. She's looking a bit calmer now.
"Dart!!!" Shana practically tackled him. "Oh, Dart!"
Dart smiled and hugger her. "I'm sorry I made you worry."
"It's alright, as long as you're here." Shana buried her face in Dart's chest.
Kongol smiled broadly. "Dart, Rose. Welcome back. I knew you'd make it."
"I agree." Lavitz clapped the younger man on the shoulder. "You two are too strong to die."
I stepped up. "Now that we've got the reunion scene out of the way, did you guys learn anything?"
Rose nodded. "There are rumors of a Sea Dragon on the Prison Island. Because of this, the way to the island has been blocked off."
"A Sea Dragon, eh. Does that sound familiar?" Haschel asked.
"Very." Rose sighed. "It is the Blue Sea Dragon, Regole. She looks more like an eel than a Dragon, but she is still very powerful." She glanced at Meru. "Fortunately, we have the Blue Sea Dragoon with us, so this shouldn't be too difficult. Are you ready, Meru?"
"You got it!" Meru grinned. "Let's go tame the Dragon!"
The trapped tide blocking the way to the Prison Island didn't bother us in the least. The Dragoons simply flew across, while Methos and I swam. The water was surprisingly chilly for being so far south, but it wasn't enough to slow me down.
"We're almost there," Meru said softly. "I can feel the Dragon somehow."
"It's your Dragoon Spirit," Rose told her. "It knows when your Dragon is near."
Regole was near, alright…and so was Lloyd. "Well, well, well, so this is why Lenus is late."
"She's not coming," I said coldly. "I killed her. You won't get the Moon Dagger now, traitor."
Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "'Traitor'? I never swore allegiance to Basil in the first place. King Albert merely hired me as an advisor."
"And you betrayed him," I shot back. "Do you have any idea how many innocents have died because of your actions?"
The other shrugged. "I have the calling to reform the world. I have no time to pay attention to little things."
I drew my sword. "So reforming the world justifies kidnapping, theft, and cold-blooded murder!?"
"Whatever is necessary." Lloyd smirked and turned away. "This is merely a setback. If you survive, pursue me in Mille Seseau." He vanished.
"Forget him, for now," Dart said tiredly. "We're about to gain a new ally."
Meru hesitantly approached Regole. "Uh, hi. I'm Meru, the new Blue Sea Dragoon." She reached out and gently stroked the Dragon's head. "I'll treat you better than Lenus did."
Rose watched, looking relieved. "For the first time in over a thousand years, a Dragon has a worthy master," she whispered.
"So you like our young Wingly, then?" Methos said teasingly.
She half-glared. "Meru can be annoying, but she's better than Lenus."
"Whatever you say." Methos chuckled to himself.
The return voyage was made without incident, though the crew was a little nervous over the presence of a Dragon. For myself, I was glad to be going, for we were leaving for Mille Seseau in the morning. When we got back, King Zior insisted on throwing a party for us, as the heroes who saved Tiberoa. Who'd have thought Immortals could travel openly in a place like this.
Kongol jogged my elbow. "Enjoying the party, Ray?"
I shook my head. "I don't like parties. Part of it is my own personality, and part is an Immortal's natural wariness. I never know when or where I'll be challenged."
"Just relax for once." The Giganto laughed and waved at a table. "Methos is enjoying himself."
"Methos drinks like a fish whenever he has the chance," I said with a snort. I chuckled. "I'll bet he pays for it, too. We Immortals are immune to many things; that immunity does not extend to hangovers."
Kongol laughed again. "Too bad."
I glanced at my watch. "I'd better get some sleep. We leave early tomorrow."
Author's note: This is why I had Lenus die in Fletz; I thought a Dragon would make a nice addition to the team. I skipped the scene in Lidiera because it always struck me as pointless. And yes, I do find the battle on the Phantom Ship that easy. Thanks for the reviews. D.S.
