Hey everyone again. Still working on everything, but check out my new livejournal, because it's fun, yay. I'm still trying to get my new comics up and such, so go also visit because I told you to.

Chapter Three

In which a really big mistake is made

"Reporting in, General Cicuna" Said Rally again, just as the unit was about to move out.

"Any enemy sighted?"

"None whatsoever."

"Good; We'll be covered until we're just out of sight of the castle; the Praetorian unit will cover our flank until we get there. Until then you can just follow us; save your strength and get psyched and all that."

"Yessir." Rally fell back with Eloon, who was following his own flank, and glanced back at the Praetorian. The elite castle guard. They were fully armed at the moment, so they probably outclassed the 'elite unit'.

"Not much of an elite force." Eloon said, "I was kinda expecting it to me more mis-matched."

"Well, it's just the standardized equipment that makes them look similar." Rally said, "I know a couple of these guys, though, and can tell you they're not much alike. Like Sten, over there. He's a master with a sword; fought his way out of the middle of an armed fortress after his recon unit was slaughtered. Oh yes, Biggs is actually quite handy with magic, he invented several rather useful spells and despite his large frame, you've never seen anyone throw a lance farther.

"Wedge is much the same way, only completely different. He's a Colonel, actually, the only reason he's not a general is because Cicuna is in the way. Yeah, he's fought side-by-side with Cicuna, they say he knows much more about the entire army than the Lord General, or the king. Usually that kind of talent goes unrecognized, but he did fight with Cicuna."

"I see." Eloon said, "I wasn't actually interested, but it's nice to know any one of these people could kill me at a moment's notice."

"It's great working with people like that, isn't it?" Rally stepped up the pace to Cicuna.

"General Cicuna, sir, I've just been meaning to ask, Do you know why the king hasn't made you the head of the army yet?"

"I would assume it's because I'm a foreigner." Cicuna said flatly.

"Well I came upon something strange a while ago when I was reading up on the crystals. . ."

"Like what?" Cicuna said with a bit of gruffness.

Rally gulped lightly, "I was going through their history, about the curse and how they were not to be moved from their spots. . ."

"Everyone knows that. . ."

"Why are we moving it, then?"

"The prophesy is extremely old, no doubt it's been exaggerated. . ."

"Even then, I noticed that another prophecy said the Crystals will never fall to any man."

"So. . . I'm not a man, I am a half-dragon, so I may move the crystals."

"Yes, and that got me thinking, why was the king bothering with that prophecy, if he was going to ignore the other one?"

"I cannot say."

Rally sighed; the way things were falling into place, he was probably in trouble.

Up on a hilltop not very far from the castle, the Praetorian broke off the flank and returned back to the castle. "Rally," Cicuna said, "move ahead. We'll be moving up the main road until the Second Barrel Hill, where we'll head eastward into the Dead Woods. Make check points as you find necessary and meet us back up at the Wheat Fields."

"Yessir! Eloon, come on!" The two charged off down the main road. The country air was fresh and clean, only tainted slightly by the rancid chocobo smell.

"These birds are filthy!" Eloon said.

"Yeah, they might be, but the alternative is walking. Or, rather, running really fast." Rally answered.

"Let's see. . . die from horrible disease, or lungs explode and legs give out. Tough decisions. . . Two slow, painful ways to die. One requires less effort. I'll stay with the chocobo."

"Good man." Rally said, "Die the real man's way."

The trip was largely uneventful, as there was nothing. Not even a sound. The birds didn't even bother to chirp. The echoes of moving armor vanished once Rally and Eloon were out of earshot. Silence.

"It's quiet. . ." Rally said, "Too quiet. . ."

"I hope saying that doesn't jinx it." Eloon said, "What I'd like is to not bleed today."

"Well if you can think of anything that'd help us, summon it up, summoner!" Rally answered.

"White Chocobo, Shiva, Ifrit, Ramauh. . . not off the top of my head. I could attempt to summon something I haven't practiced. . ."

"Nevermind, forget I asked." Rally said, "I heard what happens when summoners attempt that."

"Big possibility of sudden death."

"Because the summon will attack everyone. But humor me, what Defenders do you know of?"

Eloon listed them off rapidly, "There's the four I just mentioned, Titan, Leviathan, Golem, Hydra, Valefor, Gilgamesh, Odin, Bahamut, Tiamat, Arthur. . ."

"Do you just, like, memorize these in summoner school or something?" Rally asked.

"Well it's common knowledge to every summoner that there are thirty-two Defenders."

"Wow. What would happen if they were all summoned at once?"

"I don't know, really, and I wouldn't like to be the summoner to find out. That's one of the reasons that a summoner can only perform one summon at a time."

"Hey, how is it that summons rarely fail? I mean, there's got to be like at least a thousand summoners on this planet, what if two summon at the same time?"

"Well, Defenders have to partition their power. Back when the Defenders were first used to be summoned, they allowed all their power to their summoners. As the number of summoners grew, the Defenders had to divide up their powers so they can have separate avatars in different places."

"So let's say, the Shiva you summoned back in the desert. She would have like a tenth of her power?"

"More like a thousandth."

"Wow. . ." Rally gaped in awe, allowing a bug to fly into his open mouth. Rally garbled and spit it out. Eloon grinned with implied amusement.

Rally wiped his mouth. When he changed his attention back to the road, he quickly said "Halt!"

Eloon's chocobo stopped suddenly, causing Eloon to collide with the back of its head. "Ow! What is it!"

"Shh! Up ahead, do you see what I see?"

The King of Thieves was not happy, to say the least. "That's the last time we ever hold a contest as such in the desert." He said to his adviser.

"We've always held the contest in dangerous environments." The adviser told him, riding a chocobo beside the King of Thieves's, "If we started holding them in more controlled areas, we'd be vulnerable to attacks more likely than not."

"Yes, I know. But nearly the same thing happened five years ago. . ."

"It would have been worse had that flying contraption not shown up."

"That flying contraption. It picked up two men, I seem to recall glancing back at them. . ."

"They were not entered into the contest."

"How malicious of them. I ought to give them a prize or something."

"I believe they were spies, or agents, sir."

"Spies? From which country, do you think?"

"The young one with blond hair was obviously Salrian."

"And his partner, too?"

"Well, it was the darndest thing, I was sure I saw that exact same man for sale by a slaver who was attending. . ."

"So where is he from?"

"The slaver had just passed out of Marticia. . ."

"So a Salrian and a Martician are working together?"

An arrow landed at their feet, startling their chocobos. They bucked and backed up.

"The King of Thieves has been waylaid by travelers!" Rally yelled from the top of the hill, "That's brilliant irony right there."

"You!" The King of Thieves replied.

"Yes, me. I'm surprised you're still alive, you know."

"As it is such, you're still a thorn in my side!"

"Aww, I didn't know you cared. Seems like the Sand Worm was a much more significant threat than me."

The King of Thieves drew his sword, "You're only getting in my way now, so stand aside!"

"That's not too necessary. You should be running away like little girls in just a second now."

The King of Thieves and his adviser both glanced at each other briefly. "What?"

The Defender Ifrit bounded from over the hill, landing with a loud crash just in front of the two. The King of Thieves gaped. His eye twitched. He and his adviser suddenly bout-faced and fled as fast as their Chocobos could take them.

"Not so tough." Rally said.

"When he knows what he's facing, he's formidable." Eloon said, then called back Ifrit. "Hopefully, we won't run into him again."

Rally sighed.

"What is it?" Eloon asked.

"I just have this foreboding sense that we should have killed him right here."

"Rally, report." Cicuna said as the squadron approached the Wheat Fields.

"Believe it or not, we ran into the King of Thieves." Rally said, tugging the reins of his Chocobo's harness to get it to walk beside Cicuna.

"I thought he was killed."

"Apparently not." Rally said.

"So did you get rid of him?"

"Yes, sir. Other than that, the road is clear until the temple."

"Any trouble spots at all?"

"There's a riot in Moss Terrain City, but that's about twenty miles from the trail, so just be careful. Bahamut Valley is blowing harsh winds down, so I'd recommend taking the alternate trail from checkpoint seven to checkpoint eight, just in case a dust storm picks up."

"I will do so. What about the temple itself, have you been up there?"

"Not yet, we got as far as the base of the mountain."

"This time I want you to give me a report of what's happening inside the temple before we approach Wind Mountain."

"Will do so, sir. I'll report earlier if I see the riot get out of hand."

"Very good. Now off with you."

Rally turned down the road and sped off. Eloon began to follow, but Cicuna said to him, "Hold fast, summoner."

"What is it?"

"Do you know about the use of magic in the temple areas?"

"Not particularly. Is it dangerous?"

"More than dangerous. Anything cast within the confines of the temples are multiplied greatly, especially in the presence of a crystal. If you're not careful, it'll get out of hand."

"Thank you for the warning. . ." Eloon said, and nodded to him before he, too, about faced to catch up with Rally down the road.

"I don't see why people think Cicuna is a bad person," Eloon said to Rally, "A little straightforward and commanding, but he's awfully nice."

"If you disagree with him, he's nasty," Rally said, "What did he stop you for?"

"Just a warning about using magic in the temple."

"I've heard stories about that. . ."

"Give me the worst example, just as a deterrent."

"There was this wizard who tried to seize the power of the crystals 50 years ago, attacked the Temple of Fire. Inside it, he cast a spell of Waterga. . . an everyone within ten miles just vanished."

"If everyone vanished, how do they know he cast Waterga?"

"There's a time recording orb within every temple, which was looked over when one of the monks who guarded the temple returned from a journey."

"That's rather interesting. How come I haven't heard about any of this?"

"It's always kept hush-hush from the general public, so there's never any panic. Well, not too much panic."

"Then how do you know about it?"

"Because my father was the one who spied it out, when he was a special agent to the king."

The two dismounted at the base of Wind Mountain. Rally unpacked his saddlebag, revealing a pilgrimage cloak for him and for Eloon.

"That's rather handy." Eloon said.

"I figured we might have to scout out the temple beforehand, so I brought along two of these. Put them on."

The two robed up and began the ascension of the mountain to the Temple of Wind. It wasn't much of an ascension, the mountain's trail was a rather easy slope, and the mountain was not that tall. At the summit, they came upon the entrance to the temple, which was a hundred feet or so tall, lined with nine white pillars of hewed stone. Rally made his entrance, the doorkeeper said to them, "Where are you pilgrims going?"

"To see the first great crystal of our voyage." Rally replied. He'd read about these customary questions in a book about the crystals. They were much like low level passwords, only not entirely stupid like the ones of Salrian Palace.

"What have the skies told you?"

"That the crystal is beyond the valley." This reply made it sound like Rally lived just on the other side of Bahamut Valley.

"Where will you go?"

"Across the Great Sea toward the remains of the Holy Land." That would be the point in ancient Ivalice where the Earth Crystal was kept.

"Enter in peace."

"May the Defenders aid you always."

Eloon and Rally walked inside the temple when the doors opened. "That was really cheesy." Eloon said flatly.

"Well, you can't really expect it to be loose and be riddled with slang and such. . ."

"But of course."

The main chamber of the temple arced up into a massive dome, pillars on every side for support. The oculus at the top looked down on the Wind Crystal, which filtered green light throughout the room. Rally, dwarfed by the altar it stood upon, walked up to the central prayer ring slowly, his hands folded. Eloon did the same.

The prayer ring was marked the same way as a monster ward, as a red pentagram containing lit candles at each point around the ring, at least large enough to fit one man within. Rally kneeled down before the crystal and said, "May the Defenders bless this planet forever, amen." Eloon did the same.

"Seems safe enough here." Eloon whispered to Rally.

"Right, but let's wait until Cicuna is within eyesight before we report to him. . ."

"Seems rather dull, actually. . ."

"Don't jinx it."

"May I ask again what we're doing here?" The adviser asked of the King of Thieves.

"It's very simple," he replied, "All we need to do is pretend that we're nomads from Bahamut Valley, and we plea with the head of the Wind Temple to restore our camp which was destroyed."

"The head of the Wind Temple never allows such things. . ."

"That's where this comes in." He held up an amulet, "this device right here ensures total cooperation."

"Where did you get that?"

"You don't become the King of Thieves without obtaining the most useful treasure."

"May I at least ask why we're doing this?"

"Bahamut Valley is the most secure area we've been at, but the event was. . . unfortunate."

"I thought we had put up a ward against monsters around the camp, which is strange."

"Sand doesn't hold a ward too well, which is the other key element of this plan. The head of the Wind Temple knows that, so when he restores the camp he'll put up a permanent protection for my tent plus a nice big radius for it, and viola, no more monster problems."

"Brilliant, sir."

"I know, isn't it?"

"Cicuna's army is approaching. . ." Eloon whispered to Rally, looking off the summit from the upper floor of the temple.

"Good, let's. . ." Rally was stopped mid sentence when he saw two figures ascending the mountain. "Something's wrong."

"What is it? How do you know?"

"Those two climbing the mountain aren't wearing pilgrimage robes."

"Maybe they're just travelers. . ."

"Possibly, but. . ." Rally pulled out his spyglass, "The King of Thieves and his advisor."

"What, again? How many times are we going to run into them?"

"With what luck, they were headed here the entire time. . . take the alternate path down and report to Cicuna, I'll make sure that they don't do anything stupid. . ."

"That was such a bust, kupo. . ." Kopu said, lounging on the saddle of his Chocobo, "If it wasn't for that idiot. . ."

"He seemed awfully battle smart for an idiot, he just interefered with our plans. . ." Diamond said, walking alongside him, "Ruby, where are we now?"

"We're near the Wind Mountain," Ruby answered, looking at her map, "where the Wind Crystal is kept."

"Looks like it's about to rain." Kopu said, "Maybe we can get shelter there?"

"Seeing as how monks are usually benevolent like that, I don't see any reason why not." Diamond replied. He leaned over to read a road sign, "This path right here looks good, the main path is about a half mile away. . ."

There was a sharp whistle in the air. A man in monk's robes sped down the path, when a Chocobo suddenly sprang up from around the mountainside. All three of the thieves were knocked aside as the man mounted the chocobo in one bound and took off towards the south. Warky squawked.

"How rude!" Diamond said, "I wonder what that was all about."

"Did he seem familiar to you?" Kopu asked.

"Not particularly," Ruby answered, looking up at the sky, "We better hurry before the path gets muddy."

"How fare you, traveler?" Asked the gatekeeper. The questions were different if the visitor was not wearing pilgrimage clothes."

"We wish to see the head of the temple," The King of Thieves replied.

"The High Priest only sees those who bear a gift."

"We bear a gift," said the King of Thieves, holding up the medallion.

"Enter and be well, traveler, you may pass to the right corridor only. You must not pass into the Sacred Chamber with any obstructive magic, under penalty of execution."

"Very well, we shall keep that in mind." He bowed respectfully to the gatekeeper and walked inside.

Rally, watching the procession from the second floor, wondered curiously what they were up to. "Maybe I should have killed them. . ."

And Eloon charged off toward Cicuna with the news.