Chapter 6: The Man in Black Fled Across the Desert and the Summoner Followed....
The Antlions cave was east of Damcyan. Damcyan was the herritage of Baron. All of the Baron settlers had originated from Damcyan. The one-hundred or so people trekked across the deserts for over a month. God knows what they were looking for. Actually even He would have some trouble pinpointing their objective. Now Damcyan was almost empty. It's region covered the Damcyan desert down to Kaipo, with a mountain range cutting the region in two. Damcyan itself was just a castle. No villiage, and there were very few people living in the castle. It wasn't like Baron in any way, shape or form. Cecil was glad of this fact.
The hot morning sun hammered Cecil's amour. He was hasty in his movement across the desert. Rosa's pain fuelled him to go on further into the desert. No matter what, he would get the Desert Light for her. Rydia has trouble catching up to her gaurdian. Cecil was taking long strides but Rydia was running. Running and still lagging behind Cecil.
"Hey, Cecil.... Can we stop for a rest?" Rydia asked, hopefully. Hope is easy, but sooner or later, reality crushes you with a swift kick in the gut.
"No. You should have stayed in Kaipo, Rydia." Cecil did not want to be delayed at all. Time meant Rosa's life. Time was something he couldn't throw away.
"Come on Cecil. Don't be mean." Rydia said.
"Don't guilt me, Rydia. Rosa's life is on the line here. I will save her or die trying."
"You really like Rosa, huh?" Rydia asked inquisatively.
"I love her more than anything else on the world...."
"I thought so. Does she love you?"
"I hope so." Cecil began. "We've known each other for so long..." Although Cecil had known Rosa all of his life, they had only been friends since they started school. In thier teenage years, Rosa had a rough patch with Cecil and Kain. The two friends were always fighting over her, and it made her feel like shit. She always liked Cecil however. Kain just wanted to fight with anyone, or so Rosa seemed to believe. Although Cecil was sometimes a little sceptical of Rosa's feelings towords him, they were always there.
"Well, she did come all the way out to Kaipo, didn't she?" Rydai said, breaking Cecil's concentration. Cecil didn't reply though. Rydia pondered if it was really possible to love someone so anti-social. Cecil was always a nice man to Rydia. He didn't know he was killing her mother. If he would have known, he probably wouldn't have even fought her. He just wanted to finsh the 'mission' and, in turn, end up killing all of the summoners in the world. Only Rydia was left. Unless, of course she 'mated,' but, to be honest, the thought repulsed her.
The gentle sound of scraping metal sounded in the Kaipo desert as Cecil unsheathed his sword. He turned back to Rydia.
"You get ready too," he whispered to her. She couldn't see anything. Just a shadow in the distance. It was miles away from where they were. Almost instantly, the distant shadow wasn't so distant anymore. It was coming close quickly. Cecil raised his sword and thrust it forward. The moth crumpled up it's wings before dropping off of Cecils blade. In the distance however, there were more shadows.
An army of monsters were travelling south.... Travelling towards Kaipo. Rydia took the time she had to fill he quiver, while Cecil let her use his sheild. He only hoped that she would survive. "Rydia! Shoot them down!" Cecil yelled. He knew that she had a good shot. She lined up her arrow and shot. A shadow in the distance went down. Cecil was lucky that she had so many arrows. There were still a heinous amount of creatures in the distance. Another arrow flew past Cecils head before striking a creature in the stomache. It was an army of Desert Sahagins. The march stopped. Every creature turned to look at thier fallen comrade. The one who seemed to be their leader Raised a long jagged rock, which was probably used as a weapon. A battle cry echoed across the desert and the force charged towards the two. Did they stand a chance?
Rydia took down two monsters, followed by another two. It made fuck all difference though. Cecil took a deep breath before the fight began. The stench of death was in the air. Cecil gagged and clutched his weapon tighly. Cecil jabbed his sword out in front of him. It killed to of the army. He swung the blade in an obtuse angle, decapitating three. Rydia was holding up well, herself. so far ten of the enemy had faced her hand of doom. Until the 'commander' came. He was armoured in leather, with a chest plate of steel. The weapon he held was blackened and charred, as if he tried to forge the rock into a decent weapon. Rydia closed her eyes.
Drassh neear, gondiar thiielen gi dra warrtar, Gtier Bahamut. Uo hagh fola guh uo niidean who halh. Drassh neearne kallahja....
Hear me, great god of the summons, King Bahamut. I am small and I need your help. Hear my plead....
A single gut splitting sound peirced the air. Rydia opened her eyes. An Imp was pulling it's blade out of the Sahagins throat. there were only ten Sahagins left, and Cecil made light work of them. A familiar voice spoke.
"Yesh. Ootshite waold ish feery nishe. Daark niite not li to Drollendarrk. Cecil turned around, but only to see the bloodied corpses of his enemies. Drol had saved him from an almost certain death of Rydia.
Cecil examined the commanders equippment. There was the rock 'blade', some good armour and, of all things, money. Quite a bit of it, too. almost 3000 gil. He put it in his bag and sat down.
"Sit down Rydia. Have something to drink." Cecil said. Rydia was rather shaken by the fight. They came through rather unscratched, with all odd's stacked against them.
"That'll slow us down."
"Weren't you just complaining about how we never get to rest?" Rydia looked at the ground. She had a little bit of water, and some dried Sahagin." Cecil chuckled to himself quitely. After slaying so many Sahagin she would still eat one in an instant.
Then Cecil's mind wondered to the equippment of the enemy. Why would the vile thing need money of all things? And what the hell did he 'craft' his weapon with? Did they even have leather in the desert? He got up and began to run towards the mountain range ahead of them.
"Cecil! WAIT FOR ME!" Rydia yelled at the dark knight. She could catch up to him though, due to the adrenaline of the previous fight.
Nightfall came on them quickly. Because of their quick pace, they were almost at the mountain range, and out of the Southern Damcyan desert. But they couldn't rest. There was nowhere safe for them to do so. It's not like the journy to Mist. There were plenty of trees to sleep in, and safe places came conveniently at sunset.
"Are you hungry Rydia?" Cecil asked her.
"No, Cecil." Rydia said. It was obvious that she was lying to him. She had kept on all day, running through the desert. Not once did she complain, bar the start.
"Well, have something to eat anyway. We've done well, Rydia." Cecil sat down in the soft sand. "Shall we sleep tonight? Or go through the cave?" Rydia yawned. It was obvious what she wanted to do, but what if she got sick? When someone uses the phrase: 'When hell freezes over,' after being to the Southern Damcyan desert, that wasn't such an unlikely concept. So that's one case of Desert Fever, would you like Pnuemonia with that? "Shall we get to the mountains before we rest?"
"Can't we rest now?" Rydia moaned.
"Yeah, but there'll be shelter at the mountains. Do you want another army of monsters coming after you in your sleep?" Rydia remained silent. "It'll only take another hour to get there." Rydia opened her mouth in disbelief and yelled.
"An hour!?" She'd just had to walk fo ten, and Cecil wanted another?
"Yes, an hour would see us off of the desert, at least, then we rest for the next day, the day that will take us through the mountains..."
"How long till we get to Damcyan?"
"Well, it'll only take two or three days, if we continue at this pace. If we stop now, and at this same time everyday, that'll take time off. Not to mention the risk of a Desert Sahagin dissemboweling us while we..."
"OKAY! WE'LL KEEP GOING!" Shrieked Rydia, horrified. Cecil showed an evil grin.
"That's what I like to hear..." Cecil chuckled and gathered their things. The shock tactics he had used had worked. He was almost certain that the majority of Desert Sahagins had been wiped out in the previous onslaught, but this dark warning had gotten him some attention.
I know, it's a pretty pitiful chapter. Especially when I haven't updated at all in what seems like forever. To be honest, I wasn't thinking of continuing it at all. I need more CC, or it will stay at this (rather low, IMO) standard, and hey, at least I would be fueled to write the next chapter! so PLEASE CC my fic. You know you want to :naughty:
You may have noticed that I have added little titles to the chapters. I have done so with the other chapter, as well as brought up their standard, but I haven't posted them yet. Cookie to anyone who gets the Stephen King reference in the chapter title!!!!