*sheepish* Hiii... Yeah, a shitty couple of weeks means no chapter in the
end that affects you. Yeah so instead of talking myself into a bad mood,
a funny thing happened, at least, by comparison. As you know, I'm subjecting
my fellows in the fiction workshop to this story. A group of them have signed
a petition:
"We the undersigned vote that TABITO be killed off and that RAVEN be installed in his place: (5 signatures)"
Tabito: Yeah, that figures.
TSE: Who gave you permission to speak?
Raven: So does that mean I get to be queen... or does it just mean I get more script time?
TSE: You shut up too!
Anyway, I agreed to present that also to you also that you may sign it as you wish or create a counter-petition if you so desire. In any event,
~Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gege koku no bara mo shôgaku tori ni keri
{Even the wild roses of a downtrodden land reach enlightenment.}
(a haiku by Issa, translator unknown)
In the light of the morning sun, Amarant stared intently into the distance, doing his best to pick out the white sails as they neared the lightening on the horizon that marked land. He had made certain that his own sails were blue so that they would remain undetected.
"Can you pick up the speed at all?" he called down to Beatrix. "This may seem funny, but it looks like they're going to try to land on the Forgotten Continent."
"But there's no place to land on the Forgotten Continent!"
"Yeah," his reply was lost in the wind. Nevertheless, Beatrix tightened the sails and their speed increased considerably.
"Don't forget to watch for rocks!" They skimmed over the waves and straight for the looming cliffs. They arrived just in time to see that the ship they were following had continued around to the other side of the continent. Amarant jumped down from his perch in the crow's nest and came over to where the general was at the helm.
"If there really is a place for them to dock around here, we can't very well dock in the same place."
"Very true," she nodded. "I believe you wish to suggest something."
"Yes, you drop anchor here, and I'll run ahead and see where they're off to. If I wave my arms when I come back, bring the anchor back up so we can continue the chase."
"Are you certain you can climb that?" Beatrix asked as she turned her face towards the cliff.
"You're not as young as you used to be either," he snapped as he strapped the Dragon's Claws onto the back of his hand. With an extraordinary bound, he launched himself onto the cliff-face, and forcing the claws of a long-dead monster into the rock, proceeded to climb with ease.
"Touché," Beatrix shrugged and went to drop the anchor.
Amarant ran across the jut in the cliff to the other side, hoping he could catch a glimpse of the ship again. When he reached the edge of the plateau, he looked around. Sure enough, the white-sailed ship was still doggedly following the coastline. The tall redhead cut across the open plain, towards Ipsen's Castle, if he remembered correctly. Then again, how could he forget? He would never forgive Zidane for sparing his life a second time, and yet he could not thank the man enough.
Shaking the image of two-mouthed Cerberus hounds from his mind, he continued on his way, and actually altered his path so that it veered towards the giant crater that was home to the upside-down castle that had been discovered by the adventurer Ipsen, but never explored by him. The earthen walls around the castle made ninety-degree angles with the floor, and were at places even steeper than this. This was generally said to have been caused by an earthquake, but, having been to the place himself, Amarant was inclined to believe it was the work of the underworld, for he also believed that the castle had once belonged to Odin, the death god. Having all this in mind, the former bounty hunter was thoroughly surprised by the sight that befell him when he reached the mouth of his hell.
The floor of the crater was full of camps of men. Armed men, at that. But armed was the least that they should have been, considering the Cerberus hellhounds and the tonberries that should have been wandering around. However, there were no monsters to be seen, only an army of men. What the hell is going on? he wondered. Then he noticed the stairs. A wide set of stairs that led from the surface of the plateau all the way down into the floor of the crater was positioned on the far side of the chasm. On the side the ship had been going toward, he noted. He truly doubted any coincidence in that.
As stealthily and speedily as possible, Amarant ran around the hole in the plateau towards a cleft in the cliff by the ocean. After about a half an hour of slipping unnoticed through the grasslands and brushes, he arrived at the edge of the Forgotten Continent. Sure as he was standing there, the white ship was docked in a man-made harbor, along with five other ships, all armed with cannons. He considered the meaning of this for a few minutes before he realized that his quarry was probably already well on their way to the stairway into the crater. So, returning to his stealth running, a skill he was quickly remembering from his bounty hunting days, he pursued the passengers of the white ship, hoping he might gain an idea of who was behind this and why.
After slinking into the cover of a bunch of boulders that were within earshot of the top of the stairs, Amarant discovered that he had at some point overtaken his prey. So he caught his breath as silently as possible as he took a moment to survey the welcoming committee. A collection of armored soldiers stood at attention around the only entrance to their camp. A little ways from this group stood a man wearing no armor, just a uniform that was black in color. He had a shag of brown hair on his head that made his age somewhat difficult to guess. While the others stood stock still, he shifted his weight and scratched at his knee. I guess he's in charge, Amarant thought as he looked around the other side of his rock to see if the crew from the ship was in sight. They were.
The approaching band was small and motley, for although a couple of them were soldiers like the ones on guard the rest were a spattering of seamen. But the one dressed in a red cloak had a different air to him. Being a man of a very pale complexion himself, if Amarant could call someone white, they were white. But it wasn't the lack of color in the approaching individual that made Amarant hide himself deeper into the rocks. It was something that Amarant could recall but not place.
"Had a good trip?" asked the uniformed man as the approaching crew drew to a stop before him.
"Good enough," the white one shrugged.
"Good," the other rolled his eyes and then turned to the guards. "Escort these down."
"Yes, captain," he saluted and then did as he was bided. The captain, however, stepped off to the side.
"Come, Seraphim," he waved the white man over casually as he began to walk in Amarant's direction.
"I'm not your dog," muttered Seraphim as he followed.
"I didn't suggest that you were," the captain cocked an eyebrow at him. He looked to be in his early forties, now that he was close enough for Amarant to tell. "I'm not Shido, you know."
"The whole 'I control the mage from hell' thing has completely gone to his head," he grunted and ran his hands through his hair as he pulled his upper body into a stretch. This revealed his face to the hidden spy, who was somewhat shocked to find that it was a flawless face of a relatively handsome man in his twenties. That it had been kept completely covered by his hair had led Amarant to assume it was disfigured.
"It'll be over soon," the conversation continued.
"You're not supposed to say that," the now grinning Seraphim said in a singsong voice.
"No, I'm not. But I can't possibly believe that you won't make him pay for treating you like dirt."
"You tell him this?"
"No more than I tell you what he thinks," the captain struck an innocent face.
"You don't have to tell me," the albino stretched his arms out in front of himself. "He seriously couldn't spring for an airship?"
"Yeah, I figured that would tick you off."
"So it goes. Speaking of things Shido doesn't know, how's the queen?"
"She was fine when I took food down a few days ago, so I assume she's still fine," the captain replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Things did not go according to plan."
"I suspected that much," the captain nodded, "which is why I pulled you aside to begin with. Maybe I'm not supposed to know why, but we've been put on alert. Isn't that early?"
"I don't mind telling you," Seraphim replied, stopping only a few yards past Amarant's hiding place. "And if Shido didn't want you to know, he shouldn't have shipped me back by boat."
"Goodie."
"Unexpectedly, the heir to the throne pulled a fast one out of that castle. Made it all the way to New Bran Bal, even."
"Talk about unexpected," the captain did not sound all that impressed. "Mikoto's harboring him, right?"
"Yes, but that's the light side of it," Seraphim shook his head. "Our impatient Lord Mart slew the little one."
"Oops."
"'Oops' doesn't even begin to cover it," he growled.
"What…has he been discovered?"
"Hardly. Our fellows of power think the queen is dead, and therefore the fewer people that might claim the throne, the better. My guess is it's only a matter of time until we get the leeway to go take out New Bran Bal."
"That's early…"
"Yes, it is," Seraphim agreed.
"Seraphim," the older man placed a hand on the younger's shoulder, drawing a glare from him, "are you sure you're all right with that?"
"Tch," the albino pulled away. "I'm not that sentimental."
"So you say," the captain slipped the rejected hand into his pocket.
"I'll do what I must," he replied evenly. "And I'll become the apocalypse if I must." He then marched off for the entrance to the crater, his red cloak billowing majestically behind him. The captain, much to Amarant's chagrin, remained behind and in deep thought. If he's going to keep me like this, the least he could do is think aloud, he complained inwardly.
After what seemed like hours, Amarant's potential enemy decided to return to the camp where he came from. He then cautiously began to make his way back to where Beatrix had dropped anchor, all the while pondering what he had heard. He could barely see what he was doing when he began to descend the cliff, for there was only one moon and the nearly diminished sunlight. This did not faze him much, though.
"Well?" Beatrix prodded as she got up from her position on her back, from which she had been watching the top of the cliff the whole time he was gone. Smirking at her professionalism, he proceeded to relate what he had overhead.
"They have her Majesty?" she confirmed when he had finished.
"Seems that way."
"I must find her then."
"Is that the best move?"
"That was what Tabito ordered of me," she replied, "and I will see it out."
"So you don't care that it's not the best move," Amarant grunted as he seated himself. Since she said nothing, he kept talking. "What do you want to do?"
"I shall remain here and see if I cannot uncover the queen, while you go back to Lindblum and alert Regent Eiko to your findings."
"You comfortable being left here alone? There're at least five hundred armed men here."
"Should I be worried?" She drew the holy sword Save-the-Queen from its place at her side and its lethal edge glowed dimly in the moonlight.
"Suit yourself," he shrugged.
"Once I find her, we can easily steal one of their ships. There's no army I could possibly fear once I have Queen Garnet by my side."
"Maybe not an army, but there's that one guy. You can't miss him; he looks like a dead guy with a decent bleach job."
"Really," she lifted her good eyebrow.
"Yup."
"Well, then," she shook her head. "Let us spend the night here, and tomorrow you can get me up that cliff before you head back."
"Will do," he agreed and went below deck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may noticed that my style has changed somewhat. You may not. If you did, and didn't like it, please let me know, because it has changed under the influence of a teacher that I do not like. However, if you like the changes, let me know that as well.
"We the undersigned vote that TABITO be killed off and that RAVEN be installed in his place: (5 signatures)"
Tabito: Yeah, that figures.
TSE: Who gave you permission to speak?
Raven: So does that mean I get to be queen... or does it just mean I get more script time?
TSE: You shut up too!
Anyway, I agreed to present that also to you also that you may sign it as you wish or create a counter-petition if you so desire. In any event,
~Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gege koku no bara mo shôgaku tori ni keri
{Even the wild roses of a downtrodden land reach enlightenment.}
(a haiku by Issa, translator unknown)
In the light of the morning sun, Amarant stared intently into the distance, doing his best to pick out the white sails as they neared the lightening on the horizon that marked land. He had made certain that his own sails were blue so that they would remain undetected.
"Can you pick up the speed at all?" he called down to Beatrix. "This may seem funny, but it looks like they're going to try to land on the Forgotten Continent."
"But there's no place to land on the Forgotten Continent!"
"Yeah," his reply was lost in the wind. Nevertheless, Beatrix tightened the sails and their speed increased considerably.
"Don't forget to watch for rocks!" They skimmed over the waves and straight for the looming cliffs. They arrived just in time to see that the ship they were following had continued around to the other side of the continent. Amarant jumped down from his perch in the crow's nest and came over to where the general was at the helm.
"If there really is a place for them to dock around here, we can't very well dock in the same place."
"Very true," she nodded. "I believe you wish to suggest something."
"Yes, you drop anchor here, and I'll run ahead and see where they're off to. If I wave my arms when I come back, bring the anchor back up so we can continue the chase."
"Are you certain you can climb that?" Beatrix asked as she turned her face towards the cliff.
"You're not as young as you used to be either," he snapped as he strapped the Dragon's Claws onto the back of his hand. With an extraordinary bound, he launched himself onto the cliff-face, and forcing the claws of a long-dead monster into the rock, proceeded to climb with ease.
"Touché," Beatrix shrugged and went to drop the anchor.
Amarant ran across the jut in the cliff to the other side, hoping he could catch a glimpse of the ship again. When he reached the edge of the plateau, he looked around. Sure enough, the white-sailed ship was still doggedly following the coastline. The tall redhead cut across the open plain, towards Ipsen's Castle, if he remembered correctly. Then again, how could he forget? He would never forgive Zidane for sparing his life a second time, and yet he could not thank the man enough.
Shaking the image of two-mouthed Cerberus hounds from his mind, he continued on his way, and actually altered his path so that it veered towards the giant crater that was home to the upside-down castle that had been discovered by the adventurer Ipsen, but never explored by him. The earthen walls around the castle made ninety-degree angles with the floor, and were at places even steeper than this. This was generally said to have been caused by an earthquake, but, having been to the place himself, Amarant was inclined to believe it was the work of the underworld, for he also believed that the castle had once belonged to Odin, the death god. Having all this in mind, the former bounty hunter was thoroughly surprised by the sight that befell him when he reached the mouth of his hell.
The floor of the crater was full of camps of men. Armed men, at that. But armed was the least that they should have been, considering the Cerberus hellhounds and the tonberries that should have been wandering around. However, there were no monsters to be seen, only an army of men. What the hell is going on? he wondered. Then he noticed the stairs. A wide set of stairs that led from the surface of the plateau all the way down into the floor of the crater was positioned on the far side of the chasm. On the side the ship had been going toward, he noted. He truly doubted any coincidence in that.
As stealthily and speedily as possible, Amarant ran around the hole in the plateau towards a cleft in the cliff by the ocean. After about a half an hour of slipping unnoticed through the grasslands and brushes, he arrived at the edge of the Forgotten Continent. Sure as he was standing there, the white ship was docked in a man-made harbor, along with five other ships, all armed with cannons. He considered the meaning of this for a few minutes before he realized that his quarry was probably already well on their way to the stairway into the crater. So, returning to his stealth running, a skill he was quickly remembering from his bounty hunting days, he pursued the passengers of the white ship, hoping he might gain an idea of who was behind this and why.
After slinking into the cover of a bunch of boulders that were within earshot of the top of the stairs, Amarant discovered that he had at some point overtaken his prey. So he caught his breath as silently as possible as he took a moment to survey the welcoming committee. A collection of armored soldiers stood at attention around the only entrance to their camp. A little ways from this group stood a man wearing no armor, just a uniform that was black in color. He had a shag of brown hair on his head that made his age somewhat difficult to guess. While the others stood stock still, he shifted his weight and scratched at his knee. I guess he's in charge, Amarant thought as he looked around the other side of his rock to see if the crew from the ship was in sight. They were.
The approaching band was small and motley, for although a couple of them were soldiers like the ones on guard the rest were a spattering of seamen. But the one dressed in a red cloak had a different air to him. Being a man of a very pale complexion himself, if Amarant could call someone white, they were white. But it wasn't the lack of color in the approaching individual that made Amarant hide himself deeper into the rocks. It was something that Amarant could recall but not place.
"Had a good trip?" asked the uniformed man as the approaching crew drew to a stop before him.
"Good enough," the white one shrugged.
"Good," the other rolled his eyes and then turned to the guards. "Escort these down."
"Yes, captain," he saluted and then did as he was bided. The captain, however, stepped off to the side.
"Come, Seraphim," he waved the white man over casually as he began to walk in Amarant's direction.
"I'm not your dog," muttered Seraphim as he followed.
"I didn't suggest that you were," the captain cocked an eyebrow at him. He looked to be in his early forties, now that he was close enough for Amarant to tell. "I'm not Shido, you know."
"The whole 'I control the mage from hell' thing has completely gone to his head," he grunted and ran his hands through his hair as he pulled his upper body into a stretch. This revealed his face to the hidden spy, who was somewhat shocked to find that it was a flawless face of a relatively handsome man in his twenties. That it had been kept completely covered by his hair had led Amarant to assume it was disfigured.
"It'll be over soon," the conversation continued.
"You're not supposed to say that," the now grinning Seraphim said in a singsong voice.
"No, I'm not. But I can't possibly believe that you won't make him pay for treating you like dirt."
"You tell him this?"
"No more than I tell you what he thinks," the captain struck an innocent face.
"You don't have to tell me," the albino stretched his arms out in front of himself. "He seriously couldn't spring for an airship?"
"Yeah, I figured that would tick you off."
"So it goes. Speaking of things Shido doesn't know, how's the queen?"
"She was fine when I took food down a few days ago, so I assume she's still fine," the captain replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Things did not go according to plan."
"I suspected that much," the captain nodded, "which is why I pulled you aside to begin with. Maybe I'm not supposed to know why, but we've been put on alert. Isn't that early?"
"I don't mind telling you," Seraphim replied, stopping only a few yards past Amarant's hiding place. "And if Shido didn't want you to know, he shouldn't have shipped me back by boat."
"Goodie."
"Unexpectedly, the heir to the throne pulled a fast one out of that castle. Made it all the way to New Bran Bal, even."
"Talk about unexpected," the captain did not sound all that impressed. "Mikoto's harboring him, right?"
"Yes, but that's the light side of it," Seraphim shook his head. "Our impatient Lord Mart slew the little one."
"Oops."
"'Oops' doesn't even begin to cover it," he growled.
"What…has he been discovered?"
"Hardly. Our fellows of power think the queen is dead, and therefore the fewer people that might claim the throne, the better. My guess is it's only a matter of time until we get the leeway to go take out New Bran Bal."
"That's early…"
"Yes, it is," Seraphim agreed.
"Seraphim," the older man placed a hand on the younger's shoulder, drawing a glare from him, "are you sure you're all right with that?"
"Tch," the albino pulled away. "I'm not that sentimental."
"So you say," the captain slipped the rejected hand into his pocket.
"I'll do what I must," he replied evenly. "And I'll become the apocalypse if I must." He then marched off for the entrance to the crater, his red cloak billowing majestically behind him. The captain, much to Amarant's chagrin, remained behind and in deep thought. If he's going to keep me like this, the least he could do is think aloud, he complained inwardly.
After what seemed like hours, Amarant's potential enemy decided to return to the camp where he came from. He then cautiously began to make his way back to where Beatrix had dropped anchor, all the while pondering what he had heard. He could barely see what he was doing when he began to descend the cliff, for there was only one moon and the nearly diminished sunlight. This did not faze him much, though.
"Well?" Beatrix prodded as she got up from her position on her back, from which she had been watching the top of the cliff the whole time he was gone. Smirking at her professionalism, he proceeded to relate what he had overhead.
"They have her Majesty?" she confirmed when he had finished.
"Seems that way."
"I must find her then."
"Is that the best move?"
"That was what Tabito ordered of me," she replied, "and I will see it out."
"So you don't care that it's not the best move," Amarant grunted as he seated himself. Since she said nothing, he kept talking. "What do you want to do?"
"I shall remain here and see if I cannot uncover the queen, while you go back to Lindblum and alert Regent Eiko to your findings."
"You comfortable being left here alone? There're at least five hundred armed men here."
"Should I be worried?" She drew the holy sword Save-the-Queen from its place at her side and its lethal edge glowed dimly in the moonlight.
"Suit yourself," he shrugged.
"Once I find her, we can easily steal one of their ships. There's no army I could possibly fear once I have Queen Garnet by my side."
"Maybe not an army, but there's that one guy. You can't miss him; he looks like a dead guy with a decent bleach job."
"Really," she lifted her good eyebrow.
"Yup."
"Well, then," she shook her head. "Let us spend the night here, and tomorrow you can get me up that cliff before you head back."
"Will do," he agreed and went below deck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may noticed that my style has changed somewhat. You may not. If you did, and didn't like it, please let me know, because it has changed under the influence of a teacher that I do not like. However, if you like the changes, let me know that as well.