Regarding Updates: I know I've said that I'll try to be a little more regular about my updates, but I'm going to lose a steady internet connection this next week since I'm moving. I'll be drifting for most of December, but I'll be settled in again and have a consistant internet connection in early January. In the mean time I'll try to keep this story going as best I can and update when I can get on.
As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames will be laughed at.
Chapter 5
Cecil and his companions walked through the streets of Kaipo once more, this time walking into town in the morning. It had been several days since they had left in search of the Sand Ruby to cure Rosa's illness, and the dark knight hoped against hope that they were not too late. Down the sand-filled streets they walked, drawing curious stared because of their uncommon manner of dress. At the far end of town, the group found the house they were looking for: the home of the village doctor, the place where Rosa was being cared for. Cecil all but ran into the house with the Sand Ruby.
"Ah, you're back," the doctor said upon seeing the dark knight, "I'm sorry, but your friend is still not well."
"Here, use this," Cecil told the doctor, holding the Sand Ruby out for the doctor to take.
"A Sand Ruby! How did you manage to get tha..." the doctor said, cutting himself off when he saw Prince Edward walk into the house.
"Prince Edward!" the doctor said while bowing, "Why do you honor us with your presence?"
"I'm...ah...helping these people for now," the prince told the doctor, obviously not comfortable with being recognized as the prince.
"Very well," the doctor replied, not yet satisfied with the given answer yet not wanting to anger one of the rulers of the land, "I suppose I should get to work on distilling a proper medicine from this Sand Ruby. You four can stay here if you like."
"Thank you for your kind offer," Edward quickly said to the doctor before Cecil managed to do much more than open his mouth, "I think I'll stay here and play my harp for a while. I can watch Rydia if you want, Cecil."
"I'm going to head to the bar and grab a drink or three," Kain told the others, briefly glancing at Rosa as he did so.
The dragoon began removing his armor, carefully placing it in a pile in one of the corners of the doctor's house.
Cecil's gaze rested on Rosa's face for quite a while before he finally said, "I'll join Kain at the bar. I'll be back shortly."
The dark knight removed his armor as well, and placed it in a pile near Kain's. The two knights, now merely wearing some light tunics and trousers, walked out the door of the doctor's house. With Cecil's exit, the doctor's house was mostly quiet once more. The sounds of the doctor pounding the Sand Ruby into smaller pieces and then grinding it in his mortar and pestle filled the room. Edward looked over at Rydia, the young child from Mist, and spoke.
"Looks like it's just you and me, for now," the prince said to the young summoner, "Is there any particular song you'd like to listen to?"
The dark knight known as Cecil returned to the doctor's house after having a few drinks with Kain. Kain hadn't exactly been in a particularly social mood for some reason, not that Cecil could blame him.
'The three of us have known each other since we were kids,' Cecil thought, 'All those years playing together, hanging out together training together...after all that it's a wonder that we're not all closer than we actually are. Of course he's worried about Rosa, just as...I...am...'
As Cecil approached the doctor's house, the sweet notes of a harp made the air heavy with music. The song sounded familiar to Cecil for some reason, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Pondering this, he quietly opened the door and entered the building. Edward sat on a stool in the main room, and Rydia was sitting at his feet, hugging her knees, and listening to the music he was playing. Watching the scene, Cecil could have sworn that he saw a trace of a tear in the girl's eye. As the final strains of the melody faded into nothingness, Cecil began clapping. This sudden sound made Rydia, who had apparently not seen Cecil's entrance, jump.
"What a nice song, sounded familiar for some reason. What is it called?" Cecil asked the bard.
"It doesn't exactly have a real title, but I call it 'Phantom Memories,'" Edward said, "It's a piece that was supposed to have originated in the village of Mist. Rydia asked me to play it."
"I...see..." Cecil said, lost in thought, 'From the village of Mist!? Why is it so familiar to me, then? I'd never been there before I...burned it down.'
The knight's thoughts were interrupted by the doctor's voice.
"It's done!" the doctor exclaimed before cackling quite a bit, "Now for the moment of truth..."
The doctor walked over to Rosa, tilted her head back slightly and opened her mouth. He poured a rather nasty-looking mixture down her throat. The young woman coughed a few times since it did not all go down properly, but quieted down soon enough. The doctor returned to his chair and began to work some more on grinding down the Sand Ruby.
"That's it?" an incredulous dark knight asked the doctor.
"Yes, that's all. Now we just wait the medicine to kick in. You weren't expecting something flashy, like the girl waking up as soon as the medicine touched her, now did you?" the doctor replied.
"Well..."
"Hah! This isn't a storybook tale or anything!" the doctor said with a smirk, "I'm a doctor, I deal in medicine, not miracles! All potions take time to kick in, you know."
A still pause hung in the air. Cecil stared at Rosa, the doctor turned back to his work. Edward brought everyone back to the present with his voice.
"Anyone up for another song?"
Rosa awakened to the notes of a lullaby that her mother used to sing for her. Curious as to what was going on, she slowly opened her eyes. She found herself lying in a bed in a small room. An old man sat at a nearby desk, pounding away with a mortar and pestle. In an adjoining room she saw four figures. A man in colorful clothing befitting an entertainer in a royal court sat on a stool, playing a harp. The song he played was the lullaby that she had woken to the sounds of. At the man's feet sat a young girl with green hair. Near this girl sat a dark haired man wearing the tunic of a Knight of Baron. Finally, leaning against one of the walls was another man that looked to be a Knight of Baron, this one with golden hair.
"Ce...cil? ...Kain?" she said.
The doctor was the only one who heard her voice over Edward's song. He turned around, and upon seeing that her eyes were open, shouted to the others.
"She's awake!"
The sound of the harp stopped abruptly, the news snapping everyone to the immediate reality. The dark haired knight ran over to Rosa's bedside.
"Rosa!" the man cried out.
"Cecil? Cecil! You're alive!" Rosa said happily as tears began to form in her eyes.
"Rosa." was all that Cecil said as he embraced the woman he loved. Tears ran down his cheeks as well.
"Why are they crying?" Rydia asked softly, trying not to interrupt the scene before her, "I thought grownups weren't supposed to cry."
Kain didn't say a word. Rydia looked up at the knight and found that he was, in fact, looking away from the scene for some reason. She was about to ask Kain why he was looking away when Edward answered her original question.
"They're crying because they're happy," the bard told her, "This is one time when it's okay for grownups to cry."
"Because they're...happy?" Rydia said, crinkling her nose in her inability to understand this concept.
The bard saw this and replied, "You'll probably understand when you get older."
Cecil and Rosa, their tears of joy now spent, pulled away and looked at each other.
"How are you feeling?" Cecil asked her.
"I'm fine. What about you? I thought I'd lost you. Weren't you and Kain in Mist during the earthquake and landslide?" Rosa responded.
"Yeah, but we're fine now. I'm sorry to have worried you," Cecil said, his voice trailing off.
After a short period of silence, Cecil asked in a more serious tone of voice, "Rosa, who is Golbez? What sort of madness is going on in Baron?"
"Golbez?" Rosa said, thinking for a second before trying to answer Cecil's question, "He's the new captain of the Red Wings. He just appeared one day out of the blue, and suddenly the king appointed him to your old post. I think he's manipulating the king and trying to go after the crystals himself. He's already got Mysidia's Crystal of Water, so I'm sure he'll go after the other three."
Rosa fell into a fit of coughing after saying all this.
Hearing Rosa's comments, Edward spoke up, "The Crystal of Fire...is already in his hands."
Rosa looked at the man, then at the young girl standing nearby, and finally looked back at Cecil with a puzzled look on her face. Cecil understood her wordless question and answered her.
"That's Prince Edward of Damcyan. The little girl is Rydia, a summoner from Mist that I've been taking care of since the disasters at Mist. And Kain's back there somewhere, being his old grouchy self. All of them helped me get the Sand Ruby to cure your fever."
"A pleasure to meet you," Edward greeted her as he stepped forward and bowed.
Rydia walked up to Rosa's bedside and simply said, "Hi."
Kain, having now turned around since Cecil had brought him to Rosa's attention, said, "Glad to have you back, Rosa. You worried all of us."
Rosa laughed lightly and replied to all of these greetings, "Hello, Prince Edward...Rydia...Kain. Thank you all so much."
The white wizard turned once more to Cecil, and said, "Cecil, after Damcyan, the next easiest target for Golbez would be Fabul since the forests of Toroia are too thick to use airships effectively. We've got to..."
Before she could finish, Rosa once more fell into a fit of coughing.
"Don't worry about it, Rosa. We'll take care of it tomorrow. For now, you get some rest," Cecil told her.
"But to get to Fabul...we'll have to cross Mount Hobbs," Prince Edward said, mostly to himself, "But a few days ago I heard a report that the trail was blocked by a wall of ice..."
Rosa, ignoring Cecil's advice, sat up again and rejoined the conversation.
"Ice? That can be melted away with a simple fire spell. Rydia, can you cast Fire?"
For a moment, Rydia's face was filled with panic, but this was gone as soon as it had come. She looked away from the others, unsure of what to say or do.
"...No," is what she finally said, and this hesitantly.
Rosa was puzzled by this. She was trying to let Rydia be the hero, but...a summoner that couldn't cast a basic fire spell? Such a thing was unheard of.
"But Fire is the most basic of all the black magic spells," Rosa told the young girl, "You're a summoner, you should be able to cast that --"
She was unable to finish, falling again into a fit of coughing.
"Rosa, stop this!" Cecil pleaded with his loved one, "I know what you're trying to do. You're not coming with us...not in the condition you're in."
"I'll be fine, really," Rosa replied, trying desperately to convince Cecil, "I'm a white wizard, so I'm sure I wouldn't become a burden. I'll just use healing spells on myself."
She finally just broke down crying. She had come all this way to be with Cecil, only to be told to stay put.
Edward empathized with her, and spoke in her defense, "Cecil, Rosa just wants to be with you..."
'...Just like I wish to be with Anna right now,' Edward finished in his mind.
Edward's statement created in Cecil a whirlwind of emotion and memory. He remembered the events of these last few days: Rydia's tears of sorrow over her mother's dead body, his own internal breakdown when he found Rosa sick and possibly dying, Tellah's determination to save his daughter and Edward's pain and tears over the deaths of his family and future wife. He remembered all the emotions that had built up inside of him and caused him to go to any length to save Rosa, just so he could see her face full of life one more time.
"A...alright, she can come along," Cecil finally said with a voice full of emotion, "Rosa...just make sure you get enough rest tonight, please."
Rosa's tears stopped, and she looked up at Cecil, beaming.
"Cecil...thank you," she said, still trying to blink away her tears.
"Everyone, let's get some rest tonight. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Cecil said to everyone in the room.
Later that night, Edward found himself out by the waters of the oasis, softly strumming his harp while looking at the silver moon above and the shimmering waters below.
"Anna...I miss you so much," He said to the sky, "What do I do now?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow move. His instincts kicked in, so he hid behind a nearby bush until he got a better look at what was going on. From the waters of the oasis emerged a greenish humanoid with webbed appendages. It looked around and sniffed the air, as though looking for something.
'A Saihag!' Edward thought, 'What's it doing here?'
The beast continued to sniff the air, as though searching for something. Suddenly, it turned and began moving away from the bush Edward was hiding behind. Edward let out a soft sigh of relief. Then he saw what the monster was actually up to. A short distance away was a young girl with dark hair, oblivious to everything except the moon above. The Saihag was creeping up on the child, its fangs bared and claws raised, ready to either eat or maim the girl.
'No! Not the girl!'
The monster continued to gain on the girl, yet Edward found himself unable to do anything. All he could do was hide and watch the slaughter.
From the depths of his memory, something Cecil said the other day came to him, "You're now the rightful king of Damcyan, so grow up and act like it!"
'Act like a king. How do I do that?'
"You alone are left alive, so step up and lead," Cecil's voice echoed in his mind.
'Why? Why should I act like a king? Why should I lead?'
"You owe it to your parents, to your people, and most of all to Anna."
'Anna...'
Edward looked down, unable to look at the impending massacre any longer. Then he saw it, the sword. Somehow, Cecil's sword was lying at his side, a blade of darkness, but a weapon nonetheless.
'I will lead. I will protect my people. For Anna!'
The bard picked up the sword, and held it as best he could. Long ago, before he had begun learning how to be a bard, Edward had been trained in weapons of combat. The old instincts returned to him, and the weapon was suddenly like an extension of himself. Sword raised, he charged out of the bushes in a battle rage, running toward the monster that was about to threaten the child of Kaipo.
"FOR ANNA!" he shouted as his battle cry as he brought the blade down upon the beast.
The sword did not cleave through, but merely caused a gash in the creature's shoulder. The beast turned and bared it's claws and teeth at him. Then it lunged at him with its claws to tear out the prince's throat. Edward stepped backward to dodge the blow, and then brought the sword back around, toward the creature. The blow caught the Saihag on the side. Back and forth the two combatants fought. Dodge, parry, slash, lunge. The battle instincts returned to Edward as though it was yesterday that he learned them. As he fought on, Cecil's sword began to glow, dimly at first, but then brightly. With a final cry, Edward brought the sword down on the creature once more, and to his surprise, the sword cleaved through the beast completely. The monster fell to the ground, dead.
Edward panted deeply, the battle rage leaving him as quickly as it had come. He dropped the sword, and it clattered to the ground. The bard turned to see if the girl was alright, but to his surprise, she was no longer there. Rather, Anna stood in her place.
"Anna!" Edward cried out in joy, "Anna, this is just...too good to be true."
"Yes, it is," she replied sadly, "This is, after all, just a dream. I was able to use it to come back and say one last thing to you."
Edward listened and waited. His heart was full of sadness and happiness at once, sadness because this was just a dream, but happiness from being able to see Anna and hear her voice one more time.
His love continued, "You are the king now, and everyone in Damcyan and Kaipo is going to look to you for guidance. Edward, be strong and be brave, just like you were just now when you defended a girl from a monster. You loved me...now give your love to the people of your country."
With this said, she began to fade from sight.
"Anna! Don't go! I need you, I love you!" Edward shouted at the vanishing apparition.
"I love you too," he heard, "Please, for my sake, move on with your life. Goodbye...Edward..."
"ANNAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The next morning, Edward was the last one to wake. By the time he was out of bed and getting dressed, Cecil and Kain had already prepared their armor and headed out into town to get provisions for the upcoming journey. As he got ready for the day in silence, Edward thought deeply on the dream he had last night. Shortly after the two knights returned to the house, the five travelers left town and boarded the hovercraft. Once again, Edward piloted it.
"Cecil?" he called over his shoulder while he piloted.
There was no response.
"Cecil?" he again called, and again there was no response.
"Cecil!" he said a third time.
"He's not here," the voice of Kain replied, "He's...spending time with Rosa."
"Oh," Edward said blandly, his thoughts returning to Anna, "Perhaps you could help me, then."
"I doubt it, but go ahead, bard," Kain responded.
"Alright," Edward began, "What does it mean to ?"
"Courage?" Kain said, startled, "This coming from the guy who hid during fights when we were in the Antlion's Nest?"
"Yeah," Edward said slightly downcast, "I had a dream last night. It made me think."
"Dream? Tell me about it," Kain said, curious at what would cause such a change in the cowardly prince.
Edward told the dragoon everything about the dream. He told him about playing his harp under the moon, hiding from the Saihag and becoming filled with rage and fighting the Saihag. Finally, Edward got to the part about Anna.
"Then Anna appeared," Edward said, continuing his story, "And she told me to be strong and brave. To give my love to the people of my country."
"Hmm..." Kain said, thinking.
"What is it?" Edward pleaded.
"Well, I'm probably the last one who should be saying this, but let me tell you what my mentor told me about courage," Kain said, "He told me, 'Courage isn't just going out and fighting for your country. It's going out and facing your problems head on. I know plenty of knights who are renowned on the battlefield, but they're cowards because they fight as a way to run away from their problems.' That's the courage I'm trying to live up to, even if I fail at it most of the time."
Edward was shocked, both at the advice Kain had given him about courage and the things Kain had said about himself. From what he had seen, Kain was one of the most courageous people that Edward had ever met. The man fought viciously on the battlefield, fought on despite what the odds seemed to be, and even dared to fight against his own country in order to uphold the honor of the dragoons.
"Facing your problems head on..." Edward said to himself, not yet noticing that Kain had left the room, "Give my love to my country...Step up and lead..."
The group of travelers, with Cecil as their de facto leader, had finally arrived at the foot of Mount Hobbs. The mountain was mostly rocky, with plants being few and far between. A trail led up the mountain, up and across the mountain toward the Kingdom of Fabul. The group was just leaving the hovercraft and securing their backpacks when Edward decided to tell everyone what he had decided to do on the way over.
"Everyone!" The prince shouted.
All heads turned toward him, most of them bearing looks of curiosity. After all, Edward had never drawn everyone's attention to himself on purpose before.
"I...I'm not going with you," he stuttered out.
"What?"
"Why?"
"Come on, you're one of us!"
"Stop, please," Edward pleaded with the group, "This is what I need to do. I'm the King of Damcyan, now, and my people need me to lead them, especially with the castle in ruins. I'm not going to go with you to Fabul, because that would be just running away from my people when they most need me and the responsibilities of kingship. I'm not going to run from my problems, I'm going to face them head on."
Looks ranging from shock to pride appeared on the faces of his companions. None of them had expected this from Edward, not even Rosa.
Edward continued, "Cecil, thank you for showing me what it is to be a leader. Rydia, thank you for helping me realize that I wasn't the only one who has to deal with pain and sadness. Kain, thank you for telling me what courage is and for modeling it for me. Rosa, I didn't really get to know you, but please take care of everyone with your white magic...as my replacement."
All was still. Edward waited for the reaction of the others to his news. Cecil was still trying to process all that had happened. Kain was secretly glowing with pride in the cowardly prince finally growing a backbone. Rydia was a little confused and sad that Edward had to go away, especially since he knew the songs from her village. Rosa didn't quite know what to do since she had only met the bard the other day. Finally, Cecil spoke up.
"Well...we'll miss you, Edward," Cecil slowly began, "But if this is what you this is what you need to do, go for it. Sometimes I forget that someone needs to stay behind and clean up the messes we make after everyone else has gone on to the next thing. Good luck...King Edward."
Shock once again crossed the faces of the others. Cecil should have tried to convince him to stay, this wasn't like Cecil. Yet...it was what Cecil knew he had to say. Edward was right, Damcyan is in ruins still, and they need their king to lead them in picking up the shattered pieces of the kingdom and put them back together so that life could go on.
"Cecil?" Edward said as he took a ring off his finger and held it out to the dark knight, "Take this ring, please."
Cecil hesitantly took the ring and looked at it. It was a band of silver metal with a red jewel inset in it. There were all sorts of elaborate designs on the band, and the red jewel had some odd engravings in it as well.
"What's this?" Cecil asked.
"It's a token that my kingdom uses as a form of proof that the bearer carries with him the will and trust of Damcyan. Show it to the King of Fabul, and he'll receive you like ambassadors from Damcyan."
"Thank you, your highness," Cecil said with a stiff bow, all too aware of the official nature that this expedition was taking on.
"Please, call me Edward," the bard said with a short laugh.
"Farewell, Edward," Cecil said, still a bit formally, before picking up his backpack and heading up the trail.
When no one followed him, he turned around and said, "What are you waiting for? Come on, we need to help Fabul!"
The others slowly grabbed their packs, waved goodbye to Edward and fell in behind Cecil. Kain was the last to go, for he had one last thing to say to Edward before they left.
"Good job," the dragoon said before heading up the trail to the summit of Mount Hobbs, "I didn't know you actually had it in you."
Edward watched the others head up the trail, now confident that he had made the right choice. He waited for them for ten minutes to make sure that they managed to get through the ice. When he saw a bright flash of red light and the rising steam, he somehow knew that Rydia had made it through all right. The prince...no, king....smiled at this, got back into his hovercraft, and drove back to Kaipo where his people waited for him to lead them to the future.Comments to Reviewers
dragoonknight1: Thanks for telling me about the "three adventurers" mistype. I suppose I was thinking a bit too much about how the game actually played at that part while I was writing. That probably shows the value of actually reading over my work in detail before I post it. I'll be sure to correct it, and try to be more careful of these things in the future.
Reddo Meijisu: Glad you enjoyed Requiem. Honestly, it was originally a stand alone story that I got a flash of inspiration for about a week after I had finished up Chapter 4. After finishing it, though, I decided that it would make an excellent side story or interlude.
C. R. Carter: Thank you very, very much for the serious critique of chapter one. After going over it again, I will indeed admit that I seriously screwed it up. I'm trying to be a little less literal now and keep the story flowing, but description that borders on the excessive and overly detailed is something of my unique mark. I'm experimenting in some of my other stories with other styles, so we'll see if I can't get this to work better in the future. Now, as far as Rydia's mother goes, I'll consider writing another side story about that, but don't count on it. The plot for the entire story is basically written already, and more details of my vision of the village of Mist will play a role later on.