CHAPTER THREE
Into The Dungeon
Crono was at a loss as to what to do as he descended the stairs leading to the throne room. He was in such a haze he nearly ran right into Lucca. "Lucca! Am I glad to see you!"
"Crono, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." She glanced around. "Where's the girl?"
"That's what I want to talk to you about. She's gone, vanished, disappeared."
"Gone?! Great.it's just as I thought."
"What are you talking about?"
Lucca looked around the room as she talked. "This looks just like the castle of our time. That would explain why Marle was brought here. You see this is where Marle lives in our time."
Crono froze and stared at his friend. "Lucca, what exactly are you saying?"
"I'm saying, I knew I recognized her from somewhere. You see, she's princess Nadia."
"You have got to be kidding. You are kidding right?"
Lucca wasn't listening to him, she just kept talking. "In fact, she looks so much like Leene they probably called off the search when they found her. As I recall someone was supposed to save her, but history has been changed. And if the real queen is killed, without having any descendants, then Marle would have never existed."
"No way! Come on, we've got to find the queen!" He grabbed Lucca by the arm and dragged her to the front door.
"But where? We don't even know where to start looking."
"When I first arrived in this time I met a man at the inn named Toma. He told me that the queen first disappeared when she went to pray at the old cathedral."
"What cathedral?"
"The one that was torn down when we were seven, remember? That is the only cathedral I ever heard of."
"Well, I guess it's a start. Let's go."
So Lucca followed Crono out of the castle and through the woods surrounding it. They traveled west toward a small wooded area surrounding a small cathedral. They never knew what religion that was once worshipped here, now it was just a place to honor Gaia the goddess of creation.
Within the building the only light was that of candles burned at the ends of the seven sets of pews, and two candelas next to a stone alter in the back. Stained glass windows covered the side walls, and an organ sat in the corner. Amongst the pews stood three nuns in deep prayer, and one sat playing the organ, which was emitting an eerie tune.
"Crono I don't like the looks of this place."
"It's just a church. This is holy ground; even mystics don't attack these places."
"How do we know that? This building isn't here anymore in our time."
As they walked up to the alter, Crono noticed something small glittering on the ground. "What's this?" Puzzled he bent down and picked up the item.
"What did you find Crono?" He held it up to one of the candles for a better look. "A coral hairpin?" She took it and twisted it in her grasp. "What's this?" Lucca gasped out loud. "That's the Guardia's royal crest!"
"So the queen was here."
"Yes." Lucca exclaimed.
"Not that it matters to you." A voice said from behind them. "You won't be leaving here." The four nuns in the building now had them surrounded. Their flawless skin melted away to reveal the scaled tails of huge snakes and the misshapen forms of female elves with razor sharp talons and dripping vampiric fangs. "You will die here."
"Crono! Those are Nagaette's. They're mystics and they're nasty characters."
"Your time is over, submit to the mystics!" They all cried in unison.
"We don't have time for this!" Crono unsheathed his sword and swung it at the Nagaette to his right, cutting open her throat. Her blood sprayed the one that was closest to her before she fell dead to the floor. "Now that was gross."
"You wicked human! You will pay with your life!"
"Lucca? You did bring your air pistol right?"
As he finished his sentence the Nagaette that was sprayed fell dead with a smoking hole in her forehead. "Always! I never go on an adventure without it."
"Good!" Crono turned to his left and stared at one of the beasts. "Any last words?"
"Crono look out!"
He turned back to the other Nagaette just in time to get his sword arm in the way of its deadly claws. His sword was thrown to the ground and Crono staggered to one knee. "Now you die!"
"No you don't!" Lucca cried and fired her gun. Even before the beast fell she turned toward the last and fired again. Within seconds the final two were dead. "Are you okay Crono?"
"No problem, they didn't go very deep." He reached and picked his sword back up, placing it back in the sheath. "I don't think I like mystics very much."
"Yeah." Lucca put her gun away and walked back up to the alter. Suddenly a fifth Nagaette sprang from behind it and grabbed her around the throat.
"Lucca!"
"Don't move human! Or she will die!"
From the rafters a shadow dropped onto the mystic. "Be gone vile beast!" And the Nagaette was cleaved in two from head to tail. Lucca was thrown to the floor in the beast's death throes.
"Lucca are you okay?"
"Yes, but what happened?" They both turned to the figure as it turned toward them.
The figure turned out to be a frog the size of a human being. He was olive green in color with brown stripes on ether side of his face, and he had what could only be called antenna coming out of his cheeks. He wore plain tan pants and long sleeved shirt, with a deep forest green cape. He carried with him a bronze shield about a foot in diameter and a broadsword about as long as he was tall (which was around five foot eight). He was staring at them with his golden eyes for several moments before speaking.
"Do not let down thy guard. Thou art allowing the enemy in." Sheathing his sword at his waist he faced Crono directly. "Thou are a luck lad. Are thou here to save the queen?"
Crono didn't respond. Lucca however couldn't keep her mouth shut. "A talking frog? I don't like frogs."
"My guise doth not incur thy trust. Very well, do as thee please. But I shall save the queen." The frog snapped and turned away.
"Wait! I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." Lucca nervously turned to Crono. "What do you think Crono? Should we go with him?"
"Why you asking me?"
"Because it seemed like a good idea. You know more about fighting then I do!"
"Okay, okay don't blow a gasket. Honestly I think he could be a great help. If saving the queen will save Marle then I'm all for more help."
"Alright, I guess I'll have to live with it then." She turned and addressed the frog. "Nice to meet you, uh, mister froggy."
The frog turned toward her. "Frog will do mine lady." He let his eyes wander the room. "This place reeks of evil; the vile beast's lair is close. Let us look for a door to enter it by."
"But there's nothing her." Lucca whined.
"Thou never knows what may be found without a thorough search."
"Don't argue Lucca, just check everything." Shrugging Lucca began searching the rows of pews for anything out of the ordinary while Frog was examining the alter. Crono was in the process of looking over the pipes that jutted out of the top of the organ when he slipped and slammed his hands down on the keys. The sound that blasted from the pipes shook the dust from the rafters. Frog turned on him with venom in his eyes and ice in his voice.
"Foolish boy! Now all know we are here!" Lucca was just scowling at them both.
"Come on it wasn't that loud." Crono stuttered.
Before Frog could reply they all heard a rumble coming from the north wall on the other side of the alter. The wall itself slid down to reveal a small and very old wooden door. "Lad, thou have found it."
"Cool!" Crono grinned like an idiot. "Let's go."
"Thou art a strange boy."
Lucca looked at frog and replied. "You don't know the half of it."
Frog shrugged this off and motioned for the two to follow him through the door. Inside they found themselves standing in a large hall with a stairwell on both sides leading to landings with two doors on each. The hall ended with another stairwell topped with large double doors.
"So which way do we go guys?" Lucca questioned.
"We should go to the right mine lady."
"Why?"
"Because it is the only one that is guarded." Glancing around, sure enough it was the only one guarded. A pair of Gnashers, giant purple snakes some three feet tall was lying on the steps.
Just as the knight started to hop off Crono grabbed his arm. "Don't you think it would make more sense to check the unguarded sections first? They could hold clues to the queen's whereabouts. It's a lot better than getting into a fight and alerting the whole place to our presents."
"Thine words have merit lad." Frog let out a deep yet quiet sigh. "Lead the way."
"You know Crono. Sometimes you amaze me. Most of the time you are such an idiot."
"Hey! I resemble that remark." Crono's snicker even through his hand was still audible.
"Enough of thy meaningless blabber. We must be off."
Crono rolled his eyes and headed for the left staircase. On the landing he bypassed the first door and turned a corner toward a second door.
"Why didst thou pass the first door?"
""Because this one looks important." He pointed to the doorway which was blocked by a set of spikes. "Any idea how to get past this?" Frog glanced around and then settled his gaze onto a skull shaped sculpture upon the wall.
"Perhaps this is a clue." He moved his hand across the skull and then placed his fingers into the eyes. A soft click was heard, and the spikes began to slide into the floor. "As I had suspected."
"Not bad mister Frog."
"Please mine lady, just Frog."
"Sorry."
They trio turned and walked into the room. The room was circular with no windows save one high up and barred. A thin stream of light filtered down and shone upon an alter in the center of the room. Two of Guardia's soldier were in the room, one of them pacing, the other was sitting on the alter with a look of resignation on his face.
Crono walked up to the man on the alter. "Are you alright?"
"The man glanced up to him. "Inside this building, there's a room dedicated to magus..Heard something about treasure there.." The man's voice was hoarse from nonuse. He appeared to have given up all hope of escape.
"Y, you're humans aren't you?" Crono turned to the other soldier who seemed to have just noticed them and nodded. "They're hiding the queen in the back. Please save her."
Frog walked up to him. "We shall fellow knight. Take thine friend and leave this foul place."
The man nodded and grabbed his friend and dragged him out of the room. "Thank you sir Frog. I know you can do what we could not."
After they were gone Lucca spoke up. "Well we know where she is. Let's check the rest of the place out and see if we can find out who has her."
"True, to know thy enemy is thine best weapon against them."
The left the room and walked back toward the stairs. When they came across the first door Crono decided it was time to check it out. Like the first this room was also circular but instead of an alter in the center there were two bookshelves and a desk set against the far wall. They went up to the bookshelves and began to examine the titles. Lucca getting very bored, and finding nothing having to do with science in the book titles walked over to the desk. Nothing of interest was found on it so she pulled open the drawer. It was stuck. So she kicked it and the drawer popped out. Inside she found a Nagaette bromide (for those of you that don't know this is a nude picture).
"Yuck."
Then the door burst open and three mystic guards entered the room. They were fat as pigs, which they somewhat resembled, though without the snout, and they were wearing old rusted armor of long dead Guardian soldiers. "Hey guys! Humans!" the one on the right said.
"We can see that." The middle one replied. Then he glanced at Lucca and the picture she was holding. "They're after the bromide!"
The three growled and then the one on the left spoke. "Get them!"
Lucca watched as Crono and Frog drew their respective weapons and got into battle stance. She placed the photo into her pouch at her hip and pulled out her pistol. "Don't we ever get a break?" Just then the middle guard lunged at her, she was nearly hit but thank heavens the didn't have good aim. "Guess not." The dumb mystic had made a fatal mistake, because now he was in the direct line of fire. Lucca aimed and squeezed the trigger of her pistol. The beast was dead before he ever reached the floor.
Frog had also dispatched one of the by this time by jumping onto his head and impaling him on his sword.
Crono on the other hand was having a bit of trouble. "Lucca! Distract him! Frog when I say so run and slash at him from the right as I do so from the left!" Lucca jumped in front of the dumb beast and stuck out her tongue making funny sounds. On Crono's signal he and Frog dashed at it cutting with their sword along both sides in an X-STRIKE cleanly cutting him in half.
The beast's blood stained the floor red. Frog turned to Crono. "Lad that was an excellent idea. We should remember that one in the future, it could come in handy."
"Glad you liked it. When we want to use it lets just yell out X- STRIKE alright."
"That will work."
"Alright boys, enough male bonding. We have a queen to save."
Back in the hallway they decided to try the right stairwell. The Gnashers laying there hissed at them when they got close. In reply Lucca hissed back a little louder then they did drawing confused looks from the snakes. "Who are you? Are you here to se the statue?"
Lucca not knowing what else to say answered him with a yes.
"Very well. You may pass, but remember to remove your costumes before entering the chamber."
As they passed the snakes they glared at Frog. "Do I know you?"
"I do not believe so."
"I think I do, but I cannot be sure where." With one last hiss the Gnashers laid their heads down and started to doze.
This landing was the same as the fist as far as doors go, but this time Crono decided to enter the first door. This room appeared to be a dining room. A large table stood in the center, and it was covered in gore. They didn't even want to think about what or who it came from. Surrounding the table were three mystics, a Nagaette, a Gargoyle, and another of the guards. The three glanced up as Crono, Frog, and Lucca entered the room, but the gargoyle was the first to speak. "Buurp! Hey what's with the disguise? No need for them here." He turned back to the table and mumbled. "Almost my shift.Man I hate pretending to be human. It's so repulsive."
The Nagaette also decided to speak. "Buurp! The ones we ate recently weren't so bad. And those two soldiers we caught look rather plump and juicy." She snickered. "And one of them even has a broken spirit. Those ones always taste better."
The stupid guard was next to speak. "Yakra's so smart! His plan to capture the chancellor and take his place worked perfectly!" He barks out a deep throated laugh. "Now the queen's captive, and the castle's in an uproar. This is rich!" He began laughing in earnest now.
The Gargoyle observed this for a short time occasionally glancing at the three strangers. He growled low in his throat, too low for them to hear then spoke. "I'll look in on Magus's statue before my shift." Then he stood and strolled out the door.
Lucca whispered to her companions. "We should follow him. He might know something."
"Agreed lady Lucca."
"Just Lucca please."
They stepped out into the hall just in time to watch the Gargoyle turn the corner toward the door in the back. They followed him through this door, only to find when they opened it three humans. The queen, the king, and a guard.
"This is strange. What are they doing in here?" Crono asked. His only answers were shrugs from the other two.
Crono walked over to them and the guard spoke. "A.are you here to save the queen?"
"That's the general idea."
"Ah, what a relief!" As Crono turned to the King who was standing in the center of the room Lucca and Frog watched a sinister grin flash across the face of the guard.
Lucca whispered into Frogs ear. "I don't like this. Let's keep our eyes open." Frog nodded and returned to watching Crono, who was now speaking with the king.
"What are you doing here?"
The king just looked at him and smiled. "Nice of you to come. I'm sure Yakra will be just as pleased. Why not rest here until he's available?"
"Are you feeling okay?" He received no further words so he turned to the queen who was to the right of him. "Queen! What are you doing here?"
She also turned to him with a false smile. "There was no need for you to come rescue me. The master Yakra is very kind." Crono and his companions cringed as the queen blushed. "I've decided to stay here." She gestured to a small step in the back of the room. "Now why don't you make yourselves at home, too?"
Crono waved off the offer and glanced around the room. What he found was a small door in the right wall. "Guys. Let's go in here."
"You sure Crono?"
"Yes, anything is better than this room. These three are giving me the creeps."
"I must agree with the lad. Their air is wrong."
"Okay."
The three enter into another room; this one was like a hall. It had a large stained glass window high up on the back wall, casting a soft glow upon all the room. Below the window on a small podium stood a life sized statue of a man. The details weren't very clear from this range, but they could make out the long cloak, flowing hair and pointy ears.
Crono looked at Frog. "Any idea who that is?"
Frog said nothing, but continued to examine the room's layout. Within this room a group of five mystics, two Nagaettes and three Gargoyles (one of which they met in the dining hall) were sing to the statue.
"Ah.dearest Magus."
"Your flashing eyes.like.stars."
"And flowing.hair."
"Like waves atop the sea."
"No sad sunny day nor any frightful"
"Bright place can get us down"
"As long as you're near."
"There's nothing to fear."
"Magus, oh Magus"
"Our hero, Magus."
After the last verse they spun once and began again. Crono looked away back to his friends. "We should leave. The queen needs us." He was careful not to speak too loudly. So they turned and headed out the door.
"No need to rush off humans."
Startles they turned back. It was the Gargoyle from before who was addressing them. Then all five of the mystics spoke at once. "Come join us in singing your funeral dirge!" They all charged at them. The battle was over shortly after it began. Lucca got off two shots, killing a Gargoyle, Frog cut a Nagaette in half, and Crono did a spinning move which he aptly named CYCLONE and killed the other three. Their bodies fell in bloody heaps on the floor.
Lucca sighed and spoke. "I hate killing. Why do all the mystics have to be aggressive?"
"The mystics hate humans mine lady. It is how they are."
Crono pulled out a cloth from his pouch and wiped the blood from his blade before throwing the cloth to Frog so he could do the same. "Let's go. I want to get this over with."
They reentered the room with the three humans, and without saying a word they promptly left. Just in time to see them transform into Gnashers and leap at the door. Fortunately they were stupid and didn't realize the door opened the other way and knocked themselves out.
After returning to ground floor they walked down the center of the room and opened up the large double doors at the end. They opened up to another set of stairs, with a door at the top and walkways on both sides.
They decided to check the doorway right in front of them first. Inside there was a large room with an organ in one corner and a large chest in the other. The floor was covered in spikes.
"Alas, we can not go any farther. Let us try another way." Frog said downcast.
"No kidding! Those spikes could cause a problem." Crono was the only one who kept his silence.
They walked back out into the hallway and Crono turned to his right. "We should go this way."
"How come Crono?" Lucca replied.
"An odd saying I heard once. If you are pressed for a direction to go, you should turn in the direction of your dominant hand. And I just happen to be right handed."
"Strange saying, but I have none better. Lead the way lad."
"Crono, I always thought the saying was to go in the opposite direction of your dominant hand."
"Either way, we go this way."
"How come?"
"Because, when we first came in this hallway we were facing the other direction. So either way it would be the same direction."
"Okay, I guess that could be right.Never mind, this is making my head hurt. Let's just go."
So they walked along the right (left) walkway and found another set of steps, these leading down. Only a few feet but still down. When they stepped onto these the stairs flattened out, turning into a ramp, which the trio slid down to ground level. They all fell onto their butts at the bottom.
"Ouch." Lucca complained when she stood up rubbing her butt. She was promptly hushed. She followed her friends pointing fingers and saw a mystic guard sleeping on a stoop of another door. Covering her mouth she followed them through the door into another corridor.
"This cathedral is like a maze." Frog croaked. "One door leads into another long hall, and more doors." Sure enough at the end of this hall was another door, only this one had another of those skull sculptures on the wall next to it.
Crono was still glancing around the room. There were animals flying around near the ceiling. They appeared to be gigantic bats. "Let's just get out of here."
"What's wrong Crono?" Crono pointed to the ceiling at the bats, and Lucca cringed.
"That skull upon the wall looks like it could help." Frog pointed to the doorway. "Let us try."
The three walked over to the door and waited as Frog pressed the buttons in the skull's eyes. When they were pressed a pair of doors in the walls opened up. They were about the size of a cat door. Out of these doors came two more of the bats.
Lucca was visibly shaken. "Let's get out of here!" Not arguing with her they ran out the door. "I hate bats." Looking around they found that they were in another hall way, with what appeared should be a doorway halfway down. When they reached it they found it wasn't a door just a blank wall. Like they were planning to put a door there, but had decided against it. They did find a note on the wall though. It read "No Entry". Which was odd, where could they possibly be prohibited from entry? Shrugging they continued down the hall and found another door. "Hang on! If we take this door we'll be going the wrong direction!"
"How so?"
"Crono, this will take us back the way we came."
"What choice do we have? Maybe we can find some way to drop those spikes in the other room."
"He is right mine lady. Sometimes the only way to go forward is to go back." So they entered the door and found another hall similar to the one they had found the bats in. Only this one was not guarded. This room also had one of the skulls on the wall. "Let us try this one then." He pressed the buttons and everyone tensed, waiting for some sign of enemy attack. Instead they heard a rumbling from off to their right. "To mine ears that sounded like it came from the spike room. We should go check."
"But the stairs aren't there any more. We can't get back up."
Crono looked from one to the other. "Ever think that this way leads that direction?"
Lucca was flustered so she decided to shut up and follow their lead. They headed out the door opposite of them and came out next to a stairwell leading back up. Lucca just shook her head. I hate it when Crono is right. They walked up the steps and down a small hall, and sure enough they were back where they started. Right in front of them stood the door that led to the spike room. "Let's go in then."
Inside they found that the spikes had indeed been dropped, however there were now a pair of guards as well. They turned to the humans and growled deep in their throats. "You must be the ones that dropped our thorns! You will pay for this!"
Lucca just huffed. "If those were thorns I'm a boy-chasing ditz."
Then the guards attacked. Lucca pulled out her gun and pushed and few buttons and turned a dial on the back, then she pulled the trigger. A beam of fire exploded from the barrel, charring one of the guards into nothing but ashes. The other blanched and looked at Lucca.
She grinned evilly at him. "I like to call that my FLAME TOSS! Do you want to know how it feels?" The guard got over his fear and turned it into unbridled rage, leaping at Lucca and knocking her down. "Aaak! Crono! Frog! Help!"
Crono jumped and embedded his sword to the hilt in the guard's skull. The guard was dead immediately. Crono held it in place with his sword as Lucca crawled out from under it, and then he pulled out his blade and let the corpse fall. Crono wiped his blade off on the guard's clothes and walked off toward the organ, his face grim.
"Crono are you okay?"
"The lad is not used to killing with his blade. He hast never been in battles like these before."
"I've never been in battles before! Period! I didn't learn to use a sword for this."
"No one ever does lad. But this happens, and thou must work through it. It can make you stronger or weaker, the choice is yours. Now let us finish our mission."
Crono huffed and looked at the organ. "This worked once before, it might work again." He pressed a few of the keys. The organ let out a loud tone, it sounded almost like moaning. As the notes died they heard the sound of another door opening deep in the building. "Just a hunch but I bet a door is sitting where that note was."
"I believe thou are right. We should go back."
"Let's not take the slide this time. My butt can't take it." Lucca whined.
"Sure but one thing first."
"Like what Crono?" Crono pointed to the other corner of the room, to a large chest. "Oh I see, you want to know what is inside of the box.
Crono walked up and opened the chest and pulled out five small bottles of blue liquid. "What in the world are these?"
Frog walked up and looked at them. "I believe they are called tonics. They heal minor wounds."
"No kidding?" Crono uncorked one of them and poured a little on the cuts on his arm. He watched amazed as they healed up right before his eyes. "Wow!"
"Twas foolish boy. Those could have been poison."
Lucca jumped in. "But you said they were tonics."
"I said I believe they were tonics. That did not mean I knew for sure!"
"Shut up! It worked, that's all that matters." He poured what was left of the bottle on his shoulder wound and it too healed up. "Now that I have full movement back we can continue."
"Thou are foolish. Next time don't be so reckless."
They left the room and made their way back to the wall that had the note attached to it. A door now stood in the center of the section of wall. "Wow Crono you were right." Crono just nodded and opened the door. They were now in another long corridor, except this one had a deep hole with a thin bridge spanning the gap. Also on the edges of the room stood four guards and two Nagaettes in a half doze. "Now what?"
Crono looked from Lucca to Frog. Frog nodded to him and spoke. "We run then?"
Nodding Crono turned and sprinted across the bridge to the door beyond. Frog and Lucca followed suit, and they were soon across the gap and storming through the door.
They froze still in the shadows next to the door. The room was huge, and square in shape. A large table stood at the back with and a large chest sat next to it. They also saw two figures standing next to it. One in front of the desk, the other in back. The one behind the desk appeared to be the Chancellor, which means the other one must be.
The silence of the room was broken when the Chancellor spoke. "Prepare yourself, Queen Leene." With this Frog ran forward sword drawn. He stopped next to Leene in front of the table. "You! How did you get in here?"
Crono could hardly believe how much Leene resembled Marle, but then again they are related. Leene yelled. "Frog!"
"Majesty, stand back and allow us the honor!"
Leene nods to Frog. "Be careful!" Then she runs and hides in the shadows near the doorway.
The Chancellor watches her go then looks back at the group. "Gyah, ha, ha.It's useless to fight! No one will leave here alive!" The Chancellor jumps over the table and lands right in front of the group causing them to scatter. "Stupid frog! It's time you jumped of this mortal coil!" The Chancellor raised his hands in a wide gesture. "True-form.CHANGE!!"
He begins spinning in tight circles while lightning crackles around his form. His body bloats up like a corpse, and then explodes leaving behind a monstrosity. Standing before them was what could only be described as a cross between a bull and a beetle. Its body was a disgusting brownish yellow in color, and appeared to be a type of exoskeleton. He had a half a dozen small claw like legs protruding from his sides, which were a grotesque slime green color. But the part that really got to the group was his head. He had large bull horns coming out of his head, and he had a dripping muzzle rimed by twin pairs of insect-like mandibles, that were covered in a green venom or poison of some sort. He had some type of holes upon his back, their purpose was lost on the trio, but they knew it was for nothing good.
"Eeew! What is this thing?"
"Filthy human. I am the mighty Yakra! Now you will be sacrificed to the great Magus!" Yakra hacked and spat a glob of black goop at Lucca. Unable to dodge in time, it struck her and literally glued her to the wall.
"Lucca!"
"Watch out Crono, he's fast!" She could still move her head, but the rest of her body was immobile.
"You should worry about yourselves humans. You will be next." With surprising speed Yakra charged Crono. His only reward was the pain of a katanna blade along the side of his body.
Yakra howled at the pain of the wound and could feel his life blood oozing down his side. The holes on his back were opened wide and he shot a large spine in the direction of the pinned Lucca. "Now she will pay for your crime!"
"NOOOO!" Crono yelled and threw his sword, connecting with the spine before it reached Lucca. But now Crono was unarmed.
"Fool!" Yakra leapt at Crono again. With no weapon he had no way of beating Yakra, and he didn't have the time to get out of the way, he was to close. The impact knocked the wind out of the boy, but he was able to roll with it and keep his wits. But he was still injured a little; one of Yakra's horns had scratched his arm. Then Frog was on top of the beast, stabbing away with his sword.
"Run boy! Retrieve thy sword!"
Crono needed no further prompting; he rolled away and stood up. He ran over to his sword and dislodged it from the spike turning back to Frog. Frog was now on the other side of Yakra parallel to Crono. "Frog!"
"Aye?"
"X-STRIKE!"
"Agreed!" Yakra couldn't figure out what they meant with that strange phrase and he didn't care. His master would be pleased with the death of this frog. Then the frog held his sword out and dashed strait toward him. And from the other side the red haired boy was doing the same. The realization hit Yakra that he was in trouble at the same time the swords did. In a heartbeat the two were behind him, holding bloody swords. His blood! Yakra tried to turn and face them, but when he did only his upper half turned. The other half stayed where it was, and then his body fell apart, sending Yakra's mind into a deep darkness. The abyss of death.
After Yakra fell Crono ran over to where Lucca was pinned. "It's dry now Crono. You can cut it away." Crono very carefully cut away the dried goop from his friend. Shortly she was freed. "Eeew, gross! First thing I am going to do when I get home is take a shower." Frog was standing close by and grinned at that comment.
Then Queen Leene came back out of the shadows. "You came to rescue me! Thank you Frog!"
Frog turned to her and knelt. "The king awaits. Let us return to the castle." He looked to his comrades and his throat started to flap in a very frog-like fashion. "I thank thee Crono and Lucca."
The queen nodded at this. "Yes, thank you so much. Please join us."
"We thank you Queen." Was Lucca's response. Crono just nodded. Leene walked back in the direction of the door. Then the group heard a faint sound coming from the chest next to the table. "Crono? What was that?"
"Don't know." Signaling the others to stay put Crono walked over and carefully opened the chest. As soon as it was opened the real Chancellor leapt out.
"Phew, thank you! That monster stuffed me in there! Oh!" The Chancellor ran in the direction of the door yelling the whole way. "Your highness! As you can see, I am undamaged!"
"I am glad." The trio walked to the door with the Queen and Chancellor. "Let's return to the castle now. I am tired."
"Yes my queen, I agree with thee." Frog replied, and they walked out the door.
Within a short period of time they were back in the castle throne room. The king was nearly in tears. "You had me worried, Leene."
The chancellor was still steaming at this time. "That no good Yakra! Impersonating me and kidnapping the Queen! We MUST create a criminal justice system to do away with such fiends."
"You have my permission for such an endeavor Chancellor."
"Thank you my king."
Frog who was silent through this exchange spoke now. I failed to protect Queen Leene. I hath disgraces thee." He then turned and started to walk out.
"Frog!"
Frog turned back to the queen and kneels down. "Be well my queen." With a croak he leaves the room.
The king watched him go and then at the broken face of his wife. With a sigh he looks back at Crono and Lucca. "Thank you, Crono. But.who was that girl we found in the canyon?"
The queen picked up on the conversation. "Your timing was perfect. Who knows what would have happened had you not saved me! By the way, where is the girl who was mistaken for me?"
Crono blanched and Lucca nearly jumped out of her skin. "Oh, yeah! I forgot all about Princess Nadia!" She turned swiftly to Crono. "Crono! Where did Princess Nadia disappear? She may still be there!"
"In the Queen's room." He replied and looked to the queen.
"Go then." He nodded to her and took off to the east tower, top floor.
When they reached the top there was a blue glow covering everything, even the air had a blue tint. It was like being in a dream. The maids whom Crono had met before were scared out of their minds, what was preventing them from screaming, anyone could guess. Luuca was intrigued, but Crono just blew past her and ran into the queen's chambers. The source of the light could be seen in exactly the same place Marle had stood before. It was all coming together and concentrating itself. Crono pulled out Marle's pendant and held it out to the source. In a bright flash the blue light faded, and standing with a bewildered look on her face was Marle. Whole and unhurt.
"Huh? What happened?"
Lucca ran halfway to her and stopped. "Princess Nadia!"
Marle didn't see her. Her eyes rimmed with tears were locked on Crono's. "Crono!" She ran up to him and grabs him around the neck. Then her legs seemed to lose their strength and she dropped to the ground pulling him with her. The she began to cry. "It was awful.I can't recall it all.I was somewhere cold, dark.and lonely. Is that what it's like to.die?" Her strength came back and they both stood back up.
"I'm glad your back Marle." Marle smiled at him.
Then Lucca walked over and knelt beside her. "Welcome back, Princess Nadia!"
Marle looked to her with her dazzling blue eyes and smiled. "You risked your life to help me, too?" Then a look of bewilderment crossed her face. "Princess.Nadia.?!...Uh oh." She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. "I guess you guys figured it out, huh?" She planted her eyes on the floor. "Sorry, Crono. I didn't mean to deceive you." Marle looked Crono in the eye, then turned and walked to the window and looked out. "I'm Princess Nadia. My father is King Guardia XXXIII. I really enjoyed being with you at the fair. But if you had known my identity." She turned around and ran up to Crono with desperate eyes. "Crono, you wouldn't have shown me around the, right?" A single tear fell from her eye and hung on her cheek.
Crono wiped the tear away. "You're wrong. I don't care of you're a princess."
Marle literally jumped for joy. "Oh, Crono! That's why I like you!" Crono blushed, which caused Marle to giggle. "The real queen's safe, right? So let's go home Crono! Okay Lucca!"
"Sure thing." Lucca replied.
They made their way back to the throne room where they talked to the royal family one last time. The king was happy to see the young woman. "Thank goodness, you're safe!! You may resemble Leene, but you sure don't act like her! Anyway, you've really helped me. Let me know how I can repay you." Then Marle walked up to the queen and spoke.
"You're the real Queen Leene, huh?!"
The queen was looking her over. "You could be my twin."
"Well, you two better get along.or I'll be in big trouble. I'll keep my fingers crossed!"
The king and queen looked at each other then Leene addressed Marle. "Excuse me?"
"Um.never mind. I guess its time to go!" Marle grabbed Crono and Lucca by the arms and drug them out the door, all the time smiling at the queen.
Upon the steps of the foyer the found Frog. When he spotted them he spoke. "'Twas a fault of mine, which endangered the queen. I shall depart for good." He noticed Marle and walked up to her and looked her over.
"Eeek!" She squeaked.
"Indeed, your resemblance to the queen is uncanny." Frog tuned and walked halfway to the door, then addressed Crono. "Crono, you hath potential to be a good swordsman!" He then hoped out the door.
Lucca took a few steps forward and spoke to the vanished knight. ".Froggy, you weren't such a bad guy either." She turned back to Crono and Marle. "Let's go home."
They left the castle and made their way back to the canyon, and back to where the portal had dropped them. Marle looked around at the empty clearing. "How do we get home?"
Lucca was shuffling though her bag. "You're Highness, er, Princess.we."
Marle waved her hands around in frustration. "Please call me Marle!"
"Well then, Marle.observe!" She pulled out a small scepter that resembled an old spatula crossed with a door key, waved it around a little and a glowing blue portal opened up.
Marle jumped back. "Wow! Lucca! You're amazing!"
Crono's mouth was agape and said nothing. Lucca on the other hand did. Ain't it the truth!" She laughed for a bit the calmed herself. "Oh, um.I mean."
"Marle spread her hands out in a wide gesture. "Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!"
Crono nodded at that statement. He chose not to add anything; this was a chat between the girls.
Lucca coughed. "Well, if you say so.Anyway, I call this thing a gate." She gestured to the blue opening. "It's a kind of portal, that takes you to the same location in a different era. Gates are very unstable, so I used the principle behind my Telepod device.to create a "Gate Key". Now we can use them as we please." She holds up the odd scepter.
Marle was still confused. "But why did this Gate suddenly appear?"
Lucca looked thoughtful. "Either the Telepod had something to do with it, or.something else made it."
Crono dropped to the ground. "This is making my head hurt." He whined.
"Get up Crono." Marle said. "This is getting pretty weird. Let's at least head back to our own time!"
Lucca perked up. "All right! Coming Crono?"
Crono stood up and all three of them jumped into the Gate and were whisked away back to their own time.
END OF CHAPTER 3
Crono was at a loss as to what to do as he descended the stairs leading to the throne room. He was in such a haze he nearly ran right into Lucca. "Lucca! Am I glad to see you!"
"Crono, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." She glanced around. "Where's the girl?"
"That's what I want to talk to you about. She's gone, vanished, disappeared."
"Gone?! Great.it's just as I thought."
"What are you talking about?"
Lucca looked around the room as she talked. "This looks just like the castle of our time. That would explain why Marle was brought here. You see this is where Marle lives in our time."
Crono froze and stared at his friend. "Lucca, what exactly are you saying?"
"I'm saying, I knew I recognized her from somewhere. You see, she's princess Nadia."
"You have got to be kidding. You are kidding right?"
Lucca wasn't listening to him, she just kept talking. "In fact, she looks so much like Leene they probably called off the search when they found her. As I recall someone was supposed to save her, but history has been changed. And if the real queen is killed, without having any descendants, then Marle would have never existed."
"No way! Come on, we've got to find the queen!" He grabbed Lucca by the arm and dragged her to the front door.
"But where? We don't even know where to start looking."
"When I first arrived in this time I met a man at the inn named Toma. He told me that the queen first disappeared when she went to pray at the old cathedral."
"What cathedral?"
"The one that was torn down when we were seven, remember? That is the only cathedral I ever heard of."
"Well, I guess it's a start. Let's go."
So Lucca followed Crono out of the castle and through the woods surrounding it. They traveled west toward a small wooded area surrounding a small cathedral. They never knew what religion that was once worshipped here, now it was just a place to honor Gaia the goddess of creation.
Within the building the only light was that of candles burned at the ends of the seven sets of pews, and two candelas next to a stone alter in the back. Stained glass windows covered the side walls, and an organ sat in the corner. Amongst the pews stood three nuns in deep prayer, and one sat playing the organ, which was emitting an eerie tune.
"Crono I don't like the looks of this place."
"It's just a church. This is holy ground; even mystics don't attack these places."
"How do we know that? This building isn't here anymore in our time."
As they walked up to the alter, Crono noticed something small glittering on the ground. "What's this?" Puzzled he bent down and picked up the item.
"What did you find Crono?" He held it up to one of the candles for a better look. "A coral hairpin?" She took it and twisted it in her grasp. "What's this?" Lucca gasped out loud. "That's the Guardia's royal crest!"
"So the queen was here."
"Yes." Lucca exclaimed.
"Not that it matters to you." A voice said from behind them. "You won't be leaving here." The four nuns in the building now had them surrounded. Their flawless skin melted away to reveal the scaled tails of huge snakes and the misshapen forms of female elves with razor sharp talons and dripping vampiric fangs. "You will die here."
"Crono! Those are Nagaette's. They're mystics and they're nasty characters."
"Your time is over, submit to the mystics!" They all cried in unison.
"We don't have time for this!" Crono unsheathed his sword and swung it at the Nagaette to his right, cutting open her throat. Her blood sprayed the one that was closest to her before she fell dead to the floor. "Now that was gross."
"You wicked human! You will pay with your life!"
"Lucca? You did bring your air pistol right?"
As he finished his sentence the Nagaette that was sprayed fell dead with a smoking hole in her forehead. "Always! I never go on an adventure without it."
"Good!" Crono turned to his left and stared at one of the beasts. "Any last words?"
"Crono look out!"
He turned back to the other Nagaette just in time to get his sword arm in the way of its deadly claws. His sword was thrown to the ground and Crono staggered to one knee. "Now you die!"
"No you don't!" Lucca cried and fired her gun. Even before the beast fell she turned toward the last and fired again. Within seconds the final two were dead. "Are you okay Crono?"
"No problem, they didn't go very deep." He reached and picked his sword back up, placing it back in the sheath. "I don't think I like mystics very much."
"Yeah." Lucca put her gun away and walked back up to the alter. Suddenly a fifth Nagaette sprang from behind it and grabbed her around the throat.
"Lucca!"
"Don't move human! Or she will die!"
From the rafters a shadow dropped onto the mystic. "Be gone vile beast!" And the Nagaette was cleaved in two from head to tail. Lucca was thrown to the floor in the beast's death throes.
"Lucca are you okay?"
"Yes, but what happened?" They both turned to the figure as it turned toward them.
The figure turned out to be a frog the size of a human being. He was olive green in color with brown stripes on ether side of his face, and he had what could only be called antenna coming out of his cheeks. He wore plain tan pants and long sleeved shirt, with a deep forest green cape. He carried with him a bronze shield about a foot in diameter and a broadsword about as long as he was tall (which was around five foot eight). He was staring at them with his golden eyes for several moments before speaking.
"Do not let down thy guard. Thou art allowing the enemy in." Sheathing his sword at his waist he faced Crono directly. "Thou are a luck lad. Are thou here to save the queen?"
Crono didn't respond. Lucca however couldn't keep her mouth shut. "A talking frog? I don't like frogs."
"My guise doth not incur thy trust. Very well, do as thee please. But I shall save the queen." The frog snapped and turned away.
"Wait! I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." Lucca nervously turned to Crono. "What do you think Crono? Should we go with him?"
"Why you asking me?"
"Because it seemed like a good idea. You know more about fighting then I do!"
"Okay, okay don't blow a gasket. Honestly I think he could be a great help. If saving the queen will save Marle then I'm all for more help."
"Alright, I guess I'll have to live with it then." She turned and addressed the frog. "Nice to meet you, uh, mister froggy."
The frog turned toward her. "Frog will do mine lady." He let his eyes wander the room. "This place reeks of evil; the vile beast's lair is close. Let us look for a door to enter it by."
"But there's nothing her." Lucca whined.
"Thou never knows what may be found without a thorough search."
"Don't argue Lucca, just check everything." Shrugging Lucca began searching the rows of pews for anything out of the ordinary while Frog was examining the alter. Crono was in the process of looking over the pipes that jutted out of the top of the organ when he slipped and slammed his hands down on the keys. The sound that blasted from the pipes shook the dust from the rafters. Frog turned on him with venom in his eyes and ice in his voice.
"Foolish boy! Now all know we are here!" Lucca was just scowling at them both.
"Come on it wasn't that loud." Crono stuttered.
Before Frog could reply they all heard a rumble coming from the north wall on the other side of the alter. The wall itself slid down to reveal a small and very old wooden door. "Lad, thou have found it."
"Cool!" Crono grinned like an idiot. "Let's go."
"Thou art a strange boy."
Lucca looked at frog and replied. "You don't know the half of it."
Frog shrugged this off and motioned for the two to follow him through the door. Inside they found themselves standing in a large hall with a stairwell on both sides leading to landings with two doors on each. The hall ended with another stairwell topped with large double doors.
"So which way do we go guys?" Lucca questioned.
"We should go to the right mine lady."
"Why?"
"Because it is the only one that is guarded." Glancing around, sure enough it was the only one guarded. A pair of Gnashers, giant purple snakes some three feet tall was lying on the steps.
Just as the knight started to hop off Crono grabbed his arm. "Don't you think it would make more sense to check the unguarded sections first? They could hold clues to the queen's whereabouts. It's a lot better than getting into a fight and alerting the whole place to our presents."
"Thine words have merit lad." Frog let out a deep yet quiet sigh. "Lead the way."
"You know Crono. Sometimes you amaze me. Most of the time you are such an idiot."
"Hey! I resemble that remark." Crono's snicker even through his hand was still audible.
"Enough of thy meaningless blabber. We must be off."
Crono rolled his eyes and headed for the left staircase. On the landing he bypassed the first door and turned a corner toward a second door.
"Why didst thou pass the first door?"
""Because this one looks important." He pointed to the doorway which was blocked by a set of spikes. "Any idea how to get past this?" Frog glanced around and then settled his gaze onto a skull shaped sculpture upon the wall.
"Perhaps this is a clue." He moved his hand across the skull and then placed his fingers into the eyes. A soft click was heard, and the spikes began to slide into the floor. "As I had suspected."
"Not bad mister Frog."
"Please mine lady, just Frog."
"Sorry."
They trio turned and walked into the room. The room was circular with no windows save one high up and barred. A thin stream of light filtered down and shone upon an alter in the center of the room. Two of Guardia's soldier were in the room, one of them pacing, the other was sitting on the alter with a look of resignation on his face.
Crono walked up to the man on the alter. "Are you alright?"
"The man glanced up to him. "Inside this building, there's a room dedicated to magus..Heard something about treasure there.." The man's voice was hoarse from nonuse. He appeared to have given up all hope of escape.
"Y, you're humans aren't you?" Crono turned to the other soldier who seemed to have just noticed them and nodded. "They're hiding the queen in the back. Please save her."
Frog walked up to him. "We shall fellow knight. Take thine friend and leave this foul place."
The man nodded and grabbed his friend and dragged him out of the room. "Thank you sir Frog. I know you can do what we could not."
After they were gone Lucca spoke up. "Well we know where she is. Let's check the rest of the place out and see if we can find out who has her."
"True, to know thy enemy is thine best weapon against them."
The left the room and walked back toward the stairs. When they came across the first door Crono decided it was time to check it out. Like the first this room was also circular but instead of an alter in the center there were two bookshelves and a desk set against the far wall. They went up to the bookshelves and began to examine the titles. Lucca getting very bored, and finding nothing having to do with science in the book titles walked over to the desk. Nothing of interest was found on it so she pulled open the drawer. It was stuck. So she kicked it and the drawer popped out. Inside she found a Nagaette bromide (for those of you that don't know this is a nude picture).
"Yuck."
Then the door burst open and three mystic guards entered the room. They were fat as pigs, which they somewhat resembled, though without the snout, and they were wearing old rusted armor of long dead Guardian soldiers. "Hey guys! Humans!" the one on the right said.
"We can see that." The middle one replied. Then he glanced at Lucca and the picture she was holding. "They're after the bromide!"
The three growled and then the one on the left spoke. "Get them!"
Lucca watched as Crono and Frog drew their respective weapons and got into battle stance. She placed the photo into her pouch at her hip and pulled out her pistol. "Don't we ever get a break?" Just then the middle guard lunged at her, she was nearly hit but thank heavens the didn't have good aim. "Guess not." The dumb mystic had made a fatal mistake, because now he was in the direct line of fire. Lucca aimed and squeezed the trigger of her pistol. The beast was dead before he ever reached the floor.
Frog had also dispatched one of the by this time by jumping onto his head and impaling him on his sword.
Crono on the other hand was having a bit of trouble. "Lucca! Distract him! Frog when I say so run and slash at him from the right as I do so from the left!" Lucca jumped in front of the dumb beast and stuck out her tongue making funny sounds. On Crono's signal he and Frog dashed at it cutting with their sword along both sides in an X-STRIKE cleanly cutting him in half.
The beast's blood stained the floor red. Frog turned to Crono. "Lad that was an excellent idea. We should remember that one in the future, it could come in handy."
"Glad you liked it. When we want to use it lets just yell out X- STRIKE alright."
"That will work."
"Alright boys, enough male bonding. We have a queen to save."
Back in the hallway they decided to try the right stairwell. The Gnashers laying there hissed at them when they got close. In reply Lucca hissed back a little louder then they did drawing confused looks from the snakes. "Who are you? Are you here to se the statue?"
Lucca not knowing what else to say answered him with a yes.
"Very well. You may pass, but remember to remove your costumes before entering the chamber."
As they passed the snakes they glared at Frog. "Do I know you?"
"I do not believe so."
"I think I do, but I cannot be sure where." With one last hiss the Gnashers laid their heads down and started to doze.
This landing was the same as the fist as far as doors go, but this time Crono decided to enter the first door. This room appeared to be a dining room. A large table stood in the center, and it was covered in gore. They didn't even want to think about what or who it came from. Surrounding the table were three mystics, a Nagaette, a Gargoyle, and another of the guards. The three glanced up as Crono, Frog, and Lucca entered the room, but the gargoyle was the first to speak. "Buurp! Hey what's with the disguise? No need for them here." He turned back to the table and mumbled. "Almost my shift.Man I hate pretending to be human. It's so repulsive."
The Nagaette also decided to speak. "Buurp! The ones we ate recently weren't so bad. And those two soldiers we caught look rather plump and juicy." She snickered. "And one of them even has a broken spirit. Those ones always taste better."
The stupid guard was next to speak. "Yakra's so smart! His plan to capture the chancellor and take his place worked perfectly!" He barks out a deep throated laugh. "Now the queen's captive, and the castle's in an uproar. This is rich!" He began laughing in earnest now.
The Gargoyle observed this for a short time occasionally glancing at the three strangers. He growled low in his throat, too low for them to hear then spoke. "I'll look in on Magus's statue before my shift." Then he stood and strolled out the door.
Lucca whispered to her companions. "We should follow him. He might know something."
"Agreed lady Lucca."
"Just Lucca please."
They stepped out into the hall just in time to watch the Gargoyle turn the corner toward the door in the back. They followed him through this door, only to find when they opened it three humans. The queen, the king, and a guard.
"This is strange. What are they doing in here?" Crono asked. His only answers were shrugs from the other two.
Crono walked over to them and the guard spoke. "A.are you here to save the queen?"
"That's the general idea."
"Ah, what a relief!" As Crono turned to the King who was standing in the center of the room Lucca and Frog watched a sinister grin flash across the face of the guard.
Lucca whispered into Frogs ear. "I don't like this. Let's keep our eyes open." Frog nodded and returned to watching Crono, who was now speaking with the king.
"What are you doing here?"
The king just looked at him and smiled. "Nice of you to come. I'm sure Yakra will be just as pleased. Why not rest here until he's available?"
"Are you feeling okay?" He received no further words so he turned to the queen who was to the right of him. "Queen! What are you doing here?"
She also turned to him with a false smile. "There was no need for you to come rescue me. The master Yakra is very kind." Crono and his companions cringed as the queen blushed. "I've decided to stay here." She gestured to a small step in the back of the room. "Now why don't you make yourselves at home, too?"
Crono waved off the offer and glanced around the room. What he found was a small door in the right wall. "Guys. Let's go in here."
"You sure Crono?"
"Yes, anything is better than this room. These three are giving me the creeps."
"I must agree with the lad. Their air is wrong."
"Okay."
The three enter into another room; this one was like a hall. It had a large stained glass window high up on the back wall, casting a soft glow upon all the room. Below the window on a small podium stood a life sized statue of a man. The details weren't very clear from this range, but they could make out the long cloak, flowing hair and pointy ears.
Crono looked at Frog. "Any idea who that is?"
Frog said nothing, but continued to examine the room's layout. Within this room a group of five mystics, two Nagaettes and three Gargoyles (one of which they met in the dining hall) were sing to the statue.
"Ah.dearest Magus."
"Your flashing eyes.like.stars."
"And flowing.hair."
"Like waves atop the sea."
"No sad sunny day nor any frightful"
"Bright place can get us down"
"As long as you're near."
"There's nothing to fear."
"Magus, oh Magus"
"Our hero, Magus."
After the last verse they spun once and began again. Crono looked away back to his friends. "We should leave. The queen needs us." He was careful not to speak too loudly. So they turned and headed out the door.
"No need to rush off humans."
Startles they turned back. It was the Gargoyle from before who was addressing them. Then all five of the mystics spoke at once. "Come join us in singing your funeral dirge!" They all charged at them. The battle was over shortly after it began. Lucca got off two shots, killing a Gargoyle, Frog cut a Nagaette in half, and Crono did a spinning move which he aptly named CYCLONE and killed the other three. Their bodies fell in bloody heaps on the floor.
Lucca sighed and spoke. "I hate killing. Why do all the mystics have to be aggressive?"
"The mystics hate humans mine lady. It is how they are."
Crono pulled out a cloth from his pouch and wiped the blood from his blade before throwing the cloth to Frog so he could do the same. "Let's go. I want to get this over with."
They reentered the room with the three humans, and without saying a word they promptly left. Just in time to see them transform into Gnashers and leap at the door. Fortunately they were stupid and didn't realize the door opened the other way and knocked themselves out.
After returning to ground floor they walked down the center of the room and opened up the large double doors at the end. They opened up to another set of stairs, with a door at the top and walkways on both sides.
They decided to check the doorway right in front of them first. Inside there was a large room with an organ in one corner and a large chest in the other. The floor was covered in spikes.
"Alas, we can not go any farther. Let us try another way." Frog said downcast.
"No kidding! Those spikes could cause a problem." Crono was the only one who kept his silence.
They walked back out into the hallway and Crono turned to his right. "We should go this way."
"How come Crono?" Lucca replied.
"An odd saying I heard once. If you are pressed for a direction to go, you should turn in the direction of your dominant hand. And I just happen to be right handed."
"Strange saying, but I have none better. Lead the way lad."
"Crono, I always thought the saying was to go in the opposite direction of your dominant hand."
"Either way, we go this way."
"How come?"
"Because, when we first came in this hallway we were facing the other direction. So either way it would be the same direction."
"Okay, I guess that could be right.Never mind, this is making my head hurt. Let's just go."
So they walked along the right (left) walkway and found another set of steps, these leading down. Only a few feet but still down. When they stepped onto these the stairs flattened out, turning into a ramp, which the trio slid down to ground level. They all fell onto their butts at the bottom.
"Ouch." Lucca complained when she stood up rubbing her butt. She was promptly hushed. She followed her friends pointing fingers and saw a mystic guard sleeping on a stoop of another door. Covering her mouth she followed them through the door into another corridor.
"This cathedral is like a maze." Frog croaked. "One door leads into another long hall, and more doors." Sure enough at the end of this hall was another door, only this one had another of those skull sculptures on the wall next to it.
Crono was still glancing around the room. There were animals flying around near the ceiling. They appeared to be gigantic bats. "Let's just get out of here."
"What's wrong Crono?" Crono pointed to the ceiling at the bats, and Lucca cringed.
"That skull upon the wall looks like it could help." Frog pointed to the doorway. "Let us try."
The three walked over to the door and waited as Frog pressed the buttons in the skull's eyes. When they were pressed a pair of doors in the walls opened up. They were about the size of a cat door. Out of these doors came two more of the bats.
Lucca was visibly shaken. "Let's get out of here!" Not arguing with her they ran out the door. "I hate bats." Looking around they found that they were in another hall way, with what appeared should be a doorway halfway down. When they reached it they found it wasn't a door just a blank wall. Like they were planning to put a door there, but had decided against it. They did find a note on the wall though. It read "No Entry". Which was odd, where could they possibly be prohibited from entry? Shrugging they continued down the hall and found another door. "Hang on! If we take this door we'll be going the wrong direction!"
"How so?"
"Crono, this will take us back the way we came."
"What choice do we have? Maybe we can find some way to drop those spikes in the other room."
"He is right mine lady. Sometimes the only way to go forward is to go back." So they entered the door and found another hall similar to the one they had found the bats in. Only this one was not guarded. This room also had one of the skulls on the wall. "Let us try this one then." He pressed the buttons and everyone tensed, waiting for some sign of enemy attack. Instead they heard a rumbling from off to their right. "To mine ears that sounded like it came from the spike room. We should go check."
"But the stairs aren't there any more. We can't get back up."
Crono looked from one to the other. "Ever think that this way leads that direction?"
Lucca was flustered so she decided to shut up and follow their lead. They headed out the door opposite of them and came out next to a stairwell leading back up. Lucca just shook her head. I hate it when Crono is right. They walked up the steps and down a small hall, and sure enough they were back where they started. Right in front of them stood the door that led to the spike room. "Let's go in then."
Inside they found that the spikes had indeed been dropped, however there were now a pair of guards as well. They turned to the humans and growled deep in their throats. "You must be the ones that dropped our thorns! You will pay for this!"
Lucca just huffed. "If those were thorns I'm a boy-chasing ditz."
Then the guards attacked. Lucca pulled out her gun and pushed and few buttons and turned a dial on the back, then she pulled the trigger. A beam of fire exploded from the barrel, charring one of the guards into nothing but ashes. The other blanched and looked at Lucca.
She grinned evilly at him. "I like to call that my FLAME TOSS! Do you want to know how it feels?" The guard got over his fear and turned it into unbridled rage, leaping at Lucca and knocking her down. "Aaak! Crono! Frog! Help!"
Crono jumped and embedded his sword to the hilt in the guard's skull. The guard was dead immediately. Crono held it in place with his sword as Lucca crawled out from under it, and then he pulled out his blade and let the corpse fall. Crono wiped his blade off on the guard's clothes and walked off toward the organ, his face grim.
"Crono are you okay?"
"The lad is not used to killing with his blade. He hast never been in battles like these before."
"I've never been in battles before! Period! I didn't learn to use a sword for this."
"No one ever does lad. But this happens, and thou must work through it. It can make you stronger or weaker, the choice is yours. Now let us finish our mission."
Crono huffed and looked at the organ. "This worked once before, it might work again." He pressed a few of the keys. The organ let out a loud tone, it sounded almost like moaning. As the notes died they heard the sound of another door opening deep in the building. "Just a hunch but I bet a door is sitting where that note was."
"I believe thou are right. We should go back."
"Let's not take the slide this time. My butt can't take it." Lucca whined.
"Sure but one thing first."
"Like what Crono?" Crono pointed to the other corner of the room, to a large chest. "Oh I see, you want to know what is inside of the box.
Crono walked up and opened the chest and pulled out five small bottles of blue liquid. "What in the world are these?"
Frog walked up and looked at them. "I believe they are called tonics. They heal minor wounds."
"No kidding?" Crono uncorked one of them and poured a little on the cuts on his arm. He watched amazed as they healed up right before his eyes. "Wow!"
"Twas foolish boy. Those could have been poison."
Lucca jumped in. "But you said they were tonics."
"I said I believe they were tonics. That did not mean I knew for sure!"
"Shut up! It worked, that's all that matters." He poured what was left of the bottle on his shoulder wound and it too healed up. "Now that I have full movement back we can continue."
"Thou are foolish. Next time don't be so reckless."
They left the room and made their way back to the wall that had the note attached to it. A door now stood in the center of the section of wall. "Wow Crono you were right." Crono just nodded and opened the door. They were now in another long corridor, except this one had a deep hole with a thin bridge spanning the gap. Also on the edges of the room stood four guards and two Nagaettes in a half doze. "Now what?"
Crono looked from Lucca to Frog. Frog nodded to him and spoke. "We run then?"
Nodding Crono turned and sprinted across the bridge to the door beyond. Frog and Lucca followed suit, and they were soon across the gap and storming through the door.
They froze still in the shadows next to the door. The room was huge, and square in shape. A large table stood at the back with and a large chest sat next to it. They also saw two figures standing next to it. One in front of the desk, the other in back. The one behind the desk appeared to be the Chancellor, which means the other one must be.
The silence of the room was broken when the Chancellor spoke. "Prepare yourself, Queen Leene." With this Frog ran forward sword drawn. He stopped next to Leene in front of the table. "You! How did you get in here?"
Crono could hardly believe how much Leene resembled Marle, but then again they are related. Leene yelled. "Frog!"
"Majesty, stand back and allow us the honor!"
Leene nods to Frog. "Be careful!" Then she runs and hides in the shadows near the doorway.
The Chancellor watches her go then looks back at the group. "Gyah, ha, ha.It's useless to fight! No one will leave here alive!" The Chancellor jumps over the table and lands right in front of the group causing them to scatter. "Stupid frog! It's time you jumped of this mortal coil!" The Chancellor raised his hands in a wide gesture. "True-form.CHANGE!!"
He begins spinning in tight circles while lightning crackles around his form. His body bloats up like a corpse, and then explodes leaving behind a monstrosity. Standing before them was what could only be described as a cross between a bull and a beetle. Its body was a disgusting brownish yellow in color, and appeared to be a type of exoskeleton. He had a half a dozen small claw like legs protruding from his sides, which were a grotesque slime green color. But the part that really got to the group was his head. He had large bull horns coming out of his head, and he had a dripping muzzle rimed by twin pairs of insect-like mandibles, that were covered in a green venom or poison of some sort. He had some type of holes upon his back, their purpose was lost on the trio, but they knew it was for nothing good.
"Eeew! What is this thing?"
"Filthy human. I am the mighty Yakra! Now you will be sacrificed to the great Magus!" Yakra hacked and spat a glob of black goop at Lucca. Unable to dodge in time, it struck her and literally glued her to the wall.
"Lucca!"
"Watch out Crono, he's fast!" She could still move her head, but the rest of her body was immobile.
"You should worry about yourselves humans. You will be next." With surprising speed Yakra charged Crono. His only reward was the pain of a katanna blade along the side of his body.
Yakra howled at the pain of the wound and could feel his life blood oozing down his side. The holes on his back were opened wide and he shot a large spine in the direction of the pinned Lucca. "Now she will pay for your crime!"
"NOOOO!" Crono yelled and threw his sword, connecting with the spine before it reached Lucca. But now Crono was unarmed.
"Fool!" Yakra leapt at Crono again. With no weapon he had no way of beating Yakra, and he didn't have the time to get out of the way, he was to close. The impact knocked the wind out of the boy, but he was able to roll with it and keep his wits. But he was still injured a little; one of Yakra's horns had scratched his arm. Then Frog was on top of the beast, stabbing away with his sword.
"Run boy! Retrieve thy sword!"
Crono needed no further prompting; he rolled away and stood up. He ran over to his sword and dislodged it from the spike turning back to Frog. Frog was now on the other side of Yakra parallel to Crono. "Frog!"
"Aye?"
"X-STRIKE!"
"Agreed!" Yakra couldn't figure out what they meant with that strange phrase and he didn't care. His master would be pleased with the death of this frog. Then the frog held his sword out and dashed strait toward him. And from the other side the red haired boy was doing the same. The realization hit Yakra that he was in trouble at the same time the swords did. In a heartbeat the two were behind him, holding bloody swords. His blood! Yakra tried to turn and face them, but when he did only his upper half turned. The other half stayed where it was, and then his body fell apart, sending Yakra's mind into a deep darkness. The abyss of death.
After Yakra fell Crono ran over to where Lucca was pinned. "It's dry now Crono. You can cut it away." Crono very carefully cut away the dried goop from his friend. Shortly she was freed. "Eeew, gross! First thing I am going to do when I get home is take a shower." Frog was standing close by and grinned at that comment.
Then Queen Leene came back out of the shadows. "You came to rescue me! Thank you Frog!"
Frog turned to her and knelt. "The king awaits. Let us return to the castle." He looked to his comrades and his throat started to flap in a very frog-like fashion. "I thank thee Crono and Lucca."
The queen nodded at this. "Yes, thank you so much. Please join us."
"We thank you Queen." Was Lucca's response. Crono just nodded. Leene walked back in the direction of the door. Then the group heard a faint sound coming from the chest next to the table. "Crono? What was that?"
"Don't know." Signaling the others to stay put Crono walked over and carefully opened the chest. As soon as it was opened the real Chancellor leapt out.
"Phew, thank you! That monster stuffed me in there! Oh!" The Chancellor ran in the direction of the door yelling the whole way. "Your highness! As you can see, I am undamaged!"
"I am glad." The trio walked to the door with the Queen and Chancellor. "Let's return to the castle now. I am tired."
"Yes my queen, I agree with thee." Frog replied, and they walked out the door.
Within a short period of time they were back in the castle throne room. The king was nearly in tears. "You had me worried, Leene."
The chancellor was still steaming at this time. "That no good Yakra! Impersonating me and kidnapping the Queen! We MUST create a criminal justice system to do away with such fiends."
"You have my permission for such an endeavor Chancellor."
"Thank you my king."
Frog who was silent through this exchange spoke now. I failed to protect Queen Leene. I hath disgraces thee." He then turned and started to walk out.
"Frog!"
Frog turned back to the queen and kneels down. "Be well my queen." With a croak he leaves the room.
The king watched him go and then at the broken face of his wife. With a sigh he looks back at Crono and Lucca. "Thank you, Crono. But.who was that girl we found in the canyon?"
The queen picked up on the conversation. "Your timing was perfect. Who knows what would have happened had you not saved me! By the way, where is the girl who was mistaken for me?"
Crono blanched and Lucca nearly jumped out of her skin. "Oh, yeah! I forgot all about Princess Nadia!" She turned swiftly to Crono. "Crono! Where did Princess Nadia disappear? She may still be there!"
"In the Queen's room." He replied and looked to the queen.
"Go then." He nodded to her and took off to the east tower, top floor.
When they reached the top there was a blue glow covering everything, even the air had a blue tint. It was like being in a dream. The maids whom Crono had met before were scared out of their minds, what was preventing them from screaming, anyone could guess. Luuca was intrigued, but Crono just blew past her and ran into the queen's chambers. The source of the light could be seen in exactly the same place Marle had stood before. It was all coming together and concentrating itself. Crono pulled out Marle's pendant and held it out to the source. In a bright flash the blue light faded, and standing with a bewildered look on her face was Marle. Whole and unhurt.
"Huh? What happened?"
Lucca ran halfway to her and stopped. "Princess Nadia!"
Marle didn't see her. Her eyes rimmed with tears were locked on Crono's. "Crono!" She ran up to him and grabs him around the neck. Then her legs seemed to lose their strength and she dropped to the ground pulling him with her. The she began to cry. "It was awful.I can't recall it all.I was somewhere cold, dark.and lonely. Is that what it's like to.die?" Her strength came back and they both stood back up.
"I'm glad your back Marle." Marle smiled at him.
Then Lucca walked over and knelt beside her. "Welcome back, Princess Nadia!"
Marle looked to her with her dazzling blue eyes and smiled. "You risked your life to help me, too?" Then a look of bewilderment crossed her face. "Princess.Nadia.?!...Uh oh." She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. "I guess you guys figured it out, huh?" She planted her eyes on the floor. "Sorry, Crono. I didn't mean to deceive you." Marle looked Crono in the eye, then turned and walked to the window and looked out. "I'm Princess Nadia. My father is King Guardia XXXIII. I really enjoyed being with you at the fair. But if you had known my identity." She turned around and ran up to Crono with desperate eyes. "Crono, you wouldn't have shown me around the, right?" A single tear fell from her eye and hung on her cheek.
Crono wiped the tear away. "You're wrong. I don't care of you're a princess."
Marle literally jumped for joy. "Oh, Crono! That's why I like you!" Crono blushed, which caused Marle to giggle. "The real queen's safe, right? So let's go home Crono! Okay Lucca!"
"Sure thing." Lucca replied.
They made their way back to the throne room where they talked to the royal family one last time. The king was happy to see the young woman. "Thank goodness, you're safe!! You may resemble Leene, but you sure don't act like her! Anyway, you've really helped me. Let me know how I can repay you." Then Marle walked up to the queen and spoke.
"You're the real Queen Leene, huh?!"
The queen was looking her over. "You could be my twin."
"Well, you two better get along.or I'll be in big trouble. I'll keep my fingers crossed!"
The king and queen looked at each other then Leene addressed Marle. "Excuse me?"
"Um.never mind. I guess its time to go!" Marle grabbed Crono and Lucca by the arms and drug them out the door, all the time smiling at the queen.
Upon the steps of the foyer the found Frog. When he spotted them he spoke. "'Twas a fault of mine, which endangered the queen. I shall depart for good." He noticed Marle and walked up to her and looked her over.
"Eeek!" She squeaked.
"Indeed, your resemblance to the queen is uncanny." Frog tuned and walked halfway to the door, then addressed Crono. "Crono, you hath potential to be a good swordsman!" He then hoped out the door.
Lucca took a few steps forward and spoke to the vanished knight. ".Froggy, you weren't such a bad guy either." She turned back to Crono and Marle. "Let's go home."
They left the castle and made their way back to the canyon, and back to where the portal had dropped them. Marle looked around at the empty clearing. "How do we get home?"
Lucca was shuffling though her bag. "You're Highness, er, Princess.we."
Marle waved her hands around in frustration. "Please call me Marle!"
"Well then, Marle.observe!" She pulled out a small scepter that resembled an old spatula crossed with a door key, waved it around a little and a glowing blue portal opened up.
Marle jumped back. "Wow! Lucca! You're amazing!"
Crono's mouth was agape and said nothing. Lucca on the other hand did. Ain't it the truth!" She laughed for a bit the calmed herself. "Oh, um.I mean."
"Marle spread her hands out in a wide gesture. "Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!"
Crono nodded at that statement. He chose not to add anything; this was a chat between the girls.
Lucca coughed. "Well, if you say so.Anyway, I call this thing a gate." She gestured to the blue opening. "It's a kind of portal, that takes you to the same location in a different era. Gates are very unstable, so I used the principle behind my Telepod device.to create a "Gate Key". Now we can use them as we please." She holds up the odd scepter.
Marle was still confused. "But why did this Gate suddenly appear?"
Lucca looked thoughtful. "Either the Telepod had something to do with it, or.something else made it."
Crono dropped to the ground. "This is making my head hurt." He whined.
"Get up Crono." Marle said. "This is getting pretty weird. Let's at least head back to our own time!"
Lucca perked up. "All right! Coming Crono?"
Crono stood up and all three of them jumped into the Gate and were whisked away back to their own time.
END OF CHAPTER 3