PART VIII
"You will go to Bastok."
"That dirt ball? Why?"
"They have become very advanced. Their technology is superior even to ours."
"Technology is no match for the skills of the elvaans."
"Of course not. But still, it is better to keep our eye on all aspects. Go there. Live as an adventurer."
"And then what?"
"We'll just ask you for reports from time to time."
"You're basically disowning me?"
"Adventuring is an easy life. Money, fun, heroics, girls-"
"I'll do it."
Voldos was seeing nothing easy about adventuring right now. He was chained to a post, just like the others. And their daring escape wasn't evolving as brilliantly as he had hoped.
"Did you actually have any ideas?" Voldos asked Zinkata.
"Not one. But I figured we had better think of something." Zinkata replied. The tent's entrance was lifted up, and Vatgit waddled back in. In his hand he held a long metal pole, with what can only be described as a spiked clamp on the end. Voldos did not want to know what that was for.
"Now, to business." Snarled Vatgit. "Which one of you wants to die first?"
"In the absence of Vivli, I nominate Voldos." Bootus said.
"Well volunteered." Vatgit walked up to the galka.
"Aw nuts." Bootus muttered.
The gigantic galka now had only one choice. To centre all of his energy into his gigantic muscles, to break the chains restricting him, and to escape. He pulled on the chains, and could feel them twisting, and burst free. He went to run, only to discover his feet where still chained. He fell forwards comically, ripping the pole from the ground with his tremendous weight. It flew through the air, over Bootus's gigantic frame, and slammed into Vatgit's nose. The orc stumbled back as Bootus scrambled out of the chains and to his feet.
"Impressive!" Vatgit snapped. "But you are still unarmed."
"I'm always unarmed!" Bootus countered. He ran in, and knocked Vatgit to the floor before the fat orc could attack. He spun around, and with a mighty heave up hauled the pole holding Voldos down. The elf slipped out of the chains before the galka did the same for Zinkata.
"Should we be worried you freed us without a second thought?" Zinkata asked the galka sarcastically as he swept down, stealing a sword from Vatgit's belt.
"I stand a better chance of surviving with the three of us than alone." Bootus replied. "I haven't gone soft or anything."
"Yeah, right." Zinkata laughed.
"Guys! Company!" Voldos yelled as orcs charged in to the tent.
"Okay, stay calm. We have one sword between the three of us. We can handle this." Zinkata reassured.
"Give me that!" Voldos snatched the blade before the human could react. "First thing is first." He drove the sword into Vatgit. The orcs froze in shock. "Mission accomplished. Now to rescue Vivli and get the hell out of here."
"Aw, can't we just do the second thing?" Bootus requested, but Voldos had already run to the back of the tent. He cut down the fabric with the sword and leapt out. Zinkata followed. Bootus got horribly tangled in the tent due to his size, but eventually stumbled behind them just before the orcs got to him.
"Let's move!" Screamed Voldos as the camp came to life around them. He charged forwards, and landed flat on his face. His shin hurt. He had tripped over something big. A chest.
"Open it!" Zinkata ordered, and nobody disobeyed. Bootus ripped it open to find within the party's gear (right down to Vivli's stick).
"Alright!" Exclaimed the elf, lifting up his sword."That almost makes up for tripping over!"
"Shut up and run!" Bootus yelled as the orcs closed in around them.
"Halt!" Came a harsh command. The orcs stopped, backing away. Signot stepped out between them. "Never leave a beastman to do a real man's job, eh?"
"Signot!" Cried Zinkata angrily. "What's going on here?"
"You mean the orcs?" He smirked. "They were a distraction to lure you here. Or more specifically, her here. The rest of you were just nuisances."
"What the hell is so special about Vivli?" Bootus asked confused.
"I'm not stupid enough to reveal my plans to you." Signot replied. "Suffice to say, you won't have to worry about it. The world is one long journey, and this is where you get off." His double bladed sword clicked back into life.
"HELP!" A scream suddenly broke off the tense confrontation. It was Vivli, and came from a large object covered by a sheet. Closer inspection revealed it was some form of prison cart.
"Bootus! Free her! We'll hold off Signot!" Voldos commanded, running at the robed one.
"Aw, do I have to?" Moaned the galka.
"YES!" The two warriors snapped, duelling. Bootus stomped over to the gigantic cage, ripping the sheet off. Vivli was indeed inside, bound by rope.
"Get me out of here!" She screamed. Bootus walked up to the entrance, and heaved with all his might, ripping the gate clean off.
"Come on!" He cried.
"I'm tied up!" She yelled. Bootus just let out a weary sigh, grabbing her tail, and pulling hard. She screamed, and the ropes broke as she was pulled away from the post. "OW! Couldn't you have done that in a less painful way?"
"Yes. Yes I could." Booutus replied.
"Let's just get out of here." She winced, rubbing her now limp tail.
Signot knocked Voldos's sword clean from his hands and kicked Zinkata to the floor.
"It is over." Signot told them. "You die here."
"No! Don't hurt them!" Vivli cried, running over.
"So you escaped. Do you think it matters?" He asked rhetorically. "You cannot get away from me. I will kill these fools and then you."
"No you wont!" Came a sudden voice. It was Fiorel.
"Fiorel!" Vivli cried, half delighted and half petrified.
"What are you doing here?" Zinkata asked in disbelief.
"Saving you lot by the looks of it." He drew his silver long sword. "Get Vivli out of here. Now!"
The party obeyed, dragging Vivli away as she watched in horror. Luckily for her, Bootus didn't get there first, so her tail was preserved.
"NO! We can't leave him!" She protested as Zinkata dragged her away.
"We stay here and we die! Now move!" He took an unusually harsh tone with her, and the party ran.
Signot ran at Fiorel, but the paladin held off the dark lord with moderate ease.
"You're not bad." Smirked Fiorel.
"Shame you are." Countered Signot. He attacked again, and Fiorel continued to block each attack the best he could. The double edged sword gave Signot a slight advantage, and he caught Fiorel off guard as a blast of lightning hit him in the chest. Fiorel fell to the ground.
A piercing scream ripped through the air.
"FIOREL! NO!" Sobbed Vivli.
"It's too late for him!" Voldos yelled.
"Then let's get out of here before it's too late for us!" Bootus suggested. They rocketed down a mountain path, only to meet a blockade of orcs. They knew they couldn't go back.
"Down the edge!" Zinkata suggested in what was a lot like an order. He jumped onto the incredibly steep edge of the mountain followed by Voldos and Bootus. Vivli gave one last look up at the mountain top before following. She stumbled and fell, causing a small rock slide. The others quickly got caught up and all four tumbled into oblivion.
Voldos awoke in bed. His first reaction was that it had been a dream, but a badly bruised leg and a cut up face made him fairly sure this wasn't the case. He sat up, and began to analyse. It wasn't his room. It was made out of wood, but neatly constructed. He arose from the bed, noticing he was only in a t-shirt and trousers. Somebody had taken his armour. He walked up to the wooden door, and swung it open, cautiously stepping out into what appeared to be a dining room. He glanced out the glass window to see grass outside, and the occasional tree. The orc mountain hung in the background.
A fairly old elvaan man walked in, with brown hair, greying. He was wearing basic farmer's garb.
"Ah, you're awake." He stated. "You took quite a tumble. I don't know what you did, but I've never seen so many beastmen roaming the mountain."
"I, urm, might have stirred up some trouble." Voldos laughed nervously. "Wasn't really my fault." He quickly added.
"Who was it then? That girl that was with you?" The stranger asked.
"Vivli? You found her as well?" Voldos asked at speed.
"Yes. A little mithra thing. Tiny. Surprised she survived the fall, to be honest. She's still unconscious." The farmer told the elf.
"Did you find anybody else? A galka? Or a human?" Voldos inquired.
"Just you two. But there was a lot of rubble and a lot of dust, and orcs were coming. I had to leave quickly. It was lucky I managed to get you two out of there alive." He paused. "My name's Jonathan, I'm a farmer. Or was. With the orcs around, it's getting more difficult."
"I can imagine." Sighed Voldos, looking back on the mountain, pondering about all that had happened in such a short time.
"Jonathan, aren't you going to offer him something to eat?" Came a voice from another room. A fairly old elvaan woman walked in, presumably Jonathan's wife.
"Yes, Martha." He paused. "Do you want some food." I really should be out searching for Bootus and Zinkata Voldos's brain told him. No! Take the food you fool cried his stomach.
"Yes. Very much so." Voldos replied hungrily.
Vivli woke up and instantly wished she hadn't. Everything hurt. She was unaware so much could physically hurt without overriding the other bit that was hurting. She blamed this on everything hurting equally. She tried to get up, but failed miserably due to pain. So she tried to heal herself, again failing due to pain. She paused, and finally hauled herself to her feet. She stood there for a moment, and fell over. She cursed.
Some time later she had successfully healed herself and wondered out to find Voldos eating. A lot.
"What?" He said at her weary stare. "I'm hungry."
"What happened?" Groaned the White Mage.
"Somebody knocked us down the mountain." Voldos stopped eating long enough to point at the mountain.
"Oh come on, we were all going to fall anyway. It was nearly vertical!" She yelled in her defence. She suddenly fell silent as the memory of Fiorel dawned upon her. "He's dead, isn't he?"
"Fiorel?" Asked Voldos, and the complete lack of reaction from the mithra confirmed this. "We saw that guy handle a Sea Horror, I don't think anything can kill him." Vivli looked away from the window, and Voldos, trying to hide the fact she was crying.
"He screamed. I know it was him." Her voice was breaking and it was obvious she was upset.
"Signot couldn't have killed him. Hell, he probably killed Signot then screamed to play a joke on you." Voldos knew it wasn't too likely, but had to do something to keep Vivli from breaking down. Luckily before she got too upset something happened to distract her.
"Yo, idiots. Problem here." Bootus swung open the door, almost ripping it off its hinges, and dumped Zinkata's body on the table. "Hey, that for me?" Bootus asked, snatching the leg of some creature Voldos was eating from the elf and stuffing it into his own mouth. Jonathan and Martha just stared in disbelief.
"Sorry." Vivli whimpered to them.
"Well, you going to stand there or are you going to heal him?" Asked the galka. Vivli sighed and cast a spell on the fallen thief-cum-warrior. He suddenly woke up.
"A table. A strange place to wake up." He narrated. "What happened?"
After some group filling in outside, the party were ready to go. They were outside because Vivli had insisted they went away from the house due to the embarrassment Bootus had caused. She had also apologised continuously and offered her sincerest thanks, along with Voldos. Bootus had been buried beneath the rocks, hence why he hadn't been found, but his galkan might meant he had awoken and still burst out. Zinkata had, of all places, landed in a river, and it was blind luck Bootus had found him.
As for how they found the house, Bootus never explained. He claimed he was drawn to Vivli's stupidity whenever she asked.
"So what now?" Vivli asked, after the explanations had been given.
"Back to San D'Oria." Zinkata decided. "And then on to Windurst."
"What? We carry on?" The tiny White Mage screamed. "Even after all that's happened?"
"Yes. We have no choice. Besides, Windurst is most likely going to be considerably safer than here." Zinkata gestured to the mountain.
"What about Fiorel?" She asked sadly.
"We have to move. If he's alive, he'll find you. He wouldn't want you hanging around the orc mountain anyway." Zinkata's attempt at being comforting didn't work. Vivli burst into tears as soon as she heard 'if'. Bootus grumbled angrily to himself.
"Well, let's go. But first, I'm going to say food-" Voldos paused, "I mean get some thanks-" He paused again, "I mean say thanks to the farmers that rescued us." Smooth, Voldos. Real smooth.
"Yeah, I guess I should say thanks as well. Probably give them something for their troubles." Vivli muttered through tears, looking in her pocket at the few pieces of gold she had left. She head inside after Voldos, crying to herself.
"Why did we pick up such a wuss?" Bootus asked. "Next stop, I say we pick up a tarutaru White Mage who doesn't cry every two seconds." Zinkata didn't respond. He was too busy staring back up at the mountain.