Of Dreams And Nightmares
Chapter 8: Set Backs
"Erm... Arashi? Wake up..." His verdant eyes gazed uncertainly down at the Clavat as he called softly to her. Having been asked to wake the girl, Rema stood inside the Moogle's silent home, frowning nervously at her sprawled form. She lay on her stomach, clutching the clump of a blanket she had been given beneath her head, mouth slightly open and the softest of snores emitting from it. Arashi had stirred only slightly at the sound of his voice.
"Arashi... it's time to go!" he said with a bit more volume and confidence, nudging her shoulder lightly with one booted toe.
Now half awake, Arashi groaned softly, eyebrows furrowing. And as he prodded her further, she reached out with one arm, blindly searching about for something and after a few moments, grasping it. Her sheathed sword, which she had set beside her before she fell asleep.
"Arashi... what are you doing...?" Rema stumbled backwards, hurriedly ducking with cry of surprise as the item was clumsily flung at him. Slowly rising again, he cringed as the weapon loudly met the wooden floor. Or at least, when it would have. Looking behind him, Rema's gaze was met by Morok's own laughing blue lenses.
"Having trouble?" the Selkie drawled with amusement, walking forward, Arashi's sword in hand.
"No!" Rema spat bad temperedly, crossing his arms over his chest and watching with surprise as Morok hefted the girl over his shoulder. Arashi's eyes blinked abruptly open and she let out a cry of surprise. After realizing just where she was, the Clavat girl pounded at a cheerful Morok's back with her fists, shouting for him to let her down.
"Come fair maiden, your carriage awaits!" a grin was plastered across his bright features as he spoke with a mock gallant sweep of his arm. She glared fiercely at the Selkie after she was dumped quite unceremoniously before the waiting caravan, snatching her sword from him and fastening it to her leather belt, which she absently noted was beginning to crack terribly with age. 'I'll have a new one made when we get to Marr's Pass, but hopefully it'll last that long.'
"Why didn't anyone wake me sooner?" she demanded indignantly, smoothing her pitch tresses and looking to Rema as he grumbled from the side of the path.
"We tried..." The others spoke up then, teasing good-naturedly with a few giggles uttered in between.
"Do you always sleep that sound?"
"Guess we can't count on you as a look-out at night!"
"We could be ambushed and you wouldn't even stir!"
"Don't we need to be going?" her glare startled her companions into silence, and satisfied with their reaction, she walked briskly to their caravan, quickly hopping up and inside of it.
"How much longer is it gonna be?" Nitaren rolled her eyes at Morok's groans as they walked upon the empty dirt path.
"We've only been on the road for a few hours!" the Liltie shouted in exasperation, tossing the carrot she had been munching on at his head, which he easily caught with a grin.
"People seem to be doing that a lot lately..." he observed, feigning perplexity as he took a generous bite of the vegetable before Rema snatched it from him and stuffed the rest into his own mouth.
"Hey! That was mine!"
"Ac'uly 'at wa' 'iare'." he countered in calm, disdainful tones, his words spat around the lump of carrot in his jaws, and once he had swallowed, "You gluttonous barbarian."
Morok was about to reply with a furious retort, but was quickly interrupted as Klo gave him a good smack on the head with the back of her hand. And as he turned angrily on her, the girl's warning scowl silenced him just as soon.
"Hey, do you think she's still mad at us?" Nitaren whispered jokingly, gesturing backwards to the caravan where Arashi had taken refuge since that morning. They all snorted with laughter.
"Hey, Arashi! How're you holdin' up back there?" Morok shouted to her, receiving an apple chucked at his grinning face as a slender hand flashed from the caravan.
"You're right, people have been doing that a lot lately, Morok." Beron said quietly from his place of to their left, smirk visible through his good natured and yet mocking tones.
"Who are they...?" Nitaren murmured, more to herself than the caravanners beside her.
She spoke of the group of Lilties beside the path a fair distance up ahead. Each wore layer upon layer of dark, finely polished armor. Only the hard eyes of each were visible.
"Greetings, fellow caravanners!" The group gave a start, and Arashi thrust her head from the caravan with a yawn. A particularly burly fellow waved heartily at them, soon beckoning for them to come closer.
"It's good to see a friendly face!" Morok exclaimed when they had stopped beside the other caravan, firmly grasping the Liltie's smaller hand with a grin that was easily returned as the small man slid up the visor on his helmet.
"The same! Care to join us for a meal?" releasing the Selkie's hand, he gestured towards the rest of his caravan, who were sitting scattered about on the ground, all gnawing on various fruits and slabs of meat, while more was cooking over a small fire. They nodded in acknowledgment, some throwing a few sloppy salutes. And each caravanner in the other group bobbed their heads in return while Arashi quickly hopped out of their cart, stumbling closer.
"Well, I never pass up a good spot 'o food!" he chirped eagerly, taking a long stride forward before he was abruptly stopped as both Arashi and Klo grabbed hold of his arms.
"Actually, we need to be going. We hope to reach the miasma stream before nightfall." Arashi kindly explained, a warm smile surfacing. And though the Liltie looked a bit put out, he gave a firm nod of understanding.
"Well, you're always welcomed by Sol Racht and his caravan! Good journeys!"
Not a word was spoken as they approached the both memorable and terrifying sight. Six pairs of wary eyes focused intently upon the miasma stream, squinting against the rays of sunlight dancing towards them, bathed in an orange hue and now beginning to slip beneath the horizon.
A churning mass of Miasma, writhing madly about the stone path twisting precariously through it. At first glance the fumes might have appeared to be a violet, or perhaps gray shade. Look again and you may catch sight of a sickly olive tone, all the while glimmering with sparks of power. Arashi's eyes darted about at the nearly fluorescent poison, edging closer to Beron who held the chalice as they stepped along the path.
She jumped as she felt his free hand comfortingly brush her shoulder, quickly glancing up at him and offering a false smile.
"I understand how you feel..." the Yuke's low voice went unheard by the others, and Arashi flashed him a nervous smile of thanks, dropping a bit further behind to stand beside Nitaren.
"The stories don't do it justice, huh?" Nitaren's tone was strong and gruff as always, but the flicker of anxiety in her eyes did not go unnoticed.
"You can say that again..." the Clavat's voice wavered slightly as she spoke, and she continued to gaze intently about at the spectacle, boots shuffling and scuffing nervously over the rocky path. And the miasma's power began to take effect.
Each caravanner now had to put more effort into each stride. At first it was merely a gentle tug, but the further they stepped, the stronger the pull became until they were making no progress at all.
"Well this is a minor set back!" Nitaren snapped bad temperedly, her short legs pushed back to their previous spot every time she took a step forward.
"The chalice is fighting it, Nit! We'll have nice little barrier against this nasty stuff in just a little while longer!" Morok's tone was incredibly amiable and cheerful as he too walked in one place.
Arashi, on the other hand, did not feel so optimistic. The miasma was keeping her fixed to one spot as long as she resisted, and much to her growing frustration, she was unable to move to either side.
'Curse my luck!' her mind shouted, beginning to lose her footing to the loose rocks strewn about the path. Her Liltie friend looked back at Arashi in alarm as a yell spouted hoarsely from the Clavat girl's mouth, who had stumbled and was whipped backwards into the hazardous fumes. Her hands scrapped painfully over the path, grasping for anything to slow her rapid pace. And she soon found it, a rock jutting up at the side of the barren road, cutting deep into her palm as she clung frantically to it. Not daring to open her eyes she reached about blindly with her other arm, nothing but rocks greeting her search. Cold fear sunk in as her mind fully registered the situation. Poison air was rapidly filling her lungs, her body doubling over as it shook with choked coughs. Arashi's strength steadily drained, her grasp on the stone slacking and her form inching backwards, feeling as if her mind was sinking into blackness as consciousness was stolen just before a rough hand wrenched her forward by the shoulder.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" an angry Liltie snarled at Beron, furious that the Yuke was so calm and stoic. She herself was on the verge of a nervous break down, or so the others whispered.
"No, Nitaren, there's nothing I can do. The Cure spell can repair wounds and restore the strength those wounds have taken, but it cannot get rid of poison. And it seems that Arashi breathed in quite a lot. A Clear spell might work if I had the magicite for it, but coincidentally, I don't."
Nitaren's clenched fists trembled with the effort to hold in her temper, and Beron briskly turned his back on her before she had the chance to shout at him any further, kneeling beside Arashi to replace the damp cloth on her feverish forehead with a fresh one. Daylight had long since been replaced with a moonlit sky dotted with faint stars, and the temperature had dropped, hence the large fire they were huddled about. They had donated their blankets to the unconscious Arashi, who Morok protectively sat beside at the moment, expression worried as he looked down at her own furrowed eyebrows.
"Has her fever dropped at all?" Klo murmured, her twin shaking his head slightly in answer.
"That bruise on her shoulder won't help things when she wakes! That's her sword arm..." Nitaren muttered, glaring accusingly across the flames at Rema who merely scowled, easily matching her dark expression.
Heh, another long wait. Sorry! But I have been working on my other fics! Erm... sorta... Heh?
ChibiTetra: Thanks so much! My updates will be put up sooner from now on.
Hey! See the button in the bottom left hand corner that says 'Go'? Press that! Then type in a review and submit it! Please? It's not that hard…
Disclaimer:
Jen: I own it! Muahahahaha!
Morok: Erm... Jen? You have to say it.
Jen: -shifty eyes- Say what? And where did you materialize from?
Morok: The disclaimer, and... you're the one that's writing this...
Jen: ... I'm not saying it!
Morok: You've said it for the past seven chapters, though! Why is it any different this time?
Jen: Because it's pointless and stupid and I'm tired of it! -pouts- and stomps foot-
Morok: Do you wanna be sued?
Jen: Uh… yes!
Morok: -glares- Say it!
Jen: Fine…
Morok: …
Jen: …
Morok: Well?
Jen: -blink- Well what?
Morok: I give up…
Jen: -sigh- Ok, ok! I don't own Final Fantasy!
Morok: -grins- See? That wasn't so hard!
Jen: Shut up…