Chapter 12: Defenseless

Rolf was indeed his old self by the end of that week, and just as disdainful of the young ambassador as ever. Though he did profess to hold his tongue the first day or so. Lyude was once again left with little more to do than stroll along Nashira and the cloud passage.

Slowly more and more villagers were coming around to him and he found many regarded him with high respect. His efforts with Rolf had not gone unnoticed.

A few more months passed with barely any event. Lyude had now been in Diadem for ten months. On a quiet summer morning he entered Anna's with Matthias and ate breakfast quietly. Matthias was squirming in his chair and looked very uncomfortable. Lyude looked up questioningly, but Matthias simply forced himself still and pretended not to notice.

Lyude returned to his breakfast. Considering his own reluctance to be completely open with his friend, he felt that he had little place to question Matthias. Though it seemed that it must be something of great weight. He had been unusually quiet lately. "I'm going to go." said Matthias, I should be getting back to my duties."

"Matthias?" ventured Lyude.

"Yes?"

"I'll come too, I'd like to have a word with you."

Matthias looked at him a long moment, then nodded. The two boys rose together and left the tavern.

They were on the cloud passage when Lyude spoke again. "Is something bothering you, Matthias?" he asked hesitantly.

"Why do you say that?" asked Matthias bitterly.

"Well, that for example." said Lyude. "Have I offended you in some way?"

"Oh, no, Ambassador, you could never be offensive."

Lyude stopped walking. Matthias turned when he noticed that Lyude had disappeared from his side.

He found that Lyude had seated himself at the edge of the cloud passage looking over the Lesser Celestial river pensively.

"It's strange...the more I do here..."

"What?"asked Matthias.

Lyude looked up at Matthias sadly. "It's complicated..."

"Too complicated for a simpleton from Diadem to comprehend, huh?"

"Matthias!" said Lyude taken aback.

"You always clam up like this! Every time I think that I've got you figured out you get all withdrawn and depressed and you won't even talk to me! You know what? I don't even want to know, I'm outta here. See you at the palace."

Lyude could only sit there in a state of shock at Matthias' sudden and misplaced anger. He decided it was best to let him be and let him sort whatever was really bothering him out. He walked sadly along the cloud passage feeling alone as ever and thinking wistfully of Almarde. He stopped suddenly as he heard a low pitched growl behind him. He turned slowly to look behind him and discovered three stripers crouching as if to pounce.

"Oh lord." he breathed, "There's no way..." His eyes swept his surrounding area for signs of help and found none. He was alone and at the present time, unarmed. His sonic rifle was at the palace pending repair. He looked around in alarm looking for means of escape. There was none. Just the river and that was a shot in ten he would survive the fall. Oh what he wouldn't give for wings!

The stripers approached him hungrily, their jaws dripping with anticipation. They were surrounding him, attempting to cut off his means of escape. There was no longer any time for hesitation. Quickly he turned and dove from the cloud passage, praying that the water was not too shallow, and that he would not strike the rocks.

He hit the water with a splash, pain exploded through his leg as it struck a jagged outcropping of rock that dented his boot and ripped the kneepad from his knee. The water tossed him into the rocks, buffeting him about and allowing no opportunity to gain a handhold. His head collided with a jagged piece of rock and he instantly blacked out. The water pressure held him fast to the outcropping of rock that he had struck. Slowly he began to sink below the water, when two pairs of fish like hands grasped him and pulled his unconscious body out of the water.

Reblys was walking along the lesser Celestial river that morning with another fisherman looking for an ideal fishing spot. Gibari had brought in five hundred more pounds of sea bream than him in their last catch and the shame was unbearable.

It was then that he discovered a pair of cancerites crouched over a strange splash of color on the opposite bank. "What the...what is that?" They cautiously approached and to their great shock saw the two creatures were bent over the imperial ambassador pouring their ice cold liquor down his throat and licking their fishy lips with anticipation. The ambassador lay limply, pale and unresponsive on the stony shelf. "What do we do?" asked the fisherman beside Reblys.

"What do you think? We should watch them marinade him and eat him? Attack you fool!"

"I fish, not fight!"

"Grrr...fine, just stay out of the way then, Justin." Reblys rushed the two cancerites and bowled them over. He had a few bruises by the time he had finished them, but it didn't take long to eliminate the carnivorous creatures. Justin approached the still form of the ambassador cautiously.

Lyude's drenched crimson hair was layered in frost and his lips were turning blue. The liquor was serving it's purpose. He lay flat on his back, his left leg bent at a very uncomfortable angle, and his head tilted back, mouth still slightly open. His shoulders were propped up on a stone. Who knew how much of the ice cold liquor the cancerites had forced the unconscious young man to consume.

"Well?" said Reblys. "Is he alive?"

"Yes. Looks like he must have fallen from the passage above."said Justin viewing the half frozen and bleeding young man in front of him.

"Wonder why he doesn't have those winglet things like the other imperials. Looks like they'd save him a great deal of trouble." said Reblys.

"In any case we'd better get him out of here. Geez, look at his left boot there, It's so bent out of shape we'll have to cut it off of him. The two men checked over the boy to ensure that they would not harm him while attempting to move him. He was badly battered and bruised and seemed to have quite a nasty head injury, but it was safe to carry him. Reblys gathered Lyude up in his arms and he and Justin hurried back to Rebly's boat.

"Oh no." he said looking hesitantly at the boy in his arms and his boat.

"The ambassador is no stranger, Reblys. He's been here for months."

"He owes me big if he brings me bad luck."said Reblys darkly, gently setting the boy down in the floor of the boat and casting off.

Lyude uttered a soft groan, his head rolled to one side and he muttered incoherently, his speech slurred.

"Hmmm...he's going to have a headache. They've got him drunk." said Reblys.

"Hopefully, that'll pass before he wakes up. Dratted cancerites. Why do they do that?"

"Don't be stupid Justin, you know that they prefer their prey to have a large amount of alcohol in their blood stream. Makes them tastier, I suppose."

Justin glared at Reblys. His attitude bothered him sometimes. He busied himself with bandaging Lyude's wounds and warming him up. He managed to thaw Lyude's hair by the time they made it back to Nashira. A woman was speaking to one of the small children as the boat arrived and Reblys lifted the limp ambassador dismounting the boat.

She turned as many villagers let out a gasp at the sight and the woman gasped also, rushing forward and demanding to know what had happened.

Katrina saw what was going on and rushed out as well. "What happened!"

"Back up! Give the kid some room to breathe already!"

"Of course."said Katrina. "Please, bring him inside." Reblys followed Katrina into the house and laid Lyude gently on one of the beds. "What happened?" asked the woman that had been talking to the child.

"Who invited her?"asked Reblys.

"When it comes to this child I need no invitation!"said the woman.

Katrina stepped forward. "It's all right, Reblys, let's just concern ourselves with taking care of Sir Lyude."

It took quite some time to remove Lyude's demolished boot. As Justin had said, it was impossible to remove it without cutting it off, and it was a hard and delicate process. The woman that had come forward had taken charge of caring for his other wounds. Lyude lay still and sleeping, his face pale and drawn.

The doctor arrived shortly, Matthias in tow looking pale and shamefaced. "Looks like he was fortunate." said the doctor after examining Lyude. "He has a rather nasty knock to the head but no broken bones. The effects of the liquor will wear off with rest. The rest of the injuries can be well taken care of with the proper magnus. It's a good thing you found him when you did, Reblys."

"This is all my fault." said Matthias, his face tear streaked. "I shouldn't have left him alone like that. How did he just fall though?"

"We'll find out when he wakes, I suppose." said Katrina.

Lyude stirred slightly where he lay. He heard a soft hum in a very familiar tune, and felt as someone bathed his brow with a cool, damp cloth. His head was swimming, and it ached painfully where he had been struck. He lay still trying to gather his thoughts, not yet ready to open his eyes.

Slowly, as he began to feel a little more grounded, he allowed his eyes to open. His crimson eyes adjusted slowly to the dim light as he began to see the outline of the one who was tending to him. The figure paused as he opened his eyes and stroked his hair fondly. He turned his head slightly to face the figure a little better and his eyes widened in shock as the features sharpened before him. Springing to his elbows he exclaimed one word. "Almarde!"

AN: Thanks to everyone who has been following the story so far, As this is the first time I've responded to reviews in these, I'll try to catch up with any questions in reviews.

Wingsofheart: Glad you're enjoying the story and thank you for all your reviews in Flames of the Heart. To answer your question, yes, the story will follow through on a few events in the game. I can also take a hint, I'll be sure to check out your fanfics!

Crazygirl: Glad that you're enjoying it!

TFRiD Queen: Thanks for all your input. I'm glad you're enjoying Matthias, though he's a bit of a pain in this chapter. :) Vallye's a viper. The reason I'm able to update so fast is that I've already submitted the Flames of the Heart fic and a great deal of the Diadem fic on the BK forums. I'm about six chapters behind here.

FYI: After this fanfiction is concluded I have a follow up planned for Flames of the Heart.