PART XXII

Vivli's smile was weak at best.

"Hello Zin." She managed to say. He gave her a cocky grin.

"Hello, sweetheart." He said with an arrogant smirk. "Like it?"

"What's going on?" Vivli asked, her voice sounding small and pathetic. "What happened to you trying to destroy the world?" She managed to reinforce herself with that question, sounding a little stronger, and even a little confident.

"Please." Laughed Zinkata. "Lavos's power simply allows an individual to act on his true desires. Sigmund loved to display power, hence his flying building. Illuga was obsessed with destruction. He just went for wiping out the world. Me?" He laughed. "Money. Girls. I have both."

"Don't say that!" Vivli cried. "Zinkata was a good man! Honourable!"
"I'm a thief." He smiled. "Once a thief, always a thief." Vivli looked at him, those words burning into her. Was this really what Zinkata secretly desired? She looked around at the piles of gold, thieves, murderers and thugs sat among them, only broken up by skimpily dressed girls chained to poles and sat either on or by the gold. She saw a pile quite close to them. Her eyes instantly caught something. Zinkata's armour rested in it. She could pick out other bits of his equipment. It must have been where they had thrown his gear. She had an idea.

"Zin." She said, trying to sound playful and childish. "I missed you." She said softly. Zinkata smiled. Vivli tried to hide a grin. She knew that if Zinkata was right, and the corruption of Lavos had reduced him to his base desires, she could take advantage of that. "I love you Zin." She playfully said, shuffling her feet and looking at him with a stare of desire. She was glad she had been in plenty of plays and taken plenty of acting lessons back at the monastery when she was younger.

"You may leave." Zinkata ordered the galka. The galka nodded, turning and leaving. He threw Vivli's staff into a pile of gold and jewels by the door before exiting.

"You love me, do you?" He smiled warmly. Vivli was surprised to feel her own emotions kick in. She had been trying to act, but that smile, it made her heart melt. She moved in, closer to him.

"Yes." She said sweetly, looking into his eyes, trying to overplay it, but feeling the emotion all the same. Zinkata took her in his arms, and she rested against him. With her head resting against his chest, feeling each breath as he took it, she felt like everything was back to the way it was. She didn't want to leave. She snuggled into his arms. Zinkata smiled. She looked up at him, and suddenly realised he wasn't even looking at her. He was holding her like she was some trophy. She got her thoughts back together. She had to get her plan into action. "Will I be chained up here?" She asked. "With you?"

"I keep nobody close to me, sweetheart." Zinkata said. Vivli hated the way he had taken to calling her 'sweetheart', he never said it with any passion or love. "But you'll be left here."

"Can I at least be close?" Vivli made pleading eyes, and made sure her voice was dripping with child like desperation. She sounded like she was so desperately in love with Zinkata she'd do anything to be near. Zinkata smiled. This clearly appealed to his sense of power. Vivli hid her own victorious smile.

"Of course." Zinkata grinned, liking the idea of having somebody so hopelessly dependant on him near. "Where would you like to be?" He asked. Vivli tried not to shudder. He was asking where she'd like to be chained and bound as a slave. It was actually the question she had been looking for, however, and she wasn't going to waste it, let alone give anything away now.

"There." She said, childishly shuffling on her feet and shyly pointing to the pile where Zinkata's armour and gear rested. She knew, deep down, Zinkata had a tendency to treat her like a child, and she knew by acting in that way, Zinkata would do what she wanted. "I can be near you then in one way at least." Her eyes were wide and glistening. Zinkata loved that. She was so desperate she just wanted to be near the things he owned.

"Very well." He smiled. He signalled for two guards who took her away.

Vivli slumped in the gold pile as they locked a chain around her neck, and connected it to a huge pole they had just erected. She sighed. She was going nowhere. She shivered. The gold was cold through her thin dress. Zinkata watched her with glee as she playfully pawed at his armour. As soon as he looked away she began searching much more frantically, pushing the heavy armour aside and digging through the gold coins.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?" Zinkata asked. Vivli paused. She had to think of something quickly.

"Looking for pretty jewels." She said with a childish gaze. Zinkata laughed.

"Yeah, that sounds like you." He smirked. What's that supposed to mean? Vivli thought angrily, but decided that this wasn't the best time to be thinking about that. She quickly dug through the gold coins, and then she saw it.. She was victorious. A small black pearl rested in the pile. Zinkata's link pearl.

Bootus, Olose and Voldos were sat slumped around a table, defeated. They said nothing. They couldn't think of anything to say. Suddenly, the link pearl on the table began to vibrate. All three of their eyes went wide, and they all dove for it, each placing a hand on it.

"Guys?" Came a whisper. "Guys? Are you there?" It was Vivli. There was a million things they could have said, but Bootus had to get in first.
"Viv, you're communicating by thought. You don't need to think in whispers." He grumbled. The link pearls could communicate both sound and thought, which had led to some embarrassing situations in the past.

"Oh right." Her voice got a bit louder. It was actually her thoughts they were hearing, but she was clearly struggling to think clearly in her current situation.

"How are you talking to us?" Olose cried. "When we heard them take the link pearl, we feared the worse!"
"I found Zinkata's." She said gleefully.

"Where are you?" The three suddenly said in unison.

Back in the cave Vivli let out a small chuckle at this. Her throat knotted as she caught her mistake. Zinkata looked over curiously. She dove her hand into the gold and searched for something, anythingthat could justify this. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found a large diamond. She stared into it, looking at her reflection being distorted, and let out another chuckle. Zinkata turned away and she sighed heavily in relief. That had apparently been enough to convince him she was up to something else.

"Down near the sea." Came Vivli's voice after an agonisingly long pause. "There's a large boulder."

"That's where they go!" Olose cried, like it was obvious. "No wonder I always left them! I know where you mean!"
"There's a long cave sequence once you've pushed the boulder aside." Vivli told them. "Zinkata is here, and a lot of thugs."

"How many?" Voldos asked.

"I'm not sure." Vivli replied. "Urr, I-I'm not very good at mental maths."

"Arithmetic." Grumbled Bootus. "You mean mental arithmetic."

"Whatever." She sighed. "I don't know. I don't think I could guess without counting."

"Roughly!" Groaned Voldos.
"Urm, thirty? No. Fifty. Maybe. More. Urm, I don't know." They could hear Vivli mentally counting behind her own thoughts, a side effect of hearing her thoughts. "I don't know!" She cried again. "I'm terrible at maths!"

"It's counting." Grumbled Bootus.

"Urm. Sixty. I'd say." She finally decided. She wasn't sure. She just couldn't think in the right mind to approximate the number of people. They were gathered and scattered all over the place. She wasn't the type of person who could just look and approximate like the heroes she read about in books.

"Sixty?" Olose repeated.

"We can take sixty." Voldos gave a cocky smile.

"We'll be right there." Olose grinned.

Vivli placed the link pearl back into the gold pile.

"I have to go." She thought to the others. "If they catch me-"

"We understand." She heard in her head. She was glad that only the person touching the link pearl could hear what was being said. She shuffled nervously. She deeply wished her staff had been thrown in the same pile. She let out another shiver, the cold metal against her skin making her uncomfortable.

"How you feeling, sweetheart?" Called Zinkata.

"Cold." Vivli miserably replied, hoping to be moved closer. Zinkata laughed.
"You always were a wimp." Vivli was surprised to hear that, and a little hurt. She assumed the corruption was making Zinkata say things that he'd never usually say. One of the thugs walked up to Zinkata with a sneer Vivli definitely didn't like.

"Boss?" He asked. "Why don't ya slip her into something a little more revealing? She's not doing much in that dress." Vivli shivered at the thought. Most mithra clothing was revealing, but she hated the idea of wearing clothes like that just to appeal to the thugs. Her dress was low cut and fairly revealing anyway, so she was surprised by the request.

"She can stay like that." Zinkata said firmly. For a moment Vivli thought that he still cared. "She's got a disgusting scar on her stomach I don't want to have to see." He spat after he had finished speaking. That stung Vivli deeply. The scar on her stomach originated when the evil Carnage, Chaos mutated into his most powerful form, had impaled her on his sword. It had been Zinkata that had saved her. She had been overly sensitive of that scar ever since. She didn't like to think of herself as vain, but she hated the idea of the big and fairly ugly scar showing on her otherwise tanned and untouched body. Very few people ever believed she was an adventurer purely because she had never been scarred, except that once. She was so proud of that, and, apart from some of the more creepy compliments from various captors, her smooth skin was something she was especially happy to have. This meant she was utterly overly sensitive to her scar. Zinkata had always been sweet and told her it didn't matter. It seemed his true feelings showed now.

"Aw, she looks upset boss." Laughed one of the thugs.

"Only being truthful." Zinkata said with a grin. The thugs laughed. Vivli tried to not let it bother her. She loved Zinkata. It didn't matter if he didn't like her scar. She didn't like it either. She had to rescue him. "It is an ugly scar." He said to her. She tried to hide the pain she felt, being insulted by her love.

"You want to see a scar?" Came a cry from the doorway.

The galkan guard stood there for a moment before swaying, and dropping down, dead. Olose, Voldos and Bootus stood behind, ready for combat. Zinkata stood instantly, enraged.

"This is a scar!" Olose ripped his shirt, revealing his beaten and torn body.

"Who in Chaos's name are you?" He bellowed.

"Does it matter?" Olose smiled.

"Zin! This ends now!" Voldos cried.

"You're outnumbered!" Spat Zinkata. "You don't stand a chance!"

"We'll see." Voldos sneered.

"The staff." Bootus whispered, gesturing to Vivli's staff resting in the gold pile.

"I'm on it." Voldos replied.

"Destroy them!" Zinkata ordered. The thugs drew weapons and advanced on the heroes.

Olose slipped out of his jacket, revealing two katanas in scabbards on his belt. Vivli hadn't noticed them before. She watched as he drew the double blades and moved in with deadly skill, slicing apart three of the incoming thugs before they could even get an attack off. Bootus pounded one into the ground before a galkan thug leapt at him. Bootus, to her surprise, took him out of the air and slammed him into the ground, pounding his chest with his claws.

Voldos bolted to the staff and grabbed it. He smiled, loading it into his bow like an arrow. He fired it, and it shot across the room, crashing into the gold pile by Vivli. He spotted four thugs heading straight for him. He smiled, drawing four arrows, loading them, and firing them in one shot, taking the four out.

Bootus dodged a blow, and kicked a thug into the wall, hearing him crash down. Another closed in, and Bootus leapt into the air, round housing him in the head. The galka came down with such force he knocked another hume closing in on him over. He picked up this figure and threw him into another incoming thug. One with a sword leapt at him. He stepped in, snapping the arms of the attacker and grabbing the sword, spinning it around with great skill and slicing apart two more thugs. Another ran at him.

"Here's a new trick I learnt!" Snarled the galka, blasting a fireball from the blade of his sword into the incoming attacker. "Thank Lucia for that one!" He cried at the burnt thug.

Vivli ran down to the staff and grabbed it, summoning up her magical energies to get it to fire a red bolt, breaking the chain around her neck. She ran towards Zinkata, who was stood, shouting orders. She ran down to join him.

"Hi, sweetie." She said with a mockingly sweet smile, blasting the sword from his hand with a bolt from her staff. He spun around, holding out his own staff.

"Aw, sweetheart, glad you could join me!" His eyes went wide with rage as he spun his staff. Out of the fairly small staff sprung a much longer metal form, making it into a large retractable quarterstaff with an end so small it was one sharp point. Vivli gulped.

"I hope mine can do that." She said wishfully, fumbling about on the staff as Zinkata closed in. At the last moment, her own staff sprang out into a quarterstaff of its own. She gave a sigh of relief. It was nice and light, and she span it, ready to fight.

Olose slashed back multiple thugs closing in.

"Olose!" Bootus yelled, blasting back another thug with a fire spell. "We're getting overwhelmed here!"

"I know!" Olose cried in reply.

"Time to kick this battle off properly, I think!" Bootus told him. Olose smiled.
"I've been waiting for this!" He yelled. He slipped off his brown jacket before letting out a strange elongated howl. The thugs backed off, confused. They watched in horror as his muscles grew to gigantic sizes, his body became covered in fur, a long bushy tail emerged and his head twisted into that of a wolf. A gigantic wolf monster stood in his place.

"W-w-w-w-werewolf!" Screamed one of the thugs in pure terror. Olose quickly started ripping the thugs to shreds.

Zinkata glanced over, distracted.

"Olose!" He gasped. Vivli took this opportunity and swung in with her staff. Zinkata automatically blocked it without a second thought. He held his staff in one arm. Vivli pushed with all her might against his, but he easily held her back, even one handed. He let out a vicious push and she stumbled back, falling to the floor from his pure strength. "Please, sweetheart, you were never a fighter." Vivli let out an angry cry, and fired a bolt of red energy from the floor at Zinkata. He deflected it casually with a bolt of yellow energy. The two thunderous beams rocketed down and slammed into a pile of gold, sending money flying everywhere. Vivli quickly got to her feet and attacked again. Zinkata blocked it, quite clearly amused. She kept attacking, but wasn't very skilled, her blows were wide and slow, and Zinkata stopped them easily. He suddenly swung in a lethally fast and incredibly strong attack, knocking her staff completely from her hands. It clashed down the path, and rolled neatly out of sight, lost in the battle below. Vivli's eyes went wise.
"Zin! Please!" She begged. She was ashamed, but so scared she was begging anyway. Zinkata grinned.

"You were never worthy of travelling with us." He spat. "Look at you! One strike. I performed one strike and your unarmed. Another and you'll be dead. For all your attacks, you couldn't get through a feeble one armed defence. You're useless." He spun his staff and swung it in an attack. Vivli was surprised to find herself reacting in time to avoid it, doubling over backwards, her body twisting over in two in a way only a mithra's could.

"Ha!" Snarled the gigantic wolf to his comrades. "Told you she was flexible!"

"Should have bet money!" Bootus yelled, pounding a young and hapless thug into the ground. Several more swarmed onto Olose, trying to overpower him. He threw them off with a roar. One ran at him, and he let out a powerful side kick, sending the thug flying back into a wall. He heard his spine crack. Most of the thugs were now retreating in pure fear. Those that fought were being beaten. Many were being taken out by fast flying arrows coming from Voldos. Bootus and his new found dark knight skills were helping the slaughter as black magic flew towards the attackers. Olose stampeded through the thugs like an uncontrollable beast. Despite the huge number of thugs, they could clearly see that they were in trouble.

Vivli came up again as Zinkata looked at her, amused.

"Lucky." He stated. Vivli didn't wait for another attack, but ran. Zinkata could outrun her, she knew that, so instead she jumped off the raised section of the cave and fell down below. She landed, hurting her ankle. She let out a slight cry, and ran onwards regardless, diving for her fallen staff.

She reached it just in time as Zinkata was hot on her heels. She turned around, using it to defend herself from a downwards strike at the last second. She let out a girlish scream as it hit, and she tried to push Zinkata away, but didn't stand a chance. He pushed down on her staff with his own, grinning evilly. Her weak arms buckled under the pressure, and her own staff was pushed down to her neck. Zinkata was using it to strange her. She tried desperately to push it off, but couldn't. If she had let go of it, it probably would have fallen to the side, but in her frightened and oxygen starved state, she didn't think of it. She tried to scream, but could only manage a gag. She felt her energy fading as she became light headed and sleepy. She was going to die! Zinkata was going to kill her! A tear ran down her cheek.

The pressure was suddenly lifted and she gasped desperately for breath. Zinkata blasted Olose's gigantic form as it closed in on him, and the power of the staff was enough to even send the gigantic werewolf flying. He crashed into a pile of gold and it scattered everywhere. Vivli tried to crawl away, but was too weak from her efforts to pry Zinkata off and being strangled to move. Zinkata looked down to her.

"I'll finish you later." He snarled. Vivli looked up angrily.

"I'd do it now!" She cried, and her own staff blasted a bolt of red energy, hitting Zinkata and sending him flying. He soared to the roof of the cave, before crashing down in a pile of gold. There was a pause. Vivli struggled to her feet, but couldn't quite make it. She slumped down, breathing hard. She looked around. All the other thugs and slaves had escaped or been killed. Zinkata suddenly burst from the gold pile with an enraged scream. Vivli sighed in relief. She was afraid for a moment she had killed him.

"This isn't over!" He spat, retreating to his thrown and grabbing his sword, still clutching the staff in his offhand. He used the staff to fling a large rock at the back aside and bolted down the tunnel it revealed. Voldos and Bootus ran after him.

Olose turned back to his human form, torn remains of trousers conveniently still in place. He bent down, picked up his brown jacket and ran over to Vivli.

"You okay?" He asked with a great deal of concern. Vivli flung himself into his arms, sobbing. The strange feel of Olose's torn skin didn't bother her she was so upset. "Can you stand up?" Vivli tried, and shook her head. "I have to go after Zinkata." He put his jacket around her protectively like it would help in some way. "That should keep you warm at least." He stated. "You'll be fine in a few minutes. You just need to get oxygen back." He burst into his werewolf form and shot down the tunnel at an incredible speed. Vivli sighed, feeling helpless and useless. She struggled to stand up, but her legs just gave way. She groaned in frustration.

Bootus and Voldos skidded to a stop in shock. They were in a large cavern, and in the middle of it rested a gigantic transport airship.

"The Red Rose." Bootus read from the name. "That's the airship that was hijacked by pirates a few months back. Made people paranoid about airship travel for a while."

"I remember." Voldos nodded. "So this is where it ended up." The airship began to take off. "Dammit! How are we supposed to get on board that thing!" At the front of the cavern was an exit across the water into the night sky. It became apparent that the cave had been underwater and this led to a giant cave on the coastline. The two became aware of the rapidly moving object hurtling down the cave behind them. Olose burst out and saw the airship. Without a second thought he leapt, leaping inhumanly far in his werewolf form and climbing up onto the craft. The airship disappeared into the night's sky.

Voldos and Bootus stood disheartened for a moment, before turning back and walking back down the tunnel. They found Vivli half way, slumped against the wall, trying to hold herself up. It was Voldos who took her into his arms and helped her along.

"What happened?" She asked, her voice a little croaky from being strangled.

"He escaped using an airship they must have hijacked." Bootus grumbled as they walked down the passageway, finding a way out.

"Olose jumped onto it, but we couldn't make it." Voldos explained sadly.

"So what can we do now?" Vivli asked weakly from Voldos's arms.

"Wait, I suppose." Voldos answered.

The three climbed out of the hole. Vivli was a little surprised to see the boulder had now been hurled into the shallow sea. She betted that was Bootus's doing. The air was bitterly cold, and she wrapped Olose's jacket around her tighter to keep her warm.

"Where shall we go?" Voldos asked. "Vivli needs to recover." He was moderately surprised by how frail she seemed. He knew she got hurt easily, but feeling her in his arms this seemed to be emphasised a great deal more.

"The tavern?" Suggested Bootus. "They let us use their basement before."

"Great." Vivli grumbled. "Rats."

"And then tomorrow we can start a search for the airship. A big transport airship like that should be easy to spot." Despite Voldos's plan, he was clearly disheartened and didn't have much confidence. The three suddenly looked up as they heard the beating of rotor blades. Voldos smiled in disbelief.

"You can't keep a stubborn man down!" Came a cry from the small black airship. "Raven III, meet the Light Warriors, Light Warriors, meet the Raven III."

"Cid!" Screamed Voldos.

"How the hell did you build an airship so quickly?" Bootus exclaimed. "We've only been gone a few days!"
"Please." Cid laughed, rolling his eyes. "After the success of the Raven and the Raven II it was only natural I built a third. I finished this one a month ago, just haven't had a use for it until now."

"As fun as shouting to each other is, can we come on board?" Voldos asked, tired of yelling up to the airship hovering above. Cid smiled, throwing a rope ladder over the edge. The three climbed on board, Voldos helping Vivli up the hanging ladder, and got onto the deck.

"I came as soon as I heard where you'd gone." Cid explained. "I doubt you actually need the Raven yet though." Voldos laughed.

"Believe me, this couldn't have been timed more conveniently!" He exclaimed. "An airship just left here. A hijacked one. We need to track it." Cid smiled.

"Talk about lucky." He said.

"I blame Altana." Bootus smirked.

"It went in that direction." Vivli explained, her voice gentle and tiny still. She pointed with a shaky finger. Cid smiled.

"Strap yourselves in!" He cried. "This thing is even faster than before! We'll catch them in no time!"

"No splitting in half tricks, please?" Vivli pleaded. Cid laughed.

"We should be able to catch them as we are." Cid remarked. "You have no reason to worry."

"Viv, go below decks. Get some rest." Voldos ordered. "You're looking pale and ill."

"I get airsick!" Vivli snapped.

"Exactly." Voldos smiled, not making any sense. Vivli sighed, complying. She didn't hold any hopes that she could get to sleep on the tiny vessel, but was struggling to stay standing in her drained state, so was prepared to try.

The tiny form of the Raven III rocketed across the air, zooming after the mighty airship on which two of the Light Warriors closest friends were locked in a heated battle.