CHAPTER 8

ASSAULT

Olose threw off his torn tuxedo jacket and slipped into his battered brown one, throwing down his bow tie and looking much more like an adventurer, now in a dirty torn shirt (thanks to falling down the mountain), ripped and dusty black trousers and the old jacket he had taken off the fallen bandit. He marched out with Norg following him in confusion.

"What's going on?" Norg called after him.

"You've heard of Abaj Tuh?" He asked, not looking back.

"Who hasn't?" Norg cried in confusion.

"He's got Arcadia." Olose said bluntly. Norg stopped in shock.

"Wuh de ma." Norg gasped, before recovering his senses. Olose marched into the barracks and began taking weapons from the walls.

"I'm going to get her back." He stated.

"What? How?" Norg exclaimed. Olose strapped two swords to his back.

"I can track her by the scent she left. I'll follow her to Abaj's fortress, break in, and rescue her." He explained, grabbing two more swords and strapping them to his belt, followed by another two.

"You're going to break into a fortress? Alone?" Norg repeated in shock. Olose stuck four daggers in the back of his belt, and one in each of his boots.

"That's the plan." He answered casually.

"You can't do this alone." Norg said with a tone of warning in his voice.

"Why the hell not?" Snapped Olose, pulling two bows and two sets of quivers from the wall of weapons. "I'm immortal. I can't be hurt."

"You look pretty hurt to me!" Norg pointed out. Olose threw the bows and the quivers onto his back.

"I'll be fine." He stormed out of the barracks and Norg followed him.

"At least let me go with you!" Norg pleaded. "I can arrange the elvaan armies and get them ready to move out."

"No." Olose stated. "There's no time. Abaj wants Arcadia for revenge, not for a ransom. He might kill her as soon as he gets his hands on her. I have to move as quickly as possible."

"I'll be right behind you!" Norg called after Olose as he sprang out of the gate of San d'Oria, disappearing. He charged at incredible speeds on all fours, disappearing into the darkness.

Arcadia was pulled into a gigantic cave sometime later. Saying Abaj Tuh had a fortress was no exaggeration, she had passed through a massive wooden fortress, protected by gigantic heavy gates and with walls lined with archers. The cave sat at the back, protected by the fort surrounding it. She was still squirming in the arms of her powerful captor. It was fairly dark, but she could still make out expensive paintings hanging from the walls of the cave, and piles of gold and gems stacked all around. A gigantic golden throne had an overweight, yet powerful looking figure, sat in it.

"Lady Arcadia, how pleased I am to meet you." Abaj said sarcastically as he rose. She glared at him, but said nothing. "No hello?" He asked, sounding offended in the fakest way possible. "Well, I guess I'll just kill you then." He signalled to her captor who drew a sword.

"No! Wait!" She whimpered. Abaj held up a hand signalling for her captor to stop.

"Go on." Abaj prompted. "Why shouldn't I kill you?"
"My family is very rich." She stuttered, trying to stall and buy time. "They can pay a large amount for my release." Abaj roared with laughter, holding out his arms and gesturing to his surroundings.
"Money?" He laughed. "Do I look like I need money?" His grin turned into a scowl. "I will make the people of Tavnazia pay for what they did to me. They outlawed me! Tried to repel me! And they thought I would take no action?" He drew a long dagger from his belt. "Perhaps I'll cut off one of your fingers and mail them that first. That always scares them." He took a step closer, and Arcadia squirmed, trying to get away. "I'll make sure they know every little bit of torture I put you through. And nothing can stop me. They can throw all the money they want at me. I'm not letting you off. This is punishment for the entire city!"

"SIRRRRR!" Came an urgent sounding purr from down by the entrance to the cave.

"What is it?" Snapped Abaj at a small frightened looking mithra down by the entrance.

"We'rrrre underrrr attack!" She purred desperately.

"WHAT?" Boomed Abaj. "Impossible! Wipe them out!"

"That's just it, sirrrr." The young mithra said in concern. "It's not 'them'. It's 'him'".

"What?" Abaj snapped as Arcadia's face became a smile.

"It's just one guy!" The mithra cried desperately. "And we can't stop him! He's alrrrready thrrrrrough ourrrr outerrrr lines and apprrrroaching the forrrtress!"

"You dare to tell me that one man is breaking through my defences?" Abaj growled. The mithra nodded sheepishly. "Destroy him! Destroy him now!"

"We'rrre tarrying!" The mithra cried nervously. Abaj rose a mighty eyebrow.

"It couldn't be, could it?" He whispered. "Suse!" He snapped at the mithra. She jolted to attention.

"Yes sirrr?" She said, clearly frightened.

"Ready Ghoma." He smirked. "If he gets in here, I'll make sure the only way he's leaving is in pieces."

Olose slammed into the floor, three arrows lodged in his chest. He angrily sprang back up, ripping them from his body. He healed instantly, and unleashed arrows of his own. He hit one of the archers atop Abaj's fortress, and watched as he fell. The rest of his arrows missed. He had never been a good archer. He saw another hail of arrows coming in, and dove aside, dodging them, dropping his bow as he did so. He came up, drawing his second and firing more arrows. He hit a few more archers before he broke into a run, charging at the fortress. The odd arrow thudded into him, but he was unaffected. He reached the base of the fortress.

"Relax." One of the archers said to his companion confidently. "There's no way he can get up here." Olose leapt, clawing at the wooden wall, and scaled in easily. The archer's eyes went wide as Olose hit him over with a powerful thrust from his elbow. Olose threw down the bow and dropped the quiver, drawing two swords and closing in, slicing his way through the archers. Troops ran up, clutching swords. They closed in on Olose, attacking. Olose blocked the blades and kicked the first solider aside. The second came down in a sweep, cutting Olose's hand. He dropped a blade in a reflex, but renewed the assault with just one. Somebody fired an arrow, and it hit Olose's chest powerfully, hitting him off of the wall and causing him to drop his other sword.

He slammed into the dirt below as soldiers rushed down towards him. He got up, pulling the arrow out of his chest and throwing it at the nearest target. It lodged in the eye socket of an approaching solider, who went down screaming. He drew two more swords and began to fight back his attackers. He sliced through the soldiers with relative ease, they were panicking over his immortality. A gigantic galka marched towards him, in his hands a hugely heavy mace. Olose braced himself as the mace flew in, hitting aside one of his swords easily. Olose ran but the mace came back down again, hitting him. He flew across the fort, crashing into the wooden wall. He got up to see the galka storming towards him. He had lost his other sword in the fall, but was still unwounded thanks to his ability to regenerate. The galka lifted up the mace, reading to strike downwards. Olose grabbed a dagger from his belt and hurled it. It sliced the galka's wrist, and he howled with pain, dropping the mace. Olose hurled another dagger, hitting the galka square between the eyes, and it went down.

He breathed a sigh of relief, getting up and seeing more soldiers advance on him.

"Dammit. Don't you guys ever give up?" Olose cried, drawing his final two swords. "I'm glad I came prepared." They ran in, and he beat them back, but he was so drastically outnumbered they overwhelmed by pure force, until two galkas managed to get behind him and restrain him. He had caused huge amounts of destruction, but was now sufficiently pinned and couldn't move. They took the swords from his hands and threw them down.

"Now, let's see just how weapon resistant you are." Snarled one of the soldiers. A sudden noise echoed through the camp. "What?" Cried the soldier.

"Sounds like a war horn to me." Olose mocked. The soldiers began to run towards the walls of the fort. In the moment of distraction Olose hurled himself forwards into a front roll, breaking lose of the grip of his foes. He drew two of his daggers, using them to fend off the attacking soldiers. He beat two back, slashing them away. One galka swung in at him, but he rolled beneath its arm and stabbed it.

The soldiers climbed the wall and looked out over to see a huge group of elvaans stampeding towards them. Arrows flew in, hitting multiple soldiers from the wall.

"They'll never get through!" Cried the commander. "Those gates will hold. There aren't enough of them to break through our defences." He suddenly heard a creaking and turned to the gate in horror. "NO!" He bellowed as Olose swung open the mighty gates. "STOP HIM!" Soldiers rushed down towards Olose, but he beat them away with his daggers. The elvaans broke through into the fort, and a full scale battle broke out.

"YEEHAH!" Norg cried. "Told ya I'd be right behind you!" He called triumphantly. Olose smiled.

"Keep 'em busy. I'm going to get Arcadia!" Olose called.

"Will do!" Norg delivered a two fingered salute and Olose disappeared towards the cave.

Abaj stood furiously.

"What is going on out there?" He bellowed.

"Sounds like therrrre's an army!" Suse, the mithra, whimpered.

"Bah! I know! Go! Destroy them!" He ordered. His guards began to filter out. Suse got up to follow, but Abaj yanked her back by her tail. "Not you! I need you to speak to Ghoma!"

"He's rrrrready." She told him nervously. "But are you surrrrre him fighting is a good idea? Somebody could get hurrrrrt."

"That's the idea." Sighed Abaj. "Why do I keep you around?" He groaned.

"Because I'm the only one Gohma will listen too!" Suse said confidently.

"I captured him." Abaj proudly stated. "You're just a tool to make sure he does as he's told." Suse shrunk down.

"ABAJ!" Came a cry from the entrance to the cave. Abaj glared angrily. Olose Sampson stood in the entrance, grinning.

"OLOSE!" Arcadia cried happily, now unrestrained but too scared to move thanks to the presence of Abaj and his daggers.

"Where is Ghoma?" Boomed Abaj.

"Your lackeys have failed, Abaj." Olose taunted. "Don't make me deal with another one."

"Ghoma is no lackey!" Abaj laughed. "Call it, Suse!" Abaj ordered. Suse whistled uneasily. There was a loud rumbling and the ground seemed to shake. "Ghoma is a little pet of mine."

The ground cracked before Olose and from the ground burst a gigantic dark crimson armoured snake, with one gigantic yellow eye and two huge pincers at its front. It loomed over Olose, easily fifteen times taller than he was, hunched despite the huge height of the cave. It let out a high pitch squeal.

"Meet Ghoma." Grinned Abaj. Olose gulped.
"Oh great." He sighed as it lunged at him. It tunnelled into the ground, and Olose stood there, nervously twiddling his daggers. He heard it rumble, and suddenly the ground beneath him collapsed as Ghoma burst from the ground. He hit the floor with a thud as it prepared to attack him again. It cocked its head back, ready to dive down on top of him. An arrow suddenly whipped into its eye, and it let out a loud squeal, pulling back and retreating into the ground.

"GHOMA!" Suse screamed in concern. Norg had a cocky grin across his face as he dropped his bow, drawing a sword.

"Miss me?" He asked. Norg threw a second blade to Olose, who caught it, sheathing his daggers. Ghoma burst out of the ground again, and lunged at Olose once more. Olose jumped it, running up its back and leaping back onto the ground as it snaked into the floor once more. Olose turned and swung his sword, hitting the armour. It clanged from it, causing sparks but no damage.

"We could be in trouble here!" Olose gulped.

"The eye! The eye is the target!" Norg called. Olose nodded as the ground rumbled once more.

"Here it comes again!" Olose said, bracing himself. Abaj had a huge grin on his face as he watched his pride and joy battle his enemies. Arcadia gripped the side of his throne, watching in horror and Suse fiddled nervously with her hands, looking very upset to see her pet battling.

Olose suddenly screamed in agony as Ghoma burst up behind him, impaling him on its tusk.

"OLOSE!" Arcadia screamed in horror. Abaj laughed in delight.

"OW!" Olose exclaimed, impaled on the creature. It roared, and dove back under ground, now with Olose pinned at the front of it.

"No!" Norg cried, diving and catching hold of the tail. The tail disappeared with Norg on it, beneath the ground. There was a pause, a deadly silence in which nobody dared to speak. Ghoma burst from the ground once more, with Olose still impaled on it, looking scraped and beaten up from being dragged through the ground. He was still alive however, his wounds having healed instantly. Ghoma squealed. Norg suddenly appeared, crawling out of the ground and up its hide, using the armoured plating as a foothold. He got near the head as it began to shake desperately, trying to get rid of him.

"Olose! Catch!" Norg cried, throwing his own sword to Olose (who had dropped his own when he had become impaled).
"Thanks!" Olose smiled, catching the blade and turning himself to face Ghoma, despite the fact that he was still impaled. Ghoma brought its other tusk about, ready to rip Olose in two. Olose flung the sword, and it hurled into Ghoma's eye, sticking there. Ghoma let out a terrific scream, and crashed down forwards. Olose pulled himself off of the tusk painfully, and the hole in his body quickly reconstructed itself.

"GHOMA! NO!" Sobbed Suse. Olose took a deep breath, walking up to its eye and reclaiming the sword from it. Ghoma's tusks snapped together, and Olose just managed to miss them. They successfully ripped the sword in two however. It roared back up, ready to attack once more.

"Doesn't this thing ever die?" Exclaimed Norg. Olose drew his daggers again and threw them. One bounced off of Ghoma's tusk, but the other struck home, right in the eye. Ghoma didn't roar this time. It just toppled back, causing Abaj, Suse and Arcadia to run to the side as it crashed down upon Abaj's throne, destroying it. Ghoma's tusks jittered, barely moving. The creature let out a soft moan, and died.

"YEEHAH!" Cheered Norg, pumping a fist in the air.

"NO!" Boomed Abaj. "NO! DESTROY THEM!" Ghoma didn't move. "SUSE! DESTROY THEM!"

"You killed my Ghoma!" She sobbed, running down at Olose, who was once again without a weapon. He quickly drew the two remaining daggers he had from his boots, ready to defend himself. Suse held two daggers of her own in her hands, and her tail snaked around, picking up a third.

"Interesting." Olose remarked as she lunged angrily with all of them. She wasn't very skilful, and Olose found it easy to block and beat them away. "I don't want to hurt you." He warned.

"I can't say the same!" She spat, attacking again, swinging with each blade. Olose sighed, knocking one aside hard. The blade clattered to the ground. She lunged with her tail and Olose swung aside, dodging the blade completely and slicing her tail clean off. She screamed in pure agony, dropping down, overwhelmed with pain. She chocked on her own tears, curling up into a foetal position.

"Get up, dammit!" Abaj bellowed. Suse sobbed on the floor.

"It hurrrrrrts!" She choked. "It hurrrrts!" Olose sighed, feeling guilty.

"Just stay down and I won't kill you." He stated grimly. Suse looked up teary eyes, and pushed herself away from him, the bloody stump of her tail leaving a trail as she did so. She pushed herself up against the cave wall, bringing her knees up to her chest. Arcadia ran down to Olose, and embraced him. Olose let go of Arcadia, sheathed his daggers, and picked up the sword he had dropped.

"You won't get away with this!" Abaj cried angrily.

"Abaj, if you shut up now, I won't kill you." Olose said calmly. "Arcadia is safe, I've done what I came here to do." Olose smiled, and Abaj let out an angry growl.

"Mark my words boy, and mark them well," Abaj snarled "If you let me live, I will make you pay for what you've done."

"No you won't!" Olose snapped, equally angry. "You're fortress is destroyed and your followers have been defeated. You won't cause anymore trouble." He smiled slightly. "You're gonna spend a nice long time in an elvaan jail cell."

"I'll escape." Abaj taunted. "And I'll hunt you down."

"With what?" Olose spat. "Your tailless mithra friend there?" Suse was shaking, and crying , with her legs pulled tightly to her chest still. "Admit it, you're finished." Olose turned and walked away.

He led Arcadia out while Norg dealt with restraining Abaj. He passed Nadia on the way, who was directing her own squad through the tunnels to join Norg. Arcadia embraced him tightly.

"Thank you." She said tearfully. "For coming for me." Olose smiled.
"I'm your bodyguard." He stated. "That's what I do. I protect you." He paused. "I'm sorry I let this happen."

"It was not your fault." Arcadia told him. "Thank you." A tear ran down her face. Her formal training taught her not to cry. Besides anything else, crying would make her make-up run, which wasn't a look she ever sought for, but in this case she couldn't hold it back.

"So, how does being your bodyguard pay?" Olose smirked.

"As much as you would like." She responded with a sweet smile.

"Oh, then I have just the thing." Olose answered, and for a moment, Arcadia thought he was going to kiss her. "I have this hole in the back of my jacket now. Think you could fix it?" He grinned and Arcadia rolled her eyes.

Author's Note: I like this chapter. I found it fun to write. However, thanks to good ol' Microsoft not being satisfied I haven't given them all of my money for Microsoft Office, and just use Microsoft Works, it crashed and I had to write it all again. Not that I'm bitter! Oh no!

And in good ol' Vivli tradition I stole a bad guy from another game. An even bigger stretch, but the advantage of writing 600 years before FFXI means I can make up monsters, so I stole Ghoma from another game I'm a fan of. I wonder if anybody knows which one!

And to point out a little thing about names. I suck with names. But a few bits to point out. Olose, I've said before in an author's note for the FFXI Chronicles is "Solo" backwards, with an 'e' to make it sound better, because originally Olose was going to be a Han Solo type character. He's changed a bit since then. In the same vein, and as a direct tribute to this, Abaj is "Jabba" backwards, with only one 'b' to make it look better. Well, he was a crime lord and it fitted. And Suse is because I typoed "Susie" which I was going to use because it was a hilariously unthreatening name for a villain, and stuck with Suse in the end. I'm sure you were all very interesting in that.

I just wanted to point it out before somebody spots I'm using mispelt Star Wars names backwards…

Oh, and a final warning. Something is wrong with my computer. I have no idea what. It takes forever to boot up now, and I have all the technical skills of a small and inoffensive pebble, so I have no idea what's wrong. So if I disappear and stop updating, my computer fried itself and I'm in the process of failing to fix it. Let's hope that doesn't happen!

All computer issues aside, this is nowhere near the end, and just the end of the first story arc, in case anybody was confused! Thanks for reading so far!