Chapter 5

Locke awoke shortly after sunlight began cascading through his open window. He was still tired, but there were things that had to be done. He groaned as he swung his feet over the side of the bed. Last night had definitely taken its toll on his body. With his right hand, he reached up and massaged his left side. The twisting and crawling in the attic last night had been as bad as some of the caving trips he'd been on.

He stood up, stretched his aching muscles, and then got dressed in his traveling salesman cloths. Today's agenda called for a trip north to head back through the desert cave. There was a precious cargo of Vector pigeons that needed to be delivered.

When he had finished gathering his stuff, Locke headed downstairs to turn in his room key and get some breakfast. However, before he took two steps into the Pub area on the bottom floor he froze in place. The room looked like a tornado had been let loose in it. Overturned tables sporting broken legs graced the floor where the minstrels had danced the previous evening. Splintered chairs were scattered throughout and broken glass bottles made it impossible to walk bare footed across the room.

Locke spotted the inn/pub owner on the other side of the room cursing and making little headway on getting the mess cleaned. The overweight man looked up from his cleaning when he heard movement in the room and said, "Come to check out have you?"

Locke only nodded as the man slowly and painfully got up from his knees. The owner made his way over to and behind the counter while wiping his hands with the small towel at his waist. "I'm sorry about the noise last night. It just seems to get worse and worse as more of those soldiers come."

Locke smiled at the man. "Don't worry about it. I was so tired last night that I apparently slept through it."

"Well, if you can sleep through that, you can sleep through anything," the owner replied. "The rest of my customers didn't do as well. All of them came down, demanded a refund, and left in the middle of the night. These guys are just costing me too much money. I'm going to have to quit selling alcohol or something, because between the repair cost and the loss of inn patrons, my business is going under."

Locke suddenly got an idea. "Hey, if you're getting out of the pub business, why don't you sell me a few kegs?"

The bar owner didn't even have to think about an answer. "You've got yourself a deal Mr. Manning what kind do you want?"

"Give me two small kegs of your absolute strongest stuff," Locke said.

"Sure thing, but how are you going to carry it," the old man asked.

"Just have them delivered to the chocobo stables as soon as you can, and I'll take care of it from there."

"Sure thing," replied the man. "You'll have it within the hour."

After Locke had paid the man, he stepped out in the morning light to go find another restaurant. As he slowly headed up the street, two soldiers emerged from the alleyway while dragging a third between them. Locke quickened his pace a little to eavesdrop on the conversation the soldiers were having.

"You're a disgrace to the uniform," said the man in charge. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Ohhhh. My head," moaned the private as they dragged him along by his arms.

Locke snickered to himself as he crossed the cobblestone street and headed into the Morninglory café. "Serves you right," he said under his breath while thinking about the soldier's actions the previous night.

As usual, he made his way to a table in the back so he could watch everyone in the room. The restaurant was relatively full for this time of the morning. While scanning the crowd, he caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye. Locke could see the waitress approaching the table, but when he turned full face to see her, his breath caught in his chest. It was Lori.

The beaming waitress stopped at his table and poured a glass full of ice water from the metal pitcher she was carrying. "I never got a chance to thank you for what you did last night," she said in a hushed tone.

Locke, grateful for her discretion, responded in kind, "You're welcome. I'm glad that I was there and could help."

Her smile slowly faded as she stood there and held him in her gaze for a long uncomfortable moment. Finally, she spoke, "It's too dangerous around here."

Her words were not so much a statement of the obvious, but more like a command. It was an unspoken ultimatum that a time for action had come. And in that brief instant, a connection was formed. Locke merely gave her a single nod, but the implication was clear to them both. A pact was made to resist the invaders and hamper their control over the city of South Figaro.

"I'm leaving town, but I'll be back within the next few days," Locke whispered. "I think I know where I can find you."

Lori nodded, "I'll be there." Then, raising her voice to normal levels, she said, "Now, how about some breakfast? I can take your order if you know what you want."

Locke finished his breakfast quickly and left a big tip for the waitress. The two exchanged one final glance before he left the café and headed to the item shop. Locke knew that his trip through the desert cave was going to be a short one. If the Figaro soldier was waiting on the other side, he could turn around and come straight back. This would, however, look suspicious to the Imperial guards. That's why it would be advantageous for them not to notice him when he came back through, and that's why a trip to the item shop for a large bag of sleeping powder was necessary.

After a quick stop to obtain the powder, Locke made his way across town to the chocobo stables. When he arrived, the two kegs were already sitting by the door. The proprietor gave him a nod of acknowledgement then pointed to the kegs and asked, "These things belong to you?"

"They sure do," he replied with a wide smile. "And I'm in need of a chocobo to carry them."

"Well you've come to the right place for that," the old man chuckled. "Not too many people renting chocobos these days, what with the Imperial army all over the place. It's nice to finally have some business."

"In that case, what kind of deal can you give me on two chocobos? I'll only be taking them as far as the desert cave," Locke asked.

The shrewd businessman smiled and rubbed his hands together, "I'm sure we can find a price that we're both happy with."

The trip to the desert cave would be a quick one. Locke stopped only once after leaving town, and that was to put the sleeping powder in the kegs. A little while after that, he arrived at the small encampment in front of the Desert Passage. The captain immediately took in the sight of the heavily laden chocobo and waved Locke over.

"Looks like the trading went well down in South Figaro," the officer said as he hungrily eyed the kegs. "Those wouldn't happen to be for sale would they?"

"Well, I didn't intend to trade them here, but the thought of lugging them through the cave just doesn't appeal to me as much as it did when I bought them. I suppose if we could settle on a fair price, it would make the rest of my journey a little easier."

As the two began haggling over the liquor, a soldier came running breathlessly into camp and yelling at the top of his lungs. "Captain Myers! Captain Myers!"

A hundred scenarios began to play through Locke's mind. Had he been found out? Would he be able to make it back through to Figaro Castle? Should he start running?

In the end Locke just hoped for the best and decided to maintain his composure. The captain, however, did not. He turned his fierce gaze on the subordinate and began shouting, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something. I'm trying to conduct a little business for the betterment of our camp and you rush up here, like a fool, making me look bad."

The soldier hung his head in shame as the officer berated him. Finally, Captain Meyers gave the order, "Stand at attention, soldier. You can just wait right there 'till I'm ready to deal with you."

"But, Captain. I just wanted to show you…."

"I SAID WAIT."

Locke's muscles began to relax as he realized that the sudden outburst had nothing to do with him. The captain turned his attention back to Locke, and the two were able to pick up where they left off and come to an agreement. With that little bit of business out of the way, Locke unloaded the rest of his stuff from the chocobos and sent them on their way back to South Figaro.

Before Locke headed into the cave, he stopped and shook the captain's hand, "Always a pleasure doing business with you."

"You be careful out there," Captain Myers responded. "We've heard reports of the Returners attacking caravans as they cross the desert. They're a sick, desperate group of people."

Locke's blood boiled at the accusation, but he kept his voice in check. "Thanks, captain. I hope to be back this way soon." And with that he picked up his possessions and headed off into the darkness.

The officer looked appreciatively at the bounty of fine spirits he had acquired before he finally turned and confronted his man. "At ease, soldier!"

The young man relaxed his position, but kept silent. His mouth had already brought the ire of his commanding officer down on his head once. He wasn't in a hurry to do it again.

The captain softened his expression and said, "Now, what was so important that you felt you had to rush up and interrupt me?"

"Sorry, Sir. I was checking our traps for food when I found a young rhinotaur sitting by one. Its mother had fallen in and was killed. I didn't know what to do, so I tied it up and brought it back to camp."

Captain Meyers thought for a while and finally said, "Well, I guess we ought to go take a look at it. Lead the way."

The pair made their way around the central campfire ring and through the mud to the western side of the outpost. The closer they got, the better they could hear the small beast grunting and squealing for help. "Whew, he's a mad little thing," remarked the captain.

"Yeah, he's been squealing like that ever since I drug him away from his mother. I'm surprised you didn't hear it when I brought him into camp."

They arrived at the spot where the private had left the small beast. It's arms and legs where bound with thick cords, and it continued to cry out as it lay in the muck.

"What do you think we ought to do with it, Captain," the private asked as they stood and stared at the young rhinotaur.

"Well, they ain't very good eatin'. Maybe we could keep the little thing and train it to be our mascot," the captain said with a laugh.

The two stood there discussing possibilities for a while, when a low rumbling in the ground got their attention. The young private looked around worriedly as the rumbling increased and asked the captain, "Do you think it's that new machine they've been testing out in the hills?"

"I don't know. It doesn't seem to be coming from the mountains. It seems to be coming from over there," the captain said as he lifted his arm and pointed toward a grassy knoll that lay between the camp and the green meadow.

At about that time, the first in a small pack of rhinotaur topped the hill. In a moment of stark realization, the two soldiers turned and headed back into camp for their weapons. Even while they were raising the alarm, the five full-grown beasts swept into the encampment with the fury of an invading army. The entire regiment was wiped out in minutes, having never lifted a sword in their own defense.

Meanwhile…

Locke had made his way through the cave with little problem and had found a Figaran scout a short distance into the desert. As he approached, the soldier snapped to attention.

"Scout Neman reporting, sir" the soldier said as he saluted.

Locke acknowledged him with a nod and then handed him the cage of birds saying, "Here's a delivery for the Chancellor. Tell him to use his best judgment on what messages to forward to Vector."

"Yes, sir," the soldier replied.

"Any news from the scout sent to Narshe," Locke questioned.

"No, sir. He's not returned yet."

"Well, what's the status back at the castle," Locke asked.

"The castle has made a full resurface, and we've not seen any sign of the enemy. The chancellor did ask me to give you this," the soldier said as he reached into his vest and pulled out a letter.

Locke took the letter and as he began to read, he realized that it was an intercepted communication. They must have sent something out of South Figaro first thing this morning. He started over at the beginning and read more carefully:

My Emperor,

I received your instructions on the fate of the sympathizers. I request that you reconsider the order for a public execution. The situation here is still too volatile, and I feel it would do little to encourage the citizens to be loyal to our Great Empire. I will stay the execution until I hear a final word from you regarding their fate.

For the Glory of the Empire,

General Chere

Locke crumpled the letter in his hands and threw it to the ground. He thought he hated the Empire before, but it seemed that every day they gave him a new reason to carry the battle even further.

The scout waited a few minutes before he finally asked, "Sir, do you have a message for me to take back?"

Locke stood there for a moment with his head lowered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Finally he said, "Tell the Chancellor to send a message to them saying that the executions were carried out as ordered. That should satisfy the Emperor's bloodlust and get his mind off the subject of executing South Figarans for a while."

"Yes, sir," the scout replied. "Will there be anything else."

Locke waited a long moment before he finally lifted his head. "Yeah, I need you to give me a black eye."