Chapter 6
After much convincing, the scout finally agreed to grant Locke's request. If the Imperial guards had enough discipline to resist the liquor until later, then he would have a story as to why he returned so quickly. He sent everything but his pack with the scout so it would actually appear that bandits waylaid him.
As he got closer to the exit, he even affected a limp. He was hoping that the soldiers might have pity on him and let him borrow a chocobo to get back to town. He figured he had a chance of getting aid from them since he'd have a story to tell about those evil Returners, but it was probably a slim chance.
Locke was finally close enough that he should be hearing the sentries banter, but all was strangely quiet. He stealthily approached the passage opening expecting to see the soldiers passed out around the campfire, but a much more grisly sight awaited him. All around the camp lay the broken bodies of the Imperial soldiers. The tents and other structures had been torn to shreds.
He wondered at what could have caused such destruction, but didn't have to look very far to find an answer. For there, passed out around the campfire as he expected to find the soldiers, was a pack of rhinotaur. After destroying the camp, they must have busted open the kegs and found Locke's little surprise.
He silently moved from the gaping maw of the cavern and between the snoring horde of invaders. Though, before he could make his way out of camp, Locke heard a small whimper from somewhere beyond the lacerated tent fabric that was billowing and snapping in the wind. Overcome by curiosity, he snuck around the far side of the camp and peaked at what was making the noise. There, behind what was left of the commander's tent, was an exhausted baby rhinotaur. It was still bound by thick cords and whimpering, pathetically, for help.
Locke pulled his dagger out and headed over to free the small beast, but while on his way to cut the ropes, he had an idea. If this pack of rhinotaur came and destroyed the outpost just to save this little one, then they'd probably follow his scent anywhere and do anything to get him back.
This was just the break he needed! Locke grabbed some of the heavy fabric lying close by to use as a pallet. After rolling the young rhinotaur onto it, he went over to one of the destroyed tents and rifled through the mess for a while before he came up with a soldiers uniform and a stash of gil. He quickly packed it in his bag, grabbed the pallet, and left camp heading straight south. Straight to where the supply lines left the ships and headed toward the village.
Night had fallen before he finally reached the coast. Locke figured that he had at least an hours lead on the pack. He could see the stalwart galleons anchored out in the bay, and all across the moonlit waves the small rowboats were bringing troops and equipment to land. On shore, a large line of wagons where being loaded with food, weapons, soldiers, and Magitek Armor.
Locke took some cord from his pack and tied the sleeping rhinotaur's mouth shut. He was still out of hearing range of the caravan, but he didn't want to alert anyone to what he was carrying when he made the drop. He pulled the corners of the fabric up and loosely tied the ends to make a bag.
Dropping the pack from his shoulder, he pulled out the stolen soldier uniform. He hoped that this disguise would get him close enough to be able to drop the package on one of the transports. With all the chaos of ships hitting the shore and soldiers running here and there, it was likely that no one would pay attention to him.
After changing and stowing his pack among some rocks, he hoisted the bag onto his back and headed to the shoreline to join the throng of soldiers that were carrying supplies from the small boats to the line of wagons. Just as he had predicted, no one noticed as he carried a bag of supplies to a wagon in the middle of the caravan. And no one paid attention as he headed back to the shore and disappeared into the night.
Before he left the shore, he buried the soldier uniform among the rocks. He didn't want to be caught with a uniform if his pack was searched when he entered the city. He did not wait around to see the caravan start the journey to South Figaro. Instead of heading straight back the way he came, Locke made a wide arc to the west so that he wouldn't run into the pack of angry rhinotaurs on their way south. It was less than an hour later when he heard them thundering across the plain, heading toward the shore. At that point, Locke readjusted his course and headed straight for the city.
It was another two hours before he finally arrived at South Figaro. His feet were aching from the long day of travel. He had blisters and bruises and could barely keep walking under the weight of his field pack. Locke knew that there was nothing that could keep him awake tonight. He headed up the steps to the Inn and went straight to the desk to get a room. He knew that if he had taken time to look around in the Pub, that he would have found Lori, but he was just too exhausted. There would be plenty of time for talk tomorrow.
It was the next afternoon when Locke was woken up by a knocking on his door. He sat up in bed and tried to gather his wits about him. The knock came again, and Locke slipped out of bed and into his clothes. "Who is it," he asked.
"It's Lori," came the muffled voice from the other side of the old wooden door.
"Just a minute," Locke said as he finished buttoning his shirt and began unlocking the door.
He finally got the door open, and there stood the red-haired waitress with a basket in her arms. "I brought you some…. What happened to your eye?"
Locke had completely forgotten about his shiner. "Uhh, just a hazard that comes with my job."
She raised an eyebrow, as she looked him in the eyes, waiting for him to tell her more. After staring at him for a few moments, she finally said, "Well, I brought you something to eat. Wethrill said that you haven't been downstairs since you checked in last night."
Locke reached up and scratched the back of his head. "Who's Wethrill? I don't think I know anyone by that name."
"Oh, I'm sorry. He's the innkeeper and he also runs the pub downstairs where I work."
It bothered Locke that someone in the town knew him well enough to watch for him, but he supposed that it wasn't all that odd for an innkeeper to remember his patrons, especially when he wasn't getting that many. "Would you like to come in?"
Lori's eyes brightened as a smile came to her face, "Sure!"
She walked over to the small desk and began unpacking her bag of goodies. She had brought fresh bread and some smoked meat. It was only then that Locke realized how hungry he was. The rapid pace he had kept yesterday didn't allow much time for food.
"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," she said as she began putting the meat and bread together. "My name is Lori Glenn. As you know, I work here at the Pub in the evenings and at the Morninglory café in the mornings. I've only been a resident in South Figaro for a year now. I moved here from the south continent after things started getting a little crazy down there. It looks like trouble has finally caught up with me."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," he said. "Trouble seems to follow me too."
"Apparently," she replied, stealing another glance at his black eye.
"As for who I am, my name is Lance Manning, and I do some work as a traveling salesman."
"Sure you do," she said sarcastically as she handed him one of the small sandwiches. "I bet that's your real name too."
Locke only smiled as he took a bite of the sandwich.
"That's what I thought," she said. "So, Lance, do you have anything to do with the Empire's new rhinotaur problem?"
Locke coughed and nearly choked on the bite he had just taken.
"What did you say," he asked wide eyed after he managed to swallow.
"I said, do you have anything to do with the Empire's new rhinotaur problem? They had a base wiped out in the north, presumably by rhinotaur, and a supply caravan almost completely wiped out as well. There were a few soldiers from the caravan that made it back to the city to report, but they're the only ones."
"Hmm. How unfortunate for them," Locke replied as a grin began to creep onto his face.
Lori just shook her head as she looked at him. "There's more to you than meets the eye, I'm sure of it, and there are those of us here that want to help you."
"So, you want to start a resistance to the Empire, is that what it is?"
She nodded her head, "All of us have our reasons, especially Wethrill. Just yesterday they beat him up and threatened his wife and children because he wanted to close the pub. We're all getting fed up with them."
"So how many of you are there," Locke questioned before he took another bite of the sandwich.
"There are only five of us right now, mostly business owners. There's me, Wethrill, Geylinn who owns the item shop, Fredrick who owns the chocobo stable, and Candi another girl that I work with."
"Five," Locke said as he thought. "That's not many, but it's enough to cause trouble."
"Ha, I knew you were holding out on me," Lori said. "You are more than a traveling salesman."
"Yes, congratulations, you figured it out," he said dryly. "Now, since you've proven yourself to be such a smart girl, I need you to be my ears. You work in a position where you can collect a large amount of very valuable information, especially if Wethrill keeps their mugs full of ale."
"What about the others?"
"Right now, I don't have anything that Geylinn and Fredrick can do for us, but have your girlfriend pay attention for any information that could be useful. I'm sure we'll use the others as time goes on."
Lori's long red ponytail bobbed as she nodded her agreement, "I'm sure we will, but for now I'd better go get ready for my night job. I'd also like to tell the others what the plan is before I have to be back here to wait tables."
"Lori, before you take off all fired up to spy on these soldiers, you need to know how dangerous this is going to be. If they find you out, they'll destroy everything that is dear to you, and I mean everything."
"Don't worry about it, 'Lance', like I told you earlier it's already too dangerous around here. It'll only get worse if we don't do something."
Locke looked at her a moment before slowly nodding his head in agreement.
"Now, do I need to salute you or something before I leave," she asked.
A look of fear stole onto his face until Lori broke into a fit of giggles. Finally, he rolled his eyes and said, "No, just go do your stuff."
Lori gave Locke a wink and a smile before she left the room. He locked the door behind her and finished the sandwich as he walked over to the desk to make another one. The possibilities of trouble he could cause were slowly beginning to open up. He ate some more of the bread and meat before he crawled back into bed to get some much needed rest. He was too exhausted to do any more work today.
The next morning, Locke crawled out of bed feeling refreshed and ready for a new day of mischief. After getting dressed, he headed downstairs to let Wethrill know that he would be keeping the room for another night. Then, he was off to the Morninglory café to check on Lori.
On his way over, he noticed that the streets were strangely devoid of army personnel. He would see a soldier here and there, but most of them seemed to have vanished. His pace quickened as he began to come up with reasons to explain the missing troops. Was there a surprise attack on Figaro Castle? Where they amassing to head into Narshe?
His stomach was in knots by the time he made it to the café. He took a table in the far back corner away from the other patrons so that he could chat with Lori when she came to take his order. He didn't have to wait long for her to spot him and head over with a menu and a pitcher of ice water. "Good morning, beastmaster," she whispered with a smile.
"What? What are you talking about? And why are the soldiers gone," he urgently whispered back to her.
She poured him a glass of water as she said, "They're all off trying to clean up your little mess. Not only was an outpost and supply line attacked, two more patrols where annihilated last night and one this morning. For some reason," she said conspiratorially, "the rhinotaur have declared war on the Imperial soldiers."
Locke pretended to peruse the menu while she continued to tell him the story, "I heard some of the soldiers whispering over breakfast this morning that it's like one of the legendary bestmasters have come back from the dead and are commanding the rhinotaurs to rise up against them."
At hearing the soldier's description, Locke sat stunned in wide-eyed silence. "I only expected the second attack," he whispered. "The rhinotaur must have decided that people wearing the Imperial uniform are out to steal their young."
Lori's green eyes lit up as he confirmed her suspicion, "You are definitely more than you appear to be, Lance. Now, tell me what I can get for your breakfast before people start to get suspicious."
He ordered and ate breakfast, quite pleased with the progress achieved by the roving band of beasts. There was a lot to be said for being in the right place at the right time, and Locke had made a life taking advantage of those situations. Before he could leave, Lori came by and told him that she had more information that she wanted to give him and she would drop by his place around one o'clock.
Locke spent the rest of the morning strolling through the city and trying to measure the size and strength of the remaining army. If he had to guess, he'd say that there were less than fifty armed personnel and no Magitek riders left. The Figaran army could probably take them, but he doubted they could hold the position afterwards.
Around 12:30, he finally decided to abandon thoughts of pushing the invaders off the continent and head back to his room. He had been there not more than five minutes when a knock came at the door.
"Who's there," he asked.
Once again, the muffled reply from across the wooden door declared that it was Lori, and Locke opened the door up to let her in. However, she was not alone this time. In behind her stepped a tall, slender brunette that Locke faintly recalled seeing somewhere before.
"Lance, I'd like for you to meet my friend Candice Brentwood. We call her Candi for short."
"Hi, Candi," he said as he closed and locked the door behind them.
"Hello, Mr. Manning," she replied. "I wanted to thank you for all your doing for us, especially for saving Lori's life that night when the soldier attacked her."
Locke blushed a little bit and then told her, "Your friend seems to have a gift for exaggeration. I really haven't done all that much. Not as much as I'd like to anyway."
"At least you're doing something," Lori chimed in. "And we're going to help you."
"That's right," Candi said.
"Alright, ladies. Let's get down to business. You said you had some information for me."