Disclaimer: Dragoon belongs to Sony, not me. I thought I'd already
established that fact. Grrr.
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Dart's POV:
When the light from the blast finally faded all that was left of the once solid village hall was a lump of molten building stone, hissing noisily as the cold rain touched its blistering surface. Mud squelched underfoot as I landed, careful not to put too much weight upon my damaged leg. With a glow my armor disappeared, leaving me standing breathlessly at the edge of the battlefield leaning on my sword. Once I caught my breath, I limped over to the general area the fanatic dragoon had been when I had leveled the building. If the blast hadn't destroyed it, the darkness stone should be around here somewhere.
//The blast wouldn't so much as scratched it// Ragnarok confirmed. //It's been through a lot more than this many times before//
I trusted his words, but I still let out an audible sigh of relief when I finally spotted it, half buried in the mud and ash. Picking it up and carefully wiping it off on the tattered hem of my coat, I examined it closely. It gleamed in the faint light, the reflections from a nearby fire dancing across its smoothly rounded surface. After all this time it remained perfect: not a chip or fracture to be seen. Giving it one final wipe with my coat, I placed it into its carrier next to the violet dragoon spirit. "Two down, five to go," I murmured to my self. Limping to the edge of the clearing, I pulled back the torn fabric of my pant leg to get a better look at the wound.
Cursing, I began to unfasten my bandana. The gash ran from my hip to about halfway to my knee and had lanced through almost clear to the bone. How one of those soldiers had managed to wedge that much of a spear blade through a gap in the armor was beyond me. Making a pad out of the bandana, I pressed it hard against my leg to stop the bleeding and bound it there with a strip of fabric I tore from my shirt. There you go kids, first aid 101.
//Why didn't you bring a healing potion?//
/Because I'm an idiot, happy?/
//Not really. We need to get to Fueno if you're going to be able to patch that thing up. Do you think you have the energy to fly?//
/If I did, we wouldn't be here now/ I looked around. The rain was beginning to stop and the clouds where slowly moving on. When the sun finally came into view, I judged it to be mid-afternoon. Closing my eyes, I leaned back against a tree and slid to the ground. I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep in Ulara and the day's events were starting to take their toll. I knew I should get some rest, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had too many thoughts running through my head, and I needed some time to sort it all out.
After the battle with Melbu Frahma, the Dark and Red-eye spirits had been lost. The last time we had seen them; Rose and my Dad had them as they flew on a final last-ditch kamikaze attempt to take out the god of destruction. We looked for them afterwards, to be sure, but we never found them. But apparently the cult had. This was the fact that bothered me. Dragoon spirits will come to those who are chosen for them, one way or another. Did this mean that the cult was meant to wield the power of the spirits? I put that notion out of my head almost as soon as I thought of it. No, that couldn't be right. The dragoon spirits had been created for the protection of the world, not it's destruction. But what if it was given to me in hopes that it would find its way to someone else? The implications of that were almost as disturbing as the last. Finding its way to a new owner would mean that the world would once more be in peril. And the most probable source of danger for the world was the return of the god of destruction.
I opened my eyes again and watched the leaden waves breaking upon the shattered remnants of the houses and ocean terraces. As I watched, one particularly large wave struck the wooden base of a now non-existent house. Foam and water droplets flew everywhere, thrown away by the force of the impact. It was strange how things could fly so far from the source. Eleven thousand years ago winglies ruled the world with the power of the gods. In doing so, the sealed away the one god that could destroy the world and in doing so saving the world. And as humans struggled to free themselves from the tyrannical rule, my father destroyed the seal of the god, ending the winglies power. And in doing so he condemned the fates of his fiancé and his own son to protect the world from the blight he had unwittingly set loose upon it. The whole thing was so ironic that it made me want to break something. Preferably the neck of whoever started this whole cult business. I mulled over the whole thing a while longer before drifting off to a troubled sleep.
I awoke a few hours later to Ragnarok's grumbling. /What's up?/
//I can't see anything while you're asleep. Do you have any idea how annoying that is?//
/Not really/
//Obviously. Would you mind taking a look around? I have a feeling something's out there//
I stared out at the ocean for a few moments, and then frowned. /There's something that could be a ship, but I keep loosing sight of it. Think that's what it is?/
//I don't know. I can't see it if you're not looking at it properly// He waited while I located the tiny silhouette again. It dipped in and out of sight at first, but then became clearer as it drew in closer. //It's a ship alright// Ragnarok mused //But who sent it?//
/I don't know. Are we going to wait around and find out?/
//I don't think we have much choice. Just pretend that you're a tragic survivor of this massacre and they'll welcome you with open arms// He sounded smug.
/And what if they suspect something?/ I asked.
//Who would? Humans aren't supposed to be able to cause this much destruction single-handedly. Just tell them that you where a traveler who took cover here during the storm after your boat sprung a leak and happened to get caught up in this mess//
The ship dropped anchor about a half-mile or so out. I guess that with the rocks surrounding the island, coupled with the high unpredictable waves, made it impossible to get in any closer. After what seemed a moment's indecision they launched a longboat carrying a couple of men. Despite the waves, or maybe because of them, the boat moved at a fair pace, slipping past the jagged rocks with little difficulty. I could see they were going to run into problems getting back out to the ship later, but they didn't seem too concerned about it. After dragging the boat above the tide line they paused to look around, dismay written on their weather beaten faces. One man took a half step forward, hand reaching out towards the ruined mess, then turned back to the longboat without a word and stood staring out at the ocean.
/What should I do?/
//Pretend to unconscious. If they're a search party, sooner or later one of them will notice you//
I closed my eyes and let my head drop onto my chest. I was already pretty bloody and banged up as it was, so I didn't have to work much to make the act convincing. Letting my body go limp, I waited for one of the searchers to notice me. It didn't take too long.
"Permel! I think this one's still breathing!" Rough hands heaved me into a sitting position and a moment later cold water splashed tentatively against my cheek. "Hey son, come on! Wake up!" I remained motionless, resisting the urge to grin. A little splash of water wouldn't wake up an unconscious person that easily. They'd have to try something else.
As it turned out, the sailor's methods of bringing someone back to consciousness were brutally direct. The small splash on my cheek had just been a small prelude to the soaking I received a few moments later. I came up spluttering and trying to shake the salt water out of my hair, much to the amusement of the fellow who had just emptied the contents of his bucket over my head. Putting it down, he crouched next to me. "Steady on, just hold still a minute." Uncorking a bottle of a thick bluish substance, he pulled the hastily made bandage off my leg and poured the goo on it liberally. "That should do the job for now," he muttered. "At least 'till we let Harper get a look at you. Do you think you can stand?"
I made a show of struggling to my feet, leaning on a tree for balance. I glanced at my leg. It shook a little, but other than that it seemed steady. Breathing through clenched teeth, I muttered a terse "I think so," and took a couple steps forward.
//Don't you think that you're overdoing it just a bit?// Ragnarok asked bluntly.
/Sorry if my acting skills aren't up to par, but I don't want to give them a reason to doubt me/ I replied, a little put out at his criticism.
//Well cut back on it a little. Talk to them a bit. You don't have to be anti-social//
"Hey! Are you okay?"
I snapped my thoughts back to the sailor. He was watching me worriedly, as though he expected me to fall over at any moment. I shook my head. "Sorry?"
"You just blanked out there for a moment mate," He told me. "It was strange."
"I'm fine. I must have hit my head back there; I'm just having some trouble concentrating."
The sailor looked unconvinced, but he let it pass. "My name's Will," he said changing the subject. "I'm a sailor on the ship Sea Hawk. Someone in Fueno reported seeing strange explosions in the area around the island this morning and we were sent out to investigate." Will shrugged. "I didn't see anything myself, but we came anyways."
"I'm Kail," I told him, randomly selecting a name. "I was coming from Doneau when the storm came up and my boat started to take on water. I managed to make it to this village, but my boat didn't." I shuddered. "It doesn't look like a big swim when you're still in the boat, but once you're in the water, a hundred yards or so swimming with a sword on your back in waves like that is an eternity."
"Between hell and high water," Will grumbled. "I'd say you made the wrong choice. What happened here?"
By now the other sailors had given up searching and had gathered around to listen. Even the man by the water had left his post and stood to one side, looking suddenly interested.
"I'm not entirely sure," I admitted. How was I going to explain this?
//Bluff it. No one's around to really prove what you say is wrong//
/Right/ I scratched the back of my head. "When the storm hit, most of the villagers had taken refuge the main hall. By the time I had arrived, most of the homes and terraces on the ocean had been destroyed by the wind and the waves. The village hall was the only thing left standing."
"Where you the only traveler there?"
/Should I tell them about the knights?/
//I don't see why not. Just remember, you're supposed to be a sailor.//
"Well? Where you?" Will seemed to think that I was about to black out again.
"No, unfortunately." I shuddered. " There where a crew of knights there as well and they where like nothing I'd ever seen. Froze my blood solid, they did. All dressed in the strangest black armor I'd ever seen. I dunno why they were there mate, but I'd be willing to bet it was them who brought this hell upon us." I gestured at the blackened and burnt ground covering the clearing. "Anyway, the storm was just starting to let off this morning. I say 'starting' because I was still sure that at any moment the roof would collapse from the amount of rain that was coming down. I had started to doze off when there came these strange noises from outside. A couple of the soldiers went outside to check it out, but they didn't come back." I winced. "At least not in one piece. When the one fellow's head rolled past the door people started to panic."
"Understandable," Muttered a tall rawboned man at the back of the crowd.
I nodded in agreement. "I couldn't agree more. I would have been more than content to stay inside and let those soldiers fight, but they sort of forced me into it." I gave my sword a distasteful look. "It's a pretty thing to look at, but I'm not really an adept at swordplay. I inherited the thing from my late brother only recently and I carry it more out of respect for his memory than anything else. Anyhow, I never got a clear look at what was attacking us; the rain was coming down so hard that I couldn't see the feet in front of me, much something that was probably half the clearing away. I'd just gotten clear of the building when whatever it was that was attacking us leveled the place. The shockwave must have sent me into a tree or something because the last thing I remember is a lot of pain and pretty stars before I blacked out."
The seamen stood silently for a few minutes, mutely digesting the lie I'd just fed them. Well it wasn't exactly a lie. I just told my story from someone else's view so that it would be easier for them to accept. And so that they wouldn't kill me on the spot.
//Do you humans have to find justification for everything you do?//
/We like to. It helps us to keep a clear conscious/
//If I've learned anything about humans from you, it's that no one has a completely clear conscious//
/You know what? The sad thing is that it's probably true/ I retrieved my sword from where it lay on the ground beside me and clipped it back onto my belt. The seamen had seemed to have reached the unspoken agreement that there was nothing more for them to do here and had begun to filter back to the longboat. Still limping, I followed them. Noticing this, Will turned to wait for me, one eyebrow raised, but said nothing. He did, however, force me to lean on him for support. Still concerned about my leg, I guess.
The longboat was a solid thing, made of tar smeared oak and tightly caulked with old rope. Seating myself near the bow, out of the way of the rowers, I watched the shore recede as the sailors laboriously forced the craft through the high waves. My back and hair were soon soaked by spray and foam, but I ignored it. The sad man who had refused to take part in the search on shore sat despondently in the stern, staring back at the ruins of Lidiera. I leaned forwards to whisper a question in the nearest sailor's ear. "What's the matter with him?"
The man looked confused for a moment, but followed my gaze. "Oh, you mean Embren. This was his hometown." The sailor went back to rowing.
I felt a pang of guilt. Hardly more than a few hours after the attack and I could already see how this was going to effect people. Embren would spend the rest of his life in mourning. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the only one left from his village. At least I had known other people had survived when Neet was burned. Embren was alone.
The Sea Hawk was a large cargo ship, the type that runs goods back and forth between Fueno and the outlying islands and villages in the area. Her captain was a large man with a ruddy face and a loud voice that would have been more at home on a parade ground than on the open sea. He greeted me roughly, and then sent me below deck with a man short balding man named Harper who said he was the ships doctor.
The cabins below were not spacious, since this ship was made for carrying cargo and not passengers and cabins took up space. Nonetheless, Harper led me to one that was at least marginally comfortable. Nothing much: a narrow cot, a small table and a chair. Once we were both inside he shut the door firmly and pointed at the bed. "Sit."
I did as he told me, watching as he unpacked the narrow black canvas bag that held the tools of his trade. Once he had laid the more painful looking apparatuses on the table where I could see them and wonder exactly what they were for, he turned his attention to my leg. Noting the remnants of the blue medicine that Will had poured on the wound earlier, he shook his head and grumbled about the incompetence of sailors world over. After rinsing off the cut he wiped a clear jelly over it before pinching the wound closed. With his free hand he rummaged through his bag, producing from it a curved needle and some dark thread. Setting the needlepoint into my skin, he started to stitch.
"So what caused the wound?" Swish thunk. Swish thunk.
"Spear," I muttered, not really paying attention. The sound of the needle pulling thread through my skin was rather distracting.
Swish thunk.
"You were unconscious when the others found you?"
Swish thunk.
"Yeah."
Swish thunk.
"How were you knocked out? Do you remember?'
Swish thunk.
"Something knocked me into a tree after I came out of the village hall."
Swish thunk.
"Where you stabbed by the spear before or after you came out?" Will's eyes were intent.
Swish thunk.
Damn it. I'd made a mistake. "Before. Whoever stabbed me must have sent me into the tree as well. I can't remember clearly."
Swish thunk.
"Indeed." Harper cut the thread and tied it off. "You can go. Just put a healing potion on it later. It should seal up like nothing ever happened." He turned his back and began to place his unused instruments back into his bag.
"I'm in your dept," he told him, opening the door to leave. I shook my head as he grunted in reply. He was on to me. He didn't know what I was, but he knew that my story didn't match up.
I spent the remainder of the short voyage sitting in a sheltered area near the bow, listening to the conversation of a few idle sailors. For the most part they talked shop; how much their current cargo would earn them, the cost of the separate items, and what sort of value their smuggled cargo was. I had started to doze off when I heard the words Black Monster. Needless to say, that woke me up. Being careful to stay out of sight, I inched closer to the conversationalists.
"You gotta be kidding me," One of the men was saying. "Embren actually believes all that crazy talk?"
"Don't say that in front of him mate, 'es liable to gut yeh. Embren's a smart man, but listenin' to those priests does funny things to a mans head, no matter how smart 'e is.
"I know, but the Black Monster? C'mon Marley, that's a little thin. He just wants an excuse to go after that kid we picked up."
"I'm not sayin' that e's the Monster, but what if it really was the Black Monster that did it? You saw the village. Gone. Not even a win'lie could do that that fats."
Wrong. Lloyd could have leveled that place almost as fast as I had. It just would have looked different. I started to listen some more, but by now their conversation had changed topics again. I leaned back, closing my eyes. It wasn't long until we reached Fueno, but right now I was willing to take any sort of rest time I could get. Leaving Ragnarok to watch for Embren, I drifted off to sleep.
When the ship finally pulled up to the docks, the sun had disappeared from the sky. Thanking the captain for the ride, I walked down the ramp and into the slowly thinning crowd below. I rubbed my forehead. I felt strange not wearing my bandana, but by now it was so covered with blood that I doubted I would ever be able to clean it. Pushing those thoughts from my mind I headed for the inn, intent on getting some sleep.
Fueno's streets become relatively deserted at night once you get away from the wharves. It wasn't difficult to notice the shadowy figure of Embren following me from a distance. Unbothered, I continued to the inn. He wouldn't try anything tonight if I stayed at the inn. If he was still following me in the morning I would just have to deal with him. Pushing open the door to the inn, I took one last glance down the street at my stalker before slipping inside.
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Dart's POV:
When the light from the blast finally faded all that was left of the once solid village hall was a lump of molten building stone, hissing noisily as the cold rain touched its blistering surface. Mud squelched underfoot as I landed, careful not to put too much weight upon my damaged leg. With a glow my armor disappeared, leaving me standing breathlessly at the edge of the battlefield leaning on my sword. Once I caught my breath, I limped over to the general area the fanatic dragoon had been when I had leveled the building. If the blast hadn't destroyed it, the darkness stone should be around here somewhere.
//The blast wouldn't so much as scratched it// Ragnarok confirmed. //It's been through a lot more than this many times before//
I trusted his words, but I still let out an audible sigh of relief when I finally spotted it, half buried in the mud and ash. Picking it up and carefully wiping it off on the tattered hem of my coat, I examined it closely. It gleamed in the faint light, the reflections from a nearby fire dancing across its smoothly rounded surface. After all this time it remained perfect: not a chip or fracture to be seen. Giving it one final wipe with my coat, I placed it into its carrier next to the violet dragoon spirit. "Two down, five to go," I murmured to my self. Limping to the edge of the clearing, I pulled back the torn fabric of my pant leg to get a better look at the wound.
Cursing, I began to unfasten my bandana. The gash ran from my hip to about halfway to my knee and had lanced through almost clear to the bone. How one of those soldiers had managed to wedge that much of a spear blade through a gap in the armor was beyond me. Making a pad out of the bandana, I pressed it hard against my leg to stop the bleeding and bound it there with a strip of fabric I tore from my shirt. There you go kids, first aid 101.
//Why didn't you bring a healing potion?//
/Because I'm an idiot, happy?/
//Not really. We need to get to Fueno if you're going to be able to patch that thing up. Do you think you have the energy to fly?//
/If I did, we wouldn't be here now/ I looked around. The rain was beginning to stop and the clouds where slowly moving on. When the sun finally came into view, I judged it to be mid-afternoon. Closing my eyes, I leaned back against a tree and slid to the ground. I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep in Ulara and the day's events were starting to take their toll. I knew I should get some rest, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had too many thoughts running through my head, and I needed some time to sort it all out.
After the battle with Melbu Frahma, the Dark and Red-eye spirits had been lost. The last time we had seen them; Rose and my Dad had them as they flew on a final last-ditch kamikaze attempt to take out the god of destruction. We looked for them afterwards, to be sure, but we never found them. But apparently the cult had. This was the fact that bothered me. Dragoon spirits will come to those who are chosen for them, one way or another. Did this mean that the cult was meant to wield the power of the spirits? I put that notion out of my head almost as soon as I thought of it. No, that couldn't be right. The dragoon spirits had been created for the protection of the world, not it's destruction. But what if it was given to me in hopes that it would find its way to someone else? The implications of that were almost as disturbing as the last. Finding its way to a new owner would mean that the world would once more be in peril. And the most probable source of danger for the world was the return of the god of destruction.
I opened my eyes again and watched the leaden waves breaking upon the shattered remnants of the houses and ocean terraces. As I watched, one particularly large wave struck the wooden base of a now non-existent house. Foam and water droplets flew everywhere, thrown away by the force of the impact. It was strange how things could fly so far from the source. Eleven thousand years ago winglies ruled the world with the power of the gods. In doing so, the sealed away the one god that could destroy the world and in doing so saving the world. And as humans struggled to free themselves from the tyrannical rule, my father destroyed the seal of the god, ending the winglies power. And in doing so he condemned the fates of his fiancé and his own son to protect the world from the blight he had unwittingly set loose upon it. The whole thing was so ironic that it made me want to break something. Preferably the neck of whoever started this whole cult business. I mulled over the whole thing a while longer before drifting off to a troubled sleep.
I awoke a few hours later to Ragnarok's grumbling. /What's up?/
//I can't see anything while you're asleep. Do you have any idea how annoying that is?//
/Not really/
//Obviously. Would you mind taking a look around? I have a feeling something's out there//
I stared out at the ocean for a few moments, and then frowned. /There's something that could be a ship, but I keep loosing sight of it. Think that's what it is?/
//I don't know. I can't see it if you're not looking at it properly// He waited while I located the tiny silhouette again. It dipped in and out of sight at first, but then became clearer as it drew in closer. //It's a ship alright// Ragnarok mused //But who sent it?//
/I don't know. Are we going to wait around and find out?/
//I don't think we have much choice. Just pretend that you're a tragic survivor of this massacre and they'll welcome you with open arms// He sounded smug.
/And what if they suspect something?/ I asked.
//Who would? Humans aren't supposed to be able to cause this much destruction single-handedly. Just tell them that you where a traveler who took cover here during the storm after your boat sprung a leak and happened to get caught up in this mess//
The ship dropped anchor about a half-mile or so out. I guess that with the rocks surrounding the island, coupled with the high unpredictable waves, made it impossible to get in any closer. After what seemed a moment's indecision they launched a longboat carrying a couple of men. Despite the waves, or maybe because of them, the boat moved at a fair pace, slipping past the jagged rocks with little difficulty. I could see they were going to run into problems getting back out to the ship later, but they didn't seem too concerned about it. After dragging the boat above the tide line they paused to look around, dismay written on their weather beaten faces. One man took a half step forward, hand reaching out towards the ruined mess, then turned back to the longboat without a word and stood staring out at the ocean.
/What should I do?/
//Pretend to unconscious. If they're a search party, sooner or later one of them will notice you//
I closed my eyes and let my head drop onto my chest. I was already pretty bloody and banged up as it was, so I didn't have to work much to make the act convincing. Letting my body go limp, I waited for one of the searchers to notice me. It didn't take too long.
"Permel! I think this one's still breathing!" Rough hands heaved me into a sitting position and a moment later cold water splashed tentatively against my cheek. "Hey son, come on! Wake up!" I remained motionless, resisting the urge to grin. A little splash of water wouldn't wake up an unconscious person that easily. They'd have to try something else.
As it turned out, the sailor's methods of bringing someone back to consciousness were brutally direct. The small splash on my cheek had just been a small prelude to the soaking I received a few moments later. I came up spluttering and trying to shake the salt water out of my hair, much to the amusement of the fellow who had just emptied the contents of his bucket over my head. Putting it down, he crouched next to me. "Steady on, just hold still a minute." Uncorking a bottle of a thick bluish substance, he pulled the hastily made bandage off my leg and poured the goo on it liberally. "That should do the job for now," he muttered. "At least 'till we let Harper get a look at you. Do you think you can stand?"
I made a show of struggling to my feet, leaning on a tree for balance. I glanced at my leg. It shook a little, but other than that it seemed steady. Breathing through clenched teeth, I muttered a terse "I think so," and took a couple steps forward.
//Don't you think that you're overdoing it just a bit?// Ragnarok asked bluntly.
/Sorry if my acting skills aren't up to par, but I don't want to give them a reason to doubt me/ I replied, a little put out at his criticism.
//Well cut back on it a little. Talk to them a bit. You don't have to be anti-social//
"Hey! Are you okay?"
I snapped my thoughts back to the sailor. He was watching me worriedly, as though he expected me to fall over at any moment. I shook my head. "Sorry?"
"You just blanked out there for a moment mate," He told me. "It was strange."
"I'm fine. I must have hit my head back there; I'm just having some trouble concentrating."
The sailor looked unconvinced, but he let it pass. "My name's Will," he said changing the subject. "I'm a sailor on the ship Sea Hawk. Someone in Fueno reported seeing strange explosions in the area around the island this morning and we were sent out to investigate." Will shrugged. "I didn't see anything myself, but we came anyways."
"I'm Kail," I told him, randomly selecting a name. "I was coming from Doneau when the storm came up and my boat started to take on water. I managed to make it to this village, but my boat didn't." I shuddered. "It doesn't look like a big swim when you're still in the boat, but once you're in the water, a hundred yards or so swimming with a sword on your back in waves like that is an eternity."
"Between hell and high water," Will grumbled. "I'd say you made the wrong choice. What happened here?"
By now the other sailors had given up searching and had gathered around to listen. Even the man by the water had left his post and stood to one side, looking suddenly interested.
"I'm not entirely sure," I admitted. How was I going to explain this?
//Bluff it. No one's around to really prove what you say is wrong//
/Right/ I scratched the back of my head. "When the storm hit, most of the villagers had taken refuge the main hall. By the time I had arrived, most of the homes and terraces on the ocean had been destroyed by the wind and the waves. The village hall was the only thing left standing."
"Where you the only traveler there?"
/Should I tell them about the knights?/
//I don't see why not. Just remember, you're supposed to be a sailor.//
"Well? Where you?" Will seemed to think that I was about to black out again.
"No, unfortunately." I shuddered. " There where a crew of knights there as well and they where like nothing I'd ever seen. Froze my blood solid, they did. All dressed in the strangest black armor I'd ever seen. I dunno why they were there mate, but I'd be willing to bet it was them who brought this hell upon us." I gestured at the blackened and burnt ground covering the clearing. "Anyway, the storm was just starting to let off this morning. I say 'starting' because I was still sure that at any moment the roof would collapse from the amount of rain that was coming down. I had started to doze off when there came these strange noises from outside. A couple of the soldiers went outside to check it out, but they didn't come back." I winced. "At least not in one piece. When the one fellow's head rolled past the door people started to panic."
"Understandable," Muttered a tall rawboned man at the back of the crowd.
I nodded in agreement. "I couldn't agree more. I would have been more than content to stay inside and let those soldiers fight, but they sort of forced me into it." I gave my sword a distasteful look. "It's a pretty thing to look at, but I'm not really an adept at swordplay. I inherited the thing from my late brother only recently and I carry it more out of respect for his memory than anything else. Anyhow, I never got a clear look at what was attacking us; the rain was coming down so hard that I couldn't see the feet in front of me, much something that was probably half the clearing away. I'd just gotten clear of the building when whatever it was that was attacking us leveled the place. The shockwave must have sent me into a tree or something because the last thing I remember is a lot of pain and pretty stars before I blacked out."
The seamen stood silently for a few minutes, mutely digesting the lie I'd just fed them. Well it wasn't exactly a lie. I just told my story from someone else's view so that it would be easier for them to accept. And so that they wouldn't kill me on the spot.
//Do you humans have to find justification for everything you do?//
/We like to. It helps us to keep a clear conscious/
//If I've learned anything about humans from you, it's that no one has a completely clear conscious//
/You know what? The sad thing is that it's probably true/ I retrieved my sword from where it lay on the ground beside me and clipped it back onto my belt. The seamen had seemed to have reached the unspoken agreement that there was nothing more for them to do here and had begun to filter back to the longboat. Still limping, I followed them. Noticing this, Will turned to wait for me, one eyebrow raised, but said nothing. He did, however, force me to lean on him for support. Still concerned about my leg, I guess.
The longboat was a solid thing, made of tar smeared oak and tightly caulked with old rope. Seating myself near the bow, out of the way of the rowers, I watched the shore recede as the sailors laboriously forced the craft through the high waves. My back and hair were soon soaked by spray and foam, but I ignored it. The sad man who had refused to take part in the search on shore sat despondently in the stern, staring back at the ruins of Lidiera. I leaned forwards to whisper a question in the nearest sailor's ear. "What's the matter with him?"
The man looked confused for a moment, but followed my gaze. "Oh, you mean Embren. This was his hometown." The sailor went back to rowing.
I felt a pang of guilt. Hardly more than a few hours after the attack and I could already see how this was going to effect people. Embren would spend the rest of his life in mourning. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the only one left from his village. At least I had known other people had survived when Neet was burned. Embren was alone.
The Sea Hawk was a large cargo ship, the type that runs goods back and forth between Fueno and the outlying islands and villages in the area. Her captain was a large man with a ruddy face and a loud voice that would have been more at home on a parade ground than on the open sea. He greeted me roughly, and then sent me below deck with a man short balding man named Harper who said he was the ships doctor.
The cabins below were not spacious, since this ship was made for carrying cargo and not passengers and cabins took up space. Nonetheless, Harper led me to one that was at least marginally comfortable. Nothing much: a narrow cot, a small table and a chair. Once we were both inside he shut the door firmly and pointed at the bed. "Sit."
I did as he told me, watching as he unpacked the narrow black canvas bag that held the tools of his trade. Once he had laid the more painful looking apparatuses on the table where I could see them and wonder exactly what they were for, he turned his attention to my leg. Noting the remnants of the blue medicine that Will had poured on the wound earlier, he shook his head and grumbled about the incompetence of sailors world over. After rinsing off the cut he wiped a clear jelly over it before pinching the wound closed. With his free hand he rummaged through his bag, producing from it a curved needle and some dark thread. Setting the needlepoint into my skin, he started to stitch.
"So what caused the wound?" Swish thunk. Swish thunk.
"Spear," I muttered, not really paying attention. The sound of the needle pulling thread through my skin was rather distracting.
Swish thunk.
"You were unconscious when the others found you?"
Swish thunk.
"Yeah."
Swish thunk.
"How were you knocked out? Do you remember?'
Swish thunk.
"Something knocked me into a tree after I came out of the village hall."
Swish thunk.
"Where you stabbed by the spear before or after you came out?" Will's eyes were intent.
Swish thunk.
Damn it. I'd made a mistake. "Before. Whoever stabbed me must have sent me into the tree as well. I can't remember clearly."
Swish thunk.
"Indeed." Harper cut the thread and tied it off. "You can go. Just put a healing potion on it later. It should seal up like nothing ever happened." He turned his back and began to place his unused instruments back into his bag.
"I'm in your dept," he told him, opening the door to leave. I shook my head as he grunted in reply. He was on to me. He didn't know what I was, but he knew that my story didn't match up.
I spent the remainder of the short voyage sitting in a sheltered area near the bow, listening to the conversation of a few idle sailors. For the most part they talked shop; how much their current cargo would earn them, the cost of the separate items, and what sort of value their smuggled cargo was. I had started to doze off when I heard the words Black Monster. Needless to say, that woke me up. Being careful to stay out of sight, I inched closer to the conversationalists.
"You gotta be kidding me," One of the men was saying. "Embren actually believes all that crazy talk?"
"Don't say that in front of him mate, 'es liable to gut yeh. Embren's a smart man, but listenin' to those priests does funny things to a mans head, no matter how smart 'e is.
"I know, but the Black Monster? C'mon Marley, that's a little thin. He just wants an excuse to go after that kid we picked up."
"I'm not sayin' that e's the Monster, but what if it really was the Black Monster that did it? You saw the village. Gone. Not even a win'lie could do that that fats."
Wrong. Lloyd could have leveled that place almost as fast as I had. It just would have looked different. I started to listen some more, but by now their conversation had changed topics again. I leaned back, closing my eyes. It wasn't long until we reached Fueno, but right now I was willing to take any sort of rest time I could get. Leaving Ragnarok to watch for Embren, I drifted off to sleep.
When the ship finally pulled up to the docks, the sun had disappeared from the sky. Thanking the captain for the ride, I walked down the ramp and into the slowly thinning crowd below. I rubbed my forehead. I felt strange not wearing my bandana, but by now it was so covered with blood that I doubted I would ever be able to clean it. Pushing those thoughts from my mind I headed for the inn, intent on getting some sleep.
Fueno's streets become relatively deserted at night once you get away from the wharves. It wasn't difficult to notice the shadowy figure of Embren following me from a distance. Unbothered, I continued to the inn. He wouldn't try anything tonight if I stayed at the inn. If he was still following me in the morning I would just have to deal with him. Pushing open the door to the inn, I took one last glance down the street at my stalker before slipping inside.