Part XV: Reaching Fabul

"Why do you think there was ice blocking the path in the first place?" Rosa inquired of Edward after noticing that the mountain itself wasn't snowcapped.

Edward shrugged his shoulders. "One of our mages noticed the change in the mountain shortly after our kingdom was attacked."

Cecil looked back at the two of them and said simply: "The crystal."

When the others failed to immediately see what he was saying, he elaborated. "With the crystal of fire absent from Damcyan, cold has been able to move in to take its place."

"Do you think it could also have been placed here on purpose? I'm not entirely disagreeing with you, Cecil, but to have ice and snow in only one place--the main path up the mountain for goodness sake--it seems too much of a coincidence," Rosa argued.

Cecil sighed, "I suppose you're right that it's too much of a coincidence."

Rosa met his gaze seriously and walked closer to where he was standing with Rydia.

"Baron knows you're still alive. What better way to trap Fabul than to keep you on the other side of the mountain?"

"Fabul is distant from the other kingdoms in that it has only one way of land travel—this mountain. Since no one else has an airship to fly over, if anyone were to try and warn Fabul they wouldn't be able to get there unless they could cast fire. Baron could very well have staged this," Edward explained. "Although, I did notice a change in the air as we flew here. The fire crystal's influence is leaving this land," he added in Cecil's defense. "But for what purpose is Baron collecting the crystals if these are the effects?"

Cecil was at a loss for words.

For the first time in the conversation, Rydia spoke up. "It doesn't matter why they're stealing the crystals. We just need to get to Fabul before they do, and before any more people are hurt!"

The three adults all exchanged looks, confirming that Rydia's statement was just as valid as their own.

"She's right. We need to keep moving," Cecil said turning, but not before glancing at Rosa and Edward to make sure the conversation had ended. Cecil resolutely walked towards the ancient path and waited until the others caught up to him before leading them all on the ascent.

The trail was more difficult than any of them had thought it would be. It was steep and doubled back on itself again and again. In some places it even tunneled through the mountain, and in others, they had to climb ancient steps that had been chiseled into the rock.

"The kingdom of Fabul uses this mountain to pray and to train. They carved the stairs and tunnels into this mountain," Edward explained to them as they climbed.

"It's amazing how they've tamed it," Rosa remarked.

"Edward, which path leads to the summit?" Cecil asked immediately afterward when they found themselves at a fork in the trail.

Edward paused and looked both directions. Both ways led to stairs and tunnels, but Edward couldn't decipher which way went where.

"I think it's the left path," he answered.

The four of them walked left towards that particular opening in the cliff wall, but before Cecil could reach it, three large birds swooped down on them from up above.

"Cockatrice!" Edward shouted.

Rydia saw them and ducked, covering her head.

The cockatrice shrieked and cawed, diving between the companions and trying to grab hold of flesh.

Suddenly Rydia heard a twang and looked up just in time to see an arrow fly through the air and pierce one of the birds in the chest. It fell to the ground in a flurry of feathers and a pathetic flapping of wings.

She looked to her left and saw it was Rosa who had released the arrow, holding her bow out before her and knocking another arrow.

Cecil's sword was out now as well, held up defensively as he tried to make sense of where the attackers were coming from.

In the confusion of feathers, Rydia stayed low, and from her vantage point noticed that the talons of the cockatrice looked like sharpened metal. She had heard once of a knight being bested by lightning when it struck his sword. The talons could easily pass as swords, she reasoned.

She immediately set to work chanting the lightning spell, releasing it, and sending an electric charge in a multitude of directions at once. The current caught up with the cockatrice and surged up from their talons to their beaks, burning one so badly it dropped to the ground in a series of spasms.

Rosa took down the remaining bird, shooting it with another arrow.

"Good to know the wildlife is tame," Cecil muttered, brushing some loose feathers from his armor, and finally stepping through the opening that led them through the tunnel to another part of the pass.

"This path doesn't lead up, it only leads further away," Rosa pointed out when they emerged on the other side.

"But look, traveler's wards!" Edward said, gesturing towards a ring of stones.

"I see some chests down that way as well," Cecil added.

Rosa looked to where the wards were and then up at the sky. "It seems a bit early to rest, Cecil," she told him.

"I agree," he relented, "but at least we know it's here. I'll go open the chests. You wait here."

As Cecil went to open the chests and take their contents, Rosa stood next to Rydia and watched the knight intently.

"He always has to do things by himself. If he thinks he can make me stay behind

and wait all the time, he's wrong."

Rydia looked up at the older woman. "He's worried about you. He just wants you to be safe."

Rosa's brown eyes settled on the little girl. "I know that, Rydia. But who's going to look after him?"

Rydia looked at Cecil who was now making his way back towards them. "We all will!" she answered cheerfully.

Rosa could only smile. "Do you always look at the good side of things, Rydia?"

Rydia made a serious face and thought about it. "I try to."

Rosa laughed softly. "Do me a favor, Rydia, and don't stop trying."

Once Cecil had returned to them, the group retraced their steps and headed to the right instead of the left at the fork in the path.

"This way leads up," Edward commented after awhile, happy that they were finally on the correct path.

"Truly," Rosa responded, adding more arrows to her quiver that she found in a chest. "And whoever traveled here before us left quite a few useful items behind."

They hiked the trail until they reached a point where it flattened and appeared more like a platform than a path with stairs leading up to a another narrower platform. To Rydia's eyes, it looked like this part of the mountain had been made to look like a shrine.

Cecil crossed the platform and started to climb the stairs towards the next platform. Rydia climbed after him, finding it difficult to keep her breath.

"These stairs are steeper than they seem," Edward huffed, speaking her thoughts out loud.

"Must only be a bit farther," Cecil answered, sounding a bit winded himself.

Rydia's feet trudged onward, but she stopped when she heard something ahead of them at the top of the stairs where they couldn't quite see.

"Cecil!" she quickly announced, and cupped her ears with her hands.

Cecil stopped and so did the others to listen to what she was talking about. There was nothing to be heard for a brief moment, but sure enough, a moment later metal on metal, and shouts were distinctly heard at the top of the stairs.

The four of them sprinted to the top, their energy suddenly returned to them. What greeted them at the summit was not what they had expected. Dozens of bodies were lying on the ground, all of them men with copper skin and long braids of black hair. Horrified, they were almost too stunned to notice there was still one man alive, taking on a hoard of enemies by himself.

His right hand was equipped with a strange weapon that Rydia had never seen before. It was strapped on by leather and had three long metal prongs that looked like claws. His other hand was bound by leather cord, and he seemed to have no problem in using both hands as weapons. He easily dispatched the company of imps before him with flawlessly executed moves, and was about to engage a large and furious looking bomb, when Cecil drew is sword and rushed forward.

Rydia knew what that meant. He wasn't going to let this man fight by himself.

She pulled her ill-used bow from her back and ran after Cecil.

Rosa and Edward followed as well, Edward's harp at the ready, and Rosa's bow in hand with an arrow already knocked.

"Looks like you could use some help," Cecil informed the other man in a tone that left no room for questions.

The other man turned to look at Cecil and then stared at the others in bewilderment. "I'm not going to ask where you came from, but you arrived just in time," he replied.

"Cecil, look out!" Rydia shouted, as the bomb shot some of its flames in Cecil's direction.

Cecil dodged the flames and charged the bomb with his dark sword raised. He struck it, but the bomb was faster than he'd expected and drifted to the side, causing his sword only to graze it.

Rosa shot again and again with her bow, missing some of the time when the bomb floated back and forth, and Edward was finding his music having little effect on the bomb as well. Rydia was having trouble even getting her arrows directed in the right place, and fired them in gathering frustration. Finally, she'd had enough, and decided that if their weapons couldn't touch it, perhaps something else could. She chanted and released an ice spell, freezing the air and striking the bomb, finally making some progress.

The man who fought with his fists sprang up in that instant and dealt the bomb a mighty blow that caused it to explode into a large cloud of flame.

The company stared at it in surprise. Nonetheless, they continued to fight, determined to destroy it. Rosa administered healing spells when her quiver had been expired, and Rydia let loose one ice spell after another.

Between the flurry of fire and ice attacks, Cecil was having difficulty finding something to hit, as his sword sheared through the flame cloud and hit nothing. When he noticed he wasn't doing any good, he allowed Rydia's spells to take over.

Rydia hit the cloud with one final ice spell and instead of dying, it exploded, sending fire spurting out in every direction. Rydia felt the wave of heat smash into her and she fell backwards, feeling singed, and very dizzy. The others were picking themselves up off the ground as well and when they looked up, saw that the cloud of fire had multiplied into several smaller bombs again.

The man with copper skin and black hair suddenly let out a powerful cry and surged forwards. He rushed between the bombs sending windmill kicks and other attacks through their lines. One of them died on impact, and the others took damage and sank closer to the ground, unable to stay fully afloat.

"Some are stronger than others," Cecil informed them all. "Aim for the ones with more flames!"

Rydia decided it was time to move to stronger attacks, and chose to summon instead of cast. Her chocobo charged the field multiple times, scratching, kicking, and pecking at anything in its path.

Cecil's sword took down several of the bombs, and Edward managed to weaken a few more with his music.

When the arduous battle finally came to an end and the last of the bombs fell to the ground a pile of ash, all of them were weary, a bit battered, but more than a little relieved to have defeated their foe. The man they had helped turned to face them all, victory evident on his sharp features.

"I owe you my gratitude. My name is Yang, and I am a high monk of Fabul. I had brought my men here to train, but now they are all dead—killed by this swarm of beasts. They were Fabul's finest men. Woe to us in this hour, to have lost those true of heart and deft in combat."

"I offer my condolences to you and your kingdom. My name is Cecil and I bring news to you now that may spare more of your brave from dying."

Yang gazed at Cecil with fierce black eyes.

"A villain named Golbez has abused Baron's power and is seeking the world's crystals," Rosa explained.

"You think he seeks our crystal of air as well?"

"There is no doubt," Edward added. "He easily seized the crystal of fire from Damcyan a few days ago."

"So the odds are against us. The only fighters remaining in Fabul are students. They stand little chance against so mighty a force as Baron."

"Golbez must have sent these monsters to attack you and your men. Someone must have known you would be vulnerable here away from your kingdom," Rosa informed him.

"If that is true, an attack on the castle itself is imminent. I must hurry to the king!" Yang announced, turning to retreat down the mountainside.

"We will follow you to Fabul," Cecil mentioned, before Yang could leave. "We would like to help."

"I am grateful, however, this does not concern you," Yang tersely replied.

"I can assure you that it does," Cecil countered.

"I am the prince of Damcyan," Edward explained.

"Rosa and I are citizens of Baron, and this girl is one of many victims of our kingdom's recent attacks…some of which I have personally led," Cecil added. "I am not proud of what I have done in the past, but I will no longer obey the orders of a king who slaughters the innocent to further his greed. The day I abandoned my command, I vowed to make things right, and so I shall by helping you now."

"It seems, Dark Knight, that I was wrong. It seems we all have a common purpose, and so it is also good that we stand together through whatever faces us ahead. Fabul lies to the east of here, beyond this mountain and still some distance yet."

"We'll have to hurry, then," Cecil answered, leading the newly formed group of five down the other side of the mountain, knowing that it was now Fabul running out of time.

………………………………………………………………

Author's Note: SOOO CLOSE! I'm getting excited now. I know it's taken me about a week to get this one up. I spent most of my week painting, actually…and this chapter was a little slow in coming. I think I may have spent more time editing this than actually writing it. Haha, that's how it always goes…The dialogue in this chapter was particularly a beast. I was starting to run out of words to use for "he said" "she replied" "they argued" etc. It's been so long since I've written dialogue between so many characters…I feel a bit rusty.

Some random notes: Where the cockatrice are concerned, I didn't know what the plural of "cockatrice" would be so I kept it the same as its singular form, much the same as "moose" and "moose". Sorry if it caused confusion.

Also, I made a little reference to Odin in this chapter, I don't know how many of you caught that. I think it's a little significant that Rydia hears of Odin since if you know the game well enough and know about Odin, you also know how he ties in with Cecil. I'll dig into that probably in the next fanfic I'll be starting…

And here's a progress update for all of you. I know I've been a bit slow updating, I think a chapter a week, but I'd like to let you know that chapter sixteen is already started and a good way through. You'll probably be seeing it sooner than later. Orrr…maybe later depending on how long I make it and how much meat I give it Haha, well, it'll get up, don't worry!

Finally, I'm going to try and put up a link in my profile to some Rydia fanart. I was going to put this link up awhile ago, but forgot. I drew this a couple months back, and it's of her as a little girl :)