Chapter Four
Despite the horrific slaughter that had occurred inside Riovanes Castle, Ramza felt slightly buoyed by the time they left that place, with the siblings, Rafa and Malak, now in their party.
The zodiac stone had brought Malak back from the dead. Ramza still did not trust the stones enough to try to wield them freely, but it had been incredible to see a miracle performed for the sake of good, instead of evil, for once. In a sense, it renewed his subconscious hope that there might be angels looking out for them, in addition to the demons trying to tear apart Ivalice.
He had a sense that, whatever Being had made this strange world they lived in, It could not have created such forces of evil, without also sending great forces of light.
Obviously, Ramza was still upset that he had not managed to rescue Alma at Riovanes. But now that he had seen Malak resurrected, he truly felt real hope that he might actually succeed in saving his sister, at the end of this whole mess.
Ramza was also glad they had been able to retrieve Rafa from the clutches of grand duke Barinten. She was barely more than a child, at age fourteen. It made Ramza ill to know what had happened to her at the hands of the man she had considered her stepfather. It was yet another sickening example of a nobleman taking advantage of someone who had no power. He was so tired of seeing this pattern play out again and again.
Despite allowing Rafa's brother, Malak, to join the party, Ramza still mistrusted the man, to a degree. Malak may have ultimately thrown himself in harm's way to save Rafa's life… but Malak had also threatened Alma's safety too many times in the past for Ramza to trust him this quickly.
He was keeping a suspicious eye on Malak for the time being.
Ramza and his team would all be having nightmares for a while; about the carnage they saw inside Riovanes. Some of the castle hallways were even grislier than the scene of the aftermath of their fight with the demon Belias. The castle floors were wet with puddled blood and spilled bowels. The stench was so foul that he soon found he was unable to smell at all, as if his nose had decided to quit working entirely.
There were torn bodies on every floor. One of these, he had recognized as Izlude Tingel. There was no sign of Alma anywhere near her former captor.
Ramza did feel wistful for a moment, when he spotted Izlude. The young man had seemed to have a bright mind. If Izlude had only believed him when they last spoke at Orbonne, then he might still be alive. And he might not have kidnapped Alma in the first place. Although, truthfully, Ramza knew that if Izlude had not done it, then some other Templar Knight would have.
Now, Ramza had few leads regarding Alma's whereabouts. She had not been one of the bodies in Riovanes, at least. Marquis Elmdor had taunted him that he should come to Limberry Castle, if he wanted a swipe at the zodiac stones. It was obviously a trap, no question of that. But he was thinking that he might have to go anyway, because he did not know where else to start, in his search for Alma.
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Meliadoul was staring in horror at a piece of parchment, which had just been delivered to her by one of her father's messengers. It seemed her earlier fears that her sweet younger brother would one day grow into a foul man were unfounded. Because this letter informed her that Izlude had been cut down in battle, at the age of only seventeen. Slain by some heretic called Ramza Beoulve. And apparently, Wiegraf Folles had also been killed, while trying to avenge Izlude's death.
She could not believe Izlude was gone. In her mind's eye, she still pictured him as the adorable little boy she had taught to use a wooden practice sword. This hurt too much.
Her life was no longer the exciting adventure she had felt it was at age eighteen. Over the years, her merry band of ten women had dwindled down to only six members. Prudence had been killed last year, and Meliadoul still felt the loss of her. The work they did was dangerous, and with the start of the so-called 'War of the Lions', when one of her teammates died in a skirmish, the Templars could not afford to send her any replacement soldiers.
Meliadoul had just turned twenty-four years old, but she felt like she was one-hundred-and-four. It had been hard enough to bury comrades who had been by her side for years. Now, the loss of her little brother felt like more than she could bear.
She crumpled the paper in her hand, before she slammed her fist down on the ground. She did it again. Her knuckles were bleeding now, but it was better than weeping.
Meliadoul did not want to sit here feeling sad. She had spent too much of her life, before now, sitting around feeling sad. She wanted to take revenge on her brother's murderer. Her next assignment from the High Confessor would just have to wait a few more days.
Because Ramza Beoulve was going to pay dearly for this.
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By the free city of Bervenia, Ramza was surprised to find his party's path suddenly blocked by a group of Templars.
There were six of them, all women. The sight made his jaw fall open for a moment. He had not encountered a group of soldiers comprised entirely of women since his fight with the downtrodden Miluda, four years ago. And those women had worn the rags of the common folk, along with whatever scraps of armor they could obtain. It had been one of the most difficult things Ramza had ever had to do, killing that pitiful group.
But this party was different. They were clearly high-ranking members among the Templar Knights. These women wore gleaming gold armor, or lush embroidered Summoner's robes in colorful shades, or the slinkiest Ninja costumes made from the finest black silk. They were not downtrodden; of that he was certain.
Their leader shouted out to him, "You slew my brother, and I shall have satisfaction of you!"
She wore a green hooded cloak, and golden armor covered her arms and shoulders and collarbone. Beneath her cloak, she wore a black silken gown, cinched tight with a belt at her waist. A waist that looked waspishly tiny, beneath her exceptionally large bosom.
Ramza shook his head slowly. He had not even managed to start worrying about her threat yet. He found himself thinking of the old tales he had learned in school of the ancient Amazon warrior women. Ramza was attacked by random people quite a lot these days, but this was new. Being ambushed by a group of Amazonian warriors, with a ridiculously sexy leader… that was strange, even for him.
Ramza found his voice rather hoarse when he replied, "Your brother? Who are you?"
She seemed outraged at the question. "Do not play games with me! I am Meliadoul Tingel! You killed my brother, Izlude, at Riovanes! And now you will die! Not by any order of His Holiness. I do this for Izlude!"
Ramza's brow crumpled. "You say Izlude was your brother. But I am not your brother's killer! Do you not know what happened at Riovanes? The murder done there was not done by the hand of any mortal man! An abomination, a Lucavi, killed your brother!"
Meliadoul spat sarcastically, "A Lucavi? So, the Lucavi again walk among us, killing for their own delight? Ha! A splendid tale! But a lie less fanciful might better persuade."
Ramza took a deep breath. He would try to explain to her, though the odds were that she would believe him no more than Izlude had. He said, "They keep the truth from you as they did your brother. You are puppets, dancing on strings you can or will not see! The zodiac stones are much more than holy crystals to be revered. They hold real power, the power to work wonders."
Meliadoul still stared at him with an uncertain expression, so Ramza continued, "This power in itself appears to be neither good nor evil, but the purpose your masters would put it to is plain enough. Open your eyes, Meliadoul! Let Vormav deceive you no longer!"
"Do you think to convince me with this prattle?" Meliadoul exclaimed, "You are a fool indeed! My father would never deceive me so!"
Ramza raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Lord Vormav is your father?"
Meliadoul was clearly done talking. She began to advance on them, and the Ninja to her left rushed ahead of her, throwing a fire bomb at Alicia as she went.
Agrias lifted her sword. This brat, Meliadoul, might be attacking them due to a misunderstanding; but in that moment, Agrias did not care. She was so goddamn sick of people threatening Ramza's life, everywhere they went.
Agrias charged at Meliadoul and blasted her with a Hallowed Bolt attack as she approached. Meliadoul managed to jump mostly out of the way, so she did not take the full hit. Agrias wasted no time in slashing her sword at Meliadoul, who blocked with her own blade.
Ramza did not move, though he began to caste Haste on himself and those standing near him. He still could not believe Meliadoul had attacked them. She had only six members in her team. He had nine. Picking this fight was undoubtedly foolish of her, though he had to at least give her credit for bravery. Considering how often he himself had been accused of being brave-yet-foolish, he supposed he should not judge.
Still, she had no hope of winning against them, even simply based on numbers.
In addition to that, Meliadoul was obviously outclassed by Agrias when it came to sword fighting. Ramza could see Agrias easily driving Meliadoul back, and see the clumsiness in Meliadoul's technique. This would be an easy slaughter for his team, though it was a shame it had to happen in the first place.
Meliadoul was fighting hard for her life against the Holy Knight with the long blonde braided hair. And she hated to admit to herself that it looked like she was losing the fight. The Holy Knight was relentless; it was all Meliadoul could do just to block each of Agrias's swings, let alone manage any offense of her own. She certainly had no time to try to use any of her Divine Knight sword magic.
The problem was that Meliadoul was honestly getting a bit rusty at sword-fighting with a real, respectable foe. In the course of her work, she hunted down criminals and heretics, and these people often could not afford real swords. Even if they did have swords, they did not have the years of training that Meliadoul had. Mostly, her enemies fought with knives, or even just their hands, and Meliadoul made quick work of them.
But this Holy Knight was just as good with a sword as any of Meliadoul's instructors at the academy had been. And this woman was clearly not out-of-practice, like Meliadoul.
Agrias landed a crippling slash across Meliadoul's thigh. The Divine Knight stumbled backward several feet, clutching the wound.
She had wanted so badly to exact her revenge on Ramza, but she was now regretting the decision to attack this fearsome group. With her own injury, Meliadoul suddenly faced the reality of this situation: all of the rest of her friends would die, as would she. They would die for her foolishness, because she had tried to take revenge even while she was poorly equipped to do so.
It was time to eat some humble pie.
"I yield!" Meliadoul gasped, to the blonde Holy Knight who had injured her. "You fight well. Small wonder Wiegraf fell to you."
Meliadoul then yelled loudly to her companions to retreat, to save themselves. She downed a Hi-Potion as she hobbled away, so her thigh would heal enough for her to walk properly. She was thankful that Ramza and his friends allowed them to run, and did not give chase. Still, the angry, petulant part of her that still raged over her little brother's death could not resist shouting, as she retreated, "Hear me, Ramza. When next we meet, your blood will soak the earth!"
Ramza just stood there, blinking. What in hell?
Once the troop of Amazonian women had fully disappeared back into the city, he started to wonder if he had simply hallucinated the entire odd encounter.
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A/N: So, I changed things a little bit by having Meliadoul run away instead of teleport away from this battle. I always thought it was kind of dumb in the game that Meliadoul is able to teleport when she's an enemy, yet is not able to teleport when she's part of your team. So, no teleporting for Meliadoul! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Please leave me a review to let me know what you think!
