The column of light retreated back into the sky leaving Van blinded by the sudden darkness. He had become accustomed to the constant unwavering light of his cell and the deep rumble of power from within the bowels of the compound. They were outside now and it was quiet except for the chirping of nighttime insects.
He lay in a pile on the ground, barely able to move.
The children surrounding them were murmuring their astonishment and clinging to each other, unsure of what to make of their sudden escape.
Van's eyes began to adjust, and he could see Allen wading through the crowd of children towards him.
"She did it!" Allen was exclaiming, but his face fell as he approached. "Van, what happened?" Allen quickly closed the distance between them and knelt beside Hitomi.
Van slowly turned himself over until he could see Hitomi laying beside him. She looked like a dropped ragdoll. There was blood splattered across her chest and face.
"Hitomi…" he said. It took every ounce of strength he had left, but he pulled himself up onto his elbows and dragged himself over to her. He clutched at her neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there, but faint. She was barely breathing. He put his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. Hitomi, wake up! he ordered in his mind, but he got no response. She had just used a lot of her power, he told himself. This wasn't the first time she needed rest afterwards. They would need to get her somewhere comfortable, and soon she would wake up and be fine. She had to be.
Now that his eyes had become accustomed to the dark, Van took in his surroundings. They were in a small courtyard he vaguely remembered from the palace grounds in Palas. She really had done it. Hitomi brought them all back together.
A line of Asturian guards filed into the courtyard and surrounded them. They parted near the gate and Millerna passed through. The regal stoicism left her as soon as she laid eyes on Allen, and she rushed over to hug him.
"Dryden?" she asked, a deep concern in her eyes.
"He stayed behind. We have much to report, your majesty." Millerna let him go at the use of a formal address.
She looked at the group, battered, beaten, and tired. "Find rooms for the children. Get them cleaned up and provide them warm food. They will be our guests until we can reunite them with their families," she ordered the guards. Her words garnered an immediate response. The guards began herding the scared children towards the palace. Van's heart went out to them. They had been through so much, and they couldn't have any idea whether their treatment here would be any better than they had experienced in Zaibach. There wasn't anything he could do. He didn't even have the strength to speak. He just lay there in the grass, holding Hitomi's unconscious form.
Millerna turned her attention to them.
"Oh, Van…" she knelt beside them, taking in the damage to both of them. "What have they done to you."
"Hitomi saved all of us," said Allen, beside her. "She guided me to rescue them, and then transported us here."
"Get these two into beds," she ordered the guards. " Prepare my medical kit and bring it to their room."
"But your majesty, we have healers-" one of the guards began.
"I will care for them myself," she said, cutting him off. "These may be the two most important people in all of Gaia." She turned back to face the two. "And they're my friends."
Van allowed himself to be carried to a bed in the palace without protest. He and Hitomi were placed in the same room together with only a few feet between their beds. Van was exhausted but he couldn't take his eyes from her face. All the while he was trapped in Dilandau's torture chamber, it was Hitomi's face in his mind that kept him alive. He was determined to survive and get her out of that hell, but in the end it was she who saved him.
She had been cleaned up, and it was confirmed that none of the blood was hers. She lay peacefully in her bed, looking as if she could wake any moment, but she did not.
After Van was given enough food to dull the ache in his stomach, and Millerna tended to his wounds, he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.
When he awoke, Millerna was keeping vigil beside his bed. He felt more strength in his limbs than he had for he did not know how long. He'd had no real way of marking the passage of time while in Zaibach.
Millerna noticed he was awake and leaned forward to help him up.
"Don't push yourself," she said. "You were severely malnourished when you arrived. Your body is still rebuilding its strength."
"How long were we gone?" he asked. His voice was rough with lack of use. His throat was dry, causing him to cough. Millerna brought over a cup of water. He drank greedily.
"You were taken from the woods four weeks ago," Millerna began. "Daniel and Gaddes managed to bring Allen back here and he was able to recover. Zaibach requested a conference with all the leaders of Gaia. They called it the 'Meeting of the Minds,' whatever that was supposed to mean. There wasn't much effort to refuse. The nations of Gaia would do just about anything to avoid another war right now. We held a coronation for Dryden, and he went as Asturia's leader, with Daniel, Allen, and Gaddes as his envoy. They left for the meeting less than a week ago. Allen tells me Hitomi was able to guide him with her mind to save you, and that she transported all of you back here."
Millerna looked over to Hitomi's bed. Van followed her gaze. Hitomi still slept.
"It will be invaluable for us to learn what Hitomi experienced inside Zaibach."
"They were using her for experiments," Van croaked. The memories of her fear and pain while undergoing the experiments flooded back to him. He didn't think Hitomi had been aware he could feel her during those times.
"What kind of experiments?" asked Millerna.
"I'm not sure," he said. "They had a serum of some sort that would push her powers to their limit. I don't know what it was they were looking for."
"Ah, well. Hopefully, she will be able to tell us more. You have been asleep for two days already. She doesn't seem to have any external injuries, and she was not in nearly as bad shape as you. I can't understand why she hasn't yet woken up."
The concern in Millerna's voice as a doctor and friend was evident, but Van could also see her responsibility as ruler of Asturia coloring her distress.
"I will send someone in with more food. Please, rest as much as you need."
Van settled back into the soft pillows, slowly sipping the cool water. He looked over at Hitomi. Her peaceful face gave him a sense of comfort despite the circumstances.
Was this why she had come back? Was it her power that would turn the tides of the war? Since her return, her power had only grown. What had barely been clairvoyance before was clearly becoming an invaluable resource for Gaia. There would be no way for him to keep her out of the frey now. She had saved all of them. He felt so useless in comparison. What had he even planned to do after getting into Zaibach? He had been a fool to think he could rescue her by himself. He had been naive to think he could keep her out of harm's way. What did he have? A sword? Wings? Neither of them could help him once he was trapped in Dilandau's clutches, but Hitomi managed to contact help and get all of them out. He had underestimated her again. What kind of King was he, if he couldn't even protect one person he loved?
The door shot open and a streak of orange and white fur flashed through the room. Merle sat on the end of the bed looking indignant.
"How could you?" she yowled. "I told you, do not leave me behind. You promised me I wouldn't have to be alone again. How could you? They wouldn't even let me in to see you until now," she whimpered.
Van's heart ached. Somehow he couldn't stop letting people down. No matter how hard he tried to protect those he loved, he always hurt them somehow. "I'm sorry Merle, I only wanted you to be safe."
"Safe. Safe! And what about you, huh, Lord Van? Were you safe? What would happen to me if you died? Let me stay with you, Lord Van. Where you go, I go. Where you die, I die, okay? Don't ever leave me behind again!"
Van felt shame welling within him. He had always believed as long as she was safe, as long as she could live on, she would be fine. Had he been so wrong to believe that? Had he been wrong to believe that of Hitomi too?
Merle looked over at Hitomi's bed. She slinked off Van's bed and put her paws over Hitomi's hands.
"She looks so peaceful," she said.
"She saved me," said Van.
"Of course she did," snapped Merle. "But she did that a long time ago, already."
Merle climbed onto Hitomi's bed and curled up next to her, a rumbling purr soothing the tension in the room.
"Is she going to be okay?" she asked Van.
"I don't know," he said, as a lump caught in his throat.
"She has to be," said Merle, "otherwise, what are we going to do?"
Allen burst into Van's room. Hitomi was still unconscious in one of the twin beds in the room. Van was awake in the other and he was startled at Allen's sudden arrival.
"Van, has nobody told you yet?"
Van shook his head.
"We have been surrounded by Zaibach melefs. They are demanding Asturia kneel to Zaibach to unite Gaia. The Palas guymelef regiment is being deployed in defense."
"The what? Why now?" Van jumped out of the bed and began pulling on his boots.
"They say the energy of all of Gaia is necessary to secure our future," Allen continued.
Allen tossed Van a sword and belt and Van fastened it around his waist and followed Allen out the door to the upper ramparts of the palace.
Atop the palace walls, Van could see eight large floating fortresses surrounding the city. They had long cables extending from underneath them into the ground.
"What are those things digging into the ground?" Van asked Allen.
"We don't know, but they dropped them as soon as they de-cloaked, and all of the vegetation around them on the ground is dying. It's spreading quickly."
A booming voice echoed all around the city.
"We are here for the future of Gaia. Your energy is necessary to ensure our shared future."
"That has been playing every fifteen minutes since they arrived. That is the only communication from them so far," explained Allen.
Allen and Van watched as soldiers were deployed from the palace towards the anchors in the ground. As the soldiers approached the anchors they seemed to slow. Some of them just lay down where they were. The guymelefs that approached halted as soon as they reached the edge of dead foliage and would no longer move. The soldiers that could still move were recalled to the palace walls.
Van stared in horror as the soldiers who lay in the dirt began to decompose as if they had been there for years, until they were nothing but bone.
"What could do such a thing?" he gasped.
"Van!" Millerna ran up to them on the walls. Her face was ashen, and she stared over the wall in horror, unable to fully comprehend. She caught Van's arm. "I'm so glad I was able to find you. I have a message for you from Fanelia!"
She handed him a tan envelope sealed with wax.
Van ripped it open and read it in a fury.
Allen and Millerna waited anxiously beside him.
"They've surrounded Fanelia as well," said Van, feeling his stomach lurch into his toes.
The three shared anxious glances.
"The blight from those anchors, if it reaches the city," Millerna didn't have to finish her sentence. They had all seen the soldiers at the wall.
Van felt like he couldn't breathe. He couldn't get back to Fanelia soon enough if he tried. If only Hitomi was awake and could teleport them. Hitomi.
Van had the sudden horrific image of Hitomi replacing that of the disintegrating Soldiers before him, her body turned quickly to bone as the blight spread throughout the palace.
"We have to stop this," he said through gritted teeth.
Allen turned to Millerna, "deploy the cannons. Fire on the levistones of the fortresses. I will get our remaining leviships deployed. We will do what we can. If we can take down the fortresses, or get them to leave, perhaps removing the anchors from the ground will stop the blight."
Millerna nodded and rushed into action, shouting orders along the wall as she went.
"Van, will you operate a melef?"
"I need to check on Hitomi first," he responded.
"Meet me in the barracks in ten minutes," said Allen.
Van nodded and hurried back to his room.
He was met with a distraught Merle at the door.
"Van! Help. I don't know why, but Hitomi has gotten really pale! She isn't breathing like normal! I couldn't find any of the doctors!"
Van rushed to Hitomi's side, followed closely by Merle. It was true. Hitomi was pale and sweating profusely. She was still unconscious but gasping for breath every few breaths. Van fled the room in search of at least one of the palace doctors. He saw a soldier on a stretcher being carried into a room at the end of the hall. The room was full of soldiers in varying states of decay. He assumed these were some of the recalled troops that had only barely had contact with the expanding blight. Some of them had legs or arms rotting off of the bone, others were still whole, but seemed to be wasting away as if they were starving to death. The room was alive with screams of pain and anguish.
Van grabbed the first doctor he saw. "Please, I need your help," he begged.
"So do these poor fools," said the doctor as he shrugged off Van's grasp.
Van went to another doctor, and another. Each one shrugged him off as they went on to the next patient that needed immediate help. Finally, he found a young woman who was tending to a man who had already lost an arm but seemed to no longer be deteriorating.
"Please, I need your help, Lady Hitomi is in trouble."
She hurried back to Hitomi's room with Van on her heels.
She knelt beside Hitomi's bed, testing Hitomi's skin with her fingers, and quickly holding her eyes open. Van didn't know much about medicine, so he let the woman work. He felt so useless standing beside the bed, hands hanging at his sides. He could fight monsters and men, but he could do nothing to stop the spreading blight, or whatever was afflicting Hitomi.
The woman looked up at him. "Did she have any contact with the power that is sucking the life from the land?"
She must have meant the blight.
"No," he responded. "She's been in here since we got back. It hasn't reached here yet."
"Did she come into contact with it before you got back?"
"Not that I know of, but they were using her for experiments," he told the young woman.
"Well, we don't exactly know what's causing it yet, but something is draining the life of anyone who gets within range of those things around the palace. Her body seems to be responding to it. I'm sorry, but there isn't anything I can do for her. It's a shame, she saved all those children."
The young woman seemed genuinely dismayed, but that wasn't good enough for Van.
"There has to be something you can do!" He grabbed the woman's shoulders in his desperation.
She looked up into his eyes, afraid. "I'm sorry, there isn't."
Van let her go, somewhat ashamed at his actions.
He looked down at Hitomi. She no longer appeared to be in a peaceful sleep. All Van could see was the dry bones of the soldiers outside the walls. He looked back to see Merle standing at the door. "Merle, stay with her," he called and rushed past her through the door.
He had to do something. There had to be some way to stop this. He raced through the halls until he reached the guymelef barracks.
"Finally," shouted Allen. "I've got this one reserved for you." Allen pointed up at a grey guymelef with a large sword.
Van looked at Allen and nodded, "It'll do."
"How's Hitomi?" Allen asked.
"We have to stop the blight," was all Van said.
He climbed into the seat of the melef and the face closed around him.
"Everyone, move out," shouted Allen from his own Sherazade.
As they moved outside the barracks, Van could hear cannon fire hitting the floating fortresses. A rain of splintered levistone pelted them from above before resting a couple of feet above the ground.
"Do not approach the anchors from the fortresses," called out Allen.
Van looked up towards the fortress in front of them and saw a swarm of thousands of melefs being released from their hangar. "Incoming!" he called back to the rest as he ran forward to engage the coming onslaught.
There was a rumble overhead as one of the fortress levistones was blown apart. The fortress lurched and dipped toward the palace, but righted itself and continued to hang in the air, though at an angle. The anchor in the ground below it did not move.
Several Zaibach melefs touched down in the barrack yard. Van rushed at them and brought his sword up to meet them. Silver tendrils snaked past him and nearly speared Sherazade, but Allen blocked in time and the tendril was diverted to the wall to his left, where it crashed through with a thunderous crack.
Van slashed at the tendril, cutting it through. The melef solidified what was left and brought it up to meet Van's sward. The barrack yard was deafening with the sound of metal against metal. Melefs from the fortress kept landing. They lighted on the walls above the barracks and took out a quarter of the cannons that still fired on the floating fortresses.
Van screamed as he brought his sword around to take out two of the melefs in front of him. This was no use. There were too many of them. There were at least fifty for each melef fighting for Asturia. How could they have left Zaibach alone for so long? It had been naive of them to think Zaibach was truly defeated. If his enemy had forced him back behind the walls of Fanelia, what would he have done? All that time Gaia thought they were at peace, Zaibach had been building these forces.
There was a rumble above them. Van turned to see one melef outside the walls raise an arm and release a blast of fire all along the walls. The screams of men filled the air as they ran to try to escape the blast. Men fell from the walls as they burned.
This was a nightmare. This was everything Van had fought to stop. They had failed. Every mission had failed.
"Van, we have to get to the ramparts to defend the cannons. They're our only chance," shouted Allen over the din.
Van turned and headed towards the walls followed by half the melef regiment.
They positioned themselves between the cannons and fought to fend off the flying Zaibach guymelefs.
From the other side of the palace, a sharp twang rang out into the frey. One of the cannons had managed to hit the underside of a fortress where the anchor cable was attached. The cable snapped and whipped back to the wall, cleaving it open. A shockwave sped out from the severed anchor.
Men flew from the wall as the shockwave rippled over the ramparts. Van braced for the impact and was nearly thrown from the wall himself.
The other fortresses swayed from the shockwave, but their own anchors remained rooted. The blight still crept along the ground, inching ever closer to the wall, except on the side where the anchor had been severed.
"Aim for the cables!" one of the commanders shouted.
Half of the cannons were repositioned to fire at the undersides of the fortresses, while the rest provided cover fire against the melefs.
Van caught himself wishing he had Escaflowne so he could fly right up to those cables and sever them himself. Escaflowne was a machine of war, but war had found them again without him waking Escaflowne. He felt trapped on the ground.
Van heard the familiar sound of leviship propellers just as one of Asturia's last few leviships banked around the outside of the palace towards a flying fortress. It fired on the underbelly of the fortress with every piece of artillery it had. The cable snapped loose and flew through the air until it slashed a deep gash in the ground outside the walls. A cheer erupted from the top of the ramparts. That was two blight causing anchors down, only six to go, and already half the garrison of Palas had been lost to either the blight or melef fire. Van did not cheer.
The shockwave blasted out from the severed cable, catching the Asturian leviship off guard and smashing it against the wall.
Every small win they accomplished lost them more than they gained. Van looked around in horror. The blights from the six remaining anchors had reached the wall and were still advancing. The one closest to his position had stopped just short of the wall when the leviship took it out. It would still be a little while before any of the blights reached his position, but at the rate it was spreading it would overtake most of the palace within the hour.
Men on the wall dropped where they were. Van hoped Millerna had retreated from the wall. Before too long, it wouldn't matter whether they retreated or not, though. As the blight spread, fewer cannons fired. The men on the wall beside Van had stopped firing when they saw their comrades down the wall falling from the blight. Fear spread like wildfire.
"Keep firing!" Van shouted.
As soon as he turned around a blast of fire from a zaibach melef engulfed him and the men around him. He was shielded from it by his melef, but the men around him screamed as they burned.
In shock, he stepped backward and fell off the wall into the courtyard. He slammed into the ground on his back and the wind was knocked from him. He tried to lift the melef arms to get back up, but one of them wouldn't move. Something in the mechanism had been broken. Van didn't seem to be injured. He found himself thankful this was an ordinary melef and not Escaflowne, after all. It wouldn't matter, though, if they couldn't stop the blight.
Van could see it encroaching on his position. He tried to make the melef get up, but it could barely move. He wouldn't be able to move it in time. He forced the face open and climbed down, dropping to the ground on the side of the melef opposite the blight. The other melefs were retreating back to the palace. Van saw Sherazade still leading other melefs. Allen still lived.
As Van watched the blight crawl along the ground he felt profound helplessness overtake him. This wasn't something they could fight. He looked up at the palace to where he knew Hitomi still was. If this was it, he'd rather be there with her, than here where he could do no good. He got up to run towards the palace.
The air was suddenly alive with a vibration that seemed to reverberate through his bones. He looked up. The sky rippled like water, and something protruded through the space at the center of the ripples as if breaking through the water's surface. It lowered slowly, revealing a massive ship.
Van had only seen a ship like this once before.
The Ispano had arrived.