The First Grimoire: Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Chapter 5: "Highroad Brawl"
With a piercing howl, the wolf lunged forward, ready to intercept the bangaa's attack with his sharp claws.
"Gah!" Stopping in his tracks, Lynd quickly revised his attacking pose into a defensive one. Holding his sword up to his face, he managed to stop the claws from mangling his face. A loud screeching noise emitted from the blade as the wolf pounced off, pushing the bangaa back a few steps. Regaining his composure, Lynd took a quick glance at his sword.
"Nnnnrgh!" He roared in frustration. A trio of long clawmarks now adorn the flat of his new sword, "This was a new blade, you dirty beast!"
Raising dirt from beneath his feet, Lynd began to charge at the wolf again. Ready to extract his 130–gil worth of vengeance. The wolf quickly turned around, running towards the forest. The enraged bangaa quickly followed, his damaged sword ready to attack at any time.
"Lynd!" Cid called after the bangaa, but he was already inside the wood by then. He began to run after the two retreating figures, but his charge was cut short, as he suddenly fell onto the ground with a dull thump. His sword clattering down beside him.
"What in the world?" Pulling himself up, he took a quick look at his body. Two rows of bloody holes were on his chest, and it was leaking a disturbingly purple liquid out. Grimacing, Cid quickly tried to wipe the liquid with the sleeve of his shirt, but it was futile. As more of the strange, discolored liquid kept flowing out.
Poison. Cid thought, The thieves must've coated the wolf's claws with them before they sicced it on us. It's affecting my legs, I can't run in this state.
He grasped the hilt of his sword, using it to push him up from the ground. Using it as a crutch, Cid managed to stand back onto his feet.
This is a pathetic sight. He mused to himself, But there's no time to pity myself, I have to tell Lynd before he even gets a single cut!
Unsteadily, Cid began to drag himself towards the forest.
Plodding onwards, Luso was nearing the top of the highroad. He was allowed to pass by the supposed guard, the hunter. Although slightly suspicious, he decided to trust the hunter for now and rushed up the steps as fast as he could.
"I'm here!" He announced as he leaped onto the top of the stone highroad. Littered all over the highroad were large, square stone blocks that had fallen from what was once a wall that lined the road's edges. There, in front of him, lied one of the tied up vieras. Quickly taking out his sword, Luso rushed to the woman's side and began to cut the ropes binding her torso.
"Don't worry, I'm going to cut you free in a second." The viera made a few muffled words and wiggled around frantically. "Don't move! I'm trying to cut the ropes, I don't want to accidentally cut you!"
However, the bound hostage only made more muffled sounds and tried to point behind Luso with one of her bound fingers. Luso took no notice of this and continued trying to cut the ropes with his sword.
"Gah, this is hard!" He said while hacking viciously at the ropes, which were proving to be a difficult task to sever with his sword's long edge. To make matters more difficult, the green mage kept struggling frantically, wriggling around in her bindings like a frenzied bagworm. Finally, Luso managed to cut through one rope, releasing one of the viera's arms. Instantly, she lifted it and desperately pointed behind him.
"What is it–" As the boy turned around to look behind him, there was a sudden glint of light. A bright flash, followed by a splattering of red.
"Aaaaghah!" He fell to his knees, clutching his face. A bloody ridge had formed on his temple, dribbling blood down onto his face. In his reddening vision, he could see two booted feet in front of him. One foot lifted up and slammed forwards, burying itself deeply into Luso's chest. He tumbled over the viera on the ground, and landed on his front.
Dirk took his bloody dagger and wiped it off with his shirt. From the beginning, he had been observing the boy's ascent up the highroad. Hiding behind one of the large blocks of stone, he had witnessed the exchange between his treacherous teammate Dolroth, and the boy's futile attempt at trying to untie one of the hostages he left out as bait. Stepping over his hostage, he smirked at the boy on the ground.
What a fool, trying to save such an obvious bait. He thought to himself, I knew I wouldn't be able to trust Dolroth to prevent anyone from coming up here. I'll have to deal with him later, a pointy reckoning for that traitorous swine.
"Aaaag–hagh....aaah..." Luso panted, trying to stomach the pain that was assaulting him. His face was burning, and he could feel the warm liquid flow all over his face. Although he couldn't see the state that his face was in, he could imagine what it probably looked like now. The thought of it nearly made him want to vomit.
"You little brat." A horrible voice came from somewhere above him, "Did you delude yourself into thinking that you're some sort of heroic knight?"
Luso tried to push himself up, but a foot quickly came down on his back, knocking him back down onto the ground.
"G–get off..." Luso grunted, his face uncomfortably pressed against the ground. Dirk gave a nasty laugh and put more weight on his foot, pushing Luso harder against the stone.
"I don't think so, brat." He laughed again and applied even more force. Straining against the pressure, Luso lifted one of his arms and tried to push back against him.
"I said..." Luso took his other arm and began to push with both hands. Dirk's eyes widened as he felt his foot begin to rise up from the boy's resistance. "GET OFF ME!"
With one powerful push, Luso pushed himself up from the ground, launching the thief's foot off his back. Staggering slightly, Dirk only had seconds to compose himself until the boy had rushed at him, sword drawn.
"Kah!" Dirk quickly raised his dagger and attempted to parry the blow. Luso's sword and his dagger clashed against each other, both sides fighting to gain the advantage. Luso stood his ground and grabbed the blade of his sword with his other hand. Using both hands, Luso began to push harder and stronger, making the thief take a few steps backwards.
How does this brat have so much strength?! Being forced to take another step back, Dirk was beginning to panic. The edge of the highroad was just behind him. If he were to move back another few inches, he would most likely lose his balance and fall down the steps.
He could feel his foot sliding slightly. Glancing down, Dirk saw that he had stepped into a patch of loose gravel. Quickly thinking, he wriggled his boot slightly so that a few of the gravel would be covering the front end of it.
"Don't get cocky brat!" He yelled as he quickly kicked upwards with his gravel–coated foot, sending several small pebbles skyward and towards Luso's face.
"That won't work on me!" Flashing back to the training he had received this morning, Luso quickly averted his eyes. The small rocks clattered harmlessly against the side of his face.
"What–?" The thief exclaimed, surprised that his cheap trick had failed him. Luso replied with a forceful push, knocking him to the ground. Dirk's dagger went flying above him, falling down the steps of the highroad with repeated clinks.
The situation had reversed, now Luso was the one standing above the thief. He pointed his sword down at the thief, as if daring him to make a move.
"Cid!" Melanee and Edyal had caught up with the injured revgaji. At one look at Cid's wounds, Melanee screamed.
"What happened Cid?" Edyal waved her staff in front of Melanee's face, quieting her down, "It's not like you to limp after a fight."
"Poison." Cid painfully gestured to the purplish liquid that covered his chest, "That wolf had poison covering it's claws, got into my system when it managed to gore me with them."
"It's only affecting your legs?" Edyal diagnosed, watching Cid lean heavily on his sword "Must be a simple poison then, no real threat to your life."
"Aye, but it'll render me useless for a few hours, I'd expect." To demonstrate, he tried to move his leg. No response. He grimaced.
"I need to inform Lynd." He said, "He went tearing off after that wolf after it escaped to the forest. If he even gets a scratch, he'll be easy prey for it."
"We have no antidotes," Edyal said, rummaging through her pack, "A potion might cleanse the wound slightly, but you'll still probably be unable to move those legs of yours."
"Damn."
Cid adjusted his grip on his sword, trying to regain his balance. While doing so, he felt a cool breeze blow past his arms. Turning his head to find the source, he saw Melanee standing stock still, her eyes closed and her hands grasping her staff tightly.
"Oh heavenly wind..." She began to recite an incantation. A soft, white glow began to envelop her staff as she spoke the words.
"That's right!" Edyal clasped her hands together, "Melanee, you've learned several white arts from Dr. Ocktor, haven't you?"
"Carry the injured to a fountain of strength..." She continued, as if in a trance. The breeze intensified slightly, making her white robes ruffle in the wind. Cid could feel his body becoming lighter.
"And wash away all impurities!" Opening her eyes, Melanee raised her staff up high. A sudden gust blew in from behind her, as if someone was carrying an abnormally large fan. "Esuna!"
Cid felt the cool wind blow through his body, traveling through his flesh and skin as if they were nonexistent. He let go of his blade, and found that he could stand on his feet again. The wind died down, and Melanee let down her staff. Cid gave a few test kicks with his feet, and found that they were in perfect working condition.
"Amazing, I'm completely cured!" He glanced down at his chest, the punctured holes were still there, but the purple liquid had disappeared completely. "Magick is truly amazing."
"Please don't move yet, Mr. Cid." Melanee had closed her eyes again, and was beginning to cast another spell. "I'm about to remove those injuries from your chest..."
"Aye, do as you will then."
Nodding, Melanee began another incantation.
"The refreshing breeze of life..."
"Come out, come out...where ever you are!"
Sticking out his tongue, Lynd smelled the air. A quick whiff and he began to run off into another direction. After following the wolf into the wood, he had lost sight of the red beast and was now trying to locate it using his senses.
Rushing past another pair of trees, Lynd found a set of tracks on the grassy ground. Smiling slightly, Lynd imagined the wolf on his dinner plate as he began to silently follow the tracks.
"Aye...delicious morsel, where might you be?" He took his sword and cleaved a bush aside, revealing nothing. "Curses. I'll find you and you'll pay the price of my sword with your meat!"
From behind the bangaa, a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared intently. Waiting for a chance to strike, it crouched down underneath the underbrush where it hid. Two rows of purple–tinted claws glinted softly as it primed it's weapons for attacking.
"Damn, where could it be?" Lynd raised his sword to cut another swath of bush away. "This is becoming increasingly irritat – Ack!"
Raising his sword too high, he had accidentally hit a low hanging tree branch. A storm of leaves came raining down upon the bangaa, obscuring his vision for a few seconds.
Perfect time to strike.
"Graaaaaaaooooooooh!" With a loud howl, the wolf tore out of it's hiding spot. It's claws extended and pointed straight at the bangaa's exposed back. It pounced, ready to strike a debilitating blow.
"There you..." Lynd quickly spun around at the sound of the wolf's howl, "...ARE!"
With the momentum of his spin feeding the strength of his sword. He slammed the flat of the blade straight into the side of the wolf's torso, knocking it away and into the underbrush. A loud howl sounded out from the brush, and the wolf silently disappeared into the wood again.
"Not again!" He cursed his luck. Letting his prey get away from him was a blunder on his part. Mentally, he cursed himself and began to follow the fading scent of the wolf again.
"What're you going to do, brat?" Dirk sneered at the sword pointed at his throat, "You have the guts to cut me down?"
"..." Luso was silent. He didn't want to kill anyone, that wasn't what he had in mind when he ran up the steps to face the thief. And now, he was at the liberty of deciding his enemy's fate.
"Well? You gonna to get on with it or not?" Dirk goaded. The boy's face curled into a frustrated frown, making Dirk's sneer wider.
A naïve boy. He thought to himself, He doesn't know the dangers of letting someone like me live!
Dirk quickly reached behind his back and withdrew a bronze–colored clump of warped metal. With a quick motion, before Luso could even react, he took the clump and pressed it hard against Luso's sword. It stuck on and quickly began to melt like a blob of clay.
"What the?" Luso quickly pulled his sword back, and examined the strange object that had just been stuck onto his sword. The color and texture of the blob had begun to spread onto the sword's shiny surface, turning it dull and mottled. It was as if the sword was beginning to rust. In less than a few seconds, the once–silvery sword was now bronzed and filled with cracks.
"A knot of rust, a metal weapon's worst nightmare!" Dirk quickly pulled himself up and pulled out his third–and last–dagger. "Let's see you fight with that piece of junk!"
He leapt forward, dagger pointed at Luso. With no time to dodge, Luso raised his damaged sword and blocked the blow. Instantly, a large crack appeared in the middle of his sword, and a silver point poked through like a sharp worm. Dirk pulled his dagger back, leaving a long, oblong slit in the sword.
This is bad... Luso thought as he checked his sword, Any more hits and this sword is a goner!
"What's wrong hero? Feeling under the weather?" Laughing, the thief swiped his dagger forward, ready to impale the damaged sword again.
"Shut up!" Luso dodged to the side, rolling on the ground. Dirk turned around and leaped at the boy on the ground. Luso barely managed to raise his sword in time to block the strike.
"Aha!" Dirk's dagger clashed against his rusty sword once again. Forming another large crack, he pulled back and readied himself for another charge. Luso scrambled up to his feet, glancing at his damaged sword uneasily.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?!" Yelling hysterically, Dirk swiped at the boy's sword again. Thinking quickly, Luso raised his arm.
"Agh!"
"You're nuts!"
Wincing from the pain, Luso grabbed the thief's arm and wrenched the dagger out of his hands. Instead of letting the dagger strike his sword, he let his arm act as a shield. Dirk, now disarmed and captured, was helpless against Luso's next attack.
"The blade might be rusted, but the hilt isn't!"
The butt of the sword came rushing down on the thief's head.
"All done!" Melanee reported happily. After a casting of Cure, Cid's wounds had magickally resealed themselves, and as a bonus, he felt as though he had an abundance of energy pumped into him. Picking up his sword, he gave a few test swings and nodded approvingly.
"That doctor sure had a good eye for protégées." Cid complimented. Melanee's tanned skin blushed red as she fiddled with one of the strands of hair beside her face. "Aye, I better go and get Lynd out of trouble now."
"Be careful, we wouldn't want you poisoned yet again." Edyal cautioned, "It would be quite troublesome, locating your body in the middle of the woods."
"I'll be cautious."
With that, Cid headed into the woods.
Lynd was getting irritated, tired, and angry. His hunt for his dinner was coming up fruitless. Every time he would find the wolf, it would simply run away. He managed to lose the wolf again, and now he's lost in a forest clearing.
It's not even bothering to attack me now. He complained, At least make this hunt interesting, you annoying beast!
A rustling noise sounded from behind him. Lynd turned around and threw his sword angrily towards the source. Thunk, the sword impaled itself into the heart of a tree. From behind the maimed tree, Cid came marching out.
"I'd prefer it if you wouldn't lob swords at your team mate." He reached up and yanked the sword out of the tree.
"Sorry, I thought you were the wolf." Lynd took his sword back and sheathed it. "That damn beast is running circles around me, can't find it anywhere."
"I see you aren't harmed in any way yet," Cid said, examining the bangaa's body.
"What's the problem?" Lynd asked, a little preturbed by the revgaji's stare.
Cid pointed at his purple–stained shirt, "That wolf has poisoned claws. One little scratch, and your body will be paralyzed. Fresh meat for the wolf."
"Agh...that would be bad." Lynd took a quick look at his own body for any scratches or cuts. Coming up clean, he gave a grunt and pounded his fist in his hand.
"Right then, let's get on with the hunt." Lynd walked towards the edge of the clearing.
"Aye."
I wonder how Luso's doing?... Cid wondered while he followed the bangaa into the wood.
"Thank you so much, fair swordsman!" Said the viera as Luso removed her cloth gag. After taking a solid blow from the hilt of Luso's destroyed sword, the thief had crumpled to the ground unconscious.
"Ehehe..." Luso scratched behind his head embarrassedly, glancing down at his badly–damaged weapon. The blade was ruined, completely covered with mottled patches of rust, it's cutting edge was all but dulled. Moreover, there were multitudes of scratches and cracks it had obtained from parrying the thief's dagger. Basically, it was junk.
With a sigh, Luso sheathed the useless sword and wiped the blood off his arm. The wound wasn't too serious, and was already beginning to heal. Although he was a little disconcerted about his surprising vitality, he quickly brushed away the thought and began to descend the steps, motioning for the green mage to follow.
"My teammates are down there," He said, "Let's go meet up with them."
"That's fine, but..." The green mage looked backwards and scanned the highroad, as if there was something missing.
"What is it?" Luso asked, looking back as well.
"My friends, the rest of my clan." She replied, wringing her hands together worriedly, "They were captured by this man as well. When he took me to be a hostage, he knocked me out and separated me from them."
Yeah, that's right. Luso quickly remembered the scene earlier. When Dirk was threatening Cid with the hostages. There were four of them before. Where did they go?
"Okay, then!" Luso clapped his hands together and stepped back up onto the highroad, "Let's go look for them then. They can't be too far."
"Thank you again, swordsman!" The viera said happily.
"My name's Luso, not swordsman. Okay?"
The highroad was littered with large blocks of rock in various sizes. It wouldn't be odd to think that Dirk would hide the rest of the vieras behind one of them while he used one as bait. With this in mind, Luso climbed up onto the top of one of the larger rocks.
"Here's a good view!" He said, staring out into the forest that stretched out before him. From this vantage point, Luso could see every point on the highroad, from the entrance and all the way to the exit on the other side.
"Is that them?" Spotting a flash of green, Luso quickly jumped off and onto another nearby rock. Landing softly, he quickly scanned the area for more traces of green. A small beret, fallen near one of the rocks near the exit caught his eye. Jumping down, Luso made his way quickly towards the green hat.
"Bingo! There you all are!" Three unconscious vieras were hidden behind the stone block, propped up against the rock. A loose rope was lying on top of their bodies. Apparently, the person who tied them up didn't bother with retying the rest up. Luso quickly gathered up the rope and looped it over his shoulder. He was just about to rouse the girls when a sudden scream rent the air.
"What was that?" Turning around, Luso squinted his eyes to see what caused the scream. In the distance, he could make out two figures standing together, or rather, one figure grabbing onto the other. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
"BRAT!" Dirk's voice echoed through the highroad, "Get over here with your arms up, or else the woman will no longer be able to scream!"
Sunlight glinted off Dirk's hand. From somewhere, he had managed to retrieve yet another dagger. Holding the green mage in a headlock, he pressed the dagger threateningly against her face, drawing a few droplets of blood. The viera whimpered fearfully.
Where the heck did he get that other dagger? Luso thought while walking towards the captor, arms raised.
"Good, looks like even you can listen to directions, brat." Dirk sneered after the boy stopped in front of him.
"What do you want?" Luso replied defiantly. Mentally, he hit himself for not tying the thief up while he was unconscious.
Pressing the dagger deeper into the viera's skin, Dirk replied. "You're not one to ask questions here! Not unless you want to see this poor woman's face be torn off!"
"Grrgh..." Luso gritted his teeth angrily. Smiling cruelly, the thief had a wild look in his eye, as one would have if they had lost all reason. He tightened his grip on the green mage and began to step towards the boy. Once he was in range, the thief kicked Luso's feet out from under him, making him fall onto his knees.
"This is for humiliating me!" He stomped onto the boy's head, knocking his hat away and grinding his face into the stone. "This is for harming me!" He stepped harder, attempting to crush the boy's head into fine paste.
"Ghaaa...hghhhh..." Luso tried to endure the pain the best he could. He knew that if he made any sort of resistance or attack, the thief would probably stab the woman.
"Oh, you're a tough one!" Dirk cackled, "It doesn't matter if you don't resist or not anyway. I've decided to kill this woman anyway! I'm through with this life of petty thievery!"
"Y–you!"
"Haahaahahaa!" Dirk laughed horribly. He raised his dagger in preparation to stab the viera in his arms. "I'll deal with you after this one!"
In that instant, a red spray splashed over Luso.
"...That's the last straw, Dirk..."
A/N: I think a good part of me likes to write Dirk as a jerk more and more, and the other part of me tries to stop me from making him into such a monster. I don't particularly like this guy myself, but hey. In case you're wondering, he carries three daggers. One he threw at Cid, one he was using to fight Luso with, and the last one he hid somewhere on his body. He's a knife fanatic, and his name suits him, don't you think?