Golden Sun: The Sands of Time

Chapter 10: Dissent and Despair

"How are the survivors?"

Picard shook his head wearily. "They're fine, physically. But the stress they've been through has managed to drive some of them partially insane."

Isaac cursed under his breath. Davion wouldn't like to hear about this. But he had to. He turned to go find the elvish prince, but Picard wasn't quite finished yet. "Isaac."

"Hm?"

"The ship was never designed to hold so many passengers, and in the air too. We need to land soon, or we'll never take off again."

Isaac decided that cursing would be a bit too mild.

Grisnakh hissed in anger as he lifted the corpse to his face. Yes, no doubt about it. These were the ones he had sent to explore the caves. All of them were dead, with strange wounds in them that no blade or arrow could inflict. He wasn't sure how, but he knew the humans did this somehow.

Beside the dead Karan, the corpse of the humongous Ghash lay. It was also filled with wounds similar to the ones on his warriors. Grisnakh hissed in anger. These were no ordinary warriors. They had powers he'd never seen before. No matter, though. They could not stand against the full armies of the Karan. In full force, they numbered over a million. Soon, they would be assembled, and they would march on Anthis, blotting out the worthless nation forever.

Footsteps echoed around the cave, and Grisnakh turned to face the person he least expected.

"Master?" What was he doing here?

"I heard you had trouble in Jorgmund." There was a definite hint of a threat about that voice. Grisnakh hated him. This fool had no idea of what transpired in the daily battles between the elves and Karan, and yet had the gall to make demands of them? One day, Grisnakh vowed, he would have to make the person in front him pay.

For now though… "Nothing serious. Merely a tiny bunch of people who escaped to Anthis."

"And you will be marching against it?"

"As soon as the legions are assembled."

There was silence in the dark cavern, as both lord and servant stared at each other. Then, turning, his master glanced around at the bodies strewn over the floor. "If how many troops you lost are any indication, you'll need aid. I will be sending Maelgrim to the battle."

Grisnakh's eyes widened in shock and horror. He… he had to fight alongside that whelp?! This was an outrage! He would never do that! His master was already striding out of the cave. " Master…" He didn't need to say anymore. His master stopped dead. "I will not do battle with the Dark Knight. I do not need him, nor do I want him nearby. If you send him, I might have to… dispatch of him myself."

His master was silent for a minute before replying. "You know, Grisnakh, I hope someone kills you during that battle. It'll save me the trouble of murdering you when you try to betray me."

Then he was gone.

Grisnakh was boiling with rage. Kill him? He was Grisnakh, the greatest warrior of all the Karan! Grisnakh, lord of thirty legions! Kill him? Grisnakh let out a low laugh. One day, he was going to take great pleasure in ripping that bastard's throat out. For now though, keep a low profile, and do as he was told. His day would come, soon enough.

He turned to see one if his aides rushing to him. "Sir, the legions are assembled. We await only your command."

Grisnakh smiled. It was not a pleasant smile.

Davion was brooding silently, as he stood by the door to the hold. My people… So many of them, dead. People he had been friends with, had gone riding, had spent many days together, talking about everything and nothing in particular. They were dead now, sleeping the eternal sleep. Never again would they breathe the free air, walk the streets tall and proud… The Karan would pay for this, he vowed mentally. If he had to spend the rest of his life hunting down every single last red-skinned barbarian, he would.

He turned to see Alex approaching him. "I feel your sorrow, my friend."

Davion let out a bitter laugh. "You cannot, Alex. You cannot feel the sorrow I do, not unless you have seen a town you swore to protect fall into enemy hands, and it's citizens butchered. You cannot unless you have seen the dead faces of people you once laughed with, talked with, and loved as your own, now silent forever. You cannot unless you have seen with your men slaughtered mercilessly by endless waves of Karan. Can you, Alex of Imil, truly say you understand my pain?"

Alex bowed his head, and was silent a minute. "No, I cannot. I would offer to bear some of the burden, but it seems that it would be worthless. Nevertheless." Alex continued. "You cannot let the men you have fought so hard to save see you like this. You are Prince Davion, son of Aldos Firestar, Lord of Anthis. You must show them that you are strong, and that you will achieve vengeance for your people, not stand around moping."

Davion let out a low sigh. "You're right, of course." Turning to the door, he was about to enter when the ship shook, knocking both him and Alex to floor.

Whenever a ship shakes enough to knock it's occupants to the floor, it's generally not a good sign.

From the helm of the ship, Picard gaped in horror at the spectacle in front of him, all thoughts of keeping the ship afloat vanishing from his mind. A cloud of strange bat-like creatures had suddenly appeared without warning, and had rammed into the ship as one, causing it to shudder. They were monstrous creatures, each twice as large as a human, sporting big leathery wings, and an ugly, scarred visage. More alarming then that, however, was the fact that a Karan was perched on the body of each strange creature. Picard grimaced as he realized that the ship was losing altitude. This was not good at all.

Abruptly, the Karan each drew a spear from their back, and hurled them at the ship. By some secret art they burst into flame even as they neared. But the ship was not without defenses, Picard though grimly. Raising one hand, he called out "Shade!"

Instantly a watery wall surrounded the ship, putting out the fire on the spears as they impacted, and causing the projectiles to bounce harmlessly off. The attackers were not deterred though, considering that they were once again flying closer to the hold. Picard swore and mentally commanded the ship to swerve to the right. The ship did so, albeit not without a groan of protest. The extra weight was beginning to tell on the ship, as Picard had feared. How long until it crashed? He didn't want to know. Silently, he prayed that they would survive.

Davion released his arrow, and watched with satisfaction as it impacted onto the nearest Karan, knocking him off his perch and onto the desert sands below. The shield around the ship dissipated, leaving the ship vulnerable to attack. The flying creatures wheeled as one, and swooped down on the deck, long claws slashing at the people on deck. Behind him, Ivan, Sheba, Jenna, and Felix came up, all armed and ready for battle.

Davion was about to call out to them when he felt a sudden surge of pain at the side of his head. Staggering back, he gingerly raised his hand to his neck. Yes, one of those accursed beasts had cut him with his claws. Probably from a low pass. He could still fight though, and that was all that mattered. Noting that several archers had also come on deck, he raised his own bow and yelled at them to prepare their arrows. Beside him, he saw Felix swinging wildly at the beasts, his sword slicing empty air more often than not. Sheba and Ivan had adopted a more practical approach of blasting the flying creatures with psynergy, tossing them around with wind gusts before frying them with a well-aimed bolt of lightning. Time to provide some extra support, Davion decided.

"Release arrows!"

A volley of arrows flew through the air, piercing the hides of the airborne beasts, dropping many of them, and causing the ones still unskewered to pull back, crying in alarm. Davion watched them with suspicion. This was too easy. The had retreated in a matter of seconds, and there seemed to be less of them then before, too little to be accounted for by those dead around him…

Suddenly, he felt the ship shudder again; accompanied by the sound of wood breaking, and the reason for the tiny numbers of the Karan became clear.

"Fever!"

"Flint!"

Flashes of red and yellow ignited simultaneously as Isaac and Garet stabbed their swords as one into the chest of a bat-creature, killing it instantly. A group of them had made it's way under the ship while those above had provided a distraction, and smashed their way through the wood at the bottom, finding themselves in the hold, where most of the survivors had sat huddled together. Needless to say, their appearance had caused a fair bit of panic, and most of the people had starting running around mindlessly, trying to find someway to escape. This made Isaac and Garet's job of slaying the bat-creatures a lot more difficult, and using psynergy in that tightly packed space was a definite no-no. Their only kill so far had been a lucky one, when the Karan mounting the beast had flew too low and allowed himself to be pierced by twin swords.

Isaac caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and ducked a bat creature flying at him with the intent of turning Isaac into the latest wallpaper for the room. Retaliating, Isaac struck the Sol Blade straight upwards, opening an ugly gash on the creature's belly. The bat-creature dipped, tried to stay in the air, and finally collapsed in an ungainly heap on the wooden floor, bleeding out the last of it's life. Rising from the dead beast, the Karan rider drew a huge sword and hacked at the panicking elves, dispatching them with grim efficiency. In seconds, the way to the warrior had been clear, leaving a clear path for Isaac to face down the Karan.

Keeping his sword straight forward, Isaac charged towards the Karan, who in return raised his sword in a defensive position. Just before Isaac reached, however, he tripped over the carpet and was sent sprawling onto the floor. This proved to be a blessing in disguise, as the Karan had reacted faster than humanly possible, cleaving the air in a vertical sweep that would have beheaded Isaac had he still been standing. The Karan was obviously not expecting to meet no resistance, and leaned to far forward, putting too much strength into his swing. Stumbling, he met Isaac's upraised Sol Blade in the chest. Isaac ripped the sword out of the dying warrior, and turned to his next challenge.

Garet, meanwhile, had not been idle. Ducking and dodging the sweeping riders, he had somehow managed to get his tunic entangled in the claws of one bat creature, and was now currently in midair, slashing wildly at the creature above him, doing all he could to behead it. The bat, by comparison, was doing it's level best to shake off the sudden weight that had appeared on it's legs, with it's Karan rider trying to stab the offending human with a long spear. Isaac, and indeed, everyone in the hold stopped their activities to stare at the spectacle confronting of them.

"AHHH!!!"

"Die, human!"

"AHHHH!!!

"Graaahhh!!"

"You shall not survive my spear!"

"AHHHHHH!!!"

"GRRRAAAHH!!"

"Prepare to be consumed by the fires of the Legion!"

"Could you stop spouting dumb phrases?! AHHHHHH!!!!"

"GGRRAAAAAAHHHH!"

Just then, a wild swing from the Fire Brand met the spear head-on, knocking it into the back of the bat-creature, who shrieked in agony and crashed into the nearest wall. Rubbing a bruised nose, Garet pulled himself into a sitting position, only to realize that he had just been knocked into the area where the majority of bat-riders were hovering.

"Ah, shit."

Ivan dodged a spear thrown at him, then retaliated with a blast of lightning that drove the rider further away from the ship. Sheba stood beside him, her Jupiter psynergy complimenting his own, boosting them to greater heights than before. He could still feel the ship shaking, but his natural agility helped keep him upright. The same couldn't be said for Alex however, he had spent the majority of the battle prone, and his primary use had been as bait for the riders to sweep down and attempt to slash him, giving Davion's archers a clear target. Most of the riders had backed off, and were hovering some distance away, keeping pace with the larger and less maneuverable ship.

Ivan turned to Alex, lying on the ground. "Look, if you're no use to us here, get below the deck. I'm sure Isaac and Garet could use a hand."

Alex rolled his eyes, and vanished into the hold. A second, later, Mia appeared, gasping for breath.

"Picard! The ship! It's- it's breaking apart!"

Picard turned to her, alarm plain in his eyes. "What?!"

"The joints are creaking, several boards are starting to come loose, and the whole thing looks like it was built with toothpicks and glue."

Picard muttered something under his breath, and turned back to piloting the ship. "Find Isaac! He should be able to mend the wood!"

Mia didn't bother to ask how, and went back into the hold. Just then, the riders rammed the ship as one, knocking Ivan to the floor.

"Owww…" The young Jupiter adept muttered as he massaged his sore head. Glancing around, he prepared to fry the nearest riders with a well aimed Spark Plasma, when the raiders rammed the ship again. How the hell do they move so fast?

Sent skidding to the floor, Ivan's head snapped up as he heard a yell of surprise. Sheba? Suddenly, he saw her hanging on to a piece of railing that looked as it were about to break at any moment. Cursing, he pulled himself to his feet, and ran over to Sheba, who was currently the target of a dive-bombing rider. Reaching out, he was just able to grab Sheba's outstretched hand before the large flying beast smacked headfirst into the two, knocking them backwards and beside Picard.

Gasping for breath, Ivan glanced over at the shaken but very much all right Sheba. "You know, I think we should give you some kind of anchor boots or something. That's the second time you've almost fell out the ship in two days."

Sheba's only response was to whack him lightly with her Clothos Distaff before returning to the battlefield.

Garet was in hell. The bat-creatures had been repeatedly slashing at him and backing off again, avoiding the slashes and swipes of his sword. No matter how many times he swung, they never connected. The multiple wounds on his body, while nothing serious, hurt badly. And a hurt Mars adept is an angry Mars adept. Finally, Garet snapped.

"Enough of this!" He cried, and raised a hand to the air. "I summon the powers of blazing fire! That which heats the forge, an undying blaze that consumes all in it's path! Mars! Come forth!"

Isaac looked up from polishing his latest adversary, and his eyes widened as he realized just what Garet was about to do. "Garet, NO! You'll-!"

It was too late, however, as a huge blast of fire erupted from the ground, incinerating about half the riders and badly burning the others. The startled bats screeched in alarm, and reared back. Isaac took advantage of the distraction, charging into the melee and beheading one bat, then stabbing his sword clean through the other. He could feel the Sol Blade pulsing with energy, but Isaac mentally willed himself not to release it. Such a powerful strike would probably break apart the already fragile ship, and all they had fought so hard for would be wasted.

One of the Karan bellowed something in an alien language, and the rest of the bats wheeled around in a tight arc before leaving the hold, fleeing through the gap in the floor. Isaac took the opportunity to slump to the ground, mentally and physically exhausted. He only looked up when he detected a faintly acrid smell. He then realized that what he had feared would happen when Garet had released Mars.

The ship was on fire.

Alex coughed as he glared around, trying to get his bearings. The ship was beginning to fill with smoke, something that was definitely a bad sign. Making his way further into the hold, he heard the voices arguing.

"Yeah? Well, you try getting nipped by a thousand weird bat things and not get pissed! It was self-defence!"

"Self defense that generally destroys your own form of transport is not very good self-defence, as a rule. Go find Mia or Alex. We need to put this out."

Alex stepped through the doorway, to see half of the entire ship completely coverd in flames. Most of the elven refuges had already fled to other parts of the ship, although Alex wasn't sure whether it was to escape the fire, or to escape the two incompetents in that area of the ship. Sighing, he lifted a hand and cast Drench on the wood, soaking it through, putting out the fire.

Alex then turned to regard the two sheepish adepts, with every intention of chewing them out for setting part of the ship alight.

And with a horrible rending sound, the ship began to come apart.

Mia cried out in alarm as she saw part of the ship give way, to fall down to the ground far below. The ship was losing altitude rapidly, and at the rate they were going, they'd never make it to Anthis in time. She looked around desperately, searching for Isaac. Where was he? Picard had just told her to find him. Her brow wrinkled in frustration before she caught sight of the familiar yellow scarf. "Isaac!"

"Yes?" Isaac ventured. He seemed to have trouble concentrating. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the ship was falling apart around them.

"Picard… Picard said you would be able to mend the ship."

Isaac's eyes widened. "What? Me?" He managed to stutter out. What had Picard been thinking? There was no way… unless… back when they had been attacked by a Grand Chimaera that had put a hole in the ship's side… Picard had made a comment about how he just wished the wood would grow back naturally so he wouldn't have to fix it. Was that it? A long shot, but their only chance.

His eyes snapped open. "Garet, trade me one of your djinni." He said, in a tone that brooked no argument. Garet raised an eyebrow, but didn't question as a red flash of light emerged from him and flew into Isaac. A yellow ball of light did likewise, emerging from Isaac's chest to settle in Garet's.

Crouching over a large hole, Isaac focused and began the spell.

"Wait, wait." Garet's voice cut in. "You're trying to grow dead wood?!"

"It's either that or spend the last 10 seconds of our life in freefall." Isaac shot back. Golden light emerged from his palms, melting into the woodwork. The creaking softened almost immediately, but it was still painfully obvious that the ship was in a bad shape.

"I need help." Isaac muttered tersely, and Garet crouched next to him, releasing his own growth psynergy into the wooden beams of the ship as well.

Golden light seemed to flow into all corners of the ship, and the shattered planks began to mend themselves, growing back to merge with one another in seamless lines. Loose joints, smashed beams, all warped and twisted themselves back into shape, as the ship began to pick up pace and rise higher once more.

The spell completed, Isaac and Garet both collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. The long spell and battle had taxed them heavily, and they both seemed on the verge of collapse. Kneeling next to them, Mia began whispering ancient words of alchemy, bathing the two weary adepts in blue light. Almost instantly their strength began to return, and they climbed to their feet.

"Well," Said Alex, who had been standing silent the whole time. "Shall we head to the deck?"

Sheba leaned heavily on her staff, gasping for air. She had cast more spells in the space of the last ten minutes than she thought she ever had in her life. Even the Doom Dragon hadn't been as exhausting. Tiredly she watched the last of the remaining raiders fly off into the distance. Then she stuck out her tongue at them. True, it was a juvenile thing to do, but it was the only insult she could think of at the current moment.

Just then, she saw the others emerge from the hold, all of them looking as exhausted as she was. Now that the adrenaline rush was over, she felt so tired. She just wanted a soft bed.

Davion, and the elves, by contrast, seemed to be fresh and bright, as if they had just stepped out of a shower. Silently, she wondered how they managed that, and decided to ask him when they had the chance.

For now, however, Davion was striding to the front of the ship. Following him, Sheba and the others saw a massive fortress, set in mountain so that only one side could be assaulted directly. From above, she could see thousands of elves milling around, going about their daily lives. Even as she watched, people began to notice the huge ship in the air and point at it. Even from this height, she thought she could hear the cries of surprise and alarm.

Beside her, Davion gestured towards the vast fortress city in front of him, a fair bit of pride in his voice.

"Anthis. The jewel of our kingdom."