Golden Sun: The Sands of Time

Chapter 11: Moonlight

Nighttime already? Mia sighed wearily as she stared at the city in the distance. They had decided landing the ship some distance away from the city would work best, mainly so they could avoid getting shot by arrows if they tried to land within the city. Couldn't fault that, after all. The people inside had no idea who they were, and how a ship could come to be flying. With the current problems, it'd probably turn into a shoot first and ask questions later type of situation. And they most definitely didn't want that.

Focusing on the task at hand, she regarded the weary band of survivors from Jorgmund. Davion and the archers were leading the pack, walking with long, purposeful strides. The adepts were bringing up the rear, glancing around warily. It seemed unlikely that Karan would attack so close to the huge fortress, but after what transpired on the ship, they were taking no chances.

Abruptly, Mia felt a strange resonation. Opening her pack, she saw the rod she had found in the underground caves once again glowing faintly. Lifting it out, she raised it to the sunlight to inspect it more closely. Abruptly, she caught a faint glimpse of something in the cliffs.

"What on Weyard?" She whispered.

"You saw it too?" Isaac questioned. "I think it's a scout of some sort."

"We cannot allow him to know he has been seen." Both of them jumped at the sound of Alex's voice. "We must send only two people to find him. No more, no less."

" Oh?" Mia snapped at him. "And who made you boss?"

Isaac sighed. Not this again. "Mia, he has a point. Look, I'll go with Alex. You go alert Davion about this."

"Not likely." Mia snorted. "I'm not about to leave you alone with that creep. I'll go with you. Alex can tell Davion." Saying so, she began to scale the rock wall beside her, intent on climbing the peak.

Isaac muttered a few choice words under his breath before rushing to aid her, while Alex sighed to himself and started towards the front of the line.

So this is Anthis… Ivan thought to himself. The entire city was even larger then he had assumed when he saw it from the air. Marching up the sloping stone bridge that led to the main gate, he couldn't help but notice the archers staring down at them, not to mention the main gates opening and a company of elves clad in battle armor marching down to meet them.

Silently, he prayed that the leader of that group would have enough sense to ask questions first before opening fire or any of that. Not only was he pretty sure that in his current state of near exhaustion, he wouldn't be able to dodge them all, but he had a feeling they wouldn't like it if they later discovered that just turned their own prince into a pincushion.

Luckily for him, and the rest of the group, the captain of the band marching out to meet them didn't feel like firing arrows at the moment. Lifting his hand, he brought Davion to a halt.

" Who are you, and what is your business is Anthis?"

Davion stared at the captain for a while with an expression that clearly showed he thought the captain was an idiot. Then, pulling himself to his full height, he replied.

"I am Davion, prince of Anthis, and son of Aldos Firestar. I hope you recognize your future ruler?"

The captain's face turned white, and he took a step back before kneeling in front of Davion. Instantly, the rest of the elves behind him knelt as well.

Davion smirked slightly before speaking again. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like an audience with my father. Oh, and rooms for my friends to rest in as well."

Isaac crouched to the ground, surveying the rocky landscape. Whatever it was that had appeared up here, it was good at hiding it self. Beside him, he could hear Mia panting softly. Slipping the Sol Blade out of it's sheathe, he crept behind the boulder. Where was that stupid-

An arrow skipped off the boulder beside him, clattering to a halt next to Mia. "Get down!" Isaac hissed to Mia, and mentally tried to find the direction the arrow had come from.

Turning to the left, he ducked behind another large boulder, an instant before another arrow would have impaled him. Damn… He muttered to himself. His adversary was skilled, and he had a distinct advantage over Isaac: He knew the terrain. Isaac didn't.

But of course, Isaac had his own skills too. Placing a palm on the ground, he silently prayed to Venus for aid. The spirit of earth responded, and in his mind's eye, Isaac felt soft footfalls on the earth, doing it's best to sneak away unnoticed.

Isaac smiled grimly. There was no way any being could hope to escape a Venus adept. Leaping atop the rock, he focus, feeling the energy of the earth swirling within him.

"Quake Sphere!"

The ground around the scout trembled and roiled, huge clumps of soil and stone being tossed into the air. Through the debris, Isaac caught the barest glimpse of red skin. A Karan… Standing upright, Isaac shouted a warning. "That was a warning spell! Surrender yourself now!"

Abruptly, an arrow flew from the melee, piercing Isaac's shin. With a cry of pain, he fell to his knees. No! The karan was getting away!

The red-skinned brute had thrown away stealth, and was now fleeing for his life. Damn! Isaac tried to give chase, but the pain in his leg made his movements jerky and slow. There was no way he would be able to-

A blast of freeing cold emanated around the karan scout, creating a block of ice around the raider that trapped him to the ground. Unable to flee, the karan glared venomously at Mia, who had been the source for that particular spell. With a howl of rage, he revealed a pair of bolas in his arm that he whirled, faster and faster, until he released them to fly straight at Mia. They smashed into her with a dull thud, knocking Mia off her rocky perch.

"Mia!" Isaac yelled. There was no response. Dammit. Hurrying as fast as he could to the spot, he saw her lying on the ground, winded but not seriously hurt. Mia groaned softly, then noticed Isaac staring worriedly at her.

"What are doing?! Go get that guy!" Pulling herself into a sitting position, she gazed at Isaac as he obeyed her command, jumping over tiny stones and clumps of soil to the karan who was still trying to break free of his icy prison.

"Men..." She muttered.

Isaac ducked under another arrow from the raider, then charged forward. In a single slash, he had separated the raider's right arm from the rest of his body, and opened up his chest. The karan slumped over.

Isaac crouched low, and lifted the dying warrior to eye level. "Speak! Tell me, what are you doing here?"

The karan merely let out a low laugh. He was dying, and he knew it.

Isaac glared at him. "You will talk, or I will personally ensure your death will take a much longer time."

"Well…… then." The scout let out a hoarse rasp, blood bubbling in his throat. " I'll tell. Although you might not like to hear it."

Mia stepped up beside Isaac, and silently watched the two.

"In two days, the karan march against Anthis."

"WHAT?!" Isaac gripped the scout tighter. "You think you can take the city?"

"We will take it." Another hoarse rasp. The karan was fading fast.

"How many?" Isaac whispered.

"My, aren't we the impatient one?" The karan chuckled. "Fine then. I'll tell you. It'll be nice seeing the horror on your faces before I go."

"Just tell us!" Isaac yelled.

The karan scout chuckled once more. "Listen closely then, human…"

The Hall of Eternal Light was named thus for the thousand gems of fire, built into the very walls of the hall itself. Night or day, through oppressive desert heat, or cold of night, the gems of fire would provide a constant light to this room, and a gentle heat. It was fitting, then, that this hall would be chosen as the throne room of Aldos Firestar.

"Jorgmund is taken, father." Davion didn't like confronting his father at the best of times. He, for whatever reasons, had always seemed to consider Davion a failure. And this definitely was not the best of times. His father didn't even seem to notice him for a while. Then, looking up, he replied curtly.

"I believe I entrusted you with it's defense, did I not?"

"You did, father."

"Why then, did you not defend the city?"

"I would have done so, but our numbers were too few."

"Oh, all too few." His father sneered at him. "The men say that you weren't even in the city when it was attacked!"

"I-I was trying to slay the fireworm. It had reappeared, and I thought it would be a threat to the town, so-"

"So you left the town one some personal quest, letting the enemy waltz in and take it on a whim."

Davion could find no suitable response to that, so he merely bowed his head, waiting for his father to continue.

"Everywhere you go, you always seek to cast a bad light on me."

Davion's head jerked up. What?! His father… he thought that of him? "That is not my intent." He whispered.

Aldos Firestar glared down at him for a minute before replying. "And who can say what is your intent? To pull down every last stone of the kingdom I worked so hard to build?"

"……" Davion did not know how he was supposed to respond, so he said nothing. Father… why……?

Sheba stared silently at the ceiling of guest quarters had been provided. The entire crew, save Isaac and Mia, who were busy hunting down a scout somewhere, had been sent here.

The beds were comfortable enough, but she couldn't go to sleep. She didn't want the nightmares… They terrified her. She hated feeling weak, and each nightmare made her feel weaker than she ever did in reality. Why? She whispered to the darkness around here.

Then, curling up into a fetal position, she tried her best to fall asleep. Fleetingly, she wished she were still in the Jorgmund inn, with Ivan's arms wrapped around her body… She could hear his slow, steady breathing in the bed beside her.

Gradually, her eyelids began to droop, and Sheba once again entered the land of dreams.

And once again, like specters from ages past, the nightmares assailed her.

Ivan sat upright. What was that? A shout of some sort? It seemed almost like a cry of panic or alarm… Moonlight filtered in through the huge windows, bathing everything in an ethereal, unearthly glow. Glancing around, he noted that his companions sans Isaac and Mia all seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Then who-?

Just then, he heard tiny sniffling noises beside him. Looking over at the bed, he noticed Sheba hunched up, crying softly to herself.

"Sheba?" He inquired. The sniffling stopped almost immediately. Standing and walking over, he sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Ivan sighed to himself. Why did Sheba have to be so independent? Then again, he was a lot like that too. Patting the side of her bed, he gestured for her to sit up, which she did after a few minutes deliberation.

"Sheba, if there's something that's bothering, it does you no good if it's cooped up." He whispered to her. "Trust me on this. It's a lot better once you tell someone."

Sheba shook her head slowly. "It… it's really nothing, Ivan. Honest."

Ivan glared down at her. " Sheba, anything that's bad enough to make you scream like that is far from being nothing. If you don't want to talk about it, say so. But don't go around trying to kid yourself and others."

Sheba winced to herself. Had she really cried that loudly? With a sigh, she turned to Ivan. "It- it's just nightmares, Ivan. Bad dreams." Almost before she finished, she could feel Ivan probing her heart and soul, reliving those dreams for himself. After he had finished, Ivan turned to regard her once again.

"Sheba… It must have been terrible for you on the Venus Lighthouse, huh? Having no idea what was going on, and two homicidal Mars adepts ready to hurt you at every turn." Sheba nodded, shivering slightly as she remembered the abuse, both physical and verbal; they had rained on her throughout the trip.

"Sheba…" He felt Ivan's fingers under her chin, lifting her face up to look at his. "Don't forget. They're dead now. And if you ever have problems, you can turn to any of us for help."

Sheba nodded, the hint of a smile on her face. "Thank you, Ivan."

Ivan grinned slightly and replied. "Anytime, Sheba."

Sheba held his gaze, not breaking it. "You… you always treat me so well, Ivan. I don't know where I'd be without you."

Ivan chuckled. "Sheba, I suspect that if I weren't here to bog you down, you'd be a lot better off."

Sheba smiled for real this time "There's no way that would be possible." And as Ivan stared at her face, bathed in soft moonlight, and gazed deeply into her sea-green eyes, he thought that she was beautiful. Slowly he began to lean in closer to her…

Ivan jerked back. What was he thinking? If he actually did kiss her, Sheba would probably never look at him again. Shaking his head, he turned to regard the fellow Jupiter adept, staring at him curiously.

"I… I…um…" Try as he might, he could not find the right words. "Goodnight, Sheba."

Sheba was still staring at him, only now with an expression of… disappointment? Sorrow? Ivan couldn't tell. "Goodnight, Ivan."

Sheba slipped under the covers of her bed once again and returned to sleep. And this time, no longer did dreams of darkness enter her thoughts.

Aldos Firestar looked at his son, standing below him, with a mixture of pity and disappointment. How could he possibly share blood with such a weak person? Silently, he indicated that Davion should leave now.

Just then, he heard a commotion outside the door. In barged a young human, closely followed by a blue haired girl, of about the same age. Several guards were trying to restrain him, but every time they neared him, a golden barrier would form, knocking them back.

Davion lifted his hand, indicating that the guards should fall back. They did so, although not without shooting a few dirty looks at the sandy-haired human. As he neared, Aldos' elvish ears heard a barely audible whisper. "Granite, you can go back now." As they neared the throne, the sandy-haired one looked up. "Are we correct in presuming you are Aldos Firestar, lord of Anthis?"

"That would be correct, human." And who are you?"

The sandy-haired one shook his head. "There is no time now for formalities. Suffice it to say we are friends of your son. My lord, a massive Karan host has assembled, and even as we speak they are marching for Anthis. They will be here in two days."

Aldos' sank back into his chair, considering this. "This is ill news indeed, human. And how comes you to know about this?"

"I captured a scout on the mountains, my lord. He told me this information, that we should spend the last days of our lives in fear."

"I see. And did this… scout tell you of their number?"

"Y-yes." A slight hesitation. Aldos felt a chill go through his bones. It would be a large number indeed.

"How many raiders, Isaac?" Davion spoke up. A sharp glance from Aldos reminded him of his place, and Aldos once again turned to regard the human known as Isaac. "How many of them, boy?"

Isaac looked visibly uncomfortable. He was fingering the neck of his tunic, and seemed as if he would rather be somewhere else.

"I asked you a question. Speak!"

Isaac swallowed, and his voice dropped to a whisper.

"O-one and a half million."

Silence pervaded the Hall of Eternal Light.