Chapter Six: Farewell, Cornelia
Night had fallen over Cornelia as the heroes took the opportunity to recuperate from their previous battles. Agura paced the floor of his guest bedroom, rather uncomfortable in the palace. He opened the door to find a guard stationed outside his door. "Um..."
"Oh, Master Agura!" the guard spoke, somewhat alarmed. "I thought you had already gone to bed."
"Nah, these- Master?" Agura just shook his head. "This bed is much softer than what I'm used to. I'd like to just take a walk or something to clear my mind, if that's okay."
"S-Sure. Will you be needing an escort? These halls can be a bit confusing to guests."
"I should be fine." Agura wandered the hall aimlessly, taking in the grand torchlit chambers. During his self-appointed tour, he found a door fastened shut, but without a guard present.
"Gordon! Still at it?" an old man shouted as he ran up to Agura. "Oh, my mistake. I thought you were that troublemaker. He's spent many a night trying to break in this room."
"Why? What's in here?" Agura asked, pointing at the door.
"I'm not even sure," the man answered. "All I know is that everything in there belongs to the Warriors of Light."
"Hey, I think I'm one of those! I got this crystal, too!" Agura tried to turn the knob, but it refused to budge. "It's not opening."
"Well, the door has been bound by the mystic key. We don't have it here in Cornelia."
"Oh, well we can always rely on Plan B." Agura said as he backed away from the door.
"Plan B? What is Plan B-EEE!" Agura charged at the door and jumped for a drop-kick. Incredibly, the door stood firm, despite the attack, not even dirt marks were left on it. "We've actually tried force before. We stopped when the door snapped a sword in half. The spell on the door prevents any type of entry without the mystic key."
"Huh," Agura grunted as he picked himself up off the floor. "Well, I guess that's why you don't bother setting up armed guards." He scanned the door over once more. "That's some lock. But actually, I doubt I actually need anything in there; not when I have these." He flexed his muscles and smirked before walking away.
"Pierre!" The warrior found himself surrounded by Cornelia's aspiring knights. "We saw the pirates in the dungeon. How did you do it?"
"Oh, those criminals?" Pierre scoffed. "It was no easy feat, but for a knight as accomplished as I am, it was well withing my power to stop them." He held his sword aloft. "With this sword, and the help of that traveling monk Agura, I brought them to their knees. While he distracted the pirates in the town, I jumped onto the ship and fought them in their own turf." His story awed the knights-in-training, while some of the senior knights just watched with their arms folded. Pierre noticed one such man and glared at him. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, I just happened to be one of the guards ordered to detain the pirates, and we noticed there were several more battered and bruised than there were cut up." Pierre grunted at the soldier's claim. "Are you sure the monk was doing the assisting?" A few of the other men laughed at the question.
"Y-You can't just assume that Agura caused all those injuries!" Pierre argued. "I didn't strike all of them with my blade."
"Whatever," the old soldier huffed. "I'd rather listen to the story of how those two bested Garland. He was the best of the best; no one could beat him in a duel."
"Yeah! His brother wouldn't have stood a chance on his own. That white mage must be quite powerful," a squire agreed. "I kind of wish they'd tell us what happened."
"Hey!" Pierre shouted. "Don't praise them! I bet that Garland was perfectly willing to surrender, but that no good rat Gordon stabbed him in the back. I refuse to believe that a man like him and that flimsy mage beat Garland in a fair fight."
"Then will you please explain why both Gordon and I were both so heavily injured?" Arin's voice spoke up as the white mage slowly entered the room, grimly staring at the warrior. "If we used such a treacherous method of attack, we should have been completely unscathed, yet when I last checked, Gordon has a wide scar across most of his body. Do you have an explanation for that?"
"That? He must have cut himself to feign injury," Pierre countered. "And you? You had no treatable injuries. It could have been an act on your part."
"Why do you distrust Gordon at every turn?" Arin asked, ignoring Pierre's attack on his honor. "What drives you to such hatred?"
"It's not hatred, it's common sense!" Pierre shouted. "He's not to be trusted."
"That is unfortunate, because you will doubtlessly have to trust him with your life in the near future, if there is to be any hope of restoring the crystals." Arin turned to leave, but paused at the door. "Also, this may be rather foolish in your mind, but when I compare what I have seen of him and what I have seen of you, I would sooner guess that he was the knight and you were the knave." Arin then left the room, heedless of the laughter from the old guards.
The morning came quietly upon Castle Cornelia as the king called for the four holders of the crystals. Arin was the first to arrive, followed by Gordon, Agura, and finally Pierre. "Ah, yes, I hope you all slept well," he said as he sat in his throne. The chancellor and Princess Sarah stood on each side of the king. Gordon looked away from the princess and sighed, earning a scowl from Pierre.
"Oh, yeah!" Agura laughed. "Your people are something else. I told the guy watching my door my bed was too soft, and when I came back, I noticed they traded it in for one that was just great!"
"That's good to hear," the king said with a smile, amused by Agura's continued informal behavior. "I have done a little bit of studying up on the prophecy for you all. What we have found is as follows: When darkness veils the world four Warriors of Light shall come. If they cannot gather the shards of light, the darkness will consume all. The Four Crystals will never shine again..."
"Well, no pressure," Agura groaned. "I was hoping this prophecy would be a little more positive."
"The danger that we must face is no trifling matter," Arin added. "According to the prophecy, we are the very last hope for our world."
"Yes, but it's still pretty grim," Pierre commented. "It almost sounds like a suicide mission."
"But there's still hope, right?" Sarah asked.
"She's right," Gordon finally spoke. "We can't give up just because the odds are against us."
"I never said I was giving up!" Pierre barked. "I plan on seeing this through to the end."
"Yeah, but uh, where do we go?" Agura asked. "I mean, I've been wandering around for a while, but I have no idea what we're looking for."
"I have heard of a crystal in the northern continent. Perhaps there is a good place to start," the king suggested.
"But sire, the bridge is in disrepair. Even if we begun repairs immediately, it would take several weeks to complete!" the chancellor told the king.
"Oh, that reminds me," Agura started, "that pirate was using my father's ship for his crime spree. Can I have it back?"
"Why not?" the king said with a smile. "I don't really need it, and it will serve you better."
"Alright!" Agura jumped up for joy and ran for the door. "Wait. Is there anything else to discuss? If not, I'll go check out the Leviathan and prepare for our voyage."
"You may go," the king answered. "I wish you all the best of luck in your travels."
Arin glanced up at the sky from the courtyard as the other three were preparing themselves for their journey. "E-Excuse me," uttered a voice behind him. Arin turned around to see Princess Sarah with a lute in her hands. "You are Arin?"
"I am," Arin answered. "How may I help you, Princess?"
"I-" Sarah paused, choosing her words with the greatest of care. "When Garland abducted me, he took this lute as well. My mother told me it holds great power, power to banish evil. I want you to take it with you." She held the lute in front of Arin. "Please."
"I see," Arin mused, and after a minute's hesitation, he received the instrument. "I will take it, but there is something else, is there not?"
"Yes..." Sarah glanced towards the castle and sighed. "I want you to watch over Gordon. If something happened to him, I don't know if I could go on."
"...I will do my best," Arin answered. "Our journey is a dangerous one, but I will do all in my power to ensure our survival. Gordon will return."
"Thank you, but by then...I'm sorry, I need to be alone." Sarah turned from Arin and hid her tears with her hands. "Restore the Crystals to grace."
"..." Arin watched as the princess fled and sighed. With the lute in hand, he started for Agura's ship in the port.
Bikke watched silently as his guard fidgeted around outside his dungeon cell. "Soon," he muttered as he took in a deep breath.
"What are you going on about in there?" the guard asked sternly.
"Calm down, soldier," a superior officer chided. "What do you think that man is going to do in his state? According to the white mage that tended to him, that monk paralyzed him from the waist down. Even if he was plotting something, he lacks the strength to carry it out."
"Yes, but I've heard-"
"Those are just baseless rumors!" the officer countered. "Bikke is just as mortal as any other criminal. You'll see that once his sentence is carried out."
"Aye," Bikke spoke up, though he strained to speak. "I be just a man, after all."
"Not even!" the commander sneered. "If you think you sea dogs can call yourselves men, then you've yet to see a true man."
"Arr..." Refusing to allow himself to fall for the man's taunt, he took another cleansing breath and blocked out the rest of the world. For a time, he was motionless, but after a couple minutes of intense focus, his toes slightly curled in his boots, unseen by his captors. A small grin flashed on Bikke's face for only a moment. "Very soon."
"Okay, we got a good supply of provisions, and we can't ask for better wind," Agura sighed as he stood at the wheel of the Leviathan. "Gordon!"
"Y-Yeah?" Gordon shouted back, mostly from surprise.
"We need someone in the crow's nest on our voyage. Do you think you can handle it up there on your own?"
"Yeah, I can do that," Gordon answered, only listening halfway. "Should I climb up now?"
"Not yet. Arin is still missing, and we don't have our route yet. With any luck, we don't have to sail all the way to Pravoka." Agura stretched his arms and placed a hand on the wheel. "If those guys at the Cornelian Builder's Guild managed to clean up the debris from the old bridge that joined the two lands, we can shave weeks, maybe even months, off our time."
"You sound as if you know where we should go," Pierre grunted as he lugged several crates onto the ship. "Care to share with the rest of us?"
"Oh, well it's just a guess, but I hear a witch lives somewhere up in the northern country that owns a magic crystal of some kind."
"That may be the one the king spoke of," Gordon guessed while reaching for the ladder leading to the crow's nest. "Hey, Arin's coming!" Surely enough, the white mage was approaching the ship, holding the Cornelian lute in his hands.
While Pierre helped the weak man onto the ship, Agura spied a distant creature flying towards him. "And look at that!" Agura stretched out his hand, allowing a small bird to land on his arm. Attached to the bird's leg was a small note which, upon further inspection, had the words "Passage Clear" scribbled messily on it. "Looks like we're in luck."
"I apologize for any delay I may have caused," Arin said as he clutched the lute tightly. "Are we ready to depart?"
"I don't see any reason to put it off any longer," Agura said with a sly grin. He glanced at Pierre, who was tugging on the anchor's chain. "Hey, Pierre, you're in the way." As Pierre scrambled towards the mast, Agura stamped on a board near the wheel, revealing a large panel. "Oh good, it's still intact." The monk looked up at the other three, still smiling.
"Um, in the way?" Gordon asked, not even halfway up the mast. "Do you expect the anchor to bring itself back into the ship?"
"You tell me," Agura chuckled as he pulled on a lever on the panel. At once, the chain began to retract into the mechanisms of the ship, bringing the anchor onto the deck in the process.
"Incredible!" Arin gasped. "I never expected such technology on this vessel."
"It was designed so a single person could control the ship with ease," Agura explained. "But the route we're taking is a bit risky, so I want a pair of eyes on the waters ahead of us."
"Got it," Gordon shouted as he quickly climbed up to the crow's nest. "I won't let you down!"
"All right! Let's set sail!" Agura threw another switch, unfurling the sails. "Farewell, Cornelia! We'll be sure to write." The Leviathan stirred to life as the monk steered out of the port to the open sea.