Chapter 2: A Sorcerer's Surprise
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The smell of freshly cut vegetation penetrated the air as Beatrix stepped off the cargo ship behind Kuja. The sorcerer had dragged her along to inspect Dali, for a reason she was still unclear on. From the looks of the crops, or lack there of, something was obviously amiss. The last time the General had been to the small farming town the fields had been lush with corn, wheat and tomatoes. Now, though, they were bare save for a small plot that grew only enough food to feed the village. What had once been the breadbasket of Alexandria was now reduced to a landing space for an airship. What was the purpose of such an act? How could this help in the winning of a war? What would they feed the soldiers with? Queen Brahne had truly lost her mind, or Kuja had finally managed to steal it.
"Is something wrong, dear General?"
Beatrix whirled around, her features calm despite the cold hatred set in her gaze. That smug smile was on Kuja's face again, infuriating the General further. He was the reason for this and somehow he was smiling about it! It took all of Beatrix's control not to punch the man in his pretty face, her hand balling into a fist and shaking with the effort. "Look around you, Lord King," She spat his alias out as if the title itself tasted bad rolling off her tongue. "does it not seem wrong to you for farm land to be bare before the harvest?" Her vision narrowed as she advanced on Kuja, "What is the meaning of this?" Beatrix made no attempt to mask the demand in her tone, shocking a few of the peasants that were gathered near the airship.
Kuja gazed around at the, now grass covered, field without an ounce of the concern the General was feeling. Where most would have been fearful of Beatrix's tone, the sorcerer stood firm and unshaken. "All in good time. You will know all I good time, my sweet General." He was mocking her with the way he threw disgusting words of endearment before her title, and he visibly reveling in the fact that she could do nothing about it. The bastard had a way of getting under her skin with the simplest of things.
Before Beatrix could pull together a response Kuja had turned from her and instructed a man to show them to the inn. This the man did readily, guiding them through the tiny formation of fewer than three dozen houses, a weapons shop, and a tavern. During the short walk Beatrix quickly picked up on the fact that the children were running around unattended and the only adult in sight was the man that served as their guide. Just as the general opened her mouth to ask after the adults, the peasant stopped before the inn and spoke up.
"The Mayor will be ready to meet with you shortly, Lord King. So please, freshen up and relax until I return." The man stooped in a very ungraceful bow before stumbling backwards a few steps and turning to go.
These people were unused to nobility of any sort so it was understandable that their etiquette was rusty, but Kuja seemed displeased by this. "Bumbling fools. Such a wretched place this is." The sorcerer's lips were curled into a sneer that looked oddly out of place on his angelic features. His eyes moved over to Beatrix as if she might agree with him. When he received nothing more than a blank stare as reply, he turned and entered the inn.
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One room, how had Beatrix failed to remember the inn had only one room? The place shouldn't even be allowed to call itself an inn, it would have been more appropriately titled a hostel. There were four beds along two walls and a wash basin in the form of a small fountain at the center of the room. A few crude, wooden chairs were strewn throughout the room, a few were resting near the hearth on the far right wall. Shoved against the left wall was a wooden set of shelves piled with a small library of books that Kuja had already looked through and announced his intense displeasure in. At least it appeared as if the snake of a man wasn't enjoying their arrangement any more than Beatrix was. That was a slight comfort.
That look Kuja had given her when they were first informed that they would be sharing a room had not been comforting, in any sense. It was that same look that had been creeping onto the man's delicate features more and more since the Princess' birthday almost a month ago. With the way it appeared at the most random, or convenient, moments Beatrix wasn't entirely sure it was a conscious move on the sorcerer's part. Maybe the man was insane? Well, his insanity wasn't really in question - that was an already known fact - but it was the depths of that insanity that puzzled the General.
Was he absolutely raving mad and completely capable of keeping his verbal ravings to himself, behind closed doors? Or was he just the sadistic, greedy bastard Beatrix suspected him of being? Both were questions she desperately wanted answered, but also feared those answers at the same time. Sadist or lunatic, Kuja was a formidable enemy. But depending on which he was the General might have a little bit more of a chance at slipping him up. Despite the annoying laughter and strange glint in a lunatic's eyes, they were a bit easier to deal with. At least their insanity left them at a disadvantage. Somehow, sadly, Beatrix doubted Kuja would allow a little thing such as lunacy to bring him down even a peg.
"You are staring."
Kuja's voice spun Beatrix out of her thoughts as quickly as he had spun her on the dance floor. When her eyes focused she did find that they were directed at the sorcerer. His amused smile met her through the reflection set in the mirror that Kuja was standing in front of. His icy blue eyes locked on her own reflection cast in that same mirror, burning her flesh despite the indirect gaze.
"Excuse me." The usually polite words sounded forced and even rude as they passed Beatrix's lips.
Redirecting her gaze to Save the Queen, she snatched it from where it lie on the bed next to her. She stood and strapped the holy sword to her waist, shifting it so that it rested behind her back. "I'm going to see what is taking so long with the Mayor." It had already been well over an hour since they arrived and Beatrix was happy for the excuse to get away from Kuja.
There was no immediate response from the angelic devil and he went back to brushing out his long silver hair. Beatrix took that as a sign that the man had had his fill of her company, for now, and headed for the door. Halfway to her freedom, Kuja did decide to finally speak and the words snatched away the General's fleeting chance to be rid of the man. "I think I shall join you." He sounded as if he was unsure on the matter, but the soft 'click' of his brush being set down and his footfalls told Beatrix he was, in fact, coming along.
'Alexander, why?' The swordswoman pleaded mentally, resisting the urge to look to the sky and shake her head. The last thing she was going to do was show Kuja that he was able to get to her the way he did. It was rare for anyone to be capable of making the General lose her cool even in the worst of circumstances, but somehow the sorcerer managed it with a few well-placed words and a smile.
Beatrix allowed her gaze to move from her feet to the aforementioned sorcerer once they stepped outside. And there that smile was again. The man had a thing for flashing it whenever he got the chance. He must have thought it would charm anyone into doing what he wanted them to do. It worked, for the most part, on everyone he had used it on. Beatrix had watched the hardest of nobles turn to putty in Kuja's hand once he directed that small smile at them. But it had yet to do anything more to the General than give her some goose bumps every now and then. Kuja still seemed to think it might do something, or he did it because he knew it bugged her.
Sighing heavily, Beatrix looked away from Kuja and focused on the mayor's house up the street. "What is it you want now?" She watched as yellow light began flittering through the windows to ward of the night that was soon to follow the setting sun.
"Oh, it is nothing my darling General." Kuja said with a patronizing tone in his voice and a wave of dismissal. If he was at all disappointed at not receiving the desired effect of his smile he did well at covering it up. Nothing ever seemed to ruffle the man's feathers. No matter what Beatrix said or did, he remained as calm as ever.
Without another word between them, sorcerer and general made their way through the village. The previously absent adults littered the streets and the usual sounds could be heard coming from the tavern. For all intensive purposes Dali appeared normal now, if one excused the missing crops. It was an odd turn and it left Beatrix even more interested in what they had come to inspect. Her good eye darted around, examining what was going on around her. Each man and woman she passed had a good layer of earth on them and looked as if they hadn't seen much sunshine in weeks. They looked more like miners than farmers. Was that what the Queen had going on here? Had some form of precious metal or stone been found near Dali? If Kuja was at all involved then it was probably not the case.
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Beatrix had decided, almost immediately, that she hated the mayor of this town. Upon entering his home, he expressed his extreme pleasure in seeing Kuja again and totally disregarded her. It wasn't so much the fact that he ignored her to the point of being rude that made Beatrix dislike him, but the fact that his attitude totally changed when he discovered who she was a few minutes later. The man suddenly became all compliments when Kuja introduced her. There were few things that annoyed the general more than insincerity. Social climbers, such as this man was, were full of false flattery and admiration. The only thing they really admired was power.
"General Beatrix, has the Queen informed you of what we are creating here for your army?" The Mayor asked suddenly, his voice unpleasantly deep.
The swordswoman quickly shifted her gaze from the plate before her to the mayor. So whatever was going on here had something to do with warfare. That explained why things were being kept so very quiet. But why would the Queen keep such things from her general of all people? It seemed like a foolish thing to do, in Beatrix's opinion.
"No, Her Majesty has not given me that privilege yet." She replied, her good eye sneaking a quick glance at the sorcerer to her right.
"Odd, I figured you of all people would be allowed to know." The man replied, his eyes glittering with curiosity.
"That would be my doing." Kuja said, dragging the attention back to himself. "I had hoped to surprise Lady Beatrix with a demonstration. The General would appreciate her new weapon more if she was able to see it in action."
"Oh, is that so?" The mayor kindly asked, his gaze shifting between the sorcerer and general with half-guarded suspicion.
Beatrix could easily guess what sort of conclusion the man's limited mind was jumping to, and she was certain he would happily spread his newly formed rumor. It would no doubt reach Alexandria in a week's time and cause the general a great deal of grief.
"Yes, do you think you could have one of your men prepare a demonstration in the mist room?" Kuja's request was followed swiftly by one of his charm-filled smiles and the usual compliance from the person it was being directed at. Within an instant the mayor was off to fulfill the Lord's request.
"Have I not already told you that surprising me is nearly impossible?" Beatrix asked the moment she was left alone with the sorcerer.
"Yes, dear General, you have." Kuja replied, turning his icy gaze on her. "But what sort of sorcerer would I be if I didn't at least try?" The look on his face as he spoke seemed somehow menacing and cordial at the same time, but Beatrix wasn't sure how that was possible. Maybe it was just an illusion meant to throw her off, or maybe just a trick of the candle light. Whatever it was, it made her fearful of what 'surprises' this man had in store for her.
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The underground tunnel system was cold, damp and smelled too much like death for the general's liking. The walls looked unstable; like they might collapse around them at any moment. The floors were slick and muddy and some spots sunk in, taking Beatrix's whole ankle down into the muck. Bugs flew and crawled everywhere, some of which she knew carried malaria and several other viruses that were capable of claiming human life. This place had obviously been carved out in a hurry and no one had paid much attention to safety measurers while it was being done. They had barley made it through the first chamber of the 'factory' and Beatrix could already tell it was a death trap. How many had died to make this place possible?
"You worry over the safety of the workers." Kuja stated, the sympathy in his voice drawing the general's attention away from a pair of men repairing a crumbling wall. Though the expression the sorcerer bore was full of concern, the man's eyes told a whole different story. Amusement sparkled within those blue eyes; laughing at Beatrix's humanity.
Words formed behind the blond's lips, but did not find their way out before the mayor spoke. "Things are not the safest at the moment, but now that our first shipment is ready we can focus on the safety of our workers. I know Her Majesty's people are most important to her." The words were rushed and shaky, as if the man feared punishment for such careless construction.
"No worries, good sir." Kuja said, waving off the subject with a pale hand. "All is as the queen wishes it; she will be most pleased with your work here."
A look of pure happiness crossed over the mayor's face at such praise and he made a bow to the lord before him. "I do hope so! Dali is ever at the queen's service, Lord King."
When they passed into the second chamber Beatrix was a bit shocked to see Chocobo. The large, yellow bird paced uneasily inside a wooden corral and screeched every so often. The poor thing looked nervous and obviously craved the light that shone down from a small whole in the dirt ceiling. Every time the bird moved closer to the light, the workers digging a well near it would chase it away. It was a sight that even the general found sad.
"Why is there a Chocobo down here?" Beatrix asked, interrupting the conversation between the two men in her party. Both looked to her immediately and then the bird, but it was a the mayor who answered her.
"To power the conveyor belt, of course, and to move the shipments."
"Ah, I see." The general said, nodding her head and moving past the corral.
"Does the general have a soft spot for animals as well as peasants?" Kuja asked, his voice full or mockery.
Beatrix stopped in her tracks, taking a deep breath to calm her anger. "Is is so very terrible to care for the life of others, Lord King? It is my duty to safeguard all things in Alexandria."
"Yes, Lady General, that is your duty." Kuja said, smiling wickedly. "And this will help you in that endeavor." The sorcerer gestured to the center of the room they just entered, drawing Beatrix's attention to the dark figure standing there.
Golden eyes flashed out at the general from beneath the shadows of a steeple-crowned hat, chilling her despite their warm glow. There was no consciousness behind those eyes, no life. The creature, a 'black mage' is what she heard Kuja call it now, stood at attention before her without blinking. It stood, as if awaiting orders from a master.
"Attack." Kuja's sharp words cut through the silence, causing the black mage to move like a puppet on strings. The creature turned to the side, hurling fire at a barrel in the corner. When the smoke cleared, the charred body of goblin could be seen. The mage continued in this manner, attacking several monsters that jumped out and reducing them all to cinders.
Of all the things Beatrix has suspected of being created here, this had never crossed her mind. If she had not seen the creature for herself she would not have believed its existence was even possible. The sorcerer had succeeded in his effort to surprise her and would no doubt succeed in surprising the world. No one would be ready for such a weapon to strike, no one would escape what was to come. All would be caught within this sorcerer's surprise.