Notes: Whoops, that took a little longer than I planned. Sorry, folks.
He came around on a military cot, staring at the underside of another bunk. He'd barely opened his eyes before someone grabbed onto his arm and squeezed.
"Luke! You're awake!" Anise's good cheer was far too close to his ear, especially supplemented as it was by Mieu's voice -
"Master! Thank goodness!"
Luke blinked, then shoved them both away from him with his arm. (He had to almost shake it to get it entirely free of Anise's grip; her fingers were stronger than some of the clamps Guy had stored in the fontech tools under his bed.) Anise tumbled backward, past Tear who had also been standing at Luke's bedside. The hint of Seventh Fonons around her at least explained why he had woken up so easily, and with a pain-free head.
The cell was grey and sparse; Luke occupied the only bed, and there were a few chains scattered across the floor, though thankfully none of them were attached to the occupants. The colonel was the only one in the room not hanging around Luke's bed; he was standing against the far wall instead, watching them and looking almost bored with the proceedings.
Luke swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood up. So, he'd gone from captured by Malkuth, to helping them, to captured by Oracle Knights. This misadventure just kept getting better and better. "Where's Ion?" he asked.
"Gloomietta took him," Anise muttered under her breath. Her expression looked like a pout, but the sound of her voice said that her anger was more than a cute act. Her hands were shaking slightly where she gripped the hem of her uniform.
It was an answer that didn't help Luke in the slightest. "Who?"
"Arietta the Wild," Tear clarified. "She came for Ion not long after we were thrown in here."
"Another God-General?" Luke said, with a groan. "How many of them are we going to have to deal with? That's three already..."
"Four," Anise corrected him. "It was Ember the Blazing who knocked you out." She didn't meet his eyes as she said it, instead keeping her gaze locked on her hands.
"It's likely that all six of them were sent on this mission," Jade said. "Which complicates our escape plans quite a bit."
Luke looked up, shock giving way to a small, hopeful smile in his expression. "You're planning to..."
"Of course." Jade's smile didn't shift, but his eyes glittered dangerously for a moment. "I still intend to complete my mission. I won't allow the lives lost on this ship to go to waste."
A bit surprised by the vehemence, Luke could only nod. So long as their interests aligned, Jade was a powerful ally, and right now Luke's first interest was getting off this ship.
"Then, if you're all prepared..." Jade didn't give them a chance to respond before getting up from his chair and walking over to the door - or rather, where the door had been, because the entrance was now open to the hallway except for the bars. Luke couldn't see a guard, however.
Jade dug something out of his pocket and flung it at the bars - the object went between them, and the bars disengaged, sliding quickly down into the floor. Jade didn't even wait for them to fall all the way before racing out into the hallway, throwing down the cover on the communication tube across from the door.
"By my name as Necromancer, heed my command - initiate emergency plan 'Corpse Hunt.'"
The power flickered out over their heads, and the low sound of the ship came to an abrupt halt. Luke followed Jade out into the hallway, Anise on his heels and Tear bringing the rear.
"That should keep them for a while," Jade said, folding his hands behind his back. "We'll have to open the doors manually, but I'm sure you kids can handle that." With that, the man walked off, Tear following him. Mieu hopped up to cling to Luke's pant leg, and Luke lifted the cheagle the rest of the way to his shoulder.
"Mieuuu," the cheagle whined quietly. "I hope there aren't really going to be corpses hunting us."
"It's just a shutdown command," Luke reassured him, with a slightly awkward scratch of the cheagle's ear. "I think he likes playing up the role."
Behind them, Anise giggled. "Yep, that's the colonel, all right."
Their weapons and the rest of their gear, thankfully, was in a chest not too far away. They also managed to loot a few gels from some of the supplies; might as well keep them out of the hands of the Oracle Knights, after all. Luke got pressured into moving crates around, though Anise did eventually take pity and help him, showing some surprising strength for someone her size.
They were now mostly hidden behind a group of those crates, all of them inspecting the "surprise" that Jade had half-promised would lead to their escape.
"Why," Luke hissed, "do you even have a stash of gunpowder explosives on board? I thought the Tartarus had exclusively fonic weapons." That was the standard for Malkuth vessels; it was Kimlasca that made extensive use of gunpowder cannons.
"The crate was smuggled on board by some of the soldiers," Jade clarified. "No doubt they were intending to sell it for a profit... Ah, but any investigation is pointless now. Mieu, if you would?"
"Yes, sir!" The cheagle jumped off Luke's shoulder and, without giving the rest of them time to dive for cover, shot a small fireball at the crate. The fire caught and burned for a moment on the wood before reaching the powder inside - Luke clapped his hands over his ears just in time to muffled the worst of the explosion, which blew out a part of the Tartarus' wall in addition to sending splintered bits of the crate everywhere.
"Ugh, you could have at least waited for us to take cover!" Anise exclaimed, stamping her foot and putting her hands on her hips to glare at Mieu, who predictably cowered before her for a moment before darting behind Luke's ankles with a squeak.
"Well, no harm done," Jade said, dusting his hands, as though he wasn't the one who had ultimately ordered Mieu to take the shot. Then again, trying to reprimand him was entirely useless anyway. The colonel stepped over a charred plank to examine the hole. "This should do well enough, though it will be a bit of a squeeze."
"Where does it let out?" Tear asked, staring down at the hole. "I wouldn't want to just fall out of the side of the ship after climbing through." Even with the ship parked, they were still fairly high off the ground. Luke thought he could probably jump the distance, .but he was less sure about the others, especially Tear in her heels.
"One of the gunning platforms should be right on the other side," Jade said. "Anise, you're the smallest - if you have trouble fitting through, I imagine the rest of us won't stand a chance."
"You just don't want to go first," the Fon Master Guardian grumbled, as she bent to her knees and crawled through the opening.
"Why did they take Ion off the ship anyway?" Anise whispered up from her position tucked against the doorframe below Luke, her puppet already in her hands. Luke shrugged and leaned over her, straining to see the group approaching. Ion was being flanked by a pair of Oracle Knights in helmets as the group approached the ship, and the figure leading the party hid as much or more of his face in a mask.
"Which one is that?" Luke muttered angrily, jerking his thumb at what could only be another God-General.
"Sync the Tempest," Tear answered, crouched below Jade on the other side of the doorway. The colonel, leaning above her with his spear already in hand, adjusted his glasses with a sigh.
"My, seems they're expecting us, if they're bringing out the big guns..."
Luke could only assume that meant Sync was far stronger than he looked; as it was, the God-General was skinny and barely taller than Ion (if at all) and looked mostly like a teenager trying his hardest to look threatening. He didn't say so, however, as one of the soldiers approached the ship to lower the emergency hatch. First the ramp, then the hatch would start to slide open from his and Anise's side.
As soon as it was open far enough, the two of them charged forward, Anise's doll leading the way and providing a shield as Luke followed. One sweep of the thing's arm threw one of the soldiers to the side - but then it encountered Sync, who punched into the doll with a burst of fonons. Luke, recognizing the danger, was only just able to roll out of the way as Anise and her doll were thrown back onto the ramp behind him.
Tear's hymn hung in the air as Jade leapt over the mess that was now Anise and her weapon, pursuing Sync with his spear as the God-General jumped back and tried to counter with a high kick. Luke took the opportunity to eliminate the soldier still recovering from the combination of Anise's blow and the hymn.
His blade took the second soldier in the gut while Jade and a remounted Anise pinned down Sync, the arms of the puppet restricting Sync's movements just enough to let Jade put a spear to his throat. Neither party moved a moment, until Sync tipped his head to the side, just enough away from the blade that Luke could see a tiny bit of his chin.
"Impressive." Sync's voice was boyish and snide, even if he was objectively paying them a compliment. "I should have known better than to count you out, Necromancer, even if Largo got a fon slot seal on you."
"You should have," Jade agreed in a cheerful tone. "Now, what are we to do with you? I can't exactly tell you to drop your weapons." Sync's hands were raised in a placating gesture, palms outward, but that didn't do much to convince anyone that his threat level was decreased. "Perhaps I ought to just cut them off - "
A bolt of fonic light came out of the sky, an arte cast from onboard the ship. Luke, assisting Tear down the steps with Ion coming from his wooded refuge to join them, found himself kicked to the side by a massive liger that bounded down the steps. Tear was thrown with him, and landed on top of him in a tangle of feet and hair. The liger stopped between the group and Ion, cutting off the Fon Master's return.
Sync, taking advantage of the confusion, thrust his raised palms forward and expelled a burst of fonons practically into Jade's chest. The signature red fonons and concussive force marked it as a modified version of the Raging Blast arte Luke had learned from Van, though with much more power behind it - it knocked Jade to the ground and gave Sync enough room to maneuver, and with a kick at Anise's head and a flip, he was in a defensive posture with his back to the liger.
The beast's rider slid down next to her fellow God-General - Arietta was even less impressive looking, a pink-haired, small girl with her face half-hidden by the stuffed doll she clutched to her chest. Sync barely looked at her as he spoke. "What's the status of the Tartarus?"
"It's still inoperable," Arietta replied, almost too softly for Luke to hear, muffled as it was by her doll. "I was only able to get this far because my friend tore open the wall."
"Hmph. I guess they're good for something." The liger growled a little, though whether it was at Sync's comment or at Luke starting to rise out of his fallen position was impossible to tell. Luke still opted to stop moving. "We'll put them in separate cells this time - "
Whatever Sync had been about to say was cut off by the figure diving off the back of the Tartarus and diving behind the liger, sprinting past its tail and the two startled God-Generals. Sync immediately attempted to take off in pursuit, but was promptly met by the cloth block of Anise's puppet. Almost as quickly, Jade snapped up from his position on the ground and thrust his spear at Arietta's throat. That, at least, stilled the liger as well as Sync.
Good timing, Guy, Luke thought as he got to his feet and took over pointing a blade at Arietta. She just stared at him over the sword, her doll lifted high enough to bump into it. It made her look more intensely childish than even Anise, though surely Arietta had to be several years the other girl's senior.
"Why don't you go back to the Tartarus," Jade said to the fuming Sync, in a tone that made it more than a suggestion. Sync looked between the group of them, clearly calculating his odds beneath his mask - but the calculation apparently didn't work out in his favor, because he turned and stalked off up the ramp. "You next," Jade said to Arietta. "Actually, have your monster go first."
Amazingly, Arietta's eyes went to Ion, who was on his feet again but still taking cover from the situation behind Guy. "Fon Master...I..."
"Please do as he says, Arietta," Ion said gently, and it was only at that point that she nodded. Arietta whistled quietly, the sound barely audible to Luke even standing right beside her, but it was apparently more than enough for her liger to hear. The creature's ears lifted towards her before it too marched up the ramp. Looking at it standing beside Sync, Luke thought that the liger was, in fact, the one he'd rather have to take on in a fight.
Arietta meekly followed as Jade went over to the ramp's control panel, no doubt to seal the hatch after the God-Generals and buy their group a little time to make their escape. Luke sighed and sheathed his blade, walking over to where Guy and Ion were standing.
"You certainly didn't waste time getting here," he said to his servant, feeling the most relaxed he had in days.
"You're not complaining, are you?" Guy answered back with a teasing grin. Luke shook his head.
"Under any other circumstances I'd demand to know how the hell you got here so fast in the first place, but I'll take what I can get."
"I take it you two know each other," Tear said, walking up behind them with Mieu gathered up in her arms. She must have retrieved the cheagle while the rest of them were watching the God-Generals go up the ramp. Anise - her doll back to its normal size and position - and Jade trailed after her.
"Ah, right." Guy rubbed at the back of his head, a gesture that usually meant he was nervous (or at least thought it was appropriate to act nervous). "I'm Guy - I'm a servant at Duke Fabre's manor, though I'm mostly Luke's unofficial manservant."
"If you came all the way here from Baticul, you certainly did make good time," Jade observed, moving to shake Guy's hand. "An example we could all stand to follow," the colonel continued, stepping back and leaving Ion room to take his place. "The Tartarus will easily outpace us once it's functional again, so we should make the best use of our head start."
It was probably by virtue of Jade's voice distracting him that Luke didn't realize what was happening until too late, as Tear approached Guy with her hand extended. "Wait, Tear..."
Guy stepped back. Tear stepped forward. Guy stepped back again, now with a look of slight alarm. Tear stepped towards him again, now looking a bit concerned, and at that point Luke stepped between them and folded his hand over Tear's. "Guy doesn't deal well with women," he explained in a low tone of voice that could be easily heard by the rest of the group.
"Oh, it can't be that bad," Anise said, her voice slightly sing-song, and she leapt at Guy's waist, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. Guy immediately shrieked, his knees wobbling as he tried to push her off while touching her as little as possible. Luke stepped over and grabbed Anise by the collar, dragging her off Guy and a few feet away. Guy remained frozen where he was, shaking violently.
"That looks more like a phobia," Jade observed, as Luke dropped Anise on the ground. "I trust it won't cause problems?"
"Just... Don't touch me..." Guy said, his voice wavering. Luke thought the colonel's comment was mostly directed at Anise, but he opted to keep that to himself. From the way she stuck her tongue out at Jade's back as they started to walk, it seemed that the message had been received; whether she intended to be obedient to it was a very different matter.
Luke would just have to keep an eye on her.
They ignored all signs of civilization to make time southward, and camped only once everyone save Jade was exhausted, in the bush far from the side of the road. Ion had fallen asleep long since, and was carried alternately by Luke, Guy, and Anise's puppet.
The next day was more of the same, but luckily the only person they encountered on the road was a passing merchant, who told them that the bridge to Akzeriuth in the south was out of commission. That settled their route, at least - along the road to the ford across the Fubras River, and from their south to the border crossing at Kaitzur.
No one was particularly happy about it, but none were so displeased as Anise, who complained virtually the entire crossing about what the water would do to her clothes, and her doll, and Ion's health, and her hair... Luke contented himself with rolling his eyes and asking Guy (who, it turned out, knew a surprising amount of geography) why people in Malkuth hated bridges.
The trip south was almost boringly peaceful, until they were about two hour's walk outside of Kaitzur. It was at that point that the Tartarus became visible, on the near side of the border crossing. Jade was bringing up the rear as the rest of them came to a stop in the tiny bit of cover there was on the plains, and the colonel made a small tsk of displeasure.
"I see they're getting no use out of our crossing permit, at least. Anise, I don't suppose you managed to grab the passports on your way out of the cabin?"
The girl's groan was all the answer any of them needed. Guy gave an awkward laugh. "So none of us have passports, then? That's going to make it hard to get across the border..."
Great. Luke turned his attention back towards the town, and the crossing in the center of it. So close to getting home - less than a week's journey - and yet he was up against the insurmountable obstacle of his own nation's security. Jade could probably talk them through the Malkuth half of the crossing, if it came down to that, but it was doubtful that there was anyone on the Kimlascan side who would recognize him.
"I'm surprised we haven't run into Dorian General Grants yet," Guy continued, being too careful to not look at Tear out of the corner of his eye. Luke had explained what he knew of the situation on the road, but Guy hadn't had any more ideas on why Tear was trying to kill her brother than he did. "He's got some passports for Luke and I, and we could probably bribe our way across if we could establish Luke's identity..."
"Bribes?" That was enough to make Anise lift her head again, her eyes sparkling.
"Political favors from my family, not money," Luke said, cutting off her fantasy, which prompted her to pout at him.
"Especially valuable for military officers looking to make a name for themselves, no doubt," Jade said, and Luke nodded.
"We may as well rest for a bit," Tear said, her gaze still on the Tartarus in the distance. "Passports or not, we won't be getting through the border while the God-Generals are there."
With sounds of agreement, most of the group took seats in a rough semicircle facing the town. Only Jade, who never seemed to get tired, and Mieu, who was short enough that sitting or standing didn't make a difference in how visible he was, remained on their feet. The cheagle wandered around between Luke and Ion, munching on grass and occasionally getting his ears scratched by the Fon Master.
"It won't be long now until you get home," Guy said to Luke, trying to cheer him "Try not to worry so much, okay?"
Luke didn't answer, instead laying out flat on his back to stare up at the sky. The seasons weren't much different here in southern Rugnica from those in Baticul, but even though it was still winter, the air was impressively dry compared to the humid city. No wonder there weren't nearly as many farms here; no doubt Kaitzur ran off wells, far from the river as it was. Thinking about it was a pleasant distraction from the ominous feelings in his chest, the constant worry that he wouldn't be able to get home again.
"It looks as though our friends are leaving," Jade said, which prompted Luke into sitting back up to watch the Tartarus start to rumble along towards the sea. "They'll have quite a time taking to the ocean from here, but I imagine they'll manage. They crossed the river, after all."
"As long as they're out of our way," Luke said as he stood up, dusting dirt off his clothes and pulling a piece of grass out of his hair.
"There's an inn on the Malkuth side of the border, isn't there?" Ion said as he stood, a little less steadily than the rest of them. Even with the rest, it was late afternoon, and surely he was tired by now. "Let's rest there for tonight, and worry about the crossing in the morning."
"An inn, with a real bed..." Anise said longingly. Her glazed-over eyes only lasted a moment, though, before she took off down the road. "Come on!" she said, turning to face the rest of them when they didn't immediately follow her. "I want a shower! Preferably before you people and your long hair take all the hot water."
"It's actually Guy you have to worry about," Luke commented, diverting Anise's gaze from himself and Tear towards the blond. (Honestly, Luke's hair was only barely longer than Jade's!) "He uses more hot water than most of the nobles I know."
"Luke! I thought you were on my side!" Guy squeaked, as Anise made a beeline for him again. The girl chased him around Ion for a circle or two before Tear stepped between them, giving Anise a disapproving look and Guy enough of a head start to use Luke as a more effective shield.
"Let's move along," Tear said sternly, and that, at least for now, made Anise give up on the matter and lead the way off down the road again. Luke gave Guy's shoulder a slight calming squeeze before following after her. Anise wasn't the only one eager to sleep in a real bed.