Author's note: I don't own Dragon Quest IV

Battle For Glory

Chapter 3: A New Ally

The trip back to the entrance was easy as the floor didn't fall out from under them since they had the symbol of faith. Upon arrival, Maya and Richard were waiting with smiles on their faces. "You got it!" She cried joyfully as Richard gave a smile of pride.

Alistair nodded as they tried to not let the tests of faith get to them. They believed in their friends and Meena believed in her sister. Departing, they ran back to the inn to rest for the night. Once the night had passed and morning came, Airlia could only think about the mysterious dream. It had happened again. The mysterious voice also came to mind about her past. What did it mean?

She went outside to stretch and work on her movements with her staff. It had felt so natural to her, like she could always do it, but yet she had never held any training with it as her dress moved with her. Her heart was also confused because of the alluring Alistair and how handsome he was in so many ways. He always took what she said seriously, and never with any judgement. A few minutes later she was joined by Richard who was up early to practice his swordsmanship. "Good morning Airlia. Sleep well?"

She nodded, "As well as I can until we find the nice merchant whose wife is depending on us. But I had a vision… he's not far from here… and he's alive."

"That's great, how far do we have to go to find him?" Alistair's voice came out into the clearing.

"Alistair! Well we're about a day and a half's trip from there. We have to go straight south past Bath and onto Porthtrunnel. To the east is a lighthouse whose black flame sinks any ship nearby. Torneko Taloon is trying to revive the holy flame so that he can continue his travels." Airlia smiled widely as he nodded. Soon he wouldn't feel so odd about wearing this equipment if he could help that kind shopkeeper.

They went to the attachment on the inn to find a young man with curly blond hair and bright blue eyes looking angrily at a picture. "Damn you Damon! Damn you Melvin! You lied and abandoned me!"

Airlia knocked on the frame gently, "Hello? Mister Hoffman Junior?" She called out as he slammed it down and looked at her.

"What do you want?" He snapped. He wore a purple and white bandana over his head, a yellow half cloak over a purple and yellow overtunic. His pants and under tunic were both white. His black and brown leather boots were the finishing grace to his outfit.

Alistair stepped forward, "I was hoping we could borrow your horse and cart to cross the desert…"

The man snorted. "No one merely borrows, so the answer is no!"

Airlia reached into the bag and pulled out the symbol of faith. He blinked, "What?! You have that symbol of faith?!"

Alistair smiled as he relayed their tale – not what the spirits had said, but the general effect of what it was testing. The man sank into his chair when the story was finished. "So they weren't lying. Damn it! Well I'll tell you what, if I can accompany you for a while, then I will let you use Mary Lou for as long as you need. Is that okay?"

The green haired man's eyes widened as his smile spread over his face. "Absolutely! Thank you so much Hank! I'm glad to have you with us!"

The men shook hands before everyone gathered their belongings. Hank smiled as he nodded, "The name's Hank. And we're going to need waterskins for everyone before crossing the desert. It's a lot hotter than it seems." He went off to a side room before returning with extra waterskins for everyone. "We can fill them at the well here. There's also a barrel in the wagon for Mary Lou to be able to drink from, so we'll have to fill that too."

Richard nodded in agreement, "I'm glad we have more people joining us. Meena, how many did you foresee joining us…"

Meena frowned, "Originally seven… but it's changed… It changed when you all survived what would have been your death, most certainly. Now, though… it's changed… there are two that are dimmer and they could become stronger or extinguish entirely."

Airlia frowned knowing who those two were. "I promise, they will become stronger Meena." The purple haired seer looked up at Airlia, wondering what she meant, or how she could know who they were.

Once the men had filled the barrel, and the group filled all of their waterskins, they were prepared to trek across the desert. The moment they went past the mountains, the head immediately sank into them as Meena tried to summon her wind spell normally used to attack monsters to try and bring them a cooling breeze. Yet even the monsters themselves seemed to avoid the heat of the desert as he led them east and south to the break in the mountains. "From here, it's a short walk to Bath. We should stay the night to rehydrate. The desert, even with Meena's magic, was still broiling." Hank said as everyone nodded. Most of all, Airlia was feeling the heat as she gripped at the edge of the wagon.

"Airlia?" Richard asked as she shook her head.

"I'm… I'm unwell, but I should… make it…" she collapsed as he reached out to grab her.

Alistair paled when he saw her face, so white and sickly. "Oh Airlia… Why didn't you tell me?"

They ran and found the village right where Hank said it would be. Hurrying inside, he recognized an old friend. "Bill! Bill we need your help! Airlia's not well!" Hank said as the sturdy man took in the woman's appearance.

"Quickly, this way to my inn. She can rest there." The man said as they rushed her to a bed.

Meena put a hand over her forehead, "Desert Fever. I need cold water, a cloth and an antidote to cure her. Hurry."

The healer was barely aware of Alistair running to find the required items. A few short minutes later, he returned as Meena infused the antidote into the bucket before dipping the cloth into it to soak then wring out the excess. Placing it on her forehead, she whispered. "Now we wait…"

Alistair and Richard began to practice with their weapons in the corner for a bit while Hank spoke with Bill at length, convincing him to let them stay for free. After a few hours, Airlia groaned. "Where… where am I?" A wooden wall came into view on her left, and Meena's worried visage came into view on her right. "Meena? What happened?"

The healer frowned, "You had desert fever. You're lucky to be alive right now because we caught it in time. Next time you feel weak, please, let us know."

Airlia nodded weakly as she whispered, "I'm so tired… I'm gonna sleep a little more Meena."

The seer nodded as Airlia fell back asleep for the remainder of the night, but no longer in danger. Once she awoke in the morning, she saw the others were already eating breakfast as she got up to join them. Alistair's eyes were bright as he saw Airlia coming over, her skin tone much better than it was before. "Thank the Master Dragon that you're okay!"

She nodded, "I'm so sorry for worrying everyone. It just hit me so hard and fast… I didn't even know what happened…"

The others accepted the apology while Alistair merely smiled, "I'm just glad you're okay. We should eat though and continue on the journey. So far we've been lucky to not encounter monsters, but I have a bad feeling that our luck is going to run out soon though."

Airlia nodded, thinking about the lighthouse. "We should be prepared for anything. Shall we go then?"

Richard nodded, "Yes, we should go. But are you sure you're okay to travel Airlia? If we go too soon, you could fall ill again."

Airlia nodded. "Yes, I feel fine Richard, thank you for your concern though."

After eating, they readied themselves to go on the next trek. Hank spoke, "About half a day's walk to the south is the town of Porthtrunnel. Another half day's walk to the lighthouse if we're to be believed that there are no ships able to sail because of the black light at the lighthouse."

They left the inn and quickly took Mary Lou south towards the large shipping port. However, as they arrived, they found that indeed the port was lacking in the usual bustling activity. They went to a few merchants near the port. An older woman sighed heavily. "A merchant found out that ships can't sail after finally buying a ship so he went to the lighthouse to remove the black flame… but he has yet to return and it's been bordering on a month now."

Airlia sighed heavily. "Torneko Taloon… We need to go now. I'm getting a bad feeling for him. He's in terrible danger."

Alistair nodded as they bought a few of the supplies with their last gold pieces. They would have to do something to get more money soon. But first, they had to solve the problem with poor Torneko.

Leaving town, they took the half day's hike to the lighthouse. Upon arrival, Airlia saw the lighthouse, Pharos Beacon, wasn't nearly as big as it seemed in her game. She had figured much of it was due to designers trying to make things overly complex for no reason. They went inside to find it was murky and dark, but a groan told them someone was nearby. Richard found a torch nearby that he could grab to help light the way. Hurrying towards the groan, they found a heavy set, blue haired merchant laying in the shadows, bleeding and badly injured.

Meena frowned as she saw his broken leg. "I can use my magic to heal him, but that leg needs to be set. Alistair can you set the bone?"

He nodded as he put a stick for the man to bite down on. "Bite hard, this is going to hurt." Alistair advised as the man nodded. Once the bone was set, Meena began her healing magic to fully restore his health and wounds. Sighing, she sat down in exhaustion.

Torneko smiled, "Thanks lads and lassies. The name's Torneko Taloon."

Airlia nodded, "Your wife, Tessie, asked us to come and find you. She's been so worried."

He smiled, despite his bushy blue moustache. "I've missed her too. But I was so badly hurt… I could have died had it not been for ye."

Meena smiled as she spoke, "Not a worry now let's deal with your lighthouse problem, then we can go and visit your wife so she knows you're safe and sound."

His smile was bright as his eyes shined with tears. "Please, that would be amazin' of ye."

The group eagerly welcomed in the new ally before heading up the stairs as he grabbed one of the torches from the wall. "These were from the embers that made the last holy light. It should do well enough to restore the light."

They made their way to the top, which wasn't the complexity of before, but rather the stairs went around the circular lighthouse the way it had in her world. When they reached the top, Airlia froze. She saw two blue skinned demons with flaming red hair and white togas. She also saw a red and black striped tiger with a humanoid face standing before the black flame. She pulled out her pole as Meena took out her tarot cards and Alistair armed himself with his falcon sword. She watched as Richard was about to get into the battle. "No! You must protect Taloon. We will not fail, but that flame must not be extinguished! Maya, you can provide support from behind!"

They approached the group of travelers. "So you seek to extinguish the dark flame. Well we will not let that happen! Time to die miserable humans!"

Airlia jabbed quickly, winding one of the blue skinned demons while Alistair pierced it's heart with his blade, ending it's existence before quickly retracting it and slicing at the tiger demon. Meena pulled out a tarot card, "The Tower." She held it up as lightning came down and struck the two monsters, immediately extinguishing their lives. Airlia sighed with relief as Taloon went up and threw the torch into the black flame, immediately overtaking it and turning it into the bright holy flame once more.