Chapter 24 Recovery and Rescue
Vaan picked his way about the battered group, nowhere seemed to be very hopeful. Basch was undergoing serious magickal surgery from Fran who was still smouldering. Ashe was rather clumsily applying bandages to all the wrong places on Balthier while he and Penelo had no such knowledge and couldn't help at all.
"Hey Penelo." He said finally. "We really suck." Penelo didn't turn to face him.
"It's not like we could have done anything." She replied. "That thing took down all of us." Vaan shrugged off the comfort.
"Yeah, and we didn't help them." Penelo looked at her feet.
"So what do we do?" Vaan leaped to his feet.
"What do we do?" He spat angrily. "We get stronger is what we do. I'm tired of being the weak one in this group, even you've got magicks."
"And a lot of good it did me!" Penelo shouted back. "I'm not exactly good at it yet." Vaan let his tense shoulders drop.
"So," He said to the whole room. "What was that?" For a minute no-one answered, then a charred Fran said softly.
"It was a nu'mou." Vaan plopped down next to her as she tried to reassemble Basch's ribcage.
"And what's that then?" He asked. Fran sighed as the last bone slotted into place.
"They were the servants of the Gods." She began wearily. "They were without doubt the most powerfull force by birth in the world, so powerfull they grew too arrogant and tried to rise up against their masters." Penelo came over to join them.
"So they were like spirits?" She asked curiously. "I heard stories of thousands of them gathering in a single place." Fran shook her head.
"No, these were more powerful than any spirit and there were only twelve of them. In any case the Gods defeated them and cursed them for all eternity." The two orphans held their breath, as they used to during Dalan's tales. "They were forced to remain the same for all eternity, to wander the mist until time's end." Vaan breathed.
"Wow," He said. "No wonder we were beaten." Balthier choked on his own blood in an attempted laugh.
"Oh lovely." He wheezed. "Now we know what almost killed us." Ashe gave up treating Balthier and looked at the floor.
"You don't need to tell me." She said quietly. "I know exactly what it was." Everyone looked at her in shock, even Fran was surprised at this news. The princess took a breath, then tried to explain. "I remember hearing a story when I was a child, of a great spiritual being, an esper. His name was Belias the Gigas." Everyone in the room breathed, even the name it seemed held power. "One day he was walking through the world when a man crossed his path, He told the man to move aside saying that he was the greater being and should be obeyed by mortal men. The man refused and soundly struck down Belias with a single swing of his mighty sword. As the creature lay in the dust the man stepped aside, he told Belias that although he was greater than the esper he allowed him to pass out of respect. He said that this was true greatness." Basch nodded weakly.
"So this esper turned to serve the man." He growled through the pain in his chest. "Who was this man?" Ashe looked the knight in the eye and said.
"Raithwall of Galtea." Understanding flooded through everyone in the room.
"So it was protecting the tomb," Vaan thought aloud. "It wasn't just here by chance." Ashe nodded.
"The question is," Balthier said, sliding his broken body up against the wall. "What exactly did you do to stop him?" Ashe froze, she hadn't thought of that. She had been so tied up with the groups injuries she never stopped to wonder why the esper had decided to simply halt it's attack. Fran looked thoughtful.
"I have several theories." She said at last, "Here are the most likely. One, the esper fell in love with you at first sight and felt the need to stop." Ashe choked on the bandage she was unwrapping with her teeth.
"What!" She blurted, "Is that really likely?" Fran nodded.
"You would not believe the the amount of stories about love between esper and hume." Ashe blushed furiously, Fran shook her head. "Anyway." She continued. "Two, the esper admired your bravery in facing it without fleeing." Balthier snorted.
"You'd think he'd have more respect for those who fought him then." Fran ignored him.
"And three." She finished. "The esper recognised you as a descendent of Raithwall and decided to serve you instead." Ashe nodded.
"That is most likely," She said. "But that would mean he would need to be here to serve me." Fran threw something to her, she clumsily caught it and examined it. It was a beautiful gemstone about the size of a coin. However what caught Ashe's attention was the gold wiring around the ruby bent into the image of what was unmistakably the creature they just faced. Ashe looked up at Fran puzzled, the vierra shrugged.
"I myself do not know it's purpose, but it wasn't there until the esper dissapeared." Ashe eyed the rock carefully, perhaps it would be best to keep it around, at least for now. Suddenly the quiet of the room was interrupted as puffing and panting, Vossler staggered through the hole in the wall. Basch shook his head.
"You never did have any sense of direction." He chuckled.
Slowly the party limped past the iron gate, Beyond this gate was a long set of stairs which led them up to what appeared to be an alter, most of them were daring to hope this could be the end. Ashe was the first to approach, striding up the stairs with confidence and poise. Being one of the few that wasn't injured in the last challenge she was feeling desperate to leave this cavern before she joined the ranks of limping comrades.
"I couldn't help but notice." Balthier drawled as he was helped along by Fran. "But I don't see the dynast king's treasure." Ashe glared at him.
"I would imagine that the esper was the dynast king's treasure." She hissed. "Apparently this esper now serves me and only me, that is a power and wealth beyond all measure." Balthier scoffed.
"Call me old fasioned but I was hoping for the kind of wealth one could measure." Ashe ignored him, clutching tight to the gemstone in her hand. She didn' know what to do with it but she would hang onto it. Suddenly the whole group halted as they entered another large chamber, again torches burned in their brackets and there were great carvings lining the walls again. But that was not the focus of the party. All their attention was on the alter in the center of the room, perched on top of it was a rock about the size of a tangerine. Unlike the dusk shard it was completely spherical, it bore markings along it's surface, and it glowed white with the pale light of dawn. There could be no mistake, this was the dawn shard. For an instant the entire group was mesmerised by the sight of it, then Vossler gently placed a hand on Ashe's shoulder.
"Your highness." He said as she jumped at the sudden contact. "We must go." She nodded and approached the stone daius. She got within a few yards of it, then stopped dead in her tracks. She stood there in shock, unable to believe what she was seeing and yet there it was, floating in the air in front of her was the translucent yet recognisable form of lord Rassler Heios Nabradia. He stood quite still, looking at her. He seemed to be made of light from the dawn shard, this however did nothing to ease Ashe's mood. A tear slowly forged it's path down her cheek as she shook her head slowly.
"No." She said softly. "It's not possible." Rassler smiled at the princess and walked slowly past her, Ashe quickly reached out to touch his arm but could find no purchase on his ghostly skin. She could only watch as he strode through her group, none of which seemed to be able to see him. She swallowed her feelings and briefly glanced down at her wedding ring.
"You will be avenged." she whispered fiercely.
As the group walked hobbled and limped out of the tomb spirits were low. True they had accomplished their mission but with enough supplies for maybe half a day and most of the party injured, things were looking bleak. Vossler had made plans to stay in the oasis near the sandsea but even that was a risk. All their medical supplies were gone and Basch feeling fighting fit again wasn't at all helping their situation.
"Well." Said Vaan. "At least things can't get worse." And then the Ifrit soared overhead. Everyone glared at Vaan.
"Well said Vaan." Said Balthier in mock happiness. "How the hell can imperial warships fly through jagd?" The ship's only answer was to drop several fighter skiffs which descended quickly to their location, and landing dead in front of them. The entire group cringed as soldiers emerged from their ranks.
"Orders princess?" Vossler said hopefully, but the girl seemed as clueless as the rest of them. Army in front, tomb behind. Balthier put up his hands.
"And that my friends, is the curtain call."
I'm back!!!!! Had a lot of stuff to do with life and such but I have returned and like I said I will never give up on this until it is finished. Please believe me.