Chapter 44, Second crossing

Supinelu and two of his warriors went with them up to the edge of ringwyrm territory, since they were too heavy for chocobos to bear their weight they ran alongside easily keeping pace with the fast birds.

"Is this how you always travel?" Basch shouted at Supinelu. He had to stay close to Vaan as he didn't know how to control his chocobo yet and it still didn't seem too happy about letting him ride.

Supinelu laughed. "The gods gave us two feet, why do we need anything else?"

"The ability to run as fast as a chocobo, strong as a slaven, magickal prowess beyond hume dreams. No wonder the empire never stood a chance." Ashe called back to them.

"A chance I hope the Empire will not take again, for all our sakes." The chief said, more to himself than anyone else.

When they reached the edge of ringwyrm land the Garif took several bundles off their backs.

"When you reach Paramina I have no doubt you will need these." Supinelu said, handing a bundle to Ashe.

"What's this?" Vaan asked feeling the weight of the new luggage. "This weighs a ton, why do we need it."

"This will allow you to walk across Paramina without dying, even more so judging by your attire." The chief chuckled gesturing to Vaan's vest and thin trousers.

Ashe laughed, Basch laughed, Balthier sniggered and even Fran smiled. "What's so funny?" Vaan said indignantly.

"You'll see."

Vaan snorted and promptly dug his heels into his mount's side, the desired effect being to make the bird speed off leaving a small cloud of dust behind for dramatic effect. Instead the bird squawked loudly and threw him off its back into a large pile of dung it had just dropped.

"That might just save your life." Supinelu said cheerily as the group roared with laughter. "The serpents of the plains can't stand the smell of dung."

Fran sat silently as the convoy of chocobos glided across the grassy plains. This normally wouldn't have been noticed, but Balthier being so in tune with her could tell something was bothering her.

"Golmore?" He said quietly, pulling up beside her.

She nodded grimly. "Even being near those trees sets my ears quivering."

"You heard it yourself, we are to go around the jungle and you need never even clap eyes on those miserable trees again."

Balthier liked being right, in fact he liked being right so much that he went to the most extraordinary lengths just to be right. Of course there are some things you can't prepare for no matter what extreme you are willing to crawl through.

As the company made their way east there appeared an alarming black mass on the horizon to the north.

"Probably a storm." Balthier said cheerily. "The winds blowing to the north, it will give us a show then probably move on."

But the storm didn't move on, and after two more days of it moving fast towards the mountains against the wind it was decided that it was not a storm.

"Airships." Muttered Basch. "Not many, two I'd say at the most but they're huge" He passed the spyglass to Balthier. "You have some experience in Archadia, do you recognise any of those ships?"

The pirate gingerly put his eye to the glass then shook his head. "Not from this distance, but their very big. Dreadnaught class maybe bigger." He pocketed the glass, his brow furrowed. "The problem is that they now stand right in our path to Bur Omisace."

"We can't risk capture." Ashe muttered.

"We wait." Fran said rather assertively. "They're moving are they not? They will soon move away leaving our road clear."

Basch shook his head. "I'm afraid not. This war could start tomorrow, it could start a few months from now but it's not far off. If there is a chance we could stop it, we need to make haste."

"We need to go through Golmore." Ashe said plainly. "It was the quickest way anyway."

"Wait!" Fran snapped. "We could go along the coast to the north, that would be quicker surely."

"We need a boat to do that, where are we going to get a boat?" Vaan scoffed.

"My decision is final." Ashe said importantly. "We go through Golmore."

Fran pulled sharply on the reigns of her chocobo, it shrieked in protest and reluctantly came to a stop. "I apologise princess, this is where I leave you."

Ashe raised an eyebrow. "Why Fran, surely you don't have anything against Golmore jungle. I thought you'd be happy..."

"I do not have to explain myself." She snapped. "I will be going now." She kicked her chocobo forward. She cantered for about a hundred metres before stopping abruptly and trotting back to the group. "Balthier?" She said uncertainly. "Are you not coming?"

"I'm sorry my dear." He shrugged. "I was more than willing to humour your need if there were another way. However the only way now is through Golmore, and I'm curious as to how the story ends." Fran looked speechless. "If you are going then I'm afraid your going alo..."

Fran's hand lashed out and struck the pirate across the face. Her face remained unchanged but she had not bothered to retract her claws. Balthier dabbed at the blood on his face and grinned broadly. "Farewell." She said simply and pulled her mount around.

"For what it's worth." Balthier called after her. "It was fun, you were very nice to look at."

Perhaps someone might have said they saw her body stiffen, but she did not turn around.

They camped at the edge of Golmore. That little splodge of green on the map looked a lot less threatening than the towering dark mass in front of them, the pathway they were supposed to follow looked like the entrance to a cave.

"Maybe Fran was right." Vaan grumbled. "I mean it practically screams death."

Basch turned his stew around on his spoon. "It was a shame to loose her." He said suddenly. "She knows these trees better than anyone."

"why did she react so badly anyway?" Ashe said haughtily. "It's just a jungle."

"She has her reasons."

Ashe jumped. Not due to surprise, but disbelief that such a dark tone could come from Balthier's mouth. "You mean you know why she won't go in?"

He nodded. "Oh yes, and she will go in."

Larsa looked puzzled. "But you said you were going with us?"

"Oh you wait and see, it's not me that's attached to her." He grinned. "It's her that's attached to me."

"Confidence." Ashe fumed.

"I promise you princess she will be back here by dawn tomorrow."

"Why is it people are so scared of Golmore?" Penelo piped up.

"There are Viera in those trees." Basch said quietly.

"Viera aren't so bad, a little conceited sometimes..."

"No, Fran is not so bad. Wild Viera are not like her or any of her kind you've seen in Rabanastre. The wild Viera that live in there are not to be trifled with."

"Yeah Penelo." Vaan grinned. "Didn't you know that if you don't do your chores the Viera will take you away."

"Oh stop it." She snapped. "That's just a story Migelo used to scare you with." Though she held her knees a little closer.

"They'll sneak into your bedroom." Vaan cackled slyly. "Place a single finger to your lips to put you into a deep sleep then carry you off to their forests and eat you."

Ashe, bored with his performance threw her now empty bowl at his head. "Are you so sure she will return?" She asked Balthier, ignoring the cries of pain from Vaan's direction.

"You wait and see princess." He murmured, staring into the heart of the fire.

Fran's solitary figure stood beside the entrance the following morning, nobody said a word to her as they approached. Balthier strode up to her.

"Ready?"

She nodded, and together they led the way into the trees.

Another hard chapter, not sure why really. Never mind, I'm already writing the next one so expect it within a few days.