The first thing they did at Mount Bur-Omisace was eat and get some rest. There were makeshift shelters rigged up everywhere, and fires to warm the weary travellers. The people there were refugees from Nabudis, mostly, and the shock of their loss was just starting to give way to relief and cautious optimism. The exception was the vierra selling weapons who seemed to consider the fall of a country a minor inconvenience, and this just a stop on the road to the next place she would make a home in. A couple of human merchants were selling items, as well as magicks and tecnicks, and they stopped there to stock up on potions while Al-Cid deliberated on whether to get fira or watera. He and Ashe both bought basic white magic spells.
The Nu Mou were quite willing to grant them an audience with the Gran Kiltias Anastasis. They walked into the chamber where he sat, eyes closed, with the weathered dignity of an old oak tree. Ashe bowed before him.
'I, Ashelia B'nurgin Dalmasca, request your help. At present we stand helpless before Archadia's weapons, but I have heard tell of a sword that can destroy nethecite. A sword which would be mine by right of inheritance. I beg you, tell me where this power lies.'
'You are young child.' The voice seemed to come from all around them. 'Yet the dream of your country's future lies with you. The Sword of Kings indeed was left with us, why King Raithwall did not leave it with his own line I know not. It was the source of his power.'
'The source? I thought only to destroy the Empire's nethecite. Does it have some power of its own?' asked Ashe.
'Interesting as this is, the important point is to know where to look for this sword. Afterwards we can see about abilities which would come only as a bonus to our original purpose,' said Al-Cid.
Ashe looked at him sharply, but when he only shrugged she nodded and looked away.
'It is true,' she said. 'Can you tell us where the Sword of Kings was left?'
'It was left with us and we have kept it safe, I wonder what it would accomplish back in the hands of man. I have dreamt your dream, and I would know what you seek to achieve.'
'I seek only to defend my country. I am responsible for those living under my rule,' said Ashe.
'You do not seek power?' asked the Gran Kiltias.
'Only the power to protect.'
The Gran Kiltias opened his eyes. They were black and beady and when he spoke with his own voice he revealed very sharp teeth.
'Then your bloodright will be yours. Go south-west from here to the Stillshrine of Miriam. There King Raithwall left his treaty blade. But beware, while you dream of your country others are dreaming of you and of the legacy they will that you would leave behind.'
'I thank you, for your help and advice. Farewell,' said Ashe.
'Farewell, child, until your dream comes to an end.' The voice was resonant again, the Gran Kiltias falling once more into his waking dream.
They left quietly, and outside the acolytes gave them more specific instructions.
'So we have to walk all the way down to the paramina rift again,' said Noah as they set out. 'We must have been closer to it on the way here.'
'Patience, my friend,' said Al-Cid. 'We may progress slowly, but we do not stand still.'
'And what might that mean?' asked Noah, irritably. He was not the Rozarrian's friend.
'It means we still have hope, that most precious and nebulous of things, and that we may yet have success,' said Al-Cid.
'We might progress faster if we spent less time talking,' said Vossler, walking past them.
Noah shrugged and followed.
#
As they walked further down the mountain Noah kept an extremely wary eye out for the storm elemental, but there was no sign of it. They found the entrance to the Stillshrine with little difficulty, the wolf attacks on the way down were dealt with more easily now that they had magicks on their side. Although Al-Cid was, in Noah's opinion, rather too smug about casting fire, and trust him to choose the flashiest spell available.
The outside of the Stillshrine was a beautiful place, with clear water reflecting the marble around it. Once past the entrance the stillshrine dropped any pretence of being pleasant, it was cold and dank and it smelled of rot. Ashe shuddered, for someone raised in Rabanastre this place must look even worse. Cold, lifeless and leached of colour. She took a deep breath and raised her chin, then walked in ahead of them with measured steps.
The place was cavernous, anything could be lurking in the shadows and it seemed to shut out even thoughts of the sun. It was enough to make one feel both closed in and perilously exposed. A movement seen out of the corner of his eye made Noah jump and swing his sword, only to find he had impaled a redmaw. He pushed it off the blade with his boot and it fell to the floor, wings still fluttering in the spasms of death.
'These aren't such terrible foes,' said Noah. There was no echo, his voice was swallowed by the darkness.
'I doubt they are the worst this place has to offer,' said Vossler. He had pulled his sword out also, and as they moved on he and Noah batted redmaws aside, stunning or slicing them. The others followed, not speaking for fear of what might hear.
Deeper in they found a crystal, a waystone and a small shrine. Ashe bent over and her lips moved as she read the shrine's inscription.
'It says I need my birthright,' she whispered. 'The Dusk Shard.'
She stood there, shoulders slumped and sword tip touching the ground. After all this way they must turn around and go back to the palace. She looked defeated.
'Suppose we try without?' said Vossler. 'Your birthright could be your position as princess, and that you always have.'
Ashe looked up and nodded, although she still looked doubtful. Al-Cid opened his mouth to object, but too late, she reached forwards and touched the shrine. There was a faint noise like tearing cloth, and Noah felt a blade pierce his arm. He shouted and swung at his foe as he turned, only to find himself staring into the half rotted face of a corpse. He backed away, blocking against it more than attacking, only to see it consumed with fire in front of his eyes. It lunged towards him, its extremities already crumbling, and he managed to finish it with a blow to the chest.
Noah looked up and saw Al-Cid watching him. Ashe, across the room, was fighting her foe with considerable more resolution than he had managed. Vossler dispatched his in that moment and went to help Ashe. Noah joined him, ashamed of being the only one afraid of these things as more than other fiends.
Afterwards Ashe wiped her sword on a pillar and said, 'There are too many of the undead here, I would sooner fight a saurian.'
'I too,' said Noah relieved that he was not, after all, the only one.
'If you had given me time to speak,' said Al-Cid. 'I could have told you that we have no problem. Your birthright is, indeed, here with you.'
He reached into his pouch and drew out a stone that glowed brightly enough to send the shadows skittering away from them.
'I should hope you have a very good reason for having that,' said Ashe.
'You raided our treasury,' said Noah, feeling ready to hit the smug Rozarian. 'And after our princess trusted you!'
'In fact I raided the treasury before your princess trusted me. I had not yet been accepted as your companion then, although if I had not been I would have returned it,' said Al-Cid.
'I'm more interested in how he raided it,' said Vossler. 'All our guests were watched.'
'How untrusting, but what can I say? Sometimes my little birds are magpies,' said Al-Cid.
'Nonetheless, you stole from our kingdom as an ambassador of your own. How can we trust an alliance with such a thieving nation?' demanded Noah.
'We must, because we cannot do without them,' said Ashe. She held out her hand and Al-Cid planted the stone in it with a bow. 'I shall treat it as a loan, since the Dusk Shard is returned to me.'
She touched the shrine again. This time there was a flash of light and they found themselves in a hall.
'Where now?' asked Vossler.
'I do not know,' said Ashe. 'But we can only go forwards.'
That turned out to be a misstatement. They could also go around in circles while being attacked by statues, zombies, skeletons, huge bird things and a gods-cursed healing crystal. Only to have to retrace their footsteps and go around in circles in the other direction. Noah had never loathed anywhere quite as much as he loathed the Stillshrine. And then, because of some bizarre riddle game involving statues, they had had to fight an enemy that their swords kept sticking to. This place had to have been designed by someone both sadistic and bored. Fortunately after the last statue had been moved they seemed near the end of the Stillshrine, surely there could be no more terrible monsters than they had already faced. An unearthly screech, like a mortally wounded cockatrice at the bottom of a well, told him he was wrong.
The creature looked like a preying mantis, until he looked closer and saw the woman's form among the purple limbs. It screeched again, and the white balls of light around it drew closer. Noah drew his sword. The sizzle of lightening took him by surprise, more so when he realised it was not aimed at him. He shot a look at Al-Cid, who grinned.
'I like to have something unexpected up my sleeve,' he said. Another flash hit the light, Noah shrugged and went for one himself.
The balls of light seemed to come from all directions and swords were little use, they needed more magic. Why had the Gran Kiltias not warned them of this? Had he meant to send them to their deaths? Noah fought them away from Al-Cid while he chugged another elixir, he looked exhausted and was pale under his tan. The insect creature shrieked again, and Noah felt ice pierce him. The warmth of Al-Cid's healing magic soon followed.
'Use potions,' grunted Noah, chopping at a light. 'You have no magic to waste.'
'We must run,' said Al-CId urgently, even as he continued fighting.. 'We are attempting the impossible.'
'For Dalmasca,' said Noah. He slammed his sword against the ball of light and was surprised when it fell.
Vossler was standing over Ashe's prone body fighting the last of the light balls. Noah went to help them but Vossler gestured towards the insect creature. Noah nodded. He paused to gather himself and charged. He got in a few blow before its magic hit him and he fell to his knees, but he used his sword to force himself up again. Dropping this thing was going to take a miracle. Vossler charged past him, hitting it now as well, and lightning flashed again, but it was not enough. They had failed.
Light flooded the chamber, bright as sunlight but blindingly white. Noah turned, nearly blinded, and saw Ashe floating in the air, tiny stars twirling around her. She spread her arm and the starlight plunged past Noah and into the heart of the beast. It pulsed and faded only to grow again and again hit, the beast was screaming now. A third time the starlight grew blinding and struck and then Ashe fell to the ground.
'Lady Ashe!' Noah ran to her, and she smiled up at him weakly.
'Al-Cid is not the only one who likes to have something up his sleeve,' she gasped.
'You are a marvel,' he told her, pulling her to her feet and nearly falling himself as he did.
Ashe looked grimly at the battle the other two were still joined in. 'We must fight on,' she said. Noah nodded.
Al-Cid threw two potions to them when they were closer and they quickly healed their deeper wounds before rejoining the fight. They had no more elixirs now, and Al-Cid was fighting with his long daggers instead of casting. Noah slammed his sword into a limb, too exhausted for any greater skill, Vossler was in closer stabbing at vulnerable areas.
Suddenly the room filled with water, Noah tried to hold his breathe but found he couldn't feel his own body. There were swords dancing around the creature, he saw through his panicked attempt at struggle, her limbs waving them into place. The swords drew into one and it flew upwards, becoming a mountain as it broke the surface, and the mountain shattered. Icy pain and disorientation swept Noah, he knelt on the floor trying not to throw up.
When he looked up it was to see phoenix down flaring in the air over Ashe. The creature was gone and there was a pattern of light, looking like some otherworldly parchment, floating in the air.
'What was that?' he asked.
'An esper,' said Ashe. 'That, too, must have been Raithwall's power.'
She reached out and took the parchment, holding it against her body. Both light and shape faded into her. Noah felt uneasy about a contract with such a creature, but it was Ashe's right and would gain them a powerful ally. Ashe walked to the door at the other end of the room and through, the others following. Noah felt that one more fight would finish them, but there seemed to be no monsters here.
Ashe stepped up to what might be another door, decorated with circles in glowing green light. She held the Dusk Shard out before her, her hand shaking only slightly. The cogs of the door began to turn. Noah waited for it to open, but it did not, instead a sword formed in its centre. It slowly descended and Ashe put her hand around it like a child catching a falling feather. The weight tore it from her grasp and she had to bend down to grasp the hilt again.
'What good is a sword our princess cannot lift?' asked Vossler.
Ashe stood up, slowly, but the blade was fully lifted in front of her. She turned to face them, still holding it high. Noah was reminded of Rasler, standing by the airships ready to lead them into battle.
'With this sword we can destroy the Empire's power,' she said. 'With it I can stand as a shield before Dalmasca.'
No one else said anything, but Noah knew Vossler was thinking the same as him. If Ashe must stand as a shield before Dalmasca, they must stand as a shield before her.