'Where to, princess?' asked Judge Bunansa.
'King Raithwall's tomb,' Ashe answered firmly.
'May I ask why?' said Al-Cid.
'Dr Cid was right, we need stones of our own. And yet I am loth to follow the advice of a madman, so we go where there is already a stone I might lay claim to,' she said.
Al-Cid stood up and walked around to stand in front of her. 'And yet you are still following his advice. I came to destroy nethecite, not to gain more.'
'I mean to reclaim a portion of my birthright to replace that which was lost. As the one who brought it without my knowledge you bear some responsibility for that loss,' said Ashe.
'That's hardly fair, you could not have entered the stillshrine without it,' said Al-Cid.
'So, we're going after nethecite,' said Judge Bunansa. 'I've gathered why, but do you really believe it will help?'
'I owe it to my people to have the means to defend them,' said Ashe. 'You will be rewarded for your aid in this.'
Judge Bunansa and Ashe looked at one another for a moment, and Judge Bunansa was the one to look away.
'I'd sooner have treasure than nethecite,' he said.
'There is treasure in King Raithwall's tomb. You may have that,' said Ashe.
'A worthy begining to my career as a sky pirate,' said Judge Bunansa thoughtfully. 'I suggest we make a stop for food antd items, but otherwise full speed ahead.'
'And I have no desire to be a part of this. When you stop for items you can set me down,' said Al-Cid.
Ashe surprised them all by taking his hand. 'You have been through our side in so much,' she said. 'And I am sorry that we have angered you. I shall be sad to lose you.'
Al-Cid bowed before her. 'Dalmasca's finest flower is not the one who has angered me. But I cannot agree with your desicion, nor fight at your side for a thing I believe should not be found. So I must take my leave, and be sad to lose you as well.'
'Village coming up,' said Judge Bunansa. 'Brace yourselves.'
The landing was rough, and Noah felt he had acquired enough bruises already without another set. Judge Bunansa had clearly not been joking about the suspension, even if the airship flew at least as well as any Noah had been on while it was up. Al-Cid bowed to Ashe once again and strode off purposefully, possibly looking for a teleport crystal. They ate and Ashe went shopping for items while the rest of them looked at weapons. Judge Bunansa picked up a gun.
'They're no good, a decent crossbow shoots better,' said Noah.
'But I would look better with a gun,' said Judge Bunansa, sighting along the barrel and pretending to shoot.
'It hardly goes with your armour, Judge Bunansa,' said Noah.
'Ffamran, please,' said Judge Bunansa. Ffamran. He looked down at himself and grimaced. 'Do you suppose I could by some new clothes as well? I'm thoroughly sick of this armour.'
'We could give him that much since he's flying us,' said Noah to Vossler, who had the money.
'He should sell his armour,' replied Vossler.
'Excellent idea,' said Ffamran. 'Come on, I saw an armour stall around here.'
They sold the Judge armour and, once Ffamran had exchanged his leather padding for normal clothes, went to find Ashe. Ffamran bought the gun on their way back.
'So that is what took you so long,' said Ashe. 'Welcome back, sir skypirate.'
'And as my first adventure, will the princess consent to be kidnapped?' asked Ffamran, opening the airship's door.
'How could I refuse?' Ashe stepped through, Ffamran following.
Noah and Vossler exchanged looks before following. As soon as they got rid of one flirt, they picked up another.
They landed outside the sandsea, once jagd meant the Strahl could no longer fly. Ffamran stood there looking wistfully at it for a moment.
'Come on, we can't take it with us,' called Vossler.
Ffamran, shook his head and caught up with them. 'I know I'll get the invisibility field working one day,' he said.
'You think somebody's going to steal it? We're in the middle of the desert,' said Vossler.
'And she looks like a pile of junk,' added Noah.
'Don't insult her, my girl's a lot prettier on the inside,' said Ffamran, fairly mildly.
'All men say that,' replied Noah.
At that moment they came to the edge of the sandsea itself. Noah bent down to the water, only to jump back dismayed when he saw no reflection.
'What's wrong?' asked Vossler.
'Nothing.' Noah put a hand into the strange sea, and found sand running through his fingers. The Sandsea, he should have known, and yet the sand was so fine a powder that the wind could make it run in waves. More like to yellow water than dust.
'I never thought to see it for myself,' said Ashe, staring outwards.
'No more did I,' said Ffamran. 'But we can look at it and walk at the same time.'
They did, and wonder at their surroundings wore off as the sand stuck in their throats and made the heat seem worse than high summer in the estersand. Noah tried not to pant, the heat and stiffness from his earlier bruises were making walking a chore. Ashe passed around a water skin, she looked tired too but still poised. She stopped suddenly, holding a hand up for silence. After a moment Noah heard the faint rumbling too.
'What is it?' asked Vossler.
'Someone that doesn't want us here,' sid Ffamran, pointing.
A fishlike beast dove out of the water, a wasted creature in a dark cloak holding onto its back. The creatures skull-like face was fixed in a grin. More of them appeared, closer to the walkways.
'Run,' shouted Vossler.
They did, but the creatured kept coming, hauling themselves up onto the walkway. Noah drew his sword and struck out at them, finding that for all their fearsome appearance they were disorganised warriors. He and Vossler came to the front of the group, fighting up close, Ffamran used his gun to pick them off from a distance while Ashe used white magic to keep them all whole. After that it was just a matter of keeping going, keeping slicing until his arms were covered in strange dark blood and his way was paved with mangled limbs.
'Entite!' called Ashe.
Noah shoved a creature off his sword with his foot. 'What do we do about it?' he asked.
'Fight as little as possible and run,' said Vossler. 'Keep pheonix down in hand.'
Noah nodded, pulling some out of his pouch with his left hand. He did not sheath his sword. They tried to get around the entite without running into the creatures they were fighting, but the creatures kept coming to them. Vossler beheaded one with a swipe, and Noah saw the entite pulse. They ran. The first flash took Ashe, Noah dropped pheonix down on her without stopping. The second took him.
The flare of pheonix down surrounded him, and he came too to find himself on his feet. The others were standing there, Vossler glaring at Ffamran.
'What happened?' asked Noah.
'I ran, waited until it calmed down, and then came back and revived you all,' said Ffamran, wearily.
'You could have left us to be hacked apart by those creatures,' said Vossler.
'Better than all of us being unconscious,' said Ffamran.
Ashe turned and started walking away, making them stop arguing to catch up with her. Noah kept his sword drawn, he could see the creatures were still around.
'We should never have brought someone with so little loyalty,' said Vossler.
Noah shook his head. 'We probably owe him our lives.'
Ffamran looked startled, and then smiled. 'I wasn't expecting gratitude from such noble knights,' he said, his voice mocking as his smile had not been. They fell back into their earlier formation without a word as they came upon the next group of creatures.
At the end of the last walkway Noah looked back at the way they had come, a path of blood. The sandsea itself looked just the same, and just as awe inspiring, as it had at first.
'I feel like we destroyed a whole race,' he said.
'We'll find out on the way back, won't we?' said Ffamran.
'Brat,' muttered Noah.
Ashe shook her head and tore her gaze away from the Sandsea. She turned towards the King Raithwall's Tomb and started to walk.
#
The giant bird outside the tomb left Noah and Vossler waving their weapons uselessly before turning to healing Ashe and Ffamran who had more useful weapons. Ashe used her mist technique again, and this time Noah remembered to ask her to teach it to them.
'It's not difficult, once you understand the method,' said Ashe. 'If we rest here for a little, I can teach it to you before we go in.'
They agreed and sat in the sand outside the tomb learning. Somewhat to Noah's surprise she taught Ffamran as well. Once they all thought they would be able to do it Ashe touched the waystone, and the familiar feel of teleportation settled over them.
The first thing Noah noticed about the tomb was the cold. Outside it had been baking, this place turned sweat into icy rivulets down his back. Ashe shivered, and wrapped her arms around herself. The flittering seekers were easy to bat aside, they reminded Noah of the redmaws in the Stillshrine. He was already braced for it when the first skeleton attacked, and soon turned it into a pile of bones.
'Did King Raithwall need to leave all his possessions in such places?' he asked.
'They would keep out all who might rob his grave,' said Ashe. She lead them to a balcony from which they could see the entire tomb it seemed, alight with flickering torches. It was enormous, balcony after balcony after balcony, and exactly the same up as down so that taking a step while looking made one stumble and lose all sense of balance. Noah shook his head.
'And did he also hope thieves would get lost?' he asked.
'I hope not. We don't have that much food,' said Ffamran.
'I have every right to be here,' said Ashe, firmly.
'Starvation can happen to anyone,' said Vossler. 'But we knew what we were risking, and we shall take care not to lose ourselves.'
They walked on, rather subdued, each of them trying to commit every turn to memory. Skeletons were expected, the monsterous candles were not, but both were dealt with. The bird creatures, deep in some ritual disturbed as the group passed them, they ran from. Later they stepped into a corridor, and stopped for a moment when they found there were no fiends in sight. Noah looked at the corridors wall, carved with an ugly and fearsome statue. The arms unfolded and the eyes flashed alight.
'The wall!' he shouted. The others looked round, confused and then astonished. They all turned and ran without anyone needing to give the order. Only to find themselves in another corridor with a demon wall coming straight at them. There was nowhere to run.
Noah caught Vossler's eye, they drew their swords. Ashe caught their arms before they could charge and choved something that looked like a wineskin between them.
'Drink,' she said.
This was clearly not the time for questions, Noah gulped some down and handed it to Vossler. Noah started to charge, and felt a sudden joy bubbling up inside him. The demon wall looked less fearsome than it had before, nothing he could not defeat. His sword landed hard and ground along its claw. It flipped him backwards, and he heard himself laughing as he charged again. He was half aware of Ffamran doing something to the torches and Vossler attacking beside him, but it seemed distant and insignificant. Several times he charged and each time it threw him back, but there was no pain. Once, when the joy drained from the fight and pain and fatigue hit him, Ashe handed him the wineskin again. The pain was forced out of his body, and he carried on attacking until only a pile of rubble was left.
He looked around for another enemy, he wanted to fight and fight and never have to stop, but there was none. When Ashe moved off he followed her without thinking, certain she would lead him to another foe. He hacked a few skeletons apart, but they were hardly worth his time. He was looking around for something bigger when the pain hit him again. He leant against a wall catching his breath.
'Are you well?' asked Vossler.
'Well enough. So that was Bacchus' wine. I can see why the army has it banned,' said Noah. He pushed himself upright and licked his lips, seeking a last taste of the wine's mad energy. 'I'm better than I should be, thinking on it. That wine prevented actual injury as well as pain.'
'It did,' said Ashe. 'But we should use it sparingly, we are better off in control of ourselves for the most part.'
'I'm glad you didn't offer it to me,' said Ffamran. 'I'd sooner not go mad.'
Noah remembered the boy's father and said nothing.
'It is close,' said Ashe, stopping. The tombs defences had made the same impression on each of them, because they all reached for a potion. 'We should use the mist techniques on any guardian.'
'What of the wine?' asked Noah.
Vossler shook his head. 'We will need our wits.'
'Agreed,' said Ashe. 'Come, we are nearly at our destination.'
They descended through mist as thick as smoke. Noah thought he could feel it wrapping around his joints, until he recognised the sensation of protective magic. When he looked back he could see Ashe determinedly casting it on each of them in turn. He nodded his thanks, and drew his sword before continuing.
They entered a stone room, the mist lying even thicker there, and saw a creature standing on a platform at the far side. Another esper. This one was huge and muscular with a flame red beard and curling rams' horns. Another, smaller version of itself was attached to its chest. As they entered it woke and reached for something that looked for all the world like a giant key, only with a blade on the bottom instead of teeth. They advanced to meet it, staying together, and then Ashe stopped and threw her head back.
The pulsing starlight filled the world, Ashe shone bright and pure with it, and the esper was still for a moment. This time it felt different though, the pulsing was reaching for Noah and seemed to beat in time with his heart. When Ashe threw the last of the light at the monster he felt a signal twitch through his nerves.
Fire, spinning in a wheel behind him, edged with blue darkness. Tendrils of it ran up his arms, but it froze instead of burning. The pain felt right, and he gathered cold fire between his hands to fling at his enemy. It wasn't enough, he needed to signal Vossler as Ashe had signalled him, he tried and held Vossler in his mind even as fire flowed between his fingers. When the last of it had been thrown, he leant forwards propping himself on his sword. Vossler was already gathering mist.
Vossler's attack was strange, instead of changing to light or fire the mist only thickened around him and then sped out as an iridescent tornado. It caught the esper up completely, he roared but could not avoid it. Noah waited for Ffamran to come in, but either he or Vossler had failed. There was no further quickening.
The esper roared again and started laying about itself with the its weapon. Ffamran cast an apologetic glance at Ashe and backed off to reload his gun. Could he not have done that earlier? Noah took a blow from its blade on his shield and managed a stab at its wrist. The club end of its weapon hit him, and he rolled with it coming up to strike again. Ffamran had got his gun loaded, and the bullets' hits caused the esper's skin to steam. Water shot, so that was why he had reloaded.
Vossler had got behind it, and struck there. It turned to face him, allowing Noah to strike from behind. They harried it between them, taking injuries when they must, although the warmth of healing spells touched them every time it got too much. Then the smaller one on the esper's breast, a conjoined twin or another part of its body, spread its arms. This fire burned.
Pheonix down, a gentler fire, revived Noah, and he entered the fray again at once. White magic hit him more frequently after that, Ashe trying to make sure he could withstand another attack. The esper clubbed Vossler down, and stabbed the blade through him. Noah flung himself at it, trying to hit before it could strike a fatal blow. His sword went through the smaller one's neck, and the whole creature went up in golden mist and sparks.
Noah ignored the scroll hanging in the air and knelt down to grasp Vossler's shoulders. The weapon had struck through his shoulder, and out his chest. Pray the gods it had not hit a lung. At least the weapon had faded when the beast did, they would not have to worry about removing it.
'Vossler! Can you hear me?' he demanded.
'Aye. I hear you,' gasped Vossler. 'Sorry. Not quick enough.'
'No, it was not your fault. I should have reached it sooner,' said Noah.
'Here. A high potion,' said Ashe. She poured it onto Vossler's shoulder and into the wound. He hissed when she did, the wound must be bad for a potion to cause more pain. She looked at Noah, a question she would not say aloud.
'He will be fine,' said Noah. 'But we need to get out of here.'
'Soon,' said Ashe. 'We must get the dawn shard first.'
'You go then. We shall wait here,' said Noah.
'No. I can stand,' said Vossler haltingly. 'And I shall be no safer with us split up.'
'Come then,' said Ashe.
Ffamran and Noah followed her out of the room, supporting Vossler between them. She took them through a passage to another room, one with an altar floating in the air. Ashe stepped up to the altar, staring at it. Noah could not see any nethecite there, he hoped tomb robbers had not had it after all. Ashe reached out and then stopped. She gasped, and stood there with her hand held out.
'No,' she whispered in a voice choked with tears. 'No. Tell me who did this, tell me…'
Noah followed her gaze, and saw behind her the white, transparent figure she had seen.
'Lord Rasler!' he shouted. He made to go forwards, but stopped since he could not let go of Vossler.
The ghost smiled sweetly at Ashe, and drifted through her hand when she tried to grasp his arm. At the edge of the room another ghost fell into step behind him.
'Basch!' shouted Noah. 'Brother! Wait, talk to me.'
He let go of Vossler, hardly aware that he had done so and ran towards Basch's ghost. But Basch showed no sign of having heard, and marched after Rasler through the room's wall. Noah slammed his fist helplessly against the wall and turned to Ashe. The same pain he felt was mirrored in her eyes. Could it be true? And if it was, was Rabanastre itself fallen along with its truest defenders? Was everything lost, or only everything that mattered?
'What did you see?' asked Ffamran.
Noah and Ashe turned to him at once. He was still holding Vossler, taking most of his weight, and the strain showed in his face.
'Did you see nothing?' Ashe demanded.
'Nothing,' he confirmed.
'I too saw nothing,' said Vossler. 'Perhaps you should tell us what you saw.'
'Lord Rasler. And my brother. We must get back at once,' said Noah.
He helped Ffamran take Vossler's weight once again. They left the chamber in silence.