Child of the Brave
6. Shadow Fight

Two men strolled down an abandoned dirt road at the edge of the forest. One, Aster, was muttering incoherently and the other, Ramza, was whistling a light, merry tune.

"Ramza… Ramza… Ramza!"

"Huh?" Ramza looked over at Aster. Aster nodded his head to the side.

"Ah…" Ramza said with a smile. "We're being followed…"

Aster looked into the forest with a frown. "Ummmm… It's just them isn't it?"

"We're being followed," Ramza repeated.

"How do you know?"

"They signal… Twelve o'clock."

"What?" Aster stopped in the middle of the road and turned to his incomprehensible uncle. He was gone. Nothing, but dust and air was in the place of the ghost.

"Just great," Aster mumbled, kicking the dirt in front of him.

There was a rustling in the forest. "Right, leave me out here all by myself," Aster shouted at the trees.

"You! Boy!" Someone shouted gruffly. "What are you doing here?"

A man about a head shorter than Aster came running from the front. "State your business, now!"

Aster blinked stupidly at him. "I'm traveling. Can't a man travel on these roads anymore?"

"Where to?" He raised his spear and pointed it threateningly at Aster.

Aster raised his hands up, "Hey, I didn't do anything. I'm just going to see my sick grandmother. Is that a crime now? Don't tell me there's going to be a road tax, too. I don't have any money with me!"

"You were with someone!"

"I was not!" Aster protested without missing a beat.

The man waved his spear and men wearing armor like him appeared on Aster's rear side. Out of the bushes, more men popped out behind the one that was questioning Aster.

"Come on!" Aster called to the sky as he rolled his eyes at the clouds. "What did I do wrong?"

"Now answer the question, you little liar—I saw you hollering into the woods at a company of sorts—Where are you going?"

"East," Aster sighed as he tried to step back, but the brunt of a spear to his back stopped him. Aster rolled his eyes again.

"To where!"

"My grandmother's hut, in a village near Riovanes… Hmmm…" Aster paused as he realized he let something slip.

"Riovanes is the other way, Boy."

"Oops." Aster's shoulders slumped. At the same time he heard someone sigh in the forest.

Then, just in seconds, there was a rain of arrows. The men attacked aimlessly screaming, "we're under attack!" Aster gripped his knife jauntily and fought back the armed men who surrounded him. Meanwhile bursts of flame erupted around them. It was a great distraction and because of it, Aster got away. He slipped into the forest and ran.

After running half a mile in the partial darkness, he stopped to catch his breath. He slumped against a tree, listening to the blood rushing in his ears.

"Very good, Aster," Ramza laughed from the lowest branch of the tree Aster rested against.

Without looking up Aster muttered, "Where the hoots were you? Just disappearing like that? Do you only care about your own welfare?"

Ramza sat on the branch, swinging his legs under him. He was staring off to a distant. "Quite a racket they're making back there."

"Hey, Ramza!"

Ramza looked down at Aster. "Very good, Aster. Very good."

"Get down here!"

"It's quiet. It's done. Now, we regroup."

"Ramza!"

Ramza hopped lightly off the branch. He was a ghost after all.

"I demand to know why you left and who were those men?"

"I am only of use if I can fight in the dark. Look. The sun is out. Why do you think the others hide in the forest? We fight better when we are hidden. Our weapons will only be effective if we can grip them. In the shadows we can grasp things. And who were those men you ask? Well, they are Delita's fine troops ordered to guard all the roads in Ivalice now. They are not as well trained as the Largonian Angels, but they don't need that kind of training anyway."

"Why has the king ordered them on the roads?"

"Why, isn't it obvious my Nephew? We have accomplished our missions. Delita is suspicious. He wonders who is responsible." Ramza laughed.

"I wish I could laugh with you, but I am still a little irritated with what you did back there. Some hero you are! You left a man behind."

"I never left you behind, Aster. I know you heard me."

"Well…" Aster trailed off.

"Dear Brother, are we ready?" It was Alma who spoke as she came from behind them. She walked with silent footsteps.

"We will be when the others arrive."

"That was quick," Alma exclaimed in surprise as she stared in the direction of where the fight broke. "But, it was quite a distraction. I do believe this puts us slightly off schedule."

"Well, that's because Aster here made a slip up."

"You said I did well!" Aster retorted.

Ramza laughed heartily. "No matter, though! We will slip back onto the main road and be on our way again okay?"

"We are ready, Leader," Malak spoke with a wide smile on his face. He appeared just behind Alma, a silhouette passing trees.

"I'm giving all of you a new title," Aster remarked as he glanced back and forth at the three of them. He was annoyed that every time someone showed up he was unaware of it. "The Phantom Rebels of Ivalice."

End Chapter 6

It's been a looong time! And it's going to be a long time before I can update again. I've hit a brick wall in this part of my life. Yadayadayada.

Hey, special special thanks (extra special for emphasis) to my reviewers, Evanlicious and 2sidez-samecoin.

I would love to directly address Evanlicious' review. I rarely do this, but for this story I'll make an exception:

You have truly been helpful. I am very aware of my lack of physical characteristics of my characters. In some part of the story, though, I think I did hint that Aster showed some semblance to how Ramza looked back in the days before he died.

I jumped from Aster being 5 to 16 because there was nothing to write about when he was 5. The only reason why I started at 5 was so that I could kind of introduce the story rather than just throw Aster, a sixteen-year-old, embarking on some adventure out into the open in some random direction. The little scene with the five –year-old was just a lead to the real story. When he was 5 he met Ramza, so that kind of connected to the present, where he meets Ramza again and they're both fighting together now. I'm bad with fight scenes. My attempts are failures… Let me be critical before you! Anyways, thanks for the constructive criticism. If I ever get back to rewriting, I will use your suggestions. Thanks again!