Chapter 4 – Guardians of the Past and Promises Present
Perspective: Locke Cole
Locke Cole's attitude couldn't be worse at the moment. Here he was, trudging through thigh-deep snow with more than an inch of the wet mess already on his head and body. Oh no, today was not a good day. Yesterday wasn't any better either. Hell, this whole week didn't have a single bright spot to it. It had been a while since his last true "good day" and he hoped to break his current unfortunate and unpleasant streak soon; but that wasn't going to happen yet. He had a job to do here in this land of ice and misery.
Locke was not generally a sad or disgruntled individual. He prided himself - a little too much and too loudly, some would say - on being capable of finding the smallest silver lining on any rain cloud. He believed that life was far too short to be spent angry, and that you should enjoy it while you can. That belief had gotten him into a number of situations that he came out alright in, more from his quick feet and quick wits, than from much else. But it was his motto and standard, and one to which he would hold for as long as he could. Yet, today was severely testing his ability to maintain an air of content and happiness.
He had been hoping to take a week or two away from the job of being the messenger to people who thought they were above travel and information gathering, but no, just as he had been about to leave, he was greeted at the door by someone delivering a letter that flew in that morning by way of messenger hawk with depressing news. Old man Arvis had claimed that it was "urgent" and that he couldn't waste a single day in getting to Narsche as quickly as possible. No mention of what he was needed for, or why he had to travel straight there. He had his guesses though.
Being as skilled as he was at gathering information without drawing attention to himself, he had heard his fair share of rumors about what "those crazy miners" had dug up, way up north in Narsche. He knew it wasn't some old rock or even just an old relic from the time of the War of the Magi, some were claiming that what was found was alive, or would have been, had it not been a millennia since its death. Which meant that it wasn't just any old thing was uncovered, but an actual Esper from that deadly war that had been found. And an Esper, even a dead one, was something that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.
So, here he was, about to enter the northernmost city in the world, where spit froze before it hit the ground, chasing after a Myth that was a thousand years old. He had to leave amid his promised vacation time that had already been delayed for reasons of "severe importance" (for the third time in as many months) and he was off again to another remote location; this time, searching for a thousand year old dead thing that was unfortunate enough to be discovered by naïve miners.
Sometimes I wonder where I get my luck, he asked himself while walking towards the southern entrance of the city of Narsche that was looming closer and closer with every passing minute. The cold would have frozen his ears by now, had he not covered them with his bandana that covered the top of his head. He was never without it, that small piece of cloth was ever present and never left his side. In a way, it felt almost like an extension of his own self sometimes. The designs on it were of different constellations and other celestial scenes, all serving as a reminder that there were bigger things out there than himself.
His blue worn leather vest gave him some protection from the elements, having survived many an adventure and different climate over the months and years of travel. His pants sported a number of cuts and holes that were fixed with somewhat shoddy stitch work, but they were comfortable, so they continued to be used and more worn as time went by. He had a few shirts; all were worn somewhat thin and had been through a lot. He was currently wearing his sky-blue one as it could dampen the effects of the cold a little bit more than his other shirts. The brown leather gloves he wore were one of two pairs he owned. Those he had on were the fully covering pair as to keep out the cold, whilst his fingerless gloves were in the small but effective pack he had on his back.
As he drew nearer the outer reaches of the city, Locke noticed that something was… off today about the guards. Every other time that he had visited, the city patrol was simply complacent. This time as he approached, he saw that instead of the usual two guards at the farthest outpost, there were six very attentive, well equipped and quite stressed men trying, it seemed, to see the whole world where they stood, from the wide eyes and serious expressions on their faces. It was unexpected and worried him a little bit with what might have happened while he had been gone to cause the city watch to change their guard system like that.
When he was within earshot of the guards, one called out to him loudly, "Who are you, and what is your business here? Answer quickly, and we will decide whether to allow you to continue." This is new, Locke thought as he stopped a fair distance away as he called back, "It's me, Locke Cole. I come from South Figaro with information for the Narsche University. I'm on an errand for a friend and need to finish it as soon as I can." Hoping that would suffice for now, or at least until he came across someone he could recognize or get their help to convince the guards that he should belong there as much as the rest of the people, he began walking forward again.
"I said halt! You will not come any closer to the city. One more step forward and I'll be forced to make you stop." The guard's voice was strong with anger and hatred was apparent when he replied to Locke's continued journey towards the city he had sworn to defend. When he realized that the intruder was not stopping, even with his current words, he said again. "This is your last warning. I will not say it again. Stop or I will make you! This city has taken enough damage without you adding to it."
Locke couldn't believe it. Just four months ago, the city of Narsche had been a peaceful and complacent place, one of little prejudice, where the cold wind and snow stole the heat out of any anger or hatred before it could fully form. What happened to make him like this? He decided to keep walking toward the city calling the guard's bluff of physical assault. They won't attack me. I haven't done anything this time to make them hate me, and only three people know what I did last time, one of them me. With alarm, Locke noted that the guard began to march straight at him while slipping his sword out of the scabbard on his waste.
"I warned you for the last time fool. Now learn your lesson with steel." With those words, the ill-tempered guard came marching at him while four of his five companions watched with disinterest and nonchalance as the fifth man stood sleeping through the entire incident while leaning on the staff he was using.
The guard was a tall blunt man in both his language and his mannerisms; as such he walked straight towards Locke with a look of hatred in his eyes and fire in his heart to kill this man who threatened to impart more harm upon the place of his home. He gripped the weapon in his hand with a clenching fist and swung swiftly at Locke's head expecting it to meet resistance in the form of death on the individual. But Locke was quicker than he thought.
Locke realized quite swiftly that the man in front of him wanted to kill him. The guard had actually swung his sword at him attempting to end his life. He had ducked and rolled to the side without thinking and had reached his left hand behind him to grasp one of the daggers he had hidden beneath his pack while standing slowly and using his right hand in a placating manner tried to calm the deranged guard.
"Whoa there. What did I do to you? I'm just trying to relay some messages to someone at the Narsche University." Only having moved a few feet from the enraged man, he didn't have long to speak before he was attacked again. Thinking quickly and knowing that he did not want to kill the guard but not wanting to face death himself, he had to disarm the man and explain the situation before any of the other guards decided to join in the assault.
When the guard swung his sword this time, Locke was not only ready for him but was far faster than him. When the sword came at him from his left side, Locke waited for it to get within a hand's breadth of his side before he moved. Faster than anyone there could have seen, Locke had pulled out his dagger with his left hand and had darted in closer to the guard than his own outstretched hand grasping the hilt of the swinging sword. Locke sent his right fist into the man's stomach then brought his left elbow down hard against his wrist causing the guard to drop the sword he was swinging. Before the sword hit the ground from being flung from the grasp of the guard, he was on the ground with a dagger being held against his throat in a downwards slant and sporting a rapidly bruising left cheek and a numb jaw from the punch that Locke gave him.
"Look, I really don't want any trouble but I don't like being attacked for no reason. I just want to deliver a message. Is that too much to ask?" The noise from the fight and the heated voices had brought the sleeping guard from his slumber and after a moment's hesitation to understand what he was seeing, he rushed forward in an attempt to calm the situation.
"Reikan? Locke?! What's going on? Why are you here? What are you doing with that knife to him? Nevermind, I already can see what happened. Reikan! I thought I told you to not blatantly assault any visitors to the city. Not everyone's involved with what happened. You keep jumping at shadows no matter who makes them. We're all stressed after what happened, but you can't keep accusing anyone that comes by. I know this man; he's a messenger for Professor Trinbel over at the University. I've had drinks with him at the tavern before. Now Locke, get off him and put that knife away." The quick-thinking and obviously superior guard spoke with increasing terseness as the tirade went on while taking swift glances towards Locke as he stood and put his dagger away for any sign of mistrust or treachery.
Locke remembered the man. He had bet him 500 gil that he could out drink him at the tavern four months past when he was last here in December of the year previous whilst celebrating the new millennium as well as the new year. Locke had learned to drink from the best and he had been sure of his win, but the man had been a good drinker, and he hadn't come out on top that time. Being the gentleman that he was, he had paid the man and spent that night asleep at the inn next door. He neglected to mention to him that he had "liberated" that very 500 gil from his companion earlier that night. No harm done, and if he never figured it out, it was all the better.
"Thanks Finrel. I was starting to think that I wasn't going to make it inside the city." Locke said, once Reikan had been told off enough for attacking an innocent traveler and had walked back to the outpost watching the land around for any signs of danger, real or fictional. "What's going on? Last I checked, guards aren't usually this paranoid."
Turning to look at Finrel, Locke just noticed the strongly bloodshot eyes and deep circles under his eyes. Being from Narsche, his face was normally hidden beneath many layers of clothing, but even so, it was not enough to keep out the view of just how tired and how weary he was from Locke. "What happened to you? You look like something a flock of Chocobos ran over. You must be standing on will alone. What are you doing still out here on patrol?" For that manner, why are all of them on patrol? They all look just as drained as he does. What are they doing?
His companion sighed wearily while turning to face towards the town as he said, "A lot more than I ever wanted to happen in Narsche, let me tell you. Come on, the other guards won't let you through either unless I go with you to vouch for your being here. Besides, some of the others lost family members also and are even more angry and vengeful than Reikan is." Finrel's words had an impacting effect on Locke. He knew that his friend had spoken many a time about how he hoped that Narsche would become livelier or more interesting. To hear him say that more had happened than he wanted was disturbing in the implications. That comment on lost family was worrying Locke as well.
Locke turned to face northward again, following the exhausted man's lead by starting out like before towards his cold destination. The walk wasn't too long, yet not short by any means, so conversation began easily as Locke asked about what had happened in Narsche since he was there last.
"So why is everyone acting so strange? What could have happened to Narsche while I was gone?" Locke said attempting to begin a conversation with his weary companion. Digging for information had become second nature to Locke. He had been doing it for so long, it had become a simple and unbreakable habit to search for the truth in anything. If he had realized what he was doing, in actuality informally interrogating his companion, he would have felt a small sense of shame at doing so to him. As it was, he didn't even realize the extent of his own actions.
Finrel looked up past the tree line up at the mountain range to the north of the city as he got a distant look in his eye before he sighed and looked back at the city that was beginning to loom closer as they walked. "We were attacked." And with those three words came a heavy weight in his voice, one born of sadness and grim acceptance.
Locke's eyes grew wide in amazement as the thought sunk in. So soon? How could we have not known about this? "I thought that they would have taken longer to get here, or at the very least that they would have been spotted before they reached the town." His comments drew a suspicious look from Finrel as Locke quickly realized that as a simple traveler he shouldn't have known about the recent incident or even less about the expected attack. The look gave way to a tired sigh as they both looked up at the ever closer city as weariness overcome worry.
"You'll get to see for yourself how bad it was. We were only attacked a few nights ago and we still haven't found all the bodies yet."
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He had been expecting the Empire to send a contingent of soldiers to Narsche, especially considering both the recent discovery in the mines and how wealthy the city had become in the last few decades. He had been expecting a minor skirmish or even a small battle over the discovery. He had been expecting a few casualties over the incident. What he had not been expecting was how devastated and destroyed the city was.
As they walked through the business district of the second largest city on the northern continent, Locke couldn't help but stare in awe and increasing worry at the many dozens of buildings that had been ravaged. The fires had long since withered, the dead removed, the furniture salvaged, and the buildings ransacked, yet here and there he would occasionally see a person black with soot and ash clearing through the remains of a once proud building searching for something of import.
There weren't just a few buildings destroyed, there were dozens. For every four or five he saw standing one was burnt to the ground and another was barely standing. Even with that, not a single shop or place of merchandise in the entire industrial district survived unscathed. If he didn't know any better (and had he thought he would win) he would have wagered that whoever the attackers were had personally attacked every single business building. So they aren't just content with killing the men and trying to steal what isn't theirs, they're also trying to keep Narsche from sustaining itself by killing the industry here too. How much more selfish can they get?
Having seen his own share of bloodshed and battle in his lifetime, he had grown accustomed to seeing the destruction war could cause. He thought that he had become immune to the images of destruction that were ever-present after a battle, yet still he began to hurt inside when he saw a small boy of not older than five or six standing with what looked like his mother digging through the destroyed remains of a building. The way that the boy never left his mother's side and constantly kept glancing over at her – as if to assure himself that she was still there – was all the proof Locke needed to know that the boy must have lost his father during the attack.
It was so cruel in a way. He had heard the propaganda that was being circulated by those loyal to the Empire on the Southern Continent, how they thought that Emperor Gestahl was bringing a "better and brighter future" to all of the children and how they were fighting to make the world a safer place for the next generation. But seeing the actuality of those efforts in the haunted looks and downcast eyes of the children personally affected by it was heart-breaking. No child of that age should lose a family member, let alone their own father.
Sad as it was, if this was what it took to force Narsche to leave their neutral ground then maybe it was a good thing that it had been attacked. He hated thinking that way, but he had little choice. He was fighting – in his own little way – to rid the world of those trying to force others into servitude, but he couldn't possibly do it alone. Even the entire Returner force combined wouldn't be able to take on even a portion of the Empire's armies and that's if they were all combined into one place, which they weren't.
He knew, with grim acceptance, that there was little that could honestly stop the advance of the Empire at the moment. That was why he was always traveling here and there across the entire northern continent in an attempt to convince more people to the cause of right and peace. He had been doing it for years and had coincidentally become one of the most well-known members of the Returners. Outside of the resistance group he was very keen on hiding his character, but inside many held a decent respect for the person who had personally recruited over half of the Returners still living himself.
He shook himself from his reverie as he and his walking companion began nearing the house that belonged to Professor Trinbel. With his sharp eyes, he could see in the distance through the softly falling snow that the door was not only open, but it was off its hinges as well. Something's happened. Something's gone wrong. The old man's cover might be blown. Looking over at Finrel who was so exhausted he tripped yet again while walking, Locke quickly thought what to do. I can't let him find out yet, if he knows that Arvis is a Returner then he'll know that I am. Well he'll know before the night is over but it's better than him finding out while he's next to me within sword-reach.
Pretending to act nonchalant Locke said, "Finrel, I'm really worried about you. That's the third time you tripped on nothing but air since we entered the city." He hadn't really been counting, but saying just once or twice could be thrown off as coincidence. Finrel nodded his head and said, "I haven't got more than two hours of sleep each night since the attack. It's really wearing hard on me."
Knowing that if he pressed it, his friend would turn back, Locke told him, "Look, I can see the old Professor's house from here; you don't have to walk with me the whole way. If you do, I don't think you'll be able to walk the entire way back. I want you to head back now and try, try to get some semblance of rest. An exhausted guard is not an effective one." Finrel didn't even look up as he just asked simply, "Are you sure?" When he heard Locke's head nodding in the affirmative, he turned slowly and just walked on back the way he came. He didn't even stop, because he knew that if he did, he probably wouldn't start walking again anytime soon. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Maybe when I'm coherent enough to actually think anything beyond 'I'm tired', I'll challenge you to another drinking contest."
Locke nodded with a small smile on his face as he said, "Sure thing Finrel. And thanks again for helping me back there. I hate to think what might've happened." "Yeah, me too," came the reply as Finrel slipped out of sight in the snowfall.
Locke turned with worry on his face as he quickly yet silently paced his way towards the house that was his destination. If I have been found out, then all hope is lost for coming back to Narsche anytime soon to help out the Returners, he thought while making his way there.
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Upon approaching the house Locke kept silence in his footsteps as his eyes swept about for any signs of trouble from around the building. It was dark inside and the dimming afternoon sky lent little light to the interior. I don't think they're in there waiting for me. For all I know, they attacked the place long earlier in the day. Not taking any chances nonetheless, Locke crept slowly closer whilst hiding amongst what little shadows could be found on the sides of the buildings nearby.
Arvis Trinbel's house was actually up on the side of the mountain range behind it. It had been an ideal spot for a good view of the city as well as offered some protection from the snow that constantly assaulted the house. It made it susceptible to landslides which fortunately it had not yet been a victim of.
Peering inside, Locke quickly stepped into the darkened house and hid behind the battered door to provide cover and to quickly adjust to the lack of light inside the building. Keeping his breathing silent was a trick he had come to appreciate in the many years of work with the Returners and kept him safe from some few unhealthy encounters. After patiently waiting a few minutes to allow his eyes to fully adjust to the almost non-existent light and to outwait whoever might be in hiding, he looked out from behind the unhinged door to survey the front room.
The grandfather clock in the northeast corner of the entry room was quietly ticking away amidst the ransacked room. The rug that was normally at the front door for the snow and mud covered boots of visitors was instead kicked aside uncaringly. The table in the western half of the room had been knocked over while the wooden chairs surrounding it were also overturned save one which was upright and facing the entryway to the eastern half of the house. The drapes that covered the western wall windows had seemingly been covering up the inside from outside prying eyes until they had been ripped off the ringlets that kept them aloft.
Locke's sharp eyes saw the tracks of numerous muddy bootprints that had entered the house and quickly counted out five men had entered the building. What was strange was that he only saw two sets had left out the front door. I can't trust that the other three left out the back door. I just have to assume they're still there waiting for me. And I got to find Arvis. He's no fighter, he had to have either been captured or killed. A pang of sadness rose up in him as he thought of the old man's death. First my own safety, then others if I can. It was not a selfish thought, but a calculating one. If he couldn't keep himself safe, he had no hope to keep others the same way. To help someone to safety, you must first be there yourself. That was a phrase that Arvis himself had told him and he understood the importance and meaning of it.
Walking with lightened footsteps and avoiding the floorboards that creaked – he knew them by heart having visited here enough in the past three years to know them all without looking at them – Locke slowly crept to the eastern side of the house where more muddy bootprints had left than returned. Going quickly yet silently past the two doors in the hallway leading to the kitchen while swiftly checking to ensure that they were indeed closed and no one lurked awaiting a passing victim, he moved into the kitchen. The table had a few plates on it with one of them empty and another partially covered with uneaten food. He had guests over. Not like him to feed them though. This is really strange. What else he saw in the kitchen both brought him both worry and relief. He spotted the old man on the ground unconscious yet breathing evenly so he wasn't seriously injured.
Not stopping to inspect and care for him quite yet, he first checked the rest of that side of the house with haste to see where the men had gone. He couldn't very well be assisting the Professor while he got a sword in the back unawares. The boots led to one of the guest rooms that Locked had slept in before on some visits and he followed them to the old wardrobe that housed his personal safety exit to the mines. He had used that way before and it had kept his comings and goings quiet and unnoticed in the past, not so now. The wardrobe was open and women's clothing was littering the ground and trampled underfoot, the back wall of the furniture had been bashed in by something and the muddy tracks disappeared into the depths of the passage beyond.
Why in the name of Minerva herself would they attack the old man, ransack his house, then destroy and go through his hidden entrance to the mines? And why bother him in the first place? The city was attacked by the Empire not by us. Why attack someone that had nothing to do with the assault? The questions mounting and no answers forthcoming, Locke knew one person that could answer them. Knowing that the house was empty and safe for the moment, he went to the door of that room and closed it while going to the kitchen and grabbing a glass from a cupboard. He went back to the guest room door and carefully balanced the glass upside down on the doorknob, knowing that if anyone came back through the mine entrance it would fall and allow them a small warning. And any warning however small would be useful.
Going back to the kitchen, he opened up another cupboard and pulled out some matches lighting them as he bent over and lit the candle in the center of the round kitchen table. He turned back to Arvis on the ground, kneeled and checked him for any lasting wounds. A nasty bump on the head, other than that he seems alright. No blood seeping out from under him. They must have knocked him out to keep him from interfering in their search, for whatever it was they were looking for. Which just brought more questions and Locked determined to find the answers to them.
Shaking the unconscious man carefully avoiding moving his head too much, he woke him up from his forced slumber. The first thing he was greeted with was a groan and a shout when Arvis moved quicker than he meant to and brought more pain to himself. "Oh…. They honestly did not have to hit me. I'm just an innocent man." This brought a chuckle from Locke as he helped him slowly to a chair around the table.
"You're a meddling old man is what you are." He told his long-time friend. After sitting him in a seat, Locke joined him around the simple candlelit table. Before he could say anything, Arvis had the first word.
"Took you long enough to get here. Busy with all that robbing and plundering, I presume?" Locke looked indignant and replied back as he always did when the accusation was sent his way but without the usual bravado in his voice, "I prefer the term 'Treasure Hunting' you know."
He was rewarded with a laugh which turned to a hiss of pain when Arvis moved his head too quickly. "Semantic nonsense is all it is and you and I both know what it is you really do." Still unwilling to accept the statement for what it was, Locke replied back without much force "There's a huge difference." Arvis remained silent at that and just rested a moment to lighten the headache that would probably be there for quite a while longer.
Unable to stand the silence for too long when the city guard might be coming back any minute, Locke asked, "How's the head? It didn't seem that bad from when I looked at it, but it must hurt like hell." His companion took a slow deep breath and opened his squinting eyes to look at Locke and replied back, "I can manage well enough. I used to be a mighty good drinker in my unmarried days so I am no stranger to a severely painful hangover headache." After a moment he added, "And yes, it does 'hurt like hell'". Locke let out a soft chuckle at the response before he began speaking again with a serious tone in his normally pleasant baritone voice.
"You sent for me for a reason Arvis. And when I arrive I find the city guard not only tripled outside the city but trying to take my head off for walking into Narsche, the industrial district burned badly with other parts also destroyed, dead bodies everywhere, your own home broken into and nothing but questions are coming to me." He let that sink in for a moment before he continued more quietly, as if to avoid prying ears that might be about. "I know what the miners found here. I know that the Empire attacked. What I don't know is why you were. I'm … worried about you old man. What's going on here?"
Arvis sighed in resignation before he replied nonchalantly, "They were not after me. That is why I got away with just a bump on the head and a drafty house from the open door. They were after my guest, a very unique guest to be precise." Locke looked at him with questions on his tongue and in his eyes, but before he could voice any of them Arvis continued. "Knowing you, you already know that one of the Empire's Magitek Knights that attacked five days ago was a young woman." That had surprised Locke when he learned it, Magitek Knights were veteran soldiers requiring years of training both before entering the Magitek Training Center and during their service before graduating. Having such a young girl as a Magitek Knight was absolutely unheard of. When Locke nodded in the affirmative, Arvis said something that completely shocked him. "She was here recovering from her injuries earlier this afternoon. The city guard discovered that I was sheltering her and decided to barge into my house and attack her before asking questions."
His shock quickly wore off to anger as he realized that his friend had not only been harboring an Imperial soldier but also helping her to recover. Notwithstanding her being a girl, it made absolutely no sense. Arvis hated the Empire; he hated fighting; he hated those who fought. So why would he help and abet a Magitek Knight when they were known for their violence and unstoppable devotion to orders of destruction? More answers lead to more questions. Why can't life ever be easy for me?
Standing stiffly he said, "If I hadn't known you for as many years as I have, I'd be thinking that you were trying to betray the Returners. Helping a Magitek Knight is far beyond any pacifist views, even yours Arvis. Why the hell would you be helping her?" His tone was brusque and anger evident in his voice but confusion was underlying in his tone. He didn't know what Arvis was up to, but he better damn well have a good reason for it.
Arvis looked up at his towering friend, knowing that getting angry back would only escalate the situation and they honestly didn't have any time for that. "I do not believe that she did anything of her own choice." That statement brought even more confusion to Locke who continued to stand there looking down at the Professor of Ancient Histories. Arvis face became indignant as he said briskly, "Are you going to continue to stand there and glare at me or allow me to explain? We honestly do not have much time and I need you to understand me." Locke stood for a few seconds longer then sat stiffly down in the same chair he stood from still eyeing the man in front of him while waiting for an explanation.
Arvis resisted the urge to sigh again and looked Locke straight in the eye while saying with much disdain and hatred in his voice, "They were using her Locke. She has a Slave Crown on her." Locke immediately hissed through his teeth and pulled back a little with a sneer of disgust. He knew what they were. Relics of the past, the only one he would admit that deserved to just stay a part of the past. It was exactly as its title indicated a tool of slavery. Of all the things the Empire had possession of and used to further their own selfish goals, the Slave Crowns were something that he truly hated with fear and loathing. If she had one of those on her then she didn't have any choice, not even conscious thought during the assault. But why send an unwilling soldier to a battle? Or why does someone as young as her even have a Slave Crown on? Damn. This is really getting old. Every question I get an answer to leads to more and more and more. Then something Arvis said piqued his attention. Even though he knew it would lead to more questions, he needed to know this answer.
"Arvis, what do you mean she has a Slave Crown on her? If she still has it on why didn't she attack you and why are you even helping her? You know what those things do."
Arvis looked out the southern window in the kitchen at the rapidly dwindling light before he replied, "I must make this brief. She has been gone from this house for too long and I fear that they will find her soon." Turning to face the other man at the table, he continued. "Therefore you must keep silence and listen. Though you may have questions, now is not the time for them." Locke thought on that for but a moment before he nodded in affirmation to his friend.
"When I found her unconscious in the mines she was alone and physically unharmed except for her head. She had a deadly fever and the Slave Crown was still on her head. I could not leave an injured young woman like that. After taking her back here, I attempted to remove the infernal thing from her. For some strange reason it would not move. Not wanting to injure the poor girl any worse than she already was, I took a closer look at her head. Something must have happened to her because the Slave Crown will not be removed. It looked like it had somehow melted partially and her skin was stuck strongly to it. It did not look burned though, and that is one odd thing of note among many. When she woke up she was physically weak yet I feared the moment she regained strength she would continue whatever her misguided mission was. Then she asked me where she was."
Throughout the explanation, Arvis had slowly been becoming more and more animated – as animated as he could be with a head injury – and Locke could see that he was truly excited in what had happened. "It astounded me when she said that. She was thinking and questioning. The Slave Crown must have been damaged severely and is not working anymore but I could not remove it whatsoever. The best I could do was cover her forehead with bandages and hide the filthy thing. Harbor no fear of it working; it is just a glorified hair accessory now."
"She was capable of standing and dressing herself, and then I was able to put a good hearty meal in her before the city guard arrived." His face became downcast as he continued.
"I had been treating her and watching her slow recovery over her dreadful fever for going on five days and nights. They must have finally discovered that I was housing her and decided to pay me a non-social visit. I sent her away through the passage behind the wardrobe in the guest room moments before they broke down the front door. I made it here to the kitchen before they reached me. I tried to explain to them that the Empire was using the girl, but they refused to listen. They were too driven by anger and hatred to listen to any logic or understanding. They knocked me out to keep me from delaying them in their search."
"The girl was not responsible for any of her actions previous. She should not be held accountable for them. Not only that, I believe that she is a truly unique individual that will undoubtedly help us in our fight against the Empire. We need to get her out of Narsche and away from those who seek her life. Make your way to Figaro. Beyond that you know your way better than I ever could."
Locke had listened attentively throughout and believing that the important information had been given, said "Then if I'm going to get her out of here, I need to leave now. The miners know these mines better than their own houses it seems and they have a head-start on me."
He stood and turned towards the hallway leading to the guest room but was stopped when Arvis called his name. Locke turned his head partway to listen to him and noticed that Arvis was very serious. His demeanor had turned dark and melancholy to which Locke grew worried that something else had gone wrong and there was more bad news.
"There is something else you need to know. Even though that devilish relic does not work anymore as it was intended to, it is causing something else." Arvis looked Locke straight in the eyes and stated "She lost her memory Locke."
Locke didn't make any reply verbally or physically but his eyes told a different story. His eyes shone with a bitter pain and remorse before he steeled himself and turned away quickly. "Then I better hope that she remembers you telling her that I'm coming to get her." He spoke with too much rigidity in his voice to be normal, but his demeanor stated that he didn't want to confront the statement. He began walking again and only stopped long enough to grab the glass on the doorknob of the door and to open it before he stepped quickly past and entered the broken passageway into the mines, leaving behind only an upright glass on a table in the room.
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He had used the passage he was in many times before. He had walked its reaches and traversed its veins in years and trips previous. It had been a safe haven to him, knowing that only Arvis and he knew of its existence. But this time it was different. He couldn't tell if there was a different smell than before, or if the air was colder and less inviting. What he did know was that the feelings of refuge and safety were gone now with the knowledge that there were at least three men in here that sought the life of someone he was trying to find.
Locke walked through the cave with no light showing him the way, he didn't need any though. He knew this passage without any help so his lack of sight was hardly a hindrance to him. His sharp ears were at full attention to whatever might be hidden by the light but harboring some comfort that the guards did not know their way as he did – at least in this part of the mines. The intruders of this secret place would be using lanterns to light their way and he would be warned early of any other inhabitants. Still he listened intently as he kept a brisk yet quiet pace on the off chance that the guards had decided to leave someone behind as a rear guard for surprise attacks. From the way that Arvis has spoken to him back in the house he doubted that they were capable of rational thought what with their anger and hatred blinding their common sense.
When he neared the first intersection, he knelt down to the ground and pushed slowly into the hard cold dirt with his gloved hands feeling for something. After a moment of quiet search, he found what he was looking for. Footprints made from heavy boots were going in both directions. From the heel impressions he was able to tell that the three he was following went to the right and were joined by two more coming from the other direction. Great, more guards means more trouble for me and a greater chance I won't be able to sneak out of here with the girl unnoticed. He sighed quietly before continuing his current search of the ground.
After a short search he found his target. A much smaller imprint made by someone far lighter and smaller than the guards. He could tell that she must be wearing heeled boots of some sort judging from the lack of indentions between the heel and the rest of the foot. She's light. Either she's a lot younger than Finrel thought or she's just very slender. The prints went left and so did he.
Her boots made such a small impression on the ground that Locke almost missed them at the next junction ahead with his hands in his gloves. I can't waste any more time than I have to finding her. He quickly reached behind him and pulled out a thinner pair of gloves from within the confines of his pack and switched them with his current pair. The thinner material would not keep out the cold nearly as well as the other pair but the fingerless gloves would allow him to recognize the prints of the girl's heels better and quicker. Speed was of the essence when every second not reaching her was another that the guards could.
The second junction led to a third and then a fourth beyond that. At each one Locke quietly and swiftly bent down and felt along the ground for the prints that he was swiftly becoming familiar with. And with each succeeding intersection of cave more guards had seemed to join the hunt judging by the sheer number of prints that he was finding. She better not be much farther. I don't know this path very well compared to the others. But if as much time as Arvis claimed has passed then she has gone much farther on than this or she would be caught already.
Going further on and holding his hands out in from of him to catch anything before he physically reached it in the pitch black darkness, he was somewhat unprepared for the obstruction that was on the ground. His outstretched hands saved him from an unpleasant fall, he turned and felt for what had tripped him. His hand reached a long slim object that seemed to be made of wood with one end covered by cloth and slightly moist. A torch. One of the guards must have left it behind in their rush to find her.
Not wasting the luck that had been so generous at the moment, Locke went behind him in the darkness to his pack and went inside one of the many pockets there. He pulled out a small box of matches and struck one lighting the torch with it. When the flames on the torch slowly reached their apex he turned and looked down at the ground. The floor of the passage was hard but he still saw the prints of many men and judging the distance of their paces, they must have been moving quite fast. There was a place on the ground that has been scuffed badly and from the way that the girl's prints had doubled on themselves for a moment meant that she must have either moved backwards for a second or paced in place.
Locke followed the prints of the girl to another junction and turned right with them. The path was straight for about a hundred feet before it turned to the right and then the prints abruptly stopped. He looked down and inspected the ground seeing that they went to the wall near the corner and then seemed to back up towards it even closer. Bringing the torch closer to the location, Locke's eyes widened slightly as he took in a small hole at the very corner. The prints ended there and shining the light he had over the hole, he could tell that it was deeper than he could see down to.
Jamming the torch into the ground so as to free up his hands, Locke pulled his pack off and reached into the bottom of it bringing out a thin but strong rope. I hope that it's long enough. I'd hate to have to jump down from the end and injure myself trying to find her. He looped one end around a rock outcropping that jutted out near the hole and then tossed the rest of it down inside. Listening intently as it fell, he heard it hit the ground beneath softly so he knew that it reached. Thank the Gods for small blessings.
He reached for the torch and held it using one hand while using the other to grasp the rope. Swiftly sliding down but not too quick as to burn his unclad fingers on the rope Locke reached the bottom sooner than he expected. It must not have been that deep. She either fell through the hole above or jumped down in an attempt to escape them. He noticed that it was in actual cavern he found himself, not a simple hole or other cave passageway. Lifting the torch higher he looked around and found a body on the ground not more than fifteen feet from him.
Moving to the person's side the first thing he noticed was the strange color of their hair. Before he allowed himself to wonder about it he turned her slowly over to inspect her for injuries. Her forehead and the sides of her head were covered in bandages as Arvis had told him and she was dressed in far too little for the cold weather in Narsche. Her left foot was twisted at an awkward angle that was too sharp to be normal. The bright red of her clothing made it difficult to tell if she were bleeding underneath but after a close careful and modest inspection of her body he discovered that she wasn't apparently injured in any other obvious ways.
So not only do I have an unconscious girl on my hands who looks injured not to mention not a day over eighteen, I don't know my way out of this section of the mines and there's no way I can carry her not only back up the rope but one-handed while holding the torch. On top of that with how long a head start on me the city guards had I'm sure they're going to be here pretty soon. I'm surprised they didn't climb down the way I did, maybe they didn't have the rope or were too angry to reason out the thought. Either way they're going to be out for blood when they get here for the lives she took.
With her unconscious and incapable of movement Locke thought of how to get her out of Narsche and the caves as soon as possible when sounds began to come down the cavern. Echoes of footsteps traveled to him from the far end of the spacious and labyrinthine room he was in. Great. Just great. I find you and trouble finds you right after. This isn't good, not at all. His eyes traveled up to the whole in the ceiling above him. Can't climb up, can't go the way they're coming in and behind me there's no way out. We're trapped.
From the sounds of the footsteps and shouts coming his way, there was precious little time left to come up with any plan to get out of his current predicament. Up's no good, back's a wall, so the only way out is forward. Having decided on a course of action and pulling out one of his small daggers on his belt with his left hand, Locke prepared to face too many men with far too little weaponry. To free his hands for the fight ahead, he pushed the torch he held in his right hand into a craggy hole in the wall to his side. Hearing a sound behind him, he swiftly turned with dagger at the ready to face off against his unplanned for opponent. But there was nothing there. Bare rock from the wall gave off a dull reflection from the torch-light giving it a metallic sheen but nothing else was there.
I know I heard something. I'm stressed but not imagining things. Locke kept staring at the wall from whence the sound came and his eyes slowly widened as he saw the impossible. The sounds of rock scraping on rock slowly grew until it sounded as if it was not more than a few feet from him. The metallic luster of the wall shined brighter than normal before the entire wall seemed to shiver.
A crack appeared in the wall and before he could understand what was occurring, the crack became a fissure and opened up to reveal darkness beyond. Wondering what new devilry was this, Locke tightened his grip on the dagger in his left hand while pulling out another with his right. He didn't know what to think would come from the dark, but to his utter amazement the least expected occurred.
A small bipedal creature not more than three and a half feet tall with white short fur and stubby limbs walked out from the unknown crevice as if the caves were its property. A thin strand of what looked to be fur sprang from the back of the head and curved forward with a patch of reddish fur clumped at the end overcasting the face area. A small necklace of white small bead-like rocks hung around the neck. But its eyes drew his attention the most, they were clear and shone with an intelligence above that of the creature realm that seemed to bore into him as it walked out.
Without a word it walked quickly towards the immobile girl on the ground but Locke moved to a place of interception that caused the being to stop. It looked up at the person almost twice its height and spoke with a voice calm and quiet but that echoed in the caves with an unknown strength.
"I will not hurt her. Kupo. Fear not for her protection from me." Locke visibly widened his eyes in shock at the fact that this creature that opened up the wall spoke to him. Knowing that he could do nothing on his own and trusting in the Gods' design and the fate he was given, he stepped aside with both daggers held tight in his hands but allowing the diminutive being to inspect his charge.
After kneeling down by the young woman – which served to make Locke think of how truly short the thing was – it looked at the injured leg and at the strange-colored hair then stared straight at her neck. After a few moments he realized that it was looking deeply at the interesting ruby pendant that hung from her neck. It spoke without turning and facing him, but he could hear its voice clearly even with the sounds of the continuously approaching shouts of anger across the cavern.
"Kupo. Protection given and lives spent. A debt must be paid." The creature stood and turned to look at him while Locke spoke his mind. "What are you?" A smile appeared on the being's face as it answered saying, "We are Guardians by choice and friends of nature. Kupo. We're moogles." The voice spoke with such happiness in its voice as it spoke that Locke was visibly taken back.
"Guardians?" Locke asked curiously. "Does that mean you're going to help us?" His voice had hope in it at the strange events that were happening, but he wasn't about to turn down any offer of help at the moment.
"I am Mog. We moogles will help you help her. We will assist you to leave the mines." It then knelt down and touched its hand to the ground while smiling all the while. The floor beneath it shimmered and then a pole of metal seemed to lift from solid rock and became a spear of deadly nature. The creature grasped the violent weapon before him and it was then that Locke made a few realizations.
He first realized that the small being possessed only four fingers to its hand, yet it held the spear with a strength that belied its size. What surprised him even more was that the weapon that had been taken from the ground was made of solid Mythril and seemed to glow with an internal light. Hearing a sound, Locke turned and saw from the wall that Mog had come from entered almost a dozen more creatures like it in size and stature each carrying their own weapons made from the same glowing Mythril.
Locke was shaken from his observations as the angry shouts grew ever closer and he turned to see at the other end of the cavern men from the city had arrived and were carrying torches that lit the way. There were almost twenty of them and what frightened him more was that some were holding leashes on Lobos that were looking around and sniffing in the air leading them.
One man stood at the front with his left arm dangling uselessly to his side with black char marks on the sleeves of that arm. The smell of burned flesh wafted through the cavern swiftly to Locke's nose as he watched the man that was clearly standing through the pain by anger and hatred alone. One of the men pointed to Locke's side of the spacious cavern and yelled out to grab the others' attention.
"The Lobos led us right to them. There they are. Cleitos, she's over there." At that, the man with a charred arm spotted Locke standing near the green-haired girl on the ground. He began yelling out commands to the men with him.
"She's there men. From the looks of it she didn't handle the fall from above very well. She seems to have found some more traitors to the city with her. Don't let any of them escape. They don't deserve to live after they attacked the city like they did."
How did I all the sudden become a member of the Empire that attacked the town I'm trying to help? Locke barely had time to think that before the Lobos were unleashed and they darted across the cavern to the diminutive defenders. Lobos were naturally fast, even more so in the cold region they were fond of. They seemed to speed across the quickly narrowing distance faster than Locke thought natural but to his amazement, the Moogles moved to intercept them before they reached what they were hunting.
Fangs bit on metal while white fur met grey. The Moogles , though smaller, fought with their weaponry well and were quite nimble because of their smaller size. While the Lobos took on the other defenders, some of Narsche's soldiers had ran forward with swords and pickaxes drawn to kill those who dared attack their homes. Other Moogles joined Locke in stopping them from reaching the girl.
The man in charge of the attack stalked forward slowly, his eyes full of anger and pain as he drew his sword from his right hip awkwardly with his right arm. Locke could tell that he must have been a left-handed swordsman but with that arm recently burned and incapacitated, he was making do with what he could. The man called Cleitos made a direct line towards the injured girl on the ground whilst ignoring the sounds of battle and of the dying as his sole focus was on killing the one who caused him pain. Locke himself moved to intercept him and gripped his two daggers tighter in his hands preparing for the fight.
"She killed them. She killed them all. She deserves to die for what she has done." Cleitos began rambling and Locke ignored him as he neared them. "She did this. She burned my arm, destroyed my home, and killed my brother. Death will be sweet justice for her." Locke could tell that this man was beyond reasoning and would stop at nothing to kill her. So he did what he had to do and waited for Cleitos to make the first move. He didn't have to wait long.
The attack was blunt but clumsy and it seemed to suit the man who thrust forward with his sword held awkwardly in his right hand. Locke had little trouble moving out of range of the deadly weapon. Cleitos swung horizontally this time to minimize the chance of Locke avoiding the blow. But again, his opponent just ducked swiftly under the swing and moved slightly to the side. Anger clouded the man's judgement as he began to swing wildly with his blade, even more so as he was unused to wielding it with his right hand.
Locke was quick and agile and after a few more dodges without letting the sword connect, he used both his daggers to block a downward thrust to his face. Acting quickly, Locke stepped forward under the blade while his left dagger held it up and moved his right arm forward while switching the dagger to a reverse hold, brought his weapon to bear against Cleitos' left shoulder. A cry of severe pain came from him as he stepped back to nurse his already injured and burned arm.
Before he could have a moment to recover, Locke had dashed forward quicker than before and brought his right dagger down across his opponent's right wrist causing his to drop his sword while bringing his left hand as a fist holding the hilt of the dagger against Cleitos' right temple. The blow was strong and he was unprepared for it. He fell on his left side unconscious from the hit while Locke held his now bleeding knuckles.
Locke looked around and noticed that the Moogles had taken care of the rest of the guards with most unconscious and some killed. They had been gracious enough to incapacitate and to render unconscious as many as they could rather than kill them. The guards had not been so inclined in their battle. Mog knelt down to a dead Moogle and with tears falling lifted the Mythril dagger from the hands of his fallen friend. Even thought it was a dagger, to Mog and the other Moogles it was the size of a decent sword and Locke once again thought on how small in comparison they were.
Sounds echoed in the caves and Locke heard the bellows of creatures far more fierce than the Lobos they had faced. He knew a Vommamoth's cry when he heard it. Mog turned to Locke and quickly reached behind his neck to take off the small necklace he had on. "You cannot stay here anymore. She needs to leave for she holds the key." After removing the necklace, he took the small dagger made of Mythril and handing them both to Locke said, "Take these. They will help you. The weapon is for her to remember us Guardians of the past. The charm will help you leave this cave."
Locke took both items and pocketed them with his own daggers in his pack which he adjusted to his front as he knelt to pick up the green-haired maiden at his side and placed her on his back. After standing, Locke looked straight at Mog and said, "Thank you. For everything. We wouldn't have made it out of this without you. I'll never forget this." Mog just smiled that impossibly innocent smile and nodded his head while pointing to the opened wall that he had come through before the battle. "That way will lead you out to the farthest mountain wall. When you reach it, press the charm to the rock and your way will open." Locke pulled out a small piece of rope and tied the girl's hands together so he could grab them with one hand. He then pulled the torch from the craggy wall that held it with the other hand and turned to run in the opening.
If Locke had been looking back as he left and ran with the green-haired girl on his back, he would have seen the Vommamoths enter the other side of the cavern and Mog jump high in the air and impale one of the two in the entryway with his Mythril Spear that not only mortally wounded it but immobilized it as well. The only thing Locke heard as he left was a large bellow of pain and anguish as the creature gave it's death cry. As Locke left the way Mog told him to go, he heard sounds of cave-ins behind him but he ignored those as he ran, his first priority saving the girl under his charge and care.
After running through the passage for a good ten minutes with the sounds of collapsing rock and pain fading behind him he eventually reached a solid wall and put the torch on a small ledge of rock. He untied the rope around the girl's hands and set her carefully on the ground to avoid further injury to her leg. Unfortunately, the jolt of her landing seemed to have woken her as she stirred and opened her eyes with great confusion and fright. She screamed for a short moment until she realized that she wasn't falling through the floor anymore.
Locke pulled his hands from his ears as he said to her, "Wow. That is one mighty pair of lungs you have young lady." She looked up at the unfamiliar man and tried to stand and run from someone she must have thought was trying to attack her like everyone else but Arvis had done. She had barely put some weight on her right foot before she collapsed again on the ground in pain. She looked straight up at Locke and said, "Please. I don't want to die. Please don't kill me."
Locke looked down at her sadly for a moment then he smiled widely as he knelt down near the frightened girl and said, "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not like the others that chased you. I'm a friend of Arvis' and he sent me to find you and get you out of Narsche before anyone else tries to hurt you." The look of surprise turned to worry as she blurted out a question. "Is he alright?"
Locke looked at the girl in front of him with slight confusion. Here she is with an injured ankle, bandages covering her forehead and temples to her ears, frightened for her own life and the first thing she asks about is someone else's safety. She is a truly caring person. His voice came out without him noticing it. "He's fine. He suffered a small bump to the head but other than that he's uninjured. It seems that you got the worst of it between you two."
Locke then knelt down while pulling out a heavy cloth from a pocket and proceeded to bind the girl's leg to help her to walk. He took one of his daggers and cut the torch into a long wooden stick that he tied to her leg to help her stand. The girl stayed on the ground watching him bind her injury with a look of confusion on her face. After he was done, he stood and walked over to the solid wall. He pulled out the necklace that Mog had given him and pressed it to the wall with confidence.
It only took a moment before the rock began to shift and open up to let soft light in from outside. It wasn't much light as night had fully fallen while they were in the caves, but it was enough that it allowed Locke to see with his sharp eyes. He turned to the girl as she asked him, "You… saved me?" She seemed unsure of the answer that he would give.
Locke let out a small laugh as he said, "Not quite. I wouldn't have been able to get you out of that situation without the help of the Moogles. Crafty little things." She looked up at his face with even more confusion then before so he tried to appease her and make her less uncomfortable. "No sense dwelling on the past too much either way though. We need to get out of here and the quicker we leave the better."
She looked down and spoke quietly. "Why are you helping me? After everything I've done, you still are willing to help me?"
With resolution and confidence in his voice Locke said, "I promised Arvis I would keep you safe. And I never break a promise." His voice had strength but bore a tinge of regret that he didn't even hear himself.
Locke looked back the way they had come while straining his ears to hear for anything that might be following them, then walked over to her and held out his hand for her to grasp. "With your leg injured as it is, it'll be better if you lean on me so we can move faster and get farther from here."
She looked at his outstretched hand and after thinking for a moment, grabbed it and let him lift her up. He positioned them so she had her left arm over his shoulders as he held most of her weight. As he helped her walk to the exit, he noticed that she was slightly shorter than him. And she's far lighter than I thought. She must be just over 100 pounds. This means that we'll make decent time even with her injury.
As Locke helped her walk, they moved towards the exit of the caves and left the caves and memories of Narsche behind.
Writers Notes
Another of the intriguing aspects of Final Fantasy VI is the focus on perspectives. How different the world seems to the Returners versus Emperor Gestahl and even those are different from the innocent townspeople in different villages and cities across the world. I wanted to portray that aspect somewhat in this chapter. We know Wedge's opinions on the assaulting and destroying of places of business, and now we have Locke's opinion on the same matter.
On the matter of the Slave Crown, I always imagined it to be an actual crown-like device that rested comfortably on the head of an individual. I decided to keep it on Terra because I believe that it serves a better purpose for the story there than broken and/or unusable in Arvis' house collecting dust throughout the course of the story. It is also an understandable reason as to why Terra's memory was lost and is slow to be regained.
On grammar, "Therefore you must keep silence and listen." Under normal circumstances the phrase would be "keep silent and listen" but to keep silence is also a verb, a less common phrasing of verb but an actual one nonetheless.
I have created an actual time length for the entirety of the World of Balance from start to finish and the specifics of the first third being almost exact and done. One thing that always bothers me when reading is either the skipping around in timeline or the ignoring of the natural flow of it completely. I will try to create accurate representations of travel times as well as understandable weather situations.
I have created a Table of Contents for the story. Due to the fact that fanfiction_dot_net tends to number their chapters (entries) differently than I do and will, I felt that it was a welcome addition. I also included a few other things besides the numbering as a way of explaining more. The timeline and dates will be stated there with the format of YEAR/MONTH/DAY because I choose to do so.
Once again I humbly request for reviews and/or comments on my writing style. I wish greatly to improve myself as a writer as well as make this story an excellent example of what Final Fantasy VI can be. Please inform me of your thoughts and opinions of the story so far as well as on the portrayal of characters, places and perspectives. I understand that Locke and Terra have actually just left Narsche so this is still quite early in the story, but I do appreciate a kind word or even a criticizing one as any thoughts do help the story both progress and improve. They also encourage me to continue as my brother and myself are my only supporters of me continuing the story.
On a pleasant note, the story has now reached 30,000 words and they just left Narsche. That makes me happy and also look forward to the length of the story as a whole. I look forward to breaking the 100,000 word barrier. I believe that will happen around the end of the Returner headquarters part of the story. I have the very hefty goal of creating one of the longest FF VI stories on FanFiction with a length I deign to mention, but we shall see how that turns out.
Word Count: 12,170
Uploaded: 2009/07/18