Final Fantasy VI: The Sands of Time
Book 2: The Goddess War
Chapter 11 - Red Tide
11.6 - Grey, Fey, and Ham
"How much long must we wait?" The Lady Blunt marched across the stuffy cabin, back and forth, back and forth. She had waited patiently enough for an audience with Captain Delphino, but it seemed she would not wait so quietly for the man she called Lord Ham.
The Captain herself waited like a stone statue behind her large wooden work desk, papers and sea charts piled high around her. The desk was as expected to Maduin. He had seen an almost identical assortment of material in Captain Bismark's quarters the few times he had been allowed in them. In that they were much alike.
What Maduin had expected of the woman herself, he was not sure. Probably a tall, strong beauty, with face and hair out of a fairy tale. A siren of the sea she must be to draw in the distant heart of his Captain. What he saw, however, was a crag of a woman, as old and salty as the Captain. Her long steel-grey hair poured over her shoulders like a mane, a damp, lanky mane. Her face was deep and furrowed, and her eyes sunk so deep in wrinkles Maduin could barely see more than the glimmer of silvery pupils. The Captain had always seemed old to him, this woman seemed ancient. But her thin-lipped smile was young and wily, a smile strangely similar to the Lady Blunt's. Maduin did not like that smile.
Of the rest of her Maduin saw nothing beyond a long, grey cloak of lobo fur, trimmed with the feathers of the local vulture. The woman almost looked part of the furniture of the room, save her staring silver eyes and thin, knowing smile. She had been seated behind her desk, surrounded in papers when he came in, and had not moved a finger since. The only things she had spoken were a half-dozen curt words in her wheezy voice. "Welcome," "Sit," and "Wait for Ole Bull."
For a while Maduin was content to wait. The Lady's outburst had been short-lived and futile, and Maduin decided it was best not to imitate her. The Captain did not take any more notice of her fellow Stradivari after her outburst than before, and he doubted she would so much as look at him, even if he yelled. And strangely, the Lady Blunt did not seem to mind the treatment. It seemed impossible, but here, in the quarters of her Captain, she acted almost timid.
After a half hour of waiting, the Captain finally stirred herself, but only to lift one weathered fist out of her wolf's fur and to her face. She whispered something that sounded like a series of clicks and rasps into her closed hand, then opened it. To Maduin's surprise, a fat little beetle flitted out of her hand and then out a small porthole.
Maduin looked at the Lady Blunt for explanation, but she was busy carving a small block of wood with one of her daggers, and seemed not to notice anything around her. She sensed his eyes on her, though, and muttered, "Even the sea has its limits."
Ten minutes later, there was a loud slamming noise from outside that Maduin took for a door being rudely banged, and a moment later a giant vomammoth burst through the cabin door with a loud bellow.
"The Ladies Grey and Fey! Sorry to keep you waiting, but there was a matter I just had to attend to."
Maduin jumped at the explosion of noise into their silent group. Barely fitting inside the door frame was not a vomammoth, but the largest man he had ever seen, covered in a vast coat made of what could only be the thick, mangy pelt of an equally large vomammoth, head, tusks and all. No human could ever be as tall as Maduin, but this man was close, and definitely wider. Almost eight feet tall, and nearly as large around, he was a man who fit his title well. The Lady Blunt might have been content to wait for her Captain, but this heaving giant looked ready to crash through the desk and lift the Captain up on the tusks jutting from the vomammoth head mounted on his brow like a helm.
The Captain did not seem to even notice the man's entrance. She merely kept her vigil from behind her desk.
"And what matter was that, Lord Ham? A second behemoth steak?" The Lady Blunt was standing now, her wooden carving tossed to the floor and her dagger still in hand. She was not smiling.
"A Bug from the South, my dear Lady Fey," said the man in a deep, booming voice. It was not quite a bellow, but it was the closest to a conversational tone he seemed capable of . "It seems we have a new member. Named him Molitor."
The Lady Blunt seemed to find this news interesting. "Has he been blooded?"
"Aye, christened and blooded. A full member now."
"And how did he kill?" The Lady licked her lips.
Ole Bull smiled a big thick grin full of crooked teeth. "With naught but his own sweet voice."
The Lady deflated at that. "What?"
"He's a man of words, and manipulates others into doing his killing for him. They say he convinced a ghost to take the man he chose to the other side personally."
Now the Lady straightened and looked interested again. Before she could speak, Ole Bull smiled knowingly and shook his shaggy head. "Dunno the details on that one. Could be him, but just as likely it's some other strangeness from Jidorik."
Maduin did not like all this talk of death and killing. But news from Jidorik was valuable. That was where he must go if he wanted to free his friends, and it would seem there were just as many Stradivari down there as in the North.
"And what other 'strangeness' might be going on in Jidorik?" Maduin ventured. He had not moved while the two spoke, and it seemed like the man hadn't even noticed him, despite his own massive size.
"Oho! The mountain speaks! I thought you were a stuffed Hill Gigas the way you stood there, Esper!" Ole Bull turned his ponderous girth to face Maduin now, still all smiles and bluster. "Servais told me about you, Maduin is it? And the little girl there must be Elphis, the blind one?"
"Yes." Maduin protectively brought Elphis's sleeping body closer to him, away from the unpredictable energy of Ole Bull. Kumiro peaked out from behind him, trying to look even smaller than usual, but still curious to see who this new, noisy member was.
"Ah! And the moogle, just like he said. And this is definitely the same one from Antissa, and Narsille, right?" He looked at the Lady Blunt, and with a short nod, she confirmed Maduin's identity to the man. "Ah good, good." He seemed satisfied.
"The South?" Maduin repeated, trying to keep Ole Bull's attention on the topic at hand.
Ole Bull laughed and slapped his enormous belly. The entire cabin shook from his voice. "All I know is what the Bug tells me."
"A bug?" Maduin was reminded of the beetle-thing that had flown out the porthole.
"Not a bug. A Bug." Ole Bull explained, as if nothing more needed to be said.
"I'm afraid...," Maduin started, but Ole Bull raised his ham-sized fist to silence him. When he opened it, there was another beetle-like insect in his hand, slightly larger than the one Captain Delphino had used, and with larger wings. It scuttled about in his hands, twitching its head back and forth expectantly.
"This is a Bug," he said proudly. "I take it you know who we are?"
"You're Ole Bull, and all three of you are Stradivari, correct?" Maduin said carefully. He must not forget - these were all killers.
"Correct." Ole Bull raised the plump Bug to his mouth as if to eat it whole, then said in a soft, cracked voice different from his usual one something Maduin could not make out. The Bug spread its wings, and like the first, flew out the porthole.
"That was for Servais, to let him know where I'm at. He's currently wandering the back alleys, trying to sell some weed he found in the forest or something. You know Servais."
The funny thing was, Maduin did. The time he had spent with Servais had been short, but eventful. He almost considered the hunter a friend.
"Anyways, we use these Bugs for communication. Discovered by Servais and bred by Madam Greffuhle herself, they are. Nothing else like them in the world. They say one sting from a mishandled Bug will turn you to stone. Good protection against being intercepted, eh? Where Servais found the creepy little things I'll never know, but damn if they aren't useful!"
"And that one brought you news from Jidorik?" Maduin urged, trying to keep the man on track. The Bugs were interesting, but he wanted to know about the message, not the messenger.
"So you want to know what the Bug says?" Ole Bull dropped his hands to his sides, and took a stance that could only be taken for a fighting posture. "Gotta test you first. A big guy like you, I can't pass up a chance like this."
Maduin stiffened. The last thing he wanted was to fight. He could get the information from someone else if this was how he had to get it from Ole Bull. Servais, Captain Delphino, even the Lady Blunt...all of them seemed better choices than this man at the moment. "Never mind, it's not important enough to fight over."
Ole Bull laughed again and beat his chest like a drum. "Too late for that, Esper. I want to see what your kind is made of. Rumors and ghosts are all I've had recently, and I need something more...filling." He laughed again, and Maduin could see his thick muscles bulging under the layers of fat and vomammoth hide. He looked every bit like a bull ready to charge.
"Outside."
Ole Bull stopped short at the quiet command, issued from Captain Delphino. It was the first time she had spoken since Ole Bull entered. Maduin glanced back at her, still half-hidden behind her desk and papers, but she looked the same as before, staring at them like a feathered gargoyle. It was like she hadn't even spoken. But Ole Bull had heard her loud and clear, and seemed chastened.
"Lady Grey's right. This birdcage is too small. We'll fight on the deck."
"I told you I don't want..."
"Go, it has to be done." Once again, Captain Delphino's dusty voice drifted over them, stern and unrelenting. It was not a voice to be ignored.
Maduin shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "I'll try not to hurt you."
Ole Bull had already left the cabin and was on his way above deck, but Maduin could hear his laughter booming through the ship. "I won't promise the same, Esper." His voice trailed down to the cabin, as loud as if he were still there.
"Leave the girl here. She'll be safe," Captain Delphino said in a tone that was almost gentle, but still a command.
Maduin nodded and placed Elphis on a cushioned seat. The Captain's eyes moved to her sleeping form, one eyebrow raised.
"Why won't she wake?"
"We had a trying time in the forest east of here. She is still recovering from the battle, I think." In truth, Maduin did not know why she hadn't woken yet. Something had happened in that forest. Something inexplicable, and definitely magic. And it was not his magic, either. Elphis seemed fine, just asleep, but she had been sleeping for almost a day. She breathed and was at peace, but her skin was still paler than usual, and if Ole Bull's entrance didn't wake her, there wasn't much else that would. If she did not wake soon, Maduin would start to worry.
The old woman simply grunted in response and turned into a statue again. It was obvious she would say nothing more, so Maduin left her sitting on her throne like a queen of stone.
On deck, Ole Bull was swinging his arms and stretching, ready for the contest of strength. The Lady Blunt had quietly slithered out of the cabin and now leaned against the wall beside the doorway, smiling with dagger in hand. "Careful, he's stronger than he looks," was all she would say.
Stronger than he looks? He looks as strong as the vomammoth he wears, and smells as bad too!
Maduin couldn't help but chuckle. He knew Elphis would complain about the man's smell more than anything else, if she were awake. The grin left his face as he realized he missed her company already.
"Kumiro, stay here with the Lady Blunt," Maduin said as he lurched across the deck.
"Puh...," chirped the moogle in a glum tone.
"I know it's a bad idea, but if this is what it takes for them to trust me, then so be it. I must have their good will, or this will just be another Antissa."
The moogle shook its head and fluttered away to sit on a barrel, keeping his distance from the idling Lady Blunt. Maduin knew how the moogle felt. He was the monster here, but the Stradivari were the ones that couldn't be trusted yet.
As Maduin walked towards where Ole Bull squatted and stretched, he stumbled more than once. He had never liked being on a ship, even the Maiden. Captain Bismark had always joked about how he was made for the desert, not the sea, and he was absolutely right. It would seem his new body was the same as the old in this case. The feeling of rushing across the sands of the Thanas in his new Esper body had been exhilarating, but he felt the same sick knot in his gut here as he had on Captain Bismark's ship as a human.
"Looking a little green there, Esper!" Ole Bull called out. "Better get your sea legs quick, or you'll be knocked right off the ship!"
Maduin watched the man prepare himself. The cold blue tusks of his vomammoth skin overcoat gleamed in the sun like melting ice, and Maduin wondered if the man had actually killed the beast himself. Maduin had wrestled with vomammoths on the snowy slopes north of Narsille, and while he had always overpowered them and sent them running, they could still be dangerous even to him. Those tusks may look like ice, but they gored like a boar spear, and the creatures strength when charging was more than any human could hope to stand against. So what was this man's - no, this Stradivari's, secret? How did he kill?
After what seemed a mile of unsteady trudging across the deck, Maduin lumbered into position, ten feet from Ole Bull. Thankfully, the man had removed his coat and placed it in a pile next to him. The tusks were resting along with the rest of the hide, and would not be a threat. A gleaming bald pate shone as brightly as the tusks that had hidden it, revealing the full features of the man for the first time. Maduin realized that this man was surprisingly old. At least in his fifties, but the Stradivari were a special breed of people, and he could very well be even older. The Lady Blunt, for all her cold beauty and youthful motions, was a woman in her forties. The man could be anywhere from fifty to a hundred, for all he knew.
There were no weapons on Ole Bull. He stood bare-chested, with his gut hanging out over his belt like flabby armor. There was muscle there, to be sure, but it was well-hidden under the endless rolls of fat and thick mat of short, black hair. From the way he flexed and postured, it actually looked like he intended to contest his strength directly with Maduin's, hand to hand. The man was as foolhardy as a vomammoth, too, if he thought to best a ten-foot Esper with his bare hands.
Careful, he's stronger than he looks. The Lady Blunt's voice echoed in his mind once more. But no matter how strong, he was still only human. Maduin wished there was some way to avoid a fight now more than ever. What if he accidentally killed the man?
Maduin sighed and called out to the man to see reason one more time. "We don't have to do this, you know. I don't want to hurt you, and you won't be able to hurt me." It was a little arrogant, but Maduin knew it for the cold, hard truth. No human, even one as big as Ole Bull, could compare to the strength of an Esper. The man may even outweigh Maduin with that stomach of his, but Maduin had the blood of the gods coursing through his magical veins. There was no hope for this man, Stradivari or not.
Ole Bull's laugh was the only response Maduin got. The giant of a man stepped into position himself, and planted his feet squarely on the rocking deck, smiling all the while.
Lady Blunt's harsh laugh rose up from behind Maduin. "Give us a good show, Lord Ham!"
Ole Bull tipped his brow and waved his hand like knight saluting his maiden. "As you wish, my Lady Fey."
"I will not fight back," Maduin said, deciding on his course of action. "You may come at me as you like, and see what you can do."
"Cocky, aren't you?" Ole Bull said. "Don't worry about me. I always do as I like. Hah!"
With a roar that shook the planks beneath his feet, Ole Bull charged head first at Maduin. As he had promised, Maduin did not move an inch, either to evade the charge or brace for it. He merely looked at the man with sad eyes.
If this is what it takes.
When the man's thick body collided with Maduin, it sent a shock reverberating through his body that surprised him. No doubt, there was the strength of a full-grown bull vomammoth in this man. But...no more than that. And as impressive as it might be against a human opponent, it was simply not enough against an Esper.
Maduin stood stock still as Ole Bull's weight crashed into him. The impact was strong enough to force him to grab the man with both hands and stop his progress, the same as he had done with dozens of real vomammoths, but not enough to make the Esper so much as take one step from where he stood.
That was his first mistake.
Before Maduin knew what was happening, he found his arms being grabbed in a firm grip and himself being thrown to the deck, the full weight and smell of Ole Bull on top of him. It was a most unpleasant position to be in.
"Hah! Don't ever let your guard down when fighting a Stradivari," Ole Bull crooned pleasantly from where he sat atop Maduin's form, acting like the king of the mountain. "If you promise to take this match seriously, I may let you up."
Utterly embarrassed, Maduin tried to rise, but found he couldn't. Ole Bull definitely outweighed him, and somehow knew just where to place his prodigious weight to pinch the nerves of his limbs and render him paralyzed. For all his power, Maduin could not move. He could use magic, but that would be unfair, and unpredictably dangerous. And besides, he had his pride, even as an Esper. There was no reason he couldn't overpower this man with his physical strength alone.
"Fine, just get off me," Maduin finally said after five minutes of struggling like a fish out of water. People had started to gather both on the deck, and on the docks nearby. The last thing he wanted was to put on a show for all these people. Best just to get it over with.
The tingling numbness that had stolen over his arms and legs vanished as soon as Ole Bull hefted his body back onto the ship's deck. "Good, now this time, I want you to come at me. I'll show you how to properly defend yourself."
It was all Maduin could do not to fire a chunk of ice at the back of the man's head as he sauntered back into position, completely sure of himself. But he would do as he was told, and hopefully put this man in his place. Maduin had toppled a beast the size of a house with his charge before. What hope did this human have?
"Now, show me what you're made of, Esper." Ole Bull was standing as he had before, facing his opponent with both hands dangling at his side, ready and waiting.
The wooden boards beneath his feet cracked and splintered as he lifted himself forward, and the entire ship rocked downwards from his launch. There would be no holding back this time. Ole Bull wanted the Esper, and that was exactly what he was going to get.
When Maduin reached Ole Bull, he had expected to send the man careening clear off the ship and into the water, properly humiliated. Unfortunately, Ole Bull would not be so easily shamed. Thick hands grasped Maduin's right shoulder spike as he reached his target. Before he could react, he felt his entire body swinging around and flying off the ship with all the force he had intended for Ole Bull.
The water was cold, but Maduin only felt the rising heat of embarrassment as he waded in the ocean like a fool. The laughter of the people watching from the docks could be heard clearly from where he floated. What had just happened?
"That's what you should have done to me when I charged you, Esper," Ole Bull called out from the deck. He was not smiling now. "It wouldn't have worked, but you should still have tried, and at least I wouldn't have pinned you."
"I don't need lessons on how to fight from you," said Maduin from the water, gritting his teeth.
"Like hell you don't!" Ole Bull roared from above, angry for the first time since Maduin had met him. "Fey was right, you're green as a pickle. Now get up here and try again. I want a fight, and I won't let you go without one!"
That was enough for Maduin. With an arctic blast, he flew from the water like a cannonball. The entire bay around the ship froze solid, trapping the Mother of Pearl and two other ships in place. The laughter of the people on the docks died in their throats.
If you want an Esper for real, then you'll get one, Lord Ham.
When Maduin landed on the ship's deck, his clawed feet dug into the wood so hard that he felt the planks shatter beneath him. It was only by using his magical energies to hover in place that he kept from crashing straight down into the hold. His eyes glowed a fierce blue and cold winds shot out like small tornadoes towards Ole Bull.
"That's more like it," Ole Bull said, his anger still visible on his face. If the freezing air bothered him, he didn't show it. "Get one thing straight here, Esper. We don't need your strength. We have strength. And we certainly don't need your fighting experience," Ole Bull allowed himself a mocking grin and spat a thick glob of phlegm overboard. "What we need is this," Ole Bole calmly waved his hand through the faint blue whorls that surrounded him. "We need magic. And it looks like you're the best we've got. Hmph."
"Just what is going on here?" Maduin suspected this test was more than just for bragging rights or fun. It really had been a test, to see if he could actually help them against whatever was plaguing Zwill. The cold knot of anger that had formed in his stomach shattered. He had not proved himself very well, and he knew it. He had let his pride blind him to the fact that just maybe he wasn't as superior to these people as he thought.
Ole Bull resumed his fighting position. "Fight me properly and I'll tell you. I won't waste my breath on someone who's no use to me."
"Very well, but I warn you. Magic is dangerous and hard to control."
"Just as any true force of nature should be. Come at me with your magic, and we will see."
This time, Maduin did not blindly charge the man. With a flick of his fingers, he sent a bullet of ice flying at Ole Bull as fast as an arrow. It struck the back of his hand, and was swatted aside just as easily as Maduin himself had been.
"Better, but I hope you can do more than throw snowballs," grunted Ole Bull.
Wordlessly, Maduin conjured another chunk of ice, this time the size of a cannonball. Ole Bull still pushed it aside the same way he had pushed Maduin away, but he had to use both his hands and the full strength of his arms to do it. The man was quicker than he looked, and as the Lady Blunt had warned, stronger as well.
"That was good, but it won't help us. Again." Ole Bull was rubbing his hands where the ice had hit, and Maduin knew he had to have hurt the man. Brushing aside a cannonball is no small feat, no matter how strong a man is.
The third round was when Maduin knew he was not dealing with an ordinary human. The boulder of ice he hurled this time was the same strength as the attacks he had used against Cerberus, and even that hellhound had staggered at their blows. When Ole Bull saw the rock of ice hurtling towards him, instead of getting out of the way as Maduin had thought he would, he stood his ground once again.
"Watch out!" Maduin cried, despite himself, as he watched Ole Bull brace for an attack that would surely kill him.
The ice hit home and with a sickening crunch split itself against its target. Maduin had closed his eyes as the rock was about to hit, not wanting to see the man die by his own bravado. When he heard laughing, he opened his eyes.
Ole Bull was on his rump, his back against the mast of the ship. He had been thrown back half the length of the ship by the force of the impact, but he was alive. On either side of him was a broken hunk of ice, each as big as he was. And in between was the old man, down, but certainly not out. And laughing uproariously. Both his hands were covered in blood, but he did not seem to notice.
"Are we done?" Maduin hoped so.
"For today," Ole Bull said, dusting himself off. "I had to resort to my secret technique for that one, and even then, I barely managed to break it. Yes, your magic may be of some use to us." Ole Bull walked with his steady step across the deck, the blood dripping unheeded from his hands. "If you can learn how to fight, that is," he finished, stretching out a bloody hand to Maduin.
"Well met, Maduin. Sampson Harcourt, mayor of Zwill, at your service," Ole Bull said, introducing himself properly.
Maduin took the bloody hand in his own and shook it. The man's grip was remarkably strong, but Maduin's was stronger.
Ole Bull winced as Maduin tightened his grip. Smiling, he tightened his grip as well, but Maduin only increased his strength. The Esper could easily crush the man's hand, no matter how strong he was.
"Aye, you're strong. Is that what you want to hear me say? Now loosen your grip, my hands are already wounded from striking that block of ice."
Maduin smiled and let go. "Well met, Sampson Harcourt. Maduin, Esper of No One, at your service."
"Now we may talk of Zwill. After seeing your powers, there is no doubt it is Espers and magic we face."
"Then I will do what I can to help you against my brethren."
But I will not kill them, if I can help it. I am not a killer.
"I still think you're wasting your time with this one," Lady Blunt broke in, her eyes like daggers as she looked at the two grinning men. "It's the girl we should be training to fight. I'm never wrong about candidates."
"And Servais says it is the Esper," Ole Bull countered, his eyes still looking up at Maduin's face, but the smile gone from his face. "And he's never wrong, either."
"And I agree with the Lady Blunt."
All three heads turned to see Captain Delphino standing in the doorway, her gray lobo fur coat hanging from her in thick luxurious folds. Nestled in the vulture-feathered linings of her coat like a little bird was Elphis, wide awake and staring blindly towards the group.
"Hiya Maydune," Elphis said sleepily. "What's that smell? Smells like a big old vomammoth."
Maduin couldn't help but laugh. Ole Bull joined him, and even Kumiro chirped his little gurgling laugh.
"Lady Grey may do as she pleases," Ole Bull said graciously. "Lady Fey will be reminded that I am the Axelrod of the North, and her superior."
The Lady Blunt harrumphed and stalked off the ship. "My job here is done then, Lord Ham," she spat over her shoulder as she walked straight off the undocked ship's gangplank and onto the still-frozen water. Without slipping once she walked across the ice and back onto land, disappearing through the crossblade gates and into the city proper.
"Always a handful, that one," Ole Bull said, rubbing his bald head with his still-bleeding hand. "Captain, might you have something for my hands?"
"Come along, then." Captain Delphino silently let Elphis drop down from her nest of feathers and onto the deck. Her gargoyle eyes never left the little girl, though.
"Maydune, what's goin' on?" Elphis said happily, oblivious to the recent struggle.
"Nothing for you to worry about." Maduin reached down and took her little hand in his, then looked to Ole Bull. "What now?"
"First, I fix up my hands. While Captain Delphino treats me, we can talk of those things you wanted to know. Not here, though. Too many ears about."
"Of course."
Ole Bull donned his vomammoth overcoat again, and marched back below deck. Maduin followed him with Elphis, telling her about the people they now found themselves with. She was not happy about Lady Blunt showing up, but she seemed to like Captain Delphino, and thought Ole Bull was funny, if not smelly.
"How did you wake up? I was starting to get worried you'd sleep forever."
"I heard a voice, and I opened my eyes. That's all. It was the Captain's voice," Elphis said absently, as if it wasn't strange at all that she had slept so long, or been woken by the voice of a stranger.
"What did she say?"
"Don't remember. I was dreaming with Titan, and then I heard her voice, and woke up. I think she's a witch, Maydune."
Ole Bull heard them and laughed, but not quite as loud as usual. "Captain Delphino's no witch. But she is very skilled in the healing arts, and a master hypnotist as well. When she tells you do something, it's hard to say no." Ole Bull glanced back at Elphis scurrying along beside the two giants and smiled. "She told you to wake up...and you listened. Simple as that."
"I still think she's a witch," Elphis said stubbornly. "A good witch, though."
"Kupo." Kumiro agreed.
Both men were laughing as the group entered the stuffy cabin once again. As usual, Delphino sat behind her desk, still as stone. Her thin-lipped smiled still danced on her lips, and Maduin's good humor died as he watched her treat Ole Bull's hands. Could Elphis see that smile, she might not be so trusting of the "good witch."
I must not forget I am surrounded by killers.