Chapter Four
The dwarves made quick work of preparing armor for the men, and after Cecil and Kain had been assisted into their new armor, the group proceeded to other parts of the castle to gather supplies and information. They had arrived at what seemed to be the general goods store, and it had already been quite some time since they'd arrived. Rydia hoped Rosa would hurry things up. The woman had spent the last hour purchasing potions, ethers, and tinctures to distribute between their packs. Rydia stood nearby simply out of courtesy, but her nerves demanded that they start moving. Even Cecil seemed to be wishing the same thing of Rosa as he stood near the doorway, his eyes boring into her back.
"Are we all set?" he asked, sounding weary.
"Just wait," Rosa nearly hissed by way of response.
Rydia shot him a sidelong glance that conveyed her sentiments exactly. Even Yang was grinning with his eyes closed, arms folded across his chest. Rydia didn't give two bits about what Kain thought, and she determinedly avoided sweeping her gaze in his direction.
"I think that's everything," Rosa commented, looking everything over for good measure.
At last! Rydia's impatient mind rejoiced.
"I need everyone's packs," Rosa said, turning to look at everyone.
Rydia began chewing on the inside of her cheek. They had to leave. Golbez was away from his tower, and if they waited too long, he was going to be there waiting for them by the time they left the dwarf stronghold. A few hours might not make much difference, she thought reluctantly, but they sure felt that way.
While Rosa rifled through the packs and stuck things into corners Rydia hadn't known previously existed, Cecil began poring over a map the king had given him. Rydia walked to his side and peered at it as well. There were sketches of plateaus for miles upon miles and a solitary road that serpentined between them. It was a map only of this continent, she gathered. There were no accounts of the magma seas or how far away the Feymarch lay.
"At least we're traveling well inland," Cecil admitted.
"Is it really that far of a distance?" Rydia asked, perplexed by the map's legend. "What exactly is a furlong?"
Cecil just shook his head. "The words they use down here are truly…"
"We're all set!" Rosa happily announced, wiping her hands off on her robes as if they were covered in dust.
Cecil and Rydia looked up. Rosa held out two packs, and Rydia stepped forward and claimed her own. She swung it between her shoulder blades and was surprised to find how heavy it was.
"Are we really leaving this time?" Rydia asked suspiciously, with a touch of heat in her voice. She was tired of running only to stand still. It was the perfect recipe for losing momentum and she was tired of doing that, too.
"We're really leaving this time," Rosa confirmed.
"Fantastic!" Cecil announced, sweeping out of the room before Rosa even had time to pull an expression. Yang followed and then Kain, but Rydia hung back apprehensively; she had no desire to walk that close to the dragoon, so she waited until Rosa had vacated the room before she followed suit.
They walked through a long room that was littered with scrolls and maps, and Rydia gazed around curiously until she bumped into Rosa who had stopped unexpectedly.
They had just entered an anteroom, and standing in the center was a great stone drum, carved with runes and glowing with a peculiar light. "What do you think this is?" Cecil asked, inspecting the drum that held a shining liquid. Yang stepped toward him and peered in as well.
"I don't know; I've never seen its like."
"It looks like elixir," Rosa replied, a little awed.
"Elixir?" Rydia asked. "What's it doing sitting out like this?"
"I believe I might be able ta explain," a dwarf guard interrupted, walking up to them. "We keep this here fer our soldiers who've just 'turned from battle. The heat can a'times be too much fer us dwarves. Boosts morale and strengthens the body. Please, take uh sip and be blessed of the gods 'fore ya venture into peril."
"We can't just take this; surely your soldiers need this more than we do!" Cecil protested.
"'Tis a sign of goodwill," the dwarf replied. "Drink an' be 'ealed of whatever maladies sleep couldna' cure."
Rosa bowed deeply. "Thank you," she said, slowly stepping forward, and dipping her hands into the sapphire colored liquid. With reverence, she drew it to her lips and swallowed. Rydia watched as the others did the same, and then it was finally her turn. It had the taste of honey and alighted on her tongue with a strange tingle. She felt the hurts of battle lifted from her bones and muscles. Hurts she hadn't even been aware of dissipated like a bad dream.
"May the gods be with ye," the dwarf said, saluting them.
Rosa smiled her usual warm smile as they proceeded to the door. It was sturdy, and like everything else in the dwarf castle, made of stone. It took two more dwarves to open it. It slid open on heavy hinges and the surge of heat immediately covered Rydia in a fine sheen of sweat.
"The heat of this land is unbelievable," Kain muttered ahead of her.
She couldn't help but agree with him as the heat stung her eyes.
"The map said to go in which direction?" Rosa asked.
"West," Cecil answered, gesturing to the right.
"Let's get this over with," Yang said decidedly, setting off across the porous ground.
The rest of them followed, but the pace was not brisk. The heat sapped their strength quickly and they had to stop for water every mile or so. It hadn't been a few hours before Rosa expressed her concerns over the supply of water the dwarves had given them.
"How can they live on so little?" Yang wondered aloud.
"I have no idea, but if they thought this would last us, they were sorely mistaken," Rosa responded, sounding distressed.
Rydia lifted her canteen to gauge how much of the life giving liquid she had left, and found it very light indeed. She sighed, swiping a drenched lock of green hair out of her face. She'd never used it in this capacity before, but maybe…
Rydia began to chant softly to herself, recalling the blizzara spell; but as she chanted, she changed the spell's construction. She hoped it worked as she spoke the final word and felt the pull of magic on her spirit. From one outstretched hand, a cloud of ice formed and began to melt instantly. It dripped into her palm and down her arm to her elbow, but she smiled exultantly. Her plan had worked! She pulled the stopper from her canteen and allowed the water of her spell to drip into it, filling it completely.
She looked up to find the others staring at her.
"That's a useful skill to have, Rydia," Yang said with a nod.
Rydia grinned up at him. "I'm just happy it worked."
"Looks like we've found a solution to our water problem," Cecil commented, wiping the sweat from his eyes.
"Give me your canteens," Rydia requested, holding out a hand.
Rosa took hold of Cecil and Kain's canteens while Yang handed Rydia his own.
Rydia chanted again, drawing the power of the spell to her hand and allowing it to melt into the canteens. When she had finished, she returned the canteens to their owners.
"Let me know when you need me to re-fill them," Rydia mentioned.
"Thank you, Rydia," Rosa replied gratefully.
They continued walking through the sulfurous air that permeated the plains. They could see the glimmer of the magma sea to their west, but it was only a bright yellow shimmer from where they stood. It had only been half a day, but it felt like it had been several days since they set out on their journey.
By the time they decided to stop for the day, Cecil had marked off an eighth of their route from the map.
"We'll rest here for a few hours. I'll take first watch," he said, walking off to find a lookout point.
Rydia helped Rosa with gear while Yang surveyed a place for them to settle in. There were all sorts of nooks and crannies in the ground left behind by great machines that had churned up the rock. Some of the places were as deep as Rydia was tall and provided a good deal of shelter.
The crushed stone had turned to a fine powder, and Rydia was quite delighted at the prospect of sleeping on that rather than the angular and jagged stones. Sleeping mats were unrolled and laid upon the ground, and it was then that Rydia realized Kain had gone missing from their group again. Curious, she climbed out of the trench and found him speaking with Cecil. She was glad there was still a pack left above the trench with which she could busy herself while still being able to listen.
"…odd, Cecil, and you know it," Kain was saying.
"I've been wondering the same thing," Cecil admitted.
"The dwarves did warn us that the monsters here were made of sterner stuff. Perhaps they're made of cleverer stuff as well."
"I'll keep my eyes open," Cecil assured him.
"Wake me when it's my watch," Kain told him and turned to walk back to the camp.
Rydia quickly averted her eyes and pretended to be un-hitching a bed roll. She was surprised when Kain plucked the whole pack off the ground without warning. She looked up at him.
"Don't trouble yourself with this," he told her before jumping down into the trench.
Rydia could only gaze after him, before sparing a glance at Cecil. She walked over to him and then sat beside him.
"Give me your canteen," she said.
He looked at her and smiled. "You're worried I won't last the night?"
"Someone else has to help shoulder Rosa's burden," she said softly. "Now give me your canteen."
Cecil laughed and removed his canteen from the loop on his belt.
Rydia chanted and filled the vessel with water like she had done several times throughout the day.
"Thank you," he said.
"There's no reason you should die of thirst on first watch," she said with a smile, and then after a moment's consideration, "Do you think we're being watched?"
"Watched?"
"We haven't been hassled the entire time we've been traveling. I heard a bit of what Kain said, and I agree. He was right about something else, too. Or the dwarves were, at any rate. The monsters here are made of sterner stuff. They favor ambush and deception, and I can't be sure, but I've felt eyes on us for a while."
"Do you know from where?"
Rydia shook her head. "The heat is making it hard for my eyes to make sense of anything."
"Instinct, then."
"Instinct.," Rydia agreed.
Cecil released a long sigh. "I'll be fine, Rydia. Get some rest. You've used a lot of your power today and things are bound to get more interesting from here on."
"Good luck," she said while standing.
She hopped into the trench and found that Rosa had brought out some of their rationed food.
"Rydia!" Rosa exclaimed. "I wondered where you'd gotten off to."
"Just wanted to fill Cecil's canteen before we all got settled," she said, avoiding telling the other woman her fears that trouble might be looming.
"Eat something, you must be exhausted."
Rydia sat down with a sigh and examined the fare before her. Quickly remembering the unsavory experience of dwarf cooking, she gave Rosa a quick look. "This isn't…it's not…is it?"
Rosa laughed. "This is what's left of our stores from above ground," she assured her.
Rydia's second sigh was one of relief. "Above ground?" She picked up an unleavened loaf and just held it for a few minutes. "You have no idea how much I've missed food from above ground," she said before taking a bite and closing her eyes in ecstasy.
Everyone paused and looked at her, a bit stricken. Rydia missed this exchange until she opened her eyes and saw Rosa looking at her. "Amazing. Simply amazing."
"What is?" Rydia asked.
"I keep forgetting that it's been ten whole years..."
"Sometimes it feels the same for me. It's the little things," Rydia admitted, munching on her bread happily.
"So much has happened to all of us, that time seems to be distorted all around," Yang said after a few minutes' pause.
They all sat in quiet acknowledgement for a few minutes, eating the unleavened bread from the Above.
"We should try to sleep," Rosa said after a while. "I know it will be difficult to find any rest with this heat, but we have to try and conserve our strength."
"Agreed."
Rydia scooted to her bedroll and tried to settle down onto it. The heat was less on the sand than the rock and she tried to snuggle into the soft powder, seeking relief. She needed rest, needed to maintain her concentration. She knew the journey to the Tower would be perilous for more reasons than one. Something was coming—waiting. Perhaps the monsters were waiting for them to make a mistake or succumb to the heat. Either way, Rydia knew that when trouble came, she wanted to be ready…
…
A/N: Almost one full year since an update on this story. Good grief. I'll just say that this past school year has been the most intense I've had so far, and that's why updates of any kind have been so sparse. The other part of the long absence is that, well, writing a piece of fiction that is the length of a novel is quite…exhausting (especially ones I'm not getting paid for…). I needed to take a break whether I liked it or not. I'm more or less back for the summer. I would like to get at least one or two more chapters completed in the next week, and then there will be another break in updates until August as I'm taking summer classes.
Thank you all for your patience and continued support, and I will try my best to keep current on updates for the next several months :)
~Myth