Vignette 9 – Recovering the Marquis, the Marquis recovering
The Desert road back to Dorter, about 10 miles north of the town, mid-afternoon.
They had found a little shade where a natural spring had formed a pool among some rocks, not far from the side of the road and, propping the still dazed Marquis up against a tree, Argath had fetched him water to drink, bathed his face and done what else he could to make his master comfortable.
Once Ramza was sure that Argath was simply fussing over the near-unconscious man, and no longer doing anything essential to his comfort, he went up and touched the other blond boy on the arm.
"Argath, I'd like a few words; there are some things to be decided." He nodded to where the others waited, Delita and Hildegarde standing a little forward from the rest.
On reaching them, Ramza began.
"His condition's little better; I wouldn't even have moved him this far if there had been a choice. We need to decide what's best to do once we get back to Dorter."
"Surely, that's for the Marquis to decide." Argath said haughtily.
"It could be days before the Marquis is fit enough to decide anything. He's only staying on the chocobo because you're holding onto him for grim death... I should say for dear life - don't want to tempt fate."
"Superstition, Ramza? You?" Delita put in, satirically. Ramza was in the habit of making fun of Alma whenever she would touch wood, or cross her fingers – so it seemed like an odd thing for him to have said.
"Hush Delita, this is serious – we need to be making decisions. Wherever we take him, I don't want to have to move him again – so where can he go? Hildy? You know Dorter best." Ramza began to pace; he was often full of nervous energy when he was worried.
"Hmm? I don't really know. My mother would certainly be very happy to take the Marquis in and nurse him – I probably shouldn't say this, but you have no idea how serious a social climber she is, the thought of the ruler of a Province under her roof would send her into raptures. However, it's a very comfortable house and he'd certainly not lack for attention... it might not be the most restful place for him, though." Hildegarde bit her lip, uncertainly.
"Is there a hospital or similar in the city? We still don't know for certain what's wrong, why he's like this - we need a place with medical attention on hand, I think." Ramza said.
"There's a Guild of Mages. I believe the white mages have a small hospital cum alms-house, where he could probably be taken care of for a few days, while he recovers. It would be quiet and I'm told that for a reasonable fee there are private rooms with decent facilities." Hildegarde said.
Argath looked from Ramza to Samantha, who was sitting close by.
"You two have the most white magick, do neither of you have any idea what is wrong." Anxiety practically radiated from him.
"Argath, Sam and I are proficient with Cure and Raise; we're hardly experts!" Ramza sighed. "For what it's worth, I have my suspicions. You saw me cast Cure after we found him, for all the good it did. I think they drugged him heavily to keep him quiet. If I'm right, a day or two of simple rest may be all he needs for the drugs' effects to wear off.
"I could be totally wrong about that, though. Even if he is merely drugged, there could be complications from such a high dose. That's why I thought of a hospital." Ramza said.
"We'll also need to arrange for guards for him." Delita put in. "It's unlikely he's still under threat, but he's already been kidnapped once." Ramza nodded and continued his pacing.
"No, we have to be the ones to do that." Argath said, vehemently. "I don't trust anyone else."
"We were supposed to come to Dorter, locate Frederick and report back to Zalbaag. We've already totally overstepped our bounds by going further. You, of course, can stay with the Marquis, but the rest of us will have to return to Eagrose; we're officially still on guard at the castle. Dycedarg will go berserk as it is - he's a stickler for rules." Ramza said.
"Cowardice, Ramza?" Argath asked.
Ramza narrowed his eyes at the other boy. He wondered if Argath was deliberately trying to anger him. Probably. Yet, in the circumstances, he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Duty - we've ignored it for long enough. The Marquis is safe, the reason I am happy to leave is that I don't believe that there is any continuing danger, but in case there is, we're going to split into two parties when we get to the city. One party, that's me, Juliana and Ophellia will be going to the watch house and arranging for a guard of city watch to be placed on the hospital while the rest of you, led by Delita, will be taking the Marquis to the mage's hospital."
"And If I don't agree?" Argath asked, his face held a hint of a sneer.
The benefit of the doubt could only go so far.
"Then leave, Argath. You aren't in charge here, I am! You're a guest fighter amongst us – a very welcome one, considering your very able contributions, but nonetheless, you are not actually part of our squad. So go home, stay right here, go wherever you please, but if you are to continue with us, you do not question my decisions or my orders." Ramza said it firmly, but it took real effort not to raise his voice or lose his temper with the other boy.
"For someone who so often speaks like a class traitor, you still have a remarkable amount of the arrogance of the high nobility, Ramza." Ramza had kept his temper for days now, but Argath had pushed him once too often. He still did not shout, but his icy tone did not hide his extreme displeasure.
"Class traitor? You speak like an ignorant fool! My father was Lord Barbaneth Beoulve, Argath, there is nothing in this world I am prouder of than that, but that does not and should not mean that I have any reason to shun any other part of my ancestry. My father had the utmost respect for every man, woman and child in Ivalice, no matter what rank or title, or lack thereof, they held. If being like my father means being a class traitor, then I am very happy to be one and so was he! You are the arrogant one, as well as being ignorant and prejudiced!"
Argath looked resentfully at him for a moment, then sighed.
"Peace, Ramza. We both want the same thing, today - to keep my Lord Elmdore safe and have him well. I apologise for my hasty words. I simply cannot believe the Marquis is no longer in danger and, as we do not know the men of the city watch, how can we trust them?"
Ramza took a couple of deep breaths and counted to ten before speaking.
"Argath, I honestly believe that there is no danger to him now. We are hardly going to advertise where he is, or even who he is.
"Besides, my brother, Zalbaag, was beginning to coordinate raids on every known position that the Corpse Brigade had ever been known to hold, when we left, and we know that he had sent people to infiltrate them - that poor dead spy is proof of that. They will all be running for, or fighting for their lives at the moment. In any case, we already dealt with a lot of the Brigade's members in the Dorter area, I'll be bound. The idea that they would have the ability or even the inclination to attempt another kidnapping, at this time, is absurd.
"For the sake of the small chance that I'm wrong about this, we will request help from the Dorter city watch. You, of course, will stay right by his side, as the only surviving member of his retinue. I would expect no less of someone who has been so staunchly loyal to him." And we'll be rid of you, was the unspoken corollary to that attempt at keeping the peace.
"I just worry that you may be wrong, but... as you say, I'll stay with him." Argath said.
A good night's sleep and the prospect of no more Argath left the six Akademy students in fine spirits as they ventured forth into the early morning light. Ramza stopped as he saw the familiar figure waiting for them.
"Argath, have you come to tell us how the Marquis is this morning? That's good of you, I know my brother and the Duke will be anxious to know, as I'm sure we all are." He said politely.
"No, I haven't just come to let you know how he is. The Marquis came back to full consciousness in the night. He's still very shaky and unwell, and the mages say he's likely to be so for some days, but he is, at least, in his right senses again.
"He's asked me to return to Eagrose with you to convey his thanks in person to your Lord brothers and the Duke for sending us as rescuers. He also asked me to pass on thanks to you, of course. All of you." He raised his voice a little and glanced around at all six.
Ramza wanted to let out a groan at the thought of having to have the boy along with them again, for the next few days, but Argath hadn't finished.
"I'd also like to thank you all myself, for helping me to rescue him. I... I should apologise that I have sometimes been less than civil. My worry led me into bad moods and impolite words."
Ramza glanced briefly at Delita, whose face was a mask.
"Very well. We certainly won't be sorry to have you fighting by our side again, if we run into trouble on the way home. We're picking up supplies on the way out of town, but then it's straight on to Eagrose." Ramza said, having to try hard to give his voice even a little warmth.
Author's Note:
Almost like Zalbaag's spy, the existence of the Marquis is ignored by the game as soon as Ramza & co. rescue him. So I wondered what to do with him – leave him in Dorter or take him to Eagrose? I re-watched the cut-scene at Eagrose where Dycedarg reprimands Ramza for going off into the desert without orders and then he and the Duke discuss their plot. They don't speak as if they had actually had direct contact with the Marquis, yet if Elmdore had been well enough to travel all the way to Eagrose with the cadets he surely also would have been well enough to speak to Larg and Dycedarg.
So the Marquis had to be too unwell to travel and be left behind, which, logically, should probably leave Argath with him to attend upon him. Hence me contriving a reason for Argath to continue with the party, as well as a way for Elmdore to be taken care of in Dorter. I felt like I needed to work out a logical sequence of events for Marquis Elmdore after his rescue, hence me going into detail about it here.
The real problem here may be that I'm over-thinking and trying to make logical sense of a video game!
Acknowledgement:
I'd like to thank darrelodin for pointing out in a review that I have sometimes been producing solid walls of text - I know myself that, while I don't mind reading that so much in a novel, in fan fiction it can be off-putting. I've gone back through these first nine chapters and have tried to break them into much shorter paragraphs. Technically, that means there are sometimes paragraph breaks where none needs to exist, but I hope that for readability it works better now.
Since that meant I was essentially re-proof-reading, it allowed me to pick up on a couple of errors I'd missed and I also ended up making some other very minor changes.