Chapter 79

Pride of the Lioness

Deep within the Roshfall, so deep that the abating rays of the searing sun were wholly blocked by the sequoias' canopy, Raine gave the command to make camp. Although she gave the word by comms, the squeaks and the shrill cries of their excited moogle companions travelled to the rear of their formation, where the two Dragoons were located.

'Yes, Sekhmet,' answered the deep, low voice of Sanakht in her ear.

The lofty Kakashbaldi lancer still did not say much, or at least never more than was necessary, but when he did, he always called Raine after the lioness goddess of the Karnak religion.

'About time, honey,' drawled the voice of Aranea. 'This gal is gettin' sore feet. I need to find myself a dragon to ride. Traipsin' through the Roshfall ain't somethin' I trained for. A Dragoon belongs in the sky!'

'I'd know that was Aranea Highwind, even if I hadn't seen her yet,' one of their latest arrivals commented. 'I'd recognise that husky voice anywhere!'

Raine smiled, now looking at the back of Nadia's crimson head and the scimitar glinting across her back. After Baldur had appealed to Headmaster Biggs, Nadia and Siegfried had arrived on their Garden motorcycles a few days before. In doing so, they had avoided the slaughter at Jericho City and the new mission had probably saved their lives. By now they knew that Ballad Deling was on the brink, his life hanging by a precarious thread, but their orders still stood. Their leader's fate was in the hand of Garden's healers, and there was nothing his closest friends could do but offer their prayers.

Their motorcycles were almost silent and the wheels suitable in all terrain; there were spacious gaps between the sequoia trunks, and the Garlands had been using them to scout ahead until a minute before. They switched their engines off.

'I wouldn't even bother with comms next time, Raine,' Zhang mentioned from next to her. 'Those pipsqueaks announce our plans to the whole forest!'

You've gotta stop them from doing that! she relayed to Minimog.

It's fine, kupo! he sounded back in her head. I will know if there's a hostile presence nearby!

Like you did with Ultimecia? Raine questioned harshly, to which Mog had no reply.

She summoned the moogle overlord so he could begin reprimanding his subjects. As he did, she looked down their line. They had amassed around fifty thus far, male and female; the females were identified by the bright coloured waistcoats they favoured. Some held spears and tridents the length of throwing javelins, others had swords the length of daggers, while some of them used wands carved and enchanted from the broad sequoias around them; evidently, a moogle did not need a draw point to access the elements.

Most of the moogles they had encountered had been all too eager to lend their strength to friends of the Timberians, though the more stubborn ones had needed to be coerced by Mog. Acceptably, others had been allowed to remain behind to care for their young. The moogles always introduced themselves jovially, but their names and appearances were always so similar that Raine could only remember a few of them, and it was usually by their weapons that she could recall them.

The hybrid special forces team had also received some unexpected allies that had sweltered their force to unseen proportions, in the form of a few thousand hulking wendigos! A couple hundred of them had been displaced by the callous burning of Yaulney Forest to the northeast and a similar number had been slaughtered. The ones who had fled north found shelter at Galbadia Garden, and now passed the time playing in the basketball league. But those fleeing south had sought the wide shelter of Roshfall. Not many of them could speak the Common Tongue, but their chieftain – called Usu and identifiable by straggly grey facial hair – had suddenly shot out of the trees like the striped balls his species adored, waving a cream loincloth upon a totem pole as a makeshift truce banner.

The wendigos remembered the flashy jumpsuits of the Esthari well and knew the oomans of the western continent were not responsible for the genocide, wishing to enter into an alliance. Wendigos traded frequently with the forest moogle clans, and scores of the humanoids already living in the Roshfall were joining them by the day, along with their tame cockratice 'mounts' and ochu 'tanks'. Raine was very curious to see them in battle, but despite their freakish speed and impressive strength, they would quickly be cut down by plasma fire without adequate shielding. Raine recalled that the force Thalassa had commanded in Centra had come to be known as the Unlikely Army. But with this surprising muster being a territorial one, she had started referring to it as the 'Roshfall Battalion', and the name had stuck.

Her position as the Neo-SeeD squad leader had seemingly made her the leader of this entire mission by default. In fantastical tales, the lion was always the king of the jungle. Sanakht continued endearingly calling her 'Sekhmet', and Raine's leadership position among this bulging force had caused the chieftain Usu to liken her to a queen of the forest, with all its species bounding in her wake.

When Sieg reached the Neo-SeeDs with kindling for a fire, he said, 'It's great to be back on ops with you guys!'

'You too, Sieg!' Liu said.

'The heroes of the revolution reunited!' Zhang said proudly. 'It's a shame Ballad couldn't be here!'

'Have you heard any more?' Raine asked them.

Nadia sighed, and it was she who answered. 'Garden's best white mages are in the field, and those who remain are having to ration their para-magic. They've cured his internal building, but until the battle's over, he's been left to heal the old-fashioned way.'

Raine nodded. She, at least, was not worried for the Garland leader. She knew how tough Ballad was, and it had taken the World's most feared marauder to incapacitate him.

Zhang opened a square coolbag and popped open one of his flavoured energy drinks – topically, it was the Wendigo brand.

'So,' he looked at Raine. 'When's the Dwarf of Winhill getting here?'

Raine looked back at him levelly. 'Why are you still calling him that? I thought you two buried the hatchet.'

Zhang shrugged as he found a comfortable, even area of ground to sit on. 'It's a big, bloody hatchet, all those years of torment. Can't be buried so easily.' He looked at Liu. 'Right, bro?'

'Yeah,' his twin answered minimally.

'Just remember why we're all together,' Raine said sternly. 'We can't show any disunity in front of Aranea and the others.'

Zhang just belched after a long pull on his can, putting his earbuds in to drown out the moogle squeaks and wendigo grunts, probably playing some B-rock as he clasped his hands behind his head, lay on the ground and stared at the darkening canopy. Raine decided to not to push it further; Zhang would be dead to the world for the next hour or so. Instead, she took out her phone and relayed their current coordinates to Damian, who responded that he would be with them within the hour.

Get a cockatrice burning ;) he wrote.

She certainly would not be, looking at the mounts as they were fed by their wendigo riders, though she knew Damian's twisted sense of humour.

Raine felt Mog return to her, and the moogles gradually formed their own circle adjacent to them. Soon enough, the hulking Sanakht and the lean Aranea joined them, their contrasting builds and skin colours at odds with their similar weapons. In the heat, they were not wearing their uniforms. Sanakht just wore a sweat-laden, a skin-tight white t-shirt, and the khaki cargo shorts he had been wearing when Raine had first seen him in on his guard duty; the station that had spared his life at the expense of his brothers. Aranea wore a similarly drenched grey vest that matched her hair, and her baggy combat trousers were beige.

Sanakht just bowed his legs and thudded down to sit with them crossed, staring at the first embers of their fire, and saying nothing. The most noise Raine had heard Sanakht emit had been when he had barged into the incinerator that had been Argus' quarters, when he had got on his knees and raked through the ashes of his brothers with his broad fingers. His enraged bellows had been enough to bring down the entire mesa on top of them, and he had shaken as much as the walls of the chamber. He had known which two ash piles had belonged to his siblings, as they had been somewhat larger than the rest.

Understandably, as captain, Aranea held herself responsible for the massacre of the other Dragoons. She had been heavily shaken at first, but Raine's determination had inspired her to regain her resolve almost immediately, and over the past couple of days she had been back to her old assured but not egotistical self. Aranea had wisely spent hours each evening – and sometimes pre-dawn – attuning herself to her ancestral Dragonhair spear. She had expressed to them just last night that. had she acquired the weapon sooner, she would have been able to shield the other Dragoons from Tiamat's flares.

Damian's arrival was announced by an unceremonious breaking through of the canopy above. Raine had been expecting some kind of gate crashing of the tranquillity like that, especially when the cloaked Esthari pod descended toward them like chameleon, and Raine had to summon Mog again to restore order. The Wraith sure knew how to make an entrance. He was first off the beetle-shaped airship as its cloak was dispelled, wearing just an ops vest over his well-muscled torso, along with dark grey combats and all-terrain boots. He greeted Nadia and Sieg warmly, having fought beside them on the Great Plains, and he seemed more interested in their motorcycles than the amassed force of forest creatures surrounding them, leaving the rest of the Neo-SeeDs to approach Raine.

Since Cid's era, Squall had simplified the SeeD rankings so that there were only three classes. Of the new arrivals, Raine recognised a brunette Trabian woman called Morfydd, along with her brother Derfel. They were a few years older than Raine and the twins, and were of B-Rank, and the look on Morfydd's pointed face was enough to relay her displeasure at the standing. All of the others were C-Rankers, the only other A-Ranker present being Damian. Even though Raine had attained her A-rank after Dollet, it beggared belief upon some senior SeeDs that she and the twins now outranked them, and that they had been favoured for GF assignment, too. Nepotism was a popular theory, of course. Raine disagreed vehemently; Xu had assessed her, not Uncle Squall, and she had already danced with death more times than she could count.

Much like with Selphie, when Morfydd spoke those harsh Trabian overtones seemed almost musical when uttered by a woman. 'All present and accounted for, Raine,' she said, and they all saluted. 'And all junctioned with moombas. Commander Leonhart said you have authority on the ground.'

'At ease!' Raine said, and they dropped their rigid posture. They were all looking nervously at the surrounding forest creatures. 'And don't unjunction from your moombas for a second! They're not native to these lands, and there are enough things causing these–' Raine paused, as continuing to think of them as 'monsters' or 'creatures' now seemed disrespectful. '–unexpected friends of ours' distress.'

Damian still seemed undeterred by any implication that Nadia only favoured the fairer sex. After an extended discussion about her Garden issue motorcycle, Nadia gave Damian leave to go on a test ride if only to get rid of him for a short while. As he kicked it into gear and tore away, Morfydd and the other SeeDs formed their own standoffish circle farthest away from any moogles or wendigos.

For now, Raine observed the surviving four Dragoons as they greeted and embraced one another, as these were the four Raine and the others were supposed to be impressing upon. If Ultimecia was negligent enough to spare just four Dragoons, she could not have done much worse in sparing these four. While Aranea needed no recital, Sanakht was of the Ronso clan, and the Coeurl of Karnak had been among the last class of Dragoons before the fall of the Holy Dollet Empire. The hard-faced and equally taciturn Deist was directly descended from Estinien Wyrmblood; while Deist would not be winning any modelling contracts or be favoured as a poster boy for the Dragoons, he was named for the long-lost city-state on Longhorn Island which birthed the first Dragoons, before eventually been absolved into Dollet. The spindly, tattooed, and outspoken Luna was of the Yun clan and descended from the Deathrider of Centra, who famously tamed a young hexadragon on the Island Closest to Hell and returned to the Kingdom to captain her generation's Knights of Pluto.

Usu kindly had his best cooks prepare everyone a meal of dark bread, diced funguar and forest fruit. Usu explained that the funguars were the product of an old Lunar Cry and were seen as a blight upon the Roshfall. As such, eating them was encouraged, and the mutated but succulent mushrooms were the prime ingredient in many of their favourite dishes. And if one looked at the size of the wendigos, even the female ones, who was to question their dietary choices? Even Sieg would be hard pressed to win an arm wrestle against the smallest of them!

Raine needed to start planning their all-important strike. As soon as they finished eating, she gathered the SeeDs, Garlands, and Dragoons. She had some photos with a top-down shot of the neighbouring plains.

'As per our latest intelligence reports,' Raine started. 'The Silver Vixen has sprung her assault from Timber's side of the Roshfall. The whole area surrounding East Academy is now a tempest of blood between Timberian, Saronan and Esthari troops. However, the Forest groups were unable to reach the blockade at Yaulney, and without any heavy weapons, they have been ground to a halt. Furthermore, Ultimecia has begun using Eden's power in small, tactical bursts to eliminate Sarona's heavy weapons and air support – wisely, because she knows she can't afford to go all-out until Rinoa confronts her. And with each hour that passes, the Saronans are losing more ground.'

'Then we've got to move, and fast!' Derfel said suddenly.

'Why not tell us something we don't know,' Aranea said dryly. 'No doubt our Lioness is getting to that.'

Derfel reddened, while Morfydd just shot her an icy look.

'Like a Dollean in a trench,' Damian uttered the oft-used phrase, causing both Aranea and Deist to give him a hard stare. He returned it. 'You know they ain't gonna hold out unless the Galbadians break through. Ultimecia will send them running all the way out to the Gulf and blow up the Eldertree as an exclamation point.'

Now Aranea wheeled on him. 'Things have changed since the Second Sorceress War!' she said hotly.

'Have they?' Damian asked her jeeringly. 'You still needed SeeD to save your country from a big, bad superpower. And here we are again, to save your redneck force from annihilation.' He looked between her and the other Dragoons, then remarked, 'And two of your finest aren't even Dollean!'

'Leave 'em alone,' Zhang said firmly.

Raine opted to continue before things could escalate further. 'We'll exit the forest about five klicks west of here,' she said forcefully, getting them back on track, though she felt like she could cut the atmosphere with her survival knife. 'Which will be thirty klicks east of the fringes of the fighting, on the other side of the Obel River. All of the bridges were secured by the Esthari during their advance. I've circled the nearest ones.'

'Retaking them wouldn't benefit Sarona much, would it?' Morfydd asked. 'We're the only force hostile to them this side of the river.' Raine nodded. It seemed the Trabian girl was determined to be more integral to the discussions than her brother and carried on. 'And what then? As much power as we have, it won't be enough to turn the tide. And we'll expend it all long before we reach the Monterosa.'

'That's right,' Raine agreed.

'And let's be honest,' Zhang put in. 'Without shields, our newfound wendigo buddies will be slaughtered.'

Some of them glanced at the stationary pod.

'So, we fly,' Aranea said. 'That's the only way to get us in position with enough power the smash the blockade.'

'Exactly,' Raine said. 'At first, I thought of the moogles carrying us over the plains. But Minimog said that would expend their energy too much, and we would have to lay up for them all to recover. It's gonna have to be the pod. Capacity is usually around fourteen and a pilot. Eighteen of us will be a squeeze, but we can suffer it. I'll volunteer to take the floor.'

Sieg shrugged. 'So will I, seeing as most highlanders need two seats.'

Raine saw Luna nudge Sanakht.

'Okay,' the towering Kakashbaldi grunted.

'Seating arrangements are all fine,' Morfydd cut in worriedly, 'but we're gonna be sitting chicobos in there! So, we cloak and fly over the battlefield? And then hit the mesa and go south? We'll have Saronan jets on our tails the whole way! Their most eagle-eyed pilots will be on the lookout for imperial airships using the mesas for flanking manoeuvres. We'll be shot down within minutes!'

'Yes,' Raine said patiently. 'I already thought of that. Which is why we're going to approach from the south, not the north. There will be no Saronan or Galbadian planes over the southern mesa. We'll fly southwest, then hug the rockface north until we reach Yaulney.'

Nadia raised a hand, as though they were in class. 'We still could be identified as an imposter craft,' she said.

'We'll last a lot longer than we would if we approach from the north,' Raine responded. 'And it's the only option we have.'

'Though if we're discovered, we'll never make it, will we?' Derfel asked tentatively. Like his sister, his face was long and pointed, though the features were offset by his brown chinstrap beard.

'Time to quit mopin' and start hopin',' Aranea said. 'Or stay behind.'

There was that cold look from Morfydd again, speaking of a barely suppressed rage.

Liu and Zhang were now looking at each other, and Raine believed she knew what that meant. Sacred and Minotaur had something to say. Sure enough, the twins summoned the big and little minotaurs, their sudden presence causing some discontent with nearby wendigos. Sacred glowered at them, gripping his mace defensively.

'I have something of a solution to your dilemma,' Minotaur said quietly, but with his voice was solid enough to be heard.

'No!' Sacred suddenly protested, wheeling on his smaller counterpart. 'It'll leave us too weak, bro!'

'If your deception is discovered by Esthar's air force, we can,' Minotaur paused, 'make some changes to the landscape, shall we say. We can create a new tunnel within the plateaus, large enough for you to fly through, and with an exit close enough to ground level in a favourable location.'

'You can do that?' Raine exclaimed.

'Hynedamn!' Sacred grunted noisily. 'Please, no!'

Minotaur glanced at Sacred, then said, 'But as my brother says, such a feat will drain us immensely. And I don't mean what happens when we are defeated in battle; it will be significantly longer before we can fight for you again, and it would necessitate a return to the Earth Shrine to hasten our recovery.'

'The Tomb of the Unknown King, you mean?' Zhang questioned.

'Yes,' Minotaur answered.

There was some silence, before Liu said, 'Let's hope it doesn't come to that.'

'But if it does,' Sacred said loudly, looking between the twins, 'we will see you honour our pact sooner rather than later, princes of Figaro!'

'Hey!' Zhang said, 'Don't worry about that! We never backed out of a fight in our lives!'

'That's true,' Damian said suddenly. 'Even when they were cubs.' Zhang looked at him in astonishment, even though it was the second time Damian had endeared him. Damian now nodded at them both. 'The Prowling Toramas. Their claws and fangs cut deep,' he added.

'Once we reach the camp,' Raine said, 'all we need to do is hold out long enough to make a salient through their lines. The Galbadians will do the rest, and then the Esthari will be assailed on three fronts.'

Usu, the wendigo elder, had remained squatting rigidly nearby with his wrinkled fists in the ground. He had been listening to their every word, though with how rarely he spoke the Common Tongue and with all the different accents – along with references to technology outside of his comprehension – it was likely he had not understood the whole of it.

Raine continued. 'We've seen what happens when things aren't going Sorceress Ultimecia's way. If her whole force is routed, they'll break for the east, for the Roshfall,' she paused for a beat, 'where the Roshfall Battalion will be waiting to snare them.' She turned to the wendigo elder. 'That will be the role of your force in the coming battle, Usu. Do you think you can prepare for this?'

He tried to nod his neckless head, but with his anatomy it was more of a jerk.

'Yes,' he murmured. 'Lady of the Roshfall.'

The words made Raine think of Sorceress Nylathria, who had been called Lady of the Grandidi. She was started to lose count of the all the monikers and titles.

Morfydd sighed. 'But let's not forget, at Yaulney it will be eighteen of us against an entire legion! Very possibly without Sacred and Minotaur!'

'Hey,' Damian said, hefting Mastema. 'We will still have Diablos! No SeeD is gonna die tonight!' he declared. 'We can handle a few pussy Magitek units, even you C-Rankers! I can use gravity magic to keep them immobile while we strike!'

'Actually, Damian,' Liu said suddenly. 'I was just thinking. Brothers said they may have enough power remaining to close any trenches the Esthari have dug. This will crush many of their Magitek, but we may need Diablos' gravity power to ensure they can't escape.'

Damian just stared at him.

'As much as we hate to ask,' Zhang said, 'we'll need your help to deal them a crippling blow. Whaddya say, Wraith?'

The use of his moniker seemed to sugarcoat it. Damian rolled his shoulders and said, 'Fine.'

Liu smiled. 'I'm glad we can finally find some common ground.'

'I would not lie to anyone,' Raine said now. 'Our task is the most dangerous and pivotal I will have ever undertaken. But one that must succeed to ensure Esthar's defeat in the field.'

Now Sieg raised a hand for attention. 'If I hadn't seen what difference GF power makes on the battlefield with my own eyes, I would never go along with this. But Nadia and I believe in you, Raine. Ballad would as well.'

'Thanks, Sieg,' she said gratefully.

'What if Ultimecia realises what we're doing and moves west to plug the gap?' Morfydd asked.

'Then we fight for our lives until Commander Leonhart relieves us,' Raine said resolvedly. 'And we must be prepared to lay them down, if need be. Though with our current power, I believe we can at least hold her off.'

'You can, Raine,' Luna said. 'You've already done it once!'

Raine said nothing. One important lesson she needed to teach the Dragoons was one of humility – which she knew would be harder with Damian around. Yet inwardly, she knew how close she had come to losing Mog, and by extension this whole adventure never happening. Still, the Dragoons were not done lauding her.

'The Lioness tanned Ultimecia's hide!' Aranea added. 'I saw it with my own eyes!'

Sanakht suddenly moved, like the head of a vysage coming to life in the darkness. 'The time for the Children of Fate has passed! Sekhmet will be the one to slay Ultimecia!'