Chapter 11: Caged Again

Vivi awoke from a vague sense of unease. He blinked, then sat up with a start.

"I fell asleep! Zentarou, how long was I - "He'd been twisting to ask the cat the question, only stopped when he saw that their fellow mage wasn’t there. Slowly he stood, feeling more than a little nervous.” Zentarou? Where - “Just then a tall, burly form lunged out from behind the stone and wrapped Vivi up in a bear hug, lifting him clear off his feet! Vivi let out a yelp which of course awoke the others, but a dozen other men leapt out of the very night air, it seemed. Orko was literally netted midair out of the tree as he tried to cast, and Dregan put up a valiant struggle, even getting his sword out, before a vicious clout to the back of his head send his sprawling, unconscious.

“Dregan!” Orko shouted. Vivi struggled, also calling out to their downed friend, and concerned for Zentarou, still nowhere in sight, but the soldier just tightened his bear hug until the black mage was forced to go still simply to concentrate on drawing breath. Then he was thrown - rather roughly - into a cage on a wagon. He was flung to hard in fact that he crashed into the opposite side from the hatch. Then a solid metal wall slid down, cutting the cage in half, and a second thud could be heard beyond it. “Trolly-molly...”

“Orko?”

“Vivi, you okay?”

“Yeah, just bruised.” He ruefully looked around. “I’ve been grabbed and thrown into a cage more times in the past few days than in my entire life!”

“You’re telling me.” Vivi tried to see what had happened to the other two, but couldn’t get a good enough view through the tightly-packed bars to see. His arm would fit, but that was about it.

“Did you see what happened to Zentarou and Dregan?”

“There are a lot of other cages behind this one. I saw people in some of them, and chained up at the end, but some of the cages were empty. It’s like a caravan or something.”

“Or a prisoner train.” Vivi shuddered. “I wonder why they captured us.” The caravan started moving with a jolt, and they began rolling along in the night air.

Their cage was small enough so that neither could stand, but they were able to sit up well enough, and it was also near the front of the train. Vivi was no longer sleepy, that’s for sure. He was worried.

Who are these guys, and why did they grab us?

Trolly-molly! I heard that! Orko’s voice in Vivi’s mind made him jump in surprise. Malachi’s pendant! I’ve still got mine on!

Me too. We must’ve gone to bed with them on. His eyes brightened. Maybe Dregan and Zentarou still have theirs too. The two spent several moments attempting to contact their comrades, with no success.

They’re probably still unconscious, consoled Orko. Which means we’re the only ones out of the Bretheren aware. We’ve got to learn as much as we can, so we can tell them later.

Okay. First we’d better hide the pendants, or they might be taken from us. Easily done. Orko’s scarf well hid the chain, and amidst the layers of Vivi’s clothing nothing of it could be seen. Okay. Now we watch... and wait. They rode in silence for hours. Dawn rose, a pale sun that shed more heat than logical.

Looks like it’ll be a hot day, the red robed mage commented with a slight frown.

Yeah. I wonder what language these guys speak. I haven’t heard a single word.

I haven’t seen anyone either. I guess they’re all further back. Again they fell silent.

At about eight in the morning by their best guess, they passed through the gate of the town they had seen in the distance. The stone that constructed it was pale tan in color, much like the dirt, sanded smooth. Almost all of the structures they could see were the same, and built airy and close together, so alleyways were narrow and shadowy. The roads were simple the dirt paths between the buildings. And finally, they saw people.

Trolly-molly1 They look human! Orko gasped. Indeed, they looked like normal people, wearing loose flowing clothes, dresses for the women and pants with shirts or vests for the men, both genders wearing sandals or in bare feet.

They do look human, but I’m not sure I like those expressions. Vivi recoiled away, pressing against the opposite side of his cage, as he caught the looks of fear and hatred from nearby people. An angry shout rang out from a cluster of nearby people behind him, startling him, and a rock pinged off his shoulder.

“Ow!” More shouts followed, as others were encouraged by the instigators, the language unintelligible to the mages. A volley of stones, dirt, and debris from what appeared to be rubbish heaps was hurled at those in the train.. The two little mages, and the other prisoners in the rest of the cages and tethered to the train, could do little to avoid the barrage, becoming covered in the muck and filth, and suffering bruises and nicks from the stones. Eventually Vivi just huddled in the center of his half of the cage, knees up to his chest and head buried in his arms.

“Leave us alone!” Orko called, but to no avail. “Vivi, you okay? Vivi?” Vivi didn’t answer. This, the shouts of hatred, the mistreatment, the feeling of helplessness, were all too much like how he was treated when Kuja controlled the Black Mages, using them for destruction and death. People had hated, feared him, wherever he went, despite the fact that he didn’t look exactly like the Black Mages and was shorter, and could think and talk. They had just seen him, and hated him.

“Not again,” he murmured.

Suddenly a loud commanding shout echoed over all. The crowds became still and silent, as Vivi and Orko heard hoof beats nearing.

A man in glistening silver armor rode up on a strange beast that was horse like, but had definite feline traits like a feline muzzle, and a leonine-like tail, only having a leaf-shaped bit of flesh where a lion had a puff. Its body was definitely horse-like, though it’s hooves were cloven. As for the man himself, he was tall, with a proud bearing. His armor was spotless, silver plate mail, bearing etchings of some sort of cat-like beast standing rampant over the heart. His face, then he looked at them, was clean shaven and handsome, and his eyes were amber and piercing. Orko would call it a noble bearing, Vivi commanding, and both would have been perfectly accurate.

He said something to them, in his language, but of course they didn’t understand

“Trolly-molly, let us out,” Orko pleaded, gripping the side bars and facing the knight. “Whatever you think we did, we didn’t, unless you’re mad about the grass. And we can fix that.” Quite obviously, he didn’t understand their language either.

The knight moved his mount up, to get a good look at Vivi, who was sitting facing the knight but still in his same position, with his head down. The knight tipped his head slightly, then reached out to gently nudge the top of Vivi’s hat through the top bars. Vivi looked up, on reflex adjusting his hat back into position, to meet his gaze. The knight blinked in seeming surprise, then frowned slightly, and Vivi recoiled away a bit, but the knight instead twisted himself upon his horse and lashed out at the crowd. They quickly stopped staring at the train or prisoners and went about their business. Then the knight looked back at Vivi, and smiled. He spoke again, but Vivi just shook his head.

“I can’t understand.” The knight reached forward and plucked a bit of debris off of Vivi’s hat, and knocked as much of a gunk away as he could from both the prisoner and his cell.

“What’s going on?” Orko asked through the metal divider.

“I think he’s trying to - help us. Or at least treat us decently.” Not knowing what lese to do, Vivi nodded and smiled, trying to make the expression of thanks clear in his eyes - an emotion he surely felt for the rescue from the crowd’s cruelty - and cleaned out his half and brushed himself off as much as possible. Then he attempted to show he was unhurt by holding out his hands to the sides. “Thank you.” The knight just continued to smile pleasantly.

“Wish he could understand us,” muttered Orko, leaning on the metal place. He suddenly brightened, calling through to Vivi, “Maybe we can get him to remove the divider.”

“Yeah!” Vivi reached out to touch the knight’s arm, to get his attention, then pressed his palms flat against the metal and pushed up. It was locked into place, of course, but the man did tip his head in response. “Orko, try to lift it with me.” Orko did, and together they managed to get it to jiggle, but no more. Finally the knight understood the pleading look and actions, and frowned, shaking his head no. Vivi took a deep breath, determined, and squirmed into a kneeling posit9ion. He folded his hands as if pleading, then tried to indicate to the best of his ability that they could cause no trouble, that he desperately wanted to see Orko, using body language. The knight looked at them, frowning, then sighed and reached out to unhook the restraints on it.

Instantly there came a shout form somewhere else back along the train. The knight, without releasing his hold on the latch, shouted back a reply which sounded more than a little bit admonishing. There was another curt exchange between the knight and the other person, and then the metal plate was removed.

Vivi and Orko eagerly clasped each other’s wrists, then looked at the knight. Perhaps it was a crazy idea, but Vivi suddenly repeated the nod, smile, and phrase :”Thank you.” Then, he told Orko via and pendant,

Repeat what I did. Smile, and nod, and say thank you. Maybe we can get him to understand at least that.

Okay. Orko imitated his fellow mage, and then hugged Vivi for a second with another big smile shining in his eyes, before releasing him to clap his hands together happily. This, at least, made some sense for it got a large, pleased smile in return.

Clever! Vivi praised. Maybe we can at least communicate some to him. Seemingly the knight wanted to make such a connection as well, but he reached out and rattled the cage a bit, then frowned and shook his finger at them before jiggling the metal slate now on top of the cage. Don’t... make noise? Vivi tried.

Maybe he’s telling us to behave, or we’ll be separated again. Lets nod. They both nodded eagerly, Vivi so hard that his hat fell over his eyes and he had to fix it. The knight chuckled and turned his attention ahead.

Lets keep talking like this, Vivi suggested.

Good though. Perhaps Dregan and Zentarou have awakened. Again they tried to contact their friends, but nothing. Okay, I think we should assume either they’re still unconscious -

Unlikely.

- Or that their pendants have been removed.

I hope they’re okay.

Me too. We could try to ask the knight, but I don’t know how he could reply, even if we could make him understand.

I guess is couldn’t hurt to try. Vivi began to reach out again, but a loud fanfare stopped him, and the knight rode on ahead. The caravan rolled past the well-fortified walls - and into the courtyard of - a castle.

The two could see very little of it from their cage, but a feeling of dread stole into them. They’d reached their destination.

The caravan stopped with the same jarring halt it was begun with, and armored men appeared everywhere. One, the same burly one who’d grabbed Vivi, approached their cage. He leered at them, grinning in a manner that they definitely took as threatening, mumbling a very hostile-sounding phrase at them, before unlocking the cage and reaching in for them.

Instantly the pair put up a struggle, kicking and the like, despite the lack of room. The noise caught the knight’s attention, luckily, for he swiftly came over and clouted the burly one upside the head, speaking to him. The man responded somewhat angrily, and his protests were met with a gesture at the mages and another command from the knight. The man sulked away, muttering. But not fast nor quietly enough, for the knight took four quick steps, spun the brute around, and slugged him across the mouth. The man dropped hard, his lip split, as the knight growled what sounded like a threat. Others, mostly armored men, burst out laughing as the knight returning to cage, pausing only long enough to take a proffered rag from another knight, with which he wiped the blood from his armored glove. He tossed the rag aside, then motioned them to come out. They obeyed, and he gently - but firmly - tied a rope around their wrists. As he did so, they looked at the other prisoners hopefully, but didn’t see the other two Bretheren before they were tugged away to follow the knight inside the castle.