Chapter 1: The Day of the Fair
Dak yawned and stretched, falling out of bed. In the distance he could hear Leene’s Bell ringing. He rolled over and got up. Another peaceful day in the town of Truce. Another boring, average day in this excessively serene world. He then remembered that today was not to be just another boring day. Today was Guardia’s Millennial Fair, and damned if he was gonna sleep through it. He briefly remembered hearing his mother’s voice in his head, prodding him to get out of bed, the day he left the small house in Medina to serve in the armed forces. He was only thirteen then, and he wasn’t sure why it had been so important he get out of the house. He was 18 now, had been living in Guardia Castle for the past two months, with the higher-ranking officers. He had been pleased with the promotion, but he really only liked the idea because it got him out of the filthy Medina barracks. The Medina ranks were largely composed of Mystics-imps and the like-and they hadn’t much regard for the sanitary conditions and such of the small group of humans in their fighting force. He sighed again, letting the morning sun clear his mind. Of course, as he found out, it wasn’t that much different here, but at least, holding the rank he worked so hard for, he had a slightly better room than would otherwise have been left to him. The humans in Guardia castle were as disdainful of anyone from Medina as the Mystics in Medina were of a human.
He shrugged on an undershirt and then a tunic made of mithril, and over that his favorite dark green tunic, the one that supposedly brought out the green in his eyes. Looking in the mirror, he studied his face. It still had a boyish quality, but with sharp cheekbones and a bit of ruggedness beginning to show, he thought the overall appearance qualified as ‘not bad’. Except – he might want to put some pants on. He grinned at the thought of running around the fair in his underwear, wondering what stuffy old Sgt. Dervik would think of that. He pulled on a pair of black leather pants, and started to comb his long blue hair, pulling it into a low ponytail. After accompanying the outfit with a pair of shin-high boots, the best ones he owned, he marveled at how he was able to get out of the castle on the busiest day since who knows how long. Thank the gods he had managed to get a day off on the day of the millennial fair – he didn’t know how he had managed it, with hundreds of others vying for the top spots, but however he’d done it, he was glad.
He grabbed his dark blue woolen cloak off the peg on the wall, making sure the inner pockets were well stocked with anything he might need. From all the fairy tales he had heard as a kid, one thing he knew; always be prepared for whatever adventure might be thrown at you. That was one reason he didn’t mind being forced into the armed forces, being able to train himself to the level of skill he thought he might someday need. As a last touch, he pulled on his fingerless gloves, embedded with steel plates at the knuckles, grabbed his sword, strapped it to his belt, (you never know), and made sure he still had on his pendant, a teal colored stone with ornate carvings.
Dak happily strode down the hallway of the great castle and out to the forest. Today promised to be a great festival. He had no problem defeating the few creatures that existed in the forest. He more than once thought he saw a flash of gold in the trees far ahead of him, but he shrugged it off as products of an overactive imagination and excitement. As he drew into the field that showed a clear view of Leene’s Square and the surrounding village of Truce, he realized what he had been seeing. An attractive blonde was running for the square, hair streaming behind her, obviously in a rush. <Hmm> he thought. <Now what attractive blondes do I know who might run from the castle? Might it be . . . Princess Nadia? > He had heard, often enough, the almost horror stories of the wild princess who disobeyed her fathers wishes, caused scores of soldiers to wish they had stayed home that day, and seemed to always find trouble. He had seen her often enough, in royal to-do’s, looking bored to tears. He judged her to be about his age, but he had never had the doubtable pleasure of talking to her, and a wild grin crossed his face. This should be interesting . . . he broke into a sprint to catch up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“He who takes hold of a wolf’s mane without a club in his hand, must naturally have a brave disposition Under his cloak”
- Book of Aneurin I
(The Godolin)
“I’m a rebel. I’m having a rebellion.”
-Willow
End Chapter 1
Within a few seconds he was feeling better than he had in weeks. <Nothing like a good run after a moving target to get the blood pumping> he thought, closing the gap easily. She still hadn’t noticed she wasn’t alone, so he decided to surprise her. A quick leap, and he landed easily in front of her. The girl shrieked and tried to swerve, but he was too close, and she bumped into him, rebounding as easily as a rubber ball. She leapt up instantly, eyes afire as she glared at this new threat.
*****
Nadia had been running across the plain towards Truce, feeling incredibly lucky none of Daddy’s guards had noticed her drop out of her window, swim across the moat, and climb (using crossbow bolts as rungs, later removing them) out of the moat, whose water ended at least four feet below the ground level. She had almost been ready to believe herself free as she hurtled through the forest, after changing into dry clothes she had stashed in the woods. And she had finally thrown off the last of her inhibitions as she went flat out across the plain, almost at the town of Truce, where she was finally stopped by this, this . . . person! She wanted to scream at him, beat at him, but she knew that she probably shouldn’t cause trouble. The subtle way would probably serve her best if she planned on spending the Millennial fair anywhere but her room.
She leapt up at the boy, who didn’t look much older than she was, and glared, all the while pronouncing coolly, “Why did you just do that? I am on my way to the Millennial fair, and would like to get there in one piece, thank you very much.”
The strange boy replied, just as coolly, “I apologize. I was in a rush to see why the princess had fled the castle yet again, and wondering what her father would think.”
Nadia glared even more fiercely. This was getting nowhere-she could not let this cloaked figure keep her from her destination. “The princess,” she began, each word practically forming icicles in their coldness, “does not wish to be questioned at this time. I assume you are sent by my father, but you will not stop me from going where I please.” She studied the strange boy’s reaction to her words. He was certainly handsome, but there was an amused look on his face at those words, which, when combined with her rage and desperation, created instant loathing. She stalked towards him, fully intending to smack him so hard he’d be down for a week if he made any move to stop her.
*****
Dak was amused at the threat, but stopped being amused as she started towards him with murder in her eyes. He said, “No, as a matter of fact I was not sent by the king. I was merely going to the fair on my day off, and I saw you running. I can’t resist a race, but I must say you weren’t much of a challenge!”
Nadia stopped dead at these words. “Not a challenge, eh? Well, let’s see if you’re as good with your fists as you are on your feet!”
That took the smirk off his face. “But, but,” he stammered, “I can’t beat up the princess! They’d kick me out of the Royal Guard for sure!” He briefly imagined being stripped of his rank and sent back to Medina in shame, a black and blue Nadia looking on, and laughing.
“Well,” Nadia said, tossing her hair and drawing her crossbow, “that’s too bad. Because I have no such qualms about beating you up.” She pointed the crossbow at him, undoubtedly savoring the look of shock on his face. She fired a bolt so it just missed his head, and he ducked reflexively. That was all she needed. She quickly tucked it away and ran past him, knocking him on the head as she passed. It wasn’t a very hard hit, but it stopped him for the moment. He got up and watched her disappear into the square, and a smile lit up his face. Those other wimpy soldiers were wrong! That was FUN! He happily swigged a Tonic to make the swelling go down, and walked casually into the square. <I wonder if all women are that interesting? >
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hate is the consequence of
fear; we fear something before we hate it; a child who fears noises becomes a
man who hates noise."
- Cyril Connolly, writer and journalist
“So far so good.”
“Jake? Do me a favor. Don’t ever say ‘so far so good’. The only time anyone ever says ‘so far so good’ is right before everything blows up in his face.”
“So far. So far. Farrrrr. Faaaar. So. Sssso far so so so good.”
“Oh man.”
-Jake, Marco, and Ax
End Chapter 2
Chapter 3:
Whooosh!
Crono was also waking up to the sound of Leene’s Bell. He got dressed and grabbed the wooden sword he carved himself, strapping it to his belt. He fed his cat, got his allowance from his mom, and went to the fair. He was enjoying himself, walking about the various stands. He saw an old man with a display of weapons. “How much are your swords?”
The old man seemed to gaze at him intently. “Why don’t you try my special sword? You have a look about you as if you will be using it soon.”
Crono shuddered, wondering what the old man meant by that, but gave it a few test swipes. It seemed to sing in his hands, and he knew this was a very fine piece of work. “How much?” He asked.
“You can have it. I have a feeling you’ll need it!” the old man whispered, and as Crono drew back in puzzlement, the old man resumed his bright grin and yelled to the square, “Buy a sword from Melchior the Swordsmith! Visit me on the Eastern Continent!”
Crono sheathed his new sword and walked away in puzzlement. As he walked towards the far side of the square, he didn’t notice as a very excited attractive blonde ran into him.
“Ooof!”
“Sorry!”
Crono groaned, then stood up. There was a beautiful girl looking worried, blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. “What’s wrong?”
“My pendant! Don’t tell me I lost it!”
Meanwhile on the other side of the square . . .
Dak was having the time of his life. “Woohoo!” He yelled in exuberance as he beat up Gato the robot yet again. “¯ I lost, You won, here’s 15 silver points, now wasn’t that fun?¯” sang the metal robot, and Dak grinned as he added them to his already large collection. When he cashed these in, he’d have a lot of money to spend on whatever he wanted . . . but first, more games!
As he headed to check out the races and stuff, he heard a girl say, “They should be finished setting up now.” He looked over and saw Princess Nadia with some spiky-haired guy heading into a previously guarded area of the square. <Why not? > He thought, and headed in that direction to see what was up. As he went into the small area at the far north of the square, he saw a small crowd of people gathered around some cool looking machinery. Spikes and the princess were talking to a pretty girl with glasses and short purple hair. The man who seemed to be in charge started a little speech thing about the machine and how it was invented by his daughter Lucca. The spiky haired guy nodded, and climbed onto the left telepod. The purple haired girl with glasses <Lucca? > and what must then be her father powered up the telepods, and he was transported to the telepod on the right.
<Wow! I wish I had the plans for that! It would be so cool to make one of those! >
The crowd politely clapped, him along with them. Princess Nadia seemed especially excited, and looked around to see the other people’s reactions. When she saw him, she froze. A look of . . . fear? Crossed her face, and she quickly ran up to the spiky haired kid and Lucca.
“That looks like fun! I wanna try it!”
Lucca’s father looked worried, then regained his composure. “Okay, now watch as this vision of loveliness steps aboard the machine!”
A few more preliminaries, and the machine started up. Sparks flew, and something on Nadia’s chest seemed to glow. Suddenly, a swirling blue vortex opened up between the two telepods, and Nadia was sucked in. All was silent for a moment, then, pandemonium. Lucca’s father stood up.
“All right, people, nothing to see here, shows over, get moving!” The crowds filed out of the area, muttering. Dak stayed put, hoping to find out what happened. Lucca’s father looked frantic. “Lucca, WHAT HAPPENED?”
“I don’t know! The way the pendant reacted . . . it couldn’t have been the telepods!”
The spiky haired kid walked onto the left telepod, holding on to the pendant. A gleam came to his eyes as he spoke. “I’ll go after her. Give me the pendant, since that seems to be the thing activating this gate. Don’t worry, I’ll bring her back!”
Dak couldn’t help but admire the guy, going off into who knows where after the princess, and watched with great interest at the reactions of Lucca and her father. The father spoke first. “You’ll do it? Great boy! Lucca, power it up!”
Lucca spoke up. “Crono, be careful, ok? I don’t know where this’ll send you, but I’ll follow you as soon as I can!”
Dak watched with fascination as the gate opened again, and Crono disappeared inside.
*****
Lucca was frantic. An oddly familiar blonde had just disappeared, her best friend was going after her to . . . who knows where they’d gone? Her machine couldn’t have caused it, it worked fine when Crono used it, but still . . . guilt. If she hadn’t built that damned machine this wouldn’t be happening to her! She looked up. That guy was still standing there. She remembered just five minutes ago, before everything had gone wrong, when she was presenting the machine. The majority of the audience seemed unimpressed, their expressions like sharks, there only to snicker and whisper about her and her invention, wondering when it would blow up or fall apart like all the others. This one . . . he had just stood there. He actually looked interested in the invention itself, not just how long it would be in one piece for, and he had no cynicism in his expression. He was also very handsome. Thoughts ran through her head, none of them completely welcome, and she mentally smacked herself. Now he seemed to realize she was looking at him, and she blushed and started to look at her shoelaces. He ran up to her and began to talk.
“Wow! What a great invention! I can’t believe it worked like that! I wonder if I could borrow the plans to that, It’d be really cool if I could make one of those! Maybe I could even improve on the design!” He looked like he was mentally slapping himself for a moment. “Hey, but let’s save that. We better think about getting that Crono guy and Princess Nadia back!”
She looked at the guy with what felt like a dumbstruck expression on her face, then swore. “Holy flip . . . I knew she looked familiar. We’re in it deep now! The king’s probably sent out guards to look for her already, and THIS is the last place she was! Dammit dammit dammit! How the hell are we supposed to explain this?”
He looked at her. “I’ve got an idea! Can I see those plans for a minute? We won’t have to explain anything if we get them back before long. Besides, I won’t tell the other guards, or the king, as long as we get her back in one piece.”
“Other guards?”
“Well, yeah! You don’t think I’m the only man in the Royal Guard, do you? Ohhh.” He looked down at himself. “Sorry. I forgot, I’m not in uniform. I’m not on duty or anything. Just enjoying the fair. Anyways, I’ve got an idea to get to wherever they went. Do you have the plans with you?”
“Well sure! Had to, just in case something ‘unfortunate’ happened and the machine broke down. Here.” Lucca pulled a scrolled piece of paper out of her backpack. Soon, her and the strange guy were poring over the plans. He was the first to speak.
“Wow! This is really something! You could really use this! Hey, do you think if we isolated these components and added one of these . . .” Soon, they were finished planning. Lucca sent the guy off with a list of stuff to get for the ‘gate key’ as they called it, breathing a sigh of exhaustion. <Who was that guy?>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Flittering, wheeling, / Darting in to strike, and then/ gone just as you blink.”
-“Dragonfly Haiku”, poet unknown
The most beautiful thing we
can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all
science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause
to
wonder and stand rapt in
awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
-Albert Einstein
End chapter 3
Dak wandered about the merchant’s stalls in the fair, getting what he needed for the prototype gate key. He mentally smacked himself for babbling, he was sure Lucca thought him some kind of fool. As he passed by an old man with a long moustache, the man reeled back, in seeming shock. He turned towards him with genuine concern. “Are you okay? What happened?”
The old man smiled broadly; “Nothing, nothing, go on, lad! Unless, do you wish to buy a weapon from Melchior the Swordsmith?”
Dak considered for a moment, then bought a red dagger. It seemed to absorb the light, rather than reflect it, and he was drawn by the carvings. <Where have I seen those before?>
“Ahh! The dreamstone! You have chosen wisely.”
Dak paid the man, stuck his dagger in his boot, and then headed back to Lucca. Perhaps this would turn out to be an adventure! He broke into a sprint, almost crashing into Lucca. “Lucca! I’ve got the materials!” He took a quick glance at the plans, and five minutes later, he was holding out the gate key to her, an expectant look on his face. “Well? How do you like it?”
“Wow! You got all that done in five minutes? How did you manage that?”
“I learn quickly. How ‘bout we take it for a test drive?”
“All right! Crono, Nadia, here we come!”
*****
Swirling . . . lights and colors flashed by Lucca, disorienting and confusing her. A flash of light, and she and Dak found themselves in a clearing. A few easy imp battles, and they were . . . “Back in Truce? Dak, why are we still in Truce?”
“Wait . . . that canyon wasn’t there before, was it? There’s something peculiar here. Where’s Leene’s Square?”
“Well, according to where everything else is, that would be . . . right where the canyon is now!”
“Okay, well our first job here is to find Crono and Nadia. Nadia is the princess, and according to all the history books I’ve ever read, the royalty has an uncanny resemblance to each other almost all down the line. How do you suppose the townspeople would react-wherever this is-if they saw someone who looks like royalty?”
“Well, since you usually find royalty in castles, I’d say we should gravitate in that direction.”
“Sounds good to me!”
As Lucca and Dak walked into the center of town, they noticed people giving them strange looks and slamming doors and windows as they walked down the street. Lucca was the first to comment on it. “Doesn’t it seem weird to you that nobody’s around? No one seems to want to talk, no one is curious about two strangers appearing from the canyon . . . this stinks like fish.”
“Like dead fish.”
“Like moldy dead fish.”
“Like moldy dead decaying zombie fish whose only desire is to eat the brains of the living.”
“I’m not going to ask.”
“It’s probably for the best.”
They looked at each other, and broke out laughing at the same time. “All right Dak, let’s head for the castle.”
“I want some info first. Let’s ask the locals and see what we can learn.”
“All right . . .”
They came to the nearest house, and knocked at the door. “Hello in there?” Dak called.
A scuffle sounded, and a smug looking kid, looking to be about 16, followed by at least five disgruntled looking siblings, came to the door. The kid was kind of short for his age, and had reasonably tame short hair, until you got to the front part. There, his brown hair went longer and into some moderate spikage. He was wearing oversized black and grey workman’s gloves, and a sleeveless grey tunic over baggy many-pocketed khaki pants. His right ear was pierced like Dak’s, and Lucca saw Dak smile at the nonchalant look on his face. The littler ones all gasped and ran away, but the other kid still stood there. “What do you want?”
Lucca started the conversation. “We’re, uh, travelers, and we could use someone to help us get the lay of the land so to speak. Who should we talk to?”
The kid shot a glance in the direction the small ones had taken, and stepped outside. “Well, your friend looking like he does, I think I’m your best bet.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with my looks?” Lucca silently thought, <Nothing at all! > with a devilish grin, but the kid got straight to the point.
“You can call me Griff. Griff A’Vliante. I apologize for my family. It’s not often we get opposing warlords knocking at the door.”
“I’m not an opposing warlord! I’m only eighteen! Besides, I’ve never been to this, uh, place before, so how does everyone here seem to recognize me for someone?”
“Wait, Dak. Why don’t we learn something a little more immediately useful?” Lucca turned to the kid. “Let’s say, for kicks and giggles, that we weren’t from anywhere around here. Tell us everything you can about this area, what’s going on, and then get to what’s so shocking about my friend’s appearance.”
Griff scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. “All right. This is the kingdom of Guardia. The Mystics have always had something against us, and I suppose us them, but since 580, 20 years ago, they seemed extra stirred up. According to my dad that is. Something big happened over there, but they wouldn’t say what, and as King Guardia didn’t want to add fuel to the fire by seeming suspicious, so he let it go. Only recently, a few years back, there was an attack on one of our cities by a tall, caped man with blue hair.” He paused for effect. “He called himself Magus, and wanted King Guardia to give the Mystics more - make that all - of the power in the kingdom. He utterly destroyed the forces sent out to stop him. Since then, he has set up his hideout on an island somewhere. His most recent attack trashed Zenan Bridge, so we have lost contact with the southern continent. Somewhere in the mix, the queen disappeared. Now, she wandered in from the canyon looking extremely youthful. The search is called off, and all is better. Now it’s your turn. Tell me your story.”
Dak and Lucca blinked a few times. They shared a look, like, <Should we trust him? > Dak spoke up. “We’re from the year 1000. Something very strange happened, and two of our friends got sent here. We really need to get them back. Oh yeah, and one of them is probably the “queen” that was recently recovered. We should probably look into that.”
“All right, let’s go then.”
Lucca was next to speak. “Waitaminute. No discussion? No doubt? No fear of the person who looks like Magus for some reason? What’s in this for you?”
Griff shrugged. “I’m bored out of my skull, you’ll need a guide, and I need to get away from the siblings. He looks harmless enough to me, and a lot younger than Magus is supposed to be. I see no problem. Are we going or what?”
Lucca caught Dak’s eye. He gave an inscrutable glance, then shrugged. She thought, <I wonder what’s going on in his head? > “Ahh well. Off we go!”
Dak looked at Griff. “Is there anything you’ll need?”
“Just let me feed the young’ns and grab some gear. I didn’t exactly wake up this morning thinking, ‘Hey, I’m going to go a-venturing today and maybe get myself killed!’”
Dak cracked a smile. “I seriously hope you didn’t!”
Griff gave him a strange look, then ran into the house.
“Kids these days. Got no sense of humor.”
“If you were living in the middle of a war, would you be used to laughing?”
“Every day. I couldn’t live without laughter.”
The door swung back open. “Alright guys, let’s go!” Griff yelled.
The group moved down the street towards the castle, cheerily ignoring the gaping townspeople.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The smallest beast can yet have the greatest heart”
-Gemma, Willow priestess
“To pass through the jungle:
silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands.”
-Kamau, “Proper Passage”
End Chapter 4
Chapter 5: WITCH!
WITCH!
Magus bolted upright in his throne. How could this happen? Not fifteen
minutes ago, the world had seemed within his grasp. Now, he sickened at the
thought. <Three
powerful souls> Magus thought. <Three
souls I sense, together possessing the spirit to end the Mystic army once and
for all! Not bad enough that somehow these three came through a gate, but one .
. . one is the Hero of Time! > He thought he sensed another presence
with theirs, but it seemed so familiar he dismissed it as imagination or one
whose life force he had previously encountered.
“Ozzie! Flea! Slash! Get in here you incompetent fools!” Magus sighed as
three familiar figures skittered around the corner. Ozzie stopped abruptly,
causing the other two to run into him and bounce off his enormous green girth.
The other two quickly regained their posture and soon all three were saluting,
bowing, and grinning with a severely impaired expression on their
faces.
“Greetings, your soon-to-be-highness! Can your humble servants be made
useful to your worship?” sniveled Ozzie.
“Stop sniveling. I do not wish to be embarrassed by my top general if
they fix Zenan bridge and we are forced to attack the castle. Now . . .” Magus
cast a dark glance across his cohorts. Slash shivered. “There are three humans
that do not belong here. If you see anyone acting oddly, bring them to
me.”
Ozzie whined. “But boss, I don’t wanna have to disguise myself as a
filthy Human!”
Magus glared, and snapped his fingers. Ozzie, Flea, and Slash were now
humans. Well . . . as human as those three could ever be. Magus almost smiled at
the thought, and then remembered his composition. He cleared his throat, then
glared at Ozzie. “You were saying . . .?”
“Umm, right away, boss?”
“Good answer. Now go.”
As the three imbeciles scuttled out the door, Magus sighed. <Why
have I been cursed with such a bunch of . . . peasants? Terrible! Ozzie is my
top general, and he will hide behind FLEA when danger calls! And when you have
to hide behind a pink-haired crossdresser to feel safe, the end is near . .
.
>
*****
Dak, Griff, and Lucca ran through the forest. Dak was practically jogging, and Griff was keeping up easily, but Lucca . . .
“WAIT UP ALREADY! *huff puff* Geez, it’s not like the world’s gonna end if we’re not at the castle by sunset!”
Dak eased up a little, silently laughing at Lucca’s slight inadequacy. <Well, I guess no girl’s perfect after all. Ha! That’s an interesting thought, actually . . . > Dak indulged himself in a small “perfect girl” fantasy, then stopped as Lucca caught up.
Griff grinned. “Well gee, Lucca, why can’t you keep up? If we ran any slower we’d be going backwards!”
Lucca growled. “SHUT UP! Er, why don’t we just walk the rest of the way, okay?”
At this Dak laughed. “All right, all right, come on Griff, be a gentleman. We’ll walk the rest of the way. We’re here anyways . . .”
Lucca looked up to see they were indeed at the castle. The sun was just setting, so it was around 8 o’clock PM already.
“20 hours, lady and gentlemen. Shall we?” Dak remarked, holding open the large door of the castle and ushering the group inside.
Home! Dak reveled in the younger Guardia castle, enjoying the far less moldy and dusty palace and eagerly pointing out landmarks to his comrades. There were two scowling guards at the entrance, looking at Dak with a malicious look on their faces.
“So, Magus, you dare show your face around here? HAHAHAHAHA! You actually expect us to let you through? And you, A’Vliante! Sorry to inform you, but Princess Hanna’s not here, you little Peeping Tom!”
“What’s a girl doing with Magus?”
“Perhaps she’s one of his concubines.”
“Well, if she is, she’s certainly not human.”
The soldiers let out a gasp. Simultaneously, they screeched, “WITCH! WITCH!”
“Get some water! We’ll melt her!”
“Get some straw! We’ll burn her!”
“Get the King!”
“RUN!”
The two guards scattered, yammering like ninnies. Dak snickered. “That was easy.”
Griff started laughing. “Wow Lucca, you sure scared them! HAHAHAHA! Oh, this is worth it already! What I would’ve paid for the looks on their faces! *giggle*”
Griff looked serious for a moment. “Wait. Did I just giggle? Next time I giggle, Lucca, you have permission to smack me.”
Lucca pretended to think for a moment, and an evil grin crossed her face. “Absolutely!”
Dak frowned. “They should be fired. No Royal Guardsman should act so shamefully in the face of danger.”
Lucca sighed. “Dak, I’m sure they’re under a lot of stress. Besides, if they weren’t so incompetent, we’d be in deep trouble by now. Now, why don’t we find Crono and Marle before they actually get the guts to follow through with those ridiculous threats? I don’t really feel like being burned at the stake or soaked today.”
“Agreed.”
The trio strolled the castle. Dak remembered the warnings he’d gotten his first day in the castle. The most adamant rule, which had been repeated many times, was DON’T GO DOWN THIS HALLWAY!
‘This hallway’ was the one through which the three were traipsing now, and Dak lit up. “Hey guys, we’re in luck! This is the hallway which leads to Nadia’s room, and if she’s here, I bet that’s where she is!”
“How do you know this?” Griff enquired.
“I’m a Royal Guard. It IS a good thing if your troops can find their way around the castle!”
“Duh! Why couldn’t you get us past the guards then?”
“DUH! BECAUSE THEY THINK I’M SOME EVIL WARLORD I’VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF, THAT’S WHY!”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Griff thought for a moment, then asked, “But how are you a Royal Guard if they think you’re Magus?”
Dak slapped his forehead in amazement. “We told you! We’re from 400 years in the future! Magus is only mentioned in the history books and in Medina village! There are no qualms about hiring me because there’s NO POSSIBLE WAY Magus could be in Truce of 1000. Besides, they’ve had peace for four centuries, they aren’t nearly so paranoid as these people.”
“There’s been peace for four centuries? And Magus is not a major part of the day to day? So that means . . . the war is ending soon, and we win! YAHOO! Cool!”
Lucca frowned. “Whoah kid. Stop bouncing. Besides, us being here might change the future! We’d better be careful about what we do. And we CAN’T hurt anyone. We’d be wiping out hundreds of their descendants if they died, and that would REALLY suck.”
Griff raised his eyebrows, then opened his eyes wide in shock. “Hey, how’d that punk get through security?”
Lucca saw what he was looking at, and ran to give the ‘punk’ a hug. “Crono! You’re all right! Thank goodness we found you!”
“We?”
“Yeah! Oh, I’m sorry, you haven’t met my new friends! Guys, this is Crono! Crono, guys.”
Griff stepped forward and gave a small wave of his hand. “Hiya. I’m Griff A’Vliante.”
Dak reached out and shook Crono’s hand. “Dak Andrion. Nice to meet you.”
*****
Crono was more than a little shook up. He had gotten to the castle, and found Marle there waiting for him. Apparently everyone had thought she was the queen, so she was getting the royalty treatment, but when he had talked to her for a while, something . . . terrible happened. Marle had said something about being ripped apart, and vanished! Just like that! As he stumbled down the stairs to see what to do next, he finds Lucca trailing two guys! Lucca! His BEST FRIEND who had barely spoken to another guy besides him, now with TWO guys following her! Well . . . let’s be fair here. One was just a kid, not even 16 by the looks of him, and didn’t seem too interested in Lucca. The other . . . A wave of jealousy had hit then, but Crono wasn’t sure why. He was tall, built, and, from what he had learned of the female mind from his long friendship of Lucca, very handsome. Not that Lucca had had much to say about other guys in their conversations. Oh well. He turned to the other guy, Dak was it? And spoke.
“So what’s the deal here? Who are you people?”
<Brilliant, Crono. You’re a regular detective. Hey! That would be cool! > Crono indulged himself in a little mind-movie of himself as a detective, and subsequently barely heard all the stuff that just happened. Oh well. Mind-movies are fun! He was about to mention this fun fact when his reverie was broken by the younger one, Griff.
“So what now? Where’s this princess we’re talking about?”
That got Crono’s attention. “Huh? Wha? Princess? Whaaaaaat?” <Yet another inspired comment. We’re on a roll today, huh Crono? >
Lucca sighed and tossed her hair. “Pay attention, Crono! You were having a mind-movie again, weren’t you?”
Crono saw Griff and Dak exchange confused looks. “Um . . . yeah. Explain it again and I’ll pay complete attention now, ok?”
“Marle is really Princess Nadia. Queen Leene is missing. When she showed up, people thought she WAS Queen Leene, so they stopped looking for the real queen. Problem. Someone was supposed to have found the queen and saved her, but now they won’t, because “she” is back. Without the queen, there can’t BE a Nadia, because the royalty of our time are direct descendants of this time.”
Griff broke in. “But she’s already got a kid! Princess Hanna! She should be able to continue the line by herself, shouldn’t she?” Crono noticed he blushed a little as he said this, and wondered what THAT was all about. <I’ll have to ask Lucca later. Hey! That might be an entertaining mind-movie! Naw. I should probably pay attention. The kid’s got a point. >
Lucca looked flustered for a minute, then sighed. “I don’t know. But apparently she doesn’t, because otherwise Princess Nadia would be here right now. Maybe she gets depressed because her mom’s gone, I dunno. Let’s get moving!”
Dak talked next. “That’s probably right, but it’s getting pretty dark. We can ask around later, why don’t we tuck in for the night?”
Griff lit up. “Hey! This is a castle, right? <I’m not gonna touch that one. > I bet they’ve got way better food then the peasant slop! Race ya to the kitchens!”
Dak and Griff were all set to get set and go, but Lucca stopped them. “We can’t have you all running about the castle! Did you forget the guards that think we’re criminals? < Um, what? > Perhaps we had best speak to the king first.”
Crono spoke confidently. “Oh yeah. I’m on the king’s good side, Marle told him I saved her, so I should be able to get ya an ‘audience’ no problem. Let’s go!”
Two hours later . . .
Crono and company were occupying the spare beds in the castles basement, after a filling dinner of Hyper Kabobs, Power Stews, and Refresh Salads. Crono laughed to himself. They had had a heck of a time convincing the people of the castle that Dak WASN’T Magus, but they finally did it. Well, Dak goofing around and making scary faces at the maids didn’t help. Crono laughed again. Perhaps that guy isn’t so bad after all. He went to sleep, fun little mind-movies playing in his head till the last second.
“The trouble is, it’s all so long ago.”
“Not to me it isn’t.”
-Morgan LeFevre and Arddu
“The path of least
resistance will seldom lead you beyond your doorstep”
-Oracle-en-Vec
End Chapter 5
The four travelers finally stood before an imposing cathedral. Griff was least nervous, being somewhat acquainted with the building already. “I heard there’s a big ugly monster who used to live in the forest, and when the cathedral was built there, it got mad. Some people say it lives there! But, how could that be? I’m sure the chancellor would’ve seen him if that was true.”
“Why would the chancellor have seen him?” Lucca asked.
“He goes there almost every day.”
“Well, isn’t that interesting.” Crono gave the building a highly suspicious look, and the group went in. < First impression of the place . . . definitely creepy. > Lucca decided. There were nun types all over the place, but their churchly words of wisdom seemed . . . a little odd. They spoke to the lead nun, who said something that was definitely meant to be kindly, but only kicked the suspicions and paranoia of the group up a notch or twenty.
“Hey! What’s that sparkly?” Griff said eagerly, and the group crowded around it. Lucca was the first to recognize it. “Hey! That’s Guardia’s royal crest! I bet that’s the queen’s coral pin the king said was missing!”
At that, the nuns surrounded them, snarling. In a flash of blue flame, they were Naga-ettes, something Dak recalled as ‘Mystics with real bad attitudes’. They soon were in the thick of battle, fighting off the four snake-maidens. Griff had a pair of wickedly jagged daggers, and easily kept his at bay, getting in a lucky shot now and then. Crono and Dak were having no trouble with their curved katanas, and Lucca finished off those that looked weak or about to drop. Soon they had won, the Naga-ettes dissolving off to nothingness, and Lucca was asking Crono, “Hey! Where’d you get a sword like THAT?”
Before he could answer, however, a fifth Naga-ette materialized. Before anyone could react, a frog-thing dropped down from its spot, presumably the rafters, and took it out easily. “Lower thine guard and thou’rt allowing the enemy in. The lair is deep within. Wilt thou accompany me?”
“ A . . . a FROG? Crono, it’s a talking frog! I hate frogs!” Lucca yelped.
“My guise doth not incur thy trust . . . Very well, do as thee please. But I shall save the queen.”
“W, wait! You don’t seem like a bad . . . uh, person-frog-thing . . . I mean . . . Guys! What should we do?”
Griff spoke up. “Cool! A talking frog! Let’s go!”
Dak grinned. “I’d be honored to serve the queen alongside such a fine amphibian!”
Crono extended his hand to the frog, and shook it. “Welcome aboard, uh . . .?”
“Newtn will do,” croaked the frog.
“All right! Nice to meet ya!” Griff yelled, enthusiastically pumping frog’s small fist up and down.
“Mayhaps a hidden door lurks nigh? Let us search the environs.”
“Whatever you say, frog guy.”
The five looked around the room, examining pews and light fixtures. Dak was wandering near the organ, and absently played a few notes. A secret door opened in the opposite corner! The adventurers went through, prepared for the worst.
They explored about, picking up revives and ethers and stuff, and they soon arrived at a door. They went in, and froze in their tracks. The room was full of Mystics! Imps, Diablos, Naga-ettes, Henches, all were partying and having the time of their lives. The group was about to start backing towards the door, but one shouted, “Hey! No need to disguise yourself here! It’s break-time!”
One of the Diablos said something about stopping in at the statue of Magus, and Crono motioned for the group to follow. “Queen Leene!” Newtn croaked, running over to what looked to be the queen.
“There was no need for you to come rescue me! The master, Yakra, is very kind. I’ve decided to stay here. Now why don’t you make yourselves at home, too!”
“Newtn. That’s not the queen. Come on, let’s keep going after that Diablo.” Dak whispered, seeing Newtn’s panic-stricken face.
“Aye. I was mayhaps too hasty in my joy. This way.”
They followed the Diablo into a room where Mystics were . . . singing?
“Oh . . . Dearest Magus . . . ¯ Your flashing eyes . . . like stars . . . ¯ . . . And flowing hair . . . like waves atop the sea . . . ¯”
“No sad sunny day nor frightful ¯ bright place can get us down ¯ as long as you’re near . . . ¯ There’s nothing to fear . . . ¯”
“Magus, oh Magus ¯ Our Hero, Magus ¯”
“Gee, ya think they like this Magus character?”
“No, Crono, they just worship him and make up songs about him. They actually hate him and that’s why this Diablo took time out of his busy schedule to visit his statue.” Lucca retorted disgustedly.
As they looked around the room, one of the singing Mystics noticed that they had visitors. “Come join us in singing your funeral dirge!”
“Ummm . . . no.” Dak sighed, easily defeating the Mystic where he stood. This got the attention of the other Mystics, however, but they were made short work of.
They were all laughing and joking about what pushovers they’d encountered so far, but something stopped Dak short.
“Wow . . . it’s . . . me . . .”
“What are you talking about, Dak?”
“Look! Look at the statue! It’s me!”
“No it’s not. It’s Magus! That’s who they worship, doy!”
“LOOK CLOSER!”
After they all paid much scrutiny, Crono was the first to comment. “Well, it looks exactly like an older you, Dak. What does this mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, sorry if I’m being yon stick-in-the-mud, but we art not here to gaze at a statue of mine enemy!” Newtn spat upon the ground in loathing, and being a frog, that was a force to be reckoned with.
“Newtn, I’m willing to deal with you being a . . . FROG, but if you value our friendship, please NEVER EVER do that again.”
He turned around, and noticed that the other members of the party looked a bit green around the gills and chuckled nervously. “Er, mine apologies for that, companions. Mine body hath been that of a frog for so long I often forget it’s effects on those not similarly, er, blessed.”
“No prob. Let’s continue on, please?”
“Disturbed greatly I can assure you.”
-Sarah Cundari
“I cradle my rage even as
the earth cradles my dead kin.”
-Mirri of the Weatherlight
End chapter 6
An hour later . . .
Griff, Crono, Newtn, Dak, and Lucca stood before a big, ominous looking door. “Looks like this is it guys!”
Lucca grinned. “Sure you aren’t too scared? I mean, a little kid like you . . .” Whatever she was preparing to say next was lost, as she dissolved into helpless laughter.
“I’m not so little, and I’m not scared of . . . whatever’s in there . . . at all! I’ll show you! Gyaaaah!”
*****
The others stood back amazed as he grabbed his daggers and charged through the door, racing blindly towards whatever fiend lay beyond.
“Way to go Lucca. Now we’re probably going to have to save him.”
“Oh shut up Crono. I don’t see you running in to save the queen.”
“Now you do!” Crono grinned, and sprinted in after Griff. Lucca sighed and ran after him. Dak and Newtn were still standing there. They exchanged a look, then shrugged. Newtn spoke first.
“For honor, for Guardia, and . . .” His voice went steely and low, barely above a whisper. “For Cyrus. Yaaaaaa!” Newtn dashed into the room, swinging his sword above his head wildly.
Dak took only a few moments to wonder who Cyrus was, then stepped into the room to see what he’d missed. Apparently the kid had instigated something big, as the rest of the group was battling a big ugly monster. It looked vaguely like a dome, except an ugly shade of yellow with creepy little legs and horns and a snub nose. As he walked towards the battle cautiously, he noticed a woman in an expensive-looking dress cowering in fear. “ The queen I presume. Are you all right?”
“What business do you have here, monster? If you take one more step towards Newtn and those other brave souls . . . I cannot guarantee your safety.”
Dak let out a giant sigh. “ How many people do I have to tell, I AM NOT MAGUS. By some STRANGE twist of fate, I happen to look exactly like him. Go away. Go away, go away, and go away. Actually, you might not wanna move, because by the time we’re through, this battle might have gotten messy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a big ugly monster to slay. Take a load off, this may take a while.”
As Leene stood blinking and trying to sort out that little speech, Dak drew his sword and charged into battle. < Yee-haa! > Dak thought happily. The others were looking rather the worse for the wear, but he noticed the BUM (Big Ugly Monster) also had a few wounds, small holes from Lucca and Griff, and somewhat larger ones from the swords of Newtn and Crono. These were all oozing an unattractive, acrid smelling greenish blue substance that must have been blood.
“How are we supposed to deal with this thing? It’s so . . . big!”
“Don’t ask me, Mr. I’m-not-scared-of-anything, you got us into this!”
“Can we just calm down and try to find the vital organs?”
“Does this thing even have vital organs?”
The BUM looked peeved for a moment, unhappy at no longer being the center of attention. It roared angrily, or at least . . . it tried. “Drooooooo!”
“Droo? What kind of roar is droo?”
“It looks mad.”
“Wow, genius, how’d you figure that one out?”
“Prithee, stop thine infernal bickering! We have a large, ugly, and rather angry monster on our hands.”
“Feh, what kind of monster can’t even roar right?”
“ The FUN kind!”
“Ooookay . . .”
Though they kept a fair amount of humor in their words, the adventurers were getting strained; however, the battle was slowly but surely turning in favor of them.
“Master Crono! Might I suggest a strike by both of us at once? It might manage to slay this demon beast once and for all!”
“Let’s go for it, frogman!”
“Newtn will do.”
An X strike later, there was a bold flash of light. The defeated Yakra seemed to fizzle, as it shrank upon itself and it’s carcass dissolved. The queen and real chancellor were free, and the tired but definitely happy group headed back to the castle.
“Leene! You had me worried!”
The king and queen were having a happy reunion, glad to be in each other’s company once more. Dak grinned, happy to have helped save history, as it were. But he noticed Crono, Newtn, and Griff looked edgy. “Hey Newtn! What’s wrong?”
“I failed to protect Queen Leene. I hath disgraced thee.”
“Newtn!” The queen said with concern in her voice. The frog bowed, and walked out the door of the throne room.
“Crono!” Lucca shouted. “We’ve got to go talk to him!”
The group raced out after him. He stood in the main castle entryway, blinking back tears.
“ ’Twas a fault of mine, which endangered the queen. I shall depart for good. Crono, Dak. You hath potential to be good swordsmen. Perfect that technique we learned, it shall serve thee well.” At this, he hopped out the door. Lucca ran forward.
“Newtn, wait! You weren’t such a bad guy, either!”
“Let him go. Let’s go see what the king and queen have to say about this.”
Moments later, the king was rubbing his chin. “This is indeed troubling. Newtn has been our most loyal servant, ever since Sir Cyrus and Glenn disappeared, ten years ago. But I trust his judgment. He just needs some time to himself. Are the rest of you all right?”
“I dunno. It just seems like someone’s missing.”
“Marle!” Crono broke into the conversation suddenly. The king and queen turned to him, giving him a funny look. “Marle! My friend! Why isn’t she back yet?”
Lucca turned a funny shade of pale. “Ohhhhh gods that’s right! She should be back by now! Where would Princess Nadia have gone?”
Griff spoke up. “Um, y’know what? It’s been fun and all, killing monsters and saving the queen, but I gotta go. The siblings’ll want some form of food.”
“Okay Griff. Hey, guys, Lucca, Crono, not to get all cliché detective, but how ‘bout we check the scene of the disappearance? In other words . . . ‘To the bedroom, Robin!’”
Crono and Lucca stared at him. Crono spoke first. “Ooookay. All right. Yeah. Let’s . . . do that. Upstairs, gang!”
Dak muttered, “Geez, no sense of humor nowadays . . .”
Lucca was about to reply, but was interrupted by streams of blue light, flowing to the middle of the princess’s bedroom. A shwang sort of sound, and Marle was back!
“Huh? What happened?”
Lucca ran up to her. “Princess Nadia!”
Marle noticed only the red-haired boy front and center, and reacted to him first. “Crono!” She ran to him. “It was awful . . . I can’t recall it all . . . I was somewhere cold, dark . . . and lonely. Is that what it’s like to . . . die?”
Lucca tried again. “Welcome back, Princess Nadia!”
Marle turned to her. “You risked your life to help me too? ‘Princess . . . Nadia . . . ?!’ Uh oh. It was you, wasn’t it!” she yelled, turning to Dak.
“Well . . . yes. But not to turn you in. I came to help you and Crono.”
Marle sighed. “Sure. Sorry, Crono. I didn’t mean to deceive you. As your friend probably already told you, I’m Princess Nadia. My father’s King Guardia the XXXIII. I really enjoyed being able to spend time with you at the fair. But if you’d known who I was . . .” she took a moment to glare at Dak, “You wouldn’t have gone with me, right?”
“Wrong!” Crono said firmly.
“Oh Crono! That’s why I like you! The queen’s safe, right? Come on, let’s go home.”
“Sounds good to me.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“It was not his shoulders but his soul that bore the heaviest weight.”
“While not exactly
disgruntled, he was far from feeling gruntled.”
- P. G. Wodehouse
End Chapter 7
Chapter 8:
Homeward Bound
Marle blinked as she entered the clearing. There was a shimmering midnight blue globe in the center. <What is that? > she thought. Aloud she said, “So how do we get home?”
Lucca stuttered. “Your Highness, er, princess, we . . .”
Nadia started flailing her arms angrily. “PLEASE, call me Marle!”
“Well then Marle, observe!”
Brandishing the gate key, Lucca opened the small sphere, making a bigger vortex, the size of the one that brought them here. Marle and Crono stepped back in shock, but Marle noticed that Lucca was grinning wildly, and Dak was smirking at their response. Choosing to ignore rather than comment on that insolent peasant, Marle expressed her astonishment as well as she could. “Wow!” Both her and Crono blinked rapidly. “Lucca, you’re amazing!”
“Ain’t it the truth!”
Dak cleared his throat.
“Oh, um, I mean, yeah, I couldn’t have done it without Dak though!”
Marle glared. “Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!”
“Well, if you say so, but Dak really did do a lot of the work.” Dak blushed, and then broke in.
“We call this a ‘gate’. It’s a kind of portal, which takes you to the same location in a different era. Gates are very unstable, so I used the principal behind Lucca’s Telepod device . . . to create a gate key. Now we can use them as we please.”
“But why did this gate suddenly appear?”
Lucca pondered this for a moment. “Either the telepod had something to do with it or . . . something else made it.”
Marle, Lucca, Dak, and Crono lost themselves in thought. Well, the first three did. They also had a sneaking suspicion that Crono was only pretending to think, but really having a mind movie of ‘something else made it.’ This was confirmed as the others looked up, satisfied with whatever conclusions they’d come to, as Crono looked at the ground with a glazed expression. Lucca started tapping her foot, then yelled.
“Crono! Get out of your mind movie! Let’s go home!”
Crono grinned sheepishly. “All right. Coming, Dak?”
The first three teens had already stepped into the portal. Dak was the only one left.
“But of course!” As the last remnants of the others disappeared in a twinkling of the flashing lights emanating from the gate, Dak hopped aboard, and let the swirling engulf him.
*********************************************************************************
Magus jerked on his throne. He had become accustomed to the howling of the black wind, the awful realization of his own impending downfall. But somehow the three – four? – had managed to disappear from this plane as quickly as they had arrived. “Ozzie! Flea! Slash! Get over here!”
The trio quickly materialized in front of him, still in human guise. Ozzie was a fat, short, balding, unpleasant looking man in his forties. The only giveaway that he wasn’t just that was the fact that he still had pointed ears. Slash was a tall, greasy looking man in his thirties, but for some reason still had no ears. Flea . . . looked exactly as he always did, just with normal colored skin and rounded off ears. He seemed to have done a much better job of transfiguration, but that was to be expected, wasn’t it? <After all, there is a reason Flea is my chief magician. >
“Yes boss?” Ozzie said plaintively, obviously wishing to be out of his human form as soon as possible.
“The suspicious-looking humans are gone. There is no longer any need for you to be wearing those half-witted attempts at disguises any more. You are dismissed for now.”
Ozzie looked gleeful. Slash looked troubled, and was ‘subtly’ nudging Flea. They had a mouthed debate, and then Flea sighed and stepped forward. “I apologize, my liege. But we have already captured a human who was acting suspiciously. Shall we dispose of her?”
<Those numb-wits actually managed to capture someone? Bah, probably a peasant who looked at them funny, but still . . . > “Where did you find this person? How was she acting in a suspicious manner?”
“She was skulking around Dorino, fretting about the bridge. Seemed too anxious to be getting to the other side.” Slash said disdainfully.
Magus sighed. “Of course she’d be anxious to get to the other side, safety’s on the other side. This side has ‘big scary Magus’ troops’. Fools.”
Flea looked angry at Slash. “It wasn’t just that. When we talked to her, she went into ‘Commando attack mode’ or something. Really jumpy. Then I saw that she was wearing something around her neck. The pendant.”
Magus hissed, drawing in his breath sharply. “THE pendant? Bring her before me!”
Magus fingered his own pendant, relic of his early days, back before he was here, before he was ‘evil’. If she truly had the pendant . . . there was only one person she could be.
A struggling figure was dragged into the room, clothes torn, a large, fresh scratch on her face marring her obvious good looks. Her long blonde hair, though dirty, had the shadow of luster and beauty. She couldn’t be older than 16. And around her neck was . . . “The pendant!” Magus exclaimed with surprise. “So, you are the princess!”
Slash and Ozzie’s collective jaws dropped in shock, and Flea nodded grimly. The princess glared, regal manner still apparently intact.
“Princess Hanna Guardia I presume? Delighted to make your acquaintance after so long.”
“The Magus! So, you have defiled Zenan bridge now! It won’t matter! My father shall send so many soldiers after you, you won’t be able to leave this little castle without being made a pincushion of by their arrows!” She laughed grimly.
“A sight you assuredly won’t live to see. The day I die will be years after your pathetic Guardian line has been wiped off the planet. Take the princess back to the dungeons.”
As they dragged the girl back down to the dungeons, Magus smiled to himself. With a swirl of his cape, Magus retired to his personal chambers. < Revenge shall soon be mine! > he thought with glee, and walked up the stairs, sniggering madly.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“In the world of complete darkness, there are no shadows to fear.”
“What was yours is mine. Your land, your people, and now your life.”
-Lim-Dûl, the Necromancer
End Chapter 8
Dak stumbled out of the vortex. <There’s gotta be a less nauseating way to travel! > He thought. His friends were talking, and he shook his head and joined the conversation.
“So what’s happening now?”
Lucca looked at him, eyes shining.“ Marle’s invited us to have dinner with her! See the castle the way it is now, as opposed to 400 years in the past.” She looked towards Crono. “Crono, be a gentleman and take her home. I’ve got some work to do.” She dashed off to her house.
“Go for it, Crono, I’m not done with the fair.” Dak flashed a big grin, and ran off to spend his silver points.
*****
Crono was left alone with Marle. “Come on, I’ll show you around the castle!”
“Okay.”
Minutes later, they had reached the castle. As they entered, they were stopped by guards. They were talking quickly and excitedly, but from what Crono could figure, they’d thought the princess had been abducted. “Well, she’s not abducted, she’s here, so I guess this whole misunderstanding can be smoothed over, right?” The soldiers were all glaring at him. “Right?” A hyper old man ran out from the throne room.
“Terrorist! Confusing Princess Nadia to take over the throne! Guards! Detain him!” There was a gabble of voices as the princess attempted to argue on his behalf, but they were cut short as the Chancellor ordered the guards to take him to the courtroom.
A half hour later . . .
The Chancellor was pacing like a madman. Crono’s lawyer, Pierre, was putting up a good case, but Crono strongly suspected at least one member of the jury was bribed, as well as several witnesses. Luckily, as the old men who comprised the jury walked out, and began choosing sides, he sighed with relief. All but one had stood to the right; he was a free man . . . correct?
The judge’s voice boomed out. “ Order in the court! The verdict is . . . not guilty! But the fact remains, that even if he did not kidnap her, he ran off with her. 3 days solitary confinement as punishment.”
“Now just a darn minute . . . ”
“That’s enough, my dear!”
“ But father . . .!”
“All I asked was for you to behave like a princess. Even royalty must obey rules. Leave the rest up to the Chancellor and forget the events in town. We’re leaving!”
“Crono!” Marle yelled, as he was dragged off towards the dungeons.
<Uh oh. I’m in trouble. Marle’s in trouble. But at least it’s only three days, right? It’s not like I got the death sentence or anything . . .>
They had arrived at the entrance to the dungeon. The chancellor was talking to the chief guard. “This terrorist has tried to overthrow our kingdom! He has been found guilty, and now you must carry out his sentence.”
“So THIS is the monster who kidnapped the princess!”
“The execution is three days away. Do NOT let him out of your sight!”
<Execution? I don’t remember hearing anything about an execution! >
“Execution?! Strange, but I don’t seem to recall hearing anything about an execution.”
“WHAT!!! How DARE you question ME! The paperwork’s probably just been held up in the system!”
“Understood, Sir! Guards!”
Two burly looking guards in full suits of armor walked through the doorway leading to the inner sanctum of the dungeon.
“Take the prisoner away!”
One of the guards slashed at him with a rusty sword. The world went black . . .
“Unnngh . . .” Crono groaned, awakening to find himself in a dingy cell. He blinked a couple times, to clear the still-fuzzy world, and stood up. A bundle lay on his bunk – he had lain on the floor. He picked it up. “Some sympathizers left that for you, ya lousy felon.” Growled the guard. He opened it. Food, and an ether! He put the ether away, but ate the food. < A lot more nourishing then the gruel they left for me, that’s for sure.>
He rattled the bars. “Pipe down.” Again. “Pipe down!” Once more, and “Ooh! I’ll show him! Open the cell!” The large guard was walking in, and smacked Crono again with the flat of his blade, sending him flying. “That’s what you get for misbehaving.”
As the guard lumbered back towards the door, Crono ran and got to it first. “Oi! Where do you think you’re going?” asked the second one.
“Out of here. And you’re not going to stop me.”
“Oh?”
“Let’s go, punk!” roared the first, clutching his sword.
<Uh-oh. What am I gonna do now? > He clutched at his scabbard frantically, finally grabbing his sword. After teaching them a sound lesson, he grinned. <What kind of stupid people leave their prisoners with their weapons? Oh well. It worked out well for me! Now, where’s the exit? > Wandering about, Crono encountered many guards, but no way out. He heard someone yelling for help. < Hmm. Convicted felon, or victim of the Chancellor’s deluded sense of justice? Let’s find out! > He walked into a cell inhabited by many methods of torture, and a guillotine. The screaming person was kneeling there, head locked into the fearsome decapitational device. He squatted so his face was level with the boy’s. “Hey. Are you all right in there?”
“Crono! For the love of the gods let me out!”
“Fritz? Is that you? Why are you here?”
“I honestly have no idea! Can you let me out?”
Crono pretended to be thinking hard, then his face broke into a grin. “Of course! A friend in need . . . come on. I’ll let you out. Go see your girlfriend, okay? And stay out of trouble!” He shouted, to Fritz’ rapidly retreating back.
More wandering . . .
He had ascended two flights of stairs in a row. Could this be the way out? Two guards later, he was standing before a wooden door. He walked through, to find the chief guard sitting at his desk.
When the guard saw him, he ran away screaming. “Help! Help!”
As he ran through the door leading to freedom, there was a thunk sound, and he fell back into the room. He was followed by . . . Lucca and Dak! “Am I glad to see you guys!”
“Crono! We’re here to save you!” Dak grinned. “But it looks like you didn’t need our help after all! Let’s blow this joint!”
“You bet!”
*****
As soon as Lucca had heard what happened to Crono, she ran to the fair. “Dak! Dak! Crono’s been arrested!”
His head swiveled from the silver-point-gaining enterprise he was currently using, eyes full of concern. “What? Why? Where is he now?”
“He’s in the castle dungeon because they think he kidnapped the princess! Come on, we’ve got to go save him!”
“You bet. Let’s just go visit the castle.”
They had hurriedly left the fair. However, they were stopped as they passed Truce inn by a soldier in a large suit of armor, visor up, slurring and stumbling and obviously drunk. “Heyyy, itsh Dak! How’d yoo getta day off todaaaay, buddeee?”
Dak forced a smile. “Oh, hey, Fengarth. What’s up with you?”
“I jus shtopped by th’ pub on th’way to, to, ummm . . .” But just what he was on the way to do they hadn’t gotten a chance to learn, as he passed out, dead to the world.
“You have such charming friends . . .”
Dak pretended not to have heard that. “We can use this to our advantage. Why don’t we use Fengarth’s uniform to get you through security?” Lucca wrinkled her nose with disgust. “Look, I’m sorry, but it’s the only way to get to Crono without someone getting overly suspicious.”
So, an hour later, they had reached the entrance to the dungeon, Lucca concealed in the large suit of armor characteristic of guards. As they were about to open the door and find Crono, a man ran out. He stopped abruptly. “Dak! Fengarth! It’s about time! The convict has escaped!”
Lucca smacked him with the flat of her blade, causing him to fall back into the room. And so there they were now, greeting Crono and congratulating him on his escape. “Hey! The guard chief dropped something!” Dak exclaimed. “Hmm.”
“What is it?” Lucca asked, as she jostled with Crono for a position where she could look over Dak’s shoulder. Unfortunately, she was too short, so Crono, smirking, retook his place. Oblivious to the silent but furious war behind him, Dak read aloud, “’Dragon tank owners manual.’ Hm. ‘The Tank Head repairs body damage.’ Cool! ‘It contains a shield that prevents damage by lightning and fire. Unless the head can be defeated, the tank is unbeatable.’”
“Well, that’s all well and good, but let’s get out of here first!”
“Crono’s right. Let’s dash!”
The three ran for the door, and had made it halfway across the bridge leading to the main body of the castle, when there was a deafening roar. “What the hell was that?” Dak cursed.
“I dunno, but let’s hurry!”
As they reached the door to the castle, it was thrown back and what could only be the dragon tank rolled through. The Chancellor, hopping with glee, yelled, “Forward, Dragon Tank! Crush those rebels!”
“Uh-oh.”
“You can say that again.”
“Uh-oh.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Stepping through time is
like riding a camel. It may get you where you want to go, but it is rarely
pleasant.”
-Teferi
“Now there’s something you don’t see every day.”
-Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
End chapter 9
“Aaaaaah!”
“Crono! Don’t lose your head! We are not chickens!”
“Chickens in the wussy sense or the ‘chicken-with-it’s-head-cut-off’ sense?”
“Both. Neither. Whatever, the point is, the only way out is to destroy that thing!”
“Okay then! Go for the head!”
“Why?”
“Weren’t you listening? That thing heals the rest of the body! If we don’t kill the head first, it can keep itself going for hours! Unlike us.”
“The Dragon Tank can breathe fire, repair itself, shoot lasers, and/or crush us. Us? We can wave pieces of metal at it and hope it goes away. Who’re you betting for?”
“Just shut up and fight already!”
“Ok. I’d like to see it repair itself from this!” Crono yelled, and cut both of the wheels cleanly off. “Ya HA! I SO rock!”
“Sure, Crono. You just keep telling yourself that.”
“Oh boy, the chicken-wuss dragon tank can’t crush us anymore! My hero!”
“Shut up. No really, just shut up. A-ha? Shut up.”
“Try this on for size, Crono! Mwahahaha!” Dak gloated, as he cleanly removed the Dragon tank’s artificial head.
“It can still kill us with those lasers y’know.”
“Well aren’t you Miss Sunshine.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see you kill it.”
“Okay then.” Lucca fired straight at the laser turrets. It started smoking, and little sparks and fireballs started to jet out of it.
“See Crono? I told you not to underestimate her.”
“No you didn’t!”
“The dragon tank! Quickly, fix the dragon tank!” The chancellor was hopping about in a rage, and several soldiers ran out to fix it. Unfortunately, the tank chose that moment to explode, taking out the bridge they were standing on. They leaped to find a handhold, and just managed to grab either end of the remaining bridge.
“Well, isn’t that convenient? Thanks, guys!”
“Don’t fool yourselves into thinking you’ve gotten away with this!”
“We aren’t fooling ourselves!”
“Bye chancellor, have fun!”
Dak, Crono and Lucca ran over them, into the castle . . . and right into a guard. “They’re escaping!”
“We have no choice but to break through!” It seemed every step they took they were surrounded by more guards, when they heard a familiar voice ring out.
“Stop!”
“Princess Nadia!” The guards chorused, kneeling.
“These are my friends! Show them your respect!”
“But, but . . .”
“Can’t you take orders?” It turns out they could take orders, very well in fact.
“Ha! Princess, I owe you one!” Dak said gleefully.
“And for what would this be?” boomed a powerful voice.
` “S-sgt. Dervik! What are you doing here?”
“It came to my attention that the princess was consorting with a pack of terrorists and troublemakers, so I return from my holidays in Choras to find YOU here, and causing mischief as always!” The large, powerfully built man shook his slightly rectangular head. “You had best explain yourself, Cadet!”
<I’m not a cadet anymore, haven’t been for months! > Dak thought angrily, but said with as much coolness as he could muster, “I’m helping out a friend who’s in a spot of trouble, he was about to be put to death even though he was found innocent.”
“Is this so, Chancellor?” The large man boomed at the much smaller man.
“Not in the least! That spiky haired terrorist kidnapped the princess, and deserved to be put to death! Shall we employ the guillotine?”
Dervik grinned. “ I prefer doing things the old fashioned way.” But before the group could find out exactly what ‘the old fashioned way’ was, the King strode in.
“Father . . .”
“Silence, Princess Nadia! The throne comes before your personal wishes!”
“What!? Just because I have a title doesn’t mean I’m not a person!”
“You pick up strange ideas venturing outside!”
“I didn’t ‘pick up’ anything! It’s called common sense!”
“Princess Nadia!”
“I despise you! I’m leaving!”
She ran over to the group, which had been watching the banter like a ping-pong match. “Come on, Crono! Let’s go!”
He nodded, and they ran out into the forest, amidst cries of “After them!” and such.
All of a sudden, a group of Royal Guards came out, blocking their path to the exit. They ran the only way the could, into a dead end meadow. But in that meadow swirled . . . “Another gate!”
“Come on!”
“But we don’t know where it’ll take us!”
“Who cares? This place stinks anyways!”
The chancellor ran into the clearing. “Princess Nadia!”
Lucca muttered, “This is completely irrational.”
“I know. We’ll just have to trust it.” Dak muttered back.
“Princess! Move away from that hoodlum!”
“Ok guys, let’s go! Hurry, Dak!” Lucca had already stepped inside the gate. Sgt. Dervik burst through the throng of soldiers. Dak motioned for the others to start going in after her.
“Dak! You! Get over here! Grab the princess and let’s go already!”
“No.”
“WHAT? You DARE refuse ME? YOU DISGUST ME, SOLDIER!”
“I don’t care.”
Sgt. Dervik was now spluttering like a rhinoceros in heat. “ YOU WILL OBEY ME, SLUDGEBLOOD! YOU ARE COURT MARSHALLED! YOU ARE GIVEN A DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE! YOU ARE SENTENCED TO 80 LASHES!”
“So what. I get more than that a month for nothing worse than ‘breathing wrong’.” He looked around and saw he was now alone; his friends had all gone already. He started to back towards the shimmering globe. “Face it, Dervik. You look for every opportunity. Why though? I don’t really want to know. I’ll tell you this though. The ‘sludgeblood’” he said, his face twisted with rage, “is through here. So, gentlemen, I take my leave.” And he disappeared into the shimmering gate.
“WHAT? COME BACK HERE! I ORDER YOU TO RETURN!” he stopped in confusion, his thick black brows knitting together. “Where’d they go?”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Precision is frequently
more valuable then force.”
-Gerrard of the Weatherlight
“Thy former home is not for thee, not now.”
-The soothteller
End Chapter 10