The companions quickly hurried across the bridge, watching the ship 
churn onwards through the Northern Channel.  The Dragoon on deck ran 
below deck - no doubt to report to its commander.

The Dragoons... so close, and they could capture her so easily...

"Davin, is there anywhere else we can go?" she asked, panic entering 
her voice.

"No... it's either back to Yahl Russa or onwards to Ashgar," said 
Davin, looking worried.  "In between there's the Forest and not much 
else."

"Damn," cursed Syeira.  "They've got us trapped."

"Isn't there any magic you could use to get to Ashgar right away?" 
asked Mika.

"If we knew it, don't you think we would have used it by now?" snapped 
Syeira.  "When we get to the Forest I hope we can avoid the moogles 
and find chocobos.  We'll never get to Ashgar before the Dragoons 
otherwise."

"Then hurry," urged Davin, already walking quickly ahead.


               ----------------------------------------
                         FINAL FANTASY LEGACY
                         Knights of the Round

                  Chapter 17:  Mysteries and Battles

                       Begun by Brian Stricklin
                    This chapter by Steven Scougall
               ----------------------------------------


Over the snowy plains of Russa came a small voice, asking the eternal 
question that eventually faces all travelling parties.  It was the 
question that all serious travellers learn to dread, for it means many 
more questions will be forthcoming;  and only the strong and stout of 
heart can survive the onslaught.

"Are we there yet?" asked Mika.

"No," said Davin.

The companions took another ten steps.

"Are we there yet?"

"No," said Davin with a sigh.

They took another thirty.

"Are we there yet!"

"NO!" screamed Syeira.  "We AREN'T there yet!  We haven't been there 
yet for the past one hundred and sixty seven times you've asked 
either!  We aren't going to get to the Forest for at least another 
half-hour!  SO STOP ASKING!"

"But I'm cold and my feet hurt and I'm tired and I'm hungry and I just 
wanna stop walking!"

"Remember the Dragoons are probably ahead of us, Mika," said Davin.  
"We have to go as quickly as we can."

"But you're too fast for me!"  Mika glared back at the other three, 
who were taller and could move faster than her, and had a bright idea.  
"Carry me, Big Brother!"

"But-"

"Anything to shut you up," said Syeira, lifting Mika from the ground 
and hoisting her onto Davin's back.  Sighing, Davin resigned himself 
to his fate and reached behind him to take hold of his adoptive 
sister, and they continued on.

After a few minutes, Mika decided that a human-back ride was bumpy and 
uncomfortable, but it was better than playing a constant game of 
catch-up.  And they were certainly moving a lot faster than they were 
before, now that she wasn't slowing them down...  She sulked a bit at 
that, but cheered up, because she'd helped a lot too.

In less than half an hour the travelling companions had made it to the 
forest, and gone slightly into it.  Davin, not wanting to disturb any 
moogle settlements, wouldn't let them go any further, and kept a wary 
eye on the trees around them.

"I suppose this is far enough," grumbled Syeira, looking for signs of 
chocobos in their surroundings.  After a moment, she looked up and 
nodded in satisfaction.  Raising her fingers to her mouth, she gave a 
piercing whistle.

A minute passed, and nothing happened.

"Well?" asked Mika.  "Isn't anything going to happen?"

"Just wait," said Syeira.  "Their tracks were quite old, so they 
probably have to go a fair way to get here."

A few moments later, they heard something approaching from the north.  
They turned to face that direction and a yellow-feathered chocobo 
stepped into view, looking curiously at the travellers.

"Wark?" it squawked.

Syeira slowly approached the large bird, making soothing sounds from 
the back of her throat.  The chocobo looked at her and blinked its 
eyes as if in confusion.  But apart from that, it made no other move 
and let the young woman approach until she was scratching just 
underneath its beak.  It gave a cooing noise of contentment, then 
raised its head and gave a loud squawk.

Four other chocobos came from the trees behind it, squawking.  All 
five looked at the other three humans present, and then back at 
Syeira.  There seemed to be a moment of silent communication, and then 
Syeira patted the original chocobo on the top of its head, and walked 
back to the others.  The chocobos followed behind her.

"They'll let us ride them to Ashgar," she announced.  "But all five 
are coming."

"That's fine, I guess," said Davin.  "Come on, let's get out of the 
forest and continue on to Ashgar."

Davin, Marcine and Mika still weren't the best chocobo riders, but the 
practice they'd had so far since fleeing from Tienne had paid off.  
Now, instead of falling off the chocobos after every fifty steps, they 
only bounced painfully on the birds' backs as the creatures made their 
fleet-footed way towards Ashgar.

                               *  *  *

From the rocky outcropping that the trail led to, Stine and the 
mysterious Siegvin looked at the Starsilver mines before them.  The 
mines were a flurry of activity - workers were constantly bringing 
small carts of the precious metal from the depths of the mines and 
tipping them into the large carts that would take the ore to the 
foundries.

"You are positive they came here?" asked Siegvin.

"Dost thou question my tracking abilities?" asked Stine in response.  
"The tracks of the vile heretics clearly indicate that they have come 
this way."

Behind his mask, Siegvin frowned.  It wasn't common knowledge, but 
underneath these mines was a dwarf settlement, and was where Diablos 
was held.  If the heretics had gone underground and been found by the 
dwarfs, then there was no telling what they could have learnt from the 
dwarfs.

"Did they enter the mines?"

"Allow me to continue tracking and perhaps we shall learn the answer, 
colleague."

It was as Siegvin feared - the heretic's trail led towards to the 
mines.

As the two allies approached the mines, one of the workers broke away 
and approached them.  He looked at the large Stine and the imposing 
Siegvin, and then at their swords.  "What's your business here?" he 
asked nervously.

"We seek a band of four vile heretics, who have most likely entered 
the mines," explained Stine.  "Do you know anything of this?"

"Hmmm...  Yesterday, when we had to close the mines, there was a group 
of guards asleep at their post.  They claim they were attacked with 
sleeping gas."

"That sounds like the young girl," said Stine.

"Where was this post?" asked Siegvin.

"I'll show you."

The mine worker led the two allies to one of the entrances.  As they 
drew near, a group of workers pushed a mine cart out of the entrance.  
They looked at the Beastmaster and the masked man and quickly hurried 
on, not wanting to get involved.

Stine investigated the walls and the ground.  He went some way into 
the tunnel, peering closely at the ground of the mine entrance, 
occasionally sniffing the air.  Finally he nodded and came back out.

"There is a trail," he said.  "But it is faint."

"Let's go," said Siegvin.

"Um... what about me?" asked the worker.

"We are to have free run of the mines," said Siegvin.  "Go back to 
your work and inform your coworkers of this."

"Yessir."  The worker hurried away, clearly relieved to be away from 
the two.

                               *  *  *

About halfway to Ashgar, Syeira spotted a group of houses up ahead in 
the snow.  There weren't even enough houses to call it a village - 
there were just a few of them huddled close together.  In the middle 
of the snowy countryside of Russa and so close to the Great Russa 
Forest, it was an incongruous sight.  The group brought to the 
chocobos to a stop, looking at the settlement from a distance.

"Houses?" asked Marcine.  "Why would anybody want to live out here in 
the middle of the snows of Russa?"

"Good question," said Davin.  "Especially that close to the Forest - 
it's dangerous."

"Can we go there, Big Brother?" asked Mika.  "We could get food and 
stuff and we'd be able to sit down for a bit.  Because the chocobos 
get kinda sore after a while."

"Yes, they do," said Marcine, flushing slightly.

"Hmph," said Syeira.  "You just need more practice.  But I must admit 
I'm interested in the houses too."  She spurred her chocobo towards 
the settlement.  "Let's go have a look, okay?"

"You just want to find some treasure," said Mika, following the thief.

"I do NOT!" shouted Syeira.

Davin and Marcine watched the two and smiled, following a moment 
later.

The settlement was strange.  As it had looked from afar, it was too 
small to even be a village.  There were a few houses around a large 
central square, and off to the side there was a fenced off area.  
There was an opening in the fence, from which a half a rotted beam of 
wood hung drunkenly.  The other half lay carelessly on the ground.  
Almost invisible ruts through this opening suggested that the area had 
once been a place to park wagons and carts.

"That wood looks very old," said Marcine.

"Sure does," said Syeira.  "Looks like this place is abandoned.  I 
wonder how long it's been since anyone was here?"

"Abandoned?" asked Mika.

"Just *look* at this place.  That corral looks like it hasn't been 
used in years, there's no smoke coming from those chimneys, and all 
the curtains are shut."

Mika hopped off her chocobo and looked closely at the piece of wood 
lying on the ground.  She reached inquisitively out to it - and pieces 
of wood rotted and crumbled away beneath her touch.

"That's old, alright," she said, awe in her voice.

"Let's have a look around," suggested Davin.  "Maybe we can find 
something."

"But not for too long," said Syeira.  "Don't forget that every minute 
we spend here takes the Dragoons another minute closer to Ashgar."

The two groups split up.  By unspoken agreement, they split into 
familiar pairs;  Davin and Marcine checking three of the houses, and 
Syeira and Mika checked the other two. 

                               *  *  *

Davin started worrying when he turned the doorhandle and it came away 
in his hand.

He looked at his hand and the hole in the door where the handle had 
used to be, and the rotting wood visible at the sides of the hole.  He 
dropped the handle and gingerly pushed the door open.  When he took 
his hands away there were marks in the door where his fingers had 
pressed.

Davin and Marcine entered the house, their vision adjusting.  The 
curtains were drawn, there were no lamps or candles lit, and the only 
light came in through the door, making the interior of the house dark 
and gloomy.  The air had a musty and undisturbed smell to it, and a 
layer of dust covered everything in sight.  The few spirits that Davin 
felt were of death and decay.

But the scene was as odd as it was old - there were plates and cutlery 
set out on the table, as if a family was just about to sit down to 
dinner.  One of the glasses had an evil looking sludge at the bottom 
of it.  Marcine stepped closer to take a closer look, caught a whiff 
of it, and gagged.

Davin noticed her distress, and picked up the glass with the intention 
of getting rid of its remains.  Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he took 
the glass outside and as far away from the houses as possible and 
flung its contents far away.  He felt close to vomiting several times 
on the way.

He returned to the house to find light entering through the window for 
what must have been the first time in years.

"This place sure needed the light," he quipped.

Marcine looked abashed.  "I... I thought so, and pulled the curtains 
aside, and... well...  I just pulled slightly and they fell to bits 
where I touched them..."

Davin looked closer, and saw that half of the curtains were missing.  
His gaze travelled down to the counter, on which was a pile of 
partially decomposed fabric.  He looked again at the table, set up for 
a meal that would never be served, and thought of the spirits in this 
place.  "I think we can safely say," he said, "that whoever lived here 
left very quickly decades ago, and never came back."

"It's like that in the other houses too," said Syeira's voice.  Davin 
and Marcine turned to see her standing in the doorway and the thief 
entered the room, looking around.  "In one, there was this really 
nasty solid mess on one of the plates, and in another there's a half 
written letter, the quill lying on top of it, and the ink bottle 
knocked over."

"A letter?" asked Marcine.  "That might have some sort of clue as to 
what happened here."

"I thought so too," said Syeira.  "But half the paper is covered with 
an ink spill and I can't understand the legible parts.  It's in a 
language I've never seen before."

"Where's Mika?" asked Davin.

"She's doing something to the fossilised food with her alchemy to try 
and find out how old it is.  She's making it harder on herself because 
she doesn't want to touch the stuff directly."  Syeira stopped looking 
around the house and looked back at Davin and Marcine.  "What do you 
think happened here?"

"I don't know," said Marcine.

"Same here, I have no idea," said Davin.  "All we can tell is that 
whoever lived here had to leave suddenly."

"But it's interesting," said Syeira.  "You wonder why they were here 
in the first place.  As old as this place is, Yahl Russa is probably 
older."  She looked at Davin.  "Are there any spirits around here?"

"Just a few ones of death and decay," said Davin, placing his hand 
upon the wall.  "I'll see if I can talk to them."

He couldn't glean much from the spirits around the settlement - as 
time had gone on and they'd evolved into their current state, they'd 
lost their knowledge of earlier times.  All he could discern was what 
he'd already guessed - that something cataclysmic had happened and the 
previous occupants had had to flee.

But there was something else - the closer his rapport to the spirits 
became, he became more and more aware of a certain location spot in 
the general area.  It was as if the spirits had it marked out as a 
special place.  He concentrated and asked the spirits about it, and a 
whirling series of confusing images flew through his mind.  
Disoriented, he took his hand from the wall and the images stopped, 
leaving him just as confused as before.

"Davin?" asked Marcine.  "You look pale... is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure, exactly," he answered.  "There's a place somewhere 
around here that the spirits find important, but I couldn't work out 
why.  We should go check, it may have an answer or two."

"Where is this place?" asked Syeira.

"A few hundred meters towards the forest," said Davin.

                               *  *  *

The further they went into the mines, the clearer the trail became, 
and the quicker Stine and Siegvin could go.  They hadn't gone far when 
Stine found the tracks of many other creatures.

"Ratlike tracks," he said at length.  "Many of them.  But for large 
rats, at least a foot long each."

"Shadow rats," said Siegvin shortly.

"Shadow rats?  These are creatures that I, a great beastmaster, have 
never heard of."

"They are uncommon."  Siegvin had an idea.  "Are there any other 
tracks?"

"Yes.  They just appear humanlike, though."

The dwarfs had found them.  Damn.  There was no telling what they had 
told the heretics, but it was probably too much for comfort.  But the 
heretics wouldn't be allowed in the dwarven city for long, and they 
would have left already.  And probably not the same way they had come 
in, either.

"We're done here.  I know where they went next," said Siegvin.

"Dost thou?  Where have they gone?"

"Hidden exits."

The beastmaster's eyes narrowed.  "How is it that thou knowest so much 
of this place and of mythical creatures such as rats of shadow?"

Siegvin chuckled - from behind his mask, it was a hollow humourless 
noise.  "I have been around.  Especially this part of the continent.  
Now let us leave."

                               *  *  *

Davin dropped into the house Mika was working in and gaped.  The 
entire table was covered with alchemical equipment he couldn't even 
guess the purpose of, liquids bubbled, steam escaped from an opaque 
jar and a strangely coloured liquid went *bloop* when he looked at it.  
In the middle of it all was his little sister, scribbling something on 
a piece of paper.  She heard his footsteps and looked up, and a big 
smile broke out upon her face when she saw who it was.

"Big brother!" she cried, and hopped down from the chair and ran 
across the floor to him.  "You'll never guess how old this stuff was!"

"How old?" he asked.

"It has to be at least eighty years old!" she exclaimed.

"Eighty years..." echoed Davin.

"Have you found anything?"

He smiled at her affectionately.  "Mm-hm.  There's something that has 
the spirits spooked a few hundred meters away and we're going to go 
take a look.  Coming?"

"Of course!" she cried, almost indignantly.  "Just let me get some 
stuff."  She pattered back to the table and picked out certain vials 
and packets of powder, and stuffed them into her bag.  "Okay, I'm 
ready!"

                               *  *  *

It turned out that their battle preparations were completely 
unnecessary - it was just a small pool of water.

"That's it?  Just water?" asked Mika.

"Odd," said Syeira, echoing Davin and Marcine's thoughts.  "In this 
climate, it should be ice."  She kneeled down to it and put a hand 
into the pool of water, and gasped in surprise.  "This is warm - 
almost hot!"

"Warm?" asked Marcine.  She dipped a hand into the pool to verify 
Syeira's assessment, and looked up at Davin and Mika.  "It is..."

"I think I see something at the bottom of it," said Syeira, squinting 
through the surface of the water.  The others looked, and they could 
see it too - at the bottom of the pool, they could just make out a 
dark shape.  But the water was too murky and clouded for any detail to 
be made out.

"I'll get it," decided Davin.  He knelt down by the pool and reached 
in towards whatever it was, his entire arm and part of his upper left 
chest entering the water before his grasping fingers felt anything.  
It was smooth under his touch, and he sensed a sudden surge of 
interest from the surrounding spirits - even without bonding to them.  
This had to be what he was looking for.  He took hold and lifted it 
from the water -

The entire party gasped as one.  It was an egg of a Sleeper - a small 
glass sphere, its surface a roiling red and black.

"I think we know what this settlement was here for now, and why 
they're no longer here," said Marcine, her eyes never once leaving the 
Egg.

"You're probably the best to hold it," said Syeira.

"What?  But-"

Davin was already handing her the Egg.

"But this is all wrong!" protested Marcine.  She pointed at the pool, 
almost accusingly.  "None of the Eggs we've seen so far have affected 
their environment like that!"

"Perhaps there was some more magic in play," said Syeira.

"Yeah, and there was a reaction between it and the egg," said Mika.

Davin knelt and touched the ground, calling on the spirits of snow and 
winter around him, asking them if there was anything special remaining 
in the water.  Their answer was negative.  "Whatever happened," he 
said as he broke contact and stood up, "we won't find out anything 
more here.  We should get back to the chocobos and continue on to 
Ashgar."

                               *  *  *

Siegvin and Stine tramped through a small forest.  The ground was 
treacherous and the branches low, meaning that they had to dismount 
and lead their horses through the trees.

"Where is this hidden exit of yours?" asked Stine.

Siegvin came to a stop brought his horse to a stop in a small grove 
and indicated a group of snowed-over bushes.  "Right there," he said.  
"Obviously they have not come this way."

Stine took one look and snorted.  "The snow cover means this place has 
not been disturbed for at least three days.  So where have the 
heretics gone, friend."

"Another of the hidden exits."

The second exit was a natural cave with rocks covering a small hole 
into the mines.  There was no trace of the heretics here either.  But 
at the third - covered by a rockfall at the base of a mountain, Stine 
found the heretic's trail again.  It was heading vaguely northeast.

"What would the vile brigands want to the northeast?" asked Stine.  
"There's nothing there except snow and ocean.  Mayhaps they wish to 
perform hideous rites that require the location?"

The northeast most likely meant Ashgar, thought Siegvin.  And then the 
heretics would most likely catch a ship somewhere as far away as 
possible, to get away from the reach of the Church.  He wondered if he 
should keep travelling with Stine now that he was almost sure of where 
the heretics were going.  He decided that at the very least, the 
beastmaster would be a useful distraction to use against any possible 
enemies.

They eventually came to the remains of a campsite.  The trail 
continued to the northeast, all but confirming Siegvin's conclusions.

"Siegvin, good fellow, wouldst thou have any idea as to why the 
heretics have come this way?"

The beastmaster would probably make it to Ashgar, so there was no harm 
in telling him of the city, Siegvin decided.  "To the northeast is the 
mythical city Ashgar.  The heretics have most likely gone there to 
catch a ship westwards."

"Thou certainly knowest a great deal about this region, friend 
Siegvin."

Siegvin gave another hollow chuckle.  "Let us proceed."

                               *  *  *

From the abandoned settlement, it wasn't much further to Ashgar, and 
the four travellers arrived in the late afternoon.  The group 
dismounted and Syeira communicated with the lead chocobo again.  It 
cooed and squawked, and then the entire group turned and disappeared 
back towards the Great Russa Forest.

"Now let's see if we made it here before the Dragoons," she said.

They needn't have worried - there was no sign of the Lucky Star 
anywhere near the docks, and the dockhands said that it hadn't yet 
arrived.  Breathing a sigh of relief, Davin asked about passage to the 
Ryukin islands.

"Ryukin Islands!?" asked one of the dockhands.  "Ye be crazy, boy?"

"No," said Davin.  "Desperate, but not crazy.  We're in a hurry and 
this is a very important.  When's the next ship to the Islands?"

"Ye be desperate all right.  'Ave ye earned the ire of the Church or 
somethin'?"

"Can't say," said Davin, tightlipped.

"Ye 'ave," said the dockhand, and shook his head.  "The next ship to 
the islands came in only a coupla days ago.  And it's not gonna leave 
until tomorrow night at least."

"I see," said Davin, and sighed.  "Thank you."

"M' pleasure," said the dockhand, grinning and showing off his yellow 
teeth.

"Bad news," said Davin as he rejoined the group.  "The next ship to 
the Ryukin islands isn't going to leave at least until tomorrow 
night."

Marcine grew worried.  "The Dragoons are going to be here by then."

"That's what I thought," said Davin.  "Whatever's holding up the Lucky 
Star isn't going to hold it up that long.  We have to see about a 
place to hide and disguises."

It wasn't too hard to find a place to hide.  Ashgar was far away from 
the usual avenues of communication.  News and wanted posters of the 
Church's latest heretics hadn't yet made it to the city.  And there 
was no indication that the isolationist Nordrir would take notice even 
when the Lucky Star came in with the Dragoons and the latest Church 
news.  Just to be sure, though, Davin and the others found a small out 
of the way inn.  Disguises were a simple matter of finding a shop open 
at the late hour and buying large heavy cloaks with hoods, which were 
common enough in the cold climate.

It was too late to do anything else and it had been a long day, so the 
group turned in for the night.

                               *  *  *

Dagon and his crack shahagin soldiers swam quickly through the 
Northern Channel.  Ahead of the hideous goblinoid creatures the human 
ship churned through the water at a respectable speed, but the 
shahagin were faster, almost flying through the water.  There was no 
way the ship could get away, even if the people on board knew the 
shahagin were there.  Which they didn't.

King Dagon of the shahagin smiled cruelly.  He and his soldiers would 
ambush the ship and destroy the humans who had driven the Kraken to 
attack them.  But not only that, with the kraken temporarily out of 
the picture, he and the shahagin had the run of the Channel.  Dagon 
exulted in the powerful feeling.

The end of the channel was only a couple more hours away, but that was 
two hours too many, for the shahagin were almost upon it.  In no time 
at all, the group of shahagin had reached and surrounded the ship, 
swimming along at its speed.  At Dagon's command they remained hidden 
underwater, arraying themselves around the ship.  Once in position, 
each shahagin indicated he was ready.

The last of the shahagin swam up to directly beside the ship's paddle 
wheel and slowed so that he matched the ship's speed.  When he 
signalled his readiness, Dagon wasted no time.  He gestured upwards 
with his sword, and the shahagin swarmed out of the water and up the 
sides of the ship.

Coincidentally, one of them fell to the deck right in front of the 
human on watch.

Several things happened so fast they seemed to happen all at once.  
The human yelled, "ATTACK!  ATTACK!"  The shahagin ran at the human, 
sword ready.  Somewhere on the ship bells started ringing.  More 
humans spilled up from belowdecks.  Dagon cursed.  

So much for stealth.  With a roar of "Kill them all!" Dagon charged 
into the fray.

                               *  *  *

Kyle awoke from disturbing dreams of myth to the sounds of battle - 
the alarms ringing, screams, the clang of metal on metal, and 
disturbing watery laughter.  Pushing the questions of his dreams far 
away, he leapt up, grabbing his helmet and breastplate and hastily 
putting them on.  Barely had he done so when a hideous goblinoid 
creature - a shahagin, his memory helpfully supplied - burst into the 
room.

Yelling ferociously, the creature charged at him with a short sword.  
Kyle dodged and twisted away in the direction of his naginata.  He 
grabbed it and turned to face the creature in one movement.  It roared 
an attack cry once more and charged - only this time, Kyle was ready.  
Before it ever came close enough to attack, he thrust at it.  It 
barely managed to dodge away.  Swearing viciously, it jumped at him -

The stupidity of jumping at an opponent armed with a much longer 
weapon hit it a scant second before Kyle's naginata did.

The shahagin let out an ear-splitting screech and thrashed for a 
moment on the blade of the weapon for a moment, then fell still.  Kyle 
pushed it off his weapon, made sure the thing was dead, then hurried 
out to join in the battle.

Everywhere he looked there were fighting and bodies - human bodies, 
for the most part.  One was Reill, one of the Dragoons under Kyle's 
command.  He checked Reill and saw that the man wasn't quite dead yet, 
but would be soon if he wasn't healed.  Kyle's upper lip drew back in 
a snarl - the shahagin would pay dearly for this.

The problem was, of course, that everybody on the ship was still 
recovering from the battle with the Kraken.  He looked up from Reill 
and saw a shahagin messily dispatch a sailor that was obviously slowed 
from lack of rest.  Growling in anger, Kyle rushed at the creature and 
stabbed it through its chest.  It screamed and flailed ineffectually 
at him, then died.

There was a sound behind him.  He whirled, naginata at the ready, and 
saw Cheney.

"Good morning Kyle," the old man said, nodding.  "I see Reill is badly 
injured."

Cheney, who had once been a Red Monk, and had once healed a man as if 
by magic.  Who could perhaps save Reill from a fate he didn't 
deserve... if Kyle didn't mind going against the very principles he 
had lived for for eighteen years.

(Marcine didn't have any trouble doing what was right,) said the 
detested inner voice.

"SHUT UP!" he roared.

"I didn't say anything," said Cheney, mildly indignant.

"No... not you..." said Kyle.

"Are you going to stop me healing Reill?" asked the old man.

"He... he doesn't deserve to die like this," Kyle bit out.  "But... I 
can't..."

"You can't ask me to?" asked Cheney.  "You summoned a Sleeper.  I say 
we're in the same boat now, hm?"

Kyle felt all colour drain from his face.  "You... know?"

"Yes."

Kyle wished desperately for a shahagin to attack and interrupt this 
conversation.  He looked wildly around and in the lamplight saw that 
only one was left.  There was a glint of something on its head and had 
lost an arm in the battle.  Several soldiers were holding at 
swordpoint, and Jil was talking to it.  Exactly what they were saying, 
he couldn't hear.

Just the distraction he needed.

"Excuse me," he said shortly, and walked towards the captive shahagin.

"What about Reill?" asked Cheney.

Cheney's question brought the choice back to loom before him, mocking 
him.  Should he condemn a good man to death or go against everything 
he stood for?  Either way galled him and made him sick to his stomach.

(This must have been how Marcine felt.)

Too tired to argue, he made his choice.  He faced away from Cheney, as 
if that would lessen the pain of the choice.  "I... Let's just say... 
I never saw him fall and I never saw you approach him," he said, and 
continued on towards the scene at the prow.  After only a few steps, 
the enormity of what he had just done hit Kyle and he reeled.  He 
heard footsteps behind him.

"Can I help you, Kyle?" asked the old man.

"I don't need your help," said the young Dragoon.  He propped himself 
up with his spear and made his way to where the injured shahagin was 
being held.  Once closer, he could see that the glint from its head 
was from some sort of jewelled headwear.  It was their ruler, perhaps?

"Ye look like hell, lad," said Jil.

"It's worse," said Kyle.  "But not important.  What's going on here?"

Jil looked at him strangely, then shrugged.  "We caught this one and 
be questionin' it.  But we havenae foun' out anythin' yet."

"You won't learn anything from me, humansss," hissed the creature.

"We have swords pointin' at ye neck and ye ain't got anywhere to go," 
said Jil.  "Ye'll do as we say.  Now, why did ye attack?"

"You called a Sssleeper upon Kraken.  You drove Kraken to ssseek usss 
out and attack usss.  You ssshall pay for the outrage."

At the mention of a Sleeper being summoned, the sailors hissed in 
surprise, and their swords lowered or drifted sideways.  The shahagin 
took the chance to escape, and jumped away-

A shuriken thudded into its side and it fell like a rag doll to the 
deck, wheezing and gasping in pain.  Another shuriken smashed into its 
face and its struggles ceased.  Jil walked over and calmly retrieved 
her weapons.

"Thank ye for ye cooperation," said Jil to the body, and stood up.  
She looked over at Kyle, and then aft, where Cheney was helping a 
dazed Reill to his feet.  She looked back at Kyle, eyes narrowed.  "Ye 
be Summonin' Sleepers and healin' men from near death, yet ye wear the 
armour of the Dragoons and seek heretics.  Ye have a lot of explainin' 
to do, Captain Cavanaugh."

"I... I guess I do," said Kyle heavily.

                               *  *  *

The next morning, the four companions found themselves in the unique 
situation of being chased but with a whole day of time to kill.

"What do we do now?" asked Davin, leaning against the wall of their 
room.

"I'm staying right here," said Mika, sitting on the bed.  "I've been 
walking and riding chocobos all morning and I hurt all over and I just 
want to rest."

"I'm definitely *not* staying here," said Syeira, and patted the 
blunderbuss leaning against the wall.  "I have to get ammo for this 
thing.  And there's a whole new city out there for me to explore."  
She gestured out the window.  "Don't you want to see what it's like?"

"You just want to find things to steal," teased Mika, sticking her 
tongue out at the thief.  Syeira growled and clenched her fists, but 
managed to stop herself killing the young girl.

"I have to be out there," said Davin.  "At the very least, I have to 
book passage on the ship and I have to be able to see when the 
Dragoons arrive.  Marcine?"

"Someone has to stay and look after Mika," the young magician 
responded.  "And besides, I want to examine the Egg we found today."

"Fine, I guess," said Davin.

"Come on Davin, let's go," said Syeira.

                               *  *  *

"...and that brings us up to now," finished Kyle, eyes downcast and 
looking at the table.  He didn't dare trust himself to look at anybody 
at this stage.

"That be an interesting story, Captain," said Jil.  She looked at him 
with narrowed eyes.  "Ye certainly havenae been tellin' me much."

"Are you going to throw us off the ship for this?" asked Kyle.

"Nae, but it gets added to your bill."

Kyle groaned and Cheney chuckled.

"Ye quickly learn what's what on th' open sea," explained the captain.  
"It dinnae matter what gods ye believe in - when there be a storm and 
th' seas be ragin', what ye really believe in is the ship."  Her eyes 
looked defiant.  "Ye goin' to report me as a heretic, Captain 
Cavanaugh?"

"I... how could-"

She leaned back in her chair, a look of thought upon her face.  "Your 
friend Cheney be correct, y'know.  This be pullin' ye in two 
directions at once."

"I know!" he shouted.  "Don't you think I know?  But... what can I do?  
I can't just turn my back on the Church!"

"So turn yeself in then."

That would mean the Wall.  Kyle's face turned ashen.

"'Course, that means ye get set in the Wall of Fools, dinnae it?  Nae 
pleasant, I'd imagine."

"It's not that simple!" he raged.  "All my life I've lived for the 
Church and have grown up with its beliefs!  I can't just give it up 
like that!"

"It *be* that simple, laddie.  As I said afore, on th' open sea ye 
have to be definite, otherwise you die.  And I can see that there be 
only two ways for ye to go."

A sailor came into the room.  "Captain, we're pullin' into Ashgar 
now."

Jil rose to her feet.  "I be needed, Captain Cavanaugh.  Think on what 
I said."  And then she left.

"A remarkable woman," said Cheney.  "With some useful advice too."

Kyle glared at him.

                               *  *  *

Davin and Syeira walked through the city, getting used to it and its 
geography - and the people.  The Nordrir were taller and larger than 
average, and nearly everybody had some sort of weapon.  Even the 
children had toy weapons - the two came across a mock battle that 
several children were engaged in, and joined in the applause for the 
victor when the last of her 'enemies' fell.

"Very warlike, aren't they?" observed Syeira.

"Yes," said Davin.  "With their myths and heroes, it's not 
surprising."

There was the ever-present danger of the Dragoons arriving, but with 
their current clothing they blended into the crowd and were almost 
impossible to spot.  Though occasionally they stood out regardless - 
for example, when Syeira tried to get ammo for the blunderbuss.

"GUNS?  You're obviously new arrivals to this city," growled the 
shopkeeper.  "Now get out of my shop."

"What?"

"Have you seen anybody with a gun, young lady?  We don't use them here 
in Ashgar - we fight up close and personal.  Now out!"

After that disaster, the two quickly hurried on, Syeira grumbling the 
whole way.

As he and Syeira approached the centre of the city, Davin felt 
something wrong with the spirits.  It was an oddly familiar feeling, 
almost like how the spirits had felt earlier today at the settlement.  
But at the same time, it was different, and he couldn't quite work out 
how or why.

"You look nervous," said Syeira.

"The spirits..." said Davin.  "They feel similar to this morning, when 
we found the Egg."

"Oh great," complained Syeira, "not another one.  You look all over 
for them and don't find any, and when you're not looking for them, 
they show up in pairs."

"But also different," continued Davin.  "I'm not quite sure how, 
though..."

He oriented on and followed the source of the odd feeling, Syeira 
complaining all the way.  He was already mostly focussed on the 
spirits, so tuning her out proved easy.  The odd feeling intensified, 
growing stronger and stronger, until Davin was almost feeling sick;  
and then it was suddenly gone.

Not just gone - Davin realised there were no spirits around him at all 
- which was extremely rare, they were almost everywhere...  He 
refocussed on the real world, and found that he and Syeira were 
standing before a large building.  It was ornately decorated, with 
statues of ancient warriors lining the pathway to the main door.

"This the place, huh?" asked Syeira.  Without waiting for his answer, 
she peered at the runes over the entrance, trying to make them out.  
"I'm not entirely familiar with this form of Runic, and the 
embellishments and flourishes make them harder to read.  But I *think* 
it reads 'Place of the Unknown Ruler'."

A passerby heard her and chuckled, stopping next to them.

"Close, but not quite," she said.  "It's 'Tomb of the Fallen King'."

"Uh... thank you," said Syeira.

"You must be new here."

"Yes," said Davin.  "Could that be a problem?"

"Not really.  Just don't advertise it this obviously.  Some of the 
more traditional Nordrir don't take kindly to outsiders.  They won't 
run you out of town, but you'll be made to feel extremely 
uncomfortable and unwelcome."

"We've already seen some of it..." said Davin ruefully.

"It's like pretty much any damn city," Syeira muttered under her 
breath.

"Oh, and miss?"

"Yes?" asked Syeira.

"The runes inside are easier to read," said the stranger with a wink, 
and then continued past the two.

Davin studied the building.  If it really was a tomb, then there 
should have been some spirits present.  Not the spirits of the 
deceased, but those that linked life and death - the sort found in a 
place of death.  But they weren't present, and neither were any other 
spirits;  the building was essentially an astral void.  Which was 
almost unheard of.  The only time he had experienced anything like it 
was back at that haunted house, when Emera's ghost had driven the 
spirits away.  Just like then, suddenly not having any contact with 
the spirits was unnerving to the young geomancer.

He told Syeira of all this and she looked thoughtful.  "What would 
drive the spirits away like this?" she asked.

"I... I don't know.  If it's anything like that house, then something 
scared them away.  Or maybe they just can't come here.  I just don't 
know.  Whatever the reason, it can't be good..."

"Want to check it out?"

"Definitely."

The tomb was unlocked and the doors far enough to let a human through, 
but not much further.  Almost no sunlight made it into the tomb, but 
it wasn't needed as there were torches on the walls of the small 
chamber they found themselves in.  The light the torches gave was 
flickering and gave the chamber an eerie glow, but it was better than 
darkness.

"This can't be the tomb," said Davin.  "How do you get into the rest 
of the building?"

Syeira rolled her eyes, and pointed out a section of Runic on the 
wall.  "This says that the main doors have to be closed before 
proceeding into the tomb."

Davin pulled the doors shut.  He turned around expectantly, but 
nothing happened.

"Well?" he asked.

"And *this* says 'push here to open inner door'," she said.  She 
walked up to a section of wall and gave an experimental push, and a 
section of the wall slid away to reveal a much larger chamber beyond.

"I never knew you were such a good linguist," said Davin.

"It comes in handy when you travel all over the place," said Syeira.

"To escape the local police, no doubt," joked Davin.

Syeira growled at him but wisely dropped it, and the two stepped into 
the chamber proper.  It was enormous, easily taking up most of the 
shrine.  On the walls were more ceremonial torches, casting their 
eerie glow over the entire scene.

They immediately noticed the large marble sarcophagus standing in the 
centre of the chamber.  They couldn't miss it - there was simply no 
other furniture on the floor.  Pictures and more runic writing covered 
the walls, and on the ceiling was a painted carving of a figure in 
full armour and holding a distinctively curved sword.

"Davin... that sword..."

"I know."

"It's just like yours."

"I know!"  Davin took a breath, calming himself.  "Syeira, could you 
please have a look at the walls?  Perhaps they have something 
important to say."

Syeira moved to the nearest section of wall and tried to decipher the 
script.  "'From this day forward your name shall forevermore be struck 
from history.'"  She stopped.  "I think I'm starting in the middle 
here.  Let me try again."  She carefully walked around the chamber to 
the beginning of the runes and tried again.

"Alright," she said at last.  "I think I can follow this.  There's 
this Great King, who I guess is our friend in the sarcophagus and on 
the ceiling there.  This wall is detailing his many great deeds.  
Typical saving of kingdoms and princesses and destroying of monsters 
and stuff.  But the really interesting one is when he killed the demon 
Ashura.  They even have a picture of it, look."  She indicated a 
highly stylised picture of a great armoured figure on horseback 
striking a six-armed demon through the heart, his weapon shattering as 
he made the blow.  "He took one of the swords as a trophy."

"Does it mention anything about the other five swords?"

"None at all.  Okay, let's see... this other wall is talking about his 
Fall.  For some reason, he betrayed the Three Gods and significantly 
angered them.  For his punishment he was to be banished from their 
realm and his name struck from the annals of history.  That's that bit 
I read earlier.  They've got pictures of him being judged and Falling 
to the mortal realm."

"Mortal realm... he wasn't human?"

"Guess not.  There's a whole bit about him swearing vengeance and 
stuff, the kind of thing you'd expect from someone who'd just been 
kicked out."  She skipped over a large portion of wall, and came to 
the final few paragraphs.  "And on to this final bit here...  'His 
name shall be removed from history and nevermore spoken nor written, 
except for here in his tomb.  In this sacred place, he shall be 
interred with his final remains and his armour and weapons.  In this 
place, he shall forever be remembered as Odin of the Guardians.'"

"Guardian... that means a Sleeper, I think," mused Davin.  "But none 
of this explains the spirits of death, and why they're not here."

"Would you get the spirits in the tomb of a Sleeper?" asked Syeira.

"I wouldn't know.  It's not something you learn at the Mystic Academy, 
what with its ties to the Church.  And such tombs would be rare in any 
case.  But as I understand it, the spirits are supposed to be 
everywhere.  There's no reason for them not to be here unless 
something is drastically wrong."

They looked at the sarcophagus again, and Syeira caught Davin's 
determined expression.

"Don't, Davin.  It'd be sacrilege to this city and wouldn't answer 
anything."

"It just might," pointed out the geomancer.  "And besides, nothing 
else has."

He strode over to the sarcophagus, grasped the edges of the lid, and 
he tried to pull the lid away.  There was a long moment where the only 
sound was his breathing.  Then there was the noise of stone scraping 
on stone, Davin made one final heave, and the lid fell from the 
sarcophagus with a crash.

The two stared.  According to the runes on the wall, there should have 
been a suit of armour, the King's remains, and some weapons.  Instead, 
the interior of the sarcophagus was empty save for a broken spear and 
the blackened remains of... something.  They knelt down to take a 
closer look, and saw two roughly equal hemispheres and a pile of ash 
around the two halves.  With a bit of imagination, they could picture 
the remains of what was once a small sphere, about the size of the 
Guardian Egg they had found earlier that day.

"If he was a Sleeper," said Syeira, "then this could have been his 
Egg."


Author's Notes
--------------
Whew.  It's done.  This was harder than usual for me to write.  Having 
very little FF knowledge kind of makes it difficult to write a FF 
story, even if it is original.  ^_^;

Many thanks must go to Eternal Lost Lurker and Epsilon for prereading.  
Also, Lurker suggested and gave an outline for the final scene, where 
Odin's 'tomb' is found.  And the blunderbuss being out of ammo was 
suggested by Epsilon on the Impro message board.  You can blame me for 
anything else, though.

Thank you for reading.

Steven Scougall
16th April 2000
http://www.crosswinds.net/~sscougall/