Chapter XIII
Where Strides the Behemoth
Princess Selphie sighed and allowed herself to fall face-first onto her bed in a very unprincessly fashion. It was always such a relief to be behind closed doors, when she no longer needed to carry herself with grace and composure.
She rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes. She could fall asleep right then and there, if she let herself, but she had to change. It had taken longer than she'd thought it would to wrap up her business. The king had gone to bed for the night, but his son Halt had stayed with her and helped her set her affairs in order. Marcus had given her as good a guarantee as she was going to get; he had no intention of declaring war against Acaria, at least for the moment. That left only one country - Torachi - in favour of war, and two against it. Unless either Saeticia or Sono were to change their minds, things were stable for now.
The first part of her father's plan was a success. Now came the second part, which was where things got difficult.
For the moment, she needed to get back to T'Saw. Her and her company would leave Serenite in the morning. There was no guarantee that the Allmans would be coming with her, but she likely wouldn't need their help anymore, so close to the Sonoian border.
Everything was good, as long as nothing happened to change Marcus' mind. That was what worried her. The man she had dined with earlier did not match the one from her memories. Age had made Marcus angry and bitter.
Luca had handled things better than she had expected he would. She felt a little guilty for not having more faith in him. He had been put in an unfair position. Marcus had invited them in as guests, and then proceeded to pick a fight with one of her people, even after she had told them that she owed him her life. Had she not been there to ask favours of him, she would have called Marcus out on his treatment of Luca. Still, he handled things well. She had been worried for a while, fearing that Luca would draw his sword on the king of Saeticia.
Ash's reaction had been entirely unexpected. The younger son of Lodin was the strangest member of their company. She knew little about him, and he spoke little. All she knew about him was that he had accidentally killed another student during his time at Allma Temple, and that there was some sort of ugly history between him and Brand. He was so quiet it made her a little uncomfortable, but Luca vouched for him, and he had helped them out considerable in escaping during the attack.
Her head was starting to hurt. She reached up and started to rub her temples. The young princess was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Now wasn't the time to worry about these things. She needed to get to sleep, for the dawn would come early tomorrow, and they still had a way's to go before they reached T'Saw.
She reminded herself that she still needed to change, but the bed was so nice and soft. She'd just close her eyes for a few minutes, she thought. Just a few...
Selphie woke with a start at the sound of someone banging on her door.
She climbed up from the bed, her head hurting, and wondered how long she had been out. Not too long, she reasoned, as the night seemed no darker than when she'd gone to her room.
The knocking at the door was not the polite, measured knocking of someone having come to see her, but a panicked, frantic rapping. Realising this was something urgent, Selphie crossed the room quickly and stopped at the door.
She was in a foreign palace, and something was wrong. It would be foolish to just throw the door open.
"Who is it? What's going on?"
"S-Selphie? Is that you?"
She knew the voice immediately. She unlocked and opened the door to find Emila standing in the hallway, shaking and pale-faced.
"Emila, what happened?" Selphie asked her.
"A guard came to my room and attacked Luca," Emila told her, her eyes wide and worried. "He told me to come tell you. Luca had to fight back, he had no choice."
Selphie bit her lip.
Damn it all, she thought. And here she'd thought things were going so well. "The guard came to your room?"
Emila nodded.
"And attacked Luca? So Luca was already there?"
Emila nodded again. "Yes, he came to talk to me."
"He must have followed him to your room..." Selphie pondered aloud. "Keeping him here after what happened at dinner was a mistake. I should have sent him to stay with Tranom and the Allmans back at the inn..."
"I don't think he was there for Luca," Emila told her, looking around the hall to make sure nobody else was listening. "He seemed surprised to see him."
"Then why would he...?" Selphie shook her head. "Never mind that, we'll have time enough to figure this out later. Emila, do you know where Brand's room is?"
She nodded.
"I need you to go there and stay with him. He can protect you if anything else happens, but hopefully I can get this settled before anything does."
Selphie darted over to the room next to hers and knocked on the door three times in a clear pattern. Then she returned, went past Emila back into her room, and grabbed her swords from off the dresser.
"Where are you going?" Emila asked her.
"Straight to the king," she declared. "I know Marcus well enough to know that he wouldn't have ordered something like this. This guard was acting on someone else's orders. The best way to deal with this would be to tell Marcus what happened."
The neighbouring door swung open and Jared stepped out, already dressed and armed. When he spotted Selphie and Emila, he relaxed and lowered his halberd, but he glanced warily around the hall.
"Will you be alright?" Emila asked. "What if it isn't just this one guard? What if they want to kill us all?"
"If that was the case, they would have come after me first," Selphie assured her with a smile. "Don't worry about us, just go find Brand and stay with him. Don't talk with anyone in the palace, and no matter what, if they attack you, do not fight back. Just run."
Emila nodded, and after a moment's hesitation, took off down the hall.
Selphie finished putting on her weapon's belt, and looked up to see Jared waiting for her. "What's happened?" he asked her.
"It seems one of the guards went after Luca," she told him. "I don't know what faction ordered this, but we're going to Marcus to tell him so he can set things straight."
"Do you think this has anything to do with what the king said at dinner?"
"It might, but something tells me there's more to it than that."
"Luca's not dead, is he?"
"He and Emila have that magick connection thing, remember? She would know if he was killed."
"That's right. I'd forgotten."
"Let's go," Selphie said, glancing down the hallway. "Be ready, my knight. We don't know what to expect."
Emila ran through the halls, past the occasional bewildered servant, on her way to Brand's.
Through the Soul Tether, she could feel that Luca had been knocked unconscious some time ago. He hadn't suffered any mortal injuries, so thankfully that guard hadn't been trying to kill him. Unfortunately, she didn't know where he was. It was harder to sense his location through the Tether when he wasn't conscious.
A few minutes later, she made it to the room Brand was staying in. She knocked a few times and announced her presence, and when there was no reply she turned the handle and was surprised to find the door was not locked. Suddenly she feared the worst, and she pushed the door open and felt around for the light switch.
The lights came on, and Brand was not there.
Have they gone after Brand as well, she wondered?
Emila heard a tssk-sound behind her, and her heart skipped a beat. She spun around and took a step back.
The guard from before, Devith, was standing in the hallway, with his arms crossed. He had an amused smirk on his face.
"Looking for your other friend?"
Emila backed away slowly, glaring at the man before her. "Why are you doing this?"
"Come now, princess," Devith said, starting towards her. "Struggl
ing will only make things more difficult."
"I am no princess," Emila told him in a voice that did not sound as confident as she'd hoped it would. Devith did not answer, he merely continued to advance at his slow pace.
And then he sprang forward with speed surprising for a man of his size. Emila jumped out of the way, rolling to the side to avoid him. She just barely managed to keep from being grabbed.
Devith rose from his knees and continued to slowly stride towards her, seeming to be more amused by her show of resistance.
"Stop it," she said. "I'll fight back if you keep this up!"
"Please," he said with an amused smile. "Fight me."
He started to charge again, so the unarmed Emila did the only thing she could. She gathered up her mana and wove it into an obstacle between them. A row of icy blocks appeared on the floor before the guard, covered in sharp spikes.
Devith tripped, not expecting the sudden obstacles. He fell forward, driving his upper legs through the icy spikes below him.
Emila grimaced. She hadn't expecting him to actually fall on them...
But that wasn't enough to stop him. He looked up at her with a savage grin, and started to stand, seeming completely unaffected by the razor-sharp blades of ice that had cut into his thighs. And as he rose, Emila saw something really strange; even though her ice magick was manifested physically, Devith had not taken any actual damage from it. Rather than stabbing into his legs, the icy spikes seemed instead to have phased through him. When he pulled out of them, there were no cuts and no blood on him.
Emila backed away from him, circling around the room until she found herself at the doorway.
"Run, little rabbit, run," Devith taunted her.
She ran.
"Princess Selphie."
She stopped. Prince Gera, the second son of Marcus, was standing in her way, just in front of Marcus' bedroom. "What are doing running through the halls, dressed like that in the middle of the night?"
"I need to see your father, my prince," she said to him. "It's urgent."
"My father has already gone to bed for the night," Gera told her. "Whatever it is you need, perhaps me or my brother can help you? Or if it is just some trivial thing, perhaps you could just ask a servant? I don't know how they do things in Sono, but here in Saeticia, we have respect for our king, and we do not come barging at his door at all hours of the night with every little problem we have."
Jared frowned, and looked to her.
No, Jared, she silently told him with a look. Things were bad enough already. They could not afford to be seeking fights with their guests.
"This is no trivial matter, Prince Gera," she said in a firmer voice. "One of my men has been attacked-"
"And locked in the dungeon for the night," Gera finished for her. "Where he belongs. Doubtless, the person you heard this news from had their own version of the story, but the truth I heard is that your escort was the one who attacked our guard. This is the same man who angered my father during dinner, and you think it fair of you to wake him in middle of the night for this person's sake?"
"I can vouch for Luca," Selphie said. "He did not start that fight, I swear it."
"The son of Lodin, no less," Gera continued, ignoring her plea. "The boy who made claims of immortality. No doubt this person went out looking for a fight, angry and bitter after being humiliated by my father. Is this the kind of person you bring with you to our hall, princess?"
Selphie bit her lip. She was putting a lot at stake for Luca's sake.
The dim lighting of the lamps on the wall cast long shadows over Gera's face. "You should go back to bed, princess. My father can deal with this in the morning. Unless you would rather give your friend's sentencing up to me to be decided right now?"
She said nothing.
"That's what I thought," Gera said, before snapping his finger. One of the guards by the door came over to them. "Escort Princess Selphie and her guard back to their rooms. Make sure they stay there."
Under the circumstances, they had no choice but to comply.
Emila ran through the palace, now more worried than ever. She had no idea where to go; both Luca and Brand had been taken, and Ash had disappeared after dinner, likely going to town to stay at the inn with the Allmans. Selphie and Jared were off to see the king, but until they reached him and got his help, she needed to fend for herself. Even without her inability to take a life, she doubted she could handle this Devith man, especially as he seemed completely unaffected by her ice magick. She had no idea who, if anyone, in the palace could be trusted, and all her companions were unavailable, which meant...
No, wait. There was someone she had forgotten.
Even in her panicked state, she frowned at the thought. The only person she could go to for help, and it was the last person she would have liked to ask.
And yet, she had no choice. Devith was still following after her, somehow keeping up with her even though he was walking at the same slow pace as before.
A few minutes later, Emila burst through the doors to the library. Wiosna was the only person there, sitting at a table engrossed in some dusty tome. The blond girl looked up in surprise and confusion as Emila came dashing in through the doors, tripping over a stack of books on her way.
"Emila?" Wiosna said, looking at her like she was insane. "What in the world are you doing?"
Emila faced the doorway and backed up to the table Wiosna was sitting at, raising her shaking hand and pointing at the man who had followed her. Devith stood with his arms crossed, shaking his head.
"H-he's after me..." she told Wiosna. "He beat Luca and Brand already."
Wiosna frowned and rose from her seat. She said to Devith, "Who are you exactly?"
"The princess' escort," Devith said. "Do not stand between us."
"He thinks you're Selphie?" Wiosna whispered to her. Emila did not reply.
Devith drew his sword from his sheath and slowly approached them. "If you try to resist, I will have to beat you as well."
"Whose orders are you acting on?!" Wiosna demanded, her hand going to her side where her own blade was sheathed.
"My king's orders," Devith said.
"Marcus?" Wiosna looked to Emila. "Does Selphie know about this?"
Emila had grown a shade paler. "I told her first, and she and Jared left to go see Marcus... I didn't know this man was acting on his orders..."
"This makes no sense," Wiosna said. "If Marcus ordered this man to go after Selphie, he would know who to send him after. Something's not adding up."
Devith stopped, standing only a few paces from Wiosna and Emila.
"Are you going to hide behind this one too?" he asked Emila with a smirk.
"I'm sorry," Emila said to Wiosna. "I have no weapon, and my magick doesn't affect him..."
"Your magick doesn't affect him...?" Wiosna gaped. "Just who is this guy?!"
Devith drew his sword and swung it at Wiosna. Emila jumped away, and Wiosna sidestepped the attack, drawing her curved sword and countering with a stroke of her own. Devith did not try to dodge, instead blocking the blade with his gauntlet.
"I am fully armoured," Devith told her. "And magick cannot harm me. Attack me all you like; as you grow tired, I will grow stronger."
Wiosna pulled back, holding her sword with both hands and circling around Devith, keeping her gaze locked on him. She looked over his armour, searching it for any gaps or weaknesses. Unfortunately, it seemed things were as he said; his massive form was covered in armour from head to toe.
Devith lunged again, and Wiosna fell back, switching to defence. Her opponent was overwhelmingly strong; she wouldn't be able to hold out for very long without a way to fight him.
The guard knocked her back again, and she fell on one knee. As he brought his blade down on her, she kicked back, pushing herself away from him.
"Emila!" she called out. "Get out here while you can! I won't be able to hold him off for very long!"
&nb
sp; Devith took one more step towards her before a blast of ice crystals struck him in the head. His helmet, which was frozen through, was knocked off his head. The helm flew across the room and struck the far wall, shattering apart.
The guard rose up from the temporary distraction, looking irritated for the first time. His face was now revealed. He had black hair that he kept pulled back, a trimmed beard, and a single lock of braided hair that hung over his left ear.
Wiosna gasped.
"Y-you're!"
Luca opened his eyes.
He tried to sit up, but he slipped on something and struck the back of his head against a stone wall.
"Fuck... ow..."
Trying to ignore the pain in his head, he looked around to figure out where he was. It only took him a moment to realise he was in a prison cell, complete with iron bars and a mana-sealing circle carved into the stone at his feet.
"Fantastic..."
He thought back to what had happened, to get him where he was. He had gone to Emila's room to talk with her, when the massive guard they called the bear, Devith, had shown up out of nowhere and tried to take Emila. Devith had told him he was sent by Marcus to bring him the princess, and apparently he had mistaken Emila for Selphie.
Except... Marcus clearly knew who Selphie was. He had known her since she was a child. There was no way he would have gotten her mixed up with Emila. In that case it had to be the guard's blunder, but it seemed like Marcus wouldn't have sent him off to kidnap a princess without making sure he knew which girl to go after. And what reason would Marcus have to kidnap or kill Selphie anyway? He had been honoured to have her at his palace; it was Luca that the guy had had a problem with. In that case, it made sense that Luca had ended up where he was; except that the guard clearly hadn't expected to run into him.
Something about this wasn't adding up; but he just couldn't put his finger on it. He felt like he was missing a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Luca rose, being careful this time not to slip and hit his head. He went over to the bars and peered outside. The dungeon he was in was empty, save for a single guard who sat at a table by the stairs, flipping through a small book in his hand and occasionally chuckling.
"Hey, I'm not supposed to be here!" Luca called out to the gaoler.
"Shut it," the gaoler said, not even looking up from his book.
"One of your people attacked one of my people!" he insisted.
"Not what I was told," the gaoler replied. "I heard you picked a fight with Devith, and got your ass handed to you like you deserve. Sit back down and keep quiet and we'll see about all this in the morning."
"Damn it!" Luca grabbed the iron bars of his cell and pulled them apart with all his might. They did not budge.
"Settle down, or I'll come over there and whack you over-"
At that moment, the gaoler gave out a cry, and collapsed, dropping his book on the ground. Brand stood behind him, holding a metal rod.
"The head?" Brand guessed. He tossed the rod aside and knelt down beside the inert guard. A moment later, Brand stood back up, carrying the key ring.
"Did Selphie send you?" Luca asked as Brand tried out the different keys on the ring, trying to find the right one.
He shook his head. "I heard it from one of the other guards. There are only a couple in the palace at night, and this Devith guy has them all paid to keep quiet. But one of the guys I befriended earlier told me anyway."
"Wait, you knew this was going to happen?"
"He told me after the fact. I just found out you were locked up."
"Where is Emila?" Luca asked.
"I don't know, I haven't seen her." There was a click, and the door of the cell swung open with a rusty sound. "Ah, that's the one."
Luca stepped outside of the cell. Brand handed him a sheathed blade.
"Thank you," Luca said, returning Siora to its rightful place at his side.
Brand looked over at the unconscious gaoler. "One thing I know for sure is that Marcus is not behind this. This Devith guy has been planning this for some time, according to the guard I talked to. He's been bribing a lot of people to make this happen."
"And yet he's made the dumbest of mistakes," Luca said. "He went after Emila, not Selphie. He seems to have gotten them mixed up."
Brand frowned. "Is that right... so where's Selphie?"
"She went to go see Marcus."
"In that case, let's hope the king will pardon my springing you once he learns of the circumstances."
Luca started off for the stairs. "We have to find Emila. That guy could still be after her."
Brand nodded, and followed him out.
"Acarian," Wiosna hissed at the man before them. "You're an Acarian."
Devith did not move, but his lips curled into an amused half-smile.
"Why would you not remove the braid?" Wiosna asked him. "It gave you away."
"My actions had given me away well before," he answered. "My braid is a symbol of my pride, and my allegiance to my true king. I would sooner be found out and slain before my mission is done than have it cut from me."
"And that mission is...?"
"To bring the princess back with me to King Zinoro."
Wiosna glanced back over to Emila, who had retreated as far into the library as she could, all but cowering behind a shelf and staring out at the massive Acarian in fear.
"Fool," she whispered, meaning the both of them. She turned back to Devith. "So who are you really, then?"
"Devith was a name I used long ago," he said to her in a voice that carried the weight of history. "Nobody remembers the man I was then. Devith is dead. I am Trunda, one of the five acolytes of Zinoro."
Wiosna frowned, biting her lip. She didn't like the implications of that. If he was indeed one of Zinoro's acolytes, then why would he so readily offer up that information? If he was after the princess, then he should be trying to capture her no matter what...
She turned her head just enough to see Emila out of the corner of her eye. This guy... Trunda. He didn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the batch if he didn't even know the basic appearance of the princess he was after. Zinoro clearly wasn't putting a lot of faith in this mission if this dumb brute was who he sent. And after Dreevius, who was the biggest fool she had ever seen in a position of power, Wiosna was starting to have serious doubts about Zinoro's supposed strategic brilliance.
But regardless of how much a fool this guy was, he was tough. Wiosna didn't think she could beat him by herself. However, as he was here on Zinoro's orders and not Marcus', then hopefully help was on its way.
Trunda shrugged, and held up his sword. "It matters not. The princess and I will soon be far from here. And you will be dead." He charged at her, clearing the distance between them in a few seconds.
Wiosna dodged the attack and did the only thing she could thing of: she ducked behind a massive bookshelf and pushed it forward with all her strength. Cringing in self-hatred at her act of literary sacrilege, she was nonetheless saved from Trunda's next attack as he was buried under a few hundred pounds of books.
She felt sorry for the librarian who would have to clean up the mess.
A few moments passed, and Trunda did not rise. Wiosna let out a sigh of relief, and turned to see Emila stepping forward hesitantly. "Is... is he dead?" she asked.
Wiosna looked back over at the collapsed bookcase, and the small mountain of books Trunda was buried under. There was no sign of movement.
"I doubt that killed him, but I would be surprised if he was still conscious," Wiosna said. "Either way, he's not going anywhere. You would need superhuman strength to climb out of that."
"Thank you for helping me," Emila said, with a grateful smile.
"I didn't have much of a choice," Wiosna muttered dryly. "You weren't going to protect yourself."
Emila's eyes widened, and she turned away, looking at the floor in shame.
"I'm sorry. I-I can't..."
"You ca
n't kill. I know." Wiosna went over to Emila and looked her in the eye. Emila could not turn away from her intense gaze. "But here's the thing. This mission is no place for someone like you. In fact, this world is no place for someone like you. There's only two types of people out there... those who want something from you, and those who want to kill you. A person like you, who only wants to make friends and doesn't want to hurt anyone; you have no place in Bacoria, and much less a place here with us. It is human nature to kill. I know that better than anyone. Peace is just a pipe dream of those who do not understand the world."
"Do you not agree with Selphie's mission?" Emila asked her.
"I was hired to help her. Whether I agree with her goals or not is irrelevant."
Emila looked at her for a moment, and then her gaze returned to the floor, full of sorrow and shame. She wasn't thinking of herself, or Wiosna, but of Luca. She thought of how he had spoken of Wiosna earlier in the night, of how easily he was able to relate to her. Was this the kind of person that he connected with?
Wiosna's words meant nothing to her. Emila refused to believe that humanity was nothing but killers. She had seen enough of it to know otherwise. But Luca could believe something like that.
"You're only going to hurt him," Wiosna said to her. "You're the worst kind of person he could have around."
Emila looked up slowly, staring at Wiosna incredulously, as though she could not believe the other girl had just said that. And then, she suddenly found herself filled with an anger she rarely felt. Before she could stop herself, her hand was moving.
Wiosna stumbled back a moment later, her hand on her cheek where Emila had slapped her. She had dropped her sword.
"You're wrong," Emila said to her in a low voice.
Wiosna stared back at Emila for a moment, then she charged at the other girl and tackled her right off her feet. Emila cried out as they went flying backwards, falling onto the pile of books. Emila's eyes widened in shock as she realised that Wiosna's hands were wrapped tight around her throat.
The cute blond-haired bookworm was gone, replaced by a savage, bloodthirsty killer. Behind the glasses she wore, Wiosna's eyes were wide, her pupils just tiny black dots. There was a smile on her face, that was slowly growing into a terrifying grin.
"P-please," Emila choked out.
"You're in the way," Wiosna whispered to her, tightening her grip just a bit more. "Sssh, it'll all be over soon."
Emila was growing lightheaded. She started to panic. She struggled to break free, but the other girl was straddling her and pinning her down, and Wiosna was much stronger than Emila was from her many years of training. Emila tried to summon up her mana, to form some kind of weapon, but she couldn't concentrate enough to make the proper weaves.
Her hand found something and instinctively grabbed it. A very thick doorstopper book. That would work.
Emila brought the book down on the top of Wiosna's head, with as much strength as she could swing it with. The other girl cried out and fell back, releasing her grip.
Emila dropped the book and desperately crawled away from Wiosna, coughing and gasping for breath. The other girl collapsed on the pile of books, holding her head and moaning.
"W-what is w-wrong with you?!" Emila managed to shout at her.
Wiosna looked up at her slowly, her eyes half-closed. She looked confused.
"I... I just..."
She never got to finish, because at that moment a thick, muscular arm burst out of the pile of books and grabbed Wiosna's arm. She cried out in panic, and tried to pull away, but she could not.
Wiosna looked to her sword, lying on the floor several metres from where she was. She reached out for it, despite the futility of the act. Now, rather than Emila's, it was her face that was full of panic.
Emila did not even hesitate. Still coughing, she climbed to her feet and ran to where the sword was. She grabbed the blade and tossed it over to where Wiosna was.
Trunda's head began to rise out of the pile of books. There was a cold fury in his eyes. Still holding Wiosna, his other arm emerged next, still holding his sword. He swung it down.
Wiosna caught her sword, and tried to block Trunda's attack, but she wasn't fast enough. The Acarian's sword struck her, aimed for her throat, but luckily she was able to move enough to take the blow in the shoulder.
Emila gasped.
Trunda's sword was buried deep in Wiosna's left shoulder, blood gushing freely and staining both of their faces with spots of red.
Wiosna did not cry out.
Instead, she started to laugh.
Trunda frowned. "What the..."
Wiosna started to crawl backwards, despite the blade stuck fast in her shoulder. With a sickening sound, she pulled herself off the blade, blood running freely and dripping off her onto the floor below. She crawled back a few paces, and fell back onto the floor. She had a dreamy and satisfied look on her face.
"Mmmmm...." she all but moaned. "Thaaat's... niiiiiice..."
Wiosna gave out one last content sigh, and passed out, her cheeks flushed red.
Trunda simply raised an eyebrow.
Selphie and Jared passed through the halls almost solemnly, their heads bowed. The guard behind them followed closely, keeping an eye on them for any treachery. He had heard of the trouble earlier with the man she had brought to the palace. The princess and her guard were smart enough to comply, he figured, so there was no need to be forceful with them. Still, at this point Selphie and her company were Marcus' guests in name only. If they tried anything, he would be charged with taking them to the dungeons and locking them up with the son of Lodin.
And the princess was rather fetching, so it would be a shame if he had to strike her.
The group of three passed a corner, and Jared looked up from the floor in irritation.
"This is all your fault," he said to the princess. She stopped walking, and stared at him, aghast.
"What did you just say?" she demanded.
"I didn't want to stop here," Jared said to her. "It was a bad idea, and I told you as much. But you insisted. You told us that Marcus was a good, honourable man. You said he would help us. Now look at the trouble we're going to be in tomorrow."
Her eyes wide and enraged, Selphie took a step towards Jared. "How dare you? Who do you think you are, questioning my decisions? If it's anyone's fault, it's Luca's for getting into a fight with a guard in the first place!"
The Saetician guard sighed. "Enough. You can argue all you want when you're back in your room..."
They ignored him. "You've got a lot of nerve, you know that?" the princess growled.
"Maybe it's about time I spoke my mind to you!" Jared yelled. "You're nothing but a spoilt brat. My fellow guards were slaughtered back at Allma because you trusted that liar, and now we're in trouble again thanks to your bad judgement. Your father should never have put you in charge of this mission!"
Selphie's face twisted in rage, and her hand went flying, striking Jared on the cheek. The Saetician guard moved immediately, pushing Jared out of the way and grabbing the princess' wrist.
"Enough, I said! Do that again and I will have you locked up. I swear I- Huh?!"
The last thing he remembered was the feeling of Jared's gloved hand grabbing the back of his neck, and dashing his helmeted forehead against the stone wall of the palace.
Selphie looked down at the unconscious guard, and absentmindedly rubbed her wrist where he had grabbed her.
"I apologise, princess," Jared said to her.
She looked up. "Why? It was all part of the plan, right?"
"I know, but I still hate myself for saying those things."
She smiled sweetly, and gently caressed Jared's chin with her hand. "That's very kind of you to say that. Still, even though it was an act, I wonder if there might have been some truth to it. I did trust Allma, and that cost those other guards their lives. Perhaps I am too trusting..."
"You cannot doubt yourself, my lady," he insisted. "Y
ou are our leader. You must remain resolute."
She smiled and nodded, but it was clear her doubts had not gone away so easily. "We passed an empty room on our way here. Let's get this guy moved out of the open, and go see Marcus. Gera will not be expecting us to return."
Jared nodded.
Luca stopped, suddenly filled with pain in his throat. He coughed, and fell one one knee, struggling to breath.
Brand, noticing this, stopped and went to his side. "Are you alright?"
Luca nodded, and rose to his feet. "Not me..." he choked out. "Emila."
A look of panic crossed Brand's face. "Is she...?"
A few moments passed, and the pain went away. Luca coughed a few more times, the pain not lingering through the tether.
"She got away."
Was the guard trying to kill her? According to Dreevius' words before, Zinoro wanted the princess alive...
"Where could she have fled to?" Luca asked.
Brand thought about it. "With Selphie and Jared gone, there's only one other person who could protect her."
"The library, then. That's not far from here."
They took off again. Luca's heart was beating in his chest so hard he thought it might burst out. His hand found the hilt of Siora, and he gripped it tightly, ready to draw it in an instant.
That bastard was going to pay for touching her.
They arrived at the library a few minutes later, pushing through the swinging double-doors. They saw Trunda standing by an overturned bookcase, wiping blood off his sword. Then they saw Wiosna lying unconscious in a pool of blood, and Emila at her side, glowing with mana. Emila looked up from her healing at Trunda, who was barely paying attention to her.
"Keep running if you wish, Princess," he said to her. "I'll continue to cut down your companions until I have you."
Luca drew his sword and strode into the room. "Hey!"
Trunda looked up and grinned. "Well, if it isn't the son of Lodin."
Ignoring that, Luca took a few steps towards Emila. "Are you alright?" he asked her.
She nodded. "But Wiosna..."
"Is she stable?" Brand asked.
Emila nodded again. "I closed the wound and stopped the bleeding."
"Move her out of the way," Luca said. "I would have you take her somewhere else, but we don't know who we can trust. So just take her to the edge of the room and protect her if need be. Brand and I will fight this guy."
"He's an Acarian," Emila told him. "His name is Trunda. He's one of Zinoro's acolytes."
Luca looked over at Trunda, and their eyes met.
"Son of Lodin," the Acarian said. "I've heard quite a bit about you."
"Have you heard about what I did to Dreevius?" Luca said with a smirk.
"There is nothing to pride yourself in that," Trunda replied. "Dreevius was a fool, who attained his position thanks to a useful gimmick. He had long ago ceased being useful. We are stronger without him."
"Will the acolytes be stronger without you?" Luca said to him, raising Siora. "I'll kill as many of Zinoro's men as I have to. He can continue to hide in his city, sending you lot off to die. And when there's none of you left, I'll come for him."
Trunda started to laugh, the sound echoing through the room. "You fool boy. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."
But the Acarian did not attack. He instead dropped his sword, and started walking towards them. Luca and Brand braced themselves, but Trunda did not attack them. He walked right past them, looking not at them, but at the doorway.
"Isn't that right, Gera?"
The three others in the room - Luca, Brand, and Emila - turned to the open doorway that Trunda was staring at. Prince Gera stood there, a long dagger clutched in his hand.
"Devith, what are you doing?" Gera demanded. "These people know who you are! We have to kill them! They know far too much!"
"They actually do not know as much as you think they do," Trunda said to him. "For example, they do not know of our plans. They do not know that you are in alliance with the Acarians, and that Zinoro has promised you the throne of Saeticia once he has annihilated the Alliance. They do not know that you have drugged your father's wine to send him to bed early today. And they most certainly do not know that Zinoro never planned to give a fool puppet like you anything at all."
Gera's eyes were wide, and he stared at Trunda, unable to believe what was happening.
"W-why are you doing this?" he demanded. "Why are you throwing away all our plans?!"
"Plans?" Trunda said to him, staring at the young prince in disgust. "King Zinoro has no use for a boy who schemes to betray his own kin. You were a fool to think that he would secure your father's throne for you. But he would not pass on the chance to use you. Like me, you were only ever just a means to an end."
Luca and Brand took a step back, staring at Trunda as he strode past them. Trunda moved past Gera, who was frozen in shock. The giant stopped, and placed his hand on Gera's shoulder. The prince flinched at the contact.
"I think there are enough witnesses now," Trunda said quietly to him. "Do you now see the true plan, hidden in the shadows of the false one you were following? The pieces are slowly coming together. Your father should be on his way. Try talking your way out of this one, prince of fools."
Trunda turned around one last time, and looked into the room at Emila, who was still kneeling beside Wiosna. "We will meet again, Princess."
"Like I'm just going to let you leave!" Luca shouted. He took a step towards the doorway, only to be stopped by Brand grabbing his fur cloak.
Brand shook his head. "Let him go," he whispered to Luca. "Something is happening. Just let things play out for now until we know what's going on."
Luca scowled, but he did not move. Trunda continued on his way, leaving the library and heading into the palace halls.
Gera remained at the doorway, fear and dread written in his features. The young prince shook, clutching the dagger in his hands.
"I have to... I have to get away..." he said in a low, panicked voice. "I have to... kill the witnesses." He raised his dagger high and ran towards Luca.
"Can I at least deal with him?" Luca asked Brand. A nod confirmed.
Luca sheathed his sword. He stepped forward and grabbed Gera's wrist in mid-swing, the clumsy attack nothing to a trained fighter like Luca. He then made a fist, and delivered a punch right to Gera's jaw. The prince stumbled back and fell onto the library floor, unconscious.
"This explains a few things," Brand said. "That guy was an Acarian agent, but he was working with the prince all along."
"But for what?" Luca asked him. "What was the point of all this?"
"My guess is that Gera thought the plan was to capture Selphie," Brand said, looking to Emila. "But the Acarian clearly wasn't after the same thing. I think he knew he was going after the wrong girl the whole time."
Emila nodded slowly. "That makes sense. He chased me at a very leisurely pace, and he had a few opportunities to catch me, like just before you showed up, where he just loitered."
Wiosna stirred, but did not awaken. Emila looked down at her patient with a strange expression, then she wiped her hands clean of blood and stood up.
"It did seem strange that he would make such a huge mistake, in thinking Emila was Selphie," Luca muttered. "And when he beat me, rather than killing me, he just locked me up in a dungeon, knowing full well that I could easily escape. You're right, his heart was never in it. He was just playing a game, causing a commotion and waiting to leave."
"And it seems it was all to back stab Gera," Brand said, looking to the unconscious prince.
"Luca! Brand! Emila!"
They turned back to the library entrance once more to find Selphie rushing in, with Jared at her heels. Following after them was King Marcus, and half a dozen guards behind him.
"Uh-oh," Brand muttered. "We're gonna be in trouble now."
Marcus pushed past Selphie, looking first at Wiosna, lying in a pool of b
lood, and then at his unconscious younger son.
A great rage filled his eyes.