Chapter 3
Hmm...? Where am I? Why is everything so...
"My sweet little magic user...! Uwee, he, he! With this slave
crown, I'll practically OWN you!"
That voice... I've heard it before... where... this must be a
dream... but, who is... that's... HIM! No, don't put that on m...
MUST... KILL... BURN... DESTROY...
"Uwee, hee, hee! Good! Burn up everything!"
POWERFUL... EMPEROR...
"We stand on the brink of a major breakthrough! In the days
to came, we'll witness a total revival of magic! It is our destiny, and our's
alone, to take this mystic force and claim what is rightfully ours! With our
new-found power, nothing can get in our way!"
"Hurrah! Long live Emperor Gestahl!"
PRAISE... THE EMPEROR...
__________________
The old man waited on his house, the guards long gone. He
assumed they left to look for the girl. They had not harmed him, for he was a
respected member of his community, and now they weren't even sure that he was
really hiding her anyway.
He heard the back door open, and his friend walk into the
room. "Took you long enough! How goes the robbing and plundering trade?" His
friend seemed angry. He was a treasure hunter and trail-worn traveler, searching
the world over for relics of the past...
Locke scolded the old man, "I PREFER the term treasure
hunting!"
"HA! Semantic nonsense!" he replied.
"There's a HUGE difference!" Locke waggled his index finger.
"Anyway, were you the one who sent for me?"
"Yeah. There's a girl I'd like you to meet."
Locke moved closer to the old man, "This better not have
anything to do with that Magitek-riding, imperial... witch!"
The old man nodded. "Imperial troops are pursuing her even as
we speak. This town is no match for the Empire. Our independence can only be
assured if we join forces with the Returners, an underground resistent movement.
That girl wasn't responsible for her actions. We must get her to understand our
dilemma!"
Locke nodded in return, "All right... I think we'd better
help her..."
"Agreed. Make your way first to Figaro, and talk to the
king," the old man said.
__________________
Locke looked through a hole in the ground of one of the
western mine shafts. He could see the faint outline of a young woman. He jumped
down through the hole, and landed right next to the girl.
He gave her a once-over. She's pretty cute. Can't think
about that now, though. I gotta get her to Figaro. Locke looked towards his
right, straight through a large cavern. What he saw made him wince out of
surprise.
As he watched, there appeared a Narshe guard and five groups
of one Lobo and one Vamammoth each. The guard yelled out, "Now we gotcha!"
"Wonderful... there's a whole bunch of 'em," breathed Locke.
"Kupo..." The sound came from behind the treasure hunter. He
turned around just in time to see two moogles jump through the cave opening
behind him. "Moogles...!" They looked at him, then at the limp form of the
woman, then back at him. One of them jumped around right in front of him, as he
was trying to say something. What do they want?
Moogles were small, white, fluffy animals. They had small red
wings, and little a fluffy ball on their single antannae, coming out from the
middle of their heads. Moogles were the kind of animals that you wouldn't want
to be fighting against. But these didn't seem hostile... in fact, they seemed
like they wanted to help...
"Are you saying you want to help me?" They seemed to nod
agreement, and they both jumped and spun once. "Kupo!" 'Kupo' seems to be
their only form of communication...
Just then, nine more moogles entered from the top of the
cave, where the other two had entered. "OK, moogles, here's our strategy.
There's twelve of us in all, so lets split up into three groups, and four of us
in each. We'll make our way towards the other side of the cavern, taking out all
the enemies in the way. My team will take on their commander. If they reach the
girl, then it's over."
They all nodded their agreements, and many a 'Kupo' was
heard.
"OK, let's move!"
As it turned out, the moogles were exceptionally good
warriors. Most of them used different weapons, though a few used the same class
of weapon. Locke and his three moogle friends moved along the cavern a little
bit, and found the first group. Locke immediately ran up to the Lobo and slashed
at him multiple times with his dirk. One of the slashes sliced right through the
Lobo's neck, and he was down, cowering with pain. The Vamammoth charged at one
of the smaller moogles, but his companion was very quick. He held his spear
firmly and drove it right into the Vamammoth's chest. It staggered with pain,
then fell over, lifeless.
The second group of moogles was commandeered by a moogle
named Mog. He seemed to be the strongest of the moogles, Locke decided. Mog and
his team raced through the cavern and slashed, poked, and flailed another of the
groups of monsters, without even getting harmed themselves. Impressive.
The third team was, unfortunately, not quite as powerful, but
they were still fair warriors. They, too, charged around the caverns, but they
were not quite as quick as Mog or Locke's team. As the rounded a cavern wall,
one of the moogles got stabed in the shoulder by a Vamammoth's tusk. "Kupo..."
One of her team member's probably her mate, had his sword in hand and plunged it
through the Vamammoth. The beast was wounded, but not mortally. One different
moogle, of the same team, saw this and threw his boomerang at the Vamammoth. It
was a good throw, and it cut the monster's chest deeply. It fell over dead right
on top of the Lobo, killing it unstantly. The injured moogle was taken back and
laid down near the woman, for it was too weak to continue. Her mate , and the
rest of the team, continued on.
Mog's group ran through the caves once more, hardly even
stopping to catch their breath. They saw another Vamammoth in front of them, but
they saw no Lobo. They held their weapons in ready position, and they all faced
the approaching Vamammoth. The Lobo was there, however. He attacked from behind.
The moogles did not see, hear, or even smell him. The Lobo jumped on Mog, and
opened his mouth menacingly. Another one of Mog's team grabbed his flail, which
he had dropped when the Lobo surprised them, and clubbed the Lobo very hard on
it's side. It fell over to the side, hardly breathing. The Vamammoth was
charging fast, and another moogle, apparently skilled in the art of throwing
knives, threw his dagger at the Vamammoth, and it stuck in the foul beast's
throat. The big mammal wimpered for a second, but fell over, and was silent
forever.
Group number three was back on the battlefield now, and ran
through the caves like there was no tomorrow. They could see the last group
ahead of them now, the Lobo was leading. One moogle, who had a spear, raised his
spear while running straight towards the group of monsters. The Lobo opened his
mouth and roared threateningly. The moogle with the spear jammed his spear right
through the Lobos' gullet, and the beast whined for one second, and was dead.
Another of the moogles, who was equipped with a sharp rod, bashed the Vamammoth
very forcefully on his skull. The Vamammoth was severely dazed, and the moogle
with the spear took this opportunity to spear the Vamammoth right in his large
stomach. The animal was alive for only a few seconds longer.
"OK, moogles, their commander is defended by two Lobos, so we
should try to take them out first," Locke explained as they advanced toward the
guard. "Kupo", was the moogles' reply. They all charged towards the Lobos at
once. Not exactly what I said, but, whatever works. Amazingly to Locke,
the moogles had quickly disposed of the two Lobos, and were starting to turn on
the commander. This is where I step in and help. Locke rushed at the commander,
who hadn't so much as flinched yet, jumped over the progressing moogles, and
slashed once violently at the guard. The guard blocked it with his scythe, and
shoved Locke backwards with his booted foot. Locke stumbled back, only to watch
one fof the moogles swipe at the commander with his three-clawed weapon, which
was held firmly in his right paw. The commander screamed in pain, and was hushed
for the rest of eternity.
Locke got to his feet again, and started walking by himself
back to where the woman lay. He yelled back to where all eleven of the moogles
had vanished to, "Thanks, moogles! We're in your debt!", and he scooped up the
woman in his arms and carried her to a dead-end at the end of one of the cave
tunnels. He set her down on the ground, and walked over to a strange skull that
had been stuck into the wall.
"I think this switch'll... He reached both his hands up to
push it to one side, and a wall slid back to open up into a chilly Narshe night.
The cold wind woke the woman up, and Locke walked over to her. "Eh? You back
with us now?"
"You... saved me?" the woman asked.
"Save your thanks for the moogles." replied Locke non-chalantly.
"Uhh... I can't remember anything, past or present..."
The old man didn't say anything about this! "You have
amnesia!?"
She nodded to Locke. "A man said my memory would come back."
"Give it time. You're safe with me. I give you my word." The
woman wasn't expecting that, and she took on a quizzical expression. "I won't
leave you until your memory returns! By the way, this secret entrance might be
useful some day. Don't forget about it!" She's still looking a bit confused.
Locke quickly pulled a muscular pose to show her that he meant what he said, and
then they both exited into the night. The cave closed behind them, and Locke led
her to the left, back to the front gate of the city. "This is the pits. We'd
better hightail it southward, to Figaro."
And they turned their backs to Narshe and headed south.
