Chapter 7
They dismounted their chocobos near the mouth of the cave. As
soon as they dismounted, the chocobos 'wark'ed, and sped away. Locke started to
try and stop them, but Edgar held him firmly by the shoulder. "Let them go.
They're scared of this cavern, and with good reason. They'll run back into the
wilderness, and live where they were meant to live; in their natural habitat.
They were never meant to be kept and ridden by humans." Edgar could feel his
friend's muscles loosen, so he released his grip and gracefully strode over to
the Figaroan guard at the mouth of the cave.
The guard looked at him in surprise, then at his two
companions. "King Edgar! Where are you headed?" he asked unmilitaristically.
"Through the cave, and eastward to South Figaro. Return to
the castle, and tell the others we're safe." Edgar replied.
"Yes, sir! Take care!" The guard skillfully hopped up onto
his chocobo and sped away.
The trio watched him ride off, and then simultaneously turn
and look at the mouth of the cave. It was barely large enough for one person to
walk without slanting his shoulders.
Perfect. Another cave. thought Terra.
Edgar entered first. His machine, which was now held in his
right hand, was propped against his shoulder. A sword was sheathed and strapped
to his belt. Terra followed, and Locke brought up the rear. "I apologize for
again turning my back to a lady, and for not being gentlemenly and letting a
woman go first, but under the circumstances, I believe that it's necessary for
me to lead." Edgar explained, as Locke rolled his eyes.
"Just what are these 'circumstances', King Edgar?" Terra
asked. Why do I get the feeling danger is near?
Edgar turned his head around to face her, "Please. Just Edgar
will do. And I'm only sating that this cave is not all that safe. By traveling
together, I believe we'll be safe enough, though." As Edgar uttered 'though',
two giant large centipede-like Crawlys skittered toward them. Edgar's head
snapped towards to noise reflexively to view the monsters. They were heading
straight at him from ahead. With a slight hesitation, he lifted up his tool,
pointed his machine in the general direction of the beasts, and a fury of bolts
flew forward. One of the beasts dropped dead in his tracks, but the other one
kept on scurrying towards the trio. Its pinchers snapped from side to side as it
crawled up closer. A split-second before it was about to take a large bite out
of the king, he pulled his sword out of its sheath, spun it around once in the
air, and slammed it down into the Crawly's exoskeleton, right between the eyes.
It yelped out in pain, and was silent.
"See what I mean?" Edgar added matter-of-factly as they
continued onwards. As they walked a small distance forward from the mouth of the
cave, they came to a spring. There was a single turtle floating serenely on the
surface of the waters. As they walked up closer to it, the small corridor opened
up into a medium-sized cavern. Edgar started to feel a strange sensation as they
approached the small pool, as if his entire body was being refreshed. Terra, who
was just a few paces behind, felt the sensation as well, although it seemed to
refresh her soul, too, and not only her strength. Locke was the final one to
walk up closer, and he felt much stronger, as well.
"Did anyone else feel that?" Locke asked.
"Yes." replied Edgar. "This pool seems to have a strange
force about it. It's been here ever since this cave was made a route from Figaro
to South Figaro. We call it a 'Recovery Spring'."
Feeling much refreshed, Locke encouraged, "Let's go!"
As they through a small, snaking passageway, Terra wondered
about the strange mechanical object that Edgar was holding, and now, he seemed
to be taking small, slender objects from the inside of his satchel and loading
them into place in the object. As they rounded a corner that led into a larger
cavern, Terra asked Edgar, "What is that?" The cave seemed to make the question
echo forever.
"This, milady, is called an Auto Crossbow. You know what a
crossbow is, right?" he looked back and could see her lower her head in deep in
thought, and then remembered. Idiot!, he scolded himself. I forgot she
lost her memory. He hastened to apologize, "Oh, I forgot for a second.
Please forgive me."
"That's OK. I'm sure most people don't regularly converse
with amnesiacs, huh?" Terra assumed, and Edgar smiled at her. She asked again,
"What is it?"
This time, Edgar responded, "The Auto Crossbow is a mechanism
I invented which, with the pull of a trigger, shoots a spray of crossbow bolts
towards a target. That's the technical definition. You see, I can find these
bolts anywhere I go. I can use animal's teeth, claws, horns; I can use old
metal, copper, iron, railroad spikes, anything long and sharp. The bolts I'm
using now and will be used by me for a while are manufactured in my very own
castle. They're made out of iron, and are branded with the insignia of Figaro.
Here, take a look at one." He reached into his satchel and pulled out a slender
iron object, and handed it to Terra. She held it in her hands for a few moments,
and then handed it back to him. "I think I see now. So basically, the Auto
Crossbow will shoot a few of the bolts..."
"...It'll shoot twelve bolts, to be exact, in a spread,"
Edgar interrupted. "I'm sorry. Go ahead"
She continued, "It'll shoot twelve bolts in the direction of
the enemy or enemies, and hopefully, one of the twelve will hit them."
"Correct," Edgar affirmed. "You learn pretty quickly. I'm
sure you'll have your memory back in no time at all."
There was a break in the path. "If I remember correctly, we
go left." Locke stated. "That should lead us through some small twisting
caverns, and then to the outside." They all turned left, and there was room here
so they didn't need to walk single file anymore. They rounded one of the twists,
and Terra could see two small, furry creatures with one large eye. The threesome
halted, and stared at the cyclopcian monsters.
"Those are Blearys," Edgar whispered. "They’re usually rather
aggressive. They can't hear us yet, and if they become aware of our presence, we
may be in trouble." He pulled the AutoCrossbow into a firing position, and
pulled the trigger. It made a loud clicking-grinding noise, but the bolts were
still inside the gun. The Blearys both looked at them and started moving towards
them fast. Edgar stepped behind Locke and Terra, who had now drawn their
weapons, where he fiddled with his tool. "It's jammed!" he yelled.
Terra and Locke advanced slowly towards the quickly moving
Blearys. She held her sword in a low defense position, and Locke's dagger was
pointed straight at the monsters. Both monsters jumped up to attack Terra. She
sliced one in half, but was unable to kill the other before it latched onto her
stomach with its sucker, which was hidden underneath its fur. Terra started
gasping for breath and dropped her sword. Locke held up his dagger and stabbed
the attacking cyclops right in its eye. It released its hold on the woman, and
fell to the floor in a pool of yellowish blood.
“Thanks… thank you, Locke.” Terra said gratuitously.
Locke nodded. “Hey Edgar, what happened?”
The king had still been looking down and fidgeting with the
AutoCrossbow. He stopped, glanced up to them, and raised his head. “I was afraid
this would happen, but I was hoping it wouldn’t. It jams every now and then,
unfortunately. We’re just going to have to hope it doesn’t happen again. I think
it’s working now, though.” He walked right in between Locke and Terra, raised
the tool into firing position, and pulled the trigger. A dozen bolts flew from
the machine and ricocheted multiple times off the cavern walls. Edgar turned his
head around to face the other two. “Yep. It works now.” With a new air of
confidence, he straightened his head and resumed walking, taking care not to
step on the dead creatures.
They met with no more complications along the way. They also
met with no more conversation, as it seemed that everyone had their own things
to ponder. Edgar and Locke both knew their way around this cave, so they
navigated it quickly, and were once again out in the sunlight and on their way
to South Figaro.
