Bacorium Legacy (30 page)

“Our best chance is to get back above ground,” Selphie said. “However, the sun was starting to set when we first came down here. That was at least two hours ago. We must make haste if we are to find shelter before midnight. Jared, can you carry her?”

The guard nodded, sheathed his halberd across his back, and moved beside Emila, lifting her up and carrying her over his shoulder.

“Ash, lead the way,” Selphie said.

The six of them then made their escape.

<> <> <>

They managed to make it out of the caves, not long after their meeting. They found themselves emerging from the caverns into a rocky collection of hills, and as they stepped out of the opening of the cavern, it vanished into nothingness after a few steps.

“What the-” Luca muttered.

“Magick concealment, it seems,” said Ash. “Not as subtle as what Dori's house uses, it seems. But it's an exit, not an entrance. So it makes sense.”

Brand walked over to the now-invisible entrance and placed his hand on the rock. At the contact, the opening reappeared. He then stepped away, and it vanished once more.

“If somebody didn't know right where this was, they would never find it,” Brand concluded. “It just looks like a stone wall from afar.”

After quickly scanning the area, Jared said, “There's no sight of Acarians.”

“That means this entrance wasn't how they got in the caverns, then,” Ash said.

“And it means we're safe for now,” said Selphie.

“We should find a place where we can make camp,” Luca suggested. “It looks like there are some hills in that direction, so we might have luck there.” He pointed towards an area in the distance, on the other side of the forest before them, where larger hills sat on the horizon.

“Indeed,” Selphie agreed. “Well called.”

“Keep an eye out for monsters,” Ash warned.

They made their way through the trees to the hills overlooking the forest. They located one hill that had a flat top and was relatively easy to climb on one side. After reaching the top, the entire forest could be seen, and there was no road in sight.

“Where are we?” Brand asked, wondering the same thing as everyone else.

“I can't say,” Ash replied. “I only ever saw the map of the tunnels once, and it was outdated even then. I've long forgotten where that exit took you, but if I had to guess, I would say we are somewhere south of the temple. The forest was particularly thick in that direction.”

“I can't see the temple,” Luca observed. “It was burning when we left, but I see no smoke.”

“It's gone,” Brand said regretfully. “The Acarians won this day, and Allma Temple has been destroyed.”

Everyone grew quiet for a moment.

Jared, who was still carrying Emila, went to Selphie's side. “Princess, will we be making camp here?”

Selphie looked over the small plateau they were on. “Hmm. Yes, this place will do well. The only way up here is that small hill we climbed, and a lookout can easily check that for enemies. Luca, do you agree?”

He nodded.

The princess clapped her hands. “Excellent. The first thing we must do is to tend to your friend.”

The only ones who had any travel supplies on them were Selphie and Jared, as they had never unpacked. At Selphie's insistence, they set up her tent and sleeping roll and Jared laid Emila down on it.

Some colour had returned to her cheeks, and her breathing seemed steadier. Once Luca was convinced she was okay, he left the tent along with Jared and Selphie, and they closed it up. Luca sat down at the edge of the plateau, exhausted, and relaxed by watching the stars.

A minute passed, and the princess joined him, sitting by his side. “You look quite relieved.”

“Well, like I said in the caves, her mana is keeping me alive. If she were to die, I would as well.”

Selphie chuckled, covering her mouth with the tips of her fingers as she did. “You don't have to try to hide it. It is quite obvious that you're concerned for her.”

He grew silent, and prayed he was not so pale as Emila had been, or his embarrassment might be very visible.

At that moment, Brand saved him by also sitting down at the edge of the small cliff, on his other side. He asked the princess, “So you don't have a problem with us staying with you guys?”

“Not at all,” Selphie replied. “There is safety in numbers after all, and I could not simply abandon you while your friend is ill.”

“I take it you'll be going back to Sono?” Luca asked.

“Yes, immediately. The first step, however, will be getting to the next town. Once there, I can send a messenger raven for my father. He'll need to know what has happened here. After that, it's a trip of about a month and a half to get to T'Saw.”

“Hopefully Emila will be recovered by tomorrow,” Luca said. “I would like to go with you to the next town, but if she is unable to travel, I must stay here with her. As for Ash and Brand, they of course are free to go as they wish.”

Brand smiled, and said, “You'll be going with the princess, and I promised to help her. I fully intended to go with her to be part of this group her father seeks, and I see no reason why that cannot still happen. Why can we not all go to T'Saw?”

They thought about it for a moment.

“We do not have Wiosna with us,” Selphie said. “I do not know if she survived or not.”

Luca remembered the half-crushed glasses, and thought of mentioning it. He decided against it.

“However,” Selphie continued, “she was never a priority member. The actual group was never set in stone - I only asked for the ideal members for what my father requested. Were any of them to bow out, substitutes would be considered.

“The real problem is how this attack on Allma Temple will change the situation. If the king of Torachi declares this an act of war, then it is inevitable that Saeticia and Sono will be drawn into the conflict, as they are part of the Alliance.”

“Tellador is not far from here,” Brand suggested. “Perhaps if we hurry, we can tell the king the truth of what happened before he declares war on Acaria. If he hears of what Allma plotted, perhaps he will not declare war.”

Jared, who had been silently listening to the conversation up until now, suddenly looked up.

Selphie frowned. “I don't know if that is the best idea. Tellador is in the opposite direction from T'Saw. We would have to make a complete detour to go there - and there are other reasons why that might not be the best idea. Better to make for T'Saw, stopping at Serenite along the way to speak with King Marcus.”

Brand shrugged. “Perhaps a letter, then?”

“I will have to consider it overnight,” Selphie said. “Now that I think of it, it has grown rather late. We should all retire.”

Luca and Brand nodded, and they started to rise. Luca considered how suddenly she had said that, and why she would not want to go to Tellador. He knew nothing of the king of Torachi, so he would simply have to wait until tomorrow, and see what she said then.

“Luca,” Selphie said to him as she stood up. “You should sleep in the tent with Emila. It would be best if she woke to a familiar face.”

He frowned, but he had to admit she was right. The most recent thing Emila would remember would be collapsing in the caves when they had encountered that monster. She may worry, not sure of the safety of Brand or himself, if she woke beside the princess.

“Very well,” he said, too tired to argue even if he disagreed.

Really, being honest with himself, he wouldn't have felt comfortable if anyone but he were in that tent, or if he had to sleep alone. He had gotten so used to being in her company. He remembered the night before, how he had relied on listening to her soft breathing to get himself to sleep. And inevitably, the guilty dreams of her he'd had.

He hated himself for enjoying that so much.

Jared and Ash had retrieved the other tent from Jared's bag, and were busy erecting it. It would seem that Selphie would sleep in the other tent, and Brand, Ash, and Jared would sleep outside. Luca didn't feel comfortable with this, as he was the only man in the group inside a tent, but the princess had spoken, after all.

“I'll take the first watch,” Jared said.

Nobody argued.

<> <> <>

Luca woke several hours later.

It was pitch black within the tent. The oppressive darkness of the late night was strong. They had decided not to light a fire, for it would be all too easy for an Acarian scout to spot from the woods below. Therefore, there was nothing to ease the burden of the night - whoever it was keeping watch now had only the stars to see by.

Nobody had woken him, though - he had simply stirred of his own will. Perhaps he had been having a nightmare... No, whatever it was he had been dreaming of, it was something pleasant. Not the previous dreams of Emila, thankfully. But he was relieved either way, because even though he had hated having those dreams, they were still preferable to reliving his father's death every night.

After several minutes had passed, and his eyes were adjusted to the darkness, he could make out the shape of Emila sleeping peacefully beside him. Her complexion had returned to its original healthy shade, for which he was immensely relieved.

A bird somewhere was singing.

Almost without even noticing, he leaned in a little closer. He wasn't sure what he was doing - perhaps he just wanted to be able to see her better in the thick darkness? Yes, that was surely it.

A single strand of Emila's black hair had fallen over her face. It rose and fell with each breath she took through her nose. A funny thought struck him, and he just couldn't resist. He reached out and gently brushed the lock back, out of her face.

Her eyelids fluttered open.

For a moment, everything was frozen. Their eyes met. His hand was still there, the tips of his fingers touching her temple. Their faces could not have been more than a few millimetres apart. Her green eyes shone with an unspoken ebullience. A faint blush filled her cheeks.

Luca pulled away.

“How are you feeling?” he asked her.

She closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath.

“I feel better,” she said quietly. “Much better. More importantly, how are you?”

For a moment, the question confused him, and then he remembered that he was the one who was supposed to have died.

“Somehow, I pulled through. There were no strange complications or anything.”

She smiled, and sat up in the sleeping bag. She rubbed her eyes, and looked around a bit, taking in her surroundings for the first time.

“We're in a tent?”

“It's the princess'. We met up with the others in the cave, after you collapsed. They helped Brand and I take care of that monster, and we've decided to stick together for now.”

Emile tilted her head slightly. “Monster?”

“That thing by the lake - you must have passed out before seeing it.”

“I see. It looks like I missed a lot.”

“Not really. As I said, we're all going to travel together for now, at least until its safe. The princess wants to go back to T'Saw, and Brand wants to stay with me, wherever I choose to go. I haven't really thought about it much yet.”

“What to do next, you mean?”

“Right. Things have gotten rather chaotic.”

Emila looked down at her feet, and she sighed. A moment passed, then she asked him, “Who all has died in the attack?”

Luca thought about it. “Of whom I know? Allma's squire, Rael. Dori. The dragon, Austille. Wiosna - the girl who was supposed to be in the princess' group. Almost certainly Allma himself. Tranom managed to get away with about fifty or so students. Everyone else who was in the temple was killed. The Acarians took no prisoners.”

Emila's eyes were heavy with guilt and regret. “I see,” she said in a hesitant voice. “They were certainly ruthless.”

He looked to her, searching in her eyes for the reason for her pain.

But he had to remind himself that not everyone was so numb to death as he was. A person with a caring heart, especially someone as caring as Emila, could not simply hear that so many had died and just shrug it off.

How many people had been in the temple to begin with? Several hundred students, and at least three dozen masters, he estimated.

All of them had been wiped out. All those lives were lost, and a temple that had stood for three generations was burned to the ground. The survivors would never be able to forget the horror of that.

And yet, to Luca, it was just a Tuesday. Nobody he cared for had died, so he felt nothing for it all - unlike the Arimos attack where he had lost Arlea and his father. He felt guilty that he was so relieved that Ash, Brand, and Emila were all okay, but he just couldn't bring himself to care for any of the others. Even Dori he felt no sorrow for. The only exception was Wiosna, and probably only because she reminded him so much of Arlea.

“Is your brother okay?” Emila asked him, out of nowhere.

He nodded. “He is fine. He needs new clothes and a weapon, but he's okay. It's funny really - everything he told me about Allma - it all turned out to be true. At the time, I had written it off as irrational paranoia.”

“You need to watch out for him, okay?” Emila said with a very serious look in her eyes. “You're the older sibling, right? Older siblings need to take care of the younger one. It's your responsibility.”

“I know,” he said. “But there's only so much I can do. The way he was back in the caves, when we first met - well, he's not the most agreeable person.”

Emila looked away again, her eyes heavy and tired. It was difficult to tell in the darkness, but it looked like she was holding back tears.

A tense and awkward silence settled over the small tent. Luca felt like he should say something - like he
needed
to say something. He just didn't know what it was she needed from him. It was so hard to find the right words. She looked so troubled at times, but she would never tell him what it was that bothered her.
 

“Emila - why did you come back for me?” He was certain this wasn't the right thing to say, but it was something that
he
needed to know.