Long Live the King by Kigaeno Moondancer 15 Sept 2004

Place: Burmecia
Date: 2 March 1800 (day after the party escapes Pandemonium, the day the 'Mist' returns)
Rating: R?
Characters:
Fratley Irontail, dragoon
Puck Burmecia, Prince
Burmecia, King
Doyle, Burmecian soldier
Gray, Burmecian soldier
Cleyra, High Priest
Kigaeno Moondancer
Mogu Moondancer
Claire, Moon Maiden

Kigaeno was waken from his sleep by a banging on his door and a voice yelling in at him, "Priest! There's problems! Wake up!"

Priest? Well its nice to know that at least someone gave him the respect he deserved. It was hard for him to deal with the fact that his own people called him by his first name while the Burmecians refereed to him officially, "What?"

"There's Mist! It's everywhere!" Kigaeno blinked at the soldiers response, and was out of bed in a moment dressing.

Mogu, who had been also soundly sleeping at the foot of Kigaeno's bed rather than the other bed provided for them in their room, got up too, only after getting nudged by Kigaeno.

"Apprentice. I need your help." waking up to those words wasn't an entire bad thing to Mogu, and without asking a single question, he began getting dressed as well.

The Mist. It was the reason this was called the 'Mist Continent' to begin with, but it had never been in Burmecia before, mostly because the constant downpour didn't allow it to grow thick enough to gather. It must have been getting suddenly very dense.

Yet that made no sense, Mist had completely disappeared from even the Mist continent. Rumor had it that Freya's friends that she traveled with had went to the Lifa Tree itself, the source of the Mist, and cut it off from there. So where was it coming from now?

The problem with the Mist wasn't just that it was dark annoying pollution. The Mist had magical properties that not only messed with people's minds, but spawned a great deal of monsters. From the Burmecians that had came back from Lindblum and joined their group in Burmecia, they had learned that Kuja used monsters from the Mist to level Alexandria shortly after they retreated from here, so this couldn't be good.

Opening the door, he was met by Doyle, one of the Burmecian retainers that returned from Lindblum, "Priest, we haven't had any reports of monsters or an attack so far but we are trying to get everyone front and center to make sure nothing's coming."

"Understandable. It could be aimed at us or over the continent as a whole. I will lend a hand in the city's defense. The Cleyrans and the High Priest?" Kigaeno spoke as Mogu stood silently behind him soaking in what was going on.

"The civilians have been taken into the palace." Doyle confirmed.

A voice from down the hall interrupted them. It was Gray, another Burmecian, "The King and High Priest aren't accounted for! They were walking outside the city to see the sunrise!"

"They were unguarded?" Kigaeno was so tired of these people's lack of paranoia, "Doyle, go tell the mognet moogle to send message to Lindblum, find out if the same thing's happening there. Alexandria can rot for all we care." Doyle nodded and ran to do so, "Gray, where's the general?"

"He's on his way.."

"He's here." Fratley pushed past Doyle as he exited the room, followed closely behind by Claire, "Go keep guard at the palace Gray, we'll go find the King and Priest. Make sure the Prince is ok as well!"

"Kigaeno..." Claire was taken aback by all the commotion, and was afraid to be involved in any fighting, but Fratley had brought her from her room because he knew she could heal and the group might need a healer. She now looked at Kigaeno as if for assurance.

"You'll do well Claire." Kigaeno nodded to her and patted her on the shoulder drawing a semi-jealous glare from Mogu towards her."

"Follow." Fratley didn't have time for hanging around, and he wasn't specifically comfortable spending too much time around Claire because of what had occurred between them after the attack on Cleyra.

It was semi frustrating for Fratley to be followed around by those that moved slower than him, but they made it to outside of the gates close enough behind him, all of his companions glad to have a warrior in the front to take the blunt of any potential attackers. The gathered outside in the pouring rain, as the sun slowly rose over the eastern mountains.

"We go east." Fratley stated the apparent. If they were watching the sunrise, they'd be on the east side of the city.

As they continued to walk, Mogu paused momentarily and perked his ears, "There's tremors... from just past the wall, something big is moving around."

"Say again?" Fratley glanced back at him but hurried his pace.

"They could be in trouble right now, we have to run." Kigaeno knew that if the Mogu, a creature use to living underground, was sensitive to such things and he likely wasn't wrong. At the confirmation they all began to run, and before long they could all feel the trembling of the ground.

Turning the corner of the castle, Fratley was the first to see the creature. It was a grand dragon. No. It was two grand dragons. Here? They lived in the mountains over Gizamaluke's Grotto to the south. He'd never seen them here before. Hardly enough for even him to panic though.

The thing that did cause him to panic, was the torn figure on the ground behind one of them, and his King taking what seemed an awful lot like a final blow from the second one.

"Highness!" Fratley was in the air already when the others came around the corner. Kigaeno and Mogu immediately held off a bit and began to chant. Claire on the other hand, completely froze. What the hell were these things? She had never even been in a fight before, and they wanted her to help them go up against this? She took a step back as the creature's glare turned to their new challengers, and just couldn't concentrate enough to think of a spell.

Kigaeno instantly realized how little good Fratley was going to do as someone to absorb damage if he was going to jump around a lot. With Fratley high in the air, the dragon's targets immediately became what was closest to them, Kigaeno and Migu. Kigaeno glanced up briefly to see which one Fratley was going for, and called to Migu, "Left one first Migu! Claire, flank and be sure the others are ok while we fight them."

The dragon after Kigaeno on the left charged with energy, and he felt his fur stand on end. Even as he felt the power of the thunder spell surging through him, however, the dragon got a double taste of broiled innards, as Kigaeno slammed it with a Flarestar spell and Mogu followed up with Firaga sending flames covering its body. Shortly afterwards Mogu found the opposite dragon coming at him, leaping out of the way in time to still take a gashing slice from the venomous claws, and feeling the surge of the attack rush through his body. Why did they have to safe his dragon for last?

Seconds later the already toasty dragon found Fratley's spear embedded in its back, followed by the dragoon landing on top of him as well, and rather than ripping out the spread, he grabbed the handle and angled it down as he jumped off the back of the creature, leaving a gash down its back as well as a nice wave of hot blood spilling out over the ground. The creature gagged and fell forward, unconscious or dead.

Claire stood, watching this go on for a few moments, before being snapped out of it by Kigaeno's voice, "NOW!"

Running around the left, tears streaming down her face for fear that the other dragon would suddenly decide to target her, she made it to the King about the same time as Fratley, and knelt over him. Seeing the healer there, Fratley left the King to her and turned towards the other, which still seemed to be focusing on the mages, but backing up.

Kigaeno and Mogu felt static build up around them and knew what was coming, again. The dragon moved back further and spread the target spell out, until even Fratley and Claire felt the buildup. Ignoring it, Claire nervously chanted a Curaga spell, trying to cover both the High Priest and the King in its effect, and had barely finished the spell before all four of those standing felt another surge of energy collectively pass through their systems.

The warrior and mages shrugged off the damage and hit back with their own spells. The dragon found itself the target of Ice and Fire spells lashing out from the two mages, as well as a fully charged Dragon's Crest spell cast by Fratley. Elemental energy blinded it as the crest spell sent waves of pain up its legs and through its body, ripping both charred and frozen flesh from its bones.

Kigaeno leaned over Mogu, who had went to his knees to rest, and made sure that he was up with potions and the like, then went over to where Claire and Fratley was as Mogu stayed behind sitting on the ground.

It was apparent to him they were too late, and Fratley stood by seeming to have come to the same conclusion. The bodies of the King and Priest had been torn to shreds, beyond the help of even a full life spell. This didn't stop Claire from attempting the spell several times and failing, but finally Kigaeno lay a hand on her shoulder to stop her from trying again.

Turning to him with the same pleading eyes that she used as a child when she'd ask him for help, she pulling him into a hug, and he began to pet her head consoling, "You didn't fail me Claire, you did the best you could."

"I.." he clamped a hand over her muzzle before she could speak up and try to take the blame for their deaths herself, and held it until she seemed like she wasn't going to speak anymore.

Releasing her and turning towards Fratley, he watched the knight look gravely down at the bodies. Fratley motioned at Kigaeno to carry the lighter High Priest, and he picked up the King slowly.

Claire casts a cura spell on the rest of her party, somewhat embarrassed that she had wasted most of her magical energy on repeated failed life spells, and they went back towards the front gate as quickly as possible.

Having changed to a clean set of clothing, Fratley entered the Prince's chamber where he had set safely on his bed for the entire time. The others continued to stand guard at the gate of the castle, watching for other dragons that decided to take advantage of the Mist to try to pick off anyone. The dragons that had came had obviously meant to finish off any dragon knights that remained in the city while they had the advantage, and they had not been completely unsuccessful.

But now it was up to Fratley to tell the Prince that he was no longer Prince, as the person that had traveled with him for so long. He sat next to Puck on his bed and watched the child kick his legs nervously off the edge of the bed.

"Lord Puck.." Fratley spoke and the child didn't answer as if he knew what was coming, looking away at the wall and up at the ceiling for a moment before his gaze went back down to his feet and the floor.

"We were not able to save your father. I regret that I have failed you." Fratley raised a hand and lay it on Puck's head, petting his head fur back into place as he spoke.

Puck sniffled and didn't speak. He was obviously trying to seem strong, and Fratley knew he didn't like to show that he liked his father enough to care. It was going to be difficult to know how he was taking it exactly.

Fratley knew that he owed the young one a lot though, if not his very life. It was Puck who found him without his memory and tried his best to set things right for him. Without this child Fratley would still be wandering around without even knowing his own name.

"Do you need anything, Lord Puck?" Fratley's words were met again by silence and a shake of Puck's head, then with a motion of his small hand he dismissed his knight.

"I will keep guard on you myself, so I'll be right outside if you need me." Fratley started to get up, but Puck grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him into a hug. Wrapping an arm around the child, he pulled him close and gave him a warm hug back, "Don't be afraid Puck, I will be here to help you with everything, and I'm sure Freya will be back soon; she's probably working on the cause of the Mist as we speak."

As more silence followed, Fratley rose from his seat, gave a short bow with his head, and walked over to the window to make sure it was secure before going outside of his room door and closing it, relieving the soldier that stood there and standing guard himself.