The Melody of a Silenced Harp Chapter Three: Split Up "Your Majesty," Yang said, bowing before the bed of the injured King. "We are in need of a ship. Baron has our crystal, and we need to get it back." The King frowned deeply beneath his dark beard. Then he brightened. "Yang, you are truely the most valiant warrior this kingdom has ever known. I give you a ship, and my greatest trust. I know you will not disgrace us." the King spoke solemnly. "Cecil, brave Dark Knight. I know of your hardship. Though I know not how important the kidnapped White Wizard is to you, I have a good idea. Take this sword, which another Knight left here long ago. It is the blade Black. I didn't give it to before, because I didn't quite trust you enough. But you have proven yourself tenfold, and so the sword is yours." the King said. He turned to Anna, and coughed. "Excuse me. I don't know what your goals are, or why you came to our city in such a rage, but I have a good feeling about you. Take this axe, and go stop that fiend Golbez. I have faith in all of you." he said. They turned to walk out, but the King stopped Kain. "You there. I heard that you attacked with Baron, and then joined the other side. Were you hypnotized?" the perceptive King asked. Kain looked at his feet and nodded. "I'm sorry, your Majesty.....I didn't mean..." Kain stuttered nervously. The King looked at him gravely. "Your soul is stained with dark deeds. To reform takes a great amount of courage. However, the deeds are still on your shoulders. It would take a great place of holiness to repent that. Good luck." the King said, patting Kain on the shoulder. Kain walked out with the others, not sure what to think. Holiness? Yang's wife, a beautiful middle-aged woman with deep blue hair tied in a bun, with a dress that marked her a housewife, met them at the dock. "Now, you be very careful, okay Honey??" she pleaded. Yang nodded. "Of course." Yang said in his businesslike manner, but he broke a smile as he kissed his wife goodbye, and jumped aboard the ship. "Welcome aboard, sirs." the captain, a stout man with wildly curly blond hair beneath a red captain cap, said cheerfully. "Sir Yang, we've heard all about it from the king's guards. You're welcome passengers aboard my ship, s'long as yeh don't get in th' way of my men." Cecil and the others nodded. The captain turned to Rydia and smiled, though he was missing some teeth. "This your first ship ride, little girl??" he asked her. She nodded timidly, quieter than usual, perhaps because of all the sailors around. "Anchors aweigh!" the captain cried, shouting more orders to his men in his rough voice. The ship slowly began to move, and once they got out onto the open sea, it fairly whipped along in the breeze. For an hour or two they sailed with no event. But after a while the sky began to darken slowly, and the water got choppier. Rydia walked over to Anna, who was staring intently at the axe she had recieved from the King of Fabul. "Do you know any magic?" Rydia asked her. Anna looked up, and smiled. "I know a little, that my father taught me." she said. Rydia nodded. "Your father's very good at magic. We beat up a big octopus." she said, as if beating up octopi was an everyday chore. Anna got a distant look in her grey eyes. "Father used to know so much more magic, but he's forgotten over the years...." she said softly. "Somethin's wrong!" the captain said suddenly, causing everyone to look at him in alarm. "What is it?" Kain asked nervously. The captain looked him in the eye. "I ain't never seen a storm like what's comin' up now, before in my life." He looked back out into the water. It was whipping around in the wind that had suddenly come up. Black clouds rumbled above them. "Do you think we can still make it to Baron?" Cecil asked him. "It all depends on how bad th' storm ends up being, and-" the captain started, but he was cut off by a shrill cry from one of the sailors. "CAPTAIN!" he yelled. "There's a huge whirlpool ahead!!" "Pshaw! There ain't no whirlpools around these waters!" the captain cried, running over to look, as rain began to fall heavily on the deck. As soon as the sailors saw that there was indeed a whirlpool ahead of the ship, they began wildly running around the deck, picking up ropes and trying to manipulate the sails to turn around. Rydia got a dazed look in her eyes, and began slowly walking toward the front of the ship. She felt strangely drawn to that swirling mass of water. "Captain....do you think it's...." a sailor trailed off. A look of shock registered on the old skipper's face. "It...can't be!! N-not....HIM!" he cried. Cecil rushed over. "Who?? What is it??" he asked, panicked. "The Master of the Seas!!!" a pale-faced sailor gasped weakly. "LEVIATHAN!!" the captain shouted as a serpentine head rose out of the swirling pool of frothy black waves. Rydia gazed longingly at the monster. She felt drawn to every detail, from the jagged ivory teeth to the lavender-green-blue scales that reflected every wave. She started to climb up on the railing, even as the boat rocked violently. Cecil saw her out of the corner of his eyes. "Rydia!!" he yelled. Kain and Yang's gaze whipped over to the little girl poised over disaster's edge. Anna screamed. Suddenly a violent wave washed over the side. Rydia fell into the sea. "RYDIA!" Kain cried. Perhaps it was a sudden suicidal urge, or a compulsion to right the wrong of burning her village, but Kain, in full Dragoon armor, dived in the save the nearly drowned Caller. "Kain! No!!" Cecil yelled. Another wave, and Yang went over the side. Anna screamed again, and dashed over to Cecil. She grabbed onto him just as the entire ship split apart and sank away. Cecil blacked out. Tellah's eyes snapped open. How long had he been asleep? His muscles felt strange, like they had all been deadened for a long time. He got up out of his chair. Something felt terribly wrong. "Anna! Where are you?" he called. No answer. That was unusual. He went through the house, but it was empty. Tellah grabbed his staff and went outside. It was much later, the sun was in a completely different position. Was it even the same day? "Excuse me," Tellah asked a passing woman. "Have you seen Anna anywhere?" She looked strangely at him, then looked nervously towards the house. "Oh, well, I did see Anna leave town a while ago. You know, after that huge explosion from the north....um, were you asleep, Master Tellah?" "Yes. But....you said she left?? Hmmm......." Tellah grumbled, storming back into the house. He threw on his travel cloak and ran past the woman, toward the exit of town. "Will you be okay, Master Tellah?" she called after him. He didn't answer her. A worried look crossed her face. "He hasn't been the same since returning from Damcyan, and neither has poor Anna. I hope he doesn't go get himself killed..." She turned to a teenage boy. "Randy.....could you follow Master Tellah for me? I want you to keep an eye on him, and make sure he doesn't get hurt. He's after Anna again..." she said. The teen brushed his sandy blond hair out of his face and nodded. "Sure thing, Molly---er, Mrs. Tyrnen." Randy replied. "I'll tell your mother where you went, Randy. I just hope he doesn't wander too far away. If he goes too far just come back, okay?" Molly Tyrnen told him. Randy nodded obediently, but he had no intention of coming back until it was over. He had heard about Tellah's last "outing". Battles with fierce octopi, spelunking, political warfare, airships....he had waited for this opportunity. After all, as a seventeen year old youth he had no intention of staying cooped up in Kaipo forever. Of course, he would come back, but not without an adventure or two under his belt. He grabbed his pack and battle staff, not like the kind mages used, and dashed after Tellah. The first thing he noticed was sort of surprising, as he followed Tellah southward toward the Fogbound Peaks of Misty Valley. For an old man, he sure moved fast. Cecil felt someone shaking him as he returned to consciousness. Everything was blurred in his vision, but he could make out a red and yellow blob shaking him. He wasn't sure what the blob's intention's were, but he just felt so tired that he wanted to sleep. His whole body felt beaten....but from what? Then suddenly, it all came flooding back to him--Rydia, Kain, the ship, Leviathan....He sat up quickly, and bumped into-- "Ow!" Anna cried, scooting back from Cecil. "Sorry, I just remembered what happened..." he said. Anna looked at him. "It's all right. I thought for a while you were dea---that you'd never wake up." she said quietly, wringing water out of her hair. "Where are we, Anna?" Cecil asked, looking around them. They were sitting on an unfamiliar beach. The sand was mixed with ash, as if a volcano had erupted here in the past. Cecil looked down at himself. He had lost his helmet, shield, and most of his armor. Only one boot and his undertunic was left, with his swordbelt strapped to it. One boot was useless to him, so he threw it into the surf. "I don't know...." Anna said, looking around them as well. "I didn't take the time to look around, I was too busy trying to revive you." A horrible thought struck Cecil. "The others....are they here?" he asked. Anna shook her head, eyes downcast. She was in horrible shape as well. Her dress had long since lost its yellow color, was covered in dirt, and was torn. There was actually very little dress left, a fact Cecil tried to ignore. Her straggly red hair was soaked and salty from the ocean water, and she looked terrible. "The.....the last thing I saw before getting knocked out was Rydia...getting eaten by...by that creature......it was awful...that poor girl..." Anna said, shaking and blinking back tears. Cecil embraced her, and tried to console her, but he too was shaken. Rydia....eaten up by Leviathan? He prayed to every god he had ever heard of that Anna had been wrong. Cecil abrubtly let her go and stood up, shaking the sand off of him. "I think I know where we are." he said. She looked up at him, eyes filled with hope. "Really..?" she said breathlessly. "But how.....how could you know...." "That's easy..." Cecil said. "Well, as a Knight of Baron, geography is a must, so I happen to know that there are very few volcanic islands in the world. This beach is covered in ash, so there must be a volcano near here. I think......yes, I think we're south of Baron. Somewhere on this island is the town of Agart, if I'm right." Anna stood up and threw her arms around Cecil, taking him by surprise. "Oh, you're brilliant!!" she cried happily. Cecil thought of Rosa for a moment, and let Anna go. "We should look for Agart." he said matter-of-factly. She nodded, and they headed inland to look for the town.