The Mirror Of Lucerne Chapter 1: Chase Through Salikawood
NOTES: I do not own anything, except for my characters' personalities, as I am pretty sure that every name I use here is in the game. In fact, I am sure of it. Kudite stone may be my invention, but I don't know. Anyway, please read and review, as this is my first real fanfic. I appreciate feedback!
The forest rushed by as Nume ran for his life. The leaves of Salikawood crunched underfoot as he dove through the deep underbrush, running through shafts of sunlight and breaking them like stained glass. Ahead of him, the midday sun glistened brilliantly off of Kudik Peaks. Through the pass was Muscadet, his destination.
Behind him, the footsteps of his twin Viera huntresses were barely audible over the whistling wind and crunch of leaves. But they were surely there; every now and again an arrow would thud into a tree near his head. How fortunate that the Archers of Clan Dip were poor shots.
He ducked under a fallen tree-trunk and veered off to the left, hearing the trickle of water. He wondered…
Two more arrows hit the trees as Nume dive-rolled through the brush and splashed into the creek, getting his loose Ninja garb soaked. Finally, he reached the middle of the creek and turned to face his opponents.
Three arrows splashed into the creek on Nume's right. Even standing still they couldn't hit him. It would have almost been comical, if it weren't for the life and death nature of the situation.
Suddenly, the three of them were standing in the little valley, the pursuers and the pursued eyeing each other intensely.
One of the Archers nocked an arrow. "It doesn't have to end this way, you know," she said. "Just give us back the book, and I'll intercede on your behalf in an audience with the Major. Maybe you won't be executed…" Her mouth curled into a cruel sneer.
Nume shook his head. "That still leaves us with the problem of you capturing me. I'm afraid I can't allow that to happen." With that, he clasped his gloved hands together in a strange fashion, moving as fast as the wind. "Ninjutsu—Water Veil!"
At once, two tendrils of water from the creek reached up and wrapped themselves around the Archers, covering their mouths to silence them. Nume didn't wait to see it happen though; he turned and ran in the direction of the towering Peaks, dodging arrows as he disappeared into the forest again, still tailed by the persistent Viera.
Arrows whizzed past Nume's head, a little closer than they had before. Indeed, the forest was getting thinner before him as the ground became uneven; cracked and buckled as the black Kudite stone began to rise up into the tall spires known as the Kudik Peaks. Less and less cover was not what Nume needed most at the moment. He glanced frantically around for anything, anything at all, that would help him escape. Then, suddenly, he saw it. Without so much as a thought, he stopped dead in his tracks. The archers were taken aback, their next shots wildly missing the mark.
Then Nume vanished. The perplexed Viera looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "Should we look for him," asked one.
"We probably should. The Major won't like it if this thief gets away with the Major's book.
That settled, the two nocked fresh arrows and crept cautiously forward. Slowly they stepped, stopping for every little sound they heard. Finally they reached the place where their quarry had vanished: a black holed in the forest floor.
"It looks like…a cave, Brenda," said one.
"Of course it does, Maureen!" Brenda shook her head and set her bow down, bending over the hole so as to have a better look.
"What do you see, Brenda?"
"Blackness, that's what!" Brenda's voice blasted irritably out of the cave mouth and reverberated through the forest. "Hold my legs so I can go further down."
Maureen put her bow down, grabbed her partner's long, skinny legs, and dangled Brenda over the edge. "Can you see anything now?"
"Not really. Just something shiny."
"Shiny? What could be shiny in a cave?"
Maureen got her answer as Nume tossed a shuriken up to the top of the hole. Frantically flipping his fingers, he used the art of Metal Veil.
The shuriken instantly disintegrated into a dust cloud that shot out of the cave, momentarily blinding both Brenda—swatting wildly at the air—and Maureen, who promptly dropped a screaming Brenda headfirst into the hole.
It was the chance Nume wanted. He leapt out of the cavern mouth, flipped over a blinded and dazed Maureen and ran up the rocky Kudite-stone path to Kudik Pass.
…
Hours later, wrapped in several layers of Chocobo-down clothing, Nume made his way through a brutal snowstorm in the Kudik Peaks. Grey-white snow assailed him from every angle, and the wind slapped his flushed face as it whipped through the valley. The tracks made by his adamantoise-leather boots were covered with a fresh layer of snow almost as soon as they were made. All in all, Nume felt, it was as close to Hell as could be found in Ivalice.
He looked to the sky through blurred eyes, but it was black with storm clouds, as was the path in front of him.
He sighed, letting the heat of his body flow out and be frozen in crystal shards in front of his face.
It was then that he saw it, reflected in the crystallized remainder of his breath; a flicker, like that of a torch, far away in the distance. He blinked twice and looked again to make sure it wasn't a snow mirage. It was real, and it was getting closer with every step.
In the—probably vain—hope that it was an inn or tavern, or something of the like, he quickened his pace against the bitter wind.
As he got closer, the shadows behind the torch began to take shape, and Nume suddenly had the inexplicable urge to run away and hide. When he finally saw it, he understood why.
It was a wall of stone, black as night, covered with ice and snow from the storm. A formidable looking gate was situated in the middle of the path, blocking access from this side of the wall.
There was no one on the wall—not even a mental Bangaa would stand guard in a snowstorm like this one. Yet the two braziers on either side of withstood the wind and burned brightly. Nume remembered the last time he had encountered such flames; he reasoned a magic user was holed up inside the checkpoint, and had enchanted the torches.
But there was another problem—how to get in! Nume's eyes searched the wall for some sort of crack or indent that would signify a door, but he found none.
Suddenly, as he turned to his left, two powerful hands grabbed him from behind, and the last thing Nume's eyes saw before he slipped into black was a door, open but hidden in the cliff face beside him.
COMING SOON! Chapter 2: Old Friends, Violent Escapes