Episode 11: Run Away!
Author’s Note:
Welcome back to the Saga! I was meant to be fixing my expensive microphone during the mid-season break but, while I got it working (badly) again for a brief spell, it ultimately appears to have died. So in the end I’ve bought a much cheaper microphone and have begun carrying on the podcast version of the Saga with that, which will now start slowly catching up with this written version. To allow it time for it to catch up, and so that I don’t run out of material too quickly, I’ve also decided to now switch to releasing one written chapter a month of the Saga here: I will release a new chapter on the first Saturday morning (GMT) of each month. That should also give ample opportunity for anyone who wants to catch up with reading this written version to do so! Incidentally, the whole of the first draft of Season One (‘The Fire Ruby’) of the Saga is now done and is up elsewhere on the internet under a pseudonym accumulating feedback, and I am well into the writing of Season Two (‘The Earth Emerald’). Onwards!
Previously on Saga of the Jewels - Mid-Season Recap:
Seventeen year old Ryn’s hometown is attacked by General Vorr of the Empire and everyone he has ever known is killed. Just before he dies, Ryn’s father gives him a ruby, which causes him to project fire. Ryn is captured by the Empire and meets another captive, Princess Nuthea, who has the ability to project lightning. Nuthea explains to him that the Empire have learned of the existence of twelve Primeval Jewels which grant the ability to manipulate different elements, and are searching for them. The Imperial vessel where they are being held is in turn attacked by a pirate airship, and the pirates capture Ryn and Nuthea. The lead pirate, Captain Sagar, agrees to escort Nuthea back to her homeland, and to spare Ryn’s life, in exchange for the promise of gold, gemstones and beautiful women upon her safe delivery. However, in the battle with the Empire Sagar’s ship’s engineer has been killed. They land in the port city of Ast and recruit a new engineer called Elrann. Ast is then attacked by the Empire, who are using the Fire Ruby to invade the continent and search for more of the Jewels. Ryn confronts General Vorr, his parents’ murderer on whom he has vowed to enact revenge, and only narrowly escapes with the help of his new friends. Ryn, Nuthea, Sagar and Elrann flee the city of Ast together, but are then attacked by a bounty hunter. They manage to subdue the bounty hunter but Nuthea is gravely wounded in the process. Ryn beats Sagar to the hunter’s mount and rushes Nuthea to the nearest town where he finds a healer, Cid, a mysterious old man who saves the princess’s life with his arts and asks to join the traveling party, saying that he believes it is the purpose of ‘the One’, the god that he and Nuthea each worship. Cid also gives the still-captive bounty hunter a poppy seed to alleviate his withdrawal symptoms from the addictive substance, and tells the party to meet him at the top of a hill after he goes back to the nearby town to pick up some supplies. They go to the hilltop to wait, but when Cid arrives back he is being chased by an enormous dog-like monster and a troop of Imperial soldiers…
Episode 11: Run Away!
The beast looked like a huge bulldog, twice the height and four times the width of a man.
Its fur was white, but over that it had been fitted with black plate armour on its back and around its head--the same kind of armour the Imperial soldiers wore.
When it barked, horribly and monstrously, it spat frothy saliva from behind rows of huge, shiny, pointed teeth. It was still about fifty paces away, but pounding towards them at full tilt through the trees.
Blam!
Sparks lit the side of the beast’s helmet for a moment. Elrann had shot it. But she hadn’t even slowed it down. It shook its huge head as if to dismiss an irritating fly as it continued to charge towards them along with the soldiers that rode alongside it.
“There’s no way we can beat this thing in our current state!” yelled Sagar. “Everyone, get on a chocobo! Retreat! Run away!” He took the rope from Cid and swung himself up onto the third chocobo in a smooth motion, then motioned for Nuthea to join him and pulled her up behind him.
“Quick, get on!” the old man called to Elrann, and she jumped up to join him on his chocobo as well.
That left one more. Hurriedly, Ryn clambered up onto the chocobo that Vish was on, sat in front of him, grabbed the reins, lashed them.
“Yah!” he shouted.
The chocobo sprang forwards just in time, as behind them Ryn heard the sound of the creature’s enormous jaws snapping shut. It barked in frustration and resumed its pursuit, muscled white legs pumping back into a run.
Ryn turned and lashed the reins again, willing his chocobo to run faster. To either side of the monster he had glimpsed the soldiers he recognised as Biggs and Wedge galloping along on their own chocobos, carrying crossbows.
This is not good.
An arrow hit the trunk of a tree just in front of him with a thunk.
This is really not good.
Nuthea and Sagar’s chocobo galloped in front of them, then Cid and Elrann’s. They had to move left and right to weave their way in and out of the trees as they ran at full tilt down the wooded slope that led down from the hill they had been resting on, but they just about kept formation. Arrows whistled past them, hitting the trees or landing uselessly in the grass.
“Stop!” shouted of one of the soldiers behind them; it sounded like Biggs. Ryn didn’t even know how many soldiers they had chasing them. The voice was much too close for his liking. “Stop in the name of the Emperor! You are to be tried for theft, rebellion and destruction of property! Stop, you rebel scum!”
“I thought you said you were going to pay for the chocobos out of your own money!” Sagar yelled to Cid as they galloped through the forest, completely ignoring the Imperial’s demands.
“I said no such thing!” called back Cid over his shoulder. “Our purposes are far more important than whatever those Imperial dolts in Nonts are going to use them for!”
“Pops, slow down a bit!” yelled Elrann from where she sat behind Cid astride their chocobo. “I’ve got another shot, but I need a clear view! Ryn, you swap places with us!”
She’s mad, thought Ryn. But he kicked his ankles into the heaving sides of his chocobo all the same. He didn’t expect it to be able to run much faster than it was going, but it cawed frantically and sped up a little, and Ryn had to grip the reins tighter to stay on.
In front of them, at the same time, Cid pulled on his reins to slow his and Elrann’s chocobo down.
“Woah!” Ryn said as he had to steer his steed out of the way of Cid’s to avoid a collision. He whipped his head round to check they were alright as they bolted past their comrades.
Cid and Elrann kept pace with them, but now from the back of the line. The old man seemed like he had done this before. They’re both crazy!
“What’s going on back there, pup?!” Sagar and Nuthea were just in front of Ryn now.
“Nothing, we’re fine!” called back Ryn, ducking his head to avoid a low branch.
“Oof!”
Ryn felt Vish jolt behind him.
“A little warning please, boy?” Vish said. But Ryn could still feel him on the chocobo. Thankfully he hadn’t been thrown off.
“Sorry…” said Ryn. “Too many things going on at once!”
Blam!
Elrann had fired her second shot. A high-pitched, distressed caaaaaw sounded, followed by a human shout of anger.
Ryn managed another quick glance backwards. One of the chocobos of the soldiers pursuing them tumbled in the grass, quickly shrinking into the distance, its rider rolling on the ground in a cloud of yellow feathers.
“Damn it! Missed!” Ryn heard Elrann say as he looked forwards again so he could steer.
“Looks like you got him to me!” Ryn called.
“Yeah, but I was aiming for the dog! Aaargh!”
“Raaawrrr!”
Another horrible snapping sound. But the trees were too densely packed here for Ryn to risk another look over his shoulder just now. “What happened?” he called.
“We’re alright!” yelled Elrann from behind them. “We’re alright!”
“The beast nearly got them,” said Vish behind Ryn. “He took some of their chocobo’s tail feathers, but they are still intact.” The Shadowfinger’s voice dropped to a low growl. “This is useless. You can’t outrun them forever. The beast is your match in speed, and more than your match in strength. You need someone in your party who can employ ranged attacks more effectively.”
“Well, who do you suggest?!” Ryn said to him. It was hard to concentrate on talking and steering the chocobo at the same time, not to mention avoiding falling off as he bounced up and down on its back in time with its frantic gallop. “Sagar, Nuthea and me are all too tired to use our elemental projection! Elrann’s out of bullets now and she can’t reload while we’re riding! Who else is there?”
“Me, you fool!” Vish’s voice was venomous in Ryn’s ear. “Loose these bonds around my wrists and I will dispatch the mutt for you.”
“What are you two jabbering about back there?” Sagar called out from the chocobo in front of them. “Stay focused, pup, or we’ll never outrun this thing!”
“The bounty hunter says he can take care of the monster!” Ryn called back. “He wants me to untie him!”
“Don’t do it, pup!” Sagar shouted immediately. “It’s a trap! He’ll kill you and hand us all over to the Empire to collect his bounty!”
“No!” called back Nuthea from where she sat on the chocobo behind Sagar. She had her arms around him so that she wouldn’t fall off--even in the chaos, Ryn didn’t like that–but she managed to twist her shoulders round to look at them. “Give him the benefit of the doubt, Ryn! Trust him! Everyone is capable of change!”
She’s trying to teach me something even now?
“Shut up, princess!” cried Sagar. “What are you saying?! You’re going to get us all killed, even sooner than is likely! Don’t listen to her, pup!”
What do I do?
Another snapping noise; teeth closing together so loud Ryn shuddered.
“Argghh!” cried Elrann. “Poodoo! It nearly got me that time! Can’t this bird go any faster, pops?!”
“I don’t think so; it’s going as fast as it can! Just keep holding on!”
“Alright,” Ryn said to himself, making his decision. He had trusted Vish this far. They needed a way out of this situation. “How do you suggest I untie you,” he said to Vish, “while we’re running for our life?”
“You’re all mad!” yelled Sagar in front of them. He must have heard. “We’re going to die thanks to you!”
“Take out my sword,” said Vish over the noise of the chocobos’ gallop and the thundering footfall of the beast behind them. “Which I notice you stole from me, by the way. Slide it out of its sheath and hold it point-up behind your back while you steer.”
“Mad! You’re all mad!” yelled Sagar.
Snap!
“Aaah!” cried Elrann. “It nearly got us that time!”
It was tricky while bouncing up and down on the chocobo, but Ryn took his right hand off the reins, kept his eyes forward so he could still see where he was going, and reached down for the hilt of the sword that hung at his side.
“Woah!”
The chocobo jumped to clear a fallen tree and Ryn wobbled on its back and nearly fell off. But he righted himself and regained his balance, still clasping the hilt with one hand and the reins with the other.
He slid the black sword from its sheath with a scrape of steel then, taking care not to drop it or accidentally stab himself, he turned it downwards, then twisted his arm behind his back so that he held it there blade-up. He felt Vish lean back on the chocobo to allow the blade to come between them, and lent forward a little himself to compensate.
“What are you doing, pup?!” yelled Sagar. “What’s happening back there? Are you still alive?!”
Ryn didn’t reply. He just concentrated on staying on the chocobo and steering it through the trees while he held the sword up.
He felt a shuffling behind him, accompanied by a quick repetitive noise like someone breathing in and out rapidly. The snapping of rope.
The sword was snatched from his hand.
Despite himself, Ryn closed his eyes just for a moment, wincing. If he had misjudged the bounty hunter, surely he was about to die.
He felt the bounty hunter reach forwards from behind him to grab something.
“I will be taking this back now,” said Vish as he took the sheath for his sword and wrenched it from Ryn’s belt. Ryn nearly came off the chocobo, but he had two hands back on the reins now. He held on for dear life. The chocobo slowed a little, thinking he was trying to halt it, but Ryn lashed the reins and kicked its sides and it sprang forwards at full tilt again.
“Yah!”
“Caw!”
This was the moment of truth. The bounty hunter had his sword and sheath back now--if he was going to kill Ryn surely he must do it now. But Ryn could barely spare another moment to grimace in anticipation--the trees were too close together here; he needed to concentrate on steering the chocobo.
He felt the bounty hunter shifting where he sat behind him.
The chocobo wobbled as Vish moved violently all of a sudden.
“Arrrrgggghhhhh!”
This time the cry had been male. It must have come from another Imperial soldier.
“No, get the dog, bountyhunter, get the dog!” shouted Elrann.
“This will be easier if I eliminate the men first,” called Vish. His voice was calm, clinical, even amidst the chaos of the chase.
“What is going on back there?!” shouted Sagar.
“I don’t know!” said Ryn. “I can’t see right now! I’ve got to look forwards to steer!”
“He just threw something at one of the soldiers pursuing us!” Elrann called. “Something sharp! It hit him in his visor!”
“Quiet,” said Vish. “I am concentrating.”
Another violent jolt on the chocobo behind Ryn, at exactly the same moment that he had to steer it to one side to avoid crashing into a tree.
This time there was a thwack like the sound of an arrow hitting a trunk.
“Damn it; missed,” said Vish. “Can’t you steer straight, boy?”
“I’m doing my best!” said Ryn. “The trees are dense here!”
A heartbeat.
Another jolt; another scream.
“You got another one!” Elrann called out to Vish.
“Yes, I can see that, girl,” said Vish. “That’s the nearest soldiers taken care of. They were guiding it. Now to take out the beast.”
Another jolt.
This time Ryn heard a vicious clang.
The beast roared, and there was rage in its roar.
“Godsdamnit,” said Vish, “missed again. Hit its armour. I’m out of ammunition. I only brought three stars with me on my hunt--I didn’t think I’d need any more. Do you have anything else for me to throw at it, boy?”
“What?!” exclaimed Ryn. What sort of question was that? “No! All I have are the clothes on my back! I don’t even have your sword any more!”
The bounty hunter sighed behind Ryn, audibly even over the noise of the chase. “Fine. I’d hoped it wouldn’t have to come to this.”
The chocobo lurched as Vish moved.
“What are you doing?” Ryn called back.
Another jolt, the most violent yet.
“Holy poodoo!” yelled Elrann.
“Raaaaaawwwwwwrrrrrrr!” called the beast, and then its roar cracked and became a whine, a horrible high-pitched squeal that didn’t sound like any dog that Ryn had ever heard.
“What happened?” Ryn yelled.
“He threw his sword at it!” said Elrann. “He hit it right between the eyes and it stuck in!”
“Yes, but it is still chasing us,” said Vish. “Persistent abomination.”
Unbelieving, Ryn risked another look back round over his shoulder. But then his neck spasmed with pain and he had to twist it back round again.
Just before he did, he got a glimpse of the scene behind: The beast was still pursuing them, but now the black hilt of Vish’s sword protruded from between its huge black dog-like eyes in the middle of its pug face.
“The poison will slow it down eventually, but that will take too long,” said Vish. “I’ll have to finish it off up close.”
Ryn’s chocobo wobbled as Vish shifted his weight again.
“What are you doing now?” said Ryn.
“Taking care of things,” said Vish
It put a band of pain round his neck, but Ryn forced himself to look round again.
Vish was standing up on the back of the chocobo as it galloped along, arms held out to either side for balance. He bent his legs.
“No!” yelled Ryn.
Vish jumped, and the chocobo shook from the force of his departure and cawed.
The bounty hunter soared through the air, somersaulted multiple times, and landed feet-first on top of the dog, which was still pursuing them.
Then Ryn had to twist his neck round again to see where he was steering.
“What’s going on, Ryn?” Nuthea called to him from in front.
“He just jumped onto that dog thing!” Elrann answered for him.
One more excruciating risked look round, and Ryn saw Vish climbing forwards on the beast’s back, reaching over to pull out his sword, then raising it high again.
Ryn flinched.
The beast howled.
When Ryn opened his eyes, the beast was losing its footing, stumbling forwards, purple blood spraying in a shower from its face. It went over onto its side, and skidded along the ground for a moment before colliding with a tree, making a tremendous crunch.
Vish, meanwhile, was in the air, descending rapidly back towards Ryn’s chocobo.
“Look where you’re going, boy!” the bounty called out urgently as he descended.
He landed on the chocobo and its whole body shook.
Ryn turned his head back round just in time to see--
--a tree.
Whack!
He went head over heels over the front of the chocobo and smacked into something before falling to the ground in a jumble of limbs.
His head rang and new pain blossomed in his back, but he knew he had to get up.
The chocobo was lying on the ground, panting, at the foot of the tree it had just crashed into.
Stupid bird. What sort of animal needs to be steered out of the way of trees, anyway? Though really it’s my fault for not looking where I was going…
“Ready yourself, boy,” said Vish behind him.
Ryn looked round. The dog-beast-thing was still down, about twenty paces away, whining quietly in a purple-bloody heap, but six remaining black-armoured soldiers were slowly advancing towards them across the forest floor, each on the back of their own yellow-feathered chocobo.
“I don’t have anything to ready myself with…” said Ryn. Now that he had returned Vish’s sword to the bounty hunter he was weaponless. He tried to summon some fire to his palm, but none would come. It was no use. He was just too exhausted.
“Then stay close to me…” said Vish quietly. “Where are your friends?”
“They’ll come back for us once they realise we’re not with them any more,” said Ryn, hoping it was true. Mother. Father. Hometown. Nuthea?
The soldiers were close now, about ten paces away. Four against one, thought Ryn. Can Vish take them? Surely. After all, he had just single-handedly taken down an enormous dog-monster. On the other hand, there had only been four of Ryn and his friends, and Vish hadn’t won against them.
“Shadowfinger!” called one of the helmeted soldiers from his mount. Ryn recognised the voice. It was the thin one from before. Wedge. “What are you doing running with these rebels? You know the price for desertion and treason against the Emperor!”
“They captured me while I was hunting them,” said Vish. “Now that you’re here, I can help you bring them in.”
What?
Vish stepped to the side of Ryn and slipped an arm around Ryn’s neck. With his hand he raised his black blade so that it was level with Ryn’s throat, ready to be drawn across it.
“What are you doing?!” Ryn yelled, despite the swordpoint glinting somewhere under his chin.
“Be quiet, or I’ll slit your throat here and now!” Vish barked. Then he dropped his voice and spoke so that only Ryn could hear. “Just play along, boy. Either my head’s gone soft, or I’ve taken a liking to you and your traveling party. I reckon I can get more poppy more quickly traveling with your old man than if I stick with the Empire. So play along.” He raised his voice and spoke to the soldiers again. “Have you got anything to tie him up with?”
“Of course,” said a soldier with a deeper voice, whom Ryn remembered as ‘Biggs’, as he drew up on his chocobo. “What of the others from his party?”
“You should send your men to keep chasing them. They are tired and depleted; they have no energy left for casting their magics. Also, they are inept at riding.” Does he mean that? “You will catch them too before long.”
“Good,” said the soldier Biggs. He motioned with his hand to two of the other mounted soldiers. “Vance, Gill, continue your pursuit. Remember: dead or alive are both fine. Go now.”
“Yes sir!” Two of the soldiers rode off on their chocobos.
That was clever. He got rid of two of them. Assuming he’s not actually betraying us...
“Have you got anything to tie this one up?” Vish asked Biggs.
“No,” said Biggs. He dismounted, and the other two remaining soldiers followed suit.
“A good beating should subdue him well enough,” said Wedge. “You hold him still while we have some fun. This is the one who tricked his way into the Healing House earlier today.”
“Alright then.” Vish shifted his posture so that he had both arms around Ryn and gripped tight. Then he whispered in Ryn’s ear: “I hope you know how to handle a sword, boy. I will lend you mine. I have other methods of fighting.”
“Hold him nice and still, Shadowfinger,” said Wedge as he approached them. He had thrown his gauntlets on the ground and was clicking his knuckles.
“As you wish,” said Vish.
Wedge stood before Ryn, pulling back his fist to prepare a punch.
Is he going to something or not?
“Now!” Vish yelled.
He shoved Ryn forwards into Wedge.
Ryn crashed into the soldier and the two of them went down in a tangle. Ryn managed to roll off the soldier, readying himself for Wedge to recover and draw his weapon, but before the soldier could do so Vish was on him, thrusting his blade into the soft gap between Wedge’s helmet and the black carapace of his breastplate.
Wedge’s scream made Ryn’s guts tremble.
“Here, you take this.”
The Shadowfinger slid his blade out of Wedge’s neck and turned it round to hand it by the hilt to Ryn, who took it and stared. The black blade now wept deep red.
“Snap out of it, boy,” said Vish. “It’s time for you to fight.”
“Traitor!” The other soldiers were shouting. “Bastard! Dissenter!”
The Shadowfinger turned and then ducked out of the way of the blade of one of the soldiers. He took his legs out from underneath him with a vicious sweeping kick, quick as lightning, then picked up his blade when the soldier dropped it, and stabbed him too.
“Stupid rebel brat!” shouted another soldier as he rushed towards Ryn, while the others all went for Vish. The deeper voice. Biggs. “You got my comrade killed!”
Ryn brought his sword up to defend himself on reflex and the soldier’s blade clashed against it with a clang.
Both of their eyes widened with surprise. Ryn was as shocked as the soldier was that he had successfully defended himself. He gritted his teeth and tightened his grip, putting one foot out behind him to steady himself.
The two of them stood like that for a moment, their swords grating against each other, locked in a contest of strength. Ryn gazed into the soldier’s visor while he pushed as hard as he could to stop Bigg’s blade coming down towards him, but all he could see in there was blackness.
All at once he felt a weight of loneliness, or worthlessness, of sadness, as if he was the only person in the entirety of the world and had been tried by the gods and found wanting. Why should he feel this now?
Mother. Father. Hometown. This is madness. I don’t know how to fight. I’m going to die.
He gave a fraction of ground to the soldier, and the two locked blades began to move towards him.
Ryn leapt backwards with both feet, landing a couple of paces away, and as he did so the tip of the soldier’s blade caught the very edge of his jerkin, shearing off the end of one of the thongs that tied it up.
Ryn looked down, opened his mouth, blinked and then dived to his left on instinct, hitting the ground and rolling to avoid another whistling arc from the soldier’s sword.
Blood rushed in his ears.
He staggered up, wrapped both his hands around his sword hilt, let out a shout and charged at the soldier. He rained down everything he had left on the soldier, more shouts and gasps escaping from his mouth with each blow.
But it wasn’t enough. The soldier blocked them with ease, no strain or urgency in his movements at all. When the last of Ryn’s strength was spent, the soldier batted away his final blow with a lazy turn of his arm, drew his blade back, and…
...stabbed Ryn through the chest.
The shock of a sword blade sliding through his flesh.
Ryn blacked out.
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Fun Fact: My wife, who is my first reader whom I read all the stories I write to, did not particularly like this chapter, possibly because it has a lot of Final Fantasy references in it. She asked me ‘How could you justify taking time when you could have been earning money out of your day in order to write that?’ That’s when I told her that I wrote this chapter (and all of the ones that precede it) while I was working full-time (as a high school Religion and Philosophy teacher). What appears on substack is about the fifth draft of the Saga, but the foregoing chapter may well not make the final cut, depending on what other people think of it too (feedback always welcome–let me know in the comments!). Don’t worry, though–my wife really liked the next few chapters, so look forward to reading those over the next few months!