Chapter LVIII: Makeshift Rescue Party

Danienne had steadfastly refused to loan anyone under her command to Odessa's venture. Citing the need for increased security at the castle, she denied the White Mage her request for aid. Odessa knew it wouldn't be worth the time or effort to challenge her on it. Danienne hated the entire Goblin species, and nothing was to be gained by stirring up infighting. So Odessa had to pick the team herself.

Her utmost priority was maximizing the chances of survival. To that end, her first choice for the team was Eig. The Mithra's gift of the spellsong had proven invaluable for keeping them alive during the battle with Tzee Xicu. If they ran into trouble at Crawler's Nest, Odessa would be counting on it again. Though she knew there was relatively little to fear from the monsters of Crawler's Nest, a little brawn might be called for. As the only fighter on the team who had not been placed under Danienne's command, the slim and muscular Monk Celeres filled that role. That gave her four, counting herself and Middlesky. As day broke and what had the potential to be the last week of Antiqix's life began, she wondered if that would be enough.

It was actually a relief when she met Wolfgang at the grand hall the morning of her departure. "Lady Odessa," he greeted her, standing at attention with a smart salute.

"Captain," she replied, noting the presence of Wolfgang's first officer by his side. Wolfgang's face was characteristically stony, but there was a knowing gleam in his eyes.

"Lieutenant Raidom has recovered from his injuries in full," he informed her, taking a step aside. By his side was the Jeunoan officer whom had first appeared at the gates of Oztroja so many weeks ago. As opposed to the tattered and bloodstained uniform he had worn upon his arrival, he was now clearly girded for combat. The Hume had donned a set of thick darksteel armor. The Hauberk he wore had been refined with damascus, Odessa recognized, similar to the one Rykoshet wore. He also wore a stylized helmet, protecting the sides of his face and bearing a set of curved horns atop it. The black armor stood out in harsh contrast to the white and gold which was standard issue to other Jeunoans. On his back, Raidom had strapped a long, curved great sword, and Odessa had no doubt about his ability to use it.

"I understand Lady Danienne has cited her inability to spare any soldiers," Raidom said, giving her a salute of his own. "As I fall under the command of Lord Wolfgang, I have opted to volunteer for this mission myself."

"I see," Odessa nodded, suppressing a smirk. She would let the question of whether or not his was the kind of volunteering which is ordered go unanswered. "Then welcome to the party, Lieutenant."

Raidom nodded, stepping away from his commander. Behind Odessa, the others had begun to appear. Eig stretched languidly, yawning as she came down the stairs. Smacking her lips, the Bard adjusted the foppish had she affected as she nodded informally to those already gathered. From the other side of the hall, Celeres approached. The Monk was garbed in the customary garb of his temple, an affair of subtle gold and orange. The exception to this was the highboots he wore, crafted of leather in a process perfected in the desert dunes of Rabao. Odessa knew that despite their surpassing sturdiness, they were practically weightless. The Elvaan gave a nod and smirk, bandaged knuckles cracking as he flexed his fingers.

Middlesky was already there. In the bright red and white which was his staple, the Red Mage had arrived just before dawn. He had been quietly waiting when Odessa had arrived, as patient as the stones of Oztroja itself. With the briefest inclination of his head to the others, he quietly joined them.

"Is there anything else you'll be needing, Lady Odessa?" Wolfgang extended his hands in offering. Shaking her head, she took a look back at the team she had assembled. Their task was simple. Reach Crawler's Nest undetected, find the Goblins and offer them sanctuary in Oztroja, and then return, again without attracting the attention of any demons.

"Just tell me, Captain," Odessa began with a tilt of her head, "why is this so important to you? They're just Goblins."

The soldier gave her a look she could not quite fathom, and then raked a hand through his jet black hair. "A month prior I would have locked anyone who suggested working with the Yagudo in irons." Wolfgang clapped a fist to his breastplate, saluting both Odessa and his own Lieutenant. "Blessings of Altana be with you." With that, he strode off, his bearing once again that of a man far taller than the diminuitive Captain could claim to be.

"Time to go?" Celeres asked, a note of eagerness in his voice.

"You're too eager for this early in the morning," Eig complained, emphasizing her point with a yawn.

Odessa rubbed the bridge of her nose, already growing perturbed. What she really would have loved would be at least one Yagudo volunteer to accompany them. Even had Danienne not been in charge of those forces, she doubted any would come willingly.

"No time like the present," she conceded. They would just have to trust the Goblins would believe them without another Beastman in tow. After they trusted that the Goblins wouldn't attack them outright. Which was directly after trusting that the entire adventure wasn't part of a plot by the demons to lure them out. That was far too much trusting for Odessa. Typically she was content to just let Rykoshet blunder into disaster and pick up the pieces afterward.

"We've only got a few chocobos," she told the group, "but I don't want to use any teleportation spells to bring us closer. I could dump us in the middle of a demon swarm and we'd have no safe way home. So they'll have to do. Ride easy, if we overwork them, we won't have any replacements."

"If we can skirt by Jeuno without being noticed, we'll be able to go from Sauromugue Champaign to Rolanberry Fields." Middlesky offered. "Traveling by day will make it harder for them to spot us, as we've seen."

Odessa nodded. "Riding, it shouldn't take us more than three days to get there and three more back. Not that it motivates any of you, but there is a Goblin's life on the line." It didn't motivate her much either, when she said it aloud. "Anyway, let's be quick, but not stupid."

As the other early risers of Castle Oztroja began to go about their daily business, Odessa led her small company away, the sun at their backs.

The chocobos the Yagudo had procured were mostly strays. Many of them had been found wandering aimlessly following the attack on Jeuno, and were easily lured back in with gentle words and hands. Others seemed to have driven nearly feral as a result of trauma and time in the wild. As they rode away from the makeshift stables which had been built to house them, Odessa became convinced she had been saddled with one of the latter. The yellow beast constantly kicked at the ground and bucked with every step. When she tried to place a hand on its feathered neck, it tried to arch its beak around to snap at her. After hours of unsuccessfully trying to negotiate with the bird, Odessa simply began digging her heels into its side. This, of course, served to only make it more cross, and it tried with redoubled might to hurl her off. By the time they settled down for the evening, she was so saddle-sore she could barely sit down.

They were well into Sauromugue Champaign. Their scouting of the regular demon movements told them where it was safe to bed down for the night. Celeres dug a shallow pit in the ground, and used it to conceal their tiny fire. The night was growing cold, and Odessa realized that with the sun so constantly muted, the changing of the seasons was happening without her knowledge. It felt unnatural to be robbed of so consistent an experience as witnessing the days grow shorter. A world so lifeless and gray could sap the will to keep on trying. Odessa scoffed at the notion. She was from Myste, where it could be dark and gloomy year round and no one would think anything of it. This was temporary, she told herself. The sun would shine again.

“Lady Odessa,” she looked up at the hushed voice calling out to her. Middlesky was approaching, tipping up the brim of his feathered cap. “I was hoping we might speak.”

“We’re not in Oztroja anymore,” the White Mage replied wearily. “It’s okay to just call me Odessa. Or Dess, even.”

“As you say, ma’am,” she rolled her eyes as he continued, “but I wanted to talk to you about your chocobo.”

Odessa took a look over at the monster disguised as a bird. It was even now scratching incessantly on the ground, snorting at the other chocobos in warning. “If you’re suggesting we’re better off without it, the thought has crossed my mind.”

“Not at all. I was actually wondering if we might trade mounts.”

She flicked an eyebrow up at him. “That thing is a terror. I’m going to be sore all day tomorrow. And you want to ride him?”

The Red Mage looked over at her irritable chocobo with a calm and sympathetic eye. “He has seen much, that one. I can sense the pain it is in. I would like the chance to speak with it.”

“Speak with it.” She repeated flatly. Looking over at the chocobo Middlesky had taken for himself, an even-tempered female of average size which calmly dozed the night away, Odessa realized she didn’t care about his reasoning. “He’s all yours,” she told him magnanimously.

“Thank you, my lady,” he acknowledged.

“He’s an odd one, isn’t he?” Odessa turned to see Eig rolling out her bedroll nearby. Middlesky was walking towards the chocobos, speaking soothing words to the wild one as he did so.

“He isn’t from here,” Eig went on. “I’ve searched around for stories about his homeland, but they’re pretty scarce on Mindartia. Probably Quon, too.”

“He’s definitely something else,” she acknowledged, staring into their dimming campfire.

One of Eig’s fangs bit her lower lip, and the Bard began humming distantly. This went on incessantly until Odessa finally turned and looked over at the Mithra.

“Did you want to talk about something?” She asked irritably.

“I don’t see why we’re doing this, Dessa,” Eig blurted out. “Goblins are vicious and nasty. There’s not a good story about them anywhere. They’re greedy, manipulative, and foul. Why, why, why are we going through all this trouble for them? I don’t understand.”

Odessa gave a long sigh, gazing into the dying embers of their meager fire. “I didn’t understand why at first either, Eig. I thought maybe I just wanted to get everyone to stop fighting. Or that I was doing what Rykoshet would do. Or maybe I just felt sorry for the thing.” She pulled her blanket up around her, trying to stave off the evening chill. She dared not use magic, even as far away from Jeuno as they were. There was a strict moratorium on doing anything at night which might attract attention, no matter how slim the risk. “But what it really comes down to is that it’s the right thing to do, Eig. Someone in need came to us for help. And maybe a few months ago, it would have mattered that it was a Goblin, but I’m not even sure about that. Every living thing has to look out for each other, or it all falls apart. It’s pretty bad, Eig. I don’t think we should sit back willingly while it gets worse.”

Eig appeared contemplative. The Mithra had spent a good portion of her young life gathering together songs and ballads dedicated to stories of valor about battles against the Beastmen. As someone who had spent much of her time in those battles, Odessa was no less conflicted, but she believed what she told Eig.

Before any further conversation could begin, Celeres appeared. The Monk spread his bedroll down on the ground unceremoniously. With scarce more than a smile and sleepy yawn, he flopped down atop it, pulled the blankets over himself, and fell asleep. Eig and Odessa shared a look, and the Elvaan shook her head. Bidding the Bard a good night, she laid down and pulled up her blankets. They still had a lot of ground to cover. Raidom was keeping the first watch, and she could just make out his silhouette perched over a nearby rock, eyes vigilant.

Just before falling asleep, she turned to see Middlesky petting the wild chocobo, the creature happily nuzzling up against him as he did.

She was not sure how long she had been sleeping when a pair of rough hands shook her awake. Instinctively, she lashed out with one hand, and was rewarded with the sensation of her palm striking flesh.

“Ow!” A man’s voice came with no small amount of shock.

Almost instantly, Celeres was out of his bedroll, so quickly Odessa didn’t even see him stir. “I’ll protect you, Lady Odessa!” he was saying, even as he tackled the figure looming over her. She flung her blankets off, trying to adjust to the darkness and make out who was who. The sounds of struggle

The two forms went sprawling over one another, hushed words of protest coming from the stranger. Suddenly, another body appeared from the darkness, and the intruder gave a cry of surprise as he was seized from behind. Raidom wrenched his arm back and forced him to the ground as Odessa quickly ran over to them.

“What are you doing here?” Celeres demanded, and Odessa could see he had donned the brutal claw-like weapons he wore around his fists.

“Let me up!” the stranger demanded in a familiar voice.

Odessa took a cautious step forward, incredulity sinking in. “Let him go,” she gestured to Raidom, who obeyed the order like the military man he was. The stranger gave a brief cough, and then looked up at her with a weak smile.

“Sorry I woke you, Lady Odessa.”

“Fated?” she asked, even as the young Paladin rose to his feet.

“I heard what was happening,” he explained, “about the Goblin and Crawler’s Nest and everything. I couldn’t just stay in Oztroja while members of Those Guys went out and risked their lives.”

“But how did you get here?”

Fated pointed far behind them in response to her question. “There was another chocobo in the stables. I told Danienne I was going to put it through some paces. Then I just followed the trail we took to get to Garlaige last time.”

“Fated,” Odessa rubbed two fingers across the bridge of her nose, “you can’t be here. Danienne will flay you alive. And you were almost killed in Garlaige, if anything happens now – “

“I’ve made a choice, Lady Odessa,” the Paladin said firmly. “I’m going to defend my friends. I’m sorry, but I can’t obey an order to leave.”

The White Mage gave a long-suffering sigh. Behind them, someone gave a prolonged yawn.

“Mmm,” Eig murmered sleepily. “What’s everybody doing awake?”

Odessa could feel a vein throbbing in her forehead. At least, she supposed, this was going about as well as anything Rykoshet ever attempted.