Book I: The Wanderer

Chapter III: Desians!

“So what do you want to look at first?” Lloyd asked Genis.

“Well…what do we need?”

“Well my wooden swords are getting out of shape. They need replacing.”

“Well get some swords made out of metal this time. If we’re going to be traveling with Colette and the others, you better get something decent,” answered Genis.

“Yeah you’re right, as usual.” Lloyd admitted to his elvish friend. “How much money do we have?”

“Um…” Genis removed a pouch from his pocket. “1,000 gald left if we’re lucky.”

“Sweet! Maybe we can get something for Colette too.”

“…You never finished her present did you?”

“Uh…well…” started Lloyd.

“Hey! You two boys!” a man for a stall called them. “You be travelers right? Come on over here for a minute.”

“Uh…sure.” Lloyd called to the man. Whew! Saved by luck.

The two crossed the market and greeted the some-what portly man.

“Do you know about customizing?”

“No.” replied Lloyd. “What is it?”

“It’s what can turn normal weapons into better ones!” explained the man. “Here, let me see yer weapons.”

Lloyd handed the man his dual wooden blades, Genis handed him his kendama.

“Good for beginners, but if ye traveled this far, you ain’t no beginners. Here.”

The man handed them two different weapons. Lloyd had two steel swords with a mark on the pommel. Genis had a more sturdy, powerful kendama with the same mark on it.

“What’s the mark on it?” asked Genis.

“Why, that be my mark!” exclaimed the man. “The mark of Glenn it is. All customizes have a mark. Seek one in each major city you come across. Best of all, it’s free!”

Lloyd thanked Glenn as he sheathed his new blades.

“No need for thanks kid, I do it for the love of customizing!” He banged a fist on his chest.

“Thanks anyway.” They bid Glenn the customizer good bye as they left his stall.

“He sure was nice.” commented Genis.

“Can you believe it? And all I have to do is hand some guy my swords and he makes them better!”

“When we actually do it it’ll take a while though.”

“Yeah, but still. It’s so cool! This journey rocks!”

“Let’s see how long that enthusiasm lasts.”

“Hey!” growled Lloyd. “Hey…”

“You said that Lloyd.”

“Now what’s with all the people?”

At the end of the market, there was a great many people, seemingly clamoring about something on the wall of a building.”

“Dunno. Let’s go check it out!”

The two struggled to make their way through the throng of people. As they made their way, squeezing through all the minuscule places between all the human, one made ran crying out: “I touched it! I touched it!” This made Lloyd and Genis fight their way through harder.

Finally, after several grueling minutes of pushing people aside, they made to the front.

And couldn’t believe what they saw.

“I don’t believe it…” Lloyd stated.

“How!? How does her hair make an imprint?” Genis incredulously.

“Maybe she uses heavy-duty shampoo?”

There in the wall, was a hole.

In the shape of Colette. From her hair to her shoes. Perfect shape of her body like back in the Iselia Classroom.

“At least we know they passed through this way.” sighed Genis.

“Yeah. Let’s head back to Aberos.”

Genis sighed. “Back through the jungle…” he muttered, referring to the horde of people they would have to get through again.

“Kind of a waste eh? This entire rabble over an accident that we used to see in Iselia nearly everyday.” said Lloyd.

“And without all the people.” added Genis.

His human friend nodded as they began their difficult trek back through the throng of Triet citizens.

“Boys!” Aberos shouted. “Boys!” he tried calling them again in vain. His efforts were utterly futile. The Wanderer waded through the crowd of people; he had seen Lloyd’s hair, it standed out quite a bit apart from everyone else who covered their heads from the sand storms.

“Excuse me, pardon me, if I may get through here madam? If I could just slip through here. Sorry for bumping into you sir…you’re not a sir? Oh…well this is certainly arkward. Pardon me anyway.”

The Wanderer managed to wedge his way to the front of the crowd. He removed his hat and scratched his head when he saw what everyone was gaping at.

“Oh gods they’re making such a fuss over that?” Aberos said quietly. “If the Chosen made that, at least we know they passed through here. But how long ago?”

He decided to ask the owner of the house. “When was this…done exactly?”

“The Chosen did it just yesterday.” replied the man happily. He felt blessed that this had happened.

“Do you know where they are now?” The Wanderer inquired.

“Um…yes. They stayed at the Inn last night and depart for the ruins south west of here only this morning.”

Ah, our little run today wasn’t futile after all. We’re only a few hours behind. We could catch up to them tomorrow, at the latest, thought Aberos. Lloyd and Genis will be happy too…oh no! I forget about them!

Aberos thanked the man, replaced his hat and this time forced his way through the crowd, instead of being nice about it.

Lloyd and Genis walked back to the city circle as Aberos made his way through the crowd at Colette’s imprint.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t get anything for Aberos.” Genis said.

“Well yeah…but he probably already knows all about customizing.” replied Lloyd. “He has been traveling longer then we have.”

“Yeah you’re right…” Genis blinked. “Wait did I just say…?”

“Say what? I wasn’t really paying attention. I was thinking of all the gald we saved. Weapons for free! Sweet!” said Lloyd.

“Whew…Although I’m not sure to be elated or depressed.”

“Elated? That’s happy right? I’d say you should always be happy, except that’s Colette’s thing.”

Genis laughed. “Yeah it is.”

They reached the stables by the city’s circle. Aberos was nowhere to be seen, but his horses and cart were still present.

“Where is he?” said Lloyd. “He said he would be here.”

“Halt you inferior beings!”

“Oh…crap.”

Three Desians emerged from the entrance to the town. Two wielded bows, the third held a crossbow, ready and loaded.

“Doesn’t he look like the guy on the wanted posters?” asked one of the whip masters.

The other one looked behind them, where they had posted a wanted poster earlier.

“Yeah! Yeah it does!” he agreed. “An exact copy! It’s uncanny how they’re so alike! Whoever drew it must have done an excellent job!”

“Well look on the bright side Lloyd, they think you’re good looking.” The elf boy joked.

“Do I really look that bad? I mean really, do I?” asked Lloyd, his voice filled with uncertainty.

“Enough screwing off!” the bowman leader whacked the whip master. He turned to Lloyd. “You must be Lloyd Irving!”

“I guess there’s no denying it now.” the teen sighed.

“Hey! What about your ‘who are you to ask for my name’ thing?” Genis asked casually. He saw no need to panic in situations like these. Him and Lloyd had handled lackeys like this before.

“I’m not gonna even bother. They already know who I am. They have pictures of me.”

“Not very good pictures,” admitted Genis. He crossed his arms. “That does make sense though. Shall we wait for Aberos or handle these guys ourselves?”

“We can handle these chumps ourselves with ease!” affirmed a confident Lloyd. He quickly drew his new dual blades. “Look’s like we get to try these out early.”

“Let’s do it!” Genis half-shouted. His kendama found his hand as if magically come from nowhere.

Aberos was not having the best of luck getting through the crowd of people. To make it short, it was like fighting against the ocean itself. He tried being polite again, but it didn’t work. He had no choice but to let the flow of the crowd take him away. It irked him greatly because he could already see Lloyd and Genis fighting the Desians.

“You’re going down kid!” smirked the bowman leader.

“We’ll see about that,” Lloyd smirked back. He went into an attack stance, Genis started to chant a spell silently.

“Attack!” The bowman started the battle by firing an arrow at Lloyd. The teen deflected it with his swords with ease.

“Gotta do better then that!” Lloyd remarked.

“We will!” This time it was one of the whip masters. He swung his great long whip at Lloyd’s head; he barely was able to duck before it grazed his head. Another swing came at his legs, and Lloyd jumped with ease. A third swing hit Lloyd directly on the back.

Damn! Thought Lloyd. Gods that hurt! He could feel a tear edge out of his eye.

“Aw, is the wittle baby gonna crwy?” Lloyd’s attacker mocked him. He swung the whip at Lloyd again.

This time, instead of dodging, Lloyd cut the whip, grabbed the severed end, and hurled it and the Desian whip master with all his might. The whip master crashed into a stone wall with several cracking sounds. Dead at the most, paralyzed for the rest of his days at the very least.

Genis was faring better against his foes.

“Let’s see how like fire!” he taunted. Three large fireballs erupted from his weapon and crashed into the remaining whip master, setting him afire. The Desian shrieked and ran to the right of the town entrance to the well. He threw himself in, expecting a pool of water, but instead…

Found a very dry well. He ended up like his fellow whip master.

The leader bowman was left, but he fired arrows like a madman. Lloyd wasn’t fast enough to get within five feet of him without risking getting shot. The bowman alternated firing between Lloyd and Genis; preventing the young mage from casting a spell.

“Genis! Aberos can’t help us, you’re going to have to kill him!” Lloyd gritted his teeth.

“But I can’t cast a spell!” Genis panted. He was running back and forth avoiding the arrows.

“Run little piggy! Run!” cackled the remaining Desian. He continued to shoot them. Was there no end to his arrows?

“The roll to him and whack him! Or something like that!” Lloyd yelled. “Aberos can’t help us here! It’s up to you!”

“Alright!” Genis darted back and forth, arrows bounced at his feet. He ducked an arrow and rolled on the ground, straight towards the desian.

“Damn kid! Hold still!” barked the bowman.

“Shut up! Just shut up!” shouted Genis. As the young elf lad came around he lashed out his arm (and kendama), at the remaining Desian. The ball’s string extended, and smashed right into the bare part of the bowman’s face.

He fell, unconscious, as dead as rock, even if he was not dead.

“Whew!” Lloyd wiped the sweat from his forehead. “That was tough. My arms were getting sore from deflecting those arrows. He did it so fast!”

“Hey Lloyd, shouldn’t we…dispose of this guy?” asked Genis. “It’d be a bad idea if the Desians found out you’re here.”

“Smart thinking. We can dump him in the well with his buddy.”

They struggled to lift the body and dropped it in the dry well.

“Wow! He sure was heavy! What do they feed them?” said Lloyd.

“I don’t know, I wanna say his head was at thick as yours, but he went down with one hit to his head!” Genis grinned.

“Aw…shut up Genis.”

“Hehehe” the elf laughed.

“Shut-ah!” Lloyd fell to his knees. An electric ball of mana hit him in the back, the teen collapsed to the ground.

“Got him!” A voice sounded in triumph. More Desians came.

“P-p-please don’t hurt me!” Genis begged.

“Shut up kid!” barked one of the Desians. “You’re coming with us. You and your friend here are coming with us!”

A small white bird flew on top of Genis’ head. “Huh? Nerl?” He said quietly. The boy glanced around. Aberos was half-hidden by a wall. He nodded at Genis. The boy understood. He and Nerl were to go with them; Nerl could come back and find Aberos later when they found out where they were taking Lloyd and him.

“Move you inferior beings!” another Desian ordered. Two carried the unconscious Lloyd. Another two guarded Genis. The fifth was the leader, who led the way out of Triet.

Aberos sighed. If there’s a base I can’t break them out myself…I’ll have to find the Chosen’s group. They’ll have to help him.

The Wanderer quickly prepared his horses for a long run.

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