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year 5, quarter 3
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Anyone up for a little pirating? Or for stopping a little pirating? lol
I play the leading man, who else?
Disaster struck swiftly and silently. Balthier heard tell first of heavy storms then a hurricane then high flooding and a state of emergency along the western coast. They’d been in Provo at the time, adverse to attention to both themselves and the airship they had recently commandeered. When they heard the call to action, Balthier and Fran spoke of the tragedy, the risks, and the opportunity.
In the end, it was decided. Fran would risk the raging seas for the treasures they promised. Balthier, meanwhile, would risk life for riches in a far more conventional manner.
And that was how he found himself in a city under a state of emergency, shielding his eyes from the rain as he looked up at the impenetrable fortress of the Castle Argyle. The city’s seat of government was one of the most well-guarded establishments in the southern nations, but that was under normal circumstances. Now the streets were like filth laden rivers and the docks had been swept away.
It was in other words, a perfect opportunity.
King Hremit, the honorable monarch that he was, had offered refuge to anyone who needed safe lodgings during the storm. Said populace was not vetted and neither was Balthier as he trailed through the castle gates, squinting through the gale that had soaked him to the bone.
The castle entrance hall met him in a show of class and extravagance that only centuries of power could give. The series of busts, crystal lit chandeliers, and high ceilings contrasted with the storm-swept townspeople huddling in groups and muttering to themselves. Balthier strayed towards the two-tiered staircase, but was quickly stopped by guards bearing swords and metal platemail. He was directed instead towards a great hall where men and women milled about tables, looking hollow and traumatized. Balthier considered it thoughtfully.
The security was still tight, that was true. But not impossible now that he was inside. He’d heard that much of the king’s guard had been lost to the very storm that they’d been sent to quell. They were short-staffed. A perfect target in his opinion.
He drifted towards a crowded table next to the cavernous fireplace and let himself blend into the masses as he eyed a selection of water, wine, and dinner rolls. He poured himself a cup of wine for cover and leaned against the stone wall, eyeing the three doors that led from the room. One back to the entrance hall and its guarded two-tiered staircase. One to the kitchens, he thought from migration of the staff, and one to somewhere that was impossible to say. He sipped his wine.
He had always been fond of the unknown.
But he needed an opening. Some perfect moment that would give him the freedom to stray. He edged carefully towards that mysterious door until he was close enough to make his move and then waited. Sooner or later, something would disturb the peace. And then the castle would be his to explore.
Yuna had done her best to keep herself busy after the storm struck. Everytime she had the chance to slow down, her mind whirled with terrible possibilities of what could be happening to Caius and Faris who had gone separately to brave the waves. She knew that both of them could take care of themselves and that the sea was like a second home to Faris, but these rough waters were something else entirely. The ocean was as dangerous as if Sin itself was attacking the coast, so Yuna couldn’t help but worry for them.
Not that Yuna had much time to stand around and fret. She had plenty to do on her own in Torensten. A typhoon had swept away thousands of homes, and Yuna had healed as many people as she could who had been pulled from the water-strewn streets. Still, even she had been forced to pull back eventually as the water level grew higher and higher. Around the time that a hurricane struck the coast, soldiers had come to sound the alarm even as far up as the town square, so Yuna reluctantly retreated behind the castle walls along with the rest of the survivors. She didn’t like the idea of sitting still in safety, but there wasn’t much else she could do outside while conditions were still so bad.
The warmth of the great hall was a shock after she had been standing under a torrential downpour for so long, and Yuna found herself shivering, realizing for the first time how drenched she was. Someone handed her a cup of hot wine, and Yuna smiled at them politely, taking only a few sips before discreetly setting it down on a table. She had a feeling that she’d want all her wits about her before the day was done.
“Ah...excuse me,” Cupping her hands around her mouth, Yuna stood on a wooden bench, ignoring the careful looks a few of the guards gave her. “If anyone is injured, then please come see me! I’m a healer.” With a squeak of her wet boots, she hopped down off the bench as a few people took her up on her offer. Their injuries were mostly minor, which worried Yuna with how severe the storms had been. It looked like the people who had been caught in the worst of it may not have made it to the castle.
“You’re wanted upstairs.”
Yuna had just finished fixing up a cut over a woman’s eye that had probably been caused by some stray debris when the voice sounded from over her shoulder. It was one of the guards--a well-armored man who looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. Yuna felt for him and how short-staffed the entire crew probably were, so she made her bow quick.
“Of course. Is someone hurt?”
“Not yet. It’s a preventative measure if the hurricane comes further inland.”
“...Oh.” Yuna gave him a reproachful look, though she did her best to keep her expression polite. “Surely I could be of better use down here if that happened? I’m sure the royal family and the military have plenty of their own healers…”
The guard wasn’t in the mood to argue with her. She saw it in his impatient, exhausted expression even before he’d seized her wrist. The same way that she saw that no one else was going to come to her aid from the way everyone’s eyes immediately averted themselves. Still, Yuna did her best to balk. “Sir, I’d really prefer to-”
He’d grabbed her wrist with the pearl bracelet on it, and the jewelry slipped off her wrist when he tried to tug her along, leaving him with his fingers clenched around pearls instead of her. They made eye contact, and suddenly Yuna wasn’t sure what had come over her but she’d started running across the great hall with a whirl of her skirts. The tired guard made an annoyed call after her, but that only made her speed up. Truthfully she wasn’t even sure what had bothered her so much about the interaction except that it was so reminiscent of something a maester of Yevon would do. Help people on the surface by gathering them here while still putting themselves first.
Yuna refused to work for someone like that ever again.
Her eyes latched on a brunette man who was supporting the wall next to the door that she was running towards. He was as soaked as the rest of the people in the hall, but he was well-dressed and had a haughty expression that suggested he knew how to handle himself. Yuna’s eyes caught on the gun holstered by his hip, and before she knew what had come over again, she was grabbing the man’s wrist much like the guard had taken hers.
“Help,” she squeaked, accidentally knocking the glass of wine out of his hand as she tugged him through the door with all the strength she could muster in her hundred pounds.
“Protect,” she quickly murmured to gain some time as she cast the spell in an attempt to block the door, before reality set in and she clapped her hands over her mouth as she turned to face the man she’d just kidnapped. “I am so sorry! Sometimes I just...act. Without thinking.”
Maybe Tidus would be proud at her not allowing anyone to push her around, but Yuna sure wasn't at that moment.
Congratulations. Yuna managed to actually surprise him lol
I play the leading man, who else?
Well that would do.
If he was waiting for his perfect moment then he couldn’t have asked for better. It seemed the guards had taken to a certain girl -- a self-identified healer he’d noticed on entry but had quickly dismissed. The altercation was about as smooth as a turbulent sky. The knight, demanding her cooperation. The girl, refusing with a kind of instinctive fear in her eye. The man seized her wrist. Her jewelry slipped off in his grasp.
They stared at each other. The entire hall stared at them. And then the girl was running.
Balthier prepared for the fallout. He prepared for the coming commotion as the attention of the castle security turned only to her as did the eyes of the huddled masses. That was when he’d make his move, he thought, slipping into the castle’s back halls while no one would notice his absence. There came a wrench in his plan, however, and it came from the girl herself.
She was running towards him. Startled, he met her eye, and she saw some wheels turning behind them. They darted between him and the door he supported before some decision was made -- frenzied and brash and spur of the moment.
Still, he did not expect her to seize his wrist, pulling with such force that his wine wrenched itself from his grasp and clattered to the floor. ”Help,” she hissed, and then he was pulled through the door before he could so much as utter a word.
For a moment, his usually unbreakable composure was fractured, and he blinked, wide eyed as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. Then his thoughts caught up to him, turning quickly with the speed of a heist.
Any thief could act with a plan. Only the best could proceed on the fly.
”Not exactly the most subtle of escapes.” Balthier eyed the door distastefully before shaking his head. ”But that’s one way to make an exit.” He turned and took a few steps down the hall before stopping, arms crossed. Her spell wouldn’t stop them, but it would buy him time.
The castle’s layout was unknown. Its treasures, likewise mysterious. He would need to make this quick.
”Well come along then.” Balthier raised a hand, waving her forward without looking back. ”It's best not to linger when you've attracted unwanted company.”
The brunette man looked startled at suddenly being dragged through a door, which was only to be expected. Yuna felt her embarrassed flush deepen as he stared at her with his mouth slightly open, but in the next instant his face was suddenly as composed and unreadable as Sir Auron’s had always been. It was Yuna’s turn now to watch him in confusion as he chastised her for the lack of subtlety in her escape. He seemed honestly a little offended by it.
“I’m...sorry,” Yuna said, though she wasn’t entirely certain why she was apologizing for that of all things. “I wasn’t planning to flee like that. I just don’t want to be told who to use my services for…I guess I panicked.” It really had been stupid. She didn’t need any enemies in Torensten, and it wasn’t as if she was helping anyone by hiding in the castle like this. Yuna felt so foolish that she had half a mind to sidle back into the hall and apologize.
She might have followed through with that sheepish instinct except that the man suddenly turned and started walking further down the hallway. He hurried her along with his words, and Yuna stared after him before hesitantly taking a few steps in his direction.
“Do you...know this place?” Somehow she didn’t think so. Anyone connected to the royal family or the military would have been separated from the rest of the huddled masses in the great hall. Still, he moved with so much confidence that she had to ask. A sudden rattle behind her of someone testing the doorknob encouraged Yuna to pick up the pace in following the stranger.
The hallway was decorated with extravagant paintings. Yuna didn’t recognize any of the artists of course, but its depictions were extraordinary. A sea serpent in a roiling storm. A magnificent bird with red and gold plumage. The largest chocobo that Yuna had ever seen. There was only one creature that she recognized, and Yuna’s chest ached a little as she stared at the dark dragon. “Bahamut,” she murmured quietly, and she might have lingered if people weren’t looking for them.
The hallway led them to a back staircase, but Yuna wasn’t surprised to find that it also curved around to an open set of double doors revealing some sort of temple or “chapel,” as she’d heard them called here sometimes. With paintings of aeons along the walls, she had really expected the passageway to lead nowhere else.
“I’m Yuna by the way,” she introduced herself to her companion a little awkwardly as she glanced between the staircase and the temple doors. “Do you have a destination in mind?”
The girl had chosen to follow him. He’d never been a fan of tag-alongs, but he also didn’t have it quite in his heart to stop her. She needed an escape. He needed to explore the castle uninhibited. Their goals, it seemed, worked rather well in alignment.
”In a manner of speaking.” He stepped carefully through the meandering back hall. He’d seen his share of castles, and while this one had no particular familiarity, he found that they were all the same more or less. ”Though I would rather like a guide. You don’t seem like one who’s well-traveled among royalty.”
Not that she couldn’t surprise him. Balthier had learned long ago to never leave anything unexpected.
Their not particularly well-traveled direction led them to a hall of oil paintings and meticulously woven tapestries. Balthier let his eyes wander with a mild interest though nothing particularly more. They depicted serpents and specters, gales and golems. Of particular interest was the iconography of a dragon. It towered over its worshippers from a kind of unearthly vortex. From behind him, the girl muttered, ”Bahamut.”
Now that was a name he’d heard before, and it wasn’t one he was keen on hearing again.
”It seems quite popular among fanatics as of late,” Balthier said dryly. ”Personally, I’ve never had much interest in matters of religion.”
True to theme, the hall led to a small chapel at the top of a spiral staircase. It was all incredibly obtuse, tucked away like a secret behind several closed doors. That alone caught Balthier’s interest. The various idols and artifacts were only an added bonus.
”Hm.” Balthier stepped forward, hands on his hips as he considered the place. The hallways’ tapestries had made way for mosaics and stained glass depicting much the same. Statues framed an ornately carved altar laden with candles and other objects of worship. These statues were of kings -- not gods -- though Balthier hardly saw the difference.
”Balthier,” he answered after a too long moment. ”If you must know, I’m after objects of some interest to me. I believe them to be somewhere in the depths of the castle vaults.” He paced down the aisle, his footsteps muffled by the carpet. ”As I see it, you need to escape pursuit. I’ve some experience in that as it happens. Though you’re free to run along on your own if you’d rather.”
Balthier stopped. There was something odd about the walls, he decided. They were paneled for one in a way that the surrounding decor simply wasn’t. Embossed, engraved, and perfectly rectangular, they stretched from the floor to the high ceiling one after the other. It was the panel third to the left which caught his eye. It was slightly, almost imperceivably indented. The cracks between it and its neighbors were approximately one centimeter wider.
”Now what do we have here?” He approached it, leaning forward with his hand at his chin. His engineer’s mind was already whirring.
This chapel had been rather oddly placed. Tucked away, as he’d called it. But why would such a pivotal room be so mysteriously removed? He had a feeling.
He touched a panel, ran a finger down the cracks, and then stepped back as though he’d confirmed something. With that, he searched the room, eyeing anything with undue grooves or hinges.
He found it in the way of a statue’s left arm. One of the kings of old, as it happened, grasping a golden chalice in his hand. He pulled it down and there was a low scrape of stone on stone. The panel pushed first inwards and then to the side revealing a darkened staircase leading into the mysterious unknown.
”There we are.” Balthier turned to consider his work, a look of satisfaction on his face. ”That’ll either be the vaults or a trap. Now let’s see what the high King Hremit’s been hiding.”
Yuna was getting more and more of the impression that the suave gunner she’d grabbed on impulse might have been a touch of a shady character. Still, he didn’t seem dangerous. He didn’t seem interested in her at all to tell the truth, but Yuna found that put her more at ease. Whatever his plans were, they were under the table, but they weren’t deadly. Or at least she hoped.
His answer on whether he knew the castle grounds was ambiguous, but he did admit that he would have preferred a better guide than her. A bit tactless, but Yuna supposed that she couldn’t argue when she absolutely didn't know her way around. “Royalty doesn’t really exist where I’m from. There are class differences, but…” But only in the church? Well. She doubted the brunette man really wanted her life story. He had been making a statement, not asking a question. He seemed like a man on a mission.
Then again, she wasn’t sure what he did care about when he completely waved off Bahamut, saying that matters of religion had never appealed to him. Yuna laughed a little sadly, glancing at him as he started to examine the chapel they’d come upon. “Sometimes I wish I could say the same…”
He waited a long time to introduce himself. Yuna was beginning to think that he had no intention of telling her his name, but he finally gave her one. Balthier. Somehow it suited him, though she had to give him a disapproving look when he laid out his reason for being here. “You’re a thief then. Or...maybe a pirate.” She tried out the word that Faris had taught her and decided that they did have the same swash-buckling charisma, though Balthier had none of Faris’ good nature. Unless Yuna was a little biased towards Faris of course.
“...Your help for mine then?” She could read between the lines of what he suggested, and while she didn’t necessarily like it, she really could use some help escaping. The last time that she’d had to run away from somewhere had been Macalania Temple, and the amount of Guado who had gotten hurt in that would always weigh heavily on her conscience. Maybe it would help to have someone who was used to slipping out of places quietly.
Yuna sighed, nodding her assent as she fell into step behind Balthier while he examined some paneled tapestries. “As long as you’re just here to rob them and not hurt anyone, then...deal. It’s not as if they don’t have enough money.”
Balthier immediately showed how accustomed he was with breaking in places as he pulled on a statue’s arm to reveal a hidden passageway leading down into the depths of the castle. Yuna cast it a hesitant glance before looking around for a light source. Temples always had candles, and it looked like this one was no exception. Snagging one from the front of the altar, she murmured “Fire” to cast a small spell on the tip of the wick. Her black magic wasn’t terribly powerful yet anyway. Lulu had been the real expert in their group, but she wasn’t here. None of them were.
“In my experience, nothing kept in basements is something they want the public to see…” Holding the candle out in front of her, she made sure Balthier was ready before she started descending the spiral staircase. Even with the light, it was pitch-black, and she made sure to be careful of her footing until they eventually leveled out far below the castle. The stone passageway that they were in now led to...nothing.
Frowning, Yuna held up the candle to make sure she was seeing correctly before she glanced over at Balthier with a faint smile. “Dead end. You’re the expert, Captain Balthier. What are we missing?”
Yuna seemed surprised by the turn of the tides, but not ultimately turned away. In fact, she seemed to understand the arrangement quite nicely. He’d stated it between the lines, hadn’t he?
’You’re a healer; I’m a thief. Perhaps we could help each other.’
It seemed she was more shrewd than she let on.
”I try to avoid bloodshed. It’s a messy business.” Balthier watched her, trying to figure out her angle. Did she have much experience with thieves? Or with pirates for that matter?
”And if it should come to that, I grant you full permission to aid them to the greatest extent of your abilities.” Balthier smirked to himself. ”A tad daring for a healer, aren’t you?”
And a religious one. She had something of a willful streak -- there was no doubt about that.
Balthier raised an eyebrow as Yuna searched for a torch. In the end, she found a candle and lit it with a fire spell, taking the initiative to move ahead of him. ”Ladies first, eh?” No convincing required. ”I’d almost expect you were set up for this from the start.”
Quite the cover, he thought, had she really been a charlatan. She had such a demure demeanor that even he wouldn’t have been any wiser had she turned to double-cross him. Perhaps all she needed was the right mentor in the craft.
Not that he would ever fill that role. He had absolutely no interest in children.
Despite his better judgment, he let Yuna lead the way. He would have been the better choice, he thought, but then that was one way to avoid any traps. He wasn’t about to complain if she’d rather be the one in the line of fire.
”Particularly nothing in basements behind false doors.” Balthier squinted as they descended into darkness. The candlelight was a faint and fickle thing, flickering at the edge of their vision in uneven shadows. Cobwebs were cast in thick orange silhouettes. He heard the skittering of rats across stone tiles. This was a place that hadn’t been disturbed in a long time.
And yet.
As the stairs evened out into a rough landing, they found nothing of note. It was a cramped space about the size of a closet closed in on all but one side. As Yuna correctly surmised, it was a ‘dead end.’
”Some kind of trigger mechanism from my experience.” Balthier stopped, arms crossed as he considered the walls surrounding them. Then he glanced up the staircase. ”There’s either a second door or some kind of switch that will close the stairs behind us. Let’s hope for the former, shall we? Or this end could prove far more dead than we’d bargained for.”
With the stakes made clear, Balthier sighed and brought a hand in front of him. He felt a power surround him -- not quite magic -- in a swirling wind of red light. Libra. It was a useful technique particularly in his line of work. The power to see strengths and weaknesses, patterns and quirks. It also allowed him to sense the presence of traps. That he found to be particularly relevant.
As the light died around him, he scanned the room with a more careful eye. ”Ah.” Balthier stepped forward, placed his hand at his hips, and knelt next to an otherwise nondescript patch of stone. ”Just as expected. It’s weight sensored and of some kind of magical make.” Balthier glanced from the patch of stone back to the stairs before he rose to his feet again. ”Best to avoid it.”
Balthier paced around the rest of the space, feeling the wall’s mortar and bricks for loose spaces. ”You called me a captain,” he said. ”Had you heard of me before?”
Balthier seemed a bit surprised that she’d agreed to their team-up so readily, and Yuna gave him a slight look over her shoulder as he made a dry comment about her going first down the stairs. “We both like our distance, don’t we? I don’t see a sword on you,” she murmured, glancing down at the gun holstered at his waist before turning her attention back to the stairs. “So I don't think it matters much who goes first.” Not to mention that Yuna felt right at home. Traps and puzzles inside a temple made her remember the Cloister of Trials with a certain amount of fondness, even if not all of those experiences had been good. Particularly the very first one where she had prayed to the Fayth for over a day. She had been so determined to succeed that she planned to come out a summoner or die of thirst while trying.
Not that Balthier needed to hear all of that. Somehow Yuna didn’t think he’d be interested anyway. He seemed like a man who was very focused on the task on hand and didn’t care much for any people he met along the way. Still, maybe he’d surprise her. Kimahri and Sir Auron came off that way too before you got to know them.
Balthier gave his opinions about the dead-end waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase, and Yuna blinked in surprise at the patch of stone that he pointed out as a trap. It looked like anyone who unwittingly went to examine the smooth stone wall opposite them would have been caught up in something undesirable. “Whoever built this place was deadly serious. Maybe you really were on to something by coming here,” she mused, being sure to lift her skirts and avoid the dangerous strip of ground as she lightly leapt over it.
Balthier started to examine the walls closer to the stairs, so Yuna did the same to cover more ground quickly, though she suspected her eyes wouldn’t be as adept at finding anything at Balthier’s. Still, it was worth a shot, so she quickly ran her hands over the uneven walls, glancing over her shoulder at the older man as he asked her a question.
“Oh! You really are a Captain? The only other pirate I’ve met was a captain too,” Yuna said, shooting him a slight smile before turning back to her task. “What’s your ship like?”
A piece of stone near her left hand was a slightly different shade than the others, as if it had somehow aged differently. Yuna hesitated before gently pressing on it, and she was caught off guard as the wall gave way in front of her. Letting out a startled squeak, Yuna pitched forward into the darkness as the wall rotated in on itself, dropping her candle as she landed hard on the stone floor on the other side.
Yuna had joined him in searching for hidden mechanisms or passages. He doubted that she knew what to look for, but then neither did Balthier really. It was all a matter of luck and a sharp eye, and a second pair of hands were better than one so long as they weren’t clumsy. Balthier smirked at her excited confirmation. She’d met another pirate? That seemed a strange thing for someone such as herself.
”Not exactly,” Balthier said. He ran his fingers down the mortar of the wall then paused, listening. There it was again, the scratching of rats skittering across a stonework floor. Rodents didn’t often take to living in solid brick walls. ”It’s more of a solo occupation, give or take. A captain necessitates a crew. That’s not quite my style.”
Balthier knelt down, balancing on the balls of his feet as he tried to pinpoint that noise. He didn’t hear the rustle of moving air. It seemed that was as dead here as everything else, but there was still a persistent pest problem. He squinted through the heavy shadows and, sure enough, he caught a dead mouse curled up on its back near the glow of the trap. Interesting.
”I pilot The Strahl,” he said. ”She can take through the skies faster than any ship that I know.”
For not the first time, he felt a pain of longing. His newly commandeered ship was functional. It did its job well enough, but he was already itching for an upgrade. He was itching for The Strahl.
His own thoughts must have distracted him because he didn’t notice her hesitation or the suspicion on her brow. Not at first, at least, and by the time that he glanced at her, eyebrows raised, he heard a click and it was over before he could so much as open his mouth. She gave a sharp yelp and then the wall had flipped around, pitching her forward to its other side before locking back into place.
Balthier was left in stunned darkness. He stood slowly, straightening himself and readjusting his cuffs as he struggled to catch on to his circumstances. Yuna had been separated. There was a mechanism in the walls which had done it. He held out his hands before him and drifted blindly towards the space he thought she’d been searching. He pressed his palms against the wall, applying pressure to each brick in turn.
”Are you alive in there?” He projected his voice, but wasn’t certain that it would make it through the wall as anything more than an incomprehensible muffle. ”It seems you’ve found a spot of trouble.”
In a few, clumsy moments, Balthier felt a brick slide into place, heard the click, and stumbled forward to keep up with the wall. It ushered him into another mysterious chamber, this one suffocated in pitch black darkness. It seemed that Yuna hadn’t been able to keep hold of her candle. A shame if not understandable.
”Well, it seems we’ve made some progress at least.” The scratching was stronger here as the rodents scattered away into their nests, startled by the unexpected visitors. The air smelled of fetid water and stale dust. ”I wonder what our venerable king has to hide.” Balthier crossed his arms, suppressing his rising heart rate. It would do him no good to panic at the first sign of total, helpless darkness.
”I do believe we’re in need of a light. You wouldn’t happen to have any more of that fire magic to spare?”
It seemed that Balthier was an airship pilot rather than a ship captain, and Yuna brightened a little as she considered that. The only airship in use on Spira was the one her uncle had unearthed, so there was plenty more she wanted to ask him before the wall trap sprang on her and she was ushered through to the other side. Yuna had landed hard on the stone floor, and she rubbed her skinned knee as the muffled sound of Balthier’s voice came from the other side of the wall.
“I’m okay!” She called back to him with no idea of if he could even hear her or not. Tiny skittering noises echoed around her along with the steady drip of water, and while the sound was probably just rats, Yuna was still incredibly nervous as she felt along the dusty stone floor. Finally her fingers bumped against the round shape of the candle, and she let out a sigh of relief as she gripped it. The wick had burned out when she’d dropped it, but the candle was still spotted with droplets of hot wax that burned her fingers.
There was a click behind her as someone stumbled in past the wall, the voice and timing letting her know that it was just Balthier as he wondered aloud what the king felt that he had to hide. “Nothing good,” she murmured, nodding when he asked if she had any magic left before realizing that he wouldn’t be able to see it.
“Don’t worry. I always have a few ethers if we need them,” Yuna said with a faint smile before holding the candle out away from them and lightly touching the wick. “Fire.” Her concentration must have been shot because the spell was a tad too big this time, and she barely managed not to scorch her fingers as the candle lit and gave them a tiny space in which to view the chamber.
“Oh.” Yuna’s lips parted slightly in surprise as she raised the candle higher to make sure she was seeing correctly. “I thought I’d heard water…” The hallway led forward to the shore of a massive underground lake. The water was almost completely still, but as Yuna cast her eyes around, she could have sworn that she saw a ripple near the center. The thought made her step a little closer to Balthier.
“There’s something on the far side. A gate maybe?” It was nearly impossible to make out with the dim light of the candle, but there was almost certainly a passageway across the water. The feeble flame only allowed her to make out the barest hint of iron bars. “Hopefully it isn’t locked.”
A small wooden boat was propped up on the shore below them with a simple set of oars, and Yuna looked it over carefully, wondering if it was a trap before looking to Balthier for his opinion. “Seems convenient, but I suppose his men would need a way to cross…”
