As Edward darted through the passages beneath the castle, he had a sinking feeling deep in his stomach that something was not quite right…thick black smoke curled across the stone floor and Edward coughed violently, his eyes watering and blinding him…the deafening noise of the people milling about was his guide through the darkness…

He could not honestly admit that he wanted to see what was happening…

When he arrived in the courtyard, Edward was struck dumb by what he saw…His eyes flooded with tears again and his face was blasted by a sudden wave of heat…fires raged uncontrollably around the remains of the courtyard…Through the haze, black smoke, and tears Edward realized that what remained of the courtyard was a scorched mound of earth and rocks and dust…it was a long scar in the light of the blazing fires…people scrambled hysterically through the stones and some dove into the raging fires to avoid being trampled by the rushing crowds…

Edward almost collapsed as the stench of burning flesh clouded the night air…he did fall when he at last realized what caused the destruction…

…The Red Wings…

The whirring of the propellers of the monstrous airships drifted in the sky…Edward saw with a hopeless gaze that the airships' attacks had damaged the castle to a nearly irreversible degree…The entire southern battlement was destroyed so that several chambers were exposed…sections of the towers had crumbled to the ground…the stones lay in piles on the ruins of the courtyard…

Edward heard the cries of pain and moans of the dying everywhere…he clutched his hands to his ears to block the sound…the sound of the dying…the sound of the people dying in agony…the sound that he could never drown out now that he had already heard it…

He had his palms pressed so fervently to his head that it began throbbing…through the dull throbbing and roaring in his head, he heard a voice…a familiar voice…his eyes were squeezed shut…but there was a familiar voice nearby…

"Edward!"

The pounding in his temples was unbearable and the voices continued to scream and cry as they bore into his head…

"Edward!"

Someone was screaming his name but how did they know him? He could not look into the fading eyes of the dying people….moaning in the firelight…moaning his name but what could he do? The voices would not go away…

"Edward!!"

A hand clutched his arm urgently and Edward was torn from the image with a breathless shout…He jerked his arm away and snapped his eyes open instantly…

"Edward!"

Cecil Harvey stood next to him, screaming his name over the roar of the fires and noise of the masses of people…the knight's face was covered in ash in the areas that the dark helmet did not cover…His black armor was tinted even darker in the night and ash and soot and smoke…The left portion of his chain mail was ripped completely away and the remains of his blackened undershirt clung to a wound down his left side from his chest to abdomen…

"Are you okay?!"

Cecil leaned close to Edward to shout in his ear. Edward stared at the knight in disbelief…

"Me?! My God! What about you?!"

Cecil straightened his horned helmet and brushed the comment aside…

"It was the Red Wings!"

Edward nodded…

"The damn Red wings!" Cecil repeated, gazing into the sky which was littered with stars…Edward clutched Cecil's arm in sudden fear…

"They will return!"

Cecil nodded and sucked in a painful breath…he shook his head....

"I never found --"

"--Rydia?"

Cecil nodded and stared at the charred ground in despair…

"I found her!"

Cecil turned to the prince quickly…

"I found her!" Edward shouted again. "--She'll be safe!"

Cecil's shoulders dropped with relief and Edward continued:

"--There are still too many…"

The fires raging nearby forced Cecil to scream in reply…

"We have to take the injured people…into…the castle…now!"

"--You mean, what is left…of it!"

Cecil spun around impatiently and called back:

"There might …not be…anything left …after the next...attack!"

Edward instantly followed the knight through the endless confusion…clerics of the white robes were already in the process of treating people and loading them onto crude sleds to carry them to safety…Cecil imagined that Rosa was there too…she would volunteer…and he knew she wouldn't leave a single person as long as she could remain there…She had always been compassionate…she would sacrifice herself for the sake of others…

"Cecil!"

Edward's voice interrupted Cecil's thoughts, and he looked around at the young man who appeared so afraid that he felt his own blood run cold…

"The…fires!" Edward screamed urgently. "They are…nearly surrounding…the castle!"

He coughed feverishly as smoke billowed out around them…Cecil surveyed the surroundings…it was true...god-awfully true…the fires were blazing as a wall around the castle of Fabul…fleeing the area would be impossible…they were trapped on this side…

"If we have to --" Cecil started. "--We'll move into…the stronghold!"

Edward nodded hesitantly…

"They'll burn out after awhile!"

The Fabul warriors who were stationed in the courtyard, those remaining after the airship attack, were at the moment trying to calm the frantic crowd…The airship raid had pushed them into hysteria…and the men were desperately shouting orders over the screaming children and crying mothers and shrill voices of those inured in the attack…Cecil gaped at the scene, helpless…but he immediately leaped back into surging mass of bodies as he remembered…

…The airships would return…

"Ladies and…gentlemen!!"

"…This…way!"

"…Everyone…move this way!"

The insistent voices of the warriors and clerics urged the frightened multitude toward the remains on the southern battlement…Cecil sprang into the rubble and began heaving broken stones away…Edward watched him for a moment then pressed his way through the sea of bodies and began to shove the rocks aside…After only a few minutes Cecil was hassling for breath…

"I don’t…know…how...much…longer --"

"--We must at least…make sure…these people…are taken to…safety!"

People were already kicking stones out of the way…the warriors of Fabul from the interior of the castle heaved sections of the ravaged battlement aside to clear a passage for the refugees who didn't make it into the underground chambers…Edward was shoved left and right by the crowd clambering onto the mounds of charred stones around them…there were so many bodies remaining outside in the darkness…it was hardly darkness anymore due the erratic flashes of light from the uncontrollable fires…the people skittered past the prince of Damcyan, oblivious to the need of help for the injured, the dying…

…Oblivious to the need of help for the living…

The black smoke grew thicker as the fires continued to rage…Edward was blind from the salty tears in his eyes as he strained to clear an opening…any kind of path into the castle…

…Something told him there wasn't much time left…

"--A few…more…feet…" one dark-skinned warrior urged, breathing hard in the heat and dust…Cecil nodded hastily and forced himself to quicken the terribly slow pace…he was getting dizzy from the black cloud that swamped them…the horrible smell of thick smoke…

…The smell of blood…

Dust sifting around at his eyes and nose and mouth…

…The smell of sweat…

Voices screaming in fear and pain and agony…

…The smell of desperation…

A cold, still, lifeless hand he just touched…

…The smell of death…

With a gasp Cecil collapsed into the rubble, clutching his ribs…exhausted…Edward leaped to his side…

"Cecil?!"

He knelt hastily.

"--Are you --"

"I'm fine!" Cecil gritted his teeth and drew several ragged breaths…Edward rose and extended a hand to Cecil…

"Hold on! I --"

Without warning, a piercing scream from behind…from everywhere…exploded in Edward's ears…a scream so terrible and agonizing that Edward's blood froze in his veins and his muscles instantly began to tremble…As he turned around to gaze into the mass of people he heard an unknown rushing sound…like the sound a river flowing rapidly over a ledge…a whooshing…like fire…

…Fire…

...Fire…

Edward watched in horror, his heart thudding heavily, as dark figures plunged through the raging walls of flames…the figures whooshed through almost as one single unit…the unmistakable sound of swords rang out…someone screamed…

Then people began to fall…

The silhouettes of the attackers loomed thickly against the orange blaze of the fire…their cries rose above the hysterical crying of the masses of people…

Through his tears and through the sweat and through the smoke Edward realized that

(blood)

the dark figures

(blood was everywhere)

had leering faces

(blood splashed over the ground and the bodies and the)

of the urodelae…

With swords drawn, the urodelae surged into the crowd, hacking mercilessly through anyone standing in the way…Edward gaped at them…paralyzed…sickened by the sight of

(blood)

the urodelae as they flowed through the mad crowd like a tidal wave…Women and children were slaughtered as they desperately thrashed around to avoid the attackers…elders were speared by the cruel halberds…battleaxes smashed into the bodies…so easily…so god-awfully easy…they smashed into the bodies of the weak who lagged behind…the bodies of children…the bodies of mothers…the

(blood)

bodies of the warriors caught off-guard as the creatures plunged ruthlessly into the ruined courtyard…

It took only a matter of seconds for the warriors of Fabul to realize what was happening…they immediately drew their swords and met the oncoming wave of urodelae…Edward vaguely heard Cecil swear quietly to himself and drag himself to his feet…he stared at the creatures…with a loud whooping war-cry they pressed their way toward the castle stronghold…

They were having no problem…

In the brilliant orange glow of the fires Edward could see flashes of scarlet as blood showered everyone…it hissed as it splashed into the fires…there were continuous whooshes as people careened into the flames, their only escape as the urodelae emerged from the wall of flames in stronger waves of attack…

(blood…dark…thick…)

Edward realized in a moment the creatures would reach him

(blood poured across the scorched earth)

and he couldn't stop them

(blood soaked everyone and everything)

and people were screaming in agony as the cruel blades fell on them with a sickening crunch

(there was so much blood where did so much blood come from surely there couldn't be)

then Edward felt a hand grip his arm and he nearly fell to the ground…

"Fabul…must not…fall!"

It was Cecil's voice but Edward didn't comprehend his words as he drew his rapier from the sheath with a hand trembling so violently that he couldn't hold the sword well enough to raise it

(blood seeped into the thin leather of his boots)

With a cry Edward sprang aside as Cecil leaped past him, drawing his own dark sword from its sheath…the black blade flashed for a second in the firelight then disappeared as Cecil dashed ahead to meet the ruthless creatures…

As Edward held the rapier he suddenly realized how awkward it felt in his palm…the handle was so cold and he couldn't remember how to fight because he only knew how to use a fencing foil and he felt

(blood)

stupid now that he discovered he should have never tried to do this

(blood splashed onto his tunic and face and hair)

he couldn't think anymore as the urodelae slashed their way toward him…

Instantly Edward felt bodies on each side and he felt as if he would suffocate but instead he pulled the rapier in front of his face when a urodele appeared next to him, its white teeth gleaming as blood dripped from its snout and its forked tongue flicked between the two large fangs…

* * * * * *

Any remorse that Cecil felt for raising his sword against the soldiers of Baron was gone…

When he caught the first glimpse of a scaly leering face with shiny reptilian eye, he was stricken with disgust and hate and…most of all…

…Grief…

The knights of Baron relied on the savage fighting technique of the deformed beings…the creatures…part dragon and only part man…the ruthless murderers…even now they were brutally slaughtering the defenseless women and innocent children of Fabul…

Cecil tasted the acid taste of bile rise in his throat as he thought of the man, no, the monster, responsible for this massacre…he thought of Golbez…the new Captain of the Red Wings…and Cecil was blinded with fury and hate so strong that he felt almost guilty…

…But he would not feel guilty as the blood of the creatures stained his sword, his hands, the ground

(the bodies)

Cecil met the grinning urodelae like an animal, his teeth shining in the firelight in a grotesque snarl…He swung the black blade with all of his might, and the horrid creatures began to fall…their blood splashed hotly over his hands and his chain mail and it landed at his feet in sheets but he didn't notice because he was tired of

(killing)

standing aside and allowing them to slaughter the innocent people just as he had done in Mysidia

(murderer)

and he would have done in Damcyan if he had not renounced his loyalty to the King of Baron…

Bodies dropped to the ground on all sides and from the corner of his eye, Cecil could see the warriors of Fabul fighting valiantly…even unarmed they fought with such might that Cecil wondered how anyone could ever defeat them…who could ever withstand the warriors, inexperienced as they were, who sacrificed themselves so readily for the sake of the nation?

The creatures were gaining ground very fast…and the smell of hot metal and hot blood stung Cecil's nostrils…

His heart fell when he realized that the soldiers of Baron had indeed arrived, adorned with their maroon tunics and chest plates and the double-cross…

The nation of Baron had formed an alliance with the urodelae…Cecil felt something sharper than a blade pierce his heart as he realized that Baron would never be the same again…

* * * * * *

From the time Edward drew the rapier from the sheath, he seemed to be plunged into a dream…a dream vivid with colors and images but no sound…no smell…no feelings…no

(blood)

way to break free. When everything returned, Edward discovered that several of the creatures lay dead at the feet of the warriors…one of the creatures even lay dead at his own

(blood-stained)

feet. Did he kill it? He couldn't remember…it had been a dream and you can't remember dreams when you want to most…

The urodelae advanced. The strange exhilaration of the battle seeped from Edward and was replaced by weariness…weariness that drained him of all strength and energy from the first rush…Now he felt like sleeping…that would be nice…he could just lie down and close his eyes and not think about anything anymore…he could dream real dreams this time…there would be no

(blood)

weariness or pain or

(blood)

"Retreat!"

A scream broke Edward from his trance and his head snapped toward the voice…

"Retreat!"

The Fabul warriors tore free of the frenzied mass of bodies and began to stagger over the rubble of the battlement…

"We must…fall back…to the stronghold!"

Edward watched as the crowd suddenly and violently twisted like a tremendous serpent and surged toward the castle…toward him…he was frozen with fear…The swarm of bodies seemed to creep toward him at a slow, a feverishly slow pace…sweat trickled down Edward's temple and his hands trembled…the rapier almost fell from his hand but he held it because it was his only defense for God's sake…a voice was whispering…

…Run…

The drop of sweat rolled to the corner of his eye…

…Run…

The salty sweat dripped from his cheek and splashed into the

(blood)

stones…the dust…the ashes…

In a flash he turned and ran.

Over the mounds of rocks and ashes and bodies he clambered, falling down

…Feet pounded behind him…

His knuckle bashed painfully into the rubble and the skin was completely erased from all four fingers and the top of his knuckle…tears sprang to his eyes and the soot and

(blood)

sweat stung his hand…the rapier was lost in the dust and stones but Edward was on his feet as quickly as he fell, scooping the sword into his right hand, his weak hand, and he flung himself into the crowd of warriors who pushed their way into the castle…

…Hisses and snarls burst out from behind…

and at last Edward felt himself stumbling through the dimly lit passage…the weapons chamber was somewhere and the banquet hall was near but he was so disoriented that he didn't know where anything was…

"Engage!"

A voice commanded from very far away…it seemed far away but it was close…Edward lifted his eyes and his heart leaped when he saw more figures coming toward him from a lighted chamber at the end of the passage…

…Another force of the warriors of Fabul…the force stationed in the throne room…

They were Fabul's last hope…

Edward staggered across the soft carpet in the throne room as the shouting warriors rushed past him…he heard urgent cries of "Hold your ground!" as he finally tumbled wearily to the floor…he sucked in ragged breaths and stared back into the hall where the Fabul warriors met the troops of baron…nothing was visible besides the bodies…bodies of the warriors and the soldiers and the urodelae…his knuckle hurt like hell and blood dribbled between his fingers and down his wrist…but it was only a superficial wound…he felt like he could ignore the pain for awhile…

…If he could afford to wait awhile…

Sharp cries and clanging blades and snarls echoed throughout the passage…Edward gazed into the pulsating crowd of fighters and recognized the dark armor of Cecil Harvey…the Knight was still fighting bravely, thrashing left and right with the black sword…he was being quite proficient as far as Edward could tell…He knew Cecil would stand his ground until he could no more…

The sinister yellow eyes of the creatures appeared in the dim torchlight as Edward painstakingly climbed to his feet…By sheer numbers and brute force the urodelae pressed their way into the throne room…the few warriors around Edward gave surprised shouts as the creatures seeped into the room, their forked tongues lolling from the sides of their mouths…some clutching cruel curved blades…some empty-handed…they all advanced eagerly…their eyes glittering…

The handful of warriors raised their own swords and flung themselves readily at the urodelae, but they were drastically outnumbered and the creatures continued to pour into the throne room…

Just as Edward shifted the rapier into his injured hand for the final attempt, he heard the voice of Cecil rise from the turmoil:

"We…can't…hold here…any…longer!!"

Edward glimpsed the throne only a few feet behind him…there was no sign of Yang or King Luarca…

"The…crystal…room!" a warrior gasped, indicating the narrow door near the throne…

Blood showered Cecil as he yanked his sword from the stomach of a Baronian soldier…

"Open…the…d-door!"

The warriors stared at Cecil in a daze…

"Open…the…damn door!!"

Cecil planted his boot into the gut of a urodele and sent it sprawling to the floor…he was making his way toward the door of the crystal room in slow-motion…One of the Fabul warriors had at last forced his way to the door and frantically tried to open it…

It wouldn't budge…

Edward watched in despair from the center of the room as Cecil pounded on the narrow door with his hands…his sword…his boots…nothing would open the door…

The treasure inside was much too precious…

Mustering every ounce of strength he had left, Cecil leaped back a few paces then lunged toward the door with his shoulder down…with a loud metallic clang the door burst open…an unearthly blue light radiated from the doorway and spilled over Cecil and the handful of warriors at his side…it was stunning…Cecil forgot the pain in his entire body as he gaped at the strange pale light…

It was the crystal room indeed…

Edward stared into the light emanating from the door…it seemed to speak…it called to him…it would be a place to rest…finally…they would enter the door and find peace and strength and

(blood)

rest since it had been so long since they rested…how long had it been? Edward couldn't remember as he started toward the slowly…I'm okay now so I can take my time…it was calling to him…the light was calling…

"Edward!"

It was Cecil's voice…he shouted urgently for the prince of Damcyan…

"Edward! Hurry!"

Cecil gestured wildly as he held the door…Most of the warriors remaining were locked in vain combat with the urodelae…In seconds they would make their way to the crystal room and nothing would be accomplished by the deaths of so many brave people…so many innocent people…so many…

…But didn't someone once say that war never accomplished anything? Edward thought crazily as he started toward the sound of Cecil's voice…

From the corner of his eye Edward glimpsed more figures rushing into the throne room, but he had to get to the crystal room before Cecil was forced to close the door…to lock the door…to leave Edward behind with the blood-thirsty creatures who were gushing into the throne room as fast as

(blood)

the blood was flowing across the ground but how did he know it since the carpet was

(blood)

scarlet and the blood was scarlet and the walls were scarlet and

Edward realized that there were many bodies around him as he pressed his way onward to the door…the light…One warrior fell directly in front of Edward and he sprawled over the man but he scrabbled across the floor on his stomach…he dragged himself toward the Dark knight who had swords locked with one of the creatures in the doorway…

Edward was on his feet again and he could sense…but he couldn't see because he was afraid to look…he could sense the urodelae surrounding him and he knew he could make it…he could make it to the crystal room but what would happen when he made it into the crystal room? He would scurry into it for safety but it would only be a trap…they couldn't stay in it forever but forever wouldn't matter because forever would come later and he didn't think about later…now was all there was, but now…

There was a sudden sharp blow in Edward's shoulder…a blow that felt like someone had struck him with a club with all of their might but how was that possible? There was no one around him…his shoulder was numb and cold and his entire arm was numb all of a sudden then a strange warmth crept back into it slowly as though it had been numbed from the cold air and was now regaining feeling or thawing after being frozen…

But he wasn't cold at all as sweat dripped from his brow and trickled down his neck…He realized how hot it was…God it was sweltering in the room…his hair clung to his neck and forehead and his shoulder burned…Edward reached his hand into his shirt toward his shoulder…Lord he was sweating…his shirt was soaked and his fingers were soaked and his entire arm was soaked…it was funny how strange his shoulder felt and as he thought about it, he realized that he was falling toward the scarlet floor because his legs had suddenly given beneath him…as he crashed to the floor he held both arms out to break his fall…

A bright flash of excruciating pain exploded in Edward's shoulder as he lifted his arms…he tumbled heavily to the floor on his side…there was a faint moaning of someone nearby…someone very close…Edward laid on the ground for several moments with a dull humming in his head and he listened to the distant, hazy moaning…someone was in agonizing pain and he realized it was him…Another cry escaped his mouth as he shifted his position…pain coursed through his entire right side and everything he saw was white…bright white…blinding…

Edward moaned again and groped with his left hand to touch his shoulder and he wheezed for breath as pain tore through his body once more…his shoulder felt strange and he couldn't even wiggle his fingers and he couldn't bend his arm without that excruciating pain…the sharp pain…what was wrong? He didn't know what happened but his arm felt so cold and strange…

There was a surprised shout from Cecil…very far away…Edward couldn't roll over because the pain was numbing…from where? The pain would return and his shoulder still felt strange…there was something there that shouldn't be and he couldn't raise his arm because…he opened his eyes…he hadn't even realized they were shut…

There was blood. The entire right side of his chest was drenched in blood…sweat popped out on his forehead as he stared at the blood…how did he lose so much blood? Why had he lost so much blood? His shirt was ripped and he craned his neck to look but he couldn't bring himself to see all of the blood…

Edward heard footsteps pounded heavily toward him and he knew it must be the urodelae with their swords raised and their fangs bared and their eyes sparkling…Edward needed to get up…the voice in his head screamed through the dull humming…

(run)

He couldn't get up and run…his shoulder was numb again and he didn't know why but he looked at it even though he didn't want to…

…there were coarse feathers protruding from his armpit…a blood-coated shaft…

…an arrow…

…an arrow…

Edward gasped and the excruciating pain ripped through his shoulder again…his shoulder…his shoulder where an arrow was imbedded deep in the muscle and blood poured around it…he was immediately nauseated as he realized the arrow-head, the cruel arrow-head, was protruding from the back of his shoulder…his stomach churned and he felt like he might vomit…

"Edward!"

The Dark Knight surrendered his position in the doorway of the crystal room and dashed frantically to the prince of Damcyan…through the blinding white haze in his eyes Edward could see the creatures closing in…his shoulder burned like hell but he didn't care anymore…a voice in his head still urged him…

…run…

He couldn't…

…run…you can…

Edward planted one hand on the ground and the dizzying pain coursed through his entire body…

…I can't, he reminded himself wildly…

…you can…

The urodele stood over him…its eyes shimmering brightly and its snout soaked with scarlet blood…its sword rose above its scaly head in such god-awful slow motion…the dream again…

…Why can't I wake up…

With one final desperate attempt Edward bit hard into his lower lip and rolled over…he groaned in agony at the pain following his reckless move…the shaft of the arrow grated against...what? His bone? Most likely because blinding hot pain ripped into his right side and seeped into his left side…as his vision faded he knew he was losing consciousness…the sneering creature leaped at him…

…idiot…you didn't run…now…

but the creature lurched over Edward's body, its sword clattered across the floor…its clawed foot pressed into Edward's gut for a split second and he gasped weakly for the breath that wasn't there then the urodele toppled senselessly to the floor and laid there…

Edward was dimly aware of the Karate master looming over him…

"Yang!!"

Cecil screamed as he shoved his way to the dark-skinned warrior…Yang had jagged claw marks, bright with blood, down his muscular chest and thin stripes across his back…He was covered in soot and his face was streaked in ashes…sweat...blood…on his hand was a leather glove with three long narrow metal blades extending past his fingers…each metal blade was covered in blood, presumably that of the creatures…the blood trickled easily down the narrow blades and splashed onto the carpet as though the scarlet on the floor could get thicker…as though the blood could get thicker…the blood on the floor seemed to attract every other drop…it would never disappear…

With a shout Cecil snatched his dark sword from its sheath and slashed into the mass of urodelae…the other warriors fought like animals to drive the creatures from the door of the crystal room…they were losing precious ground…their strength was flagging quickly…

Yang grabbed the spindly arm of one of the creatures and wrestled its sword from it hand then he drove his fist into its chest…the blades on his glove buried deeply into the scales and muscles and the urodele shrieked and gagged as blood spewed from its lips…The warrior tossed the body to the floor and threw his hands close to his face to protect himself from the swiping claws of another creature…with a shout Yang smashed his foot into the side of the urodele’s hideous face and it careened to the floor in a heap…

Edward lay as still as possible and cringed as drops of blood spattered onto his face…at last he saw Cecil standing over him, his horn helmet shining with dark red blood and his dark sword shining with blood…

Before Edward could say a word, he felt Cecil’s gauntleted hand close around his wrist…

Numbing pain blinded Edward again as his arm was snatched forcefully…through a loud roaring in his head he heard and felt something snap and grind and shift in his shoulder and oh God everything was bright white and his breath was cut short and he lashed out defensively with his foot, kicking Cecil in the knee and shin repeatedly…

Cecil released Edward’s wrist instantly…

"What in God’s name are you doing?!"

Edward clutched his shoulder, groaning in agony…

"Ahhh…my arm!"

Something shifted in his shoulder again and it felt stiff and shattered and it felt like he would never move it again or feel anything in his entire right side…Cecil nodded and motioned for Yang, who stared in horror as more and more urodelae engulfed the throne room, armed with pikes and bows and huge battle axes…

In a flash the warrior was at Cecil’s side…he surveyed the injured prince of Damcyan with much concern…

"Is it –"

"…My God!" Cecil swore as an arrow whizzed by and struck the wall behind them…

"Prince Edward –" Yang started, watching warily for another hail of arrows. "—Take a very deep breath…"

Edward wanted to protest loudly and tell them that he couldn’t take a deep breath …he couldn’t take a breath at all…he stared at Yang in confusion but he tried to lift himself to a sitting position…Without warning the warrior dropped to the ground and drove his knee hard into the middle of Edward's ribcage…Every ounce of breath gushed from Edward's mouth in a hiss between his clenched teeth and the pain was so sharp now that he didn't care if he were dying or not because he just wanted the pain to go away…Yang reached out toward the feathers of the arrow and ripped it from Edward's shoulder where it had been lodged deep between his muscles and bones…Edward screamed in agony as the shaft was lifted from his shoulder and blood flowed from the arrowhead and Edward's arm and shoulder and back were hot from the blood that suddenly gushed from the wound…

Yang tossed the arrow aside and Edward wheezed for breath between the wracking pains in his side…He felt like he were dying…he was certain he were dying…he couldn't breathe…his breath was just quick spurts of air…hot air…it still felt as though something were wrenching his guts and arm and shoulder and heart…but he wasn't supposed to die now…he couldn't die now… not here…not now…not when there was still so much to do and even more after that…

"Ahh!"

Cecil grabbed Edward again but this time it was by the other arm, and he hoisted the prince to his feet.

"Oh great God!" Edward hissed through his clenched teeth. "Leave me here to --"

"You're crazy!" Cecil cut him off…another arrow whizzed past them and struck the stone wall. "We're not leaving you here!"

Yang spun around and struck a urodele on the head with a sword of another and kicked the body aside…He looked at Cecil then nodded, leaning down and snatching Edward's legs with his gloved hand…the blades of the glove bit deep into Edward's calf and he shouted in pain but each breath and shout was agony so he dug his teeth into his tongue to direct the pain away…

It helped very little…the pain in his shoulder was shocking…

"This way!" Cecil commanded, dragging Edward toward the door of the crystal room...

"If only we can hold for several more --"

An arrow buzzed by Yang's head and struck Cecil's helmet with a clang, shredding a dark scar in the side…Another arrow grazed Yang's thigh and he sucked in a breath as blood oozed from the wound…

"I can't…make it!" Cecil grunted, ducking as arrows continued to threaten them from all sides…The other warriors were falling fast…only a handful remained, but they stood loyally by the door and waited for Cecil and Yang….

"Close the door!"

Cecil screamed to them…it was useless…he and Yang would never make it….and the treasure inside was much too precious…

"Close the door now!"

The dark-skinned warriors hesitated and the creatures hurried toward them to force their way into the crystal room…

"Close the damn door!" Cecil screamed again…

It was too late…

The warriors rushed from the doorway to meet the wave of urodelae…Cecil swore furiously as he staggered toward the door with the dazed prince of Damcyan at his side. Yang shook his head hopelessly.

"They are…willing…to sacrifice themselves for…the safety of…the crystal!"

The door of the crystal room remained open…Somehow the mass of bodies looming around it thinned, and Yang took the half-second to leap into the doorway as Cecil staggered in behind. The knight heaved Edward unceremoniously to the floor…Yang watched the warriors from the doorway and motioned frantically for them to follow…

"Fall back!!"

Several surrendered their positions and darted to the crystal room…

"Everyone --" Yang gestured again. "--Fall back!"

Yang turned and hurried into the crystal room to Cecil’s side as a few more warriors of Fabul clambered into the crystal room…the last one snatched at the door and paused for a split second then he shoved desperately on the metal door.

"M-master Yang!" he gasped weakly. "—The d-door!"

The urodelae were closing in rapidly as Yang scurried toward the door where he and several other soldiers heaved on the door. Sweat glazed Yang’s bald head and trickled slowly…slowly…painfully slow as he tried to close the door…it was moving at a depressing pace…it would never be closed in time to prevent the creatures from entering…he could almost see the yellow irises of their eyes in the semi-darkness of the throne room outside…an arrow clattered off the metal door and another struck the stone wall above Yang’s head…a warrior joined them at the door and planted his hands against the cold steel and it began to move…it crept a bit faster…but it was obvious that it would never be fast enough…it would never be fast enough…

At last the other warriors, exhausted as they were, staggered to the door and pushed with all of their might…the urodelae were only a few feet away…but the door was only a few inches from being shut…Yang gritted his teeth and planted his bare feet into the floor and his joints and tendons cracked as he used his last ounce of strength…

With a resounding clang the steel door of the crystal room of Fabul closed…

…The crystal of Air was safe…