Small little oil lamps flickered their light from their dome shaped fixtures in the stone walls as the Imperial moved as quietly as he could through the first engine room he found while he had been searching the castle for the correct entrance.

Moving silently was nearly impossible due to the steel plates bolted down to the floor, but the general hum of the chugging machines hid hee footsteps for the most part. 

The Imperial had made it past the first landing where huge stone columns were fit into the walls and odd looking gages pointed their thin arms at numbers in the little glass spheres. As soon as he crept down the circular steel staircase, he was overcome with the smell of motor oil and fuel. If he could make her way down to the lower floors of the engine rooms, perhaps he could find the girl. 

"Well, well, well. What is an Imperial soldier doing all the way down here in the engine rooms, hm?" A gruff looking engineer moved into the lantern light with his eyebrows high and an amused smile on his face.

The soldier immediately started backing away slowly, his left hand went to his belt, his eyes on the engineer.

"What business is it of yours?" the Imperial retorted, the back of his tall brown booted foot coming into contact with the side of one of the many enormous machines moaning and vibrating low as if it were a slumbering beast having a fitful dream. He stopped, knowing that he was cornered and worst of all: caught. 

"I'd say it's my business through and through, seeing as how I'm one of the King's top engineers." The man did not say this with a puffed up chest, no, he said it with his eyes glinting dangerously. "And nobody is allowed down here without the King's permission." 

The engineer slid his arm out towards the wall nearest him and pressed a concealed button before the Imperial could say anything back, and within seconds an alarm bell started rattling off so loud it could be heard all over the castle. Then the soldier drew out a handgun and pulled the trigger right as thundering footsteps could be heard coming towards the engine room along with the alarm bells.

The engineer's face exploded, and what was left of his body fell heavily backwards onto the metal flooring. 

"KNIGHT!" The Vigoreuxan guardsmen reached the Imperial soldier a moment after the engineer's blood started pooling around where his neck should have been.

Aim, fire. Aim, fire.

The Imperial went into a sort of haze as he mechanically aimed and fired his gun at two of the guardsmen. He caught one in the neck, causing his windpipe to be partially exposed as the side of his jaw and ear slopped against the wall, and the other guard caught a bullet in the left part of his chest. But the Imperial soldier could not see what happened next after he fired another round of bullets since the rest of the Vigoreuxan guardsmen just outright tackled him to the floor. 

One guard wrenched the gun from his hand, cocked it, and pushed the opening right up to the side of his temple.

"You try anything else, and I blow your fucking head off. Got it?" 

The Imperial nodded quick and went as limp as he could while the guards who were not bending over the dead mens' remains grabbed onto him at different parts of his body and heaved him up. They dragged him up the staircase quickly, but they were not too careful with him because as they went along, the back of the Imperial's head banged against the handrail several times.

White sparks fluttered behind his eyelids.

He did not see a new group of Vigoreuxan guards rush downstairs to tend to the dead men. He did not see more of the first landing where switches and control panels were opened up to shut off the alarm bells. The Imperial soldier also did not feel the kicks and punches he received once the guards dropped him face first on the floor once they entered the gatehouse. 
 
Roni sipped at his tea lightly while he watched the good general watching him.

"I've heard that you're docked to the south near the caves leading to Southwest Vigoreaux," Roni did not see any hint of a reaction from Fload at this.

"Have you or any of your men gone there yet to visit? The inns are serving goose and duck now that they're in season. Very delicious, I hear," he continued, smiling as he swirled his tea around in the cup, careful not to slosh it over the side.

Fload kept his face neutral as he reached for a couple of cookies from the tea tray. "No, we haven't gone there. Yet. Besides, those of us on the Southern continent prefer our own game, with all respect."

Roni let out a kindly laugh, "Oh, isn't that the way of all lands? We each prefer what reminds us of home!"

Fload did not laugh, or smile, or even politely grimace at Roni's declaration. Instead, he put his cup and saucer down on the tray and briskly stood. Roni's face remained calm, eyes directly on the general.

"You did not answer my question earlier, King Roni."

"What do you mean? I believe I did-"

At this, Fload rushed at Roni, moving so quickly that Roni's eyes delayed registering the general standing from his seat until Fload was mere inches away from him. Fload leaned down and brought his face in close to Roni's, looking him straight in the eye as he grasped the arms of Roni's chair, giving him no escape. 

"Is she here?" Fload's voice was barely a whisper, his eyes glowering with a desperation Roni had never seen from the general. His warm breath tickled Roni's nose.

"No," Roni replied, "Your little Witch Girl is not here. It's a shame you lost her, too. A wonder, that is, losing a girl under the control of a slave crown. Such a shame."

With a jerk, Fload's left hand thrust through the air, the hand about to make contact with Roni's jaw, when the king flinched. Or seemed to flinch. In the next instant, Fload did not feel skin or jaw bone. His wrist was caught in Roni's fist.

Roni raised an eyebrow in that Vigoreaux way of his, "Upset? A little too close to home?" his grip tightened. "I believe you must declare a formal duel, at least, before attacking one of aristocracy or royalty. We are both gentlemen after all. Wouldn't want to embarrass Emperor Erthil."

Fload grimaced and spat in Roni's face, causing the king to grunt in disgust. "Well that was rude."

They both jumped when the alarm went off with a piercing ring.

Then the door burst open with a bang as a gaggle of Roni's guardsmen flooded into the tea room, all with wild eyes and heaving chests.

"King Roni! The engine room!" his guard captain nearly screamed, voice high, before the scene in front of them registered.

Roni, still holding onto Fload's arm, craned his head around to see his men, "What happened?"

The guards were flummoxed. They all spoke at once, asking what in the world was going on between the two, seeming to forget all about the engine room for the moment.

Fload jerked his arm out of Roni's grasp and backed away from the king a few paces, looking from Roni to the men with a guarded expression. Three of Roni’s guards rushed forwards to pull Fload away.

“What happened?” Roni repeated as he stood. The alarm snapped off. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and quickly wiped Fload’s spit from his nose.

The Chancellor took Roni’s shoulder, pulling him along out of the room, leaving the remaining guardsmen to restrain Fload’s hands behind his back with iron manacles.

“Knight, sire! One of Fload’s men shot him and a couple more,” to this Roni’s face drained of color and he took off running to the engine rooms.

“Chancellor! Have the guards bring the Imperials to the courtyard! Round up everybody you can find!” Roni called over his shoulder.

Soon the king sprinted out of the main wing of his castle and took a flight of stairs tucked in an out of the way corner near the old maid’s chambers. This brought him down to one of his entrances into the lower workshops where he found several of his mechanics trying to bind up the gaping wounds on a fellow’s arm with industrial tape they usually used to temporarily close up cracks in the fuel pipes.

“Who’s hurt?” he shouted over the loud cranking of machinery. A mechanic bolted up from his knees where he was helping tend to the moaning man’s injuries.

“My liege! Three of our men are dead, two were wounded in the process of trying to shield the new boiler you installed from the bullets!”
Roni hurried over the man laid out on the floor, seeing that his left arm and shoulder got the worst of the shot where chunks of flesh were missing.

“None of our machines were hit during the fight, sire. Luckily,” the man continued.

“Alright. Where are the dead men, Al?” The king asked, still watching his men finish up binding the lacerations tight and secure. The chugging of the huge engines seemed to grow louder and louder in volume, causing Roni’s words to be barely audible. But Al heard him and motioned in the direction of the offices where the walls were reinforced with sound deafening metals and wood. The bodies were in Knight’s office.

Roni went inside and found the three dead men laid out on the floor side by side, two sets of eyes closed. A few piles of Knight’s books and spare work boots had been moved to the edge of the room by the engineer’s desk where diagrams for the new heating systems lay splayed out by a mug of coffee gone cold.

Knight, Neill, Lester. Knight’s head was blown off completely and all that remained were crooked bits of flesh and windpipe poking out between his clavicles. Lester was missing most of his neck and jaw. Neill had a bullet hole going right through where his heart was.

Al followed him in, averting his eyes away from the bodies to his king. Before he could address Roni, the king said, “Make sure to prepare these men for their burials after we finish with our special guests. Notify their families as soon as you can.”

Roni turned and swept out of the room to stop by his own office. He grabbed his modified crossbow up from his midnight blue colored armchair, slipped some spare bolts and screws into his pants pocket, and stuffed his worn journal into his other pocket the best he could along with a few pencils.

He glanced around his large room that he’s practically lived in for years for anything else. He noticed his half-built new invention on the bookshelf and decided against trying to stuff that on his person somewhere. He did, however, grab up a handful of bowstrings and a screwdriver. With another quick look, he left and went up to another engineer.

“Prepare a new tank of fuel for the back engine.” The engineer nodded and hurried away past where the injured were still being tended.

Roni cleared his throat and boomed, “You’ve all done well! Stay at the ready and remember your duties to the castle!” He punched his fist into the air, and with that, he ran up the stairs to the main landing and pushed out to the courtyard where what looked like the majority of his guard waited at attention.

At the center of the yard, where the richest merchant’s stalls usually set up in the morning markets, was Fload and his two men restrained and on their knees, with guns and crossbows aimed at them by Roni’s captains, awaiting orders. One of the Imperials looked half-conscious, head lolling to one side all bruised up with blood dribbling out of his mouth. Roni gripped the handle of his crossbow tight.

The king approached, fighting to keep himself as composed as he could. His guards watched and moved out of the way as he made his way over to the beaten-up Imperial. “Looks like you’re the one who somehow found his way into my engine rooms. How did that happen?”
Both Fload and his other man looked at their comrade while he struggled to move his jaw, which was sitting at an odd angle, looking back at his general with desperation in his eyes. Fload did not say anything.

“Tell me why,” Roni knelt on one knee in front of the Imperial, looking him straight in the eyes, “Now.” He held up his crossbow to the man’s face, causing him to shudder out more blood from his mouth.

“Who told you how to get down there? It's not somewhere you accidentally end up on the way to the lavatory.” Roni pulled back the trigger with his thumb with a loud pop.

“It was Sam! Your new guard!” The other Imperial shouted at them.

Then, the guardsmen behind Roni started yelling and shoving amongst themselves, and when one particular guard tried heaving his way backwards through the crowd, the other men around him pushed him back, blocking his escape.

A captain broke away from his place in front of the prisoners and yanked the guard’s arm with him, earning a punch to the back of his head along with some slapping. But that did not deter the captain who continued forwards to his king and thrust the man to the ground roughly and kicked his back with a heavy booted foot.

Roni stood and turned slowly, his crossbow still cocked, “Ah, so you’re our little spy. Six months of waiting for your friends to arrive…”

“This pathetic little kingdom is nothing against the Empire! Just another fly to swat down like Oranda!” The spy spat, to which he received a painful jab in the ribs with the butt of the captain’s gun.

“It seems that my little kingdom is more than a mere fly if you had to place a man on the inside,” the king turned back to face Fload, “Seems as if you were going to pay us a visit whether recent events occurred or not.”

“Is the Witch here?” Fload’s other man shouted. The Chancellor came up to Roni’s left and shook his head at him. 

Gemma ran through a set of doors she remembered led out to the courtyard panting, looking for her bandanaed friend. But just a few steps out, she stumbled into one of the Vigoreuxan guardsmen, who yelped in surprise.

Apparently, everybody nearby heard their collision, and it took Gemma a moment to register that nearly all the others in the courtyard were also guards. Who were all looking right at her.

“GEMMA!” came Keylla’s voice as she bounded out of the set of doors opposite her. “C’mon, we gotta…” she trailed off.

The thief finally looked away from her golden haired friend long enough to also notice that Roni’s entire legion was clustered into the courtyard around them. And through a break in the crowd was Roni and Fload.

Gemma pushed herself into Keylla’s arms and tried to hide herself as much as she could when her golden eyes met a familiar set of cold cobalt ones. 

“Gemma…my sweet little magic user…” the shivering voice echoed in her mind.

Fload's eyes widened.

She could not blink away from his gaze as a sudden bolt of lightning erupted out of Fload’s body and blasted into the top of one of the rooftops with metal rotating fans. The fan spun out and fell into the crowd with an air slicing shriek. More lightning struck into the crowd at random, hitting men and stone alike, leaving scorch marks everywhere.

Fload jerked up from the ground and blasted the irons around his wrists off with a flash, never looking away from Gemma when the thief wrapped herself around her more to shield her from the strikes.

“Fload! Stop this at once!” Roni shouted, aiming his bow at the general’s head. The guards who were not still trying to restrain the other Imperials aimed their weapons at Fload too.

“Give me the girl! She’s mine!” Fload shrieked, causing more lightning to boom down and now balls of fire started to bubble out from his clenched fists. The fire whizzed around in red streaks, catching clothing and stone alike.

Roni let loose a round of his arrows at Fload, only to have them deflected by a flash of flame that swept along with the general’s arm to block his face. The king tried more rounds of arrows as his guards tried the same, but their attacks were blocked by more waves. The flames swelled out from Fload, catching those closest to him. The other Imperials rushed out of the way and into the maddening crowd.

Streaks of fire rained down along with the lightning and crackled to life on every surface they touched and spread wildly.

A hand dragged Roni away from Fload right before his spell smashed into him and through the retreating chaos, “Run Ron!” Keylla shouted over the ruckus of people crying out and running from the spells scorching everything in their path as Fload screamed for Gemma.

“Let me find the Chancellor first!” Roni replied and pulled Keylla and Gemma with him, looking for the gold embellished crimson helmet in the sea of plain green helmets and rising flames. The trio ended up near the far west edge of the courtyard where a short stone wall rose from the cobblestones. More lightning rained down from the sky with thunderous booms all around them haphazard.

Keylla and Gemma pressed themselves into a corner along the wall where it met with another wall which was part of a wing leading into the castle. The Chancellor scrambled over, sweating bullets and grasping a blackened smoking hole in his uniform.

“Sire! Run! I’ll engage the dive!”

Roni agreed and motioned Keylla and Gemma over to join him as the Chancellor disappeared into the crowd heading to the main hall. The king pulled out a section of the stone wall and punched the blue button hidden beneath. The wall broke open and a set of stairs ripped out the side of the castle leading down to the sand dunes below.

Keylla grinned, “Brilliant, Mister Inventor!” and led the way down.

“Head to the stables!” Roni replied, holding Gemma’s hand as he started to lead her down after Keylla. A burst of fire and lightning crashed into the pair, throwing them off the side of the castle. Without thinking, Gemma’s magic surged out of her and surrounded her and Roni, causing the spell to break around them. They fell into the sand along with huge fragments of stone splashing sand up around them.

Gemma jumped up first, stumbling, “Are you okay, Roni?”

“Yes, now run!” the king flung himself up, glancing at his crossbow to make sure it wasn’t damaged, and started running towards where Keylla had disappeared.

More bolts of lightning crashed around them, growing in intensity, blowing chunks of stone off the castle, making the pair dodge around the debris as they ran.

Fload’s screaming got louder, as if he was getting closer. Another raging ball of fire shot down at Gemma and followed them in an arc as they weaved away, feet slipping in the sand.
Gemma cried out, hands clenched at her chest as she let loose a fire spell that exploded back at Fload’s, causing both to crash into the ground with a shower of sparks.

Keylla had reached the chocobo stables at the southern end of the castle first and was leading three of the enormous yellow birds with her as she slammed the doors shut.

The castle suddenly let out a deafening rumble from within, drowning out all the screaming and crashes from above.

Roni mounted his bird, one hand still holding onto his crossbow while he adjusted the reins with his other. Keylla and Gemma followed suit and they didn’t even have to steer their chocobos in the right direction because the birds were so scared they took off from the castle with their feathers ruffled squawking with fear.

Gemma held tight to the reins as she looked back at Vigoreaux castle, and gasped when she realized that the huge mass of gray stone was sinking into the sands. Windows were closing, flags retreating from their poles, and the rumbling grew louder as the castle seemed to shudder and plunged down faster.

She saw that the Magitechs near the gates almost followed behind the castle into the sands, but were suddenly moving away quickly. The deeps rumblings of the castle receded behind them as sand dunes spilled into the gaping hole the structure left in its wake.

“Holy shiv!” Keylla yelled, looking back at the castle, “Those bastards escaped!”

Three sets of Magitech armor were chugging after them, their leg structures not even sliding on the sand dunes.

“Let’s see if this will slow them down!” Roni called back, pulling his chocobo over to the side of their group as they continued sprinting away through the dunes. He aimed his crossbow at the closest armor and fired a round of steel arrows at what he hoped was the head of one of the pilots. But a flash of lightning interrupted their flight and the Magitech armors plowed through the black smoke, unfazed.

Scenes flashed through Gemma’s mind of handbooks, symbols engraved into buttons on a control panel. “We’ve got to get away! They have missiles!” she cried at her companions.

“We’re gonna try, Gem, don’t you worry!” Keylla flashed her a grin as he kicked his heels into his chocobo’s sides. Gemma mimicked him, and their birds jumped and ran faster, leaving clouds of sand flying up behind them.
A flash of lightning ricocheted off a dune at the right of Gemma’s chocobo, causing the bird to screech and flail away.

“Get her! Get her! Get her!” shrieked Fload at his soldiers. One of the Imperials pulled back a lever and out of the front of his armor shot a laser at the group.

Gemma screamed as she felt the rush of energy flying at them and released a green wave of light which spread out into a half sphere behind them, shielding them from the beam.

“You can’t just scamper away from me, little Gemma!” came Fload’s shrill voice. Gemma’s hands shook uncontrollably, heart hammering away. She knew he was getting closer and closer.

“You’re my plaything and I hate losing my toys!” the general screamed, accenting his exclamation with more lightning spells following the group. The wounded Imperial launched a series of tek missiles at the racing chocobos, the first missile blasting one of the birds with a boom.

Keylla was thrown forwards from her seat on her chocobo and landed head first into a large sand dune, rolling after her impact sideways. Her steed was left smoking on the ground several yards back, “Uweeheehee! Look men! Supper is already roasted for us!” Fload cackled.

Roni steered his bird over to Keylla, yelling for Gemma to keep going as he clamored down to pull Keylla up onto her chocobo behind her. The thief was knocked out, but Roni continued trying to drag his friend with him. The Imperials were advancing on them fast. Gemma stopped and hopped down from her chocobo.

“Gemma! What are you doing?! Run!” Roni shouted, but Gemma ignored him as she raised up her hands, fingers spread. She inhaled the hot dry air of the desert around them, feeling the heat of the sun surge into her body, willing her hands to stop shaking long enough to BAM! Her magic knocked her backwards as a blaze of fire rushed out of her hands when she screamed “Fire!” at the top of her lungs.

The spell was trained at Fload, whose machine took the brunt of the blast and exploded, flinging the general out of his cockpit high into the air. His men continued coming at Gemma as her knees buckled out from under her and she fell to the ground, feeling drained completely after that last spell.

Roni dropped Keylla for the moment and fired his crossbow at the Imperials. He flicked his fingers at a button on the side near the main trigger to keep the arrows flying on their own, finally able to strike the soldiers. The steel arrows struck into the mens’ faces, causing them to shout in pain. One tried ripping the shafts out of his neck, while the other finally slumped forwards onto his controls, dead. Due to the lack of button pushing and lever controlling, the Magitech armors came to a stop after a few last stuttering steps.

The king snapped his crossbow off of its auto mode, and sat it on the ground next to Keylla. He wiped at his brow with his sleeve and slapped Keylla softly, trying to get the woman to wake up. “Come on, get up, Keylla.”

The thief finally started to stir, coughing roughly. Roni let out a sigh of relief before deciding that Keylla should be fully conscious in a moment, so he went over to Gemma. Her eyes were half open, watching the Magitech armors standing before them, her chest was heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
Roni knelt by her side and placed a hand on her shoulder, “Do you think you can stand? I can get you a potion from Keylla’s bag.” Gemma struggled to try speaking, her breathing still labored as she tried to use her arm to prop herself up.

Keylla finally sat up on her own, still coughing, and started rummaging through her pack, and pulled out a pair of small bottles filled with sparkling bright blue liquid. “Give her one of these, Ron.” Keylla uncorked one bottle and tossed it down his throat while he held out the other for Roni.

“How did you two manage to stop these?” Keylla gestured at the armors nearby, seeing that both pilots were dead, bleeding all over themselves.

Roni helped Gemma drink her potion, “Thanks to our little Miss here, is how.” Gemma sputtered at the sharp fizzing in her throat as the potion went down, and almost immediately felt like she was regaining her strength. She didn’t add anything to what the king said and tried standing up on shaky legs. Roni held her by the arm and shoulders to help her keep her balance.

“Where’s that creep?” Keylla stood up, scratching at his bandanas and hair roughly to shake the sand out. He went over to Gemma and Roni, “I guess my chocobo’s out of commission too, if I remember right.”

“Yup, and I’m not sure where Fload fell after Gemma blasted his Magitech armor.” Roni looked between his two companions to over at their remaining chocobos, who were pressed together, feathers all ruffled, hiding behind a massive sand dune, watching them.

Keylla looked past the two armors nearest them to the smoking pile of metal, hoping to see the body of the Imperial general not far away, but saw nothing through the shifting sands. “Damn, well I guess we better get a move on just in case he’s still around.”