Paladia

Paladia

Author's Note: I don't have to offer a disclaimer because this is actually original.  It was, however, loosely inspired by one of the early Final Fantasy games (so early, I can't remember the number).  This is also a work-in-progress.  This is dedicated to my cousin Matt, with whom I originally conceptualized the idea, and to Heath Ledger, whom I always envisioned as the character, Eric.  Enjoy! 

Chapter 1 

She was tired.  So very, very tired, but she kept going.  She had to get home.  She had to warn them. 

A village lay ahead.  She could clearly see a horse tethered in front of the tavern.  It was late.  Everyone was either asleep or too drunk to notice her.  The dapple-gray mare didn't shy away as she approached.  The horse didn't even make a sound when she got on her back.  Quietly as she could, she rode toward the darkness.  Toward home. 

 ===

Eric didn't look much like a prince as he walked the shores at dawn.  He wore no crown, no regal coat, no gilded sword.  He just wore simple linen pants and shirt, and allowed his bare feet to sink into the sand.  His dark blonde curls danced wildly in the breeze.  His placid blue eyes stared into the crystaline waters and he searched, though he did not know for whom.

It had been five years since he had seen the woman he loved; Alyssa with her long auburn tresses and alabaster skin.  He had been sixteen when first he saw her and he knew in that moment that she was nothing short of a goddess, and that he could belong to no other, save her.

They still wrote to one another frequently.  And he still loved her passionately, even though he was now promised to Eraina, the Mallain princess.  He missed her, but there was another woman he missed even more.

Three years ago, Elaine didn't warrant the title of 'woman'.  She was just a girl of thirteen when pirates stole her from her bed.  Eric had never truly forgiven himself for not watching his baby sister better.  He hoped with his entire being that Elaine, where ever she was, could someday forgive him.

"You know, most people would not consider it smart for the Prince Regent of all of Paladia to be wandering the beach, defenseless at dawn, with the Camyrnian fleet threatening invasion."

Eric looked back at his younger brother and shook his head.  He and David were hardly alike.  David's hair and eyes were dark brown, and he always managed to tame his hair into a tail at the back of his neck.  Also, despite the early hour, David was completely dressed, down to his jacket and sword.  And he smiled.  Eric rarely smiled.

"You thinking about your Sea Lady?" David asked.

Eric rolled his eyes at the sound of the infantile nickname David and Elaine had given Alyssa all those years ago.  They had never met her, and, if Eric had had his way, they wouldn't even know she existed, but his siblings were sneakier than him.  Eric had met Alyssa on the sea, and she was therefore his 'Sea Lady' in their eyes.

"I was thinking about Elaine, actually," Eric answered.

David's jovial mood sank visibly.  "'Sometimes I like to think Elaine's out there, thinking about us," he said.  "But she's probably not.  She's probably having the adventure of a lifetime."

Eric regarded his brother sternly.  "She was kidnapped.  They asked for no ransom.  She could be dead."

"She's not dead," David insisted.

"How do you know?"

"Because Cid the Despicable, or whatever we're calling him now, lost his own daughter in a skirmish with a Paladian ship just weeks before he kidnapped Elaine," David explained.  "He took our sister to replace his daughter.  He didn't ask for a ransom because he had no intention of ever giving her back.  And he didn't kill her either."

Eric kicked at the sand.  "She always did want to be a pirate when she was little," he mused quietly.

David put an arm around his older brother's shoulders.  "Come on, let's go get some breakfast before we're invaded."

===

As the sun peeked up above the horizon, she could feel herself fading.  Her legs hurt.  Her sides hurt.  And her horse was not faring much better.  But she could see it, not a mile ahead; the Crystal Palace.  Home.

Her legs gave way beneath her, and hit the ground hard.  Groaning, she crawled to the nearest tree and pulled herself to her feet.  She would get home to Jonathan.  She would get home to her family if it was the last thing she did.