To the rescue!

[luna_soul_]

Meanwhile…

On the other side of things, Cecil had gotten himself into a bit of trouble. Which wasn’t his fault … wait, yes it was. Oops.

If his sudden and accidental toppling over of a large, extravagant ornamental vase earlier wasn’t a blatant cry of ‘Intruder!’, then he didn’t’ know what was. The alarm had gone off only seconds later, sending Cecil scrambling for cover as guards suddenly swarmed the halls looking for trespassers. This was going to be some fantastic rescue, he’d already predicted nervously. He only hoped Kain was having as much fun as he was.

He sincerely hoped Squall was faring better on his end of things.

Taking sharp, panting breaths, Cecil flattened himself against a wall as a horde of soldiers came tearing past him. He waited a couple of seconds before daring to peek out of the niche he was hiding in.

All clear.

“Ugh,” Cecil frowned, barely catching the cloth-covered lance as it came tumbling out of the small alcove with him. “Kain, you better be in here, somewhere… This is really heavy, you know.” he muttered, hefting the heavy thing up in his arms and taking off at a run down the corridor where the soldiers had just come from.

It was just his luck that as he turned the corner…

…he then slammed into a massive wall of a person.

“Ack!” Startled, Cecil dropped the spear, and dropped to the ground just as something ‘whooshed’ airily over his head, skimming his silver hair by inches. The giant of a man he’d just bumped into raised his sword up over his head with a strained grunt, then brought it down upon Cecil’s.

CLANG.

Hynes’ guard faltered, then backpedaled hastily as Cecil suddenly sprung up from the floor, his own sword drawn. Panting, wrists still smarting slightly from the two swords colliding heavily with each other, Cecil shouted up at him, “Back!” (He’d had to crane his neck upward to do this; his opponent was at least three heads taller.) When the man blatantly ignored this warning and stepped forward, the Paladin steeled himself. Arching his arm back, he thrust it forward and upward in one sharp motion… slamming the hilted end of Excalibur into the mans throat. A very unpleasant ‘snapping’ noise accompanied this move, which made Cecil wince. The guard blanched and sputtered, coughing up a bit of blood before dropping his weapon. He uttered a gurgled, pained sound before topping forward, clutching at his crushed larynx.

The crash that followed had to have been heard by the whole castle by now, if they weren’t already up in arms. Cursing at the thought, Cecil hurriedly re-picked up Kain’s lance, leapt over the man, and sprinted through the nearest open door on his right.

More guards.

“Damn!” Cecil cursed in frustration, and they were upon him.

Only, not.

At the very last second, with one wild, last desperate look around, he resorted to one of Kain’s tactics.

He jumped.

Now he found himself dangling over the mass of tangled limbs and swords below him, and Cecil struggled to keep hold of the flimsy chandelier he was now grasping for dear life-one-handedly, no less-but he felt his fingers slipping. By some trick of the mind, Kain’s spear seemed to have gained ten pounds. He felt it slipping steadily out of his other hand. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He pondered his options.

Then a hand grappled onto his foot, and yanked it downward. His boot came off.

Startled, Cecil surged upward with all the strength he could muster, throwing his entire weight on the glass adornment-which creaked dangerously in protest-and made a mad grab at the wooden rafter beam from which the chandelier had been hanging. There was a moment of weightlessness, and then…

Glass, instead of flesh, fell on top of the confused guards with a mighty CRASH. He didn’t need to look down to see what had happened. But eventually, he did. Curiosity, and all. His pursuers had been knocked out cold. Jumping back down (carefully avoiding bits of glass and accidentally treading on someone’s hand in the process), Cecil dashed down the corridors, left and right, right and left, up and down occasionally, and then he encountered another door. Please be behind this one, Kain… he prayed silently, clutching a stitch in his side. Shifting the heavy pole arm, his hand moved to the door handle cautiously.

It wasn’t locked. He opened it.

He hit another wall this time, only, it was a wall of verdant freshness that assaulted his nostrils. Bright sunlight made his eyes dilate briefly. He was back outside. Cecil almost moaned aloud in frustration, accidently smacking Kain's weapon against the doorframe. But…

Cecil blinked, and looked more closely now.

A garden???