And this, my second fanfic.  Much shorter than the first, but then there
wasm't that much to say.  Hope you like it.  Remember, MATTHEW Schuele.

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
THE UNTOLD CHAPTER
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE INTERMITTENT YEAR
by  Matthew Schuele

Introduction
	This is another case of wanting to explain an unexplained time, as in my
previous fan fiction piece, The War of the Magi.   First (in the game)
there's a prologue, then there's chapter one, which chronicles the events
from Ramza's graduation to the prologue, and then chapters two, three, and
four. Chapter two begins where the prologue leaves off, and from there on the
story continues throughout the remaining chapters until the end of the war-
and the end of the game.
	But in between the end of chapter one and the prolouge, a year passes.  What
takes place during this year?  How does Ramza meet up with Gafgarion and
Agrias?  Surely Ramza and his troops weren't just sitting around at home all
year.  Something happened between chapter one and chapter two, and while it
may not be important enough for the game to chronicle it, it had to be
interesting none the less....
Matthew Schuele
2-4-98
	All characters depicted in this work were created by Squaresoft.  The names
of the characters whose names are randomly determined are based on my
experience, except for the White Mage/Priest, who I named after my White Mage
in the original Final Fantasy, and the Knight from Agrias's troops, (who, by
the way, I currently  have as a Ninja, she rules!) whose name in my
experience was Alicia, and seeing how close that was to another character's
name I decided to modify it slightly.  Ah, yes, and when Delita swears near
the beginning that is in the game's own words, not mine, and I've kept it in
because I like continuity and, to be honest, Delita really wouldn't restrain
his language in a situation like that, reducing the impact of his words.  Now
onward....

For Margaret
This dedication was the last thing I wrote... because I, well, I didn't want
to put your name on an incomplete work.  It's unlikely that you'll ever see
this, but with some luck the thought will count.... see you.
Thanks.

	Algus let the arrow fly.
	It flew from his crossbow, splitting the air and traveling straight and true
directly into Teta Hyral's chest.  Her cry of surprise was stifled, muted, as
her lips silently parted in question and she slumped to her knees.  Blood
from the wound trickled down off the wooden bridge and stained the white snow
below.
	Algus turned to face us calmly.  His slicked-back blonde hair wasn't ruffled
in the least, his blue jumpsuit and bronze armor unstained by the blood he
had just drawn, his face expressionless except for the hint of a smile that
played across his lips,  the last remnant of the vicarious surge of adrenalin
from a fresh kill, as if he'd done something as routine as shooting a Red
Panther to trade in at the fur seller.  Not that, to the arrogant nobleman,
it was really any different-  he had referred to commonfolk often as
"animals," he thought that they were unfit to live.  My heart began to burn
for Miluda and now Teta- they had been victims of Algus's senseless prejudice
against those of lower standing.  They had been worthless to him.
	Delita Hyral, Teta's brother, voiced my thoughts simply.
	"Bastard!" he roared, unleashing all his fury verbally on Algus.
	I was dimly aware that Zalbag comissioned Algus to fire again, this time at
Golagros, who had held Teta hostage.  He hadn't intended her death at all,
though.  He was a mere pawn in Wiegraf and, once, Miluda's master game plan,
so to speak.  The arrow hit just off its mark, and struck Golagros in the
shoulder.  He dropped to a sitting position and backed into the fort.  Algus,
my brother Zalbag, and their soldiers stood on a snow-covered stone structure
parched alongside one side of the fort's arms and powder building, the
smaller of the two, connected to the main building by a bridge- the bridge
that Teta had died on, the bridge that now saw Golagros crawling into the
shadows of the entryway to the main building.
	Zalbag, my own brother!
	Algus had acted of his own accord when he shot Teta, but Zalbag had asked
him to shoot Golagros and hadn't reprimanded him in the least after that
first action.  They conversed between themselves briefly, though keeping
steady eyes on myself, Delita, and Parker, the Wizard behind me, almost
daring us to act first.  That would be unwise- five knights, three with Igros
emblems on their capes and two with Limberry symbols, stood behind the two
men.
	So,  I thought, we're pretty much sunk.
	We were blessed with a little bit of luck, however, when the topic of their
conversation came to light and caused a change in the odds, in our favor.
	"I and my troops will handle the others,"  Zalbag said, and waved his
knights over to him with his hand.  They disappeared into the swirling snow. 
So the Hokuten must have shown up, and now we were facing three on three
odds- much better.  It would become five on three when Kaplan and Alyss, also
cadets from Gariland, and a Knight and White Mage / Priest, respectively,
came around the side of the fort, which they were about to do.
	"Ramza,"  Parker said in a whisper behind Delita and I, " I can sense others
here-"
	The premonition was justified.  Another knight appeared from the door to the
arms cache, which we were opposite, and rappeled down from the bridge on a
grappeling hook.  A pair of young women- Wizards, as evidented by their
distinctive garb- appeared from the swirling snow surrounding Fort Zeakden
and took up positions behind Algus.  The odds were once again tipped in the
opposition's favor.  Great.
	Delita charged with a battle cry at Algus, wielding his scimitar.  I
approached one of the enemy knights, drawing my sword from the sheath at my
side.  He made a quick thrust that I blocked with my shield, and I quickly
retaliated with an overhead slash of my own.  It struck the front of his
armor and left a pock mark.  We fought for a few more minutes without any
blows landing, until he kicked me square in the stomach,  knocking the wind
out of me and propelling me backwards onto the snow.  He held his sword high
over his head when-
	Lightning flashed from Parker's fingertips, and erupted at the other knight
in a seething electrical storm, knocking him unconscious.  I turned to see
how Delita was faring, and saw that Algus had resorted to sniping from the
bridge as Delita tried to handle the two other knights.  Determined to help-
he would need it- I leapt atop the stone structure and slashed into one of
the knights' backs.  His armor absorbed the blow, but he turned to face me
rather than helping the other double-team Delita, and that's what I'd
intended.  So what now?
	Kaplan and Alyss hadn't shown up yet.  Had something happened?

	At the moment, the two of which Ramza had spoken were huddled up in a small
alcove at the opposite corner of the fort, watching flames stream past
outside.
	One of the Wizards' voices came.  "Algus would have given us the signal by
now if they had come his way.  They're around here."
	The fire spell receded, leaving a trail of bare flagstones in its wake,
which the falling snow began to cover again.  Kaplan was cold, tired, and had
a burn on the left side of his face.  He'd told Alyss not to worry about it,
that she shouldn't waste her magical power on it, but to say that it didn't
sting like hell would be inaccurate.  The warmth of their bodies in the small
space wasn't enough to penetrate the chill winds that whipped around the
fort.
	The other Wizard spoke.  "They could be on the other side of the fort."
	"No," was the other's curt reply.  "Algus saw them coming before the snow
started- they were at the windmill shed a few klicks away-  and they all came
from one direction.  Besides, the footprints stop here."
	"So maybe you shouldn't have cast the fire spell!"  the first retorted.
	"They would be in ambush position whether we could see tracks or not," said
the second.
	Alyss's grip on him in the tiny space tightened.  Pleasant sensation
actually.... ah, forget that.  That could wait for later.... they had a job
to do now.  Ramza would be counting on them.
	The footsteps came closer, and the snow began to glow with a green tint
under Kaplan's feet.  Th0ey knew exactly what that meant and it wasn't the
best thing that could have occured right then; he'd been targeted with a
spell.  The air hummed with energy a few meters around the bend, and the
Wizard's voice came again.
	"Fire 2!"
	Flames descended from the sky towards Kaplan.  His mind ran through the
possibilities of what he could do now in an instant, and something came to
mind suddenly.  He did something he would have bet neither of the Wizards had
expected.
	Specifically, he ran around the corner and tackled one- the spellcaster-
knocking them both to the ground.  She- it was  a female then after all; the
robes muffled Wizards' voices and sometimes made it difficult to tell- let
out a cry of surprise which turned into a scream as the flames engulfed them
both.  Kaplan's tall, lean frame took the punishment much better than the
Wizard was able to.  Kaplan rose to his feet; she lay on the ground,
unmoving.
	Now there was the matter of the other Wizard.  She looked terrified, but she
didn't move at all.  She didn't even reach to her side to get her rod.
	Alyss came around the corner.  "Training in Time Magic seems to have been a
good idea after all," she said.  Come to think of it, Kaplan had heard her
voice saying something as he made his brief charge- "Don't Move"?  Ah....
	"I don't want to kill anyone that can't defend themself," Kaplan said,
regarding the paralyzed Wizard.  "I'll leave that to.... did you say ALGUS?!"
	Blood had pooled on the snow near them.  Kaplan looked for the source and
saw the bridge above.  On it lay Delita's sister, Teta, unconscious.  No,
more than unconscious- there was an arrow lodged deep into her body directly
in between her breasts.
	Kaplan muttered angrily to himself.  "High-class arrogant Limberry son of
a...." and so on.  Then to the Wizard,  "I'm not going to kill you.  But when
you wake up, don't bother putting a flower on Algus's grave."  With that, he
hit her over the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking her unconscious. 
It was war again....

	Dark blood- some of it my own- stained my cadet's uniform.  An enemy knight
lay fallen in the snow behind me.  Delita had almost finished with his own
opponet when the sharp twang  of a crossbow firing split the air, and an
arrow struck Delita in the shoulder.  He dropped to his knees, giving one
last mournful glance up at the Limberry Knight,  who drew his sword and
prepared for the final blow.
	I wasn't just going to stand there.  A spell had knocked some flagstones
loose nearby;  I picked one up, cocked, and threw.  The Knight fell just
before the deathblow landed.  Algus looked as shocked as I'd ever seen anyone
look, but it didn't deter him in the least.  He wheeled and fired, and
suddenly there was a stabbing pain in my chest.  I fell to the ground, and
pulled the arrow out.  Thank God it wasn't barbed.... cadets had to deal with
pain, but that would have been something else entirely....
	The shot had weakened me more than I would have liked.  Parker lay wounded
and unmoving on the ground at the corner of the fort.  Delita was going to be
finishing this one on his own;  maybe that's how he would have wanted it. 
I'll never know.	
	Algus was at an immediate disadvantage.  His crossbow was fine for the
honorless sniping to which he was accustomed, but in hand-to-hand combat, it
wasn't much.  He did have the advantage that it was effective while he was
running away  from the target, and Algus proceeded to retreat up to the
bridge, taking random shots at Delita.  His shield deflected a few; others
missed entirely;  one struck him a glancing blow on his shoulder, leaving a
small chink in his bronze armor.  Algus saw that his crossbow would do no
more good as Delita leapt up the stack of arms crates to the bridge, and drew
his sword from its sheath at his side.
	Delita thrust at Algus, who parried the attack cleanly and retaliated with
an overhead slash.  Delita's shield absorbed the brunt of the blow, but he
was knocked off balance.  Algus thrust at him in turn. and the blade cut into
Delita's abdomen.
	"It's over," Algus said.  "You can't win."
	Algus gripped Delita's collar, pulled the sword out, and prepared for one
final, massive overhead slash.  I sat there, helpless to do anything-
	-and then Algus discovered the concpet of poetic justice as he tripped back
wards over Teta's prone body, cursing as he went down.  Delita held his sword
high over his opponet.
	"I could kill you now,"  Delita said.  "But I won't bring myself down to
your level.  Get up and let's finish this cleanly."
	It was like watching a melodrama....
	Algus tripped Delita, who went down.  Again the Limberry Knight prepared for
the killing blow....
	.... but this time it was Delita who stopped him, with a slash that hit
Algus in the side, eliciting a scream, and sent him toppling over the edge of
the bridge.  He lay face down in the snow, clearly dead.
	I found the strength to stand up now, just as Kaplan and Alyss came around
the corner of the fort.  Delita picked up his sister's body and held her in
his arms, simply standing there, as if ignoring the passage of time around
him....
	"Delita!"  I yelled.  "The powder dump!  It's full, like Golagros said, and
Algus may have it set to go off when-"
	The entire wall of the powder dump exploded.  I shielded my eyes.  Delita
stood motionless.  The whole building then erupted, and explosions began to
sound inside the fort before it too erupted in a cloud of flame.  Nothing
could have survived that.  Nothing was left.
	The burning fort looked like a massive funeral pyre now, sending a trail of
flame up into the night....

	It was a month later.  I hadn't been able to find Delita's body.  All of the
other team members were okay, but there wasn't much left for any of us in
life.  Well, except Kaplan and Alyss.... hmm.  They thought they might settle
down eventually if nothing happened.  Things happened.
	In the past month, Parker had gone back to Gariland for some rudimentary
training in Time Magic.  I asked him if he was going to become a Time Mage,
but he stated simply that his skills were better suited to being a Wizard for
the moment.  I had a lot of anger towards Zalbag to work out, and I don't
know even now what's up with Dycedarg.  Zalbag knew he was only myself and
Dycedarg's half-brother,  not an entirely legitimate son, and had some things
to work out towards the world.  Dycedarg was always nicer to me, but he seems
a bit removed.  However it turned out, I didn't want to be associated with
Zalbag anymore,  and I didn't want Elmdor's mercenaries out looking for
someone who helped defeat one of his top Knights, so I changed my last name
to Ruglia.  I got rid of the tunic with the Beoulve crest on it and got a
nice set of plate mail and a better sword and shield,  and started wearing my
hair shorter, without a ponytail.
	Mercenary work isn't hard to find in Ivalice.  The bars in the sleazy part
of Gariland and Igros (and anywhere in Dorter) are overflowing with cheap
ale, prostitution, and mercenary work (as Kaplan put it,  "Which kind of go
together as far as Wiegraf and some other people are concerned.")  Our most
reliable source of information, though, was the bar in uptown Gariland where
I'd worked for a little while to help pay college fees.  Yes, I may be a
Beoulve, but even then I didn't like to make a point of saying it-if I had,I
would never have felt like a normal person- and having a totally independent
source of income from outside the city would mark me as nobility.  I knew the
barkeeper there pretty well, and checked by every couple of days.
	The first time we got lucky was on April 25, about two and a half months
after the destruction of Fort Zeakden.  Apparently this guy had been there
and had talked to Goloagros just minutes before he detonated the powder
cache.  (Funny, I'd thought the whole time that Algus had put one of his
"animals" in there to set it off at his command, or if word of his death
arrived.  The Limberry Knight wouldn't have missed whoever it was anyway.  I
sure didn't miss him. )    He said that some of the people who had been under
Algus's command, but not at Fort Zeakden, had become mercenaries and he
suspected their group was involved in some raids on the Goug Trading
Company's caravans.  The small, formerly local (to Goug at least) business
was able to stand as a serious competitor to the Bart company only because
they had guns- weapons that were like miniature cannons you held in your own
hands- which were in increasingly great demand by armies and militias. 
Interesting....  I wouldn't think anyone  would try to compete with Rudvich,
but someone had.  Anyway, their caravans were being attacked, and this guy
just wanted us to go along with the next one and ward off any dangers.  It
was headed from Goug to Dorter....
	The first sign of anything that could possibly be out of place is that we
managed to attract the attention of a group of Morbols- big green mouths with
razor-sharp teeth and strange tentacular appendages- going past Bariaus Hill.
 There was nothing particularly odd about the Morbols themselves, it was
simply that the nearest Morbols to Bariaus Hill are normally in Zigolis
Swamp, or Araguay Woods.  In fact, I wasn't even aware that Morbols could
live in direct sunlight for more than a few minutes, and I was about to
mention this when someone screamed.
	"Help!  It's got me!"
	One of the Morbols had knocked down someone in the back wagon and was
attacking him.... no, licking  him.  We all laughed a little at his expense,
until a blue glow suddenly enveloped the Morbol and just as quickly faded
away.
	My blood ran cold.  Morbols didn't  cast their own MBarrier spells.  These
were here for a reason.
	Five more of them descended with sharp hisses on the carts, tentacles
waving, razorlike teeth gnashing incessantly.  Drops of thick saliva dripped
from their mouths, flying around a bit as their jaws opened and closed.  They
advanced slowly, trapping us in the middle.  Not the best situation.  Ingram,
our Chemist, crawled into one of the wagons.  What did he expect to do from
there?
	Kaplan had snuck up behind one of the creatures and now he thrust his sword
into the mass of waving tentacles that it used for a back.  Its roar whipped
them all into a mad rage as each charged at the nearest human to itself.  One
of them picked me- that's when I decided that Morbols probably possessed
enough intelligence to identify weapons- and charged, tentacles waving.  I
ducked to the side at the last second and slashed in a diagonal arc at it,
tearing a rend in the green flesh.  That angered it and it whipped its
tentacles around, knocking me down.  Ohgod-
	The thing's teeth tore into my leg as I tried to roll away.  A slash over
the head convinced it to relax its jaws, and I lunged into it and stabbed my
sword as deep inside it as I could.  With a last scream, its smell worsened
and dark blood hit me in a small flood from its mouth.  That was the kind of
thing I would never have done to a human, but killing an attacking beast
actually gave me kind of a grim satisfaction; something mercenary work
cultivates, I guess.
	I turned to see how the others were faring.  It looked like Kaplan had been
done with his problem for a while,  and was now helping Alyss deal with the
Morbol nearest her.  As a Priest, she really wasn't a fighter, and didn't try
to be-  which was fortunate, she probably would have gotten killed by now. 
Nothing personal, but that's not her job!  Anyway, there was kind of a smell
of burned meat over from Parker's corner of the rocky hill, and when I turned
I saw a column of thick, black, greasy smoke rising into the
otherwise-pristine air behind him.  A Morbol charged at Parker- and was cut
off halfway as the Wizard simply pointed his figer and the creature exploded
into flames.  Another plume of greasy black smoke rose into the air.  Ah....
	"Wait a minute,"  I said to the others.  "I thought there were six of them."
	A deafening roar sounded as the sixth began to run (well, not exactly, a
Morbol can't really run- you know what I mean!) headlong at one of the
merchants, who had turned his back.  That was a mistake he might never make
again- and regret at doing it looked as if it was about to be his last
thought, when a piercing thunderclap-like sound erupted from the back of the
wagon that Ingram had fled into.  The Morbol died instantly, and as I looked
I saw a hole from what must have been a bullet in its back.  Ingram stood
there, holding one of the Romanda Guns from the shipment.  Very well done.  
	"Nice shot."
	My eyes were drawn to the wound the Morbol had suffered, and something
registered on me- next to the bullet hole there was a small crescent moon
tattoo.
	Alyss helped heal everyone's wounds before we proceeded forward.  We got to
Zaland in a day, easy, and rested for a while before heading to Zirekile
Falls.  As it turned out, it was a rather uneventful trip, except for a
little Chocobo hunt;  someone back in Zaland had offered us money for the
pelts, and I took them up on the offer, sending the two people they had sent
with us back to Zaland with the pelts.  They said it would be credited to my
account in Dorter, which I'd thought to open before heading on the trip.  Ah,
foresight.
	Araguay Woods, however, was a different story.  The first sign that
something was wrong was when we saw the Bull Demons.  I wasn't aware they
came any closer to Dorter than Bariaus Hill, which led me to suspect the
involvement of whatever force had been behind the Morbols' MBarrier spells. 
That suspicion was reaffirmed after we'd warded them off (read as:  killed
them) and I noticed something interesting on the right legs of both of them:
brands.  A crescent moon symbol.
	The shipment arrived in Dorter on time, and we replenished our supplies with
some help from the 8000 gil credit to my account, and the 10000 payment for
the job.  Dorter didn't seem to deal in Romanda Guns, and the merchants
hadn't let us keep any.  Less than entirely charitable people, apparently.

	The next several months went by in our routine, looking for mercenary jobs,
finding mercenary jobs, and carrying out mercenary jobs.  We saw the crescent
moon several more times; rumors were spreading.  The leader was someone named
Izlude, a name I hadn't heard before.  One thing was becoming clear- it
wasn't happening by accident anymore.  Someone in Crescentmoon (which was
what they were being referred to commonly now) had it in for us, for some
reason; the number of times we ran into people or monsters with the crescent
moon on their clothes or tattooed on their bodies (respectively, except for
one Archer we met up with, but I won't talk about her) was rapidly
increasing.  It seemed like we couldn't finish a mission without them in the
way.
	Then things changed.  It was February 8th, two days before the one-year
anniversary of the tragic encounter at Fort Zeakden, when an anonymous source
indicated that Princess Ovelia's procession might be attacked on its way
through Gariland.  How interesting.  Someone knows that Crescentmoon or Death
Corps is going to attempt regicide, but they'd rather alert mercenaries than
the government?  That was a new twist, and as far as my team was concerned it
was one worth checking out.  After making preparations, we went out to
Gariland to watch the procession pass through town.

	Seeing the Military Academy again brought back memories.  Not all of them
were pleasant memories; actually, the majority of them weren't.  We worked
hard there- the unofficial motto was "Education and Expertise," and then the
even less official ending added by a student whose name is lost to the winds
of time (actually, I think it was Elizia, who had been training to be an
Archer:)  " -but if it comes down to the two,  we would really prefer you
just be able to knock someone's head in.  You are grunts you know."  Ah,
yes....
	The procession was in the grand royal fashion, a sharp contrast to the dusty
streets through which it paraded.  Trumpeters, confetti, drummers, and
cheering completed the picture.  I noticed, however, that no one seemed to be
guarding the princess from attack.  Maybe they'd had something else of
pressing importance to deal with, and Izlude had found out and planned his
attack?
	And there I went, assuming that Crescentmoon was behind it.  They didn't
attack nobility, unles of course they'd discovered my real heritage, but that
seemed unlikely.  These days, though, it seemed like everyone had a bone to
pick in some way or another with the Atkaschas.  
	Ovelia was waving and smiling, and for the first time I really looked at
her.  She looked to be about my age, and had long, flowing brown hair that
almost reached her waist in back.  She wore a white dress and a red, regal
cloak.  Actually, she was kind of attractive, though not in the way that
nobles generally are, but in a more quiet, reserved way....
	A crossbow bolt split the air, heading towards Ovelia, and a robed stranger
whose gender I couldn't easily determine jumped in its way.  The arrow
clanged  off armor concealed by the shapeless robe, and the figure threw it
off to reveal the visage of a woman with long blonde hair, clad in a blue
uniform and silver armor.  She drew her weapon, a longsword, from its sheath
at her side and looked around wildly, attempting to find the source of the
attack.  A man in the crowd tossed aside a similar robe to reveal old, bronze
armor that looked like it had seen more battles than its lifespan initially
intended and a wicked-looking sword that he brandished menacingly.  The
helmet's faceplate was gone and I could see his face- the guy looked like he
was in his sixties.  Was this some kind of joke....?
	And then I realized- I've got a piece of this too!  Pushing through the
crowd, I drew my sword and prepared to attack.  The perpetrators of the
attack were identified now, and they wore the Death Corps green- with
Crescentmoon symbols?!
	A Knight was among the attackers, and he approached me now.  I struck first,
but he blocked the attack.  We began and continued a rapid series of slashes,
thrusts, parries, blocks, and dodges until a hail of magical blasts began
bombarding the area.  This was a larger-scale operation than I'd thought,
apparently, if they had Wizards. The fast-paced exchange of blows continued
until I finally got in a good slash that toppled the enemy knight.  I ran
into the fray, joining the man and woman in warding off attacks from all
sides that were intended for Princess Ovelia.
	"Kid!"  the man yelled.  "What in God's name-"
	"Kid?!  I'm legal age.... and I'm saving your butt, alright?!" was my reply.
	It was coming in from every direction now, and there were some others that
seemed to be fighting on our side.  Things were getting hectic now, and I was
taking some hits.  Still we managed to fight on.  Then there was the sound of
someone cursing in the background and a small stone bounced through the crowd
to my feet.  I picked it up, warding off a blow with by shield, and struck
back at the attacker.  There was a scream, and I felt a little nauseous for a
few moments.  The smell, the sights and sounds of death were all around. 
Then, there was a scream that sounded like Ovelia's.  Cliche, yes, but
something was going on!  I	turned to see a Knight, more heavily armored than
the others, with dark brown hair and a lean build holding a knife to Ovelia's
throat, a sharp contrast to Wiegraf's blonde hair and muscular build.  I
would guess that this kinght was Izlude.  And behind him stood-
	-Wiegraf?  The leader of Death Corps was making no move to attack Izlude. 
Then it occured to me.
	"Wiegraf!"  I said.  "So Crescentmoon is a front for Death Corps, hmm?  Or
at least, it was.  I doubt that it'll be worth having a dummy for you to work
through now that the secret's out."
	"I recognize you,"  Wiegraf said.  "You were at Dorter, and then again at
the Sand Rat Cellar.  And Zeakden, I suppose.  Now, Izlude...?"
	"Alright, this is simple,"  Izlude said.  "Throw me the stone, and Ovelia
lives.  She comes with us, but she lives."  I knew what that meant.  Ovelia's
expression suggested she wasn't enturely pleased atthe thought either.  "Take
a step forward though, and we follow through with our original course of
action."
	I thought for a moment.  Wiegraf was smart, Izlude seemed to be, too, and he
knew exactly what he was doing.  How could I turn this to my advantage?  I
looked again at the stone.  It had a symbol that Ididn't initially recognize
engraved on it,  until some elements from history class and reading about the
Zodiac Braves came back to me, and I identified the symbol as that of the
Aries Zodiac Sign.
	And then, looking at the stone, it occurred to me.  I did know how to throw
rocks, after all.
	"Here you go," I said, preparing to toss the rock to him.
	I cocked back, and threw it as hard as I could.  The impromptu fastball
struck a surprised Izlude on the forehead, and knocked him over- right into
the older, bronze-clad knight's waiting blade.  The result was sickening as
the Knight was impaled through his abdomen.  The rock bounced into Wiegraf's
outstretched hand, and deciding that he wasn't going to win this one,  and
thinking that Izlude was dead, Wiegraf teleported away, leaving only a bright
white glimmer that lingered in the air for a few seconds.  He did know some
magic, as I had seen when we first fought on the Fovoham Plains and he had
teleported away there too.
	And then an amazing thing happened.  Izlude pullled the blade out of his
body  and, holding its hilt, pushed the older knight away, knocking him to
the ground.
	"Nice try, but frankly, that didn't even sting very badly,"  said Izlude,
and then teleported away as well.
	The female knight turned to me.  "That was impressive.  Are you a
mercenary?"
	"Yes," I replied.  "I got an anonymous tip about this and thought I might
see what's going on."
	"And who's employing you?" she asked, an edge of distrust creeping into her
voice.
	"No one," I said earnestly.  "I came here to help.  You two did seem to have
your hands full."
	"Hmm," she said, and walked over to the older man.  They conversed for a few
minutes, and then she beckoned to me.
	"Well, Mr......"
	"Ruglia," I said.  "Ramza Ruglia, actually."
	"Ramza," she said.  That referral by my first name was my clue that
something good was about to happen.  "I'm Agrias Oaks, and this is my partner
Gaff Gafgarion.  Welcome to Princess Ovelia's guardian force.  You've earned
it."
	A new job.  A real job.  It was too good to be true.  But the real treat
came when I felt a light tap on my shoulder, and turned to see Ovelia
approaching.
	"Princess-!" I said, beginning to bow, but she cut me off.
	"Thanks for helping Agrias and Gafgarion back there.  That took a tremendous
amount of courage.  Ramza."
	She smiled and walked away.
	That was the best I'd felt in a long time. 

	"Dammit!" [Author's Note:  It's in the game....] cursed Izlude as he limped
into Riovanes Castle.  "I could kill Gafgarion with two slashes!  How could
he defeat me?"
	"Patience," Wiegraf replied.  "You should be glad to have survived,
actually.  Gustav died instantly of a similar wound."
	"Inflicted by you," Izlude said, acknowledging the other with a nod of his
head.  "And I don't miss him.  Death Corps is no place for rapists and serial
killers like him.  Maybe the Sand Rats have finished with his body by now. 
But on the task at hand, what's our next move?"
	"We just have to wait," replied Wiegraf.  "See what the Bart company is up
to, try to stir up conflict among the nobles.  With some luck...."  

	Lightning split the sky over Orbonne Monastery.  It looked like Goltana's
boys were here- or, if not, then somone who had it in for the royal family.
	"Oh God," Ovelia said softly, in a less-than-enitely-prayerful way.  Agrias
and Gafgarion's grim faces suggested that their feelings were the same. 
Elizia and Randal, Agrias' hired help, were suposed to be guarding the doors,
but rushed in to inform us of the present threat.  The inexperienced Knight
and Squire (respectively) had some things to learn about working in a
high-profile unit such as this one.  We would have heard them anyway.
	Rain spattered the flagstones as we pushed through the massive double doors.
 Our opponets- three Archers, a Knight, and a Chemist were waiting by the
small lake outside, in battle positions.  Their uniforms looked like Death
Corps salvage, probably to hide the true employer, except for the Knight. 
His cape was a regal white as opposed to the drab olive color of the Death
Corps uniforms.  I initially thought that he might be an Arc Knight, but he
just didn't radiate that aura that one of those warriors did.  Gafgarion
seemed to recognize him.
	"Lezales," he said.
	"Where's he from?"  I asked.
	"Merc," was Gafgarion's reply.  "I doubt you're willing to tell us who your
current employer is?"
	"No, I'm not," Lezales said in reply.  "Pity you'll never find out-"
	An arrow sang from the bow of one of the enemy Archers.  Gafgarion swatted
it aside like an errant fly with his blade, and charged at Lezales.  Agrias
and I entered the fray, but we had an advantage this time.  Lezlaes hadn't
brought any fighters with him, and as a result the Archers fell at our blades
rather easily.  I didn't like killing at all, not like Gafgarion, who seemed
to take a kind of vicious glee unbefitting his appearance with each deadly
blow.  I tried not to kill any of them, just injure them badly enough to
knock them unconscious.  Still, if it was me or them, and I had to act, it
was going to be them-
	A bullet from one of those hand-held cannons- guns, yeah, that's it,- caught
me in the arm.  The Chemist!  Death Corps?  No, that didn't sound right, but
whatever was going on was the least of my concerns compared to the bullet in
my arm!  I could drink a potion later, I guessed- and besides, it was my left
arm, and being right-handed, I was still able to fight.  We'd been trained
back at the Academy to defend with a weapon anyway.  I charged at the Chemist
and caught him completely off-balance, sending him spilling backwards.  He
raised his gun for a point-blank shot-
	-And I slashed down on him, cutting a gash in the front of his body.  So I'd
done it.  I had taken a life once again.
	"Master of all swords, cut energy!  Night Sword!"  came Gafgarion's voice.
	There was a tortured scream from Gafgarion's direction- that of Lezales. 
Gafgarion had run him through on his sword, and a peculiar ethereal red ichor
-definitely not blood- seemed to be draining from Lezales's body into
Gafgarion's.  Was that what he was doing?  Draining them?
	A glint of gold caught the corner of my eye.  Someone was taking Ovelia away
on a Chocobo!  I started to shout at him, but my voice caught in my throat as
I saw who it was.  He was wearing golden armor over a red jumpsuit now, but I
still recognized him with no trouble.
	"Delita?"
	
---------------------
	Author's Note:  Prepare for a post-Chapter 4 follow-up after I finish FF
Tactics.  At the end of my other fanfic, The War of the Magi,  there's also a
short bit that involves the FFTactics characters.  If Henry Jerng's
translation is right, then I could write a follow-up right now, but I want to
see the ending for myself.  If the translation is correct, Delita will get
what's coming to him, I assure you....
Matthew Schuele
2-10-98