[Chrono Trigger Novel - Episode 7] The Chamber of the Thorned Beast
The chancellor’s body swelled from within.
His back rose first, tearing through his clothes, and the black cords running beneath his skin became thick spines. His arms lengthened until they nearly touched the floor, while claws curved like sickles from the ends of his fingers. The bones of his face pushed forward into a pointed muzzle. Beard and hair disappeared beneath black fur.
His mouth was the last part of him to retain a human shape.
“Yakra.”
When the creature spoke its name, the voice filled the entire chamber.
The perfume vanished. In its place came the smells of an animal’s sweat, blood, and rotting flesh.
Crono released Frog’s arm and studied the floor.
A circular channel carved just inside the door was filled with black liquid. Small bubbles burst whenever slime dripping from Yakra’s body struck it. Three narrow runs of stone offered the only safe path toward the center. There was no need to test what lay between them.
Queen Leene had fallen a little outside the central circle. She remained tied to the chair, one leg dangerously close to the channel.
Frog’s gaze fixed on her.
Yakra noticed.
“Too late again.”
The creature lowered its body.
Crono shoved Frog aside.
Yakra launched himself forward. His massive body tore through the place where they had stood and struck the door. Stone shook and dust fell from the ceiling. One spine ripped Crono’s coat, but did not reach his skin.
Frog rolled with the fall and rose.
“The queen!” he shouted.
Crono was already running onto the central path.
Yakra turned at once despite the impact with the door. He was far faster on all fours. Before Crono could reach the queen, the beast tried to circle around on the path beside him.
Lucca’s shot struck the joint of its foreleg.
The creature tipped sideways. The projectile failed to pierce its thick hide, but it was enough to change the direction of the charge. Yakra planted one foot in the black liquid. Slime splashed without affecting him.
“His hide is too thick!” Lucca shouted as she loaded another shot.
“Aim for the joints or eyes!”
Frog blocked Yakra’s path. Rather than strike the spines directly, he moved along the creature’s flank. Whenever Yakra swung his claws, Frog withdrew to the edge of the stone, then cut at the inside of the leg after the attack passed.
The blade opened the skin, but the wound was shallow.
Yakra shook himself.
The spines along his back and shoulders swept in every direction. Frog recognized the danger and ducked. One spine passed through his cape and buried itself in the wall. Another shattered the corner of the pillar behind which Lucca had taken cover.
Crono reached the queen.
“The beast first. Do not concern yourself with me—”
Leene spoke, but Crono was already cutting the ropes binding the chair.
Metal fibers were woven through them, and they did not break at a single stroke. Crono worked his sword point into a gap and twisted. As soon as her hands were free, the queen began untying her own ankles.
Yakra saw them.
Ignoring Frog’s attack, the beast turned. Blood ran from the wound on its hind leg, but its speed did not diminish.
“Crono!” Lucca shouted.
There was no room to evade while carrying the queen. The central path was too narrow for two people to stand abreast. Black liquid lay behind them, and reaching the side path meant crossing the line of Yakra’s charge.
Crono helped the queen upright and put her behind him.
He gripped his sword in both hands.
Yakra came at them.
The stone trembled beneath Crono’s feet. There was no opening for a direct strike at the creature’s brow or shoulders. Trying to block the spines would break his body along with the sword.
Crono did not move until the last instant.
As Yakra planted his forefoot, Crono turned aside. He used his blade not to attack, but to wedge it at an angle between the creature’s ankle and the stone. The weighted foot slid along the back of the sword.
The huge body lost its balance.
Yakra left the central path and plunged one leg into the black channel. Liquid splashed, exposing the underside of his belly, where the skin was thin.
Frog did not waste the opening.
He leaped from the neighboring path and drove his sword down with both hands. The blade sank deep into Yakra’s side.
The monster roared and twisted.
Frog released the sword and sprang back. Had he held on, the spines would have pierced him. When Yakra rose, Frog’s blade remained embedded in the wound, trembling.
Claws swept toward the disarmed knight.
Crono redirected them with his sword. Though he guided the force sideways rather than meeting it head-on, his entire arm went numb. Yakra’s claws gouged a deep line through the stone floor.
“Take the queen toward the door!”
Lucca ran to Leene.
“But—”
“If you stay here, those two will keep looking at you before they look at him!”
Leene understood. Gripping Lucca’s arm, she moved along the narrow path. Whenever the black liquid boiled below, she raised the hem of her gown.
Yakra threw himself against the wall to dislodge Frog’s sword. Spines and hilt scraped sparks from stone. At the second impact, the weapon flew free and rolled across the floor.
When Frog moved toward it, Yakra blocked him with his body.
“The failed knight cannot even keep hold of his sword.”
The creature’s voice mingled an animal growl with a human sneer.
Frog lowered himself into a stance with empty hands.
Something older than anger showed in his face. No one knew what Yakra understood or from whom he had heard it. But this was not the first time Frog had been called a failed knight.
Crono glanced toward the fallen sword.
Yakra stood between them. A direct attempt to retrieve it would leave no escape from the creature’s claws.
Lucca seated the queen beside the door and opened her pack.
“Frog, keep your head down!”
She threw a small metal sphere.
It burst before Yakra’s face in a flare of blinding light and white smoke. The beast closed its eyes and shook itself. The spines along its back moved unpredictably, making any approach even more dangerous.
Frog lowered his head and felt along the floor with one hand.
Crono found the sword.
He put the point of his own blade beneath its handle and kicked upward with all his strength. The long sword spun into the air.
Frog reached out and caught it.
Their eyes met for an instant.
Nothing needed to be said.
Crono ran first toward Yakra’s front. As the smoke cleared, one of the beast’s eyes opened. Yakra swung at the closest enemy. Crono did not evade. He received the claw on his sword.
The metal screamed.
A crack appeared in the blade, and Crono’s boots slid backward on the stone. His heel reached the edge of the black channel. Clenching his teeth, he turned his wrists. He pushed Yakra’s claws upward and opened the creature’s chest from below.
“Now!”
Frog came in from the side.
His sword crossed Yakra’s belly. The wound split deep, and black blood poured out. The creature curled inward, then suddenly began to spin.
Spines swept through the room in a circle.
Frog ducked, but one pierced the armor at his shoulder. The impact knocked him to the floor. A spine grazing Crono’s side nearly sent him from the path. He stabbed his blade into a crack in the floor and held on.
Yakra bled, but did not fall.
The wound only made him more savage. Dropping onto all fours, he began running in a circle around the chamber. He did not distinguish between the narrow paths and the black channels as he gained speed along the wall. Whenever his spines scraped a pillar, pieces of stone flew.
Lucca stood between the queen and the room, tracking him with her barrel. He moved too quickly to aim.
“He’s going to charge again!”
Crono watched the creature’s movement.
It was not running blindly. Yakra was making an angle toward the door where the queen waited. He intended to pass the others and finish his original purpose.
Crono held out a hand to Frog.
When Frog rose, blood ran from his shoulder. The spine had penetrated the armor and torn deeply across his flesh, but he could still move the arm.
Crono pointed from Yakra to the central path. Then he crossed the image of Frog’s sword and his own.
Frog read the plan.
“You mean to choose his road for him?”
Crono nodded.
“We shall have one chance.”
They took positions on either side of the central path.
Seeing them, Lucca understood. She checked her ammunition. Only two shots remained.
Yakra turned.
He charged in a straight line toward Queen Leene.
Lucca fired the first shot.
It struck beside the creature’s left eye. Yakra’s head snapped to the right, but he did not slow.
The second shot struck the floor.
Stone burst immediately before Yakra’s forefoot. By instinct, the beast changed its step and turned toward the central path.
Crono and Frog moved together.
Their swords blocked Yakra from opposite directions. Rather than thrust forward, they crossed their blades and caught them beneath the creature’s neck. Yakra’s speed crashed against the strength of both men.
The swords bent almost to breaking.
Crono’s palm split open, and more blood poured from Frog’s wound. Neither retreated. Yakra’s forefeet left the stone and found empty air.
The huge body fell forward.
The crossed blades cut deep into the thin skin between chest and throat.
Yakra forced both swordsmen backward as he passed the central path. His head struck the pillar opposite, and several spines broke away and lodged in the wall. His body shuddered once.
Crono and Frog did not release their weapons.
When the creature twisted to rise, they pushed the blades deeper. Yakra’s claws scraped the floor, and black blood ran along the channels.
His final roar could not become speech.
Strength left the massive body.
The spines lowered one by one. Thick arms struck the floor. The animal breathing that had filled the chamber stopped.
Crono remained motionless for some time, his hands on the hilt.
Frog withdrew his sword first. Crono followed. A long crack ran along his blade. One more heavy impact would break it.
Supporting the queen, Lucca approached.
Leene stopped before Frog.
“Raise your head.”
Frog was kneeling on one knee.
“The sin of failing to protect Your Majesty—”
“You came to find me.”
Leene’s voice was weak but firm.
“Those who truly fail do not come. They hide because they fear what they have done.”
Frog could not lift his head.
“I was late.”
“But you came.”
The queen placed a hand on his bloodied shoulder.
“And I see you did not come alone.”
Frog looked at Crono and Lucca.
Closing the empty chamber of her launcher, Lucca said, “We weren’t exactly a team from the beginning.”
Crono sheathed his cracked sword.
While searching the room, Lucca noticed a strange chest behind the place where Yakra had stood. The wooden crate was as tall as a person and wrapped in several layers of chain. A faint knocking came from within.
All three raised their weapons at once.
“H-help me!”
A human voice came from inside.
Lucca placed her ear near the gaps between the chains.
“Who are you?”
“The chancellor of Guardia! The real chancellor!”
Frog broke the lock with his sword. When they opened the lid, a neatly bearded man lay folded inside, bound with rope. His face did not resemble the impostor Crono had met, but his clothing and royal seal were the same.
The moment he emerged, the man threw himself down before Leene.
“Your Majesty! You are safe!”
Leene gave a weary smile.
“I am glad to see you alive as well.”
The chancellor went pale at the sight of Yakra’s corpse.
“That monster stole my station and appearance. He meant to abduct the queen and direct every search away from this place. I cannot know how many orders and reports within the castle have been altered.”
Lucca looked at Crono.
Finding the queen would not have been easy even if Marle had never appeared. But the complete end of the search had given Yakra the time he needed. Marle’s erasure was the result of a single accident changing the direction of many events.
A metal bell rang outside the cathedral.
At first, they thought it another trap Yakra had left behind. Frog listened, then spoke.
“The signal of Guardia’s knights.”
The rescued soldiers had reached the castle.
Soon, many footsteps came through the corridor, along with voices calling for the queen. The door opened and the knights entered. At the sight of Yakra’s body and Leene alive, they fell silent before kneeling as one.
Leene ordered them to tend the wounded first.
She refused the hands offered to support her and remained beside Frog. But when the knights’ attention gathered on him, Frog stepped back. He seemed accustomed to gazes that mingled gratitude and suspicion.
Crono drew out the queen’s hairpin and offered it.
Leene received it and ran her thumb over the royal crest.
“You found this.”
She studied Crono’s red hair and unfamiliar clothes but did not ask who he was.
“Once we return to the castle, I can hear who you are and where you came from.”
She looked at each of the three.
“But there is something I must say first.”
The queen held the hairpin to her chest.
“Thank you.”
The words were simple. No one in the chamber heard them lightly.
Crono bowed in reply.
Blood from Yakra’s body filled the black channel. The blue flames in the chamber began to go out one by one. With his death, the mechanisms within the cathedral appeared to be losing their power.
Lucca brought out the Gate-tracking device.
The needle on its crystal panel swung wildly, then pointed in a single direction.
Guardia Castle.
“Crono.”
She showed him.
“The flow of time is changing.”
He looked east, toward the castle.
The chamber where Marle had vanished.
If history was returning to its original course, that was also the place where she was most likely to return.
Frog stayed beside the queen while the knights supported the wounded. Unlike when they entered, the three companions were no longer alone.
Still, Crono was the first to leave the cathedral.
Time, halted since the moment Marle’s hand disappeared, had begun to move again.
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