[Chrono Trigger Novel - Episode 66] When the Wind Falls
The Nu's small hand stopped in front of the doll's face.
Marle lowered the cloth, exposing the headband beneath the red hair. In the dome's dim light, shadows made the eyes look closed. Lucca lifted the feet she was supporting.
The Nu stepped back.
“This will do.”
Marle wanted to hear it again. She wanted to ask how much those words promised. But the Nu turned into the room behind it. Its measured footsteps stopped. A metal panel clicked shut.
A blue doll emerged.
It had a rounded body and short limbs. At the doorway it rocked once, announced that it was beginning its task, and rose. It flew outside before Marle could lift her head. A second followed, then a third.
She touched the egg inside her clothes. Here was a doll with Crono's face, while three unfamiliar faces went ahead into the mountains. So many hands had already reached toward the thing they were trying to do.
The Nu returned.
“Those three will help you on the mountain.”
Lucca stopped writing. Something in the voice had changed. Its pauses were longer, like those in Belthasar's recordings.
“That concludes the work I left behind. I have one last request. Let this body rest. Press the switch on its stomach.”
Lucca knelt. A small projection lay beneath one short arm. She reached toward it and stopped.
“Will you be able to speak again?”
The Nu did not move. It only repeated the request. Lucca withdrew her hand and examined the seams, looking for something she might repair. Marle glanced at her bag, but it remained closed.
Magus stood by the empty workbench. He did not call the Nu's name.
Lucca wiped dust from its stomach with a dry cloth. She rested a fingertip on the exposed switch, waited, and pressed.
A low hum stopped.
Only then did Marle realize she had been hearing it all along. The Nu's arms sank a fraction, but its body did not tilt. Lucca paused with a hand ready to catch it. Then she folded the cloth and stood.
Marle had left a space for it to pass. She did not move aside now. There was no need.
They wrapped the thick cloth they had brought around their shoulders. Lucca secured the other doll in its covering and looked at Magus.
“If it's on my back, I can't reach my gun easily. You carry it.”
He turned without answering. Lucca laid the long bundle against his back and passed the straps beneath his shoulders, lifting the doll's feet clear of his stride. Marle tested a knot. Magus glanced back but did not tell her to stop.
“Pull here to release it,” Lucca said, pointing to the fastening at his side.
Outside, the mountain rose into the dark sky, white only at its crest. Lucca moved the Epoch to level ground below it. She began to climb toward the snow clouds, then turned back as the wind pushed harder against the hull. Marle got out looking for a way up on foot.
The snow caught at her knees from the first step.
After a few paces, wind jerked at her sleeve. She crouched, but it blew just as hard down there. Both feet slid. When she reached for the ground, ice beneath the snow threw her palm sideways.
Lucca caught her elbow. They skidded together until a rock stopped them. Magus braced himself with the shaft of his scythe held across the slope. His cloak battered the doll strapped to his back.
“There!”
Lucca pointed uphill.
One of the blue dolls stood in the snow. Marle waited for the wind to slacken before approaching. Its little face tilted up.
“Move when the wind falls. Shelter behind the trees when it rises.”
Branches reached out from where it stood. Marle recoiled. A trunk thick enough to shelter them had appeared. Rough bark pressed through her glove when she touched it. It had formed before her eyes, yet its roots held firmly in the slope.
The next gust came.
They pressed behind the tree. Facing the trunk, Marle inched her feet upward. It took constant effort simply not to move backward. A corner of cloth escaped from the bundle on Magus's back. Lucca tucked it beneath a strap.
The wind eased.
Lucca started to run, then looked at Marle. She nodded. They reached the next tree together. Their footprints vanished almost at once. Marle caught the trunk and gasped. The first tree blurred behind blown snow.
Even turning back would mean crossing the same wind.
She watched only the next tree, waiting for the roar beside her ear to thin. Lucca raised a hand and lowered it. This time, their feet moved almost together.
At the top of the slope, the wind dropped. Rocks sheltered both sides of the path. Marle bent over her knees. Her throat hurt. Lucca offered water, and she drank a little. Seeing her look at what remained, Lucca replaced the cap.
A dark shape sprang from beneath the snow.
Magus turned first. Two creatures rolled down the path and split apart at his feet. One leaped toward Marle. As she pushed it back with her bow, lightning spread above Magus's hand. The snow shone blue. Both creatures overturned. Small stones fell from the rocks overhead.
Dodging the stones, Lucca glanced at Magus. He was looking up as well. Marle felt for the egg before moving on.
A low cry came from the cave mouth.
She stopped with one foot raised. Wind would have made a continuous sound. This broke off and began again, joined by something scraping over stone.
She saw the spines first.
As the darkness moved, a rounded shell emerged beneath them. At its front, a mouth gaped. Wet flesh folded and opened. The low body dragged across the cave floor.
Marle's hand went cold. The creature in the palace had been far larger. That difference gave her no comfort. Staring into the mouth, she expected Lavos's light to widen again.
Lucca raised her gun.
Magus released the strap at his side. As he laid the doll in a recess, the creature surged forward. Lucca fired. The head dipped, and her bullet struck the lip of the shell instead.
A metallic note rang out.
All the spines shivered. Magus turned too late. Sharp things swept the cave. Marle covered her face and fell. Heat struck her shoulder and thigh at once. Countless impacts rattled against the rock behind them.
Lucca dropped to one knee. Blood dripped from her gun hand.
Marle crawled to her. The creature still blocked the way. She caught Lucca's wrist and gathered light, feeling her friend clench against the pain. The shallow wound bled more slowly. Lucca pulled a spine from her own shoulder.
Magus held his scythe low. A thin cut crossed his cheek. On the shell, the bullet had left little more than a mark.
“It didn't go through,” Lucca said.
The mouth opened again. Red light gathered within it. Marle threw herself aside as fire burst against the ground where she had been. Its glow swept over the covered doll.
Lightning gathered between Magus's fingers.
Lucca shook her head.
“You'll hit the shell too.”
He looked at her. Marle held her breath, afraid he would cast it anyway. The light dwindled. He adjusted his grip on the scythe.
Marle nocked an arrow and waited for the mouth to lift. To keep the vast mouth in the palace out of her mind, she pressed her fingers harder against the string. The edge of the flesh in front of her. Nothing else.
The arrow struck.
The creature shook its head. The shell remained quiet. Lucca waited before attacking again. When the mouth thrust forward, she sent a narrow flame into it. Its cry filled the cave.
No spines came.
“Only the front,” Lucca said.
Marle nodded and lowered her bow. If all three attacked, no one would tend the bleeding. She checked Lucca's arm again and reached toward Magus. He did not retreat as healing light passed across his cheek.
His scythe made no sweeping arc. When the mouth came out, he drew back the shaft and sent only the curved tip forward, hooking the side of the exposed flesh. The creature twisted. He bent his knees with it and pulled the blade clear before it struck the shell.
Lucca fired into the opening.
Heat burst at her feet. She retreated until her heel caught a stone. Marle braced her back. This time there was room to lower the muzzle. Lucca did not fire again until they had separated.
The creature crouched across their path. None of them rushed forward. Magus moved right; the mouth followed. Lucca shifted left on one knee. Between them, Marle steadied her breathing and gathered what warmth remained in her hands.
The scythe moved again.
Lucca's fire illuminated the mouth. Marle saw the flesh contract inside it. The creature heaved and collapsed. Its curved spines tilted sideways. As the hard shell cracked and crumbled, all three remained still.
The crying had stopped.
Lucca wiped the grip of her gun with a handkerchief. Marle approached the dead creature but could not retrieve her arrow. The broken shaft was lodged too deep. Eleven remained.
She returned to uncover the doll. The wall had stopped the flying spines. Its false face was unmarked. Her fingers shook as she tried to cover it again. Magus held down the opposite corner. With the cloth still, she could tie the knot.
Lucca bandaged their wounds. Marle watched the deeper passage. Snow reached farther into the cave, and a broad trail continued through it.
Magus took the doll onto his back again. Lucca tightened the straps.
“Can you go on?” she asked Marle.
Inside her glove, Marle bent her fingers one by one. When the last one moved, she set a foot in the snow ahead.
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