Perditions Tale, Chapter 13: "Bridge to Destiny"
 

The morning sun rose in the distance, waking the group. Cesia woke up first, having not slept much all night. The group slowly yet surely packed up, mounted their well-rested horses, and got going on their way along the river to the brigde.

Before long, the group saw the bridge in the distance, complete with a handful of guards marching across it, and a closed gate just beyond the bridge, with more soldiers protecting it. The atmosphere of the area was was calm. It seemed the guards were oblivious to the coming danger of Cid's troops.

Cesia glanced back at the others, "Well, here goes nothing." She took a big sigh and tried to make herself look confident. They made there way onto the bridge, but before they got far, spear-toting guards stopped them.

"Halt, who are you what business do you have in Alba?" The guard looked at the group suspiciously.

"Hmm...well, we come to save you guys primarily. Other than that, I hear that Alba offers up a good time." Jude replied.

The guard looked at Jude suspiciously, tightening his grip on his weapon, "Save us? How would a small group such as yourselves save the kingdom of Alba? And from what, may I ask?"

"Well...yeah, we may look like not much, but we can fight ok...and havent you guys heard? You killed her dad, so Cid, he's a swell guy, decided to eradicate you guys. His army should be here soon...which is why we decided to help...although trust me, don't talk to the guy with the cat tail or the one with the strange tatoos..." Jude explained.

"Instead talk to the idiot who would kill an ally to impress a girl." Lynx finnaly woke up fully. "Of course they have heard the news of an Alban assassin killing the king, and they obviously know it's false." Then Lynx turned to the guard. "Just let us pass."

"Hey, I resent that...but yeah, Cid's hell bent on killing all you guys, then he'll probably do some other bad stuff, so we're just here to help out, since we all hate Cid, on account of him trying to kill us already."

<Great, we have two of our more eloquent speakers chatting with the boarder guard... we're doomed, although there could be worse speakers...> Vace thought. He approached the guard and said, "To decipher what he said, Cid, the ruler of a neighboring kingdom, has assasinated the rightful king and put himself in a position of power. He has blamed the incedent on the Kingdom of Alba, and has stirred up his people for war. Within a week, his army should be here, and we have come to aid your side in the coming fight."

The guard searched their faces for a hint of them lying, "We had heard rumors of what had happened, but we passed them off as just that, rumors. So you say they are true... please hold on for a second, I must inform the captain." And with that the guard disappeared behind the gate.

Before long, the captain emerged, he took a look at the group. "I'm not entirely sure I believe it's true yet, what exactly happened?"

Cesia took a deep breath, then assumed her most regal look, one that said she meant business, or at least she hoped it did. "I am sorry sir," She spoke loudly, "But we cannot stop to tell our tale for every person who demands it of us. We must speak to your king immediately."

The captain looked at Cesia for a second, then he turned and motioned that they open the gate on the other side, "I wish you safe passage, and godspeed. You will come upon the capital if you keep following the main road." Once the gates opened, the group moved quickly through them.

After the gates closed again behind them, Cesia released a deep breath, "How long do you think we'll have until Cid's troops get here?"

"Well, aparantly they don't even know that Cid is the new king and that they are to blame for the killing... If they don't even know this, I wouldn't be suprised if they haven't even started gathering their army... If they haven't, they're screwed."

"Not so much screwed as viciously gored, but that's only a side note. And might I suggest we get movin' fast? They'll need as much time as possible to prepare it seems."