Jehanna Hall

Franz hated guard duty.

He missed out on the action. The terror. The [ifun[/i.

And most of all, he missed Amelia.

The Great Knight sighed. It was Seth's decision that he stay out of the fight; he had recently promoted classes, and needed to give lesser units more shots at experience. He had protested, but to no avail; Seth firmly stood his ground, and sadly, Eirika with him.

And the other thing that annoyed him was the fact that he was stationed alone. One thing he knew that the leaders understood was the ability he had to fend for himself, so here he stood, sad and alone.

He stood down the hall just outside of the entrance to the main room of the battle. By the sounds of it, it looked like the majority of fighting was over, and the army was probably trying to locate the Sacred Stone.

As he stood there, mounted on his horse, Franz began to feel warm.

"I'd…I'd like to just take a nap right here and n-n-now…" he said to himself, suppressing a huge yawn.

And before he knew it, he was out.

The thing that woke him up was the smoke.

It was everywhere. Franz, blinking hastily, attempted to peer through the haze. He could see five feet in front of him.

"Hel-!"

He attempted to shout, but he choked on the vile smog. Worrying intensely, he realized his mount was gone.

"H-hey!" He shouted. "A-anyone?!"

There was no answer except the now apparent crackling of flames.

[i"How am I going to get out of here?"[/i He thought wildly.

Starting to crawl, Franz began heading in the direction of what he thought was the exit. The flames were no doubt close now, and he often had to turn around when it became too intense.

When he finally reached the throne room, he thought he would die. Franz was no doubt heavily intoxicated, and wouldn't last much longer.

Crawling with the last of his strength, he realized that he was on grass. Trying to comprehend why there would be grass inside a building, he continued down the path.

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"Ah…you're not a member…but what the hell."

And before he knew it, he was suddenly dragged underground.

When he came to, Franz noticed that the smoke was gone. So were the flames. Instead, he was in a heavily perfumed one room area, with a trapdoor hanging above the bed where he lay.

"Hey, sleepy-head. Having a good time?" said a woman's voice.

Franz turned around. Beside him was a pretty, slender, red haired woman.

"Who…who're you?" was all he could ask.

"Haha…" laughed the woman in a silvery voice. "I'm Anna. Shopkeeper of this…secret shop." She giggled yet again.

Franz was bewildered. "How did you save me?"

Anna stopped laughing and became more serious. "I heard the fight above. A man named Rennac had visited me prior to it, and gave me some information about the sides. You're from Renais, aren't you?"

Franz shakily nodded. This experience was still pretty awkward to him.

"Anyway, after the fighting stopped, I heard men spilling buckets of oil all over the hall. I couldn't have revealed myself…just look for you." She then pointed to the other side of the room.

Franz gasped. Several weapons and rare items were stashed neatly in row. He himself would give anything to have one of those silver blades or killer lances or…

"Hey!" Anna's voice came crashing back down on him. "Don't even try to take anything. I'll have your head, trust me." she vowed. Franz then promised, but still was full of envy for the stock load of powerful items.

"Anyway, the fire's subsided. It's safe for you to go…" she then yanked on the chain hanging from the trapdoor, which immediately came down. Jehanna Hall, although burned badly, was still in one piece.

"Anna…thanks fro saving my life." Franz said, as he hopped off the bead and climbed the ladder upwards. The mystifying woman just smiled.

"Hey…after this war, I'll have a bunch of more things in stock…I'll even let you in for free…" she added.

"Yeah…thanks again." Franz stammered. He then closed the trapdoor shut behind him.

As he stood up, he realized the grass (now severely burnt) was just part of an inner garden enclosed by a roof. Windows were about, and after peering through one, Franz saw his mount and the rest of his army out near the entrance performing a roll call.

Franz started to run toward the entrance, now smoke free. His friends wouldn't believe the story he was about to tell them!