…Not much comment. Just that if you haven't seen the Terminator movies, watch them. At least the first two.

Oh, and continuity can be irritating at times.

Chapter 2: Capitulation

Cormag sat astride Genarog, watching with keen eyes trained to spot enemies from afar. Years of training and focus had honed his eyes to detect even the slightest movement, so of course he saw, with a fair degree of clarity, the battle raging below. He could even differentiate the Grad soldiers from the Renaitians. Despite this, he could not find the cyan hair he so desired to see, though not for the reason others might desire to see it.

While others might wish to see the cyan hair in the closeness of an embrace, Cormag wished to see it stained with the red of its owner's lifeblood. He could almost taste the justice about to be served.

And now he saw it.

Cormag watched intently as his new-found target dashed from foe to foe, coming out with mere scratches while her opponents fell with either gushing wounds or worse. He could believe now that she had massacred Port Kiris and killed Glen. That made the whole business of killing much easier.

With his mind at ease as to his target's utter guilt, Cormag nudged Genarog with his heels, and slapped his visor down, feeling the dark cut away his peripheral vision. With a highly intelligent flying dragon for a mount and partner, peripheral vision was a fair trade for protection.

As he descended, Cormag felt the wind bite through his eye-holes, and concentrated on the unsuspecting murderess below him. Quietly, he raised his lance, and looped his arm through Genarog's reins, allowing him to put both hands to his lance, an advantage he took. He watched his quarry as she dueled with a heavily armored infantryman, and steadied his lance to hit her cleanly through the back. He watched as, unsuspecting of the death flying down to her, she jabbed at the infantryman and dropped to the ground to dodge the counterstrike.

And, he realized, his strike as well.

The lance seemed to impact slowly, its tempered steel head tearing through the infantryman's shield and arm, punching into his chest in an unquestionably fatal blow. For a sliver of a moment, Cormag felt, in sequence, pride in his lethal skill, horror at killing his countryman, and terror as he realized that he was bound in Genarog's saddle, and his lance was bound in the man's armor. He was caught, and would have to release one way or another.

Knowing that he would regret either decision, he chose to remain on his mount, and let go of his lance. As Genarog descended the remaining 3 meters to the ground, Cormag guided the wyvern in a tight circle, landing only a few meters from Eirika. Cormag pulled a javelin out from the case beneath his leg, and held it low, ready to thrust. He nudged Genarog, and the wyvern hissed menacingly, causing Eirika to back away, slowly.

Ordinarily Cormag would not be so rash as to remove his armor in a battle, but he felt that Eirika only deserved to know that she was about to meet justice from the brother of the one she had killed so cold-heartedly. "I suppose you should know that I am not merely any wyvern soldier. I am a knight of the Empire of Grado. You killed my brother." He then removed his helmet, letting his visage sink into her vision before he added, almost as an afterthought, "Prepare to die."

As Genarog advanced ever so slowly, Cormag was halted as Eirika called out, "Wait! You remind me of someone…..Glen?"

Cormag was taken aback, and stopped Genarog. He did, however, manage to maintain his focused deadpan. "No. I am not Glen. You killed Glen, didn't you?" He wasn't exactly expecting her to admit to the act, but the way she acted might be just as plain an admission. If she delayed, or her tone wasn't quite right, that would indicate her guilt.

"I never raised my sword against him. I did see him, though. In the Carcino Mountains, but we never fought," the Renaitian noble replied evenly and with no indication of evasiveness. Cormag concealed his surprise at her apparent utter lack of guile, and attempted to suppress his growing dread at seeing a knight on a white horse ride up behind Eirika. He was none other than the legendary Silver Knight, the greatest knight in all of Renais. Funnily enough, Cormag didn't know the Silver Knight's actual name, but he knew the silvery blue armor well enough to know that it was, indeed, the legend who stood behind Eirika. If he were to involve himself in this, Cormag would never survive. He would have to be either very quick or very clever.

He never had the chance to be either, as the next words out of the Silver Knight's mouth stopped him dead in his tracks.

"What she says is true. Glen was an honorable man, and he let us go, saying he would inquire with the Emperor. We have not seen him since. I swear that this is true. Upon my honor as a Knight of Renais." Cormag's unconcealed and unfeigned surprise seemed to ask the Silver Knight to go on, and the knight was only too happy to oblige. "Who sent you? Valter? Why doesn't he come and face us himself?"

While what the knight said alone wouldn't have been enough to convince Cormag, it did make him think, if only for a moment. Cormag did have to admit that, as he now looked at Eirika, his initial impression of an invincible warrior was mistaken. He noticed tears and gouges in her armor, and a cut on her face that marred what Cormag imagined would be a very beautiful face indeed. Now that he looked, he could barely see a heartless killer. Now that he looked, he also noticed a pair of archers, longbows both trained upon him.

Cormag did what no knight should have to do, and what no knight "should" do, but what any intelligent person would do. He flipped the javelin into a throwable position in his hand, aimed, and threw it into the ground. Ignoring the shocked looks from the Princess and the Silver Knight, Cormag smoothly dismounted and approached Eirika slowly, his hands held at eye level and spread wide.

"I surrender." Cormag barely kept his voice from cracking, and probably not with total success. "I surrender!" He repeated, louder, as though they hadn't heard him. They certainly didn't act like they had. "Aren't you going to put me in irons, or something?"

"We don't have irons," replied the Silver Knight. "We never expected a voluntary surrender from any Grads." The Knight thought for a moment. "We can, however, keep you under guard. Understand that if you attempt to cause harm upon the Renaitian army, you will die."

Cormag could do naught else but nod assent. He had already sacrificed his honor in surrendering, he really didn't care if he died or not. Besides, he had a plan in place.