A/N: Getting distracted with Final Fantasy and Okamiden. Now all I can think about is Black Mage using Fire Burst

Chapter 3: Team Building

We kept up our steady march toward Santaruz Castle to see Lord Helman. Rachel quickly dismounted and went for a walk. "I'm gonna have a look around. Adam, prepare the troops for battle, just in case." I nodded and started switching about weapons and vulneries. Rachel finished surveying the area, and on her way back, a green-haired Knight shouted to her, causing Hector and Eliwood to run over to her. "

You! You're the girl helping the Pharean whelp, aren't ye?" The knight asked in a thick Scottish accent. Rachel nodded. "And who are you?" The Knight laughed. "What good'll it do ye? You'll soon be worm's meat soon!" Hector growled. "My axe'll change your mind."

The knight laughed, sending chills down Rachel's spine. "We'll see if you can get to the castle! You think you have what it takes to make it to Lord Helman? Get'em boys!" The knight called as a multitude of sellswords appeared everywhere. She ran back with the Lords in tow. "Alright, let's make a new plan." Rachel said, out of breath.

I smiled. "I have an idea. Let's send the Pharaen knights over to the north to visit that village, and the rest of the army moves mouth toward the throne. We'll rout them between us." Rachel beamed. "Great idea! Go to it." She said, and Marcus and Lowen took off.

Rachel and I quickly ordered our units. Oswin and Bartre up front, since they had both close weapons as well as ranged attacks and could take a lot of hits. Hector and Rebecca in the middle, with Dorcas, Eliwood, and Mathew in the rear. Matthew ran to the front at certain points and silently lifted items from the pockets of enemies.

Matthew pointed out something to us. "I know that swordsman! Let me talk to him." I look at Matthew like he was crazy. "Are you sure?" He nodded. "Trust me." After a long look, I relented. "Alright fine. But if it fails, Rebecca's got orders to shoot to kill." Matthew ran off. "Noted."

The spy walked over to the swordsman with the Killing Edge. "Guy! Fancy running into you here!" Guy looked astonished. "Matthew? What are you doing here?" I didn't really follow what happened next, but Matthew somehow talked the swordsman, Guy, to join our party. He then somehow weaseled me out of 200 gold pieces.

Our pincer strategy was working, but before storming the castle, Rachel and I each visited a village nearby. Rachel's village had a merchant who ran out toward Calien, leaving her a torch. In the village I visited, a scary old woman tossed a live explosive landmine into my hands.

I gathered all our soldiers around the castle, and Hector quickly dispatched the lance-wielding knight. Rushing into the castle, we found a bleeding form of Marquess Santaruz. Apparently, the man who stabbed him lacks the simple ability of making a killing blow. With his dying breath, the Marquess told us to go to Laus, "Great, more walking." Rachel whispered sidelong to me.

That night, we kept up a forced march to Laus under Hector's urging. Rachel and I took turns staying awake while the other one of us slept on one of the horses. Rachel woke me up as we came upon the merchant from before being accosted by local bandits. I smiled at Rachel. "Blue Bomber?"

She smiled at me and nodded. "Blue Bomber."

Blue Bomber was a special battle plan we made up for fighting in the dark. Spread out to expand line of sight, then converge together on the stronghold of the enemy. (A/N: I do not recommend this strategy in actual gameplay this early in the game. There is a much later map where it will be helpful) Marcus had to pick up the merchant so he wouldn't get attacked, and Eliwood reached a local village that gave us five thousand gold pieces for defeating the bandits.

I was with Hector, Rebecca, and Lowen when we encountered the leader. He grinned lustily at Rebecca. "I didn't know you had such cute women with ya. Maybe we won't kill all of ya after all!" Hector charged forward, but was hit hard, since his axe was slow and lumbering compared to the bandit's sword. Luckily, Serra was able to heal up everyone as Lowen drove him back.

On Rachel's end, things were going much better. Marcus, Dorcas, and Bartre had seized the fortresses the reinforcements were coming out of, while picking off the horse archers with hand axes and javelins. Oswin and Eliwood were guarding the merchant on the central island, while Matthew and Guy scouted for any stragglers. Eventually, we managed to bring the boss down, and the bandits ordered a full-out retreat.

With that, we quickly lit torches around the perimeter of what would be our campsite, since everyone was too exhausted to go on. Rachel was a little disappointed we couldn't stop in and see Lady Lyndis, but we needed to help Eliwood first and formost. The merchant tried to introduce himself.

"Thank you for saving me! I'm-'

"We'll talk in the morning. Pitch your tent."

"But surely, you-"

"In the morning."

"But-"

I wheeled around to face him. "Do you have any idea how late it is? I have been up for days, travelling from Ostia to Santaruz, now I'm going back. Do not test me." He backed off and quietly set up his tent.

I was glad I got to share a tent with Rachel. Eliwood would spend hours speculating about his father. Hector snored. Matthew would have rifled through everything you own and learned your background before you even fell asleep. Oswin also snored, and Serra was…. Just Serra. I felt sorry for Rebecca. But Rachel and I got to reminisce about old times before we drifted off into the sweet embrace of sleep.

A/N: Wow, I'm tired. It is pretty late when I finally got around to writing this. Hopefully, this is long enough to meet standards.