Of Sorcery and Strategy

A/N: To Cozman10- if you keep reading, I'll keep updating. Thanks for the positive feedback. Also, if the fights get too unbelievable, let me know and I'll try to fix it.

To OmegaSystems-I went back to chapter two to fix that dialogue problem. I only found two places near the end where I did that, and I fixed them. If there are other places that I missed, let me know and I'll change them. I also fix the arabic numeral problem.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem or any of the characters, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems do. All I own is the plot.

Chapter 3: The Revelation

The next day Mark and Lyn woke up early to make preparations. Mark noticed a problem almost immediately, and pointed it out to Lyn. "You have a nice place Lyn, but you live rather sparsely. There aren't enough supplies here for an extended trip for one person, let alone two. Our first stop should be the nearest city, where we can get supplies. After that, I suppose we'll head to Bern to find work."

Lyn nodded in agreement. "I've never seen the need for many supplies. I've lived on the move for six months, and it's easier to pack and go when one doesn't have much. I have a number of huts in different places, and I rotate between them to keep the bandits from finding me." She thought for a moment before continuing. "The nearest city would be Bulgar, which coincidentally is also Sacae's largest city. It would be the perfect place to get supplies. We should make a list of what we need beforehand."

Mark picked up where she left off. "We should also determine what we need most and what we just want, because we might not have the coin to buy it all. I only have one thousand gold on me."

Lyn took a moment to check on her own wealth. "I have five hundred gold, so that should be enough for the essentials. What exactly should we bring?"

Mark pulled out a pencil and a piece of paper. "Well, food, although we shouldn't buy too much of that. We'll hunt whenever we can, and just take non-perishable foods for when there is no game. We'll also need a map, warm clothes, spare weapons, and a tent or two. The tents we can do without if need be, but they'd be a big help in the rain. We have water canteens, but we might want to get spares of those as well. We'll need blankets to go with the tents, and perhaps a pot of some sort for cooking stew. Can you think of anything else?" While he was speaking, he was writing down on the paper what they would need. When they were done he put stars next to clothes and spare weapons, indicating they were the most important supplies the two would need to get.

Lyn shook her head. "You're the expert, so you would know better than I would. Still, I can't think of anything, except horses, which would make our journey go much faster." Mark pointed out the flaw in that. "I would love a pair of horses, but we only have one thousand five hundred gold total. That's not enough for one. We'd need four times that amount to get two, and then we'd have nothing left for the other supplies we need." Lyn looked somewhat sad at hearing she wouldn't be able to ride a horse. "Oh well. I've always wanted to ride a horse, but I guess it's not important. If we're getting most of our supplies at Bulgar, then what we have packed now should be enough." Mark agreed, and the two left her hut and set off.

"Which direction is Bulgar in, and how long will it take to get there?" Mark couldn't believe it had taken this long for him to think of those questions.

Lyn looked at a small map she was holding before replying "It's to the South, between here and Bern, if that's what you're wondering. It's maybe a seven hour walk from here."

"Well that seems reasonable," Mark concluded. Without further ado, he set off in the direction Lyn had indicated, and she was right on his heels. He set a rather fast pace, because he wanted to get there as soon as possible, with enough time left over after gathering supplies to get a head start on the long journey to Bern.

The two kept up conversation as they walked along, but they stayed away from sensitive subjects. Mark was careful not to ask Lyn anything he thought might remind her of her family. Lyn, however, was curious to know more about her new companion, and asked what his family thought of his adventures. Mark sighed before looking at her, and answered "My parents died when I was five. My father had been a servant of the state, and so the state forced another family to take me in when my parents died. The family was not happy about having another mouth to feed, and I had to earn my keep. When I was twelve, I left for the military academy, and I never looked back." Lyn didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything.

After that, the conversation stayed on safe topics. Mark told his story about the first time he tried to cast a fireball and incinerated his teacher's room. Lyn told the story of the first time she tried to ride a horse. She was seven, and the horsemaster of her village had a pony he thought she could learn nicely on. Mark was expecting the generic story where she tried to get on and then fell off, but it turned out her story was rather boring. She got up on the pony just fine, and stayed there just fine, because the pony wasn't moving. She was in the pony's stall, and it was eating hay. Mark decided Lyn wasn't a good storyteller.

They made it to Bulgar in six hours at the pace Mark set, and decided to split up to gather supplies. Mark got his own clothes, some extra food, spare weapons for himself, water canteens for both of them, and tents. Lyn got a map of the world to replace her map of Sacae, blankets for the two of them, her own clothes, spare weapons for herself, and a cooking pot. After two hours of shopping, the two met at a prearranged spot and prepared to start towards Bern.

While they were checking to make sure they had everything they needed, they were interrupted by a loud, male voice. "Sweet St. Elmine, milady, you are too beautiful to walk this earth!" The two looked up and saw a man in green armor carrying a lance and sitting astride a horse. He was obviously a knight, and he had what he probably thought was a charming smile on his face. Once Mark and Lyn realized he was talking to them, they reacted. Mark tried not to laugh at the rather pathetic pick-up line, while Lyn politely replied,

"I'm sorry sir, do we know each other?"

The knight puffed out his chest and replied "I'm sure I would remember so beautiful a face as yours, milady. I am Sain of Caelin. Please, fair angel, would you honor me with your name?"

Mark could see Lyn was starting to get annoyed. In fairness, he would probably be annoyed if someone called him a fair angel as well. He decided to intercede before the knight could dig himself into a deeper hole.

"Lyn we have everything we need. We can leave whenever you're ready." As he suspected, she was more than ready and grabbed his arm.

As she started dragging him away, the knight made a last ditch effort. "Wait, fair angel, please, I only wish to gaze upon your beauty."

Lyn started to walk faster, and the knight spurned his horse forward. Before Lyn could hurt the man, Mark turned her down an alley the man's horse couldn't follow. The two travelers ignored the man calling out behind them as they walked on. When he was out of earshot, Lyn turned to Mark and said "The nerve of that man. Are all knights of Caelin so disrespectful?" Mark shook his head.

"I doubt it, and if they are, it is probably because they do not see it as disrespect. Still, I'm glad the situation was diffused with no bloodshed." Lyn was still somewhat angry, because she whirled on Mark and poked him in the chest.

"Don't you start as well. I could have handled myself just fine." Mark was quick to explain himself

"It wasn't you I was worried about Lyn. Killing that guy would have caused more problems than it would have solved." Lyn blushed before turning and walking for the gate.

As they got there, they found the knight they had just gotten away from had taken up a post at the gate, and he had brought a friend with him. Mark looked around for another way out of the city, but the knight saw Lyn first. "Look Kent, there she is. Isn't she simply beautiful?"

The other knight was dressed in red armor. He carried a sword and lance, and looked as happy with his companion as Lyn was. "Sain, be quiet. We are here to complete a mission, and I will not allow you to jeopardize that."

Lyn and Mark had reached the two as they argued, and Lyn got angry all over again. "Move before I call the city guard!" The green knight looked shocked that 'his angel' would threaten him so, but the red knight apologized before moving his horse out of the way. Mark nodded at him.

"Thank you. I'm glad not all of Caelin's knights are like him," Lyn said while nodding her head at the man in green. Now he looked affronted.

"Hey. What's wrong with being like me? I am Sain the courageous of Caelin. I have bested whole armies with my lance alone. I am the right hand of the Marquess. I can juggle, I can pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time, I can-"

The other knight cut him off. "Sain shut up. They're gone." Sain looked up.

"What?" Sure enough, Mark and Lyn were already walking down the road. "But I hadn't even gotten to my intelligence yet."

Kent was beyond angry "You fool Sain! Can you think of nothing else?"

Sain was unapologetic. "Calm down, Kent, it was just a bit of fun. You have to admit, she was beautiful."

"She was also our mission, and thanks to you she's walking away." Sain stared at Kent before looking after the two figures in the distance.

"What makes you say that?"

Kent spoke slowly, to make sure Sain could understand. "Did you see her face. She was the spitting image of that portrait of her mother hanging in the castle. She's definitely who we're looking for." Sain looked at Kent for a moment longer, before the two turned their horses and followed the pair.

Meanwhile, Lyn had calmed down and she and Mark had fallen back into the easy rapport they had shared on the way to Bulgar. It lasted until Mark heard something behind him. He turned to examine the noise, but didn't see anything. Shrugging, he turned back and continued walking with Lyn, who hadn't noticed anything amiss. Seconds later, Mark heard it again. This time he stopped and turned around. He still couldn't see anything. Lyn noticed. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Mark was about to turn back around when he saw it. In the bushes, something glinted. He took a closer look, and could see the outline of a man carrying an axe. He looked around, and spotted two more. He turned back to Lyn and said "Run!" The two took off down the path, and heard shouts behind them as the men gave chase. Mark rounded a bend and skidded to a halt so fast that Lyn crashed into him. Only her light weight kept him from falling over.

In front of them was a deep, wide river. There was no bridge in sight. It would take a long time to ford, and by then the men behind them would have caught up. Mark didn't see any other options. "We'll have to fight our way out of this one." Lyn looked determined as she drew her sword and turned around. Mark did the same and saw five men coming at them. He must have missed two. The men charged forward and Mark spoke to Lyn quickly. "There are too many of them. Fall back to the river so they can't surround us. Focus on one while I keep the others at bay. Make a hole in their circle, and we head back to the city."

Before Lyn could respond, the men were upon them. Mark swung at one with his sword, and used magic to send a fireball at another. The first axeman dodged the sword, but the second wasn't fast enough and was incinerated by the fireball. Meanwhile, Lyn had taken the offensive with the first opponent to reach her. He thrust at her, but she dodged to the side and smoothly cut his throat. The other 3, seeing the numbers almost even, backed off. Unfortunately, they blocked the path, so Mark and Lyn would have to keep fighting.

One of them spoke. "Are you Lyndis, girl?" Lyn looked rather shocked at this. Mark looked at her, and realized he probably should have guessed that Lyn was short for something. Lyn wasn't answering, so Mark decided to do so for her.

"What if she is?"

"Then that's too bad, because she's a looker. But, the price on her head is worth more to me than a night with her body, so I'm afraid her looks are gonna go be wasted."

Mark decided to keep the man talking while he tried to find a way out of this mess. "What do you mean, price on her head?" As far as he knew, Lyn was no criminal, and she didn't seem like the type to make enemies. He dearly hoped she hadn't been playing him all this time, because he was really starting to like her. He gave her a sideways glance, and she was still staring at the man with her mouth open. He had the strangest feeling that she didn't know anything about the price on her head either.

The man shrugged and answered, "All I know is someone wants her dead and is offering to pay big money for it. From Caelin I think. I need the money, so I'm afraid that means she needs to die."

That brought Lyn out of her stupor. "Caelin! Mark, you don't think… those knights, they couldn't have…" Mark didn't think so.

"I doubt it. One, if they wanted to kill you, why didn't they do so the minute we were out of sight of the city? They had horses, we would never have been able to outrun them. Two, knights aren't paid that much. Where would they get the money to pay mercenaries? And three, they're coming this way now, and they look to be targeting our friends here."

Sure enough the knight in red ('Kent', Mark reminded himself) came up behind one of the brigands and said "That is correct. We mean you no harm." The brigands whipped around and gulped. They had gone from a five on two to a three on four, and they were surrounded.

The leader swallowed his fear and issued a challenge. "So be it. We'll take you all on, starting with the weakest first." He turned back to Lyn, raised his axe, and charged. Kent and Sain shouted and charged forward, but the other two bandits intercepted them. Kent drew his sword and impaled his bandit as his horse raced past, but Sain pulled his lance, thrust, and missed the bandit entirely. The bandit hooked his axe around the lance and pulled it out of Sain's grip. Before the bandit could capitalize on his advantage, his axe burned red and he dropped it to the ground. He turned to see Mark lowering his hand. He didn't notice as Sain pulled his sword and stabbed the man in the back.

Meanwhile, the opponent charging Lyn reached her and swung. Lyn, however, was angry at the bandit for inferring that she was weak. She dodged his swing and timed her own so that she struck his hand. He howled in pain and dropped his weapon. She brought her sword up underneath his throat.

Everything stopped. Kent and Sain looked ready to tell her to kill the bandit, while Mark looked ready to stop her. After a moment of looking at the bandit, she spoke. "I don't kill those who cannot defend themselves. Besides, I want you to rot in prison with the knowledge that you were defeated by a woman."

The bandit was tied up, and then Mark and Lyn turned to the two knights. Mark spoke first "I appreciate your aid, but there's no way you heard the sound of battle from the city and made it here that fast. You were following us. Why?" At this, Lyn looked ready to draw her sword, but Kent held up his hands in a gesture of peace.

"Milord, milady, I am sorry if my companion or I offended you earlier. As you seem to already know, we are knights of Caelin. We were sent to Sacae by our Marquess on a mission. Many years ago, the Marquess had a daughter named Madelyn." Mark caught Lyn's gasp at this. "She fell in love with a nomad from the plains, someone her father did not approve of. In order to be with this nomad, she was forced to run away from her home. The Marquess was incensed, and he disowned her. He put her out of his mind, until recently. He received word that his daughter had a child of her own, a girl named Lyndis. His heart had softened in his old age, and he wished a chance to make amends with his daughter and to see his granddaughter. He sent us to find her. I believe we have now."

Lyn was more astounded than when she heard there was a price on her head. "You, you mean I'm royalty? That can't be! I'm just, just Lyn. I'm not special."

Kent, however, wasn't having any of this. "There is a portrait of your mother in Castle Caelin. You look exactly like her. I have no doubt you are the Marquess's granddaughter."

Mark thought of something. "Wait. That bandit. He called you Lyndis. How many people knew that was your true name?"

"Only my mother and father. They were the only ones who called me that. I was Lyn to everyone else. So how did that bandit know my name?" Lyn asked.

Kent seemed mystified, but Sain had an answer. "Lundgren…" he growled. "The Marquess's brother. When the Lady Madelyn was disowned, he became the heir to the throne."

Mark picked up the thought from there. "But, with the Marquess confessing his desire to make amends with his daughter, Lundgren's position as heir is in jeopardy. But if the lady and her family are all dead, then his position is safe. It would explain the attack on Lyn's village, and the price on her head. If this is true, then Lyn isn't safe, and she won't be until Lundgren is removed. But she and I can't do that alone."

Kent straightened and responded. "Sain and I are sworn knights of Caelin. I do not doubt Lyn is the rightful heir to the throne. She has my allegiance." Sain nodded in agreement, and Mark turned to Lyn and said,

"Ready for your first job?"

A/N: Chapter three done. Let me know what you think.