Well, here I am, more than a day late and way more than a dollar short. Hopefully this chapter will make up for last week's absence of an update, and I hope it's not too long, I couldn't find a good cut off point. Without further ado, here's chapter four.
Ike sat next to the bed, watching Soren's chest rise and fall as he struggled on through his shallow breathing. His mind, though, was back outside the castle, running through exactly what had happened to his friend.
Ike calmly exited the gates and headed for the trees, knowing that was probably where his friend had fled to. Hopefully this wouldn't take nearly as long as he thought it would. He pushed aside some foliage as he entered the undergrowth, calling Soren's name as he walked.
"Soren, you can come out, we need to talk," he said, stopping as his steel toed boot kicked something on the ground.
Ike bent, picking it up from the ground, his eyebrows coming together as he found himself looking at Soren's Rexbolt tome.
"Soren, seriously, where are you?" he called, tucking the tome into his belt as he pulled aside another low hanging branch, coming to a halt as he saw Soren on the ground in front of him.
He was face down, and as Ike turned him over he could see nothing wrong with him. As he bent over and rested his ear on his chest, his stomach lurched. Soren's heart was hardly beating, but the irregular rhythm was what worried him the most. He lifted his friend and threw him over his shoulder, making his way back to the castle as fast as he could, swing Ragnell from side to side as he cleared a path. When he reached the castle he ran up the stairs, taking a sharp left as he entered, remembering that Eliwood had said something about the dining hall being in that direction.
Lyn had jumped from her seat as the dining hall doors were kicked in and Ike entered, Soren draped over one shoulder.
"What happened?" she asked, rushing over and helping Ike lay him out on the table.
"I don't know," he answered, "I found him like this a short way into the forest. Something's wrong with his heart, is there a healer in the castle?"
Eliwood nodded and ran out the doors, returning a minute later with a dark-red haired girl. She wore a deep green dress and held a staff in one hand.
"Ike, this is Priscilla," he said, bringing the girl over to the table.
Ike acknowledged her with a nod. She looked laid back; he hoped she could handle this. As soon as she saw Soren she was at the table side, a look of concern spread over her soft features.
"What happened," she asked, in a more commanding tone than Ike had expected.
"I don't know, I found him like this," he answered.
Priscilla moved around so she was standing at Soren's head before raising her staff over him. As she closed her eyes the orb on the end of the staff began to glow and she placed one hand over Soren's face. After a few minutes, she dropped her hand back to her side, her expression now worried.
"I don't know what's wrong, it's like he's not even there," she said, "I'm sorry, I just don't know what to do."
"I do."
The group turned to see Ninian in the doorway, her gaze fixed on Soren. She made her way over to the table and looked down at him, her eyes moving up and down as she examined him.
"He's been drained," she said, turning her sorrowful gaze to Eliwood.
Eliwood took a step back as he looked down at the mage in front of him, "You don't mean…someone drained him of his quintessence?"
Ninian nodded, and placed both hands on either side of Soren's head, "Someone stole it from him…"
She trailed off as she closed her eyes, and her body shifted as an invisible force lifted her onto her toes, an aura surrounding her.
"Wait, Ninian, you're not feeling well," Eliwood said, "It might be too much."
"But nothing else will be enough," she said as her eyelids fluttered open, eyes flashing as she held the forces she had summoned at bay, "he won't make it through the night."
After a moment of pained indecision, Eliwood nodded and took a step back to watch. Ninian once again closed her eyes, and as she turned her face downward over Soren's there was a short series of flashes. At that, Ninian's hands dropped to her sides and she turned, her half lidded gaze wandering the room.
"It's done…" she murmured.
Eliwood stepped forward, catching her in his arms as she fell, and turned to the others.
"You can move him to Isadora and Harken's room…they're on business in Bern," he said as he strode out the door.
Ike threw Soren over his shoulder once again and looked at the others.
"Follow me," Priscilla said, "my room is next to Isadora's."
The small group followed them to the doorway, where they slowly dispersed, finally leaving just Ike and Priscilla to watch over the fallen mage…
And that's where they were still, hours afterward, watching as Soren's unconscious battle continued into the night and early morning hours. Ike could see the sun just beginning to peek over the distant horizon.
"I'm…sorry," Priscilla said, causing Ike to look up as she broke the silence that had spanned the last few hours.
"For what?" he asked.
"Not being able to help…I couldn't do anything for him," she said, "It was Ninian that had to save him."
Ike was quiet for a moment as he contemplated what to say before shrugging, "Don't let it bother you. It's not like you wouldn't have done something if you could, you just didn't know what happened."
"I'm sure it's easy to say that…but as a healer there's only one thing I do; I feel as though I was useless."
"You can't always know what's needed, and even when you do you can't always act on it," he said, "I may not be a healer, but I know that's one thing that we all deal with."
"I suppose…but he's your best friend, isn't he? I wanted to help…" she said, her tone saying Ike's words hadn't helped at all.
Ike sighed, "Priscilla, is it? My sister's a healer too, a very good one, and even she knows there are things that just can't be healed. When our father died, the only thing she wanted to do was wave a staff over him, have him leap back to his feet and tell us not to worry…and it took her a while to get over it, but she knows there was nothing she could have done."
Priscilla nodded, "Yes…you and your sister, you sound as if you're close."
"You're right, we are," he said, hoping a subject change would lighten the mood, "do you have any siblings?"
Priscilla's face darkened, and Ike mentally kicked himself.
"…yes," she said, haltingly, "but we don't talk often. He's distant, working as a mercenary. I rarely see him. It's not as if we have a bad relationship…it just that there's hardly a relationship at all. Tell me…what's it like being so close to her, your sister? Do you still fight, disappoint each other?"
"Well…yes, but we always tend to forget about it. There was that one time though…" Ike said, trailing off, thinking back to that dark, dark day in his family history.
"What happened?" Priscilla asked.
Ike leaned back in his chair with a groan, "She went and married my idiot of a best friend."
Ike smiled slightly as Priscilla broke into an infectious giggle, filling the room with laughter.
"You can't be serious, I thought you were going to say something awful," she said, a smile now gracing her features.
"If you knew him then you would realize that it was awful. I've got him for a brother-in-law now, and that's the worst thing she has ever done to me," he said with a laugh, "I forgave her eventually though."
"What's her name?" Priscilla asked, looking at Soren for a moment as he turned in his fitful sleep before growing still.
"Mist," he answered.
Priscilla didn't respond as the door opened, the two turning in their chairs to see who it was. Hector filled the doorframe, an axe over one shoulder.
"Hey Priscilla, Lucius just got in with Raven, thought you'd want to go say hello," he said, towering over her as he spoke.
Priscilla blinked, "Raven? I thought he wasn't due back until next month."
"Ha! So did Eliwood, should have seen the look on his face when Raven walked in and started laying into him about the last job he'd given him," he laughed.
"Oh. I suppose I should greet him and Lucius…it was nice talking with you, Ike," she said, heading for the door.
Ike said nothing as he watched her go; so much for lightening the mood.
"Hey, don't think you're off the hook," Hector said as Ike turned back to Soren, "twelve hours stuffed up in here is enough to drive anyone mad. Come on, we're going to have that spar."
"Someone has to watch Soren," Ike said.
"I will," Ninian said, stepping out from behind Hector's broad back, "you should go with Lord Hector."
Hector grimaced, "Ninian, what have I told you about addressing me? I thought we were friends."
"I'm sorry, but you've always been Lord Hector to me, it's not going to change," she said with a slight smile.
"Yeah yeah…" Hector grumbled, "so are you coming, Ike?"
Ike looked back at Soren. He really was itching to put himself to the test against someone like Hector, and Soren would probably be fine with Ninian. Not to mention the two would have plenty to talk about when he awoke…
"Sure," he said, hauling Ragnell up to his shoulder as he stood.
"Don't kill each other, I'm sure Soren will want to speak with you when he wakes up," Ninian said, her expression as serious as could be.
She closed the door as Hector waved her comment aside and headed off down the hallway, Ike at his side.
"Hector…is Ninian half dragon?" Ike asked, thinking back to their earlier discussion.
"No, she's all dragon. Both her and her brother. Why?" he replied.
"Just wondering…" Ike said, "She has a brother?"
"Yeah, his name's Nils, he's been gone for a while though, went back through the Dragon's Gate the last time it was opened," Hector answered, coming to a stop as they reached the training grounds, "Here we are."
Ike looked around the spacious area, the landscape was dotted with knights dashing back and forth on horses, as well as axe and swordsmen, training with one another as the sound of clashing weapons rose into the air. He followed Hector over to a clear area, stopping as the other man turned and drew a line in the dirt.
"Ready?" he said, hefting his axe as a grin split his features.
Ike said nothing, but brought Ragnell down to his side, at the ready. He noticed some of the other knights had stopped their training to look in their direction, murmuring as they waited to see what would happen. Some of them went as far as to set down their weapons and come closer, eager to see the newcomer who was going to get wrecked by Lord Hector.
Ike looked back at Hector, their gazes locking as he exhaled, his breathing the only sound in the now silent training grounds. Hector's grin widened and Ike moved; the match had started.
As Ike came in low, Hector used the flat of the axe-head to block Ragnell, his grin disappearing as he felt the force behind Ike's swing. He jerked the handle down towards Ike, bringing the blade around as the other man jumped to the side.
Hector was surprised by the speed with which Ike used his sword, he didn't think anything that heavy should move that fast, and before he could launch another attack he was pushed back by another crushing blow from the massive blade. After a brief moment of back peddling he stood his ground and forced himself to push Ike's sword aside and go on the offensive once again, he couldn't let himself be overpowered so easily.
Ike rolled to the side as Hector pressed him backwards, his axe crashing down where he had stood seconds ago. As he rose he brought Ragnell up, locking its blade with Hector's axe-head. The two men eyed each over their weapons for a moment before pulling apart to continue; this was going to take quite a while.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Lyn looked around as the sound of cheering reached her ears.
"Wil…do you hear that?" she asked, turning to the archer that stood next to her.
"…uh huh…" he said absentmindedly, more focused on the target he was sighting than what she'd said.
"You didn't even hear what I said," she said, an exasperated smile on her face.
He let the arrow fly, not bothering to watch it as he turned to look at her, "Nope. What was the question?"
"I asked if you heard that noise, it seems to be coming from over there," she said, pointing towards the far side of the training grounds.
"Now that you mention it, I do," he said, turning in the direction she was pointing, "It's probably just Hector and Eliwood pounding each other into the ground again, I hear it's quite a spectacle."
"No, they don't cheer like that for them, at least, not anymore. Come on, let's go see what's going on," she replied, heading off towards the noise.
Wil shrugged and followed her off towards the other side of the training grounds, smiling as he glanced over his shoulder and saw his arrow, buried halfway up the shaft into the bull's-eye.
As the two crested a gentle hill, they could see a large crowd had formed a ring around two others, who were clashing in the middle. Lyn sighed as she and Wil made their way to the crowd's edge, she could already tell one of the men in the middle was Hector.
"What's going on?" she asked, pulling aside a cavalier on the ring's outer edge.
"Wha- Oh, Lady Lyn! You should have been here for the start of it! They've been going at it for the better part of an hour now!" he shouted over the noise, gesturing towards the ring's center.
"Who?" she asked, trying to see through the thoroughly enamored crowd.
"Lord Hector and one of the new arrivals," the man answered, turning back to the fight.
"Ike?" Lyn said, looking over at Wil, who was using his greater height to his advantage as he peered through the sea of people.
"Yeah, that's Ike. He seems to be holding his own, and using that dead weight of a sword to boot," he said, a smile playing across his face.
Lyn mentally cursed her height and began to make her way through the crowd, a lengthy process that consisted of tapping people on the shoulders, causing them to turn around and start to tell her to shove off until they realized who it was. As she arrived at the inner part of the circle she saw that it indeed was her husband and Ike, both sweating bullets as they tried in vain to get the upper hand.
Lyn watched in amazement as Ike effortlessly turned aside Hector's axe with a flip of his wrist, forcing Hector to back off until he'd regained his footing. She had never been able to make him do that, their matches were usually one sided.
She watched as Ike sidestepped and hammered Hector in the chest with his shoulder, only to have him push right back, causing the two to come to a halt that she was sure was one of many they'd had throughout the match.
"Ready…to give up," Hector asked, straining to push Ike back as their eyes met.
Ike didn't answer, but dropped his gaze down to Hector's axe, his eyes stopping as he saw what he was looking for.
"Nope," he said, jumping back suddenly, causing Hector to stumble momentarily as he stopped himself from falling flat on his face, "but I think you are."
"Not a chance," Hector said, bringing his axe up slowly, knowing Ike couldn't move much faster. At least, that's what he'd assumed.
Hector suddenly found his axe blown aside by a flurry of blows he didn't know Ike still had left in him; it was all he could do to maintain his grip on the weapon. He leapt back from the onslaught and tried to renew his attack, but as soon as his axe was up Ike leapt forward, bringing Ragnell down with two hands as he swung, his eyes locked on the area just under the axe-head, focusing on the tiny crack he'd seen moments before.
Hector's stumbled back as Ike's sword crashed into, and through, his own weapon, causing the head to spin off into the bushes and leaving him with a broken haft. He stared at his broken weapon for a moment before looking up; Ike was standing there, sword in the ground next to him, eyeing Hector as he tried to catch his breath.
Hector jumped at the chance, Ike thought it was over, and even a broken weapon was better than nothing. He rushed forward, intent on closing the distance between them before Ike could get his sword up. To his surprise, Ike ripped his sword from the earth and hurled it into the air, leaping after it as Hector came to a halt, trying to dodge the blow he knew was coming. As Ike came crashing down on him, he raised the haft, determined to turn aside at least the brunt of the attack. As Ragnell slid down the shaft's length, however, the flat clipped his shoulder, and Hector's vision swam. He dropped his broken weapon as he fell to his knees, trying to focus on Ike as he came in for what looked like another attack. He felt the flat once again catch him on the arm as Ike performed a backwards handspring, throwing him onto his back. Once again, Hector felt suddenly exhausted, and his vision swayed back and forth. He watched as what looked like three Ike's, all with a Ragnell on their shoulder, walked over and looked down at him.
"Ready for another one?" Ike asked, extending his hand after the other man had caught his breath.
Hector grasped Ike's hand and pulled himself to his feet, wobbling as he tried to balance.
"What in the name of Elimine was that?" he said, holding onto a tree for support.
He didn't bothering waiting for a response, but turned to Lyn as she rushed up, the rest of the audience beginning to clamor as they recovered from the shock of seeing Lord Hector thrown on his back like a new recruit at his first day of training.
"Hector, are you okay?" she asked, taking his face in her hands and looking into his eyes as they continued to roll about, trying to focus the lilting world.
"Yeah I'm fine…just a little tired," he answered.
"And you should be, they told me that fight was going on for an hour," Lyn said, not bothering to hide the concern in her voice.
"No, I was fine up until the very end," Hector insisted, "Ike, what was that?"
Ike smiled ruefully, "Just a trick I picked up. Don't worry, you'll be fine, you didn't get hit very hard."
"What?" Hector coughed, "You're joking?"
"No I'm not. That usually levels most people, and even though you're stronger than most I'm sure you'd be taking a nap in the dirt if I'd pushed it any further," he answered.
"But what- oh never mind!" Hector sputtered, "I'm too dizzy to concentrate right now. Later you're going to explain to me exactly what you just did though."
"Fine," Ike said, looking around as Lyn helped Hector off the field, "anyone else up for a match?"
"Ike, you shouldn't."
Ike turned to find Priscilla making her way through the crowd, followed by a man who had the same red hair as herself and….Ike squinted. If he wasn't mistaken that was indeed another man following the first, but he wouldn't be surprised if he was wrong.
"We were watching from the hilltop Ike, you shouldn't push yourself anymore today," Priscilla said, coming to a stop as she looked Ike over, "Although I do admit, you don't look very tired."
"I'm not. Is this your brother?" he asked, changing the subject as he gestured to the red haired man behind her.
"Yes, this is my brother, Raven. Raven, this is Ike, he arrived yesterday with a friend of his," Priscilla said, introducing the two.
Raven simply nodded curtly and averted his gaze as he looked over the training grounds.
"And this is?" Ike asked, gesturing to the assumed man standing next to Raven.
"This is Lucius," Priscilla said, her expression lightening as she introduced the two, "he's been traveling with Raven longer than I've known him."
"Ah, he," Ike thought.
"Nice to meet you," Ike said, giving the acolyte a slight inclination of his head.
Lucius smiled and bowed back, "A pleasure to meet you. I must say, it was quite a shock to see anyone do that to Hector."
"Not that hard," Raven said icily as Ike tried to think of something to respond with.
"Ah, right," Ike said, wondering if there was something between the two, "Priscilla, you haven't checked on Soren again, have you?"
"No, I was just about to, why don't you come," she said, turning to go back up into the castle.
Ike followed, noticing that Lucius stayed behind, followed Raven about as the man further examined the training grounds. He wondered if that's how he looked, a large man with a sword followed by a seemingly frail companion. Come to think of it, there were times when Soren had been called a woman, always from behind though. Soren's face wasn't nearly as feminine as that. As the two began to mount the castle steps they began to talk amiably once again, their voices beginning to echo as they entered the large halls.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Ninian looked up as Soren's arm twitched, and the mage suddenly sat up, eyes snapping open. At the sight of Ninian he reached into the folds of his cloak, his face paling when he found his tomes missing.
"You're books are next to you," Ninian said, watching as Soren's eyes darted to the bedside table, settling on the three tomes stacked on top of each other.
"Where's Ike?" Soren asked, slowly pulling his tomes closer, his eyes returning to Ninian.
"He's at the training grounds with Lord Hector. He waited in here for twelve hours though, before we could drag him out," she answered.
"That's to be expected," Soren said, "he's stubborn."
"As are you," Ninian said, her eyes refusing to leave his face, "he told us why you ran."
Soren's heart fluttered; surely Ike hadn't told them the real reason?
"What did he say?" Soren asked, testing the waters.
"Only what I already knew," Ninian replied.
"And what was that," Soren pressed, hoping she was bluffing.
"Soren, while it may be rare, to most people over here being half dragon will mean nothing," she said, ignoring his question.
Soren visibly blanched, Ike had told them the truth? Then that either meant Ninian was serious, or Ike wasn't at the training grounds, but locked up in a dungeon somewhere. Soren's eyes flickered as he looked at the door, trying to decide which it was.
"How did they know," Soren asked, trying to stall her in case it was the latter option.
"They didn't, I did. You may be only half, but it's easy for me to tell my own kind, Soren. Especially you, your dragon blood is powerful. I can feel what it does to your quintessence," she said, watching as Soren froze.
"What," he said, all thoughts of escape disappearing from his mind.
"Look at me, Soren," Ninian said, "I don't look anything like anyone you've met so far."
Soren took a closer look at the girl in front of him. True, her hair and eyes were so different from everyone else's, but that wasn't enough to prove anything to him.
"You're telling me you're a dragon?" he asked.
"Me, and my brother. You'll meet him eventually," she said.
"How old are you," Soren asked.
Ninian laughed, "Is it not considered impolite to ask a woman's age where you come from?"
"Answer the question," he said.
Ninian sighed, "The Scouring was a millennium ago…that would make me one-thousand, no?"
Soren found it hard to keep his jaw shut; she didn't look a day older than eighteen.
"Claims are easy things to make," he said, denying the possibility she was anywhere near that age.
"Then Soren," she said, her expression becoming solemn, "let me ask you, what is your age?"
Soren looked away, her point clear. He was older than people guessed; he was close in years to Ike, but ever since his birthday a few years back he'd hardly aged at all. Being branded did that to you, which was why he preferred to ignore it.
"Would you like to go see Ike?" Ninian asked.
"Yes," Soren said, swinging his legs over the side if the bed.
"Ninian," he said quietly, following her out the door, "can we…speak again?"
Ninian smiled as she closed the door and headed off down the hall, "If you wish."
Ninian stopped as they rounded a corner and found Ike coming towards them, Priscilla at his side.
"Ike we were just- what have you done?" she asked, her eyes flaring.
"What?" Ike asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked at Soren, who shrugged and looked away.
"Where's Lord Hector," she demanded, almost frantically.
"In his room," Priscilla said, her eyes worried, "what's wrong? He was tired after their spar."
"As he should be," Ninian said, eyeing Ike cautiously, "Ike's stolen his quintessence. I can feel it, it doesn't belong."
"Wait a minute," Ike said, holding up a hand, "what is quintessence? You keep throwing around that word, but I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ike was surprised as Priscilla too took a step back, looking at him oddly, "It's a person's life force. Someone almost killed Soren by draining him of his own."
"Ike," Soren said, "you didn't use Aether on Hector, did you?"
"Yes, I did, I took it easy on him though," he said, "I couldn't have won otherwise."
"Is he okay?" Soren asked.
"Of course, he's just a bit disoriented," Ike answered.
"Then I fail to see the problem," Soren said, turning to Ninian, "Ike knows his limits."
"We consider stealing quintessence a path that leads to corruption. It's a dark secret that is guarded closely," Ninian offered, "we've had…trouble with people abusing it in the past."
"While it may not be common, it's no secret in Tellius," Soren said, "about a fifth of our mercenaries can do it, myself included."
Ninian and Priscilla fell silent as they looked at the two, considering what to do next.
"If you like," Ike said, "I can just tell Hector what I did when he's feeling better."
"Yes," Ninian said, still a bit disturbed by the sudden news, "I think you'd better."
With that, an uncomfortable silence fell over the group, leaving Ike to wonder if this would prove a larger obstacle than Soren's running away.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Wil laughed as he walked back towards the archery grounds; that fight had been unbelievable, and he'd only been there for the tail end. As he approached the target range he located the one he'd used, frowning when he saw it. His lone arrow was now surrounded by a ring of arrows, all cleanly in the bull's-eye. He moved closer to the target, and pulled one out, scrutinizing it closely. It was Sacaen.
"Rath," he said with a grin as he turned around, "come on, where are you?"
He walked back over to the line drawn in the dirt that all archers shot from and found hoof marks he had failed to notice earlier.
"Come on Rath, I know it's you. You can't hide just because I beat you in our last shoot out," he said, heading towards the small but dense patch of foliage that provided the archers with shade on the hotter days.
As he entered the tall grasses he stopped as his foot connected with something soft. He pushed aside some of the greenery and froze. A horse laid in front of him, dead, an arrow through its eye.
"Rath?" he called quietly, taking up his own bow and nocking an arrow.
As he moved deeper into the trees he heard the sound of movement. Shouldering aside a low hanging branch he saw Rath on the ground, wordlessly thrashing about as a cloaked man stood above him, a single white hand impassively extended over Rath's struggling form.
"Rath!" Wil shouted.
The figure turned and Wil paled, looking into the golden eyes that glowed at him from the depths of a hood. Before the man could move again Wil's bow was up, and he shot the morph at pointblank through the forehead. No blood came as the man staggered backwards against a tree, silently struggling with the arrow in his head for a few seconds before dematerializing. Wil blinked as it happened, leaving an arrow buried in a black cloak at the base of the tree; it was something he'd hoped never to see again.
And so it begins, the first morph sighting! I liked this chapter, it had enough casual dialogue and action to keep me happy. For clarification though, I did make some assumptions about Soren's birth, and moves that restore HP in PoR. As far as I know, Soren's birth was never addressed, only that he met Ike when he was very young, or so he appeared. Anyway, hope you liked it, drop me a review as you leave if you've got the time.
Twilight Rurouni
