Ch 7 Retaking Caelin Part 1

A/N: Here's the next chapter after quite a bit of writing. Be warned this is a bit more graphic than other chapters I've written in my opinion. But I've been looking forward to writing this for a long time so I hope you enjoy reading it! As usual reviews and feedback are great! Thanks!


Eliwood marched on. They had marched immediately after hearing the news of Castle Caelin. He was impressed with how calm the tactician was. Aside from his initial look of shock, he had immediately rallied everyone and prepared for march. According to Oswin and Merlinus he had worked swiftly and silently and within 30 minutes, the army was ready to march. It had been 2 days now and Eliwood expected to reach the castle within the day.

"I-I never expected them to attack Caelin... I hope Lord Hausen and Lyndis are all right,"

"The messenger wasn't sure. But we'll found out soon Eliwood! Don't fret, we beat Laus before and we'll do it again!" Hector consoled his friend with conviction in his voice.

"Perhaps... But Hector? It's been a week now. The death of Marquess Santaruz... Our attack on Laus castle... Surely word of these happenings has reached Lord Uther by now. yet he shows no signs of action... why?"

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Hector sighed, "My brother has other concerns on his hands right now,"

"What do you mean?"

"It's Bern. We've received disturbing reports over the past few months. King Desmond is behaving oddly. If he sees even the slightest crack in Lycia's defenses... We believe that he'll invade with the full force of Bern behind him. My brother has just recently become marquess as well as head of the Lycian League. It gets worse; it seems that every country has some spy working in Ostia to assess the new marquess' competency. If something goes wrong, word will spread like wildfire. He can't allow another country to see weakness or discord,"

"He has to present the face of stability and strength, is that it?"

"You always had a talent for summarizing things perfectly, Eliwood,"

"Hmm.. Then how come your here? Wouldn't the marquess' brother's absence from his side be seen as a sign of something 'wrong'?"

Hector grunted, "The marquess' brother is a well-known lout... If I WERE there at court, they'd sense something wrong,"

"I'm sorry. You're not proud of that reputation are you?"

"Not in the least. But one day, I'll have to take over... Ha! That'll be a long way off,"

"Don't worry Hector, you'll make a fine ruler, I know you. Looks like we made it!"

Sure enough, Castle Caelin was situated to the east of the group's location. As they expected the place was crawling with Laus soldiers. In fact, Caelin was guarded even more carefully than Castle Laus was. The lords hurried to catch up with the tactician.

"Rohan! What now? We'll have to assault that castle,"

"I'm aware of that Hector... But this is a perfect place to see everything, including Laus' position. What fools they are to leave this place open,"

"Lord Eliwood!" Marcus called, "Look!"

"Their archers," Hector filled in, "What are they doing?"

Eliwood observed their enemies' positions, looked at the tactician's astonished face, and followed his gaze.


After the attack on Castle Caelin was apparent, Marquess Hausen immediately sent some of his soldiers to get Lyn far away from the castle, whether she agreed or not. He entrusted this to Kent, Sain, Florina, and Wil. All of whom had risked their lives a year ago so that Lyn could be restored as the heir to the throne of Caelin. The 5 of them had been hiding out in a nearby forest, and though Kent insisted that Hausen's orders be carried out, Lyn refused to leave Caelin. She knew she had to somehow take back the castle and sent Kent to report on Laus' numbers.

"I don't understand... Why now? Why would they attack now?"

"Bah, that Marquess Laus was always a shady one. He always resented Ostia's power and claimed that Laus should be ruling Lycia. He's a power hungry bastard and that's all," Sain cursed.

"I see... But there must be more than just that. What prompted this?" Lyn asked uneasily.

"Milady! I've returned and brought some news with me. Laus soldiers are scattered from the castle to across this forest. There must be at least 50 troops!"

Sain became visibly perturbed at this news, "Milady... Are you certain about this? Going back with our numbers would be suicide,"

"My grandfather is in the castle. I left on his orders but... I will not leave him there alone!"

"With our numbers, rescuing Lord Hausen is a daunting task... Is there some way we can get some assistance?" Wil pointed out

"I overheard some of the Laus soldiers. They claim that Lord Eliwood attacked Laus castle and drove them out. Marquess Laus not only abandoned the castle, but he also left Erik, his son, behind when he fled here to Caelin,"

"What? That's despicable! He left his own son?"

"Why would Eliwood attack Laus?" Lyn mused, "Still, if he is close by, perhaps we can ask for aid,"

"The path to the forest is probably the best way. Shall I go?" Wil offered.

"Lady Lyndis!" Florina made herself known. She had been silent till now, "I'll go! I can fly above the forest. I can be at Laus faster than anyone else!"

"Huh? But Florina! You can't do this on your own! It's impossible!"

"T-Thanks to my time here, I'm not as timid towards men as I used to be. Besides, I've met Lord Eliwood before. I am sure I can do this!"

"It'll be terribly dangerous. You understand don't you?"

"Trust me... I promised myself I'd become braver for you. I'm not the weak little Florina I once was... I'll be fine,"

"... Very well Florina... You've convinced me... Fly safely and do not try anything foolish,"

"Yes, milady. Farewell!"

Huey reared up and soared into the air away from the forest. Lyn watched her with a strange feeling of emptiness.

"Did you hear that? Our meek Florina sounded almost forceful," Sain said gleefully.

"Yes she's become a full-fledged pegasus knight," Kent observed.

"Yes she has... It's strange, I was always her protector. I shouldn't be sad and yet..."


"Commander Bauker! We've detected a flying object moving in the eastern skies!"

"What? It can't be... A pegasus knight! Where could she be going? It doesn't matter, we've been ordered to prevent anyone from escaping Caelin," The heavy armored commander advanced and boomed, "ARCHERS! Advance and bring her down!"


Perhaps if I hadn't noticed the archers, my heart wouldn't have stopped when I saw the pegasus knight approaching. After quickly using my newfound telescope, I confirmed that the rider was none other than Florina... That was definitely a scary thing.

"Eliwood... That's Florina!"

"What? The archers are aiming straight for her!"

As she approached, she seemed to notice us and waved frantically, "Lord Eliwood!" She cried.

"Florina? Fly lower!" We both screamed at the top of our lungs.

"Huh? WAH!" I don't know how to describe what I saw back then... But it was very queer. Huey barrel rolled straight down into us. Unfortunately Florina's grip wasn't very strong so she plummeted straight into Hector's arms and knocked the wind out of him.

"... Ah..." She looked almost unconscious in Hector's arms.

"Florina? Can you hear me?"

"Ah! Lord Eliwood? Wha-What happened?"

Archers over there," Eliwood pointed, "They almost hit you. You avoided them, but you lost balance and fell,"

"I'm sorry... I'm so much trouble,"

"I'm just glad you're ok. Tell me Florina, weren't you with Lady Lyndis?"

"Yes Lord Eliwood! Lady Lyndis is over there just beyond that forest. She's waiting to assault the castle,"

I let out a sigh of relief and my eyes involuntarily rested on the forest to the southeast. I watched it while listening.

"She's what?! Ah, at least she's safe. I see that someone is relieved," Ok I guess Eliwood did notice.

"Lady Lyndis is fine... But Lord Hausen is still in the castle. We must rescue him!"

"Very well... You heard that right Rohan? Let's prepare ourselves!"

"Huh? Ah Rohan! You're here... I mean... You're... Well... You're back!"

"Glad you noticed, what weapons do you have?"

"Well... I have... um this slim lance and a javelin. Plus a vulnerary for spares,"

"I'll get you a spare iron lance... Is everyone ready Eliwood?"

"I can get them. They've been ready for a while,"

"Good... Get Hector, I have a plan,"


"EEEH! Oh... Who are you?"

"I'm Erk, Merlinus. You know me... I've been here for a week and I still surprise you?"

"Oh no! You just scared me... What did you need?"

"Do you have any tome storages?"

"Pardon? Well I-I-I can store anything, I just have no clue how to arrange them and edit the inventory,"

"Oh... Well if you can hold onto this, I'll have a word with Rohan on this,"

"Very well,"

'That guy is almost as dramatic as Serra is... Never thought that was possible,' Erk sighed. His magic and speed had improved, yet he could still only cast basic spells. He needed to improve... But first he had to check with Priscilla first. She was a bit uneasy about the tactician and his ability to find information quickly. Now they both new that it was highly possible that Rohan would discover Priscilla's past and her family. That idea frightened Priscilla despite his attempts to assuage her.

"Lady Priscilla, are you doing well?"

"Ah, Erk. Yes I'm fine..."

"Milady is something troubling you?"

"...I'm sorry my mind was elsewhere. Don't worry Erk, I'll be fine,"

"Very well..." Erk stood over the cliff watching the enemies take their positions. Obviously they had been spotted by now so what was taking Eliwood's group so long to respond?

"Erk! Glad I found you!" Rohan approached him.

"Ah Rohan... So Pharae's new tactician was you all along eh?"

"Well... It kinda worked out that way," He responded sheepishly, "Anyway, I want to make sure. You think you can target enemies from this cliff to say... around that house over there?" He pointed out a house that was situated on a small crevice a few miles below the cliff.

"Easily why?"

"Because my plan depends on that. I wanted to send Marcus and Florina after Lyn and the others, but we noticed men hiding to the south... Can you get Rebecca?"

"Rebecca?"

"... Seriously? Uh... Green hair... Uh what do you call them? Braids? I think. Yeah she has pigtail braids or whatever they're called. She's an archer as well so ask her the same question I asked you,"

"Very well. By the way, Merlinus has no clue how to organize magic in his inventory... I'm guessing you came up with that system too,"

"I do what I have to," Said the tactician with a smirk, "I'll deal with the magic categories. Here's what we're going to do,"

After he relayed his plans out Erk simply said, "It should work. But you put yourself at risk once the enemy realizes what's happening,"

"By that time, I'm hoping most of their main forces will be eliminated. So I'm relying on you two,"

He ran off to heaven knows where. Erk sighed and went in search of this girl with "pigtail braids" He soon found a girl who matched Rohan's description. She was fiddling with her bow.

"Are you Rebecca?"

"Huh? Oh!" She dropped her bow and stared at the mage, "Uh... Yeah that's me!" She finished picking up her bow.

"We're ordered to stand at the cliff over there and wait. You can hit targets from there right?"

"Uh... Yeah pretty sure I can,"

"Well then all we can do is wait,"


"Urgh!" Marcus sank his spear into some flesh and pulled it out of the mercenary who had surprised him... Or tried to anyway. After he killed the merc, many more swordsman showed up from the south. To make matters worse, the Laus soldiers to the east began revealing themselves.

"Marcus! You ok?"

"Lord Eliwood, do not concern yourself. I am fine," To prove his point he reared up and stabbed the nearest Laus soldiers. The three that had tried to overwhelm him crumpled leaving only a sea of blood and bodies remaining of the mercenaries.

To the west, Hector was bashing anything that got close with his axe, leaving deep dark red gashes on the faces of his enemies. However, many swordsman easily managed to block his blows though they found it much harder to damage Hector. Hector then swung his axe in a very wide circle and swung it down on the mercenary... just to be struck by a fireball in the groin. He cursed and fell back slightly glaring at the mage who just struck him.

"RAWWWR! FIGHTING TIME!" The blue axe maniac crashed into the mage splitting his skull and slashing randomly causing the mage to be covered in blood as he fell. Bartre's roars didn't seem to attract anymore enemies ready to fight, though none knew if they were intimidated or some other reason.

'Where is that tactician? He could abandon us at anytime... Which would be best. How Lord Eliwood trusts him, I don't understand but I'll abide by his judgement,'


"Milady I think reinforcements have arrived somehow. They came quite quickly,"

"How observant of you Sain. What gave it away? The roar we just heard?" Will said sarcastically.

"Well EXCUSE ME Mr. Will. I apologize that your hearing is better than mine,"

"Enough you two!" Kent chastised, "Act like proper knights! Let's move west to protect the village and find these reinforcements. Hyaah!" He spurred his horse away to the west.

"Well, milady, would you give me the honor of riding behind me?"

"From that eager tone I don't think I should," She responded a small teasing smile on her face that disappear a moment later, "It's ok Sain, I'll walk,"

Sain shrugged and galloped over to join his companion. Lyn sighed.

"Milady Lyndis? Are you alright? I know your grandfather is in the castle, but I'm sure he'll be fine,"

"I truly hope so Wil... Eliwood's reliable and I know he'll be here in time... I just have a few things on my mind,"

Wil raised an eyebrow and patted her shoulder, "Yeah... I miss him too. But we better get going,"

They both knew who he was talking about.


"They don't stop coming do they?" I commented looking at the littered battlefield. Only those that were hidden by distant forests were free from my scrutiny.

"For now they retreated. But they'll be back with more reinforcements... Are you certain this plan can work? Have you tried it before?"

"Once... It worked well. But then we had mages dropping rocks on them. This is a similar concept. Don't worry so much Hector, I've never let you done yet have I?"

"There's a first for everything,"

"I appreciate the faith... Just protect those villages over there. Where's Florina?"

"I already sent her to the western village. Hope you don't mind," Eliwood informed.

"Good decision Eliwood... I'm going to get Lowen,"

I sprinted north to find where the hairy cavalier could have run off to. If I had taken two steps further who knows what would've happened?

I heard a sick 'CRUNCH' sound nearby and when I looked I saw a hidden brigand who was just impaled by a javelin. When I traced the source, I received a pleasant surprise. Sain and Kent were mounted and walked their steeds to me.

"Well, Well! It has been too long my friend!" A familiar buffoon called out.

"Sain, you haven't changed a bit! Didn't I tell you a year ago NOT to attack axemen with lances?"

"Ah true... I'm afraid in this case a lance wasn't only more heroic but necessary as well," He responded

"Well, met Rohan! I can see now that Marquess Hausen is safe with you leading the charge,"

"You think quite highly of me Kent. Let's hope I can live up to your expectations... Is Lyn ok? And everyone else?"

"We just left Wil and Lady Lyndis. They should have met up with Eliwood by now. I'm sure she'd like to speak with you,"

"That's good to hear... Now where the hell is Lowen? Ah there you are! Where were you?"

"M-my apologies, I saw an enemy trying to sneak into a civilian's house... I couldn't just let him..."

"True Lowen, but more soldiers could've been waiting. You need to think! But you're alright which is good..." I turned to my two old companions, "I think I already know the answer to this, but do you have the energy to fight?"

"Our resolve won't be broken. We fight till Lord Hausen is safe,"

"Well said. In that case here's the plan I have for you..." I looked up at the cliff. I could make out the orange lining of Erk's robe. After all the cliff wasn't too high up, that was why arrows and magical attacks could hit the areas below. Either way I donfirmed that both Rebecca and Erk were ready with my scope. My only concern now was the civilian's house that I saw earlier and the one I guessed was being protected by Lowen.

"This sounds absolutely crazy," Sain said in a slightly serious tone. Then he grinned and added, "I'm in,"

"it sounds feasible... Let's do it," Kent affirmed. Lowen was already nodding his head so much his hair was bouncing.

"Then let's get to work,"


"Lyndis!"

"Eliwood? You made it!"

"We're here to help! Florina should be flying in after barricading the western village. Are you alright?"

"We're all fine. Did Kent and Sain make it here?"

"No? We didn't see them. They probably rejoined with the guys ahead. We'd better move quickly!"

"Thank you Eliwood..."

"Eliwood! I think that's our cue,"

The three lords watched as a barrage of lightning and arrows rained down on the Laus soldiers. The trap had worked, now all they needed to do was finish of any residue soldiers and storm the castle

"Gather everyone! It's time,"


Good news, the plan worked. Bad news, we were now hiding in the forests because Laus sent their own mages. It was official, Laus cared more about defending Castle Caelin than he had defending his own. Mages were running rampant in the forests and if we gave away our position we risked being bombarded with a barrage of fireballs. That's what happened when Sain kept throwing his javelins.

"Sain! Quit attacking and focus on avoiding them,"

"This is the only way to hit them Kent!"

"You're doing a great job of that," I responded sarcastically, "Just stay down and listen to Kent!"

Sain grumbled but complied. Lowen went back to inform Lord Eliwood of our position.

An arrow appeared out of the sky and sent a mage flying into the air. He smashed into a tree and lay still, blood pouring from the wound.

"Heads!" Wil dropped in on us, "Ugh! I never want to ride a pegasus again!"

"What pegasus?" Sain asked stupidly. His answer came when Florina flew past us. One unit completely changed the battle. She flew in faster than I expected and dove swinging her lance in a circular pattern which knocked to mages away. That gave us the opening to charge at them. As they were busy with Florina they didn't have enough reaction time to deal with us. Kent and Sain surrounded one mage and killed him with two blows. Florina took the other, waving her lance with Huey deftly deflecting any magic attacks with her wings. It might have hurt other mounts,but not this one. Florina then dove in and crashed her lance down on his skull. At that point he cursed and crumpled but he wasn't dead. Before he could somehow unleash a sudden burst of magic while Florina was recovering, I ran in, drew my blade and stabbed him in the stomach. He stiffened and then was silent.

I observed my handiwork, a dead mage with dark read spots all over his head and blood gushing out of his stomach. Suddenly, I felt slightly sick... I looked away clenching my blade. Then took the tome that he dropped and watched the other battles raging nearby.

"So... You've improved with your um blades," Florina observed quietly.

"You seem to have improved as well,"

"... It's good to have you back," With that she ascended to the skies to aid anyone else she could.

'Huh. To get that kind of remark from Florina? She has grown,'

We were winning, but we were suffering in this battle. Sain had gone down from an arrow to his knee and was struggling to move. Dorcas and Bartre had tried to defend him and I joined them. I wasn't used to fighting this much, but there was no point in sparring if I wasn't going to use those skills was there? I was able to dispose of most enemies when they were distracted by the fighters' axes.

"Ha. So! You never told me you fight!" Bartre shouted with glee as he smashed another knight.

"I don't usually. Let's just say these are rare circumstances,"

"Gah! Big words! Makes head hurt,"

"Then stop thinking and fight!" A command which he happily agreed to. Once the onslaught of knights was dealt with, we watched Guy and Marcus fight another legion of cavalry while I decided what we should do.

"Dorcas, you better get Sain to safety," He nodded and swiftly lifted up a now unconscious Sain and slung him across his shoulders.

"There! More fighting!" Bartre ran off to where Hector was advancing. I figured that once Marcus and Hector had finished their respective waves, this battle would be over. And yet we still had to lay siege to the castle

Then, I dove. I wasn't sure why, but some natural instinct must have took over... Or maybe it was the sound of breaking branches that had finally gotten to me, one of the two. An ugly axemen had almost lopped my head off.

"Grr... You seem like a man with money... I think you'll make a fine hostage! Haha!"

'Who the hell is this guy?" I silently drew my blades, bracing myself for the attack. It never came. Instead he collapsed wordlessly with a clean, vertical line decorating his bloody back. I looked up and my heart rate quadrupled.

Lyn stood there, the Mani Katti gleaming in her hands, her hair flowing with the wind and a small smile on her face.

"Well, if it isn't my master strategist. It's been far too long," I couldn't take it anymore. I had been waiting for this moment for an entire year and now here it was. My reunion with her. Of my first companion. I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed tightly, she did the same.

"Good God Lyn! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Rohan... I missed you,"

"I missed you as well! But let's chat after we take back the castle ok?"

She nodded and we rushed to the front lines. Lyn was just as skilled and beautiful as I remembered her... If not more. Her hair grew out a little but not a ton and her sword skills were still unparalleled. Not even Guy could move this fast. I deftly kicked a mage in the groin just as he raised a fireball. It dissipated as he groaned and fell to my blades. Then I took out two axemen by a quick stab, a sidestep to avoid the other and a downward slash from his chest to his abs. At least that was the plan, but I screwed up. The first fighter fell quickly but was not dead yet. I was struck with the handle of his axe. I recoiled and parried the blow from the other before spinning around once and catching his axe with my blades and disarming him. Before he could react further, I stabbed him in the chest and slashed down. If Lyn weren't next to me to take care of the first fighter... Well who knows? I silently swore to never underestimate my opponents and to focus on dueling rather than 1v2 fights.

"You've improved... A lot actually. Where'd you learn all this?" She asked with a touch of dissatisfaction in her voice.

"Sacae for the most part. I trained in Bern as well,"

"Well, perhaps you'll be much more of a challenge when we spar,"

"Don't count on it. You're still much much stronger than I am," I winced slightly as a small cut had drained my right hand of some strength and caused my grip to falter slightly.

"Here," She applied a vulnerary to my arm and it was as good as new.

"Just like old times... The helpless tactician babied by his peerless warrior,"

"I think that's the way I prefer it," She winked slyly.

We rushed into the final lines of Laus soldiers blocking the castle gate. A lone knight was left guarding the gate.

"Shall we take him out?" Hector asked resting the wolf beil on his shoulder.

I nodded and Lyn asked quizzically, "Are you an ally as well?"

"That's what it looks like,"

"In that case, I have something to tell you before-"

"Save it for later!" Hector brushed past us rushing at the enemy slowly swinging his axe.

"W-Wait! What's wrong with him?"


"Prepare to fall before your master!" The lone knight looked powerful, but Hector's axe had never failed him before. And it wasn't going to now.

"I'm afraid that's my line," he countered waiting for the pathetic lance to bounce away against his armor. He sorely underestimated his target. The knight spun his lance and charge much faster than Hector anticipated. The lance pierced his armor and he could feel fresh blood. Swearing silently, Hector brought his axe up, jumped into the air and brought it down... Only to have it parried by the knight. He was good, Hector needed another strategy. While he was thinking, he got an opportunity when a girl deftly moved in slashed, kicked the knight away and then left Hector the opening. He took advantage of it and leapt into the air spinning his axe splitting the helm of the knight. Then he used his favorite technique which was of course bringing his axe down. It was quick, easy, and effective.

The knight barely had time to say, "We've been defeated? What... A shame," Before the wolf beil bashed his skull.


Hector looked at Lyn, who gave him his opening, and nodded his gratitude.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Hector,"

"He's Marquess Ostia's brother," Eliwood filled in as he joined the group of three, "Hector, this is Lyndis, Lord Hausen's granddaughter,"

"Ah... That's quite surprising,"

"How come? Do I not look like much of a lord?"

"No it's not that. Why are you here, instead of at Ostia's court,"

Sensing Hector's feelings, Eliwood quickly replied, "It's just easier for him. The important thing is that he'll be helping us,"

"Ah, I apologize if I..."

"No apologies needed. I'm glad I can lend a hand,"

"We should go inside," Eliwood decided.

"We should wait for the others... Ok I stand corrected," Marcus and Oswin led the rest of the group to the front of the castle. Those who had not gotten injured had already gotten organized and marched here to the castle gate. Those that were injured were helped by those with mounts to make their travel a bit easier. Either way, everyone, injured or not, had gathered in front of the gate.

I turned to Lyn, "What's the situation inside the castle?"

"Not good," Was her cryptic reply.

'Since when were these situations ever good?'

I sighed and checked our group, "Very well then. Here's what we'll do,"