Senea; Wow! Over 2000 hits and almost 40 reviews! YAY! I'm so happy that so many people are taking an interest in this story. Hopefully I'm not boring any one when I repeat things in the game. But thanks to all those people who have read this story, and a special thanks to those who took the time to review. I feel special.
On another note, two people asked me on pairings and I have to say that I don't really do anything with romance. Sometimes it's just there for the sake of the story but other then that, I don't write on it. I don't like romance is the reason why. I don't mind it but I just perfer stories that are more adventurous and more with characters then just simply mushy stuff. In my opnion any ways.
Ahem, now without further ado, here's the next chapter!
"Arg! When can we get out of this heat?!" Boyd demanded, wiping his forehead with his arm.
"For yet another time, Boyd, I will say it: we will get out of it soon!" Ike sighed, frustrated with the others attitude. He turned to Soren who was walking slightly behind him. "Any idea how much longer?" he asked, hoping to get the fighter to quiet down.
Without even looking at the map, the prince nodded. "Tomorrow we will be out of the forest and further into Crimea. Then, it would be only a couple of days before we reach Port Toha." he stated, moving the tome he was carrying more comfortably in the crook of his arm.
"My, my, you certainly have your way with directions and distances, don't you Soren?" Ranulf grinned at the mage playfully, a small twinkle in his eye. "We have our own little multi-purpose map! With magic and attitude!"
Soren glared at the man, trying his best to ignore the blue cat and failing. He was way too happy and peppy for his own good, no matter how skilled of a fighter he was, he didn't like the laguz.
"Would there be much danger before and when we reach the port?" Elincia piqued up, walking closer to Ike. Much to Geoffrey's displeasure, the princess had insisted upon walking and not riding on his horse. Soren found it slightly annoying as well for the girl to be walking around and joining every conversation that occurred. He almost wished he had killed her when they first met, even if it would have meant his own.
Ike shrugged at the question. "I'm not sure, I don't really think Daein would've gone this far and done much damage to the countryside as they would've done with the larger cities."
Soren almost snorted at the answer. The plan that he had made for the army made sure that the country side would be conquered as much as the cities were. In fact, many places they were going to go by would already be under Daein control. If they had done things right.
Before Soren could get his opinion across, Ranulf once again spoke up, going slightly more towards the west. "Hey, Ike! Hold up a moment." He called, fidgeting slightly.
Ike stopped and looked over at the cat, everyone stopped shortly afterwards. All awaiting what Ranulf wanted with the group.
"You know," he continued thoughtfully. "I was thinking...since this castle is on the way, we should probably stop by.
Faintly in the distance, a figure that looked like a castle was looming over. Although it looked fairly old and worn out, it still held to its duty.
Ike looked at the castle then back to Ranulf, he looked almost impatient and confused by the delay. "Um...really? Why? Is there something special about this place?"
Ranulf gave the commander a play full grin. "Why yes! There is!" He exclaimed happily. He turned slightly and moved his arm so that it was showing off the castle as if it were a prize. "This is Canteus Castle! Daein seized it early on in the war. Now, it serves as a camp for prisoners. I've even heard there are a number of Crimean retainers being held captive in the dungeon beneath the castle."
Both Elincia and Geoffrey looked surprised. "What?! Are you certain?" she asked, hope evident in her voice.
Ranulf made a face of mock pouting. "Princess, I'm hurt! Of course my information is reliable."
Ike turned back to Soren. "Have you heard of something to that effect, Soren?"
Soren nodded. "When I was still with the army they were already using it as a prisoner of war camp. Many Crimean soldiers and possibly even civilians are in there. Of that there is little doubt." He had made that arrangement months before the war had even started, though he wasn't willing to voice that piece of fact to anyone.
Geoffrey frowned at him, as if sensing the mage had something to do with it. "Are you saying that not only soldiers but people who have done no fighting are being held like prisoners in their own land?"
Soren shrugged offhandedly. "Technically, the Crimeans no longer own this land. It has already been conquered so they hold no warrant over what is no longer theirs. The Daeins have every right now to confiscate land and arrest those who do not co-operate." He explained bluntly, staring at the Crimean knight with a bored look on his face.
Geoffrey glared angrily towards the mage at those words. "How dare you say such a thing. As long as Princess Crimea is alive--"
"Then what?" Soren snapped, frowning at him as well. "She's a princess to a dead country, nothing more. If she wasn't, then we should be able to walk freely here and not cower at the slightest noise for fear of discovery. Merely believing that none of this has happend, and will turn out for the better, makes you a fool for not even considering that we may not be able to do anything about it!"
"Soren! Geoffrey! That's enough!" Ike shouted, putting his hand between them to make sure they wouldn't start anything. Elincia as well went to the knight's side to make sure that he wouldn't try to skewer the mage.
Ranulf coughed as the silence through the mercenaries thickened after several moments. Mist and Rolf jumped at the noise while everyone turned to look at the cat once again.
"Sorry to interrupt this lovely quarrel." He chirped, happily as ever, though there was some force to it. "But perhaps we should try out this castle? Who knows what we would find."
"If we can rescue some Crimean soldiers..." Titania concluded, trying to bring back the topic at hand. "They might decide to join us. That would be quite a boon, would it not?"
Ike finally lowered his arm, glanced quickly at the two, before walking over to Ranulf and Titania. "Yes, it would. I think it's worth the risk." He turned towards the rest of the mercenaries. "Everyone, suit up. We're here to rescue and cause some chaos for the Daein army."
"We shouldn't take any more people then absolutely necessary, Commander." Titania advised. "The castle isn't all that large so some should stay here and help guard Princess Elincia and the caravan."
Ike nodded in understanding. "Alright. Geoffrey, Lethe, Mia, Ilyana and you Titania, stay here. The rest of us will go into the castle."
Everyong nodded to the orders and they got ready to infiltrate the castle. Soren took one last look at the Crimean princess and her knight, who glared at him still, and walked towards the castle. He was sure to get another lecture out of Ike by the time they finished fighting. And, by the looks of Geoffrey, he was already receiving one from both Elincia and Titania.
Soren had forgotten what a nuisance fighting armored units was. Although Danomill was not entirely that strong, he had many myrmidons around him so that the mage couldn't get close enough to ignite him. And in such a close quarter with other units, he would get quickly lanced through if someone else didn't come to his aid.
Volke, the thief that had just been recruited, finally opened the last of the prisoner cells and quickly came towards an unknowing archer and took him down just as quickly. Beside him, Mordecai was just finishing off another armoured lance wielder and getting ready to pounce onto the man that was blocking there escape.
Soren took his attention back towards the general that kept believing that the mercenaries were losing and were going to be executed. He had met Danomill only once when they had just set out for the war so it was quite unlikely he would recognize the mage. He approached the man as he opened his fire tome and began chanting.
"Spirits of ravenous flame, blaze through this world and sate your fiery craving." he finished before the man even turned away his attention from Boyd. The flames struke him and he heard the general scream. Boyd took the final blow and managed to pick up something that the man had been carrying.
"Everyone! This way!" He turned and saw Ike at the exit of the castle, leading everyone towards it. The newly freed prisoners went first and then went the rest of the mercenaries, finally accomplishing in recruiting new members and helping Crimea slowly return to what she once was.
As Ike showed the princess and Geoffrey the prisoners, creating a happy reunion with one of the knights, Soren busied himself with looking through his supplies. He had just finished off his last fire tome and even his newly accuired wind tome was beginning to wear down. He had done so much fighting in the last few missions that required too much use of his tomes, he couldn't keep up this pace even if he wanted to.
"Are you in a predicament, young mage?" Soren snapped his attention away from his bag and looked up to see one of the freed prisoners looking at him oddly, a serene smile on his face. It was the monk that was in the first cell they had opened.
"Excuse me?" Soren asked, giving him a slight frown. He felt something form in the pit of his stomach. Something told him not to trust the man. There was something...odd about him, something wasn't right.
The man tilted his head slightly to the side, his smile never wavering. "It appears you are low on tomes." he stated neutrally.
The mage grunted in response, trying to dismiss the monk. The feeling he got from this man was making him on edge, he felt as if he had seen him somewhere before, and it was unnerving when he looked at him.
The monk seemed to pay no attention to the attitude of the mage as he placed a hand within his robes to reappear with a wind tome. "I believe this will help you better during your travels. It is better then those simple ones you have been using."
Soren glanced at the tome and took it. "An Elwind tome..." he muttered, more to himself than to the monk. He had been wanting to use these but with the budget so tight he wasn't going to buy them for a awhile. Even if they had gotten more gold from the Gallian king.
The monk nodded. "Yes, hopefully you use it to the fullest extent. Although..." he added. "It would be hard for you not to, am I correct?"
"Huh?" He looked back to the monk and frowned in thought, trying to find a hidden meaning in those words.
He merely shook his head lightly, closing his eyes. "Pay it no mind." he said, opening his eyes. "My name is Sephiran. And I'm sure we will meet again, young mage. Once we do, we may be able to talk further." The monk, Sephiran, gave the mage a small respectful bow and excused himself, walking over to Ike and the other prisoners to talk to them.
The prince continued to watch Sephiran as he talked with the commander, his frown increasing as the feeling he had still twisted itself inside his stomach. That man was familiar to him. Not only that, but something felt wrong with him, like he was some sort of stasis. It felt some what like the feeling he had gotten from the Black Knight but felt different all together as well.
He sighed, frustrated with his confused thoughts. Rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, Soren concluded he was just tired from the battle and needed rest to think clearly of the situation.
"You!" Soren's arm twitched as his rest time was going to be coming later, much later. He glanced over to see a knight clad in red walking brusquely over towards him with an angred look on his face. The mage inwardly rolled his eyes at the knight. He remembered that the knight had been at the battle where he had tried to kill the princess. This was going to be interesting.
"Can I help you?" He asked disdainfully, raising one of his eyebrows in question.
"You were the dastardly devil that had tried to murder our beloved Princess Crimea!" The man announced over zealously, pointing an accusing finger at the mage. "I, Crimean Royal Knight, Fifth Platoon Captain Kieran will not stand for having such filth around our princess! No matter what kind of poisonous words you have said to brainwash them!"
"You have got to be kidding me..." Soren muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes at the knight. Were all Crimean knights this idiotic?
"What is going on here?" The two turned as Ike spoke. He walked over to them, Ranulf and Titania close by, his hand on the hilt of his sword and his eyes never leaving the knight or the mage. "Kieran, are you trying to fight one of your fellow comrades in arms?"
"Ha!" Kieran barked out. "How would he be my comrade in arms if he is the enemy?"
Ike sighed, pushing his hand onto his head as if he had a headache, and Soren couldn't blame him. This man was a bit too much. "Kieran, the princess herself said that Soren here could join if he wished, since he has, he is no longer affiliated with Daein. In other words, he is part of our group and should not be attacked just because of what he had done when he was in the Daein army. Am I making myself clear?" The commander frowned at Kieran, ordering him to stand down.
The knight nodded. "Yes sir." He turned to look and Soren and gave him a nod as well. "I, Crimean Royal Knight, Fifth Platoon Captain Kieran, apologize for my behaviour and hope, in turn, you are of some service to Crimea." With that, he turned and left, walking towards Geoffrey and Elincia.
Ranulf chuckled. "Well, well, well. Look how many friends your making in Crimea, Soren. You're becoming quite popular."
Soren didn't bother to give the cat a response.
Senea: Yay another chapter completed! Since Geoffrey and Elincia are here now, Ihave to include them in more, hence the random arguement thing. Much of this was just for the sake of character interaction and not so much plot...except for Sephiran. But if anyone can figure out what was with and what will become of that kudos to you! Much of it was random I admit but I had some fun writing it so there. Volke might be seen more of later on but maybe not, and that might be it for the other recruits, as much as I like them...well, Nephenee anyways.
The chant that Soren did I made up. All of the spells in my stories are ones I've made since there really isn't any one translation or anything to base it off of. They will continue in my stories too, I might add the ones I've made so far to my profile, we'll see. Was it to out there or did it suit it? I'm not sure...
Anyways. Thanks again for the continued support of the readers and te reviewers and hopefully this story can keep going!
Please review!
