Character Notes:

Skye-in truth I discovered her name by accident. I was looking for a name then had some correlation with the sky, and from there I discovered Skye. Not very original, but I think it's fitting. And I couldn't resist naming her Pegasus, Cloud. I had seen a documentary on wild horses and one of them was called Cloud, so it worked. Anyway, Skye is a black haired Pegasus rider, with thistle purple, (it's a color, Wikipedia it to see it), armor and a silver tiara to keep her hair organized. Her Pegasus is all white, to go with the name of Cloud. Her face resembles that of Florina, but with more confidence and shorter hair.

Fire Emblem:

The Casting Shadow

Chapter 7

-The Caravan-

The morning came uneventfully for the group. Quint awoke earlier then usual, to find Skye, Cid, and Benson up and moving around. Skye and Cid where both tending to their mounts, brushing their coats and getting their saddles ready. Benson was still on guard duty, keeping an eye out for any bandits that would attack the camp. Shaking his head to get rid of the sleep still tempting him to return to his roll. Helping himself to an apple, he took a few bites then offered it to Cloud. He took the apple willingly, but when Quint tried to pet him, he nipped at Quint's hand.

Skye gave a apologetic shrug, "Sorry, he's not good around strangers."

"A little warning next time," said Quint. Moving away from the front of the Pegasus, he added, "Skye, when we get moving, I want you to scout ahead." Skye wanted to protest, but Quint raised his hand to stop her, "We should hit the fork just outside the forest. Before we get there however, there still is a mile or two of forest between us and the fork. Still plenty of space for an ambush, and the last thing I want to do is walk right into an ambush. Once we get to the fork, then we can be a little less careful. And by then we should be in Edge then. Ok?"

The knight nodded. "Good, now I better go see if I can wake Brath." And Quint left Skye to finish tending to her horse. Within an hour the rest of the group was up, and all packed. As they began to walk along the road, Quint gave Skye a nod. She then spurred her horse, and climbed up over the trees and was soon out of sight. "Where is she going?" Asked Gwen. "She's scouting ahead," explained Quint, "so we don't fall victim to another ambush. Or plans to counter one." The rest of the group was not sure if Quint was angry about what had happened the previous day, or was trying to make a joke. So playing it safe they said nothing.

Quint checked the map again, it was about a mile from here to the fork, and from there it was an hour's walk to Edge. Knowing that, it made Quint feel at ease. Getting the next tablet would make his day. Even just getting one would be enough to delay the hooded man's progress. But even then there was now guarantee that he would not take the tablet from them as before. Quint hated not knowing who he was against but nothing could be done at this stage. Now feeling overwhelmed by it all he put the book away and focused on the road.

"Quint," Said Cid riding up beside Quint, "Do you have any plans after we pass through Edge?" Quint smiled, "Actually I was going to ask what you'd suggest." The knight looked at Quint, the answer caught him off guard. "Well, I'd have to say we would want to avoid the Legion as mush as possible." Which sounded logical to Quint, the Orica Legion was in the middle of a civil war. Pulling out the map he noticed that avoid the Legion was next too impossible, "I doubt that's going to happen, Cid. Look," he showed Cid the map, "there are a good number of the tablets in the Legion. We're going to be entering a hornet's nest."

Cid look down at his saddle, "I should be there." "Where?" "Back in Fraiden. Helping my fellow knights in this conflict. I feel like I am betraying my country." Quint sighed, "Cid, stop this guilt trip. Answer me: if you could be there, would you?" "In a heartbeat." "Then why are you feeling guilty? If you could be there, you would. The fact of the matter is, you can't, and there is nothing you can do to change that at present, so stop feeling bad already!" Quint looked at Cid, it seemed the knight was still depressed about it. "Salem once told me: a truly evil man will not do something if he is capable of doing it, a human will not do something because he cannot." Then he looked at Cid with soft eyes, "your not evil Cid, and if it were in your power to be there you would, but it's not. So just drop it. You'll be able to focused better."

The knight sighed deeply, then he turned back at Quint a little more light back in his eyes, "Thanks, I feel better." "Good all that talk was making me starting to feel depressed." Angered that Quint said he helped the knight for his own benefit, Cid urged his horse forward, moving into the front of the group. Quint just smiled, it was said as a joke but he didn't mind if it angered Cid. It would at least take Cid's mind off of Fraiden for a while.

"Looks like they had another quarrel," said Cathlyn from the back of the group. Brath agreed, "Yeah, I dunno why but Cid just can't get along with Quint." "I wonder why that is?" asked Gwen. "One would think that they would get along," added Clare. "For a second it looked like they where getting along earlier," added Gwen. "Cid must be concerned about the war in Fraiden," said Benson. "Where is this Friaden?" asked Brath. "Actually I was curious about that too," added Cathlyn, "They say it's in a civil war, right? And I keep hearing of a war? Is that the war in Fraiden?"

The three of the group that came from Noy looked at each other. They were clearly more informed then Brath and Cathlyn. Gwen started, "There a two areas of conflict. Across the seas in Soyl, the countries of Ymarel and Brath-Shall have been and war with each other for little over a year now. And less then a month ago, The Orica Legion, tore it's self apart in civil war." "Why?" "Well, from what I heard from my father's court is that there were three claimants to the regency of the Legion." Why would that matter? Doesn't the crown of a king pass down to his son, or something like that?" "In every other kingdom, that is the case," corrected Gwen, "but the Legion is different. Instead of having a succession line, they elect the next king." "How do they do that?" "The Legion itself, is made out of nine different areas: Fraiden, Rifen, Far-Reach, Thesia, Ankris, Pannle, Boter, Cilma and Noth-Illa.

"Now, the Legion has two fire emblems," Gwen looked and saw that Brath had a confused look, "a fire emblem is a rare gem that signifies a right to rule. Every royal family in Dranlis has one, save the Legion, which has two. Now usually the present king of the Legion gives the fire emblems to the two Marquises that he feels the most worthy of the crown after he dies. And when he does they vote between those two. It has been an effective system until now…" "How could someone cause unrest with that rule?" asked Cathlyn. "I'm not sure, but from have heard, when the king died, the nobles gathered together. When they did the nobles presented the fire emblems, but instead of two, there were three." "Three?" "That's what I have heard." "Wasn't one of them a fake?" "Most likely, but when they went to a jeweler, he said that all three were real." "What happened after that?" "Nothing at first, but then the three demanded a vote, but there simply was not enough for a candidate to win. Not long after that this civil war broke out."

No one said anything after that, Brath and Cathlyn still trying to rap their heads around the politics. Gwen, Clare and Benson said nothing out of their dislike of talking about it. And Shadow never said much of anything, so she was keeping to her nature, but had heard every word. The silence was broken up by a Pegasus wing's flapping sound over their heads, they quickly looked up, it was Skye. She had returned from scouting ahead.

Quint ran ahead to a small clearing from the trees on the road. Running up to her, he could tell she had something to say. "No bandits on the road up ahead but there's a merchant caravan on the fork."

"Are they camping there?"

Skye shook her head, "no. One of them as a broken wheel, from what I could see. It's delaying the rest of the caravan from moving."

Quint smiled, "Good work." He then relayed the information back to rest of the group. Keeping the group moving he had Skye take to the air again but instead to circle the party and keep an eye out for any missed bandits.

Soon the group arrived at the edge of the deep woods, and could see the fork in the road up ahead. The group was relieved to finally to be out of the woods. As the group let their eye adjusting to the sun, they could see a group of wagons about a mile ahead of them. They approached them carefully, as to not cause worry.

Inside the caravan, a feeling of anger hung in the air, like a heavy mist. Slowly it surrounded you until you yourself felt angry for explainable reason. The cause of all of this was the wagon in the front of the caravan had a broken wheel, causing the rest of the wagons to stop in their tracks. They where fear full of going on the grass, one had attempted it and wound up stuck within a foot of mud. So it had discouraged any other movement other then the road, which was blocked by the crippled wagon.

The wagons waited for the first wagon to be repaired, luckily the damaged wagon had a spare wheel. So it was not a wreck that had to be removed, or need to beg for a spare wheel. Outside the wagon, one large figure knelt beside the broken wheel, trying to remove it from the rest of the wagon. Then the caravan leader walked up from behind the next wagon in the line and shouted, "How much longer Micias?" The figure then stood up, and pulled back his hood. It revealed the owner of the wagon to be a laguz, a lion laguz to be exact. He had a lion's nose, deep yellow eye like a cat, a long gray beard and hair, and stood a foot higher then the average man.

He looked at the caravan leader, "It will take a little time." "Well hurry up," angry replied the caravan leader, "time is money as you know I am sure." And with that, the leader returned to his wagon. Micias then returned to the wagon and continued to work on the wheel.

"First he tells us to hurry up but then does not offer to help," came a voice from his side. Looking up, he saw the other two occupants of his wagon. One of them was a young wolf laguz man with light blue hair and black highlights, and the other one was a young cat laguz girl with light pink hair and black highlights. "What a jerk," said the girl.

"The world is full of people, some are good, some are jerks. You have no control over who you meet in life, one just has to deal with them." He then turned and continued to work on the wheel. The other two laguz then tried to assist Micias, then both caught the scent of a group walking towards then. Nodding to each other, the cat laguz leaped on the top of the wagon and the wolf laguz, rushed to the other side of the wagon. Looking into the distance they saw Quint's group, but what where their intentions, the two did not know.

"Think they're mercs?" asked the wolf. "50 worths says they stop and ask for work," grinned the cat. "100," countered the wolf. The cat nodded and the bet was set. Soon the group arrived on the outskirts of the caravan. When they did, the caravan master seemed to change into a different person.

"Welcome fellow travelers. Are you by chance mercenaries?"

"Where not bandits, if that's what you are asking."

"Oh, no, no, no. We didn't mean it like that! We where just curious if you were looking for work." "And if we are?" "Well, the road is a dangerous place, and it is nice to have protection. Especially from people how seem to fight, sir," he said leading Quint through the line of wagons. Quint felt uneasy it seemed like the caravan master was talking down to them, and had a plan form them. Stringing him along, he questioned further, "Having trouble?" He asked, gesturing toward the broken wagon. The caravan master seemed to flare in anger, but kept "Oh them, a group of laguz traveling with us. I'll be happier to be rid of them." Quint was unsurprised. It was common for caravans to distrust any laguz, the stereotype was that they rob and pickpocket honest working merchants. "Maybe you can help us with that…"

Quint quickly changed the subject, "Where are you heading?" "To Noy, we are hoping to catch the tail end of the high iron demand they are having." "Sorry," Quint said quickly finding good reason to turn down, "we are heading east." "Come now, surely you could find time to return to Noy with us. For some extra coin as well." "No, I'm afraid not." At this point the caravan master was angered by Quint's refusal. "Come on, what sort of mercenaries are you! You should be begging for a job and coin!" "Sorry but we have business elsewhere." "At least hear me!" the caravan master said in desperation. Quint turned to give him one last chance.

The caravan master then gestured to the lead wagon, the one with the broken wheel. "Do you see that? That is what's holding up our caravan. That fiendish laguz is probably doing this on purpose! The only reason I let them join in the first place was that he agreed to go way in front of the caravan and scout! But now, he is here jamming up the entire wagon train." "What would you have me do?" The master then gave a devilish grin, "I want you and your mercenaries to get us moving." "And how do you expect us to do that?" "By what ever means." Quint knew what the master was implying and decided to act upon it in his own way. "I want 1000 worths up front." The master's grin wiped away from his face when he heard a price, not it was the poker face of a seasoned merchant. "500, and I will pay you after you get it done!" The merchant thought he had Quint, usually mercenaries could not haggle, so it was a set in stone how much the price.

But Quint was a not a typical "mercenary," "Look, you merchants have a saying, 'time is money,' well at 500, we might be sluggish. At 950, however we will work at our fastest." The counter offer caught the caravan master off guard. Not letting it affect him, he countered, "900, and I pay after you finish." Quint gave a disappointed frown, then slowly extended his hand to agree to the deal. "Get to it," said the master and returned to his wagon.

Quint then turned back to his group. He explained the job that they were given. Cid seemed to angry at the thought of working for hire. "I thought we had a mission," he said in low voice. "Easy Cid, we are not a army with a unlimited purse, we need money. And this is a quick and easy." Cid inhaled sharply, he knew Quint was right but he was not happy about it.

Quint then walked over to the broken wagon. As he got closer, a figure stepped between him and the wagon. It was the wolf laguz. "What do you want?" "Just want to talk to the owner of that wagon." "Maybe he doesn't want to talk to you." "Fury!" came a voice behind him. "You know better then that!" The wolf laguz gave and angry glare at the lion laguz, and then walked back behind the wagon. Then Micias walked up to Quint, "Now who might you be?" "Quint." "Micias. I saw you talking the caravan master." "Yeah he asked me to help the caravan get the caravan moving again." "I suppose you are here to tear my wagon aside or burn it." "That's that the caravan master implied that he wanted me to do. But that doesn't mean I will." The loin laguz raised and eye brow. "What are you planning to do?" "Help you fix your wheel, it won't take long. That is if you'll let us." Micias was taken aback by the display of kindness. The loin smiled, "my all means."

Quint signaled to the group to come over and help, and he waited for them he asked, "Why isn't any of the other wagon owners helping? They could have had the wheel repaired by now." "Have you talked to the caravan master? He's views match that of the rest of the caravan." By then the rest of the group arrived to help. Miacias solely then lifted the side with the damaged wheel up about a foot in the air with a great feat of strength. Brath dropped his jaw when he saw the wagon go up, and everyone else paused impressed, but then returned to work motivated by the sound of Micias grunting. With Quint and his group's help, they had the wheel replaced within an hour.

The job complete, Quint walked over and collected the payment. The caravan master was reluctant at first, but could not complain. It gave hope to the rest of the caravan, so he was happy. Taking the money, Quint triumphantly walked back to Micais's wagon, where the rest of the group was gathered. Micais then walked up to Quint, "I want you thank you people," he said as he reached for his coin purse. Quint put his hand up to stop him, "No need, the master paid me." "Thank you, for everything." "No need to make the world harder for anyone." Micias gave a big smile.

Turning back to his wagon, he saw Fang standing between him and his cart. He had a serious look on his face, "What is it?" "Bandits, near the edge of the woods. I can smell them." "Looks like we might still be needed after all," said Quint. The three of them walked to the front of the caravan to conform. In the distance they saw figures moving towards them. "Bandits all right," agreed Quint. He quickly turned, "Brath!" The young axman came running up, "Better warn the caravan, we have bandits." Brath nodded and shot of into the wagon train. "Skye!" Then the Pegasus knight stepped up, "Take to the sky. Find out there number and equipment if you can! Don't do anything reckless, I just need information." With that she got on Cloud and soared into the air.

"Why would they come out into the open like this when they could have ambushed us further along the road?" pondered Micias. "That's probably our fault," admitted Quint. "We pissed off one bandit leader and now he seems hell bent on killing us." "What could you have possibly done to upset a bandit chief?" asked Fang in an insulting tone. "Wouldn't you like to know," and left before could see Fang's angry look at Quint and got his group ready. "Easy Fang," warned Micias, "I have a strong feeling he could handle you." Fang looked at Micias, who returned a stern knowing look. Fang slowly backed down and went inside of the wagon.

Skye returned and landed in front of the wagon, Quint ran up to see her. "There are about thirty bandits. I didn't see any archers but I didn't get close enough to tell. But I think there is a Mage or two, I think." That discouraged using Polais deduced Quint. "There'll be in range in about fifteen minutes." "Ok, good work," Quint said padding her on the shoulder.

After the rest of the group gathered, Quint gave the formation, "Ok, Me, Cid and Benson, we'll be in front. Brath, and Shadow will be support."

Brath gave a disappointed sigh, "Come on Quint I'm always "support." Let me be in the front, please." Quint turned and faced Brath, "Can you look at me, Brath and say you can take on one bandit all by yourself?" Brath shrugged, surprisingly he answered honestly, "With a bit of luck." Quint was unimpressed, "well when I solely rely on luck, I'll go gambling. Support. Well at least you'll have company," then he quickly looked at Shadow, "for whatever it's worth." Shadow gave an angry look, but Quint just kept going. "Skye, you will be in the air, picking off the wounded and the stragglers. I what you to hit them hard and get out of the line of fire as fast as you got in. Can you throw your spear?" "No but I have a few small javelins I can throw." "That will do. Gwen, Cathlyn, pick them of from a distance, avoid directly fighting anyone. Clare, keeping doing what you do."

"Can I offer assistance in any way?" Quint turned and saw Micias. Quint regarded what he could do: his strength was impressive, if he could wield a weapon it would make him all the more valuable. "Can you fight?" "No, but…Fang, Lily," the two laguzes stepped forward, "they'll fight with you." Quint looked that the laguzes, they were surprised that Micias offered them to help. "Can they fight?" Micias nodded.

"Micias what are you doing?" asked Fang.

"Fang, they helped us. We owe them." Fang seemed to dislike the idea, the cat laguz, however, didn't seem to mind. Fang opened his mouth, about to protest, but Micias gave a sterner look, causing Fang to back down. "Fine."

"You know he reminds me of you," whispered Quint to Shadow. "What can you do?" "We are good at hand to hand, combat." Replied Lily, "And we can transform." Quint was going to ask, but realized they where short on time. "Ok, you two flow between the front and support. Ok? Let's go!"

Meanwhile the leader of the bandits, a giant of a man that rivaled Micias named Bub. He carried an ax that countered his stature, it was small newer and polished to gleam in the sun. Bub was not known for saying a lot of words, but he was ruthless and followed Tun like a brother, the prefect man to hunt down a person who stepped on Tun's toes. Seeing the caravan, he didn't care about the merchants or the potential money he could get from the caravan. He focus was on the group of fighters forming in the front of the caravan. He pointed towards Quint's group and ordered, "kill," give the go ahead to for his men to charge.

As they rushed forward they where thinned out by Cathlyn's arrows and Gwen's fire. Before they got within fifty feet of Quint's group, they had lost seven men. Undaunted, but more fearful of Bub and his ax, they pressed on.

Before Quint could rush ahead, he heard a howl from his left. He looked to his left and saw Lily and Fang "transforming" into their related beast form. They both became shrouded in light, and after the light disappeared, both where in their beast from. Fang became a large wolf with dark blue fur and black ends. Lily became a giant cat, as big as a lioness with light pink fur and black tips like Fang. As soon as they had transformed they leaped into the cluster of bandit's. Quint stared in amazement; he recovered and had his group charge in after them.

Quint then singled out the closest bandit to him. The bandit raised his ax over his head to bring crashing down on Quint's head. Quint dodged it by stepping out of the ax's range and letting it get buried within the ground. As the bandit tried to remove his ax from the ground, Quint, using the sole of his foot, kicked him away from his weapon and using his momentum from the kick he brought his sword down on the bandit's chest. The bandit fell to the ground, dead.

Looking for another target, Quint saw one bandit swinging his ax like fielding a tree. Quint raised his sword vertically and blocked the bandit's strike at an upward angle, causing the bandit's ax to side up the sword until the ax had passed clear of the sword. As the bandit finished his strike he showed his back to Quint who took advantage of that, by thrusting his sword into the bandit's side, then twisting the blade. The bandit winced and fell in pain, then fell to the ground in pain. Finishing him, Quint, using the hilt of his blade, knocked out. If he wasn't dead, he would be soon. He was no more of a threat.

Quint then quickly looked around. Plus the two bodies he just added he counted at least five bandits bodies on the ground. He saw Cid and Brath taking on three bandits. Shadow had five bandits surrounded her, so she had little to worry. Skye was reining terror upon the ignorant bandits with her javelins. The two other laguzes where making quick work thinning out the bandit's ranks. They tag teamed a single target, then leaped back and forth taking one bandit each, and then teamed up again. Benson, on the other hand, trouble. He was presently holding off one bandit's axes by holding his spear on its shaft. Quint then saw two more bandits moving in to take advantage of the situation. Not wanting a friendly dead body, he rushed in to help Benson.

Meanwhile Gwen was casting fire magic at the bandits at a distance. She had become very comfortable at casting magic from a distance at her intended target. And if the bandit got close enough to strike at her, it usually took one fire blast to finish the bandit. Presently she had finished off one bandit before the bandit could even reach fifteen feet of her. Sighing deeply, she looked to see if there were any other bandits nearby her. When she did she realized she had strayed far from the edge of the group. While the rest of the group was in front of the caravan and using it like a wall, she had stayed far to the left of it after seeing a small group of bandits trying to flank the group by hitting the caravan far to the left. Thinking she would go only a few paces from the caravan, she had actually strayed farther then she intended.

As she began to jog back to the caravan, she heard a crackle from a flame from behind her. She turned quickly and saw a fireball aimed towards her. Swinging to dodge, the fireball pass by her extended arm she raised to block. As it passed by, she felt the heat of it lightly burn the side of her arm; but when it passed by her open palm, she felt her hand being pulled, almost like it was being magnetically pulled toward the fireball. When the fireball had passed Gwen, she stared at her hands in amazement, unsure of what happened. Putting that aside in her mind, she then looked for the source of the fireball.

It was from a bandit holding a tome. He had a bit more clothing then the rest of the bandits, it made him look more intelligent then the rest of the other brigades he was working for. It was not rare for mages to become bandits, but it was not often seen. They were primarily used to defend the base camp of a bandit clan, I case of an attack, or used as a bodyguard to the bandit leader. The fact that Tun sent a few of his mages meant he really wanted Quint and Shadow.

Realizing that Gwen had dodged the fireball, he reached into his tome to try again. Gwen reached for her tome, but was too slow. The bandit mage casted his spell before she could even open her tome. Abandoning the tome, she dodged it narrowly again. It passed beside her palm again, and it gave the same magnetic pull again. Gwen again was perplexed; then something clicked in her mind. When he was alive and a teacher for her for the short time, he had mentioned a magical skill known as "Deflection." A magician who had this skill was able to grab, and redirect the spell to any direction the magician pleased. Wanting to attempt the skill she let the bandit attack again.

She again reached for her tome, half-heartedly but enough to convince the bandit the she was going to attack. He pulled out his tome again and launched another fireball at her. This time she was hoping for that and moved to the side by few inches as to be out of danger if she could not control the spell. As the fireball approached, Gwen cupped her hand and prepared for the fireball. As she caught the ball, the force of the throw pushed her back and collapse and hunched into her chest. The bandit thought he had hit her. But she soon revealed the fireball, being held in her hand. The bandit was astounded, and frozen in his place. Gwen stared at it, amazed it worked. Remembering that the bandit was still a potential threat, she would up the fireball, like a ball, and returned it to the bandit mage.

Whether the bandit was to scared/mesmerized to move or to slow to dodge, Gwen did know. But when fireball hit him it was like a wall of bricks had punched him. He fell to the ground instantly and was defeated. Seeing him it the ground, Gwen felt a feeling of accomplishment. She had just practiced a skill she had merely heard about, and used it to defeat a fellow mage. She beamed in excitement. Couldn't wait to tell every one else. Before she turned and started to turn to the caravan, she felt a large shadow loom over her. She looked up and saw Bub looming over her like a mountain. Any feeling of excitement she had gained form deflecting the fireball, she lost by looking at Bub.

Now she began to feel helpless. She was not a fighter, and knew she could not take on Bub alone. She much preferred to fight from a distance to give space between her and her target. But now, there was only about five feet between her and Bub.

Bud, using his free hand, grabbed Gwen by her cape and lifted her off the ground. Gwen's cape latch began to tighten around her neck, cutting her off from air. She began to kick and grip at the strap of her cape that went around her neck. She was able to pull the strap away from her neck and able to breath. After getting her hand between her neck and the cape strap, she was able to undo the knot and drop to the ground. She grabbed her tome and ripped out a bunch of pages of her tome. She didn't have time to specify one fireball and she wanted to end this in one shot. As Bub moved her cape to she where she disappeared to, he discovered her holding at least five pages of her tome about two inches away from Bub's chest. Before Bub could react Gwen shouted "Fire!" Gwen first thought that the fire tomes would launch a separate fireball for each page. Instead, they combined into one massive fireball and was propelled into Bub's chest. Both Gwen and Bub where pushed away from the shock wave. She skidded back and began to roll until she came to a stop. Slowly getting up, she felt sore and exhausted. Looking over to Bub, she saw him on the ground. There was no movement form his body he was knocked out.

"Are you alright?" Came a voice from behind, Gwen readied her tome and spun around using what little energy she had left. It was Quint, he was blooded and dirty. "Y-yeah," she replied weakly with a smile. Then her vision went dark, she didn't even feel her body hit the ground.

Back at the caravan, the caravan master was furious. There was no damaged to any of the wagons, but the caravan had been threaten by bandits, and there piece of mind that they were safe was gone, and they had lost haft a day waiting for this battle to get over. The battle had end a few minutes before and now most of Quint's group where gathering around Micias's wagon. He was staring angrily at Micias and his wagon, he was thinking of a way to get back at him. It was his fault, though not intentionally, but the caravan master still thought it was his fault, and he should pay.

Then he decided, he would exploit the situation. He walked over to Micias's wagon, "Micias! I want to talk to you!" Micias looked at him with suspicion, he got off of the driver's seat and met the caravan master head on. "This is your fault. You realize that!" "How?" He pointed angrily at Micias's wagon, "your wagon slowed us down and allowed us to be attacked by bandits! You risked the lives of my caravan and more importantly our cargo!" (Priorities of a merchant…) "Was anything damaged?" "That's not the point! The point is you put us in danger! If I didn't know any better I would think you lead them to us! You owe us!"

Fang then stepped in between Micias and the master, and growled deeply. Micias placed his hand on Fang's shoulders, and he stopped. "What do we owe you?" The master then smiled greedily, rubbing his chin as if he was in thought, "Oh, about 20,000 worths." "That's more then what my wagon is worth!" "Then your wagon will do. After all you owe us!"

"Who owes what to whom?" came a voice from beside the wagon. The three looked and the source of it was Quint, carrying the green haired mage passed out on his back. "Gwen!" shouted Clare rushing to help the young mage. "She's fine," assured Quint setting her down, "she just has a little magical fatigue. She'll be fine." Then he turned around and looked at Micias, "Can we borrow your wagon? It not idea but it would be better then having her rest of the ground." Micias nodded, "Of course, there is a bed in it, you are welcome to used it." "Thank you," and he helped Benson and Cid carry Gwen into the wagon. When she was in the wagon and Clare was attending to her, he came out to find an answer his question from before.

"Now back to my question," he said looking at Micias and the master. "I was just telling this beast that he owes me money. After all he did cause this! He owes me 20,000 worths!" Quint looked at Micias and then back to the master, then he smiled, "Thank you for reminding me, we have to discuss our fee." "What fee?" "Oh, for protecting your caravan. I mean we almost lost one of our people. I feel we are entitled to a payment." The caravan master couldn't argue, "very well. What are you entitled to?" "20,500 worths." "What? Are you serious?" "Quite." The caravan master shook his head in disagreement, like it was a joke to him. Quint then placed his hand on his sword, "you're in no position to be negotiating." Then he leaned in close and spoke in a serious tone, "look my men are tried and cranky, and if you do not want my people to burn your wagons to the ground you will pay us."

The caravan master was taken aback by the sudden change in Quint. He lowered his head, "Ok, give me some time to gave the coins."

As quickly Quint turned he became chipper again, "no need. Micias, how much is it to allow Gwen to recover?" Before Micias could confusedly answer, Quint answered for him, "20,000? Well you drive a hard bargain. Deal. So Micias owes you 20,000, you owe me 20,500, and I owe Micias 20,000. So why don't you just pay me 500, and we call it even."

Now the caravan leader had lost all self-control. He had lost the one chance to get payback from the laguzes. And he still had to pay. "Get out! You and the beast, get the hell out of my caravan!"

Quint was not going to leave without payment, "What about my fee?"

The caravan master threw down his purse from his belt, "Take whatever is in that purse! Just get the hell way from my caravan!" With that he turned and returned to the caravan. Within five minutes the caravan was moving in the direction of Noy, and turned on the long way as to avoid the forest—minus one. Micias's wagon remained behind, as he the two other laguzes and Quint's group watched them slowly passed by.

Quint picked up the purse and looked at Micias with an apologetic look, "sorry about getting you kicked out of the caravan." Micias just smiled, "it's fine. It was probably for the best." Then he sighed deeply, "Although I do wish I wish I had company heading to Noy."

"Yeah, I remember the caravan master saying something about that. An iron craze, was it?"

The big lion laguz nodded, "there was a rumor that the merchants were paying three times the regular price. Supposedly they are raising an army." Quint's face then had a look of confusion. "What is it?" asked Micias.

"Well," Quint begun to explain, " we where just at Noy, and there was no sign of any army or weapons being made for one." "Are you sure?" Quint nodded, "I can make sure. Benson!" The blonde spearman walked up to the young man and the lion laguz. "Benson here was a guard at Noy." Then he asked Benson, "Was there an army being raised in Noy, or any reason why the price of iron would be high."

The soldier of Noy shook his head, "No, nothing. In fact iron is at an all time low. Noy has too much iron then it knows what to do with it. Any more and we could make our walls out of iron."

Micias was confused, "so the rumor is false?" Benson nodded. "Why would someone start a rumor to bring iron to a city that already has to much?"

"War profiteering," answered Quint. "Where would be the best place to buy tons of iron cheap? At a place that has too much of the product. Merchants will try to get rid of it, fast and move on. So they may even sell iron at a lost just to be rid of it. In the end, it is a easy way to get large quantities of iron." "Why would anyone need large quantities of iron?" "There is a civil war in the Legion, as well as the war between Brath-Shall and Ymarel. There is plenty of places that might require iron, and in large quantities. Someone must have a lot of strings and influence to pull this off." Benson then looked down to the ground in thought. "Any one in mind Benson?"

He nodded, "There is one person I can think of. A very influential and wealthy man by the name of Sothis." That name struck Quint like a strong punch to the stomach. He then rubbed his left shoulder. "He's a son of a bitch who started off as a slave trader, now he's one of the richest men in Noy, perhaps in all of Dranlis."

Quint's blood boiled, he hated the sound of the Sothis's success. Then he looked over at Micias. He may not have shown it vividly, but Quint could tell he was upset. "Well I must thank you," he said to Quint, "I'm not sure what would come over me seeing that" then he lowered his voice on the word "man." Quint then forgot all about his anger and smiled weakly, "no problem."

Micias then looked back the end of the caravan. "Can't say I'll miss them," said Fang standing beside Micias.

"What are you planning to do now?" asked Quint to Micias.

The great lion shrugged, "not sure. What are you planning to do?"

"Well we have a "job" that is requires us to travel on Dranlis. But presently we are heading towards Edge, we have some business there," said Quint.

"I see." Then Micias asked something that when he awoke this morning he had never expected to ask, "May we join you?" From behind him Fang gave a confused look behind Micias. "Being a merchant allows us to travel around without a destination in mind, but it also paints a target on our back. Traveling with you might ensure a little more protection then going at it alone."

"What about traveling to Noy?"

"If the rumor dose prove false, I will have lost thousands. Better to sell it somewhere that will certainly pay a decently price for it."

Quint thought about the offer, an indirect benefit was Fang and Lily would be joining them, and that added to their combative force. Also having some means of storing items and weapons would be need if the group kept growing. Plus having a merchant could help them find better deals on supplies. Quint felt he could trust Micias, he was like a wise old man every one could trust. Quint liked the idea. "Sure," he said extending his hand.

Gwen awoke to a rounded wooden roof over her head. She was dazed for a minute, then slowly began to regain her senses. She could feel a sudden lurch from underneath her then she realized she was in a wagon. "Glad to see your up," came a soft voice from the end of the bed she was laying in. She slowly leaned up and saw Clare, her friend, sitting at the foot of the bed, then sank back into the bed. "Where am I?" "Micias's wagon. He was nice enough to let us use his wagon. He and the two other laguzes are coming with us apparently." Gwen began to rub her head, in order to try and relieve a head splitting headache that just came over her. "You still have magical fatigue. Try to take it easy." Gwen then nodded weakly then smiled, she was in no shape to be doing anything else. Clare then returned the smile, exited out of the wagon by way of the rear door, and Gwen fell back asleep.

When the group made camp, Quint realized how much time they had lost defending the caravan. They would have been there by now, but they would arrive wait till tomorrow to finally get there. Nothing he could do about it now, he was exhausted and the rest of the group he believed felt the same. So the rest was welcomed without any objection.

As they made camp, Gwen came out of the wagon. She was still exhausted, but wanted to get some fresh air before falling asleep again. Quint was glad to see she was recovering steadily. Some cases of magical fatigue but a mage on bed rest for months; luckily hers was just a mild case. He walked over to her and returned her fire tome and cape to her. She thanked him, then asked, "Do you know anything about deflection?"

Quint looked at her confused, "Why are you asking me?"

"Apart from Clare, you are the only one I know that has a little experience in magic. And she would not know about this. Her specialties are more in the art of healing rather then elemental magic. Besides Salem was the one that told me about deflection. You knew him before Noy so I was hoping he mentioned something about it."

Quint nodded, and begun running through his mind to recall what he knew of deflection. "Salem told me that deflection is a skill that cannot be taught to every mage. Apparently it is a skill that someone has to be born with." "I see." "Why the sudden interest?" "I think I might have done it earlier," admitted Gwen. Quint was impressed, "really? Are you sure?" Gwen nodded. "I was able to use a mage's fire ball on himself." "Impressive, most people usually have the spell blow up in there face. It was been the cause of a lot of burnt off eye brows." "I guess I got lucky." "Yeah, best to see that now. Deflecting a fireball is a lot different from deflecting a thunder spell." Gwen nodded, seeing a bit of sense in his wisdom. Feeling the fatigue taking over her, she grabbed some salted beef and returned to the bed in the wagon.

When darkness fell, the group had built up a campfire and was preparing the night's supper of a simple broth. During that Quint witnessed something odd. He had had a hunch that Fang did not like humans. Lily didn't have a problem, but Fang had an undying hatred for any human. What was so odd was his attitude toward Shadow. He had seen an incident between the two of them. He had seen them talking, if you would call it talking. Shadow merely used one-worded answers, and Fang countered with small sentences, it was a real discussion for the two of them. But the thing that made Quint curious was the word Fang muttered to end the conversation was, he unable to hear the word, but he caught "-reed" at the very end of the word. After that the two avoided each other.

When the broth had been served, the group gathered around the fire. At first the conversation was cheerful. Micias lead the conversation, he was telling them of the news from out east and telling stories he had gained throughout his long life. Then Quint asked, "Do you know any news about the wars?"

Micias remained silent for a minute, then looked into Quint eyes an begun. "There is much. First the civil war in the Legion is still going strong. Fraiden, Boter, and Pannel seemed to be getting the worst of the fighting." Quint quickly glanced at Cid, who shifted uneasily in his seat. Micias continued, "Brath-Shall and Ymarel still are in conflict. And the war as clamed it's first noble casualty. The forth prince of Brath-Shall, Prince Percious Weson Burtion." Quint's head shot up, as if he had heard that name before, "How did he die?" "He was leading is men to engage Ymarel's men. Rumors say he was assassinated in his own tent the night before he was to fight." "Do they now who did it?" "No. Currently the rumors believe it was Ymarel's doing, but those are just rumors."

"And then there is the Segaul rebels," added Lily. Quint and every one else's eyes shifted to her. Micias spoke down to her, "Lily…" "What about Segaul?" asked Quint. This was the first time he had heard any new from the Segaul desert. Micias sighed deeply, there was no point in hiding it any more, "The rebels claim to have stolen Segaul's Fire Emblem." Every one shifted uneasily.

The Segaul Desert was known for having the most unstable populace in all of New Crestent. One of the major reasons was the difference in race between the nobles and peasants. While over half the populace was laguz, all of the nobles and upper to middle class were human. Few laws were passed that the populace agreed to. In addition before they outlawed slavery, over 100 years ago, three quarters of the slaves that were freed were laguz. Despite being free there social status did not improve at all. This was the cause of the friction, and the motivation for the rebels. The rebels had formed ten years ago, but had not made the slightest accomplishment for there goal, until now.

Their "capture" of the nation's Fire Emblem, was a huge victory to their cause. Now the rebels could claim the right for the throne of Segaul. "What are the nobles saying to counter that?" asked Quint. Micias shook his head, "the nobles say it is a fake and to prove them wrong they brought theirs out and flaunted it about around Calrin. But the rebels claim it is a fake as well" "Another fake?" Said Cid. Micias nodded, "So it appears, either one could be fake, but nether side wants to admit it. They both have to much to lose." Every on could see why. If the rebels admit they have a fake, they would lose face and upset the nobles, if the nobles admitted of having a fake, it would be an opening for the rebels to wedge in their rights and demands. "Why the interest in the wars?" asked Micias.

Quint explained their story, making sure he missed no details of the mission they were on. When all as told, Micias leaned back and closed his eyes in thought. "I hope we have not scared you off. We would be happy if you stayed." Micias smiled, "Not at all. I am no lover of war of any kind. I'd be happy to help."

Then Fang, stood up and stormed from beside Micias and went out into the night. "Was it something I said?" The pink haired laguz shook her head, "He's very distrusting of humans. He was a slave before Micias found him. We both were. He had many masters, all of them human." Quint could understand, "What about you?" "I had a few masters," she explained, "but not all where human. I had a couple laguz masters. Only to find both races could be cruel." Looking at after Fang she leaned to Micias, "I'll go calm him down," then went after Fang. Watching her leave Quint remarked, "smart girl."

Micias nodded, "Aye. Wise for her age, a bit mischievous and devilish but a good girl." "Hard to believe they where slaves." "All three of us were." Quint looked at Micias who now had a stern face, "I freed myself after twenty years of service to my master. Soon a kind old merchant found me, and he took me in and taught me everything I know. When he passed I took his wagon and have made a life from trading. About two years ago I found Lily, and half a year later I found Fang. We have been traveling together ever since."

By now Fang and Lily had returned. Seeing that Fang had calmed down Quint got up and tried to be friendly to him. "Look, Fang. I heard about what was happen to you. And I wanted you to know I'm sorry for everything my kind put you through. I don't want to be your enemy."

Fang looked Quint surprised, the sudden words from Quint had caught him off guard. Lily who was standing behind him half expected him to accept his apology. But instead all Fang became was angrier. "What, you expect after saying that, that all is forgiven? Heh you have no idea of the type of hell they put me through." Then he removed the ties from his black leather vest to relieve a scar right over his heart. It was dark red due to the amount of time that had passed, and was higher then the rest of the skin, showing how deep the scar was.

Quint recognized the scar. It was the brand of a slave, called "an oppression mark." When they brand a slave they use a chest that represented the slave trade. If the branding was well done, one could see a chain and coins representing the two things a slave always ways: oppressed and worth coin.

Fang looked at Quint and began to scold him like he had done something wrong. "Your race did that to me. And that was merely a mild taste of what they were capable of. You want proof? Look at my back, full of whip scars. Also from your kind. So don't tell me you know my pain."

Normally Quint would have let this go. He would have said that Fang was right and let him continue to hate him. But something in side said he could do that. So he took of his cloak and removed the chest piece of his armor. Fang, Lily and Micias where confused as to what he was doing. The he pulled back his shirt and relieved a scar an exact match to Fang's over Quint's heart. Fang was speechless, and the other two where taken aback.

Then Quint began to scold Fang. In a low and angry voice he said, "Look here Fang. I know first hand what "my kind" is capable of. I was the subject to their evil as well, which goes to show you that you where not the only who suffered. And what are you doing to stop this suffering? Nothing. So quit with this whole martyrdom and hate the ones who did this to you not an entire race." Fang merely stared at Quint. None of his words got through to Fang, but he was at a loss for them. He ended the confrontation by scoffing off Quint's counter argument and stormed away.

Lily then picked up Quint's cloak and returned to him saying, "Thank you for doing that. It's about time some one put him in his place." Then ran off after Fang to calm him down again.

After Quint's confrontation, the group, all-unaware, (apart from Quint, Lily, Micias, and Fang) what had happened between Quint and Fang, started going off into their bedrolls. Micias, Lily, and Fang agreed to sleep outside tonight, (Fang reluctantly agreed), in order to allow Gwen to have the bed, helping her recover. Before Lily went to bed she had a question. "Hey, it's Quint right?" Quint nodded. "When you first came in to the caravan early this morning, did you ask for work?" Quint tried to recall what exactly he said to the caravan master, but he had already forgotten most of it. "I think so… we may have. Why?" The cat girl grinned, "no reason." And took off after Fang and shouted, "Ha, pay up!" Quint laughed to himself, realizing he was apart of some bet.

Since he has first watch shift again, Quint stayed up and tended to the fire. Midway through his watch, he was alerted by the grass rustling for behind him. He spun around to find it was Shadow walking up to the fire. She then walked to the opposite side of the fire, sat down and just watched the flames dance on the logs. Quint then broke the silence, "You know we have not really talked since Noy, and by talk I mean I have most of the discussion and you give me one word answers."

"So?" Answered Shadow. "Well it was just an observation." "Do you need to talk me?" "Actually something has been bothering me about you. I was hopping I could ask you about it and get an answer from you rather then know behind your back." "What is it?" Quint then leaned in close, and took and uncomfortable pause, "you are a half-breed, right?"

Shadow's head flew up and looked at Quint with shock, she was not expecting that question. "I ask because I noticed several things," continued Quint, "first, I caught the end of your heated discussion with Fang. At first one would think you two would get along, but I believe it's not that easy. Fang hates anything human, and I sure that includes half-breeds." Which was the word Quint was able to get from the end of their argument, "breed." "Second, seeing Fang and Lily transform to day was an experience, but it made me recall something. In all of the fight we have been in I have never seen you transform. There were times where transforming would have made your fight easier, but instead you choose to fight as is. Which makes me believe you cannot transform. And unlike Lily and Fang who have tails, you do not." "Even half-breeds can transform," replied Shadow. "True, but some half-breeds could have the abilities of a laguz, yet not be able to transform." Then he paused to let his observations sink in. "Am I wrong to assume that you are not a full laguz?"

Shadow sighed deeply, "No you are right. I am not a full laguz." Then she became defensive, "What does it matter if I am half-laguz or not?"

Quint shook his head, "not at all. It just is nice to know."

Quint thought that was the end of his conversation with Shadow, but then she revered the roles on him. "Since I answered a question of yours, it's only fair that you answer one of mine." Quint nodded. Then came the question, "What does the name Quinthantheus mean to you?"

This time Quint was shocked, "Where did you hear that?"

"From inside the forest fortress, I was merely in the next room when I heard you fight the fire caster. I was able to hear everything."

"I see." Sighing deeply, Quint explained, "It's a name I used to be called a long time ago. I was a different person then, then what I am now. So I no longer use that name."

"Then how did that man know it?"

Quint shook his head, "I don't know. But the fact that he does know means he must have a lot of information on us. Which does not help our cause." He sighed, "but there point in worrying about tonight."

After a while Shadow got up and started to leave. Before she got past the fire; Quint asked, "Would you mind not telling anyone about my name. The last thing we need is people throwing that name around." Shadow turned and counter offered, "I will if you don't tell anyone about me being a half-breed." "I don't see the harm…" started Quint. Then Shadow glared at Quint, who got the message, "Ok, I breathe a word of it. But I cannot say the same for Fang."

"Leave Fang to me." Said Shadow returning to darkness where her bedroll was. Quint chuckled he was imagining that conversation. If he knew where it would take place he would pay to see it unfold. Poking the fire to move a log into the flames. He continued to watch the flames until he was relieved from his watch.

A lone figure stood in the middle of a study. He was staring out a window, not really looking at anything particular, but lost in thought. A knock on the door broke his thought. "Enter, said the figure, moving to sit behind a desk. The knock's owner then walked through the door. "Pardon the intrusion, sire." "What is it?"

"I thought you would like to know sir, our spies have informed up they the have found the man we are looking for?"

The figure then jumped up form his seat, "Where?"

The man pause, the answered slowly, "In…Noy, sire… our spies say he was there not more then a few days ago."

"Are you positive?"

The man nodded, "Yes, sire. I have just received word this afternoon and I thought I should tell you as soon as I found out." The figure then slowly sank into his chair, he was disappointed and frustrated at the news, "I see."

"It appears he is heading east with a small band of mercenaries."

"Where is his destination?"

The second man shook his head, "I know not, sire. All I know is what our agents told us. And that was he was seen in Noy a few days ago."

"I see, thank you. You may leave." The second man bowed and left the study.

The lone figure then placed his hands on his head and rubbed it to make sense of the recent news. "What are you plotting, Quinthantheus?"

-End Notes-

Lily's name up for change:

It took a while for me to pick a name for her, and frankly I am still not a fan of the name Lily for her. I named her after a Tiger Lily, but I do not think it is a good name for her. I don't mind Fang's name but I am not crazy about it ether. So if anyone wants to give me suggestions for those two, I'm all for it.

Long Ass Chapter: (But not my longest.)

I was not planning to have this chapter go this long, but there was a lot of information I wanted to get out so I guess it was a necessary evil. I revealed some of Quint's past, but I don't think I will be adding to it any more for the time being.

Deflection- What is it?

Deflection is a skill that recently came up with. I wanted to have the mages have a similar action, almost like a block. Yet at the same time I wanted it to be unique, so deflection was born. In a nutshell, a mage could "grab" another mage's spell that was directed toward them, and change its direction back towards the original caster. Right now Gwen is the only one with that skill, but I feel whatever mage's Quint recruits will have that skill, but I haven't gotten that far so we will see.

Anyway, new chapter's up hope you enjoyed it!

Don't be afraid to review!

Cheers!

Indogma