Chapter 9: Corruption of Beorc
Zihark was instantly assaulted by the enemy units. The Trueblade dodged and weaved past his adversaries, wanting no more than to end this squabble as soon as possible and thus going straight for the leader. Three Dracoknights got in his way as he was closing the gap between him and the leader. Zihark got past them easily, but then, as he saw the leader he froze.
"It can't be...." Was all he was able to say before the Dracolord swung at him with a Silver Axe. The swing was a perfect arc, with nary a flaw in sight, and in fact Zihark just barely managed to dodge by moving back. The Dracolord quickly switched to a Tomahawk at that point. With not much more than a flick of the wrist, the axe was thrown at Zihark. The Trueblade went up to avoid it, but the speed of the axe caused it to nick one of his legs on its trip. It then returned to the Dracolord. Zihark had been analyzing the enemy's actions out of suspicion, and he had suddenly come to a dreadful conclusion.
"Haar?" He asked the grotesque, hardly-human astride a dragon that Zihark recognized as Haar's steed. This confirmed his fears, and those fears only increased as he recalled something Lethe had told him.
~flashback~
Lethe had led Zihark out to somewhere private, and even though she had a determined look on her face, Zihark could sense regret. When they stopped, Lethe turned to face the Trueblade and sighed.
"Zihark, can I trust you to keep what I'm going to tell you between us?:" She asked. Zihark didn't like the sound of this, and he asked Lethe seriously,
"I'm going to be an uncle aren't I?" That earned him a slap.
"No no NO! Not even close!" Yelled Lethe.
"Alright, so what is it?" Asked Zihark.
"I think I'm losing myself." Said Lethe, bluntly yet fearfully.
"What do you mean?" Asked Zihark. To this, Lethe's response was to hold out an arm and point at a series of puncture wounds in an unmistakable arrangement.
"You bit yourself in the arm?" He asked. Lethe nodded, but then warned,
"It is not to be taken lightly. I almost killed Janaff before I inflicted this wound upon myself. I just barely managed it."
"Why your arm?" Asked Zihark.
"Because, a weird symbol was there." Said Lethe. She then started crying, and Zihark couldn't understand why.
~end flashback~
Looking at the twisted image of Haar, he noticed that the symbol was on the Dracoknight's forehead. A look of determination suddenly showed on Zihark's face, and after dodging another axe throw, he closed in and drew his sword, stabbing it at the symbol. He drew blood, a lot of blood, and made a realization that almost made him puke. What he stabbed was alive, though it was now dead. As he took his sword away, he dodged the Tomahawk on its return. Haar caught it, even though he seemed to be in a daze.
"This guy is somethin' else." Said Zihark. Haar seemed to stir slightly, and slowly his appearance returned to normal. At the same time, every Dracoknight regained their human bodies. Following that, Zihark started to go off in the direction of TIbarn, when he heard heavy snoring. Snickering, Zihark slowly approached the Dracolord. He inhaled silently, only to have Haar open one eye. Zihark didn't stop until he heard the man's voice.
"Scream and I'll carve out your throat." This stopped Zihark cold.
"Uh, good to see you too, Haar." He said. Haar smirked, but that smirk soon faded when his mount started getting antsy.
"What's wrong with him?" Asked Zihark.
"She doesn't like blood. Something's wrong. Where at, girl?" Asked Haar.
"...Girl?" Asked Zihark. Haar simply nodded, then when the mount motioned in the direction of the blood, Zihark followed her gaze, and realized that,
"...I'm too late."
"Too late? For what?" Asked Haar.
"The Laguz named Lethe is having the same problem you just got over, apparently." Said Zihark. Haar tried to act his stoic self, but his fist was clenched so hard it was shaking. Zihark saw this and asked,
"Are you alright sir?" Haar looked at Zihark, then his clenched fist, and relaxed before saying,
"Sorry. I really can't hide it. Jill has developed a fondness of Laguz, and-"
"Jill? You mean Jill who came after us at Toha?" Asked Zihark.
"Well you know as well as I do that Ike changed her as he did so many." Said Haar.
"I know, but I always thought that she joined with Ike for more personal reasons." Said Zihark.
"That's what she said it started out as, but if you recall, she even went through the trouble of getting me on your side." Said Haar.
"True." Admitted Zihark.
"Now whaddya say we go find Lethe." Said Haar.
"We?" Asked Zihark.
"Well, if I returned to Jill with a debt, let's just say in the past when that happened she stopped what she was doing and said nothing more than 'Get your mount, and meet me outside'." When Zihark heard this, he was speechless.
"Let's just go." Said Haar.
"Right." Said Zihark. They were off, and before long Haar said,
"So what was your girlfriend like?" Zihark stopped right then. Haar knew he had hit a sensitive spot, though Jill hadn't been very specific on that point. Zihark soon looked at Haar, and said only,
"I don't want to talk about it." Haar nodded in understanding, and they continued toward where Lethe had apparently gone. As they got close, Zihark saw two weakened Laguz facing off, as well as two Laguz down.
'Lethe did all this?' Thought Zihark.
"Lethe, I'm not going to fight you." Said Tibarn, through pants. Lethe merely growled. She bared her fangs, seemingly to appear more menacing. Zihark however, saw much more than that. The cat lunged at Tibarn, preparing to bite the Hawk.
"Tibarn, don't let her bite you!" Yelled Zihark. Tibarn quickly reverted to his Demibeorc state, and punched the cat away. Lethe's jaws were forced together as Tibarn's fist connected with her chin, and that connection caused a small spray of poison.
"That's not normal." Said Tibarn.
"Right now, she's not normal." Said Haar. Suddenly, Zihark heard a voice in his head. The man closed his eyes, and could see Lethe clearly.
"Zihark, what's happening? Is it what I think it is?" Asked the catgirl.
"Yes, whether or not you want to, you're attacking an ally." Said Zihark.
"Who?" Asked Lethe.
"You're attacking Tibarn, and you're winning." Said Zihark.
"How?!" Asked Lethe.
"He's not fighting back." Said Zihark.
"Tell him to fight!" Yelled Lethe.
"All right." Said Zihark
"You remember what I showed you before?" Asked Lethe.
"Yeah." Said Zihark. Suddenly, the image of Lethe started to become fuzzy.
"Sorry, I'm being cut off. I'm counting on you to convince Tibarn." She said. Zihark nodded and said,
"You can count on me." Then she was gone from his head.
Meanwhile...
Ike was sitting on a stump. They had been sitting still for a few days, and the commander was getting irritated as he saw the sun start to set once again.
"Is everyone ready to go YET?!" He asked. Everyone assembled, ready to move. Well, almost everyone. Lyre, Shinon, and Zet were missing. Suddenly, Shinon's voice yelled from the forest,
"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT!?!?!" Moments later, Lyre appeared from the forest with a large bump on her head. Immediately following was Zet, who's face was beet red. After a few minutes, Shinon jumped out of the trees, looked left and right, then forward.
"Aha! Don't go thinking you can hide behind the commander, you damn Sub-Human!" He yelled. Lyre cringed at the harsh words, and Ike put an arm out, as if to offer himself as a shield. Shinon merely growled at this, and readied his bow. As he pulled an arrow from his quiver, he yelled,
"Out of the way Ike, or you're first! Nothing personal, I just never liked the use of shields!"
"Shinon, put that away!" Shinon growled more as he notched the arrow, then drew his bow. As the string could be heard straining, Ike yelled,
"Shinon stop! Just, stop and tell me what's up!"
"Me? Tell you what's up?! No, I think I'll let the animal humiliate herself. I don't go that far." Shinon put away his bow, then the arrow, and waited with his arms crossed.
"Well go on, animal, tell the commander all about your little antics in the forest. I'm sure with the commander's love of-" Shinon then cleared his throat, and tried to put on the most innocent face he could for the next word,
"Laguz-" The Marksman then went back to normal instantly,
"He'll believe every word of whatever lie you end up telling him." Ike was looking at Shinon strangely, thinking,
'He's lost it!' Regardless, he looked to Lyre next, and reached a hand out to her. Lyre cringed, and Ike wasn't sure why. He ran his hand gently through her hair, just trying to make her feel good physically. After that, Ike finally got to the question.
"Lyre, what happened beyond those trees?" Lyre froze just then. Meanwhile, Shinon had gone to Soren, and told him that,
"What she's trying to keep secret, is literally behind her back. Specifically between it and her shirt." That got Soren curious, as much as he hated to admit it. With a sigh he made a swishing movement with his hand, toward Lyre, and without doing anything else summoned some wind. It wasn't one of his wind spells, mind you, it was more like a strong breeze. Still, it was all that was needed to get the desired effect. Suddenly, Ranulf wasn't sure if he wanted to cover his mouth so he coouldn't yell, or his eyes so he couldn't see what he wanted to yell about. While the blue cat was having that odd predicament, Shinon was having a hard laughing fit, and Soren was surprisingly just barely able to keep himself from laughing. Soon, however, he could hold it in no more, and joined Shinon in his fit of laughter.
"Times sure do change, huh?" Asked Shinon through laughter.
"Yeah, who would have thought one of the oh-so-proud cats would reduce herself to the level of a housepet?!" Asked Soren, also through laughter.
"Lower than a housepet, my friend, lower than a housepet!" Exclaimed Shinon, as he and Soren started to calm down. Ike was looking at Shinon with a raised eyebrow for no more than three seconds before he understood. He didn't want anyone to know he understood, however, until he knew 100% that he was correct.
"Lyre, turn around so I can see what has everyone so riled up." He said.
"Ike no, please don't make me...." Whimpered Lyre. She sounded absolutely pitiful, to which Ranulf scoffed.
'So much for the great Lyre.' He thought. Ike tried again,
"Lyre, turn around." He had a more commanding voice this time.
"B-but you'll tell my sister!" Cried Lyre. Ranulf growled in absolute disgust, and stormed toward Lyre. When he was right behind her, he forced Lyre's whole body to turn to face him. With a combination growl and sigh, Ranulf tilted Lyre's head up so their eyes met.
"Now listen up, Lyre. By making yourself look bad you make me look bad. You do NOT want to go there! Now suck it up and show Commander Ike what you're so desperately trying to hide! Trust me I'm being nice, but I can tell Ike myself if you want me to." He said. Lyre couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"You brought this on yourself Lyre." Said Ranulf.
"Yeah, you brought this on yourself...pussycat!" Said Shinon, before laughing again. Lyre immediately transformed and started to lunge at Shinon, but she was stopped suddenly, and landed flat on the ground. Looking back, she saw Ike's face, an almost cold expression, and cringed. Ike then looked up at Ranulf, and asked,
"How long have you known about this?"
"About a month." Said Ranulf. Ike's gaze returned to Lyre, who had since shifted back.
"What are we going to do with you? You know Gallia does not approve of Beorc enslaving Laguz. What would his majesty have to say to you now?"
"I...I don't think I want to know...." Said Lyre. Ranulf threw his arms up in frustration. Looking around, he saw Soren and walked over, whispering something into the mage's ear.
"Tempting, but I'm not exactly ecstatic about being a canidate for Lethe's shitlist. And I just know that will end up happening. Said Soren.
"What? What's tempting? Ranulf, what are you suggesting to that scrawny disgusting mage?" Asked Lyre. Turning to face Lyre, Soren shook a fist at her, then seemed to instantly calm down and look...happy. Lyre didn't like where this was going.
"I'll do it. Someone's got to put the naughty kitty in her place." Said Soren, then looking at Lyre strangely. Lyre gulped heavily, and when Soren beckoned Lyre to him she shook her head in defiance. In response, Soren walked over to Lyre and Ike, and the catgirl could tell that the tactical mage did not have good intentions in mind. As he got close, he took the leash from Ike, knelt down in front of Lyre, who was in a crouched position, and reached into a knapsack. From this pack he pulled a Demi Band, which he put around Lyre's wrist. The catgirl had tried to resist, but to no avail under the mage's grasp. Lyre could feel her transformation being forced, though she tried to resist it. Before long the catgirl was a cat, and she immediately glared at and growled at Soren. She tried to attack, but was stopped in mid-attack. While Lyre kept trying to attack Soren, Ike groaned and said,
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to hear the end of this? I don't even know the whole story!"
"Don't worry, Ike. I'll tell you." Said Shinon, who had made his way over to the commander while he was seemingly lost in a world of despair. Looking at Shinon, Ike asked,
"Really? That doesn't seem like you."
"You're right, it doesn't does it? Well, see you later, commander." Said Shinon, who then walked away. Ike sighed, and said,
"I should have known." Then looking back at the group, he made an announcement.
"Alright! It's getting late! Get some sleep, we leave at first light tomorrow! Remember, the longer we sit still, the more likely we are to become a target! Back to your tents!" Everyone started to head back, and as Ike saw Ranulf, he ran to the Laguz.
"Alright Ranulf. What did you tell Soren?"
"Well I just figured Shinon wouldn't want anything to do with Lyre, so I thought Soren was next best, so-" Said Ranulf.
"Get to the point, Ranulf!" Yelled Ike.
"I asked Soren to show Lyre why she shouldn't want to be a slave." Admitted Ranulf.
"You did WHAT? Oh boy, Lethe is gonna have your head." Said Ike.
"Calm down, you know she can't catch me!" Said Ranulf.
"That isn't the point!" Yelled Ike.
"So then what IS the point?" Asked Ranulf.
"The point is...oh nevermind! Go to your tent, would you?" Asked Ike.
"...Alright." Said Ranulf before slowly trudging toward camp. Ike heaved a frustrated sigh, then asked,
"Why do I always get caught up in utter nonsense?" He then returned to camp, just wishing what happened that day was a dream so it could be over and done with.
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Oh boy, what have I done.... EVERYONE IS SO FAR OUT OF CONTEXT!!! Oh well, I like it that way. I can't make characters in context to save my life! Just so everyone knows, what happened at Ike's camp in this chapter was not pointless filler. I intend to bring it up again sometime later, I juat have to decide how much later.
