When the mid-day fog had cleared, the enemy force of mercenaries had lost. Blood was spread everywhere, and Marth's Army was all panting heavily and sheathing their weapons. The mysterious green-haired man walked up to Marth with a eyes that spoke of gratefulness, and Marth met the gaze with one of his own – of sudden hope. Quickly, the royal embraced him without warning, "Merric! Thank Naga you're safe!" Tears were rolling down his eyes.
"Yes… and thank Naga you're alive, Prince Marth!"
Marth broke the hug, but kept his hand on his shoulder, "but what are you doing here? I thought you were still in training under master Wendell."
"I was, but I was adamant toward my teacher to let me help you after I heard there was a chance you were still alive. There's no way I would leave my best friend alone in a world desiring his head! I'm sure seeing my skills in action was enough to show that I'm skilled enough as it is."
Marth recalled the powerful wind blade spell and the one that also called ice upon the battlefield – without Merric, they might not have survived. "Yes, I can assure you I noticed. You've progressed amazingly over the years. The last time I saw you was three years ago, and that's when you could barely cast fire magic!"
"Marth… could you tell me who this is?" It was Caeda, who looked quite happy to see Marth so joyful.
"Ah, Yes. This is Merric, a good friend of mine who visited me many a week before Altea was taken." He looked back at him, "does this mean that you wish to join us?"
"Of course!" With that he offered his hand to Caeda, "pleased to meet you, I'm a student of Bishop Wendell of Khadein."
"My name is Caeda – princess of Talys, and daughter to king Mostyn." This lead to more and more introductions being made to the rest of the army while they told the people who locked themselves up that it was safe. They were given some supplies and headed out to meet the Macedonian troops.
The small army had made it to the opposite side of the bridge when Marth's allies had prepared themselves for the coming conflict. In a flash, bowmen, mounted and unmounted, as well as several other soldiers came upon them. Castor exchanged arrows with one such horseman, having to jump behind a tree every now and again. Cain, Able, Frey, and Jagen countered each cavalier. Norne and Gordin did the usual routine of picking off whoever they could. Marth did his own share of fighting, though he struggled to land strikes on the lance wielding riders constantly trying to circle him. Ogma, Navarre, and the three axe wielders by him weren't having as hard a time, however. Caeda only came down from the sky for only brief moments to stay out of the range of the countless archers and horseman. Wrys and Lena were more focused on avoiding getting hurt as opposed to healing due to all the chaos. Draug blocked a lance thrust with his shield before delivering a strike back at him – however, the hit did little damage due to the enemy's equally heavy armor. "Draug, was it? Jump to the left!" It was Merric. The knight did as commanded, and a split second later, the foe had crumpled to the ground after a swift blade of wind cut through his armor like butter. He looked back at the young mage, giving a thumbs up.
"I forgot how scary magic can be…" gulping as he resumed with the rest of the soldiers. He saw that Merric was doing equally good work on the other enemies, but knew he needed to watch out for him since he was so lightly armored.
As if on cue, "You! Mage! Take this!" He rushed to hop in the way of the man's lance which was meant for Merric. He had the look of a noble or something – clad in black as he was with blond flowing hair. "Curse you, knight!" The strike sent him backwards slightly. The lance he wielded was odd looking – it was a ridersbane, a special lance tailor-made to deal with horsemounted opponents. The train of thought was cut off with countless arrows being fired at the man from Gordin and Norne. Once again, the daunting blade of wind was sent towards the knight and seemingly cut through him before he lied on the ground – dead.
After that, the battle went quickly, with some soldiers even standing down and fleeing – one such actually laid down his arms and gave himself up. "I give up. Please spare me." It was an odd sullen-looking man with red hair and a strange hair-cut.
"As long as you stand down, I promise to not –"
"Matthis, is that you?!" It was Lena who strutted up with an air of disbelief about her.
"You know him?"
"Yes! He's my brother! What are you doing, fighting for the Macedonian army when you know they aren't doing what's right?"
"L-Lena… I-I can explain. I was forced to enlist! I'm more worried what YOU'RE doing here."
"Prince Marth here saved me from bandits in the Samsooth Mountains." She gestured to the blue-haired youth beside her.
"I must thank you then, Prince Marth, for keeping my sister safe."
"Hmm? You aren't surprised to hear who I am?"
"Well… since Dohlr, and by extent Macedon, have been searching for you for two years now, I doubt there isn't a single soul at this point that DOESN'T know you're on the continent. The men I was with were here for that very purpose."
"Oh…" Marth looked at the ground. "Wait, how close are any other soldiers to our position?"
"Well…" he thought on it a moment, "I think we were the only ones tasked with attacking you, so I think the others are still mounting an offense against Aurelis castle."
"We need to get a move on, then. Matthis, will you join us?"
"Only because of my sister, since, with all due respect… I have a hard time trusting royalty…"
"Why is that?"
"Our own Prince Michalis… he's terrifying and has threatened me several times after Lena turned down his invitation to marriage." He looked at her with slight pain in his face.
Marth also looks at her with a shocked face, "You… could've become… royalty yourself, sister Lena…?"
"I suppose. That life isn't for me, though – I'd rather help people."
"The Prince isn't the first one to think as much, probably. My sister is rather fetching, don't you think?" Matthis had a mischievous smirk, which Lena saw bright as day and swatted him thusly.
"Ignore my brother," she said in her defense, "he gets a kick out of joking at my expense."
"Hmm? Who are you?" Julian had come up without any tact.
"I'm Lena's brother, Matthis."
"Oh…" Julian processed it for a second, looking between the two, "well, Matthis, I think that Lena is much too good for him." The statement caught everyone off-guard.
"Milord?" It was Malledus, "can I have a word with you?"
"Sure." To be honest, Marth welcomed the invitation to leave when Matthis started questioning Julian if he's tried to sneak into his sister's heart.
"I asked around, Aurelis castle has been taken."
"No… we're too late? The princess… is she…?"
"We're unsure as of now… however, Hardin, known as the Coyote, is running guerilla-esque tactics against the Macedon forces still."
"Hmm…" Marth pondered for a moment. "The least we could do is help – perhaps, if we join our might, we can be that much closer to ending this conflict."
"Right away, Milord."
As the army made their way towards the castle, they camped near the woods for a night, as the group needed the rest. It was Ogma's turn to be on watch.
"Hm?" Something moving caught his eye, and the streak of red came ever closer.
"Ogma, was it?" The blond man was visibly on edge, "ever since we got out of the ghoul's teeth, we've had Battle after battle, and I noticed something…"
"Oh? What's that?" Disdain was clear in his voice.
"Do you want to kill me?" Navarre looked down at him with grim, piercing eyes.
"…" Ogma looked up at the man before snearing, "perhaps. Do you remember a night, several years ago, on a battlefield?" Navarre's look persisted, but gave a slight nod. "You were there?" Another nod. "Were you slaughtering foes in spades like a one man army?"
"Get to the point."
"What are you doing here?" Navarre remained silent for a moment before turning around.
"I thought I already told you." The stared eachother down as Navarre made his way to his tent.
"Fad chance I'd believe it…"
"Hmm?" A spry, young red-haired girl perked her head up at the sound of the door opening.
"Hello Maria. How are you today?" The Man had an imposing stature, with the same shade of red hair – but his face was one of warmth.
"Well… I'm a little bored…" she turned her head to the window, "it'd be nice if I could see Minerva, since I haven't in awhile, but…" she looked back, "but now that you're here, Michalis, what would you like to talk about? Or do?" Maria was cheerful, despite her apparent boredom.
"Anything you'd like, I've a little time." He looked down at her with a smile, but in his heart he knew, this was the last time they'd see eachother.
Hello all! Like I said, expect long waits! To be honest, I've been rather busy with school and work now, so I was having a harder time writing. Due to this, and the fact that this chapter kinda feels... filler made it hard to rite about it. The next chapter should be longer and better!
God Bless!