Alright. This chapter's big, this chapter's intense, this chapter is, in my opinion, an epic one. I really like this one, which is a rarity, so I hope you do as well. Here's number ten, yay for hitting double digits, yeah?
"Oh, he was really mad," Mist said, looking up at Ike, who was having trouble keeping a straight face.
"So wait, after I left, Boyd wanted to take over the company?" he asked, a smile twitching at his lips.
"Yup," Mist nodded, "It was even funnier though when Titania pretended to consider it. Shinon almost left again."
Ike's deep laughter filled the area as the group walked down the road, headed towards what they presumed to be Bern. They had been on the road for the better part of a week, but Ike was still catching up on what had happened in his absence.
"I can't believe she would do that," Ike said, "She's usually so serious."
"Yeah I know. Like I said, Boyd was so mad. He's been having a string of bad luck actually, he wanted to come look for you too, but Titania said he had to stay back," Mist said.
"Good for her," Ike said, "I don't think Boyd would be much help here."
Mist looked down at her feet and sighed, "Yeah I know, but he really did want to come."
Soren looked up from the map he'd been reading, "Touching, but I'd be inclined to agree with Ike."
"Yeah, I think everyone knows he would be more help back in Tellius," Mist replied.
"I didn't say that…"the mage muttered, once again burying his face in the map that was leading them towards the Bern border.
Mist frowned and was about to make a comment when Mia interjected, "So! How much longer until we reach this Bern place?"
"We should reach the border today, actually," Nasir said, peering over Soren's shoulder when the mage didn't provide an answer.
Mia cheered and thrust her sword into the air, "There's sure to be an arena there!"
"What, bored of dueling me?"Ike asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. I just think it's important to have a variety of duels. No one fights like you boss, but it's nice to change it up," she answered, examining her blade as she spoke.
"I see. Either way though, we're still going to have to figure out a way into this country," he said, looking over at Soren.
Soren's eyes narrowed as he looked more closely at the map before looking up, "It shouldn't be too hard. Despite what Eliwood told us about their security, we should be able to get in as long as we have a viable excuse."
"That excuse being…?"Lethe said, an air of challenge in her tone.
Soren didn't answer but continued walking.
"There's the border," he said, pointing to a massive wall in the distance.
The party stopped for a moment to simply stare.
"They don't have that thing surrounding the entire country, do they?" Mist asked.
"That would be impossible," Soren answered, continuing to walk which caused the others to follow, "they probably have one of these at every strategic entrance point though."
"Which brings us back to my question," Lethe said, "How do we get in?"
As they passed a wooden notice board erected on the side of the road Soren casually reached out and plucked a piece of paper off.
"This will do," he said, handing it to the laguz without so much as a glance.
Lethe looked it over and frowned, "This is rather…"
"Convenient? Yes it is," Soren finished, "but I expected something along those lines."
"What is it?" Ike asked, reaching over to take the notice from Lethe.
He looked it over and then looked back at the enormous construct that blocked their way.
"A call for strong mercenaries? Yes…this is rather convenient Soren, you say you were expecting something like this?" he said.
"Yes. We've concluded that the morphs must be getting their quintessence from powerful people," he answered, "And what better way to get the attention of such people than by simply enticing them with something like this?"
Ike looked back down at the piece of paper. He mouthed a few words silently before speaking the last seven words,
"…made a general and granted a peerage?"
Soren nodded.
"I find that rather hard to believe," Ike said, frowning as he re-read the notice, "If Elibe is anything like Tellius I doubt they go around handing out peerages."
"My thoughts exactly, but you can't deny it's bound to attract mercenaries of every skill level, no matter how unbelievable," Soren replied.
Ike nodded, he could think of several people back in Tellius that would jump at an opportunity like this.
"You have a plan, I assume?" he said, giving Soren an expectant look.
"Yes, and I'm sure you know what it is," Soren replied.
"Yes, yes I can see what you're getting at. We are a group of mercenaries after all," Ike said, and then looked over at the three laguz, "With the exception of you three."
Nasir smiled, "No, while we're here we'd just as soon be mercenaries under your command than anything else, Ike."
Now Ike smiled, gesturing towards the wall that separated them from their objective, "Alright then. Greil Mercenaries, let's move out."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Harken looked both ways before darting across the dark hallway. He needed to find Isadora immediately, they were in big trouble. He burst into the small room the two shared and found her seated at the window, looking out towards the capital's main gates.
"Isadora," he said, closing the door behind him quietly, "we need to go."
"What's wrong?" she asked, turning from the window.
"We been noticed, summoned for the peerage ceremony," he said.
"Then you're right, I think we've learned as much as we can," she said, rising from her seat and taking up the lance that was resting against the wall, "Eliwood will be wondering where we are if we don't return soon."
The two quickly packed what they needed for a silent flight from the city before slipping into long traveling cloaks. This was not going to be easy. Harken opened the door and looked both ways once again before stepping out.
"Come," he said, waving his hand behind him, "we'll take the route that goes past the armory. Anyone asks and we're getting silver weaponry for the ceremony."
Isadora nodded and the two exited the room, walking down the hall at a fast clip. As they rounded a corner and walked right past the armory doors Harken turned,
"Alright, now I'm at a loss. Just pray we don't run into anyone."
"Or anything…" Isadora added.
"Yes, that too…" Harken agreed, his eyes darting about as they continued down the hallway.
"Too late," Isadora whispered, noting that they had hardly made it halfway to the castle gates before being tailed, "We've got one on us."
"I noticed. When we round the next corner you know what to do," he said.
The morph watched as the two in front of him continued on, apparently unconcerned. Certainly they knew he was there? He watched as they disappeared around the next corner and then he took off, silently running down the hallway. They were surely running down the hall, out of his view, and he couldn't lose them. Besides their quintessence, those two knew too much, it was time for him to-
The morph's thoughts abruptly halted as he rounded the corner and ran into Isadora's outstretched lance, impaling himself. He coughed once; he could feel himself slipping away, drifting off into nothingness. How odd, they hadn't been running…
Harken grabbed the morph's clothing as it disappeared and the two continued down the hall.
"One disaster averted," he said, looking over his shoulder as he spoke.
"Yes, but how many more to come? There's the front hall, we're almost out of the castle," Isadora replied.
The couple dashed down the stairs and headed for the front doors, all attempts at subtlety had been dropped. They burst through, knocking over two guardsmen who had been heading the opposite direction.
"Hey, watch it you filthy sell sword!" one shouted.
Neither heard, seeing as both of them had their attention directed towards the four figures that stood between them and the gates. Harken dodged the first, and grabbed the second, throwing him back onto Isadora's lance head. Harken headed for the last two, a voice in the back of his head telling him it wasn't normal that they had yet to move. The voice, however, wasn't loud enough, and he kept going, the morphs simply watching. As he attacked the first it threw itself on his blade, grabbing a hold of him as the second dealt with Isadora.
"Isadora!" he cried, struggling with the morph, trying to get out of its failing grip as it began to fade away.
"Gods above," Isadora hissed, feeling the vibrations the morph's blow sent down her lance, "Harken, this one's not-"
Her words were cut off as another came at her from behind, its lance finding its way through her armor and into her side. She screamed and fell to the ground, tripping one and pulling it over herself as the other thrust downward. The morph was unperturbed by this tactic, and thrust again. Over and over it attacked, until Isadora was left with a tattered cloak in her hands as she backed away.
Harken let out a grunt as he finally freed himself from the morph's hold and thrust his sword through its head before turning to Isadora. The last morph was standing over her, trying to get its lance past her own. Harken dropped his sword and went to the axe at his side, hurling it at the morph. It caught the ethereal being in the neck and it fell towards Isadora, casting aside its lance as its hand sought something on its belt.
Harken ran for Isadora, sliding on his knees as he tackled the morph, his heart jumping into his throat as he heard Isadora gasp. He grabbed at a slim sword hidden on his back and shoved it through the morph's eye before whirling around to examine his wife.
Isadora lay on her back; her hands pressing down upon the lance wound while her eyes examined the dagger stuck in her other side.
"How is it?" Harken asked, ripping a section of his cloak off and tying it around the open wound before shifting his attention to the dagger.
"It hurts," she said, "I think he hit something-"
She stopped and began to cough, casting a red mist into the air.
"I think he hit something important," she finished, her breathing heavy.
Harken nodded, ignoring her stab at humor. He picked her up and balanced her on his shoulders, heading for the trees on either side of the path that led from the castle to the rest of the capital.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Ike grimaced as he looked around. They were in a dirty pub, overflowing with mercenaries of all types. Most were not the kind he would ever enlist. He looked over as a loud voice caught his attention.
"Hey hey, you're a pretty one!"
A rather large man was looking down at Mia, his eyes clearly directed where they weren't supposed to be. She looked up at him and then over at Ike, an imploring look on her face.
Ike gave a slight nod and she smiled, looking back up at the mercenary.
"Am I?" she said, looking at him over her shoulder as she turned her back on him.
The man was about to say something when Mia's hand reached down and pushed violently on the handle of her sheathed sword, sending the opposite end up and in between the man's legs. He dropped to the floor, his shrill cry making Ike start; he didn't think such a large man could hit such a high pitch.
"What was that- why'd you-"
He continued to sputter, cursing and howling as he banged on the floor with one hand while holding his injury in the other.
"You're gonna wish you'd let me-"
He stopped as he looked up and found the woman gone.
"Aw come on boss, I could have taken him," Mia protested as Ike dragged her off and through the cramped pub.
"Yes you could've, easily," Ike said, "but it'd be best not to start anything."
"Yeah yeah," she replied, breaking the grip he had on her shoulder, "I won't draw any attention."
"Good. Stay here," Ike said, gesturing towards the counter the others had seated themselves in front of, "I'm going to see what this is all about."
Ike made his way into the most hectic corner of the bar and found himself being pushed and shoved as dozens of mercenaries tried to shout out their respective credentials over the din.
"I served with Ostia for six months!"
"Me and my company train on the Dread Isle!"
"I can best Marquess Pherae in a duel!"
Ike laughed as they continued to shout at the annoyed looking soldier that stood in the middle of it all. He slowly began to make his way through the crowd, grabbing more than a few shoulders and throwing their owners to the ground if they tried to protest. Finally he was standing a few feet from the man, watching as he tried to take down names and details. It looked like shouting had little effect though, he was writing rather slowly. In fact, as Ike glanced at what was on the parchment, he became convinced the man couldn't write at all. He was probably here to keep them happy while whoever was deemed worthy was taken elsewhere. Ike frowned, how was one deemed worthy?
He shrugged and made his way back to the table, there was only one way he could think of.
"What's going on?" Lethe asked as Ike took a seat between Mist and herself.
Six heads all tilted towards him as he tried to speak over the noise.
"Mia," he began, "forget what I said about not drawing attention. We need to clear this pub out. Do it fast and don't talk to anyone. Skrimir, you and Nasir will stand by the doors to make sure no one gets back in."
They stared at him for a moment before Mia spoke up,"Seriously?"
Ike nodded.
"That's good enough for me," she said, standing from her bar stool and darting out into the chaos.
After a minute they saw an orange blur by the door, and the man who'd tried to talk to her before went flying out the door.
"Well," Ike shouted, "Get to it!"
At that they dispersed, but it took a moment before anyone could tell what was happening, least of the soldier in the back. Eventually he looked up though, and when he did he found the crowd in front of him incredibly thinned. In fact, there were only five people left in the whole pub. He poked his head out the window and stared, it seemed there had been a mass exodus and now the entirety of the pub's occupants had been moved out into the street, and were all trying to get back in.
Ike looked over at his remaining four and nodded towards the entrance, "Go help those two keep everyone out. Mist, you stay with me."
Ike turned back to the soldier and casually walked over. The man looked up at him and cleared his throat,
"What can I do for you?"
"We're here about the peerage," Ike answered.
"Of course," he replied, "you and everyone else."
"Yeah," Ike said, "and as you can see we're rather serious about it. Now, how about you skip pretending to write our names down and tell us what we need to do to get that peerage."
The soldier looked back out the window and then back at Ike, "Well, that's a good start, but the king won't like it. I'm under orders to find strong mercenaries."
Ike raised an eyebrow.
"Which you obviously are," the man continued, "but I need to get back to my orders. Just let them back in and come back tonight when everyone's turned in for the night. I'll take you back to the castle with me."
Without a word Ike turned and left, Mist following him out, and before her knew it the soldier found himself once again being jostled and pushed as what seemed to be thousands of mercenaries tried to prove their worth through words alone.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Mia's laughing was uncontrollable as the group slowly walked down the road.
"You should have seen his face!" she said through her smile as she tried to breathe properly, "He didn't know what hit him."
Skrimir nodded, "I will admit, that was fun."
They had slipped away after Ike had told them what was going to happen, which had been easier than they'd expected, and now they were aimlessly wandering about the capital, trying to find a decent inn.
"Shouldn't we move towards the castle?" Mist asked, pointing behind them, "That's where all the nice inns are."
"No," Soren answered, "Eliwood gave us the gold to pretty much do whatever we want, but staying closer to the upscale houses and residents would make us seem out of place."
Mist sighed, "Yeah, you're right...as usual."
"You should be used to it by now," Soren replied.
Mist stared at him, not quite sure if he was attempting a joke or not.
"Anyway," she said after a moment of silence, "this place up here on the right looks nice enough."
The group stopped front of the inn, examining it from the street. It had only two levels, and four windows that they could see, and some of the woodwork looked like it needed to be redone.
"Yes, this will do," Nasir said, "Ike, do you want to…"
Ike looked over at the dragon as he stopped speaking, and followed his gaze into the woods. All he caught was the flutter of cloak's edge, but he knew Nasir had spotted someone.
"Come on," Ike said, heading through the alley that led to the back of the building.
They followed quietly, knowing that if they had been recognized they would have to flee the country. They pushed their way into the thick undergrowth and allowed Lethe to take point.
"Can you follow them?" Ike asked.
"There's no scent," she replied, "but they left a fairly easy visible trail."
Ike looked over at Mia as they followed the laguz. She shrugged; she couldn't see a trail either. They came to a halt as Lethe held up a hand.
"I can hear them further in. They're speaking too quietly for me to tell what they're saying, but we should hurry if we want to catch them both," she said, rolling out from her cover and shifting.
As they burst into the small clearing they found themselves looking at seven cloaked figures.
"There's more than two," Soren said quietly, slipping his bolganone from his robes.
"I see that," Ike said, "that just means we'll have to take them out fast. Move!"
They did, fanning out quickly to block escape points as the morphs turned to run.
"Don't let them go!" Ike shouted, sending out a wave of purple energy as he brought Ragnell down in front of him, rending the earth at his feet.
Lethe managed to pounce on one before it had a chance to move, but the other six disappeared like shadows at noon, gone into the foliage before they could be caught.
"After them! We can't let them go," Ike shouted, taking off into the trees, the others close behind.
After a few moments of this relentless chase, Nasir caught up with Ike and put a hand on his shoulder, slowing him down.
"Ike, they're gone, we need to do an organized search now, we can't just chase them," he said.
"…right, okay," Ike said through his labored breathing, "we'll split into groups of two, Mist; you come with me and Soren. Meet back in thirty minutes."
"We won't find them," Soren said, "They're too smart for that."
"…I know, but we need to try," Ike said, cutting down an offending branch that had been in his way.
"I suppose so," Soren said.
Thirty minutes was hardly long enough, and as they regrouped in the clearing no one had anything to report.
"Nothing, sorry," Lethe said, "They were much more careful this time."
"As I would expect," Nasir responded, "We'll just have to watch our backs from now on. Not that we didn't have to before."
"Alright then," Ike said, "Let's get back to that inn. We'll have to hope they don't know who we are, and were just checking out our bar stunt."
As they were pushing their way back to the capital's borders a cry arose from the forest around them, a single, outraged word, delirious with pain.
"PHERAAAAE!"
Ike's head swiveled as he tried to determine its direction.
"This way," Lethe said, taking off into the trees.
The others crashed off into the bushes after her, their minds already shuffling through the possibilities of what they would find.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
The battle cry left Harken's lips as his body hit the ground, his foes falling on him with blades drawn. Still, he fought on, rising against them as their weapons rose and fell time and time again. He looked over; he could see Isadora watching him with half closed eyes, lips curved into a bitter smile. He turned back to the six surrounding him and lashed out, taking a head off as he moved forward, feeling their blades bite into his now exposed skin.
His armor had long since fallen away, but he felt there was something left to fight for. He wondered what exactly, as he fell to the ground once again, since his love had already gone before him. His body lurched as something entered his chest, sliding neatly in between his ribs. It was an odd sensation, no pain as one would expect. He blinked in surprise, he was dying? It felt better than he'd anticipated, but he was still glad he had delayed it after Lord Elbert's death, if only for a few years. Harken closed his eyes, he was ready to go. Suddenly, however, the weight of the morphs was gone. He opened his eyes, curious as to what had happened.
The morphs were scattered about in pieces, which quickly faded, and a blue haired man strode towards him, his sword moving about as he shouted out orders, he couldn't hear what was said however. Harken smiled; the intensity in this man's eyes reminded him of Lord Elbert, and young Eliwood. The man bent as he reached Harken and shouted something over his shoulder before looking down at Harken, and then over at Isadora. Harken followed his gaze, and saw a young woman kneeling next to his wife. She closed her eyes and shook her head as she rose and made her way over to Harken.
She lowered her staff over his forehead and murmured to herself as it began to glow. His back arched as he felt life flood back into his veins, it was actually painful. She blinked as the jewel at the end of her staff broke in two. Harken smiled at her, she had done all she could, but he was fading fast. He looked back towards the man, who was now speaking directly to him. His words kept fading in and out.
"…your name…are you…Pherae…Eliwood…"
Harken's mind kicked into gear at this last word; this was what he'd been waiting for.
"What?" he coughed out, hoping he sounded as clear to them as he did himself.
"What's your name?" the man repeated, "Are you from Pherae? Eliwood sent us, we need to know."
"Harken," he gasped, looking around at the unfamiliar faces, "I'm Harken."
A young man with ebony hair knelt next to the first, "Then I hate to be rude, but you need to tell us what you know while you still can."
Harken nodded, in the end he would be able to get his information to Lord Eliwood.
"A moment longer, Isadora."
"We came six months ago, using the ruse of mercenaries; it was the easiest way into the country. We weren't looking for anything in particular, but you must tell Lord Eliwood they have returned, he will know what I mean," Harken said.
"Morphs, we know," Soren said, trying to hide his annoyance at the old news, "Anything else?"
Harken nodded, "Yes. They're using the peerage as a lure, but the most important information is about the king."
"We suspected the peerage, is that all?" the black haired man pressed.
Harken's brow furrowed as he struggled to breath a moment longer, hadn't they heard him?
"It's the king, he's-"
"He's speaking gibberish Ike," Soren said, shaking his head, "We're going to lose him soon."
Harken's heart fell into the pit of his stomach, they didn't understand him? He had so much to tell them! He steeled himself for one last rally, this information was vital. However, he was stopped by a certain someone, looking at him over the blue haired man's shoulder.
"Harken," Isadora said, "enough. If they are meant to deal with this, they will. Eliwood placed his faith in them, and that's as much as either of us can do either. Trust Eliwood, trust they will unravel this web for themselves."
Harken nodded slowly as he looked at Isadora, and then at her fallen body. It was time for this old soldier to make his peace with the battle field.
"He's gone," Soren said, rising from his knees and brushing the dirt from them, "and he was hardly helpful."
"I'm not one to correct you," Ike said slowly, his gaze locked on the man who lay in front of them, "but I believe he was. We now know beyond a shadow of a doubt we're on the right track, and we need to get into that castle."
Soren shrugged.
"Harken…" Mist said quietly, "Then that must be Isadora."
They all turned to look at the fallen knight, lying against the tree trunk Harken had placed her against before dealing with the morphs.
"I'm sorry…" Mist cried, speaking more to the dead than anyone else.
"Mist, your staff broke, there's nothing you could have done about that," Ike said, putting his arm around her.
"I know…"she replied.
"What are we going to do with them?" Mia asked, tactfully changing the subject, "We can't just leave them here."
"No," Ike said, "and it's getting late, we can't miss that guard's invitation."
After a moment Soren spoke up, slowly removing an Elfire from his robes, "A funeral pyre. Those in Lycia are known as children of Roland to some, wielder of the blazing sword, Durandal. It will be a fitting end."
Ike nodded and lifted Harken, placing him next to his beloved. He stepped back and Soren set the tree aflame, the only one in the clearing. The group watched as the flames made their way down, eventually consuming the knights of Pherae.
"Come on," Ike said, turning to leave, "people will come soon; we don't want to be seen here."
He looked back over his shoulder as they walked towards the capital, watching as the smoke rose higher and higher, turning everything he looked at into a wavering mirage. He sighed and turned away, life was too short to be this unpredictable.
There you have it, the first character death in this fic. There's some in most of my work, I think it makes it more real, since life is never so perfect. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As usual, if you liked it or found something wrong with it please drop a quick review to me. Thanks, see you next update.
Twilight Rurouni