Chapter 10 – Bitter Effusion

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback!

PART 1

Titania leaned heavily against a bulging, timeworn oak facing the courtyard of Mainal Cathedral, wiping the last of the blood off her ax as she surveyed the scene around her through a haze of muted, weary satisfaction. It was over. The enemy, whoever they were, had fought relentlessly until there was not even one of them left breathing. All around her, torch-wielding guards swept about the grounds like nervous fireflies, securing the grounds while the Greil Mercenaries and Crimean retainers lounged about the area in a state of semi-alertness, checking their weapons or chatting quietly. Most of them, anyway.

After being ordered out of the Cathedral, Oscar had slunk off silently to a dark corner of the grounds where she could now see his somber outline slumped beside his mount. A cold, hard stone rolled through her insides as she contemplated this grievous reminder that this night had stolen something irreplaceable from Greil Mercenaries, and they would never again be whole.

She was about to go over to see what she could do to console him when a loud, indignant protest pulled her attention towards the solemn portals leading into the cathedral, where a clump of guards was being violently accosted by an enraged Lucia. "But don't you understand?" Lucia pressed as she waved her arms wildly in front of the small cadre of guards in front of the massive double doors of the cathedral. "The Queen of Crimea is up there on the roof and I am responsible for her safety! You have to let me pass!"

The captain of the guards, heavy with fatigue but still mindful of his responsibility, shook his head with unbending finality. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm not allowed to let anyone back into the building until I hear differently from the Empress."

Lucia folded her arms across her chest as she tapped her foot with derisive impatience. "You should have told me what was going on up there before you herded us all out, you idiot! We were halfway to the roof anyway!"

"No one is to enter the building until further notice. Those were the words of the apostle herself," the captain insisted, meeting her turgid gaze without the slightest hint of hesitation. "I'm sure, as the queen's bodyguard, you understand the importance of obeying a direct order from your sovereign."

Lucia clenched her jaw and looked like she was mentally preparing a verbal onslaught to make her target wish she would pull out her sword and stab him. But as she was about to unleash it there was the sound of hoofbeats against the pavement outside, followed by shouting as Titania recognized a familiar voice arguing with unbendable vehemence against the guards who had dared to challenge him. "It's okay," she called out the soldiers stationed near the gates leading out into the city, "let him in; he's with us."

The guard opened a small peephole and looked through it, saying something to his counterpart on the other side before moving to open a smaller entrance built into in the massive threshold of the cathedral. A trooper hastened through the entryway, leading a massive white charger on which rode a small, smoldering figure.

"Soren!" Titania cried in surprise as the guards hastily shut and barred the door on the writhing mass outside. She ran up to the drooping animal, catching a whiff of the pungently sweet froth glistening around the saddle and reins. "Soren, how hard did you push her?"

"Your horse is fine," he muttered, looking down on her. "Maybe a little tired, but that is to be expected, isn't it? I've certainly seen her in worse condition."

She looked up to him, her face coming dangerously close to matching the bright red shading of her hair. "Where the hell have you been? I assumed you borrowed my horse to get here sooner, but now you don't arrive until it's all over?"

"I got delayed, he muttered bitterly. By the time I got here the entire city was worked up about something going on in the sky and it was hard to get though the crowds."

"We ran into some of that ourselves. She cocked her eyebrow at him. "You didn't hurt anyone, did you?"

"No. I just convinced them it would be much healthier for them to get out of my way."

She studied him with simmering disapproval. "So, you're okay then?"

"I'm fine, but— "

Before he could finish, she reached up and grabbed his sleeve and yanked him off the horse with a surprised yelp. "Don't you ever even touch my horse again!" she screamed at him before he could protest. "Do you know how dangerous that was? By the goddess, Soren, you may have a mind for tactics but you know next to nothing about riding! You could have caused irreparable damage to my horse…and to yourself as well," she added after a small pause.

"No time for that," he replied, with as much nonchalance as if she had done nothing but ask him if he wanted any supper. "Where's Ike? Is he okay?"

"He's up on the roof with Elincia and that Navina person. Apparently, there is some kind of kooky priest threatening to collapse the cathedral."

"Then I need to go to him. If there is some kind of magic in play, maybe I can help."

"Fat chance of that," Lucia interjected from her place nearby, listening in on the conversation. "The empress ordered that no one can enter the cathedral. Short of cutting down the guards, there is no way to get past them."

Soren pulled out his Rexcalibur tome. "If that's what it takes," he muttered.

Before anyone could make a move to stop him there was a tremendous fluttering of wings overhead and a massive gust of air pushed down over the courtyard as a Pegasus winged overhead, landing in the grass off to the side of the walkway. The disconcerted trio then watched as a figure in white dismounted with practiced fluidity and headed toward them.

"Your majesty!" Lucia cried out, rushing to Elincia. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine Lucia, the queen replied as she eyed the other figures approaching her. "But we may have another problem. The Tower of Ashera—"

"So you left Ike up there by himself, with that stranger and a crazy priest?"

Elincia eyed Soren, frowning. "I did not wish to, Sir Soren, but circumstances dictated it. Besides, I trust Ike to take care of himself."

Soren clenched his fists. "Not even Ike could defend himself against a collapsing building!"

"That's not going to happen. The real threat lies elsewhere."

"Amazing deduction considering you only talked with this person, what, an entire 5 minutes?"

"The priest, or Cohen as he calls himself, more or less admitted that this is not his intended target."

"Then what is?"

"I believe it's the tower of Ashera."

Titania blinked rapidly. "But why? It's empty now, and there is no longer any strategic value to it. And it's so huge it would take an army goddess knows how long to bring it down."

Elincia shook her head. "I don't know. I just know it could be dangerous to the citizens of this city if there is even a possibility that he could carry out his threat. That's why I need you to come with us to the tower to check things out, just to be sure."

"We will prepare to leave at once, your majesty," Titania responded.

"Not all of us," Soren muttered, gesturing to the entrance. "Tell those guards what you just told us, and have them let me pass. I need to check on Ike."

Elincia sighed heavily. She did not have time for this, but neither did she want to waste more effort arguing with Soren. "Lucia, see to it that our people are ready," she replied, moving in the direction of the guard. "Excuse me, commander, I am Elincia Riddell Crimea, queen of…"

"I know who you are, your majesty," the commander cut her off with brusque civility.

Elincia nodded. "I would ask a favor of you," she continued, using her most pleasing tone. "Could you please allow this gentleman to pass?" she requested as she gestured to Soren. "I can assure you that there is no danger of the building collapsing, and he is anxious to check on his companion."

"I am deeply sorry, your grace, I would like nothing better than to comply with your wishes. But I cannot countermand the empress, not even for you."

She turned and bumped straight into Soren, who had wandered up right behind her. "I am sorry, Soren."

"Yeah, I can tell you really put your best effort into it," Soren muttered as he turned his attention over to Dalidion. "Then take me up there yourself," he ordered.

She shook her head. "I cannot, Soren, there's no time. I must get to the Tower of Ashera and check on matters there."

She turned to go, but was stopped in her tracks by a firm, desperate grip. "It's just like before. You don't care about Ike."

Elincia tugged, trying to release his grip, but it remained firm. "Soren, I know you're upset, so I will ignore that comment. Now please, I have to go."

His hand didn't move. "Yes, go ahead and ignore me. Just like you always ignore Ike and everybody else after you've squeezed all the use you can from us."

She turned back to face him. "What are you talking about?"

His lower lip curled like a serpent. "Do you know why Ike left Melior?"

Elincia hesitated a moment. "Ike has always had…issues with the nobles, you know that. He said as much to me before he left."

"You think you're so smart, but think about it for a minute. Ike put up with the nobles for over two years before he left, and then one day he just decides to leave without hardly any warning? Don't you find that just a bit odd? Not that I minded, by the way."

She forced herself free of his grip. "What are you trying to say?"

"That you humiliated him. He could put up with the garbage the nobles heaped out, as long as he believed you were on his side. But when you started to take their side over his, that…that was the what broke him," he finished as the anger in his voice giving way to a flat, distant tone and his tense features slackened.

Elincia rubbed her arm and tried to collect herself as she felt old, prickling resentments prying their way through dense layers of mollifying memory. "What are you talking about? I never did such a thing!"

"Are you sure about that? There were many times when you showed your true loyalties, but I'm referring to the final, crushing insult, the one that showed whose side you had definitively decided to plant your flag. You know, that pathetic idea to have Ike in charge of a special military unit for, how did you phrase it, "the protection and betterment of the Crimean people? Too bad your definition of people was so narrow."

Elincia knew that time was short but she couldn't disentangle herself from Soren's needling argument. "I honestly have no idea what you mean, since it was basically just a formal recognition of the assignments he was already carrying out for the Crimean public."

He chuckled. "You mean those diddling little chores? But I guess even those were better than what you would have had Ike doing under the new deal. I can't believe you thought Ike would accept such an unappealing and restrictive arrangement."

"Restrictive? I wrangled with the council for months on that decree for the very fact it gave Ike so much leeway in his activities!"

The corners of Soren's mouth twitched. "Tell me, were you born with this incredibly convenient memory, or does it develop over years as your mind's defense mechanism for getting a least a few hours of peaceful sleep? But don't try to fool me, I saw the document. I can't believe you claim to know Ike and thought for a second that he would accept it."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Soren, but that is a lie, and I don't understand how anyone, even you, could possibly interpret that way."

He let out an exasperated sigh permeated with unrestrained impatience. "That's your problem! You've never understood Ike, and I doubt you ever will! But now you know why he really left. It wasn't the nobles in general that Ike couldn't deal with, just one noble in particular. You ignored Ike and insulted him in countless ways, but this was the last straw. The only thing that surprises me is that he stayed so long!" he exclaimed, unable to control the rising tone of his voice. He pushed close to her, so close she could feel his hot, fuming breath steaming against her skin as he grabbed her collar and brought her face down to his. "I guess it was misguided loyalty to someone who obviously knows nothing about the concept."

Elincia didn't say anything, didn't move as Soren's words seeped into her mind and clung to it like heavy sap. He's not lying, she concluded as she studied the bitter but honest resentment seething in front of her, so there must be something to his accusations. "Soren, tell me, what was in that…"

"What are you doing?!", Lucia cried, rushing up to Elincia, slapping his hand away as she pushed him back. "How dare you lay your hands on her majesty in such a manner!"

"Lucia, it's fine, please calm down," Elincia replied hastily, eyes turning back to Soren's distasteful glare, "there are more important issues to deal with."

"No, it's not fine," Lucia continued. "Soren, I know you haven't had an easy time of it, and I understand loyalty, but you have gone too far this time. Honestly, I don't know how Ike puts up with you sticking to him like a leech all the time when he can clearly handle himself quite well without you. Stop living in his shadow and learn how to be your own man for a change!"

For a moment, Soren looked like a bee had just flown up his nose. But he recovered quickly. "Oh, I can manage on my own quite well. Would you like a demonstration?" he asked, voice dripping acid as he flipped his tome open. Now, I'm going to ask you one more time, highness, will you take me to the roof, or not?"

Lucia placed her hand on her sword. "Are you threatening her majesty?"

"No, I'm making a firm request as one friend of Ike's to another," he answered with all the warmth of a wintry breeze at midnight. "If I was making a threat, you wouldn't even have to ask the question. Now, will you take me to up to Ike or not?"

"I'm sorry, Soren. Perhaps we can send someone to speak to the empress and she can—"

"Burn the Empress!" he screamed, nostrils flaring. "I don't care what it takes, you are going to help me one way or—Hey! What are you doing?"

Soren was interrupted by a pair of guards who had come up behind him, thrusting his hands forcefully behind his back and wrapping rope around his wrists. "In the name of the empire, I hereby arrest you on grounds of threatening her imperial personage the empress and her majesty the queen of Crimea."

"Are you mad?!" Soren spouted as he struggled against them, "I'm one of the reasons that the empress is still alive!"

Titania, who had been speaking with the guard at the gate, was drawn over by Soren's shouting. Head darting frantically back and forth between Elincia and Soren. "This is too much!" she cried, "Your majesty, do something!"

Before Elincia could speak, the captain of the guards stepped forward. "I'm sorry, but we're under a state of siege and given the comments he just made he could be an enemy agent, which means I'd be a fool to release him. He will be held until calm has been restored. Then, if the empress wills it, he will be released. After we have questioned him."

"But this is madness!" Elincia protested as she studied Soren who, after a brief struggle, had slouched into a dejected, pitiable mass. She looked towards the Tower of Ashera, then back at Soren, her expression set and her posture steady. "Could you release him to me? We're leaving anyway and he could be helpful to us." Lucia regarded her with dazed surprise.

The captain scrutinized her. "You do realize that he just made a veiled threat against you?"

"He didn't mean it. It has been a long day for all of us, and his friend remains in danger. He has been critical to our success today, and I believe he can yet be useful."

The captain opened his mouth to speak again, but he never had a chance to finish. For it that moment Soren seized upon the relaxed, distracted grip of his guards to break loose. Pushing the startled men back with one hand and grabbing his dropped book with the other, he dashed toward the guards at the door and nearly succeeding in breaking through them before they realized what was happening. But then his captors, angry at being taking by his little maneuver, rushed him from behind in a fit of livid vengeance, tackling Soren to the ground as he was buried under a pile of grunts and scraping armor.

"Wait!" Elincia cried as she rushed to the melee, "I need him!" But by the time she reached Soren and forced back the guards, he was lying still on the ground. "How is he?" Titania asked as Elincia rapidly checked over the unmoving form. "He has a few bruises, but other than that he seems stable," she answered. Her head drooped. "But he'll be out for a while." She looked up at the guards, a rare expression of anger stalking through her features. "Did you really have to be so rough?"

"But he was charging our comrades…" one of them began but was unable to finish.

"The point is he'll be fine, and we have to go," Lucia interjected pointedly.

Titania shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I'm staying here. I can't risk losing another team member tonight."

Elincia furrowed her brow. "What do you mean by that?" She scanned the area, noting with an aching sense of dread that one spritely figure was missing from the group, forcing her to ask a question whose answer she did not want to know, but at the same time knew that she could not proceed without knowing. "Where is Mist?"

She sighed with a heavy weariness. "Mist is fine, however—"

"There's no time for this!" Lucia protested. "You're the de facto leader of the Greil Mercenaries right now, and if we don't get moving then there may be a lot more people to cry over. So stand up and act in accordance with your responsibilities."

Titania raised herself, her darkened attention focused on Lucia. As she opened her mouth to speak, she felt a soft hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Oscar, his normal smile replaced with grieving resolution. "Go on, commander, I'll stay here and watch Soren. I promise I won't let anything happen to him."

She studied his grim determination for a moment, before nodding. "Very well, I'll give the word to move out." She squinted at Lucia. "Just make sure your people know that on this little expedition, I'm in charge."

Lucia nodded. "I have no problem with that, until they reach the tower anyway."

As Elincia lifted Dalidion skyward, she cast one last quick glance at the rooftop. Ike, his back to her, was maintaining his vigil over the one who called himself Cohen, who had not seemed to move since she last saw him. It'll be alright, she kept telling herself as she tried to concentrate on directing her mount towards the Tower. But despite her best efforts she could not shut out Soren's words. They zoomed through her head like furious hornets, stinging holes through what had been until a few moments before irrelevant yet unshakable truth. And through the gaps came flowing with inexorable force the searing memories of an autumn day several years ago…

She was in her study taking a brief break from the pile of documents on her desk, gazing out into the royal gardens below. Through the single, great window she could see that most of the shrubs and plants had cast off their summer finery and had retreated within themselves to ride out the oncoming winter. Among the stately rows Elincia spotted a few intrepid leaves decorating the bare branches, clinging tenaciously to their fading lifeline in the surging wind, demonstrating a brave yet futile refusal to depart from the baring branches that had sustained them. But while she watched they finally yielded to the insistent push of inexorable air, their final connection finally snapping as they went flittering along the ground before disappearing out of sight.

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called, turning around. The doorknob turned, and the tall, sweeping form of Ike appeared. Although he was changing, there was still much of the youth that she remembered from their first meeting – same spiky blue hair, same stride that exerted a careless, unshakable authority. But that was not the focus of her attention as he approached her desk. His face, usually so confident, seemed more pensive than usual. It was like he was in the middle of a battle and unsure of his next move. And instead of meeting her gaze head on, as he usually did, it roved around the room, never fixing on the same object for more than a few seconds.

"My lord Ike! She greeted him warmly, "It's so good to see you." She wanted to go around and hug him, but his uncertain demeanor advised her against it.

"It's good to see you too," he replied with an unusual lack of warmth, even for him. "I hope I'm not interrupting any officially royal business." She smiled at his eccentric way of phrasing things.

"Nonsense! I was just looking out at the gardens. They're quite lovely, even this time of the year. It's been ages since we've taken a walk in them; we really should do something about that." Ike's only response was to grunt noncommittally as he danced in place nervously and eyed the crackling fire. She decided to change the subject.

"So, I assume that you're here about the proposal I sent to you?"

"Yes and no," he replied as he pulled a rolled parchment out of his belt.

She clasped her hands together with giddy, unqueenlike excitement. "I see you brought it with you. I assume that means you're ready to sign it, then? Excellent! I'll call Bastion and Lucia so they can witness it, and once I put my seal on it…"

He shook his head softly but with a deafening finality. "This isn't the proposal. It's something Soren helped me write up."

The clasp became a slow, unconscious wringing as the giddiness vanished. "What is it?"

His gaze locked onto her, unwavering as he held it out to her. "I think it's better if you read it for yourself."

She stared at the dry, shriveled roll for several seconds before reaching out her hand, gingerly taking hold of the document. It felt rough in her hand as she unrolled it and read it slowly - once, twice, three times. Then she read it again, still unable to make sense of the document. She rolled it back up in her hand, and walked back over to the window, the wind brushing against it was the only sound perceptible to her as she tried to wade against the confusion flooding her mind as her vacant eyes swept over the cold, empty gardens.

"What's this all about Ike?" she said at last as she forced herself to turn and face him, "Why are you renouncing your peerage? You'll need it if you are to have command of the unit."

His gaze was on her, but also beyond, towards the distant sky. "I'm sorry, your highness, if I wasn't clear. I'm renouncing my peerage and leaving Melior. For good."

She seized hold of the edges of her chair, which had suddenly become the only thing keeping her erect as she tried to formulate a response. Attempting to draw from all the great literature she had read, all her experiences to capture the essence of what she was feeling. But only one word managed to free itself from her trembling lips.

"Why?"

"I'm going to reform the Greil Mercenaries."

"But you can do that, here!" she protested. "You could rebuild them, and more! I don't get it!"

"I think you do. You just don't want to admit it."

The document made a sickening crunch in her hand as her fingers clinched around it. "Then why don't you enlighten me, please, as to the great reason that compels you to throw away everything and walk away?"

Ike took a step back. "The truth is, you're better off without me here."

"What? How could you say such a thing? Did someone tell you that? Who was it? Was it Duke Lemieux? Ludveck? I know that Marquis Silok has been particularly vocal about you recently…."

"It wasn't any of them. You should know better than to think I give a beetle's butt about what they think anyway."

"Then who told you that?"

"You did."

Elincia's breath seized in her throat. "What? When? Tell me when I said such a thing!"

Ike straightened, the confidence returning to his face. You said it in all the time you spend with them." He held his hand up as she started to protest. "Yes, I know you have a kingdom to run, I get that. But you do realize that when you came to see me the other day was the first time in months? You're always with them, in meetings, receptions, banquets…"

"The arrow flies both ways, you know. Why did you never come see me?"

He waved his arms wildly at his side. "Are you kidding? I was half expecting to be turned away today as well. Face it, Elincia, this is your world now, and I don't fit into it."

"Is it that you don't fit, or is it that you don't want to fit into it?"

"I'm tired of it Elincia. Even with devoting all your time to them, they still bicker and squabble and gossip like old ladies at the market. I'm surprised this government functions at all."

"Do you have any idea how hard it's been, how much you, how much I…." She shook her head. "You have no clue, no inkling of what I had to go through for you, for that arrangement!"

"That's my point exactly. You worked all that time just to come up with that nonsense?"

"Nonsense?" she said, as suddenly a burst of incredulous laughter seized her. "Is that what you call it?"

"It's the most polite thing I can call it!"

She sighed. "So the great Ike is just going to run away? I don't believe it. I thought Tellius would sink under the ocean before that happened."

"I'm not running away. I just realized who I am, and it's not this. It never was. I did what I promised, but I can't do anymore. And that's my final decision."

Elincia shook her head. "No, you're wrong, Ike. We could have combined the best of your world with the best of my world and created something truly special, something that could have changed not only Crimea, but Tellius, for the better." She held up the small, crumpled document. "But if this what you want?" she shouted, shaking it in the air, "Then so be it!"

With a deft, irate flick, she rolled it out and threw it down on the table. Seizing her pen and plunging it in the inkwell, she flung it across the table as drops splattered over the polished wood. "Sign!" she commanded in someone else's voice. Ike snatched the pen and hastily signed at the bottom.

She then reached and yanked open her desk drawer, nearly sending it flying back against the wall. She pulled out her royal seal, and, after dripping some wax from her candle, pressed her seal firmly down into the wax before rolling it back up, tossing it in the drawer with her seal, and crashing it shut.

"Is that it?" he asked. "I thought you said…"

"That's it. Now, get out."

"Elincia…"

"Get out…Get Out…GET OUT!" She screamed. Her quivering finger was still pointed at the door when the guards outside burst into the room, weapons ready. "Highness, are you okay?"

She nodded a lie. "Yes. Lord Ike here was just informing me of his desire to leave the palace. Today." Ike shot her a look, but she continued: "Please see to it that all aid is given to his and his company's preparations for immediate departure." The guards glanced at each other before saluting and leaving to carry out her orders.

She turned towards the window, unable to look at him any longer. She heard padded, restrained footsteps as he made his way toward the door, then heard the slight click of his hand on the knob. She felt his presence there, studying her as if preparing to speak again, but the only sound that followed was the door slamming shut.

She looked down at the pen that she had used to sign the renunciation, flipping it between her fingers before sending it with a tiny, hard crash through the glass in front of her. She then collapsed in a sullen heap on the floor as a slip of cool breeze brushed over her.

"Your highness? Hey, can you hear me?" Lucia's words slammed into the memory and dashed it to bits, revealing the persistent reality surrounding her. In front of them the black dome of the night horizon was yielding softly to the first breaths of dawn pushing with gentle assertiveness against its thick, shadowy shroud.

"Are you okay, your highness?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay. Were you saying something to me?"

"I was just wondering if you had experienced any kind of head trauma since I saw you last."

"No. Why would you say that?"

"I was just trying to find possible explanations for why you would ask Soren to ride with us, considering from the tone of that last chat you two had he was more than likely to show us the short way down and head back to Ike."

"Personal feelings aside, we needed all the backup we can get, especially since it may take our other forces some time to arrive. And according to Navina there may be a lot of mages that we have to deal with up ahead. So, I just thought it would be nice if we had our own magic user."

Lucia brushed a strand of hair out of her line of sight as her grip around Elincia adjusted slightly. "Are you sure that there wasn't any other reason?"

"What?" Of course not."

Lucia was quiet for a moment. "I almost feel sorry for Soren, it's hard for him to admit that Ike can have other friends besides himself. It's often amazing, and at times tragic the misconceptions people can compel into reality when the alternative is beyond their capacity to accept."

Elincia didn't answer her as Dalidion pushed upward in the sky towards the massive spire twisting upwards in its dizzying supremacy, the massive wings of Dalidion thrumming with steady rhythm as she looked ahead in meditative silence. "We're almost there," she whispered at last.

PART 2

Navina, body frozen by what she had just heard, could only move her jaw up and down in a stunned, mechanical fashion as the words that struggled to push themselves out of her shocked brain died before they could reach her lips.

"Didn't you hear me? I said I wanted you to kill Ike."

"I heard you," she snapped, as his viperous words slapped her back into focus, "but I what I don't understand is why."

He scratched his head. "Maybe I'm just curious. After all, you apparently idolize him, and seeing someone killing someone they consider to be close to divinity is a rare chance to study the particular emotions involved, something any serious actor would rip off their own right arm to see."

"You're insane!"

He beamed. "Thanks for the compliment. After all, what is madness but a mind that sees above and beyond this tiny and restrictive island that we call sanity?"

They were interrupted by a scornful chuckling.

Cohen turned toward Ike. "Does death amuse you? If so, then we may have more to talk about than I thought!"

Ike smirked. "No, just you. The fact that you expect us to believe that you went to all this trouble tonight of exposing yourself tonight after sacrificing your men just to get a few acting lessons."

"Wow! I am genuinely impressed! And here I was thinking that your brain was only good for telling your hand which end of the sword to hold and then you turn around and yank this flash of brilliance out of your brain and hurl it at me! It's incredible!"

Ike shook his head. "Throw all the bait you want, I'm not going to bite. But just to kill some time, what do you want?"

Cohen pursed his lips. "You know, I don't even know if I should even bother to tell you, because it just seems like such a big waste of time because you'll never agree to it. That's one of the best things about dead people, they never disagree with you."

"TELL US!" Navina roared, her entire body shaking.

"Oh, all right. The Fire Emblem, I want the Fire Emblem."

Navina blinked rapidly. "But why? It's worthless now!"

"Worthless or not" Ike muttered as he grabbed lightly at the small patch at his belt. "it's not going to happen."

Cohen sighed heavily as he slumped his shoulders. "There, you see? Big waste of time, and after all, I'm just trying to do you a favor."

Ike cocked his brow. "A favor?"

"Indeed. There are many useless things that Tellius would be better off without, and one of them is that silly little medallion. Just look at how much trouble it's caused."

"I would put you near the top of that list as well," Ike countered, "just look at how many men died tonight for your whims."

Cohen rocked his head back and forth. "True, but you have to admit victory is a slippery fish; you never know when it might wiggle away from you."

"We just defeated a goddess. In what possible world could you even begin to pose a threat to us?

He smiled. "I can imagine quite a few. And trust me, exploring them is going to be lots of fun. And don't get too puffed out over defeating Ashera. She was only half a goddess, after all, and you only beat her with enormous help from her other half. So I guess one could say that she really just beat herself, and you just happened to be the closest stick."

"Maybe, but the point is we won, and we're still here. We accomplished peace, security for Tellius. What have you and your men accomplished? A lot of men dead who didn't need to be, a panic in the city, before finally arriving at the end of my patience."

For a moment, Cohen's expression tensed and Ike could hear his heavy breathing, like that of an enraged, feral beast. "A lot of dead men? Do not speak of a subject, in which, despite your impressive body count, you are but a novice," he countered in a deeper tone. "Why, massive death is the very reason that I…" But instead of finishing his tirade, he seized his head and sank to the ground. Ike and Navina stared at each other for a moment before he raised himself back up, all traces of his brief but unsettling mood swing vanished. "But I am inserting unnecessary lines. Suffice it to say that I have accomplished, and will accomplish, far more before this night is over than you have in your brief but illustrious career."

Ike shook his head. "And I thought Sephiran was delusional. Too bad you didn't manage your men better, or you could have had some of them have a go at getting the Fire Emblem instead of trying to blackmail someone into fighting for you."

The easy, malicious grin returned. "Oh, but I did. Tell me, why do you think your friends took so long to arrive?"

Ike didn't admit it, but he had wondered that himself, but until now had pushed the question away. Titania and the others should have arrived much sooner, and the only reason they wouldn't have is because they couldn't, which meant….

"Ambush," the word slid like sandpaper through his gritted teeth.

Cohen clapped. "And yet again! Yes, an ambush that was organized to retrieve the Emblem. And although you ruined that by so selfishly taking it from your sister, they still managed to achieve their secondary objective."

"Which was what? To hold up their arrival? They may have been a little late, but that only delayed your defeat by a short time."

"Oh I'm not talking about the postponed hostilities. I'm afraid that was the tertiary objective. You see, I always set up plans with two or preferably more objectives so that even if one fails, I will still achieve something, and in this case I got two out of three. Well, three out of four, if you can the fact that one of your team was killed in the ambush. Someone close to you, if my source is correct. A youth. It's what I like to think of as a bonus objective."

"No…" Ike whispered, not Mist. His hand squeezed the pommel tight, feeling the blood pulsing hotly through his clenched fist as bright angry flashes bursted across his field of vision. "You're lying."

"Maybe. Maybe not. But the bottom line is your victory is not as complete as you thought it was."

Without a word Ike took a step towards the door, but Cohen moved to block him. "Sorry, but it would be rude of me to let you leave before the performance is over. You'd never forgive me or yourself for missing the ending."

Ike raised his sword over his head, his self-control waning as anger and grief screamed at him to bring Ragnell down to silence this rat. "I assume you know what this sword is and what it can do. Step aside so I can check on my sister, or prepare to be my first exception to killing unarmed people."

"Are you sure? Maybe we should ask the people of Talrega about that. The ones who can still talk, that is."

With a roar, all Ike's thoughts blurred into a burning mass of rage, consuming the last of his patience as he brought down his sword with a massive, hurtling swing against the solid stone, bracing himself against the pulsing wave of energy.

Cohen chuckled. "Oh dear, it seems like nothing associated with the Goddess is working right tonight. Did your friend the queen tell you about the dreadful time she had with her healing staff?"

"I don't need any special powers," Ike said, trying to push back the doubt the sword's failure had raised in him, "as far as I can tell, this sword is still sharp enough to cut through you."

Cohen turned to Navina, hands extended toward Ike. "Allright, I've got him all warmed up for you. He's all yours."

Ike looked to Navina, who looked like a lost traveler desperately searching for a familiar landmark. "Time to choose. Are you going to help me, or not?"

She looked at him with pleading desperation. "Ike, I…"

Ike shook his head. "The Fire Emblem, the Tower of Ashera, your friend here seems to have a fascination for things that no longer have any value. I guess that explains why he hired you."

Her face clouded as she gathered her weapons. "Ike, please don't say such things."

"Why not? You seem like a capable, caring person. But for some reason you allow yourself to be manipulated by this puerile little nobody who has done nothing but flash a rock around and refuse to believe in either my or your capacity to overcome him. You're the worse sort of coward."

With a scream, Navina launched herself toward Ike.

PART 3

As they closed in on their destination, Elincia detected a faint light near the top of the tower. She directed Dalidion upward and as they drew nearer, she realized that the weak luminescence was emanating from the chamber where the final battle with Ashera had taken place. She approached in an upward swing, entering through a hole that the goddess had blasted through the thick walls during the struggle.

"By the Goddess," Lucia whispered, as she and Elincia brought Dalidion down.

Not ten feet from where they had landed a line of men stood watching them. They were armed with an assortment of eager, glinting weapons, eyes fixed on the newcomers but otherwise making no movement. The line of wary steel stretched around the outer perimeter of the room to form a solid ring around what had been Ashera's resting place, on which now lay an amorphous mass, whose pale, persistent glow provided the only light source for the room. Around this dim radiance was clustered a smaller group of robed figures, and as Elincia studied them more closely she realized that they were mages of every variety - wind, fire, thunder, dark. Each was gripping an open book of magic and chanting with steady, ominous precision a tangle of words in the old tongue, and from the words she could filter out she realized they were high-level spells. Among them hovered a great solemn figure wrapped in a blended mantle of blue, brown, and green, whose excessive stature made him appear as an oak tree in a grove of saplings. She could not see his cowled face but his voice, high and domineering, soared above those of the others even as it wrapped over and around them with a calming but imposing decisiveness.

In almost perfect unison the casters around this mysterious giant completed their spells and loosed their magic, hurling a powerful array of mystical energy towards the shapeless, shining heap. Elincia gasped as she took a step back, fearful of what the effects of releasing such powerful forces in such a small space would be. The liberated elements, instead of smashing through the object and everyone around it, began to merge - the howling green of wind, the molten fierceness of fire and the jarring flashes of thunder all swimming together in a lustrous cloud over the coagulation, as the looming figure continued chanting. As Elincia listened, she realized that he was not speaking the old tongue, but rather the odd language that Navina had been speaking earlier. When he had finished, the swirling magics shaped themselves into a ball around the orb, and then slowly were absorbed into it, forming it into what was now a recognizable, if imperfect, circular shape that shone forth with fresh brilliance.

Elincia suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking off the entrancing yet somehow menacing spectacle before her. It had seemed like hours, but she knew she had only been watching for mere seconds. "Your highness, there are too many for us to fight! We need to withdraw and gather reinforcements!"

Elincia shook her head. "Something about this tells me we don't have time for that," she replied as she slid down to the floor and made her way to the ring of armed men, Lucia a reluctant, protesting shadow behind her.

Elincia stopped a few feet from the ring of guards, hands in the air as the guards continued their unmoving yet rigid vigilance of her every move. As a smell that she could only describe as burning storm clouds wafted through her nostrils, she began her address. "Greetings, my name is— "

"Queen Elincia of Crimea," one of the guards finished with undisguised, yet cheerful venom while the mages resumed their chanting behind him. "I know who you are. But seriously, who doesn't? But I'm willing to bet that you have no idea who I am."

"That accent," Elincia noted, "you're from Crimea, aren't you?"

"True, but I am much more than that." He leaned forward slightly. "Take a closer look."

Her eyes roved over his features, noting the tufts of brown hair jutting out from his helmet over a strong, calculating face set around those eyes… The eyes. It was weaker, but they still radiated that same demanding arrogance as…

"Ludveck," she whispered.

"An illegitimate cousin, but still I was family and that was enough for him to give me a chance. Too bad you ruined all that," he said as he pressed his thumb against the tip of his spear.

Her hand slinked to her waist, towards her sword hilt. But before she could find it Lucia pushed her aside, her sword already in hand. "Get back your majesty," she hissed.

Some of the other guards around him jostled slightly, but made no threatening gestures as Ludveck's cousin smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to fight you, although you have given me and many others here more than sufficient reason to do so. But I'm afraid would never get the smell of your foul blood off me."

"What is your game?" Lucia asked as she gestured towards the group in the middle with her sword, "what is going on here?"

"I'm afraid that isn't for me to say. If you want to know, you'll have to ask Aadeso there," he said, tilting his head toward the oblivious, spiraling figure. "Unfortunately, he is a real stickler about being disturbed, especially in the middle of something important. That's why we're here, to make sure there are no…unwelcome intrusions."

"Then it looks like we may have to fight after all," Lucia answered as she twirled her sword. "We don't need any explanations, we just need it to stop. And it looks like we'll have to go through you to make that happen."

Ludveck's cousin looked to her. "Do you really think you can overcome all of us?"

"I'm willing to give it a shot. I've had a lot of experience fighting against overwhelming odds." She turned to Elincia. "Ready, your majesty?"

He looked Lucia directly in the eye, snorting with amusement. "I'm afraid you don't understand. You may have to go through us, but you're not going to fight us."

Lucia's eyes narrowed. "What?"

As an answer, Ludveck threw down his weapon, a move that was repeated by all his comrades, causing a clanging echo that reverberated off the high ceiling and empty space of the chamber, screeching and clawing through their ears like a maddened insect and forcing the pair to cover them until it had passed. When they looked up, they saw that the men had clasped their hands together, replacing the ring of steel with one of flesh.

Ludveck's cousin gazed upon them with an expression of triumphant malice. "So you see, highness, if you want through then you're going to have to kill us. All of us, because when one falls the circle will only tighten. That is what you must do if you wish to pass, o merciful queen."

For a moment, the two women could only stare at them in stunned silence. Then Lucia marched over to him, prodding the tip of her sword against his neck. "Coward! Pick up your sword and fight like a man!"

He stared at her, unblinking. "I can think of no greater courage than facing an armed enemy with only the power of my convictions to deflect the blows."

"Lucia, no!" Elincia cried as she rushed to her friend, forcing her blade down. He laughed scornfully. "Really, your excellency, I believed that this would be easy for you, considering all the practice you got hunting down my friends."

Elincia stomped her boot down on the floor. "They left me no choice!"

"Didn't they? Well, in any case, I won't let you say that about me. The choice is either turn me and my companions into a pile of corpses or risk unknown consequences for the city and its people. Better hurry and decide; I think they're about finished," he announced as shadows reflecting off the light of the shifting orb merged and danced wickedly behind him on the far wall.

Elincia watched him and his companions, searching their faces for any indication that one might prove to be the weak link in the chain, but found only spiteful resolution bearing down on her. "And there is nothing I could do, or say, that would help you to reconsider your position?"

"That look on your face and the storm that I am sure is wracking your mind is all I could ever ask for."

"I see." She took a deep breath as she rubbed a patch of Molu's dried blood on her shoulder, her gaze spacious and unfocused as it wandered over the room before settling on the very spot where Ike had struck the final blow against Ashera, giving the world a second chance. With an anguished shout, she threw herself towards him.