Immediately after Rath introduced himself and offered his service, troops began to file out of the castle. After a quick look around, Mark realized they were vastly out-manned. He gulped. This was going to be a rough one. He shook his head in order to snap back into reality.

"Everyone, gather around!" He said forcefully, forgetting to switch off his mannerisms again after teaching them all to Lyn. Everyone, including Rath though he did give Mark a look, got closer into the huddle.

"Rath you know this area the best." Mark said, gesturing for him to speak. "What do you suggest."

Rath cleared his throat. "There are three triggers hidden outside of the castle to over-ride the main gate and force it open. If we do that, we can offer assistance to the main force inside."

Mark nodded. "Understood. Then the first plan should be to find those triggers. Any idea where they are?"

"There is one at the southern entrance, and two at the northern." Rath said, gesturing at the locations. "There are less foes at the southern entrance." The troops from the castle were getting even closer. The townsfolk had already abandoned the streets. Mark watched as the last of them locked the giant wooden door behind him, sealing off the northern entrance. If they waited much longer, the whole place would soon be impossible to enter.

Mark nodded grimmly. "Alright. A simple split off then. Some of us will go south, but most of us will go north."

"If I may." Serra interjected, raising a hand.

"What?" Mark said flatly, annoyed at being cut off before he could assign groups.

"Did I understand correctly that if we open the gate, we are to do more fighting inside?"

Mark blinked. "Yes. They've taken the castle, it seems, so of course. Araphen is helping Lyn on her way to the throne, so it's only natural we return the favor. Is that a problem with you Serra?"

"Yes." She said, still serious.

"That sucks." Said Dorcas, hefting his axe to his shoulder and yawning. "But seems like we gotta do it. Aint that right Florina?" He said, patting her on the back. Florina stumbled forward but nodded and smiled.

"Y-yeah!" She said, managing a squeak of a war cry. Seems like the two were getting along well.

"Ok great!" Mark quickly said, bringing attention back to himself. The enemy was almost upon them. They'd have to fight the front force before even splitting up. "We're going to have to fight those guys together," He pointed, "but after that, Kent, Sain, Erk, and Lyn, you guys are heading south. Give them hell. The rest of you will join me in taking the northern building back. Agreed?" Everyone nodded except for Serra, who was still mad that fighting was going to occur inside as well as out. "Perfect. We'll use the same formation as when we marched. Rath, you're in back with us." Mark said, turning around and pulling out his tome to face the approaching front line. As he walked to the back line, Erk jogged up to him.

"Hey, Mark." He said, grabbing Mark's attention.

"What?" Mark snapped, chiding himself for letting his nerves get the better of him. He took a deep breath. "...What?" He tried again, easing up on his friend.

Erk ignored the hostilities, "Want to play that game we always played?" Erk said, scratching his head. "You know, the one when we were practicing as kids."

"... The one where whoever has less pages in their tome by the end of the fight wins?" Mark asked. That was tactically unwise. Ideally you'd want to keep as many pages as possible so you'd have more flexibility to approach more situations.

"Yes, that one!" Erk said smiling. The enemy was engaging Kent, Sain, and Florina, but Erk kept smiling at Mark.

"No." Mark answered flatly and began to fire off carefully placed blasts of flame through his friends and into the front line. Serra was meditating in the center, staff aglow with magic. It was odd to see her so quiet and concentrating, Mark thought. Even though he'd only known her for a few days, he was pretty much sure he already knew everything about her that he needed to. Erk and he were similar, it's only natural they would dislike the same kind of person. That being said, Erk had it was worse, so Mark could tolerate her for now. Anyways, shaking these thoughts from his mind, Mark simply noted that Serra was doing her job and moved on. Soon, the advance force was cleaned up with little injury. Dorcas had taken a few significant cuts, though, and was leaned up against a wall.

"Aw geez." He grumbled to himself, holding his side. "That's a pain."

"I've got it!" Serra said in a sing-song voice, skipping over to him. When she got there though, she frowned. "Oh, wow, ok that's pretty bad. This will take a while." She got to work, meditating over him.

"Alright, Dorcas, come with her to the north when you're ready. Everyone else, split up like I said and lets open that gate!" Mark shot a pillar of fire into the sky and the group cheered. Already though, Mark noted, there was some serious fatigue throughout the group. Rath was fine, still holding a confident air, but he and Wil were grimly scavenging the bodies of the advance force for usable arrows. Even though they had full quivers at the start, they were almost out. Sain was panting heavily and sweating like an animal. He had only just recovered from serious illness, so it's not like it was surprising, but it concerned him. Lyn was still obviously a bit shaken from the first man's sudden attack on her. Her sword trembled slightly in her hands and her eyes were wide. It's technically her first political assassination attempt. Mark thought to himself. Well… At least it was only an attempt. Florina was doing lazy circles in the sky, waiting for the group to split. Her pegasus had a few cuts, but she was unscathed. Finally, Kent was obviously not getting enough sleep. Even though battle had just occurred, he looked ready to fall over from exhaustion.

Trying his best to convince himself it was alright to send these people into battle, Mark gave the signal and the group split and ran in their respective directions. Once Mark and his team were by the northern entrance, hell immediately broke loose. Rath passed all of his arrows to Wil, and together they rode on Rath's horse like crazed beasts, shouting and shooting arrows to cause disturbances among the enemy. With Rath focusing so much on riding, no one could catch them. Florina was doing her usual hit and run routine, taking out weak or isolated troops like a bird of prey might. Mark wished Dorcas and Serra were her, because since they weren't…

Mark took out his sword, set it on fire, and charged. Since Doracs wasn't here, Mark was the front line. This was not good, to say the least. It's not that Mark couldn't handle himself, but he also couldn't take many hits before he was down for the count. Normally, thats why Serra would be there but, well, obviously she wasn't. Focusing in, Mark carefully observed the ten men and women in armor staring back at him. He quickly lifted his hand and shot two fireballs and the units with the heaviest armor, sending them back and forcing them to try and rip their armor off as fast as possible. This sent the remaining eight directly at him. Unsure what entirely to do, Mark charged the right most soldier and fought them. She was a lance user, starting with a quick sweep at Mark legs. Mark jumped and kicked her in the gut, causing her to take a step back and keel over for the moment. Before he could attack her again, another soldier had caught up to him. This time a swordsman, he started with an overhead swing. Mark raised his sword to block and wanted to move on to the attack, but was hard pressed to do so. The man's assault was relentless, and endless barrage of raw, forceful swings with no purpose other than to apply pressure. It was a good strategy to, the others were soon on top of Mark.

Suddenly, he remembered. The knives! He thought. He'd bought them for just such an occasion. He quickly pulled one out and dodged the next swing, throwing a quick punch to stab the man in the neck. The man grasped at it, falling backwards and rolling on the ground. Mark quickly threw another at the soldier he'd knocked down earlier, hitting her in the arm. Six left. They were all on him. Mark tried to pull out his tome but he never got the chance. All of his attention was focused on dodging. Please, someone, be done taking out the rest soon! He thought in desperation as he twisted and ran away, trying his best to remain unscathed. Finally, someone got him, cutting him on the back of the leg. Mark cried out, falling to the ground. He wasted no time in trying to get back up and run again, but it was futile. He turned around and held his sword warily. Getting a quick stab into one soldier who was a tad too overzealous now that he was wounded, Mark stared down the remaining five. Before they all charged him again, an axe suddenly buried into one of the soldier's sides. Mark quickly used the confusion to take out his tome and chant a quick spell, sending a small burst of flame onto two of the soldiers. Two left. Dorcas quickly started taking on both of them and Mark breathed a sigh of relief. He never wanted that role again.

Serra ran up to him. "I'll take care of your leg if you'll tell me how great I am!" She said happily.

"Just do it regardless." Mark said hoarsely. Serra pouted at him. "...You're great. Fix my leg." Serra happily closed her eyes and hummed as she got to work. Once Mark's leg was better, he stood up and rejoined the fray. There weren't many others left to clean up, on the outside of the northern building at least. Once they were, Mark and the others approached the door.

"Hey, there isn't much left in this staff." Serra said seriously, pointing to the orb at the end, which was significantly more cloudy than earlier. "I don't think the fight inside is a good idea still." Mark looked at her flatly. She's probably only mentioning this because she doesn't want to. He thought. But, if she's that low on magic, she's also right. It probably isn't a good idea. Mark walked up to the wooden door and tried the handle. Nothing. It was locked, just like he thought. The switches were inside according to Rath, likely guarded by a whole other platoon of soldiers. A quick survey of his group, and Mark saw they weren't ready for it.

"If only he had just one more guy to help us out…" He heard. Mark blinked. He shook his head. Huh? He thought. He looked around. Who the hell- "If only!" The voice cried dramatically. "If only some young, handsome, and overall charismatic thief could aide this poor group of wounded fighters." Mark continued to look around him. He couldn't find the source of the voice. "Well fear not anymore friends, because your prayers have been heard, and answered." Finally Mark looked up. Sitting on the roof was a young man in a red cloak. He had brown hair, was sitting with his elbow on his knee and resting his chin in his hand, and had a lopsided grin. He stood up, bowed, and jumped to the ground, landing a perfect roll. He popped back up right in front of Mark and stuck out a hand.

Mark, overwhelmed at his point, gave up on logic and took it. "I'm sorry, who are you?" He asked the man, who laughed.

"I'm Matthew. Pleasure." He was looking Mark directly in the eyes. Mark looked back, expecting more.

"...and?" He prompted.

Matthew's eyebrow creased in confusion. "Uh… I'm here to help. I'm a thief. I can get the door open. And I'm good with a knife, so I can help there too. That's really all there is to it." Mark's eyes narrowed. That was not, in any way, 'all there was to it'.

"I'm sorry, but there's no way we can let a thief into our group." Mark said. "That's just unreasonable. You could just run off with all our gold."

Matthew's eyes lit up. "I can? Really?"

Mark shook his head, way too mentally and physically exhausted to have this conversation. "No, I meant you 'can' as is in it's a possibility that if we let you in now you'll take our stuff and run later on."

Matthew was obviously hurt by this statement. "See, now that's just prejudice. I swear, tell a guy that you're a thief and suddenly all you want is gold. Really though, I genuinely want to help."

"Why?" Mark asked, still wary.

Matthew shrugged. "Because I do. Now, are we going to get this door open or what?" Mark was too tired and too desperate to question him further. He raised his hand in defeat and gestured to the door. Matthew smiled like a kid on his birthday and started to lock-pick the door. "This will only take a second…" He said, concentration written on his face. Soon, everyone heard a click, and the door was unlocked. Matthew put away his tools and took out two middle length dueling knives. "See told you I'm useful." He held a sudden devilish glint in his eye and raised his blade. "Want to see what else I'm good at?"

The inside was closely guarded, as expected. Mark sent Matthew in first, to sneak around and scout the area. One look at how he composed himself, and Mark could tell that Matthew was obviously good at it. A little too good, in Mark's eyes. He got the sense that all of this was way too convenient. Mark needs someone to lock-pick the door, and suddenly, he's there. It didn't sit right with him at all. Matthew was clearly after something and Mark wanted to know what. Hopefully, after today, he'd just disappear. Soon, he was back. He held up a blue cloak.

"Who wants and angelic robe, eh? What about you healer girl, here." He said, tossing it to Serra.

"You stole from the castle?" Rath said angrily.

Matthew grinned sheepishly and shrugged with raised hands. "Hey, what can I say, it was there for the taking. Besides, these are the bad guys right? No big deal."

"I agree." Serra said happily, holding her new acquisition. She chanted a few things under her breath, and suddenly the robe glowed a bright blue before turning into a mist. Serra held out a hand and slowly the mist worked its way onto her clothes and into her respiratory system. He clothes now blue, she took a deep breath and sighed contentedly. She opened her eyes, put her hands on her hips, and yelled. "I'm ready to take on the world now! Thanks Matthew!" She blew him a kiss.

Matthew sighed and rolled his eyes but he caught the kiss and put it in his pocket. He turned to Mark. "Anyways, you're right, the whole things heavily guarded. If we immediately break left though, that's where the switches are."

Mark thought about it. A blitz might be called for in this situation, but he wanted to be sure. "How many are there, specifically."

Matthew grimaced slightly. "A bit too many in my opinion. There's ten spread around the room, two by the door where the first switch is, none by the other door. It's probably best if we just try to avoid the main group. We've already fought a lot."

"Yeah, we've already fought a lot." Wil said sarcastically. "You just got here."

Matthew laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, I'm sure my point still stands." It did. Mark looked around his exhausted friends. Hopefully the other group was doing alright. No, focus here and now first. He thought. Finally, after a lot of contemplation, he raised his head.

"I have a tentative plan." He said. The others remained quiet. "Florina won't be great in-doors, and Rath and Wil only have how many arrows left?"

"Six." Wil said grimly.

"Exactly." Mark continued. "That's bad enough that I don't even think a blitz would work."

"I-I'm sorry." Florina said meekly, leaning on her spear.

Mark raised a hand to assure her it was fine. "Thus, my plan goes like this. One or two of us will draw all of their attention and lead them out here. Once they're all out, Matthew is going to slip in and flip the switches. By doing this, it will cause confusion in their ranks and make them retreat deeper into the castle. If the gate's gone, they're gone. Dorcas, Serra?" He pointed to them. "Grab their attention. Rath and Wil, post yourselves on either side of the door and ready an arrow for anyone you can pick out. Matthew, be ready to sneak in." Everyone nodded and got into position. Mark pulled out his tome, nodded to Dorcas and Serra, and began to chant.

Dorcas kicked the door open and grunted as he threw an axe at the nearest, soon dead soldier. "Hahahahaha!" Serra laughed triumphantly, striking a pose and raising her staff. "Evil is smited once again! Now to go home for tea." She quickly ran out of there, soon followed by Dorcas. Yelling could be heard soon followed by the sound of marching boots. Mark finished his chanting and shot a small pillar of fire through the doorway. He heard a few confirming screams and readied his sword. The first few started by attacking Dorcas before being taken out but Florina. Dorcas raised a hand as Florina flew passed, and they shared a high five. The rest poured out faster than anyone could react to, and everyone soon found themselves in a duel. Mark was fighting a knight in heavy armor, a perfect match up. Mark danced around him, sending a fireball into his face now and again, swiftly dodging the slow man's attacks. It was long and tiresome work, but Mark eventually felled the man by using enough light spells. Panting, he saw his friend were worse off.

Wil was out of arrows and had hopped back onto Rath's horse. Together the two rose around, drawing as much attention while staying unhurt as they could. Florina was grounded, desperately fighting against two swordsmen. Dorcas had a knife in his side and was fighting another axeman. Serra was fending off a mage with her staff. Before Mark could help anyone though, he heard the sound of a distant horn. The enemy soldiers immediately snapped to attention and ran back inside.

"The gates down!" One of them yelled. "Help support the main force!" Mark staggered over to the rest of his friends, panting heavily. Together they collapsed and waited for Matthew to come back as Serra healed their wounds. If the gate was down, that meant the southern team was successful as well. The thought was a great comfort on Mark's mind. Just as Serra finished up, her staff's glass topping shattered.

"Oh shoot." She pouted. "I'll have to have Erk buy me a new one." She flopped to the floor and layed down, as exhausted as the rest. Mark wasn't entirely sure how they pulled it off, but they had. The castle was soon going to belong to the marquess again. Rath stood.

"I must go and help. I would ask for your assistance, if you could bring yourself to after all of this." He said, bowing with respect.

Mark nodded. "Go on guys. I'll be right there." The rest shuffled off and Mark waited for Matthew to return. Eventually, he did, a new string of pearls hanging from his neck.

"Hey, where are the others? Aren't you going to help them inside?" Matthew asked.

"Of course. I just wanted to talk to you first."

"Oh, alright. What about? I was good right? I can go with you guys right?" Matthew said enthusiastically.

"You were good Matthew. Great even." Mark said. "That's what scares me." Silence. "What are you after, Matthew?" Mark's heart raced. It was possible that Etruria had finally caught up with him again after he ditched him in Sacae. Mark silently cursed himself for getting involved in all of this, even though he knew he shouldn't have.

Matthew laughed. "What am I after?" He looked Mark dead in the eyes. "I'm serious Mark. I want to help. It's what I want to do, honest. Which, by the way, is really good because that also aligns with what certain other people want me to do."

Mark gulped. It was like he feared. Matthew was hired by someone. Something bothered him much more though. "...I never told you my name."

Matthew smiled. "I know you didn't. Listen, it's not about you, I promise. As far as we all know, I don't know you. I'm here for other reasons."

Mark shook his head. "Why are you even telling me all this? You could easily deny any of this, and I'd probably believe you."

Matthew scowled. "Oh come on, no you wouldn't. You're a cautious man, you'd always have your doubts. So, I'm telling you as much as I can right now so that you can trust me. I really do want to help Lyndis succeed, and I promise you, you aren't even on my radar."

Mark sighed, defeated. "Then why do you even know me?" He asked.

"I don't even need to answer that do I? I mean, how could I not know you?"

"...No, I guess you don't need to answer." Mark stood up. "I still don't like this."

"Mark I swear. I'm not a threat to you. Or to your friends, and especially not to Lyndis. Let me help. Eh?" Matthew had abandoned the cheeriness and playfulness in his tone and switched to all business. He looked at Mark determined and stuck out a hand. "If I do anything wrong, I'll let you throw me out in an instant, no questions asked, no hard feelings. I'm here to be a benefit, not an detriment. A lot of people want Lyndis to succeed. What do you say? Can you trust me?"

Mark looked back and forth from Matthew's face to his hand. No, he couldn't trust him, not at all. He wasn't even sure why knowing that he was a spy was supposed to make Mark feel better about the whole thing. "I…" He started. Matthew looked at him, plain truth written on his face. "I don't think I can trust you, no." Silence. Eventually, Mark tentatively shook Matthew's hand. "But… you wouldn't tell me you were a spy… unless you really don't mean harm." He looked Matthew directly in the eye for the next part. "I do want you to know though, I will be watching you closely. You know that right?"

Matthew nodded. "And I completely understand too. I expect my actions to speak for me." Matthew bowed at the waist. "I hope we can both tuck this conversation into our memories and put it aside. Lets just work to what we both want: Lyndis on the Caelin throne. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

A/N: Im tired. It's late. I promised a chapter before years end. Thanks for reading guys. Now that the holidays are over, I have the rest of break to work on this as much as I can before school inevitably destroys me again. Hearts 3. Happy New Year. I'll see you again soon.

EDIT: Fixed a bunch of small errors.