Disclaimer: How many times do I have to tell you that I don't own Fire Emblem?

Three days later the group was on the road again. It was harder for them to travel now since the weight of all the supplies were slowing them down. Sometime soon they would have to get some kind of storage. The farther they went down the road, the closer they came to a thick forest. There was no other way around it so Lyn had just decided to march straight into it. They could not afford to take any more chances since they were rather low on food. The dark green leaves of the forest towered over them as the group ventured deeper into the woods. Thick branches blocked their way so often times someone had to take out their weapon and cut their way through it. Eliwood had suggested that they should travel in pairs in case some wild animal was to suddenly appear. Ninian ended up being paired with Florina and the Pegasus knight was very thankful for not having to travel with a guy.

While walking, the whole army was silent. The woods grew murkier and quieter with every footstep so everyone was extremely alert. When they ambled for about an hour, Wil picked up a strange sound coming from behind the bushes. It sounded like someone or something was sobbing. The lords looked at each other, deciding if they should go investigate or not. Finally Sain volunteered to explore the bushes. Wil agreed to back him up in case something was to happen. With a sword in hand, Sain cautiously inched towards the shrubbery and pried the leaves out of the way. Wil followed him with an arrow already drawn. The sound of crying grew louder and louder until the cavalier and the archer could clearly see what it was. It wasn't a baby tiger or a mocking bird-it was a short, chubby man sitting on the side of the dirt path he carved. The man had blue hair like Hector, except it was tied in a short ponytail. He had a mustache and was weeping into a white handkerchief.

Sain and Wil lowered their weapons as they approached the man. The archer motioned to Lyn and the rest of the army to follow. The modest man looked up with frightened, weary eyes and scooted away from the brown haired cavalier.

"W-What do you want from me?" he asked with a quivering voice.

Sain merely stared at him and waited for Lyn to come. When the Sacaen princess did arrive, she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Eliwood walked up and smiled kindly at the terrified person.

"Do you need any help?" the Pheraen inquired, looking at the messy bundle of what looked like the covering of a wagon.

"N-Need help? Of course I do! Look at what happened! Some stupid idiots robbed me on my way to town!" the petite man nearly screamed. "Now I've lost my way!"

"I'm very sorry to hear that." Eliwood replied and started to set the wrecked wagon upright.

There was a short moment of silence before the man's brown eyes lit up with an idea.

"Hey kind sir, it seems that you are traveling. May I accompany you in your journeys?"

Eliwood glanced at Hector who glanced at Lyn who slowly looked at the group of people standing behind her. The three lords did some whispering before Eliwood replied, "Of course. We do need someone to carry all our supplies."

"Excellent! My name is Merlinus! And you are…?"

"Milady!" Kent suddenly shouted.

Lyn whirled around to find the red head's sword cutting a snake in half.

"My apologies for interrupting." Kent panted, bowing. "It was just that the snake was about to bite you."

"My goodness! Don't tell me you are Lady Lyndis of Caelin!" Merlinus exclaimed. "Then you must be Lord Eliwood of Pherae and Lord Hector of Ostia! I am most blessed to be traveling with you!"

Eliwood looked at Hector with a slight bit of embarrassment. This man was going to be even chattier than Serra…

Once Merlinus' wagon was fixed and cleaned up, the group hit the road again. There were no more interruptions until they reached a bare piece of land that was covered in dead leaves. It was a very strange sight to behold. Sensing no signs of danger, Lyn boldly marched across it. When she got to the middle, there was a loud crashing down and she disappeared. Now in the center of the vacant area was a large hole with leaves dangling all around it. Hector suggested that someone lightweight should go investigate what happened to Lyn. The lords agreed to send Ninian over to the gap. The Ice Mistress nervously peered down the opening and saw a fearsome sight. Through the hole was another piece of land that had a group of black leopards with beady goldenrod eyes. Ninian thought they somehow resembled morphs…

"Lord Eliwood! Lord Hector! Lady Lyndis is in terrible danger! There is a whole family of leopards down there!" Ninian hurriedly explained. "We have to help her!"

Hector immediately grabbed his axe and charged towards the pit, but was stopped by Erk.

"Wait! If you go down there, you may not be able to get back up!" the mage pointed out. "It is a long way down."

The Ostian halted in his tracks and paused to think. There was only one way to attack the leopards without going down there. Hector instantly called for Kent, Sain, Florina, and Wil. He instructed them to take out their javelins or their arrows. Hector himself pulled out a hand axe. They gathered around the opening and began to launch their weapons. The hole had a small diameter so it was hard to see what was going on down there. There were no signs of Lyn and that really worried Kent and Sain. No matter how many leopards they struck, it seemed like there was an endless flow of predators.

Still seeing no flashes of green, Kent grew worried and ignoring Erk's advice to Hector, he leaped into the pit with the javelin. Seeing his boon companion so brave, Sain decided that Kent shouldn't get all the glory so he also jumped into the gap with Erk screaming behind him. Hector, who was trying to stop Sain from hopping in, got pulled in. That made Eliwood extremely nervous and the Pheraen knew that Hector had saved his life many times so he must somehow repay him. With his eyes closed, Eliwood dove into the hole to rescue his friend. Seeing his lord committing what was almost suicide, Wil bravery leaped in as well. Erk was pacing around, telling the rest of the people not to go in when he accidentally slipped on the leaves and tumbled down. Serra's eyes grew large when her Erky fell, and without thinking, she hurled herself inside. Florina saw the person who taught her how to be more confident step inside the deadly trap so she thought that she should also go in. Ninian noticed her friend pounce in and quickly went along.

Soon there was no one left outside the pit besides Merlinus who was guarding the wagon full of supplies. He was not only a petite man but he was also on the timid side. He knew better than to jump into a lethal lair that was full of carnivores. Merlinus waited patiently for the survivors to come out. The transporter listened to the gruesome battle but dared not to take a peek for fear that he might tumble in like Erk.

When the clinking of weapons finally died down, he heard a tired voice shout, "Merlinus! Help us out!"

The blue haired man scurried here and there trying to find something to pull the people up. He found a stretchy vine and a long tree branch. Merlinus tried the branch first and lowered it as far as he could. If he fell, there would be almost no hope to get out. The branch was too short so he tossed in the long, flexible vine. Soon he felt someone grab it. The weight was too much for a frail person like him so he struggled to tie it to the rear of his wagon. Just when he was about to let go, he suddenly remembered that he had no horse pulling the wagon! The transporter led Sain's chestnut colored horse over and tied the horse to the front of the wagon before letting go. Gradually, all the members of the army reappeared on ground level. Not a single one of them was dead!

Everybody seemed very fatigued so Lyn chose to settle down for the night. It was a risky thing to do, but no one looked like they were able to go on. This time, Merlinus was on guard duty.

"What a way to welcome someone into the army!" he thought crossly.

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Notes: Okay so I decided to make Merlinus come pre-promoted since that was the way I pictured it.