We set off a few hours later. I am disappointed at the speed of Eliwood's legion. I could have gotten twice as far in half the time. But I have to be patient. Nino walks beside me and I make sure to keep her close. There are very odd people in this army and I don't want her to stray.

As if to prove my point, I hear a furious cry from behind me. I grab Nino instinctively and pull her behind me as I whirl around, trying to find the source of the noise. Nobody else seems disturbed by the shout. In fact, they didn't even glance towards the sound. I'm puzzled, but continue to look anyways.

I see a young knight with brown hair talking with Rebecca. Rebecca seems angry and the knight is stammering.

"I knew it! Sain, you're a pig!" Rebecca shouts and storms off.

The man named Sain rides after her. "Whoa! Wait! Rebecca, my love!"

I blink, then turn away. It was nothing important. It is probably best if I ignore it.

A minute later, Marcus, Eliwood's protector, rides back from scouting.

"Lord Eliwood, we have almost reached our destination. We should be there within the hour," he says.

"Good. Thank you, Marcus."

Marcus nods and rides off, leaving the three lords to consult with their tactician. I try to listen to their planning, but they are too far away. Where is our destination? And who will be waiting for us?

Eliwood, Hector and Lyn go forwards with a few others. Most of the army stays behind as the small group scouts out the area ahead. My eyes dart from each of the men and women in turn. Finally I find my target. Geitz is talking with a female paladin, his back turned to me. I watch him for a moment, studying him. He seems careless…almost reckless….

"Excuse me."

I blink and turn, and find myself looking at the tactician. She is studying me almost warily.

"You and Nino…can you come with me for a moment?" she asks, and motions towards where the Eliwood and the other lordlings are waiting.

Eliwood is waiting for us when we arrive. He nods a greeting, then gestures towards the horizon between two mountains. "Those men…are they from the Black Fang?"

I examine them briefly, then nod. "…Yes. And I know who leads them."

Hector shoots a glare at me. "Then don't hesitate, spit it out."

I glance towards Nino, then turn back to the three lords. "…Lloyd. One of the Reed brothers."

Nino gasps, but I pretend not to hear. The three lords don't know why this troubles Nino. I can tell they are anxious to know.

"You…you don't intend to kill him…do you…?" Nino asks quietly.

"If we don't, then he will kill us!" Hector says gruffly.

"Hector!" Eliwood says warningly. Then he turns back to Nino. "Do you know Lloyd?"

"…Yes. He is one of my brothers. My other brother is Linus."

I see an expression cross Eliwood's face, but he hides it before anyone can read it. But I know what he is thinking. I heard from Sonia that they have attacked Linus already. I do not say anything, and neither does anyone else.

"Let me talk to him. Maybe I can persuade him to leave!" Nino begs. Eliwood looks doubtful at first. Nino sees his expression. "Please! He's my brother. I can't just let him die."

Eliwood takes a hesitant breath, but finally nods. "Fine. But in case it doesn't work, have Marcus and Lowen accompany you."

Nino smiles. "Oh thank you, Eliwood! Thank you!"

Eliwood returns the warm smile, and then turns back to his tactician to plan their strategy. I see this as a dismissal and walk back to where the rest of the army is waiting, taking Nino with me. She is silent for a moment, but finally breaks the silence.

"…Do you think he'll listen to me?" she asks quietly. I do not respond. I know the answer, but can't bring myself to tell her.

Jaffar chose me and Nino to fight in this battle. I'm guessing because we know more about the Black Fang than most other people here. My thoughts are confirmed as I see Legault beside me.

"So you're going to fight too, huh?" he asks.

"…"

"Do you really want to fight them? They're Black Fang soldiers. If you kill them, there's no going back to being a Fang assassin."

I do not look at him, just stare ahead. "I am fighting for Eliwood now."

"Of course you are," Legault says. "Tell Lord Nergal hello for me when you see him again."

I tense and shoot him a glance, making not to show my alarm. There is a knowing look in his eyes. He doesn't know…he can't…can he? He is after all the Hurricane.

But before I can say anything I hear footsteps behind me. I whirl around, my hand flying instinctively for the hilt of my daggers. But all I see is the tactician, more than a little startled. She blinks and straightens, regaining her formal composure.

"Jaffar, we're starting off. You, Legault and Matthew are going to head off towards the right over that bridge. We need to finish off those nomads before they take down our fliers."

I nod, turning to Legault. Here's one of my companions, but who is Matthew? As soon as I find out, I wish he had stayed away.

The thief from before walks up to me. His expression is the same as the first time I met him, cold and filled with hatred. But something is different about him. Studying him I realize what. He has been trained even more, but not in thievery but in the killing arts. He's now a trained assassin.

"So you noticed that Matthew is following in your footsteps, eh?" Legault says, grinning as his eyes dart from me and Matthew and back again. Matthew's glare becomes colder as he hears Legault's words.

"…Lets just go," I say and stride through my two companions towards the bridge the tactician had motioned towards. I don't hear footsteps behind me but know they are following. Matthew has gotten stronger and his anger is building. Now I'm going to have to watch my back.

We stop at the bridge, waiting for the nomads and cavilers to approach. If we wait in hiding for them to come closer we can catch them by surprise. Out of the corner of my eye I watch Matthew. He is on the other side of the bridge, waiting. I see his grip tighten on his daggers. I make sure not to take my gaze off of him.

Moments later the nomads are only yards before us. Without a sound I leap from my hiding place and see Matthew do the same. We both leap upon the nearest caviler. I slit my caviler's throat while Matthew thrusts his daggers into the other's stomach. Fool, I think. It will take too long to kill that way. The caviler still alive enough to attack back. Matthew still has much to learn. He is not a threat yet.

I leap onto one of the nomads. He tries to aim his bow for me, but I cut his hand clean off. It and the bow clatters to the ground, leaving the nomad stunned. I take the opportunity to behead my opponent. I turn for the final nomad and are about to strike when suddenly a dagger flies through the air, stabbing the nomad right between the eyes. I turn and see Matthew straightening from a throwing position. I see him shoot me a sideways glance, but I turn away quickly before he can meet my gaze.

Legault blinks. He's still waiting on the bridge. Then he grins. "If I keep working with you two," he says, "I won't have to do anything." Then he turns and walks off, striding towards the female paladin that Geitz was talking to earlier.

Without turning to look at Matthew, I stride back to where the others are waiting. The tactician stops me.

"Have you cleared the nomads out?"

I nod. "And several others," I murmur.

The tactician turns towards the three sisters I saw earlier and nods. They mount three winged horses and fly off in the way we had just come from. Then the tactician turns to the man I had met before, Heath.

"There is a village to the west," she says. "I need you to warn them of the battle."

"On my way," Heath says. He mounts his wyvern and flies off.

Suddenly the tactician seems to remember something. "Oh damn…" she murmurs. "Kent! Sain! Geitz!" she shouts urgently. Geitz and two cavilers, one of which I remember from talking with Rebecca, hurry up.

"What's wrong?" the red haired caviler asks.

"Heath is riding towards the village over those mountains," the tactician says, gesturing towards the way Heath had disappeared. "But there are two ballista near the mountains. I need you three to hurry and wipe them out before he is hit."

The three nod and hurry off to the west. I watch Geitz disappear. As soon as I get the chance, I need to follow. This could be one of my last chances.

"Jaffar, the others are fighting over there to the north. I need you to help them," she says, but then she looks sharply behind me and swears. I turn and see a dozen wyverns flying this way. but one of them looks familiar. The leader, a wyvern lord. There is something about him…. No, It's not a him, it's a her. Vaida.

"I know who that is," I say quietly to myself. The tactician hears me.

"What? Who is that?"

Eliwood hurries up at that moment. "Keira, we need more men. More enemies are appearing, and they are stronger than we can handle alone."

"Lord Eliwood, we have bigger things to worry about. Look," the tactician, Keira says, gesturing towards the wyverns. Eliwood's eyes widen.

"But…but those are…Bern's wyvern riders. Look at their colors."

"Well they don't look friendly. They are going to attack us," Keira says.

Eliwood thinks for a moment. "Let me talk to them."

Keira nods and turns to me. "Jaffar, go fight up to the north and hold off the warriors. Tell Rath, the nomad trooper, to come down here. We may need his help."

I see Rebecca, a male archer and a blond sniper already readying their bows. This tactician seems to know what she's doing.

I run across another bridge to where Keira had told me to go. Will Vaida join them? She is probably already on the run from the Black Fang. Eliwood said she was flying with Bern knights. But she still has her pride…. Abandoning the thought I run to find Rath.

The nomad is not hard to find. He is in front of the others, shooting down men along with Lyn with their bows. Two sages are on either side of them, attacking anyone who gets too close. Nino is beside a sage with purple hair, helping him finish any enemies he did not kill with his first blow. Serra and a troubadour are behind the five attackers, healing the wounded. I stride up to Rath.

"…You are needed," I say, gesturing towards where Keira and the others are waiting. Without a word Rath nods and rides off in the direction I had come. I walk over to where Nino is.

"…Where did you learn magic? I didn't think Sonia would teach you, but you are doing well."

Nino beams. "I leaned from watching Mother use magic. But Erk is helping me, too."

The purple-haired sage pretends not to hear and continues using Elfire on a strong paladin that is coming our way. I can see him blush. I feel a flicker of something inside of me as I see Nino smile up at him, but it quickly disappears.