Chapter 10: Friends to Foes
Eirika and her companions finally made it to Grado, only to be attacked by a group of assassins hiding themselves in enchanted fog as told by the Wyvern Rider, Jules. Fortunately, they were assisted by two of Eirika's allies, General Duessel and Amelia. However, there were things that were still troubling the young princess; what was the reason for these attacks? Was this all connected to hers and Ephraim's dream? Bandits, knights from a foreign land, assassins and monsters: None of this made sense to her. "What is the real connection to all of this," she thought to herself. Regardless, she couldn't let such thoughts keep her from accomplishing her goal.
As the group made their way through Grado, Eirika and her friends saw the horrible destruction brought onto the local villages. Eirika looked around with pain and sorrow building up in her heart and said, "This is horrible! What manner of creature could do this?" "We saw them," answered Amelia. "But we didn't even know who or what they were. All I can say is that they looked like tall, black, shadowy men." "Shadowy men," Franz asked her and she replied. "Yes! And, to make things worse, everything we threw at them didn't even phase them one bit." Duessel then stepped in to back Amelia up, "Unfortunately, what she says is true. I've never encountered anything like them, before. They can't even be killed by conventional weaponry." Upon hearing this, Eirika began to say to herself in thought, "Shadow Creatures? Could those be the same things Ephraim and I saw in our dream? But, if they can't be killed by normal weapons, how did we do it?" Afterwards, Lute stepped up to Duessel and said, "Pardon me, General, but did you ever try to use magic to nullify them?" "No," Duessel responded. "Unfortunately, most of our mages were confronting bandits on the other front while others were killed by the fog assassins as well as those shadow beings." Jules then appeared to them and said, "This is absolutely unforgivable! I knew the people here in this village. They were close friends of mine, and now they've been slaughtered like their lives didn't matter at all. I won't forget this ever!" "Look," Colm said as he came up to talk with the others. "I know we're all sad over this, but it can't be helped. What's done is done. There's no other way around it." Jules then put on a scowl and said angrily, "How dare you!" then Neimi came up next to Colm and said to him as she was about to cry, "Oh, Colm…sniff…why do you have to be so…sniff…mean? It's so sad what happened here and yet you act so…so…insensitive. Waaaaaaaaah!" Artur then came up and said, "Neimi, I know he sounds like he's being a bit rough, but Colm is right. We can't let this keep us from completing our quest. Standing here mourning over these people will accomplish nothing. Let's fight for their sake." "I couldn't agree more," Richard replied. "Eventhough my eyesight is gone, I can feel the terrible destruction coming from this village, as well as the thousands of cries from the people who were slain, but this only gives me the motivation to keep going." Eirika then said to him, "You're right! Let's not waste anymore time. We have to get to the capital of Grado to see if we can get anymore help." Just then, everyone heard a voice calling from the sky. "Princess Eirika," the person said. As Eirika heard the voice, she stated, "Hey, I know that voice! It must be Vanessa!" The Pegasus Knight flew down to the group from the north. She dismounted her winged-steed and approached Eirika, saying, "It's good to see that you are alive, princess." "My words, exactly," Eirika replied with a smile. "Tell me, what brings you here? I hope Ephraim isn't in any trouble." "No, your highness," Vanessa answered. "He recently arrived to help Prince Innes, who had been caught in a fight with some monsters at Border Mulan. After the battle, Prince Innes told me to fly to Grado to lend you some aid, right before he and the others left for Carcino." Eirika then replied back to her, "I see. Well, regardless, it's good to have you with us." Duessel came in and said to Eirika, "Princess Eirika, we must continue onward towards the castle." "Yes, you're right, General," Eirika responded. "Let's go."
Soon, after a few hours of riding, Eirika's company finally approached Grado Keep. Once they did, two Knights, four Soldiers and three Cavaliers appeared from the castle gates to greet the weary travelers. "General Duessel," one of the Knights said. "It's good to see that you were able to make it back to us." Duessel responded, "Yes, I, too, am glad to see that you were able to defend the castle without much interference, though I find it a little strange that the enemy wouldn't try to occupy this territory." The Knight then said back to him, "We have suffered no attacks, which is rather odd." "Still," Duessel replied. "I think we should count our blessings and be thankful it's still one piece. If you would, we'd like to spend a night in here to allow our guests to recuperate after a long journey." "I see no problem with that," the Knight answered. "We'd be more than happy to make all of you comfortable. We shall see if we have any more soldiers to spare you. Regardless, Grado will help you in this fight." Everyone went inside the castle. The knights escorted Eirika's group to the throne room. "We're going to get some rooms prepared for you. Please wait here until then," The Knight said to Eirika and she answered, "Thank you." As the Grado knights left to do what they set out to do, Eirika approached the throne. She couldn't help but stare at it. As she did, the princess was filling up with an unwavering sorrow. Franz and Amelia came up to her to see what was wrong. "Princess," Franz asked her. "What's the matter?" Eirika's silence broke and she said, "Oh, Franz! Sorry about worrying you. It's just…with both Emperor Vigarde and Lyon gone, the throne, from here, just looks so… so… empty. Even after one year, I still can't believe Lyon is dead. I remember that time I was here in this very throne room with him and Ephraim." Suddenly, Eirika began to have a flashback about what happened over 2 ½ years ago:
In the flashback, Eirika, Ephraim and Lyon were in main throne room of Grado Keep. The three of them were getting ready for a session with Father MacGregor. "So," Lyon said to the twins. "Are the two of you ready for today's lesson?" "Sure am," Eirika said with enthusiasm. "I hope the topic will be very interesting today." Ephraim then started to say with a yawn, "Ahh, I didn't get much sleep last night. Must've been from all the training. I'll try to learn as much as I can, though I doubt I'll benefit from it." "You see, Ephraim," Eirika said to her brother. "This is why Father MacGregor is always so cross with you. You never show any real interest in these lessons. If you focused as much on studying as you do on sparing, you might learn something interesting." Ephraim then replied looking annoyed, "Alright, mother. It's just that I don't really see the point of me learning any of this. I just don't have the capacity for knowledge like Lyon, or the willingness and curiosity like you do, dear sister." Lyon approached Ephraim and said, "That's because you never really try hard. I can understand most of your experience comes from the battlefield, but I know you've got room for more. You're a great guy, Ephraim, and I believe that even more greatness lies ahead for you and Eirika. General Duessel and my father believe this. Even Father MacGregor thinks so. And, I'm more than sure you're father and Frelia's King Hayden feels the same way. You two don't even know how lucky you are, and how much I respect you. You're like siblings to me." "Lyon," Eirika said looking startled, and Lyon said back to them, "Oh, Sorry. Guess I'm starting to sound like a hopeless romantic, aren't I?" "No, you misinterpret me," Eirika answered. "I really like what you said. It's just I never expected to hear such words at all. I hope I'm not sounding disrespectful." "Oh, no. You're not," replied Lyon. "It's really I who should apologize. I guess I got so carried away in my speech that it just came out. I'm very sorry." Ephraim then started to talk again saying, "Lyon, you're a good friend and, eventhough we may show differences in interests, I hope our friendship between the three of us remains intact forever." Lyon said back to him, "Me too." Just then, Eirika spoke up, "Oh! I think class is about to begin. We better hurry if we don't want to end up late." "Agreed," Lyon said back to her. "I think it's time we left." Ephraim then gave another deep yawn and replied, "Alright, let's this get this over with. The sooner, the better." "Oh, brother…" Eirika said with a sigh. After that, the flash back ended.
"Princess," Franz said to her. "Are you going to be okay?" Eirika answered, "Yeah," as she was trying to keep herself from crying. Amelia started to say, "You know, your majesty, I met Lyon before, as well. I mean, before the whole war when we had to fight him. It's when I was still training to become a professional knight. Prince Lyon just happened to be out on the proving grounds that day. I think he was observing how the soldiers fought with weapons in order to see if he couldn't defeat you in a spar. He then caught a glimpse of me as I was having trouble maintaining my balance when I was practicing with my lance, mostly because the armor was a little heavy for me. When I was trying to do an advanced thrust, the kind that I've seen General Glen do during battles, I tripped and fell on my butt. After that, I started to feel like it was hopeless and I began crying. Lyon started to walk towards me, though I didn't even notice. He then said to me, "You shouldn't give up. Just because something is hard doesn't mean you should try it all at once. Just take it one step at a time until you can finally get it right." After training, he took me around the castle, and he even showed me his study where he would do all of his different practices. He even let me eat in the dining room hall. He was amazed at how much I ate, but I was pretty hungry from training, not to mention that, being rather poor at the time, I didn't have enough money to buy food, but he was generous to even let me have dessert. And, when I got very tired, he let me rest in one of the castle's comfortable beds. He then told me, "'I see that you have great potential. I know that, in the future, you'll become one of the greatest knights ever. You're a very sweet and cute girl. In fact, you almost remind of someone I know and love dearly.' I swear I'll never forget those words. It made feel…. special." "That sounds like Lyon, alright," Eirika replied to Amelia's story. Jules then said to her, "Wow, you're lucky! I never got to meet Prince Lyon face-to-face once. It must've been incredible." "It was," Amelia answered. "He was such a kind person to me. I almost felt like I was in love with him at the time." Duessel was listening in on the conversation and smiled widely. Just then, a single Knight appeared in the throne room and said, "Sorry to keep all of you waiting. Your rooms are ready. "Thank you, my good sir," Duessel replied. "Finally," Colm said out loud. "I can finally get some sleep in a good bed!" After talking, Colm began to scratch his stomach with his left hand. Everyone saw Colm's questionable gesture with slightly mortified looks. Then Lute said to him with a fake grin, "My, my, aren't we the subtle one." "Aah, shut yer trap," Colm yelled out to her. Everyone began to leave for his or her quarters. The guys slept in one room while the girls slept in another one right down the hall.
Unfortunately, waking up next morning wasn't nearly as peaceful as their sleep. "Attack! We're under attack," one of the knights yelled out. Everyone heard the panicking of the knights, and got dressed as quickly as possible. Duessel was the first to appear out of the guys' room, and said to the knight, "Who's attacking us? Bandits? Monsters?" "Well," the knight answered nervously. "There are monsters amongst the attackers, but you're not going to believe who else." "Who is it," asked Eirika as she came right behind Duessel, and the knight said, "Grado soldiers!" "What," Duessel said with a look of horror, as he didn't understand what was going on and the knight began to talk again, "I don't get it either, sir, but Grado soldiers are attacking us. You don't think they could be the same ones who were sent to deal with the bandit attack, do you?" Duessel responded, "It's a possibility. Try to hold them off the best you can. We'll try to be out there to deal with it." "Aye, sir," the knight said as he went to hold off the invaders. Amelia ran to Duessel and said to him, "I don't understand, General. Why would soldiers of Grado be attacking us? What have we done wrong to deserve this?" "I don't know," said Duessel, looking very frustrated. "Strange things have already been happening, and the last thing I want is a nasty surprise like this one. I don't know if they're rebelling against us, or if this is someone's idea of a sick joke." Jules, who just came in, started to say, "If Grado soldiers are attacking this castle, then that is high treason. It's time we taught them a lesson." "Indeed," Duessel replied. Just then, a knight who was trying to hold off the attackers suddenly yelled out loud, "AAAH! They've broken through the main gate! They're already in the main hall of the castle! We can't hold them off much long…err… arghh… uuhhh…. uhh…!" Everyone heard the soldier die and Eirika said, "That didn't sound good. Let's not waste anymore time. We need to meet with the opposition right now and drive them off! Let's get to it!" Immediately, they got their weapons ready, at the same time, Franz, Neimi, Vanessa, Jules and Duessel got onto their steeds, and took off with the others to meet the enemies in the main hall. There, the group saw the enemies' forces, which consisted of both human soldiers and monsters. "It's just as they said," Franz began to say. "Grado soldiers and monsters working together. What does this all mean?" Suddenly, Vanessa came up to say, "Look out! The enemy is approaching!" Coming near Eirika's company were three Wyvern Riders. As they stopped, one came a little closer to the group. "Ah, General Duessel, how are you," The Wyvern Rider spoke as he smiled crookedly and Duessel replied, "Morgart? You orchestrated this whole thing? What is the meaning of this? Have you decided to rebel against us?" "Oh, General," Morgart answered while shaking his head, continuing to smile. "How can I betray a nation that's already doomed? It's time you grew up, Duessel! Now that Grado's current emperor, as well as it's future ruler have both bought the farm, the foundation of this once glorious country is now crumbling, and there is no way to save it. What would you do, Duessel? Would you honestly leave its fate in the hands of Fado's children? Heck, the other nations are still suffering, as well. The reconstruction of Magvel is far from over, and yet, they still want to believe they're making progress. Magvel has been greatly crippled from the war. Do you honestly think that working together, you'll be able to restore everything to normal?" "To all of that, I say 'yes,'" Duessel exclaimed. "It's too bad that you are so blind to not see the progress we have made!" Jules then came up and said, "Commander Morgart, I can't believe someone as skilled as you would betray us! I… trained under you, for crying out loud! Have you gone completely insane?" "Depends on how you mean it," Morgart answered just as his eyes glowed purple. "So," Eirika said as she approached the Wyvern Rider. "You've become one of them." Morgart then replied, "Ah, Princess Eirika! I've actually arrived for you. Your pretty little head shall make a fine trophy for my master's wall. After all, he does want you dead." "Why? For what purpose," asked Eirika and Morgart remarked, "Only because he ordered it. To be honest, I don't even completely know why. My master never gave me the full skinny on his plan, but if it earns me more power than what I've got right now, so be it!" With that, Morgart and the other two Wyvern Riders began to fly back. They stopped halfway, and Morgart spoke back out to the heroes, saying, "Its time you all learned just how hopeless your struggle is, and I shall be the teacher. All forces move out! It's very sad we have to end up this way, General Duessel, but I shall not hesitate to strike you down! Prepare yourself, this is the end of your days, old friend!" The three Wyvern Riders flew all the way back to the other side after Morgart finished talking. "Alright," Eirika said. "We need to drive off their forces right now. If we can do that, we should be able to win the fight." With that, they began to move out. Just then, from the west side staircase came a Pirate. He wore a ragged, gray shirt with the sleeves ripped off along with dark blue pants, black leather boots and white bandages on his hands. He had muddy brown, short hair, and wore a dark purple headband. His most notable feature was his face. He had a rather large nose with a tiny patch hair on the end, a big chin with a slightly large cleft, and was buck-toothed with two teeth coming out in the front, almost making him look like a rat. Despite the look on his face, he was quite burly. "Ah," He said as he emerged from the stairs. "Nothing like skipping the scenic route, narf narf. It's amazing how some people don't watch out for things like this. Say, the group I followed here must be prepared for battle, narf. I guess I'll go for the guys who are larger in number, though I must say that some of them look more beastly than myself, nnnarf!" Soon, he began to march with the enemy forces. As Eirika's forces began to attack, they decided to split up. Franz, Amelia, Neimi and Artur went down the west side while Eirika, Vanessa, Duessel, Jules and Lute went down the east side. Richard stayed behind in case he had to heal the others while Colm was fixed on collecting the treasures in the rooms. On the east side, Eirika and her group started to fight off the approaching Fighters, Cavaliers and Lizardmen while the western team did battle with Wolfmen, Minotaurs and Mercenaries. Neimi shot arrows, clipping the wings of the approaching Harpies. On the east side, a Theif appeared out of the staircase and opened a door which led to a room with two treasure chest. Vanessa rushed to kill the knave by thrusting her lance directly into his chest cavity. Colm took that opportunity to loot the treasures himself, which included an Angelic Robe and a Dragonspear. As the fight on the west side started to rage intensely, the rat-faced Pirate started to make a move. He was about to throw his Hand Axe directly at Franz. Amelia saw that and immediately jumped in the way to shield him from the attack as she readied her sword for battle. The Pirate saw Amelia and said to her, "WOW! You're one of the most adorable girls I've ever seen!" "Excuse me," asked the little knight with a most astounded look. "Aren't we supposed to fight, sir?" The Pirate replied to her, "I can't bring myself to hurt such a cute girl. It's against my policy to do so, nnnnarf. The lovely color of your armor really compliments your cuteness, as well. I bet their are many other cute girls in your group like you, narf nrf." "Well, let's see," Amelia started to say. "There's Lute, then there's Neimi, and Vanessa. Oh, and of course, Princess Eirika." "That's settles it," the Pirate said. "I'm going to be joining with you guys, narf. My name is Rizo. I'm known far and wide as Rizo the Rat Face, which you can figure out, by looking at my face, it's pretty obvious, narf nnnarf. I came here looking for a guy named Vash. You haven't by chance run into him, have you?" Amelia shook her head and said, "No, sir. I don't believe I have." "Narf, is that so," Rizo asked and he continued to talk. "Oh well, narf, I guess if I travel with your group, I might run into him eventually, nnnrf narff. So, are you ready to go, sweet thing?" "Hey," Amelia yelled out to him. "Don't treat me like I'm a helpless girl. I am a highly-trained knight, after all." Rizo said to her, "Of course you are, narrrf, but I'm here, so I'm going to make sure nothing bad happens, all right, narf?" With that, Rizo became part of Eirika's group as he helped them fight off the reiforcements of Cavaliers and Slimes, using his quick and deadly axe swipes. Colm went to the other room with treasure on the west side wall. Using his Lockpick, he got a Hammer, a Steel Sword and a Mend staff. Seeing that his forces were losing, Morgart got rather uneasy, and spoke out to the three other Wyvern Riders with him saying, "We've sat here long enough. I think it's time we showed them how to really deal with pathetic filth. On my mark, we ready our weapons and move. Let's go!" With that, Morgart and the two other Wyvern Riders with him began to move towards Eirika's group. Eirika and Franz killed the two Archers, as they would prove to be a major hinderance to both Jules and Vanessa. As the three enemy Wyvern Riders began to move, more reinforcements appeared. Four Harpies emerged from the hallways closest to the castle gate, two on each side. And, at the gate came two Lizardmen and two Myrmidons. Lute and Artur went together on the east side to kill the Harpies there with their Wind Magic while Neimi brandished her bow against the two harpies on the western side. Rizo and Amelia decided to pit their axes against the two Wyvern Riders with Morgart. The battle was fierce as the knight's wyverns were rather quick, but eventually, the young General and rat-faced Pirate pulled out a victory. Eirika and Colm chose to handle the axe-wielding Lizardmen, whom they defeated after quite a match while Vanessa and Franz speared the two Myrmidons. After that, it was just Morgart who was left on the enemy's front. Duessel and Jules decided to confront the traitorous knight themselves. "Ah, General Duessel and my former pupil. Next to Princess Eirika, I can't think of anyone else's life I'd rather take than that of you two." "Morgart," Jules yelled to him in great anger. "You are going to pay for all of this! Because of your betrayl, villages full of innocent people have been completely ransacked, and their inhabitants have been handed a fate they should've never received. You are going to die!" Morgart then said back to Jules in a calm voice, "Ah, I see a lot of anger in your eyes, my young student. Tell me something, what makes my betrayl so bad? If I recall, General Duessel did a similar thing last year. He joined with Prince Ephraim without a second thought. He willingly fought against his own comrades that he had fought along side with for so long. How am I so different?" "Because," Duessel spoke up in anger. "I never sold myself to anyone like you have, Commander. I believed in the ideals that Grado used to stand for. The Grado I fought so hard to protect a long time ago. I went against them for they had lost all sight of what we were originally striving for." "Ah, and It's because of those ideals that this now miserable nation is almost extinct. The whole human race shall follow very soon." "What did you..." Duessel said right before Morgart interrupted him, saying, "No more talking. It's about time I showed you all the true meaning of pain and suffering!" Right after saying that, Morgart charged straight at both Jules and Duessel. They barely blocked his thrust attack in time. After it got thrown back the two heroes, Morgart made a second attempt to attack them with another thrust. Pulling on the reins on their steeds, both Duessel and Jules jumped out of the way. Jules immediately went on the offensive, by trying to take multiple swipes at the Wyvern Rider turned evil, but missed all times as his wyvern was too quick, due to long and effective training. Morgart then retaliated with a mighty thrust from his Short Spear into Jules's right shoulder. The hit caused blood to fly straight out from the newly formed wound, at the same time, the force from the attack knocked Jules off of his wyvern. The young knight fell to the ground, and he cluched his shoulder in as if he was trying to stop the wound from bleeding. Duessel yelled out to him, "Jules!" The others soon looked worried about Jules's condition. "Hrmph, that was all you had," Morgart asked him with a snicker. Jules looked at him angrily, but he could only find himself worrying about the wound he recieved. Duessel then made a charge at Morgart as he was about cut him down with his Silver Axe, but Morgart, on his wyvern, flew out of the way and came right behind Duessel. He then pointed his Short Spear at the back of his head and began to say, "You see, General? You've gotten a lot slower, and it's all thanks to a combination of time and your pathetic ideals. Goodbye, Duessel!" Just as he was about to land the finishing blow on the former Obsidian, Jules saw a Javelin lying next to him which had come from the Wyvern Rider that had been defeated by Amelia. He picked up the weapon in his left hand and threw it right into Morgart's back. The lance potruded out his stomach through his back. The pain was incredibly intense for Morgart, but he tried to prepare another attack on Duessel. Suddenly, a Hand Axe flew out and chopped Morgart's weapon in half. It turned out to be Rizo's Hand Axe, seeing as it went right back to the Pirate's hand. Distracted by Rizo's attack, Morgart didn't notice that Duessel was already in striking distance of him. Wasting no time, Duessel swiped Morgart across his chest with his axe, giving him a fatal cut. As he fell of his wyvern, Amelia decided to use the Dragonspear Colm got from one of the chests to soundly kill it. With Morgart lying face-down on the ground as his blood was starting to form a puddle underneath him, he began to say, "Curses... I guess I wasn't strong enough, yet. Still, winning dosen't always... mean... victory! Ubknownst to... all of you..., this castle is surrouneded... by reinforcements. There's no escape...for any of... you. Your journey can only end in Hell. I... guess... I'll go on... ahead, uurgh grah!" After that, his body crumbled into dust, leaving only his clothes and ebon armor. All of the bodies of the monsters and Grado traitors, as well as their steeds, followed. After the fighting, Eirika's group decided to see to each other to assess the damage. Richard went over to heal the injury that Jules recieved from Morgart. "Thanks," the Wyvern Rider said as his wound had closed up and Richard replied, "I'm... very sorry that you had to suffer such a painful wound." "No," Jules said back to him. "I got it because of my stupidity. I was just so angry at Morgart. I couldn't believe he would turn his back on this nation. I thought he was much more honorable man than that, but I guess I was deceived!" "We were all deceived, Jules," Duessel responded. "I couldn't believe it myself. I can understand your anger, but you do need to control those emotions before you can manage to do battle ever." Jules said back to him, "I know that, and I'll try harder next time." "Glad to hear that," Duessel said with a smile. Just then, a lone Grado soldier came through the gate and yelled out, "General Duessel, we have a problem!" Duessel asked, "What it is?" The soldier answered him saying, "Morgart may not have been lying. Just outside of the castle are hundreds of soldiers, and I don't think they're here to lend us aid. From their positions, they seem to be ready for a full scale assault!" "No," exclaimed Eirika. Everyone went outside to see the castle surrounded by Wyvern Lords, Druids, Paladins and Great Knights. There were also Minotaurs, Wolfmen and Lizardmen, but they looked bigger and more vicious, not to mention that their fur/scales were colored differently from their counterparts. "This is just great," Duessel said frustrated. "If they begin their advance now, we'll never be able to take Grado's sacred twins and be able to leave on time. I'm sorry to say it, but we'll have to leave them here for now. At this time, we need to find a way to escape without them seeing us." "Hey there, narf," Rizo began to say. "Why don't we take the staircase I used to enter the castle? Narf nnrf!" Duessel answered, "A good idea." They all went back inside. Rizo showed them all the stair case he had emerged from. "You sure about this, General," Vanessa asked him sounding very uncertain, and he responded. "Don't worry. Underneath Grado Keep is a system of underground tunnels, which lead to various places outside. We can use this system to bypass those reinforcements. After that, we can go on to meet with Ephraim's forces." "Oh, I almlost forgot to tell you, Princess Eirika," Vanessa remembered. "Prince Innes told me that we would meet up again in Jehanna. That's the message he told me to give you, milady." Rizo then said, "Well, let's don't dilly-dally all day, narf narf! Time we made our escape, nnnnarf!" "And we'd better do it quickly," Richard exclaimed while holding his right ear to the ground. "I can hear the footsteps of the soldiers, and they're getting very close." Being blind, Richard's sense of hearing was much more heightened than that of the others. "We need to hurry if we are going to go meet with my brother," Eirika stated and Duessel replied, "Right! Let's go, everyone!" Wasting no time, Eirika's group, along with the few knights Grado could spare, went into the underground tunnel to escape certain death. Artur took Richard's left hand while Lute took his right in order to lead him down the dark and dank tunnel. As they were all inside, Eirika and the others followed Duessel as he led them through the corridors to find a path that would lead them to the exit closest to Jehanna without being spotted. They finally made their way out, but wasted no time socializing. "Time we moved," Eirika said and the group began their march to Jehanna. However, they had no idea that they were walking into, yet, another trap.
To Be Concluded in Chapter 11.