Disclaimer: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and its characters belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

Warning: This story takes place after the end of the game, so if you're not there yet, please read at you own risk.

Knights of Renais

Chapter 12: L'Arachel, Queen of Light

A young maiden with light green hair was riding on top of a brown stallion. Walking alongside her was a man in his early forties carrying a large, heavy axe. To people who chanced upon these two, only one thought passed through their minds: The man was a bandit who had just captured a beautiful girl from some poor village that he had just raided, and now he was taking his prize back to the bandit hideout. Oh, they could not have been more wrong.

"Dozla, which way do you think we should be heading today?" The young woman smiled brilliantly at the man. "Since we are in Grado, I figured that there must be many villages that could use my wisdom and benefit from my beauty and guidance."

The man started laughing a hearty laugh. "Ha ha ha ha ha, Princess, your wisdom never failed to impress me. As a matter of fact, I have already asked the villagers to show me the most dangerous place in all of Grado, and they all pointed in one direction." Dozla pointed his finger. "We should be heading west. The villagers said that not far from where we are, in that direction, there should be a hidden cave. The cave was said to have been a resting place of a powerful, ancient relic. It is near that place that many monsters and evil creatures still roam freely."

The princess nodded her head and smiled. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let us be on our way."

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Meanwhile,

"Are we almost there, Kyle? I do not think that I can walk anymore." The young knight of Renais was visibly out of breath. His face was red and his blonde hair was damp from sweating.

"You mean that your horse can no longer walk and that you would like to stop and take a nap." Snapped his fellow knight. "Forde, you have been doing nothing but complaining ever since we left Grado Keep." The knight with moss-colored hair was not angry. After all, he was used to his friend's habit. However, he was annoyed. The closer they got to their destination, the more uncomfortable he began to feel. He turned around to speak to the druid riding next to him.

"Sir Knoll, if I understand correctly, we are not very far from this cave that you spoke of. Am I correct?"

The druid nodded his head and spoke in his quiet voice. "Yes, it is behind that mountain. It will not be long now." The druid turned around and took one look at Forde. "Perhaps, it is a good idea that we rest for now. We must be prepared, for many evil monsters still roam around that place. We cannot let our guards down."

One hour later,

The three travelers were now standing in front of what appeared to be the entrance to an ancient looking cave. If the two knights had not been with Knoll, they would have missed this place, for the entrance was covered entirely with long vines and moss. Once the three came near the entrance, a strange but faint rumbling sound could be heard coming from it.

"Is it just me or all of a sudden it just got very, very cold?" Forde was now shivering. He also noticed that he could no longer hear the usual sounds of the forest. No birds were singing, no animals or insects moving around, what was this place?

Kyle also noticed the change in the atmosphere, but he simply said. "We were very fortunate that we did not encounter any monsters. However, I could not rid myself of this uneasy feeling."

Knoll also agreed. "Indeed, it is strange that we did not find one single monster. Normally, there would be a couple of them walking around." Knoll moved closer to the entrance. He cleared some of the vines and moss that covered the entrance to reveal a stone door. Written on it were ancient runes.

The two knights could not read the ancient alphabets, but apparently the druid could. He began reading it in his usual quiet voice. The moment Knoll began reading, a strong gust of wind blew in their faces. The language sounded nothing like anything that they had heard before. They both guessed that the language was from the time of the reign of the Demon King. The stone began to move slowly…..

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Meanwhile,

"Here we are, Dozla, but where are these vile creatures and the cave that the villagers spoke of? Are you certain that the information that you obtained was accurate?" The green-haired princess looked around and frowned. "Besides, why did you even choose this place when there was no one around to witness my beauty and power?"

"My apologies. It is, indeed, odd that we should find neither a cave nor the monsters." Dozla looked around the place. He was certain that this was the place that the villagers had described. He continued to look. He did not see anything out of the ordinary except for a group of three people standing in front of what appeared to be a moving stone door! "Hmm, this is quite interesting."

"What is, Dozla? Did you finally spot a monster for me to banish?"

Dozla just laughed. "Oh no Princess, but look yonder. Do you see the three travelers standing in front of the moving stone door? I believe that is the cave that we were looking for."

Before the princess could take off, Dozla stopped her. "Why did you stop me, Dozla? Do you not see that those travelers are about to meet their dooms? It is obvious to me that they do not even know that there could be monsters living inside the cave."

"Do not be hasty, Princess. We do not know who those travelers are, and for all we know they might be bandits seeking treasures. And if they are not, we can rescue them later."

The princess smiled. "What a brilliant idea! I always loved to play the role of a beautiful rescuer. Good job, Dozla. We shall wait here."

The door continued to slowly move. The faint rumbling sound that they heard earlier began to get louder and the air got even colder. Knoll continued to read the runes. His eyes were now closed. He was chanting in that strange language.

All of a sudden, Knoll opened his eyes and shouted, which startled both Kyle and Forde. "It is coming! Move away from the entrance and get ready."

Forde looked confusingly at Kyle. "Ready for what?"

But before Kyle could answer him, the rumbling sound turned into a roar.

Both Kyle and Forde could only stare in terror. Crawling out from the cave was a gigantic four-horned monster. Its size was not the only thing that was terrifying. It was breathing green fire. There were also steams coming from its silver black skin. It was now almost completely out of the cave. Its roar was horrifying. It was loud and powerful as if a hundred Wyverns were roaring at the same time. Both knights could see that this monster had a long tail, and growing from its tail were thorn-like spikes, hundreds of them.

The two knights were staring at this monster as if in a trance. The monster opened its mouth. It was too late for the knights to move!

"Watch out!" It was Knoll who came to their rescue. Both Kyle and Forde noticed that surrounding them now was a huge, blue light, which could only mean one thing. Knoll had cast some sort of a barrier shield on them, but that would leave him defenseless!

Despite its size, the monster was very quick and agile. Its tail moved so fast that Knoll did not have time to cast a barrier on himself.

'Bam!' Knoll was knocked into the air by the spiked tail. He floated in the air for what seemed like an eternity before landed on his back with a loud thud." The two knights shouted at the same time. "Knoll!"

The monster continued to move toward the stilled body of the druid. It began to open its mouth, getting ready to spit a ball of green fire. "Nooo!" Shouted the two knights trapped in the barrier.

The monster roared and spat out a large fireball. 'Bang!' The place where the druid was lying was now covered in smoke.

The two knights could only stare hopelessly in shock. Could the druid have been…?

The smoke began to clear. Wait a minute! Knoll was all right! Surrounding the druid was a similar blue light, and standing in front of him were a man carrying a giant axe and a young woman with light green hair carrying a staff. She was the one that saved Knoll!

The woman shouted at them. "Do not just stand there, do something! Break out of the barrier with your swords, now!"

The two knights urgently complied. The barrier was not difficult to break with their swords, since it was cast to protect, not trap them inside. Once the two got out, the monster moved to charge at them.

This time the two knights were ready and managed to dodge the attack. Once they got out of the way, they turned around to look at Knoll.

"Do not worry about Knoll. I will take care of him with my spell. Dozla, please help them defeat this monster." The princess turned back to look at Knoll and began casting her spell. "Mend!"

The monster was coming toward them again. This time it was covered entirely in steams. The fire from its mouth was no longer green but deep red.

Dozla shouted. "You two go around it. I will act as a decoy. Once I give you the signal, cut its head off with your swords, and be careful of its tail."

The two knights nodded and moved away, getting ready in their position. The monster was now running straight towards Dozla. The monster roared again.

Dozla waited until the monster came very close, close enough for him to feel the heat emanating from its skin and nostril. He then threw his giant axe at its right eye socket before jumping up on one of the tree branches. The monster stopped charging and was now roaring in pain. "Now!"

Kyle and Forde jumped down on top of the monster from the nearby trees. The moment they got on the monster, both grabbed on to its horns and cut the monster with their swords. Both had to grab onto the horns tightly, for the monster was moving from side to side with such strong force that knocked down the trees that were in its way.

Forde shouted. "Kyle, I cannot cut its head grabbing on to its horns like this."

"Hold on, Forde. I will find a way for us to cut it." With that said, Kyle let go of the horns. "What the hell are you crazy, Kyle?" Forde could only stare in horror. But before Kyle fell off the monster, he stuck his sword in the monster's neck. "All right, I got it. Now, it is your turn to let go of its horns."

Forde just stared. "Come again?"

"Damn it, Forde. You heard me! Just do it! Let go of its horns and try to grab my hand."

The thought finally dawned on Forde and he smiled. "Gotcha."

Forde let go. The monster's skin was rough and sharp. It cut into his skin. Forde finally got a hold of Kyle's hand. "Now Forde, cut its head off!"

"You got it, Kyle."

With one single blow, Forde managed to cut off the monster's head. Purple blood squirted out from where the sword cut into its skin. Once the head was cut, the monster's body continued to move. Both Kyle and Forde jumped off.

It was several minutes before its lifeless body stopped moving. It was amazing. They had never seen anything like this before. Finally, the monster went still, and both turned their attention to the injured druid.

"How is Knoll? Will he be all right?" Forde spoke to their green-haired rescuer.

The princess looked offended. "Just who do you think I am? How dare you doubt my abilities. I am L'Arachel, the beautiful Princess of Rausten, the greatest mage in all of Magvel!"

Dozla was now walking towards the group after retrieving his axe from the monster's head. "What a wonderful surprise to see you all here, Kyle, Forde, and Knoll."

Knoll seemed to be all right. His wounds were gone and he was now sitting up and opening his eyes. "Thank you for saving my life, Princess, Dozla."

"Do not mention it, Knoll. As a beautiful Princess of Rausten, it is my duty. By the way, what are you people doing out here? Did you not know that this place was crawling with monsters?" L'Arachel stared in amazement.

It was Kyle who spoke next. "It is a long story, which we do not have time to explain. We really are grateful that you saved us, but there is something very important that we must do." Kyle and Forde went to pick up Knoll, and all three headed towards the cave.

"Well, Dozla and I have time. I am very curious as to what you three are about to do next. You can just explain everything to me on our way in." With that, L'Arachel walked straight into the cave.

TBC