A/N: Wow it took me a while to finish this chapter. It's not as long as some of the others but it needed lots of revision. On another note, it looks like my first fanfic can finally be labeled as complete in the next chapter so I'm looking forward to that. Stay tuned for more updates! :)

Chapter 11 One Final Obstacle

"So this is where it takes place," I commented surveying the area around me. Castle Caelin was past the southern mountains. After my revelation to Lyn yesterday night, we returned to camp where Lyn apologized to everyone for worrying them and in the morning we hiked all the way here.

"Castle Caelin is just beyond these mountains," Kent informed us.

"Grandfather... I'll be with you soon," Lyn said.

"Hey cheer up guys. You look glum! If we got this far, we can't lose now! Besides, Lundgren won't be getting the reinforcements he expected. Besides that the men he sent to the other territories of Lycia won't be able to join in this battle. Let's move!" Sain cheered. Everyone did so.

Nils and Serra stayed in the rear. While the rest of us stayed in front. As Serra promised, the wounded felt as good as new the next morning. I walked ahead before watching the soldiers sent by Lundgren attack us. Erk had roasted many of them with his fireballs. The rest retreated. I knew that Lord Lundgren would be gathering his forces near the castle and fortresses around it to try to finish us once and for all.

"These clouds look bad," Lyn told me, "It's going to rain soon,"

"We should press on while we're still able. Rath can go a little ahead. Horses from the plains are more accustomed to the rain. Florina can fly ahead as well,"

"But her wings will be soaked,"

I chuckled a little at her response, "Pegasi don't fly using their wings Lyn. Their wings are meant to balance them and provide speed as well. Their flying comes from their gallop. The wings provide extra muscle to lift them off the ground. The rain will slow her, but it won't prevent Huey from flying,"

She sighed, "Whatever you say,"

As we advanced further south our first major fight occurred.

"Rohan, what are your orders," Kent asked.

"I think it's time I fought with you,"

"Pardon? But Lady Lyndis-"

Sain crowed, "So you're going to fight with us! Wonderful. I'll show the lovely ladies of this legion that I can protect our tactician,"

Kent glared at his companion. I spoke before him to prevent an argument, "I've already informed Florina to head to the south and ask the villagers for information. Who knows? We may find something useful,"

At that moment a javelin landed at my feet. The enemy had arrived. There was quite a force coming at us. My guess about 20 men were approaching us.

"Oh... Um... Thank you," Florina stuttered.

"We're all behind Lady Lyndis. Please defeat this usurper!"

Florina nodded and tried to organize the information she had collected.

'Hm. So there's an armory and shop to the south. The armory is equipped with weapons that are powerful against heavy armored enemies. This ring is called an energy ring... Um... That should be it. I'd better report to him...' As she rode back the rain began falling. It slowed her down greatly but when she got back, she saw her friends engaged in combat against Lundgren's forces. She recoiled slightly as she saw the men, but instantly recovered. Brandishing her lance, Huey let out a majestic cry as she descended and skewered those foolish enough to turn out of curiosity. The enemies had been surprised and she managed to pick out quite a few.

"EEK!" She cried as an arrow pierced her leg and she fell off Huey.

"FLORINA!" A voice cried somewhere. Her vision blurred, but she caught a glimpse of hooves rushing her way

"Don't blame yourself Rohan," Sain tried consoling the tactician. At the time he was kicking himself for what happened to Florina. When she got hit with an arrow, Lyn, Sain, and he rushed to her aid.

"... I am a fool. I should have warned her," After a silence he continued, "We better press on,"

With that he went off to assist the others in the battle. The soldiers were fewer now, but reinforcements hounded Lyn's legions at every turn. Florina had distracted them and allowed the legion to kill off many of the enemy forces. But as a price, a stray arrow pierced her knee and she fell. She was going to be unable to fight for the rest of the battle. Sain sighed as he rejoined his fellow knight on the battlefield.

"It's great to be home isn't it Kent?" Sain joked as he stabbed an enemy with his lance.

"The battlefield isn't a place to be joking Sain," Kent responded dodging multiple enemy attacks, "Now can you provide some assistance?"

Sain responded by throwing his lance which caused a cavalier to fall of his mount. Meanwhile Rath and Wil had problems of their own. Stray mages had wandered into the battlefield and for no apparent reason attacked them.

'Why can't these guys attack our enemies?' Wil mentally groaned as he strung another arrow. Dodging the fireballs and dark spheres was a pain. Besides that his arm couldn't take much more of the stress he was putting it through.

'I wonder how Rath is feeling,' He thought.

"Hey Rath? How is your arm doing," He asked after the wave of mages was cleared.

"Fine," Rath spoke in his usual manner. A manner that supresses the urge to continue a conversation.

But that didn't stop Wil, "I was just curious. My arms are aching a bit. Just wanted to know how you were holding up haha!"

Rath responded by shooting another arrow into the chaos, impaling another enemy. He and Wil braced themselves for an onslaught of spearmen coming their way. The attack never came. The party of men were replaced by blue flames. Erk stood there a satisfied look on his face as he observed his handiwork. He signaled to the others to to move ahead.

Other than Florina's incident, it looked like a smooth-ish battle. I say 'ish' because the weight of this battle was beginning to affect everyone, and also considering the amount of forces we had fought already, we were all tired. I wasn't much of an addition, though alongside Sain, I did feel fairly confident with my blades. With all this happening, I had asked Erk and Kent to gather everyone so we could regroup and attack. That was before Huey came to me. The pegasus was in a solemn mood. No surprise there considering the state of her rider. But she was poking me with her head constantly. Her eyes should urgence. She signaled that she wanted me to get on her back. I sighed and petted her.

"Just wait a little ok?"

An impatient neigh was her response. Such a sassy pegasus.

Kent and Erk did a good job at gathering everyone. At Kent's request, we released those soldiers who wished to flee the battle scene. Thankfully they did not betray their words. The knights of Caelin were honest. I could give them that. Afterwards I discussed our strategy.

"Once we cross this forest all that's left is Lundgren. I would guess that he will wait for us. If he does take us by surprise, I want you, Wallace to go with Lyn and fight him while the rest of you focus on the other forces,"

"If he chooses to wait?" Rath asked.

"In that case, I think Sir Wallace can trample over their forces," I grinned at the enthusiastic general, "He can bypass those soldiers and go straight to Lundgren. If Castle Caelin is this close, they can get there before Lundgren can organize another wave, if he even has enough supporters to do so. The rest of you can clean house from there,"

Though I saw some frowns, only Lyn hit upon the one fact I left out, "What about you?"

"Well. It looks like Huey is trying to tell me something... So I'm probably going to have to see what she wants,"

"You're going to fly with her?" Everyone except Erk and Rath asked.

"Be sure it's not like the last few times," Lyn added with a wink.

"Oh funny. I'm glad your sense of humor isn't affected by this battle," I remarked, "I'll be fine, just do as I told you,"

With that I went to the impatient pegasus and tried to get on her. It took a lot more effort than I thought.

'How does Florina do this? OW! Ok, now she can... WAIT NO!'

Pegasus riding was hard enough without Huey speeding up the process. I just held on for dear life. Not much different from when she was dragging me but at least there was more to hold onto.

Once she dropped me off past the river, I understood why she had brought me here. There was an armory and a shop. I scurried to the armory hoping to get some more weapons. When I got in a large blacksmith with a mustache welcomed me.

"You must be with Lady Lyndis. We've heard about your plight. Please take anything that will help you. Once Lundgren is defeated, perhaps peace will return to Caelin,"

"Thanks but I don't want to take things without pay,"

"Pay your debt to me by winning this battle my friend. Lundgren was a fool for not trying to close my armory. Haha, this place is filled with weapons to counter knights and generals such as himself!"

At that I ceased my protesting. I figured it wasn't wise to look at a gift horse in the mouth. I grabbed an armorslayer and a heavy spear. Then I hastily thanked the blacksmith once more and departed. I bought a healing staff and put it in my bag while hopping on Huey, quite deftly I might add, and took off.

The fight was beginning to tire the legion out. They had started a little past morning, and the skies were already beginning to darken. Kent's sword arm was still steady through all of his fatigue. His training as a knight had been hard and he had been diligent. This was his reward. The ability to hold his own in a siege. Though even he was beginning to tire out. The soldiers kept coming. Wallace's frenzy into the enemy had no effect on their fighting ability when they faced the others. These soldiers were smarter and stronger than any they faced.

"Need a hand?" A voice sounded as the nearest enemy was stabbed by a lance. Sain stood over his companion.

"We need to buy Lady Lyndis some time. If the men turn back, it will be too difficult!"

"Relax, I think we're fine here,"

As if to contradict Sain's words, a new onslaught of cavaliers came into the forest where the battle was raging on. For them at least. Kent surveyed his surroundings. The archers found it harder to hit their targets, but the forest provided good enough cover so that they could avoid most attacks. Erk wasn't holding up too well. The soldiers had also been smart enough to focus on the magic user of the group since their company was mostly cavaliers. One thing they weren't smart enough to do was stop Dorcas. His hammer seemed like it was made to be wielded by him. If it weren't for Dorcas, Erk may not have been standing. Bodies were littering the battlefield. Yet for every man killed another seemed to take his place.

"If we have to we can retreat and let Serra heal our wounds," Sain offered.

"If we do, Lady Lyndis and Wallace will be doomed. Rohan was right. The vulneraries we're keeping are what are sustaining us,"

"Can't expect any less from him can we?" Sain remarked.

"SAIN!" He cried out in pain as the spear pierced his shoulder. A flash of light blasted the attacker and he crumpled to the ground. Lucius stood over his body.

"I'll take him back to Serra. You should-"

"No! I'm fine!" Sain groaned as he struggled to get on his feet, "I've come this far. I can't let Lady Lyndis down now!" He pulled out a vulnerary and drank it, after words he applied some to his wound. The wound began to heal quickly.

"Don't hurt yourself again," Kent admonished, though he meant well, it sounded harsh at the time.

Sain didn't notice, "I hope General Wallace and Lady Lyndis are having a better fight than we are.

Unfortunately, Lyn and Wallace were not having a fun time. They were easily able to make it to the castle. There the most challenging foe they had faced awaited them. Lord Lundgren. The heavy-armored general stood with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"So you're the girl claiming kinship with my brother!"

"You'll play this farce to the very end won't you, Lundgren?" Lyn growled.

"HA! A Sacaen mongrol, who wants to steal the throne claiming I am playing a farce? We have no need of you here whelp!"

"To further your own ambitions... You've harmed my grandfather. betrayed the country you swore to serve, and attacked my friends over and over again. I have neither puty nor mercy for you! Prepare yourself!"

She flew at him with the Mani Katti. A move he was foolishly unprepared for. His armor managed to protect some of the injury he may have received, but he received a gash on his face from the legendary blade. He fell back and growled as he put on his helm and raised his lance. At that point Wallace stepped forward, roared and crashed into him. Sparks flew as their lances met. Every time their lances collided a sound audible from the distant plains was heard. Though Wallace tried, he couldn't do much damage against Lundgren. But it was not solely due to his armor. When his lance made contact with Lundgren's armor, it glowed. Due to this, he seemed to take less damage and tired at a slower rate.

"Bah! Enchanted armor? What kind of general are you?"

"I am NOT your equal fool-"

"No your less YAAA!" Wallace crashed into Lundgren again and the two metal golems exchanged multiple blows. Lyndis came to help but it was hard to attack and not hit Wallace. Originally though she was shocked. Were these people human? From the way they were fighting, it was a peerless scene. After calling Wallace to fall back in vain she watched and waited for an opportunity. A familiar voice whispered in her ear.

"Need a hand?"

After delivering the healing staff to Serra and after multiple assurances from the knights that they could hold their own against the enemy forces. I flew over here with Huey. Just in time to see what looked like a sumo wrestling math between the two armored men.

"So what's happening here?"

"Watch!" Lyn got her opening, Wallace tumbled to the ground and before he could recover Lyn was on Lundgren. Her unparalleled speed was something Lundgren did not have and something he could not counter. The Mani Katti was not limited by any pathetic resistance from Hus enchanted armor. He growled and wildly swung his lance. His efforts were wasted . Knowing this, he made a move that I should've for seen. He took out another lance and threw it. His target wasn't fast enough to avoid it. The javelin struck me on the left side of my abdomen. I screamed in pain and doubled over. At that point I think I heard two things.

"NO!" A voice sounded

The other sound was Wallace's battle roar.

Slowly I got up to my feet. I pulled a vulnerary out and drank. The relief was incomparable to anything I had ever felt. Or so I thought at the time. Satisfied and relieved I pulled the armorslayer and spear I had received from the blacksmith.

The next time Wallace fell back from his charge I gave him the heavy spear. A silent message that he understood. I took the armorslayer and faced the general.

"Ha an old man and two children!" He exclaimed. Lyn was beside me, but thankfully didn't say a word. Lundgren did not know my ability or rather lack of it. Asking me to stay back would've exposed that to the general. I took a fighting stance and waited. Wallace's training probably saved me. The way he threw his lance and the way I dodged his attacks was an exact simulation of Wllace's agility training exercise. I dodged every spear he threw at me and once he fell back I lashed out with the armorslayer. The armor normally would've cut through his armor as if it were soft cheese. Yet when I struck the armor glowed and I encountered greater resistance then I expected. In my moment of stupor, Lundgren disarmed me. Instinctively, I stepped back and drew the only weapons that I had left. My blades shone their usual light blue color. Using this I lashed out and missed, recovered from the attempt, and dove away from his counterattack.

Lundgren was toying with me, "Ha! This is the best you could do?" He sneered. He swung his lance in a circle rapidly before winding up and throwing it. At that moment my world fell apart. Lyn, who moments ago was at my side. Took the attack for me. Blood gushed out of her blue robe that she always wore. She gritted her teeth in an attempt to trap her screams. At that point, my anger got the better of me. The woman I just confessed my love to less than a day ago was now injured because of this bastard! Unfortunately that was my second mistake. I charged at the general knowing he wouldn't be able to recover from his attack. My swords cut his armor open easily. The magic did not react at all to the blades. Lundgren didn't expect this and fell back growling!

"Grr. So you carry those enchanted blades eh?"

I answered with another stab which was easily parried. I sidestepped just as Wallace attacked him again. Lundgren's armor finally gave to Wallace's effort and crushed his chest. Lundgren growled and fell back. He took his silver lance in his hand and delivered a series of strikes that succeeded in breaking Wallace's impenetrable defenses.

After continuous stabs he somehow kicked Wallace screaming, "I WILL NOT YIELD!"

How he managed to kick Wallace with that armor is a mystery to me. Wallace fell quite a few feet away.

'For now it's just me and- WOAH!"

And arrow penetrated Lundgren's armor. Barely, but it did do something.

The rest of our party arrived. All with resolute expressions.

"On your orders," Sain stated. All of them were ready to attack. This was it.

"Let's do this. Attack!" I called as I ran. Flaming arrows flew at Lundgren along with all of our party. It seemed that having everyone attack was an effective strategy. Sain and Kent swung their lances, Erk's fireballs combined with the arrows, Dorcas brandished his hammer, Lucius also combined his magic with the arrows, and Lyn and I charged together with our special blades. The knights got the first strikes after the arrows. Lundgren didn't seem phased until Dorcas brought the hammer down crushing his helm. AT that point Lyn and I simultaneously swung our blades connecting it with Lundgren's chest. Blood gushed out of the general as we tore him apart. His armor completely soaked and crushed.

"Bah," He sputtered, "The girl! Nothing more... Than a savage from Sacae... The Caelin throne... Should be mine,"

Then I made my third mistake, I shouldn't have stayed so close to him without being sure he was dead. He took his arm and threw his javelin, which was hidden in his hands, with inhuman speed. The weapon impaled me and my eyes bulged out. My screams, the other sounds around me, the cries of victory, did not stay in my memory. Before long, I had my last blackout of the journey.

"Who is there?" A weak voice asked. An old man in green robes was laying in bed. He had been ailing for months now. IT wasn't a good time for visitors, "I will see no one,"

With that he broke into a fit of coughing. When he recovered the stranger was still there.

"What are you doing? Leave me... To die,"

"... Pardon me Grandfather... My name is Lyndis,"

The old man forgot everything but those words. He froze and tried to look at the blurred figure, "Did... Did you say Lyndis?"

"My father was Hassar, chieftain of the Lorca. My mother was Madelyn... I was raised on the plains,"

"Come over here... Let me see your face," Even when he was ill, he maintained his assertive nature of a marquess.

She obeyed and sat on the bed looking at him. Lord Hausen saw his own daughter in this woman. The light skin, the face, even the hairstyle.

"Ah... You are Madelyn's trueborn child... Ahh"

"Grandfather!"

She embraced him as he slowly sank back down, "Thank you for living. Thank you for denying Lundgren's lies... I hope you and your parents are happy,"

"Grandfather my parents were slain by bandits. I was the only survivor... I lived on but..."

"Lyndis. I have caused you all your problems. If I had only accepted your parents love, there would have been no bandits. Please forgive a prideful old man,"

"Grandfather our lives on the plains were ones of peace and happiness. Until the bandits... We were happy,"

"Knowing that... Gives me so much joy. Now I can die in peace..."

"No! You mustn't say that!"

"Lyndis... I have taken too much poison for far too long... It is too late,"

"Be brave Grandfather! On the plains we have a saying. ' illness fails in the face of a strong heart!' I am with you now! You mustn't give up!"

"You're with me?"

"We've worked so hard to get here grandfather! And we have so much to talk about together! So many walks we could take together, songs to listen to. So much time to recover. I want to show you the endless sky and the grass oceans of the plains! Live, grandfather, so we can revisit the land my mother loved so much!"

Lord Hausen layed with a placid smile on his face. But the biggest change was in his eyes. No longer accepting the inevitable, but longing to live on. This was the first sign of healing.

"Yes... I still have... Some living to do,"

"You can do it Grandfather!"

"Lyndis..." He fell back and went into a deep sleep. One that he would wake up from soon. This moment proved beyond all doubt that Lyn's mission was successful.