Chapter 12 – Ambition and Desire

Gren Haus Outskirts

"You have faith in them?"

"Soren, Mia and Zihark?" Ike nodded "All the faith in the world.

Titania smirked "That means a lot more now doesn't it?"

"I can't believe I let you convince me to come along!" Uhnie yelled "If Lytros is dead when we get back I'm going to murder you and vandalize your corpse!"

Ike sighed "I'm sorry Uhnie, but if what Soren found out is true, then this was never supposed to happen this fast. Us arriving and apparently upsetting the delicate balance tipped Jilger's hand."

"Lytros kept telling me that Jilger didn't want the crown but what else is there!?" Uhnie yelled in frustration.

Neteau sighed "I came out here to stop this and only allowed it to happen."

"We were all being manipulated…put where we had to be so this could go off without a hitch." Titania shook her head "There is definitely a traitor in Gull Tor, whoever he is he's been playing you all for as long as this mess has been going on."

Reaching the Gren Haus Core the group realized it would be awhile before they reached Gull Tor.

"Here's hoping Gatrie and Rolf can handle the Palace…"

At Ike's statement Neteau nodded "And the guards…at the very least they can hold off for as long as possible…give us all the time we need."

Thyremog Palace

"They could barely fight back…" Rolf muttered, looking to another group of four guards, throats slit.

"This was well planned, we didn't give Jilger enough credit."

Gatrie nodded as he pulled his spear out of a fallen man. "What's this?"

Kneeling down he picked up a small bag with a few orbs in it.

"Fire Bombs…"

Gatrie looked up to Rolf "We might not have been able to save the guards but with this we can get the King out of here."

The State of Low Benet

"Here we are…"

The three stopped to see many soldiers, no doubt the whole Low Benet military running back and forth, as well as several tall poles in the distance.

"We need to find higher ground." Soren stated "To see what this is all about…"

The three moved to a rather big building, hiding just as a few soldiers rushed out talking about Fire Bombs.

Moving inside the three found it to be empty save for a few stray crates and bags, "The stairs…"

As Mia helped Soren towards the stairs, Zihark moved over to one of the bags and opened it "Well shit…these things are just full of Fire Bombs…why would they need this many? Are they planning on blowing up Thyremog? I thought they wanted to rule it."

Mia shook her head "I'm not so sure anymore."

Reaching the roof the three stood in awe over what they saw, Soren cursed "That's what he wants."

Thyremog Palace

Jilger tapped his foot as the Councilmen were led into the throne room.

"Y'know Edal, I expected more fight from you."

The 2nd in command remained silent.

"You can speak up, we're not going to kill you like Abbard…well not yet."

"Jilger."

Turning to Lytros, he smiled "Yes?"

"What do you mean by the world?"

"…the world…everything…you see, Lytros. What you, Neteau, Edal, Yatno and all your allies including the shade Uhnie…"

Lytros' eyes widened at that "…don't understand is that you think too small."

Gesturing towards the councilmen he nodded. Yass and Horats stood, taking out small knives and stabbing Baak and Otum multiple times.

"Yass! Horats! You too!?"

Yass sighed "Once we heard of Jilger's plan…what he wanted, and how he had a surefire way of getting it. There was no question of what we wanted to do."

The two walked over to Jilger as Baak and Otum fell dead.

"Now that the whole coup is here…" Jilger state, breathing in "I'll tell you why, Lytros. I want the world, I need the world, I have since I learned of your father's exploits."

"My father?"

"Yes, you see. Growing up I sought to dominate Gren Haus and eventually become King, rule the land…be larger than life but then your father revealed the existence of other lands out there…for the longest time I thought it to only be one but ruling Thyremog AND Hitenticul…now that was beyond my imagination so I started planning it. I had the brains to put this plan years ago. I sought an unstable ally and found one in Barbyos, I needed his brute force and let him loose on Gren Haus after he was imprisoned…well, my brother and I did. Not that he knew, after he killed my family and the captains and the mayors he came to us and we revealed we helped him. The crazed man still wanted blood so I gave him my brother in exchange for his fealty…see he grew tired of killing on Thyremog so I presented him the ability to kill wherever and whoever he wanted! I gave him the biggest possible mess of chaos and told him to go nuts and he jumped on it! Anyway, with Gren Haus I could start building my military and finding like-minded allies, both which required money…which I've been siphoning from you every chance I got."

Jilger laughed before gesturing to his soldiers "You send me recruits and I...determine if they should join me."

Lytros narrowed his eyes "How would you know?"

Jilger grinned "I merely tell them to stand at attention while I...talk of theoretical situations involving foreign lands. Foreign wars. What if one country wanted to conquer another and so on...I'll know which of the soldiers sent to me want to side with me within a few minutes."

Yatno's eyes widened, Jilger snapped his fingers and pointed at the man "It is as you imagine my dear Yatno. I am a psychic. From my 'what if' speeches I can tell from how their minds respond who among them has the dormant need to conquer, to explore, to be known as legends! The first overseas conquerors in millennia if ever! I send you those that I can see don't have the desire…the ambition and keep mine…my military is larger than any here…but that wasn't enough."

"But how? How could no one know that you were a psychic!?" Lytros demanded, Jilger tapped the side of his head "Remember what I said earlier? I let Barbyos loose on Gren Haus, he killed my family and close...acquaintances. Everyone who knew of my abilities. It was necessary for a gambit such as this. In addition I never rebuilt the border towns because the money was going elsewhere. To Low Benet."

Lytros looked to Tol, Jilger nodded "Yes he convinced the Guard to join me as well, those who didn't, Tol took care of him. I didn't ask how but it didn't matter. Then the money did its thing, materials and the like to construct…"

Jilger walked to Lytros again, getting in his face "…my fleet."

The State of Low Tem

Soren, Mia and Zihark stood on the roof of the empty warehouse, watching a few hundred soldiers run to and fro, stocking the fleet of several dozen warships with Fire Bombs. The sails were being pulled up, Jilger was planning an invasion.

"Where are they going?"

At Zihark's question Mia shook her head "Hitenticul? Tellius? We have no way of knowing! But we can't let them go!"

Zihark gestured to the Fire Bombs in his hands "Luckily we have the instrument of their destruction, use one of these to ignite the ones on the ships, take em down that way."

Soren nodded "We can also use the Fire Bombs to scatter the soldiers, get them away from here."

"Guys! Look!" Mia pointed to a large man at the foot of one, rushing the soldiers.

"Barbyos." Zihark muttered.

"If we're going to do this we have to do it now." Mia stated.

Soren pushed himself off her "We each take a bag."

Mia put a hand on his shoulder "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"I have to be."

Sighing Mia nodded. Zihark turned "C'mon then!" As he took off Mia embraced Soren, despite his better judgment he hugged her back as she whispered "Please. Be careful."

"I will…and you as well…"

Thyremog Palace

"You built a fleet!?"

"Yes, and bought off everyone who knew about it. Tol kept the position secret while Yass and Horats here helped me move the money. Oogram was a ship captain once so he instructed all my captains…and Barbyos is just the insane man to lead the charge."

Lytros shook his head "You're a fool! Hitenticul and Tellius are larger, they have more people! They-"

"Don't have a navy. This will probably be the first time in thousands of years a naval assault from any country was launched! With all the Fire Bombs we have, we'll raze the kingdoms and seaside towns to bits and mount an attack. Believe what you will about us as a species but there are in fact those who just want us all to burn. They'll see my coming as what they've waited their whole life for and join my cause! Soon! This world! WILL! BE! MINE!"

An explosion went off behind Jilger, throwing his men at the door to the ground and setting the area aflame, shortly after another blade erupted near the throne. Gatrie tore through the damaged wall, flooring the guards at Lytros' side "Come on!"

Rolf rolled out of the smoke, shooting several soldiers in the neck "Edal! Hilt! Yatno! Get up! We're out of here!"

The three stood and began running, Rolf felt his quiver get ripped away and tripped. "Stop!"

Edal, Yatno, Lytros and Gatrie came to a halt, looking over to Rolf. Hilt stood on his back aiming a blade at him "Unless you want this boy's head to roll."

Lytros shook his head "Hilt?"

Gatrie cursed as Hilt smirked "You in the blue, throw your lance and shield to the ground."

As he did so Jilger stood and dusted himself off "That…would have worked if Hilt hadn't convinced me to keep him undercover for a bit longer. I wanted to walk in here with him at my side to see the despair on your face Lytros but seeing it now is far better."

"Why Hilt!? Why join Jilger!?"

Hilt laughed "Join Jilger? I set up the finer points of this plan, I held it together!"

Gatrie snapped his fingers "That's how the Barbyos Legion was able to outmaneuver the Captains, you are the strategist you gave them inherently flawed plans!"

Hilt shook his head "They'd have picked up on the flaws…"

Waving a finger he chuckled "See…the plans I gave everyone were brilliant…I then used my skills to create the perfect counter plans and gave those to the Legion. That's how we cleared out the Palace so quickly, I knew where everyone would be place so I displaced them."

"You had all the men who believed in you killed!?" Edal yelled.

Hilt gestured to the bodies around "Yes? See Jilger's plan was good but he was a little reckless with how he set it up…I found out about it and had him dead to rights…but the more I thought about it…the more I realized…there is more to this world. Who is going to care about Hilt the Royal Strategist to the 2nd King of Thyremog in Hitenticul? In Tellius? In whatever forsaken lands are out there. In the grand scheme of things the good I've done for Thyremog means…nothing…"

Rolf spat "So that's it? Instead of being known in Thyremog as an honorable man you want to be known in the world as a monster!?"

Hilt raised his foot and slammed it into Rolf's back again, then wound back and kicked him the side "Don't speak about things you don't understand…"

"It's like I said." Jilger continued, crossing his arms "Ambition. Desire."

"So what now? You have your fleet, why hold us all prisoner?" Gatrie demanded.

Laughing Jilger shook his head "We want the world…that includes Thyremog. Killing all of you here solidifies that end, are you not following any of this!"

"Speaking of…the fleet should be on their way…we have a ship off the shore here which we will be boarding…we're going to wave the flags of Thyremog and go to war." Hilt added with a smile.

"You'll bring war here!" Lytros screamed.

Jilger nodded "We will. That is what Barbyos wanted…more conflict, more chaos, more death…he is a dog…and perfect for our plans."

Gull Tor Outskirts

Seeing smoke coming from the palace Neteau cursed "We have to get in there now!"

Ike nodded "I'm well aware, we need-"

Uhnie stood and reached into her jacket, pulling out several Fire Bombs "An entrance?"

Ike gestured for the Mercenaries to move in, but stay low and quiet before looking to Uhnie "You're prepared for everything aren't you?"

Uhnie winked "Oh you have no idea."

Low Benet Docks

Barbyos looked to the sun as the first ships pulled up their anchors and began moving. "Chaos…"

Inhaling deeply he smirked right as a massive explosion that sounded like explosions within explosions continued to ring out, he turned as four ships erupted in flames.

Then the docks burst into flames, several soldiers were incinerated while others ran screaming.

"GET ON BOARD! WE LEAVE NOW!" Boarding his ship he grinned, the chaos was already starting.

"You!" Mia put a Fire Bomb down and turned to the three soldiers who found her "What are you doing!?"

"What am I doing!? Have you taken the time to see what you're doing!? You are going to invade lands that did you no wrong!"

The three men charged her, gritting her teeth she moved forward, tripping one before knocking a blade away and rolling aside from the third. Jumping in again she cut along one man's arm, flipping around and impaling him from behind, her blade gleamed, sticking out of his chest. Twisting she threw him off her blade into his comrade.

The first man regained his footing and moved towards her, swinging his blade. Parrying his strikes she noticed the man on the floor push his ally's body off and reach over to grab a Fire Bomb.

Eyes widening she kicked her opponent away and leapt off the building as it erupted in flames, hitting the ground hard, the wind was knocked out of her. Coughing she struggled to regain her breath, barely making out a burning sensation along her back.

Seeing the explosion, Soren cursed "Mia…please be alright…"

Shaking his head he continued moving forward, remaining out of the way of the panic. Using his magic he shot the Bombs high into the air, landing them on the ships as they went off, taking the ship and crew with it. Soren noted that several were pulling away, they had to get aboard one to catch up to them.

Going for the more obvious method, Zihark cut down the Port Guards, standing at the edge and throwing the Bombs to the best of his ability, even the ones that landed in the water were powerful enough to rupture the ships' hulls and sink them.

Limping slightly Mia noted the ships, no doubt Soren and Zihark were going to board, she had to get there on time. Ignoring the pain she sprinted, spotting Soren soon enough.

"Mia, you alright?"

Ignoring her aches she nodded, the pair leapt onto the rigging of a ship as it began to move away. Seeing Zihark on the docks Mia called out "Z!"

Instead of going after them he boarded a different ship.

Mia turned to Soren "What's he doing?"

"Sir we lost-"

Barbyos kicked the man with his boot "It doesn't matter…we have enough for an attack…all we need to throw the world into chaos is one attack. Remember that!"

"Barbyos!"

Turning, he couldn't stop the surprise from showing in his face as Zihark pulled himself onto the deck. Several soldiers aimed their weapons at him.

Holding his hand up, the Legion leader laughed "Put them down men, you'll just get them shoved up your ass."

Doing as they were told, Barbyos kept his eye on Zihark "So…revenge? I believe you were the one who called me petty."

"We all have our petty and pride ridden deals…this is mine." The Trueblade from Daein pulled out his Killing Edge, he knew he was using his weaker arm but he had to.

Barbyos sighed and grabbed his axe "I am impressed that you survived but this battle will be as sad as the previous one, if not worse, you have to know this."

Remaining silent, Zihark took his first steps towards Barbyos.

Thyremog Palace

"Jilger, Hilt. Get is in position, we can go now."

Jilger nodded to Tol "Well Lytros, how does it feel knowing your country is the center of a world war?"

"Jilger. Hilt. You have to know…you have to know how wrong this is!"

"Resorting to begging? Here I thought you were a King." Hilt stated before laughing.

"Tol. Oogram. Kill them all." Jilger stated as he and Hilt began walking away.

Several explosions rang out around the Palace, Jilger looked up as Hilt laughed "Looks like the foreigners are back."

Without waiting, Hilt took off, Jilger followed with the councilmen moving, Yass called to them "We're going with you two right?"

Jilger came to a stop "Yes! Come on! The rest of you, kill the foreigners!"

As the four left, Gatrie and Rolf turned instantly, ripping the spears their captors were holding as another explosion rang out, Ike, Neteau and Uhnie burst into the room, Ike swung his blades, beams cut through several men.

Tol charged the new arrivals as Oogram charged Lytros. The King was grabbed by Yatno and thrown to the ground. Rolf threw his lance "Edal!"

The man grabbed out of the air and parried Tol "Traitor!"

"Blind dog!"

As the fight broke out in the Throne Room, the rest of the Mercenaries swarmed the halls, hunting down the Gren Haus soldiers. Outside civilians could only look on as the sun fell to the horizon and the Palace bled smoke into the orange sky.