Disclaimer: The Fire Emblem series elements (characters, settings, series, etc.) belong respectively to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.
Author's Note: First and foremost, I've struggled a lot with this chapter due to major writer's block. So despite the effort, I made it through and I hope you like what Galen, Fancy, and Jolie's adventures will have in store for all of you fans.
And speaking of fans, I'm sure y'all excited about the new Fire Emblem 3DS. I am over the moon on this next installment and so if the day of release comes and I'm not done with this story yet I'll make sure to include some of its characters into the story. After all, it's a FE crossover story no? Anyway, share your thoughts on the review. :)
Now onto the chapter.
FIRE EMBLEM Vs.
PART II
~Swords Saga~
-Chapter 5:: Treason
Two blades flashed under the Begnion sunlight: an elegant princess sword and a Silver Lance. They immediately crossed each other in a lock-on combat. Celica and Finn (Fire Emblem: Thracia 776) glared at each other. One tried to overpower the other. One tried to resist. They finally released their blades from each other and staggered.
Finn charged again with a downward swing of his lance. Celica shifted her ground, jumped out of range and swung also. Finn jumped back. Both adversaries seemed to be playing tag at each other, but no, they were really fighting. Of course they weren't the only ones on the slum streets of Begnion doing combat. Tiena and Soren were also working on their opponents as well. Tiena sent out a wave of light balls at a young green-haired man sporting a dark green trenchcoat: Sothe (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn). Sothe swayed on his feet like an acrobat until he was behind Tiena and grabbed her from behind. She struggled, but Sothe forced her down.
"I don't think I should be making any move if I were you." He whispered.
Sothe suddenly heard a humming coming his way. He watched pebbles and stones that were on the street ground swirling around him. He quickly let go of Tiena and watched the stones making a crowd, and soon his feet airborne, "What…?" he grunted, finding himself trapped under a dust twister. He twirled around in an out-of-control fashion.
Tiena staggered back, noticing Soren carrying a Wind Tome on one hand and waving his other hand over to Sothe. The Wind Tome's pages kept flipping around as if dancing through a strong wind. Soren frowned. He curled up his fingers into a fist and then extended them in a split second. Sothe went to the ground. The roar of the citizens' crowd watching rose like the noise of a football match. Among the crowd was Ishtar (Fire Emblem: Thracia 776) and Sophia (Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals). Sophia was besides Nolan (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn), who appeared to be severely wounded.
"Sothe!" Sophia cried out to the wounded whisper and Ishtar proceeded to go to him. Finn and Celica briefly stopped fighting to witness. Soren closed his tome book. Tiena rubbed on her bruised neck, which Sothe almost wringed.
Finn raised his blade at Celica, seeing an opportunity to strike. He let out a battle cry. Galen entered from the busy streets corner and watched Finn ready to strike. Celica gasped. Galen gasped. A heat of the moment! He took a step forward when he suddenly watched an arrow brush right past him and nailed Finn on the shoulder. Finn let go of his lance and went down on his knees, gasping in pain. The crowd roared once more.
Galen watched the wyverns descending upon the crowding streets of Sienne, surrounding Finn, Sothe and Nolan. Galen recognized the wyvern lords: they were part of the Wyvern reinforcement hired by the Senate to assist the girls and Soren. He quickly put two-on-two together: Celica, Tiena, and Soren—the Empire's subordinates—were fighting the rebels. And these rebels appeared to have no fighting chance. They now looked helpless. Worse, they didn't even look like criminals. He also counted them. They were five of them. Not seven. Where were the other two?
He felt a sting on his right cheek. With a finger he felt his cheek. There was stain. He stared at his finger. It was blood. His blood. That arrow must have bruised him.
"We have you surrounded, rebels." Spoke one of the Wyvern-mounting leaders: a Wyvernlord donning a diamond Begnion armor. He got off his wyvern and approached Finn. His comrades followed behind. Galen quickly sneaked out of hiding and slipped into the mass crowd of people watching. He made sure he got to the back row to avoid being spotted.
"It's all over." The wyvernlord unsheathed his sword under the sunlight and pointed at Finn. "Your days of torturing the citizens. All over."
Ishtar stepped forward, "Okay, just stop right there, Begnion scums." She said vehemently, "What do you think you're doing, taking down these rebels for a crime accused of committing? Do you carry any proofs of what they have done?"
"This is none of your concern, Lady Ishtar." The wyvernlord replied, "These rebels went against the Empire. And in an attempt to see it fall into corruption they have stolen its treasures and captured little girls to be sacrificed to a dark kingdom. Now we don't care if you're a royal from Grandbell but we don't need your meddling."
"I have the right to meddle, thank you." Ishtar gloated, "And I don't care if I even get arrested for—!"
"Lady Ishtar, please!" Sophia cried out, "Please, don't speak on our behalf." She stood up, "It's over."
The crowd exchanged words. Galen who was watching among them appeared just as puzzled as the crowd. What was going on?
"The Empire found us out." Finn spoke, as he struggled up to his feet, "They obviously think we've committed such heinous crimes of killing innocent children to feed on demons…"
The crowd continued to shout waves of shocks and arguments. Galen rolled his eyes, knowing full well the absolute truth.
"…but they are wrong!" Finn thundered, "We are rebels, who've banded together from across countries fallen under the tyranny of the Begnion-Grandbell Empire and the Dark Kingdom. We are here to take back what we've lost, but because they want us dead, they make up such sick lie…"
"There you are, shouting more lies, criminals!" the wyvernlord pressed his lance against Finn's side, almost making a cut, "You go against the Begnion Empire by soiling its holy name and making false accusations. You're all under arrest! Your punishment will await you in court by the Senate. Guys, take them away."
The soldiers approached Finn, Nolan and Sothe and were right about to bind their wrists with handcuffs.
"And make sure you take the children they've captured with you too." The wyvernlord added. And when he said that, Galen had to do something. He quickly moved through the crowd, shouting out loud, "Whoa! Whoa! Wait a second! Stop right there!" He finally was on the front row besides Ishtar and Sophia, catching the entire city's attention. Tiena, Celica and Soren were shocked to see him.
"You can't do this." Galen then eyeballed the girls and Soren, "You can't do this! You can just say one thing and then do another!"
The girls glared at Galen, as if in an effort to tell him to shut up.
"Okay, buddy." the wyvernlord replied to Galen, "This is not your place to meddle. Mind your own business or we'll take you down too."
Galen laughed, "No way, buddy. YOU need to back off. This is my business." Galen said, "I'm a lord from Bern, Sir Legan." He then pointed a finger at Tiena and Celica, "And you two lied to me! What is going on here? I thought we agreed on one thing and one thing only."
The wyvernlord stared back at the ladies, "What is he talking about?" he asked. The girls stood speechless for a second.
Celica sighed. "He's talking about your demise." She said to the wyvernlord.
"What?" the wyvernlord said and before he knew it, Finn charged his lance with a battle cry.
The lance pierced right through the wyvernlord's chest to everyone's shock. The wyvernlord went down the ground. Quickly the crowd turned into a violent mob. Citizens picked up stones and chucked them at the wyvern riders. A surprised Galen quickly moved back from the violent mob, to avoid getting hurt. Ishtar and Sophia waved their hands in the air, casting thunderstorm and dark ball projectiles, wounding the enemies further. Nolan, Sothe and Finn proceeded to slaughter more wyvern riders and their mounts with their blades. The squadron tried to fight back of course, but the attack was too unbearable to counteract.
Half of the wyvern riders fell to their demise, while the other half took off, barely escaping. The crowd cheered on. But for the victorious Begnion leaders and the rebels, victory was bittersweet. They turned their attention to Galen, especially Celica, Tiena and Soren, whose gaze were cold toward him.
The attack on the wyverns shortly passed, and citizens and enforcers managed to work together to get rid of the wyvern riders and their mounts' bodies before any suspicious figures could speak. Of course one of these suspicious figures was Galen. And the villagers involved in the attack, as well as the so-called rebels were worried that he might blow off their plans. But Celica, Tiena, and Soren reassured them that he won't speak and they'll make sure of that. That got Galen a bit nervous.
"Okay. I deserve it." He said with a cocky tone, "Go ahead and kill me. That'll make your lives so much better."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Soren callously said to Galen.
Tiena then whispered harshly, "You almost blew our plans for us, Galen."
"Oh!" Galen raised his voice, "The plan where you make me think that you were gonna go with the Senate's sick plan to sacrifice little girls and then tell me about it before you put me on a guillotine?"
Tiena frowned, "What?"
"I heard you talking last night. Conspiring with the Empire Senate... behind the Senate's back of course." Galen confronted, "You were planning to have the girls captured and then take a front row seat on a VIP limo to Camp Lenster to see what the fuss is about."
"Yes." Celica said out loud, "We were. That was our plan. To FREE them from their prison."
Galen squinted, "What?"
Tiena sighed, "As you can see, Galen, we want to free these girls from their prison just as much as you do. But we couldn't do it when the Senate hired their troops to survey our mission."
"So we devised a plan to meet with the rebels and stage a battle against them where we end up defeating them." Soren added.
"And then after that," Celica proceeded, "We were to 'capture' one of the girls from the villagers and take them to the Senate, where Tiena, Soren and I; along with the spies hired by the rebels would breach into Camp Lenster by permission of the Senate to defeat its guards and free the prisoners from there. The whole plan was to fool the Senate. Not you."
Galen shook his head, all these information were too much to grasp, "Whoa-whoa-whoa. Wait a second… you mean to tell me that…" he glanced over at the rebels group of Finn, Sothe, Nolan, Sophia and Ishtar nearby before facing Soren and the girls, "…you mean to tell me that these guys—these rebels—are working with you guys?"
"We are part of a rebellion army against the Empire, y'know." Soren clarified.
Galen blinked. One thing Galen really need to learn is never to jump the gun first and ask questions later. He almost blew it for the girls by trying to expose their intentions to the wyvern riders. He almost blew it. But then he turned curious and then asked again.
"…but what about what you said last night? About telling me and then killing me."
"Oh my gosh..." Soren looked away in shame, hands rubbing his forehead, feeling as if he never met a nosy peabrain like Galen before.
"Hate to tell you this," Tiena shook her head, "But we were talking about Lekain."
"Of course, it is against our nature to kill someone of high holy stature. So our plan was to have one of our rebels pose as a wyvernlord and proceed with the attack."
"An invasion." Galen replied, sounding impressed. He then smirked a little, "You guys sure had me all fooled."
The rebel group of Finn, Sothe, Nolan, Sophia and Ishtar approached the rest of the group.
"Is everything okay now?" Finn asked.
"Everything's fine, Finn." Celica replied. Finn turned his attention back to Galen, "Hope you're not from the Senate, young lad."
Galen shook his head, smiling. "He's not." Tiena replied, substantiating Galen's headshake. "He's actually with us. And we didn't let him in on the plan."
"That explains so much." Sothe said. The group briefly laughed. "The name's Sothe." He then introduced the rest of the group, "And this is Finn, Ishtar, Sophia and Nolan."
Nolan winced in pain; he was standing on his wounded leg, "Don't mind the wound, young lad. I'll be fine eventually."
"I hope so." Galen replied, "Sorry for the whole confusion. I'm Galen. Galen Sage. But the Senate thinks of me as Sir Legan."
Their smiles vanished.
"Wait… Galen?" Ishtar questioned, "as in the…" she then whispered, "…the Baron Dragon Galen?"
Galen smiled and nodded, "In the flesh." Celica proudly stated.
"…I don't believe this." Sophia gasped, "That means you're coming back to deliver Lycia from evil."
"It is such a great honor to finally see a living legend." Finn replied, "I would bow, but I don't want to bring any suspicions."
"Yeah… that won't be necessary." Galen replied.
"But then again," Finn added, "There's no point in hiding the truth from you any further."
Celica, Tiena and Soren turned their attention to Finn as the rest of the group all voiced out their approvals "Wait, are you sure?" Soren questioned.
"Of course we're 100% sure." Sophia replied, "Galen is the Baron Dragon. He's someone we can trust. Now I don't know about you guys, but we're tired of waiting around."
"Sophia's right. We need to move onto the next phase of the invasion." Sothe added before facing Galen, "So, Baron Dragon. You're in?"
"Hey, don't count me out this time." Galen replied.
"I beg your pardon." an elderly yet wise voice spoke from among the town crowd. All heads turned to the sight of an elderly woman. It was Niime (Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals). She limped forward the group on her wooden staff.
"You're the town's rebels if I'm correct?" she asked and they all nodded, "I just wanted to say thank you for taking down these insolent brutes for us poor souls."
"No thanks necessary ma'am." Finn said.
"Please." she stuffed her wrinkled hand down her cloak and pulled out a small crystal, its lights shimmered with radiance, "I want you to have this stone." she said, "Accept it as a sign of appreciation from the townspeople."
Sothe hesitated at first, but Niime was insistent and the band couldn't deny the hospitality much, so they prompted. Finn stepped in before Niime and picked up the Crystal.
"Gee." Finn felt the stone. It was warm to the touch and feel of it. "...thank you. I don't know what to..."
Finn's voice and all the other noises around him began to slowly die out to Galen's ears, only to be replaced by a very faint sound. The noise grew louder at each passing second.
Then as if in an instant, Galen recognized that noise. It was a cry. A cry of help.
No, it was more like a scream.
"...thanks necessary..." Niime was barely heard. "...meant... everyone of us..."
The noise grew louder and strident, everything around him moved in blur, as if at a blinding speed, but they moved, lurked, at a slow-pacing blur. It was as if either time was slowing down but had no effect on him, or he was trapped in a strange trance. He still could heard the noises of the town... only just as faint as a low breathing sound.
"...say...wanted...fool the Senate...?"
Fretting, he looked around, having no idea what was going on. The noise and the blurring sound effect were now the only noise he could hear. But he tried to focus on the screaming that was assaulting his ears.
He couldn't find its source. His face twisted into a panicked glare. He tried not to move too much so that he won't catch the people's attention, but the noise was just too-!
"GNYAAAAAAAAAAAHH! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA! HAA!"
He gasped sharply. That demon laughter. It was back! And somehow that noise just replaced that scream of agony he's been hearing... almost as if in response to it. And now he knew exactly where it was coming from. His widened eyes turned to the crystal. The warm crystal clutched in Finn's hands.
Suddenly the haunting noises around him vanished and he could hear again.
"...think again." Niime finished with a sudden ominous tone.
"I'm sorry, what?" Sothe asked.
"LOOK OUT!" Galen cried out, impulsively tugging his arm toward the Crystal. The Crystal telephatically flew off from Finn's grasp, mere seconds before it burst into a massive billow of flames. The winds got pushed in response to the fire's brute forces and almost knocked everyone off their feet.
The flames died out and the townspeople were panicking. Half of them were halfway down the next street while a third of them were already fried by the explosion. The remaining remained, mourning for the lost ones and quivering at the panic sight of Senator Lekain who had just warped in before Niime. The Senator was with his colleagues. The gang was in a mix of utter shock and surprise by their appearance and what just happened before them.
"I see you're enjoying your little gift spectacular from ours truly, rebels." Lekain spoke.
"Senator Lekain..." Sothe snarled. "...what the hell is the meaning of this?"
"Lekain, what is going on?" Celica asked, almost trying to sound innocent, though she knew that the day she and her comrades would be busted would be today... right now.
"Like you don't know?" Lekain retorted with an accusing tone, "...for all these past times we've spent, I have had my suspicions about you rebels..." he turned to Galen, "...until your friend came along."
Galen jerked in bewilderment.
"Thanks to him, we've finally exposed you, traitors of the Empire!" Lekain barked, "To join the Senate guest seats as one of our highest seats next to the goddess and to use them to leak out information to the rebels on our plans for the future..." he briefly paused, "...political plans."
"Hey, you leave him alone!" Sophia cried out, "He had nothing to do with this!"
"Look what you've done to the citizens!" Finn exclaimed, "And you dare call yourself holy to the goddess?"
"WE are holy to the goddess." the senator retorted, "YOU, however, are false witnesses to her goodness and the works that we do for the people's sake. You are traitors!"
He once again turned his accusing eyes toward Galen, "Of course you were hoping to continue with the information leakage, but your lovely guest here, the Baron Dragon Galen, gave you away. Such sweet nectar to see a Judas in your rank."
All eyes turned to Galen. Galen's eyes were completely widened, "how did you…?"
"Know your name? Know how we found you out?" Lekain shrugged, "Just do a little soul-searching the next time you… talk."
He faced the group again, "You're all under arrest for treason. Anyone accused of treason are punished for this crime by being hung. Guards, seize them!"
The rebels turned their attention toward Galen. The young dragon tried to protest to them but couldn't find any other explanation for this. The rebels however didn't appear to be mad nor disappointed.
"Take them except the dragon." Lekain ordered his soldiers, "He is been charged of not only treason but of witchcraft."
Galen frowned at that statement.
"Besides," the senator went on, "he'll make a great asset to the empire's path of righteousness if we use his head as much a trophy as Medusa's."
The soldiers stepped behind the rebels and started handcuffing them in handcuffs with long chains. As one of the soldiers was cuffing Sothe, the rogue said, "Over our dead bodies."
He pulled his right knee toward and pulled his leg back, landing a strong kick on the soldier's crotch. The soldier cried out in pain as he went down on his knees.
The alerted soldiers let go off the others and went after Sothe, who jump-roped the chained cuffs and pulled two strong legs on both his sides where the two soldiers came charging.
Quickly the battle turned bloody. Sothe swung his chained cuffs across incoming soldiers, ripping off half their faces and knocking them back with sheer force.
Finn went for his sword on the scabbard of his horse saddle and went swinging at the incoming soldiers.
Nolan headbutted one soldier from the front and then followed with an elbow jab that brought the soldier to the ground. He quickly went for his axe and came swinging at them.
Tiena and Soren went back-to-back and began sending out flurries of magic at the officers, enveloping their bodies in flames and splitting them in two, their guts spilled about wildly. Celica moved her wind sword in grace, its radiant green light that limned the blade trailed out at every motion, with anyone on contact to it sent flying off the homes roofs like blast of winds to rag dolls.
Only Sophia and Ishtar were not seen fighting the soldiers. Neither was Lekain who stood by, watching his soldiers losing their lives in gruesome manner as if it didn't affect him. Galen could sense a cold heart in Lekain. He had just slaughtered down a soldier with a swing of a sword he took from him when he paused, glaring at Lekain. He then looked at the other Senators who were watching. Some of them appeared to show some emotion of remorse and distaste to what was happening in front of them, but the darkness in their hearts was quite similar than the latter.
But of all these senators, Galen didn't see the one he wanted to see. The one he connected with back at the cathedral. The one who didn't even bother showing his pale face to this whole ordeal: Duke Seliora himself, Narcissai.
"Fall back!" Finn ordered. He was already on his horse and he and his group were departing the bloodied streets of Begnion when Galen snapped out of it and turned back, following the group. Finally Lekain shouted, "Soldiers, AFTER THEM!"
Reinforcement came rushing out from behind homes and other places in pursuit of the rebels. At that same moment the Senators behind Lekain lifted their hands up, closed their eyes and began to chant. Lekain did the same, and lo! The fallen soldiers rose from the ground they laid on. A white light moved over them like gentle wind blowing from their sides and their wounds vanished in a breeze. The soldiers back on their feet, readied their weapons and ran, joining the reinforcements in the pursuit.
xXx
"There has been an incident at the town square, Your Eminences." spoke a young ward from inside a board meeting chamber overlooking the City of Sienne via a top-to-bottom glass window. A large table of fine white texture spread out in the middle of the chamber, and surrounding the table were about a dozen chairs. Sitting at the Senators' seats were more wards, serving as their replacements. One ward who was an elderly man in his late 60s, faced everyone on the table at the far corner of the room where the windows were. At the end of that table was Emperor Alvis (Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part II) royal guest to the table. Sitting at the same table as well, but facing the remaining wards, were two more royal guests: Duke of Macedon Michalis (Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon) and the prince of Grandbell, Alvis' son Julius (Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War). The latter seemed to be peeved, growing with impatience unlike the others.
During the invasion on Etruria, Archanea and Renais, the countries of Bern and Dohl came together to ally themselves with the Grand Empire of Begnion-Grandbell, much to the dismay of her people. Bern, the Power Kingdom, was reconstructing at that time since she had lost their ruler Zephiel, who was one of the darkest beings to ever live in the Fire Emblem world until his assassination, betrayed by his close ally the Mad King Ashnard. Now the country briefly fell upon the hands of a much sane, much more loving ruler, the king's sister Guinivere.
But Bern was taken, by the forces of the Grand Empire of Begnion-Grandbell, and assisting in the invasion was one young duke of Macedon and a dear friend to Guinivere, Michalis.
Dohl, unlike Bern, had no ruler at that time. So the people did not mind for a foreigner to take on the throne rather than a dark dragon, who once ruled its barren soils. That leader was none other than Julius, the son of the Grandbell Emperor.
The young ward who spoke was standing behind Alvis, but in front of the door in which his back was facing up against.
The older ward at the end of the table let out a breathy sigh, "…thank you. You may take your leave."
And the young ward took off, closing the door behind him. Finally with the young ward gone, Julius barked, a fist thundering through the table, "Okay, is this some kind of a ruse?"
All eyes snapped to his directions. "If there's supposed to be a meeting," he pressed on, "then the Senate should always have a reason to at least show up to the meeting."
"My deepest apologies Your Highness." the ward said. But that statement barely doused the raging fire painted all over Julius's face.
"The Senate had to step out and to personally deal with the matter of treason from our own numbers." the ward went on, "Which is why we were chosen as their replacements to discuss it at hand on their behalf."
"Treason huh?" Alvis calmly stated.
The ward nodded, "Yes. The people involved were briefly arrested at the town square, but they escaped within the last second."
"So these two princesses..." Michalis began, "...they have cracked at last, I see?"
"It appear so, Lord Michalis." the ward replied, "But it was all done so prematurely yet by another figure from the ranks. A Judas it turns out to be."
The ward leaned closer to the table, "But he is not just a betrayer."
"Is he now?" Alvis spoke, almost with discontent.
The ward shook his head, "No. He happens to be a powerful foe. He deemed himself the Baron Dragon."
Short gasps and murmurs extracted from the small audience. Alvis, Julius, and Michalis all exchanged quick glances.
"You mean to tell me that the most dangerous legend in the world has been slipped away from your grasp at that last second?" Julius was furious.
"If he's that dangerous, we need to capture him dead." Alvis proposed. "Because I don't think we can negotiate with him in joining our numbers."
"I'd have to pass on that proposal." a voice-a soft, delicate voice-spoke from inside the board chamber. All heads turned to the presence and every male hormone in the room fired up at the sight of what could be the most beautiful, model-looking woman to ever visit Begnion.
She approached to take her seat. A diamond crown shaped in perfect harmony to her short bob-shaped blond hair, an elegant aquamarine floor-length gown to fashionably match, and her slanted cat-like green eyes were the many features in the visitor that captivated the guests and the wards from within the room. Her stunning beauty literally robbed their breaths. She walked to her seat. Even the walk was so seductive that it'll even have the most pious members of the Senate scream for some love upon suffering hormonal overload. Her staff, a very skinny sea-colored staff with an emerald stone on top surrounded by cerulean claws, floated besides her as her glass shoes echoed in the silence of the chamber. She took her seat.
Julius noticed his father couldn't speak. The perfect stranger in the room had somehow pulled all of his attention and his train of thoughts away from the matter and into her perfectly-shaped hourglass figure that caused all the blood to drain off from his brain. Alvis was married of course, to Diedre. And as Julius was taught growing up, any married men snapping even a quick glance at another woman was automatically accused of treason and betrayal against his family in Grandbell.
He cleared his throat and snapped at the stranger, "You're late!"
The stranger turned to his attention. "So what if I am?" She smiled. And now Julius couldn't speak. He tried his best to keep the red color of anger flushed on his face and not a color of bashfulness.
She leaned over the table, resting her chest on the ivory surface. A provocative pose, "The Baron Dragon's powers would be of great benefit if we actually uses them to our advantage." she went on, "So if I were you, members of the Dark Alliance, I wouldn't jump into conclusion on getting rid of such valuable asset."
One of the wards cleared his throat, finally able to speak as if all the saliva came back to his throat, "yes, yes... the lady is quite right."
And the rest of the group agreed. "yes, yes, very right indeed."
"We shouldn't be rid of the Baron Dragon." the elder ward said, trying his best to look away from the tempting vision before him and focusing on his peers, "After all, he is a valuable asset to the group."
He finally turned to face her, "But don't mind me asking. What is it that you're planning on doing," he paused to swallow, "Queen Icy?"
The Olympian Queen turned a serious glance at his direction, "I'm sorry to say that this is none of your business. This matter is between me and my stepson." She then moved her slanted eyes over at the group, "You deal with the matters on hand."
xXx
The band of nine was now distance away from Begnion. The Empire that looked like a holy city now seemed to have taken the shape of a futuristic one to Galen's eyes. There was no other way to explain this change but to conclude that this was all the doing of the Fire Emblem world under some fusion form with the Real world.
"Well looks like Begnion won't be visited by us anymore." said Nolan, half-jokingly.
Galen guiltily sighed. "Guys, I'm sorry." he said solemnly, "If I hadn't meddled back at the town square..."
He let the words drowned out in his thoughts. Narcissai was responsible for causing this. For fooling him. His comrades wouldn't have been busted if he hadn't spill the beans to that no-good two-faced clown in the first place.
But then again how sure was he that Narcissai didn't tell the Senate of their secret? He didn't even see him back at the town square along with the other Senators. All he knew was that he shared a lot of information with Narcissai, including the fact that he was the Baron Dragon. And now he betrayed his trust. Should he see him again, he'll have a few-no, a lot of bones-to pick with him.
"Don't blame yourself." Sophia replied, a gentle hand placed on his shoulder.
"You only did what you thought was right." Finn added sincerely.
"Yeah." Soren said, "If only Tiena and Felica have TOLD you what you were up to." he accusingly nudged his head to their directions.
Tiena and Celica gaped, "Excuse me?" Tiena argued, "You were part of the plan too Soren. Remember?"
"Yeah. You were all up for it." Celica added.
Soren moved back, only returning the dagger-eyes of the girls with a bewildered stare that looked like he had nothing to do with it.
"Come on, the next town is not far from here." Sothe said to the group.
Galen looked over the road spreading out before him, welcomed by the plains with the grass rustling through the quiet wind. There was no town in sight. He blinked.
"How far is..." he hesitated, "...not far?"
"Only a fortnight." Ishtar replied, "We'll set up camp along the way."
Galen stretched his eyes out. A fortnight was maximum two weeks!
"Wait...what?" he gaped, "So we're gonna walk... to the next town?" he said again, hoping to hear that they were not actually serious about it.
"It's not that far a walk." Sothe said, "Besides we've done it for quite some time."
Galen frowned. They were gonna WALK to the next town for 14 days. How could they even do that without a taxi, or a bus, or any form of transportation was complete and utter madness.
Galen froze, as if an idea just paralyzed him. The world he was in SHOULD have a taxi or a cab or some sort of transportation handy since the Fire Emblem world looked more modern now than medieval.
But he could be wrong. There could be a chance that he won't be able to see a taxi or a cab or something... or a chance that if he talked about them, his comrades were gonna stare at him like he's from another planet.
...wait a minute, he WAS from another planet.
"Wait, should we at least find ourselves some mode of transportation, like say..." he hesitated as all eyes turned toward him, "...a convoy or a horse?" he pointed at Finn's horse on cue. The horse snorted.
"We could find a carriage." Finn replied, "That means we would have to shift gear and go to Ilia however."
"But Ilia is not that far." Nolan said, "And it's safe to go... at least for now. It'll only take at least two days to reach the place."
Galen could feel a heavy weight lifted off his shoulders. Two days was way better than a fortnight.
"I'd like to go to Ilia also." Sophia added.
"Guess it's not a bad choice." Ishtar agreed.
"Count us in!" Tiena said with a smile. Celica and Soren also agreed.
"It's official." Sothe said with a faint smile, "The Dragon Brigade will take a detour and go to Ilia."
"Dragon Brigade huh?" Galen smiled, "I like that name."
"Do you now?" Finn said, "Then how would you like to be our leader?"
Galen's eyebrows rose, "leader?" he looked around, "...wait? Leader of this band right here?"
"Unless you don't like the very thought of it." Soren said, hoping to see Galen back out of that deal, but Celica elbowed him.
"...wait, no!" Galen shook his head and smiled, "What are you talking about? I love the idea of leading an army... Well..." he counted again at the small band of nine-eight plus himself, "...we're not yet an army but we can make it together."
He stepped before the small band, "Don't worry everyone. I'll make sure that this Dragon Brigade deals with every evil that plagues our world and saves everyone within it. Mark my words."