Chapter 25

AN:Hello people of the internet! I have the Flu! Yay… Ow. Here is the chapter. Oh. Disclaimers… You already know them. And I am just as tired of typing them as you are of reading them.

The smell of mold permeated the air as I stared at my cell wall. Only the sound of dripping water was to be heard throughout my tiny 4 by four foot universe. Occasionally a sigh of content appeared from the cell to my right where Gaius was stored. I don't blame him in the least. Compared to the hell that he has been through for the past few weeks, this must seem like a vacation to him. Erin however, was not taking it as well.

"LET ME OUT! I AM GOING STIR CRAZY!" Erin shouted.

"We have only been in here for half an hour." I reminded her.

"Quiet you two." Gaius said. "A guard is coming by." As the guard passed, all of us pretended to be doing something else. I don't know what Erin and Gaius did, but I just closed my eyes, and pretended to sleep. When the guard passed, Erin hissed:

"Aren't you two thieves? Can't you just pick the locks?" I considered this for a moment.

"I am already in hot water with the Khans. I want to marry one of their daughters, so I think I should piss them off as little as possible."

"That is a good reason." Erin acknowledged. "What about you Gaius?"

"I just enjoy hearing you squirm."

"What?" She asked.

"This next guard coming by is a sweet piece of work.." Gaius stated. "And you better believe that I am getting myself an eyeful of TnA as she walks by."

"WHAT!" There was a silence as the guard passed. But you could cut the tension between the cells with a knife. If silence could kill, you could bet that Gaius would be dead, deep fried, paired with fava beans and a nice chianti, and fed to Hannibal Lector. PFTPFTPFTPFTPFTPFTPFT! When the guard was finally out of earshot I heard Erin hiss:

"When we get out of here, I will be giving you the whipping of a lifetime."

"If you can catch me." Gaius commented.

"GRRRRRRR!" Erin growled. Oh look, we may be down a Shepherd before we get home. Good thing that Erin was the only one of us who couldn't get out of her cell.

A stream of light appeared moments later with Flavia casting a shadow into my cell. She fumbled for the keys at her belt.

"Allow me." I said, picking the lock on my cell door, and opening it wide for her. She scowled at me, then I was looking up at the damp ceiling with a stinging cheek.

"Why did you come here?" She asked me. "I was warning you to stay away from Olivia!"

"Yeah I got that. You hate me."

"It was for your own good idiot!"

"How was that for my own good?"

"Liv is promised to marry someone else!" I lay back stunned for a moment. When in all of our time together did Liv ever give any indication to this? I had a bigger fish to fry.

"And you did this," I said calmly. "By being openly hostile to me? Instead of telling me this sooner?"

"Erm… Let's just say whenever my daughter is involved, it is neither of our finest hours." She said, sheepish. "You may be wondering why Liv didn't tell you, well it is because she didn't know. I wrote of her attraction to you as a passing fancy instead of the real article, so I was going to wait until your relationship ended." She explained. That made sense. In a sort of weird way. I had one question.

"Why?" I asked. "Why have an arranged marriage anyway?"

"They have Basilio's infant son Marcus as a hostage." She explained to me. "The only way we can get him back is by giving him Olivia's hand in marriage."

"Why didn't you just say no? It doesn't involve your family."

"Basilio's family and mine are so close that it doesn't even matter anymore." She said. "Plus it is a matter of Feroxi honor!"

"How exactly does it help Feroxi honor if you marry away your kid like that?" I asked her.

"Because the suitor in question has one of the most powerful armies he world at his back." She took a deep breath. "He is a high officer in the Valmese army." Okay, that eliminated some innocent men off of my assholes that need to die list.

"Who exactly is he?" I prompted.

"The tactician Excellus." She said. Does she mean the little toad of a man that was Walhart's tactician? That Excellus? This should be easy, I mean, he was really easy to kill for all of the build-up he was getting in game, and as far as I could tell, I was between level 5 and 15 of… whatever the hell class I am.

"We can't go against him, because he has proven that he is willing and capable of killing little Marcus." Flavia said. "I just want to say I am sorry before leaving you in here to rot." Shit! I had to think fast. What was Ferox most widely known for? Cold? Army? Directness?

The Arena.

"I will fight Excellus for the right to Olivia's hand." Flavia seemed surprised. "A side bet of: if he loses he has to give up Marcus. If I lose I will become his slave."

"Hmmmmm…" Flavia said. "That idea has merit. You are a prisoner though!"

"Every man has a right in the courts of Feroxi law to fight in the arena." I heard Erin say..

"How did you know that Swirls?" Gaius asked her.

"How do you know every single type of sweet, and the bust size of every female Shepard in Ylisse?' She asked him. "I actually study you perv!"

"My studies are way sweeter than yours!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Will you two guards escort them out?" Flavia asked the two guards behind her. "They are giving me a headache." We waited for the sounds of Gaius and Erin arguing to disappear down the hallway.

"She was right though." She told me. "I knew you were smart. That is a way for all of our problems to be solved." I wanted to kill Excellus, but I knew that I needed to help get Marcus back.

"When can I fight?" I asked her.

"In about an hour. Some other poor schmuck in the prison has challenged Basilio for his freedom." Flavia laughed. "Basilio will free him alright. Free him to go to hell." I chuckled along with her. She really wasn't that bad of a person. One more thing to check.

"You aren't still mad about the… thing you caught me and Olivia doing?" She blushed at the mention of that day.

"You fixed that problem yourself by getting engaged." She admitted.

About an hour later, I was behind a drawbridge waiting for my name to be announced.

"Our next fight," I heard the announcer shouted. "Is a fight for the hand of our very own Olivia!" Cheering shook the ground. "It is also to rescue, or damn Marcus!" I realized how much faith Flavia was putting in me. Basilio as well. I could not afford to lose this fight.

"The fight will be sword on sword to first blood. All other weapons are banned from the fight." That's fine. Donny is my best weapon anyway. I doubt that Excellus will fight fair though.

"In the red corner, is the vicious Valmese victor, Excellus!" Cheers greeted him as he raised a claw into the air in greeting. I want to kill him. I fingered the bow on my back.

"In the blue corner, it is the fresh meat straight from the prison cells, Noah!" I ran out, and stood, surrounded by the cheers of the people of Ferox. The herald shouted from the sky:

"I want a good clean fight. Now, may Olivia officially start the fight?" I saw Olivia rise in her dancer garb. She looked extraordinarily beautiful. She lifted the silk scarf off of her shoulders, and let it loose. I saw it flutter down lazily in the wind. Like a leaf fluttering through the autumn sky, it fluttered down into my arms. I realized what this was, and everyone else in the crowd knew it too. This was a favor. It told the crowd in no uncertain terms who Olivia wanted to win. I guess it is just my hopeless romantic inside, but I always wanted to be a knight in shining armor to someone. To be a hero. I guess I can check that off of my bucket list. The crowd awwwed in appreciation as I wrapped the scarf around my neck. Excellus just scowled at me, and raised his sword in front of his face. I drew Donny out of the sheath at my waist and pointed it at Excellus.

"Begin." Olivia said, as if she had not just proclaimed her bias to the world.

I realized immediately that Erin was right. I had not completely recovered from the poison. My sword play was way sluggish compared to the way I normally fight. Good thing that Excellus was completely glacial compared to me. I blocked three clumsy strikes from Excellus before I got bored. I slapped the sword out of his hands, and put my sword at his throat.

"Yield." I told him.

"I don't think so." He croaked. I then noticed the Bolganone tome he was aiming at my chest. I reacted quickly, and rolled out of the way. A pillar of fire shot up from where I was standing. Excellus cackled as he fired off another pillar which I barely rolled out of the way of as well. This time when I recovered from the roll, I had my killer bow drawn.

"You have failed!" I shouted as I fired my bow. The arrow flew out, and struck the tome out of his hands. While he attempted to catch it before it fell to the ground, I drew one of my kunai from my leg sheath, and threw it in his back. Blood oozed from his back, and I heard the trumpets signaling the end of the match.

Apparently Excellus didn't get the memo. He drew himself up straight, and fired another Bolganone. I dodged, and prepped my bow to fire again. There was no need. Flavia and Basilio had their arms raised, and two hundred bowmen had arrows trained on Excellus.

"Yield!" Basilio shouted.

"Fine!" He shouted back. "You will never see Marcus again!" Basilio's eyes hardened.

"Tell me where he is!" Basilio shouted back.

"Expect the Valmese army to be on your shores within the year." Excellus said. "Eeh eeh hee! Eeh eeh hee!"

"Fire!" Basilo shouted as he dropped his arm. Two hundred arrows fired into the ground where Excellus was standing only a moment before. Now, there remained nothing but his eerie laugh. Did… did I just start the war with Valm? Then I saw my fiancee run into my arms, and realized it didn't matter in the least yet.

That was a worry for another day.

AN: Well, I started the war with Valm! I think that I have a few more things to wrap up before moving on, but other then that, we are just about done with the between war years. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Follow and review. I really appreciate it!