- Chapter 37: Reason for Peace -

Hindel stared down at the sword in his chest with disbelief and an odd sense of déjà vu. Just as it had seemed absurd and unfair for him to be killed by Brehen before he could even begin his glorious destiny, it seemed absurd and unfair for him to die now, right when he was on the verge of uniting the world under Iom. Absurd, unfair, and impossible. He wielded the power of Iom; he should have been impervious to the efforts of a callow, spoiled prince like Eli.

But Iom was even now telling Hindel all about the Sword of Hajya. Iom had not said anything when Eli had brandished the sword in their previous encounter, in the palace of Iom, because Hindel might then have been driven by fear of the weapon. He might well have opted to try to kill all the members of the Cypress royal family to ensure no one could use the sword against him, and while ordinarily that would have pleased Iom, in this case he needed Cypress, Guardiana, and Emild as allies against Kerinam.

Now, though, Iom told him the weapon's entire history, and he was hit with the cruel irony that a sword forged with the power of the Light was now playing a key role in eradicating the Light itself from the world. Foremost in his mind, however, was a question: Why, Lord Iom? Why tell me all this now, when it's too late for me to change anything?

His god did not answer. Not directly, at any rate. But as he coughed blood out of the murky maw that was presently his mouth, Dusty cried, "Hindel!" and fell to his knees beside him.

Hindel smiled at his brother. "Isn't this... what you were trying to accomplish?" But he had already figured out the answer. Dusty hadn't been trying to slay his Iom-protected body; he was dumb, but not dumb enough to try the same thing over and over in the hope of different results. Most likely, he had been hoping that if he distracted Hindel long enough for the rest of the Shining Force to be defeated, that would be enough to ruin Iom's plans.

Dusty didn't have the time to answer, anyway. "Don't die on me," Eli said in Hindel's ear. Grasping Hindel's shoulder for leverage, Eli pulled the Sword of Hajya free from his torso. "Not just yet." He gripped Hindel by the hair and held the sword to his throat. "Not until you tell me where my parents are."

"They're... with the... main Iom force," Hindel hissed out through the blood in his throat. "Just outside... the castle."

"Brought them as potential leverage in negotiating with my sister, did you?" He gave Hindel's hair a painful jerk. "Order their release, now. Do it and we'll let your troops live."

It was then that Hindel saw, little by little, what the answer to his question for Iom was. One part of the answer was in the battle taking place before him.

Dusty had looked like he had something to contribute to Eli and Hindel's conversation, but before he could say or do anything, Alric came up behind him and brought his bo over Dusty's head and against the front of his neck, locking him in place and strangling him. It was a bit odd that he didn't simply strike him with his bo, but perhaps he was reluctant to harm Hindel's brother. "Go, Nancie!" he cried. "Heal him!"

Nancie was moving to do as he said, probably intending to use a level 3 Heal spell, but Dusty grasped Alric's bo with both hands and performed a backwards head-butt against his face. While Alric fell back with a gasp of pain, Dusty snatched his sword off the floor and lunged at Nancie. She fell back two steps, and his first slash ripped through her robes to make a stinging cut across her stomach instead of slicing her wide open.

"You did this to him!" he yelled at her. "Without you Iom worshipers encouraging him, Hindel wouldn't have succumbed to this madness!"

Nancie could only stare at Dusty in terror, defenseless as she was, and his other comrades weren't doing much better. Even as they rushed to Hindel's aid, Barro was rallying Eli's band to stop them. "Taela, break their ranks with some wildfire! Rimeon, keep her safe! Caleb, nail that birdwoman if you can, keep her at bay if you can't! Farrell, Karis, the three of us will take them down one at a time, together."

They fulfilled Barro's orders. While Caleb still had the bo he'd wielded in the Shining Force's first encounter with them, it was strapped to his back and his hands were now busy with a crossbow. Adorn managed to elude his arrows, but his shots were well-aimed enough that she had to keep her distance, where she couldn't help. And unlike Eli's band, the Shining Force were without a leader to direct them. Hindel would have told them to spread out a little; instead, Redgar, Bradford, and Kellam stuck together so close that Taela's Blaze spell hit them all. And while Bradford wasted time using his shield to beat out the flames from Kellam's robes – flames which the mage could more easily put out himself with his magic – Barro, Karis, and Farrell were ganging up on Redgar.

The second part of Hindel's answer was in Hindel himself. It was the recognition that he'd again given up too easily. Before, his mistake was not trusting in Iom's power; this time, it was becoming dependent on it. Iom was mighty, but he could not do everything for Hindel. He had to do some things himself.

He had to. Not just for Iom's sake, but for his friends' sake. And even for Queen Anri and King Kay's sake. Just like his friends, they'd put his trust in him. He couldn't let them down.

He began willing the change in reverse, starting from his heart and proceeding slowly outwards. He needed to keep Eli from suspecting anything, so he answered his demand. "I can't let... your parents go. Your father is too willful... too determined to be in control of everything. He'd ruin Iom's plan for us."

"That's good news as far as I'm concerned. And as far as you're concerned, I think you dying at my hand will ruin Iom's plans just as well."

"You don't understand..." The change was now nearly at the surface of his skin. Though he couldn't tell for sure, it felt as though the sword wound was still there, but closed up by reforming human flesh. And against a human, the Sword of Hajya was just another weapon; it could kill him, but it could no longer sever his connection to his god. He readied himself to make his move. "Without Iom's power and wisdom, you can't defeat Kerinam."

"I don't know who Kerinam is, but I'm quite sure we can defeat him without your he-"

Hindel shot his left foot back into against Eli's ankle and then, as he pitched forward, greeted him with an elbow to the stomach. The prince was undoubtedly well-trained, but too inexperienced to anticipate a surprise move like that. He lost his grip on the Sword of Hajya, but Hindel couldn't waste time trying to pick it up.

Nancie had been coming to his aid, so Dusty, in attacking her, had his back to him. He leapt into Dusty, knocking him to the floor. In less chaotic circumstances he'd have given his younger brother a lecture about attacking helpless people, but right now he had to diffuse the situation without delay, so he just gave Dusty a hard rap against the floor to stun him and borrowed his sword. Nancie, Iom bless her, was already casting a heal spell to undo the wound inflicted on him by the Sword of Hajya. Even so, he opted not to change back to Iom form just yet. Changing too frequently took a toll on his body, and besides, letting lose with that sort of power in a room in which enemies, allies, and people he wished were his allies were all so crowded together was bound to have disastrous effects.

For you, Iom. I'll solve this one myself, for you.

First, he needed to help his troops, and defeat Eli's force. Much as he'd like to resolve the whole thing peaceably, Eli clearly wasn't going to give up on liberating his parents, and Hindel honestly couldn't blame him.

"Bradford, leave Kellam; you and Alric help Redgar! Nancie, Aura spell centered on Redgar, now!"

They were just fast enough that Nancie undid most of the damage done so far before Taela launched another Blaze spell. In Iom form Hindel could have deflected it easily, but for now they would just have to endure it. He ran up to Kellam's side; the mage had just finished putting out the flames on his robes. "Kellam, can you nail the one with the crossbow, at least stun him enough to make him stop shooting a moment?"

"Yes, but I'll need to get closer."

"I'll cover you. Adorn! When I say 'rain', hit them hard!"

"This... this isn't right!" she protested. "They're only fighting us because you took his parents – which you never told me, by the way!"

"I'm not ordering you to kill them, just save our friends!" There was no time to argue; Barro had already advanced to clash swords with Hindel, while Kellam was casting Freeze on Caleb, making his fingers momentarily too numb and pained to pull the trigger of his crossbow. He'd just have to trust Adorn, and pray to Iom that she would trust him as well. "Rain!"

Adorn swooped down, slicing her blade across Caleb's trigger arm while striking him with a left hook. Caleb was one of the braver members of Eli's team, Hindel gave him that, but as he'd calculated, not one of the hardier ones. He crumpled at Adorn's attack, leaving her still time to hit Karis with the flat of her blade before flying back out of range. They had relied too much on Caleb keeping Adorn at bay, and this stroke was enough to reinvigorate the Shining Force's efforts against them.

The Shining Force had no centaurs among them, but Alric made up for that lack of height by holding his bo by one end and swinging it up to strike Karis's jaw. Her face contorted in a sort of eager bloodlust. "You first, then the birdwoman! You stinking Iom worshipers!"

She lunged at Alric with lance pointed at his head, but in her rage she overlooked the much shorter warrior standing in front of Alric. As Karis passed over him, Bradford raised his axe and cut open her underbelly. Bloody innards spilling over him, he rolled out of the way as Karis crashed to the floor.

Meanwhile, thanks to his companion's actions, Redgar was no longer faced with three opponents; only Farrell still stood against him, and he had been caught by the outer edges of Kellam's Freeze spell. Farrell was very skilled, but Redgar was faster, fast enough to slip the point of his spear past the beastman's defenses and into his chest.

"Unlessss you acquired a healer after the lasst time we met," Redgar said, "I recommend you get out of my way."

Farrell paused a moment and then, surprisingly, complied with Redgar's suggestion, allowing him to advance upon Rimeon and Taela. It wasn't hard to guess why: After Hindel knocked Eli to the floor, a Guardiana dwarf warrior had taken advantage and was trying to finish the prince off. Hindel's mother had told him all about the Royal Protectors, and it stood to reason that either Farrell or Rimeon was Eli's.

Not that Hindel could devote any real thought to that at the moment. He was still engaged in swordplay with Barro, their steel clashing again and again in rapid succession. "You're quite skilled at this," Barro complimented

Hindel did not answer, seeing no sense in engaging in chatter. But the truth was, Barro was more than a bit skilled with the sword himself. He had the intensity and confidence of someone who had devoted a lot more hours to sword training than Hindel's dad would have given him even if he'd asked. He also had the same fierce resolution Hindel had seen in him during their first battle, though he didn't pretend to know where it came from. And Hindel still felt a bit weak from being impaled by the Sword of Hajya, so he knew he wouldn't be able to keep up the exertion of striking one heavy piece of steel against another for much longer. It didn't help that he was using Dusty's sword, which had been specially forged for his younger but physically stronger brother. He couldn't keep this up.

He didn't need to. With the rest of Eli's forces occupied by the Shining Force, none of them could stop Adorn from flying wherever she wanted. She swooped down behind Barro and cut a sizable tear down his back. His foe thus momentarily distracted, Hindel cut into his sword arm, disarming him.

"You fought a good fight," Hindel said, holding the point of his sword against the center of Barro's chest. "But we've learned teamwork."

"Get away from my cousin!" Eli roared, swinging the Sword of Hajya at Hindel.

Hindel easily sidestepped the stroke and parried Eli's follow-up. The prince was a more than decent fighter, but he lacked Barro's fiery resolve, and was also rather the worse for the wear; his earlier tussles with Hindel and the Guardiana warrior had left him with a number of visible cuts and bruises, with no healer to undo them. But he wasn't giving up, either.

Hindel cast his glance hopefully upward, but Adorn was now trapped in aerial combat with Claude. The tide had nonetheless clearly turned against Eli's force, but... Can't I end this any other way? Do I have to kill Eli? I'm willing to accept a death here and there to avert hundreds more lives from being thrown away, but what about Princess Judith? Will she still support my side if I kill her brother?

He was suddenly struck by something: Judith had yet to leave the room. Why? She must realize that her life is too valuable to risk in a chaotic skirmish like this. As a member of the Cypress royal family, she must have been trained in combat, but she isn't joining the fight, so... She wouldn't risk staying here just to view the outcome, would she?

But as he half watched Judith out of the corner of his eyes, which were focused on her brother, she stiffened and clenched her fists, as if coming to a resolution. Then she undid a single button of her dress and pulled out a dagger concealed there – not the weapon of a warrior, but a helpful contingency in case of treachery. In this case, though, Hindel guessed that the treachery would be on her part, even before she took aim with the dagger.

So he called out, "Princess Judith!"

Though he hadn't been planning on it, this shout broke Eli's concentration; the prince turned his head to follow Hindel's gaze. Hindel took advantage of the distraction, by kicking Eli square in the stomach. He fell back with a pained whoosh of breath.

"Princess Judith!" he repeated. "You can end this violence! Just tell your brother to surrender!"

"I'd rather we defeated you, freed my parents, and dealt with Kerinam on our own terms," Judith answered, but she did not throw the dagger yet.

"If I die here, at the hands of the Cypress royal family, my men will kill your parents. You must realize that! Unless you stop this madness now, you're gambling with your brother's life as well! I swear to you, your parents will go free, without conditions, once this is over!"

Judith hesitated just a moment more, then said, "Call them off, Eli."

He stared at her. "Have you lost your mind, Judith? You're really taking this madman's word?"

"When you turned to look at me, he could have skewered you with his blade instead of kicking you away. He plays the part of a villain well, but I can't think of any reason why a real villain would spare your life in this situation." She looked at her brother with pained sympathy. "I'm sorry, Eli. I know it seems like everyone's been doubting you, and you wanted to prove them wrong by winning this victory. But we need to be allied with Cypress, Emild, and Guardiana, not fighting them."

Eli listened to what she said, and looked at Hindel. Hindel looked back at him, and this time he did not look at him with menace. Trying to cower the Cypressians had not worked. Judith was right; they needed to be allies.

Eli dropped his sword and said, "People of Cypress! Put down your weapons! General Hindel, Princess Judith, and I are calling a truce!" Once he was sure that everyone had obeyed his command, he turned to his sister. "If father decides to make you his heir instead of me, I'll accept that."

Judith smiled. "Thank you, brother. But I think you're more fit to be king than you've had the chance to prove yet."

With the chaos at last settling down, Hindel looked around for Valeria. But she was gone.