Part Seven

They had resolved to leave the Liberation Army. Arin didn't bother hiding his relief at Daunte's proclamation, although he did pose a very good question.

"Daunte, are we taking your allies with us? The ones you recruited?"

That was a good point. He knew the Liberation Army was going off in a very bad direction, and it didn't sit well with him to leave the very people he'd recruited into the Army to this fate.

"That's a good point," Felicity agreed. "The people you recruited are really only here because of you, Daunte. I don't think they'd want to stay if you're not here."

"If they come with us, we'll be our own independent army though," Roen said. "Where would we go?"

"I think…I have an idea," Daunte said slowly. "There was a place where Arin and I lived before…" he waved a hand. "It's to the west of here, directly along the coast. I didn't bring it up earlier because of how far away it is from the Nagarean-Falenan border, but…"

"Well, it's better than nothing," Felicity said, nodding. "That settles it. We'll pack up, gather our allies, and leave."

"When we fled Daunte, I grabbed everything I could carry," Arin said as they walked back to camp. "Would you like to see it?"

It was the first time Daunte had even thought about it. He'd been so caught up in everything that was going on that he hadn't thought about if any of his meager possessions had been saved. "Thank you, Arin."

They covertly snuck back into camp, and luckily the overall mood was so morose that nobody was paying any attention to them. Daunte followed them back to the tent they'd all been sharing, and was surprised to find that Arin really had brought along all his minimal possessions. Unable to help himself he gave his little brother a quick hug before looking everything over. However, the item on top of his satchel gave him.

It was the letter Surya had written him.

Daunte carefully opened the repaired letter and reread it. He then frowned deeply, and tucked it into an inner pocket.

They left the tent, and Daunte had a genuinely sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like this. He didn't like leaving the Liberation Army like this. But at the same time though, he felt like Bearyl Lutis had put him in an impossible position.

Serving that man has been thankless labor that has almost gotten me killed numerous times. It's far too risky to stay here under his command.

Daunte was still careful though, and approached each of his companions to let them know what was going on. He was almost surprised by their responses, but…

"You want me to leave with you?" Liron asked. "Of course I will."

"Is this a trick question?" Priscilla asked him sarcastically. "You had better not leave me here with this idiot!"

"I owe you my life," Eamon said. "As do my people. I owe Bearyl Lutis nothing."

"You're the one who recruited me," Cairoh said. "You're the one I have allegiance to."

"My livelihood was saved because of you," Gusoku said. "I can do no better than to stay by your side."

"This was inevitable," Oboro sighed. "But you must do what you must do. As do I. I will stay with you, my Lord."

"Sure," Shou said.

"I'm not leaving your side!" Sharon snapped. "I don't know anybody else here!"

"Y-You promised to watch over me," Viki said, nodding. "So I will stay with you."

"So much has happened, and things are only going to get worse," Tidur said. "I don't trust Lord Bearyl to take care of my daughters. I do however trust you, Lord Daunte, so I will gladly go with you."

"I'll go where Mom goes," Ciana said bluntly.

"I'm not leaving my family's side!" Esther said. "And I'm certainly not staying here under that man's command!"

"Of course I will go with you," Desiree told him, smiling.

"You seem to be the only one with any damned sense around here," Farzin fumed. "So of course I'm going to stay by your side!"

And even people Daunte didn't recruit were more than willing to agree with him.

"I-I almost died when we evacuated headquarters," Ichirou said softly. "I owe Lord Bearyl everything but he…no. I can't serve him like this anymore."

"We have been a slippery downward slope for a substantial amount of time," Jantu said. "I no longer believe we're going to win. I do believe however that if I stay I will die, and my death would be worthless."

"All right, why not?" Gizli said, shrugging.

After having talked to everyone, Daunte felt a great weight be lifted off his shoulders. I've secured the safety of my allies. Now I can face Lord Bearyl.

Because he knew he had to face the man and tell him point-blank they were quitting. They couldn't just waltz out of camp with so many soldiers after all. Daunte saw in Roen and Felicity's faces that they thought it was a bad idea, but neither voiced any complaints as they made their way to the main tent.

"They're still fighting?!" Arin said incredulously as they came to a stop in front of the tent flap. Indeed, there were still several overlapping voices within the tent.

"It sounds like it's more people though this time," Felicity said.

Not wanting to stall any longer, Daunte pushed open the flap and went inside.

"Are you completely insane?!" Gunther hollered. "Or do you not care at all about succeeding?!"

"My Lord, this would literally be a suicide mission!" Allise also argued.

"No, it wouldn't," Bearyl retorted. "They would never see it coming! We would take them completely off-guard!"

"But to launch another campaign against Mlkwt Alsmwat, while our numbers are so low, would not only ensure our defeat in battle, but also our defeat as an Army," Varnaz tried to speak calmly. "Lord Bearyl, our soldiers cannot move into battle so quickly! Not after the losses we suffered, and not while morale is so low!"

Bearyl sighed with impatience. "We can regain morale with this victory. The High Clerics would never expect a second attack so soon after the first, and they have most surely gone on recess now!"

"My Lord, we don't yet know—"

"Varnaz, ready the troops to march!"

Daunte felt his jaw drop as he watched the arguing before him. Was…Was Bearyl actually planning on marching on the capital again?! Was his grand plan to just throw Liberation Army soldiers, many of whom weren't fully recovered even after Daunte used his True Rune, at Mlkwt Alsmwat on the assumption that the enemy wouldn't see it coming?!

Now I know I've made the right decision.

"My Lord," Daunte announced loudly. To his surprise the arguing immediately silenced. Gunther and Allise even stood a little straighter as he approached the table. "M—"

"Who do you think you are, coming in here while we have a meeting?!" Bearyl snapped at him. "You have no place here, Daunte! You're just a grunt without rank!"

Daunte bristled. I'm just a grunt? Then why have I put into command more than once? But he forced himself to calm down. "My Lord, we're here to stay goodbye."

"G-Goodbye?!" Allise gasped. Daunte shifted with discomfort at the distress in her voice.

"Yes," Daunte said. He kept his eyes on Bearyl. "We've come here to resign our posts in the Liberation Army."

"Varnaz, arrest them for treason!" Bearyl quickly responded. His nostrils flared and he glared murderously at Daunte. "You ungrateful little snot-nosed brat! After everything I've done for you—everything I've sacrificed for you—and this is the thanks you give me?! Running away like a coward when the going gets tough?!"

"Don't you talk to my big brother like that!" Arin hollered. He stepped around Daunte to glare at Bearyl. "Daunte has done so much for this Army, and you've never thanked him for anything! No, you treat him like he's a nuisance! You're so full of it that you think you're the only one who's done anything for the Liberation Army! But the only think you've done is let your ego do the talking, and you've proven that you're completely useless as a leader!"

Bearyl looked so angry that Daunte was almost afraid he would attack Arin. Thankfully, Bearyl did not move from his spot but still addressed Arin with venom. "I'm not going to be insulted by a useless child like you."

"You bastard!" Daunte burst out, and almost launched himself across the table, but Arin bumped into him to stop him. "Yeah, I'm the useless child! That isn't news to me, my Lord! You've never stopped reminding me that I'm a useless child!"

"You owe me your life!" Bearyl barked at Arin. "If it weren't for me, you would've died!"

"Dr. Clara was the one who saved me, not you!" Arin snapped back. "If you'd had your way, I would've been thrown out like you threw Zander out!"

Bearyl laughed humorlessly. "You—You're all a bunch of ignorant children! You don't have any idea what the real world is like, but you think you do because you believe that you're the only ones who are right!"

"We survived the Dark Chasm!" Roen retorted. "Trust us—we know plenty about the real world!"

Daunte hesitated, feeling condemning words on his lips for Bearyl Lutis. He knew if he said what he truly thought that there would be no turning back—they could never come back into the Army. And he also knew saying the words would be useless, because Bearyl would never listen to them.

I'll still say them anyways.

"Bearyl Lutis," he said, deliberately withholding the use of Bearyl's title. "This Army is doomed to failure, and it's because of you. You are the catalyst for everything bad that has happened!"

"You—"

"We lost an alliance with Falena because of you!" Daunte shouted. He pulled out Surya's letter and shoved it at Gunther. "Read it, Gunther! Read what Prince Surya said about the Army!"

Gunther opened the letter. His face was incredibly grim. "Ah… 'I have a feeling that Aunt Lym will reject the alliance proposal, but I want you to know that it's not because of the Liberation Army, or because we're isolating ourselves from Nagarea. If the Parliament ends up voting against the alliance, it will be strictly because of Bearyl Lutis. Aunt Lym doesn't trust him, and though we know the rest of the Army is not like him he is nevertheless the leader of the Army. If we cannot trust the leader of a potential ally, then any sort of alliance would be doomed from the start. So no matter what happens, I want you to know that Falena isn't going to forget what you did for my family. If we vote against you, it is a vote against Lutis and not a—'"

"Give me that!" Bearyl growled, ripping it from Gunther's hands. He quickly scanned the letter and scoffed. "These are just the words of a pampered prince, not of Queen Lymsleia herself!" then he ripped the letter clean in half.

"NO!" Felicity shouted.

"How dare you!" Roen shouted. They both tried to surge forward but Daunte held up his arms to stop them. Still, it was difficult to stand there and watch Bearyl ripped to pieces his last and only correspondence with Surya.

"Anything else? Bearyl asked sarcastically, letting the tiny pieces of paper fall to the ground.

Daunte had to do a few breathing exercises in order to remain calm. It worked however as he stared at Bearyl. "Thank you for taking us in and giving us shelter. I really do wish you the best of luck. But this is not the best place for us to be right now, and I firmly believe that if we continue to follow you that we will all die. I'm sorry for abandoning you like this, but you have left me no other choice."

Bearyl folded his arms over his chest and glared at Varnaz. "I told you to arrest them. I won't tell you again!"

"Emergency!" Gunther suddenly shouted, startling everyone. "Allise, gather the rest of the generals! We're having an emergency meeting right now!"

"Emergency meeting?" Bearyl then looked at him. "What for?!"

"To vote you out as leader," Gunther said defiantly.

"W-WHAT?!"

"Allise, go now!"

"Right!" Allise quickly took off out of the tent.

"A-Are you out of your damned mind, Gunther?!" Bearyl hollered. "You're openly plotting MUTINY?!"

"We've suffered two consecutive losses, and the loss of our only strategist," Gunther said. "In addition, you have on your hands a mass desertion. You've clearly demonstrated that you're not fit for the chain of command."

"Mass desertion?!" Bearyl laughed sardonically. "I would hardly call four kids threatening to leave mass desertion!"

"Maybe. But once Daunte leaves you're not going to have many allies left."

"Varnaz!" Bearyl shouted, rounding upon his best friend. "Varnaz, I told you to arrest them! Do you not see that they're openly planning mutiny?!"

"My Lord, this is the system you set up," Varnaz told him. "You said that it was okay to hold votes to dismiss people from office who are deemed unfit for command. It isn't mutiny when we're following the guidelines you instituted."

"I—You—"

"Wow, they're going to vote him out?!" Roen hissed. Daunte was also surprised. T-They can vote a leader out at any time?! Then why didn't they do this BEFORE?!

Allise quickly returned with two other soldiers. Daunte's brow raised. Wait…didn't we have more generals? Holy Nagar…if this isn't a bigger sign of how great the losses have been; I don't know what is!

"I've called this emergency meeting to bring into question the leadership capabilities of our current Commander," Gunther announced. "In short, Lord Bearyl Lutis has been responsible for two catastrophic losses—"

"Caesar caused those losses!" Bearyl hollered.

"Enabled the mass genocide of a hamlet due to inaction—"

"Lorik Varra should not have abandoned our cause!"

"And single-handedly cost us the alliance of a foreign power."

"And like I told you, those were the words of a prince without any political power! Hell, how do we know that Daunte didn't just write that letter himself?!"

"I withheld calling forth such a meeting because of the support Lord Bearyl had with his strategist, Caesar Silverberg," Gunther said. "However, given that Lord Caesar himself has also abandoned our cause it is now more clear than ever that Lord Bearyl is unfit for his position."

"You bastard!" Bearyl blindsided Gunther with a punch to the head, sending him to his knees in the dirt. "The only reason ANY of you are here is because of me! This is MY Army and you will follow MY orders!"

"Are you all right?" Allise asked Gunther, gingerly touching the side of his head.

Gunther forced a smile at her. "I'm sure I'll be better if I can rest my head on your—"

"What was that?" Allise asked, pulling on his ear.

"Ow, ow, stop it!" he pulled himself free and stood up. "S-So I'm proposing a vote to remove Bearyl Lutis from power! All opposed?"

Daunte looked around. Not one person raised their hand. Not even Varnaz.

"All in favor?"

Everyone then raised their hands. Including Varnaz.

"The motion is carried," Allise said. She turned to address Bearyl. "Bearyl Lutis, you are hereby stripped of your rank."

Bearyl looked at a complete loss for words. Daunte almost felt sorry for him, seeing the other man experience everything come crashing down around him.

But Bearyl recovered and rage filled his rage. "You…All of you…damn you all!" he shouted so loud that the sound rattled in Daunte's ears. "This is the thanks I get for everything I've done for you?! Allise—if it weren't for me you would've been stuck with Sheikh Hale! Or did you forget the fact that you were forced into a marriage with the man who murdered your parents?!"

Allise twitched very slightly. "I've never forgotten."

"And Gunther—" Bearyl rounded upon him. "You—You stole ballots for your damned mistress in Mlkwt Alsmwat! And you were caught in a compromising position with six women in the inn at Uaminifu! You were not only sentenced to be burned alive, but also to be burned alive while on the rack! And who saved you from that fate, huh?! It was me!"

Daunte gaped at Gunther over these revelations. Is…Is this why he did not go into Uaminifu?!

"Yes, you did," Gunther said sincerely. "And I've spent the last three years paying that debt back to you. But you have never seen any value in my work. Everything I have done you have treated me with ridicule, and you use my past against me when I complain. You've threatened me with it, even. But I still continued to serve you. But I cannot serve you any longer."

"And…" Bearyl turned his attention then to Varnaz. Varnaz at least looked very upset by this turn of events. "And Varnaz. Even you will turn on me now? After I saved your life? After that bastard Ramiro Lažov murdered your whole family on trumped up adultery charges just so he could marry his mistress?! You owe me everything! You pledged your life to me! And you turn on me now—for what?! For him?!" he jabbed a finger at Daunte. "You would throw away our friendship over that punk?!"

"Bearyl, I haven't thrown anything away," Varnaz responded. His voice had become numb. "I joined the Liberation Army to avenge my family, and I have given you nothing but my loyalty and support. But…" talking seemed to be physically painful for him, but he forced himself to continue. "But you have proven to me that you don't value anyone's life but your own. Men and women of all ages have died for this Army—hell, I've almost died for this Army more than once! But you've treated us like we're all expendable pawns! Whether it be a squire to your own best friend! You left me to die!" Now he was shouting at Bearyl. "You sent my soldiers and I on a mission with false promises of backup, and then you abandoned us! I lost almost all the soldiers under my command for that! And not once—not once have you apologized to me or apologized to the men and women who risked and lost their lives on that ridiculous mission! You treated our return as though we somehow inconvenienced you, and still I continued to serve you! But no—I'm not doing this anymore! I've had enough, and this has to stop! I know you're a good man Bearyl, but you are not a good leader!"

Bearyl surveyed his best friend with a dark expression. He slowly folded his arms over his chest. "I get it now."

Something flickered across Varnaz's face. "What?"

"You've never truly had any loyalty to me, have you?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Daunte found himself saying. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"No, from day one—since I bailed you out of your execution, all you've wanted was power!" Bearyl shouted. He gestured at Varnaz angrily. "You don't fool me with this routine, Varnaz! Now I realize that you never had any loyalty to me! You've been lying in wait this whole time to steal power from me! You lied and manipulated me into believing I was your friend, when in reality you wanted to be leader!"

Daunte couldn't believe the gall Bearyl had. Varnaz had defended every single one of his bad decisions, and had treated Daunte and his friends like garbage because Bearyl didn't like him. There was probably nobody more loyal to Bearyl in the entire Army than Varnaz!

He doesn't honestly believe the garbage coming out of his own mouth, does he? He's just trying to turn this around on Varnaz and make him look guiltier!

"But I can't say that I'm surprised," Bearyl continued. "You were some washed-up soldier who couldn't even rise above the rank of Sergeant! You—"

"Enough!" Varnaz hollered. He grabbed Bearyl by his collar and yanked him so close that their noses were almost touching. "I've lost everything—I have nothing left but this Army! After everything I've done for you, I will not stand here and let you talk to me that!" he wrung him so violently that Bearyl's head bobbed around on his neck. "But you've proven to me that not only are we right to remove you from your position, but that you have never been my friend! I was an idiot for ever pledging my life to you!" he shoved Bearyl backwards into the dirt. "I'm leaving. If you want to march upon Mlkwt Alsmwat, that's your choice. But I've paid my debt to you, and for now I just never want to see you again." He stormed out of the tent, and the group jumped to get out of his way.

"Traitor!" Bearyl shrieked, jumping to his feet. "All of you, traitors! Fine, have it your way! If you want to leave, then get out of my camp! Get out of MY ARMY!"

Daunte didn't say anything. The anger seemed to leak out of him. He honestly didn't feel anything towards Bearyl Lutis in that moment.

"Big Brother," Arin said, tugging on his hand. Daunte spared just a slight shake of his head towards Bearyl and then turned to follow the others out of the main tent.

Daunte wasn't surprised to see his allies ready to go. He was, however, surprised to see tents being taken down all around him, and people gathering their things. They weren't the only ones leaving. It looked like almost the entire Liberation Army itself was leaving.

"Well, this is our exodus," Gunther said grimly. "Allise went off to find Varnaz before. They'll catch up to us, but where do we go from here?"

Daunte hesitated for a moment before turning to Gunther. "The west."

"Hmm," Gunther said, thinking about it. "I take it you have a place in mind that can house us all?"

"I hope so," Daunte said, nodding. "With any luck it's still standing."

"Well, it's better than what we have now." he turned as Ichirou ran up to them. "So, what's the count?"

"O-Only eleven soldiers aren't coming with us," Ichirou panted. "They refuse to budge in their loyalty to L—Bearyl. And Clara almost said she wouldn't come—"

"Oh, we're not leaving her behind!" Gunther demanded.

"I understand. She at first said she couldn't come because of the injured, b-but thanks to Daunte's spell almost everyone is okay to travel. She's confident she can use her healing Runes on people while we're on the road."

"Good," Daunte said. "It's looks like we're going to have to travel on foot from here. The last time I was at this place was bef—" he shook his head. "Never mind. It just means that we can't use Viki to teleport us there."

"And the only horses we have are the ones we brought from Uaminifu," Roen added.

"But let's not stall any longer," Daunte said. "Is everyone ready to go?"

"Yes," Oboro said, materializing beside him with a curious smile. "Lead the way, my Lord."

"Oboro, please—" Daunte said.

"Hey, we're just following your lead," Gunther said, grinning toothily.

Daunte sighed heavily, but took Arin by the hand. "Let me know if you start getting exhausted, okay?"

Arin nodded. "I will."

And so Daunte left the Liberation Army camp with his new entourage. By the time the group had completely departed, and disappeared onto the horizon, Bearyl Lutis was left with his one solitary tent and eleven loyal soldiers.