Lord Helman had retired to his quarters early, as he felt his old age catching up with him. The old lord had been talking with a mysterious cloaked figure.

"What? Eliwood is here?"

"Yes, he has set camp up on a hill south of here. He seeks permission to enter Santaruz. He seeks an audience with you."

"Could it be...Do you think Eliwood's come to ask of his father? If that's the case...I...know not what to tell him."

"Tell him you know nothing, and let him be on his way."

"Yet...I know young Eliwood well. His father, Elbert, and I are old friends. I've no children of my own, and I've always treasured Eliwood. I do not believe I could look him in the eye and...I could not lie to him. I could not."

"We've no choice then. Let us chase the boy away. If you do not speak with him, you need tell no lies."

"Wait! Do you mean to harm Eliwood?"

"Not harm. Frighten. A scratch or two will leave no scars. He will run home to Pherae and be done with his adventure. He is, after all, all that Pherae has left..."

~*~

"Instead of entering Laus with such a small group, we should meet with Marquess Santaruz and request his assistance...I see the sense in that." Marcus halted his steed as his lord lowered himself from the saddle.

"Yes...Lord Helman...He's not only my father's friend. I've known him since I was a child. I'm sure that he will help us."

"What? Lord Eliwood! Beware!" Marcus and Lowen quickly blocked off Eliwood from the approaching axeman.

"Heh heh heh...Noble sires, alms for a poor villager?"

"Poor villager? You look nothing like an honest man. Clear the road. Step quickly or..." Marcus drew his hand on his lance, readying for an attack.

"Step quickly?" Heh heh...Good advice. Maybe it's you who should follow it!"

"What?" Marcus tightened the grip on his weapon even more.

"Someone wants the boy in an early grave. A shame if you ask me, but he'll die here today. C'mon boys! Earn your keep!"

Having been waiting for his command, about thirty men came out of hiding. They were about one hundred feet away, and consisted of a variety of fighters. There were mainly mercenaries and bandits, as well as a few cavaliers. Their leader quickly headed back to join them.

"Milord, if I may, please remain here. You have not yet fully recovered from the previous battle. Leave the fighting to us."

"Marcus, I'm fine. Besides, there are too many for just the three of you."

"Very well, Lord Eliwood, but please remain behind me."

"...Very well, Marcus. Not that I have much say in this matter, though." He began to advance on the enemy, with Marcus directly beside him. Lowen and Rebecca were a ways up, and they caught up to them just before reaching the enemy.

Rebecca stopped as her male companions went ahead, and readied her bow. Knocking an arrow back, she released her grip and watched the arrow soar through the air...right into the chest of a bandit. She repeated this pattern many times, clearing a path for her comrades.

The enemies kept coming, and they continued to hold them off. Marcus and Lowen would continue to impale those that came too close, but where careful to keep themselves around Eliwood, acting as a shield.

Eliwood found himself...well...bored. He didn't have much to do with the horsemen constantly circling him, and Rebecca was doing a fairly good job of taking down the majority of the enemies before they could even reach the guys. Eliwood would thrust his rapier into the neck of the limited few that made it past his 'shield'.

"Bah! He puts up a good fight for a pampered noble pup. It's up to me to finish him." The leader left his safe spot behind his troops, and had begun to advance on the young lord.

~*~

A group of four travelers had finally reached the borders of Santaruz. A pink-haired girl had been talking none stop for what seemed like forever, annoying her three male companions, a thief, a knight, and a lordling. The blue haired lord had pulled ahead of his companions, and suddenly noticed a soldier watching a fight up ahead.

"Hey! What's going on over there? Looks like some rough business. You! Soldier! Are you just going to stand there and watch?"

"Who do you think you are? This is Santaruz. What occurs here is no affair of any foreign lordling!"

"I believe I'm going to have to disagree with you. You see, the man they're attacking happens to be a friend of mine."

"A friend? What?...Urrrgh!!" The soldier fell to the ground in a heap, blood staining the grass around him.

"Sorry, but I'm in a hurry."

"Ewww! That's terrible! I loathe violence!" The cleric appeared beside him, as did the thief, Matthew.

"Nicely done, my lord! You're a fighter born." At this point, the knight had finally managed to catch up.

"I cannot condone resorting to force so quickly..."

"Chastise me later, Oswin. First, we deal with these brigands! Come! We must help Eliwood!"

"Help Eliwood? Sounds like a convenient excuse for more violence."

"Oswin!"

"Yes,yes. I'm coming!"

"Matthew, take Serra and find someplace to hide."

"What? With...Serra?"

"No! I'm going with you!"

"You are not! You'll slow us down!"

"Oh! How rude!"

"Oswin! Let's go!" Hector and Oswin went to join the fray as Matthew dragged Serra into the small patch of trees nearby.

~*~

Rebecca had now become no more than a lookout, for she had recently run out of arrows. Marcus and Lowen kept defending Eliwood, but due to the loss of their archer, more and more enemies were slipping through.

The young lord held his own, managing to take down any that challenged him. He could feel the pain in his arm and back, and was covered in sweat due to his overexertion.

"Curses! What are you waiting for!?" Let me show you boys how it's done!" Hearing this from behind him, Eliwood turned around, only to see the leader, Zagan (or at least he thought he heard the bandits call him this) directly behind him.

Zagan swung at Eliwood, who quickly blocked, but flinched as the impact jarred his already wounded arm. Eliwood suddenly heard the galloping of hooves from behind, and before he could distinguish if it was friend or foe, he felt a strong arm pull him up into the saddle...Marcus.

"Milord! Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine..." He lied as he gripped his sore arm. Looking around, he noticed that all that remained was Zagan, but he was suddenly taken down from a surprise attack by...

/Hector? What is he doing here?/

Eliwood got Marcus to stop, and he headed over to his childhood friend.

"Whew...is that all of them?"

"Hector! Where did you come from?"

"Well met, Eliwood."

"Yes, but...what are you doing here?"

"You wound me!"

"How do you mean?"

"You're looking for your father, right? Why didn't you send word?"

"Your brother was just named Marquess Ostia. He's going to be very busy setting up his court council. Lord Uther must need your support. You are his brother, after all."

"My brother is not so weak. Oh, he has mentioned some things public, but... He knew exactly what I was planning and he let me go."

"Is that so? Well then, it would be unwise to refuse his kindness! It does me good to see you, Hector. Thank you."

"Think nothing of it. You know Oswin, don't you?"

"Well met, Lord Eliwood."

"It is good to see you again, Oswin. So you came as well?"

"Yes. Lord Uther was worried about Lord Hector traveling alone. I've been ordered to keep a close eye on him."

"Ha ha ha! Of course! Good to have you with us." The conversation came to a halt when two figures came into view, one shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Lord Hector! Why didn't you tell me the fighting was done!?"

"I apologize for the interruption. I couldn't restrain her any longer!"

"Are these your companions, Hector?"

"Oh...Yes, I suppose they are. One might have hoped for better, but..."

"That was uncalled for! I can't believe you said that! Matthew, did you hear what he said about you?"

"Me? He was talking about you!"

"Hector, why don't you introduce us?"

"The noisy one is Serra. Believe it or not, she's a cleric."

"Yes, I am Serra, my lord. Pleased to meet you."

"And that's Matthew. He does a lot of...sneaking around."

"My lord."

"Sneaking...around?"

"Well...I, er...gather information, open doors, chests, and such. I've got...nimble fingers."

"That sounds...like a thief's work..."

"Well, don't let it worry you."

"But..."

"This journey...I suspect it will be harder than you imagine. You may have to accept things like this if you want to survive."

"What is it, Hector? Do you know something?"

"Nothing specific. Rumors abound though. A league of assassins from Bern have been moving around in Lycia. Experienced bounty hunters and mercenaries are vanishing..."

"That reminds me. One of the men who attacked us said something odd."

"What was it?"

"Lord Eliwood, if I may?"

"Marcus, good to see you!"

"Lord Hector, it's been far too long. Your assistance is greatly appreciated."

"Come now, Marcus. No need for such formalities. Tell me what you heard."

"Of course. The apparent leader of that gang of thugs...He indicated that someone was watching Lord Eliwood...That someone needed him dead."

"Hmm...that is troubling. Actually, a captain of the guard was watching the fight when we arrived. He was a knight of Santaruz, and yet he just stood there and let a lord be attacked. I think he was planning on seeing you die."

"Something may have happened to Lord Helman too. Come! We must hurry to the castle!"

"Alright then. Let's head out!" Hector playfully slapped his friend on the back, but was surprised to hear him cry out and stumble. He quickly grabbed the redhead to steady him. "Eliwood! What's wrong?"

"Lord Hector, Lord Eliwood was injured in a battle beforehand. He hasn't fully recovered yet."

"What? Sorry Eliwood, I didn't realized you were hurt..."

"It's alright, Hector, you couldn't have known."

"Take off your shirt."

"What? Take my shirt off? Have you gone mad?!"

"Just take if off." He turned his head behind him. "Serra!! Come here!" A few seconds later, the pink-haired girl came up to her lord.

"Yes, Lord Hector?" Just as Hector was about to explain, he noticed that Eliwood's tunic was still on.

"I thought I told you to take your shirt off!"

"Yes, but-ah!" Hector lunged at Eliwood, and managed to pull the shirt off him. The other, not exactly sure as to what was happening, could do nothing more than watch the amusing scene in front of them.

While Eliwood was still struggling to get free of Hector's grasp, Hector ripped the bandages off of him. Finally letting his friend go, he motioned towards Eliwood with his eyes, and Serra quickly caught on.

She moved towards the younger lord, and carefully lifted his arm up. She mover her staff towards it, concentrating hard, and soon Eliwood's arm was enveloped in a bright white light. When the light died down, the wound was healed.

"How-"Before Eliwood could continue, Serra did the same to his back.

"I'm sorry, Lord Eliwood, but my staff can do nothing about the pain. You will still be sore for another day or two."

"How did you?"

"Eliwood, are you saying that you've never seen a cleric before? Or did you forget that I mentioned that Serra is one?"

"Well, I've never actually seen a cleric's handiwork before...Thank you, Serra."

"You're welcome, Lord Eliwood."

"You've lead a sheltered life, Eliwood. Now do you see why I wanted you to take your shirt off?" Hector tossed the tunic back to his friend who caught it, and quickly put it back on.

"Yes, but wouldn't it have been easier to explain than to tackle me?"

"Easier, yes...As much fun...no!"

"Hector! You haven't grown, have you?"

"Well, I would say I have. I'm taller than you, I have more muscles..."

"Very funny...but you know what I meant!"

"Milord, we had best head to Santaruz now."

"Oh, yes. Thank you, Marcus." The party headed off towards Santaruz, with Oswin and Marcus shaking their heads slightly in dismay every time Hector instigated yet another fight with Eliwood.

AN: Well, this chapter didn't go the way I wanted it to. Sorry about the many conversations that go on, I meant for the battle to be longer, but it didn't seem to want to work that way. The only way I could make it a fair length was to add some convos.

A note to fairydust125 and sjd372....I'm sorry, but I did not forget Dorcas and Bartre. I refuse to use them! I hate them with a passion, and I apologize for any mental anguish this may cause. Any other requests for any other character, and I promise that I will tie that person in.

Oh, and fairydust, thnxs for the cookie!!! ^_^