Tactician's Burden

by Truewind

The Tactician speaks, and he spins a pretty good yarn. First update in almost a year. Oo In which Red-haired nobleboy enters the scene.

7. Blood of Pride

Chapter Seven:  Blood of Pride

A wily man in a crimson cloak,

Hears every word as it is spoke.

An exiled horseman with narrow eyes,

Who longs to see his homeland's skies.

Lyn rode with Florina this time, and I was pleased to see that the girl had gained more animation just in the few weeks she'd been travelling with us.  It was nice to think that at least someone was gaining something from this trip.  Sain still sported a lovely bruise from his encounter with the cleric; she had not bothered to heal it for him.

I only hope I won't have to fight her to get her to heal him in battle.  She can beat him up all she likes when we're not engaged, but she'd best be listening to orders as soon as swords start clashing.

More than one healer's died that way, by ignoring her superior's orders.  In his efforts to teach me about every possible scenario I could stuff into my skull, my master had ingrained several stories like that into me, St. Elimine's not being the least.  The woman had been an unparalleled healer, but there had been a time when she went against Roland's orders, a time that few people remembered and fewer people spoke of.  That time, she had almost died, and Roland suffered for it when he saved her.  Still, it had always been for the sake of healing and light that Elimine did what she did.  I surveyed Serra, and decided that, even if there was no comparison to the master of light magic that Elimine had been, there must be something of the woman about her.  All true scions of the gods bore a certain light about them, as though they were touched by something otherworldly.  Erk was riding next to her; he called it, "controlling collateral damage", and I was rather inclined to agree with him.  I suspected that Kent rode with Sain for pretty much the same reason.

This left Dorcas as my riding partner, and he never talked.  We had negotiated his contract before leaving the ruins and Natalie, but after that, he spoke not at all.  He was always looking off into the distance, and his eyes looked as though the world bored him.  I never tried to talk to him like I did Florina, words seemed immaterial whenever I looked at him.  So I rode in silence, wondered what the next day would bring to us.

When Kent called the halt for the evening, the sun was just shy of passing down into the earth's embrace.  I was exhausted, and so was everyone else, except Serra.  That one complained every five minutes about how a "proper lady" should not have to put up tents and wash dishes.  Lyn who had been helping the girl with the poles of her tent, soon grew tired of her escapades and dropped the poles to the ground before stalking away.

I remember what the cleric looked like in that instant, in the moment when Lyn turned her back away from her and left to help Florina.  Terror skittered into her eyes, but she wrenched it away, whirling around as though she thought someone might see.  After that, she stormed away, ostensibly to take a bath, probably to cry. 

True darkness fell, and we lit a fire to cook the food before everyone went to bed.  All of the tents were up, except Serra's.  Dinner came and passed, and she still had not returned.  Lyn asked Erk if someone should be sent out to look for her, and he simply went on sipping his soup, shaking his head in that knowing way of his to show that it had happened before.

"She'll sneak into camp when we're all asleep, and pretend like she was here the whole time come morning.  Just roll with it, her grip on reality is tenuous as it is."

"Erk…"

"If you go to look for her, she will only get angry.  And trust me, Lyndis, you do not want to see her truly angry."

As the tactician of the group, I was fortunate enough to have a tent to myself, but that meant that the dark interior of the tent looked particularly uninviting in light of the worry I was feeling.  As I sank down onto the blankets, I let my thoughts go for a little while to see where they might take me.

Why does that blasted girl worry me so much?  She's a grown woman by the standards of her church, Erk's only along because she hasn't learned light magic yet.  She can take care of herself, and she's probably taken care of plenty of people.  So why am I going all big-brotherly on her like this?

I was startled out of my reverie by the soft sound of wood entering soft earth nearby, someone was pounding a tent pole into the ground.  After a few moments to check my mental inventory, I remembered that Serra's was the only one left to put up.  She had her own like I did, but she'd spurned Lyn's help, and it had never been put up.

"Oof!"

The exclamation was stifled, but I was close enough to tell that it was definitely male.  I pushed back that blankets and looked out through the tentflaps.  All of the other tents were dark, most likely everyone had fallen straight to sleep after the day's hard ride.  Over to my right, though, was a tent pole sticking up into the moonlight.  I remember smiling when I saw who it was that was putting up Serra's tent, it certainly wasn't Erk.  Sain had the tent up in half the time it would have taken Serra to do it, and that would have been with Lyn's help.  I fell back into my tent and went to sleep, I'd let the man keep his secrets.

"Ah, Araphen.  Back in civilized lands once again.  Meaning no offense, milady."

I swear, Sain tripped over his tongue more often than a stripling with two left feet and a lisp.

"None taken, Sain.  Where is Kent?"

"He told me this morning that he was planning to ride in ahead of the main party to discuss supplies with the Marquess."  replied the green-clad knight, and he patted Thunder on the nose to keep him distracted as the blacksmith lifted the stallion's hoof.  We were standing in front of the blacksmith's shop, getting our horses' shoes checked for damage.  The land in Sacae had been rough, hard on the horses' feet, and you can't ride a lame horse.  Lyn and I stood to the side, Peaches already done with her inspection, and Windancer awaiting his.

"It's midday now, where is he?  It doesn't take four hours to talk with a marquess about food and tents, surely?"

I laughed at the frightened look in Lyn's eyes.  "Scared by the thought of being closeted with one of your fellow nobles for extended periods of time, Lady Lyndis?  You're aware that the aristocracy has a whole slew of parties every year, and you just have to attend them."

Lyn's eyes widened quite nicely at that moment, and she gripped her horse's reins a bit tighter.

"Oh yes, the Lord Pent entertained guests daily at his dinner table.  I was permitted to leave early, since I was only his student, but his dinners have been known to take two, even three hours to complete."

I winked at Erk when Lyn wasn't looking, he'd popped in at exactly the right moment.  He didn't look back; he was, to all appearances, reading his book, and entirely serious.  Serra blinked, she'd been trying to sneak a peek at the mage's book without success.

"Parties?"

"Yes, Serra, parties."

"Oh I just love parties!  Will there be cake?  And what about those excellent little pastries they always put out among the appetizers?  The ones filled with cherries?  Erky, are you listening to me?"

I took pity on Lyn, whose eyebrows were about to join her bangs.  "It's really not all that bad, Lyn.  Nobles do have a lot of work to do, especially in such a great city as Araphen.  The Marquess here must have thirty, perhaps forty petitions to deal with on a daily basis, and it is only worse on the feast days.  If Kent arrived in the morning, he might be relegated to the very last, since petitioners usually must sign in for a place the day before."

Sain frowned at that.  "But milord, surely Kent will have priority, since he is from Caelin?"

I shook my head.  "Not with this Marquess.  The ruler of Araphen is well-known for his xenophobia, and it certainly doesn't extend just to the plainsmen.  Most likely, he saw that Kent was a simple knight commander from another territory, and relegated him the last spot on the ledger.  Petitions usually take all morning, so it's not surprising that Kent isn't back yet."

"Oh, Josef, you're so knowledgeable!"  Serra gushed.  "Where did you learn all this?  Are you a noble too?"

That was just like Serra, to blurt out the question everyone else was thinking but did not want to ask.  I kept calm, though, and explained, "I learned my craft in a noble house, so it's only to be expected that I learned something of the way nobles operate."

Lyn looked like she wanted to ask more, but the blacksmith finished with Thunder at that moment, and called her over so he could look at her mount's hooves.  Serra, of course, had the attention span of a young gerbil, and was already going back to her game of "Catch-the-Fire-Tome".  As I was feeding Peaches her customary fruit, Kent rode up to us, looking quite pleased with himself, and none the worse for his relations with the marquess.

"Milady Lyndis!"

I stopped him before he rode up to her, she was busy keeping Windancer calm as the blacksmith replaced a faulty shoe.  "What is it, Kent?"

He ran a hand through his red hair and smiled.  "The marquess has agreed to aid us in our journey to Caelin, we should proceed to the castle at once."

"Did you show him the list of supplies I gave you?"

The cavalier nodded enthusiastically.  "His seneschal is already preparing them as we speak!"

It took a few minutes, but the blacksmith finished with Windancer's new shoe in record time, and Lyn came over to join us.  Kent fairly bounced in his saddle.

"You seem pleased, Kent," Lyn said as she Windancer's saddle onto his back, "what did the marquess say?"

"He has agreed to aid us in any way he can, milady.  We should go, if you are finished here."

"We are.  Let's get moving."  she turned to Serra, who was combing her hair at that moment.  "Serra, Erk, we're going!"

Erk closed his book with a snap and stood.  "Shall I fetch Dorcas?  He's still at the stable, talking with the grooms."

Lyn shook her head, tossing her ponytail about like some sort of silky whip.  I did notice that she had tiny split ends at the green tips, and was a little relieved to find that she wasn't totally impervious to the elements.  "No, we'll be passing by the stables on the way to the castle anyway.  Is Florina with him?"

"Huey was restless."  I interrupted.  "Florina said she was going to fly him a little to calm him down.  Don't worry, his shoes are fine, we had the smith check before they left."

"And Wil?"

"He's at the stables with Dorcas, yes.  I think he might be trying to get a horse of his own."

Sky knows I'd be doing the same if I had to ride with Sain.

"Then let's be going."

We dropped the horses off at the stables, though the cavaliers elected to stay mounted.  Kent did it because it was what he always did, but Sain was oddly uneasy.  "I just have the feeling that I should keep Thunder at my side."  he told me, and said no more.  Dorcas and Wil rejoined us there (Wil had indeed managed to find a horse to his liking, a gray mare with pretty eyes), and we prepared to move out as soon as all of our horses were comfortable.  Everyone else exited the stables before me, and when I came out, a peasant was in the town square, shouting his head off.

"Fire!  The castle is on fire!"

Kent caught the man by the wrist and gave him a stern, calming gaze.  "Slowly, friend, the fire will not follow you out here."  Amazingly, the man quieted almost instantly and looked to Kent like the man knew what he was doing.

"I'm sorry, good sir, but the castle really is aflame.  The city is under attack!  Will you help us?"

"We'll do what we can.  Now go to your family."

Gratefully, the poor man sketched a bow and dashed off.  Lyn stepped up to the front of the line so she could speak with Kent, and I followed close behind.

"Kent," she started, but didn't finish the sentence.  Another man, this one dressed in leather armor and carrying a sword, grabbed her sword arm and cut her off.

"You!  You're Lyndis, ain't ya?"

"What…?"

She struggled, and the two cavaliers brought their horses around to attack, but he brought his blade around swiftly to brush against her neck.  A thin trickle of blood flowed out, the sword was obviously sharp.  "Don't, or ye'll be regrettin' it!"

The hoof beats on the pavement were so soft that I wasn't sure I heard them.  I looked up, beyond Lyn's captor, and saw a man on horseback whip out a bow, nock an arrow, and fire the thing, almost too quickly for me to see.  The shaft lanced through the air and entered the back of the man's neck.

"Arrrrg!"  The sword clattered to the ground and Lyn yanked herself free.  The man fell to the ground, grasping at his neck as he choked on his own blood.

"Milady Lyndis!"

"Oh, Lyn, are you all right?"

The green-haired swordswoman stood up straight and gazed at her savior.  On horse, he was impressive, and I could see that he wore the fancifully embroidered tunic and leather breeches of a plainsman, though his choice of color was more tasteful than most.  He also had the characteristic green hair.  Kent and Serra rushed up behind her, Kent bringing his horse between her and the man, and Serra with healing rod raised to do its work.  I met the man's eyes, and they narrowed.  He turned his horse to go, but Lyn called out.

"Wait!  Who are you?  You saved me, I owe you a debt, a life debt!  Please…"

He stopped his horse and sized her up.  "My apologies, I thought that a plainswoman was being attacked.  Forgive me for interfering."

"You were right!  I am of the plains.  Lyn of the Lorca!"

His eyes widened, though they never grew so large as an outlander's.  "The Lorca?  There were survivors!"

"Yes, though only I remain now.  Please, your name?"

"It is Rath.  Rath of the Kutolah.  I am captain of the guard.  I must go; it is my duty to defend the castle."

He turned to go again, but this time Lyn pressed past Kent and Serra, neck still dribbling blood, and caught his reins.  "Wait, if the castle is under attack, it is because of me!  You must let us help aid you in the defense!"

"Lyn…"  I walked up and touched her lightly on the back, but she shook my hand away roughly.

"No, Josef, this is something I must do.  If any in the company do not wish to fight, so be it, but I will lend my blade to Rath's cause!"

Her eyes burned again, with that same fire that I'd seen on the plains.  Lyndis was somehow more alive whenever she let loose the half of her that was wild plainswoman.  I shrugged, and no one else spoke.  "At least let Serra heal you first."  I muttered.  Rath nodded graciously.

"If you wish to help, I'll not turn down your aid."

"A direct assault, good sir!  Let us take the gate by force!"

Sain rode up and pointed his sword at the castle, which of course, was where the main fighting was taking place.  I opened my mouth, but I needn't have, since Rath dismissed the idea contemptuously.

"You should listen better to your tactician, knight.  No, I must secure the marquess, then my people will be able to easily take care of fire and foe."

"How do you propose to do that?"  I asked him.  "I don't want a straightforward attack either, but I don't see how much choice we have.  Are there any other ways into the castle?  A sewer, perhaps?"

Serra made an indignant noise at the thought of traipsing through the sewers, but Rath shook his head.  "The marquess told me about a secret passage that led into the castle.  There are three switches needed to activate it."

"Then let's get moving and find those switches!"  Lyn cried, raising her blade high into the air, where the sun's light lanced off of it, making it too bright to behold.  "A thousand blessings upon our people!"

"And a thousand curses upon our enemies."  Replied the plainsman, his voice quiet and even.

Sain started to rein his horse in for a charge, but I shook my head and called him down.  "No, Sain, it's too dangerous for you to go hammering in there on horseback.  If they have any lancers, they'll poke Thunder full of pot metal, and I don't think he'd fancy that too well, do you?  Erk?"

"Yes, milord?"

It was strange, the way Erk always gave me the title, but never did for Lyn.  Everyone else seemed to take it in stride, even Kent, who was so concerned with rank and symbolic aristocracy.  In fact, really the only people who called me by my first name were Lyn and Serra, and I wasn't sure I liked that.

That's not the sort of thing you think about when there are mercenaries hiding around the next bend for you.  "Can you feel out the area at all?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have any scouting magic handy?  I'd like to know where the enemy is and what they're doing, if possible."

"Oh, you mean a spell to see around walls.  That's just a cantrip, I don't even need a book to perform it.  Would you like me to scout the area for you?"

"Please."

The mage closed his eyes and said a few words in the old tongue, "Dona veritatem ad meum oculum."  He pressed his fingers into a rough ring, and a rune circle shimmered into existence before him.  Without opening his eyes, he shifted a few runes about, and the circle quavered as he altered the fabric of the spell.  When he got it just right, I heard a magical click in my mind, and recognized it as him homing in on a human being.  I'd worked with mages using this spell in training before, so I knew what to listen for, and being somewhat sensitive to the movements of magic (though I'd never take up a spellbook, bad experiences as a child), I had the sense necessary to "hear".  I heard several more clicks, and there was a long pause before there was a soft tone, like a bell.  Erk's eyebrow rose slightly, and he opened his eyes.  He gathered up the rune circle in his hands and started his report.

"To east, there is a mercenary with a sword and another disguised as an army regular, with a pike."

Sain flushed, and I shrugged to show that Erk should continue.  "Those are just the men I could see out of doors.  There's another pikeman just beyond the wall in a building nearby the one I just mentioned, but the signature was faint, the walls were thick, so I can't really tell you which house.  The really interesting bit is what's in that house over there."  He pointed at a house that lay back the way we'd come, and I caught sight of movement in the window.  "There's a man there, but he isn't hostile."

"That's why the tone instead of the click, right?"

Serra and Erk both raised eyebrows at that.  "You can sense magic, milord?" asked the mage.

I flushed that time, and Serra smiled.  "You're just full of talents, aren't you Josef?"

"That's not important.  The information you gave me is, Erk.  I wish Florina was here, I could use her help for this plan."

As if on cue, I heard the sound of a satisfied whinny, and the pegasus rider and her steed landed lightly on the ground behind me.  "Were you talking about me, milord?"  Florina asked.

Again with the "milord" thing!  "I was.  There's a mercenary just around the bend there, he's carrying a sword.  I want you to take him on and keep him busy while the main party rides on through to the end.  Can you do that for me?"

Exhilaration of flight still in her eyes, she nodded and took off again.  I turned to Erk.  "Erk, you'll go in and finish off the swordsman with your magic."

"Understood."

"Dorcas, stay here and guard the horses.  Wil, Sain, Kent, and Serra, you'll be the main group, head straight down the way, and you should come to the lancer.  He'll probably have a key, if he's guarding the building, so take it and use it to open up the building.  If they're guarding it, it must be where one of the panels to open up the secret entrance is."

"Yes sir!"  Sain said, and gratefully prodded Thunder into a canter.  Kent followed suit, with Wil and Serra following behind.  The cleric blew me a kiss as she went, but I rolled my eyes and she went off in a huff.

And now for the plainsmen…

"Lyn, and…"

"Rath."  replied the plainsman.  He gazed down at me from his horse.

"Yes, Rath.  Do you have any idea where the other panels might be?  You know this town best, I'm counting on your wits here."

The nomad shook his head.  "I'm afraid I don't even know where to start."

"Try checking north, since that's one of the walls of the castle.  That's where the castle walls break the general pattern, so I'm guessing that's where the secret entrance will be.  Lyn, did you hear what Erk told me?"

"About the man in that house?"

"Exactly.  I want you to check him out, he might turn out to be useful to us.  Join up with the guard captain when you're finished with that."

"All right, Josef.  Be careful."

"I'm good at staying out of sight, don't worry about me."

The two of them set off north, and I moved forward so I could see how Erk and Florina were doing.  As I watched, Florina alighted on the house above the mercenary, startling him enough that Sain and his party rode past almost without notice.  Erk was sneaking up behind the man, his rune circle presumably concealed within his cloak.  Huey gave a grand whinny and took off from the roof of the house, soared into the air and dove back down so Florina could take a pass at the man.  She caught him in the shoulder with her lance, and Huey's momentum slammed him into the ground violently.  The mercenary was not totally inept, however, he slashed the pegasus on the leg with his blade as the flying horse tried to gain altitude again.  Huey neighed angrily, but the wound was not fatal, or even crippling; Florina would be able to keep fighting.  The mercenary levered himself to his feet with his sword, thinking that he'd taken out the pegasus, only to find himself staring down a mage in red with a tome of fire magic at hand.  Erk completed his spell, and twin balls of flame manifested above his conical hat.  He pointed at the mercenary, and the man screamed like a small animal as his flesh turned a crisp black.  Florina landed next to me, looking more than a bit green.  Erk bent over the writhing man, a tiny gout of flame still twining about his fingers.  He formed the fire into a blade and steadied the man forcefully, then used the fire blade to slit his throat.  I nearly emptied my stomach of lunch, but I forced myself to watch.  The mercenary stilled, and the flames in his clothes died.  Erk did vomit then, but he was careful not to let any of it get on the corpse.

Mercy strokes are the worst.  Erk talked to me about it later, about how the man looked at him with hatred in his eyes, but pleading at the same time.  The mercy stroke is a swift death, often a gift from the victor to the defeated, and only the strongest warriors have the strength to do it for their foes.  Erk surprised me in that way, being able to give the mercy stroke, he was more of a scholarly mage than anything else.  Still, he had contracted himself out to guard Serra, so he had to have some experience.  But cutting a man's throat never gets any easier.  Suppressing my own urge to bring up my lunch, I knelt over the man and searched his pockets. "He doesn't have the key."  I told the mage and flier.

"It must be the other, then."  Erk replied, and Florina nodded as she wrapped Huey's leg busily.  She still could not look at the body, charred and blackened as it was.  I stood up and shielded my eyes against the sun to see how the other group was fairing.  Against the lone pikeman, the battle should have been easy, but it was taking too long.  He had backed himself into an alley that was too narrow for more than one horse abreast, so Kent and Sain could not come at him from both sides.  Since we did not have much time, I gathered my wits close to myself and started toward the group to advise them.

"Erk, Florina, head north, join up with Lyn and the guard captain.  Be ready for when we get the door opened."

"Erm…milord?"  Erk, his face pale and drawn, stepped up to me and touched my shoulder lightly.  "If I may, they'll be fine, especially with Serra to heal them.  I worry about the man that you sent Lyn after.  He did not seem hostile to me, but that does not make him friendly."

I frowned.  "Lyn is an intelligent woman, Erk, and an excellent hand with the sword.  You've seen her in action yourself, why should she need my help for this?"

Surprisingly, Florina chimed in as she climbed into Huey's saddle.  "Lyn was never good at dealing with liars."

Liars?

"Think, Josef, what kind of a man would be skulking about on the outskirts of the battlefield, looking for a side to choose?"  Erk asked.  His color was slowly returning, but he grew pale again every time the wind brought the stench of cooked flesh up to our nostrils.

"A thief, most likely looking to steal from the victors."

"Lyn hates thieves."  Florina said emphatically.

I sighed, Wil was trying to get in a shot between the cavalier's fruitless attacks on the pikeman.  "You're right, they'll be fine.  Let's go deal with this thief."

We went north, and met up with Rath, who was just leaving an odd looking, dilapidated building.  "I found the first switch."  He said, and pointed to the wall nearby, which had folded inward to form a passageway.  "Good."  I told him.  "Take Erk and Florina in, we think we've located the second switch.  Be ready to hit the third when they've finished."

The guard captain nodded, and the three of them made their way into the castle through the passage.  I turned my attention then to the only house that had its door open.  As I approached, the sound of Lyn in an angry fit floated through the air to greet me.

"You mean, without your snide little lies, that you're a thief!"

I sighed, Erk and Florina had been all too right.  As I entered the house, Lyn blocked my view of the man, which meant he was either sitting down, or shorter than her.  "Lyn."  I said, my voice as calm as I could make it.  She whirled on me and pointed a finger at the thief (who turned out to be seated after all) accusingly.

"This man has offered his…services, Josef!  He is the worst sort of thief, he watched the battle until he knew we were winning, then acted like he meant to join us all along!"

I appraised the man; he was severely unkempt.  His hair was mussed and his clothes ragged, his face was smudged with dirt in several places.  Under all that gunk, though, he was astoundingly attractive, he had open, eager eyes that darted back and forth, taking in everything.  He had light brown hair, and wore a red cloak with a green shirt and brown breeches.  His outfit was in all ways a perfect emulation of a wandering thief.  "Well, first things first, Lightfingers.  Give Lyn back the pipe you stole from her, she'll be angry at you if she finds it gone when she wants to smoke tonight."

The insufferable man actually grinned, and deposited Lyn's precious pipe in her hands as neatly as he had apparently taken them.  "Good advice, milord.  Who are you that you know this she-devil so well?"

"Her tactician.   You want to help us, then?"

He stood up and extended his hand.  The thin, flexible gloves that thieves always wore covered his hands, and I took it gingerly in my own.  "Name's Matthew.  I have numerous talents, opening locked doors, relieving owners of what they don't need…"

"Yes, yes, you're a thief.  I assume you know about the passage into the castle?"  He nodded.  "All right then, get to work, there's a plainsmen on horseback inside the passage that can give you orders.  And don't even think of garnishing your wages with gold from my pocket, I keep a close watch."

"Yessir!"  cried the lanky thief.  He turned out to be fairly tall, taller than I was, but almost achingly thin.  He was gone before I knew it, presumably to pilfer the home of a marquess.  I only hoped that he would actually do as he was told.  Lyn gave me a stormy look and stalked out after him; I did not stop her.

Once inside the castle, we ran into an armored knight and his archer lackey.  As I came in behind Lyn, the archer fired a shot at Florina, but Huey twisted aside so the arrow impaled itself in the wall behind him.  Matthew had disappeared, predictably, and Rath was taking shots at the armored knight.  His arrows unfortunately did little, and the booming laugh of the knight showed that none of them had found their way through his plated mail.  Sending Huey into a grounded charge, Florina impaled the archer in the stomach with her lance, and he went down just in time to have a fireball explode in his face.  The big knight growled tremendously and turned toward Erk, who was scattering the remains of the spell energy.

"You'll pay for that, mageling.  Lyndis and her crew, no doubt, I'll have your heads!"

Florina got out of the way as the man charged, but Erk stood fast, casting a spell with quick hand movements.  Just as the knight was about to get to him, a huge ball of flames exploded out from his outstretched hands, blasting the man back into the wall and practically cooking him in his armor.  The man tried to get up, but Lyn slid her sword in between the plates on his back and ended his life.

A few hours and a fire later, we were presented to the Marquess Araphen.  Immured in his throne as though he never left it, the man was an angry-looking, pinch-faced old goat, and I wondered how in the world he could have snagged Rath as his guard captain.  Only Kent, Sain, and I accompanied Lyn and Rath into the marqess' presence, and of us, only Lyn and I stood.  When we entered, the marquess had a pleased expression on his face.

"Ah, Rath, excellent work!  That was quite a show!"

As though his people dying to save his bloody castle and being hacked to bits on the wall was entertainment!  I thought indignantly.

"Marquess, if praise is to be given, it should go to these people."

From where he knelt, Rath indicated our party.  "Rath, leave us."  And the captain did so.  Araphen's eyes narrowed as he looked at us, as though he had not seen us until that moment.  He pointed at me.  "You there, why do you not kneel?"

I blinked.  "I am neither your vassal nor the Lady Lyndis', your grace.  I kneel to no one but the leader of the League."

"You will kneel, peasant."  He replied.  Lyn stepped in front of me, her eyes filled with fire and anger.  It was…refreshing to have that wrath on my behalf for once.

"Josef is my friend and my teacher, Lord Araphen.  Would you ask your priest to bow before you?"

"Of course not, priests are men of the gods; lords have no power over them."

"Then think of Josef as a priest, if it will still your misgivings."

The marquess shifted on his throne uncomfortably under Lyn's green stare.  "I agreed to provide you and your party aid in your endeavor to reach House Caelin in time to rescue your grandfather.  I must confess, you do look very much like the Lady Madelyn, but I had not expected to see her daughter so…tainted with mongrel blood."

"Your grace!  Take that back!"  Sain leaped to his feet indignantly, but Kent grabbed his breastplate and pulled him forcefully to the ground.  The red-haired man was much stronger than he looked.

"Your man is poorly disciplined."

"You gave me your word, your grace."  Said the cavalier, his voice more cool and even than Rath had managed.

"I have changed my mind."

"Your grace!"

Lyn intervened again, this time staying Kent with a quick glance, then whipping her body around to face the marquess.  Twin wisps of green hair fell from the ponytail she wore to frame her face as she glared green daggers at the man.  "Then we will not bother you further."

"Lyn…"  I started.

"No, Josef.  I will not accept aid from a man who insults my people.  Let us go."

She turned and left, her hair trailing after her like a banner.  Sain, Kent, and I went after her, but I stopped at the doorway when I heard the Marquess muttering.

"Fool girl, if she had shed but one tear, I would have granted her request.  I do not understand these dogs from the plains."

"Is that what you truly think of Sacae, my lord?"

Rath came up from behind the throne, presumably through another secret entrance.

"Oh, Rath, I did not see you there!  You have nothing to fear; I am proud of your service, you are nothing like the people who threw you out."

"So, if we bow down before you and serve you, you have no qualms about us.  But Father Sky forbid one of the "dogs" come off the plains as an equal!"

"Watch your language, Captain!  Have I not treated you well, given you all that you needed?"

"A thousand curses upon you and yours.  My service ends here."

Araphen called for the guards, but none ever came.  I let a smirk crawl onto my face as I passed through the gate into the town proper, I knew where Rath would be when next I met him.

Author's Note:  Sorry this took so long, I tried to fulfill paladin2007's request.  I know I've been going thin on the battles, which form the most important aspect of the game, and I apologize for that.  I hope you enjoy the one for this chapter, I put a lot of work into it.  This chapter is late because it's well, about two and a half times as long as usual.  Narrator 1, I actually agree with you, that name was just a place holder.  I missed it on my last edit, its actual name is Dierna.  I'll go back and change that.

I'd like to put out a request for a beta reader.  Just someone to point out inconsistencies in the plot and any heinous grammar/spelling mistakes that I don't catch.  If anyone feels like it, just e-mail me, I'd love to have the help, and you'll get to see the next chapter before it's posted!

On Couples:  My policy with this fanfic is to not reveal any of the couple choices overtly.  I'll leave clues in the story, but you won't actually know for a while.  Come on, the suspense is good for ya. ^-~  Thanks for the reviews, you're all just lovely.  Sorry to any Matthew lovers, I promise that he'll be more important as the story proceeds.