Eliwood enters Santaruz, only to be attacked by a strange group. In a desperate moment, he is rescued by a childhood friend, Marquess Ostia's younger brother, Hector. The assailants' leader reveals that an unknown party seeks Eliwood's head... Eliwood cannot help but think this is related to his father's disappearance. In search of more traces of his father's footsteps, Eliwood sets out for the castle of Lord Helman, the marquess of Santaruz.
Lord Helman fumed when he saw all of the slain carcasses on the Santaruz grounds. He knew deep down a large battle had taken plase.
"Master Ephidel! What is the meaning of this?" Lord Helman bellowed in furiousness.
Ephidel stared with a grin on his lips as the remainder of his face remained hidden. "Peace, peace! What be the matter?"
"You said you were only going to scare him off! You almost killed him! I have no more patience!" He cried, throwing his hands in the air. He then stopped and looked out his chamber window. He stared at Eliwood in the distance and sighed.
"I must apologize. Eliwood must know the truth. I cannot keep it from him any longer." Lord Helman said in a nostalgic tone, sighing as memories of his past came back to the front of his head.
"You would betray us?" Ephidel asked.
Helman, again losing his temper roared at the top of his lungs. "I'm tired of you and the Black Fang! Leave, now!"
Ephidel threw back his hood and began manic laughing. "Well, well then. You are of no use to us any longer!"
Ephidel took his blade and knocked Lord Helman out with the handle by hitting him hard in the head, then he cut his stomach area as he fled Castle Santaruz.
To our travelers...
Lowen and Marcus, carried the weary travelers on their horse backs as they trotted towards the castle. Sion had been slouching against Lowen's armor as Rebecca lay asleep on his back. Hector and Oswin took the back and Matthew groaned as Serra sat on his shoulders.
"Why must I be stuck with this beast of burden?" Matthew whined.
Hector retorted. "Because I would kill myself within the first 10 minutes if I were carrying her."
Sion lightly laughed to himself as soon as Serra squealed in response.
"Arrrgh! Lord Hector! That wasn't nice of you at all!"
Matthew groaned. "Can't we all just take a rest? I can't feel my shoulders, and I can already feel a great argument coming on..."
"Argument! What argument! I'm not arguing! Stop being that way, Matthew!" Serra shouted.
Sion laughed. "He rests his case."
Eliwood groaned and put both of his hands to each side of his head. "All right! All right! We'll rest here a moment! Marcus, keep a look out for anyone suspicious."
"Yes, milord Eliwood." Marcus answered, then found a nice, shady spot under some trees. Matthew and Sion grinned and laughed, Matthew threw Serra off of his shoulders, then leaped off the horse with Sion and lay backs to the grass and sighed as they inhaled. Sion, for the first time in ages, gave a truly happy smile as he stared up into the sky, watching the white fluffy clouds pass him by.
"Sion, you seem to be enjoying yourself." Matthew said.
Sion nodded. "This, this moment right now, is the most calm and carefree I have experienced in far too long. It seems like forever since I last had a chance to just not think of anything and enjoy this world for what it is."
Matthew smiled at his friend, then stared up at the sky with him.
"MATTHEW! WHERE IS MY STAFF!" Serra screamed with a piercing voice.
Sion sighed and said. "And it is now over." Matthew threw his arms up into the air in frustration. "What! Serra, what? What did I do THIS time!"
"You threw me off, and I lost my staff in the woods somewhere. Now help me find it!" She folded her arms across her chest and pouted.
Sion and Matthew groaned as they set off into the woods to look for Serra's staff. They spoke to each other.
"Matthew, I'll go this way, and you go that way. If you find her staff, yell and I'll find you. Or, I'll just shout if I find it."
"You got it." Matthew said as they split. Sion ran off and began to look into the bushes, grumbling underneath his breath. Sion saw something glisten, and then pushed aside some of the shrubbery. As soon as he saw it, he fell back in absolute surprise and gasped.
"No..."
Sion saw a dagger. It had an average bade, however, it was the handle that startled him. It was carved out of ivory, and it had black markings, very much like the markings on his own dagger, and the markings tattooed onto his shoulder. He sighed, knowing deep down what this had meant.
"The Black Fang... why have they been here recently?" Sion began to lose himself in deep thought, trying to think things through when Matthew called out to him.
"Sion! I found Serra's staff! Let's get back to everyone."
"OK." Sion called back. Puzzled, he took the dagger with him. As they walked back, Serra noticed the staff in Matthew's hand. She snatched it and held it tightly.
"You're welcome..." Sion muttered as Matthew groaned. Hector, shaking his head pointed ahead.
"There's the castle." He said.
Eliwood smiled. "This is wonderful, at last I can finally speak with Lord Helman."
"That's not gonna happen, laddie!" Eliwood and company turned around.
"Ahahahaaa! Just wait 'till I get through with all of you. You'll all be worm's meat!"
"You think so? I think my axe'll change your mind." Hector yelled.
"Ha! The cub thinks he's a wolf! Does your bite match your bark? Tell you what: if you make it to the castle alive, we'll find out, eh?" The man yelled as he raised his lance into the air.
Sion, knowing somehow he was involved with the Black Fang, growled. Unable to contain his anger any longer, he threw himself on top of him."
"Go! I'm pretty sure he has reinforcements. Take them all out! Then come back to me, and we'll all finish him off!" Sion screamed in desperation as he fought with the armored bandit.
Struggling to get him off, the bandit staggered, and fell off a hill and lost his footing. Sion became trapped underneath the heavy weight of the man and his armor. Te bandit sneered into Sion's face with a smile.
"What do you want with all of us? Why are you hunting us down."
The bandit laughed. "Ah, well laddie, if I weren't a hired mercenary, I would tell you. But, the boss just wants me quiet. But believe me, you'll never reach Lord Helman. And even if I do die, I'm still sure you won't reach him n time."
"What..." Sion became confused. "What does the Black Fang want with us!"
"Enough talk!" The bandit yelled. "We've been here too long, now fight!" With that, he thrust his lance down towards Sion's face. Sion quickly rolled out of the way and dodged it, escaping with a cut going down his left cheek. However, his cloak got snagged to his lance. Sion stood up and tried to escape, but, from his blunder, he saw an opportunity. Sion flung himself behind the bandit, and in doing so, wrapped his face with his cloak, forcing the lance to hit his face.
"Aagh! I- I can't see!" He yelled. Sion grinned and unwrapped his cloak from his neck and tied the cloak around his arms and face. Sion then pushed a rock on top of his legs, and laughed when he saw just how immobilized the bandit was.
"I hope you guys are done! Because I'm not strong enough to get past his armor." Sion called out to his fighting companions.
"Not a problem!" Sion looked up and saw that Hector, had jumped off the top of the hill, with the Wolf Beil wielded, and struck the bandit's neck, separating the head from his body.
"We're finished." Hector spoke.
Sion nodded as Eliwood arrived. "Now we just have to get to Lord Helman." Sion said. Eliwood, stared at the decapitated corpse, thankful he couldnt see his face because of the armor.
The knights nodded as they mounted everyone on their horses and galloped into the building. Eliwood's face turned white and he gasped in horror as he saw Lord Helman resting in a pool of blood. He leaped off of Marcus's horse and ran to his side. Sion closely followed.
"Lord Helman!" Eliwood flipped him over. "Speak to me, my lord!"
Lord Helman opened his eyes and looked up, slowly. Tears, mixing with his blood, began to roll down his face. "Eliwood... I- I'm so so sorry..."
"Lord Helman... do you know something about my father?"
"Elbert... If I hadn't told him... Lord Darin... Laus... Black Fang... go to Laus, Eliwood, my boy..." Helman held Eliwood's hand, then turned the other way as he coughed up blood and his head sunk low.
"Lord Helman?" Eliwood began to shake him. "Lord Helman!"
Hector, feeling very sorry for his friend, placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder "Eliwood... He's dead."
Eliwood began to shed tears as he knelt beside him, ignoring the fact blood was getting onto his knees. "Why did this happen? I don't understand..." Eliwood then wiped his tears and looked towards Sion.
"Lord Darin... he must know something. We go to Laus." Sion nodded, and then helped to clean up. A worker then walked in.
"Lord Eliwood, Lord Helman did not have an heir… What are we to do?"
Eliwood looked down on the floor. Hector then spoke as they left.
"Bury him, give him a grave fit for a king. Then, I suppose the Lycian League would have to do something." Hector frowned.
With that, they all left. Sion, feeling guilty for all this, could not bear the Black Fang any longer. Sion decided to slowly take steps to deal with it.
"Eliwood. We go to Laus, I know. But I would hope to leave, I have my own mission for now. I am afraid, I will not command you in Laus. You will have to work without my assistance."
Eliwood, and everyone else, looked at him with curiosity, yet, they all nodded, not wanting to question his authority.
"I will join you later." Sion smiled. "But for now, I will remain."