-Legend of the Twin Swords-
By: Kratos the Judgment

Chapter 8: An Unexpected Meeting

Dawn came soon enough, and my weary group set off. Our path was southwest,
into Lycia and its capitol canton of Ostia. As they had been the night before,
Ernst and Ralts were ripe with questions, most of which I didn't feel like
answering due to an obnoxious cold that had been clogging my sinuses since
last night. Rayne wasn't feeling much better than I, but she trudged alongside
me and kept pace rather well.

The most frequent question asked was: "Are we really going to meet Marquess
Hector and Marquess Eliwood? Are we? Are we? Are we?"

My most common replies were: "In a few days;" "If you're good;" and, my favorite,
"Only if you promise to stop asking me that!" I call it my favorite, because it
actually stopped them from talking… about that one subject at least.

Rayne, for once, took my side of the argument. She told the two that her
sickness was making her feel really ill and that the loud noises were hurting her
ears.

I would like to say that I slept like a baby that night and woke up the next morning
with a perfectly clear head. As fate would have it, the opposite was the case.
For me, this provided one important piece of traveling information: never sleep
outside in the rain.

However, by the third day, I was feeling significantly improved, as was my young
female friend. I think that after that, my group and I made much better time.

By the seventh day of our journey to Ostia, we had reached its border and the
kids, all of them this time, were becoming quite impatient. To tell the truth, I was
too, but I like to think that I made a much better show of hiding my frustration.

As we sat around the campfire eating a meal we had made from edibles we had
scavenged for, since my supplies had never meant to support four, Ralts asked
me about what would happen once we reached the capitol city.

"When we get there and meet the Marquess," he said, "will he give us an army so
that we can hunt down that villain who slew our people? I want to be part of the
army that takes him down!"

I replied, "Hector won't give us an army. I suspect he'll take his own and finish
things. As for you, you children won't need to fight once the Marquess gets
involved."

Three pairs of eyes focused on me. "What do you mean by that?" Rayne asked.
"Will we not be allowed to avenge the deaths of our parents?"

"You can't deny us our right!" Ernst interjected. "We must have our revenge!"

"Right! We want to fight as well!" Ralts said.

I saw where this conversation was going, and I didn't like it. I had to diffuse this
situation or these three might run off in the middle of the night to foolhardily try to
take on the man with the Katti Umbra.

"Tell you what," I said, looking each of them in the eyes, "we'll ask Hector if you
can join with the army for this mission, so that you can get your revenge. The
army is his after all"

This seemed to make some sense to them, and I got the feeling that it would do
for now. "Tomorrow we should arrive at the capitol city. If all goes well, you can
make your request then."

That night I couldn't sleep. For some reason, I couldn't shake this feeling of being
watched. I got up to take a walk, and that's when I saw the pair of eyes staring
down at me from a tree. I knew there were spies all over Ostia, but this was
ridiculous. We were in the middle of a forest on the border. What reason would
a spy have to be here? I started to draw my sword when the figure in the tree
spoke.

"Tsk, tsk," he said and then called me by name. "You don't cover your trail
anywhere near well enough for me to not be able to find you."

"Huh?" I was perplexed.

The voice in the tree sighed and then spoke. "Come on, it hasn't been that long,
has it? You really don't remember me?" The spy dropped from the tree. "Me?"

"Matthew, is that you?" Truth be told, I was shocked. I had never expected a
welcoming committee until I had made it to the throne room itself. "How?" It was
all I could think to say.

"Simple," he said. "You always wear that old grey cloak, and that color's not
exactly in style any more. You really should consider letting Pent enchant a few
more for you. As far as I'm concerned, you stick out like a sore thumb!" We both
laughed at this.

"If I see him again, I'll let him know you said that."

"Ah, Pent," Mathew began, "he's a slippery one to find since nobody likes to set
foot in the Nebata Desert, but I might just be able to track him down for you if you
want."

"He's back in the desert?"

"Yep, He resigned his position in Etruria. I actually heard something about
making Erk take up his position, but I don't think it followed through."

At this point, a voice from behind me called my name. "What's going on here?
Who is he?"

I turned to see Rayne had gotten up. "This is Matthew, Rayne, from the stories."

Matthew piped up. "So, is this your new girlfriend, eh? She's a bit young for you
though, don't you think?"

I wanted to deck him for that. Rayne simply flushed.

"Matthew," I said sternly, "I am not Sain."

"Point taken," he managed to get out between laughs. "So what brings you back
to Ostia anyway?"

"You have to ask?" I said, my face curling in a smirk.

"Now you're being unfair. My spies can't all be like me."

"Your spies?"

"Yea, I'm the head of espionage for Marquess Hector. But when I heard you
were back in town, I just had to see for myself."

"I see. Well, the answer to your question is somewhat of a long story. Come sit
with me and I'll tell you of what's happened this past week."

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Kratos