Buenos Ding-dong-diddly dias! Wow, Even I didn't expect I'd have this much homework this week. Anyway, This chapter is the same day as the last chapter, but it follows Wil, Rebecca, Dart and Geitz.

I don't own FE or any of the characters…

Chapter 5 – Narrow Escapes

-Badon-

Wil pushed himself away from the bed, he finally felt like himself again, having slept for almost a full day and night. He wondered whether someone had drugged him, jokingly, and checked his watch. 9:00. Great I missed breakfast, he thought, but maybe Rebecca's downstairs.

They had arrived at Badon the day previously and Wil had just collapsed on his bed, ignoring Geitz, who was his roommate. Dart was with Rebecca, as he was the most trustworthy, being Rebecca's long lost brother.

Wil had managed to stumble down to dinner, his eyes red, and immediately went back to sleep.

It was the morning now and he traipsed down to find Rebecca and Geitz picking at some ice-cold porridge.

"Hey mind if I join you?" Wil asked unnecessarily. He sat down heavily next to Rebecca, leaned back and yawned.

"Don't tell me you're still tired?" Geitz asked, comically shocked. They laughed a little, and wondered what to do for the day.

-On board the Davros (Badon)-

Dart, meanwhile, found himself working for Fargus once more. Fargus had came into the inn before breakfast and told him he had something that only Dart or he himself could do.

"Dart me mate… I need someone… taken out" Captain Fargus told him sadly. He continued after Dart's muffled exclamation.

"Ye see, this evil mooncalf is threatening pick us off one by one, just 'cause we destroyed his brother's ship. I'mean we're Pirates!" Dart gave a weak smile at this. "So ye gotta help me Dart, If I were to do it meself someone would see me."

"I understand Cap'n…" Dart said softly. His mind was still going over what he would have to do. He would have to kill someone in cold blood. Dart had been sent in to kill many soldiers by the tactician, but there is a large difference in killing someone in the heat of battle and killing someone in cold blood.

Dart swallowed nervously… he would need to pick up some weaponry.

He found out that the person he had to kill was a hero by the name of Blaz, who was currently living in a ger (A kind of dome-like nomadic hut) outside town.

- The Badon Inn-

"Uhh Rebecca do you want to go shopping with me?" Wil asked, a little nervously. Geitz nearly chuckled into his porridge, it sounded like Wil was asking her out on a date.

Rebecca smiled happily and nodded to Wil. She was just happy to find an excuse to spend time with him, and it sounded like Wil was really eager to spend time with her as well.

They left their separate ways: Wil and Rebecca going to the archery armouries and Geitz heading over to look at some axes.

"So Wil… uhh" Rebecca racked her mind thinking of something to say. "Uhh, what treasure do you think we'll find?" Oh god, she thought, what the heck was that, now Wil will I'm only interested in the treasure.

Wow she so beautiful…, Wil thought, the morning light certainly accentuates her features. I never knew she was going to be so beautiful when we were growing up…

Uhh okay…, Rebecca thought, confused at what just happened. It seemed like he was listening to me, he was certainly looking at me, but he didn't respond… Oh well, it was a stupid question anyway, maybe it's best he didn't hear it.

Oh great now she saw you looking at her and probably thinks you're perverted, Wil mentally shouted at himself.

"There's that new archery shop Olan was talking about…" Rebecca said, almost giggling when she saw Wil. She secretly enjoyed the effect she was having on him as they entered the armoury.

The armoury had some of the most advanced bows the two of them had ever seen.

"Wow!" Wil exclaimed, finally distracted from Rebecca by the dazzling array of bows, arrows and archery accessories surrounding them. He picked up a Killer bow and examined it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rebecca reaching for a bow.

"Watch out!" Wil said, grabbing Rebecca's arm, she turned to him, confused. "That was a poison bow" He said pointing to a small label. Rebecca blushed deeply at the mistake she had just made, she didn't want to seem like someone who needed protection.

"Thanks." Rebecca said eventually.

It was at this moment when Farina and Karla approached them.

"Wil, Rebecca, how are you!" Farina said happily. Wil and Rebecca looked around to see the young Pegasus knight standing behind them.

"Hi, Farina!" Said Rebecca, still taken aback to see Farina "It's nice to see you again"

"It is too" Added Wil, Smiling, though a little insincerely. He was a bit upset that they were interrupted.

"Hello, I'm Karla, we fought together a month ago" Karla said. Wil looked at her for a second, trying to remember her, but he could only remember what Bartre had told him.

"Karla, I know you, the sword princess! You're really talented" Wil said, not really thinking at all.

Rebecca was stunned for a moment as she saw Wil practically drooling at the swordmaster. First Lyn, she thought, now her, he's acting like Sain.

"Hello Karla" Rebecca said eventually, the coldness in her voice cutting through the moment like Karla's sword. Farina was taken aback by Rebecca's coldness, she had met Rebecca and she was nice enough… Farina wracked her mind for an ice-breaker.

"So what are you all doing here?" Farina asked them. Wil and Rebecca looked at each other. Do they lie or tell them the true reason for their journey, they both thought. They chose the lie, after all how could they trust anyone and from Farina's reputation it sounded like she would do almost anything for money.

"Oh we're going back to our old village in Pherae" Wil replied hesitantly.

"You two look like newlyweds!" Farina said happily. Wil and Rebecca were instantly mortified. Oh Saint Elimine, Rebecca thought, please spare me from her. She realised that the best way to take this was as a joke and laughed several seconds late.

"So where are you two going?" Rebecca asked in a transparent attempt to change the topic.

"We're not sure. We're currently looking to join a mercenary squad." Karla said.

"But no one pays as well as Hector." Farina added. They laughed a little and a silence fell.

"So Rebecca we're heading off to the baths, do you want to come along?" Farina asked. Oh, Rebecca thought, I really wanted to spend time with Wil…

"Oh err, if you don't mind Wil?" Rebecca asked hoping against hope that he could come up with some reason to not go.

"Sure you can go Rebecca. When will you be back?" Wil said, misinterpreting Rebecca's expectant expression for one of pleading.

"Err" Rebecca said, disappointed that Wil didn't come up with anything.

"We'll have her back to you in an hour… sorry about breaking you two up." Farina said. Farina really had a knack for embarrassing people, or so Wil and Rebecca thought as they winced inwardly at Farina's choice of words.

Rebecca allowed herself to be bundled away by Farina to the baths. They relaxed in the bath, with an awkward conversation about Wil, but soon Karla left to go to the arena downtown. Rebecca felt a vague compulsion to go and cheer for her fellow army member, but a combination of vague jealousy and sheer laziness kept her in the bath.

Meanwhile Dart and Geitz were nervously browsing the axe shop trying to find the perfect item.

"'Ere we go" Dart said holding up a swordreaver, they bought two.

Dart had found Geitz in the Axe store, Dart realised that he needed someone to help him and was overjoyed to find Geitz, as Dart wanted to keep Wil and Rebecca out of this, they looked so young.

Dart had immediately told Geitz everything and he agreed to help. They searched the armoury for anything that would give them the upper hand and finally found the swordreavers.

"Dart, we should do something to relax, get us a bath room will you" Geitz ordered.

"Yea, mate" Dart accepted. Geitz went to the inn to get his battle clothes and Dart headed off to the baths.

Rebecca had just realised that she had left Wil waiting in the Archery store and quickly dressed and ran off. But before she did she had let some information slip. She had accidentally told Farina that she was travelling with Dart and now Farina was floating in the water, considering her options.

She needed to see that map again, she was sure of that much, but how would she get it from Dart? She could steal it, but if she was caught, there was no way she could get it… She had to come up with a way of getting the map from Dart, preferably by him giving it to her and she had to do it without the others knowing about it, especially not Wil or Rebecca.

Farina lay back in the water thinking, when she overheard a gruff, yet youngish voice from the main area. She listened in and realised that it was Dart and he was taking the room down the hall. Farina almost giggled with glee, now the victim was in her grasp, but what was the plan?

To Farina's delight she came up with a plan almost straight away, although she wondered if it was stepping over the line. She jumped out of the bath and grabbed a towelling robe from the side room. She looked around outside the door to make sure the coast was clear.

After seeing no-one, she scampered across the tiled floor and quickly entered the room, making sure that the door shut as quietly as possible. She dropped her robe onto the floor and tried to stop herself from giggling as she heard Dart clattering about inside.

Dart had walked into the side room a few moments before and stripped out of his clothes quickly. He rubbed his chest and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Dart opened the door and walked out to see Farina standing there. Naked. Dart's eyes quickly roamed her slender waist, muscular legs and the side view of her face before coming to a rest on her chest. He could feel his heartbeat gradually increase and turned a little red.

Farina could sense Dart's eyes on the side of her body and slowly turned around, this needed to be done carefully, she thought. She didn't want to scare him off. Farina pretended to finally notice Dart and squealed softly covering her self.

"Turn around you pervert!" Farina said looking at him. He wasn't bad looking, really muscular and he had great legs, she thought. Thankfully she had stopped her eyes from moving further upwards.

Dart quickly turned around, silently thanking Elimine for the small towel around his waist.

"Blast it, Farina!" Dart said, angrily "You're in the wrong room, woman". He didn't want to feel anything for her, considering what he had to do, but he was finding ignoring her especially hard at the moment, as she was naked behind him. Farina grabbed the robe lying on the floor and wrapped it around her. She left as Dart was turning around looking confused and disappointed.

Farina waited until she was back in her own side room before bursting into laughter. His face was classic as he drooled over her. She dressed quickly and walked out of the baths smiling to herself.

Dart walked over to the water, which was barely warmer than himself, trying to ignore the pain in his towel. He got in and waited for Geitz to come in.

Farina walked out of the baths quickly and headed towards the inn, to see Rebecca and Wil walking out of it. Rebecca had gone looking for Wil and found him in his room. They decided to go to the arena to see if Karla was still fighting,

Farina basically ran into them and they all went to the arena together. Rebecca, by now, was fairly annoyed with Farina for interrupting her and Wil's time together.

They reached the Arena, where the co-ordinator told them that the battle was over and pointed them in the direction of the competitor's area. They found Karla staring out of a window. Farina called out to her and she walked over to them.

"Seeing as you're standing in front of us, I take it you won?" Farina asked.

"Yeah, It was tough though, I got struck by a thunder" Karla said. Ouch, Wil and Farina thought and they winced. Rebecca felt a bit sorry for her, but she kept her defence.

They went back to the inn and grabbed lunch, after which Farina went off to practise for the arena.

On the other side of Badon, Geitz and Dart walked out of an archery armoury, Geitz carrying a new Short Bow. They headed out of the town sadly, silently preparing themselves for the battle to come.

They spotted the ger almost immediately and walked solemnly towards it.

"Remember the plan, Geitz, you stay out 'ere while I go in and try an deal with 'im". An' if I get in trouble, you shoot him on my signal." Dart explained softly. Geitz paused and nodded slowly. He walked over to a handy group of rocks, while Dart approached the ger.

"What do we have here?" said Blaz in a perfectly structured accent (Which is quite rare in commoners for some reason or the other).

"Wha' do you know about Ca- Fargus?" Dart asked the man, trying his hardest to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Ahh so you're a pirate? And you've come to kill me?" Blaz said grinning. "Well I'm sorry that Fargus underestimates me so, I mean really sending a Pirate to kill a Hero…"

"Why are ye doing this?" Dart said sadly, shaking his head.

"I don't feel the need to explain myself to a pirate who's expanding his horizons into murder. Just falling beneath my blade should be enough for the likes of you." Blaz stated arrogantly, and as we all know arrogance is the downfall of at least a quarter of all evil people.

Outside Geitz was anxiously stretching his bowstring when he heard a rustle in a shrub nearby. He fitted an arrow in his Killer bow and fired it into the shrub. There was a deep scream from the shrub and Geitz grimaced.

Blaz heard the scream and raised an eyebrow. "Brought some help?" He asked coolly. He sent a few of his men out to investigate and got another one to tie up Dart.

"You'll make the perfect lure for your friend" Blaz said to Dart, who was being held at dagger-point.

Geitz, was in a far more precarious position. Having hit one of Blaz' archers, he had attracted attention and now some swordsmen were outside looking for him.

He readied another arrow and waited a moment to see whether they would come towards him. They did. Geitz decided to play his surprise attack card early and stood up, firing an arrow into the nearest swordsman. The other two spun around as one and ran forwards with their swords extended.

Geitz tossed his bow aside and grabbed his swordreaver, they may have the advantage of numbers, but I have the weapon triangle, He thought. The two swordsmen paused while they sussed out his weapon. Geitz took the opportunity presented by the hesitation and jumped over the rocks, bearing the axe right into the swordmaster.

Or at least it would have, had the swordmaster not turned to the side at the last moment, leaving Geitz's axe slashing at thin air. Geitz yanked his axe out of the ground and spun around, slashing at the swordsman sideways.

There was an almighty CLANG as all the spinning momentum of Geitz's axe was brought to a halt by the swordmasters sword.

"I ain't never seen a warrior twirl before!" The swordmaster laughed, trying to distract Geitz from the assassin coming up at his side.

Luckily for Geitz, the assassin's gloves brushed loudly against his coat and Geitz jumped backwards, avoiding the assassin's daggers by centimetres. Unluckily for Geitz, he forgot that there was a formation of rocks behind him. He stumbled and the swordmaster took the opportunity and thrust his sword sideways at his neck.

"Warrior!" Blaz shouted from inside the ger "Surrender or your pirate friend here will be receiving a blade through his neck!". Geitz glared at the two swordsmen in front of him for a moment, before sliding his hand away from his axe.

"Fire!" A voice shouted from nowhere. The swordmaster's clothes suddenly burst into fire and he screamed. Geitz tried to raise his head to see who was chanting, but the assassin kicked his face hard and Geitz fell back, blacking out.

His last view was that of the assassin being enveloped by a packet of dark energy that had apparently come out of the ground.

"Leo, he's out like a light." The shaman said, pushing his red hair out of his eyes. Leo picked up one of the assassin's daggers and slid it into his cloak.

Inside the ger Blaz, who had heard the scream and assumed the worst, was holding his blade in front of Dart's face. The hero raised the blade slowly, but as he did so he felt the ground beneath him vibrate. He threw himself to the side just in time to avoid the dark energy seeping out of the clay.

Blaz growled and rolled over to the corner, throwing his sword away. He unstrapped a hand axe, and threw it, making it turn sideways through the open flap. It narrowly missed Leo as he ran towards the ger. However it hit Olan in the chest, thankfully with the handle. Leo burst in through the hole, pulling out his Thunder tome. He paused when he saw the scene in front of him.

Dart was still tied to his chair, which had fallen over when Blaz kicked it. Two myrmidons were quickly unsheathing their swords and Blaz had picked up his discarded sword. Leo drew out the assassin's dagger. Okay, he thought in the moment he had left, how do I use this?

He held it in front of him as tightly as he could, in an attempt to fend off Blaz' sword. It slammed into the dagger, which flew into the air and slammed into the ground close to Dart.

"Olan!" Leo shouted as he frantically danced backwards, trying to avoid the three swords rushing at him. A sloppily cast Thunder spell struck one of the myrmidon's arm, making him drop his sword. As he paused to pick it up, he was overwhelmed by a rush of dark energy.

In a pile of rocks, Geitz suddenly regained consciousness with a groan. He looked up to see two magic users trying to cast spells at Blaz and his myrmidon. He picked up his bow, trying to ignore the hammering in his head. The myrmidon was about to slash at the mage and Geitz, realizing that the myrmidon was working for Blaz, loosed an arrow at his head.

Now it was just Blaz left. The hero looked around a little nervously at the bodies around him.

"Are you Geitz?" Leo asked Geitz, who nodded suspiciously, despite the pain. "Rebecca described you."

Blaz was still waiting for the first strike. The two magic users chanted their spells at the same time, casting a Thunder from the air and a Flux from the ground. Blaz dodged to the side, avoiding the spells and the resulting magic vacuum.

He swung his sword at Leo, narrowly missing his head, but shaving off a centimetre or so off the top of Leo's tome. Geitz staggered forward and tried to swing his axe, but it was easily dodged. Blaz made a short cut along Geitz's arm with a quick flick of his sword.

"Hold him off" Leo said in a low voice, before running into the ger. He pulled the dagger out of the ground near Dart's head and began to cut him loose.

Olan and Geitz tried to hold Blaz's attention by a combination of elder spells and tired axe strokes. The Swordreaver protected Geitz from the more powerful of Blaz's strikes, but his arms were getting cut more and more often. Olan tried to hit him with a spell and even tried throwing a vulnerary, but Blaz avoided them all. They did, however, occupy him.

Leo finally cut Dart free and he removed his gag.

"Thanks…?" Dart said, raising himself out of the chair. He unstrapped his Swordreaver and ran out of the ger.

Geitz made a weak slash at Blaz's chest and he jumped backwards. Into Dart's axe. Olan seized the moment and cast a Flux straight for Blaz. It was a direct hit, and Blaz writhed while the dark energy coursed it's way through his body. It centred on his chest and drove through him.

"A lucky shot!" He mumbled, before the Flux pushed the last breath of air out of lungs. Leo walked out of the ger and ran a hand through his short blonde hair.

"Uhhh…" Leo said, surveying the bloody scene around him. "Why were these people trying to kill you anyway?"

"They want, wanted to-" Dart started to say, but he broke off when he heard the sound of a person scrambling away. Of course, he thought, the archer!

"Geitz!" Dart exclaimed. Geitz pulled out his bow, but the sounds had died away.

"Oh well." He sighed. They walked silently back into the town as the sun set.

They walked into the Inn where a group of pirates were animatedly discussing what they had just seen at the arena.

"Then there was that archer girl, killed a Druid in five shots!" The pirates cheered. Dart's mind was instantly filled with an image of Rebecca fighting in the arena. No way, he thought, they must mean someone else.

"What did the archer look like?" Dart asked the pirate in the middle of the group.

"The girl, uhh… she 'ad green hair in pigtails, Pretty Hot!" The pirate laughed.

"That's my sister you dolt!" Dart shouted, shocked.

"Really? Well then you better go the infirmary!"

"What? Why!" Geitz suddenly shouted.

"She not 'urt, but she went in there with a friend of 'ers, black hair, really good with a sword, HOT! Even when she's hurt." The pirate told them.

"Hurt…" Dart said. "Let's go, Leo, Olan can you stay 'ere an' look out for them?"

"Sure, Dart, I'm sure she'll be fine!" Olan said, trying to console him.

"I don't like the idea of 'er being out at night in this town. Geitz come on!" Dart said, before bolting out of the Inn. Geitz followed him and they ran across the town.

Dart and Geitz reached the infirmary in a few minutes. They burst into the infirmary to see Wil, Rebecca and Farina looking upset.

"Rebecca, Wil you're alri- wait you!" Dart said, relieved that he had found Rebecca and Wil, but this was almost driven out of his mind by the sight of Farina sobbing in the corner. When you've been caught spying on someone, that someone is the last person you want to see.

"Dart" Geitz said in a low warning voice, confused as to why Dart was angry at Farina "leave it." Just then Farina leant over Karla and collapsed on top of her.

"Karla…" Farina moaned "Please wake up, remember our agreement…". Dart and Geitz just looked at each other.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll recover" The priest said.

"Are you sure? You don't sound very confident about that." Geitz asked.

"Of course she will, with this Fortify staff, she might stay unconscious, but she will stay alive for at least a week. She could stay unconscious for the next few days and still wake up healthy!" The priest reassured them.

"So now all we have to do is wait.." Wil said wearily. "Well I'll go with Rebecca and we'll get some sheets from our rooms." They left together, but Geitz went with them.

Now Dart was basically alone with Farina, as the priest went back to his tome.

"So Farina…" Dart said.

"Please leave me alone Dart." Obviously she wasn't in the mood for idle chatter.

And now you see why I broke this chapter into two. Karla will be alright! Or will she? Yes!

To the Reviewers:

Nightmare3: Cameos… well look for them soon -Cough- Raven -Cough-. Thanks.

MiSs JoVaNNa: Thankyou.

Lemurian-Girl: Of course I wouldn't kill off Karla. Anyway, thankyou. Hmm Fir does look a lot like Karla…

Daniel Chen: OhK, I just misunderstood you. Thanks… Busy? Well yeah…

ManaMage: She sure does, let us fondly remember their 'B' support. Thanks, I'm sorry I made you wait.

In closing I'd just like to say: Is it just me or does Moulder (FE: SS) look like a potato? R&R!