Hello again. Sorry about the wait for the update. It would have been up this weekend, but the site decided to be annoying and not work. Go figure. So, yeah. I guess you could call this a filler chapter, though I promise that nothing in my stories is ever unimportant--except for incidental dialogue, such as that of Serra in this chapter. By the way, thank you to my reviewers. Please continue to review, and if you have not already done so, please make a comment about some element of my story that I might work on, besides inconsistencies with Fuuin no Tsurugi. I don't care that it's different; I think it's awesome. This chapter is, in case you ignored my last author's note, about Eliwood, and some surprise guests. And I don't own any of it--Nintendo and Intelligent Systems do a fine job with it.

Seven: On the Defensive

Eliwood awakened just as the sun was rising over the bleak stone parapets of Shellak Keep. Rubbing his eyes and standing up, he began his morning stretches. In addition to giving his circadian rhythyms a jump-start, they kept his aging muscles in decent shape. He sighed as he bent over to touch his toes, finding once again that he was incapable of doing so. He flopped back down on his bed. "Growing old is a pain," he said aloud, and laughed bitterly. His age hadn't yet kept him from keeping up with his son, but he was living with the knowledge that it soon would.

Hearing the clink of metal behind him, he grabbed his sword off the table, unsheathed it, and spun around in one fluid motion.

A soft laugh caused him to lower his sword. Lady Lyndis was standing in the doorway, sword hanging from her belt and a bow and quiver strapped to her back. "Practicing the sword in your bedroom...I would have thought you wouldn't need a refresher course by now, old friend."

Eliwood smiled, dropped his sword, and embraced his friend. "Thanks for coming, Lyn. It means the world to me. Really, it does."

She smiled, and her green eyes sparkled. "Is Roy back at the palace, or is he finally ready to fight alongside dear old dad?"

At this, Eliwood's face was grave, and he turned away from Lyn. "No, he is not with me. He and Hector's daughter, Lilina, are going back to Ostia. Hector can better take care of them there." He quickly donned a regal purple tunic and gold breeches, then clasped a scarlet and purple cape over his shoulders. As he turned back to Lyn, he tied his rapier to his belt. "I don't want my son to be a warrior, like I was...like I became. No, I want him to be a good ruler, a ruler of a peaceful Pherae." He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, then opened them and stared deeply into Lyn's eyes. "That is why I fight again. To end the fighting."

She smiled sympathetically, put a hand on his shoulder, and walked out of the room with him.

As they walked down the hall, he asked her, "How fare the plains of Sacae? I trust they are quite fine, or else they would not have let their warrior-lady leave them, hmm?"

Lyn's eyes grew sad, and she pulled away from her friend. "Can we talk about it later, Eliwood? I...I just can't, right now."

Eliwood nodded. "Sure." They spent the rest of the walk to the Inn's common room in somber silence, neither wanting to say a word.

Finally, they reached the Inn's common room. Eliwood and Lyn's faces instantly brightened. It smelled heavenly; the Inn's cook was apparently also an excellent baker, for the cavernous space smelled of bread and spices. But that was not the only reason the two were smiling.

At the lone populated table in the center of the common room sat six people, oblivious to the two that had just walked in. Eliwood and Lyn were pleased to see Kent, Matthew, and Rath poring over a map and devouring a steaming loaf of bread at the far end of the table. Serra, dressed in her regal white and pink robes, was conversing loudly with Lucius, who seemed quite overwhelmed by the boisterous cleric. Only Harken, who was sitting at the end of the table facing Eliwood and Lyn, appeared to see them. He at once stood and bowed. "My lord, my lady."

The others turned to see the lords, and Serra jumped up and squealed. "Eliwood! And Lyn!" She rushed over and gave them both a giant hug, which was more like a flying tackle. "It's been too long, you know," she scolded them. "Why haven't you come to see me in Ostia? All of these official visits you take, and I see your son–a fine young man, handsome as can be, by the way–all the time, but you never stop by the Guild to talk with me, and I'm very disappointed in you, Eliwood." Before anyone could interrupt her, she turned to Lyn and said, "Don't worry, I'm not mad that you haven't come to see me. After all that happened in Sacae, I'm actually surprised–"

Matthew clasped a hand over the Serra's mouth, much to the cleric's protest. "I'm so sorry, my lady. She just gets excited to see you all, and she forgets mind her tongue."

Lyn blushed and Eliwood gave her a questioning look, but she ignored him and sat down at the table with the others. Troubled, Eliwood took a seat opposite her, beside Kent. "Good to see you, Kent. How has my army treated you?"

Kent laughed heartily and embraced his lord. "It is always a pleasure to serve such a caring leader, my lord. The army is in much better spirits than they were in your father's reign, the Gods rest his soul," he added somberly.

Eliwood went silent for a moment at the mention of his father. Kent had forgotten that, no matter how long ago it was, the wound left by the death of Eliwood's father would never fully heal.

Finally, Eliwood took a slice of bread from the tray at the center of the table and regarded the map. "Where do we stand?"

"As you well know, my lord, Shellak stands at the crossroads of two mountain trails coming from Bern." Harken drew a knife from his belt and pointed at four points along the city's perimeter. "These are the four iron gates that bar the entrance to the city. There are also wooden doors in front of the gates, and there is a moat surrounding the entire wall."

"Unfortunately," Matthew chimed in cheerily, "the drawbridges can't be raised. The chain mechanism has long since rusted away, and none of the city's blacksmiths can do the job. I already asked."

"Why haven't the mechanisms already been fixed? The last war was only 20 years ago! Didn't Lord Barak have the city's defences prepared then," Lyn asked, incredulous at the lord's dangerous oversight.

"No, he didn't," Kent explained, "because there was never any threat of invasion. Remember, we battled the Black Fang on that godforsaken isle and in Bern, but rarely on our home turf."

"And," Matthew added, "he claims that we notified him of the imminent invasion too late for him to make preparations. Now, he claims that it's our job to defend the city." He turned to Eliwood and said, "He's given you command of the city's garrison, but he's fled for shelter in Santaruz. The Marquess is his third cousin, or something like that. He didn't tell me that, of course, but I heard it." He smiled slyly at this mention of his true work–a spy and a thief. Strategy and planning were the job of the knights and the lords. Alas, though, one learned quite a bit of war strategy when keeping company with ruling lords.

While Eliwood and the knights were discussing the battlefield preparations, Lyn, Lucius and Serra were talking about the supporting affairs.

"Well, I've managed to round up most of the healers in the city, but they're pathetically inferior to moi, of course," Serra chattered vainly. "Since I arrived a week ago, I've been teaching them some advanced healing techniques, supplying them with holy staves, all sorts of things that battlefiled clerics needed. In fact, I just consecrated three girls into the Clerical Guild today. I'll be bringing them back to HQ in Ostia after the battle, so they can be officially accepted into the Guild. After all, only the head bishop can perform the true rite, but I tried my hardest to make it as real as I could for the girls. I even made my language all fancy, like 'Thee, thou, thine, thumb,' you know, that kind of stuff," and she continued on and on, oblivious to the fact that Lyn and Lucius were no longer listening to her.

"It is good to see you in good health, Lyndis," Lucius said warmly. "I heard about the tragedy in Sacae, and my heart was broken for your country."

Lyn hastily glanced at Eliwood to make sure he wasn't listening to them, and leaned closer to Lucius. "Please keep your voice down. Eliwood hasn't heard the news yet, and...I'd rather him not hear it, for now."

"But, my lady," Lucius protested quietly, "why have you not yet told him. I know he would understand."

Before Lyn could explain herself, Eliwood turned and said casually, "So, Lucius, what were you and Lyn talking about?"

Lucius looked sadly at Lyn, then said, "We were just discussing evacuation routes for the citizens. They need to be able to escape before the city is laid siege."

Relieved, Lyn added, "Yes, and Serra was just telling me about the army of clerics she has assembled to support the army."

"What!" Serra threw up her hands exasperatedly. "I talked about that ages ago! You mean you haven't been listening to me this whole time!"

An awkward silence fell over the room, until Matthew chimed in, "What about magic users, my lords? From what I have gathered, each prong of Bern's army is led by a powerful Druid. Supposedly there are seven of these generals, chief among them being Bearoth, who appears to be a–"

"Yes, Lucius, have you found any magic users in the city to aid us?" Eliwood said hastily, cutting Matthew off. Lyn glared accusingly at Eliwood, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Well," Lucius began warily, unsure if either Eliwood or Lyn would interrupt him at any moment, "I did speak with the head of the Magician Guild chapter here. There aren't many of them here, though the few that are are quite capable. Most of their students are currently studying at Lord Pent's school in Etruria. Unfortunately, they have heard reports that the capital, where the school is located, is under attack by Bern's forces, so the Head Sage doubted that they would return any time soon."

A look of shock crossed Eliwood's face as he comprehended this information. "Etruria is under attack? But–but Bern's armies would have had to cross Sacae to get there..." Horrible realization resounded in his mind, and he turned to Lyn. "What happened to Sacae? What haven't you told me?"

Faced with the accusation, Lyn was just about to stammer a reply when the door of the inn burst open, and a sweating herald staggered into the room. "My Lord Eliwood," he panted. "The-they're here. Bern's army. They've just been spotted. They will be here by dusk."