Sorry you guys had to wait so long. It's been really hard for me to work on this story unless I'm in the mood for it. I usually end up working on my other story when I'm not doing homework. And now I've Suikoden V to occupy my time...Thanks for the ideas for this chapter. If you guys have anything you want to see in later chapters, I would suggest letting me know, or you're going to have to wait a very long time for me to come up with something. That would not be good. Anyway, I did manage to write a reasonably long chapter for your enjoyment.
Disclaimer: I don't own Suikoden or Nash or Futch or Chris etc, etc. The storyline is mine though.
Chapter 3: The Escort
It was another day as usual at Budehuc castle. The grass was green, the birds were singing, the shimmering blue water of the lake was rippling in the breeze, and Lady Chris was stuck in her room going through paperwork.
"Honestly!" She glanced at Louis who was standing by her side. "Some of these reports are so trivial! I can see why a request for five hundred pairs of new boots for the infantry needs to be approved, but two hundred emblems for horse saddles!" She sighed in exasperation. "That money would be put to better use buying food supplies or reimbursing families for their losses."
Louis gazed at the Silver Maiden sympathetically.
"I don't see why Salome couldn't go to the council meeting this afternoon. He's much better at dealing with those pompous council members."
"M'lady! You shouldn't say such things!" Louis' face turned bright red at his outburst and he fixed his eyes on the floor. "I don't want anything to happen to you," he mumbled.
Chris let out an icy sigh as she stared at the quill pen in her hand. "Don't worry, Louis. I'm the Silver Maiden," she mocked. "They're not going to come after me."
"Just the same, m'lady."
Chris smiled a little at the squire's concern. "Thank you, Louis."
Louis smiled shyly in return. "Lady Chris. Have you given a thought to your escort for the afternoon? You know how dangerous the plains have become."
"Ah yes." Chris smiled, more sincerely this time. "I know who I'm going to ask." She selected a clean piece of parchment from her stack and dipped her pen in fresh ink.
"Who should I tell m'lady? Borus or Percival?"
"Neither," her tone hardened. "They were out late drinking last night. I wouldn't trust them to be proper guards in their condition."
"You're punishing them!" Louis' eyes widened. He idolized all of the other mighty knights of Zexen, not as much as Lady Chris, of course.
Chris' eyes were stone. "I warned them not to drink so heavily or so late. If they think they are above obeying my orders they are mistaken. Rules must be enforced, no matter the office of the offender. You know that, Louis."
"Yes m'lady." Louis' voice looked at the floor, properly chastised.
"There!" Chris put the pen down and examined the letter. "Read this for me and let me know if it sounds okay?"
"It would be an honor," the page stuttered, glad to be on her good side, once again.
Sir Futch,
I would be most obliged if you would agree to be my escort to Vinay Del Zexay this 12:00 noon. As the plains have become populated with ever more dangerous creatures, it has become treacherous to travel alone. I look forward to your reply.
Lady Chris
"It's a little abrupt m'lady," Louis commented. "And rather formal as well."
"Well, it will have to do," she sighed again. "I'm really no good at this sort of thing."
Louis looked puzzled. "Writing letters, m'lady? But you do this all the time!"
Chris smiled softly as she folded the letter and pressed the Lightfellow house's seal into it. "Will you deliver this for me, Louis?"
"Of course, m'lady!" The boy paused, uncertainly. "If I may ask, m'lady, why did you decide on Sir Futch?"
Chris looked at Louis, puzzled. "I think Futch is a more than qualified escort."
"T…That's not what I meant, Lady Chris. U…Ummm. It's just that it's very dangerous on the plains and…"
Chris smiled warmly. "I think I understand."
"You do?" Louis gasped, hopefully.
"You want to come along too."
"N…no m'lady. I mean, yes m'lady, I would be honored to attend you b…but,"
"What's the problem, Louis?"
Louis shuffled his feet. "Sir Futch rides a dragon m'lady."
"I'm not going to ask him to fly me there!" Chris shuddered.
"N…no m'lady. But shouldn't an escort be on the ground, so as to ride as close to you as possible? What if he doesn't see…"
Chris chuckled. "Futch won't be riding his dragon."
"H…he won't!"
"Certainly not. He's traveling on horseback."
Louis gaped at his Lady Captain. "Can Futch ride a horse?"
Lady Chris looked out her window thoughtfully. "I think he'll manage. Our warhorses are highly trained, after all…"
Louis looked less than convinced. "If you say so, m'lady."
"Perhaps you can ask Percival to pick one of the quieter horses for Futch to ride."
Louis nodded in acquiescence and without further protest, grabbed the letter and scurried to the hallway, knocking right into Borus. He, along with the rest of the knights, was conveniently waiting directly outside Lady Chris' door. As Percival helped Louis back to his feet, Salome, Roland and Leo casually looked in another direction.
"What do you have there, Louis?" Percival smirked as he snatched for the letter.
"N…nothing." The boy stammered, easily evading the knight.
"Are you sure?" Percival put on a concerned air. "You look a little troubled. Just what's in that letter anyway?"
"You know you can trust us, Louis," Leo added, hiding a smile.
Roland sniffed. "Oh. Leave the boy alone. He probably hasn't even seen the letter."
"Actually, Chris asked me to read it for her before it was sealed." Louis grinned at the privilege.
"She what?" Borus' face turned red in indignation. "How…why would she…"
"And I suppose there's no way you're going to tell us what's in that letter hmmm?" Percival circled around the boy, who watched him suspiciously.
"W…well," Louis looked at the ground, pretending uncertainty. It wasn't very often that he was one up on the guys, so to speak. "It's been really nice talking to you guys, but I really should be getting this delivered." He tried moving forward as he spoke but was blocked by the wall of knights.
"Not so fast Louis," Percival reached for the letter again, but Louis was prepared for it and protectively crouched over it.
"Come on Percival," Salome broke in and put a hand on Louis' shoulder. "The lad's obviously too smart for your tricks." With that, he deftly grabbed the letter out of Louis' hand.
"Hey!" Louis shouted as he jumped for the letter. "No fair! Give that back!"
"Do you think we can reseal it, so it doesn't look like it's been tampered with?" Leo questioned anxiously.
"Very impressive, boys," a mocking voice drifted to the group. "I didn't realize the Zexen knights had stooped to taking advantage of little boys." Nash winked at Louis, who immediately averted his eyes.
"You keep your mouth shut, heathen," Borus snarled, one hand on his sword.
"I mean, honestly. Five against one?" He walked arrogantly over to the group of knights. "That's hardly fair odds."
Borus growled as he unsheathed his sword. Leo put a warning hand on his friend's wrist, causing Borus to reluctantly stand down.
"Nash," Percival grinned at the Harmonian spy. "What a pleasant surprise. I suppose you expect us to believe that you, of all people, have no interest in this letter."
The spy snorted in contempt. "I have my own sources of information."
"Yeah. We know how good those are," Roland sneered coldly at the spy.
"I see," Percival responded, unshaken. "So you already know its contents."
Nash shrugged. "Maybe…and then again maybe not. I hear so much throughout the day. I can't be expected to remember everything." He smirked smugly.
"Worthless scum!" Borus snarled.
"Jealous, Sir Borus?" Nash continued softly.
"You must be joking," Roland interjected with his usual stoic demeanor. "Why would any of us be jealous of a despicable serpent such as yourself?"
The knights all turned to stare at Roland in astonishment. Even Nash's eyes widened at the elf's insult. It was well known how reluctant Roland generally was to even speak. "I think I've heard enough," Nash turned angry eyes on the group. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I'll leave you to your interrogation of the boy."
"Why you…" Borus grunted as he tripped over Percival's foot and landed flat on his face.
"Not now Borus." The Swordsman of Gale gave his friend a hand up. "We have other business to attend to." He glanced at the letter.
"I don't know, Percival," Salome shifted uncomfortably.
Percival sighed. "Our job is to protect Lady Chris, right Salome?"
Salome, immediately seeing where this was going, nodded unhappily.
"What if there's something in that letter that undermines her safety?" Percival continued.
Leo's eyes turned thoughtful as he tapped his axe in his hand.
"I don't think Lady Chris would do anything purposefully dangerous." Roland raised an eyebrow at Percival.
"You mean like run off with a womanizer she doesn't know is a Harmonian spy?"
Borus and Leo's hands turned white at they gripped their respective weapons. Roland nonchalantly looked away, his eyes taking on a disturbed hue.
Louis shrugged. "She didn't say it was a secret…"
Salome's focus returned to the squire. "So you'll tell us what she wrote?"
"I don't know if I should," Louis put on an innocent expression. "What if I get in trouble?"
"We won't tell if you won't," Percival assured the boy.
Salome examined the letter. "I think I could reseal this with enough accuracy to make it look original."
Borus looked over Salome's shoulder. "She doesn't even have an address on it. Are you sure it isn't a secret message?"
"It's not a secret to me," Louis grinned.
"I supposed you won't even tell us who it's addressed to?" Percival put on a puppy-dog like expression.
"I suppose I could tell you that." Louis put on his most winning smile at the knight.
The knight's all turned to Louis expectantly.
"It's to Sir Futch," he revealed quickly.
"What?" Borus growled. The other knights froze in momentary astonishment, giving Louis the opportunity he needed to steal the letter back.
"By the way, Sir Percival. She asked for you to pick one of the quieter horses for him to ride this afternoon," Louis grinned as he rushed away.
"Little scamp," Leo snorted.
"I think you've been teaching him a little too effectively Percival," Salome smiled wryly at the other knight.
Percival shrugged helplessly. "What can I say? He's a fast learner."
"But what does this mean?" Borus shouted.
Salome turned to the other knight. "It means she's going to the council meeting in Vinay del Zexay this afternoon, as I advised her to, and is requesting Sir Futch as her escort. You know it's dangerous traveling the plains alone, especially now."
"So you advised her to take that scoundrel with her?" Borus snarled.
"As a matter of fact, I did not…although I wouldn't refer to Sir Futch as a scoundrel." Salome hid a smile. "If you will excuse me, I have other business to attend to now." Borus watched the strategist as he calmly exited the ship.
"Perhaps if you two hadn't drank the night away, she would've asked one of you to escort her to the capital," Roland arrogantly turned heel and also wandered away.
Leo turned to Borus. "Borus. Why don't you and I make a stop at the bar?"
"A little early for that, don't you think Leo?" Borus scowled. "How about a training session instead?"
Leo nodded. "Care to join us Percival?"
But the other man wasn't listening to his comrades at the moment. "A quieter horse, huh?" Percival fingered his chin as he walked away from the puzzled knights.
That afternoon
"It's been ages since I've ridden a horse," Futch mumbled as he put his riding gloves on. He wouldn't exactly say he was nervous about the afternoon. He was a capable fighter, after all. Becoming a third degree dragon knight was no small task. Still…he hadn't been expecting Lady Chris to send for him as her escort, what with all those young knights obviously vying for her favor. He tried not to think about think about it as he prepared himself for the afternoon ride.
"Are you sure you remember how?" Sharon raised a doubtful eyebrow. "You wouldn't want to embarrass the yourself by falling off in front of the Silver Maiden…or her five lackeys."
"Sharon!" Futch scolded. "I think I can manage. It's not that much different from riding a dragon."
"So you told Lady Chris," Sharon sniffed.
Futch paused, staring at the apprentice. "I don't even want to know how you found that out.
Sharon smiled, haughtily. "Kinda hard for people to keep a secret around here."
"Well, I'm sure you don't spread any rumors, Sharon." The dragon knight took on a lecturing tone, causing Sharon to roll her eyes.
Futch raised an eyebrow at her, causing her to put on her most innocent expression, which, for Sharon, wasn't really all that innocent. "Of course not Futch. I would never disgrace the dragon knights."
"Hmph. I should hope not." Futch leaned down to fasten his boots. "It's not that difficult to ride a horse," he nervously reverted back to the previous subject, "although I think Humphrey usually managed to choose very broke ones for me to ride back when we were journeying."
Sharon groaned. "Not another Humphrey story."
Futch smiled in reminiscence as he began his walk to the stables. "Those were good times."
"Yeah, yeah," Sharon scoffed. "I must've heard 'The Adventures of Futch and Humphrey' a million times already."
Futch continued on, a glazed look in his eyes as he remembered days past.
"Hey Futch?" Sharon began, a slightly confused look on her face.
"Hmmm?" Futch reluctantly pulled himself out of his memories.
"Why would you want to ride a broken horse? That sounds pretty stupid to me," she finished with a rather contemptuous look on her face.
Futch chuckled. "Broke means the horse has been trained for a rider. The more broke a horse is, the more training and experience it's had."
"Oh." Sharon paused. "It still sounds pretty stupid to me."
"Look!" Futch paused. "Lady Chris already has the horses ready at the front gate." He broke into a jog, afraid he had held the Captain up too long. That was just great. The trip hadn't even started yet and he was potentially off on the wrong foot. "Hello Chris!" he waved a greeting.
Borus sputtered at his lack of using a title. Salome reflexively put a hand on his arm, and the other knight held his tongue.
"Hello Futch." Chris smile caused him to heave a relieved sigh. "The horses are tacked up and ready to go if you are. We'll have to keep a brisk pace to reach the meeting on time."
"Of course. Sorry to hold you up." Futch started towards the leggy chestnut stallion beside Chris' white mare. Percival was expertly holding the stallion's head as the animal tried to pace from side to side.
Chris waved his comment off. "Nonsense. You're right on time."
"That one's mine?" he hesitated, as the horse tossed his head.
"Don't worry," Chris gave him a reassuring smile. "I had Percival pick a quieter horse for you."
Futch warily eyed the grinning knight. "Somehow that doesn't comfort me."
"Don't worry, Futch. Halo here is as quiet as a baby." The knights snickered. Even Chris eyed the horse suspiciously as he began to act up again.
"Percival. Are you sure…"
"Lady Chris. Don't you trust me?" Percival put on his best wounded expression.
"Of course, but…"
"Don't worry." Percival gave the horse a pat. "His ground manners leave something to be desired, but he's gentle as a lamb when there's a rider on his back."
"If you say so." Chris still eyed the horse dubiously.
Sharon grinned, wanting to see some action. "Come on Futch. Go make friends with him!" She shoved the dragon knight at the horse's head.
Futch glared at his apprentice before slowly approaching the horse, speaking softly. He hoped the technique would work as well with this wild eyed animal as it did with Bright. He was glad he had instructed the dragon to stay back until they were into the plains. Then the dragon would join them, providing extra protection from the sky. Now, though, Futch had his hands full just trying to approach his ride for the afternoon. This did not bode well. "Easy fellow. That's a good lad." He carefully reached to pat the horse's nose. The moody stallion responded by trying to taking a chunk out of Futch's arm. Futch deftly dodged the animal as he kicked out to the side.
"That worked well," Sharon giggled from the sidelines.
"I'm sure he'll be fine once were out on the trail," Chris commented, glaring pointedly at Percival, who blinked innocently.
"Go on Futch. I'll hold him while you get a leg up into the saddle."
"Thanks," Futch swiftly mounted the stallion, who gave a little buck and sidestep in response. "His name's Halo?" Futch asked as he struggled to control his mount.
"Yep," Percival grinned. "Quite appropriate, really." The knight smoothly stepped out of the way as Halo tried lunging forward.
"If you don't make it back, can I have Bright?" Sharon shouted as Chris and Futch trotted out of the castle grounds, Percival waving cheerfully behind them.
Futch ignored the girl as he attempted to reign in the stallion. "Quiet as a baby, huh?" Futch remarked at the stallion rammed into Chris' mare. "Sorry," he gave her an apologetic lance as the mare's ears went warningly back.
"Quiet indeed," She snarled. "When I get back to the castle…"
Futch chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's understandable, considering."
"Considering what?" Chris looked genuinely confused.
"Uh…Never mind," his face turned slightly pink as finally got the stallion under some semblance of control.
Chris looked away, not quite sure what she did wrong. Futch stared at his saddle.
"Nice day for a ride," Chris offered, in an attempt to break the uncomfortable pause.
"Yep." Futch continued to stare at his reins. Just then a white figure appeared in the sky behind them. Chris' mare, used to the accompaniment of the dragon, didn't flinch, but Futch's stallion went berserk, rearing before racing off towards the forest. Futch gasped, unprepared for the bolt, and concentrated on using his limited horsemanship skill just to stay on the frantic animal.
"Futch!" Chris skillfully urged her mare after the runaway stallion. Futch finally recovered enough to attempt to stop the horse, jerking on the reins, but to no avail. The animal had the bit in his teeth, not to mention 1,200 lbs on his side.
Futch ducked as a branch swept over his head, trying not to panic. "Easy boy!" The stallion paid his passenger no heed as he continued his headlong gallop through the forest. Futch frantically tried to regain control of the stallion as he swerved back and forth between the trees. Futch tried not to imagine what would happen if the animal tossed him off at this speed. Unfortunately, as most of his focus was on the horse, he didn't see the low-hanging tree branch directly in his path. He only had time to gasp as his forehead connected with the heavy branch. The last thing he remembered was the ground rushing up to him before his world went dark.
Thanks for reading! Please review!