7. Blissfully Unaware
Eliwood's dream life had come true. He was the new Marquess of Pharae and he had vowed to make his father proud. He had made alliances with places like Etruria and Bern (though Prince Zephial was starting to worry him). His wife Ninian – his cherished Ninian – was pregnant with their first child and Ninian had shown signs that she was starting to break out of her shy and depressed emotional shell. Yes life was one smile after another for Eliwood and he had made plans to travel to Caelin and then onto Ostia where he would reunite the three friends – Lyndis, Hector and himself – and see what each had been up to.
All this confused Eliwood as to why, all of a sudden, it had to go pear-shaped. Harken and Rath (who had decided to bring some more outlined direction to his life by becoming a member of the Pharaen forces) had returned from an expedition to the northern foothills and Rath was half-dead and Harken was lying on Rath's horse and was far from conscious. Rath later told the story that just after the sun went down they were fired at by unseeable enemy archers. As they went for cover they found that the enemy had prepared for that and as such had a line of troops all around them. Harken ran around Rath's horse trying to keep the enemies away from them while Rath shot down anyone far enough away with his wondrous Rienfleche and when they came close he cut them down with his Longsword. Rath explained how after Harken got beat down by some mace-wielding ruffians they heard a loud, primal voice shout something in an unknown dialect and all the attackers simply melted back into the shadows.
So Eliwood was again faced with a large-scale fight, and he was quite sick of fighting after seeing all the pain it brought during his travels with his put-together army. He had planned for his finest crew – Marcus, Fiora, Rath, Vaida, Dorcas, Rebecca and Lowen – to accompany himself into the mountains to defeat the newfound threat before something worse happened.
As they all rode or flew swiftly to the north, each of them used theimage of the battered Harken to spur them on. They were all greatly surprised to see that the enemy had obviously prepared for their arrival. The enemy force was in a proper formation. All the fighters and lance-wielders were evenly spread out and archers were making up the back line. Eliwood could also see some mages carrying staves. Eliwood then noticed a figure approaching them on horse-back, which Eliwood assumed meant they were going to parley. When the figure reached them he pulled on the reins and brought his horse to stand about a metre from Eliwood who centred his tiny yet formidable group. The man atop the horse threw back the hood of his large, think cloak and revealed a face that had a stunning similarity to Uhai. The man, seeing Eliwood's face, merely chuckled.
"I'm assuming you think you've seen a ghost?" the man said in a deep baritone voice. He gave another chuckle as Eliwood nodded slowly. "It is good to know that my father died and left an impression. Indeed I am the son of Uhai, you can call me Quen", then man turned and started to ride away. Eliwood was confused by this until he heard the man shout back "I fight for my father!"
The small group heard many pounding footsteps and knew that battle had been joined.
Fiora flew off towards the stave and tome wielding mages while Vaida, carrying the Delphi shield, flew off towards the archers. The rest charged the similarly charging army with Rath riding off to the sides so he could 'trim the edges', a battle tactic he had perfected in his travels with Eliwood where he would ride around the sides of enemy troops and shoot into them until they broke apart, then he would systematically run down the fleeing troops and plunge his Longsword into their chests'. Rebecca actually stood up on the back of Eliwood's magnificent white horse and fired off arrows three at a time. Her skill clearly showed as Eliwood saw arrow after arrow sink into the chests of the oncoming warriors.
Dorcas waded into the middle of the stampede of troops. Usually men stupid enough to do this would be cut down, but Dorcas was definitely the one doing the cutting. Blow after blow smashed into Dorcas, but blow after blow was deflected by his enchanted golden armour. Eventually many of the enemy troops wised up and avoided the fearsome demon-of-a-warrior.
Lowen and Marcus made excellent headway. They charged the enemy troops and bowled over and trampled those who were not quick enough and those 'lucky' enough to avoid the charge were skewered by Marcus' and Lowen's Silver Lance's. Lowen at one stage drifted too far into the midst of the large army and would have been torn to shreds were it not for a newcomer to the battle. Isadora charged in next to Lowen and slashed at anyone close enough, sending blood splatter everywhere. Lowen was scared by the fire in her eyes, but knew too that he would be similarly angry if this army were responsible for nearly killing Rebecca.
Within a few minutes the numbers of the attacking force had been whittled down to what seemed to be the more powerful of the enemy force. Soon after, a few more had been killed by Rath's devastating Rienfleche, and the battle had become 9 separate one-on-one battles. Lowen was doing fairly well against a large, mace-wielding Hero whose spinning battle style was causing Lowen to miss more often then not. Isadora had quickly cut down her enemy and rode up beside Eliwood to find him staring hard at Quen.
Eliwood drew his Rapier from its jet-black scabbard and held it out in front of him, signalling Quen to do the same. It became rather pointless a few seconds later when a jagged spear erupted through the front of Quen's chest and he fell off his horse to the ground and bleed to death.
Eliwood smirked as Vaida touched down next to the carcass and tore her Killer Lance from Quen's dead body. She snarled at the dead man then looked to Eliwood, her face plastered with a similar smirk.
"Excellent battle" she said simply then whispered to her wyvern mount (who she had nicknamed Killer, which for Vaida was a surprisingly non-violent name) and it took off back to the castle. Eliwood waited for a bit longer until he saw Fiora fly over as well and he summoned his companions and they all made their way back to the castle for a good night's rest.
All nine weary battlers made their way to their separate parts of the castle upon arrival leaving Ninian and Eliwood alone in the main dining room. Eliwood had hired some renowned builders to add to the already large castle and make it big enough so that each of his friends would have a part of the castle all to themselves; one for everyone who had been apart of 'Eliwood's Army' as it was aptly nicknamed.
As Fiora made her way to her room she checked no one was watching and turned left, intending to go to Vaida's room. It was no secret that the two were lovers – but considering Vaida's loud and powerful grunts of pleasure, it was never going to be a secret for long – yet Fiora had never fully adjusted to people knowing that she was a lesbian.
She was fairly surprised, yet far from concerned, to find Vaida already lying naked on the bed. Vaida looked up at her from the book she was reading and smiled, motioning for Fiora to leave her things – clothes included of course – in the corner of the room.
Fiora was soon naked and she jumped onto the bed next to Vaida and giggled as Vaida flung her book aside and took Fiora's left breast into her mouth. She suckled it and licked it while she moved her other hand down to Fiora's womanhood. She paused for a moment then shoved her hand deep into Fiora, making her scream in delight. She thrust hard and fast for a good few minutes until Fiora's screams became really loud and a sweet-smelling liquid seeped out around Vaida's hand. Then Vaida moved away and sat on the end of the bed with her thighs spread wide apart.
"Dig in" Vaida said seductively and Fiora didn't need to be told twice. Fiora moved toward her on all fours and grabbed Vaida's breasts in her hands while she licked furiously at Vaida's womanhood.
Vaida watched as Fiora's ample breasts jiggled as she licked more and more furiously at her vagina and before long she could take it no longer and groaned loudly in ecstasy.
Isadora was too deep in thought, looking at her beloved Harken lying in his bed most certainly dying, to hear Fiora and Vaida's passionate cries (while everyone else in the castle was). Isadora was a strong woman and she knew it, but this was more then she could handle. She had always wanted kids and since the day she met Harken she knew he would be the only one she could spend her life with.
All the strength in the world wasn't going to cure this overwhelming depression she felt at the loss of her loved one. Then Isadora realised there was another she could turn to. Eliwood had faced a similar depression after believing he had killed Ninian, surely Eliwood would be able to comfort her.
Lost in those thoughts, Isadora never heard the last words Harken uttered before he died, "Isa…dora…"
Ames walked along the streets of Ostia with little worry. He had always been the most powerful crime leader in Ostia during the reign of Lord Uther, and no replacement to the throne was going to cause him more trouble then that powerful (but long dead) man.
Being an information trafficker, Ames had recently received details that Oswin, who was Hector's High General, had become caretaker to the throne. He was told that Hector had left for Pharae accompanied by a band of rogues – including the girl Nino – to hunt down an 'escaped' Jaffar - as even Ames had no idea what really happened.
So Ames did have a plan in mind. He would seize control of the city in Lord Hector's absence. He would unite all the people of Ostia who desired a new way of life. He would then prepare his army for Hector's return, and crush the young Marquess, obliterating any ties to the cities former lawfulness. Yes, Ames had a wicked plan in mind and he was quite capable of carrying it out, but unfortunately, he had never met Oswin.
Oswin walked along the corridors of the castle totally at ease, his tank-like armour light as a feather and well greased, and his mind filled with pleasant thoughts of owning his own castle (which had been a life-long dream as Oswin had been a poor orphan until the army found out his fighting prowess).
He had been selected by Hector to rule in his absence – which Hector had told him that Eliwood had called for him and Lyndis to travel to Pharae alone – and Oswin believed he was doing a fine job… at doing nothing. But he wasn't upset about this. Despite his huge size and warrior spirit Oswin was a gentle man, and loved the luxuries in life like what he found daily in the castle.
However, Oswin's traversing of the castle corridors was not without direction. Oswin had left his Rex Hasta lance with the castle's top Sages in hopes that they would dispel the annoying evil curse the weapon carried. Oswin eventually reached their door and took a breath in before he turned the knob and strode briskly in.
Oswin was glad he hadn't eaten anything earlier this day, as when he walked in he saw sticky, green puss all over the floor. A few robed men (Sages obviously) waltzed up to Oswin and held Rex Hasta out before them. Oswin took the lance and smiled then hurried out of the room, not wanting to know or see any more of the green puss.
Guy, Karel and Karla took their time looking through the marketplaces of Bulgar – which was still the largest city in Sacae – smelling the aromas and examining the fine weapons on display. They were here because Guy desired a new blade, one that he could create a legacy for himself with, and he simply wasn't content with a standard, sharp-edged Wo Dao, which Karla and Karel had presented him with the day before the three departed from Eliwood's group and left to wander the wide world.
At the moment, Guy carried two Brave Swords (having not long ago 'lost' the Wo Dao) in two scabbards, one on each side of his hip. He grew tired of the Swordmaster's code of 'one blade, one warrior' and had started practising with two swords. Guy was an extremely good Swordmaster with lightning quick hands, but the Brave Swords took his skills beyond that, allowing him to attack nearly eight times before the enemy even realised he was there.
But he didn't like swords, they were simply not elegant enough for his fine art – and it was certainly an art. He wanted to try dual Katanas, the blades of the Ninja. He knew that in the windswept plains of Sacae he would find these blades.
After maybe an hour of looking Karla ran up to Guy and held out before him the sharpest looking blade he had ever seen, sharper then his old Killing Edge, and it glowed a feint yellow.
"The merchant I bought it from said it is called Crackle, it is enchanted with a strong electricity spell, you just need to will the sword to use its shock powers and paralyse a foe". Karla smiled and Guy reached for his purse, but Karla grabbed his arm and forced it away. "It is a gift my friend, for you have brought my brother and me together, and stopped him from his maniacal killing sprees".
They kept up the search for another one, but Guy finally decided to stick with Crackle and his Brave Sword, his reasoning was he couldn't be called a Swordmaster if he didn't like every single type of sword.
Karel came back to them with a dark crimson robe that was the same as his old one, which he had obviously traded in for this one. "There is no damn place to change around here" Karel said angrily, or would have if his voice could convey emotion. Even his time with Lucius, the monk who truly did tame the Killer, Karel had made no attempt to change his one tone demeanour, not that Karla or Guy cared about that, as long as he wasn't planning to kill them.
They set off right into the Sacean desert where they were payed well to kill anyone disturbing innocent travellers or to kill anyone that wore a turban. They had little idea they were soon going to face a challenge that the three of them would not likely survive.
Just as they left the city, they did happen to see Lady Lyndis on the back of a black horse, and Karel had to pull hard at Guy to get him to keep walking; for he knew that Guy should not speak to that heartbreaker ever again.