Wow! It's been a while! Sorry in advance for typos - I think I starved you guys long enough.
When Kaetar woke up, he found Loiya sleeping soundly beside him. He was twisted up in his bedroll, something that Kaetar never saw since Loiya usually wasn't in a deep sleep. The prince slipped past him quietly, unwilling to be the one who wakes him up. Who knows how much sleep he actually got? If he was sleeping so soundly, then he needed the sleep.
Not many people were around. Syrin was awake, sitting on the ground with Stefan. They were talking but Syrin didn't seem all that interested in the conversation. If Kaetar had to guess, he would say that Syrin had much more on his mind than conversing with Stefan. He couldn't hear the exact words but the leader looked... distant. Still, Stefan talked. Was this the guidance that the other branded said that Syrin needed?
Peter was sitting on a fallen log, his staff in his hands. He appeared to be in thought but smiled as soon as he spotted Kaetar and patted a spot next to him. Kaetar didn't question it and took a spot beside him.
"You're up early," he commented.
"I went to bed early," Kaetar answered. He was usually asleep at that point, but everyone else was still asleep so it was a little odd that he was even awake.
"And it looks like it helped. You look a lot better!"
"Thanks. Can I ask you something?" Kaetar looked up and got a nod from the healer. "What made you join your ministry?"
"Ah! I joined when I was young. I saw what they were doing and I decided that it was something I wanted to do to. I stayed because of an interesting story that I heard. It rid of me any doubt about the history of Tellius."
That certainly got Kaetar's attention. Apparently, it also attracted the attention of the two brandeds.
"And what about it?" Syrin suddenly muttered.
"That things that would have dismissed by doubters as a fairytale are true. There really was a Goddess of Dawn named Ashunera, who created life but flooded the world when her precious children couldn't stop fighting," Peter began, his eyes staying on Syrin. The leader's gaze was on the ground but Kaetar knew he was still paying attention.
"Go on," Syrin muttered.
"She realized her mistake and split herself from her emotions. There stood Ashera, who represented order, and Yune, who represented chaos-"
"Who told you all of this? Most people don't know Yune by name."
Kaeter couldn't say he knew the name. He only knew of a dark god, a tale he found in a book but he didn't think of it as more than that.
"A heron told one of the earlier ministers. I don't know how they met but the story that I know was told from someone who was there," the priest answered.
"A heron? Which one? The ones I know don't normally go out of their way to speak with the beorc," Stefan mumbled. "And I met most of them."
"He called himself Lehran."
Kaetar didn't understand the significant of the name but Syrin looked... confused. That wasn't even a good word for it. The prince had a feeling that Syrin understood the context but he didn't seem to know what to feel. He looked angry, but also looked quite sombre and surprised.
"I'm sorry... did I hit a nerve?" Peter asked sincerely.
"We're both rather old and we've seen a lot, so you'll have to forgive us," Stefan offered.
"I'm not offended. I think I understand why Syrin challenged me. I don't mind enlightening others but it seems that you two already have experience with the story," Peter muttered. "You wanted to see if my ministry was authentic."
"I have had enough of goddesses for a single life time," Syrn growled. Peter tensed but relaxed when Syrin shot him a softer glance than usual. "And all of this about Ike being god is ridiculous."
"I understand. My main reason for joining your rebellion is to set things straight. As great of a soldier as Ike was, he should not be given the credit for what Ashunera has done."
"I don't care for your reasons, so long as you do your job. If anything else, I wouldn't talk so much about it. It's still sensitive information, especially in Crimea. No one spoke much about what happened with Ashera so that information is clouded with doubt in the beorc countries. Displace Ike as a god first and then stay and talk," Syrin muttered, getting up. Stefan grabbed his left hand, giving his arm a little shake. There was no way that it was accidental. There was no way that Stefan didn't know about his scar. Syrin grimaced slightly.
"Syrin. Do what you agreed to do," Stefan muttered. "He's here and we're basically alone. It's a good time."
"Fine. Peter, I require your advise," he growled as he approached Peter. He took a seat on the log to Peter's right and pulled up his sleeve. "Stefan says you should look at it though I'm convinced that nothing can be done for it."
Peter looked surprised. He didn't make a big show of it but Kaetar could see it on his face. Who blamed him? The way the scar bulged, snaked and almost encompassed the entire width of his arm would surprise anyone at first glance. In fact, it still surprised Kaetar and he saw it before.
"How did this happen?" Peter asked as he carefully lifted Syrin's arm. He grimaced again but he seemed determined to not let it get the better of him.
"I was attacked by bandits a long time ago," he answered simply.
"There's nothing a heal staff can do, though a heal staff would have prevented this. It looks like you tried to use a vulnerary to put it back together and let it heal on its own. Did you really do that?"
"If I was near a heal staff and could heal myself, I would have done so," Syrin growled. "I didn't show you so you could make petty little comments about something I can't change."
"I suggest you put it up in a sling. It will hurt your pride and draw attention to it but it should prevent it from hurting if you immobilize it," Peter muttered, instantly getting back on track. "Otherwise, you are correct. There's not much to do to get rid of the scarring and we don't know how deep it is either. The best we can do is to make it bearable. I'm sorry, I would like to give you better news."
"I didn't expect good news," Syrin mumbled, glaring at Stefan. "Are you happy now?"
Stefan smirked. "Quite."
"Now go wake everyone up. We spent long enough here."
It took a long time to get near to the borders and though the trip exhausted him, Kaetar wasn't allowed to rest. Zeke was sent to scout ahead for numbers and the good news was, there weren't many. Kaetar doubted that they could make it across the border without some sort of struggle with the patrols, however, even if there were many. Even if they could take one or two without being noticed, the soldiers couldn't be stupid enough to not notice eventually.
"Rylar, Kaetar, go into take cover in the trees. Take out as many of the patrols as you can and lure them into the forest for everyone else to sweep," Syrin muttered.
"Wait, we're going to kill them?" Kaetar asked.
"It's not necessary to kill them, though they have the possibility of sneaking up from behind us if we don't get rid of them here. Did you think we would get away way without spill more blood?" Syrin mumbled in response, just as Rylar climbed onto his father's shoulders. With that added height, he scrambled into his tree and situated himself on a high spot in the tree.
Kaetar didn't like the idea of being in a tree but he found the ground disappeared under his feet as Duma lifted him into a different tree. The prince scrambled to find his balance and soon enough, found a comfortable position where he could actually fire an arrow. He looked to Rylar, who was crouching on his branch.
"Take the first shot, I'll go after," Rylar mumbled. Kaetar drew the string back and aimed. With a slight grimace, he fired and heard a grunt as a soldier feel to his knees. It wasn't a fatal wound by any means, but he would not be getting up. Even after everything with the bandits, he wasn't so sure that he could actually kill someone who was just following orders.
It was after Rylar fired his shot that the Crimeans entered the forest. Elli was the first to cut down a soldier, using one blade to block and the other to cut. She was careful and never advanced herself, the opposite of how Loiya did things but Kaetar figured that it wasn't often that her blades were out. On the flip side, she was fast. She could certainly dodge. Arum was right beside her, taking down another Crimean that tried to sneak up on her. Duma, though he had his axe, didn't seem to use it very much. He seemed to like to kick or shove people into the range a flying blade of some sort rather than turning his axe red.
Nicholas took cover behind trees. He was being cautious – as cautious as a lone mage could be. Kaetar barely saw him since Nicholas seemed to like to hid behind his tree and finish off the soldiers that Arum or Elli fought. When Kaetar did seem him, the prince noticed blood on his side – he was injured. Kaetar barely saw Zeke; he moved like a shadow, weaving between trees for a surprise attack. All Kaetar could see was the tail end of his heavy cloak. Aletta, though Kaetar didn't know her yet, was actually an impressive mage. She seemed to be able to cast faster than Nicholas and her attacks seemed to have a bigger impact.
Ema and Misha paired up. Though it seem logical for Ema to fight on her own, seeing as she very nimble in the forest when she was transformed. Misha tried but she just didn't know the woods as well as Ema seemed to. However, the seemed to do everything together. It was a bond that formed because for a long time, they were the only two girls and they also went through the Begnion training together. They were getting close.
He readied himself to fire another arrow when he was suddenly overcome with a wave of dizziness. He cursed to himself. He forgot to take the necklace off before battle. Not only was he dizzy but he was in a tree too! If he fell, it would be very bad.
"Ah! Hey, Soren!"
The mage took a sharp breath. He was a room surrounded by weapons, and he was holding a piece of paper with neat writing on it. When he turned around, there was a large male with short, green hair looking at him.
"Boyd," Soren sighed. "What idiotic thing did you do to your axe this time?"
"What do you mean?" Boyd asked, clearly offended. "I didn't do anything!"
"Right," Soren huffed. "I don't remember the last you came to me because your axe actually broke in battle."
"All you buy are the cheap-"
"I buy the cheap ones because you'll break a more expensive axes in some freak accident," Soren muttered.. "We're not made of gold here, Boyd."
"I know, I know. Actually my axe isn't broken quite yet."
Soren seemed surprised. He raised an eyebrow at Boyd. He looked nervous but Kaetar couldn't blame him. Soren was not the easiest person to talk to. He said what needed to be said and didn't seem to really care what sort of grief it caused others.
"Titania was going to spar with me and she said to get the iron axes out of the storage shed! I just didn't expect you to be here," he mumbled in response, throwing a hand to the back of his neck.
"I'm always in here, Boyd. It's part of my job," Soren stated simply.
"Anyway, I'll just get the-"
"No. You two are going to use the half-broken ones," the mage interrupted, pointing to a few axes leaning against the wall. "They're not going to get used in any other way and seeing as we already used the gold on them, you two might as well do something with them. Any problems?"
"Nope!" Boyd picked two from the pile and quickly left, leaving Soren alone to mull over the numbers. The mage shook his head. He could hear Boyd already explaining to Titania the reason why he took so long. Soren put the sheet down and rubbed his temples. Perhaps Boyd came in at the wrong time – was the mage already suffering from too long of a day?
"People don't faint for no reason!" Peter reasoned. Kaetar could hear their voices as the vision melted away. His eyes were still closed. They felt too heavy to open and quite frankly, he was content with keeping his eyes closed and listening to everyone around him. He didn't like being fussed over but a nap suddenly sounded nice.
"It's not for no reason but I'll leave that for him to explain if he chooses to," Syrin mumbled in response. "Don't worry about him."
"Syrin! This is his health on the line!"
"I've known him for long enough to know that there's no reason to worry. It happens more often than you think. He'll wake up soon and he'll be fine," the leader sighed.
"He did fall out of a tree," Loyia mumbled.
"I caught him," Zeke muttered. "He's okay."
Kaetar thought it gone on long enough and opened his eyes. The usual disorientation was there but didn't really bother him as much as the initial vision disappearing.
"Kaetar! Are you feeling alright?" Peter asked.
"Did you listen to anything I said?" Syrin growled.
"I'm fine," Kaetar answered. He could see Zeke's figure over him and he felt his arms around his shoulders. He must have fallen when Syrin's memory obscured his vision and Zeke caught him before he hit the ground. The thief was stronger than he looked. Perhaps that was what the desert did to someone. Or was it is his laguz blood? "Is the fighting over?"
"That should be everyone," Rylar mumbled, jumping out the tree. He landed on the balls of feet and managed to walk away.
"That's Crimea proper then," Nicholas mumbled with a puff. The blood remained on his tunic but it didn't seem to be bothering him. Peter must have healed hm.
"We need to keep an eye out for the arsonists. That was the reason for the rush, was it not?" Nasir turned his gaze to Syrin as they broke the tree line. Dead bodies were strewn everywhere, partly from the birds with blood on their wings and the fact that the Crimeans didn't seem to fight together. Zeke let him walk on his own but the prince was careful to try not to think of the bodies too much. If he did, he knew he would get upset.
"Yes. At least the kept the momentum up while we were gone. It wasn't the biggest blunder they could make," Syrin answered, not meeting Nasir's gaze. "Chifee. Where did you seem them last?"
"North from here! Don't know how far but I think we would have seen them," the hawk responded, kicking his feet. "We'll get to fight more, right?"
Duma patted him on the shoulder. "There will be many more battles were that comes from. Don't get too excited though."
Chifee blinked at him. "You smell weird," he stated almost innocently. Perhaps he really didn't know better. Kaetar guessed that Chifee didn't leave him home very often or had to the chance to socialize with anyone outside of the bird tribe.
"Chifee, you can't just say things like that," the raven mumbled, shaking his head.
"I don't mind. He's young. He doesn't know any better," Duma mumbled, ruffling the hawk's hair affectionately. "All kids say weird things."
"If you three are done," Syrin began with a low tone, "I would like to get as far from the borders as possible while we still have light."
"Darius, you can tell me why he smells weird, right?" Chifee asked as he sat down beside Darius. It as dark out and Darius was tending to the fire, careful to keep his wings away from the fire. Kaetar was looking for warmth and Loiya ended up sitting with him too. Rylar, Duma and Ema went out to hunt for some meat and the birds stayed behind since they were losing light and the birds didn't see that well in the dark.
"Who do you mean?"
"The big man with the axe," the hawk answered quickly. "He smells weird, I can't place it. Actually, a lot of people here smell weird, but not like that axeman."
"Chifee, we went over the reason why the others smell weird. We talked about Syrin, remember?"
"Oh right! He's a branded. That's what you want me to call them right? That explains the smaller ones but not the big one." He really did look innocent. Kaetar could remember asking similar questions when he was younger. Chifee didn't necessarily look like a child, but he was acting like a ten year old. He by far had the youngest mentality and Kaetar wasn't sure that he should be fighting at all.
"Whenever a laguz and a beorc have a child, the laguz parent always loses their powers. It doesn't matter if they're the mother or the father. So when Rylar was born, Duma lost his abilities to shift. He's not really a beorc but it's not quite a laguz either."
"Huh. So that means he's kind of like his own special race, right? What kind of laguz was Duma?"
Darius smirked. "All we know is that he's either a tiger or a cat. I was thinking of setting up a betting pool for it."
"A betting pool? Really?" Loiya asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's just for fun! You don't have to take part in it if you don't want to anyway! I'm sure Nicholas would do it and it would be between the two of us," the raven grinned.
"I'm not going to. I never see the gold I make so I don't have anything to bet," Loiya mumbled.
"Not to mention we're too young for it," Kaetar chimed in.
"You shouldn't be getting into bad habits anyway!" Loiya smirked. "Imagine if you got addicted to gambling with the Daein's entire fortune on the table. It would not be good."
"I would want to be the raven on the other side of that deal though," Darius chuckled. "Or hawk, right, Chifee?"
"That means I would get a lot of beorc gold, right?" the hawk asked. He was sitting with his legs crossed and his wings flat against his back. Perhaps that's how they slept with their wings – maybe if they were flat enough, the birds didn't feel them at all.
"Assuming you win," Darius answered with a nod.
"Hey, Darius, that reminds me... you said you wanted to live in a beorc country right? Could I come with you?"
"You want to live in a beorc country?" Darius asked.
"Not really. I just want to live with you. Serenes is a nice place but I wasn't really happy there when you moved out," the hawk admitted, his wings drooping. Darius grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer.
"I thought you wouldn't be happy with the work I was doing but if you really want to stay with me, then I won't force you to leave unless I think it's too much for you."
Kaetar smiled. It was a touching moment. However, it also made him miss his family at home – his mother and even his father. He would also have a new sibling and if the rebellion didn't end soon then he was going to miss their first few days on Tellius. He could even miss the first few months of their life. He also had to tell Loiya about it but he wasn't sure of how or even when.
"Are you going to be done with work after this?" the young hawk asked.
"From this sort of work anyway," Darius shrugged.
"Where did you plan on living, anyway?" Kaetar asked, glancing at the two of them.
"It sounds weird but I like Daein. I've been there more than once... not on good terms mind you, but I have been there," Darius sighed. "Nice place. Not many laguz there right now but I have a feeling that will change."
Kaetar didn't comment. The last time he could think of laguz really being of any aid to Daein were the hired ravens that eventually got up and abandoned Daein during a battle against the Crimean army. The ravens were not fondly remembered in his history books. Darius had to be one of the ravens that got up and flew away. He was in Daein on bad terms and probably left in bad terms too.
Loiya jabbed him in the side with his elbow.
"It's late. We should probably go to bed."
"You could have asked!" Kaetar exclaimed, rubbing his side.
"You looked like you were thinking. I didn't know if you could hear me," the bodyguard shrugged.
"I thought it would be funny," Chifee laughed.
Kaetar shook his head as he and Loiya crawled into their tent.
The rebels weren't awake for long. Misha yelled at Arum for "rudely" moving to a new spot beside the birds after she sat beside him. He yelled back and Misha was suddenly more interested in packing up the tent she shared with Ema. Ema offered to help but the soldier was adamant on doing it herself. Peter found the time to put Syrin's arm into a sling and he was strangely cooperative. Nicholas was busy studying a tome – the mage was quiet as of late but maybe he was just tired. Aletta ripped the tome out his hands to read it for herself, pushing Nicholas away whenever he tried to reach for it.
"Don't be mean," Nicholas mumbled after trying again for the third time but sighed when he was unsuccessful.
"I'm reading it. I never looked at a thunder tome. Just fire."
"Don't you have thunder tome in the desert?"
"There are but someone won't let anyone ever touch them. I'm just curious!"
Rylar was not a morning person. Duma had to drag his son out of his tent by his feet and even then, the branded archer was still sleepy and disoriented. When he seemed to realize he really wasn't allowed to go back to sleep, he complained to his dad until Stefan cut him off. Stefan had a habit of hanging around Syrin and Nasir. When he wasn't talking to Syrin, he was catching up with Nasir. The dragon was quiet for the most part but he conversed when he was spoken to.
There was a lot going on and it surprised Kaetar to think that it could change like that. When it was just Kaetar, Syrin, Nicholas and the two laguz, things were a lot quieter. Now there were conflicting personalities, mostky in the form of Arum and his efforts to avoid the three girls. Kaetar had a feeling that Rylar was going to complain about waking up every morning.
When everyone had something to eat – some sort of cooked animal from the hunt last night – they were back on the road.
"I hear something," Chifee mumbled suddenly. He was walking rather than flying, something that Darius always did. "I'm not the only one, right?"
"No, I think I heard shouting as well," Nasir answered. "It must be the arsonists."
"I wish I could hear like you guys," Nicholas mumbled. "I guess that means we got to meet them then."
"I don't think it's that easy. They wouldn't be shouting for no reason," the dragon replied.
"Nasir, Stefan, you two stay behind with our equipment. I will go with everyone else to meet them."
It wasn't a bad idea. The equipment would get in the way if they had to fight like Nasir implied. Nasir and Stefan didn't fight with them so it made sense for them stay back and guard their stuff. Just because they didn't fight didn't mean that they couldn't. Stefan had that sword hanging off his hip and Nasir... he was self explanatory.
"Good luck, Syrin," Stefan mumbled with a smirk.
"I don't need luck," the leader countered.
It didn't take long to find the arsonists. There was a boy with red hair and a blonde tiger. Darius took a sharp breath and Kaetar bit his lips. He was right when he assumed that the arsonists had to the two that offered their home to the exhausted prince and the raven with a broken wing. Soren, the red-headed archer was riding on top of Rykuu's back as he fired an arrow behind him. An axe suddenly came flying at the two of them it grazed the boy's arm. He dropped his bow and gripped his arm.
"Why do you insist on running?" a paladin growled as he rode by and picked up his axe from the ground. He was an older man with dark blue armour that was trimmed with white. Kaetar felt like he was being stared down with his sharp green eyes, but it was hard to say anything while he was still wearing his helmet. "This must be the rest of them. Cut the problem at the bud!"
Behind him was a small portion of the army and the soliders in the front eagerly ran out – though small was a lot compared to the amount of soldiers they fought before. Misha bit her lips.
"This is bad. That's Arkit and he's no push over," she mumbled as she smacked one of her fellow soldiers with her lance. The paladin raised a hand and his soldiers stopped moving. Rykuu took this time to get Soren the help he needed. He twisted around the rebels and instantly found Peter.
"So you're the traitor that Cameron mentioned. I would have not thought that you would have turned on us, Misha. I was under the impression that you knew what what happened to traitors of the crown," Arkit mumbled. "There are fourteen of you and well over fifty people here. I'll give you a chance to surrender and the crown will be lenient on you."
"You need over fifty people to chase down two people?" Syrin mumbled, clearly not impressed.
"We were training and when we spotted them," Arkit responded, riding closer to Syrin. They stared at each other, and neither of them seemed willing to back down. Syrin's glare seemed natural while Arkit just seemed determined. "Are you the leader?"
"I am," Syrin stated.
Arkit stared at him again. Syrin didn't really look like a leader. He still looked pretty young and he had one arm in a sling. However, he was still confident in his abilities. He had two wars to learn from and probably had a natural talent as a strategist in the first place. The paladin seemed to know better than to judge Syrin on appearance alone though. Something about their leader caught his attention and for some reason, Arkit seemed to refuse to look away.
However, he tore his eyes away and turned his horse around. "Capture them alive," he stated to his army. He drew his and pointed to his left, where Kaetar, the two sword users and Zeke were. Suddenly, part of his army charged them. Loiya ran to Kaetar but he wasn't fast enough – a swordmaster engaged him, distracting the bodyguard and everyone else long enough for the army to separate them. Kaetar stumbled backwards and broke into a run. The other thee turned around and did the same thing, though Arum turned around every now and again to threaten cut down a Crimean. He was in the back. Kaetar could only guess that he was trying to keep the Crimeans away from Kaetar, Zeke and Elli. The trueblade grunted and Kaetar turned around, utterly losing the will to even run. He didn't want to lose sight of the other rebels and running away wasn't helping. He fired an arrow, slowing down a cavalier that rushed to Arum.
Zeke soon found himself busy. Kaetar spotted two flashes of silver and two knives suddenly found their way into a fighter's throat. The branded thief knocked him over with a powerful kick before he dug one of his knives into another enemy. Elli held her own with her own twin blades, using both of them to defend herself from oncoming blows before finding the opportunity to slash at her opponent. Kaetar forced himself to stay behind them. All he could was back them up with his arrows, slowing down anyone who got too far too fast.
Kaetar saw attempts of the others to get to them. Chifee had transformed but stayed closed to the ground. The threat of bow paladins were real and Chifee restricted the hawk's movement but he tried every now and again to fly towards Kaetar before an arrow whizzed by. For some reason, Darius wasn't transforming. He stayed in his human form, merely punching anyone who got too close. Loiya was the closet one to the separated group but became busy with Arkit.
Arkit was a skilled fighter. Whenever he threw his axe and it didn't return, he would battle with his sword and push Loiya forward enough for him to retrieve it before throwing it again. Loiya was already bleeding – he been grazed in his left side and there was a cut on his cheek, yet continued to engage with the paladin. He shouted at him but Kaetar couldn't hear what they were saying.
Ema and Misha fought together, back to back or as possible as it was for them to be back-to-back since she was transformed. Duma was beside them and the three formed a protective barrier around Aletta, Nicholas, and Rylar. Peter and Syrin were tucked behind them. Syrin was useless, aside from talking to Peter during the battle.
The group was pushed back yet again. Arum stayed in the front while Zeke, Kaetar and Elli moved back, distancing themselves again before Arum decided to move back himself. The prince pierced a cavalier with an arrow, knocking him from his horse.
"Damn it! We can't keep going like this! If we stay separated for too long we're going to die here!" the trueblade shouted.
Zeke kicked someone aside. "Actually, I think their numbers are dwindling. It's either we keep fighting or we can book it and reunite with Stefan and Nasir."
"I don't think we can do it," Arum growled.
Zeke shrugged and knocked another Crimean away. "I wouldn't condemn your fate when it's still uncertain. Everything has a possibility of going right even when they seem bleak."
"Elli! Your left!" Kaetar shouted, letting another arrow fly. Elli jumped out of the away of an axe. Arum cursed and jumped at him with a sudden burst of energy. He hit the fighter once, then twice and jumped to get a third hit in – all with incredible speed. Kaetar nearly missed his attack just by blinking. When the enemy collapsed, Arum surprisingly followed. His knees buckled but he managed to stabilize himself by digging his sword into the ground. His left hand flew to his right side. It was hard to see anything with his darker clothes, but Kaetar could see that his clothes looked wet.
Zeke bent down and took one of his arms over his on shoulder. The Crimeans stopped attacking.
"Stop moving and we won't hurt you any more than we already have," one of them stated, holding a blade to Zeke's face. If it wasn't for Arum's injury – and it was odd because Kaetar couldn't recall how he was injured, perhaps when they were running – then they could still to get away. Their best bet was to try to go to Nasir and Stefan, or they could wait and try to buy time. However, if they waited, then the Crimeans could use them as hostages, especially since Arum was injured. He didn't know how long he was bleeding for. It could have been a small cut that got larger the more he moved, especially when he killed the fighter. It wasn't unlikely to the prince that Arum would risk his health to protect Elli.
"Zeke, is he alright?"
Something caught Zeke's attention, making the branded thief smile. "He'll be fine," he answered.
"What are you-"
A sudden roar rang through the air. Nasir appeared in his laguz form, his wings spreading out to an impressive span. He reared back, as if ready for attack. Arkit batted Loiya away and steered his horse back. Perhaps the Crimeans could have caught them but the sudden appearance of a Goldoan dragon sure changed things.
"Fall back! We regroup back at base!" Arkit shouted. The Crimeans looked back to the dragon before running off in a different direction. Nasir hesitated, making sure that the Crimeans were truly gone before reverting back.
"Nasir," Syrin started. "I thought you just wanted to observe the rebellion!"
"If you have a problem with that, Stefan says you can take it up with him," the dragon answered.
"Perhaps later. We need to regroup."
"You... knew he was coming?" the trueblade gasped, glaring at Zeke as the branded helped him to his feet.
"I could hear him coming this way. Can you walk?"
Arum's breathing was deep. He looked to be in a considerable amount of pain but he merely nodded. It was slow progress. Zeke had to let Arum determine the pace and while he could indeed walk, he didn't seem like he had the energy for a lot of walking.
"Elli, you should run ahead to try to get Peter. Zeke and Arum can meet him in the middle," Kaetar mumbled, shoving her forward lightly. It was a good thing that she was fast – the faster she went, the sooner Peter would be around to heal him.
He didn't know why Arum still bothered to continue moving forward, even in such a state. He didn't seem particularly prideful since he didn't seem to care all that much about the other rebels. If anything, he already proved how strong he was and that he could carry his own weight.
"Ah!" Peter gasped. "Let him lay down on the ground. First Duma, then Loiya and now Arum!"
"Duma's been hurt too?" Kaetar asked. He didn't seem in the battle.
"Yeah. He was defending Rylar when he got a nasty cut to his arm. I think you saw Loiya – the more he fought, the more injuries he sustained. Arum, how did this happen?" Peter asked as Zeke crouched down with Arum, again letting the injured one set the pace.
"It wasn't... bad before... but made it worse," the trueblade mumbled slowly. Peter held his staff over Arum's wound and chanted, closing the wound almost instantly. The trueblade made to get sit up but Peter shoved him back down.
"Take it easy. You may be healed but you lost a lot of blood and a heal staff will not replace it for you. You need to give yourself time to recover," the priest explained, standing up. "Zeke, Elli, whenever we have the time to rest, I need you two to make sure he gets some sleep and some fresh water. Kaetar, I have to ask for you to do the same with Loiya as he also lost a considerable amount of blood."
Peter was in his professor healer mode. Kaetar merely nodded. "Where is he anyway?"
"I last saw him with Nicholas," Peter answered. "Anyway, I need to go see if there are any other injuries to tend you. You take care now!"
With that, the priest was gone.
"Great, I'm confined to my tent," Arum growled. He got up slowly just as Peter instructed but he didn't look too happy about it. Kaetar couldn't deny that the priest had a point – Arum looked ashen.
"Arum, you can't keep doing that to yourself. We promised to protect each other but you keep jumping in the way. You need to take care of yourself too, okay?" Elli shouted in a whisper.
"Sorry, Elli. It's force of habit by now... taking care of you before you could take up your blades."
"Well, I'm not a little girl anymore. You can relax a little on the battlefield," Elli sighed. "C'mon, let's get you a nice place to rest."
Syrin was grumbling, pacing around a small fire pit. It was Ema who went hunting again, but she was followed by Rykuu and Soren instead of Duma and Rylar. He wasn't exactly happy about the turnout of the battle. Understandable, really. Had it not been for Nasir in his dragon form to scare them all away, they may have lost. The only things Kaetar was somewhat happy about was the fact that he was right about Nasir's ability to simply scare others and the fact that he even got to see a dragon laguz in action. He was curious as to what Nasir looked like shifted but he never got to see until now.
"Settle down. You can't predict the future," Stefan mumbled, patting the leader's back.
"The best strategies account for all possibilities and make contingency plans in the case that something goes wrong. I should have anticipated that he would separate a small group to make it even smaller and pick us all off. We couldn't recover from that. All Arkit has to do is come back with some thunder mages," the leader sighed. "Not to mention we're down two capable people. Lucky, Duma's injury was taken care of before it could incapacitate him."
"Then Stefan and I will just have to replace them. I don't think that they will return so soon. They also need time to rest and recuperate," Nasir stated, folding his arms in front of his chest.
"So you'll actually fight," Stefan mumbled, looking somewhat surprised.
"If I need to. I won't make a habit of it," he answered. It was then that Peter found his way to the conversing group.
"Ah! Syrin, there you are! How long are we resting for?"
"I don't like it but Arum and Loiya will need a couple of days at least," Syrin murmured.
"Kaetar, how is Loiya doing?" the priest asked, taking a seat beside Kaetar.
It was funny, really. Loiya was sound asleep, his limbs tangled in the bedroll. Kaetar swore he saw him drooling too, and the bodyguard would be too proud to ever admit that he drooled in his sleep. Kaetar wouldn't pester him about it though – it wasn't like Loiya was very aware of it.
"He's sleeping," he answered simply. "I'll go ask Elli how Arum is doing too." Kaetar got up and left in search of their tent. No one question the fact that they shared a tent. It just seemed natural, as they probably spent most of their nights close to each anyway. They were found together and together they remained. When Kaetar was there, Elli was talking to Misha, as if urging her away from the tent.
"I just wanted to check up on him," Misha muttered.
"And I said he's fine but he really needs his sleep and he won't go back to sleep if he sees you here," she answered, placing her hands on Misha's back to guide her away. Misha was having none of it – she dug her heels in the ground and forced herself to a stop. She whirled around and glared.
"What's his problem anyway?"
"Uhh, that's for Arum to answer. It's rather private."
"Elli, Misha," Kaetar greeted. Both stopped and turned their heads towards him. "Is there a problem?"
"I was just checking up on the jerk-"
"He isn't a jerk," Elli chimed.
"But Elli wouldn't let me. What's your relationship with him then?"
Elli hesitated. She bit her lips and looked at Kaetar as if pleading for help, then found the words on her own. "If I tell you, then you have to leave him alone."
"Fine. Let's all go somewhere else then," Misha mumbled. All three walked for about ten minutes before coming to a stop. Kaetar wasn't sure if he was allowed in the conversation, but he was darn curious of their "long history together" as Arum put it.
"Are you brother and sister or something?"
"No. We're not related by blood at all. We're just all each other has, so that's why we defend each other so much. Arum has no parents that I know of and well... I don't have my family either. Arum saved me but he couldn't save the rest of my family," Elli looked away. Misha's expression soften and she looked rather sympathetic.
"Your family was attacked?" Kaetar asked.
"By thieves.. bandits... I don't exactly care what they're called. They were all jerks that died by Arum's blade. Arum raised me ever since. I couldn't take care of myself and Arum could barely take care of himself but now-"
"You're a deadly duo," Misha mumbled. "I can't say I know how you feel about all of that – I still have my family unless Crimea did something to them - but you're strong. Both of you are and you would make your parents proud."
"I... don't know what to say," Elli muttered. It probably wasn't often that other people complimented her.
"Don't stress out about it," Misha mumbled. "Just keep doing what you're doing and I'll try to leave Arum alone."
I am going off of the Radiant Dawn skill system when it comes to the occult skills like Astra, Luna, etc. Basically, anyone in the third tier would have them, just like Arum. I don't think Arum would suddenly just know it, but there will be more on that in the next chapter but it was Astra that Arum tired to do on the fighter.
And so far, the the characters who don't belong to me are as follows: Zeke, Arum, Elli, Peter, and Arkit. I think there will be about three more characters that have yet to join. After that, I think that might be it for the main team. I have restricted submitted characters to be against the rebellion since I think I have enough characters to juggle for Kaetar's team. So far I only have two characters who aren't/won't be nameless enemies and always looking for more!
Speaking of which, there is still room for a rider character if you guys want to submit one. Everything you need is on my profile where you can actually copy and paste.
Anyway, thanks for reading and for your opinions! Reviews are definitely appreciated and I do read them and consider them!