Author's Note: Another chapter before the next side chapter where I get to explore the character interactions more. I've noticed I've written Will as just more happy after this year has passed, but I feel it's right that way, somehow. Some rough stuff is coming down the pipe for those who've played the game so having the characters happy and positive when I can is important.
I've got some interesting side chapters planned, but the main chapters are just as if not more important. I'm sure you all know what's going to be revealed in this chapter, eh?
Chapter 37: In Search of Truth
An excerpt from Tactician William's journal:
Hector came to our aid in a time when Eliwood desperately needed a friend. The strange group responsible for the attack seems to want Eliwood dead. Whether this is part of Marquis Laus' plot, or indicates the presence of the Black Fang, I cannot be sure. As we headed for Santaruz castle, none of us were entirely prepared for what we would find. In retrospect, I'm not entirely glad we did.
Helman had just received word. Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector were now heading this way. After they had been accosted and nearly killed by bandits. Meanwhile, his guards had stood by and done nothing. He had to put a stop to it. "Master Ephidel!" He demanded, approaching the hooded man, "What is the meaning of this?"
"Peace, Lord Helman." The soft voice spoke, without the hint of surprise that should've come with the Lord's outburst, "Whatever is wrong?"
It was just like him to deny his involvement even now. "You said you were just going to frighten Eliwood! Your men out there nearly killed him!" Ephidel continued to look complacent. "My patience is at an end. I will do what I should've done from the start: Tell Eliwood everything, and hope he will accept my apology."
Ephidel did seem to be affected by this. His golden eyes closed, and his hands for the first time moved from his sides. They gripped his hood lightly as he opened his eyes once more. "You would betray us?"
Helman mustered his courage. The words Ephidel had spoken were soft, but the sound indicated danger. "I am tired of you and the Black Fang." He said, choosing his words carefully. "Now, remove yourself from my castle!" He threw out his arms. Ephidel sighed and turned away. Their very presence had become a drain on his spirit.
"Lord Helman…" Ephidel said, his back still turned to the Lord. He did not move. "Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?"
"No." Helman said. "Now leave before I summon my guards."
"It seems you are no longer of any use to us." Ephidel muttered. Quick as a flash, he turned, charging down the aged Lord with a dagger. Unable to react in time, Helman could only cry in pain as Ephidel plunged the dagger into his side. He fell to the ground, gasping for air, as Ephidel straightened himself up. The hood which covered his face had somehow remained firmly on his head. The superhuman speed at which he had moved seemed not to phase the black cloaked tactician at all.
Helman could only look at the box containing his daughter's letter, reaching desperately towards it. The last living member of his family was about to die.
"There's the castle." Hector said. It was much smaller than the one in Ostia and Pharae, but was still unmistakably a castle.
Eliwood seemed a little tired from the fight followed by the straight march here, but he composed himself as Hector spoke. "We need to speak to Lord Helman as soon as possible."
"Not gonna happen, laddie." A gruff voice neither recognized spoke.
"Who are you?" Eliwood asked, as he and Hector both drew their weapons.
'Who am I?" The gruff man laughed. "Boy, you'd best be worrying about yourself. You'll be worm's meat before much longer."
"I think my axe will change your mind." Hector said confidently.
"Ha!" The man laughed again. "The cub thinks himself a wolf! Does your bite match your bark? Tell you what: you reach the castle alive, and we'll find out." As the man retreated, he laughed into the afternoon air.
Will wasn't sure why the man had come to greet them before the battle began, but perhaps it was a symbol of courtesy. It did give him time to survey the battlefield. These soldiers were not the classic bandits he had become accustomed to dealing with. He could only spot one axe user among the enemy. A heavily armored knight (The man who spoke to Eliwood and Hector) was taking up a position at the castle gate. Aside from that, there were several soldiers (both lancers and archers) along with one person in Sacaen garb Will recognized as Kutolah specific. The blue was the same as the Lorca, but the golden triangles woven on the edges along with the white pants were his clues. Lorca had red, and the flaps of the shirt opened on both ends to allow both legs full motion. Perhaps that was the style Lyn had chosen though, he realized he had never asked.
"You know…" Matthew mused next to Will, nearly making the tactician jump, "I think I recognize that guy."
"You too huh?" Will said. "I'm pretty sure I met him at the Kutolah tribe."
"Shall we talk to him?" Matthew asked.
"If we're backing each other up while doing it, I don't mind." Will said. He turned to address the rest of the group. "Everyone! These are not like the bandits from earlier! Lots of them are trained soldiers and they are blocking our path to the castle! Don't hold back on that account, or they will kill you. Wallace, Oswin and Marcus are going to form the front wall! Use your armor to block the attacks from the archers! Rebecca, you need to take them down. Dorcas can help with his hand axe, but only throw it if you know you'll get the hit. Matthew and I will take the Sacaen by the bridge. I believe with a bit of persuading we can get him to join our cause. Once we've gotten across the bridge, Eliwood and Hector will take the Lancers along with the rest of the front line. Lowen, I need you to visit the village and warn them of the battle. Then stay here and guard Serra in case anyone tries to surprise us. We need her to be able to heal anyone who gets injured. There's another village across a second bridge. When we get past the first, I want you to warn them, alright Marcus?"
The knight nodded. Eliwood seemed rather satisfied with this plan, and even Hector had to admit it wasn't sounding bad. Once they got to the man at the Castle, strategy had no more place in a man to man fight. "Move out!" Eliwood commanded.
"Hey, you!" One of the archers called out to the young man in Sacaen garb. His green hair and ponytail swished as he turned around in confusion. "Yeah, the new dog! You better protect us right, or you're gone!"
"I know." The swordsman replied, unsheathing his Killing Edge. He sighed as he looked at the group on the hill. A lot of them looked really strong. Some of them had heavy armor though, so he wasn't sure how much good his dainty little sword would do against them. Of course they would be leading the charge. "I just got this job, I don't want to lose it." He muttered to himself. "'Course, the smartest thing to do would have been to not get involved with an ugly bunch such as this, but a man's gotta eat." He shuddered, remembering a particularly devastating incident. "I was too picky before. If I think about that time I passed out in Caelin, and just after leaving the Kutolah, too… Nothing funny about that. That man… what was his name again? Mark? Matthus? Matthew? Whoever it was, if he hadn't stopped and offered me food, I would've starved to death."
"What are you mumbling about?" The archer demanded, notching an arrow, "Get over here now!"
"I'm coming!" The Sacaen shouted back. "At least I've got work, so stop complaining and get swinging!"
"What good timing!" An old woman cackled, grabbing Lowen's arm the moment he set foot in the village square. "Would you try this for me? It's an invention of the great witch! The great witch being me! It's a mine! It contains some very powerful explosive magic. Hide it on the ground, and when an enemy steps on it… BOOM!" She shouted so loud his ears began to sting. "I'm still testing them, so please send a message on how it works, alright deary?"
She left then, leaving poor Lowen hopelessly bewildered as he held the strange object in his hands.
Their progress was slow, but meaningful. Once again, Will seemed to have chosen the best strategy to avoid casualties. No one had taken a hit as they approached the bridge. Oswin had handled the one axe user, and Rebecca's bow work had taken out the two archers. Dorcas had taken a risky shot by throwing his hand axe across the bridge, but it had paid off, finishing off the archer next to the Sacaen clad swordsmen.
Unfortunately, that same swordsman now barred their path across the bridge. Will and Matthew stepped forth as planned, but the man did not seem to recognize either of them at first, his sword drawn and lowering himself into the Kutolah stance.
Will wished right about now he knew the Lorcan Stance or even could mimic the Kutolah Style, but he knew such a hope was in vain. He took a step back as Matthew drew his dual daggers, opting instead for his shine tome. The swordsman attacked, and Matthew parried the blow with one of his daggers. The other lashed out outside of the swordsman's range, which made the man pause in confusion.
Matthew laughed. "I know who you are. Aren't you Guy?"
The man attacked again, but this time his strike path was blocked by a barrage of light bullets. The light stunned him, and while he tried to blink to light out of his eyes he recognized the thief more fully. "Is that you, Matthew?"
"What a pleasant surprise." Matthew said, though his grin seemed to say he was already three steps ahead of where the nomad had just arrived. "I've only gotten a small taste, but how has that sword work of yours been coming along?"
Guy sighed. "You are aware this isn't the time and place to be playing catch-up, right? You and I, we're on opposite sides here."
"What?" Matthew said in mock surprise. "You aren't saying you're going to fight me."
"Well, yeah." Guy said, surprised the thief was so taken aback. "I've improved much since last time. You can't beat me."
"You are quite the terror, Guy." Matthew said with a grin. "But uh, I think I'd prefer if you paid what you owe me."
"Huh?" Guy's eye twitched.
"Last time I saw you… I gave you food, right? If I'm remembering things right, you said you owed me your life." Matthew said, his cheeky grin getting worse by the second.
Guy spluttered, his sword falling to his side as he tried to defend himself. "I – I only said that 'cause you said you would feed me if I did! I hadn't eaten in ten days, and you were cooking meat! You… this… This isn't fair!"
"The people of Sacae never lie. Isn't that right, Will?" Matthew asked, turning to his compatriot.
For a moment, Will nearly contradicted Matthew. Technically he was from Sacae and he definitely remembered lying on occasion. Parents also often told their children lies to teach them life lessons so they didn't act like little idiots and get themselves killed by wildlife until they were old enough to learn how to hunt. Somehow, however, he realized this wasn't what Matthew wanted to hear, so he settled on "Never."
"Grr..." Guy gripped his sword tightly in his hand, his head hung as he weighed his options. Even if he killed Matthew, that would mean he had gone back on his word. If that spread, he'd never get any good work again. Add in that one of his main employers was laying on the other side of the bridge with an axe embedded in his skull, and the answer was clear. "Fine! I hope you know, I'm throwing away a good paying job for this! It's all your fault!"
"Fall in then." Will said, as Guy stomped his way past Matthew.
"Hang on, aren't you…" Guy paused as he spotted Will.
"We'll talk later." Will said. "Right now we've got a battle to finish."
"Alright." Guy said, before getting into formation behind the heavy armored knights. "An honor to meet you, sirs."
"The pleasure is mine." Eliwood said.
"Yo. Ready to bust some heads?" Hector asked. Guy suddenly realized that Matthew may be the least dangerous of the group of people he had now aligned with. Silently, he thanked Father Sky for his luck and his life before readying his sword.
Marcus raced over to the village immediately after they crossed the bridge. He wanted to return as soon as possible. The moment he did, however, he ran into another man who was in a hurry. As he tottered about, loading things onto his cart, more of it continued to fall off into the street. He seemed to be a merchant, though from what Marcus could gather he wasn't a very good one. Or at the very list, a clumsy one. "This will never do!" He cried as he clambered onto the front of the cart. "Look at the time! If I don't leave for Caelin right away, my business will be ruined!" He grabbed the reigns, wheeling the horse around. Marcus moved his horse out of the way to allow the merchant to pass. "Time is money, after all. Hurry hurry! Rush rush rush!"
The merchant's horse headed out of the village, and Marcus was beginning to wonder why he had come here in the first place. Noticing the Merchant had left something behind, Marcus picked it up. It looked like some nice timber with cloth tied around the top. So it was a torch, was it? Perhaps they could make use of it, loathe as he was to take something left by someone without giving proper compensation.
The lance users were locked fighting other members of the company while Eliwood and Hector confronted the man holding the gates.
Wallace was battling one lance user and easily trouncing the poor man. He laughed as the man's lance finally broke after being struck uselessly against Wallace's armor several times in the course of their short exchange. Wallace then slammed the butt of his lance into the soldier's stomach, dropping him to the ground. With the tip of the older knight's lance at his throat, he had no choice but to surrender.
Oswin had similarly managed his battle against the soldier well. Will had been backing him up and using his Shine tome he created a quick flash of light just over the man's head. He ducked in fear of the magical attack only to be kicked in the face by Oswin's boot which came forward just at the right moment. Landing on his back, the soldier's lance arm was pierced through by Oswin's own lance. He lay there, gasping for breath, but Oswin did not finish the job. "Good work." Oswin said.
"You handled the hard part." The tactician responded.
The final soldier thought he had the advantage. Matthew and Guy were both using swords. Admittedly Matthew's were daggers and Guy's was more of a katana, but he had been trained extensively against fast opponents to deal with their speed by using his reach. This time, however, it didn't seem to be working. The attacks he had been taught weren't giving him the edge. The Sacaen was dodging them with grace and style, his katana coming dangerously close to cutting him during the counterattacks. The Thief was quick and nimble, none of his attacks were even getting close to him. In return, the thief did seem unable to get close enough to attack him. It should have stayed that way, but the Sacaen changed his tactic. Upon seeing their stalemate would continue, he suddenly lunged forward and stabbed out with his blade. The soldier managed to dodge and counter, but the thief had followed up on the nomad's attack a mere second later. His daggers struck his lance arm, and in pain he dropped the weapon. With the Sacaen pointing his blade at the soldier's throat, all three of the other guards were unable to battle any longer.
That left the Heavy Knight (Will preferred the shortened phrase to General or Knight, since those two terms could get confusing when dealing with armies and ranks), which Eliwood and Hector were fighting. Their tag team was quickly becoming something Will both respected and understood should be used relatively often. Hector's rough fighting combined perfectly with Eliwood's elegant techniques.
"I paid far too much for that worthless pack of sellswords!" The Heavy Knight roared, spinning his lance as he blocked Eliwood's rapier strikes. "So much for the famed Black Fang!"
"So, they really were members of the Black Fang." Hector growled as he switched in for Eliwood. His axe strike managed to knock the man's lance defense away momentarily, but the man kicked out at Hector and forced him to retreat.
Their fight continued. Eliwood's rapier could potentially pierce the man's armor, but he wasn't getting any hits. The defensive style the man used was not one he could counter easily. Any time he managed to get past the lance the man would manage to step aside. Hector was consistently doing something, but nothing strong enough to injure the man.
When the man's lance struck Eliwood's leg, Will knew he needed to change the tactic. "Oswin, grab Eliwood and drag him out! I'll aid Hector!"
He would have preferred letting Oswin help Hector, but Hector didn't need another fighter, he needed long range support. Rebecca's arrows wouldn't do enough to the Heavy Knight to give Hector an opening, which meant Will had to do it. He rarely used Shine to actually attack, so he wasn't entirely sure how this was going to go, but he had to try.
Oswin dragged Eliwood away as Hector locked his axe with the enemy's lance, the two battling for dominance over the other. "Shine!" Will shouted, unleashing the spell at the full power he could muster. A series of light bullets exploded upon the man's armor, and seemed to do just enough to make him wince. Hector took this opening, smashing down the lance before kicking the man's hand, making it drop. He followed this up with a hefty swing from his axe, which the armored man didn't even try to dodge.
"Gahah!" He laughed as blood dribbled from his mouth, "You've beaten me… but you're too late to save him. Too – too bad eh, laddie?" He grinned madly at Hector, before falling over. He was dead. Hector retrieved his axe, before throwing the tactician a look. Will couldn't tell what that look was, but they had no time to worry about it now.
After applying some quick first aid to Eliwood, they headed inside. They had sent Marcus to alert Lowen and head their way, but Eliwood refused to remain outside when Lord Helman may be in need of aid. Luckily, none of the soldiers left inside wanted to fight. In fact, the castle was eerily silent. Inside the Lord's chamber, they found Lord Helman, collapsed on the ground with a dagger sticking out of his side. "Lord Helman!" Eliwood cried, quickly hobbling his way over to the old man's side. Hector and Will followed, a sinking feeling in their guts.
Helman's eyes fluttered open, fixing on Eliwood's bright red hair. "Is that you… Eliwood?"
"Hold on!" Eliwood said, tears filling his eyes. "We have a healer on the way right now!"
"I must…" Helman began, coughing weakly. "I must apologize… Eliwood. Your… your father…"
"Do you know something?" Eliwood asked, his voice trembling. He too had realized the old lord was slipping away. The least he could do was let him speak in his final moments.
"If I hadn't… told Elbert… Darin's plans… This would never… have…" He trailed off into weak coughing once more. His other hand, the one not preoccupied with Eliwood, shakily pointed to the box on the shelf. Hector walked over, retrieving it and bringing it to the Lord. He pushed the box back into Hector's hand. "For… if… if you find my grandson… please…"
Hector nodded. "I will give this to him, and tell him of your fate. I promise."
Helman smiled weakly, his gaze turning back to Eliwood. "Go… to Laus. Darin… He… he knows all. I'm sorry, Eliwood. I'm so… sorry. I can't…"
"Please, hold on!" Eliwood cried, tears streaming down his face.
Lord Helman's eyes drifted to Will, a strange feeling overtaking him. He wished he wasn't slipping away. He wished… he knew… what that feeling was. It had been so long. "Beware… the Black… Fang…" He hand, which had been holding Eliwood's relaxed and fell to the floor.
"He's gone." Hector said through gritted teeth, holding the box tightly.
"It can't be…" Eliwood sobbed. "Lord Helman, why… Why did this have to happen?"
"Blast!" Hector hissed. "What the hell is going on in Lycia?"
"We go to Laus." Will said. The two lords turned to look at him. His eyes were still looking at the dead Lord, but his voice was firm. "We must speak to this Lord Darin and find out the truth."
"You're right." Hector admitted. "We should leave quickly then. I'm not sure how far we can get with the remaining daylight, but… I can't sit still."
The three seemed to have reached their decision. Standing up, they left the chamber and headed back for the entrance. Before they did, a balding older man hailed them down. "Pardon me, sirs, if I may bother you for a moment?"
"Who are you?" Eliwood asked. He had wiped the tears from his eyes, but his voice still wavered slightly from the loss. He was trying to recover his composure before they addressed the rest of the group outside.
"I'm the steward to our Marquis." The balding man said, nervously bowing. "With our Lord gone, what are we to do?"
"Well first," Hector said, holding up a finger, "you give Lord Helman a proper burial. After that, I'm sure the Lycian Council will have to meet. Lord Helman's grandson may be able to take over as Lord, but we'd have to find him first, so until then stay here and defend the castle. Whether or not we find him and what the council decides, you'll learn more eventually."
The servant seemed a little downhearted that there was so little he could do, but bowed. "I understand." He hurried off, likely to make preparations for the funeral.
Eliwood wished he could stay, but the situation facing them meant he couldn't afford to stop. Breathing in one last time to fully regain his composure, he nodded to the other two. "Let's go. We must keep moving."
"Yeah…" Hector agreed, as he opened the box. Inside was a single letter, and several important looking rings. He guessed the rings were for the grandson, but the letter seemed to be from Lord Helman's daughter. He'd have to read it later when he got the chance.
"Lord Helman, may you find peace." Eliwood whispered, wishing for the kind old man's rest from the bottom of his heart.