Hikaru: I apologize for the brief hiatus.

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Leneth did not sleep easily that night. He kept tossing and turning, waking abruptly with nightmares of an advancing Tethe'allan army marching across Sylvarant and destroying anything and everything that got in their way. He had nightmares about every last city falling to the destruction, everyone he knew fighting with all their might and dying in the attempt.

Alain, Waltharia, Orochi, Liath, Kratos, his mother and father ...

Leneth hated war.

But upon his waking in the morning, Leneth noticed that Alain didn't seem to be bothered much by the grave situation at hand. The younger highly doubted that was truly the case, but Alain, for as long as Leneth had known him, had always been good at hiding things.

Something was afoot, for Alain had woke Leneth early in the morning, far earlier than they usually roused from sleep.

"What's up?" Leneth asked as he assisted in cleaning up camp.

Alain shot a glance over his shoulder, toward the direction where Luin would be.

"The rider wouldn't attack us head on, but if we retreat to Luin, he and his dragon could easily launch a surprise attack, even on his own. Sooner or later the Tethe'allans will seek to invade Luin, but right now that rider's mission is only us and what we have in our possession."

Leneth stared at Alain, who was still busying himself getting ready for the road.

"So we're not ... going to Luin?"

Alain shook his head. "No, not right now. To do so would provoke the dragon rider to attack the city, and Luin isn't even prepared for an invasion of any kind."

"But ..." Leneth's mind raced with the visions of his nightmares, of the all-destroying Tethe'allan army. "Where will we go? There's an entire army right behind us!"

Alain pointed behind Leneth, to a reddish brown mountain range on the horizon.

"The village of adventurers, Hima."

But Leneth was still bursting with questions, such as, how long would they bide there? How long could they stay out of enemy hands that way? And who would warn Luin of an impending Tethe'allan invasion?

Yes, Leneth supposed that a message could be sent, but there would still be the matter of guarding their piece of the Eternal Sword. If Hima was invaded, then it would be only a matter of time before they claim the Vorpal sword. And Leneth didn't even want to think about what would happen if Liath were ...

No, Liath would be fine. She always managed to beat him in their sparring sessions, and she was even a match for Orochi. Combine her combat skill with the magic that Kratos taught her ... Yes, Leneth would believe, had to believe that Liath and Withi would be just fine. He and Alain had to worry about themselves right now.

"What are we going to do all the way in Hima?" Leneth pressed.

Alain's brow was furrowed, and he didn't seem to have any patience this morning.

"Look, will you just trust me on this? Let's go."

The journey to Hima was rather uneventful, nothing to speak of but for some occasional fights with monsters, mostly wolves and giant insectoids. Leneth would never look at lady bugs the same way again.

As the mountains loomed ever closer, Leneth took note of something: he didn't see the dragon rider anywhere. Had he stopped following them? Had he seen them change course and gone back to report it? Somehow the absence of their follower bothered him--if the rider was gone now, wouldn't that make the trip to Luin safer?

But just because a dragon could fly doesn't mean it has to. They could still be followed, and there was no point taking chances.

They reached Hima by late afternoon. Leneth had heard of the so-called "village" of adventurers; his parents said before that there was only an inn there with would-be adventurers and an eccentric dragon wrangler.

But upon entering the vicinity, Hima was not just a lone inn. In the years since his parents had visited this place it must have expanded, if only a little. It was by no means a big village, but it was far from the lonely inn it had been before.

The Sylvarantian vanguard was here. With a grimace Leneth realized why the little inn must have expanded--the vanguard was stationed here as well.

At the gate the village watch called down to them from their lookout towers.

"Who goes there?"

"Alain N. Brunel, son of Colette and Noishe Brunel of Iselia," Alain answered, "and Leneth Fujibayashi-Irving, son of Lloyd and Sheena Fujibayashi-Irving of New Mizuho."

"Sons of village leaders?" one of the guards called. "Why come all the way here?"

"We come bearing news of Tethe'alla's aggression."

"Tethe'alla's declared war on us, it has. Just a second--open the main gate!"

The wooden double-doors of the gate opened, and Alain and Leneth hustled inside. The gate was closed after their passage. There were indeed ordinary villagers here, although Leneth inwardly supposed they were the families of the soldiers in the vanguard.

They were taken to the inn to meet up with one of the leaders of Hima's vanguard, a man by the name of Pietro. They were set down to a meal, a pleasant change from the meager lunches they'd had on the road.

Pietro waited for them to finish before asking the question.

"What sort of news do you bring?"

Leneth was still polishing off the last of his food, so Alain answered in his stead.

"Tethe'alla has invaded Sylvarant."

There was a collective exclamation about the inn, soldiers of the vanguard as well as the ordinary people in the inn.

Pietro frowned deeply.

"You are sure of this?"

Alain nodded in response.

"Yes, we witnessed it. Tethe'alla has captured Izoold."

"When was this?"

"Just the other day."

Pietro folded his hands, his eyes distant. Leneth, by now done eating, studied him. Pietro looked ... tired, as if he had been through many difficult times to last more than a single lifetime, and yet here he was, thrust into more hardships.

"I see. Anything else we ought to be aware of?"

"Yes." Leneth said before Alain could, "there's a Tethe'allan dragon rider following us."

"A dragon rider," Pietro repeated slowly. "We've heard that the Tethe'allans had militarized flying dragons, but ..."

"We haven't seen the rider on our way here," Leneth continued, "but there's no reason not to be careful. And also, they--"

"Were dispatched from the Tethe'allan detachment that captured Izoold." Alain said quickly.

Leneth gave Alain a look, jaw unhinged. Why had Alain cut him off from one of the most important issues regarding the war? But Leneth had no opportunity to enter it into the conversation any more; Alain and Pietro were the main participants now.

"We have begun to militarize the indigenous flying dragons around Hima as well," Pietro said, "thanks mostly to the help of the ... enthusiastic dragon wrangler. I'm certain we should be able to hold off any attack this lone rider might attempt here."

"I thought so. That's why we came here rather than directly to Luin. Speaking of, will you send a message to Luin about Tethe'alla's invasion?" Alain asked, completely ignoring the daggers Leneth glared at him.

"Of course," Pietro said. "We will prepare a message to send by dragon at once. But you've had a long journey, why don't you rest for now?"

Alain inclined his head as a show of respect for Pietro.

"Yes, thank you very much."

Leneth waited until they were led to their room before he rounded on Alain.

"Why did you stop me from telling them about the sword?"

Alain gave a scowl to match Leneth's glare.

"Have you considered the possibility of spies in the vanguard?"

Leneth worked his jaw, no sound coming forth. No, the thought never crossed his mind even once during the journey. If there were spies in the vanguard, then freely speaking of their piece of the Eternal Sword was like painting a huge target mark on their backs.

Leneth heaved a sigh, sinking down on his bed by the window. His elbows were propped on his knees, chin resting on folded hands. His eyes were downcast.

"I'm sorry. I've been nothing but a burden from the start."

"No you haven't."

Leneth looked up at Alain, jaw slack.

"You saved my life, Leneth. If you hadn't been there, those dragons would have killed me. Besides," Alain's hands began to shake, clenched into fists, "it's my fault the Tethe'allans even know that we have a piece of the Eternal Sword."

"How?" Leneth demanded. "it's not like you sauntered up to them and said, 'Hey, guess what? We've got a piece of the Eternal Sword!' "

"I might as well have!" Alain retorted. "You know how I used angel's sight to look for Frio?"

Leneth nodded slowly, but he still didn't know what that had to do with anything.

"Well, it turns out that Frio had sensed me looking for him. He caught my mana signature trail ... and found out about Vorpal."

Leneth froze. "No, that couldn't ... you never actually said anything! So how could Frio know?"

But even as he said that, Leneth had a feeling he knew how Frio found out. Frio was a summoner, had great magical ability. And if Alain had been seeking him through angel's sight, that meant he sought a connection of a sort with said personage. And from there, once Frio caught Alain's mana signature ...

Frio, too, had been able to see Alain and Leneth whenever Alain had sought him out. And when he did, he had seen their piece of the Eternal Sword.

"Alain. We're still here. So they know we have it--that's not the same as getting a hold of it. Right?"

Alain gave a small smile.

" ... Right. Let's not lose heart now."

They were going to need every ounce of strength, physical and mental, to ensure the Tethe'allans never got their hands on the Eternal Sword.