Rivers of Pain are Guiding Me

Jessie gasped, "Lowell…I'm sorry."

Lowell shook his head, "Don't apologize for something that had nothing to do with you."

"Even so…I'm sorry," Jessie said sadly.

"There's a lot more to this story yet, Jessie," Lowell said, stone like.

"I am Vincent, Spymaster of Ylisse."

Lowell rolled his eyes, "As if someone as you could ever become a Spymaster. That is, if I even believe you."

The man, Vincent, got up, "I was recently appointed. I'm here to monitor the conqueror's progress."

"Great deal of good that did, have you seen the town?" Zael said angrily.

Vincent frowned, "Of course I saw it! Do you think I'm happy?!"

"Well…you could be an enemy spy," Lowell said harshly.

Vincent began to sweat, "Let's not jump to hasty conclusions, besides, I can give you what you want."

"And what does a pathetic Ylissean have that we'd want?" Zael snarled.

Lowell was startled by Zael's anger. He was usually calm and collected.

Unless…

"Zael, your family…" Lowell trailed off.

"…Gone. All of them," Zael said coldly. "Anyway, you were saying, Ylissean?"

"I can get you Walhart's head," Vincent said defiantly.

It was silent for a moment until, "Not only Ylissean, but a liar as well. Milord, he must be a spy!"

Lowell turned to Zael and nodded. He quickly unsheathed his knife and stalked toward Vincent. The man began to edge backward nervously.

That might have been the end of Vincent then and there, except for the interruption that saved his life.

"L…owell?" Syrenne said sleepily.

"Syrenne!" Lowell cried, abandoning his attack on Vincent. "Are you alright?"

"Never better," she muttered sarcastically.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Lowell hugged her tight.

"Where are we?" she wondered aloud.

"We're hiding in the Horse and Four, the tavern I meet Astar at, remember?" Lowell allowed a slight smile.

"Where are father and Dagran?" Syrenne said worriedly, seeming to grasp the current situation better now.

Lowell hesitated for a long moment. But his sister deserved to know, "Father is dead, we couldn't find Dagran."

Syrenne burst into tears.

"Sorry to interrupt sir, but weren't we doing something?" Zael said calmly.

"Right," Lowell nodded. Vincent didn't say anything.

"Wait…what's going on?" Syrenne said between her tears.

"This man is a spy, Syrenne. I'm going to kill him," Lowell said with no remorse.

"Wait! How do you know he's a spy?" Syrenne asked curiously.

"He's suspicious," Zael merely said.

"We can't kill him for just that!" Syrenne said outraged. "What if he's here to help us?"

"Finally! A voice of reason. I'm Vincent of Ylisse, and if you want to take down the conqueror, you'll need my help," Vincent spoke for the first time in several minutes.

"See? He's here to help," Syrenne insisted.

"Milady, you are naïve, he's obviously lying," Zael accused.

"But what if he's not? You'll have murdered an innocent man!" Syrenne shouted.

Lowell motioned for her to be quieter, "Many innocent people have been murdered tonight, Syrenne."

"You are both right! And we'll need to move if we want to survive!" Vincent said hurriedly.

"Shut it!" Lowell and Zael said at the same time.

"He's right, we should settle this elsewhere," Syrenne said nervously for the first time, looking at the stairwell.

"Once again, the beautiful woman is right!" Vincent exclaimed.

Lowell glared at Vincent in hatred, "Don't try to hit on my sister. You'll regret it."

Vincent made a dismissive gesture, "Relax, I'm already married."

Lowell rolled his eyes, "Zael, keep an eye on him." The commander nodded.

Lowell walked over to his beloved, he picked up her body. Brushing a tear from his cheek, he walked down the stairs first.

When he got to the body of his mentor, he stopped. Gently, he set down Calista's body. He pulled the smoking pipe from Astar's pocket, "Rest in peace Astar, you shall be avenged."

He picked up Calista's body once again. Syrenne picked up Astar's body. She struggled with it, but was able to manage. Zael and Vincent peeked out of the door.

The streets of Garuvega were quieter now. Screams could still be heard in the distance. Corpses lined the streets. Apparently no one was spared.

Lowell felt sick. His sister was worse. She threw up, thankfully not on his teacher's body. Zael looked a little better and Vincent was visibly shaking.

The company of four trudged through the corpses and the flames. "We won't be able to get out of the city tonight," Vincent said to the rest of the party. "We'll have to find a place to spend the night."

Despite the fact that he didn't trust the Spymaster, Lowell nodded. It'd be madness to try and sneak out of the city in the middle of the night, they couldn't see anything.

Lowell found them and inn near the center of the city. It was a hiding place Calista and him had used while practicing evasion from Astar. But the real reason he picked it because of its dirt floor, he could bury Astar and Calista.

They marched right down to the basement. They found various supplies to make their brief stay more comfortable. It was an inn after all.

When his three companions fell asleep, Lowell grabbed a shovel that was nearby. He lit a lantern and as quietly as he could, he began to dig a grave.

He was halfway through Calista's before he was interrupted. "Who was she?" Vincent asked quietly.

Lowell was too tired to show his anger towards the man, so he simply said, "The woman I was going to marry."

"I'm sorry," Vincent bowed his head.

"Don't apologize for something you have nothing to do with," Lowell said fiercely.

"You misunderstood, perhaps if I had made it to that tavern quicker, I would have been able to save her," Vincent said.

"Ah…" Lowell desperately wanted to blame the man, but in his heart, he knew it wasn't his falut. It was Lowell's fault and his fault alone.

"I can't imagine what it'd be like to lose the one you love most of all. During a recent war, I nearly lost my beloved several times. I can relate, in a very small sense," Vincent murmured.

"What's your wife's name?" Lowell said, hoping to ease his pained mind.

"Anna," Vincent said with a ghost of a smile.

"You married an Anna?" Lowell said, a little surprised.

Vincent smirked, "Do you want help with those?" He gestured to the grave and the bodies.

Lowell shook his head, "It is my burden."

Lowell continued to dig in silence until Calista's grave was finished. He gently lowered her body into the grave. "I can engrave a gravestone if you'd like," Vincent said helpfully.

"You can do that?" Lowell said, surprised. Vincent nodded and set about to find a suitable stone. When he did, he began to work his magic, carving with magic what Lowell told him.

That engraving is private, I will not repeat it.

Then Lowell and Vincent set about the same process for the assassin's master, Astar.

"I know you find me suspicious," Vincent said after a long while. "But I am here to help."

Lowell gazed at him. His expression was hard to make out through the lamp light. "I can tell you don't mean us harm. You would have done it already. You're at least knowledgeable in the art of assassinry. Though your fighting skills are bad."

Vincent chuckled, "My magic is my forte, not my spying. My teachers have been most relentless with their teaching. Haha, teachers teaching."

Lowell cracked a slight smile, "Tell me a story. Of anything, just help me take my mind off of the accursed night."

"Why certainly my good man…"

Lowell yawned when he awoke in the morning. He was still in a sitting position on the ground, above Calista's body in the ground.

"Alright people, let's get moving," Zael said through a yawn.

Vincent nodded and Lowell helped him to his feet. Syrenne required a bit of coaxing getting up. She seemed like the only one who slept soundly.

If only Lowell had the ability to act like a little kid at his age. She was only two years younger than after all, and Lowell wanted to protect that about her.

"I'll meet you guys up there, I…want to say good bye," Lowell choked up.

Zael and Vincent nodded and ushered the sleepy Syrenne out of the room.

Lowell turned to his master's grave. "Well Astar, I never thought it would end this way. Well, we both knew we'd die of something related to this, but not in the near future. But I'll make it up to you. I'm going to train to be the best assassin the ever has been. I'll make you proud. Good bye Astar, I'll be back to visit."

Lowell turned to Calista's grave. "Calista…I wish things had been different. I thought we had a future together…but that is not the way it was meant to be. I suppose me carrying on your memory is the way it will be. I will never forget you," Lowell began to tear up, "And I will always love you, forever and always. Good bye Calista, may the afterlife treat you well. I'll be back to visit."

Lowell slowly walked away, brushing the tears away from his face.

The four of them walked down the empty streets. The sun was shining, it was just as beautiful a day as the last, but the city told differently.

The wild animals had been busy, some bodies no longer resembled humans. But the stench, the blood, they were all the same. The fires had mostly gone out, but a few still burned. They made their way to the outer wall of the city.

The wall was extremely high, it was built to keep pirates out after all. But Vincent led them to a small opening in it that they crept through.

When the four were outside of the wall, they saw Walhart's encampment. It was enormous to say the least.

The four of them snuck in uneventfully. Vincent had been planning the days before, he knew how the guards worked. And he had stolen Valmese red soldier outfits to aid their infiltration.

After an hour of searching and waiting, they finally found the conqueror's tent. All four of them (Syrenne had refused to remain behind from this incursion) were posing as guards outside the tent when the conqueror finally entered his tent. If this were any other occasion, Walhart may have paid more attention to his guards (One of which was a woman dressed as a man) and found out about the deception.

But the conqueror had a visitor in his tent it seemed. So he strode by the four comrades with hesitation. Lowell tilted his head so he might hear better.

"…wanted a place to manage, not a grave yard," came Walhart's deep voice.

"It's easier this way, my liege," an oddly familiar voice said.

"But not more profitable. Garuvega would have brought in gold. Gold for the war. But you pathetic traitor ordered my troops to kill everyone while I was away. You do not deserve my respect."

"I only betrayed for the reason you conquer, my liege. For power. And now I urge you to remember that I have brought down an obstacle in your path with minimal casualties," the familiar man's voice filed with deceit and lies.

"Leave my sight. Maybe I'll have use for you later," Walhart ordered.

"If I may say on last thing, you said you wanted this, you wanted the total surrender of Garuvega. I was only following orders. You destroyed my family, and I accept that. I never cared for them anyway, but it was by your orders the city fell," the man said defiantly.

"…Leave, while your head is still with your body," Walhart said coldly.

The man's footsteps could be heard coming closer. Lowell snapped back to attention, and watched from the corner of his eye to see who came out of the tent.

His heart almost leapt out of his chest. It was Dagran.

His brother emerged from the tent and motioned to the group of four, "Attend me. Guard me to my tent."

Lowell shot Vincent a look as discretely as he could. Dagran would recognize Lowell, Syrenne and Zael's voices on the spot, but he didn't know Vincent. "Yes m'lord," Vincent said in a formal tone.

With Vincent in the lead, the four followed Dagran to his large and elaborate tent. They stood outside as if to wait for orders. Lowell whispered to the rest of them, "I can't believe its Dagran! I'm going to go knock him out so we can take him with us."

Since the rest of them had no better plan, they agreed, though Syrenne agreed regretfully. Lowell walked in, as silent as he could be. Dagran was at his desk, writing something. When he looked up and saw Lowell, he said, "What do you want?"

Lowell dropped all pretense to hide his accent, "In the name of Garuvega, I have come to bring you to justice, Dagran."

Dagran's eyes widened as Lowell attacked him with a knife. He narrowly missed as Dagran began to run out of the tent. "Get him!" Lowell shouted.

Vincent turned sharply and jabbed Dagran with his knife. His knife hit the heart, but before he hit his mark, Dagran let out a scream.

"Shit!" Zael said, as many bystanders were now drawing their weapons. "You three go, I'll hold them off!" Lowell and the other two ran off with him.

As Lowell looked back at Zael, he saw him kill several people. Then an arrow pierced his chest. Then another. And another. As the blood spurted out of his wounds, he turned to Lowell and saluted. The commander fell over in defeat.

NO!

"Let's move!" Vincent yelled. Lowell felt dizzy, he began to stumble. How many of his friends were going to die before this was over.

"Watch it!" Vincent yelled as he threw up a fire shield in front of Vincent, burning up a javelin.

Syrenne was not so lucky. She wailed as a javelin sliced into her leg. "NO!" Lowell yelled as he turned to go back. But already the enemy was on her.

"There's nothing you can do!" Vincent yelled. "C'mon! We gotta go!"

Lowell stumbled along as Vincent grabbed his arm and pulled him along. After several more minutes of chase, they escaped the camp.

"She's gone…they're all…gone," Lowell cried. "I need to go back for Syrenne!" Lowell shouted to Vincent.

He shook his head, "She'll be gone now, dead or not, she won't be there anymore."

Lowell continued to wail, "You saved my life back there…"

Vincent turned to him, "What of it?"

Lowell pulled out his knife and presented it to Vincent, "In Garuvega, when someone saves your life, you owe your life to them.'

"I, Lowell of Garuvega, swear myself to Vincent. May he use my life as he wishes," Lowell knelt on one knee.

Vincent looked incredibly uncomfortable, "I…er…suppose I could use another member of the intelligence force at Ylisse."

When Lowell stopped talking for an extended period of time, Jessie asked, "That's it?"

Lowell nodded, "After that, I searched Valm while doing missions for Vincent. I searched for Syrenne everywhere I went with no success. And I trained with every notable assassin in Valm, Ylisse, Ferox and Plegia so I could fulfill my promise to my master and become the best there ever was."

Jessie did the unexpected and gave Lowell a hug, "I know you think I shouldn't apologize when I wasn't part of the problem, but I am sorry for your losses."

Even more unexpectantly, Lowell returned the hug.