Chapter 3: Creeping Shadows
"Amazing, isn't it? Not long ago, these people would be ignoring me and acting like I didn't exist. But, simply because I stood by Ike during that war, everyone's flattering me and treating me like their new role model. Truly, their minds are so fickle." Soren sighed.
Thankfully, neither Lethe nor Lyre were around to hear it. Soren, Ike, and Ilyana were sitting in a semicircle, safe within the walls of their suite. Caineghis had made certain that they could stay in Gallia's finest Inn, which meant that the rooms they were offered were made for the biggest of laguz and for the richest of customers.
"Soren, stop being so bitter. You used to wish that people would respect you, right? Well, now they are." Ike groaned.
"No, Ike. Respect and Flattery are two different things. When you respect someone, you are likely to treat them as your equal. But, if you merely flatter someone, you are trying to take advantage of them by falsely acting humble. You are trying to make them like you so that you can manipulate their talents for your own advantage." Soren snapped.
Ilyana was a little confused: "Why are you so paranoid, Soren?"
"I am not paranoid! I am realistic. Don't you people even understand what that means? These people flatter us because they want us to do something for them. They are trying to take advantage of you, and if you let them..."
"If we let them, what then, Soren? Then they take some petty bonus at our expense, so what? Will it truly hurt us? We've been through this war, though thick and thin, through the most terrible of experiences, so anything these people can throw at us is nothing compared to those situations. We're ready for anything, for we've been through it all. There's really nothing for you to be worried about. What can these Gallian civilians do compared to Feral Ones, hmn?" Ike cocked his head to one side.
"You're too naive, Ike. It's amazing that you're still alive..." The black haired mage grumbled.
Ilyana was worried. Soren had been grumpy ever since they were greeted at Gallia's capital. What was wrong? They were in a friendly nation, surrounded by people who were all indebted to them for some degree, yet the Greil Mercenaries' tactician still had such a foul mood. It was quite perplexing and she really couldn't figure him out.
Mist, too, felt quite confused. Soren wasn't the only person who seemed uneasy. Muarim too, seemed to smell something fishy in the air. Both Mist and Lyre sensed Muarim and Soren's uneasiness. Lyre heard from Lethe that Soren was a little despicable at times, though he was a dependable and wise ally who would never turn his back on his comrades. Both Soren and Muarim intrigued Lyre, who, like Mist, tried to inquire on the mood of both of them.
Soren could only huff and warn Lyre that things are not always as they seem, and that something terrible may be looming, after all, not every Gallian was ecstatic about helping Princess Elincia during the Mad King's War. In fact, much of Gallia refused to assist Elincia in the early stages of the war, and Soren was worried about potential stragglers who would continue having a grudge against beorc and, therefore, against their small party as well.
Muarim shook his head and tried to change the subject when Lyre asked him what was wrong. He spoke vaguely, mumbling something about smelling a faint trace of beorc blood. The only beorc in Gallia at the time where their small group and scattered colonies of beorc who decided to settle in Gallia, for no apparent reason, similar to the circumstances in which Soren grew up, living in one of these forsaken colonies. If there was beorc blood, it would mean that something horrible was going on, but Muarim didn't want to think about it. They were Caineghis's friends, or at least honored guests, so how would the Gallian laguz dare to do anything to them? They seemed relatively safe.
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The leaves flew nonchalantly past the Greil Mercenary fort, and most of the fort's inhabitants dully watched them sweep past... Each of the Mercenaries were training, but they showed no enthusiasm in their workouts...
Rolf sighed and put down his bow. It was a long day of training, but the Greil Mercenaries who stayed behind were doing nothing but training. Titania was in charge, and it was a good thing that she was, or Shinon would be constantly bickering with whoever was leader. Obviously, making Shinon himself the leader might make his appointment permanent, so he couldn't be the leader.
But Rolf wasn't the only one feeling discontent about their current situation. Boyd, Gatrie, even Mia began to complain that their lives were getting boring. Ever since Ike and Soren went on vacation, Titania felt that the Greil Mercenaries should spend their time training. After all, there weren't many jobs being offered for the next few months.
Their complaints got louder day by day, to the point where the Deputy Commander herself began to feel alarmed, but Titania obdurately stood her ground. She ordered them all to stay put. After all, since Ike was gone, they could only go out if there were jobs to do, but it would be treason for them to leave the party on excursions that would serve no benefit to the entire group. There had to be order. Since the main leader was gone, it would be folly to allow anarchical tendencies to manifest themselves. Titania kept the party together with a heavy hand, but her brow was always drenched with sweat... How long could their patience hold?
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Even though the tours through Gallia were entertaining, there was so much one could do when one's companions are wary. Mist and Ilyana eventually got bored of stumbling about, hustling after an impatient Lethe or an anxious Lyre who would constantly prod them into following her. Besides, though the clamor of Gallia's capital city could warrant one's attention now and then, after a while it began to feel like any other city. Every city has its mass of people wandering about and blabbering on, and there are those hordes of folks who unleash tirades of nonsense that are rather boring. So, the two girls began to feel like taking a walk in the woods to the south of the city. Since Ilyana was a sage, and Mist knew swordsmanship, the two felt that they could defend themselves. Adding the fact that both knew how to use staves made it improbable for either of them to truly get into major trouble, as long as they stayed close to each other and did not venture too far from the others. Shortly after leaving the Inn, they quickly entered the Gallian forest to the south of the city, and were soon out of sight.
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"I smell humans..." Tonerk growled to his companions.
This small band of laguz was part of an organization known as the seemingly harmless Laguz Pride Society (LPS). This society claimed to represent the interests of all laguz in the hope that no laguz would ever be abused, enslaved, or despised on account of them being laguz. They noted that laguz injustice was still in existence in many beorc nations, and the notion of laguz inferiority even existed in laguz nations as well!
To prove that laguz inferiority existed in laguz nations, they often referred to the poverty-stricken Kilvas ravens who would often wonder if life would be better for them if they were to move to Crimea and serve as workers in that beorc land. The LPS declared that no laguz should feel the need to stoop to the status of a worker, especially as a worker toiling for beorc. LPS members often made angry statements, and the observation that laguz have been toiling for the good of beorc for too long was a common claim of theirs.
Over the years, more and more extremist individuals flooded the ranks of the LPS. Tonerk and his branch were part of this growing extremism. These members would refer to beorc as "humans," and some of them went so far as raiding beorc settlements and terrorizing the beorc inhabitants of the laguz nations to force them to relocate back to the beorc nations. Of course, this led to political tensions between nations like the Begnion Empire and Crimea, who shared borders with these laguz nations. The LPS did little to improve beorc/laguz relations, rather, they only made things much worse.
Tonerk's particular branch of the LPS were under the impression that, by kidnapping beorcs, preferably females, they could force beorc nations to listen to their demands. Thus, Mist and Ilyana were perfect targets for these laguz. Their frail bodies would not be able to stand blows from laguz paws.
Mist and Ilyana slipped away from Lethe's eyes and ventured off deep into the Gallian forest to the south of the capital. Because they were deep inside the forest, the shadows of the trees kept them from clearly seeing anything stalking the forest ahead of them. But Mist, having carried two swords, and Ilyana, carrying a Thoron tome, were confident that nothing would happen to them. They were in fact curious as to what they could see in this cool and quiet forest. Unfortunately, without warning, five tiger laguz appeared from behind them and three cats jumped from the trees in front of them.
At the head of the three cat laguz was Tonerk, who was the leader of the South Gallia branch of the LPS. He had brown skin, which was not common for a cat laguz. Snarling and hissing in laguz form, he approached the two girls with malice in his eyes.
"We come as royal guests... If this area happens to be your home territory, then we apologize for invading your privacy... We will leave immediately if you would let us go." Mist spoke hastily, controlling herself from grabbing the hilt of the Sonic Blade that was sheathed on her hip.
One of the tiger laguz behind them shifted back to humanoid form and spoke: "Humans like you are not welcome here, yet you cannot leave. We have business with the nation of Crimea, and you two may be our best bets. Just don't move and come with us, and you will not be hurt... Too badly at least." He grinned.
Ilyana and Mist knew that fighting was inevitable if they did not want to be hostages, so Mist drew her Sonic Blade, given to her as a gift from General Tanith of Begnion, and Ilyana readied her Thoron tome.
Two laguz from both their front and back pounced at them, and while Mist flicked her blade to allow a gust of wind to knock the two laguz in front of them away, Ilyana attempted to fry the pair that were trying to backstab them.
Unfortunately, both had little effect. Laguz bodies were meant to be more sturdy than beorcs, especially when transformed, and though they had low resistance to magic, they still had limited resistance against wind and thunder magic. Mist and Ilyana found that their defensive efforts were in vain. With a swing of his paw, one of the tiger laguz knocked Ilyana, and the slender girl's body slammed into a tree, knocking her unconscious. Mist used her free hand to draw a one-handed short blade. Known as Florette, she had originally trained with it under the supervision of Tauroneo, Lucia, and Mia, respectively.
She twirled her blade, confident that she'd trained enough under those three warriors to know how to deal with the situation. One of the laguz pounced forward and was rewarded with a quick slash to its front paws. Howling in pain, that laguz cringed back as Mist twirled her blade and readied herself into a defensive stance.
Her foes were not fools, and now that they knew what Mist was capable of, two of them pounced at her from her front while one attempted to strike her back. She frantically slashed forward with her Sonic Blade, knocking one laguz back on the ground, and slashed backward with Florette, but the two remaining laguz tackled her to the ground, and with a hard strike to the face, one of them knocked her unconscious..
Dragging the unconscious girls back to their cave, Tonerk and his friends exchanged grins. Soon, the Kingdom of Crimea would be forced to follow their demands. After all, they had the sister of Crimea's national hero, Ike, in custody.
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