THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED UP SOONER IF IT WASN'T FOR MY FUCKING COMPUTER! (Glares hatefully at the white piece crap tat sits at the corner of the Computer desk.) Not only is this bloody thing running slower than usual, but for a number of weeks it wouldn't let me even remotely near the Internet! Whilst I (obviously) was able to get back on, it still has a number of problems. It screws up the lighting effects of a number of 3D games, every so-often it'll freeze, the screen occasionally flashes black AND it won't let me log on to Guild Wars! DAMN THIS INFERNAL PIECE OF SCRAP METAL! YOU ARE NOT EVEN WORTHY ENOUGH TO TOAST BREAD!

Ahem... Sorry about that. Anyway, in three days time my school holidays will end. Which is crap because I'm not done having fun. Although what I have done was worth it. All I have to say is that live comedy shows are way better than movies or sitcoms. Two weeks ago, I took my older brother to see Paul McDermott in GUD (Anybody know him?), and we had SECOND ROW SEATS! Within the first five minutes of the show, the second row was professionally insulted, it was GREAT! So, when you get the chance, instead of going to the movies or slumping down in front of the TV, check what's on at the local theater. It's more expensive, but way worth it.

Rant of the Chapter: Over this past month, there has been one single bane to my existence. One creature so fowl, that it makes my crappy computer seem like the most perfect machine ever made. What is this baleful abomination, you ask? Two words: Crazy, Frog. Please, would somebody tell me what is so great about that... That... I can't even think of a vile enough word to describe it! It is the most shitty thing ever produced! AND THEY'VE MADE IT INTO A FUCKING SONG! WHY? FOR GOD'S SAKE WHY? IT IS THE MOST ANNOYING PIECE OF SHIT EVER PRODUCED! DIE, CRAZY FROG DIE! (Pulls out a tactical thermonuclear device and shoots it at the Crazy Frog)

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Okay, I'm better now.

Lack Thereof: Asthor rocks. He's just so much fun to write about. You can do practically anything with him. He can become either a depressed man resorting to alcohol to solve his problems, or he can just be a drunken thief ready to mock the hell out of anyone he encounters.

Sara Jaye: Bors isn't bad. In the game, I usually stop using him around the middle, simply because I've got a lot of better characters. But still, it seemed right to have him in a main role in the last chapter. Thanks for the review.

GunpowderWizard and co.: (Smiles sheepishly and scratches back of neck) Well, I'm glad that you guys all like it. In all honesty, I don't mean for this fic to be so sad. I wanted it to be a realistic account of the war and what happened to Lugh, Chad and Rei. Of course, so much sad things happen to them, so it sort of mutates into this. Oh well.

misSkLutzZz: Welcome new reviewer! (Bells and whistles) So glad you like it, hope you continue reading. There are so few Fuuin no Tsurugi Fics out there, and any support I get for this one will encourage me to continue it.

angelfish: Well, I would have updated sooner if it wasn't for this piece of crap (Glares accusingly at the computer). But, I hope that this chapter makes up for the wait.

A Brief Warning: There is a particularly violent scene which describes one of the characters becoming covered in internal organs. If you're a bit squeamish about that sort of thing, you might want to skip the first bit of the third scene.

Disclaimer: I own a little golden axe pendant, which I call Wolfbeil in order to commemorate Lord Hector. I have a Dungeons and Dragons game set in the FE universe. I have plans to name my first born child after one of the Fire Emblem characters. And yet, despite my rabid fangirl addiction, I do not own Fire Emblem. Are you happy now, you bastards? (Grumbles unhappily)

The Saga of the Discarded

A Fire Emblem fanfic by Kiri-Ryu

Chapter Eight: The Ostian Rebellion (Part Two)

Chad

Castle Ostia was equally impressive on the inside than it was on the outside. When I entered the castle, I was overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the place. It was if I was in this huge labyrinth, with rich red carpets splayed along the floors and landscape paintings placed on the wall. I had only the briefest of moments to contemplate the magnificence of the place before I was reminded why I was there. The guards, surprised that we had infiltrated the castle, yelped and armed themselves. I drew my weapon, as did the rest of the army around me.

'Surrender!' Lord Roy called out. 'If you do then we won't kill you!'

'For Lord Leygance!' One of the men called out, and the rest charged at us. One of them targeted me. He thrust his spear forward at a surprising speed. I had moved aside, but the spear tip had cut into my arm. I grimaced, then counter attacked, thrusting my dagger at him. It pierced his shoulder, and he growled in pain. He was about to strike at me again when he suddenly froze. He coughed up blood, which landed on me, then fell over. I looked up to see Rutger, his katana dripping with blood. He nodded to me, then moved off to another opponent. I watched him go, then I bent and picked up my dagger from the dead soldier's shoulder. I looked around for someone to help.

But the battle was nearly over, the last few enemies keeling over as weapons pierced their bodies and spilled their vital fluids over the ground. Our leader sheathed his sword then looked around. He looked at us each in turn, then cleared his throat.

'We're going to divide into two teams' Lord Roy told us. 'I want the two thieves on different teams, since this place is undoubtedly locked up. Since both Asthor and Bors are from Ostia, I want you on different teams as well. That way each team will have a guide around the castle.'

And with that, we were divided up into two equal teams. I was on the first team, which consisted of Lord Roy, Lance, Bors, Dieck, Rutger Wade, Lugh, Clarine, Wolt and Zealot. Our main task was to find out were they were keeping Lady Lilina captive and to free her.

I swallowed nervously. This would be the biggest mission I had since I joined this army. So much trust was placed in my ability to be able to pick the lock that bound the doors of the castle. I couldn't let everyone down. I couldn't...

Another battle erupted in the hallway, even bloodier than the ones before it. I ran forward, dodged the incoming spear thrust and plunged my dagger deep into the man's chest. He burbled, blood frothing from his mouth, and he collapsed, my dagger beneath him. Without a weapon I was a sitting duck, and I would be prone while I retrieved my dagger. So I quickly wove my way past the fighting, keeping to the shadows and trying not to be noticed. But all my sneaking was for naught, for just as soon as I had cleared the fight I was noticed by an enemy knight. He lowered his spear and charged me. I ducked, but the tip punctured into my arm, the same one that had been injured earlier. I grimaced at the pain and held my arm, trying to stem the flow of blood.

The armour knight raised his spear once again. As he thrust, I twisted out the way, the spear catching in my cloak. In a surge of brilliance, I used my one good arm to catch hold of the cloak, then pulled it as hard as I could. The knight, caught by surprise, let the spear slip out of his hands. I quickly picked up the weapon, then I found myself completely lost. I had no idea how to use a spear. Just point and thrust, I guessed. I aimed the weapon at the armour knight, who probably found the image of a scrawny, thin boy using his own spear against him quite humorous. I was about to strike, when an idea hit me. I gripped the spear close to the tip. The unbalanced weight would be cumbersome, but it was the best chance I had. I ran towards my opponent, dodging his grasping arms. I half jumped, and with a tremendous amount of force I thrust the spear tip into my opponent's neck. There was a pause, then the man burbled. Blood formed around the spear shaft and it flowed down the man's armour. I watched for a moment, before taking a deep shuddering breath and forcing my fingers to unwrap themselves from the shaft. I jumped as I heard the sound of clapping. I turned around to see a girl, just a bit older than myself, smiling with a quirked eyebrow. She had orange-brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair was tied into a semi-braid and she wore a white loose-fitting dress with a green front and green gloves. She had an aqua coloured scarf wrapped around her neck. I recognised her as the girl who had helped us out at Castle Toria, warning us about Wagner's betrayal.

'You could have just asked me for a dagger.' She said with a grin. 'But I have to admit that your way was much more impressive.'

'I would have gladly accepted the dagger had I known you were here.' I respond icily. I could have been killed! And she had just sat back and watched me, not even bothering to lend me a hand.

'You had it covered.' She threw her arms above her head. 'And if you were in a position to be killed, then I would have stepped in to help. But you didn't need me, did you?'

'Well...' I had to admit, she did have a point.

'You know, you aren't half bad. You have talent' She winked at me.

'And who are you to say that?' I folded my arms and looked her in the eyes.

'... You don't know me?' She feigned shock, her hands fluttering to her chest and her eyes wide. 'Why, I'm Cass, master thief!' She posed.

'... Who?' Her dramatic introduction brushed right past me. She glared angrily at me and opened her mouth to say something.

'It's you!' Both of us jumped. I looked over my shoulder to see Lord Roy approaching us. The enemy forced had been decimated, and the wounds of the injured were being bandaged. I suddenly winced as pain flared up from my forgotten injury. My shirt was damp with the blood from my arm.

'Crap...' Cass looked around for an exit point. 'Er... What a coincidence! Hahaha...'

'... If you're in the battlefield just to steal, you shouldn't be here. It's not right.' Lord Roy scolded her. I listed to their conversation for a while longer, before moving off to get my arm healed. Clarine scolded me for being so reckless, then pressed her Heal staff to the wound. A light blue light covered my body, and the pain eased. The light subsided and I lifted my arm. There was only a small scab there now. I sighed with relief and I thanked Clarine. She nodded then turned to the next injured person.

'Chad!' Lugh called to me. I moved over to him.

'Yeah?' I asked.

'I saw you fighting that knight.' He said. 'That was great! How you just twisted and jerked the spear out of his hands, then used it against him!' He grinned wildly.

'I didn't plan it or anything. It was just spontaneous.'

'It was still a good blow.' We turned to look at Dieck. 'It's quick thinking like that that will keep you alive in future battles.'

'In all honesty,' I said to the swordsman. 'I'd rather have slow reflexes and out of this war than to have quick ones and be forced to kill again.'

'That's understandable.' He nodded. 'No war is better than any war. But we're in one now, and we can't spend time thinking about what would have happened to us if we weren't in it. Better to fight than to daydream and get stabbed in the back.'

I nodded to his words, as did Lugh beside me.

'You had better go get your dagger Chad. You may be needing it soon.' Dieck told me soberly, then he moved of to another part of the army. St Emiline! I had forgotten all about my dagger. I moved over to the dead corpse and rolled it over. After a brief struggle, the flesh relinquished it's hold in my weapon and I staggered back a few paces. I cleaned the blood off my blade on the soldier's shirt then I sheathed it.

Lord Roy moved back towards us, there was no sign of the thief. He took his water skin off his belt and took a drink, then called out to us.

'Let's go.' He said, his voice troubled. What had happened between him and Cass, I wondered. We moved on, ever watchful for the next attack.

We had encountered a number of soldiers, and after a few minutes of furious battle they had fallen before our blades. Our pace had steadily increased as our searches for Lilina became more frantic. Eventually, we encountered a strange sight. An archer was aiming his bow directly into a wall. I was confused for a bit, until I saw that he aimed through an arrow slit, craftily concealed so that those who did not know what to look for wouldn't see it.

'Lord Roy!' I called out to our leader, alerting him to the arrow slit. He swore heavily, then charged forward. The archer turned to see Lord Roy charging towards him, and aimed his bow. Lord Roy fell into a roll as the archer loosened the bow string, and the arrow clattered harmlessly against a stone wall. Lord Roy thrust his sword upwards as he came out of his roll, the blade of his longsword piercing the belly of the archer. With an enraged roar, he tore his sword upwards, splitting open the man's entire front.

Gore and internal organs spilled out onto our lord, covering him from head to toe. I was nauseated by the sight, and at least three people behind me were retching. Lord Roy stood up shakily, disturbed at what he had just done. Slowly, he moved over to one of the packs we had been carrying with us. He took out a spare shirt and used it to free himself of the entrails that had covered him. He took a deep breath, then turned around, somehow looking lordly even though he was a mess.

'Open that door now!' He commanded. I scrabbled to his orders. My fingers fumbled with the latch that I had attached my thieves tools to. After what seemed to be an eternity, I finally got them off. I set the lock-picks into the door and began to work. It was slow, my fingers slowly moving as they tried to find the locking mechanism.

'Can't you hurry up with that?' Roy snapped. I could hear the fear and apprehension in his voice.

'I'm going as fast as I can.' I told him. I understood that he was worried, but I could not work any faster unless he wanted me to make amateur mistakes.

He paced behind me for a while, occasionally stopping to look over my shoulder. Eventually, there was the quiet click of the lock sliding away.

'Good work Chad!' Lord Roy praised me, his face beaming. I stepped aside and let him pass.

The door creaked open, and I had my first glimpse at Lady Lilina. She resembled her father in many ways. Her hair was the same shade of blue as were her eyes. Her hair was long, and was kept out of her eyes by a red hair band. She wore a white dress, over which was a sleeveless red shirt. She was sitting on the corner of a bed, her eyes wide with surprise. Her right hand was clutched to her left shoulder, where there was a large red stain. A bloodied arrow lay on the ground next to her.

'Lilina!' Lord Roy moved over to her, a mixture of relief and horror on his face. I too entered the room, moving to one corner and watching the events silently.

'Are you all right?' Lord Roy asked (which was a fairly stupid question I thought).

'Roy...' Lord Hector's daughter said, looking at the blood-spattered noble. 'Is it really you?' She reached a hand to touch his face, as if to see if he was real.

'Of course' Lord Roy smiled, then turned to the door. 'Clarine!' He called out to the Troubadour. 'We need you here!'

'What about you? You're covered in blood.' Lilina looked worriedly at Lord Roy.

'None of which is my own.' He reassured her. Clarine entered at that moment, her heal staff clutched in her hands. I watched as the blue light washed over Lilina's arm and the wound closed. Lilina thanked Clarine and stood up looking at each of the army in turn. I stiffened as her gaze turned to me. She paused, looking at me in confusion, then she shook her head and murmured something. Why is it that a lot of people do that when they first see me? Roy introduced Lilina to everyone, then asked Lugh if he had a spare spellbook.

'Oh!' My childhood friend said in surprise. 'Are you a mage as well, miss Lilina?'

'Well, I was taught the basics by General Cecilia, the Mage General of Etruria.' She admitted. 'But I'm mostly self taught.'

'Well, I think I've got something spare...' Lugh moved over to the saddle bags and sorted through them. He picked up a yellow covered tome, a lightning design imprinted on the cover. He smiled and gave it over to Lady Lilina.

'Thank you.' She said.

'No problem, miss Lilina!' He grinned, the walked over to the corner to join me in the corner.

'Right,' Lord Roy took a deep breath and turned to face us. 'We've rescued Lady Lilina, all we've left to do is to recapture the castle.'

'Is it just me,' Lugh whispered to me as we left the room. 'Or is Lord Roy a lot less fretful?'

'I think the safety of Lady Lilina has something to do with it.' I replied. I turned and looked at our lord, who did seem much more relaxed. Well, it was better than him stomping around, snapping at us occasionally.

We organised ourselves, and we once again set off. We were to rendezvous with the other group, then head for the throne room. There, we would encounter Leygance, the man who orchestrated this rebellion. I doubt that Leygance would survive the encounter.

We encountered the rest of the army after about 15 minutes of searching the corridors. They had managed to find three extra people to join our cause, two Armour Knights and a swordsman. One of the knights turned out to be the sister of Bors: he was rather surprised that she had decided to join the army. After the reunion we headed to the throne room, it was there that the final confrontation for Ostia would occur.

Asthor and myself scouted ahead, slinking in the shadows and hugging the walls. For someone who seemed to be permanently drunk, he moved silently and he clung to the shadows. We weaved our way around the castle, until we reached the throne room. Leygance was there, sitting nervously on the throne, eyes darting, looking for hidden enemies. I smelled Asthor before I saw him.

'Fifteen knights, plus Leygance.' He whispered to me.

'There are twelve.' I corrected him.

'You sure?' He turned to the room once again and squinted his eyes. 'Right, now I've got eleven. You sure that there's twelve?'

'A few minutes ago you said there was fifteen!' I growled at him.

'Oh yeah...' He blinked. 'So... You willing to settle for eleven?'

'But there's twelve!' I rolled my eyes. St Emiline, save me. The only other decent sneak in the army is a drunkard and possibly an idiot.

'Well, I'll have to fix that then.' To my eyes, he melded into the shadows. I blinked, then watched a guard leaning against a pillar suddenly jerk upright. He then slumped unnaturally held up only by his staff. Asthor appeared a few moments later.

'Eleven, I believe.' He grinned cockily at me, swaying slightly. He then moved of back towards the army, flicking through the shadows. I blinked, the slowly followed after him. Was he really drunk? He seemed that way most of the time, but occasionally, such as back then, he did something so unexpected that it just shook the way that I saw him. Could he just be pretending his drunken state so that people would underestimate him? Was he truly that crafty?

Halfway down the passageway, Asthor paused. He then took a hip flask off his belt, then took a quick swig. Even though I was at least five feet away from him, I could still smell the incredibly strong alcohol. Well, at least that was that question answered.

'Want some?' He asked offering me the flask.

'I'm fifteen.' I told him.

'So?' He shrugged unsteadily. 'The world makes so much sense when seen through brownish-yellow-coloured glasses.' He grinned.

'Rose-coloured glasses.' I rolled my eyes as I corrected him.

'I know what I said, I was making a joke to lighten the mood! Jeez...' He took another swig.

'This is hardly the time or the place for jokes.'

'Beh, fine.' He placed the hip flask back onto his belt, then moved off. We encountered Lord Roy shortly after. We told him of the situation in the Throne room, and how the twel-eleven knights and Leygance were on alert, suspecting attack from every corner.

'Well then,' Lord Roy pondered, his face thoughtful. 'He's expecting a sneak attack, is he?'

'I believe so, Lord Roy.' I told him.

'Then we'll have to disappoint him and simply charge in.' He drew his sword with his still bloodstained hands.

'Charge in?' I blinked, had everyone gone mad?

'We easily have enough people to overpower eleven people' He reasoned. 'And they'll be too busy looking for is in the shadows to retaliate.'

The army spent a few seconds preparing for the battle ahead. Swords were unsheathed, shields were adjusted and the two mages flicked through their spellbooks. Once again, the dagger rested in my hand, it's edge glinting hungrily.

As Lord Roy had anticipated, they were not expecting a full on charge. We broke through what little defence they had easily. The last remaining rebels were slaughtered, only Leygance was left. He glared at us with defiant eyes, and he lowered his weapon, a spetum, and prepared to defend himself.

'Leygance!' I turned to see Lady Lilina walking steadily towards our advisory. A number of people readied their weapons in case Leygance decided to attack. I myself was too far away.

'Lady Lilina?' Leygance looked surprised, then he angrily spat on the ground. 'Damn, you were supposed to have been dead by now...'

'Why, Leygance?' She asked, her voice was both angry and sad.

'Times are changing, Milady.' Leygance smirked cockily. 'I'm just making sure I don't get left behind. I'm not like Lord Hector, who was too foolish to recognise change when it was staring him in the face!'

'Shut up!' Lilina roared in a fit of anger, so unlike what I'd seen of her. 'I will not allow you to insult my father any longer!'

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and the air became thick with static electricity. I looked around, and I saw that everyone else was feeling the same thing. A few of the heavily armoured knights winced as tiny bolts of static electricity zapped them. The entire room buzzed. I turned to look back at Lilina, and I saw her chanting out the words of the Thunder spell Lugh had given her before.

Leygance swore loudly and he moved forward to attack Lady Lilina. But before he could reach her, she released her spell. The bolt of Lightning almost blinded me, and little dots swam around in my vision. But Leygance was affected by the lightning a lot worse than I was. The bolt had arced down his silvered spetum and had then hit his armour. He would have screamed in agony had he had more than a second of life left.

Lady Lilina slumped down, exhausted by the large outburst of magic. The smoking husk of Leygance fell over, and the smell of scorched flesh wafted around the room. I sighed, it was over. People moved to help with clearing "Leygance", or what used to be him, out of the room.

Relief flooded the army, and finally weapons were lowered an sheathed. I let my dagger slide out of my grasp, and I heard it clatter on the floor. It was over. This bloodbath was over.

'We did it!' Lugh threw his arm around my bloodied shoulder and danced around a little bit. His enthusiasm rolled over into me, and I couldn't help but smile and celebrate with him. A few other members of the army joined us in our mad celebration, whilst many others just stood back and watched with smiles on their faces.

'Hate to break up your party,' We stopped and turned to face Sir Marcus. 'But we have to clear the castle of bodies.'

'Aw, come on!' Lugh pouted.

'We finally get a hold of the castle, and you go and ruin our excitement!' Clarine, who had been celebrating with us, stuck her lip out and glared grumpily at Sir Marcus.

'I'm so very sorry.' Sir Marcus said, a look of false pity on his face. 'I'll just leave you to your celebrating then. I'm sure you'd prefer to clean the bodies up in the morning, when they're stiff and smelling worse then the Aqulean sewer system when it's blocked up.'

Within five minutes, all of us had decided that cleaning out the castle would be a good idea. We were helped out by surviving servants and civilians, so it took no-longer than an hour. But even though it was gruesome work, we went about it lightheartedly. After all, we had just had our first great victory.

We went back into the newly cleaned castle. I had been talking with Lugh when I had overheard Lord Lilina speaking with Lord Roy.

'Thank you so much Roy.' She had said. 'I'm glad that you saved my father the trouble of doing this.'

The room went silent. I looked at Lady Lilina in both shock and pity. She honestly had no idea. St. Emiline, this would be hard for her...

'Is he still in Araphen?' She asked, ignoring the sudden silence. 'I heard that it was a tough battle there, but he shouldn't be much longer, should he?'

'Lilina...' I had never heard as much sorrow is someone's voice as there was in Lord Roy's. 'You haven't heard anything, have you?'

'What are you talking about? He is coming back soon, isn't he?' She looked so hopeful. And we were about to shatter her very reality.

'Lord Hector...' Lord Roy looked away, guilt and sorrow in his eyes. 'He's... Passed away'

Lilina's eyes went wide, and she took a step backwards. 'What?' She asked, pain flowing from her voice and wiping out all traces of our earlier joy.

'I'm sorry...' Lord Roy turned back to face her. 'When we arrived at Araphen it was already under Bern's control.'

'It's not your fault. You don't... have to apologize.' Tears appeared in the corner of her eyes and she lowered her gaze to the floor.

'Lord Hector was already fatally wounded when we arrived. If only we had gotten there faster... Then maybe we could have helped him.' Lord Roy's shoulders drooped and despair washed over his face. Between the two of them, there was enough sorrow and despair for the whole army. If I had been saddened at Father's death, it was nothing in comparison to what Lady Lilina must've been feeling.

'No... it's all right. You tried your best... Father prepared me for this... If he didn't return... I'm a warrior's daughter. I've been taught not to panic in times like these...'

Well, she wasn't panicking. On the verge of tears and hysterical denial, yes, but not panic.

'So, everyone should have told me.' Her voice filled with sorrow, and new tears spilled down her cheeks. 'They're too considerate...' She sobbed loudly.

'Lilina...' Lord Roy moved forward, his arms outstretched. 'You don't have to hold back those tears.'

Lady Lilina collapsed into an emotional wreck at that point, and fell crying into Lord Roy's arms. I turned around and left, not wanting to get in the way of them. All the joy that I had felt earlier had swept out. All I wanted now was a warm bath to wash away these bloodstained memories followed by a soft bed that was free of hellish nightmares.

Seven pages... I spoil you people. As usual, I think I could have done better, but you've been waiting for this for so long you deserve to have it now. Sometimes, it's hard to keep writing in 1st person perspective. But it's fun as all hell.

Chapter 9: War Heroes (Lugh's POV)

R&R please!

And remember, whales are just like Frog's Legs that live in the ocean. (Paul McDermott is a GOD)