Captain Noah Markus stood at ease on the battlefield. After ten years in the service of Ketar's army, he had stood on his fair share of bloodied ground. He had sworn his life into this service, and there was only one thing he cared about more than bringing a victory to his country.

"We're ready, Captain."

Markus glanced at the petite young woman beside him. "Thank you, Second Lieutenant," he said shortly. He raised his voice. "Colonel! Ready to go!"

"Forward march!"

Markus stepped forward in time with the other members of his unit. His lieutenant kept pace beside him, her steps a little quicker in order to keep up with his longer stride. He refrained from looking at her, knowing that if he did he would either glare or sigh. Neither was fitting to his position as Captain of the Onyx Guard, part of the elite magician corps of the Ketaran army. So he kept his eyes fixed forward, his thoughts on the coming fight and not on his second lieutenant.

War was inevitable in Ketar. Anyone who joined the army knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they would see real battle in their time. Yet so many joined anyway — either because they were natural fighters, like Markus, or because they couldn't find work elsewhere, and there was always room to expand the ranks… or because they wanted to follow in the footsteps of someone they admired. They way his brave, stupid brother had. And, according to Rachel, the way she had, too.

He was glaring at her after all. Damn it. The Captain wrenched his gaze forward, scanning the skies for more of the enormous birds which had attacked with such devastating results the day before yesterday. He ran his fingers along his bow, grimly anticipating their return. Feathers would fly this time, he thought, glancing at the huge wooden contraption his unit would protect and operate. This time, they were better prepared.

"Remember how fast they were," Rachel muttered. "Don't wait for them."

Captain Markus took in a deep breath before he replied. "Thank you for the refresher, Lieutenant, now keep your mind on your own safety and that of the ballistician you're assigned to. They're our primary weapons against those birds this time."

His Lieutenant glanced over her shoulder. The ballista rolled along on enormous wooden wheels, pulled by a team of horses and operated by specialists — mainly Robinson, a mage on Markus' team. He was a great spellcaster, but the kid couldn't resist the new inventions the army turned out. As soon as something hit the field, Robinson had to know how to work it. At base, it annoyed the hell out of Markus and the rest of the team; but out here on the field, Robinson was indispensable. Markus didn't trust his safety to the usual half-dozen soldiers assigned to guard a ballista — so the Onyx Guard stayed together.

That hadn't pleased Rachel. "You're going to keep me out of all the action!" she'd accused Markus last night. "Again!"

"Lieutenant Fairchild," he'd growled, "your orders are final. Now go prep and leave me alone." Her face had fallen at his use of her surname, even though it was normal in the army. But, not with her. While hardly anyone even remembered Captain Markus' first name, Rachel was just Rachel. It was a low blow using her last name and he knew it.

An elbow nudged his ribs discreetly. "Cut it out, Cap," First Lieutenant Porter muttered. "Coming up on the defenses."

Markus gave no sign that he'd heard his second-in-command; he drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it, still scanning for those birds. "Weapons at the ready," he told his unit. As one, they obeyed: about half drew swords or bows, while the others brought out their spellbooks. "Wait for my command."

The screech of those birds alerted Markus long before they reached his unit. "Robinson, fire at will!" Markus shouted. "Archers, draw! Aim! Fire!"

It was madness, like battle always was, but as usual Captain Markus felt like he was in the eye of the storm. He was soon drawing his sword to defend Robinson from the knights mounted on wyverns — not native to Ketar, but they'd been in the reports and he'd seen them last battle — those least susceptible to the arrows and the ballistae. As predicted, though, the birds and winged horses were taking astonishing damage. They couldn't sustain the losses that the huge, long-range arrows from the ballistae took out on them, so within an hour the sky was free of birds. The wyvern knights had pulled back, too, without their support. Now the Ketaran army could move forward without the impediment of winged death from above.

Markus almost smiled at the melodramatic thought. Then he gave Robinson the signal they'd been waiting for. The ballistician scrambled for the package he'd prepared.

"Ready, Captain!" he cried.

"Fire at the wall," Markus said grimly. "Onyx Guard, shield up!"

The mages raised their voices as one. The air in front of Markus shimmered; and then Robinson launched the latest missile, and seconds later the wall of Fort Kain exploded.

Markus heard cries from the defense and the attackers and a section of the wall burst into rubble and dust. He heard Robinson whoop in triumph, and he heard the war horn blowing, urging the army forward even as chunks of rock hit the Guard's shield and vaporized.

Markus caught Rachel's arm. "Lieutenant, stay right there. Robinson! One more of those, five meters left of the main gates. Then focus on their archers on top of the wall. The rest of you—"

The air split with a scream and a crash. The concussion threw Markus to the ground, his ears ringing. The mages cried out, and he heard Rachel quite clearly: "Captain, we've lost the shield!"

"What?" Markus staggered to his feet. Fifty meters to his left, smoke spiraled upward… then with a shock of horror Markus realized that seconds ago a ballista had stood there.

He whirled. "Robinson, OUT!"

The kid didn't hesitate, but dove out of the contraption. A split second later, another rush of screaming air knocked Markus off his feet again, and this time their ballista shattered into a thousand splinters.

The young Captain shot to his feet again, swearing. "Get the shield back up! Someone up there's using powerful magic!"

"You think?" Porter ground out, scooping up his dropped spellbook. Markus sheathed his sword and pulled out his bow again, familiar words spilling from his lips. He wasn't as good a mage as some of the Onyx Guard — he was a natural athlete, and preferred steel in his hands over intangible words — but this was a spell he knew by heart, could probably do in his sleep. It sharpened his eyesight, pulled his focus toward one certain person on the battlefield until Markus' eyes found a small figure in black standing on the battlements.

The Captain drew back an arrow, sighted carefully — it was a long shot. He steadied his breath for half a second, then let the arrow go. It streaked through the air, and shattered on the stone inches from the enemy mage's hand. The mage reacted instantly, and Markus felt that incredible concussion on the air again. Their shields were back in place, though, and the Onyx Guard was more than ready. This was what they did. Markus aimed and fired again, then once more while the black-clad mage ducked. The first arrow missed, but the second pierced cloth and probably flesh. Markus saw the mage go down and turned his attention elsewhere.

"Cap!"

Porter's voice yanked Markus out of the spell's focus. His sight weakened and widened again, and he shook his head slightly. Then he saw what his second did, just as the war horn blasted out a warning, and the wall of horse and steel crashed into them.

The mages' shield held for about thirty seconds, then vanished under the weight of the charge. Markus yanked his sword free again and leapt into battle.

Other units, though, had not fared so well. Not all of them had had shields up. Some of them had been hit hard. Others were decimated instantly. Markus couldn't care at that moment: he was too busy making sure that his unit didn't join them. He dodged a vicious axe strike from a red-clad knight, and struck back at the man's arm. The horse reared and lashed out with steel-shod hooves, and Markus was forced to leap back again. A blast of magic roared past his head, knocking the knight backward and off his horse. Markus found himself back-to-back with Robinson, the kid shouting out his spells with incredible speed and Markus still wielding his sword. He knocked an arrow out of the air, then yanked a knife from his belt and flipped it. Left-handed, he threw it at the mounted archer, knowing even as he turned to intercept a lance that the throw was good. He unhorsed the new opponent and stabbed him through the chest, his sword punching through the steel armor.

The Ketaran war horn note split the air again. Markus knew that signal — it was drilled into every single soldier's brain. "Onyx Guard!" Markus yelled. "To me! Fall back! To me!"

His unit gathered around him, and together they cut their way back through the battlefield. The new cavalry pursued them, as did those wolves they had fought in the very first kingdom of Tellius. That city had fallen quickly, but it seemed that these wolves who remained were out for revenge. A huge white wolf leapt in front of the Onyx Guard; before Markus could blink she had darted in and ripped a soldier's throat out. Then she whirled and knocked another to the ground, her fangs and claws tearing through his armor like paper. Markus slashed her flank with his sword — she barely reacted, just lashed out with her back paws. They hit his chest with a force like a battering ram, and he flew backwards to crash to the ground yet again.

That falling thing was starting to really piss Markus off. He lunged back to his feet and leapt for the white wolf. He landed on her back, startling her — she whipped around, trying to throw him off, but he plunged a knife into her shoulder and hung on grimly. The wolf howled and rose up on her back legs. Markus lost his grip on the bloody knife and tumbled free. The white wolf turned on her back paws, glaring down at him with one murderous eye. The venom of that look froze Markus' blood in his veins, choked his breath in his lungs. In less than a second, this wolf would kill him, and she was going to enjoy it.

But the weight never crashed down on Markus. Porter slammed into the wolf from the side, and they both went down. Markus heaved in a breath, and felt hands dragging him up.

"Come on!" Rachel cried. "Go, Markus, go!"

He tried to shout for his unit, but he coughed on blood and dust. He heard his lieutenant take up the call for him, and he ran beside her with the flow of the retreating army. Anger boiled in his blood. I thought we had it that time — we really did. He coughed painfully, realizing that the damn wolf had probably cracked some of his ribs. Not again. I will not lead them into another losing battle. Next time, it's ours.

…

…

Author's note: so a certain Tom-Ato13 had an excellent idea that I decided to run with. This turned out to be more enjoyable than I had anticipated — I do hope you feel the same, because I have the feeling we'll see more of Captain Markus.

To a new reviewer, Brendan Aurabolt — thanks for leaving a review, first of all. Also, I never really thought much of Caineghis, so unfortunately nothing from his POV yet, although now I'm kind of interested. I do plan on giving more time to the laguz at some point, but I figured that it might take the beast and dragon tribes a while to get to Daein… although I guess I did mention Skrimir already. Well, Ranulf was my favorite; we'll probably see more of him. And, will Ashunera make an appearance? The Old Ones answer you thus… you'll just have to bloody well wait and see! :)

And to an old hand, thanks again to GSFEfan25 — and I promise I haven't forgotten about the dragons. How could I? No, they'll be along in their own sweet time. And I, too, enjoyed the support conversation. I'll try to work some of those if I feel like mine are good enough. I definitely like some of the minor characters enough to give them face time.

Well, more fighting for them, more goals for me, and more reviews for you guys to do! The vote on next chapter's perspective will continue for now, so hit the review button even if you just want to mention a name you'd like to see in chapter ten. See ya next time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem stuff. I do own this story, including Ketar and Captain Markus and co. Don't think you can steal their awesomeness :)