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Chapter 13 - In Search of Truth

"So what do you think of lord Eliwood, lady Rei?" Rebecca asked as they were riding towards the castle the next morning. "He's only a couple of years older than me, but he's come out here almost on his own."

"He's brave, perhaps a little full of himself, but that's to be expected from a male... especially one of high noble birth." She shrugged, slightly. "A little idealistic, maybe."

"I thought you were a noble, too, though?" Rebecca sounded more curious than surprised, and the part of Rei that was more akin to Serra than she wanted to admit told her that the whole Eliwood question was just an opening to learn more about her.

"Yes, I am, but unlike most, I have been trained to seek out the weaknesses of any given situation..." She chuckled, self-mockingly. "One person ruling over another will always breed contempt in those who rule for those who do not, or those who rule a smaller county. It is an unavoidable fact of life, no matter what the priests may teach of the natural order of everything."

"That's a depressing thing to say. Don't you think some people could be better than that?" Rebecca sounded disappointed, as though she'd been hoping for a different answer.

"Some have tried, but they have always failed in the end, often with catastrophic results. No, it is never wise to try and rise above your station, no more than it is to fall below it." Rei shrugged, apologetically.

"You don't sound too convinced yourself of that, Lady Rei!" Matthew's voice broke in. He'd clearly heard at least the last part of the conversation from where he'd fallen back from his position 'where Hector could see him'.

"If I have any doubts, they are my own." She silenced him with a look before turning her eyes back to the road. "Be on your guard, can you feel that?"

"We're being watched." Matthew nodded. "I'll warn lord Hector and lord Eliwood." He told her before moving up to the front of the column.

"I don't feel anything…" Rebecca frowned. "Are you sure?" She looked around, reaching for her bow.

"Don't draw yet. Wait until they reveal themselves, we'll be able to surprise them if they don't think we've seen them." Rei advised, quietly. A moment later, her eyes narrowed as she saw an armoured man step out onto the road in front of the Lords. They exchanged words, then the man laughed and stepped back, disappearing into the undergrowth despite his large armour.

"Who was that, lord?" Rei asked as she and her guard rode up. "I didn't recognise his livery."

"An enemy. Castle Santaruz has fallen... or is under siege. Seems likely he's in league with those fellows who stopped us at the border. Something is not right in Santaruz." Eliwood responded. "We'll have to fight our way to the castle."

"And you're complainin'?!" The axeman, Bartre, instantly recognisable by his frill of hair and blue muscle-shirt asked before rushing off ahead of the group.

"Blast that man. Bringing him was a mistake." Rei muttered with a glance at Dorcas. "lord Hector, sir Oswin, Dorcas, go with him. You too, Matthew."

"What about the rest of us, lady Rei?" Eliwood asked, frowning. "Those five won't be able to take the castle alone."

"Of course not." Rei resisted the urge to roll her eyes. A natural born fighter, Eliwood might be, but he had a lot to learn about strategy. "There must be more than one approach to the castle in this terrain. You know this area, lead us around the back, lord Eliwood. You'll notice that our most solid men are set in that group, with the exception of Matthew. He'll know his part, though. They'll keep the enemies' main force busy, while we gain entry into the castle."

"There's a way around to the West." Marcus added. "The castle's built in a rocky basin with only a few ways down. Fortunately, I know of one rather less well travelled than the main path to the south our impetuous axeman friend has taken."

"At every turn! Why?" Rei banged her fist against the wall angrily. Let Eliwood and Hector mourn for lord Helman, she knew that there was something subtly wrong here, and she couldn't figure out what.

"At least there's one good thing that's come out of this..." Matthew sighed, appearing form nowhere as was his wont.

"If you mean your swordsman friend, I suppose you're right, but he's not especially bright, is he?" Rei sighed. "No, that's uncharitable. He's just inexperienced. What can I do for you, Matthew?" She turned to lean against the wall with her head back, closing her eyes. Why she trusted the Ositian ninja, she wasn't sure, but she did.

"Actually, I meant the fact we have actually learned something here. Whatever the Fang's employer is up to, it's not limited to his interest in you. The knight who called the young master out was one of them, and I think a few of his grunts were members as well." Matthew leaned on the opposite wall, beside a rich tapestry of workers in the fields, and folded his arms under his cloak.

"With that and the Lahus connection, I suppose we do have something to go on... so we're not totally lost. This is getting so complicated though." Rei sighed, her anger fading as she realised that mostly she was angry at herself. "I need a coffee." She brought her hands up to rub at her face in an attempt to clear her eyes. "Join me?"

"No time, we're leaving." Eliwood's voice broke in, new steel reinforcing it as he and Hector came out of the room they'd found Helman's body in. "Darin must know something, and we're going to find out." The lords didn't wait, simply striding off down the corridor towards the stables.

"No rest for the wicked." Matthew chuckled, pushing off the wall with a long-suffering sigh. "Cheer up, lady Rei. There's only a few hours till darkness, and it should be a quiet night now that we've cleared out the local toughs from half the league."

"A quiet night, he said..." Rei growled, drawing on the strength from the ring to push up and away to hurl the swordsman whose weapon she'd parried away from her. "Matthew, I'm going to kill you if we survive this!"

"Kyah! I think they'll do it for you at this rate!" The thief yelped as he ducked a wild fireball. "I'm sorry, I'll never try prediction again!"

"Oh, oh my! Please be careful! Um, honourable sir, look out behind you! Oh my, oh my... eek!" The moustachioed merchant squealed, and Rei span to lodge a throwing dagger in his assailant's eye even as Guy's sword spitted the axeman through the stomach. They were fighting a desperate defensive action against what seemed to be a horde of bandits, all for the sake of this simpering weakling. Still, she supposed, it was what the lords were supposed to do with their skills, so she couldn't begrudge them their duty. If only it didn't happen on this night, after a long day's fighting, and still before she'd had her coffee.

"Back off!" She growled at a bandit wizard with dark power glowing around his hands before launching her last throwing knife into his hand and following it up with her fighting blade to his throat. "Matthew, find their leader! Sir Oswin, just keep holding that bridge! Sir Marcus, sir Lowen, get ready to move out on Matthew's signal! Rebecca, cover me!" Under the volley of arrows, she recovered as many of her valuable blades as she could before retreating to the relative safety of the island they were holding against the horde. Moving back behind Guy to catch her breath, she saw flashes of the other two weak points to their island refuge. The river was wide enough to be impassable without bridges, and this small outcropping had been chosen as the site for three of them – two to one side, and a wider one to the other. Oswin and Dorcas, the latter throwing hand axes past the knight's defensive bastion with incredible skill, were holding one of the twin bridges while Hector and Eliwood held the other. That had left herself, Rebecca, Matthew and Guy to defend the wider bridge, keeping the cavaliers, Serra and Bartre in reserve. With Matthew going on his scouting mission, Bartre moved up to take his place even as Serra used her staff as a focus to spread her holy power over the area in a thin sheet. It was possible that the only thing keeping Eliwood and Guy fighting was that power as another wave of Bandits marshalled to attack. Even Dorcas was starting to look tired, though Hector and Oswin showed no sign of fatigue. The lord even seemed to be enjoying himself somewhat.

"Come on, you pansies! Surely you've got someone with a bit of substance hiding back there!" Hector challenged. "I'm getting bored of cutting away the chaff to find out there's no wheat inside!"

"Lord Hector, stop mixing metaphors and concentrate on what you are doing." Oswin called over disapprovingly even as he thrust his footman's lance through a fire-wielding mage. At that moment, a piercing shriek split the air from the northwest.

"That's Matthew's signal. Cavaliers, charge! Oswin, clear the way!" Rei called, and the foot knight swept his spear from one side to the other, knocking several attackers down to be trampled by Marcus and Lowen as their horses thundered across the bridge towards where the signal had come from.

"What do we do now?" Guy asked, panting as he caught a minor reprieve.

"Back to plan A." Rei grimaced, kicking an axe-wielder even as he tore a chunk out of her cloak.

"Kill them all?" Bartre asked with a savage grin and a sweep of his axe.

"Kill them all." Hector agreed as he tossed a hand axe with his right hand, Wolf Beil held in his left as usual.