CHAPTER 10 :

CAER PELYN

Prince Innes, with what's left of his close guard, fought the Carcino rebel army when the Laguz League army, led by Eirika, arrives at Teraz Plateau, a land of steppes. Muarim just shifted into a tiger when the battle begins. And… Phoenicis' delegate also joins the fray. To Muarim's surprise, he seems to wield a Steel Blade when pureblood laguz usually loathe using beorc-made weapons.

Muarim tells Lord Klimt, "I was assigned to protect you today. Pablo's troops are moving towards the stronghold. It looks they are chasing down Prince Innes and his men."

Klimt admonishes Pablo, "You reckless imbecile! If Prince Innes dies here, the bond with the U.N. is sundered forever! Carcino will be nothing more but a vassal paying tribute to Grado… We must find a way to aid Prince Innes."

Muarim joins a group of laguz that goes on to clash the main group of Carcino beorc mercenaries. He eats a Mercenary piecemeal, whereas the bulk of Pablo's forces are headed towards the stronghold that the Gerik Mercenaries hold. They use what's left of their boiling oil and there is a few mercenaries burnt by the oil's action. And then… more beorc. On the other side of the Plateau, Hawke plants his sword on a beorc head, effectively killing him.

Hawke asks where the beorc are. A large formation of beorc soldiers, cavalry first, came out of the dust created by the movements of the laguz soldiers to assist in the battle. They began to fight back the mercenaries and then there is a commotion among the enemy ranks: some of them begin to fall back even when they are nowhere near either group.

Eirika then wonders, "What's happening?"

Some of the laguz reverted and, as they revert, they go behind those who didn't. Anna herself transforms and she spits fire on the areas spilled by the once-boiling oil. The end result is that the land near the stronghold burns and the assailants get caught in a draconic fire. As for the beorc, though, they press on. Fiona, for instance, swings her axe from her horse and cuts down some Soldiers as the group approaches the crossing point between the two strongholds.

As for Haar, he locates the main enemy stronghold whose garrison is blocking the way to Caer Pelyn. Its path is blocked by the main gate, though. Anna rushes from a stronghold to the other and she burns the gate while she leaves the laguz to fight back the mercenaries' march.

Marisa, having strayed from the main group, got caught by Grado soldiers a few hours ago, but the area around the main stronghold having been secured, Prince Innes can then make a sortie. Gerik having secured his way to Marisa, he meets her on the course of the battle. As for the Crimson Flash herself, she receives contradictory messages from both sides: the first coming from her commanding officer from the Carcino rebels and the second from the Laguz League.

A General taunts her, "Marisa! You're getting paid more than my own men! Time you earned your gold!"

Gerik asks from behind, "Is that you, Marisa?" She turns to the Mercenary and answers, "Chief."

Gerik tells her that he was alone with His Highness to defend the stronghold in the south. Looks like the guild bungled. Thank heavens the Laguz League showed up. The mercenary guild is usually diligent on avoiding that kind of things to happen. But here they are, two people from the same troop fighting on opposite sides.

Marisa sermons Gerik about these Carcino rebels, "They were nothing but jerks! They paid me to kill innocent laguz!"

Gerik replies to her that as a mercenary, her loyalty should go to the ones who pay her. They can cross blades if she wants it to happen, but he'd rather want Marisa to retreat.

Marisa, exasperated, "Done and done!"

And Marisa, instead of hounding the League's army, fights alongside laguz. As Tormod uses his magic to blast the stronghold's door, it opened to reveal a small arena, to which everyone that still fights on the Carcino side retreats. For their commander just had a fantastic idea: to recoup his losses, he would rather organize a few tag team matches with beorc or laguz pit one against another. Of course, Carcino rebels are not made to fight each other, but rather, Laguz League soldiers versus their own men. Fiona just thrust her spear into a Myrmidon while Eirika goes out to fight a Fighter.

Eirika makes her speech. "If we were to die anyway, at least try and fight to gain some gold. We need it to rebuild our countries."

A few volunteers, listed as a cat laguz, a Warrior and a Mage are the first to be picked for the Laguz League to fight, in the arena, the General who previously admonished Marisa, a Shaman and, to replace a laguz – for the Carcino Rebels have no laguz, having sworn allegiance to Grado in exchange for the expulsion of all laguz from its forces – Lord Pablo instead brings a Hero to fight.

At that moment, the Arena announcer gives the starting signal. "Ready… fight!"

The match begins and the Shaman begins to cast his spell at the laguz, but the laguz avoided the spell, for he already bounced off to scratch the Hero deep enough to hit his organs. The Warrior's plan is to distract the General and let the Mage cast spells at him for the kill. Blood stains appeared on the sand because the Hero bleeds and gets killed by a rampaging cat laguz, a.k.a. the Cat in the arena. At this very moment, he reverts to his humanoid form, leaving him to be the target of his enemies. The General, as sluggish as he is, is slain, leaving the Shaman. His physical vulnerability is his undoing. However, the winning group does not return unscathed.

This series of arena fights continues until the final battle begins, a five-on-five tag team match, where Lord Pablo himself offers to fight the group, deeming the other groups within his men as incompetent. Prince Innes leads the final group for the Laguz League, along with Gerik, Marisa, Muarim and Eirika. Lord Pablo relies on a Sage, a Paladin, a Pirate and a Rogue.

In the final arena battle, someone other than Pablo arbiters the fight. Lord Klimt himself has set himself up to the main balcony from where the announcer stands. Everyone is positioning at the time where Klimt himself orders the fight to commence. Klimt takes the place of the announcer, "Ready… fight!"

Pablo taunts the group, "I made the rational decision. The only decision."

Eirika runs towards the Paladin and slashes a horse's leg, making the horse go mad and throw its rider off balance and fight afoot. That Paladin fights quite badly afoot, being trained much more on horseback. Muarim fights and chases the Rogue, mostly because he hates laguz. Even more so than the Sage, who receives an arrow shot from Price Innes' bow while casting a spell directed at Marisa. As for that girl, she runs behind the anima magic-user and she rolls behind to cut through his cape and, hopefully, make him lose his balance.

Gerik, however, is busy engaging the horse-less Paladin with his own sword. He parries a few swings, while Muarim is done with the Rogue and his bloody corpse lay on the ground. Having barely escaped a spell casted by the Sage, Marisa still tries to get under him and swing her sword at his foe's intimate parts and the final result is that her face is covered in blood.

While her role in this battle has shifted from fighting the Paladin to fighting the Pirate, she realizes that her sword skill makes short work of the Pirate and he dies. Lord Pablo, as a Bishop, fires an Ellight spell at Innes when he shoots an arrow. Instead of that, Muarim shoves him out, making his shot miss, but, at the same time, the magic missed his target. The Sniper prince of Frelia fires another arrow and it hit Lord Pablo in his heel. Muarim then plants his teeth into the elder's body and it was over in an instant. But there were injured people: Marisa had a broken ankle, Gerik broke his leg and Eirika had a deep cut in her sword arm. Klimt announces that the winners are the from Laguz League!

The Laguz League thus recaptured Teraz Plateau and the leader of the rebellion was killed. However, the time for the festivities didn't come yet. Something brings a heavy burden on Glen, as both him and Valter get to meet in Caer Pelyn proper. Glen himself was assigned to kill Princess Eirika and Valter, to kill Tibarn. Because Ephraim is believed dead (to Grado's eyes) when he undertook his raid on Renvall. The same Renvall that is the objective of the second group of the Daein army Pelleas dispatched to Western Renais. But what happened in Renvall is not the reason why Valter had to see Glen.

Glen tells Cormag, "There's the rub. That's it exactly. His Majesty has never spoken a falsehood in all the time I've served him. And as a servant of the empire, I am duty bound to obey his orders. But I can see no reason to think Princess Eirika's heart is in any way less gentle now."

Valter, in the distance, says, "What are these cowardly mutterings? It is because of you three generals are weak that we, the others, must work so hard. And yet you get the honor of killing the girl!"

Glen approaches Valter. He throws insults at his rival, "You wretch! You were cast out of the army because you mistreated civilians!" Valter replies to these insults that even Vigarde didn't pardon or reinstate him; it was under the Begnion Senate's orders that he was reinstated as a general.

The Laguz League's forces under Eirika's command commence their ascent towards Caer Pelyn, located in a treacherous mountain range. They do so because they wish to avoid the extremist faction's army, for which Elincia's group remain in Carcino to fight. As they learned that Caer Pelyn is the frontline base of General Glen, Eirika's group continues its march with more caution.

Cavalry and armored knights usually don't fare very well in mountain terrain, and, as such, this is why these people were left in Carcino. The people who remained with Eirika pass through a variety of terrains: rocky terrain, forests whose trees become smaller as altitude mounts, etc. Two days later and they become tired, but they finally arrived at the fabled base, Caer Pelyn, without being seen by Grado patrols.

Saleh states that even if Caer Pelyn denizens have little interest in the outside world, they don't refuse travellers. "The road isn't easy, and you look very weary", he says.

Ewan claims, "These people say that they want to go through Caer Pelyn". He turns to Saleh, "I could guide them myself, but I thought it would be better if you came, too".

Saleh responds that it's only because of his duty as Speaker of the U.N. General Assembly that he accepts this. Not because he's Ewan's magic teacher. As they approach the village, General Glen flies up to Eirika from his frontline base. According to him, Eirika has a lot to account for, especially concerning Port Kiris. He is escorted by two Wyvern Riders.

Glen turns to Princess Eirika of Renais. "Hold", he said.

Eirika, perplexed, "Who? You are General Glen of Grado. We met once in the capital. You were very kind to me. However, if you're here now, it means that…"

Glen answers, "Yes, it does. However, I wished it could have happened under different circumstances. Eirika, I must tell you that I am here on the direct orders of the Emperor. I'm to bring justice on the rebel army leader that terrorizes Carcino. It's you, Eirika. They say you massacred innocents."

Eirika asks him, "What do you mean?"

Glen begins his speech. "If you have something to say, I would hear it. I know all too well that Grado has robbed you of your homeland, but even so... I do not believe revenge could drive a woman like you to such depths. And yet... here you are in Carcino with a small army under your command. And the emperor tells us that you massacred everyone in Port Kiris.", he says.

Innes shows up and turns to General Glen. He left his arrows under the care of Saleh back at the Laguz League's camp. He finds this situation to be ridiculous. "Believe what you want", he says. "Could one of the legendary Imperial Three be as stupid as this?" Glen turns to Innes. "What do you mean?", he asks. Innes replies that Carcino has betrayed Frelia and set a pack of mercenary dogs to kill him. "And you paint Eirika as a rebel instigator? It's an absurd farce.", he grudgingly says.

Eirika continues, "We told you what we know to be true, what we have seen firsthand. We don't want to fight you, but if you push us, House Grado will have your body in a coffin!"

Glen, surprised, "...I see. You...are more observant then you know. I am ignorant of the emperor's designs. General Duessel and I both questioned the wisdom of this war. And if you really are innocent of the crimes attributed to you... Why would His Majesty lie to us? I must know the answer. I will learn the truth of it."

Valter himself shows up at that exact instant; he flies up to Glen and a grand vocal joust begins, when Eirika and Innes get away from them to avoid potential outcomes, such as a duel (first-blood or to the death does not matter at this stage).

Glen turns to Valter. "Do as you will. I'm returning to the capital. I have questions for the emperor.", he states. Valter says that they were a grand trio of generals: Glen, Duessel and himself. But his place among them was stolen and he was exiled from Grado.

Glen continues, "You slaughtered people who had no intention of fighting. The Emperor's punishment was just and warranted."

Valter tells him, "After my fall from glory, only desire kept me alive. Desire for revenge. My hatred burnt so fierce that anything can make me go mad."

Glen admonishes Valter, "You vile Begnion cur! You're mad!"

Valter warns Glen, "En garde, General Glen!"

Glen and Valter got on their wyverns, rise above the terrain, steering clear of any Grado soldier or monster. Or Laguz League-held houses. It is difficult, taking in account that Tibarn's men also scour the area in search of monsters or Grado troops. Even more difficult because the terrain is quite harsh and made of high mountains.

Valter begins soaring above Glen when he avoids this maneuver. He throws his Spear and misses the Wyvern but he catches it. However, that time he lost was just enough for Valter to throw a Spear at his enemy. By a stroke of luck, Glen gets killed by the other Wyvern Lord (since all Wyvern Knights/Masters, no matter their origins, promote to third-tier Wyvern Lords).

Valter gives his orders to the corpse, "Go. The small fish are yours."

But a messenger arrives at Valter, demanding explanations about the corpse laying there; the remains of the person who once was General Glen. And also to bring orders to General Valter himself.

The Wyvern rider announces, "General Valter! I bring orders from His Majesty himself. The Emperor wishes to begin the siege of Jehanna Hall, purported to be defended by an entire army of sub-humans! To this end, you are to be deployed at Jehanna Hall."

Valter belittles his teammate, "Caellach is too weak to capture Jehanna Hall on his own! The sub-humans entrenched here are led by the Queen of the White Dunes herself!"

The Wyvern rider asks, "And that corpse here? Who killed General Glen?"

Valter says that Princess Eirika did it.

There is still an untainted corner of Caer Pelyn that is home to a community of hermits. A mountain path leads to the base camp, while another mountain path leads to Jehanna Hall via the Hamill Canyon, held by the Phoenicisian army. Eirika's close guard is running down the mountain path leading to the inner sanctum of the area. The princess herself is going slower than everyone else.

Muarim warns Eirika, "Perhaps we should rest, milady." He turns to Saleh, "Master Saleh, is it much further?"

Saleh answers, "Only two hours further."

Haar: I would ask for a moment of rest before continuing. We are all exhausted. We cannot go any further today.

Innes: Do you people truly live in this place? These barren crags seem unfit for habitation.

Caer Pelyn itself is not just a village, but also an area of Carcino with an Elder of its own. The capital of the area is the only location within the Caer Pelyn region not visited by the Grado Army. Also, due to its remoteness, scarcity of population and lack of accessibility, the whole region is said to be of no importance by the Carcino Rebels. Eirika appears to be hopping up and down the road. Saleh says that material wealth brings strife. "We have no need of these things. We live in peace with the Great Dragon.", he concludes. After a good night's rest in a makeshift camp, the group continues its ascent towards the regional capital. The capital itself is under siege by… monsters!

Eirika orders her men, "To arms!"

Muarim states his battle cry, "FOR LAGUZ RIGHTS!"

The monsters target both the beorc and laguz inhabitants of the town. A Tarvos rushes at Eirika and swings its axe, but to no avail. They also form up and one of the larger undead just morphed into an undead version of a wolf when he attacks Innes up front.

Innes insults the undead wolf laguz, "You undead werewolf scum!"

His silver-tipped arrow out (because arrows are just as important as the bow itself when it comes to the potency of archery), he shoots an arrow at the "werewolf", who is really an undead wolf laguz. And the wolf laguz took as much damage as a flightless beorc would take; he finds out that there was a long-lasting misconception about silver weapons inflicting more damage to "werewolves" than other laguz, provided that they aren't wielding weapons covered with anti-laguz poison. And also that "werewolves" are a derogatory term used by beorc to designate wolf laguz in particular. Muarim targets the undead beorc soldiers, and, as soon as he has an opening, he uses his jaws to bite into the rotten flesh and the claws make it nothing more but a corpse whose parts are badly cut.

Finally, some magic fireballs appear out of a house. It means an anima magic-user is entrenched in the house; those fireballs severely injure monsters, such as Mogalls and undead beorc. And the person who casts the spells realizes that Maunthe Doogs and the one-headed Gwyllgis are nothing more than undead wolf laguz. However, the three-headed Gwyllgis are another species altogether. Eirika runs up to the badly burnt, three-headed Gwyllgi, and she stabs the monster in its back, but, from the hole, blood is spilling out, poisoning the other monsters in range along with Eirika herself.

Eirika warns Innes, "Highness, I must retreat; I have been poisoned by a monster!"

Tormod burns the monster that plagues the entrance to the door of the mage who killed four monsters, using his magic. Saleh then opens the door of that house.

Saleh warns Ewan, "This town is under siege! It's too dangerous!"

Ewan pleads to Saleh, "Let me go with you!"

Saleh answers, "You have always been quite adamant; I have no choice but to accept."

The battle rages on until Muarim's unit reached the city hall. At this moment, the monster leader, a Maelduin, advances toward Saleh to challenge the leader of the defenders of the town. However, Marisa already is on the ceiling of the city hall and drops her sword right on the head of the monster. That gesture did not prevent the monster to fight; Gerik makes another move: he fights the enemy axe while Eirika "rides" the monster and thrust a sword in its back, making it bleed even more. The end result is that the city is freed.

Freed? Not exactly. A Warrior appears from below stairs and surprises the band of Laguz Alliance soldiers in the middle. By that time, though, Marisa returns to her position in the ceiling, her sword ready again. This time, instead of being thrust inside the head, it just hit the head, making the enemy trip. Gerik is left to engage the Warrior. Luckily, he wielded a Bow, that he fired at Eirika, but unsuccessfully. This left Gerik to cut the string of the bow and to engage him one-on-one. The end result is that he is almost killed.

Binks says that 5,000 gold isn't enough… "Why was I hired to capture Caer Pelyn?", he asks.

Gerik throws insults at him. "You never liked laguz… the shame you mistreat them!"

And then Gerik kills the Warrior. The bloodied corpse lies on the ground, with the bodies of every dead monster lying everywhere in the town. People still alive carry the corpses of the monsters to a central place where it is safe to burn the cadavers.

Bethroen. The Daein army is resting for a few days before moving on to Taizel, the last major obstacle between them and the capital. Two raven laguz reverts to their humanoid forms. They approach Vika…

The first raven exclaims, "Vika! We found you at last!" As the second raven approaches Vika, he tells her, "However, we are all that Kilvas can spare for that mission to Western Grado. The bulk of our forces are busy engaging the Grado Central Army in Jehanna."

Vika asks both laguz, "What now?"

The first raven begins to run the report, "The reports we get from Grado before the war began states that you have increased in magical skill much beyond almost any other raven laguz." The second raven continues, "You, as the new Arch-Druid of Kilvas, are to lead us to victory. We will make sure that laguz-manned magic can kill these Grado curs!"

Vika asks both crows, "What are your names?" Diadora's answer is: "I'm Diadora, one of a few Bishops based in Kilvas. I take care of the wounded back in Kilvas but I also used light magic to guide lost laguz at night." Radmin's answer is: "I'm Radmin, a Wind Sage who, like Vika, lost the race to become the official mage of House Kilvas."

Pelleas asks the two newcomer laguz magic users, "Diadora, Radmin, Kilvas sent you to search for Vika?"

Radmin answers, "Yes, milord."