After a long hiatus, due to a lack of inspiration, I decided to resume the writing of this story. Note that I introduced a few characters of my own...

CHAPTER 13 :

ENTER ELIBE

The day begins and General Roark does not feel safe. After all, the other Grado generals lie dead or captured: Glen, the Sunstone, Selena, the Fluorspar, Caellach, the Tiger Eye, Valter, the Moonstone and Riev, the Blood Beryl, are all dead and the only one alive, Duessel, the Obsidian, is on Daein's side.

When General Roark, the Cinnabar, was first hired by Grado, he was the leader of a Begnion-based mercenary company specialized in hunting laguz bandits. As such, he hunted laguz and led the pillage of the laguz district of the capital city of Renais. And he was a Halberdier; over the course of the war, he promoted to become one of few Sentinels (third-tier Soldiers) among Grado's army. He was appointed to the rank of Gemstone General only late into the conflict, approximately when Daein has captured Bethroen. He was promoted to a generic general after the successful massacre of the laguz of Renais Castle; however, it seems that, among generals, he wasn't very respected and some people, at court, belittled him as they claim that he became a general only to kill laguz.

To be awarded a gemstone is the highest honor a Grado general can achieve. If a general achieves that honor, he is promoted to the highest rank in the Grado army, a Gemstone General. Therefore, there are generic generals who died: Gheb, Saar, Novala, Tirado, Aias, Hafedd (under his undead form), Izuka, Beran or even Murray. However, there is an hierarchy among generic generals: Izuka seemed to be senior to Gheb, Murray seemed to have control over Novala and Tirado over Murray. And comparing Izuka to Tirado was next to impossible by way of seniority alone.

Therefore General Roark is the last piece remaining under Vigarde's hands to defend its capital. He is the de facto supreme commander of the Grado military and gathered his forces within the capital city in order to steel itself for a siege. Vigarde asks General Roark, "what news?"

Roark answers that three armies are marching on Grado Keep. To their north, the Free Renais army, led by Prince Ephraim, to their west, the Daein army under Duke Pelleas and, to their east, the Laguz League led by Tibarn. He'd say that Free Renais is the smallest and will arrive the faster. They must not forget that there are different groups among the Laguz League: Crimea under the command of Elincia… Vigarde then showed him the list of leaders that he wants captured alive: Duessel, Elincia, Innes, Ismaire, Pelleas, Vika, Lovestospooch, Eirika, Ephraim, Tana, Calill. A puzzled Roark asks, with anger, "Lovestospooch? Since when Lord Lovestospooch betrayed Grado?"

Cormag pitches in, "Lovestospooch betrayed us only a few days back. Even if he did defeat the Cyclops fair and square, that didn't grant him the right to serve whoever he wish." After that, Roark replies, "Duke Lovestospooch? Lovestospooch has spooched one time too many!" Cormag says, by then, that Roark wanted to bring the prisoners of the Za'albul Marsh here and to bring them as hostages, but Vigarde decided against it.

Roark asks His Majesty, "Why didn't You let me bring the prisoners here? We risk everything here. If Daein or Renais captures the prisoner camp of Za'albul Marsh, they gain thousands of able-bodied prisoners, men, women and maybe a couple of children. And they bolster their ranks. This is how Daein captured Fort Rigwald, Majesty. Through the use of its prisoners." His suzerain answers that Grado Keep has no room left for other prisoners. And it's at least twice as many as Fort Rigwald could hold during the siege.

Alder, one fo the jailers, says, "If I may, Fort Rigwald had 6,000 prisoners when it was captured. Risking our capital city by keeping like 20,000 prisoners in a single place is really not a sound strategy. Release these prisoners or else we'll be defeated!" Vigarde counters his jailer's claim, "But the enemy does not have many weapons to spare. Neither us not our enemy would have weapon reserves totalling twenty thousand weapons. General Roark, the weapons we confiscated from these prisoners were somehow shipped to the frontlines. We have nothing to fear about the prisoners. I guess we can pardon some of them…" Roark refutes with anger again, "Even if we freed them, the prisoners wouldn't have the time to manufacture twenty thousand weapons in three days! The prisoners won't be a threat to us, Majesty. They would be able to make a few hundred weapons at best."

Alder pitches in, "Who knows what tricks our enemies would use? General Pelleas has captured Taizel through a night raid…" Roark then asks a treacherous question, "Who do you fear most, the Kilvan tactical genius on his side, Vika, or Jehanna's sheer might?" Vigarde stands back, "Free Renais, under the command of Prince Ephraim! We know how Jehanna fights: they send laguz on the front lines and keep the beorc to cover their backs. If they're good sappers, they can get in our city by the sewers."

Roark claims that General Vika can attempt to take out the catapults or the ballistae… A puzzled Alder asks him, General Vika? Kilvas made her a general? Knowing Kilvas, they would circle the capital and ensure that no airborne units would escape.

Roark answers the jailer, "Don't forget Phoenicis too! Tibarn would take to the field here; if he does, that would mean our airborne units would be toast! With the death of Riev, our monster army is whittled to nothing, meaning the Demon King would seek refuge in Begnion's Tower of Guidance." Vigarde claimed that Fomortiis would take months to get to Sienne by itself.

Roark warns the group, "Do not underestimate the Begnion Senate's magic! Senator Lekain, with Valtome and Numida, would try to summon the Demon King away from Grado. Such a ritual is a long process and would take days. But it's still better than the Demon King taking months to travel with the danger that enemy commanders would try and kill him."

They do not know that both Free Renais and Daein prepare something on their side. However, Vika brings with her a clan treasure, the tome containing the most powerful dark magic tome known on Tellius, Balberith. "People with prejudice would say, Sub-human piece of filth! You don't have the brains to use magic! Leave it to us humans! ", she thought. But she knows she can trust Pelleas because he fights on with Daein for the purpose of rooting out the prejudice.

Vika speaks to Pelleas, "Many prejudiced fighters started mercenary companies. As far as I'm aware, they fought with an almost total lack of discipline as they rampaged Renais and Jehanna. That sealed their defeat at the hands of the Laguz League and us. The very best of Grado are entrenched in the capital." Pelleas answers, "Here's our trick: we can pretend we're refugees fleeing the Daein army… hide our weapons under our supply carts and our magic tomes under our clothes. However, all we could do before we're detected is to break a gate open with magic."

Lovestospooch wonders, "Breaking a gate open with magic? We have until daybreak. We come here at night, but anyway most of the Grado soldiers would be sleeping at the time."

Within General Roark's quarters, though not as luxurious as Vigarde's, something makes his sovereign uneasy. And the general himself.

Roark muttered, "Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this. Crimea commands the eastern front, under Queen Elincia, who takes to the field personally. And I also sense that Crimea is a far greater threat than Daein!"

Vigarde counters his mutterings, "Crimea? The Laguz League as a whole is on the move! Crimea is merely a pawn under Jehanna's hands!"

One of the Halberdiers of that beorc "pawn", in the Laguz League's camp, has her crystal ball ready, captured among the booty of a supply convoy. She sees through it that she has to learn magic to get out of Grado Keep alive, because she would foresee that her armor is of no use against some enemies or that she would try to force a door open. And that the situation would force her to use the power of her intellect instead of her weapons.

However, she feels that she is running out of time to learn the things properly, so she has to resort to learning the basic spells, and only one at that. But what happens in the Jehanna base camp is very little compared to what happens in the royal palace of Daein:

Tauroneo asks Ninan, "What news?" Ninian answers the white-clad general, "Hatari cannot fight Begnion on behalf of the United Nations; more pressing matters await us. Bern has allied with Begnion a few weeks back and there was an uprising in Caledonia as well; their headquarters are on the Island of Valor."

Ike, with his regal tone, asks, "Who is their commander?"

Nils answered the King of Daein, "The beorc commander, Zephiel, is the king of Bern; Sacae and Ilia were swiftly captured. Lycia, Nabata and Etruria, all three beorc nations, are allied to fight Bern; General Roy leads them instead of his father, General Eliwood. Majesty, the mastermind that set the continent of Elibe awash in blood is not Zephiel, however, but a princess of Goldoa long thought to be dead: Idoun."

Jill asks the laguz bard, "How is she related to Dheginsea? And what would you suggest that Daein do to help Elibe? And is Hatari really the last stronghold of laguz on this continent?" At this moment, Nils claims that the capital city of Hatari, Arcadia, is a place known to host a large community of dragon laguz.

Rutger, in doubt, "At least I can enter human… er, beorc civilization without having to fear being killed. Daein is aware that Mordred, the king of Etruria, has been captured by corrupt Etrurian nobles." The laguz dancer says that the only one that Ike could possibly send to command the force that would rescue Mordred from their hands is now under Renais' payroll…

Her brother, shrouded in doubt, says, "Pelleas? No… He has captured the western half of Grado but he had the help of Kilvas and Duessel, not to count Lovestospooch… Who else could we send to recapture the Western Isles?"

Maiel pleaded, "Majesty, I will go in Pelleas' stead. If we can take the Western Isles back from Etruria… Caledonia will have recovered its liberty. But many people wouldn't be aware of Daein's presence, although some pirates from there already had their shares of confrontations with the Daein Navy." Rutger then says that the common people, the slaves, but also the people in this place that do not engage in piracy or banditry have a mitigated vision of Daein: the fishers and the merchants that are picked on by pirates regard Daein as their protector. However, some laguz that exiled to the Western Isles have nightmares about Daein. General Echidna, the beorc commander-in-chief for Caledonia, however, requests that any allies send reinforcements so they can take back Castle Idina…

However, far back in Grado, Lute noticed a small hole in the tent containing the latrinae, with Artur in them. The unsuspecting monk (or bishop?) didn't notice there was a hole in the tent and so Lute could watch his back and try kicking the (heavy?) bottom out of an eventual spy. In fact, there really was something but not anything to do with any enemy, more like…

Artur screams, "Eeeeeeeeeekkkk! A spider! How it could get here?"

Artur put on his clothes and he squashed the spider, finally getting out of the tent. Lute can't help herself laughing at the incident, though in a muffled manner. There was no Bael in this corner, so he could rest easy not having to use his magic for fighting a monster within the bivouac. As it is now, he continues picking herbs for the meal, mainly because he is doing the cooking, or a part thereof, for the last night before the "D-Day", as he called it, for tomorrow night would be the beginning of the siege.

In Grado Keep, some people couldn't even sleep…

A Grado Archer exclaimed, "I can't seem to sleep anymore: the Laguz League is on the move… These sub-humans really want to consume us!"

Aion, a Thunder Sage, tried to reassure the archer, "Sir, this does not compare to Bern. I was sent to northern Bern because Zephiel's predecessor wanted to fight the Taliver Bandits, led by Count Taliver. We Grado fight alongside Begnion because we're bound to a blood pact. However, if we still live, in the event we are defeated, we will fight against Begnion instead."

Gothmog, a Wyvern Master, pitches in too, "Bern does not fight like Begnion; in fact, their reasons to fight are diametrically opposite. Zephiel wants to give the land back to the dragon laguz, unlike Begnion who wants to exterminate the laguz as a whole. Daein's forces are stretched thin, so we cannot expect to fight too many Daeins. Daein fights on two fronts, if Begnion spies are correct."

Aion told the group, "Remember the Scouring… 200 years before the Demon King's defeat. This was to be the largest laguz massacre before Serenes Forest. For what I can remember, dragons and oxygen-breathing creatures, laguz and beorc, fought during the Scouring and the Legendary Weapons, of which only some of them are actually wielded somehow…"

Thir commander, Roark, asked in disbelief, "What kind of nonsense is this? Do you expect the Legendary Weapons of the World to have triggered some kind of cataclysm?" Aion answered the general's question, "Because their power twisted the laws of physics, the gods responded via the Ending Winter."

Meanwhile, at the other end of the world, Hatari nobles hired some mercenaries, both beorc and laguz, to help fend off corrupt Etrurian and Bern forces and, eventually, retake their Lycian stronghold, Castle Ostia. The Royal Guard is led by the queen's confidante, Volug. However, there is a beorc mercenary captain whose role in the plan is to defeat the mages under General Randy's command. To this end, they must make a run for the sewers. But then, Yvan must use his magic, despite his cavalry armor, if he was attacked until he could capture a horse. Before then, he uses his paladin's caparison as something to protect him against sandstorms. Once he found the horse, he would replace the caparison…

Yvan asks his men, "Everyone is ready?" Nino answers by another question, "Sir, are you all right? Are you really from Crimea as you claim? If not, we may have something in common."

Yvan answers her, "Not really, either. You must promise not to reveal this to our employers or else! I once was at Etruria's service. Once King Mordred was captured, I was banned from Etrurian service. I was a mage, once considered for the Royal Guard, but I was suspected to harbour Prince Mildain while I have no connection to him."

However, a throng of Bern soldiers just arrived and blocked their way, with Nino carrying the flag of Crimea in one hand. Their superior, Ledger, was shouting from above, astride his wyvern:

Ledger shouted, "The Crimean Army is attacking!" Randy immediately orders the Wyvern Master, "Do not let a single one escape!"

Neither Bern nor the corrupted Etrurians never expected Crimea to come at Hatari's aid, even with a meager force. A Sword Knight got stabbed by Yvan's spear and his enemy got off the horse, then crushed by the heavy footsteps of his own countrymen. Yvan makes it quick so he could put his caparison on his horse while his men fights the enemy with magic and steel. An enemy that was surprised to see Crimea make it this far; they never expected Crimea, or even Daein, to fight either with or against Bern. For some reason, Yvan has his sword up in the air and casts an Elfire spell at Ledger, the Wyvern Lord, who nosedived into Yvan with the intent of fighting him from above. As a result he fell from the wyvern, afire and his sword drawn.

At the same time, Nino was out fighting a group that comprised a Shaman, a Mage, a Monk, two Archers, a Cavalier, six Soldiers, an Halberdier and a Warrior, led by a Swordmaster, Senecal.

Senecal exclaims herself, "You may have outsmarted us, Crimean pieces of filth, but your lives as bungholes end here!" Nino shouts back, "We are not the Crimean Royal Knights!" A few moments later, on the burning sand, Senecal orders her men to extinguish them. Nino exclaims, "Funny you phrased it this way!"

At this moment, she casts a Bolganone spell, with an… empty book! Surprisingly, it seemed that her memory was strong enough to remember all the fine intricacies of this advanced fire spell without the need of an actual spellbook. This was enough to burn the sand below her enemies, but she realized long ago that she could use her extreme memory to fool enemies somehow. So extreme, in fact, that she accomplished many covert missions in areas of Bern where anti-intellectualism ran rampant. For one to accomplish extraordinary feats of memory was considered a sign one possessed great magical power.

Yvan tells Nino his plan, "I'm necessary for your plan to work! I'll face the Swordmaster and the Warrior; if he orders anyone else in the fray, I will cut him down as well." Nino then told him, "Go ahead; I won't prevent you."

As Yvan crossed swords with Senecal, he realized that, instead of killing her, he could take her as a prisoner in tow, when she was disarmed because of the burning sand that burned her sword hand, and thus had her hands bound, thrown into the Hatari sewers, as though the wolf laguz would catch her. From now on, her fate is under the hands of the Hatari nobles. And the rest of her men that survived Nino's spell are also made prisoners, all of which are handed over to Hatari authorities. Yvan mutters, "Dang it! The Bern and the corrupt Etrurians are still coming at us!"

Yvan is most proficient with a sword, even more than Makalov, but he would feather enemy, corrupted Ilians to a quill, whether with his sword or his bow, although he trained with the bow as part of magic experiments. At one point in his magical training, Yvan wondered whether he wanted to continue training as a mage or he would turn into a Sword Knight instead. But their enemies feathered to a quill, he could direct his men to fight the main body of the Bern army. Yvan orders his men, "Everyone hold! The enemy is turning back to their camp!" But the fight wasn't over. Or at least, they didn't expect the fight to be over. And it worked: the enemy was led to believe that Crimean Royal Knights are magic-proficient. Or better trained than the Lycian "scrubs" that they defeated until coming to fight Hatari. He even witnessed a Soldier that promoted to Halberdier just after a Myrmidon became a Swordmaster as well. As his band returned to its quarters in Arcadia, there is something that remained uneasy between the two.

Yvan tells the sage woman, "Last time I saw you, a few years ago, you were living a happy life with Jaffar. Why was he killed? If he was alive he would fight alongside Hatari, Lycia and the Etrurian Loyalists." Nino then tells him that Jaffar died because Bern bounty hunters captured him and he was executed. Since then, she remained alone, earning her keep as a scholar. Yvan says that he understands it's a painful part of her life. "Anyway, you're the only woman left for me. For me, you're the smartest woman in the world. Smarter than me even" he says.

Nino answers, "Thank you… but I don't quite show for it. I can feel that somewhere, there is a woman even smarter than I am. Erk, Pent and Canas are somewhere in Hatari but nowhere in Arcadia." Yvan tells her the plan he is to use if Arcadia remains, "we will go to the Lycian border." Nino states that even if House Cornwell has been rebuilt by the enemy, the corrupt Etrurian nobles, they have no definite ruler. He is the only one that could possibly lay claim to House Cornwell and it's the only way the couple can get this straightened out.

Yvan says that the old House Cornwell traces its roots back to Crimea. The Queen's grandmother had a few siblings, one of which was married to House Cornwell. That one became one of the targets for corruption charges because House Ostia then deemed Crimea the land of corruption. Crimea tried, under King Ramon (and Elincia as well), to prove that Crimea (or House Crimea) never was corrupted. Knowing this, Nino thought, "They'd really believe we are Crimean instead, if our plan succeeds! All we need is to capture Castle Cornwell, under Lord Dory, the heir-apparent of Cornwell. But we aren't there yet so we cannot formulate any battle plan."

Yvan tells her a few details about his flight from the Etrurian palace, "When I left the palace of Etruria, I got enough money to purchase a white cavalry armor, a bit of graphite, green dyes and a piece of blanket large enough to make a caparison and a stripe out of it. As I did some mercenary work along the way, I earned enough money to procure a sword, and later, some recruits so we could fight bandits and the forces of the corrupt Etrurian nobles. I was given a horse when I was given my initial mission to Hatari."

The other men in Yvan's contingent of mercenaries didn't even have a clue about either what Crimea or graphite was. They asked him questions about both things.

Yvan answers to his men that Crimea is a country on another continent, the only diplomatic ties any country on this continent Crimea has is with Hatari and graphite is a black dye that can be used to draw fine lines when you use a graphite rod with a narrow tip, either on parchment or fabrics.

Nino continues, "Your commander is a true Crimean after all. When he was about 4 years old, he was aboard a ship when his ship was caught astray in a storm. He was orphaned and adopted by an Etrurian myrmidon family. To many who knew him up close afterwards, he is not a Crimean-born person. However, he does come from a minor noble house of Crimea. He was a natural genius to my eyes just as I was a natural genius to his. Who knows… if we fight bravely here, maybe he'll resurface in the Crimean files. Or that he would make a name for himself here."

Ray and Lugh, who fled Araphen because of their orphanage harbouring laguz, got up to Hatari only a few days back. Said orphanage was raided by Bern and some of the laguz, none of which was from the dragon tribe, were captured, while most of the beorc escaped the disaster. The twins go back and reunite with their mother…

Lugh found his mother at long last, "Nino! It was years we were looking for you, Mother. Eventually, your tracks led to Hatari but Ray here was thinking that siding with Hatari will only bring us bad fate..."

Ray tells them the sad tale of their escape from Araphen, "More than this, our father was slaughtered in this attack and the orphanage was razed to the ground after they found a few wolf laguz in this place… There was only one nation we could turn to if we did not turn to Lycia. Ilia was not willing to host magic users among their army, and Sacae only recruited Shamans. Etruria was heavily corrupted, and Caledonia lacked the refinement to go for intellect. Hatari did not mind working with beorc if it could bring them victory over Bern!"

Lugh claims, "But we didn't want to go overseas, although Daein could have harboured us pretty easily. Its king is a staunch defender of laguz rights." Yvan pitches in, "But, for now, you need to pledge your allegiance to House Crimea. We're all that Crimea was able to send. Your mother is now under Crimea's service."

He hid to his wife's children from a previous marriage that he really only lived his early childhood in Crimea, not deeming the moment ripe for it. But now, we all know where Jaffar died and where the bounty hunters captured him. Knowing this, this family now has a new reason to fight against Bern: they killed their father.

Nino tells the children their plan, "The siege tower is so massive it required a thousand men to man it. All we have to do is to burn the thing to the ground before it reaches the wall, or at least wreck it. Who here can cast wind spells?"

Lugh says, "I will give it a try."

As he began his attack run, the whole Bern camp is swept by a tornado that destroyed most of the camp, including the largest siege engines. Nino finished the camp by concentrating all the power she could have in this one spell and she overloaded her brain to do this. It destroyed much of their equipment and killed many Bern soldiers but she became exhausted, so all three people had to carry her to a cot, so she may recover. The next day, Randy saw the horror in his own camp and decided to fight Nailah head-on. Yvan shouts to his men, "This is our chance to escape!"

Nailah stops him, "Escape? Not really… You are to command the refugee forces in a mission that leads from Hatari in order to recapture Lycian castles. We have found documentation that proved your noble lineage among a crate of rugs not so long ago. I'm afraid I cannot spare any laguz for this mission." Yvan asked Her Majesty, at this moment, "A crate of rugs? Whose seal did it carry?" The Wolf Queen answers, "There were parchments hidden in the rug shipment. The documents themselves carry the seal of House Crimea. Raven's father was of royal blood, a brother of Elincia's grandfather, but Raven himself was born years after King Ramon. But in that time, siblings of kings that could not possibly succeed them on the throne were often cast out of the highest honors and they form/join less important noble houses."

Yvan requestd, "Let me see these documents for myself!"

Now, he fully understood why House Ostia framed Crimea for House Cornwell's corruption. Because House Ostia feared that Crimea interfered in House Cornwell's affairs, for the whole house came from a scion of the Crimean royal family. Said scion's family has shrunk to such an extent in Crimea's chain of command that this house is considered a minor noble house.

Yvan tells everyone that Lord Dory is an imposter from another house, and that Raven and Priscilla made no claim to House Cornwell, since they relinquished their nobility to avoid further harm.

A severely scorched Randy was duelling Volug instead, by the southern gate. The beorc refugees packed up; Nino had a healer tend to her exhaustion, so she could leave and march on Cornwell, a territory in southwestern Lycia, along with the beorc refugees from Lycia. As they march through the desert…

A Refugee shouted, in the middle of the desert, "Bern! It's Bern!"