CHAPTER 3: A Shrewd Salesman

The muddy slope beneath our feet grew more and more into dirt than mud as we progressed upwards through the small side tunnel. It was rather dark, only one torch about every fifty steps, so we let Ryan lead the way with Lucina in middle and I in back. Ryan was constantly humming this little tune as we walked, and while it didn't seem to bother Lucina that much, it was driving me INSANE. His humming would get so off key, you couldn't tell if he was humming or screaming with his mouth closed.

Luckily, Lucina came to my aid in the form of conversation.

"So, Arke...what is this 'Guardsmen' you two kept going on about? Some sort of secret society?"

Dammit! I had hoped that she wouldn't delve too deep into that. I could lie to her and say that it was just a club of some sort, but if the Princess is going to be traveling with us, she needs to learn to trust us. We'll get nowhere if she's always expecting a dagger to the back.

I look up to Ryan to see if he has any opinion on this, but he seems to be in another world, almost dancing as he trudges up the slope, still humming that gods damned song at a horrible pitch. I sigh and turn back to Lucina.

"Not exactly. We're a special guard, devoted entirely to serving and protecting the Royal Family at all costs. Your safety is our priority."

She pondered this for a few moments.

"So you did lie to me."

I raised an eyebrow. THAT'S what's she's concerned about? Me lying to her?

"Well, yes, but I wasn't sure if I w-"

"Don't do it ever again. If you're sworn to protect me, then that means you have to follow my orders, right?"

I could feel my face put on an expression of disbelief as I stared at her, dumbfounded. That was a very sudden change in mood; she's all serious now.

"Technically yes, but I don't see why that per-"

"Then I order you to not hide anything else that's important from me. Understand?"

I sighed. There was no way she was going to back down from this, so I might as well amuse her. I gave her another small bow.

"Of course, My Lady."

She smiled again, this time lasting a little longer before she turned her head back and continued staring at the ground. Poor thing; her mind must be swimming with questions about what's going to happen.

"I can see the entrance! Just a few more steps!"

Ryan called down to us a few minutes later, and thank goodness too. Any more of that humming and I would have had to clonk him on the back of his head. We stepped out from the hole and into the cold, dark, desolate landscape that is the wastes. Not too far in the distance I can spot the castle, still spewing smoke from the fire. I try not to look; that place had been my home most of my life, and to see it burn like that is heartbreaking.

It seems the tunnel leads out to a little slope, so we have a bit of height to check out the wastes and see if there's anything we need to worry about. I step over to the edge of the slope and search the horizon. The only thing of interest would be that group of Risen; Heroes, Warriors, and Paladins from the look of it. They seem to be surrounding something.

I turn back to the other two, who have seemed to be having a small chat.

"Ryan, there's a group of Risen out there acting suspicious. I'm going to check it out. You want to come with me?"

Ryan tore his gaze from Lucina and shot me a look of excitement; he's probably grinning under that mask of his.

"You had me at Risen!"

He pulls his Katana out and walks over next to me. I point out the group of interest so he can get a look at it.

"Hey, i'd like to go too!"

I turn my head back to Lucina.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Lucina. Those are some tough looking Risen. I know you can handle yourself in a fight, but those guys look mean.

She sent me a scowl as she turned to Ryan, who just shrugged and turned back to looking at the Risen, with an air of 'I'm not getting in this one'.

"As the Princess of Ylisse, I demand you take me with you!"

I rolled my eyes. Of course she pulls that card. Never should have told her that she can give orders. I let out a long sigh, then nod my head.

"Alright, fine. But stay close, okay? We can't afford to lose you."

She nodded, her gaze steeling as she marched over to my left, Ryan still on my right observing the Risen. After a minute, he turns to me.

"Looks like three Warriors, three Heroes, and two Paladins. Think we can take 'em?"

I grin as I look down at him.

"This seems a little unfair. They're gonna need some reinforcements!"

He lets out a hollow laugh, and we all slide down the slope and begin making our way towards the squad of Risen. As we begin nearing them, I hear the clashing of steel and the grunts of combat. Someone must be fighting them! We pick up the pace, the grunting getting louder, until we are stopped by two Warriors, both of which are carrying Silver Axe's.

I bring my fists up at ready position, Ryan throws his hood over his head, his excited expression gone and replaced with one of seriousness, and Lucina draws Falchion and holds it at the ready.

The Warrior to my left let out a savage cry and darted forward towards me, as the other simply grunts and rushes towards Ryan. As the Warrior brings his Axe down towards me, I sidestep and bring a knee up to its gut. It let's out a large groan and a wheeze from the impact, and I step back and bring a Rexcalibur - charged fist into its chest. The magic in my punch sends him flying into the air, caught in a green tornado. After a second or two, it dissipates, and the Warrior falls a good fifty feet to the ground, with a loud SNAP, before fading away.

I look over to Ryan, who hasn't moved an inch, save for drawing his katana. The Warrior is still rushing at him, showing no sign of slowing, and as he reaches Ryan, he swings his Axe sideways, aiming to rip Ryan in two. However, Ryan had different plans; he deftly leaps over the Warrior as it strikes and, pulling what seems to be a kunai from one of his many pockets, deftly sinks it into the back of the Warriors neck. The Warrior drops it's axe and falls to its knee, desperately trying to remove the dagger from its neck. But Ryan wasn't finished quite yet. He turned to the Warrior and gave the kunai a swift kick sideways. The Warriors' head turns sickeningly, and Ryan pushes it over with one finger. It falls to the ground, unmoving, as it fades away.

I raise an eyebrow towards Ryan, my stomach feeling a little queasy from the display.

"Was the kick really necessary?"

He simply turns to look at me and replies in a monotone voice.

"A simple stab wasn't going to do it. You know that."

I stand there for a moment, then shrug. He was right; these things aren't normal men. A regular stab would have finished it with a normal man, but you do have to go the full mile with these things.

We return our attention to the rest of the group, and I can finally get a view of what it was the Risen were after.

It seems to be a man, around Ryan's height, with long light green hair and a goatee to match. He seems to be wearing what appears to be Dark Mage robes, but they appear to have been recolored; a blue cape with yellow trim, a blue tunic, blue pants with a yellow belt, some yellow shoes, and a pair of yellow gloves. Blue and yellow are Ylissean colors, so I would assume he's friendly.

Though he is wearing the robes of a Dark Mage, he seems to be fighting off the last Warrior with a sword; a Silver Sword to be precise, but it seems to have some sort of blue jewel in the hilt; Sapphires, perhaps? Just by watching how he barely parries the Axe swings and how he strikes with the sword, I can tell he hasn't had any training with it whatsoever, but he seems to be holding his own pretty well.

Well, it would seem that way, if he wasn't just knocked down from the sheer power of the Warrior's axe swing; he just barely blocked it. I figured now would be a good time to intervene. I turn to Ryan and Lucina as I begin charging a spell in my gauntlets.

"Ryan, those Heroes are closing in on us. Take Lucina and get rid of them before they box us in and those Paladins finish us off."

He nods quickly before grabbing Lucina's hand and heading over to the nearest Hero, which was wielding a Brave Sword and looked like it would rather be anywhere else; strange for a Risen, but I turned my attention back to the man.

The Warrior is holding it's axe high above its head, ready to swing the final blow against its prey. I quickly send my spell into it, the tornado knocking it off its feet and to the side, tumbling around before coming to a halt on the ground.

I rush over to the man and hold out a hand to him, and that's when I get my first good look at him and realize who he is.

"Loren?"

The man looks up at me with an equally puzzled expression.

"Arke?"

He takes my hand, and I pull him to his feet.

"It is you, Loren! It's been a while."

He nods, the scowl that seems to always be on his face slowly returning..

"Heh, not long enough if you ask me."

I roll my eyes at his comment. Loren has always been like this, always the cynical one. You'd think he'd be more grateful to someone who saved his life, but….

"What in the Gods names are you doing out here, Loren?"

Loren gives me a condescending look.

"Oh, you know, just enjoying the weather. Lovely this time of year, isn't it?"

"Har diddly har, Loren. Why are you really out here?"

Loren rolls his pale green orbs before returning his gaze to me.

"Looking for the Princess, you dingus. What else would I be doing? Picking flowers? Building sandcastles?"

I sigh. Really, he needs to just get that stick out of his arse and loosen up a little.

"Well, look no further. The Princess is with me and Darkblade."

His ears perk up at the mention of the Princess.

"She's with you? How the heck did she survive? I heard she was confronted by the Fell Dragon himself."

I nod, scratching my beard.

"Yeah, I managed to distract him long enough to get her out of the castle. He doesn't know about the Underground, so he shouldn't know we're out here."

I feel a tug on my foot and look down to see the broken body of the Warrior I thought I had defeated. It looks up at me with dead, glowing eyes and let's out a groan.

"I got it."

Loren promptly inserts his sword into the Warriors face and leans on it, turning his attention back to me as the Warrior fades away.

"So you're traveling with the Princess and...Darkblade? Really? Out of all the people to run into, you find HIM?"

"Yeah, that's right. You know, you really haven't even met the guy. You should give him a chance. You might grow to like him."

He scoffs as he takes his sword out of the ground and puts it back into its sheath on his hip.

"Yeah, and maybe this entire Armageddon thing is all just a fever dream."

I sigh, putting two fingers on the bridge of my nose and rubbing it. There really is no getting through to this guy; even back in the days before this Armageddon, when he was still the castle quartermaster, he was always a pain in the ass. Glad to see nothing has changed around here.

"We can finish this later. Right now we have to deal with the rest of these Risen."

He looks away for a second before turning back to me.

"Yeah, about that...I'm more of a lover than a fighter."

I raise an eyebrow at his statement.

"…riiiight.. Lucina and Ryan aren't too far out. Just stay with Lucina while me and Ryan take care of the rest. Don't let anything happen to her, got it?"

He waves his hand around in a pish-posh manner.

"Yeah, I know the drill. I'm a Guardsman too, you know."

I nod, and we both start running towards Ryan and Lucina. Ryan has taken out two Heroes already, and is just finishing up with the third as we reach him, pulling out the dagger he had just thrust through the Hero's head. We stop a few feet from them and I introduce Loren to them.

"Lucina, Ryan, I'd like you meet a...friend of mine. His name is Lo-"

I am cut off by Lucina rushing forward and wrapping Loren in a hug.

"Uncle Loren! It's so good to see that you're safe"

Me and Ryan both stand there at a loss for words as we stare at the scene before us. Loren clears his throat and pats Lucina on the head, which I could tell was a little hard for him to do, given his height.

"Hey, kiddo. Yeah, nice to see you too. Now could you get off please? You're kinda breaking my spine."

Lucina finally realizes that she's been hugging with all her might, and let's go of Loren, taking a moment to compose herself. I take this time to question Loren about this.

"You're...her Uncle?"

He sighs, crossing his arms.

"Not biologically, no. We've just...known each other for a while."

Ryan steps up to him, emotion showing in his eyes again as he sizes Loren up.

"Wow, you're shorter than I am! How old are you?"

Loren's face turns a shade of red as he coughs and grumbles it out.

"I'm...twenty five."

Ryan starts to laugh his arse off, which in context was a very bad idea.

"Hahahahaha! Twenty five!? Oh man, that's gotta suck! Haha!"

Loren only sighs and shakes his head, that scowl that always seems to be on his face growing larger.

"Can we just get rid of these Risen, please?"

I nod as I whack Ryan on the back of the head. Ryan let's out a yelp of pain, and turns to me.

"What the heck was that for, Gramps!?"

"Respect your elders, Ryan."

I turn to where the two Paladins have been mysteriously waiting this whole time. I nudge Ryan who looks in my direction and nods, putting his hand into a pocket and pulling out a couple of throwing stars.

"Lucina, stay here with Loren. These guys are fast; it's better if you stay here."

Before she has a chance to respond, we both start running forward towards the Paladins. The Paladins finally notice us, and let out a large savage yell before they spur their horses and begin charging at us, their Silver Lances pointed right towards our heads.

I stop myself and Ryan and bring him close to me.

"I have an idea. Get out some more throwing stars."

He looks up at me with a puzzled look, but nods and reaches into another pocket and pulls out a handful of stars.

"Okay, now what?"

I grin as I look down at him, then pick him up with both hands.

"Hope you land on your feet."

With that, I throw him, his direction bringing him right between the two Paladins. Though he is still confused, he seems to have realized the plan. As he sails between the Paladins, he throws all his stars at them, then promptly lands, feet first, a couple more feet away.

The two Paladins both fall of their horses and let out small groans before they too fade away, their entire bodies littered with the stars. I cross my arms and grin as I watch Ryan walk back, a grin on his face.

When he gets to me, he explodes with excitement as he begins to describe what it felt like to fly and be cool at the same time. I laugh a deep, hearty laugh; the first true laugh I've had in a long time.

"Something told me you would enjoy it. Maybe we should do it more often."

Ryan looks up at me and nods his head vigorously.

"Definitely! Just, uh...tell me when you're going to do it, alright?"

I chuckle and give him a nod, and with that, we head back to Loren and Lucina. When we arrive, I can overhear some idle chatter between the two; it seems they both dropped their guard when we set out to fight the Paladins, and my guess is that they didn't even see our little flight test. I clear my throat to make my presence known, and they both turn to me.

"All Risen around here have been taken care of. We need to keep moving Princess.

She nods as she turns back to Loren.

"You'll come with us, right? I don't want to lose you, Uncle."

Loren once again tries to pat her head and a...smile crawls onto his face? By the gods! He can smile! Well there's something you don't see everyday.

"I sure will, Squirt."

I suppress a laugh. Squirt? That's her nickname? Oh boy, when this is over, do I have some teasing to do...

"Right then. We best get moving."

I tell them this as I start marching to the path in the woods. Before I can get far, I am stopped by Lucina running ahead of me.

"Perhaps we might rest for the night? It's rather late, and we all need our strength."

I look down at her and scratch my beard, only to realize how tired I am. I nod slowly, looking around the woods and spotting a small clearing through the trees.

"We'll make camp there. Should be relative safe."

We all funnel into the clearing and make a small fire. Loren takes a few rabbits from his Knapsack that he had been carrying and we all have a decent meal. Before I know it, they're all fast asleep and it's just me awake, staring into the flames.

Who would have thought my life could have gone to hell so quickly? Heh, well I sure didn't. I wonder how everyone is holding up so far. Do they miss their families? Do Loren and Ryan even have families?And poor Lucina…she doesn't even know where Cynthia is, not to mention her parents already passed long ago.

Question after question fills my head, and eventually, I too fall into a deep slumber, the orange cinders leaving a small glow around the campsite..

-GUARDSMEN-

Yo yo yo! Nate back with another edition of Author's Note! So yeah, there's another OC for you, Loren, courtesy of Makmix, thanks for sending him! I hope this update is faster than you guys expected, as I said before, I won't always take a month. Not much else to say here really, heheh. Oh, and do try to review! I need your opinions on how you think the chapter went! I'll never grow as a writer if I don't get some feedback.

By the way, I'm still looking for OC's, particularly female OC's, but don't let that discourage you if you have a male OC! So if you still want to send one in, take a gander at those rules I have in the first and second chapters. I would put them here, but I'm too damn lazy. Don't hit me! And as always, if it's your birthday today, have a happy one, and keep shining people!

-Nate