Their brief reprieve from Gannelon only lasted the night in the old fortress, and long enough to see Natalie safely to her village. Lyndis' Legion soon found themselves under relentless pursuit for the next several days. They had been lucky so far in the minor skirmishes they found themselves in when several of the Gannelon bandits had caught up. Only a few scratches, nothing serious. The Legion had decided to make haste for the Lycian border, as once they crossed it, the bandits would no longer be able to give further chase.
"It's not much farther." Sain said, as his horse neighed in protest. "Not much farther, only a mile or two and we'll be safe."
"Lyn, Jace." Florina's Pegasus had landed in front of their horses, which were as exhausted as Sain's. "Bad news. The bandits have a small force directly ahead of us."
Jace swore. "Damnit! And the bulk of their forces are not fifteen minutes ride behind us. We are right between a rock and a hard place."
"There's more." The petite knight continued. "There's a cleric and her escort in a forest clearing not too far from here."
"Do you think they could help?" Lyn asked.
"They didn't attack when I flew over, I believe that is a good thing." Florina's hands began to shake nervously.
"Alright Florina, calm down we can handle this." Jace said encouragingly. Moments later, Florina and her Pegasus were in the air.
"We can?" Lyn asked in confusion.
"Odds are that cleric's escort is a mage." He explained. "We need all the help we can get with these bandits."
Lyn nodded in understanding. "Alright, let's go talk to them. But we should be quick about it, the main Gannelon force is right behind us."
Lyn and Jace set off for the clearing Florina had pointed out, but not before ordering Kent, Sain, and Dorcas to watch their rear flank in case Gannelon's main force had caught up with them. The cleric was about the same size as Florina, with her pink hair braided into two pigtails. She let out a shriek that seemed too loud for a normal human, when a bandit archer revealed himself.
"Erk, do something!" She screamed, as she hid behind her red robed companion.
The red robed person named Erk, who turned out to be a boy of around Wil's age, rolled his eyes and brushed his long purple hair out of his face. Magic began to gather in Erk's hand, and before the archer knew what was going on, a large fireball had reduced the offending bandit to a smoldering charred corpse.
The pink haired cleric prodded the corpse with her staff, as she gave a disgusted huff. "Did you have to be that brutal?"
Erk rolled his eyes, before he noticed Lyn and Jace. He began to gather magic into his hands once more, before Jace spoke. "Peace friend. We are not among the numbers of those bandits. We are attempting to get away from them."
"So you need help!" The pink haired cleric said in a loud and bright voice. "Let's give them a hand Erk!"
Erk groaned, and rubbed his temples. "Elmine's grace, I'll be glad when this assignment is over."
The four note bird call that signalled danger rang over the trees, and Lyn and Jace readied their blades for a fight not a moment before half a dozen bandits tore into the forest clearing. The Cleric shrieked once again, making everyone including the bandits wince and cover their ears. She hid behind Erk once again, screaming at Erk to "GET THEM!"
The surrounding trees and the grass of the forest clearing were soon stained red. Jace switched from fighting back to back with Lyn, to standing back to back with Erk dual casting spells. "Who taught you to cast?" The purple haired mage asked.
"My mother." Jace responded as an arrow flew between them. It missed the both of their heads by inches. "And speaking of that, Arcthunder!" A large bolt of lightning shot from Jace's hand, and disintegrated the archer's head.
"By Elmine, what was that!?" The young mage asked astonished at Jace's spell.
"An Arc-spell." Jace explained as he shot off another Arcthunder at a bandit swordsman who was about to flank Lyn. The powerful thunder spell vaporized the bandits arms, and Erk finished him with his fire spell. "Every mage in Akaneia learns to utilize Arc-spells. Do they not teach them in Etrua?"
Erk's eyes widened in shock. "How did you know I was Etruan?"
"It's the way you cast." Jace said, as both his blade and the Mani Katti blocked an overhead strike from a Gannelon axeman. Erk shot a small fireball that pierced the man's chest, and came out through his back.
"You could tell I was Etruan by the way I cast a spell?" Erk was still clearly shocked.
"I've had extensive magical training, the majority of said training was while I was in Etrua." Jace explained, as the two bantered as the battle raged.
"Who was your instructor?" Erk asked, as Florina flew overhead with Wil riding with her atop her flying steed, firing arrows down at the frontal force of the Gannelon bandits.
"My mother. She's the one who taught me and my elder brother to use Arc-spells." Jace said firing another Arcthunder spell.
"I only know of two others that are able to cast Arc-spells." Erk said. "Lord Pent the Mage General of Etrua, and Raja Ebonhart."
At that Jace smiled. "And it is funny you should mention Raja Ebonhart, as that woman is my mother."
The battle had ended, Lyndis' Legion had crossed the Bern/Lycian border, and everyone with the exception of Erk and the cleric who was named Sera were as exhausted as their horses. Jace had slumped over Brego in his saddle, as worn and horribly exhausted, the Legion had crossed into the closest Lycian province.
Jace had collapsed into the bed of the small in the Legion had purchased for the evening. Jace and Cyrus had a small amount of gold, which they had pooled together in order to pay for the rooms the Legion were staying in that evening.
"Jace?" The tactician's eyes snapped open when he recognized Lyn's voice. He had been seconds away from fading, and sleeping away his physical exhaustion when the swordswoman had entered his room.
"Lyn…" Jace groaned as he sat up, his muscles protesting this action. "What can I do for you?"
"The previous night, it appeared that you had an odd dream." She sat on the edge of his bed as she said this. Her green eyes were filled with concern, as she gazed into his deep crimson ones.
Jace was shocked, that for some reason Lyn had been awake when Jace's nightmare had woken him up. "What… What were you doing awake?" He asked, is shock evident in his voice.
"I could not sleep. While we were being chased the day before, Kent told me that my grandfather had taken ill recently which is why he sent both him and Sain. Grandfather wanted to make peace with his family in case these were to be his final days." Lyn explained. There was a moment of silence before she continued. "I saw that you had woken, and exclaimed about a dream. Yet to me it seemed more like a nightmare."
"It was an odd dream to say the least Lyn." Jace said. And he lost track of time, as he recounted everything from the dream he had, where he was the figure who had been run through with that beautiful sword, to the dream he had the night previous. The dream where he and that strong blue haired man had fought that powerful dark mage, then had shifted to where he had run that dark figure through the heart, and both he and the dark figure began to fade.
"Father sky…" Lyn was as shocked as Jace had been, when Lyn had said she knew the tactician had his recurring nightmare.
"I don't know weather these dreams are prophetic, or if they're just nightmares…" Jace said exhaustedly, as his head came to rest against Lyn's shoulder.
Lyn, not knowing why began to run her hands through the tactician's now untidy dark blond hair. "It's Just a nightmare Jace." She said, as Jace closed his eyes. He was fast asleep, and did not hear what Lyn said next. "If this dream is indeed prophetic, I won't allow you to vanish from this world. You are far too important to me."