Chapter 5: From Defender to Mercenary
It had been several days since Loren and his companions had arrived in Ilan, and Loren was beginning to get restless. It wasn't so much that they couldn't do anything to help their situation until Reon made its next move as much as it was not doing anything at all. He was rather surprised when Treo called him, Amy and Xand to a meeting, telling them he had a favour to ask.
Loren correctly guessed that Treo wanted to make use of the Posayan Legion, but for what, he had no idea. Ilan's military should have been large enough that the addition of ten soldiers to any mission wouldn't make any difference whatsoever. He was surprised that, upon arriving at the meeting, very few others were there. In addition to Treo (who was busy laying out a map on one of the desks) and Ray, only two others were present. The first was a woman wearing white robes and holding a staff – evidently a cleric of some kind. The other was a woman suited in armour. From the way she stood beside Ray, it was obvious she was one of his soldiers, here by his command.
Treo looked up as Loren and his advisors entered. "Ah, Loren! I trust you've been well these past few days?"
"Well enough," was the reply. "Now tell me, you said you had a favour to ask. What do you need from us?"
"I'll get straight to the point, then. Loren, I need someone to investigate Lord Jarrel, Duke of Arde. You were the only one I could think of that I could ask to undertake such a task."
"Investigate? What exactly is this duke suspected of?"
"Treason."
Loren was shocked by the reply. Treason was a serious crime (at least in Parolt, and he assumed it would be the same here) – he'd known his father to exile, imprison and even execute those that had been found guilty of it.
"What has this duke done that you suspect him of treason?" asked Xand.
"Recently, the Ilanian army has been suffering from some… setbacks," replied Ray. "Ambushes that have left whole squadrons dead. The disappearance of important documents and equipment. Even disorder in the ranks. Duke Jarrel seems to be linked to all of them in some way. But we can't arrest him without any hard evidence."
"And I suppose that's where we come in, is it?" asked Loren. When Ray nodded, he continued. "But why us? Surely you must have enough soldiers and spies of your own."
"If I may," said Amy, "I'll field that question. Simply put, Prince Treo cannot be shown to be suspicious. If the people of Ilan were to find out about disorder within their nobility to this extent, they'd likely lose faith in their leaders. There would be uproar."
"You're rather clever, aren't you?" said Treo, smiling. "I can see why you keep her around, Loren. You are correct, of course. Infighting amongst the nobility would not be taken well by the commoners. To say nothing of Jarrel's own reaction to discovering my distrust of him. We hired a mercenary to investigate some time ago, but haven't heard from them since."
"I see," said Loren. "Okay. We'll do it."
"Milord, you're being rather brash, aren't you? You should take the time to consider this." Xand was not the only one surprised – not even Treo had expected Loren to accept so easily.
"There's nothing to consider. We owe Treo for granting us sanctuary here. If we can repay him in any way, we should do it."
"Milord… You're an inspiration to all of us."
Loren turned to Treo. "What exactly do you need us to do?"
"Jarrel has a villa on the outskirts of the capital," replied Treo, motioning on one of the maps. "I'd like you go there and see if you can find documents linking him to any plots against the royal family. I don't imagine the place will be unguarded, but it shouldn't be anything you can't handle. I've already called Jarrel here for some other business, so he won't get in your way personally."
"That sounds fairly straightforward," said Loren. "I'll rally my men."
"Before you do…" began Treo, "don't think I can't offer any assistance. You don't have a healer with you, do you?" Seeing Loren shake his head, Treo turned to the robed woman. "Saye!"
"Yes, my lord."
"I'd like you to accompany Loren. It wouldn't do to have one of my dearest friends injured because he didn't have a healer with him."
"Of course, my lord." The cleric turned to the Parolteans. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Prince Loren."
"Likewise."
"Saye has been in service to my family for years now," said Treo. "Why, sometimes she even watches my training sessions…"
"Only so you don't come out of them covered in blood, my lord." Loren realised how much Treo must have trusted her – she wouldn't have thought to make that comment if she didn't feel at ease with him.
"And you'll receive help from me, as well," came Ray's voice, motioning to the armoured woman. "Alice here may not be our most experienced soldier, but she has a lot of potential, and I'm sure she won't let you down."
"I won't fail you, Prince Loren," said Alice.
"Treo, are you sure about this?" asked Loren. "You've already done so much for us… You don't need to add to our forces as well."
"Nonsense! It's my pleasure. Parolt always did feel like a second home to me."
"Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now if you'll excuse me, we must prepare."
As the door closed behind Loren, Amy and Xand, Treo turned to Ray and sighed. "I hope Loren won't hold it against me for not telling the whole story."
"You did the right thing, milord. This is something Prince Loren must see for himself."
Having given their mission to his troops, Loren was preparing his equipment. He thought he'd take his time, because Amy had gone to the castle armoury to replace some of their weapons (she could apparently tell at a glance how close they were to breaking). He had just finished when he heard his sister's voice.
"Loren!"
"Lily. What are you doing here?"
"I heard Treo had a mission for you. I came to see you before you left."
"Are you worried? You know we'll return safely, don't you?"
Lily smiled. "Loren. I believe you. I know nothing can stop you. But there's no harm in wishing you luck. In any case, I came to give you this." Lily held a medallion in her hand, which she handed to Loren. It was a deep turquoise in colour, and shone with a mesmerising brilliance.
"What is this?" asked Loren.
"Father gave it to me before he set out for Reon. He told me it was called the Fire Emblem. As for what it is, I have no idea. But Father told me to keep it safe. I can think of no better way of doing so than to give it to you."
"Lily…"
"Now, weren't you about to head out? Or are you just going to stare at that medallion all day?" Lily may have been able to act diplomatically around everyone else, but she still took the opportunity to tease her brother when she could.
"Of course. We'll see what we can find out about this Fire Emblem when I get back." With that, Loren turned to leave.
Having met up with the rest of the army (including Alice, who, as Loren learned through a rather hazardous encounter with her mount, was a wyvern rider), Loren set out for Duke Jarrel's villa. It hadn't taken them long to get out of the city centre, although the trek through to the outskirts lasted a few marks. Eventually, they saw their target – a rather impressive (at least, to a commoner's eyes, although Loren hardly had that experience) villa.
Amy was surveying the building through her spyglass, having motioned for the others to wait. There were guards on each side, although, which the exception of the front, they were few in number. Having surveyed two of the four sides of the building, the tactician was coming up with the beginnings of a plan to break in.
Her concentration was broken by some loud shouting from one the sides of the building. She had heard voices from that side before, but had assumed it was just the guards conversing. This was different. Taking care not to be seen, she led Loren and the rest of the army around to see what was going on.
Amy didn't need her spyglass to see what was happening when they got there – a young woman with short, light purple hair was wielding a sword and standing in battle against the guards. Amy noticed that the weapon was killing edge – a sword designed to more easily strike at an enemy's weak point. Even stranger, she recognised the style of swordplay, too. She had seen it among the soldiers in her home country. As she watched the woman take out her first adversary, she realised something else – she actually knew her.
"Could that be mercenary that Treo hired?" came Loren's voice.
"I'm sure of it. In fact…"
She was cut off by a scream. The woman was outnumbered, and one of the guards got a clean hit with his own sword, causing her to fall to the ground. Loren realised something was amiss – she had only be struck in the leg. That shouldn't have been enough to take her down.
"Oh my gods!" cried Amy from next to him. "Loren, we have to help her!" she shouted, turning to him.
Loren may not have thought that picking a side was the best idea, and realised that they wouldn't be able to attempt diplomacy with the guards if they jumped into combat against them. Still, he was willing to trust Amy's judgement, and would never have been able to just leave a person in need. "Right. Let's move!" he commanded.
Loren was expecting Amy to say something, to tell him how everyone should proceed. But the tactician was simply running forward, so he rushed forward as quickly as he could to reach her. Xand and the remainder of the army followed suit.
They got there just in time, because Amy had drawn the attention of the guards. There was no way she could have fought them all, and it was pure luck that one of Ronal's arrows took one of them out just as he was about to hit her.
It seemed that there was no way out of a fight with the guards, although each of Loren's men remembered something he had told them before they had left – the guards were likely just doing their job protecting the villa and were unlikely to be involved in whatever the duke's nefarious practices were, so they tried to keep them alive if possible.
Still, that was easier said than done, as still-alive guards had a tendency to get back up and keep fighting, and Karr let out a sigh as he was forced to end the life of one of them with his blade. Alice was doing remarkably better, the strength of her axe often being enough to knock her opponents to the ground by itself, and her mount keeping them from getting back up again.
Meanwhile, Amy was scrambling towards the woman they had seen earlier, who was laid on the ground. She was unconscious, but Amy realised she was still breathing.
"Natalie!" she shouted. "Can you hear me?" When she got no answer, she remembered they had just acquired the services of a healer. "Saye!"
The cleric ran over, and held her staff high as she chanted something in an ancient language. But it seemed to have no effect. Loren noticed that Amy was losing her composure – aside from that one evening in the castle, she'd always been very calm and collected, but now it seemed like she was truly panicking.
Think, Amy, think! Why would a glancing blow like that completely take her down? "Poison!" she shouted. An idea came to her mind. "Talla!"
The thief was by her side within moments. "What do you need?"
"Where there's poison, there's an antivenom. It'll be in a vial of some sort – one of the guards is bound to have some. I need you to find it and bring it to me. Steal it if you can, kill them if you can't." She took a moment to inhale – her words were coming out much too fast – before adding, "Take Brandon with you in case you need to fight. And hurry!"
Talla nodded. She couldn't see any vials among those already defeated, so she and Brandon headed off to find it. She caught a glimpse of sunlight reflecting near one of the guard's belts and, reasoning the reflection came from glass, carefully snuck up on him, avoiding detection. In fact, she managed to pickpocket a glass vial containing a clear liquid right before he turned around and saw her. Fortunately for her, before he could draw his sword, Brandon's axe crashed into him, and he crumpled to the floor.
Amy hadn't moved from her spot, but was able to give the battle her attention while Talla found the antivenom. She realised that Loren's forces fighting close together was making it difficult – after all, since they weren't trying to kill the guards, simply knocking them down in close quarters meant that they usually had an ally nearby to help them back up – and had the army spread out and engage their foes in small groups. Some fought one on one, although Hammond and Ronal fought together, as they knew the archer would find a close quarters battle difficult, and Alice and Eld fought together for the same reason.
"Amy!" came Brandon's voice. The fighter ran up to her and threw her the vial that Talla had stolen, before rushing to aid his allies in the fight, his axe coming down with a mighty crash against an opponent that Loren had been struggling against.
Amy handed the vial to Saye, who uncorked it and gave it a smell. "That's the antivenom, Lady Amy." She got to work quickly, pouring some of it onto the wound. She held up her staff again and chanted a new incantation. When she finished, she turned to the tactician. "The antivenom should bind to the poison so that it doesn't cause any more harm. Whether or not it's already done too much damage, I can't tell. At any rate, we need to get her off the battlefield as soon as possible."
Amy nodded. Hammond had just dispatched an enemy and was close to them, so she asked him to take the injured woman back to the supply cart, opting to remain on the battlefield herself. She drew her sword and entered the fray, assisting Doran, who happened to be engaged with several enemies at once.
Adrenaline was rushing through the tactician's body in a way it never had before. She found herself able to parry blows that, by all logic, should have been too strong for her, and despite her inexperience was putting up as much of a fight as any of Loren's men.
The outside of the villa had quickly become a brutal battlefield. Brandon's axe crashed down with mighty strength, knocking his opponent to the ground. Loren locked swords with the enemy in front of him but, being stronger, managed to gain the upper hand and floor the guard. Talla crept in and out of the fights, using well-placed knives to support the others.
It wasn't long until just a few of the guards remained. One of them (Amy noticed he was wearing better armour than the others, and had been giving commands) stepped forward. "Who are you?" he asked. "Accomplices to that miscreant? Maybe if she hadn't been snooping around where she didn't belong, she wouldn't have gotten hurt!"
Loren had wanted to find a peaceful solution since the battle began, but the guard's attitude made him realise that wouldn't be possible – this man clearly knew he was protecting important, likely incriminating, information. There was no way out of this but through him.
Loren rushed forward to engage him, sword drawn. His initial thrusts were parried by the man's lance, and when he attempted to cut, a swing at his legs threw him off balance, and he was knocked to the floor.
At Amy's direction, Ronal fired an arrow, more as a distraction than anything else. The guard chuckled when it simply bounced off his armour, but gasped when Doran came crashing into him. He landed hard on the ground before being picked up by Alice's wyvern and thrown across the battlefield, where he lay motionless. Whether or not he was dead, no one knew.
With the commanding guard out of the fight, the few remaining offered little resistance, and the sound of clashing metal soon stopped. Loren breathed a sigh of relief – none of his army seemed to have sustained any bad injuries, and although Karr had a cut on his arm where an enemy's sword had hit him, it was quickly patched up by Saye and her staff. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, turning around. Ordinarily, Amy would have asked that question, but while Loren was usually oblivious to people's problems, this one had simply been too obvious.
"We seem to have sustained no injuries, milord," came Xand's voice. "But we should hurry. There's no telling when more guards might appear, and we need to be out of here by then."
"Right," nodded the prince. "Talla, can you get us in?"
The thief nodded, grabbed her lockpick and set to work on the door. Loren looked around, double checking that everyone was okay. His eyes locked with Amy's when he saw her, the question on her face painfully obvious. He nodded, and she ran in the direction of the supply wagon, with Saye following shortly behind.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"She's alive," replied Saye. "It looks like we got there just in time. I doubt any more of that poison would have been good for her."
"If I may be so bold," said Hammond, "you appear to be rather more concerned than I've ever seen you before. Would I be correct in assuming this is someone you know?"
Amy nodded. "Nat and I were childhood friends. Even when our paths diverged and I chose to study to be a tactician rather than a soldier, I used to visit her. In fact, she's the reason I can wield a blade at all."
"My my! Such high praises from the good lady!"
"They're not undue. If it weren't for her, the gods only know where I'd be right now."
"I think she's waking up," came Saye's voice.
Amy's eyes darted back to her friend, and sure enough, she seemed to be stirring.
Much like anyone who woke up from unconsciousness in company, the first thing out of the woman's mouth was a groan. She came to quickly though, following up with "What happened? Who are you?" She looked around, first seeing Saye and Hammond, before her eyes locked on the tactician. "Amy?"
She didn't have time to say anything else, because Amy grabbed her in a tight embrace. "Natalie! I'm so glad you're okay!"
"What happened?"
"You were poisoned," replied Saye. Natalie looked down and realised that the wound on her leg, though sealed by the cleric's magic, did not look good.
"That's right…" she began. "I was caught trying to break into the duke's villa…"
"You were working for Prince Treo, weren't you?" asked Amy. "The moment I saw you, I knew you must have been the mercenary he mentioned."
"That's right. So you know why I'm here? Did the prince hire you, too? Are you all mercenaries?"
"It's a long story…" sighed Amy. "But until Prince Loren gets back, I suppose we have nowhere to go…"
"Has anyone found anything yet?" Loren, Talla, Xand and Eld were inside the villa, searching for anything that Treo could use as evidence against Duke Jarell, while the remainder of the army stood guard outside.
"This place is a mess," replied Eld. "I don't know if we'll find anything in all this clutter."
"You just need to know where to look," said Talla, opening a chest of drawers with her lockpick. She opened the top drawer, and found a stack of letters inside. "Let's see… Bingo! It says… oh gods… it… Lord Loren, I think you should have a look at this…"
"Hmm?" Loren walked over and took the letter from Talla, beginning to read it. "What?" he shouted out loud. "How can this be?"
"Milord?" Xand was still more inquisitive than worried, but he realised something was wrong.
"Duke Jarrel has been keeping correspondence with a Reonian spy. Coupled with a spy in Parolt under his payroll… He's the reason the invading force knew exactly when to strike…"
As she felt a sudden urge to throw up, Eleanor made up her mind. The next time someone asked her to use a new, untested invention of any kind, she would refuse. Of course, had she left this task to Vallis, he would invariably have killed someone just for the fun of it, which, aside from the obvious moral issue, would have served to provoke Ilan into an all-out war they didn't want.
Still, the Warp staff seemed to have done its job. She had merely had to picture her destination, and Tybran was able to teleport her there. Of course, getting out would be much harder, but she hadn't been seen yet, and the Reonian spies had ensured her there would be a unguarded passage out of the castle.
Still, she couldn't leave until she had what she had come for…
Next time:
With more questions than ever before, Loren heads back to Castle Senne to get some answers from Treo. But what awaits him upon his return his something no one could have predicted…
Curious? You'll have to wait and see.
