The Mountain Waycastle was one of two routes to Gran Soren. Unless one wanted to pass through the monster-infested Ancient Quarry, the safest gamble would be to use the stone bridge and go through the mountains. But even the path was risky; bandits, goblins, and harpies commonly made use of the road to ambush the weary traveler. And that was before the dragon appeared, and brought hosts of strange beasts along with it. Who knew what dangers the route held now?

Darien, Zillah, and Rook arrived at the Waycastle before midday. Men of the Enlistment Corps busily worked throughout the makeshift camp, and travelers rested beside the small fires and within the tents. A company of knights had gathered around the ox-pulled cart that carried the severed hydra head. Captain Mercedes stood at its side and barked orders to her men.

Darien slowly made her way toward the cart, politely moving through the crowd. She was halfway through when suddenly someone called out, "The Hydra-Slayer! Make way." Then, all eyes turned toward her and her allies. She felt uncomfortable under their gaze, but kept her head up and continued toward the captain.

Mercedes ignored the soldiers and greeted Darien. "I trust you rested well, given the hour. The Arisen arose late this day, eh?"

Darien didn't know how to respond to that. "I beg your pardon," she said. "Bandits got in my way."

The captain made a disgusted noise. "The roads have always held danger, but it seems even scoundrels are not content to surrender their occupations." She faced the soldiers and raised her voice. "We make for the capital, men. Like as not, the cart will draw beasts along the way. Stay vigilant!" Then she came around to Darien's side. "But fear not. We walk with the Arisen, slayer of hydras!"

A handful of men cheered loudly and everyone stared at her. Darien was both nervous and touched by the attention.

The company moved out only as quickly as the lone ox could pull the wagon. They passed over the stone bridge; a group of twenty some soldiers and Darien and her pawns. Mercedes' men seemed eager to leave, likely because of their late start.

The first hour or so of the journey was quiet, save for the knight's hushed murmurs. Mercedes walked at the front of the group, head held high and scanning her surroundings. Darien was beside her, occasionally throwing glances at the captain.

"Does the Arisen make a habit of staring," Mercedes asked. She had this tone that Darien couldn't pin as annoyance or humor.

The Arisen looked away suddenly, then back. She smiled, embarrassed. "Sorry. I'm not used to such company."

The Captain stayed alert, right hand resting on the hilt of her rapier. But she carried the conversation. "With knights,or pawns?"

Darien grinned at Zillah who looked back vacuously. "Both," Darien said. "Not that I am complaining, mind you."

Mercedes glanced over her shoulder. "Ser Georg, send two men to scout the pass ahead. We've little visibility from here on out."

A particular knight from the group approached the captain. He was of average height, with a thick build apparent even under the uniform. He had sun-tanned skin weathered from hard labor, a square jawline and a wide rimmed nose.

"Aye, Captain," he said, and barked his commands to the group behind.

Two of the Corp jogged ahead, disappearing around the corner of the mountainside.

"Arisen, meet Ser Georg," Mercedes said. "He is in charge of recruitment for the Corps."

Darien wasn't entirely sure how to greet a knight, so she gave him a hard nod. Thankfully he didn't reach out to shake her hand or anything.

"Well met, Arisen," he said. "I'm surprised I never had the chance to recruit you. I've normally an eye for combat prowess, and yet your name has never reached my ears."

"Pray, forgive my associate, Arisen," Mercedes said, face deadpan. "Ser Georg has as much tact as an ox."

"Please, just Darien is fine. I've yet adjusted to such a title."

Georg snorted, which could have been laugh from him. "Forgive me my candor. The life of a sellsword required little decorum."

Darien looked at Mercedes, then back at the man. "A sellsword?"

"Many of the Enlistment Corps came from mercenary work. Myself included." He gave Mercedes a slight bow. "I second as a knight because of the Captain here. I know not what a common day in Hearthstone is, but it must be quite the place for one of their women to whip a thug such as myself into knight material."

Darien slowly smiled, unsure if he was joking or mocking.

"'Tis not common," Mercedes said, undaunted, "but necessary if Gransys is to survive the Dragon's onslaught."

Darien nearly jumped when a Corp member was suddenly between her and Zillah.

"I thought that was the Arisen's job!" the knight said. Then he looked at Zillah and smoothed his hair back even though it was just as closely shaved as Georg's. He smiled and said, "Hello."

The elder knight came around and pushed the man in the face. "Arman," he growled, "You've no better luck with pawn women than the normal sort." Then he looked at Zillah. "No offense."

"I have no interest in anyone aside from the Arisen," she replied flatly.

Darien scratched the back of her head and looked at anything aside from the knights. She did happen to catch Arman's hugely idiotic grin.

"A-anyway," Darien said, "I wouldn't rely solely on me for the dragon's demise."

Arman came to the other side of Darien. The man was quick. "But you control the pawn legion. Ancient tales of the Arisen dictate you will slay the beast. Like His Grace, Duke Edmund."

"I said away, greenhorn," Georg said, pushing Arman toward the back.

Mercedes watched the two knights walk away, and then turned toward Darien. "Your skill is impressive, ser-"

"Darien," The Arisen said.

"-but I'll place my faith in the strength of the Enlistment Corps over a legend."

"Good."

"But I must ask: Why did you not join the Corps? You would have been accepted, and your ability would be fast recognized. Surely you are familiar with those from your village who have enlisted."

Darien looked at the captain for a few moments and then shrugged. "I never expected to make a career past Cassardis. My fellows believe that an honest life beside the ocean is glorious enough a life."

"And you?"

Darien stopped walking. "What?" She caught up with the knight and looked straight ahead. "When this whole mess with the dragon ends, I like to believe I'll be content with returning home."

Mercedes nodded thoughtfully.

"Oy, Captain," a knight shouted from behind, "Defloe wants to check on the Ox. Said it's limping."

"Damn it all," Mercedes said, then added louder, "Stop. We'll not waste the hydra's head to the mountain." She marched toward the cart, stopped, and turned around. "Where are my scouts?"

Darien glanced at her pawns, then back at the captain. "We'll go check on them."

The Arisen left before Mercedes could respond, her pawns following close behind. At this point, Darien had no idea how close to Gran Soren they were. The mountain's sides pressed against both sides of the path, preventing them from seeing far.

Gran Soren though. Darien had been there once when she was young, but she hardly remembered the experience. She remembered crowds, though.

The Arisen looked down the path for any sign of the scouts. "Have you two been to Gran Soren?" she asked.

Rook nodded once. "Yes, Arisen. Many a pawn has been hired under contract there."

"Really? For what?"

The mage thought for a moment before responding. "Mainly mercenary work. One can usually find work through the Pawn Guild there. It doubles as a haven of sorts for my kind."

Zillah stood beside Darien and they both looked at Rook with wide eyes.

"Pawn Guild?" Darien inquired.

Suddenly a man landed directly between Darien and Rook. He had hit the ground with a hard thud and the clash of metal on stone. Darien screamed and cursed at once, inadvertently grabbing the archer's arm. It was a knight – one of Mercedes' scouts.

"Harpies!" Rook yelled.

Darien drew her sword. The air above them filled with flashes of white; large birds streaming by overhead. Feathers floated to the ground around them. One of the creatures dived toward Darien. She swung her sword too soon, and the monster flapped hard enough to stop before metal bit its skin. Everything moved too quickly for Darien to register the human, feminine face of the beast. She lunged forward and slammed the creature with her shield. It screamed and flapped its wings hard enough to throw up dust and earth before it took to the sky.

Zillah fired and arrow, and the creature howled as it fell somewhere beyond their sights. The damn noises they made – to Darien's ears sounded like women in pain.

"Arisen!"

She looked up and threw herself down as a mass of flames and feathers flew directly over her head and crashed behind her. She spun around on her hands and knees. The harpy thrashed as the fire smoldered and died upon the charred wings. It propped itself upon the wrist of its wings and its talon-equipped hands and swung its face toward Darien.

Darien froze. It had a human face, beautiful even, and contorted in pain. She, it, stared back, breathing quick and shallow. Then it howled, mouth opened to reveal rows of razor teeth.

Darien screamed over the cacophony it produced, and ran forward, sword in hand. She swung the blade against through the monster's neck. The harpy's scream became a sigh as its pupils dilated and the head slid off to the side.

Two harpies snarled at the group in midair. Then a sudden change occurred, and their faces became pleasant, human and beautiful. They sang.

Zillah ran to Darien and covered her ears with her hands. Darien was about to ask what the pawn was doing when Rook fell to the ground and lay still. He was closest to the tuneful noise the beast's made.

Zillah quickly removed her hand and deftly notched and arrow and release it. The harpy to the right spiraled to the earth and writhed on the ground. The lone survivor hissed before flying away.

"Their voices, Arisen," Zillah said, turning toward her master.

"I understand," Darien replied. She walked over to Rook and shook his shoulder. "Wake up, Rook. We need to go."

Darien and her pawns regrouped, breathless from their encounter, and Rook dazed from falling to the harpies' song. The silence allowed them to hear the dulled shouts of the Enlistment Corps.

Zillah spun around and face the direction they came from. "Master-"

"I know," Darien replied. "Hurry! Back to the knights!"

The convoys from the Enlistment Corp were holding well against the harpies, but the sight of the harpies flying overhead was startling. The men made a circle around the hydra's head and faced outward with their weapons drawn.

"Stand firm, men!" Mercedes shouted over the wailing of the monsters. "What would the Enlistment Corp be if we were felled by so common a winged beast?"

Darien stared in awe of the cloud of creatures circling overhead. "Maker's breath. Never have I seen so many."

As soon as one of the harpies began to sing, Merced pointed her rapier at it and shouted, "Archers, now!"

Five men with bows were paced evenly around the circle. They each looked toward their captain and then fired upon the beast. Darien didn't know if the flock attacked all at once in response to their fallen kin, or if they themselves coordinated the strike, but then the mass of beasts dived toward the knights. One of the knights swung his sword wildly, but was snatched by the large talons of harpy and lifted into the air. Another of the beasts collided into him midair, savagely tearing into him.

Two harpies landed on the ox. Before they could rip into the animal, Mercedes was there. Her rapier shot out faster than Darien had ever seen. She stabbed the first beast centered in its elongated neck. Mercedes jerked her arm sideways, sending the beast screeching to the ground. The other harpy regarded the knight and screamed angrily. The captain swiped once at the right wing. The monster tried flying away, but only got a few feet above the ground before spiraling to the earth where Ser Georg cut it down.

"Ser Cyrus!" Mercedes said, "Get the ox moving! Men, we are leaving now!"

"Arisen," Zillah shouted, "Harpies!"

"Maker, I know!" Darien ran forward.

The ox's nostrils flared as the knight, known as Cyrus, slapped the beast's hide. They moved slowly, hindered by the harpies.

"Arisen!"

Darien instinctively brought her shield up and spun to face Zillah. A harpy hit her shield on its way to the ground where it lay still, an arrow sticking from its head.

"Thanks," Darien said breathlessly.

"They'll not get far at this rate," Rook said.

Darien turned toward the knights. They were holding their ground, leaving behind a trail of dead harpies. Mercedes had one of the knights leaning on her shoulder. She said something to Georg and passed the injured man to him. They weren't leaving anyone behind. Darien stared at them, then glanced at dead harpy at her feet.

"Noted," Darien said. "Get ready."

She turned and brought her sword down on the neck of the dead harpy. Then, Darien turned toward the battle and propped her shield in front of her. Darien caught Zillah's eye and nodded once. The pawn drew an arrow from her quiver, and the mage shook his staff, sending ash flickering from the tips.

Darien slammed her shield with her sword and shouted at the top of her voice. The metal clanked loudly on impact.

It didn't happen all at once, but each harpy swiveled their heads toward the Arisen. Then she lifted the severed head of the harpy before her. Trickles of its blood slid down her arm as Darien held it by the hair - feathers. The reaction was instantaneous. The flock of harpies screamed, and then rushed toward them. Darien dropped the head and cursed.

"Move! Move! Move!" Darien shouted.

She grabbed the arms of her two pawns and pulled them before going into a sprint. Mercedes shouted something from behind, but Darien didn't hear what. Zillah jumped and spun in midair, firing an arrow at the closest harpy. The beast dodged it, but the monster behind it took the projectile to its chest and spiraled to the ground.

Darien stopped once when a harpy landed hard on her back. It dug its talons into her left shoulder and flapped wildly. Darien yelped and kicked her feet to keep from being lifted. Rook slammed his staff into the creature's face, and she – it – wrenched its claws out of the Arisen. Darien silently seethed from the pain, hissing under her breath. She tore her shield from her arm and let it clank on the ground. Zillah gripped a fistful of her leather cape and hauled her to her feet.

Darien didn't realize how far they had run. The path sometimes split and, at this point, she had lost all sense of direction or which routes they had taken. Suddenly, Darien and the pawns stood near the summit of the mountain. The lower region of Gransys could be seen from their position; rolling hills of grass and trees, but it mattered not at the moment.

The path was split into two, one going downwards and the other, up. On the top of the hill sat a wooden cottage. Darien went for that, but tripped on the loose rock and pebbles at her feet. She reached out with her hands to stop her fall, and the pain stung her wounded arm.

She flipped herself over. A flock of harpies shot down toward them. Darien stood and held her sword with both hands despite the pain.

The chanting came to an abrupt end, and suddenly a wall of flame burst from the earth before Darien and the pawns. She felt the heat against her face, but was otherwise unharmed from the spell. A few of the harpies collided into the flames and spiraled through the wall and crashed to the ground. The remaining few howled and hovered momentarily before fleeing.

Darien turned toward the cottage. An elder man stood behind them. He lowered the intricate staff in his left hand and regarded them. He held a tall, metal shield in his other hand, and a sheathed sword hung from the belt on his hip. Aside from his equipment, he didn't look particularly remarkable in any way; his plain clothing opposing the splendor of his weapons.

Rook leaned toward Darien. "A mystic knight, Arisen."

"Ah," the man said, "you've a knowledgeable companion, ser. Though neither of you the intellect to face a horde of harpies." He looked into the sky. "But skill, perhaps, to attract the attention of so many at once. That, I've not seen in my lifetime."

Darien stood up quickly, and then cringed from the pain in her arm. "I've no…Thank you, ser.

The man looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "And did I hear correctly? You, an Arisen?"

"That's what I'm told."

The man sighed and shrugged. He carried his shield as if it was an extension of himself, but it also seemed a weight on his thin shoulders; as if he hadn't wielded it for some time.

"It seems fate has brought you and your companions to my doorstep-"

"I'd wager more like bad luck and a lot of harpies."

"-Come on inside now so we may do something with that shoulder of yours."

The inside of the cottage was simple, nothing like Darien has expected from a hermit-mystic-knight-person. Her shoulder throbbed, but now it was bandaged and had stopped bleeding. It actually wasn't the man who saved them who cleaned and stitched her wound, but another who lived in the cottage. Darien couldn't recall hearing him speak at all, but his side eying the mystic knight was obvious, as if he didn't approve of the guests.

Zillah curiously looked around the home. Darien noticed that her pawn kept her palms on the daggers on her belt, fingers outstretched. The Arisen looked at Zillah and raised her eyebrows. The pawn stopped pacing and relaxed her hands.

Darien raised her shoulder and then relaxed it. She glanced at Rook.

"My spell will quicken your recovery," he said, "but such deep wounds will need time to heal."

Darien smiled. "Thank you, Rook."

"Then you really are Arisen," The mystic knight said, and then laughed. "If only you had come half a decade earlier."

Darien glanced at him and the other man. They could have been brothers.

"Why is that?" Darien asked.

The mystic knight leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. He didn't appear particularly threatening, but his display earlier proved otherwise.

"My associate and I," he said slowly, as if testing each word in his mind before speaking. "We were once part of an order that…well, back then we might have considered you a threat. Perhaps, we may have even tried to kill you."

Zillah and Rook stared at him. For those without willpower, Darien felt she could cut the tension in the air with her sword.

The man grinned and put out his hands before him. "Pray, be at ease. I would not rescue you from the harpies only to shed your blood in mine own home." He crossed his arms again and looked to his companion who seemed entirely unamused – bored even.

"I should ask," Darien said, "What are your names? And what is this order that would threaten my life?"

"We are nameless," the mystic knight said. "But there was once a time I would have introduced myself as 'Nemesis. I am he born to be your death.' And then I'd say something akin to, 'I've been your destined slayer long before you ever was born.' Great stuff, that." He laughed loudly at his own humor.

Darien's eyes narrowed and she looked off to the side. She was surprised to see the other man lean back in his chair and rub his temples before he glared at his companion.

The mystic knight looked at his associate and shrugged. "Calm yourself. We've yet to be punished for deserting the cause, and I've no intention of starting up again." He looked at Darien and the pawns and smiled, almost apologetically. "As I said, we mean you and your pawns no harm. As for the order…We know not what they may plan. They may not even know of your existence yet. Although, that may change with coming fame."

"If your order means to harm to the Arisen," Zillah said, "then we would have you explain."

"There is aught I could tell you, but much of it I cannot. For reasons of our own. We may have left that life behind, but our souls are still connected. Bound. Our identity forsaken to Darkness." The mystic knight closed his eyes. "We are, were, heretics. And the Arisen is the greatest threat to our god." He opened his eyes and grinned at Darien. "Have you aught an idea as to whom I refer to?"

Darien shook her head. "I haven't the faintest clue."

"The dragon, Arisen," Rook said.

Darien blinked at the mage. "The dragon?" She looked at the mystic knight. "The dragon? You worship dragons?"

He nodded. "As I said, we mean you no harm. And when you leave here, we will hinder you not, nor ever will. Now come, surely you wish to catch the company you once traveled with. With a smaller party and no harpies to hinder you, you should be able to reunite with them before they reach the gates of Gran Soren."

Huh? What do you mean there weren't THAT many harpies in the game? Of course there were. If I decided to be completely accurate, Darien (in my first play-through) would have swung her sword wildly, trying to get the harpies but failing miserably, and having the pawns do all the work.

And the two men living in the cottage...There's next to nothing about them in the game or on the Dragon's Dogma Wiki except that in New Game + they are replaced by skeleton lords. And apparently, Skeleton Lords are undead who were once mystic knights. Since Darien is going to become a mystic knight in the future, I figured this was a good intro into the vocation.