Sword and Shadow Chapter 17: Guy: Sword's Oath, a fire emblem fanfic

Chapter 15: Sword's Oath

Guy watched with a bit of amusement as Cauld and Terrace, two of the former Quickblades who had joined the Badgers after their captain's death, released the leaves on the wind and tried to cut them down.

Terrace's technique was frankly horrible, though considering the young archer had only recently taken to learning the sword, it was better then it could be. Needless to say, all three leaves escaped his swing without suffering so much as a scratch. He wasn't even able to chase forward fast enough to get in reach of them before he swung.

Cauld on the other hand managed to nick one. It wasn't a clean cut, but it touched the leaf and Guy could tell from watching that it wasn't just an accident of the wind.

Giving both men a nod, Guy offered them a constructive critique, "Terrace, you need to be faster. Work on your sprinting before you try this again. You know the bow, you know how fast an arrow flies. Be faster. Work on getting your speed up before you work on technique. And if we get called to real battle, bring your sword but I want you staying with the bow for now."

The boy nodded, accepting the lesson without complaint or pride. Terrace was a good kid, hard working, earnest, eager to please. He reminded Guy of Priscilla in some ways, now that he thought about it. Priscilla...I haven't thought about her in a long time. Heh, guess it was just a boy's crush after all.

"Cauld..." Guy looked over at the other former 'blade who he worked with, "that actually wasn't bad at all. You're on the right track, just keep it up. You didn't quite have the third leaf in reach though, so pick up the speed a bit as well. And remember you can't swing at where they're at, you have to know how long it takes your sword to move and swing at where they will be."

"Not bad?" Cauld practically sputtered, "I barely touched the damn thing!"

"You're still new at this." Guy shrugged.

"New?" the hotheaded young man snorted, "I've been using a sword for six years you know. I should be better then this. I should be more then just half a step better then the bloody archer."

If there were two things Guy had learned about Cauld, it's that he was a perfectionist on the battlefield and a shameless womanizer off of it. He tried not to be around the man off the field, but the perfectionism was serving him well in training...when it wasn't causing him to expect himself to be better then he could possibly be yet. Shaking his head, Guy corrected the man's statement, "You have been using a sword for six years. You have been learning the sword for less then six weeks. As far as the sword is concerned, the only advantage you have over Terrace is being in better shape to use it. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he was doing better then you, as he has nothing to unlearn. Keep all that in mind and you're doing fairly well."

Cauld stopped to think about that, which is exactly what Guy wanted him to do. He's got the makings of a great swordmaster someday. Hope he doesn't get killed first.

"Um, mast…er, um, Guy?" Terrace spoke up quietly, "The vice-captain wanted you for the patrol going out tonight, you wanted me to remind you when it was getting late."

Guy nodded, "Thanks." Over the past few weeks he had to practically beg Terrace not to call him Master Guy in the lessons. He was technically their teacher and thus deserving of the address, but being called master by anyone made him uncomfortable. Especially by men who were only a bit younger then he was. "You two keep practicing for a bit. No leaves, just work on your forms and sprints. Especially the sprints, speed is what will keep you alive in battle."

His two students nodded and got back to practicing as he turned to go. Leaving them to their work, he turned his thoughts to the job ahead. Aerie must be expecting trouble to want me, her and Nik all out together. That's less of a patrol and more of a strike team.

The sun was just beginning to go down as Guy, Aerie and Nikras left the camp too out on a late patrol. Night patrols, rather then just a night watch, were something the Badgers had been able to start doing after nearly doubling their numbers from taking it the remaining Quickblades. Branta had been a bit skeptical that they were a good use of manpower, but Nikras assured him they would turn something up before long and the hero was seasoned enough for Branta to let him try it. Out of all the former 'blades, Nikras was easily their best new recruit, and a fair bet for officially replacing Aerie as the vice-captain if something should happen to her.

Not that Guy wanted to think about that possibility at all.

"Alright..." Aerie came to a stop and turned to the two men with her, "I think we're out far enough."

Nikras nodded, "Right. So...what's this really about then?"

Guy blinked, caught entirely off guard by Nik's blunt question, "Huh?"

The blond man gave him a level stare, "Think about it. With Branta still not back to perfect health, we're the three best fighters in the company. Taking all three of us out is more then just a patrol, but we didn't take enough medical supplies for this to be a strike. Something unusual is up."

Aerie nodded in return, "You're absolutely right, something is up. And...I'm afraid the patrol is a pretense, yes. Guy, I know how you feel about that, but..."

He waved the concern off, "It's fine. What's the problem?" Frankly he was just glad that she remembered the Sacaen honor, even if she couldn't hold to it here.

"We received a message this morning from the Prince's forces. It's..." Aerie trailed off a bit.

"Not good news then." Nikras sighed, "Just how much trouble are we in?"

"A lot. A whole lot. See..." Aerie took a deep breath and forced herself to deliver the news, "the king is dead."

Guy blinked, "Uh...isn't that good news for us? With the king dead, the war should be over soon. ...right?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Nikras agreed, "But as this is being considered bad news, I doubt it's anything that could be considered normal."

"Right again," Aerie nodded, "The prince poisoned the king. Assassination. Under the pretense of a peace talk, no less."

Guy blinked at her in dumb shock while Nikras just buried his head in his hands.

"That was about Branta and my reactions, yes." Aerie found a place to sit down and slumped up against a tree, "This is going to change basically everything."

"Scratch the basically." Nikras groaned, "This is going to cause chaos."

"...why?" Guy shook off his shock and questioned the strangeness of the action, "this is actually exactly what I've come to expect from Bernese nobles. Most Lycian nobles, too. Do your people honestly not know how selfish and wretched their leaders usually are?"

"That's exactly the problem, Guy." Aerie shook her head, "We know too damned well. The Prince was supposed to be our new beacon of hope. He was supposed to change all of that. He was supposed to be better then his father, better then the old nobility. But now..."

As she trailed off, Nikras finished the thought for her, "We were the good guys. Zaki didn't hire on for the prince because he paid more. Hells man, the king's men offered us nearly half again what Prince Zephiel's forces could. He sighed the Quickblades on to the side he thought was right. But now that's gone. If the prince engages in assassination, if he falls into the old patterns..."

"Then there are no good guys." Guy finished as he understood the point. To be honest, he was feeling it himself as well. Grant...he'd never do something like that. I can't imagine Vaida would either, too much pride. The prince had to do it without their approval.

"So," Nikras spoke up again, asking a question Guy was curious to as well, "why take us out just to deliver this news? You can't be planning on hiding it from the others?"

Aerie shook her head, "No, we're not. Branta just wanted the leaders of the group, such as we are, to know first. So we can stay in control and present a unified front to the others when we break the news. Otherwise we might be facing desertion from some."

"Not that I could blame them." Guy shrugged. "It's going to be harder for me to care about fighting the prince's enemies now."

"How much longer is our contract for?" Nikras got right to the important questions.

"End of the year. If Branta doesn't like what he sees from here on, we take our money and walk after that. And at that point, any individual member of the company is free to do the same whether or not the company renews contract."

"We'll just need to hold it together until then." Nikras nodded, "Cauld and Terrace should follow Guy's lead. Lem and Dastan should follow mine."

"And I'm the moral case in the core Badgers, the twins are pretty pragmatic." Aerie pointed out, "So the three of us should be able to keep things from dissolving until the contract runs out."

"I trust Branta will be making it very clear that's what the plan is?"

"Yeah," Aerie confirmed, "The official stance here is that we're not breaking contract, but the prince and his people have until years end to prove this was a fluke or some rogue operative or something. That this isn't how Zephiel is going to run the country. If we still don't like what we see by then, we leave."

"That should work." Nikras nodded, then asked, "but some will want to know where exactly we'd leave to if it came to it. All of my people are from Bern, and I know most of you are as well."

"Lycia." Guy spoke up, surprising both of the heroes, "We go to Lycia. Marquis Ostia or Marquis Caelin would hire the whole company on my recommendation." Guy didn't exactly like mentioning his connections to powerful people. He understood enough that it would make some of his teammates very uncomfortable...and it honestly made him a bit self conscious as well, but right now was the best time to bring it up.

Aerie and Nikras just stared at him, until Nik finally managed to ask, "Just who the hell ARE you?"

"I helped Lord Hector kill a dragon. Along with Marquis Caelin's granddaughter and her husband. They weren't married then though, that happened later." Guy just blurted out the ridiculous sounding, but entirely true, statement as simply as he could.

Nikras just stared at him again, while Aerie gave him a more irritated glare and accused, "You have stories like this and you never shared them? Come on Guy, I thought we were your friends now? We are having a long talk later."

Nik raised an eyebrow at Aerie, "You...believe all that?"

"The proud people of Sacae tell no lies," she repeated the well known phrase. "And besides, Guy's nowhere near imaginative enough to make things like that up. It has to be true."

"…uh, thanks." Guy wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that endorsement, "I think."

Nik just shook his head in disbelief, "Right. Next you'll be telling me you were the best man at the granddaughter's wedding. "

Guy laughed, "Well..."

After making it back to camp, Aerie went to report the 'results' of the patrol to the captain while Guy just went back to his tent and crawled in. He couldn't sleep though, not with what he had just learned.

Kind Desmond assassinated. Was it the prince's order? Couldn't be Grant's, but he might have other people working for him who'd do it. But...no matter who did it, it'll make Prince Zephiel look bad. Guy frowned at the thought. He had met the prince before, helped to save him from the Black Fang even. He seemed like a nice enough guy back then, like a younger Lord Eliwood. Guy didn't really want to believe that he helped save someone who'd turn out to be corrupt.

As he lay there thinking, someone scratched on the door flap of his tent, and Aerie's voice quietly called, "Hey, you asleep yet?"

Sitting up, Guy pulled the flap open, "Not yet. Something else going on?"

Aerie shook her head, "No, just wanted to talk about stuff. Can I come in?"

Guy considered the size of his tent. It was basically built for one. Two people could sit in there...if they didn't mind sitting very close. "Uh...there's not really much room in here..."

"My tent's not any bigger and we can't talk around the others right now." Aerie countered.

"Um..." he had to admit she had a point. And he did have another question that had been gnawing at him about the whole assassination mess. So he nodded and scooted over as much as he could, "alright."

Aerie crawled in and closed the tent flap behind her, so it was rather dark in there. Guy was glad for that, since he was fairly sure he had started blushing as she brushed against him on her way in. It was the first time a girl had ever been in his tent, after all. Even if they were just there to talk.

"So..." Aerie whispered conspiratorially, "you killed a dragon? A REAL dragon?"

Guy nodded...then remembered she probably couldn't see that right now and said, "Yeah. Well...it was Lord Hector that did the killing. I drew some fire from it though. Literally, it breathed fire at me. Then Armads came down on it's head like a ton of rocks and it stopped breathing anything."

"Armads?" Aerie asked.

"Uh...some legendary magical axe that Sage Athos gave to Lord Hector right before the last fight there."

"How on earth did you get mixed up in something like that anyway?"

Thinking about how exactly he came to be in that army in the first place, Guy had to admit the answer was about as ridiculous as everything else about that war. "Originally? By getting fed by a thief."

"…what?"

Guy laughed at her bewildered tone, "It's a really long story."

"Promise to tell me the whole thing sometime?"

"Um..." he was starting to become very conscious of just how close she was to him, since he could feel her breath as she talked. It was making him a bit uncomfortable. And not in the sense that wanted her to leave. It didn't help that talking about the war brought up some memories he didn't care for. "…uh, sure."

"Are you okay?" she sounded concerned, and Guy realized his embarrassment at being this close to her and the subject matter must have been carrying over into his voice.

"Uh, yeah. It's..." he sighed, fortunately having a perfectly honest answer for her as well, "well, it's just something I don't like to talk about since it's got some bad memories and it feels strange to just mention people like Lord Hector and Lyn...er, Lady Lyndis, like I'm friends with them or something."

"Aren't you? If you fought together, especially with something that major, you probably should be."

"Well..." Guy hesitated a bit, unsure of how to answer that one. Eventually he settled on, "Lyn probably. She's Sacaen too, so I can relate to her pretty well. Maybe a couple others too? But the army was pretty big, and I...was a lot more shy back then. So I didn't really get close to many people."

"Wait..." Aerie laughed, "you were MORE shy before? Wow. That's impressive, in a kind of sad way."

Guy winced a bit a the barb. Socialization was never his strength, so it wasn't exactly an unfair shot, but it stung a bit all the same.

After he didn't respond for a bit, Aerie softened her voice and said, "...sorry. I keep forgetting you don't handle teasing well. It's just in my nature, so..." she sighed, "no, I'm making excuses. Sorry."

"It's alright," Guy reassured her, "you're just trying to lighten the mood. I've figured that much out by now. Uh, anyway," he changed the subject to the question he'd been sitting on, "something's been bothering me about the news, the assassination and all."

"Just one thing?" Aerie asked a bit sarcastically.

"Okay, lots of things, but one I can't quite figure out."

"What is it?"

"Well," Guy asked, "if the king's dead...even if people won't approve of the way it happened, why is the war still going?"

"Precisely because of how it was done," Aerie answered, "the king's retainers can use this action as an excuse to claim the prince shouldn't inherit the throne, and have some weight behind it. The king's generals and advisors will want to continue the war, kill the prince, and then have one of them claim the position as the new king. Assassinating the king gives them the leverage to do that and get the troops behind them for it."

"...they'll turn the king into a martyr." It was so obvious Guy wondered how he didn't see it before.

"Exactly. And if they spin it well enough, we risk mass defections from our side. King Desmond was a bastard, and probably tried to assassinate Prince Zephiel more then once already, but dead people have a tendency to have all those negative traits overlooked."

"I wonder..." a horrible thought started mulling over in Guy's head, possibly from having spent too much time around Matthew before.

"What?" Aerie asked.

"Well," he laid out the thought, "it sounds like the king being dead puts his army in a better position. I wonder if he wasn't killed by one of his own men, just to gain that upper hand."

Aerie was silent for a bit, before spitting out a curse, "Light be damned, you might be right. God above that would be a wretched move. But...how can we tell if it was or not?"

Guy sighed, "Well...Dame Vaida was also in that war. She was there when we fought the dragon too. If I could get her a letter, she could probably tell us. Or...if I could get a letter to Grant, who's working for the prince as a tactician right now. Grant would be the better idea, actually."

"...seriously? You know Dame Vaida? Personally?" Aerie laughed, "Come on, who else do you know? The king of Etruria?"

"Not the king," Guy admitted, " Just Lord Pent, the mage general."

"Is that a joke?"

"No, he was in the war too."

"You really need to tell the captain this stuff. If you could write a letter to someone in a high position in the prince's council and actually expect an answer, that might help a lot."

"I..." Guy sighed, "Okay. Tomorrow."

"You really don't like talking about it, do you?" Aerie asked gently.

"It feels like bragging," Guy nodded, "I try not to do much of that anymore."

"Well..." Aerie suggested, "maybe a little bit of bragging is a good idea sometimes. Only a little bit, though. Don't turn into the twins."

"Heh," Guy laughed at the thought of trying to act like Noah and Teal. It was completely absurd, "no fear of that."

"I tell you what, I'll come with you when you tell the captain tomorrow. Will that help?"

"A bit, actually. Thanks."

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right?" His eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough to see her smile. "Alright, I'm gonna head back to my tent and get some sleep. See you tomorrow."

"…yeah," Guy almost didn't want her to go, but had absolutely no idea how to express that. "Uh, good night then."

Finishing the letter he was asked to write, Guy handed it to Captain Branta for review, "How's that look?"

Taking the paper, the old warrior gave it a once over, "Plain speech, asks pretty directly what the whole deal with the King's assassination was...you sure you don't have some kind of code from that old army of yours that this Grant would recognize?"

Guy shook his head, "Some others might have had something, but I wasn't in intelligence. I just fought."

"But you're close enough to him to expect an answer to this?"

"Yeah," the Sacaen nodded, "Grant was always sending me and M...my partner on special missions of sorts, so we worked pretty closely. Just send the letter from Guy of the Kutolah to Tactician Grant, if he gets it he'll reply."

Branta grudgingly nodded, "Big if, but it's the best we've got. I hope we get a reply soon, since a clear answer will go a long way to helping us decide what to do..." the captain paused a moment then asked again, "and you're sure he'll tell you the truth."

"Yes." Guy confirmed, "Grant would never engage in tactics like this. Sure, sometimes he sent me and my partner to go sneak around the battle and cut down the enemy commander from the rear, but it was always a fight against an armed target ON a battlefield. Not...poison during peace talks."

Piet, who had stayed largely quiet, looked up at that, "What exactly is the difference? Assassination is assassination, the methods are irrelevant."

Guy didn't need to try and explain as Branta did it for him, "Not to soldiers. The difference is expectation of safety. If you're an enemy combatant on a battlefield, even if you're in the rear away from the heavy fighting, you have none. If you die, by any means, it's your own fault. But sitting at home in your castle, with no active battle in the area even if there is a war going on, you have some reason to expect you won't suddenly be killed."

"Semantics." The weary bishop shook his head.

"Maybe," Branta shrugged, "but for fighting men, important ones."

"Is there anything else?" Guy asked his captain.

"Not right now. We're breaking the news tonight, so just stick to the daily routine until then."

"Yes sir." Guy nodded and left the command tent.

After he was out, he breathed a sigh of relief. There had been an almost palpable aura of depression around Piet, one which Guy was happy to escape. Thinking about it, he realized it shouldn't surprise him to see how the holy man was reacting to the news that they could well be working for someone just as corrupt as what they fought against. I can just imagine how Lucius would react. He'd be shattered.

Picking up the pace, he jogged over to where Cauld and Terrace were likely waiting for him. We're just reserve right now, so let's fit as much training in as we can before the next battle.

*THUNK*

Aerie's second hatchet slammed into the wooden target less then an inch from where her first had landed. She was honestly wishing they were about to go into a fight today, her aim always was better when she was upset.

"Wow, two almost bullseyes at twenty steps. That's...almost as accurate as us."

"At less then a quarter of the range."

The heroine let out a clearly audible long suffering sigh as the girls who were swiftly becoming her least favorite pair of people in existence decided to make themselves present.

Without turning to look at Noah and Teal, Aerie walked up to the target to collect her axes, "Shall we go to the pells and see if you two do even a quarter as well as I do in melee?"

As was their custom any time she managed to get the upper hand in wordplay, the twins just ignored her comment entirely. "Soooo," Noah prodded, "what's eating you?"

"Yeah," Teal added, "you only throw like this when you're angry."

Aerie ignored them in hopes that they would go away. Branta was back in charge off the field now, so she could no longer threaten them with unpleasant duty slots if they didn't knock it off.

"Oh, wait, I bet I know," Noah answered her own question, "struck out with Guy last night, huh?"

As Teal laughed, Aerie turned and fixed them both with the most stone cold glare she could manage, "What."

"Saw you leaving his tent last night," Teal used her best sing-song tone to taunt, "you didn't look too happy. Your night not go as planned?"

Closing her eyes, Aerie tried very hard to come up with good reasons not to beat the living snot out of her teammates. She had never gotten on that well with them, but ever since her promotion it was like they were actively trying to make her life a living hell. Taking a deep breath, she kept telling herself that not choking them to death made her the mature one and them the little twits, and that she should be satisfied with that. "I did not," she told them in a steely tone that she hoped would get across how thin the ice they were on was, "strike out."

"...oh." Teal's voice lost it's teasing tone and almost became sympathetic for a moment.

Confused, Aerie opened her eyes in time to see Noah wincing a bit before saying, "Short performance then, huh? Yeah, that'd have me in a bad mood too."

Aerie resisted the urge to go slam her head into the nearest hard object. ...they assumed...I...Light above they took that completely the wrong way.

"Who would have thought it," Noah continued, "I mean Guy's got so much energy..."

"NO! It wasn't like that at all," Aerie blurted out, "we were just talking! I didn't 'strike out' because that's not why I was there in the first place!"

The sympathy the twins seemed to be feeling melted away instantly, and they both grinned again. "Uhuh," Teal smirked knowingly, "Sure it wasn't."

"...are you two actually here to practice, or just to annoy me?" Aerie decided she'd had enough and threatened to pull rank before she lost her temper and told them why she was upset before Branta officially broke the news, "because if it's the latter, I can FIND something productive for you to do."

Sharing a look, the twins picked up their bows and went over to the archery targets without another word. They'd learned that when Aerie said productive, she meant the monotonous chore work that nobody really wanted to do but needed to get done anyway.

Taking her axes, the heroine left the other girls to practice as she went to go find somewhere else to cool off. Which was now even more needed as their teasing had hit a little more home then she'd have liked. Look at me, can dish out the teasing but can't take it any more then Guy can. ...or at least not from those two.

She did like Guy, she wasn't going to pretend otherwise. If he was interested in her...maybe she wouldn't mind trying to see if they could be more then just friends. But now wasn't the time for that. Maybe after the war is over. Romance is for peacetime, not the middle of a battlefield.

Almost by instinct Aerie had wandered over to where they'd set up the pells, and smiled as she saw Cauld hard at work practicing the techniques Guy had been trying to teach him. Normally he wasn't one of her preferred people to practice with, but in the mood she was in...

Approaching the pells, she called out to her teammate, "Keeping at it I see. Good. Care to try your technique in a sparring match?"

Just as she knew he would, Cauld grinned in response, "Absolutely! How about we put a bit of a wager on it? If I win, you have dinner with me at a nice tavern the next time we get leave."

Aerie smiled. If Cauld had actually been paying any real attention to her at all that would have told him to retract his bet before he regretted it, "Sure. And if I win, you get Lem's latrine duty tomorrow."

Cauld winced, but nodded, "Agreed. But...why Lem's?"

"Well I'm the vice-captain, I don't have any latrine duty to foist off on you." Offhandedly offering the explanation, she walked over to the marked off area they used for sparring. "Ready when you are."

"Alright...wait, we don't have everyone. Where the hell is Cauld at?" Branta had gathered his company together to break the news, and wasn't in the mood for delays.

"Likely washing up," the pikeman Lem answered his captain in a deadpan, "he and I got swapped duties today, and he works slower."

"Then go tell him to hurry it up."

"Sir." Lem nodded and strode off to fetch the tardy swordsman.

Aerie did her best to keep a perfectly straight face, even as Guy gave her a searching look.

Nikras, who was standing right next to her, quietly asked, "Your doing I take it?"

"Mmmhmm. He put a wager on a sparring match. I won. You'd think after training with you for so long he'd learn that pressing my shield side isn't safe."

"Just clocked him with the shield then." Nik nodded, "yeah, he keeps forgetting that's a weapon as well."

Waiting a bit longer, Lem came back with a still wet but at least mostly clean Cauld behind him.

Branta snorted, "About time. Fall in Badgers, I've got news and I'm not repeating it, so listen up."

Everyone knew when the captain spoke he meant business, so the company fell into attention instantly.

"We've received a message from the Prince's forces." Branta began, "and let me finish before any interruptions. Cut me off before I'm done and I'll dock your pay. The message...is that the King is dead."

Those who didn't already know went a bit wide eyed and shared a few glances, but nobody was dumb enough to speak up yet.

"This might sound like good news, but it's not." The captain continued, "he was killed by poison. Assassinated during a peace talk."

"WHAT!" Dastan, the company's mage, blurted out in outrage, "What do you me…"

"Not done yet." Branta cut him off harshly, and the mage snapped his mouth shut. "I don't like this any more then the rest of you, but I refuse to break contract. And there's still the chance this was a rogue operative or the king's people trying to set him up as a martyr. We've got some messages out to people we can trust in the Prince's inner circle, so we're waiting to see what they have to say about this. If everything is what it looks like, then I'll have no intention of renewing contract at year's end."

"Captain?" Lem quietly spoke up, "Where will we go if we don't renew? I don't really want to work for the king...or his retainers at least, again either."

"Might take the Badgers to Lycia. We've got an in with Marquis Ostia, and if it comes to it I won't be afraid to use it." Branta sighed and then laid out the last bit of the plan, "Of course anyone who doesn't want to follow the company, either to Lycia or renewing with the Prince if this isn't what it looks like, is welcome to go their own way at year's end. Contract binds us until then, and I won't have the Badgers' name stained with breaking contract."

They were all professional mercenaries, so they understood. Clients being able to trust that you'd hold to contract no matter what was what got mercenaries work.

"Sir," Nikras broke the heavy silence, "may I recommend a course of action?"

Branta gave him a nod.

"Can we volunteer ourselves for peacekeeping duty? Bandit cleanup and the like?"

Piet, who had remained utterly silent during this entire announcement, finally looked up, "I...approve of that idea. No matter who, or what, our employer is, making sure the civilians are safe is something we can agree on."

"Good idea." Branta nodded, then looked at the company, "Any objections?"

Cauld shook his head, "Not much profit or glory in bandit hunting. But..."

"...at least we know we're fighting the bad guys." Dastan finished for him.

"We're probably one of the biggest moral cases of the merc companies, but we still might not be the only company making that request," Aerie pointed out, "so we'd better do it first."

"Handle it." Branta gave the order, and Aerie left the meeting to go do just that.

"Is that all, sir?" Guy looked over at the captain and asked the question he knew the new recruits weren't quite brave enough to ask themselves.

"Yeah. I want a patrol and a watch set, but the rest of you go blow off some steam."

"Right," Guy looked over at the twins, "You two had patrol tonight, right? Mind swapping with me?"

Noah nodded, "If you want it, go ahead."

"Thanks. Cauld, Terrace. Come on, may as well combine a patrol and a lesson."

The next few days were spent as they had planned it. Guy kept Cauld and Terrace busy and following his lead, Nik worked with Lem and Dastan, and Aerie and the twins kept themselves busy.

Part of what kept Aerie busy was requesting the orders the company wanted. But eventually she came back in with a grin, paper in hand.

Guy spotted her on the way in and breathed a sigh of relief, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yup. We have our orders, peacekeeping duty. Heading up to Deadwood Vale, there's been increased bandit activity there lately."

"That's an ominous sounding place." Guy fell in beside her as Aerie made her way to the Captain's tent.

"It's a town's name, if you can believe that. Can't imagine the people there are too cheerful, but they still need to be protected."

"And if they've sworn for the Prince, it's our job to do it." Guy nodded.

But Aerie shook her head, "That's the funny thing. They aren't. They also aren't sworn for the king. Basically closed their gates and drove out tax collectors from both sides. So they've been left alone. I think," she speculated, "that why we're going up now is that the prince's side is acting like all of Bern is his now that the king is dead and he's the rightful ruler."

"If soldiers from both sides have been avoiding the place, that makes it a perfect spot for bandits to hide." Guy figured, "Who knows how many have gathered up there, we'll have our work cut out for us."

"Good." Aerie chuckled, "The Quickblades were unusually heroic for a merc group. What they need is to be able to cut loose and go full force against some obvious bad guys. This is perfect."

"Yeah." Guy had come to like the former 'blades, even the rough and judgmental Dastan, "let's go give the Captain the news and get ready to march in the morning."

Deadwood Vale was about as pleasant of a town as they had expected. The people were dour, suspicious and superstitious. And those were the ones willing to talk to them at all. But they got camp setup outside the town's walls and Branta had a few conversations with the headman, and now a couple of the woodsmen were out giving Nikras and Aerie all the information they had on where they've seen bandit activity.

Guy was honestly surprised at how little damage the town and it's people had taken from the repeated bandit raids. But the wall was solid, the people tough as nails and more then willing to pick up their hatchets and boar spears to protect what was theirs. Still, the things outside the walls, the fields and a fair amount of the livestock, were in much worse shape. It was tight belts for everyone this season, but at least they were still alive.

Seeing that watches were already set up, Guy decided that he wanted to get started immediately and went to find the captain to volunteer.

"Need something?" Branta eyed the young swordsman and just addressed him directly as soon as it was apparent that Guy was heading for him.

"Yeah," Guy nodded, "I'm going to head out on a short patrol, get my own view of the area to compare with what the woodsmen are telling us."

The old warrior nodded his permission, "Take someone with you, I don't want anyone, even you, leaving the camp alone in this area."

"Yes sir." Having his orders, Guy turned and left to find someone who wasn't busy to take out with him.

"Any reason we didn't get the report from the locals before going out here?" Teal kept an arrow in her hand as she followed Guy through the hunting trails he had quickly picked out.

"Wanted to go in blind," he replied without looking back at her, keeping his eyes on his surroundings.

"…isn't that normally a bad idea?" Teal sounded torn between going with what she had assumed and trusting that Guy knew what he was doing.

He didn't really blame her, the twins didn't get put on scouting duty much so she wasn't too practiced, "Sometimes. Right now I don't want to have any expectations. So when I notice something, I'll see it for what it is, not what I think it should be from the intel."

"...you don't trust the report." She might not be a scout, but Teal was far from stupid.

"Basically." Guy admitted, "The town is in really good shape for having heavy bandit activity. And despite the fact that we're here to fight bandits, they didn't seem too happy to see us."

"Huh. Think some of them might actually be in league with the bandits?"

"Keep quiet," he finally cut off her questioning. "If there's someone out here, I want to see them before they hear us."

"...right."

Teal followed along quietly after that. But from time to time he could almost hear her opening her mouth to talk and closing it before anything came out as she remembered to keep quiet. You know, there's probably a reason those two don't get scouting jobs.

They didn't go too far, but Guy knew they wouldn't have to before finding some sign of bandit passing. Not if the outlaws were actually attempting to raid the town. Sure enough, while they never ran into a person, he spotted a small trail that had been deliberately obscured by brush just off of one of the hunting trails. Teal never would have seen it, but Guy knew what to look for.

As he stopped to investigate the hidden path's entrance, Guy ran off a mental checklist of the signs. All brown and green, not a single color that might catch the eye. Tight packed dirt around the bush roots, definitely uprooted from somewhere else and moved here. Check the back side of the bush that they might not think was noticeable... Guy smiled as he carefully inspected the rear of it and found a couple of threads clinging to the brush. Gotcha.

Teal tried to poke her head back as well, "What? Find something?"

"Yeah. Hidden trail, probably not the villagers using it." He left the threads where they were, just in case they were deliberately placed. "Come on, let's get this back to the Captain."

"Wow. I would have walked right past that." Teal grinned and backed away from the bush, ready to head back to the camp, "How'd you find it?"

"Knew what to look for." Guy wished he could credit working with Aerie for how he found that one. But he was taught how to find a hidden trail considerably earlier then that. It was on the first trip to Valor, right before Matthew had gotten the news about...

He shook his head, not wanting to drag that memory up. The spy had tried to hide it, but even Guy had noticed how much of a wreck he was right after that. But Matthew had made Guy promise to keep it to himself, and forget it if he could. But even as he tried to set it aside, something occurred to Guy that he hadn't really thought of before. Maybe...he never recovered from that? Maybe that's what was wrong with him the whole time. Why he...?

No. He got his mind back on the task. Too late to speculate about things like that now.

"Sooooo..." Teal slid up next to Guy as they walked back to camp, providing a distraction he was actually happy to pay attention to at the moment.

"Yeah?"

"Are you and Aerie," Teal's grin grew wider as Guy practically invited the question, "you know, together?"

"Uh...what?" The Sacaen blinked, suddenly no longer quite so glad for the distraction, "No..."

"Reaaaaally?" Teal pried a bit more, "We saw her coming out of your tent a few nights back."

"She wanted to talk about things, that's all." Guy was really hoping he wasn't looking as flustered as he felt, but he had the sinking suspicion that he was.

"Like what kind of things?" Teal's tone insinuated what she thought things might have been.

Guy wasn't really thinking at this point, and just responded with the truth, "The news about the king."

Teal stopped dead in her tracks, "Wait. Really? What? That was before the announcement."

Not quite getting where this was leading, Guy nodded, "Nik and I were told earlier." But as soon as he glanced back to see the look on her face, he realized that just maybe he shouldn't have said anything.

"...whaaaaaat?" Teal looked angry, "She gets promoted to vice captain over us and now you get privileged information first?"

"I was told early so I could keep Cauld and Terrace from freaking out once the announcement was made. Same for Nik with Lem and Dastan." Guy responded, starting to get annoyed with the twins' insistence that they deserved rank and privilege even though they didn't want the responsibility of it.

"Oh yeah?" Teal argued, "What about us then?"

"We figured you wouldn't freak out, so you didn't need someone to make sure you were okay," Guy responded bluntly, hoping she would take that as a compliment and let it go.

It partially worked, "I suppose. But I still say we should have been told if you were being told."

"Wasn't my call," Guy neatly evaded responsibility for the decision, and changed the subject, "Let's just get back to camp."

Teal let it drop, and they made good time back.

"So what's the plan?" Guy had brought back his intelligence, and that night Branta gathered the entire company together to lay out the plan for subjugating the bandits.

"If I may?" almost predictably at this point, Nikras spoke up to offer his own idea.

"You've had mostly good ideas so far. Let's hear it," Branta nodded.

"Thank you Captain," Nik detailed his idea, "They're certainly going to know we're here. What I'd recommend is to keep most of our forces hidden in the camp, use the same four or so people for scouting and watch every time until they make their move. Eventually, and I'll gamble sooner rather then later, they'll get impatient and send someone to try and scout our main camp out. They need info on us just as badly as we do on them. That's when we catch the scouts."

"Hmm." Branta mulled over the idea for a moment, scratching the scruff on his chin, "I like the idea, but if we don't catch the scouts we could be sitting here waiting after they've already got what they need. We'll try it, but I want some aggressive scouting of our own at the same time."

"Then you'll need to put the best we have on scouting and watch." Aerie pointed out. "And no offense to the new recruits, but with the exception of Nik, they're less seasoned and less skilled then the core Badgers."

Cauld and Dastan bristled a bit at the insult, but didn't try to argue it.

"Let me guess then," Noah piped up, "you want to go scouting with Guy while we keep watch."

Most of Guy wanted to stay well out of this, but the professional in him had to speak up, "Well I know that Teal on scouting is a bad idea. Too easily distracted. Don't know about you, but..." he trailed off and shrugged, hoping he wouldn't have to suggest that they not risk finding out.

Teal gave him an annoyed look, but Branta saved them the trouble of the argument going further, "You two work better together anyway. Right then, Dastan and Terrace keep day watches, twins keep night watches. They're more likely to come at night. Guy, Aerie, get out there and find something. Nik, keep people training when off duty, I'll handle dealing with people from the town. Any questions?"

None were asked, and the Badgers got their assignments. It was time to go to work.

"So what do you think of Nik's plan?" Aerie asked Guy as they stopped to rest for a few minutes during their patrol.

Guy shrugged, "It's not a bad idea."

"But you don't think it will work."

He sighed. He didn't want to be as suspicious as he was finding himself, but he had seen his share of bandit predations during the war against Nergal, and he kept comparing the state Deadwood Vale was in to those towns. He also kept comparing the attitudes of the townsfolk here to those they warned of bandits then. During the war, the civilians had always been so glad to hear that someone was on their side, that someone was doing something about the brigands. It could have been just because they had knights and lords with them then, but he wasn't comfortable chalking it up just to that.

"Well that's a long silence." Aerie prodded a bit as Guy was hesitating in his response.

He sighed again, "I...yeah, you're right. I don't think it'll work. I think someone in the town will tell the bandits all they need to know, they won't have to scout us at all."

"Hell of a thing to accuse them of." Aerie frowned a bit, not really liking the implications.

"Which is why I didn't bring it up. No proof, no real way to get any. Not until someone does something we catch."

Standing back up and cutting the break short, Aerie nodded, "Then we'd better find something first then. Let's finish checking this area today and tomorrow we'll use that trail you found."

Guy got up to get moving as well, "What if that takes us right to their camp?"

"Then we get out before we're seen and lead the whole force in to smash them apart later." She stated flatly, "Or if we are spotted, we kill the guards and retreat. At least gets them moving, which could get them making mistakes. If we could provoke them into taking the offensive, we could set a trap to win the whole thing in one encounter."

"That honestly sounds like a better plan." Guy noted as they got back to work, "Any reason you didn't bring your idea up?"

Aerie's response was as surprising as it was blunt, "Nik's bucking to replace me as vice captain and I'm letting him. And unless there really are traitors in the town, his plan is probably better then mine anyway."

Guy really didn't have anything to say to that, so he just kept quiet as they got back to scouting.

Four more hours of scouting out the area followed, during which they encountered nothing but a trio of woodcutters from the town who they shared a few rather terse words with. By the time they were done, they had found a few more hard to spot trails that Guy and Aerie agreed the bandits probably used, but none that were deliberately hidden like the first. Tomorrow they'd try that trail, and see what awaited them on it.

But before she was willing to do that, Aerie's sense of responsibility required her to clear it with the captain.

"You think this trail will take you close to where they're hiding?" Branta asked in response to her request for permission to scout it out.

"It's the most likely thing so far. It'll at least take us somewhere they don't want us seeing."

"Hmm," the old warrior considered for a moment before nodding, "Do it, but take Nik with you, just in case it turns into a fight."

"Uh..." Aerie balked, "Sir, if we take him with us, it will turn into a fight. He doesn't have the stealth ability that Guy and I do, if we take him with us, he'll be the one they spot."

"Hmm," Branta frowned, "I'm not comfortable with the two of you looking for the hornets' nest alone. Who can you take then?"

The heroine thought for a moment and eventually shrugged, "Terrace, maybe? He's got hunting experience, he's likely the best candidate."

"And the worst fighter in the company," Branta finished with a sigh.

"Honestly, even if it turns into a fight, the plan is to dispatch whoever spotted us and run. We can hightail it right back to the camp here with no problems, they have to already know where we are." Aerie argued her point, hoping the captain would give in, "we can handle this alone. And if we don't find much, it holds to Nik's plan better if it's the same two people out scouting as before. We don't have any guarantee we weren't seen already."

Branta grumbled for a moment but eventually nodded. "Fine. Do not engage unless attacked first, that's an order."

Content to leave it at that, Aerie nodded, "Yes sir," and took that as a dismissal, getting out and back to her tent.

It bothered her a bit how a small part of her was seriously considering deliberately breaking that order in hopes it would get her removed from her position. She was getting sick of being second in command, especially since Piet had gone so sullen after the news about the king's assassination. She had at least been able to get him to help before, but now he wasn't up for it at all. She was tired of the responsibility, tired of the idiotic rivalry this was causing with the twins, especially now that they were dragging Guy into it.

She could not help but roll her eyes as she remembered how Teal came to complain to her about Guy getting privileged information before they did. That was the whole core of the problem with them too, 'privileged'. They wanted all the perks of being in command without thinking about the responsibility involved. And no matter how many times she explained, they didn't, or wouldn't more likely, understand that. It was driving her nuts.

I'll just flat resign the position after this mission. Nik will make a better vice captain then me anyway, and he actually wants the job. For the right reasons.

Putting those thoughts out of her mind for now, she went to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be stressful, so she wanted to be well rested.

"See?" Guy pointed out the threads on the back of the bush, "I'd guess they were left there intentionally. Lets them know if someone came by and found their path, since most trackers would pick the threads off to look them over."

Aerie blinked, "That's exactly what I would have done, yeah. Where'd you learn that trick?"

"...old partner of mine. Was a spy." Guy replied as simply as he could, hoping she'd get that he didn't really want to talk about it.

"A spy? Like...a spy for your side, or turned out to be an enemy spy?"

"Spy for our side," Guy confirmed.

"Huh. Not a bad team up idea. He'd have the eyes and the cleverness, you'd have the fighting ability." Aerie speculated as they picked their way onto the hidden path.

"Actually he beat me in most of our matches." Guy felt obliged to point out, even though he'd really prefer to stop talking about it.

Aerie stared at him for a moment, "This old partner of yours sounds like one of the last people I'd ever want to cross then."

"That's about right, yeah."

"You sound like you don't like him very much." Aerie fished for a response, then shook her head, "Actually, I'll pry later. We've got work to do."

Glad the subject was dropped for the time being, Guy finished easing onto the hidden path and began to cast his eyes around for any watchers or signs. "Yeah. Should I take point?"

Aerie shook her head, "No, I'll lead. I track, you keep your eyes out for company."

"Got it."

The pair fell into position easily, slowly and carefully moving along the trail, changing directions when Aerie found shifts in the tracks while Guy kept himself on high tension alertness the entire time. It was a stressful couple of hours, but they made progress.

Stopping at the base of a large tree, Aerie called for a break and sat down for a bit, leaning against the trunk.

Guy followed suit, but made sure he was facing a different direction, "Lose the trail?"

"No, just need a short rest. They've used some old hunters tricks to hide the tracks, so it's taking more effort then I'd like to find them at points."

Guy nodded, then asked, "think we're close?"

"Probably."

Leaving things at that, they rested a bit longer...until Guy caught what looked like movement from the corner of his eye.

Keeping it in sight, he slowly and as subtly as he could shifted his position to allow him to bolt straight at the hidden figure, carefully studying it as he adjusted. Too large to be anything but a big dog, which would doubtlessly belong to the bandits if it was out here, or a deer. Or, of course, a human.

Planning his dash, he looked over the ground as well, figuring exactly how to approach at maximum speed. I'll have to jump that bush, no time to go around. That tree has a large root exposed, I can use that to kick off of for the jump.

Whatever the figure was, it wasn't moving on, nor did it seem to figure out that Guy had spotted it. Which was good, because as soon as Guy began to move it was too late.

With the same incredible speed that blocked the attacks of the Sword Demon, Guy launched out of his sitting position and sped towards the hidden form. Kicking off a tree root, leaping over a bush that was in the way and drawing his sword in midair, he landed easily and closed the remaining distance in a flash. The figure had started to run as Guy had made it into the air, but it was neither fast nor soon enough to avoid the Sacaen.

Behind him, Guy could hear Aerie scrambling to her feet and drawing her weapon, but she would be far too late to effect the fight. As he caught up Guy could see there was only one figure, and it was indeed human. It was already over.

One slash to the back threw their watcher forward enough that he tumbled to the ground, and before he could attempt to get up, Guy was on him, blade held close to the man's neck as he grabbed the bandit's jet black hair in his other hand, "So much as breathe loudly and you're dead."

The bandit wisely kept silent and did not even attempt to struggle.

Quickly, Aerie caught up and took the bandit's weapons away before addressing him, "Well, this well armed and in real armor...you're definitely not from the town. I'm sure you have some story about who you work for that doesn't involve the local bandits, but I don't really care. You have two options, agree to return quietly with us and tell whatever you know to our captain, or we can kill you here."

The bandit was quiet for a moment before croaking out, "I'll talk. Don't kill me."

"Alright then." Aerie nodded to Guy, "How bad did you cut him?"

"Not that hard," Guy looked down to check out the wound, "Looks like the armor took most of it, and the fact that he was running away from the slash when it connected probably helped. Looks like a flesh wound."

"Great. Let him up." Aerie grabbed the man's shoulder herself as Guy let his hair go, "and before you think about running, remember exactly how fast my partner here is."

The man nodded and slowly stood up, not trying to pull out of Aerie's grip at all.

As Guy got a better look at him, he nearly dropped his sword.

"What?" Aerie blinked at him, " What's wrong?"

But Guy couldn't pull together the words to respond. Black hair, pale skin, golden eyes. It's...it can't be. But...there's one more sign. I have to check. Shaking off the surprise, Guy lifted his blade and pointed it right at the man, ordering in a sharp tone, "Take off your armor."

Aerie raised an eyebrow at Guy but nodded to the prisoner, "Take it off."

Wide eyed at the threatening posture of the man who brought him down, the captured bandit quickly complied, though it was obvious the effort was causing immense pain from the wound on his back.

Once the armor was off, Guy gave another order, "Turn around."

As the man complied, he looked at the cut on his back in greater detail. Just as he feared, the blood was thin, lighter in color then a human's.

Aerie, not seeming to notice anything amiss, winced at the wound, "He's not making it back to camp with this. I'm putting some vulnerary salve on it."

Putting away her own weapon, Aerie pulled out the small pot of healing paste she kept on hand and applied some to the wound. He winced a bit at the sensation, but didn't try to run, he was entirely too busy watching Guy and his drawn blade like a terrified mouse staring at a hawk.

Guy was barely paying attention to Aerie or even the morph. He was entirely too distracted by his racing thoughts about what this meant. He's here. If morphs are here...that means so is Nergal. The encounter with Eagle, the message he gave them, all came rushing back to Guy as clear as day. Nergal lives. And he's here.

After applying the vulnerary, Aerie looked up at Guy again, "Okay what's going on? Do you recognize this guy?"

Sheathing his sword, but keeping one hand on it in case he needed to draw it again, Guy nodded, "...kinda, yeah."

And then he almost did a spit take at the morph's surprised and excited response, "You do? Then...please, tell me! Who am I?"

Looking between the prisoner and Guy, both of whom looked equally shocked and confused, Aerie made the only call she could, "Let's get back to camp now. We're getting the captain involved before we sort this out."

It was starting to remind Guy of being interrogated by Grant and Pent back during the war. Branta didn't know a thing about what morphs were, but damned if he wasn't dragging out every last little detail Guy had ever known, including a nearly full account of the war against the Black Fang and Nergal.

Finally the old warrior was satisfied, though it was well after midnight by now, "If this was anyone else I'd think you were lying or crazy."

Not entirely sure what to think of that, perhaps due to his exhaustion or the hour, Guy scratched his head, "Uh...thanks? I think."

"Hmph." Branta grumbled, "still doesn't explain everything though."

"Sir, there's some of this I just don't know how to explain." Guy shrugged, "I've never seen a morph that didn't know they were a morph before. To be honest, the few I've actually heard talk were pretty light on having personalities at all."

"Sir?" Aerie spoke up from where she had been listening to the entire account, "Considering how late it is, I think we should sleep on this for now."

"...alright." the old warrior nodded after a moment, "Guy, report back here first thing in the morning. If these things are the threat they say you are, I want your name in the report so it'll go to your allies in command."

Guy nodded, grateful for the dismissal, "Right."

After leaving the captain's tent, Aerie looked over at her partner, "So be honest with me here. On a scale of one to ten, just how much trouble are we in if this Nergal is still around?"

"Twelve." Guy deadpanned immediately, "Maybe thirteen."

"You...aren't joking about that." Aerie sighed. "What do you think command will do about it?"

Guy sighed, "If Grant gets the message...he'll commit whatever is necessary to finishing him off. If it's Vaida, she won't just let it lie, but I don't know what her priority will be."

"But neither of them have responded to the other message you sent yet."

He winced a bit as she pointed out the obvious, but then shrugged, "Maybe someone up the chain decided that some common merc couldn't possibly have a reason to send a letter to one of those two personally. It's pretty likely they never got it."

"So what if they don't get this one?" Aerie followed the logical line of thinking in her question.

"Then...I don't know what will be done." Guy was forced to admit. "I don't know who up the line will be making the decision. I don't know if that person will even know about Nergal and the threat he is. But I do know if Grant, Vaida or even the Prince himself find out, they will act."

"The Prince knows?" Aerie asked.

"Nergal tried to have him assassinated. We stopped it."

"Oh." Aerie nodded, "that would do it, yeah."

Guy didn't offer anything else after that. He was too tired, too in shock, and still too busy thinking about the entire situation. Wordlessly he parted ways with her and went back to his own tent. Lying down, the young swordsman stared at the ceiling of the tent in the dark, unable to bring himself to sleep despite his exhaustion. His mind simply refused to shut off.

The morph had been willing to talk at least, though he didn't really believe Guy when he was told that he wasn't human. His story was that he had amnesia, and fell in with a group of bandits when they realized he looked almost exactly like two other guys who were already with them. And one of said others also suffered from amnesia. Which leaves one that doesn't.

A plan began to form in Guy's mind. A reckless, stupid and probably suicidal plan. But he couldn't shake it. If we get ordered to pursue Nergal...I can't protect everyone.

He closed his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep. I may not have started the fight, or even been one of the ones in charge. But it was still my fight. I was there, I fought the dragon. This is my responsibility.

"You're WHAT?" Aerie was the first to blurt out in shock at Guy's proposal.

"I have to." Guy insisted, having stated his intention to leave after helping Branta write that report, "This is the same fight as before. Only Lord Eliwood and Hector aren't here. Grant isn't even here. But I am. This is my fight to finish."

Branta was quiet for a long moment before asking, "You're forgetting some things. One, we're in the middle of a job here, unless you're planning on leaving us without our best fighter. Two, the one you captured doesn't know where this Nergal is. Bern's a big place, just thinking he's somewhere around here doesn't help you much."

"I've got a plan for that, actually." Guy countered, having thought this out as best he could before bringing it up at all, "There are two other morphs with the bandits. One doesn't have amnesia. That one will know what I need."

Now the captain snorted, "What are you going to do, walk into the camp and take out all the bandits at once? Then catch that one and get him to talk?"

Flatly, Guy responded, "Karel could do it."

The line silenced everyone. It was the one thing that made Guy actually decide to do this. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Karel could succeed...and if the Demon could do it, shouldn't the man who beat the Demon be able to as well? It sounded a bit like arrogance...actually it sounded a lot like arrogance, but it didn't make it any less true. Guy knew Karel could do this. And he knew that he beat Karel.

Piet was the one who broke the silence, "That's...two birds in one stone. It completes the mission and gets him the directions he needs."

Aerie turned to glare at the bishop, "Don't tell me you actually approve of this? He'll get himself killed!"

"If he's right about the threat," Piet shook his head, "something needs to be done sooner, rather then later. And if we tried to help him, we would only end up in his way."

"Your mind's made up?" Branta eyed Guy carefully as he asked.

Guy nodded, "Yeah. I have to do this."

"No," Piet shook his head, "you don't. Even for your sense of honor, there is no duty hanging on your shoulders to require this of you. No one would think less of you if you waited for those in a better position to act."

"I..." Guy argued, "I can't just sit around. Knowing he's here, knowing he's close. Nergal is evil...and I don't use that word as lightly as I used to. He's the real demon, worse then Karel ever was. I have the ability to fight him. I've done it before. I can't turn my back on this battle."

"I didn't say you should." Piet offered a smile at the Sacaen, the first in days, "I said that you didn't have to. You have no such duty, but you choose to undertake it regardless. Not for glory, or reward, but because you do not wish to stand idle when you could act in defense of others. Don't devalue that choice by claiming it as duty."

Guy was silent. He didn't know how to respond to that strange praise, and was a bit embarrassed by it.

Branta let out a long sigh, "I suppose I don't have a choice but to let you go now. Or I'll never hear the end of it from Piet."

"Oh there is always a choice," Piet actually laughed a bit, "Free will is one of the first tenants of St. Elimine after all."

The captain groaned, "Ugh. Anyway," turning his attention back to the matter at hand, the old warrior stood up, "If we're doing this, we're doing it right. Vice Captain, get the company in formation. Leave someone to protect the gate...Nik, he can handle it alone."

Aerie blinked, taken off guard by the sudden turn of events, "Wait...we're leaving now?"

"You been paying attention girl?" Branta scoffed, "Get on the ball and get moving. I want the full force ready to march in fifteen minutes."

"Uh, yes sir!" Shaking off her surprise, Aerie darted out of the tent and got to work.

Guy couldn't blame the reaction, he was still a bit reeling from Branta's sudden shift in attitude himself.

Which the captain promptly snapped him out of, "You stupid too, boy? I said get ready to march in fifteen, why are you still in my tent?"

"Uh," Guy found himself blurting out as he quickly left the tent, "Yes sir!"

The Badgers moved through the woods quickly and efficiently. With their numbers, stealth was impossible. But that was fine by Branta, he predicted an ambush. Too bad for these bandits that they had no idea what Branta and his company did to ambushes. It was a good chance for him to see how the new recruits reacted to Badger tactics as well, he'd need them to step up with Guy about to leave.

They weren't the only ones though. Branta himself needed to make as big an impact in this battle as he could, impress some respect for the old badger on the recruits. Easier said then done though, the pain in his chest told him he shouldn't be out here at all. Piet warned him of it once the kids were out and scrambling to get ready, but he didn't listen. Just this once. I'll let Nik handle the brute squad jobs after this. But this time I need to do it myself. Wouldn't be the first time he fought through that kind of pain. And if he had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be the last. And as it would turn out, his axe had quite a bit of talking to do about that very subject.

As they moved, he kept his attention on the formation, making sure his people were where they were supposed to be, and making sure nobody took any missteps at this pace. He didn't watch the trees or even the road ahead, trusting his people to know their jobs. Guy and Aerie had point, along with Cauld. They'd catch anything forward before they ran into it. Branta, Piet and Terrace followed, the bishop insistent on staying by his side the whole time while Branta wanted to keep the rookie close to the healer just in case. Off to the sides were the twins, who had their sharp eyes turned out to catch anyone trying to move in that way. And pulling up the rear...was the only spot in the company Branta wasn't fully confident in. Lem and Dastan weren't bad, but he hadn't gotten their measure yet.

Whichever direction the enemy wanted to approach from, the company was formidable. Playing through the enemy's options in his head, Branta tried to predict what they'd do. If they were smart, they'd just scatter and melt away. Aerie could track some of them down from their camp, but not all of them. If they were cautious, they'd pull everyone back for one big pitched fight in a place of their choosing. Not a bad idea, but they wouldn't win it. If they were dumb...well then they'd split their force and try to get an ambush before pulling the main group in. All that would do is let the badgers mop them up in smaller and easier to handle groups.

Suddenly Noah yelled out a warning and starting putting arrows into a spot up in the trees as fast as she could.

As the Badgers turned to react to the threat, Branta had to smile. Option two or three then. Let's go see how much they committed to the ambush.

Bandits came pouring out of the trees and the undergrowth, in a quick count Guy could swear there were at least twenty. Looks like they put everything they had into this one.

It made sense, really. The bandits knew the mercs were dangerous, so why not just hit them with everything at once? Classic brute force solution, he'd seen it used quite often by now, the Badgers even used a variant on it themselves.

Instantly reacting to a large figure hurtling towards him from above, Guy drew the Wo Dao and sliced the diving bandit wide open in one fluid motion, even as he sidestepped the attack. I'd like to think our brute force tactics are a little less reckless then this though.

Shifting again to let Aerie dash past him, Guy hung back a touch before moving in himself. He was looking for two specific enemies, but they were hard to pick out in the press. Knowing the physical characteristics was one thing, being able to recognize them clearly in a large melee was another. Black hair...there. Guy noted a possible morph and moved in.

It was a strange way he fought in this battle, aggressively approaching opponents as if to cut them down swiftly, but instead keeping his mind on defense, parrying and avoiding attacks until he knew if they were the one he wanted. Then as soon as he determined that it wasn't a morph, he cut them down and moved on to the next.

Finally he saw the right opponent. Black hair, golden eyes, pale skin. Only thing he couldn't see was the blood, but he didn't need to. He had a plan to find out if this one was the one who might know something. Moving in swiftly, Guy parried the morph's attack, pressing in as close as he could before hissing out, "I know what you are, morph."

The bandit's eyes held only confusion, none of the surprise or suspicion Guy had been hoping for. Wrong one then.

A moment later the morph's eyes held nothing, the Wo Dao slicing through armor and bone with the same ease it did flesh.

The distinctive sound of a shine spell going off behind him almost made Guy spin around. But he stopped and made himself focus on his own task. Piet's alright, he can fight just fine and Branta's there. I have to find the morph.

As the blade bit in for the fourth time, Branta felt his life flashing before him. It was long, and bloodier then he should be proud of. He'd made a lot of mistakes in his day, done a lot of stupid things. Like going to fight when I damn well knew I wasn't in my best shape.

One of the slashes had been across the forehead, he could barely think and there was blood in his eyes. He couldn't see a thing...but he could still hear Piet throw out his magic, hopefully taking out that enemy before it could turn on Terrace or even the bishop himself.

His energy near completely sapped, the old warrior let himself sink to the ground and idly wondered if Piet was going to be able to put him back together this time.

The spell had knocked the bandit off his feet, but he recovered quickly. A lot more quickly then Terrace was hoping. This guy had just dropped the captain, and there was nobody else close enough to stop him from slashing Father Piet right open. Nobody but me.

Range was just too close for bow work. But Terrace had to stop this guy from getting to the bishop. He was just too good, and he was attacking with inhuman speed. There was only one thing to do.

Dropping his bow and pulling his sword, Terrace rushed the skilled bandit before he could move in on the bishop. I can do this!

Flipping to the next page of his shine tome, Piet almost dropped the book in horror at what he was seeing. Terrace, the youngest and least experienced member of their entire company, was rushing headlong at the most skilled enemy on the field.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he watched the scene play out, unable to interfere quickly enough to change the outcome. The bandit rolled away from the lunge and rose to counter. Terrace was fast, but it didn't seem to matter. Two swift slashes across the chest and the young man fell to the ground as his blood sprayed into the air.

The book was in hand, the page had been turned. Piet knew he had to remove the threat before he could heal anyone, so he let the bolts of light fly. Again they connected, carrying the bandit off his feet for a second time. This time as the man got back to his feet, he took a single step towards the bishop before thinking better of it and turning to flee.

Piet let him go. He had more important things to deal with then vengeance. Two allies were bleeding out beside him. The captain of the company and one of his oldest friends...and a young man with so much left to live for. He would try to heal both, but he knew he might not have the time.

Quickly drawing his healing staff, the man who was both holy man and mercenary made the only choice he could.

Guy winced as an arrow actually nicked his arm, but didn't let it stop him for long as he looked for the archer. ...there.

Rushing towards him, Guy was slightly amused as the bandit managed to block the slash with his bow. Which the Wo Dao neatly sliced in half. As he drew his blade back for a second slash, he noticed the bandit drop both halves of his now useless weapon and attempt to make a break for it.

Delaying his slash intentionally, Guy put a nice rip in the back of the man's shirt to scare him, then stepped back and let him go. He wasn't really in the habit of killing people who had stopped fighting, especially when it wasn't the guy he was looking for anyway.

Taking a careful look around, he saw Lem hurl a javelin after one more fleeing bandit...and saw the fighting mostly done everywhere else. Was he just not here? Or... Guy sighed, as it hadn't really occurred to him before that it was entirely possible someone else would end up cutting down his mark. He hoped that wasn't the case, as he wasn't entirely sure how to go about finding Nergal without prying his location out of a morph.

Near him, he could see Aerie looking around as well. She walked over to where Piet was tending the wounded...and suddenly swore out loud and called out, "Badgers, form up!"

Guy was on his way over there before she had even given the order.

What he saw when he arrived made him pale. Terrace was barely sitting up, face ashen and clearly not in good shape yet, but moving. Branta, however, was still.

"He isn't dead yet." Piet quietly answered the unspoken question, "The old fool has more spit in him then that. But...I can't promise he'll make it through the night this time. I need to get him treated properly, but these aren't the conditions for it. I need to get him back to town."

Aerie frowned, "Isn't moving him dangerous?"

"Yes," Piet nodded, "but not getting him to a bed and a place where he can be kept warm enough through the night would be just as dangerous. We could try to clear the bodies and get our camp moved out here...but it still wouldn't be as good."

Guy, along with everyone else, looked at Aerie.

The entire company was looking at her, and Aerie was reminded of one more reason she didn't want command. Dammit Branta, you would have to go and get yourself cut up. You better not die on me.

"Take a minute to tap anyone else hurt with your staff, then get him ready to move." She made her decision and gave the order, trusting her captain's tough body to handle the move better then his age to handle the cold and dirt of overnight in the woods.

Piet nodded, and Aerie gave him a moment to work as she got herself composed and thought about what to do next. When the bishop signaled he was ready, she gave her orders, "Lem, Cauld, you two are pretty strong. Feeling steady enough to carry the captain back without jostling him much?"

The pikeman nodded immediately, "Yes ma'am," while the swordsman took a deep breath first before agreeing, "Yeah."

"Good." Aerie looked to the twins, "You two go as well. Pull back branches, stomp down overgrowth, I don't care what you have to do but try to make the path easier for them. The less the captain gets shaken up the better chance he has of surviving."

The twins exchanged one of their infamous looks, but for once didn't try to argue. She was quite glad for that, she didn't know if she had the patience to deal with them being stupid right now. "Dastan," she looked over at the mage, who was in reasonably good shape still, "Run back to town ahead of them and tell Nik to have someone prepare a room for the captain. A good one. He has my permission to bully them into it if he needs to."

"Understood," he gave a sharp nod and took off immediately.

"Guy..." she sighed, not sure what to say to the Sacaen. She hadn't had an idea what to say since his announcement about leaving the company, to be honest. After a moment she settled on just keeping to the situation and giving the orders that needed to be given, "You get cleanup. I'm going with Piet as lookout and guard while they move, catch up with us when you're done."

Cleanup for a battle like this included the very unpleasant duty of making sure any enemies who fell are actually dead and not just dying or faking it. She knew Guy hated that duty, but he was too small to help carry the captain and Dastan was likely to miss something if she gave it to him, so Guy was all that was left.

Predictably he balked a bit, but nodded and picked up the sword of a fallen bandit to do the unpleasant job with.

"Um...vice captain?" a shaky voice caught her attention, "what should I do?"

Aerie fixed Terrace with a slightly annoyed glare, "You? If you can walk yourself, then stay with Piet and don't make your injury worse by trying to do anything. If not..."

"I can walk," he cut her off, insisting. And shakily got to his feet to prove it.

Simply giving him a nod, she looked over at Piet, "Soon as you're ready."

They had set up in the town, getting Branta into a spare room in the bakery of all places. The owner hadn't liked it much, but Nik did a bit of bullying and they got him the space. Now Piet was inside with him while the rest gathered outside.

"Did you find what you needed?" Aerie asked Guy quietly as she approached the group.

Guy shook his head. The second morph hadn't been among the fallen at all, which was a relief and a worry at the same time. "No, but...I did see one thing that you should know."

"Let me guess, that you saw some of the men from the town with the dead bandits?"

Guy blinked, "Uh...yeah, actually. How'd you know?"

She gave him a look that made him regret opening his mouth. "Because I'm the one who stabbed one of them, that's how."

Of course. How else would she know? Guy sighed, "Sorry, I'm just worried."

"About your morph?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

She was quiet for a moment before asking what he knew she had to be wondering, "Are you still going?"

He'd thought about that himself on the way back. With Branta down, the Badgers needed him. But...Nergal was a threat to everyone. He needed to be here, but he needed to be out there more. "Yeah. I..."

"You don't have to justify it. I know how serious you think this is." She sighed, "Do you have any plan at all now?"

"Um..." Guy shrugged, "go find the one I know is out there?"

"Right. So no then." Aerie shook her head and walked towards the others...as Guy suddenly became aware that everyone else was looking at the two of them.

"Alright," Aerie addressed the company, "odd question here but did any of you see someone with black hair, gold eyes and pale skin? Maybe if they got cut their blood looked really thin and kinda light?"

The others looked at eachother to see if anyone had an answer before Terrace spoke up, "Yeah...I did. Well, I didn't see his blood. But he had the rest. He..." the young man shivered a bit, "he's the one who took down the captain. And me."

"Are we going after him?" Nikras asked in a level tone that Guy could tell was hiding a lot of anger.

Guy started to speak, but stopped as he saw Aerie looking at him strangely. Then the vice captain answered the question herself, "Yes. Yes we are."

"Good." Nik nodded, "I've let one man kill a captain of mine and get away with it. I don't intend to make a habit of it."

Guy wanted to interrupt, not entirely sure what was going on but feeling a need to clarify that this was his burden, not theirs. But Aerie just talked right over him again, "You'll have to let someone else take the honor though. We're splitting into two groups, and there's something fishy going on in town. We saw some of the town's woodsmen with the bandits, and that was a solid ambush. They knew we were coming."

"And you want me to stay here in the town?" Nik did not seem happy about that implication.

"If I'm acting captain again, then you get to be acting vice captain." Aerie smiled at her fellow hero, "Your team has two objectives. Protect the town, and find out just how deep their connection with the bandits goes. Keep yourselves alive, keep the captain alive, and don't let anything happen to the bishop. Got it? Do a good enough job and I'll let you have the position officially once the captain gets back on his feet."

"Aerie?" Guy finally managed to blurt out, "What are you doing?"

She turned to face him and smiled, an expression which did nothing to ease his feelings about the situation, "If this is important enough for you to run off on your own, it's important enough to help you with. And before you argue, remember that you haven't been released from your contract yet, so this isn't a request, it's an order."

"Run off on his own?" Noah piped up, while Cauld added, "Yeah, what's up with that?" Nik just raised a questioning eyebrow at the pair.

Aerie shook her head, "Ask later, you're either coming with us or can get the story from Piet."

"Fair enough." Nik shrugged, "How are we splitting?"

"I'll take..." Aerie considered, "Cauld and Dastan. And Guy of course. You get the twins, Lem and Terrace."

"Let me go too!" Terrace insisted, "I'll be fine by morning, I won't slow you down."

Guy started to protest, but again Aerie beat him to it, taking the words right out of his mouth, "No way. We're going after more then just the man who took down the captain. There's another enemy after that who's a bigger threat then anything we've faced, according to Guy. Bluntly put, you aren't ready."

"But..." the young man tried to find a way to protest, "I...feel like I should be doing something. I didn't manage to stop him before he got away."

"You were outclassed." Dastan pushed his hair out of his eyes as he spoke up, "from the sounds of it, the same thing that happened to you would have happened to anyone but Guy or perhaps the vice captain. Cut down in a flash. However," the mage added, "I believe there is something you can do. The vice captain will need a place to start tracking from before we can move out. Can you remember the exact spot where you fell? And where the enemy was standing in relation to it?"

"Yes." Terrace replied instantly. "I can."

Dastan nodded, then looked over to Aerie, "Excuse my presumption, but..."

"It's fine," she waved off the coming apology, "It's a good idea. But you don't come with us any further then getting me started on the track, got it Terrace?"

"Yes sir. Uh, ma'am."

"Good. Any more questions?" Aerie asked, then immediately added, "besides you, Guy. I'm sure you have some, they can wait."

Having been just about to speak for what must have been the fifth or sixth time just this conversation, Guy slumped a bit and shook his head. How does she do that?

"When are we leaving?" Cauld asked.

"Tomorrow morning, soon as we have enough light to track by. We're sleeping in the town tonight, treat it like a hostile environment and keep your weapons close. Nobody goes off alone as well." Aerie gave her orders, "Cauld, Dastan, spend the rest of today getting provisions ready. The rest of you are under Nik's command starting now, so if you want further orders, look at him."

As the Badgers split up to go about their business, Aerie finally turned back to Guy, "Alright, go ahead and make whatever arguments you've managed to think up about how you should do this alone so I can shoot them down."

"I..." taken aback by the abrupt confrontation, Guy decided against trying to argue. But he still had to ask, "uh...just, why? I wasn't exaggerating how dangerous this will be. I don't know if anyone else is really up for this. I...honestly don't even know if I am."

"Because we look after our own, that's why." Aerie shook her head, "we're not sure we're fighting for the right cause, we don't know if we can trust our employers, we don't even know if we can trust the people we're supposed to be protecting. Right now, all we have that we can be certain of is eachother. Call it sappy if you want, but that's how I see it. And you'll note the only argument I got was Terrace wanting to come too. I think that says it's the way everyone sees it."

As Guy quietly considered that, she smiled and added, "Besides, you're nowhere near a good enough tracker to pick out one set of tracks out of a battlefield and follow them fast enough to catch the guy making them. You can't do this alone. You need people to handle the skills you don't have, and people to watch your back. That's what a company is for, you know?"

"...yeah." Guy nodded. He did know, or at least he did now. "I...can I ask for one condition though?"

"Maybe." Aerie eyed him with a bit of suspicion.

"Let me tell Cauld and Dastan about Nergal. About what they're getting into. And if they want to back out, let them. I don't want anyone forced into this fight, dealing with Nergal is like something out of a nightmare."

Her expression softened and she nodded, "Yeah, go ahead. Tell them they have my permission to opt out if they want. Anyway, I need to go talk with Nik for a bit about what info he needs to dig up while we're gone, and how he's planning on getting it."

Guy watched her leave with mixed feelings. He had to admit, having backup made him feel better, and he was certainly glad for the company. But...they were getting involved because of him, and if anything happened he would feel like it was his fault. But by the same token...if any of them got involved in something big and wanted his help...he'd help, regardless of the danger. Making up his mind, he went to find the others, so long as it's their choice, then...well, it's their choice. And I won't take that away from them.

"Hmm," Aerie picked up the track again, taking them north and east this time, "Got it. Wish I knew this part of the country better, so I could make a guess where this is taking us."

"Well..." Dastan fished his thunder tome out of his pack, "It's not the best one ever, but I do have a map of Bern drawn on the inside cover of this."

"Really?" Aerie moved over to take a look at the map, tracing her finger along a part of it once she figured out about where they were, "This is actually not bad at all. Where you get it?"

Dastan shrugged, "I got a wyvern messenger to loan me his long enough to copy it. Captain Zaki didn't have one, and it just seemed the sort of thing a company should have."

"Well, good job there." Thinking about how their quarry had moved thus far, Aerie was able to make a prediction about where he was going, "He's trying to shake pursuit, but he's not putting as much effort into it as he could. Means getting to his destination is more important then getting us lost. Which, from how he's been moving, means his destination is somewhere up here. Probably...Vylard. Not a place I'm familiar with." Looking up, she addressed her crew, "Any of you know a town called Vylard?"

"Well, I know it's on this map," Dastan deadpanned, "but that's all."

Guy of course shook his head, but Cauld stepped up, "You said Vylard?"

Aerie nodded and all eyes turned to the young swordsman, "Yeah. You know it?"

"Not much..." Cauld shook his head, "but what I do know isn't good. It's the closest town to Fallen Giant Pass, and that place is said to be haunted. People go in, they come out crazy or scared pissless, if they come out at all."

"That's where he'll be then," Guy stated with certainty, "That's exactly the kind of place Nergal would set up. Our morph is running back to his master."

"Hoo boy," Cauld sighed and slumped over a bit, "I was afraid you were going to say that."

"Backing out?" Aerie eyed Cauld.

"Nope." He actually laughed at the question, "After Terrace practically begged to come with you, you think I could go back there and tell him I chickened out?"

Guy laughed a bit, "I wouldn't blame you."

"Alright, let's get moving." Aerie began to lead the way again, "If we can, I want to catch this morph before he reaches Fallen Giant Pass."

Falling back into formation, the four Badgers continued their chase of the morph who brought down their captain.

Author's note: Character introduction! Character development! Violence! Something that might pass for intrigue! This chapter has everything.

Except brevity. it doesn't have any of that. I'm not really sure I have any of that at all lately. Oh well, if you're still enjoying it, then it's all good.