VALIDAR'S POV

"You are sure of this, Aversa?" I asked, a slight frown creasing my face. Aversa bowed stiffly. "Yes milord. Robin fell to Walhart in northwestern Valm three nights ago." My frown deepened. "This is bad… This will set us back. Grima will not be able to regain his full power for a long time if we cannot retrieve Robin."

"Well… Milord…" Aversa said carefully. I turned to face her. "What? Is there another way to return Grima to full strength other than using Robin?" She looked uneasy. "I was thinking about it, but, do we really need present Robin for the ceremony?"

Aversa had my full intention. "Do elaborate." She nodded hastily and continued. "Well, why couldn't we just have the weakened Grima claim the offering? It would be much easier if it were to work, milord." I saw one flaw in the rather brilliant idea. "Yes, but if Grima, at the low of his powers, was rejected so strongly from Robin that it caused full-blown amnesia, who knows what would happen if Grima were to merge with him after He has claimed the offering?"

Aversa bit her lip. "I think sacrifices will have to be made if we want to revive Grima, milord. Including your son." I thought carefully.

Who cares about the boy?

Aversa and I both jumped, confirming the owner of the voice. "L-Lord Grima!" I said hastily, bowing deeply to nobody in particular. Grima's laugh echoed through the room. "Courteous as ever, Validar. So tell me, how goes the quest for the Emblem?" "Er, well, Milord Grima, we have recovered one of the Emblem Stones, Sable. We are going to lure the Ylisseans here with the Emblem with it, and annihilate them in one fell swoop." I said, and brought out the gemstone.

"Put that blasted thing away! I already feel its energy sapping my own!" Grima hissed. The glowing black gem did indeed seem to glow brighter as I hid it away in the pocket of my robe. "Yes, my apologies, Lord Grima. It was an error on my part." I said, bowing again.

"I have no patience for fools, Validar. Make sure the sacrifice is ready for the appointed time." Aversa frowned. "Appointed time, milord? What is so important about it?" Grima chuckled softly, a harsh rasping in my ears. "Why, Aversa, I thought you were always so well-informed!" Grima said mockingly. "The day I return is the day all the Outrealm Gates are aligned and connected to our own world. All I must do is destroy that accursed shrine of Naga's and my power will surge through the Outrealms like an epidemic."

"That reminds me, Aversa." I said, "I have a job for you concerning the Outrealms. Have you ever heard of the Einherjar?"

?'S POV

"This could be a problem." I muttered, looking down at the ground below me. The grass was slick with a large quantity of dark-red blood that went off in a line towards the south. The blood looked fairly fresh; it was just starting to dry along with the heavy rains of the previous night.

"What should we do, commander?" Nick, my second-in-command was looking over my shoulder at the blood. I frowned. "We should probably follow the trail but this is a lot of blood. The person may very well've died. Nick frowned. "Do you think he was here?"

I looked at the scattered remaining bodies on the plain. A battle had definitely taken place. "Yeah, most likely Walhart was here. I heard he passed through here. If that's the case, we're definitely going to follow this guy and make sure he's done. If we don't I won't be able to sleep."

Nick nodded. "That's what I thought, but it looks like we'll have to fight our way out of here." I looked at him. "Why's that?" He pointed weakly at a rather large group of on-foot soldiers carrying the Valmese standard. I dropped into a defensive position and drew my weapon- a 6-foot long silver scythe.

Nick did likewise and took out his double-bladed battle-axe. "There are too many. We should retreat." I said uneasily. Nick shook his head. "They'd surround us easily." I nodded. "Well, just in case, it was a pleasure, Nick." "Aye, sir."

With the grim knowledge the odds were stacked against us, we charged.

We never got there. There were three identical flashes of dark blue and the enemy was flung into disarray. "Are they foes?" Nick asked. "Enemy of the enemy." I said, and leapt into the fray. The first soldier never knew what hit him as my scythe impaled him and I threw him aside like a rag doll, blood trailing from the wound I made.

Before he hit the ground I swung at the next foe. He caught the scythe with his sword hilt. Without hesitation I kicked him back. He staggered back as I quickly regained my balance and cut a wide gash across his chest. He stayed down. I kicked off the ground and ran for the next victim.

I leapt into the air and brought my scythe down in a deadly arc of silver. The third victim dropped to his knees, completely unaware of what hit him. I looked around. Good thing, too, for three Valmese had obviously seen me as a threat and were running towards me. All at once.

I glanced to my left to see that Nick was in a similar predicament. A large quantity of the forces was also rallying a few yards down the plain. I shrugged and analyzed the enemies. The had a sword, lance, and axe respectively with two daggers each hanging from their belt.

They were running in perfect stride with about a foot between them. Perfect. I turned sideways, pointing the end of my scythe towards them. They hefted their weapons and kept running. I steeled myself and executed my maneuver.

I sidestepped between the sword and lance holder, hooking the lance holder with my scythe and sending him sprawling before finishing with one quick stroke. Before they realized what happened I lunged and sliced open the axe wielder's back and he took a spill, his weapon clattering onto the dirt.

The last soldier turned to face me. There was a good 7 feet gap between us. Without warning he threw his sword like a javelin. Easily, I blocked it, raising my scythe to chest level and let it clatter harmlessly off the blade. Then, I hit the deck as the dagger entered by gut. I lost my grip on the scythe as the soldier quickly closed the distance and kicked it away. He had his second dagger in his hand.

Nick was still occupied, and too far away to help. "Well it was a good run." I shut my eyes and waited, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my stomach. There was a strangled gasp and I cracked an eye. The soldier was lying spread-eagled on the ground, twitching as arcs of electricity ran up and down his body at odd intervals.

"Magic?" I mused, looking around. I sat up, and winced. "Do you need something for that?" A voice asked from behind me. Suddenly, a dark-blue-haired boy appeared at my side and painfully ripped the dagger out. He frowned. "Serrated edge. That must have hurt. Let me help." Without consent he pulled out a roll of bandages and patched the wound.

"Thanks, I guess." I said, and stood up. A tall woman walked over, with similar hair color and a sword at her belt. She looked me up and down. "What's your business here? You don't look like a merchant." She asked. I shrugged. No use lying. "I'm here passing through to the imperial capital."

In a flash the sword at her waist was now at my throat. "To join forces with Walhart? To replace Yen'fay?" she spat. I raised an eyebrow. "Yen'fay is dead? Was it Prince Chrom who bested him?" her blade faltered. "Why are you going to the capital?" she asked, more assertively this time.

"To go assist Prince Chrom. Might you have the same purpose?" she frowned and sheathed her sword. "As a matter of fact I do. I happen to know where Prince Chrom Is at the moment. Want me to take you to him?" what a demeanor change. "Yes, actually. That would be nice."

She nodded and glared at me to affirm that she did not under any circumstances trust me. "Morgan. Christian. Fall in, he's not among the fallen." The two children nodded. "Let's go. We have a long night of trekking ahead of us."

Jack's Corner

Sorry about the rushed chapter last time. I had a bit more time on this one. The quest for Robin continues. He isn't at the site of battle, where could he have run off to? Ahahahahahahahaha. Oh and check out the notice at the top of my profile is you haven't already it pretty much explains my current tum-tigger. So enjoy!