CHAPTER 21

Meanwhile, at Serenes Forest, King Tibarn of the Phoenicis Hawk Laguz was speaking to Nealuchi of the raven laguz clan. Tibarn was shocked to discover that King Naesala would sell Reyson to the Begnion noble beorc, leaving him in nothing but complete anger and disappointment to the ravens. Janaff and Ulki, the "eyes" and "ears" of the Hawk King respectively, witnessed everything.

"I'm an old buzzard, aren't I…" thought Nealuchi.

"Well, it was you crows that set up the prince as merchandise to the human slave market." said Janaff.

"That so does it!" Nealuchi said. He later shifted forms, and left.


When Ike and company arrived at Serenes Forest, Sanaki and Sigrun were counting on them to find Reyson. When Nasir stated that they were coming into a large, dark, swampy clearing, Ike halted everyone.

"Eesh…" Ike said. "The hell with this mess."

"Yeah…" Titania said. "My horse can't even handle this dirty, mucky swamp water!"

"Yeah." Soren said. "Besides, something could go wrong any minute."

"Like now?" Gloria the Red Dragon laguz asked.

"Oh, not the duke's soldiers!" Ike said.

"Stop them!" said a Begnion Halberdier.

"Wretched people of the apostle…" said an enemy Begnion Falcon Knight of Duke Tanas. "They will perish by my Tempest Blade!"

"Oh, no…" said Soren.

"What's going on?!" asked Ike.

"Leave this to me!" said Kiev. As he transformed, he began to charge at the Begnion soldiers. When he let out a roar of immobilization, all the soldiers were stunned.

"Wretched, furry, fangy sub-humans!" said a Begnion Pegasus Knight. "Beasts, that is!"

" RUN! " said a soldier.

"Nonsense!" said the Begnion Falcon Knight. "Don't run away like a bunch of scared headless chickens!"

" EXCUSE ME! " Ike yelled.

"And who are you?!" the Begnion Falcon Knight asked.

"My name is Ike. Ike of the Greil Mercenaries, and now is your time to surrender if you do not want to die! We have come for the Heron Prince!" Ike hollered.

"You? Come for the Heron? Hah! He belongs to the great and o so beautiful Duke Tanas now!" said the Falcon Knight. Then, the screeching of a hawk was heard. This scared the Falcon Knight. She died soon after from the bloody injury given to her.

"Ike, watch out!" said Oscar.

"But… what was that?!" asked Ike. "Talyana! Was that you?!" asked Ike.

"No…!" exclaimed Talyana. "It was… another hawk, I suppose!"

"Yeah, Talyana was standing right here all along." said the white dragon laguz Zuria.

"Then let's investigate." Ike suggested.

"Good thinking, Ike." said Soren. "We have to find that giant hawk that soared into our picture." The group went to investigate.


When the group continued investigating Serenes Forest after long walks and fights, Mist and Lethe, as well as Mordecai, heard chimes coming from the northeastern part of the forest. As it was suspected to be the arcane galdrar, Mist became amazed at the chimes.

"Wow, talk about beorc, but this kid's got sharp hearing!" said Lethe.

"Yup." Ike said. "My sister always did… for some reason…"

"Ike!" yelled Boyd. "Look that Soren found!"

"That looks like a giant white feather…" said Ike.

"Really?!" Soren said. "Could the heron prince be here somewhere?"

"I don't know…" Ike said, "Let's continue to investigate." The group then continued the quest of Serenes investigation.


"You did what?!" Ulki asked as he was talking to Janaff.

"I took out a Begnion Falcon Knight with a single hit." Janaff answered.

"You stupid son of a bitch!" Ulki said. "DO you ahve any idea we could have been enslaved too?!"

"Alright, calm down, both of you!" Tibarn said. "Let's find Reyson."

"...Fine." said Ulki.


Ike had just reached the place where the hawk tribe was. When Ike saw brown feathers, he suspected that the hawks of the Bird Wing Tribe were also looking for Reyson. However, it was indeed Ike's task to find Reyson and reason with him. Then, Nasir found a female royal heron. That was Reyson's sister, Leanne. However, her language was not understandable by Ike.

"What was she saying?" asked Ike.

"It was the Ancient Language…" said Nasir. "To still be able to hear it is a miracle come true…" Then, someone else who was speaking ancient tongue shouted for help.

"What was that?!" asked Jill Fizzart.

"I don't know, Jill…" Ike said. "Let's go investigate some more."

" WAIT! " said Swan.

"What is it, Swan?!" asked Ike and Jill.

"That voice… Belabánva! I'm coming!" Swan said as he later transformed into his heron state and flew off.

"That was a bad idea, wasn't it?" asked Ike.

"Come on!" Nasir said.


" Swan… please… come back… " Belabánva said as she spoke in her native ancient language. However, she fainted. Ike and company later arrived.

"Belabánva!" Swan exclaimed.

"Is that your sister?" asked Ike.

"It's her, alright…" said Swan.

"But she fainted." said Craine.

"Let me do something." said Rhys. He later nursed Belabánva back to health.

" Where… where am I…? " Belabánva asked in ancient tongue.

"You're safe, sister." said Swan. "My friend nursed you back to health."

" ...Swan… " said Belabánva. " It's you! " she later said as she cried.

"Of course it's me." Swan said. "Master Cecily took me in after the Serenes Massacre happened, and I was destined to find you again…" Swan later said. " Thank the goddess that you're alive …" he later said in ancient tongue. "But there's no time to waste. We have to find Prince Reyson." Ike later walked towards everyone.

"I think I found the prince." Ike said.

"Where is he?" asked Swan. "Can I see him?" Ike later nodded to the right, telling him to come forth to Reyson. Swan later went with Craine to find the prince. Belabánva, Swan's sister, also went too.

" Leanne! Reyson! " Belabánva shouted.

"Belabánva!" shouted Reyson. "You lived…"

" We're happy to see you! " Leanne said in ancient tongue. " But what happened? Who sent you? "

"Some spiky blue-haired guy did." Swan responded to Leanne.

"It's alright. The apostle sent us to reason with the prince." said Ike. "We're only here to help."

"You mean… the apostle sent you?" asked Reyson.

"Yes." Ike said. "My name is Ike. And I am assuming you are the prince?"

"I… am." Reyson said. However, Duke Tanas later showed up.

"It's about time you showed your bloated face again, Oliver." said Ike.

"Another heron lives?" asked Oliver. "Beautiful!" he later sang in an operatic voice. "Guards! Do these herons no harm!"

"You will not have them!" Ike said. Ike later used the skill Stefan taught him and took down Oliver.

"You… you…" Reyson said.

"I protected you from that fat freak." said Ike. "You and the female heron are alright." Tibarn later showed up afterwards to stop Ike.

"Wait, King Tibarn!" Janaff said "I think he's aiding the herons!"

"We were sent here by the apostle Sanaki to protect the herons. Please believe us!" Ike explained.

"The apostle sent you?" asked Tibarn. "To aid the herons? Touching. Touching indeed."

"Ike, please, come with us." Reyson said.

"For what?" Ike asked.

"For a ceremony of peace." said Reyson. Ike later came. After Reyson and Leanne sang a special song, peace was later restored to Serenes Forest at long last.

"...Oh, I'm sorry…" Sanaki said. Everyone later went back to the capital of Begnion after Sanaki forgave the herons for false accusation of the murdering of Misaha, the previous apostle.