Chapter 12: Left Uncertain
Finally, the huge company of Eliwood and Hector, under the guidance of the reluctant tactician Lucas, reached the inner domain of Santaruz, near the castle of Lord Helman, the marquess of Santaruz. They all stopped at a spot near a village to think of their next move.
Lucas was wondering about something, being lost in his thoughts. Things had gotten from bad to worse when the twin tailed archer and the cleric had formally met and as if they were both fire and wood, they had gotten along with each other well. Well, 'well' was putting it lightly, they got along when it came to teasing the poor tactician with the cleric suggesting some things and the archer agreeing, making the archer feel uneasy. But his thoughts were interrupted when a knight
"Lucas, right? I know that we went off with a rough start, but the name is Lowen, and I'm a journeyman knight of Pherae and an escort of Milord Eliwood. Whatever you want me to do, I shall follow your lead," Lowen introduced himself as the tactician walks beside him.
"Another knight..." Lucas mumbles as he makes his strides.
"Serra? Is this normal?" Rebecca asks the pink haired healer.
"What? The mumbling thing?" Serra replies back, inquisitively. "Oh yes, that is usually what he says after meeting someone new. Although, I cannot say who is which piece. It seems that only he knows who is who."
"C'mon! We're almost there Eliwood! Just a few more miles away if we make haste!" Hector says before hearing a few rustling in the bushes. Something that was not animalistic. It sounded like boots sinking in the earth.
"Hm? Who are you?" Hector turns around, only to see a lone heavily armored soldier wielding a sturdy lance. He was not wearing a helmet, which displayed his bald head, with his green beard.
"Tch, the jig is up, round 'em up boys! Do your worst!" the fat dark-armored knight orders before running away, alerting assailants to disperse and prepare to attack in their positions.
"Whoa, so much for making haste," Ren comments as he pulls out his old armorslayer.
"Lucas, tell us the plan! What must we do?" Eliwood yells out to the intrepid tactician.
"We slowly head to the castle. Same groups as last time. Me, Matthew, Ren and Serra will go and protect our 'pretty' boy. Farina, I know you are capable but I see archers down there. Go with both Bartre and Dorcas, stick with them."
"Hey Lucas, Bartre reported that he somehow saw a nearby village east of us over the river, should we secure it?" Dorcas asks.
"Hm, is the village reachable?" Lucas asks to confirm.
"He says we could if we knock over the dead tree by the river on our side," Dorcas confirmed.
"Then it's settled, Farina, go now." Lucas commands, making her follow Dorcas and Bartre.
"Like those times again, wouldn't you agree, Lucas? No worries, I have no objections to your choices. I humbly wait upon your no-doubt brilliant orders, tactician!" Matthew gleefully replies before charging into the fray, followed by a very excited Ren.
"I hate this so much." Lucas says chasing after the two.
Swiftly, the members follow through with Lucas' strategy as they run off from their positions as the main force of their group charges off to the main battlefield, whereas the pegasus knight and the warriors manage to sneak off to the nearby village to reinforce the place so that no one would be harmed.
With gentleness, the separate group of oddities try to act natural in the small village with their weapons secured to not scare the residents in the village, except a pedantic peddler with cerulean hair and a small mustache because of blocking his way.
"Oh dear, oh goodness, I must hurry out of here! You, please stand aside, I must tarry no more! Goodbye!" the rushing peddler calls out before moving away with his belongings.
"Hm? He dropped something. Great, he just had to leave, oh well," Farina mumbles as she picks up a torch due to the rushing peddler's carelessness.
"Well, it seems that we got our job done. The village elder intends to secure the gates once we leave immediately," Dorcas reports.
"So what are we standing around here for!? Let's march into battle then!" Bartre roars with his broad axe itching to do some hacking and slashing.
"Agreed, I bet that dense strategist friend of Ren, What's his name again? They might be having a hard time without the muscles of the team," Farina gloats as she flexes her toned feminine muscles, shocking Dorcas and Bartre. After a moment of silence, Dorcas started laughing, making both Farina and Bartre look at him in confusion.
"Dorcas, hey? What is wrong?"
"Is your friend alright?"
Bartre shrugs in response. They wait for a few minutes for Dorcas to stop laughing and when they start to get moving. Dorcas looks on in the battle, seeing what they are doing.
"What are you doing?"
"Letting you see how our tactician fights in battle."
Meanwhile, the said leaders are having no issues against the enemy with the assistance of their retainers and escorts, a straight-faced tactician, and a swordsman with a running mouth. They've easily secured the village near their position as they effectively pushed back the enemy with the size of their combined party of professional and odd members in the battlefield.
"This is getting way too fast, don't you think brother?" Ren wonders as he kicks and slashes an enemy spearman with his iron sword.
"Yeah...almost too easy..."
By a hair strand, a lone swordsman, who nearly cuts and grazes Lucas' face and snips strands of his hair, guards the bridge to the castle and blocks the two lords and their companies from going any further.
"Sorry, got my orders. Nothing personal," the lone swordsman replies as he readies his razor-sharp killing edge for another swift lunging flurry of slashes.
"Oh really, then so be it," Ren replies with a hint of regret as he gets into a stance to counter his next move and uses his killing edge. However before Ren could move forward, Lucas moves his hand in front of said swordsman before saying.
"No, I'll do it." But before Lucas could do anything...
"Wait! Guy!? Is that you my friend!?"
Suddenly, Matthew intrudes into the scene upon spotting the familiar swordsman donning cyan-colored Sacaen attire and the rude mouth and halts him from fighting Ren.
"Matthew?! What are you doing here?" the Sacaen swordsman named Guy, wonders in confusion.
"I could ask you the same thing apparently. Why are you here anyway?" Matthew inquiries from the Sacaen swordsman who appears to be a friend of his.
"Well, if it weren't for you, I would not have lasted out there with an empty belly, and now I just got this job to stand guard in this post. Didn't expect you to show up," Guy answered as he lays down his killing edge and sheathes it back in its scabbard.
"Ah I see, in that case, come join us," Matthew nonchalantly requests, shocking Lucas and Ren from the sudden transition of the conversation.
"Are you kidding me? I just got this job!" Guy protests angrily.
"But then, if I hadn't given you my meal for the starving you, you wouldn't have been able to see tomorrow right? In any case, you owe me, big time," Matthew reasons out, guilt-tripping Guy from his supposedly-nice gesture when he was starving out in the wilderness while travelling and seeking for jobs to work for.
"Geh–what!? But I–"
"Oh? You won't help? Even after I gave you my food? Even after my charity? Even after you said you "owe" me your life? I thought that Sacaens never lie, yes?" Matthew dramatically reasons out, further shaming Guy for being hesitant to his own words while both tactican and swordsman watch from where they stood.
"B-but that was because you were cooking meat! Grrrrrrgh, just when I've found a job, I had to throw it away! Damn you Matthew!" Guy curses as he concedes and defects to the side of Hector on behalf of Matthew's sly reasoning.
"You are one sneaky fox, you know that right?" Lucas comments, with Matthew smirking in response to his remark.
"What are you looking at?" Guy barks at Lucas as he thinks on what to do with another swordsman in the team.
"..." Lucas thought silently with raged veins towards the aloof swordsman, a complete opposite of Ren before muttering one word. "...Pawn…"
With enough said, the group, with a new recruited member, the swift and aloof swordsman Guy, who was somewhat annoyed of both the thief's reasoning and the tactician's nickname, proceed to eliminate the last of the remaining assailants with the two swordsmen, the armored aide Oswin, and the paladin Marcus, as the vanguard under the tactician's guidance. There they meet up with the Dorcas' team from the other side, spotting them carrying huge sacks, one of which is emitting sounds of clanging metal.
"What took you so long? Care to explain what could be in those sacks?" Lucas inquires from noticing the two sacks that Dorcas and Bartre are carrying.
"Oh this? We were taking a little detour for some, well, supplies in a way," Dorcas nervously answered as he puts down a sack filled with five sturdy javelins.
"Yeah! You guys won't believe what we got!" Bartre rejoices as he puts down a sack filled with five handaxes.
"Guuugh, couldn't you guys at least be a bit more prudent with the money we have? Should have had a much more careful eye on you," Lucas groans in regret as he rubs his nose bridge in disappointment, albeit not complaining about getting a new spear since his axereaver is finally done in serving its purpose, in pieces.
The two axemen distributed the new javelins to Marcus, Lowen, Lucas, Farina, and Oswin. They then distribute the new handaxes to Marcus, Dorcas, Hector and save the other two handaxes for future battles while Lucas talks about the strategy with the rest of the group.
After that was done, the huge party confronted the lone armored soldier that they'd met earlier, now at the front gates of the marquess of Santaruz, Lord Helman's manor but only Lucas held them back and eyed them, as if saying to leave it to him.
"Damn you Ephidel, this isn't what I was prepared for! Aw who cares, have at you!" the bald armored soldier silently curses his superior before readying his iron lance for combat.
"Sorry, Ephidel or whoever he is, is not here at the moment. Care to talk with me instead?" Lucas taunts twirling his spear before pointing it's blade on the knight.
"So, a knight of Caelin is serving a post among Pherae's eh? I thought that you were serving the old fool Lord Hausen," the bloated bald knight jeered upon recognizing the insignia on Lucas' brooch.
"Well, Lord Hausen allowed me to roam around the land for answers. While I do take no offense to your comment. I won't allow you to talk shit to my Lord, however loose the term would be."
"Oh? Then what are you standing around there on your cold feet and doing your worst, little knight," the armored knight taunts as he engages in combat with Lucas.
The armored knight starts off with a lunging motion with his spear and Lucas immediately jumped over the lance strike and steps on the knight's lance, using his weight to make the lance stand upright on the ground as Lucas thrust his spear into his left eye, making the knight scream out in pain.
"And for the record, I prefer being called tactician if you may." Lucas taunts back before preparing to throw his javelin at the knight.
"Why you–you! Why are yo-!?" The armored knight rages as his eyes turn and see Ren behind Lucas but before he could call out for an answer he was interrupted by the javelin that impaled his heart.
"..." Ren stood there silent while sweating nervously from his remark, though clueless of whoever that knight is.
"Alrighty then, let's go to Lord Santaruz or whatever and ask him for some wine. I am winded at the moment and am in desperate need to get something to drink. I wonder if the Lord would forgive me for killing some of his knights..." Lucas says leaving the stunned group, except the members of his legion, wide eyed and confused on who they just added into their group for some wine in the castle but not before pulling the spears off the corpse of the recently deceased member of their ranks, without knowing that they are but imposters.
"I find it strange though. I do not recognize that knight among Lord Helman's ranks in his knight order. More importantly, it seems he knows you of some sort, Ren…?" Eliwood concludes after he carefully examined the dead knight's appearance.
Ren just remained quiet and replied. "Excuse me, but I think someone needs to watch over the tactician in case he doesn't drink the marquess' royal cellar dry clean."
He leaves almost as quickly as he is in battle, leaving the group very much confused by the actions of both the tactician and the swordsman. Soon everyone enters into the castle and explores the interiors for any possible attacks that may remain from within, while Eliwood, Hector, and Ren at the moment search for Lord Helman, who was later found on the floor with a grave wound on his heart.
"Lord Helman! Uncle no!" Eliwood exclaims as he holds Lord Helman's frail old body.
"E-Eliwood...is that you…?"
The age-weary marquess coughs as his blood invades into his throat from his wound.
"I'm here Lord Helman, stand strong! Hector! Find Serra–"
"No Eliwood...my time is finished...I never should have–!" The dying lord says before going into a coughing his blood out.
"Lord Helman!"
"...Eliwood...beware of the Black...Fang...your father...he….Darin, the marquess of Laus, knows, all..."
From his last sigh, Lord Helman had slumped over and was now no more than a lifeless body in Eliwood's arms. Eliwood mourns loudly from the loss of his father's friend while being comforted by his friend Hector before searching the manor to find a way to give the deceased marquess a proper burial.
The tactician, now with a few more wineskins of wine thanks to the staff of the castle for some reason, was seen overlooking a cliff watching the sun set before he takes a sip. He took a look for any sort of information in the library and had found nothing, no letters, no clues. He also remembered the last words and expression of the knight–no, bandit said before the javelin pierced his heart. And then there was Lord Helman's dying message.
'Beware of the Black Fang.'
Lucas knew at this point that this wasn't their first encounter with the Fang. After all, he nearly died to one of their shamans before, but what did the late Lord Helman have in common with these bandits? He tried to think hard, but it seemed that he drank a bit too much before he could be thinking of what could make these connections more than just mere coincidences. He needed evidence or witnesses that are connected directly to anything to these bandits or assassins that he is dealing with.
After Eliwood had mentioned earlier that the group was heading through Caelin, the former members of the legion were happy and excited to possibly see Lyn and their friends. While Lucas would not admit that he was excited to see Lyn, Lucas had more questions to think about for the possible future.
And he knew this would not be an easy fight.
Chapter END