Chapter 14: Vultures Everywhere
The next morning in the castle of the marquess of Laus, the two lords, the tactician, and the other members arise to help deal with some of the state affairs in the absence of the marquess and the heir to the leadership of Laus. However, just when things have gone by without halt, trouble comes in like a snake as it slithers into their current location.
"Lord Hector! We are under attack! Intruders have broken into the castle interiors!" Oswin warns after looking into the breached entrances.
"Blast! Who could it be?! It better be that lout Darin himself! Could save us the trouble to chase him down!" Hector hopes as he brandishes Wolf Beil for the incoming intruders.
'I highly doubt that his "Excellency" would be wasting his time of conquest by coming back with his ruthless ambition to fulfill. Something is definitely off right now…' Lucas thought before yelling at the heir of Pherae.
"Hey pretty boy! Know anything about this?"
"Um, I have heard rumors from my father about a certain mercenary group that is often in the service of Laus, " Eliwood answers.
"Mercenaries? Keep talking, " Lucas asks further.
"The group is led under a man named Eubans, a formidable fighter and strategist. However, he seldomly personally takes up arms and enters the fray himself. I believe it is someone else who is here under his orders, " Eliwood adds.
Upon hearing the word strategist, Lucas cursed to himself. "Another one? Damn, they really are trying to annoy me."
"Well that's just great. Got a plan right now?" Hector asks the thinking tactician as he scratches his chin.
"Well, aren't you lazy. Right now, our priority is to make sure no one is hurt. So tell everyone to gather at the throne room, servants and all the people who could not fight back. Secondly, Matthew, assuming that this isn't our castle and that he sent his men to destroy it. I want you to loot every single treasure in the damn castle, including books, novels and gold. Think of it as a….consolation… kind of payment…" Lucas commands as he sits down on the throne and starts thinking on what the possible reason as to why the king of Laus would attack his own throne. Luckily, earlier that day, He went to the library and pulled every note he could find, made, as well as a few letters in Lord Laus's personal library.
'So what is there to hide? Why attack your own castle?'
Soon, all of the members evacuated the civilians to a safe spot with Merlinus and then finally gathered around to the throne room with Erik, still wrapped in bindings. Lucas then relays the situation at hand to everyone that is present before discussing the battle plan.
"At the moment, our stratagem for now is to make sure that no one is hurt. Most likely we will have to guard this room itself. We do not know how many entrances there are or if there are any other points of entry among the halls. So, check the area for any easy routes for intruders to enter, but be aware. They might've infiltrated further near our position. Me, Ren, Pretty boy and Lord Ostia will act as the vanguard. Serra, Rebecca, Priscilla and Erk will support us. Matthew goes off and harass the other warriors. The rest of you all will protect Merlinus and the servants of the castle."
"Sounds good to me, let's roll!" Ren rallies.
"Let's do this guys!" Farina roars with her killer lance held high.
"Ready your arms! They're heading our way!" Oswin warns upon hearing loud footsteps and seeing a couple of mercenary swordsmen, lancemen, and magic-wielders. Behind the walls of the throne room are trotting hooves, indicating cavaliers present among the enemies' ranks.
"Whoa, sure a lot of them out here, " Guy comments nervously as he steels his resolve and his swords for combat.
"Ready yourselves and give Matthew time for an opening." Lucas rallies the group before charging in spear in hand.
Swiftly, nearby swordsmen engage in combat with Lucas and Ren while Rebecca and Erk defend against archers and mages attacking their positions.
Meanwhile, Matthew was able to swiftly enter a certain treasure room after a few clicks on the lock, only to see another thief attempting to unlock one chest and failing miserably. The thief cursed a little bit, kicked the chest and looked up frustrated, only to see Matthew there with a couple of lockpicks in hand.
"Back off!" The nameless thief says before pulling out his short blade and twirling it, making him seem more intimidating than usual. "Get the hell away from me, Let me take the treasure and leave."
Matthew's response to this entire debacle was to simply punch the thief in the face, quickly knocking him out before stealing his lockpicks and short blade with a jeering complexion.
"Amateur."
Then he attempts to quickly unlock a pair of chests as the rest of the team hold off the intruders.
One by one, the mercenary intruders fall on their corpses against the party's strong coordination while protecting their current position.
"Is that all of them?" Ren pants and retreats for a moment.
"Not quite, it's ending too fast, " Marcus warns.
"Sir Ren! Take this! You damaged your last sword, am I correct? Have this one instead!" Merlinus pleads as he hands a new iron sword to Ren.
"Thanks for the assist!" Ren thanks as he receives the iron sword from Merlinus before entering the fray again.
Slowly the battle seems to slowly end, with Marcus and Lowen chasing after the last of the intruders, along with the leader of the squadron.
"Everyone, rally to me!" Lucas rallies as he motions for the group to slowly move towards the outermost layers of the castle, slowly fighting off the slowly retreating mercenary group. He sees another mercenary run towards him as he quickly disarms him and slams his spear down on him, pinning the soldier to the ground.
"Hehe...it's over...Caelin's...done for…" The soldier says as he mutters his last words before passing away, making the tactician realize why the Lord of Laus attacked his own castle.
With most of the enemy forces eliminated, the members decide to slay the survivors until their leader is the last one standing. At the blink of an eye, Ren and Guy converge on the mounted archer mercenary with a flurry of swift slashes to both the rider and his mount, they sheathe their blades with the mercenary reduced to a pile of flesh. The two swordsmen return with a pair of bows and a Dragonshield found mounted on his steed's holster as the spoils of the battlefield.
After the battle had concluded, Lucas slowly headed towards the group as they had decided to meet up to discuss what the next move could possibly be.
"Eliwood," Lucas calls as he heads for Eliwood's direction.
"Lucas! What's the matter? Is something wrong?" Eliwood inquires.
"Look, I'm just gonna say this straight: I am preparing to leave...for Caelin."
Eliwood then stands there in silence as he gently takes in what Lucas had just said. He then breaks it as he asks with concern.
"May I ask why at this instant?"
"When we were fighting off those soldiers, mercenaries whatever. One of them mentioned something about Caelin. I got worried about it and…:"
"I understand your concern my friend. But as you can see, we need to recollect ourselves for what our next journey will come after. Hector and I discussed earlier that–"
"Eliwood, I know that there are others in this group who owe their lives to Lyn! And I know for a fact that they will go with me to at least save her if you won't allow us."
"Wait, but-" Eliwood tried to answer back but was interrupted yet again.
"Either you leave with half your entire force 'pretty boy' or you accompany me to Caelin so that WE can save Lyn!" Lucas snapped as he slams his palms on a hardwood desk, making the atmosphere in the room became deathly quiet as he had practically forced Eliwood to choose a difficult choice between the group or the tactician.
After a complete moment of silence, Eliwood finally responded with a smile. "Did you know that what Hector and I agreed is that we were going to Caelin after our business here in Laus is done? 'A leader must care for the well being of his soldiers', right? Or should I suppose that you care too much for Lyndis that you would risk losing not only your composure but your temper as well? Also, it is also quite concerning that you shifted quite quickly from Caelin to Lyn. What is your relationship with the heiress of Caelin, care to elaborate further, Lucas?"
This, in turn, made the intrepid tactician speechless and blush both from the embarrassment of his own wisdom being reflected and his hidden intentions being revealed, sparking the smiles of all the people who used to be in the legion, plus Rebecca, who smiled in a teasing manner.
"Hey, I get that you have your own way of doing your thing, or things. But you're not alone on this one. Besides, it sounds like a thrill to travel. And sounds like your chance to redeem yourself, am I right?" Hector replies after recalling what Eliwood has informed about Lucas. The blushing tactician only looks away and nods, not facing any of the other members of the legion.
After the group dispersed and had "decided" that they should go to Caelin and start packing up for their trip, Lucas, now calm from his earlier outburst, was looking for Farina, kind of curious as to what she was up to, only to find her with Ren. He slowly approached them as there were some questions that he wanted to ask the two.
"So wait, just wondering, how did you meet up with my little sis'? Is it some sort of rendezvous as peers? A mercenary party? Well?" Farina wonders while teasing Ren with his strange reactions upon hearing about Florina.
"Ah-well, we only met by accident actually. I was travelling with Lucas and another team until I ran off listening and following a noise from afar. Then I saved this girl getting hit mugged by ruffians, who happens to have a pegasus as her mount. Bet you can guess who already, " Ren explains briefly.
"Hohoho? You for real?! That's the case?!" Farina laughs for a moment after knowing how coincidental it must be for Ren to meet her and her sister.
She then calms herself down and then regains her composure after looking into his eyes, showing a hint of sincerity.
"You serious man? I am asking that since I do find any man suspicious enough to have the guts to flirt with my little sister. 'Cause if you are, I'll make you regret meeting me and my sisters," Farina sternly warns with her killer lance held by the tail of its spearhead at her side.
"I'll keep that in mind, but I just have things I think she hates or, possibly, not accept me. I have a rough past you see," Ren answered with a nervous tone.
"Sure you will!" she encourages with a strong slap to his rear, surprising him from her boisterous personality. "I bet you'd do just fine, you guys even seem to act similarly!"
Ren turns bright red from the nonchalant comment she makes.
After seeing this whole interaction, he thought for a while on how to disrupt their conversation before grinning and yelling out, making sure the entire hall heard him.
"Hey Lovebirds! Isn't it bad that you are cheating on your significant others?!"
The two upon hearing this blushed immensely, with Ren turning brighter than before, and turned to see who said that only to see Lucas smiling there.
"Oh, I got two today, expecting just Ren but hey, I guess the Pegasus knight likes someone." He taunts in his usual joking manner as he slowly approached the two, making the pegasus knight glare at him, making it look playful as to not reveal to Ren what happened. "Farina, let's talk, in private."
"Why do we have to?" She whines before seeing Lucas point to his bandaged arm and her face turning serious.
"Really now? Don't you think that Ren does not deserve to–"
"Not a chance," Lucas bluntly replies.
"Just go with him, 'least the misunderstanding card is turned, right brother?" Ren turns the tables around, making Lucas roll his eyes with his comment but hold his urge to punch Ren's lights out.
Then the tactician and the tomboy leave the aloof swordsman in time for some concerning matters pertaining to the marks on their bodies for a while as he slowly explains everything to Farina about the strange tattoo and shows her the few notes that he had compiled about it. When Lucas finished explaining, they were both in front of the castle library.
"...And that is all I know of the tattoo. May I ask a few questions regarding the circumstances of yours?" Lucas asks her, before opening the door to the library and motioning her inside before following suit.
"Hmmmm well, it's really hard to describe, other than the part where I actually nearly passed out. I saw some sort of green light in a small room until it turns out to be…"
"A small green haired brat with an attitude problem?" Lucas finished for her.
"Yeah! Like that! Wait, so you did experience that too!?" Farina replies
"I told you, I nearly died too. I assume we can only meet her when we nearly die…" He mutters as he starts to think for a little before Farina partially shocks him with the statement.
"Wait, hold on, what did you say?"
"Oh no! don't mind me, I am just thinking out loud. We need more evidence. Because what we have right now, isn't enough."
And with that conclusion the two were silent as they pondered what this could mean before Lucas sighs in defeat.
"Well, no use thinking about it. Do me a solid and look out for people with strange tattoos when they have almost died, since that's essentially the only way we could figure who that brat is and who else could have met her."
After Ren was left out, he made his way to the lobby area where the rest of the party had gone to either rest, recuperate, or rearrange the team's necessities. The two lords make some small talk, but Ren paid not much mind to it as he meets with the former members of the legion in a separate room. Within hours, the entire group retires early for the night in order to shorten their travel time for their next destination, to Lucas' dismay: the marquisdom of Caelin.
Chapter END