Chapter 16: Darkling Woods

Chapter 17: Sacred Stone

Wide stairs led down a hall, down, down, down, until we were well below the ground. Seth trotted up behind Eirika and me, carrying a torch.

Lyon was waiting for us at the bottom of the steps, at the front of a vast dark stone hall. We halted, and we looked at him as he looked silently at us.

“Eirika…” he said, finally. “Ephraim…”

“There’s no need to say anything, Lyon,” I said, and I found it was true. I had forgiven him everything. “We know everything, and we’re sorry.”

“You must kill me now,” he said earnestly. “The Demon King will use my body to revive his own…” He paused, then continued quickly, strain rising in his voice. “You don’t actually know everything. When the Demon King first reached out to me… there was… I must say it… jealousy and envy in my heart. I did not resist as I should have… I am to blame for my unforgivable weakness…”

“No, Lyon. You are not to blame,” Eirika told him. I nodded. Everyone has depressive episodes once in a while. Most people don’t end up unlocking the end of the world, but hey. It happens. “Everyone has weaknesses. I know I do. I’m certain my brother does.” Well, thanks, Eirika. “We do, we do forgive you.” Continue reading →

Chapter 15: Last Hope          Chapter 17: Sacred Stone

Chapter 16: Darkling Woods

I woke early the next morning, immediately aware that I had slept in my armour. I had never gotten around to taking it off. I felt creased and rumpled and heavy.

I craned my neck until I could see the window, and groaned. The sky was grey, but the sun was rising behind the clouds; time to get up.

I sat up, stiffly, and stretched. Ow. Falling asleep in armour was definitely a better thing to do outside, where it was less uncomfortable than the ground. Inside, in a featherbed, was really stupid.

I sniffed my shirt. I smelled terrible, and I was still covered in gunk from fighting. Whoever had the unfortunate job of changing the bed after I left… I felt sorry for them. I reached into my pouch and left a gold coin under the pillow. It assuaged my guilty feeling a little bit.

But there would be no time to change. We needed to be ready to leave in an hour, and that meant checking supplies, fixing armour damage, and breakfast. I hopped up, grabbed my lance, and headed for the door.

I checked on Eirika, first. She’d bothered to get changed, into a frilly lace nightgown probably lent her by L’Arachel. She rubbed her eyes blearily as I charged in. “Brother? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, just time to get up. Come on, sleepy head. Big day today! Killing the Demon King.”

“Mmph.” She rolled over. “But I haven’t slept in a real bed in…”

“Come on, princess. Kingdoms to save! Boyfriend waiting for you!”

“He’s my fiancé, and I’m tired.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Eirika.”

“I’m coming,” she muttered. “I’m just afraid.”

“And comfortable,” I teased. “Sleeping in won’t make the Demon King go away. It’s not like our history finals with Father MacGregor.”

“I said I’m coming,” she said, and waved me out. Continue reading →

Chapter 14: Two Faces of Evil          Chapter 16: Darkling Woods

Chapter 15: Last Hope

It took some time to get the army reorganized; I wondered if the best thing to do would be to hide the fact that we lost the Sacred Stone. Eirika didn’t need more trouble.

I needn’t have worried. The news had spread by the time we had begun to move again, but it seemed that everyone in the army loved her so much that they would give her some space. Even if they weren’t happy with her.

I supposed that when we got back to Renais – if we ever got back – she should be the public-relations monarch, and I would be the one who did all the other work. That sounded good to me.

First, we had to get back. And our only chance lay ahead, in Rausten. Myrrh told me that the darkness was moving west, but we couldn’t follow it without a Sacred Stone.

We couldn’t stay at Mount Neleras either. Certainly not in the dark. I had torches and torch staves lit, and we travelled northeast, back to Rausten proper.

It took us two more days of travel before we reached the palace, and the land was eerily quiet. Rausten was, I had heard, a contemplative land, a uniformly serene place as inspired by their founder, Saint Latona. But it was not the silence of peace that surrounded us. The land had not yet been despoiled like so many other lands of Magvel, but it was uneasy. War was finally coming to their doorstep. Continue reading →

Chapter 13: River of Regrets          Chapter 15: Last Hope

Chapter 14: Two Faces of Evil

Within hours, the scouts had picked up a trail leading north. There was little or no blood, but it was Lyon, for sure. Don’t ask how I knew. I was relieved there was no blood. There was still a chance to save him without killing him.

The main highway to Rausten was further to the east, but the trail led straight north, into the vastness of Darkling Woods. Everyone was on their guard, except perhaps Myrrh.

She flapped up to me at breakfast early the next day.

“Hello Myrrh,” I said, having seen her coming for once. “Is it good to be home?”

She nodded briefly. “I didn’t live here, exactly. But yes, it is home.” She looked around at the black trees. “It is a sad home…”

“Really?” It was certainly gloomy, but if she lived there…

She gave me a small smile. “I know it is a sad place to you humans, but it is also sad for me. …I’m not a very good guardian…”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “You’ve been protecting me ever since Renais. You’re better than Seth, and you know how Seth gets. Or maybe you don’t.”

She shook her head and fiddled with the hem of her cloak in an abstracted, childlike way. “No…”

“Well, when he’s worried about someone…”

“No, that’s not what I meant. But I can see his attachment to Princess Eirika as well as anyone…”

I stared at her. Where was the child? Today she was all dragon. “What did you mean, then?”

Abruptly, she dropped her hands and smiled charmingly at me. “I’d rather not talk about it.” And she skipped away, brushing the trees with her fingertips as she passed them.

Great, first Lyon was going crazy, now Myrrh was.

I watched her waltz up to Saleh, her guardian, and give him a big hug. I couldn’t help but smile. Continue reading →

Chapter 12: Ruled by Madness          Chapter 14: Two Faces of Evil

Chapter 13: River of Regrets

We packed up and left early in the morning, travelling more directly east so as to come around the mountains and then straight north into Rausten. It would be a week’s journey.

The townsfolk had been busy; we’d received several donations of food and even gold during the night. I was touched, and for several days the thought of my upcoming responsibilities weighed heavily on me.

The monsters steered clear of us for many days. I think Jehanna was too hot for them, even though we were more in the cooler, scrubby northern part of it. The Grado Army, too, was in disarray and scattered through the land. I was certain that Ly- the Demon King still commanded an organized part of the army, perhaps several parts. But I didn’t know where they were. I would trust in the scouts.

We found them – or perhaps they found us – by the banks of Jehanna’s Narube River. I was with Eirika, talking about the route for the day, when Innes butted in. Well, I guess he didn’t butt in. Since I had turned command of the Frelian Army back over to him, he’d been part of our tactical council, Seth, Innes, Syrene, and me. It actually felt pretty good, having several sharp minds on the same problem.

Anyway, we’d just been going along, when Innes finally informed us: “I sent the Frelian Army ahead to clear a path for us.” I glanced at Seth and he nodded; he’d known. Why hadn’t I known? I needed to know these things…

Before I could get mad, Tana squeaked from in the sky. “Innes! They’ve been routed! I can only see Syrene’s regiments left! They’ve got civilians with them. Enemy forces are approaching!” Continue reading →

Chapter 11: Scorched Sand          Chapter 13: River of Regrets

Chapter 12: Ruled by Madness

We had a three-day journey of hell, next. Our entire multi-national army packed up from Jehanna and trekked back to Renais. It had been so long since I’d seen my home. Not since the very beginning of the way, so long ago.

The change was horrifying. I had left green fields and orchards, neat clean villages, smooth roads, an air of contentment. I returned to desolate, bare, and burned wastelands, villages fallen into disrepair, and the roads half-washed out in some places.

Strange how only a few months could wreak such havoc in a place used to being well-kept.

And that made me value all the more how peace was a good thing. I hadn’t thought about it much before. War was death, but it was also glory and the thrill of skilled combat, the chess-game of tactics, the raw adrenaline of battle. And I kept a tight hold on my armies, never allowing them to loot, pillage, or burn.

But the world wasn’t as honourable as I was. Or maybe just insane-Lyon.

His words haunted my mind. This was what he had planned since before he met us? Surely Grado had no need to be jealous of little Renais, peaceful and prosperous though it had been.

But now, my resolve was hardened, and my priorities straight. I wish it hadn’t taken the destruction of the home I loved to teach me the point, but Renais had been, with all its minor, niggling problems, the best place to live and grow up. Sure, there were bandits, and greedy merchants and corrupt councilmen, but the people had been mostly decent and happy. And it’s so hard to make a country happy, or so I vaguely understand from the histories Father MacGregor had tried to pound into me.

I would return her to that state again. Glancing at Eirika, I could tell that she felt the same. Continue reading →

Chapter 10: Father and Son          Chapter 12: Ruled by Madness

Chapter 11: Scorched Sand

We rode a bare half-hour later. Syrene had dispatched Julia all the long way back to Frelia to bring news to King Hayden of Grado Keep’s capture.

Despite our haste, it was a long way from Grado to Jehanna. By the end of the first day, we were right in the middle of the high hills a short way north-east from Grado’s capital, hills large enough to cast a rain-shadow from the humid southern breezes. The ground was already dryer, and as we hurried on the next day, we saw more and more cacti and less grass. We turned north around midday, seeing few other than scattered nomads and herders.

Partway through the afternoon, we received another message, informing us that Rausten had indeed joined to Eirika’s group, but that it wouldn’t be enough to save her against both Grado generals. A Frelian army was en route, but they were even further away than we were. If we did not save Eirika, no one would.

The third day I rose early and, taking all who were not already exhausted by the march, came at last near to Jehanna Hall, an ancient stone structure set in a flaxen sea of sand, with an oasis and a few villages clustered nearby.

Jehanna Hall was burning. Continue reading →

Chapter 9: Fluorspar’s Oath          Chapter 11: Scorched Sand

Chapter 10: Father and Son

Barely a day and a night later, we stood looking down on Grado City, the capital of the Grado Empire. It had been so long since I had seen it, and it was the same as ever – proud dark stone walls rising up out of a lush green valley. The Keep stood at the head of the city, even taller. We had not encountered any resistance since Hanarka, which was suspicious to me, but I would take whatever seemed like good fortune I could get. The capital itself seemed normal, if a little quieter than usual; she seemed unaware that a hostile force was camped almost at her very gates.

The last time I was there, two years ago, it had been for my education. I’d studied martial arts with Duessel, but the intellectual side of my studies I was hopeless in. If it hadn’t been for Lyon’s patient help, I would have flunked every test and then some. Books just held no interest for me. Lyon, on the other hand, absorbed them like a sponge does water, but was defeated soundly by Eirika in combat, so he came to me for additional sparring practice. He and I had a good friendship, each helping the other. And of course he had a good friendship with Eirika; she was more sympathetic than I was, and when I was a jerk, she would comfort him while I snickered at them both or stood shamefaced.

Being a kid was pretty fun in Grado, books aside. Continue reading →

Chapter 8: Landing at Taizel          Chapter 10: Father and Son

   Chapter 9: Fluorspar’s Oath

   We marched east along the road quickly all that day. Myrrh could fly, but she was small and could not go fast. I hoped we would catch up to her soon. The horse-mounted scouts were busy; everyone was on edge all that day. We were surrounded by the land of Grado and enemy soldiers could be over every hill.

   We came to the wide region of Hanarka, where rivers spiralled and corkscrewed their way down from the northeastern mountains into the western lakes, which fed more rivers leading to the southern sea… There, we found enemies. A whole army of Grado, with more on the horizon, was lining up between the riverbanks.

   I discussed tactics with Syrene, riding alongside me.

   “The general is distant, but it appears to be Selena Fluorspar,” she said.

   I nodded. I had met Selena once or twice. She had not yet been a general when I met her, only a commander. She was kind, if reserved.

   Rachel pushed up beside us. “I’ve heard of her. It’s said in Rausten she is feared by bandits for her use of Bolting, the lightening spell that strikes from afar without mercy.”

   “Thank you, Rachel. I will use caution against such magic… Anything else, Syrene?” I asked.

   “Vanessa reports there may be bandits in the southeastern mountains, and there are some strange people to the east who do not wear Grado’s uniform…”

   “How strange?”

   “One is a woman, dressed in a short skirt more suited for Jehanna; the others are all big strong men. Perhaps a noblewoman is travelling.”

   “Then we needn’t worry about them just yet. Deussel!”

   “Yes, Lord Ephraim?”

   “Your company will sweep south along the eastern side of the rivers. Remind your men to look out for the travellers and not to hurt them.”

   “Understood.” Deussel waved his axe and a number of knights, including Gilliam, and also Rachel, headed off with a rumble.

   “As for the rest of you, follow me!” I cried, waving my own lance and running down to the west side of the rivers. Continue reading →

Chapter 7: Phantom Ship          Chapter 9: Fluorspar’s Oath

   Chapter 8: Landing at Taizel

   Our ship drew in to the port of Taizel the next day, as planned. All the soldiers and Myrrh were below deck, hidden from view. Syrene and I stood in the door to the cabin, sheltered, watching the sailors rush about. No arrows and fire had rained down on us as we entered the harbour, so I assumed we were not suspected yet.

   “There’s no sign of enemy troops, either,” Syrene said, reflecting my thoughts.

   “Let’s move quickly and prepare to go ashore. The capital is straight down the highway but we’ll be fighting for every step of the way.”

   “Yes, and it will grow fiercer the closer we come,” the pegasus commander said with concern. “My lord, I would like to make a suggestion about troop distribution…”

   “Yes?”

   “The Grado Army outnumbers us by a tremendous amount. We’ve noted this many times. We have ready reservists to protect our supply convoy, but it is no good to defend the supplies if we lose the front. We should bring up all our soldiers to strengthen the van.”

   “No, Syrene, that won’t do. I cannot approve of sending reservists to fight on the front lines, and we cannot abandon our supplies in enemy territory!”

   “Prince Ephraim, we have talented soldiers, but that counts for nothing against those numbers!”

   I looked quickly outside, but no one seemed to have noticed our heated argument. “Syrene, I know you only want to improve our chances of success, but when we are flanked on both sides by hostile armies, maybe towns, too, we will need that convoy. I also know that you make these suggestions to try to keep me from harm… but I have no intention of changing my mind! – Myrrh?”

   The dragon girl had padded up behind me silently, her hands clutched to her chest. She reached out and touched me, and I had jumped and whirled on her.

   “Oh… pardon me…” she stammered, looking rather frightened. “I-I… nothing…” And she fled deep into the ship.

   “Myrrh…!” I called after her, apologetic. I had not detached myself from the discussion with Syrene, and turning the full intensity of my attention on Myrrh had probably not been the best thing to do. I sighed. I hoped she would forgive me. Continue reading →