Chapter 5: The Empire’s Reach Chapter 7: Waterside Renvall
Chapter 6: Victims of War
Two days later, Seth and I were scouting. Nothing had happened the previous day, likely because I chose to travel in a remoter region of Grado to make my way to Renvall. We had come to a place called Adlas Plain, and there was a thick fog. That was why Seth and I had gone instead of Vanessa.
We left the group camped on the edge of the field after breakfast and set out. We made half-way across, when…
A shaman appeared. I gave a little cry of surprise – he had warped in, appearing even more suddenly through the fog. “You’re Eirika, Princess of Renais, aren’t you? Hmm, you’re even more beautiful than I’d heard – and you’re wearing your bracelet, too. Let’s start with that. Won’t you hand over your lovely little trinket?” I heard Seth’s sharp intake of breath.
“And why would I do that?” I asked disdainfully. He was clearly my enemy, and I checked my sword surreptitiously.
“The emperor wants it. That’s reason enough,” he snapped. I couldn’t see much, but the lower part of his face was pale. The rest of him was swathed in dark robes. “Come, hand it over quickly, and I’ll leave you alive.”
“Princess Eirika, you will do no such thing,” Seth exclaimed quietly.
“Of course not,” I agreed, glancing up at him.
“Hmm, you came to save Prince Ephraim, did you not? A wild-goose chase. Ephraim fell in battle against Grado’s might not long ago. As we speak, he wastes away in a cell in Renvall, meekly awaiting his execution.”
My heart stopped for a single moment, but then I realized that he was not above lying. “You lie! A pitiful worm like you could never defeat my brother!!”
“Bah. Protest all you like,” shrugged the shaman contemptuously. “It will not change the truth. Ephraim fell, and it was Grado who crushed him! Hmm, you’re not going to obey. Perhaps this will convince you,” said he, waving his hand. A little girl of Renais – of the capital – appeared, crying softly. “Now, hand it over, or the kid dies.”
“No!” Seth and I cried at the same time. I looked up at him again. He shook his head.
“It’s not worth a child’s life,” I said quietly, though I wondered if my assessment would change when he told me what he knew. Probably not. I took it off my wrist, gave it one last look, and gave it to the shaman. I shuddered as his hand touched mine.
“Ah, this is certainly it,” the shaman breathed. “When I hand this to His Majesty, I will become a general! I will be famous!” He stopped chortling in self-glee. “Now, hand over your weapons.”
“No,” Seth said adamantly. “That is too much. What you ask would be tantamount to suicide.”
“I see the years of peace and laziness have not dulled the wits of all Renais’s knights,” was the shaman’s reply. “Well, I suppose the giant spiders in the mountains would like a nice, hot meal, don’t you think?” The little girl screamed as they vanished.
Immediately I was running back to camp. “I’ll get the others!”
Seth galloped past me and swept me up to sit in front of him. “We will obtain help faster with Altha’s assistence.”
My heart was doing strange things.
Anyway, we roused the crew, and Colm especially came to volunteer. “I can see better than most people in dark or fog. I’ll be useful.”
“Thank you.” Gathered, we swept across the plain towards the east. Even with Colm’s help, we were ambushed a couple of times.
I could hear the child still screaming, and I sent Franz and Vanessa to help them. Vanessa would rescue them out of the canyon they were in and fly to Franz, who would take them and set them down.
The rest of us killed the shaman. “Is this… the end? No fame? No… glory-” he wheezed, as Artur’s lightening spell ripped through his foul body.
I went to join the people and reassure them. There was a family of three, a father, a mother, and a child. All had brown hair and eyes.
Then I shrieked as the mother of all spiders leapt down from the mountains. It had five red eyes and a great many legs. “Get behind me! Run!” I cried to the family. I stared up at the behemoth towering over me. The claws came down. I sprang aside, but it was very fast. I noticed its claws were slathered with shininess; probably poison. I ducked and rolled and stabbed upward, relying on instinct to fight such a terrifying foe.
I saw Vanessa out of the corner of my eye, and Garcia, and Franz and Seth, but Vanessa was closest. The spider was insanely fast, but it was big too. Vanessa had small chance of missing. Her lance plunged right through the huge, hairy head. I squeaked and jumped away as it thrashed in its death throes.
I turned to the family and saw them huddled in a little ball, comforting and protecting each other. I touched the man on the shoulder. “It’s dead.”
The little girl burst into tears. “I-I was so s-scared!”
“Hush, it’s okay. I was too,” I comforted her softly, stroking her back.
“You saved us, didn’t you?” said the girl, grabbing my hand and kissing it. I laughed and pulled away.
“That’s okay. I couldn’t let them get you.” The parents thanked me profusely, but I shook my head. “It was the least we could do.”
“Still, Princess, please take this.” The mother offered me an Orion’s Bolt.
“What? Oh, no, I couldn’t. It’s a family treasure, is it not?”
“Yes, it is; our great-great-grandfather was a famous sniper, but still, none of us can use a bow. I think it will serve you better.”
“And if we had died, we wouldn’t be able to care who we gave it too, you know,” said the father. I hesitantly accepted it.
“Thank you so much.” I smiled and looked around. “I can’t use it either, and my friend Prince Innes is already a sniper, but Neimi there is an archer. She may be strong enough to use it, soon.”
“We’re glad to repay some of our debt.”
“Seth?”
“Yes, my lady?” answered Seth, coming quickly to my side.
“Would it be all right for the family to travel with us at least to the next town?”
“That is an excellent idea, Princess,” he said, nodding. I smiled at the little girl as she and her parents walked off to the cart, where they would travel.
Seth touched my elbow. “If you would, Princess, I would speak to you…”
“Yes, Seth?” He led the way to a fallen log, where we sat.
“I could not say this before, for your late father King Fado ordered me not to… to keep silent until the proper time arrived… However, with all that has happened, with Emperor Vigarde’s actions… I feel it imperative that I tell you everything, Princess Eirika. It is about the bracelet which you wear.”
I waited.
“We all know of the Sacred Stones, and how one of each is housed in five of the six countries, excepting Carcino.”
“Yes. Ours is in the Temple in Renais.”
He lowered his voice. “The stone in the Temple is nothing but a forgery. The true stone lies beneath Renais Castle.” My eyes widened. “It is protected by a magical seal – an infinitly complex lock of sorts.”
I leaned closer to him curiously. “Why?”
Seth leaned closer to me as well, modulating his voice even lower. “The Sacred Stones that banished evil long ago possess power beyond our ken. The ancient kings of Renais thought it prudent to hide it. They feared the power could be misused. The keys to the seal were hidden within two bracelets.”
“My brother’s and mine…” I guessed. Seth nodded. “The bracelets have such meaning… and place us – me, rather – in new problems. I’m glad the situation here turned out as it did… But why did my father keep this from my brother and myself for so long?”
“‘They must know nothing of the bracelets’ secret unless great peril strikes’; these were King Fado’s exact orders to me. Prince Ephraim knows nothing of the bracelets’ secret, either. The king told me in case something happened to him and he could not tell you himself.”
“I… understand,” I said thickly, trying not to weep at the memory of my father. “It was for our own good.”
“Yes. And we are the only living souls who know the secret of the Stone of Renais. At least, that is what I was given to know. And yet…”
“Yet the Grado army has made it clear that they only want me for my bracelet.” I shifted uncomfortably, unconsciously moving closer to him for comfort.
“Yes, quite clear,” Seth agreed. “I don’t know how, but the Emperor must have leaned the secret somehow. Now his troops pursue you both, and we are no closer to knowing his motives.”
“He would try to destroy the Sacred Stone in secret…”
“Perhaps.”
“Which means that my brother…” I pulled away, jumped up, and began to run. “If he’s been captured… If they’ve taken the bracelet… He could have been execu- … … …Ephraim…”