Chapter 5: New Friends Chapter 7: The Black Shadow
Chapter 6: Siblings Abroad
Ceniro was giving his first orders of the day, asking Lucius the monk to use his divine light magic to attack the closest shaman, practitioner of dark magic, asking Florina to fly south over the low mountains and scout out the land for enemies, when he felt a tap on his elbow.
“I can help!” chirped Nils. “I’m a bard, and we’re handy to have around! My song can refresh someone so they don’t feel so tired. Allow me to demonstrate.” He walked to Lucius, who had just blasted the shaman, and played a sprightly little tune on his flute. Lucius brightened and went after another. Florina returned, with a roughly sketched map of the country beyond. The enemy soldiers were too distant for her to see.
“Wow,” said Wil to Nils. “That was even invigorating for me.”
“You liked it?” asked Nils, pleased. “I’ll play for everyone!”
“Good! Ah – Florina, could you take Kent and Sain over the mountain? Scout out the enemy leader together. Kent, Sain, you’ll have to leave your horses here. Dorcas, would you lead the horses, please? Everyone else, come this way!”
The group split up. Some black robed axemen contested their passage of the bridge across the river, but Matthew snuck around a different way and took them in the back. Dorcas went to warn a village of the fighting and received some holy water in thanks, helpful to guard against magical attacks.
“Give it to Matthew when he comes back,” said Ceniro. Nils ran over and played for Dorcas. “Save some for Sain. I noticed he’s not great at guarding from magic.”
The river passage was won, but complicated by hills. Lyn ran wearily over the last one, Ceniro behind her. He frowned.
“Matt! Could you and Serra visit that house? You’re closest!”
“Sure,” groaned Matthew. Serra ran ahead and poked her head inside.
“Hello? Is anyone there? Oh, an empty house. How boring!” She left quickly. Matthew simply walked in. A blue head rose from behind a solid wooden bench, like a church pew, near the window. When he saw who it was, he breathed a sigh of relief and climbed over the bench to sit on it.
“I was afraid she’d find me for sure. What are you doing here, Matthew? The long-lost granddaughter thing, right?”
“Good to see you, milord,” answered Matthew cheerfully. “I’m investigating the inheritance dispute for your brother. I suppose you’re here for your monthly bout?”
“Yes, but Eliwood’s late. Have you seen him?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Next question. Who does my brother support?”
“The granddaughter, of course. Lord Lundgrun is too ambitious by far. We might wake to find him at Ostia’s gates before long. Er… Would you tell Lord Uther I’ll be a bit late after I’m finished here?”
The blue haired young giant looked faintly indignant. “What, so the marquess’s brother is now your personal messenger?”
Matthew laughed. “You have such a sense of humour, my lord. I’ll be going on, now. Don’t forget my message!”
“Impudence,” muttered the man with a smile as Matthew bounded out the door.
“Did you learn anything?” called Ceniro, in between orders shouted through cupped hands at Florina and the cavaliers, far ahead to the west. Matthew grinned.
“Nope. Well, I did learn that a couple Lycian nobles are in the neighbourhood…” He caught up to Lyn.
She snorted and shifted impatiently, with the briefest of glances at Rath. “I hate all Lycian nobles except for my grandfather.”
“Lady Lyndis… Don’t say that,” said Erk earnestly. “A lot of them are very good people, like Lord Elbert of Pherae. And you yourself, milady, are a Lycian noblewoman, at least in part.”
“Everybody!” yelled Ceniro, interrupting. “We’re storming that castle… NOW!” Florina and Lucius were the spearhead aimed at the shaman who had encountered them first. White lightening played over his body, sending unearthly shimmers playing through the shadows of the gate. Ceniro nodded in satisfaction. Lightening was a truly beautiful spell.
“You were only striking at … air…” the shaman panted as he collapsed, clutching his chest.
Nils ran headlong into the castle. Lyn recovered and dashed after him.
“Ninian? Ninian!” he cried. “Where is she?” His voice echoed through the dark corridors. Kent and Sain, restored to their horses, charged in behind.
After half an hour of fruitless searching, they regrouped in the main foyer. Nils was again almost weeping with anxiety. “Where could she be? Did they take her somewhere else?”
“Are you looking for this girl here?” a young tenor voice called through the gate. Lyn turned around and Nils shot past her.
“Ninian!” he cried. The girl he was addressing was limp in the strong arms of a young red-haired Lycian lord. His large blue eyes smiled at Lyn and Nils in their astonishment. A gold coronet encircled his brow, and he wore a blue tunic, boots, and cloak. A long rapier hung at his side. The girl he carried seemed no more than a child, small and slender, with long sea-green hair lighter than Nils’ and a green dress with a gauzy shawl. In all, she looked like a pale green butterfly that had fainted into the arms of a prince.
“She’s all right,” the lord assured Nils. “She only fainted.”
“Who are you?” asked Lyn curiously.
“I am Eliwood, son of the Marquess of Pherae. This girl was in the company of some dark cloaked men; she seemed upset. Was it all right to involve myself…?”
“Yes,” said Lyn gratefully, “you saved her life. Here, Nils, Florina, could you take her inside? I’d like to have a couple words with our new friend.”
“Well!” she began when Nils was inside. “Let me introduce ourselves. This is Ceniro, my tactician. He is, I think, the cause of our success so far.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Eliwood. “You must be a formidable fighter.”
“My lord,” answered Ceniro, bowing. “However, I cannot fight. I merely direct the movement of my friends.”
“I think I may have heard of your name… a friend of mine mentioned you as a talented student of old Lord… err…”
“Lord Garlent. I’m honoured.”
“The very one.”
“And I’m Lyndis, Lord Hausen’s granddaughter from Sacae.”
“Marquess Caelin? Truly?” asked Eliwood, interest piqued.
“My parents… were killed this past year by bandits. I met Ceniro less than a month ago and we set out for Lycia after we met the knights Kent and Sain, who brought me a message from my grandfather, the Marquess of Caelin. Mm… we’ve found that Lord Lundgren is trying to seize Caelin’s throne, but nothing will stop me from seeing my grandfather. It’s not easy to believe, but…”
“No, I believe you. You have your grandfather’s eyes.”
“Do you know my grandfather?”
“He’s my father’s good friend. I also know that the proud people of Sacae tell no lies. Lyndis… is there any way in which I can help you?”
“Thank you very much, but this is my problem. I’ll deal with it before it annoys someone else.”
“For instance?”
“Oh, Marquess Araphen was irritated. Lundgren attacked his castle to kill me.”
“I see. Well, I’ll be in this area a few days longer, so… Lyndis, I’m on your side.”
“Thank you, Eliwood,” said Lyn and Ceniro with heartfelt gratitude.
“Ninian! You’re awake,” said Lyn, entering the chamber.
Nils looked up. “Lady Lyndis!”
His sister looked at Lyn too. Her scarlet eyes were almost exactly like Nils’, but her face was almost pure white. “Milady Lyn… Thank you.”
Nils looked at her. “We’re travelling performers.”
“Both of you? I know Nils can play flute and recorder beautifully… how about you?”
“I dance…”
Sain entered quickly, a stupid smile on his face, and froze. “You can dance?”
Lyn glared. “Later, please.”
“Um, yeah. OK. Of course.” He smiled like a normal person, reassuringly, and strolled out.
Lyn looked at Ninian’s clinging dress. “Your clothes don’t look like those of a dancer.”
“People tell us that a lot,” commented Nils. “She’s wonderful, though.”
“The dance I perform when we travel is just a normal dance,” Ninian said, shyly. “My other dance, though… ah… When they caught me, I twisted my ankle. I cannot dance to aid you… I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t worry about that,” said Ceniro. “We’re happy that you’re safe.”
“Thank you.”
Nils spoke up. “I’ve an idea. Would it be too much to ask that we travel with you?”
“I can’t allow that! That’s too dangerous. We’re being hunted!” cried Lyn.
“We wouldn’t be a hindrance,” said Nils even more cheerfully. “We could repay our debt using our special talents… and we can sense danger before it happens. We can’t prevent it, but you’re warriors, so you wouldn’t worry about that.”
“That’s amazing! What do you think, Kent, about their coming with us?” asked Lyn, looking hopeful.
Kent bowed. “I think leaving them here would cause Lady Lyndis more anxiety than bringing them.” Sain’s head appeared momentarily.
“Sain?” asked Lyn. “Oh, never mind. I know your answer,” she said, anticipating him perfectly.
“That’s settled then,” said Matthew in a satisfied way. He grabbed an apple and sauntered out, munching.
A look of distress crossed Ninian’s face. “Oh… my ring…”
“Not Ninis’ Grace? They stole it?” exclaimed Nils indignantly. “Those curs!!”
“Was it valuable?” asked Lyn in concern.
“It was a keepsake from our mother… and it helps me dance… It’s magic…” Ninian looked hesitant.
“It was blessed by Ninis the spirit, and there’s no other like it. Now we have lost it. There’s nothing we can do.”
Lyn thought for a moment, and then took Ceniro aside and spoke to him. Then she smiled at the boy and the girl. “Let’s get your ring back, Ninian.”
Chapter 5: New Friends Chapter 7: The Black Shadow
Iiiiiiiit’s Marteth! Fourth youngest child of Zela and Flaer, and the eldest of the abducted children, and the proudest. I had a dream in which he looked like that, and so I tried to draw him. He turned out a little too creepy, but he looks really shockingly realistic. As you can see, his hair looks a lot less stupid now. I think he was in a storm or something and that’s where the wind is coming from. I think I used my weighted art pencils…
Whoohoo! This is a picture of all my closest friends at the time of drawing. Most of them are still my closest friends, although there ought to be more of them now. We’re all Fire Emblem characters. From L-R, there’s Michael the pianist, the red-armoured cavalier, KevinT the pianist, the ‘mercenary’ class swordsman, Claire the soprano, the pegasus knight, L the pianist, the archer, Jennifer the pianist, apparently switching classes to be a fire mage (let’s say this is FE7 so it’s easier, anyway), Nathan the clarinetist, the armour knight, lx-sama, the dark-magic wielding shaman, Michael the violist, the green-armoured cavalier (did you see what I did thar), and .t, the fighter-class axeman. Scale is a little skewed because I started it as a picture of N, because I was discussing it as him and I was quite sure he would be a great armour knight, and then added everybody else later. I’m happy with N, lx, .t, L, and Claire. The rest are not so good, but passable… very close to passable…
Anyone else feel that the preponderance of tall, lean, strong men with loooooong silver/white hair in Japanese things is glaringly obvious? Well, I decided to draw a picture of both of them. Sesshie, as you can see, wears clothes much much closer to what he actually wears in the anime. Sephie, on the other hand, petered out before I got to his feet. I think I actually like Sesshoumaru better, because he’s not really the villain… also I think he is more handsome than Sephiroth, despite Seph’s black leather.
So, this is the follow-up to my earlier picture 
