Well over a day has passed, so now it's time for chapter 4. :]


Chapter 4: The Quest Begins

“How…how can this be?” Azura said, the feeling of shock still running through her veins. “I mean…this pendant came from my mother’s family in Galden.” Ike brought his hand to his chin and thought for a minute as his eyes shifted back and forth between the symbol on the temple and Azura’s pendant. Different ideas were coming to his mind, but he wasn’t sure which to consider first. There could be a number of possible explanations for the whole thing, and what to think first was the big question in the mercenary’s brainstorming mind.

“Hmm…Azura, what do you know of your past?” Ike inquired, hoping to gain some evidence supporting any of his theories.

“Well, not a lot, to be honest. Everything I know is from my mother,” Azura began. “I’m her only child. She said my father died in a war years ago and that she gave me the pendant when I was young. She also said it had been passed through her family for generations.” Azura continued on to say that her mother’s family had grown up in Galden and that her father was from another town closer to Aracion, but none that had been in the mountains. Upon hearing the explanation, everybody could see that it did not connect with the symbol finding. Ike decided that there was only one choice to make.

“Strange indeed. I think something fishy is going on,” he said. “The best thing we can do is go talk to your mother about this. Do you think you could arrange that?”

“Yes, that should be fine. Mother is home most of her time,” Azura replied. “I’d like to talk with her as well myself.”

“Are you sure? We’ll be strangers to her,” Elincia pointed out.

“I’m positive. Mother won’t mind if she knows I trust all of you,” Azura assured. With that, the group turned around and began to make their way back towards the cave they’d come through. The trip back to Galden was a bit of a long one since everyone had come quite a distance in the first place. At first it seemed like the trip would be a safe one and nothing of any major significance would happen. As the group approached the outskirts of Galden, however, they could immediately sense more trouble. Cries for help began to be heard coming from the streets, and when Ike, Azura, and company started into town, they noticed more ruffians attacking the locals this time. Immediately speeding up their pace, the group headed towards the town square, hoping to find the cause of all this.

“Dear gods, what has become of our fair Galden?” Azura asked when she saw what was happening in the town square. An even larger force of bandits were present there, some with axes, some with swords, and a leader was commanding them to deal with a large group of nearby locals, who were struggling to resist and fight back. Azura and Ike both decided that this was completely outrageous and cruel, and stepped up in defense of the town. Ranulf, Elincia, and the others followed. The local townspeople raised their spirits when they took note of the group’s presence.

“Azura…is this the kind of action you meant you dealt with?” Elincia asked.

“Definitely not,” Azura replied, focusing her attention on the bandits afterward. “Hey! How dare you attack our town like this?!”

“Well, well, if it ain’t little miss Redhead an’ her sellswords from the mountains,” the boss replied. “Ya may have won up there, but ya definitely ain’t gonna take us out ‘ere!”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you try saying that to my blade?!” Azura retorted.

“Gosh, it’s like a whole organization of bandits out there,” Marc said in disappointment. “How could all of these people steep so low?”

“Who knows? Whatever it is, these morons want revenge on us for earlier,” Ike replied. “But sellswords, eh? Now where have I heard that before?” His sarcastic tone didn’t help Azura.

“Ike, c’mon, this is no time for small talk!” she said. “We need to deal with these fools.”

“Oh, I’m with you all the way. I’m only being shown that these guys are as stupid as the bandits you see in Tellius,” Ike explained. “Everyone, get ready to fight!”

Once the entire group formed up, the bandits turned their attention to their opponents and ignored the mostly fleeing townsfolk. The few locals that hadn’t run decided to stay and watch the battle. Leona stayed close to the front due to her lance having an advantage over the sword users. Elincia’s own sword would be vital for the axe ruffians and stood by the lance knight. The battle began within minutes as the sound of axe, sword, and lance clashed in the fighting. Because of his superior skill, Ike was able to take down his opponents with fair ease, though he could plainly notice that despite them being no more intelligent, they were considerably stronger than any bandits he’d encountered in Tellius.

The battle continued to go on as the group plunged their weapons into bandit after bandit. However, after every other bandit would suffer defeat, more would show up where the previous once were. Over time, Azura, Ike, and company began to sustain injuries, but would never give up. The bandits were not really all tough, surely they could handle it. Still, the reinforcements could be even tougher than their predecessors. Eventually, Ranulf decided to speak up about the situation, now having a few small gashes on himself from a sword.

“It’s like it’ll never end. How much longer do you think we can keep this up?” he asked.

“I don’t know, Ranulf, but we mustn’t give in! We have to fight to the bitter end no matter what!” Azura encouraged.

“Yeah, eventually these guys have to give up and admit they’re no match for us anyway,” Ike added. Still concerned, Ranulf continued to battle in spite of it.

Just minutes later, however, two figures emerged from a street nearby. They did not look like bandits at all, to Azura and Ike’s pleasure. One was a soldier with olive green hair who wielded a steel lance. The other was a light blue-haired young man, an archer to be exact, who was accompanying the soldier. They put annoyed looks on their faces when they saw Azura and Ike’s group battling the numerous bandit enemies. Yet, at the same time, they looked rather satisfied at something as well.

“Ah, finally! The main force!” the soldier exclaimed. “Skye, it’s time we ended this nonsense once and for all. You ready?”

“Right by you, Captain Bryan. Men! Finish these ruffians! Do not harm the other warriors!” the archer added. With that, a small squadron of foot units appeared where the bandit reinforcements normally would have and killed almost all of them. The ones who remained simply stood there in shock and fear. However, the boss remained at his post and the soldier approached him. However, neither of them looked very happy at all. The soldier readied his lance with confidence.

“Ya fool! How dare ya bring my lads ta their knees?!” he snapped in anger.

“We’ll bring down even more of them if you don’t surrender immediately,” the soldier replied. “Attacking an entire town for a single person is foolhardy!” But the bandit boss would not give in easily.

“Oh yeah? Never! Not ‘til we get what we want from that redheaded twit!”

“Then you can kiss your rear end good bye, ruffian. I will not let you harm anymore of these people!” With that, the soldier engaged in battle and defeated the boss in a matter of minutes despite the fact that axes had an advantage over lances. And even with that, the soldier did sustain an injury, but had it healed up right away by a healer in the squadron. With the fighting finally over, the soldier, archer, and Ike and Azura’s group gathered in the town square. Ike and Azura hoped to gain some info on the ones who aided them.

“Thank you so much for aiding us,” Azura said. “That was impressive battling. We might have been in big trouble had you and your soldiers not shown up.”

“No problem. It’s part of my job, miss,” the soldier replied with a smile. “Say, aren’t you that red-headed mercenary the bandits have been looking for lately? What’s up with that?”

“What? I-I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Azura stammered.

“Azura, come on now. You just got captured by them a little while ago,” Ike lectured. “I’m curious as to what the story is behind all this myself.”

“Sigh…alright, I suppose you deserve to know,” Azura gave in. “But I can’t tell you out here in public. I don’t want it to be known to anyone else.”

“That’s understandable,” Ike agreed. He turned to the soldier and archer and asked, “Now who are you, exactly?”

“Ah, we never made introductions, did we? I’m Bryan, commander of Talgria’s third platoon of soldiers,” the soldier said. “This here is Skye, my aid.”

“Pleasure, Sir Ike,” the archer said with a smile.

“Now how—oh that’s right. Anyone around here ought to know who I am,” Ike replied with a chuckle.

“Yeah, we figured that’s who we were helping. It’s an honor to meet you,” Bryan explained. “But wait, you have an axe in your hand…I heard you were a master swordsman.”

“Oh, that I am,” Ike assured. Then he explained the incident that occurred on the mountain as well as the details on Azura’s capture. Ike also told the tale of what had happened to his and Ranulf’s camp. The stories baffled Bryan and Skye, yet at the same time they also interested them. A frown formed on Bryan’s face, which indicated to the group that he had a bad feeling about the current situation. Ike asked him if there was something wrong.

“I’m not sure. It’s just that this is such a coincidence,” Bryan replied. He went on to explain that there were problems being tended to up in Aracion, Talgria’s capital city, that could possibly be related, but they were being kept so secret that not even the Talgrian Royal Knights know exactly what’s going on. All the soldiers know is that a good deal of them were dispatched to go on a search for a red-haired girl wearing a gold pendant. They had no clue why they’re looking for such a person.

“That’s…is that me?” Azura asked.

“I believe so. Though I wasn’t assigned to such a task, it’s fortunate that we’ve crossed paths anyway.”

“Indeed. We were going to see Azura’s mother about some of these details,” Ike replied. “I have a good feeling the woman will be able to give us important information.”

“Then we must speak with her at once,” Bryan insisted. “These ruins you mentioned have to have something to do with his majesty’s intentions.”

With that, Azura led the group to her mother’s house on another road in town. It was a small, quaint place, just like any average home in Galden. Azura advised most of the group to wait outside so her mother won’t feel crowded, sighed with slight nervousness, and opened the door. She looked at her pendant once more, wondering if it could possibly be more than what she thought it was. While Azura was inside, Marc and Leona conversed in their own time as they waited for the next move. Marc sighed with nervousness as well, which got Leona curious.

“This feels so weird. If this is an old woman we’re trying to get information from, I swear I’m going to faint,” he said.

“Oh stop it. Why are you always so antsy around old hags?” Leona asked in annoyance. “It isn’t like they’re going to murder you or anything.”

“I really don’t know. They creep me out for some reason.”

“Ugh. Come on. They’re just women who’ve aged.”

“Yeah, aged to the point where they look like creepy old witches.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. How come old men don’t look like creepy old coots then, huh?”

“Old men? Ha, they’re even weirder.”

“Sigh…Sometimes I think you’re the weird one, Marc…”

Azura came out just moments later and motioned Ike, Ranulf, Elincia, and Bryan to follow her inside the house. The room was nicely furnished and cleaned up, causing the five to be careful not to mess up anything. Paintings hung upon the wall while a small fireplace sat in the living room. A Brave Sword, one of the strongest forgeable weapons in existence, hung over the mantel of the fireplace as a memento while other display objects sat below it. A small couch, chair, rug, and other basic living room furniture furnished the living room in which the five warriors stood. Azura’s mother, a rather middle-aged looking woman with brown hair, walked out of the kitchen to greet them, looking somewhat surprised. Just as Ike suspected, she bore no family resemblance to Azura whatsoever.

“So these are your new friends, Azura dear? Pleased to meet you all,” the woman greeted with a smile. “I’m Lorelle, Azura’s mother. What can I do for you fine young warriors?”

“The pleasure is ours. I’m Ike, the hero from Tellius,” Ike replied. “We were hoping you could tell us something about the pendant Azura wears.”

“Oh? Whatever for?”

“We found ruins of an old town in the mountains,” Azura replied. “The symbol that my pendant takes the shape of is carved onto the temple there. Bandits have been looking for me for a long time as well. From what you’ve told me of my past, none of this makes sense.”

“My men and I also think it’s related to a situation currently occurring in Aracion,” Bryan added. Lorelle didn’t reply immediately. Instead she put a shameful look on her face and sighed with grief. Everyone could tell she had a story to share.

“I knew this day would come. Azura…I have a confession to make,” she replied. “I lied to you about your history. I’m…I’m not your real mother.”

“Wh-what?!” Azura gasped.

“I’m truly sorry. The truth is…I adopted you. That pendant you wear was never in my family either. I have no idea where it came from, to be honest.”

“I…I can’t believe it.”

“Just as I thought,” Ike replied. “Please, tell us more.”

“I’m interested as well,” Ranulf added. Lorelle agreed and began her story. She explained that not long after her late husband was killed, she found a basket on her doorstep one early morning when the rain was falling hard. Tucked inside was a baby girl who wore a strange, yet beautiful pendant around her neck. Lorelle was about to take the baby inside when the noticed the body of a young red-haired woman lying not more than a foot away from the basket. Assuming she had been the baby’s biological mother, Lorelle took pity upon checking to see if she was really dead, and brought the baby inside the house. Once she removed the baby from the soiled basket, she found a parchment note tucked in the blanket. It begged to protect the child, whose name was Azura, and the pendant at all costs, but nothing more.

“So…you suggested I become a mercenary and learn the ways of the sword so I could protect this pendant?” Azura wondered.

“Yes. I do not know more than that,” Lorelle finished. “But you’ve done well to guard it for so long. I only wish I could help you.”

“Oh, but you have, Mother. You’ve helped by raising me and encouraging me to come as far as I have,” Azura replied.

“Really? Thank you…very much, dear.”

“Ahem. I apologize for interrupting this heart-warming conversation, but his majesty will probably like to hear this information,” Bryan interrupted. “I must be going immediately.”

“Hey now, Bry—” Elincia started as Bryan went out the door without a reply. “Ugh, I’m sorry. You’ll have to excuse him, Lorelle.”

“It’s alright. I suppose I deserve it anyway for being such a liar to the closest thing I ever had to a child,” Lorelle replied with sorrow.

“Nonsense, Mother. I can see why you would keep it hidden from me,” Azura protested. “I enjoyed my life with you too much to take secrets like these. I’m glad you lied.”

“…You are?”

“Yes.”

“I’m…touched. Thank you, again.” This time it was Ike’s turn to make an interruption.

“Well, since we’ve heard what we came to hear, we may as well go catch up with Bryan,” he proposed. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Lorelle.”

“Oh you too, Sir Ike,” Lorelle agreed with a smile. “You all take care and be careful out there now!”

“We will.” After his last words, Ike and the rest of the group went back outside to rejoin Marc, Leona, and Skye, who’d stood out in front the entire time. Remembering his broken sword, Ike brought out both halves of Ettard and sighed. He spotted Bryan just several feet away up the road, and with that the group followed him onward to catch up with the third platoon captain. Azura had hopes of him and Skye aiding them some more since they had apparent ties to the king of Talgria. They halted when Bryan finally stopped his own walking. Ike stepped ahead and spoke first.

“Bryan, wait a minute,” he said. “We need to go to Aracion too. Mind if we join you?”

“Not at all. In fact, I was just about to come back and ask you the same thing myself,” Bryan replied with a smile. “And you ought to find a blacksmith to fix that sword.” He frowned upon noticing the two halves of Ettard.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that too. I’d like it re-forged as soon as possible,” Ike agreed. “You know where I can find a smith?”

“As a matter of fact, I happen know a really good one who lives in a town on the way to Aracion,” Bryan delightedly said. “This guy’ll fix that right up in no time. He can even turn it into a top-notch blade for you.”

“Sounds like he’s the real deal.”

“Oh indeed. Now let’s get going. His majesty will want to see Azura as soon as he can. We’ll be your escorts if you don’t know the way.”

“Well, Marc and Leona might, seeing as they’re knights of Talgria,” Ike pointed out. “But we’d be grateful if all of you were our escorts, since bandits will obviously be looking for us right now.”

“That’s correct. We do know the way and would love to help out,” Marc agreed. “Right, Leona?”

“Of course,” Leona replied. “General Leyon wants us back as soon as possible though, so we need to waste no time. He originally sent Marc and myself to investigate Galden for clues to the bandit organization. That’s one reason we came to help you in the first place. The other reason, well, we saw you were in big trouble.”

“General Leyon? I assume he’s the commander of Talgria’s Royal Knights?” Azura guessed.

“Correct again. We ought to get started if we’re to arrive before daylight tomorrow though. That’s when he expects us,” Marc added, pointing out that it was late afternoon.

“Alright, then we’ll take your advice and leave immediately,” Ike agreed. “If no one else has a problem with it, that is.”

“Nope, ‘tis fine with me and Skye,” Bryan confirmed. “We’re used to having to do that at times anyway.”

“Same here,” Ranulf agreed.

“I don’t mind either,” Elincia added.

“Well, that settles it then,” Ike replied. “Let’s go.” With that, the group made for the paths leading in the direction of Aracion, where Castle Talgria stood high and mighty. However, no one could guarantee that there wouldn’t be any interruptions to slow them down along the way, and stayed prepared for any possible fight to come.


I'm still working on chapter 5, so it may take more than a day.