Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Revelations

[Phoenix]

Volunteers

"Well, let me know," Gabriel decided, "I'll be in the area for a while. As for the manhunt, Anna should be around here somewhere," he glanced around, but didn't see her anywhere in sight, "You may want to find her and let her know you're going with. Wouldn't want to get left behind if something comes up."

"I'm thinking about going, too," Zachary nodded, "how about you, Nika?"

Challenge Accepted

"Don't worry, Thany," the boss said, "you'll get another chance ... just behave yourself and don't alienate or hosts."

"Basically," James chimed in, "whatever Wynn's doing, do the opposite of that."

"Just behave yourself," the boss amended. Keep it simple.

"You thought I was bluffing, didn't you, mage punk?!" That was the guard's voice, coming from the staircase. Soon enough, a small group of six approached the cells.

"You really only brought a handful of guys?" Wynn spoke up, sounding confused. This was an attempt at beating up on the little, guy right? If so, it wasn't going to go the way these guards thought it would. "This is going to be too easy. Well," he stood up and dusted himself off, "let's get this over with."

Coming Through

"No sheep around here, sorry," Amber answered, "or booze, come to think of it. We should probably fix that. If you're looking for someone who might be drunk, you should try the mess hall. Right next to the barracks. You might also find a change of clothes in the barracks, but I'm not sure. You may have to ask someone from the garrison about that. My unit was only passing through so we don't know much about Belo's setup here."

"Make way! Make way!"

Amber looked over her shoulder to see what her fellow soldier in the distance was yelling about, and the first thing she noticed was everyone else heeding him. A clear path through the perimeter was forming and a royal procession was approaching. Some of the escort were mounted on horseback, with the exception of one royal guard riding atop of a peach colored pegasus, and others were on foot and jogging to keep pace with the carriage. "Oh! We'd better move, too. Not too far, though; I want to see who's in the carriage."

[Thany]

"i never really got to see what a mage can do without a tome. this should be interesting." :she said eagerly awaiting the results of this:

Edited August 24, 2015 by Thany

[Snowy_One]

Robin quickly looked over to see the upcoming royal procession and quickly took her own step back to stand beside Amber. What on earth was going on here? Why was a noble of any sort here at the battlefield? Someone seeking to deliver a pompous speech and claim the victory for themselves perhaps? Robin didn't really care as she focused, instead, on the pegasus.

"That is a nice pegasus. I do not think I have seen peach as an animal color ever before in my life. I am not certain it would do well in battle though if it is used mainly for ceremony."

[Snike]

"Alright, then," Blake said, as he began to move away from the gathering. "I'm going to go check up on Jethro and Raquel, then go find Belo. If I see Anna, I'll let her know."

[-Cynthia-]

"Hmm- I really think some of us should stay by Raquel. In her current...condition, she may seem like an easy target to our enemies. Hopefully, everyone will convene and we will decide what to do as a group," Veronika responded before following Blake.

Edited August 22, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Wanna See the Raquel

"Yeah, good idea. Hey, Gabriel, could you stay here and keep an eye on Gabbie for me? I want to see how Raquel's doing, too."

"Depends" Gabriel said, pointing in Gabbie's general direction, "is that wyvern friendly?"

"I think so, yeah," Zachary nodded.

"Alright then, I'll wait around here."

Fight the Power

Wynn stood tall and defiant as the guards gathered right outside his cell. "You might want to put your helmets on. That's no bluff, either."

"Yeah, sure whatever," the first guard waved off the warning before unsheathing a small dagger. It was surprisingly ornate, probably not a sidearm. Suddenly, as he aimed it at Wynn, a crackling burst of thunder magic lashed out and struck him square in the chest, sending jolts up and down his body and stunning him. "Honestly, did you really think we wouldn't come prepared? You're the one that's going to wish he had a helmet." The guard sheathed the dagger and began unlocking the Wynn's cell door.

Wynn fell to one knee and tried to rein in his muscles. The spasms weren't severe, but they were still crippling. "Urgh ... what a cheap s-shot ..."

The guard smirked at that and gently opened the cell door. He was letting himself in first when Wynn reached out with both hands and released a dark thunder spell that he had been quietly charging up while recovering from the attack. The spell clung to Wynn's attacker and caused him to break out into convulsions. The flashing blue lit up the whole area for a couple of brief seconds before the guard curled up and toppled over into a twitching heap.

Wasting no time, two of the guards rushed into the cell to subdue Wynn, barely squeezing in at the same time to do so. Wynn charged at them and put his foot to the right one's face, as if trying to kick in a heavy door. The man fell back into one of his fellow guards outside of the cell as the left one grabbed Wynn around the waist. He tried to drag him to the ground as another guard stepped in and delivered a swift right hook to Wynn's cheek. Wynn kept his balance, grabbed the guard's fist as he drew it back, and then unleashed another dark thunder spell that struck all three of them. The two of them staggered away, fighting to control their muscles, and Wynn did the same, hoping to recover before the three other guards could attack him.

Another guard rushed in, intent on catching Wynn before he could recover, but it was too late. Just as he wound up to swing, Wynn readied himself to counter. Suddenly, the same guard whom had tried to take Wynn to the ground grabbed his left twin tail and yanked it hard enough to pull Wynn back. The attacking guard then changed the direction of his swing, and took one more step before throwing it, to ensure he would reach his mark. He landed a solid punch to Wynn's stomach, and then threw another nailing him in the jaw.

The guard with a firm grip on Wynn's hair managed to easily drag Wynn to the ground this time and quickly stepped on the dark mage's head to disorient him. All Wynn could do after that was curl up to defend his vitals as the other guards joined in and began stomping him into submission.

Probably the Princess

"Oh darn," Amber huffed, "the curtains are closed. There's no way to see who's in there." Robin's mention of the peach pegasus turned out to be the answer, though. "That's the only pegasus in the group, and that color's rare for pegasi ... it must be Princess Athena in that carriage." She had been riding it herself the previous evening, but the royal guard was riding it now. Perhaps it was just a precaution until they were within the relative safety of the fortress walls.

The Ups and Downs

Jethro had to endure quite a bit in the few minutes following Raquel's awakening. One of the biggest inconveniences was that fact that Raquel was beginning to notice just how much older she was. She had an adult body, which wasn't the case three years ago. The time she spent asking him questions, she was simultaneously messing with her hair, measuring her own bust, looking at her reflection in a small mirror, and adjusting her clothing out of curiosity. The runner up in the contest for inconveniences was the fact that she was excited about going to Horizon. Hearing her mention it at least three times was painful for Jethro, especially after everything she'd been through there. It was the period that made her who she was ... who she had been. The people that had hounded them after he had gotten her out of that academy would have loved to see this version of her, older, ready and willing to learn and endure their trials all over again.

"Was it really so bad there that you had to take me out?"

The real problem with this entire situation was that Jethro didn't yet have the heart to explain everything that had happened to her, especially not with regard to Horizon. She seemed a little bit happier and more optimistic right now, despite having a massive headache. More importantly, if there was a way to use this situation to keep Raquel out of danger going forward, he planned to do everything he could to take advantage of it. This was all so sudden, though; he hadn't had time to consider how best to handle all of this, and so any question answered, truthfully, vaguely, or not at all, carried some inherent risk. "I'll spare you the details for now, Honey, just know that it wasn't for you. We should find some other options for you to study."

"But-" "Fact of the matter is, I can't even afford to send you to Horizon," Jethro interrupted, "we already sent you once, and that cost a fortune."

"... r-right," Raquel hung her head. "Why can't I remember that?" she asked herself, frustrated. Having to learn about her own experiences this way wasn't just annoying, it was really sad. She wasn't fully discouraged, though. "Well, until I remember, I'm going to study on my own. Can we go home, now? My head still hurts, but if I'm not going to get any medicine while we're here, what's the point in staying?"

"Not yet," Jethro shook his head. "In a little while." First he had to find some way to explain this to Caterena. Next, he had to figure out how to explain to Raquel that their old house looked somewhat different, now, what with her room being repurposed and any of her belongings being in storage somewhere, likely the basement. There was also the divorce to explain or cover up; Jethro hadn't decided which route to go, yet. Reina certainly wasn't going to keep her mouth shut if she was around. And gods, what in the hell was going to happen if Rodrigo was there? Dammit, Cat ... "I've got to get some advice since that injury of yours was pretty serious. I may also need to go back home ahead of you to get some things prepared since you're going to be staying in bed for a few days."

"Ugh, really?"

"Hey," Jethro shrugged, "it's good time to study. I'll go get you some tomes right now if you want."

[Thany]

(sounds like wynn finally got taken down, not bad for a mage.) :she then went to her small bed and just laid there for the time being:

Edited August 23, 2015 by Thany

[Snike]

"I agree we need a few people to guard her, but at the same time we can't let this opportunity slip by," Blake said as he walked. "As for convening, well, it might be better to do that at Weyland's headquarters or at the inn, rather than here."

[-Cynthia-]

"I imagine everyone should be returning to the inn or Weyland's eventually, they presumably aren't going to just wander around Ursentius forever. I do agree that we need to deal with these artificials as quickly as possible, so we might not have time to wait for all of them. Speaking of artificials...do you two trust Gabriel? I know he's done nothing but help us so far, but I also feel that there is a lot he's not telling us," she asked the gentlemen walking with her.

[Snike]

Gabriel. So that's what the artificial man's name was. That would be good to know, for future reference. Now, as to whether or not they could trust him...

"I can't trust him just yet, but, well, I can believe the claim that he's not sided with the other two artificials. Otherwise, he probably would've killed us last night," Blake said. To him, the Gabriel's reluctance to share information immediately wasn't as serious an issue at it seemed to be. Especially since the swordsman wasn't exactly being straightforward with certain matters, either.

[Snowy_One]

"The princess?" asked Robin, a bit shocked at the notion. "I never thought I would ever be so close to someone like that. Of course, we are little more than soldiers she will not see, but still. What do you know of her? What is she like? An annoying pompous brat or a kind and caring princess?"

[Phoenix]

Wanna Trust the Gabriel

"I think we can trust him," Zachary began after Blake, "at least when I look at it from his perspective. This has been his problem for what, seventy years? We've been involved for some weeks, and he's probably not aware of our track record. He probably just doesn't know if we can handle ourselves, and wants to hold off on the rest until then. Once he knows what we're capable of, I'm sure he'll tell us the rest, or the woman who rescued him will. Either way, it should work out." It was good that people trusted him, now, or input like that might have carried little to no weight at all, he realized. "The real issue is getting to their base. If it's really on an island, I might need to change some things for our approach. I guess it depends on where this island turns out to be ..."

Fight the Pain

"How's your breathing, Wynn?" the boss asked, unable to see what sort of shape the mage was in. The guards had long since finished pummeling him, and had left a few minutes ago. The boss hadn't heard anything from Wynn's cell, so naturally he was a little worried. At least that grinding noise had stopped.

"Hurts ... trying not to," came Wynn's strained reply. He sounded like he was indeed holding his breath.

"Probably a fracture or two," the boss concluded, nodding to himself. He'd seen that before. Unfortunately their healers were dead and the guards didn't give a damn. They'd inflicted those injuries, after all. "How's your head? Dizzy? Nauseous? Your vision hasn't gone to hell, has it?" The boss was going over a mental checklist to make sure Wynn didn't have any serious injuries, because otherwise Wynn could die without him even noticing it. Damn these walls.

"I'm fine," Wynn coughed.

"Why do you do things like this to yourself, Wynn? You had to know you wouldn't be able to take all of them." The boss waited, but there was no answer. With a sigh, he added, "It's not about winning or losing, is it? You just can't lie down and take whatever you're given. That's some excessive pride if ever I've seen it, but I understand. Just remember, all dead men ever do is lie down and take whatever they're given. As long as you're alive, you're not completely at the mercy of others."

Probably True

"She was actually here last night," Amber noted, "but it was pretty chaotic and there were pegasi all over. She was the one that brought down that huge barrier that had the Major General's people trapped. I don't know what she's really like but most people say she and her brother are fearless, willing to take to the front lines in a heartbeat to help their people and defeat the enemy. Sounds awesome, and I think it's all true since the prince did go into the city to help out the troops during the monster attack in Europa and like I said, the princess came all the way over here in the middle of the battle to bring down that barrier for us. The royal guard must be soiling themselves every time a crisis happens, having to guard those two."

"Yeah this generation of royals is pretty laudable," Nadine chimed in as she approached from the same direction the procession had before it had passed them on its way to the fortress. "Amber, I need you to fill in for me for a bit. I want to make sure Wynn's still alive."

"Okay," Amber smiled.

[-Cynthia-]

"If it's off the eastern coast of Neviskotia...then we are in trouble. Any ship around there is just going to get attacked by the rebel navy and we do not have the resources to deal with that. The island itself also may have considerable defenses to contend with, they are difficult to attack historically speaking," Veronika speculated.

[Snike]

"We'll see..," Blake said, towards the Gabriel issue. "As for where their base is, if it does end up being on Neviskotia's east coast, we should potentially see if Lilith could warp us onto it, when the time comes. That would be a bit easier than trying to cut through the rebel navy."

[Thany]

"i must say tho. im impressed a mage like you took such a beating. i always heard mages were super squishy without their tomes. and here you were. beating up 3 of em before they dog piled you." :as she stretched her arms:

Edited August 24, 2015 by Thany

[-Cynthia-]

"You would think that the Organization would have some measure against simply warping there though. Magic definitely is not my field of expertise, but one would think there would be more frequent warping assassinations of important figures if you couldn't stop it with runes or something," Veronika pondered.

[Snowy_One]

Robin gave a small grimace. What were her own parents doing now, back home? Sure, she had been gone for long periods before, but this was very long even for that and she was in a dangerous situation.

"My own parents are probably just as worried. If I ever see them again... If they had guards I doubt they would not let me do anything without one shackled to me. Anyways, if you are busy then... I believe it might be better for me to be elsewhere."

"A skotian this close to the princess? I know Raquel is fine with it and her father might even stand up and the princess might even overlook it considering what has happened, but all it takes is for one guard to become lance-happy..."

"Besides, I believe I have some other people to find, Amalia and Erion for example."

[Phoenix]

Defenses

"Secrecy can be even better than runes," Zachary noted, "We didn't have a clue where their base was before, so whether or not they had any defense against warping wouldn't have mattered. They still might, though. The palace in Kievan Rus has that kind of setup from what I've heard, and there are a lot of places inside this fortress where the magic isn't acting quite right, like the flow's being tampered with. That's a tale tell sign of runes, and we already know they've got that huge barrier in place."

That was when the procession caught up and began to move past them, as if they were in some kind of hurry. Zachary wouldn't have minded, but there was some dust kicking up from all the cantering horses. The northern gate was wide open, so they made their way right on inside. Nadine came running by almost immediately afterward.

My Other Weakness

"Would have beaten them all if that bastard hadn't grabbed my hair," Wynn muttered.

James grinned as he laid back in the bed in his cell. "Time for a haircut?"

"Shut up ..."

Protection

"Your children are the future, so it makes sense to be protective. I felt I was better suited protecting others, though, so I got some extra training and now I'm a first class knight, complete with a shield," she smiled as she held up the shield. It was about the size of a carriage door and could clearly stop anything short of a ballista bolt without flinching, but Amber was lugging the thing around with one hand. She didn't recognize either of the examples Robin mentioned, so she decided to let the archer search on her own. "Well, if you're on your way then good luck to ya."

Backup

Miguel thought he'd seen the last of the morning arrivals, but quickly realized he should have known better when another unit showed up, all of them on horseback. There were about twenty of them and they seemed combat ready. He wasn't sure which garrison they were from, but he supposed he would find out here, shortly. "Morning," he waved as he and a few vigilant soldiers approached the riders, "what unit are you folks with?"

The man leading the unit stopped, first, and the others followed suit. He was a tall man with brown hair, just barely visible beneath his helmet. As he dismounted, he greeted the Lieutenant Colonel. "Major Dario Florez," he saluted as soon as he was off his horse, "Took the scenic route from Wrath's Fort. Thanks to the Prince, we've got some men to spare to help shore up the Major General's forces here until things settle down."

"Well that's good news. Well, stay here for now and I'll get word to Belo so she knows you're here. It's up to her where your unit fills in."

"Understood," Florez nodded.

[Snike]

"The runes might not also stop vasili-grade magic, either, but that's something we'll have to look into," Blake said, just as a royal procession hurriedly came by, followed by Nadine. Interesting, though inconvenient thanks to the dust they kicked up. "Hmm, I wonder if that's the princess..."

[-Cynthia-]

"It does seem like someone important is here- I'd rather see Raquel than go investigate however," Veronika said. I avoided Ursian noblility at the ball, chasing after them now would be rather foolish.

[Phoenix]

Priorities and Fun

"We can probably do both, go check on Raquel and then see what's going on, out here," Zachary noted. He doubted they would be leaving just as soon as they'd gotten here at any rate. It was kind of interesting, though, walking around an Ursian fortress with Veronika and Blake. He had to be sure to bring the latter and Raquel to a Neviskotian fortress when they got the chance, just for fun. Of course if they were actually visiting such a place, fun might be the very last thing on the agenda.

A Visit

As the dull pains that accompanied his less serious injuries began to fade, the sharp pains in Wynn's chest area began to stand out more and more. He wasn't sure initially, but by this point, he was sure the boss had called it right. He had at least two fractured ribs. For the time being, all he could do was lie in bed and try to tune out the pain, because no help was coming. Suddenly, there were some sounds coming from down the hall, foot steps, someone approaching at a hurried pace. Help probably wasn't coming but someone was.

"Who the-?" James hadn't gotten a good look at the woman that passed by his cell, having only exchanged glances for a split second.

"Nadine ..." Wynn tried to sit up, but the pain slowed him down and forced him to practically roll out of his bed rather than sit up, first. Nadine stood there right outside the cell door. "If you're here to rough me up some more, the guards already took care of it. I'd like to get some rest now if you don't mind."

"What's the damage?" she asked, her tone seemingly apathetic.

"He might have some fractures," the boss chimed in from over in his own cell. Wynn winced and looked away from his visitor. He could hear what sounded like Nadine kneeling down for a moment, but didn't want to risk eye contact by checking. This was one of those situations where meeting her gaze was typically followed by a severe scolding or pummeling ... or both, and so he'd been conditioned simply avoid it, or avoid her when things like this happened. At least back at Horizon his life wasn't on the line.

"I'll be back in a little while," Nadine said as she stood back up in front of the cell door, "pay attention to what's going on around you, Wynn, and don't do anything stupid." With that, she turned to leave. Wynn didn't bother to check until almost a minute later, when he was sure she was gone. That was when he noticed a small bottle on the floor, just inside the cell. It was a shiny, indigo hued bottle filled with some sort of liquid and sealed with a small cork. Wynn made his way over on his knees to investigate.

"That was your friend from before, right? The one that kicked you?" the boss asked.

"Yeah," Wynn said as he reached the bottle. "She always beats me up when I get in trouble."

"And you let her?" James added, curiously. "Gotta say, that's not a healthy relationship to be in."

Wynn held up the bottle and quickly realized that it was an elixir, more potent than a vulnerary, and somewhat better tasting depending on the origin or brand. This would help the fracture heal much more quickly and ease the pain. He might even be able to get some actual rest with this. "She's not really a violent person ... that's why I don't fight back. When Nadine's pummeling you ... you know you've messed up, royally. At least, that's how I've always seen it."

[Thany]

"at least you have a friend that cares for you. all i have is boss. cause i'm sure there is no one else in this group i know."

[Snike]

"It might not be a good idea for the two of you to go looking around," Blake said, as he glanced at the two Neviskotians. "However I could look into it later, if need be. The royal family's visit might not affect us, after all."

[Snowy_One]

Robin shook her head as she looked around the courtyard, a bit confused as to where she was. It wasn't really her fault though. Even though she was unlikely to ever be lost in a forest she had never been to this place long enough to see where everything was and military layouts weren't her thing. But that's life after all. Besides, they were far from the only people to talk to. She just wanted to apologize to one and see if she could 'cement' the friendship with the other. Yet, as she walked about, she saw someone she didn't expect to see in the courtyard.

"Zach." she said, waving a bit timidly as she approached her former friend along with Nika. "I did not think you would find your way here on your own. I am sorry for leaving you at the inn but I had little time to gather what was going on myself. We... never did finish talking about where we stood with each other now."

Edited August 27, 2015 by Snowy_One

[Nanami Touko]

A sigh quietly found its way out of Amalia's mouth. She sat herself in the mess hall, going over the events from the previous day. It was still weighing heavily on her, especially the explosion, the magic barrier, the death, th-- Stop. Just... Just stop. She shivered, trying to get her hands back to her weaving. She'd gone through her belongings and gathered together enough materials to spend some time weaving a basket. It was uniform, it was calming-- it was frustrating, at times, but the end product helped her. The satisfaction of making something was calming, and that was what she needed, right now. Uriel was off healing those that were still injured. Erion was... Somewhere. Miss Robin had been walking around... But it was a bit nice to have time to herself-- as long as she could stay out of her head.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Snake Mom