Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

"The best way to sneak into a place is to make everyone think that you have every right to be there."


Your thoughts race. You don't think you have much time: if these boys are anything like you when you were younger, they're not going to be as patient in waiting for you to come to a conclusion as Artemis and the other more mature humans were. Already, you can see Jack bouncing on his feet, seemingly barely able to resist running off to carry out this little scheme.

Thankfully, it's not a hard decision to make. You'd already wanted to go and take a look at the camp. After all, you'd always been told that the more you know, the better decisions you can make. This just means that you'll have some cover while you do it. After all, a lone, strange girl would probably draw more attention from the Talons than a girl with a group of boys they already know. While there are risks, you think they're worth it.

Of course, there's one other person you have to convince and you don't have a lot of time to do it. "This sounds fun," you say, smiling. "Thank you for inviting me. I just have to tell Father that I'll be-"

All three boys flinch. "You said you wouldn't squeal!" John says accusingly.

It takes you a second to process what he means, but when you do you quickly shake your head. "I'm not!" you say. "Father trusts me, but I need to tell him that I'm going somewhere." You shrug to show off your bag. "And I should probably ask him to hold onto this so I don't attract attention." You leave out that, if something goes wrong, the Talons won't find Thunder's Cry and start asking pointed questions.

Jack and John don't look convinced, but Jace smiles. "That sounds okay," he says. When the other boys look at him incredulously, he flushes slightly but continues. "She already promised she'll help us, and if her dad doesn't know where she is that'll just get is in more trouble later. She's right about the bag too."

You smile. "Thank you, Jace," you say. "I'll be right back!" Before any of them can say anything else, you trot back around the corner.

It looks like Robin is almost done haggling over whatever he'd been pretending to need to buy (you'd been paying more attention to the weird interaction between the Talon and that woman.) Sidling up to him, you shrug your bag off and set it at his feet.

"Father, a few local children were saying they had something cool to show me," you say, putting some excitement into your voice. "I promise I'll be really careful; can I go see?"

Robin frowns. "What do they want to show you?" he asks.

"Nothing much," you say, but as you do you jerk your head in the direction of the Talon camp, hoping he'll remembers what you'd heard about earlier. "Please, Father?" They seem really nice, and I'm sure I'll learn a whole lot."

Robin seems to consider for a moment before kneeling down to eye level and putting his hands on either side of your head. "Be careful, Gwyn," he says softly. "If you ever get worried, don't be afraid to just walk away; don't let them pressure you into doing anything unsafe. I'll be around the market, but if you don't see me then meet me by that tree on the rise southeast of town in an hour."

"I promise, Father," you say, allowing yourself to give him a hug. "I'll see you in a bit."

"See you soon, Gwyn," Robin says, picking up your bag as he stands. Forcing the bit of tension down, you skip a bit as you return to the boys.

As you turn the corner, you're a bit surprised to see Jack with one arm around Jace's shoulders while he rubs his other closed fist through his hair as he squirms. "Geroff!" Jace is saying, his face surprisingly red.

"Nope," Jack says, grinning. "Not until you say it."

Frowning, you hurry over. "Is everything okay?" you ask worriedly.

Jace is finally able to wiggle out of Jack's grip. "Nothing, nothing," he says, somehow going even more red as he refuses to look at you. "Come on, let's go."

For some reason, Jack gives you a grin too as he follows after his friend. John studies you coolly for a moment before moving after them, leaving you trotting to catch up.

The four of you move through the town. It's clear the boys know it well, as there's no hesitation in their movements. Thankfully, whatever awkwardness had been going on seems to be mostly resolved, though Jace is still not looking at you.

Glenhaven isn't that big, so it's not long before you're making your way up the path towards the Shrieking Talon camp. There are a lot of them around; you lose count after about thirty, and you know there are a lot more that you didn't see. However, it does seem that your information is good, as none of the mercenaries give you or the boys a second glance.

"Come on, this way," John hisses as you're almost at the camp itself. "The guards at the front are usually the stubbornest; if we go past the horses they usually think we're just here to see them." You nod; that's useful information.

The four of you circle off the path and to the west, you study the outside of the camp. There are no walls, but you see wandering mercenaries often enough that you don't think you'd be able to get in without somebody noticing you. This close, a few even study you all for a long moment, but Jack gives a cheerful wave and it seems to calm them down.

A minute later, you hear the faint nickering of horses. A lot of horses. You smell them too.

"This place is so cool," Jace says, his nerves seemingly forgotten as he gives you a small smile. "You'll really like it."

"I'm sure I will," you say.

"So long as you don't forget why we're here," John hisses. "Come on, let's go!"

You look around as you're lead through the horse area. There are about a dozen of them, split into a few groups and surrounded by makeshift fences. There's one Talon that seems to be in the middle of feeding them, but he ignores the four of you as you pass. "Alright, where now?" you whisper.

Jack starts forwards, but Jace stops him. "We shouldn't go straight there," he says. "That might make them suspicious. Let's just walk around a bit, show Gwyn what it's like."

Jack rolls his eyes. "You just want to spend more time with her," he says. "Come on, we're here for-"

"No, he makes a good point," John says. "If we're gonna do this, we should do it right. Come on, let's take a walk."

A part of you is irritated that these human children are making decisions without even thinking about consulting you, but then you remind yourself that you're not Ryza, but Gwyn. "Okay," you say. "Is there anything particularly interesting?"

John deflates for a moment before suddenly perking up. "Let's go look at the training area," he says. "There's always something happening there!"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Jace says. "Come on, let's go!"

As the four of you make your way through the camp, you keep looking around for anything interesting. You have no chance of figuring out how many people are around, but it's at least as many as outside. That means, at a minimum, that there are sixty Talons, including a mage. Probably more.

You notice the largest tent as you pass, as there's a lot of noise coming from it. Slipping a little ways away from the others, you get a look in to see several long tables lined up with men and women sitting and eating along them. "Their 'mess hall,'" Jace provides helpfully. "That's where they eat. Their first day here, they bought a whole bunch of food; they're probably still eating their way through it."

'A useful place to attack a bunch of them at once,' the nasty part of you says in the back of your mind. You hush it: you're here for information, not to make trouble.

Before you can think too much more on it, Jack stops and points. "The training yard," he says proudly.

You study it with interest. It looks like a temporary, smaller version of the one you'd seen at Castle Agrithe. Opened out on the northern edge of the camp, you see groups of men and women sparring while a line shoots arrows into a long mound of earth that had been dug out to mount the targets for some reason.

As your eyes scan the group, a flash of green stands out to you. Forcing yourself not to look too excited, you peer at one of the archers. Something about him seems… familiar…

Your heart plummets as you realize what it is. He's wearing the same kind of cloak as Axton and Lancel. Under it, he's wearing the same kind of armor as they did. This must be one of the yeomen that followed Robert into betraying Artemis. If he was still around…

It takes you a moment to shake yourself out of your worrying to see that the man doesn't seem happy either, constantly glaring over at another group of archers. Curious, you sidle towards the, perking your ears to see what they're talking about.

"… nicest damn bow I've ever held in my life," one of the women is saying, cradling something you can't see. "I think I'm in love."

"You're always in love with new toys," someone else says, tugging the thing out of her hand. "Come on, give us a go with it. How did you even get it away from the Q?"

The woman grins. "It's easy enough; just give him a big smile and a wink and promise to be really careful, and he'll cave."

As the Talons continue to bicker, you finally get a look at what they're playing with. It's a bow; a really nice looking bow, one that… wait a minute…

That's Artemis's bow?!

A flash of rage nearly causes you to stumble. Artemis loves that bow. Her father had given her that bow. When she'd been crying and holding you after you got her away from Mantrae, she'd said how much she wished she could have gotten it out. To have these jerks treating it like some sort of novelty made you mad.

"Gwyn?"

Shaking yourself out of your anger, you glance at Jace, who's looking at you worriedly. "I'm okay, I'm okay," you say. "Just… thinking about something."

Jace frowns. "Hey… if you don't want to be part of this, you don't have to be," he says, starting to raise his hand before letting it fall to swing at his side. "I don't want you to get in trouble…"

You give him a smile. "It's okay," you say. "We should go; the others look like they're getting bored." Plus, you didn't want to be around if that yeoman looked in your direction. You couldn't tell if he was one of the ones who had followed you and Artemis with Robert, but if anyone was going to recognize you, it was one of them.

As you continue on, you glance around with forced casualness. "So do you happen to know where they keep their weapons?" you ask.

John's eyes narrow. "Why do you ask?" he asks.

"No reason," you say. "It's just… they have to have a lot of them, right? Being mercenaries and all."

John points. "They have a cart over that way," he says. "It's another place they don't let us in, but the guard was nicer about it. He just said he didn't want anyone accidently cutting themselves on something, so it's not as interesting."

You make a mental note; hopefully if you have a chance, you could go get Artemis's bow back when you're rescuing Sypha. She'd be so pleased with you if you could pull it off.

Finally, however, John stops you. "It's that tent over there," he says, pointing.

Looking, you quickly estimate that you're in the center of camp: the Talons really didn't want anyone getting to Sypha without them knowing about it. "What do I do?" you whisper.

"Wait a minute, then go distract the guards," John says. "That'll give the rest of us time to circle around. Me and Jack'll keep anyone snooping around back there busy while Jace wiggles under the tied bit and figures out what they're so keen on keeping hidden." Everyone looks a little tense, but you all nod. "Alright, let's do this." With that, the three boys slip away.

As you wait, you briefly consider just leaving. You have what you need: you know Sypha's in there, you have an idea of where everything in the camp is, and some idea of how many guards there are. Really, the smartest thing to do would be to walk away: less chance of you getting caught snooping around.

However… that would be leaving Jace and his friends to their fate. You don't want them to get hurt: they're nice. Maybe a little enamored with a bunch of kidnappers and murderers, but nice.

Instead, as the minute ends, you steel yourself and walk towards the tent, doing your best to look cute and non-threatening.

Almost immediately, the two guards notice you and move to block your path. "Who're you and what do you want?" one of them snaps at you, his hand slowly moving to grip the sword at his side.

You tense up, when they'd said the guards were mean, you hadn't thought they were this mean! "I'm sorry," you say, backing up a step and raising your hands. "I was just curious…"

"Move along, brat," the other guard says, jerking his head. "Orders from the commander, this area's off-limits. You all should know this by now."

"I'm sorry," you say again. "I just got here with my father, and I saw your friends around in town, and I heard it was alright if I came and looked around-"

The first guard groans. "You did, did you?" he mutters. "Commander's going soft; she should have kicked all the lookie-loos out days ago." He glares at you. "Look, if you want to make a nuisance of yourself, do it somewhere else. I hear the archers are all practicing for some sort of contest as to who gets to keep the new-" the other guard kicks him in the shin.

"Shut it," he mutters. "Kid… just go. Just go away so we can spare the rod on you."

You slowly take another step back, your thoughts racing. You need to keep them busy for as long as possible, and if you really needed to you're pretty sure you could kill them both with magic, but that would just cause an alarm and you'd have to use your dragon to try and get Sypha out and so many things could go-

"Aw, come on, don't be like that."

All three of you jump a bit as an arm wraps around your shoulders. "Look at this face," a woman says, the smile clear in her voice as she tips your head up. "How can you possibly be mad at this face? She's so cute!" You flinch as she pinches your cheek, trying to get a look at her out of the corner of your eye.


"Belle," one of the guard grumbles. "We were ordered to protect this tent."

"And you're doing a wonderful job of it," Belle says, still kneeling next to you with her arm slung around your shoulder, grinning. "But really, do you need to be so mean to the poor dear? She looks like she's about to faint." She smiles at you. "Don't worry about these boys; their bark is worse than their bite. What's your name, sweetie?"

You force yourself to smile. "I'm Gwyn," you say. "It's nice to meet you, Belle,"

Belle coos. "Such a well-mannered little light spirit," she says, ruffling your hair. "Where are you from?"

You're thankful you have a good memory: you're confused enough that you might have forgotten otherwise. "Aslockton," you say dutifully.

"Oh that just sounds lovely, dear," Belle says.

The guards snort. "Like you'd know anything about that, backwater thief," one of them mutters.

Belle throws a mock glare at them. "Such rude boys you are," she says. "You should be more like Gwyn, maybe girls would like you more then." She stands, taking your hand gently but firmly. "Come on, let's leave these grumps alone. I-"

"Hey! What are you doing!?"

Both men spin at the shout that comes from the other side of the tent. A moment later, your sharp ears pick up running feet and more shouts. 'Uh-oh,' you think. Sounds like Jack, John and Jace hadn't been as sneaky as they thought they were going to be.

"What the-" one of the guards mutters before turning to glare back at you. "What did you-"

"What are you waiting for, go get them!" Belle says, her voice sharpening. "I'll make sure nothing happens, go!"

The two guards glance at each other. "I'll go, you stay," one of them says, spinning to dash around the tent. The remaining man steps back to stand right in front of the tent-flap, his hand openly on the hilt of his sword.

"Come on, let's go," Belle whispers in your ear. "Hurry, before-"

"What's going on here?"

A sharp, authoritative voice comes from behind you. Turning, you see another man approaching swiftly, his eyes sweeping the lot of you.


You don't know this man. You've never seen him before in your life. Despite this, a part of you shivers, a strange sense of deja-vu washing over you. This man… this man is dangerous. The sword at his side certainly stands out, far more ornate and glistening like silver.

"Sounds like someone was trying to mess with the tent, Captain Ubel," the remaining guards says sharply before pointing at you. "This one was talking to us."

The man glares down at you. "Were you trying to distract the guards so your little friends could make nuisances of themselves?" he asks sharply.

You don't have to pretend to shrink back nervously. You have to work harder to not immediately flare your wings and get out of here. "No!" you say quickly. "I was just talking, I promise!"

Ubel's eyes narrow. "And why would you want to do that, little girl?" he asks icily, his eyes scanning you. "Your no local; too well dressed. Where are you from?"

"Boss, come on-"

"I don't remember asking you to open your mouth, thief," Ubel says sharply to Belle, his eyes never leaving you. "Well, girl?"

"Aslockton," you say. "It's in the Northern Duchy, but I've traveled around a lot with Father." You force yourself not to squirm as Belle holds onto you, preventing you from running. She's gone awfully quiet.

"Aslockton…" Ubel says slowly, staring at you. "And what is it like in Aslockton?"

'Think, Ryza, think!' you tell yourself desperately. You've never been to Aslokton, but you know it's north of here. What do you remember reading about the north? "It's a lot warmer up there," you say, waving your cloak like wings. "I get cold a lot, so Father makes me wear this all the time so I don't freeze. The sun shines a lot more…"

Ubel's eyes somehow narrow further. "Your father? Who is he?" he asks.

"His name's Hood," you respond. "He travels around doing business. He takes me with him because Mother's with the Sentinel now and so she can't take care of me and we don't have any other family." You hope Mother and Father are actually with the First Mother, but apparently this Sentinel is where humans go where they die, and right now you're Gwyn and that's where her mother would go.

A flicker of what you think is sympathy crosses Ubel's face before he hardens it away. "Be that as it-" More shouting from the other side of the camp causes him to jerk his head up with a muttered swearword. "Get her out of the camp, Belle," he snaps. "And make sure she doesn't come back."

"Sure thing, bossman," Belle says immediately, tugging on your hand. "Come on, sweetie, let's go."

You allow the nice woman to usher you away from Ubel, feeling very much like you'd just dodged a tornado. "Thank you," you whisper as she hustles you away.

"You're welcome," she says, but the breathy sweetness of her voice is gone. "But don't expect me to stick my neck out for you again. When you get out of here, stay out, understood? Ubel remembers faces, and he doesn't forget or forgive easily. I was worried he was going to have you locked up."

You flinch. "But in town they said-"

"That kids were allowed to wander around? They are, just not in there. There's-" Belle pauses. "No, don't think about it, kid. Just… just get out of here and keep your head down."

You frown. "Is… is there something bad in there?" you ask softly. Pretending as if you don't already know the answer to that. Belle doesn't answer you, but you notice an oddly calculating look in her eyes as she looks down at you.

As you reach the edge of the camp, Belle pauses, glancing around. "You… are a sweet girl," she says softly, keeling down and staring you straight in the eye. "Do you want to see a magic trick?"

You perk up; you hadn't sensed any arcane energies about this woman. "Sure," you say.

Smiling, she ruffles your hair. "I know how hard it can be sometimes," she says. "Just you and your daddy. How hard he must work to make ends meet." She pulls her hand away, and you blink as you realize there's a gold coin there that wasn't in her hand when she reached out. How had she done that?! There hadn't been any flickers of green or red magic that might have-

"You know, you could help him," Belle says seriously, rolling the coin through her fingers. "If you just do a little favor for me." She holds out the coin. "Just passing a little message on, nothing dangerous. You wouldn't have to worry about Ubel or any of the other mean guards. Do that, and I'll give you this." She does an odd motion with her hand, and before your eyes the coin seems to vanish. "Or, if you want to be safe, you can just go back to your daddy and we pretend this never happened."

You frown as you study her. This could easily be some sort of trick, her trying to see if you had really been up to something and getting you in trouble. Or… or she could really need your help. Ubel and the other guards hadn't seemed to like her very much, and she had tried to cover for you…

What do you do?


[] Take her up on her offer. There's something going on here, and it's important. You need to know more.

[] Reject her offer. You can't risk it; you're already on unstable slopes as it is. Don't take more chances than you have to.

[] Try to get more details before agreeing. This could be interesting, but you want more details before you agree to anything.

[] Write-in