Suikoden Fan Fiction ❯ Suikoden - The Dunan Wars ❯ The Crimson Tide ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5 - The Crimson Tide

Hannah slowly turned her head when she heard the sound of someone calling out to them. A teenaged boy was heading down the road towards them. "A mercenary fort…?" she quietly started to remember snippets of conversation in Toto that a bunch of mercenaries were building a headquarters somewhere nearby. No one really known too much about it though, and it wasn't as if they had ever thought that information would be of any use to them.

The boy came running over, however, did not look exactly as though he were a mercenary. For some reason, he looked very familiar. Yes that was it! She remembered now, she had seen him in Toto Village after the Highlander's attack. All that she remembered was that he had wanted to pray for the children at the shrine.

And now he's a mercenary? Hannah raised an eyebrow slightly. "Hey," he stopped in front of her, blinking his brown eyes in momentary confusion, "I know you…you're the woman that was at Toto Village!"

Hannah nodded her head in recognition, "I had a feeling something might happen to this village as well, so I decided to come here." A soft growl came under throat and she turned in the direction of the burned village behind them, "I was too late though."

A young girl and a little boy were both sifting through the remains of one of the buildings, the older girl frantically screaming out "Papa! Papa!" from time to time. The Grasslander assumed that was most likely their home. The boy, his mouth still hanging open, tugged at the girls skirt and pointed. There was a huge spot of red covering one side of the part of the wall that was left partially standing. The two children approached it, and then a soft whimper came from her throat. Pulling the little boy's face into skirt, she gave him a tender hug and closed her eyes, as tears started falling down her cheeks, "Don't look, Richi It's…it's papa…"

He started crying as well, and Hannah once again clenched her fist. How many lives were going to be destroyed before something actually happened to stop Highland? She wasn't into politics too much, but some part her was cursing whatever officials had decided not to put up a rigid defence on Ryube after what had happened in Toto.

"Do you…do you think there are any survivors, Miss?" the boy, who's eyes now twinkled with both a hint of sadness and one of anger, asked. It took her a few moment's to force herself to take a deep breath and shake her head, "No, not in the village anyway. The Highlanders are much too thorough to leave anyone there."

Eyes trailing over to the entrance to the thick forest around the village, she placed a firm grip on her sword's hilt. "However, there's a chance that people managed to escape into the forest." Hannah glanced over at Sudda and Richi. The two were still hugging, but Sudda had carefully turned her younger brother away from their house's remains, and was talking to him softly.

"I'll make sure that them and any other survivors are safe." Hannah vowed silently, turning to the boy-mercenary, "…We should get going."

Makoto hung his head for a moment in guilt. Damn. This is all my fault. I should have found some way to get to Highland. I should have found some way to stop Ruka!! It didn't even register for a few minutes that he'd failed - even in his head - to give Ruka the title of `Prince' when it did he nearly stumbled…and then recovered. It's no surprise he reasoned. Anyone who would do what Ruka doesn't have any claim to royalty. And a country that condones this - even in revenge - has no claim to my loyalty either. I will fight end this stupid war!

Two forms appeared from what remained of Ryube village. One of them was muscularly built woman with long brown hair, a sword blade in a sheath at her hip. That was Hannah the one who had saved them earlier. The other one was a teenaged boy; he had introduced himself as Makoto, before a member of the mercenary fort. Both he and Hannah had gone into the forest to look for survivors. But something about seeing them made Sudda's hope drop. "No one else…?" Her dark eyes lowered to the ground. So much for the hope that Aunt Tisara or one of her friends had managed to get to the forest. That meant that her and Richi were truly alone now. She touched her brother's hair softly, trying not to let her tears fall into it.

A gentle pressure came onto her shoulder and turned to see the woman warrior, Hannah, standing next to her, "It will be all right, child." She said, her voice surprisingly soft, "In the end, you will do what everyone has to do before their time has ended."

"What's that?" the girl's voice was little more than a whisper.

"…Survive."

For some reason, the simple comment caused something sharp to prick Sudda, and it filled her with a sense of comfort. A small smile formed on her lips, "Thank you…Miss Hannah."

Hannah sighed, once again reminded of why she felt so uncomfortable around children. No one from the Grasslands had ever called her `miss' before, but she patted the girl's shoulder encouragingly and lightly squeezed Richi's arm.

The group gave one last long, mournful look at what was left of Ryube before heading on.

The road curved to the north and skirted alongside the village of Ryube. That was where Jillia and Rowd were when they smelled some horrible smell. As they approached the village, the smell grew stronger and then as they reached the village, they saw the source of the smell.

Jillia's stomach tied itself in knots as she looked at what had once been a village. Burnt skeletons of buildings were all that remained of homes. And the people-

She averted her eyes with a shudder. Those people had not died quickly. They had died slowly and painfully. Jillia turned away and buried her head in Rowd's chest, who put his arm around her. Rowd just kind of stared blankly at the burnt corpses.

Jillia whose head was still buried within Rowd's chest thought to herself. Damn that Ruka! Why did he have to this?! Tears flooded from her eyes and dampened Rowd's dirty coat. The sky blue turned to a dark blue because of the tears. "It…it's okay, Jill…" Rowd said in a pathetic attempt to comfort the princess.

Jillia looked up at him with tear filled eyes, "You're sorry? Don't tell me you're sorry! Tell all of these people who died a slow and painful death, simply because my brother is a dirty, cruel and heartless man that I'm too weak to stop! Tell these people's families who are out of town that you're sorry! Tell…tell…" Jillia stopped as she realized that she was hurting Rowd deeply, and all he was trying to do was comfort her. "Oh, I'm sorry Rowd!" she screamed as she burst into tears and cried into his chest again.

"It's okay Jillia…I uh…I understand…" Rowd managed to squeak out. He was trying his hardest to be a man and not cry in front of Jillia, but he couldn't hold out much longer. Tears began to trickle down Rowd's eyes, as he and Jillia stood outside of the town, holding each other.

"There," an archer, Aljail whispered to his comrades in the trees. "Two Highlanders, returning to the scene of the crime."

Siesta rolled her eyes. "How can you even tell they're from Highland? They could just be citizens returning home to find ruins."

"I know these things," he replied mysteriously.

She glared at him.

"Okay, okay," he gave in, "Highlanders usually have either straight black hair or very pale hair. Both together, in a mostly dead area is too likely to ignore. If they aren't Highlanders, it won't matter too much, because we can just let them go."

"Fine." Siesta jumped lightly down from her perch in the large tree and dashed to where the rest of their party, two swordsmen, waited. She whispered a plan to them and dashed off to take her place.

An arrow planted itself in the ground less than an inch away from Jillia's foot. She stumbled backwards, confused by everything that had happened and now this. They were…being attacked?

"Don't move a muscle, girl," a voice from the underbrush. "Or you, Highlander. Move and a dozen arrows will be planted in her before you get half a step away."

A tall man in leather armour emerged from the forest, walking towards them. He had a long sword at his side; he wasn't an archer. Even if the dozen archers was a bluff, there was at least one they couldn't see. It couldn't be risked.

"Get out of here," Jillia hissed between her teeth at Rowd.

"What?" he whispered back.

"I said get out of here. The instant that guy gets close enough they couldn't risk shooting me without hitting him. You have to run for the border and tell the King what's happened."

The man was getting closer.

"But I'm supposed to protect you!"

"They won't kill me if they know what's good for them. Jowston doesn't want this war and killing the princess of an enemy country insures a bloodbath. You'd just be killed as an unnecessary risk or worse if someone knows about the Unicorn Brigade," she replied.

Rowd's heart skipped a beat. Did she know about what had happened? No, it couldn't be. She had to mean if Jowston found out they missed someone, right?

The man was close enough that all but an expert archer would have equal chance hitting him as Jillia. Rowd bolted for it.

"Hey!" the man almost chased after him, but decided he'd better keep hold of the one prisoner he did secure. Shots were fired after Rowd, but the archers had not been aiming for him originally. They fell short by quite a bit. Only two arrows. He was gone before they could get another pair ready.

"Dammit!" the man cursed. He bound Jillia's wrists tightly with a piece of cloth and lead her back to his companions.

Aljail lead the others with their prisoner in tow back to the fort. That girl hadn't said a word, no clues at all of who she could be. He didn't like that. She could be a Jowstoner, or the brat of some rich Highland clan, for all he could tell. Well, they'd be safely within the walls of the fort soon and then she would be someone else's problem.

Makoto strode back into the fort wearily. What a day, he thought - though he had good reason. Between hearing of Ryube on fire, racing there to find survivors, seeing Hannah again, finding the children she was with, looking through the forest for other survivors only to find none, saying goodbye to Hannah and those children, he'd been through a lot.

He trudged in and gave a quick report to Pohl, hardly glancing at the troop of archers busily training on bull's-eyes in the courtyard. Grabbing a quick meal, he stumbled to the bed and fell asleep.

The next thing he knew Pohl was shaking him. "Hey! Hey, Makoto! Wake up! Are you OK?"

Makoto blinked sleep out of his eyes and glanced out the dark window. "Aw, jeez, Pohl, it's still the middle of the night!" Pohl looked down at him sheepishly "You were having a nightmare," the rotund boy explained. "You kept moaning about fire…burning villages, even the fort burning. I couldn't just let you…" The Toran boy's voice trailed off.

Makoto grinned sleepily up at his friend. "That's OK, Pohl, and thanks. You're a good friend." As he laid back down. Makoto blinked. He IS a friend the young man realized. And so are Viktor and Flik…and even Kinnison maybe. He fell back to sleep.

His dream this time was of simpler, more pleasant days. Images of him and Jowy spying on Princess Jillia in the yard of her Kyaro mansion…and of one particular time.

Makoto peered up at the top of the wall, not so nervous anymore about this. It was true that the last time he and Jowy had done this a guard nearly caught them, but they'd gone spying four or five times before that. "Whose turn is it?" Jowy shrugged "I think it's yours" Makoto cheered quietly. "Gimme me a boost Jowy!" he enthused, and Jowy ducked down letting Makoto step in his cupped hands and boosting him up to the top of the wall. Makoto looked around the courtyard…but he couldn't see Princess Jillia. "Hey where'd she go?"

Makoto looked and looked, but still couldn't find her. "Where is she?" he asked down to Jowy, who didn't know either, mostly because he couldn't see. As Makoto scanned the garden, the branches of a flowery tree alongside the wall started moving a lot even though there was no wind.

On the other side of the wall, someone else peeked over the wall and looked right at him. Someone with long black hair and pretty blue eyes. "Hello" Princess Jillia said, looking at him with those blue curious eyes.

"H-hi" Makoto said surprised that they'd not only been caught but by the Princess herself!

Makoto woke again. This time, it was morning and Pohl wasn't shaking him. Instead, the Toranian was at the door of their room, waving at Makoto to hurry. "Come on! The guards say our patrol found two Highland spies! They caught one, but the other got away, and the fort's in an uproar!"

Makoto threw the bedcovers aside in a tangle of cloth and grabbed his. "Pohl, get to the gate! Don't let anybody hurt the prisoner, we can use `em to get my message back to Highland!!" he yelled as he scrambled to get his boots on and grab his tonfa. I have to keep trying to let them know!

Jillia and realized she and her captors had reached the Mercenary's Fortress, having been distracted the entire journey by the image before her eyes again and again of Ryube. She had managed to make herself forget during much of the Toran trip that Highland was at war, and that her brother was a murderer. She knew what he was capable of, but she had done nothing to prevent it from happening.

A chubby guy, a little taller than herself, who looked too young to be anyone important, jogged over to them and started to talk to her captors. Jillia only half paid attention as they repeated what had happened.

"I sent our fourth to the border to warn the guards there," the male archer said, "But I don't think it'll matter. They must have found an alternate way into Jowston, so he's probably escaping that way too. He's probably halfway to L'Whatever by now."

L'Renouille, Jillia mentally corrected, but didn't say anything aloud. Despite what they said, they didn't have proof she was a Highlander at all. There were plenty of people who looked either nationality along the border, with territory changing hands so often, and she could always be a Toranian.

While the mercenaries discussed her and what to with, which apparently had a lot to do with two people by the names of Viktor and Flik, Jillia looked around the courtyard. There were archers, and foot soldiers and a small mounted cavalry all somehow managing to practice in such a small area. There were kobolds fighting alongside humans, something which surprised Jillia although it really shouldn't have. There were no non-humans, but in the City-States they didn't seem to have the prejudice.

And then she saw someone vaguely familiar step outside of the fort. She felt like she'd seen a ghost and maybe she was, it wouldn't be the first time. It never occurred to her at the time that one of the boys at the Unicorn Brigade would be the same one she met across the courtyard wall.

Jillia had noticed every now and then a boy looking over the wall. She was curious about him; she'd never met a boy who wasn't of nobility and even then she didn't know many. So when she'd heard noises on the other side of the wall, she'd heard noises on the other side of the wall, she'd decided to climb the dogwood tree that grew alongside the wall.

"What's your name?" she asked "Mines-"

"JILLIA!!" one of the servants yelled having spotted her.

Jillia squeaked in surprise. She wasn't supposed to climb trees and for a reason demonstrated a second later. She lost her balance and fell off the tree.

He saw her and their eyes met. He recognized her, just as she had recognized him.

Makoto got outside the door of the main fort, finished tugging his stubborn left boot, looked up and froze. She was in commoner's clothing, true, but her hair, her eyes and her face were unmistakeable. Makoto walked slowly toward the gate thinking. What in the world is Princess Jillia doing here?

As Makoto moved slowly to the gate, another set of eyes were being drawn to the Highland Princess and those were anything but friendly. Just as Makoto reached the crowd at the gate, the man recognized the prisoner. "Her! I know her, I saw her in Muse!" The archer roared "It's that bitch princess from Highland, the one who set us with that damn fake treaty! I'll kill her!" he shouted, drawing an arrow.

Makoto had just gotten to the edge of the crowd around Princess Jillia when someone roared like a mad bull behind him. Spinning, he saw one of the archers yelling and drawing an arrow. Seeing the threat, everyone scattered but Jillia, whose hands were bound, denying her the balance to run. Those blue eyes were wide in shock and fear, and Makoto didn't think. Snatching out his tonfa, he took three running steps putting himself in the line of fire. The archer never hesitated drawing the bow and firing in one smooth motion. Makoto's left-hand tonfa came spinning across in a short arc, smacking the arrow and sending the broken halves to the ground. The archer took two steps forward, still yelling and fired again and Makoto's right tonfa repeated the action of the left one, and he took a step forward of his own.

Step, shoot, step, block. The sequence repeated four times, then the archer snatched a knife out of his belt and charged. Makoto reared back and slammed him in the gut with both tonfa as he passed, sending the man to the ground panting for his lost breath and Makoto squatted next to him. "Sorry, I had to-"

That was as far as he got before the man lashed out him with the knife, laying open Makoto's shoulder. As Makoto stumbled back, the man drew his arm up to throw the knife.

Anger at the man replaced concern and Makoto tackled him hitting across the face with his right tonfa and parrying the man's next attack with his left, then jumping on top of him as he reeled. As the man came back to his senses, Makoto threw the knife away.

"Dammit, let me up! I'll kill-" the man started to roar again and Makoto slapped him hard.

"First off, get one straight!" Makoto barked down at the archer. "She's a prisoner! You want to murder prisoners, go join Ruka Blight, damn you!"

The man looked up at him, stunned, then stuttered, "B-but she's his sister! She's Jillia Blight, the one who set us up with this damn fake treaty-"

"SHUT UP!!!!" Makoto roared. The courtyard fell silent "You want to know Highland broke treaty? Do you?" the boy asked the archer, his voice carrying across most of the fort. "I'll tell you why! I was part of the Highland Royal Army until about a week ago! I was part of the Unicorn Youth Brigade! And Ruka Blight came and killed us, all but me!" There were tears in Makoto's eyes as memories replayed themselves in his mind. "His White Wolves did it with Jowston arrows! Picture it man - two hundred kids like me! All with families! All dead! And most folks there think Jowston did! Is it any wonder they want revenge!? Just like you want revenge now!?"

Mute, the archer shook his head. Makoto went on. "You fight here, you fight for what I fight for. I'm here `cause I want to protect people. Here we're between Ruka and anybody else he can hurt. If he wants to kill more towns, he has to go through us. I protect; that's why I'm here, that's what I do."

His rage spent, Makoto stood up, blinking tears away and wincing at the pain in his shoulder - and the crowd in the fort broke into cheers. "Hear! Hear!" several soldiers yelled.

As the echoes died down, Pohl called out again. "OK, you slackers, show's over! Get back to work!" he yelled and the crowd dissipated amid much good-natured grumbling.

Blushing, Makoto made his way over to the princess. "Not the first time I've gotten into trouble trying to help you, eh?"

"But your shoulder-" she replied, trying to reach for him with her bound hands.

Makoto winced. "Yeah…hang on a sec." He paused. "Great Blessing."

The white sparkles drifted down around the two of them.

Makoto saw Jillia fall and acted without a second thought. He pulled himself up onto the wall and dropped down on the other side. Jillia was dazed from the fall and would probably have a very large bruise later. As her head cleared, she also noticed that her left arm hurt.

"Are you okay?"

Jillia saw that it was the boy. "I think so…"

The servant who caught her climbing the tree ran over. "Get away from her, street rat," he said and grabbed Jillia by the arm and tried to pull her away from him. Jillia cried out in pain.

"Let her go!" Makoto yelled, placing himself between the servant and Jillia, "You're hurting her!"

The servant looked at him in outrage. "Guards!" he yelled and a response did not take long. "Take this boy to the bailiff's office and don't let him out of your sight. You," he said to one of the guards, "Bring a doctor to attend to the princess at once."

Jillia clutched her hurt arm with tears in her eyes as the guards took a struggling Makoto away.

The prison cell was small and simple, with a door that had to be wedged shut with a chair. She decided against asking why it required a chair…Once inside the cell, Pohl had cut the bindings on her wrists, which had nearly caused her quite a bit of pain, not by the arrows directly, but through the Bright Shield Rune.

"That spell you cast," she said, "It's one of the spells of the Bright Shield Rune!"

Makoto blinked in surprise, "How did you know?"

"It's in Highland history," she replied. "A lot of times, too. I looked it up once and one book even listed the first two spells." And there was more, which Jillia decided not to mention. Like the Black Sword Rune and how the two were forced to fight each other."

She changed the subject before he could ask about it. "You were in the Unicorn Brigade camp when Ruka attacked, right? What really happened? Investigators could only tell so much and most of that was lies. Looks like the part about a survivor was true at least."

"Ruka, Durimal and Rowd set everything up. Ruka promised Rowd a bunch of rewards." He remembered one of the ones Ruka hinted at was marriage to Jillia. Better not tell her that or she'll feel really bad about what happened, he thought, and then went on. "I overheard them talking about it before I ran for it. I jumped down the waterfall and it was pure luck I survived that."

"The investigator who found your tracks said that was probably what happened," Jillia said "But you were the only one to escape. The rest were shot, burned or cut down by my brother."

"It wasn't your fault," Makoto said, noticing the tone of her voice.

"Yes it was. If I hadn't arranged that peace treaty, the Unicorn Brigade would never have been caught unaware and Ruka wouldn't have succeeded. It's my fault everyone lowered their guard just enough for Ruka to get in. Maybe that archer was right. Maybe if he had killed me, I couldn't cause any more bloodshed." By then there were tears running down her cheeks. "But because of me, Ruka is probably on his way here right now with his soldiers motivated by the idea of rescuing me and taking even more lives for revenge."

"It's not your fault," Makoto insisted, looking straight into her eyes and willing her to believe it. "It's Ruka's fault that this war was renewed full force. You didn't cause it, you stopped it. Even if it was for a short time, you brought Highland's first moments of peace in decades. You gave every one of us hope, and doesn't matter how brief."

Jillia saw in his eyes that he believed every word he said. After a few seconds, she smiled. "Thank you."

Makoto grinned at her. "It's just the truth," he answered. "Besides, I sort of owe you for your help that time in Kyaro, remember?"

Makoto sat in the cell moping. Now I'm in real trouble he thought miserably I'll get sent away for sure and poor Nanami and Grandpa Genkaku will never know what happened to me.

Then he heard voices outside the cell "Now really, Princess, I-"

"Captain, it wasn't his fault! I heard him playing outside and I climbed the tree to see, `cause it sounded like fun! An' then I fell and he came to see if I was OK and old Graves grabbed my arm and it hurt and I yelled and the boy made him let go and then Graves had the mean old' guards grab him!" That's Jillia's voice Makoto thought

"Well, I suppose we can't hold that against him," the bailiff' voice said. "If you're sure-"

"Yes I am!" Jillia replied and then the two came around the corner with the bailiff trying to look forgiving.

"We apologize for throwing you in here young man," the Bailiff said as kindly as he could manage. "We had the wrong idea about what happened." The man sheparded the two children outside.

Makoto turned to Jillia. "Thanks for not telling - you know about me being on the wall," he said quietly. "Your arm okay?"

Jillia smiled. "That's okay," she answered, "I shouldn't have climbed the tree." She paused, glancing at her arm "And my arm's okay too - the doctor cast Kind Drip on it."

Makoto smiled "You mean Kindness drops?" he asked.

"Yes, that's it!" Jillia exclaimed. "How'd you know?"

Makoto grinned. "My Grampa taught me!" he exclaimed, pointing back towards Genkaku's dojo, his home. "I'm Makoto Genkaku, `cause Grandpa Genkaku adopted me and my sister Nanami. You wanna be friends?" he asked, holding out one hand with a grin.

"Sure," she answered and taking his hand in her own. "I'm Jillia Blight."

Makoto grinned sheepishly as sat on the chair - carefully, so as not pop it out from under the door. Flik or Viktor will be down here soon, and they'll flip if I've left the door open, he thought ruefully. Aloud he said, he said, "I guess we're on the other sides of the bars this time. Sorry I can't just let you out, but I'm pretty sure I can get Flik and Viktor to let you go, if that's what you want."

Jillia gave him an odd look. "And why does the door need to be wedged shut like that?" she inquired. "I wasn't going to ask, but…"

Makoto blushed. "When they caught me, I was trying to break through the border posts and get back to Highland. I figured I had to tell either King Agares…" His blush deepened "…or you, about what Ruka did. They shut me in there, and I kind of…" his voice died down to an embarrassed murmur "…broke the door."

Jillia broke out laughing. "You haven't changed. Still charging to the rescue!"

Makoto suffered a brief episode of `say-whatever-comes-to-your-mind.' "And you're even prettier now…" His voice trailed off, as he turned beet-red.

Jillia's cheeks burned. At any other time, any other person, she would have assumed the comment was just flattery with hopes of gaining favour. But now…She was at a loss for words.

"Where is Jillia?" King Agares asked as he looked down at the trembling Rowd.

"She was um…she was captured. I, I tried to stop them and I managed to down a few of them, but they were too strong and took her away, so I came here to get help…" Rowd said, still shaking.

Agares fixed a look on Rowd, as a large sweat drop formed at his head.

"…You should be punished Rowd. But I believe you. I believe you had no control over the situation, so you may go free…this time."

Rowd bowed and then left the Throne room never having felt so relieved.