"While the importance of strategy in war cannot be overstated, the role of
the unknown and unanticipated, as its counter, must also be credited.  The
world does not wait for both sides to line up their soldiers along the
battlefield and move them about like chessmen.  The most brilliant of
plans have been foiled by disease, weather, politics, unpredictable
enemies, treacherous allies, and simple miscommunication.  The true
measure of an army is not how well it plans, but how well it adapts when
its plans become irrelevant."
                                 -- from "The Precepts of Conflict,"
                                      by Djeng Dao



                Scrap Iron Productions presents
               a Rocketarian Pictures production
                in association with Improfanfic

                   Suikoden: Distant Shores
              started by Illyria and Todd Harper

                   Part 10: Tides of Chance
                      by Scott Johnson


     Tavia looked at the board.  It was a simple piece of wood that
someone had marked with charcoal, creating a rough spiderweb, with wooden
tokens in two colors at the intersections.  It lay on a small table in the
common room of the Crystal Flagon, with two intent figures staring at it
from opposite sides.  Baren pushed one of the light tokens forward along a
line, tapping it against one of the darker ones.  Alyssa frowned and took
the darker one off the board.
     "So, what's this all about?" Tavia asked.  Alyssa ignored her, moving
two of her tokens along adjacent lines.
     "It's a game of strategy common to most of the Wind Child
tribes," Alaric explained from the next table over.  "I never really
understood it myself, but Alyssa picked it up when we were hunting down a
ruin in their lands, and she got a little obsessed with it for a while.  I
think she's just glad to finally have someone to play against again."
     "It's actually quite interesting," Lierni added from where she sat
with her meal, across from Alaric.  "I believe I'm getting a grasp of the
principles of play, although the details remain -- now what was the sense
of that?"  She peered more intently at the board, scrutinizing the move
Baren had just made.  Alyssa just smiled in acknowledgment of a move
well-played, and tapped her tokens in thought.
     "It's a mystery to me," Tavia admitted, smiling to Lierni and turning
away.  "Anyway, you were saying?"
     Pane glanced back for a moment.  "Oh, I was just thinking
about...  Never mind.  That's an interesting game, isn't it?"
     "Lierni certainly thinks so."  Tavia tried to hide her smile.
     Pane sighed.  "Is it that obvious?"
     "Probably not to Lierni," Tavia reassured him.  "I don't think she's
exactly fond of the idea of romance, but if you aren't directly
approaching her, she's probably not going to notice even the most blatant
of interest."
     "That's... strangely depressing," Pane said thoughtfully.
     "Look on the bright side.  She could be more like our newest mage,
and not notice it even if you were directly hitting on her."  She gestured
over to a table in the corner, where Alouette was sitting close to Viki,
and talking in his suavest, most romantic tones to her.  He seemed more
than a little dismayed that every innuendo he made flew several miles over
her head.
     Pane laughed.  "That actually might be better.  At least then I
wouldn't be getting the cold shoulder so much."  He looked at the pair
again.  "Think we ought to go try to save her from him?"
     "Nah.  She doesn't seem to mind, and it's so much more fun watching
him torment himself."  She grinned, and Pane had to stifle a laugh.

     "I take it the negotiations aren't running as smoothly as they could,
then?" la Lanterne asked as he and Senrou stepped into the common room
from the outer door.  Both were a little weary, but not in bad spirits.
     "You could say that.  Though it would take quite a gift for
understatement," Senrou replied.  "I've been trying to convince the
council to support us covertly for the moment, to put off a clash with the
Hereshan armies as long as possible.  Werner seems hell-bent to go into
open rebellion as soon as possible.  And some of the council are treating
just talking with me as if it were the highest act of treason."
     "So there's no chance for a quick end to this, then."
     "Not much.  Werner technically holds more power than the council as
it stands.  But they're still wealthy and respected merchants and
aristocrats -- if push comes to shove, they have more leverage than he'd
like to admit.  And a city divided would be good for no one, except
possibly the generals back in Lindael."
     "Mm.  I have to wonder why Werner is pushing so hard for this.  The
politicians of this 'republic' have never struck me as being particularly
idealistic or committed to justice, you understand."
     Senrou chuckled.  "Renard, you wouldn't trust a politician if he said
the sea was blue."
     "This is true," the general replied, deadpan.  "I seem to have an
irrational distrust for a man willing to pander to the masses, claim to be
in agreement with every one of them on every issue, and viciously attack
his rivals for the privilege of power.  One of my unfounded prejudices, no
doubt."
     Senrou laughed.  "As things stand, I'm forced to agree with you, most
of the time.  But I think Werner's a good man -- just with some personal
stake in this.  And I've got more faith than you in the potential of
popular rule in general, I think."
     "Ah, well, you're young yet."  His eyes turned to another corner of
the room.  "And to speak of those yet young..."

     "Ah, but my dear, you are a treasure to behold.  Your eyes are, if
you will forgive the expression, like limpid pools, no?"
     "Really?"  Viki wrinkled her brow in concentration.  "I don't think
so.  I remember I saw some pretty limpid pools in, um, was it the Great
Forest?  And they weren't really much like eyes.  More watery.  I think
they were limpid.  What does limpid really mean, anyway?"
     Speaking with Viki was an entirely new experience for
Alouette.  Usually, when he tried to charm a woman, they either responded
in kind, flattered and interested, or they took offense, and possibly
slapped him.  Sometimes one followed the other, in either order, as his
tactics changed.  Viki, however, was different.  She didn't notice.  His
usual witty, subtle implications had met with polite incomprehension from
her.  So had his slightly more forward, less veiled flirtations.  He had
slowly worked his way up to the corniest, sappiest, most common romantic
lines he knew, trying solely to get a reaction out of her.  As yet, he
faced no success.
     This fascinated him.
     "Ahem."
     Alouette looked up.  "Ah, grandfather.  Have you met Mademoiselle
Viki?  She is quite a charming companion -- truly unique, I would say."
     "Aye, I've met her.  And Senrou here would like to have a word with
her himself.  As I'd like a word with you on proper etiquette towards a
lady..."
     Senrou and Viki watched as Renard dragged a half-protesting Viki
off.  "What did he mean about proper etiquette?  I thought he was nice."
     Senrou chuckled.  "Renard is from the old nobility.  I think his
standards of behavior are a bit more stringent than most people's."  He
turned towards Viki.  "Incidentally, I was meaning to thank you for your
help in the battle the other day.  Your magic was really the turning point
in the first clash with the Wind Children."
     "Oh, thanks!  But, really, it wasn't all my doing.  I mean, without
all the other people backing me up, I normally can't teleport that much
stuff.  I mean, maybe I could hit a few people on the head with something,
but not --"
     "I understand," Senrou chuckled.  "It does strike me as a very useful
power, though.  You can teleport at will?"
     "Oh, yes, of course.  It's, that's how the Blinking Rune works.  I
mean, for someone who has the right natural talents to use it, which I do,
so it works for me.  Other people can't have as much control.  But I can
use it pretty much how I want to."
     "It sounds like a very useful ability."
     "Well, I, I do have my limitations.  Like, six people at a time,
maximum.  I just can't handle any more.  And not too many times in a row,
or I start getting confused from all the places I have to visualize, and
sometimes I start making mistakes.  And it helps if I have a usual place
to teleport from, like, um, from inside a castle in a certain room or
something, because it gives me less things to concentrate on."
    "But there's no special preparations, then?  Just invoking the
Blinking Rune?"
     "Oh, yes, that's right.  Exactly.  All I've got to do is concentrate,
and maybe raise my staff, and then, 'zam!'  Just like that!"
     There was a flare of blue light, and a sound that could best be
described as 'tzing.'
     And when the light faded, the room wasn't quite as crowded any more.
     "Oops."

*****

     "Aha!  Got you.  Qi-ar in three...  Huh?"  Alyssa reached for her
pieces, then scowled.  Figured.  Just when she'd gotten Baren right where
she wanted him, someone moved the board.  And the table.  And... the
entire room, come to think of it.
     She scrambled to her feet, trailing Baren by only a few fractions of
a second, and grabbed for her jo sticks.  Taking in her surroundings, she
realized that they were in a run-down courtyard, out in the open.  She
recognized Tavia, Pane, and Senrou, all looking just as confused, and
Alouette, looking not so much confused as sore from being dropped from a
height of a few feet.
     "What happened?" Tavia asked, looking to Senrou in bewilderment.
     "I think our new guest got a little carried away," he replied,
standing slowly.  "She was attempting to explain her powers to me, and it
appears she lapsed into a demonstration."
     "Ah, the poor lass," Alouette sighed.  "She must be feeling so lost
and alone now that I am gone.  I must return to comfort her, non?"  He
tactfully overlooked the stifled snorts of laughter from Tavia and
Pane.  It was slightly harder to ignore the better-muffled one from
Senrou, though.
     "Senrou!"  The group turned to see a soldier in the rag-tag,
bandit-like outfit common to the rebel troops jogging up to them from the
keep at the end of the courtyard.  "What are you doing here?  We thought
you weren't due back from Bristow for a few more days."
     Senrou composed himself a bit.  "It looks like I've been given a
change of plans."  He glanced up at the sun, already slanting into the
late hours of the afternoon.  "We probably wouldn't be able to make it
back to Bristow before sunset, and there's really no reason to try.  If we
set out in the morning, we'll be there not long after lunch...  Let's plan
on that.  In the meantime, we'll need meals and beds -- can you arrange
them?"  At the nod from the soldier, he went on, "I'll also want to make
some arrangements for the disposition of the troops here now that the
business in Bristow is taking a new turn.  Tell the garrison commander
that I'll want to see him before dinner."
     "Yes, sir."  The soldier saluted and headed back to the keep, as
Senrou shook his head.
     "I hate it when they call me 'sir,'" he murmured.

*****

     "Oh, dear."
     It had taken a few moments, but the common room at the inn was
beginning to liven up as its remaining inhabitants realized what had
happened.
     "I didn't mean to do that, honest," Viki apologized to nobody in
particular, fidgeting with her staff nervously.
     Reid, who had been in the middle of a late lunch, stood, his eyes
fixed on where Senrou had been.  "What in -- where did everyone go?"
     "Um, I think that fort of yours -- I'm pretty sure he was thinking
about it, and I just sort of -- I'll go check.  I'm sure I'll be able to
bring them back.  It'll only take a minute!"
     And then, in another flash of blue light, Viki was gone.
     There was a moment of silence.
     "I'll be taking odds on whether we'll ever see her again," Lierni
said dryly.
     "I'll be thanking you to be quiet, Cadet Totorika," la Lanterne
snapped, striding to the center of the room.  "This is rather serious
business.  Quick count -- how many are missing?"
     Lierni glanced around the room for a fraction of a second.  "Six,
including Commander Senrou.  Seven if you count the person
responsible."  The tone of her voice clearly implied that she did not.
     "A small party, then, but some critical assets in them.  We'll need
to track them down as soon as possible.  I'll need a rider to go to the
keep, see if Viki was right.  Kyrina?"
     "Yes, sir?"  The archer stood from where she and Reid had been
eating.
     "You'll take a horse and return to the keep.  Confirm whether they
are there.  If they are, find out Commander Senrou's next plans.  If not,
tell the garrison commander to send word immediately if he
arrives.  Either way, you will not linger -- return here immediately."
     "And will I whistle a jaunty tune while I do it?" she asked with
amusement.
     "And that's more than enough back-talk.  You'll need an escort..."
     "I'll go."  Alaric stood.  "Alyssa was with them, and while she can
take care of herself, no harm in checking on her."
     "Good.  I'll assign a detachment of soldiers to accompany you."
     "Sir, with all due respect, I'd rather you didn't," Kyrina said, more
serious now.  "I can make better time without a detachment of soldiers
trailing after me, and I'm sure Alaric and I can handle any danger on the
road ourselves."
     La Lanterne held her gaze for a few seconds, as if testing her will,
then nodded.  "Very well.  You may not be able to get there by
nightfall.  If not, be sure to get a decent night's rest.  There's no
urgency -- Hightien, Arondight and I can handle the negotiations until
Senrou returns, and the nomads and the army won't be trying anything again
so soon."

*****

     Adele held the saber up to the midday light streaming in through the
flap of the tent, inspecting its shine with a critical eye.  It was decent
enough, but she decided it could stand a little more polishing.  It
wouldn't do to let a Malespoir sword rust from lack of care.  And the
focus of the activity soothed her, kept her mind from running in
uncomfortable directions.
     "Lieutenant?"
     Adele didn't turn her eyes from the blade.  "Come in,
Commander."  She set the blade in her lap for a moment, and took up the
polishing cloth and the bottle of oil.  "You have a report, I presume?"
     "The scouting party has returned.  It was as we expected -- the trail
did belong to the rebels, and they were in enough of a hurry to get to
Bristow that they didn't cover their tracks at any point.  We've traced
them back to a small keep, less than half a day's ride from here.  Less if
we press ourselves.  There's only a token garrison remaining there --
thirty men or less, working in shifts."
     "Hmm."  She applied the oil to the cloth; set the bottle aside.  Took
up the sword again and began polishing, with gentle strokes.  "Tell me
more about this keep."
     "I believe it was one of the fortresses abandoned in the aftermath of
the last war between Lierstam and Tir Eselyn, but it was obviously
obsolete for a long time before that.  Stone walls, in bad repair, and
wooden roofs.  Several of the outbuildings have collapsed already.  It's
set among low hills, on the edge of a small wooded area -- far enough from
farmland that they can stay out of common sight, but not by much."
     "Mm."  The saber's shine grew as the imperfections were polished
away, leaving only the purity of the blade.  "The forest -- would it be
within a bowshot of the keep?"
     He glanced at the papers in his hand, then nodded.  "Easily."
     "Good."  She inspected the blade once more, then sheathed it,
satisfied.  "And do we have any Earth Rune users among our mage
contingent?"
     "Three, I believe."
     "Give the order to move out.  Along the way, we'll divide the company
into smaller units.  We'll deploy in the forest, to begin with.  Our
archers will prepare fire arrows, and the mages focus around the Earth
Runes.  When the sun has set, we'll send small patrols of infantry to
surround the keep."  She stood up, folding the cloth around the oil bottle
and placing it in her pack.  "Around midnight, after everyone is in
position, the archers will ignite the roofs of the keep, and the mages
will begin to tear it down, stone by stone.  The infantry will prevent any
rebels from fleeing, and the archers will proceed to cover them as best
they can."
     Davon smiled slowly.  "An excellent plan.  And yourself, Lieutenant?"
     She buckled her scabbard to her belt.  "I will lead a small squad
into the fortress itself.  There may be plans, lists of officers,
ill-gotten spoils... things that may be of use to us if we can retrieve
them."
     "A dangerous mission."
     "Yes.  But a Malespoir sends no one into danger she would not brave
herself."
     Was that true?  She tried to remember the long talks with her father,
on nobility and the powers and obligations thereof... but something kept
on getting in her way.  Images from the battle kept on pushing into her
head...
     She shook them off.  No time to dally with idle thoughts.  "We leave
immediately."
     Leave the thoughts behind, and focus on the deeds.

*****

     "You... wanted to see me, sir?"
     "Tavia, yes, come in."  Senrou was seated by a small table in his
quarters, a white jug of rice wine and two cups before him.  He set aside
a book, pulled from the bookshelves lining the sparsely-decorated
room.  "I just wanted to talk for a while.  I hope I didn't wake you."
     "No, it's okay.  I... haven't been a heavy sleeper recently."
     "Really."  He poured himself a small amount from the jug.  "Wine?"
     "Just a little."  She watched as he poured, and took the cup
gratefully.  "It smells wonderful."
     "It's not one of the great vintages, but I'm fond of it."  He took a
sip, and Tavia followed suit.  It was a little bitter, but still soothing
on the tongue, and she felt herself relaxing a little, which was quite a
relief.
     "I've never really had a great vintage anyway," she offered.  "On the
farm, we only had wine for the festivals, really, and we couldn't afford
much anyway... and then at the Academy, the cadets would sometimes go out
for an evening, but I never got too deeply into that, and didn't have much
money to spend when I did."
     "So, you're not from one of the rich plantation families, then."
     "No.  Just a small farm, a little north of the capital.  Our family
never had much, but they saved up enough to send me to Heimdall.  They
wanted to be proud of me... and I wanted to... to help people, I guess."
     "There are far, far worse reasons to become a soldier."  He nodded
approvingly.
     "...why did you?" she asked in a small voice.
     He blinked, surprised at the question, then nodded a little.  "To
tell the truth... I didn't.  Not intentionally, anyway.  It just... was
the only path left when I came to it.
     "Back ten years ago, when the Crownbreaker War was in full force, I
was still a young man.  I was very much a rebel sympathizer, but I never
even dreamed of joining them.  Instead, I used what influence I had on the
family business to get them support.  We ran a small trading company based
out of Tolis, you see, and I managed to divert some supplies to the
rebels, and arrange for them to have use of our hostels along the trade
routes.  You see, I truly believed in them.  They were dedicated to the
idea that no man had an inborn right to rule another -- that everyone had
the right to decide their own destiny.  Kings were put in place by
accident of birth, and no matter that a wise and brave peasant might make
a better ruler than them -- the peasant stayed a peasant and the king
stayed a king.
     "They were fighting for a world in which each man could choose his
own path, and live life freely, without having to bow to what an arbitrary
fate had made of him.  General or farmer, scholar or merchant, everyone
would be free to make of themselves what they could.  And when they won, I
was sure that was the kind of world we were in for."
     "Oh."  But that couldn't be all of it.  After all, here he
was...  "What went wrong?"
     He sighed.  "I've been trying to answer that myself for years now.  I
first started to notice things were going wrong when the mayor of Tolis
started pressuring the trading company for bribes.  Nothing direct, of
course, but talking about how our licenses were coming up for review, or
how certain parts of our operation weren't up to the health and safety
codes, and that a little money could help him clear up the trouble.
     "I saw what he was really saying, of course, and I wouldn't accept
it.  I checked the statutes, and found none of the problems he was talking
to us about were in fact legally based.  But when I called him on that, he
threatened me.  When I appealed to the city council, they told me to mind
my own business.  And when I traveled all the way to Lindael to petition
the Governors, they accused me of slander and threw me in jail."
     Tavia tried to get her mind around that.  Assuming Senrou was
speaking truly -- and everything about him seemed to say he was -- the
Governors, and indeed much of the government itself, were corrupt enough
to throw an innocent man in jail just for standing up against a greedy
official.  That was... well, it was insane.  It bore so little resemblance
to the nation she'd thought she had grown up in, the nation she still
thought of as hers, as to be unrecognizable.
     But could it be all a lie?  Or was it just that she had been
astoundingly well-sheltered?
     He was continuing with the story, she realized.  "While I was in
prison, I met up with others like me -- people imprisoned for exposing
corruption, or offending an official, or even for no reason they could
discern.  We all knew we were innocent.  And we all wanted freedom."
     He took a moment to refresh his wine.  "Well, I say we were all
innocent.  Really, I'm pretty sure a few of them were thieves or bandits
or others with legitimate crimes to their names, just going along for
freedom.  But not one of them ever turned against us or ran away, even
once we'd escaped, and so I ended up trusting them.
     "But we eventually engineered an escape.  We were then on the run,
hunted by the government, and we all had a very personal sense of just how
much the government had failed.  We didn't want to abandon each other,
after what we had been through.  And so we started learning to defend
ourselves, and started acting more like active rebels than passive
fugitives.  And eventually, they turned to me to lead them."
     "Why you, though?"
     He smiled.  "I wasn't sure why at first, either.  But they all
trusted me -- I was always the one who was settling disputes and giving us
a clear idea of where to go.  More people kept on joining us, sometimes
just because I convinced them to.  And I had found I had a knack for
battle tactics, though long-term strategy's still pretty tough for
me.  Someone needed to be the leader.  And so I was pretty much
elected.  It wasn't really what I wanted to do.  But there was no one else
who could do it."
     "And so now you're rebels.  Just like the Crownbreaker Army was."
     His face fell a bit at that.  "Yes.  And that's what I worry
about.  They had ideals at least as high as ours -- higher, maybe.  They
saw a corrupt system and went about trying to make something better.  And
now, just ten years later, what they made is as corrupt as what it
replaced."  He took a long, pensive sip of his wine.  "I sometimes wonder
what will happen, if we're more successful than my wildest dreams, and we
really do topple Heresha and put something new in its place.  Will it end
up just as bad as what we have now?  How can I stop it from happening?  Or
is there any way at all?  Are the lands under heaven just corrupt by
nature, regardless of what anyone might do to save them?"
     A silence.
     "I don't think so."
     He looked up.  "Really?"
     She nodded.  "I...  I think people are better than that.  Most
people.  And I still think that even if there are some... even if many of
the people in government are corrupt, there are still good people
there.  And everyone has a chance to stop them."  Words came to her mind,
words whispered to her by a blind seer, in what she had thought at the
time might be a dream.  "Even at his most powerless, man's existence is
never without meaning."
     Senrou nodded slowly.  "Wise optimism.  A combination I've found to
be far too rare.  I think that's one of the reasons I've found such
respect for you."
     She nearly spilled her wine.  "Respect?  For me?"
     He nodded.  "Don't be so surprised.  I wouldn't have given you
control of a unit if I didn't respect you and your abilities quite a
bit.  You have a good sense of tactics -- that much is obvious even from
the way you enter a room.  You see everything in it at once, not just what
you're interested in," he clarified at her puzzled look.  "You've got a
good heart -- strong but compassionate.  You don't like war for its own
sake, and you'd never throw away the lives of your men carelessly.  And
people can tell that about you.  So when you send armies into battle, they
know it must be for something priceless -- because you'd never let them
die for anything less."
     She shifted uncomfortably.  It was all true, more or less, but
putting it all at once like that felt uncomfortably like vanity.  She had
her flaws, she knew, even if he hadn't chosen to mention them.
     She looked down at her hand, and the cup of wine in it.  And at the
rune adorning it.  "And then there's this."
     He blinked, eyes going to the wine for a moment, then realized what
she was talking about.  "Ah, yes.  The Rune.  It's really a True Rune, you
think?"
     "The seer said it was.  And I've never seen anything like
it.  But... if it is, I don't know how to use it.  I only know its name,
and that's just one more thing to puzzle me.  I don't even know how it
activated in the battle that day..."  She took a deep breath.  And it
frightens me, she added mentally.  Not that she wanted to say it out loud.
     He probably could tell anyway.
     "You know," he said after a few moments of silence, "I meant what I
said before."  She looked up, not understanding.  "About letting you and
Lierni go free after we fought off the Wind Children.  I've been meaning
to talk to you about it for the last few days, but the negotiations with
Bristow's council have been taking up all of my time.  You've done an
admirable job, and I'd be honored to have you and Lierni both on our side
for however long you might choose to stay... but I don't want to drag you
into this against your will any more than I have already.  If you want,
you can walk out of here right now, and return to Bristow or your home or
wherever you choose.  I'll even offer a horse and some traveling money, to
make up for keeping you so long.  And the offer extends to Lierni, when I
can get word to her."
     She was stunned.  "But...  I mean...  Aren't you worried that I
might, I don't know, go back and side with Heresha again?  And betray
everything I've learned about you?"
     "You might do that.  I'll admit it worries me.  But... if that really
is a True Rune, then you have a destiny, Tavia.  A grand one.  And it's
likely not the destiny I'd have chosen, or I'd be the one who received
it.  Maybe you're destined to overthrow Heresha.  But it's as likely
you're destined to join it, and give it a new birth from within, free of
corruption, by defeating me.  Or perhaps it's something I can't even dream
of.  But whatever it is...  I don't want to stand in your way.  Because I
think it will be something worth fighting for.  And because the True Runes
are said to be the ultimate forces of history.  They shake the heavens and
the earth..."
     Just then, the floor underneath them gave a lurch.  For a full half a
minute, the earth shook, as the walls of the keep groaned and cracked,
bookshelves split and collapsed, and grit and rocks fell from the ceiling.
     Then, just as abruptly, it stopped.

     "What's going on?"
     Tavia made it out into the corridor as Senrou was collaring a soldier
who'd been rushing up.  Dust was still pouring down from the roof, and she
saw firelight through a new gap in the wall.
     The soldier tried to salute and panic at the same time.  "We're under
attack, sir!  Flaming arrows from out of the woods, and one of the
sentries reported seeing an Earth Rune glowing there just before the quake
hit."
     "Damnation.  We're in no shape to fight this."  He rounded on
Tavia.  "We need to evacuate.  I'll get the main commons and barracks; you
wake up the second barracks and get them out through the rear courtyard."
     "We're not going to defend the keep?"
     "We'd be slaughtered.  The Hereshan army must have found us, and if
they set up an ambush like this, they've got us outplanned and almost
certainly outnumbered.  There's only a skeleton crew here; not nearly
enough for even a sustained siege, let alone standing up to something like
this."  He shook his head.  "Get as many people as you can out, and stop
them from throwing their lives away.  You," he added to the soldier, "come
with me."
     After only a moment's hesitation, Tavia headed out.  He was
right.  This was no time for foolish heroics.  This was a time to survive.

     "Everyone, move!" Tavia yelled over the sounds of battle, as a
handful of troops poured out of the main keep and into the rear
courtyard.  "Out the postern gate.  If there's enemy soldiers out there,
the first ones out clear a path for the others.  Engage them as little as
possible -- try to get everyone to safety, not wipe the enemy out."
     The troops rushed past as she instructed them, hastily pulling on
armor or readying weapons.  She looked back towards the main buildings of
the keep.  The roof was on fire in several places, and entire wings, such
as they were, had collapsed from the earthquake.  Most of the soldiers
were evacuating, but some were trying to shift the rubble and free injured
comrades before the flames got to them.  The walls were still intact in
places, but--
     Tavia froze.  Highlighted and silhouetted by the light of the fire,
she could see Senrou on top of one of the walls, fencing with someone on
the battlements.  Someone familiar.
     "Adele," Tavia whispered.
     Steel flashed in the firelight as Senrou's sword clashed with Adele's
saber.  The two of them seemed almost evenly matched.
     Tavia finally broke from her hesitation and dashed to a tower that
anchored that section of wall.  She needed to...
     She wasn't sure what she needed.  But...  Adele.  And Senrou.  She
had to do... something.
     Even if she couldn't do anything.

     Tavia burst out of the tower and onto the battlement.  The roof of
the keep was in full flame now, lending a ghastly light to the
spectacle.  To her right, she could see outside the keep.  Soldiers from
both sides were struggling, striking each other down.  She saw a figure in
white, blade flashing, go down to a surprise attack on his side, and
another, larger figure, coming to his rescue with dust that glittered and
danced in the firelight, cast in the faces of the enemy.
     Ahead of her, though, she could see Senrou, standing with his back to
her, sword out in a fighting position.  But something was wrong.
     Very slowly, the rebel leader began to slump forward.  The sword fell
from his nerveless fingers, clattering on the stone walkway.  And then he
collapsed completely.
     "Senrou!"  She rushed forward, dropping to her knees in front of
him.  She hastily felt for a pulse, found none.  The gashes from the sabre
were slowly staining his shirt red.  His eyes were open, but unseeing.
     Tavia slowly looked up.  Adele was still standing there, looking down
in shock.  Her saber bloody.
     "Tavia..." she whispered.
     "Adele..."  Tavia could barely find her voice as she rose to her
feet.  It all seemed unreal.  The keep was burning.  Senrou was
dead.  Adele, the same Adele who had taught her swordplay and joked about
Lierni's foibles and seemed so sadly reluctant to fight sometimes, had
killed him.
     And now the shock and confusion in Adele's eyes was giving way to
another emotion.
     Rage.
     "You were *dead,*" she whispered.
     "Adele, what--?"
     "You went off to fight them, and you wouldn't listen, and you were
supposed to have died bravely but you didn't.  And now you're part of
them.  A rebel.  A traitor..."
     Tavia felt a pang in her heart at the words.  She wasn't a traitor --
was she?  "Adele, it's not like that...  They captured us, me and Lierni,
but they're not bad people..."
     "Liar!" Adele snarled, and leapt forward, lunging over Senrou's
body.  Tavia barely got her sai up in time to block.  "You betrayed us,
betrayed me, betrayed everything you ever wanted to stand for.  You're a
lackey for bandits now, a pawn of rebels who only want to destroy what so
many people gave lives to build... that *you* should have given your life
to save..."
     The saber blows were coming fast and furious, but the words hit more
painfully.  It wasn't true, Tavia tried to tell herself -- but there was
nothing Adele was saying that she hadn't thought to herself, in one
sleepless night or another.
     "Adele, please!"  Block, parry.  Dodge the attack, see a place to
counterattack but don't.  "Listen to me -- there's more to this than --"
     Pain.  Searing pain.
     Tavia collapsed, her legs giving way underneath her.  The point of
Adele's saber hung inches from her face, trickling with red.  She watched
as a drop of blood collected on the tip, then dropped to splash on her
tunic.
     So familiar a scene.  "Left side on the turn."
     A shadow crossed Adele's face.  She remembered too.  "Left side on
the turn.  You never did learn."
     "Adele..."
     "I'm sorry, Tavia..."  She was struggling to stay on top of her
emotions, struggling to keep control.  "I- I wish you hadn't..."
     The battlements to the right glowed with reflected yellow light --
the light of a rune being mass-activated, somewhere in the forest
beyond.  Then, with a deep rumble, the ground began to shake.  Adele
reeled backwards, grabbing onto the battlements for support, as Tavia felt
the stones beneath her back slip out from under her, one of them glancing
off the back of her head as it did...

     The light returned slowly.  Tavia managed a weak groan as she
gradually awakened, feeling a weight pressing into her back, a dull,
aching throb from her left side under the ribs, and a deep nausea twisting
in her gut.
     Focus, she thought.  Try to remember what's happening.  I was... I
was fighting Adele.  And then there was another earthquake, and then... I
blacked out.
     And now I'm under what might be several tons of masonry.
     "Um... help?" she managed to say in a hoarse, quiet voice.  She
immediately wished she hadn't gone to the effort, as the nausea gave her
insides a sharp twist.
     She gritted her teeth and tried to clear her head.  She needed to get
out of there.  Any effort was agony, but she was fairly certain that not
getting out of there would lead to rather a lot more pain in the long
run.  Bracing her hands underneath her, she tried to push herself up.
     She felt the rubble above her -- a beam, perhaps, supporting some
stones? - shift a bit, but the ache in her side became a stabbing pain,
and she collapsed again.  She'd probably reopened the wound.
     Left side on the turn.
     "Hey!  I think I saw something moving!"
     Oh, thank the runes.  Someone had found her.
     She heard the babble of voices above her as people moved about, and
then there was a giant grinding noise, and the sudden relief of the
pressure on her back as light streamed down from above.
     "Quick, get her out of there!"  Tavia felt someone slipping in,
putting her arm around his neck and gently lifting her to a standing
position.  Staggering, trying hard not to notice the pain, she let herself
be led out into the fresh air.
     Alouette, his ornate white outfit a bit dirtier and more ragged than
it had been even when they first met in the cave, set her down, leaning
her up against a still-whole fragment of wall as Pane and Alyssa dropped
the beam they had been straining to support, letting the rubble crash down
again.  "The patrols probably heard that," Pane said, wiping the sweat
from his brow.  "We don't have a lot of time.  How is she?"
     "Ah, not so good," Alouette said, concerned.  "She was bruised, you
see, in the collapse, and perhaps she was fighting before that, non?"
     Tavia looked down at her hands.  The knuckles were scraped raw and
bloody from pushing herself up, and somehow, she realized, she was still
clutching her sai.  She must have been quite numb if she hadn't noticed
that before.  Which probably implied she was in for more pain when it wore
off.  That ought to worry her more, she realized.
     "She's still in shock," she heard Alyssa say.  "I think I've got
enough will left for one more use."  The ruin seeker knelt down before
her, and put her right hand just in front of Tavia's chest.  The Water
Rune inscribed on it glowed with a blue light, and Tavia felt a rushing,
cleansing sensation as the light flowed over her.  Blood streamed away as
if in water, and the wounds underneath washed away too, leaving only
fresh, healed skin.  The pain in her side faded back to a dull ache, and
her insides settled as the last of the fog in her head cleared away.
     She rose shakily to her feet, supported by Alouette on one side and
Alyssa on the other.  "Thanks... I think I'm all right now."  She looked
around.  The dark of night had given way to the grey half-light of the
hours before dawn, and a bonfire flickered in the distance, beyond what
had been the front gates.
     The keep was gone.  Stony rubble and burnt wood were strewn in
haphazard piles that had once been buildings, enough to show that this
once was a place built by humans, but not much more.  Adele's army had
done their work well.
     She returned her sai to her belt.  "Where is everyone else?" Tavia
asked.  "Did anyone..."
     "We've found Baren," Pane said.  "He's gone out to scout a way past
the Hereshan patrols.  If any of the garrison survived, it looks like
they've scattered already.  We were just looking for you and Senrou..."
     "Senrou's dead."  Tavia winced as she realized how blunt she had just
been.  It was still a shock to her, and the stricken look on Pane's face
brought home how much of one it was to him, too.  "I'm sorry.  But I saw
him fighting with Adele, and then..."  She shook her head.
     "Adele?" Alouette asked, a little quietly.
     "An old... someone I knew from the Academy.  I think she was leading
this strike force."  She sighed.  Then a thought struck her.  "You said
there were patrols?"
     Alyssa nodded.  "They left a few squads around to hunt for
survivors.  We've been dodging them all night."
     "Then we'd better get out of here.  We can hide better in the woods."
     "We've already got a meeting spot arranged with Baren there," Pane
nodded, trying to shake off his stunned reaction to what Tavia had
revealed.
     "Let's go."

     "They've blocked off the roads," Baren reported.  He'd already been
waiting in the shadowed glade as they arrived, and wasted no time in
getting to business.  "We could perhaps try to sneak through the farmland
on either side of their barricades, but there is little cover, and they
will no doubt be watching for that.  With night almost gone, we would have
little hope."
     "So we can't make it to Bristow, then," Tavia said.  "But we
certainly can't stay here.  We need to find another meeting place,
somewhere where the others will think to look for us.  Or where we can
find another way to Bristow."
     "My grandfather's farm, perhaps?" Alouette suggested.  "It has been a
place to meet before."
     Tavia shook her head.  "It's too close to Bristow.  We'd need to take
most of the same roads to get there."
     "To tell the truth, that just about exhausts our options, then," Pane
said glumly.  "This keep, the farm, and a few sites in and around Bristow
are pretty much the only places the army ever operated.  Unless there's
something personal that someone with the rest of the army knows about..."
     "That's it!"  Everyone jumped slightly at Alyssa's
outburst.  "Alaric's still with them.  And there's one place he'd be able
to identify that nobody else could possibly get to us at."
     "Where?" Tavia asked.
     Alyssa grabbed a piece of deadwood and pulled a small knife from her
belt.  "Remember when we first met, Alaric and I were talking about
wanting to explore an old Sindar ruin in the Erisan Forest?"  Tavia
nodded, starting to understand.  "Well, he and I both know where it is,
but not many people outside of treasure hunters like us would.  It's
sealed, but we know how to open the seal, so we could get in and fortify
ourselves.  I think it might even have been a fortress or something back
in the Sindarin days, so it'll be perfect for that.  And it's in a
different enough direction from Bristow that we won't have to take
anything close to the same route."
     "And how will he know we have gone there?" Baren asked.
     "Easy -- he'll see this."  She turned the piece of wood to display
the glyph she had carved on it.  "Not much of the Sindar language is
understood, but we're pretty sure this is the character for 'water.'  And
we're also pretty sure it was part of the name for that old ruin.  Alaric
will get it, but even most other treasure hunters wouldn't."
     "Okay, but how do we get it to him?" Pane asked.
     Tavia cut in.  "We can leave it prominently in what's left of the
keep, and hope whoever comes to investigate gets it to him.  Under the
circumstances, there's not much more we can do."  She scanned the
others.  "Alouette, do you think you can sneak back in there and put it
where it might be noticed?  By the front gates, perhaps?"
     Alouette stood to attention and saluted rakishly.  "But of course,
mon capitan."  He took the wood from Alyssa and dashed back into the
woods.  "It will be the work of just a moment."
     Tavia's words, her response to the 'mon capitan' bit, caught in her
throat as he left.  A captain?  Her?  She wasn't anything like that.  She
wasn't even in charge there.
     Except... who was, then?
     Pane had seniority over her, but, she realized as she turned to look
at him, he was already looking hopefully at her as if waiting for her next
order.  The others had all joined after her, and none of them seemed to be
particularly interested in taking up the reins.
     What was it Senrou had said?
     Leadership wasn't a matter of what you wanted to do.  It was what
happened when there was no one else to do it.
     And there was no one else.

*****

     Adele looked into the flat of her saber, buffing it with the oiled
rag again.  She could see her reflection, so polished was it, but there
was still a hint of a stain there, a bit of a discoloration.  It had to be
perfect.  A Malespoir blade.  A Malespoir would never go into battle with
a bloody sword.  A sword with the blood of a friend.  A former friend.  A
sword stained with the blood of a traitor.
     Davon was talking, she realized.  "...completely routed.  We
estimated the strength of the garrison at thirty men, and we have
twenty-one confirmed kills.  Even if we were off in the estimate, and we
assume no further kills, I would say it's unlikely more than ten men
survive.  Our own losses were very light, and came from the infantry
only.  Three dead and four injured from enemy action, and two injured from
the collapse of the keep."  He set down the paper in his hands.  "I've
taken the liberty of splitting up the unit in accordance with our prior
plans.  There is now a small detachment watching the keep for any signs of
survivors, and two larger patrols covering the main routes to Bristow.  If
anyone tries to regroup there, or make it to the main body of the force,
we'll know about it, and be able to intercept."
     He paused, looking for a reaction from his
commander.  Nothing.  "Also, we've confirmed the body of the man you
dueled as the same person who was leading the troops at Bristow.  It's
entirely possible that you've slain the head of this entire
rebellion.  Along with the other cadet you--"
     "She's not dead."
     "I beg your pardon?"
     "Tavia.  Reinschild.  The cadet.  She's not dead.  She wasn't dead
before and she can't be dead now."  The stain was still there.  Polish it
harder.  "She should have been dead.  She died fighting the rebels, and
that was good and foolish and so noble of her and she deserved that.  But
she didn't.  She cheated death and turned traitor and now she's cheated
death again and she's still a traitor and she's going to come back and do
it all again, because I abandoned her, because..."  She took a deep
breath.  "She must have planned it.  She must have known she could escape
that way."
     "...by having a parapet collapse out from under her?"
     "Yes.  She always knew.  She..."  Adele was babbling, she
realized.  That wouldn't do.  A Malespoir did not babble.
     A deep breath.  Calm.
     Focus on the stain.
     Focus.
     Focus.


Author's Notes:

     In each Suikoden game, there was a leader of the heroes' army before
the hero.  In each case, it was a person with a quiet strength of
character and inner nobility, who served her role with dignity and
honor.  In Suikoden, it was Odessa Silverberg, founder of the Liberation
Army, who showed the hero he could fight the corruption in the Scarlet
Moon Empire, and helped him decide his path in life.  In Suikoden 2, it
was Annabelle, mayor of Muse, who tried to unite the diverse city-states
of Jowston into a coherent alliance against the invading Highland Kingdom,
and was willing to give the hero a chance to prove his worth, when others
might have been skeptical about such a young defector's worth.
     Both of them died.
     Odessa died when a traitor revealed the location of the Liberation
Army's hideout, leading to a surprise raid in which Odessa was stabbed
protecting a young boy.  The hero arrived too late to save her.  Annabelle
was assassinated by Jowy Atreides, a friend of the hero who had turned
traitor back to Highland, and who framed the hero and his sister for the
deed when they stumbled across him.
     That's why Senrou died.  I liked him as a character, and tried to
make him deeper and more interesting in his last hours, but he had to die
nobly, so Tavia can pick up the pieces and truly become worthy of the
Tenkai Star that shines over her.
     On to more mundane matters:  Since the party has become split, as it
were, in this chapter, I thought it might be worth listing where everyone
was, so as not to leave anyone confused.  Depending on how split the party
stays, and how people react to this, it might become a habit.

Keep/Ruins Party:
   Tavia, Alyssa, Pane, Baren, and Alouette.  Currently en route to the
Sindar ruins in the Erisan Forest.

Recon Party:
   Kyrina and Alaric.  Currently en route to the former keep.  (May be
sidetracked by army patrols.)

In Bristow:
   Renard la Lanterne, Werner, Lierni, Reid, Daniel, and the remaining
rebel army.

Whereabouts Unknown:
   Viki, survivors from the keep's garrison (if any)

R.I.P.:
   Senrou, the garrison of the keep.


     Incidentally, the fate of Viki is up to future authors.  She might
reappear next chapter, or a dozen chapters down the line, or not at
all.  Her teleportation is powerful, yes, but also erratic and not highly
trusted by the characters, as shown here, and as such shouldn't be
overused even if/when she does return.  I personally wouldn't mind seeing
her come back later, but it all depends on how she gets used in the story.
     Writing for this has been great, and I'm glad to have done it.  In
fact, I think I'm going to sign up again.  Where'd that queue go...