"May you always live free."- Traditional Blessing of the Children of the Wind -------------------- Rotnap Productions And Rocketarian Pictures In Association With Improfanfic Present Suikoden: Distant Shores Created by Illyria and Todd Harper Part Five: Southern Winds By Aaron Nowack -------------------- Tavia Reinschild grunted as she finished stacking the last of the fresh cut firewood in the corner of the battered old keep's courtyard. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she glanced up at the fierce red sun. The globe of flame was already partially obscured by the low western wall. That was good, as it meant another day of hard labor was finished. She hadn't worked as hard as she had this past week since she had been on her family's farm. She really couldn't complain, as she was working no harder than any one else in the keep. This didn't stop Tavia's companion, Lierni Totorika, from doing so, however. "That's that. Though I bet we're moving it somewhere else tomorrow," Lierni stated, sitting down where she stood. Her breathing was heavy, unused as she was to so much physical labor. "Oh, come on, Li. They couldn't have known that the old storehouse was going to collapse," said Tavia as she sat next to her friend. The two had spent much of yesterday moving this same batch of firewood into an old, unused storehouse of the keep, only to be awakened that night when the building had caved in. That was one of the many hazards of moving into a once ruined keep. "Whatever. And it's Lierni," replied the magic user as she slowly caught her breath. The two sat silently for a while, watching the sun slowly descend below the wall. As the shadows deepened, torches were lit along the sides of the courtyard, providing light for those who still had to travel around the keep. A short while after, the dinner bell sounded, alerting all that it was time to eat. With a groan, Tavia rose, soon followed by Lierni. The two slowly made their way over to the keep's great hall. Inside the hall, they were greeted by a wild tumult of noise, as the tired soldiers celebrated their day's work and went about the business of ensuring that there would be plenty of hangovers the next morning. The two made their way slowly through the crowd to the low table where dinner was being served. They obtained plates filled with the usual meal: some type of unidentified lumps that might have been vegetables, all smothered with some type of brown sauce. It was not fine cuisine, and indeed it even made the Academy food seem tasty, but it was filling. The two also declined to join the numbers of those destined for morning hangovers, taking mugs filled with fresh water from the well rather than ale. Within moments, the two were seated at their usual table, a small round table in the back corner of the hall. As the two ravenously dug into their meals, Tavia silently began to count. One, two, three... there he was! "Look, Lierni," she said, turning to her friend. "Here comes Pane." "So?" asked Lierni between mouthfuls of food. "Why should I care?" "Do you mind if I sit with you?" asked Pane quietly. "Yes," replied Lierni, not bothering to look up from her food. "Be nice, Lierni," chided Tavia, smiling at Pane. "Oh, all right! He can sit with us, or he can go jump off the wall, for all I care," grumbled Lierni, still not taking her gaze from her food. As Pane seated himself, Tavia asked him, "Have you heard anything about Reid?" Neither she nor Lierni had seen him since the morning they had met Pane. "Nope," replied Pane. "I think he's on some sort of scouting mission, but no word on when he might be back." Tavia started to ask Pane how his day had gone, but stopped as a shadow fell over the table. "Hello, Pane, Tavia, Lierni," said Kyrina. "And how did you enjoy your work today, my charges?" "Oh, it was just great," said Lierni in a sarcastic tone of voice. "Then you'll be happy to learn that we've decided where to permanently store the firewood, so you can move it there tomorrow," replied the part-elf woman. Tavia sighed as Kyrina continued. Where was Reid? -------------------- Reid slowly slipped forward through the small grove, hand on his sword. Gesturing with his free hand, he ordered his squad of five to position themselves behind trees. Moments later, a Wind Children patrol walked by, not noticing the scouting party. Almost breathing a sigh of relief, Reid gestured for the group to resume moving. This was not the safest place to be, near the center of one of the largest gatherings of the southern barbarian tribes in over a decade. The Children of the Wind, as this particular group of barbarian tribes called themselves, only gathered in such large numbers when they were planning a war. It was Reid's job to find out who they were to war on. The squad crept up a slope, stopping when they neared the edge of a cliff. Falling to the ground, they crawled up to the edge and looked down. Yes, this was the place. At the foot of the cliff the chieftains of the Wind Children had gathered around a large campfire. And it seemed the meeting was just getting underway. "So, why did you call a war council, Malek?" asked one of the chieftains. Another one, evidently Malek, replied, "My outriders report that bandits raided Bristow and destroyed the Academy there. The northern border towns are defenseless! If we attack now the spoils will be magnificent!" "If bandits destroyed the Academy, then they will have already taken everything. There's nothing for us to gain," one chieftain commented. "The bandits hardly took anything! The towns and fields are ripe with plunder!" replied Malek. "What type of bandits attack but don't take spoils?" asked a chieftain. "Imaginary ones!" laughed another. Soon the entire circle was laughing. An indignant Malek stepped forward. "I do not lie! I demand a shaman determine the truth of my words!" The circle immediately quieted and a masked figure stepped forward, chanting under its breath. Malek walked towards the shaman. "Well? What do you see?" In a raspy voice the figure replied, "Malek Ravenhair speaks the truth." Into the hushed silence, Malek shouted, "Let us make war! We shall ride north, and the soft town dwellers will fall before us!" The proposal was greeted with cheers. Reid decided he had heard enough, and gestured for his squad to move out. He had to get this news back to Senrou. Silently and stealthily, the group of rebels made their way back down the slope. -------------------- Baren One-Eye stumbled into the grove, intending to relieve himself. Or that's what he had claimed to the rest of his tribe. In fact, he had had no desire to listen to them praise Malek. He rubbed the long scar that crossed where his right eye had once been, then stopped as he sensed something, no, several somethings nearby. "Who's there?" he called. Within a second, a sword was at his throat. "Be quiet," a hushed voice said to him. Baren wished he had brought his spear, but wishes did no good. But action did. Moving swiftly, Baren lashed out backwards with a kick. He was rewarded with a grunt of pain. Suddenly, a pair of arms grabbed him from behind. "No more funny business, Wind Child. What you did to Malcom wasn't nice. I think you'll be coming with us." "A prisoner, Reid?" the first voice, Malcom, said. "What we going to do with a prisoner? And how will we get him back to base?" he questioned. Baren relaxed. These weren't a badn of drunken young warriors out to impress Malek by taking out his half-brother. From their voices, they were northerners. If e was discovered with northerners, Malek would see that as all the evidence of treachary he needed to have Baren removed from the picture. And with Malek so quickly gaining in power, Baren felt no desire to stick around until Malek found an excuse to end their... agreement. "I'll cooperate," he said quietly. "Will you promise by your warrior name?" asked Reid. Baren nodded. "By my warrior name of One-Eye." Swearing on one's warrior name was the most sacred oath a Wind Child could take. Reid released Baren. "You crazy, boss?" asked Malcom. "First thing you know, he'll be escaping and blabbing we were here to the Wind Children!" Baren growled. "Not when I've sworn by my warrior name, town dweller!" Reid broke up the incipient fight. "We don't have time for this. Let's get out of here." A day's ride later, when they were well away from the Wind Children encampments, Reid asked Baren, "How did you lose your eye, anyway?" "I came out second best in a fight with a lion," said Baren. Reid didn't reply but he glanced at the scar to confirm his guess. That scar wasn't made by any claw swipe. It was made by a dagger being used to deliberately cut out the eye. Baren slowly rubbed his scar. Damn Malek. It was Malek's fault that he was being forced to betray his tribe to survive. And Malek would be most happy to have Baren's name struck from the tribal history, no doubt. But if Baren was lucky, he might just get a small dose of revenge to console him... -------------------- Tavia and Lierni were hard at work this morning. Kyrina had them rebuilding the collapsed storehouse, and it was not exactly simple. They had had to sort through the ruins, picking out the pieces of wood that were still usable. Then they had had to get more wood from the carpenters, to replace the broken parts. While they were waiting on the carpenters, they were busy clearing the ground of the remaining rubble. "How much do you want to bet they have us move that thrice-cursed firewood back here from the northeast tower once we're done?" asked Lierni as she grabbed a piece of useless wood and dragged it over to one side. Tavia merely sighed, picking up a wood piece herself. She looked up as she heard the sound of horses coming through the open gates. "Look, Lierni, there's Reid." "So?" asked the magic user. "It's not like it makes any difference to me." Reid dismounted and began walking towards the main keep, followed by a one-eyed man neither of the two had seen before. The other men that had rode in began to get the horses settled. When Reid spotted the two, he called out a greeting, but did not pause as he continued on his way. Tavia and Lierni continued their work for several more hours, as the early morning sun rose. It was almost noon when Kyrina walked over to them. "Enough of that," she said. "Senrou wants to talk to you two." Tavia paused, wiping her forehead. "Can we have a moment to freshen up?" Kyrina smiled. "I suppose so," she replied. A while later, Kyrina escorted the two into Senrou's chamber. Waiting for them were Senrou and Reid, as well as the strange man they had seen earlier. Senrou wasted no time. "I sent Reid to investigate rumors that the southern barbari... excuse me, the Wind Children were gathering for war. To put it simply, they are, and we'll need your help." Lierni replied, "Why would we want to help you?" Her face twisted into a sneer. Reid leaned forward. "Because the Wind Children are going to attack Bristow and the other border towns. With the destruction of Heimdall, they think that the towns are defenseless." Senrou nodded. "And I'm not going to let innocent people suffer because of my actions. In two days, we're marching back north to defend the border towns. I thought you might be interested in helping." Tavia glanced at Lierni. Slowly, the magic user nodded. Tavia turned back to Senrou. "We'll help," she said simply. "But just this once," interjected Lierni. "Don't expect us to help you overthrow Heresha." Senrou nodded once. "That's fair." Reid smiled. "Welcome to the team. at least for now." Kyrina's face mirrored Reid's. "It looks like I won't get a chance to have you move the firewood again." Tavia had to smile at that. "How can we help?" Senrou's face became serious. "The only forces of any size in Bristow were the Academy students and the Bristow militia. The militia will be easy to bring around to support us in the face of a common foe. However, the Academy students will be more difficult. They're scattered all over the area, and likely won't join us easily. I'd like you four," he gestured to the two ex- prisoners, Kyrina, and Reid, "to try and recruit them. With Tavia and Lierni helping, we should be able to gather a sizable force before the Wind Children arrive." Tavia and Lierni nodded. This was something worth doing, even if it meant working with the "enemy". As the group of four stepped out, Senrou turned to the strange man. "Now Baren, tell me more about Malek..." -------------------- New Stars this part: Baren One-Eye, the Teni (Outcast From Heaven) Star Author's Random Ramblings Well, here goes nothing. I know absolutely nothing about Suikoden, having never even heard of it before signing up for Distant Shores. I don't think I made too many major mistakes, thankfully. Thanks go to Scott Schimmel and Kate Mallory for their excellent prereading, without which this part would be much poorer. Anyways, good luck to all future authors, and here's to hoping I didn't absolutely destroy anyone's plans.