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((I was told that we were supposed to come here if going to Sentria, according to Rath.))

Dirt road had become sand. He had reached Sentria again.

"Darko, come out." he muttered, opening his bag.

The little imp flew out and looked around. His acute sense of smell would pick up the location of his mother and the others (which would also explain his favorite snack items, Roy's hair and chocolate cake). After a few moments, the imp had chirped and began to fly speedily in one direction. The young lord hurried after him.

After a bit, he saw what looked like a fort. There seemed to be a small commotion going on not far from it. From what his eyes could see (hoping it wasn't a mirage), there were two people on horseback. One had dismounted, and was proceeding to holding off a number of burly figures. This no doubt had to be the others.

He quickened his pace. After a bit though, he tripped and landed face first in the sand.

"Dammit...I just got all the sand out of my hair too..." he whined quietly, getting back up to his feet and dusted himself.

Were it not for his sand-colored clothing, he would perhaps have been spotted.

Just then, he saw the figure behind the horse rush past the other figure towards the group, something flashing in the light. Since he was closer now, he could distinguish colors and body shapes, but not faces yet. Light teal hair, and green hair.

Sue and his Mother. Danger.

He was somewhat hesitant to draw forth the SoS as he ran towards the fighting group. He didn't want the flames to hurt either one of the women or the horse, but at the same time, he knew that there was a limit of how many enemies a person could handle before tiring out. They must have been fighting ever since they had been split up. He wanted to help out the girls, but at the same time, he knew about a Nomad's pride concerning 'rescues', and this would certainly be considered a rescue in Sue's eyes.

Well, screw that. They needed help, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

As he got closer, he drew the SoS. Flames sprouted around the blade the moment it was drawn. He only needed a moment. With the proper timing and location of where to put the long-range explosion, he could clear out most of the bandits that were pressuring Sue and Mother. He had, for the moment, the element of surprise. He just needed a small opening in that little group of bandits.

There.

Right smack-dab in the middle of that group, there was a small hole in their forces where he could drop the flame. He swung.


"Explosion!"

There was a small orb of red right where he had intended it to go, just about the sand. It burst almost instantly into flames, the force of the explosion shooting sand up from all sides. The heat from the flames turned the jets of sand into glass spikes, piercing the bandits that were around it.

The glass spikes would slow them down a little (they had to walk around it now instead of through it, unless they wanted to waste time trying to shatter their way past the glass spikes). This would be enough time for him to charge the sword again and reach Mother and Sue.

And so they were surrounded... agian. How many times were these brigands going to use these types of tactics? Sure, Sue took advantage of their stupidity earlier by noticing them lining up to attack one by one, but no there were no more lines, just a circle. As far as she knew, arrows did not shoot in circles. It would take magic to get them out of it...

Magic. They had some here, didn't they? Yes, Excalibur! But no need to reveal that to the enemy. Instead, she kept the tense look on her face and merely acted like she was out of ideas. General Roy, the tactician who defeated Mad King Zephiel was here. He'd catch on her vibes she was giving off with her eyes soon enough.

But for now, she pointed Miugre in every direction to complete the act of being cornered. "Which... one of them do I am at?!" she said out loud, her voice laced with panic, half of it being truthful.

Charice couldn't help but let a sly grin break out on her face, watching the bandits kill themselves with their own arrows. How stupid can you get? I'm not like to get more, but what idiots!

Having greatly decreased the long-range firepower, Charice could now turn to another matter--on the way to the fortress, she'd spied a lone figure far on the desert below. She wasn't sure if the person was friend or foe, really, but one thing was certain--he or she wasn't with the bandits. They'd fired their arrows as though nobody was out there. Maybe they could earn some temporary help?

Granted, rescuing her now meant getting within range of the surviving archers, but there were few enough left that this rescue attempt was now manageable. She turned back around and sped off the way she originally came, this time diving down as she spotted the long figure. "Just keep flying for that figure, Aph! I'll make sure the arrows don't hit you!"

Now at last, they were coming within firing range of the arrows, and Charice's new sword began glowing green once again, blowing away any arrows that looked about ready to hit them.

They were quickly getting within talking distance of Iris. "HEY! HEY YOU!", she called out, her head turning back and forth between Iris and any would-be pursuing arrows. "NEED A HAND?" she added as she and her pegasus came close.

"Roy, I—I don't think I can dance . . . R-Roy, I—I can't, I can't dance!"

Not. Good.

His mother couldn't dance, and by the looks of it, she was nearing her limit. How long had she been out here? Too long. That much was certain. She needed something to shade herself, and she needed it now. Her cloak was tattered, so it wouldn't really provide her with much protection from the sun. There wasn't anything he could do about her wounds for the moment, and it would be suicide if he turned to give her his canteen.

Well, that's why there was Darko to help.

Roy flipped his bag open so Darko could fly out, then raised his hand up to the strap that held his cloak together. With a flick of his thumb, the clothing had come undone, and Darko quickly nabbed it. Commands of giving Ninian the cloak and water to shade and quench her thirst were given. The cloak was then dropped around Ninian to serve as shade (since there wasn't much else he could do to keep her out of the sun). Darko had then snagged the water canteen from the young lord and fluttered over to the ice dragoness, setting it down gently in front of her. The imp then flew and landed on the dancer's shoulder gently after a final command from his master and sole companion. His tail slid up slowly to her face and gently began to wipe the sand off her and her wounds.

The young lord glanced back for a moment at his mother and the imp that would be guarding her for the time being as well as cleaning her wounds.

"I'll protect you. So rest, Mother. I won't let a single bandit get past me." the young lord said softly, his soft blue eyes on her for a moment.

Things would continue as planned. The only differences were that he would have to give it his all to protect his mother from harm, and that the dancer wouldn't be able to enhance their abilities. Roy underestimated the severity of the injuries. He then looked back to the bandits that were in front of him. He took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the SoS before exhaling. The flames intensified, a sure sign of how determined he was to protect his beloved mother.

He would protect her until the day his father would return, and they could become a happy family once again. He would protect her until the very end, even if it cost the young lord his life.

The bandits drew closer.

((I've been told that Ephraim has not reached the desert yet, so the post Ephy made has not been included in this one. If they have reached, edits will be made.))

The flames were dancing.

Roy was using every trick, every skill, every style of swordplay he ever knew to keep the bandits back. Long-range explosions, glass spikes...anything and everything he knew how to do.

He was barely holding them off, but at least not a single one had passed him to go for Ninian.

He was covered in cuts (nothing deep or serious, but they weren't shallow either. His reflexes kept him from losing a limb or two, or his head), his blood dripping onto the sand as blood splattered from his defeated foes. It reeked of burnt flesh. How many had he pierced with the SoS, or lit aflame, or impaled with glass spikes? How many of these bandits had lost their lives for some foolish conquest for spoils? Had they chosen not to involve themselves with this group, there wouldn't need to be so many casualties.

He heard Akihi call out that the spell was ready. Thank the gods and goddesses that this had actually worked. Normally, first-tier units couldn't use S-rank weapons. But Akihi had just managed it, despite being a mage. Whether it was simple BSing or a miracle created by the heavens, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And he sure as hell wasn't going to let this go to waste. Lives were on the line here.

"Sue! Joshua! Fall back to where Akihi and Ninian are!" he called out, sneaking a quick glance back at them to see how they were holding up.

He turned back to focus on his next attacker. s**t! It was a swordmaster, and he just so happened to already come in close. Too close. Dodge, Roy. DODGE!

Shunk.

Pain. Pain in his left shoulder. The steel blade had slid right past the line separating the shoulder guard with the breastplate, cracking both pieces of armor. Goddammit, why was it always the left shoulder that was getting injured? Did he just fail at covering the left side, or were they trying to kill him with a strike to the heart but aimed too high?

"G-gah..."

The blade was in deep enough that it would require both hands to pull out. It probably damaged the clavicle too, if not passing through it entirely. Great. One more bone that would require time to fix itself. Hurray for hard-working bone cells!

With a flash of his blade, the Swordmaster's head was lopped off his body and smacked an oncoming bandit in the face. Roy then kicked the decapitated corpse away before stumbling back towards the others. A swing from his flaming sword created glass spikes between him and the bandits. Excellent for buying time. Flames flew out two more times to create glass spikes to act as a barrier for Sue and Joshua as they retreated.

"Now, Akihi!" Roy called out when he, Sue, and Joshua were close enough to the mage and dancer.

Gah...it hurt to speak with a thick blade sticking out of his shoulder.