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Looking around a field. For what? A rope? Was that it? I thought. Man this couldn't be it. In a field of grass, how could a rope of sand be found?
I looked over at Clive. He was a little bit off, searching for what Marth told us to.
He looked at me.
"A rope of sand? That what Marth said?" Clive asked.
"Yes," I said, followed by a sigh.
"What is it?" Lucas asked. I realized he had been standing near me this entire time.
"This is going to take forever," I said.
"Haha, don't think so," Clive said, turning around, "whose that??"
In the distance, a figure was standing. People were standing behind him or her. He or she was on horseback, much like the three of us. I started thinking to myself about what we should do. Soren, Ike, Rhys, Geoffrey and Titania came out from behind the nearby trees. I was mentally excited for the help. At least Rhys would be able to heal us if we got hurt.
"Hey, how'd you get here?!" I asked.
"We've been here. I thought it'd be a good idea to help," Soren said.
I looked over towards the top of the hill, then towards Clive.
"Who is that, Clive? Do you know her?" I asked.
"Oh her? The one leading the army? That is Mathilda. I'm in a relationship with her, but I don't want to be anymore. Hopefully she understands where I am coming from. It's just been so exciting, being somewhere else that isn't Zofia," Clive said.
Pegasus knights starting swooning over our heads. Clive looked up and must have realized something. Something awful.
"That there... is my sister, Claire. She knows I left, but I can't believe she's going against me now. Hopefully I still have Fernand, Forsyth and Lukas on my side."
A cavalier came over as soon as Clive had finished. Two knights, or something akin to that, came running over too.
"Clive! You didn't tell us that you had left! Clair did, so she formed a group to go against Mathilda's. It hasn't been working out so far, as we are too weak on our own. Oh. You must be the lot Clive is working with now. I'm Fernand, this is Forsyth and this is Lukas."
The pegasus knight came swooping down onto the ground.
"I'm Cain, this is Lucas, this is Geoffrey, Titania, Soren, Ike, and Rhys. Shouldn't we be focusing on the task at hand though?" I said, with a small grin on my face.
Clive had grown accustomed to these sorts of things. Take me giving off small grins for example. I tend to do that a lot when I ask questions. Only my family, close friends and Marth know I do it, but Clive is something different. It kind of feels like he's family, but he's really not. I always knew that ever since I met him, we would become great friends.
All that was heard was someone else's shouts.
"How dare you betray me, Clive? I had thought that you'd gone off to your parents place or something to plan! You left without a trace. As soon as I got to your place, your parents and your sister said they didn't know where you went! You just vanished, and left me alone to rot! Today was supposed to be the day, too! You planned nothing! What did you expect to do, get away?"
"I planned to get away from you! You demanded me to follow your every will and plan! Did you want to try and poison me? Is that what you personally wanted?
I don't want that kind of mahogany in my life anymore! I did the only thing I knew I could do- and that was leave! Every moment I was with you, it felt like I was being poisoned over and over again!"
Mathilda's horse automatically started to charge at Clive. Clive started to move in a way that she wouldn't be able to get him. Jeorge was hiding in a nearby tree,
and shot an arrow at Mathilda. It hit her right in the abdomen. Someone had come up to us.
"How dare you! You severely injured one of the best knights in her field!"
"Could be better!" Clive, Rhys and I said at the same time.
Clive and I charged at the person. Attacked him, but unfortunately did not kill him. Surprising, Mathilda was still alive. Clive couldn't really believe that she was.
His initial reaction was pure shock.
"We're over, Mathilda! It's done!"
"Please, Clive, no! I really never hated --" Mathilda said as she was trying to gasp for breath.
"Look who's talking!"
"Clive. Let's go, before this gets any worse."
We had left in hopes of Mathilda never knowing the real reason. I sent Jeorge and Ike to Marth to inform Marth of the incident. This had left Clive and I alone for a little bit. Fernand, Forsyth and Lukas went with them.
"If you don't mind me asking, Clive, why did you leave Mathilda in the first place?"
"She's just an asshole. Does what she sees fit, never listens to reason. I founded the Deliverance 'bout a few years ago. It was a resistance group to try and fight the Zofian government. It was small at first- just me, Fernand, Forsyth, Python, Clair and Lukas. Mathilda came in thinking she could do everything that the rest of us could do. Mind, she was a novice fighter at the time. Came from a higher noble family than mine. I could hear her begging Fernand the first day to join.
He refused. She knew the only way to join was to win someone's heart. That ended up being mine. About a year ago, her parents were pushing for me to propose to her. I didn't have the money or the means to purchase something like that. I told them that, yet.... they still pushed me towards proposing. I finally obliged. However, the only thing I hadn't considered was a ring. I didn't want to marry her. I didn't even like her... Yet I knew this was all just to secure her a place in the Deliverance. A novice fighter. That's when I left. I've been wandering since then, asking myself if I'd ever be able to find out why I was pushed to the decision that I made."