He trudged in and gave a quick report to Pohl, hardly glancing at the troop of archers busily training on bullseyes in the courtyard. Grabbing a quick meal, he stumbled to 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!" {Not that I didn't mind waking up,} he added silently. {I don't remember clearly, but I was dreaming about flames... all around.}

Pohl looked down at him sheepishly. "You were having a nightmare," the rotund boy explained. "You kept moaning about fire... burning tents, 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. I hardly had any friends at all back in Kyaro: Just Jowy... and Nanami, if that counts. What's changed?}

Unfortunately, before he could answer that question, 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.

(Lil' 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 had nearly caught them, but they'd gone spying four or five times before that. "Whose turn is it?")

(Lil' Jowy shrugged. "Dunno. Match you for it?")

(Lil' Makoto nodded, and the two threw out their hands. "One, two, three!" they chanted quietly, Jowy throwing out a flat hand while Makoto threw split fingers. Lil' Makoto cheered quietly.)

("Yay! Scissors cut paper, I win! Gimme a boost, Jowy!" he enthused, and Lil' Jowy set up in the 'alley oop' position, letting Lil' Makoto step in his cupped hands and boosting him up to the top of the wall. Lil' Makoto looked around the courtyard... but he couldn't see Lil' Princess Jillia. "Hey, where'd she go?")

(Lil' 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 Lil' 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," Lil' Princess Jillia said, looking at him with those big, blue, curious eyes.)

("H-hi," Lil' 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 shirt, discovering at the same time that he'd slept in his pants. "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 slowly 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. Heck, this was the second or third repeating of the story she'd heard already since stepping within the walls.

"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 hard proof she was a Highlander at all. There were plenty of people who looked like 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 do with her (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 in the Highland army, 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 just 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.

(Lil' 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 decided to climb the dogwood tree that grew alongside the wall.)

("What's your name?" she asked, "Mine's -")

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

(Lil' 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 out of the tree, to the ground.)

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 on, looked up - and froze. She was in commoner's clothing, true, but her hair, her eyes, and her face were unmistakable. Makoto walked slowly toward the gate, thinking, {What in the world is Princess Jillia doing here?}

As the Highland orphan moved slowly to the gate, another set of eyes were being drawn to the Highland princess, and these 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 up with the 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.

What happened next even surprised Makoto, although he never admitted it. Old training with Grandpa Genkaku came back to him in a rush, and his 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 at 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, belting him in the head with both tonfa, 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 thing straight!" Makoto barked down at the archer. "She's a prisoner! We do *not* kill prisoners! You wanna do that, go join RUKA BRIGHT, damn you!"

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

"SHUT UP!!!!" Makoto howled. The courtyard fell silent. "You wanna know why Highland broke the 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 Army until about a week ago! I was part of the Unicorn Youth Brigade! And Ruka *goddamn* Bright came and killed us, all but me!" There were tears in Makoto's eyes as the 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 think *JOWSTON* did it! Is it any wonder they want revenge!? Just like you want revenge now!?"

Mute, the archer shook his head. Makoto went on. "Well, you wanna fight for revenge, go to Matilda - I hear they're big on the eye-for-an-eye stuff. 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 me - 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.

"Yeah! Hey, three cheers for Makoto Gentaro!" Pohl yelled, and the crowd was quick to answer.

"Hip-hip... Hurrah!"
"Hip-hip... *Hurrah!*"
"Hip-hip... HURRAH!!"

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....

(Lil' Makoto saw Lil' Jillia fall and acted without a second thought. He pulled himself up onto the wall and dropped down on the other side. As he checked to see if the Princess was okay, he heard Lil' Jowy on the other side of the wall. "Makoto! What happened? What are you doing? You'll get caught!")

(Lil' 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?")

(Lil' Jillia saw that it was the boy. "I think so..")

(The servant who had caught her climbing the tree ran over. "Get away from her, street rat," he said and grabbed Lil' Jillia by the arm to pull her away from him.)

(Lil' Jillia cried out in pain.)

("Let her go!" Lil' Makoto yelled, placing himself between the servant and Lil' 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 her to attend to the princess at once.")

(Lil' Jillia clutched her hurt arm with tears in her eyes as the guards took a struggling Lil' 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 cost her quite a bit of pain, not by the arrows directly, but through the Bright Rune. Speaking of her rune...

She just noticed that there was no energy draining from the rune at all, even the tiniest amount. In fact, she was pretty sure she was recovering energy. What could have triggered such a change?

(("Great Blessing." The white sparkles drifted down around the two of them....))

Where had she heard of that spell before? She wracked her memory for it. and then she remembered, from learning Highland history. "That spell you cast," she said, "It's the first level spell 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. Like how the Bright Shield always fought against Highland's champion, the keeper of the Black Sword. There was more still in family history.

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 and Rowd set everything up. Ruka promised Rowd a bunch of rewards." He remembered one of the ones Ruka had hinted at was marriage to Jillia. {Better not tell her that, or she'll feel *really* bad about what happened,} he thought, 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 murdering brother."

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

"Yes it was. If I hadn't arranged the peace treaty, the Unicorn Brigade would never have been caught unaware and Ruka wouldn't have succeeded. It's my fault that 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 it 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?"

(Lil' 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 an' Grampa Genkaku'll never know what happ'ned to me.} He choked back a sob.)

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

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

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

("Yes, I am!" Lil' Jillia replied, and then the two came around the corner, Lil' Jillia with her arm in a sling and 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." With a look of relief - Lil' Makoto couldn't imagine why, all he'd done since getting there was cry - the man sheparded the two children outside.)

(Lil' Makoto turned to Lil' Jillia. "Thanks for not tellin' - you know, about me being on th' wall," he said quietly. "Your arm okay?")

(Lil' Jillia smiled. "That's okay," she answered, "I shouldn'ta climbed the tree." She paused, glancing at her slung arm. "And my arm's okay too - the doctor cast Kind Drip on it.")

(Lil' Makoto smiled. "Y'mean 'Kindness Drops'?" he asked.)

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

(Lil' Makoto grinned. "My Grampa taught me!" he exclaimed, pointing back toward his home. "I'm Makoto Gentaro, 'cause Grampa Genkaku adopted me an' my sister Nanami. You wanna be friends?" he asked, holding out one hand with a grin.)

("Sure," she answered, smiling and taking his hand in her own. "I'm Jillia Bright.")

Makoto grinned sheepishly at her as he sat down on the chair - carefully, so as not to pop it out from under the door. {Flik or Viktor'll be down here soon, and they'll flip if I've left the door open,} he thought ruefully. Aloud, 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 embarrased 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 entirely 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 favor. But now... She was at a loss for words.

The deafening silence was broken by the sound of footsteps on the basement stairs....

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"Hero" and "Jillia" are (C) Konami This chapter was posted on April 5, 2000