How? How could I fail again, I worked so hard! I was able to do it those three years ago, and I had her, that girl Sylvina on my back, so why cant I go across when I have the lightest clothing one can get on. The True Holy Rune, why does it torture me, I don't use it to kill like that McDohl boy, I use it to be the fastest but still it will not go to it's full potential. Why......

A few hours later, Stallion was crouched on a bench in Radat Town, he was defeated, ruined, shamed, no reason to go on. How arrogant, confident and boastful he had been. He may be the fastest humanoid, but he still wasn't the 'fastest' there were creatures capable of leaving him in a cloud of dust. And it was the Rune's fault, having been cursed with it so he could be the Elven Guardian, some Rune, it had not displayed any powers except speed. Pathetic, he could have attached a more useful rune, like a fire rune, but no the True Holy Rune refused to be removed.

After managing to get out of his depression he went into the pub, despite the odd looks from the people he managed to get fed a simple meal. It wasn't much, just some bread and meat, but then again he wasn't much, just a pathetic elf who had a 'dream'. A stupid dream, a dream that got him nowhere, he could of been an important elf in the Rebuilt Village of the Elves, but he had foolishly abandoned it for speed. He ordered a room at the Inn and slowly got there, however the next morning, his past depression was gone and he filled himself on herbal teas until he was at full spirits. He soon zipped out of the Inn and made his way to Ryube Village, it was a quaint town, nice little people with nice little houses and nice little children. Nothing out of the ordinary, but he made it a point to boast his speed before heading into the forest to run through the forest as fast as possible without running into a tree. It was done, of course considering his amazing abilities it was expected, and wasn't much to be proud of. He then rejoined the town and decided to entertain the children by running around them until they were dizzy. He didn't notice the green Leprechaun guy followed by several Fur-furs entering the town.

He then made his towards North Sparrow Pass, when the guards stopped him for being suspicious, he decided that a long lecture on just who he was, was in order. Finally they consented and allowed him to pass, on the way up he met several bandits, cutrabbits, and even thought he saw a woman made out of mist chasing him. Of course none of them were fast enough to actually pose a problem, his next stop was Kyaro Town. He made it a point to show off there as well by racing around town and putting kids up in trees, for some strange reason they thought that Robin Hood had been there, and when they saw his Bow and Arrows there were instantly convinced that he was one of the Merry Men and was chased out of town. He rushed through Tenzan Pass past a group kids setting up camp, they didn't notice him, he was to fast for them to see. Now he was in Highland, a small country, but still enough to run on, he decided to head to L'Renouille, once there he went into the marketplace. In a particular hyper mood he went to a woodcarving section and had the guy make a wood carved figure of himself, then paid for about a hundred more. Then he autographed them, and handed the out to anyone who passed by him on the streets, however, when the soldiers came to run him out, they for some reason didn't want them. As he was kicked out now, there was little else to do, he had actually meant to head to Muse town and manufacture some cards with a portrait of him and distribute them. Since their was a big wall blocking Jowston and guards who had rarely seen elves, and it was quite obvious Highlanders weren't used to anything non-human. Unlike Jowston who were used to Kobolds and Wingers, so he just decided to head through Tenzan pass, and mess with the kids in Tenzan Pass who had been setting up.

However, something wasn't right not right at all, and it was rare for Stallion to think that, of course he just shrugged it off and continued through the bushes. Suddenly several arrows flew by him, none hit, but they did hit a few of the kids on the main road, who fell like flies, more and more fired, one nearly hit him by his head, he jumped up, began running in circles and sped off towards Jowston side screaming for dear life. He ran, and ran, and he continued running, perhaps the fastest he had ever run, he didn't really know why, he was used to that in the Liberation War, being shot at was nothing out of the ordinary. Behind him he could hear the commander yelling to kill him, but he still ran. Up ahead he could see someone, a young girl looking at a corpse , then faint, he slowed down and even quit screaming to stop by her, to pick her up and keep running.

"Hey, are you all right? Viki?" Stallion asked, after recognizing her.

Viki slowly woke up, then saw the elf standing over her "Oh! Steed! It's you! I just had the most awful dream. I dreamed that I vaporized McDohl so I had to find him and then I saw all these dead people and it scared me so much that I blacked out!"

"Steed!?" Stallion irately replied, whilst catching his breath.

"Oops. Steed? That wasn't your name? Um... what was it? Oh yea, Stallion! That's it! Where am I?" Viki looked around and noticed the smoke in the distance. "Uh oh... that wasn't a dream... was it? What happened?"

"What happened?" Stallion said regaining hyperness "I'll tell ya what happened. Some Highland people disguised themselves as Jowston State people and massacred all those innocent young people in the Highland Unicorn Brigade! But I was there to see it, so they wanted to kill me too! Fortunately, I ran! You should have seen me run! I ran faster than I ever ran before. Then I found you, and figured that I couldn't just leave you there. So I picked you up, and even while carrying you I ran fast. I ran THAT fast, I did! Yep, even while weighed down by you, I was still able to run! And run I did! I ran so fast that they couldn't catch me! Why, if I didn't run so fast, you might have..."

"Oh wow! But wait. Highland soldiers killed their own innocent young boys? Why would they do that? I mean, those boys were innocent, right? You did say "innocent young people," right? So why would the Highland soldiers kill some people who were innocent?"

"I'm not really sure but I think I have some ideas. But don't you want to hear about my speed?" Stallion asked, since it was obviously more important.

"Oh, well, sure, I guess. Although I think it's a little sad that people who were innocent were slaughtered. After all, they were innocent. And young, too. That wasn't very nice."

"Oh, well yea..." Stallion suddenly realized just how tragic the slaughtering of the Unicorn Brigade was, and almost, just almost felt bad about it

"They were killed by their own country, weren't they? That is really cruel.... isn't it?" Stallion bowed his head down, and didn't notice the arrows flying towards him.

Fortunately, the archers were in a rush to shoot and didn't take the time to properly aim. However one arrow did manage to get Stallion's leg causing him to yelp out loudly. Stallion, clutching his leg, fell as Viki caught him. The Highland soldiers quickly ran up to Viki and Stallion.

"S... Stallion! Are you okay?" Viki yanked the arrow out of Stallion's leg, resulting in Stallion screaming even louder. Viki turned to face Stallion's pursuers.

One of the soldiers saluted to his commander. "We got him, sir!"

"Excellent!" The Highland commander from earlier replied. "We can't have any witnesses survive!"

"Hey..." inquired another less-intelligent soldier. "Aren't we witnesses, too? So we can't survive either?"

The commander answered him by cutting him down with his sword.

The commander laughed. "Hey look, I just contributed to humanity's gene pool by not letting that idiot reproduce!" The other soldiers simply shrugged. They were all used to atrocity by now. They were part of the White Wolf Army, which was commanded by the murderous prince Ruka Bright himself, and were pretty much used to these atrocities. That gimp soldier which the commander just killed most likely was a moron who somehow sneaked past the screening process.

"Sir, there appears to be another girl there, too. And she's not injured, yet."

"Then kill her, before she can escape!" The commander barked.

The White Wolf soldier readied his bow and pointed it right at Viki's head. Viki suddenly realized what was happening, and stared straight at the arrow pointed at her. Which was all she found she could do. As the soldier pulled the bowstring back, time seemed to slow down. Viki couldn't move, act, or think about anything.

The soldier didn't fire. "Aw, boss, why don't you do it? It's been a while since I shot an innocent GIRL. I need a little more desensitization again."

"Give me that!" The commander grabbed the bow then cut that soldier down with his sword. "You all saw what Ruka did to that soldier who let that boy escape! I won't let that happen to me!" He then aimed at Viki, who still couldn't take her eyes off the bow.

"I... I think I'm going to faint again. Y... yes, fainting is good. This is all a dream, too." Viki mumbled to herself as her eyes began to close.

Stallion stared at her and shook her violently "VIKI!!!!"

Viki opened her eyes again. "Eh? WHAT? HEY! How am I supposed to lose consciousness with you shaking me like that?!?"

"Teleport us out of here! Even my awesome speed can only go so far!" Stallion pleaded, knowing his rune never worked on a injured leg.

Viki waved her wand. "Oh... right! I'll teleport us to Kyaro! I've been there, so I can focus on it easily!"

In a flash, Viki and Stallion disappeared.

One of the soldiers looked at the commander, who was still aiming at the spot where Viki and Stallion were. "Um, sir, why didn't you shoot them while they were talking?"

"Well... um..." The commander replied. "That was really interesting. I wanted to see her faint."

The soldier cut his commander down with his sword.

Stallion gasped, glaring at Viki at he same time "Dang, I nearly had a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry!" Viki cried. "I never had anyone point a weapon at me before!"

"Well, look, you are going to have to learn to defend yourself some day if you want to survive in a war-filled continent like this!" Stallion began applying medicine to his wound. "Or at least learn to stop staring like an idiot and escape really quickly like me!"

Viki then began to faze out, as if she was capable of doing deep thought.

"Hey, Viki!" Stallion grumbled.

"Who what when where why how huh HUH?"

"We have to get moving! Those soldiers will be here any moment."

"Shoot! I forgot what I was thinking about. Ah well." Viki was still shivering from the encounter and thought about the soldiers coming to

Kyaro to pursue her. "But why? How would they know where I teleported us to?"

"Well, the fact that you said you were teleporting us to Kyaro right before you teleported us to Kyaro would probably tip them off." Stallion said, ever amazed at his logic "Hey, what are all these people doing, here?"

Several people angrily approached Viki. "There she is! Kill her! And her stupid friend!"

"Oh, them?" Viki looked at Stallion. "They're just some guys that are mad at me because of a teleporting accident and now they want to kill me."

Stallion took a step back and answered "Viki, you should get out of here. There is probably a war coming around now, and you don't want to get caught up in it."

"Um... okay... but I can't remember how to teleport to Toran from Jowston or Highland."

Stallion looked at the angry mob, which was ready to lynch him and Viki. "Well, you'll think of something! But for now, I think it's safer if we split up."

"Oh.... it is? Well then, okay, I guess."

Stallion gave her a peace sign and ran off into the night, finally away from her, now he could get to Muse and put the crazy incident behind him.

However, before he was able to leave the city grounds he suddenly vanished, he then reappeared in the sky. He waved his arms around frantically and crashed right into a shopkeeper who had already fell.

"Ow!" Stallion yelled as he crushed the merchant that fell before him. "What the hell am I doing back here?"

Stallion looked at Viki, sighed realizing why now, and ran off again really angry, and much slower as the medicine left his leg sore still. After awhile he realized his leg was way to sore as he hadn't even made one mile yet. He meekly headed back to Radat town, fortunately Viki had already cleared out and the villagers must have forgot him or didn't care since Viki left. He was about to pass the Inn to go to the tavern for a drink when a voice spoke from behind scaring the crap out of him.

"Stallion! Don't run, it's Valeria!" The voice called

"Wha? What's that? Ohmygosh! Hey?!? What are you doing here? Didn't I leave Toran years ago? What are you doing here? Don't tell me I made a wrong turn and have just been running in circles! Where-" Stallion said, but stopped himself as he realized it was impossible, fore even him, since he just left Radat a few minutes ago.

"Don't worry about it! Give me a chance to explain." Valeria said, she went into a long stupid story that Stallion didn't bother to listen to.

"So, now that I've brought you up to speed, in information's terms, could you tell me what were you running from?" Valeria said.

"I was running from Highland. I was coming from the north, from Harmonia" Stallion lied, deciding to leave out the Viki incident "And I passed through L'Renouille, the capital, and I heard from some guards they were going to regain all of Highland's lost glory, or something like that. They said it was already starting in the south, so I ran down there, and there was inconceivable carnage, until now! Valeria, they were kids. They died of fear, not from the enemy. Fear of betrayal. A few moments later, there were some Highland guards, who chased me without asking any questions, and did their very best to kill me, let me tell you. They were working with people who looked like Muse soldiers, but their accents all sounded Highland-ish. But now I'm here, so I should be safe for a while, right?" Although he exaggerated to make himself more heroic since she was after all a renowned General.

"Stallion, I need your help. Your mastery of the True Holy Rune could help cut my travel time by a lot, and I need to see this. There might not be much left, but I need to witness this" Valeria explained "I'll escort you there, so could you please accompany me back? I know you just ran from there, but you don't have to run from those soldiers. Between your arrows and speed, and my sword, we can take everyone who stands in our way down! I need your help."

Stallion looked at her for a moment, and continued his act ". . .I know that this is foolish. You're not going to like what you see. But you are one of the Six Generals of Toran, and the mediator between the elves and humans, so I guess I'll help you. We'll leave immediately. They won't expect to see me so soon again, and if they do spot us, it'll be the last thing they see. Let's go!"

Stallion instantly utilized his Rune, now his leg wasn't sore so he went at his top regular speed.

"How did you get me here so fast! It took you days to get to Radat, but it only took a couple of minutes to stop! Why is that?" Valeria said, Stallion decided not to tell her he had been in Radat recently.

"No! This is Tenzan pass, where the "Ambush" killed hundreds of children. It's just that the Highland soldiers wounded me when coming down, and I couldn't run as fast as I usually could. Now that I feel a little better, I can use this rune slightly more effectively. Now look. Most of it's been blown away, but...." Stallion trailed off

Valeria solemnly examined the scene, but Stallion wasn't paying attention, he was thinking of a way to get Viki back.

"You say you saw who did this?" Valeria's tone was quiet, strained to hear, but very angry, even more angry than when the Village of the Elves burned down.

"I saw most of the aftermath. Guys in brown and green, Muse soldiers, scattering the bodies and broken bones around. There were some guys in blue, Highland's people, and they were doing the same thing. There were also some guys dressing up. They were taking off their blue uniforms and getting into those green and browns. I think they wanted all of the people to believe that the City-State killed mere children, so the people of Highland would get angry and declare war on their neighbors. It sure explains why they chased me out. Why else would Highland soldiers dress up like their enemies?" Stallion answered, thoroughly impressed with his logic that he quickly threw together.

"You will accompany me to Muse. I was told by a associate that would have business there. You may leave, afterwards, since you have done so much more for me, getting me here so fast. I will explore Muse alone, and I need to keep my identity hidden. Do not worry about me. Instead, pray for those who have burned here."

Stallion honored her request and brought her as fast as his rune permitted him, instead of leaving he pulled a few pranks, which was one of his favorite things to do next to running. Since now the day was pretty much over ,and his experience with Viki and Valeria had completely wore him out, he forced his way into the Inn for the night.

Return to Stallion's chapters Return to the chapter archive Return to the Suikoden 2 RPG main page
"Stallion" and "Suikoden 2" are (C) Konami. This chapter was posted August 19, 2000