Hey, all! It's Russetwing, again. Yep, this is my second fanfic, this time about Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. I absolutely love that game, although I'm at a major disadvantage because I've never played Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. I've read the game script, though, if that counts. This fanfic will be Book 1: The Silver Haired Maiden, aka a novelization of part one. Yeah, I'm aware that so many of you hate Micaiah's guts, but I like her. And don't worry, if there's one thing I'm going to do, I'm going to take away Micaiah's Mary Sue-ness, even though I don't view her as a Mary Sue. I will make her have flaws. Anyways, here's chapter one!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I, Russetwing, do not own Fire Emblem, Nintendo, the chapter names, the characters, or anything of the like, and never will. This is my disclaimer for the whole fanfic. I do own the OCs, if I decide to make any.
Part 1:
The Silver Haired Maiden
Prologue:
Under Gray Skies, Part 1
The night shrouded everything in darkness. The only light was the moon, bathing everything in a pure white luminescence. It looked down upon the old ruins of a building, the high stone walls casting everything in shadow. The residents were no more than birds, mice, the occasional dog, and a solitary band of thieves, consisting of five members.
The stillness of the night was broken by a shout, and torchlight assaulted the tender touch of the moon. The thieves awoke, scrambling away into the shelter of the trees, except for one individual who tripped on a rock that had fallen from atop one of the precarious walls. The torchlight creeping closer every second, the individual and only female in the group ran away from the flickering light, only pausing to grab a peculiar looking book. She ran through the maze of ruins, looking over her shoulder every few seconds as, no matter how far or fast she ran, the light grew brighter, as if the flames of the torches themselves were longing to capture her, to carry her off to her doom. The girl looked over her shoulder again and realized that there were voices, their volume rising above the sound of blood pounding in her ears. Turning her head to the front once again, she immediately skidded to a halt, resulting in her crashing to the ground with a small cry. She forced herself to stand and listened to the voices, which had grown louder and more excited, the torchlight growing even closer. The girl was horrified to see more of the treacherous flickering coming from the turn in front of her. Whirling around like a cornered animal, she saw a small crack in the rock partition on her left side, and propelled herself into it at the last second, and out the other. The girl looked around in dismay; if two members of the offending men- for she deduced from the pitch of their voices that they were men- came along each passage at the same time, she would have nowhere to hide. She noticed that the only way in was through two small entryways; one on both sides, and that comforted her, though the relief was miniscule. The narrow entrances would be easy to keep an eye on. A small bird flitted down from the midnight sky and landed on her outstretched hand, chirping softly, and the girl quickly wrapped her other hand around it gently and clutched the tiny being to her chest.
"Hush, Yune!" The girl whispered frantically as the sound of footsteps drew nearer. "If they hear you, we'll both be caught," Her voice was no louder than a breath this time. As the torch-wielders passed the crevasse, she held her breath, fearing that the men would hear the sound of her racing heart. She let out a small sigh of relief as they passed, unsuspecting of the girl that was mere feet from their capture. The girl risked a glance around the corner, and her eyes immediately traveled to the beings clad in orange armor. The girl's eyes narrowed in fear and hatred, as these were enemies of her beloved country. "Begnion soldiers…" The girl spat softly as she watched their retreating backs. She knew that the night was far from over, and the soldiers wouldn't give up until at least a few hours after dawn. The girl quickly retreated back behind the wall at the last second as two more soldiers rounded opposite corners and began walking towards each other. The girl closed her eyes in terror and held the tiny bird, Yune, close to her heart as they walked closer. The bird, perhaps startled by the thunder of the girl's heartbeat, gave out another loud cry. The girls eyes flew open and she immediately tried to silently hush the bird, but the more she tried to quiet it, it seemed, the more Yune kept chirping.
"Hey, did you hear something?" The girl stiffened in alarm as the soldiers noticed the racket the bird was causing. She loosened her already soft grip on the bird and lifted her hand, her other arm clutching her book, as the bird flew away through the crevasse, startling the two soldiers. The men looked at each other, and slowly started to peer around the crack, forcing their torches and the treacherous light to shine through. The girl whimpered inwardly and held her book so tightly to her chest she though it would break.
"What are you two doing? Did you find something?" A shout came from far off, from a superior to these soldiers, the girl guessed, as the tone was commanding and the soldiers stiffened, their armor clanking.
"No sir, it was just a bird…" The man trailed off and nodded to his coworker, who nodded back, unbeknownst to the girl.
As she heard the two soldiers' footsteps retreat, the girl breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, closing her eyes. She suddenly wished that she hadn't let her friend fly away, as she was feeling very vulnerable and afraid with no one else around. Her thoughts were cut off as a strong hand grasped her arm, jerking her out of her hiding place and into the passage, now lit with torchlight. She gasped as she dropped her book and her other hand was dragged behind her back, bending her arms at a painful angle.
"I got one!" The man called, and his shout was followed by a cry of triumph as five more men entered through the entrance, all of them laughing.
"You think we didn't see you, did you?" One of the soldiers asked snidely. The girl, struggling, tried to lunge at the man, but quickly hid her face, causing the brutes to laugh.
"Hey…" One of the men said, holding his flame so close to the girl's face that she could feel the intense heat radiating from the fire.
"Silver hair…" A soldier trailed off, dumbfounded. This caused many of the others to stop laughing and inspect the girl as well.
"I-it's the Silver Haired Maiden…" The girl frowned at this. The very fact that Begnion knew her was unnerving, but she didn't like the title she had been unwillingly given.
"W-we'll be heroes! Famous heroes!" One of them crowed ecstatically, which launched the men to begin laughing, while the girl continued to struggle. The man who was attempting to bind her hit her on the back of the head. The girl bit her tongue in an attempt to be silent.
"Listen," The guard barked, "If you don't want to get hurt, don't struggle," The man warned ominously, and the girl stilled, though she was dying to squirm as her hands were tied behind her back. Hearing the flutter of wings, the girl looked up, just in time to see a petite orange bird flying by. She frowned. It couldn't be…
Suddenly, a green-black blur whizzed down, seemingly from nowhere, and landed behind the guard that was holding the girl, placing a knife at the soldier's throat in a weak spot in the armor that left the skin unprotected. The shadow figure drew his knife across the man's neck so fast that it was practically invisible, only able to hear the poor soul's cry as he died instantaneously and thudded to the ground. Blood spattered the back of the girl's head and the shadow man's knife, but he took no notice as he threw himself at the next soldier, who met the same fate as he was stabbed through the heart. Two of the three torches had gone out now, smoldered by the ground when they were dropped by their dead owners. The third soldier had enough time to realize that the shadow was propelling itself in his direction, and got ready to run him through with his lance. But at the last minute, the green-clad man jumped and, using the lance-wielding soldier as a springboard, flipped through the air, landing in front of another enemy and slitting his throat as well. The man he had used as a springboard ran at the green haired man, as his hair color was visible as he paused after his third kill. He nimbly dodged the man's lance and stabbed him in the stomach, jumping away before the body could land on him. By then the girl had managed to remove her bonds and stood next to the tall green haired man as he was rushed by another soldier. The man leaped out of the way, the soldier aiming for the girl instead, who step sided and shoved the soldier off balance. The soldier, trying to regain his balance, didn't notice the green haired man until he had slit his throat, as well. The fallen soldier dropped his torch, and the two remaining people were shrouded in the dark once more.
"Micaiah…" The man whispered, pointedly looking in the direction where panicked shouts and torchlight was rapidly approaching.
"Sothe," The girl, Micaiah, whispered back, silently proposing a plan. The man, Sothe, nodded in understanding as the Begnion soldiers emerged from several entrances. Micaiah grabbed her book and flipped it to a blank page, which wasn't saying much, since the entire book was blank.
"Got you, now!" Sothe urged as the Begnion Soldiers surrounded them.
"Right," She murmured, lost in her pages. Suddenly she raised her hand, chanting under her breath, "O Light, grant me your power!" Suddenly, there was a great flash of light, and Sothe covered his eyes, prepared for what was about to happen. The light became so intense, so blinding, that it caused great pain to even look at. Unfortunately, every one of the Begnion soldiers were concentrating on the silver-haired girl. They fell, all at once, screaming and clutching their eyes, that they didn't notice the two escapees until they were long gone.
Sothe and Micaiah ran as fast as they could down the overgrown forest path, their scarves trailing out behind them.
"Good work," Sothe said freely, as he was sure they weren't followed.
"Thanks," Micaiah responded, breathing fast, until she noticed the orange bird following them from above, "Yune! Come on!" She called to it, and the tiny bird soared down to fly at the girl's eye level. Micaiah was slightly out of breath, but the two continued running through the woods to meet up with their comrades, not looking back.
There you go! The first chapter! I know that Under Gray Skies continues on, and the beginning sequence is called The Escape, but I was just being lazy. Also, this fanfic's in third person! Yay! I suck at third person, so please correct me on any mistakes I make. I'm probably not going to update this fic as often as my other one, Platinum Adventures, for all of you pokefans, because that one is my priority, but you can probably expect at least a chapter a week. The spell in italics is her speaking in Ancient Heron Tongue.
So, I hope you like it! Please review, but no flames, please!
Sincerely,
Russetwing