In the royal palace of Renais, two figures could be seen standing leaning against the parapet, faces cast in the glowing orange light of the rising dawn. The older looking man said something that caused the other man to recoil in shock.
"Your majesty, please repeat your order. I must have misheard you."
"I have no doubts that you heard me just fine the first time."
"But why? We both know that I can't help her."
"That's where you're wrong. You will be able to be there for her when no others can. You will be someone whom she can trust and confide with."
"I'll be keeping so many secrets from her though. I doubt she'd trust me."
"I have faith in my daughter. Please, I need peace of mind knowing that you'll help her in her time of greatest need."
"Yeah, see, that's the other thing. Why me specifically? Why not her brother, or some insanely devout knight?"
"Her brother is very different from her. She regards violence with utmost distaste whereas her brother views it as almost a game of sorts. She will need someone that can help deal with the hardships that she must face."
"... I understand why, but I still don't like it. You and I both know that I can't fight, or else I risk everything. I'll just be a burden on the battlefield."
"Do you really believe that? I know that your mind is one of your greatest weapons, and if you truly wish to help, you know of a way that doesn't involve other's blood being on your hands."
There was silence. If one were to walk up to the two men, they would notice that the youthful one was simply staring at his hands while the older one seemed to simply wait for a response.
"You know with this plan, you'll be dead by tonight, right?"
"I am well aware."
"Then I have some requests. First, we'll need Seth. I know you have faith in my mind, but without some extra swords, I doubt we'll make it very far. Second, I need you to introduce me to them as your tactician, and please leave out my background. I'd rather they didn't know about that."
"Something tells me this is not a secret that you can keep forever, but very well. I will follow your requests. Is there anything else?"
"Yes, you should tell Seth the truth about the sacred stone of Renais."
To say that the older man was shocked would be an understatement, but he seemed to quickly recover, a wide grin plastering his face.
"You see? I told you your mind was sharp. How did you figure it out?"
The younger man let out a chuckle.
"Please. Every country but yours has the stone held in an extremely secure location. Yet you claim yours is held in the throne room where guests regularly attend? I know from experience that your family isn't stupid, so I knew that it had to be a play. I won't pressure you as to where it is, but we might need someone who knows its whereabouts later. Eirika will have too much on her mind, and I fear that this war may have a far darker nature than we are being led to believe. Even if I'm wrong, the secret should be preserved, and you'll unfortunately not be able to tell either of your children yourself."
There was silence. The sun had finally revealed itself to the whole world, having finally lifted above the horizon, basking the land before it in an orange glow.
"I must go. If I am to assist Eirika, then I will need to be ready. I hope you will consider what I have said, but if you wish to ignore me, then that is certainly your choice. It's not like this is the first time you've ignored my advice, but seeing how this is the last time I'll see you, I suppose I should say that it was nice knowing you, your majesty." The young man said, bowing before his liege.
The man in question nodded, as the younger man wandered off. He had much to think about. He certainly did not like keeping secrets from his children and the loyal knights that resided in the castle, but it was the only condition under which the young man would have agreed to to work, and he made up for the secrets in spades. He just hoped it would be enough for his daughter.
(Later in the day)
In the throne room of Renais, there were three people who seemed to be anxiously awaiting something. On the throne sat a tall and regal man in full plate armor, his beard and hair a dark cerulean color. Next to his throne stood a red-haired knight, whose eyes seemed to be constantly scanning the room, checking for any viable threats. Finally, there was a young woman, standing beside the knight, with the same blue hair as the man in the throne, her eyes seemed to portray the utmost despair of someone who clearly didn't deserve to know what it truly felt like to have lost. Suddenly, a youthful-looking blonde cavalier burst into the room, completely out of breath.
"Y-your majesty!" the youth said, gasping for breath. He barely had a moment to catch his breath as he approached the throne that his liege sat upon. "Grado's men have breached the castle walls!" He said, still panting.
King Fado frowned. "I see. This is not entirely unexpected. I believe we all knew that this was a possibility." The king turned to the other two figures. "Seth. You will take Eirika and Franz and head to Frelia; King Hayden is an honourable man. I trust that he will keep you safe."
Seth nodded. "Understood, your majesty. But what will you do?" The knight inquired.
"I will be staying here. Even now, with their men at our doorstep. We do not know Grado's true intentions. They have been our dearest allies for so long, and yet they attack us so suddenly. I must know their reasoning. And if it is because I have failed in my duties as a leader… Then it would be right for me to be here to face whatever fate I have brought upon my people." Fado replied, a solemn expression on his face.
"Father…" Eirika said.
"Eirika, are you still wearing the bracelet that I gave you?" The king asked
"Yes father."
"Good. Seth. There will be one more that will accompany you." The king said, as he motioned to a corner of the room. Suddenly, another man stepped out. He had short black hair and seemed to be wearing a tattered green cloak, with a white shirt and brown pants on underneath. He gave a short bow to the king before shifting his attention to Eirika and Seth. "This is my tactician. He has served me well over the past year, and I wish for him to help you on your journey. This man has my utmost trust, and I wish for you to give him yours."
Seth closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Very well your majesty. We shall depart immediately." He eyed the tactician with distaste, but said nothing else.
Everyone within the room could start to hear the sounds of battle within the castle getting closer. King Fado stood from his throne and grabbed his lance. Seth, seeing that Eirika would not move from her spot, he tried to pull her away from her father but was met with too much resistance.
"Father, no! Please come with us!" Eirika screamed.
The king made no indication of moving, which caused Eirika to break into tears. Seth pulled Eirika with more force, taking her away from her father. "I'm sorry your highness" he whispered. The four figures ran through the back of the castle, making for the stables where Seth and Franz's horses were. The king, in what he knew were his final moments, allowed a few tears to fall from his eyes.
"Eirika...Ephraim...I am so sorry, I was such a disappointment of a father. I must leave you the daunting task of fixing my mistakes." His thoughts turned to that of his tactician. "My friend. I hope that you find what you are looking for, and I know that you will be of great help to my children in their time of need. If I had only listened to you, maybe this all could have been avoided." His final words left his lips as he opened his eyes and soldiers started pouring into the throne room.
(Meanwhile)
The party of four had managed to get away from the palace, to the point where Seth felt comfortable allowing the princess to walk on her own again. Eirika noticed that the tactician seemed to also get off of Franz's horse. The man turned to the blonde cavalier.
"Franz, was it?" Franz nodded. "I need you to ride ahead and tell Frelia that we're going to be there soon." The cavalier recoiled in shock, and the tactician, seeing that he had to justify this order, continued. "One rider has a much greater chance of going unnoticed that a small group, and informing Frelia fast will likely get them to meet us halfway, increasing our chance of reaching their capital. Turn around the moment you find out that they'll send aid; we'll likely need your help." Franz nodded, and was about to get going when Seth started talking.
"Now see here tactician. I don't know why you feel you may make decisions without the princess' approval, but you have proven in the past that your tactics are less than effective. Now, if you are done trying to-" Seth said, before the tactician in question raised his hand to silence the knight.
"Sir Seth. I know that you don't like me. That much is pretty obvious. However, your king asked me to help you so I am. I felt like right now, we are in a hurry, and her highness just dealt with something pretty devastating, so I felt like it wouldn't be a terrible idea to just go ahead and make a simple decision." The tactician said, indicating towards Eirika, who was staring in the direction of her burning home, eyes red and tears streaming down her face.
"Fine." Seth relented. "But when we get to Frelia, I am going to make very clear your position and how you should behave."
"Aye aye sir." The tactician said in a sarcastic tone, mockingly saluting the knight. Eirika turned to the man in question, and was frustrated with the man she had known for barely a few seconds. He seemed so happy. How could he be happy at a time like this? It was as if the deaths of her people meant nothing to him. She was about to voice these frustrations when the party started hearing the sound of a wyvern's wings getting closer and closer to them. The tactician was the first one to spring into action.
"Franz, go. NOW." He commanded, and Franz's horse took off at a gallop. He then pulled Eirika with him behind Seth, ensuring that the wyvern rider had to go through Seth to get to them. This didn't seem to deter the wyvern rider, however.
"You there, with the girl. Tell me, would that happen to be the wayward princess of Renais? Well, this must be my lucky day. You're a dead man. The wench goes with me." The imposing man said.
Seth gritted his teeth and charged towards the man. "Never!" He exclaimed, and readied his lance towards the man. Unfortunately, at the last second, the man's wyvern pushed into the air and grabbed Seth's lance in its feet, allowing the rider an opportunity to strike.
"I am Valter, the Moonstone, Grado's finest general! And you're just a corpse who does not know he is dead!" Valter shouted, bringing down his axe and embedding it into Seth's lance arm. Seth cried out in pain.
"Seth, pull back! He's too strong and we need to get out of here!" The tactician yelled.
Eirika watched as Seth hesitated for the briefest of moments before freeing his lance from the wyvern's grasp and riding over to his two companions. He pulled Eirika onto his horse and dragged the tactician with his uninjured arm.
"Such terrible wounds, and still he holds to his duty? How entertaining. Fly away, little man. Fly away. Try to outrun death. More time to savor the hunt... and the kill." Vado said, loud enough that Eirika could still hear him. The general let out a hysterical laugh that seemed to echo off the surrounding hills as he flew away.
When the party was satisfied that Valter was no longer pursuing them, they finally slowed down their pace, and Seth begrudgingly allowed the tactician to walk on his own two feet. Seth turned towards the princess.
"Princess Eirika, please forgive me for grabbing you so…Brusquely earlier." Seth apologized.
"Don't be foolish, Seth. If it weren't for you, I would never have made it out of the castle. You are the reason I'm still alive. You have my gratitude. And whoever that man was, he was clearly after me... It's my fault that you received such a grave wound. Allow me to treat it, I-" Eirika was cut off, as the tactician approached them.
"Sorry to interrupt, but healing will have to wait. There's a few stragglers heading towards us, and Seth is the only one of us that's proficient in combat." The tactician explained.
"That's not true. My brother taught me how to use the sword. I could certainly take care of a few soldiers if necessary." Eirika said.
The tactician seemed to be weighing the pros and cons of allowing Eirika into combat. "Seth, do you have a sword for Eirika?"
Seth nodded. "I have a rapier that was entrusted to me by her father. He wanted you to be able to defend yourself, princess."
Eirika seemed about to tear up at the mention of her father, but she shook it off. "Thank you. You heal while I handle these soldiers."
"Princess, I must ask that you don't go on your own. I can still fight." Seth stated, though the way he held his arm, that clearly wasn't the case.
"No offence sir Seth, but I think the soldiers would laugh seeing you try to attack them." The tactician said. "I know enough of how to use a sword to watch Eirika's back. If you lend me your spare, I could at least delay the enemy enough for Eirika to finish them." He suggested. When Seth seemed hesitant, the tactician continued talking. "I would give it back to you afterwards, of course." He added.
Seth weighed his options, but decided that if the tactician helped, then they wouldn't have to waste time healing his arm later, and they could get to Frelia that much faster. He passed his steel sword to the tactician, and the black-haired man took it with a bow.
"Much appreciated. Let's go princess. They're almost upon us, and we can't let them reach Seth." Eirika nodded in agreement. They sprinted towards their foes, and were upon them in an instant. Eirika immediately engaged the closest enemy while the tactician seemed satisfied with standing a few paces away, eyes darting between the enemy in front of Eirika as well as the fighter that was rapidly approaching. Eirika thrust her rapier towards her foe, scratching his sides as he lept backwards to try and avoid her. The man swung his weapon wildly in retaliation, but Eirika easily avoided it. She felt a breeze brush by her back as she leapt towards her uncoordinated opponent, piercing his heart and killing him.
Looking around, the princess saw that the tactician's sword was locked with the second fighter's axe, and assumed that the breeze from before was the tactician rushing to her defence. Seeing that he was outnumbered, the soldier attempted to disengage, but the tactician managed to knock him on the side of the head with the flat end of the blade, knocking him back. Eirika then followed up by stabbing the downed man in the chest.
Wiping the blood off of her rapier, Eirika looked to her raven-haired companion. It was interesting that he had chosen to use the flat of his blade in that moment, for it likely took more effort than simply killing the man. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed the final soldier rushing towards the tactician. The black-haired man attempted to block the attack, but the look of surprise on his face when the weapons collided showed that the fighter had attacked with a surprising amount of force. The man stood over the tactician menacingly, poised to deliver the final strike.
"You will be the first to die!" The man exclaimed, as he brought down the axe.
Luckily, the tactician seemed to have good enough reflexes to roll out of the way of the axe. He tried to pick himself up, but received a blow to the face from the leader and was sent back to the ground, axe once again raised above his body.
But the feared outcome never came. Instead, the leader of the soldiers had a sword sticking through his chest, and his axe fell uselessly to the ground. Eirika was panting, having run over to save the tactician.
"Thanks princess. I owe you one." The man said, smiling.
Eirika let a tiny smile spread to her lips. "Actually, I'd say we're about even. I noticed that you delayed the second soldier and probably saved my life, so it's only fair that I return the favor." She explained.
The tactician chuckled. "If you insist, your highness." He said. "Come on, let's go get Seth and get out of here." And with that, the two marched back towards Seth, who seemed to have finished bandaging himself and applying his vulnerary.
"Your highness! It is good to see that you weren't hurt." The knight said, visibly relieved.
"Indeed, it is thanks to our tactician here that I was not injured." Eirika replied.
Suddenly the knight looked confused. "Princess… Are you sure you weren't injured? You look so pale."
Eirika looked back at the knight, her expression turning solemn. "I'm fine... Fine. ...This is war, isn't it? It's not at all like the games I used to play with my brother or Lyon. I never thought...I didn't know it would be this...savage. Are words useless? Is strength all that matters? It's so sad... Why would the Grado Empire do this? To what end would they start a war?"
"Unfortunately princess, war is a horrible, horrible place. Those that enter it do so knowing that they may never leave, and even those who never wanted to visit are often pulled in to be forever changed by its wicked ways." The tactician said, startling both the princess and the knight. "If you want to preserve your humanity, then you need to establish who you are and what you stand for. Once you get that, it is much harder for war to change you. Unfortunately, the pain of killing another person never goes away, no matter what you do to convince yourself."
"You speak as if you have experience in this." Eirika stated as a question.
"You could say that, but I would prefer to not talk about my past." He replied.
Eirika wasn't satisfied with his answer, but knew better than to pry. "Very well then. Thank you for your words. I will not let this war break me, I can assure both of you that. Tactician, you have gained both my appreciation and trust." She said, though she knew that she still held some resentment towards the tactician for how he acted earlier. "I am glad that my father asked you to join us, and I would appreciate your continued support. Could I please have your name?" The princess asked.
The man said nothing for several moments. Finally breaking the silence, he said "My name is irrelevant, your highness. I am your tactician. Nothing more." He stated.
Eirika frowned. "Have I done something to offend you sir? I'm afraid I don't understand why you insist on keeping your name from me."
"It is not a matter of 'keeping it from you'. I simply don't believe it is necessary for me to give you my name." The tactician looked at her, and saw that she was frowning even harder, almost even pouting. The man would have laughed had the circumstances been different. "But I can see that you won't be relenting anytime soon, so…" He trailed off.
"You may call me Mark."
A/N:
Hi there everyone! Welcome to my first ever fanfiction. I know that my writing isn't great, but I really just want to get this idea out there and start writing. Maybe see people's reactions to this.
I also realize after writing this that I suck at writing fight scenes, which only means great things moving forwards.
I don't expect to have any kind of regular update schedule, so I apologize if there are big gaps in between chapters, but I will try my best to get them out at a somewhat reasonable pace.
Finally, I would really appreciate any help that anyone can give. I have most of the ideas for this story in place, but I'm not set in stone on some of the background pairings, so I could use a hand with those, especially since it's been awhile since I've played Sacred Stones.