Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem
In the underground cells of Koena Fortress, Sir Cain woke up to a dank, musty cell and a splitting headache. His body was freezing but he could feel iron chains grinding against the flesh of his wrists. There was no doubt that the back of his neck and shoulders were bruised. The kindling bundles in the hall have been lit up giving the stone walls a soft glow. From where he was thrown, Cain could see his weapons and armor tossed carelessly on the floor.
Despite the stiffness in his muscles, Cain forced himself to sit up. He gave an experimental tug on the chains. They were so short that he could just barely stand up straight.
Before he could direct his thoughts to escape, footsteps sounded. A few moments later, two burly bandits appeared at his cell. The second one whipped out a key and opened the door. It gave a metallic shriek.
"So a pompous Altean knight got caught by our little posse." the head bandit jeered. Sir Cain had already closed his ears to the jests. "I know about you knights, would rather die then betray your little lords. Well don't worry, we'll just torture you instead. You, the high and mighty knight, will be wishing you were dead by the time we're done."
The bandit unfurled a crude whip.
Ryan found himself on top of a hill and broiling in the sun. Their battalion have been deployed as reserve, yet the battle seemed to be going in the Altean's favor. That meant that he was going have to be cooked on this hill until the battle was over. The little archer knew that he should probably stay alert but instead, he found himself thinking about his mom's strawberry scones.
The thought reminded him that it was past lunch time. Tearing his mind off his stomach Ryan began inspecting the feathers on his arrows.
"Ahhhh! How long do we have to stay here? They don't need us!" Luke yelled pretending to tear at his hair.
"As long as it takes, whether they need us or not." Cecil snapped although it was obvious that she was raring to get at the enemy. Ryan ruffled his hair trying to dispel some of the heat, he saw a headache coming. Cecil's reprimand didn't stop Luke from voicing his 'concerns'.
"It's lunch time, we won't get a chance to eat today." he mourned.
"Nonsense, besides, you don't want to eat lunch today." Rody muttered.
"Eh?"
From what Ryan has seen, Luke might as well eat his food with a shovel, it was unheard of that Luke wouldn't want to eat.
"The head cook is instructing interns." Rody answered matter-of-factly not once even looking at his companions.
"...Oh..." Luke cringed a little then looked down disappointed, then brightened,"Then we'll just get something in town."
After the food exchange the 7th battalion fell back in to silence. Ryan found his thoughts wandering to dogs, squirrels, otters, more on food, then he thought about Sir Cain. Suddenly a wave of guilt washed over the little archer, here they were, sitting around doing nothing. Here he was thinking about food, and what was Sir Cain doing? Dead? Suffering?
Feeling impatient Ryan started shuffling his feet. He twisted an arrow shaft in his hands trying to find something to occupy his anxious mind. Finally he couldn't stand the sweltering silence any longer.
"After this is over, do you think they'll try to rescue Sir Cain?" he asked.
"Well Sir Cain is one of the elite knights, surely they won't just leave him to rot in a dungeon." Cecil reassured. Before Ryan could ask anything else a rider was sighted at the bottom of the hill. He was waving the Altean banner, a sign of victory.
"The 7th battalion is requested back at the palace!" he bellowed.
This time even Rody looked up hopefully, Ryan felt a smile spreading on his own face. The race back to the Altean palace was smooth, aside of dodging the occasional obstacle. "Hey Rody, how did you learn to ride a horse?" Ryan asked his voice almost lost in the passing wind.
"I wouldn't say learn, when I first started to ride Jay...it wasn't that fun. In fact I developed a close relationship with trees back home. Seeing as how I ran into so many." Rody grinned thinking of the memory.
"...Oh. So it's hard to ride a horse?" Ryan asked, maybe that was why he and horses didn't mix, aside of the mild case of equinphobia he had as a small child.
"No, it's just that Jay really didn't like me at first." Rody answered, he trailed off at the last word, "You know what...I have a bad feeling that they're not done imposing chores on us." he voice turned bitter.
It turned out that Rody's bad feeling was nothing short of prophetic. The second 7th battalion set foot in the Altean palace they were met by an informant ordering them to weed out a nest of bandits. "It's just a small one, it shouldn't take long." the informant looked anxious, news of Koena must've spread.
Luke and Cecil looked indignant, Rody refused to look up, Ryan felt like someone had just taken his favorite bow, what was that feeling...cheated, that was it! They were all reluctant to leave but finally Cecil headed to her horse with a huff, "Can't we at least get some water for our horses?" she insisted sharply.
That, luckily was allowed.
Ryan tagged along to the stables, he hated being left out. However the second he hit the stables, Luke petitioned for Rody to take care of his horse. Without hearing an answer the green-haired knight ran off.
"Wha-" Ryan and Cecil started.
"He's probably getting something to eat." Rody answered.
Fifty seconds later Luke came sprinting back with something in his arms. "H-hey, y'know how I said I was hungry? Well here." he tossed everyone a package. Unwrapping his package Ryan found a small batch of strawberry scones, they weren't Mom's but who cares. He shoved one into his mouth.
"Figures that you would bring sweets." Rody remarked looking at the contents of his package.
"Hey! Too much salt's bad for you Rody!" Luke reminded.
"Not enough salt can kill you." Rody countered. He then promptly thrust the package into his saddle bag. "There's no time to waste."
All Cain could hear was the shaking rasp of his own breath.
Damn.
That was the only word his mind could process.
Damn.
What else would someone in his position be thinking? Maybe guilt, about how they failed? Or maybe thinking about the people they would probably never see again. Those were all better things to think about but his mind refused to listen.
Damn.
He repeated this word over and over again in his head.
His back was cut up and he could feel blood trickling from the wounds.
He felt alright, although in any other situation he would've called himself insane. In fact Cain felt relief, he had never felt so relieved. The whip had an iron tip on the end that bit into his flesh. At every pause he had silently begged whatever diety was up there, that the lash was the last one. At first the tough material of his jacket had offered a little resistance. But upon realization, the bandits tore it from his shoulders, it was now tossed in a corner. But in hindsight, it wasn't that bad.
It was afterwards, the salt water. During the whipping Cain had managed to keep silent aside of a few sounds of anguish that escaped his lips. But the salt water...he could still hear it. A scream of pure agony, it had taken several moments to realize that it was his own.
His brain was fried, his power to think rationally was nearly gone. His eyes were open and staring but his mind was shut off.
Damn you Abel, where are you when I need you?
Ryan held out a hand, it was covered with leaf shaped shadows. He strained his ears and eyes for the slightest sound or movement. Honestly he was starting to question the reliability of their information. Gordin had once told him that the trick to tracking was to look for details. A crushed patch of grass, a broken twig, anything. But he couldn't find anything.
He recalled a distant memory of playing hide-and-seek back home. He had figured out the secret of successfully being 'it'. To find someone hiding, think like the person hiding. Maybe it was the same way with tracking?
The little archer leaned against a tree thinking, surely a high vantage point would be a good place to start looking. But even as the thought crossed his mind, a whizzing sound cut the air. An arrow shaft struck Ryan, the point stuck into his shoulder guard. Jumping two feet into the air the green-haired archer barely managed to supress a scream.
The thunk sound of the arrow alerted the rest of the 7th battalion. Luke launched his javelin through the leafy branches, out of sheer luck the weapon struck. Ryan tugged at the shaft, it was lodged firmly in his shoulder guard but it was just armor. He wrenched the fire hardened tip out of the guard then aimed his own arrow at the tree tops.
Now that he knew what to look for, Ryan managed to pick out a target. The bandits had smeared mud and leaves onto their skin and clothing, melding into the undergrowth. His arrow barely missed form the cascade of leaves.
A hand axe came flying and nearly beheaded Ryan.
A few braver-or more foolhardly -bandits lept on to the forest floor. Cecil tore into them with a vicious delight. Ryan feebly tried to help out where he could.
"Is that it? Is there more?" Luke asked waving his sword around.
"No. There's no more, we'll take the eastern route out, if there are anymore bandits, we'll see them." Rody decided.
A deep anxiety grounded itself in Ryan, on the way out he found himself jumping at the very flicker of a shadow.
"Ryan, if it's so scary then why do you come camping?" Gordin asked.
"It's just at night! I can't see anything." Ryan insisted.
"Well...that's just part of the night time, besides, you've seen hundreds of shadows, they're just shadows. I'd think you would've figured that out by now."
"..."
Just another thing that carried from his childhood. But it had been easier back then, because terrified or not, he knew that there was nothing-well usually nothing-in those shadows, but not in this case.
But soon, the fear was drained out of him in favor for something else. Constant glances at the sky caused the archer's heart to sink to his feet. It was almost sun down, the edges of the sky were turning dark. It would be nearly midnight when they got back to the palace. No chance to...
Ryan heaved a sigh of disappointment and guilt, the negative feelings were twisting his insides.
"So what's going to happen to-"
Author's Note: One more chapter left! What's going to happen to Sir Cain? Is Ryan cut out for the army? Will Rody's demeanor return to normal? Will Cecil be able to whale the tar out of some unfortunate bandit? Will Luke be able to take anything seriously? All this will be found out in the third and final chapter!
Reviews will be greatly appreciated.