2
Robin pushed open the rusted gates slowly, wincing at the gate's shrieking protests. The small force of Shepherds that had been assigned to the manor all covered their ears. The tactician stood aside, letting Chrom go first. Sully gave him a slight scowl as she walked by, absently rubbing at her ears.
Robin followed the small group, consisting of Chrom, Nowi, Sully, Stahl, and Virion. The ground leading up to the mansion was cracked and dry, with tell-tale signs of one pair of footsteps. Robin crouched down and got a closer look, absentmindedly chipping away at the print. Based on the size, it seemed to be a younger child.
The tactician stood. "We might have a problem." He announced quickly. Chrom, who was in the process of opening the door, turned and looked at him. "I think there's a child in there." Hearing the words, the Shepherd's faces hardened. Without a word they all readied their weapons. It was no secret that Risen had swarmed the entire countryside. It would be odd if there were no Risen in the Manor.
They entered the manor to be greeted with a long hallway. It stretched on into the darkness, shrouding the path with ominous shadows. Robin opened his tome, murmuring an enchantment. As a small flame of light formed in his hands, he whispered again and sent the light into the dark. The light had a mind of its own, slowly rising to eye-level and silently edging forward, lighting the path.
The group followed close behind, Stahl and Sully taking point. Without their horses, they cast a less-than-impressive figure, but Robin never doubted the skill of the Shepherds. The edged deeper into the manor, taking in all the details they could. Broken chairs, torn paintings, and various scratch marks along the walls.
A corner came into view, and the Shepherds were stopped in their tracks. Amongst a pile of purple ash and scattered weapons, lay a small white haired girl. Her face was cut, blood trailing down her cheek. Robin looked beyond the girl, seeing a small army of Risen attacking another person.
Before Robin could act, however, Chrom took control. "Shepherds!" The Exalt called, "To arms!" With a cry of war, the two knights and their king charged into battle. Robin and Nowi took up supporting roles behind the charge, leaving Virion to guard the girl.
With the tide of battle swiftly turning in their favour, Chrom took a chance and charged though the ranks of risen, hoping to help whoever they had been attacking. Before he could, Robin quickly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
"Chrom, there is nothing we can do. We must fall back." Robin spoke quickly, cutting down a risen berzerker with a quick stab. "No, we can still help!" The Exalt yelled over the clashing weapons. "There's too many!" Robin screamed, firing off arc thunder into the mass ranks of risen. Robin had misjudged the enemy, as more risen began to swarm from deeper in the manor.
Robin scanned for a route back to the rest of the Shepherds, looking for weak points in the enemy lines. Farther back, he could see Stahl and Sully starting to get overwhelmed. Where was Nowi with support?
Robin began to sweat profusely. Damn him. It was his fault. If he could have been a better tactician he could have saved them. Maybe if he could cause enough chaos, buy them time to get away. He began to charge up his arc thunder, readying for a final stand. When he was about to unleash the full force of the tome on the Risen, a wave of dragonfire rolled over the ranks of undead. Robin let out a sigh of relief. Finally, Nowi had come to help. Then, another blast of fire. Succeeded by another. The Risen were overcome by the sheer amount of flame. It was impossible for Nowi to use such power this fast, unless...
Robin sheathed his sword, satisfied the two manaketes had it under control. Virion rushed over, sending an arrow into a stray risen. "Dearest comrades!" He called. "The dear lass we saved turned out to be none other than-"
"Another manakete." Chrom finished lamely. Virion took on a hurt expression. Robin smirked and looked further down the hallway, watching a green and purple dragon roll though the air and breath fire down on the retreating risen.
Retreating risen...interesting. Robin took a mental note of the rudimentary tactics they were using. Perhaps they were not all as mindless as they had originally thought. If the Risen were growing smarter, it would prove to be a bigger threat than Valm could ever be. Robin came back to reality when a curiously familiar archer hesitantly made her way forward.
"H-hello..." She mumbled, eyes locked to the floor.
Robin let Chrom handle this, after all, the Exalt was used to recruiting random people. He smiled and went to Stahl and Sully, ready to hear their side of the fight.
:
:
It was not until later that Robin found out who the mysterious other manakete was, as she passed out shortly after combat. Nowi had said something along the lines of her using her power too much. Which was understandable, considering the immense power transforming must use. Robin could only speculate, however.
As they marched back into camp, Robin was greeted by a familiar tactician-in-training. "Father!" Her voiced echoed out. Robin, having experienced the same event multiple times now, dropped to one knee and held out his arms. Morgan promptly tackle-hugged him. Smiling, Robin stood as his daughter manoeuvred herself onto his shoulders.
The snow-haired girl played with Robin's hair, absentmindedly picking at the locks. "So, did you manage to beat Laurent in chess?" The tactician asked with a bemused smirk, already knowing what the answer was going to be. "Of course!" Morgan cheerfully replied. "He kept making amateur moves. No way he could compare to you, father!"
Robin chuckled. "I'm starting to worry, Morgan." Morgan cocked her head to the side. |About what?" Robin smiled proudly, looking up at her. "I think you may just take my place as Grandmaster for the army soon." Robin had never felt prouder of his daughter, and watching her face light up at the news easily made his day.
The other Shepherds had noticed that he was more bright, smiled more, and overall more cheerful. It was hard not to be when you had such an obnoxiously optimistic daughter follow you around.
"Father...I'm hungry." Robin nodded, starting to make his way over to the mess tent. Once inside, Morgan hopped off his shoulders and grabbed them both food, as Robin made his way to a smaller table near the back of the tent. Once seated, he noticed that the other manakete was devouring all food placed before her.
Robin scanned the girl closely, trying to avoid getting her attention. She looked slightly older than Nowi, and had pure white hair. Robin was slightly relieved, at least this girl had the common sense to wear decent clothing, and of course that she was all right. Robin looked to the table, deep in thought. If there was another manakete, then it would impact morale dramatically, as well as the brute force behind a dragon was unimaginable.
His head swimming with strategies, Robin failed to notice his daughter place the meal in front of him. Shaking his head and dismissing his daughter's worried questions, Robin began to eat.
He would have to question the manakete before Lucina got to her. If he could pry as much information from her before the princess quieted her, then he could plan around the future as best as he could. He knew that Lucina wanted to avoid changing the future as much as possible, but it as really helpful when he knew the events about to happen.
He would just have to intercept her before Lucina even found out she was alive.