Hey! It's me again! I've set a schedule, I hope to get atleast two chapters out a week. This will allow me to produce quality writing while still allowing me to further the story pretty quickly. I've been speeding through these first couple of chapters (FE chapters, not story chapters) pretty quickly. Most of the story will be developed after the Gallia story arc, and when moving into the Begnion story arc the story will significantly slow down and I hope to stick lots of character development between the boat ride and the beginning of the Daein Invasion story arc. Anyways, once again, read and review! Here's chapter 3, "Cute girls can be crazy too."
-!-O-!-
"Blazes, why does it have to be so blamed humid!?" Gatrie swore as we walked through the forest. After the battle, Greil ordered us to pack up our things and get the hell out of the fort. I personally couldn't tell which things were mine or someone else's, so I just brought my sword and a few of those "Vulnerary" things. Greil did question my decision to pack so light, but in this humidity, I'm glad I did. I mean, atleast I wasn't Gatrie right now. "If we weren't being chased, I'd strip off this armor here and now!"
Oh god. Bad thoughts, bad thoughts... "Gatrie, keep those things to yourself. I mean, I'm sure all of us are glad that we're being chased now." Gatrie shot me a glare that I'd be scared of if Greil wasn't his commander. Ha, take that.
"He's right though, this heat is appalling." Titania fanned herself with her hand as she said this. Personally, I think she shouldn't talk, she's on a freaking horse. But then again, I'm sure none of us would mind if she took off her armor. I wonder how old she is, anyways?
"Dense forests such as these are not made for us delicate humans. The sub-humans love 'em, though." Shinon said this with spite. "Thought they were called Laguz?"
He glared at me. "Those things don't deserve to be called their own name. They're just morphed humans that should go burn in some ditch." Greil smacked Shinon across the back of his head, and Shinon nearly did a flip. I choked on the jerky I was chewing on. Then Greil smacked my back, and I literally fell forward on my face. Ignoring the laughs I got, I just got right back up and continued walking, a bit humiliated.
Eventually we reached the end of the forest, which lead into a clearing with a river running straight through it. For some reason there was a fence running atleast a few miles across on the other side of the river, and the bridges leading across the river were heavily guarded. Greil said we had to get across that river, and I could do nothing but just sigh throughout the entire plan explanation.
Greil, Shinon and Gatrie were to catch the attention of the guards at the bridge while the rest of us ran across the bridge as fast as humanly possible. Perfect plan, if not for the fact that they only got about half of the guards away from their posts. More fighting insued, but we finally crossed the river, only to fight more guards on the other side. We made short work of them, however. You have to wonder how they train their soldiers in Daein, though. If a few random mercenaries can destroy an entire garrison of soldiers, you know you have to rethink your training strategy.
-!-O-!-
Eventually…
"I don't know how, but we made it." We were all breathing heavy from the fight to get across the river. We all knew taking a break wouldn't help us at all with the chasing going on, but we couldn't help but attempt to catch our breaths. Mist, Elincia and Rolf came out of the forest when we gave the all clear signal. "Brother!" "My lord Ike!"
"Hey you guys. Yall all right?" They nodded their heads, and Mist sighed a sigh of relief. "Is this Gallia? We made it, didn't we? We're safe now, right? I thought I would feel different, but I don't…"
"We're relatively safe, but it's still too early to rest easy. The others haven't rejoined us yet." I blinked. He's right, Greil, Shinon and Gatrie weren't with us. I looked at the others, and they all looked like they had the same idea I did in my head. "Well, looks like this is where we part ways, Princess."
"But what do you mean?" She slightly cocked her head to the side. "We're going back to get our friends. So I want you to continue with Mist to the royal palace of Gallia."
"What!? No, Ike! I'm going to stay with you!" I shook my head. "Not gonna happen Mist. We have to do it this way so that everyone gets out of here alive. We'll catch up with you guys right away. Don't worry, have we ever broken a promise to you?"
"Well… no. All right, then. We'll go ahead." We all agreed, then, and parted ways. Mist, Rolf, and the Princess going deeper into Gallia, and the rest of us heading back to get the other three. I didn't know why, but I had this gut feeling things were going to go spiraling downhill from here….
-!-O-!-
We searched the entire forest, fighting small skirmishes along the way, but nothing too serious. We eventually decided to rest in an old fort. Soren called it Fort Meritenne, and it was pretty much ruined. The fact that the entrance caved in as soon as we entered the inner area of the place only further proved my point. Soren decided it couldn't be a coincidence that it caved in as soon as we got here, so we all readied our weapons and slowly explored the ruins in hopes of finding another way out.
Wasn't long before, gasp, we were ambushed by a party of Daein soldiers. We were stuck at a crossroad and they were coming from all directions. Performing a square shaped formation, we held our ground for, killing everything that got in our way. That's when it happened. It was so quick, I didn't even feel it until I was on the ground attempting to pull out the arrow that was stuck in my shoulder. Yes, I got shot.
"Agh! Holy shit, this hurts plenty more then I thought it would!" Boyd filled the hole I had left in the formation, and Rhys brought me into a nearby room to treat my wounds. "Ya know Rhys, remember a few days ago when I asked if it hurt to get shot and you said not really?" He nodded his head. "Well you're a freaking liar, it hurts like holy hell."
Rhys laughed it off and closed up my wound. The door to the room suddenly broke open, and a brigand flew into the room. We fell over and were shocked at first, but then we discovered he was dead. Looking for the source, we saw a blue-haired girl stretching at the door way. Bloody sword in hand, she smirked and waved. "Hey! You don't happen to be named Ike?"
"Uhh..yeah, but…who are you?" Sheathing her sword, she walked over to us and helped us up. "I'm Mia. A mercenary, hired by Crimea to bolster their numbers. I got careless and was captured. They were going to send me to a prison camp when Greil saved me. He told me about you guys. What are you doing here?"
"Well, fighting Daein." She blinked. "Fighting Daein? With only a few soldiers? Well that settles it!" It was my turn to blink now. "Settles what?"
"This battle! I'm coming on your side. You don't mind, do you?" I shook my head. "No, not at all. I just don't know if you'll get paid just because I let you fight." She shrugged it off and dragged me outside again. "We'll worry about the detail later! Great, so that's all taken care of! Time to fight, boss man!!"
As she dragged me off back into the fray, I couldn't help but shoot Rhys a look that just screamed 'This girl is very cute, but get her off me, I think she's crazy!' Rhys didn't look like he understood at all, though. Such a useless bastard, I had to remind myself to find a way to reduce his pay one of these days…..