Lucina's Offensive
Battle in the North-Eastern Ylissean Plains (Part 1)
Commanding Lord(s): Lucina (Ylisse) VS Ikit Claw (Skaven)
In the days that followed the fall of Samsooth, the Rat-Man horde in Ylisse spread through the northern mountains of the country like a plague. Time dragged on in this manner, with the Skaven invading and desecrating more and more once-great cities with their vile prescence, and the countries to the south retreating further and further away in fear. The Skaven, having no real resistence to their actions, began taking the time to exterminate and enslave the populaces at a relaxed paced after it became clear that no help would arrive for the people of Northen Ylisse still in their cities. It seemed as if the vermin would soon overrun the tnire continent, but after the mountains in northern Ylisse were conquered, the Rat-Men's progression stopped for the time being, and little was known of their activities for a good two months save for raiding parties on cities near to the mounntains, though these were slain or driven off viciously.
King Chrom bore the weight of the many, many lives lost during his short reign. A number much greater than any of his father's wars, as well as all of his previous wars. The sheer weight of his guilt caused him to begin losing his youthful stride and courage. Instead of leading his soldiers to battle, as he would have done in years past, he preferred to spend the silence of peace building ever more magnificent strongholds more and more to the south, and preparing to evacuate the rest of northern Ylisse in the hopes that doing so would appease the invaders. The Skaven ignored this offer, no doubt seeing it as a show of weakness, and instead began to march upon Plegia, setting their sights on what was once Altea. Few members of both the Plegian and the Ylissean aristocracy and military had objections to their rulers' decision to let the Rat-Men have it.
But Lucina, the time displaced princess of Ylisse, had no intention of laying by and losing the world she had fought so hard to preserve, and so she urged her father to allow her to intercept the forward force that the Skaven had sent out to the Plegian borders, and to grant her any fragment of the Ylissean army he could to aid her in this task. She now rode towards what was once the Altean capital, planning to liberate it, as the Skaven amassed outside of the abandoned city. The Skaven were rumoured to be planning to use it as a place from which to launch their invasion of Plegia and loot its many treasures. From scout's reports, Lucina also came to know that they had sent out the brunt of their army, ready to meet her in the plains of what was once Gra's countryside to stop her advance, even as their compatriots in Altea itself, hoped to establish defences should the battle at Gra end badly, and force their kin to retreat to what was once the Hero-King's home.
The Skaven (as they called themselves according to accounts of escaped slaves) that had taken the already evacuated city were led by a beast made of flesh and steel who was now leading an army of creatures both like him, half steel and half flesh, as well as simple rats, who were purely flesh and blood. Though this rat-thing, Ikit Claw, would not lead the battle against Lucina, he would no doubt be prepared for her arrival with machine, contraption, and blade ready to end her efforts.
On the subject of the rat-thing's contraptions, as it was a subject that had confounded the Ylisseans most of all about the,, was their unprecedented developments in technology. Now this was because, as the residents of Ylisse eventually pieced together, in the early days after the Skaven's arrival in Ylisse, they had arrived into the bitter climate of Ferox, with little in the way of food and shelter. Because of this, they first encounters both against the quickly decimated Feroxi armies, as well as against the Ylisseans, were more desperate lunges for survival than true invasion. But as time went on, and when they marched upon the mountains in northern Ylisse, they had already begun to regain their true strength. And by the time they had taken Samsooth City, they had already begun to plot against each other, as the prominent figures amongst them began rising in power once more. The leader of the Skaven seeking to occupy Altea was Ikit Claw, who was seeking to hold a foothold for Clan Skyre from which to conquer Plegia, as theYlisseans had already been bullied into compliance, and what had once been Gra having turned since ancient times into a barren desert.
Lucina rode at the head of her army, on her left side rode her friend and advisor, Tiki, who had grown closer to her after the war against Grima, and who had taken a fiery interest in protecting Altea. On her right side rode sir Frederick, who had once been her father's steward, but after Chrom's ascencion to the throne and subsequent fall from grace through the Skaven fiasco, now served Lucina. Robin the tactician was not accompanying the entourage, as after he had fled from Samsooth, he had taken the Einherjar of the heroes of Jugdral and began to engage the Skaven in guerilla warfare both underground and on the surface, causing great chaos for the Skaven and diverting their attention from expansion into Ylisse, as well as their increasing infighting.
Lucina looked at the horizon from atop her horse. What had been a pleasant view in past few weeks of hastened travel was now a bleak sight. The countryside of Plegia that was before them looked to be prepared to run red with the blood of both man and monster as the overwhelming rat-man horde began to emerge from the horizon. The princess was tired from the harsh march that had brough her to this spot, and began to have second thoughts about the battle ahead. She began to dread what was to come, even though the Skaven were still far enough away to be mere specks in her field of view.
Frederick, almost as if sensing her worry, spoke to her, "Your highness, is everything well? If you wish to move to the back of the army, no one will hold it against you. The aim of this fight is not glory, but victory. For that we must assure your survival before all else."
"All is fine, Frederick." said Lucina. "I just... need your appraisal on this battle. Do you think we will win?"
"My lady, you've the best soldiers Ylisse has to offer on your side, you fight under the conditions you chose, and you've the Voice of Naga at your side. Rest assured. We will win."
"Speaking of," mused Lucina, turning to Tiki. "I don't suppose we can expect to receive Naga's blessing before this battle? To be honest, the divine dragon's silence during this ordeal has many people worried, Tiki. Why is Naga absent in this time of tribulations."
The green haired Manakete, who had been half-asleep on her saddle, woke up in attention, and took a moment to process what had been asked to her. But when she regained her composure, she turned to Lucina and said, "It worries me too, Lucina. But even I cannot speak to her as of late. Whenever I have tried, I only feel claws, roars and sounds of battle. It seems as if there is a war in the very heavens. If I lose my grip on my self to the surge of emotions, I think can make out an image. A horned rat, fighting Naga with tooth, claw, and divine will. It is a struggle this world has not seen since the days of Loptyr."
"Well then. It's a good thing we at least have her support in this. If she herself is embroiled in struggle, then it can only mean that our victory is entwined with hers. Let us not lose this battle." said Lucina, as she looked to the distance. The Rat-Men had broken rank and began to march instead towards the Ylissean army. Some of the soldiers around Lucina began to shift uncomfortably in place.
"I concur." said Frederick, as he looked at the now approaching Skaven horde seeking any weakness amongst their rank, so as to get a better handle on whether he would survive the battle. Content with his chances, he said, "Your highness, the enemy is fast approaching. Is now a good time to assemble the troops into formation?"
"Of course, give the command." said Lucina, moving with her entourage to the spot from where she would oversee the charge against the Skaven. Though the princess was no doubt a brace one, she had also spent most of her military career facing off against the Risen, and came to know how to not only fight against them herself, but from the many failures she had witnessed growing up, she learned how to lead troops against them. And she saw little difference in the tactics of the Risen and of the Skaven. This did not mean she planned to not partake in the battle at all, far from it, but she would be leading the relief forces and attacking from the side with the rest of the cavalry, allowing the infantrymen to receive both the glory, and the danger, of battle head on.
Leaving command of the main infantry, a force consisting of conscripted lance-wielding soldiers, mages and knights, to Frederick. She departed with her horsemen to the west, in the hopes of reaching a distance from which they would be able to charge effectively. The rest of the Ylissean forces spread out amongst the infantry consisted of what survived of the clergy after many of their numbers waged covert war against the Skaven with the aim of liberating the slaves under them, what few mercenaries had not already sold themselves to the Skaven, and the last dregs of the Ylissean Pegasus Knights, whose herculean work in reconaissance proved invaluable to the war effort, but also lead to their order being the one with the most casualties so far. Because although their numbers had already been bolstered by Griffon Riders, and Tiki and Nah as well, the age of the Pegasus Knight's hegemony across the skies as soldiers was soon coming to an end. And last, but certainly not least, was the implementation of a technology that had once been thought lost in Ylissem and that had only been used in years long past, when the continent was known as Archanea. The ballista of the elder times had been put back into use, and with the aid of Miriel the Court Magician, they packed a much different punch than before.
Though the Ylissean army seemed motley, as it had been cobbled together from wherever King Chrom and Robin had managed to squeeze out available troops, it was still a large force numbering in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. This was to be the first fight in which Rat and Man would fight with an equal amount of numbers.
After a good half hour of marching towards each other, the Ylissean forces shifting and shuffling regiments and formations, the armies were finally at charging range. Although the Skaven had made no effort to form ranks, there still seemed to be a purpose in their stances. One could see that even in their bare bones tactics, it was the smallest, most disposable rats who were the first charging hungrily at the Ylissean forces.
While Lucina led the cavalry into position, it was up to Frederick and his guard to spearhead the charge against the Skaven. The stories of the rat's deeds had struck a chord in Ylisse, fear, dread and confusion dominated whatever conversation turned to the subject of these invaders. But as Frederick stood amongst his country men and turned to see the men around him, he was awed by the firmness with which they stood, sizing up the enemy and gripping their arms with bloodthirsty hands. It seemed seeing the enemy up-close in its vile decadence made the men annoyed, no, ENRAGED, that these vile beasts had taken their homes and the lives of family and friends. Frederick, who had dismounted after leaving Lucina's side gripped his lance, raised his pavise and began to run forward. The spirit of the Ylissean men was already alight. Sullying the moment with an attempt at a rally would have to wait, for doing it at that moment would be a waste.
Both man and skaven ran at each other, bellowing their respective battle cries before crashing mid-field, the Ylissean formation and spears keeping them at a comfortable distance away from the Skaven. But this did not last, for as soon as the first wave of Skaven was beaten down, another took its place near instantly, jumping over the spears separating the two armies and beginning to strike at the ranks of Ylissean troops, as they had long ago learned how to face off against formations like these. It was in this chaos of savagery that the first glimpses of the larger Skaven, the Stormfiends, began to be heard. The sound of those beasts would have brought fear to the Ylissean soldiers, but they were too preoccupied by their battle with the smaller Skaven to see the looming figures.
But try as they might to ignore the inevitable, it was not long before the reality of their situation reared its godforsaken, ravenous, disgusting head, and the enormous armoured rats charged at the Ylissean lines, cutting through both ally and foe in a bid to claim blood and Ylissean lives.
The men of Ylisse had seen many beasts in their lives, and most present had fought against Grima and the Risen during the wars against Plegia. But they were little prepared for the reality of the enormous rats tearing through them, seemingly immune to spear and sword that clashed against them. This predicament would have made the soldiers despair, but their worries were burned away by the mages accompanying them, who had a much moreproactive role in battle than they ever had before in the battles against the Skaven, as in previous battles they had fought defensively, now, they fought viciously and outwardly, letting loose flurries of Elthunders and Arcfires, burning through Skaven at speeds and with an ease that was not present for the Rat-Men before. This onslaught caught them by surprise, as they had not brought many grey-seers along with them, but it did force them to start working towarads bringing their Doomwheels closer to the front lines, doing so by forcing a charge by both their weaker and stronger units attacking all at once in a desperate attempt at keeping the Ylissean soldiers at bay and bringing their better weapons to the front.
This plan would have worked, as at that moemnt in time, the warriors and soldiers in the front line were hard pressed to hold back the attack of the enormous armoured rats from their mage comrades, only keeping in one piece against the myriad amounts of strikes through sheer force of will and promptu healing from the War Monks. As it stood, the doomflayers and doomwheels would have destroyed the Ylissean lines, but it was at that moment that the pegasus knights descended from the heavens, led by Sumia and her future-daughter, Cynthia. With tome and javelin in hand, the Pegasus Riders, Dark Riders, and Griffin Riders flew down from the heavens, from where they had been throwing potshots and concentrated fire, and insteadlet loose their ordinance over the Skaven's war machines as they flew in a near vertical line from the direction of the sun with such speed and precision, that it was not until after they had finished their descent and began to fly over the Skaven's war machines that the beasts began to fire their rifles and arrows at them. But even then, the riders flew with such speed and tenacity, that it caused the Skaven to have difficulty killing the riders, which made the Ylisseans lose only the slowest of their flyers. Though that was a lower number than Sumia had first predicted upon leading the charge, she was horrified to see upon the flyer's retreat back further into the sky that very few Griffon Riders were still among the flyer's numbers, as many had perished through the attack.
Thankfully, the sacrifice of those soldiers made all the difference for the Ylisseans, because although the Skaven's war machines still made their way to the front, the delay of their arrival allowed skilled warriors like Vaike and Gregor to lead their comrades in avoiding the worst of their wrath, if only for the best amongst them. But nevertheless, the damage wrought by the machines and stormfiends was too much for the Ylissean lines to hold, and their formation began to break. These woes came to a head when the rest of the skaven force, the smaller skaven wielding warpcannons and swords began to run over the piles of corpses that littered the front lines and into the Ylissean's lines. From the perspective of the Pegasus Knights above, it was as if there was a mound of man and rat, with the rats enroaching the human defenders who were only being held together by grit, spit, and the desperate healing efforts of their allies. The mages fared little better, as many of their tomes were beginning to run out, leaving them as little more than burdens on the time, many of them would begin to retreat, allowing for more infantrymen and monks to make their way to the front line, extending what was effectively a stalemate.
This would have continued, as more and more fighters on both sides dropped dead by the hundreds, but from the west came relief for the Ylisseans. Led by Lucina, whose face beared a fire unseen by this earth in the past two thousand years, the cavalrymen and knights charged at the exposed side of the Skaven's army. They cut through even the largest stormfiends and the odd gutter-runners who had hidden amongst the Skaven ranks. Lucina's blade glowed and was a beacon of light for her allies to rally around as they carved a path through the lesser Skaven, it was as if their Princess's audacity gave the men who followed her strength. Eventually, Lucina reached the front lines of the conflict and broke the western section of the Skaven's line, allowing her countrymen to charge forward, unabated by the inhumane prowess their Princess had just preformed. It seemed that she rode with Naga's direct favor. The fact she had a large dragon burning through the thicker parts of her path and bearing the brunt of the attacks directed at her was also helpful. Which brought her to the next step in her strategy, which was attempting to find a healer to put a badly wounded Tiki back in fighitng shape, as the charge she had carried out had caused her to have multiple bullet holes, warpcannon burns, and arrows lodged into her. Thankfully, the War-monks had not been wiped away by the vermintide, and so, did not waste a moment saving the Voice's life and easing her wounds, even as the Ylissean men around them moved back and ceded ground so as to regroup and better strike at the Skaven, whose shoddy attempts at formations were already beginning to falter.
Lucina slid off of her horse after clearing the area of battle, the firm battle lines of the Ylisseans giving just enough space for her to get through, and then immediately casting out the Skaven that had tried to follow her. Returning amongst her lines, she gave the order for the flyers to descend from the sky, as during her observations from the distance before her charge, she had seen that Skaven snipers had taken to shooting the Ylissean Flyers out of the sky.
After a good few minutes passed, she sought out her friend, Severa, in the skies, as she had taken the role of auxilliary flyer for this battle. Though Lucina looked flustered from her rush through the enemy lines, she was elated, for by her own blade and steed she had seen first-hand that the beasts bled just like anything else. This rose Lucina's spirits, as it had seemingly done so for those of the rest of the men in the army. Of course, this feeling would not last for much longer. As she saw the Riders descend from the heavens, Lucina's heart dropped when she saw the state many of her soldiers were in.
Many of the riders who arrived from the charge were wounded, the bullets from the keen-eyed Skaven tearing through their thin armor and shredding the bodies beneath them. Sumia's gambit to stop the advance of the Skaven's terrible machines had come at a cost. And Lucina saw it at its worst when she saw an unconsolable Sumia, surrounded by her gaunt, visibly shaken comrades trying to help her maintain her composure, she grew worried, as she could not see her daughter anywhere. Deciding to avoid facing what would no doubt break her emotionally, Lucina tried to distract her mind with other matters. Desperately trying to avoid being forced to face the reality of the situation. She was not in any rush to contemplate her own mortality, specially in the wake of the loss of one of her compatriots from the future-past.
Lucina was still attempting to gauge the damage that her flying comrades had received, and contemplated sending them out again. But she had difficulty focusing, as the frantic sounds of battle sounded less than fifty feet from where she stood. Lucina was beginning to approach a badly burned, agonizing Wyvern Knight whose large, gaping wounds had cauterized in the style that the Rat-Men's green cannons often did, but she was approached by Tiki before she began to walk towards the dying soldier.
"Lucina, do not let the losses your forces have suffered so far dissuade you from battle. Your men need you more than ever now." said the green haired Manakete, as she stopped Lucina in her tracks.
"But what can I do at this point? Even if we achieve victory today, it will have been our only victory, and won at a terrible cost. "
It was then that a fire began to burn brilliantly in Tiki's eyes. Within them burned a longing for love long gone, and battles fought and won in the far past. She stepped forward and spoke, "By your actions here today, you have already become the heart and soul of your nation, the star and savior of your people. Go on and lead them to glory in battle. Lead them to victory, for if you falter now and lose yourself to despair, then your country will fall, and the deaths and suffering before you have witnessed thus far will have been for nothing."
"And what of my father, then?" asked Lucina, as around her and Tiki, the flyers began to take wing once again, leaving their dead where they had fallen, and their wounded to be tended to by the clerics present. Lucina, however, was unaware of this, as she was too distracted by her and Tiki's words. "Surely he carries more weight than I do. He is the king. It was by his actions that Grima was defeated. If anyone will lead Ylisse to victory, it will be him."
"I never saw your father like I see you today. Though comrades gave their lives for him countless times. I do not think he ever spared a thought for those who served him like you do. If he had his way, your countrymen that are pushing back the Rat-Men today would still be holding the few parts of their country not ceded to the Rats, cowering behind the spirits of warriors of the past. Rest assured Lucina. Even if you fall today, you will have done much to inspire your people to take up arms against the invaders."
Lucina smiled then. First a half-smirk, and then a full grin. She reached for her sword and drew it saying, "Then what are we waiting for? Our path from here is clear."
Then Lucina, followed closely by Tiki, mounted her horse, signalled her guard, and rid to where one of her guard said he had heard Frederick had last been seen. Before long, and taking care not to get in the way of a squad of archers that had begun to fire from the outskirts of the battle, they arrived at Frederick's position. They found the Great Knight kneeling on the ground, leaning against his sword as he breathed heavily. It was aparrent that he had come to rest from the heat of battle, having a few moments before successfully pushed the third wave of Stormfiends away with his comrades, along with the aid of Tharja, Henry and their division of sages.
"Frederick! It is good to see you're well" said Lucina as she arrived. "How fares the battle? Did my charge do any good?"
Frederick nodded his head towards Lucina and said ecstaticly. "You have done splendidly, milady. Though a less knowledgeable man would call your actions crude and ineffective, I consider them to have been effective. Your actions allowed us to drive back the larger beasts and cripple the advance of the smaller ones." he then stood, and said with a more somber tone, "But our losses have been great. We've lost a lot of good people today. Our war-monks have taken the worst of it. By healing our soldiers on the front lines to the best of their impressive abilities, they became the biggest targets for the rats after the flyers retreated. I do not think we will have as much diversity of orders in our church if this war continues for much longer."
"I understand," said Lucina. Her eyes began to water, if ever so slightly. In her time, Grima's crusade, inquisition and subsequent eradication of the Ylissean church had been the cause of many terrible stories. Many of the most nostalgic tales of the future-past told of the beauty of Naga's churches and hymns. She did not wish for that to happen in this time, which she and her father had fought so hard to preserve. "But will we lose?"
It was at that moment that Frederick's face lightened up, and he said with determination. "Not at all. Our latest advance has surely scared the rats in charge. I am surprised. We did not see the assassins, machines and monstrosities Robin's reports warned us of. We must have struck at an opportune time. They must have known this all along, but now we know too."
"And why is that?" asked Lucina.
"Because if what the white haired sorceror's crows tell me is true, then we have the upper hand. Our enemy is retreating."
Lucina let out a hearty laugh then, and held her sword high once again. And once again the sunlight glimmered against it and ran down the length of her sword. "Then we charge! I shall be at the head of the formation if need be, but we cannot allow our opponents to retreat today. We will not let them reach Altea!"
End of Part 1.