Chapter 4: Camping Near Southtown
A comfortable bed and an ease of mind caused dawn to arrive sooner than expected, and the Shepherds had begun ran their morning preparation routines in the foyer and dining room of the Ylisstol castle as opposed to the regular campsite. Emmeryn, who was suffering from a mild hangover, made a point to greet every Shepherd with a warm "Good Morning", especially to her siblings who were to leave again soon.
Cloud had taken his morning warm-ups in the castle's royal garden. It consisted mainly of stretching and calisthenics. He was in the middle of performing one-handed handstand push-ups when he heard a woman's voice.
"Good morning, Cloud." Said Emmeryn. Unfortunately, this broke his concentration, and Cloud struggled to maintain his balance, before falling on a pile of Easter lilies.
"Ah. Good morning Emmeryn." Cloud replied.
"Cloud! Are you okay?" Emmeryn knelt down next to Cloud, who stood up and brushed himself off.
"Huh? Of course, I'm fine. Besides, these flowers broke… my fall…" Cloud right eye twitched as he struggled to hide the mind splitting headache forming from his brain attempting to repair his lost memories.
"Oh, I'm glad."
"Anything you needed?" Cloud asked, massaging his temples.
"Nothing in particular, I just wanted to greet you." Emmeryn answered. "Oh, but I think you should head inside now, Chrom is briefing the new Shepherds."
"I see."
"Do you have a headache, Cloud?"
"I… No, I don't..." Cloud corrected. "…But I should be asking you that question. I think you drank too much, so you were kind of out of it last night."
"I was?!" Emmeryn gasped and covered her mouth in horror. "I knew this would happen! I always get carried away whenever Chrom and Lissa come back." Cloud chuckled, and assumed she didn't remember much from last night, save the events that lead the two to become friends.
"Don't worry, you didn't do anything embarrassing." Cloud reassured. 'At least, not in public.'
"Oh, good. I've been told I can get a little bit… passionate… at times. But I'm glad that it didn't happen last night." Emmeryn sighed, feeling relieved.
"…"
"…"
"…Well, anyways, I think I'm going to head inside now. Sorry about those flowers, Emmeryn."
"Huh? Oh, don't worry about it. Those Easter lilies, they're a resilient bunch. I'm sure they'll be fine."
"Right. Well, I'll see you later, Emmeryn."
"Yes. Farewell for now, Cloud."
Cloud reentered the castle, and found Gaius and Panne standing next to Chrom, so he walked over to them.
"Ah, Cloud. So glad you could join us." Chrom began. "Since you guys are new here, its compulsory that I give you a run down on the rules as a Shepherd: Protect your comrades, friendly fire isn't tolerated, try to help set up camp, no stealing..." Chrom glanced and Gaius. "…and so on."
"Yeah, yeah..." Gaius squirmed.
"Anything else should be common sense. Just try to be a good Shepherd and I'm sure you'll fit in quite nicely. Anyways, that's about it. Any questions?" Gaius raised his hand.
"So um, where do I—"
"What exactly do we as Shepherds do?" Cloud interrupted. Gaius put his hand down.
" Our original objectives were to defeat the bandit factions that terrorize Ylisse, but then the Risen showed up, so we have to take care of them too. And now… due to some recent unfortunate circumstances… we have re-sparked a war with Plegia, so we need to end that conflict too."
"I see. So where are we headed?"
"Haven't confirmed it with Robin yet, but I believe we are going South-East. We're checking the status of the more rural regions of Ylisse with the Risen threat increasing."
"Understood. That's all the questions I have."
"Ah, okay then. Any other questions from you two?" Chrom asked, looking at an eager Gaius and a bored Panne.
"Finally! Okay, where do I sleep?" Gaius asked.
"Did you not have a tent when you were working for the assassins?"
"I did… but… now I don't." Gaius cryptically replied.
"Okay, well I guess I'll give you your pay early." Chrom reached in his pocket and handed Gaius a sack of gold. "While we're still in Ylisstol, go buy yourself a tent." Chrom turned to face Cloud and Panne. "Do you two have a tent?"
"No." Cloud and Panne both replied.
"That's what I thought." Chrom grabbed two more pouches containing gold and handed them to Gaius. "Can you buy a tent for each of them too?"
"Fine. But I get to keep what's left." Gaius smirked, and left to the market. Chrom sighed.
"Well, you two should get some money right now too." Chrom handed each of the them a pouch of gold. "Go buy anything you might need right now. We're going to be gone a few days."
"Anything?" Panne's eyes lit up.
"Yes, anything, but preferably something you actually need to survive."
"I need carrots to survive. Does that count?"
"…I suppose it does. Go ahead and buy some carrots for yourself." Chrom sighed. Panne eagerly ran away to the market.
"Any place I can buy some pain relievers?" Cloud asked.
"Hm? Oh, we already have stocked up on vulnerary. You can just take some, if you'd like."
"No, I need it for my headaches. Like, right now."
"Oh. Well, you might want to check the apothecary, then. She might have something for you." Finally, Cloud left too and Chrom shook his head.
"Ugh… minus another five hundred gold from the Shepherd's budget."
After all preparations had been made, the Shepherds said their goodbyes to Emmeryn and the people of Ylissitol, and headed West, wrapping around the mountains to reach the South-East area. Eventually, they switched their march to head South. Dusk finally came and the tired Shepherds set up camp near the southern forest.
"All riders, please scout a one kilometer radius around the camp for any enemies." Chrom ordered to the Shepherds, who were all standing outside the planning tent. "Robin, Panne, Virion, Gaius, and Vaike, can you head into the forest to find some wild game? Mages, stay at camp to start the bonfire, everyone else, please gather some firewood."
The Shepherds did as they were told and spread out. The scouts galloped away and the hunters and gatherers went to the forest to look for food. The hunters followed Panne due to her animal instincts. Cloud, however, followed just to look for the biggest tree he could find.
Two hours passed and the riders returned.
"No sign of trouble, milord." Frederick reported.
"Good." Chrom replied. 'Finally, we can have some peace and quiet.'
Meanwhile, the hunters were having a bit of trouble finding any wild game.
"Panne, my dear. Can you direct us to the where the delicious beasts reside?" Virion asked. Panne pointed toward a riverbank.
"Check the river, they're bound to be nearby a watersource." Virion, Vaike, and Robin followed her suggestion. Panne stayed to gather berries, and Gaius completely left the group.
"Hey Virion, look over there!" Vaike exclaimed, pointing next to the riverbank where an elk was resting next to a tree and rabbits were scurrying into a hole. "Robin and I can handle the elk, but can you shoot the rabbits?" Virion scoffed.
"I do not kill such defenseless beings." Virion whisked his head away, practically slapping Vaike with his long silver hair. Virion's stomach growled loudly. "But I'll make an exception just this once." Panne returned with an armful of berries when she saw Robin and Vaike empty handed, feeling disappointed at their inability to catch the elk. Virion, however, had a smug grin on his face and was carrying dead rabbits by their tails.
Panne forced herself not to gag. She punched Virion in the face, before storming off in anger.
"Ouch!" Virion rubbed his jaw. "Whatever was that for?!"
"Oh… I forgot. Panne's a taguel, a rabbit like species. I suppose that this offended her." Robin suggested.
Panne arrived at the camp and ten minutes later, Virion, Vaike, and Robin returned too.
"Welcome back, so is this—" Chrom stopped himself, noticing that only four of them returned. "Wait… where's Gaius?"
"Well, looky what we have here...?" He mischievously smiled. Gaius found a dozen of dead soldiers and searched their bodies. He rummaged through their personal belongings, tossing any trinkets of little value, but pocketing all the gold and finer jewelry that he could find.
Gaius eagerly walked back to camp with his pocket lined with riches when he heard a thumping noise.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The noise was getting closer and closer. Gaius took a dive for the ground and covered himself with leaves and dirt. He silently prayed that the entity would leave, until finally the thumping noise was fading away. He stood up from his position and looked around, but could not see anything that could have caused the noise in sight. That was, until, he looked in the direction of the camp and saw a thick, twenty foot tree-like thing whose silhouette was visible through the lights coming from outside the forest.
"Oh Gods. It's heading for the camp." Gaius whispered. He dropped all the loot he was carrying and ran back camp, circling around the threat.
"Gaius! Where were you?! Your team arrived here half an hour ago!" Chrom scolded.
"Chrom! There's no time! Something headed for the camp! I-It's some sort of huge tree!"
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The whole camp went silent as the thumping noise came closer and closer.
"Everyone, raise your weapons." Chrom ordered. The Shepherds silently gathered around the entrance to the forest where the noise was coming from, and waited for the threat to arrive.
"C-Chrom! What is that thing?" Lissa asked, frightened.
"I don't know, Lissa… but we need to protect ourselves. As soon as that thing reveals itself, everyone, strike it down!"
"What is it… a treant?" Chrom heard a voice in the crowd.
"What? That's just an urban legend." Someone responded. They were right. It was indeed just an urban legend made to stop naughty kids from playing in the forests at night, but Chrom found himself more terrified of it than ever before.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The creature was only a few feet away, but still shrouded in the darkness of the forest. Chrom's hand holding the Falchion shook violently in anticipation and fear. It refused to come out, for whatever reason.
"Show yourself, monster!" Chrom ordered.
"What the hell are you talking about?" A familiar voice rang out and the "creature" stepped out of the darkness of the forest.
It was Cloud, carrying a large tree shaft, more than 4 times his height.
"I got the firewood, just like you asked, Chro—" Cloud noticed everyone holding their weapons, frightened, and staring at him. Cloud set the large tree down.
"…Did I miss anything?"
"At ease, everyone." Chrom let out a sigh of relief. "It's just Cloud." All of the Shepherds finally relaxed, and laughed as they returned to the camp.
"Gods, I was so terrified…" Chrom muttered to himself. Robin, who stayed behind with Chrom, patted Cloud on the back and laughed.
"You had us all worried, man. But thanks for the wood, Cloud. I don't think we needed this much, though."
"…Worried?"
"We all thought you were— Actually, don't worry about it. It was just some childish paranoia." Cloud shrugged, and picked up the tree trunk and carried it back to the camp. Chrom followed soon after.
In the forest…
"That damn thief blew our cover!" A voice shrieked.
"Now, now. We'll get them next time." Another gruff voice replied.
And the two treants scurried back into the depths of the forest where they belonged.