Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem. I do own OCs and ancillary information.

I still need a Beta.

A Whole New Tale: Kaila's Revenge

By Enilas

Chapter 3: In the Domain of Bandits

Same Time

The Center Mountains, near the border with Bern

Half screaming in fear, Alstaria pulled hard at the reins of the Pegasus as the ground rushed upwards, as if charging straight at her. With barely a second left, the winged horse leveled off from its dive, hitting the ground hard, but with all four of its hooves, as opposed to its front end. The jolt from the violent landing threw the blonde shaman from her 'steed', and she flew forward, landing on the hard earth, both arms outstretched to arrest her momentum.

That, however, turned out to be a bad idea. She discovered that fact when a snapping sound hit her ears followed a moment later by a lance of pain shooting up her left arm. That single lance was followed by dozens more, until she could hardly think for the pain. Rolling over onto her back (The pain was so intense she couldn't stand to do much more.) she knew without any doubt that her left wrist was broken, quite possibly shattered. With her other hand, she gingerly held her left arm tight around the wrist, and pulled herself up into a sitting position, resting her right arm – holding her broken wrist- across her lap.

To distance herself from the pain, she slowed her breathing, closed her eyes and began to enter the meditative state Canas had taught her. Normally she only did it once a day, to center herself within the currents of magic around her. But other times when she had been in pain she also did it more often, for it dulled the pain. And this time was no different. The pain was still there, her wrist was definitely still broken, but she felt the pain as if it were at a…distance, if such a description could be given to such a physical and immediate sensation.

She was jarred from her reverie by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground loudly, followed by several repeated curses in what sounded like Ilian. She opened her eyes and saw another Pegasus, this one with a gaping hole in its wing, and bleeding profusely from a gash in its side- the spear thrust that had ruined the wing had carried through to hit the main body of the winged horse. The rider and her passenger- Cerian- dismounted. Alstaria breathed a sigh of relief, but now felt the pain returning.

Cerian saw the grimace on her face and the way she was holding her hand. He walked towards her a bit. "You alright?" He asked, even though he knew the answer.

"No, I'm not alright!" Alstaria snapped back. "My wrist is fucking broken." She forced herself to breathe deeply and tried again. "Sorry…It…It hurts like hell, frankly."

"I'm sure." Cerian said. "Give me a moment." He turned back towards the Pegasus rider, who was busy spreading the thick herb-paste of a vulnerary onto the gash in her mount's side. It would stop the bleeding and ease the healing process, although it would take an elixir or the powers of a cleric or priest to restore the wing to usability.

"Alstaria's wrist is broken." He told her once she was done. "Do you have any poppy-dust?"

The rider- who had introduced herself as Carina when he had first gotten onto her Pegasus- shook her head. "No." Before Cerian could say anything, she reached into her saddlebags and took out a small vial. "We use Milk of the Poppy in Ilia." She handed him the vial. "Just a few drops for now. And never more than a few drops. It's more effective than poppy-dust, but more likely for whoever uses it to be lost to it. So be careful." Cerian nodded.

"Thank you." He took the bottle over to Alstaria, who recognized the thick white liquid for what it was.

"No." She said firmly. "I'm not taking that. Poppy-dust is bad enough."

"Alstaria, we don't have any poppy-dust, and I don't see any staves or elixirs around to simply heal the bones. For the love of Father Sky, take it."

"No." Alstaria said. "I'd rather suffer. And I don't hold to that faith, as you well know-"

Cerian interrupted: "For once in your life, Alstaria, take the stick out of your ass, get over yourself, and stop hanging on to your pretensions. Take the damn Milk." Cerian ground out through gritted teeth. "And if you don't," he added, "I'll force it down your throat."

"You wouldn't dare." Alstaria half-snarled at him.

"Yes. I would actually." Cerian smirked at her. "And I'd do it gladly. Do I have to?"

"No." Alstaria sighed, "Give me the vial." Cerian handed it to her, and she twisted the lid off, and shook a few drops onto her tongue, then swallowed.

"How long does it take for this stuff to work?" Cerian asked, knowing his sister knew more about pretty much everything than him.

"Usually a quarter of a candlemark." She replied. "And how on Elibe are we going to get to Ostia now? Mom and Dad are going to come after us, that much is certain, but there's no way they'll find us without a miracle."

"Which of course you don't believe in. You know, even Dad finds your atheism strange." Cerian replied. "You know light magic exists, and you use 'Elder Magic' for crying out loud! Aren't there supposed to be 'Elder Gods' or something like that?"

"I don't deny there are powers out there beyond our understanding and perception, but I hardly consider them divine or dieific beings."

"I don't mean to interrupt your conversation," Carina interjected, "But you're right about one thing Alstaria.. It will be hard for your parents to find you, even if I got on the Pegasus you came down on and tried to catch up with the rest of the unit. I'd never be able to pick this little spot out from above. So the way I see it, we just start heading south and eventually we'll reach Lycia, and from there, it will be relatively easy to get to Ostia. And with any luck, on the way through the mountains we'll run into your parents."

"Sounds like the best plan available to us." Cerian said after a moments consideration. Alstaria nodded in agreement.


Two Hours Later

A valley in the Center Mountains

"I don't care what your orders are!" Lyn shouted at the Falcoknight. "Our children are somewhere back there, and we're going back to find them, with or without your help!"

"Commander, I'm quite sure that Lord Hector would not be displeased with you-" Alkeni tried to say diplomatically, but the Commander interrupted him.

"Yes, I'm sure you're right." She snapped at him. "Fine! Go!" She called over two of her knights. "If you're willing to wait until tomorrow, I'll send these two with you. Our Pegasi are worn out, and in no state to fly at the moment."

Lyn seemed about to tell her where she could shove her knights until Alkeni placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"We'll wait." He said, and forestalled any words from his wife. "Lyn. Cerian and Alstaria can take care of themselves for a little while. Its going to take time to find them either way. We need to be well rested when we start searching."


Same Time

Center Mountains, Near the Bernese border

"These mountains are dotted with small villages. Eventually we'll find one, and with any luck they'll have some spare supplies we can buy or barter for." Carina said, walking with the reins of both Pegasi in her hand.

"Yes, but aren't these mountains filled with practically as many bandit groups as there are villages? Technically the Bern Mountains are part of the center Mountains, and at least one group comes to mind: The Ganleon bandits for one."

"Mother handled them." Cerian told his sister. "I'm sure we can manage them as well. As long as we don't invite any-"

"We're inviting attacking by walking through bandit ridden lands with two Pegasi. You don't realize how much those are to interested parties outside of Ilia." Alstaria replied to her brother. Carina nodded in agreement, though disgusted at such disrespect for the noble Pegasi.

"Right ye are missy." Came a coarse voice from their left. Standing on a rocky outcropping was a short stocky man, quite muscular and covered in scars, a large axe hanging loosely from one hand.

"Lovely." Alstaria muttered. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

"I ain't the devil, I just work for him" The bandit replied. "Now hows about you hand them Pegasi over and we'll let you go off easy for trespassing in Borgo territory."

"Borgo territory? What the hell is that?" Cerian demanded.

"You really are far from home, aren't you?" The bandit chuckled. "I'm Zayyed, second in command of the Bandits of Borgo. And you're trespassing in our land. So I suggest you hand over the winged horses, or else we'll take them from you, and have fun with your little friends."

"Touch me and you die." Alstaria shot back. "We're not handing them over to scum like you."

"Hoho! She's got spirit. I like this one." Zayyed laughed. "Alright boys, come out and play!" At his words a dozen axe-wielding bandits came out of hiding all around them.

Cerian drew his sword, and then popped his neck. "Good. The world could use less scum like you and your fellows. Bring it on."

"You heard the man." Zayyed laughed again. "Let's bring it on!" At this command the bandits began to move towards them. Carina jumped on the uninjured Pegasus and flew up at Zayyed, who readied his axe.

Alstaria scored the first attack. "Etrekalve, Tridelic, Zazz'tla'ck!" An orb of black energy flew from her hand into one of the bandits. He tried to dodge it, and instead of hitting him full on, it hit his left arm, rendering it numb and useless.

"You little bitch! You'll pay for that!" He yelled, and charged directly at her, only to find his stomach sliced open by Cerian's blade.

The battled continued for another few minutes, Cerian and Alstaria raking up two more kills in that time, wounding a few others, although they both received small wounds of their own.

But they were hard pressed to keep going. Carina was busy distracting the Zayyed, darting at him with her spear, dodging his axe. Neither of them had scored a hit on the other.

The bandits closed in on the siblings, and Cerian gripped his sword tighter, Alstaria began casting another Flux.

Without warning, three arrows flew out of nowhere in quick succession and hit three bandits in their throats. Taking the new free moment, both Cerian and Alstaria attacked. Two more arrows hit Zayyed in the side and arm.

"This isn't over! Nobody crosses the Bandits of Borgo and lives!" The leader yelled, and then turned tail and ran. Carina tried to follow and drive her spear into his back, but then he ducked into a cave to narrow for Carina to follow on her Pegasus.

The three all took the chance to rest and take a breather, not knowing (and at this point not caring) who shot the arrows.

They found out who it was less than a minute later. They heard a neigh and the sound of hooves, and saw a young man on a brown-furred horse, a bow and quiver slung over his back. The man had light brown hair and brown eyes.

"Thank you." Carina said to him. "Your help was greatly appreciated..."

"Lyrus." The man replied. "My name is Lyrus."

"Well, Lyrus, I don't suppose you can help us find our way to a nearby village?"

"I can. Follow me."


::Linear Notes::

Lyrus: Lyrus starts as a level 3 Nomad.

Carina: Carina starts as level 3 Pegasus Knight.

For those of you who care/wonder, Poppy Dust is made from opium, and was used as a painkiller in ancient times, possibly as early as 4000 B.C. Milk of the Poppy is a liquid form of the same, used in the Middle Ages as a painkiller. In both cases, there was a danger of addiction, and the consequences of such were similar to addiction to Heroin. I've decided that in Elibe, Poppy is cultivated in Nabata, where it is one of the sole exports. There are also much smaller and less extensive poppy fields in central Sacae, since both areas are warm and arid, much like Afghanistan (where it is grown extensively now) and Mesopotamia (The place it was first used as a Painkiller.)

Candlemark= roughly an hour. I'll probably use them interchangeably in this fic, so keep that in mind.

And the use of the name 'Bandits of Borgo' is a very unsubtle reference to FE8. I'm sure most people who have played it will get it after a bit of thinking.

Review Replies

Gunlord500: I've never played FE6, and what I do know about it I don't like over much. I freely admit that I much prefer every aspect of FE7 over anything I know about (Plot, characters, gameplay) FE6. Besides, I don't want to write an FE6 story. I want to write a story about Kaila's quest for revenge that follows basic FE conventions in plot progression. And I also have problems with the shortness of some of the sections, but in Chapter 1 it was to help set the stage, and in Chapter 2 it was to help convey the chaos of the battle between the Pegasi and the Wyverns.

Greener223: I did not say I would make this a copy of FE6 (are you not reading the Author's Notes?) Nor did I say I would make the Djute an ally of Bern. Just so you know, Erik will NOT be betraying Lycia, among other things. (Thank you so much for forcing a spoiler out of me) Much of this will be different. But I didn't even know the Djute existed. Now that I do, I can put them into the story as another Sacaean tribe, like I was saying I would. But, you miss the point entirely. THIS IS NOT FE6! Nor will it ever be!

Chaos Hero Mark: A couple of years ago, my Latin teacher (when we were reading Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War or Commentarii de Bello Gallico, as it is called in Latin) told the class about an article he'd read entitled: "How to Tell a True War Story" (or something like that) by a former soldier who was now a writer. And the article basically said that you couldn't be vulgar enough, that any descriptions of the horrors of war you could present could never capture the essence of it. And also vulgar in the sense that soldiers curse. A lot. When you're fighting for your life, you don't have time or logical reason to worry about manners and politeness in the area of 'vulgar language'. And on top of that, the Pegasus Riders are fighting some 6000 feet above the air, when even the smallest mistake means they could be plunging to their death. That can lend itself to a bit of frustration.

And on the FE6 mistake, as long as you don't make it again, no worries. :P

Thanks Extended to: Gunlord500 (x2), Chaos Hero Mark and Greener 223 for reviewing

Thanks Extended to: AtS and FutureCam for favoriting this fic.

Thanks Extended to: AtS for subscribing to this fic.