Hero and a Priestess
And it continues on and on. Well this chapter will be pretty vague after the fight in the Kauku Caves. It will cover the Laguz Alliance's trip through Goldoa, back to Gallia, and where Begnion passes through Crimea. Enjoy!
If I owned Fire Emblem, which I don't, I wouldn't be writing this thing.
The already exhausted Laguz Alliance, hastened towards the caves at top speed. All hoped that legends were true, that there was an exit that led to Gallia. If not, then they would all die either by the hand of Begnion or by nature's own devices. Several laguz shifted into their beast forms in order to carry wounded soldiers into the caves. Everyone was rushing to and fro, all the while the Begnion army continued to close the gap separating the two mismatched armies.
"Oscar!" Ike shouted as he rode up to the squinty- eyed man. Ike dismounted the horse he had borrowed and handed the reigns over to its proper owner. "You're going to need your horse, just in case we do have to fight."
"But Ike what about-" Oscar began to protest before Ike cut him off. He reassured the green haired man that he would be fine; besides, Ike had no idea how to fight on horseback.
Oscar mounted his horse as Ike ran towards the Kauku Caves, where the majority of their force already was. Ike barely heard the cavalier shout out telling him to be careful. Ike ignored Oscar as he sped into the caves. The entire layout of the caves was desolate and very barren. The stifling heat weighted heavily on all the occupants. It was as Ranulf said, this wasn't a very good place to rest, but they were in here to escape not take a break. Ike immediately began to assist the injured laguz warriors up to steep incline to the mouth of the cave. It was backbreaking and tedious work that took a very long time. When everyone was in the caves, the Begnion Central Army had reached the edge of Serenes Forest. It was where the Laguz Alliance had been before they made for the Kauku Caves.
"Ulki," Ranulf started. "Can you hear what they're saying?"
The hawk laguz went silent, closing his eyes in concentration. Ike looked at the hawk as he remained as still as a statue for several minutes. Ulki finally opened his eyes and gave those around him a slightly sorrowful stare.
"A very powerful senator has taken command of the Begnion army," Ulki began relaying what he had heard. "He is ordering part of the Central Army to march on Gallia by way of Crimea and the other part of the army will try to climb the mountains. While they are doing that, the Northern Army will be coming after us here in these caves. Unless we want to be torn apart and leave Gallia open to invasion, we'd better find an exit soon."
"Ulki, go inform Skrimir of what is happening," Ike ordered. "And tell him to redouble his efforts in finding an exit. In the mean time, the Greil Mercenaries will hold back the Northern Army."
"You'll be getting some support from me, Ike," Ranulf piped in. "So don't worry."
"Alright, let's get moving!" Ike shouted so that everyone heard him. "All laguz are to assist moving the wounded further into the caves! Those who don't have any other task will go assist General Skrimir in his search for an exit!"
The army split in two, the majority of the laguz fleeing deeper into the caves while the beorc stayed behind. The earth began to vibrate violently, followed by a deafening explosion. Ike looked up to see a massive flaming boulder come hurdling down towards a group of scurrying laguz warriors. The laguz were flattened immediately by the impact. Those who escaped the initial rain of stone were pelted by fragments of scorching hot rock. The stones buried themselves deep in the skin, burning the muscles and flesh from the inside out.
"Be careful," Ranulf's subordinate, Kyza shouted. "These lava pits are still very active and constantly spit out boulders."
"Looks like they're here, Ike," Janaff informed the blue haired mercenary. "It doesn't look like it's the entire Northern Army, these guys look like more of a token force. I'd put their numbers around fifty, give or take ten soldiers. For the most part, there seems to be only common foot soldiers and heavily armored knights. Some mages, wait, there are also two practitioners of the dark arts with them. Some warriors are carrying crossbows. That sums up their force."
"Thank you Janaff. Let's see now," Ike observed the layout of the soon to be battlefield before him. High walls of rock split off into three paths. "Titania, you take the three brothers, Mist, Heather, and Nephenee. Ranulf, you will lead all of the laguz and take Rhys with you. I will take Mia, Ilyana, Soren, Gatrie, Shinon, Haar, and Jill. Titania will take the northern most route. Ranulf will lead his laguz south, sneak behind the enemy, and attack them from behind. I will hit them hard and fast, right up the middle. Any questions? No, good. Move out!"
The commander of each force took point with the others forming up behind them. Ranulf and his group engaged the enemy first, they were fighting are group of heavily armored units. They were easy prey for the lightning fast laguz, and Ranulf pressed his advance. Titania's group pulled up short of the enemy and took a defensive position in front of a patch of cracked ground. Ike moved his group down the lightly defended middle path. More loud explosions sounded as flaming boulders crashed down upon several Begnion soldiers, denting their armor but not killing them.
The battle raged on, but the Greil Mercenaries and the laguz clearly had the upper hand. They pressed their advantage over the Northern Army and began cutting to the general. The general had an unusual looking black mustache and slick black hair. He was a terrible leader though and very cowardly. He kept the majority of his elite soldiers in a defensive formation around him. The man couldn't even fight very well and he turned to flee as Ike charged at him. The general never managed to get away as Ike pushed Ettard to the hilt into the man's back and through his chest.
"Ike!" Ranulf called to his friend. "We can't let those men escape!"
Ike looked to see where Ranulf was pointing. He could see several soldiers clad in the crimson armor of Begnion, attempting to reach the mouth of the cave and escape to the outside. Ike and Ranulf gave chase, catching up to the soldiers with ease. The two warriors proceeded to kill each and every single enemy soldier. They turned back to see a member of the cat clan running towards them.
"We've found a way out," the cat exclaimed with glee.
"Good," Ike sighed. "Let's get out of here."
"You don't need to ask me twice," Ranulf added.
The three sprinted to rejoin with the main force of the Laguz Alliance, who was already starting to file out of the small opening. This exit only allowed three laguz to pass through at a time, so the proceedings took a few hours. Finally they were all back in the open once again. Ike inhaled deeply, filling his longs with air instead of ash for the first time in several hours. A cool breeze swept through the young man's hair, it felt like heaven compared to the blistering heat in the Kauku Caves.
"We're home," Skrimir sighed with relief. "I thought my rashness had doomed us all, but we've made it home at last."
"Hey Skrimir, has all that heat gone to the heat gone to that shaggy head of yours?" Tibarn asked the fiery lion laguz. "Look around you. Is this Gallia?"
"Hmmm," Skrimir took another look at the surrounding landscape. Something about it didn't look familiar. "No! It can't be! We're in Goldoa aren't we?"
As he spoke, several dragons glided down from the sky. They demanded to know what the Laguz Alliance was doing in their lands. Tibarn attempted to explain their current situation to the very angry dragons, while Skrimir began muttering about always wanting to fight a dragon.
"By the Goddess, did we screw up," Ranulf shook his head, his tail hung limp between his legs.
The leaders of the Laguz Alliance, Tibarn, Skrimir, Reyson, and Ranulf, were taken along with Ike to meet with the king of dragons. Dehgensia was a laguz with one rule; his country would remain secluded and neutral in every single affair. He wanted to send the Laguz Alliance back through the Kauku Caves and into Begnion. The old king refused to give any aid to the wounded. Dehgensia only wanted these intruders off of his land as soon as possible.
"Your Majesty," Ena spoke up. "Reyson saved the soul of your son three years ago. Would you condemn these people despite all the good they have done?"
"Do as you wish," the dragon king said as he turned to leave. "This is the only exception I will ever make."
Nasir and his granddaughter, Ena led the Laguz Alliance to the border between Gallia and Goldoa. There the two groups parted ways, the dragons returned to their king while the other laguz headed into the dense forests of Gallia. It had been another narrow escape for the Laguz Alliance, but at long last they were returning to their homeland. It would be several days before they would reach Castle Gallia.
Upon arrival, the wounded were taken to the medical ward and the other soldiers were dismissed for the time being. Tibarn immediately began to relay every single detail of the war to Canighes, king of lions. Meanwhile Ranulf and Skrimir chatted with Giffca, the king's shadow warrior. When Tibarn had finished, King Canighes informed everyone that he too had some rather grave news. The Begnion Central Army was preparing to launch an attack from the north while another part of the Begnion army was trying to traverse the mountain ranges to the east. Skrimir exploded with rage upon hearing that Crimea had let Begnion pass through their lands. It took some explaining and much convincing before the lion calmed down again.
"If we don't stop them, then this will really hurt," Tibarn stated very matter of fact like. "I'd like to take an army up to Crimea and take out Begnion while their army is split in two. My hawks will terrorize the other army to the east of the mountains."
"Soren, what do you think of this plan?" Ike asked his best friend and Tellius's number one tactician.
"I completely agree with King Tibarn's plan about attacking Begnion while they are split in two. But, this means that General Zelgius will be in command of the army in Crimea, so we need to be very cautious."
The Greil Mercenaries were among the army accompanying Tibarn into Crimea. They took only a few days, and when the Laguz Alliance arrived at the Crimean border the Begnion army was already waiting for them. It was as Soren said; General Zelguis was with this army. Both sides began shouting insults to each other, the tension in the air was about ready to break. Something over the ridge in the north caught Ike's attention. It was a single pegasus knight with green hair and white armor. As the knight flew towards the middle of the soon to be death zone, Ike realized it was Elincia. He stared as she dismounted her winged horse and addressed both armies, asking them to leave Crimea.
"Ike?" Mist asked pulling at her brother's cape. "What are we going to do now?"
"It's not up to me Mist," Ike explained to his little sister. "Tibarn is in charge here, not me."
"I know, but would you really go against Elincia's wishes for peace?"
"Mist, we're mercenaries. If we are under a contract then we have to do what is asked of us, unless we want to lose our jobs and starve to death."
Neither side agreed to withdraw from Crimea, so Elincia did one of the craziest things anyone had ever seen. She cast Amiti, the sword of Crimea, into the ground. She declared that Crimea would remain neutral in this conflict and that her people wanted a peaceful resolution. Tibarn flew at Elincia, and for a second Ike wasn't quite sure what the hawk king planned on doing. Much to his surprise began to laugh.
"Hey Ike!" Tibarn shouted. "I thought you were the craziest beorc ever, but this woman is giving you some serious competition. I can't say no to a pretty woman. Skrimir, we're leaving tell the troops to withdraw."
Tibarn returned to talking with Elincia while Ike watched the Laguz Alliance disappear into the trees. He was relieved to see that the majority of the Begnion army was doing the same. Tibarn flew after the after the Laguz Alliance, leaving the Greil Mercenaries alone. Mist and Titania began voicing their desire to go speak with Queen Elincia. After all, they had not seen her for about a year. However, a small part of the Begnion army had other plans, they charged down the small hill they were stationed on. They were headed straight for Crimea's queen. Ike immediately saw what was going on and began shouting orders to the mercenaries.
"Looks like we've got our old jobs back!" Ike shouted. "Protect the queen!"
The Crimean Royal Knights were also on the move as Ike and the Greil Mercenaries charged into the advancing Begnion soldiers. Titania had led a group along the southern edge of the battlefield to clear that area of Begnion troops. Ike, Mia, and Boyd were the first to reach the unarmed Elincia; they positioned themselves between her and the charging cavalry. Elincia spoke some words of gratitude to Ike for his assistance before she flew off to hide amongst the Royal Knights. As soon as they had the queen safe within their ranks, Geoffrey ordered his knights to withdraw. This left the Greil Mercenaries to fend off the entire force of Begnion troops.
"Damn you Geoffrey," Ike cursed under his breath as he slew another cavalier. "Take the queen and run away. Leave the hard stuff to us, you coward."
Ike and his group continued to fight their way across the plain while Titania's group had already began advancing on the Begnion commander's position. Ike sprinted up the hill, smashing aside a wall of armored knights. He cut down several more mounted units before facing the commander himself. Ike could see a senator fleeing towards the main army of Begnion. The commander was easy prey for Ike because the man couldn't wield any proper weapon other than a bow, which did him no good at close range. Rolf took the bow from the dead man's body, examining it closely and pulling back on the string. Satisfied with the make of the bow, Rolf kept it.
"At least Zelgius was honorable enough to withdraw from this place," Ike sighed, he felt so exhausted all of a sudden. "If the entire Begnion army had attacked, we all would have been killed."
"Lucky us that they didn't attack and we didn't die," Ranulf pointed out.
"Well we've learned some very valuable information from all of this," Soren suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked at him wondering what he meant exactly. "We now know that there are some serious power struggles occurring within the Begnion army."
'Doesn't stop them from fighting us though,' Ike thought. 'Too bad, I could use the break.'
It has been one hardship followed closely by another ever since Skrimir lost his duel. There has been non stop battling every single day and the constant marching. No one had gotten decent nights sleep in weeks, and it didn't look like anyone would any time soon. Would they never get a chance to just rest and relax for a least one single day. Ike had a feeling that things were only just getting started. He let out a groan as his muscles ached from the constant fighting. This was war, no time for rest, only time for killing and preparing to kill.
Yay! I finished the fourth chapter, which was really just a quick pass through of several unimportant events. I've already began working on chapter five, so it should be up sometime this week or this weekend. Rate, review, or just leave a comment.