Of Wyverns and Brands

Chapter 10

After a late start, we take to the air and follow the tracks once more. Neither of us speak much. I feel as if there is an unspoken agreement not to bring up last night.

I gladly focus on the tracks this time instead, even if I can't distinguish anything myself. I don't know how Daren knows who we're following by simple muddy tracks on the ground, especially from twenty feet off the ground.

We had only be flying for about an hour when we reach…it. Now this is a battlefield. I didn't get to see much of the aftermath of the fight for the capital, but this is one bloody mess.

Below, right in the middle of the road, lay several dozen bodies and horses, all dead. Blood was splattered everywhere. If there were any survivors, they are long gone.

We land near the carnage and approach it. Looking at the men, it appears that most are wearing Daein armor. They dogged these troops all this way and then ended up losing. I can't believe it. They probably walked right into an ambush or something for this to be so one-sided.

"It looks like Crimea got the upper-hand, even when badly outnumbered," Daren says, kneeling at various spots to check the bodies. He's almost like an Aragorn in Tellius form.

"How can you tell?"

"The way the bodies fell after dying," Daren explains. Okay, who in the world can read into that that well? To illustrate his point, he motions to a few of the soldiers. "Each of the Crimeans lay near a group of three or more Daein soldiers. Which also brings up a troubling point."

"What's that?" I ask, picking out Daren's example throughout the field.

"These men weren't foot soldiers. These Crimeans were part of the royal guard," Daren says, leaning down by a Crimean. He wipes a bit of the blood off the previously stark white armor to reveal a coat of arms on the breastplate. "This armor is solely assigned to the royal guards, yet both Lord Renning and the King were killed in the fight for the capital."

"So…" Why should that be troubling?

Wiping his hand in the grass before standing, Daren explains. "Here's the probable scenario. Some noble presses the men into guarding him with promises and threats, a not uncommon scenario in Begnion. Rushing away, our men noticed that they were the royal guard and charged after them, believing it was either the King or his heir. Capturing either would mean undying fame and wealth, at least in their minds.

"So they chased them here. This distance is about the limit that a warhorse can be pushed, since their bred for war, not travel. Taking a gamble, they turned back and fell upon our men, slaughtering most of them, while a small group fled with the noble. The survivors then continued to chase down the noble, leaving their fellow soldiers behind."

I stare at him for a few moments. Just plain stare. I'm staring at Sherlock Holmes right now. Who else could give that detailed a story out of a few bodies? I wait for him to say 'gotcha', but he doesn't.

"Wait a second. How do you know that their were survivors on both sides?" I ask.

"Numbers. The royal guard is divided into groups of twenty, and they are only fifteen here. Plus, this squadron of Daein soldiers is missing thirteen bodies."

I feel so inadequate right now. I already knew he could whip my butt with any weapon and could fly literal circles around me, but now his logic knows no bounds? His new nickname shall now be Gary; Gary Stu.

"So we're going to have to hunt down the others as well?" I ask.

Daren sighs and nods. "That's the troubling part. The only tracks leading away is into the forest, so it's going to be a much slower process." Great.

Well, at least the tension between us has disappeared. Though if this takes much longer, we'll have to go back for supplies. Only Daren would insist on tracking the last of them down instead of just reporting their deaths.

Though it is slower than before, we are still able to make progress while in the air. Every few minutes, Daren would dive down into any gap and check to make sure we were going in the right direction. The fact that they were going in a straight line so far made it easier, but come on, Daren! No one can be perfect, dude.

"So, where did you learn all this?" I ask, not even having to raise my voice at the speed we were going.

"My dad was a hunter by trade," he says. "He took me out and showed me most of his tricks. The problem was, I could never shoot a bow. Still can't in fact. Giving up on that, I joined the wyvern riders once I came of age."

So he does have a flaw! Now I want to learn to shoot a bow, even if just to have one up on him. Though, trying to shoot a bow while on wyvernback would be really, really hard.

We fly slowly, with Daren occasionally reporting about a Daein body left behind. After several hours of this, I noticed that the forest ended abruptly at a rolling plain. With our height advantage, we might even see them by then, if they left the forest anyway.

"We'll have to turn back here," Daren suddenly says. "Unless we catch sight of them when we reach the plains, we don't have enough supplies to continue. The General will want to hear about that battle as well."

I nod in agreement. Besides, these soldiers weren't worth all this effort, in my mind. They chased this group so doggedly that they were continuing even when they were only six or seven strong now, by Daren's count.

We reach the edge of the forest, and Daren descends to check the tracks. Finally able to do something, I scan the horizon, counting on my perfect vision to pick up anything. Nada. Nothing. Those soldiers must be long gone. How much of a lead did those two forces have to already be out of sight?

Unless they didn't take to the plain.

I look down uneasily at Daren. He had landed to get a better look at the tracks this time. I feel a chill as I realize that he was now an easy target on the ground, but before I can say anything, he is already mounting his wyvern again. He takes off once more, and I let out a shaky breath as he slowly rises. Okay, that was a tense moment.

Midnight shakes her head and lets out a strange, almost whining sound as a wind suddenly buffets us to the side. Weird. It had been peaceful just a moment ago, but I guess the wind would be different on a flat plain

Then I see just how wrong I am. Another gust of wind throws us to the side by more than five feet. Shielding my eyes from the sudden gale that was starting up, I take a peek at Daren. Daren and his mount are being whipped around constantly, no longer able to rise. The wind is moving so ferociously that it's almost visible.

Wait, it is visible. Even as we're blasted further and further away from Daren, I notice a column of wind forming from the ground, and for the first time in my life, I stare point-blank at a real tornado.

The wind around us suddenly changes course from pushing to pulling as it tries to suck us in. Midnight strains against the pull with powerful strokes, but we're slowly losing ground.

What few glimpses that I catch of Daren don't look good. He seems to be caught up in the worst of it and constantly being thrown around in the eye of the sudden storm. I'm not sure how he's managed to stay on his wyvern's back for so long.

Then, as abruptly as it started, the wind ceases into a sudden calm. It's as though a high-powered fan were just cut off. Midnight is breathing hard from all the exertion, but otherwise alright once our flight straightens out once more.

I look over at Daren and my eyes grow big. For a moment, they hang there in the air, now almost as high as us. However, his wyvern's wings have been shredded completely apart, leaving only the muscled appendages left. Gashes are littered across both Daren and his mount, as though the wind itself had sliced them to pieces.

Then, they just fall right out of the air. I scream to Midnight, and she turns and dives toward them, but not nearly quick enough. The wyvern hits the ground with a truly sickening crack. Daren, halfway under his mount, lays there, unmoving.

…He's dead. He really just died.

What JUST HAPPENED!?

My brain feels like it's choking, unable to process anything thing that's going on right now. I sit on Midnight and stare down at my friend.

Then, as Midnight circles around Daren, I catch sight of something else. There, just out of the tree line stands a tall, robed figure. Long, black, flowing robes; and my brain finally registers something. A mage.

It was him. He killed Daren. That bastard just killed him!

A flood of anger bursts forth within me, overriding my previous shock. Never before have I felt such a rage and hate for someone so intensely, but I know exactly what I'm going to do with it. I'm going to kill him.

I immediately direct Midnight to dive straight at the mage. I vaguely notice an arrow passing right behind my head as Midnight speeds downward, but I don't care. I'm going to kill that mage even if I have to take a couple arrows to do so.

Midnight rams into the man just as he tries to turn away, slamming into the ground with her front leg and pinning him there. The man coughs up a mouthful of blood from the impact, his breath now slow and shallow from Midnight crushing his chest.

Leaping off Midnight's back, I yank out my sword and move for the kill. I point the blade at the man's neck…and then stop.

"Bastian?" I choke out, not wanting to believe it. Yet, the man seems to respond to the name still. It can't be. Bastion was the one who killed Daren? Why is he here? What- I- Just-

Just as I feel brain about to go into shock again, I hear a shout from behind me. "Drop the sword!"

I look back and find confirmation that yes, Count Bastian is the mage I've captured. Standing about ten feet away and just within the tree line are four soldiers, two of which I recognize. Geoffrey has an arrow nocked and drawn, keeping me in his sights, while his sister, Lucia, has her blade drawn and ready. All four of them seem to be in bad shape with various injuries.

I hate you, Ashunera. I really do. My best friend dies, and I'm not even able to avenge him. I'm so angry right now, I might have even considered going ahead and killing him if it had been a lesser character, but I know that Bastian plays an important role in both games. I can't believe this. I just feel like screaming right now, but I know it won't do any good.

Calm down, Drake. Calm down. First, I need to get in control of this situation. After seeing their lack of hesitation in attacking, I decide to use threat against threat. "Actually, I think it would be best if you were to lower that bow, Geoffrey."

Geoffrey and Lucia go wide eyed when I call him out by name, but Geoffrey doesn't lower his bow. "Who are you?"

"A traveler, and one that just lost his closest friend to your freaking murderer of a Count here," I retort, only partially succeeding in keeping my cool. "But this point is probably more important. I'm holding a blade to the throat of Crimean's top tactician, leading noble, and best chance of a resistance succeeding, while you have an arrow pointed at a nobody that no one will miss. My wyvern could tear his heart out before you could blink, and I don't think you guys are capable of surviving her fury, either, if you did shoot me." And now I'm ranting.

Geoffrey hesitates, but Lucia murmurs something and has him finally lower the bow. "You seem to know a lot. What do you want?" Lucia asks.

No longer having an arrow pointed at me, I sheathe my sword. "My friend," I answer venomously.

Done talking, I turn my attention to Daren. I leave Midnight with Bastian and walk over to him. Daren is a mess. His body is littered with cuts from the magic attack, and his legs are crushed by his wyvern. There's definitely no saving him.

As that reality finally sinks in, the anger that had been holding me together is washed away by a flood of grief. I fall to my knees next to him, tears already welling up in my eyes. I haven't lost someone this close to me since my father's death a year ago. This…this was just unfair. Just some random encounter that never should have happened, and it cost him his life.

I've known him for less than a month, but we still managed to form a close bond in that time. It hurts. It really hurts inside right now.

I cry for a little, but I know I can't just sit here. I still have some people to get rid of first. And I'm not going to just leave Daren here. Pushing against the wyvern, I slide Daren out from under it. I carry him back to Midnight, his body feeling almost lighter than normal. I slowly get him up on Midnight's back, ignoring the stares I feel on me the entire time.

"Let him go, girl," I finally say, patting Midnight's side.

Bastian takes in a large gulp of air as she releases him, wincing as he does. I can hear a collective of sighs from the others as well. I'm distracted from him right after, however, when one of the soldiers suddenly begins to fall. The other soldier grabs him to hold him steady, but blood can be seen starting to soak a makeshift bandage around his stomach. That won't hold for long.

I have to ponder it. I really do. Any other time, I would have immediately offered, but this time, I really don't feel like being kind. At all. But when I look at Daren once more, I finally give in. Opening the pouch on Daren's belt, I pull out his bottle of vulnerary and toss it to a startled Bastian.

"Don't let someone else die today," I mutter, getting back on Midnight.

Bastian makes a clumsy bow with a another wince. "I have made a grave error today, young man, one that I can never atone for," Bastian says, wheezing slightly. "You have my deepest gratitude for this gift."

I don't respond. I don't even want to meet him again. Because I haven't forgiven him, and I don't think I ever will.

"Let's go back," I tell Midnight, grabbing Daren tightly.

The rush of cool air and steady beat of Midnight's wings are a welcome respite from the tense conflict below as we leave. And then, a hundred feet in the air, I begin to cry once more.

-o-

AN: Not only did that turn out a little longer than I planned (I stopped short here), but that turned out to be more difficult to write than I thought. It was a lot harder to get into his head for this one, so I hope it turned out well enough for you all.

And look! Three cameos for actual FE characters! A lot of you will probably guess what's going to happen in the next chapter.

New Story: In other news, I started a new story called The (Soon-To-Be) Princess Diaries. It's a short, humorous take on Mist keeping a diary with her viewpoint during the events of PoR. It's much less serious than my other works here, but I would enjoy any reviews on how it's working out, as it is also my first attempt at a comedy based story. The idea, though, is based off Moczo's Diary of a Wimpy Kid, where Palleas keep a diary from RD, so check it out as well.

Update: Fixed a few errors, etc.