Chapter the Tenth, or "At Last, the Story Progresses!"
I sat in the back of a gently rocking wagon, my eyes drifting closer and closer to closing as I watched the endless curtain of trees and vegetation pass by. A crisp breeze blew down from snow-capped mountains, the cool wind pricking at my cheeks, and a number of the squad that Ricken had selected had opted to don their jackets and cloaks as they rode in the wagon behind us. Noire was among them, being one of the few to forgo her own cold weather gear.
Beside me Robin shivered, pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders over the blue uniform tunic she wore beneath it. Across from us sat Libra and Lucina, both wearing their usual clothes under thick warm travelling cloaks.
Me? I was sitting in naught but my own duty tunic because I'd been gracious enough to loan my cloak to a still-frosty Lucina, who had surprisingly forgotten hers. Although it wouldn't surprise me if she hadn't, and had only said that she had because she knew my track record of loaning cloaks and jackets to cold women.
This was the first time I'd worn the tunic, though. A dull royal blue colour as opposed to the richer hues of the dress uniforms, this duty tunic I'd had specially made so that I could use the damn thing in the field. Even the buttons were simple black-painted wood, the only ornamentation on the tunic was the patches denoting the First Regiment, a hammer and a sword crossed over the Mark of Naga, and the Mark of Naga surrounded by a wreath that was House Ylisse's symbol on my shoulders. Just beneath the House Ylisse patch on my right shoulder was a circle of five gold stars; my rank. That was it. How Virion intended to do anything even remotely subtle with all the gold frilligé hanging off his own uniform I had no idea, but whatever, that was on him. If he wanted to wear his dress uniform as his duty clothes I wouldn't stop him. Someone had to make us look good, and it certainly wouldn't be me or Robin in our drab blue tunics and her battered old coat.
This was it. My first official action as General, and it was against our own people. It didn't sit well with me. Once I got to the bottom of whatever was going on asses would be kicked.
"Almost there, Sir and Ladies," the driver said from the front.
I hadn't had the heart to tell him that Libra was actually a man, too. Let the old bastard dream.
We'd already been travelling for two days, at the small merchant convoy's pace, too. I'd wanted to get there a little faster, but I was trying to be subtle about this. The wagons were covered, and the soldiers were acting low-key. I didn't want to draw any undue attention on this op, and a convoy of carriages charging through the forest would have done just that.
I nodded, holding up my hand and waving it twice in the pre-arranged signal. The lookout from the squad behind us would see it and relay the order to the third wagon behind them, and they would start getting ready to move out. The plan was to infiltrate Baham from the forest, disembarking from the caravan at a location to the south of the city and approaching through the mountains and hopefully make unhostile contact with the locals. It was a decent plan, the best Robin and I could come up with. I was deferring heavily to her on this one; she was the real tactician, I was just the fake that had played the game before.
With a small snort I realized that was the first time in months I'd thought of this as 'the game'.
The wagons lurched to a halt, and with quick and efficient movements the soldiers disembarked. Thirty men and women leapt from the back of the wagons before moving directly into the cover of the trees to await my instructions. Without a word Lucina and Libra joined them, leaving me and Robin to catch up.
"Thanks for the ride," I said, reaching up to the head of the caravan.
He grinned, accepting my hand and pumping it up and down a few times. "Beats travelling empty. You folks take care now."
I nodded, and Robin and I moved off the road and into the trees ourselves. The road forked ahead, and the caravan was supposed to go to the north-west, rather than follow it to Baham, so I had no worries about word of our group prowling around getting to anyone important until it was already too late. Besides, Anna had assured us that this group was trustworthy. For what we paid for their silence, they had better have been, too. That red-haired devil would be the death of me. She was costing me that damn much…
"Alright, just like we planned," I said as the soldiers came to order. "Trackers, find us a path. The rest of you, split into your fire-teams. The headquarters staff will join a team each. Alpha team, you're with me. Bravo gets our vaunted tactician, Charlie gets my surly bodyguard, and Delta gets the priest. Yes, he's a priest, not a cleric. Stay frosty, ladies and gentlemen. As of now, this qualifies as hostile territory. Do not engage unless I say so. Now let's do this!"
Four slight Chon'sinian men stepped forward, pulling green and brown mottled cloaks over their heads as they disappeared into the forest ahead of us. They were a late addition to my plans, and I'd had to rotate a whole team out of the squad to make space for them, but I wanted to see my new scouts in action with my own eyes. So far, I wasn't disappointed.
As I spoke I pulled my familiar gauntlets on, flexing my fingers to get them to fit right. The men looked at them in awe, one of the braver ones actually giving voice to their curiosity.
"Sir, what are those?" a young private asked.
"These?" I asked, looking down at my gloved hands with a grin. "These are my murder mittens. C'mon, fall in."
The rest of the men split up as we had organized, five a piece for each of the Shepherds, with the unit's medic joining Delta team with Libra. The medic was a scrawny wisp of a man named Dan, who had been a veterinarian before joining up. It was still more medical training than most, though, so he'd been made a medic almost immediately.
The men and woman that made up the first team moved over to me, and with barely a nod we set out after the scouts. Each team was simple; four melee fighters and an archer. I had two swordsmen named Angus and Hale, and an axeman named Mat, and Noire acting as my archer. All three of the men were raw recruits, totally unblooded. Angus and Hale had been farmers, and the only reason that Mat used an axe was that he'd been a lumberjack before joining up. But for that they had all acclimated to the training and lifestyle well, so failing some gigantic catastrophe I was confident they'd keep it together.
Or at least I hoped they would. I wasn't too big on the thought of dying before I got to hit on Tiki.
And despite my early complaints to Chrom after the war with Plegia, here I was doing exactly what I'd given him shit about and leading from the front like a dumbass. But this time it had to be me. Me, personally, to undo whatever clusterfuck this was. I couldn't just let potential bodies fall to pointless infighting when Grima was less than three years away.
In hindsight, though, maybe I should have paid more attention to the scroll Chrom had given me.
Or… brought it with me…
And… not… thrown it out when I'd gotten puke on it.
Meh. No problem. I was the master of winging it at this point.
But with my own troops in the south dealing with the floods I was left with the lighter second and support platoons, so I'd have to be smart about this. Go in, talk to Duke Baham, and go from there. And if he didn't want to talk? Well… wing it.
It didn't take long for the scouts to return to us, Angus and Hale jumping and Mat lifting his axe as one of the slight Chon'sinians appeared beneath a bush. I couldn't tell which one it was; they all looked the same with the camouflage paint they had put on. Not because they were Asian. Not all Asians look the same. The lead scout for this mission was a slight wisp of a man named To'shi, who was a seasoned hunter despite being the same age as Ricken. Although, being unsure which scout I was talking to I decided to play it safe and not pick a random name.
"Report."
"At least three groups, soldiers and mercenaries."
"From Baham?"
"One group wearing the symbols you showed us, at the bottom of the next hill. If they're meant to be hidden guards they're failing miserably. We are surrounded, though."
"Ha! Surrounded? I think you mean 'target-rich environment'! This is going much easier than I was expecting. Fan out, eyes on all groups. I'll make you scouts an opening. Don't get spotted, don't make contact, and no matter what do not come for us unless there's an emergency or until I give the signal. Repeat that last part to me."
"Don't come help unless there's an emergency or until we get the signal."
"Good man, hop to it," I said, waving Robin up.
"But… sir, what constitutes an emergency?" the scout asked.
"I dunno, invading army, hellfire falling from the skies, be creative. Now beat it."
The scout nodded and disappeared back into the forest as Robin and her squad of four approached quietly through the underbrush, and with a nod I led the two squads to the top of the nearby hill. We came to a rest on the shade of a particularly low-hanging willow tree, peeking through the leaves as the rest of the men moved into position around us.
Beneath us a squad of soldiers was spread out, having made a light camp. They outnumbered us about three-to-one, but were quite clearly conscripts. The only thing uniform about their clothes and armor were the crests of Baham, the symbol of an eagle taking flight clasping the Mark of the Exalt in its talons. Poetic. A young man with a ratty mop of dark brown, almost black hair walked out of the single tent, a blue sash over his green tabard denoting him as an officer. With a start I recognized him as the Duke's right-hand man from the Ball at Sumia's hot-mom's party.
"Well, they look comfy," Robin muttered to me.
"What do you think, oh illustrious tactician?" I asked.
"I wouldn't want to steal the spotlight from the 'Lord of Tactics'," she grinned.
"Oh, I have a plan, I'd just like to hear yours," I shrugged.
"Go around, through the trees, continue to Baham without tipping anyone off," she said quickly. "Take anyone we run into on our way down, quietly and preferably non-lethally. It's pretty obvious."
I opened my mouth, about to warn her about the other squads in the forest, but closed it just as fast. An idea formed in my head.
"Sounds good, relay the orders," I said, suppressing a grin.
Robin nodded, slithering back from the tree to whisper the marching orders to the others. Now I let the grin surface, waving my own squad up.
"Okay, I'm going to go do something stupid," I told them in a hushed voice. "When the soldiers move into us surrender without a fight, okay? We'll let them take us right to where we want to go. Make sure you tell the others, too."
"Wh-why didn't you tell Robin that?" Noire asked.
"Fuck her, this is more fun," I laughed.
Then I stood to my full height, drew both daggers off my back and stepped out of the trees at the top of the hill. I took a deep breath of the crisp forest air, totally ignoring Robin's furious hisses that I 'get back in the trees and stop fucking up her plans' and Noire's stifled giggles as I…
"LEEEEEEEEEEEEEROYYYYYYYYYY… JENNNNNNNNKINNNNNNNS!"
… bellowed my warcry at the top of my lungs and started to run towards the Baham soldiers alone.
And so it was that my squad from the second platoon, minus the scouts I had hidden in the forest, was captured by the utterly bewildered soldiers from Baham.
I had crashed into them, laughing like a maniac and punching and kicking like a mule, careful to not do any actual damage to the soldiers beyond scratches and bludgeoning them a little. It hadn't taken them long to subdue me, and for a few moments I had been worried they would actually kill me, but their leader, the guy I had recognized, shouted them down at the last minute and swords and spears had been lifted away from me.
Behind me I could hear the sound of the Baham soldiers crashing through the trees, rounding up the rest of the squad as the tall man in green armor came over to me. He glanced down at me, puzzled, and opened his mouth to speak.
"We're being watched," I cut him off in a low voice.
He nodded, frowning as I stepped up to him.
"Two other squads, maybe more. You take us captive, bring us to your leader. Make it look convincing. And sorry in advance about this."
Then, without further warning I brought my forehead down on his nose, shattering it and knocking the green armored man on his ass. I soon followed as his soldiers swarmed me again, knocking me to my knees and holding blades to my throat. With a throaty roar the man was back on his feet, mail-clad fist knocking my teeth into my ass.
I coughed, grinning through a bloody mouth. I'd bit my cheek. This was gonna be a hell of an ulcer. "You got a good right hook, anyone ever tell you that?"
The man let out another wordless growl of frustration before shaking his head and gingerly probing at his nose.
"Tie them up, we'll bring them back to Baham," the green armored man snapped.
"But, Jeremiah, sir-" one of the other soldiers started before the green unit cut him off again.
"I may be mad but I didn't miss the ring on his hand," Jeremiah explained. "Get them up and moving. And keep him away from me!"
"Love you too, big guy!" I called out, spitting blood.
As they were brought over the other Second Platoon soldiers had their weapons taken and hands bound, too. A few gave me concerned looks when they spotted my face, Noire chief among them, but I waved them off with another bloody grin. Then Robin spotted me, swatting off the men trying to bind her wrists before stomping over to me and slugging me as well. In the exact same spot Jeremiah had hit.
It fucking hurt.
"You jackass now we're captured!" she snarled. "This is why you don't fuck with my plans!"
"Help! Help! I need an adult!" I screamed, utterly failing to hide my big shit-eating grin.
"You are an adult!" Robin thundered, grabbing my collar and giving me a good shake.
"I need an adultier adult! I need an adult that can successfully adult!"
By now I had most of the squad laughing, with the obvious exception of Lucina, and even a good chunk of the Baham soldiers, too. They pulled Robin off of me, binding her hands almost apologetically as the rest began to break camp.
"You'd better have a plan," she muttered once we were left alone again.
"Please," I scoffed. "I just play a fool. I know what I'm doing."
"You could have fooled me," Robin ground out through clenched teeth.
"Idiot," Lucina muttered, brushing past us.
Clearly someone was still mad at me. I couldn't help but smirk, but before Robin could join in on her insults one of the Baham soldiers spoke up.
"Jeremiah! Sir! We have a cleric here!" the soldier called out.
I valiantly tried to keep a straight face as I turned, Libra letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Priest," he said, his tone indicating this joke was getting a little old for him. "I am a pr-"
"Pretty cute cleric, right guys?" I asked over top of him. "You wouldn't bind a woman of the cloth, now, would you?"
The soldier blinked, looking back and forth between me and a visibly incensed Libra, and eventually to where Jeremiah was still nursing his bloody nose.
"Just take her weapon then!" the man called across the camp.
"Please don't be causing no trouble, sister," the soldier said, holding out his hand for Libra's axe.
The blonde priest closed his eyes and sighed, handing over his axe one-handed. The soldier accepted the weapon, making a comical strangled sound as he almost dropped it, using both hands to heft the heavy axe. As he left, struggling all the while under the weapon's weight, I shuffled over to Libra with a bloody grin.
"Just in case, I want one of us to be free to move about," I told him.
"Could you not have done it in a less humiliating way?" Libra muttered, frowning.
God damn, even his frown was gorgeous…
"Nah, more fun this way," I snickered. "You mind going and healing their Captain? I think I broke his nose."
"And what of your mouth?" Libra sighed.
I hesitated a moment, running my tongue over my teeth to make sure they were all still there and in one piece.
"Nah, don't worry, I just bit my cheek," I assured him. "Go build bridges for me."
Libra just sighed again, moving slowly and carefully through the Baham soldiers with his hands in plain sight. Then any more chance for talking was gone when Jeremiah called for the Baham soldiers to move out and we were marched, not unkindly, through the forest. For all his apparent anger issues, Jeremiah was still smart enough to split us up, organizing a column with his men interspersed though my own to stop us from planning anything. It was a smart move, and my opinion of the green units went up a little because of it.
What followed was a few hours of awkward walking through the forest, mostly silent save for the occasional orders passed on from the front of the column.
My men were doing exactly what they had been told in training; they weren't speaking. If asked anything they would answer with their name, rank, affiliation and platoon number. In that order. So if I were following that rule I would answer anything, any question at all, with 'Ben, Lieutenant-General, Ylissean First Royal Heavy Infantry, First Platoon'. Unfortunately for me, I would be the one negotiating. So I wouldn't get the chance to frustrate anyone by repeating that over and over again. Which sucked, because I did so love pissing people off.
The forest was more of the same as we walked through it. Mostly evergreens this high up in the mountains, fallen pine needles crunching underfoot and surrounding us with the smell of a cheap air freshener. A lot of these trees were clearly very old, though. They were huge. Something about primordial forests like these put me at ease, and before long I had a small smile on my face as we walked.
The dried blood on my chin cracked, though, reminding me I'd need to wash soon. I don't know if anyone's ever let blood dry in their beard before, but it's a very unpleasant sensation. This wasn't the first time, either. I'd woken up after a night of heavy drinking covered in blood a lot of times back home, usually with a black eye as accompaniment. And a bunch of text messages on my phone about what an asshole I was.
I lifted my hands, still bound, and tried to brush some of the blood off. It was like dark red dandruff as it flaked out of my beard, and I heard more than a few sounds of disgust from the Baham soldiers around me. To which, of course, I grinned.
"What? Blame your Captain, he's the one that slugged me."
"Quiet in the line!" Jeremiah called from the front.
"Suck a dick!" I laughed back.
"Shut him up!" the Captain barked.
One of the closest soldiers looked at me apologetically as he made a fist, and I sighed.
"Don't bother, I'll behave," I told the man.
"Muchly appreciate, Lord, sir," the man said, and we went back to marching in silence.
As we tromped through the oppressive silence of the forest I had to resist the urge to look around. I had to trust that the scouts were still tailing us. It's what I paid them for, anyway. The other two groups watching us was a little worrying, but I could just assume that they were either soldiers from Fruford, or at worst mercenaries of some sort. Nothing we couldn't handle. Okay, hopefully nothing we couldn't handle.
Eventually we came out of the forest and onto a logging trail leading directly to Baham's outer walls. Unlike Ylisstol, which had long ago outgrown its own walls twice, Baham's walls actually marked the edge of the city. Also unlike Ylisstol's perfect, neat white sandstone walls Baham's barrier was rough native stone, probably throwaway from the mine in Fruford. The city itself was sloped in places, built upon the incline of the hill, but in other places there were open terraces carved out of the terrain; a large open-air market, and what appeared to be housing for the city's elite. A river flowed near the city, whole trees drifting downstream from the logging camps towards the great mills that would treat and refine them, turning the raw material into usable lumber. The forest had once reached right to the hill that Baham was built on, old stumps all that remained like some sort of tree graveyard. The central Keep rising above the rest of the city, rich blue House Ylisse flags still flying from the ramparts next to Baham's own flag, a red hawk in flight over a green backdrop.
"Pretty odd choice of flags for someone supposedly in open revolt," I commented idly as we approached the gates.
"Duke Baham would never betray the Exalt!" the soldier who had told me to shut up earlier snapped.
"Quiet!" Jeremiah barked. "Don't bother."
I shrugged, smirking a little. We were led through the gates and up the main drag. We marched past the marketplace, set into a lower square of the terraced city. People went about their daily business as if nothing was going on, as if there were no civil war on the horizon, but that wasn't surprising. To the layman it didn't matter much who sat on a throne or lorded over them, so long as their taxes got paid and they were protected from bandits life went on.
After a short walk through the city, by which I mean about half an hour all up-hill, we came to the gates of the Keep. Baham Keep was one of those old fortresses, the kind that fairly reek with history. From my research I knew that it had been one of the northern strongholds while Ylisse had still been at war with Regna Ferox, before the time of the Longfort, and it looked it. Despite its age, though, it had held up well; no doubt thanks wholly to generations of Helman's ancestors paying to have it repaired and refurbished every few decades. Unlike Ylisstol's palace, Baham Keep was much more in line with the medieval castles I'd been expecting to see, all grey stone walls and towers and portcullises. It was impressive, but a different kind of impressive than Chrom's palace. This had been a staging ground for a war that had spanned hundreds of years. Ylisstol hadn't, and that difference was clear to see.
Inside the Keep's walls were outbuildings of stone and wood, sheds and shacks to hold equipment or rations. And, of course, the soldiers. I was greeted with my first proper sight of Baham's soldiers, orderly rows of men in mismatched armor wearing the green tabard of Baham as they trained and marched around the space. I was impressed. They weren't as disciplined as my own men, but there was a purpose to their movements, and their officers clearly knew what they were doing. It made me a strange sort of jealous.
We were marched into the main keep, and I finally chanced a look over my shoulder. I didn't spot anything besides more of my own squad or the Baham soldiers, so I figured it was safe to drop the act now.
The main hall was a dark, cavernous space held up with columns and lit with torches rather than lamps or lanterns. It branched off at various points, openings leading deeper into the Keep and staircases leading to an upper mezzanine level. There was no throne here, only openings deeper into the building.
"Well, what have we here?" a familiar voice called. "When I invited you to visit this isn't quite what I meant, Lord Ben. I think you can release the Lord of Tactics and his men, Jeremiah. I trust they will behave."
Baham smiled down from the mezzanine in full armor, resting gauntleted hands on the railing as he watched his men release my own. When they finally took the bindings off my wrists I let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, rotating my hands and grinning at the soldiers.
"Sheesh, my wrist hasn't been this sore since I was thirteen and figured out how to lock a bathroom."
Lucina and Robin gave a collective groan while a few of the less disciplined soldiers snickered, Noire among them. I used my newfound freedom to finally wipe the dried blood off my face, grinning as Helman descended the stairs.
"Let me guess, you upset Jeremiah?" the Duke laughed.
"He's got a good right hook," I shrugged.
"Yes, I know all too well," the older man sighed, rubbing his own jaw wistfully.
In the background the Captain cleared his throat, awkwardly looking away.
"So there's been some kind of confusion I've been sent to straighten out," I said. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"
"I don't participate in espionage, Lord of Tactics," Helman said, his tone still jovial but his eyes taking on a frosty tint. "Whatever you have to say can be said in front of both of our soldiers, I think."
"Okay," I shrugged. "Are you a traitor to Ylisse, Duke Baham?"
"Oh for Naga's sake…" Lucina sighed.
"Delicacy, Ben, delicacy," Robin hissed out of the corner of her mouth.
Helman actually blinked a few times, his mouth slack for a moment before he rallied, his countenance becoming stormy.
"I have never once lifted a hand against-"
"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!" I interrupted him. "Simple yes or no question: are you, or is anyone in your direct employ to your knowledge, a traitor to Ylisse?"
"No, of course not!" Helman shouted, his soldiers bristling around us.
"Okay, good enough for me," I said, clapping my hands and smiling. "Just wanted to clear that up before we straighten all this mess out. So. Fruford, right?"
The Duke just looked at me like he was trying to figure out if I was mocking him or not. After a few moments of this I gave a tired sigh, shaking my head.
"Alright, fine, be that way. Duke Helman of Baham, I believe that you are the victim of some sort of irritating power grab by Duke Beorhito. You're being set up, simple as that. Now, I like you more than I like him, so I'm inclined to ruin his plans, whatever they are, and clear your name. You can make this easier for me by working with me, rather than buying into the 'fool persona' I present to the rest of the nobility. Now. Are you with me or not?"
"I… yes?" the Duke said hesitantly, clearly taken aback. "But… why?"
"I already explained it, I don't like that fat fuck," I said, frowning and rubbing at the back of my head. "Plus… well… ah… Marth! How much can I tell him?"
Lucina jumped, scowling at me. "I leave that to your discretion."
"You're no help," I sighed, turning back to Helman. "Okay. Bad times are a'coming. I need you and your men. Your resources. Your experience. Valm is poised to invade, and I am wholly unprepared to repel them, despite my best efforts to the contrary."
"Actually, I'd say that the current state of the army, positioned in the right places, could-"
"Shut up, Robin, you're not helping either," I growled over top of my clueless tactician.
Then the look she gave me told me she knew exactly what she was doing.
The Duke looked down for a moment, clearly weighing his options. After coming to a decision he looked up, frowning at his soldiers.
"You lot, go watch the city gates! Double the guard on the Western and Eastern gates as well! Jeremiah, see our guests to some decent lodging, have them fed. Lord Ben, if you would be so gracious as to accompany me?"
"Robin, Marth, with me," I said with a nod. "Libra, Dusk, make sure the boys behave."
"We're not all boys!" one of Libra's squad, a large, heavy-set woman with an infectious smile named Marey called.
"Prove me wrong or go with the nice Captain," I called back to a round of laughter.
Now that my men were, hopefully, reassured everything was going according to plan they filed out after the Baham soldiers, Jeremiah leading them. Noire gave me a plaintive look, but a just grinned and shrugged. She wanted to be one of the rank and file, she gets treated like one.
"Come, join me in my study," Helman offered, turning and heading back up the stairs.
Robin, Lucina and I followed the old Duke through his Keep, down corridors and up staircases until we eventually reached what I estimated was the top floor of the main building. His personal apartments. An older, but still handsome, woman rose from her position near the fireplace, setting a needlepoint aside as she smiled and greeted us. She wore a nice green dress, higher quality than what one would find in the village, and her long blonde hair was neatly pinned back from her face. As we got closer I could see dignified streaks of grey in her hair, though.
"Lord Ben, this is my wife, Ethid," he said, moving to stand next to her.
"Milord," she greeted, dropping a formal curtsey.
"Uh… hi," I said, nodding my own greeting.
A young girl, probably close to Elle's age, poked her head out from one of the rooms, her blonde hair pinned back like her mother's but much brighter and fuller. Her bright blue eyes regarded us cautiously, and I couldn't help but think, as she scurried out to hide behind her parents, that she would be painfully beautiful when she grew up.
"And this is my daughter, Cilia. Cilia, this is the Lord of Tactics, retainer to Exalt Chrom. Show some respect."
The girl perked up immediately, moving out from behind her mother and dropping a perfect curtsey. Behind me Lucina cleared her throat, obviously trying to prompt me to introduce the two women behind me. I'd need to ask her to give me the abridged version of 'Ylissean Social Protocol for Dummies' when she wasn't so mad at me… at least she was still helping, though.
"Right, sorry. These two are my staff. This is my tactician, Robin, and my assistant-slash-bodyguard. You can call her Marth."
"You'll excuse me if I don't curtsey," Robin chuckled, stepping forward and shaking Helman's hand. "Looks weird in the coat. Nice to see you again, Duke Baham."
"Likewise, Lady Robin," the Duke nodded, smiling politely as he turned to Lucina. "And I don't believe we've had the pleasure yet, Lady… Marth."
"Just Marth is fine," Lucina said, nodding taciturnly as she shook his hand.
"Very well, Marth. Come, the study is just through here," Baham said with a grin.
"Oh, I'm sure the road to get here was long and tiring. Perhaps our guests would like some refreshments first?" Ethid offered.
"I appreciate the offer, but another time, milady," I said. "We've come to solve a serious issue, and it is time-sensitive, I'm afraid."
"Another time then," she smiled.
Helman led us into his study, a small room very similar to my own office, in that it was an absolute disaster. Books and papers were everywhere, some very old if the yellowing of the paper was anything to go by. In the corner near the door an old suit of armor, still damaged in the side, was set on a rack. I quirked a brow at the suit of armor as Helman closed the door.
"That's quite the hole," I said, indicating the rent in the side of the armor's chest plate.
"Merely a flesh-wound," the Duke said with a grin. "I've had worse over the years. I am a warrior! A soldier! And it looks like my end comes not on the battlefield, but from a dagger in my back, aimed by men I thought were allies."
"Ugh, politics," I groaned. "Like people. I'm not a fan. But hopefully we can sort this out. Get me up to speed."
Helman nodded, sinking into the chair behind his desk. His armor let out a clank as he sat, and he smoothed his tabard over the front of it. I kicked the two vacant chairs opposite his desk at Robin and Lucina, both women giving me a strange look as I perched on the arm of Robin's chair.
"It all started when bandits began raiding the villages near Fruford's border," Helman explained. "Nothing unusual, given this time of year. They like to stock up before the winter, like everyone else. So we chased them down. I led a number of the skirmishes myself. We finally cornered them and ended their threat but… then Fruford began accusing us of attacking soldiers in their border. He sent a small force of mercenaries into my territory as a retaliatory raid, which we managed to rout as well, but… the little snake got word to Ylisstol before I could defend myself to the House of Lords, claiming I was attacking him unprovoked, and all I could do was tighten my own borders and hope for a miracle. He's been probing the border, looking for a way to get back in and harass my villages again, and the mercenaries are still out there somewhere, too."
"That explains the groups watching us in the forest," I said, nodding.
"Wait, there were groups watching us in the forest!?" Robin snapped, glaring up at me. "Why didn't you say anything!?"
"Because we'd already been marked," I explained, rolling my eyes. "The easiest way to get to Baham while making Fruford think he was still safe…"
"Was to make it look like we'd been captured," Robin said, her eyes lighting up in understanding before she punched me in the arm. "Next time clue me in!"
"Ow! Geez, okay!" I groaned.
"But because House Ylisse owns the gold mine, Baham's acts of self-defense were seen as an act of aggression against the crown," Robin sighed, crossing her arms. "Crude, but effective. What's Fruford's angle?"
"Much of Fruford's land is dedicated to the mine," Baham explained. "There was a great deal of deforestation, and their rivers run with waste from the mine. I am more than happy to trade with him for lumber and water, and food he gets from the south, but he felt he could simply take what is mine. I rebuffed him."
"And if he's anything like his dear old dad, he didn't like that," I sighed. "Well, at least the situation is simple enough. Ideas?"
"We get him to confess," Lucina piped up instantly. "You are a Retainer to the Exalt. If he confesses to you, you can clear Duke Baham's name."
"He'll never confess, though," Baham sighed. "He's utterly convinced that he's right."
"So we go convince him otherwise," I suggested.
"Could work," Robin said slowly. "Considering you're Chrom's Retainer you could even order him to back off."
"That's only a short-term fix, but it's a start," I sighed.
"Fruford's men will never let you into his territory, let alone his city!" Baham warned. "They'll kill you long before you leave the forest."
"They're welcome to try," I smirked. "I told you, Helman. I play a fool. No offense, but none of those men that captured us would have made it back here unless we'd wanted them to."
"Ha! A bold claim!" the Duke laughed. "Very well. What is my part in your plan?"
"Batten down the hatches and wait for us to return," I said. "Actually, give me one man to be a guide. I'll leave half our squad here as insurance, and to help defend the city from-"
A commotion outside the room caught our attention, cutting me off mid-plan as Jeremiah burst into the study, sweating and out of breath.
"Duke Baham!" he cried. "The mercenaries have been spotted heading for Padun Village!"
"Mother fucker," I sighed, bouncing off Robin's chair. "I swear to god the amount of alcohol I'm going to consume once this is all done is directly proportional to the amount of shit I've put up with in the last week. And I've put up with a lot of shit."
"Alcohol will not solve your problems," Lucina pointed out with a glare.
"Neither will milk," I shot back.
"Ben, focus," Robin prompted.
"Dammit. Fine. This is fine," I groaned. "We can still work with this. Helman, batten down the hatches. We'll go to Padun before Fruford. The plan stays the same. I'll need a guide."
"Jeremiah will show you," the Duke declared.
"I'll send a messenger once the situation is contained, then you can send some men to handle the recovery once I'm on my way to Fruford. Robin, go downstairs and divide the squad. Dan stays here, Libra and Noire come with us. Go."
"The squad?" Robin asked, already on her feet.
"This way, milady," Jeremiah said, leading her out of the room.
"You only had something like fifteen men with you, Lord Ben," Baham said, rising to his feet himself. "Will that be enough?"
"It'll be overkill," I said, grinning at Lucina. "Especially with the secret weapon I have right here."
"Do not patronize me," Lucina mumbled, blushing as she pushed past me after Robin.
"You have a very… odd choice of company," Helman said.
"Meh. They're pretty, but they're soldiers worth their weight in gold," I shrugged. "Give me those two over ten other men any day. Now, if you would be so kind as to show me a map?"
We were led by Jeremiah out of the Western City gate to no fanfare. I was thinking of this as another part of the mission, and the soldiers that Robin chose to join us did the same. I left the remainder behind under Baham's command. Robin had chosen Corporal Hames to be in charge of the 'hostage group', a short heavy-set man who had once been the foreman of a lumberyard, his face more moustache and chin than anything else. Of course, they were quietly given the orders to prioritize my own commands over his if there were conflicting orders, but I didn't see that happening. Hames had nodded gravely when I'd passed the orders to him, and I'd grinned and patted him on the shoulder. He was a good soldier, and I'd made sure he knew that the only reason that he wasn't in the First Platoon was that I'd needed good soldiers as officers in the Second and Third. He was wasted on Corporal, though, and as soon as the opportunity came up I had instructed Ricken to promote him.
Angus, Hale and Mat were with us, along with Marey and another archer named Samir, a Plegian expat from the slums out of Themis. He was a crack shot with the bow, though, and so far Ricken assured me he was on the up and up, so I'd decided to let him have a rank in the army. And then there was the Sergeant, an older militiaman named Cyne. I'd had my eye on Cyne for a while now. According to Ricken he'd lost his entire family during a Plegian raid before Maribelle had been kidnapped, and to my eye he showed all the classic signs of PTSD. He was quiet and withdrawn, but he took orders well and was always cool and in control during the training exercises. The only reason he hadn't been put in the First, with his skills and experience, was the look I saw in his eyes. It had been the same look I'd seen in my own, during my darkest days, long before I'd come to Ylisse. I wanted to help him, but I was a busy man, and until he asked for help I wasn't going to push the matter.
"Cyne, take Angus and Samir, scout ahead," I said as soon as we were out of the city. "To'shi and his scouts are out there already, but I want a second buffer going into a hot zone."
Cyne froze, looking from me to Samir with a frown. This common racism was nothing new, especially given the history between Ylisse and Plegia, and I'd warned Samir when he enlisted that this would happen. But we were in the field and I could not tolerate it while lives were at stake.
"Problem, Sergeant?" I asked.
"None, sir," Cyne said smartly. "Angus, Samir, fall in. Let's see if we can find the General's guerillas before we get to the village."
"Mercs, Cyne. They're just mercs," I corrected him.
Cyne shook his head a little before nodding. "Right, sir. Mercs. C'mon, you two, let's move."
I watched the three soldiers jog ahead, a frown creasing my brow as I focused on Cyne's back.
"Think he'll be okay?" I asked Robin.
"Ricken hand-picked him," she shrugged. "He should at least be solid."
Jeremiah glanced over his shoulder from ahead of us. "You have scouts in the forest?"
I couldn't help but smirk. "Bro, I wanted you to catch me so you'd miss the scouts."
The Captain made a little impressed sound before we focused on moving quickly.
I don't know if you've ever tried jogging weighed down by chainmail and bladed weapons, but it takes a good deal of focus, so there wasn't a lot of room for us to be talking among each other. You try marching and running all day with a couple kilos of kit and gear hanging off you, then judge me. The forest passed by as a blur, trees and shrubs all blending together and looking the same after a while as we headed for Padun. It took a few hours of non-stop running, but this is what all that training had been for. To my silent, evil joy, I was even holding up better than Robin, who was panting by the time we reached the village. A few times I felt a familiar tickle in my chest, the beginnings of the old asthma come back to torment me, but I managed to keep my breathing level and under control and keep it at bay. I still had my vulenary stash-pouch, though. Just in case.
Unfortunately I missed my chance to make Lord of the Rings jokes, as we came on Padun late that afternoon. Smoke rising from the forest into the darkening sky in the distance was our first indication that we weren't the first ones on the scene this time, and as we got closer we found Cyne and the other two waiting for us in a small copse of trees overlooking the village.
"Looks bad, sir," Cyne said tersely. "At least thirty guerrillas, heavily armed and armored. Townsfolk running around like mad trying to stay out of their way. Gonna be a messy fight."
I didn't have the energy to correct him this time, leaning around a tree with Robin to get a good look at the mayhem in the village.
"We need to do something!" Jeremiah hissed.
"We will," I told him calmly. "You, go with Sergeant Cyne. Get the villagers out of the village. Robin, Marth, Dusk, you're with me. Cyne, take everyone else and get those villagers to safety so we can-"
"LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKINS!" Robin bellowed, tearing out of the trees with her sword in one hand as she shot lightning bolts out of the other.
We stared in shocked silence for a beat before my head drooped and I let out an irritated sigh. "Oh my god she just ran in. Well, she's got the right idea. Ladies, let's go help her before she gets herself killed. Cyne, J-dogs, get everyone out of the way now!"
The group split almost instantly, scattering into the village. Noire and Lucina went wide, skirting the circumference of the village while I pushed through a horde of terrified villagers after Robin. I'd lost sight of her in the crowd, but all I had to do was follow the maniacal laughter and random bolts of lightning shooting into the sky. With a small grin of my own I drew my trench knives.
I decided to sideline my sword for this one. It was a good sword, made from strong Ylissean steel, and I'm just sentimental enough to have felt like using it against Ylisseans for its first real action would have somehow tarnished the blade.
I know, I'm a poetic sap.
I caught up to Robin as we made it to the village square, a small group of stunned bandits looking intently at the two matching idiots who were causing all the ruckus.
"Hi boys! Feel like surrendering?" Robin called with another insane laugh.
"Wow it is so weird watching this from the outside," I muttered as I reached her side.
"Anything you can do, I can perfect," she grinned.
A thin, pale man in dark Grimleal robes pushed forward, leaning heavily on an ornate skull-topped staff with one hand as he shoved lank grey hair out of his face with the other.
"Oh shit I know him," I said, eyes widening as a sense of dread settled in the pit of my stomach.
"Wait, what?" Robin asked.
"We… uh… may have bitten off a little more than we can chew," I muttered.
"Who… or what… are you?" Nelson, the boss from Severa's paralogue, sneered.
I had not been expecting this. Nelson had been a fucking pain to kill in the game, especially with the stupid condition that you had to keep Severa's friend Holland alive. He was supposedly a former Valmese general or something, and clearly Grimleal to boot, but I guess that everyone needs a hobby, and mercenary work no doubt paid well. We were supposed to find them in the south with Severa later, but if I could take a later boss out now…
"We're here to stop your terrorizing of the villagers!" Robin shouted above the flames and the panicked civilians.
There was a moment of silence before the assembled mercenaries or bandits or whatever the hell they were burst into raucous laughter. As they laughed I leaned over to Robin.
"Just in case, if you see a redhead with two pigtails that looks like a pissed-off version of Cordelia, don't kill her."
Robin nodded, grinning a little. "Another one of Lucina's friends? Or just another jaded ex-girlfriend?"
"Ha! There's plenty of the latter, this is the former, though," I smirked. "Leave the boss to me. Think you can handle the small-fry?"
"With all the training you've been forcing on us lately I'm going to be mighty embarrassed if I can't. Besides," Robin said, pausing for dramatic effect.
It was at this moment, with perfect damn timing, that arrows started to rain down on the still-laughing enemy, Lucina charging into their midst from the side with a mighty bellow that would have made her father proud.
"That," Robin grinned, pointing for emphasis.
I rolled my eyes as I grinned, too, gnashing my two knives in front of me in a clear challenge for any of the enemy that were still watching.
"Nelson!" I snarled. "Your ass is mine!"
The tables turned on the mercenaries pretty quickly, but that tended to happen when you have a pissed-off Lucina on your side. With Noire providing cover the Princess and Robin caught the mercenaries in a pincer, decimating their number before most of them could even comprehend that they were in danger. Nelson, however, was quicker on the uptake, his sunken eyes widening as he shambled backwards a few steps.
"S-stop! Don't come any closer!" he shrieked. "Do you know who I am!? Damn you, wench, if you ever want to see your precious treasure again-"
"I know, I know," a familiar voice groaned in the press of bodies, and I felt my pulse speed up.
And then Severa pushed her way through the crowd, a wicked frown on her face as she sneered at Nelson.
"You're a real piece of shit, you know that?" I snapped at the mage. "Blackmailing a girl? Fuck you."
"All shall bow to me!" Nelson snarled. "All will serve me! It matters not how!"
I stopped, a cruel grin rising to my face. Severa was looking at me with suspicious eyes. Clearly she recognized me from somewhere, but it wasn't surprising that she couldn't tell who I was when I was this much younger than she was used to.
"Hey, Severa!" I called. "Do you care how you get the ring back!?"
The redhead instantly froze, watching now as Lucina came into her field of vision. The Princess didn't even notice her friend, though, locked in combat with the other mercenaries.
"Because I think we can just take it from his corpse, yeah!?" I finished, starting to stalk forward again. "Anyone that doesn't want to die, throw down your weapons! Because we are not taking prisoners! Is whatever you're being paid worth your lives!?"
"Don't listen to him!" Nelson screeched. "I am your Lord! I am supreme! You will obey me, or face-"
Whatever the skinny man was going to say was lost when he ducked back, bringing up his fancy staff to ward off Severa's blow. She had a smile on her face that would have looked more at home on Tharja than on someone that so resembled Cordelia; a predatory, violent expression that I'm pretty sure I had the trademark on. Nelson actually went pale as he shuffled backwards, Severa and I closing in on him as Robin, Noire and Lucina tore his mercenary followers apart. A few of his men had thrown down their weapons, though, and were kneeling on the ground with their hands in the air.
"Looks like you're not so 'supreme' after all, huh?" I asked with a grin.
"Bah! Fools, the lot of you!" Nelson snarled, rallying and stepping forward to meet us. "I don't need them! I'll find new followers! After I kill you!"
As he came forward he cast a spell, dark magic flux bolts kicking up dirt and carving deep gouges where Severa and I had been standing moments ago. We both went wide, each of us taking a different side as we came for the mage. I went low, the way Panne had taught me, and I was surprised to see Severa doing likewise, her sword poised to dart up the way I'd been practicing with Lon'qu.
To his credit, though, Nelson wasn't as big a push-over as his men were. He alternated between the two of us, flux spells forcing Severa and I to jink and dodge as we closed in on him, buying the psychopath more time to think up a plan.
Then we were on him, Severa bringing her sword up as I slashed with my knives. Nelson parried Severa's blow with the haft of his staff, catching my own attack on his ribs. My knives bounced away after cutting through his robes, though, revealing the mail armor underneath.
"Paranoid, aren't you?" I laughed, lashing out again.
Severa let out a wordless snarl of rage, spinning and trying to decapitate Nelson, but her sword bounced off the ornate skull atop his staff. It had been close, though, and Nelson was actually starting to sweat now. My own blows were regularly sneaking past his guard, he was so busy focused on Severa, and while I wasn't piercing his armor I was keeping his attention. But, then again, I wasn't trying to pierce his armor yet. I wanted Severa to take this kill. Call me a stickler for the narrative, but I always liked it when she finished Nelson off in the game.
I rolled my eyes as Nelson backpedaled again, switching my grip on my knife in my right hand. Until now I'd basically just been punching at him with the blade. This time I actually stabbed him, and no doubt lulled into a false sense of security Nelson totally ignored me as he swiped at Severa with his staff. He let out a little gasp as my knife sunk into his side, and then a scream as Severa impaled him on her sword.
"Give. It. Back," she hissed, inches from his face.
Nelson didn't answer, gasping one last time before choking on the blood welling up in his throat. Severa and I both pulled our weapons free of his chest at the same time, and the mage crumpled. Thinking of being merciful I stepped over him, ramming my left-hand knife into his heart. He spasmed once more before going still, the light gone from his eyes.
Severa was already rooting through his pockets, giving a tired sigh as she leaned back and beheld the old ring in her hand.
I glanced up, happy to see the majority of the other mercenaries were surrendering now that their boss, or 'lord', was dead. Noire almost looked disappointed, but Robin and Lucina looked almost as unflappable as ever.
"Robin, why don't you go find Cyne and tell him it's safe to bring the villagers back. Noire, go with her, please," I called.
At Noire's name Severa's head snapped up, her gaze falling on my daughter and her jaw dropping.
"Noire!?" Severa shouted, jumping to her feet.
"Sev!? Severa!" Noire practically cheered, dashing across the square to wrap the redhead in a giant bear-hug.
Noire was laughing as she buried her face in Severa's shoulder, the confused redhead's gaze now falling on a smiling Lucina. It was rare to see the Princess smile so unreservedly. It always made me remember just how pretty she was. Or could be, when she wasn't being a gigantic pain in my ass.
"Why don't you let them have their reunion," Robin said. "I'll be fine on my own."
"This is still a hot-zone until I say otherwise," I pointed out. "I don't know that there's not more mercs hiding in the town."
"There's not!" one of the nearby men piped up, earning a kick from Robin.
"Just go," I sighed. "Reunion later. Luce, get her caught up. I'll keep an eye on the prisoners."
"Do not call me that," Lucina snapped for the thousandth time.
Noire looked more excited than I'd seen her in weeks as she and Robin picked their way through the square and back to where the others had headed with the villagers, leaving me alone with the remaining mercenaries. Out of the roughly thirty that had started, there were six left, all still kneeling with their hands in the air. As Severa and Lucina began to converse in hushed tones I smirked and walked towards the mercenaries, none of them meeting my gaze.
"Oh for god's sake, put your hands down. You all look like idiots," I laughed. "Reach for weapons and you die. But otherwise, relax. I have some questions. Let's start with the easy one. Who hired your group?"
There was a moment of silence, in which the men exchanged glances before the one that Robin had kicked earlier gave a tired sigh.
"We can't break confidentiality," the mercenary said, his tone resigned. "If you don't kill us and word gets out that we did, we'll never get work again."
"I see," I said thoughtfully, squatting down in front of the man. "What's your name?"
The mercenary glanced up at me from beneath a long fringe of dirty brown hair, his plain face streaked with dirt and scarred from brow to jaw.
"It's… Waltgraf, Lord. My friends call me Walt."
"Okay, Walt, I want you to listen closely," I said, rising back to my feet. "And this goes for the rest of you dumbasses, too. I put out a call for any able-bodied men to serve the Exalt in his army almost a year ago now, and men with any combat skill at all were basically accepted on the spot. With your experience, I have no doubt that any of you would have made the cut. Instead, I find you all here, pissing away your lives and making my own difficult. It feels like a waste. A waste of my time, and a waste of your lives. Tell me who hired you. Answer my questions. Then get your asses to Ylisstol and enlist!"
The six men looked at me with blank expressions, stunned in the wake of my rant.
"I won't ask a third time," I warned.
"You'd… really enlist us?" one of the mercenaries asked.
"I ain't serving no crown for nothing!" one of them snapped.
"Ask any of the soldiers brining the villagers back, I pay pretty damn well," I said. "Way I see it, you lot have a debt to the people of this nation for your… misdeeds. You can pay it with your lives, here and now, or you can pay it with your service. And still make some decent coin in the meantime. Now…"
"Duke Fruford," Walt sighed, deflating. "It… was Duke Fruford what hired the boss."
"Good lad," I said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "That's all I needed to hear. On your feet. Head back to Baham, leave your weapons here. Find Corporal Hames, he'll be wearing the same kind of uniform I am with two horizontal stripes on his shoulder where my stars are. Tell him I sent you, and he'll put you to work. Asses in gear! You work for me now! Move it, move it, move it!"
The six mercenaries stumbled to their feet, looking at me with a mixture of fear and awe.
"Just like that?" Walt asked softly.
"Oh, trust me, once you start training you'll wish I'd killed you," I laughed. "Until then it's time to start paying your debt. Get out of here before I have to beat the pissed off villagers off of you. Now. Get. Scat."
I shooed the mercenaries away, who began to run as a group in the direction of Baham.
"Well, aren't you mister nice-guy?" Severa asked behind me.
I glanced over to her and Lucina, the Princess watching me with a guarded expression.
"It felt like a waste to kill men just doing their jobs," I shrugged. "Now, they work for me. You okay?"
Severa nodded. "Thank you for your help," she said, as if the words were physically painful to her.
"No problem. You going back to Baham or coming with us?" I asked.
"I'm going with you," she declared, as if there were no arguing.
"Okies. Get ready to move. I want to be in Fruford before dawn," I shrugged lazily, stepping up to Lucina and growing serious again. "You think the third group saw us?"
"It would have been hard to miss us," Lucina nodded, her voice low. "Although we still don't know where they're from."
"I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that they're Fruford regulars," I said, smiling amicably like we were just talking about the weather.
"So they know we're coming?" Severa asked, frowning.
"Oh, child," I laughed, my smile growing cold. "I want them to know we're coming."
AN: Oh me, oh my, the story finally progresses. Forecast says two more chapters of this arc, two or three for the next filler arc, then on to Valm! Yes, I'm introducing Severa even earlier this time! Because it's never established just how long most of the characters are there for. Given that Laurent arrives three years before Lucina does, it makes sense that some of the others are already there. So in this continuity, Severa's been working as a mercenary for about a year now. It'll come up in story, I just wanted to get that out of the way now.
OCs have begun invading. I'm using a random name generator for the majority of them, but some are based off real people. Consider my inclusion of them a form of petty revenge. Kinda. Sorta. Okay, not really considering how keen they were about being name-dropped in the story, but still…
Follow me on Twitter! – metalloverCAB