Chapter 8: Believers in Ruin
Emmeryn is gone, taken away by Gangrel in his surprise attack on Ylisstol. And its all because I foolishly thought I was strong enough to kill Gangrel surrounded by his own army by myself… no there's still time to save her and I promise you Chrom and Lissa I will get her back.
"Ugh its too damn hot…" I grumbled out as the ferocious Plegian sun was beating down upon us as we slowly marched through the vast wasteland that was known the Solitudinem Desert, which covered the majority of northern Plegia and bordered along Ferox's western borderline. It had been four weeks since Plegia's attack on Ylisstol and Emmeryn's kidnapping and we only had another week until Gangrel fulfilled his ultimatum of executing Emmeryn. We would have moved out sooner but the north and east areas of Ylisstol were in shambles, as those two districts were hit the hardest during the attack and many citizens were injured, missing or were without a home. Leaving Chrom and Robin to quickly take charge of the situation and assemble search and rescue groups and to also aid in the reconstruction of those districts. Also whatever army Ylisstol had to protect itself was too small to mount a large scale counterattack against Plegia and thus we had to wait for Feroxi reinforcements lead by Flavia. And as for myself… well I was apparently stuck under that column and rubble for two days before the vanguard of Shepherd's made it to the city and found me. So I was getting better by the day, but without any elixirs to heal my wounds and broken ribs it was an annoyingly slow recovery. Any elixirs that could be found were given to the more injured and apparently they take a couple of months to brew according to Maribelle, so by the time it came to heal me I was out of luck. Plus, Lissa finding me almost passed out from exhaustion from igniting my sword in my early stages of recovering didn't do wonders for my already sour mood. Not like this damn heat is helping my mood either.
I continued to grumble as I trudged along through the sand, adjusting my sash so that it wrapped around my coat before slipping out of my coat sleeves so that my coat hung from around my waist, hoping this would at least cool me down till nightfall.
"What's wrong Bandit? The heat getting to ya?" The snickering voice of Gaius appearing besides me.
"Oh its you" I grumbled out glancing from the corner of my eye to see the orange haired thief walking besides me. At this point I was getting used to Gaius appearing from seemingly thin air, so his sudden arrivals didn't surprise me as much anymore.
"You don't sound too happy to see me?"
"Would you believe me if I told you your mere presence has made my day better" I replied with slight exasperation.
"Nope" And he pulled a swirling pink lollipop from on of his many coat pockets and plopped it into his mouth before continuing. "Seems like you Valmanese can't handle the heat very well" I perked my head up at that and gave him a curious look as he motioned with his head towards Lon'qu, who also had his coat wrapped around his waist revealing his bare chest as he was trudging in front of a very red faced Lissa. Looking back towards him I narrowed my eyes slightly before speaking.
"Okay noted. But how did you know I'm from…"
"Valm? You have an accent" He simply stated to which I replied with a grunt. As our march continued under the burning sun through the day, Gaius and myself maintaining a peaceful silence. With the thief only speaking up to either complain how much sand is in his pockets and boots or to make jabs at me and how I can't handle the desert heat, much to my annoyance. Damn it… why couldn't we have just gone through the mountains again. But nooo we just had to go through the desert.
I was brought out of my reverie as Gaius snapped his fingers and tapped me on the shoulder.
"That reminds me, usually your hanging around Blue, Bubbles and the rest of the royal escort on these little marches of ours. Now your hanging out back here, what's up with that?"
"I'm guessing Bubbles is referring to Robin?" I replied with a confused look, to which Gaius flashed a cheeky grin. Letting out a low sigh I brought my hand up to the bridge of my nose.
"Ugh of course it is…"
"You're not answering my question Bandit"
"Look its… complicated" I mumbled out. To be perfectly honest it wasn't complicated at all, I just figured the last person Chrom and Lissa needed support from was the man who failed to protect their sister in the first place. So these past couple of weeks I've mainly been avoiding them lest it get awkward or worse… Besides they had other people to give them a shoulder to lean on, Chrom had Frederick and surprisingly Sumia and Lissa had Maribelle and both of them had Robin who always seemed willing to lend an ear and hear out their worries. So I was probably the last person they wanted to see.
"That's not a proper answer" He replied with a hint of cheek, giving an annoyed sigh I turned to face Gaius.
"Listen here I don't have to- "
CLUNK
"Wha- Ahh!" Tumbling forward I fell face first into the sand. Lying on the ground I could hear the laughter of Gaius and another voice I couldn't make out. You have got to be kidding me…
Letting out a large exasperated sigh I adjusted myself to see what I tripped over only to see…
"Kellam?! What the hell are you doing in the ground? And why didn't you warn me before I tripped over you?" And there sunken up to his waist in his heavy metal armour was Kellam with a worried look to his face.
"S-Sorry Roland I did try to warn you by waving my arms but you didn't see me…"
"Then why didn't you warn me Gaius?"
"Because it was hilarious" The thief replied bending over with laughter.
"You didn't see me either Gaius" Kellam meekly stated, at this point Miriel stepped out from behind a nearby boulder scribbling in one of her notebooks.
"Very interesting, so far no individuals have yet to identify subject before making physical contact… requires further study." And with a well practiced flick of her hand flipped her notebook closed. With an angry grumble I pushed myself to my feet with the help of Gaius, shooting the sugar thief the stink eye as I straightened my back and tried my best to dust off the sand, he didn't notice as he was recovering from his laughing fit. Clearing my throat and dusting off my coat I turned to the sunken knight in the ground.
"Anyways you didn't really explain how you sunk into the ground"
"Oh w-well I think its because of my armour. Its too heavy to be able to walk on this sand"
"Just how long have you been stuck Clunky?" Asked Gaius as he walked around Kellam popping a toffee into his mouth.
"Umm… about three minutes or so. I tried calling for help but nobody noticed aside from Miriel"
"And you didn't think to help him?" I asked turning to Miriel, who had begun slowly walking around Kellam waving her hand around him, mumbling to herself. After waving her hands around Kellam some more she turned to me and adjusted her glasses.
"The thought had crossed my mind, but I decided this situation could be used to gather valuable data for my research"
"Of course you did…" I sighed out, while palming my forehead. How did I end up with these weirdos again?
"Um guys I don't want to complain or anything but its starting to get really hot… also I think I'm sinking again" Kellam called out in a meek voice, turning back to him it really looked like he sunk a few more inches.
"Oh uh right. Let's get you out of there, Gaius gimme a hand will ya?" And I motioned to the thief who was crouching besides Kellam poking at his armour.
"Why do I have to help?"
"Because, you really think Miriel is going to help pull him out? No offense Miriel" But I don't think she heard me as she was busy scribbling in one of her notebooks again
"Hrmm good point" And he got to his feet, dusting the sand from his pants as he did.
"Okay how are we gonna do this Bandit?" Asked Gaius as he stepped up besides me, throwing another piece of candy into his mouth as he did.
"Simple you take one arm and I'll take the other, and then we just pull him out" As I explained this I grabbed Kellam's left forearm in a tight grip, motioning for Gaius to do the same. "Besides how hard can it be right?"
Apparently it was a hell of a lot harder that I initially thought. Over our multiple attempts to pull Kellam out, the only thing that happened was myself and Gaius's feet sinking into the sand and Gaius falling head over heels as Kellam's gauntlet slipped off from one of his arms in our attempts to pull him free.
"Okay so this isn't working out" I panted out as I stepped away from our failing rescue attempt, wiping beads of sweat away from my forehead.
"Oh you don't say!" As Gaius fell backwards onto the sand yet again, simply deciding to lay on the ground to catch his breath.
"Don't you… sass me…" Taking in a large gulp of air, to steady my breathing I straightened up and looked around to see if anything or anyone in the convoy could help us to stop looking like a bunch of drunken fools.
"Any other bright ideas Bandit?" Gaius asked in a sarcastic tone as he pushed himself up from the ground. Ignoring him I kept a lookout for anything useful, before finding someone that could give us a hand… or two.
"Yeah just one. I'll be right back, Kellam don't go anywhere" And I jogged off towards the convoy of Shepherds, hearing the exasperated groan of both Kellam and Gaius as I ran off.
Jogging up towards the hulking figure of Vaike who seemed to be stuck in a very one sided conversation with Maribelle, the noblewoman atop her steed with her parasol extended out speaking in an exasperated tone.
"Vaike you buffoon! you at least need cover yourself with a hat, the last thing we need is to carry you around because you passed out from heat stroke"
"Ah don'tcha worry about it Maribelle. Ol'Teach here ain't gonna pass out from some sunshine" Vaike responded with a booming laugh much to Maribelle's chagrin. Upon seeing my arrival Maribelle perked up slightly and raised her small hand in a wave.
"Greetings Roland, perhaps you can talk some sense into Vaike about his choice of clothing"
"I'm probably the last person you want to talk to about fashion…" Shaking my head quickly and raising my hands I quickly changed the subject. "…Anyways I'm not here to talk about Vaike's clothes, or lack there of. We need his help pulling Kellam out of the sand"
"Wait… How did Kellam get stuck in the sand?" Maribelle asked in a confused tone.
"His armour. Anyway you up for it Vaike?"
"Of course! Teach is always ready to help out his underlings in times of need"
Underlings?
"Uh right. Anyways let's go he's this way" and I began to lead Vaike away but suddenly Maribelle's parasol whipped out in front of me stopping us in our tracks.
"Roland do you mean to say that you've been trying to pull Kellam out of the ground all this time?" Maribelle narrowed her eyes and spoke in an ice cold tone dripping with authority.
"Uh yes?"
"In his armour?"
"Yeah?"
THWUMP
Maribelle's parasol moved in a flash as she whacked me over the head before pulling it back and extending it out once more.
"Ow! What was that for?" Rubbing my head giving Maribelle a perplexed look, the noblewoman gave a small huff before folding her arms, before staring daggers at me.
"The last thing I need is for you to reopen your wounds and bleed out or break your stiches and bleed out… again!"
"Look I'm fine, I think I would know if I opened anything- "
THWAP
Maribelle's parasol struck my head again with lightning fast speed. Ow! Okay that's gonna bruise.
"The last time you reopened your wounds you were swinging that barbaric sword around and you almost passed out from blood loss… again!"
"Okay, okay I get it. Can you just stop hitting me?" Rubbing my head as I raised one hand in surrender.
"I'll consider it, only if you stop exerting yourself while your recovering. Good grief you have to be the most problematic patient I have" She sighed out closing her eyes and placing her hand to the bridge of her nose.
"Alright, alright I'll try my best to not move around to much. Happy?" Maribelle shot open one eye and started staring daggers at me yet again, slowing closing her parasol readying for another strike.
"No, you will not 'try' you 'will' do your best to not move around. Am I clear?" I backed up slowly nodding my head in quick succession.
"Yes ma'am"
"Good. Now hurry and show Vaike where Kellam is, only Naga knows how far he's sunk now"
"Uh right. Let's go Vaike" And I quickly broke into a fast pace walk, not daring to invite more of Maribelle's wrath by jogging or running. Dragging Vaike by his metal collar to where Kellam was stuck, the large warrior covering his mouth with one hand as he giggled away like a child.
"Oh shut up" I grumbled shooting Vaike an annoyed glare.
"What? Teach hasn't said anything" Vaike said while trying and failing to suppress his rising laughter.
"Rgh whatever let's just get Kellam out of the ground"
By the time we made it to the others, Gaius was sat on a boulder looking bored as he plopped another candy into his mouth. Miriel was nowhere to be seen so she probably left to do more 'research' elsewhere and Kellam was looking very uncomfortable as he was now sunk up to his chest. Surprisingly and annoyingly Vaike managed to pull out the sunken knight with ease. Sand began pouring out of all the joints in Kellam's armour as he unbuckled the armour off and handed various pieces to Vaike so that he could walk around without fear of sinking again. Once that was done everyone went on their merry way back to the now receding convoy, where we continued our slow march in the scorching sun. Once back to the convoy I received yet another lecture from Maribelle as she sat me down in the back of the medicinal wagon checking to see wether I broke any stiches or opened any of my wounds. So yeah, nothing really improved my mood over the day until we made camp just as dusk fell, even then I spent most of the evening in the infirmary having Maribelle finish healing me in my final stages of recovery. The atmosphere in the camp wasn't any better, the usual camp antics of dancing around the fire and cheery songs being sung were now replaced with a cold silence and solemn conversations of the upcoming battle with Plegia. Chrom, Robin and Frederick were shut away in the war tent until the late hours of the night. And many of the Shepherds went back to their own tents earlier than usual. This cycle of marching through the burning desert and camping out in the cold silent nights continued for two long and deathly boring days.
XXX
Dust and sand kicked up all around us as a brilliant white pegasus landed next to Robin and myself, gracefully dismounting from the steed was a woman with fiery crimson hair that whipped around her from the small gusts of wind caused by the pegasus.
"Sir Robin, villages to the south of us are being assaulted by large group" She spoke in a cool and calm voice that seemed to be laced with sadness.
"Did you get close enough to see if they were Risen?" Robin replied, taking on an authoritative and serious tone.
"No Sir, I tried to but I had to retreat before I got within range of their magic"
"Magic? That doesn't sound like Risen" I chimed in with folded arms turning to Robin. The tactician gave a curt nod in agreement before turning back to the knight.
"Agreed. Thanks for the report Cordelia, tell Chrom to ready the Shepherd's for battle as quickly as possible, the more time we waste preparing, the more innocent lives are in danger"
"As you wish Sir!" And Cordelia gave a quick salute to Robin much to his dismay and my pleasure, before turning on her heel and mounting her pegasus, not before giving me a strange look due to my chuckling. As she was about to take off Robin quickly raised his hand to get her attention.
"Oh and Cordelia! There's no need to call me a Sir, just Robin is fine"
"Yes Sir, uh I mean R-Robin" And she galloped away into the sky with her face almost as red as her hair. As soon as she was gone Robin gave me a swift elbow to the arm while also giving an exasperated glare.
"What was that for? I didn't say anything" I said between a small chuckle, Robin just let out a sigh before making his way to the front of the convoy.
"You know what it was for. Now let's go, times wasting"
"Yes sir!"
"Ugh…"
"Alright everyone! There's innocent lives on the line so we need to move hard and fast. Those of you with heavy armour try and stay out of the sand it will only slow you down…" Robin shouted with his sword raised above his head, he then spun on his heel to face Sumia and Cordelia lowering his voice as he did. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying to them, but not long after he finished talking both knights gave a swift nod and left to mount up with Cordelia galloping into the sky moments later. While Robin was quickly pacing around giving orders to everyone, I found myself once again standing with my hands in my coat pockets watching as everyone frantically prepared for the upcoming battle. Well its not like I have to ready a pegasus or anything… unless I want to re-adjust my scabbard for the umpteenth time…
Shading my eyes with my hand, I gave a gruff sigh as I looked out over the small flourishing oasis that stood out like a sore thumb in the larger desolate desert, thankfully the large group of bandits didn't seem to notice us yet so they still moved to the small cluster of villages at a leisurely pace. However, a billowing plume of sand caught my attention from the corner of my eye, squinting my eyes and turning my head to the plume of sand a small child burst forth at a fast sprint, a tall man with a large sword strapped across his back also came from the sand following close behind the child and not long after that a group of men wearing dark robes chased after them, flinging gusts of wind at the man and child.
Well you certainly don't see that everyday…
And with a small sigh I broke out into a sprint, rushing towards the small child still running from the group of men, calling out to Robin as I broke away from the Shepherd's.
"Robin we gotta move now!" Pointing my hand as I called out, the ashen haired tactician followed my hand towards where I was pointing, realisation dawned on his face and he also broke out into a sprint, calling back towards me.
"I'm right with you!" Turning back towards the Shepherd's Robin shouted out "Gaius you're with us let's move!" And soon the sugar thief burst from within the crowd of Shepherd's and was soon running side by side with Robin. It wasn't too long before Robin and Gaius caught up to me, and by now we were close enough to make out some details on what was happening. The child appeared to be a young girl who couldn't be older than ten or eleven, she had long flowing blonde that tapered off into a pale green hair, her purple cape billowed out behind her as she ran, the clothing she wore was also quite revealing even for a child. However, what was even weirder was that she had long tapered ears instead of you know normal round ones. The man chasing behind her had short spikey chestnut hair and was almost as tall as Kellam, he had a large broadsword strapped across his back and he seemed to be carrying it with ease so its safe to assume that he's pretty strong. And the men in the robes further behind seemed to wear robes in similar design to Robin except they were brown in colour compared to Robin's black and purple.
"We're getting closer" Gaius called out.
"Yeah and so are they…" Robin replied between breaths before turning his head to me. "Roland do you think you can hold off the big guy long enough from me and Gaius to get the girl out of here?"
"Shouldn't be a problem" I replied while ripping my sword from its sheath, the steel shining bright in the sun. Surging forward multiple bolts of lighting flew past me and crashed into the ground in front of the men wearing the robes cutting them off from the girl as large plumes of dust and sand erupted from the impact. The large man stopped dead in his tracks to see what was happening behind him, giving me enough time to jump into the air and bring my sword down on to him with a roar.
"RRAAGH!"
However instead of cutting into flesh, my sword hit steel and leather and it was lodged into the large shield-like pauldron that covered the man's left shoulder.
"W-What the? How did…"
"You be very strong with sword no?" He spoke in a thick Feroxi accent as he looked over his shoulder with a large toothy grin. "Gregor also be strong with sword" before grabbing the large broadsword strapped across his back with his other arm and swinging it with incredible speed. Ripping my sword from his pauldron I fell into backwards roll before the broadsword could cleave my head off, coming back up onto my feet readying myself for another attack expect… he just stood there with his broadsword lying flat across his shoulder.
"Hey you know this is the part where you fight back old-man" I growled out in irritation, to which he replied with a deep sigh as he palmed his forehead.
"That hurts Gregor's feelings being called old man. Besides Gregor is busy keeping little one safe" Raising an eyebrow in confusion I relaxed my stance a little, but still kept my blade up.
"You mean the girl?"
"Of course Gregor means the wee-girl. Who else would be little one for Gregor to keep safe"
Then why in Naga's name was she running from him then… But… ugh this is confusing…
"…Sorry old-timer but I don't think believe you"
"Why is it so hard to believe Gregor? Gregor has been helping wee-one run away from the bad men" However, before I could voice my reply, blades of wind cut through the plume of sand and crashed around myself and this so called Gregor.
"Argh it has been all day with the whooshing of the magic's with these people. Gregor has no time for antics like this" And he pulled his large broadsword into a defensive stance turning to face the incoming wave of the robed men. And that's my queue to leave…
Turning away from Gregor and dodging random blades of wind from the battle behind me, I made my way back to where Robin was protecting the little girl, Gaius was a short distance away battling with a pair of mages but he seemed to be handling himself quite well so I didn't intervene.
"There's no need to cry now we're here to protect you" Robin spoke in a calm voice as he got to one knee and placed a hand to the girl's shoulder, the girl gave a couple of sniffles as she dried her eyes seeming to recover from a recent crying fit. Running up to the pair and sheathing my sword I called out to Robin.
"Robin if you've got the girl we should probably- "
"AH! Not another creep!" And the girl jumped to her feet and delivered a well placed punch to my… nether region effectively cutting me off.
"Ugh. Why me though…" I wheezed out collapsing to my knees covering my manhood with my hands to protect them from further harm. The girl wound back her fist to deliver another crippling blow, although Robin (thank Naga) caught her by the wrist saving me from the wrath of this small child.
"Whoa! Don't worry he's with us" The girl dropped her hand and covered her mouth with her other, eyes going wide with shock.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry please forgive me mister. Its just that I thought you were with that group of bad guys and-" I tentatively raised a hand to cut her off.
"No it's all good, it happens more often than you think…" I wheezed out, slowly rising to my feet.
"Looks like Gregor is not the only one to be getting punches to the groin today" Came the booming voice of the Feroxi swordsman, followed by a large hand clapping me on the back causing me to stumble forward slightly. Robin quickly raised his hand up, his palm crackling with lighting as he pushed the girl behind him away from Gregor. Grabbing Robin by the arm I slowly pushed it down to defuse the situation.
"I'm pretty sure he's with the girl so there's no need to worry about him" Robin looked between me and Gregor before shaking his hand dissipating the remaining lighting, giving a Gregor an apologetic look.
"Sorry about that" But Gregor waved off Robin's apology before turning to me with a large toothy grin.
"Gregor always knew you would be seeing the sense eventually!"
"Sorry to break this little gathering, but we have more bad guys heading our way" Came the voice of Gaius as he jogged up towards us having finished his battle with the mages. Various robed figures appeared out from the giant ribcages that were scattered around the oasis supporting Gaius's claim.
"All right everyone let's get out of here. The last thing we need is to be caught out in the open" Called out Robin, Gregor raised his own booming voice as he picked up the girl by the collar of her cape and sat her on his shoulder much to her surprise.
"Agreed. There is teeny village west of here, let us be making that way" And he bounded away to one of the smaller ribcages, the remaining three of us shared a look with one another before running after Gregor. As we ran across the white desert sands small skirmishes between the Shepherd's and the robed figures could be seen throughout the oasis, thankfully we seemed to be winning the battle as various robed figures could be seen running up the sand dunes away from the fighting. I must have been caught up in the fighting that I didn't notice we caught up to Gregor until I felt a small hand tap me on the head. Looking up I saw the long eared girl smiling down sheepishly at me.
"Hey mister I'm sorry about the whole punching thing before. I just get a bit nervous when I meet people outside my age group. I'm Nowi by the way" As she finished she shone a bright smile and offered her petite hand in a handshake, as the situation we were in was completely normal and not at all bizarre. Giving her a strange look I reached up and shook her hand.
"Names Roland. And you don't need keep bringing that up. Like I said before, it happens more than you think"
"The part where you're mistaken for a bandit OR the punching in the crown jewels" Came the chuckling voice of Gaius.
"Rgh quite you. I didn't think you would see that" Shooting Gaius an irritated look, to which the thief replied with a laugh.
"Oh I saw it alright, almost got burnt to a crisp because of it"
"Gods you're never going to let this go, are you?"
"Oh-ho, no way"
"Eyes up you two, there's more of those robed men at the gate of the village" Robin called out, causing our banter to be saved for later. As we got closer to the village Gaius and myself surged forward followed by bolts of lighting fired from Robin, drawing our blades and leaping into battle catching our foes by surprise. With the additional help of Gregor, we made short work of robed men.
"Thank you brave sirs! If it wasn't for you the Grimleal would have broken down the gate and wrecked havoc upon our village." Came the voice of an elderly man as his shining bald head peeked over the wooden and bone wall of the village. Robin sheathed his sword and pocketed his tome as he turned to face the old man, shading his eyes with his hands to see clearly.
"It's no trouble at all elder, are any of your people injured? If so we have healers travelling with us that can tend to them" However a small hand appeared next to the old mans head waving Robin's concerns off.
"Thank you for your kindness, but none of my people are injured. I suspect you would have need of them yourselves- "
"Grandpa! Grandpa! There's more of the bad men coming" Seemingly from nowhere a small chestnut haired boy ran up to the gate waving his hands frantically towards the old man. The old man called out into the village and soon the burnt and scorched gate opened a fraction to allow the boy entry. Before he could enter however Robin quickly placed a hand to the boy's shoulder.
"Where are these bad men coming from?"
"Just over yonder by the skeleton of that dragon" The boy frantically pointing over his shoulder to a large skeleton just south of the village, where a large group of figures were emerging from. Giving a quick nod of thanks, Robin sent the boy on his way before drawing out his sword.
"Surely you all don't intend to fight them off for our sakes. You would be safer inside the village!" Came the anxious voice of the elder.
"That's exactly what we intend to do. Get everyone inside and don't open the gates until the fighting is over." Robin replied in a confident voice, the rest of us drawing our blades in affirmation of our actions.
"Very well then, at least let the child in" And the elder motioned to Nowi who was perched up on Gregor's shoulder again. Nowi gave a surprised look before gazing up to the elder with a pout. "I can be useful too you know!" Gregor even agreeing with her as he raised his own voice. "It is true little one very helpful" The elder gave a low sigh at this before his bald head disappeared from view.
"…Very well, you are all braves fools for doing this" And soon after the gates to the village closed with a thud.
"Are you sure about this Bubbles? Letting this kid here stay and fight?" Robin raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but brushed it aside and turned to Gregor.
"I have to agree with Gaius on this. Are you sure Nowi should be with us?"
"Hey! I'm not some kid you know, I'm like a thousand or something years old, I don't know I forget sometimes. But anyways I can handle myself quite fine"
"Pfft sure you are and I'm one of the Khans of Ferox" I scoffed, much to Nowi's annoyance.
"It be all right, wee one will be very helpful in fight to come" Gregor said with unshakeable confidence and booming laughter.
"Hmm fine. I don't agree with it Gregor but if you believe in her that much, there's nothing I can do to stop you…" Robin slumped down with a sigh before straightening up and readying his sword, his off hand crackling with lighting. "…for now, let's just prepare for this fight it won't be long now before these Grimleal arrive"
XX
"Here they come…" Came the voice of Gaius as he slid off a rock he was previously was perched on. "And there's a lot of them" Following his gaze south towards what looked like a large dark shadow moving across the white sands of the desert, a large group of possible thirty to forty robed figures made their way towards the village. Moving up besides Robin I gave his shoulder a small nudge.
"So tactician, how many do you think we can take out before the rest of the Shepherd's get here?" Robin pursed his lips before letting out a low sigh, unsheathing his sword as he did.
"Honestly? Not enough." I only gave a small grunt in response before drawing out my sword, Gaius and Gregor followed our lead and also drew out their respective blades. It didn't take long for the large group of Grimleal to arrive within the vicinity of the village, only stopping a short distance away. Well here goes nothing…
Adjusting the grip on my sword and concentrating all my anger and hate at the world, life, myself and anyone who pissed me off, focusing it all into my sword.
"Is Roland good? It looks like he has the constipations?" Gregor said in a hushed voice, which even for him was still quite loud.
"RRAGH" And with that my sword bloomed and crackled with black flames that swirled around the blade. "I'm good… just needed a second there…" I said between ragged breaths, before straightening out and bringing my sword up in a defensive stance, seeing from the corners of my eyes as everyone gave me a strange look, before turning back to the matter at hand. The sea of black robes soon parted ways as a hunched over man with a large crooked nose shuffled forward in his purple and red robes.
"Greetings, now if you don't mind hand over the child and we may spare you from Grima's wrath" Speaking in a slow methodical tone, as he pointed an old long finger towards Nowi who was still perched on Gregor's shoulder.
"And why do you think we'll do that?" Said Robin as he stepped forward, his own hand barely containing the lighting he held onto.
"Because she is an important sacrifice to be made to Lord Grima" Replied the priest in almost bored tone, stepping up besides Robin Gaius gave his dagger a quick twirl throwing another sweet into his mouth.
"Yeah not gonna happen Father" Speaking in a serious tone despite his sarcasm, the priest let out a low sigh before a wide smile revealing yellow and black rotted teeth.
"So you defy the one true god Grima and now we shall grant you his mercy. The mercy of death… kill them all but bring that child to me." And he slowly merged back into the sea of black and brown robes, not before giving me a quick once over with his sunken black eyes.
As soon as the head priest retreated within the sea of robes, a large war cry erupted from the robed men and they charged forward. Drawing multiple jagged and rusted weapons, the shining light of Thunder Tomes also sparkled from the wave of incoming darkness. Grounding my feet, I brought my burning sword into a defensive stance and readied myself for the inevitable wave of pain… And probably death. Just great…
"Hey Kid! Get back here!" Gaius's shouting snapping out of my solemn reverie, as the small form of Nowi strode past me towards the wave of black and brown robes, a growing pale green light emitting from her hand. Damn it kid!
Breaking out into a sprint and reaching out with one hand hoping to at least pull Nowi behind me before the Grimleal got her first. My hand mere inches away from her before an unbelievable heat and pressure erupted from her small body, pushing me back with mere force alone. Nowi hugged the pale green light to her chest and her petite body begun floating in the air before disappearing in a typhoon of sand and wind, the pale green light now growing brighter and brighter as it shone through parts of the sand typhoon. With another burst of heat and a brilliant white light that forced me to cover my eyes, the once small pointed ear girl and in her place stood a large dragon with sparkling golden scales that faded into a deep green. Rearing back and letting out a deafening roar as blue flames and crackling lighting flared out of its nostrils and the corners of its wide jaws, stretching out its wings as it reached its full size, which was easily bigger than any cart or wagon.
"Holy…"
"Shit" I finished for Gaius as I looked back towards the sugar thief as a candy fell from his open mouth, I probably looked just as dumb looking with my mouth wide open.
"She's a-a dragon!" Came the astonished voice of Robin, this was only followed by the booming laughter of Gregor, who was the only one that seemed totally fine seeing a small girl turn into a dragon.
"I refuse to be sacrificed to some dumb god, put in a cage and be made into some sort of entertainment for creeps like you! I won't let that happen ever again!" The voice sounded similar to Nowi's, but it seemed to echo all around not really coming from a specific direction, soon the dragon that was Nowi reared up on her hind legs, stretching out her wings as she did so and unleashed a torrent of lighting and blue flames to the now terrified and screaming Grimleal. Electrifying and incinerating all that was in the path of her rage, the unlucky few that survived Nowi's flames lay on the now glassed sand, their bodies burnt to a crisp but still moaning in pain. The lucky few who were at the back of the charge now ran away in terror towards the dunes of the desert, the dragon form of Nowi sat back on her hind legs and turned her head towards us revealing long sharp teeth in an attempt to smile.
It was only now that I realised that Gaius, Robin and myself were simply staring back at her in dumbstruck awe and partial terror, and also the black flame of my sword had extinguished during Nowi's display of power. Shaking my head, I moved forward and slowly circled Nowi gazing at her draconic features.
"Damn kid you make my flames look like kindling compared to yours" A deep throaty noise emerged from the large chest of Nowi in a rumbling laugh.
"Well I did say I was a thousand years old"
"Yeah but you failed to mention how you're a manakete" Came Gaius as he also begun inspecting Nowi.
"What's a Manakete?" Robin enquired as he joined us circling around Nowi in some sort of weird inspection.
"A dragon that takes on the form of a human" Gaius replied.
"Eh there's a bit more to it than that but yeah that's the gist of it" Came the echoing voice of Nowi once again, who seemed to be enjoying the newfound attention as her the tip of her tail wagged slightly.
"Augh eugh…" Perking up at the coughing I turned away from Nowi and towards the noise that seemed to be coming from one of the many burnt Grimleal, my boots cracking the fresh coat of glass as I made my way closer to the noise. Eventually coming to the half-melted and wheezing body of the head priest, his purple and red robes either burned away or blackened by the flames, one sunken eye flicked towards me or at least seemed to look past me towards the sky. Well this looks pathetic…
"Master Grima… my soul is yours to consume…" And his black eye dulled into a lifeless husk and a pool of liquid shadow that resembled tar soon rose out of him towards the air, quickly taking a step back the shadow seemed to follow me before crumbling away into dust. Soon a sickening sensation overcame me. This is feels like the time at…at…
Quickly striding back towards the others, I tried to not vomit at the familiar sensation.
"Everything okay Roland you look really pale" Robin inquired with concern in his voice, quickly waving away his concern I found a small rock to sit down on.
"Yeah, all good… just the uh, smell of the burnt bodies just got to me for a second…" Robin looked at me with prying eyes not seeming to believe my lie, but he didn't question me further, thank Naga for that.
"Heh-heh, whoops I guess I went a bit over board with everything huh?" Said Nowi as she was now back in her childlike form, letting out a small embarrassed laugh.
As our small group begun settling down from the recent skirmish, Gregor going to the rest of the charred Grimleal and mercy killing any poor bastard still alive, the rest of us waited for the Shepherd's to clear out the remaining Grimleal and met us at the village we saved, as the old elder of the village begun to sing our praises and offered us to stay in his village for the night. As the crimson sun set over the white sands of the small oasis and the sea of sparkling stars and a crescent moon filled the pitch black of night, hopes seemed high within the laughter filled village of Solitudinem Desert. For the we had gained two new Shepherd's for the battle against Gangrel, the young manakete Nowi who looked forward to travelling Ylisse with a weird assortment of people. And the mercenary who only speaks in third person Gregor, who seemed to go wherever Nowi goes under the answer that he was looking out for her, which seems a bit odd since she quite easily incinerated well over thirty people earlier today. Although when I questioned how Nowi got caught in the first place by the Grimleal she said that she lost her 'Dragonstone' which is what houses her draconic powers until Gregor found it and gave it back to her, so it's probably a good thing that Gregor does keep an eye on her. The villages also seemed quite happy that Nowi had 'saved the day' so to speak, as they told us a tale that took place before the Hero-Kings time. a battle had broken out between an ancient Water-Tribe dragon that was protecting this group of villages from a group of degenerating Earth-Tribe dragons. A fierce battle broke out and for many days the dragons fought, until the Water Dragon had come out victorious, but at the cost of its own life. In its final moments the Water Dragon used the last of its power to bless the barren village with fertile land, thus the village prospered within the desert for generations. So, in their most desperate hour and at Nowi's timely intervention many villagers believed she was a descendent of the ancient Water Dragon, although Nowi herself denies it saying she's from a different tribe. That tale would explain the huge skeleton ribcages and how its only village so deep within the desert to properly function.
So until the late hours of the night the Shepherd's remained in good spirits, although I still tried my best to avoid Chrom and Lissa I didn't want to ruin their nights mood with my presence… or so I keep telling myself that. Either way saving Emmeryn from Gangrel seemed to be less daunting when you have a dragon on your side.
Authors Note: Hey everyone! Guess who's back and still alive, that's right this guy! But seriously I'm so sorry it's taken this long to get this chapter out, so thank you all for being patient with me, in the future I hope to upload somewhat consistently but at the moment collage will be my first priority and I'll keep chipping away at each chapter whenever I have free time, don't worry I plan on finishing Roland's tale and perhaps beyond. Anywho… there wasn't too much plot to work with this chapter since it's a just one battle in the desert in-game, so I tried to make this more character focused/character interaction as Roland is trying to run away from the consequences his action's caused last chapter. I also tried to expand on a bit of lore with the village since I thought it was pretty weird how they didn't really explain why there were giant bones there anyways. Okay that's all for now and thank you guys for taking the time to read this chapter/story, and please tell me in a review what I can improve upon (aside from my absolutely horrible upload 'schedule') as it's the only way I can improve as a writer, or if you're enjoying the story so far, it's nice what your thoughts might be. Alright later guys and I'll see you in Chapter 9: To Save a Life