Disclaimer: Don't own, won't own, want to own (FE7).
Note- You can obviously tell I don't put notes before chptrs so this must be important. That link for Corvus didn't work (My fail…). It is now on my profile.
Port Badon. The port famous for magnificent ships, arenas, shops and cutthroat pirates.
While the three Lords were out looking for transportation to the Dread Island, Mathew was wandering the streets. He had a lot on his mind and wished to think about it. When he heard that Cormag had somehow lived, he was overjoyed. He never thought anyone could ever live from a wound like that, but he had seen Cormag walk away from a wound like that a year ago in Caelin.
He cast his thoughts towards the man named Corvus. The ex-knight commander was a strange person. He had a tattoo on his left hand, wore nearly all black except for the brown leather armor he used instead of plate armor, had a strange accent and wielded a double sided sword. He didn't know much else about him except he used to be a mercenary. His Ostian spy senses told him to be suspicious.
As luck would have it, he came across an empty area that had Cormag and Corvus. Both had their swords drawn and held a stance without moving. Corvus had one half of his sword behind his back and the other half sticking out from his hand. Cormag had his sword positioned at a deadly upright angle.
If they detected Mathew's presence, they didn't show it. Instead, Corvus rushed at Cormag brandishing his sword. Cormag rolled beneath his swipe and took a shot at Corvus' knees. Corvus jumped back, disconnected his sword into two swords.
Mathew didn't even know he could do that.
He began to attack Cormag with both blades simultaneously. Cormag deflected every strike with his one sword. Cormag tried to trip Corvus with his leg, but Corvus, as if he expected it, leapt backwards.
A group of people, in addition to Mathew, had begun to stand and watch their fight. Some even started taking bets. Cormag and Corvus kept at it as if nothing happened.
"Above!" Cormag yelled.
"To the left!" Corvus yelled back.
"Below!" Cormag replied with another yell.
"Above!" Corvus yelled again.
Mathew stared at them. They were shouting out where their swords were going to be, that much he gathered. But their swords never ended up where they said. When Cormag had yelled 'above,' his sword had been to the right, and when he yelled 'below' his sword had been above. Corvus had yelled 'to the left' and his sword was below and he yelled 'above' and his sword was to the left.
Wait a minute, he thought. As he reviewed what he had just occurred to him, he watched their ongoing fight. Both of them are yelling out where their swords are going to be two strikes later! They can predict the battle! And he was right, as he looked more, he proved himself right again.
"And the finish!" Cormag yelled out. He slashed at Corvus' ribs. Corvus deflected and while his sword was down Cormag punched him in the face. Hard enough to knock him over but soft enough to not damage anything.
The crowd went quite. Cormag laughed and helped Corvus up.
"Dammit mate, that wasn't very nice," Corvus growled.
"That was revenge for when you tripped me!"
"And that was for when you punched me in the gut!"
"And that was for when you kicked me in the shins!"
Corvus paused and then grinned. "Fine, you win. I'll get you one of these times."
"You wish."
Mathew was surprised that Cormag would end a battle like that. He thought Cormag would have the honor to keep fighting instead of turning to dirty tactics. In fact he walked over to him asked him.
He answered, "I already had him beaten, in three to ten strikes he would have been done. I just decided to get revenge for previous engagements. And about the honor part, I've known people that have died because of their views in favor of honor. I'm no hero from a kid's fairy story. I am not strictly a good guy. I may be on the side of good, but don't think for a second, that I am a good man."
Mathew didn't know how to respond to that. Cormag always said things like that. Such as that he was a soldier and his life was just a tool for war. Instead he asked a new question: "What was that whole thing where you called out each other's attacks two strikes before they happened?"
Corvus was the one who answered that. "Well mate, in the country I hail from, which is Nabata, it is a skill that some people learn. I learned it from my mentor and I taught it to Cormag. It relies on intense concentration, if you can get into a state of high enough concentration in battle and the other opponent doesn't know how to, you can defeat them almost every time."
"You're from Nabata?" Mathew questioned.
"Yeah mate, that's where my accent is from and this tattoo," he removed his gauntlet and rolled up his arm sleeve to reveal the rest of his tattoo. It was two lines that started at the tip of his hand and continued up his arm to his elbow. The black lines curved and interloped getting smaller and smaller as they went to his elbow. "It is a symbol of my clan in Nabata. It is shaped like the infinity symbol turned sideways to show that our swordmasters can topple any opponent, that no one is everlasting. And I get closer to defeating Cormag each time I fight him. He may only be twenty two and I twenty four, but he is better than me by a life time's work of swordmastery. But I will not give up."
Mathew was surprised at Corvus' determination. It was pretty clear he couldn't pass up Cormag, but he tried none the less.
They both gathered up their equipment and accompanied Mathew back to where the Lords wished to meet.
The three Lords had gotten hold of a ship. A pirate ship.
The pirates seemed to be honest pirates. That made Cormag laugh when it crossed his mind. But to make things weirder, a purple haired shaman joined their company named Canas.
But what was an adventure without surprise after all?
Himself, Corvus, and Mathew had been some of the last to board. The only ones slower than them were tactician Kaitlyn, Priscilla and Guy. The latter two both arrived together and only Cormag saw them before the stopped holding hands. He'd have to ask Guy about it later.
Thinking of Kaitlyn, he hoped she had gotten over her infatuation for him. He didn't love and doubtfully never would. That night, he wish was half granted.
That night, Cormag sat upon deck sleeping. It was calm enough waters so that he could sleep without getting splashed. He was interrupted when Kaitlyn came on deck. He opened one eye and said, "Isn't it a bit late for you to be out here?"
Kaitlyn whipped around having not have seen him. She relaxed once she saw who it was. "I was just looking at the view…" she trailed off.
Cormag raised an eyebrow, "A bit dark for that isn't it?"
She looked flustered. "Actually, I had heard you were out here and I came looking for you. It isn't that safe to be out here like this."
"That's not why you're out here, it is easy to tell when people are lying once you know what to look for. So again, why are you looking for me?"
"Ah…well… I guess I will just get this over with. Since your being so blunt, I will be too. I… love you Cormag. I came to see if you returned those feelings."
"Ha, that is blunt. But no, I do not. I'm not someone you would want to be in a relation with. I'm not a good man. You are just infatuated. Not in love. And nothing you say can make me change my mind." He closed his eyes. He heard Kaitlyn slowly walk away. If he did anything to offend her overly, he would deal with it in the morning. He needed sleep and he was glad all of that was over.
He did seem to have made Kaitlyn rather depressed and sad, for Lyn, Kaitlyn's longest friend, came to him with accusations.
"What did you do to her?!" She said in a loud whisper to Cormag, whom she rudely awoke.
"Wha?" Cormag said confused.
"You know what I mean! What did you do to Kaitlyn!?" she said angrily.
"She brought it upon herself, I reacted as you would have in my position."
"When are you going to tell me what it was!?"
"She came on the deck last night and said she loved me, I rejected her. Just as you would have done in my position." Lyn looked a combination of shocked and surprised. She was saved answering when Captain Fargus yelled that a dory had hit their boat.
Inside the boat, laid Ninian, or so Eliwood had exclaimed. That attracted Lyn and left Cormag in peace. He closed his eyes enjoying the ocean breeze.
Until a boat crashed into their boat from the fog with Black Fang sails.
No one was prepared. No one had their weapons with them. And to make things worse, another boat collided with them on the other side. Cormag, who always kept his sword on him, jumped up and drew it and fought the nearest soldier. The Captain had been called below deck due to leakage from the collision.
Cormag yelled, "Go! Everyone go get your weapons! I can hold them off by myself! Don't worry about me!"
Corvus soon joined him, he was the first to emerge from the cabin. Together they wreaked havoc on the two vessel's soldiers until the others came. The enemies were not altogether very tough. Bartre managed to cut the planks up that held their ship and one of the others together causing them to drift apart. Wil preceded light an arrow on fire and hit the drifting ship, catching it on fire.
They used the same tactic for the other ship, or at least tried to. All the shamans on the other ship made it difficult for that to happen. Captain Fargus and his 'suicide squad' got up on deck and lived up to their names by charging across onto the other ship. No survivors were left on the Black Fang ship.
I sat up. Where was I? I had last felt a sharp pain to the back of my head. Damn, must have been knocked out.
But now the Black Fang had me. They would take me back to him. I swore that it wouldn't happen. I will have to cast the fire. They don't know how strong I am. I can take these one hundred soldiers, maybe at the cost of my life, but I'm in hell already.
I slowly reached my hand out...
Author Note: Sorry for being a day late. With school starting back up in full swing and playing too much online multiplayer of the game The Last Story I ran out of time. Anyway… thanks to hunterd for the favorites and follows and thanks to JinzoMask656 for the follow. They made my day. This is now the longest Swordmaster chptr. I am proud of the fight scene, and I know that Cormag and Kaitlyn scene sucked, but hell, that's for you to judge.
-CR, The Last Story addict
(I feel the random need to put a not famous quote at the end of every chapter starting now, so… Huzzah!)
"No one is perfect. And even if we were, then life wouldn't have any meaning."
-Me, Cormag Ravenstaff