Paralogue One: From Sickle to Sword


"Are you absolutely sure?" Emmeryn asked with concern in her tone.

"Yes, milady," the soldier began as he gave out his final huff. "They're holding the farmers for ransom and refuse to ship the crops until said demands are met."

"Is it gold they're after?"

"Sadly, that's only a small part. They want an entire piece of land and women for every single Brigand present."

Emmeryn bit her lip as she thought of what to do.

"Lady Emmeryn, we can't appease them with that kind of demand," I plugged in.

"I know, but simply resorting to violence won't help, either…" she responded. "And Chrom's still recovering from his recent trip…"

"They demand a response in forty-eight hours, milady," the soldier said.


Out of hesitation, I suddenly became impulsive and burst out:

"Milady, let me organize a rescue party and sneak everyone to safety!"

There was a pause of awkward silence and I felt cold sweat run down my face as I smiled like an idiot.

"What do you mean, exactly?" Emmeryn said as if she thought this could actually work.

"Exactly as I said, milady. I'll organize a small rescue party and sneak into the Farfort to get everyone to safety," I replied with false confidence.

"But what about the Brigands?"

"We can either trick them into retreating or fight them once all the farmers are saved."

"Oh dear…" Emmeryn sighed. "I wish the first one to occur the most, but I know how stubborn Brigands can be…" She paused for a bit. "Very well, I approve of your plan. Make sure to prepare yourself and organize the rescue party in twenty-four hours."

I saluted and then marched off to the mess hall to make the announcement. The more I walked, though, the more I regretted coming up with such a plan on the spot.

Damnit, why did I have to be the one to volunteer the idea…?


I entered the mess hall and unfortunately, nobody was there. Looks like I had to walk up to every individual and ask if they wanted to be a part of the mission.

The first to agree was Henry…as long as Ted could come.

Tharja agreed just because I was going.

And originally, I thought just the three of us would go, but Ricken eventually popped up and begged on coming along.

"And if I refuse?" I asked.

"I'll tell Frederick to make you go through boot camp," he replied. "If you thought he was scary before, you REALLY don't want to be in boot camp."

Seeing as how he already hated me blindly, I felt like cruel and unusual punishment would be a major factor of boot camp. Oh, the horrors…

"Okay, fine! Gosh!" I yelped.

Stahl agreed to go if Cordelia did, and due to Sumia's constant begging, she agreed.

Sumia wanted to take care of the animals, so I was alright with letting her stay.

Vaike really wanted to go, but he said he wanted to help Lissa out with taking care of Chrom more. Hmm…

Sully said she had to be the one training new recruits since Frederick was busy guarding Chrom, to which I thought this was fairly reasonable.

Virion and Olivia were charged with the festival's arrangements by Maribelle, so that was a no.

And then the ones missing in action were Lon'qu, Cherche, and Miriel… Seemed like rescue party was all organized!

"HEY! What about me?!" I heard a vaguely familiar voice shout. An orange piece of armor soon ran up to me with a smaller person inside.

"Kellam?" I asked. …Oh yeah, I forgot he existed…

"Yes, me!" He wiped off some dust on his armor as he gasped for breath. "I gotta make sure my fellow farmers are safe!"

"You're from the Farfort, too?"

"No, but I was a farmer before I enrolled in the Ylissean army."

Whoa, that's neat.


And so, the rescue party was FINALLY organized. We marched off to the Farfort. …That is, when we obtained the map to the place and had Cordelia read it for us.

"Gosh, she can do almost anything," Stahl sighed. He also looked red in the face.

At this point, I felt a bit crushed to see that a nice guy like him was into a different kind of girl, but now that I think about it, I only had a tiny crush on him and that was only because he was, well, nice to me. But just to be on the safe side, I decided to have words with Cordelia to see what kind of woman she was. You know…just in case she was evil in disguise…

"So Cordelia, when'd ya learn to read maps?" I asked to break the ice.

"It's a necessary skill for all soldiers," she replied nonchalantly.

"Oh…Is that so…"

Crap, that didn't work. Um…

"So you're a Pegasus Knight…That must be pretty nice."

"Not exactly. The older Knights don't take me seriously and call me 'Little Miss Perfect'. Honestly, I've grown to despise that word now…"

A-HA! Social interaction!

"Here, here! I especially hate it when people expect too much out of you…" If I could, I'd roll my eyes directly to Grima and all the Grimleal who just want him resurrected.

"Oh, finally! Someone understands!" She then obtained a Lance that looked like it was crafted by the gods themselves.

My eyes nearly burst out of my head and with how agape my mouth was, I swear I could've caught a bird in it.

"I crafted this not too long ago and now people are expecting me to outperform this!" Cordelia exclaimed. "And then I have to practice playing the harp for the upcoming Harvest Festival since Maribelle told me to. THEN, I have to-"

"Okay, okay. I get it…" I moaned. Dammit Stahl, why'd you have to make the competition this hard?

Cordelia continued forth, and Tharja caught up with me by placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You can always use a love potion, you know," she said with a gleam of mischief in her eyes.

"Tharja, no," I scolded. "You remember how clingy people under that can get…"

"I was young and foolish…"

"YOU STALKED ME FOR THREE WEEKS!"

"Oh, are you guys talking about the time with the love potion?" Henry asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"What do you want?" Tharja sighed.

"Oh right! Ted told me that that one kid who was with us in the wagon's up ahead acting like a crazed homeless person!"

Donnel!?

I ran on ahead and indeed found the poor guy hugging his knees as he rocked back and forth. He also decided to hide his face under the pot he wore on his head.

"Oh, this is just plain awful!" He cried out. "Ma's got'n herself kidnapped and I can't do nothin' about it!"

I sighed and kneeled down to his height.

"Donnel, don't worry! It's us!" He lifted the pot up so that his eyes were visible.

"I remember y'all! Y'all wanted a ride to Valm! What was it, uh, Aine?"

"…Anne."

"Anne! That's it!" Before he decided to incorrectly guess Henry and Tharja's names, I cut him off.

"So what's the status of the hostage situation, Donny?"

With this, he immediately sprung up.

"Oh, them Brigands gone 'n proclaim that they own the place!" He smashed his fist into his palm. "They knew we don't use weapons, too, so that just made things worse…"

…Wait, what.

"Donny, you carry a Lance with you!" I exclaimed.

"I use it for farmin', not for fightin'!"

"No wonder these people got kidnapped," Tharja muttered.

"Not to mention the last guy who tried fightin' ended up diggin' his own grave…" Donny looked melancholy after saying that, to which I glared at Tharja and she shrugged.

I sighed, and placed my hands on Donny's trembling shoulders.

"Don't worry, Donny, while we were trying to get to Valm, Henry, Tharja, and I ended up as a part of the Shepards!" I then waved my hand to the rest of the rescue party.

"Whoa, you mean like Chrom's Shepards?! I-I mean, his Majestyness'?!"

"…Sir, that is not proper grammar," Cordelia said.

"You just now noticed?" I heard Ricken whisper.

"But wait, where's Chrom?" Donny asked.

"He got sick after a fight and he's back home recovering," Stahl admitted.

"Aw, poor feller…"

"Anyway, since I'm tactician-in-training for the Shepards, I'm going to make sure that we get rid of the Brigands!" I announced.

"You're really gonna fight all of 'em?!"

"N-no, we have to save everyone first…"

"Oh, so you're gonna save 'em by killin' the Brigands?"

…Oh my gods. I actually smacked my forehead at this statement. But to make sure I didn't say anything mean, I took a deep breath.

"We're going to use a distraction so that the people are safe first. Then, we'll find a way to get rid of-yes, not kill-the Brigands."

"I think killing them off would be wiser," Ricken said. "I mean, they might come back and bite us in the arse!"

"Ricken, when did you learn that word?!" Kellam exclaimed.

"Hey, I'm not a kid! I can say whatever the hell I want!"

"I'm guessing Sully," Stahl whispered.

"PEOPLE! FOCUS!" I shouted.

Everyone was silent.

"DIVERSION, THEN ATTACK! KILLING IS OPTIONAL! UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" Many of the men saluted. Tharja and Cordelia just looked annoyed, and I honestly couldn't blame them.


"Now, what should be the diversion?" I asked.

"Well, all the Brigands are guys lookin' for gals…" Donny began.

"So you're saying we use the girls as bait?" Henry asked.

"H-hey, wait. I don't think-" I began.

"Yeah, that could work," Ricken agreed.

"But what about-"

"Kellam's armor? Yeah, I was worried about that, too," Stahl said. "If he sneaks around with it, he'll be caught in no time."

"Don't worry, I won't use it this time," Kellam smiled. "But I usually wear this armor and nobody even knows I exist!"

"WHAT IF WE GET RAPED?!" I shouted.

"We can hide our weapons in our clothing," Cordelia reassured.

"ARE YOU REALLY GOING WITH THIS?!"

"It's either this or we somehow pull off a carnival show," Tharja sighed.

"YOU TOO?!"

"I didn't realize you were so self-conscious, Anne," Stahl told me.

"Self-?! I-…" I wanted to throw something out of frustration, but I knew that wouldn't really get us anywhere. Freaking idiots everywhere! Don't they know the dangers of sending women off as bait?! Armed or not, we could be sitting ducks that can easily be taken advantage of! I thought Tharja of all people would understand that I'm not exactly one for that!

"It's going to be okay," Tharja said. Oh, NOW she understands. Ugh.

And so, the plan went into motion. Ricken, Henry, Kellam, Stahl, and Donnel would sneak the hostages out while Cordelia, Tharja, and I…seduced…the Brigands. I shuttered at the word.

"Why can't I be on the sneaking team?" I complained. "I'm good at helping people in a non-sexual way! I'm not even that attractive!"

"Because none of the guys would make pretty ladies and if I have to do this, then so can you," Tharja replied.

"THARJA! ARE YOU FORGETTING-"

"I'm not. I just want you to feel how great it is to manipulate people to do what you want."

"Anne, you realize we're not actually going to…you know, with them, correct?" Cordelia asked.

"W-we aren't?"

"No, we're just distracting them."

"But I thought… Oh Gods, this is embarrassing…" I flipped my hood over my face and pulled it over my eyes.

"It's okay, we were kind of leading you into thinking that," Stahl sputtered out. "Sorry."

"Well, with that out of the way, let's get this over with," Tharja sighed.


The Farfort was an open-roofed area with a very low stone wall, something similar to a fortress. The door was big enough for at least two Kellams to fit through, so maybe I could sneak a peek every now and then to see how the mission would be pulled off. When looking inside, it was riddled with Barbarians, Archers, and even some Thieves from what I could tell. Seems like a typical bunch of Brigands. Distracting all of them might be difficult, but it had to be done. Cordelia, Tharja, and I made our presence known.

Inside, it was really just a big mess hall. A big dining table along with some smaller ones here and there, weapon holders on the sides, torches in the corners, and some mighty meals to decorate it all.

"Greetings," Cordelia began. Everyone became dead silent, and then one Barbarian walked up to us. He was a bit tubby with some nasty chestnut hair barely covering the top of his head. (Though he did grow the bottom half to his ears). However, he wore war paint on his face, which sort of made him stand apart. Other than that, he was your stereotypical shirtless Barbarian without the skeleton on his head.

"Who the hell're you?" He said drunkenly. (Seriously, you could smell the alcohol he was drinking from a mile away!)

"We're the wives you requested from the Exalted One," Tharja replied. I just nodded awkwardly.

"Only three? I said a wife for er'one!"

A crowd of "HERE HERE"'s were bellowed after that.

"We…had to make some cuts…" I said.

"Cuts, eh?" He looked down to my waist. "So yer a swordfighter, then."

"K-kinda…"

"'Kinda'? 'KINDA'? Y'hear that?!"

A majority of the Barbarians laughed. Ugh, now I felt terrible… Tharja bumped my shoulder and motioned that I should stay focused on the mission.

"Well, how about we spend this time getting to know each other?" Cordelia asked.

"What's there to know?" One of the Archers shouted. Everyone laughed soon after. Hmm, it appears everyone's drunk out of their minds right now… This might be good information…

"Well, tons of things! Hobbies, family life, dreams for the future, favorite songs, best meals for company…"

Cordelia went on a tangent from there on. During this, I looked my shoulder. By the blur of things, the plan seemed to be working. Several farmers were sneaking into the bushes with the guidance of Stahl, Henry, Donny, and some orange armor.

"I DON'T CARE!" The Barbarian groaned. I jumped and turned back. He then looked over to Tharja. "I think I like you more than these two."

"I'm flattered," Tharja dryly said.

He took Tharja by the arm and "escorted" her to the dining table that everyone huddled around, offering her a spot near him.


"What are we supposed to do?" I whispered to Cordelia.

"Hang on, I might have something…" Cordelia decided to grab a harp out of a bag she hid.

"Hey, we got a bard lady!" One of the Thieves cheered.

"Sing about the drunken pirate!" Another Barbarian bellowed.

"No, sing about that old hag!" An Archer cried out.

"Gentlemen, please," Cordelia giggled. "I'm not much of a singer…"

A lot of them cheered on that she should do so.

"Alright, but I'm not taking requests."

Someone gave her a bench to sit on, and she began to strum from her stringed instrument. I was expecting a song about something beautiful to match her, well, perfection, but I guess the song she sang was more of a battle chant than anything.

"When all the horses to stop to play, at the near end of the day
Know that the knights still fight with all of their might! Yes sir!
O, sing about the knights so bold! Oh whoa oh oh!
Sing about the knights so brave! Hey A hey hey!
When the going gets rough, we'll never have enough!
Pegasus Knights, away!"

It seemed to be working, as plenty of the Brigands howled with cheers out of the wazoo. I decided to look over and see if the boys were done freeing everyone while contemplating Cordelia's choice of song. I mean, was it just stuck in her head or something? Maybe she couldn't think up a song about her saving orphaned kittens from a fire in such short time…


Ted eventually flew over and startled some of the Brigands.

"What's that bird doin' here?" One of them asked as Cordelia stopped playing.

Ted landed on my shoulder, which caught everyone's attention.

"Oy, is that your pet bird or sumfin'?" The main Barbarian shouted out at me.

Crapples, this might be the moment when we're caught!

"Y-yeah! He loves…flying…around." I laughed awkwardly. FLYING AROUND? I might've been nervous, but I'm not blind!

An Archer came running in.

"Riddick, er'one's gone!" He puffed.

"WHAT?!" The main Barbarian cried out. "Whaddya mean?!"

"All the hostages just went and disappeared! Even the slag whose husband ya killed earlier!"

At first, he just looked confused. But then, he started piecing two and two together.

"Wait a second here… Only three wives… THESE WENCHES WERE DISTRACTIN' US, BOYS!"

"WHAT?!" Everyone shouted.

Aaaand there we go. Sorry Emmeryn, but I don't think peace is an option here... I pulled out my Thunder tome from my robe.


"SHEPARDS, ATTACK!" I exclaimed as I struck one of the Thieves.

"Damn, I should've known Chrom would be behind this!" I heard Riddick gasp. He grabbed both a Steel and Hand Axe from a nearby weapon holder. "ALRIGHT BOYS, LET'S GO!"

Everyone started swarming to the weapon holders, but seeing as how Tharja didn't like to play fair, she placed a Fire spell on them. With this, it seemed impossible for anyone to grab their weapons.

The boys came charging in, even Donny with his Bronze Lance and a…log. Ricken made sure that nobody escaped with some kind of cool Wind barrier attack, Henry attacked with Elfire at the Thieves to make sure they wouldn't get away, Kellam endured plenty of the Barbarians ruthless attacks and then made his move with his Iron Lance. If Stahl had his horse, I swear his heroic knight training would pay off in spades. Other than that minor detail, he seemed to be doing pretty well against some Archers at close range. Tharja just did whatever Tharjas do, which was quite the benefit. And Cordelia… By the gods, even when she wasn't on her Pegasus, she was still completely graceful! DAMMIT!

At one point, I decided to see if I could do a cool ricochet off the torches with a Thunder spell. I cast it at one, but that just fell over. Thank the gods that the only thing considered precious in here was the food; I wouldn't like any unnecessary debts!

Soon, it all came down to just the Shepards and Donny against Riddick.

"Ya damn bastards!" He shouted. He looked pretty beaten up, but I didn't recall anyone actually facing him… "The hell's wrong with you!? We just wanted a place of our own! A place where we didn't have to pay taxes and all that good stuff! Is that so much to ask?!"

"You bet!" Donny exclaimed. Wow, it was actually shocking to hear him sound so angry… He pointed both the Lance and log at him. "Not only did ya put lots o' lives at stake, but you took too many! And lemme tell ya somethin'!" He adjusted the pot on his head. "NOBODY KILLS MY PA AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"

With that, Donny jumped up and swirled his Lance around before clonking Riddick on the head with his log and, I kid you not, stabbing him in the throat. (With the Lance, not the log, by the way. I think the latter part would be near impossible). Once Riddick collapsed on the ground dead, Donny screamed and crawled far away from the corpse.

"O-oh gods, I killed him! I'm not a fighter, I'm a farmer! Oh gods, oh gods!" He hid his eyes under the pot on top of his head.

I walked over to him and lifted the pot.

"Donny, that. Was. AWESOME!" I cheered. "If I had the authority, I'd make you an honorary Shepard!"

"But I don't fight!"

"Then explain why you charged in with Lance ablaze," Tharja said.

"I-I dunno! I just…got so angry!"

"Did he really kill your dad?" Ricken asked.

"Yeah, poor Pa tried gettin' help and Riddick just struck him down like a…corn husk or somethin' like that…" His dad?! Oh no, the poor guy!

"How'd you escape, then?" Kellam questioned.

"It was outta pure luck, really. They started gettin' drunk and paid no mind to me."

"Sorry to interrupt, but when can we clean up the corpses? They're starting to smell…" Henry asked me. I didn't really notice, but maybe that was just Henry's heightened senses kicking in.

"Soon," I responded. "Let's just make sure everyone's safe now."


With this, Stahl whistled and several farmers started walking in.

"Ma!" Donny exclaimed as he saw the plump woman.

"Donny!" She cried back. They hugged. "Thank the gods you're safe!"

"Ma'am, your son was quite the spectacle," I said to her.

"Say, weren't you going off to Valm with your two friends?" She responded.

"We… got sidetracked… A bunch of things happened, and we just ended up being members of the Shepards!"

"The Shepards?! Oh my goodness!" She then turned to Donny. "Did you actually get to meet the Prince?"

"No, I didn't see him…"

"He's at home resting from a recent battle," I explained. "But I'm now the Shepard's tactician-in-training!"

"How wonderful," Donny's mom cheered.


As things settled down and once the corpses were either buried or burned by Henry, the farmers held us Shepards a feast of our own for saving them. Everyone slept well that night, and then we decided to leave as soon as possible.

Just as we were about to leave, though…

"Wait!" Donny's voice shouted out to us. We turned around and saw him running toward us. "Allow me to join ya! The Shepards, I mean!"

"Donny, please wait!" Donny's mother exclaimed. "Don't be so reckless!"

"Ma, I know what I'm doin'!"

"Wait, sorry. What's this about?" I asked.

"There are lots of kids who don't got no pa's or ma's anymore 'cause of those Brigands, right? Well, I thought I could help y'all out and make sure that those kids don't feel the same way I do." Donny clenched his fist while saying this, so he really meant business.

"But Donny…" His mother gasped.

"I'll be okay, Ma. I know it!"

"He's right, ma'am," Stahl intervened. "With some proper training, Donnel could make out to be the best knight a Shepard's ever known!"

"Yeah, and I could help him out if he ever feels like farming again," Kellam chuckled.

"Please, Ma?" Donny asked sincerely.

His mother thought about this for a long while. I honestly couldn't blame her. I mean, her husband was recently killed and now her son wants to join the army! I felt kinda bad for trying to recruit him now…

"Make me proud, alright?" She said as she embraced her son.

"I'll do my best!" Donny exclaimed. "YEE-HAW! I'm gonna be a Shepard!"

"Oh, before you go, though…" Donny's mom began. A few male farmers brought out some wheel barrels stocked with food in them. "Here's the shipment of crops you needed for the Harvest Festival. We thought we owed it to you for saving us and all…"

…Oh gods, we'll need to carry them all the way back…


Ending Commentary: Yeesh, why is that I always get the inspiration/energy to write when I'm at the near end of my free time…? Ah well, STORY PROGRESSION!