Chapter 11: Gauntlet
((Author's Note: Hey everyone, I want to give props to a reader, Holly, for drawing some amazing fan art to go with this fic! You can find the post with their art over here: subatomic-grape . tumblr (DOT com) post/182940211021))
Lucina tried to keep her eyes shut, and curl deeper into the rock shelter. It was scarcely a gouge taken from stone, but it kept her sheltered against the ocean roil. As long as she could rest, that was more than enough. The storm could rage as much as it wished above the waves, but for now she was too exhausted to pay it any mind.
It was a wonder her gills hadn't given up from overuse, with how she'd pushed herself.
'Fatigue and confusion. They've both become unwelcome companions.' And she didn't want to spend her energy focusing on either. A rumble of thunder pushed its way beneath the waves, sending tremors through her skin. Her tail fins shivered in place of toes.
'Wait, what?' The thought burst her sleep like a bubble.
Lucina's eyes blinked open to scan her immediate surroundings. They rested on a blue haired figure resting in the cove beside her. He twisted in his sleep, mumbling something before turning over again. The poor boy was even more tired than she was.
Now she remembered why her body felt like a massive pulled muscle. She'd yanked him free from a rogue current. Then sped him away from that horrible place, full of twisted seafolk and blood-stained waters, only to collapse out here.
Followed by waking up, without any notion of what she was supposed to do next. Or an answer for why she'd been drawn to this boy in the first place.
Though as she looked at him, it occurred to Lucina that there was something familiar to his face. When she'd first seen him falling through the harbor, tangled in bubbles and humming with magic, that familiar element drew her to him. But the specifics on why she felt protective over him remained stubbornly vague, and out of her grasp.
The lightning flickered above, flaring as three bright jagged points bit at the water. Lucina rubbed at her head, trying to fight against the fatigue and an odd, dizzy feeling buzzing in her skull. In response, the sensation leaked from her head, crawling down her spine and seeping into the ridges between her scales.
The glow overhead was cut off, and shadows eclipsed the cove. It drew her eyes up, to see a large ship passing overhead, carried by the currents.
Three shapes cut their way after the first, like sharks on the hunt. There was something about the broken shape in their outlines, that sent a chill down her back. She hesitated at the lip of rock, watching the damaged ships. She drew a deep breath, chasing the fatigue from her body.
'That's what you're here for. You're not done lending your aid just yet.'
-o-o-o-
"With our luck, there's probably mages on board. Gross, rotted, undead mages." Lissa told Robin, gripping her staff and giving a shudder. Maribelle looked ready to clap a hand over Lissa's mouth if she continued, the nauseated green in her face looking garish against her pink lace.
"Then we can't give them a chance to attack." Robin muttered, squinting against the rain. One of the ships edged out ahead of the others, trying to catch them. Either to get them in reach of arrows and spells, or to try and close completely and board the ship.
'What do THEY care about getting dashed on the rocks? It's already happened to them once and lost its sting-' Robin paused at the thought, looking forward.
The passages only grew more treacherous, and formed a fork. Left pointed to open water, where they could easily get flanked by the Risen. To the right however, was a jagged passage of rocks that would be a tight squeeze for any ship.
'But maybe I can work with that.'
"We need to go right- starboard! We need to go hard to starboard!" Robin called out. Frederick didn't hesitate, yanking the wheel.
There wasn't any distance between them and the crags this time. The Shepherd scrapped past the rocks with a horrible squeal of timbers, leaving scraps of itself gouged on the stone spires. The other ships lost more than scraps, the crash of them rivaling the storm. Robin winced from the impact, watching the lead ship stagger from the impact. One of the Risen masts fell with a crackle, breaking the ship's pace.
But the Risen weren't done with them. A flash of flame arced out from the damaged ship.
"Your Grace!" Phila calculated the path of the fire faster than anyone, and threw herself against Emmeryn. Her riding armor turned mirror bright, reflecting the light of the blast. The fireball slammed into the Shepherd's side, and oily smoke tried to choke out Robin's breath.
Fragments of burning wood and cinders exploded from a tear in the hull, and rained down on the crew. Robin yanked her hood up against the damage, and peered through the haze. She glimpsed Chrom staggering from his share of cuts, shards of burning debris slicing across his arms and sides.
"Damn their eyes! Taking on damage, captain!" Sully shouted. Across the waves, mages readied more spell volleys. Their eyes glowed red as the cinders, echoing the hungry flame that gathered in their undead hands.
The lash of the rain couldn't dim the spells, or extinguish the flames biting into the Shepherd. Robin cursed that, trying to figure out some way to stop the fires from eating the ship-
"Wind." Came a whisper, and the rain swept down harder than ever. The flames on the Shepherd guttered and died, as Emmeryn gave a soft exhale. Phila had gone from shielding the Exalt to holding her up, giving her a shoulder to lean on as she worked her magic.
Emmeryn kept her hand stretched out, shivering from the effort of focusing the spell. The rain and wind washed over the ship, until the only trace of the fire magic was black scorch marks. Robin's hood blew backwards as the spell finished, driving pinpoints of rain into her cheeks.
The wind was like a restless horse; one that didn't care to be controlled by anyone. Not even the Exalt could match her will against it for long. The flames barely had time to dim before Emmeryn slumped against Phila, and the storm screamed angrily. The sails strained against the winds, masts and ropes crackling.
"Orders, sir?" Frederick called out, fighting to keep them in a straight line. The Shepherd limped and tried to shrug off the first volley of attacks, while the Risen ships drew closer. Chrom wavered, eyes fixed to the Risen and their spells. His blood almost steamed, where it leaked out of his wounds, and his words seemed to desert him for a moment, stolen by the looming danger.
And still, the ships closed in, driven by the storm.
-o-o-o-
The storm called to her. Once she started swimming, her fatigue fell away like old shed scales. The water rushed around her ears, and it almost carried a voice on it. She heard the same call on the rain, once her head broke the surface. The howling winds met its pitch, creating a long wail.
'It IS a song,' her thoughts insisted, while her eyes searched for the ships.
'There.' She glimpsed blackened shapes drifting on the ocean swell a few lunges away. The vessels moved well despite their rotted hulls, focused only on the chase. It made them blind to her, when she swam up beside them. She snatched out with her hand, seizing one of the boards that jutted outwards from the hull.
The ship churned on, ignorant of its new passenger clawing her way up the sides of the ship. Her arms screamed from the effort, but Lucina pulled herself out of the sea, and free from the drag. All that was left was hanging on.
As long as Lucina kept herself in the shadow of the hull, she was in their blind spot. Lucina scratched her fingers into the planks as the ship's prow dug into the waves. Spray bit at her skin while her tail smacked against the planks, smarting as she blinked through the foam and looked ahead.
Racing before them was a different ship, that didn't have any rot clinging to its planks or lines. It was the same vessel she'd followed, of that much she was certain with just one glance. Mage fire had tarnished parts of paint, and the rocks had scrapped off some of her shine, but the shape matched the little snatches of memories she did have.
'I have to stop them from catching up, but how?' The wind screamed in her ears again, and carried with it a faint hum that echoed off the water. Like a note was caught in it, lingering at the edge of her hearing.
An answering note rose in her throat. It trilled in the back of her mouth, and the vibration spread down through her arms to the tips of her fingers. Sparks leapt between her hands, nipping at the planks and leaving pinprick scorch marks on the wood. Lucina called the note out louder, and she swore the storm answered.
In her mind's eye she saw a flash of gold, spinning to form a circle. That circle was like a disk of gold that sharpened her thoughts, and the note in her throat, the more she focused on it.
A bolt flashed from her fingers, the motion so violent it wrenched her hands from the ship and sent her splashing back into the sea. Lucina twisted around to see lightning jump clear from her, and from the water. It struck the planks like a stone crashing across a still pool. And much like water, the hull broke apart, impact and force driving through the rotted wood.
Sea rushed to fill the gap in the hull, making the ship bog down. A burst of fierce pride flooded Lucina, as she watched the ship flounder and drop from the chase. Power sang in her blood, louder than ever and she bared her teeth in grim satisfaction.
'Whatever magic is moving these things, it can't protect them from me!' She struck out, continuing her own chase. The next ship churned and listed, opening up in a way that almost dared her to strike.
Lucina readily pressed the attack, drawing up another volley of magic. Her blood joined in the hum, her heart beating a rushed rhythm as she called on more lightning.
She never noticed how easy that spell was to land… or how the ship acted as a perfect lure.
Not until a volley of arrows pierced the ocean surface, and found marks in her flesh and scales. She tried to flinch away from the attack… only for the motion to be stopped short by a painful yank. Her skin strained and tore under shards of metal, puncturing into her muscles.
A scream built in her throat, only to go dead when Lucina raised her eyes. The arrows lodged in her skin were only anchors. Lines of rope stretched from her wounds and up towards the surface. Horror clutched at her, as she tried to thrash through the clouds of her own blood. But her struggles came too late. The chords went taut and pulled her towards the surface like a fish on a hook.
-o-o-o-
'Wake.' The word sounded in his mind like a bell, and Morgan's eyes jolted open. He was greeted by a rock strewn sea bed. The scant seaweed shivered back and forth in a troubled current, resembling tree branches caught in a storm.
And there was a storm; he saw that from the flashes of light, bright enough to pierce the ocean depths. They highlighted the barren nature of where he'd found himself.
Wherever he was, it was empty and lonely. Maybe it was only the thunder that had snagged his thoughts, instead of some mystery voice.
However that didn't explain why murmurs of that voice still haunted him, winding through his ears in strange melodies. It was like faint echo was left over from his dreams. He almost recognized the voice it sang in.
"Morgana-?" He gasped out, but the name seemed oddly empty once he said it. Like he'd forgotten the face it was supposed to bring up.
He didn't have time to wonder about that. The ocean lit up above him, as a bolt struck the waves. He flinched back into the cavern.
'Cavern?' His eyes, if possible, stretched wider. His hand slipped out to touch the rock walls. 'How did I get here? Why can't I remember?' The stone pressed hard on his fingers, but gave no answers.
"Waking up without knowing where I am or what happened is turning into a pattern." He muttered to himself. Morgan tried to laugh a little at his own joke, but it came out sounding strained and hollow. Especially with no one around to share the humor with.
His tail flicked restlessly, stirring the silt and water of his shelter.
'Tail?'
Something felt odd about it, like that wasn't the right limb-
"Agh!" He hissed out in pain, his mind punishing him for trying to remember. Morgan grit his teeth and pressed his head against the stone wall. The rock brushed his bangs aside, so his forehead could feel every rough spot.
"Come on, Morgan. Remember, remember-" his head throbbed, and he twisted against the pain. But one image finally made its way through the haze. He glimpsed a flooded arena, and almost tasted the blood soaking into water and bricks. His sides joined his head in hurting, his flesh recalling a battle with other fish-tailed people. They'd sliced into his flesh with barbed weapons, and left him bleeding and sinking away.
Left him to die. He should have been dead, after going through all that. Either through trauma, or from being dashed against the rocks.
The cramped walls of the cave were suddenly too much. His fins churned, pushing Morgan free from them. All the while he clutched at his head, trying to push his thoughts into something that made sense.
Why and how had he survived? His tail snapped back and forth, throwing him forward and trying to prove that he was still alive.
When his eyes finally opened, they locked onto a flash of blue cutting through the gray waves and trailing bubbles. Another Mer. She dodged and weaved through the currents like it was second nature, and for a moment all Morgan could do was watch.
Until she was suddenly clouded with red, her actions brought to a halt by arrows wreathed in rope.
-o-o-o-
The blast of lightning almost blinded Chrom, and for a moment he swore that they'd been hit… but when he opened his eyes, he saw that wasn't the case. Instead, one of the Risen ships sagged, the waves suddenly eager to reclaim it. It slumped into the waters, dropping the pursuit to two ships.
But Chrom only had a few moments to enjoy their luck. Another of the ships caught a snatch of storm wind and lurched forward. It went almost astern with them as they raced through the passages. He blinked, getting the last spots out of his vision, and felt his thoughts snap back into the present. The strange song on the wind dimmed, compared to Frederick shouting for orders.
"What's going on? Why aren't we getting away?" Chrom tore his focus off the ship, turning to the wheel. His wounds ached against the rain, but Chrom tried to banish the pain to the back of his head. Instead he turned to Frederick.
"She's going sluggish in my hands- I don't know how else to explain it!" Frederick fought with the wheel, spinning it hard. And yet the Shepherd barely tilted in answer. She turned too slow, opening her side up to the advancing Risen and the rocks.
'Did we hit something and damage the rudder?' Chrom glanced behind them, and saw that the remaining ships had put on more sail. They were heedless of the rocks ready to bite their hulls if the wind blew them wrong. The bowspirits were knives, and cut through the water, bearing down on the Shepherd.
'A moment, maybe, and they'll be on us. They'll ram into us if they need to, cripple us and make us easy prey.' He knew that as sure as he knew the Shepherd would crack apart on the cliff faces. There was nothing for it; he ran to the wheel, Frederick backing away from it. If they were about to turn into driftwood, he at least wanted to fight instead of standing by and watching it happen.
"Starboard!" Robin screamed out again, a massive crag of rock looming before them. Chrom tightened his hands on the wheel. A thread of blood in his palm ran over one of the prongs. It soaked the wood, mingling with rain to turn the wheel slick to the touch. He sent it spinning, holding his breath as rock and ship both swept up from either side to slam into the Shepherd-
Except they didn't. The brig danced in the waves, turning impossibly quick. The ship following them smashed into the rocks. It completely broke apart from the speed and impact, adding a crackle and splinter of wood to the rush of waves.
"We made it-?" He gasped out, wiping the rain from his face with the back of his hand.
'One down, one to go. We might survive this yet-' He had time to think, when the channel parted, opening into a broad harbor hemmed in by rocks. Beyond that, the lighthouse stood as a silent sentry, unmoving as it watched the chaos unfold.
-o-o-o-
Morgan watched her thrash. A fan of blue hair twisted around her, as the Mer writhed in the water. But no matter how she struggled, the ropes and arrows piercing her held her fast, dragging her along in the vessel's wake.
'That's-' The memory flooded back into him. This one more recent, and without pain. 'That's the same girl who saved me.'
And now she was in trouble.
The sight spurred him forward before he could think. Even if his body felt out of order, it still managed to close the gap with a few flicks from his tail. Morgan tasted her blood, blinking to clear his eyes of any red as he reached out. His fingers dug uselessly into the ropes, dull and only succeeding in tangling in the lines.
Something crackled at the tips of his fingers. A glow of yellow danced in his sight, and a hum grew in his ears. Something beyond the roar of the waves, and the pounding of his own heart.
'Don't dwell on it! You have to get her free!' His hand slashed forward at the thought, and the ropes parted under a blaze of magic. Electricity danced in a circle around them, slicing through every line. Morgan cut the other Mer free, watching her tumble through the water with a last spurt of blood.
He chased after her, dodging any more arrows with ease.
"It…" Morgan reached out to the Mer, catching her by the hand.
"It's okay! I've got you!" He found himself repeating her words, yanking the girl out of harm's way.
Another volley of arrows followed, but the distance and water finally slowed them. One barely grazed his tail, drawing a line of red… but that was all. The other Mer slumped against him as they swam out of range.
The ship fell from them, no longer a threat… But he also felt the girl sag against him, pain making her sluggish. Thanks to the thing above them.
'I'm not letting them off easily.' Morgan snarled, stretching his hand out. The notes pulsed louder in his head, and the girl seemed to twitch in answer to that same song. Enough that she raised her head… and her hand. An answering bolt of magic surged around her arm, and let fly the same moment Morgan threw the spell.
It punched straight through the hull, leaving a gaping, killing blow of a wound. The gap in the ship dragged in back down, and banished it to a watery grave. Morgan stared as it sank, and as the last of the spell crackled along his arm.
'Magic. You just wove magic, twice. With nothing more than your voice.'
The girl made a pained noise, reminding Morgan that he had other things to worry about.
-o-o-o-
The storm still raged and the rain barely stilled once they drifted into the shadow of the tower. The Shepherd nudged its way onto a bank of sand, coming to a beached stop.
The sea boiled from the storm, but exhaustion dulled Chrom's sense of urgency. He couldn't bring himself to care that they were stuck. Miraculously, they'd lost the last ship, with the lack of fire igniting the air.
"D-Drop anchor here," Chrom managed. For all the good it would do, but they may as well make their stop official. "We barely survived by the skin of our teeth, and we need to figure out what the damage is. I don't think we weren't followed-"
"Hail, prince!" Virion called from the look out. "We've lost or thwarted our first pursuit... but I think I see other ships out in the maze."
"…So those things are on the hunt for us?" Frederick muttered to himself. Nearby, Miriel frowned. She pulled the brim of her hat forward to try and see better through the rain, underneath the rim.
"…I suspect more were called forth by the storm. It's probable that's what drives them-"
A crackle of lightning stole the rest of her words. But it did the job of illuminating masts through the gaps of rock. All of them hung with tattered and salt rotted sails. They listed like trees in the wind, circling closer-
But never rounding the last corners. When a crack of timber reached his ears, Chrom knew why.
"…The bit of probability that carried us through doesn't apply to anyone else." Miriel continued. "And anyone who comes close has an astronomical chance of dashing on the rocks."
"It gives us time, at least." Chrom stared at the masts, making sure their luck held, until the tattered sails vanished behind the spires.
They were being hunted. But even so he didn't want to break out of their hiding place. Not when the rocks shielded them from view, and gave them room to breathe.
"I'm not sure how we survived that." Robin said, slumping into the bench and ignoring the wet seats. "I thought we were going to get beached on the rocks for sure."
She glanced at him through sodden bangs.
'So how did we survive that, when everything else broke apart?' A chill ran down his back, one that had nothing to do with the rain trickling over his neck.
"I thought… the Shepherd responded to me for a moment. Faster or more sure than it did for Frederick." Chrom kept his voice low. "But maybe I was just imagining it. Maybe we just got lucky."
He glanced about the Shepherd, taking in the wear and tear from the storm and Risen. They weren't dead yet… but had their share of wounds. "Might as well make the most of that luck. I want us to check the rudder, to make sure nothing went wrong. As well as manage any repairs that we can…"
He trailed off, when he went to where Emmeryn was. Or rather, where she was supposed to be. She'd moved from her resting place, waiting at the edge of the of the ship.
"Emm?" He found himself whispering, leaving the brig in the hands of Frederick. Emmeryn didn't turn at his voice, eyes fixed on the tower ahead.
"Chrom... I'll require your presence." Emmeryn's voice was soft, almost lost in the pounding of the surf. "And Robin's as well. I want someone with a strong sword arm, and someone perceptive by my side."
"O-of course." Chrom bowed his head. "But for what?"
"To see what that tower holds." She stretched a gloved hand out towards the structure.
"Wh- I don't want to subject you to any risk!" Chrom pointed out, gesturing to the tower. Despite the bright stone, it seemed unusually ominous. "There's no telling what might be in there-"
"You realize I have as much cause to be worried about you, after everything that's happened." Emmeryn rebuffed him. "And I'm certainly not allowing you to venture in there alone."
She was close to invoking the Exalt Tone on him. If she wanted to, she could turn it into an order.
"She… does have a point." Nearby, Robin spoke up. "We probably can't take a lot of people into that building. But we risked a lot to get here; no sense leaving it uninvestigated, while everyone else sees to repairs. And as we wait for the storm to pass-"
As if on cue, the skies truly opened up, sending down fresh torrents of rain.
"Well... if nothing else, it's going to be dry in there." Chrom allowed.