Chapter 12: Enemy at the Gates

Stahl watched the battle from his hiding place. He looked for the telltale signs of dying Risen, but he didn't see the purple smoke often enough. It looked grim for Ylisse and he wondered why the cavalry haven't been called yet.

"Sir, should we trust our tactician? She is inexperienced and it looks like the city will fall," his lieutenant told him.

"Our queen put her faith on Morgan, as did I," Stahl said. But he hoped that Minerva's signal would come soon. He saw the giant wall of fire that erupted to the north, and wondered what that was. Stahl cringed when he realized that something wrong happened at the city gates, but the cavalry still wasn't called. 'Sully must be antsy by now,' he thought

Then there it was: Minerva's screeches. "Onward!" Stahl shouted.

His unit rode towards the battle to rendezvous with Yen'fay's force to the west. On the way there, they were met by a lone Wyvern Rider. It was Gerome, and he gently slid Minerva next to Stahl.

"Gerome, what are you doing here? No, how did you get here?"

"I avoided the archers by flying over the west wall. I bear news. Our Falcon knights are starting to spread thin with healing and news. I am helping them with communications. There's also been a change of plans. Reinforce the north wall since help is needed there. Cynthia was sent to Aunt Sully so she can support the east. Uncle Kellam is routing the enemies to the south and Uncle Yen'fay is holding his ground."

Stahl nodded, "got it. Be safe," he told Gerome. The boy left and flew back into the city.

"Men! To the north!" Stahl commanded. He led his unit to the north and saw the devastation that the Risen did there.

"Lances!" He shouted. The paladins readied their lances and reached the north gate. They attacked the undefended Risen archers from behind.

Ylisse was finally fighting back. Once the paladins cleared the archers, Flacon Knights swooped in from inside the city to heal the remaining mercenaries and dark knights at the north gate. They pulled back the wounded inside the city gates for a respite. Stahl saw Ricken's body propped up by three lances and Gregor's lifeless one near the gate.

He cursed what happened to his friends. Deep in anger, Stahl commanded his unit to make short work of the Risen knights."You are so dead!" He shouted as he drove his lance straight into an undead knight's helmet.

"Paladins, stand back! We're gonna pour oil on them!" A Falcon Knight announced from the walls. Stahl had his force retreat gradually and switched their equipment from lances to throwing weapons. They attacked the knights at a range, and even if that didn't damage the enemy that much, it was enough to buy time for all of the paladins to be on the safer side.

Boiling oil was poured on the remaining knights and a lot of the Risen evaporated on the spot. Stahl's unit switched back to lances and continued their attack to route the remaining knights once the oil stopped pouring.

Gerome appeared from the north gate and this time he helped deal some damage on the knights. "I have a message from Morgan," he said. "Please split your company into thirds. One should remain to defend the north, the other should assist Uncle Yen'fay and the other one for Uncle Kellam."

"Why did we stop using the drummer?"

"The commands are getting more complicated," Gerome said. "Direct communication is still more effective according to Morgan."

Stahl did as he was told. He left his lieutenant to hold the north, gave a third to his captain to help out Yen'fay, and led the rest of his units to where Kellam was.

He desperately looked for his friend amidst the attacking Risen. Kellam's unit was faced by myrmidons and sword masters once the magic users were wiped out. It shouldn't be too much of a problem for spear users.

Stahl cleared a path of enemies with his lance towards an empty spot in the distance. 'that could only be where Kellam is', and he was right. His friend appeared before his eyes when he was five armlengths away.

The paladin supported his friend who was about to get mobbed by charging a myrmidon through with his lance. The Risen evaporated in front of Kellam. "How are you holding up?" Stahl asked the general.

"We can stand them, but we are getting weary. These monsters are tireless and they keep coming in waves," Kellam answered.

"Fall back, we will handle this."

"Thanks man, but I'll stay with you." Kellam commanded two-thirds of his unit to fall back through the south gate. A third of Sully's paladins arrived to reinforce them and together they slaughtered the oncoming Risen.

Stahl heard tiny jingling bells that were rather uncharacteristic in a battlefield. It distracted him a bit, but he continued fighting.

The Risen sword masters attacked the paladins' horses. Once they were unhorsed, the paladins went into the same formation as the armored knights. They made a lance wall to deflect the oncoming swordsmen. They did not expect the swordmasters to know how to pass through ranks, making the lance wall useless.

It became a free for all in the south.

"Group in threes! Isolate the swordmasters!" Stahl commanded. His paladins followed his command. Stahl was supported by Kellam and a knight as they took on one swordmaster after another.

The jingling sound got louder as his group tore through the enemies.

Stahl froze when he saw Olivia with red glowing eyes, killing his paladins and Kellam's knights.

He has heard reports of dead family and loved ones coming back as Risen and wreaking havoc, but he did not expect that to happen to him. He did not want to see Olivia like this and it broke his heart all over again.

She turned her attention to the single unmoving target in the battlefield. She launched an attack and slashed at Stahl's horse several times.

"Stahl!" Kellam shouted as the stallion buckled and threw his rider off.

Olivia hacked at the horse to make sure it was dead and then turned her attention towards Stahl.

Stahl looked blankly at his former lover. "Olivia… why?" He asked, not her, but the gods. All fight went out of him and he couldn't lift his lance anymore. He just sat on the ground and stared at her face, her glowing red eyes and the tiny bells that were attached to her scarf. "Olivia…" he couldn't say anything.

Olivia raised her sword and struck at Stahl, but she was stopped by a lance through the guts. "Stahl! Get a hold of yourself!" Kellam shouted.

Olivia inched towards Stahl while the lance was still imbedded in her body. She raised her sword again but Kellam's knight disarmed her.

"That is no longer her, Stahl. She died three years ago. Stahl, please…" Kellam pleaded. "If I take my lance away, she will attack you. You are still needed here… and Olivia is gone, Stahl. She's gone."

Stahl gripped his lance and steeled himself. Kellam was right as always. "Olivia… sorry about this, but…" he said through tears, "you will continue to suffer as long as you remain standing. I hope… I hope this second death can offer you more peace than the first…"

He pierced Olivia's heart with his lance. She reached out for him and Stahl wanted to touch her just one more time, but she was insubstantial and his fingers only touched purple smoke. He watched her die in front of him again.

The paladin didn't know what happened next.

He came to inside the city gates with a Falcon Knight healing his Kellam beside him.

"Stahl, you moron," Kellam said. "I'm sorry I said that but you're mean to me sometimes. But dammit you moron! You deserve to be called one today."

"I-I wasn't ready for that, you dastard…" He answered. "she just… the gods must hate me Kellam! She died in front of me again! And I had her killed again. I hate this battle… I really, really…" He covered his face with his hands.

"Buddy, now is not the time. It's getting dark and there's still a horde out there."

"But Kellam, you don't know how it feels. Your family is still intact, you still have someone to live for. Me, I have no one left. My brother and his family is gone, Olivia is gone. Why am I still alive?"

"For your new family, of course. Lissa and the kids need you. And Ylisse still needs a strong prince to defend her as Inigo is too young and too much of a flirt to take care of that responsibility. Come on, live Stahl. Remember what Lucina said?"

"Hope will never die." The paladin smiled.

"That's the Stahl I know. Frowning is just not you," Kellam said.

"You've been a great help, you big oaf. I hope I haven't been too much of a nuisance."

Kellam laughed. "Every time I give you an advice, you say this." He patted Stahl on the back. "Come, let's get back to battle, dork."


The north gate completely fell. As a last ditch attempt by the dark knights to save the city, they lit the north entrance on fire. This would've been fine if their enemies were alive, but the Risen were relentless and they did not care to get singed. The enemies breached the walls and all hell broke loose.

Miriel retreated from her post in the north walls, gathered her mages and stood her ground in the middle of the streets to greet the oncoming Risen. "Here is our final effort to defend the city. To battle!" The mages who surrounded Miriel chanted in unison. Miriel weaved the magic in the air into the largest casting circle the world has ever seen.

Laurent spied where his mother and the rest of the mages were, from his telescope. "Morgan, I know what they are doing. That spell is untested. We cannot guarantee its safety or its success. Why are you risking this?"

"The Risen army has breached our gates. Right now, I am just trying to throw everything at them just so they couldn't get in the citadel. I am willing to risk this untested spell rather than have the citizens die on my watch. What would you do in my stead?" Morgan asked him.

"I'm afraid I have no proper response to that. The scenario can go both ways and both will only result in death," he answered. His palms became sweaty and he adjusted his glasses. "Given a chance, I would prefer the scenario with fewer casualties of course."

"Even if it means risking your mother?"

Laurent reluctantly nodded. "I am signing her death warrant, true, but even if my mother would not deign to admit it, she cares about the people of Ylisse. It was of her own conscious action that she chose to use this spell now. She would sacrifice herself to safeguard the people, and if given the choice to do it again, she would choose the same option."

Morgan sighed. "I understand. Laurent, I don't know what it is that happened in Plegia. The adults are telling us vague things, and we know it. They are hiding something horrible from us, but I don't care. What I do know is that the Plegians are resurrecting a dragon, Uncle Chrom was killed by someone close to him, and we are defending this city from a Risen invasion. And my priority is to keep this city alive because that's the only thing I can do. I cannot change the past, so I'm focusing on the present. But if I could change it, I would go back and stop them from going into that trap."

"Understood," Laurent said.

The two of them looked at the massive casting circle. Laurent's mother called it "Aoe" and the spell affected a wider range of targets rather than just a single enemy. Ricken simply called it "area of effect". With one giant blast of light that activated the spell, tons of Risen were wiped out. The surrounding houses caught fire from the blast and the survivors ran around the streets screaming.

Ylisstol burned deep into the night.

Laurent gripped his mother's hat as he looked at the scenes from his telescope. He did not see signs of Miriel anywhere. For all he knew, she could've escaped the blast. Laurent believed in evidence, and if there was no evidence of his mother dying, he clung on to hope.

More Risen went inside the gate and killed everything in sight.

Morgan didn't need the telescope to know what was happening down at the streets. She touched the drummer boy's shoulder. "Beat twelve," she said reluctantly. It was the signal for retreat into the citadel.

She sighed then shook her head. Her father wouldn't make such stupid mistakes. Laurent patted her back. Where did she go wrong?


The south gates opened.

Kellam and Stahl's combined faction entered the city through the south gates while battling the Risen that came with them. Yen'fay used the south gate as well and supported the knights who went before him. Sully, Vaike and Henry used the north gate to enter the city.

Inside, the soldiers struggled to keep the citadel safe. Axe carrying Risen managed to get past the city's defense and into the castle. Lucina awaited them in the Great Hall with her friends and her soldiers.

"Don't aim for the weapon, aim for the body," Chrom's teachings resounded in her head. The axe fighters were prone to raising their weapons in the air and left their torsos wide open. Their lack of armor also made them easier to kill. The queen let the Falchion sing in her hands, milling one Risen after another. She dodged, minded her footing, minded her grip. She thrusted the Falchion right through an enemy's heart. "I will not watch another Ylissean life be taken!"

Inigo ran towards Lucin and hacked at the nearest fighter. "I have your back," the prince said to Lucina. The queen nodded. She struck at an axe fighter's side, Inigo stabbed the fighter. "Have another!" He shouted, and Lucina finished off the Risen scum. Kjelle assisted them and partnered with Inigo. "I have this, go Lucina! Others need you," she said.

Lucina ran off to defend her soldiers. She saw someone pinned against the wall by a Risen fighter and she thrust The Falchion at the undead's back. "I believe the woman you want… is me!" She pulled her sword and the monster dissipated. "We can't let these things win. Now grab a sword… and fight!" The soldier nodded and went back into the fray.

The Queen hacked and slashed at anything with red eyes. A door in the Great Hall opened and Laurent came in with Morgan. They left their position in the central beacon to join in the melee. The mage opened his tome, tore a page and cast a wind spell against the enemies near him. Morgan picked up a sword and attacked all those who came too close to Laurent's range.

Lucina was alone and was getting mobbed in the distance. "To the queen," Laurent said. They made their way to Lucina and Laurent cleared the enemies surrounding her with one giant gale. "Go handle this. Noire needs protection," Morgan said as she ran to look for her sister.

"Laurent…" she said, "thank you for being with me."

"I'm at your side, milady. Now let's clean this up!" he shouted. His magic made short work of the Risen that came near Lucina. They worked in tandem, instinctively figuring out the best way to wipe out the enemies.

A deafening roar resounded throughout the city. Suddenly, part of the castle walls near Lucina crashed just before a Risen fighter was about to strike her. When the dust cleared, the fighters inside the castle looked up to see the inky sky hidden by scales. The moon and the stars were replaced by six enormous red lights. She was rooted to her spot and time stood still as those lights moved closer to the earth, getting bigger with each waking moment.

All around her, the battle to cleanse Ylisse of Risen scum went on. Lucina came to her senses, picked herself up, and readied her sword.

"So ends the human race…" a voice that sounded like it came from the grave said."The future is built upon the past… but your kind shall never see it."

She turned to the direction of where the voice came from and the giant eerie lights stooped to her level. Her heart beat faster from being too near it.

"Your mother and father… are dead tiny one," it said.

Lucina pointed her sword at it. She didn't let the abomination's trash talk faze her.

The ground shook, and the abomination laughed and laughed until its diabolical noise was the only thing that was heard in the whole city.

"And now it is your turn… to die!" it opened its massive jaw and threatened to eat her. The queen faced it with her sword and steely determination. She shouted as she stood her ground and attacked.