Fire emblem field tactician 13
"Sirs! Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector are here to see you!"
"Hmmugh?" I grunted groggily. "Oh the lordlings, alright thank you soldier!" I said back, although the effort in the morning caused my head to start aching. Grunting I woke my roommate Dorcas and we both got changed.
"So what do you think Dorcas?" I said, trying to make some conversation. "Good news or bad?"
"I have faith that Eliwood and Hector came through for us."
"Oh? What makes you so sure?"
"Eliwood in particular strikes me as an agreeable person. With that attitude in the Lycian League, he'll garner a large following. However because of that, he might not be able to help us out, just keep them away. "
"Ok… but what about Hector?"
"Well, he seems to be a very blunt and rough person. Not the usual noble. I think he'll be more of a presence than a speaker. He hails from a different province anyway so his vote will be to help us. That's at least two."
"Interesting… anyway, you all ready? We should head down and join up with the rest of the team. They're probably waiting for us." As we met the lords, they had a troubled look on their face. Or at least Eliwood did.
"My lord." Kent began.
"Well met Kent." Eliwood said. "And to the rest of the legion as well. I trust you had a relaxing time?"
I sneaked a small glance at Lyn, the small, knowing grin on my face was reflected on hers. "Haha. Well yes and no."
"I thought not, you got a new wardrobe." Hector said in his usual boisterous fashion. "I take it your other clothes got torn up pretty bad. I like it by the way, but what's with the symbol on the back?"
"Ah that's my personal emblem. The phoenix, the bird of eternal fire, symbolizes my resolve, which will never die so long as I have a goal. The twin swords are my weapon of choice as you can see. The two characters are of my native language. They mean courage and honor, the two things I valued most of all."
"Err 'valued'? Has that changed?" Eliwood asked, confused.
"Well yes, but my symbol doesn't look right with the character for friendship."
"Haha alright then. So what happened to you guys?"
"Let's see, we cleaned out a coliseum and we routed a huge bandit raid. The usual."
"Hey no fair!" Hector yelled out. "How come you guys get all the action? I was stuck with Eliwood in a council I had no power over anyway!"
"Well it's just us I guess, seeing as a day hasn't passed us without one of us in a fight for our lives. A sheepish grin from Guy flashed to life. "But it's making us a tighter, stronger set of fighters so I'm not gonna complain."
"Hopefully you'll all be ok." Eliwood said, his tone falling. "The best we could do is convincing the rest of the Cantons to remain neutral. That means we can't help you either. Do you think you'll be ok?"
"We'll be alright." Lyn said. "What you've done for us is more than enough."
"We'll win" I continued. "We have too. For Caelin and Lyn and her Grandfather. Winning this fight will bring peace to them all."
"Well said." Eliwood said with a slight amount of pride. "Although I can't help you directly, I'll pray for your success."
"Thank you Eliwood." Lyn said "I won't waste the chance you've given us." With that we set off. "Alright let's get going. Kent, what's the fastest way to Castle Caelin?"
"Let me see. The fastest way would be through General Eagler's estate. I think if we take that path, that'll be the only other foreseeable obstacle."
"Ok let's do it." I said. Then turning to Kent, "What kind of man is General Eagler anyway?"
"When I and Sain first became knights, he was our captain. He looked out for us on our first couple of missions we did together. He's deserving of our respect. I think if we talked with him we could figure out a way to pass without killing him."
"Sounds good. Let's try diplomacy first then."
"Ah crap!"
"Huh? Who was that? What's going on?"
"Oh Ken it's you." Sain called out. "We've got a massive fog coming in. This might be a little rough."
"Ah, not good. In the mist we'll look like any other invaders. Anyone have any torches?"
"I've got one." Kent called out. Of course Kent's got one. He's the brains of the group.
"I've got one too." Lyn said. "Someone from a house gave me one, said he supports us all the way."
"So the will of the people is with us huh? That's good."
"Ahh Ken." Matthew said. "Why don't you put me in front? As you may know, we err, thieves can see through fog."
"Truly?" Lyn said in surprise. "That's… handy."
"Alright. You're up Matthew. Everyone else, form up on him. Kent, light your torch and take the rear. Let's not let them sneak up on us and move as a group. Wil, Lucius, Rath and Erk pick anywhere inside the encirclement and keep an eye out for enemies. Serra… I guess you can stay inside the circle and watch out I case one of us needs healing."
We moved up, about as fast as Wallace could handle in all his armor. There were a few skirmishes but the way we had ourselves formed, we took very little damage. As soon as we could see the foe our ranged fighters brought them down. Any additional fighters were downed by our close combat fighters. As we neared the castle I had a weird premonition about something.
"Alright, we're close to their base now. Wallace, Lyn, Kent, Sain, You guys are with me. We're going to take the castle gates. Everyone else, hang back in these trees. Guy, grab Kent's torch for your group. Try to keep the torches lit and be alert for ambushes against yourselves or us." With that, our wing moved towards the castle gate which was guarded by a lone paladin.
"Eagler!" Wallace bellowed out at the fighter.
"General Wallace" the paladin said, a heavy note in his voice..." So you have sided with the girl, too!"
"I fight for Caelin's honor, not for Lundgren's lies!"
"Ah... Is that so? You are-- Enough! There's nothing more to be said. I name you traitors all! Come! Do your worst!"
"I'm going to have to disagree with you there sir." I spoke up.
"What? Who are you?" Eagler looked at me in shock."
"That's our tactician Ken Senki." Kent called out to his former teacher.
"Kent? Is that you?"
"I'm here too! Under orders of OUR true liege!" Sain's triumphant tones rang out.
"Look around." I said quietly to him. "Two soldiers you've trained, a renowned general, and two Sacaen blade masters." Lyn gave me a smile here. "Stand down, we don't want to kill you."
"Never! I won't back down!" Eagler cried out, charging towards us.
"Everyone back down!" I yelled out. I ran towards him, drawing my lancecreaver at the same time. "VOI!" with a single slash I took of the head of his lance. He passed me so I drew my second blade and went to meet him. He drew his own sword as his lance was rendered useless. He struck out with his blade which I deflected away from myself. His swordsmanship was just as good as the veteran coliseum fighters. I couldn't block his blows outright, even now as I've become easily twice as strong as was before I came here. However his blade wasn't meant for taking foot soldiers very well. It was slightly shorter than a normal blade and I'm shorter than normal too.
He went for another pass and I feigned right to make him switch his sword hand. When he did, I spun around and came from the left and jumped into his saddle. Then I promptly shoved him off the horse.
"Will you listen to reason now Eagler?" Wallace calmly said to his old friend.
"I can't my old friend." Eagler groaned as he stood up "Lundgren… he has my son Gavin."
"Are you sure he'll let him go if you defeat us." I said to the Paladin
"I… I don't trust him. But it's the only chance I've got boy! I won't risk him!"
"Where is he being held?" I said, disregarding his small insult.
"At Castle Caelin." Eagler said, a confused look on his face. "Lundgren sent the soldiers you faced to boost my defenses against you. And he sent soldiers to capture my son to secure my cooperation."
"Against me?" Lyn said slowly, showing herself to the old Paladin. "Could you actually fight me General Eagler?" He gasped as he got a good look at her, a strange look of recognition on his face.
"…! It's… you're really, Lady Madeline's daughter!"
"Yes. I'm Lyndis. I only wish to go see my grandfather."
"Truly? That snake! I knew Lundgren was lying to us!"
"Let's get your son back. We'll move on to castle Caelin the next day."
"Wait? You'd help me?" Eagler said in shock. "Even after I sent soldiers towards you and attacked you myself?"
"Those were Lundgren's orders right? Those grievances are on his head." I muttered darkly.
"Well. You've got guts boy. Alright let's go into my castle- wait! There was a unit of Lundgren's soldiers lying in ambush in the trees to the north. Now that they've seen us talking they'll head back to Caelin and report to him!"
"Woah, slow down. I knew I felt something important. I sent some of our guys up there as back up. No doubt that they took out the forces stationed there.'
"Really now? That was a wise move, whether or not you knew enemies were there. I'm beginning to understand why these louts trusted you" Eagler said indicating Kent and Sain. Kent looked a little offended but Sain took the rebuke in stride.
The next day we set out for Castle Caelin after leaving Eagler's second in command in charge.
"Well this is it." Lyn said quietly to me. "The final battle."
"Yup, and through this all I never learned to ride a horse." I joked, trying to keep her mood up.
She chuckled a little at that. "Haha. It was kinda funny when Eagler's horse ran off with you still on it."
"Well I don't…" I said pretending to pout a little "it happened at a weird part too. Right as things were getting serious too." She laughed again, then fell silent once more. "Copper for your thoughts?"
"Hmm? Oh. Well… what if my grandfather treats me like Marquess Araphen ?"
"Is that all?" I said in surprise. "if so many people think you look so much like your mother, surely you grandfather will see that."
"Huh. Perhaps you're right"
"And… I heard from one of Araphen's citizens that Lady Madeline was the Marquess' infatuation. Looks like your mother didn't care for the good Marquess either."
"Haha. Then I'm in good company"
"So don't worry about it. We help out the people of Caelin when we take out Lundgren and that's a good cause to fight for too. No matter what he says, you'll always have me. So don't worry too much how he'll see ya. Ok?" I gave her a comforting squeeze in the saddle. She smiled and just left it at that, but I could feel her calming down.
We talked for a little bit longer, mostly about where the legion would go after the battle when…
"Milady Lyndis. Castle Caelin is just around these mountains. We're almost done."
"Grandfather…. I will be with you soon. Ken this is the final battle. Let's end this."
"The one that draws the blade for peace has the power of the gods. Let's go." With that, I hopped of the horse and Lyn picketed it behind the mountains.
Thunder flashed as we climbed the crest of the hill. The heavy clouds above us broke into a storm the moment we engaged the first sentry. Jeez if I didn't know better I'd say someone was trying to make this as epic as possible for their own enjoyment. What did Lyn call him… Father Sky? Real funny but could you hold the rain a little?
Everyone was getting held back by the storm, which meant moving to the castle was quite slow. A good number of Lundgren's soldiers defected to us when they saw General Eagler and Wallace. As we passed the last hill, we came up to the castle gates.
"Alright Erk, let's try burning through the gates. You think you can do it in this rain?"
"You won't even get the chance to try boy!" a gravelly voice called out.
As one, we whirled around to face the voice. "Lundgren!" our two veteran soldiers called out in rage.
"Give me my son!" Eagler yelled out, a vicious look in his eyes.
"Ah General Eagler. I never expected you to be here. How did you get away without letting my soldiers know?"
"They're dead. You used them like pawns for a worthless cause!"
"Oh? They were just grunts, once Caelin is under my control, I'll have many more faceless soldiers like them."
"What about my grandfather!" Lyn growled. Although she stood by me seeming to want the support. "He's your brother! What makes you hate him so much!"
"He's just a self-righteous pacifist! My lord promised me all of Lycia if I could take Caelin." Who is his lord?
"Wretched cur!!!" Kent growled out. That freaked me a little since he seemed to be a medieval robot, but I guess even he has a breaking point. "Ken, order us in already!"
But something felt wrong to me. Almost like a trap. "No. I don't trust this is all he's got. And if anything, that bastard belongs to Lyn and Eagler."
"Wise move boy. But you won't have a chance to do anything about it!" Lundgren jeered. "Now attack!" immediately, soldiers with the same mark as the black robed people appeared in front of us. Hell. That explains who his lord might be. Whoever is in charge of the black robes.
"Take em all out! Leave Lundgren to Lyn! We gotta give her space to fight!" I yelled out as I dove into the fight. The rest of the team heard my call and engaged the enemy while surrounding Lyn and Lundgren. The other fighters were skilled, but our line would not break, even when my lancecreaver broke after all the battles I fought with it.
Lyn was fighting Lundgren, the Mani Kati blazing a crimson red. It was all Lundgren could do to keep his neck from being hewed off. Back and forth she flashed across the beleaguered general, however her anger was keeping her from fighting at her true potential. After a while, the glow of the sword winked out of existence while she was still striking. At that moment, there was a break in the fighting. "Kent, Sain cover my area, I'm going to help Lyn!"
"Yes sir!" with that I turned around ready to help out my best friend.
But it turned out Lundgren had figured out her furious rush. As Lyn spun to begin her rush again, Lundgren struck out with his lance. She got hit in the side of the head and flew to the side, the Mani Kati leaving her grasp and falling blade down in front of me.
It felt right then that the bottom of my stomach dropped out of my body. Not caring that I shouldn't be able to wield the Mani Kati I grasped the hilt of the blade…
Time stopped the moment I touched the blade. I saw Erk in mid cast, the fire just forming at his fingertips. Sain was just removing his lance from a black robed body.
'Do you know why you are here?' a voice called out in my head.
"No… Not really. But let's start with you. Who are you?"
'I am Father Sky' Shit I'm getting smart with a deity! But as I thought that I felt a slight bit of mirth. 'Do not worry young one. I will not get insulted by how you speak. It is how you grew up in the time era you grew up in. Although, you have grown quite a bit here too.' I searched my feelings for a hint on how he was feeling and I felt a little bit of pride, but the moment I found that feeling, the feeling of mirth came back too. 'Ah ah ah. You can't read a deity'
"Ah! Sorry!" Great now he's messing with me. I took a breath and gained back my composure"So. You know why I'm here?"
'Of course. I brought you here after all.' What??? 'Yes. Yes I did.' Oh right. He can read my mind. 'As you know, Lyn is the chosen wielder of the Mani Kati. But without you specifically, she wouldn't have left home. This journey would not have happened and unnatural things would have befallen her and the rest of Elibe. "What!" 'More things ride on this than you could know. This world and many others would not exist without this journey. "WHAT!?!" 'Ha ha… how about trying a different response?' "Ok. Let's start with how other worlds would get screwed without me?" the voice faltered then said simply. 'I can't tell you that.' Figures. 'In your times words, that would be a mess in the temporal timeline. "Got me there, but why'd you pick me of all people? There's bound to be someone in the two thousand years of time that would do the trick just as well. The response was simple, and almost expected.
'You asked. That's all.'
"Fair enough. Now, can I get back to the task at hand? Even though I feel that this wasn't the world ending event you said would happen." 'You're right it wasn't. I did this heart to heart with Lyn too. The Mani Kati was forged by me, as such I have to speak with its wielders.' He gave the equivalent of a chuckle then said. 'You're going to have to trust my instincts, not yours. You think you can do that?' "We'll see." I said confidently.
Time flashed back to me in a second. The screams of the man Erk burned reached my ears and shattered my stupor. Quickly, I took up the Mani Kati alongside my armorslayer and stepped in front of Lyn.
"Now what do you think you're doing?" Lundgren asked in a mocking voice. "Gonna avenge your girlfriend here?"
"Perhaps." I said in my deathly calm voice. Then I rushed, my blades moving almost of their own accord. Lundgren stepped back in shock as once, twice three times, my twin swords flashed over his armor and body. I could almost hear Father Sky whispering in my ear where to strike. This is cheating… In no time at all, the usurper was felled.
"Gah… Caelin was to be mine. Lord… Nergal…" and with that Lundgren breathed his last. One of the black robed fighters saw Lundgren dead at my feet and immediately called his fighters to halt.
"Dead clients don't pay. We have no more reason to fight here." He disappeared and the rest of them soon followed.
"It's over! We've won!" I heard Sain crow in victory.
"Lyn. Time to get up." I said kneeling at her side. We gotta get moving.
"Nuuhhh" she groaned in reply. Sighing, I fished out a vulnerary from my pack and began to treat her. How many times has she done this for me. I mused to myself. It's almost ironic I'm doing it in the end. "Huh? Where…"
"Hey, you feeling ok?" I asked, concern lacing my voice. "You took quite the blow."
"Mhmm. I'm ok. I'm tougher than I look" she said, a smile forming one her face. Grinning myself I helped her up then together we walked into Castle Caelin.
END CHAPTER
Extra skit. Normal is Ken, Bold is Lyn Italic is Father Sky.
Deity?
~sigh~
What's up Ken?
Oh, hey Lyn. I was just thinking about your spirit gods.
Hmm? What brought that about?
Well, I had to wield the Mani Kati when you got knocked out. Father Sky spoke to me when I grabbed the hilt. He said he talked with you too.
Ah… ya he did.
So how's that work? How can a deity like him speak so candidly to humans?
He was Candid? Not to me. He was super serious.
He wouldn't stop joking around with me!
Now now. I told both of you to stop trying to figure me out.
~both Ken and Lyn~ Gah! Y-yes of course.
A/N well that's the end of another one. The prologue arc is mostly over, although now I'm at an impasse. I don't want Ken to go randomly wandering for a year. That doesn't suit his personality. So I'm thinking he gets taken back to his time for a little while or he sticks around in Castle Caelin for the year. That's up to you guys to call.