Originally posted: (5/7/2016)
The Border Sands
Robin
To the west, the bitter cold and icy wind that made the nostrils burn with each intake of breath was quickly replaced by scorching sands, a shift so dramatic and sudden that even expecting it was no less jarring to the senses when one's body switched from doing everything in it's powers to preserving your core temperatures to trying desperately to keep from collapsing from exhaustion or dehydration.
After traveling as far west within the safety of the Longfort's walls as they could, the small army of unconventional soldiers from all walks of life set out with just enough water to last them a week beneath the blistering sun if rationed carefully. Any more and they would be too overloaded to move without bringing a mule to carry their equipment, which would slow them and make it even more difficult to avoid attention from the locals. As such, they were all stuck with what they could carry on their backs; even Cordelia and Sumia, whose mounts were already suffering enough due to the strain of walking on ever shifting sands that burned the feet that both riders protested to putting any more weight on them than absolutely necessary. Instead, everyone carried their own water, only being allowed to drink from their dwindling supply at certain times of the day; or when the they just couldn't take the incessant pressure coming down from the sun above.
Robin's cloak was both a blessing and a curse. After the first day, Robin got to hear from Lissa how awful the sun treated the skin; her exposed skin had turned an unhealthy pink, and Robin recognized the same shade appear on their Feroxi allies who were accustomed to the frozen environment, even if they were less vocal in their discomfort. Robin's attire, on the other hand, left virtually no skin showing for the sun to abuse which Robin was thankful for. The tradeoff however came with how the heaviness of the cloak and all that she kept inside weighed her down and kept her body encased in the fabric armor, unable to breath and thus making her sweat uncontrollably in her body's vain attempt to keep her from burning to a cinder. The discomfort was so extreme that she probably would have accepted the sunburn if she had any other garments to change into that could hold everything she carried on her person beside water. And not even the cloak could protect her as her feet sank into the burning hot sands that sometimes went all the way to her knees, encasing her legs in scorched tombs until someone could pull her out; afterwards, large clumps of sand would stay behind in her boots and press against her feet while denying them any oxygen.
While the others only had to concern themselves with the above mentioned details of their journey, Robin had the added burden of ensuring they reached their destination with minimal conflict. Their Pegasus riders were fundamentally grounded, seeing as how any attention would be the death of them, which cut them off from the 360degree vision that ensured their safety during the travel through the mountains. Gaius could only do so much to make up for it due to the sandy terrain hindering his movements, as well as offering practically no cover to sneak behind in order to avoid detection and thus forcing him to move even slower. Should they ever have been discovered by military or even civilian forces there would be no way to explain their presence; everything about them was distinctly non-Plegian, from the accent to the mannerisms to the skin color. The price should they fail to be obscure was too high, yet the means to succeed were unattainable. At this point, Robin was certain, their success was not due to her own skill but the lack of effort the Plegians themselves put into finding them
She confided her suspicions to Chrom on the third night, when they had taken shelter in the caves of a rock formation to escape one of the sandstorms that they had come to discover were common when the sun fell and the night winds picked up. The first night they had to wrap blankets around their faces to avoid breathing in the dust; needless to say, nobody got sleep that night. Since then, Robin had taken great pains to avoid being caught outside when night fell. Tonight they were lucky and had found a cave just minutes before the winds picked up; she even felt that they were secure enough to light a fire, between the cave and the sand hiding them from the outside world.
"I'm not sure how we'll fare when we get closer to the capital," she whispered to Chrom, near the entrance and away from the rest of the party, "So far, the only thing that's protected us is the fact that nobody is looking. But closer to the execution site…"
Throughout the grim report, he listened wordlessly and weighed every word before speaking up once she had finished, "Well...let's start with what we have. Have you conjured up a plan to prevent the execution."
"Yes. Well...I have an outline," she said, "The standard form of execution in Plegia in grand events is to push them off a large rock formation. That's why I brought Sumia and Cordelia along instead of sending them off with Frederick. This matter is too important to place all our faith in just one plan so I've come up with several."
Chrom nodded approvingly, "Ok, that's good. What plans do we have then?"
"The primary plan is to rescue the Pegasus Knights and free her by force; out of them all, this is the least likely to work on its own but in the likely event that the Pegasus Knights and our own forces are unable to fight our way to the execution site in time, I will put Gaius in place to sneak his way to the site and kill the executioner, then hold them off until the rest of our forces can reach them or lead her back the way he came. On the chance that Gaius isn't able to reach her for one reason or another, me and Miriel found a way to attack far away targets so it would be possible for us to take out the executioner and buy time for our team to reach her. If, for whatever reason she ends up falling anyway, I'll have both Cordelia and Sumia in place to catch her from the sky."
"You've accounted for everything," he looked relieved though not surprised
"But like I said, I'm not certain if I can get us into the capital safely. There's almost certainly going to be a trap waiting for us."
"Well, where would you put a trap?"
Robin thought for a moment, "...For Gangrel, this entire thing is mostly a show for his people to cement his power. I'd want to make my defeat of the Ylissians public and where everyone could see it so...the execution itself would be the perfect place to get everyone to see."
"In that case, getting there probably won't be the hardest part," said Chrom
"And it would also explain why there has been so little resistance on getting there. But this plan has probably also made Frederick's campaign in the east a lot easier, as Gangrel probably assumes that's our rescue attempt, allowing him to do more damage to the Plegian resources as long as he's been following my orders. He'll also time the execution for when he believes the Ylissian army is close enough to send a rescue team."
"You see? You have it all figured out," Chrom smiled, "On the note of getting there, do you have any idea how much longer it will be? Anything we can tell the others to keep them motivated?" He turned into the cave and Robin followed his eyes to their friends, sitting around the fire that had been set up. The march was taking its toll on them; nobody had the energy to talk or tell stories or do anything other than look forlornly into the fire until they went to sleep, "They need something, Robin. Something to tell them that all this has been worth it."
She sighed, "Alright, I'll talk to them."
"Thank you."
The two of them returned to the fire that the others sat around; when they arrived, Chrom took a seat while Robin remained standing to address them, "Cordelia, the map please."
Cordelia obediently took the map of the region out of her shoulderbag and handed it to Robin, who laid it out on the ground for everyone to see. "Judging by that village we passed, and the distinctive shape of this rock formation, I think I have a fair idea of where we are."
Robin pointed to the section of the Longfort that separated Regna Ferox and Plegia, "We left Regna Ferox three days ago, and since then," she said, sliding her finger down the map, "We've been able to navigate our way South using Miriel's compass. Now, yesterday while we were traveling, we passed by the town that I believe to be right here," she let her finger momentarily stop on a small dot on the map that read the name of the town, "and traveled roughly ten more miles before resting in this cave formation." When she finally stopped for good, the space she was pointing at was roughly halfway between the Longfort and the Plegian capital.
"That's it? Only halfway there?" complained Lissa
"Hush, let her finish," said Chrom, drawing out a pout from her
"You have to remember that it took us half of the first day just getting to that section of the Longfort; we barely spent any time making headway through the Plegian desert," said Robin, trying her best to capture the inspiring tone Chrom used in his speeches, "Even with that, it only took us three days to reach this point. Sure, they weren't the most pleasant days of our lives, but that's still a relatively short amount of time. If we hurry and don't run into any diversions between here and the capital, then basic math tells us we have two days left. We just need to push a little further."
"Two days, huh? Well that's not so bad," said Lissa
"I honestly thought it'd be longer," said Olivia, "So...I'm not sure I should really question you on stuff like this...but…" her speech stuttered out and it became clear she wouldn't finish without some sort of aid
"What is it? I'll listen to any suggestions," she encouraged her. It only made sense to take all points into consideration, after all
"Well...how do you plan for us to escape once we have Emmeryn?"
"I'm still working on that," she replied honestly, there was no point in lying, "I'll have a better idea when we get there."
"Our pals will be getting there around the same time, right?" said Gaius, "Couldn't we just hitch with them?"
"I highly doubt we'll arrive at the exact same time," said Cordelia
"Yea, but close enough to where if we made a run for it we'd be able to outrun them."
"Even if we didn't have to worry about distance," said Lon'qu, "there would still be the Plegian army separating us. We could take a fair amount of them, but heroic deaths won't serve anyone right now."
"Like I said, it's a work in progress," said Robin, "For now, everyone get some sleep. Emmeryn cannot afford for us to slow down."
The Border Sands
Lissa
The grueling march through the desert wasn't much easier after Robin's speech the previous night. Only three hours into the day and Lissa was already feeling the sand in her shoes weighing down each step. Though, on the bright side, she would move a lot faster once she got the sand out of her shoes as her leg muscles adapted to the extra weight; at least that was probably what Lon'qu would say.
Still, it wasn't helping her self-esteem that she had fallen to the back of the line due to her inability to keep up with the people who did this kind of thing for exercise. The only one who was as physically pathetic as her was Olivia and...well, it was still pretty hard to talk to her, even after she indirectly gave Lissa her blessing. It was just hard to forget how much history Lon'qu had with this girl, especially when it almost always wormed it's way into conversation.
Still, Lissa would never let it be said she didn't try to get to know someone
"So...a dancer, huh?"
"...Y-yes, though I'm not very good."
"Your bosses were impressed. And Lon'qu said you were pretty darn fast; he tends to know what he's talking about with that kind of stuff."
Olivia quickly looked at the ground and blushed, stuttering like a jammed water wheel, "I'm...it's just...they...t-they were probably just flattering me…"
...Lady, if I were Robin I'd understand but you're talking to someone a full decade younger than you. Show some backbone! Was what she wanted to say. But that would have been rude, so instead she said "Well...I'd like to see it sometime. I promise I'll give you an honest review!"
"I...suppose it's inevitable anyway..."
"...I kinda feel bad for wanting to see you dance now."
Before she finished the sentence, Olivia's face became horrified, "I'm so sorry if I said anything!"
"Geez, relax! I was only kidding!" Mostly. Although I do feel bad for ever being jealous of this puppy dog of a girl...
"Right…" said Olivia, not entirely convinced
"...Hey Olivia, can I tell you a secret?"
"I-If you want…"
"Well, when I first saw you, I thought for certain that you and mhmphmphmph-" She was rudely cut off as a gloved hand forced itself over her mouth. She looked up in alarm and saw the owner, Gaius, pressing a finger against his lips then point to Robin, who'd raised her hand as a nonverbal "hold up" command
At the front of the line, she saw Robin and Chrom looking over a small hill in the sand formations at something below them, and whispering some soft dialog. Getting the hint, Lissa nodded her understanding to Gaius who, albeit unnecessarily cautiously, retracted his hand. Gaius, I'm not an idiot. You don't need to be so paranoid.
Slowly, the group crawled their way to the hilltop, stomachs to the ground in order to avoid being spotted by whoever was below. Sure, it wasn't exactly pleasant to have coarse sand running down her dress and getting all itchy, but it was better than having an arrow through the eye socket. It took about a minute before she was finally close enough to hear what Robin and Chrom were saying
"If we get involved, we place the mission and the future of Ylisse in jeopardy. As tragic as these instances are, they'll only multiply if we fail," she said pleadingly to Chrom, and Lissa had to look over to understand what they were talking about. Below them, some guys that looked like a mish-mash of a dozen different races strutted around in full armor, she guessed there were about a dozen or so, and were slowly making their way across the sands just as their own group was a few seconds ago. The difference; they were all circled around a group of terrified looking villagers wearing chains.
"Who are they?" Whispered Lissa, though at that point she already had an idea
"Flesh peddlers," Lon'qu whispered grimly back
"I understand what you're saying, I really do," Chrom whispered to Robin, "But if we don't act we're not just sacrificing those people's lives, we're sacrificing their futures. And the futures of everyone else those savages put in chains."
"There will be a lot more chains if Plegia wins this war," said Robin, "I'm sorry, but I can't justify that risk. Just think about your sister."
"I am. I'm thinking about what she would think if I didn't do anything when I had the power to," he abruptly stood up and took out his sword. Taking his cue, the others rushed to follow his lead while Robin looked with a mix of surprise and irritation, "Robin, you have ten seconds to come up with a plan!"
The slavers below immediately saw them and grouped up in front of the slaves. Robin's head quickly moved between them and Chrom, "Ten- what! Hold on! Just- what the hell, Chrom! Ugh...dammit, there's only twelve of them! Just hit them till they die if you're so bloody determined!"
"That works for me! Everyone charge!"
"Naga's tears…"
Looking back, this was probably the first time Lissa had ever been part of the group that was charging. Normally they would just lead people into clever traps but Chrom blew any chances of that when he decided to stand up. Once he started running forward everyone followed quickly, well except for Robin who was probably still trying to decide whether or not zapping Chrom with a bolt of lightning would improve their chances. Lissa tried her best to keep up but was just barely able to keep from tripping over her own feet as the sand threatened to swallow her up with each step. Luckily Lon'qu grabbed her by the hand just before she actually fell
"Stay close to me!" he said before letting go and running forward, at a quarter of the speed she knew he was able to run, and even then she struggled to keep up with him. Holding her staff, her mind flashed back to the training session from Regna Ferox
"A normal blade would be too heavy for you to carry alongside your staff, and a knife wouldn't offer enough protection when facing a heavily armed opponent. But your staff is a blunt instrument, sturdy and strongly made; we train you right, you'll be able to hurt just as easily as heal with that thing." His words echoing in her mind, Lissa clutched her staff tighter as the familiar tool began to take on a whole new meaning in her mind.
Of course, that didn't mean she could just charge in and start hitting people with her staff. That would be dumb, and Lissa liked to think she wasn't dumb
At last, the two groups began exchanging blows. The sound of clanging steel became all Lissa could recognize, briefly interrupted by a pained shout whenever a blow struck true. More of those shouts came from the slavers' side, though every now and then they'd suffer a hit, which was of course why Lissa was there. Her job hadn't changed, but at least it was a satisfying job
Only a few minutes in and she'd already mended three broken arms, two stab wounds, four cuts, and one sprain. Now Lissa wasn't going to act like her job was harder than the people who were getting stabbed but for someone her size it was still pretty exhausting to run around and use all that magic so quickly. She would later use this as her excuse as to why she didn't see the axeman until he was right next to her and trying to take her head off
He ended up pivoting too sharply and nearly falling in the sand, which was what gave her the time to realize what was happening and get away, if only by a few steps. As the slaver charged forward again, she held her staff in front of her and tried to dig up the lessons she'd learned that had appeared to freeze over in her terror
"Until you build you your strength, dodging and parrying will be your only way to avoid a weapon." It was the first thing he'd taught her, which was probably why it stood out. When the axe swung toward her, she tried to recall the motions he'd made her practice so many times she almost caught herself doing them in her sleep. It was tougher with an axe, but the slaver wasn't as fast or as strong as Lon'qu and the weapon slid awkwardly off to the side; the short motion left Lissa's arms sore and she had a feeling she would be out of breath right now if she wasn't so utterly terrified. Still, she was able to think just hard enough to notice the slaver's exposed neck staring right at her, and knew exactly what to do. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her shoulder muscles, Lissa swung the staff into his throat as hard as she could. The slaver made an almost inhuman sound as he fell back struggling to get a single breath in. Seeing an opportunity, Lissa tried to strike him again, this time in the gut, except he saw her coming and grabbed the staff just before it hit him. Still barely able to breath, his movements were clumsy and wobbly, which actually made him harder to fight off as he put everything he had into everything he did. Holding her staff in place with a death grip, he reached for her head and tried jabbing his thumb into her eye; Lissa kept her head down to protect herself, and he shifted his focus to taking a fistfull of hair.
Sweaty, exhausted, scared out her mind and with the pain of having hundreds of roots being pulled out of her skull; Lissa remembered the very last lesson Lon'qu had taught her during their training session at the Longfort. "If you're out of cards to play and there's nothing that you can do to defend yourself, you always have one way out; scream. Scream as loud as you can."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The slaver flinched at the high pitch noise that seemed more akin to a broken trumpet than a voice, and before he could even recover his face shifted to one of shock and Lissa felt him release the grip on her hair as he fell forward with a single, neat incision in the back of his neck and Lon'qu standing behind him
"Are you unharmed?"
"Y-yea.." her voice sounded like a mouse's squeak to her own ears
"Lon'qu, behind you!" Lissa heard Olivia's voice just outside her field of vision
"I see it!" He said back, and then he turned so fast that it hurt Lissa's eyes trying to track him. As he turned, he ducked his entire body down to dodge a horizontal swing from another slaver. Then with a single clean motion he severed the man's leg, causing him to fall onto the sands before delivering another swift stab downward and through his skull
"Are you ok?" Olivia ran to Lissa's side, her voice taking Lissa out of her awed state, "I think the battle is just about finished."
She was right. By now, the couple slavers that were left were making their last desperate push which was doomed to fail to the Shepherds' superior skill. "They'll need you to heal whatever minor wounds our people have suffered. Doubtless the slaves have a few wounds themselves," said Lon'qu, "Go help them. We'll take care of cleaning up."