Prefic: Emblem of Fire
This world was one in which Lucretia felt at home in. People in this world fought in a more normal fashion than many of the worlds she had been to. They used swords, and magic, and they had armies rather than small groups of heroes going off to save the world. Yes, Lucretia felt at home in this world. She even felt she could actually be useful in this world. No need to use the L-block to fool people into joining her. No use of tricks to show that she has worth. No, this was a world where her skills could be put to use. It was almost a pity she wasn't born in this world. No... that's not true. She had helped out in her world too much to be more use here than there.
Prince Marth of Altea was fighting with his relatively small numbers, against a rather large number of bandits. Marth only had two knights against the twenty bandits. A three on twenty battle was a challenge, but not the kind of challenge Marth was looking for. He wasn't sure he could manage it. That is, until Lucretia Merces offered him her services.
"Lord Marth, I presume?" Lucretia said.
"Who might you be?" Marth asked.
"I am Lucretia Merces, a strategist from a far away country" Lucretia said, somewhat telling the truth. "I shall offer you my services, in exchange for a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"I only require that after the battle, your travel with me to participate in a tournament" Lucretia explained. "I shall get you through this battle with no casualties"
Marth had to think about it for a moment. A tournament... did he have time for that? He was sure that he could survive.. but what about his two knights? He didn't want to take the chance, so he agreed to Lucretia's terms. A tournament might be the challenge he needed anyway.
Lucretia explained that they would take up base in a tower that resided on the battleground. She asked one of the knights to lure the bandits towards the tower. Marth and his knights got into the tower, and waited for Lucretia's brilliant plan. The knight, as Lucretia instructed, made sure a bandit followed him back to the tower. The Bandits, then stormed the tower. Marth got worried.
"Lady Merces... are you sure about this?"
Lucretia nodded. She knew exactly what she was doing. It was such a simple plan, that it was almost beneath her. But she knew it would work. Especially on these bandits. Besides, being outnumbered sometimes called for desperate measures. The Bandits started to enter the tower, one by one. By the time the first thirteen entered the tower, Marth and his two knights started leaving the tower, along with Lucretia.
"Retreat? RETREAT IS YOUR PLAN?" Marth yelled.
Lucretia smiled. "Is your goal holding this tower? Or is it defeating the bandits?"
"Defeating the bandits of course"
"Then this tower is of no use to us." Lucretia said. "We are not defeated just because they take our base. If we must, we can set up base elsewhere. But I don't believe that will be neccessary".
She then signaled the other knight to go through with part B of her plan. The Knight set the building on fire. Marth was, to say the least, stunned.
"You, I want you to go to the right side of the building. Watch for any of the bandits trying to escape. They will try." She told the first knight. "And you, I want you go guard the left side of the building. Some of them may try to get out there. And Marth? Guard the front entrance. Anybody who doesn't go the other two ways, will try to leave through the front. Block their exit and we've won the battle".
Only a couple of bandits managed to escape the tower. All of them ended up dead, and Marth suffered no casualties. The knights were barely harmed during the battle in fact. Marth was grateful for Lucretia and her strategy. Now for his part of the bargain..
"I shall join your tournament" Marth said.
"Very well. But first.. .we need to go help someone else out".
With that, she sprinkled travel dust on the two of them, and went to another land, in another time.
They still appeared to be in the same world. Marth was a bit confused about the method of travel, but he thought better than to ask. Lucretia obviously knew what she was doing. Soon they came upon a group of mercenaries, who were fighting some knights. On Ike's side, he had Mist, Soren, Titania, Oskar, Elencia, and Boyd. On the other side were a group of a hundred knights.
"Are we going to... take all those guys on?"
Lucretia nodded. "Yes. I need Lord Ike to join our tournament as well. Then we can leave here. Oh, I'll need you to do some fighting if you don't mind"
Marth said he didn't care, a challenge was always good.
They approached Ike with caution. Lucretia was sure that he'd accept her services, but would he accept her conditions? She was about to find out...
"Lord Ike" Lucretia said, bowing. "I've come as a strategist to offer my services to you in this battle. As payment, you will join a tournament. Do you agree to these terms Lord?"
"Yeah!" Ike said, without much hesitation. "One hundred against six? I could use all the help I could get."
"Alright. Then I shall set my plan in motion" she said. "But first, Soren, I need you to spread the rumor that the main army is on it's way here in a couple of days."
Soren nodded. He had an idea of what Lucretia had in mind, but wasn't entirely sure. But he'd go through with it anyway. He wanted to win this one. Even if it did seem impossible.
Marth and Ike introduced themselves to each other, as Soren set Lucretia's plan into action. The next part would be difficult. But Lucretia was sure it would succeed. It had to.
Lucretia explained the next part of the plan. The enemy was planning a three pronged attack, one of the most dangerous strategies against a relatively small army. But Lucretia had dealt with those before, and knew exactly what she was doing. Elencia was their true goal, so Lucretia would have her lead a third of the army up to the dam. Meanwhile, Ike and Marth would lead another 1/3 of the army across the bridge, into the forest. Finally, the last third of the army would follow Boyd and Mint to an abandoned fortress not far from the location.
Everybody was in position. They were ready for the three pronged attack. The battle began.
"Hmph. These knights are pathetic" Elencia said, as Lucretia had instructed her to. "They couldn't catch me if I sat still"
As soon as the first company of the army was in sight of her, they followed her without question. She was their goal, and Lucretia anticipated that they'd be willing to send most of their men after her. Part one was working. The second part of the army crossed the bridge, to meet with Marth and Ike. Marth and Ike slowly retreated, making sure they didn't return to the castle. That would ruin the plan entirely. The third part was working as well. Mist and Boyd did a good job of convincing the last third of the army to come after them, especially after Boyd and Mint taunted them. Everything was running smoothly.
Thirty four knights made their way to the dam, where Elencia stood. She was so close, yet so far away. There was a hefty reward for bringing her back, they were all pushing and shoving to get to her. But as they made their way into the bank, Elencia whistled for her trusty Pegasus, and flew away, as Lucretia signaled for the dam to be destroyed. In a matter of seconds, water flowed into the bank where the knights were. With their heavy armor, they were unable to get to land. All of them drowned. Elencia's first part was a complete success. A third of the army was taken out with one fell swoop. Meanwhile in the forest, Soren set the trees on fire as the knights reached the ambush point. This scattered the knights just as Lucretia had required. Boyd and Mist managed to make it to the abandoned fortress, and locked themselves inside.
"You won't get away!" One of the knights warned them.
Before they could close the drawbridge, all thirty three knights made their way into the fortress. Was Lucretia's third part of the plan failing? Had Mist and Boyd reached their end?
Back at the forest, Ike acted according to plan. Soren came running in, whispering into Ikes ear. The Knights were curious about what was going on. Ike's face almost urned pale upon hearing what Soren had to say. Then Ike began to speak...
"Knights... your lord has abandoned you. He intends to destroy the bridge to the castle, keeping you over here when the main army arrives." Ike began. "If you choose to return to the castle now, before the bridge is destroyed, my knights will not chase you. Even if you defeat us.. the main army will vastly outnumber you."
This caused a murmur amongst the knights. Was he telling the truth? They didn't have to wait long to find out. A couple of moments later, they all saw the ropes of the bridge fall to the ground. Their lord had truly abandoned them.
"Lord Ike!" one of the Knights pleaded. "Allow us to join your cause! We do not want to die here!"
"I would gladly accept you to fight by our side. Some of our men are trapped by an abandoned fortress up there. We need you to help us fight against them." Ike told them.
"We would gladly fight with you"
Back at the fortress, Boyd and Mist slipped out of the castle without notice, and burned the drawbridge down. It would now be difficult for the knights to cross back over. Titania and Oskar stood at the front, waiting for their enemies to come. This had been the plan all along. The turned soldiers, along with Marth headed towards the fortress to engage the knights. It was now a group of twenty five against a group of thirty six. It was now evened out.
"Alright get on!" Elenica told Ike.
He hopped on her Pegasus, as they flew towards the Lords castle. "Good job on destroying the bridge" he told her.
Lucretia's plan to destroy the bridge served two purposes- one was to get the soldiers to turn. If they thought their lord really had turned on them, they may be inclined to join up with Ike's group. Second, was to allow Ike time to defeat the lord without having soldiers heading back across the bridge and following him. Elencia let Ike down outside the castle gates, and he entered unhindered.
"I challenge you to a fight!" Ike said.
The lord was highly confused. How did Ike of the Greil Mercenaries make it here? He had a hundred men fighting against the mercenaries. But if it was a fight Ike wants, it was a fight Ike would get. The lord grabbed his axe. He swung it towards Ike, who parried with his sword. Ike then swung at the lord, hitting his arm. Another strike, and the lord would go down. The Lord swung his axe again, and missed, and this time Ike countered, striking him once more. The Lord fell over, dead.
"Defeated... by a group of... mercenaries" were the Lords last words.
As Lucretia had told him to do, he burned the flag of the castle, signaling to the army that the castle had fallen. Their side had suffered no casualties. Ike owed Lucretia big time.
"I have to say Lucretia, you are a genius" Ike told her.
"I do impress even myself sometimes" Lucretia said, smiling. "But now, we must go to the tournament. I've wasted enough time here".
"Shall we take my horses?" Ike asked.
Marth shook his head. "She's got magic dust"
"Travel dust" Lucretia corrected him. And she sprinkled it on the three of them, and they were off.
By Cloud and Squall