Chapter 9: The Black Shadow
Lyn and Terra have clashed in Kathelet with a mysterious group hell-bent on capturing Nils and Ninian. The group failed, but escaped with a ring with incredible personal value to the travelling siblings. Now, Lyn and Terra have sworn to return it. But first, they'll have to find it…
"I just don't get it!" Terra shouted. "How could they just… disappear!?"
This was the third village in Kathelet that they'd visited that had no news about Nils and Ninian's kidnappers. It had been a day, and the trail had already seemed to run cold. They'd had some leads earlier in the day, but now, they'd seemed to dry up.
"Well, maybe the Black Fang just didn't come this far southwest?" Serra suggested.
The Black Fang… Ninian and Nils had mentioned more than once that these weren't just some team of bandits, and Terra had felt as much during their fight yesterday, but trying to track them down today really cemented that feeling. Whoever this "Black Fang" was, they really were something else…
Which also brought up, once again, why Ninian and Nils were being targeted by the Black Fang in the first place. Terra had her suspicions; it probably had something to do with their "danger sense." However, they'd continued to assert that they didn't know why the Fang had targeted them. Terra wasn't sure she believed them, but with no evidence to the contrary, she was forced to let the matter lie. In any case, they hadn't had anything to say to help find the Black Fang.
Perhaps Serra was right, Terra thought. Maybe they hadn't just made a straight shot southwest like their witnesses had said, and like Terra had thought. It brought them closer to Kathelet proper, and closer to more people, more chances for something to go wrong. Terra whipped out her mother's journal, and flipped through its pages until she found a map of the region, and studied it.
"Uh… Terra?"
Maybe, if they'd turned southeast after their last witness… It took them off of the main roads, into the foothills south of the Arren range. It shook off their pursuers, and there would be far fewer people in that direction, and plenty of places to hide...
"Terra?"
"You were right, Serra. The Black Fang are somewhere else. Come on, we're wasting time. We need to find the others."
"Ah, well, of course, my dear! I'm glad my insight could help y- Terra, wait for me!"
And so they got back on the road, marching on Terra's hunch. During the march, Terra remembered something, and passed through their column, looking for…
"Florina, can I talk to you for a second?"
Florina turned to Terra. "Oh, Terra! Um, sure, we can talk. What's up?"
"I just wanted to see how you've been holding up." Terra said. "I know that this campaign's been your first time seeing real combat, so I wanted to make sure you were doing alright."
"Oh! I- well, I- thanks, Terra, but really, I-"
"Florina." Terra said levelly. "Are you doing alright?"
Florina was quiet for a long moment. "It's hard." She said finally. "A lot harder than I thought it would be. I mean, I knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but…" She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Have you ever killed someone?"
"No." Terra said softly, trying to shake the feeling of deja vu she was getting. "But not for lack of trying. I've attacked others with the intent to kill, but I've never struck the final blow." Terra thought of the woods where they met Erk and Serra. Thought of the bandit that had cornered her, before Sain rescued her.
"I know that I'm fighting for the right reasons." Florina said. "I know that I'm helping people. Helping Lyn. I don't have much of a problem with the idea of killing people, but… doing it just…" Florina trailed off.
"What bothers you the most?" Terra asked.
"It's the sensations." Florina explained. "It's the stuff that they can't teach, the stuff you don't learn when you're just a trainee, when it's just sparring and drills and theory… It's the feeling in my hands as I run someone through. The sudden weight on my lance, the pressure… It's the sound they make as they die. The scream of a wounded man, the… the gasp, the gurgle… I… I hear it, and I feel it, and I emknow/em that I've just taken a life, and I…" Florina trailed off again.
"And you can't get it out of your head." Terra finished.
Florina nodded. They walked along, quietly.
"Have you talked to anyone else about this?"
Florina shook her head. "No."
"I think you should. Find someone who…" Terra grew quiet as a new memory surfaced in her mind.
"Someone who… what?" Florina asked, but she sounded so far away… "Terra?"
Terra shook her head, back to the present. "Yeah, sorry, I just…"
"It's the feeling of my blade as I strike them. The sudden resistance of bone, the grating of metal on it. The… the sound as I pull it back. Their gasp, or their gurgle, or their scream. And I know… I know that I'm never going to forget any of it for as long as I live."
"I just… I think you should find someone who's experience might more closely match your own. I'm a little out of my depth, since I'm so rarely on the frontlines. Maybe Lyn, or one of the knights. I think even you and Dorcas would probably have something to talk about here."
Florina nodded. "A-alright. I'll see about finding someone to talk to."
"There's no rush to do it, either." Terra said. "It doesn't have to be now, or today. Just… think about it, and find someone when you're ready. The more you talk about it, the better, I think. And if you decide that you just want to talk to me about this…" Terra took Florina's hand, and gave it a light squeeze. "I'll be here, too."
Florina gave Terra a small smile. "Thank you, Terra."
Florina walked away, leaving Terra alone with her thoughts. In truth, she'd had concerns about Florina since their first encounter, and her concerns had only grown with the start of their experiences in Lycia. She'd have to make sure she followed up on Florina in a while, but, like she'd told Florina, there didn't need to be a rush.
But the conversation she'd remembered… It had shaken her a little bit. It hadn't caused her the same distress as the memory from that night in the borderlands, in Bern, and it wasn't as strange as the dream she'd had at the Shrine of the Mani Katti … but the more Terra thought about this one, the more it unsettled her. And in the silence of her own thoughts, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Her name… who had she been talking to? What had her name been? It felt so important to know, and she wanted to will herself to suddenly know, to remember her name… but no sudden revelation came. No epiphany, no new memory… the name eluded her.
"Terra!"
Called out of her spiralling thoughts, Terra looked up to see Wil running towards her.
"Terra, Matthew and I just ran into someone on the road! When we asked them if they knew anything about another armed group coming this way, they said yes! You were right, Terra! We're on the right track!"
Terra smiled. "Thank you, Wil. Let's keep going! They're in our reach."
It would take until the early evening to track the Black Fang to their hideout. Following the advice and sightings from villages and travellers in the area, and referencing Kaia's maps, she was able to narrow it down to a line of forts in the foothills of the Arren range, abandoned by Kathelet's knights. Perfect for a shadowy group on the run. And the second fort that they checked had some sentries posted on its walls, with Kathelet's banner nowhere in sight. They'd found the Black Fang.
"Florina. Wil. Dorcas. I want you three to stay out here with Ninian and the supply wagon. It wouldn't do to have us lose Ninian and our supplies as we go in to get her ring back. Everyone else, we're going in. Matthew, stay close to me. Let's go."
"D-do you want me to come?" Nils asked.
"Do you want to come?" Terra replied.
Nils bit his lip. Concern was clear on his face, and he rocked his head back and forth for a moment, before he settled, and nodded. "I'll go with you."
"Alright. Make sure you stay with someone else at all times. I refuse to let you get captured again. Let's go."
Their group, minus the people Terra pulled for guard duty, approached the fortress.
"Ho there!" One of the sentries called out. "State yo- shit, it's them! They found us!"
The sentry drew an arrow, and fired into their formation, which scattered. Arrows and fire flew up to meet the sentry, who dove for cover behind the crenellations of the fort. It was a mad dash for the fort's gates, now, which had fallen open in their disrepair. Terra followed the knights into the room beyond the gates, away from the reach of the sentries posted on its walls. The room had two ways out: One straight ahead, and one to the left. There were also a few enemy fighters. Kent and Sain peeled off to fight two of them, while Rosaline went to fight the third. The room quickly became a madhouse, with the rest of the attack force making their ways in to join the fray, countered by an influx of enemies through the two other ways into the room. It was a chaotic melee, and the screams of the wounded mixed in the air with the clash of metal and Nils's flute, the smells of burning wood and dust and flesh melding in the air.
Terra stood back from the melee with Nils, Matthew, and Serra, unable to give real commands to the people involved in the combat. All she could do was hope that they would be able to hold the line, listen to Nils's song, and direct Serra to whoever she thought needed her healing the most.
The chaos of the melee began to lessen, and it was clear to Terra that they'd been victorious. Lyn, Rosaline, Hector, and Rath had managed to push their way out of the first room, through the entry on the left, and into the hallway beyond. Kent, Sain, and Eliwood, with magical support from Erk and Lucius, had managed to hold their entryway.
"Is that… was that all of them?" Nils asked, the fighting finally over.
"I doubt it." Matthew said. "It's probably just everyone that they want to send at us here."
Terra nodded. "He's right. The rest of them are going to be further into the fortress. We'll have to go to them now. They'll be waiting for us." Terra looked to the groups who had been stuck in the fighting. "Did anyone get a chance to see what the fort looks like past this room?"
"There are a couple of halls beyond our doorway." Kent said. "They looked fairly narrow. I think one of them runs along the fort's outer wall, if the small windows are any indicator."
"Our hall keeps going before turning off." Lyn said. "It's pretty wide, but I didn't see anyone coming down it. Our enemies were all coming from the same direction as Kent's and Sain's. Other than that hall, though, they do look pretty narrow."
"Alright…" Terra considered that for a moment. "There are probably some wider rooms in this fort, and the hallways cut between them. The Black Fang might try to use them as strong points. We're going to ignore the wide hallway for now, and focus our efforts on moving forward. We'll need to be careful when we try breaking into these rooms, but I think that we should be able to take them on."
To handle the two hallways they'd be going down, their force split into two groups, and Terra went with Matthew, Hector, Lyn, Rosaline, Rath, and Serra down the inner hallway, while the other group took the hallway along the fort's outer wall. They ran into only scattered resistance as they marched up the hall. Meanwhile, the sounds of heavy combat began to echo through the fort, and they moved faster.
They rounded a corner, and came to the entrance of a large, open room, where Black Fang defenders were waiting. A group of swordsmen leaped forwards. Terra ordered them back a bit, away from the room and back down the hallway a bit. In the hall's tighter confines, the enemy force wasn't able to present its numbers as threateningly, and while Lyn, Rosaline, and Hector cycled through the front to keep the enemy at bay, Rath was firing arrows at them. A few of them fell in the attempt, and they retreated.
Lyn, Rosaline, and Hector pursued their would-be attackers back to the entryway of the open room, where they tried to pull the same defensive maneuvers that had thwarted them. However, the chokepoint that they'd chosen to defend was wider than the halls leading to it, and they quickly realized that they wouldn't be able to simply hold the door against an archer shooting them from afar. They tried ducking into the room, but the second they left the entryway, Lyn, Rosaline, Hector, and Matthew sprang forwards and engaged them. With no way to escape, they were forced into battle, and picked apart.
The room had two exits: one straight ahead, and one off to the left. After Serra patched them up, Terra led the group through the room, to the halls on the left. The halls forked beyond the room. The right branch ended in a stairway that probably led to the roof. Terra sent Lyn and Hector up just to make sure. Then, Terra led the rest of the group left, around a corner to a hall with a pair of open doors on either side. Terra heard sounds coming from the room on the left, and peeked the doorway to see what was going on.
Inside was a rather large room, where a few members of the Black Fang were furiously readying themselves for battle: Struggling with armor and readying weapons. Not wanting to lose the chance to strike an unprepared foe, Terra urged Rath, Rosaline, and Matthew enter the room and fight while the enemy was distracted. The trio charged in, with Serra and Terra staying to the rear to wait and watch.
With Rath's help, Rosaline and Matthew were able to take on three of the Black Fang at once. A fourth made a break for it, running out the door on the other side of the room. The fifth, however, dodged past Rosaline and Matthew and went straight for Terra. Rath tried to get a shot off at the man as he ran past, but missed, and had to reposition to get a clearer shot at him that didn't risk hitting Terra.
Terra gripped the staff tight in her hands, and took a deep breath to steady herself. If all he had were some knives, she could do this, she told herself.
The man charging her stabbed at her with his knife, bringing it down in a hammer blow. Terra blocked high with her staff, stopping the attack. His other hand came in from the side, another knife at the ready. Terra spun the staff to intercept the new attack, but in doing so, dropped her guard from the first attack, and the hand slid down the length of the staff, and stabbed her in the forearm. She winced at the wound, but forced herself to focus. She took a step forward, and shoved with all her might, using the staff to push her attacker back.
The man staggered backwards, but recovered quickly, and flung one of his knives at her. Terra dodged to the side, and in that moment, the man leaped into motion. Terra blocked the knife aimed at her chest, and shoved again. This time, the man moved with the force of the shove, and flew out the door. But Terra saw the glint of green in his hands as he went, swore, and ran after him.
He'd taken it. She'd kill him to take it back.
She chased him through the door and into the hall, hot on his heels. They didn't make it far, however, until they ran into Lyn and Hector coming the other way.
"Stop him!" Terra yelled.
The man slowed down, seeming to re-evaluate his situation, and in that moment, Terra dropped her staff and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and tackling him to the ground. He flung his hands out, dropping his knife and his stolen treasure to try to catch his fall. Terra released her hold on him and leaped back, scanning for what he'd stolen. The man tried to scramble to his feet, but then Hector was on him, and he delivered a savage blow with his knee to the man's face, and followed it up with a swift kick to his head. The man laid sprawled out on the ground, unmoving.
"Are you alright Terra?" Lyn asked. "What was that about?"
Where had it gone? Where did it… there! Terra ran over to it, and picked it up. The relief that she felt when she held it again was indescribable.
"Terra? Are you alright?" Lyn asked again, concern leaking into her voice. "Is your arm bleeding?"
Terra shoved it back into the bag at her waist. She wondered when the man had been able to steal it. Did she need to store it differently? Was it too vulnerable like this? Maybe she could-
"Terra! You're hurt!" Lyn said, her voice shaking, putting her hand on Terra's shoulder. Finally, Terra tore herself out of her thoughts. "Please. Say something. You're scaring me."
Terra took a deep breath. "Sorry, Lyn. I'm fine." She turned to look at Lyn, digging in her bag for something, and saw the concern written clearly across her face. Terra smiled, trying to reassure her. "I promise. I'm alright."
Lyn shook her head. "You're not alright, you're bleeding." She pulled out a vulnerary and a cloth, and took hold of Terra's injured arm. The one that had been stabbed in the scuffle earlier. Terra had forgotten about that.
"What was that about, anyways?" Hector asked. "You haven't exactly struck me as the kind of person to go after someone like that. Why were you chasing the guy?"
"He… He stole something from me. Something very important." Terra said vaguely.
"That green gem, right?" Hector said. "What is it for?"
Terra's good hand crept to the bag. "I don't know what it's for. I just know it's important."
Lyn moved to grab Terra's staff. Hector frowned. "What do you mean? How can you know it's important if you don't know what it's for? How can you not know what it is?"
"Terra's an amnesiac." Lyndis explained as she bandaged Terra's arm. "She has bits and pieces of memory from her past, but not much."
Hector wore a skeptical look on his face at that. "I know it's hard to believe, but it is the truth. I know that it's important. I have since I woke up in Lyn's tent. I just… I don't know why."
Hector looked skeptical for a bit longer, then shrugged. "I suppose it doesn't really matter in the end. You've done well enough thus far, from what I've gathered. It's obviously not a hindrance."
Lyn nodded, and finished bandaging Terra's wound. "She's led us well thus far. I trust her to take us to Caelin, amnesia or no."
"Speaking of leading, where's the rest of our group?" Hector asked.
Terra flinched. "I left them in another room. I think that they had everything under control when I left…"
Together, they went back to the room that Terra had run off from. Sure enough, everyone was still there, waiting for her. After giving them a quick apology, Terra had everyone move on ahead. Matthew picked his way through the other door in the hallway they'd come from, but that room was empty, and a dead end besides, so Terra turned the group around to go back to the open room, to investigate the other doorway.
They came back to the open room where they'd fought the swordsmen, but it had been retaken by another group of enemy fighters, this time supplemented by a few mages. Terra pulled them back a little bit.
"Those mages are probably the most dangerous part of their group." She said. "When you go in there, do your best to see if you can take them out first. If you can break past their defenders before they can intercept you, you'll have it."
The plan settled, the group charged into the room. However, the enemy defenders were able to prevent the initial charge from breaking through their lines to get at the mages in the back. However, the force of their charge did manage to push the defenders back, and they enacted a fighting retreat out of the room, through the exit that Terra hadn't taken. The group kept up their momentum, and pushed hard to break through. Everyone was committed to the fight.
Terra heard hoofbeats approaching from behind. She turned, expecting to see Kent or Sain riding to give their support. It wasn't until she'd fully turned, and saw the rider come out of the hall they'd just left, that she realized that she hadn't sent anyone after the person who'd run off. Terra spun on her heels, and began to run, shouting as loud as she could. "Fang to our rear! Fang to ou-"
She felt herself lifted from her feet as the rider's lance slammed into her back. She felt herself flung forward by the force of the impact. She felt her body crumple uselessly into a pile on the ground. She felt pain. So much pain. Breathing hurt, and her breath came in short gasps. She righted herself, and propped herself on her side. She looked down, and saw the lance's head, covered in bright-red blood, poking through her chest. Was the damn thing still inside her?
The ring of blades colliding sounded out ahead of Terra. Terra looked up through her pain to see Lyn fighting the cavalier, who had switched to his sword. Even from here, Terra could see the fury on her face. She fought like a woman possessed, and Terra thought of the last time she'd seen Lyn this way. The temple in Sacae, her fight with that swordsman…
Terra shifted, and another wave of pain coursed through her. She swore, and everything went black…
"Terra! Are you alright? Terra!" She looked up, and saw Lyn's worried face. "SERRA! SERRA, TERRA'S HURT!" She looked back to Terra, and Terra saw tears start to well up in her eyes.
"I f-f-fucked up, Lyn." Terra managed. "I knew th-they were there, b-but the th-thief took… and I ran…" Tears started welling in Terra's eyes. "I fucked up."
"You're going to be alright." Lyn said quickly. "I'm going to get this lance out of you, and y-"
"No." Terra rasped. Gods, talking hurt too, now. "N-not until S-Serra gets h-here. It's kee-keeping the wound c-closed. I'll bleed out."
Lyn's face twisted. "Then what can I do?"
"T-Tell the others t-to finish… to finish this." Terra said. The black edges of her vision began to creep forward. "Get the… the ring back. We… we p-promised."
Lyn nodded, her face set. "Right." She stood, and turned around, running back to the fray.
After what felt to Terra's pain-addled mind like hours, Serra and Matthew arrived. By now, the pain had somehow become more bearable, but the black ring around her vision had invaded her field of view, and her heart was pounding too loud in her ears to hear what they said. Serra stood nearby, worry clear on her face, and hands were wrapped tight around her staff. Matthew came closer, and took a look at her face, then down to her chest, at the lance rammed through her. He looked up, behind Terra, then back to her front, and he said something. She saw him speak, perhaps to her, though she couldn't tell. She thought she saw the words 'pull' and 'hurt' form on his lips, though her mind didn't understand why. Then he grabbed the spear, put one hand on her chest, and everything disappeared under a black wave of pain.
A/N: I've been sitting on how I wanted this chapter to end since *checks Google Docs Version History* November 2019.
So, yeah. Pretty excited to finally have this chapter in a published form.
