Chapter 39: Blue Skies and a Battle
Just finished reading a great book called The Indifferent Stars Above, a non-fiction historical piece about The Donner Party. It's quite the fascinating look into American pioneer life back in the day, not to mention how desperate and brutal it can all be. Don't worry, it has no actual bearing on what this chapter is going to be about (it's still about the Battle of the Eagle and Lion), but I just wanted to take this space to recommend a book I really enjoyed. It's important to read history texts as well as fiction, if just to expand your minds.
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Sylvain found himself staring up at a bright blue sky, with nary a cloud to be seen. Off in the distance above, he could've sworn that he saw an eagle glide on the breeze that was flowing through Gronder Field.
"I wonder what it's like up there…" his mind numbly thought. Feeling his eyes get dry, Sylvain blinked to wet them again. With the spell broken, he slowly sat up from the ground, trying to get his bearings.
Something felt wrong, like his mind was in a haze. The moment that Sylvain focused his gaze in front of him, he saw a Black Eagles student charging directly towards him, screaming his head off and brandishing a large war axe.
"Oh shit!" Sylvain cried out, scrambling backwards on his rear end. As he moved backwards away from his attacker, he was splaying his hands in arcs across the ground behind him, attempting to feel for something that he could defend himself with. However, all he felt beneath his gloved hands was the desperate gripping of grass and dirt. There was nothing that would save him.
Suddenly, Sylvain's salvation came out of the left side of his vision, an angel clad in leather armor, blue-haired and wielding a sword. With a heavy shoulder tackle, the swordsman threw the Black Eagle axe-wielder off of his step, sending him stumbling to the ground. He hardly had any time to reach before Sylvain's savior was upon him, wailing on him with a sword so many times that there was no doubt that the attack wouldn't be able to get up again any time soon.
Once the axe man was dealt with, the swordsman turned to face Sylvain and offer him a hand up. "You getting knocked out this early into the battle is just pathetic," Felix commented.
"Oh. So that's what happened," observed Sylvain's thoughts. He couldn't help but agree with Felix there, even if he sounded like a jerk. It really was kind of sad that Sylvain got the wind knocked out of him fairly early into the Battle of the Eagle and Lion.
Regardless of the observation-based insult, Sylvain gladly took up his friend's hand and stood up. "Yeah, it's not a good look for me," he agreed, adding in a sheepish chuckle.
Felix merely nodded at Sylvain. "Next time, check your flanks for archers," the Fraldarius swordsman ordered. To make his point clear, he gestured for Sylvain to look to a spot on the ground about three feet away.
Nestled in the grass was not only Sylvain's missing lance, which he had failed to grab moments before, but there was also an arrow lying beside it, a small sand bag attached to the tip instead of an arrowhead. Due to the fact that the Battle of the Eagle and Lion was supposed to be an exhibition battle, all weapons used were either harmless wooden replicas, or weapons that had the edges blunted and filed down to the point of near-uselessness. Arrows were no exception, as they were fitting with non-lethal heads to prevent needless mortal injuries and accidental deaths. However, the extra protection certainly didn't stop the arrows from hurting like a dog's mother. Sylvain had undoubtedly found that out the hard way only moments before, and it knocked him to the ground so hard that his thoughts became an undiscernible jumble for a solid minute.
As Sylvain processed exactly what happened, he scooped up his dropped lance and hefted it in his right hand. It felt weighty yet also balanced, just the way that a proper lance should be. He could certainly stand to do a lot of damage with it, maybe even enough to win the whole battle for the Blue Lions. Although it was still too early to call that outcome, for the moment.
"I'll keep that in mind," said Sylvain to Felix. Now that he was full back on his feet, Sylvain felt much more confident and back into the swing of things. He readjusted his grip on the shaft of his lance, with it now fully brandished and ready to non-lethally cut through Black Eagles and Golden Deer alike.
He had just hoped that his lance would last him for as long as that would take. Sure, he had used something similar when fighting off bandits to the death at Conand Tower not too long ago, but it was a flimsier, blunted training weapon squaring up against the might of two different armies. Sylvain felt that he wouldn't be too surprised if he ended up pulling a Prince Dimitri and ended up breaking his weapon by accident. In which case, he did have a small, wooden hand axe as a backup weapon, just as a backup. Whatever use a glorified hatchet would have against a bunch of students out for blood and honor, however, remained to be seen.
Beside Sylvain, Felix shifted over to his side to cover his Gautier partner's back flank. It would at least decrease the chance of Sylvain getting shot in the back of the head again. "The Boar Prince is leading a charge up the center hill. We need to link up, otherwise we'll be cut off from them."
Sylvain nodded as he scanned the scene before him. From what he could tell, the three houses had finally all coalesced into one massive battle, with some of the more recognizable students dueling one another, and the lower classmen clashing against one another in primary-colored mobs of violence. Chaos had already taken hold, and the battle had only just begun.
"Sounds good," Sylvain said to Felix. "Ready to break through?"
A smug smirk crossed Felix's lips. "I'm always ready."
At that, both Felix and Sylvain charged forward, mutually covering each other's flanks. As the fearsome pair dashed ahead, another Black Eagles lower classman attempted to attack them, apparently unheeding the fallen Black Eagle on the ground nearby. He fell as quickly as the previous one, with Sylvain leading with an upward slash from his lance's edge to cause him to stagger, followed by Felix delivering a horizontal two-handed blow to the student's open side with his sword. Afterwards, they were free to continue onwards, due to the student shifting his focus to clutching his undoubtedly bruised ribs while on the ground.
However, as soon as that one student fell, another one took his place. This one was bigger and badder than the previous one, with their gender hard to discern due to the thick plate armor that they were wearing. In their shiny gauntlets was the handle of a large two-handed axe, with the head ready to be brought down on Felix's head.
The Fraldarius heir nimbly side-stepped out of the way of the crushing axe blow, taking advantage of his dodge to change the grip on his sword. When dealing with armored opponents, having cutting and slashing weaponry was rather ineffective. Such disadvantages needed to be handled with unorthodox solutions. To that end, Felix held his sword by the blade, with the weighted handle now serving has his sword's tip. He could only hope that he wouldn't cut his hands through his leather gloves as he swung the back end of the sword at the armored knight's head, now nothing more than a simple club with a sharp handle.
With a resounding metallic clanging noise, the handle of Felix's sword connected with the armored knight's helmet, which caught the person inside by surprise. An androgynous shout rang out as they stumbled backwards and attempted to clutch at their helmet to readjust it. However, they never got the chance to as Felix continued to whack at the knight's plate armor with the weighted back end of his sword, hard enough to make dents start to form in the metal.
The armored knight now on the backfoot from the repeated heavy blows, Sylvain took the initiative to hook an arm under the left armpit of the heavy student, before than using the leverage of his body to roughly throw the knight to the ground. The armored student was sprawled out flat on their back, the battle axe falling from their grasp as they desperately tried to get back up. Unfortunately for them, it was hard to stand back up when one was flat on their back in full plate armor. They tried to roll over on their side in an attempt to at least get back on their knees, but as soon as they got on all fours Sylvain made sure to just kick them back down again.
With them being laid out on their back once again, Felix made sure that time to go back to holding his sword the correct way before pointing the tip down right at the eye slit in the armored knight's helmet. Felix's intention was made nakedly clear with that motion.
"I give up, I surrender!" the student in the armor cried out, raising their arms as a plea for mercy.
"Hmph," Felix hummed disapprovingly as he withdrew his sword away from the student's masked face. Without another word, he shifted his focus back on reaching the fortified hill at the center of Gronder Field, barely even giving a moment for Sylvain to rejoin him at his flank.
Seeing his companion begin to move on, Sylvain hustled over to Felix's side. Over his shoulder, he couldn't help but call out, "If that's a woman in there, let me apologize to you later!" The cheeky smile Sylvain wore as he said that was only visible to Felix.
Felix rolled his eyes as he covered Sylvain's side. "Just can't help yourself…" he muttered under his breath.
In the midst of the grand battle, none of those comments were actually heard. Only the roaring din of screams, metal clashing against metal, and war cries filled the air below the fortified hill. Chaos was the order of the fight as all three houses fought tooth and nail to gain a foothold in the hopes of themselves personal and national glory. As if it was all a great machine, the Battle of the Eagle and Lion swallowed vigor and produced violence with it. That much was apparent from the view from above, where both the eagle flying in the air and those at the top of the hill's defenses could see it plainly.
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The Black Eagles looking downward from the top of the hill at the center of Gronder Field could plainly see the extent of the challenge they were about to face. Although they were fortunate to reach the wooden battlements and fortifications first, the bigger issue they had gained in taking it was now actually holding that position. Sure, there was plenty of cover from projectile weapons and casted magic, but those were nothing but nice platitudes when faced with the sight of the Blue Lions charging towards the hill to the east, and the Golden Deer making their way across the nearby river to attack the flank from the west. It was a very clear pincer attack that there was no way to get out of, aside from fighting like hell.
Bernadetta absolutely hated it. Once she had scrambled her way up the hill to the wooden cover structures, she had hunkered down and hid away from the fierce attacks coming down on the Black Eagles. It felt more and more like the right decision with every thirty seconds that passed, as she could see the sheer amount of arrows and magic flying mere feet above her head. All she could do at the sight of all that harm coming her way was to curl up on herself and clutch at her bow as if her life depended on it.
Over the din of the battle, Bernadetta could hear Lady Edelgard shout orders to the hill's defenders. "Third line, advance! Don't let the Blue Lions break through!"
At the same time, Ferdinand also called out, "Rout the Golden Deer curs! Let not a single one take foot on this hill!" Although Bernie couldn't see Ferdinand's face, his tone of voice made it clear that he was all too happy with himself for giving out such a grand and sweeping order. It was only natural that he wanted to match Edelgard in that regard.
Suddenly, to the left side of Bernie, she could feel someone come up beside her. She let out a shrill scream of surprise. This was it, someone had breached the defenses somehow and they were coming after her specifically! Dorothea had lied about everyone protecting her!
"Oh, you're here too?" a male voice asked her.
Looking up, Bernie saw that it was Linhardt that was addressing her, while also taking a seat beside her behind her bit of cover. His mage's robes were smoking slightly from being singed. From the look of it, he had only barely dodged a ball of fire magic lobbed his way only moments ago.
"L-Linhardt?" Bernie stammered.
"Yeah, me," he replied. "Hope you don't mind sharing your hiding spot for a little bit. I could use a break." He patted out the smoldering parts on his robe's shoulders as he said that. "It's rough out there."
Bernie nodded in agreement. "Y-yeah…"
"Hope you don't mind if I stay here for a little bit. I'm sure you understand why," explained Linhardt.
Bernadetta gave a quiet nod at that. She understood perfectly fine how hard it was fighting out there. At the foot of the hill was utter carnage. The fact that a skilled magician like Linhardt had to retreat for a bit was a testament to how rough things were going. If there was at least one positive thing to say about it though, it was that at least the Black Eagles were indeed protecting her in some way. Their bodies were the ones being shot and slashed at, not hers. That had to count for something.
To her side, Linhardt sighed and looked up at the sky as he took a break. "That guy is flying high up there," he idly commented, his eyes locked on the bird circling around the battle on the ground. "It'd be nice to be up there instead of down here…"
Linhardt seemed fairly reasonable to Bernie. At least, as far as she could tell. It wasn't like she knew him all that well. He stayed in his own bubble, either finding time to take naps or hanging around Caspar when he could. The fact that Bernie and Linhardt knew about one another was happenstance, only because they were both in the Black Eagles. Still though, at least she could say that he was definitely one of the few people not after her. He was simply too genuinely tired most of the time to bother to do anything against her. Much like the Black Eagles currently taking the blows for her while she was hiding, it was at least something.
In the din and chaos of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion going on around them, Bernadetta and Linhardt managed to share a quite moment, despite it all. It was a rare thing, like being in the eye of the storm before beginning a descent into the maelstrom. Bernie had to bask in that moment while she could. It wasn't bound to last for very long.
Linhardt and Bernadetta continued to sit behind the wooden cover in silence as the pincer of the Golden Deer and the Blue Lions surrounded the hill.
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It's honestly pretty fun writing for Felix. He's absolutely the kind of guy who would go full mordhau on an opponent. Like, of course he'd utilize the full extent of what a sword can do against someone. He just strikes me as that kind of swordsman. Also, it's fun to write him fighting along Sylvain as well. As much as they trade barbs with one another, they're quite the duo. It's the classic pairing of a STR build and a DEX build, or at least it feels like that to me.
Anyway, this is The Draigg, and I'm signing off for now!