"I'm glad that the Khans agreed to join our side." Robin mentioned it to Chrom as they walked the frigid land back to Ylisse from Arena Ferox. They were still in Regna Ferox and were about a two days journey to Longfort. "It will help with negotiations with Plegia if they know that war could bring bigger strife than anticipated."
"You're right." Chrom replied. "I know Emmeryn would have liked to have used words and discussion to reach peace but that Gangrel will only bow to force. Peace is only available if he knows that he cannot win a war fighting both Ylisse and Ferox."
"No one wants to fight a war on two fronts. It is impossible to maintain on a large scale, it is better on the smaller scale for a strike or task force." Robin trotted alongside Chrom on a well marked path, no big rocks, pebbles, ice or snow was on it. Robin presumed Frederick, who was scouting ahead, had cleared everything that could be perceived as a tripping hazard for Chrom.
"He is known as the 'Mad King.' He might just do it out of sheer madness." Chrom spoke in gloom and frustration. Chrom brought a hand to his forehead from weariness about thinking about the king of Plegia. "Why won't Emmeryn see that dastards like that can't be swayed with words but only with steel."
Robin placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Because she believes that people can be better than this and not go down the path of violence. Peace is the best option and words are what she uses to bring it. I find it much more admirable to build peace that way than on the back of swords."
"You're right." Chrom was calmer now. "Thank you, friend. I needed that."
"Any time." Robin smiled. "I just need to formulate strategies against Gangrel in case everything doesn't go well. Madness often creates brilliant battle plans so I need to prepare for that."
"You might need to work on your tact about cheering a person up if you are going to say a downer like that after encouraging someone." Chrom slouched as gloom returned to him while he walked and gave slouching eyes to Robin about his last comment. Robin gave a repenting chuckle and grin as he rubbed the back of his head as he concurred that he made a mistake with his last words.
"Oh!" Robin suddenly pointed down the path they were trekking, creating a distraction from that awkward moment. Robin was pointing to Frederick that was returning from his scouting. "It seems like Frederick has returned, let us hear what he has to say."
Robin ran down the path to Frederick to greet him. Chrom followed behind robin because he bursted down the trail towards without any word that he was going to do that.
"How goes the scouting?" Robin asked as he came up to Frederick.
"Quite a lot actually." Frederick waited to begin his report once Chrom caught up to Robin. "I found three villages, two were farming villages and one was hunter gather. a small town for supplies and good defensible positions. An archaeological camp that was investigating a weird hill. Two Anna merchants with bodyguards. Three peddlers-"
"Any bandits, thugs, or Risen?" Chrom cut the report short. He knew Frederick would say practically every detail that he saw as potential threats that were absolutely bogus as threats. He was just that protective of his liege.
"I saw none, milord." Frederick said, not missing a beat from the interruption.
"I guess that we can rest here for a midday break if no one is around that could harm us." Chrom looked at his tactician to see if he agreed.
"I agree." Robin nodded. "We do not want to be tired if something comes up later."
"Great. I will announce the rest." Chrom turned around and walked to the Shepherds to inform them of their decision.
"SHEPHERDS! WE ARE TAKING A BREAK. GET SOME REST AS WE ARE ONLY TAKING AN HOUR!"
"FINALLY!" Lissa yelled in happiness as everyone else gave a sigh of relief from the walking instead. Lissa plomped down on the ground from where she stood in a tired mess. "My feet are killing me!"
"Aren't you on watch duty with Stahl?" Robin came up to her as everyone else was finding a better place to rest than the path.
"Aaawww man!" Lissa groaned in pain as she knew that it meant that she would have to walk again. "You know how to ruin a person's from having a good nap, You know."
"Says the person who ruined my nap the other day." Robin smiled at her, teasing her that this could be considered payback for pinching his nose while he slept as a prank.
"You're still mad about that. I thought we were good." Lissa looked up incredulously at Robin.
"I can take your shift if my milady needs to rest." Frederick came into the conversation just in the nick of time for her.
"Really?!" Lissa looked up in happiness at her savior. "You will do that for me?"
"Anything for my liege." Frederick bowed down to her a little to pay his respect to his princess. He then turned to Robin. "I will take her shift for watch duty today."
"Are you sure?" Robin asked Frederick. He knew he would say he was fine. "You just did the scouting."
"I can do anything if it means that I can support my liege. A knight helps his lord whenever he can." Frederick was mentioning his absolute devotion to the Exalt's family. He would move mountains if they ordered it. There was nothing Robin could do to stop him.
"I guess since you are fine with it that you can do it." Robin was forced to agree.
"Yay. Thanks a bunch, Frederick." Lissa was in bliss that Frederick was helping her here and that Robin's revenge was spoiled. Lissa just plopped on her back on the ground. "Now I can take a nap."
"I don't think you should be taking a nap on the path, milady. You can get your dress dirty or hurt your neck without proper support for the neck…" Frederick startled to prattle on about Lissa's wellbeing as Robin walked away. Robin knew that Lissa was going through another type of suffering with Fredericks over the antics about Lissa's health and wellbeing that it would make it nearly impossible to have a proper nap.
Robin walked through the caravan seeing how everyone was doing for their break. He found Vaike first, he had found a puddle of water that had formed from the melting snow as was practicing his flexes and vain one liners with his reflection. Stahl and Sully were having a practice bout. Miriel came up to him to talk for fifteen minutes about her idea of a type of engine that uses combustion to make things move, she was running into several problems of how to fuel it and a device that could contain the power when wood would burn and glass shatter. Once that was done, he found Chrom leaning on a stump for his rest.
"Do mind if I join you?" Robin asked, painting to another spot on the stump.
"Go right ahead, Robin. There is plenty of room here." Chrom didn't open his eyes as he agreed to share his resting place. Robin didn't need to ask because Chrom would have agreed anyways no matter what but it was the polite thing to ask.
"Thank you." Robin sat down and leaned his back on the stump and closed his eyes. He enjoyed naps and was quickly asleep in less than five minutes.
That is when he saw a big open meadow, on a slightly hilly terrain, the trees were far away but still quite close. The sky was the bluest sky he had ever seen, with only a few clouds scattered around the open air. The green grass and trees contrasted the sapphire sky with it's radiance that it was clear that the land was fertile. The grass blew in the wind like waves as if it was a sea of green, bending to the invisible forces. A simple lily was dispersed lightly across the field, bringing butterflies and other insects to create a gentle buzz of what was pure nature. It was an absolute gorgeous place to be and the closest thing to paradise.
As Robin gazed upon this matchless beauty, his body turned to a nearby hill. On the hill, was a single tree, standing a few yards away, growing strong and proud as it was separate from all the other trees that encircled the meadow. Underneath the tree, stood a woman, back facing Robin. She was wearing weird red clothes with green light that Robin had never seen before, alien looking, with the out of this world clothes covering her top, with what appeared to be two scarfs coming from her back and short pants, as if they were not part of this world. She had short red hair that seemed to match the color of her clothes. She had a hand on the lone tree as she stared into the distance away from Robin, gazing at something beyond his view. Robin couldn't help but notice that she was pretty even from her backside.
She looked lonely and sad.
Robin attempted to walk to her but was suddenly stopped by the abrupt appearance of a new figure. This figure came in a swirling dark blackish purple burst of dark light, yellow circle patterns indicating magic had been used for him to come here, in between Robin and the woman. The new figure was in a dark black robe with intricate patterns on it with gold and purple. He looked ominous with only his back facing Robin, dark power was being emitted from him, he was trouble. The woman turned around as this figure started to walk towards her.
Robin reached out his hand to try and stop the menacing figure but there was suddenly a bright light that blocked out his entire view.
"Wake up!" Chrom shook Robin. "Something has happened!"
"Wai- huh?! What the-?!" Robin was awakened harshly by his friend gripping his shoulders and shaking him from that green field. He was groggy and dizzy by the rude awakening but quickly recognized the concerned look in the Prince's face.
"What is going on?" Robin snapped into full consciousness. Were they under attack? He was the tactician of the Shepherds so he needed to be at his sharpest at a moments notice. Lives dependent on it.
"A man stumbled into the caravan with injuries. He said he has been attacked." Chrom pulled Robin onto his feet once he realized he was fully awake.
"Let us go see him then." Robin followed behind Chrom once he was forced to stand. Chrom turned around the instant that Robin agreed with him and ran towards the caravan. Robin trailed behind him as Chrom trailed behind Virion in the distance, Robin believed he was the one to inform Chrom.
There was a crowd of people in the center of the convoy on the path, it was made up of the leaders and most prominent members of the Shepherds. The crowd opened up once Chrom arrived to allow access to what everyone was staring at. A man covered in bandages sitting down, Lissa was tending to his wounds with a staff while Frederick stood firm and straight in front while Chrom entered the ring to stand next to his knight. Robin moved to the side of the inside of the ring to observe conversation.
"I heard that you have been attacked." Chrom stood in front of the injured man, looking regal and virtuous. Chrom appeared to be justice as he asked the man about his wounds. "Tell us what happened and we will be sure to bring justice."
The man looked up at Chrom, he seemed like the studious type like Miriel, seeing who the man was that was addressing him. The man decided that Chrom was the leader and seemed trustworthy. He spoke up.
"My name is Sergial. I am a researcher for Ringette Historical Association. The RHA, the organization, was excavating a possible ruin that dates several millennials ago that we caught wind of. We discovered that the rumors were true and that these ruins were indeed buried beneath an odd shape hill nearby. We reported the findings, they sent many men, and we began working on uncovering this discovery."
"Wouldn't this ruin belong to Aurelis or Khadein?" Miriel interrupted the man. All eyes turned to her as she was along the edge of the ring as well. She would be the person to interrupt a conversation about archaeology or science of the sorts with her hypothesis. "There are many around here. Why would the RHA send many men for excavation of artifacts that they know a lot about."
"It was not one of those ancient civilizations, it is much different." The Sergial answered her question. He seemed happy that she knew information about the historical stuff of this area. "There was one building in the area and it was made of metal, in a way we never before seen. We presumed that was the only structure left of the civilization but we discovered that the hill itself was made of the same material, soil and dirt had buried and given the disguise of a hill to the structure. We knew that there was some buried underneath the hill, never before seen, and we had to get inside there."
"What was stopping you?" Chrom asked in confusion at the man's discussion. He was expecting to hear about bandits and thugs, not a history lesson. This was not his strong suit, he normally just slashed stuff but he caught on to the last thing the man said, they were trying to get inside.
"The structure at the top of the hill had a door, a metal door." Sergial turned to Chrom again. "We were trying to find a way through that door but it was locked and wouldn't budge. We didn't want to enter another way and damage anything historical. We were looking around the edge for a locking mechanism or a weak point to cut through when we were attacked."
"Attacked by whom?" Chrom attention went up. This was the sort of thing he could understand and deal with. He wouldn't be much help with the archeological stuff but fighting bandits, he could.
"A man in a dark hood. I couldn't tell you more than that for his description." The man shook as terror was returning back to him. The discussion earlier seemed to have distracted him for why he was here but now he remembered. He had been attacked.
"He brought with him an army of humanoid monsters. I had never seen anything like them were human but seemed to have lost their humanity in decay. The body seemed to be falling apart but that didn't seem to lessen their strength, it only seemed exuberant their strength as the limbs and such were not powered by muscle and tissue but magic. They limped and walked funny but it gave a sense of doom as they marched forward with their claws and weapons. The biggest thing to notice was their eyes. They seemed to glow red, as if they were aiming to steal your life with them.
"Gods, it's the Risen." Chrom clenched his fist in despair. These creatures of the dead were nearby and they had terrorized helpless people close to here. Chrom was trying to contain his righteous fury at these undead beasts while Frederick was also beside himself in fury, he had been scouting ahead and did not notice an army of Risen.
"We will go at once and save your colleagues!" Chrom spoke in calm anger that spoke clearly that he would fulfill those words. Chrom then turned around and yelled to the Shepherds.
"WE RISE AT ONCE AND FACE THESE UNGODLY MONSTERS! WHEN WE GET THERE, RETURN THEM BACK TO THE HELL FROM WHENCE THEY CAME!"
"YYAAAAHHHH!" The shepherds raise their fists or whatever sort of weapon they had in their hand in the air with a glorious roar. They were all riled up now to save the archaeologist friends.
'NOW! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" Chrom yelled and the troop scattered to prepare and arm themselves for the upcoming battle. Robin walked up to the man as he had some questions to ask so he could come up with a strategy for the battle.
"Sir, I have a few questions if you don't mind." Robin asked Sergial as he knelt beside the injured man. Chrom came up to because he knew what Robin would be asking would be very important to hear.
"Uh, go ahead." Sergial looked at Robin in a little confusion. Robin didn't know why he was looking at him weirdly but that wasn't going to stop his questions.
"This man, the hooded man, did he have red eyes like the rest of the monsters?"
"No, He did not."
This person was human. A human was leading the Risen, that would create problems.
"Did this man carry any weapons or such on him? What sort of weapons did the Risen carry?" Robin continued.
"I don't remember if the man had any weapons but the horrible creatures were mostly carrying axes." Sergial said gently. That seemed to be the only information that Robin would probably be able to get out of him but he suddenly brightened up as he remembered something. "Wait! I do recall something about that man. What weapon he was using."
"What did he use?" Robin asked. Glad that he remembered something.
"He used a tome, a strong one." Sergial shivered. "I survived because the man used a huge explosion with magic to open the metal door to the structure. I was running from one of those creatures when a big bag caused me to turn around and see a big energized purple cloud erupt from the entrance of the structure and a metal piece flew by a take that wretched creature out. I believe the man knew something about what was inside or was seeing if there was something he could use."
"Thank you very much. That information is indeed helpful." Robin nodded in thankfulness as he stood. Robin then walked over to the side with Chrom coming next to him.
"What did you get from that?" Chrom wanted to know the information that Robin had learned from the archaeologist. It would be useful to the battle.
"The first information I got is that Risen can follow orders from a human. This is new as we thought that they were mindless but it is possible to control them somehow." Robin informed the prince. "We've got to be cautious cause we can assume that they are not mindless in this state. They can be manipulated by this man and position them in strategic locations."
"So this is an actual army of the dead." Chrom rubbed his chin in thought. "Not a disorganized brigade like before."
"Correct." Robin concurred. "It would be more like fighting a force that has structure behind it so we need to prepare for a battle like that. We have an advantage though."
"We know the main weapons that they use for this army." Chrom looked at his tactician' glad that he seemed to be following along now.
"Correct again." Robin smiled. "We will have those using swords lead the charge. There are other things that would need to be determined once we've seen the battlefield. I'll make up plans as we go."
"Good cause we need to march." Chrom patted Robin's back in assurance. Chrom then turned to the Shepherds that were hastening to get ready to give them a time limit to ready. "WE LEAVE IN FIVE MINUTES! LET US RETURN THE DEAD TO THE DEAD!"
"Let us hope that your tactics are better than your tact." Chrom smiled as he teased Robin about his poor choice of words that he said before this all happened.
"Sometime, you're just as bad as Lissa." Robin gave an awkward smile.