Birth and Re-Death

Chapter 39: Smashing the Birdhouse, Part 1 [Robin]

"Things are in motion, everyone," I say to open my statement. "We need to make a plan now, before the Plegians put together an effective defense. We need to strike at their food storehouses, either cutting them off from the Plegians or, if necessary, destroying them outright."

Chrom, Phila, Basilio, and Flavia all nod in agreement. Chrom adds, "If we don't make our move now, we may miss our chance. We know that the Plegians are aware we've been conducting reconnaissance. We can't give them too much time to prepare a counter."

"Right. Phila, want to fill the others in on what your recon flights have discovered?" I ask, stepping aside to let Phila stand in front of everyone.

She clears her throat. "The loss of one of the royal guard was a shock, to be sure. Even so, we pride ourselves on our resilience and dedication. I consulted with my soldiers, and we agreed that the time for mourning will come, but it is not now. So we lost no more time in getting our reconnaissance flights back on track. Obviously, Ceres' wingmate Gwen has been allowed to rest and recuperate, but the others have been in the air gathering intel nearly nonstop for the past three days." Despite my doubts about Phila's story and my general distrust of her, I have to give it to them: they bounced back quickly. She might be hiding something, but as a commander she is still clearly admirable.

Phila continues, "And their labors have borne fruit. With no other casualties so far, we have learned a great deal about the situation inside the city. We are now aware of the three major storage sites inside the city walls where the Plegians are keeping their food. One of them is very convenient for us, as it is a building directly adjoining the interior of the city wall on the northwest side of town. We expect access should be manageable here. Or at least, as manageable as it will be anywhere that's covered by a thick stone wall.

"The second is a little more intimidating. Situated in the middle of a residential area on the east side of town, it will be difficult if not impossible to capture the building and protect it. Too many openings, and no clear escape route for our soldiers if things go south. It may be a storehouse that we will have no choice but to destroy.

"The last storehouse is the least accessible, as it adjoins the palace itself. While I am familiar with the building, which should in theory give us an advantage, I know enough to tell you all that we are at a disadvantage there no matter how familiar a building it is. A large portion of the building is underground, meaning we won't be able to attack the food supply via aerial attack. Even if we can manage to focus most of the Plegians' attention away from the other two storehouses, there's no chance they'd ever leave the palace unprotected. Furthermore, it's the largest storehouse and holds the most supplies, which means it will be the most well protected anyway." She steps aside again. "That's all."

I step forward again. "So, the next step is working out how best to sabotage the storehouses. I believe that the best way to ensure a clean operation is to draw as many of the Plegians away from their usual posts as possible. Have them all gather somewhere far from the storehouses, then strike while they're vulnerable."

Basilio grins devilishly. "I think I see where you're going with this. You need someone to make a big scene and catch the enemy's attention, right?"

I nod. "I'm glad we're on the same page. The essential element of both of these operations succeeding will be the Feroxi-led effort to keep the Plegian army busy. We'll stage an attempt to break through the southern gate into the city and infiltrate the city. Of course, we don't intend such a direct invasion, but if we make moves that suggest such an attack is imminent, they will have no choice but to bolster their southern defenses and leave the rest of the city less guarded. In the alternative, if the Plegians don't play along and bolster their defenses at the gate, we just really will break into the city and start taking out the enemy while they're still spread out. It's risky, but if things don't go our way we need a backup plan."

"So the decoy plan that might not be a decoy plan, huh?" Flavia muses.

I go on. "Assuming they do take our bait, though, the rest will fall to the Ylissean faction to handle. Most of the Shepherds will be conducting the raid on the first storehouse by blowing the wall, barricading the door from the inside, and removing the food as quickly as possible, then hopefully patching the wall behind them."

"Hold on," Chrom says. "Remember what Campari said before? They've got a hundred hostages inside the city, don't they? Won't invading like this put them in danger?"

I've thought about this too. I can tell already he won't like my answer much. "If they exist, and Phila's reports give no indication that they do, there's only so much we can do for them. If we're ever going to retake the city and save the people inside, we have to have a position of relative power. In this case, power is food. We take out the food, they're powerless inside the walls. Once they're powerless, they can't leverage the hostages, because we'll be the ones leveraging them. Instead of a deal where they keep the hostages alive and we get nothing, we have a new deal where they give us the hostages and they get to surrender peacefully."

Chrom looks down for a moment, his expression uncertain as he grapples with the implications of my idea. "I… guess I understand."

"Basically, it's like this," I continue. "They aren't safe now. If we wait the Plegians out all winter, they won't be safe during any of that time. We're just lucky they haven't been making any other demands with that threat hanging over our heads. And when they start to run out of food, whether that's this week or a couple months from now, they're sure not going to waste any rations on the hostages. That'll put them in even more danger. As it is, the best thing we can do for them is to his the Plegians hard and fast enough that they can't retaliate with the hostages. There are no good options there, but it seems like the least bad one."

Phila, the Khans, and I all watch quietly while Chrom makes his decision. "Fine. The least bad option it is. I trust you, Robin." With that, the tension in the room softens a bit. "You said you were going to blow the city wall? How are you going to do that?"

I smile at him, grateful for his trust. "I've been working on something. I'll tell you later. Meanwhile, I'd like to have Cordelia, Sumia, Tharja, and Miriel join the royal guard in an aerial assault on the second storehouse. Ideally, they won't have to land at all, and can simply attack the building with magic from above and destroy it. They'll have to be careful to avoid burning the entire residential block, but we have assurance from the royal guard scouts that the citizen hostages are being held far from that part of the city, so even if things to awry, no Ylissean citizens should be in harm's way even if the flames spread beyond our intention."

"Whoa, hang on. Burning the city down isn't an option," Chrom says. "I want the Plegians out, but we have to give the citizens a home to return to."

I wave a hand. "Don't worry about that. I won't let things get out of hand. We'll keep the flames contained."

Chrom's face contorts with doubt. "How are you going to do that?"

I have to think about that for a second. Honestly, keeping a bunch of empty houses intact isn't a priority right now compared to getting this shit over with, but I can tell that answer wouldn't sit well with him. "We can have Tharja use dark magic to decay the wooden buildings immediately surrounding the storehouse. If the wood is decayed enough, it won't burn."

"So…" Chrom digests my explanation for a moment. "I guess that's the best we can do, huh?"

"Right. We have to keep our priorities straight. And priority one should be finishing the mission."

"Of course," Chrom says after some hesitation. "Let's go start making preparations for the Feroxi to consolidate at the south gate and put this plan in motion. Flavia and Basilio, we leave that to you. Phila, you can handle the royal guard, and we'll have our fliers and mages join you soon. Robin and I will get the rest of the Shepherds briefed on the plan."

With that, we disband and head off to join our respective groups. The fire that's been burning in my gut ever since Randall was kidnapped burns hotter than ever, anticipating the end of the battle that may finally be in reach.

The days are still short, so the funeral for Ceres is held fairly early in the afternoon to give her companions plenty of time to perform her sky burial. Chrom decides to attend alongside Cordelia, Sumia, and Lissa. Emmeryn's younger siblings agree that the sight of a funeral isn't something she needs right now, even if she would undoubtedly be giving her condolences right now if she knew what had happened.

The service is quite simple. Ceres' body lies on a large bed of firewood, the metal of her armor absent but otherwise fully clothed for flight. Each of Ceres' companions takes their turn telling a story about their fallen friend, whether happy, or sad, or funny, or inspiring. Cordelia and Sumia say their piece as well, sharing how much they had looked up to the young woman. Chrom and Lissa pay their respects as well, but each of them cannot help but feel a little like an intruder when their lack of any anecdote about Ceres leaves them feeling like the only strangers in attendance.

Gwen is the last to speak because she has the most to say. She shares the long story of her career with Ceres: how the two were childhood friends who had joined the knights together, how they had stood by each other through the toughest of trials, how they were more than sisters to one another. Finally, she spoke of how heroic Ceres had been to take the arrows meant for Gwen. With a final thank-you and farewell, Gwen tearfully finishes her piece as well.

With that, Phila takes a torch in hand and lowers it to the waiting firewood, which gleefully shares the flames with the other branches. The light of the dancing flames burns into Chrom's eyes, lingering even when he lowers his head and closes his eyes in solemn contemplation.

Will his people ever stop paying the price for his family's shortcomings? The prince's fists coil at his sides. A gentle hand on his shoulder from Lissa encourages him to relax a bit.

The group waits quietly for the fire to burn itself out. Though the wood burns quickly on a dry night like this, it still provides Chrom with plenty of time to ruminate on how this may have been avoided. If he had insisted the Shepherds never leave Ylisstol, if the capital had never fallen, if Emm had never been captured. If he had been stronger. The regrets pile heavily on his shoulders like a leaden cloak.

Finally, the fire wanes, smolders, and finally extinguishes itself. Chrom suspects the fire must have been magically augmented somehow, as it burned hotly enough to reduce even Ceres' bones to ash. Phila steps forward, an empty plain urn in hand. In fairly short order, the rider's ashes have been moved into the urn.

Phila hands the urn reverently to Gwen. "Thank you," Phila says almost too quietly to hear. Gwen nods and walks stiffly over to her pegasus. She mounts it effortlessly, and with the slightest movement of her heel, she spurs the pegasus into movement, and it takes to the skies at an easy, slow pace, slowly ascending in wide circles above the group. Before long, Gwen has risen above the lowest cloud layer and out of sight.

"Ceres served the people of Ylisse to her last breath. In recognition of her life of service, her ashes will be spread among the clouds, joining her with the sky that looks over all of Ylisse. From here forward, we will march on, knowing that Ceres is watching us, along with all of our noble companions that have gone before us," Phila says.

Not long after, Gwen returns silently to the ground, and the ceremony concludes. Chrom and Lissa take their leave as the royal guard goes off on their own.

"You okay, Chrom?" Lissa asks. "You looked really upset."

"Just another unnecessary death. How many people? How many more have to die before people like Gangrel, people like Father, can finally be satisfied? What good does it do? But we have to keep fighting. If we stop now, then what did Ceres die for? We keep throwing more bodies on the fire, afraid that if we ever stopped, it might be a slight to those who have already fueled it. Death is only worth anything if we add more death on top of it. Doesn't it have to stop sometime?" Chrom asks, anger etched on his face.

Lissa looks down. "I don't know, Chrom. I want it to stop too. It's my job to help people. But sometimes that means hurting them. Sometimes getting healed hurts more than getting hurt did in the first place. Even so, we have to do it. Who else is gonna do it?"

Chrom takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "Right. That's what it means to be Exalted. We take it on our shoulders on behalf of the ones who can't." He looks up at the cloudy, darkening sky, where Ceres' ashes slowly disperse and drift to the earth below. "Just like those who came before us." His fists tighten at his sides. "I won't make our people wait any longer. We're taking our home back now."

The operational teams have all been briefed on their objectives. All Feroxi soldiers deemed non-essential for maintaining the west and east gates have been moved to the south side of the city. Overnight, most of the Shepherds will move quietly to the northwest end of the city, preparing to breach the wall. Finally, the royal guard, along with Cordelia, Sumia, Tharja, and Miriel will be moving to the east to prepare to strike the second storehouse. We'll have to leave the third storehouse for another day, unfortunately. It's too dangerous to divide our forces thrice over to strike at the most well-defended of the objectives.

The night before the operation, Libra holds another quiet prayer service for those who want to get on the gods' good side before we go into battle. I attend, this time without Tharja, which allows me to focus more on my own mindset rather than keeping her in check. I can't say I'm actively listening to Libra as he prays, but the sound of his voice is calming, and it lets me get into a more relaxed state. I can see why Randall found it so easy to meditate with him.

I take a few deep breaths. Tomorrow, open conflict is going to be on us. Without Randall here, there's no safety net, which means I have to be absolutely on point with my commands. Unfortunately, that means I have to put my trust in the other groups, as I can't be in three places at once. Trusting the khans is easy enough, as we've had to rely on them before, and they've always come through. I'm more reluctant to trust Phila, but I suppose I've been given no choice. I tried to put Cordelia in charge of the operation, but she refused out of hand. The old hierarchy of the pegasus corps holds strong, I guess.

Still, I'm just trying to keep in perspective that there's no better option available to us. The Plegians won't surrender until they're backed into a corner and faced with certain defeat. Even if we destroy all their food successfully, they might lash out and try to overrun us to break the siege unless they're convinced they stand no chance of survival. That means we not only have to destroy the food, but do it in a way that suggests we're just getting started. We have to be vicious tomorrow.

Somehow, I don't think that'll be a problem. Not for me, not for Chrom, not for anyone. I've seen the frustration and anger building in the Shepherds for weeks, watching their enemy occupy their city and eat their countrymen's hard work while we're forced to wait outside in the cold. The injustice of this situation has grated on everyone, and just looking around the prayer service crowd, I can see that nervous energy threatening to burst any minute. Stahl's leg bounces restlessly, and while Panne rests her hand on his leg to stop him, her own ears twitch every few seconds, and she shifts her shoulders frequently, unable to get comfortable. Gaius crunches through a bag of hard candy at a record rate, staring at the frosty ground in front of him. Sully has given up on sitting altogether, and paces behind the rest of the group, breathing obtrusively through her nose, stuffed up from the cold. Even Ricken covertly moves his hands in his lap, pantomiming the act of opening a tome, pulling a spell from the page, and concentrating the magic in his hand. It seems like everyone is a million miles from the prayer service.

Libra stops talking. After a few seconds, everyone notices the change and looks at him, stopping whatever fidgeting they were doing. Libra sighs with a tired smile.

"I can see our minds are elsewhere tonight. Of course I completely understand, but it can make for a rather ineffective prayer service if none of us are praying. Let me see what we can do about this…" He thinks for a moment, twiddling a lock of his hair absently. "Ah, how about this? Fighting is a difficult thing to do no matter what, but it is much easier if you keep in mind that for which you're fighting. Why don't we have everyone in attendance tell us something they're fighting for? It might seem silly, but I think if we can reframe our mindsets onto the people and things we want to defend, it will help us weather the battle tomorrow more easily. Does that seem agreeable to everyone?"

"Yeah," Stahl says. "I think it'll be good to reorient ourselves a bit, get out of our heads." The others voice similar approval of the idea.

Libra smiles. "Excellent. Let's start in the back, then. Sully?"

Sully answers without hesitation. "I'm fighting to chase these invaders out of the land I call home. Any knight worth her salt fights to defend her homeland and the people who live there. I want the people of Ylisse to know that when Plegia came knocking, Sully van Bourganaea was there to answer the door, lance in hand."

Libra nods appreciatively. "An excellent cause. Robin?"

Oh gods, I didn't realize I was next. I've been caught a little unprepared. "Well… there are lots of things I fight for. Obviously I'm fighting for the people who took me in when I was alone, without memories in an empty field. The people who gave me a home and a purpose, and I think I can say a family as well. The Shepherds' fights are my fights, and I'll stand by them, come what may. Is that a good enough answer?"

"Of course, Robin. Anything that helps center our minds on the things we must protect." Libra smiles kindly at me.

The rest of the attendees take their turns as well, expressing their desire to protect friends, family, the nation, and more. It's a lot of similar-sounding stuff after a while, but it does a lot to affirm for us that what we are going to do tomorrow, we do for a worthy cause. When everyone else has said their peace, Libra speaks again.

"I suppose it's only fair that I tell you all what I am fighting for as well. I have a dream that I must protect. You see, I pray every day that peace will return to our land, and when it does, I intend to devote myself entirely to founding a home for the dispossessed and destitute children of Ylisse. I long to spend my days teaching and caring for children who have been left with nowhere else to turn. I want to play a small role in healing the wounds that have been inflicted on our country. And so, every time I swing my axe in this war, I do so knowing that I fight for a dream that I must never give up."

After that, the service winds down, and the attendees drift off after a word of thanks to Libra to see to their various other tasks or to try and get some restless sleep. I find myself naturally drifting to Chrom's side.

"Are you alright?" I ask. I know it's a silly question, because no one's really alright when they know that deadly battle is waiting impatiently for them. But he's been particularly on edge lately, and I need him to be prepared to give his all tomorrow.

"As alright as I can be, I suppose. I just want to get this over with now. I was skeptical before about how much you wanted to speed things up. I thought you were just caught up in worrying about Randall and not seeing the bigger picture. But now I see what you must have seen: every day we wait is a day that we risk more needless death. I'm ready to free my people from this interminable state of war. For those of us close to our age who've lived in Ylisse all our lives, all we've ever really known is war and desperate attempts to recover from it. Ylisse deserves better. The world deserves better. And I don't want to wait one more day to give it to them," he says in a tired but deadly serious tone. "You're sure that we'll be able to get through the wall?"

"Not one hundred percent sure, no. But theoretically it should work. I consulted Miriel on it, and she agreed with my idea. And she is the resident fire magic expert, after all," I reply.

He raises a brow. "Fire magic? To get through stone?"

I nod. "You'll see."

Flavia and Basilio finish loosening up their bodies and preparing to fight. They're used to the cold enough by now to know how important it is to limber up before you ask too much of your body in weather like this. The sun is about to break the horizon, meaning the air has had all the long night to get bitterly biting cold. For anyone else, it would be miserable, but for the warriors of Ferox, it's a mark of pride that they can withstand it.

Flavia calls out to the legion standing behind her. "Feroxi! We have given these Plegian dogs too much time to rest in their stolen kennel! It's time we chased them out like the rabid curs they are!" The Feroxi soldiers roar in response, a sound so ferocious it shakes the top layer of powdery snow that fell in the night.

In the ringing silence that follows the roar, Flavia can make out the sounds of men shouting and scrambling behind the gate and atop the wall. Good.

"PLEGIANS!" Flavia shouts. "If you want us to give you any quarter whatsoever, you'll open the gates for us! If we have to come over and open the gates ourselves, you won't like what happens next!" She looks over her shoulder at the formation of eight men holding a steel-tipped tree trunk aloft. A battering ram.

Of course, they're supposed to give the others as much time as possible to carry out their end of the operation without actually breaking the gate, but the Plegians still need to believe that a breach is imminent. So they'll just have to knock very loudly for a while. And while that's going on…

Basilio raises an arm, and the front line of archers raise their bows in turn. It's unlikely they'll actually hit much after the first volley, but if they need to sell this, it's better to have more than one selling point. Basilio swings his arm down, and the archers let their arrows fly over the wall. It's difficult to hear whether they hit anything, because at the same time the first volley let fly, the battering ram performed its first 'knock.'

Flavia and Basilio nod at each other, satisfied that they're making enough of a scene to catch the enemy's attention for now.

"Breach, bolster, extract, collapse."

I rehearse the steps of our third of the mission over and over in my head. Get through the wall, shore up the internal defenses of the storehouse, get the food either out or, if necessary, destroyed, and finally find a way to plug up the hole as we leave again. If it all goes well, this should be a clean in and out. If it doesn't, we've got a lot of magical firepower on our side. And Nowi.

I stretch my shoulders out. I managed to get a nominal amount of sleep, but of course the stress of oncoming battle didn't allow me to relax much. Even so, the burning desire to get this over with keeps me alert and motivated better than any amount of rest ever could. We've been hiding out in the 'abandoned' Feroxi camp overnight, hopefully unseen by the Plegians until now. The Feroxi usually sleep in massive tents that house battalions of fifty apiece, so all the Shepherds are together in one place. To chase off the cold, most of us kind of piled together into a sleep heap, which I certainly appreciated, as I'm rapidly coming to learn how much I hate the cold. No wonder I'm always at my most comfortable in this big coat. Cold means vulnerable. I don't like either.

Despite my disdain for the chillyair of early February, though, I eventually abandoned the warmth of the sleep pile so I could make sure I have everything I need for this plan to work. We have about a half dozen large wheelbarrows sitting outside the tent, ready to be used to extract the food, most likely mainly grain, from the storehouse. I have my tomes and swords ready for a fight.

The Shepherds start to wake up. No one says much of anything as they prepare their weapons and armor, checking to make sure the others are strapped up properly and ready to go. It's a little unnerving to see such a normally-lively group so grim, but it's good that they at least understand the gravity of this. Even Lissa and Nowi look more serious than I've ever seen them.

I perform maybe my fifteenth headcount to make sure everyone's here. Like a mantra, I count everyone. Chrom, Lissa, Maribelle, Sully, Vaike, Stahl, Panne, Virion, Gaius, Ricken, Lon'qu, Donnel, Nowi, Gregor, Anna, Libra, and I'm pretty sure Kellam is still here too. With Sumia, Cordelia, Tharja, and Miriel with the royal guard, and Frederick and Emmeryn safely under the Feroxi's protection, that's everyone accounted for. I breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth. A little calming trick Libra taught me the other day.

As I finish yet another headcount, I hear the sounds of loud banging and shouting far in the distance. Flavia and Basilio must have begun their diversionary assault. I turn to the others to make sure they're all ready too.

I give it a couple minutes before I start moving. I motion to the others to follow me quietly. As we stream out of the tent, I notice a couple guards still standing watch above the wall. Thankfully, I have a solution. Before he can move or say much of anything, I motion to Virion beside me, who had an arrow nocked for just such a purpose. On this windless morning, his arrow flies true, striking the guard in the face and sending him toppling forward off the wall.

Now we're in a time crunch. I lead the others wordlessly a little ways north toward the northwest side of town, quickly pulling my newest tome from the satchel at my side. While the others were getting new sets of armor and weapons before we came to Ylisstol, Miriel and I were focused on acquiring rare magic tools. I've been saving them for an occasion like this.

Chrom sees the tome in my hands. "So that's really your method? How do you plan to break through the stone with fire?"

I hold it up to him, showing him the cover. "Chrom, have you ever seen Bolganone in action?" He shakes his head. "I've only seen it once, when Miriel showed it to me. This is no mere fire magic. I suggest standing back when I do this." We've reached the marked point on the wall. I don't see any guards on the wall itself. Excellent. I turn behind me. "Ricken, are you ready?"

He holds his Arcwind tome at the ready. "You got it!"

I find the spot on the wall that Phila's scout marked to indicate the food storehouse is on the other side. I hold the tome open. The power coursing through this thing is incredible. I can feel already the damage a weapon like this could do, and the magic is still waiting patiently in the pages. I've been making do with El-level tomes until now, but I think I might like a permanent upgrade.

I take a spell off the page and let the magic focus in my hand. I don't need a wide area of impact, just enough to make a hole the width of a person. I cast the spell.

Flames so intense they almost appear solid rip up from the ground, melting all the snow in a ten-foot radius and heating the air to an incredible degree. The ground beneath the wall parts to make way for the burning magma, and the stone of the wall burns red-hot. Excellent.

I keep the fire going for a few minutes, spending a good deal of the tome's magic in the process. It won't be enough to melt the stone, obviously, but if Miriel's theory is correct, it might still be enough. The ground opening up under the wall combined with the heat making the stone expand and embrittle should make the wall suitably breakable as the expanded stones fight for space that no longer exists.

Eventually, I let up. The heat radiating from the rock creates rippling waves in the air. I turn back to Ricken. "Now, Ricken!"

"Right!" He pulls a spell from his Arcwind tome and wastes no time slinging the spinning, ripping winds at the heat-embrittled stone. Chunks of stone fly from the wall and are strewn about the surrounding ground, burning tiny patches of grass as the moisture of the melted snow doesn't allow the flames to spread. He gets a few more shots off before the stone looks like it's already cooled off too much. I get Bolganone back out and fire another long shot at the stone, ripping further into the wall's foundation and heating deep into the wall's interior.

It takes some time, but eventually the wall gives way, and a wave of grain spills out from the new hole in the city wall. While the others take turns grabbing bucketfuls of grain from the spillage, Vaike and Gregor, each with a massive hammer in hand, chip away more of the wall until it's tall enough to let a person through and wide enough to squeeze a wheelbarrow inside.

We're in.

For a while, we deal with a massive heap of grain, as it must have been piled against the back wall inside the storehouse. Even if there are guards inside, they can't get through the grain any better than we can. No matter who is or isn't waiting for us, waiting is all they can do for now. For our part, the mages of the group stand with spells ready in our hands, waiting for a sign of movement from the other side.

Meanwhile, the barrows of grain are just being moved to a haphazard pile in the Feroxi camp. We can worry about organizing it and storing it better later; all that matters now is that the Plegians don't have it.

…

Gods, there's a lot of fucking grain in this storehouse. This is taking a while. I get tired of holding the spell at the ready. I let the spell dissipate, lowering my hand to my side.

"Robin!"

Before I can move, I hear a terrifying flurry of pings extremely close to my head. My heart briefly stops in my chest. I look up and see a group of five archers, all of whom seem to have just taken a shot at me. Why didn't any of them hit me from this short distance…?

Oh, I see him now. Kellam just barely got his shield up and over me to stop the arrows. Before I even have time to get my spell back up, Virion has already taken out one of the archers with a well-placed shot to the chest, and Vaike and Gaius are providing covering fire of their own, forcing the archers to back up out of the way.

For the first time in a long time, I feel the actual grip of mortal terror in my chest. I just came very close to dying for real. Randall isn't here to cover for me if I make stupid mistakes like that. I take a couple breaths while Kellam stands by me for a another few moments to make sure I'm alright. Just calm down. Focus on the mission. Don't let yourself get distracted.

I get out my Elthunder tome. Bolganone might be an impressive tool, but it attacks from below. I need something that can strike from above. I ready the spell and decide to take a stab at shooting for a target I can't see from here. The spell fires down from above the wall and hits out of my line of sight. A pained shout from above confirms that I managed to make contact. I take a few more shots, but hear no reaction. The archers are nowhere to be seen. We may have scared them off for now.

Virion and Gaius become our full-time roof lookouts. We have no choice but to lose some productivity in the name of keeping us safe, and no matter how fast we get this done now, the operation is already no longer a secret. Thankfully, my Elthunder display seems to have convinced them that the top of the wall is not a safe place to be. Consequently, I'm assuming their next plan is to have an ambush waiting just on the other side of this grain pile.

Some time later, the first glimpse of the storehouse behind the grain peeks through the pile. Almost the instant it does, an arrow flies through it at us as if on cue. Having anticipated this, everyone ducks the arrow without missing a beat.

Now it's our turn. Kellam goes first, charging over the grain pile and blocking the volley of arrows fired at him without much trouble. Meanwhile, right behind him, I've got our reply ready.

Letting Bolganone go inside a closed stone space like this instantly makes the whole room feel like an oven even from this distance. Several archers immediately succumb to the burning flames, and those that don't are tripping over themselves trying to get to the door. Before they make it that far, a Thunder blast from Maribelle finds its mark on one of their backs. The breach has gone perfectly.

An Elfire blast comes flying through the door toward Kellam, but before it gets that far, Maribelle steps in its way and takes the hit for him. Despite being a direct hit, she's only got a few burns and some scorch marks on her clothes to show for it. Healer resistance really is something else. Regardless, Lissa is at her side in seconds flat, healing the damage posthaste.

"You dastards! I'll kill you!" I hear Chrom bellow from behind me.

Chrom tears past me and goes charging after the enemy, shouting in rage as he holds Falchion aloft. I assume he hasn't taken kindly to seeing Maribelle hit by an enemy attack. I understand full well why he's upset. Still, this isn't part of the plan.

"Chrom!" I shout after him as he tries to wade through the pile of grain toward the door. "We don't have the time or manpower to go chasing after them! Just hold the door!"

He looks back at me like I just stomped on his cat. Before he can ignore me and run off anyway, Maribelle quickly comes to my defense. "Milord, she's right. I'm fine. We must stick to the plan," she says firmly, almost mother-like.

He grits his teeth, but after a second or so he relents. "Fine. Front line defenses, form up! Not one Plegian will get into this building!" he barks.

The front line is quick to comply. Kellam, Stahl, Sully, and Gregor all stand ready, while Nowi transforms and gets in position to intercept anyone who gets through. Maribelle and Lissa stand by, staves in hand in case they're needed.

With Virion and Gaius still keeping a lookout topside, that leaves Lon'qu, Vaike, Donnel, Anna, Ricken, Libra, and Panne with the task of getting the rest of the grain out of here. Chrom will be going with them, providing security on the outside in case they try to come around from the west gate and intercept us. In the meantime, I'll be here, ready to either provide magic covering fire for the front line, or if necessary, burn this place and all the food in it to the ground as we evacuate.

Now it's just a matter of time.

Phila watches from the sky as a big ruckus forms at the south gate into Ylisstol. Soldiers formerly patrolling the city streets all begin to funnel toward the disturbance, thinning out their presence in the east residential sector of the city significantly. Minutes later, she can faintly make out a plume of smoke rising from the west side of the outer wall. It looks as though Robin's plan has begun in earnest.

She decides it's time for her soldiers to get a move on as well. She signals with a finger twirled in the air that it's time for them to begin their descent. All those under her command, including Cordelia and Sumia, follow her order immediately, and they begin spiraling down like massive vultures toward the second storehouse. There is still a visible guard force below, maybe six or seven standing outside the storehouse, but even though they may be keeping an eye on the southern skies, they don't seem to be keeping a lookout directly above them. The tight spiral descent is at its most effective when the enemy isn't aware that the threat is already hanging over them.

Phila raises her hand again, fingers spread. The dark fliers and magic-trained riders ready their Thunder and Elthunder bolts, waiting for her signal. She keeps descending, little by little, waiting under they're in range to score definite hits. Just as she's sure one of the guards will notice the shadows they cast onto the buildings next door and shout in alarm, Phila closes her fingers into a fist.

It's a massacre. Everyone standing outside the building is all but annihilated as a cacophonous roar of lightning comes screeching into them.

Wait. That's not quite accurate. The group of dummies standing outside the building is destroyed, but there wasn't a live guard among them.

It was a decoy.

Phila orders her soldiers to pull up and around, getting some altitude before they mount their next attack. This turns out to be a good idea, as the archers who were lying in wait inside the storehouse start to open fire on the pegasus riders. Thanks to some fancy flying from the royal guard, they manage to avoid the volley, and a couple even get off return shots of their own as the group ascends to safety.

Still, there are more guards here than expected. The moment the royal guard makes their presence known, a group of what appears to be a couple dozen soldiers comes streaming out of the building, taking up positions on the ground outside, in windows throughout the building, and even on the roof. The Plegians must have been expecting an aerial attack.

Expected or not, the royal guard has a job to do. "There's too much of an enemy presence to take the storehouse's contents! Destroy it!" Phila commands, prompting a universal response of "Yes Commander!" from everyone in the corps.

They make their second descent, scattering to all sides of the building and flying erratically to deter the archers from taking any careless shots. Whenever an archer does try it, the rider he was aiming at is quick to respond in kind, firing a Thunder or Elthunder bolt before the archer can ready another arrow.

Cordelia can't believe how quickly Pallas has taken to her. It almost feels like she doesn't need to tell her anything at all to get her to fly the way she wants. As if Pallas is reading her mind rather than obeying her commands at the reins. Meanwhile, Miriel in the saddle with her is making good use of Pallas' expert flying, firing Arcfire blast after blast at the building in an attempt to destroy it. Before long, the roof has caught fire, forcing the archers on the rooftop to leap down to the ground several floors below to escape the flames. The destruction of the storehouse is finally underway.

Meanwhile, Sumia and Tharja perform their side objective without much interruption from the enemy. Sumia flies Tharja close to the buildings surrounding the storehouse so she can fire Flux magic at the wooden buildings in an effort to decay the structures before they can catch the spreading fire from the storehouse. Sumia is a little unnerved by how much fun Tharja seems to be heaving blasting people's homes into blackened, rotten smithereens. Still, it has to be done, so she's reluctant to criticize her.

As the fires spread down into the building, consuming it floor by floor, more and more of the Plegians come fleeing out the doors of the building, where Phila's forces are waiting to fire magic down at them. Despite the necessity of the work, it sickens a few of the soldiers to their stomachs to shoot down fleeing enemies. On the other hand, none of them have forgotten Ceres, or the Plegian arrows that ended her life much too early. Some of the royal guard, as well as Cordelia, privately admit to themselves that they feel the Plegians deserve this.

Deserved or not, the Plegians soon find themselves trapped and faced with an impossible choice. The smoke and fire of the burning building, or the waiting lightning of the Ylissean fliers outside? In the end, the choice doesn't matter, as after a while, the building burns and collapses, and all Plegians in the area meet their end by one method or the other.

Once things become more or less still, it's time for the cleanup operation. About half of the riders land to inspect the site, including Cordelia and Miriel. The latter quickly hops off Pallas' back and, tome in hand, walks directly over to the smoldering building and starts blasting it with more fire. She wants to be absolutely certain of the unusability of all the food that used to be kept here. If any Plegians were still alive by this point, they would have been terrified of the image of the stoic mage blasting the burning ruins with streams of relentless fire, the flames reflecting off her glasses and hiding whatever emotions might be dwelling underneath.

Eventually, Miriel is satisfied that the food here has been thoroughly destroyed. She gets back in the saddle, and as Cordelia and the others take off again, they can hear shouting from the south as the soldiers who had been drawn to the gate realize what has happened. Still, it's too late for them to do anything about it, as the Ylissean royal guard flies off before any of the arriving Plegians can even think of nocking an arrow.

As the group flies away, the Shepherds among them could hardly look more different. Tharja laughs freely, glad to have had such a rare opportunity to wreak wanton destruction with impunity. Sumia is equal parts relieved that things went off without a hitch and terrified of the woman clinging onto her waist. Cordelia allows herself a satisfied, vindictive smile as her fallen senior guard is avenged by her actions, and she can feel in the lilt in Pallas' wing flaps that she feels the same.

And Miriel wears the same stoic, practiced expression she usually does. She hangs on tightly to Cordelia's shoulders, occasionally swallowing the lump in her throat as the images of fire burned into her retinas flash before her every time she closes her eyes.

The grain extraction has been going well so far. Every once in a while a group of Plegians appears, attempting to break through our line and drive us out, but they're no match for us. One look at Nowi is usually all it takes to send all but the most dedicated running off with their tails between their legs.

It won't be long now before we can start to pull out. I hope things are going well over on Phila's end. Virion said he saw a massive column of smoke rising over the city, so that's hopefully a good sign, but we can't know more than that just yet.

We're down to what looks lie it will be the last few barrows of grain when Gaius rushes into the storehouse, sword in hand.

"A group coming from the west gate! They've started to get wise to our plan!" he announces urgently.

A few wheelbarrows of grain will have to be a sacrifice I can live with. I turn to Nowi. "Can you bring it down?" I ask.

"If you loosen up the foundation a bit with that magic of yours, I think so!" Nowi replies, her dragon-voice making my guts tremble with the intensity of it in this enclosed space.

"Alright! Everyone else, out!" I order, and the Shepherds quickly retreat out the hole in the outer wall. Nowi briefly assumes human form to fit through the door so she can get above the building inside the city wall. I stand in the makeshift doorway we've made to the outside.

This is going to be intense. I'm going to unleash everything I can handle out of this tome at once. I'm hoping I can loosen everything up sufficiently for Nowi to destroy it. Thankfully, large sections of the storehouse are made of wood rather than stone, so if I can knock out the supports, Nowi should be able to handle the rest.

I gather the magic. The power of it shakes violently in my hand. It's a good thing my target is literally just everything in front of me, because I can already tell there's no such thing as 'aiming' with something of this magnitude.

When I can't hold on any longer, I let the magic go. Something like half a dozen Bolganone explosions rip out of my hand, flinging me onto my back several feet from the wall and knocking the wind harshly out of my chest. Even contained in the building, the ensuing explosion is perhaps the loudest thing I've ever heard. I gasp for breath and attempt to sit up as my ears ring.

I don't manage to behold the sight of what I've done to the building, however, because by the time I'm sitting upright, all I can see through the hole is a massive dragon ripping the building apart and throwing the debris roughly toward the hole in an effort to cover it up.

Gaius reappears next to me, offering me a hand up. When I'm standing, he asks something I can't quite make out on account of my still-ringing ears.

"Whaaat?" I shout in his face, earning an indignant blink from him.

"...aying, are you okay? That explosion was massive!" I can faintly hear him shout back.

"I'm okay! We have to get back to the others!" I reply as Nowi comes flying over the wall and lands ungracefully on the ground before transforming back to her human form. She stumbles over to us.

"MY EARS FEEL FUNNY!" she screams at us, laughing at her temporary deafness. Gaius and I both wince. I wave to get her attention on me, then point toward where the rest of the Shepherds are no doubt about to fight the Plegians coming through the west gate. She nods. "OKAY!"

The three of us run to catch up with the others. Thankfully, as I approach I can already tell that we've got the advantage here. Chrom was quick to form up the Shepherds into lines, and that organization is doing us a lot of good going up against the panicked and chaotic Plegian soldiers attacking us. It seems we've got their army in disarray inside the walls, as they attempt to address three major threats that emerged from the formerly quiet siege party. There's no obvious commanding officer ordering the Plegians, so they charge without any real plan, hoping to overwhelm us with numbers. However, numbers mean very little if the enemy is only arriving a few soldiers at a time.

We don't have every advantage here, however. The gate is open, and the enemy has a lot more soldiers than we do. If they wisen up for a moment and start to get organized, we'll be in trouble unless we either get that gate closed up again or unless we get aid from the Feroxi that are all still at the south gate.

For now, all we can do is hold our ground here. If we press too far forward, we won't be able to stop them flanking us. As long as they're the ones having to funnel through the gate, not us, we can keep whittling them down with our magic and arrows before the front line has to take too many on. Occasionally, some archers or mages try to get the drop on us from above, but Virion proves the better shot. Even when one of their arrows does strike true, we've got Lissa, Maribelle, Anna, and Libra ready and waiting with staves in hand. For now, we can hang on here. In the meantime, I'm trying to think of an exit strategy.

If we're forced to retreat north, that will cut us off from everyone else, not to mention it would mean they could just take the grain back. We can't afford to give up too much ground.

After a while, it becomes increasingly clear that we're losing our energy here. Even though fewer soldiers are coming through the gate now, it's harder to stop them through our mounting fatigue. The only solace is that they seem to be starting to give up as well, and their numbers taper off more and more over time. Eventually they stop altogether, and the Plegians wait behind the gate archway while we hold our lines.

This is almost a relief until I hear something terrifying. The one voice I hoped I wouldn't hear today.

"Shepherds of Ylisse! It is I, Campari Leone." I see now where he's speaking from. Those same massive metal shields he spoke from behind are here again, near the back of the group of Plegians. Even here on a battlefield, he won't risk himself getting hurt. "You have fought valiantly today, and I commend your tactics. Striking multiple critical points while using the bulk of your force as a distraction was a bold move, and it nearly paid off for you. You got the food out of the city, but in the end, that is not where it will be staying. This is where you must admit your defeat."

As he says this, a group of at least fifteen or sixteen archers emerges from the top of the city wall, all with arrow trained on us. There's no way we could take them all out with the six or seven of us with a viable ranged attack. Meanwhile, the soldiers at the gate have formed up into ranks, waiting to descend on us the moment we're weakened.

Chrom doesn't seem to care. "You Plegian dog! You won't occupy my home any longer!" he snarls, brandishing Falchion at the general behind his shield wall.

"You divided your forces too ambitiously. Your Feroxi friends have no idea how close to destruction you are. They think we're still quaking in our places behind the south gate. It didn't take me long to realize the south gate was not your target. You'd have struck much sooner if that were the case. No, you had to wait until you could scout the city and locate our food storage before you could act. Once I had that put together, it was simple enough to figure out what was happening. As we speak, your flying friends are being shot down by the ambush we had waiting for them. And you have played your part as well. However, as I said, this is where your journey comes to an end. It's time to lay down your arms, Prince Chrom." Campari almost sounds saddened by the prospect. Though whether that's because he regrets the war coming to this point, or because he regrets that it's ending, I can't tell.

Chrom grits his teeth, tightening his grip on his blade. "I'll never surrender! Not at the doorway to my own city!"

What can we do? We can run, yes, but how far? And how many of us will be taken down by the arrows as we flee? Even if the arrows don't kill us, they'll slow us, and the soldiers will overtake us. And even then, there will be nothing to show for our efforts.

What happens if we surrender? We'll be taken back to Plegia, where we'll be executed. The Feroxi might pursue us, but without the aid of the Shepherds, it seems likely that the Plegians will just crush the Feroxi before they leave the city. We'll be made to watch as our allies are killed, and then we'll be killed ourselves.

That settles it. There's only one thing to do. We have to win somehow. If we could just distract their archers and disrupt their ranks, we could push forward and force them to retreat. Could Nowi do it? I suspect the moment she tries to transform, the archers will fire. Is a suicide charge all that's left to us?

No. I see them out of the corner of my eye. Please, everyone, don't look at them. If we can just maintain the element of surprise, we can win this. Please be smart enough not to look right at them. I need to draw everyone's attention elsewhere.

"Plegians!" I shout. "Your request that we surrender has been heard. But it's as Chrom says: we won't be giving up so easily. Rather, it's you that will be surrendering here!"

To his credit, Campari manages not to laugh outright at my audacious declaration. "And why would that be?"

I smile, readying the Elthunder tome in my sleeve. "Because you miscalculated. And when it comes to the Shepherds, you should know by now that we never leave an opportunity wasted."

On cue, the royal guard fliers let their magic and javelins rain down on the Plegians, sweeping overhead like an airborne tidal wave of death. The archers are annihilated in a second. I allow myself a microsecond to admire their efficiency in attacking all at once before I join the others in entering the fight. Miriel and Tharja lead the charge, each leaping off their respective partner's pegasus and taking positions on top of the wall, hurling fire and miasma down at the enemy while we rush them from the front. When Nowi transforms and starts stampeding over them, it's almost overkill.

In an instant, the tide of the battle has changed, thanks to Phila and her riders. Now I know how it feels to be on the other side of this interaction. Can't deny, it feels goddamn cathartic. Campari and his bodyguards flee the scene, along with a large number of soldiers. The skirmish here is handily won.

We consider pushing farther and ending this, but I know for a fact that we didn't face even half of the military occupants of the city based on Phila's reports. I don't want to give Campari the chance to rally and push back from multiple directions.

Instead, once the enemy has fled the scene, we close the gate once again, and one of the royal guard flies off in haste to inform the khans that we need to get a sizable number of soldiers back at all three gates again.

While we finally catch our breath, Sumia and Cordelia bring Miriel and Tharja back down to the ground. Before Miriel's feet even touch the earth, she's being held aloft again, this time by her fiancé holding her close. I can't imagine his ice-cold steel armor is comfortable to be held against, but she seems content nonetheless. Neither of them needs to say a thing; the embrace says it all.

Meanwhile, Sumia touches down, get's off her pegasus, and instantly slips on the snow, planting her face in the powder. Gaius is quick to help her up, but he can't help laughing at her now-snowy face. She tries to frown at him, but only manages to keep it up for a second or two before smiling as she wraps her arms around him. One of her legs slips out from under her again, but he holds her upright while she refinds her footing.

Cordelia is hardly off her horse before she too is greeted, as the trio of Donnel, Ricken, and Nowi crowd in front of her to fawn over her. Donnel is commenting on her expert technique with javelin tossing from that height and at that speed, while Ricken and Nowi are mostly limited to just telling her how cool she looked up there saving everyone. She blushes heavily, but even from here, I can see the small smile on her face.

And as for—

"Hello, Robin," Tharja says right next to me, sending more of a chill down my spine than the frigid weather.

"Tharja. I'm glad that you're safe. Thank you for the timely assist," I say politely.

"You're more than welcome. A chance to prove my loyalty by slaying your enemies? I wouldn't miss it," she says with entirely too seductive a tone for the subject matter.

"Well, I appreciate the sentiment," I reply. I go off to find Chrom, partly to actually check up on him, partly as an excuse to slip away. I have to take Tharja in very small doses, I find.

I find him standing with Lissa and Maribelle as they patch up the frontliners who were beaten up in the fight. Nothing major, some cuts here and there, but important to take care of regardless.

"Are you three alright?" I ask as I approach.

Lissa smiles at me. "It's never easy to have to battle, but we all made it out okay, and that's reason enough to be happy for me. We're that much closer to the end of the war, right?"

"That's right," I reply, trying to return her smile, but admittedly I'm kind of half-assing it on account of how tired and cold I am.

"Campari didn't say anything about the hostages. Maybe you were right, Robin. Maybe they don't exist," Chrom says. "It looks for now like we got away with it."

"Yeah. One less thing to worry about."

He looks at me, his expression difficult to read. "We're nearly at the end, aren't we? We struck a serious blow against them. Now they've only got one storehouse left, and it's bound to go quickly. The fighting can finally come to an end when they surrender, at least here in Ylisstol, and soon the rest of Ylisse."

I nod. "And once we've solidified our hold on the country, Gangrel will be back at square one with nothing to show for it except a heap of defeats. We're winning, even if it's hard to see it."

Finally, Chrom smiles too. "The end of the fighting is in reach. At long last."

Behind him, Maribelle looks at him with a strange expression, as if she's only just recognized him. She shakes her head briefly, then says, "Well, I would certainly raise a glass to that, if I had one. We've seen quite enough of this brutality."

The conversation dies down as we resume our duties. We keep watch at the west gate until Basilio and a large host of Feroxi warriors come rushing in from the south. He and his men look as pleased as I've ever seen them.

"It worked, eh?" Basilio shouts as he approaches. "I knew you crazy dastards could do it!" He and Chrom clasp hands with ferocious enthusiasm as they come together. I reach out to give him a handshake of my own, but I'm alarmed when he snatches me off the ground and twirls me around like a ragdoll before setting me down again.

While I regain my balance, I start giving my report. "The grain has been extracted successfully and is waiting for distribution in the Feroxi campsite. Nowi and I destroyed the storehouse itself, so the hole we made in the wall should be covered decently, but I still want at least a squad of men keeping an eye on it just in case they start digging through. As for the pushback we received from Campari, Phila and her guard saved the day on that one. What's the report at the south gate?"

"Nothing to speak of. We kept up the act of trying to smash through the gate, and it kept at least a decent number of em busy for a while. Sorry we let so many slip away," Basilio replies.

"There was nothing you could've done. Even if you'd sent a runner, they'd have arrived too late to help," I reassure him.

He grins. "In any event, Flavia is heading back to the east gate now with a detachment of her own. Phila is holding down the south gate until you get there."

I bow my head slightly in appreciation. "Understood. Shepherds! No time to waste! Let's move!"

And so we begin our trip back to the south gate camp, exhausted and scared but, for today at least, victorious.

"General, I don't understand. Why didn't you use the hostages to force the Feroxi to back off?" one of Campari's bodyguards asks. "You knew it was possible that they would attack our food storehouses, but you didn't use them."

"Well, I suppose my answers are twofold. Firstly, I don't know if you've ever served up north, but I have seen the Feroxi way of life for myself. They are a proud people, and do not know the meaning of the word 'surrender.' Had I attempted to use the hostages to force the khans to back down, I have little doubt that they would have bitten their thumbs at me and told me where I could stick my hostages." He chuckles briefly at the thought of the gorgeous blonde khan telling him off in such a manner. "As for why I didn't bring it up with the Shepherds, I suppose I wanted to give them a chance to surrender honorably. A defeat forced on the enemy by holding a blade to the throats of their countrymen is bitter, and the victory distasteful. I wanted to spare Prince Chrom that much, at least."

"And now? After such a brutal defeat both in the east and west, surely we must strike with every resource at our disposal, right?"

"Hmph. You spirited youths, always ready to leap back into the fight. I don't have that kind of drive anymore." The old man takes a long, slow breath. "But you're right, of course. We've rather been backed into a corner. We lost a large number of men and an even larger amount of food yesterday. These are losses we must account for. Send for the prison warden. I wish to speak with him."

The bodyguard bows, walking briskly out of the throne room. Campari sighs as he settles back into the Exalt's throne.

"So it's come to this, then. Fine."

"Robin, I thought you were pleased with our results the other day. Why do you look so…" Chrom cuts off his sentence before saying something no doubt rude. It doesn't soften the blow much.

Still, he's right. I've been in a slump ever since the battle. I can't fault him for noticing the physical tells.

We're back at the south gate campsite, where we've been keeping an eye on the Plegians for the past couple days, waiting them out. It's the afternoon of the second day after the fight, but the worries that fight left me with are still fresh on my mind.

"We won, yes, but by all accounts we didn't really deserve that win. Phila and the royal guard saved us from my incompetency. I should have anticipated that Campari would see this attack coming. I should have just ordered that we destroy both storehouses. We still have the crops growing east of town, after all."

"Yeah, but that's at best a food supplement. We were still in pretty dire straits food-wise until we got that grain. Now we really don't have to worry about that. And you're being overly hard on yourself anyway. We're facing a massive army with the advantage of being inside the city, where it's warmer, safer, and better-fortified, and we're out here, a smaller force by a good margin, freezing in our camps. Any victory we can take from this situation is significant, no matter how lucky we had to be to get it." Chrom sits next to me and hands me a small loaf of misshapen bread. "Here. Baked fresh over a campfire from the grain you helped us take back."

I take it. "That was quick. I'm surprised you've already started making flour out of it." I take a bite. It's… not the best bread I've ever had, but it tastes better knowing how hard-won it is.

"We've had folks eagerly lining up to hand-grind the flour themselves if it means a chance to have normal bread again. The stuff we've been growing east of the city is… fine, but folks were anxious to get back to eating regular food."

He's got a point there. The vulnerary-fed crops from the ice fields just taste a little strange. Whether it's the magic of the vulnerary, or the quality of the winter soil, or whether it's all in everyone's heads, it's impossible to say. But this is at least an improvement. Measurable progress.

I'm about halfway through the bread when Sully shouts from her post at the gate, "Chrom! Robin! He's back!"

A spear of ice shoots down my body. Chrom and I get to our feet and rush to join the others. True to Sully's word, the pair of greatshields stands aloft on top of the wall, defending Campari from harm as always.

"Am I speaking with Prince Chrom?" Campari calls.

Chrom looks at me, and I nod. "Yes," he calls back.

"Good. First, loathe as I am to pay respects to the man who led an attack that killed so many of my soldiers, I must acknowledge the fine work you have done so far. Holding your own in the siege. Managing to find your own source of food for this long. And of course, your performance the other day. All of this is commendable, and I would be remiss to ignore that.

"All the same, this is where your work must come to an end. As you know, I told you I have one hundred of your countrymen captive inside the city. I told you that if you attempted an invasion, there would be consequences for them. And now the time has come. If you would please," he says, and a Plegian soldier emerges next to Campari, holding a young girl by the shoulders in front of him. Even from this distance, it's clear that she's trembling and quietly crying.

"This is Lucia. She is one of the hostages we have taken. I brought her here to confirm for you that these hostages are very real, and they are very much depending on you making the right choice. You see, your attack on our food storehouses was successful, but as a result, there is much less food to go around in here. We simply don't have enough food to keep everyone fed, and we certainly aren't about to prioritize feeding our prisoners over feeding ourselves. So here is how it will work. For every day that you do not surrender and give up the fight, three more hostages will be executed. I do not enjoy having to do this, but your persistence has forced my hand. I will be back at this time tomorrow to hear either your agreement to surrender or your acceptance that the first three hostages will be killed with your tacit approval. Good-bye."

"Wait!" Chrom calls, but Campari ignores him and continues to leave. "Get back here, you son of a bitch! I won't let you hurt a single one of them!"

"You know how to assure that, prince," Campari calls as his parting words.

Before Chrom even opens his mouth again, I can feel the anger radiating off him. With a roar of frustration, he rips Falchion out of its sheath and plants it deep into the icy ground. He whirls around to face me.

"Robin. We're going back to the command wagon. I will not allow this to stand. Not one of my people will die on my watch while I have the power to stop it," he growls. Without waiting for my response, he stalks off to the command wagon and leaps inside.

I glance at the others, all of whom were staring at Chrom as he went off, but have now shifted their gaze to me. "Well, you heard him. Make sure you're ready for battle and rest up while you can. We won't have much time." I start to walk away, then pause and turn back to Cordelia, the closest flier to me. "Get Sumia and go to the east and west gates. Bring the khans back here. We're going to need them for whatever comes next." Cordelia nods and rushes off.

While Sully and Vaike do their best to remove Falchion from the earth, I follow Chrom into the command wagon. The moment I enter, he's already in my face.

"Tell me you have a plan, Robin."

I gently push him away to give myself some space. "Not yet I don't. I know we don't have a lot of time, but I need to think things through before we do something stupid."

He breathes deeply, his shoulders rising and falling with each breath as he tries to calm down. "Alright. You're right. I'm sorry. I just…"

"I get it. I feel the same way. This isn't just a dirty tactic. This is abhorrent. And Campari will answer for this. But right now we need to focus. So let's think. There's almost no chance that the Plegians would split up the hostages across buildings. They'd want them all in one place where they can be managed more efficiently. How many buildings in Ylisstol can accommodate more than a hundred people?"

He thinks for a moment. "Not many. And all of them are public buildings. I think if there's any place that's likely to be holding hostages, it's the prison underneath the palace."

"I see. That sounds like our best candidate. That also explains why Phila's scouts haven't seen any trace of them before, as they're underground. But of course, a prison break will be difficult. They'll expect us to be coming."

"That's true. And there's not really a way to recreate the distraction we made with the Feroxi, is there? That's the kind of plan that only works once."

"Right." I pace around for a while, trying to clear my head a bit. We can't lure the enemy away from the palace this time, and it's too well-fortified to attack it from the sky. Not to mention Chrom likely wouldn't go for the idea of destroying his family home anyway. We need something else.

I think out loud a bit to give Chrom the chance to give feedback. "What if we force the enemy to divide by attacking two legitimate targets at once again? It worked well enough before, at least compared to how it could have gone."

"Do you mean..?"

"Yes. If we attack the last food storehouse at the same time that we strike the prison, it will divide their forces."

"But that divides us too. How is that any better than hitting one target with all the force we can muster?"

"Didn't you notice how the last battle went down? Without direction, the Plegians are useless. Disorganized, reckless, and prone to stupid aggression. If General Campari hadn't shown up and coordinated the forces at the west gate, we'd never have had any problem with them. And that's our advantage: there's only one of him. He'll have to choose which battle is more important. And if he has any sense, he'll choose to defend the storehouse."

"Why?"

"Because if he has the hostages, but no food, he has no way out except to try and force our hand while his own soldiers starve. He'll have a mutiny on his hands if he doesn't surrender. But if he has the food, but no hostages, he can at least hold out for a while and look for another way out of his predicament. It will buy him time, which he must realize he's running out of if he's resorting to this."

Chrom leans against the doorframe. "I see. Lure the commander away from half of his forces and the integrity of their whole operation falls apart, huh?"

"Exactly. When the khans arrive, we can make a more solid plan."

This will work, right? I'm banking on a lot of things going our way with this, not least of which is my assumption that Campari is the only competent leader on their side. I have to hope that this will be good enough. I don't have time for perfection.

Not like I would if Randall were here.

A/N: This being part 1 of a two-part release, I've saved all my notes for chapter 40. Go on now, git!