Birth and Re-Death
Chapter 40: Smashing the Birdhouse, Part 2 [Robin]
Lucina finally reaches her mother's childhood home. It's exactly as beautiful as she remembered it, back before… everything changed. Before Grima. She shudders to think that this immaculate villa has been turned into a prison by the Plegians. By Uncle Randy's captors. Even from this distance, she can see the red of the uniforms the Plegian guards are wearing. A pit of outrage wells up in her stomach at the sight.
She considers killing them as part of her infiltration. She's certainly performed her share of stealth kills in the past. But she decides it's too risky for now. The villa has many windows, and it's impossible to tell who may be peering out from inside. She's confident she can stay out of sight, but keeping bodies out of sight is another matter entirely.
She weaves through the overcast afternoon shadows, deftly approaching the villa. It's made all the easier by how much time she spent here as a child during the summertime. Her usual home was Ylisstol, of course, but a few months out of every year her family lived here. When Brady started his staff training but was too young to be Randall's full time apprentice, he lived here for two years. Mother made frequent trips to visit him during his training, and Lucina would usually come along. This place only ever had happy memories for her.
She shakes her head to clear the stray thoughts. This is no time to get distracted. Randall is depending on her.
She makes her way inside and immediately has to duck under a bench to avoid being seen by a trio of passing soldiers, laughing and exchanging verbal jabs. It seems so strange to see the enemy in so casual a mood. Like watching a bear hang laundry out to dry.
When the coast is clear, she silently ascends the stairs to the second floor. If they're keeping Randall prisoner, it seems likely to her that they would want him away from the ground floor, and the villa has no proper basement. When she reaches the top of the stairs, a covert peek down both ends of the main hallway reveals that security is much lighter on the second floor. No one expects an invader to make it this far unseen.
Her heart pounds as she reaches the first door. She slowly, slowly turns the knob, finding it unlocked, and inches the door open. Peering inside, she sees a bedroom. Her bedroom, back when she lived here. Or rather, will live here. Lived in what used to be here? Leaving semantics aside, she's satisfied that no one is in the room right now. She notes this, as she has climbed out that exact window dozens of times, so if she needs an escape route, that will work.
She checks the bedrooms one at a time, working her way down the hallway and finding nothing and no one in each of them. Finally, she reaches the east end of the hallway, where the master bedroom is. Mother and Father's room. By now she doesn't expect anyone to be in this room either, so the shock to her nerves is all the stronger when she sees a man sitting in a chair reading a book by the fireplace.
She flinches back for a moment, barely managing not to make a sound. Hand resting on Falchion's handle at her side, she approaches the door again and peers inside the tiny crack in the doorway.
She realizes with a start that this man isn't just another Plegian. The resemblance is too strong. This must be her grandfather! She had never met the man, as disease took him when she was too young to remember him, but Mother had always spoken highly of him. He certainly looks every bit the dapper noble that her mother does.
This is her chance to rescue him as well! Maybe he knows where Randall is being held too! The dually uplifting thoughts boost her enthusiasm, and she opens the door wide.
Hadrian yelps at the surprise, flinging his book accidentally squarely into the fire. After allowing himself a fraction of a second to grieve for the lost book, he springs to his feet. "Wh-who are you? What are you doing here?" he asks, his voice trembling. He reaches for the back of his waist, and his hand emerges with a small, ornate dagger.
Lucina quickly raises her hands in a gesture meant to placate her grandfather. "Please sir, there's no need for alarm. I'm not your enemy."
"Forgive me if I doubt that! I say again, who are you?" He takes a step back toward the far corner.
Lucina closes the door behind her for fear that his loud voice might bring guards running. "I am no one of consequence, my lord. But all the same, I am here to rescue you. Please, come with me, and I can get you to safety."
"Rescue me? You mean assassinate me, more likely!"
"Please sir, that's not true at all. I'm an ally to Ylisse, I swear it. I can get you out of here. And while I'm here, I hope you might be able to tell me if a man by the name of Randall is being held here too."
Hadrian brandishes the dagger at her. "Aha! I knew it! Randall must have gotten a message out to his allies telling him where he was. And now you've come to dispatch me and take him with you! GUARDS!" he shouts suddenly.
"What on earth are you doing, my lord?" Lucina asks in a panic, rushing forward and covering his mouth with her hand before he can shout anything else. He makes a haphazard attempt to swipe at her with the dagger, but she easily redirects his swing away from her body, slips the dagger out of his hand, and casts it aside in one fluid motion. "Are you trying to get me caught? I told you already I'm not your enemy!"
Hadrian peers into Lucina's eyes with a mix of fear and confusion. "Your… your eye…" he says, his voice muffled by her hand. Instinctively she leaps back a couple steps to get far enough away to keep him from seeing the Brand clearly. "Who are you?" he asks again, more awed than afraid now.
"I already said, no one of consequence. Are you… working with the Plegians?" Lucina asks, her gut twisting as she speaks. Could it really be? Her own grandfather?
"I see there is much you don't know," Hadrian says. "If you wanted to kill me, you could have just there, couldn't you have?"
Lucina nods. "Yes."
Hadrian takes a deep breath to calm himself. "You had better leave now. Randall isn't here anymore. He went east with the others."
"Others? What others? Other prisoners?"
"No. But I won't speak any further with a trespasser. Begone from my home." Hadrian, seemingly with newfound confidence thanks to his self-assurance that he isn't about to be killed, speaks with firm authority now. Lucina can't deny the tone resembles her mother quite closely. So that's where she gets it.
"I… I understand. Farewell, Hadrian," Lucina says, not sure if she really thinks of this man as her grandfather after this encounter. As she makes her way down the hallway and out her bedroom window, she takes stock of what she's learned. Her grandfather seems like he might be a traitor. His home is guarded by Plegian soldiers, but he didn't seem like a prisoner. He was still dressed finely, armed with a dagger, staying in his own bedroom. He seemed more like a man in charge than a man in captivity. It seems likely that her own grandfather has turned his back on his country.
Still, she also learned something valuable. Randall has been taken east. East where, she's not sure, but perhaps not all is lost just yet.
She wasn't prepared to hold her own family at swordpoint, but she has no such qualms about a Plegian soldier. She finds a soldier standing guard by the corner of the property, a good distance from the others. She won't have a lot of time, as he's standing in the open and she will be seen quickly, but hopefully she won't need much time to learn what she needs to know.
She approaches the soldier swiftly, keeping low to the ground and finally pouncing on him like a prowling cat. She slams him into the ground on his face, then quickly turns him around with one arm while the other is unsheathing Falchion. By the time the panicked soldier, a man in his 20s, realizes what's going on, he's already on his back, the point of a sword resting against his jugular.
"Tell me right now. Where have they taken Randall?"
"Randall? I don't know who that is!"
"The Shepherd you people kidnapped and have been keeping prisoner. Tell me, now, or your life is forfeit." She speaks with a practiced low darkness to her voice. She can't help but feel the intimidation would be working better if she still had the mask.
"The Shepherd? Oh, him! Right! He went with the others to go to Southtown! Southtown! Please don't kill me!" the soldier cries on the ground.
"Southtown. Are you sure?" Lucina asks. She hears shouting behind her. She's already out of time.
"Yes, I'm sure!"
Whether she believes him or not, she has no choice but to release the man and start running. It's far from ideal, but as long as the trail hasn't run cold, there is still a chance that she can get to him.
She clings to that thought as the icy winter winds whip across her face while she flees the villa.
The next morning, the bulk of our forces stands ready at the south gate. Some of the Feroxi still guard the vulnerary crop just in case, and another detachment is staying behind to protect the rest of the supplies as well as Frederick and Emmeryn, but the vast majority of the people in our alliance are prepared to invade with us.
The plan is a staggered invasion. The majority of our force will be engaging the Plegian army and keeping them occupied while a significant detachment of mages and defenders, led by Miriel and Kellam respectively, storm the storehouse and start destroying the food therein. This should trigger a reaction from the Plegians to get them to try and collapse in on the destroyer group, which is when Phila and her fliers will descend on the enemy and clear an extraction path for the saboteurs. Meanwhile, a smaller group led by Gaius and Libra will infiltrate the prison and evacuate the hostages. Gaius obviously is going to open up doors where he can, and Libra is going to heal any hostages who might have been hurt already. The rest of the Shepherds are filling in where their roles fit the battle best.
For Chrom's and my part, in order to really sell this sabotage being the main objective, we're having to trust Gaius and Libra to handle things and join the destruction squad ourselves. Campari will no doubt be keeping an eye out for the pair of us, and will likely follow where we lead him. I don't like having to be away from the real objective of the fight, but it can't be helped here.
I go over to where Gaius and Libra have assembled their force. In addition to a few Feroxi soldiers, they also have Donnel and Anna (handy to have a second locksmith on hand, even if she charges by the lock). The rest of the Shepherds are either on the saboteur squad or they're joined with the Feroxi forces that will engage with the enemy.
"You four going to be alright? You'll be cut off from the rest of us until you can get out of there. I'll need you to be adaptable if things don't go our way on the surface," I say.
"There's nothing to worry about, Bubbles. I've picked apart plenty of joints more tightly locked up than some dingy dungeon. This'll be a piece of cake. Ooh, I shouldn't have mentioned cake…" Gaius says, making himself sad with the mention of sweets. He ran out of his emergency stashes last week and has been sour ever since.
"You can count on us," Donnel adds with a confident grin.
"The gods are watching over us. I have faith in their divine plan," Libra says.
"And I'm just ready to put an end to this blasted war. I've had it with all this fighting cutting into my profits," Anna concludes with a resolute nod.
"Alright. Just be careful. I don't like having to divide our forces like this, where I can't keep an eye on the whole battle," I say.
Even though that's true, I can't deny that there's a part of me that's almost looking forward to this. I've been waiting what feels like ages for this interminable siege to come to an end. I've been worrying myself into a stupor about Randall's safety, wherever he is and whoever is holding him captive. It drives me insane that he could be as close as Themis and yet I've been needed here. I don't want to go after him until I'm sure that things are secure. But for Naga's sake, I've had it with waiting. I'm ready to get this over with.
Blinking a couple times to clear my mind, I turn to leave. "Be safe out there," I say.
I don't get too far before Libra catches up to me. "Robin, are you alright? Being on edge before such an important battle makes sense, but you look… I suppose I'll say like your mind isn't quite here."
I sigh. "There's nothing to worry about. I just want this battle done so I can move onto the next thing."
Libra smiles kindly. "You mean finding Randall."
"Yes. He's counting on us to find him, and I'm tired of making him wait. There's no doubt in my mind that he's alright, but if he were here, all of this would be easier. We'd have won by now, for sure."
He laughs quietly. "I've no doubt he would be very helpful if he were here, yes. Actually, that was what I meant to talk to you about. I know you've got the battle on your mind, but I think my mind is in the same place yours is. It's been difficult for me as well. I can tell you must miss him as much as I do."
I don't really know what to say to that. "Well, yeah. You're one of his teachers, after all."
"I consider him to be more than a student, though. He is my friend. When I first met him, I saw him taking the first step down a path I knew led to a tragic destination. I hope I was able to steer him off that path. I think I was. But that gave me a certain… I don't know, a feeling of responsibility for him. I won't go so far as to say a fatherly duty or anything like that, but certainly more than just a teacher of meditation and staff magic."
"He's always spoken very highly of you. I'm sure he thinks of you as a friend too."
"I would like to think so. In any event, I didn't just stop you to wax nostalgic about our friend for the sake of it. I want you to know that when you leave to go find him, and I don't doubt you will just as soon as you can, I want to come with you. Is this agreeable?" Libra's face is dead serious now, the usual softness of his expression replaced with hard determination. I like that look. It reminds me of how I feel right now.
"Of course. I'll want all the help that can be spared. And you're right; I do have every intention of heading off to find him just as soon as I can. I promise I won't leave without you," I say.
"Excellent." His face softens again. "And besides, I wouldn't miss the chance to be there when he sees you again. He talks about you all the time. Even if it's usually to bemoan how much you wear him ragged, I can always see the smile in his eyes while he says it."
My throat catches for a moment. "W-well good. I mean, not that he complains about me, but that… whatever. I have to go. Phila's group needs to be briefed on what signals to look for."
Libra laughs behind his hand, a very dainty and almost girlish pose. "Don't let me keep you, Robin." He turns to head back to his group.
For once, subtlety is not the name of the game. All the better, considering how bad most Feroxi are at it anyway. Even so, I wasn't prepared for how loud the war cry of the Feroxi was going to be when I'm standing right in front of them until I hear it firsthand. It nearly rivals the intensity of the sextuple-Bolganone from the last fight.
And then I learn just how much they were holding back with the battering ram last time. It only takes a few hits before the metal grate starts to warp under the heavy blows. Flavia laughs at me as I gape at the sight.
"Aren't you glad you convinced us to join you before Gangrel had the chance to ask us?" she asks between laughs. I nod wordlessly.
It's only a few minutes before the grate breaks down the middle entirely, leaving a gap wide enough for three people or so to get through at a time. Thankfully, the Plegians aren't trying to intercept us here. When they saw us moving our forces to gather at the south gate, they in turn started to consolidate at the palace. They know what we're after, and they're going to put everything they have into defending that.
Still, our goal is to win with as few casualties as possible. We could engage in an all-out bloodbath if we wanted, but the goal is just to engage the enemy long enough to evacuate the hostages and, if possible, destroy the food, then retreat and wait them out. I may want this fight over with, but I recognize that preventing loss of life comes first.
I'm with the rest of the saboteur group, surrounded on all sides by the bulk of the Feroxi forces and the Shepherds staying with them to serve as a decoy. Gregor, Virion, Sully, and Vaike are staying with the Feroxi to help make a nice big scene, but the rest of the Shepherds make up the sabotage group. Well, except Nowi, but I sent her off on her own task just before we started bringing down the gate.
Each of the mages in my group—Miriel, Maribelle, Lissa, Ricken, Tharja, and myself—has been paired up with a warrior prepared defend them—Kellam, Chrom, Lon'qu, Stahl, Panne, and Olivia, respectively. I still have my doubts about Olivia's ability to perform in combat, but she was insistent on being allowed to help, and I didn't have any Shepherds left to watch my back.
We advance up the central thoroughfare through town, clearly visible to the enemy. Up ahead, atop the slight incline the town is built on, is the palace. A substantial force stands in front of its doors to defend it. It wasn't that long ago that we were defending the place from invaders ourselves. It's interesting to be on the other side of the battlefield this time.
Ahead of our position in the crowd, the soldiers clash. The street is wide, but we fill it completely, clogging up the main road, just as I was hoping for. A large spectacle, but ultimately most people on both sides are just standing behind the few that are actually fighting. The more soldiers that are occupied here, the better.
I signal with a quick gesture to the rest of the saboteur group for us to separate from the main group and start making our way down a side alley toward the east end of the palace. While the prison is underneath the west wing, the storehouse Phila found is located in and under the east wing. Chrom leads the way, his knowledge of these streets firmly ingrained into his head. The way he deftly weaves around buildings in front of us, I imagine he could just about do this with his eyes closed. Once in a while, when he turns a corner, I get a glimpse of his face.
He's smiling today. A fierce, determined smile. He's finally home.
We get suitably far around the bulk of the fighting, eventually emerging a few blocks east of the main road. We make our way swiftly north toward the palace, where a sizable group of guards stands outside the east entrance to the palace. We keep out of sight, staying low to the ground as we hide behind a retaining wall that separates the Shepherds barracks yard from the palace's.
I silently assign each of the mages a number of guards to focus on taking out before the warriors will engage them. When everyone is clear on the plan, I get out my tome and prepare to give the signal.
I make a fist over my head, and everyone stands upright and leaps over the wall. I sling an Elthunder blast at one of the guards standing closest to us, just one spell in a volley of six that takes the soldiers off-guard. Before they have time to react, we've each gotten a couple spells off, and by the time they've started to advance toward us, our melee attackers have superior positioning and are already preparing to swing, stab, and pounce on the enemy. They may have outnumbered us, but they were no match for the element of surprise and overwhelming force.
We get inside, where a few unfortunate guards try to stand their ground against the twelve of us. We make short work of them and advance into the storehouse proper.
The instant one of us steps through the doorway, the enemy's ambush begins. Thankfully, the arrows fired at Kellam all bounce harmlessly off his shield. We all back up a few paces, out of the line of sight of any archers that wait inside.
Campari's voice comes booming through the door. "Did you think none of my men saw you making your way here? Surely you have more faith in our observational ability than that."
"What's the matter, Campari?" I shout back. "Don't want to fight us head to head again? Tharja, Chrom, and I are all here. We can recreate the beatdown we gave you back in Golgotha."
He laughs from the other room. "Generous though that offer is, I'll have to decline. Instead, why don't you come in here to destroy the food stores? That is what you came here to do, after all, isn't it?"
This is actually perfect. If we can keep things at a stalemate here for a while, that will give Gaius and Libra's group plenty of time to get the hostages out.
"Though your offer is equally generous, I'm afraid I must equally decline," I reply.
Per Robin's orders, Gaius waits about ten minutes after he sees the saboteur group head east before he motions for his group to head west. Unlike Robin's group, who secretly wanted to be seen, this group very much doesn't want that, so they take a wide path around the perimeter of the palace, ducking through alleys and steadily making their way to the northwest end of the palace.
Gaius isn't about to tell anyone else this, but he's actually spent some time in this very dungeon before. It's been a number of years, sure, but he remembers it decently. And he happens to know that in addition to the south entrance to the prison, the one within the line of sight of the fighting on the central thoroughfare, there is another, smaller entrance on the north side of the building, placed there to give the guards an emergency escape route in the event of a mass prison break. That's their target.
As they make their way to the north side of the building, they see a couple guards standing against the wall, looking decidedly bored. What level of apathy it takes to be bored in the middle of a city-wide battle, Gaius is sure he can't fathom. There are also a couple archers on the roof, but both of them have their eyes on the fray southeast of here. None of them expect a threat from the buildings to the west.
Gaius has been practicing his archery a lot lately, so it's time to see how far he's come. From behind the corner of a little shop across the way from the west wing, Gaius nocks his first arrow, testing the tension of the string in his hand. These are going to have to be quick and accurate if they want to avoid making a scene. He wishes now that Virion had come with them.
Still, they didn't come this far just to lose because Gaius couldn't pull off a couple shots. Gaius steps around the corner, draws the bow, and fires.
The first archer goes down, but not quietly. The sound of the bow firing was already noticeable, but the shout of pained gurgling for air from the archer as the arrow pierces his neck is plainly audible to the other three guards. While Anna and Donnel spring into action to take out the door guards, Libra hands Gaius his second arrow as soon as the first is away. The second archer doesn't have time to say much of anything before the wind is knocked out of him by an arrow to the diaphragm. He tries taking a shot of his own, but his wound affects his aim, and it sails harmlessly through a window several feet away. Meanwhile, Gaius is taking his second shot, and the second arrow through the chest is enough to finish off the man.
Anna and Donnel, the swift and the strong, waste no time eliminating the lethargic guards, who don't put up much of a fight. With that, the guards on the north side of the prison are taken care of.
Now the next step is getting through the door. Easier said than done, as the door is made of thick wood and is framed in steel, locked from the inside. Unlike most key locks, which neither Gaius nor Anna would have much issue with, this door is also locked with a latch.
Where thievery and sneakery fail, sometimes brute force must take over. Libra and the two Feroxi warriors start whaling on the door with their large axes while the rest of the group keeps an eye out for anyone who might come running to investigate. It takes a while, but eventually large chunks of the door have been stripped and hacked away. Donnel finishes the job by getting a running start and throwing his shoulder into the weakened door, bashing a large hole through the middle and snapping the large wooden latch altogether.
Thankfully, any guards that might normally have been posted inside the dungeon are either outside or far enough down that they seem not to have heard the door being broken down. As Gaius steps through the hole in the door, he turns around and opens it properly. Their prison break has officially begun.
The first floor of this wing is a now-abandoned armory and guard bunkroom. In the days when the country had a proper military, this room saw much more use, but now the only armory that's ever bothered with is in the Shepherds barracks. The stairs to the floor below are close to the back door, so the group wastes no time descending.
The dungeon has multiple levels with ten cells apiece. The hostages have been grouped to three or four per cell to accommodate them all. They look at Gaius and the others as if they were angels. Gaius isn't used to being looked at so fondly. He notes what a nice change of pace it is as he wastes no time getting to the locks. The Feroxi go with Donnel down the stairs to the lower levels to make sure there are no guards lying in wait below.
The hostages look considerably worse for wear. The dungeon smells like no one here has bathed for weeks. The hostages are dirty and greasy, wearing rags hardly fit to scrub an old dish. Everyone has a deeply tired look on their face. The cells are small for the normal one to two occupants they hold, but to hold four, they would necessarily have to be sleeping atop one another. They have clearly not been treated kindly here.
Gaius gets the first cell open. The hostages inside just about fall into his arms with a mix of fatigue and gratitude, one woman openly weeping with thanks.
"We thought we would never see daylight again. Thank you so much!" a man says, grasping Gaius' shoulders. The former thief feels a pit well in his stomach as the man's gratitude hits him with almost physical impact.
"Uh, no problem. Let me start on the next cell."
"Of course, sir!"
Meanwhile, Donnel and the Feroxi have emerged from the lower levels. "We're good! No guards below," Donnel reports.
"Good. We've got our first group to take out of here. Let's get to it!" Gaius commands.
Donnel salutes, another first for Gaius. "Understood. Alright you folks, with me. It's gonna be cold outside, but we've got a fire going just outside the city walls for y'all," he says, and he leads the first group of hostages outside.
Donnel follows the path Robin outlined for him. He had only spent the briefest time in Ylisstol, so he's still far from used to the place, but following a simple path is easy enough. He leads the hostages through the designated alleys and backstreets until they reach the ruined western storehouse, where thankfully, Nowi has already finished pulling enough rubble out of the way to create a hole in the city wall wide enough for one person at a time to get through. Donnel ushers the hostages through, then turns and starts heading back to the palace to pick up the next group.
As the now-ex-hostages pass through the city walls, they're surprised when the first person they see isn't another soldier like they anticipated, but a young, scantily-clad girl wearing a massive grin.
"Hiya! I'm Nowi. Lemme take you guys to the fire, okay? You look cold," she chirps. She takes one of the hostages, a girl of about fourteen or fifteen, by the hand, and leads the group to a nearby campsite, where they find a mercifully warm fire, as well as blankets and even bread. As they taste the first fresh bread they've had in months and feel the fire warming their weary bodies, the relief drives them to the point of tears. Freedom at last.
So far so good. Occasionally one of the archers inside the grain room will try to get ambitious and change his position to get a better shot at us, but he's rapidly greeted with a spell flying in his face. Meanwhile, we're not getting close to all of it, but from out here in the next room, we can at least lob a few spells at some of the grain and burn up portions of it. It hasn't been here long enough to gather enough dust to really spread the flames, so burning it up is a slow process from here. Still, better than nothing, and certainly better than fending off a dozen archers.
That is, until the reinforcements start to arrive. Soldiers start to make their way to the door we came in through, and now we're fending off enemies on both sides of us. As the archers in the grain room hear our warriors fighting others out here, they realize we can't focus as much on them, and they get a little more greedy with their positioning. We mages are quick to try and punish them, but we end up taking a couple hits in turn. This means that Maribelle and Lissa can no longer be offensive units, as they have to focus on healing Panne's sword wound here, or Miriel's arrow wound there. They've got us surrounded, even if the terrain won't allow them to maximize the usefulness of doing so. Our escape is cut off.
We slowly whittle down the resistance from both sides, but new enemies just keep coming to take their places. We need to advance into the grain room and start doing some real damage.
"Chrom! Get all the archers in the grain room to fire on you at once," I say to him next to me, hoping it's quiet enough that Campari won't hear and catch on. He looks at me like I'm crazy. "Positioning," I clarify.
"Ooh. Alright. Here goes," he says, then leaps into the doorway for a second before leaping back out of the way. Seven arrows all hit the ground past where he was standing. I examine the angles of their shots as quickly as I can. I don't want to give them time to move. That's three on the left, upper level, one left lower level, two right upper level, and one right lower.
I call the mages' and Kellam's attention to me and pantomime where I want each of them to focus their fire when we go bursting through. They each nod in understanding. Miriel stands directly behind her fiancé, since he likely won't draw that much fire on his own, and the rest of us stand prepared to storm in after them.
Kellam and Miriel go through and Kellam absorbs the volley of arrows. A couple of them sneak past his shield, but he's able to protect Miriel regardless. Miriel and I shoot left, Miriel shooting down while I shoot up, hitting the three on the upper level with rapid taps of lightning. Tharja and Ricken go right, making equally swift work of the archers on that side. In a couple seconds, we've cleared out the room except for—
How long has Campari been gone? Shit.
I can't worry about that now. The mages get to work destroying the grain, each of them having brought an Elfire or Arcfire tome with them, except Tharja, whose dark magic kills the grain just as effectively as fire. I decide to leave them to it, and return to the other room.
Things are not going well here. We've been pushed back enough that we no longer have the advantage of them having to funnel through the narrow door. There are plenty of them in here to keep us busy while the backups come through. The healers are working full-time to keep everyone safe, but even then, it's getting increasingly difficult to keep up.
We're running out of steam here. Unless we want to get chased through the whole palace, which I'm sure is a terrible idea, we need to break back out, where we'll have air support.
I look beside me and see that Olivia is standing off to the side, trembling and looking quite terrified. "What are you doing?" I ask.
"I-I can't be helpful with something like this! I'd only get in the way!" she shouts, her eyes wide with fear.
"Well come on! You said you wanted to help, right? So help us! We need you too!" I demand, making her flinch.
"O-okay, I'll try," she stammers, then closes her eyes. She takes a long, deep breath, then raises her arms in a slow, fluid motion. She carefully sways her arms in the air, moving her torso and then her hips in time with her hands' movements.
"What are you doing?" I ask again, incredulous. Is she dancing?
"I'm doing what I do best," she says, her voice firmer, calmer than before. I can't deny she moves more confidently now than I've ever seen her do anything, but that doesn't mean it's… helpful…
My train of thought is interrupted when I could swear I see little faint glimmers of light shedding from her body and her long scarf-thing she has between her arms. Every movement of a hand, a foot, even her hair sends more off of her. The flecks of light drift over to me and the others, and as they touch me, I feel an almost electric, tingling power inside me. The fatigue I felt before melts away, and I feel rejuvenated, as if I'd just gotten a great night's sleep in the space of a few seconds.
"Is your dancing… magic?" I ask.
Olivia nods. "Yes. It's been that way as long as I can remember."
I breathe deeply, feeling the newfound power course through me. "Well, keep that up! It's working!"
With Olivia dancing, I can already see the effect it's having on the rest of the melee fighters. They attack more effortlessly, swinging quickly and precisely at the enemy, slowly but surely regaining ground. Before long, the Plegians are doing everything they can to avoid being crushed between the soldiers behind them and the increasingly intense assault in front of them.
We manage to push our way back to the doorway to the outside. Just a few steps, and I'll be able to send Phila the signal. Thanks to Olivia's magic, we make another surge forward, giving me just enough space to send two Elthunder shots into the air. That's the signal for 'we were able to destroy the food, now get us the hell out of here.' We retreat back to the other side of the doorway, where we can take advantage of the limited space the doorway provides.
About a minute later, a swell of panicked shouting comes through the door from behind the soldiers we can actually see. Sounds like Phila got the signal. They should be clearing out the soldiers blocking the door and opening up a pickup zone to get us out of here. Unfortunately, it will have to be done in two trips; with Phila, her three remaining royal guards, Cordelia, and Sumia, we have six fliers to take twelve saboteurs outside the walls.
It doesn't take long for the soldiers blocking the door to realize they're going to be trapped between two killer forces if they don't run away right now. Most of the remaining men flee back to the south to regroup with the rest of the Plegian main force. As soon as the area is clear, Phila and the others touch down.
Wait. I do a headcount of the fliers. Why are there only five?
Apparently anticipating my thoughts, Phila says, "We lost Serenity on the way in. They had archers posted on the rooftops, anticipating us. We took care of them, but not before…"
Fuck. Make that three trips, then.
"Alright, then Ricken, Tharja, Olivia, Lissa, and Lon'qu, get on the pegasi," I command. I can offer my condolences when we aren't in the middle of a battle. The designated Shepherds comply immediately, and the first group is up in the air, heading for the north wall, as it's the closest to the palace.
The rest of us form up and prepare to fend off the Plegians who are already coming back with reinforcements in tow. Miriel, Maribelle, and I sling spell after spell at them from behind the wall that Kellam, Panne, Chrom, and Stahl provide, but they persist nonetheless, trying to flank us and forcing us to back up more and more. We can't let ourselves get forced back inside again, where the fliers won't be able to help us.
We back up eastward, toward the Shepherds barracks. We're given a brief moment of reprieve from the push as we hop over the retaining wall and get a few extra seconds to push back as the Plegians are forced to jump the wall as well. Still, these soldiers are for the most part energetic and fresh, as they haven't had the chance to fight anyone today until now. Compared to the exhausting battle we've had trapped inside the storehouse, they're in much better condition. We won't last long at this rate.
Thankfully, we don't have to, as the fliers glide into view from the north. One of the soldiers points them out, shouting, "PEGASI!" and the majority of the Plegians disengage and start running for the retaining wall, hoping to avoid getting hit from above.
The royal guard lands roughly, the pegasi whinnying slightly in protest at the ungraceful treatment.
Chrom yells to me, "Who's staying behind? We need at least two to stay for a third trip, right?"
I nod. "Right. I think it should be the two of us. We fight well together, and stand the best chance of holding them off for long enough. Everyone else, climb on!" The others comply reluctantly, each getting on a pegasus with their riders. As the riders prepared to take off, though, a voice cuts through the din of the faraway fighting.
"No!"
I look up in surprise at Sumia, shouting down from her mount. "We're not leaving anyone behind! I don't care if it weighs us down! I'm not letting what happened to Randall happen again on my watch! Robin, you get on this pegasus with Miriel right now! Kestrel can handle it, I know it. And one of you others, make room for Chrom, or we aren't leaving!"
Despite the initial shock of hearing the normally soft-spoken Sumia be so forceful with so many people that outrank her, Chrom and I are quick to comply. Kestrel snorts unhappily as my weight is added onto his back, but he stands strong nonetheless. Chrom gets on Cordelia's new black pegasus along with Maribelle.
It's a shaky takeoff, to say the least. I have no experience with flying to begin with, and to say that I don't like it is an understatement. While I cling desperately to Miriel, she in turn has Sumia's torso in a vice grip. With every flap of Kestrel's wings, I, as the back link of a three person chain, am violently shaken left and right, up and down, and every other direction conceivable. I do more than my share of panicked screaming as we unsteadily make our way through the skies, the wind whipping in my ears and threatening to blow me off the back of my third-person position on this normally one-person mount.
It's not a terribly long flight to the exterior of the city walls, but by the time we land, I'm very nauseous. After relieving my nausea into the snow in a very undignified way, I feel considerably better. My mind can finally focus on what's actually happening. However, the others have already beaten me to it, as they're already hugging, cheering, and celebrating.
Our part of the mission is done. The food is destroyed, and we all got out. Now all that's left for us is to regroup with the others.
Before the royal guard takes off again to rejoin the fight, I call to Sumia, "Hey, Sumia. Thank you. You really saved us with that."
She smiles. "It was the least we could do." With that, she takes off with the others to make sure the hostage extraction is going well.
For the first time in what feels like ages, I consciously breathe. The cold, crisp air of the untouched north side of the city wall fills my lungs. We're winning.
The narrow corridors of the dungeon feel quite claustrophobic after a while. Gaius hasn't spent time here in years, but the feeling of being cramped up in this place starts to return after unlocking cell after cell and seeing the hostages nearly burst out of them, desperate for space and sun and air. Knowing that unlike him, these people have done nothing to deserve getting thrown in here, makes his blood boil.
Still, he and Anna are finally on the last two cells of the second-to-last floor. The end is in sight. However, as he opens the door to the last cell of this floor, he hears shouting from upstairs. A few seconds later, one of the Feroxi comes barreling down the stairs.
"Plegians! They've started coming in from the south!"
"What?" Anna asks, blanching. "Gaius, we don't have any more time. We have to go!"
Gaius has been keeping count. Ninety-two. That's how many hostages they've gotten out so far. Eight more people left. In any other heist, getting ninety-two percent of your projected loot would be amazing. A job done very well. But here…
These are human lives. These people don't deserve to be left here to rot. And if he doesn't save them now, the Plegians will almost certainly kill them.
Eight people. Two, maybe three cells. Gaius makes his decision.
"I can handle the bottom floor myself! You take these folks and get them to the safe zone. Tell the Feroxi and Donnel to hold them off for just a little longer," Gaius commands with unchallengeable intensity.
"Uh, okay! Everyone, with me!" Anna leads the last of this floor's hostages back to the stairs.
Gaius turns to Libra, who has been healing any wounded hostages as they're let out. "Padre, you'd better go with her too. We won't have time to heal anyone at this point."
Libra nods wordlessly and heads upstairs as well. Gaius rushes downstairs.
"Damn it all." Three cells. Three in two cells and just a pair of kids in the last one. He gets to work.
Above, the Feroxi and Donnel have started engaging with the Plegians. Their assault on the dungeon was well-coordinated, as the first soldiers through the door are a pair of knights, each holding a massive shield. Donnel realizes with a start that these appear to be the same two men that Campari always stands behind as he speaks to the Shepherds.
Behind these men stand a few mages who, defended by their sturdy front line, lob spell after spell with impunity. The trio manage to dodge the attacks at first, but without any opportunity to counterattack, it's only a matter of time before they'll slip up.
Finally, one of the Feroxi does just that, catching a Thunder bolt to the leg and seizing on the spot, dropping to a knee. Donnel and the other Feroxi are powerless to help as the immobilized man takes a Fire blast to the head and is killed instantly. Mere seconds later, as Anna and her group of hostages reaches the armory floor, the other Feroxi meets a similar fate, taken down by a double-tap of Thunder bolts.
As Anna sees the carnage around in her periphery, she shouts over her shoulder at Donnel, "Come on! We have to go now!"
"I can't!" Donnel shouts back, not looking away from the enemy for even a second.
However, Donnel feels a hand on his shoulder. It's Libra.
"Go, Donnel. I can handle this lot. My resistance is a good deal better than yours," he says quietly but forcefully. Donnel considers arguing, but having just seen how it went for the Feroxi that stood against these mages, he has neither an argument to stand on nor the will to disobey his elder, and a priest at that. Reluctantly, he follows Anna's group out of the dungeon.
Downstairs, Gaius has unlocked one cell and nearly has the second one cracked. He's never picked locks this fervently in his life, desperate to save even a second of time. He sighs with relief as the second cell's lock gives way and he swings the door open. The six hostages stand aside and wait patiently for Gaius to unlock the last cell. Just one more lock.
Libra takes blow after blow from the mages. The thunder stiffens his muscles and seizes them up, and the fire burns robe and flesh alike, though the damage remains minimal. Meanwhile, Libra attempts to do what the others could not: get close enough to break up the shield wall. His Killer Axe clashes furiously against the shields, but they hold fast. Whenever a mage comes too far out from safety to lob another spell at Libra around the shields, he lashes out quickly, striking at hands and arms to wound the enemy and cripple their casting. However, he can hear shouting outside. More are coming.
Finally. The last cell opens. The children inside the cell instantly burst out and throw their arms around their savior, crying with gratitude.
"No time for crying! We have to go, now!" Gaius shouts, pulling the children's arms roughly off of him and running for the stairs. "Come on!" He hasn't been exposed yet to how slowly these people move after months of captivity. Their atrophied muscles work as hard as they can, but they remain slow and sluggish.
Eventually, after a painfully long time, they reach the top staircase. Gaius rushes up first to assess the situation. He expects to see Donnel and the Feroxi standing their ground, but is surprised to see only Libra instead.
"Padre! What are you doing here? I told you to run!"
Libra looks back for the briefest of moments, a guilty smile on his bloodied face. "Apologies, Gaius. Donnel was about to lose if I didn't intervene. So I relieved him."
"Well come on!" Gaius cries as the hostages rush past him and out the door.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Gaius. Someone must hold them off, and you're going to have a tough time outrunning them with hostages in that condition," Libra replies just before taking a furious swing at another mage's head.
"Libra, come on!" Gaius shouts desperately.
"Go now, if you want any chance!" Libra shouts back, as angry as Gaius has ever heard him.
Gaius grits his teeth and hits his fist against the doorway, but he can't argue. If he takes any longer, the soldiers might realize this is the last of the hostages and just go around the outside of the building. A scream from outside confirms that they've already started doing just that.
Gaius exits the building and quickly throws a dagger through into the throat of the soldier closest to them. He looks briefly at the hostages. "On me, now! Let's go!"
The soldiers going around the building start to chase after them as they desperately flee into the alleys. Gaius doesn't have any chance of stopping them all. He could bail on the hostages and get away by himself, easily. For a moment, he earnestly considers it.
But that's not what Libra intended.
Gaius directs the hostages to keep running, pointing out the area of the wall they should be heading for. "I'll catch up later!" he lies. He turns back to face the soldiers, to stop as many of them as he can for as long as he can.
Just when three soldiers are about to attack him from all sides, though, a shout from above, the most beautiful sound Gaius has ever heard, fills his ears.
"GAIUS!"
Sumia comes crashing into the soldiers, not so much attacking them as horse-tackling them. Thankfully, Kestrel is made of tougher stuff than he looks, and he recovers quickly, carrying Sumia back up to help her come back around and strike again. Just as the soldiers are turning to throw their lances at her, they're hit from behind again as Cordelia and Phila both lob javelins into the backs of two of them. Meanwhile, the other soldiers giving chase have to equally contend with the other two members of the royal guard. The fliers have come to Gaius' rescue.
Sumia comes plummeting back down to skewer another soldier. Before taking to the sky again, she looks at Gaius. "Go catch up with the hostages! We've got this under control!"
Gaius replies, "See if you can't help Libra too! He's stuck inside with more of them!" and runs after the hostages. Thankfully, they had the good sense to stick together, so when he catches up, it's just a matter of leading them out. With their glacial pace, they feel like an iron weight attached to Gaius' ankle, but they continue to make slow, steady progress toward the northwest wall.
After what feels like an eternity, they finally reach that blessed hole in the wall. The group squeezes through the hole, and Nowi is there, shivering in the cold, to greet them.
"Hiya! I'm Nowi! Gaius, if you're here, is that the last of them?"
Gaius leans against the wall next to the hole and slumps to the ground. "Yeah. That's the last of them."
"Great! When Libra gets here, I'll close up the hole then!"
"Even if Libra is coming, he won't be coming through here. Close up the wall now," Gaius replies, his gut churning with worry.
"What do you mean, 'if'?" Nowi asks.
"He, uh… he was in pretty bad condition when I left him, and that was at least ten minutes ago. The pegasus riders came to the rescue, but I don't know if they'll be able to help him inside the dungeon," Gaius explains.
Nowi's face falls. "Oh. Okay. Well, just gimme a sec, and I'll have the wall closed up again." In front of the terrified hostages, Nowi transforms and flies over the wall, and the sound of crashing rubble fills the air as Nowi plugs the hole with debris once more.
Exhausted, Gaius leads the last eight hostages to the fire, where the other ninety-two share blankets and crowd as close to the fire as they can get. For his part, Gaius stands off to the side, trying not to think about anything.
Donnel finds him after a few minutes. "Oh, Gaius! I'm glad you made it out alright. Where's Libra?" he asks cheerfully, having just been chatting with some of the freed townsfolk.
Gaius sighs. "I don't know, Slick. Hopefully Sumia and the others can get him out, but…"
Donnel's expression darkens to match the thief's. "Ah. Well, here's hopin', right?"
Gaius nods slowly. "Yeah. Here's hoping."
Libra hears fighting outside the dungeon. He hopes his staying behind is actually going to help give Gaius and the hostages time to escape. At the very least, he owes it to them to give his best effort.
By now, the mages have gotten wise and backed off, and he fends off attacks from multiple swordsmen at once. A large cut on his leg bleeds freely, and he can already feel his vision fading. Even if he turned and ran now, he wouldn't get far.
Despite everything, he can't help but smile to himself. It might be arrogant of him, but he thinks of how far he's come. He spent so many years as a killer, a thief, a monster of a human. But the kindness of a priest helped him turn his back on his criminal ways, and he was reborn, a man of the gods. He was given the chance to dedicate the rest of his life to healing others and showing them the right path, as had been done for him.
He hopes he has done the same for Randall as his mentor had done for him. He remembers as if it were yesterday, the terrifying similarities he saw between his old self and the man on the bridge throwing himself fully into the fight, thirsting for blood and far out of control. He saw in Randall the desire to improve, and indeed he has. Randall promised to found an orphanage with him, to dedicate his life to helping others as Libra had done.
Libra falls to his back. "I'm sorry, Randall," he tells the dark ceiling above him. "Looks like I was the one who couldn't keep that promise."
Still, he thinks of the little children, the last two people to run out of this wretched dungeon before Gaius left to lead them to safety. If his life has meant that even those young ones can live, he dares to think that maybe, by the grace of the gods, he has managed to redeem himself in time to meet his heavenly fathers face to face.
It takes a while to walk around the city, but there's nothing for it. We march, tired but cautiously optimistic, around the east side of the city, stopping at the east gate campsite to get a bite to eat before pressing on to the south. After all, where there used to be a gate, there's now a three-person-wide hole. If there's going to be a security risk after today, it'll be that.
As the afternoon quickly turns to evening, we finally reach the southern side of the city, where the systematic retreat of the Feroxi looks to be almost finished. While Basilio oversees the retreat, Flavia comes over to us to greet us as soon as she sees us.
"So it worked, then? The food is destroyed?" she asks, unable to hide the smile on her face. She must have seen my signal too, after all.
"Yes. All of the Plegians' food is either destroyed or ours now," I reply.
Flavia laughs triumphantly. "Yes! That'll show those cowardly Plegians what happens when you play dirty and hide behind walls and human bodies alike."
Over the next decently long while, the rest of the Feroxi make their way out of the city. The Plegians elect not to pursue, a smart move on their part. Still, we're quick to install a triple-strength gate guard force to keep an eye on the permanently open gate.
The next people to arrive are the royal guard. They look absolutely exhausted. I decide to let them save their report for later, as they all shuffle over to their camp.
All except Sumia, who insists on toughing it out and staying to talk with me. "Robin, I think all the hostages got out."
My heart flutters in my chest. "Excellent. Really excellent."
But Sumia's face tells a different story. "But… Libra didn't make it out. He stayed behind to give Gaius and the last of the soldiers time to escape. We tried to get into the dungeon and help him, but by the time we arrived…"
I don't know what I feel. "You're sure he's… dead? He's not just unaccounted for?"
Sumia's lip trembles. "N-no. I saw him. He's gone."
I breathe slowly, carefully. I can't lose my head. "I… see. Thank you for telling me. Is everyone else alright?"
"The two Feroxi that went with them died as well. Aside from that, everyone in Gaius' group made it out fine," Sumia says, her voice wobbling dangerously as tears well in her eyes.
"Okay. Thanks again. You should go get some rest with the others. Please do it now," I command. She nods and goes off to join the others, not managing to get three steps away before she starts sobbing.
My legs feel numb. I sit on the ground, the snow crunching under my weight. I cradle my head in my hands.
What on earth am I going to tell Randall?
Numb.
The next few days feel numb. Of course the news of Libra's death spreads to the rest of the Shepherds quickly. The deaths of Libra, Serenity, and numerous Feroxi soldiers who gave their lives on the front lines tinge our victory with a bitterness that renders the outcome hardly palatable. Some of the Shepherds, like Gaius and Sumia, take Libra's death particularly hard, and largely keep to themselves. I'm not about to blame them for that. And still there is no word from Campari on whether or not he will surrender.
Occasionally a lone Plegian soldier will approach the south gate by himself, hands raised, requesting to be allowed to leave. From these soldiers we learn that conditions inside the walls are growing more dire by the day. The soldiers scour the buildings of the city, searching for scraps to eat. Infighting among the men breaks out occasionally over what little food there is. The cold and the hunger is slowly driving the men to attempt to leave without orders. Our policy is to search them, take away all weapons they are carrying, and send them west with a courtesy loaf of bread as a reward for being smart and getting out while the getting is good.
There's an eerie stillness to these days. It seems like no one wants to do much of anything. For my part, with nothing else to do, I start drafting plans for when I can leave for Themis. The moment things are secure here, I want to get moving, no matter who else is or isn't willing to come with me.
One evening, I'm doing just that in the command wagon when Lissa enters.
"Hey Robin, I was wondering if you'd come join us. We're celebrating a couple birthdays we missed while we were all caught up in planning and stuff. Gregor's birthday was a couple weeks ago, he just didn't tell me until it was too late, and it's Miriel's birthday today. Gaius made her a cake," she says.
"Oh, sure, I guess," I say. Maybe taking my mind off everything and just celebrating with everyone would be the best thing for me right now.
Lissa leads me to the fire, where Miriel and Gregor sit at the center of the group with everyone else gathered around them. Miriel has a rare, sheepish smile, while Gregor beams proudly at being placed at the center of attention. Based on the open flask in his hand, I'm assuming he put himself in a good mood before the others even brought him here.
"Hey everyone! I brought Robin. That's everyone, right?" Lissa asks, then slaps her hand over her mouth ashamedly. Everyone shrugs it off, but we all understand.
Not everyone is here anymore.
As I get settled between Vaike and Cordelia, Lissa speaks up. "Okay everybody. Thanks for coming and being with us today. I know we aren't really in the mood to celebrate lately, but maybe that's all the more reason to recognize when something good happens. And we have a lot to be thankful for. We were able to rescue all the townsfolk being held captive. We won the battle. And today, we've got more than one birthday to recognize." Lissa pauses. "Gregor, how old are you now, anyway?"
Gregor shrugs. "Gregor did not know he was supposed to keep track."
Lissa blinks, then shrugs in reply. "Fair enough, I guess. Anyway, it's actually Miriel's birthday today, so that's all the more we have to celebrate. And to do that, we've actually scrounged together some supplies and made a cake for you. Stahl?"
Stahl rushes off to his tent and returns with a modest little six inch by six inch cake. "There's not a whole lot to go around, so I hope everyone's okay with basically getting just a taste of what I'd normally make with a fully stocked kitchen." Of course, everyone understands. Little pieces of cake are cut and passed around to everyone to be eaten out of their hands.
Lissa holds up her piece like a glass. "To Gregor and Miriel!"
"To Gregor and Miriel!"
Something about those little pieces of cake seems to break the spell over this group a little bit. People start talking, smiling, even laughing again.
"Oh Robin, you been hearing the rumors?" Vaike asks me all of a sudden.
"I don't think so. What rumors do you mean?"
"The Feroxi guys have been talking about it for a while. They say there's a group operating in the south that's been taking the fight to the Plegians. Liberating towns and all that. But they're really clear that they're not working with the Shepherds either, like they don't want to be associated with us."
My mind immediately starts racing. I've long suspected that whoever it is that kidnapped Randall, they aren't Plegian themselves. Could this be who did it? "What else have you heard about them?" I ask, trying not to sound overly eager.
"Well, it's a little conflicted sometimes. They call themselves the Patriots I guess, like a group that stands for the nation. But some of the Feroxi insist they actually plan to topple the Exalts and replace them as the rulers of the country, which you'd think is exactly what a patriot wouldn't do."
"Maybe they think it's the Exalts who don't represent the nation. A lot of people are still mad about the last Exalt before Emmeryn, after all," I reply.
"Yeah, that's true. I guess I could see it. Anyway, here's the cool part. They've got two leaders who appear in public. One of them is only called the knight in black. He's a wyvern rider who I hear is unmatched in the air. And the other one is this guy who always wears a white mask when he appears in public. He never actually fights, he just shows up after the battle is over and speaks to everyone. He's like the organizer. Like you maybe, minus the actually going into battle. Anyway, they say he goes by the name Thomas Pain."
I raise an eyebrow. "Thomas Pain? That seems a little… weird. Why would you call yourself that if you wanted people to follow you?"
"Beats me. Maybe he figures if he sounds tough, that'll inspire folks to get behind him. But in that case, why doesn't he fight? Maybe he's too old or something."
"Yeah, maybe…" I say. Vaike's conversation drifts elsewhere, but what he told me sticks in my mind. If this group, the Patriots, is real, and if they're the ones who took Randall, then they're my newest enemies. And these guys at the head of the group, the knight in black and Thomas Pain, they've got a lot to answer for. In fact, Marth said she saw Randall get taken off the battlefield by a Plegian wyvern rider when he was kidnapped. If she's right, and if these rumors are true, he might very well be the culprit. My temper flares up just thinking about it. If only this damned general would just–
"Prince Chrom! I would speak with you, if you would allow it!"
The voice booms over the chatter of the birthday celebration, shocking everyone into silence. In an instant, everyone has their weapons at the ready; General Campari has appeared at the broken south gate. For the first time since Golgotha, he appears without his bodyguards. No defense, no shields, just him.
The man looks much worse than when I last saw him. The months since we battled him at Golgotha seem to have aged him several years, and his face is scarred. I wonder if Tharja's and my magic did that to him.
Chrom and I stand, swords in hand, to meet him.
"What do you want, General Campari?" Chrom asks.
Campari raises his hands over his head, palms facing us.
"I have come to surrender."
A/N: Well, I hope it's at least clear by now why this took so long to put out there. I actually originally wrote this as one chapter, but then I thought that it would just be uncharitable to ask people to consume a 23,000+ word chapter, so you guys get the double feature instead. My life is about to get very crazy with my first finals season of law school, so I wanted to get this out before it's too late.
I don't have much to say about this chapter. I think it mostly speaks for itself. I'm prepared for some upset readers, for sure, and I'll deserve it. As always, my man Mixed Valence needs a shoutout for bearing with me over the long two months and helping me shape this absolute monster of a chapter (now two chapters) into something readable. Additionally, this time around I must also thank Narwhal Lord, author of All the World's a Sale, for being my second pair of eyes on this chapter. Both deserve big props for their help with this chapter. And now, your Mixed Valence out of context quote of the week: "But at least every time I see q(el) I think, ah, yes, Edelgard, she would call me a fuckin nerd and then stab me."
I thought I'd try doing what I always said I would do and never actually did because I'm garbage. I'd like to start trying to respond to reviews here so that folks know I really do read and appreciate every one. Let's get into the reviews of last chapter!
DestructionDragon360: Did you call me Hotdog, or was that just an interjection? Anyway, thank you for your kind words as always. I'm glad you find the conflict so engaging. And sorry for the wait, but I hope this double-tap chapter was worth it!
ivantmyburd: That makes two of us! I too am rooting for Randall to get back to the gang just as soon as he can. If only I could stop putting so many obstacles in his way… Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Lucina update here!
Bioyoshi: One of my favorite things about this arc has been the exploration of what early democracy often looks like. It's a very messy process, involving a lot of compromise and a fair bit of corruption, as I like to think I've shown here. It's not necessarily the Grand Panacea of political systems like we tend to think of it in the West. Getting to explore its more unsavory side is a lot of fun.
A fan: Trust me, we've talked about it. Do the words 'Summer Scramble' mean anything to you? ;)
Gfish59: To be honest, I was wondering when I would start getting reviews like that. Not that you're wrong to say what you think, of course, and I very much appreciate you being the canary in the coal mine on when my arcs are starting to wear out their welcome with some. I hope it's apparent now that I'm at least endeavoring to make progress toward the arc's close.
V01dSw0rd: Something tells me that by the time Luci actually gets to Randall, she's not gonna be interested in trying to back up any stories he's telling. She'd prefer the break in and break out method lol
Vrazi: See the Gfish59 response.
Rileva: Hectic enough for ya? But really, thank you so much for your kind words. It means a lot to have the time and effort I put into BaRD so expressly acknowledged.
Jackofalltrades32456: I was interested to get your take on the Patriots! Usually I hear folks either wishing the Pats would fold over into the Shepherds or otherwise just roll over and die, but you champion their cause. I'm glad I was able to write a faction that gets such a polarized response, because it suggests I'm doing at least something right!
Harmless Orange: I'm still a little torn myself on how far to take this Patriots versus Shepherds conflict, but as this chapter suggests, this is only the beginning for them. I hope you'll enjoy what's to come!
theaceoffire: Sometimes it be like that. I've definitely done my share of head-up-ass moves in relationships in an effort to do the right thing, only to make things worse. Sometimes it's hard to see the bigger picture and recognize the shortsightedness of our choices. That's something our boi has had to learn over time.
AlienPenguine: I'm sorry I killed your favorite ship. Even though I had decided right from the beginning that that was what I was going to do, I still occasionally wonder to myself what could have been.
Guest: Imma be real with you homie, I have no idea what you're going for with that review.
Izanuma: One of my favorite things as an author is watching the reviews come in from someone who's updating me on their thoughts as they go along. It's always a real treat to see how certain events get responses from them in real time like that. Thank you for your kind praise of MV's, Syn's, and my work!
Vivienne001: Same as Izanuma, it was super fun to see your thoughts as you went along. I'm glad you seem to have enjoyed so far!
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As always, comments and critiques are welcome. See you next time!