Author's Notes:

So it turns out, this was actually a pretty short chapter. I mean, nothing too crazy happens in the game. However, I expect the next chapter to contain significantly more excitement and/or fluff.

If you're not too busy and enjoying my story so far, be sure to leave a review!

Edit: I noticed a couple of errors, so I'm reposting the chapter with the errors fixed.

With that, here is chapter 5:

Along the road to Longfort…

Chrom and his company continued to march on after their encounter with the Risen. Surprisingly, and to the relief of everyone, they didn't encounter any more of the undead after the first incident.

Although everyone was visibly tired, Chrom insisted that they pressed on, saying that if they did, they could reach Regna Ferox by the end of the day. However, because their skirmish with the Risen took up much of the valuable time in a day, the sky had already gone dark before they were within several kilometers of the border. The temperature fell significantly with the setting sun, and to make things worse, it also began to snow.

"Brrrr!" Lissa exclaimed. "F-F-Frederick! It's freezing!"

The Great Knight managed to let out a chuckle. "Stand beside my horse, milady. He will help shelter you from the wind."

Robin squinted towards a fort in the distance illuminated by torches. "So this is the fortress you were talking about, Chrom?" "Yes." The blue haired prince replied. "The Longfort. It stretches along the border of Ylisse and Regna Ferox."

Frederick nodded. "The khans that rule Ferox have grown quite weary of foreigners. Still, don't mistake their lack of hospitality for open hostility. This simply calls for a bit of diplomacy." Chrom nodded. "Negotiation is not my strong suit, but I will try my best." Then he turned to address everyone. "Remember, your actions here reflect upon Ylisse!"

As they approached the fort, a female armored knight atop the walls called down to them. "Halt! Who goes there?"

Chrom stepped forward. "I am prince Chrom of the halidom of Ylisse. I seek an audience with the Khans."

"Not another step, my bold lad! I've lancers and archers at the ready." came the reply. This prompted Frederick to speak up. "Hold milady! We are not your enemy! Exalt Emmeryn herself sent us to discuss matters of mutual interest."

"My only interest is to keep you out of Regna Ferox, brigand!" the knight replied. "B-brigand!?" Frederick stammered. "Now see here…"

"You think you're the first 'Ylisseans' to attempt to cross our border? I have the authority to fell imposters such as yourselves where they stand." the knight declared. "How dare you!" Frederick replied in anger. "You are in the presence of Prince Chrom, the exalt's own blood!"

"Ha!" the knight scoffed. "And I'm the queen of Valm! You do realize impersonating royalty is a capital offense, yes?" Then she seemed to pause as if in thought. "Mmm… perhaps we can settle this the Feroxi way. You claim to be the prince of Ylisse? Then prove it on the battlefield!"

"Rgh!" Chrom gritted his teeth. "Emm won't like this at all. Please my good lady! If you'll just listen-" "I've heard quite enough." the knight interrupted. "All forces, attack!"

At this, several lancers atop the walls of the fort threw their javelins. Chrom braced himself, fearing the worst, but instead gets whisked away by a pegasus. Chrom was dazed for a moment. "S-sumia!?" he exclaimed in shock. The ex-spear fighter turned around and smiled at him. "Better hold on tight, Captain. It could get bumpy."

At this, Chrom blushed slightly and looked away. "Uh… Right." This caused Sumia to giggle slightly. "You'll be fine." she told him. "I'm just glad I made it in time!" It was Chrom's turn to smile. "And that goes double for me! Is this the same ornery pegasus we met in the field?" "Oh, she's a sweetheart isn't she? Once you get to know her…"

At this point, they landed safely next to the rest of the shepherds. Robin pulled out the Hekseer.

"Hmm… it looks like our opponents will approach us in a scissor maneuver: one group from the right and one from the left." He covered his mouth in deep thought. "They outnumber us heavily… if only we had more frontline units to work with…" His thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. "I'm here! I can be a frontline unit!" "Gah!" exclaimed a startled Robin. He looked up to see an armored knight in orange armor standing in front of him.

"K-kellam?" Chrom asked. "How long have you- were you with us all along?" "Yeah, I was." the knight replied. "I was a little bit confused why Robin was not giving me any orders in the last fight, so I just did what looked like I should do. I guess he must've just missed me like everyone else does."

Robin shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Well, I must admit, having an armored knight makes my plans a lot easier to execute." He grinned. "You are a little late in speaking up, but hey, better late than never." he then refocused on the Hekseer. "Maybe we could form up like this… no, what if instead…." As he was brainstorming, Lissa cried out in panic. "Hurry up Robin! They're coming at us! And they don't look very happy!"

"Why don't we just form two walls with the sturdier units, and leave the squishy ones between the two?" Frederick proposed, only to receive a firm shake of his head from Robin. "An amateur move, sir Frederick." He indicated a few of the pieces on the grid. "We don't have enough people to execute a plan like that. Instead, this is what we'll do. We have all the heavily armored units take the left side, and everyone else on the right." Frederick scratched his head. "That would be unwise. The right side will be completely exposed." Robin grinned. "Right. But that's only if we give our opponents an opportunity to strike our right flank. Instead, we charge at the soldiers coming at us from the left and take them all out before the two sides can meet. Then we change sides so that the armored units are on the right side in and fight the soldiers incoming from that side." He gestured at the grid, much to the confusion of mostly everyone.

Robin looked up and gave instructions. "Chrom, I want you to pair with Sumia, and Sully, with Stahl. Kellem you will go with Frederick. The three pairs form a wall on our left flank and charge at the enemy. Virion, Miriel, follow closely behind and attack from a range. Vaike, your job is to guard our backside, just in case they close in on us quicker than anticipated. Your job is to protect Lissa and I." At this point, Robin turned and gave Vaike a serious look. "I'm counting on you to fight against half the Feroxi forces and win. This is not something to take lightly." At this, Vaike grinned in joy. "Of course! You can always count on ol' Teach!"

"Good!" Robin declared. "Try not to kill the Feroxi if it can be avoided. Just knocking them out should be sufficient. Let's begin this operation!" At this, everyone moved to fulfill their obligations in the plan Robin had set out for them.

Sully and Stahl charged forward, tag teaming an archer. Stahl knocked the bow out of his opponent's hands with his sword while Sully swung the butt of her lance around, knocking out the Feroxi with a fierce swing to his head.

Meanwhile, Kellam and Frederick fought an enemy spear fighter. Despite his best efforts, the Feroxi could not deal any meaningful damage to either the knight or the Great Knight. He too was quickly knocked unconscious.

Another archer aimed at Sumia, but the pegasus knight flew higher out of his range. This gave Chrom enough time to close in on the distracted Feroxi soldier. He slammed the butt of his sword into the soldier's skull, removing him from the fight.

"Robin!" Lissa cried out in alarm. "More soldiers are coming from our backside!"

A few spear fighters charged at them from the other direction. "Vaike! Help me intercept those lancers!" {Chrom, your group should be almost finished disposing of the Feroxi on that side. Send Sully and Stahl over to our side as soon as possible. You take Sumia, Frederick and Kellam and prepare to take control of the staircase that leads to an entrance to the fort.}

{Got it} he heard the prince reply in his head.

"You're gonna regret ever messing with ol' Teach!" Vaike declared as he brought down his axe. The spear fighter tried to block the strike by holding his lance out horizontally, but it was clear that his strength was nowhere near that of the axeman. "Rebarbative fool!" Miriel said as she threw a fireball at the lancer struggling in a deadlock with Vaike. The spell hit the Feroxi in the chest and caused the soldier to lose the rest of the strength he had left. The dropped his lance and fell backwards on his rump. Vaike walked over to him and picked him up by the collar. He proceeded to give the Feroxi a wide smile before knocking the man's lights out with a punch to the face.

Meanwhile, Robin was engaging with a second spear fighter with his scythe. Robin had to be on the defensive because he knew that so much as a scratch to his opponent could potentially kill him. The lance fighter lunged at him, and he managed to hook the tip of the spear with the crook of his scythe. He raised the weapon, making his opponent's stab redirect upwards, over his head.

"Now, Virion!" the tactician shouted. The archer in question took the opportunity to shoot an arrow into the shoulder of the Feroxi. Robin took this opportunity to lean in. "An archer doesn't have many ways to disarm you without serious injury." He whispered to him. "And my weapon isn't a typical one either. It will start to sap you of your life energy with just… one… cut." He paused between each of the last three words, emphasizing his point. "The way I see it, you have two options: one, you keep resisting and we'll be forced to… silence you for good. Two, you drop your weapon and scurry back to your allies, in order to nurse your injuries." In answer, he received an aggressive grunt from the Feroxi, not refusing to back down. "Virion!" Robin called to the archer, and the man in question let fly another arrow, this time to the spear fighter's leg. With that, the Feroxi finally released his grip from his weapon, and let it drop to the ground.

Robin withdrew his scythe as well, and allowed the Feroxi soldier to hobble back towards the right entrance of the fort. He saw Sully and Stahl speed past them as they rushed over and removed a Feroxi mercenary from the equation.

Robin took out his Hekseer again and surveyed his surroundings. {Ok, everyone meet up at the base of the left staircase} he commanded. Everyone immediately began to head over in that direction. Once there, Robin began to issue a new set of instructions.

"Alright, the staircase is very narrow. One pair of people can hold back an entire company at the top of the staircase. Miriel and I will blow open the door using magic, and Frederick and Kellem will sit at the top. Virion will support you two from behind with arrows." He paused, looking at the heavily armored pair. "There IS a soldier with a hammer up there. As soon as you see him approaching, call it out." He then turned to Chrom and Sumia. "When that happens, I need you to fly Chrom over and take out the hammer wielder. Once the hammer is down, the rest of us can rush up and fortify our positions at the top of the fort. Afterwards, we'll begin to make our way to their leader and take them out."

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement. With that, Kellem and Frederick took the front of the formation. Robin and Miriel, according to plan, each primed a thunder blast and fireball respectively and blew up the door at the top of the staircase. With that, the armored pair rushed to the top of the staircase.

Most of the Feroxi atop the fort rushed at the two, but they could not make a dent in the seemingly impenetrable defenses of the Armored Knight and the Great Knight. The pair disabled four enemy soldiers with the help of Virion before the hammer wielding axeman got close.

"He's here!" Frederick exclaimed. "Now!" Robin commanded at Sumia, and the pegasus knight took to the air. As the axeman rushed the Great Knight, he was surprised by the flying horse dropping down in front of him. Chrom dismounted from the pegasus and slashed at the Feroxi.

The Feroxi didn't have a chance. Hammers were simply too clumsy to use against a faster unit such as Chrom-especially since he's also a sword user. Once the axeman was defeated, Robin made a new command. {Make sure to take his hammer away, and give it to Vaike}

"The Vaike doesn't need a new weapon!" The axeman protested. "It's so you can use it to defeat their leader." Robin reassured him, earning a wide smile from the fighter at being given such an important task.

Everyone slowly made their way to the top of the staircase. By the time everyone was up there, most of the soldiers on top of the fortress had been disabled. One last Armored Knight made its way over, but was dissuaded by a perfectly aimed fireball from Miriel.

The group made their way over to the female Armored Knight.

"Surrender!" Chrom stepped up. "You have lost." In response, he only got laughter. "I am Raimi, proud knight of Regna Ferox! Let our battle sound the truth of your words!"

With that, Raimi leveled her lance and charged the group. Vaike prepared to go in with his new weapon, but Chrom put up his hand. "This has to be my battle." He said.

Chrom drew his Falchion and ran to meet the Armored Knight. He dodged the initial lunge from her spear, and closed in, slashing across her heavy armor. Had it been a normal sword, it would not have even made a scratch. However, the legendary weapon was able to fare slightly better, causing a large horizontal scratch to appear over the heavy armor.

Raimi tried to bash Chrom with her shield, but the prince sidestepped and got behind her. He slashed the Armored Knight behind the knees and kicked her in the back, knocking her over. Chrom placed a foot on her back, and held Falchion to the back of her unprotected neck.

"As I said before, surrender! You have lost." The victorious prince informed Raimi. "T-then your claims were true…" she managed to get out.

A few moment later…

The shepherds helped facilitate the recovery of the Feroxi soldiers, and Lissa even went around to heal some of them with her staff.

"A thousand apologies, Prince Chrom." Raimi said as she bowed to the foreign royal. "I truly mistook your company for brigands. It was dark and we could not see clearly, so we expected a group seeking to enter Ferox to have poor intentions." She straightened up. "But no frauds could ever hope to wage a battle as clean as that one. Although some were seriously injured, not a single of our soldiers was killed in the process. I will send word of your arrival to the capital and escort you there personally. " Chrom smiled. "That would be most appreciated. Thank you."

As Raimi left to go find a messenger, Robin approached Chrom. "That… was amazing. It's like her whole demeanor changed." "In Ferox, strength speaks louder than words." Frederick explained. "I should have known better than to overestimate the chances for diplomacy here. Although, you played a major part in our victories today. Had the commander been me, I would probably have attempted to hold our ground and take down both approaching armies simultaneously."

Robin scratched the back of his head and grinned. "It only worked because the distance between the two enemy groups were so far away. Had the fort been shorter, our backline would have gotten slaughtered."

"So can we get inside the fort?" Lissa interrupted. "It's only getting colder."

"Yes, we should." Replied her brother. "We won't be able to get to the Feroxi capital tonight. Everyone should go inside and rest up."

The interior of the Longfort

A few moments later, everyone had made their way inside. Stahl, Sully and Frederick had yet to come back from bringing their horses to the stables. Everyone else was setting up bedrolls and getting ready to sleep.

Robin was in his corner, reading by the dim light of the inner torches. He was deep in concentration, so he didn't realize when Sully and Stahl came back from the stables, laughing about something. He also barely registered the Feroxi soldiers handing out some stew, even though he finished his portion. He even didn't realize when everyone stopped talking and began to go to bed. Robin didn't care. He continued to be engrossed in the novel he brought from the library at the Shepherd's garrison.

It was already well into the night. Lissa, who was sleeping near the entrance, was woken up by the cold wind that got through the cracks of the doors of the fort. She sits up and rubs her eyes.

"Huh?" the Ylissean princess wondered. "Why is Robin still awake?" The man in question was sitting on his bedroll, leaning his back against the wall with his face in a book. Feeling quite cold, the mischievous princess decided to take a chance.

Lissa quietly moved over and sat herself down to the Shepherd's tactician, leaning on his shoulder and startling him. "Lissa?" Robin wondered. "Why aren't you asleep?" "I was, but I got woken up because it was too cold." She rubbed her face against the tacticians shoulder affectionately. "But it's much warmer here." she explained.

Robin sighed. "Alright, suit yourself." "So… whatcha readin'?" the princess inquired. Robin smiled. "'The Waltz of the Three Kingdoms'. It's partially based on the history of the Valmese continent, but with some parts… exaggerated or altered to make it seem more like a work of fiction." he explained. "Well, would you mind reading to me?" the princess said, smiling up to him. "If you read quietly, you won't wake anyone." Robin chuckled. He began to read aloud.

About an hour later...

"... and so, Guan'Yu pulled his dragon crescent blade out of the corpse of the Valmese commander. He had slain the sixth general and passed through five Valmese checkpoints. 'Fare thee well.' The Great Knight exclaimed as he motioned for his company to continue their travel. He estimated that in three days time he could be reunited with his brother Liu'Bei…" Robin stopped reading for a moment to the sound of Lissa's steady breathing. In her sleep, she seemed extremely at peace. Robin smiled. 'The march today must've really tired her out.' he mused.

The tactician gently moved his body and helped the princess lay down on his bedroll. He covered the princess with a blanket and made his way to Lissa's original bedroll. 'I guess I should get some sleep. Who knows what will transpire tomorrow?' he thought to himself.

And so, Robin put away his book and despite the cold, began to sleep…

Sumia: Age: 17

Class Change: Pegasus Knight

Kellam: Age: 20

Class: Armored Knight