Author's Notes:
So as many of you probably know if you've played the game, Donnel's hometown is nowhere on the way back to Ylisstol from Ferox. In fact, it's in the complete opposite direction. However, it never really made sense to me why Chrom would head to the very SouthEast of Ylisse. Therefore, in my story, the Farfort is located on their way back to Ylisse. This was the best way, in my opinion, to be able to seamlessly incorporate Donnel into my story.
Furthermore, in accordance to Fire Emblem games, supports will be a vital part of my story. I understand that not everyone will be happy with every pairing, but I have to pick them anyways. It's better than leaving it completely out of the story. If you want, you can leave a review and take a guess about who I will put with who.
Pretty long Author's Notes, but here's chapter 7:
On the road back from Regna Ferox, near the Farfort…
Chrom and the shepherds were in the middle of marching back home, their spirits extremely high. Robin noticed Sully and Stahl riding side by side, laughing about something together. They had seemed to grow closer and closer as the shepherds fought more battles.
Vaike was still loudly telling everyone of his feats in the Feroxi arena, despite the fact that everyone had been present that day. "We know already!" Lissa repeated over and over again. "We were all there, you know!"
Virion seemed to be attempting to avoid Miriel for some reason. He'd been doing that for the last couple of days now.
Frederick was diligently reminding everyone to take breaks at the proper times, and making sure everyone began marching when the amount of time allotted for breaks passed exactly.
Sumia was flying above them, her pegasus happily enjoying the freedom of flight.
Robin smiled. Even though he lost his memories and even though he hadn't spent too much time with them, the shepherds felt like family to him by now.
Suddenly, the shepherds heard a loud cry for help. A young villager boy ran up to the group. He was wearing an oddly shaped pot on his head.
"Halp! You've gots to help us! I's beggin' you, milords!" the boy screamed. Chrom motioned for everyone to stop. "Slow down, what happened?" he asked.
At this moment, a brigand appeared out of the woods behind the boy. "Oy! There's the wee piglet!" he exclaimed and let out a cackle.
Chrom gritted his teeth. "Great. Bandits. Just what we needed."
The brigand took notice of Chrom and his group. "What's this? A young lordling has come to watch over his chattel?" he laughed to himself. Then, the brigand took a closer look at the group. "Aw, damn me! It's the shepherds!" then, he took off, back in the direction he came from.
Chrom turned to the boy. "Quickly, lad. What happened here?" "Y-yes milord! Right away, yer lordshipness. Er…. if it please yer graciousness…" the boy stammered. Chrom held up his hand. "Maybe hold off the titles for now. What's your name?"
The boy adjusted the pot on his head. "Donny, er… Donnel, yer Majestyful. I live in the village just beyond, sir." At this, he pointed in the direction he had run from. Chrom nodded. "I guess that'll do. Now, what happened?"
"That rotten-toothed, pig-stinkin' bandit you just ran off attacked us! Er, pardon my language, You Lordliness. I'm the only one what got away, and even then just barely. They were roundin' up others to haul 'em off to a bandit camp… " He got onto his knees and put his hands together in a praying position. "Please, sir! You's gots to save them folks! My ma's one of 'em, and… She's all I got in this world! Please, Yer Royal Highness!"
Chrom gritted his teeth. "There seem to be more evils spawning by the day. All right, Donny, we'll save your ma. Can you lead us to them?" Donnel seemed to be extremely grateful. "Aww, thanks you milords! Just follow me, your sirness!"
With that, Donnel ran off in the direction he originally came from, with the Shepherds closely tailing him.
A few minutes later…
Donnel led the shepherds until they could see the ruins of a village. "This is where they've taken up camp, your lordshipness." Chrom grimaced. "Er…. right. Thanks Donny, remember to stay close, and don't take on too many people at once."
"Beg pardon, milords?" The boy seemed to question whether he heard the prince correctly. "I...I can't fight, sirs! I ain't never even stuck a pig b'fore!"
Chrom frowned. "Oh, sorry. I just assumed…" he paused for a moment. "Look… just stay here, you'll be fine."
Donnel's made a determined expression. "I wish I could be as strong as you sirs and madams! Kick that scum out single handed, I would!" Chrom nodded and smiled. "Then you should fight and grow stronger." he suggested.
"But I ain't…" Donnel began. "No man is born a warrior, Donny." Robin interrupted. "And farm work makes for fine training. After all, a sickle is not far from a sword, although bandits may be tougher than wheat. However, the principle's the same."
Donnel took a deep breath. "A-all right, milords. As you say, I'm no warrior. But these're my people and I gots to do what I can!" "That's the spirit Donny!" Chrom exclaimed. "Now, what's the plan this time, Robin?"
Robin took out the Hekseer. "There are some bandits directly to the north of us. We will send our main force to fight them first. Sully will pair up with Stahl, and Kellam will pair with Frederick. You two pairs, along with Lon'qu will be our main frontline fighters."
"Hey! What about ol' Teach?" Vaike interrupted. Robin smiled as he put an arm around the axeman's shoulder. "Boy do I have an important job for you!" at this, Vaike's eyes lit up. "Well? Why don't you share it with the Vaike?"
"You're gonna be in charge of helping Donnel here. Think of yourself as his mentor: show him the ropes of combat." At this, Vaike became confused on whether he should feel honored or not. "Trust me, it's a very important task." Robin emphasized again, and the axeman finally conceded.
"Now then, there's an enemy fighter extremely close to us. Virion and Miriel, I need the two of you to soften him up. Then Vaike and Donnel will run in, and finish him off. After you're done, follow behind our frontline with Lissa and assist them from a distance."
Chrom counted the number of people on his fingers. "That just leaves you, me and Sumia." he concluded.
"Right." Robin nodded. "The three of us will go directly to our East. There is an area where the village wall is broken, so we can into the bandit's nest undetected. The brigands assigned to that area all use axes, so Chrom will be able to deal with them handily. Sumia and myself will provide cover for him."
He looked up at everyone. "Remember, I will be able to hear you through my Hekseer even if I'm far away. Don't be alarmed if I give you orders either." The main group nodded. "Now let's begin. Come, Chrom, Sumia."
As planned, Miriel and Virion launched a volley of attacks from the cover of the woods at the nearest axeman. He got caught by surprised and was knocked to the ground. The last thing he heard was "This is for m'pa!" before he was killed by a pitchfork through the chest.
Vaike gave the farm boy a thumbs up. "Nice, that's your first kill! Good goin', makin' ol' Teach proud!" Donnel nodded with a look of determination on his face. "Y-yessir! I-I can do it!"
The rest of the Shepherds charged past them and engaged the other bandits. Sully and Stahl ran straight at an archer. The bandit was just preparing to shoot his arrow at the exposed Vaike before Stahl ran in and slashed the bow in half and Sully impaled the soldier on her lance.
After confirming her kill, Sully looked up and smiled at the verdant cavalier, giving him a thumbs up. "Nice one! Just like what we practiced!" Stahl laughed in response. "Ha! Too right!"
Donnel looked in awe at the cooperation between the shepherds. Nearby, Kellam and Frederick easily slew an enemy thief, who had absolutely no way of dealing a scratch to the heavily armored duo. Donnel turned his head to see Lon'qu wipe his killing edge clean of the blood of a fallen axeman.
"Well golly gosh! Y'all work t'gether so good!" the farm boy exclaimed. Vaike wrapped an arm around Donnel's shoulder. "You ain't seen nothin' yet! Once Robin came to us, the shepherds have become invincible!"
"Is he really that good?" Donnel wondered for a second. He took a deep breath. "I want to learn to fight like y'all! C'mon, let's not fall behind!" The farm boy ran forward, following closely behind the shepherds that had run ahead. Vaike chucked and began to jog after him.
Meanwhile, Chrom followed Robin's suggestion and fought past two fighters. A third axeman ran at him, and Chrom engaged on him as well. However, this time, an archer ran up as well and began to take aim at Sumia.
"Sumia! Up!" Robin called, and the pegasus knight obliged. As the archer took aim at the elevating pegasus, Robin took the opportunity to launch a thunderbolt at the distracted archer. This knocked the bandit down, which gave Sumia the opportunity to nose dive and kill him with her lance.
{What's your status over there?} Robin called to the other group. {We've just finished getting rid of the brigands outside the village} he heard Frederick reply. {Good. Begin to advance into the village, and have yourself and Kellam sit at the chokepoints. When they try to engage of you, Virion and Miriel can pick them off from a distance. If they're still not dead, have Lon'qu or even Donnel finish them off.} he heard a chorus of affirmations. 'Donnel must be severely confused right about now…' Robin thought to himself, before turning back to Chrom and Sumia.
"Now, we charge through the woods located next to the village walls. We can try to get behind them as they all focus on our main force." "Right." Chrom and Sumia nodded.
In the distance, Robin could hear loud shouting, as more and more of the brigands began to move towards their main group. As some brigands ran past where they were hiding, Robin indicated with his hand for them to move. The three tried to move as quickly as possible without giving away their position.
They spotted a thief sneaking around the woods, no doubt trying to steal from the bandits while they were distracted. He wasn't prepared when Chrom slashed him across the chest, killing him instantly.
{How is it going over there?} Robin asked, taking out the Hekseer once more. {There's a lot of them over here, Frederick and Kellam are able to hold them off though. They don't have the room to swarm us at the same time. Taking control of the choke points was a great idea!} he heard Stahl reply. {Good. Buy us some time, we're sneaking in behind them. Make sure no one gets seriously hurt, Lissa.} He heard an affirmation from the cleric and closed the Hekseer.
"Alright, once we rush out, we have to be really fast." Robin told his two companions. "There's just one archer out there. Once he's down, Sumia should have free reign over the battlefield. I want you to take that guy down at all costs, Chrom." The prince nodded.
They charged out from the woods and took the few mobilizing brigands by surprise. True to his word, Chrom rushed the archer and killed him before he could fire a single arrow.
Sumia and Robin each took a side and began to clear the area of bandits. Robin fired thunderbolt after thunderbolt, and only took out his scythe when an enemy got too close. Sumia, on the other hand, used her superior speed and mobility to dodge around the bandits' feeble attempt to hit her, and looked for moments to strike with her lance. Her assaults may not have been quite as deadly, but the bandits slowly began to accumulate more and more injuries, until they bled to death.
Little by little, the three made their way towards the center of the village, slaughtering the unprepared brigands whenever they ran into them. Robin noticed a stronger looking brigand that looked to be the one giving orders. Robin snuck a peek at his Hekseer, and concluded he was just sending the brigands at the other group of shepherds with a human wave tactic.
'Not surprising. Brigands have never been good at strategizing.' he concluded. Furthermore, this only made it easier for the three of them, because there were only two axemen guarding the bandit leader.
"Charge at them on three." Robin whispered to Chrom and Sumia. He received two nods. "Ready…. Three!" the two were caught slightly by surprise, but quickly recovered. The three charged towards the brigand leader.
Once said brigand finally noticed the three of them, he brandished his axe. "Oho!? Someone dare challenge the great and mighty Roddick? It's time them castle welps learn what us wild-born men can do!"
Robin brought out his scythe and engaged the axeman on the right, while Sumia distracted the one of the left. This left Chrom to be able to charge straight to their leader.
Roddick brought his axe down on Chrom as he approached him, but the prince easily sidestepped it. "What the-" the bandit leader began. "No skill, whatsoever." the prince muttered as he slashed the brigand across his side.
Roddick staggered back, severely wounded but not beaten. "Why you-" he began, before roaring in rage. He seemed to enter a berserk state as he began to wildly swing at Chrom, leaving the prince on the defensive.
"No skill you say? I'll show you what skill looks like!" the brigand roared as he forced the prince back towards one of the walls on the edge of the city. Eventually, Chrom''s back was against the wall. Roddick brought his axe down, forcing Chrom to block it with his sword. Even though Chrom was strong, Roddick was stronger, as the axe began to inch closer and closer to Chrom's face.
"It's over, yer dead!" Roddick exclaimed as he began to laugh maniacally. Suddenly, he stopped. Roddick looked down at his stomach and found the blade of a scythe sticking out of his stomach. The effect was immediate. Roddick's arms felt like jelly and he dropped his axe, which allowed Chrom to relax.
"N-no… way… this ain't…." he managed to stammer aloud before he fell over, dead.
"Sorry it took so long." Robin began. "I had to help Sumia deal with the axe fighter she was fighting first."
Chrom smiled. "Thanks friend." Robin nodded. "Now let's go ambush the rest of the brigands from their backside. With their leader dead, there shouldn't be any problems handling the rest."
With that, the pair, as well as Sumia charged back through the village.
The rest of the shepherds were turtled just outside the entrance of the village, with Frederick and Kellam blocking the gate with their bodies. The two took the brunt of the brigands attacks as Virion and Miriel fired ranged attacks from behind them. Robin saw Sully, Stahl and Lon'qu taking out the ones that tried to sneak around the main entrance, one by one.
"Look! Chrom's here!" Lissa exclaimed in joy. Everyone turned, and while the shepherds all cheered, the brigands' morale suddenly plummeted.
It wasn't a contest after that. The brigands were stuck between the two blades of the meat grinder that was the shepherds. Some of them gave a futile resistance, but most of them tried to escape, only to trample over some of their own in the rush.
Chrom and Robin led the shepherds and hunted down as many of the brigands they could, until only a few of the lucky ones managed to get away.
"We did it! We done drove them bandits away for good and all!" Donnel exclaimed in joy. Chrom put a hand on his shoulder. "A worthy first victory. Vaike told me you fought bravely and that you beat four of them by yourself." The boy scratched the back of his neck and smiled. "Now," Chrom continued. "Do you know where these bandits kept the villagers?" Donnel nodded. "Sure, let me show you right quick yer majestfulness."
Donnel led the shepherds to where he had seen the brigands take the villagers. They were all huddled together in one of the village's corners, but for the most part were unharmed.
He ran up to an older woman in the group. "Ma! Ma, it's me!" The woman hugged Donnel. "Oh Donny! Thank goodness you're safe! I was worried to near death, boy!" she turned to Chrom. "I can't thank you enough for savin' my son and village milord…. Donnel! Where are your manners?! Take a knee and thank his Lordness!"
Donnel obliged. "Er… I can't begin to repay all what you've done for us, yer majestfulness. Th-thank you!"
Chrom smiled. "You led the charge, Donnel. We just picked off the stragglers. Hone your potential and use it to keep this village safe." he turned around and prepared to leave with the shepherds.
"W-wait! Please!" Donnel begged. Chrom turned back around. "Hmm? Something wrong?" "Please, your Graceliness… Take me with you milords! Lemme be a shepherd just like y'alls! I'm good with livestock, I am! I'm beggin' you, sirs!"
Donnel's mom swatted the boy on the head. "Hush now, you fool boy!" "Ma!" Donnel protested. "I want to hone my... Whatever he said. I want to keep this place safe! Milord showed me that I can be so much stronger, and I want to become stronger and repay thems!" "You needs to be knowin' your place, boy!" his mother scolded. "A farmhand's no fit to be with royalty!"
Chrom smiled. "On the contrary, we'd be thrilled to have him. The shepherds need every good man we can find, and your son fought bravely."
"You're very kind to say that m'lord. But..." Donnel's mother sighed. "Well you're a man now, Donny. I s'pose you can make up yer own mind. You just come home safe now. I'll see that th' village's still standing when you come back a hero." She made a shooing motion at him. "Well? Go on then, Glory's awaitin' ya!"
Donnel shook his head. "I ain't fightin' for no glory, ma! I's fightin' for you! But if I do find some glory, I will bring back some for you." "Just come home alive…" his mother murmured.
With that, Donnel waved his village goodbye, and followed the shepherds as they continued their march back to Ylisstol.
Donnel: Age: 16
Class: Villager