Author's Note: I think the javelins in Awakening and Fates seem heavy and inefficient. Instead, the javelins in my story will be similar to those used in the Game Boy series. They are light, slim, and have the pretty red ribbons around the point of the spear.
Don't have much to say this time I guess. I have plenty of time next week, so I guess you can expect me to post a bit more frequently. In the meantime, enjoy chapter 11.
Ylisstol
After the assassination attempt on Emmeryn, everyone took a couple of days to regroup and get everything ready.
Everyone had their own way of preparing for the trip.
Lissa and Maribelle, as well as some of the other healers in the castle had their hands full in the infirmary. Lon'qu stayed by Lissa's side the entire time, occasionally helping her with some mundane tasks, such as fetching water or wrapping bandages. They had lost many Ylissean lives in the assault, but thankfully, they were also able to save quite a few of them. Lissa and Maribelle's ability to use a staff improved tremendously during this time.
Donnel prepared by practicing hard at the training grounds. He improved extremely quickly, and in those couple of days, became just as capable as any regular Ylissean soldier with a sword. He continually amazes Robin on just how fast of a learner he is.
Sully and Stahl trained together frequently. This isn't anything unexpected, because they were the only ones on horseback in the shepherds besides Frederick. But no one was at Frederick's level. Robin could begin to see a budding camaraderie between the two cavaliers.
Vaike was bugging Chrom to train together, but to his dismay, the prince had more important preparations to make for the following few days. He had to compromise by training with Kellam. Frederick, naturally, stayed by the prince's side through it all.
Sumia began to practice fighting on a pegasus more. Up until now, her role had been to ferry units, usually Chrom, around and to throw javelins from a distance. Although her accuracy with a javelin was pretty good, she also wanted to be able to fight from close range. She flew around some dummies and practiced diving in and going for a deadly stab.
Virion, surprisingly, spent a lot of time with Ricken. Robin heard him talking about his past life to the young mage during meal times, and the two could be seen practicing their accuracy at the shooting range.
Occasionally, Robin checked up on Gaius. To his relief, the thief had been taking his new job seriously. He stayed out of trouble and worked on his combat skills. His ability to wield a knife was quite impressive. In his free time, he roamed Ylisstol happily (and without a bounty on his capture) searching for sugar or other sweets he could buy with his honestly earned money.
Much like Gaius, Panne spend a lot of her time roaming Ylisstol, although with her ears covered by a hood. She regarded the entire city with fascination, and took the opportunity to become accustomed to living with humans.
Robin, much like Miriel, spent much of their down time reading. The tactician steadily devoured book after book in the Ylissean library, prioritizing the topics of history and strategic thinking whenever possible. He figured that since he lost his memory, there must be a lot of things he once knew that he did not know now. He hoped that by cramming his brain with information, he'll be of more use to the shepherds. When he was tired, he relaxed by reading some fiction or historical fiction.
The day before the shepherd's departure…
Robin awoke to a light knock on his door.
"Come in…" groggily muttered.
The door opened, and Sumia poked her head in. "Good morning!" she exclaimed. "Chrom told me to tell you that you're on kitchen duty tonight."
"I'm on what?" Robin asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Kitchen duty." Sumia replied. "You're the chef for tonight. But I thought I'd help you out, in case you've never cooked before."
Robin smiled. "Alright, what do I do?"
Sumia smiled. "I'll show you. But first…." she paused. "You may want to get dressed. I'll leave you alone for a moment." With that, she ducked back out the door and left Robin to his devices.
Moments later, Robin emerged from the library while Sumia leaned against a wall just outside.
"C'mon, first, we need to get the money." With that, Sumia led Robin towards the castle. They retrieved 500 gold from the treasury.
"500? That doesn't seem like very much." Robin mused to himself.
"It really isn't. We have to find the cheapest ingredients usually." Sumia explained.
"That would explain the taste of the food." Robin muttered to himself. "Hmm?" Sumia wondered, not quite hearing the tactician clearly.
"Uh, I said I would need to watch how much I spend…. On the food…" Robin managed.
Sumia smiled at him. "You'll be fine…." she promised.
"And now that we have the money, we can go buy the food whenever." Sumia explained. "Since it's for dinner, we should go to the market in the afternoon, maybe after lunch."
Robin nodded. "Alright. I'll meet up with you at the entrance of the garrison after we we eat lunch then. But right now… it's time for breakfast." He rubbed his stomach hungrily.
Sumia giggled. "Yes, you're right. Let's go get something to eat."
They headed towards the dining hall. Robin ate his food, and went back to the library to read. Several hours flew by, and it was finally time for lunch. Once again, Robin went to the dining hall, found a table to sit at, and ate his food.
When he finished, he returned his silverware to the kitchen and walked towards the front of the garrison, where Sumia was already waiting for him, with a horse and cart ready.
The two headed off to the farmer's market. "So…. do you know what you need to buy, or should I give you some pointers?" Sumia asked.
"Hmmm, well I'm gonna make a beef stew… I think I can manage the ingredients. Although I could use some help if I forget a key ingredient." he chuckled slightly. "It's been too long since I did some cooking…"
"Too long? Does that mean you have memories of cooking?" Sumia asked innocently.
Robin froze. "N-no, at least, I don't think I do…." he shrugged. "That actually kind of came out without thinking. Perhaps I did at some point, I guess I don't really know."
Sumia giggled. "Oh Robin, you're really silly." This caused the tactician to grin slightly.
They bought, among other things, beef (the really cheap cuts), carrots and potatoes. They've currently spent 475 gold already.
"Wow! You're really good at haggling." Sumia noticed. "You managed to get so much and you still have 25 gold left. Looks like everyone will have PLENTY to eat tonight."
Robin grimaced. "Maybe, but these are just the basic ingredients… I still need some more…"
Sumia laughed. "Oh don't worry, you have plenty here already. Everyone will love whatever we can make with this." Robin sighed. Suddenly, he hears a merchant call out among the rest of the background noise: "Fresh herbs and spices! Get whatever you need to spice up your food!"
He handed Sumia the leash to the horse. "Wait for me here, I just forgot something, I'll be back."
"What did you forget?" Sumia called after Robin, who was running off. "My book! I left my book in the market!" he called back.
When he reached the spice stand, he scanned everything, and eventually settled on a combination of black pepper, rosemary and thyme. When it came time to pay, Robin reached into his own pockets and handed over the money. He placed the satchels he bought back in his cloak, where Sumia could not see.
"Did you not find it?" Sumia asked worryingly when Robin returned empty handed. Robin shook his head. "I guess not… I'm starting to think that I didn't bring it with me."
Sumia laughed. "Oh, you really are something special." she said. "Come to think of it, I don't remember you bringing anything with you."
Robin smiled. "No, I guess not. C'mon, we have to head back and do some actual cooking."
The two began to head back to the shepherd's garrison. Robin took everything immediately to the kitchen.
"Do you need me to help you cook?" Sumia asked helpfully. "No, I think I'm OK. I want to test to see if cooking comes naturally to me." Robin explained. "If it does, maybe I did do quite a bit of cooking in my past."
Sumia nodded. "Alright, I'll leave you to it then. I look forward to what you are going to make."
With that, the pegasus knight went off, and Robin was able to cook in peace. He found that, indeed, he had a natural gift for cooking. His cuts were clean and precise, and he was able to add the spices he'd smuggled in without anyone finding out. His timing was perfect too, because right when he deemed his stew ready, the shepherds began filing into the dining hall.
"Oh, ol' Robin is the chef tonight?" Vaike noticed as he walked in. "What did ya make?"
"You'll see." Robin smirked as he handed the axeman a bowl. He repeated the action, feeding everyone one at a time.
Cries of delight were heard in the entire dining hall once the shepherds began to eat.
"What th' hell?" Sully exclaimed, dumbfounded. "Why's the food so good tonight?"
"I must admit… whoever was the cook tonight definitely did something right!" Maribelle mused.
"He he, yeah! I'd pay to eat this stuff every night!" Stahl agreed. "We should make 'em cook every night!" he joked.
Robin smiled, feeling pleased that everyone loved his food so much. He poured himself a full bowl, and began to eat in the kitchen, stopping only when someone came up for seconds. When Sumia came back for more, she admitted that she hadn't expected Robin to make something quite so delectable.
He must admit, he HAD outdone himself. The food was extremely delicious. And the cooking process went extremely smoothly too. He seemed to know exactly how to do everything, and exactly how much of every ingredient to add. 'I must have done a fair share of cooking in my past.' he thought to himself. He finished serving everyone, and to his delight, some of the shepherds were so happy with what they just ate that they offered to help him clean the dishes.
With extra help, things were finished in no time, and Robin was able to return to his room quite early. He finished the day by doing some more reading, and only went to sleep when he became extremely exhausted.
'All in all, a fantastic day.' He thought to himself as he fell asleep. 'I wonder what tomorrow will hold?'
The next day….
Robin woke up and gathered at the front of the garrison with the rest of the shepherds. Most of them were already there. Among the regular shepherds, there was also Emmeryn, Phila, a platoon of Pegasus knights, and an old man dressed in green robes.
"Oh, who might this be?" Robin wondered out loud. Chrom turned to face Robin.
"Oh him? He's the hierarch of Ylisse." Chrom explained. "He helped Emmeryn quite a bit during her first few years as an Exalt. He's an important ally, and we'll be taking him with us to the Eastern castle."
The hierarch gave Robin a nervous chuckle. "You must be Robin. Chrom has said a lot about you." he reached his hand out, and Robin accepted it. "Hopefully all good." The tactician said with a smirk.
Once everyone was assembled, they began to march towards the Northeast. Things were going fairly well until they reached Breakneck pass. The trail suddenly became extremely steep, and everyone moved much slower.
"Ugh, my poor feet." Lissa complained. "I've got blisters the size of eggs!"
Chrom chuckled. "It's not so bad, Lissa. Just a healthy little stroll is all."
Many of the other shepherds had to disagree. "My legs feel like pudding." Robin observed. "Honestly, your endurance really astounds me, Chrom."
"Hah!" Chrom exclaimed. "Should I carry you?" he asked jokingly.
"You can carry me!" Lissa interjected. "No seriously. I'd be really OK with you carrying me."
Meanwhile, the hierarch nervously followed along, but this was noticed by a certain wary Great Knight.
"Is something the matter?" Frederick asked. "Hierarch, you keep glancing towards the peaks."
"O-oh… it's nothing!" the old man assured everyone. "I-it's just… ghastly times! Yes, certainly. Just a bit nervous is all…."
"What's there to be nervous about?" Robin murmured quietly to himself. "Something doesn't feel right."
"Chrom!" Robin nudged the marching prince. "I'm gonna check something really quickly."
The prince had a look of confusion on his face as Robin pulled out his Hekseer. The map, as per usual, started forming from the center (Robin's location) and the familiar glow of blue and green icons began to appear. Suddenly, as the Hekseer began to spread out, multiple red icons appeared to their Northeast. 'Not good!' Robin thought to himself. At the same time, several of Phila's pegasus knights also called out a warning. "Wyvern Riders spotted! To the Northeast!" Several Plegian brigands also ran towards them from the Northeast, grinning wildly. "Ga ha ha! Time to die, princey!" one taunted.
"Plegian soldiers?" Chrom asked in disbelief. "How did they know we were here? And how did they manage to get ahead of us?" "Regardless, the truth is that they're here!" Robin exclaimed. "Everyone, prepare for battle!" The tactician turned to Chrom. "Stay on the defensive for a little bit. I need some time to observe the surroundings and to come up with a plan." He saw the prince give him a nod, and immediately began to study the Hekseer.
A higher ranked Wyvern Rider flew up near them. He took a large whiff of the mountain air. "Ahhhhhh! Smell that men?" he declared. "The winds of fortune are blowing our way! This is the day that Vasto and his men kill the Exalt and become as famed as that old bastard Mustafa! By the moon's end, they'll be erecting statues of me back home in the capital"
The Ylisseans looked on, dumbstruck as the hierarch ran forward and approached him. "Hold sir!" he pleaded. "They're Plegians!" Chrom interjected. "There's no use trying to talk sense into them!" The hierarch ignored Chrom. "I am the man King Gangrel told you about! Did you not receive orders to take me into your protection?"
"What?" Chrom wondered in disbelief. "What is the meaning of this?"
Vasto, like the hierarch, ignored the Ylissean prince and the increasing amount of murmurs throughout the Ylissean ranks. "I've orders to protect a man, true… But I don't see a man here!" The Wyvern Rider laughed. "I see only a pig! A filthy little pig that sold out his sovereign!"
"Why you-" Chrom began, and prepared to rush forward. However, the Plegians beat him to it. A nearby brigand rushed in and cut the hierarch down with one strike.
Vasto began to laugh. "Ha! The rest of you Ylisseans will have the same fate! Everyone, charge! Kill the Exalt and pry the Fire Emblem from her cold, dead hands!"
"Phila!" Chrom roared. "We'll take care of them! I'm trusting you to protect Emmeryn!" The Falcon Knight immediately took her cue to leave with the Exalt and flew to safety. Just before she took off, though, Robin stopped her momentarily. "Have your Pegasus Knights fly above the field, and immediately notify me if any large groups of reinforcements arrive. Other than that, try to distract, and not directly engage in the Wyvern Riders." "I'll do that." Phila nodded, and flew away with Emmeryn.
{Shepherds!} Robin announced to everyone. {The Plegian's have no mages! Units with heavy armor, feel free to have a field day in this battle. Frederick, Kellam, Sully, Stahl, Donnel and Chrom, take the front. Everyone else, form up closely behind them. Sumia, hover to the Eastern side of us. Protect our flank from wyvern riders as best as you can. Don't try to directly engage them though, just kite them around with javelins. If they try to move inland, let Stahl or Chrom take them out.}
Everyone immediately followed Robin's instructions.
Donnel ran up to a charging brigand, dodged the Plegian's swing, and slashed him across the chest. Lon'qu ran in and finished the Plegia with a swift slash across the throat. "You are a fast learner." The former Feroxi champion complimented.
Stahl and Sully rode circles around another brigand, and killed him with a flurry of slashes and stabs.
A Wyvern Rider towards them, but Chrom held his Falchion up as the beast flew by, ripping the wyvern's stomach open, causing the rider to fall to the ground in the middle of the shepherds. The last thing the Plegian saw was Vaike's goofy looking grin before his head was bashed in.
Frederick acted as a human wall, and blocked the arrows from a Plegian archer crouching in a bush. This gave Ricken and Miriel the opportunity to each launch a spell towards their assailant. A nasty combination of wind and fire blew up in the archer's face.
Sumia did a good job at her role, and threw javelins towards any Wyvern Riders that approached them from the East. Her first two throws hit her first two targets, hurling the riders off their mounts and towards the bottom of the mountain. Their wyverns, not being accustomed to flying without a rider, changed course and followed after their falling masters. After seeing the Pegasus Knight's skill with a javelin, the rest of the Wyvern Riders decided to take their chances with the units on the ground.
The shepherds inched forward, and the main force of the Plegians were soon thrown in disarray. Seeing an opportunity, Gaius, Lon'qu and Panne charged out and began to take down some of the isolated Plegians.
Lon'qu cut up a straggling brigand with three successive slashes. Panne kicked an archer off the side of the cliff. Gaius engaged in a knife fight with a Plegian thief. He managed to slit his opponent's throat, but not before he received a large cut across his cheek. "Darn," The thief muttered to himself, wincing in pain. "I guess I'll let Princess and Twinkles take care of it then." He ran back behind their human wall.
Meanwhile…
Cordelia flew as fast as she could. She managed to reach Breakneck pass, and by the time she arrived, the battle was already going on.
"N-no! Plegians are here as well?" she stammered in disbelief. "Prince Chrom! Captain Phila!" The Pegasus Knight shouted. "Beware! Enemy reinforcements to the rear! They will be upon us soon!"
{I-is that… Cordelia?} Robin heard Phila say. {Cordelia?} The tactician wondered. {She's one of my knights.} Robin heard her reply. {She's quite capable. But she was stationed at the border… Why would she be…. Oh Naga…. Could it mean..."} Phila trailed off, and Robin tried to ignore the implications of her statements. He had a battle to win right now.
{Sumia!} the tactician ordered. {Go fly to this Cordelia character, and have her speak with me, quickly!} {Got it! He heard her reply.} {Everyone else, keep doing just that. We'll inch our way to Vasto, there's no rush. The Plegians to our rear are still a good distance away.}
As he finished giving orders, a certain red haired pegasus knight landed next to him. "Greetings, are you Robin?" Cordelia asked. "Sumia told me to speak with you." Robin nodded. "I need you to touch this orb." He instructed. Cordelia seemed puzzled, but obeyed. {Can you hear me?} Robin asked through the Hekseer. "Naga!" Cordelia exclaimed in surprise. {Don't be alarmed. I could really use your help to the North. Stay out of the way of archers, but try to distract the Wyvern Riders.} Cordelia recomposed herself. "Yes sir!" She immediately flew off.
The battle went according to Robin's plan. Vasto clearly was out of his league in terms of strategizing and unit management, and really, their only hope of success was to pull off a successful ambush. His troops slowly began to die off one by one. Even his Wyvern Riders were not all that successful, despite their advantage over the pegasi. Every time they went in for a kill, the pegasi would quickly flew out of range. After a while, they would get mad and blindly charge after them, only to be shot down by Virion's arrows.
True to Cordelia's word, several more Wyvern Riders appeared on the Western side. However, it was at a point where most of Vasto's soldiers were dead already.
{Frederick, Sully, Stahl, I need you to ride Westward, and position yourselves between those wyverns and our backline. All ranged units shoot at the wyverns. Let the rest of us mop up the remaining Plegian footsoldiers.} Robin instructed.
The shepherds obliged. Ricken, Miriel and Virion made quick work of the reinforcing wyverns.
Donnel, Lon'qu, Gaius and Cordelia moved around the mountain, picking off any and all Plegians they could find.
Robin turned towards Chrom and Sumia… and felt a searing pain in his left shoulder. He had an arrow protruding from his shoulder. He turned to see a Plegian archer firing from a ledge higher up the mountain.
The nearby shepherds saw Robin get wounded. Lissa cried out in alarm and tried to run over to help… only to freeze once she saw his eyes begin to glow purplish red with a murderous snarl on his face. He pulled the arrow out of his shoulder, ignoring how painful it was.
Robin pulled out his scythe and ran towards the archer. Lissa had never seen anyone run that fast before. Not even Chrom on flat ground would be able to close the distance quite as fast.
The archer, seeing Robin barrel towards him, panicked and dropped his bow. He tried to run away from the vengeful tactician. When Robin caught up to the archer, who was trying to scramble away, instead of killing him immediately, Robin grabbed him by the collar. He began to drag the helpless Plegian back towards the Shepherds.
Meanwhile, Vasto flew in and went straight for the prince. He swung his axe down, but Chrom dodged to the side. His wyvern lashed out at the prince, but Chrom slashed his Falchion across the beast's face, severely wounding it.
Sumia tried to be helpful and threw a javelin at Vasto. However, the wyvern raised its wings, purely by accident, and the javelin tore through its membrane, removing the wyvern's ability to fly.
Chrom took the opportunity to stab Falchion through the wyvern's lower jaw, killing the creature with his dragon slaying sword.
Seeing that his mount had been kill, Vasto got off the creature's corpse. Just as his feet hit the ground, he was knocked down by a punch to the back of the head by Vaike. He tried getting back up, but Gaius held a knife to his throat. "Don't try it." He warned the Plegian commander.
Chrom walked up to Vasto. "Tell us, how long has the hierarch been working with Gangrel? How much information has he divulged?"
Vasto spit on the ground. "I'm not telling you anything, you Ylissean dog!"
Chrom's eyes widened. He stepped up and was about to slap the Plegian commander, but was interrupted by Robin. "You're not gonna get any information out of him that way."
"Ehrm, Robin?" Chrom wondered. "Why… Why are your eyes glowing?"
Robin ignored the prince. "Here, let me show you." Robin turned to the Plegian soldier he'd dragged along. "First, Virion. I need you to ready your bow. When I tell you to, fire an arrow at the man I'm interrogating." The archer was visibly surprised. "Shall I shoot to kill?" he asked. Robin thought for a moment. "Sure, that would be good." He then turned to the Plegian soldier.
"Tell me what the hierarch told your King." he demanded.
The soldier shook his head. "I-I don't know, I'm just a foot soldier."
Robin rolled his eyes. "See, this one isn't cooperating either." He picked up his scythe. "I'm gonna give you one last chance, tell me what the hierarch told your king."
The soldier began to cry at this point. "I-I really don't know anything! Please!" Some of the soft hearted shepherds even began to feel sorry for the guy at this point. Robin shrugged indifferently. "I believe you." The soldier looked up at him. "Y-you do?" Robin grinned back. "Yes. But it also means we have no more use for you. You may go now." With that, he plunged his scythe into the man's chest, draining him of his life energy.
Vasto looked in horror as energy visibly traveled from the soldier's body into the weapon. Robin deliberately left his weapon lodged in the man's body, causing the body to turn unnaturally pale. Feeling satisfied, he withdrew his weapon.
Some Shepherds looked at him in shock, and others in horror. Chrom deadpanned. "You didn't get any information out of him."
Robin gave him a 'just wait' look. He walked over to Vasto. "Since your subordinate didn't want to divulge the details, I'm gonna have to ask you. What did the Hierarch tell your king?"
Vasto refused to budge an inch. "Hah! Y-you think your intimidation tactic works on me? I'm not telling you anything."
"Alright then." Robin picked up his scythe. "Birds of a feather, and all that…." He swung the scythe. However, he stopped just before the blade entered Vasto's stomach. The area around the crotch of the Plegian's pantaloons rapidly began to turn dark. Vasto had wet himself.
Robin chuckled. "You pretend to not fear death, but in the end, natural instinct still takes over. Because I'm such a generous guy, I'll give you one… last… chance."
At this, Vasto cracked. He told them everything he knew. He told them the Hierarch had been conspiring against Ylisse for several months now. He told them that Gangrel knew the general military strength of Ylisstol. He even told them that Gangrel knows the exact locations of the royal sibling's bedrooms in the castle. The whole time, Robin looked at Chrom with a look that read 'I told you so'.
He leaned down so his mouth was at the same level as Vasto's ear. "You did well. You may go now." he gestured towards the trail leading down the mountain. "Gaius, you can remove your knife from his neck now. He's a free man." The thief reluctantly obeyed.
Seeing his opportunity to get away, Vasto got up and ran down the trail as fast as he could. Chrom looked like he was about to protest, but Robin held his index finger to his lips and smiled.
{Virion, now!} he called using the Hekseer. Vasto didn't hear anything before an accurately shot arrow found its mark in his skull. He rolled down the mountainside, lifeless. Finally, Robin's eyes stopped glowing.
"Wasn't that a little… you know… too much?" Lissa wondered out loud.
Robin sighed. "This is war. We can't afford to let important information slip by us just because we're too soft." Chrom nodded. "I agree with Robin. Those Plegian dastards lost their right of being treated as equals as soon as they set foot across our border."
"But y'know, couldn't you have just, let him go free maybe? He already told you what he knew." Lissa pointed out. "If we let him get away, if he's able to get back to Plegia, he'll have information to share about the shepherd's strategy and strengths and weaknesses." Robin explained. "Since he doesn't have his wyvern though, it's also possible that he cannot make it back to Plegia for a long time. In that time, he has plenty of opportunities to cause trouble for Ylissean civilians. His death was extremely quick, and he wasn't expecting it either. You can consider that being merciful."
"I guess…." Lissa conceded. Meanwhile, some of the other shepherds were whispering amongst themselves.
"Did you see Robin? It's like he went into some sort of berserk mode." Gaius murmured to Panne, Vaike and Cordelia. "Yeah! So cool!" Vaike grinned. "So that means that what I saw was indeed abnormal." Cordelia murmured.
"Didn't that happen when the Plegians attacked our castle?" Stahl asked Sully. "I think so." The crimson cavalier replied. "Remind me never to get on that guy's bad side."
"W-well, I should still see that wound of yours." Lissa said. "I saw you get shot by an arrow."
Robin looked at his shoulder. "Oh that? The wound's closed. I'm fine."
"Bullspit!" Lissa exclaimed. "Let me see!" She walked up to the tactician. Sure enough, the wound on his shoulder had already closed. There was nothing but a small scar left. Even the fabric around the location of the arrow wound was beginning to close up.
"How?" Lissa wondered, dumbfounded. Robin shrugged. "I guess when I get injured, my body automatically begins to heal itself automatically with the quintessence I've stored up."
"Does that have anything to do with why your eyes were glowing?" Ricken asked, out of curiosity. "Hmmm, I honestly don't know." The tactician responded. "But I guess it's possible."
"Fascinating... " Miriel murmured. "Perhaps we'll have to run some tests in the future."
As this was all going on, Phila brought the Exalt back to the shepherds.
"Cordelia, what are you doing here?" Was the first thing Phila asked when she landed.
"Your Grace!" The Pegasus Knight exclaimed. "Enemy reinforcements are coming this way, not a half day's march behind us!"
"What?" Chrom questioned. "How did they get that far in our border?"
Cordelia shook her head. "Gangrel himself led his soldiers against us! My Pegasus Knight sisters begged me to fly away to warn you all, I can still hear their screams…."
"Peace, Cordelia" Phila comforted her. "You did your duty. The sisters rightly prized your youth. You've many years to keep their legacy alive."
"But... " the girl protested. "I abandoned them! Their legacy deserves better!"
Phila shook her head. "Sometimes, fleeing takes the most courage. They knew that. Now pull yourself together. Let the faith they showed in you give you strength.
"Captain Phila!" Cordelia began to cry. "How can I go on like this? They… they were my family! Naga! Oh Naga..."
"Damn them!" Chrom gritted his teeth.
"I must return to the capital." Emmeryn declared.
"What?!" Lissa exclaimed. "You can't go back now! It's too dangerous!" "Your Grace, I cannot advise that either." Phila agreed.
Emmeryn shook her head. "I should never had left in the first place. If it's discovered that I was away while this happened, the people would panic. They would riot. More Ylisseans could needlessly die." She turned to Chrom. "Here, I trust this to you." She handed over the Fire Emblem to the Ylissean prince. "Take it to Ferox. Take it to safety."
"And leave you?" Chrom asked. "No way. If you're heading back, then we're coming with you."
Emmeryn frowned. "You can't. If you go back with me, we can't expect reinforcements from Ferox. Then the war is already doomed."
Robin scratched his head. "We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Letting Emmeryn go back is extremely dangerous, but what she said is also true. The citizens might put all the blame on her, and we could lose the support of the civilians. But what she said is also true. We do need to get help from Ferox."
"So what you're saying is we have to part ways here?" Chrom asked. "There has to be another way!"
Robin grimaced. "Well, I suppose we could send a couple of people ahead to Ferox, and the rest of us go back with Emmeryn…." he began.
"That would be ill advised." Frederick interjected. "If we were to do that, Chrom would have to go to Ferox. However, if we don't send a lot of people, that will open the possibility of getting ambushed by more Plegians. If that small group gets hit, the war will also be over."
"But, what are the chances there are Plegian forces that far north?" Chrom objected. "We could definitely try it!"
"What were the chances that Plegian soldiers would be here?" Robin countered. "It's still a risky move."
Phila nodded. "I will escort the Exalt back with my Pegasus Knights. We'll try to stay as safe as possible. You all head to Ferox. Cordelia, you will stay here with prince Chrom."
"But Captain!" Cordelia protested. "I know your heart is heavy." Phila interrupted. "But this is how it must be. Your knight sisters will be with you in spirit wherever you go."
Chrom sighed. "Alright. I will trust you, Emm. Try to stay safe. Remember, the people need you, but Lissa and I also need you. Don't go walking into your death." Lissa was crying off to the side.
"Dry your tears, dear." Emmeryn said to her sister. "This is not goodbye. I love you, Chrom and Lissa. Let us reunite in Ylisstol, with Feroxi reinforcements. I know you will succeed."
"This is an absurd plan…" Chrom shook his head.
"You have the blood of the first exalt in you." Emmeryn told him. "You and I will keep Ylisse safe. I know that. Safe travels Chrom, safe travels, Lissa."
With that, the two groups parted ways. Emmeryn and Phila headed back to Ylisstol, while Chrom and the shepherds went off further north.
Cordelia: Age: 17
Class: Pegasus Knight