Chapter 14-Northroad

Although I had concerns of antagonizing the Feroxian clans by bring too large a strike force, the Prince had been insistent that I take the entire squad with me this time as he avowed that the warriors beyond the Ylissean border were impressed with martial prowess and shows of strength. I trusted his judgment on the matter as he had met with representatives from Regina Ferox before, and I had not.

Predictably, we ran into trouble practically right out of Ylisstol. A large band of Risen occupied the Northroad a few miles out of the capital, ambushing anyone foolish enough to cross over the Ryuvania river. We left Finchson at the rear of the Shepards, and broke off the cobbled roadway into the woods to the West. We rode through the maple and oak tree forest and forded across the river at the shallowest point. We still struggled as the water went up to our ponys' necks, and horses' bellies. Only the Pegasi had the option to simply fly over the obstruction.

Much to my amazement, I saw no sign of the Terrible trio: Raven, Regulus or Zeno. Maybe they changed their minds about joining our ranks; maybe they were expecting trouble further up the road. At any rate, we would have to make do without them.

When we reached the North side of the bridge, we saw about two dozen Risen of Beserker, Myrmidon, Archer, Lancemen, and Dark mage classes. I gave the nod and a dismounted Raquelle loosed a flaming arrow in a high arc to signal the Shepards' charge, but much to my amazement the arrow plunged into the head of an undead magic user diagonally though her neck and out her back. She gurgled and then toppled over generating a vile cloud of vapor in her wake.

I turned to Raq with wide eyes as I heard Vaike's whooping war cry as the Shepards pounced on the vanguard guarding the bridge's approach. I had to ask, "Umm, how the Grima did you one-shot that Risen in a parabolic arc 150 yards downrange?"

Holding a notched bow, my own retainer Ronna displayed shock in her orange eyes and looked at her own bow in disbelief.

Raq shrugged, "Er…I wasn't even aiming for the Dark mage. It just kinda…worked out that way?"

I gave her a thumbs up as I readied for the charge. I knew I was going to do better with my ancestral sword than my relatively weak wind tome. I unsheathed the black steel Schlangenfang and barked, "Arrowhead Scouts, attack!"

My chambermaid Dia clung to my back tightly as we surged forwards into the clearing taking the Risen guarding the ruined foundations of the guardhouse towers by surprise. A barbarian with glowing red eyes hefted his axe and got arrows in his chest and eye sockets, courtesy of Raq.

As Siffra in full armor charged fill tilt into the Risen horde on Butternut, she took a glancing blow from one of the archers' missiles and a direct hit in her shoulder from another. She winced but grimly pressed her attack.

One of the Myrmidons took three shots in the chest in quick succession by Ronna's highly accurate bow. I just hoped that she didn't mind that she was completely outclassed by Raquelle's insanely lucky shots.

Xolette was ferried onto the battlefield by Sonya and her Pegasus Aysel; quickly dismounted and activated her fire tome causing a massive explosion around one of the Dark mage's blowing him up, and wincing at the sight of the halves of his body landing back onto the scorched soil. She launched another fireball at a charging Lancer, turning him into a flaming figure before Sonya's polearm thrust put him down for good.

I roared as I rode into battle and thrust my magical sword into the breast of one of the Archers causing her to stagger and topple. At the same time, Dia shot flechettes into the throat of a howling Myrmidon but he unfortunately kept coming and slashed my light armor open, causing blood to seep out of my side. I growled in pain and locked swords with him, and then a second volley of knives hit his elbow, disabling his sword arm. I wasted no time in loping off his head and the surveying the carnage.

After she dropped off the Mage Iniabi, Revellia urged Serendipity into a diving attack. She screamed, "Here I go!" She promptly accidentally threw away her lance into the Masked Risen Chief's stomach, leaving her disarmed. "Not again", she wailed impotently.

The mighty, wild-haired Risen leader turned to focus on Siffra and slammed his war axe against Siff's steel armor, badly crushing her shoulder guard. He attacked with insane fury despite having a polearm stuck completely through his body.

Dia used a stave to partly heal my side, sufficient to stop the blood loss. I directed the flow of battle as Chrom's forces pressed the pincer attack from the South. "Aaby, Vanny give Siff a hand!"

Both the Lancer and Priest sprung into action, as Sir Aabis skewered the Head Risen through one side to the other with his magically enchanted lance. Unfortunately my young friend slipped and lost hold of his spear.

The Chief roared and raised his axe over Aaby's head, only to have Bhavin's battle axe barely catch it. Now that insane demon had two spears sticking through him. What now?

I charged forwards with steaming purple Risen muck clinging to my sword. I saw a crestfallen Revy retreat and instead treat wounds as she flitted from one Scout to another.

Iniabi yelped as an arrow hit his shoulder. He screamed fiercely and loosed a devastating lightning bolt that caused the Archer that had attacked him and a Lancer behind him to twitch and dance like deranged marionettes as the electricity surged through them, and then they both silently crumpled to the ground.

I caught up to the Chief and he easily parried my blade, even as my swords' dark power chipped out a third of the blade's surface. He grunted and pulled on my sword with his axe, effortlessly causing me to topple off Slate and fall onto the hard stony road with a dull thump.

Siffra screamed and skewered the Risen demon through his arm, causing him to release his axe.

He stomped on my chestplate, cracking a few ribs, and then simply punched Siffra's helmet barehanded, knocking her off her mount flat onto her back.

A flaming comet like white hot stone flared out of the sky and struck the Chief square in the face, shattering his mask and crushing in his skull. He roared incoherently with a broken jaw before he finally toppled.

I gasped for air as knife-like jabs in my left side tormented me every time I took a breath. My light plate amour was now dented in with a Risen-shaped steel boot print. I gawked as my foe twitched a few times, even after taking enough damage to kill five men. Mercifully, soon enough he lay still and his mutilated body dissolved away.

A few more growls indicated Risen falling left and right to a spectacular double team combination of Chrom's sword and Robin's magic. Despite my wounds, I was amazed at how they fought with such fluid-like synchronicity, that I almost felt that they were two bodies controlled by one mind.

As Vanny tended to Siffra's head wound, Revy landed and in a flustered daze, she quickly applied her healing spells knotting my ribs back together and fully healing my side gash. "Oh by Naga's grace, are you okay, ma'am?"

I groaned as my side still throbbed, "Ow. I already told you…please don't call me ma'am, Revy."

She flinched and after retrieving her polearm, she knelt by my side, "S-sorry! Where does still hurt, milady? Does it hurt when I touch your tummy?"

Ugh. It felt like I was her little tyke with a boo-boo. I panted, "Revellia, I am of age…you know. I am not…a child."

She flushed, "Oh my gosh! I'm s-so sorry."

I ended up chuckling at her mother hen routine, "Thanks for patching me up. My side is still sore, but only time can fix that."

She squeezed my shoulder and gave a reassuring smile before moving onto Iniabi's arrow wound.

I groaned as I used Slate's stirrup and Dia's arm to hoist myself back up. I called out to my secretive Mage, "Hey Iniabi, thanks for casting that Comet spell that felled the Chief Risen. I've heard of super rare magic like that, but I've never had the privilege to see it incanted with my own eyes."

The messy-haired mage looked at me with a baffled expression in his green eyes and yelped as Revy yanked out the arrow. He grunted in pain and then he mused, "As dearly as I would love to claim credit for the kill; the fact is that I don't possess a Comet tome, Mimi."

"O-oh?" I shook my head as I saw Xollete use a gust of searing flame to incinerate a still moaning prone Risen. I called out to her, "Miss Xolette, thanks so much for casting-"

She looked gloomily at me with haunted yellow eyes at the grim task of eradicating former human beings, "I don't know how to cast a Comet spell either, milady."

I was now baffled, as only those two Arrowhead Scouts would be powerful enough to cast high level magic like that. Where had that magical flaming rock come from? Maybe one of the Shepards had cast it, or maybe one of Kasrin's Irregulars hidden out of sight. I shrugged helplessly as I decided it would remain a mystery for now.

The rest of the Scouts trotted or limped into the clearing as Chrom and his Shepards crossed the bridge. "Damn Risen. I guess Philia was right. There are everywhere now."

Robin grimly agreed, "You were not joking when you told me how horrible they are, Chrom."

The Prince sighed, "Let's make sure these poor innocents that were killed are given a proper sendoff.

I could only nod numbly in agreement, as my body was too banged up to bow or curtsy.

…

After being healed up, all of us save Dia signed up for the unenviable task of setting up the traditional funeral pyres for the dozen or so travelers that the Risen had earlier slaughtered. We then took the ashes and buried them atop a gently sloping hill right before the bridge with a mighty oak growing out of its crown. Using magical force to cut down a black granite boulder into a rectangular headstone, Iniabi had meticulously used precise light magic to etch a memorial message so these luckless people would not be forgotten. I did not ask and he did not volunteer; but we both knew that he had used this magic before to see his dead wife Cynthia off in a time yet to be.

The weather got steadily colder as we traversed the Northroad up to higher elevations towards Regina Ferox at Ylisse's northern border. The Scouts fulfilled their role as the vanguard for the Shepards, and moved ahead to survey the road ahead during the day, and backtracked in the evenings to camp with Chrom's forces at night. Twice more we had run into small bands of marauding Risen, and ruthlessly wiped them out.

The night before our border crossing I was out with Dia to gather firewood. As we walked through the coniferous forest in the high foothills leading to the mountain pass, I had hoped that Ronna and Raquelle could shoot a nice juicy deer or wild boar this time. Only Robin and Frederick seemed to enjoy the rations of bear meat; everyone else seemed to tolerate it at best, and gag on it at worst.

My maid hummed the nursery rhyme Alouette aloud happily as she gathered up fallen sticks and stacked them onto a backpack shaped bundle. Her breath condensed in the nippy air, "Milady, do you think this is enough?"

I looked at my own bundle of logs and noted it was getting heavy. "Certainly Dia. I think we can return with this load." I automatically reached over and tousled her hair affectionately with a soft chuckle.

A new voice softly cut through the chilled air, "Wow…I've never seen milady smile before." I looked up and saw a maiden about my age dressed in Pegasus knight armor, bathed in the white light of the waxing gibbous moon, clutching a dangerously sharp lance. I knew that face with the waist-length hair and bangs that obscured her eyes anywhere.

I put my hand on my sword hilt, and waved Dia to get behind me. Instead, she defiantly took out a pair of throwing knives and stood her ground.

"Erm…I d-do not wish to alarm you." The Knight flashed a wavering smile, "'tis truly a momentous meeting, Lady Mimika."

"I see the Shepards and Scouts were tailed all along; not that that surprises me." I nodded warily as I knew this Irregular on sight, "How was your trip to the ruins of the Sunstone Keep, Miss Sakuya?"

The Pegasus knight from the future sharply inhaled, "O-oh! How did you know about our visit to your graves? W-weren't you dead, milady?"

A Myrmidon came around a thick tree trunk and joined Sakuya with her cold eyes glaring at me, "Mika's telepathy leaked out again, Kuya. Master Kasrin said this was likely to happen when she encountered someone she was closely bonded to."

I kept my hand firmly on my sword's decorative pommel shaped like a snake's head, "This was the second occasion we shared minds, Miss Nobuna."

I felt her razor sharp eyes on me as she crossed her arms at the mention of her name, "You are fortunate that the Irregular's goals are temporarily aligned with yours. However that will not always be the case." She gave me a nasty look that reminded me eerily of someone I had met before. "I look forward to the day I test your mettle with the sword, Lady Mimika."

I slowly broke into a slight smile as I had a hunch about the facts that I had gleaned from Mika, Nobuna and Sakuya. "I look forward to the honor of sparring with you. How well did your father Regulus teach you the blade, Miss Nobuna?"

Her face twitched with irritation and I realized I had scored a direct hit, "I do not see how that is your concern, Lady Mimika."

My eyes narrowed, "If the future of Ylisse is in ruins, then I surmise that it is very much my business."

Sakuya pleaded, "P-please don't fight!"

I sighed as I wrapped my cloak tighter around me to ward off the near freezing air, "Fine. Stand down, Dia. Are you two here to deliver a message to Prince Chrom?"

A supremely ecstatic voice boomed from behind, "Naw, we just wanna hug ya!" Horse plop. Without preamble, both Dia and I were swept into a crushing lamia embrace, as the beaming beastkin effortlessly hoisted us from the ground and rubbed her scaly cheeks affectionately into both of ours. "Ahhhh! So warm! I was starting to turn into a popsicle too."

I wondered idly if loud was her only volume, but I made a halfhearted attempt to be diplomatic. "I hope your wounds have healed. I still owe you for saving my life on the Southroad, Miss Lily."

"Naw, it's all good." I saw her glowing eyes too close to mine as she giggled uproariously, "Yep, I'm all healed up now! I gotta say, you both are so huggably squeezetasticly adorable!"

Dia squirmed, "Ummm, can you release mistress and I please, Miss Lilith?"

"Huh? Of course Miss Dia." She let us both drop down to the soft ground and beamed at us. Her expression effortlessly shifted to open bewilderment, "Wow. I never knew you had a sister, Miss Mimikyutie!"

Both Dia and I shook our heads at the misunderstanding as my maid curtsied and clarified the situation, "We're not related; I'm just in milady's service. She has told me much about you Miss Lilith."

The red-eyed lamia looked over to me with an impish expression, "Did you now? You're a naughty girl, milady."

Nobuna finally lost her patience, "Lilith, you did come all this way for a reason besides flirting, right?"

"Hmm?" She giggled, "Sure. Like you're one to talk about being a flirt."

The swordswoman looked annoyed, but remained silent as her toe tapped.

Lily slithered over and put a scaled arm over my shoulder, but I tolerated the uncomfortable proximity considering how much she had sacrificed in my name, "Oh! Yeah, Master Kasrin sent you this message. She tossed over a wax-sealed scroll and before Dia could get away she drew the hapless girl into a tight snuggle. The lamia sighed happily, blushed lightly, and looked utterly content. For a deadly beastkin, she was actually kind of cute in an unnerving way.

I knew that the stern Nobuna was not at liberty to share her team's plans with me, but I did have an unanswered question from Mika's grim vision of my allies' tombstones, "Before you go, I am curious why Dia wasn't at the Sunstone Keep when you paid it a visit twenty or so years from now."

All three Irregulars looked a bit caught off guard, which only puzzled me further.

Nobuna looked at me with a sharp edged gaze, "That's because Miss Dia wasn't in the Arrowhead Scouts of legend."

The Pegasus Knight looked deflated as she looked at my dark-haired maid, "This is the first time we have met, Miss. M-maybe you didn't…"

Dia nodded in gloomy understanding, "Survive?"

My stomach lodged in my throat as I realized that I had lost more than my retainers, home and life in the future apocalypse; I had lost everything.

Lily pouted, "Aww, that's horrible! You're such a sweetie too." She gave the young girl an affectionate smooch atop her head.

Even though it made me a little nervous, I gently rubbed the lamia's silky smooth scaled forearm, "Well I trust we at least can agree that the ruined future is not in anyone's best interest."

I felt Lily's taloned hand gently find mine and intertwined our fingers like it was the most natural gesture in the world, "We will fight to our last breath to stop the bad plop from happening. Trust us, Mimi."

I blushed intensely at our hand holding, but owed her too much to pull free. I knew I needed to let her have her momentary flash of bliss. Somehow, despite our vastly different perspectives, I knew that Lilith was being utterly sincere. "So will the Scouts. Good luck on your endeavors, Irregulars."

Sakuya bowed frantically and joined her 'cousin' Nobuna.

Lily sat still holding hands with both of us, looking far too content to budge an inch.

"Hey Lil, make babies later," Nobuna teased.

Lily snorted in indignation, "Hey, Una, stop being a meanie-pants!" She reluctantly broke contact, followed after her squadmates, turned and gave a cheerful wave back to us, "Bye Miss Dia, Lady Honeybuns!"

My blush spread to my ears as my maid giggled and waved enthusiastically back, "Take care, Miss Lilith."