Chapter 4: The Suspension Bridge Effect, But With More Stabbing
Step. Step. Thrust. Slash. Retreat. Parry. Thrust.
Big Brother Xander had always said Corrin treated combat too much like a dance.
Parry. Parry. Thrust. Step. Step. Thrust.
In his opinion, Xander didn't treat it enough like a dance.
With a twist of the hip and flick of the wrist, Corrin disarmed and incapacitated another Chevois soldier. Behind him, loyal Nohrian troops cried out to the heavens. "For Elise!" They called, raising their weapons in righteous fury.
None of that mattered to Corrin. Elise was healing; the rest of them had fighting to do.
Thrust. Slash. Parry. Step. Parry. Thrust.
Really, it was quite simple to face off against armored knights. The Chevois could employ whatever trick training they could, but the fact of the matter is, with their limited movement range and reliance on lances, one armor knight would always fight with the same constraints as another. Corrin sidestepped away from the Chevois's lancepoint and ducked into the knight's guard. Latching onto knight's weapon arm and pulling in, the rebel was helpless to stop the prince's blade from cutting through the gaps in the plate, crippling the man. The man was left to crumble under the weight of his armor as Corrin surveyed the battlefield.
The Nohrian army had yet to cross the river, Corrin's men focusing on holding back the aggressive Chevois-Hoshidan assault. While Corrin himself led Peri and Effie against the knights guarding the eastern bridge, a team consisting of Niles, Kaze, and Mozu with Arthur as support fought off the mages, or rather, diviners to the west. Mozu was drawing off against a somewhat familiar Hoshidan with purple hair and flowing robes as Corrin found his attention drawn swiftly back to his current position.
Kzzztchk! He'd been too distracted to hear the arrow being fired, but he was more than aware of Peri shielding him from an attack from Takumi himself. An arrow of light crackled from inside her shield, the blow twisting the metal beyond functionality. The girl threw down the crumpled steel and snarled at the Hoshidan prince, who despite all rationale, looked ready to charge at their position.
But just because it was an irrational idea, didn't make it a bad one. In fact, Corrin was nearly left flat-footed to come up with a counter.
"Peri, I'm going to need you to run Kaze over here. Can you do that?" He said under his breath.
But nearly flat-footed wasn't nearly enough to trip up the middle prince of Nohr.
Peri grinned, a half-gleeful and half-vicious bearing of teeth. "I'll be right back. I owe him a good bloodying!" With a wink and a kick to her horse's flank, she was off, leaving Corrin to back up to Effie's position.
"What're your orders, captain?" The pink-clad knight grunted in her usual husky tone.
"Strategic retreat. We've got an archer advancing on our position. Prince Takumi."
The girl hummed. "What kind of archer leads from the front?"
Corrin dropped into a loose defensive stance. "The kind that could tear your armor to pieces from a hundred yards. He'll be aiming for me, so cover my back."
"Aye aye, sir. I'll be your shield!" Effie yelled, slamming her tower shield to the ground behind them.
Corrin smirked. Takumi may be ahead of him, but with Elise's strongest retainer at his back, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone coming from behind.
[~~~]
Niles fired another volley into the line of Hoshidan mages approaching the wall. He clicked his tongue as one of their numbers dropped; he couldn't throw out his chain recklessly if he wanted to make a catch. The prince preferred to take as many prisoners as possible to keep casualties down; an interesting challenge, as Corrin so often posed.
Beside him, Corrin's new shadow tossed sleek knives from under his sleeve. Kaze was as dutiful as he was silent, and such a dour fellow had made for interesting banter off and on the battlefield.
"You know," Niles drawled. "If you took a little initiative, we'd have an easier time with this."
"I am merely following your lead, Niles."
Niles felt his lips curl. "I'm supposed to be taking them out. If you make the first move, I can perform better."
"As you wish."
Hardly what Niles would call a victory. The man was like a stone. At least now, Leo's retainer thought, they could make more progress on hauling these Hoshidans in.
He had just bagged another diviner when a lovely interruption rode in.
"Kaaaazeeeee! Corrin needs you on the other side!" Peri came in, hollering like a baboon and waving her lance around like shit about to be thrown.
And just like that, the ninja vanished, with Peri returning to her master's side like a bloodhound from the hunt.
Well, at least Niles still had the girl and the goof for company.
"FOOOOR JUSTICE!" Arthur shouted from Niles's right, heaving a handaxe with woeful inaccuracy.
"Quiet, Arthur! I'm tryin'a line up a shot!" Mozu hissed from the other side of the boastful retainer.
With a sigh, Niles fired another arrow. At least they weren't boring.
[~~~]
Takumi laid fire down on the Traitor Prince of Nohr, bombarding him with the Fujin Yumi's conjured arrows. He couldn't dodge or block forever. For every swing of the Yato he stole, he would tire, and then the young prince of Hoshido would claim victory, and his head.
Everything will go back to normal once he's dead. We'll win the war, and Hoshido will know peace again. Mother will be avenged. Nohr will fall. Corrin will die. Die. Die, die, diediediediediediedie!
"You can't run from me forever, traitor! I can't wait to parade your corpse around for your whole wretched family to see!" Takumi aimed true with his bow, every shot aimed directly for the vitals, but his target refuses to cooperate.
Corrin only responded with a smirk and another deflection. "Who said anything about running?"
Takumi's mouth opened to shout some more, when Corrin's pet serial killer arrived. She swung a sword around like a wild woman, and Takumi was forced to jump back.
"I remember you! You hurt Elise, and tried to hurt Corrin!"
"Buzz off, you annoying little-!"
Apparently, this Peri girl was just who Corrin was waiting for, because now he rushed in on Takumi's position, forcing the sniper back. He brought the divine yumi up to block their onslaught, catching sword and katana against its limbs. The two fought in sync, one striking high while the other swept low, but Prince Takumi refused to yield, though he did lose ground.
The archer prince leapt away through the air, drawing an arrow and firing. The Nohrians stepped back, giving Takumi enough space to draw again. However, before he could loose his arrow, a streak of pain ripped across his bicep. A snarl ripped out of his throat as he caught sight of the culprit, another turncoat from Hoshido. "Kaze! You damn traitor, stay out of my way!"
Kaze only watched on with a steely look in his eyes as Corrin and Peri capitalized on the distraction. Takumi staggered under the weight of their sword swings, bleeding into his armor. "Why…" he gasped, "Why can't I beat you?!"
From the Chevois side of the river, a cavalry of knights came to the prince's defense. "Protect Lord Takumi! The Nohrians can't be allowed to take the bridge!" Takumi was pulled upon a horse and spirited away from the field, left to watch as the horsemen challenged the Nohrians that were supposed to be his to kill.
"Peri, your lance!" Corrin shouted, pulling out his Double Katana to face the charging cavaliers.
"I got it! Wait, wha-!" Peri reached for the lance strapped to her saddle, but couldn't pull it off before the horses reached them.
Corrin grunted, stepping closer to her as he blocked a lance shaft with the long handle of his blade. The weapon had been one of the more lucrative acquisitions from the Siege of the Sevenfold Sanctuary. It may as well be renamed Knight Killer; it was the perfect weapon against cavaliers. With a twist and a slash, Corrin dismounted two of the cavalry by cutting down the legs of their horses, opening an opportunity to come to Peri's aid.
She snarled as she pushed her sword against that of the enemy knight. Her swordsmanship wasn't on par with her lancemanship, and it showed as she was left unable to break her opponent's guard. Corrin charged the cavalier with his katana, giving her an opportunity to grab her lance. However, as she drew it forth, another cavalier charged her with his lance already raised, knocking her from her horse and onto the bridge floor.
"PERI!" Corrin raised an arm and leapt at her attacker, spearing him with a Dragon Fang. Skidding up to Peri, the prince raises his sword and smashed the blade against that of the remaining cavalier, parrying and slashing his horse's neck. Before the knight could recover, Corrin brought his palms forward, calling the dragonsblood in his veins to morph a great maw from his hands and firing a sphere of destructive water. He didn't need to look to see the smear of blood he'd reduced the soldier to.
Corrin turned and quickly assessed Peri's injury. Her shoulder was bleeding badly, and she didn't look like she could move. Frustrated tears poured down her face and she grit her teeth in pain.
"I've got you, don't worry. We're retreating for now." Corrin set her up on her horse's back and swung himself into the saddle. He patted the mare's neck soothingly. "Your master's hurt, Nemesis," he murmured into Peri's horse's ear. "Let's be quick."
With a kick, Nemesis leapt into a gallop, carrying Peri and her liege back towards the Border Wall, where Nohr's best healers could see to her wounds.
=[Cheve Border Wall]=
"Corriiiiiiin! I can wash myself!" Peri whined, squirming in her seat upon the washroom stool.
"After the incident with Selena? I'm not allowing you near the communal baths again." Corrin wrung out a moist towel between his hands and set to washing Peri down.
Too stringent to be bothered with matters of propriety, Prince Corrin had insisted Peri bathe with him, so that he could personally see to cleaning her after the battle. The healers had given her the all clear after patching up her stab wound, but she was not being allowed to take care of herself on Corrin's direct orders.
She didn't have to be happy about it. She wasn't a child!
"Selena started it! She should have watched her big dumb mouth if she didn't want a knifing!"
"Where were you even keeping a knife?!"
Peri giggled. "A lady has to keep some secrets!" She threw a sly wink over her shoulder, much to Corrin's confusion.
Corrin rolled his eyes before resuming the task of washing down Peri's back. Water and suds cascaded down her bare back as he worked the washrag across her skin. He couldn't help but allow his eyes to wander… Peri's back was covered in scars. Puncture wounds, slashes, and deep gashes were marked across it, as well as her shoulders and arms. Arrows, swords, axes, magic, all had left the discolored, raised or indented, skin of a scar. She hadn't been injured this badly before under his command. How many battles had she ridden into under Xander's command? How long had she been fighting to be made into a canvas of violence?
"Heehee! You know, it was pretty dreamy how you came to my rescue like that. You were all like, 'PERI!' and then went all dragon-y and butchered those guys! And then we rode off on Nemesis into the sunset~"
"You're imagining things. Your heart rate was elevated as a result of your injury, that's why you think I was 'dreamy'," Corrin put extra emphasis on the last word, drawing it out incredulously. "And we didn't ride into the sunset; it was past midnight when we engaged the enemy."
Peri pouted. "Can't you let a girl have a little fun while having your way with her?"
"Stop saying things like that and I just might."
Peri harrumphed. Corrin wasn't giving her anything to work with! He didn't have to be such a stick in the mud all the time.
The bath was silent for a while as Corrin finished scrubbing Peri's back. He lifted her left arm to clean under it, when he spotted a particularly faded scar. Hesitantly, he traced a thumb over its length.
"You wanna know how I got that scar?" Peri smiled. "That was from the first servant I ever killed! He was a real jerk, and I didn't like him one bit. He got me in the arm, but I got him better! Heehee! Being so small had its advantages: I was at the perfect height get him right between the legs!"
Corrin winced. "You were just a child?"
"Uh huh." Peri's smile fell. "It was… a month after Mommy died. And all the servants… they all looked alike."
Corrin struggled to find his words. "Peri…"
He shook his head, putting it out of his head. "I'm sorry to hear about your mother. She must have been a wonderful woman."
"She was the best!" Peri bounced right back. "She baked the best sweets, and she sang the prettiest lullabies." She turned, giving the prince a wistful smile. "I miss her a lot."
Corrin returned the smile. "Yeah… I miss mine too."
A/N: Chapter 4! I didn't get as far into the plot as I'd like. I intended to finish the chapter with Hans doing as he does.
Hey bros is it platonic to bathe together and wash a friend's back, like as friends?
Leave a review with your thoughts! I'm quite happy with this one
