So. Sorry for the wait on this chapter. Some issues in my family had me occupied but everything is good now. I imagine you were worried I'd never update again I bet? Probably not. I think you want me to stop writing this cancer. But I cannot go back on this. I must go all the way. So get ready because I'm shutting up now. Enjoy.
Chapter Five: Snow
I was never really much a fan of the cold. I don't like how much gold I'm forced to spend on winter gear. Not only that but you are forced to eat some dried jerky, hardtack, and cold vegetable soup to survive seeing how barely anything grows in the cold. Good thing that in Ylisse, winter only comes around at the end of every year. I even heard Plegia doesn't even get snow; the desert just gets a tiny bit colder. Which is insane seeing how children in Plegia will never have the pleasure of running out in the snow to experience a magical winter wonderland.
But those kids that live in Regna Ferox must be bored of the cold. You see, Regna Ferox is in the north so it's logically colder there. But I swear it snows almost every other day up there. I mean it as well. But thankfully I've packed my winter coat for this mission so the cold isn't really an issue. But seeing how half of the Shepherds keep shivering and huddling around the horses shows that thinking ahead for a situation isn't really a strength for the Shepherds. But I bet Sumia is having the time of her life seeing how she left the Shepherds to care for this injured pegasus two hours ago. She's either warm and dry, probably made a friend with the pegasus; or she is dead because the pegasus kicked her in the neck somehow and that kick broke her neck. What? I like to think of the best and worst outcomes.
Anyway, the Shepherds have arrived at the Longfort to get to the khans of Regna Ferox. And let me to you that the Longfort really does live up to it's name. It is pretty long. And it's a fort. A pretty big fort at that. But I bet you guys would get bored if I keep describing the Longfort's longness so let's get into the action. Up ahead of the Shepherd's column; Chrom and Frederick are talking among themselves while looking at the Longfort. Lissa and the Robins are huddled near Frederick's horse, taking shelter from the cold wind and snow. Suddenly, Chrom raises his hand and makes the "Get ready" signal. Oh boy. We may need to fight our way inside Regna Ferox. An excellent start to a diplomatic mission. I never would have guessed aiming weapons at each other would be part of the negotiations.
Up on the Longfort, a lone female Knight shows herself to the Shepherds. She places her hands on the stonework of the fort and says, "Halt! Who goes there?!" Looks like we got ourselves a wannabe Gatekeeper. No one will ever be better than the Gatekeeper. No one.
Chrom steps forward and says to the Knight, "In the name of House Ylisse, I seek audience with the khans!" Straight to the point. Always good for diplomacy. Well honest diplomacy but I'm going to go into politics just yet. Hopefully.
"Not another step, my bold lad! I've lancers at the ready!" the Knight says, signalling off to someone. Suddenly, there are five other Knights with javelins; ready to throw. Well it looks like negotiations will go no where now.
Frederick holds up his hand at the Knight and says, "Hold, milady! We are not your enemy! Exalt Emmeryn herself sent us to discuss matters of mutual interest." Frederick, when someone is aiming a spear at you, you don't really have room to be diplomatic. Why isn't Chrom stepping away from the Knights' range?
"My only interest is keeping you out of Regna Ferox, brigand!" Well shit. The Knight thinks we are bandits. Can't say I blame her. A bunch of armed strangers come to my doorsteps and say they are diplomates of an another kingdom; I would be think they are bandits too.
"B-brigand? Now see here-" HA! Frederick is stuttering! That is hilarious! And terrifying because the situation is getting out of hand.
"You think you are the first 'Ylisseans' to try and cross our border? I have the authority to fell such imposters where they stand." Oh no… Plegia got here first. Those fucking nerf herders. I have no idea what that means; Jack said that to Vaike when he caught him peeping on the girls while they bathed. Also when they escaped the wrath of Sully's horse. I swear that… thing… is unnatural. Like a demon. I'm getting off track.
"How dare you! You are in the presence of Prince Chrom, the exalt's own blood!" Frederick is a horrible diplomat. You don't insult the client, especially if that client has five angry Knights at her disposal!
"Ha! Yes, indeed—and I'm the queen of Valm! You do realize impersonating royalty is a capital offense, yes? Mmm... Then perhaps we should settle this the Feroxi way. You claim to be the prince of Ylisse? Then prove it on the battlefield!" Oh shit. TIme to spill some blood.
Chrom takes a few more steps forward, towards the people holding the things that can kill him, and says, like a fucking idiot I might add, "Rgh... Emmeryn won't like this at all... Please, good lady! If you'd just listen-"
The Knight snarls at Chrom before raising her hand, saying, "I've heard quite enough! Attack!" The Knight let's her hand down and the five Knights throw their javelins at Chrom. Chrom braces himself like an idiot instead of dodging like any normal person might do. Time seemed to slow down when the five javelins were nearly in Chrom when a flash of white grabs Chrom. The javelins slam into the ground instead of Chrom. Chrom is in the sky, riding a pegasus with Sumia leading the thing. I fucking knew she was a pegasus knight.
Chrom and Sumia lands amidst the Shepherds with Sumia sighing in relief and saying to Chrom, "Oh, Captain, I'm so relieved I made it in time." I would fucking say that. Ylisse almost lost their prince and the only person who can wield Falchion.
Chrom dismounts from Sumia's pegasus and says, "That goes double for me, Sumia! And this—is this the same ornery pegasus we met on the road?!" Well no shit Sherlock. That was the pegasus we've seen recently that was left in the care of Sumia. Did you think it was Naga's miracle to you? Fucking idiot.
"Oh, she's a sweetheart, isn't she? ...Once you really get to know her…" I am not even going to respond to this. I swear that is going to get taken out of context and made into some weird smut book or picture those Dark Mages make.
"Well, many thanks to you both." You could say that again.
Lissa chimes in, saying in a somewhat teasing tone of voice, "I think the pegasus is blushing!" Why are horses in the Shepherds so… human? Almost like they know what we are saying. If Plegia has a horse whisperer and manages to turn one of our horses to their side, we all are going to die.
Frederick, always the wary one, draws his silver spear and shouts at the Shepherds, "And I think we had all best focus on the situation at hand!"
The Robins, taking out their respective weapons, join with Frederick and say to Chrom while pointing at the Longfort, "Chrom, they're coming!" In the distance, a bunch of Ferox warriors are taking their positions and some brave few have exited the walls to meet us in combat. Oh boy; here we go again. I sure do love fighting. But knowing Chrom he is probably going to make it nonlethal.
Chrom draws Falchion and says "All right. The Feroxi way it is! Make sure to not to kill anyone!" before charging in with Sumia at his side. The Shepherds split in two, a half taking the western part of the wall while the other half takes on the eastern part of the wall. I'm with the eastern half that has Frederick and Jack leading with Donny, Lissa, Sully, and Virion behind them. We are met with a Fighter, two Soldiers, and a Archer. Me and Donny take on the Fighter while Frederick takes on the two Soldiers and everyone else taking down the Archer.
Donny and I meet the Fighter with our respective weapons meeting together with a shower of sparks. Me and Donny jump back from the Fighter before the Fighter could hit us with a follow up attack. Donny rushes in and leaves a tiny bruise on the Fighter's chest before he is forced to dodge a lethal blow to the head from the Fighter. I rush in after Donny, managing to knock the fighter unconscious with a handle bash to his temple. Suddenly, I am knocked onto my ass when a arrow slams into my unprotected shoulder. I grit my teeth in the pain and watch as the Archer is beaten black and blue by Sully's horse. That thing loves combat doesn't it?
Anyway, Donny rushes to my side and pulls the arrow out of my shoulder before bandaging the wounds. It hurts a bit but I've had much worse than that. Still hurts though. I stand back up and see Frederick hold up a silver key from one of the fallen Soldiers. I guess we found ourselves a way into the Longfort! Frederick, Donnel, Lissa, and Virion rush up some conventionally places stairs to the top of the Longfort.
Sully rides towards me before stopping and asking me, "Hey Rider. You need a ride?" Huh; Sully is offering me a ride. I guess this offer is because I'm injured. That is a bit insulting thinking one injury will put me out of the fighter… But I am not one to turn down a free ride.
I get on Sully's horse while saying to Sully, "Thanks. Now let's kick some ass!"
Sully smiles and says, "Hell yeah!" before we ride after the others. We somehow make it up the stairs and see all of the Shepherds fighting the last Ferox troops. I guess there was a key on the other side as well. Me and Sully help Stahl and Vaike take down a Knight. I simply distracted the Knight with some attempt attacks from my blade while Sully and Stahl rode circles around the Knight while disarming him. After disarming the Knight, Vaike rushed the Ferox soldier and delivered a crushing blow to the arm, breaking it; making the Knight unable to do battle anymore. Off to the side, we hear "Let our battle sound out the truth of your words!" I turn and see the leader Knight facing off Chrom and Sumia.
It wasn't even a contest with Sumia's pegasus crushing the Knight's shield in two kicks and Chrom breaking the Knight's spear with one chop of Falchion. The Knight only watched as Chrom jumped up into the air, shouting, "Your end has come," before shooting towards the Knight and slamming the flat part of Falchion on the Knight's head. While the Knight fell to the ground, she whimpered out, "Then your claims were...true…" Looks like the battle is over. I think. I mean Chrom could tell us to kill them and I would do it if he offered a raise. If he offered a raise. I do have morals too! Money just helps them go on vacation. What? Stop looking at me like that!
After a few hours of carrying unconscious Ferox soldiers into the Longfort, healing a few wounds and a ton of bruises, and some bread; the Shepherds are getting a personal guard to be escorted to Regna Ferox's capital. But seeing how it's almost night and it's fucking cold outside. I mean it's pretty cold in the Longfort but not as cold as it is outside. But it is spooky. You don't believe me? Let me tell you what happened during dinner then! I was sitting down with Stahl, Virion, Sully, Donny, and Miril during dinner. We were just chatting and finishing up our dinner of wolf venison soup, Chrom and Jack wanted wolf for dinner so don't blame me, when a set of drinks appeared on our table.
Stahl was the first one to notice and he said to us, "Hey; who brought the drinks?"
I looked at Stahl, amused, and say, "Drinks? Don't be ridiculous Stahl. There are no drinks."
"No! I'm serious! Who brought the drinks?" And at this point I notice the drinks Stahl is talking about and a pale a bit.
Virion chimes in, a bit spooked, and says, "Strange; A butler must be here. That must be it! Not a ghost at all. Not like I am afraid of any ghost mind you. Especially since I have the love of my life near me." Virion looks at Sully with that look again. Sully looks back at Virion before bending a fork in half, making Virion pale and swallow some spit.
Miril slides her glasses back up her nose and says, "Illogical. Anything paranormal must have an explanation."
Stahl looks at Miril and says, "But where did the drinks come from? I've also noticed there was an extra drink sitting there." Stahl pointed at the lonely drink with a shaking finger. Holy shit. I did not realize that was there. That is actually scary. Meanwhile Donny is just sitting here, pale as a ghost because he is so scared.
"Well then Stahl; let us examine the object of our experiment. If the liquid holding device processes movement then it your theory will gain credibility." After Miril said that, we all looked at the cup and stared at it for a about two minutes before something absolutely terrifying happened. It moved. The cup moved a bit while we were staring at it. After it moved, everyone jumped out of there seat while we continued to stare at the cup.
"Di-Did you see that?" I say, my hand gripping my iron sword.
"Y-Yes! There are ghosts! Oh dear!" Virion says, hiding behind Sully while shaking in fear. No one said anything else for a while before we all ran off. You see! The Longfort is spooky! Nothing else happened for the rest of the evening, thankfully. I decided to bunk with Donny for the night, not because I'm scared or anything; it's because I'm worried for Donny. What happened earlier today must've put Donny on edge and seeing how he is like a little brother to me; I decided to watch over him. Don't look at me like that! But something weird happened before I went to bed.
I was sitting in my bed, writing in my journal with a lone candle lighting the pages while Donny slept in the other bed in our guest bedroom, when I heard a scream. It was a scream that sounded a lot like Jill. Then I heard Chrom scream even louder then Jill. I sighed and closed my book at my next form of duty. Looks like I have to save Chrom from Jack seeing how Chrom walked in on Jill, most likely naked. I get out of bed and walk out of the bedroom and follow the screaming. If I follow the screams, I may find Jack. If I don't find Jack then Chrom is fucked. I don't know the context of fucked to be honest though.
Luckily, I was able to intercept Jack halfway there. Jack is half-dressed and carrying an iron sword. I bet that sword is to castrate Chrom with. I grab Jack by the nape of his neck and had to literally drag him back to his room. Luckily, he was bunking with Lissa so a swift tap to the head with her staff calmed him down. I think. After that; I shuffled back to my room and opened it up to Donny sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"Mmhm… What's goin' on Rider?" Donny says sleepily, his hair a complete mess. I always wondered if he slept while wearing his bucket; guess not.
"Nothing Donny. Chrom just did something stupid that's all." I say back to him, getting back into bed. I check under my pillow and feel my emergency knife. I always put a knife under my pillow in case someone attacks me while I sleep.
"Really? What did milord do this time? Did he hogtie the sow instead of the boar?"
"Donny; you know I have no fucking idea what you say at times. What does that mean in english?"
"I was meanin' that milord walked in on some ladies powdering their noses and other parts." Oh. Donny had the "Talk" already. I'm glad that someone, most likely me, would've been forced to talk the "Talk" with him.
"Yep Donnel, that is exactly what happened." I snuff out the candle that was lighting the room and
"Well shucks; that ain't good." Donny yawns after saying that and sinks deeper into sleep. "Hey Rider; I got's me a question."
I yawn and roll my head to look at Donny and say sleepily, "Sure. What's up?"
"Why are you so nice to some pig slopper like me? I ain't nothing special so why you treating me like one?" I wish I could tell him the truth but I am not ready to tell anyone what happened those three years ago.
"Because you remind me of this little kid back in my hometown. He was like a little brother to me. You remind me. Now go to sleep Donnel; we got a big day ahead of us." Donny doesn't respond to me so it must mean he's asleep now. Donny does remind me of that kid. The kid's name was Benedict, or Benny as I like to call him, and he really was like a little brother to me. Too bad what happened made me a monster in his eyes but I still like to recall those days of us playing hide and seek. I love those days.
Aiden and Donnel attained support level C
But that is not the end of the day though. During the night, I felt someone kick me in my sleep. I bolted awake with my knife in hand to find Sully in my room with a pillow under her arm.
"What are you doing?" I ask Sully.
"I don't want to sleep alone so scoot over." Sully says, tossing the pillow on my face.
"Ghost scared you?"
"Hell yeah and if you say anything about that then I will fuck you up."
"Got it Ma'am." I scoot over and feel Sully climb into bed. After a bit the door creaks open and I look to find Stahl in the doorway.
I croak out at Stahl, "Ghost?"
He nods and says, "Ghost." I sigh/yawn and scoot over some more. I am literally on the edge of my bed because Sully and Stahl are bunking with me because of a ghost. The door creaks open again and I see Miril in the doorway. We don't even say anything because I point her towards Donny. She understands and slips into Donny's bed. I slide back down into my bed but the fucking door creaks open again and I see motherfucking Virion in the doorway. I glare at him and point him to the ground. He doesn't understand at first but a kick from Sully when he tried to crawl into my bed shows him the error he has made.
I later wake up to the feeling of cold seeing how I am on the floor with Sully on top of me, Stahl sprawled all over my bed, Miril and Donny spooning, and Virion in the fetal position in the corner.
My life as a Shepherd never ceases to be interesting.
So. That was chapter five of Mary Sue. Or Mercenary. Either or to be honest seeing how Aiden is such a Mary Sue. Or a faggot. Take your pick. I'll go work on the next chapter for you guys that actually like this cancer. I have no idea why you like this shit but I can't tell people how to live their life. Or can I? Probably not. Bye.
