Chapter II – The Risen
With no time to think, the Shepherds made to run to the Voice's position. Chrom and I shouted out orders to everyone while we ran, barely able to get the words out as we sprinted to the divine platform under attack. Thankfully, the Risen were slow. Though they were intelligent enough to grasp weapons, even dark magic couldn't help them escape the physical limitations of their deteriorating bodies.
With precious few moments to spare, our troops assumed their positions. "Remember to be careful, Shepherds!" Chrom called out to them. "There's a lot of us here, so work together! There is no foe we cannot best!" Chrom cared deeply for every member of the Shepherds, but he had confidence in them. His confidence was betrayed by the concerned look he had as his wife, Sumia, charged forward with Nowi to begin attacking the first Risen that approached.
To anyone who had just met her, Nowi may not have looked like much, with her being half as tall as some of the Shepherds and seemingly just a little girl, but those who had fought with her knew a different story.
As Sumia and Nowi approached the hordes of Risen coming their way, Nowi raised a familiar stone into the air and in a matter of seconds, she had grown to over ten times her original size and assumed the form of a powerful dragon. Sumia and her pegasus slowed, making room for Nowi to advance and blast the first lines of Risen with divine flame.
Risen, despite being mindless dead humans returned to life, occasionally came to battle wearing armor. I could only assume that the Risen were like the soldier whose body they shared, so if that person had been a knight during their life, then we had to deal with a Risen wearing a full suit of armor. Dealing with armored enemies was nothing new to us, but when the Risen had enough troops to build a small army, even their laughable combat skills were devastating. Risen relied on brute strength to win fights, and when we found ourselves outnumbered four to one, tactics alone weren't enough to beat strength. We had to fight fire with fire. In this case we did that quite literally.
Nowi's divine flame made short work of the Risen knights leading the front lines. I didn't think that walking corpses could possibly smell worse, but walking corpses in a scalding suit of armor was worse. The Risen knights fell, their faces burning. At least they couldn't feel it, or so I hoped. After the ranks of Risen were broken by Nowi, Sumia swooped in for an aerial attack. She was an accomplished lancer and, as long as she was kept far away from any wind magic or arrows, she could unleash devastation on the battlefield.
The other units I had sent forward didn't disappoint either. I looked over to Cherche and Lon'qu. Lon'qu was exactly what you would expect from a swordsman. He was tough, unsentimental, and vicious. I was sure he had a soft side. He married Maribelle, after all, and she would never tolerate someone who was a brute. That's what she always said, anyway. Sometimes I thought I didn't know much about her either, even though she was one of the first Shepherds I met. I considered us to be close friends, Maribelle and I.
Lon'qu quickly drew his bow and took out one of the Risen pegasi. Even though he had only just started his training with a bow recently, his aim was already as disciplined as his swordsmanship. He was sort of like Frederick, in a way. Though Lon'qu couldn't even begin to handle the interpersonal aspects of being a knight. I suppose that's why he decided to train to be an assassin instead. There's less talking to the people you meet that way… Did I just chuckle at my own joke… in the middle of a battle!? Focus, Robin!
Next to Lon'qu was Cherche. Unlike Sumia and Cordelia, who rode on pegasi, Cherche was a wyvern rider. Maybe it was just my imagination, but Cherche and her wyvern, Minerva, seemed much less graceful in battle. Something about a woman on a pegasus was dignified. Even their attacks were executed gingerly, with great care for proper form. Cherche and Minerva weren't like that. When in combat, Cherche fought with a rage that none of the other Shepherds had. Outside of battle, she was the sweetest person, but on the battlefield she was a force to be reckoned with. Even in light of all that rage, though, she never once lost control of herself and she was always ready for new developments in the tide of battle at a moment's notice. I watched her bring her axe down on the Risen in front of her, almost feeling sorry for them. Almost.
Finally, on the left flank we had Cordelia and Panne. Cordelia was another pegasus knight, but she was distinctly different from Sumia. Sumia was nervous and unsure of her abilities. Her abilities were still good, but I felt like it slowed her down in battle occasionally to constantly be questioning herself. Thankfully, there wasn't much time to do that when an assortment of weapons were just a few steps away from her throat, so she did pretty well.
By contrast, Cordelia was a perfectionist in every aspect. Outside of battle, I would have said that her and Sumia were actually pretty similar. Sumia buried herself in books to avoid thinking about how inept she felt, and Cordelia did the same, except Cordelia buried herself in training. Lots and lots of training. On the battlefield, they couldn't have been more different. Cordelia's hours of training every day meant that she was one of our most skilled fighters. She may not have been physically strongest, but she was precise and quick enough to rival Lon'qu's skill.
This display of skill was best shown here. Sumia needed Nowi to weaken enemy lines first before she could fit in her attack. Cordelia, on the other hand, went in first every time. She created gaps in the enemy lines with careful, targeted strikes on the integral Risen holding up their imitation of a proper formation. When she took out a few of the Risen in the front line, Panne moved to attack.
Panne was like Nowi, except Panne wasn't a millennium old. That and Panne couldn't breathe fire. Nowi was a manakete, one of the last few members of the legendary divine dragon race. Panne was a taguel. Even more rare than manaketes in today's times, but much less storied, taguel were capable of transforming into rabbit-like creatures. Unlike Nowi, Panne looked every bit as fierce in her human form as she did in beast form. Panne's husband, Gaius, told me once before that taguel capable of transforming into other animals once existed. I assumed he had heard that from Panne. She didn't trust most humans, so I was surprised to learn that she shared facts about her people's history with someone, even if it was her husband.
Panne, acting like a cavalry unit, was able to break through the crowd of Risen that Cordelia had made the first strike against. Even though a rabbit creature may not sound imposing, she was certainly as large as a pegasus, if not a little bigger. She fearlessly clawed at some of the Risen, bringing an end to their attack.
Our three fliers, coupled each with their own support unit, were able to deal a devastating amount of damage to the Risen leading the charge. However, it wasn't long before each of them pulled back. I had told them in no uncertain terms that they were not to allow themselves to be injured severely.
They had done a great job, but now that the remainder of the Risen forces approached our main defenses, we were still outnumbered. Each of the mages took out a magical tome to draw power from. I did the same. I stood at the high point on the pavilion, just near the Voice. Next to me was Chrom, Say'ri, Lissa, and Maribelle, ready to support the Voice if needed. I charged a Thoron lightning spell and aimed at the Risen approaching Kellam at the front line, taking a moment to look to the other mages, who were also prepared to fire. We each let off our spells, causing disorder amongst the Risen again as several of them crumbled to the ground from magical attacks.
Just slightly below me, Virion had his bow trained on the Risen pegasi and wyvern riders. This group of Risen was surprisingly well equipped in terms of flying troops, but they were still no match for Virion. Unlike Lon'qu, who primarily handled swordsmanship and only took up archery as a second skill, Virion had been practicing with bows for years. He was our only dedicated archer, but his skill never fell short. Virion was known by everyone in the Shepherds, though not for reasons as good as any of us were known for. Even Nowi, as innocent as she could be, once called him a philanderer straight to his face. I still laughed now, thinking back to it. Virion had changed, though. Ever since he married Cordelia, he was all the more respectable and his behavior was as noble as you'd expect of the Duke of Rosanne. Though admittedly, I still struggled to believe he actually was the lord of any place.
As the mages and I prepared a second round of spells, the Risen made contact with our armored units. Frederick and Stahl held the flanks impressively. Stahl was one of our more average soldiers. Possessing neither fame nor infamy, he carried out his duties well. I could tell he had spent a good amount of time training, even if I wasn't around to witness it. After all, he was taking out a good chunk of the Risen on the right flank, and these were no ordinary Risen. Exceptionally well armed and tougher than the rest, I knew there must have been some darker than usual force behind these enemies.
At the front, Kellam stood tall against the mob of enemies threatening him. Subtle as he was, Kellam held his own in battle. It had become somewhat of a running joke amongst the Shepherds that Kellam was invisible, since his careful movement and quiet personality made him less noticeable. Besides that, he was also our most armored unit in the entire army, so foes tended to avoid him if at all possible. This formation was set up deliberately to make sure that he would be able to receive the majority of the charging enemy forces. It may have seemed a little harsh on him, but I trusted Kellam more than the average soldier, and there were healers not far behind anyway.
Some people thought that it only made sense that Kellam ended up marrying Olivia, the shyest member of the Shepherds. Olivia was a dancer. Troop morale was important even in the heat of battle, so Olivia was often near the front lines, helping rejuvenate and inspire our troops with her inventive dances. In a pinch, she could even handle a sword, so she wasn't totally helpless if our ranks were shattered by the enemy.
One by one, the Risen in front of us fell. I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like my plan was actually working. As ridiculous as it seemed, the defense was holding up.
"M-Milord!" cried a soft voice. Chrom looked around to see who was in trouble, when I noticed the front line.
"Chrom, it's Kellam!" I shouted, panic in my voice as I pointed at Kellam. A Risen sorcerer had tried to use powerful fire magic on him. It looked like he avoided the attack, but the Risen successfully broke our ranks and disorder immediately started to spread.
"Right," Chrom said, his expression becoming more serious as he leaped forward to support the front line. "Shepherds, don't let them break down our ranks! Pull back and reform!"
Chrom reached the front line and drew Falchion from its sheath, mercilessly slashing through the Risen that now threatened to overcome us. Having avoided the fire magic, Kellam stood alongside Chrom, impaling Risen fighters on his lance. The supporting forces in the front sprung into action as well once they were back in their formation. Lucina, Vaike and Gregor each stepped forward to prevent Chrom and Kellam from being overwhelmed.
Lucina was the most abnormal member of the Shepherds. Not because of her personality or anything. She was a nice girl. But unlike the rest of us, she didn't grow up in this day and age. She was the daughter of Chrom and Sumia, but in this time period she had not yet been born. She time traveled back from the future to try and prevent Grima from returning. In Lucina's world, Grima had destroyed everything and created a barren land of darkness. Since she was an adult when she left her future, she was as old as her father in our time period, which was by far the weirdest thing about her. Next to her, Vaike raised his axe.
Vaike was Nowi's husband. I truly didn't understand what they saw in each other, but it wasn't my business to judge their types, I supposed. Vaike was the most confident member of the Shepherds, except for Virion, maybe. He had this weird habit of referring to himself in the third person and he called himself "teach" a lot. Confidence wasn't enough to describe it, he was annoying. Annoying as he may have been, he was also the most skilled axe fighter in the Shepherds. I hated to admit it, because it only fueled his own ego, but he was our savior when it counted.
As Vaike hacked away at a Risen cavalier, Gregor battled one of the Risen knights alongside Kellam. Gregor wasn't particularly exceptional as a member of the Shepherds, but he was the funniest member of the group, in my opinion. It shocked me that he was one of the few Shepherds that were still unmarried. We had recruited Gregor a while back when he defected from service of his original employer. Gregor was a sellsword, but his morals prevailed over money for long enough to get him to become a Shepherd.
After what seemed like just a few minutes, the army of Risen was dwindling down to its final numbers. Just behind me, I heard a commotion and I turned around to look.
"It's Lady Tiki! She has completed the ritual," said Say'ri. I turned around to look and I heard many Shepherds turning behind me. Sure enough, the Voice had finally come around to a state of consciousness, though she still seemed exhausted. She was beautiful beyond description, I thought. Flowing green hair the color of emeralds, with sparkling green eyes to match. Not to mention her dress—wait, what am I thinking?
Before I had a moment to snap out of my stupor, I heard a scream from behind me. As distracted as everyone was, we nearly forgot about the few Risen that remained. Mounted Risen put pressure on the front line, forcing Gregor and Vaike to hide behind Kellam. Frederick made his way to the front in seconds, and the mages focused on protecting Kellam.
Just then, I saw an ebony pegasus fly above the rest of them. A Risen dark flier, with fire magic at the ready. The dark flier aimed at the Voice and let off her spell. I had no time to think, and barely a second more to react.
I leaped in front of the Voice, and in what felt like three endless seconds that followed, I steeled myself for the flames that would soon hit me head on.