Another change in perspective for you all!
Interlude: Cordelia
The trip between Ylisstol and the border with Plegia takes a great deal more time on our return journey. Five days instead of the two from before. I suppose that's the difference between a routine flight and when one is running for their life. Aurora seems to be pleased with the arrangement, happy to be flying with me for more than just drills. The extended time in the air is doing wonders for her.
If only I could say I felt the same. As much as I try to lose myself in the thrill of flight I can't help but feel the weight on my heart.
I'm so alone here. More so than ever before. The Pegasus Knights were my goal for so long, but the longer I spend here the more I find myself hating it. The gossip, the isolation, the hostility… it all overshadows the dreams I had, and those dreams grow darker by the day.
Perhaps it would have been better if Commander Phila had released me from her service. I think back to the sight of my friends as they saw me off a few days ago. All doing their part for Ylisse, all standing together. A part of me is bitterly jealous of them, of that togetherness, and I hate myself for it.
"Hey!"
A voice jolts me from my musings. I look to my right to see one of my fellow knights giving me an annoyed look. Rebecca scowls at me, her short violet hair whipping in the wind. "Snap out of it, we're landing. Just because Little Lady Genius is good enough to fly with her eyes closed doesn't mean you shouldn't be paying attention with the rest of us."
I blink in surprise, looking down at the fort we'll be reporting to as we carry out our border patrols. It looms beneath me, having grown shockingly close in the time I've been thinking, and I chide myself for losing focus for so long. More than half of the knights have already landed. Had I not been at the rear of the formation I may have flown over without noticing.
I follow the knights in front of me and prompt Aurora to descend, circling slowly as we approach the courtyard. Rebecca lists to the side next to me; her poor landings are the primary reason she remains at the back of the formation. I gaze down at the fort below me as we draw nearer.
Something is wrong…
"Where are the guards?" I wonder aloud, watching as Veronica, our captain on this mission, strides across the courtyard, empty save for the landing knights. "They should be here to greet us."
An uneasy feeling curls its way into my stomach, and I instinctively sharpen my focus, looking for the source of my discomfort. The fort seems unharmed, but there are no people here… not a sign of a struggle, and messages have been arriving from the fort as usual, last I checked…
So why does the road leading to the main gate have so many footprints? Enough for an army, even…
A lone wyvern shrieks out, a cry of agitation that comes from a cluster of trees not far from the fort.
At that same moment Captain Veronica opens the door to the fort. She barely looks within before throwing herself to the side. Not even a second later a bolt of lightning flies from the door, tearing through the wood and striking an unwitting Pegasus Knight that had been standing behind the Captain. The explosion of magical force echoes through the air.
"The fort has fallen! It's an ambush!" I cry out in horror, tugging on the reins and bringing Aurora into a sharp climb.
From there all hell breaks loose. Veronica bolts towards her Pegasus, her cry echoing my own as she rushes for her mount. Our realization comes too late though; even as my fellow knights coax their mounts to take flight, archers stream from the wall towers, surrounding the knights from above and firing indiscriminately. With nearly three quarters of the Pegasus Knights already on the ground, there's very little chance of them failing to hit a target.
The sound of screaming Pegasus and Knights fills the air.
I dart through the air, dodging arrows and wyverns alike. Only a few left. No more than a dozen of us Pegasus Knights against three times as many enemy fliers, to say nothing of the archers and mages.
Speaking of mages… I spot a Grimleal mage attempting to drag a knight from the sky with wind magic. A dangerous threat, but not the smartest in execution. My javelin pins the exposed sorcerer to the wall top, killing him instantly. They're certainly a great deal more manageable with an aerial advantage.
I turn back to the knight I rescued just in time to see her Pegasus struck by an arrow. Rebecca falls to the ground screaming, and I pull into a dive to rescue her from her saddle.
An outstretched hand stops me before I can follow her. "It's too late!" Veronica snaps at me sharply, her blonde hair now dark with blood. "Follow her and you'll die the same."
"Captain!" I gasp in shock, "I thought you were dead!"
"Not yet I'm not." She growls, eyes darting about as she leads me towards a small group of Knights that are holding formation. "But we don't have much more time. The knights holding out on the ground don't have much longer before that bastard king overwhelms them, and once they're dead we'll be soon to follow."
I look back to the ground to the knights in question, a small group that have built a makeshift barricade of their fallen Pegasus and are hurling javelins at the archers raining hell upon them. From this high up I can barely see them, only the mass of white that marks their Pegasus clearly visible. Gangrel himself is only visible due to the bright flashes from that cursed magic sword he wields.
I feel tears run down my face. It's really over then? There's so much left I wanted to do with my life! Become a knight captain, fall in love, start a family... is that really about to come to an end here? "Captain, what are we going to do? I… I'm not ready to die."
"We are going to fight." Veronica says with a grim smile. "And you… you are going to flee."
"What?" I freeze, hands tightening on Aurora's reins.
"I am giving you the duty of escaping to tell Commander Phila and the Exalt what happened here." Veronica nods. "You have to warn them what's coming."
"No, Captain, I can still fight! I can help you!"
"It's an order, knight. You're the best flier we have, and the one with the best chance of escaping. It has to be you." Veronica smiles affectionately. "We'll make an opening for you to escape, and keep them busy. Maybe we can only buy you a few minutes, but that should be plenty of time for Little Lady Genius, right?"
"Please, don't do this! We can all escape together! Don't make me leave you all!" I sob desperately.
"Good luck, Cordelia!" Veronica says, taking the head of the formation and driving the remaining fliers eastward.
The wyverns are a wall of scales and armor that fall upon us as soon as we make our bid to escape. Veronica's group drills through that wall with brutal efficiency, even as those on the fringe of the formation are torn apart. I follow through the gap they make and find myself suddenly facing open air, the sight almost shocking after almost half an hour of prolonged aerial combat. In spite of this I urge Aurora onward.
When I hazard a look back I see Captain Veronica and her last few knights darting through the air as the Plegian Wyvern brigade falls upon them. The knights fight fiercely enough that only a handful of Wyvern riders are able to follow me. Damn them all for doing this!
Damn me for letting them.
Wyverns are faster than Pegasus in a straight chase, meaning my escape is far from over even an hour after the other knights sacrifice themselves for me. It's the unfortunate difference between a creature that flies naturally and one that uses magic to fly, a minor difference that becomes all too vital in situations such as these. That same magic allows Aurora greater agility, enough that she can dodge around the snapping jaws and swiping polearms of my pursuers, but every time we do so means precious seconds lost.
My arms ache as I strike at the latest of these attackers, my lance piercing the throat of the wyvern, and sending it tumbling through the air. It's thrashing head nearly tugs the weapon from my hands, and I curse as I fumble to retrieve it.
Sloppy. Far too sloppy. In the time I spent recovering the next wyvern has caught up. Aurora corkscrews through the air as the rider tries to cut at her wing with his halberd, and I cut through the wyvern's belly as I move. The rider's saddle is slashed loose as I do so, and both wyvern and rider fall not far behind the first.
Instead of wyverns and men though, all I can hear is Pegasus and my fellow knights.
The constant dodging and fighting take their toll. After nearly five straight hours of close escapes I'm forced to bring Aurora in to land. She uses magic to help her flight, but her wings still need rest. I take shelter in a forest, taking comfort in the darkness around me, which is growing enough that soon even Aurora's coat will be hidden in shadow.
Unfortunately my pace slows to a crawl as a result. Pegasus bones are too lightweight to support anything more than a trotting pace on land. Aurora's legs simply can't handle the strain of it. So we're forced to creep along the forest floor at a snail's pace as the wyverns sweep overhead, trying to pick us out.
The night is spent creeping along slowly in this manner, my eyes straining to pick out the wyverns as they pass above. It's not easy, but Phila taught me once to watch the stars to find them. By watching where the stars are blotted out I'm able to keep a general idea of where my pursuers are at all times.
The focus required to do this does mean that I'm caught quite off guard when I stumble across something on ground level though.
Unlike Aurora's bright coat, the creature that comes upon me is darkly colored, blending into the shadows seamlessly. I get the briefest glimpse of eyes in the dark before a massive creature comes exploding out of the undergrowth and knocks me from Aurora's back. I crash to the ground with a cry of alarm, Aurora screaming in alarm as I'm pinned into the dirt.
"Stop! Stop it King! Leave them alone!"
The beast is gone in an instant, leaving me dazed on the ground. I stare blankly into the air, trying to regain my breath, but am unable to come to my senses until I'm made aware of a figure hunched over me.
"Come on now miss, let's get you on your feet!" A young man babbles in a hushed whisper, pulling me to a sitting position. I attempt to push him away, head still reeling from my sudden tumble, but he persists. "Quickly now, I know yer head must be spinning something awful, but we don't have time to wait. That Pegasus of yours is kicking up one heck of a racket!"
Something about the voice seems vaguely familiar to me, and I focus on the man enough to see a telltale kitchen pot resting on his head. "Are you… Donnel? The Shepherd?"
The man reels back at this, then leans in closer, peering closely at my face. "Golly, is that you, Cordelia?"
"I'm glad you remember me." I nod, letting him pull me back to my feet. I sharp click of my tongue signals to Aurora that I'm alright, and calms her considerably despite the large creature (a Griffon, I finally note) still sitting nearby.
"Begging your pardon ma'am, but you're a difficult sight to forget." Donnel chuckles sheepishly. "Now, let's get moving quick-like. If all them Wyverns above have any sense in their head they'll be closing in on us right about now. We have to get ourselves hidden."
"Of course." I reply, taking a few shaky steps forward and leaning on Aurora's flank for support. "Lead the way."
We move as quickly and quietly as we can manage, though Aurora and I prove to be the weakest in that regard. Donnel is a trained trapper, and walks as silent as a wraith through the trees. And the Griffon, somehow, is even quieter. It still gives me the side-eye as we move, and it doesn't take me long to realize why. The Griffon protects two riders, a young girl and an infant boy.
The children from my last visit to the Plegian border. Dahlia and Lumír. It would seem we're making a habit of meeting under less than favorable circumstances. An odd coincidence (if it is a coincidence at all), but not one I can safely question yet.
After a while spent following Donnel as he leads us on a weaving path through the trees he finally finds a small clearing of sorts, a grove where the trees have grown so twisted that the canopy above is impenetrable. "Alright, I reckon they'll have a heck of a time finding us here!" He declares, quiet but cheerful. "Let's take us a moment to catch our breath."
"Thank you Donnel." Dahlia says softly. "This will be perfect."
"Aww, tweren't nothing." Donnel says sheepishly, scratching his head. After a moment he looks back to me and grows more serious. "Now then, since we've got some room to breathe, what do you say we get those scrapes of yours patched up?"
I blink in confusion and he gestures to my arm. A cut runs along my forearm, long but shallow. Apparently the Griffon's claw caught me. I turn towards the creature and it seems to shift in a way that almost seems guilty.
Dahlia appears at my side in an instant, fishing through the multitude of pouches on her person and pulling out several things. Water, cloth, bandages, and a sort of salve. "King sent you rolling in the dirt, so I'll have to clean the wound." She says calmly, wetting the cloth and approaching my arm. "Do you need something to bite down on?"
"I'll manage. Do what you must." I nod, letting her go to work. Her touch with the cloth is light, but burns like fire as she brushes against my wound. I feel my eyes roll in my head as my teeth clench, and I force myself to talk so that I can take my mind off of the pain. "How did you learn to tend to wounds at such a young age?"
"An old friend of my father ran an apothecary." She says, hands not wavering in the slightest as she squints in the dark. "I expressed an interest in healing at a young age, and my father had me apprentice there for several years. I learned a great deal from him. Are you trained in magic use by any chance?"
"Somewhat, but not extensively." I admit. "And healing was always my worst subject."
"Drat. I shall have to do this with one hand." She pulls a small spellbook from a pouch to her side and uses it to produce a tiny flame, which she holds in one hand as she continues to tend to me. "It's rather difficult to work in the dark like this."
"I can lend you a hand, if you think it'll help." Donnel chimes in.
"That would be lovely Donnel, thank you." She smiles gently over at him, gesturing him to come to her side. "If you could hold this for me." She deposits the flame into his hands, her smile growing mischievous as he panics. "It's quite safe, I assure you."
"So how did you two come to meet?" I ask curiously. "Are you no longer with the Shepherds, Donnel?"
"Well gosh, I sure hope I am!" Donnel gasps nervously. "I've been gone far longer than I meant to be, that's for darn sure."
"I work as a courier." Dahlia says, peering closely at the wound. "This may need stitches. I assume you don't want any sort of painkillers at the moment? I'm sorry to say I'm out of numbing salve right now, so I have no way to dull the pain without drugging you."
"I can't afford to let my senses be dulled tonight, I'm afraid." I reply grimly, knowing what's coming next.
"Understandable. You will want to grit your teeth for this one though." She pulls a needle and thread from a pouch and begins fussing with the two. "I strongly suggest you find a belt or rag to bite on."
I don't hesitate to unbuckle my belt and bring it to my mouth. Donnel looks away in embarrassment, an amusing notion seeing as my belt covers nothing that doesn't already have several layers in place.
"I appreciate how cooperative you're being." Dahlia says, amused. "Not everyone is so willing to seriously consider the medical advice of one my age. Now then, where was I?"
"Courier." Donnel replies, head still firmly turned aside.
"Ah yes, of course. Ever since I lost my family, I took up work delivering messages or packages. I'm able to charge quite a bit for my services, too." I stifle a flinch as the needle pierces my skin. "Hold the light closer please Donnel. Yes, perfect. Most people in my line of work are forced to travel on foot. The more expensive couriers have horses. Very few have the luxury of a flying mount. So King and I are able to support ourselves quite well with the money I make delivering packages. I came across Donnel in Southtown about two months ago, and decided to hire his services."
"Services?" I muffle out around my belt.
"I'm something of a bodyguard." Donnel replies, glancing briefly in my direction. "Miss Dahlia recognized me from the Shepherds, and asked me to help her for a while."
"He's done a great deal for me." Dahlia smiles, hands moving deftly. "I've learned a great deal about hunting and foraging from Donnel since he started helping me. It can be rather hard to eat properly on the road sometimes. And he helps King deal with unsavory fellows."
"I'm pretty darn sure King does a heck of a lot more than I do in that regard." Donnel mutters, eyeing the Griffon nervously. If anything, the creature seems to be almost amused by that.
"Nonsense, I feel far safer with your assistance." Dahlia replies cheerfully. "Just about done here, miss knight. I do feel bad about keeping poor Donnel from the Shepherds of course, but he hasn't heard a word of protest from me. He's quite dedicated to looking after Lumír and I."
I see Donnel's cheeks going pink at that and feel myself grin despite the belt in my mouth. He has a crush, how precious! Dahlia seems to be done with the needle, so I pull the belt from my mouth and reply. "Well I suppose to get into the Shepherds at his age, he must be quite dedicated."
"That's true!" Dahlia replies, oblivious to the wide-eyed look Donnel is giving me as she applies a cream to the skin around my injury. "Though it will all be coming to a close soon. I'll not be travelling for a while once I've finished my current delivery."
"Oh?" I look down to her curiously.
"I've noticed that things around here are getting to be a bit too dangerous for my liking." Dahlia gestures absentmindedly towards the sky. "So I've arranged for a delivery job north, to Regna Ferox. Gelida Dominus to be precise. Once I'm there I will be putting my services on hold for a while, so I won't need Donnel's services. The Shepherds will be heading there soon as well, I hear, so it works out quite nicely for both of us."
Donnel's expression says plainly that he has mixed feelings about that, but he shakes his head silently as he notices my gaze. He doesn't want to talk about it, I suppose. I can certainly relate to that feeling. "The Shepherds are heading north?" I say instead, focusing on the more serious news. "Isn't it a dangerous time to be leaving the country."
"That would be exactly why." Dahlia replies calmly, rolling bandages around my arm. "They're aiming to make use of their allegiance with Regna Ferox. The consensus is that their help will be necessary to win the war."
A part of me wonders if their help will be enough, after what happened today. But I keep quiet on the matter, not wanting to burden a young girl with the information. "So the Exalt is alone in Ylisstol then?"
"She's left Ylisstol." Dahlia says, tying the bandage and giving an approving nod. "Hold still another moment while I look for any further injuries, if you please. The Exalt is being escorted to the Eastern Palace before Prince Chrom leaves for the north. They left several days ago. By now I imagine they're approaching Breakneck Pass." She frowns for a moment. "Such a morbid name, honestly."
"How is it that you know all this?" I gaze suspiciously at her. "That's not information that the Halidom would carelessly spread about."
Dahlia blinks in surprise at this, seeming to be taken aback at my tone. "Oh! Yes, I suppose I can see how…" She trails off and starts fidgeting, suddenly looking far more her age. "I deliver mostly for noble families. And a lot of them are… very loud. It's not hard to hear things."
"She's not wrong." Donnel pipes up quickly. "I was with her when we heard the news a day ago, over in Themis. Some rich fellow was yelling about it. Seemed awful mad he hadn't been warned about it or something."
That does change things. Dahlia may be something of a mystery, but Donnel is anything but, a simple farmer and trapper who made it into the Shepherds mostly by Chrom's generosity, as Sumia's told it. He could be lying for the sake of his crush, but… I can't help but feel he's a bit too honest for that.
And somehow seeing Dahlia look nervously up at me, feet shuffling in the dirt, makes me want to trust her. The girl takes the term 'precocious' to a level beyond anything even I've seen, but she does seem to still be a child at heart. One who currently looks up at me as though caught doing something naughty, awaiting punishment.
"Be sure to be careful who you speak to about such things in the future. It could be dangerous." I say, smiling down at the girl and giving her a pat on the head. She goes very still at that, her gaze unsure as she looks up at me. "I'm not mad at you, don't worry. I'm actually very thankful."
"Really?" Her gaze is still cautious.
"Really." I smile even bigger and crouch down so that I'm face to face with her. "I actually had something important to tell The Exalt, so you helped me a lot!"
Dahlia seems to sag a little with relief, a wobbly smile creeping across her face as she tries to casually wipe at her eyes. My heart gives a pang of pity and sorrow for this little girl, trying so hard to be an adult after all that she's lost. A part of me wants to hug her, comfort her somehow, but I know she'd likely not appreciate such a thing from a stranger.
And besides, I know full well that I'm hardly in a good place to comfort anyone right now.
"I'm glad to hear that I was able to be of assistance." Dahlia says shakily, regaining her composure.
"Yes, I-" I pause for a moment, looking towards Aurora and King. Aurora's ears are flicking irritably, and the Griffon is staring intently into the dark of the forest. "Put the light out!" I hiss with sudden urgency.
Dahlia wastes no time, scooping her book up and causing the fire to wink out in Donnel's hand. The boy wastes no time, drawing his sword and gesturing to us. "Wait here. I can move a heck of a lot quieter than you can." He vanishes into the forest without another word, leaving the rest of us to wait in the dark.
The next few moments are spent in tense silence. I peer into the forest and see the faint glow of distant torches. Too far away to have spotted our tiny fire, thankfully, but also a clear sign that those hunting me are drawing closer.
"Plegia." I whisper to Dahlia. She nods silently, a motion only just visible in the dark.
A minute passes.
Then two.
A brief noise catches my attention; it comes from Lumír, fussing in his place on King's back. Dahlia rushes over to soothe him, murmuring in hushed tones so faint I can barely hear them.
Another five minutes pass before I finally see the torches wink out, one after the other. Then another couple of minutes later Donnel reappears, sword dark with blood.
"Scouts. Two of them." Donnel says grimly, wiping his blade clean with a rag as he informs us. "I managed to get the jump on the varmints before they could raise heck, but there will be more soon. Didn't see any others, so they haven't started tightening the net just yet, but it's only a matter of time."
A part of me wants to scream at him that our time would be much longer had he not killed them. The wyvern riders will notice their missing companions immediately. But I recognize that it would hardly help matters to say so now. As Ben would say: 'We can discuss it when things are less dire.'
"Right then, let's hurry." I say instead, leading Aurora to the edge of the clearing and waiting for Donnel to take point again. We flee the grove as quietly as possible.
Contrary to Donnel's earlier opinion, the Plegians seem to be drawing their net in closer by the minute. As we run I begin to spot more and more torches in the distance, the result of a grid search the Plegians are using to scour the forest. With their wyverns still watching from above, they know I haven't left yet, and are sparing no effort to flush me out.
Another half hour and the lights are growing ever closer. What's worse, the canopy is growing thinner, a sure sign that we're nearing the edge of the forest. Donnel begins muttering to himself as he goes, trying to find a path that will bring us safely from the Plegian net.
I can tell already that such a path does not exist.
I look to the young Shepherd, diligently trying to lead me to safety, and the girl, wise beyond her years, speaking to soothe both her younger brother and herself.
The Plegians have no idea my companions even exist.
My path is obvious.
"Donnel, find a place to hide." I say, readying my spear and turning towards the nearest of my pursuers.
"What? Miss Cordelia, you aren't thinking of-"
"I am." I nod resolutely, urging Aurora in the direction of the torchlight. "Lay low and keep quiet, all of you. They're only looking for me."
"That's nonsense!" Donnel protests in shock. "I can't go letting you get yourself hurt on our account. Just you wait, I'll get us out of this, so don't go acting crazy-like, you hear me?"
"It's fine Donnel." I look back at him. "I was always going to have to reveal myself to them eventually. I certainly can't hide forever, not when I have a duty to perform."
"There's no talking you out of this?" He asks desperately. "Surely there's something else we can do."
I feel my stomach twist at his words, so similar to my frantic pleading with Veronica.
"There isn't." Dahlia says in a small voice. "We can't hide forever, and if we try to fly the wyverns will spot all of us."
"No, but…" Donnel looks between the two of us frantically. "There has to be something! What the heck's the point of all this training I've been doing if I can't save one person?"
"You're saving two people." I point out, smiling fondly at the boy. "And a griffon." King squawks indignantly at that.
"M-miss Cordelia?" I look over to Dahlia, the girl curled up on King's back. She stares timidly back at me, watery eyes seeming to gleam in what little moonlight shines through the trees. "Don't die please."
"I won't." I reassure the girl, smiling at her as broadly as I can in the hope she may see it in the darkness. "We'll see each other again soon, I know it."
I leave the four of them behind and ride towards the Plegian searchers. It costs one of my few remaining javelins to bring one down and get the attention of the others. But as they chase me into the night, away from the others, I can't help but think it's a small price to pay.
Another wyvern falls screaming to the ground. How many is that now?
I can't remember.
I can't think anymore.
Just have to keep going east. Almost there… I hope.
Aurora pants with exhaustion beneath me, mouth frothing from the exertion of flying for three days straight.
I haven't slept since the last day of our trip to the border, not properly at least. Occasionally I find myself blacking out in the saddle, moments of inexcusable weakness that only serve to drag me further into Plegia's clutches.
I can't afford it. I can't let myself slip like that. I damn Ylisse further with every such failure.
Plegia can't catch me. Just… fly east. Breakneck Pass, like Dahlia said. Find the Exalt. Wing Commander.
They won't have died for nothing.
Claws appear in the corner of my eye. I drop to one side in my saddle without thinking, letting the wyvern grab at the air where my head once was. My spear strikes it, piercing the belly and sending it flapping away. Only injured. A failure. I can't afford to keep making these mistakes!
A sound suddenly reaches my ears.
A battle, far ahead of me. Plegian foot soldiers? How could they have come this far?
But, the foes they're fighting… I see the telltale white of Pegasus overhead, raining javelins on the enemy. Wing Commander Phila is there! I've found them, thank Naga!
My pursuers grow desperate as they realize what's happening. The last of the Wyverns chasing me close in.
I'm so tired.
I just want this all to end.
Would it be so bad to die here? Surely my body would serve as warning enough for the Exalt to know what happened. Then perhaps I could finally join Captain Veronica and the others…
My training fights the exhaustion, hands seeming to snap at Aurora's reins by their own volition. We twist in the air, falling into a steep dive that carries me out of the wyvern's clutches. Another few seconds bought. But already they're closing in again.
Let it be over.
Please let it be over.
My vision is darkening again.
"Cordelia!"
A voice rouses me. I pull Aurora out of the dive. Who…?
My question is answered a moment later as Sumia flies past me. Not far behind her are Wing Commander Phila and her other Pegasus. The last Pegasus Knights of Ylisse.
I choke out a sob as the thought strikes me.
Aurora breathes heavily as we fly the last short distance. Her landing is a staggering thing, heavy enough that I'm nearly thrown from the saddle. Would be, if not for the belts holding me in. I waste no time clawing my legs free so I can get down from her back and finally let the poor thing rest.
When my feet touch the ground though I find that my legs have turned to jelly. I only manage a few staggering steps before they give out beneath me.
Somebody catches me. I look up and see long brown hair and hazel eyes staring down at me from behind glasses.
"Ben." I gasp in relief. I've made it, it's my friends, it's the shepherds, I've made it! "Oh Gods, Ben!"
"I've got you Cordelia, you're going to be okay!" He replies quickly, voice sharp with barely contained panic. He shouts over his shoulder, "Lissa would you get the fuck over here already!?"
Lissa. A healer. "Aurora. Please, you have to look after Aurora, she's so tired, she carried me all this way!"
Ben looks past me. His eyes widen, and I start to crane back to look for my Pegasus. His hand presses my head to his chest. "It's okay." He murmurs soothingly, as his other hand runs circles on my back. "I promise, we'll do everything we can for her. We'll help Aurora."
His voice is tight. Something's wrong. But, but he said they'd help her. And I can feel myself slipping as exhaustion overwhelms me. I've made it. I'm safe. But… I still have to warn the Exalt.
"Ben!" I gasp out, fighting to stay awake. "Gangrel is coming, the… the border, the other knights are… The Exalt needs-"
"I'll tell her." He murmurs, rubbing slow circles on my back as Lissa appears beside us. "Rest now. We've got you."
His words finally sink in. It's over. I did it. I'm safe.
I finally fall asleep in my friend's arms.
Poor girl's had a rough week. And the week is only half over.
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