6X. Unbroken Heart
Introduction: Prince Ephraim of Renais leads a small band of soldiers through Grado territory. Using guerrilla hit and run tactics, they have managed to stay ahead of the much larger Grado army. But with supplies running low and unwilling to drag innocent civilians into the conflict, Ephraim makes the gutsy decision to take Renvall and everything in it for his own use. But with who has recently joined his group this fight may not be as unbalanced as one would think….
Story Start: With Ephraim's Team, North Of Renvall, Days Prior to Empire's Reach
Ephraim frowned as he tapped at his Reginleif lance, thoughts on their current situation running through his mind. Glancing over at one of his companions, the blue haired prince asked "Forde, how are we on supplies and equipment?"
The blond ponytailed brother of Franz shook his head and said "It's not looking good. Our weapons are in bad shape, and we're running low on food. We can probably restock at a nearby village, but-"
"No, that's not an option. We're in enemy territory. I will not involve innocents if I can avoid it." Ephraim said, shaking his head firmly in denial.
Forde smirked and said "Yeah, I knew you'd say that. I mean, it's because of stuff like that that we have stuck with you so far. But eventually, we do need to face reality. What are we going to do?"
Another member of their group, the green haired Kyle said "Word of mouth has it that the invasion of Renais has progressed quite far. I've heard that the Capital has fallen."
"Hm…So soon…" Ephraim said with closed eyes before he opened them again and said "Still, my father is in the capital, and he won't surrender easily. And according to our new ally Eirika has a rather capable warrior looking after her as well. Forde, Kyle, Orson. Our mission here is to harry the troops, to distract their eye. Hopefully, we will be able to get my father and Eirika time to escape. Orson, have you heard anything from Sakura? I sent her ahead to scout."
The last knight under his command, the brown haired Orson shook his head and said "No word yet, and it's about time she returned, but given her skills…"
"We probably won't know she's coming until she's right behind us." Forde finished with a grin.
"Hello boys." A female voice said not three feet from behind him and all of the men jumped, understandably startled by the unexpected voice.
Forde spun around with one hand over his heart and the other pointed at the amused pink haired kunoichi as he said "Don't do THAT!"
"Sorry, couldn't resist." Sakura said with a beautiful smile that wasn't fooling any of the men. Her teammate's penchant for pranks had unfortunately rubbed off on her over the years.
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Ephraim asked "What do you have to report Sakura?"
Turning serious, the Hidden Leaf kunoichi on loan to the Renaisian prince said "Your Highness, I can confirm Grado presence at several points around our camp. Also, a large battalion of soldiers has been dispatched from Renvall. We shouldn't tarry here any longer than necessary…"
"I see." Ephraim said with a frown.
Gaining a morbid smirk, Kyle said "Seems as though we've certainly caught Grado's eye this time. Should we retreat back to the capital, Prince Ephraim?"
Ephraim shook his head, a rather evil looking smirk appearing on his lips as said "No. We press onward. Enough playing around in the woods. It's time to capture Renvall."
"W-What?!" Forde asked with wide eyes, an expression matched by the other two men. Sakura merely raised an eyebrow in interest.
Ephraim didn't deign that perfectly understandable question worthy of a response, instead looking back at Sakura and asked "Think you can guide us through the net Grado's forces have woven around us without their notice?"
Sakura nodded and said "It'll be tough given your clanking armor and the knight's horses, but I know a few stealth Genjutsu that can help." Sakura had picked them up from Yuuhi Kurenai after one too many times her loud as a gong teammate had out stealthed her during team training.
Ephraim nodded and said "Good, then let's get going."
Scene Change: Renvall
Renvall was located in the perfect place as a key defense of this region, a lake surrounding the plateau it was on, a bridge connected to a smaller plateau and in turn another bridge connecting to the 'main land' which was in turn a series of overlapping hills that were almost steppe levels of steep except at the narrow parts where they overlapped making it damn near impossible for a ground based army to launch an attack on it. And to make matters worse, there were long range Ballista on the surrounding cliffs ready to harass anyone stupid or suicidal enough to try.
Sakura had the small five member squad at the gates within thirty minutes of coming in sight of it, and twenty of those were spent with her quietly taking out all of the Ballista, both operators and bows, storing the massive weapons in storage scrolls. (She assumed Ephraim would find SOME use for the large bows so decided to acquire them for their own needs.)
With most of the Grado army looking for them, the fort commanders had trusted the Ballista operators and the fort's portcullis as their only line of defense. The latter proved as ineffective against a student of Tsunade Senju as the former. As Sakura easily lifted the heavy metal obstruction over her head and the knights all dismounted their horses in order to walk through, Ephraim looked up at the fort and said "So, this is Renvall is it? Quite a nice place they have here I'll admit, there are certainly worse places I could choose to operate out of if I was playing defense. Alright Lady and Gentlemen, let's go."
Forde nervously swallowed as Sakura allowed the Portcullis to drop, though she made sure it was as silent as possible, and asked "Um…Are you… sure you're quite sane, Prince Ephraim? We've an entire army after us, and you want to charge their stronghold?"
"Forde! Watch your tongue! This is our prince you're addressing!" Kyle barked out.
Ephraim though only grinned as he put a hand on Kyle's shoulder and said "Kyle, please, it's all right. We've heard nothing from home, so what harm could a little reckless besieging cause?"
"He's right, sometimes you have to be a bit audacious in order to win. My teammate has certainly won enough battles by doing something no one sane would think of doing in a combat situation." Sakura said smirking at the end.
Ephraim nodded and said "And there is a method to my madness. Renvall holds an important place in Grado's national defense. If we can get the upper hand and take control of it, then Grado will waste many valuable soldiers trying to take it back. I hope our attack proves useful to my father and Eirika."
"I understand what you're saying, but… Can we do it with our current strength?" Forde asked uncertainly.
"Every soldier in this area is trying to find us. The enemy has us vastly out numbered. Attacking the castle is a ridiculous idea. If the enemy thinks the same… Then we may have our opening." Ephraim said before he smirked and continued "Besides, we have Sakura with us, if we get too far in over our heads I'm certain she can simply break down the walls between us and the exit."
"Well, you're not wrong there." Forde admitted with a wry grin. The small group traded grins with each other before they charged through the entrance courtyard and into the castle proper. The large wooden doors with massive beam across them on the inside holding them shut worked as well as their metal counterpart in keeping Sakura out, the pinkette easily shoving the doors open like a cowboy entering an old west saloon, the 'lock' beam loudly cracking in half and falling to the ground as she called out "HONEY, I'M HOME!"
The men behind her traded confused looks but Sakura ignored them as she snickered to herself and said "I always wanted to do that." She turned serious though as rapid hoof beats filled the large hallway as Calvary units charged towards the breached entryway, the enemy's surprise at their bold move not hindering response time one whit.
Said Calvary was counter charged by the three Renaisian knights, Orson leading the way and easily piercing armor with the Paladin's Silver Lance. Ephraim quickly ran after them, followed by Sakura once she idly kicked the heavy wooden doors closed. Others could still push them open if they really worked at it but it was rather rude to leave the door open when entering a building. First responders quickly dealt with, the small team entered deeper into the fortress, meeting little if any resistance as they made their way to the base's throne room.
Counter attacking a solitary archer with his javelin, Forde said "Man, I cannot believe how light resistance is, you were right My Prince."
Ephraim let out a hum of acknowledgement and said "So it seems, but keep your guards up. The chances of the enemy gathering its forces for an ambush at some point are still high."
"He's right, this seems way too easy." Kyle said with eyes glancing down each corridor they passed to ensure such an ambush wasn't pulled on their rears.
A few minutes later when the team charged into the throne room, Ephraim gave a wry chuckle and said "You know, sometimes I hate being right."
Arrayed in front of the five fighters were the remaining defenders, fifty strong and armed with a menagerie of weapons from the melee to the arcane. The man currently sitting on the throne sneered and said "I must admit, I would have never in a hundred years have expected you to attack this bastion with so few numbers, but do you truly think you can take us with those numbers? Imbecile! You'll learn the error of your ways."
"True, you may outnumber us ten to one, but I've always preferred to chose quality over quantity." Ephraim said with a smirk before he said "Sakura, be a dear and even the numbers a little would you?"
"As you wish, Your Highness." Sakura said with a theatrical bow before stepping in front of the group.
Seeing her, the base commander laughed and said "What is a single woman without any weapons in her hands going to do to aid you here, scold us?" The rest of the Grado soldiers joined their commander in laughing at the Renaisians. Or rather, they did before Sakura dug her foot into the stone floor beneath their feet, kicking one of said stones into the air in front of her and slammed a punch home, shattering the large six foot wide stone into countless splinters that shot forward tearing through the ranks of men and women before her, the stone shards easily ignoring any armor they encountered leaving several soldiers dead or rapidly dying.
The remaining thirty or so soldiers were stunned silent for a moment before the commander yelled "Don't just stand there, KILL THEM!" That startled them into moving but before the soldiers could charge for close combat or prepare their ranged weaponry, Sakura flipped up two more large stones and punched them, launching even more stone shrapnel and taking out twenty more soldiers. A moment later, the three soldiers charged at the remaining ten soldiers while Ephraim went for the base commander who began desperately playing 'Don't Get Skewered' trying to use his Steel Blade to deflect Ephraim's Reginleif.
Ephraim traded about ten blows with the man before he knocked the blade to the side and pierced the man's leather armor chest plate with his lance, pulling it out almost immediately allowing his opponent to drop to his knees as he said "L-lord Tirado…It can't be…Were we…merely pawns?" Falling to the floor rapidly bleeding out, the man was soon joined by the remainder of his men.
A frowning Ephraim was joined by his men and Sakura and he said "Well done everyone. However, as much as I would like to stay here, we don't have the manpower to keep the fort during a siege. Grab as many supplies as you can, then prepare to move out, I want us continuing on to Grado Keep within thirty minutes."
"Yes sir!" His fighters said, and Sakura took several scrolls out from a storage seal on the inside of her weapons holster flap and said "Here, storage scrolls, these will help. Put the object you want to take on the circle in the middle and the object will be stored inside, with no limit to the number of items stored."
"Sakura, if we were not in such a hurry, I could kiss you right now." Forde said, snatching a scroll and despite his words pecking Sakura's cheek before taking off.
"Forde!" Kyle called after him, absolutely scandalized as he chased after him, though he did remember to grab his own scroll. Orson's lips twitched upwards as he took another, giving his prince and Sakura an acknowledging nod.
Ephraim chuckled as he accepted his scroll and said "Please forgive Forde Lady Sakura, he can get a bit dramatic."
"So I noticed." Sakura said wryly before the pair quickly left the throne room after the three knights.
The group quickly raided the kitchen and armory for supplies. Sakura and Ephraim were just debating whether they had time for her to raid the treasury while he and his knights began their retreat before Orson came back from where he had been sent on a perimeter check and said "My Prince, it seems we have greatly underestimated how long we had. The castle is being surrounded as we speak."
"Already?" Ephraim asked in alarm.
"Damnit, they wanted us to attack here." Sakura said in realization.
"Sacrificing the men they left here to keep us occupied until they were ready, how ruthless." Ephraim mused before he shook his head and said "We can discuss Grado's higher ups' disregard for human life later. For now, we must escape." Turning to Sakura he continued "Sakura, the time for subtlety is over, make some holes."
"Gladly." Sakura said before she turned towards the entrance of the castle and ran, punching the wall in front of her and kept on going through the wall behind that one as well, the four men quickly following in her wake.
The group burst out of the fort within a couple of minutes to the sight of the air surrounding the fort filled with hovering wyvern riders. And sitting before the doors where the group would have come out if Sakura wasn't with them was a gaunt looking man with long stringy dark blue hair reaching down to his back. Turning his head to the right to look at the hole in the fortress wall and the people storming out, he said "Ho? That is an impressive exit I will admit. And for such strength to come from a woman of all things! Most impressive indeed!" Turning his gaze to Ephraim, he continued "You would be the leader of this pack would you not, the misguided Prince Ephraim?"
"I am." Ephraim said with a nod as he came to stand beside Sakura before cocking his head and asked "And you are?"
Smirking, the man gave a mocking bow and said "I am General Valter, the Moonstone of Grado's Imperial Army. Catching up to you has cost me no small amount of trouble. We've reduced your wretched home of Renais to ruin, and yet…you and your little band of bravos continue to be a thorn in our side. But that all ends here."
"We'll see…You claim you've taken the capital of Renais…Tell me, how did you know I would attack Renvall?" Ephraim asked, he and his men keeping a calm composure at the enemy's claims. After all, until they could verify them, claims were all that they were.
"Ha ha…Patience. You'll have your answer soon enough. Now, be good lads, and drop your weapons, will you?" Valter said with sadistic glee in his eyes.
"Prince Ephraim, let us attack!" Kyle said, hand gripping his lance hard, ready to fight as soon as given the command, an action imitated by Forde and Osborn while Sakura's left foot shifted, a loose pebble rolling a little as her sandal pushed against it.
Ephraim was silent, merely staring coolly at Valter who chuckled and said "Listen to me, Ephraim. Even with that incredibly strong woman by your side, you know it is futile to fight me. You cannot win against these numbers, nor can you escape. Accept the reality of your situation, and surrender to me."
"Surrender?" Ephraim asked with a cocked head, like he had never come across the term before.
Chuckling sadistically again, Valter said "Heh heh heh… that's right. If you do, I'll let you live. I hold your life in the palm of my hand. Do not test my good humor. Now, come over here, bend your knee, and beg for your life. Show me how Renais dogs grovel."
The men behind Ephraim all bristled, for a moment looking like the dogs Valter had called them, but ready to rip out his throat rather than grovel like he said to. Ephraim though remained calm as he hummed and said "Hm, I think not."
"What?" Valter asked, blinking in surprised confusion. Did the Prince Without A Country not realize how badly outmatched he and his forces were?
Now smirking, Ephraim said "You said your name was Valter, didn't you? Well, I'm sorry, Valter, but I don't have time to waste playing games with you. So, we're going to knock you louts about a bit and then make our way out of here."
Valter stared at the prince in shock for a moment before his face flushed with anger and he hissed out "Fool…" All but snarling, he continued louder "Have you gone mad? Do you truly believe you can fight your way past my wyvern knights?!"
"Watch and see. I don't pick fights I can't win." Ephraim stated coolly before he smirked and asked "Men, are you ready?"
"My life has been yours since the moment I took my chivalric vows." Kyle said calmly.
"It's moments like these that keep me by your side, My Prince." Forde said with a grin.
"I am ready, Prince Ephraim." Orson said, his eyes flicking everywhere already plotting how this would go.
"Good, Sakura?" Ephraim asked.
"You boys just try to keep up." Sakura said with a smirk.
Sneering in utter contempt, Valter said "What idiotic wretches you are... prepare yourselves to be destroyed utterly!"
"We break to the East. GO!" Ephraim ordered. A split second later, Sakura kicked with her left foot, the pebble held to her sandal by chakra cracking the air as it was launched. The projectile collided with Valter's head right between the eyes and the sadistic man's head imitated a melon dropped to the floor, exploding and throwing pieces in all directions for several feet. There was stunned silence for a moment before the chaos of battle came crashing over them all.
END
Author's Notes: So yeah, that happened. Valter's dead, giving us the first break from canon, and it wasn't Naruto that did it either.
Anyways I would just like to say this first before getting to the important parts, for the first time having to write a chapter on my phone, it wasn't too bad. For some reason Microsoft Word won't open on my laptop so I put the app on my phone and just started typing. The smaller screen is a wee bit of a hassle but manageable. Really, the main problem is that I now have to email the chapter to myself and go to the library in order to transfer to my fan fiction flash drive but I have a solution for that as well for next time.
Which brings me to my next point. I now have a ko fi. It's under the same username as here, and you don't have to contribute if you don't think my writing is worth a couple of bucks or you're just plain strapped for cash but the option's there. The first goal set is a pretty reasonable in my opinion twenty dollars that I will use to buy an adapter for my IPhone to enable me to plug in that flash drive I mentioned making things simpler in the long run without having to go to the library a couple of times a week. (I had to do that for the last part of Alicorn and Hacker, bit rude of the program to stop working halfway through) So yeah, there's that…
One final thing, I appear to be having a mini midlife crisis when it comes to keeping to my schedule for when to write stories. There's a poll on my profile asking how you guys think I should handle that so go have a look please. Other than that, have a good day chaps, see you on the next chapter.
