8

A swordsman charges, sword held high overhead in an attempt to end his opponent with a single downward thrust. The wild attack might catch the odd untrained soldiers or regular civilian off guard… but before he can even finish the swing a lance is thrust forward piercing the man's torso, pinning him on the spot as the weapon keeps him upright. Far from a noble or fair death, even for a Plegian soldier Robin notes… but more importantly.

"Since when has she fought with a lance?"

He watches as she twists the lance cruelly before pulling it free, and with a smile she readies another attack against an oncoming enemy. Morgan is quickly proving herself to be one of the more capable fighters in the Shepherds, he just wishes she didn't act so gleeful in taking the life of another person, even if they are the enemy. Another thing he will have to talk to her about after all this is over, he presumes, so he leaves her to it for now and turns back towards the bigger picture.

With Plegia's eastern flank losing ground to the Shepherds, Robin has everyone advance towards the tree line where he finally takes a moment to compose himself.

Robin is still thankful for the auxiliaries from Regna Ferox but in a way he feels he should be twice as careful with them, even if they are from a militaristic warrior culture… After all it would be easy to send soldier after soldier at Gangrel until they finally broke through, but Robin would rather not face the aftermath from a decision like that, both politically and from the Khans themselves…

No, Robin was much happier having them protect the sides and back lines, leaving the heavy lifting to the Shepherds was definitely the right id-

"What are you doing?" a stern voice asks from behind.

Robin, thinking he was still with Lissa nearly falls over as he spins quickly, coming eye to chin with the tall Feroxi Khan, Flavia.

"Uh… er well I was surveying the terrain… I was about to have the cavalry charge the front line forcing the loose positioning of infantry to disperse and seek co-"

The words die on his tongue as he can tell by her furrowed brow, she's not pleased about something… hopefully she's still not holding that big hairy chest comment against him...

-0-

"Chrom, new plan…" Robin pants, bending over, hands on his on his knees to keep himself steady.

The temporary exalt, seemingly more amused than worried grins "Robin you look like you've seen a gho-"

"No time for idioms, we're charging" the tactician states while catching his breath much to Chrom's expressed puzzlement.

"Are you sure? You seemed quite sure of yourself back when instructing us of your plan, a bit pompous actually..."

"Yeah, I'm more than willing to put that aside if it keeps me on Flavia's good side, plus I'm not about to be the one that has to explain to the Feroxi troops as to why I've been keeping them out of the main engagements… wait, pompous?"

"Ah…" Chrom hums, unable to sympathize with the odd situation "So we're just charging?", the lord quite used to the blunt, head on tactic from before he had met his tactician.

With a slap on Chrom's shoulder the tactician strolls by quickly, not wanting to deal with the fallout of this new plan. "Oh, well you will be, along with all the Feroxi. I do recommend going straight for Gangrel, Flavia says she'll leave him to you."

A short pause and Chrom turns as the information finally reaches him "Wait what?" only to see Robin less than gracefully trying to speed walk away.

"Err Robin… are you okay? You're acting…" Sumia mumbles a bit concerned about her reading buddy.

"Me? Oh fine… just need to-"

"TACTICIAN" a booming voice is heard causing the three to turn their heads towards an angry looking Flavia.

"Sumia! Take me to the back lines, q-quick" Robin nearly begs as he tugs on the reins of Sumia's pegasus, only for her to watch the tall blonde approach.

"Sumia? Sumia plea-guh" Robin's voice is cut off as Flavia pulls him from the saddle, wrapping an arm around his neck.

"I said the princess can distribute the new orders, me an the oaf want to see what you can do out on the front," the woman says quite calmly as she drags the tactician out from hiding behind Sumia.

Chrom watches the two leave, turning to Sumia as he begins to mumble "We should finish this quickly, for Robin's sake… but..."

A small smile crept its way to Sumia's lips "Have you ever read the novel 'The queen's needs'?"

"I… can't say I have…"

-0-

The rest of the battle went as Robin had originally suspected, the Feroxi one after the other swarmed the remaining Plegian soldiers, who in their already weakened state didn't stand a chance against the torrent of warriors. With the King now dead, the remaining soldiers were quick to surrender or run away just as the sun was beginning to crest its highest point.

Robin was a bit preoccupied fighting alongside (or as others would say being toted by) Flavia and Bassilio and had only heard about Chrom besting Gangrel in a fight by secondhand accounts. Though a bit disappointed he couldn't be there with him he was at least relieved this was finally over and the lot of them could return home… or so he hoped considering he was currently stuck at the moment, sat between the two khans on the way back to Feroxi...

Robin let out a sigh as he sets the report down on his lap for a moment. He wanted to stay back with Chrom and the majority of the Shepherds but ended up getting dragged away to 'a grand feast' as Flavia put it. Not exactly hoping for a conversation at the moment he picks up the report again, wanting to look busy...

The Shepherd all lived thankfully, most held their ground during the confusion that was the feroxi charge... Emmeryn's advisors and a detachment will help with the restructuring of Plegia… Chrom proposed to Sumia later that evening… Wait what?

-0-

The silver lining was that they'd soon be back in Regna Ferox and Robin would be able to hide away in his room until they were ready to journey back to Ylisse…

or so he thought, but as soon as they arrived, they were ushered into a grand hall with a massive feast waiting for them. Some soldiers were already eating, others passed out at their tables, it looks like this feast had been going on for days already.

With a sigh he leans back in his seat surveying the crowd for a moment, not seeing many people he knows... though a sunny yellow blob quickly catches his eye, Lissa!

Robin quickly takes the chance to shoot up from his seat, squeezing behind some people and even hopping over someone collapsed on the ground, anything to save him from having to be the middleman between Flavia and Bassilio

"Lissa!" Robin says overjoyed, happier to see her more now than ever, as he reaches for her shoulder to turn her around his smile drops, replaced by a look of confusion. "Morgan?"

"No i'm not… it's me… Lissa" says Morgan unconvincingly...

-0-

Meanwhile across the castle's banquet hall, the former blue haired champion of Bassilio stalks her quarry. Following a dark mage around, waiting for a chance to strike, and as she moves into a vacant side passage she quickly darts forward, grabbing the small figure's wrist, lifting her up with ease she lets out a quiet growl "There you ar-"

"Oh, Marth! I'm so happy to see you again, you know I-"

"Wha… what are you wearing?" the swords-woman blinks as her cheeks tinge pink.

Well, i'll be honest this chapter was mostly ready for a long time but I didn't like it and I wasn't sure how to make it gud so I let it sit for months.(I still don't think it's good but I forgot what I wanted to do with this chapter) By the way if I ever leave the story without an update for like 5 months again someone PM me to remind me or something, I don't do it on purpose.

So sorry. Thanks for the people who messaged me about the last one though.

Tell me if things are good or bad, review if you want.