Mala Fide, Part 5.
Disclaimed: I don't have the copyrights to FE. Otherwise I would actually finish CF properly.
Dorothea woke up running.
The air was heavy with smoke. That much was obvious, and she stumbled multiple times as she chased the group ahead of her.
Her head hurt, her body hurt from the scrapes and scraps from the previous day, and her parched throat screamed for water.
And yet she still ran, forcing her body forward, step after step. Away from the screams.
But Dorothea knew she couldn't run forever. Her body was on the verge of giving out, the heels of her shoes holding her back from running at full speed, and her mind dazed by the screams that echoed across the burning forest.
She stumbled one last time and felt a stabbing agony take one of her legs, causing her to land hard on the rough, dark ground.
Dorothea clenched her teeth and forced herself to not cry out, even as she reached out to soothe her injured ankle. But she had so little magic left for herself, having used it all to help with the wounded.
She was tired again, and despite the fierce, endless pounding of her heart begging her to keep running, she could do little except prop herself against a giant, gnarled tree and pray for deliverance.
But none came, even as the inhuman screams in the darkness came closer, and Dorothea squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to face the horror that was in the darkness.
But yet it still came for her. She could hear that much. Something was being dragged across the forest floor, and Dorothea gagged on the stench of burnt flesh. Had there been anything still inside her stomach, she knew she would have thrown up right there and then, but her gagging only forced her to open her eyes.
She didn't recognize the shambing hulk staggering from the darkness, but a burning tree in the distance provided her with just enough light to make out a few features, and those features made her wish that she was still in absolute darkness.
From what she could tell, the hunched thing was blind. Patches of swollen, dark flesh covered where its eyes should have been, and its skin was raw and pitted, with gaping wounds revealing festering wounds underneath.
And yet the stench was even worse than the horror. She smelled rot and maggots, even from a distance away, but also foul sorcery and madness. Just what sort of nightmare was this?
And the thing was still coming closer, a crippled shuffle, to the rhythm of low, wet groans.
Dorothea whispered a silent, fevered prayer to the Goddess, for strength, to put the mangled abomination out of its misery, and then she threw all of her remaining magic into a single spell, right at the monster's chest.
For a moment, her world went a pure white as the attack, far too close to her for her eyes to endure, slammed into her target, and above her own ringing ears she thought she heard a roar of pain, then silence.
Dorothea opened her eyes again, and grimaced at the sight of one of the trees in front of her catching fire, the flames eating away at shriveled bark and dry leaves.
But to her relief, the hulking mass of twisted flesh lay sprawled away from her, blown backwards by the spell she had thrown into it. She could tell that it wasn't dead, given the ragged, wet gargles escaping from the beast, but she hoped the horror would stay down.
But then the monster rose again, and Dorothea felt ice replace the blood in her veins as her mind screamed at her to run.
But she remained still, her knees giving out as the horror rose again, staggering up to its knees, tearing a long-shriveled root from the ground for support, it's back turned to her.
And then Dorothea saw something that she did recognize.
The truth struck Dorothea like a bludgeon, and she felt shame burn through her heart as she saw the few ragged strands of pale blond hair on the monster's head that had become illuminated by the burning tree. This was no monster, but it was her once-classmate Raphael, or, at least, had been.
Guided by the light of the flickering flames, she could see more now. A ragged, smouldering shirt, one she knew had wooden buttons, massive, bulging arms that she had seen at the training grounds so many times before. How had she not understood before? This was her former classmate. One she knew so well.
"Raphael?" Dorothea whispered, unable to stop the words from leaving her lips.
The hulking, mangled figure turned toward her, and Dorothea could see him clearly. His formerly thick hair had been burned away, and the flesh below had been scalded and blistered, and heavy bruising across his face made his eyes nearly impossible to see.
A loud roar escaped what had once been Raphael, and the monster took a heavy stomp forward, stealing away the breath in Dorothea's throat as terror washed over her sorrow like a frigid winter wind, taking away her ability to feel anything but true fear.
Deep inside, a tiny voice screamed at her to move, to escape with her life while she still had the chance, but Dorothea remained where she was, her body unwilling to budge as her mind froze as the towering monster staggered to its full height, illuminated by the tree engulfed in fire.
Dorothea closed her eyes and waited for the blow that would take her life. And yet it never came. Her world shuddered and the thing roared, but she yet felt no wave of pain, no indication that her life was about to come to a shuddering halt.
Dorothea opened her eyes when the stench of burning flesh reached her, and she saw her saviour. The burnt tree, damaged by both fire and the loss of a root, had given away, and had crushed the monster that had once been Raphael under its shriveled bulk. And yet he still lived, scrabbling at the dirt even as the flame spread, devouring his flesh.
"I see you made it," a familiar voice came from behind her.
Dorothea spun around as she saw Hubert striding forward.
"Are you hurt?" Hubert asked as he stopped next to her, his eyes on the burning form of Raphael, still kicking and roaring as fire devoured his body.
Dorothea winced as she touched her ankle.
Hubert grunted as he sank to one knee. "Get on my back. I will carry you."
Dorothea blinked. "I don't understand."
"We have little time left," Hubert growled. "But Lady Edelgard ordered me to return for survivors. I would go further, but I cannot abandon you in your current condition."
Dorothea nodded weakly as she shifted over to Hubert, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he held up her tired legs.
"We must hurry," Hubert said, falling silent for a moment as Dorothea clung to him. "Still, we are fortunate. The fire appears to have driven off most of our pursuers, but time is still short. We will have maybe a few hours of confusion left before the fire is brought under control."
Dorothea swallowed. "That should buy us enough time to get clear, right?"
Hubert grunted. "No, Lady Edelgard believes we still have a chance at slipping past Count Gloucester's forces and eliminating him. We cannot let his treachery go unpunished."
"You still intend to fight?" Dorothea asked, her voice barely audible as a coughing fit threatened to consume her. "We've lost so many-"
"More than you think," Hubert cut her off, his voice grim. "Our camp site was discovered by the enemy while you were asleep. We had to abandon our wounded and whatever rations we had left. If you still believe in a Goddess, then I would suggest you pray to them."
Dorothea swallowed at the news, the act difficult with her dry mouth. "And you still want to fight?"
"I swore to serve Lady Edelgard many years ago," Hubert replied as Dorothea noticed the first rays of sun brightening the sky before them. "If I must sell my life to keep my oath, then so be it."
Dorothea let out a slow, shaky breath. "How far are we from Edie?"
"Not far now, Dorothea," Hubert said, his breathing heavy as he fell to one knee. "If you're able to walk, I would appreciate it."
Dorothea nodded as she climbed off Hubert's back, taking in the quiet daybreak, the rising sun and the brilliant shades in the sky banishing her dark thoughts and her terrors for just a moment.
"Dorothea," Yuri's voice called from somewhere ahead of them, with Yuri appearing over the horizon a moment later. "Are you alright?"
"She has a sprained ankle," Hubert said as he rose to his feet, his face an ugly grimace as he stood to his full height. "Raphael is dead, or at least he should be. Crushed by a burning tree."
"Good," Yuri said with a scoff. "That's one less body Gloucester can throw at us."
"He was one of our classmates once," Dorothea managed, a small part of her disturbed by how casually Yuri and Hubert dismissed Raphael's death. "I- I think he shouldn't have had to die like that."
Yuri grimaced as he walked next to Hubert, whispering something into the taller man's ear.
"No, she's gone." Hubert replied, shaking his head. "Even if Gloucester's traitor army didn't get to her, then the fire and the smoke did. I expect she died quickly, if that eases your conscience."
"Pity," Dorothea heard Yuri mutter as he turned to her. "We could have used her in the operation. She would have been good for it too."
Dorothea swallowed as the faces of her friends ran through her face. Another death. Who was it? Marianne? Shamir? Professor Byleth?
"We should get going," Yuri said, his lips pressed in a grim line as Dorothea felt a hand take her own. "Can you walk?"
"I'd like some help, if that's possible," Dorothea managed to say after a moment of silence, her mind still focused on the faces of her friends. "My ankle isn't healed yet."
Yuri nodded as he took her arm, walking slowly into the early morning light and a long dirt road, away from the rough woods, if only temporarily.
"Yuri?" Dorothea whispered when Hubert was out of sight. "Who was it that died?"
Yuri raised an eyebrow before he sighed, shaking his head. "Olivia."
Dorothea felt a sigh of relief as she stopped mid-stride. So her friends were safe then. That… that was good. Everyone she had found over the years at Garreg Mach, still alive.
"She held Gloucester's men off as a rearguard," Yuri said as Dorothea began walking again, his voice tired and devoid of any of his usual light or wit. "We were ambushed in the forest. If not for her, then we would have been overrun."
Dorothea felt the elation in her heart sink. "Hubert said that we had to leave the injured behind."
"We did," Yuri said as he turned around, as if checking the road for unwanted eavesdroppers. "We had maybe eighty men still alive when Gloucester's men called off their attack last night. We're down to twenty five."
Dorothea swallowed. "And Edie still-"
"We found survivors," Yuri corrected her, gesturing for her to continue walking. "Maybe thirty more. All that could be found of Myrddin's garrison."
"Thirty?" Dorothea gasped. "Didn't Myrddin-"
"They said that several units went traitor practically at once," Yuri growled as they reached the main road, away from the rough forest. "Gloucester's own militia obviously, but also the units raised from Varley territory. This was coordinated from the very beginning, and we walked right into their trap."
"The information is good," Hubert's voice came from ahead of them. "What Yuri has neglected to mention is that the traitor forces are only united by the leadership of the traitor Count Gloucester. Should we slay him and Lorenz, that should cripple the ability of the rebels to coordinate their forces, or at least ensure that the rebels have no competent leader to follow."
Dorothea swallowed at the mention of her old classmate. Lorenz was not someone she liked in particular, but he was still a close ally to them just a few weeks prior. For him to be cast aside so easily, as if he was a scrap of paper or a shattered sword, it made her nervous.
"Hubert," Dorothea blurted. "Could we-"
"What is it?" Hubert asked as he turned to face her, dark circles around his eyes as his lips curled into a snarl.
"Do you think we can convince Lor-"
"No," Hubert said, shaking his head. "Even if he was to be spared, his loyalty will always be in question, and rebels may seek to use him as a figurehead in the future. Lorenz must die."
"Yuri?" Dorothea whispered, praying for a miracle.
"Hubert is right," Yuri shook his head as he spoke, his arms crossed across his chest. "We don't expect you to come regardless, we're just keeping you informed about our plans."
"I-" Dorothea started, her voice falling when a dark question slipped into her mind. "What if I want to come?"
"Every member of our forward group will not hesitate to kill any member of House Gloucester they come across." Hubert said, his voice hard and frigid. "It does not matter if you find them unarmed or asleep or bedridden, you will cut them down without a second thought. If you cannot promise you will do that, then you will not come with us."
Dorothea closed her eyes and tried to picture herself standing over Lorenz. But no image came up. Instead, Dorothea remembered the ship again, with Olivia standing over her victim, uncaring of the death around her, wiping her blade clean on a dead man's clothes.
No, she couldn't become the cruel, ruthless killer Hubert and Yuri were hoping to retrieve. They were both orphans from Enbarr's filthy streets, but Dorothea, even after five long years of war, knew that she couldn't bring herself to kill a defenseless man, without a second thought. Not in the way Hubert and Yuri demanded. Not in the way those around her did.
"I'm sorry," Dorothea said at last, feeling a burden lift from her shoulders as the truth came free. "I can't do that."
"We know," Hubert said. "You will stay behind with Marianne and our soldiers. Be on the lookout for potential reinforcements. The surviving garrison had sent riders south to ask for assistance."
Dorothea nodded slowly as a twinge of panic rose inside of her. Were they testing her? Had she failed them in some way? Was this the first step down a path of irrelevance? Of being cast out of Edelgard's inner circle?
"You will be briefed on our plans moving forward," Hubert continued, his voice steely, but otherwise betraying no emotion. "If more of our soldiers arrive, it'll fall on the two of you to point them in the right direction."
"Just where are you headed?" Dorothea asked.
"I'm glad that you've made it out," Edelgard's voice interrupted Hubert's reply, and Dorothea gave Edelgard a slight nod as she walked up to Hubert. "Were you able to retrieve her?"
Hubert shook his head before he turned back to the gnarled forest they had escaped from. "I was able to locate Dorothea, but the forest was engulfed in flame by the time I arrived. I regret to inform you that she's almost certainly dead."
Dorothea shivered at the thought. She had walked through the burned out ruins of Fhirdiad the day after the battle, and still she regretted it. The city had been left a charnel house, its former citizens either hacked apart by swords or burned alive as they huddled where they thought it was safe. Had Olivia suffered the same, gruesome fate? Could she suffer the same fate one day?
When Dorothea snapped out of her nightmares, Edelgard's lips had turned to a small frown. "It was unlikely she survived the blaze regardless, but I thank you for your attempt."
"Better that she died," Yuri muttered, almost absentmindedly. "Better than if they got their hands on her."
The implication of the words made her suddenly pray for the others that had been abandoned in their retreat. Even if Olivia had gone down fighting, there were wounded soldiers and Mittlefrank employees who were left behind. And they might have been taken alive.
Edelgard let out a slow sigh before she turned to Dorothea. "Save your prayers for later. We have more immediate concerns, and time is short. It is regretful that we could not save anyone more, but we still must push forward."
Edelgard took a deep breath before she spoke again. "Dorothea, I've already informed Marianne, but this is information I expect you to relay to any other member of the Black Eagles in the event we do not come back."
Dorothea stiffened at the words. If Edelgard and the others didn't return, then she would be left with Marianne, alone, in territory crawling with traitor soldiers and them.
"Dorothea!" Edelgard's harsh voice snapped her out of her train of thought, her violet eyes steely and her teeth clenched. "If we fall, the next stage of the war must fall to you, so listen close."
Dorothea managed a slow, dumb nod, as if her body no longer belonged to her, but was somewhere in the middle of a nightmare somewhere.
"Good," Edelgard sighed before she spoke again. "Olivia spoke of a large number of bandits operating in Varley territory. Even if they have moved on, we must investigate. It is almost impossible that Varley wasn't a part of this… travesty."
"Bandits?" Dorothea spluttered. "Didn't we have-"
"We had a full battalion within Varley territory," Edelgard said, nodding slightly. "But it seems like they have disappeared into thin air. It is possible some of them are within the traitor lines at Myrddin, but we cannot be certain."
Dorothea swallowed as Edelgard turned away, gesturing for the rest of them to follow.
They walked to a small, wooded area and stopped before a crude map, pinned to a tree trunk with a dagger. "Now, for reinforcements, in case they arrive soon."
Dorothea hesitated before she knelt on the ground before the map, finally gaining a chance to rest in the early morning sunlight.
"Dorothea," Edelgard's voice called her back from her moment of rest. "I need you to focus."
"Right," Dorothea squinted at the map on the tree trunk. "What is it?"
"This represents the Great Bridge of Myrddin," Edelgard said, tapping a long, thick block of hastily-shaded grey. "We expect that Count Gloucester will be overseeing the firefighting operation from the bridge, and he'll be vulnerable as a result. We will send in a strike force to eliminate him and his key commanders. His guards should be participating in the firefighting, which will leave him especially vulnerable."
Dorothea nodded, even if she felt a twinge of discomfort in her. The idea of murdering a man so callously made her blood run cold.
"In case the reinforcements consist of sorcerers or archers, have them join the assault." Edelgard continued, tapping a red box next to the grey block that represented Myrddin. "In the event they are infantry or mounted soldiers, have them join the shield wall here. With any luck, the soldiers fighting the fires will be poorly equipped or unarmed. We will divide their forces into two scattered units and either force them into a charge into a shield wall or wait for them to choke on the burning forest."
Dorothea glanced over to Professor Byleth, now quietly watching them from the shade of a nearby tree. "Professor?"
Byleth blinked and glanced up. "Dorothea?"
"What if we run into Olivia again?" Dorothea blurted out the question suddenly, but she realized she had no other questions that she could think of. The plan was clear, as much as it made her stomach turn.
"We won't," Hubert's voice cut in. "If Gloucester's men did not cut her down, then the fire and smoke did. If she was somehow alive, then I would expect that you grant her a quick death."
Dorothea could see Professor Byleth make eye contact with someone behind her before she spoke again. "Is there anything else you wish to ask?"
Dorothea hesitated before she wracked her mind for ideas. "Who is headed to the bridge?"
"We all are," Edelgard said as she tapped the map. "I will lead the blockade myself, but the rest of our forces will move on Myrddin and kill Gloucester."
"What about them?" Dorothea asked, the idea suddenly popping into her head. "Will they be dragged back to Abyss?"
"Only if we can take one alive," Edelgard said with a shake of her head. "We will not go out of our way to take another prisoner. Especially since we can't seem to understand their tongue."
"Our supplies of serum are limited as they are," Yuri said, a scoff escaping him. "And with Varley potentially holding the roads to En-"
"Then our supplies to Fhirdiad are going to be cut off," Edelgard hissed, a fire sparking in her eyes as her hands clenched. "If we lose-"
"El," Byleth's voice silenced Edelgard, and Dorothea turned over to her old professor, still huddled by the tree. "We need to deal with Gloucester first. We will kill Varley afterwards. Then we need to resume our hunt for them."
"Do you think we can follow this detachment back to Thales?" Hubert asked after a long moment of silence. "If Margrave Edmund and General Holst have kept to their oaths, we could bring their forces to battle."
Byleth didn't reply for a moment, but nodded. "When we took Arianrhod, we routed their western forces. I would doubt that Thales has many men left under his command. Still, our main focus after we deal with Gloucester is to deal with Varley. Only then should we deal with Thales."
Edelgard nodded. "We culled many of their allies in Enbarr's corrupt nobility. Thales will not find allies there, except for Varley it seems."
"I should have garotted him when I had the chance." Hubert growled. "I will not make that mistake again."
Dorothea winced at the sound of anger in Hubert's voice. It was rare for Hubert to be so angry he spoke of it openly. She hadn't seen it, not since he purged Enbarr's nobles.
But the memory that floated to the top of her mind triggered questions, and one in particular that Dorothea suddenly wanted the answers to, even though she knew it had nothing to do with their predicament.
The noble who she thought was her father. Was he still alive?
"We should move some of our armies back from Fhirdiad." Byleth said after a moment, her voice bringing Dorothea back to the situation at hand. "We can deal with what's left of House Gautier once we eliminate Thales. We know that most of his remaining forces are somewhere to our north, and unless he has broken through our pacification battalions in Charon territory, then the only way to escape our grasp is through the Valley of Torment."
"He will not cross Aileil easily," Yuri said. "At the very least he'll have to leave behind his Titanus units. They won't make it across the valley."
"He won't even make it to Aileil," Edelgard replied through clenched teeth, her voice barely above a whisper. "He will die in Alliance territory, at our hand. And we will have justice for all he has wrought."
"But to do that we must tighten the noose," Byleth said. "We cannot have him escape into Faerghus. It would be impossible to track him throughout the wilds."
"Not to mention that he might rally the holdout houses under his banner," Hubert said. "We could have another war on our hands if we cannot stop him."
"But we would need to bring down Gloucester first." Byleth said. "He holds enough cavalry units to run us down if we try to escape."
"I doubt it," a new voice said from the outside of the concave.
"Shamir," Hubert said, nodding in greeting. "What is it that you've found?"
"Corpses and smoke," Shamir replied. "But also monsters."
"We've met them too," Edelgard said, her voice grim. "They will pay for their crimes."
"No," Shamir snapped, her voice hard as she shook her head. "The ones in the cloaks are running for their lives. Something drew an entire horde of monsters here, and they're hunting Gloucester's men."
"Monsters?" Yuri asked. "Did Gloucester get his hands on Hapi?"
"She disappeared into the wind after Garreg Mach fell," Hubert said. "If Gloucester had her, we would have known."
"How many monsters did you find?" Byleth asked. "And are we dealing with wolves?"
"Not just wolves," Shamir replied, pausing to take a sip of water. "Demonic Beasts. The kind we killed at Tailtean. And… something else too."
"What did you see?" Dorothea blinked at the sound of the voice. Why did Marianne sound so interested?
Dorothea spun around, finding Marianne standing upright, her face a mask of stunned shock.
"I didn't see anything," Shamir said, her voice slow and troubled. "But I could hear a voice screaming."
"Probably one of Gloucester's traitors," Hubert sneered. "Getting his just desserts."
"No," Shamir shook her head. "The voice was too deep for a human, and yet it could speak."
"This changes things," Dorothea heard Byleth mutter.
"Professor?" Dorothea asked.
"We can't hold off a legion of rampaging monsters," Byleth said, pointing to the red line on the map, her finger lingering for a moment before moving to the gray block. "But Gloucester can't either, especially if his men think all they're dealing with is a fire. He'll be caught off guard, and we might be able to rout his entire army once he spends all his strength against the monster horde. The battlefield has changed, only this time in our favour."
"Then that's not a chance we can afford to slip by," Edelgard said, picking up Aymr as she walked over to the road. "Move out."
Dorothea swallowed as the other members of the Black Eagles stood and followed Edelgard, leaving her and Marianne alone in the early morning light.
It was a painful feeling, watching her friends walk away, their backs turned on her, discarding her as if she was a spent tool, but Dorothea couldn't do anything but watch.
Dorothea wasn't sure where she was, but the figure before her blocked out the sun. So she did what her heart desired. To scream.
To her surprise, the tall, rugged man before her backed off several steps, and Dorothea climbed to her knees, ready to flee.
"You idiot!" a voice shouted. "I thought I told you to stay away from General Arnault!"
Dorothea placed a hand over her chest in an attempt to calm her pounding heart, taking deep breaths as a young man stepped forward.
"General Arnault?" the man, his uniform that of a junior officer, asked. "What are you doing here?"
Dorothea blinked as she turned to the stump where she last saw Marianne.
But the blue haired woman was gone, like she had never been at the campsite.
"General?"
"The others are at Myrddin," Dorothea managed finally. "The fire attracted a horde of monsters, and Professor Byleth wanted to use them as cover."
"That explains the smoke," one of the other men muttered.
"Consort Byleth is here?" the officer asked, his face stunned as several of the soldiers choked at the mention of Byleth.
"Edie and Hubert are at Myrddin too," Dorothea said, pausing for a moment when the officer's jaw fell further. "They need your support."
"You heard the General!" the officer barked, recovering from his shock. "You lot, move out!"
"Wait-" Dorothea whispered, holding back the young officer. "Where's Marianne?"
The officer looked confused when he turned to look at her. "General Edmund? She was here?"
"Hubert left us here to direct you to the bridge," Dorothea said. "But-"
The officer shook his head, causing Dorothea to fall silent. "We haven't seen anyone else for the entire journey. And we've certainly had no sign of General Edmund."
AN: Chapter 5 complete!
Next chapter: Mala Fide ends.
Reviews Welcome!
