11/2 Red wolf moon
The day was turning gray as they had the first sight of the city.
"We have finally arrived. I can´t see any smoke coming from the city yet so I guess that we have arrived before their attack" Claude commented next to him. "The wind coming from the west must have slowed them down"
"Even if that is true we don´t have time to lose." He said as he saw a group of sails in the horizon. "We have to hurry up."
"Teach bring me to the city using your Pegasus Knight. As the future ruler of the Leicester Alliance the forces of the city will quickly follow our command if I arrive with you"
"Understood. The rest of you ride as fast as you can. We will meet at the main square of the city. Edelgard, Petra and Ingrid, with me!"
They flew forwards the capital as fast as they could. When they arrived to the walls of the city a group of soldiers was preparing to attack them, but they stopped the moment they realized they weren´t pirates. They landed at the central square, their surroundings full of activity.
"We are here to help all of you" said Byleth as he got off his horse.
"The Church has listened to us!" said one of the soldiers.
"Not only the Church." said Claude, walking next to him. "How are the defenses of the city?"
"I didn´t expect to see you here, my lord. The harbor is completely closed, we have archers on the walls and we are preparing the ballistae."
"That would suffice if we were going to face normal pirates, but I have the feeling that the place they are coming from might be…"
"Wyverns!" shouted one of the soldiers.
"To the Pegasus now!" said Byleth climbing again his own mount and heading to the harbor.
A group of 6 wyverns was quickly approaching them. The riders were wearing heavy armor and holding axes, but what called Byleth´s attention was the platting of the wyverns armor. "That pattern… They are from Almyra."
"Split!" He said as the riders changed the trajectory of their flight to attack them. Two of them charged at him from the sides, so he decided to fly under them. The wyverns were fast, but his Pegasus was light weighted and could outmaneuver them with sharp turns. After a sharp turn to the left, he repositioned behind one of the riders and casted a fire spell. The impact made the rider fall to the water, where his heavy armor did the rest of the job, but that wasn´t enough. A wyvern alone was a menace that he needed to get rid of.
Freed from his rider the beast tried to reach the walls of the city but it was shot down by an arrow aimed to its eye. Searching for the author of the shot he could see a familiar yellow clothed student at the walls. Knowing that the walls were well secured he headed to fight the second wyvern rider. This time he flew close to it and used his silver sword to attack the beast at the weak spots below the wings. The rider tried to attack him with his axe, but he didn´t have a good position and he missed the attack. Wounded, the beast panicked and tried to land, but rider and mount were both shot down by arrows.
With his enemies already defeated he looked around to find Edelgard, Ingrid and Petra. Edelgard was making short work of her enemies, her shield stopping the axe attacks from the rider and the bites of the beast until she got rid of both of them. In the case of Ingrid she had used her agility to avoid the attacks of the beast and after exhausting it she had retaliated with success. He was wondering where Petra was when he heard Petra´s war cry.
Petra had jumped from its Pegasus to the back of the Wyvern, using her killer sword she impaled the rider, which fell to the sea. The beast tried to resist its new owner, but Petra seemed to be used to that and in a short while the beast calmed down landing in the wooden platforms of the harbor. Byleth landed next to her and a few seconds later Edelgard followed suit.
"Great job, both of you"
"They must be scouts. The main offensive line must be waiting in the ships." Edelgard said looking to the sea, the ships growing dangerously closer. "We must hurry up to prepare our defenses or the city will be in great danger.
"You are right. I hope the rest of the group has already arrived." He then looked to Petra "Can you handle the Wyvern?"
"Of course Professor. I defeated its previous master, now it will respect me. I will fight against them as we do in Brigid"
"Let´s return to the main square"
He was pleased to see that the rest of their force had arrived.
"Archers, secure the walls we don´t want any beast wandering the streets of the city"
"Teach I can use the remaining Pegasus to help you up there. I have a good hand with flying creatures"
"Understood, you will stay with us then"
"You have heard Byleth, with me!" shouted Shamir as she left to the walls accompanied by Ignatz and Bernadetta"
"The rest to the gates. The city has two main gates so we will have to reinforce them the best we can. Raphael, Leonie, Ferdinand, my Father and Alois will secure the gate next to the docks. Lorenz, Caspar, Hilda to the south. Flayn, Linhardt and Marianne remain close to both places. We will need your healing soon. Monica, protect our healers in case that the pirates break our defenses. In the case of offensive mages Hubert and Dorothea will support the south and Lysithea will help our troops next to the harbor. Understood?"
"Spoken like a true commander" Jeralt smiled to him. "You have already heard my son, it´s time to teach these pirates what happens when they try to mess with us"
"Yes!"
With each one of them heading to their respective places he looked again to his flying units.
"Ours is going to be the greatest responsibility. I´m sure that we will have to face more wyvern riders. We must slow down their progress to avoid them getting into the city."
"We will prevail" Edelgard said looking at him, her eyes filled with determination.
"We will defeat them all" Petra shouted.
"I will give my best to protect the citizens and the rest of the students" assured him Ingrid.
"Prepare your mounts again" he said, when he saw a warehouse filled with barrels.
"What are they?" he asked
"Barrels filled with inflammable materials. The soldiers are bringing them out to avoid causing a fire within the city."
"Petra, do you think that you can carry some of those barrels while flying?"
"I can try to transport two of them, but then I won´t be able to move as fast"
"Don´t worry, we will cover you"
"My Teacher, are you planning to…"
"We will fight fire with fire" he said nodding at her.
"An interesting idea. You have heard the Professor, Petra we will cover you"
"Understood!"
Returning to the skies he could see that the ships were almost on them. There were 7 of them and he could see that the boards were filled with wyverns. Watching the threat in front of them he touched the Sword of the Creator that was still unused. "I don´t want to rely on it, but if the situation gets dire I will have to resort to it, for the sake of everyone"
"7 ships? They aren´t normal pirates"
"They must come from Almyra"
"You realized that too Teach. This is going to be a hard fight"
"Let´s take down some of those ships, before the Wyverns start flying. Petra, we cover you!"
"For Brigid" she shouted as she sent the Wyvern to one of the ships.
Realizing the upcoming attack some of the pirates rushed to their wyverns, the first ones of them starting to fly.
Byleth blocked the attack of one of the firsts to take off and pierced the beasts' eye, making both beast and rider fell to the sea. Claude was shooting arrows with great precision using his silver bow and Edelgard and Ingrid were taking down the wyverns that were trying to take off from the ship.
"I´m dropping it" Petra shouted as she dropped one of the large barrels.
The barrel was falling to the deck of the ship. Before it made contact with it Byleth casted a fire enchantment. The moment it touched the barrel it exploded engulfing in flames the deck of the ship. As the place turned into a living hell the wyverns on board panicked and ran away in complete disorder. The ones that approached the city were shot down by the archers at the walls.
After repeating the same procedure with another ship the smoke was so dense he they couldn´t see across it.
"Petra, return to the city and bring more barrels!" he shouted as he repelled a rider from one of the other ships.
"The more ships we take down, the better for the city" Claude said next to him as he shot down another wyvern.
They fought against them with everything they had, but they were clearly outnumbered. With the help of Petra they were able to take down another ship, but the other barrel was destroyed by a projectile before it could explode.
"Some of the ships had already arrived to the docks!" Claude shouted.
He could see his father riding a warhorse and fighting against the first wave of attackers. Their defenses were solid, but he knew that they needed to take down more ships if they wanted to succeed.
"Cover me!" he shouted as he dived into one of the ships.
Activating the power of his crest he concentrated the energy emanating from all his body into his hands and released a potent spell against one of the ships, making it explode, but it had a price when he saw the side part of his chest clothes stained with blood. "I´m not fully recovered yet from the attack of the other day" he thought.
"Good shot Teach! Can you make it work again?"
He was about to try charging his energy again, but was stopped by Edelgard.
"You are still injured from the battle of the other day. You have to know your…"
She couldn't complete her phrase as a harpoon coming from one of the ships pierced through her chest.
"Unexpected…" she said as she fell for her mount, her lips crimson red from the blood surrounding her mouth.
"NO!" he shouted. Using the power of Sothis, he returned back in time.
"Good shot Teach! Can you…"
Ignoring Claude he rushed to the closest ship to them, charging his arms with magic. As he approached he could see one of the pirates preparing the harpoon. As he looked at him, he released all the power he had charged into his arms, engulfing the ship in crimson flames. Feeling an intense pain in the thorax he tried to gain height, but one of the wyverns covered in flames impacted against him. The beast tried to devour his face, but he stopped it with his silver sword, swiftly killing it with the remaining strength he had. He was about to leave when the secondary mast of one of the burning ships hit him and his mount sending him to the sea.
He felt an intense cold as he came in contact with the water. He tried to reach for the surface, but the pain he was suffering was already unbearable. Feeling that water was starting to enter his lungs he realized he was drowning. His mind was starting to get dizzy when he felt soft, yet firm arms surrounding him and bringing him to the surface.
As he reached the surface he violently coughed and breathed. He then looked to his savior.
"You have to know your limits, my Teacher" Edelgard said, a worrying expression on her face.
"You are swimming" he said with an exhausted smile. "I didn´t want to lose you, sorry for making you worry about me"
"The battle is not done yet" she said as she helped him to climb to her Pegasus, which had entered its legs into the water to make the climbing easier. "Your efforts had given us the upper hand; let me finish what you started. Stay with me"
"Thank you" he simply said, resting his head on her back as they returned to the heights.
….
The battle around them was turning to their favor, with most of the ships destroyed there were only two of them that had made it to the surroundings of the harbor.
"It looks like the fighting is worse at the east gate of the city" she said as she saw Jeralt and their group of students trying to block the advance of the pirates. Without most of the wyverns they were relying on their infantry units to break through the city.
"Attack them from behind" her Teacher said in his usual tone. He wasn´t fully recovered from the injuries he had suffered the last battle, but the fact that he was able to talk normally relaxed her a bit.
"Claude, Petra, Ingrid. Follow me!" she shouted as they dived into their enemies.
The enemy soldiers were so focused in breaching into the city that they weren´t prepared to face an attack from the heights. She used her axe to hit some of them and the body of her mount to hit the others. With the distraction created by their attack Jeralt, Alois and the rest of the students charged against them.
"Good job" shouted her Teacher´s father, when he saw them attacking from behind. "Keep pushing! We almost have them!"
Being attacked from two different sides the pirates' formation started to crumble.
"Retreat to the ship" shouted what appeared to be their leader.
"Don´t let them escape" she shouted.
"Don´t worry Imperial Princess. I will give him a souvenir from Derdriu" Claude said as he shot an arrow.
The arrow pierced the captain´s chest, stopping him in his retreat. He was trying to get up again, but Jeralt was already on him, finishing him off with his silver lance. With the death of their leader the combat spirit of the pirates faded away, turning the battle into a persecution.
"Don´t run you cowards. Trying to attack innocents and running away when you face a worthy adversary. As expected from pirates" Alois said; his eyes full of fury. The ship was starting to leave the harbor when it was hit by two explosions. When she looked to the skies she could see the silhouette of Petra flying above her.
"Good job Petra!"
With the area secured she then headed to the south of the city, to assist the rest of the students, but the fight had almost ender over there. Craters of magic explosions were surrounded by the corpses of the pirates stupid enough to try a frontal attack against a wall of magic users. She could see Lysithea wielding a relic and releasing potent spells from an impressive distance. "She is really talented" she thought, smiling. Seeing the destruction of the other ships the last remaining ship had ran away using the cover of the smoke and destruction that was surrounding the harbor.
The surviving troops which had been abandoned were surrendering to their forces.
"The battle is over, my Teacher. One of the ships had regrettably run away, but the city is intact."
"All of you had done a great job. Please land in the main square, Flayn and Linhardt may be able to heal my injuries"
"Of course, but promise me one thing"
"Tell me?"
"Don´t try to sacrifice your own life like that. Most people would consider that heroism, but I don´t wish you to lose you anytime soon"
"Edelgard…I promise you I will fight to live. For you, for all of you." Her teacher said as his embraced grew tighter.
"It´s a promise then" she said as she felt her heart beating faster despite her exhaustion.
They landed at the main square of the city, where Linhardt and Flayn also appeared to be tired, but apart from that they didn´t have any injuries. Helping him to get off the Pegasus they approached them.
"Professor, why do you try so hard? You should rest for a while or your wounds will never heal" Linhardt complained.
"I was worried about you Professor. When I saw your mount coming here injured I feared for the worst, but luckily you have survived" Flayn said with a smile on her face. "Let me treat these wounds of you" she said as she placed her hands on his torso. A green cloud of magic started to form around them and a few seconds later there was only dried blood in the areas where he was previously injured.
"You will need to rest for a few days, no exceptions. Even healing magic had its limits. Your Pegasus also needs to rest for a few days"
"I´m sorry friend" her Teacher said as he caressed his mount. "I´m treating you very badly"
The Pegasus licked his face as response, making Flayn laugh.
"I guess that that means it forgives you"
"You really try hard, Professor" Monica said with a sweet smile. "You really want to save everyone, don´t you?"
"I do, like I did with you the other day. I must protect all of my students"
"And I must thank you for that." Her smile was warmth, but her eyes remained cold. "It´s a pity he saved you" she thought. She knew that she lacked the necessary empathy to feel thankful for the actions of her Professor.
A few moments later the rest of the students started to return to the square, some of them bringing prisoners.
"That was a hell of a battle!" Caspar shouted
"After this battle all I want to do is eat a big steak" said Raphael with a wide smile.
"I want to take a bath. These clothes will take an eternity to get clean again, Professor" complained Hilda.
"I´m sorry"
"Don´t worry Teach. It´s not a big deal, besides everyone seems to be fine. You should take a rest, though. If it weren´t for you the city would have fallen into their hands. We will have to take care of the destroyed ships, but I will leave that to the garrison of the city" he then looked to the prisoners. "Send them to the dungeons. We might find out something after questioning them" He then looked to everyone. "Please feel free to stay in my home once again. I think a few days of rest will do wonders to all of us, especially you, Teach. If I want to have a big barbecue I know that I can count with you"
She was helping the Professor walking when he was lifted by strong hands.
"It´s been a while since the last time I had to take you like this" Jeralt laughed. "Don´t worry I can bring him to his room, thanks for taking care of him" he said as he patted her head.
"Like father, like son" she thought as she followed the rest of the students, her eyes still focused on him.
….
"What a day I can barely move"
"You barely moved Linhardt"
"I was too busy trying to save your life. How troublesome" Linhardt said while yawning.
"Caspar, since you are so strong could you help me to lift some of my equipment?"
"Of course Hilda, where do you want to bring it?"
"To the third floor, but I´m sure you can handle it quite well. I asked Claude, but he didn´t want to help me. What a gentleman"
"I love you too Hilda" Claude laughed.
"You are as strong as I remember master Jeralt"
"I guess that training keeps you fit. You did well too Leonie"
"And me?!"
"Do you really need praise from me? You are a grown up man, Alois, but I guess that you did well too"
They were all sitting around the same table. Everyone except her Teacher, which was already resting in one of the rooms.
"It´s not over yet" Dorothea commented next to her. "We have to save my dear Ingrid from the claws of that evil man. I wouldn´t be able to sleep if she was taken from me"
"I guess that I should thank you for your kind words, Dorothea" Ingrid said, a bit embarrassed.
"For now just get some rest. Ailell is not a place I would like to go unprepared."Jeralt said. "Byleth and I will be preparing our strategy for the following days, but for now I think it would be better if he gets some sleep"
"Is he doing better?" she asked.
"He had seen better days, but he will get over it. We both have quite the resistance" he laughed.
…..
"Now that we have our stomachs full it´s time for a well deserved rest. You are free to go around the city from tomorrow until we leave this place, although the harbor is kind of a mess right now. Good night everyone" Claude said as he left the dining room.
Each one of them started to leave the room. Most of them were tired, but the relief on their faces was evident. She was about to leave when she saw Jeralt leaving the kitchens with a dish full of food.
"Do you want me to help you Jeralt?"
"Thank you. I was doing two trips to the kitchen, but with your help we can do it in one go. Take this. I´m sure my son will be hungry by now. He doesn´t eat that much, but I´m sure he will appreciate the quality of the food around here"
She followed him to Byleth´s room. It was the same room he had been using the last time they travelled to the Leicester Alliance capital. The windows were already closed, but the room was well illuminated thanks to the candles in it.
"Hello Byleth, how are you doing?"
"Hello father, Edelgard" he said with a faint smile. "It doesn´t hurt that badly"
"You have always been the type of person that says nothing about their own suffering. You should be more communicative about things like that"
"I don´t want all of you to worry about me"
"I must agree with your father on this matter, my Teacher. You shouldn´t push yourself so hard. We are happy that you worry about us, but you should worry about yourself too"
"I can´t agree more with her. We will be staying here until you are fully recovered. This battle was particularly hard; I hope that the rest of our trip goes smoother than this. First, a pack of wolves and then pirates riding wyverns. Thinking about the things we have come across with I think that a bit of lava won´t be too troublesome" Jeralt said laughing. "Eat it all. You have to get better"
"Thank you" Byleth said as he started eating.
They remained silent while he was eating. She decided to take a sit next to him and observed her surroundings. Apart from the battle equipment the room was particularly clean. She could see a board game on the table and the Sword of the Creator in one of the corners of the room. The sword was inactive, but the mere look at it made her shiver. She knew it wasn´t an ordinary weapon and it was more powerful than most of the other Hero relics, but she sensed there was something more to it. "He uses the power of the sword because he wants to protect us, but who can protect him?" she thought. She knew that in order to protect him they have to be stronger than they were. Only training harder they would be able to reduce the burdens of his position.
"My Teacher, do you want to play a few games?" she asked him looking at the board game on the table.
"I would like to"
"I will give it a try too" said Jeralt, taking a seat.
The three of them played a few matches and in the end she was the winner. After a while Jeralt excused himself and they continued playing the two of them. She was able to defeat him, but he opposed quite the resistance.
"You did well, my Teacher"
"I´m getting used to it thanks to you" he said with a faint smile. "Can you please take these dishes back to the kitchen? I´m sorry my father left earlier, he could have lent a hand"
"Don´t worry, if I can handle an axe I can do the same with a pair of dishes. I will return shortly"
She left the room and headed to the kitchens. The aisles were completely empty, only the sound of the fountain of the central garden could be heard. With the presence of members of the Church Monica had been more tamed, but she knew that she couldn´t be trusted. After leaving the dishes she returned to his room.
"My Teacher, do you want to try the rematch?" she asked. But she received no response. Approaching him she realized he had fallen asleep.
"He must be really tired if he is sleeping like that" she thought since his body was leaning yet on the bed headboard. "If he sleeps like that he is going to have back pain"
She gently moved him and placed his head on the pillow. Covering his body with the bed sheets she recalled the long ago forgotten days when she did the same to her younger sisters and brothers.
"It feels like yesterday" she thought, a bit of sadness and nostalgia entering her heart as she unconsciously caressed his hair. Realizing what she was doing her heartbeat grew faster, but she was relieved to know that Dorothea wasn´t around. "I hope that after all these fights she had forgotten about it" she said, a bit embarrassed of recalling the events previous to their expedition.
Blowing out the candles she looked once more to him. His face was his usual stoic self, but he appeared to be at peace. "Good night Byleth, I will come over here tomorrow" she said as she closed the door.
….
11/7
He was feeling better after a few days of rest. Flayn, Linhardt and Marianne had been visiting him and applying healing magic on him. He had received visits from all of his students and he was visited by Edelgard every day. Feeling that his strength had returned he got up and left his room and headed to the dining room.
All of his students, his father and the members of the Church were taking their breakfast there.
"Morning Teach. I´m happy to see you here"
"Good morning everyone" he then looked at Linhardt "Happy birthday Linhardt. I´m sorry I couldn´t buy something for you"
"Don´t worry Professor. There is no bigger present for me than seeing you get better"
"Oh Linhardt. That was so beautiful. If you were like that always you would be so charming. You should have told all of us about your birthday thought" Dorothea said.
"Don´t misunderstand things Dorothea. It´s troublesome to take care of the Professor since he is always in situations of danger and celebrating is so exhausting that I prefer doing nothing"
"Don´t worry Dorothea. He had always been like that" Caspar laughed.
"I´m glad to see you better" Edelgard welcomed him with a gentle smile.
"Now that everyone is here we can talk about our next task. If we follow the coastline we will have arrived in two days. It isn´t too far away from here. After that we can make our return through the Holy Kingdom or remain in the Alliance. No matter what we do we would be arriving to the monastery around the middle of this month"
"We should be leaving before the day ends." Shamir said as she sipped a cup of coffee. "We shouldn´t leave the monastery low of personal. We have already fulfilled our role here"
"You have a point there. We will be leaving in a few hours then. Make sure that you don´t forget anything or you will have to do all the way to the capital"
"But Professor, Sir Jeralt, it´s my birthday"
"You have just said it was too troublesome to celebrate"
"If I have to choose between celebrating or leaving I prefer staying"
"You are really beyond redemption" Caspar sighed.
…
With his equipment ready Byleth was already waiting at the entrance of Claude´s mansion. Most of his students appeared to have replenished their energies and he was feeling better. He had decided to not use the Sword of the Creator for the rest of the month, since he sensed he was abusing its power.
"Time to leave Derdriu again" said Claude, waiting next to him. "When we finish the academic year we could go on holidays here. Do you want to give it a try Teach?"
"Every time I find you with the Professor alone you are trying to persuade him about something Claude" said Edelgard, approaching them.
"It´s a nice place to stay for a while. That´s all. Take it easy" he laughed. The merchants were reassuming their activities as if the attack of the other day had never happened. When they looked at them they smiled and even some of them waved hands.
"They know we protected the city. It´s not too bad feeling like a hero for a while. Oh look, that old lady is beckoning both of you. He may want to thank you for the help in the defense of the city"
Byleth approached the old lady and quickly realized that she was the old lady who had seen selling sweets the last time they had been in Derdriu.
"I had the feeling that I would see both of you again. You have saved my city, the place where I was born and I have lived all my life. Take this as a token of gratitude." she said, offering them a box filled with handmade sweets.
"Thank you some much" Edelgard said lightly bowing before her.
"I should be the one thanking you. Besides, seeing a young couple like you always makes my day"
"We aren´t really…"
"Thank you for your kindness. I will make sure that everyone tastes your handmade sweets"
"I hope it is of your liking. Farewell, young one" the old lady said as they returned.
"You have done it again"
"What?"
"Pretending what we aren´t" Edelgard said toying with her hair.
"Does it bother you?"
"Are you ok with pretending something like that?"
"I do"
Edelgard suddenly stopped and looked at him, her face starting to get red.
"You really are unique, my Teacher. I´m glad that Dorothea isn´t here"
"What do you mean?"
"N-nothing! The rest had already arrived. We shouldn´t make them wait"
Like that they left to their next objective, surrounded by the gratitude of the inhabitants of the city.