Oof, another long one. Maybe I dragged out some of the fighting too long.
Chapter 65 – A Sibling Skirmish (Red Wolf Moon)
Aelfric stood between a group of rogues with his hands bound, taking a moment to glance over at the two leaders of the band that had taken him prisoner. The first, Metodey, wore a bloodstained mask to conceal his face, but Aelfric knew he would forever remember the sadistic man's voice. He had seen Metodey cut down several of the Abyssian rogues, each life ended cruelly and without a shred of mercy.
The second of the two was a disgraced noble with a lean frame and messy blonde hair, but Aelfric did not know his name. Despite his criminal status, he wore an outfit that showed his obsession with wealth. He too was wearing a mask, but his voice was easy for Aelfric to recognize.
"You think the knights will show, boss?" one of the rogues said to Metodey.
"I personally hope so," Metodey said viciously. "How I'd love the chance to sink my blade into some of the Knights of Seiros."
"Just as long as we get what we came for," said the blonde noble.
"You'll get your gold when we're finished here. And then you can be on your merry way to Magvel or wherever it is you're going."
At that moment, another rogue came rushing toward them and said, "Boss, we've got company. They aren't knights."
"Really?"
"Yeah, looks like a bunch of noble brats instead."
"Students of the Officers' Academy," said the noble. He then said to Aelfric, "So, they actually think to retrieve you? They're in for a very harsh lesson."
Aelfric said nothing to this as he looked to see who was coming. His expression turned to dismay upon seeing the Ashen Wolves leading the group of first-year students. Byleth and Anna were with them.
The noble looked intently at one brown-haired student in particular. He made a leering grin as he watched Dorothea, who stood next to Edelgard.
"At last you've arrived!" Metodey said to the students. "You took your sweet time…"
Aelfric stepped forward as two of the rogues restrained him and said, "My flock! Why have you come?!"
"To save you of course," said Balthus. "You didn't really think we'd just up and abandon you, did ya?"
Constance, who was now in her gloomy state due to the sun still shining down on them, said, "If I may be so bold, we have the chalice you seek. Might I humbly request that you return Aelfric?"
"We have what you want," said Anna. "Show'em, By."
Byleth stepped forward and showed the rogues the Chalice of Beginnings. Aelfric's expression turned to utter surprise.
"You found the chalice?" said Aelfric. "When I told you of it, I never imagined you'd–"
"Shut your mouth, old man," said Metodey.
The blonde noble then made a sneer as he said loudly, "Let's make sure it's not some cheap imitation. Hand it over."
The sound of his voice immediately made Dorothea's eyes widen in shock.
"Wait a second, that voice…" Dorothea gasped.
The noble then made a chuckle as he smugly removed his mask, revealing the face of Clovis von Eadwald.
"Pleased to see me again, dear sister?" said Clovis.
"Clovis?! You're supposed to be in the dungeons in Enbarr!"
Clovis made another laugh and gestured to Metodey as he said, "Well, thanks to my dear friend here, I did not stay long in that rat-infested hellhole."
Edelgard quickly whispered to Hubert, "Hubert, did you know about this?"
"No one told me of him escaping from the dungeons," replied Hubert. "I'll have to have a word with the warden."
"You'll not get the chance, I'm afraid," said Clovis. "Warden Kassan's corpse is decaying in the same cell he locked me away in. My way of 'thanking' him for his hospitality." Turning back to Dorothea, he added, "And thanks to you, my dear sister, House Eadwald was dissolved, and our assets stolen from us. Without that wealth, I cannot make my voyage to Magvel. So, when I learned about this little scheme from my friend here, I sensed an opportunity to recoup my losses."
"You mean by kidnapping Aelfric and stealing from the Church?" Dorothea snapped. "I guess it isn't any different from how you stole from people before!"
"Wait a sec, songbird," said Yuri. "This dirtbag's your brother?"
"Half-brother. His father threw me and my mother out when I wasn't even a day old."
"Yes, well, you know how it is," said Clovis. "No Crest, no worth."
"I suppose that goes for you too, doesn't it, Clovis?" said Ingrid, stepping forward with Luin in hand.
"Ah, Ingrid, lovely as always. A shame my sister had to ruin our evening last time. I'd have made you sing in my grasp. Perhaps I'll treat you again."
"You stay the hell away from her, you sleazebag!" Sylvain said angrily.
Metodey let out a short "Hmm?" and then said, "Ah, I knew you looked familiar. You're Miklan's brother, aren't you?"
"What's it to you?"
"He owed me quite a bit of money. I may wish to take it out of your hide instead, Gautier."
"Alright then, enough with the pleasantries," said Clovis as he drew a short sword and held it to Aelfric's throat. "The chalice. Hand it over or the old monk tastes cold steel."
"Not until you hand over the hostage," said Yuri. "There needs to be some degree of a trusting exchange here."
"I can see you don't understand your own predicament," said Metodey as he snapped his fingers, prompting multiple rogues to come out of hiding. "We've no issue with killing the lot of you and taking it either way."
"Well said," said Clovis. "If we're going to be doing it this way, try and take as many of the girls alive as possible. I'm going to need someone to fuck on my way to Magvel."
The students readied themselves for battle, but it was clear they were badly outnumbered. There had to be at least a hundred rogues to their group of thirty-one. And the rogues had them surrounded and with weapons already trained on them.
"I can't tell if these guys' ears are stuffed with wool or if they're just this stupid," said Hapi as she gestured toward Clovis and Metodey.
"I'd guess a little of both," said Dorothea.
"Can't say I'm surprised," said Yuri. "Thugs like this aren't about to show us any gesture of sincerity."
"Yeah, well, I hope you guys have a good plan," said Leonie.
"Yuri! Stand down! Leave me!" said Aelfric. "Take the chalice and flee—you must! It is irreplaceable—you must not hand it to these brigands!"
"Silence, old man!" Clovis snapped.
"Heh. You know us better than that," said Balthus. "We didn't come here without a plan. Do your thing, Hapi!"
Surprised, Hapi said, "Seriously? Right now?"
"Yes, now!"
"Fine, fine, fine."
With that, Hapi let out a loud and very deliberate sigh, much to Aelfric's dismay, as well as to the alarm of the first-year students.
"Oh no, not that!" Annette said worryingly.
As if to answer the orange-haired mage, a large magic circle formed before the group. The brigands were shocked to see the giant form of a Roc appear out of the circle, letting out a loud screech as it spread its wings.
"W-W-What is that thing?!" Clovis said as he immediately began to panic.
Yuri let out a chuckle as he said, "I've gotta say, that sigh of yours never gets old, Hapi."
"Yeah, yeah, glad you like the show," said Hapi. "It's not like it's a gift I asked for."
The Roc swung one of its wings at a group of the rogues, sending several of its feathers like spears to strike down a handful of them. Caught off guard, many of the rogues quickly began to scatter.
"Get back here!" shouted Metodey. "Stand and fight, you cowards!"
The Roc, hearing Metodey's shout, screeched as it took to the air and swooped toward him with its talons poised. Metodey drew a serrated blade from his belt and dodged the Roc's attack as he slashed its leg.
At that moment, Byleth said to Flayn, "Now!"
Flayn gave a nod as she finished her Rescue spell, which surrounded Aelfric in a brief shimmer of light before making him vanish. He reappeared before her a second later.
"Are you well, Brother Aelfric?" asked Flayn as Yuri cut Aelfric's bonds.
"I am unharmed, Flayn," said Aelfric. "Thank you for your aid."
"Don't go thanking us yet," said Yuri. "We've still gotta get out of here."
As the rogues began to fight against the Roc, Clovis saw Aelfric among the students and shouted, "GET THEM, YOU FOOLS! KILL THEM!"
The rogues, having regained their wits, rushed toward the students, who quickly took their positions to fend off their assault. Arrows flew from the students' ranks, striking down several rogues in a matter of seconds before spells from the mages blasted away several more. But there were simply too many of them, and once again the students found their defensive line overrun.
Dorothea let out a shout as, after deflecting a blow from an axe, she spun around and stabbed the rogue in his knee, making him howl in pain before she raised her hand to him. She yanked Joyeuse free and immediately followed up by blasting the man with lightning, sending him to the ground. She then swung around to parry two blows from a sword-wielding rogue and would have parried a third had Ingrid not stabbed the man in his back with Luin. Dorothea then saw Lysithea struggling to keep a ward up as an axe-wielding rogue tried to smash through her defenses. The singer quickly readied a Thunder spell and struck down the rogue before he could sink his axe into the white-haired mage.
Meanwhile, Byleth deftly blocked a strike from one rogue before parrying a blow from a second brigand. She then countered with a slash, extending the Sword of the Creator into its whip form in the same action, causing the blade to rip through the two rogues, their bodies falling to the ground. She immediately returned her sword to its regular state before dodging an arrow, and then countered the attack by throwing a quick fireball at the archer. The archer screamed in agony as he was set ablaze.
But then another archer came out from behind cover and fired his shot. Byleth let out a loud yelp of pain as the arrow struck her left leg, forcing her onto her knee. The archer that hit her was then shot in the neck by Claude.
"Byleth!" Aelfric shouted in concern as he readied a healing spell.
Gritting her teeth, Byleth yanked the arrow out of her leg, allowing Aelfric's magic to mend her wound. Though the spell mended her leg, she still felt the pain from her injury, but there wasn't time to deal with that.
"Thank you, Aelfric," said Byleth.
"Your father would never forgive me if I– GAH!"
Aelfric was cut off mid-sentence as, to Byleth's shock, an arrow struck him squarely in the chest. It was surely a fatal blow.
"Elfie, NO!" Hapi cried out in horror.
The battle became still as the Divine Pulse radiated from Byleth.
"That will not do at all!" said Sothis. "I know you were just wounded, but that man's life is at stake. Well, let this be a lesson to you."
The arrow exited Aelfric's chest as Byleth went back to kneeling. The effects of Aelfric's spell were reversed, and Byleth could now feel the pain of her prior wound return.
Time resumed its flow, and Aelfric's spell once again sealed Byleth's wound, but now she felt the pain twice as intensely as before.
She forced herself through the pain as she spun around to see an archer lining up a shot on Aelfric. The female rogue fired her arrow at Aelfric, but this time the shot was met by the Sword of the Creator, which slashed it out of the air.
Grunting from the pain in her leg, Byleth said, "Get to cover, Aelfric!"
"Yes, of course!" said the monk as he rushed to hide behind a pillar.
Byleth was about to rush at the archer when an arrow from Ignatz struck the woman in the right side of her abdomen, making her scream as she fell to the ground and clutched the wound. Byleth had no time to thank Ignatz before another rogue swung an axe at her, forcing Byleth to block the overhead strike. The impact sent sharp pain through her injured leg, making Byleth hiss as she struggled against her muscular opponent. But as the brigand began chuckling at the thought of burying his axe in her flesh, Byleth swung her right knee into his groin, making the rogue cry out in agony as he released his grip on his axe and cupped his hands between his legs. Byleth followed up with another strike from her right knee, this time hitting the man in his jaw and sending him to the ground on his back, allowing Byleth to finish him with a thrust down into his heart.
On the side, Dorothea saw the brutal kill and could not help being unnerved by it.
Then, the students heard a loud screech as the Roc began to swoop down at them.
"SCATTER!" Byleth shouted.
Seeing the incoming threat, the students and rogues moved to avoid the Roc's talons. It swept into the crowd with incredible speed, knocking aside Felix and Hubert as it landed. Caspar tried to rush in to attack the Roc, but he was struck by the Roc's left wing and sent flying into Hilda, who shrieked as the two were sent to the ground with Caspar on top of the pinkette. Caspar let out a loud groan before he felt a familiar squishy sensation in his right hand, and then looked up to see Hilda blushing at him, his hand once again on her left breast.
"C-Caspar!" Hilda yelped in embarrassment.
"Sorry! Really sorry, Hilda!" Caspar stammered as he quickly removed his hand from her chest. "I didn't mean to–"
Caspar stopped as Hilda hit his head gently with the blunt end of her axe, though it was still enough to hurt.
"Apologize later!"
The Roc made another screech as it swatted two rogues aside with its right wing, sending them smashing into an old stone wall. Annette was about to cast Excalibur at it when she was tripped by another rogue. Before the rogue could stab her in the back with his lance, Dedue barreled in and buried his axe in the rogue's collarbone.
Several arrows then struck the Roc, making it screech in agony before one shot struck inside its mouth and lodged in its brain. The Roc collapsed to the ground, dead.
Seeing the Roc perish and that the rogues were now able to concentrate on them, Yuri shouted to Hapi, "Hapi, do it again!"
"Again?" Hapi said in annoyance. "What do you take me for, a sigh servant?"
"Hapi!"
"Alright, alright, fine!"
Hapi then let out three long, hard sighs, causing three magic circles to emerge. The magic coalesced to reveal two Dire Wolves and another Roc, which quickly went about attacking anyone they could find.
"Are you two nuts?!" shouted Claude. "We've got enough problems already!"
"Dorothea, watch out!" shouted Edelgard upon seeing the Roc lift off from the ground.
Dorothea swung around too late to stop the Roc from grabbing her in its right talon. The singer screamed in terror as she was scooped off the ground and carried into the air.
"Let her go, you dumb bird!" yelped Bernadetta as she drew her bow and fired.
Bernadetta's shot hit the Roc right in its left eye, making it screech in pain as it lurched heavily in the air. Dorothea let out another shriek at being jerked around so suddenly, and she feared the Roc would drop her high above the ground. The world spun and rolled before her eyes as the Roc was hit by several more arrows and tumbled out of the sky.
Dorothea screamed as the Roc crashed to the ground and released her, making her slam into the ground and roll for several meters. Joyeuse let out a clatter as the blade landed next to her.
The singer groaned as she tried to push herself up, her vision swimming before her eyes for a moment and her body aching all over as she grasped Joyeuse again. She then saw someone step in front of her.
A second later, Dorothea yelped as she was delivered a swift kick to her chest, knocking her to the ground on her back. Before she could recover, she let out a painful gasp as Clovis' boot came down on her left breast, pinning her to the ground.
"Going somewhere, sister?" Clovis said nastily.
I know it feels cheap that I added Clovis to this chapter, but I wanted more involvement for Dorothea. And what better way than to make her douchebag of a half-brother team up with Metodey?
I actually for a bit wanted to replace Metodey with Clovis for this chapter, but I decided to keep them both. Removing Metodey might've helped a bit to make his later presence less egregious, but I decided removing him would've done more harm than good.
And I know you guys think I'm making Clovis a bit of a cliche evil guy, but seriously, he's got nothing on characters like Ramsey Bolton.