If you haven't played the Cindered Shadows DLC yet, you might not wanna read the next part. BIG SPOILERS!
Chapter 66 – Betrayal (Red Wolf Moon)
Dorothea made a loud grunt of pain as Clovis ground his heel on her left breast before leveling his sword to her face.
"I haven't forgotten how you stabbed me in our last encounter, Dorothea," Clovis said with a sneer. "But now that you're like this, I just can't decide whether to return the favor or not. It'd be such a shame to kill someone as beautiful as you, after all."
"F-Flattery will get you nowhere, Clovis," Dorothea hissed as she tried to recover. Joyeuse lay out of her reach, having been kicked away by Clovis.
"On second thought, you're more trouble than you'd be worth. But perhaps Her Highness could help fill the void left by your death."
Dorothea's eyes widened as Clovis looked over at Edelgard, who was busy fending off four of Metodey's bandits at once.
"She certainly doesn't have your voluptuous figure, but–"
"Don't you dare touch her, Clovis!" Dorothea snapped furiously.
Clovis then brought the edge of his blade to Dorothea's chest, positioned to impale her through the heart.
"And what are you going to do to stop me, sister?" he said evilly.
Dorothea's expression turned to terror as she felt the blade's edge touch her skin.
"That's it, that's the expression I'm looking for. I want to see your terror. I want to hear you beg for your life, my dear meddling sibling!"
Dorothea's eyes began to water with fright at being less than an inch from certain death.
A loud screech wiped the smug look off Clovis' face as he turned back toward the Roc that had grabbed Dorothea. It hadn't yet perished from its wounds, and though it was blinded in one eye it could still see Clovis in the other. It let out another screech as it readied itself to attack.
In shock and fear, Clovis raised his blade toward the Roc as he said, "Stay back! S-Stay back, you beast! I said stay – GAH!"
Dorothea had taken the opportunity to grab Clovis' leg and shove it with as much strength as she could muster. It was enough to make him trip, sending the former noble to the ground on his back. Desperate, Dorothea scrambled onto her hands and knees as she made a mad dash to reach Joyeuse. Clovis recovered and raised his blade to strike her but made a loud yelp of terror as the Roc nearly crushed him in its beak.
The singer reached her blade just as Metodey dashed onto the scene, letting out a sinister laugh as he jumped up and drove his serrated blade into the Roc's windpipe. He twisted the blade as it pierced the avian monster's flesh, and then ripped through its neck with brutal force, slashing open a large hole in its throat. The Roc couldn't even let out a proper screech as it flailed for a moment before it slumped over and perished.
"Must I do everything?!" Metodey scowled. "Useless, all of you!"
Clovis then said, "My thanks to you, Me–"
"That goes for you too, Clovis!" Metodey snapped. "What are you waiting for? Just gut your damn sister already and be done with it!"
Dorothea stood shakily as she raised her blade, knowing she was outmatched in a two-on-one fight. Metodey, in particular, showed incredible skill, and Dorothea doubted she could match him. Her body was also still aching from the Roc's crash landing.
It was then that Yuri waltzed onto the scene and said, "Picking on a pretty lady like her? How very much in character for a couple of do-nothing thugs."
Though Clovis was incensed to the point that he could not retort, Metodey made a confident smirk as he said, "So you're the Savage Mockingbird. I'm not impressed."
"If you had any brains, you would be."
Metodey snarled at this insult and then shouted as he dashed like quicksilver toward Yuri, who deftly blocked the assassin's blade. The two then began a clash that quickly carried them away from Dorothea and Clovis.
Seeing an opportunity, Dorothea raised her hand to prepare a spell, but was shocked to see Clovis already charging at her with his sword. She aborted the spell and blocked the strike with Joyeuse, but she staggered back due to her surprise. She barely had a second to recover before Clovis made another strike, forcing her to make another hasty block that made her stumble. Clovis then made a third attack, but this time Dorothea was able to dodge back.
Dorothea held Joyeuse in a defensive stance. She hadn't realized Clovis had such skill with a blade. She thought he had never been the type to actually do his own fighting.
"Not expecting such swordplay, sister?" Clovis said cockily. "The Officers' Academy must be a waste of time if they taught you so poorly!"
Clovis made another rush at her, taking three more quick strikes that Dorothea was forced to parry or avoid. Her mind raced for a way to turn the tables on Clovis, but he was simply attacking too fast, and she couldn't find any openings in his assault.
Then, sharp pain ripped through her as Clovis' blade sliced her left arm. Dorothea let out a shriek as she was wounded, despite that the cut wasn't that serious.
Clovis let out a gleeful laugh at this and said, "Does that hurt, Dorothea? Is my dear sister in pain? That's nothing compared to what I'll do to you next!"
Clovis then readied himself for another attack, but in that split second, Dorothea saw the opening she was looking for. She let out a defiant scream as she slashed Joyeuse at Clovis' head.
The blonde former noble let out an agonizing cry as Dorothea slashed through his left eye.
"AAAGH! AAH! MY EYE! MY EYE, YOU BITCH!" Clovis howled.
Clovis staggered back as he clutched at his face, his hands quickly becoming stained with blood. His breathing was panicked at being so severely wounded. Dorothea saw the fear in his expression, the same as when she had bested him before.
Her half-brother was little more than a dirty coward, even worse than her. Even the slightest threat to him had left him terrified and screaming.
Dorothea raised her left hand to prepare a Thoron spell, intending to end Clovis right then and there.
"Nighty night!" said a familiar voice.
Before Dorothea could even react to it, she was hit by a quick blow to the back of her neck. She let out a gasp of surprise before crumpling over.
Everything went black before she even hit the ground.
…
Byleth let out a shout as she slashed down another brigand. She had sustained a few more cuts in the fighting due to the sheer number of enemies, and her face was now stained with blood.
She briefly looked around at the situation. Many of the bandits were now dead or fleeing from the area, while the two Dire Wolves had been slain. Again, the students had all survived, but Raphael was unconscious after being slammed by one of the Dire Wolves into a wall. Dimitri had taken a sword blow to his right leg, but Marianne was now healing it. Sylvain had taken an arrow to his chest, but his armor had protected him from a lethal injury. Annette had been whacked across the head by a lance shaft and now lay in a daze on the ground. Hapi had similarly been knocked out by one of the bandits who wanted to stop her from summoning any more beasts. Lysithea had been briefly scorched by another mage and was now having second-degree burns treated by Linhardt.
Byleth was relieved to see her students had all once again survived such a perilous battle. The bandits were now in full retreat, as Yuri had just bested their leader, Metodey, who fled the scene in a hurry.
But Dorothea was still unaccounted for. Byleth looked around to try and locate her.
As she did, she suddenly felt herself becoming overwhelmingly weary. It wasn't fatigue, but more like an unstoppable need to fall asleep, accompanied by a strange tingling sensation in her body.
Too late, Byleth realized it had to be some kind of magic.
She looked up to see Edelgard looking toward her with shock on her face.
"Aelfric, what are you doing?!" the princess shouted.
"A-Aelfric…?" Byleth gasped in exhaustion.
She had just enough energy left to try and turn around and, just before her consciousness faded, she saw Aelfric channeling the Sleep spell affecting her.
"W-Why…?"
Byleth slumped to the ground as everything went dark for her.
…
Anna heard Edelgard's shout just in time. As she spun around to look at Aelfric, the battlefield was suddenly pelted by numerous clay urns that shattered as they hit the ground. The urns released an orange smoke across the battlefield. Edelgard was the first to breathe in the smoke and immediately started coughing on it before falling to the ground, unable to move.
Anna knew immediately what it was: a paralyzing poison.
Moving quickly, she grabbed Flayn by the waist and leapt away from the rapidly expanding gas cloud, narrowly avoiding taking in the poison. The green-haired girl, however, had taken in a surprised breath of the poison, and let out a serious of small coughs as Anna brought her to higher ground.
Anna's expression turned to horror as the students were all engulfed by the cloud. One by one, the students choked on the fumes and quickly fell to the ground, unable to move, but still conscious and not in any immediate life-threatening danger.
"What the hell…?" Anna said dreadfully.
She turned her gaze toward Aelfric. The monk had clearly breathed in the fumes as well, but he was unaffected by them. Anna reasoned he had likely inoculated himself already. The monk hadn't noticed her escape from the gas attack, and she saw he now held the Chalice of Beginnings in his hand.
But then she saw another figure still moving in the smoke out of the corner of her eye, so she turned to see who it was.
Her eyes widened in shock as she saw Yuri, also unaffected by the fumes, striding toward Aelfric.
"Beautifully executed, Yuri," said Aelfric. "The chalice is finally mine now. Along with the blood of the Four Apostles."
At that moment, several mages dressed in black and wearing masks emerged from hiding and walked over to the other members of the Ashen Wolves, who looked at Yuri with expressions of utter betrayal.
On the ground, Caspar hissed, "Y-Yuri, y-you d-double-crossing…"
"S-Such t-treachery…!" said Lorenz.
"W-Why are… are you doing this, Yuri?" Mercedes asked tearfully.
As she was dragged toward Aelfric, Constance said, "It seems I was correct… that there was an enemy in our midst. To think our bird was instead a rat."
"You've always had a wild imagination, Constance," said Yuri. "I've got to say, turning your attention elsewhere was a challenge even for me."
Crossly, Aelfric said, "That is enough with the banter, Yuri. I informed you not to divulge too much."
"They'll all be under the dirt soon enough," said Yuri. "It's not like they'll be able to talk at that point. After all I've gone and done for you, Aelfric, I would think you'd have just a bit more faith in me."
Aelfric did not answer this, instead glaring at the lavender rogue.
"Y-Yuri, why…? WHY?!" said Bernadetta as she looked tearfully up at him. She shed even more tears when Yuri looked back at her and did not answer.
"Enough, Yuri. Let us be on our way," said Aelfric.
He then did something that made Yuri's expression show a glint of worry. Aelfric reached down and scooped up Byleth in his arms, letting the Sword of the Creator clatter to the ground from her grip.
"Soon, child, you will be reunited with her," said Aelfric.
As he said this, a series of magical circles surrounded him, his followers, and the Ashen Wolves. A second later, they all vanished in flashes of light as they were warped away.
Anna could only look on helplessly as all this unfolded.
It was then that a large series of footsteps caught Anna's attention, and she whipped around to see a platoon of the Knights of Seiros led by none other than Rhea and Seteth rushing onto the scene.
"No… we are too late," said Rhea as she witnessed the scene.
After a second, the archbishop recomposed herself and began preparing a spell. With a wave of her hand, she sent a strong wind to sweep away the orange smoke that covered the students, clearing them of the poison. But the toxin's effects were still in their bodies and left them unable to move.
Seteth then noticed Flayn in Anna's grip and, terrified, said, "Flayn! Flayn, are you alright?!"
Flayn let out a small cough and said, "Y-Yes, brother. I am unhurt."
Then, to Anna's surprise, the girl stepped away from the merchant, seemingly unaffected by the poison she had inhaled.
"What…?" Anna said silently.
"Flayn, the students!" Rhea said urgently.
"Right! Leave it to me, Lady Rhea."
Flayn turned to the students and began channeling her White Magic, preparing a spell.
As she finished readying her spell, she raised her arms and shouted, "Esuna!", sending cleansing magic into the students. The toxins were quickly purged from their bodies, leaving them groaning as they regained the ability to move.
Groaning as he helped Marianne to her feet, Dimitri said, "Is everyone alright?"
"I'm… gonna have to get back to you on that one," said Claude.
The other students began making similar remarks.
Then, her eyes widening, Edelgard said, "Wait, where's Dorothea?"
"Yuri went after her when that bird snatched her up," said Leonie. Then, her expression filling with dread, she said, "You don't think he…"
Edelgard quickly ran off toward the second Roc's crash site.
"Lady Edelgard, wait!" shouted Hubert as he tried to run after her.
Anna was about to chase after them when Rhea, her voice filled with dread, asked, "Wait. Where is Professor Eisner?"
The students hadn't seen what had happened, so they were silent for a moment.
"He took her…" said Anna, which left the students with expressions of horror. "Aelfric took her with him."
It was the first time the students had ever seen a look of abject fear on Rhea's face.
Bet you didn't see this coming, did you?
I'm making quite the original twist on the Cindered Shadows DLC here with Byleth being kidnapped too. I know you'll think it messes things up, but you'll learn why I have it this way in the next chapter or two.
By the way, when the betrayal happens, try playing "Suspicion" from Final Fantasy IV's soundtrack. You'll thank me later.