The horses were raring to go. Fed and watered, they swatted their tails and stamped the ground gently, sensing another day of traveling ahead. Byleth offered up some hay to a tan mare who had been recovering from a minor hind leg injury sustained in battle, and she nibbled it gratefully.
Satisfied, he let his thoughts wonder to the next assignment. Anything could be waiting for them in the Kingdom. The life of a mercenary was often unpredictable as well as perilous. His father was right. Wandering thoughts were a good way to get hurt or worse.
And yet…the dream seemed so real, the image of the girl he'd spoken to, who had asked him his name and told him they shared a birthday, was as vivid as a fond memory.
He should probably be more concerned about what it all meant, and if he were in danger of losing his sanity, but Bylara was just as adamant about the dreams she had of war lately, and that made him feel less concerned over it. His sister had always succeeded in making him feel more at ease by merit of the fact that she was right there with him.
From the time he was small, Byleth could remember how people would remark to Jeralt that his son was an odd one. In towns they traveled through, Bylara was usually the one invited to join in games with the village children, and would persuade them to include him. He didn't doubt he was peculiar, if almost everyone said he was. But at least his sister had never minded.
Byleth patted at the mare's neck in farewell, knowing it was time to tell Jeralt preparations were complete. As he'd said, they had already kept everyone waiting. But when he wandered away from where the animals were kept tied to posts, he noticed urgency had descended over the camp in the short time he was preoccupied.
When a newer member of their band rushed by, Byleth caught him by the elbow. "What is it?"
The man whose name he thought he remembered as Dalton, stared up at him with wide eyes, then shook his head. "There's been a disturbance. Some travelers have been attacked by a powerful group of bandits who are in pursuit. We're meant to meet them when they come from the east and cut them off before they can attack the village."
Byleth instinctively reached for the sword safely sheathed at his hip, eyes narrowed. "And Jeralt?"
"Over there!" he pointed a shaky finger off in the distance and Byleth could just barely make out his father's orange jerkin, as he stood beside what appeared to be a young man and woman.
Letting Dalton go, he sprinted past mercenaries now armed to the teeth, his solid footsteps alerting Jeralt and the others.
His father didn't waste time. "I take it you heard?"
Byleth gave a single nod. "Bandits out for blood. Keep them away from Remire Village."
"And protect these two," he motioned at the boy and girl who must have been right in the middle of the commotion.
"We thank you in advance for your aid," the young woman said, her voice clear and confident. Her lavender eyes appraised him openly, and he did the same, taking in her long silvery hair, the fancy black blazer and matching skirt complimented by the short red fabric draped over her right shoulder. She had such a regal bearing, so delicate and feminine at a glance. But, she clutched a battle axe like she knew how to use it. Catching where his eyes had traveled, she raised her weapon to hold over her shoulder. "You'll find we're capable of helping as well."
"Yes," The boy with her was lean, blonde and equipped with a well-polished lance. "You're defending us even though we've barged into your camp unexpectedly. Assisting is the least we can do." he sighed, his blue eyes turning downward. "Though I'm a bit worried for our friend. He ran first as a decoy, you see—"
"So you guys found help too, huh?"
The group looked over to see Bylara and another unfamiliar young man jogging up to them. While his sister was already on her guard with sword out, the yellow-clad stranger radiated laxness.
"Claude!" His friends gasped.
"What a relief." The girl began, "Going off on your own like that…we feared the bandits would catch up to you before we did."
The sun-kissed boy, Claude, held his arms out, a bow gripped in one hand. "As you can see, I'm all in one piece. I even managed to make a new friend as a matter of fact."
Bylara closed her eyes and said nothing, a sign that she didn't deem his statement worth refuting.
"You'll have to save the reunion for another time," Jeralt grunted. "Looks like they're here."
Sure enough, a burly man in leather and furs charged from the woods leading a large group of rowdy fighters, roaring their battle cry.
"Gimme those rich brats!" The leader snarled, zeroing in on Claude and his friends.
"Here we go." Byleth and Bylara turned to their father, seeing another member of the party approach with the reins of a saddled horse in hand. Jeralt climbed atop the creature, a strong chestnut steed he had rode for the past five years. "I'm putting you two in charge of commands. I don't have to remind you to take this seriously."
"Yes!"
"Let's go," Bylara murmured. "I'm guessing that's not just for show," she gestured at the bow in Claude's hands. "So we'll start by having you shoot first."
Claude deftly flipped an arrow between his fingers before notching it in no time flat. "Sure, just say the word."
Byleth found himself sizing the boy up again. Being raised the way they were, these situations of rescuing people from bloodthirsty brigands was nothing new. He had no idea what the trio's background was like, but Claude's approach to a life and death situation was certainly...calm.
"Aim for him first," his sister commanded, gesturing at the first ruffian to weave through the mercenary's defenses, who was coming at them fast.
Claude fired without question, toppling the man with an arrow to the thigh. Byleth rushed in, cutting him down dead before he could jerk the arrow free.
"Nice," the archer praised. "I think we might be in capable hands here." He called, looking in the direction of the two clad in blue and red respectively.
"Yes, but stay focused, Claude. That's not even the first wave." The girl scolded.
"The forest!" Jeralt ran a second bandit through so fast the man was bleeding out before he had time to see the wound.
"Right," Byleth agreed. "We have a better chance of maintaining the advantage if we attack from the forest. Time to take positions."
No one questioned the logic, their new allies following once again. They hid themselves among the trees at the edge of camp and listened as the brigand's leader loudly cursed over losing sight of them.
"I must say you're both adapt at thinking quickly," The white-haired girl whispered. "I admire that kind of resourcefulness."
"They're coming this way," The blonde pointed out. Through the foliage they could see a handful of enemies had fanned out to search for them while the others took on Jeralt and his mercenaries directly.
How pesky. But they weren't in trouble yet. In fact…
"Ambush?" Bylara asked.
Byleth had never questioned how easily his sister and he shared their thoughts. "Ambush."
When a scarred man missing half of one ear came cutting through the trees with his axe, Bylara popped out, using her Combat Art and dropping low. She stood and spun behind him, her blade swift as it flickered out, coming away red. Some blood dripped onto her boot, and she only spared it a passing glance, swallowing as she flicked the tip of her blade and pulled it away from the body.
"Incredible." He heard one of the three behind him say.
"Huddle in close," he told them, and they all complied, forming a tight triangular unit where he and Bylara took the front, the blonde and girl behind them, and Claude taking point.
It was just in time, because apparently the fallen bandit's comrades had discovered their location, rushing over to try and overwhelm them. Bylara and Byleth fought the first wave, the other three following their lead.
When Byleth became distracted guarding his sister's blind spot, the lavender-eyed girl used the reach of her axe to strike down a bandit who tried to take advantage, and he turned in time to see the man cough roughly before dropping to the ground.
Claude used his position from the back to hit opponents who had forgotten about the archer, covering them from the rear.
'Not bad.' Byleth thought. All three were holding their own well.
Bylara cried out when the man she'd been swordfighting moved away suddenly, throwing her off balance. She stumbled, momentum bringing her forward and in range of an unblocked attack.
Thankfully, the blonde intercepted the next blow with his lance, pushing the weapon away and allowing Bylara to get her bearings enough to stab the bandit while he was preoccupied. He fell back a step, arrow lodged through his heart soon after.
His sister quietly acknowledged the help of both boys by briefly looking them in the eyes. "Thanks,"
"Certainly," the blonde responded. "I believe we've driven them back for now. But the leader remains at large."
He was right. In all the fighting, the leader had managed to avoid coming into harm's way while sending his underlings to face them. The saying went that there was no honor among thieves, and Byleth supposed that extended to brigands too.
"What?" Claude guffawed, lowering his bow. "Is he seriously gonna chase us down and swear to take our lives, then wait for us to confront him?"
"Father can take care of the others, but let's go corner the head dastard and end all this."
Byleth took the lead this time, passing Jeralt. Silent understanding passed between father and son, and confidence bloomed in his breast. Finding the leader wasn't hard, as he stood in plain sight, barking orders and swinging a large axe. When he saw the five teenagers approaching him backed by some of Jeralt's men, a wicked grin touched his cracked lips.
"Killing all of ya is gonna be the most rewarding hunt I've had in ages!"
For a bandit, he was formidable. A definitive cut above all the others they had already faced in the battle. But he and Bylara were known for being skilled beyond their years, and in the end he underestimated them a little too much.
He fell in the dirt, axe landing beside him. Stunned, his subordinates eased away.
"Are you three alright?" Byleth asked, feeling the throb of a wound to his shoulder. Superficial. With some basic healing magic it would be good as new.
The boy in the blue cape wiped sweat from his brow and smiled politely, awe swirling in the depths of his azure eyes. "Yes, due in no small part to you. I have witnessed it with my own eyes, and yet it is still hard to believe you are ordinary mercenaries when you possess such advanced skills."
Claude came up behind his friend, flinging an arm around his shoulder and leaning forward. "Gotta agree with His Princeliness here. The two of you look like you're the same age as us, but what we saw out there," He finished with an impressed whistle.
The soft crunch of heels had Byleth turning to see the red-clad girl had just set her axe down and was walking over. "You both have strange auras about you," she noted, curiosity flickering behind her expression. "And you commanded us well on the battlefield."
Slowly, her lips pulled into a soft smile. He was familiar enough with fleeting smiles, being that his own were closely guarded, to know when someone else seldom gave them. A small part of him felt compelled to return it.
"Great work," Jeralt rode over, staring down in approval. "You handled yourselves even better than expected out there. And I see our friends aren't any worse for wear."
"We only did what we always would." Bylara responded, both to their father and the three young fighters. "Though, it's nice that we were able to provide you backup."
"I'd say it was the other way around," Claude laughed, letting go of the lance-wielder. "I mean without you we'd be—"
"Damn it!" The roar was loud enough to make the blonde flinch. Without much warning, the downed brigand had surged to his feet, axe gripped tight, his face crazed as he went for the girl.
She was still weaponless, her own axe too far to reach in time. Byleth knew what he had to do, but it really came as no surprise when his sister happened on the same idea. They both threw themselves to defend her as the axe came down.
And then, quite literally, time stopped.
I know the game is still pretty much new and not that many entries exist yet but I'm still really excited and expecting a lot of fun writing this. You may notice that FM!Byleth gets a lot of the POV for a while and that's mainly because I always prefer writing female character POVs. Although when doing third-person writing ultimately I use alternating POVs to give the story a better sense of depth. So M!Byleth will be just as important and plenty of the other characters have voices in this as well. No worries.
Although it's early, I really would appreciate people dropping some comments. Thanks.