The Verge of History
Hello people of the internet! I'm back with the first chapter. Before I begin, however, I'd like to apologize for being so late, I had come down ill a few days after I posted the Premonition and hadn't had much time to work on this. I'm better now, mostly, so things should go smoother from here on out.
"M'lord, a word, if you please."
"What is it, Frederick?"
"Now that we're closer, I recognize the coat. It bears resemblance to those found on Plegian darkmages. I advise caution."
Chrom sighed to himself and let loose a slight smile. "You always advise caution Frederick," he said, staring up at his armoured friend.
Frederick turned his attention forward once again, setting his eyes on the subject of conversation laying a short distance in front of them. "All the same M'lord," he said, still rigidly keeping watch on the figure and the surrounding area.
"Of course. Thank you, Frederick, I'll keep it in mind." Chrom strode forward the few paces needed to close in on where his sister was doing a rough medical check on the newly identified woman.
"How is she?" He asked in place of a proper introduction.
Lissa shrugged. "As far as I can tell she just fainted here. Aside from a bruise from where she hit her head she's completely unharmed," she stated, turning back to her work, staff in hand, luckily it hadn't been needed.
Chrom smiled and went to respond but was cut short as the mysterious woman, groaned quietly and shifted.
Both Chrom and Lissa sat silently in front of the figure waiting for another sign. When nothing happened Lissa turned to her brother. "Chrom… We have to do something." She said, a little bit of worry evident in her voice.
"What do you propose we do?"
"Uh, I don't know!"
Before they could continue their conversation however, their attention was dragged onto the figure when her eyes ever so slowly open up for the first time. Lissa gasped slightly, a smile now clearly on her face as she bent down a bit and stared at the woman on the ground.
Chrom also lent in, seeing her eyes lazily shift between him and his sister, he decided now as good a time as any to begin. "I see you're awake now," he said in a kind voice.
"Hey there." his sister began with a smile and a slight chuckle.
"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground y'know. Give me your hand" He said, reaching a glove-clad hand out towards the person and shifting attention back to him.
Slowly, the person brought her own hand to meet his. Chrom absently noted the odd tattoo on the back of it, much similar to the patterns adorning her coat. But he put the thought aside, for now, decided to focus on the matter at hand.
"You all right?" He asked, after seeing the woman begin to gather her bearings. She was almost a head shorter than Chrom, about as tall as Lissa. With shorter and wilder brown hair that matched her eyes. Looking at her, she was probably even younger than his sister. If she was a Plegian spy, Chrom doubted she would be any danger to them.
His musings were cut short, however, as the woman opened her mouth to speak. "Y-yes… Thank you, Chrom."
"Ah, then you know who I am?" Chrom asked after a moment, a bit disappointed for a reason he himself didn't know.
He watched as her face became one of confusion, she shook her head a bit, looked at him again, and then sheepishly put one of her hands to the back of her head. "No, actually, I… It's strange… Your name, it just… came to me…" she trailed off.
Absently Chrom took note of that. "Curious." He muttered. I didn't matter he decided. Instead, choosing to try and get some answers as to what the person's purpose was. "Tell me," he said grabbing the woman's attention. "What's your name? What brings you here?"
The woman responded a bit quicker this time. Apparently happier with the turn of subject. "My name is…" She began, pausing a moment as the confusion set back in, "Its… uh…" she looked up at Chrom with a bit of worry. "I don't know…" she finished, giving up on recalling it.
Now it was Chrom's turn to be confused. "...You don't know your own name?" he asked incredulously
She paused, shifting her attention away from the trio in front of her and onto the surroundings. "I'm not sure if… I'm sorry, but where am I, exactly?" She asked
Lissa took this moment to jump into the conversation. "I've heard of this! It's called amnesia!" she said excitedly
Chrom had heard of amnesia before of course, but he turned to see what Frederick thought of the story, no doubt he was skeptical at least. But to his surprise, Frederick had wandered a little ways away, on the other side of the road, peering into a ditch. Before he could ask what he was doing, Frederick turned his way and called him over
"M'lord, you might want to see this."
Curiosity peaked, Chrom began walking over to the knight. His sister and new found acquaintance follow closely behind.
They reached the side of the road and looked into the ditch. There lying at the bottom in a heap. Was another individual. This one was wearing a coat almost identical with the amnesiac, but his was a bit more tattered in places. Along the right side of his neck and what they could see of his body, where odd burns, the looked fresh. Lissa wasted no time getting to work. If there was one thing she took seriously it was her duties as a cleric. She slid into the ditch staff in hand and set about tending to his wounds. The individual recoiled slightly to her touch but was obviously too wounded to put up much of a resistance.
Confident that if she needed his assistance she would ask for it. Chrom turned to the other woman in their party. "Do you know him?" he questioned.
The woman was staring done at the individual obviously worried. It took her a moment to realize she had been addressed. "What uh… I don't know. I think so." she eventually answered.
"You think so?" Frederick said. His voice was weighted heavily with doubt. It was quite evident that he didn't trust either of these people.
"Uh.. ya. He seems familiar, is all" She stuttered back
"You expected is to believe that you remember M'lord's name but not your own or that of your companion?"
"But… but it's the truth!" She exclaimed defensively, taken a step back from the knight.
Chrom put his hand on her shoulder. He gave her a smile and turned to address his retainer. "And what if she is telling the truth Frederick? We can't just leave them out here confused and wounded. What kind of shepherds would we be then?
Frederick bowed his head slightly, "I would still like to highlight the importance of caution, M'lord. Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock"
"Right then. Once the other ones ready to move, we'll take them both back to town, and sort it out there." Chrom declared. He turned back down to Lissa to see just how long they would have to wait. He was surprised to see that the wounded individual had been propped up and was taking a drink from a waterskin. Lissa sat nearby looking at his arm, which was covered in weird burns that snaked up it.
"I don't know what did this to you but I can say that you should be alright now." She said without looking up.
The man nodded and capped off the waterskin before handing it back to her.
"Alright, I want you to try standing for me." She said, rising to her own feet, a hand outstretched to take his.
Doing as he was told, he reached out and took Lissa's hand before attempting to right himself with her help. He winced a bit and was a tad bit shaky at first, but ultimately was able to stand up straight.
"Good, now do you see that tree stump all the way over there?" she said pointing a little bit down to the road. Receiving a nod in return, she continued. "Try walking there and back and let me know if something goes wrong." Again he nodded and set out to complete the assigned task.
Chrom waited a moment and then chuckled a bit before approaching and placing a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Well, Doctor Lissa what's your diagnosis?" how asked sarcastically.
She pouted a bit in response before turning back to watch how the man faired with his task. "He can't remember anything either, not even his name." She said a bit of worry evident in her voice. "His wounds were odd too, they looked magical in nature but not from any spell I've seen."
Chrom nodded thoughtfully and then turned back to watch the man returning from his task.
"It's Bishop." the amnesiac woman blurted out suddenly.
The four of them turned to look at her, eyebrows raised.
Realizing that she'd need to explain she pointed to her counterpart. "Your name. It's Bishop" she clarified. "It just sorta came to me, while you were walking.
"Bishop," He said, testing out the newly given name. "That sounds… right, for some reason."
"Well then," Chrom said, clearing his throat, "Southtown isn't getting any closer and the day isn't getting any longer." He gestured down the open road. "Shall we?"
Chrom grunted as he caught an axe blade with his sword. With a bit of effort, he shoved it aside and struck at the now exposed wielder. With a thud the bandit crumpled to the ground, allowing Chrom a moment to gather himself. Around him, the town was in shambles. Smaller huts and sheds had been set alight, and market stalls, barrels and anything else that wasn't nailed down had been overturned. They had made it almost all the way to town on their own before they noticed the smoke rising over the hills. In his haste, Chrom had charged headlong into the fray and was regretting it now. They were making minimal progress towards the center of town, where the militia was supposedly holding and had been cut off in a marketplace of sorts by the bandit's leader. The rugged looking man had held himself up in the shadow of the town's cathedral and seemed content to just sit and shout orders for the time being. Chrom was a bit worried about the two amnesiacs they left just on the outskirts of town. Now isn't the time to be distracted however he thought to himself as he sidestepped a shoddy attempt at a decapitation and sliced the back of the stumbling would-be murder.
A third bandit reached him at that time and Chrom prepared to dispatch this one as well before it was run through by a blow from Frederick's lance.
"Might I ask what exactly our plan is here, M'lord." He said whilst letting gravity free the bandit from his weapon.
"I don't really know," Chrom admitted.
A familiar voice carried itself from a short ways behind them. "Then allow us, lord Chrom."
Chrom turned to eye the newcomers, only to come face to face with the two amnesiacs he had left earlier. "What… what are you two doing here?"
The female amnesiac stepped forward. "We'd like to help. Both of us are armed for combat." To punctuate her words, she raised a worn tome. The book was purple with gold trimmings, matching the colours of her coat. Bishop also pulled at an almost identical looking tome, only his appeared more well used.
Chrom eyed the books suspiciously. "Tombs? So your mages then?
Bishop absently flipped through the book in his hands. "We believe so, I suppose we should check?" he said without looking up.
Chrom's doubt only grew. "You 'believe so'? Perhaps I'll keep a few paces behind you for the time being…"
Bishop carefully closed the book and tucked it under his arm. "Not to worry. I'm sure I can control it," he said, a strange confidence exuding from him that wasn't there before.
A nod was all Chrom gave in response. Before he could say anymore, Bishop's counterpart stepped forward and began to speak.
"Alright so here's what I was thinking…"
Chrom couldn't help but smile as another bandit twitched and fell before he could get close. The two amnesiacs turned out to both be competent magicians and, following their plan the group had managed to gain considerably more ground rather quickly. They were fighting their way across a stone bridge. On the other side stood their target, the apparent leader of the bandits. The amnesiacs pointed out that without the leader telling them what to do, the bandits were likely to scatter and had made taking him out their top priority.
Chrom winced slightly as a mote of flame was hurled over his shoulder, a little too close for comfort, and hit another bandit square in the chest. He turned behind him and gave a mock glare at the sheepish looking amnesiac who responded with an apologetic wave.
Bishop spoke up. "Guys, pay attention. We've got a problem," he said, pointing forward.
Chrom turned back to the bandits and realized rather quickly what the problem was. The bandits were gathering in a group around their leader, who had been shouting orders in Plegian tongue that he didn't quite understand.
He eyed the group with worry. Unlike how they had been a few moments ago, if the horde all charged them at once, he wouldn't be able to protect the amnesiacs behind him.
Bishop set to work almost as soon as he saw what they were doing. "Sir Frederick, watch Lissa, ensure nothing happens to her," he called, then began searching the ground around him for something. Finding what he was looking for he reached down and picked up a sword dropped by one of the bandits earlier.
"Amy catch!" he called out as he threw the blade to his counterpart, scooping another off the ground for himself just as the bandit leader spurred the horde into action and they charged full force at them…
-
"Bwaaargh!" With a final cry, the bandit leader went limp. With a flourish, Chrom withdrew falchion from the man's chest and stuck it tip first into the ground. He leaned on it for support and let out a sigh of relief, looking around briefly to see that the rest of the bandits had been dealt with. Turning to his companion he had worked with to defeat the leader only to see her looking just as tired. She sat cross-legged on the floor with her acquired sword in her lap, leaning back on her hands for support.
"So…" Chrom began, "Your names Amy is it?"
The woman in question turned her gaze to meet his. A raised eyebrow showing him that she didn't quite understand him.
"Back there when Bishop tossed you your sword, he called you Amy." he clarified
"Oh," she chuckled to herself, "I didn't notice really. It must have come to him just as his had come to me."
The two of them turned to look at the man in question. As it turns out, despite being rather skilled with his lightning magic, swordplay wasn't one of his strengths apparently. During the fight, he had been wounded and had to pull back to where Frederick was. Currently, he sat atop a crate as Lissa hovered around him and inspected his wounds. Chrom could tell that she was tired too, all the healing she'd done today had probably taken a lot out of her.
He watched as the two chatted a bit, sharing a brief laugh before they both stood and began to make their way over to him and Amy. Just as they got to them, however, their attention was drawn elsewhere as Frederick came riding down the road. He had left to check the state of the townsfolk and the militia in the town center earlier and were now awaiting his news.
As he approached he slowed to a stop and dismounted a slight ways away from them. "The bandits have been routed, It appears word of their leader's demise travelled quickly. It was a wise decision to let a few get away," he said, his face remained stoic as ever.
Lissa giggled. "Lucky for the town, we were close by. But holy wow, Amy!" she said, "You were incredible! Swords, sorcery, AND tactics! Is there anything you and your brother can't do?" she exclaimed animatedly.
"My brother?" Amy questioned, obviously confused.
"Well ya... " began Lissa, "I mean look at you two! You're practically identical. You might even be twins." she exclaimed, as the two supposed 'twins' shared a look with one another.
"Regardless, you're obviously not the helpless victims we thought you were." Chrom interrupted, steering the conversation back on course.
"Indeed. Perhaps you might even be capable of an explanation for how you came here?" Frederick said still skeptical as he's always been
"No hold on a second. We just…" began Amy, before she was cut off by Bishop.
Confident that his sister wasn't going to say something they'd regret, he turned and addressed his accuser. "I understand your skepticism, Sir Frederick. And I cannot explain why only some knowledge has returned to us. But please, believe me. We have shared all that we know."
Deciding he wasn't going to sit and let his new friends be interrogated, Chrom interjected. "You fought to save Ylissean lives. My heart says that's enough," he said, rising to his full height and sharing a friendly smile with the two.
"And your mind, milord? Will, you not heed its council as well?"
Growing a tad bit annoyed with the whole thing Chrom turned to address his retainer. "Frederick," he began slowly, "the Shepherds could use someone with their talents. We've brigands and unruly neighbours, all looking to bloody our soil. Would you really have us lose such able tacticians? Besides, I believe their story, odd as it might be." He finished flashing another smile
Amy returned one of her own, "Aww, thanks Chrom." she said. Bishop meanwhile simply nodded his thanks.
"So how about it then? Will you join us?"
"Of course. We would be honoured." Bishop answered for the two of them.
Chrome smiled, He had been looking for a tactician for the Shepherds for some time now but all the ones that were brought to him were simply put, obnoxious. People who spent more time within the confines of the court then was good for them. Regardless, he thought, I've got a good feeling about the future, he felt pretty good about going forward knowing that they'd be at his side.