The Shepherds

Hello people of the internet! Here it is as promised! Chapter three of Fire Emblem: Twice More. I would like to begin by apologizing. Shortly after I posted the last chapter exams began and was immediately followed by the beginning of summer and the start of some pretty serious real-life issues. Needless to say, I haven't been all that productive. I'm back now though, at least for a little while so I'll try to be more active and make the most of this. With that, let's begin with the return of FE Twice More!

In a frantic yet measured series of movements. Bishop darted around the room. "Where is it!?" he muttered to himself as he pulled out there contents of yet another drawer.

"My goodness what a mess you've made…"

Bishop stopped and spun around to face the newcomer. A woman, older than himself by the look. He didn't pay much attention to her. His focus was instead on the folded garment in her arms.

"My coat!" He exclaimed as he crossed the room to her. "I thought I'd lost it!"

The woman, who Bishop now recognized as Maribelle having introduced herself the night prior, held it out to him. He took it gratefully as she began to speak. "If I had known how much it would affect you I would have left a note," She said as she gestured to the room.

Bishop paused for a moment and then turned to view the room that he had been provided for him and his sister. It laid in ruins, different pieces of apparel found itself scattered around and not one piece of furniture was exactly where it had begun

"Oh uh… Right. Sorry," He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and turned back to her. He then let the coat fall to its full length and went to inspect it. Pausing as he eyed the previously tattered edges, which were now in perfect condition. If it wasn't for his sister being a head taller than him, he would have suspected it was actually her coat.

Seeing his confusion the woman explained. "If you're going to be taking on the role of tactician for the Shepherds, you're going to need to look the part. I took the liberty of having it repaired for you,"

Bishop's gratefulness fell away into worry as he eyed the repairs with dismay. "I can't… I can't afford that…"

"Not to worry, I was able to get a discount as a regular to the tailor who made the repairs. You owe me no more than a measly 50 gold pieces," Marrible declared, obviously proud of herself for taking into account the cost.

Bishop took the coat in one hand and began fishing through the inside pockets with the other, he scrounged around for a couple awkwardly long seconds before he finally pulled out an aged leather pouch. He upturned this pouch onto his outstretched hand and watched as several silver-coloured coins fell into it. He took a moment to count them all before he returned his gaze to Maribelle

"I have 11 silver," He stated simply

Maribelle paused for a moment, it seemed she was having trouble processing the words. "W-What about at your estate, it would be no trouble for me to wait a while if you need time,"

Bishop cupped his hand to his chin, "I don't think I own an estate. I'm not sure how much Chrom intends to pay me so you might have to wait a while. Would that be alright,"

Maribelle took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Your not a noble," She muttered under her breath. "Where does Chrom find you people." With a sigh, she composed herself, straightened her posture and made to leave. "Don't worry about the coin. You can make it up to me by meeting me in the library later tonight, As the shepherd's tactician you are responsible for more than just ensuring victory." She explained. "How you appear to the public is just as important and we will need to educate you on the intricacies of high society." With that she left the room, closing the door behind her leaving a confused Bishop in her wake.\

"Then it's decided. The shepherds will march to Feroxi and request aid."

"Very well Prince Chrom, but before we leave there is still one more issue."

Chrom raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

"She is referring to our new 'recruits' M'lord." supplied Frederick who stood stalwart to the side of the table.

This again thought chrom. "I've already said that both Amy and Bishop have my trust and I don't see any reason to…"

"All the same Prince Chrom" Interrupted Phila. "We still think it best if some countermeasures were put in place should you trust prove misplaced,"

Chrom opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by his older sister. "If they truly are deserving of your trust, and I have no doubt they are, then there's no harm in at least keeping an eye on them is there?" She reasoned.

The prince looked from his retainers to his sister before finally leaning back in his chair and sighing to himself. "If you say so Emm. I'll make sure to pay attention to them during the march."

Frederick said nothing but it was obvious that he wasn't satisfied with his answer. Even so, he remained silent.

Emmeryn gave a disarming smile and stood from the table. "That concludes our meeting for today then." She turned to Chrom. "We won't keep you any longer dear brother. You have a march to plan after all."

Chrom chuckled as he made to leave. "Not anymore I don't," He said with a smile. "I've got two Tacticians to do it for me." He said as he left. Leaving the two captains and the exalt alone in the room.

Frederick spoke up first. "If you'll excuse me, your grace," he said with a bow "But I think It's best If I follow him."

Emmeryn nodded. "Thank you, Sir Frederick. I can always rely on you to watch out for my brother,"

"Of course your grace." And with that, Frederick took his leave.

What a lovely morning Thought Stahl as he made his way down one of the many halls that made up the majority of the Ylissian royalty residence. He didn't need to think about where he was going, rather he followed his nose which was picking up the scent of all the delicious food being served for breakfast. He wasn't close enough to pick out what exactly those were but he was certain he could smell muffins, and even cakes now that he focused on it.

"Hey, you! Green guy!" A voice called from behind him.

Stahl turned to face the voice, finding himself watching as what appeared to be a little girl approaching him.

"Uh, I'm sorry kid. Are you lost?" He questioned. She was adorned by a purple coat covered in strange yellow markings. Her messy hair, which had been put up in a loose ponytail, bobbed behind her as she strode forward with confidence.

It seemed to take a moment for his words to register to her. "Me? lost? Haha no, as a matter of fact, you're the one who's lost." She stated plainly.

Stahl thought for a moment. "No. I know where I'm going. I'm also allowed to go there. The palace isn't a place for people like you to really be wandering about. If Frederick found you you'd be in serious trouble."

"What? Nah, me and Freddy are cool don't worry. It's yourself you have to be worried about, we're about to leave without you and if he finds your slacking I'd say it wouldn't go well for you,"

This whole conversation was making his head spin. He needed some food. But first, he needed to get rid of this kid. "Look, I'm sorry but I'm really hungry so I'm going to go grab some food. If you and Frederick are such good friends then why don't you go ask him for help?" He turned to leave when suddenly the girl grabbed his hand and began pulling him along behind her. In the opposite direction to the kitchen.

"Nope, no time for food we're going to be late if we don't start walking now."

"Wait late for what? "Stahl questioned?

"The march of course! What else?" She stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Now hold on what march?"

"The one to Feroxi? You know the one Vaike told you about?"

"I was never… Damn Vaike," Stahl muttered as he was being dragged along, the realization of what had occurred finally dawning on him. "Hey uh… who are you anyway?" Stahl questioned falling into step behind the surprisingly swift girl.

"Oh me? I'm Amy. Your new tactician." She said whilst thrusting her thumb to her chest to accent her point.

"Oh." was all that Stahl had to say. He had heard that the Shepherds had gotten two new tacticians but he was honestly expecting someone… wiser looking. Although now that he looked at her she was probably a little older than he originally gave her credit for. Still not old enough to be on the battlefield he thought.

They walked at a quick pace down the halls of the palace heading towards the Shepherd's barracks. It only took so long before Stahl couldn't hold back the questions any longer. "So... " He began lamely, "Why did Chrom hire you?"

"Hmm? Oh, he found me and my brother unconscious on the side of the road and when he found out that we were able tacticians he hired us then and there." She answered

"I see… And what were you doing on the side of the road?"

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me, we think we were attacked but why can't say for sure because we don't remember any of it, or remember anything about our past, to be honest."

Stahl's confusion turned to worry. "Anything, you don't know where you came from? Where you were born? What your favourite food is?" As strange as his priorities were, Stahl couldn't help feeling responsible for the amnesiac.

"Nope!" she said happily

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Not in the slightest. The way I see it, I just get to experience it all over again. I'll figure out what my favourite food is eventually but for now, I got other things to worry about. Like what to get for Chrom as a 'Thank you for giving me a job because I was basically homeless until you came along' gift.

Stahl thought on it for a moment. Even though Chrom's birthday was a fair ways away he had been meaning to get to work on that potion he wanted to brew for him. Suddenly an idea came to him.

"I can see why you'd want to do that. It was awfully kind of him to help you out like that." He began

"I know right? But I'm stumped on what to get him. I was going to get him like a book or something but then I learned that he was royalty and has access to the entire library here… That and the fact that I'm completely broke which means that It's going to have to be cheap so I'm not sure if he'll even appreciate it…" She trailed off her short rant. Losing herself in her thought, obviously trying to figure out a solution to her problem.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Chrom's never been one for glitter and gold so cheap is good," he said, trying his best to sound reassuring.

"Really? That's good. Still, though, It needs to be something small and portable, as well as useful and I can't think of anything that he doesn't already have…" She lost herself in thought once again. A common occurrence as far as Stahl could tell.

He cleared his throat, "Well Chrom's birthday is in a bit and I was going to brew up a concoction I was thinking of, but the issue is it's sorta a hassle to get a hold of all the ingredients,"

Amy's face lit up with excitement as she came to the same conclusion that Stahl had a while ago. "I can help!" She exclaimed, "That way we both get what we want right?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Stahl confirmed for her. "Now the potion I was thinking of takes-"

"Stahl look!" Amy interrupted as she pointed out a window looking over the courtyard.

Stahl did as told and saw all the Shepherds dressed up in their combat attire, obviously ready for the march to Feroxi... and they were leaving.

That was all the prompting he needed. If he missed the expedition he'd never hear the end of it from Frederick. "Come on we can take my horse!" He called back to Amy. Who dutifully fell into step behind him.

"... Did you get all that." The knight in green concluded at the end of the impromptu lesson.

Amy reviewed it quickly in her head. "I think so… I never expected it to be so-"

"Hey, Amy!" carried the voice of the blue-haired prince as he strode up beside Stahl. "How are you holding up?" He questioned.

"Oh me? I'm fine. Stahl here was just teaching me how to ride a horse properly." She answered.

"Yeah by coddling her." Interjected the other resident Cavalier of the Shepherds. Sully brought her horse up to match the speed of Stahl's. "When I was learning what my teacher did was put me on a horse and slap it in the rear. 'No better way to learn than when you're holding on for dear life,' He'd say. And look how I turned out" She concluded with a grin whilst gesturing to herself.

"And who was this trainer of yours." Frederick's stern voice came from behind them, making his presence known. Like Stahl, Frederick walked beside his horse and lead it by the reigns. Also like Stahl, the horse's saddle was occupied by a coat wearing tactician. The only difference being that Bishop was fast asleep slouch over atop the horse.

"What happened to him?" Sully said, voicing the obvious question.

Frederick let a grunt, he would have to find out the identity of the reckless trainer another time it seemed. "It would appear that our tactician had neglected his rest last night." He answered simply.

Amy laughed, drawing the attention over to her. "Yeah, he was up all night last night reading some book that he had been given. Something about 'public appearance' and 'social edicate' he said.

Now it was Chrom's turn to laugh. "Whilst I appreciate his dedication, perhaps next time you could do him a favour and send him to bed on time."

Amy only nodded in return. Before the conversation could continue Virion and Vaike, who had been sent ahead to scout the path, appeared on the horizon, Vaike was waving his axe with Virion right behind him.

Chrom began calling out orders for the shepherds to ready themselves, shortly after Amy took over and organized a proper defence. By the time the two scouts reached them, the shepherds were prepared for combat.

"Report," Chrom commanded to the currently slightly tired scouts,

"Purple dudes! The bastards shot me!" Cried Vaike, rather unhelpfully whilst gesturing to the arrow that was stuck in his soldier, although it didn't seem to bother him all that much.

"Risen. They will be upon us shortly," Virion supplied in lieu of Vaikes rambling.

"How many?" Amy said, steering Stahl's horse up to were the conversation was taking place.

"I'd say about 20 or so. M'lady," The archer said with a smile and a bow.

Amy placed her hand to her chin. "Right lemme think," she said

"I say we move up to the upcoming bridge, if we can take it we can use it as a choke point to hold back their forces." Everyone turned to look at Bishop, who was now awake and clutching a map.

"Oh, good idea!" Amy exclaimed, pounding a fist into her palm, "Who doesn't love a good choke point right?" She turned to Chrom "Have the shepherds move up, we'll put the infantry in a loose line in front and the mages behind them. Virion can take up position in that tower and once we've broken them a bit, the calvary can charge in and mop up the rest!" She declared, hands on her hips,

Chrom nodded and then turned to the rest of the party, who had been listening in on the conversation. "Alright, Shepherds you heard them! Let's move people!" He commanded and the party began moving once more.

Amy couldn't help but smile as she watched the risen archers, who stupidly stood their ground, get run down by the combined might of Stahl and sully, Frederick wasn't there, he had to be subbed in for Vaike after the shirtless maniac took a nasty blow and left a hole in their line, so was resting. fortunately, the two cavaliers were enough to clean up the remaining risen forces. "Speaking of Vaike…" She mumbled, trying to pick him out, he wasn't supposed to be in the line in the first place, somewhere along the way he had misplaced his axe, add on the fact that he wasn't wearing armour and he certainly didn't make for an effective linesman. She spotted the man sitting down on a stump along with their resident healer, Lissa, his axe was propped up beside him, covered in the weird purple fluid that could be considered the risen's 'blood' implying that he found it at one point. She also managed to spot her brother, who was talking with the new mage that showed up out of nowhere. She glanced back over once more and clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"Is everything alright?"

"Ahh!" She cried out and spun to face the sudden voice. Behind her stood a plate mail wearing knight with a massive shield. Silently she wondered how he managed to sneak up on her in all that armour put that thought aside for now. "Oh uh… hello. H-How can I help you?" she asked.

"You seemed annoyed, is everything alright," The soft-spoken knight said simply.

"Oh no I'm fine, I just couldn't find… someone," She muttered looking at the list in her hand and the assembled shepherds. The list called on someone by the name of 'Kellem' but she had never heard nor seen this individual.

"Oh, that's me." The knight, who she now knew as Kellem said from just over her shoulder, causing her to jump once more. "Stop doing that!" She exclaimed, whirling to face and glare at him, eliciting only a sigh as he stepped back.

"Doing what?" He asked, although his tone betrayed his supposed ignorance.

"Sneaking up on me!" Amy explained loudly, "how did you even… how did you…" Her anger diminished just like that as her mind began working once again. "I'm sorry you said that you're Kellem?"

"Yeah. I'm Kellem. I was told to come check in with you?"

"Right right." She took another look at her list. "What exactly did you do during that fight, I didn't see you."

He pointed behind him with a gauntlet clad fist. "I was told to hold that ford. So that we wouldn't be flanked."

Amy looked and sure enough along the river, a little way was a small crossing, which rocks held one or two rusty blades lodged between them, the only, yet decisive, evidence of the risen who had tried to cross. "So you did…"

Amy checked off the name on her list, confident that even if she didn't see him the knight was still following orders, or at least someone's orders. Speaking of which, "Who told you to do that?" She asked,

"Eh… who else? Your brother." Kellem answered simply

"Oh, of course. Right well, thank you, Kellem. I've got work to do though so off with you." She turned back to the rest of the shepherds. Even though she didn't hear him go she suspected Kellem had taken his leave. The fight went well, they hadn't lost anyone and only suffered minor, bar Vaike, injuries. "Here's hoping our luck holds," she muttered under her breath.