Back with some more! I moved the story a lot in this chapter compared to the first. I just kept going until I found a natural stopping point. I hope you guys like it!
It's exciting to see reviews, follows, and favorites going up. I really hope this goes well.
I'll do say it right now. Expect some characters to be a bit OoC. I'll try my best to keep them true to who they are, but remember that this isn't the exact same world/story from the game, so characters may differ from it too. So of those changes will be intentional and others will be because I don't remember the character completely. I think the overall story will be worth it in the end.
Chapter 2: And so we fought
The group of five-consisting of Robin, Tharja, Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick-were now reaching the outskirts of Southtown. Not long after their conversation earlier that day, Lissa had spotted a cloud of black smoke rising the direction they were heading. Chrom took this to mean that the group of bandits they (the Shepherds) were after had set a building in the settlement ablaze. So now they stood there,just at the outskirts of Southtown, out of view from the enemy while Frederick took a look around town. This, of course, didn't stop Robin from doing the same thing. He hadn't been allowed to leave Chrom's side-not that he wanted to anyways as he and Tharja still lacked their tomes- but no one said anything about him not using his abilities to look at what would certainly become a battlefield.
The black mage closed his eyes and concentrated. The use of this particular ability didn't require a tome, as he could spend some of the magical-element if you will from within him to use it. The ability he had nicknamed "Eagle's Eye." Even with his eyes closed, he could see the outside world, except he was well above where his body currently was. It was still odd to him, seeing his own body there, especially when he moved. But discomfort aside, this would give him a great vantage point. From what he could see, there were 10 bandits in all. Two casters, 3 swordsmen, and 5 axemen. The numbers weren't in favor of his group, not that he was expecting any differently., after all, Tharja and himself had seen this particular group before. If Frederick allowed the black mages to take up arms with their tomes, they could make easy work of half the group just between the two of them. Frederick seemed capable enough to take a few of the others out and so did Chrom. The problem was Lissa.
On their walk to Southtown, the ever so talkative blond had told Robin that she wasn't so much a fighter as she was a healer. Sure, she could hit the enemy with her staff, but it wasn't exactly built for that. The damage she could inflict on one of the enemies wouldn't be as great as the damage the staff would receive from the hit. They would need her to stick to the back of the group. That on itself wasn't a problem… So long as he and Tharja were allowed to use their tomes. Damn you, Frederick… Robin internally cursed the knight, frowning. He'd taken the tomes with him, deciding it would be best not to keep the pair armed while waiting with the siblings.
The sound of a horse came into earshot, which meant Frederick was done with his scouting. Robin quickly ended Eagle's Eye and opened his eyes, glad to be back to normal. Everyone turned to Frederick, as they awaited for his word.
"From what I can see, there haven't been any casualties yet, Milord," the knight reported. "But I can't say that will be the case if we do not intervene now. We must act as once. The villagers look nervous and the bandits are growing impatient."
"What can you tell me about the enemy?" asked Chrom. He was a smart man. Knowing as much information of the enemy before battle could turn the tide in their favor.
"I number them at 8."
"There are 10 men," Robin corrected. That got him the attention of everyone. "Half wield axes, 3 prefer swords, and two use magic."
A quick grin started to form on the corner of Chrom's mouth. "So you used one of your abilities?" he asked rhetorically. "I was expecting you to do as much, after saying all that about never having a chance to use them in real combat." He then turned to Frederick. "Well, Frederick? Is our friend right?"
The knight had been surprised by Robin's detailed information, not that anyone could tell as he always steeled himself. He remained quiet for a moment. As much as he distrusted the man, he did them a favor. "That is correct, Milord."
"What else can you tell us about the enemy?" asked Chrom, returning his attention to Robin.
"Most of their forces are across the bridge," Robin answered. "Except for their leader, they don't appear to be all that strong. Normally I would advice attacking from the rear, trying to get the leader first; the man standing closest to the burning building. However, that would cost us time, which the enemy could use to put some more buildings to the torch. Even if we did go with that attack, the rest of the bandits might route or even kill some of the villagers in retaliation before we get a chance to finish them."
"So what do you suggest then, Robin?" Their main mission was to protect the people of the village. They couldn't risk going with a plan like that.
"A frontal assault. We have a better chance of taking them all down like that. It will lower the risk of the people on the other side of the bridge from running away. Chrom, you could take the axe man that is closest to us. Sir Frederick, with his horse, could easily reach the mage on the far side, closest to the bridge. Meanwhile, Tharja and I can deal with the two in the middle. Lissa can follow after you, Chrom. That way she can be protected and out of range from the rest of the bandits, should they decide to counterattack. And on the worst case that a caster gets in range of her, you can always protect her"
It was a good plan. The plan that had the highest success rate for them with the number of people they had. The plan only require them to take out the enemies by the entrance of town as simultaneously as possible. This, however, depended on whether or not they could get their tomes back from the knight; a concern that Robin voiced to the others.
"If I did that, there would be no guarantee that you would help, is there?" If anything else, Frederick was overly wary at a time that it could cost innocent people their lives… "Nothing would stop you from running away or, even worse, backstabbing us."
"We should just leave, Master Robin," said Tharja dejectedly, avoiding eye contact with the other three. "It's clear that they won't trust us. Why should we fight for them and their people when all we've received from Ylisse are attempts on our lives?"
Robin would've argued. He really wanted to, but deep down he felt the exact same way. His lips parted as he tried to say something but they closed just as soon. It was clear that the knight wouldn't put any trust on them. From the beginning it felt like he had already sentenced them for crimes they didn't commit.
To everyone's surprise, Chrom spoke up. "Give them back the tomes, Frederick. We have no time to spare. The towns people are counting on us."
"But Mi-" Frederick was just about to argue.
"Remember that our mission is to help the people of this town. That, and I intend on going back home with my head still attached to my neck."
"You have my word that we'll return them to you after the fight, if you so want to," Robin said. "You can't take them on all by yourself and expect the three of you to come out of it unharmed."
"Come on, Frederick!" Lissa joined in. "Stop being so… well... Fredrick-like! He already said they would return them."
Letting out a deep and long sigh, the mounted knight, to his utmost regret, had no other choice but to return the tomes to their respective owners. Robin grabbed his and quickly opened it. "Now, no more time to waste. I have to use the tome as a catalyst in order to cast the thought-exchange spell." He looked over at Chrom, who didn't have any complaints, and then at Frederick, who was still cautious with sword in hand. Robin turned to face Tharja, who was now happily holding her own tome to her chest. "I'll do it with you first."
Robin asked her to face her body in his direction and close her eyes before placing his hand on top of her head. She flinched just for a second, but otherwise, she was fine. Robin proceeded to chant the incantation before a small flow shone on top of Tharja's head. To an untrained eye, it could've looked like he had some sort of godly power and just blessed her. In reality, that light was only to show that the link had been established. A second passed and the glow disappeared.
"Okay, that's all there is to it, you can open your eyes now." He took his hand off her head and turned to look at the others. "I already explained before how it works, but to recap: I can talk with you telepathically at any time while the effect holds. It will not allow me to hear your thoughts other than what you want me to. I can only hear back from you the moment you call out to me in your mind. I made sure it was a low level incantation too. The effect will last for an hour at most. That should be more than enough time to dissolve the situation."
The three nodded in unison. Frederick was the next to receive the incantation, probably to make sure Robin wouldn't be killing one of the siblings with it. As the words for it were the exact same, unless the knight was that stupid, he would have to know that the incantation would also be the same. Lissa came next. Robin could tell she was nervous, yet, excited about the prospect of talking with someone using only her mind. Lastly, came Chrom.
"I can talk to all of you directly, but with this type of incantation you can't communicate amongst yourselves,"said Robin.
Lissa gasped, wide eyed. "I could hear your voice so clearly! B-b-but your lips didn't even move."
"That's how this works," Robin said while nodding. "Had we more time on our hands, I would have you all practice a bit more, but as it's been pointed out already, we don't have that luxury. Get ready." From this point forward, all communication would be telepathically.
Everyone got to spots that Robin had indicated. To Robin's left Chrom unsheathed his sword. Standing besides him was Lissa, holding tightly onto her staff as if it would spring legs and run away from her. To his right, Frederick too readied his sword from atop his mount. And besides himself, Tharja was as ready for battle as ever. "Tharja, try to keep it under control this time," he talked to his companion. "Last thing we want is for them to think of us as lunatics. This is a small battle, not a massacre."
He could hear her giggle once again. "Master Robin, you don't have to worry," she sent back. "So long as the others do their thing, I'll make sure not to make too much of a scene."
He let out a sigh. Her words weren't reassuring in the least. Not much he could do about it. "Everyone, are you ready? On my signal we move."
The Ylisseans nodded while Tharja sent back an affirmative response. Not the best result. A simple test and the other three had already failed. He had to push the thought aside. These were just bandits, not overly trained soldiers or mercenaries thoughed from combat. They were outnumbered two to one, but Robin was confident in his abilities both as a tactician and as a black mage. "Now!"
With that, they leaped into action. Chrom was the first to meet an enemy, his first strike hitting flesh, but it was not a deadly blow. The enemy parried his following moves one after the other, but Chrom didn't leave a chance for a counterattack. After a few more blows, he was able to strike the down his foe.
Frederick reached the next target; a man wearing a pointy hat with a tome in hand. The caster manifested and then threw a fireball towards the knight, but the knight expertly had his horse move out of harms way. That battle was a lot shorter than Chrom's, as Frederick's sword caught the mage on its first strike directly on the head.
Robin and Tharja weren't far behind. Both their targets had been distracted by what had just happened to their comrades to notice the approaching duo of black mages. In complete sync with each other, the Plegians stopped and their tomes shone as they extended a hand forward. Tharja kept her tome on her other hand, close to herself, while Robin's approach was to extend the book forward with his arm, pages fluttering with the none existent wind as the magic flowed through him to look for the right spell. A dark sphere formed on top of each caster. The spheres then liquefied and hit the ground, forming into shadows. These shadows rushed over to where their enemies were standing. As they reached them, dark tendrils appeared from beneath each target. They wrapped the enemies up and simply squeezed. The energy in the attacks had been enough to break more bones than Robin cared to count on each of their enemies as well as crushing some internal organs. Both bodies-the life had almost instantly vanished from them-fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Everyone, move on to the bridge," Robin ordered. "We need to see how they react. If we are lucky, some of them will split off their group." As he explained, the whole group moved in the direction of the remaining bandits, who were now all looking in the direction of the commotion. "One or two will surely move forward immediately. Fight or flight and all. Frederick, since you are the fastest, you take care of those."
"I understand," came the response from Frederick. Robin smirked. So the knight did have it in him to use this technique. That was progress.
"Tharja, you and I will move forward and hit the others. We'll make the opening necessary for you, Chrom. Then it'll all be all up to you, Chrom. All you have to do is head directly to the big guy at the back. That's their leader." It was clear that Frederick didn't like the idea. Good thing that only Robin could hear his message, as there was no link between the knight and the bluenette.
"Sounds good to me. I'll make that man pay for what he's done to the people of this town," said Chrom. Robin had to handed to him, if nothing else, the guy had a burning passion. "What about Lissa?"
"Lissa, you'll be moving forward behind your brother. You won't be going all the way. In fact, I rather you stay just behind Tharja and I and let your him take care of the rest. Frederick will then have the choice of either moving forward and supporting Chrom or come back to protect you should more enemies decide to crash our little party. You will have to use your best judgement for that, Sir Frederick. I can't predict the future, so just use your intuition."
They all joined up at the bridge. It was wide enough for all of them to cross shoulder to shoulder. Frederick's horse took some extra space, so Lissa was forced to be second in line behind her brother. All the best. The front line wasn't suited for a healer.
"Ah, well looky what we got here, boys," the man standing furthest said. "A group of idiots, tryin' to play hero" Only a couple of the remaining bandits laugh. The others must've seen what this "group of idiots" had done to the rest of their friends.
"Stop this at once," Chrom demanded. "If you do, your lives will be spared."
"Who'r ye supposed to be?" the same bandit questioned. "Some o' other lordling tryin' to protect the small folk? Go back to yer castle." He spat. He opened his mouth once more, but the his expression change. "Oh? What is it I see? The little Plegian craven and his whore show up!"
Robin's eye furrowed as the man continued. "Ye kill some of my men, boy! And now ye just show up with some of yer friends?" Chrom show a side glance at Robin for a second before looking back at the enemy. "Well, it's all the same to me. We'll kill yer friends, tie ye up, and then will rape yer whore and that blondy too and then kill them both." This time all of them men laughed. "Not necessarily in that order."
Tharja didn't even flinch at the words, but Robin could tell Lissa wasn't liking the idea. She didn't react the way he had imagined she would. Instead of being scared, she looked like a wolf ready to pounce on it's prey.
"Like hell you will!" Chrom, Frederick, and Robin shouted in unison.
"I don't know about you, Chrom, but I don't really feel like leaving men like these even breathe the same air as I do," said Robin, who clenched his jaw as he eyed the enemy and prepared his tome for combat.
"Aye, friend," Chrom agreed. "Threatening my sister… That was a stupid move." He brought up his sword and stood ready to attack. "Enough with words. Let your blade do the talking."
All the bandits and the group facing them stood still, waiting for the other to make the first move. Eventually, two to the bandits got impatient and took to a sprint. This was a signal for everyone to move. Frederick had his horse trotting ahead as soon as the enemy took a step forward. Both Tharja and Robin followed suit. At the back, Chrom and Lissa moved too.
"Attack!" The leader shouted. The rest of the bandits started rushing forward as well. Too late. There was enough space between the first two and the other four for Frederick to make the first move. He reached the two first bandits and pulled back on the rein of his horse, forcing it to stop. Just as he did, he brought his sword arm back, down, and then forward, making for a tremendous upward slash that easily cut through the armor of one of the bandits. The second one didn't have a chance to react. The horse twisted himself to a side as to land, pushing the enemy and throwing him off balance. That was enough of an opening for Frederick to land a lethal blow.
"Fall back," Robin told him. Just as quick as he'd moved forward, Frederick headed back, passing through the space between Tharja and Robin. The next two bandits were now in range. "Lets do this, Tharja." They stopped on their tracks and, just like they'd done before, they sent the dark flux to their targets. Those two soon fell as the tendrils released them. Now the group had the upper hand against the bandits, number wise. Five against two.
The tactician didn't have to give Chrom a word, he kept running forward, heading directly towards the bandit leader. "Ignore the swordsman," Robin told him. "I got him. Just deal with the big guy." Chrom noded.
The swordsman had reached Chrom. He swung his sword well over his head and was just about the bring it down on the blunette when the same dark tendrils that had crushed his allies wrapped around him. They reached as far as his arms, which were forced to stop from the pressure exerted in them just in time for Chrom to pass under the blade.
The sight of seeing five men taken out so easily must've shaken up the enemy leader's resolve. He suddenly didn't look so certain about his chance at winning. Any chance of victory was snatched away when Chrom drove his sword through the man's chest. They both stayed there like that for a second, some blood coming out of the bandit's mouth. The body went limp and fell to the ground when Chrom removed his sword from the enemy.
"We did it!" Lissa exclaimed happily with a small jump, raising her staff in the air. "And none of you guys even took a single cut! I'm really impressed."
Her jolly personality was contagious. A smile was plastered on everyone's face (Tharja's was more like a sinister smile.) "Good work, everyone," Chrom said cheerfully as he approached the others. "Especially you, Robin. I'm not only impressed by your ability as a tactician, but also as a mage." He extended an open hand towards the caster. "You did beyond what I expected of you."
Robin chuckled bashfully, now the center of attention, before shaking Chrom's hand. "You guys did very good yourselves. I wasn't expecting such a one-sided battle. It was also nice to test out my tactics in actual combat. I'm just glad none of us is hurt."
"Don't be so modest, friend." Chrom put his free hand on Robin's shoulder. "Seeing you two, now I can be certain."
The statement confused both Robin and Tharja. "W-what do you mean?"
"I want you two to join me and my friends. We are in need for more members. And it just so happen that the title of tactician is up for grabs as well."
"Milord, with all due respect" Frederick cut in. "I agree with you on their abilities, but I don't know if the public will like us having Plegians amongst our ranks, especially someone with the title of tactician. Every Shepherd right now hails from Ylisse. I could understand having someone from Ferox joining us. Ylisse stands on better ground with them, but a Plegian?"
Chrom let go of Robin and turned to his knight, still smiling. "You worry too much, Frederick the Wary. I started the Shepherds. I should be able to select who I want to have by my side when I fight, no?"
"But Milo-"
"More importantly! This would show Ylisse's respect for Plegia. The Exalt would approve of this decision. So, what do you two say?"
Robin and Tharja exchanged a look. "It's better than running away," he told her, as they could still talk through their mind. "We can't go back to Plegia and Ferox is too far away."
"I'll join on two conditions," Tharja said, clinging to her tome with both hands. "One, no one will interrupt my research on hexes nor other practices of dark magic. And two, I'll only join if Master Robin joins."
"Reasonable demands," Chrom said. "I think we can work with that." He turned to face Robin.
Robin sighed. "I'm not excited at the prospect of being an example of good relations between our countries in front of everyone… but the offer is tempting." He looked between the present members of the Shepherds. "I'll consider it, but first, I would like to meet the rest of your people. If they are going to treat me with the same hospitality that Sir Frederick here has since we met, I don't think we'll stick around for long."
"Don't worry, Robin, all the others are really nice people," Lissa said. "Miriel, one of our members, is always researching about magic. I'm sure you three will become fast friends. She might even be able to help you on your own research, Tharja!"
"It's settled then!" Chrom said triumphantly. "We leave for the capital at once."
"Excuse me, m'lords." A villager approached the group from the side line. Apparently, all the while they were talking, the villagers had put out the fire that had been raging since before the battle started. "We would like to thank you for what you've done. You all have saved the people of this tiny town."
The group had left Southtown after Chrom had a nice and long conversation with the town's people. For their work, they'd received some food, which was the only thing that they could spare other than gold, but Chrom flat out refused any sort of currency. The food came in handy, as their next destination was far ahead. They'd decided to stop on the way to rest after much complaining from the blonde girl. Frederick built a fire and even scouted around. The name Frederick the Wary was thrown out a few times because of this. Robin didn't mind. They finally had food on their bellies. Tharja was just as happy to have a meal, although she didn't show it as much as Robin did.
"Ugh," Lissa grunted." I hate bear meat. It stinks just as bad as it tastes."
"Come on, Lis," Chrom said. "You can't be picky about what you eat when you are outdoors. You should be grateful that we have anything to eat."
"You just say that because you can stand it!" She pouted. "Who on their right mind would like it?" All eyes went to Robin, who was having a second serving, courtesy of Frederick.
"Whm?" was the only thing he could say. He swallowed the chunk of meat before continuing, "it's not as bad as some of the stuff I've had on Plegia. It tastes as good as a prime cut of meat from the best cow when you haven't eaten in days!"
"Glad to see our friend here appreciates the local cuisine," said Frederick just as Robin finished up. "I suggest we call it a day. We'll wake up early and be back at the capital before noon."
"More walking?" Lissa whined.
"Why don't you ride with Sir Frederick, then?" Tharja asked, a little annoyed at the girl.
"You don't understand, Tharja! That horse haaaaates me. Every time I've tried to get on it, he always tries to kick me off."
"Sir Frederick must be an amazing rider if he can keep a horse like that under control," Robin said, picturing in his head the scene Lissa had just mentioned.
Chrom let out a laugh. "It's not so impressive, Robin. The horse just hates her because there was one time she wanted to prank Frederick by hiding a snake on his saddle. The horse freaked out and hasn't let her touch it since."
"I feel bad for the horse now…"
"It was supposed to be a joke," Lissa said, pouting again and then bringing one of her fingers to her chin, giving her an air of innocence. "It wasn't even a venomous snake…"
"I'm pretty sure horses don't care…" If that was her idea of a joke, he dreaded being on the receiving end from any of them. He would keep an eye out for that yellow dress from now on.
Sleep soon took them, one by one. Robin was having the strangest of dreams. More like a nightmare… There were figures all around him, blurry figures. He didn't fear them. Something in him told him they were all with him. Then a massive presence appeared in front of all of them. It let out a shriek louder than anything he'd ever heard before. The blurry figures approached the massive presence, pulling out weapons ranging from axes and swords, to tomes and maces. When he was about to join them, Robin was forced out of his slumber.
"What's going on?" he asked drowsily, seeing as all the others too, mysteriously, decided to wake up. Their burning fire had crumbled down into just hot coals. "What's this eerie feeling I'm getting all of a sudden."
"I sense magic," Tharja said as she grabbed hold of her tome.
"Now that you mention it…" Robin got to his feet, followed by the rest. "There is a weird atmosphere that wasn't here before we fell asleep. We should investigate."
"If we do that, then we should split up," Chrom suggested. "I'll take Lissa with me and check south. You three head north. We can meet back here in 20 minutes."
"If we're going to do that…" Robin pulled out his tome and held it infront of him, the pages fluttering as they did when he was preparing a spell. A wave of light shot from the tome, hitting them all, though causing no damage. "That re-established the link. Same deal as before. It'll only last for an hour or so. But this way we can talk to each other in case something happens."
"Smart," Chrom said, nodding in approval. "Let's get moving. The sooner we are done, the sooner we can go back to sleep."
The groups headed towards their designated directions. Tharja walked close to Robin and Frederick walked in front of them. Tharja didn't particularly look scared. She was a lot more interested in this than any of the events that had transpired thought the day, if Robin had to guess.
"It's awfully silent for a forest," Frederick pointed out. Robin hadn't thought about it until now, but the knight was right.
"I wonder what happened to all those insects that Lissa was complaining about?"
"Something is coming," Tharja suddenly said moving just a little closer to Robin.
"What are you-WOAH!"
The earth started shaking. It wasn't your typical earthquake that could tumble a candle light, no, this was a monster! The force was so strong that some trees started falling down and even the ground started to break up. "We need to hurry back and regroup!" Robin yelled. He said as much to Chrom and Lissa using the link, but got no response. "We need to head back now!"
The trio was rushing, trying to make their way back to the camp. It was not an easy task. Trees had fallen on their way and reveals that exposed molten rock blocked their way on every corner. "Milord, Lady Lissa!" Frederick called out to them as he stopped the siblings. The five of them were now back together. "What is going on?!" To see the usually serious Frederick so confused was frightening in its own way.
"What the hell are those?!" Robin pointed towards a few figures that were falling from the sky. The height from which they were falling was more than enough to kill any mortal man, but those things just got up! "I don't think they are friendly. What should we do?"
Chrom pulled out his sword and stood ready to attack. "We have no other choice," he said. "We'll have to fight!"