Chapter 2
In the forests of Regna Ferox time seemingly passed in its own fashion, unbeknownst to mankind. The rivers and trees followed the cycle of the seasons, not the whims of man and his calendars. Ancient trees knew not the world of man, standing strong and stalwart against Mother Nature as she assailed them with-
"Owain! W-what are y-you doing?"
In the forests of Regna Ferox a short-haired blonde boy glanced up with a frown, his interior monologue interrupted. He sat in a small campsite in the shade of an old oak tree, which had prompted his thoughts down their current path, a single tent sitting beside the fire he was currently huddled against the chill next to.
Owain's momentary flash of childish irritation passed though, his face breaking into a great smile as his fated companion walked into the campsite through the trees, shivering and drying her long red hair with a towel.
"Gawd-ds it's f-freezing!" Severa complained loudly, sitting down on the log next to Owain.
She scooted closer to him, pressing herself up against him to share their meagre warmth.
"Er… I get that you don't like to smell bad, Severa, but bathing in rivers in this temperature is just…" Owain said hesitantly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Severa was a vain woman that took a great amount of pride in her appearance; which Owain didn't usually mind, but when she was taking a bath in half-frozen meltwater for the sake of beauty he drew the line.
"Sh-shut up," Severa grunted, wrapping her towel around her hair and pulling her cloak tighter around her shoulders. "I didn't… didn't actually get in the w-water. I just… needed to w-wash my hair. It's your fault for getting us lost again anyway!"
Owain couldn't help but smirk at his companion's fiery tone; her tongue may have been sharp, but beneath her barbed words lay a loving and caring woman.
"I know," he sighed apologetically, rubbing Severa's opposite shoulder to spread a little more warmth.
They had set out together from Ylisstol nearly three years ago now. Owain had declared it a journey to 'stay his sword hand', and Severa had begrudgingly decided to tag along with her lover, but that had only been a front. They had tried to settle down, join the Ylissean City Guard and even remain as Shepherds, but nothing had felt right.
This wasn't their timeline, and as hard as they had tried to make it so, it just wasn't their home.
However as far as Owain was concerned anywhere Severa went was his home, so it didn't bother him as much, but he worried that his companion might long for more stability, for a place they could call their own. While they travelled, righting wrongs all over the world, Owain was paying close attention looking for such a place for her.
"L-let me see the map," Severa demanded, her cold-induced stutter beginning to fade slightly.
"Not until you finish warming up," Owain chided. "If my fated companion dies of frost-bite who will sing of my glory when we finally get to Silva and rescue the townspeople?"
Severa's face went instantly red as she glared up at the taller man, a look of intense embarrassment on her face.
"That was one time!" she shouted hysterically. "We were drinking! And you promised to never bring it up again!"
Owain burst into raucous laughter, almost falling off the log as Severa beat her fists against him indignantly. As his laugher quieted Severa huffed and scooted away from him a little, facing away with her cheeks still darkened. They sat in companionable silence for a few moments before the red-haired girl glanced over her shoulder shyly.
"I'm still cold over here," Severa grumbled, making Owain laugh a little again.
"Sorry dear," he said, shifting closer to and wrapping an arm around her again.
They would set off again once Severa wasn't at risk of freezing to death. Owain was sure that after three days the people of Silva could wait another twenty minutes for their salvation.
Robin glanced up from where he was busily trying to cram one last book in his pack, one of Lucina's honey-cakes hanging out of his mouth and wobbling with the movement, as he heard footsteps approaching.
"Morning, Van," the master-tactician said brightly around a mouthful of cake. "Kinda early to be up, isn't it?"
The young boy in question, a handsome young man wearing leather training gear over a blue Ylissean Officer Cadet's tunic shrugged as he stepped into the fort's entryway, his long yellow scarf flapping in the wind. Van was one of Robin's students from his second-tier class; older than most of the other students but still too inexperienced to join the advanced group. He had been a student in the Ylissean Officer's Academy before Frederick had singled him out to be sent to Robin's school, and as good a tactician as he was shaping up to be Robin couldn't help but feel that he was depriving Ylisse of a gifted frontline commander.
"I like to train early," the boy admitted, running a hand over short, spiky black hair. "Force of habit from Officer's School."
"I'd ask if you want a sparring partner, but I don't think we'll get through a full round before I have to leave," Robin said apologetically.
Van made a dismissive sound, waving a hand through the air.
"It's fine, sir," he assured his teacher. "Besides, Isaac still sleeps like a rock. I wouldn't be surprised if he's late like usual."
Robin snorted, suppressing a laugh. The two boys had history; Van had been a senior cadet at the Ylissean Officer's Academy that they had both attended when Isaac had just enrolled. He'd even been the one to suggest that Isaac apply to the newly formed Tactician School two years ago before joining Isaac himself the previous year. His friendship with the younger boy was strange, though; Isaac wasn't just baseborn, he was a war-orphan. Both parents had died in the war with Plegia seven years ago leaving him to be brought up in the Ylisstol Orphanage; and the only reason he had even warranted that treatment was because his mother had been one of Lady Phila's Pegasus Knights, otherwise he would have been tossed out onto the streets and left to fend for himself. Van was the son of a minor Ylissean noble; a land-owned that had apparently done some favour for Chrom's father and been knighted in return. Such friendships rarely happened outside of the Shepherds.
"Well then perhaps you had best run some laps then to warm up," Robin suggested, taking another bite of his honey-cake.
Van grinned a little as he drifted towards the fort's gates.
"Sure thing, sir," he said brightly. "I'll be sure to do that while you stuff your face with sweets."
Robin choked on his cake as Van laughed, wandering into the courtyard to begin running his swordsmanship warm-up drills.
"Hey, I slayed the Dark Dragon, dammit!" Robin called after his student. "If I want to eat a honey-cake, I'll eat the damn cake!"
Robin huffed before stuffing the last of the cake into his mouth and chewing vigorously. He stopped mid-chew when something moving in the corner of his eye caught his attention, spinning to find Mari'ko standing and waiting patiently for the others with her arms crossed in the corner of the hall.
"How long have you been there?" Robin asked around another mouthful of cake.
"Not long," she said softly.
Robin quirked a brow, forcing the cake down his throat but not questioning his student further. He glanced down at the book still in one of his hands before looking back up at Mari'ko.
"Hey Mari …" he started, trailing off as she held her open bag out towards him.
"Did I ever mention you're my favourite?" Robin chuckled, slipping his last book into her bag.
"I heard that," Galle deadpanned, stepping into the hall with a perpetual sour look on his face. "It's nice to feel appreciated, right Mari?"
Emmeryn sighed under the rim of her skull cap, leaning against the windowsill as she watched her dad and his older students walking away towards the forest. Her mom, her aunt and Miss Anna had all left earlier that morning, before she'd even woken up.
With another sigh as her dad and the others disappeared into the forest she moved away from the window, towards where Sahiri was sitting on the sofa and going through some papers.
It wasn't a strange thing, her parents leaving, but usually they took her with them. She liked going to Ylisstol to see her Grandpa and Grandma; she liked going to Plegia to see her Auntie Tharja, even if she was kinda scary; she even liked going to the Coliseum to see Flavia, because the old Feroxi lady always gave her sweets when no one was looking. It was even more fun when Basilio was there; she loved the way that the old man would sit her on his knee and tell her long stories about how he had fought alongside her parents.
This was the first time they had left her behind, though, and it made her sad.
The door opened while she was halfway across the room, causing her to pause as one of the other students, the Ylissean boy Van, walked into the room.
"Reporting as ordered, ma'am," He said, snapping to a smart salute.
"We're not in the army anymore, Van," Sahiri said, waving him down. "You can relax."
"Sorry, ma'am," he said somewhat sheepishly. "Force of habit. You wanted to see me?"
Sahiri nodded, placing the papers down and gesturing for Van to sit. Emm padded over as well, hopping up onto the sofa next to the older woman; her dad had told her to help Sahiri while he was gone. Van's face lit up in a huge grin when he spotted Emm, making the young girl blush slightly.
"Heya, Emm," he said cheerfully. "I like the hat."
"It's a helmet," she corrected him.
"So it is," Van laughed. "You here to keep Sahiri in line?"
Emm nodded, the helmet wobbling and eliciting another laugh out of the young man as Sahiri looked on with a wistful smile on her face.
"Alright, onto business," Emm declared after a moment's pause, looking to Sahiri.
"Well, as the young miss says," Sahiri chuckled, facing Van again. "Van I called you here to ask for your help."
"Anything," he offered quickly.
"The fact of the matter is sir Robin left detailed lesson plans for both remaining classes," Sahiri explained. "And only one instructor."
"I… see," Van said thoughtfully.
"I was hoping you could help me by taking care of the younger class while I continue teaching yours," Sahiri said hopefully. "You already have the leadership training, and you're ahead of the other students. In fact I'm sure the only reason sir Robin left you here rather than ask you to accompany him was to help me."
Van went silent for a moment, holding his chin and nodding a few times in contemplation. Emm watched the subtle shifts in his posture and twitches to his face as he obviously seriously considered Sahiri's request for a moment before becoming distracted by the urge to play with his long scarf. It was such a pretty scarf…
"Well, I said anything," Van said at last. "But I do this on the condition that I get to see the notes from my own class in the evenings once I finish with the third class."
"Agreed," Sahiri said, passing a stack of papers to him.
"Just think of it like a temporary field promotion," she added as Van started going over the words written in Emm's dad's handwriting.
"Welcome to the team, Van!" she said excitedly, holding her hand out to him to shake.
Van smiled again as he shook her hand, Sahiri looking on approvingly. Even if her parents were gone for now Emm realised that she wouldn't be lonely as long as these two, the other students and even the four guards that worked for Sahiri were all still around.
Robin took a deep breath, smiling as he exhaled a cloud of white mist into the chilly morning air. Invigorated, the tactician hitched his pack higher up on his back and grinned over his shoulder at the small crowd following him.
"What're you so happy about?" Rance muttered darkly, still half-asleep so early in the morning.
Beside him Isaac let out a mighty yawn, throwing his head back and covering his mouth with his hand.
"It's freezing," Galle muttered grumpily from the rear of the group. "I thought winter was supposed to be over…"
"Winter's never over this far north," Robin laughed. "It just gets slightly less cold."
Isaac visibly shivered as Rance yawned this time; the two foreign boys seemingly still having trouble adjusting to the cold. Mari'ko, as always, was utterly unfazed by the temperature, standing next to Robin in her travelling clothes and lacquered Chon'sin breastplate under a thick cloak. Isaac and Galle were dressed similarly, the only difference between them being the Plegian's predilection for black over Isaac's favouring of earth-tones, while Rance was just dressed the way he always was.
Robin had to admit, though, that it was a strange feeling seeing his students carrying real weapons for a change. They each had a spellbook strapped to their hip the same way he always did, but they also each had their own weapons reflecting their own individuality.
Mari'ko wore a long, thin katana, as most of the warriors from her homeland did. Robin had seen her training with polearms and sickles as well, not to mention her prodigious skill with throwing knives. However, for this mission she would be paired up with Aversa in an attempt to get the younger woman to rely more on her magical abilities.
Isaac walked around with a greatsword strapped to his back, easily wider than Robin's arm and nearly as long as he was tall. The young Ylissean had apparently made the sword himself during his brief period as a blacksmith's apprentice, and from all the training Robin had seen used the weapon quite skilfully. His skill with magic was good for someone of his level, too, so he would be sent with Lucina once they reached Silva.
Rance had twin tomahawks strapped to his hips, and a larger two-handed axe on his back. His fighting style was the epitome of Feroxi warfare, too; loud, messy and brutal. He fought quick and dirtily with his twin axes, and could probably cut clean through a plate of armour with one swing of his bigger axe. However, he lacked subtlety, which was why he would be paired up with Anna for the duration of the mission.
Which left Galle, who had a simple short-sword strapped to his belt, to be paired with Robin. The Plegian, wandering along at the back of the group and shivering beneath his old Dark Mage's robes, was decent with a sword, but unlike the other three he already excelled at magecraft. So Robin would be nudging him a little more towards the sword for this mission.
"Hey Teach, got any old war stories you can tell us to pass the time?" Rance asked, clearly already bored.
"Please don't call me 'Teach'," Robin groaned. "Ever. And are you seriously bored already?"
"He has a short attention span," Galle deadpanned from the back of the group.
"Fine," Robin sighed, wary of Rance, who was currently glaring daggers at Galle's back, starting a fight if left to his own devices. "Which one do you want to hear?"
Owain grinned beneath the hood of his cloak as he and Severa blended into the crowded main street of Silva, right under the noses of the invading bandits. Or the occupying bandits, Owain reminded himself. He didn't have to look to know Severa was at his shoulder, her own travelling hood pulled low to hide her bright red hair.
The blonde Ylissean prince from the future liked to think that he had matured a little in the last few years; gone were the days where he tried to cope with the horror he'd been put through growing up by escaping into his imagination, although he still acted out his old persona out of habit or boredom sometimes. He liked to think that people such as Severa, his cousin Lucina and her husband Robin, who was also Owain's old master, had had a calming effect on his personality over the years, too. Where before he would have simply started screaming challenges at the city gates and killed every bandit that crossed his path, he had been calmly wandering around, getting a grasp on the situation instead.
They had entered the city earlier that morning, and had been casing it ever since.
The crowd shifted uneasily through the streets of the marketplace, quiet for a Feroxi crowd; which of course meant that Owain could still barely hear himself think the patrons and merchants were screaming at each other so loud, but the mood was muted and the murderous thugs wandering around the press did nothing to improve it.
Burly, dirty men carrying axes and looking even more threatening than the average resident of Eastern Ferox pushed their way slowly through the crowd in a group, ignoring the startled yelps of people too slow to get out of their way and simply taking what they wanted from the vendors around them; fruit, bread and trinkets all disappeared into their pouches, and not one stood up to stop them.
"I know what you're thinking," Severa whispered in his ear. "And you're an idiot. So let's get this over with."
Owain grinned over his shoulder at her, moving to pull his hood back as he stepped forward only to find himself being tugged into a nearby alleyway with a hand clamped firmly over his mouth. Severa, too, was being man-handled into the alley, but Owain calmed when he caught a glimpse of the woman shoving at his companion.
"Sword-hand, if you blow my cover I'll be very upset," Gaius whispered into Owain's ear as he released the blonde boy. "Subtlety is clearly not your strong-suit. Heya, Red-Junior. How's it going?"
Severa grunted as she pulled herself free of Panne's grip, silently readjusting her cloak with a venomous glare at the oblivious Taguel woman.
"Sir Gaius!" Owain said happily, shaking the older man's hand vigorously. "What are you doing here!?"
"Keep it down!" Gaius hissed, dragging Owain further back into the alleyway.
He looked around shiftily, making sure no one had heard them as Severa and Panne joined them in the shadows.
"I'm here to try and instigate a rebellion," Gaius whispered irritably. "And I don't need you making a scene in the marketplace to… make…"
The thief stopped for a moment, glancing around Owain into the passing crowd before letting out a sigh.
"What is it?" Owain asked excitedly. "Have you spotted the enemy!? Is he close!? My sword hand twitches!"
Panne quirked her head questioningly at her husband as Owain grasped at his wrist, attempting to subdue his sword-hand before it lashed out needlessly.
"What?" Severa asked Gaius, ignoring Owain.
"I was just thinking that this is Regna Ferox," Gaius said with another sigh. "And the best way to get Feroxians to revolt would be to simply stir em up with a good fight in a public place."
"I can do that," Owain said, growing suddenly still with anticipation. "I can do that right now!"
"Ah!" Gaius warned, grabbing Owain by the scruff as he attempted to return to the market. "Not yet! I have more recon work to do first! You can start a revolution tomorrow."
Severa huffed, crossing her arms and sinking to a hip.
"I think it would just be faster to let us in on what's going on right now before Owain bursts a blood vessel."
"I'm so sick of walking!" Rance complained loudly, collapsing dramatically onto the log next to the fire.
"Stop. Complaining," Galle groaned across the firepit, putting his face in his hands. "For the love of Grima if you don't shut up I swear I'll-"
"Who's hungry!?" Robin interrupted loudly, cutting off yet another fight before it could begin.
They had been walking all day, and were a little over three-quarters of the way to Silva. In the morning they would probably begin to come across the sentries Flavia would have positioned at her rear, but Robin didn't want to stumble on them at night. Everything he could do to avoid little accidents and keep these kids out of harm's way, he would do; including stopping them from tearing each other apart during the march.
He had told every war story he had; he had told a bunch of stories about the antics that he and Vaike had gotten up to in the early days; he had even held a verbal pop-quiz as they walked.
The problem was that Galle was too abrasive; Rance was too hot-headed; Isaac was a push-over and kept getting dragged into the arguments; and Mari'ko's existence had gone practically forgotten until he'd started quizzing them.
Robin had to remind himself that they were just kids; that once they started fighting alongside each other all the little things that bugged them about each other would look small in comparison. The students were from all corners of the globe, from all walks of life and were all vastly different to one and other; it was a miracle they got along at all in Robin's opinion. They all trusted each other with their lives, though; that was what happened after training together non-stop for two years. But they were still just irritating teenagers.
"Naga help me when Emm gets to their age," Robin muttered to himself as he bent over and stirred a large cooking pot.
Next to him there was a slight hitch in Mari'ko's calm breathing, her equivalent of a snort of laughter. Obviously she'd heard him; it was strange the way that the girl always seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. Sometimes it was like having two Sahiris around, which was a scary thought.
"What's on the menu?" Isaac asked curiously, the biggest of the students always being the first in line when there was food to be had.
"I made carrot stew," Robin said brightly, giving the contents of the pot one last stir. "It's an old specialty of mine, but it's been a while, so I hope it's okay."
"Carrot stew?" Rance asked, paling a little as thoughts of the beatings Panne gave him regularly obviously surfaced.
"I'm so hungry I'd eat dirt," Isaac said excitedly.
The blonde boy took an extra-large helping of the stew in his bowl before moving for Galle to get at the pot.
"Well help yourself," the Plegian deadpanned. "There's plenty to go- wow. What… is this?"
Galle poked at the concoction in his bowl without even bothering to hide to look of disdain on his face, stepping listlessly to one side as Rance shuffled forwards.
"Did you actually burn water!?" Rance asked incredulously, bursting into laughter.
"Look, eat it or go hungry," Robin warned.
"Forget it, I'm going hunting," Rance said as he tossed his wooden bowl back towards his pack and disappeared into the trees around them without a second thought.
"Fine, more for us, right Mari?" Robin stated, glancing over his shoulder.
Mari'ko's eyes widened slightly as her hands shot down, clearly trying to hide the thick travelling rye bread that she had been eating. She gave a quick nod, doing her best to subtly kick the bag of food she'd brought with her behind the rock she was perched on.
"Mari, you are no longer the favourite," Robin deadpanned, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Seconds please!" Isaac announced loudly, holding his bowl up in the air.
"See?" Robin said defensively to the others as the boy came forward again.
"Are you actually enjoying this… slop?" Galle asked in a shocked tone.
The pale Plegian made a face as he spooned some of the stew into his mouth, clearly trying not to gag or regurgitate the portion.
"No, it's gods-awful," Isaac admitted brightly. "But I've gone hungry before, and it sucks. Like the Priest at the orphanage always said; waste not, want not."
"Gee, thanks," Robin groaned, handing Isaac the ladle in abject defeat.
Owain had a massive grin on his face that night as he led Severa through the sparsely populated streets a few hours later, their trained eyes committing every sign of bandit activity to memory as they walked with their heads held low.
Owain was grinning because it was hilarious the way that he and Severa were being utterly ignored by the bandits supposedly on patrol. Four times now they had passed men obviously wandering around, looking for a fight or even just someone to step on, and four times now they had been ignored; any town guard worth their salt would have stopped the two hooded strangers and asked some questions, or at least told them to take off their hoods.
While it irked Owain somewhat to be doing reconnaissance work, he was mollified that Robin and Lucina would be there the next day to liberate the town.
And he was excited to take part in that liberation.
Severa stopped him with a slight tug at his cloak, indicating over to a small warehouse with a flick of her eyes as they walked. They passed the building without breaking pace, ignoring the hostile glares from the men not even attempting to hide the fact that they were standing guard out front.
"What do you think?" Severa whispered to him once they'd gone another block.
"Too small to be a weapons cache," Owain said, thinking out loud. "We'll mark it as a point of interest and let Robin decide what to do with it."
Severa nodded, apparently having come to the same conclusion that her companion had.
"We should get back to the meeting point," Severa suggested. "I need a bath."
"Yeah, how well did that go for you this morning?" Owain asked, his grin widening a little.
"S-shut up!" Severa hissed, giving the quietly laughing boy's shoulder a light shove.
"So what are we looking at?" Gaius asked without looking up.
The ginger-haired thief was leaning over a map of the city he had drawn marking important points and patrol patterns on it, Panne at his shoulder occasionally chiming in with relevant information she had picked up on with her keener-than-human senses.
Owain and Severa drew their hoods back, being ushered into the small home on the outskirts of the city by a haggard looking woman that 'owed Gaius one', meaning they had made her house their hideout. The low roof supported an single-room upper story that they would be using to keep watch, while the lower floor consisted of a kitchen and a table and not much else. The woman gave the two younger Shepherds a quick smile before going back to whatever was cooking on the fire in the corner.
They looked carefully at the map for a moment before saying anything, comparing mental notes.
"From what we can tell your guess was right," Owain started. "It looks like the enemy is centralized around the marketplace where they can steal whatever they want easily."
"There's a small storehouse in the west that has guards at," Severa reported. "We couldn't get close enough to see what was in it, but it's worth checking out once the troops arrive."
"Right here," Owain added, jabbing his finger into the map.
Gaius nodded, making a mark with some charcoal. The thief and part-time-spy nodded in satisfaction before rolling the map up and placing it securely in his pouch.
"I'll make sure that Flavia gets this and be right back," he said, drawing his hood up. "She can give it to Robin when he gets here with the kids. Panne, you wait here and keep these two out of trouble."
Severa visibly bristled at the joking accusation that she would cause any trouble but held her tongue. Owain was too preoccupied with whatever was cooking in the corner to even take notice of half of what Gaius was saying; it was late now, and they hadn't eaten since lunch.
"Be safe," Panne said, briefly placing her forehead against Gaius'.
"I'll be right back," the thief promised nonchalantly before disappearing out into the night.
Outside of Silva in the forests to the north that hadn't been cut down yet Flavia's troops waited impatiently for the dawn. No cooking fires had been lit that night in case they gave away the army's position, and lanterns were shuttered and carefully watched by the few junior officers that were wandering between the different clan-groups at Aversa's urging. Only a few thick canvas tents had been erected by the Feroxi, the majority of the local warriors having to sleep with only their blankets and animal pelts to keep them warm; this didn't bother them anyway, considering the legendary Feroxi resistance to the elements.
Inside one of the only tents Flavia grimaced, leaning forward against the table in her tent as he knuckles went white on its edge.
"This is pathetic," Aversa continued, her tirade having been going for nearly ten minutes now. "There is not a single officer in this army! How are we supposed to do anything with this? I can't even use the most basic plans if there's no one to make sure the squads follow them. If you weren't such an inept leader-"
"This coming from the strategist that we ground into the dirt with a force a fraction of the size of hers!?" the Khan snapped, slamming her fist onto the table. "I swear, witch, if you weren't Robin's sister I'd-"
"That's enough," Lucina declared, cutting the two women off mid-argument. "You don't have to like each other, just work with each other."
Aversa and Flavia continued to glare silently at each other for a few moments before Flavia clicked her tongue and turned away.
"I can play nice," she growled. "Until Robin gets here and she becomes his problem again."
"I am going to go and re-work all our plans," Aversa sighed. "Again. No one is to disturb me unless we come under attack."
With that the Plegian woman drew her hood up and swept out of the tent, leaving Lucina and Flavia alone in the cramped space. Anna was off organizing a surprise mercenary force that she apparently kept close at hand that only Robin knew about, and her husband wouldn't be joining them until dawn, so Lucina would be alone with the Khan most of the night.
"I should have killed that bitch back in Plegia," Flavia growled, punching the table again.
"Peace, Khan Flavia," Lucina soothed. "She is just trying to help, even if she is going about it the wrong way."
The older woman let out a sigh, sinking into a nearby chair and pulling a bottle out of a crate behind her. With one vicious movement Flavia tore the cork out of the bottle and took a deep swig, letting out a contented sigh. Lucina stepped toward the table, glancing at the reports that Aversa had compiled.
"As much as I hate her attitude Aversa had a point," Lucina ventured carefully. "If you do not mind my asking, what happened to your army?"
Flavia let out another sigh before taking an even longer swig of her drink. She finally glanced up at Lucina, indicating the younger woman take a seat across from her.
"Plegia, Valm and Plegia again," Flavia said.
"I… do not understand," Lucina said. "I know that all the combined armies took losses, but…"
"The Eastern Regna Feroxi losses were catastrophic," Flavia cut in. "Valm was what almost did us in, though."
The Khan leaned back in her chair, her eyes taking a far-away quality as she thought.
"When a Khan is elected Regnant we put our own officers into power," Flavia explained, her voice softening a little. "I was no exception. I was so eager to kick that oaf out of the Colosseum that we moved in the very next day. My officers were good, though; they all knew what they were doing, they all understood and trusted me. Hell, there were a lot of cousins and Aunts and Uncles in my staff. And we were all the first ones on the boats to Valm."
"I think I understand now," Lucina said with a slow nod.
"There was practically nothing left of my army when we combined all the forces to oppose Grima," Flavia went on. "All of the officers were from the West, and that's where they went back to when the war ended. I've done my best with what I have left to put things back together, but I'm not risking the leaders I have left on a piss-poor excuse for an insurgency like this."
"Yeah, that's what you've got us for, right?" a new voice asked from just outside the tent.
Flavia jumped a little as Lucina glanced up at the voice, its owner casually slipping into the tent and drawing his hood back with a trademark easy grin.
"Ah, Sir Gaius," Lucina greeted. "I was expecting you earlier."
"I ran into some friends," the thief shrugged. "Some noisy friends. They're going to help me with the first stage of the plan in the morning."
Lucina nodded again as the thief passed a scroll to her.
"We've marked all the soft spots," he explained. "Where to hit the walls, where to strike to cut off the bandits line of communication, and where their leaders most likely are. There's a lot we didn't have time to do, but from the looks of things this is going to be a cake-walk."
"Good," Lucina nodded.
"I gotta get back before your cousin does something stupid and blows our cover," Gaius sighed, already edging for the door.
"Owain is here?" Lucina asked, confused.
"I caught him about to make a scene in the markets," Gaius explained with a shrug. "And, you know, give my cover away. Red-junior is with him, too. We're having a real party in town, you know. Might even break out the good sweets-stash."
"What are they doing in Regna Ferox?" Lucina asked curiously.
"Probably the same thing you are," Flavia snorted.
"Either way, I have a big day tomorrow so I gotta go," Gaius said before slipping out of the tent and back into the night.
"See you on the field, ladies," he added through the canvas as he slunk off back to the town.
Lucina and Flavia sat in silence for a few moments, the time-travelling princess racking her brain trying to remember if there had been any word of her cousin and childhood friend travelling this far north. She had heard that they were travelling in much the same way she and Robin had two years ago, but why they were in a logging town like Silva she just couldn't fathom. Perhaps when Robin arrived he would be able to shed some light on her eccentric cousin's behaviour. After all, her aunt had always said 'it takes one to know one'…
Flavia let out an amused snort, bringing Lucina's attention back to the present.
"Sorry," the Khan said quickly, draining her bottle in one go before talking again.
"It's just that this is starting to feel more and more like old times, isn't it?"
Lucina nodded silently, surprised that she couldn't disagree with the older woman at all.
"Come, my Feroxi brethren! Rise up and cast off the shackles of those who oppress you! Rise up, like the warriors of old, and strike down your foes! With the power of my sword hand on your side none can stand before us! For freedom!"
Severa sighed as she let Owain kick the mob in the market into a frenzy. Technically he was half Chon'sinian, but since his father had adopted Regna Ferox as his homeland she guessed it didn't really matter. The mob was almost deafening as Owain roared over them, shouting about their proud history and the wrath and fire of their ancestors or something. Severa had honestly stopped listening now. Not that she didn't love her boyfriend, but sometimes he could still be longwinded.
The two of them had come into the marketplace fully prepared to fight, weapons already drawn and hidden under their cloaks as they had approached the bandits still lurking around and bullying the local populace. Owain hadn't said a word before throwing off his cloak to reveal his familiar yellow tunic and began attacking the biggest of the bandits. Severa had backed him up, of course, because without her he'd wind up getting himself killed, but Owain had used all of his flashiest, most acrobatic moves against the bandits to get the townspeople's attention, shouting silly finishing move names all the while. And apparently, if the crowd cheering along to every word he said was anything to go by, his antics had paid off.
They were fit to blow. All they needed was a target now, something to be unleashed on.
Robin let out a breath, closing his eyes and stretching out his neck. He was getting too old to be camping.
"Nervous?" he asked, his head still rotating in circles.
Galle glanced up from his spellbook, clapping it shut and putting it back in his pouch.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," the younger man admitted dryly.
"Yeah, you never get used to it," Robin sighed, opening his eyes and looking back over the soldiers hidden in the forest around him. "The only people that do are the ones that lose themselves to their jobs and the psychopaths."
"So what does that make the Feroxi, then?" Galle asked, quirking a brow at the fifty men around the two tacticians.
Robin shrugged. "From a different culture?"
"That's reassuring," Galle sighed, drawing his sword. "What was the signal again?"
Robin grinned at the usually quiet boy's talkativeness; nerves did strange things to people, after all.
"You'll know it when you see it," Robin assured him, leaning back against a nearby tree.
Galle just scoffed as he dug a small whet-stone out of his pouch, arching an eyebrow at the senior tactician before beginning to sharpen his sword.
Robin glanced over the squad, or more accurately 'mob' considering there wasn't any unit cohesion what-so-ever in a Feroxi army, that Flavia had assigned to him; fifty-odd warriors all from Eastern Regna Ferox, their brightly coloured armour covered in pelts and furs and their hair festooned with charms and beads. There were a large number of women in the squad; another side-effect of the wars against Valm and Plegia being that a lot more women had been pressed into military service in recent years. Robin couldn't help but grin at the idea that every woman here could probably kick his ass. And Galle's. Unarmed.
Robin blinked a few times, starting to think he was becoming some sort of masochist. With a shake of his head he reminded himself what he was supposed to be doing at present.
"So that's what you're going to do before battle?" he asked the moody Plegian boy.
"It's important, seeing as you banned me from using magic," Galle pointed out.
"So is triple and quadruple-checking your plans," Robin sighed. "You're not just responsible for your own life today; you're responsible for all of theirs, too. Mine, too, so don't screw this up or you'll have Lucina to answer to."
Galle faltered as he ran the whet-stone down his blade, nearly cutting himself in the process. He quickly stood up straight and cleared his throat, placing the stone back in his pocket and focusing his full attention on Robin.
"Could I see those maps again please, master?" he asked seriously.
"Sure thing, kid," Robin laughed, passing the copy of Gaius' map to him. "Just don't lose them."
Rance fidgeted restlessly, flexing his knuckles on the hafts of his axes and looking longingly over in the direction of the city wall again, the top of which was just barely visible through the trees. All around him were mercenaries brought in by the Anna merchant network, thirty men and women from mostly Ylisse and Valm wearing mismatched steel armour and wielding a variety of different weapons.
"What happened to a local squad?" he muttered sullenly.
Rance was disappointed that he wouldn't get to show off his new skills to his brethren like the other students did, but Anna's mercenaries only worked well as a unit, rather than separated through the rest of the army.
"This was your idea," Anna pointed out, flipping a coin lazily over her fingers as she leaned back against a tree.
"How can you be so calm right now?" Rance asked exasperatedly.
"Practice," Anna replied with a wink. "I'll teach you some time, but-"
"I know, I know," Rance interrupted with a sigh. "It'll cost me, right?"
Anna snickered, her coin only pausing its motion for a second.
"You might be smarter than the others give you credit for, kid," Anna said with a grin. "Robin still hasn't learned that fact yet."
"Shut up and give me the stupid map," Rance sighed, deciding to busy himself going over their plan again.
Talking to the merchant woman, war-hero or not, was giving him a headache.
Gaius grinned a little as he watched the frenzied mobs of villagers, all of which were wielding some form of appropriated or improvised weapon, chase a small group of bandits past his hiding place. He had to give Sword-hand props; the kid knew how to whip up a mob.
He and Panne were close now to the warehouse district where the loggers kept the lumber they harvested. A number of other things were kept there too, like private storehouses and the tiny guard barracks, but it was mostly lumber; a fact that made Gaius insatiably curious about what the bandits could possibly be guarding in the storehouse that the kids had spotted.
"Should we not wait for Robin's attack?" Panne asked quietly from the shadows behind him.
"We are," Gaius assured her, peeking out around the corner again. "I just want to check out that storehouse we missed before it gets loud."
"It is already loud," Panne complained softly.
"We'll go someplace quiet after this, I promise," Gaius told his mate with a rougish grin. "I heard that some of Say'ri's retainers are getting a little too fond of their wealth."
With that the nimble thief darted out of their hiding place, crouched low as he crossed the street towards the next line of buildings.
"Chon'sin is quiet," Panne commented idly as she followed him.
The duo paused momentarily as a jet of green smoke flew into the air, the product of one of Miriel's weird inventions that also served as a great signal to attack. Gaius and Panne both stopped to watch the smoke before looking at each other for a brief moment.
"We still have time," he declared with a shrug, setting off again at a quickened pace.
"The last time you said that Morgan told me we scarred Yarne for life," Panne warned, easily keeping pace with the thief.
Gaius let out a snort, followed by the sound of him desperately trying not to burst into laughter as he ducked behind a crate. Panne rolled her eyes as she followed him, marvelling at the fact that such a childish man could be such a skilled thief. Gaius shuffled in a squat to the edge of the stack of crates, peeking around it at the warehouse that Owain had marked the previous evening.
"Bingo," he whispered. "Sweet pay-dirt."
Panne took a deep breath, testing the scents on the wind as she strained her ears. As always the first things to reach her were the sugary scent of her mate and the sound of his steady heartbeat; the blood rushing through his veins was a dull roar that the Taguel momentarily allowed herself to enjoy before forcing herself to focus on the information she was receiving from the storehouse. Judging from the smells and sounds there were numerous humans inside, but something else, too. Something… old. Something that stirred a primal part of Panne's consciousness to awaken.
"Er… sweet-heart? You're growling," Gaius said, his hand gripping her shoulder tightly.
Panne clamped her jaw closed, taking a few deep breaths. Gaius retained his hold on her, in case she went berserk and gave their position away, but the Taguel woman had a handle on things now.
"There is something in that storehouse," she said, her breathing slightly shaky now that the adrenaline was fading.
Gaius nodded, releasing her with a reassuring pat before taking another look around the crates. Panne pressed her back to the wooden boxes behind her, willing her heart to slow; just what was in the building she didn't know, but it instinctively set her on edge.
"There's two guards. They didn't hear you, but they still seem antsy," he told her in a hushed whisper. "It's weird; must be somethin' important to keep 'em here, rather than helping their buddies."
"I need to know what's inside that building," she whispered to the human next to her.
"Are there more people inside?" he asked her, never looking away from the guards.
Panne nodded. "At least six. I… can't be sure."
"Ah whatever, we're just taking a quick look."
Gaius nodded, pulling two small throwing knives out of the depths of his cloak. With a burst of speed the small man threw himself out of cover into a roll, the two little knives flashing out almost faster than Panne's eyes could follow. With strangled gasps the two bandits brought their hands to their throats, grasping at the knives embedded in them. Before either man could recover Gaius crossed the space and finished them with quick, merciful strokes from his dagger. He looked around a few times before giving the signal for Panne to follow him, and slipped around the other side of the storehouse.
"Are we not going to hide the bodies?" Panne asked curiously as she caught up.
"No point," he answered distractedly.
There were large, open windows at the top of the high wall above them to let light and air into the storehouse. Of course they wouldn't have glass in them in Regna Ferox, which made Gaius' life infinitely easier. Putting his dagger back in its sheathe he pulled out the small, strong rope with the grappling hook on the end that he kept on his person at all times. With expert movements he tossed the small hook up to the window, never making a sound, before testing the rope and pulling himself up.
Panne stood watching her mate, her sense of unease almost overwhelming this close to the window. Whatever was creating that scent was driving her mad; every part of her screamed 'run' so loud she almost obeyed. Her fur stood on end, her pule was quickened, her eyes were wide and her muscles were tense and ready to defend herself and her mate. If not for the fact that she had to be her mate's lookout she probably would have lost herself and fled.
Gaius ascended the wall silently, hand over hand until he reached the window where he'd latched his hook. With quick motions he loosened the hook so he could pull it down again, before propping himself against the wall and bottom sill of the window to get a good look inside.
What he saw made him suck in a breath, his eyes wide and his body going rigid.
"Okay…" he mumbled to himself. "That's… probably not a good thing…"
He glanced down at Panne as the colour drained from his face.
"I'll stall them here; go and find Robin," Gaius whispered desperately. "Right now!"
AN2015: I got bored, so I decided to google my story and see what happened. Apart from that one thing on the TV Tropes page the response was pretty good. Massive shout-out to the admin of the 'Avatar Robin: Grandmaster' Facebook page for sharing my story last August. Sorry it took me so long to find it, bro, but I do appreciate these things. You're the greatest.