Chapter 4
"Argh, I can't believe we have to help out with the rebuilding," Rance groaned, shielding his eyes from the harsh afternoon sun.
The Feroxi boy grunted as he lifted a stack of timber up to the waiting carpenters that were fixing the outer wall of the small shop before he turned and moved aside for the next person to deposit their load.
Ever since the battle had ended the four tactician-apprentices had been ordered to help out rebuilding the city 'however they could', which of course had meant manual labour. They were presently all working in the ruined central markets, where Rance and Mari'ko had turned the tide against the invaders, with Lucina supervising their efforts.
"Aren't these your countrymen?" Galle grunted, depositing a much smaller stack next to Rance's.
"Naw, I'm a Westerner," Rance sighed. "Although I suppose it's a decent workout at the least…"
"That's the spirit!" Isaac said cheerily from behind them. "Always look on the bright side!"
Galle and Rance both turned curiously as the Ylissean boy came up behind them, their faces turning to shocked disbelief as they saw that he was carrying more than three times the timber on one shoulder then either other boy put together. Mari'ko was at his shoulder, carrying a small crate of nails with her usual neutral expression in place, although the young gryphon coiling around her feet was expressive enough for the both of them.
"What?" Isaac asked, shrugging before practically tossing the wood he was carrying up to the waiting carpenters. "I used to be a blacksmith's apprentice; lumber is a lot lighter than iron ore."
"Right…" Galle said hesitantly, quirking one brow at his classmate's apparent freakish strength.
"Grah! Not good enough, Rance! Must! Get! Stronger!" Rance screamed at himself, racing back towards where the lumber had been delivered.
"What's with him?" Isaac asked curiously, drooping to give the gryphon an affectionate pat on the head.
"I think his manhood's been injured," Galle deadpanned.
"Ouch," Isaac hissed, wincing in sympathy. "I get that when I ride."
"No, I meant… seriously? I didn't mean… ah forget it," Galle sighed. "But still, rebuilding? I thought we were tacticians, not tradesmen…"
"We are increasing our empathy for our soldiers," Mari'ko said tonelessly, repeating what Robin had told them as she carefully delivered the nails in her arms.
"She's right," Lucina said, appearing behind Galle with a sizeable stack of timber on her own shoulder. "You should always remember that the battle doesn't end just because the fighting did. Nor did that pile disappear just because you delivered one stack."
Mari'ko nodded empathetically as Isaac grinned a little, already moving back to where Rance was shouting orders to the closest workers to throw more planks on his shoulder, despite the fact that his legs were clearly shaking and about to give out. Lucina deposited her own stack before dusting off her blue tunic and making her own way back, leaving Galle standing alone with the little gryphon staring up at him accusingly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," Galle groaned, shoulders drooping as he trudged back after the others. "Man, even the stupid bird's giving me the guilt trip now…"
Trudging over to the others with his head held low Galle almost stepped into one of the numerous Feroxi locals helping them out, stepping out of the big man's path at the last second with a mumbled apology.
Stopping for a moment to glance over his shoulder in surprise, Galle spotted a strange mark branded into the man's bicep. Glancing around he noticed that a few of the other men working in the square had similar brands burned into their flesh, too.
"Hey Rance," he asked curiously, coming up to where the local boy was dragging his feet under an impossibly large load of timber. "Explain the brands to me."
"What, those?" Rance groaned under his burden. "No idea."
"They are warnings that those people were once convicted of banditry or theft," Lucina explained. "With the population so damaged in the last decade the death penalty seemed wasteful to the leaders of the world, and they each came up with their own response instead. The Khans adopted this method, often used in Ylisse."
Galle looked closer at one of the brands on a burly worker as he passed by; in a circle cross was burned into his flesh, one arm longer than the other and both tilted in a sort of lopsided 'x' shape; a symbol that he had committed wrong but was trying to atone. It seemed foolish to Galle; once a criminal, always a criminal in his mind, but Lady Lucina wasn't wrong when she said the population was dwindling.
Galle's ruminations were cut short, though, when Rance finally collapsed under the weight of the lumber he was carrying; dropping it right onto Isaac and Galle.
"Argh! Idiot!" the Plegian boy shouted. "Why do I always get punished for your stupidity!?"
"I'm under here too, you know!" Isaac groaned.
Robin leaned with arms crossed against a wall of one of the more whole buildings in its shadow, watching his wife working with their students with a small smile on his face. He wasn't shirking his duties by any means; he had just spent the better part of the morning going through detailed plans for Silva's reconstruction with its mayor and Khan Flavia, and he was taking a breather before going back to help organise the rebuilding of the lower slums that had taken some damage from the bandits' overzealous retreat.
"Haven't you got better things to be doing?" Flavia asked, coming up behind him.
The Khan's heavy gait suggested she was just as tired as Robin, yet she still wore full armour and carried Ragnell around on her shoulder.
"Weren't you supposed to give that sword back?" Robin quipped, shooting her a cheeky grin over his shoulder.
"Wasn't it you that told me that only idiots answer questions with other questions?" Flavia asked, crossing her arms and sinking back to a hip.
"Er… damn, how am I supposed to argue with me," Robin laughed.
"So?" Flavia prompted impatiently.
Robin shrugged in response. "The mayor looked like he needed a break. I told him I'd take a breather and come back in the afternoon when-"
"That's not what I meant," Flavia cut him off. "This is Regna Ferox business. You should go back to your school before Chrom finds out. You know he gets… antsy when he thinks you're working for me."
Robin glanced over his shoulder at Flavia's suggestion. He knew where she was coming from; in fact it was something they had discussed before. Robin's school took students from all over the world, meaning that he did his best to show that he was a neutral party in all political matters. In his mind remaining properly neutral was harder than actually actively participating in politics, but it was his duty if he was going to train the next generation of tacticians.
Robin shrugged again in answer. "Maybe tomorrow. The kids look like they're having fun."
His grin widened as he watched Rance buckle under the weight of the wood he was carrying, toppling over and dropping at least half of the bundle on Isaac and Galle while Mari'ko stepped gracefully out of the way. All the while Lucina was watching on with a relaxed smile as the young gryphon danced around their ankles. She wore the same look of pride and happiness that she often did while with her daughter, and Robin was loathe to take her away from a situation she could be so relaxed in. A couple more days wouldn't hurt anyone.
"You know that Chrom's going to get pissy if he thinks I'm making you work for me," Flavia repeated, moving to stand next to Robin as she held a palm to the side of her head.
"He just misses me," Robin chuckled. "I'll go see him in about a month after things simmer down, and he won't even remember that I was here. Once we finish drinking, anyway."
"I'm glad you came, though," Flavia admitted. "Those kids are something else, too. You can tell who's been teaching them."
"Thanks, Flavia," Robin said, genuinely touched by his friend and old drinking partner's praise. "That means a lot."
"I was talking about Lucina and Panne teaching 'em to fight!" the Khan laughed, slapping Robin on the back a few times as she guffawed.
"Gee, thanks," Robin groaned.
Idallia let out an exhausted sigh as she shuffled through her villa at the end of the day.
It had been another day of arguing with local lords and nobles about prices her clan was offering them; bigoted old men that refused to deal with Plegia and sneered at her for being a woman in her position. They annoyed her to the point of giving her a small migraine.
Hin'rath, as attentive to her needs as always, was currently in the kitchen preparing her evening meal. Idallia refused to squander money on servants when she was only one woman; Hin'rath, the gardener and the two maids she employed were more than enough for her needs, and Maris cared for the horses himself. Her villa was small anyway, and having so many staff around would just give her an even bigger headache.
She walked into her study looking forward to the bottle of whiskey that she kept in her top drawer, harsher than her habitual wine or brandy but necessary after a day like she had had, only to be brought up short when she spotted it already sitting on her desk next to a pair of expensive-looking soft leather shoes.
"I have to admit," Alvin said, the older merchant propping his feet up on the edge of her desk and swirling the alcohol in his glass, "For such a small villa and so few staff you still have good taste, my dear."
For a moment Idallia almost lost her composure and gaped at the man in her study, her private oasis that even her brother was forbidden from entering, but years of practice made her clamp down on these feelings as her merchant side took over.
"Alvin, to what do I owe the pleasure," Idallia asked, plastering her best fake smile on her face.
"And more importantly," she added, crossing the room slowly and nudging Alvin's feet off her table, "Why hasn't Hin'rath killed you for trespassing yet?"
Alvin snorted, swirling the whisky again before taking another sip and letting out an appreciative sigh. Idallia rolled her eyes, giving in to temptation and pouring herself a glass.
"Ah, no one knows booze like the Feroxi, right?" he said, giving the angry woman a grin. "When it comes to wine, though, I'd bet my last copper that you have a cellar full of my product."
Idallia grimaced as she drained the glass in her hand, hesitating to admit that the older merchant was absolutely right.
"What do you want, Alvin," she said, her tone becoming dangerous.
"Ooh, I'm obviously right," the older man laughed, setting his empty glass down and finally rising from Idallia's favourite chair.
"I just wanted to talk to you about a small… business proposition," he added, strolling over to the large window overlooking her modest garden. "Concerning a certain logging town called Silva, up north."
"Hold on," Idallia sighed, reaching for the bottle again. "Judging from that tone of voice I'm going to need another drink first."
Van squinted in the afternoon sunlight, a small smile rising to his face as he watched over the youngest of Robin's students while they practiced drills with their chosen weapons. It was the last class of the day; so far they had studied basic tactics and elemental magic theory that morning, and after lunch had been the ever-popular fitness-hour. The day was winding down, and as he watched the children work so hard Van was happy to say he was warming to being a teacher, even if it was only a temporary posting.
He strolled through the students swinging their light practice weapons at each other, tapping his long, thin, double-bladed sword-staff against the single blue pauldron he wore on his right shoulder as he walked. It was an esoteric weapon, one that had made him a laughingstock in his early days with it, but after three years of not losing a sparring match a lot of opinions changed. According to Mari'ko it was a weapon from her homeland Chon'sin, and it wouldn't surprise Van if that was true; however he had gone to painstaking lengths to craft his own style for the weapon from the Ylissean sword-arts.
In all honesty, Van was nervous about his position as a teacher, but it was something that Lady Sahiri had asked him to do; something that he had volunteered for, despite knowing it would be difficult. He was already behind the advance class anyway, even though he was the same age, but that didn't matter either. What mattered to him was doing his upmost to ensure that Robin wasn't disappointed when he returned.
"Hey Van!" one of the students called out, a young girl from Ylisstol holding a wooden practice sword. "Can you c'mere a minute?"
"What's up, Sasha?" he asked as he crossed the training ground, slipping between the students diligently sparring in the forms that Lucina had taught them.
As Van approached them he planted his sword-staff in the ground. The girl puffed out her cheeks, glaring evilly at her sparring partner sitting in the dirt at her feet; one of the few boys from Imperial Valm, Ard, was holding his arm and glaring back up at Sasha with a similar expression on his face to her own.
"Sasha, what did Lady Lucina say about watching your power while you spar?" Van asked patiently.
"Go easy on the smaller students," the girl muttered dejectedly.
"And Ard, what does Robin say we do when we get knocked down?" he asked the boy, offering him his hand.
"We pull ourselves back up no matter what," Ard parroted, taking Van's hand. "Because there's always people counting on us."
"Right," Van said with an easy smile, patting both of the students on the head before turning his head and raising his voice to the other students. "I'd say it's just about dinner time; why don't we all head inside and get cleaned up?"
A weak collective cheer went up as the younger students sagged, worn out from their efforts that day. Van had worried at first he was working them too hard, but Sahiri had assured him that he was doing just fine.
"Remember to put your practice weapons back on the rack, then wash your hands and meet Sahiri at the refractory," Van instructed them, crossing his arms and sinking to a hip, still smiling.
As the last of the students trickled back into the fort Van's smile finally dropped as he reached for his weapon, tugging it out of the ground and turning to face the nearby forest.
"The last of the Taguel has been teaching me to track," he called out. "If you thought you were being sneaky, you were wrong. Come out where I can see you."
There was a tense moment of silence, a strong wind kicking up dust in the small clearing and flapping Van's yellow scarf around his shoulders. Just as he was preparing to call out again three men wearing uniform black tunics and leathers with faces covered by cloth masks stepped out of the forest, all wielding Ylissean swords. One, a man with a jagged scar snaking up underneath a plain eye-patch, had a short-bow strapped to his back.
"What can I do for you?" Van asked cautiously, his hand tightening around his weapon's handle. "My master has a policy of never turning travellers away, but you look more dressed for war."
"What would you know of war, boy?" the stranger at the front asked in an Ylissean accent, his voice muffled by the mask he wore.
"Enough to know you're not getting past me," Van growled, deciding that the men were indeed a threat.
He took a deep breath, sinking into a ready stance and holding his sword-staff out horizontally in front of him one handed. He slipped his left foot back and lowered himself, raising his open hand out behind his hip, perfectly balancing him.
The three men chuckled to themselves, one of them stepping forward to the boy barring their path and raising his sword. Van moved first, though, spinning forward and striking out with his double blades in a spinning attack that pushed the man back towards the other two. The three men eyed the student-tactician, clearly re-appraising his threat level as he moved back to his ready stance.
That was why Van had chosen to fight with a sword-staff while everyone else in his class back home had opted for more conventional weapons; crowd control. A sword-staff was for fighting more than one opponent, for times when a soldier was out-numbered.
Times like this, being faced down by three bigger, older and more experienced warriors, were what Van trained for.
"Cute toy, kid," one of the men growled.
The three strangers, each with a sword in hand now, began to spread out, trying to flank Van as he stepped back towards the fort. He didn't have to beat them; just keep them busy until Sahiri or the guards showed up. That was all.
Van darted forward again, spinning low at the man in the centre of the formation and lashing out with a high kick at the one on the right as he went. He knocked the sword of the centre-man downwards, stepping back rather than following through on the attack, though, when the man on the left moved to defend his partner.
"Kid's got moves," the man with the eye-patch admitted grudgingly.
"We don't gotta kill him," the oldest of the three shrugged. "Just keep him out of the way until-"
There was a loud roar behind Van, cutting the stranger off mid-sentence. Ignoring the fact that three armed, dangerous men were behind him Van spun, his jaw falling and eyes widening as he saw smoke rising from the fort. Three more explosions went off at various points around the fort, four plumes of acrid black smoke rising from Van's home.
"Bastards!" he roared, spinning back towards the three strangers, blades-first.
Inside the fort it was pandemonium as Sahiri tried to maintain order among the remaining panicked students.
"We need to put out the fires!" she roared over the students. "You've all had training with wind magic! Find a blaze and suck the air away from it! And where are the damn guards!?"
"They were out at the main gate!" one of the older children shouted as he darted past, a wind tome securely under his arm as he led a small team of the younger children towards the nearest explosion.
Sahiri cursed under her breath, loosening the tight collar on her black tunic as she knelt down in front of the child that had become her second shadow in the last few weeks.
"Emm, I need you to be a good girl and go wait for me in your Papa's study," Sahiri said firmly, her hands resting on the girl's shoulders.
Emm nodded wordlessly a few times before taking off like a startled hare in the direction of her parents' apartment, where hopefully she would have the presence of mind to remain hidden until Sahiri came for her. Sahiri was already moving before the child disappeared from the refractory, practically leaping down the stairs and storming through the halls towards the entry hall. The armoury was just off the main hall, so she would find a weapon there, and-
Another loud explosion almost threw the former Royal Guard off her feet, closely followed by two more. Holding onto the wall to steady herself as dust rained down from over-head Sahiri shook the stars from her eyes, her ears ringing as everything else became muted. A gust of hot air hit her back, and judging from the screaming some of the students had been caught in at least one of the explosions. Shaking her head again Sahiri stumbled along the wall, nearly falling as she came out into the entry-hall to find a scene that was all-too-familiar to the seasoned soldier.
The five guards that Robin employed to defend the fort were holding the hall against a force of what appeared to be local bandits. She shook her head a third time, steeling herself as she darted to the opposite side of the hall and into the small armoury that the guards kept. Her usual equipment was upstairs in her room; her ornate Royal Guard plate armour and her favourite spear were too far away to make use of. Instead she grabbed a lighter lance with a head of simple iron and a small wooden buckler before darting back out to assist the guards.
With a roar Sahiri smashed into the bandits from the side, spinning and lashing out with her lance and buckler, clearing the space before the beleaguered guards. A tired cheer went up from the men as they closed ranks around the unarmoured Sahiri, letting her drop back.
"Status report!" she shouted to the nearest guard.
The man, Ait'o, who had come to the school as Mari'ko's escort and decided to permanently stay, looked up at her with fear in his eyes.
"They came out of nowhere," he said, an edge of panic in his voice. "Just as the youngest class came rushing in for dinner the bandits followed them. Van's… still outside. And Dez said she saw more bandits on the north side."
Sahiri muttered an old curse from her village as she spun on her heel.
"Push the bandits back and bring Van back in here!" she ordered over her shoulder. "A couple bandits won't be able to put him down, but he will be overwhelmed. I'm going to check the north side and come right back. Keep things going here until I return."
Maris sighed, running a hand through his hair as he strode through the smoke and dust from the bomb that had made his group's entrance to the fort. He had lost a few days, travelling closer to Silva to pick up the last of the bandits he had hired, but judging from the fact that the fort was abandoned around them it had been a good call.
"Bring em in," he called, waving the six other men forward.
He and each of his men had a large, heavy pack on his back, containing a mixture of powders from Chengshi that would make an explosion that could destroy even stone. It had set his dear sister back quite a bit to acquire when it had come on the market but, like Maris, Idallia knew a useful tool when she saw it.
"Split into groups of two, start in the basement and work your way up," Maris said as the black-cloaked men moved past him. "Get in, get it done, get out. Don't get bogged down fighting. Break through and head back to the forest."
"Maurice, you're with me," he added, halting the older man. "We're going to start from the top."
"Right-o, then, Cap'n," the old man said, his voice strained from his heavy burden.
The five other men hurried south, to where the entrance to the basement storehouses was supposed to be. Maris grinned at his genius; as much as his sister lover her theatrics, there was simply no burning down an old fort. You could knock it down, with the correct application of explosives, though, and all of these old Feroxi forts had the same structural weaknesses in their basements; take out the load-bearing pillars and a few of the more important walls on the first floor, and the entire building went down like a house of cards. It was something Maris had done a few times during the pre-war border disputes with Regna Ferox when he'd still been a cadet. Of course back then it was done with oil and mages, not soldiers and mystic powder…
Maris smirked a little, hitching his heavy back up a little higher.
"This making you feel old, too?" he asked Maurice over his shoulder.
"That some kinda joke?" the older man huffed. "Look at me, boy! Everything I do makes me feel old!"
Maris let out a short laugh. "It's not that bad, yet. You've still got at least another good… two or three years yet."
"Bite me, pup," Maurice muttered, rolling his eyes.
Sahiri ran as fast as she could through the abandoned lower levels of the fort; all the students were apparently still upstairs trying to secure the damage to the ramparts, which she was beginning to suspect had been planned from the very beginning.
The former Royal Guard didn't even bother questioning who might be attacking them; the list of enemies Robin had made in the last ten years was as long as the man's arm, so dwelling on it without any evidence to point her in the right direction was pointless. Robin had been prepared for this eventuality since the beginning; he and Lucina had trained Sahiri and the guards to defend the fort in their absence.
She could hear the students running around on the floor above her, but there was no panicked screams drifting down from above; that was a good thing, though, as it meant no one was panicking. It meant that Robin's students were still in control of the situation.
Sahiri skidded to a stop as she rounded a corner, almost colliding with the two men running the opposite direction. She hesitated for a moment, her Plegian training telling her for a split second that black meant friendly causing her to lose the edge of surprise, giving the two strangers ample time to leap back, opening up distance between them.
"Who are you!?" Sahiri roared, levelling her lance at the younger of the two men.
The younger of the two clicked his tongue in annoyance, shrugging off a strange leather pack and handing it to his partner.
"Double back, go around," the purple-haired man said. "I'll keep her busy."
The older man nodded, turning on his heel and racing back up the hallway, leaving Sahiri alone with the masked man.
"Not just going to try and go through one lone woman?" Sahiri asked, venom in her voice as she began inching forward.
The man scoffed, stretching his arms a little before drawing his sword.
"I know who you are, Plegian," the man said through his mask. "I know what you're capable of. The Grandmaster wouldn't have chosen you to be his head of household were you incapable. I don't have the time to treat with you properly, though, so we will need to make this duel quick."
"You talk a lot, Ylissean," Sahiri growled before throwing herself forward.
She led with her buckler, spear pulled back and her arm like a coiled spring, forcing the man onto his back foot to avoid the blow from her shield. He brought his sword up, the blade bouncing off the thick wood of Sahiri's shield as she knocked it aside and lunged with her shield. The man backpedalled again, releasing one hand off his sword as he ducked below Sahiri's blow, bringing his fist up and grazing her stomach as she leapt back, too. With a hiss Sahiri reached down, feeling air on her stomach coupled with a slight stinging pain. The man was clearly grinning as he twirled a small dagger in his off hand.
"I was right to send Maurice ahead," the man laughed, circling his sword a little as he returned his dagger to its sheathe. "This is going to take some time. Heh. I regret not poisoning my blades, now."
Sahiri frowned, and the two stared off against each other in the tight hallway. Sahiri had the benefit of reach with her spear, but because of the close walls she was reduced to lunges and thrusts. However, to her practiced eye it appeared that the man was a little wrong-footed; he was most likely a cavalryman or something similar, possibly even a knight given his bearing and speech.
With a grunt of exertion the man threw himself forward this time, leading low with his sword and forcing Sahiri to block with the haft of her lance. Before she could bring her buckler around to bash at the man's head his brow smashed into her cheek, forcing her back a few steps as stars blossomed before her vision for the second time that day. Sahiri swung her lance wildly, the tip bouncing off the walls as she tried to regain her composure.
"Saw the Exalt use that one on the field a few times and always wanted to try it," the man said with a smirk beneath his mask. "Never could while I was mounted, though."
Sahiri shook her head clear, frowning even deeper.
"Why don't you let me show you something my Lord has taught me, then?" she spat, dropping the buckler and gesturing outwards with her hand.
The man quirked a brow as a few seconds passed and nothing happened, before stepping back and letting out a yelp as sparks began to fly at his face from Sahiri's outstretched hand. She was far from being a mage, but had picked up a few dirty tricks from her time in Robin's employ.
Leading with both hands on her spear this time as the stranger coughed and beat at the sparks in his hair and mask Sahiri lunged again, carving a furrow on the man's bicep and forcing him backwards as he tugged the mask off his handsome face, the grin he'd been wearing before replaced with a nasty grimace.
"You sand-rat-bitch," he snarled, kicking upwards at Sahiri's lance.
The lance bounced up, and the man slid in under her guard for her stomach again. The one-time Royal Guard brought her knee up, hitting the man's shoulder and bouncing him away from her. His dagger flashed again, and Sahiri cried out this time as he sliced her thigh open. They eyed each other again, positions reversed in the hall.
But before either could move to finish the brawl that their fight was quickly descending into the ground shook again, and the sound of crumbling stone echoed around the hall. Running footsteps echoed behind the man now, too; judging from the direction and pace it sounded like some of the Guards had come to help her.
"And we're out of time," the man said with a shrug, lowering his sword.
"Like hell we are," Sahiri spat, favouring her wounded leg as she levelled her lance again.
"You don't seem to get it, woman," the man said with a cruel smirk. "Unless you want a hundred tonnes of stone dropped on your and your students' heads, I'd be getting out of this fort in the next few minutes."
Sahiri's lance wavered for just a moment, and the stranger used that opening to slip under her guard and dash past her with a cocky laugh.
"No you don't!" Sahiri roared, spinning and tossing her lance with all her might.
The man let out a yelp, falling to one knee before landing face-first on the stone floor, Sahiri's lance protruding from the back of his own thigh. He glanced over his shoulder in shock as Sahiri collapsed herself, panting and grinning at the immobilized man. The guards clattered into the hall now, Ait'o leading one of the others as they dashed towards the prone man. The man tried to bring his sword up, but Ait'o's lance was faster and pinned the weapon as the second guard brought the haft of his axe down on the back of the man's head, knocking him out cold.
"Bind him and bring him outside," Sahiri groaned, forcing herself back to her feet. "Get all the students out into the forest clearing now."
"Ma'am?" Ait'o asked, confused.
"Do it now!" Sahiri barked, hobbling at a good pace back towards the stairs.
She was bleeding badly, but it could wait until she knew that Emm and the other students were safe.
Van spun again, his dual blades flashing like silver lighting as he struck at the three men around him. With a show of acrobatics he skipped and jumped around them, making up for his lack of strength and experience with speed and agility. All three of the men bore small wounds, a testament to Van's skills, but he was slowing now.
The bandit with the eyepatch kicked out, not hitting Van but catching his sword-staff and arresting the student's spin, forcing him to step backwards and give the two other men time to rally around the eyepatch man.
"You fought good, kid," eyepatch admitted. "But you're not a killer yet. You're just lucky we're out of time here."
"Like I'm going to let you get away now," Van panted, circling his esoteric weapon back to his ready stance.
"Look at you kid," the oldest of the three strangers said, his voice actually somewhat kind. "You can hardly hold that thing. There's no shame in admitting defeat against overwhelming odds."
"Shut up!" Van roared, darting forward again and lunging for the man on the left.
His sword-staff swung in a figure-eight, forcing the other two men away from his target. The man in question, who had the most amount of small wounds from Van's attacks, brought his weapon up and caught one of Van's blades with his own, forcing Van to spin back and strike low with his other blade.
"Let it go, kid," eyepatch said again, from further away. "We were supposed to attack the entry hall, but you stopped us. Three trained and experienced soldiers, held off by one student tactician. That's worth some serious bragging points. Don't waste the opportunity by making us kill you."
Van risked a glance over his shoulder, seeing that the eyepatch and older man were already running back towards the forest. In the split second he took his eyes off his opponent, the third man had dashed backwards, before turning and running for the forest, too.
Maurice grimaced, the old man rubbing his tired shoulders as he peered through the foliage at the hole in the fort's wall they had used as an entrance.
"C'mon, pup, don't keep us waiting," he muttered under his breath, urging Maris to hurry the hell up.
All of the others were already present and accounted for, waiting patiently for their Captain. Rustling from behind the group announced the return of Adrik and the other two that had been supposed to support the bandits from Silva, meaning it was time to leave.
"Alright, get back to the horses and make for the border," Maurice announced, standing and reaching into his pocket.
"What about the Captain?" one of the other men asked.
"Stick to the plan," Maurice growled. "We make for the border. If he doesn't catch up we'll see him again at the Villa."
"And if he's been caught?" Adrik asked pessimistically.
The older man turned to regard Adrik, surprised to find him and the other two covered in small wounds.
Maurice shrugged. "He's the eldest son of one of the richest merchant houses in the world. I'm sure he can buy his way out of trouble. Now move your asses. It's hard enough to concentrate with all your yammering."
The men nodded, reluctantly pulling back towards where they had stashed the horses in the forest. Maurice hesitated, pulling a small glass gem out of his pocket and holding it up to the dying evening light. He wasn't a mage by any means, but even an idiot could memorize a few lines of a spell; enough that, with a focusing iris, he could ignite the fuses on thirty bombs from a hundred meters away.
Sahiri grimaced, holding her thigh wound as she limped through Robin and Lucina's apartment.
"Emm!" she shouted desperately. "Miss Emmeryn, please! We need to get out of the fort"
The little girl appeared from Robin's study, clutching a toy sword and looking up with wide eyes at Sahiri from under the ridge of her over-sized skull-cap.
"Sahiri, you're hurt!" Emm cried out in alarm.
The little girl dropped her toy and rushed forward, wrapping her arms around Sahiri's waist and looking up at her with big, moist eyes. The older woman didn't hesitate, stooping to pick the child up and cradle her close to her chest, turning and limping back towards the stairs.
"It's only a couple of scratches, miss," Sahiri assured the girl. "I was more worried about you."
In truth she was beginning to feel faint from the blood-loss, and every step caused agony to shoot up her leg, but Sahiri would see a healer as soon as Emmeryn was safe.
"I hid in Father's study, just like you told me to," Emm sniffled, wrapping her arms around Sahiri's neck and burying her face into the woman's shoulder. "What's happening? You're hurt and everyone's been running around…"
"I'll explain once we're safe," Sahiri promised.
After only another few steps the former Royal Guard was knocked off her feet again, Emm letting out a shrill scream as they both tumbled backwards to the floor. The light fixtures swung wildly above them, two of the cheap iron chandeliers actually falling to the floor near Sahiri.
"What's happening!?" Emm shrieked, holding onto Sahiri so tight she began to choke.
"Hold on!" the woman shouted, forcing herself to her feet.
Bursting into a limping run Sahiri dashed towards the closest window, the ceiling and floor both beginning to collapse behind her. Offering Naga a quick prayer Sahiri turned, throwing herself shoulder first through the window and into the air as the fort collapsed behind her.
There was a brief moment of weightlessness, and Sahiri was absently aware that Emm was thrashing around in her arms in a panic, but she tuned all this out as she turned to shield the child and braced herself for the impact that was coming. Robin and Lucina's apartment was on the second floor, which meant that it was quite a fall.
They hit the ground outside the fort rolling, Sahiri doing her best to ensure that Emm was protected from the brunt of the impact. There was a sickening pop as they hit, and Sahiri screamed as her left arm went numb and Emm rolled out of her grasp before coming to a stop a few feet away from each other.
With a grunt Sahiri looked up from the grass, reaching out with her right hand and dragging herself towards the little girl lying motionless on the ground just out of her reach.
Robin let out a sigh as he trudged down the forest road, his hand held up before him with a small fire spell dancing above his palm, lighting the little group's path. Flavia had stayed in Silva with the rest of the Feroxi soldiers, and Robin had bid Gaius and Panne to stay with her and help her keep an eye on things; Anna had taken her mercenaries, and Owain and Severa for some strange reason, and gone straight back to her store in Nauta, promising to send Robin the bill; leaving the tactician, his wife and sister to lead the four students back to the school on their own. As well as the juvenile gryphon, nestled happily in Mari'ko's arms as they walked.
"What's up, teach?" Rance asked curiously, glancing over at Robin.
"Don't call me that. And I'm getting too old to camp," the tactician sighed. "I miss my bed."
Lucina cleared her throat from next to him, pointedly crossing her arms and shooting him a little glare.
"And my daughter, I miss my daughter," Robin added quickly.
Isaac made a little whip-crack sound, and he and Rance burst into laughter. Even Galle had a small chuckle at their teacher's expense, making Robin groan and run his hand through his hair. The hand that wasn't on fire; he'd only had to make that mistake once.
"One day you'll get married too," Robin deadpanned, looking pointedly at Rance. "And if you think I'm whipped, you've never met a Feroxi girl."
"He's got you there!" Isaac laughed, patting a downcast Rance on the shoulder.
"Hey Galle, what're the women like where you're from?" Rance asked desperately.
The Plegian boy shrugged listlessly.
"Don't know," he admitted. "Never really thought about it."
"Come on, man!" Rance begged, eliciting more laughter from Isaac.
"There's an example right there," Galle added, smirking a little as he pointed to Aversa.
Rance followed the direction of the Plegian boy's finger, his face paling as he locked eyes with a frowning Aversa.
"I think I'll take the Feroxi woman," Rance muttered defeatedly, earning another round of laughter from Isaac and Galle.
Robin let out an involuntary snicker, earning an icy glare from his sister. His chuckle turned awkward as he tried to subtly shift so that Lucina was walking between them.
It would be good to get home in one piece, Robin told himself. Little field trips like this were nice, but he had left in a hurry, and he was worried about how Sahiri was coping with both classes on her own after nearly three weeks.
As they drew closer to the edge of the forest the fort was in Isaac and Rance raced ahead, Galle being dragged along in the slip-stream like always as Mari'ko stuck close to her teachers.
"Last one there gets dishes-duty for a week!" Isaac announced, breaking into a run.
"You're on!" Rance laughed, following after the Ylissean boy.
Galle sighed, his shoulders drooping before he started running, too.
"I just know they would actually make me do the dishes…" the Plegian boy muttered, sprinting after his classmates.
Robin grinned and shook his head, watching the three boys start to shove at each other as they all vied to be the first one to the fort.
"Ah, to be young again," Robin said wistfully.
Lucina lightly wrapped herself around Robin's arm as they walked, neither breaking stride. The tactician quirked his brow at his usually reserved wife's behaviour, but she smiled up at him, silencing his questions before he could voice them as they simply enjoyed each other's presence. The four remaining travellers proceeded in silence for a time until they heard a commotion ahead.
"Teach! Teach!" Rance shouted desperately.
"Sir Robin!" Galle echoed. "You… I… what…"
Robin traded looks with Lucina and Aversa before all three of them burst into a sprint, the silent Mari'ko following like always. The gryphon in her arms squawked at being jostled and rudely awoken, nipping slightly at Mari'ko's arm but continuing to let her carry it. Robin felt his blood run cold as he stepped into the clearing outside of the fort, looking at where his home used to be.
"No…" Mari'ko whispered behind him, falling to her knees.
Aversa cursed, slowing before coming to a stop near the students. Isaac and Galle just looked lost, alternating between looking at their teachers and at the pile of rubble. Rance was already picking through the stones, looking for what Robin wasn't sure.
The tactician himself was silent as he looked at the destruction; a pile of rubble sat where the old fort had once been, bits and pieces of timber rising up out of the mound of broken stone like jagged bones from a carcass. He didn't know what to feel in that moment, so he stood, numb, waiting for something to jolt him out of-
"Emm? Emmeryn!?" Lucina cried, frantically racing towards the ruins.
With a mounting feeling of dread Robin chased after Lucina, already a fair way ahead of him. As Robin caught up they reached the edge of the ruins, which Rance had already clambered on top of. Lucina fell to her knees at the edge of the ruin, tears beginning to stream down her face as she looked up at Robin. He looked down at her, the frustrating helplessness he felt almost driving him to the edge of his sanity.
"Who's there!?" someone called out from the forest.
Everyone spun to look at the source of the voice as a familiar form holding a lit torch stepped out of the trees.
"Ait'o!" Robin said, crossing the space in a few strides to stand in front of the guard. "Start talking. Now. What-"
"Where is my daughter!?" Lucina asked desperately, her voice carrying an edge of steel as she appeared at Robin's side.
Ait'o blinked a few times, taken aback by the intensity of the gazes settled on him before he cleared his throat.
"It's… kind of a long story…" he said after a tense moment of silence.
"Emmeryn!?"
"Mommy!"
Robin let out a sigh of relief, feeling a massive weight lift off his shoulders as Lucina swept their daughter up in a tight hug. Sahiri limped up behind the girl, being supported by a forlorn-looking Van, the rest of the school's students looking on from the dormitory-style tables on the other side of the room.
"Milord, I'm so sorry," Sahiri said, her voice cracking as she hung her head. "I was powerless to stop them. I'm… sorry."
"Forget it," Robin said as kindly as he could, clapping a hand on the woman's shoulder. "There were no casualties, and that's what's important. We can replace a building. I can't replace any of you."
Sahiri nodded and sniffled, looking down as Robin gave her shoulder a squeeze. They were in one of the communal dining rooms in the Nauta inn, all of Robin's students as well as two of the other four guards he maintained. Ait'o made a beeline for them, probably happy to be away from his enraged employers. The students looked scared but unharmed, and the only person that seemed to have taken any sort of serious wounds was Sahiri. The four members of the first class trooped into the room behind Aversa, the Plegian mage letting out a small breath of relief as she spotted Emm before moving to watch over the other students.
"They came out of the forest," Van said, leading the group towards the closest table. "Bandits and… other soldiers. Professionals, from Ylisse. They… well, you saw the ruins."
Robin nodded mutely, glancing over at Lucina where she was still clinging to Emm. Mari'ko lowered the gryphon to the floor, and much to Emm's delight it padded right up to her and Lucina and gave the girl a curious sniff.
"We managed to take their leader prisoner," Sahiri went on, snapping Robin's attention back to the matter at hand. "He's being held at the City Hall."
The tactician's gaze hardened as he rose to his feet again.
"Take me to him."
The cell door clattered open, prompting the lone guard to look up as Robin stepped in, Sahiri and Mari'ko behind him. Dez, one of Robin's fort guards, stood at attention as he passed her, making for the man currently stripped to the waist and shackled to the floor with thick iron chains.
"Say what you will about the Feroxi," the man said without looking up. "But they really know how to maintain a prison. You make one half-hearted escape attempt to test the waters and wind up clapped in irons after a good beating."
The man looked up, his handsome face swollen and bruised on one side and his light purple hair darkened and plastered to the side of his head with dried blood.
"Grandmaster," he said, bowing his head respectfully.
"Former Grandmaster," Robin corrected the man neutrally. "And I don't believe we've been introduced."
"Forgive me, sir," the man shrugged, the chains rattling with the movement. "Maris of House Rommel, formerly of the Themisian light mounted division. I served under you at Steiger, sir."
Robin nodded slowly, stepping into the cell.
"Leave," he said simply, the three women wordlessly obeying and withdrawing from the cell.
As the door closed Robin and the prisoner were descended into a moon-lit gloom, the only light coming in from the half-moon outside the small barred window.
"You knew who I was before you attacked the fort," Robin said as a statement rather than a question.
"Yes, sir," Maris answered truthfully.
"Why did you do it?"
Maris shrugged as well as he could under the weight of the heavy chains.
"I got bored," the man said lazily.
Robin let out a sigh. "I'm not going to get a straight answer from you, am I?"
"It's the head-wound," Maris explained as if he were describing a piece of fruit, turning his head to display the small gash in his scalp to Robin. "Makes everything fuzzy. One would think that the locals had never interrogated a prisoner before."
"Not a lot of cause to anymore," Robin said. "Most bandits will reform pretty quickly if you give them the opportunity. Thieves, too. But men like you…"
"I already have an honest job, thank you sir," Maris interrupted him. "Like I said. I got bored. There are a lot of ex-soldiers turning to banditry lately. Or so I hear."
"You know, you're pretty calm for a man in a cell," Robin pointed out, crossing his arms and sinking to a hip.
"And you're pretty calm for a man that just had his school knocked down," Maris quipped with a grin.
Robin's brow twitched as his face turned instantly into a scowl, and he gestured with one finger at the man. An arc of purple dark lightning shot out from his index finger, and Maris howled and convulsed as the charge passed through him. Robin put a quick pulse through the spell, altering it slightly to include something else. After a few seconds the spell stopped, leaving Maris gasping and doubled over face-down on the stone floor.
"I'm actually very angry," Robin said lightly. "And I'm hardly as magnanimous as the masses like to make me out to be."
Maris lout out a small groan that turned into a chuckle.
"I deserved that one," Maris half-groaned, half-chuckled.
"I can keep this up all night," Robin warned darkly, holding up his hand as lightning magic arced back and forth between his fingers. "Why did you attack my school? Who gave the order to do so?"
"Sir, I attacked the school on my own behest," Maris said, looking down at the floor.
"You're lying," Robin said, kneeling down in front of the man. "What would you have to gain by attacking my school?"
Maris looked up at Robin from under his brow, glaring at the former tactician for the first time. Robin had to admit that it was an impressive glare, the kind that only a veteran soldier could deliver, but he had spent the last two years living with Lucina and Aversa, and both of them held the potential for glares that would make this man's seem like a sunny smile in comparison.
"I'm done answering questions, sir," Maris ground out. "I attacked the fort on my own behest in the name of revenge."
"That a fact?" Robin nodded. "What did I do to piss you and your friends off so much?"
"It's not what you did," Maris explained. "It's what you are. Prince Robin of Plegia, sir."
Robin flinched, resisting the urge to shock the man again. No one called him that. He had been a prince for all of two weeks before dissolving the Plegian monarchy and instituting a democratic system instead.
"You were at Mount Origin, too," Robin breathed.
"First wave off the boats with Grandmaster Morgan," Maris said, puffing his chest out proudly.
"So it was good old fashioned racism that prompted the attack?" Robin asked.
Maris looked up at him with a fierce gaze, his next words coming out as a guttural snarl.
"Go back to your desert, sand-rat," the soldier spat, before going back to looking at the ground.
Robin nodded silently, rising to his feet and knocking on the door twice to be let out. Without so much as a backwards glance he left the cell and went back to the inn.
"He was lying to me," Robin stated simply. "I don't know why, and I don't know who he was trying to protect, but… he was lying about the attack being an act of violent racism."
Emm and the students had all been put to bed, and Robin was holding a strategy meeting, his first in a very long time, in one of the inn's smaller rooms. Aversa, Lucina and Sahiri sat in chairs both facing Robin, the students from the top class, as well as Van, standing just behind them in a respectful silence. On a whim Robin had decided to include them in the briefing; he needed to grade their performance at Silva sooner or later, anyway, so he would simply do it after he relayed what he had found from interviewing Maris.
"'Desert-rats'," Aversa scoffed. "I should go in there and show the man just what a 'desert-rat' can do to a prisoner…"
Robin gave Galle a quick glance behind Aversa, the look on the boy's face clearly echoing her thoughts.
Sahiri let out a frustrated sigh, shaking her head sadly.
"As much as it pains me to overlook such a slur, I think that Sir Robin is right. This wasn't about race. They were in the fort and didn't try to cause any mayhem, didn't try to attack the students, and even though he knew who I was and where I was from when we duelled this 'Maris' simply turned tail and fled. Those aren't the actions of a man out to satisfy his wanton bloodlust."
"I agree," Lucina added. "It feels like there was another point to this. Almost like it was a warning."
"Or reprisal for Silva," Rance muttered from behind them.
"There were bandits at the main gate," Van added helpfully.
Robin nodded a few times, trying to let this all sink in.
"So what do we do about this?" Aversa asked. "I say we-"
"I know what you're going to say, and I'm not executing anyone," Robin sighed, cutting his sister off. "Nobody died during the attack, so I'm not taking a life. We'll mete out the standard punishment for acts of banditry. Besides, if he comes back for more, I'll know."
"House Rommel is a rather prestigious merchant house in Themis," Lucina pointed out. "This could seriously damage their reputation."
"And bring further acts of reprisal," Sahiri added darkly.
"You let me and my boys worry about that," a new voice said as cool air from the open door flooded into the room.
Anna winked at the tacticians with her trademark grin, both seeming strained after what had happened that day. Owain and Severa came in after her, both looking half-exhausted with worry but giving relieved smiles when they saw everyone was unharmed.
"I'll leave my mercenaries here as a guard for the students," the merchant continued, crossing the small room and standing before the group.
"And just where are we going that you would be leaving them here?" Aversa drolled, leaning to one side and resting her chin on a palm as she spoke.
"Well I'm going down to Themis to talk to my Aunt," Anna shrugged. "It may not have been my home, but you've been my best customers for the last three years, and the Anna household take debts like that seriously. And whatever this is, I don't think it's going to stop just because a drafty old fort fell down."
"My fort was not drafty…" Robin mumbled dejectedly, frowning a little.
There was a moment of silence where everyone looked expectantly at Robin, and the tactician sighed.
"We can't let them get away with this," he agreed. "But we can't leave the school undefended, either. We'll leave the guards and the mercenaries here, but…"
"But…" Aversa prompted when he fell silent.
"But I don't want to close the school just yet," Robin finished. "I want to show these people, whoever they are, that they can't beat us so easy. So I'm going to ask you to stay here, Aversa."
"Very well," the mage shrugged, leaning back in her chair. "I did not much relish the thought of camping again, anyway."
"Well, that was easy," Robin chuckled.
"Sahiri, keep classes going and work with Aversa to rebuild the school," Robin went on. "I will travel with Anna in secret under the guise of going to Ylisstol for aid. Owain and Severa, I want you to join us. I don't want to involve the Shepherds in this any more than I have to."
"Of course, master," Owain said instantly, his voice rising with every syllable. "It will be just like the old days! You and me, fighting off darkness with naught but our wits and blades, and-"
"Yes, we'll come," Severa chimed in, silencing her travelling companion with a swift elbow in the ribs. "Not that we want to, but you'll probably get killed without us there to save you."
"Just like the old days indeed," Lucina chuckled softly, before growing sombre.
"I… do not like the idea of leaving Emm here alone," she added.
"You know you could stay," Robin suggested. "I would feel better if you did."
Lucina shook her head vehemently, looking at her husband with fire in her eyes.
"This was the first home I have had since I was a child," she said hotly. "And I swear I will see the people responsible for destroying it pay."
"Er… what about us?" Isaac asked somewhat timidly.
Robin glanced up, reminded that his students were still present.
"Oh, right," he muttered, slapping a hand to his forehead. "I can't believe I forgot about you guys."
"Gee, thanks," Galle deadpanned as the other male students chuckled.
Robin stood, clearing his throat as he moved to stand in front of the students.
"Isaac of Ylisstol, Galle of Plegia, Mari'ko of Chon'sin, Rance of Regna Ferox and Van of the Ylissean Knights," he started seriously. "In light of recent events, and in the face of your performances both at Silva and the defence of the fort, I am hereby promoting you all to the rank of full tactician. Congratulations, kids. You all graduate."
Silence and blank stares met Robin's announcement, all of the students too stunned to speak.
"That's… it?" Galle asked, breaking the silence. "We don't… even get coats?"
The next morning the sun was just beginning to crest the tops of the houses in Nauta as Robin stood before the nine prisoners on the small stage set up in the town's square. Eight bandits had been captured from the assault, as well as Maris standing tall and regal, despite still being shackled. More than half the town had turned out to watch the punishment, all aware of what had happened to Robin's school and who was responsible.
Looking out over the angry, jeering crowd Robin had to resist the urge to cringe. He didn't want to be in his current position, but the town's mayor had insisted.
"In the old days," Robin started, his voice clear and carrying over the shouts of the crowd. "I would stand up here as an executioner with nine men sentenced to death. They would either have an executioner's axe behind their necks, or a noose dangling above their heads."
The crowd let out an approving cheer at this, the simple stage practically vibrating beneath Robin's feet. He held up his hands placatingly, waiting for quiet before continuing.
"However after the wars of the last decade, nine strong, fit men are somewhat hard to come by. Therefore the Khans agree with me when I say that unless the crime is utterly reprehensible, the death penalty is far too extreme given our nation's circumstances. None died in their attack, so I will, in turn, show leniency."
The crowd almost exploded at this declaration, causing Robin to wait a few moments before lifting his hands and calling for silence again. As he waited Sahiri stepped forward, holding a red-hot iron brand with the crossed-circle symbol that reformed bandits wore.
"This is the symbol of banditry," Robin declared, holding the brand high. "It represents the way that these men have crossed their own kin for their own selfish desires. When a man is caught a second time, already bearing this mark, that is when he is put to death. This is your last chance gentlemen. Don't waste it."
Robin switched off then, going about his grim task in silence. Each man received the brand on his bicep, and soon the stench of burning meat was heavy in the air of the town square. The crowd roared with approval every time one of the bandits screamed, jeering and shouting cat-calls at them as they were dragged from the stage by the town's militia. Robin had forbid his students from attending the meet; they didn't need to see this. However, being that they were officially no longer his students, the five newly promoted tacticians stood at the back of the crowd with Lucina, watching impassively.
Finally, Maris was dragged forward and forced onto his knees. The brand had cooled somewhat now, and Sahiri had been forced to return it to the brazier to re-heat.
"This man was the bandit's leader!" Robin announced, waiting for Sahiri to finish with the brand. "He is the one responsible for the destruction of my home, and the terror that befell Silva, by his own admission."
The crowd was deafening as Robin held out his hand for the glowing hot brand, Maris staring up at him with a smirk on his face.
"I think that the harsher crime needs a more suitable punishment," Robin declared, looking at the two militiamen waiting at the side of the stage. "Hold him down."
Maris blinked curiously for a moment before the two local soldiers grabbed him and wrestled him to the floor of the stage, forcing his face into the boards and pulling his hair back.
"You wear this mark on your face, so all may know how you sullied your family's honour," Robin announced, holding the iron brand for Maris to clearly see.
"No!" the ex-soldier roared, twisting and fighting against the men that held him. "You can't do this!"
Robin was silent as he pressed the brand to Maris' face, the circular iron sizzling as his skin was burned away. The soldier let out a blood-curdling scream equal parts pain and outrage before passing out as Robin removed the brand.
"Take him back to his cell," Robin instructed the militiamen. "See that he's well enough to travel before he's released."
Robin stood again, the applause of the crowd deafening as he handed the brand back to Sahiri and stepped down from the stage. He made for where the students were standing with Lucina, their faces ranging from looks of satisfaction to ones of distaste at the show. It was the last lesson that Robin had wanted to teach them; a tactician couldn't always hide behind others. Sometimes they had to dirty their hands themselves.
Owain let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair, replaying the events of the morning's town gathering in his head. True, his master was a man on par with the world's greatest leaders; Robin regularly associated with Kings and Queens and Exalts and Khans, but the cold displeasure in his master's eyes as he carried out his duty had struck Owain deeply.
"Why…?" he muttered to himself, looking at the inn's wooden floor. "Why was he the one that had to…?"
Owain glanced up as the door opened and Severa stepped in, followed closely by Lucina who was leading little Emm by the hand. All three girls were smiling and laughing, but on his cousin the look was strained. He could tell from the tightness around her eyes and the subtle twitch of her sword hand as it went subconsciously to feel the comforting handle of Falchion, its usual position on her belt empty as the blade sat against the wall across the room.
"Here you are, cousin," Lucina said, her smile becoming genuine as she spotted him.
"Owain!" Emm practically shouted with joy, darting across the room to throw herself onto his lap.
"What-ho, little hero?" he asked in his best hero's voice as the little girl settled into her favourite spot.
Severa rolled her eyes as the two older girls perched on separate beds, obviously fresh from trying to tire Emm out in the markets. Because Anna's magnanimity only went so far, and technically because they were all family, they were all being forced to share a room in the inn. Robin and Owain had portable cots on one side of the small space, while Severa, Lucina and Emm all shared the large bed on the other side of the room. It was hardly comfortable, but it beat out sharing a room with ten students like Sahiri and Aversa had to.
"What-ho to you, bigger hero!" Emm chirped happily. "Mother and Miss Severa brought me around the markets earlier! I saw the prettiest necklace, and it was shaped like a sword, and I thought it would look nice on you, but Anna wasn't there to help me haggle so I couldn't get a good price for it. But! But the shop keeper told me to come back again after he'd thought about my offer, so-"
Owain laughed, cutting the excited child's rant off by plonking her skull-cap on top of her head, the front ridge of the helmet covering her eyes.
"I get 'Miss Severa' and that cheapskate gets just 'Anna'?" Severa grumbled unhappily across the room, earning a giggle from Lucina.
"Maybe if you two spent more time around here," Lucina suggested, smiling easily as Emm adjusted the helmet to sit properly, even if it was still ridiculously oversized.
Emmeryn looked like she was about to respond before letting out a mighty yawn, throwing her head back and opening her mouth wide. Owain grinned a little, taking the girl under the arms and sitting her on the bed next to him before taking the skull-cap off her head.
"It's getting quite late, little hero," Owain said as kindly as he could. "Perhaps you had best turn in for the night."
Emmeryn nodded, rubbing her tired eyes a little.
"M'kay," she assented blearily, leaning down to use Owain's thigh like a pillow. "But promise you'll all still be here in the mornin'."
"We promise," Lucina said standing and crossing the room to give the little girl a kiss on the forehead before covering her with the corner of the inn's rough blanket. "Now sleep. If you're still awake when your father comes back he'll scold us again."
"M'kay," Emm repeated, her eyes fluttering closed as Lucina withdrew.
After a few brief moments of silence the little girl's breathing grew slow and rhythmic, signifying she had fallen asleep. Owain gently stroked her hair as she slept, smiling lightly as he took the chance and pampered the future hero a little.
"When did you get so good with kids?" Severa huffed, crossing her arms and frowning.
"Heh, don't worry, my fated companion; I'll be sure to stroke your head before you take rest, too," Owain promised with a wink.
Severa groaned, her face turning the colour of her hair as Lucina tried and failed to stifle her giggles, which just made Owain's grin widen more. It was nice, living in these moments of peace and tranquillity; it was everything that the three of them had fought for so long to achieve. Sometimes it bothered Owain that they could never return to their own timeline, but living with the knowledge that they had prevented such a calamity form occurring again made living in this timeline bearable.
"There you go, brooding again," Severa sighed, undoing the straps that held her hair up in her signature twin-tails. "I swear, you've spent far too much time around Robin."
"Robin does not brood," Lucina said defensively, grabbing two hairbrushes and handing one to Severa before hesitating and adding "Anymore."
Severa snorted, beginning to run the brush through her hip-length crimson hair as Lucina did the same to her shorter cobalt hair, a sight that Owain found strangely relaxing.
"So?" Lucina asked, breaking the silence. "What were you thinking so hard about?"
Owain shrugged slightly, prompting Emm to shift a little on his lap.
"A way to sneak Emm into my pack so you wouldn't notice?" he said with forced cheer.
"Get your own daughter," Lucina scoffed in a very Robin-like manner.
"No," Severa said flatly as Owain looked at her.
The blonde boy pouted, earning more giggles from the two women.
"Seriously," Lucina said after she stopped laughing, looking at her cousin as she brushed her hair. "What has you so distracted?"
Owain sighed, glancing down to ensure that Emm was really asleep.
"It's what happened this morning," He admitted.
"You were there, then," Lucina said, her hand pausing mid-brush.
"Anna tried to keep us away, but we managed to shake her," Severa explained.
"Why did he… have to be the one to pass judgement?" Owain asked, looking up at the two women. "I mean, I know that those men needed to be punished but… why Robin?"
Severa nodded her agreement with Owain's questions. Lucina sighed and placed her brush down, looking thoughtfully down at the floor before glancing back up at the other two.
"For what it's worth, Robin detested the idea of being up on that stage this morning," she explained. "He fought bitterly with Aversa and the mayor, but in the end… well…"
Silence reigned again as she collected her thoughts, the only sound in the room the fluttering of the candle and the steady sound of Severa's brushing.
"In the end he thought to use it as one final lesson for the graduating students," Lucina went on after a moment. "A few of them had it in their minds that a tactician sits at a desk, writing plans and never using the skills we are imparting them with. He wanted to show them that even a tactician must dirty his hands to protect those dear to him."
Owain nodded his understanding as Severa sighed and continued to brush her hair.
"Well he couldn't have picked a better way to get the point across," she said. "I don't think that's a lesson that the kids are going to forget anytime soon."
They all sat in silence for a few more moments, lost in their own thoughts, before Owain's brow creased and he looked up again, a pressing question on his mind.
"So… how am I supposed to get up without waking her?" he asked, indicating to the child curled up on his lap. "Because my leg is starting to fall asleep here."
Robin let out a sigh as he planted his torch in the ground, looking out over the rubble of his school. What had once been his school, he mentally corrected himself as he began to slowly pick through the rubble, looking for something. At least in the moonlight the damage didn't look so bad…
"Sensei?" a soft voice called out.
Robin cursed, whirling around to face his most irritatingly observant student.
"Mari'ko," Robin said, pointedly using her full name. "It's late. You should be resting."
The girl picked her way through the rubble to stand in front of her teacher, looking up at him questioningly.
"We saw you leave," Galle said from behind him, kicking at some of the fallen stones.
"Kinda late for a walk, don't you think, sir?" Van asked, limping slightly as he appeared at the edge of the rubble.
Robin sighed, leaning back against a particularly large piece of fallen wall and running a hand through his hair.
"Where're the others?" he asked defeatedly.
"Keeping an eye on the younger students with Sahiri and Aversa," Galle deadpanned.
"You kids are too smart for your own good," Robin muttered. "I've created a monster… No, I've created five monsters, haven't I? "
Van smirked, limping over and clapping the older man on the shoulder. "Yup. Now what's so important that you'd come out in the middle of the night to find it?"
Robin smiled a little as he stood up straight, looking at the three students in front of him.
"A small wooden case," he said, holding his hands about a foot apart. "It would have been in my apartment when the fort collapsed."
"And it's important?" Van repeated.
"Nah," Robin admitted. "I just couldn't sleep."
The responses from his former students were varied, and all brought a smile to Robin's face. Mari'ko was just as impassive as always, while Galle sighed and Van chuckled a little to himself.
"Well, what the heck, let's find it now that we're here," Van said, limping forward a few more steps before stumbling on some rubble in the dark.
Galle rolled his eyes, holding up his hand and casting a small fire spell for illumination.
"Here," the Plegian boy sighed. "Before you fall and break something else."
Robin turned back to find Mari'ko already gone, picking through the rubble with the speed and grace the he had come to associate with the girl. He grinned a little to himself as he moved to check another part of the ruins, utterly unsure as to where his apartment would have fallen in the mess.
After about half an hour of searching Galle and Van called out, the Plegian boy waving his flaming hand above his head to get Mari'ko and Robin's attention.
"I think we found where your apartment used to be," Van said excitedly.
"Very good," Robin nodded gratefully. "Start digging. Let's hope it wasn't too crushed."
With renewed vigour the quartet began sifting through the rubble again, digging in the ruins of what had once been Robin's life. It was a strange feeling for the tactician to be digging though his destroyed apartment, but he felt a sense of detachment as he moved rocks and rubble aside. Perhaps it had yet to hit him that his home was gone, but for the present Robin was focused on his task.
"Sensei!" Mari'ko called out from a few feet away. "I believe I have found it!"
The three men rushed over to where the slight Chon'sinian girl was pulling the case out of the rubble, and Robin sighed when he saw that it hadn't taken much damage at all. The lacquered wood had a few large scuffs on its surface, but the latches still looked to be in place, much to Robin's added relief as he took the case from his former student.
"So… what's in it?" Van said, leaning forward and giving voice to the three students' thoughts.
"A memory," Robin said, carefully placing the case down on a flat piece of rubble.
With a sense of reverence Robin popped the latches and opened the case, the red velvet line interior housing a single slit-eyed blue and gold mask, split down the middle nearly ten years ago but long since mended with a combination of Miriel's experimental science and Robin's spellcraft. He gently ran his fingers across the ridges of the mask, relishing in the memories that just seeing the old thing brought rushing back.
"A mask?" Van asked curiously.
"A woman's mask," Galle pointed out.
Robin closed the case, tucking it under one arm and standing, grinning down at the young tacticians before him.
"Well," he said with a shrug. "We are going undercover. Besides, it's not the mask I was worried about."
With deft movements Robin popped the false bottom out of the box and reached inside, revealing a sheathed dagger with a pommel carved from old bone in the shape of a dragon's head. A six-eyed dragon, snarling at all life in the world as it came for them.
"Raziel," Robin explained as he pulled the midnight-black dagger from its sheathe, glimmering menacingly in the weak firelight. "The blade of mysteries and keeper of secrets, forged from one of Grima's fangs to be Falchion's antithesis. I couldn't just leave this here in the dirt, now could I?"
Idallia groaned as she sunk into her favourite chair at the end of the day, letting the stress melt away forgotten as she finally gave her exhausted bones a break.
"I am far too young to be this tired," she complained as Hin'rath swept into the room, carrying a tray with her dinner on it.
"It can't be helped, my lady," the servant said evenly. "Ever since your brother disappeared…"
He trailed off as Idallia gave him a harsh glare, going about setting up her dinner in silence. With some reluctance she rose from her chair and moved to the small table on the other side of her study, which she had hardly left in the last few weeks. Maris had indeed disappeared, but only after his mission had ended successfully. Rumours had tricked down from the north about a man bearing a certain resemblance to her brother attacking villages and travellers as he passed through Regna Ferox, but Idallia had put them off as a coincidence. Maris was an even-tempered, intelligent man; there was no way that her brother would draw attention to himself like that in a foreign country.
Moving with mechanical, disinterested motions Idallia began to eat the dinner that had been prepared for her, not even tasting it as her worry for her brother once again overrode her conscious thoughts.
"I am sure he is fine, my lady," Hin'rath said encouragingly. "It is simply a long way to travel from the north, and-"
A bell ringing from inside the villa cut the servant off mid-platitude, his eyes narrowing as his shoulders tensed.
"I must bid you stay here, my lady," he announced before moving through the door and closing it quietly behind him.
Idallia quirked her head slightly, setting down her utensils as she slowly stood. That bell was commonly used to summon the guard for intruders, but it had only rung twice. Usually the guards on duty would ring it numerous times to ensure that someone had heard it; there was never a shortage of thieves attempting to sneak into a merchant's home and centre of operations, after all.
Silence stretched out in the hallway, long and foreboding. Idallia reached down, picking up the fine silver knife she had been eating with and hiding it behind her back as she moved to the door.
As she neared the door footsteps echoed down the hall outside, loud and sure, a familiar gait so different to Hin'rath's. Idallia cursed herself a fool as she threw the knife back onto the table, rushing to open the door and meet her-
"Maris… what in Naga's name have they done to you?"
The door opened to reveal her brother, sallow-cheeked and sunken eyed as he looked down at her. His hair was dishevelled, and the beginnings of a ratty beard covered his jaw and cheeks. However, the beard couldn't quite hide the thick, puckered scar tissue burned onto the side of his face. The symbol of the bandit, carved onto his face plain as day for all to see.
"Hello, sister dear," Maris grunted, pushing past her and straight for the liquor cabinet.
Hin'rath appeared in the hallway, rushing and clearly distressed as he tried to keep pace with Maris. He hesitated when he saw that Idallia was with the man, frowning and taking up position respectfully just outside the door.
Maris took a bottle of wine, worth more than most labourers earned in a year, and tore the cork out with his teeth before taking a deep drag directly from the bottle. Half the bottle was gone before he lowered it, sighing and wiping his face on the back of his hand.
"Maris, what the hell happened?" Idallia asked, reaching up to gently stroke her brother's scar.
He went still as his sister's fingertips gently brushed his face before sighing again and taking another long drink from the bottle.
"I completed my mission," he declared. "I couldn't burn down a stone fort, though, so I just knocked it down. But they caught me. Implicated me for the occupation in Silva. Then gave me… this."
He said the last part pointing up to his scarred cheek, his eyes clouding slightly as he frowned.
"Robin won't worry us again. He'll be too busy rebuilding for that, but… When we own Regna Ferox," he added, draining the last of the bottle and setting it down on the cabinet. "When all is done, and you sit on your throne… The Grandmaster's head is mine."