Chapter 3: Declaration of War; Sohantha's Bold Claim!
Five Kingdom Summit Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Neutiquam Erro" - Fire Emblem X: Radiant Dawn OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Morale Fades" - Fire Emblem X: Radiant Dawn OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
For the second time in their lives, the Aselian unit of the Vikeruce militia have touched the pure white snow of Etherthien. At king Alaric's very request, they have travelled across their own land and theirs to reach their snowy hills and mountainous range; perhaps hoping to prevent or even stall the looming threat of war. The first emergency meeting of the five kingdoms over twenty years, it is indeed a landmark of the continent of Dracolius.
Though unfortunate circumstances surround them, Selthris and his many in his Aselian force are reunited with old friends from the Etherthien military. Revealed also to have been following their footsteps since Aselia itself, the mysterious swords-woman Sevrenna proves her tracking skills and manages to wangle an invitation to their forces due to nationality. Though she is cold to the group's reception, Selthris allows her entry anyway for her conviction against Sohanthian forces.
In his growing concern of the unorthodox empress of Sohantha however, Selthris' worries are only magnified when he eventually meets with the woman once more for the first time in three years. He anxiously waits for the neutral invigilator and the initial caller of this meeting, king Alaric, to call the meeting to order...
Scene 1
"Now... who would like to begin?" King Alaric offered to the floor as he turned his inviting smile on the group of four country rulers ahead. They all exchanged similarly unsure and curious looks together as they listened, unwilling to participate. "Surely one of you can-"
"I'd like to start us off by asking empress Sohantha a question," Salnarra spoke up from her folded armed seat, frowning back at the older king. Alaric raised his eyebrows curiously and gestured for her to continue. Coremond's leader and elder swivelled a growing hard-look on her face toward the sitting and similarly frowning Jenice. "Why the sudden interest in targeting smaller nations?" She questioned interrogatively. As Selthris listened, he opted to remain silent, threading his fingers together on the table, watching. Jenice turned her eyes in the Coremondian's direction before upturning the frown on her face to a low smirk.
"Interest? I have no interest," the well-dressed empress chuckled derisively as she leaned back in her chair, somehow looking down on the older woman. "What should I care if a small unit of mine takes a disliking to Aselia?" She stated flippantly, briefly turning to mix her smirking gaze with Selthris' own furious one.
He still opted to stay silent however.
"Empress Sohantha, please do not treat any of us like this," the black haired woman on Selthris' right suddenly opened up with. She wore the regal colours of Naerith; hot ebony and cold crimson together, Selthris recognised them easily. "It is insulting." She spoke up for her other two comrades before exchanging a small but wordless smile with the frowning and listening Selthris.
"Indeed," King Alaric agreed with his equal junior, nodding. "Empress Sohantha, please behave as if you were in your own country; this is a meeting I have called in the hope of ending hostilities, not brewing them." He explained briefly but firmly as he joined his own fingers together, elbows bent on his own table. Jenice turned to frown at him, rolling her eyes but seemingly acquiescing to his request regardless.
"Queen Theffania, you're surprisingly direct," Salnarra threw over to her right, two seats next to her. The raven haired woman in response turned her eyes over to blink curiously at her elder, visibly inquisitive. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a public speaker so quickly."
"Well, one must grow accustomed to this calling very quickly," Theffania of Naerith smiled back at the older woman gratefully. Salnarra chuckled good-naturedly in response, nodding in quiet agreement. "Especially if not used to it."
"True enough." Salnarra grinned in assenting.
"King of Aselia," Alaric tossed in with a firm frown; Selthris swung his eyes and his head half-way 'round to face his god-uncle, also frowning. "You are very quiet; please don't hesitate to join the conversation." He advised in a softer tone this time, nodding toward the younger man.
"Yes, Aselian king," Empress Jenice threw in, a sarcastic tone on her tanned lips. As she watched him, a hungry grin on her face,.Selthris' own silver eyes darted in her direction, his frown soon morphing to a glower. "Please, join in."
The pair stared silently at one another for an uneventful second or two, the tension in the air palpable.
"I'm lucky that you can still all call me by that name," the young Lord intoned out slowly as he glared over at the attractive older woman. "After that ruthless attack nary but days ago."
"An attack?" Jenice repeated, eyebrows lifting skyward. "Surely not?" She gasped melodramatically, further goading on the youth.
Selthris' scowl twitched as he listened, his fury growing by every minute she spoke to him like that.
"I ain't diggin' that chick," Leo warned in a show of his own fast-growing anger, arms folded. He stood on the circular rafters of the meeting room, leaning on the post and overlooking the meeting below. Reserved for the two bodyguards of each attendee, they spent the time in watching them, waiting to protect their commander should trouble arise. "She's clearly out for herself."
"She definitely gives off that impression," Edgar frowned lowly next to him, his two hands gripping the wooden post. "Doesn't seem too reliable."
"Reliable?" Gorlin snorted in a mirthless chuckle, frowning as he did. "That woman's many things but reliable definitely ain't one of 'em."
"Quieten your tongues!" A voice interrupted them; the four men snapped up their eyes to find a woman, folded armed and glaring back at them. Wearing the clear amber armour of Sohantha, it was obvious she was one of the empress' bodyguards. She turned her nose up at the two pairs, her ponytail of blonde hair flitting from her shoulder to her back. "Sacrilegious dogs." The unknown Halberdier cursed as she narrowed her eyes at them as if she were looking down on an insect.
"Aw shut the f-" Bernhard from Gorlin's side threw in with, an angry tone on his words. Gorlin's eyes widened as he nudged the grunting and similarly folded armed Nomad Trooper to interrupt him. The nameless Halberdier of Sohantha merely raised an eyebrow at them before turning to exchange a wordless frown with her ally, another Halberdier, this one a man.
2
"There is no need to be so indirect and passive-aggressive, empress Sohantha," King Alaric claimed in through his own threaded-finger frown. The empress in question turned to eye him with a low look of her own, as if displeased. "Please speak to us as you would your countrymen."
"I do not speak to my countrymen," the older, attractive woman smirked over at the snow nation's king. "I agreed to come here under only one reasoning."
"And what is that?" Selthris shot back as he turned his firm-eyed glare on her, listening intently. She turned her porcelain smirk on the contrastingly scowling Selthris before replying to him.
"To declare war," the empire's ruthless ruler stated, glaring over at the youth as she spoke. Her smile soon vanished, only to be replaced with a similarly confrontational frown. Selthris' eyes narrowed even slimmer, if that were possible. "You still possess our country's holy relic, the Fire Emblem," she explained briefly as her eyes lightly flitted over to the sitting necklace lying on the table in front of him. Selthris turned his own silvery eyes down on the fire gem jewellery before swiftly facing her once again. "Not once have you attempted to return it to us; the rightful owners."
"You're opening war hostilities because of a gem that you sent to me?" Selthris recanted, his eyebrows lifting up as he leaned forward, veritably surprised.
"That's outrageous!" Theffania exclaimed suddenly, turning her appalled frown on the older woman. "You can't use that as an excuse to invade another country!"
"Do not even attempt to speak to me, Naerith worm," the empire's leader shot back, her tone full of venom. Theffania reeled back in shock, visibly hurt from the older woman's words. "After Sathryon's son had his way with you I don't see you as a visible threat anymore." Jenice let out a husky, low chuckle, derisive and all. Selthris, Salnarra, Theffania and Alaric turned their ire-growing glares on her, their trust faltering.
"Empress Sohantha." Salnarra began lowly, her arms still folded. Jenice turned her limpid eyes up to face her, smiling mockingly.
"Yes, dog of Coremond?"
Though the older woman's frown twitched as she listened, she continued. "The Fire Emblem is an aged relic; as old as the fabled stories of the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide," she began elaborating, her arms still folded solidly. "If you had done your research... then you would have learned that the Fire Emblem belongs to the Vikeruce clan throughout history," Salnarra clarified, drawing surprised frowns and risen eyebrows from the listening Alaric and Theffania. Selthris however, already knowing this, merely turned his eyes from Salnarra to Jenice in his silence. "So you... my friend, are wrong." Coremond's elder ended in a low smirk of her own. When she turned to exchange a look with the frowning Selthris, he couldn't help turn his frown into a low grin to match hers, resisting the urge to high five her.
"Do not mock me, mutt of the plains," Jenice growled dangerously, her tone suggesting a growing anger. "Aselia was once a mere fraction of the empire; that artefact belongs to us."
"I must side with elder Coremond on this, empress Sohantha," Alaric threw in softly but firmly enough that she looked over to scowl at him. "If the Fire Emblem belongs to the Vikeruce clan then the Vikeruce clan it stays."
"I have the very proof to validate lady Salnarra's words," Selthris said in his own low and soft tone, scowling contrastingly over at the empress. "A chronicling of the Vikeruce clan."
"You have the book as well...?" Jenice hissed lowly, her eyes slitting quiet fury at him.
A kind of uncomfortable silence descended down upon the group of five lords, all staring. Eventually however, Alaric opted to be the one to break it, perhaps in the hope of stabilising the palpable tension in the air.
"Empress Sohantha... please, reconsider your line of thinking," the host nation's king pleaded in his solid frown. "If you still choose to go down this road... you open yourself to attack on all fronts of Dracolius." He warned, frowning hard at the brazen woman.
"You won't be able to just pick on Aselia, empress," Salnarra alerted the younger woman in a firm-frowning glare of her own. "Coremond's forces are old friends of Aselia."
"If hostilities do break out like this then Aselia can also count on Naerith's military," Theffania offered in bravely but not without an angry frown of her own. Surprised by her words, Selthris turned his silvery eye on her briefly as he listened. "I find your mannerisms and ethics questionable at best." The rogue Queen of Naerith proclaimed confidently.
"The rats are gathering...," Jenice couldn't help but laugh derisively at the three, rising her head up haughtily at the three. "No matter how many of you there are... Sohantha will crush you all."
"Are you so certain of that?" Alaric countered just as quickly, leaning his eyes and his head toward the woman on his right. "As you know, we of Etherthien are very close to Aselia in our alliance; you would not only have to deal with the three country's military sitting before you... but you would have to deal with us as well."
"So much for staying neutral...," Jenice snorted angrily over in his direction; Alaric did not rise to her bait. "So! It would be a world war then!" The empress grinned this time as she suddenly swivelled her head back 'round to face the group. "The first of its kind since the days of the great Sathryon." She finished, emphasising the end of her sentence with a giggling grin, directing her words toward the listening and scowling Selthris.
"There is nothing we can say or do to change your mind?" Selthris finally opened his mouth to respond as he reached down and took the necklace by its chain. It gave a light clink as he held it upward for her to examine. "I wouldn't mind giving it to you here, now, if it averts a world war."
Jenice narrowed her eyes and shot her head up haughtily at him in response. "Nothing you can say or do will prevent the justice you so richly deserve, son of Sathryon," she hissed over at him in a hateful tone before suddenly standing to rise up on her feet. As she began to turn her low scowl into a superior smirk, she began to visibly charge up her Aegir on her left arm; seemingly an attack of some kind. "It shall certainly not have been the first kind... hm?" The empress cryptically stated, grinning down at him.
As if reacting to her crackling Quintessence, the super-fast Leo and Edgar shot down from the rafters and stood directly between them, sword and axe drawn simultaneously and instantly. Similarly, the empress' own bodyguard stepped in at her sides alongside Theffania's unknown guards. Gorlin and Bernhard were both the last pair to reappear at their Coremondian leader's sides, similarly reacting to the woman's Aegir infused fist.
"Please!" Alaric began loudly, raising up his left palm to calm them all down. "Peace my friends; I called this meeting to avoid further bloodshed, not to add to it." Etherthien's king claimed honestly and tiredly as he watched the edgy group before him, as if frustrated. The group of warriors stared intensely at one another, their fingers itching for the weapons either sheathed to their scabbards or hanging on their backs. The palpable tension in the air was finally cut by the undaunted empress; her posture unchanged and frowning coolly with her next words.
"Then you should have counted on your forces... shouldn't you have?" The woman breathed over quietly and almost dangerously as she turned her glazed eyes on the sweating king. "Selthris of Aselia," she suddenly and finally addressed as she narrowed her solid eyes on him, gazing with a quiet kind of hatred. Selthris stared back as he stood up from his seat, in between the two battle-ready bodyguards ahead of him. "When we meet again... it will be in a sea of blood and hatred... just like the rest of your repulsive clan." Jenice finished with, raising her head up at him in spite of her seated position.
As Selthris leant his body to the side in his own hard gaze, his furrowed brow hardened as he listened. As if finally reacting to her words, the crackling Aegir shroud around her finally gave off a single and final whoosh before it visibly encompassed them all. Like magic, the three Sohanthian forms before the edgy group thus vanished; an obvious Quintessence technique. Leo and Edgar gasped together, almost simultaneously as they lowered their arms from their still sheathed weapons. Gorlin, Bernhard and the two nameless emissaries of Theffania also reacted in similarly relieved fashions. Finally reacting to her, the group all relaxed their nerves and Etherthien's king stood up from his seat with a defeated sigh.
"I'm sorry, everyone," the older man spoke as he placed his arms at his sides, frowning apologetically at the group of men and women. "I had thought that, if she had responded to my call... that perhaps I could convince her myself."
"It is not your fault," the smiling Theffania replied as she placed her arms together, resting with one another as she faced him. "We of Naerith at least appreciate what you tried to do for us all."
"Can you really spare any effort after the Burning War and what it's cost you?" Salnarra boldly and, perhaps rudely, interjected with as she turned her folded armed frown on the younger woman. "To ally whatever forces you have with the very country that you fought with but three years ago; I can't help but see it as a very rash action." The Coremondian leader claimed as she frowned back at him.
"Lady Salnarra..." Alaric chided over at the older woman as he placed his hands on his tabletop, frowning disapprovingly.
"It is fine," Naerith's new Queen waved the man off with a dismissive chuckle before turning back to face the Coremondians. "Naerith may not be the military power it once was," she began in her light frown before putting on a solid expression on her face. "But when the empire itself calls to attacking a nation for no plausible reason whatsoever... we have to act."
"You're very co-operative for a Naerith woman," Selthris finally spoke out in a furrowed, suspicious frown. "Especially to the man that caused the near death of your country as a whole," he claimed boldly as he turned the rest of his body to face her. The wincing Leo attempted to signal him as if to stop speaking but Selthris did not listen. "I'm shocked you didn't just leave us to deal with Sohantha ourselves." He admitted, half curious and half suspicious as he frowned over at her. Undaunted by his tone and his words, she merely smiled back at him.
"I can't see the justification that Sohantha uses in order to do this, so...," the young Queen began as she advanced forward; her two bodyguards similarly cringed as they attempted to silently warn her on approaching but she, like her speaking partner, did not opt to listen. "If empress Sohantha were to turn her attention over to, say, Naerith instead... how would I feel then if I had denied you any assistant at all?" She stated, this time with a confident smirk, grinning over at him knowingly.
Selthris couldn't help but growing a small grin of his own, nodding in conjunction with her words before outstretching his left fist. As if a ritual of new brotherhood, the pair bumped their clenched fists with one another, similar grins on their faces. The silently watching Alaric and Salnarra also let out lightly surprised but placated smiles of their own, turning to exchange their pacifying expressions.
"So... you are all serious about this then?" Alaric finally opened with as he turned his smile back into his business-like frown. The group of warriors all turned to face their organiser, returning his curious frown with their own. "You will all go through with this?"
"It's threat of pure extinction, Alaric," Salnarra responded with in a matter-of-factly tone, her arms still folded as she did. "We have no choice."
"Yeah!" Gorlin suddenly exclaimed into the scene as he stumbled towards the blinking Selthris on his right before wrapping his larger arm around the smaller Lord in a brother-like fashion. "Can't leave the old boss kid on his own now can we?" The Coremondian swordsman grinned down at him; Selthris couldn't help but shoot back an amused smirk of his own before exchanging a similar fist bump with the old friend's free left hand. Leo and Edgar at his front let out similarly grinning faces as they exchanged them together, silently watching the scene before them.
With a wide growing smile of his own, Alaric moved over from his desk, his hands joined at his back in a show of his old habit. Salnarra nodded at him, as if in knowing; she unfolded her arms and walked over to join the group of men and women. Soon, the association of rulers and warriors were joined together in a quad formation. Their bodyguards took steps back to allow them some room in obedient silence, as if already knowing. King Alaric's smile never left him as he lowered one of his hands down into the middle of the circle of four, as if to be joined with.
"Let this now...," he began in a quiet smile as the similar faced Salnarra first joined his hand with her own, placing on the back of his. "Be the second beginning...," Etherthien's king spoke out as the gracious-expressed Theffania placed her own hand softly on Salnarra's. "Of Dracolius' next four kingdom alliance!" He finished in a low grinning exclamation, his words bouncing off the walls of the staff meeting room as the frowning Selthris finally joined his own hand with his partners'.
Filled with a hype-infused morale, the rulers' bodyguards all called out a battle cry, shooting their fists upward to match their enthusiasm.