Well, I'm not dead. Sorry it took so long, a lot of not-great stuff happened over the last few months, so I haven't been writing as much. But I completely redid the outline, and am much happier with where this story is going now. This chapter had to be cut in half, so, hopefully, the next chapter will come in less time that it took for this one. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.
It was just before dawn when the warning bells rang out, rousing Robin from her uneasy slumber. She had fallen asleep at the wooden desk in her chambers, having stayed up late into the night going over a map of the city and making sure there was nothing she had missed that would either help them or hurt them. Both fortunately and unfortunately, there had been nothing.
She threw on her cloak and took off out of the room heading for the walls to find a vantage point from which she could observe the battle. Soldiers in full armor brushed passed her in the hallway, paying her no mind on their way to their various destinations. Robin weaved and dodged, doing her best to avoid getting hit by couriers rushing from various parts of the castles with messages, and servants preparing for the siege while taking care of their ordinary duties. Once she had battled her way through the castle halls, she finally took a look at the hellscape that lay before her.
Though it had begun only minutes before, the fields beneath the castle were already red with blood. At first she had just thought it because of the light from the rising sun, but the glistening sheen was unmistakable. The sky was dark with smoke from the blazes caused by errant spells and the cries of men drifted over to where she stood. It was a sight she had seen a number of times, but not from this side of the battle. In a way it wasn't as bad from here, away from the coppery smell of blood and the pungent stench of burning bodies.
Then she looked at the field as a tactician. The soldiers stretched across the field, numbering at least 10,000 if not more, as opposed to Ylisstol's 1200. The mages seemed to be interspersed amongst the ordinary troops, so she couldn't tell how many there were. However, she could see the remnants of dark magic which told her that there were at least a few dark mages and sorcerers in their ranks. She couldn't see any siege engines, which was good. It meant that they wouldn't have to worry about rocks or rotting carcasses being launched over their walls.
"Lady Robin," She was snapped away from the sight by a courier she didn't recognize, "The Exalt requests your presence," He informed Robin, "She is waiting in the council chamber,"
The tactician said a quick thank you to the young man as he ran off back the way he had come. She took one last glance at the battlefield, committing the sight to memory before heading off in the same direction. She was worried, so incredibly worried for what lay ahead. Not just for her and Ylisstol, but for Chrom and the other Shepherds. She knew Chrom was a capable leader, but at this point in time, he could be rash and was very headstrong, traits which he never fully grew out of. It just made her wonder what could happen without her there to reign it in a bit.
She shook her head. The tactician had no time for this. She couldn't focus on things that were out of her control, not when she had a city full of people and an Exalt to protect. They ran into little trouble in her timeline, and she was fairly certain they wouldn't this time.
By the time she reached Emmeryn, Robin had pulled herself out of her doubts and was completely focused on the task at hand: getting them through this siege. It would require completely different tactics than what she was used to, but having been on the opposite side a number of times, she had some knowledge to work off of.
"Thank you for coming, Robin," Emmeryn's serene voice greeted her, belying the worry that showed on her face.
"I apologize for the delay, milady," She responded as she took her spot at one end of the large war map, "I was surveying the battle,"
Emmeryn gave her nod, telling Robin to continue.
"We are vastly outnumbered. They have at least 10,000 soldiers maybe more," She started, "They have mages and sorcerers scattered among their soldiers, so I'm not sure what sort of ratio we have between the two. Most of their forces are grouped around the eastern and southern exits. Thankfully, they do not appear to have any siege engines, but they do have ladders, so we need to be prepared for our enemy to begin scaling the walls,"
"We need to be prepared for the possibility of losing the lower town as well," That was met with some protests from the nobles gathered, but Emmeryn silenced it with her hand. Robin nodded her thanks, "I will do everything in my power to keep them from breaching the outer wall, but with how outnumbered our forces are, we need to be prepared for the worst,"
She focused on Emmeryn, "I would keep the Fire Emblem with you at all times, milady. We don't know if there is another traitor in our midst, and the last thing we need is for Plegia to get its hands on it,"
The council dismissed after that, each person heading to a different area to perform what duties they had.
"Where do you want me, Robin?" The tactician turned and saw Cordelia standing in the doorway.
"Cordelia! You should be resting,"
She shook her head, "I have rested enough. I may not have my Pegasus at the moment but I can still help fight,"
"Take command of the western half of the southern wall," Robin told her, recognizing that arguing would do no good, "You won't have as much action as some of the other areas, but I'll also need you to watch for any soldiers who try to wrap around to the western gate,"
"Consider it taken care of," the pegasus knight said, and began to walk out. She paused for a moment in the doorway, "Thank you,"
She left immediately after that with Robin following shortly after.
Robin ran along the walls, dodging spells and weaving through soldiers in an attempt not to get hit by any stray blows. It was becoming rather difficult to avoid joining the fray, and she was sure that by the end of the day she would be involved in the fight directly. However, it seemed she was destined to join it much sooner than that.
A cry of pain caused her to turn around where she saw a soldier holding his face which had been badly burned by an enemy's spell. She ran over there,
"You. Get him to the infirmary," She ordered another soldier, "I'll cover your post until you return,"
He looked at her skeptically, but took his injured comrade towards the castle.
The tactician looked coldly at the soldiers who were scaling the ladder, and pulled out a tome she had taken from the armory earlier. Its delicate pages slightly yellowed from age, but still perfectly functional
She began chanting quickly and precisely, making sure she repeated the incantation correctly. Circles of glowing runes appeared around her, as she did so, and storm butts began to gather out of nowhere. The tome in her hand began to crackle with electricity, while her hair, along with the soldiers' around her, stood on end, and those who were not currently engaged in combat paused at the electric feeling that filled the air around them. She threw the book above her where it floated as she aimed the spell.
"Mjolnir!" She cried and a large bolt of lightning crashed from the heavens straight down the wall, striking at the base of the ladder. The ladder, and the soldiers around it, was reduced to a smoldering pile of ash in an instant.
She snatched the tome out of the air, "Stay focused," She commanded the few soldiers who had stopped fighting to gawk at the might of the legendary spell, "The battle is far from over,"
She quickly scanned the rest of the wall, checking the state of their defenses. At the moment, they were holding up well. The few mages stationed along the wall were quickly destroying most of the siege ladders before the opposing force could scale the walls and countering the spells thrown by enemy mages with spells of their own.
It had been a week since the start of the siege, and it was already apparent that they would not be able to hold the lower town for more than another day or two at most. She turned heel and headed for the council room where she knew the Exalt would be. Robin needed to tell her that they needed to evacuate the people to the inner walls of the citadel immediately. Upon arriving at the chamber, she was informed that Emmeryn had gone down to the makeshift infirmary in the main hall
"Exalt!" Robin called upon seeing the ruler talking to one of the injured townsfolk. Emmeryn turned at the sound of Robin's voice, and her serene look changed to one more grim, though it was a barely perceptible change, "I need to speak with you. It's urgent,"
The Exalt nodded and followed Robin into one of the castle's many side passages, and away from prying eyes and ears.
"What is it Robin?" Emmeryn asked her calm demeanor fading somewhat, and a more worried expression appearing on her face.
"We need to evacuate the lower town immediately," She had no time to mince words, every minute was precious in this situation.
"The walls?"
Robin shook her head, "We're holding them, but only barely. Our forces may be able to keep them from breaching it for one maybe two days if we're lucky,"
The Exalt sighed, "I will give the orders to start the process immediately,"
"Thank you," Robin bowed, "I'm sorry,"
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Emmeryn's kind smile returned, "You have done so much for us already. I do not think we would have lasted this long without your help,"
Robin said nothing, only nodded her head. She wasn't sure how true that statement was as she had no clue how long Ylisstol had lasted against the onslaught last time.
Emmeryn left without another word, and Robin ran off back to the town to begin evacuating people. She was known throughout the townsfolk, not well, but they knew her to be the hastily appointed royal tactician, and would likely listen to her. As it was too dangerous to call the townsfolk into one area, she would be forced to go door to door. She knocked on the first door and a middle-aged man with graying hair answered it.
"What do you n-need, milady?" He asked his a gruff voice, his fear apparent only by the slight shake in his voice.
"We need you to evacuate to the inner wall," A small amount of relief crept across the man's features.
"Alright. I feared you were recruiting us village folks like the old king did. I shoulda know the Exalt wouldn't allow that. Thank you for warning us, Lady Robin,"
The man started to close the door, "Wait," The man stopped, looking at her curiously, "I apologize for asking this, but is there anyone in your household who can go around warning the others,"
The man nodded, and called back inside, "Theo!"
A young man quickly came running out, being somewhere around Donny's age and rather lanky. She quickly told him what she needed him to do, and he was off like an arrow, not wasting any time in telling his neighbors. She thanked the man before returning the walls where the battle was still fiercely raging.
Her attention was completely focused on the gate which was groaning under the near constant barrage of the battering ram. She had to find a way to slow them. Options raced through her mind, only to be rejected quickly. Fire magic would likely do more harm than good, and lightning magic was to imprecise to be used in this case. Wind magic was her only option, but with Elwind being the only wind tome in her possession, it wasn't likely to help at all. Boiling tar would effectively slow them down, but they had run out of it.
Ylisstol was ill prepared for a siege, and now they were suffering because of it. There had to be something…
An idea struck Robin, "You!" A squire running past stopped at her voice, "Get as much grease from the kitchens as you can and bring it to me,"
He gave her an odd look, but didn't question the orders, and ran off to fulfill them. Robin prayed to Naga that the gates would hold for a short while longer, and helped fend of the intruders trying to scale the walls. She only hoped that the squire would return shortly.
She got into the groove of fighting, a feeling which she had honestly missed. It wasn't that she liked fighting, she had always preferred peace to war, but there was something rather meditative and calm about the trance one seemed to enter in the middle of battle. It was the repetitive motion of the slashing of her sword that drew her into it, and it was the cries of men that drew her out of it. She felled another enemy soldier and looked towards the source of the cries. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw soldiers pouring through the once closed gate.
The Plegians had broken through.
Please leave a review on your way out, and thank you to those who have followed, favorited, and reviewed this story already. A special thanks to November7th who's review has helped me with the writing of this story
-AlyRe