If there was any one advantage that Shin and, by proxy, the village as a whole had it was that Daniela's troops where not aware of the broader scope of military action underway.
This was why the most important part of warfare was... well, logistics. But a part of logistics was communication. Making sure everyone who needed to knew the two most critically important things. Where they were supposed to be... and where they weren't. So that the could be in one and always avoid the other.
Communication over great distances given the current technology level, though? Difficult. Expensive, when you weren't just sending a courier to physically run a message to its recipient. Why invest the expense into a platoon that were just chasing after some poachers in a police action of sorts? If they had to stop to send and receive messages along the way then they would never be able to get anything done and Shin would have quickly lost their pursuit.
So Shin had the opportunity to bait them over towards the incoming Faceless.
And the Faceless were... They weren't people any more, whether or not they had ever started off as people. They were monsters. Organic war machines. The ability to control their destructive actions was limited. Rather than being finely manipulated and commanded by a leader on the field, they were generally just... pointed in the right direction, told where to go, and sent off.
Like unguided missiles made of muscle, they moved off in the direction and to the position that they were aimed towards and then rampaged.
They didn't really care what flag someone was waving, or what uniform they were wearing, or if they were wearing any uniform at all. As Daniela's troops quickly discovered.
... This did, of course, leave Shin in the uncomfortable position of being stuck between two forces that would each be equally glad to kill him in the process of baiting them into killing each other... as much as possible.
The mobility of a wyvern was, frankly, the only thing that had a chance of keeping him alive on the insane maneuver. The fact that, at the last minute, Shin could retreat up and avoid all pursuit was...
Not true.
The Faceless couldn't fly. But despite what the games would portray, they were not limited to the ground. They could throw each other, like weighty and fleshy cannonballs, to clear a lot more distance than was... than probably was represented on a map's appearance.
This nearly led to disaster, as the bitch Wyvern weaved around one tossed Faceless but was clipped in the wing regardless... enough of a jostle that the next Faceless flying through the air landed a grapple, wrestling the screeching Wyvern down out of the sky as she bit and clawed back all the way into range of arrow and spell fire.
It wasn't great. Between both of those factors, never mind attacking even the Faceless attached to the wyvern, it was all Shin could do to keep from becoming too injured as she managed to pry the horrible gorilla-like creature off just in time to pull out of the deadfall, leaving it slamming heavily into the ground alone.
Situation: fire and electric burns across much of his body. Arrow lodged in shoulder. Extremely irritable.
And to all appearances, going by the sadistic little smirk on Daniela's face as she held a tome, this was it.
"You've led us on quite the chase." She said. "Normally, poachers only face a light punishment for their crimes, you know? Perhaps a public whipping. Perhaps a few months in a cell. They even feed you for free, you know? Well... sometimes. Stealing Wyverns, though? That takes big bollocks and an empty head, even if you can pull it off."
She chuckled behind her hand as her troops did their best to force the Faceless to hold distance.
"You understand, right? We can't allow just anyone that thinks they have the talent to try and get astride a Wyvern's back. It is the privilege of nobility to decide who has that honor. An honor that you and your maiden friend have shamelessly infringed upon." Daniela said, clearly loving the opportunity to lecture and condescend to someone. "Meaning there's only one of two outcomes for you. Either someone more important than the nobility you have insulted decides to be impressed, and declares that they will be taking you on as a vassal servant... or it's going to be a messy public execution~ And I'm so very sorry to say... The royal Princes and Princesses have already chosen a pair of sworn vassals each. So you're out of luck. After the trouble you've put me to, tracking you down, and the loss of my men here, I'm looking forward to it! With luck it'll lure your sweet maiden in to try and rescue you as well... then we'll have you both. It can be a double execution~ ... What, nothing to say, swine?"
For someone who had been clearly angling for a hateful rage-filled response, or sorrowful despair, Shin's placid smile was probably infuriating. He didn't take any joy in it, though, any more than what came next.
"The puppetmaster's ultimate goal is the death of all humans anyway. In that sense, I'd only be getting ahead of the rush." Shin said with a shrug.
"Haaaah!?" Daniela replied, face twisting.
"You don't know? King Garon is a puppet, almost the same as these monsters. Dancing on the end of strings, to another's scheme." Shin declared brazenly. "The timing was critical. Nobody thinks too hard about it when a man changes after the death of his wife, after all."
Daniela's expression became increasingly darker and more wrathful with the statement, and power began gathering from her tome in preparation for some kind of punishment.
Then her gaze snapped up as arrows began falling from the village's crude walls, designed to keep out stray animals and one or two bandits at a time but not actual invasions. They glanced off of a quickly thrown up magical shield, but served to cover for Nyx and Felix moving in, both casting magic to hit Daniela's troops from the flank, breaking their line.
The Faceless, uncaring as ever as to the nature of the meat being pulped beneath their knuckles, advanced into Daniela's troop position and the screams of dying men and women sounded out on the battlefield.
Shin could see the moment that Daniela realized that she was going to have to flee the battlefield without a captive, as the bitch Wyvern caught her second wind and leapt backward into the air, hissing and unimpeded by the extremely distracted archers and mages. She cursed.
"Next time, you wretched mercenary. I'll drag you to the gallows yet." Daniela swore.
Shin's smile faded a little. His gut said that this was likely to be the last time they encountered one another. Having been told the secret truth of Garon... it depended on if she could keep her mouth shut about it or if she reported his claim. At that point, being the actual puppet of Anankos... it was likely that he would immediately act to silence the rumor.
Even if it felt like the right thing to do, he'd deliberately set a woman up to probably be killed. That either of them might have killed the other in the heat of battle was... or at least, felt like a different matter than orchestrating her death later on, by someone else's hands. Colder.
... Well, it all came down to what she did next, he supposed. If she was wise and didn't mention what she had heard, then she would live. But that was already out of Shin's hands. On some level, he couldn't help but wonder if it was more the fact that she was technically a potential capture worth points that left him hesitant. He had not, after all, thought much about the lives of her underlings... though technically, the same could be said for any of those who happened to overhear them and which survived this engagement.
"Come on, lad, you've done enough. Time for us to get you clear as well." an elderly hunter barked, loosing another arrow as Felix bounded up to the wyvern's back, heedless of her vexation, to pluck the one in Shin's shoulder out and then knit the flesh together.
The withdrawal wasn't precisely orderly on either count of things, but faced with the option to pursue two groups, the Faceless didn't manage to catch up to either.
Shin breathed a little easier once they had passed the far side of the village's walls, leaving both Daniela and the Faceless far behind as the latter hammered at and clambered over the simple fortifications.
Credit where it was due, Mozu and, later, Nyx and Felix had been convincing enough that there were no stragglers sticking around in their homes to be massacred. The whole village population was moving as one, evacuating at the best speed they could manage further into Hoshido.
The Faceless, having been given instructions to mount a surprise attack, would not follow even if they recognized that the homes they were set to rampage across were empty. Lots of lives had been saved, today.
Shin couldn't be satisfied with just that, resting on his laurels, though. There was still more to do, to ensure the survival of this world.
-
A.N
Fate Proscribe: Population of 'Small Village' saved from near-complete massacre in surprise Faceless assault.
12c
17 unspent credits total.