FE: Realm of Darkness
Chapter Thirteen
Fire Emblem Disclaimer:If I did own it, PoR would have had a 50 episode anime covering over both games. =D Thanks for all the reviews! Moreover, you don't know how many times I've accidentally misspelled Tyna's name as 'tuna'. XD
The view of Begnion's lush land below reminds Leanne of Serenes but it did not distract her mind from the burning agony she's current situation. When in laguz form, moving her wings made her cry tears from the pain from having flown such a great distance nonstop. Her brother Reyson is still the stronger flyer of the two and it didn't help her being sheltered all the time. She stubbornly ignored the female voice of the medallion in her head that kept urging her to rest since all she was doing now was hurting herself. But she could not stop, not when she had just reached the outskirts of Kulbert. The Eastern border was so painstakingly near that she would only allow herself to rest until she is on the other side.
'Iasadukaramot!' the beautiful voice repeated once again. The voice sounds so urgent in asking her to stop flying, but the princess refuses to give in. All she could of think of is covering as much ground as she could.
What she didn't expect is the sudden jolt of energy zipping up her arm that was pressing the medallion against her bosom. Leanne gasped out from the stunning numbness as she suddenly plunged downward for a few moments only to grimace in pain from the frantic flapping of her wings as she fought to stay in the air, above the hard ground.
'Iakuretihsowinan?' she demanded through their telepathic connection that the necklace kept open. What did the Goddress think she was doing? Kill her?
The jolt was stronger the second time, racing up her arms and targeting the veins in her wings.
'Ukirukah,' the voice resounded in her mind, louder and more forceful than ever. Clenching her eyes shut from hearing the word to 'land', Leanne hovered in the air for another few moments. After failing to flap her wings, she plummeted towards the upper canopy of the forest she just glided over minutes before.
Trees grated at her descending form until the branches seemed to thread together to catch her feather-light body from hitting the forest floor. Gritting her teeth from the multiple bleeding scratches on her bare skin, Leanne slumps against her makeshift hammock. Only by twitching her fingers did she realize that her fingers clutched the medallion, despite having even less strength to move anything else.
"Ezan?" the Heron demanded to know why it did this to her. But instead of an answer, the Heron could hear the female voice humming ethereally. The medallion was singing her to sleep and Leanne gave in without a fight.
Calling her a traitor and a failure of a daughter was not helping Tyna's burden of stress at all. Apparently, every time she returned to this frozen country, it turned around to chew on her behind for a period of time.
The Prince of Daein thought she was a Greil Mercenary. Her family would take the blame for accusations that were in no way true, and as much as she wanted to flee, she would not abandon her family. Clenching her hands closed, the young woman stepped forward to protest when the doors leading into the room opened once more. Soren is escorted inside with a palace guard on each side. The sage's hair was tousled out of the band that held the long mane back and thick, coiled rope wrapped tightly around his slim wrists.
Red eyes showed vague curiosity when looked around the room, "Prince Pelleas, you sure know how to greet your guests."
"Murderers are no welcome guests of mine," The prince replied nonchalantly, signaling the guards to bring their captive closer to him.
Soren raised a slim brow after being jerked forward, "Says the son of a man who was more than willing to kill anyone who didn't share his deranged vision."
The punch was sudden and strong enough to snap the sage's head to the side and draw blood from his mouth. Pelleas glared with visible hatred before shaking his blood covered knuckles with a pained grimace.
"I admit my father was flawed in many ways, but his dream of uniting this sad excuse of a continent has yet to be realized. The Goddess gave it to us and we have soiled her precious gift. I will fix that mistake."
The sage boldly yawned to show his opinion concerning the prince's vision. Tyna couldn't help glaring along with everyone else in the room since he was not helping the situation at all.
"Yet another man convinced he can change the world," he mumbled with annoyance and then rolled his eyes heavenward, "I doubt the world changes for just one man and I'm tired of standing here under the pretense of arrest."
Pelleas ignored the tempting itch to slug the man again, "Are you saying I am the one who is mistaken?"
"Exactly. Now I doubt you're going to release me," Soren said and suddenly the restraints around his arms burst into fragments as he flexed his arms out. In the next moment, the sage appeared in a whirl of wind behind Tyna with a hand resting on her left shoulder.
"So we'll take our leave of this place. You are proving to act more like your father every day," he said with a sneer while glancing over at the group of soldiers that were sure to be an obstacle in their escape.
The prince was already yelling out orders for their capture. His ward was struggling in his arms as he pulled her with him to the balcony door behind them. Over her shoulder, Soren was casting gust after gust of powerful winds to push them back. The two older men who Tyna had been greeted by earlier drew their swords and savagely cut at his gales. Soren cursed silently as he realized their weapons were arcane thunder blades, an element his wind was weak against. He couldn't call on fire or thunder in such a closed room without seriously injuring the soldiers, and he simply wanted to escape. Not leave a trail of bodies behind him since those days were over, or so he thought. With the prince's declaration, it was likely that he was bent on starting another war and he would be forced to start killing again.
"Stop struggling! I'm trying to get us out of here alive!" the dark haired sage snarled as he juggled his ward out of the way of casting more wind that was now whirling around them in a elemental moving barrier.
"Look out! "she squealed in panic as her brother Urbayne swung his weapon sideways in a sweeping arc, sending crackling waves of energy towards them.
Urbayne's attack violently zapped the wall of wind Soren conjured. Not long after, another stream of stronger lightning attacked the whirling barrier from Torin and she sees the serious and determined face of her eldest brother through the light generated from his sword. His eyes were emotionless, a true sign just how serious he was taking this fight. Tyna realized with numb clarity that her brothers are willing to kill on the Prince's orders.
"Get to the balcony!" yelled Soren in the woman's ear as he pushed her harshly backwards to the balcony door. He needed to buy them more time and in order to do that, he needed to use a stronger attack. Once he was sure she was outside against the side banner to his left, Soren inhaled through his nose and gathered all the air in the room. When that wasn't enough, he reached for the air from outside. Pelleas' eyes widened in realization too late and he let the large amount of wind he compacted under pressure loose.
The sonic wave pushed everyone back off their feet, and into the wall of the room behind them. Not bothering to see the result, Soren raced onto the balcony and reached Tyna. She slumped against him in delayed shock, but he shook her awake.
"We have to keep moving," he murmured and tugged her closer to the banister that was suspended over a flight of stairs that led to the floor above them. When she didn't respond, he picked her up off her feet and jumped over the side. Landing with feet apart, Soren hit the steps running. Behind them, he could hear the Prince yelling for their capture and to alert the guards throughout the castle.
He climbed the stairs two steps at a time easily, while his laguz hearing noted the nearest footsteps of soldiers running around to intercept them. When his path was blocked, Soren cast a boost of magic resistance on his student while shocking the lance soldiers and sword masters with lightning. Not bothering to hold back in his attacks, he lunged over their stunned bodies and raced to the highest point of the castle.
Dazed, Tyna glanced up at her dark haired teacher. His face was determined and focused when attacking or defending. He moved with purpose and it felt like the fog was lifting from her brain slowly. She was a mage too, and he couldn't be the only one fighting for them. The anxiety over her own family will have to wait. Patting an arm that was wrapped around her, she looked around at the whirling bricks of the castle wall as it whizzed past. They were moving at an almost unnatural speed or maybe she was still in shock.
"What can I do? Give me an order," she rasped when Soren leaned against a corner to catch his breath after climbing four flights of stairs nonstop. He set her down and braced himself against the brick.
"Get as high as we can. Also obtain a bow, any kind will do."
"Alright," she murmured and looked sideways to see a group of guards coming from their left. Setting her back to his, Tyna braced her hands out and cast a large arc of fire. It was her strength element, and she aimed for the men's legs to limit their movement. Feeling a tug on her sleeve to follow, she cast another wave of fire as a precaution while inching along after her teacher.
Pointing to a weapons store room at the bottom of their last flight of stairs, Soren nudged her over while keeping the soldiers around them at bay. She moved as fast as she with only a palm of flame for light before grabbing a compact bow and some arrows. What they needed them for was beyond her, but Soren had a plan and it could just save their lives.
"Limit their movement but do not kill them! I want them alive!" screamed the Prince's voice.
"Tyna, combine your fire with mine and we'll buy a few minutes."
Nodding, the mage shrugged off her exhaustion from so many spells and pressed her right shoulder with Soren's left. Each gathering a fireball, they cast them at the same time and she poured as much strength as she could into the attack.
"Keep attacking," Soren said into her ear as he jerked the bow and arrows from her shoulders. Not bothering to complain when the drawstring caught some strands of her hair, Tyna ducked a few thrown javelins. Her Wind was very weak so she sent a few thunderbolts towards some Generals and knights. Just when she thought she could keep up with this rhythm of battle, she saw the line of archers behind the first two rows of soldiers she was fighting.
"Um….master?" she asked uneasily as the arrows were knocked and the second row knelt down. Soren finished tying the torn strips of his sleeves around the arrow head.
"Soren? We've got arrows coming and I mean a lot!" Her voice took on a frantic pitch this time and her arms shook from having been grazed by a thrown axe. He cast fire in his hand and ignited the cloth tipped arrowhead.
The first row knelt down and the archers took aim. Eyes widening, Tyna took a step back since she felt there was no way to dodge all twenty five arrows. Did they not hear the Prince's order to spare their lives?
"Soren!" she screamed as the arrows were released and came whizzing forward. An arm wrapped around her waist to whirl her around in a large circle so she was facing the opposite direction. All her surroundings blurred together that she could not see the bow with its humming drawstring lying at her feet or the rising arrow climbing into the clouds above her head. All she could hear was the loud roar of something happening behind her as several arrows whizzed through the air around her.
Soren cast a fire barrier first before combining it with wind to raise the temperature, feeding the flames to get them to last longer. At the same time, he planted himself firmly in front of Tyna to shield her from any stray arrows. He knew his limits and this explosion could not kill him.
When the air started to clear from the large explosion that occurred, a large charcoal stain the size of a fifty foot fan was steaming from the stones at Soren's feet. Prince Pelleas was behind the now scattered line of archers and glaring furiously at his soldiers before shoving his way forward. In his left hand, a sinister purple mist started to gather around his shaking fingers.
Coughing to clear the smoke from burnt arrow debris and the metallic smell of molten iron from his lungs, Soren knelt down on one knee. Looking behind him, a question of asking his student and partner if she was alright died in his mouth. Curling into a ball on her right side while clutching two arrows buried into her left side of her stomach and ribcage, Tyna was gasping from the pain. Cursing, he hurried to her side and pulled her upper body into his arms.
Pelleas continued to advance through the smoke, left arm now engulfed in purple, murky shadows.
"I'll send you to your precious Ike in death myself," he growled while raising his left arm to prepare an attack. "After all, I sent him there."
Soren didn't have time to think when his ears picked up the piercing shriek from the sky above them. A brown and tan colored blur streaked straight down from the sky towards the battlefield. Picking up Tyna once again, Soren ran for the edge of the tower and jumped off while being chased by a curling mass of purple. As they fell, the blur of brown appeared parallel and then they were jerked upwards.
Wincing from the sudden change in gravity, Soren looked up and reached around to pat at the scaly foot surrounding him.
"Outagira Janaff. Thanks."
Glancing up while panting from his exertions, Calix caught sight of his sister's hair as the great bird flew overhead. He was relieved to know she escaped.
At his feet, his two older brothers lay defeated on the balcony. Torin was out cold with several deep gashes along his arms while Urbayne was glaring with unfocused eyes at his younger brother's boots.
"You weren't supposed to be this strong," Bayne said through gritted teeth as he struggled to stay awake.
Calix sharply shook the blood from his stolen rapier and then threw it aside. Straightening his robes, he glanced down at his older brother and smiled painfully.
"I've been holding back all these years. Sleep brother, we will talk later."
Almedha clutched at her hair as she struggle to breathe. Eyes wide, she kept hyperventilating as she slumped to her knees on the cold, stone stairs outside the palace walls. She couldn't stop thinking about the person she saw. His long black hair, those familiar narrowed eyes and that red marking on his forehead as he ran for those stairs with a girl clutched in his arms for all he was worth.
Eyes clenched shut with tears streaming down her face, the former Laguz clutched at her chest as the memories from that one precious day of giving birth struck after so many years. She remembered that fuzz of ocean blue hair and blue eyes, yet it didn't feel right. Shaking, Almedha could faintly hear some servants call out her name as she fell towards the ground in a dead faint.
'My son…my son…!'
Daein winters were harsh most years, and this proved to be no different. Tsurista readjusted the fur covered hood on her head while glancing over to her right. Her laguz lover, Griffeth held her daughter in his large muscled arms to protect her from the biting subzero air. They were only a few hours out of Nevassa, heading on foot to a small village for a horse to buy. To think they were following the orders of that mage of all people.
His large tail swinging majestically behind his seven foot beorc form, Griffeth steps a few times closer to his chosen woman, "I hope you explain this situation later."
Tsurista sighed and huddled further into her furs and coverings, "Griff, please be patient with me. You know I will."
At the same time, she didn't want to explain anything. It would only bring up Zeph's real father, her weakness all those five years ago and the fact that she really did love Griffeth. He has a possessive feline nature and she still wasn't confident how he would react to this shocking truth in their new lives. Unlike before, she wanted to keep this large and wonderful creature of a man.
Scooting closer through the snow, the tired woman leaned against the Laguz' muscle made side. Soaking up his strength, she smiles despite herself at the reassuring pressure of his tail curling around her ankle once they stopped walking.
"I love you Griffeth. Never doubt that fact," she said into the meat of his arm as he began to growl in a low thrum of purrs. The pressure around her ankle tightened only to make her smile widen.
He understood and trusted her. It was all she could ask for.
To be continued!
Hooboy, its been a while and I hope you liked! I honestly liked how Calix came out in this chapter. Some short but revealing scenes too! Please review for the next chapter! =D
Kitani~