Chapter 1: The Verge of History

FREDRICK

Being on horseback, Fredrick was the first to arrive in the market square of the town. The area was full of turned over wagons and pilfered market stands. A river cut through the center of the square with a bridge connecting the two sides.

From across the bridge, Fredrick could hear a loud cackling.

"Gwa ha ha! Get to it, lads! Grab anything shiny, an' put the rest to th'torch!"

As Fredrick rounded a stand, he saw a large man standing in front of the church as it burned. The man's face was gaunt, with greasy unwashed hair and prickly stubble all over his face. His cheekbones seemed to have been adorned with some kind of red war paint. He was clothed in simple greaves and had thick leather bracers on his arms. His torso was bare but for a dark animal skin wound round his shoulders, with the bare skull hanging down his back. Two small hand axes hung from his belt.

"We gots an example t'set fer these Ylissian types! Ain't that right, lass?"

He looked down at the young woman crouching at his feet. She was struggling to get away, but the brigand leader had a foot placed on her dress, anchoring her to the spot as he leaned in on her.

"S-stay away from me! Please! Someone, HELP!" she screamed.

Behind him, Fredrick heard Chrom and Lissa approaching. Lissa's eyes widened at all the destruction.

"Chrom, we have to stop them!" she exclaimed.

"Don't worry," he replied. "After today, these bandits won't be bothering anyone ever again."

It was just then that a slender man with a bandana around his head came around from behind a wagon. At the sight of the three Ylissian's, the brigand jumped back and brandished his sword in a sloppy myrmidon stance.

"Eyy Garrick!" he shouted, "Looks like we got us some 'eeros!"

The man in front of the church turned at the mention of his name, causing him to shift his foot off the girls dress and allowing her to slip away.

"Do we now?" sneered Garrick at the sight of the three. He reached behind him and pulled the animal skull on his back onto his head like a helmet. "Well then, lads, let's show 'em 'ow we deal with 'eeros."

At that, the man with the bandana yelled and ran at them. Fredrick dug his spurs into his destrier an shot forward, his lance easily flicking the man's sword away and piercing the man's chest with ease. But just as the body fell slack on his lance shaft, two of the market stands exploded. Two brigands wielding wicked looking iron axes came forth, barreling towards Lissa.

"Curses!" yelled Fredrick, frantically trying to free his lance from the body, but he knew he couldn't make it in time. He saw Chrom leap in front of one of them and quickly flicked his axe away and slashed him right across the chest. But in the time that he was tied up in that, the second brigand had nearly reached Lissa.

Lissa screamed and hid her face behind her arms, but before the axe came down on her, a blur came from out of nowhere. There was a loud clang, and the brigand's axe flew from his hand.

Standing between Lissa and the now disarmed brigand was Silica, her hood up and a bronze sword in her hand. She looked to Chrom and smiled again, but it was slightly less, happy-go-lucky.

"So what's the deal, Chrom? Are we taking prisoners?" she asked plainly. Chrom, Fredrick and the brigand stared slack jawed at the woman who seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

But before anyone could answer Silica's question, the brigand roared and leapt at her, his fist catching her in the chin and sending her spinning to the ground. No sooner had he landed than a ball of lightning flew into his chest and blew him off his feet, dead. From behind another stand came Rolan, hood also up, running to catch up to everyone else.

"At this point I assume no, Sil." he said sternly. Silica picked herself up, her smile still on her face and a little line of blood trickling down the visible side of her face.

"Rolan, Silica! You followed us! Why?" asked Chrom.

Silica and Rolan looked at each other, then looked back at Chrom.

"Are you really asking us that at this point?" teased Silica.

Chrom looked a little flustered at the situation.

"O-of course-strength in numbers. Just stay close." he stammered, trying to compose himself.

Lissa ran up to Silica and brandished her heal staff.

"Here, Silica. I may not be able to attack like you or Chrom, but when you get injured? I' LL be the one to stitch your bones back together, care of my trusty staff." Her staff began to glow, and Silica sighed in relief as the bleeding stopped.

Chrom eyed the two hooded siblings.
"So Silica, you are experienced with a sword... and Rolan, you know magic?"

"We both can use either method to fight, we just have our preferences." explained Rolan, his yellow tome tucked under his arm.

"Where did you even get those?" asked Chrom.

"I had my tome with me. I killed a brigand while trying to catch up to you and Silica borrowed his sword."

"Okay. All done." piped up Lissa as her staff ceased his glowing.

Silica rolled her shoulders and patted the small girl on her head
"Thanks kid. That's really useful."

"Sure anytime, but I'm not a kid." Lissa pouted.

"Don't worry about it, Lissa." said Rolan, "She still treats me like a kid, and we were born at the same time."

"If you are all are quite finnished, we have a job to do." called Fredrick, turning his horse around towards the impending fight.

"Right, sorry Fredrick." said Chrom behind him, "we'll go with the typical routine. You take point, and we'll cover your flanks."

"Hang on a second." said Rolan. Fredrick turned around again. The hooded man was standing still, one hand covering his right eye, the green one, "That might not be the best course of action."

Fredrick turned around again.
"You have a problem with our methods?" he asked.

Beside her brother, Silica was also standing still with a hand over her green eye, the left one.
"Well, your method will work out in the long run, but you'll end up working Lissa here to death." she said as she patted the cleric on the head again, earning a sour look from her.

"There are three more men hiding behind those stands over there." said Rolan, pointing off to where Fredrick was planning on heading, "They look like they're planning to ambush us as we cross past that point. There's also another on the bridge and the leader is on the other side."

How do you know this?" asked Chrom.

"It's odd, I'll admit." said Rolan, "But I can 'see things' through my left eye."

"See things?"

"Yeah. When I concentrate, my left eye can see a battlefield as if I'm looking down from the sky. I can see our positions and the positions of the enemy. I can also predict what their next possible movements are."

Fredrick saw Chrom look incredibly impressed.

"That's an incredibly useful skill." said the young lord. "So there are three of them, each hiding behind a separate stand? Alright then, I can loop around and get the one on the left and-"

"Hold it there, Sweety." Interrupted Silica, "My right eye can't see how an enemy can move, but it can see what their carrying. The one in the middle and the one on the left are both wielding swords and the one on the right has an axe. It probably wouldn't matter all that much, considering the skill of these brigands isn't much to look at, but in basic cases, a sword has an advantage over an axe and a lance can out-do a sword."

Fredrick felt the briefest of chills travel as he stared at the twins, both of them standing side by side with their hoods shrouding their faces in shadow, their purple eyes looking almost luminescent. He found it absolutely astonishing that they had such power and knowledge of warfare. If they truly were a threat, they could have done him and Chrom in at any point.

"So..." Silica continued, "if it's not to much trouble, Freddy, I would recommend that you take down the two on the left, While Chrom takes the one on the right. The one on the bridge is a mage and has a wind tome, so I can take him while Rolan backs me up."

"That…sounds reasonable." said Chrom, looking to Fredrick. The great knight slowly nodded.

"Chrom, once you deal with your quarry, you'll still be able to catch up to us by the time we've taken the mage down." continued Rolan, "Once you meet up with us, the three of should be able to rush their leader and he'll be helpless to stop us."

"Very well then, I will deal with my two targets and then return to lady Lissa." said Fredrick.

"Alright. GO!" Yelled Chrom, and all of them took off.

Fredrick galloped straight towards an overturned wagon and jammed his heels into his horse's flank. The large animal gave a loud whinny and leapt right over the wagon. As the horse touched ground, Fredrick pulled at the reins and spun the horse around and stopped right in front of a man crouched behind the wreckage. The man stared at the horse mere inches from him, his face the color of milk. Fredrick brandished his lance. The man barely had time to scream before the great knight ended his life.

With that one down, Fredrick rode around the next one to find the second brigand standing at the ready. He must have heard the dying screams of his fellow. The man stood his ground, have sword swaying in his arms and his knees shaking like leaves in the wind. Fredrick stared down the man, his silver lance's tip glistening and his horse pawing at the ground.

"Pick a god and pray!" he yelled and charged forward, lance spinning in his hand before slashing right through the mans defense and splitting his chest open.

Fredrick turned toward the bridge in time to see Chrom and the twins' final push against the brigand leader, Garrick. Rolan ran ahead, a green tome now in his hands. As he drew close, Garrick bellowed and threw one of his axes straight for him but at the same time Rolan shot a blast of pressurized wind from his hand. The magic struck the axe in midair, sending it flying back towards the barbarian at double the speed. Garrick howled and leaped away from the axe and fell to the ground. At that moment, Chrom and Silica shot past Rolan and ran straight for either side of Garrick, who was just scrambling to his feet.

Chrom brought Flachion to bear and yelled, "Your end has come!", as he and Silica both struck the brigand leader at the same time, cleaving the large man in half at the waist.


SILICA

"Well, that's the end of that." said Silica happily as the last of the fires were put out.

"Yeah. Lucky for the town we were close by." said Lissa, "But holy wow! You two were incredible!" She ran up and gave both redheads big hugs around their waists. "I mean swords, sorcery AND tactics! Is there anything you can't do?"

Silica grinned an peeled Lissa off of her waist.
"Rolo can't maintain his cool facade against fanged animals bigger than him. Even big, cuddly dogs scare him." she said, sticking her tongue out playfully at her brother.

Rolan blushed angrily at her.
"That's one thing I would've liked to have not remembered." he said, annoyed, causing Silica's grin to widen.

Her previous assumptions seemed to be confirmed. The two of them seemed to still have some locks in their memory, and when she told him a part of his personality, or vise-versa, they instantly remembered it. Of course just making stuff up didn't work, and this only applied to memories about themselves, but still...

"Well one thing is certain…" said Chrom, who was returning from disposing of the brigands' bodies with Fredrick, "You two are certainly no helpless victims. You are quite capable."

"Indeed." Fredrick added, "Perhaps you might even be capable of an explanation of how you came here?" he asked sternly.

Beside her, Silica felt Rolan fidget.

"I understand your skepticism Sir Fredrick, and we cannot explain why only our knowledge of each other has been maintained, but please believe me. We have shared everything we know."

"Which is nothing." added Silica.

"You fought to save Ylissean lives. My heart says that's enough." said Chrom, trying to reassure them. But Fredrick still didn't seem convinced.

"And your mind, milord? Will you not heed its counsel as well?" he inquired.

Chrom turned to look at Fredrick.

"How about we make a compromise, Fredrick?" he asked the great knight, who raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, milord?"

"I mean to recruit Rolan and Silica into the Sheperds." answered Chrom.

"What!? Surely you jest, milord?" exclaimed Fredrick, eyes widening, "We still know next to nothing about them."

"Well all we do know is that they have been willing to risk themselves for the welfare of our citizens. We've brigands and unruly neighbors, all looking to bloody our soil. Also their abilities are phenomenal. Would you really have us lose such able tactitians? Besides, I believe their story, odd as it may be."

Silica walked up behind Chrom and draped her arms over his shoulders, ignoring the sound of Rolan blowing air out from between clenched teeth.

"Aww, thanks, Honey. You know just the right things to say to a girl." She said sweetly, head resting on his shoulder.

"Uhh- your welcome?"

Off to the side, Lissa rolled her eyes. Fredrick locked his look of disapproval on Silica until she finally got off Chrom before continuing his conversation.

"And how is this a compromise, milord?" he asked.

"Well, if they're in with the Sheperds all the time, you can keep an eye on them until you deem them trustworthy."

Silica saw Fredrick ponder the idea for a moment, then his look of disapproval lightened a bit.

"Very well, milord. That is acceptable to me, though the final decision rests with the exalt."

With that, Chrom turned to the twins, swarm smile on his face.

"So how about it you two? Will you join us?" he asked

Silica went to make another joke. "Well it's not like we have a-urk!" she gasped as Rolan jabbed her in the ribcage.

"We would be honored."