Chapter 7: A Crimson City
With a roar, the Gallian rebels stormed the streets of Gallia's capital city, trashing everything in sight. All untransformed laguz who had not joined the rebels beforehand were mauled on sight. Transformed laguz were forced to fight dozens of aggressors for their lives. Men, women, children, all laguz who were not part of the rebellion were slaughtered. Muarim, Lethe, and Lyre could not take the sight any longer. As Ranulf, Skimir, Giffca, and Caineghis led the Gallian Royal Army, Muarim suddenly transformed and ran ahead of his comrades into the streets.
The Gallian rebels had no idea that there were war veterans standing before them. When Muarim appeared, the rebels came onto him in packs of five. Muarim scoffed inwardly: he fought Feral Ones head on for the good of Crimea. What made these imbeciles think that they could possibly fight him?
A gray tiger charged at Muarim from the left. With a single swing of his paw, the green tiger knocked his wayward brother unconscious. Lyre gasped at the sight. This green tiger, who had tears fall from his eyes as he struck his brothers, could harbor such strength and conviction in battle.
Muarim was determined not to kill anyone, so as his attackers jumped at him, he would merely swing his paw and knock them on the jaw, causing them to black out. He would not attack them any further. However, those attacking him intended to kill him, so they tried to tear his throat with their claws and jaws. Muarim had to ensure both his own and his opponent's safety.
The same could not be said for Skimir. The young Lion eagerly tore the throats out of his opponents. The sight of the blood, though it didn't frighten Lethe in the least, made her feel sorrowful that the Prince of Gallia was so bloodthirsty. A Prince should be both a powerful warrior and a kind soul who would care for the people, not a brave brute who loved the heat of battle and the thrill of tearing out an opponent's throat.
In a way, both sisters seemed to agree that they were glad that they had Muarim closer to them than Skimir. Skimir's fiery and intimidating eyes were in sharp contrast to Muarim's softer, more pained ones.
Soren sighed. Not long ago, he would have been like Skimir, except that each laguz that died by his hands would have given him joy because he once hated them. The laguz had treated him horribly because of his heritage, and, for a second there, Lethe nearly used the fact that Soren was a Branded to attack him. But after being with laguz like Ranulf, Muarim, Mordecai, and, admittedly, Lethe herself, Soren eventually calmed down. Lyre really helped things, as she was chipper and liked to joke around, much like Ranulf. Muarim was kind and noble, and tried to befriend Soren, who greatly appreciated his kindness. Soren shivered at the thought that soon, he'd be like Muarim, forced to attack these wayward laguz for the good of Gallia. With Ike by his side, the two friends led their fellow veterans to join Muarim as the green tiger continued to down hordes of enemies ahead.
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"Everyone, Ike's waiting for us! It is our duty as his family and as his subordinates to march forward and rescue him!" Titania yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Pah..." Shinon sighed. He hated it when Ike was glorified. However, no one else shared his sentiment: They were all loyal to Ike. "General Tauroneo would never forgive me if I failed to watch over his nephew in his place. Let us go and make certain that Ike is well!" Zihark yelled. The Greil Mercenaries slammed into the gate, breaking it apart. Oscar and Titania rode at the vast group of rebel Gallians, hacking a path through them while Gatrie, Mia, Boyd, and Zihark slashed about at the remainder. Rhys, Rolf, and Shinon aided their comrades by blasting their foes with light magic and tearing them to pieces with arrows.
But the rebellion would not cease when faced with this show of force. The small band of mercenaries found themselves surrounded by more than six hundred enemy laguz. Thousands of reinforcements for the rebellion poured in from all directions, and the Mercenaries were mere pebbles in the flood by comparison. (1.)
Zihark led the way. Wielding a wicked Killer Edge, he found that nine laguz were trying to cut him off from his other comrades. The warrior sighed when he realized that, on behalf of the greater good, he was betraying his own ideals of not hurting laguz. Swinging his blade, he dived forward and, with a flurry of slashes, brought five of these laguz to their knees. Oscar soon arrived on horseback to drive the remaining four away.
Titania and Shinon found themselves hemmed in. Rolf and Mia tried to rescue them, but found that they, too, were being overwhelmed. Forced to sit back and protect Rolf, Mia stood so close to the boy that he could feel her body heat. If Mia was this worried about him, Rolf knew that this battle was no simple riot. No, this was a much greater conflict, and knowing that she was his main hope for survival, he stayed close to Mia, his elbow nearly touching her hip as he drew his bowstring.
Titania twirled her heavy ax and plunged in down on many a vicious laguz, splitting her opponents in half. She could not show mercy to animals who would not understand her sentiments. Shinon was even less merciful. He used a Venin Bow to ensure that the laguz who attacked him would have slow and painful deaths. The master bowman knew exactly where to hit his opponents in order for the poison to run through their veins.
Rhys quickly joined Mia and Rolf, and the three did what they could to avoid getting killed. Boyd, finding himself alone and surrounded, swung his ax with a yell and hacked away at any paws that got too close.
Four laguz charged head on at an undefended Rhys while Mia and Rolf were busy trying to hold other beasts off. Rhys, realizing that he had one chance to save his neck, cast Rexaura! The blinding blast of light engulfed all four laguz at once, killing all four of them with that extreme heat. (2.)
The glare could be spotted from miles away, and Soren, seeing the flash of light, gasped with joy: "Rhys is here. That must mean that Titania and the others are coming, too. Ike, if we fight towards where that flash of light was, we'll be reunited with our comrades quicker. Muarim! Cover our backs! We're going to fetch our reinforcements!" Soren yelled at the green tiger, who nodded in return. Soren motioned for Lethe and Lyre to support their fellow laguz comrade.
Soren and Ike had to protect each other from the vast number of enemy laguz. As allied Laguz under the Gallian Royal Army tackled enemy rebels all around them, there were many opportunities for rebel laguz to slip through and strike the two heroes. Soren readied his Tornado tome, blowing foes in mid-leap away from the pair. Ike drew Ragnell, and the blade let out glowing slashes of energy that tore enemies apart.
The howls of beasts all around them made both Soren and Ike quite uneasy. They couldn't tell whether it was an ally screeching in pain or a foe being taken down. Suddenly, a flash of red hair caught Soren's eye, and Titania emerged from within the mob of vicious beasts. Swinging her Silver Axe to and fro, Titania hacked away at the horde of foes. As the blood began to soak into the soil, the rebels began to realize that their attack on the capital was not going as planned. In fact, the Gallian Royal Army was much stronger than they had anticipated, and the arrival of the Greil Mercenaries wasn't helping any.
"Titania!" Soren yelled.
"Soren! Ike!" The older woman shouted back in shock.
"The others, are they safe?" Ike inquired.
"Rhys, Mia, and Rolf are still engaging the enemy. Shinon was right behind me..." She turned, but found that the sniper was lost in the midst of enemy troops. "We'll have to go back there and save them." She sighed and pulled on the reigns to force her horse to turn back.
"No matter what, it's a blessing to find you alive." Soren nodded. Titania gave him a smile: "Thank you, Soren..." Though the war was a horrible event that ruined all of their lives, Titania was glad that, in a way, the war helped Soren become a much friendlier person, even though he was still quite stern.
Fifty enemy laguz were blocking their way. Soren, realizing that Titania and Ike alone could not take them out in time to save Shinon, decided to take a risk. Focusing his energy, he fired a bolt of lightning in the center of the enemy group, on a small puddle of salty water that was left over from the frequent rains in Gallia. The puddle glowed with electricity and the electric bolts, now losing their charge, flew outwards in order to find a way to become grounded. Unfortunately, that involved striking each of the laguz in range, and all of the laguz were fried instantaneously from the bolts. Thus, with a single Thoron spell, Soren knocked out fifty enemy laguz. Titania immediately charged forward and picked up the downed Shinon, who mumbled curses like: "Blasted subs... If only they weren't cowardly enough to take me at close range..." (3.)
Ike and Soren charged forward towards Rhys, Mia, and Rolf, who were trying to keep themselves alive. Gatrie hacked away at an enemy tiger in front of him and rushed to their assistance. With the three of them driving away the enemy laguz, the original Greil Mercenaries were finally reunited. On the back of an allied tiger, Zihark arrived. By then, the rebels were nearly routed, for Lyre and Ranulf's combined attacks and stratagems helped to outwit and demoralize the rebels, while Giffca, Skimir, and Caineghis were able to tear their ranks apart. Caineghis, like Muarim, succeeded in downing most of his opponents, and Giffca killed as few as he could. Skimir, however, had the most kills of all allies present. Almost every rebel he fought died by his paws and fangs. The King's nephew seemed to enjoy the taste of blood.
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Caineghis watched with sorrow as the wounded surviving and conscious rebels fled from the capital. Ranulf sighed as well, and explained to Ike and the others that: "By no means does this mean that the rebellion is over. Our victory here only means that our side has a chance of surviving. If the capital fell, our morale would plummet, and most of our troops would join the rebels. Many of our remaining provinces would probably rebel against us too. Considering the number of kills Skimir caused..." Ranulf took a moment to glare at his superior. "The rebels might rally their troops into a frenzy due to the number of casualties they've taken. After all, good things are never spread around, and the lack of casualties the rest of us caused will be ignored in favor of Skimir's numerous slain foes. We must prepare for the worst."
"This would mean, comrades, that we should call for reinforcements from the Northern Provinces, and if we do, Crimea is bound to be aware of our situation and get involved, considering the fact that they so eagerly want to repay Gallia for its assistance during the Mad King's War. Though it wouldn't be pleasant to find our rebels extremely infuriated by the fact that we accept help from a beorc nation. However, considering the fact that Ike's very presence, as well as my own, is extremely insulting to them, I think it's imperative that we ask Crimea for help." Soren spoke.
"But isn't it about time that we rescue Mist and Ilyana?!" Ike yelled.
"Done!" Someone shouted from afar.
Oscar appeared, with both Mist and Ilyana on his horse.
Ike's eyes bulged: "How... How did he?..."
Soren smirked: "I was wondering where you were, squinty. So you did our primary job for us. Well, now that we've saved the two of them, we're in the middle of a war. We climbed out of a boiling pot only to fall right into the flames. Rhys, you ought to take care of the two of them while Ranulf, Lyre, Muarim, Titania, and myself plan our next moves. Oscar, since you are such a skillful rider, ride up to Melior, insult Kieran, and have him pursue you all the way back here with his troops. That'll force Geoffrey to go after him, and, thus, the Crimean Army will be close enough for me to walk out and ask them for assistance."
Oscar shook his head. He'd never seen Soren in such a good mood before. Had someone given him sugar or something? The warrior decided to follow the tactician's demand and head north for Melior. Sooner or later the rebels would return, and when that moment arrives, they would need all the friends they could get.
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1. There is an awesome free turn-based strategy game called Battle for Wesnoth. The phrase "pebbles in the flood" comes from a hopeless mission in that game. (In that mission, the only way to win is for you to hold off the enemy for as long as possible, and for you have to let every single one of your playable characters die, including one of my favorite ones: Uzela Azlef.)
2. Logically, the only damage Light could do is to blind someone. A blinded man can still swing an ax, for example, and kill someone. However, Light, in the context of this fic, can burn and incinerate foes. How is it different than Fire? Light causes heat, but not as extremely as fire. It cannot cause as much damage as Fire because of this. In the end, Light Magic is inferior to Fire magic, but is unaffected by the trinity. Light also has 'holy' properties, and can heal its user in some cases. Rexaura does not have as great a healing capacity as Norstefasu, but the user is still healed somewhat from it.
3. Never took Physics, so if I'm wrong, well, too bad, it's a FANFIC about Fire Emblem. How scientifically correct do you expect it to be:)
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