Chapter 11: Chaos in the Skies
"First, Naesala betrays us, and now, Leanne has been captured and Reyson has been mutilated. These animals are not laguz... They are far too vicious for that!" Zihark growled, slamming his fist into the table and nearly breaking it in his rage.
Murmurs of agreement slowly rose among his comrades. Even Skimir shuddered at the thought that Tonerk's men could harm a defenseless heron like Reyson. Then again, these were people who kidnapped two young beorc girls: Ilyana and Mist, so they were capable of doing anything...
Titania turned to Ike. The Greil Mercenaries had always depended on her wise instincts for victory, but today there was little advice she could give. They had no idea where Leanne was hidden, and thus they'd be unable to save her.
But then an idea popped into her head. At the same time, Lucia seemed to leap a little. Both women turned to each other, and with the gaze of a mutual understanding, they smiled. The older, red-haired woman turned to Major Kieran. "Major, as a former fellow Knight of Crimea, and as a comrade, I ask that you do me a favor."
Kieran immediately saluted. 'It is the duty of a man to assist a woman in need. What is it, General Titania?"
Titania beamed. General... That word sounded quite nice when referring to her, to be honest. "Major, you are ordered to deliver a message to Her Majesty Elincia. Captain Marcia of the Crimean Pegasus Knights shall be recruited here immediately. If..." Titania turned to Lucia, and the younger girl nodded. "If Commander Astrid and Sargent Makalov could be recalled as well, it would be perfect."
"Very well then, General. I will relay your orders immediately. I am certain that General Geoffrey will be glad to oblige." With that Kieran ran out the door.
Bastian turned to Titania and Lucia. "Thy plan may very well work... If Marcia comes, then she can fly to Phoenicis, and our fine friends Ulki and Janaff might be able to help us, as well as the rest of the noble hawks. The raven's betrayal and the cruelty committed on these herons may very well convince them to join our cause!"
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Four days later, Marcia, having been sent to Zarzi by Elincia after Crimea's Queen accepted her ally's request, hopped on her pegasus and flew away from Gallia's capital, towards the nation of Phoenicis. General Titania had advised her to stay as far west as possible, for Kilvas ravens might try to send interceptors to stop her from reaching Tibarn and informing him of what was going on.
The Gallian rebels could only growl and threaten. They didn't dare kill or harm Leanne. Had they done so, the entire Hawk nation would definitely help Gallia. As long as they kept Leanne safe, there was a slight chance that Tibarn, not wanting to put Phoenicis into a horrible position, would claim that, since Crimea was already assisting the Gallian royals, this situation was not Phoenicis's concern.
However, the rebels didn't take into account the Begnion reinforcements Valtome handed them. Because of these reinforcements, Crimea and the Gallian Royal Army's combined efforts might fail. Phoenicis was the trusted ally of both nations, and thus would be expected to help Crimea and Gallia in this war. Titania, Soren, Lucia, and Bastian had taken this argument into account if Tibarn were to cop out (but he probably wouldn't), and would use it to convince the hawks to assist them.
Naesala did not want Tibarn to rip his wings off, so once the Gallian rebel spies informed him of the situation, Kilvas immediately sent three battalions of raven warriors to engage and kill Marcia before she reached the Phoenician border. The situation was serious, and if Marcia failed in her mission, it would be ridiculously difficult to rescue Leanne without Janaff or Ulki.
Alone, Marcia found herself surrounded by several ravens. Urging her pegasus to dive back and forth, she tried to find an opening in the raven lines. After all, if she could swoop forward and dive in the middle of her enemy formation, she might be able to break them out of formation and, thus, make them frantically chase after her. If they were careless enough, with one lance throw she could probably skewer several ravens at once.
Gripping tightly onto her javelin, Marcia dived right into the middle of the ravens, catching them off guard. With a swing of her lance, she ripped one raven apart. Apparently this one was more scrawny than his fellows, and as he fell his comrades began to panic and dive after the pegasus knight. Marcia smiled, her plan fit perfectly, and with one throw, three ravens plunged into the cold waters below them.
Having taken out four of her pursuers, Marcia had eight still chasing after her. As she glided upwards, she found that four more were heading for her position from her left. She swung to the right, believing that a more westerly path would keep her further away from the Kilvas nation, and there would be a lesser chance that enemies would have flown that far to attack her from that position.
But she was wrong. Three ravens descended from the clouds and proceeded to strike her with their talons. Marcia gasped. Would she fail here?
The huge claws of the raven laguz tore through her shoulder. Marcia felt that burning surge of pain... A pain she hadn't felt in a long time. The last time she felt pain like this was when enemy Daein soldiers ambushed her in the meadows near Castle Delbray. Twas a squad of five snipers who fired arrows that pierced her and her pegasus mount, Louie. It was a miscalculation on Titania's part. She saw that Ulki was in the path of several enemy snipers and asked Marcia to cover their hawk ally. Actually, Soren, confident that Ulki would be able to hear the arrows coming and dodge them, put Ulki there to lure the snipers away from Tanith, whom Soren planned to reach the castle and reinforce Geoffrey first with her pegasus allies. But Titania, being second in command of Ike's army, acted on her own accord and thus put Marcia's life in danger.
The girl cringed. This might be the end for her... Marcia thought of her idiot brother, Makalov, and how he'll have to try to stay alive without her... She thought of Gatrie, that handsome warrior who, because she had to follow Titania's orders, she did not have a chance to greet. She thought of how she still owed General Ike her life, and how her comrades would be forced to fight on without her... Then Marcia shook her head. She couldn't die here. It would be selfish and irresponsible of her to die here. Even Calill, who wasn't even an officer (in the official sense of the word), took major injuries and knew that she ought to retreat instead of fight on and die during an intense battle in the last war. To her comrades, Marcia's survival was much more critical than her tenacity in battle in the face of certain death.
Having thrown her javelin and pierced three ravens with it, Marcia held her other lance, her silver lance, and flew high into the air. Her raven pursuers quickly rushed after her, but Marcia urged Louie to fly as fast as he could. The ravens were a swift breed of laguz, but as they chased Marcia, the girl saw splashes of brown in the sky ahead. Those splashes began to move and grow bigger, and Marcia quickly recognized what they were: Hawk laguz!
Five hawks swooped past Marcia and held off her raven pursuers. The ravens, ordered to kill Marcia at all costs, attacked the hawks, and thus gave Marcia and Louie enough time to flee to Phoenicis. With more hawks noticing their fighting brethren, Marcia quickly found squads of friends rushing to assist her in her evacuation. Four hawks were even kind enough to escort her, and successfully counterattacked one raven who was able to get past the hawk blockade.
With two of her four hawk escorts holding off her last pursuer, Marcia and two hawks finally arrived in Phoenicis under their protection. She was quickly led to the hawk capital, where Tibarn, Janaff, and Ulki were glad to meet her.
"I saw you fleeing from those ravens, so I ordered those hawks on patrol duty to reach you first. The others arrived soon afterwards. You gave me quite a scare, there!" Janaff smiled as a few hawk physicians tried to heal her wounds.
"Thanks, Janaff!" Marcia smiled back, wincing a little when the herbal medication made her wounds sting. The girl, knowing how Tibarn hated nonsense, turned to the King of Phoenicis and began to speak. "Your majesty, there is something important I have to tell you." Marcia turned to Tibarn with some uncertainty in her voice.
Tibarn nodded. "Go on, Captain Marcia."
"Gallia is currently undergoing a civil war, and Crimea has joined the Royal Army in its attempt to destroy the rebels. These rebels have a similar mentality to those Daeins back in the Mad King's War. They're trying to banish all beorc from Gallia and kill any stragglers... They're also killing laguz who are unwilling to join them. It seems that a large contingent of Begnion troops has also joined their forces."
"Pray wait a moment... You just said..." Ulki spoke.
"Yeah, we don't understand it either. Why would Begnion provide troops to a beorc-hating faction? It doesn't make any sense, but Kilvas has also joined the rebels, and because of that we're currently outnumbered and outgunned. We need the help of Phoenicis to turn the tide, for we've been unable to attack them this whole time. All Soren's been able to do is repel attacks, not make one himself."
"Well... We cannot sit by and let Gallia fall to such a force. They say that the most catastrophic of tragedies are caused by good people standing by and doing nothing. Phoenicis will not stand by. Janaff, Ulki, you will accompany Captain Marcia back to Gallia with fifteen legions of our hawk brethren. On behalf of our friends: the beast laguz of Gallia and the beorc of Crimea, we shall fight and destroy these rebels." Tibarn nodded. After the Phoenician physicians succeeded in healing Marcia, the pegasus knight and the two hawk heroes left with their Phoenician troop escorts. Now Phoenicis had joined the tide, and hopes for an end to the civil war finally began to appear in the horizon.
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As always, thank you for reading!