Pushing forward
While I have had many experiences in my service to the mistress, I can safely say that having a conversation with a former enemy-turned-ally was one that I had never imagined going through. Watching the two men converse with my mistress in the cramped room played havoc on my nerves, my instincts screaming at me to grab my halberd and rush at them.
Unfortunately, my body was still recovering from the earlier skirmishing with said men. The healer, who was younger than I had guessed, was carefully focusing her magi into her staff, slowly hovering over my left arm, coaxing the body to reconnect the tendons and accelerating the regeneration of flesh in the region where the body had yet to cover. Her face was scrunched in an image of utmost focus, and a sheen of sweat formed slightly on her forehead.
With a soft sigh of relief, she stepped back and set her staff against the wall, smiling brilliantly. With a final check, she massaged the formerly mutilated area, feeling for irregularities and watching my reaction. When I didn't flinch in the slightest, she smiled again and walked to the others in the room, probably informing them of my condition.
I rolled the sheets off of me and heaved my body into a sitting position on the bed. I grunted slightly as my body was jolted into movement after a long period of inaction. Rolling my left arm slightly, I stood and started to find my halberd. I had barely taken a step before a sudden gasp of shock sounded, and I whirled around quickly, my hand grabbing the lamp on the desk, facing towards the source of the sound.
I stared curiously as the four occupants blinked at me with faces of shock. The two men had a crimson shade on their faces that slowly grew darker the longer they stared. The cleric was quickly shoving the two men out of the room, using her staff to beat them out as they spluttered incomprehensibly.
Robin had immediately rushed to me and thrown the sheets from the bed around me, cloaking me entirely in it as I watched her oddly. She rambled on in her language as she fretted over me, alternating from embarrassment to annoyance to concern in a barrage of emotions. She noticed my confused face and just sighed, before handing me my smallclothes and several pieces of clothing.
I blinked at her once more in confusion, and she gave a small smile to me. I quickly dressed myself in the linen clothing. Afterwards, Robin and the cleric gathered my armor. I noticed that my armor was cleaned of all the blood that had flowed out of my wounds. Both of the girls in front of me were struggling with the plated armor, and I quickly moved forward to assist them, lifting the metal pieces and placing them on the bed. I slowly began to place the pieces onto myself, with some assistance from the two around me, tightening straps and adjusting the fragments of metal into their proper position. Sighing in the comfort of my armor, I stood up with ease in the armor as the girls watched me with slight shock, and I rolled my left arm again, doing a final check to make sure that I had full motor control of the muscles.
Giving a small glance out the window, I noted with a bit of surprise that the sun was still shining brightly in the middle of the sky. Given the amount of activity in the town, I surmised that it must have just after noon, meaning that it had been only a couple of hours since my morning duel with the two men. Backing away from the window, I turned around and grabbed the halberd that Robin was struggling to lift. I gave her a small smile as I received it and patted the cleric on her shoulder for their hard efforts.
Both of them beamed at me, and I found myself comparing them to a loyal hound, their unseen tails wagging rapidly in response to my thanks. After strapping my halberd onto my back, Robin took my hand and pulled me outside of the room and down the stairs. There, we met with the other companions in the bar, whom were sitting at a table. As I was pulled down onto a seat, the mistress quickly sitting next to me and shifting her chair closer, I watched the men warily. The young cleric from before was already chatting with her companions, oblivious to their unease as they watched me. Strangely, they seemed to watch me with embarrassment instead of wariness.
As Robin continued her conversation with the man in the lordly armor, I found myself drifting away and thinking of nothing in general. Thoughts and images rushed through my mind in a chaotic order with no meaning to them. I glanced at the waitress who had just brought several mugs to our table, and nodded my thanks. I held the arm of Robin just as she was about to drink her own, and sniffed the mugs, before slowly taking a sip. When I judged it adequate, I released my arm.
The other man, the knight, nodded in approval at my actions while Robin just pouted in embarrassment, but they continued their conversation again. Eventually, my mind drifted away again.
My thoughts vanished and my body tensed when the doors to the inn was kicked open, the hinges on the abused opening groaning and falling, leaving the doors crooked. A man wielding an iron axe strode in, his eyes gleaming in maliciousness, and quickly cut down the closest patron near the door.
Screams erupted, and I grabbed the table and hurled it towards the entrance, rushing right behind it. The bandit's eyes widened at the flying projectile before being launched outwards, his head caving in from the sheer momentum of the object. My halberd was drawn from my back, and I leapt forward, the lanced point plunging through the bandit's heart. With a flourish I ripped the point sideways out of his body, mutilating his heart and lungs while throwing the body towards the side. The crimson tassel was drenched in blood as it flew through the air.
Several bandits stood in shock around me, and I quickly engaged them, ending two of them before they could react. By that time, Robin had also leapt out from the ruined doors to the inn, her Arcwind tome open and the pages rapidly fluttering as runic symbols appeared around her outstretched hand. A quick yell sent a strong gale of bladed air blasting down one street, throwing the bandits against each other and causing devastation in their ranks.
I quickly finished off the last bandit in my area, parrying his overhead strike with my halberd and sweeping around with the opposite end to knock him off his feet, before bringing it around and crushing his chest with the axe blade. As he bled, I walked up to him and smashed the metal end of the halberd into his face, ending him quickly. Looking around, I saw that the other companions had rushed out as well.
Robin was belting out order for the five of us, gesturing and pointing at key locations in the battlefield. Despite the sudden fight, I found myself smiling in amusement as she entered into professional mode, entirely serious with a voice that demanded compliance. The cleric, the knight and the lord were to engage in an assault to clear out all important targets, including the ranged opposition such as the mages and archers with their astonishing mobility. The cleric was to ride along with the knight and keep them healthy enough to meet up with us later. Robin and I were to engage in a frontal assault and draw all attention, slowly leading them into a bottleneck where the numerical advantage would be negated.
As we split, Robin gestured me towards the main street, where fires were already beginning to start. I nodded, before running forward, my steps thudding the ground as my plated armor shifted against each other. My halberd was slightly behind me, the wooden staff of the halberd aligned with my right arm and I charged forward, Robin following closely behind me with her Arcwind tome held out, her eyes reading the scenarios as we rushed past them. Several villagers ran past us, and she directed them into a safer area where the militia had already began to form.
I came across my first bandit, who was too busy pillaging a jewelry stall. I rammed him with my shoulder sending him flying head over heels, and pulled my halberd into an overhead swing that cleaved his head into two. Just as quickly, a wind spell was thrown past me and smashed into another bandit. I lifted my halberd from the skull and swept it around, knocking aside the sword of another bandit and backhanding him with my left armored gauntlet, stunning him. I lifted the metal end of the halberd and rammed it into his face again, piercing his head and instantly ending him. A blow struck my back as I dug my halberd out of the remains of a head. My plated armor, however, was more than enough to negate any damage he gave and I glanced at him amusedly over my shoulder, where he stood with shock. With a quick swing, I bisected him at the hip and finished him off. Glancing back, I found Robin slightly green as she watched me, but gave a shaky thumbs-up, before signaling me to continue.
Nodding, I continued forward, my steps leaving dents in the stone path as I rumbled down the street. I breathed softly as moved forward, my eyes darting to all the dark alleyways and opened doors as I watched for bandits. A bandit leapt at me with an axe from an alleyway as I ran forward, his axe weakly connecting with me, and I quickly slammed my gauntlet into his throat, crushing it and leaving him choking for air. I continued forward without any regard for him. I could softly hear a wind spell ending his misery as Robin followed up behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an enemy mage casting a flame tome towards Robin. Immediately shifting on the spot, I leapt into his line of fire, turning my back towards the flying fireball and braced myself. As the fireball hit, I grunted slightly as the heat slammed into me.
I felt my armor heating up quickly, but a quick discharge of my magi into my armor cooled it down quickly. Behind me, Robin yelled in anger as she sent a blast of wind at the mage, the wind cutting the mage into pieces as the blades of air ripped him apart. Robin ran up to me, looking me over as I stood up. Giving her a quick smile, we continued on our warpath to the center of the town where the supposed leader of the bandits would be. We met up with several of the town militia as we thundered past, the soldiers quickly gathering behind us in a small platoon, their spears and pitchforks forming a bristling wall whenever we met up with larger groups of bandits. With their aid, we quickly reached the center of the town where the bandit lord was commanding. When he noticed us, he barked out orders to his own bandits, who charged en masse.
Robin yelled out her own order, and our militamen quickly reformed their spear wall at the bridge where the bandits were ignorantly charging forward. The bandits were quickly forced into a dead stop and fell prey to the long range of the militia. Robin threw me a large buckler from a pillaged weapon stall, and pointed at the enemy bandit leader. Nodding once more, I quickly walked past the militamen. I roared out my own battle cry as I thundered past the spear wall and shoved my way forward through the bandits, knocking them into the moats where their equipment dragged them down to drown in an empty death.
The bandits quickly fell as the militia advanced along with me, taking advantage of the chaos I had in my ranks. I could feel Robin throwing wind spells at enemy mages that were about to conjure against me. As I reached the bandit leader, he brought up his axe and smashed it against the shield. The shield split almost immediately, and I discarded it by throwing it against his head, which he quickly cut again. Bringing my halberd into its two handed stance, I lunged forward with the lance point to take advantage of the range. He sidestepped it with astonishing speed and knocked it aside with his axe, before closing the distance rapidly. I spun with the momentum, and ducked as his axe flew over me. The halberd came around and the axe blade smashed into his leather armor.
With a bit of annoyance, the bandit leader recovered with only a bruise as he rushed me again. Once again I lunged at him, and he grabbed the halberd with one hand and swung his axe down heavily. I leaned back slightly so that the axe only collided with my breastplate instead of my head. I grunted as the axe blade bit slightly through the armor into my skin, but I ignored it. Shifting around, I turned with the axe still embedded into my armor, ripping it out of his hands. He growled in surprise and leapt back as I swung my halberd again.
It was annoying fighting with speedy enemies. If they knew what they were doing, they would always dance around my attacks and take advantage of my long recovery times. Stepping back, I ripped the axe in my armor and tossed it into the head of an unaware bandit. The bandit leader roared in anger and grabbed a great axe from one of his subordinates, and swung it with brutal efficiency at me. I grunted as I angled my halberd to deflect it into the ground. I stepped on his axe, and struck him with an armored gauntlet. With surprisingly strength, he retaliated and smashed his own fist into me and I was sent reeling backwards. He grabbed his great axe and circled around me. I reoriented myself and shifted myself into a ready stance, two hands grabbing the halberd.
I blinked. And then I stepped forward, right in front of the left. I released my left and extended my halberd with my right arm. The fastest and longest move a halberd bearer could do. A lightning quick lunge unexpected of a halberd wielder. My sudden attack took him by surprise and slammed into his fingers holding the great axe, piercing and cutting through bone leaving his hand mutilated. As he roared in anger, a sword quickly entered his body from behind him, piercing his heart and ending him. His roar ended in chokes of blood and he collapsed. I looked coolly at the lordly companion pulling his sword from the cooling corpse. Robin stepped up to my side and she watched me with slight concern. Shaking my head, I smiled and gestured to the other companions.
Robin noticed them and gave a wide smile at the successful defense of the town. She, the lord and the knight conversed again in an impromptu debriefing while the cleric, who noticed myself shifting slightly in pain and discomfort walked up to me and quickly waved a weak, but quick healing spell that mended the broken skin on my body. I bowed in thanks to her, and she giggled as she walked back to her companions.
With the debriefing over, Robin walked over to my side and grabbed my hand, bringing me closer to the rest of the companions that we had met, who were being thanked by the village elders and militamen. I glanced around in surprise as the remaining civilians were being herded to the center of the village where a feast was already beginning to take place. Tears of joy and relief were showing on their faces and overall the people of this town had recovered amazingly from the devastating battle. But I could see the many bodies of innocents and militiamen who died in the conflict staining the cities. Their bodies were being covered and brought to the graveyard. I clenched my fist tightly, the gauntlet making a rustic sound as it shifted against each other.
Someone tapped my shoulder, and as I shifted I could see several of the militiamen who had formed the spear wall in the last phase of the battle. They pounded my back in thanks, smiles lighting their faces as they congratulated me. I continued to stare blankly in confusion as they talked to me in a language that I did not understand, but I just smiled and nodded, and stepped back a bit to Robin. Thankfully, Robin noticed my unease and explained to the militiamen my inability to speak in the Ylissean language. They nodded in understanding, before giving wide smiles and presenting me with a large rectangular shield that extended from the ground to my shoulders and covered my entire body. I received it with disbelief at the magnificent quality of the shields, and I stared at them with confirmation. The village elder stepped forward this time from his conversation with the lord and the knight and placed a hand on my shoulder, and nodded.
Still slightly in shock from the amazing gift, I bowed in thanks and stepped back as the militiamen returned to the festivities. I clasped to the gift as a lifeline and I shifted back to Robin's side, who laughed at my expression.
Before long, the thanks between the villagers and the companions were over, and we set off. Robin had decided that we were to accompany the three adventurers to wherever they were off to, and I hesitantly followed them. I still did not fully trust the lord and the knight, since they were the ones who fought me in the first place, but the cleric was a fun person to be around with her cheerful manner.
As we walked, my halberd was strapped my back and I wore the shield on my left arm, attempting to get used to the weight of it. Meanwhile, Robin and the cleric were chattering away, including the lord in their conversations every now and then. Only the knight and I were watching the surroundings, scanning the darkening shadows that had grown numerous the deeper we went into the forest.
A twig cracked, and roar sounded and the knight and I hurled our respective polearms. He drew out his sword while I moved forward with my shield, intent on ramming the potential enemy. We shifted forward slowly as the other three watched behind us cautiously, only to find the cooling carcass of a bear.
They laughed and conversed a bit, before they started setting up camp. I assumed that the bear was our meal for the night, and the Lord had already begun skinning and butchering the bear meat. I shrugged, and sat near Robin, who was still chatting with the cleric.
Before long, dinner was served, the meat was spread and the fire was roaring. I took a tentative bite and recoiled at the repulsive taste that assaulted my taste buds, spitting out the meat into a bush and gagging at the strong taste. I grasped around for a water satchel and upon finding it, drank it half empty. I glanced at Robin and watched with wide eyes as she tore the bear meat with her teeth and swallowed it whole. She glanced at her empty hands, eyes mournfully looking for more. Upon finding my uneaten meal, she crawled up to me and stared into my eyes, her own eyes tearing up slightly as she pouted slightly.
I twitched once before my body fell prey to her and gave my own meal to her. Again I watched as she completely and utterly demolished her meal with no regard to decency. Blinking again, I saw the knight hand me a slice of rabbit meat that he had hunted and caught in his own time. I nodded in thanks as I nibbled on the more agreeable meat, and quenched the hunger in my stomach.
After several more minutes of watching Robin viciously tear apart and consume the meat, we were all seated around the campfire. Most of us were sitting contently around the fire. The cleric stood up and walked over to me, and I shifted over slightly to accommodate her space. She smiled again as she plopped down beside me and pointed to herself and said something.
I blinked in confusion.
The cleric pouted. She pointed urgently to herself. She repeated the same sound.
I blinked again, before turning my gaze to Robin in hopes for assistance.
Robin smiled indulgently, before pointing to herself. "Robin."
I nodded. I understood that.
Robin then pointed to the cleric who was sitting with her head tilted in an oddly endearing fashion. "Lissa."
My mind made the connection. "Lis…sa?" I attempted to speak out while pointing to the cleric, probably butchering her name as I said so. The cleric didn't seem to mind, a huge smile spreading across her adorable face. "Lissa!" The cleric said with joy.
The cleric, Lissa, then pointed to the lord sitting across the fire watching us. "Chrom!"
The said man gave a short wave. "K…Krum?" I attempted to say out. The cleric gave a short laugh, before repeating herself. "K… Krom…?" I repeated. The cleric gave a shrug and muttered something amusedly. Robin laughed at her words, while the Lord looked slightly amused. I tried a last time. "Chrom…?" Lissa smiled and nodded as I finally managed to get the word out. 'Chrom' smiled and gave a thumbs-up towards me.
Lissa finally pointed to the knight. "Frederick."
I blinked once. "Fred." I said. The knight seemed to be slightly offended by my butchering of his name, but 'Lissa' and 'Chrom' laughed and gave me nods. Robin seemed to be beside herself with laughter at my butchery of the Ylissean language. I repeated the names in my head again. Lissa. Chrom. Frederick. I mentally nodded as I memorized the names.
Lissa poked me once more and looked in curiosity towards me. I replied with the same look. She gave a sigh of exasperation, before pointing to herself again. "Lissa." She said. She then pointed towards me.
Oh.
"Ae'ri." I mumbled out. "Ae'ri…" It had been a while since I said my name.
Lissa smiled and said my name. Or tried to. I suppose it was payback for my butchering of their names. I smiled slightly and nodded.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Robin grinning again. I leant back against the tree I was against. I watched my companions start up their own conversations again, and I gave a small smile.
It was an odd feeling, this warm sensation that rushed through my heart.
But I enjoyed it.
Here's another chapter! Fire Emblem: Awakening is too addictive for me to give up on.
The name of Robin's bodyguard is finally revealed. Ae'ri. Guess where she's from. You get three chances and the first two don't count.
I experimented with her not knowing the Ylissean language except for the very, very basics. This was an attempt to make it so her bond with Robin went both ways.
Ae'ri would be Robin's confidant and protector in everything, being her everlasting 'elder sister' figure that Robin would look up to and strive to follow. Meanwhile, Robin would be the bridge between her anti-social sister-figure and the real world. (Hence why Ae'ri would look to Robin when someone tries to talk to her in Ylissean.)
She is also awkward in social situations. Like getting up from her bed after being healed. While naked. With two men in the room.
Yeeeeah…..
Anyways this chapter covers the recovery of Robin's companion, Ae'ri, and the subsequent battle in Southtown right after. Since the battle between Ae'ri versus Chrom and Frederick was in the morning, I envisioned that they rushed to Southtown instead of walking at the normal pace they did in canon and as such reached just before noon (~4 hours). And because healing staffs are miracle workers, flesh wounds is easily recovered with magic and a bit of rest. *Shrug*. Anyways, in this version, Robin and Ae'ri were brought to an inn to rest up and heal Ae'ri. Unfortunately, right after bandits attacked Southtown, only this time the Shepards are already at the town.
Surprise motherfuckers.
Strategy by Robin was to have the Shepards clean up the bandits on the outskirts and take out ranged MVPs such as mages and archers with their op mobility (Seriously, Frederick was a godsend in earlier levels, and Chrom and Lissa never dies anyways because plot device). Robin and the tank Ae'ri were paired up (Assume B-ranked supports) and because Guardian class is pretty much an immovable object and Robin (future Grandmaster) is (or will be) an unstoppable force, they wrecked everything.
The militiamen were added because seriously, what town doesn't have their own defense force. I mean, ffs, increasing bandit raids and they didn't train a small military force.
And I tried bear meat before. Apparently the taste of their meat depends on their diets. If they eat berries or fruits, it is ok. Nothing amazing, but not bad either. But if they ate meat, uuuguhhhs the bear meat is dhfohearudflj ugh.
I tried out a small effort at allowing Ae'ri to find out the names of our characters, and vice versa. I felt it would have been awkward, but thank the gods that Lissa is an amazing, happy icebreaker character. *~*)b Good job Lissa.
Reviews appreciated, criticism upon grammar or plot holes even more.