All Lissa could do was watch as the creatures attacked her allies. One of them sprinted towards her brother at incredible speed, but Chrom swung his sword, and heaved a sigh of relief, thinking he had cut the monster in half. But there was no blood, or even a sign of a gash, and the creature turned its head back, growling again as black steam came from its mouth, and lunged at him again. Chrom quickly blocked its axe with his sword, flung it over, and stabbed it in the back. Curiously, it still did not bleed, but let out a muffled scream as it turned into black dust.
Chrom turned around, and saw that another one had targeted Frederick. The creature took advantage of an opening in his stance and struck at him, but Frederick recovered quickly and impaled it. To Chrom's right, Ariana was fending off another one, making sure she was out of the creature's attack range before electrocuting it, and it too screamed as it was stabbed in the chest by a lightning bolt.
They thought they were safe until they heard a high pitched scream, and saw that they had left Lissa, who was on the other side of the ground, unguarded, and now another creature was coming towards her menacingly. Ariana gave her allies a hopeless look to tell them that there was no way they could close the gap in time.
And then the ringing returned, and Ariana winced in pain, covering her ears, and from the still open vortex in the sky, another figure fell to the ground, close enough to Lissa to come in between her and the creature and guard her from a near fatal blow.
Lissa could only stare at her saviour in a mix of awe and shock, he bore a resemblance to The Hero King, but he was smaller and his skin was much paler. His hair was also much darker, to the point where one could not tell if it was blue or black, he wore a mask to cover his eyes, and gloves to cover his hands.
The man began to shake as the creature was beginning to overpower him. He looked at Chrom, ignoring the others with him.
"Help!"
Chrom ran to his aid immediately, which distracted the creature and it ran towards him, but the man jumped in front in a flash and stabbed the last creature, and it too dissolved in a pile of dust. Once they were sure there were no more creatures left, all four of them converged on the man, who had his back turned.
"That was quite an entrance..." Chrom stood on his guard, somewhat distrusting of the man, but also strangely drawn to him.
The man said nothing.
"Thank you for saving me earlier..." Lissa moved slightly closer to the man, "You were really brave."
"Indeed, you saved my sister's life-"
The man held up his hand, and then turned, it might have been their imagination, but his gaze seemed to be fixed on Ariana. She felt it as well, and realized that he was indeed looking at her with deep hatred and hostility. Sure enough, before they could say anything, he jumped towards her, and kicked her in the chest. She fell to the ground with a yelp, and stared in fear as the man held his sword at her neck.
Lissa stared wide eyed, and then shook her head, did the man just become... transparent for a second, as if he was about to vanish into thin air? No, it couldn't have been, she was probably hallucinating. Yet she wasn't too sure...
Soon after, he knelt down, panting as though he had been drained of his life force, and then got up, but refused to sheathe his sword.
"I... I don't understand..."
The man buried his face in his hands and began to mutter something, then he looked at Ariana again, and charged. This time however, she managed to dodge it.
"That life draining spell of yours won't work on me-"
The man became translucent again, and then tripped, he was now crouching on the floor and sweating.
"H-How... how is this possible? I thought... I thought I was immune to their sorcery..."
Ariana frowned and held her tome in front of her, looking squarely at the man, albeit from a safe distance.
"I did not attack you or do anything to deserve your malice, leave me be-"
"Spare me your filthy words, spawn of demons-"
Chrom came in between the two of them and pointed his sword at the man.
"Peace, we aren't looking for a fight, now leave her alone or I'll have no choice but to cut you down."
The man reluctantly sheathed his sword and sighed.
"Now, let's try this again. Thank you for saving my sister, I am in your debt. I am Chrom, prince of Yilsse, would you please tell me your name?"
"...You may call me Marth."
"Marth?" Chrom asked incredulously, "You mean, like The Hero King? It is fitting, given your resemblance to him-"
The ground began to shake again, and then they heard a familiar growl from all sides of the forest.
"Not much time to explain, the heathens have caused this world to teeter on the brink of a calamity, and you are harbouring one of them. What you have seen tonight was but a prelude, you have been warned."
The growls were getting louder and louder.
"Listen! I'll take care of the Risen on the other side, you will handle the ones over here!"
Marth ran from the group into the distance, and they huddled close as the creatures known as Risen converged on them. Ariana looked around for an escape route, and her eyes focused on the one she found.
"Everyone, follow me!"
They ran as fast as they could until Ariana stopped once they came to a wide open space. She began to scan her surroundings, and took notice of several wooden structures.
"Abandoned forts..."
Chrom looked around and realized he recognized this area, a better fighting ground could not have been chosen.
"This was a battlefield once, so this place is full of them..."
"We should try to take shelter in them whenever possible. Also these... Risen prefer to isolate their targets and take them on one on one, we should stick together and take them all at once, it will confuse them as to who their target is."
"So what's our first move?"
"That Risen, the one with the axe is closest to a fort... that's it. Captain, you will take care of that one, the rest of us will cover you, and her highness of course will stay out of harm."
Chrom ran as fast as he could and took shelter in the fort, its age had shown, as the stone was crumbling and the walls were only about as tall as he was. His back was pressed to one of the walls, and kept his eyes and ears open as the risen began to approach the fort, wondering if its target was in it or not. It placed its axe in front of the entrance tentatively, and Chrom took this opportunity to run out of the fort and strike, the risen lunged at him, but rather slowly due to being hindered by the walls of the fort. The risen lifted its axe above its head and lunged at Chrom, but Chrom got out of the way just in time, and stabbed the risen in the arm. Ariana and Frederick ran towards him, covering him on both sides, while Lissa ran to safer ground. And Ariana used her tome to hit the risen with a thunderbolt, and it turned into black dust. Soon after, a risen with a sword ran towards Ariana and stabbed her in the shoulder; she got out of the way before it could do more damage and used her tome on it when she was out of its range.
Soon after, they heard the sound of a horse riding towards them, and the group turned around, bracing themselves for another risen attack, but instead of a risen, they saw a lanky cavalier with short red hair and a young noble accompanying her. Chrom sighed in relief, he'd recognize her anywhere…
"Sully, how did you-"
"Felt the tremor too, had a feeling you'd be in trouble. I would have gotten here sooner but this clown over here held me back." She scowled, gesturing to her flamboyantly dressed companion, who began waving his hands as if to signal for help.
"Your highness, dearest Sully has told me of you, and how you and your friends bravely manage to defend your realm. So allow me to explain-"
"His name's Virion and he's being pursued, he wants safe harbour. There, I just saved you a couple of minutes, which in this situation could mean the difference between life and death-"
Before she could finish her sentence, three risen with axes, two with swords, and one with a bow and arrow had them surrounded. Ariana looked around her and scowled. They were outnumbered, even with the addition of two more fighters. Well, one, she thought to herself, as archers tended to be unreliable and died easily. The cavalier, Sully on the other hand, seemed to be a member of the Shepherds for a long time and a veteran in combat, so she could have been of use…
"Captain, Frederick, get out of the way!"
The three of them moved back, and Ariana managed to kill another risen with her tome.
"You, there," she gesture to Sully, "Cover me! And your highness, I am wounded, please, help. And you…" she faltered for a minute, unsure what to do with Virion, "Stay out of trouble."
Virion seemed to comply and did not move. Lissa ran, standing behind Ariana, and then healed her. Sully raised an eyebrow, and was not amused at the fact that this woman she only knew for a matter of seconds was ordering her around.
"Wait a minute, you're no Shepherd, just who do you think you are?"
Ariana gritted her teeth.
"Captain has appointed me as your tactician; I'll explain the details later, now help!"
Sully took her position next to Ariana but was still skeptical.
"Your new tactician, huh?" she murmured to Chrom.
"You can trust her, Sully, she got us out of a skirmish once-"
The risen with a bow and arrow ran towards Frederick and tried to shoot him, but he managed to block the arrow with his lance. A risen with an axe ran towards Sully and wounded her horse's leg, it whinnied in pain and tottered, but then got on its feet again and charged, and its rider drove its lance in the risen's back, Chrom rushed to her aid and stabbed the risen in the side. Then a risen with a sword ran towards Ariana and grazed her side, and she yelled out in pain, jumped back, and hit it with a bolt of thunder. She turned and noticed another risen had attacked Sully, and even though she and Chrom managed to weaken it, Sully was surrounded on two sides.
Ariana studied their formation, Frederick to her left, Chrom to her right, Sully to Chrom's right, Lissa behind her, Virion out of range, a risen with a bow and another risen with an axe were coming towards them, Sully was in a dangerous position. As she dodged the blows of the risen attacking her, trying as hard as possible not to break formation, she tried to plan her next move.
"Captain, Sully, get back! Frederick, attack the risen over there, your highness, help Sully!"
It was hard for her to elaborate as she was trying to dodge her opponent, but her allies understood. Chrom and Sully moved back a few feet so that they were out of the risen's range, and Frederick rode towards the risen giving them problems earlier and killed it. Lissa ran so she was behind Sully, and healed her injuries so she could now fight again, and Ariana ran a few feet back, and used her tome on another risen, killing it.
But then, as Ariana looked up at the abandoned fort nearest to her, she realized a flaw in her plan. The risen with the bow was standing atop the walls of the fort, its bow aimed at Lissa. It shot her in the arm, and Lissa howled in pain and keeled over, dropping her staff.
"Lissa! Are you all right?"
Lissa turned to her brother and sighed as she tried her best to stand.
"I'm… fine. I'll make it…"
Then Ariana was face to face with another risen, who stabbed her in the stomach after she attacked it, she winced in pain, at this rate, she would not last long without healing. But luckily, Lissa managed to heal her in spite of the injury in her arm. To her right, Chrom managed to kill another risen. Frederick managed to corner the risen with a bow, who was trying to flee to safer ground, and kill it. Now there was only one risen left…
And that risen had thrown its axe at Lissa's side, and she was now critically injured, kneeling on the ground and bloody. Ariana rushed to her side and aimed her tome at the creature, but it managed to dodge the blow, and it threw its axe at Ariana, and now there was a gash in her shoulders. Chrom ran towards his opponent and stabbed it in the chest, it didn't do much, and the risen tried to aim for Chrom, but missed. Sully too pitched in, and injured the risen, but it responded with an attack of its own and now Sully's horse had a cut across its side. The risen tried to run, but Frederick impaled it, it was now weak, but still standing. And it began to move towards Lissa, ready to strike and finish her off for good…
But it dropped dead to the floor with an arrow in its head, and disappeared in a pile of dust. The group saw Virion atop a nearby fort, and he turned to face Ariana with a rather smug look on his face.
"Good lady. I as it happens, am an archer, the archest of archers in fact. I can hold my own in combat, albeit from a distance, but of course, you already knew that. You appear to be still green, so let me offer you advice, strategist to strategist: think before underestimating anyone, including your allies!"
Ariana's jaw went slack for a brief second, but she regained her composure and then sighed knowing that Virion was indeed correct. They may have won, but her carelessness got Lissa injured, and if not for Virion, they would all be dead.
"Chrom… help…"
Chrom rushed to his sister's aid and carried her, her arms hung limply around his neck.
"I... forgive me, Captain. I was careless-"
"This isn't your fault," he then looked at Virion, who was climbing down to meet the rest of the group. He was more nimble and agile than his appearance suggested, "Thank you stranger. Sully said that you needed safe harbour, and I will be willing to give it to you in return for saving our lives."
"My gratitude, your highness."
"Captain," Chrom corrected, "I may be heir to the throne, but I am a captain to the Shepherds."
"Right, Captain." Virion mumbled.
The group decided to set up camp where they stood. Lissa, after an hour or so was bandaged and lying on a blanket. They had no time to exchange stories or discuss what they saw, for they had to get some sleep, as they had a long journey ahead of them.
