Chapter 16) The Sable Order

Diana POV

With Altea completely free and clear, we march for our next goal, the Fane of Raman. Apparently, Gotoh needs two orbs, the Lightsphere and the Starsphere, and somehow, that will make the magic needed to destroy Gharnef. I wouldn't even pretend to know how that worked. However, the Fane of Raman is located on the island of Chiasmir, just north of Grust, and connected to the mainland by two giant bridges. It provided a natural entrance to Grust, meaning that Grust defended both bridges with everything they had. That meant Sable Order.

It was going to be a battle on the big bridge and that always led to one thing: everything choking on the dead. What a lovely way to technically bring Yuliya and Jubelo 'home'. What a lovely way for me to return to Grust for the first time since I ran away.

Chiasmir had always been the land of the bogeymen when I was growing up. Stories would talk of how fairies would snatch you up and drag you to Chiasmir Isle if you weren't a good little boy or girl and ate all your vegetables. Stories would talk of how the sanctuary was guarded by a war god who burned all trespassers alive, regardless of intent. Of course, in actuality, it was just a small isle with a couple of villages, fishermen, whose families had probably lived here since before Archanea's founding. Fishermen who were probably hiding in terror at the sight of the two armies preparing to rip each other to shreds.

"Been a while since we've seen the Sable Order," I whispered aloud. There was no response, but I didn't expect one. Nyna and Marth were talking a short distance away, and I let them pretend it was private by staying away.

So, I was surprised when Minerva said, "that's right. You've fought them." She walked to my side and looked over the bridge too, where the Grustian flag flapped proudly in the distance over a bunch of soldier. "You, Astram, Midia, and Jeorge all did."

"As well as the other Archaneans." I turned slightly to face her. "We lost, though. Then again, Camus had been there, and Camus had inside information via Horace."

"Right, Horace had to pick between his honor and his people. You forget that seeing him."

"I'll take your word for it." I smiled slightly. "Even if he's gained forgiveness, he is still awkward around Nyna, and I tend to be around her because of the whole 'bodyguard' thing."

"True." Minerva crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she looked over everything. "Camus isn't here."

"No, he's not." Sirius could be, but not Camus. "Were you worried?"

"A trifle. Camus is known to be a fierce warrior. That's why Medeus didn't kill him for insubordination." Minerva glanced over her shoulder at the soldiers triple checking everything and milling about. "We do have quite a few advantages."

"Our morale is definitely higher." I studied her expression and noticed it was even more stoic than usual. "That's not the only reason you were worried about Camus."

"I imagine it's the same reason why you look like you didn't get much sleep." She smiled slightly. "You did a good job hiding it, but I've seen you enough times."

"Damn, I knew I should've taken more time with the makeup." I grimaced and her smile grew. "But yes, I suppose it is." Yuliya and Jubelo were heartbroken that we were fighting Grust soldiers, and just could not sleep. I'd stayed up with them, of course, trying to reassure them. It had taken me waking Prince Marth up and getting him to promise them he'd end the battle as quickly as possible before they relaxed enough to sleep. "They're with Maria still, yes?"

"Yes, they are. They will deal with the lesser wounded as they've done before. You're guarding the infirmary as usual, yes?"

"Yep, that's the plan." A strange bit of movement by a cloud caught my attention and I looked up to see a pegasus knight with short pink hair flying over us. "Did your brother send reinforcements?"

"To Grust? I doubt it." Minerva looked up as well, and she gasped. "Est!" Her arm shot up and she waved. "Est! There you are!"

"Est?" I watched the pegasus knight waved back and began arcing down towards us. "You know her?"

"She's one of my Whitewings. Palla and Catria's younger sister. I had no idea where she'd been stationed, or anything." Minerva's smile softened as Est landed neatly on the ground and hopped off. "Goodness, what am I going to do with her?"

"Well, she's here now?" I frowned as I noticed her glance around, and went to Nyna, carrying a sword. "The hell is that?"

"I don't know. Est is terrible at swords." Minerva shrugged. "Let's listen in."

"Sounds good to me."

"Greetings, Prince Marth, Princess Nyna!" Est said cheerfully. Both Prince Marth and Nyna had their 'royal masks' on, but I could see Nyna was already faltering in the face of such cheer. "My name is Est, of the Whitewings. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"The pleasure is ours," Prince Marth replied. He shared a look with Nyna, and Nyna subtly shrugged. "I must admit; I did not think more would join us until we reached Macedon."

"I meant to join sooner, but… well…" Est held out the sword and popped it out of the sheathe a little to showcase a silver blade with strangely waved edges set in a gold hilt. But there was a strange aura to it, like it was there and not there. "I heard Grust had this, and so, I prioritized taking it back." Est knelt and presented the sword to Nyna. "The sword Mercurius for you, Princess Nyna. I understand it is one of your Regalia."

"It is," Nyna murmured. I caught signs of her trying to hide her surprise, and I couldn't blame her. We knew Camus had Gradivus, and Jeorge wielded Parthia, but there hadn't been any word of where Mercurius had disappeared to. I wondered why Grust, of all places, had it. "Thank you. It must've been difficult."

"No, not really," Est reassured. She smiled brightly. "I'm not the fastest or the strongest, that's Catria and Palla, but I win at hide and seek!"

"Pardon?"

"Est lacks combat experience and skill in comparison to my other Whitewings," Minvera explained. Both she and I pretended we just walked up and caught the last bit. I winked at Nyna, though, and she smiled back slightly. "However, she's perhaps the best of all my soldiers at being a scout and spy. Her pegasus flies unnaturally quiet, and when she's not giggling, she's remarkably quiet as well. Of course, you'll only see that when she's on a job."

"Hiya, Commander!" Est chirped. She saluted, though, and there was great amount of respect in her eyes. "I've returned for duty!"

"I'm pleased to have my best scout back. Now someone else can suffer Palla's mothering."

"Oh, fudge." Est made a face. "Maaaybe we should-"

"Come on. Now."

"Yes, ma'am."

With some brief bits of polite conversation, Minerva deftly led Est away, and Prince Marth ducked back to discuss the current battle plan with Hardin. Nyna lingered behind, studying Mercurius. I remained with her, returning my attention to the Grustian soldiers in the distance. I wondered if I knew them. Not by name, of course. I had been too much of a brat for that. But by face… there were probably many I knew. And many of them would die. Promise or not, I knew it would take quite some time for Prince Marth to convince any to surrender. They had their pride.

"Here," Nyna whispered. She held Mercurius out to me. "You should take it."

"I'm flattered, Nyna, but I'm not sure we want to put the fancy sword in the hands of someone who, by agreement of everyone, rarely goes out on missions," I replied instantly. I smiled at her, and she smiled back sheepishly. "The Regalia need to be used in battle. Jeorge has Parthia. Let Astram have Mercurius."

"True, it would suit him better." She closed her eyes and nodded, tucking it against her chest again. "Yes, we'll do that. I'll give it to him after this battle." She briefly put on her 'princess mask' before shrugging and letting it fall to lean against me. "The Sable Order… I must admit; I hoped Camus would be here."

"Mmm, I've a feeling we'll have to go deep into Grust before we see him." I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Have faith, Nyna. I made you a promise."

"I worry he will make you break it."

"Never." I tightened my hug on her. "We'll figure this out."

"…All right." She smiled up at me, the smile of someone who desperately wanted to believe. I wasn't offended. It was a promise conditional on many things, but I'd do it. "We should get this to Astram."

"He's sparring with Horace. This way."

We had to move the infirmary back. Not because of the army had been pushed back or anything, but the sheer amount of blood and bodies falling into the strait completely tainted the water to the point that we couldn't filter and boil it all out.

"You can almost make a second bridge from the bodies," I noted peering at the water. Thanks to the limited space, and our heavily armored frontline, I actually didn't have much to do. "Floating like that… I half want to check."

"Times like this remind me that you can be morbid as all hell," Astram grumbled. A bad injury from protecting Linde from three snipers had landed him back here, and he opted to be 'reassigned' to make things easier. He fidgeted and paced, clearly not liking to stay in one place, but he didn't try to return. It was too much of a crush to safely try. "Besides, wouldn't you sink?"

"Not if there are enough bodies. It'll be like a raft. One that smells horrible due to rot and shit."

"Once again, I somehow forgot that sometimes, you can be morbid as all hell."

"Sorry?" I shrugged, unbothered, and gasped as I saw Catria, Palla, and Est once again coordinate for a devastating attack that ripped through two enemies and threw their bodies into the water. "Gods, that has to be the tenth time I've seen Minerva's Whitewings pull that this battle, but there's…"

"It's complicated and in most circumstances, it's impractical, but when you're surrounded like this, it shows its skill in clearing the field." Astram kept his voice even, but his eyes sparkled. "That sort of coordination requires a lot of trust and a lot of practice. I can see why Princess Minerva only now gave permission for them to use it. What's the name of the technique?"

"Triangle attack." Which, admittedly, seemed like an odd name to me, but I wasn't going to judge. Except for the whole 'naming moves' things, maybe. "So…" A flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, but when I looked, I saw nothing. I was inclined to be wary, but ignore it, except Astram had also tensed. "Not just me?"

"Nope." Astram sighed. "I'll go check."

"With that giant hole in your side?" I made my voice as dry as possible. "Really?"

"It's probably just an animal."

"And Midia's reaction when she learns you did this and, let's be real, she will learn?" I waited for a response, but he only grimaced. We both knew Midia would lecture him to hell and back. "Yes, I know. I'm the worst for bringing her in, but seriously, the last thing we all need is listening to Midia yell at you."

"You're the one always getting hurt when you go off on your own."

"Yes, but better that than you undoing Nyna's hard work." This really was the meanest, using both Midia and Nyna against him, but the hole in his side was huge. A lot of his skin had to be cut away before we could remove the arrow, meaning he had a hole larger than my fist. In his side. In his right side at that, his dominant hand. "Be right back."

"I haven't agreed to this!" He also didn't stop me as I walked away. "If you get hurt, I'm telling Midia."

"And never was there a greater threat." I waved at him over my shoulder and skirted the edges of the strait, hunting for whatever I'd seen. I ended up going father than I originally thought I would, and when I was out of sight of the infirmary, I decided I should probably return. That was when the lance nearly skewered me.

Thankfully, though, I'd seen the weapon, and so, I managed to parry it, using a trick Hardin taught me. My attacker recovered quickly, but I managed to duck under and swing my sword towards their stomach, intending on eviscerating them. I stopped the blade just in time as I saw Cam… no, Sirius. This was Sirius, in Camus's clothes. Again.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised to see you," I said lightly. My sword was still just a twitch away from biting into his abdomen, but I thought it fair. He had his lance positioned where he could use it as a lever to crush my throat. "Except, of course, how you're across the battlefield?"

"It's simple. I was on this side to begin with," Sirus sighed and stepped away, bringing his lance down. I did the same with my sword. "Rather awkward, that."

"You had to know we were coming."

"You made better time than we thought. Whoever is running the counter-spies is doing fantastically. Then again, we don't have that many spies on our side."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there's no real need for it." He shrugged. "We know where you guys are going. Gharnef has a trap set up in the shrine here for you lot, don't know what, so we know you'll head to Grust next. From there, you'll have to march through Macedon in order to reach Dolhr. Somewhere along the way, you'll deal with Gharnef, but since Macedon has Gotoh, I'm sure Gotoh will take care of it."

"How did Gharnef know…?" I closed my eyes, putting the pieces together myself. "No, he has to know his own weakness. He'd try to prevent us from getting the materials to make it."

"Pretty much. And it'll be stupid to march on Macedon with Grust and the Sable Order on your back. And Macedon is your only path to Dolhr, and you'll need Gotoh for this mythical weakness."

"I'm not sure if this is cleverness or an exceptional grasp of common sense."

"You'll be surprised how many times those overlap." He shrugged again. "Anyway, sorry to startle you. I had just gotten close to see if I would have to finish my little raft to get across or not."

"Raft?"

"I've been building a quick little thing." He nodded towards the edge of the water, and I barely saw a raft among the reeds. "Won't hold up for long, but long enough for me to get across. In theory."

"In theory?"

"Well, all the bodies falling in messes up the water's natural wave pattern."

"I will definitely just take your word for that?" I had no idea what he was talking about, but the shine in his eyes hinted that if I didn't change the topic, I'd learn far more than I wanted to. "You're not bad with a spear, huh?"

"Hmm? Oh, right, yeah." Sirius glanced down at his lance with a grimace. "Camus insisted growing up. At the time, it had been for 'exercise' and 'training', and now I can't drop the habit. Lovely thing nowadays."

"I imagine it would be harder for you to play double with Camus if you weren't as skilled."

"'Almost'. Almost as skilled. He threw his whole self into training and being a knight. I just wanted to be a fisherman, and it shows. I'm only as good as I am because Camus dragged me along." He grimaced. "Everyone always talks of how kind and courteous he is, which is true, but I think they forget that he's incredibly stubborn."

"Wow, I never noticed." I made my voice as dry as possible and he laughed. "So speaking of Camus…"

"Yes?"

"He still loves Nyna, doesn't he?"

"Oh, did I not make that obvious last time?" He sighed heavily, facepalming. "Yep, he does. Which I would normally be happy about, but this war makes everything complicated, and that aforementioned stubbornness makes it even worse." He scoffed, letting his hand fall to his side again. "Guilt complexes are so much fun to watch. Not."

"And he still risked getting captured, or worse, to get us a weapon and to make sure Nyna and I were safe." I could almost scream. He was just so infuriating, but even worse, the whole 'giving everything to protect the ones you love thing'? That was a flaw of mine too. Gods, this was… "Will you see him soon?"

"Providing a certain mercenary turned bodyguard doesn't gut me, yes."

"Hey, I didn't!" I tried to smile, but it faltered, so instead I simply let fall for a serious look. "Can you pass him a message for me?"

"Always. Last time, it finally made him smile."

"Well, tell him that Nyna and I are still doing fine, and inform him that I'm keeping my promise." I smirked when he frowned. "He'll know what I'm talking about. But you'll have to think of how to hide."

"Oh, gods, I've already had it planned out." He grinned, eyes sparkling. He had a good idea now just what I meant, and he was all for it. That made me feel loads better. "I've always wanted to go sailing, you see. If Camus hadn't gotten caught so soon, I would've long crossed the sea."

"To Valentia?"

"Yep! Should be fascinating to visit." He glanced at the water, nodding. "The waves have calmed. I should get to my rafting."

"While I should get back to my guarding." I relaxed slightly, smiling. "Thanks for passing on the message."

"Please don't die to whatever trap Gharnef set. I really want to see how you plan on triumphing over my twin's stubborn ass."

I simply waved and left, returning to the infirmary to find a nervy Astram. I lied and said it was just an animal, one cute enough to make me try to catch it to make the kids smile. Thankfully, my normal fussing made it completely believable, and thus I only got a small lecture on 'messing with wild animals'.

I really did have to plan, though. Whether or not I could keep my promise… the time to prove that was coming soon.

The battle wrapped up before long, but then we had the long task of bundling up the bodies and 'hiding' them for burial before Yuliya and Jubelo saw how many of their countrymen we had to kill before Prince Marth could force a surrender. I thought it was a kind gesture, but pointless. They were young, not stupid. Besides, it took a few good hours for the blood to finally wash away from the strait. Leaving them for that long made it obvious how badly things had gone.

"So, it's going to be a small group, yes?" I asked Nyna as I tucked Yuliya and Jubelo into bed. They were both fast asleep, exhausted from helping Maria, and exhausted from the knowledge that their protectors, the people who saved them, were killing their countrymen. All because Grust sided with Dolhr. It was sad that they learned so easily that there was no fully 'good side' or 'bad side' with war. "Is it because of the possibility of a trap?"

"Yeah, it seems the locals were quite adamant about it," Linde answered, folding clothes. She wasn't part of the 'small group' at her own insistence, and so, took over what should've been Kris's chores for the day. "Xane is, though. He insisted on Bantu."

"Strange." Though maybe not. Gotoh had sent us to the Fane, so Xane and Bantu probably knew a lot more about it than anyone else in the army. "You sure you don't want to go?"

"I'm good. Merric is going as a healer, and Kris can handle the magic part." She grinned, and it was some mix of pride and envy. She was slowly working through her inferiority complex. Slowly. "I figured I'd stay here in case our group was ambushed, and because I'm better at laundry than Merric."

"That's true." Merric was so horrible at it that he was permanently barred from any chore involving laundry. "Oh, right, you said you wanted to talk to me about something."

"Hmm? Oh, right!" She folded up a shirt and then turned to face me. I focused on tucking Yuliya and Jubelo's stuffed animals into their arms. "Hey, Kris has been off since we left Altea."

"Has she?" I fixed the blanket over Yuliya and Jubelo, and thought a bit on the few interactions I'd had. Kris had kept herself unusually busy these past few days, and, in retrospect, she had a distracted air to her, I supposed. "I can see that. Why bring it up?"

"Because?" She gave me the most pleading look I'd ever seen. That look alone told me exactly what she wanted. "Please?"

"You want me to talk to her."

"Pretty please?"

"I… oh, fine." I sighed, barely resisting the urge to facepalm. I wondered why she thought I could do anything. "Watch these two for me. I don't want them alone for the next couple of days, given today."

"K~!" She beamed at me. "Thank you!"

"Yes, yes." I fussed over the blanket one more time before leaving and heading for the courtyard of the fortress. That's where the group heading to the Fane was finishing their preparations. I caught sight of Hardin and Nyna were wishing Marth well, since both would stay behind in case Grust tried to attack, before focusing on another bit of blue hair. I found Kris on the edges of the group, staring into space. Everyone was too busy to really notice, but since I'd been actively hunting for her… well, it was obvious.

She came back to herself when I walked up, though. "Oh, hey, Diana," she greeted. She fidgeted with her gloves, made exclusively for her by Caeda. "I thought you'd just be inside."

"That was the plan, but Linde asked for me to come talk to you," I explained. I crossed my arms and studied her face. "Not sure why she thought I was the one for it, but she's right. You are acting off."

"It's fine. I'm just tired."

"And is that tiredness going to interfere on the battlefield?" I waited for a response, but she hesitated. "If it is…"

"No, I don't think so. It's not a physical tiredness, so much as a 'my mind is going in circles' tiredness." She shrugged, smiling helplessly down at me. "That's all. I can focus most times. Just when I'm on my own."

"I see." I debated pushing, but something told me that would be a bad thing. "Spiraling thoughts, huh? Well, I do have a suggestion for that."

"You do?"

"Yes." I reached up and patted her shoulder. "I don't know what happened in Altea, but, well, maybe for a while you should just focus on one thing."

"And that is?"

"Who you want to be." I locked eyes with her, and her own widened. "Decide who you want to be and hold onto it. That's what I've finally learned. I think."

"I…" Her voice became hesitant, quite. "I want…" But she bit her lip and clearly began thinking deeply on it. "I want to be Kris, the former thief, the… the mage knight." With each word, a little more light came into her eyes and her posture became straighter. "The… the right hand of my idiotic silly prince, Marth."

"Then hold onto that." I nudged her towards the others, noticing Hardin and Nyna had stepped away from Marth. "Looks like you're leaving. When you get back, give Linde a hug. She was worried."

"I will." She smiled, and there was quite a bit of relief to it. There was still some distraction, some bit of tiredness, but now, she wasn't drowning. "Thanks."

"Luck." I waved her off, and ended up lingering to see the rest leave. But I lingered as the courtyard cleared, almost laughing to myself. "Focus on who you want to be. I should take my own damn advice." Who did I want to be? I closed my eyes and had my answer in an instance.

I wanted to be Diana, bodyguard to Nyna. I wanted to be her confidant, and her friend. I wanted to be the same for Camus. I wanted to support Yuliya and Jubelo. I wanted to support Jeorge, Midia, Astram. I wanted to be the reliable one for my slowly growing group of friends. I wanted to help them as they'd helped me, especially through all this madness.

Of course, that all meant I had to fix my own messed up self first, but it was a goal. I could deal. And the first step… was going to be either dealing with Camus and figuring out my feelings for Jeorge. One of the two. Probably the former because that was going to be way easier.

Notes on Palla:

One of the captains of the Whitewings, and Minerva's right hand. She's the elder sister of Catria and Est, and is very motherly towards most people.

A strong fighter in her own right, though there are some times when she appears slower than, say, her sister. That said, though, she's still an invaluable flier and actually trains both Catria and Caeda.

Ever since Abel helped save her pegasus, she seems inclined to spend a lot of time with him. Perhaps she's developing a crush.

Notes on Catria:

One of the Whitewing Captains, she tends to act as a peacekeeper, likely from years of practice being the 'middle child'. Quiet, but passionate.

Though less experienced that her older sister, she arguable has more potential, likely because Palla trains her.

She tries to hide it, but every once in a while, you can catch her gazing longingly and Prince Marth. Sadly, though, her feelings are so obviously unrequited that you just have to feel bad for her.

Notes on Arran:

A knight of Altea, apparently, who had been ordered back home due to illness prior to Altea's fall. He's been subtly protecting the citizens as much as possible ever since.

He's… average. That's really the best to be said. He's not bad, but compared to say, Cain and Abel, he's not great either. Still, another trained unit isn't a bad thing.

He's quiet and standoffish, really speaking only to Jagan. He claims to be better, but Lena is almost certain he's still ill.

Notes on Samson:

A mercenary-gladiator who fell in with Altea after the war. He used his winnings from the arena to help the citizens.

Better suited for one on one combat than crazy battle-war. Still, he's not bad.

Also quiet, but gets along fairly well with Ogma and Navarre, surprisingly, possibly due to putting his morals above pay. Talks of going to Gra after this, though, not liking he stayed in one place too long.

Notes on Xane:

Once a manakete, now something even he doesn't know. A playful prankster who hides his very real anger and annoyance behind a smiling mask. Perhaps why some of his pranks are mean-spirited and/or testing us.

He has the most varied and unique way of fighting, simply because he can mimic anyone, taking on their appearance and ability. Typically, he's kept as a guard for the 'second' infirmary with Yuliya, Jubelo, and Maria, simply because they need that sort of varied guard more. And he seems to like children, even if he doesn't like humans.

Ordered by Gotoh to join us to watch and help, and so, he does. Apparently, he has undying loyalty to Gotoh. He does seem to be warming up to some of us, though.

Author's notes: Est joins this chapter, at an insanely low level, with the 'super sword' of the game, Mercurius. In the very first game, it was locked to only Marth, but from FE3 on, any sword user could use it. With Est's join, you also get access to the triangle attack, a series staple where you surround an enemy with three specific characters (typically pegasus knights) to deal auto-crits.

Next Chapter – Manakete Princess