So before anything let me thank those that had been waiting patiently for this chapter. I feel atrocious for making any of you wait agonizingly long for it. It might be rough around the edges or even out of the same groove as the previous five. I'm not terribly sure. I wouldn't be able to tell anyways so you'll have to tell me.
If you care about why I took so long to update, I try to explain a little bit about why after the chapter.
Italics will be character's thoughts and /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything I else I may reference. I only own my OCs.
Battle on the Bridge!
With our goal to catch up to the rest of the Shepherds clear in our heads, Stahl and I rode at whatever max speed our horses could handle at any given time.
For what seemed like an hour not a single drop of idle chit-chat passed between me and him. If it wasn't related to what direction we should be heading, it was left in our thoughts.
The only sound that remained a constant was the sound of hooves stomping against the ground as we rode along. That and the sound of fallen leaves being blown past as we rode dangerously fast through a forest with what seemed to be only one path leading straight through it.
Stahl remained in the front no matter the speeds that our horses rode at. He had a very obvious bond with the horse that he rode. One that helped him to convey quick turns to his steed. I, on the other hand, had difficulty with my own mount. Coupled with my lack of experience on such animals, it made trying to get the large animal to cooperate a difficult task at times. Not to mention, my horse seemed wet behind the ears in its new environment. It might've never left the Shepherd stables until now.
Nonetheless, we kept at what Stahl said was a "decent" pace if the others weren't too far ahead of us. Not that I fully believed we were making good time.
In my head, anytime Stahl wasn't with the rest of the group helping in what should be an upcoming battle was time that could potentially get someone killed. One less able body in a small party like the Shepherds could potentially mean the difference between victory and defeat. Granted they should have Auden along with them, there's always the factor that Stahl might have something important that only he is supposed to accomplish. Also, since it was essentially my fault Stahl would be arriving so late made things worst on me.
This is what I get for being selfish! I should've been more focused on what's happening in this world rather than thinking about what gear to buy!
As I beat myself up for my lack of responsibility, Stahl had slowed himself to a stop as he got within eyesight of something that caught his attention.
Naturally, I guided my horse to a slow stop next to him as well. If there was anything my horse was hoping for at this point, it was stopping.
Both Stahl and I had stopped at what seemed to be the top of a hill and in front of us was a small valley with a river running right through it. Of course there was a decently long bridge and a couple of forts stationed on both sides of the river in front of us.
No doubt about it, this is definitely heading the right way.
Both of our horses let out loud snorts and mine even started to turn around to head back the way we came. I instinctively directed the horse back in the direction we were originally heading with some resistance met from the horse.
Are they spooked? Man, even horses can tell what's about to happen. Guess I'm not so special in that regard after all.
Without making any remark on our horse's behavior, Stahl pointed down the hill in front of us.
"See that?" he asked me.
I squinted my eyes in an attempt to see further down the hill and closer to the bridge. It was a fair distance away so it was hard to tell, but I could definitely make out a few figures at the bottom of the valley. It's safe to say that the figures were definitely spread out and in some sort of scuffle already.
"Yeah," I replied slowly, "and I don't like it."
Stahl grabbed the reins of his horse tightly as he replied, "Me neither. Come on, Vincent. We've gotta hurry and help them."
He snapped the reins of his horse and it took off down the hill as fast and safely as it could. The hill was hardly at any inclination so it wasn't difficult for the large animal.
"Well, better to not let him run in on his own right, buddy?" I asked the animal that I had been riding all this time with a slight pat on its neck as well.
I snapped the reins and I had expected my horse to go, but it merely stood in place.
Eh?
I looked down to what I try to affectionately think of as my "animal friend" with a bizarre expression at its lack of movement.
Ok, you just need a little more coaxing.
I eased the back of my feet into the horse's muscles a little more to try and get it to move, but it snorted and stomped one of its hooves impatiently.
"Come on! I can't have you sitting around while everybody else is down their fighting! Move!" I yelled as I slapped the butt of my horse swiftly.
This caused my horse to pull its entire body up until it was only on the back of its legs. This swift motion almost caused me to lose my balance and fall off the horse, but I clung on to it for dear life.
Why did I have to get the horse that doesn't listen?!
I cursed my luck and got brought myself off of clinging to the horse and held merely onto the reins once again. What I hadn't realized yet was that my previous action to the horse I was riding on had quite possibly frightened it to no end as it started to run straight down the hill with me trying to hold on.
Holy-! I only wanted a quick way down the hill! Not a blind charge! Slow down!
I tried controlling the horse but it fiercely resisted. It was completely impossible to get anything through to it. Not even my frantic cries would stop it from charging straight ahead.
Quickly, I found it difficult to keep my eyes open in fear of what I was being charged into. I attempted to locate Stahl and soon came to realize that he had already made it into the heat of the battle unlike me.
With no hope of being able to stop or slow down the wild beast that I was riding on, I thought it might be better to simply jump off. That idea was shot down when I thought of how easily I could be injured going this fast.
I'd be lucky to get rolled out of here in a full body cast! Wait, there's healing magic here. If I lived the fall and was found, I could maybe get out of this okay. No, I know my luck and it's shit.
My other option was to look for help from others around. Stahl's already out of the question, but maybe there's someone else.
L-Looks like there's some people in front of me! Good! W-Wait, they could be Risen. This could be bad…
The wild beast under me continued to lead me into its charge that went straight for two figures. One of the figures seemed shorter than the other and looked to be on the retreating end.
Either Risen like to play tag with each other or the one running away is an ally.
I got closer to the figures within mere seconds at the speed I was going and found myself able to discern the two's identities in the same time. One was a short blond haired girl carrying a staff that was on the fleeting end of a crazed swordsman. The swordsman had very clear red eyes which was all I needed to know that he was Risen.
Lissa! Crap… It's never a good sign when the cleric of the group is being chased off. Things can't be going so well.
While I was only but a good ten more seconds away from Lissa and the Risen that was pursuing her, I drew my sword out of its sheath while I held onto my horse's reins with my other hand. It was difficult to do so, but I held my sword up as I rode. I was ready to hopefully get a good clean blow onto the Risen as I rode past it.
It was all mere convenience that the Risen had positioned itself on my right. If my timing is right, I should pass right by it from behind.
My heart beat grew faster and without another moment's notice, I had begun to make the pass on the Risen. I swung my sword in an arc to cleave through the Risen before it realized what even happened.
My sword swing was perfectly timed and well placed. As I passed the Risen, My sword connected directly into and it lifted the Risen off the ground for a mere second.
At the same time my horse stopped its mad charge as it started to turn around all on its own. It was very clear to me that I hadn't accidentally done so as I had little to no intention of trying to control the feral animal. All I cared for was keeping my own balance right so that I didn't fall off.
As the horse turned around, I noticed that I had easily felled the Risen pursuing Lissa as it faded away like all the others when they're killed.
Crazy horse must've noticed it was heading straight into what it wanted to avoid in the first place. Besides that, what I just did was awesome! I never thought I could pull off something as cool as that!
While I quietly praised myself for my handiwork, Lissa quickly rushed to the side of my horse and broke me from my stupor with her voice.
"Vincent!" Lissa said loudly.
I shook my head a couple of times as I stopped my mental praising of myself and looked at the girl to my side.
"Oh, uh… No, need to say thank you. Tis' all in a day's work," I replied with a slight smirk while trying not to sound like the most cliché superhero ever.
"Thank you?!" Lissa asked in a loud questioning tone.
"You're welcome?" I said slightly confused as I copied her tone.
Before I could even think of a reason for why she's practically yelling at me, my focus was swiftly brought onto a familiar looking cleric's staff coming straight for my face. In the blink of an eye, I was walloped with Lissa's staff right on the nose.
"Why would I say thank you?! Where were you!? I was running for so long! I didn't think I'd be able to run for so long!" Lissa speedily said as she continued to swing her staff at me.
I weakly attempted to block each swing but after being hit with a surprise attack, that really stung might I add, it was difficult to say the least.
"I'm sorry!" I repeated the same line over again and again until the girl would let up in her violent assault. Thankfully, she did and I felt as though I had just survived a boss battle.
"I thought that I was going to get chopped up into tiny little pieces," Lissa said after calming down a little from having used me as a punching, or in this case whacking, bag.
"It'd be a little hard to get you any smaller," I said with a small grin as I scratched my face with my left hand.
This made Lissa reform her previous look of anger as she raised her staff to resume what she had just stopped.
I immediately stopped smirking and flailed in protest as I frantically said, "Kidding! I was kidding!"
My quick show of weakness calmed Lissa as she must've decided to let my small remark go.
As I felt safe from the girl next to me again, I sat myself up straight on my horse and looked around.
Looks like there isn't any other Risen near us. Wait. What's that?
In a short distance away from Lissa and me, there was a man running directly towards us. The man was running in the same direction Lissa had previously been going meaning they were probably following as she was being chased.
The man's eyes weren't glowing red so I didn't think it was an enemy. I was certain it was another Shepherd.
The man stopped running a few feet away from me and Lissa and dropped his hands to his knees as he let out ragged breaths. He held his head barely up as he looked directly at the ground. In one of his hands was a short sword that's handle was being pressed against his knees as well.
"Thank Naga… you're safe… I didn't think… anything could run such a distance. Damn thing… ran right by me while its buddy attacked me. Please accept my apologies," the man said in between his gasps for air.
Guessing this was the person that should've been covering Lissa. It says a lot when I'm the one that has to fix another's mistakes. Especially when I make so many of my own.
"It's alright, Auden. I don't blame you," Lissa said with a small smile.
"Auden?" I said feeling slightly surprised.
The exhausted man in front of me and Lissa finally raised his head up giving me an easy time discerning who he was. It would be hard for me to forget the beard man himself.
I'm surprised because if Auden was supposed to protect Lissa then that means he wasn't doing such a good job until I got here. That's a bit of a shocker in my eyes.
"Vincent!" Auden said with a slight smile as he drew his attention to me on my horse. He continued after he straightened himself and coughed a few times with, "Surprised to see you here. Somewhere in my head I had thought you would've wanted to stay back at the HQ when you didn't come along with the rest of us."
"Yeah, well I probably would've if it wasn't for-"I stopped trying to explain myself as I realized what Auden had just said. My expression on my face changed to a scowl as I glared at the beard man in front of me and said, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"
Auden quietly laughed before he quickly got serious, "Nothing. Look, we can have idle chit-chat latter. We should regroup with Robin immediately."
Somehow, even I was able to calm myself and return my thoughts back onto the battle we were in.
He's right. No point in sitting around. Before that, however…
I carefully dismounted my horse and held it only by the reins.
If there's more fighting to do, I think it might be best for me and the horse if I wasn't riding it.
Needless to say, my horse was still unpleased about being in the situation it was in so it tried to pull away.
"To stubborn for you?" Auden asked me while I tried calming the horse.
"You could say that," I answered back while trying to calm the beast.
"Calm on now! This is no time for a tantrum!" I said as the horse continued to try and escape my grasp.
"Maybe it's the other way around," Lissa said as she motioned for me to stand back.
I complied with the girl merely because I didn't want to get stomped by a horse. Also, there was the slight chance that I could get smacked again if I didn't listen.
She took the reins from me and slowly petted the horse while quietly shushing it. The horse was quick to warm up to her as it quit trying to thrash around. In a blink of the eye, Lissa had the horse calmed down and was offering the reins of it back to me.
"Being a princess has more perks than just getting to wear beautiful dresses. We also have to practice handling horses almost constantly for some royal events. You can say I'm practically like a horse whisperer!" Lissa said with a bright smile as she offered the reins to me.
I was at a loss for actions. My eyes blinked once, then twice, and then a third time when I still couldn't realize how easily she accomplished what I had tried.
That horse was about to crap itself a second ago! How is it so calm now!?
Auden patted me on the back while he laughed and said, "A woman's touch will always find its way into anything's heart!"
I clenched my fist silently on my side as I cursed the horse that I had considered to be a feral beast for being so easily calmed by someone else.
Damn you horse. You just have to go and make me look like a brute.
Before I let myself get caught up in funnily getting mad at an animal that probably couldn't even understand my language, I released my clenched fist and pushed Lissa's hands away. She looked to me bizarrely as she continued to hold the horse's reins.
"Maybe you should just ride it. You've got way more experience than me, "I told Lissa with a small smile.
"Huh? But, I mean... It's your horse. You should be the one-" Lissa tried to offer the reins to me again before I stepped back.
"It'll be better for you. You can get away a lot faster on the horse than on foot. Besides, that means less running," I said as I smirked slightly to the shorter girl in front of me.
Lissa furrowed her eyebrows at my comment that seemed to poke fun at her running abilities. She stopped, however, when she turned back to the horse that had been quietly standing behind her. With a small sigh, she hopped on top of the horse and situated herself quickly.
You have just been re classed to troubadour! Congrats!
"Great, just stay close behind us. Also, if anything comes after you, don't feel bad about riding away from us. You're the healer so you're safety is just a little higher than mine Just try to come back if I get stabbed," I said with a smirk while putting a bit of emphasis on the word little.
"Hmm… I'll think about it," Lissa said while putting a finger next to her face to emphasize that she was thinking.
This made my smirk vanish for a second as my face changed to one of horror.
Please! If I'm left bleeding on the ground, Vaike will shove more of that dishwater healing stuff down my throat!
Seeing my reaction to her jesting she smiled and said, "Kidding! It's my job to keep everyone in one piece! I'll help you."
I then relaxed as I realized that she was indeed merely jesting with me. With that all aside, I turned to face Auden who was itching to get going already.
"Alright, no more wasting time. We need to get back to the front lines where Robin and the others should be," Auden quickly said as he started to run back the direction he and Lissa had come from.
I followed as fast as I could behind the beard man and Lissa followed closely behind me on her horse. We were still a good distance away from the bridge across the river which is what I assumed would be where we would be meeting up with robin before tackling the two forts.
"Kind of surprised on the lack of Risen around here. You guys take out a lot already?" I asked Auden while running behind him.
Seemingly my voice reached his old ears as he answered back, "That's cause we're far in the backfield of the battle! All the fighting is happening in front of us!"
So that's why Lissa ran this way. It would be the smartest idea to run into your own back field since that has the lowest chance for other enemies to be in.
In a few minutes of running we made it back to what appeared to be the leaders of our group standing shortly before the bridge heading across the river. Robin, Chrom, and Sumia were standing in a close knit group.
Sumia had only but a spear in her hands as she stood in the back of the group seemingly ready to attack if any Risen got to close.
Chrom had his falchion at the ready and was intercepting any creatures that tried to approach from the bridge.
Finally, Robin stood in the middle of the group with a book in one hand a small sword in his other. The book's pages rapidly flipped as he held it open and electricity gathered around it. With a quick, almost thrusting, motion he shot out a bolt of electricity that slammed directly into a Risen that was trying to cross the bridge to our side of the river. The Risen's body was left smoldering for a few seconds as it lay lifeless on the ground before it faded away.
"Nice work, Robin!" Chrom shouted back to his tactician.
Robin let out an audible sigh of exhaustion as he seemed to be at this for probably longer than he would prefer.
As Robin found a moment for a short break, Auden, Lissa, and I got within shouting distance. Auden was the first to call out with, "Robin!"
This caught the tactician's attention as he turned around. He let himself momentarily smile as he said, "It's good to see you guys again. Chrom and I had begun to worry when we couldn't see you."
"Lissa!" Chrom said as he turned to look to us after he finished dispatching of a spear wielding Risen.
He quickly ran back to us and spoke in a relieved mood, "I'm glad to see you're safe. It was unnerving when I turned around to see you had vanished."
"I'm perfectly fine, Chrom, You don't have to worry about me all the time," Lissa replied in the usual "I'm not some little girl" attitude.
"You're right, but as your brother I still worry," Chrom told his sister who outwardly understood.
"It was my fault," Auden said as we came to a running stop next to him. He continued as he said in a frustrated tone, "There was just one more than I could keep my hands on. I apologize for any worry I might've caused."
Robin shook his head a couple of times before he replied," It's not your fault. As long as you're safe we can all keep our minds at ease."
After Robin had stopped Auden from beating himself up over his mistake, he turned his attention to me. He said, "Vincent, it's great that you're here. Stahl told me you made it here as well. That just makes things a bit easier for my plan."
"Great, I'll help out in any way I can," I answered him as I raised my sword up.
He nodded in affirmation to my action, but before he could explain any part of his plan Chrom shouted out while pointing, "More of them coming down the bridge!"
Indeed, Chrom wasn't lying. There was multiple Risen running across the bridge towards us. There wasn't terribly too many, but it looked like they were coming out in waves at us. If tower defense games taught me anything, it's that the waves get harder and harder after each one.
"Quick, Auden, Vincent, help Chrom! This is where we make our push across the bridge! Don't worry Miriel and Virion are covering from the sides!" Robin shouted as he readied another spell.
When I looked to my sides, I could definitely see Virion and Miriel both on sides of the bridge volleying ranged attacks at the risen on the bridge and even some of the ones back at the forts.
They've got some killer range. I just hope they don't hit me on accident.
"Vincent, get moving!" Robin yelled to me as Auden had already apparently taken off down the bridge to assist Chrom in intercepting our attackers.
Ugh! Why do I have to be one of the people charging in!?
"This fucking sucks!" I said as my own apparent battle cry.
I ran forward knowing full well that I'll be having to stop on a moment's notice.
Past my head a bolt of electricity shot past me and struck a Risen directly in the head. I knew the attack came from Robin, but the suddenness of it made me almost want to duck straight to the ground to avoid losing my own head.
Further ahead I could see a few archers on the top of the forts next to the bridge. One got plucked by an arrow from Virion it would seem as it fell over. The others that weren't hit volleyed their own shots at me, Chrom, and Auden on the bridge. The arrows were wide and didn't strike me, but it made me make a mental note of them.
Auden and Chrom had a head start and were much faster than me so they had already started to fight a couple of Risen on the bridge. Only one other Risen was in our immediate vicinity and it was somewhat closer to me. It seemed to have all bits and purpose on simply running forward rather than gang up on Auden and Chrom.
Well that's slightly polite of him. Wait. He's not doing that on purpose. This unintentionally mannered zombie just wants to attack the others behind us! That slimy bastard!
As the risen and I ran towards each other, I prepared myself to come to a halting stop as soon as I was within range with my sword.
Before we collided with each other I took note of its weapon. It was holding a sword that was deadly similar to my own meaning we were on equal standing ground in that regard.
We approached each other in our sprint and I knocked my sword into his and locked our blades close to the guards of our blades.
The Risen in front of me was far more forceful in pushing its sword against mine. If I let up even a little, I'll get my own sword pushed back into me.
Okay, keep it quick. You just need to be fast and precise. Man, I wish I took some kind of swordplay club in high school now.
With my brief bit of training with Vaike in mind and the very small knowledge of how swordplay should be in my head, I tried to use any of it to my advantage.
Quickly, I decided on trying to push out the Risen's elbow to force it's sword to swing away from me. I took my hand off my sword for a second and pushed as hard as I possibly could on the undead soldier's elbow.
At the same time, I strafed my body to the left as I pushed its arm out to the right. This caused our swords to unlock as his went straight down to my right side.
I thought to myself that this was my chance so I gripped my sword in both of my hands again and prepared to swing my sword directly into the Risen's neck.
Before I had a chance, I noticed the Risen about to swing its sword back up from its downward position. I took note of this and brought my blade on to his before he had a chance.
The Risen growled quietly into my face as it grew impatient with me.
As I had its sword locked close to the ground, I once again took one of my hands off my own blade too look for more ways of disrupting my opponent. It then' donned on me that I could grab his blade's grip and counter where he wanted to swing it.
I did just this as I placed my hand on the bottom of the Risen's sword. I twisted my wrist to keep the blade's weight going down as I pulled my own blade back for a quick thrust into the Risen's mouth that was constantly open from its growls. The quick thrust was enough to kill the Risen as it faded slowly away.
Wow, if sword fights are all like this, I think this just might be my cup of tea. Playing dirty is built into my system! Oh, God! Keep running!
An arrow flew directly into the bridge next to my feet and reminded me that I need to keep moving forward. Before I could make it much farther to catch up with Chrom and Auden, however, there was another Risen coming closer to me. This one held a long spear.
Crap… I really don't want to get impaled by that.
It stumblingly ran towards me with its long spear in both of its hands ready to stab anything that was in front of it.
I ran forward to get more ground covered across the bridge before I had to deal with the enemy in front of me. This wasn't much of a distance though as I had stop in almost a few seconds to bring up my sword as a defense.
Best to not run into range of that thing. His reach easily trumps mine.
The spearman Risen continued in its run and, when it could, it thrust it's spear straight for my abdomen. To deflect this I held the tip of my sword with one of my hands and pushed the incoming spear to my right.
Feeling satisfied that I had an opening, I moved forward to attack the Risen. The risen, however, had different ideas and instead swung his spear's pole into my sword to knock it away from my side before pulling it back in one swift motion. The head of his spear glazed directly past my side and cut into my gut. The immediate sense of pain made me instinctively freeze up in my forward advance as I reached my left hand to over to my wound.
Blood immediately started to seep out of my wound and onto my hand.
Damn. I shouldn't have brushed aside his spear so easily.
After having retracted his weapon, the Risen prepared for another thrust attack.
Moving out of its way was my first priority, but it was made difficult thanks to my new wound. However, I still managed it as I stumbled slightly to my right out of the spear's way.
This time when the spear passed me I wanted to somehow make sure it wouldn't be able to do so again.
Not rightly seeing any other options, I reached out with my bloodied left hand and grabbed the shaft of the spear. I was then engaged in a game of tug of war with the Risen as he tried to pull his weapon back while I tried to pull him towards me.
I attempted to push the spear out wide to my left, but that wasn't being had by the Risen either. He had more control over his own weapon since he was holding it closer to the base while I had a grip somewhere in the middle of it.
Ah, screw it!
I grunted loudly as I pushed the portion of the spear near me up with my left hand. I was met with resistance from the Risen trying to push it back down but I managed to get the spear up higher and over my head.
While keeping my left hand gripped onto the spear to keep it well above me, I slid it down as I pushed closer to the risen until finally my sword stabbed it directly through its chest. The Risen growled for a second or two before it started to change to dust and vanish in front of me.
After having defeated my second Risen I felt relieved and almost calm for anymore that might come. It was, however, startling when I heard a whizzing sound coming directly towards me. It was the same sound that all the previous arrows that have flown past me made.
The sound jolted my heart back into a panic as I could feel the inevitable coming towards me.
What caught me off guard, however, was a loud tink. A noise that sounded as though the arrow previously meant for me had struck against a highly metallic surface.
I checked my body to make sure I wasn't merely hallucinating. The arrow definitely didn't hit me so my mind wasn't simply playing tricks on me. Also, as far as I know, I don't have some sort of metal plating covering my body somewhere.
I couldn't quite tell where the arrow had actually hit so I simply assumed it flew directly past me.
Speaking of arrows, I decided to look up at the archers on top of the forts and saw that there was only actually two left. The two archers that, when I looked, were met with a fireball and an arrow from our two dedicated ranged attackers.
The tops of the forts were cleared and the bridge had little to no Risen remaining. Auden and Chrom were only a good ten feet ahead of me surveying the surroundings on the other side of the bridge. Chrom finished looking around and turned back as he gave a motion with his hand. It was his go ahead for the rest of us behind to come across.
Not wanting to keep them waiting, Robin and the rest of us in the back moved forward to the other side of the bridge next to the two forts on this side of the river.
I kept my left hand forced against my side as I walked over. I was the first to reach Chrom and Auden while the others hurried to cross the remainder of the bridge.
Auden looked to be visibly winded as he gripped his chest with one hand and let out ragged breaths with each passing second. As I approached the two, I asked in a bit of worry, "Feeling alright, Auden?"
"Yeah… Just feeling a bit out of it. That's all," Auden answered while trying to catch his breath.
"You've fought enough, Auden. Take a break, friend," Chrom said to Auden while reaching one of his hands on to the taller man's shoulder.
"Of course. A break. That sounds good," Auden said as he stopped gripping his chest and crouched to the ground.
"Starting to finally sound your age there, buddy," I said in a joking manner.
Auden gave me a sly look as he replied, "My age? You act as though I could be your grandfather."
"Well, from up here. Your grey hairs speak differently," Chrom said with a laugh as I joined in.
Both Auden and I, however, stopped when we both coughed at roughly the same time. His cough being probably from his exhausted state while my own was from my side injury giving me pain from my laugh.
After a quickly ended bit of laughter, Auden cocked his head to observe me holding my side. He asked with a bit of concern, "That wound feeling alright?"
Feeling a bit caught off guard by his sudden concern for my light injury, my eyes widened a bit slightly before I returned back to a calm state.
"This? Tis' but a flesh wound!" I said with bit wider of a smile than a normal person would have on if they were just recently injured in a battle.
Both Auden and Chrom gave me bizarre looks as I held onto my smile before Chrom barely managed to point to my side and say, "That's a lot of blood for just a flesh wound."
I slowly looked to where my hand covered my wound and saw more blood dripping out of me than before. I lost my cool as I started to go slightly pale.
"W-Where's Lissa?! I'm gonna die! I'm sure to die!" I shouted as my paranoid mind made me believe I was losing too much blood.
Almost on cue, Lissa, Robin, and all the others had made it across the bridge and with us.
"Somebody call for a cleric?" Lissa asked with a smirk as she had apparently heard me. Her staff started to glow slowly before the glow moved over to my wound and sealed it quickly.
Thank the heavens...
"Thanks for that, Lissa," I said as I managed to calm down after being healed.
"It's all fine! Just try not to get cut up anymore! I'm keeping track of how many times I have to fix you up, got it?" She finished with a smile and a tilt of her head from atop the horse.
"Um… Yeah. I got it," I said as I now thought about their being a chalk board somewhere labeled, "Number of times Vincent was wrecked."
Somehow, I feel like that'll be a big number.
"Now that we've made it across, we should wait for the others to regroup with us. They should be finished dispatching the Risen on the other side of the river," Robin said with a smile at our small victory.
So that's where everybody else is. I figured they must be fighting somewhere. I simply didn't know where.
"Until then," Robin turned to Miriel and Virion whom had also crossed the bridge, "You two should take up post on the tops of these forts to get a good look at the area ahead of us. Let us know what you spot out, and dispatch of any Risen that start to come into range."
Both Virion and Miriel merely nodded as they quickly entered the forts to our sides and ascended them to the top.
"The rest of us will keep this position safe until the others show up," Robin addressed the rest of us. We all agreed with Robin's plan and took up positions to guard. Everyone except Auden who still seemed to have exhaustion problems. He was told explicably by Chrom to get rest inside one of the forts.
It didn't take terribly too long for the rest of the Shepherds to regroup with us on the other side of the river. Frederick had supposedly met resistance on his side, but had managed to take care of it when Stahl showed up to assist.
That says a lot if Frederick has trouble…
Sully had grouped up with Vaike to take care of another flank. Vaike was the only other to have gotten injured like me. To him the injury was merely, "A stroke of bad luck for Ol' Teach here!" He had healed it as soon as he possibly could, however, with a vulnerary in his traditional way so it didn't hamper his fighting abilities.
That meant the entire side we had crossed from was cleared of Risen. All that was left was the group of Risen in front of us. Virion and Miriel had spotted them further up the hill merely waiting. They identified one that looked different from all the rest. Robin had discerned that it must be the leader.
The group had nothing, but melee fighters in the group. Not a single ranged fighter was with them. That could easily explain why they weren't attacking us from where they were. Still, their group was decently sized. If all of our possible fighters were to head in, we would only have a number advantage of one.
Currently, we were all hold up inside one of the forts to discuss a plan of some sorts. The only other not present was Virion whom was told to keep watch on the group of Risen. The group of Risen wasn't making any attempts at a forward approach it would seem so it gave us time to formulate some kind of strategy.
"The cavalry should head in first. It'll scatter their numbers quickly while the rest of you charge in," Sully suggested as her idea.
Robin shook his head in disapproval to the idea as he replied, "There's the chance they don't disperse. We don't know how Risen think. It could be they don't think at all as evidence by their fighting patterns. If they remain in a tight formation, any approaching cavalry could get injured."
We had been thinking of a plan for a couple of minutes by now and Vaike was visibly starting to get restless as he almost shouted his suggestion of, "Let's just go get them already! Frontal assault! Just the way Vaike likes it!" He held his axe up above his head as he seemingly awaited his standing ovation from the rest of us for his idea.
There was a long dead silence before almost everyone groaned simultaneously in annoyance at his idea.
"We already explained this, Vaike. On the top of the hill, they have the advantage if we simply charge them," Robin said as he tried to explain to the oaf that was Vaike for the second time.
"T-The Vaike knew that. He was just… testing you guys," Vaike said as he slowly lowered his axe and crossed his arms almost in frustration to how we all reacted to his plan.
"Can't we just sneak around them? I'm sure they won't notice us from the distance they're at if we head further down the river from here," I attempted to suggest not wanting to face a squad of Risen nor their leader.
Robin looked to Chrom almost waiting for his opinion on my suggestion.
Chrom returned Robin's look before addressing the rest of us with, "We can't leave this group of Risen unattended. They could injure, or worse, potentially kill unsuspecting travelers that might pass by here. It's our duty as Shepherds to eliminate them."
I sighed audibly in exhaustion as I slumped down against a barrel that was inside the fort we were holed up in.
The planning continued with Stahl as he said, "Maybe we could lure them over into a trap. You know, like when you lure a rabbit over with a carrot under a box. You trap it right in the box when it goes for the carrot!"
Lissa replied to Stahl almost immediately, "Just because you can get tricked with a little bit of food doesn't mean these things will, Stahl!"
"Oh, sorry. It might just be my stomach talking," Stahl almost nervously said with a smile as he patted his gut.
We're getting nowhere extremely fast… How did these guys do anything without a tactician before?
"If the enemy doesn't have any ranged capabilities, why don't we leave it to our own ranged fighters to thin them out before we lead a charge?" Auden quietly suggested from his resting spot atop one of the other barrels in the room.
"If Virion and Miriel feel confident enough in their abilities to do so, then that might be our best bet," Robin stated after thinking it over for a few seconds.
"Miriel? Uh… what are you doing?" Robin asked questioningly to the mage.
Miriel had been fiddling around with many different things in the fort we had holed up in while we continually discussed ideas. She was currently looking into the barrel I had slumped down next to when Robin called out to her.
Miriel placed the lid back down onto the barrel before she slightly adjusted her glasses and said, "I've merely been procuring what items we have at our ready while formulating what could be beneficial to some of our ideas we've had so far. Except for Vaike's. That idea was, simply put, atrocious in how bull-headed it was." She practically glared at Vaike when she finished speaking bringing Vaike's attention to what she had just said.
Being somewhat close in proximity to Vaike I heard him grumble something as Lissa giggled quietly at Ol' Teach's behavior.
Robin, on the other hand, was almost left to gawk as Miriel explained to him just what was at their disposal inside the fort. She explained which resources could be useful for each idea that was somewhat usable. After Robin had heard her explanations on everything, he took a moment while he formulated some sort of plan inside his tactician mind.
"Well, Robin?" Chrom called out to his tactician that had been thinking for some time now.
Robin smiled as he seemed to have finished devising a plan and stated, "All finished. Everybody, here's what we're going to do."
We all listened intensely to Robin as he told us his plan that he had come up with. My jaw nearly fell off when I heard the details of it.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Frederick, Sully, Stahl, and I had all gotten on to our horses in that exact order from left to right. The rest of the Shepherds waited on the end of the fort that faced the bridge we had crossed. Virion had remained on top of one of the forts to provide as a spotter of some kind.
This was all a part of Robin's "masterful" plan. It was a plan that I had myself questioning why I had to be included in it.
"All right, guys. Everything's all good on our end. Go whenever you're ready," Robin said giving us the go ahead.
"Merely stay close to me. I will draw their attention, " Frederick informed the rest of us on mounts.
"Well? You girlies ready?" Sully asked me and Stahl with a grin added to her teasing.
"I'm fine for whenever. Vincent? What about you?" Stahl asked me.
"I suppose I'm fine as well, but…" I looked down to my steed in an attempt to look for it's own approval to the current situation. Maybe I wasn't looking for that. Maybe I just wanted the horse to somehow gain sentience for one moment and say loudly, "Fuck that shit! I'm not doing that," for me.
Alas, the horse remained unsurprisingly quiet except for the few whinnies it did in response to me putting my face so close to its. Lissa had coaxed the horse into a calmer state before we all got ready so it seemed to be perfectly responsive to my commands unlike when it got so startled.
"Uh… Yeah, I guess we're all ready," I said in an almost defeated tone.
God, or Naga I guess, if you're listening, at least make sure no pigeons crap on my tombstone. That'd be nice. Thanks in advance.
"Let's be off then!" Frederick said as he started off toward the group of Risen. Sully and Stahl followed shortly behind him while I trailed a bit further behind.
We traversed up the hill towards the risen that stayed still in their position at the top. As we neared them, one of them must have noticed us as the rest of them turned to face us. They waited expectantly with their weapons drawn.
When we got to the specified range, Frederick halted in his approach and the rest of us did the same. For a split second, we had a staring contest with the Risen.
Nothing's gone against the plan yet.
"Taste steel foul creatures!" Frederick shouted as he tossed a hand axe towards one of the Risen. The weapon flew quickly through the air. It flew far too quickly for an undead soldier to react as it struck one directly in the forehead. The Risen crumpled to the ground before it faded it away leaving a spot in their formation where a body used to be.
Silence.
Again, we broke into a staring contest with the creatures in front of us.
"They still aren't moving," Stahl said as he moved to Frederick's side.
The great knight fiercely stared down our enemies in front of us, but they didn't flinch.
"I don't like this. I have a foul taste in my mouth about this situation," Frederick said as he motioned for us to all start backing up.
Is this a trap? Wait. Risen coming up with a trap? I don't know about that. W-Whoa. Are they staring at me?
As the four of us backed up, I noticed that the Risen weren't staring at us all but more of just me. Their red eyes seemed fixated on only me.
Am I the weak link or something? What's the deal here?!
"Grgh… Kill… new one… Grggh!" The Risen chief growled out from behind his grunts.
That means… ummm… Well they could be talking about… Ah, fuck. I can't think of any excuse for that! They want my head on a silver platter! Fuck!
The group of Risen took a step forward in a slightly surprisingly synchronized motion, their eyes were all still trained on me.
"There! We've got their attention," Sully said in slight joy as she readied herself to run back down the hill we came up.
"Right. It would seem we managed to anger the bee hive," Frederick said as he followed Sully's example.
They have bees here too? Wait. Shut up. Bees aren't nearly as terrifying as undead things right now! Time to book it!
Stahl and I both managed to turn ourselves around before the Risen approached us and we started in our way together back down the hill towards the river. As we started to make our retreat, the Risen started off in a full blown charge.
"Come on! You won't catch us running like that!" Sully yelled back to the undead soldiers following us close behind.
"Sully, please don't make them try harder!" I shouted in response to the red head further ahead of me.
"Psh… I'm just tryin' to make it a little more exciting. You don't have to go and piss your pants back there," Sully said as she stopped trying to egg on our enemies.
"H-Hey, I'm not-" I attempted to defend myself from Sully's comment but was cut off swiftly.
"Quiet you two! We're nearing the forts!" Frederick said completely silencing me and Sully.
Crap. I have to be further up ahead! I'm trailing behind and too close to the Risen!
I was the furthest in the back of our little group and that meant I was the closest to the Risen that already displayed desire in wanting to probably kill me. I could almost hear their armor clanging behind me louder than the stomping our horses were producing.
"Ok, look. I know you might not like me that much, but we'll both die if you don't run faster!" I spoke into the ear of the horse I was riding on.
Somewhere in my head this seemed like the best solution. As if talking to the animal would make it go faster since I was already doing all I could think of in controlling it to be faster. It sounded idiotic, but actually seemed to produce results when I started to pull back into the group and away from danger.
"They're coming!" Virion shouted from atop the fort as we got closer.
Our horses made it in between the forts and the Risen followed us exactly. We sped past the forts quickly and went onto the bridge where we came to a halting stop. The Risen continued in their pursuit.
"Now!" Robin shouted as he and Chrom lit barrels quickly before the two groups behind each fort pushed them out and into the path of the Risen.
The barrels rolled into their direct path and blew up into a cloud of fire and finally smoke. The previous loud noises of armor clanging against itself had vanished into the thick cloud of freshly made smoke. The smoke dissipated and not a single Risen was left in the vicinity.
We won? God… I feel like my racing heart might stop working altogether after that.
At the sign of victory almost everyone was visibly pleased. Some, mostly just Vaike, let out a victory yell.
"Great work on that plan, Robin," Chrom said as he walked over to his tactician to pat him on the back. Almost everyone gave Robin compliments for his well thought out plan.
"It was nothing. Really," Robin said as he tried to pass off everybody's flattery, "I just took everybody's ideas and combined them. It couldn't have happened without everybody else. Especially not without Mireil. She's the one that knew the barrels could be blown up."
"I recognized the substance from some of my experiments. Its chemical constitution was highly stable so I knew it would be easy," Miriel explained to us.
Everyone was left to blankly stare at Miriel before she explained, "It was easy to explode."
"Oh," Everyone said simultaneously.
"Anyways, what Robin said was incredibly true. You all fought greatly," Chrom stated as he addressed his "troops" I suppose they'd be called.
"Does that mean we've earned a rest?" I asked hopefully.
"Hm?" Chrom turned his attention to me and laughed a little, "Sure, everyone's earned a rest!"
Everyone's faces lit up at the same time almost as if everyone all caught a whiff of the most amazing smelling pie in the world.
"After-" Chrom continued and quickly dashed away the amazing smelling pine, "we make it to the designated resting point on the map.
The group of Shepherds, besides Frederick, groaned in annoyance to their leader getting their hopes up and started to get ready to go back on the march.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"So you hid the convoy before you started fighting?" I asked while I followed Robin from behind on top of Choc to a dense tree line.
Before it becomes confusing, Choc is the name I've allotted to the horse I've been riding this entire time. Naming him wasn't my choice as I'll explain later, but it is easier to call him a name than that horse.
Shortly after the battle was over, I discovered that my horse was a male and that he was indeed a new stable horse. He's still a bit of a young'un so he has a bit to learn from what I understand.
Onto why I had to name him, I was practically forced into naming him after Lissa was shocked to find out I hadn't even been thinking of any names. She made me think of a name on the spot. Also, she even told me that she was going to show me how to properly treat a horse during the trip I suppose.
"Yeah, it's not like we thought the Risen were going to rob us or anything, but it is better than leaving it unguarded," Robin said as he pulled some branches off of the wagon that was supposedly our convoy.
"I imagine "Grrr" wouldn't get a lot of robberies finished," I said jokingly as Robin finished uncovering the convoy.
Robin stifled a laugh at my joking before his eyes slightly lit up.
"By the way, didn't one of the Risen today say something? I heard Frederick say something about it to Chrom Did you catch what it said?" Robin asked as he turned to me after uncovering the convoy.
Yeah, I know what it said. Do I want to tell Robin that? No. No, I don't. I already have my guess on what it means. I would rather not try to discuss what it could mean between everybody else.
"Oh, that? I don't really know. My entire focus was on trying not to die. You'll have to refrain from using me as future bait by the way. It's bad for my health I tell ya," I answered Robin with a lie as I changed the topic.
Robin laughed before he responded to me, "It's talk like that that'll make you even better future bait."
He started to lead the convoy down the hill and back to the rest of the Shepherds as I said seriously from a distance behind him, "No, seriously. Robin, I don't want to have any more heart attacks during these plans of yours!"
I was completely ignored by our army's tactician in my entire endeavor to keep myself safe. Not once did he even humor me by telling me I wouldn't be in any other crazy plans.
Instead, we continued in the march to the north unaware of what was following us.
So, explanations are in order, correct? I believe I do owe some bit of a reason for why this chapter took so long. Firstly, I will always prioritize my own personal life over this site. Sorry, but I need to make sure I'm happy and alive before I can write anything. It's the truth for any writer unless they were brought back by a necromancer to write for them in which case, please direct me to one of these as I desperately would like one.
Another reason would be simply my writing ability in a nutshell. I stare at my computer until finally I get taken off in writing. It's like if you were waiting for the train but sometimes that train never comes and you're left waiting. It works wonders at times and other times can be increasingly frustrating. I've met others with this same problem and it can be an annoyance. This was another reason in my horribly long list of reasons why I continuously put off trying to write.
I can continue to bore you with my problems, but I'll save you the details. Writing can be strenuous and it gets even harder when you want to make those reading entertained. Coupled with real life, it can sometimes be easy to just say fuck it and be done with it.
In the end, I apologize deeply for leaving for such a long time. I hope to be able to continue making updates as I will try to my utmost ability to do so.
On a better note, leave a review on what you think of the chapter! I've been out of it for a good five or so months so it would be nice to know if I've still got it or if it's been lost on the previous page. Thank you though to those have already left reviews, tis' much appreciated!
Also, drop a PM if you have any suggestions or questions.
I'll be trying to write the next chapter as quickly as possible now. Hopefully this goes well. If not, send help.