...
...I'm not dead, I swear.
Ahaaaaaa, well, yeah. I'm finally back with the second chapter to Awakening! It took really long, I know, but I finally finished it and got it out. I've gotta say, I've been looking forward to rebooting this story, and am pretty frickin' glad that I finally got around to posting a new chapter up after a dry streak. I'll try my best to update a bit more frequently... Maybe once a week if I can.
Enough of my rambling, though. It's about time that we continued on with the story, right?
Let's get back into it, then!
It was safe to say that the scene was rather chaotic upon arrival. As Frederick rushed into the town first – as was to be expected as the soldier on horseback – he gazed around with his lance at hand, his eyes narrowed and challenged all the while. He was met with the sight of burning buildings all around him, which were appropriately paired with the sounds of crackling embers, alongside the panicked cries of distant villagers afar. A low mutter escaped his breath as he quickly pulled on the reins of his horse, driving it to rear about and turn quickly. Darkened auburn eyes of his immediately scanned the lower level beneath him, catching gazes with his nearing Lord.
"Milord, they've already stormed throughout the well entirety of the area…!" he spoke briefly while scanning the surroundings once more. His guard was well-kept and his trusty lance was at the ready as he surveyed the scene further. "As far as I can tell, most of the villagers have successfully evacuated. However, there seems to be a small group consisting of the town's leader, alongside a few other civilians, that are currently being held hostage in front of the town church…"
"See to it that you make it there, then, Frederick," Chrom replied while quickly continuing on his path. "You and I will clear a path to the back and rescue the people." With those words, the azure-headed swordsman bound off and into his first skirmish, clashing blades with a neighboring swordsman. He held his ground effortlessly at first, keeping his weaponry evenly leveled and stable as he guarded against his attacker. "Go! Make haste!"
Frederick stared after the man for a moment before giving a curt nod and lightly whipping the reins of his steed once more, causing it to turn and rush off into another active part of the streets. "As you say, Milord," he said under his breath while leaning forward into the mane of his horse for the moment. It didn't take long before he reached a couple of newfound foes while upon his mount. While Chrom was busy fighting afar on foot, the armored knight quickly swung his right arm around, aiming a strike at one of the two men standing before him and engaging himself within his own skirmish.
Meanwhile, a particular, blonde-haired healer made a subtle entry into the scene at long last. Cautiously, in order to avoid much attention, she stayed closer to the abandoned stalls of the markets, peering around curiously and carefully while keeping her staff close to her own being. "Pfft… They say that I wouldn't be able to protect myself…" she muttered with a pout under her breath while beginning to look over at the clearing. Crouching next to one of the stands, she attempted to shield herself from view as best as she could while watching both her brother and her armored companion deal with several men afar. "That…may be true now that I think about it… But it sucks for them when they realize who they have to run crying for help to when they hurt themselves…!"
In a gradual manner, she closed her eyes, growing quiet for a few moments after she huddled beneath the wood of the shopping stands that shielded her from view. A soft sigh left her lips, which was accompanied by an inaudible murmur. She sat like this for a little while, holding her staff relatively close to her chest before opening her eyes the slightest bit. After doing so, she shook her head as if she were pushing some other, distracting thoughts from her mind before pulling herself into a crouch and turning around. Shifting her staff to a single hand, she held it low and by her side while beginning to stand up. At first, she brought herself up just enough to peek over the top of the stand again in order to survey just how much the situation had progressed. Instead of glancing around as she planned to, however, Lissa found herself staring into the eyes of a lone man, which caused her to stagger back from shock almost immediately. To this reaction, the same man merely gave a small grin while snickering softly.
"Well, ain't ya jus' a pretty 'lil lass…" he spoke slowly and mockingly, eying the cleric up and down a couple of times. His smile seemed to grow a little bit more as he jumped over the shopping both, landing smoothly on his feet before slowly and threateningly beginning to stalk closer towards Lissa's location. "Heh… My, it would be nice to wake up to such a pretty face every day."
While Lissa continued to step backwards in a slight panic, the man just continued to follow her with that same, chilling smile of his. By the end of his last sentence, he stopped for a moment, chuckling lowly under his breath as he heaved the axe that he held over his shoulder for a moment.
"…C'mere, lass. The sooner yer head's on my wall, the sooner my 'lil dream can come true!"
With those words, the axeman bound forward at once, leaning forward while initiating his sprint. In response to the movement, Lissa made a quick motion of her own, turning around and beginning to flee in attempt to save her own life. As she did so, she couldn't help but release a loud, frantic cry that rang across the clearing.
Upon noticing the sound, Chrom swiped the enemy that he was engaged with away at once, glancing over his shoulder as soon as he did so. He scanned the clearing as quickly as he could to try and catch the source of the sound. His eyes widened in a sudden rush of shock and concern as he saw his sibling sprinting about. "Lissa…!" he shouted, turning from his previous foe and running off towards the healer's position. Despite his hastened run, he couldn't quite reach her in time as yet another swordsman intervened with his path. He noticed at the last moment, but only managed to barely and somewhat clumsily block the sword coming at him with his own Falchion. As each blade clashed against one another, he quickly adjusted his figure to support his own weight while fending his new attacker off, giving him a glare before slightly peering over at his sister once more as she continued her fleeing attempts.
"Gods, damn it all…!" the navy-haired Lord cursed through clenched teeth. Swiftly and hastily, he grasped Falchion's handle with both hands before pushing and swinging outwards, fending his enemy away for the moment. Without much time to react afterwards, however, the same swordsman recovered with little effort, and, before Chrom knew it, he found his blade clashed against the other's once more. Because of this, he groaned in minor frustration, forcefully leaning forward against the sword that opposed him. While this occurred, he looked over his shoulder and in the general direction in which he assumed Frederick to be in, shouting loudly in attempt to catch his attention.
In a predictable response to the call, the knight quickly struck his lance across a couple of other raiders, ridding of them effortlessly before gazing to the side and at his lord. Soon after doing so, however, he caught the motions of Lissa and her pursuer from the corner of his eye. Narrowing his eyes in strain, he immediately turned his horse around before whipping his reins, which, in turn, compelled the horse to progress in a full sprint towards the lady's direction.
Midway during his departure, however, he was forced to stop as a trifold of other men came across his path, with a burlier, axe-wielding bandit attempting to block him from the front while a dual force of swordsmen flanked him from either side. In response to this, Frederick instantly stopped his horse, scowling lightly as he reared the creature and bore his lance. "Dastards, the lot of you…" he hissed with a lack of amusement while striking one of the sword-wielders away, turning the other way to barely parry the remaining one.
Without any straightaway backup to defend her, Lissa continued doing the only thing that she could do for the moment:
Run.
While both Chrom and Frederick defended themselves for the moment, Lissa herself wove as best as she could around the numerous shopping booths and stands strewn across the town square, taking the occasional glance over her shoulder to see where her pursuer was. Each time that she did this, she was only met with the reoccurring realization that the man behind her was slowly yet surely beginning to catch up with her. To this, she quickly brought her gaze to rest upon the stone continuing in front of her every time, trying her best to keep pushing onwards. Although adrenaline was helping her make do with her fleeing act, she did admit that she was growing tired of the trap that she was caught in – both physically and mentally.
Gods, is this really how it ends for me…? Throughout the panic that she was suffering, Lissa managed to make a few, frantic thoughts as she ran along. She bit her lip lightly in distress as she continued forward, beginning to feel the effects of her rush wear down and fatigue begin to take hold of her as her breathing picked up. I wouldn't have been surprised if I got stabbed by some rogue swordsman or something, but… Getting chased by some axe-wielding bandit with a bad accent?! You've gotta be-
Before she could conclude that thought, Lissa found herself skidding to a sudden stop as another figure entered into her line of view. Said figure appeared to be yet another man who, coincidentally, bore a blade within his hand. Upon seeing the cleric, he assumed a stance before sprinting forward, his eyes narrowed as he leaned over during his run and held his blade relatively close to eye level all the while.
Wasting little time, the blonde quickly acted on impulse, shifting her course and veering left since the paths both behind and in front of her were out of the question, and because she would have been met with a face full of stone and wall if she made a break eastbound. When she turned, she released several, low murmurs as she turned the corner of an aisle of booths and began a one-way venture down the strip of land. Soon after doing so, however, she was met with another face – one to which she was both panicked and annoyed with at first.
Gods, they just have to keep coming out of nowhere, don't they?! Why can't-
"Duck! Now!"
Needless to say, Lissa was a bit caught off-guard as the latest newcomer gave the sudden command to her. It didn't take her long to realize that this man in particular was the same man that she and the others had encountered and had aimed to bring away for interrogation, and it only took a split second after that for her to notice that he wasn't blindly charging forward. He had a stern, solid look on his face as he sprinted forward and shouted to her, with a tome in one hand and what seemed to be a cross between an axe and a scythe in the other. After seeing this, she did comply and drop to the ground when she reached a smaller distance from him – but more from impulse at that moment.
Terric began to make stronger movements before Lissa had reached the ground, as he had stopped in his place and had begun to lug his axe over his shoulder with a hardened glare at the coming raiders before completely chucking it forward and over the girl's head. A fraction of a second afterwards, he snapped his book open, and a sort of powerful aura seemed to radiate from him as its pages began to flip furiously. While his left hand maintained a grip on the active tome, the remaining one remained stretched outwards with its palm opened and directed at the axe that he had just thrown.
The axe soared over Lissa's head at a frightening speed and at the two incoming men, causing them to suddenly diverge from their original path and step to the side in a hastened and slightly scrambled manner in order to save themselves. In a seeming reaction to Terric's stance, however, the axe coming for them didn't quite strike through their path, but rather froze in place while still rotating vigorously mid-air while releasing several, darkly-hued crackles and sparks on occasion. Both attackers seemed to be caught amiss and off guard by the sight.
Terric wasted no moment while they were distracted.
Almost immediately, he leaned forward and went into a lunge, sweeping past Lissa with a sudden burst of speed as he hooked his newly-freed hand behind him. He grasped hold of a handle – the handle of one of the two swords locked within sheathes that were clipped to the back of his belt – and quickly slid it from its compartment. His attention shifted quickly over to the rivaling swordsman that had been pursuing Lissa before he leaned towards his direction, dodging a slash aimed at him before parrying strongly with his own. In a swift and seemingly effortless manner, he began a sort of dance across the clearing with his enemy, matching each one of his strikes with a leveled version of his own. He constantly shifted on his feet, dodging and weaving around the strikes that he didn't manage to block with steel. From a decent distance by then, Lissa had gotten up and was observing from the scene from afar, all while remaining out of sight – legitimately so, that time around. Having seized his opportunity without a chance for breaks or recovery, Terric had attracted the attentions of both the swordsman and the axeman before he began his own attack. Lissa had taken the moment to retreat to a safer distance.
Meanwhile, Terric continued on with his parrying battle with his fellow sword-wielder. Despite the heat and intensity of the moment, he actually seemed to be enjoying the fight that he was locked within – and seemed to actually be grinning a little bit because of it. After another barrage of metal clashing against metal, he shifted to the side rather suddenly as his opponent aimed another slash at him, completely dodging the attack and causing the foe to deliver a needless yet strengthened strike going vertically downwards. Terric was met with the image of the man drawing his blade closer to his figure before deftly leaping back to a safer distance, which made him chuckle and grin a little bit more in amusement.
With the quick pause, the magical swordsman took a second to recollect himself and to observe the others. He couldn't help but notice that the axe-wielding barbarian from earlier seemed to be finally regrouping with his swordsman companion, and that both people were relatively close to his axe – which, due to the effects of his ever-active tome, was still exhibiting a fierce, electrical outburst while spinning about mid-air. Seeing this caused him to tilt his head, and he smirked lightly while watching the duo begin to progress his way. While they did so, he merely stood as he was and remained unfazed by their advance. Little did they know, he began to focus his attention into the tome that he held onto, which, in turn, caused his hand and forearm to flicker lightly within the same, shadow-like electricity coursing all around his axe afar.
For the next second or so, he simply kept as he was, charging himself while keeping a hawk's eye on the approaching foes. As soon as they became within a closer proximity with his airborne weaponry another time, he clenched the bottom of his book before abruptly shutting it. This, in turn, caused his axe to give an instant, hefty pulse of electrical energy before landing on the ground with a sharp mass of clinking noises as it collided with the stone. Because of their closeness to the object, both bandits were temporarily stunned and more than likely suffered a minor burn or two from the lightning tome.
The moment that he had shut his tome, Terric had quickly dropped it and begun sprinting towards the other two standing afar. As he closed the distance, he snuck the newly-freed hand back like he did earlier, taking hold of the remaining blade and unsheathing it. By the time that the shock had subsided and the men were just beginning to recollect themselves, Terric had already arrived and had delivered a smooth, horizontal slash at the same swordsman that he frenzied with earlier. Should he have arrived just a second later, the man would have survived on a whim by stalking back and dodging the strike.
Due to the swiftness of Terric's appearance, though, the ruffian unwillingly accepted the blow, staggering back with a cry as he felt the sting of his newfound wound at once. Taking advantage of the extended opening, Terric quickly brought the same sword that made the cut in a diagonal slash going up, not only slicing through the existing wound that he had created, but also producing a new one that scored across his enemy's chest altogether. With that final cut, the man released his sword to clutch his bloodied and torn shirt before keeling over and collapsing onto the ground in pain.
This instance occurred in only a matter of moments, which seemed to leave the axeman in a slight sense of franticness and awe as he fully registered the fact that his comrade had been struck down. In the process of his assault, however, Terric had turned himself to a somewhat hefty degree in order to focus on one target at a time, and, thus, had his side exposed to the barbarian. Like how Terric himself had seized the moment when his enemies were stunned, the axe-wielder made an immediate, vigorous movement forward while beginning to swing his weapon around.
The moment that his rival swordsman had hit the floor, though, the multi-weaponed teen began to turn around in a swift motion to turn his attention to the remaining enemy at hand. This, coupled alongside a rather quick reaction, caused him to be able to bring both of his swords up to create a sort of 'X' shape in front of him, blocking the axe that would had cut him through. He skid back a little bit from the sheer force put into the blow, though grinned slightly at the axeman as he began leaning forward against his weapon to regain balance. "Heh…I couldn't help but catch your little performance earlier…" he murmured in a low, threatening tone, raising his eyebrow as he gave a challenging glare towards his opponent.
A somewhat deepened, rumbling laugh left the axe-wielder's lips as a grin of his own slowly etched onto his expression. "Ye…? Wha', ya go' a prol'm wi' it?" he spat in a mocking tone while grasping the upper portion of his axe's handle with his free hand, pressing forward after doing so. Because of this, Terric was pushed back a little bit, though quickly recovered by shifting his feet before he was thrown to the ground. He chuckled lightly, a slight glint caught within his eye by then.
"Yeah, 'course I got a problem…" As soon as he said this, Terric clenched the handle of his right blade, keeping his eyes locked with the other's all the while. This seemed to cause the blade to begin to crackle within a magical, and seemingly electrified energy, which caught the axeman off-guard yet again. In response to it, he gave a grunt while stumbling backwards in order to free himself of whatever shocks he would have taken otherwise. Terric merely watched him during the short time that this happened, his smile growing a little bit more in amusement.
"…You don't treat ladies like that. So…you gotta pay the price."
Seizing his chance, the remaining swordsman immediately lunged forward. In reaction to this movement, the barbarian lifted his axe in attempt to block the oncoming attack aimed at him. It would only be parried and effectively countered as Terric stopped in front of him, slamming one of his blades into the axe before him. He focused his strength into the same hand that wielded it, forcing the weapon to the side to expose the man that hid behind it. Afterwards, he leaned forward across the newly-opened space, delivering a hefty kick to his target's chest, which, in turn, caused him to fully release his axe before staggering backwards and clutching his chest a bit.
With the man completely open, Terric laughed quietly under his breath before taking one last lunge forward, closing the distance for the final time before slamming his right foot down in front of him. Sharply, he turned himself in a tight arc, swinging his right arm upwards and bringing the corresponding sword with it. The motion drove a cut striking diagonally across the other's chest to surface, and, while he gave a sound of pain, Terric wasted no time in giving another slash going the opposite way with his other sword.
The strength laid into the last two strikes was enough to send the axeman into a realm of agony, and Terric watched for a few moments as he collapsed onto the ground, writhing slightly in pain before falling motionless.
Given that a few moments had passed and that he ensured that the man wouldn't be getting back up, Terric relaxed his stance a little bit while sighing heavily and loudly, rubbing the blood off of one of his blades with the edge of his coat before sheathing it. Now with a free hand, he glanced across the clearing, tilting his head as he caught sight of Lissa from afar. He lifted his hand, waving at her slightly. "It's safe to come out, now."
At those words, the blonde peered slightly over at the boy who called to her, staring quietly at him for a few seconds before slowly nodding and beginning to stand back up. Cautiously, she began walking back into the clearing, looking around to keep an eye out for any possible newcomers. All she saw was the sight of her brother and the knight afar as they seemed to be finishing up their own battles.
Eventually, she gave a soft, exasperated murmur, sighing under her breath as she relaxed a little bit. She looked over at Terric as he walked a bit further away to collect his tome. "Thanks… Y'know, for popping up like that all of the sudden."
Shrugging, Terric simply laughed a little bit while waving dismissively at the girl. "Yeah, no problem at all. It just felt natural to help a pretty girl in distress, anyways," he spoke in reply, giving her a faint grin before turning around and walking off a bit more. He stopped next to his axe, huffing something under his breath quietly before crouching down and picking it up. Bringing it to his coat, he rubbed a little bit of its fabric against the blade as if polishing it before glancing back at Lissa from over his shoulder. "Heh, you're lucky that I came when I did, though… That last guy came in a flash. If I got there just a second later, well… To be blunt, you would've been screwed."
As if she were about to say something in a snappy retort, Lissa furrowed her brows and opened her mouth to say something. Nothing came out, though. For a moment, she kept herself like this while just glaring slightly at Terric, watching as he secured his axe across his back and turned around to face her. After sharing gazes with him for a little while, she sighed and shook her head while pouting. "…I wouldn't have been that much of a lost cause."
Terric chuckled a little bit while raising his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah. You'd just smack them with your staff, right?"
"Hey, it could've-!"
"Lissa!"
Before her Lissa's remark could be concluded, she was called out by an approaching voice. The sound caught the attention of both people standing, driving them to look to the side and at its source. They were each met with the image of a certain Lord jogging over, with an armored knight following him close behind. Several bodies could be seen in their trail.
Quickly, Chrom rushed up to his sibling, holding her lightly by the shoulders. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, right?"
From afar, Terric replied for her, lifting a hand and waving over at him with a slight smile. "She shouldn't be. If they did end up getting a scratch or two on her, then feel free to blame me for that in the end," he called, which earned him a glance from the navy-haired swordsman afar.
Chrom shifted his gaze from his sister to the person who had given him the response a couple of times before turning a little bit and looking at the other man. "…Noted. But…that aside…"
Curiously, Chrom began walking through the remains of the town square, stopping a couple of feet away from Terric. "You could've run when we came to the town… You had the chance to escape." He paused to cross his arms over his chest slightly while staring at the one across from his, tilting his head a little bit. "You saved my sister, and I'm thankful for that. But…why didn't you run? You had the chance to, but you didn't take it."
As if pondering for a short time, Terric puffed his cheeks out a little it, cocking his head a tad while rubbing his chin gently. "Eh… Well, I actually considered making a break for it. But, like… Y'know, saving myself over a whole town didn't really sit right with me. So…I came to help out, too."
Chrom blinked once while continuing to stare at Terric. A slight smile tugged at his lips. "So you'd rather fly off to someone's rescue instead of saving your own skin?"
"Either that, or he could be plotting something…" Frederick sighed while casting a subtle glare at Terric.
"At ease, Frederick…" For a moment, the Lord gave the armored knight a small look. "I know that you're acting in our best interest, but I trust him enough for now. For Naga's sake, he saved Lissa instead of saving his own life."
"Eeeeeh, relax…" Terric said from the sidelines. He crossed his arms casually while eying the trio before him, giving them a slight shrug as each person looked over at him. "Let him have his skepticism, man. Honestly, if I were in his position, I'd be doing the same thing, so…I understand."
At those words, the rest of the group continued to gaze upon Terric in silence. After a few seconds, Lissa tilted her head a little bit. "You're acting really calm about this… Like…a lot calmer than a lot of people would."
The first reaction that Lissa would be given in response to what she said was an amused smile, courtesy of Terric himself. Once more, he just shrugged while laughing softly. "Well, maybe that's because I've got nothing to hide. It's not like I've been lying about anything I've said up until now, after all," he spoke nonchalantly, shifting his gaze between those in front of him before shaking his head a little bit and pacing forward a few steps.
"If I have to prove my innocence to you, then…Hell, I will – even if it means that I'll have to sit through a little bit of interrogation or something. Obviously, though, that has to be saved for later. It still looks like we have some things to tend to."
When he finished speaking for the moment, Terric stopped some distance from the others, peering across the clearing. Eventually, he glanced at the others from over his shoulder while pointing across a bridge leading to another part of the town. The first building after crossing the bridge would be the church, where a few remaining bandits – alongside what seemed to be their leader – looked to be keeping some civilians hostage.
"We still gotta save them, right?" Terric asked, tilting his head a little bit.
Chrom narrowed his eyes while allowing his eyes to follow where Terric pointed, nodding a little bit. "That's right… It seems like they'd hurt one of the civilians if they saw us, though…"
"Perhaps a little brute force would successfully apprehend them?" Frederick suggested as he trotted forward upon his horse, holding his lance safely by his side all the while.
Terric shook his head, keeping his arms crossed as he looked up at the knight. "That could work, but it would probably aggravate them more than we need them to be."
Those words seemed to earn him a short glare, but Terric just unfolded his arms and rose his hands innocently.
"Hey, I'm just saying… Brute force is a possibility, but it may make them riot and give them opportunities to pick out our weak spots if we focus too much on sheer power," the strategist went on, bringing his bright, icy blue gaze to lock onto the group across the bridge once more. "Not only that, but it may rile them up to the point where they start threatening to kill their hostages if we push too hard at them right off the bat. There's also the fact that it looks like they still outnumber us, even if a little bit…"
Lissa took her turn to join the others. She blinked quietly while observing the group across the bridge. "The numbers look pretty even to me… Actually, it kinda looks like it's unbalanced in our favor. There's four of us and three of them!"
Smirking a little bit, Terric looked at Lissa from the corner of his eye. "Fix your count to accordingly account for the people who can fight."
Lissa slowly looked over at Terric, glaring at him while puffing her cheeks out and pouting. "Jeeeeeerk…"
Chuckling, Terric shrugged as he turned around a little bit more to catch a better glimpse of the girl. "Gods, I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Don't go taking it too seriously, now. But back on track… See, you say that the numbers look pretty even- and they do look that way at first glance. Look around, though."
Terric watched for a moment as Lissa, alongside the others stepped forward a few paces before gradually and curiously following his direction. He eyed those with him for a moment before looking back at the people on the other side himself. He pointed towards the left of the church.
"There. It's hard to see since they're further away, but there's other people there," he said. "By the looks of it, they're all swordsmen- probably rogues that the bandits here hired to help them out during their raid. Speedy and skilled. If we rushed in with only the intention of beating the Hell out of those bandits, they'd probably pick up pretty fast, rush over, and then overwhelm us. In order to deal with them, we have to take care of at least the majority of the bandits in front of the church all at once, that way we'd still stand on even scales when the rogues come over."
Frederick eyed Terric for a few moments before slowly glaring back at the opposing force. "What do you propose, then?"
As if anticipating those words, Terric gazed up at the knight yet again, flashing him an amused smile. "We take the bandits in front of the church down, first and foremost. The leader's probably gonna put a good fight up, so he won't go down right away. As one of us takes his attention, we go for the more scrawny ones near him." The boy took a moment to point elsewhere, moving his hand to shift between two mages that seemed to be patrolling around the hostages alongside their leader. "I'll take the mage on the left," he began, smirking while going on to gaze at Lissa, "while you just distract the one on the right."
Both Chrom and Lissa widened their eyes in disbelief, while Frederick narrowed his eyes in judgment while glaring down at the planner. "W-Woah, how exactly would I do that?" Lissa asked quickly. "Like…I mean, I don't wanna admit it, but you basically hinted at it yourself! I can't really fight!"
"I'm not asking you to fight, though. Just to distract." Turning around fully, the icy-eyed man began to approach the cleric, hooking one of his hands towards his back while he walked. He unsheathed one of his swords, rubbing its blade a little bit before gently holding it out to the blonde. "Here's how it's gonna work, if you guys are fine with this in the end. I'll be taking the front group out with your brother and his burly bodyguard. Frederick here would go and take the leader since he'd probably be able to withstand more of a hit compared to both Chrom and myself, while Chrom and I take the mages. Frederick's gonna get there first since he's on horseback, so things are probably gonna start going to Hell already by the time Chrom and I get there. To make an opening for myself, I'll be using my tome to throw my mage off-guard, while you support your brother from afar while doing the same thing with my sword."
Chrom furrowed his brows while gazing over at the sword that Terric was offering his sibling. "…The last time I checked, you can't hit someone that's far away with a sword unless you throw it. And…well, that sword is nearly as tall as Lissa is."
Terric rose his free hand, nodding and pointing at Chrom while smirking. "Right you are, but that doesn't explicitly apply to my sword. It's got a magical touch to it, too." Glancing back over at Lissa, he nodded towards his blade. "You were watching me earlier, right? Did you see how the blade sparked on occasion?"
Silence would overcome the healer as she glanced back down at the blade, thinking. She nodded after a little while.
The strategist grinned. "I admit that it would probably be a bit heavy for most people, but you don't need to go swinging it around since you'll be safe on this side of the bridge through all this. All you need to do is lift, aim, focus, and fire- and it should be no problem to do that if you used both of your hands. I'm asking you to do this because I assume that you have the most magical experience out of the three of you, and also because I can't use magic on two people at once. …Much to my chagrin."
Despite hearing the explanation, the rest of the group continued to look a little bit cautious. With some hesitance, however, Lissa slowly reached out and took the sword that she was offered after placing her staff down. Her arms gave way at first due to the weight of its material, but she adjusted to it accordingly in little time. She looked up at Terric. "…Okay, well, what if I miss the guy?"
Terric shook his head. "That's fine. You don't have to necessarily hit him. If you're worried that you'll miss, just aim at the ground near him, then. It just has to catch him off guard long enough for Chrom to be able to easily hit him."
Rather than a worded response, Terric was greeted by another span of silence as he peered patiently at the girl, waiting for any possible other questions she had, or perhaps a rejection of the proposal. After a small while, however, he watched as she gave a small nod and nothing else. Smiling a bit at the gesture, he then took a turn to look at the others.
"Well…? What about you guys? Are you gonna trust me?" he asked while shifting his gaze between both Frederick and Chrom.
For the moment, Frederick merely remained silent, conveying little to no emotion whatsoever as he returned the gaze that Terric gave him for a short time. Without uttering a word, he merely looked elsewhere, and instead went on to glance at the lordling.
Chrom, meanwhile, remained quiet for a couple of moments. He peered over at the bandits afar before inhaling silently, nodding. "Yeah, I'll trust you with this. Plus, we shouldn't really wait on this any longer, anyways. It would be best to go along with what you have now since it seems safe enough."
With two approvals down, the silver-haired swordsman nodded at Chrom before slightly and finally landing his gaze upon Frederick. The two stared at each other for a few seconds. As Frederick begun narrowing his eyes, Terric merely raised his eyebrows slightly while cocking his head ever so slightly, patiently awaiting the inevitable.
Soon enough, the knight gave a rather hefty sigh which was paired up with a grumbling tone.
"…I suppose that if both Milady and Milord agree, then I must, as well."
Laughing a little bit, Terric lifted one of his hands, giving the horseman a thumbs up. "It was only a matter of time~!" he said casually, winking in a joking manner before turning to the others. He reached down with one hand, undoing the strap for one of the pouches that were bound around his thigh. He reeled the same tome that he used earlier from within its fabric, lazily flipping the containment closed before drawing his remaining sword out with his free hand.
"'Aight, let's get started. Lissa, go on and take some cover behind one of the shopping stalls closer to the bridge. The rest of us will move on my mark."