Author's Note - I apologize in advance for the bad pun in the chapter title. It was too perfect, I had to do it. I love pirates. Sorry again that there is so much time between updates, but the Euro is on (GO SPAIN!). Once again, thank you everyone who read and/or reviewed.
Chapter 3
Pirates ARRR Scary!
Well, it would seem marching is definitely the least glamorous part of being a mercenary, I thought as I trudged along the trail. Despite the rain earlier it was still humid, and once the sun came out the heat was nearly unbearable. Although I was just wearing light pants, traveling boots and a shirt, I was sweating like a pig in no time. I was very glad I did not take the chainmail Boyd had jokingly offered me "to protect you while I'm kicking your ass in training." I made a point of finding a fully enclosed helm in the company stores to offer him as nose protection. All ribbing aside, after a day or so of marching there was at least a small degree of respect and cameraderie between us. I was not as lonely as I had feared I would be in this company, despite my slight social awkwardness.
"So, explain this to me again. You're from a different world... did you come here on a ship?" Boyd asked, scratching his head in confusion as we plodded along next to one of the wagons on our second day of travelling. Everyone had become much more talkative as we neared the sea that day, the breeze coming off the water cooling us down.
"Naw, dude, I came here with some kinda magic-" I tried to explain.
"So, a magic ship?"
"No, just some lights."
"...You're messing with me. Seriously, where are you from?"
"Earth."
"You're from the ground?"
"A world called Earth. It's not a creative name, but..."
"Aha, you lie! I've never heard of a continent called Earth."
Wow, big facepalm. Condescendingly, I explained "That's because my world is not another continent. And besides, all of the other continents on this world were wiped out by the goddess's Great Flood, right? Therefore, my world must be completely separate from this one."
"Ohhh, okay gotcha. Wait a second, if you're not from this world how did you know about the Great Flood?" Boyd asked, suddenly suspicious.
Oops, that was careless of me. "I, uh read a book at the fort, y'know to familiarize myself with this place a bit," I lied. I really need to be more careful with what I say.
Luckily for me, the mention of books seemed to make Boyd lose interest in the conversation. "Ugh, books are such a waste of time."
I laughed. "Why am I not surprised to hear that coming from you? Your little brother is right, you're a complete meathead." Yay, he bought it. Thank goodness for meatheads.
"And yet which one of us is the better fighter? Oh right, that's me," Boyd shot back, grinning. A sudden shout from the two laguz who were on point put an abrupt end to our conversation. "Sit tight, I'm gonna go see what's happening," Boyd said, a worried look on his face as he jogged off. Once he was gone, someone on the wagon cleared their throat. I looked up to see Soren had been riding in the wagon next to me the whole time.
"There were only a few books in that castle, and I read them all. Not a single one mentionned the flood." Shit. Busted.
"Maybe I found a book you didn't."
"Bullshit. I don't know what you're hidding, but I've got my eye on you." At that moment Boyd came running back.
"Daein soldiers on the path ahead! Ike needs everyone up front, c'mon!" Our argument forgotten (for now), the three of us started running to where the other mercenaries were assembling. A pair of voices behind us stopped Boyd and I in our tracks, however.
"Wait, we're coming too." Boyd and I turned to saw Mist and Rolf climbing out of one of the wagons. Mist held a staff while Rolf was armed with a bow.
"No, I meant everyone as in us, and not you guys. Fighters only. Now get back in the wagon," Boyd said impatiently.
"We can fight!" Rolf protested.
"Yeah, Ike's letting him go, and he's terrible," Mist said, indicating me.
"Thanks," I replied sarcastically.
"Well fine, you can ask Ike. He'll tell you the same thing I did," Boyd conceded.
When we reached the rest of the mercenaries, Mist pulled Ike aside to talk. I didn't hear what she said, but whatever it was it seemed to persuade him. Once that business was out of the way, Ike proceeded to explain the battle plan.
"This seems to be just a small force, and they are spread out in the forest and on the beach. I will take Titania, Boyd, Soren, Rhys and the laguz to engage their main strength in the forest. With any luck we can kill their general and send the rest running. Mia, take Adam and Ilyana and clear the beach. There is a small fishing village there and I don't want any of the villagers to come to harm." Mist elbowed him in the side. "Rolf and Mist will be with you as well," Ike added reluctantly. Mist and Rolf both grinned triumphantly. Beside me, though, Boyd looked like he was going to be sick, his face ashen as he watched his little brother prepare for battle.
"He'll be fine, don't worry," I said quietly, doing my best to reasure him.
"He-he's my little brother. And after what happened to Oscar, I am worried."
"For what it's worth, I'll watch out for him. I can't promise to be a very effective protector, but I'll try."
Boyd finally smiled a bit. "Thanks. Not sure why, but it does help to hear that. Good luck out there, friend."
"You too," I called as I headed to the beach. Great, I just promised to look out for someone when I can't even really fight on my own. Stupid, stupid stupid me.
As we moved onto the beach I saw that there really were only a few soldiers there, no more than ten or so. None were heavily armoured, and they were spread out between us and the houses further down the beach. As the only melee fighters, Mia and I both drew our swords and charged, hoping to keep the enemy away from our ranged fighters and Mist. I headed for the soldier closest to me, who by some cruel misfortune was wielding an axe. I really hope he doesn't disarm me like Boyd did. As he drew near, though, an arrow suddenly flew by me and embeded itself in his neck, sending him slumping to the ground at my feet just as I swung. When my wild swing hit nothing but air I stumbled off balance and crashed to the ground as well. Nice to see I still fail at combat, even after training yesterday.
I quickly regained my bearings, and looked up just in time to see a descending sword. I snapped my blade up and managed to deflect the sword into the sand. Not wanting to give this new attacker a second chance I kicked out, knocking his feet out from under him and dropped him on his rump. I got my feet under me and lunged with my sword, but the angle was awkward and he knocked it to the side. I let go of the sword and delivered a heavy punch to his jaw anyway, then drew a backup knife and tried to finish him while he was stunned. He caught my wrist just short of the kill, and we struggled.
For a second I had the advantage, but that was taken when he drove his knee into my gut. His muscles bulged as he fought my grip, and slowly but surely the knife came for my throat. I fought hard, putting every ounce of strength and determination I had into the fight, but it wasn't enough. I could hear chanting beside me, and realized that someone was casting a spell. A painful jolt passed through me, and suddenly there was no more pressure on the knife as the soldier flopped to the side, twitching.
"Are all the battles we fight together going to end this way?" Ilyana asked as she helped me to my feet.
"Hopefully not. And um, thanks. Again," I said, relieved. I really need to work on my fighting skills.
It was pretty quiet around me now, although I could still hear the clash of weapons coming from the forest. The battle on the beach - if it could be called a battle - was over, and I seemed to be the only one who had any difficulty. Mia had cut a bloody path to the village, and there were no shortage or corpses riddled with Rolf's arrows. The other three mercenaries were now a the entrance to the village, Rolf training his bow on the last Daein soldier. The coward had taken a laguz child hostage, hoping for a way out.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll cut her throat!" he screamed, panicked.
"You got him, Rolf?" Mia asked.
"Yup," the boy replied, focused intently on the soldier.
"Last chance to let the girl go!" Mia called to the man.
He laughed. "Not a chance, bitch!" Rolf's arrow took him in the eye. The child ran back to her mother screaming and scared out of her wits, but otherwise unharmed.
"Well, that was a nice happy ending," I said as I approached the dead body. I patted Rolf on the shoulder. "Good shot." And here I was, promising Boyd to keep Rolf safe, I thought. The way this kid fights, I almost feel sorry for the poor Daeins. Almost.
My chain of thought was interupted as I heard a song start up from the direction of the ocean. I looked in that direction, and what I saw nearly made me scream like a little girl. A large group of pirates approached, obviously intent on raiding the village.
"Guys, we got company!" I yelled. Shit, I had forgotten that there was a miniboss on this level in the game. Man I wish I had a game script or strategy guide to refer to.
"Shit!" Mia cursed, seeing the pirates as well. "There's too many. We need to get these villagers out of here."
"T-they're coming fast," Mist said, worry and fear evident in her voice. "The children can't move quickly enough, we need more time."
I had a choice, I knew. Without the villagers to slow us down, we would have no difficulty escaping, that was certain. But at the same time, these people would be at the mercy of the pirates, and since they did not seem to have much in the way of valuables (the village was obviously poor) they would not likely find any mercy beyond a quick death. It really wasn't a hard choice. "Get these people out of here." I said as I turned and headed towards the sea.
"What are you doing?" Ilyana called after me.
"Buying us more time," I called back. She has a point though, I thought. What the hell am I doing? I know I can't abandon the village, but how am I going to delay these guys for even a second? Oh well. I've cheated death at least two or three times these last few days, and only with Ilyana's help. She won't always be there, and I have no illusions about my odds of surviving this war. Might as well die doing something worthwhile, eh? Besides, I promised to keep Rolf safe, so I'm really just honouring my word right now.
As I approached, I was distracted from my morbid chain of thought by the pirates' song. It was quite catchy, and their voices were actually pretty good. The part I heard went something like:
"Yar har ho! Yo ho har!
Scallywags of the sea are we
We fight like beast an' men do flee
We earn our gold with axes bold..."
The song trailed off when they saw me approach. Acting on impulse, I sheathed my sword and waved. I'm no good with a sword, so I may as well try bluffing.
"By Shanty Pete, who be this wee landlubber blockin' our way?" the leader, a hulking brute of a man, asked. Yup, there is no way I would last two seconds in battle with this guy.
"An' why's 'e human? This here's Gallia," a crewman chimed in.
"I've come to warn you off; Daein soldiers are swarming this area. You'd best be heading elsewhere." Not the best bluff considering how heavilly armed these guys were, but it was the best I could come up with.
"Bah! We gots no quarrel with them, we just be raidin' the fishin' villages for money an' loot. We earn our gold with axes bold!"
"Well good luck with that. The soldiers already cleaned out this village. There's not even a sinle copper left."
Hearing this, the captain sighed heavilly. "There's never any gold in these bloody Gallian fishing villages, not like the ones in Begnion. An' we canno' raid there with them pegasus knights always ready fer us. 'Ow's a pirate to make an honest living these days?"
"We could just take some o' them sub-humans. I 'ear they fetch a nice price in Begnion..." one of the crew suggested. Uh-oh, not the way I wanted this conversation to go. Fortunately, the captain became livid at the mere mention of slavery.
"Ye durned fool, I telled ye a hunnerd times! Cap'n Nedata ain't no bloody gutless SLAVER!" He screamed. Oh man, that struck a nerve.
"But Cap'n, we ain't 'ad no money in weeks." A chorous of agreeing "Yar"s came from the group of sailors.
"Well, y'know, you guys are pretty good singers. You could always sing for money." I suggested, desperate for a way to get this little parley away from the topic of slavery. Nedata actually looked thoughtful, though. Was he seriously considering it? My question was answered after only a few seconds.
"By Shanty Pete's hairy arse, this wee scallywag's right! We dunna need ta raid in Begnion when we can just sing our fearsome sea dog shanties. The gutless peasants'll be so terrified o' us, they'll throw the gold at us fer fear o' bein' gutted. Back to the ship boys; We're goin' ta Sienne!"
With a hearty "YAR!" they were off, back to their landing boats. Nedata paused and turned back to me. "I canno' reward ye rightly fer yer 'elp lad, but if I'm seein' ya again I might be able ta repay ye. May the wind e'er be at yer back." As the pirates left, only one thing went through my mind; What the fuck just happened?
"What the fuck just happened?" Ilyana asked. I started at the sound of her voice; I hadn't realized she was so close. She must have just arrived.
"I, uh... I think I convinced them to leave peacefully... And where did you come from? You scared the hell out of me."
"It looked like you might need rescuing... again. Guess I was wrong. Nice to see you aren't completely helpless," she joked.
"Umm, thanks? I guess..." Holy shit, I actually did something hepful! This is great. I should celebrate, I thought. Unfortunately, there was no time for that; The battle in the forest had finished, and Ike had everyone marching again in no time. Balls.
Author's Note - So, chapter three is done, and somehow Adam is still alive. Again, please review and let me know what you think; It really helps to motivate me.
I don't really know what an acceptable update schedule is on this site, but I'm trying to get these chapters out fairly quickly without sacrificing quality. I admit that this chapter wasn't exactly a thrilling battle, but at least poor Adam is improving somewhat. I do intend to have him become a decent swordsman eventually, and I hope that doesn't make him a Stu. For now, though, he will just be improving gradually. I also think that I'm writing Ilyana a little ooc, but I want her character to be a little more than just someone who is always weak from hunger so I'm willing to take the chance.
I would like to thank kenegi for pointing out that people were taking the whole "I'm from another world" thing too well. That is why I wrote that first part with Soren and Boyd questionning Adam, and there will be more about that in the next chapter. Also, the next chapter will probably be more serious than the last few chapters, and will explain a few things about how Adam got to Tellius.
As for the part with the pirates, I wrote it simply because I loved them in the game and was soooo sad that I had to kill them. So I fixed it, and now I feel better. I hope the pirate accents work and don't make it too difficult to understand. And yes, I do plan to bring them back later, it's a lot of fun to write them. Anyway, feel free to review, and if you have any questions, comments or you just wanna say something then don't hesitate to PM me. I will reply to everyone. Seeya later, readers!