Author's Note
I have great news; I injured my knee during training! Now ordinarily one injury wouldn't slow me down, but add the part where I also injured my hip on a mountain not too long ago and the buggered it again while training last week, plus a nasty burn on my arm and I think it's time for me to slow down and give my body time to recover. Heh, another injury and I might actually be persuaded to see a doctor instead of pulling the usual "I'll be fine" bullshit... I'm such an idiot. Anyway, this means that the only thing I have to do right now is writing. YAY!
Disclaimer: No real wyverns were harmed in the making of this chapter.
Chapter 29
Desperate Measures
"Ever fought a wyvern rider?" I asked, anxiously scanning the skies and peaks around us. Six hours of marching put us deep in the mountain range protecting Talrega, which also put us in the favored hunting grounds of the stronghold's famed and feared wyvern riders. I had yet to see any of them, but they were definitely out there; they had to be. I swear I could feel their eyes on me... and no, I'm not crazy.
"Hmm?" Al grunted, too busy biting her fingernails to respond.
"Wyvern riders, Al. Y'know, psychos riding dragons who could swoop in on us any second now," I reiterated, scanning the rocks around us. The mountain road we were following was exposed and had hardly any room to maneuver; on the left, the mountainside rose in a near-vertical slope, disappearing into the dense clouds above, and to the right... well, the mountainside was completely vertical, and it dropped off into a deep ravine between two mountains. An attack could send us all over the edge, to fall really, really far... I gulped. "Yeah, swooping is bad..."
Still no response from Al, she just kept chewing at her fingertips on one hand while the other gripped her bow tight to her chest.
"Al? Earth to Al, please acknowledge," I called softly, nudging her. I must have pushed her a little harder than I intended, because she stumbled a few steps towards the edge.
"Cripes, what is wrong with you!?" she snapped, whirling to face me. "You know I'm afraid of heights!"
"Alright sorry dude, didn't mean to push you that hard. Please don't shoot me," I apologized, holding my hands up to forestall any further outbursts. One of her hands had strayed a little too close to her quiver for my liking. "You awake now?"
Al glared at me for a few more seconds, then turned back and started walking again. "I'm awake... asshole."
"So, you ever fought one then?" I asked again.
"No. I've never been in an engagement without you, right?" she reminded me. "Heh, you're kinda like my sidekick."
"Well, I just didn't know if you'd run into one while you're out... scouting..." I trailed off, suddenly realizing what she said. "Whoa, I'm your sidekick? Pretty sure it's the other way around!" I corrected her indignantly.
Al snorted, an amused expression on her face. "In your dreams, dude. I am way better hero materi-"
"INCOMING!" a nearby soldier suddenly screamed, pointing directly above us. I twisted around to look up there just in time to see several dozen winged forms break out of the clouds. A horn sounded, and as one the wyverns folded their wings and dove straight down the mountainside.
"Move closer to the mountain!" I hollered, pulling my shield off my back and waving people towards the mountainside. "Get away from the edge!"
I spared another glance up as I scrambled closer to the wall. There were at least two dozen - maybe more - coming so fast they'd be on us in seconds. The riders let out a battlecry, yelling and blowing horns, and were drowned out an instant later as their mounts joined in, ear-splitting roars echoing through the mountain pass. Several riders dipped closer to the mountainside, close enough for their wyverns to dislodge loose rocks and ice with their talons. Cascades of rock, ice and snow flew down ahead of the diving wyverns.
As I flattened myself against the mountain and hoisted my shield above my head for protection, I saw Al, crouched in the middle of the road with her bow aimed up. She's too exposed!
"Al, get out of there!" I yelled, panicked. She didn't move from her spot, firing two arrows in quick succession then carefully aiming a third. "Dammit!" I cried, rushing from cover as she fired her third arrow. She's gonna get herself killed!
The wyverns were on us before I made it two steps, turning the world to a chaotic mess. Debris crashed down around me, a flurry of massive wings filled the air and my ears rang from the screeching wyverns and violent cracks of thunder. Shattered rocks and ice peppered my armor with jagged shards as the backdraft from the wyverns' huge wings drove me back against the face of the mountain. I caught a glimpse of Al diving to the side as a wyvern rider swooped in at her, but I lost track of her in the flurry of rushing wyverns.
The ambushers were gone just as fast as they arrived, shooting past us and down into the ravine, disappearing amongst the mountains they knew so well. Several of our soldiers were sent tumbling off the ledge in their wake, and right behind them one limp wyvern slammed into the road; I had just enough time to see the rider flailing about on its back desperately trying to get his feet out of the stirrups, then the wounded wyvern slipped over the ledge and disappeared from sight.
Sidestepping debris, I walked slowly back onto the road, keeping one eye on the sky in case they came back. There was a deep gouge in the road where Al had been standing with a black armored corpse right next to it, but to my relief she sat a few meters to the side; she was covered in fallen snow but very much alive, looking terrified and thrilled at the same time. Breathing a sigh of relief, I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet.
"Gods! That was... crazy!" she exclaimed, breaking into a grin.
"You got that right," I said. Skies look clear for now. Good. "Think you got one of the wyverns, too."
"Nah, my arrows bounced right off them," she replied, moving to the dead body and rolling it over with her boot. "Ugh, nasty," she commented. So that's what happens to a body when it hits rock at high velocity... The armor was crushed, blood leaking out around the edges. Gnarly. Unfazed, Al grabbed a broken arrow shaft from underneath the corpse and waggled it between her fingers. "One of mine. Got the sucker with my last shot. See? Like I said, I'm hero material!"
"Alright, that was a nice shot," I conceded. "But you're still my sidekick. And who killed the wyvern, then? Cause I swear I saw one go down."
"Soren did," Jill called as she approached from the head of the column. On foot, I noticed. Strange.
"How? I don't think it even noticed my arrows?" Al asked.
"Wyvern hides are too tough for most weapons," Jill explained. "Thunder magic stuns them for a short time, and as long as they're stunned they don't have the coordination to fly. Usually you need more spells to kill them, but when they're diving at that speed..." She gestured to the flattened remains of Al's kill.
"Good to know," I thanked her before getting to the obvious question. "Hey, why aren't you riding your wyvern?"
"He was raised here, alongside the other wyverns. Making him fight his own family... that's just wrong," she replied, casting her gaze down and fidgeting one foot back and forth.
"And what about you?" Al asked. "Sure you don't want to sit this one out?"
Jill considered that for a moment, and then replied: "You know the last thing my father said to me before he left?" We shook our heads. "He said he was proud of me," she explained, struggling to keep her voice under control. "Proud that I'm following convictions. So yeah, I'm gonna stay with Ike and the others."
"Will you fight your own father?" I asked, concerned. I couldn't imagine what the poor girl was going through, siding against not just her own family, but everyone she grew up with.
"No," she replied. Her composure was back, but I could still hear a hint of sorrow in her voice. "But there are good people here, noncombatants. I mean to look out for them, make sure they no one gets hurt. It's what he would do," she explained.
I realized suddenly that Jill wasn't the only one who might be facing a friend; Josh would be here too, and I really hoped that I wouldn't run into the son of Tauroneo. From what I heard him say a when we parted, he would probably be doing the same thing as Jill. I continued wordlessly down the road after that realization, scanning the skies and dreading the coming battle.
The vanguard suffered through several more attacks as we made our way to Talrega, but while the narrow road limited our mobility, it also limited the effectiveness of the Daeins' huge mounts. There were only so many ways they could come at us in the pass, and once we figured that out, we were able to quickly repel any attacks with a concentrated barrage of crossbow fire and thunder spells. We lost people, but so did they. After an hour of those attacks, we finally rounded a bend in the road and just like that the mountain range seemed to open up, revealing the famous Daein fortress in all its glory.
"Okay, that's pretty cool," I admitted, pausing for a moment to take in the view.
"Pretty cool? That's all you have to say?" Al shot back, aghast. "This is flipping AMAZING!"
The valley before us was partially divided by a tall ridge. On the side farthest from us - and the lowest in elevation - a modest village sat on the banks of a round lake, sheltered by the ridge. Just behind the village, a huge dam let just enough water through from the mountains to form a small river that flowed along the base of the ridge to the empty into the valley's little lake. A road wound down from the mountain pass, around the central ridge and to a bridge that looked to be the only way to access to the village. The side of the valley closest to the mountain pass, however, was just an empty field: a very large empty field that we would have to cross - without cover or protection of any sort - before we could even reach the base of the ridge, and on top of that ridge...
"Jill, please tell me that there is more than one entrance to that castle," I said to the now land-locked wyvern rider, suddenly dreading the coming assault even more. From here, the fortress sitting on the ridge looked like one solid ring of walls, easily a hundred feet high and with only one visible entrance. Of course, that entrance was in the worst possible place.
"There's more than one entrance," Jill replied dutifully. I almost allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief, but she added, "But the only way to get in from the ground is that gate right there." She pointed to the gate I'd seen earlier. It was located right where the fortress wall met the mountains on the far side of the valley, and to reach it we would have to cross at least... say, three quarters of a mile or so of open ground along the ridge, within bowshot of the walls the entire time.
"The one on the other side of a kill zone," I grumbled. Because advancing under archer fire is just so much fun... Not to mention facing wyvern riders on an open field. "There has to be another way."
"If Shiharam's changed his mind, then maybe," Ike's voice called from the side, startling me. I didn't know he was so close, but as I looked over I noticed that all of the Greil Mercenaries were with him at the head of the column. ALL of them. The vanguard was stacked with elite troops, which could mean only one thing; Ike wasn't expecting Shiharam to negotiate. Nonetheless, he turned and called to Commander Tanith.
"Tanith, send a messenger to the keep. We'll give them one last chance to-" the General started, only to be cut off as a low rumble of grinding stone drew our attention across the vale to the dam.
"Lord Ike, is it just me or is the river... growing?" Elincia, armed and armored for battle, asked. I just shook my head and shared a sad look with Al; just like in the game, Shiharam was opening the floodgates and forcing our hand.
"No!" Jill gasped, looking on in horror. "He- he wouldn't! He can't! The village will be destroyed!"
"Jill, is there any way to close the floodgates?" Ike asked urgently.
"The floodgates are too high to be reached from the ground. The only way to reach them is through the castle," Jill replied. She added so quietly I barely heard: "Why, father?"
"Forget the messenger, Tanith, he's not interested in talking," Ike sighed. "Let's get the vanguard moving, we need to take this castle, fast! Mercenaries, move out!"
"My Lord Ike!" Elincia called before he could leave. "If we do not close the floodgates in time, the village will be destroyed. I could take a small force and evacuate the villagers."
"You want to help the enemy?" Soren asked, aghast. "Princess, we can't afford to-"
"They're civilians, Soren! Women and children," I snapped. "How'd you like it if we left you to drown?"
"Enough!" Ike snapped before either Soren or I could start a fight. He turned back to Elincia, looking quite relieved. I could easily guess why: Going to the village would keep her out of the thick of the fighting. "Elincia, take your men and however many volunteers you need and get those villagers to safety," he agreed, indicating me and my company. He waved Tanith's messenger over, and retasked her. "Have extra healers and supplies sent up from the rear. We'll have them ready for the refugees here in the pass." With that, he led the Greil Mercenaries, plus several hundred elite Begnion troops, down onto the field.
"We're coming too," Al chimed is as my company started to advance. Beth, Matt and Jill were right behind her, all wearing earnest, concerned expressions.
"Oh, so are we!" Ilyana added, dragging Zihark along. "There will be food in the village. We must rescue it! ...for the villagers, of course..."
I nodded my thanks; whatever her motives, having a mage as powerful as Ilyana around made me feel better about potentially facing down wyvern riders. Here's hoping Jill's right about killing wyverns. The volunteers in tow, Elincia and I led the way along the road.
On the battlefield in front of the castle, I could see Ike and the Begnion vanguard had closed almost a quarter of the distance to the gate already. As if that were a cue, the sky suddenly darkened as hundreds of wyvern riders took off from the castle, swarming over the walls to attack the Begnion ranks. Arrows and bolts of lightning filled the air in front of the Begnion soldiers, and seconds later screams, roars and clashing metal rang out across the valley as battle was joined.
Far from the main fight, our group made it most of the way to the village without encountering any enemies. Just as we were approaching a small hill that stood just over a hundred meters from the bridge, though, our luck ran out.
"Wyverns, coming from the south!" Jarod yelled, pointing with his spear. A pair of riders had split off from the main battle and were circling around at a distance, lining up their attack.
"Keep moving; don't let them catch us in the open!" I hollered, picking up the pace and gauging the distance to the rise; if we reached it in time, it would break the riders' line of sight just long enough for us to turn and fight. I glanced to the south; the two riders were coming in fast and low. "Ilyana, suppress them!"
The mage nodded and fired a pair of weak, poorly aimed thunder spells over her shoulder. Neither one connected, but they did their job, forcing the two wyverns to veer and weave as the spells detonated dangerously close and filled the air with sparks. Just a few more seconds!
"I need volunteers!" I called. Almost there. Several voices called out, including Jarod, Jill and the Earthlings. Several of my own men too, I noted approvingly.
"Elincia, take the rest across the bridge and evac those villagers! We'll take care of the wyverns!" I called. Elincia looked worried, but she kept going. I turned to Ilyana and opened my mouth to give an order, but she had already cast one spell and was midway through casting a second, holding one spell ready in each hand. "We turn and fight on my mark!" I called instead.
We dashed over the rise, and as soon as we broke line of sight I stopped, turned and crouched, forming a line with the other volunteers just below the rise. The wyverns shot over us a split second later, not expecting us to be right below them, and Ilyana immediately fired a thunder spell into each. Both hit the ground twitching and roaring in pain, their wings flopping about uselessly. One started to rise before the other, but Ilyana advanced on it with hands extended, arcs of electricity shooting into the beast and driving it back.
We rushed the second wyvern before it could recover. Jarod launched a javelin and tore the rider from the saddle, only to be batted aside by the angry wyvern. Right behind him, I ducked the next swipe of its talon and rushed in close to deliver a heavy cut to its neck. I fully expected to kill it, but my sword just bounced off, the weapon vibrating so hard I almost dropped it. Another soldier rushed it, but the wyvern's jaws snapped closed around his shield and launched him away. I took a few more futile swings at the beast before it managed to knock me away too.
"Keep the pressure on! Bring it down!" I wheezed as I regained my feet, bruised but far from done.
"Go for the underbelly!" Jill added, fighting to get close to the wyvern. "Its scales are weak there!"
Jarod and the others had gotten a few javelins embedded in the wyvern's side, but it hardly seemed to notice. Ilyana, however, was having more luck, and as I watched the beast she was electrocuting finally collapsed. The rider kept a pair of onrushing soldiers at bay for a few seconds with his lance, but Zihark easily slipped past the spear and cut him down. Alone and riderless, the other wyvern finally got control of its wings again and took off, fleeing into the mountains.
"Captain!" Jarod called, pointing to the sky. The biggest wyvern I'd seen yet - easily twice the size of the ones we'd just fought - was diving straight at us.
There was no chance to react; before I could even yell warning the wyvern hit, crashing through our group and scattering us across the hill as it raked its talons along the ground. Jarod and I avoided the worst, diving to the side just in time, but several soldiers fell hard and didn't get up. Al and Ilyana fired at the wyvern as it flew by, drawing a pained roar but not slowing it in the least. Tough bugger.
"Get ready! It's circling back!" I yelled, seeing the giant wyvern turn sharply, its rider keeping it just out of Al and Ilyana's range as he lined up his next attack.
"Sir, we have wounded," Jarod replied. A handful of soldiers were still on the ground, alive but clearly in rough shape. Beth was one of them, her shield broken and one arm twisted. Jill was down too, stunned by the impact. "We fight here, and they'll be killed!"
"We can draw it away!" Al called immediately, pointing down the road to the bridge Elincia had crossed. Hardly ideal, but it was better than the alternative.
"We'll need to move fast then," I grunted, waving for the others to follow Al as she dashed down the road. "Ilyana, hit that thing with the strongest spell you can!"
The mage nodded, building up a massive orb of crackling electricity in her hands as we ran. Al, who'd quickly outdistanced the rest of us, knelt and started firing over our heads. An ear-splitting roar shook the ground as the wyvern bore down on us, ignoring the wounded back on the hill and focusing on the source of those pesky arrows. I glanced over my shoulder, and immediately threw my shield up as a javelin flew past me.
"Ilyana, now!" I yelled. She fired as it shot over my head, hitting the wyvern dead center in the chest. Its rider saw that one coming, though, and his mount had already folded its wings and extended its legs to land. Electricity still arcing around it, the wyvern still managed to land on its feet, bowling Matt over and head-butting Al. It spun as it slid along the ground, turning to face those of us who were still standing.
Ilyana started to cast again, surprised that the beast was still standing, but the wyvern whipped its tail around and sent her flying. Zihark, Jarod and I rushed forward, and the wyvern rider urged his mount ahead to meet us. The beast unleashed a vicious assault as we drew close, keeping us back with swipes of its claws as it tried to catch us in its jaws. Jarod was very nearly bitten in two, but Zihark lunged and cut the wyvern's head as it snapped forward, not doing any damage but forcing it to divert. For a second it looked like he would get past its defenses, but the rider thrust his spear and Zihark had to dive aside. As soon as he did, the wyvern snatched him with one of its claws and flung him away. Zihark landed heavily next to Ilyana, alive but clearly hurting as he struggled to get back up.
"Shitshitshitshit SHIT!" I cursed as Jarod and I backed up, shields and weapons held defensively in front of us. No one had been killed yet, but this wyvern took out two thirds of our group in a matter of seconds.
"Now what?" Jarod called, jabbing at the wyvern's head to keep it at bay. I shrugged; this thing is unstoppable!
Just as I finished that thought, the wyvern suddenly cried out as one of its back legs crumpled, blood spraying from a deep wound. It started to turn away, only to roar again as one of its front legs received a similar cut. It fell on one side, revealing Matt standing right under its belly. He must have regained his feet after the beast was standing above him, and now he was cutting relentlessly into the softer, weaker scales of the wyvern's underbelly.
"We gotta help him!" I called, and Jarod and I both bolted forward. Jarod launched his last javelin, lodging it in the wyvern's neck, but the beast was so focused on Matt that it hardly noticed.
Matt got in another wicked cut as we closed in, his sword carving a red line in the wyvern's soft underbelly. Far from finished, the beast lashed out with its good foreleg and knocked Matt to the ground, then twisted around to snap its jaws down on the prone Earthling. Jarod was faster, though, and grabbed the javelin he'd stuck in its neck, pulling it away from Matt. The head dipped close to me, and I slammed it with my shield. With a pained roar, the wyvern toppled to the side again, momentarily stunned.
A quick roll got Matt back on his feet, and he wasted no time lunging at the wyvern's exposed belly, sword extended for the kill. He hit the mark, driving the point of his sword deep into the wyvern's chest. The beast roared in agony and thrashed, throwing us all away - even its rider - before collapsing in a heap. The rider recovered quickly, rising to his feet with an enraged shout, but he only made it a few steps towards us before he fell with three arrows in him; Al had finally rejoined the fight.
We approached the inert wyvern cautiously, weapons ready in case the beast still had some fight left in it. Matt's cuts were well chosen, aimed at weak spots behind joints, and his last thrust had gone right through a spot he'd already weakened. The corpse suddenly twitched as I drew level with its head and I jumped, but it was just Matt tugging his sword free of its chest. There was a single spurt of blood, but it slowed to a trickle almost immediately; the wyvern was definitely dead.
"Good work Matt," I said, grimly surveying the carnage. There were no more wyverns in the sky above us, but nearly all of our rearguard volunteers were down. Still, if Matt hadn't killed that thing... "You really saved our asses there."
Matt started to reply, but suddenly groaned and leaned heavily against the dead wyvern. His face was pinched and turning white, as if he were in a lot of pain.
"You okay?" Al called as she approached from behind the dead wyvern, tucking the three arrows she'd used to kill the Daein rider back into her quiver. As she got closer, I could see that she was pretty battered, too, and walked with a distinct limp.
"Just a broken rib, I think," Matt wheezed, easing himself into a seated position. He tried to turn and face her and his face contorted in pain. "Okay, maybe a few broken ribs."
"Alright, just don't die, okay? I don't have the energy to carry you outta here. Al, help him get back to the pass, will you?" I asked, knowing full well that she needed to get to a healer as much as he did. She nodded, and I turned to go check on the others. Before I left though, I added; "Oh, and Matt? That was pretty badass."
The reserved Earthling actually smiled for once.
I did a quick round of the other wounded to check on them. No one was dead, but a few needed to see a healer soon. Zihark seemed surprisingly okay for a man who just got thrown, but although Ilyana was able to stand with his assistance she was very dazed - more than usual, that is. She must have hit her head when she fell. The five soldiers who volunteered for the rearguard were injured as well, but only one of them was serious; his shield arm had been torn by a wyvern's jaws, but another soldier had tied the arm off above the elbow. Jill was up and around, and she waved me off when I tried to check on her. The last person I came across was Beth; she'd been hit squarely by the huge wyvern on its first attack run, but it looked like her shield took the worst of it. Her shield arm was definitely broken, but she was alert and coherent.
"Hey," she greeted me when I got close, forcing a smile. "So how'd that go?"
"Great! Everybody's wounded," I replied jokingly, taking an elixir out of a pouch on my belt. "Here, this should help with the pain," I added, popping the cork out and handing her the bottle.
"Thanks, dude!" she replied, taking a big swig of the medicine. "Where's Elincia?" she asked after a moment, looking towards the village. There was a growing throng of villagers crossing the bridge and heading our way, but with the way the river was already overflowing its banks that bridge wouldn't be open for much longer. On one hand, I had a lot of wounded to look after here, but on the other I had sworn to keep an eye on Elincia. Dammit...
"Jarod, go scout the bridge! I need to know how long we have until the village is cut off," I ordered. Knowing Elincia, she won't want to leave anyone behind, but there may not be time for that. If the water gets too deep, they won't be able to get back across the bridge.
On a happier note, from the rise I could see that Ike had already reached Talrega's gates, and all the wyvern riders were either dead or focused on repelling his force; we could get the villagers and our wounded back to the mountain pass and away from the rising floodwaters without much risk of being attacked.
"Adam!" Zihark's voice called from behind me. He had Ilyana, Al and Matt with him, and the Daein refugees weren't far behind. "We need to get the wounded moving."
My gaze flicked back and forth between the mountain pass and the village. Elincia was still in there, but we needed every able-bodied soldier to move the wounded outside the flood zone. My priority was Elincia, had to be Elincia, but leaving my own friends...
"Zihark, I have to find Elincia," I said reluctantly. "Do you have enough people to move the wounded without me?"
"Maybe, if the villagers cooperate," he replied, looking doubtfully at the throng of terrified people fleeing their soon-to-be-destroyed homes.
"I know these villagers, they're good people. Trust me, they'll help," Jill assured me, and called some of the approaching villagers by name. Despite their obvious apprehension, several sturdy men and women broke from the group and helped the wounded soldiers to their feet. Some even got together and carried the ones who couldn't stand.
I nodded my thanks to her and set off for the village, making a point of thanking every helpful villager I passed. And to think Soren wanted to abandon these people. What an ass! I ran into Jarod as he was returning from the bridge.
"How long do we have?" I asked him, not slowing as he fell in beside me.
"Not long, captain; five minutes, maybe ten if we're lucky," he replied, pointing to the end of the bridge; it was already submerged, and while the raised middle was still above water, that wouldn't last long. We had to slosh through ankle deep water just to get to the bridge, and when we reached the other side we found the entire village was similarly flooded.
Another group of refugees was making its way to the bridge as we entered the village, and the ones in front kept a wary distance when we approached, eyeing our weapons and moving to stand in front of their children. Guess Jarod and I don't look as harmless as Elincia. I slowly and deliberately put my weapon away and held my hands out, palms facing out in a non-threatening gesture.
"Dog's breath!" Jarod cursed under his breath. "What kind of monster would do this to his own people?" He stuck his spear in the ground and pointed to the bridge. "Hurry! The bridge is still clear!"
"We have healers and warm food waiting for you in the mountain pass," I added, trying to reassure them.
That seemed to convince the villagers that we were there to help, and the ragged group got moving again. I pulled one farmer aside before they left, though.
"Some of my soldiers are still evacuating the village. Can you tell me where they are?"
"Last I saw, they were headed for the town square, on the far side of the village," he replied, pointing down the street behind him.
The flood made running difficult, but Jarod and I followed his directions as fast as we could. The village was quite small and - as far as I could tell - entirely deserted, and after a few minutes of struggling through the water we came to a wider portion of the road. It wasn't a town square in the traditional sense, but it seemed to be the closest thing this little hamlet had. To my relief, Elincia and the rest of the soldiers - just over a dozen of them - were clearing the houses nearest to us, ushering the last few villagers towards the bridge.
"Elincia!" I called, getting her attention as I sloshed my way to her side. "Almost done here?"
"Not yet," she replied, pointing across the street to a trio of hastily-boarded-up buildings. "It seems some people have barricaded themselves in there."
"Well, if they're determined to stay then there isn't much we can do," I replied. I didn't like the thought of leaving them, but there was no time.
"There could be children in there," Elincia reminded me, turning big, sad eyes my way. Dammit, I hate guilt.
"Two minutes, then we're leaving with or without them," I relented, adding: "And don't even think of trying to fight me on this; I will knock you out and drag you!" She smiled and nodded her thanks.
Elincia approached the houses first, calling out to the people inside. I motioned for the other soldiers to spread out as we got closer, hoping it would make us appear less threatening to the civilians while also giving us good coverage of all three buildings; if the Daein villagers wanted to try anything stupid, my men should be able to stop them quickly.
There was movement inside the houses, and suddenly several of the boards in the windows were torn down. Elincia grinned, and for a moment I was relieved; they were coming out easily. But then, instead of villagers coming out, crossbows poked out of those windows.
"Ambush!" Jarod yelled, throwing up his shield just as the enemy crossbowmen fired. I grabbed Elincia's arm and pulled her behind me as the distinctive thuds of arrows and bolts hitting shields rang out around me. The doors of the barricaded houses burst open, and suddenly Daein soldiers were spilling out into the street, mobbing us with almost suicidal zeal.
The first Daein was on me so fast I had no chance to organize a defense and just let my instincts take over; bashing his attacking arm with my shield before he could even finish the swing, I quickly slashed his gut and let him flop past me into the water. Two more soldiers were right behind him, and while I exchanged blows with one of them, the other slipped by me and attacked Elincia, driving her back with a flurry of strikes. Keeping my shield between me and my opponent, I pivoted and cut at the back of Elincia's attacker, wounding him just enough to give the princess a momentary opening. I had no time to see how she did as I turned my full attention back to my opponent just in time to backstep and avoid a clever thrust he got in under my shield. I snapped my sword down and deflected his weapon just to the right. He tried to disengage, but I used my shield to drive his shoulder in the same direction and stabbed him in the side of his chest as soon as he was facing away from me.
That kill bought me a little breathing room, but I had no time to sort through the chaotic ambush as a mage's fire spell exploded down the street, knocking men from both sides down and kicking up a small cloud of hissing steam. Two more followed in quick succession - one so close I could feel the heat of it on my cheek.
A distinctive figure in heavy plate armor suddenly emerged from the building, stalking straight for Elincia. He carried a sword in his only hand, and put that weapon to brutally efficient use as a pair of my soldiers tried to intercept him. One fell instantly as blood sprayed from his torn throat, and the second fell soon after as the one-armed knight easily sidestepped his strike and cut his hamstring.
"Josh!" I hollered, distracting him just long enough for the wounded soldier to crawl away. The former Daein General looked my way, but his gaze went past me to Elincia. He began to stalk our way.
"Jarod, get her out of here!" I yelled, seeing the sergeant was only a few steps away. He looked for a moment as if he wanted to fight Josh, but nonetheless he quickly ushered the Princess away from the fighting. Relieved that at least Elincia would likely get to safety, I turned back to the Daein leader. There were no other soldiers in our immediate vicinity, and the steam kicked up by the constant fireballs almost gave the impression that we were completely alone.
"Why are you doing this? I thought you wanted peace!" I demanded, not willing to fight him just yet.
"I am saving my country," Josh replied earnestly. "I've seen the way your General Ike looks at the Princess; if I capture her, then he will have to agree to Shiharam's solution."
"So you waited out here? Put your own villagers in danger to act as bait?!" I snapped, hardly believing what I was hearing.
"I knew she would be out here. You said it yourself; she'll do everything she can to make sure the civilians are safe," he declared, voice filled with desperate determination as he advanced cautiously. "Goddess forgive me, it may not be the most honourable tactic, but you Crimeans have left us with no other option!"
For a moment I was so shocked I couldn't speak. I said that to make him feel better, to give him hope for the future of his people, and he used that to set us up?! The anger set in then, a hot rage burning in my chest, and I began to stalk towards him, weapon at the ready. Of all the cheap, dirty tactics...
"You used that against me? You used her own decency against her!?" I hissed, suddenly so angry I could feel a vein bulging on my forehead.
Josh looked almost ashamed, but he kept advancing. "Please just lay down your weapon, I promise she will not be harmed. I don't want to fight you!"
"That so? Then you should have surrendered when you had the chance!" I snarled, and lunged.
He parried my first swing with ease, but the real attack was a vicious bash from my shield that connected solidly with his chest. Somehow he pivoted to absorb the impact despite the heavy armor he wore, and I suddenly found myself on the defensive as he unleashed a wickedly fast series of attacks. Only frantic backpedalling kept me from being cut to ribbons as he advanced relentlessly, moving almost as fast as Zihark.
His momentum suddenly faltered as his foot caught on something under the water, and I seized the opportunity, parrying his sword and rushing around his right side. I delivered two heavy cuts while he was off-balance and defenseless, first cutting his midsection, then reversing my swing to deliver a heavy strike to his back. I expected him to fall, dead or at least wounded, but to my horror his armor was still intact. I'd barely dented it.
He recovered before my shock wore off, and turned to deliver a heavy cut under my shield. I stepped back too late, and screamed as I felt a searing line of pain explode across my thigh. A second blow connected solidly with my shield and I lost my balance, stumbling back several steps.
I realized belatedly that there was a very good reason Josh had been a general despite his disability, and it wasn't just because he was the son of Tauroneo; I was way out of my depth here.
The water was rising quickly now, coming up to mid-calf on me as I struggled to stay on my feet. My thigh hurt like hell, but the cut couldn't be too deep because the leg held me up... or so I hoped. I'd dropped my shield at some point, so I used a two-handed grip on my sword and shifted my wounded leg back as Josh advanced again. We circled each other warily, Josh striding confidently while I shuffled awkwardly.
"You're beaten, Adam!" Josh said, beginning to advance. "My mages and soldiers have you outnumbered. Don't throw your life away!"
A chorus of screams suddenly came from the house where the mages had been. We both snapped our gazes that way and I caught a glimpse of Jarod and Elincia through a broken window, bloody weapons in hand as they rushed out of sight. Part of me realized I should be angry that they disobeyed my orders, but in that moment I hardly cared; they were evening the odds!
Without a constant stream of fireballs to fill the air with steam I could finally see the rest of the battle, and the first thing I saw was Crimean banners flying from several towers in the castle above. It was far from a victory, but a welcome sight all the same.
"Please, let's just end this bloodshed!" Josh appealed again. "Lay down your weapons."
"Look around you!" I cried to Josh, gesturing to the castle. The fight in the village was still too chaotic to say which side was winning, but if Ike took the keep and defeated Shiharam then Josh's gambit would be for nothing. "You've already lost! It's OVER! Stand down, for fuck's sakes!"
He just growled and advanced again. I shuffled ahead to meet him, doing my best to ignore the pain in my leg. We crossed blades, and right away I realized that my leg wasn't going to be able to hold me up much longer. Desperate to finish this before it gave out altogether, I threw all of my energy into a flurry of attacks, driving Josh back. He kept pace, but with two arms to his one I finally found a slight advantage in strength. It wasn't much, but after several strikes I was able to bash his sword out of the way, giving myself a momentary opening. Determined not to waste this one, I redirected my swing into a strong thrust, aiming under his breastplate.
I was shocked when an instant later he somehow managed to get his sword back in front of him and bat my sword away. The weapon flew out of my hands, and he whipped the sword back, aimed right at my head.
Everything seemed to slow down as I watched the blade came straight at my face, and I realized that my dodge was too slow just before the tip split the skin ahead of my right ear. A line of searing agony burned its way across my cheek, ending as it caught the tip of my nose and snapped my head around. I slammed into a nearby building and fell, blinded by the pain. I tried to rise, but every breath I took sucked blood into my lungs and left me gasping. By the time I figured out I needed to breathe through my mouth Josh was already looming over me, blade aimed at my heart.
"Josh, stop. Please, just stop!" I gasped desperately, but he shook his head.
"You had your chance to surrender and refused; neither one of us is willing to give up, so we must finish this," he said apologetically. "This is a good death, a warrior's death. May Ashera watch over your soul."
An ear-splitting crack suddenly rang through the valley, and all the combatants in the village stopped, froze on the spot to look in horror at the floodgates. Whether something broke because of the fighting or because of sabotage, I didn't know, but one of the stone doors that held back the water suddenly flew open as the mechanism holding it in place failed, unleashing a massive torrent of water that rushed across the valley. Josh stared dumbfounded as the wave approached, but I fumbled around, trying to stand as everyone else in the street rushed to get inside the buildings. My hand closed around something solid; a loose cobblestone.
"No! Those fools!" Josh gasped, horrified. I finally got myself standing again, and stepped closer to him, holding the stone aloft. "They'll kill her! She's no good to us dead!"
I heard Elincia's voice from the second storey of the house she and Jarod had cleared, calling for the surviving Begnion soldiers to seek refuge in the upper levels of the houses. The one-armed knight snapped out of his shock and tried to run across the street to get to Elincia, but I grabbed his shoulder, spinning him to face me as I aimed the stone at his head. Then the wave hit.
It was like getting hit in the chest by a eighteen-wheeler; one second I was standing in the street, about to knock Josh unconscious, and the next I was crashing through the flimsy wall of the building behind me, spinning so fast in the torrent I had no clue which way was up. I struggled for a few seconds, fearing my armor would drag me down to drown, but suddenly I felt something solid and jagged against my back, and my head broke the surface. I sucked in a breath, not bothering to ask how I wasn't drowning, and started to pull myself further up the jagged surface - stairs, I realized after a second - to get away from the rising water.
Someone gasped right next to me, and I looked over to see Josh pulling himself up the stairs right next to me, his helmet and sword lost to the flood. We locked eyes for a second, and then his gaze dropped to my hand. I followed, and realized that I was still holding the cobblestone. We locked eyes again, and I considered dropping it and calling a truce. Then I remembered what he did, how he planned to kill me and use Elincia as a hostage, and I felt anger rising in my chest again. We both looked back to the stone, and I realized there would be no truce; one of us was about to die.
We both lunged at the same time, Josh trying to grab the cobblestone. I smashed the stone into his hand, crushing it against the stairs, then bashed it into the side of his head. The Daein fell back against the wall, gasping, and I hit him again. Blood sprayed across the wall, and he sank limply into the water, heavy armor dragging his inert form under.
I sat there for a minute, still holding the bloody rock as I stared blankly into the water where he'd disappeared. A few bubbles surfaced, then nothing. The angry haze cleared and it suddenly hit me that I'd just done something terrible. Horrified, I threw the bloody stone away and pushed myself back against the stairs, wanting this to just be a terrible dream. Oh god, what did I just do? Bile rose in my throat and I leaned to the side and almost puked.
I felt a sharp sting on my thigh as the floodwaters rose high enough to get at the wound, and self-preservation took over. Unable to get my wounded leg to work, I used my arms to pull myself up the stairs and onto the house's second level. The room had a sloping ceiling - the roof, I realized - and I knew this was the farthest I could get from the flood. The pain in my leg was getting worse by the second, and when I looked back I saw a trail of blood behind me.
Adrenaline's wearing off, I realized, looking down at the wound as I propped myself against a wall. It was on the outside of my leg, far away from the femoral artery, but it was deeper than I'd thought. I was starting to feel cold and clammy, too. I'm going into shock... need to stop the bleeding! I reached for the elixir I usually kept on my belt, but I'd given it to Beth. Instead, I tore a strip off my tattered surcoat and tied it off above the wound as tightly as I could, then balled up the rest and held it against the wound to slow the bleeding.
The part of me still concerned with staying alive realized that I was separated from the rest of the Begnion troops and that I would need to place some kind of marker outside to be found, but I didn't have the strength for it. Instead, I leaned my head forward to keep the blood from my other wound draining out of my nose and just focused on breathing, on staying conscious. I was tired and cold, but if I knew I had to stay awake no matter what. If I fall asleep, I'm as good as dead. Somebody'll come looking sooner or later, just gotta stay alive 'till then.
The minutes ticked by as I sat there, then hours. The water rose so close to the second level it sloshed through gaps in the floorboards, but it stopped there. I could hear sounds of battle from the castle above us, but after a few hours those sounds quieted, then disappeared altogether. Night fell, but there was still no sign of rescue.
As I sat there waiting, Josh's death kept playing over and over in my head; I kept reliving it, kept seeing his crushed skull, his terrified expression, and as the hours passed and dawn approached one question repeated itself constantly; What kind of monster am I?
A/N
Hope you enjoyed- err, not sure if I should say that, given the morbidity of the above. Thanks for reading, please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter.
Review Responses
NLV: Yeah, that support was a little much to start with. Still working on writing those romantic bits, I have trouble getting them right. I will try my best to keep it from being too much in the future, though. And thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the fic!
SoMuchGerry: Thanks, glad you like it!
godofmadness43: Yes, yes he did. Very much dead. That death will have major ramifications later, both in this war and a bit in RD.