Disclaimer: As ever, Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Even if they do make some decisions I don't agree with… like a silly little side-quest that no true strategist would ever embark on when time is as important as it is to Lyndis' Legion!
Chapter 7 - Siblings Abroad
"What a glorious morning." Wil said as he stepped out of the large tent the men were now sharing when weather gave cause. He was grateful to Rath, he supposed, although the silent man had seemed ill at ease with allowing others to sleep in his tent.
"Grass too wet to light a fire with, mud to trudge through and nowhere to sit?" Matthew muttered good-naturedly. "I prefer the cities, it has to be said. Just think of all those people, crowded together..."
"Yes. All those people, and their accumulated wealth. Isn't that what you were going to say, thief?" Kent's disapproving voice came from behind the brunette, who grinned at Wil and scampered out of the way.
"Oh, I'll admit their purses are attractive, but now that I'm with you I'm sure I'll have no want for food to fill my belly, or jewels to bedeck my ladies."
"Bedecking ladies. That sounds like a fine idea." Sain chuckled from inside. "By the way, has anyone seen our benefactor? You know the one. Face like he'd just bitten a lemon, never says a thing?" Sain's commentary was cut off as something crashed and he yelped in pain. The other three peered back into the tent to see Erk reading one of his spell books and the knight under a pile of armour plating.
"Um, could someone give me a hand?" he asked, sheepishly.
Kent's face, for the umpteenth time, met his palm on the way down.
"What was that?" Serra asked as they neared a village later that day.
"Sounds like someone running..." Florina ventured, and everyone paused and looked at each other for a beat before lunging for their weapons. They relaxed only marginally when the small figure broke out of the undergrowth.
"Please, you have to help her!" he said, close to panic and almost clinging to Hunt's bit. The mare looked down her long nose at him, disdainfully, and he let go without looking away.
"Whoa. Slow down. Who are you, and who needs help from what?" Lyn asked, stroking her ruffled horse's mane.
"My sister, Ninian! Some awful men have come and taken her away!" the boy said, taking a flute from his belt and clutching it as though it were a lifeline. "You have to help!"
"Ach, of course we'll help you." Sain said as he moved forward and dismounted, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "A knight can't let a girl in danger stay that way!"
Despite his words, he still looked to Lyn for confirmation. An odd relief crossed his face at her near-imperceptible nod.
"Of course we'll help. Everyone! Lunch is on the men who stole Ninian." Lyn told them, a fierce light in her eyes. For a moment, Rei was worried that it was a trick on the part of the boy - but the panic and worry on his face was genuine.
Huey moved forwards, then after sniffing the young bard's hair for a moment he - to everyone's surprise - allowed the boy to ride behind Florina.
When they arrived at the town, a surprising scene greeted them as they rode up, Serra and Erk sliding from Rath and Sain's horses to hang back. Two men - or perhaps a man and a woman, the blonde being fairly androgynous - stood side by side facing six men in black robes. Two of their enemies carried heavy-looking books, while the other three had swords.
"I know your reputation, but I fear that I cannot allow you to follow this path." the blonde was saying in a voice that bordered between masculine and feminine. "The boy cannot possible have committed any wrong."
"Step aside, cleric. This doesn't concern you." one of the tome-carrying men sneered as he stepped forwards. "Tell your boyfriend to put the sword away and we'll be about our business.
"..." The blonde was silent for a moment, then glanced at his redheaded companion who was splitting his attention between the robed men in front and the cavalry arriving behind him.
"Brother, we may be in trouble." The redhead said calmly as he eyed the bard sitting behind Florina.
"Pray tell me that you are not allies of the shaman and his blackguards..." the blonde looked at Lyn, who shook her head.
"Hardly. The boy said something about a sister needing a rescue. Are these the men who took her?" The Sacaean walked her horse forward to stand beside the white-robed cleric.
"I fear it may be so, though I have not seen such a girl. I am Lucius, an Elimine monk. My companion is Lo... Raven. A swordsman on the path of the mercenary."
"I'm Lyn, this is my company. We're also mercenaries, on contract to Caelin. What do you say we team up to kill these bandits? I'm afraid you'll need to come to Caelin with us if you want some of the pay."
"They're annoying me, and Lucius won't abandon the girl. This one's a freebee." Raven's voice was level and calm as before, but a moment later he had jumped forward to bring his huge two-handed blade around to smash through the leftmost swordsman's guard and score a deep gash across his chest.
"Foolishness..." The shaman muttered. "Fine. Come if you will. We can take the boy whenever." With that, he gestured and vanished.
"Lord Heintz..!" The other tome-wielder cried, lunging for the shaman but falling through his image even as it faded. He stood up a moment later, robes swirling and pointed at Raven. "Fine. Kill him, in the name of the Fang!"
As the two remaining swordsmen leapt at Raven, one was struck dead in midair by a flash of light from Lucius' hands. The other brought his sword down on Raven's, but the blade held and the two began a contest of strength.
The tome-wielding man raised his hands, chanting in some ancient, dark tongue;
"Cthulhu in ryleth..." he began, but was cut off as Rei's dagger buried itself in his eye from where Matthew had thrown it. He slipped off Petal's back before running forward to hamstring Raven's opponent. Erk moved forward at the same time and began casting a spell, calling on several air spirits with his eyes closed.
After a good minute, he opened his eyes and pointed south.
"He's in a castle on the other side of those hills. It might be pretty hard to take."
"We can probably take care of it. Lucius, Raven, have you been in the area long? Do you know the castle?"
"Somewhat. Not well. I can take us there." Raven shrugged. "Seems like a lot of trouble though."
"You don't have to fight him if you're scared," Sain taunted, "But no evil wizard will kidnap a girl from her home while I can do anything about it!"
"..." Raven gave the knight a dark look before moving off. "It's this way."
"A two-fronted attack... is the best way." Rei thought aloud from the protection of a thicket near the approach to the castle. "Florina, Lyn, will you go in from above. Search and rescue only - find Ninian and get out again. The rest of us will mount a frontal attack against the main gate to try and force them to redirect against us."
"Are you sure? You'll be facing the heavy resistance that way... are you up to it?" Lyn asked, concerned.
"I'll be fine, I've got the knights to protect me, and they'll need me there to direct the battle." Rei smiled reassuringly, and Lyn gave her a measuring look before finally nodding.
"Alright then. How will you signal us when it's time to go in?"
"I'll flash a signal off one of my knives. Three flashes followed by a steady light for two seconds."
"Three short and one long. Understood."
"Make it one second." A third voice interrupted, and both women looked over to see Raven leaning back on a tree and looking up at the sky. "You won't get a lull long enough if the plan works to hold a knife still for two whole seconds. In the middle of a real fight, that's nothing."
"Ah... yes, you're right. Three short and a long, anyway." Rei sounded slightly flustered by his comment. "Thankyou, Raven."
The redhead made no answer, simple pushing off the tree and heading back towards the rest of the army, sheltering behind a ridge.
"Lets go... ne?" Lyn smiled as Rei did a double-take. "Hm. I quite like that... 'ne?' It's got a good feeling."
"Ano.." Rei mumbled under her breath, blushing slightly. "It's a bad habit..."
"Well, I think it's cute." Lyn grinned. "Come on, lets go."
Rei burst into the throne room at a run, knives in hand. The battle had gone well until she'd given the signal, but she had no idea whether Lyn and Florina had been successful...
Looking at the carnage in the throne room, it appeared that they had not. Lyn was kneeling - barely - in the middle of the room using the sheathed Mani-Katti as a crutch. Florina lay back against Huey's flank, a hand pressed to her side where blood seeped through. She seemed nearly asleep, and her pegasus wasn't much better off.
Men - or bits of men - were scattered around the room like dismembered rag dolls. There was no sign of Heintz, but a large-boned blonde warrior sat slumped in the throne. At first, Rei took him for another corpse, but his eyes opened and managed to focus on her.
"Hahh... too late... You were only striking at air..." He groaned the words out, then started laughing to himself softly. After a moment, he stopped and called out. "Heintz? Heintz, come to me."
The druid stepped out of the shadows behind the throne - a space so small he couldn't possibly have fitted hidden - and tilted his head.
"Yes, my lord?" He asked, watching Rei and the knights who had entered behind her warily.
"Tell Ursula... that her mistress can't be trusted... she's a good girl, that Ursula... look after her for me, Heintz." The regal-seeming swordsman told his druid, who nodded.
"Of course, Beyard. Now, sleep. Help is coming." The Druid laid hands on the warrior's shoulders, and the warrior nodded even as his breath slowed and stopped. A red glow was visible around the druid, but his body concealed what he was doing. Rei felt paralysed as she tried to move and stop the Druid, as though some force was holding her back.
"It's done. Such wonderful essence... ah, my Lord. I will miss you." The druid murmured before standing and turning to face them. "Goodbye, little girl. We will meet again, though I pray that the Seer is wrong about you." Heintz bowed before stepping back into the shadows and disappearing.
"What's happening up here?!" The high-pitched voice may have been the most welcome sound of the day to Rei as she turned to see Serra charging into the room. "I felt a powerful evil aura, what..? Oh, Saint! Florina!" The cleric cut herself off for a change and rushed across the room to the badly injured Pegasus Knight, casting her staff away as she fell to her knees in front of the other girl and pulled her hand away from the wound only to replace it with her own as a white glow spread across the cleric's body before flowing into the skyrider.
"Lady Lyndis, there's a rider at the gates. He's shouting for Nils." Wil had come in behind Serra and made his report succinctly.
"Thankyou... I'll be right out..." Lyn forced herself to her feet, using her sheathed sword as a crutch, and made way slowly from the room with Rei in tow. The islander wanted to help, but that would mean touching her... and years of cultural indoctrination had taught her that touching was against the rules.
They reached the castle gates and saw the man standing there. He stood beside his white horse, his cloak and shirt the same sky blue as his eyes, clearly the blue of his house insignia. The lining of his cloak, as well as the trimmings on his clothes, matched his flame-red hair. Everything in the way he stood suggested nobility, royalty even.
By contrast, though the girl sleeping in his arms wore blue also, she looked pale and washed-out looking. Where the lordling bore powerful, primary colours, she was softer-edged in pastel hues. Her hair and dress were both a light shade reminiscent of glacial ice an summer lightning. Her skin was pale and waxy to the point she might have been dead if not for the pained wheezing of her breath. Despite her sorry condition, she truly was a beautiful woman.
"NINIAN!" Nils ran out from behind them to throw his arms around the girl. "Wake up! What's wrong with her?" He demanded of the redhead.
"She'll be fine, she's just got a minor fever and a twisted ankles." The man replied.
"Just a fever?!" Nils shrieked. "What if it's the burning sickness, an ice.. a girl like my sister can't survive that!"
"Calm down, Nils. Run and find Serra, she should be done with Florina's injuries by now." Rei told the bard in a calming tone as she moved forward. "My name is Rei. Who are you and are you a friend or bait?"
"Rei!" Lyn sounded amazed. "how can you ask such a thing?"
"Yes, quite. You're far too young to be professionally paranoid yet." Raven said from behind as he arrived behind them. Quickly, he took Ninian and started jogging back into the castle to take her to the cleric.
"Ahem," The blue-clad man coughed as he relinquished his casualty. "My name is Eliwood, Prince of Pherae. Lady Rei is right to ask, but I'm a friend. This girl simply looked in need of rescuing, so I obliged."
"Thankyou, then, Eliwood. I'm Lyn, of the Lorca. Ninian is in good hands. Serra is a cleric and her healing magic powerful." Lyn said as she went to take his horse. "You're beautiful..." se murmured, and the look on Eliwood's face was priceless. Clearly, Rei noted, he was used to people paying him more attention than anything else in the room. She noticed with some surprise, however, that he did not seem put out by it.
"Lord Eliwood," she attracted his attention. "How do you come to be in the area? We are far from the Pheraean border." She continued, distracting him from Lyn who was taking his stallion to where the other riding animals were stabled.
"Actually, I'm meant to be meeting a friend in Kathelet, near here. He's from Ositia, so it's not often we can meet up." He smiled at her charmingly.
'A real lady-killer, this one…' Rei thought to herself with a little distaste. Even so, she bowed respectfully.
"Please, forgive my earlier suspicion, but I have been approached by enemies in the guise o friends before." She held the bow until, hesitantly, he returned it.
"You're forgiven, these are unstable times we live in. If it is not impertinent, might I ask from where you come? I do not recognise your mannerisms."
"The far north." Rei sighed. "Please, I have told many people recently and tire of the telling. Pray ask Lady Lyn or Lady Serra."
"It is fine if you do not wish to tell me. I shall wait until you are ready." The redheaded prince smiled that innocent smile again, too good to be true. "Now, forgive me as I must ensure that your beautiful barbarian does not steam my stallions' heart from me." He chuckled to show that he was joking and walked in the same direction Lyn had gone.
'My beautiful barbarian? Florina would throw a fit!' Rei thought to herself, then smiled dreamily. 'Mine… it would never happen.' She shook herself off, and went to check on the siblings.