Author Notes in the foot of the chapter please read.
Chapter 4: Old Friends
Eirika and her companions searched for the thief that stole her bracelet. They had a lead on where the thief might be which lead to the Stronghold of Bazba's bandits. Fearing for the safety of her countrymen they went on.
[Scene: Forest(Night)]
"Some of the local villagers have said that they saw a lad going up the mountains to a place where some bandits and their leader Bazba hide in a stronghold." Seth said
'Bandits… ' The princess thought
"Hmmm… how are there so much bandits this time around?" Alice asked
"Well the knights of Renais once protected the country's citizens… however since Renais was invaded by Grado's forces, she lays in ruins and her army tattered, her laws and order is almost non-existent, the Gradians does not care for her condition they will not stabilize order. If this situation is left unchecked I fear that Renais would continue to plunge into savagery."
"Well then let's be off. It'll be two birds in one stone since not only we get to rid the village but also we would regain Eirika's bracelet."
As the princesses small army marched to the stronghold atop the mountain they met a girl…
"Err… Ummm… Excuse me." A pink haired girl appeared in front of the princess
"Uh… Pardon me for asking… but are you all some sort of… uh… mercenary troop?"
To the two sisters the voice of the girl sounded familiar then Rei spoke up
"Neimi? Is that you?" Rei then walked up to the girl to get a better look "Neimi it is you. You look distressed what happened?"
"R-rei?" Then the girl took a quick look to the girl next to who she was talking with and thought… 'Who is she? Maybe a friend? Or…' …then she looked back "P-please Rei you've got to help me."
"W-why?"
"B-because C-colm needs help! I-I told him that it is too dangerous but he… he…*sniff*"
"Please, calm yourself. We'll start from the beginning, who are you and how did you get here?" Seth asked
"O…ok. I…I am Neimi *sniff* I… came from a village called Lark, except that village is gone…"
"Gone? What do you mean?"
"I…it was destroyed by Bazba's Bandits. They stole every piece of gold and property that the villagers own and killed everybody, elderly or children… only me and Colm where the only ones that…*sob*"
"There, there it's alright now Neimi." Rei comforted her about to cry friend then asked "Now then why are both you and Colm here?"
"W-well I have a precious item that was stolen by… *Sniff* the bandits and Colm would try and steal it back… I… told him that it was dangerous…*Sniff* but…but he wouldn't listen…*Sniff* and just took off to the top of this mountain…*Sniff*"
"Don't worry we'll find your friend and help him in case he is in harm's way." The princess assured the distressed girl
"R-really? T-thank you… Even though I do not have any money to pay you back but… I will do anything to help as the payment."
"Your highness?"
"…" The princess thought some more
"Eirika… Please we have to help her…" Rei had suggested
"Well if the thief that we're after has gone to the bandit's lair… And well… it seems that we share a common cause with Neimi… She is after all a citizen of Renais… And isn't it our duty to help and protect fellow countrymen? Then my answer is yes."
"Very well then Neimi if you may kindly accompany us."
"O-ok…"
The small army had marched again. Forward to the stronghold they go. Along the way the pink haired girl was talking with the young tactician…
"Hey Rei…"
"Yeah?"
"Uhh…who… who is she?" She points to Alice and before Rei could answer Alice spoke up
"Hello there my name is Alice, Alice Hikari." She said with a cheerful smile
"Hikari…then that means…you're Rei's sister?" Alice nodded at the question
"I thought… that…Rei was an only child…"
"Well…I was…until me and mom found her…"
"Found her where?"
"Well…" Rei began to tell how and where did she and her mother found Alice all what she went through even the death of her best friend…
"…and that's it…even though I feel a little sad since he died-" Rei frowned "-but at least I still have my family and friends…even though some of them are far away…"
"B-but you have some that are nearer like Colm, me and Alice…"
"Mmm…True…Thanks for lightening the mood." Rei smiled at her friend
"W-well that's what f-friend's do. *blush*" The two then giggled at the
"Anyway how you've been doing since we last saw each other?"
"I'm quite fine…maybe not that much…"
"Let me guess…Colm is still his usual self?"
"Yes… This one time he tried to steal a necklace as a gift for my birthday…" She then told the young tactician more mishaps of the said thief
"W-well now that you know what I've been doing what about you?"
"Well not much… learning new tactics like how to ambush armies and some new tricks…"
"What kinds of tricks?"
"Well…" The tactician whispered to the girl and the girl's face reddened as she was taking in what she says
"W-well that's interesting…"
"I would only use those in case we need to get more information."
"Could your mother teach you a less dangerous method of directly getting information?"
"She said it worked for her then…well I guess it could also work for me…"
The two friends exchange stories until they've reached the hideout
[Scene Change: Stronghold (Outer)]
"Wow…This hideout looks well defended… did the bandits even built this?"
"Milady, I believe that this was once used to be a Stronghold before these ruffians have taken over and if I recall this was built over 250 years ago." Seth answered
"Maybe you're right. How can bandits even build something like this? Although the stronghold is quite old I don't see any cracks or openings other than over there…"
"Hey Rei look closely over there." Neimi pointed to a part of the wall that has some bits of rock lying below it
"And I don't see any cracks."
"Are you even looking closely?!" Neimi yelled at her friend
"Sorry Neimi I'll look closer this time… but you shouldn't have yelled that loud…"
Neimi's face had redden as her friend said those
"S-Sorry…"
Seth then cautiously checked the party's left and right side to see if the enemy had noticed them
"Milady, I believe that we are currently safe, no bandits have noticed your little display."
Neimi's face then redden even more
"Hmm…Ah… There is a crack in this wall. If we apply a great force to it we might be able to have a second opening."
As the young tactician had said that she formulated a plan to infiltrated the stronghold
"Alright. Will you all please come to me I have already thought of a plan but we will have to split the group as my plan is to have one group use the main entrance while another try to break down this wall as well as distract the enemy so it would be easier for us to sneak in."
"Milady, who would be the one to distract the enemy and the ones who would secretly infiltrate the stronghold?"
"Neimi, Alice and I would infiltrate the stronghold while the rest of you would be distracting the enemy."
"Rei…would it be dangerous for the three of you to go by yourselves without some healer or some knight?" The princess questioned the young tactician then suggested "I think I should accompany you just in case you get in a bit of trouble."
"Your Highness, I believe that it would be dangerous to accompany them. You are more important so that is why I suggest that Sir Gilliam-"
"No. It would mess up the plan also if they think that I am with the distraction team they would focus less on the infiltration team thus it would be much wiser for me to be with those three."
"…"
"Seth, I know that you worry about my welfare but you are needed here. It would be impossible for us to stay hidden if you would come along."
"Alright your highness."
"You're welcome Seth." The princess then turned to her soldiers "Now then let us commence our operation" Then she turned to the three "We must move with haste we do not know whether Neimi's friend is still alive but I do not plan to find out."
"Right." The three agreed
As soon as the four have left, the rest of the princess's small army began to attack the weakened part of the structure as well as got the attention of the enemy forces
[Scene Change: Stronghold (Inner)]
"Umm… Neimi if I may ask, what can you do?"
"Well, when I was little I had been hunting game alongside my grandfather… umm… what I mean is… you could say I am good with a bow." Neimi blushed at what she said
"We could use an archer in our ranks."
"Wait I hear someone's footsteps." Alice alerted the three
To be continued in the next chapter.
A/N: Well…err I'm very (20x) Sorry for the long unannounced hiatus since I've been very busy with my duties.
I'll explain a bit why am I so (20x) late.
Well firstly I was supposed to update on like the first week of November but I had received a pm about changing the flow of my fic (e.g. my oc would marry a male character or a character knowing my oc since childhood like the one I did just now) then I checked my outline and really as I had looked at it, it focused more on the original plot with or without modifications, actually I had the outline of this not having a long conversation between my oc and Neimi or even Colm, like a carbon copy of the original plot.
Second if you don't know, there was a typhoon that hit my country so since my school decided to help the victims I had been trying to help my co-council members have funds for any relief aid projects that we can come up with, in fact only one of my fund raising projects was approved while the other, more video game related project, was rejected for being too costly in terms of time and power.
Third is another school related one but more on Research papers… three in fact for three minor subjects (which feels like a major subject…)
Anyways maybe tomorrow I could post the second chapter (or merge that one with this by tomorrow).
Merry Christmas and have Happy New Year.
Edit(1): 12:17PM
The bold font in parts of the chapter was irritating. Had to correct.