Chapter 14
No Destination
"I think we're getting close to the old pub." Clarisa said, looking around at the landmarks. She had been leading the small group around trying to find the pub, but had not been successful. Aramis groaned as his barely-healed foot couldn't take another step.
"Sure it is, Clarisa." He said sarcastically, "But at this rate, my feet will just fall off of my legs! I'm going to head back to the barracks if we-"
"Wait." Jack said, pointing his nose in the air, "What is that smell?"
"What smell?" Clarisa asked.
"It's probably Aramis." Helen snorted.
"No," Jack replied, "it smells like…" he turned around and squinted his eyes, "…Bear burgers!" He made a mad dash down a street and turned a corner.
"After him!" Clarisa shouted.
The three chased as best they could behind Jack as he sped toward the 'noble' side of the city. They went down several streets and alleys before they saw Jack stop in front of a pub door.
"This is it!" Clarisa said with excitement.
"…Joy…" Aramis complained, catching his breath from their cross-city run.
"Let's go inside before Jack breaks down the door." Helen said, pointing at Jack, who was standing extremely still in front of the door.
They walked in and took in the surroundings, there were not a lot of windows, so the building's only source of light was from several candles lighting the walls. There were only a few tables, a total of eight altogether, and each table sat four. They chose a table by the kitchen door to 'get their food faster' as Jack put it. When they had each sat down, Jack leaned close to the door to smell the fragrances emitting from the kitchen. Helen had positioned herself in a very unladylike manner, with her back slouched over the table with her hand holding up her head under her cheek. Aramis rubbed his feet and legs to rest them, and Clarisa sat in a poised position.
"What can I get for you?" the waitress asked, exiting from the kitchen.
"I'll have the exalt salad with water." Clarisa said.
"I'll take the Regna Ferox special." Helen replied.
"I would like the largest bear burger you can make!" Jack said with determination.
"I'll just have some wine." Aramis said with a grunt of discomfort.
The waitress returned to the kitchen, and the four Defenders sat and waited for the food to arrive. They sat there for what seemed like an hour and their food was nowhere in sight. Aramis grew impatient.
"Where is that blasted waitress with my wine?! It's been almost four hours!"
"It's just been an hour, genius." Clarisa said, also irritated by the fact that their food was taking so long.
"Be patient, guys." Jack said, still looking back at the kitchen door, "They're probably experiencing some problems in the kitchen."
Just then, a large clatter of pots and pans rang out through the entire pub followed by a womanly shriek.
"I'm going to have to agree with that, Jack." Helen said, preparing to stand up and check what the matter was.
As Helen stood from her seat, the chef was thrown from the kitchen, breaking the door between the rooms. With the door busted, they could see that Risen were in the kitchen.
"What the-" more Risen burst through the front door. The small group realized that this was no normal accident, this was an assault; on them.
Clarisa immediately took charge of tactics, "Jack, you're at a disadvantage without your horse, as am I, so you partner up with Aramis, and I'll partner up with Helen."
"But my burger-" Jack didn't have the chance to complain; he was dragged out of the building by Aramis, who, at the moment, was readying his Arcthunder tome, his strongest tome.
The Risen were up and down the streets. Fortunately, they seemed like weak soldier units. They had no problem clearing the street they were currently on, but as they looked around, the Risen seemed to be all over the place. How did all of these Risen randomly appear?
"Look out below!" Nathaniel shouted as he and Ashnard seemed to swoop from out of nowhere. Tanuitia was riding on the back of Ashnard and jumped off much better this time than her last jump. She landed directly on a myrmidon and killed a fighter with a swift swing of her bronze blade.
"Nathaniel!" Clarisa yelled up to him, while jabbing at a risen going at Helen's backside, "How bad is this situation? How many Risen are in the city?"
"It is just this one spot, fortunately." Nathaniel replied, swinging his axe at a nearby cavalier, knocking it from its mount, "As to their origin, ask Tia!"
Clarisa turned to see the young myrmidon girl blush and act guilty. "Tia, what happened?"
"Can you ask me after we're through fighting?" Tia pleaded.
Clarisa could see that they were nearly wrapped up with the fight anyway, so she complied.
They protected all of the merchants and citizens well, so there were no casualties afterward. Soon, there was nothing left of the Risen except for the rubble of damage that they caused.
As they regrouped in the center of the road, Clarisa spoke first, "Tia…what happened?"
"Well, you know how Nate was going to give me an aerial view of the city?"
"…yes?"
"Well I started to get a little dizzy, so we stopped flying for a bit and landed near the market area, with all of the different tents and merchants." It was evident that she was nervous, because she started to speak at the speed of a wyvern in flight. "Well, there was this one that was selling some amazing objects and oddities not found in the entire realm by anyone but Anna, he called all of those items 'Anna-exclusives'. But there was this one that was like a box or something and it had some cool writing on it-"
"It read 'do not open, only for the brave'…" Nathaniel interrupted.
"-and I thought it would be a fun souvenir for remembering this occasion, but when I purchased it and opened it, there was this really bright blue light that filled the room, then Risen appeared out of nowhere! It clearly wasn't my fault."
"I don't see how it isn't your fault!" Clarisa yelled at her, "How could you be so foolish to open a Reeking Box in the middle of the city!"
"But look, sis," Nathaniel pointed around the city. Where there had been rubble, it had been fixed or disappeared entirely, "there was no harm done to anyone, right? And we're all a little stronger afterwards, right?"
It was true; they had gained some experience after that small confrontation. "Alright, then. We'll talk it over with Priam and let him settle the matter." Clarisa said, crossing her arms.
"But first things first," Jack interrupted, "there is a bear burger with my name on it."
They all agreed that they were hungry, so they headed in the direction of the pub to get some food. Pulling up extra chairs, they ordered the food.
After they had all gotten resettled, the subject of Raphael's origin arose. "Where did he come from?" Aramis asked aloud.
"It's quite obvious that he is related to Priam somehow, but how?" Helen agreed.
Nathaniel had these thoughts earlier, but he and Jack both agreed that Raphael's origin was of no concern to them as long as it was not a sinister past.
"Maybe he is Priam's cousin." Tia added.
"I may have an idea." Clarisa spoke almost as if a candle was lit in her head, "have you heard the tales of the warriors from the future?"
"No, what of it?" Nathaniel asked.
"Well, each warrior had a set of parents who had died in the future, parents that exist in this time." She picked up her glass from the table and took a sip. "What if he is the son of Priam from the future?"
"What?!" Aramis felt that if Raphael had been from the future, then he would be so much cooler than he was, and Aramis wouldn't stand for that. "That is completely preposterous! How could people even travel back in time? These are just myths!"
"Ah, but that is where you are wrong, sir."
A girl with red hair, and a cloak of a purple hue, similar to Robin's, approached them. She took the empty seat next to Tia and Helen.
"And how do you know, hmm?" Aramis asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Because I am one of them. My name is Morgan, daughter of the great tactician, Robin." She bowed politely and took the empty seat next to Tia and Helen.
"Excuse me, miss," Jack said, blushing, "but has anyone ever commented on your beauty?"
This was a side of Jack that no one had seen. He normally wasn't this forward, or talkative for that matter. The way he was talking made everyone feel awkward.
She blushed in response, "Um… N-no…"
"W-well, um…" Jack couldn't find the right words. Fortunately, Aramis changed the subject back to Raphael's origin.
"Is that wimp, Raphael, one of you?"
"Raphael…? I can't remember… Hmm… I guess I wouldn't be the person to ask. Why don't you ask him?"
"I'm slightly confused," Tia said, scratching her head, "are you saying that you have no idea? But weren't you with him in the future?"
"I was, at least, I think I was… You see, when I came to this time, I received permanent memory loss, forgetting everything and everyone from my time."
"Well I guess we have no choice but to ask him, then, unless we run into other future warriors." Clarisa said with a shrug.
HEY!... I'm back! But only for a few days.
I'm not overly fond of this chapter, but I wanted to show what each separate group in Ylisse was up to. The next chapter will be about Priam and Say'ri in the castle, talking with Robin and Chrom about the epidemic, and talking about Raphael's origin. Say'ri will lose her trust in Priam for a while L.
I know what you're thinking, (actually, I don't, but I can make an educated guess) you may be thinking "When is he going to update Desperado? Or when is he going to publish The Means of Peace?" The answer to these questions are nonexistent as of the moment, because of all of the work I have to do to graduate. If you weren't thinking these thoughts, then I…I…I don't know…
Please leave a review, as always. And send me a PM if you feel up to the challenge. I can talk to people 'til their ears fall off. It's pretty nasty.
As always, thank you for your time.
~TheSearcherer