No Longer Alone


This story is fast becoming my 'main' update story – I guess partially because it's looking to become my longest story thus far. Oh, well. Here's to hoping I continue to provide an enjoyable read.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


Franz kept a tight grip on Neige's reins as she galloped into the outskirts of the town. Forde and Kyle, each atop their respective mounts, kept pace with him easily – as did the rest of Frelia's cavalry.

He could feel Amelia's arms wrapped tightly around his midsection, her body pressed close to his back. Of course, the fact that they were both wearing combat armour made this a rather uncomfortable proposition, but he managed.

He could see the first gleam of scarlet armour in the midafternoon sun, Grado soldiers assigned to form a defensive perimeter around the town to prevent unwanted interference. Of course, they probably hadn't counted on the entire Frelian army showing up while they were currently occupied with eliminating the General…

Before Franz could reach the defensive line, however, he caught flashes of white far above him. The Pegasus knights, outstripping even the horse-riders in speed, had surged forward, and were now diving down upon the Grado soldiers, they gleaming swords and lances brought to bear against their enemy. Unprepared as they were for an assault of such magnitude, the defending forces were quickly thrown into disarray.

Of course, the fliers would make easy targets for archers, and he could already spot several of the bowfighters taking aim at low-flying Pegasus Knights.

Franz urged Neige onward, and as he neared he lashed out with his foot at the nearest of the archers, who was sent sprawling. Spotting movement out of the corner of his eye, he twisted, bringing his sword up to-

The added weight of Amelia clinging tightly to him threw him off, and his blade failed to deflect the axe strike properly. Though he managed to knock it aside, the heavy weapon still grazed his right arm, drawing a red line across the fabric of his tunic.

Gritting his teeth, he was about to wheel around so he could properly confront the axefighter when his opponent let out a yelp of pain and collapsed, an arrow sticking out thigh.

"Neimi!" He heard Amelia's grateful yell and looked up to see the gentle archer giving them a short wave before returning to the fight, notching another arrow and preparing to loose it at any available targets.

Steering himself away from the worst of the fighting, Franz glanced over his shoulder as his traveling partner. "You okay?" He questioned.

She was breathing rather hard, her face pale. From their respective positions he couldn't tell if she'd suffered any injury during their short tussle, but she appeared physically fine.

She shook her head, as if to clear it, and focused on Franz. "We… we have to get to General Duessel." She stated, the urgency clear in her voice.

Franz's eyes roamed the battlefield, to where Forde and Kyle were – what else? – already on the verge of breaking though the defensive line, rallying several of the horseback riders to them.

"Got it." He nodded in what he assumed was an encouraging manner, and wheeled Neige around. "Hang on tight."


As Franz guided his horse through the messy battlefield, Amelia clung tightly to him, trying her best not to wince every time she saw fresh blood spilled.

She desperately wanted to contribute in some small way to the fighting, but her lance was currently strapped tightly to her back, and she wasn't sure enough of herself that she could draw it into a battle ready position. Not to mention that her combat ability would be severely limited by the cramped position she was in right now.

In front of her, Franz lashed out with his blade, striking down a soldier that had foolishly tried to assault him. As he fell, Amelia risked a glance at the man – his wounds probably weren't fatal, but he would be out of commission for a good while.

And then they were through the defensive line, the spearhead of riders sweeping past the central bridge. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a flash of turquoise, and Commander Ephraim – she still wasn't used to thinking of him as a Prince – rode up on his own steed, practically jumping off it while still in mid-gallop.

As he hit the ground his lance flashed in the sun, whirling and striking down the soldiers that now rushed up to meet him. In a space of less than twenty seconds he had dispatched seven opponents, the remaining ones backing up warily and shifting around their weapons. None of them seem willing to tempt the Renaitian's ire any further.

Ephraim paused to survey the situation. "Forde, Kyle - you're with me. The rest of you, get to Duessel and form a perimeter around him. Go!"

"That's us." Franz said as he kicked away a Grado soldier that had been bothering him. "Let's go."

The rest of the fighting seemed to Amelia to be one big blur – she vaguely remembered them meeting several cavaliers in combat, an encounter that left Franz with a wound across his forehead from which blood flowed freely – but otherwise the next moment of clarity she had came when they finally reached the docks. There, the Obsidian and his bodyguard had been driven, courageous, powerful rats, to be sure, but in a trap all the same.

It seemed incredible to her that he had been able to hold out for so long – even with her inexperienced eye, she could see the exhaustion and anxiety all over the tiny beleaguered group. But they still held formation, fighting with superb discipline and skill.

As the Frelian army reached the back ranks of the attacking force, the Grado soldiers quickly wheeled around to face this new threat. They were obviously crack troops – far more combat worthy and disciplined than the bunch stationed near the town entrance.

As soon as Franz pulled back on the reins to slow Neige down, Amelia hastily dismounted, drawing her weapon and preparing for any assaults. Several of the other knights, apparently feeling more comfortable with foot-based warfare, also got off their mounts. Others, including Franz, remained atop their warhorses.

Still, when the actual fighting began, Amelia wasn't exactly sure of what was going on, except that as of yet no soldier had singled her out as an opponent, and that she was left there, holding her lance, unsure of what to do.

Finally, the recruit decided that sticking close to Franz would be her best bet, and she turned to head for him – eyes widening as she watched him attempt to face down three lance-wielding soldiers all on his own. Sure, he was on horseback, but the press of soldiers made him nearly immobile, and since the three soldiers were coming at him from three different directions, the young knight was having immense difficulty in countering their blows.

Breaking into a run, she lifted her lance into a ready position. All right… they had thought her the basics of lancefighting… she could do this.

The soldier she had been targeting, focused solely on the cavalier as he was, failed to notice the recruit charging up behind him.

There was something strangely dispassionate about her first ever kill. She supposed that she should be grateful that he was facing away from her, and that his face was covered in a helmet anyway, such that she could see the expression on his face.

With one less opponent to deal with, Franz was able to kill one soldier and disable the other, allowing him to dismount his horse to regard her – and the limp corpse that was now lying on the floor.

"Amelia…" He began, but before he could get any further his eyes widened and he shoved her away. "Down!"

She tumbled, rolled, looked up, and realized that a phalanx of soldiers had attempted to ambush her. Franz's quick reaction was probably all that had saved her life, and now he was facing off against two sword-wielders and an archer, his sword blurring in a desperate dance as he tried his best to fend off the repeated assaults.

Meanwhile, one soldier had singled her out – apparently he had been able to tell that she was relatively inexperienced in combat. This one war no helmet – just some pieces of loose fitting leather armour, and as he neared the fallen recruit he brought his sword down in a vertical slash.

Instinctively, Amelia brought her lance up, arms outstretched directly above her head as the blade collided with the shaft of her weapon, in between her two hands. The two were now locked in a deadly contest of strength.

Pushing up with all her strength, Amelia mentally willed her arms not to bend, while the soldier leaned over her, putting all of his body weight into pressing downwards.

Despite her best efforts, she was slowly but surely beginning to give way, her opponent's sword moving down ever so slowly as she struggled against it.

There was a flash of white and the Grado soldier was sent sprawling.

From atop her Pegasus, a green-haired rider gazed down worriedly at the young recruit. "You okay?"

Dropping her weapon, gasping for breath, and feeling like her arms had caught fire, Amelia managed a nod. Out of the corner of her eye, Amelia saw Franz finishing off the last of his opponents – the archer – with a punch to the face, laying the Grad soldier flat.

Her concerns allayed, the sky rider was about to take to the skies again when there came shouts of alarm and dismay. Shifting her gaze to the sky, Amelia's eyes widened as she caught sight of dark maroon shapes on the horizon.

Any Grad knew about the Wyvern Riders, of course – how they were Bern's pride and joy, their magnificent battle prowess, how a properly trained wyvern could fight right alongside his master, bringing claws and scales and teeth and wings to bear against land-locked foes that they encountered.

Despite all this, however, this was the first time Amelia was actually seeing any of them for herself – and in combat action too. With loud cries of war, the wyverns descended upon the Pegasus Knights, the two of them battling it out for aerial supremacy.

Even as she watched, a detachment of them peeled away, heading for land – and the group that was currently defending General Duessel.

Amelia swallowed. The odds of being able to win a bout against a wyvern rider was heavily stacked against her, to say the least. Silently, she began to back down, trying not to draw the attention of the massive winged beasts.

A line of archers had formed a line and as the wyverns descended they loosed their arrows upon the wyrms. Several of the bolts pierced the scaly hide of the beasts, drawing furious bellows, but a depressingly large number of them simply bounced or skipped off the tough skin of the flying lizards.

And then they were upon the knights.

Amelia turned away, trying to find Franz and some sort of shelter – not necessarily in that order, when suddenly she the sun was blocked out for a brief instant, and she found herself lying on her back.

It took a second later for the pain to register, and in that space of time she realized that a wyvern had landed in front of her and swatted her to the ground with its wing. Drawing in a gasp of air, she tried to pull herself to her feet –

Only to let out a choked groan as the scaled beast calmly planted a paw on her chest. It was easily large enough to cover her entire torso, and the sheer strength of the creature's limb pressing down on her made breathing difficult.

Drawing in pained gasps of air, she glanced up wildly – as far as she could tell, the Rider hadn't noticed that his mount was pinning down a wayward recruit – his attention was diverted by the wounded Frelian knight he was currently finishing off. Amelia shuddered as the soldier's body went limp and collapsed to the ground.

"Unhand her!"

The challenge came so abruptly that it took several seconds for Amelia to register that it had been Franz's voice. Straining her neck, she was just able to make him out, standing in front of the wyvern.

Are you insane? She wanted to shout. She didn't know exactly how good Franz was, but you simply didn't challenge wyvern riders to one on one duels unless you were extremely confident or suicidal.

The rider took a long look down, noticing for the first time the recruit trapped beneath. Amelia shuddered at the cold look in his eyes, and the unpleasant smirk that formed on it.

"You want her, come claim her." The rider replied, shifting his lance around.

The one advantage Amelia could see was that the wyvern couldn't afford to lunge forward, because that would mean releasing Amelia. Of course, a stationary wyvern could be almost as dangerous as a fully mobile one, given that the opponent was a youth armed with a sword.

Have to help… him… Amelia thought to herself. Wriggling frantically, she was able to reach for the dagger tucked away in her belt.


"Here, take this with you." Franz said softly.

"A dagger?" Amelia glanced curiously at the gleaming weapon.

"I know your weapon of choice is the lance, but there are times when a large weapon like that can become unwieldy. This could help you out of a bind."

"Alright." Amelia smiled as she turned the dagger over in her hands – there was a designed carved into the handle, making it easier to hold. "Thanks. I'll make good use of it."


Amelia paused for a moment to take a deep breath and to steel herself – and then she plunged the dagger into the wyvern's foot with all her might.

The initial results were slightly disappointing – the tough scales resisted for longer than it should have, thereby bleeding off a lot of the momentum. Consequently, the blade didn't pierce as deep as she would have hoped. Still, the wyvern's furious scream appeared proof positive to her that her actions had yielded some fruit.

Franz quickly took advantage of the wyvern's distraction, ducking forward into the space between the wyvern's long neck and its right wing. His blade flashed upwards and the rider jerked back with a curse, clutching his bleeding arm.

Franz seemed ready to continue his assault - to the point where he seemed on the verge of clambering up the beast itself – when the wyvern flapped its wings, battering Franz and knocking him to the ground.

"Franz!" Amelia cried out. But she could do nothing for the stunned knight. As Franz hit the ground, the wyvern shifted its weight, letting the rider aim his spear right at the young cavalier's heart.

"STAND DOWN!" The shouted command raged over the battlefield. Craning her neck, Amelia caught sight of another wyvern and its rider landing amidst the chaos of the battle. "We've no more reason to oppose Frelia."

The rider that currently had Amelia pinned down quickly shifted his gaze between the newcomer and the winded knight lying on the floor, trying to recover.

"I said stand down, soldier." The newcomer repeated.

There was a gleaming of metal, and Amelia saw the wyvern rider raise his lance to stab down.

"FRANZ!"

SCCHRKT!

THOCK!

Amelia noticed that a lance had suddenly appeared stuck to a nearby wall. Given the massive cracks radiating out from where the lance had been impaled, she could only surmise that it had been thrown with great force.

She then noticed the enemy wyvern rider had collapsed onto the floor, not very far from her. She also noted that he was missing a head, and after a second, realized that it was also on the ground, a fair distance away from the body to which the head belonged.

The newcomer whistled once, and the wyverns in the vicinity began flapping and taking to the sky – and thereby releasing Amelia.

Coughing heavily, she clambered to her feet, stumbled forward several steps, leaning against a post for support. And then she happened to glance up to see General Duessel standing not two feet away from her.

The Obsidian's eyes widened in recognition, then narrowed. He shook his head and lowered his battle-axe.

"Turn away, girl. I don't want to have to fight you."

Huh? Still coughing, Amelia shook her head, trying to make herself understood. "N-no. You've… cough, cough, you've got it… got it wrong."

"Amelia!" Franz was at her side, supporting her. "Are you all right?"

"Breathing… hurts…" She mumbled.

"Your armour's all bent in." Franz murmured worriedly. "It may be affecting your breathing. Hang on." Settling her down on the floor, he quickly undid the leather buckles of her breast plate, removing the plate of metal from her chest.

Amelia glanced down at the mangled piece of armour – indeed, the centre of it had buckled inwards, pressing tightly against her chest. Taking several deep gulps of air, she mentally sighed with relief as the crushing pain in her lungs slowly but surely began to subside.

"What in the… a Renaitian?" Amelia suddenly remembered the presence of General Duessel, and tried to offer him a weak salute.

"What's going on here?" The Obsidian questioned.

Amelia was, however, prevented from answering by the sudden arrival of Prince Ephraim, bearing a cut just above his cheekbone but otherwise looking no worse for the wear.

"Ah, you're safe, General! Does my heart good!" The Lord quickly strode up to the group – and Amelia noted the flash of concern on his face as he looked at her. Then he turned to regard the General.

"Help me… stand." She said softly. Franz nodded, and by helped her to her feet.

"Franz, Amelia…" The two of them looked up to Prince Ephraim. "believe it best that the two of us are left alone for this." He shifted his gaze to the far end of the town. "Most of the fighting is over by now, so there shouldn't be any trouble. And you," and here he shifted his focus to the exhausted and bedraggled Amelia. "Have obviously seen better days – go to the local inn and get some rest. Don't worry about the fee – I'll cover it." Thus saying so, he turned back to the General.

"Here, c'mon." Franz offered, and Amelia nodded in acquiescence. Slowly, the two of them staggered off to the nearby inn.


Chapter End


I know, this chapter was pretty much all action, no introspection, etc, but the next chapter should be more a lull if things go according to plan.

Anyway, thanks for reading, please review.