Chapter Twenty: The Magdred Ambush
(A/N) I've slightly altered what happens here versus in the game, I hope you will enjoy it!
Byleth quickly did some last minute shopping at the bustling marketplace before gathering up her class. Though the owls she sent ahead of time should have ensured that her pupils were fully clothed in their upgraded outfits. Having passed their first tier of certifications, the Blue Lions were able to wear the new gear befitting their intermediate class.
Dimitri had donned his fresh cavalier armor, a class he now shared with Sylvain, Ashe, and Ingrid. He considered themselves quite lucky, as it was the most comfortable set to wear during a long horse ride to Magdred.
Meanwhile, Felix had upgraded his myrmidon equipment for a solid mercenary outfit. He wouldn't dare utter this to a soul, but he quite liked the idea that his outfit now matched the Professor's. It was all for the sake of unity, obviously…
Mercedes had grown fond of her monk regalia, but was pleasantly surprised by her new priestess outfit. She twirled about, showing off her robes to Annette, who had exchanged her monk outfit for a mage ensemble.
Now as an armored knight, Dedue was adorned with seemingly more metal plating than his classmates combined. The young Duscar's chosen path was to become a Great Knight and continue to protect the crown.
As Dorothea had yet to take her intermediate certification examination, she was still wearing her dark monk garb. The songstress asked Ingrid for her opinion on what classes she should look into next. "You should ask the Professor," Ingrid replied with a smile. "She is great at giving advice, and is very open to your opinion. I don't think she dissuaded any one of us from pursuing the class we wanted." Dorothea smiled brightly at hearing this.
At first there was excitement to participate in another battle, especially with Catherine and her Thunderbrand. However once news spread at whom the Blue Lions were to fight, a more solemn note hung in the air.
Byleth was in search of a certain student, while the rest of her pupils began to mount their respective steeds. "Ashe," the professor beckoned once she found the young man. "I understand if you do not want to..."
"No!" Ashe blurted out as he interrupted the professor. For once Ashe's gentle eyes were filled with a fiery fierceness Byleth had not seen the young man display before.
"I mean...apologies Professor, but I must go," Ashe quickly confessed with worry. "I need answers, I need to talk to Lord Lonato, please," the young man added as he looked imploringly up at Byleth.
Dark steel blue eyes gazed into forlorn lime ones. Ashe wanted to speak to Lonato...The young woman broke their gaze to eye Catherine's back and ensure that she was out of hearing distance. Then the professor gave the young man a small nod. "You will be up front with me in the formation," Byleth decided. "Stay close to me," she whispered, for the professor would ensure that Ashe had his moment.
The mood hung above them like a dark rainy cloud. Dimitri decided to take it upon himself to some lightening things up.
"I must say," The prince began as his horse trailed behind Catherine and Byleth, and kept pace alongside Ashe. "It's a real honor to accompany such a brave and distinguished knight. None other than Catherine, wielder of Thunderbrand!"
"Thunderbrand?" Byleth repeated aloud as she peered at the knight besides her.
"Ya' don't know?" Catherine arched a brow at the professor. "My weapon," The knight began as she gave the sheathed sword a pat. "It's one of the Heroes' Relics. Legend says that the Goddess bestowed divine weapons upon 10 heroes, which were passed down to their descendants."
Byleth appraised the sword, noting the symmetric hook like projections along the blade. It was indeed a unique sword that would need one highly skilled to really wield it well.
"But, if all goes according to plan, I won't need to wield it on our mission," Catherine remarked before another thought occurred to her. "Actually, Ashe is it?" Catherine turned slightly in her saddle to peer back at the young man. "Any idea as to why Lord Lonato would instigate a rebellion now?"
"No, I have no idea," Ashe replied stiffly. "Lonato never mentioned anything of the like to me."
"Hmm, well I hope we don't run into him because I'll be forced to strike him down," Catherine stated as she righted her position back into the saddle.
"What about a fair trial?" Byleth asked.
"Have you been living under a rock?" Catherine asked with a frown, before she added, "You probably have been huh. Well, there won't be a trial. Lady Rhea's word is law. And as a Knight of Seiros, I'm going to make sure the deed is done."
"Sounds more like a task for an executioner, rather than a knight," Byleth remarked without emotion.
Catherine's brow arched in response. "I'm loyal to Lady Rhea through and through," she stated gruffly as her posture straightened proudly upon the saddle.
Ashe shifted uncomfortably in his saddle as he remained quiet. His lime green eyes snuck a glance towards Dimitri, who seemed to be sharing his thoughts; an odd power shift was at play here.
"A blind man who questions the use of his sword is less dangerous than a man who uses his sword blindly," Byleth quipped as she kept her gaze straight ahead.
Catherine huffed in response. "And which high and mighty person uttered that?"
"My father," Byleth simply remarked.
"Well, we have our mission...be sure to stick to it Professor. I don't want any insubordination. Got it," Catherine stated, her bright sapphire eyes now narrowed upon the young woman riding next to her.
Finally, Byleth tore her gaze away from the road to look directly at Catherine. Face as still as a mask, she merely gave the swordswoman a solemn nod.
'Damn, I can't get a read on her,' Catherine thought with gritted teeth. "Good," she remarked out loud. Though knight had an inkling she would have to keep a wary eye on the professor.
Once the troops marched into the valley, they found themselves encompassed with a fog that became thicker with each step.
"Damn this fog is becoming thicker than pea soup," Catherine growled with irritation. "This is getting too dangerous, we could be wandering directly into the enemy and be none the wiser." Catherine then looked curiously over at Byleth as the young woman had begun to rummage in her sack.
The professor withdrew a dozen small torches and turning in her saddle to face the trail of Blue Lions behind her, Byleth calmly announced, "Class, form your pairs accordingly: Sylvain and Dorothea, Annette and Felix, Dedue and Dimitri, Ingrid and Mercedes. Ashe, you're with me. Magic users please set aflame to your and your classmates torches. One handed users will bear the torch. Stick together."
Byleth began handing out torches, unaware that Catherine was watching her with interest before her eyes widened in surprise. "Here's yours, and a few more for your troops," Byleth remarked as she handed the knight a handfull of torches.
"Always prepared huh, thanks," Catherine remarked with appreciation as she took the torches and handed them to her troops.
Byleth held her torch aloft, yet her other hand was loose upon the reigns, primed to reach for her sheathed silver sword at any second.
There! She knew it in her gut that the shadow she spotted off the path was human, maybe even humans.
"Ashe," Byleth whispered as she pretended not to have noticed the shadows. "Light an arrow and send it into the forest on your right when I give the signal." As the professor explained, she slowly lowered her torch so that it was in reach of Ashe's readied arrows.
Surreptitiously, Ashe followed the young woman's directions.
"Now," Byleth breathed.
Like a reflex, Ashe stretched his bow taut and let the flaming arrow fly into the foggy woods. The forest burned and the firelight revealed a group of five soldiers scurrying away.
"Prepare yourselves!" Catherine shouted.
There was no sign of Jeralt as Byleth and her cubs fought through opponents. She had forced the rogue band of soldiers to reveal themselves with torchlights, but there were more than expected. In agreement, Catherine and her troops split in the forest on the left side, while Byleth and the Blue Lions took the right.
But there was a sense of urgency, Byleth had to find Lord Lonato...before Catherine did.
Magic crackled, sizzled, and hissed as Dorothea, Annette, and Mercedes unleashed their long range prowess, allowing their partners to close in with their weapons.
"Professor," Ashe remarked as he looked about the fog with concern. One could only hear shouts and clanging of metal, while colorful pulses of magic lit up the gloom.
"I know Ashe," Byleth murmured as her eyes darted through the forest.
'Charon's power is in effect Byleth!' Sothis warned...and the professor knew that it meant one thing, Catherine had found Lord Lonato.
"Dimitri, I leave the Blue Lions in you care. Defeat the remaining soldiers and follow me northwest!" The young woman commanded once she found the prince.
"Understood Professor!" Dimitri acknowledged just as he and Dedue tackled a large raging brawler
"Ashe, follow, quickly!" Byleth commanded as she picked her horse to gallop towards the charging electricity. Ashe's horse rushed after her.
The fog thinned as the paired drew near, revealing that night had already settled upon them. Finally, the two reached a large clearing and an unraveling scene met their eyes.
Lonato was on his knees, pressing his gloved hand against the bleeding wound upon his abdomen. The Lord's armored horse was some distance away, laying still upon the crimson stained grass. Catherine was standing before Lonato, the Thunderbrand held aloft in her hand, crackling with glowing red energy.
"Thunderstrike Cassandra," Lord Lonato seethed with his teeth bared underneath a snow-white moustache. "It was your wretched zealotry that killed my son!" He shouted with rage, causing the wound to seep more blood between his gloved fingers.
"It's Catherine, Lord Lonato," the knight snarled back. "Prepare to have the final taste of the blade from the one who will always serve Lady Rhea." And she raised the pulsing red sword high above her head.
Byleth leapt off her horse and was about to call out to Catherine...when a blur of movement rushed past her.
Ashe! Byleth had miscalculated the speed at which Ashe could move!
She had underestimated the power of the heart...
"Lonato! Noooo!" Ashe bellowed...as he placed himself in between the Lord and Catherine's Thunderbrand.
'Sothis!' Byleth screamed in her mind...the bloody image of Ashe being cleaved through by the knight's glowing barbed sword burned into her retinas.
'Hold on!' Sothis quickly replied before Byleth felt a surge of power electrify her body, right down to her delicate nerves. Dark steel blue eyes glowed with iridescent serpentine green as Byleth felt the solid ground beneath her feet give way as she fell back through time.
The young woman gasped before she realized that she once more landing onto her feet after dismounting from the horse. This time the professor did not wait, Byleth moved quickly to prevent the horror she witnessed mere moments ago. And before Ashe's body could be sliced through by Thunderbrand, the Heroes' Relics swing was halted by shining silver.
"What the…!" Catherine blurted in utter surprise. Not only was her sword stayed, a rare feat in itself, but Catherine could have sworn that the professor's eyes glowed eerily green and an odd sensation tingled through the knight's body. Serpentine flames of such fierceness that whispered of an ancient powerful Crest.
The professor was a Crest bearer?!
But as Catherine blinked, Byleth's eyes were once again a dark steel blue. Was this true?! The swordswoman's unique talent for identifying Crests had never failed her before. Yet, she had to remind herself of the duty to Lady Rhea.
"What're you doing Professor," Catherine growled warningly as she tested the professor's sword steadiness against hers.
"Ashe has questions," Byleth simply answered as she remained unmoveable with her silver sword. "And he deserves answers."
"I don't have much time anyway," Lonato stated with a wet cough and Ashe dropped to his knees before the Lord.
Catherine looked through Byleth, eyeing the Lord warily, but she knew his words were true. The wound she had dealt was fatal and he was not long for this world. Would it be so bad to give the young man last few moments of the Lord's time?
"He's as good as dead," Catherine growled as she now eyed Byleth. "I've done my job." With those words, the swordswoman relaxed her blade, feeling the professor mirror her movements.
"I'll go regroup with your cubs," The knight simply remarked before she turned away and disappeared into the foggy forest.
"Ashe, my boy," Lonato remarked with another wet cough as he clutched at his side.
"Why, Lonato...why," Ashe's voice cracked as he spoke. He had looked away from the seeping crimson that now formed a puddle upon the clovers that blanketed the ground.
Sighing heavily, Lonato closed his weary eyes as he recounted that fateful day, "Christophe was charged with conspiring to assassinate King Lambert with a group of Duscar. But he was innocent. Instead of a fair trial and investigation, Cassandra took Christophe bound and gagged to be executed at Garreg Mach Monastery." Lonato's face contorted into a pained expression before he opened his emerald eyes to gaze at Ashe. "Please, clear Christophe's name."
Ashe frowned at this, but nodded solemnly, "You have my word."
Lonato's bright green eyes then looked up to watch Byleth's approach. "You must be that Professor Ashe speaks highly of," He remarked, his breathing becoming more labored with every sentence. "Rhea is an infidel," The Lord stated gravely. "She has deceived the people and desecrated the Goddess. You will one day know I speak the truth. Until then...please look after Ashe," he added weakly.
Lonato began to sway with lightheadedness, and Ashe helped the Lord lay down upon the grassy ground. Lonato reached out his other unstained glove to weakly cup Ashe's cheek. With a small moustached smile, he remarked, "Your heart was always the strongest, my boy.
"Never...forget that..." Lonato sighed as his hand slipped off Ashe's cheek, falling limply onto the grassy ground.
Quietly, Ashe closed the Lord's lifeless emerald eyes.
"I watched my parents die…" Ashe murmured. "And now, I've watched my adoptive parent die…One day I'm going to run out of tears, Professor," the young man added with a soft shudder.
Silently, Byleth knelt next to him and placed a hand upon Ashe's shoulder. She didn't know what to say. She never had tears to run out of…
It was at these moments Byleth wished so dearly that she could express the pain welled up within her. That she could show Ashe with tears of her own, how sorry she felt. But her eyes were dry, face as smooth as a mask, and heart ever unmoving within her chest.
But Byleth recalled how her father would comfort her at times of unease. Byleth carefully withdrew her hand and wrapped it around Ashe's side, letting him to lean his head upon her shoulder...and allow the tears filling his eyes to finally trail down his cheeks.
Byleth turned her gaze away from Lord Lonato's body and instead looked down upon silky gray hair. She watched Ashe die today...one day she may not be able to stop it...
An odd weight in her chest gave a dull ache, the likes of which Byleth had never felt before.
(A/N) I hope I did this part of the story justice ~ Poor Ashe, just can't catch a break! I subjected him to alot down in the Red Canyons and now in this section of the story too ^^; Welp, I hope it shows how much he is developing as a character!
Also, I had nearly forgotten that Catherine has the unique trait of identifying people with Crests. Though I think that it's limited to just knowing the person bears a Crest, and not what kind of Crest it is. My understanding is she knew what Lysithea's Crest was because it was of Charon. I hope my understanding in this is correct but please let me know if it's not!
In addition, ultimate classes are subject to change as I heard new classes were introduced with Cindered Shadows DLC.