Author's Note: Whew this one's big! In fact, it's got more words than the first two combined. Now you can see why it took so long to write. Battle scenes are always wierd with me, becuase I try to desribe it from every important angle, not just from the eyes of the main characters. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3-Unexpected Attack
Matthew shivered and pulled his cloak close about him in a futile attempt to shield himself from the bitter cold wind of a Valor evening. Curse this damnable island, and it's ridiculous weather! Fine in the morning, hotter than Nabata at midday, and colder than the devil's own underpants at night! I don't know how those mages do it, walking around in this freeze like it's nothing more than a Caelin spring. Surely enough, as the thief glanced over to where the Etruirans were riding, Erk and Lord Pent had both offered Lady Louise their cloaks, and both seemed not the least disturbed by the cold.
As if echoing Matthew's thoughts, Guy just shook his head while staring at the two mages, "How are those two not freezing?"
"I dunno. Why not go ask them?"
Much to Matthew's surprise, Guy shrugged and turned his horse towards Lord Pent, "Okay, I will."
As Guy rode over to ask his question, Matthew just shook his head and pulled his cloak even tighter about him. Only that guy would actually do something like that. Just ride up and ask a lord whatever he pleases, like he doesn't give a rat's left buttcheek about rank or manners. Sure, I'm pretty lax about that, but it's like he doesn't even remember that it's there.A sudden burst of wind interrupted Matthew's musings, almost ripping his cloak away from him and flying it off into the woods. Taking a moment to more securely fasten the collar straps, the young spy muttered a stream of inaudible curses into the wind. To the last frozen layer of hell with this wind! That's where it came from, no doubt, and that's where it can go!
"So it's just a matter of discipline then?" Guy was amazed at what he heard. Magic had always been fascinating, if a bit scary, but this was just incredible.
Erk nodded, "Yes. Much like how a good mage can ignore the heat or power from an enemy's magical attack, he can also ignore the effects of natural energies. This cold is easily within my tolerance, and Lord Pent could even ignore being struck by a bolt of natural lightning, which is much stronger than magical lightning, if you didn't know."
Pent laughed, "Erk flatters me overly much. Even I would not enjoy getting hit by lightning, though I believe I could survive it."
Louise laughed as well, "Of course you would enjoy it dear, it's something you haven't done yet. Well, until you noticed that it had destroyed all of your books, youwould." Looking over at Guy, the lady smiled, "It's also that we are more used to this kind of weather than those from Lycia or Sacae. The Illians are handling it just as well as we are, and besides for Canas, they aren't even mages. Just look at little Florina up there."
Looking up, Guy simply marveled at how the pegasus knights could wear such…small…outfits while flying in this weather. The only sign that she was cold at all were her constant movements, zigzagging all over the place. She doesn't normally fly like that. She never makes turns that fast when on scout duty, and she never flies that low. Something's wrong. Narrowing his eyes, Guy tried to get a better view of Florina's movements, trying to figure out what was wrong, and why she hadn't called out yet if there was something.
Noticing Guy's intent gaze, Erk also turned his eyes upwards. "Is there something up there?"
Still unsure, Guy decided not to take any chances, "I think so. Something's wrong here, sound the alarm."
Nodding, Erk wasted no time in flicking his hand towards the sky, sending up a pillar of sparkling red lights while readying his tome for battle.
Not wanting to waste any time either, Guy kicked his horse forward, riding up ahead of the army. If something was waiting there, he was going to root it out before it caught anyone else.
"How sad that our first duty back in Lycia should be to attend so many funerals," the tall, green robed man rode comfortably beside the Caelin forces, although the topic of conversation was anything but comfortable. "First, a proper funeral for Lord Elbert in Pherae, then on to Caelin for Sain and Lord Wall…hmm?"
"Grant? What," about to ask her friend what was wrong, Lyn saw the lights from the corner of her eye, and needed no further explanation. "That's Erk's signal! Everyone, get ready!"
Even before their Lady gave the order, the fighters of Caelin were scrambling into battle formations. Kent had drawn his blade and moved forward with Wil holding on to his saddle strap, waiting to pass a good spot to jump off, take position and snipe. Lyn herself began to dash forward when she heard a burst form Grant's trumpet that stopped her. Lords to the rear. Grant doesn't want me fighting this time.
Grant had already begun sounding orders, in his own way. Notes from his instrument told those who could not see him where they were supposed to be, and the clear notes of a trumpet could be heard even over the chaos of a pitched battle. As she held her ground, Lyn saw Vadia and Legault already coming in to receive more detailed instructions, and she could hear Hector not far behind them. Even with the threat of battle, she had to chuckle quietly as she imagined Hector's inevitable outburst…
"Grant! What do you mean 'Lords to the rear'?" Right on cue, Hector stormed in, already not happy with this strategy. "I still have Armads, and if I can chop down that bastard Nergal and that dragon with it, I can handle whatever's around here!"
Ignoring Hector for the time being Grant laid out his plan to Legault, "Take the lords and their retinues off to the east, then circle around and meet us up near that broken rock we passed on the way here, do you remember it?"
"Yes."
"Good. Keep to the cover of the forest, between that and this fog, they'll be hard pressed to see you, and have Heath fly a fake scouting path along the same lines, but far enough away that anyone trying to find you through him will just get lost. Take Rath and Rebecca to pick off their flyers and anyone who gets too close. You have the command until we regroup. Understood?"
Legault nodded, "Of course. I'm not really keen on using Heath as bait, but I'm sure you know what you're doing."
Vaida, already knowing her role, snorted, "Hah! That idiot will be fine. I'll be drawing all the arrow fire."
Nodding again, Legault bowed to Lyn and Hector, "Shall we, then? I'll go collect master Eliwood, if you two would be so kind as to get your people together and follow along."
Still not happy, Hector looked back to Grant, only to see the tactician already swinging up on Umbriel's back behind the scary woman. "Dammit Grant! I was talking to you! Gah!"
"Hector, come on! Do you want to be left behind?" Lyn was already off after Kent, and Legault was halfway to the Pheraens by now. Hector just scowled and stormed back towards his men, having no other real options.
Again Florina opened her mouth to scream, and again no sound came out. Keeping low, she desperately tried to shake the aim of the archers hiding below her, and prayed for the spell of the druid's staff to wear off. She could only hope that those behind her would figure out that there was an ambush, as she could not scream to warn them.
A sudden flash of light seen from the corner of her eye, and the sound of Grant's trumpet confirmed her hopes, but her joy turned to terror when the druid below her lowered his arm and gave his men the signal to fire…
What the hell is that fool doing? Matthew raced after Guy's horse as it disappeared into the foliage. As he ran, he heard Grant's commands following him, Lords to the rear, swords advance, magi advance, Pherae retreat, Caelin retreat, Ostia…retreat. Pausing for a moment upon hearing that last, Matthew cursed and then kept running onward, Sorry Grant, I'm a sword today. This game of hide and seek was made for guys like me. I'm sure that's what you meant anyway, right?
A sudden, sharp whinny of pain from deeper in the woods caused any doubts about his decision to fly from the spy's mind. Putting on an extra burst of speed, Matthew only hoped he would arrive in time…
A horse's cry of pain echoed throughout the forest as the morph buried it's lance in the beast's side. But before the poor creature fell, and took it's rider to the ground with it, the man on it's back had vaulted clear, landing in a crouch and immediately launched himself at the armored thing that had attacked him.
Moving far faster than the morph could ever hope to, Guy dove and rolled between it's legs, coming to a skidding stop on the other side and smashed his silver sword into the back of the morph's knee. The sharp blade, driven by the practiced skill and lethal speed of a master swordsman, sliced cleanly through armor, flesh and bone, coming out the other side and causing the giant morph to fall to the ground, suddenly short one leg.
But even as he stood from one kill, Guy could see others appearing in the woods around him, unseen and unheard until they got too near him for his comfort. "I'm surrounded. Uh, would any of you guys minds telling me how you surrounded me?"
The morphs, of course, were silent. They advanced towards their trapped target, slowly and in unison, giving him no break to escape through.
Ugh, three generals, a swordmaster, a trooper and a sage. That swordmaster's got to go first. Here goes! Feinting a lunge at the druid, Guy quickly pivoted on his left foot, swinging his blade back around in a wide arc towards the swordmaster. The morph parried the first blow, but with speed greater than that of any mere puppet, Guy had already pulled his blade back for a second stroke, thrusting the silver sword deep into the puppet's gut, and ripping it out the side.
As the swordmaster fell, Guy spun towards the trooper. But the nomad was already upon him, the hooves of it's black haired, golden eyed horse coming down and knocking the Sacaen to the ground. As the horse reared for another blow, the nearby chanting of an elfire spell, and the clanking of three generals readying to strike told Guy that he needed to move faster than he had ever moved before.
Throwing himself to the side, Guy felt the heat of the sage's attack, but steeled himself against it as he rolled to his feet, and spun to finish off the nomad before he could cause any more trouble, only to find his target dead on his horse, a dagger buried to the hilt in his face.
A second later, Matthew rushed into view, sliding past a general's swing and pulling his dagger from the nomad's face before coming to a stop next to his ally. "You're getting slow! Come on, I've got the clankers on the right, you take what's left!"
The odds evened, Guy grinned and nodded. Nothing could stop the two of them together! Without another word spoken, Guy yelled a battle cry and lunged for the sage, determined to finish his foes before Matthew.
Viewing the battle from high above on Umbriel's back, Grant sounded a few last minute changes in orders, then lowered his trumpet. "And that's that. Now it's our turn. I assume the Delphi Shield is still strapped firmly to Umbriel's underside?"
Vaida snorted, "Do you take me for a fool? Of course it is, I never remove it except to clean him." Looking out for archers to distract, the wyvern lord grimaced at Florina's antics up ahead. "Did that child not hear the order for Caelin to retreat, or is she just looking to die?"
Narrowing his eyes, Grant looked towards Florina, "No, I think she heard. Those are pegasi evasive maneuvers, she's in trouble. Ten gold says there's archers over there."
Not needing the order, Vaida immediately guided Umbriel toward Florina, "You're probably right, but I see no arrows. She's moving like they're firing at her, so where are the arrows?"
Nodding, Grant pulled a vulnerary pot from his satchel and got ready to toss it to Florina, "That is the question. Move under her. Not even Umbriel can carry three humans and a pegasus, so we'll play the roll of shield, give them something else to shoot at." In only a second more, the wyvern and it's riders had swept under Florina, shielding her from the attack below. "Your eyes are better than mine, what's down there?"
Vaida looked below her, the trained vision of a wyvern rider piercing through the fog covering the forest, "Six archers and a druid, morphs, by the look of them. Bah, maggots! Let them pluck their tiny bows, it's the druid that concerns me."
"Florina, catch! Now get out of here!" After tossing the vulnerary up to the injured pegasus rider, Grant shook his head at Vaida's confidence, "No, when slowed down by a passenger, that's too many even for you. Make a single pass, launch your spear at that druid, then slowly fall back, try to draw them out of the forest."
Looking down and trying to see positions for himself so as to adapt his plan if the need arose, the tactician noticed something moving up towards them very quickly, and almost invisible…
Legault was quite pleased with his progress thus far. Aside from Lord Hector's grumblings, all those assigned to the retreating party were doing so without questioning or making his job harder than it needed to be. Rath and Rebecca were flanking the group, making excellent scouts, while the man once known as Hurricane was pulling the ahead scout duty himself. All in all, things were going quite smoothly for being on the receiving end off an ambush.
Of course, Lagault knew all too well just how quickly things could go from smooth to foul. So he wasn't surprised in the least when he heard sounds of someone trying to sneak up on him from ahead. Well now, the thief frowned as he thought, it seems I've been spotted. That is unfortunate. Keeping pace with his would-be assailant, Legault kept within sight of his opponent until he passed behind a tree and silently jumped up into the branches.
Keeping a close eye on his pursuer from above, the thief saw that his tactic had it's desired effect as the black haired, golden eyed man lowered his bow and drew his axe while looking for his lost quarry. Is that, a Morph? Hmm, and here I thought they would have all died with their master. Well, I'll think about this later, after I eliminate this little nuisance.
Launching himself out of the tree, the Hurricane slashed a deep gash in the morph warrior's leg as he passed. Rolling to his feet, Legault quickly stepped back, taunting the morph, "Some hunter you are, can't keep your eyes on one little thief." Of course, he knew that taunting a morph did you no good, he just felt like doing it anyway.
As expected, the warrior lunged, swinging around his axe and hitting everything except his target, making a lot of noise as he knocked down a tree in his assault.
Legault just kept smiling and kept dodging, "That's the spirit! Give those trees what-for!" And keep making noise so all of your little, predictable, morph friends come running straight here. Then I'll lead them off on a wild goose chase towards Heath's position while the others escape. Heath will see what I'm doing and let the lords know so they just keep going. Why Legault, I do believe this is a plan worthy of Grant himself!
Ducking under another clumsy thrust, Matthew dropped his usual knife and drew his backup weapon, the short, heavy and cleaver-like lancereaver. "Too bad these guys don't have the sense to run, eh Guy?"
Guy grunted his agreement, his full concentration on the sage before him. The magical morph was smarter than most others, using the full cover of the forest and his not unimpressive agility to keep the Sacaen from getting in a clean blow.
Before he could say anything else, Matthew's pair of generals had coordinated their efforts and were occupying his full attention as well. They attacked in unison, putting the spy completely on the defensive, dodging thrusts left and right with little time to attack.
In fact, Matthew was being pressed so badly by the generals that he had forgotten about his ally's predicament with the sage, until he heard Guy shout, "One down! You need a hand?"
Not one to be outdone, Matthew took a gamble and backed himself up to a tree, crouching to make the most of his cover, "From you? We're twelve and three, my favor! Why would I need your help?" As he taunted Guy, the general's struck, and Matthew sprang up from his crouch, grabbed a low branch and swung to the side, out of the way. Missing the intended target, the pair of lances had lodged themselves deep into the trunk of the tree, and before they could pull them out, Matthew had come up alongside and smashed his heavy blade into the stuck weapons, severing the points from the shafts, "They don't call it a lancereaver for nothing!"
Squaring off against his own general, Guy saw his friend's ploy work to perfection, and knew that Matthew would finish both of his foes in no time. He had no time to waste if he wanted to win this impromptu contest. "Grr, fine! Watch this!" Growling his frustration, the young Sacaen feinted forward, then leapt backwards as the general struck, causing his foe to overreach and lose balance. Before the morph could recover, Guy had flipped backwards, his signature technique, and used the momentum to spring forward in a dazzling display of acrobatic swordplay, twisting himself like a top in mid air and decapitating the unfortunate general in one blow, a spray of watery morph blood covering everything near the dead giant as it fell to the ground.
Turning triumphantly towards Matthew, Guy was shocked to see the thief leaning casually against a tree, both of his foes dead, their throats cleanly slit. "Hey, good show there Guy. A little messy for my tastes, but still impressive. You're getting a lot better."
Matthew didn't need to say it, because Guy could already hear the unspoken words, A lot better, but not as good as me. "Grr, I thought I had it that time! Come on, these can't be the only morphs around. We need to find their leader, and whatever was freaking Florina out." Guy wasn't dumb, he knew how much effort Matthew put into staying better than him. The two of them were friends and rivals, keeping each other sharp and pushing themselves to be the best. There wasn't a deadlier pair in the entire army! Well, okay, maybe Lord Hector and Oswin when they got going, but nobody else!
The spy chuckled and picked up his fighting knife, "With this fog, I'll lead. They won't sneak up on me."
Nodding, Guy sheathed his blade so the shine of the silver wouldn't give them away, and followed his friend deeper into the woods.
"Lady Louise, there aren't any flying enemies, and you shouldn't be removing your gloves in this cold," Erk knew that arguing with the lady was futile, but he had to try anyway, "Please withdraw, Lord Pent and I can handle things here."
Louise scoffed, as the young mage had known she would, "Thank you for your concern Erk, but I am also a soldier in this army and I will fight. Now let's go in and lend a hand, it seems that young pirate is having trouble over there."
Erk sighed, "Very well, I will go assist Dart. Please at least stay here with Lord Pent, your bow is more effective from a distance anyway."
Once Louise grudgingly agreed, Erk ran towards Dart, his elfire tome clutched in his left hand while he began to brandish the torch staff he had borrowed from Priscilla in his right. "I think it's time to increase visibility a bit." The staff began to glow as Erk chanted, accessing it's power, "Staff of light, release your power and disperse this foul mist!"
A bright flash filled the sky above Dart's head, and the mist recoiled, driven away by the mystical light. Satisfied with his work, Erk slung the staff across his back and opened his tome as he charged into the fray.
In a moment of dreadful clarity, Grant realized what was going on, and he didn't have time to explain, "Vaida, evasive action! Now!"
Vaida obeyed instantly, digging her heel into her wyvern's side to get a quick reaction, but she still wasn't fast enough. As Umbriel tried to swerve away, half a dozen arrows slammed into his underbelly, forcing a scream of pain to erupt from even this mighty lizard. Vaida knew that scream all too well, "Grant! What is the meaning of this? We've been hit like some kind of flying pincushion! I see archers but no arrows, how are they shooting us?"
Grant shook his head as Umbriel flew back out of range of those below, "That Delphi Shield just saved our lives. Whoever we're facing here is my equal at the very least. Those arrows were painted gray from tip to feather, the same color as this accursed fog. Hard to see coming and harder to dodge. I'll have to remember this trick."
Looking around, Vaida saw that, besides for Heath, they were alone in the sky, "That would explain why they have no flyers. Well, what are you going to do about it?"
Sometimes, inspiration truly does come in the proverbial flash of light. Below, the warm illumination of a torch staff could be seen, and the large tactician got a very cold smile. "We can't do a thing about the arrows, so we're going to get rid of the fog." Picking up his trumpet, Grant played out a few new orders while Vaida applied some elixir to her wyvern.
Heath wasn't entirely sure what Legault thought he was doing. Of course, that was pretty normal for him, but usually the weird ex-fang was less confusing on the battlefield than off. "So what do you think Hyperion? Is he trying to get killed, get everyone lost, or just bringing us something to do since there isn't a single enemy up here this time?"
A low rumble, almost the wyvern version of purring, was Hyperion's response as he slowly wheeled around, tracking Legault's movements form the sky.
His rider laughed and patted him on his neck, "Yeah, that's what I thought too. Come on, let's go land on a few and clean up the rest. Our job is to keep the enemies away from the lords, right? Seems to me that taking them out early is a pretty good way to do that."
As the wyvern rider began his descent, a few sharp notes from a trumpet got his attention, "New orders, huh? Heath, Erk, urgent? I'm supposed to go pick up Erk urgently? What about Legault? Ah, he must have heard too. No sense arguing with Grant, let's go buddy."
Legault almost stopped when he heard Grant's new orders. Thankfully he didn't, as stopping, even for just a second, is near suicide when you're being chased by eight or nine angry morphs. Well, there goes that idea. I can't handle them all alone, and Heath isn't available. Hmm, I suppose I could always lead them in. I'm sure Lord Hector would thank me for it, though Grant may well do just the opposite. Sorry Grant, I don't have much of a choice now, do I? Nevermind that I backed myself into this corner, of course…
Changing direction, the Hurricane ran straight past his pursuers, dodging a few potshots and taking a couple of his own on the way. "Come on you louts, change of plans! This way if you please."
Erk heard the trumpet blasts, but finished setting fire to the morph he was currently working on before reacting to them. As the latest morph cavalier lay burning on the ground with his fellows, the mage turned and blasted a hero away from Dart's back, "Dart, I've got new orders! Go meet up with the other mages, I'll wait for Heath here."
The pirate nodded absently at his erstwhile partner while finishing off another morph that had thrown itself at him, his twin axes practically ripping the unfortunate puppet in thirds, "Yeah, I 'eard. I'll see if I can't get this lot's attention and get 'em to follow me."
As Dart led some of the enemies off towards the mages, Erk quickly applied a vulnerary to his wounds and blasted away a few morphs who stayed with him instead of following Dart. "Where in blazes are all these creatures coming from? It's like there's no end to them."
But such musings were better left for off the battlefield. In short order, more morphs had appeared and lunged at Erk, their blades clumsy but numerous, and it seemed that as soon as he dropped one, two more appeared. Erk was quick, and his magic powerful, but it seemed that sheer numbers were about to get the better of him…
Heath flew quickly over the battlefield, keeping away from the woods where possible, and diving low as he got close to the Etrurians, only to see his new orders in a lot of trouble, "Tch! Let's go Hyperion!"
Coming down like a thunderbolt from the heavens, Hyperion did exactly as Heath had proposed earlier and landed on one warrior morph, ripping huge chunks out of it's back as his weight forced his victim into the dirt. Heath himself was doing just as well, using the force of the dive to drive his lance right through a paladin morph, de-horsing and killing it in the same blow. Not wanting to waste time fighting on the ground, Heath quickly used the chaos of his entrance to offer Erk a hand up, "Come on, let's get out of here!"
Gladly accepting the hand, Erk pulled himself up behind his rescuer and used one of the few remaining spells in his time to blast away a morph that was trying to grab Hyperion's tail and ground him. "Thanks. Any idea what we're doing?"
Heath kicked Hyperion back into the air as he answered, "None. That's why we're going to see Grant and the commander."
As the pair reached the tactician, the two wyvern riders had their mounts fly slow circles around eachother so they could talk. Grant smiled when he saw Erk, that cold tactician's smile that made chills run up the spines of most soldiers, "Good, you still have that torch staff. Whatever's going on here, it will stop when we get their leader, and the leader is in the woods. But with the invisible arrows, it's not safe to fly over the woods to find him, and the fog is too thick to find him on foot."
Heath spluttered out in panic, "Invisible arrows?"
Vaida snorted at Heath's outburst, "Control yourself, and shut up! Grant's still talking."
"Uh, sorry commander."
Grant sighed, "As I was saying, we need to get rid of the fog, and that will solve both problems. That's where you come in Erk."
Erk nodded, "Right. Grant, both Guy and Matthew are already in the woods. Perhaps if I dispel the fog, they will find the leader? Or we can find him and give them directions while playing as a distraction?"
The tactician nodded, "Exactly. Follow us, and fly above us. Umbriel will shield Hyperion from enemy fire, at least until we can get rid of the fog."
The plan set, the four moved towards where Vaida had seen the druid. As they arrived, Erk drew his staff and let it's power loose again and again, doing all he could to rid the wood below of the fog. Golden spheres of magic and light appeared, one after another, pushing the fog away and leaving the forest clear.
Below in the woods, a heavily scarred man in black robes frowned. "They're better than I remember. I must retreat for now. Come along dove, we need to observe more before we try again. Eagle, be sure to tell them that master Nergal survived."
Another robed figure, smaller than the first, nodded silently and moved to take the scarred man's hand. Together they disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving another man standing there alone, his massive axe at the ready.
Matthew froze, holding out hand motioning Guy to do the same. Turning slowly, he crouched and whispered, "Well, there goes our cover."
Guy crouched beside his friend, also lowering his voice, "Yeah, but there goes their cover too."
Matthew was about to respond when he heard a faint sound, one he had heard too many times over the course of this war. "Guy, did you hear that? Someone just warped!"
Guy nodded, "Yeah, I did. Come on, whoever's in charge has to be over there."
With the fog gone, Grant had no trouble seeing the situation below. Matthew and Guy were still out of sight, but he knew he'd spot them, or at least Guy, eventually. What was more important was the enemy position. "Heath, take Erk back and keep this up. When one orb fades, make a new one." Raising his trumpet again, he began playing orders to advance. With visibility restored, the human army had the advantage over the more numerous, but weaker, morphs.
Meanwhile, Vaida was busy hurling javelins at any archer stupid enough to point a bow at her, but stopped when she spotted a flash of brown and a bit of green moving quickly through the brush. "Grant, I see them. Right there." Without waiting for the order she urged Umbriel to follow, keeping them within her vision and looking for whatever they were heading towards. Luckily for them, she saw what they were heading for before they did. "Look, there's a berserker down there, and he looks different from the rest. He has a swordreaver! Let me handle it!"
As Umbriel started to descend, Grant ordered Vaida back up, "No, let them. Swordreaver or no, they can handle a single berserker." Before Vaida could protest, Grant played out a few more notes.
Matthew and Guy heard the call, Matthew, Leader, Ahead, Danger. Wordlessly they looked at each other, smiled, and raced forward.
Breaking out in a small clearing, the two came face to face with a morph who made Oswin look small. The man stood over seven feet high, and his massive, but feather-light, axe was almost as big. Like any morph, his skin was perfect, his hair pitch black, and his eyes golden, but though he shared many qualities with the other puppets, he still was different. Larger than even the other morph berserkers, and without that silly helmet, his hair long…this creature almost seemed a mockery of the fierce Hawkeye. And what's more, his golden eyes held the intelligence of a sentient creature, not the emptiness of a puppet.
Guy slowly approached, silver sword in both hands, and began to circle around, hoping to catch this foe between them. "Matthew, is that…?"
The spy nodded, his own weapons drawn, "Yeah." As Guy moved right, Matthew moved left, and started talking, keeping the morph's attention on him, "So, are you one of the custom morphs? You got a name?"
Wise to their ploy, the morph held his axe out toward's Guy but kept his gaze firmly on Matthew, "My creator calls me Eagle. Master Nergal lives."
Guy almost dropped his sword, "What? Oh no, no way. I saw him die. There's no way that monster is still alive! Even Lord Athos is dead thanks to all that! Nergal can't have outlived him! He can't!"
"Calm down Guy. He's lying. He has to be. He's just trying to shake us up, make us easier prey." Matthew stared down his enemy, looking for a weakness, "Isn't that right, you freak? What happened, did your master make you in Hawkeye's image, then realize you couldn't live up to the real thing? Is that why you weren't at Dragon's Gate? Or did you just chicken out?"
Eagle was unaffected by the spy's words, "Master Nergal lives, that is all you need to know. I will write this message on your corpse and leave you for your masters to find."
By this point, Guy and Matthew had flanked the morph named Eagle. As he lifted his axe to strike at the thief, Guy dashed in to strike, "Yeah? Just try it!" With the incredible speed swordmasters are known for, he struck, but the exceptionally light weight of the swordreaver let Eagle shift his weapon around quickly enough to block his attack.
"Oh, I will." Spinning, he swung his axe in an underhanded sweep, resembling the mighty warrior of Nebata in more than looks, and Guy barely had time to leap backwards.
But as soon as his attention was on Guy, Matthew had launched his own assault at Eagle's back, and he was not so easily avoided. With the precision of an assassin, the spy slammed his dagger into the berserker's back,but no sooner had he connected than a large hand grabbed the collar of his cloak and threw him into a tree, the sickening crack of the impact drowning out Matthew's groans of pain.
Guy was furious, "You son of a bitch!" Throwing himself into the combat, the enraged swordmaster lashed out with blow after lightning blow of his silver sword, but the Eagle remained calm, using the broad blade and light weight of his axe to absorb these countless strikes, only occasionally getting scarred by one that slipped past his impressive guard. Time seemed meaningless in that deadly exchange, until Guy's sword could take no more...and broke.
Eagle lowered his axe and laughed, "Fool. If you value your friend so much, at least take comfort that I will kill you before I finish him." With a mighty swing, the morph slammed his axe into the Sacaen before he could draw his backup weapon, sending him flying, and crashing to the ground where he lay still as a stone.
The massive morph began to laugh again as he turned, and saw that Matthew wasn't as down as he seemed. As the thief threw his weapon, Eagle raised his axe to block, and while he managed to intercept, the heavy lancereaver was more than the light swordreaver was designed to block, and the impact fractured the berserker's weapon, already weak from blocking too manystrikesof Guy's sword.
Eagle scowled as Matthew weakly laughed, "Ha, bet you didn't think I could throw something that heavy, did you?"
"Enjoy your little victory, human. You will soon be as dead as your friend. I can rip your laughing head off with my bare hands."
"Well, that's one thing you're right about." Matthew tried to pull himself up, "See, I taught that kid a lot. How to survive an ambush, how to deal with people who don't fight fair," he paused, smirking at what might seem to be his advancing doom, "How to play dead…"
A sudden sound behind him was the Eagle's only warning. He turned, thinking this impossible, and saw Guy rocketing towards him, spinning himself like a top though the air, killing edge in hand…
Eliwood shook his head in disbelief, "So do we have any idea who orchestrated this attack?"
Grant frowned, "I'm afraid not. Matthew and Guy might know more, once they wake up. Whoever it was, they are a master tactician. Using a silence staff on the advance scouts, painting the arrows gray to make them seem invisible in the fog, arming that odd berserker with a swordreaver, knowing that swordsmen are usually the best in the woods. Even sending some troops to cover the most likely escape routes of our retreating forces. We managed this one by the skin of our teeth, and almost lost more than a few people."
Lyn nodded, the attack on the retreating forces was not as strong as the main assault, but it was fierce nonetheless, and she was not liking the idea of this enemy strategist still being out there. "And there are more questions. If this…berserker morph was so powerful, why wasn't he with Nergal? And where did all these morphs suddenly come from? I thought he had pulled all of them back to bolster his own strength?"
The lords and the tactician continued trying to put the pieces together when Marcus entered the command tent, his face white as a sheet, "Excuse me, my lords, we have news from the healers. Matthew and Guy have awoken."
Hector had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, "Marcus? Out with it man! What has you looking like you've seen a ghost?"
Moving to his vassal's side, Eliwood was beginning to feel very afraid. If somethingcould scare Sir Marcus like this, no, he didn't want to think about it. "Marcus, give us the news."
The paladin straightened up, determined not to show weakness in the presance of his lord, "Matthew reports that the morph they defeated, the one who looked like master Hawkeye, gave them a message." Taking a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm his nerves, he continued, "The messages was, 'Master Nergal lives.'"
The tent went silent, and the dread filling the room became almost tangible. Finally, Eliwood broke the silence, "Oh dear St. Elimine let this be untrue. For all our sakes, please let this be untrue."
Author's Footnote: So what'd you think? Please review and let me know, both what I did right and wrong. Things I'm a little worried about were my discriptions of the reaver weapons, and just how they are designed to defeat what they would normally be weak against, as well as how two reaver weaponsopposingreverse the triangle back. Also the descriptions of the fighting itself has always been hard for me. I'm more of a dialogue guy, so there is lots of talking even in my fight scenes. Of course, this is Fire Emblem, so there's always time for a nice chat in the middle of a battle. Please take the time to review, I would greatly appriciate it.