A/N: *grabs tissue* You guys have restored confidence into me. *sniff* Thank you.
Seriously, thanks. And taking your advise, I've underlined Jeremiah's dialogue. That way, it will be a bit more obvious and less confusing. And yes, I am working on other stories at the moment. Three, actually. Two of them are Fire Emblem stories that exist for the purpose of my entertainment, while the other is a more serious, darker story of a different series. No idea when/if I'm going to post them. So... Yeah. Enjoy.
Meh. Just meh. That's all I can use to describe this entire shenanigan.
I'm just looking around the fort, nothing special. Nothing eventful. Just... Meh. I daresay I always thought things would be a bit more exciting around here. Right now we're just sitting ducks.
"Ravel!" Jafray. Just stop it with the timing. Please... "You've gotta see this." he turns around and leaves the room, venturing down to the hall and making another turn. I follow, of course.
I step into the room, looking at it's inhabitants. They're just sitting there, staring at... something. I think they are gathered around some sort of doorway.
I approach Gorge, who is simply staring awe-stricken at something. I squeeze my way between him and Niro and- OHMYGOODNESSWHATISTHAT?!
GOLD... GOLD! "GOOOOOLLLLLDDDD!" I don't even care about anyone's potential reaction, I just run into a room filled with thousands of gold.
Heh. I've always wanted to try this. I grin and slightly crouch down, before jumping into the air (I swear I jumped at least six feet into the air, I guess there's less gravity here) and landing right on he gold pile. ...
Pain... PAIN.. PAIN! CRAP! SHEET! HURTS SO DAMN BAD!
Gah... Can't... breathe...
Eek...
Geoff
Gods, Ravel's screwed up... again. According to what I've seen and heard, he falls unconcious waaaaay too much.
Yeah, turns out that when he jumped into the pile of gold, some sort of golden spike impaled his lung and nearly drowned him. I see why he wanted to swim in it, just to have some fun out of that expression, but what the hell are the odds of that happening?
Apparently a lot. Yeah, he's not very lucky, is he? What's with that?
Given that you haven't played Fire Emblem, you wouldn't understand the explanation that well. Actually, Ravel did tell me something about Fire Emblem once, and Marth was in Smash Bros... The latter is kind of unrelated, but whatever. You could try explaining it to me.
Fine. Let's just say that individuals have drastic differences in ability and things like that. Like we can say that you can take more hits than others, and you are a bit more skillful. Ravel isn't as much of either of those, but happens to be stronger and faster. Let's just say he has terrible luck. He is doomed to mess up, but when is the question. Okay, I think that I get it. Everyone is different. Got it.
"Geoff, you gonna help me load the cart?" Niro. Okay. I get up and grab a bag, walking down to the treasury and starting to fill the bag with gold. So we're heading back to town and let's just say we're rich right now. Apparently gold is common as fuck in this world, but it's still currency. Why can't we bring it back to Earth? I could buy everything that kind of money.
I fill the bag and leave the room, glaring at Calina on the way out, who glares right back. Bitch.
I make my way outside the fort and dump the gold into the cart. Just in case, we also have each our own bags of gold, just so we don't have to worry to much about getting it sort out. I'm still wondering how we are going to transport this and not get robbed. Seriously, this is insane.
I turn back and keep grabbing bags to fill the cart with. There's no way that we can get all of the gold, so we're just going to get most of it and then seal off the place. That way if we somehow run out of gold, we can just come back here and get some more.
"That's enough." I think that was Ayla. Why is she the one giving orders? Or is that just what Niro wanted her to say? Those two became fast friends, that's for sure. "We should probably get going." You said it. This place stinks. Literally. The smell of dead bandits isn't very settling.
One-by-one, we all hop into the main cart, until the only ones left are Gorge, Niro, and I. Ayla's up front with her horse, Shadow. Ravel's still out cold. We got him healed in time. And the other two are busy talking about who-knows-what. Niro grabs a saddle and tightens it up on Rysor, before climbing onto him. "I'm going to survey the landscape. You two hook up the cart." With that, Rysor takes flight and the resulting gust of wind nearly knocks me off of my feet.
Wyverns are awesome, why can't I have one? Maybe Niro wouldn't mind me borrowing Rysor...
What am I saying, yes he would mind. I shake my head, before realizing Gorge is here with me. Eh, what should I do?
"Gorge, hook the cart up for me." With that, I climb into the cart and immediately place myself in the corner. I give a weak yawn and close my eyes, sleep quickly overtaking me.
Ravel
Ugh... Did I seriously pass out again? That is weak. And cliched.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." Ugggghhhh... My eyes not even open, I reach out and slap Jafray.
I groan, turning over onto my side, before I feel a sharp pain in my side. I stop, before shaking my head and trying to lean up.
Geoff, Calina, and Jafray are in here. Pretty sure this is a moving cart. I guess Ayla's horse is moving it.
"There's our tactician. Congrats on your failure to swim in money." Geoff grins at me.
"How long was I out?" I ask them. Calina just shrugs and takes out a book.
"About a day. You got a crown jammed into your lung." Jafray explains.
Okaaay...
"We brought all of that gold with us, want to see?" I nod, and Geoff turns and pulls aside the back of the cart. (It was sort of a curtain.)
Behind the cart is an open road, a sweaty Gorge in his armor treading right behind it.
Geoff's eyes widen in panic as he sees the road. He turns toward Gorge, who is gasping for air.
"Gorge... Where's the cart...?" I feel his panic slowly turn into rage, which he masks in an aggravated tone.
"What do you mean?" Gorge says in between breaths.
"I told you to hook up the cart." Geoff frowns, his face starting to turn red.
"Hook? I thought you said to cook the cart." Gorge laughs, slowing down a bit more.
"Cook... Cook...? COOK?! YOU FUCKING COOKED THE CART?! YOU IDIOT!" Geoff pounces out of the cart and tackles Gorge into a nearby bush. Considering Gorge is pretty heavy and is wearing his armor, that's a bit surprising. Actually, why is he wearing his armor? Is he preparing for Risen attacks or something? Actually, I don't think they really know about Risen yet. Still, that is a mighty amount of swears erupting from Geoff's mouth.
"Is Geoff armed?" I turn toward Jafray in worry, but Jafray is just laughing wildly.
"No... He... wasn't... Gods.." He says in between laughs. Hell, I can't help myself. I start laughing with him, before hearing a few giggles from Calina.
"Wait for meeeeeeee...!" Huh? I look down the road to see Wilson in full barbarian armor pursuing the cart. Did we forget about him? Wow. Just wooooooooooooow.
We are a bunch of idiots. Just... Man.
"We're almost at town." Ayla announces. Funny, she isn't in here, so I guess that she is either riding her horse or is sitting on top of the cart.
Great. Maybe I can finally get something done here.
This is bizarre.
There is no town. Just ash and skeletons.
Niro paces around the town and kicks a nearby wooden plank. "Gods! If only we didn't spend so much time trying to pack up the damn gold!" he shakes his head and I think I see a few tears forming in his eyes.
I frown, feeling a surprising lack of guilt for the dead people. Seriously, soul-merging sometimes scares me. "There's no way of knowing when this happened. It could have been minutes after we left. Even if we could have gotten here sooner, there's no way of knowing how many people attacked this place." I just kick a pebble, before eyeing an old sign in front of me. Golden Flower Inn. Hm.
"These bandit attacks have become far too common." I hear a new voice. I turn to see a couple of soldiers in red uniform. I'd assume Plegian soldiers, based on the red, but it could be of any kind. The soldiers turn toward us and a look of suspicion passes across their faces. "You there, do you know about this?!"
I shrug. "Are we attacking you? No, we just got here. We're mercenaries." Upon hearing the answer, one of the soldiers whispering in the others ear. Eventually, one of them breaks away and pulls out a roll of paper. They drop in my hand and walk away, as if forgetting about the charred town behind them.
Strange. Why were they here in the first place? They weren't looking for me, were they? Is this some kind of bounty? Ugh, just open the roll of paper and find out. I examine the roll before I hear a voice suspiciously close to my ear. "That's the Plegian royal symbol." I jump, but upon realizing that it's just Ayla, I relax again. I unroll the paper and read the first line of the paper.
To all whom it may concern:
The Plegian army gives this certificate to all viable mercenaries whom would be willing to participate in battle against the Halidom of Ylisse and the Feroxi army. Outside assistance is required due to the recent downfall of a large portion of the Plegian army due to both enemy forces and new-found rebellion.
Those whom are interested in taking up arms shall be required to meet up at the Myra plains west of the border.
All mercenaries present at the battle with be rewarded handsomely.
-Paper issued June 24, 1001
"So the Plegian dogs want us to fight for them? Good thing we don't need the money." Niro laughs. I nod in response.
"Sure, we don't need the money, but those are the same people that tried to get us killed." I look toward Jafray and Calina as I say this. "Perhaps we should take them up on their offer."
Jafray immediately shakes his head. "So you just contradicted yourself? You just said that they tried to get us killed, you are Ylissean born, and are the general's descendent, and you are thinking about helping them? Against your own country, for that matter? That is screwed up." he stares at me in disbelief.
"I never said that I wanted to help them. I have a plan for revenge, that also comes with the effect of Ylisse winning the battle." I see a smile come from Ayla, who I guess must be Ylissean born as well.
"What's so special about Ylisse? How about we go and do something that won't get us killed?" Geoff mutters.
I crumple up the paper and stuff it in my pocket, before turning toward Geoff. "Shut up, Geoff. Plegia is run by a bunch of evil cultists that want to revive a god of destruction. Ylisse is run by the descendents of an ancient hero- Marth." I see his eyes widen in understanding upon the mention of Marth, so I guess me playing Smash Bros with him actually came in handy. "Besides, if we helped Ylisse, we would all be regarded as heroes: the ones that turned down a profit to do what they thought was right." I smile, hoping that maybe I won over everyone.
"Sure, Ylisse will love us. What about Plegia?" Calina finally speaks up, I guess she finished that book. "Plegia may already recognize us from the prison, and even when we go after them, they may outnumber us by a lot."
I grab a stick and start to draw in the dirt. "I know what I'm saying. This, is us." I draw a circle in the dirt. "This, is Plegia." I draw a significantly larger circle next to it. "And this Ylisse." I draw a third and final circle separated from it all. "We're going to join up with Plegia and wait until conflict breaks out between the two armies. Once it does, we're going to separate and start helping the Ylissean army. This is both going to assist Ylisse and throw off the Plegian army, which may benefit either way." I draw an arrow from the smaller circle to the separated circle, before drawing another one from the third to the second.
"What if Ylisse and Ferox go after us?" Jafray asks.
"Simple. We're going to drop the enemy flag and admit ourselves. If they don't believe us, then ignore them and fight anyways." With that, I wipe my foot across the drawing and erase it, before positioning myself in front of the others. "Sound good?"
I see a few nods from Wilson, Geoff, Ayla, and Gorge, but Calina and Jafray are a bit more reluctant to agree.
It isn't long before Jafray finally submits. "Fine, but don't get us killed."
I can't promise anything, but I'm still confident that we're gonna make it. No matter what.
A/N: Well, sorry if this was slightly late. (For me, this was actually still in the time frame that I promised, albeit a little late.)
But I'm finally starting to act like a tactician, as opposed to someone who exists just to make this a self-insert. Yeah, I hope I didn't make things too vague or confusing, so please tell if I did anything right or wrong. Plus, you can see that I'm starting to progressively get the mercenaries closer to Tom and the Shepherds, but questions continue to arise.
Ah well, you'll find out later.