"An Army of sheep, led by a lion, is better than an army of lions, led by a sheep."
…
…
"So, what are you exactly?"
Napoleon turned towards Agnes as they waited for proper darkness to emerge. He had been adamant in insisting on securing or destroying the Dragon's Raiment, and thus a handpicked group of 50 soldiers were selected for what was a nighttime raid over Agnes's objections. Naturally, as someone who wasn't even part of the Tristanian Army, Napoleon had no right to command anyone, and so the responsibility of the attack fell on Agnes. However, Napoleon was necessary as while he had told them where the Dragon's Raiment was, he was the only whom actually knew what it looked like. And so Agnes the commander and Napoleon the advisor were waiting at the head of a small group, on foot and on top of a small hill.
"I'm just a soldier, like you. I'm sure you knew that already."
It was a noncommittal and vague response, one that said nothing. Agnes opened her mouth as if to say nothing more, but then she closed it. The two passed the time saying nothing, with Napoleon watching the positioning of the stars for the moment to strike. Fortunately, it was a fairly cloudy night, and the two moons were fairly obscured. Napoleon wasn't even sure if the Albion army knew that the Tristanian forces had arrived and were only a few miles away.
While he looked at the stars and also unsuccessfully checked what he could see of the village for enemy soldiers, Agnes wheeled around and looked at the men that were with her. She had elected to mainly take melee soldiers and mages as opposed to the musketeers, as she didn't have enough men to conduct proper volley fire, and a pitched ranged battle was what they were seeking to avoid anyways. After thinking over things for a bit, she delivered her final orders to the group.
"According to this man here, the city of Tarbes possesses a major artifact. Our goal is to prevent Albion from obtaining it, either by taking it for ourselves or by destroying it. It is about 2 miles north from the current position we are in. We currently are unsure about where their sentries are, so we will be cautious and careful. Anyone makes an unnecessary noise, I'll take you out myself, and may Brimir curse me if I lie to you.
Move out! And we will be successful!"
Despite her confident tone and words, Agnes remained concerned about this plan. To begin with, Napoleon and his master were the only ones who actually knew what the Dragon's Raiment looked like, and her Majesty had ordered Louise that she was to stay back and not fight herself. Napoleon had pointed out the building where it was, and Agnes had seen it herself. Nevertheless, despite his assertions that they would be able to instantly tell what the Raiment was the second they saw it, the vague description still concerned her. This mission would get a lot harder if he got killed. Furthermore, the clouds and the weak moonlight meant that while it would be difficult for the enemy to detect them, it would also be harder for these soldiers to move correctly to the right location.
This Dragon's Raiment had better be worth it, she had thought to herself.
…
It had, unexpectedly gone completely smoothly, better than either Napoleon or Agnes had hoped for. It didn't take them long to see why. The Albion soldiers apparently had no idea at all that Tristanian soldiers were nearby, and while none of the men could see it, they could hear men in the distance cheering and dancing as well. Rather than immediately march on La Rochelle, the men were resting and celebrating what they viewed as a great victory, one that signified the beginning of their conquests over Tristain. It was an amazing stroke of luck. Agnes guessed that the enemy was generally in the plains north of Tarbes, while they were in the eastern part of the village itself.
As they moved, she couldn't help but notice the destruction left by the Dragon Knights of Albion. The fires had largely burned themselves out by this point. But charred corpses of helpless peasants and mangled wreckage still constituted an obstacle for her and their small group as they maneuvered through the wastes. The smell of death lingered throughout a place which was not even a battlefield, and Agnes suppressed a shudder as she nearly stepped on what appeared to be the burnt head of an old women. It made her think back to that day long ago, when she was a little girl whom woke up in a sea of fire completely alone, and she stopped and thought about her past. It was only for a short bit, and aside from Napoleon raising his eyebrows, no one even noticed her pause.
70 minutes later, a march that should have taken a mere half hour was completed. The soldiers clung to the wreckage for protection, but the building in which the Dragon's Raiment was housed in was untouched. It had somehow miraculously survived the wrath of the Dragon knights, and stood there as if it was yet another day in which it would continue its task of guarding what was inside. Furthermore, they could still hear the sounds of drinking and celebrating, and they would likely not move or fight tonight if nothing stupid occurred.
Agnes began to move, but then stopped. A soldier was passing by, and the Tristanians realized that the Albions had set up sentries after all. He walked lazily without a care in the world, not even paying attention to what was in front of it as it dragged a pike along. No doubt it was irritated with being put on guard duty while his fellow soldiers celebrated.
However, he stopped in front of the building containing the Dragon's Raiment and leaned against the wall. After pulling out a flask and taking a long draught from it, he continued to lean against the building and stared into space. Perhaps he would move soon, or perhaps he wouldn't move until he would be relieved. It didn't matter to Agnes. The longer they took, the higher the chance they would be discovered.
She signaled first to Napoleon and the other soldiers to move back, and then made another gesture to another soldier behind them. He was a line wind mage, one who was also a member of the Musketeer guards and someone whom had worked with Agnes throughout many campaigns. The two of them continued to edge forward, using the burned buildings as coverage before getting to a place which they deemed suitable.
There was now a straight line between Agnes and the guard, and she slowly lowered herself before making more gestures at the mage. She then arched and raised herself, making the position of a sprinter preparing to take off. It was a technique she had used many times before to take out opponents silently. She would move forward, and then the mage, with a burst of wind magic would propel her forward so that she could be on the guard before he could react. A quick knee to the gut, a knife slash, and the guard would be down and they could get into the building and secure the Dragon's Raiment.
The guard, with a bored expression, continued to stare at the wreckage in front of him, and thus never noticed the movement to his side. As Agnes prepared about 30 meters away, her right hand clenched a knife handle and her left hand held out three fingers. The wind mage silently began his chant.
Three fingers were raised, and then one came down to make two. The wind mage pointed his wand at Agnes as one more finger was lowered and they prepared for the attack.
"FIREBALL!"
The rest of the Tristanian soldiers whirled around, and the guard perked up at the noise. But it was too late. About 80 meters away, a range which no musket man could hope to reliably hit, Louise had appeared. To make things worse, she had chosen to cast a spell at the guard without the least bit of stealth.
And as Agnes fired forward like a rocket, one of the walls of the building containing Dragon's Raiment simply exploded. The guard was propelled forward by the blast, his face smashing into a stone pillar left by the wreckage with a sickening thud. But even as the guard was taken out, a rock also flew forward from the debris and hit Agnes in the side. The impact combined with her already great momentum and she flew into the same wreckage and landed with a loud crash.
"AGNES!"
The wind mage leapt up and dashed towards the wreckage. Meanwhile, having revealed herself, Louise dashed forward towards Napoleon and the rest of the soldiers who simply stared either at the building or at her. To make things worse, amid the noise of bodies and tumbling rock, there was one sound which was no longer heard. The sound of the Albion forces celebrating.
Louise looked down, not daring to face the crowd of men around her, especially her partner. His face simply gave off no reaction as he spoke.
"What the hell are you doing here? And you even brought that book with you?"
Louise fidgeted. He didn't sound like he was angry. It was worse than that. She thought of her older sister Cattleya, and the voice she used towards her beloved animals whenever they did something silly like eating the flowers or scratching the furniture. Both her reproaches to animals and his current reproach to her were eerily similar as she continued to stare at the ground in shame.
"B-Bonaparte…I…"
Napoleon then abruptly raised his hand as if to strike her, but one of the soldiers to his side grabbed his wrist as it descended. Napoleon and the other man simply looked at each other for a bit. Then with a huff, he ripped his hand away, and the soldiers turned their back towards the girl, ignoring her. At that moment, the wind mage came back, carrying Agnes over his shoulders.
"She's breathing, but she's out. What do we do?"
The men simply stirred and mumbled among themselves, but Napoleon seized the opportunity.
"Your captain may be no longer be able to fight, but we have a mission to complete! Get in there! We need to deal with the Dragon's Raiment!"
The soldiers were initially confused. They had no idea who this man was, who wore a strange fancy military uniform and who had not marched alongside them. But Agnes seemed to know him and let him ride alongside her. Most importantly, these were soldiers, men conditioned to obey the orders of their superiors. And as the man in the blue and white uniform yelled at them with orders they could understood and then dashed forward without waiting for them, this small group of 50 men accepted his authority.
As Louise had destroyed the wall, they dashed forward into the building, but the soldiers all stopped in awe at the Dragon's Raiment, even if they couldn't yet see what was actually inside. Only Napoleon moved forward, looking at the plane. It was a crying shame, he thought. If he moved quickly enough, he probably could fly the thing out of here right this minute with some help from the wind mage. But it would likely mean flying back to the Academy and then riding back to the battlefield, which would take at least two days which he simply didn't have under the circumstances. More importantly, while Albion gaining this knowledge would be disastrous, for the Tristanian crown to get their hands on these books would be nearly as bad. The books were to be his tools for asserting his authority, and if he couldn't use it like that, he didn't have much of a use for them. Despite the line of thinking, he made a mental apology to Giono as he turned to the crowd.
"Where's the fire mage?"
There was silence for a few seconds, which was punctuated by the fact that they could start to hear battle cries a fair distance away. Napoleon spoke up again.
"I told Agnes that we would need a fire mage in order for this operation to succeed. Do we have one?"
Silence still reigned, which caused Napoleon to throw up his hands at how things went so wrong so quickly. He had planned to have a fire mage shoot a small stream of flame into the gasoline tank, igniting the gas that was left and destroying the plane and the books. He didn't know whether the soldier had lagged behind or if Agnes just didn't bring one for whatever reason, but no w what should he do? He could have one of the soldiers stay behind and light the gasoline, but that soldier would almost certainly be killed in the resulting blast, and to have one of his first commands be to order one of them to commit suicide would be a terrible way of gaining their eventual loyalty. There had to be another way, he thought, before coming up with an idea.
He quickly dashed back through the crowd and towards Louise. She had been sitting outside the crowd looking at the Prayer Book, waiting for them to finish their mission as she attempted to retreat into a shell of self-pity. She looked up on seeing Napoleon and as she was about to ask him what he was doing here, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd of soldiers. When they reached the plane, he pointed at it.
"Blow it up."
"Huh?"
As Louise panicked, Napoleon repeated himself.
"You have a chance to redeem yourself. Blow this thing up like you did the wall."
After a short hesitation about his willingness to go through with such an act, Louise nodded.
"A-all right."
With a small flourish, Louise raised her wand, and pointed it at the plane.
"E-Explosion!"
There was an explosion, yet it was mere tips from the end of the wand, and its size was pathetic. The only real result was that now Louise had become dirty and Napoleon was even dirtier.
"Again, Louise. I know you're capable of this."
He didn't bother to even look at her this time. Once again she pointed the wand plane and cast the spell. And once again nothing but a small explosion and a bunch of soot appeared; only this time it drifted over the rest of the soldiers, causing them to start coughing. Even that noise couldn't drown the sounds of the Albion soldiers that continued to grow louder, and Louise groaned in shame.
"I-I can't do it." She cried out as she dropped her wand.
"YES YOU CAN!"
And with that yell, Napoleon seized her shoulders and stared at her again.
"What have I told you, Louise? I am your partner because I can see that you have potential. Well, this is it. You have one shot, or Albion gets their hands on this plane and your country and everything you love is doomed. This is something your family can't help you with. This is something Henrietta can't do, and even I can't do. It's up to you to wreck that plane so we can get out of here."
He opened her hand and thrust her wand into it.
"You can do this, and ONLY you can do this, Louise. Show me now, to the world what it means to be my partner! Show me the talent you have!"
She realized that it was like that morning a few months ago. On that grassy courtyard, she had known that if she failed to summon anyone, it would be the end of her. Well, now if she failed to explode the plane, it wouldn't be just the end of her. It would be the end of everyone around her as well. It all came down to this one shot, this one chance. But with her partner believing in her, she knew right then that she would succeed. It was as inevitable as the sun rising in the morning.
She raised her right hand, the wand hand in preparation. Then, without the slightest warning, the book she had been clutching with her left hand erupted with a beam of a magnificent light. Even then, with such a shocking thing that caused the soldiers to gasp and even Agnes to stir, she did nothing. Somehow, she knew that this was supposed to happen, and when the Founder's Prayer Book began to show mysterious runes, she felt no surprise. After all, there was nothing to be surprised about. She had always been capable of one thing and one thing alone. It was the reason for her failures and successes, for everything that shaped her to be the girl she was.
She was Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. The third daughter of the Valliere family. The Zero who could never cast a single successful spell. And she was also a Void mage, a mage who used the lost and fabled element, the element that the Holy Brimir had used all those years ago to save humanity. It was the reason why she had always messed up her spells, the reason for the jeers and the mockery. But it was the reason why she summoned him all those months ago, he who berated her, mocked her, and had even attempted to hit her just now. Despite all that, he believed in her, and it was because of that that she knew she would be able to cast this spell.
She was aware that the Albion soldiers had arrived, and her ears registered the sound of clashing. But all that was in front of her was the plane, all that was behind her was Napoleon, and all that was in her was the Void magic. And as she continued to point her wand at the plane, she began to chant. It was a strange and unfamiliar chant, with words that Napoleon did not recognize even as he looked towards the clashing. He held on to his pistol, cursing himself for not bringing Derflinger along in his hurry. But as the Albion soldiers began to overwhelm the small band, she finished her chant and said a single word.
"Explosion"
In the plane, a light began to glow. It was an absolutely pure and holy light, and while it was at first just a dot, it doubled instantly. And then it doubled again, and again, growing bigger and bigger. And she realized as it enveloped the plane that she had succeeded in the task which he had appointed for her, and had in the process saved her country.
"I did it! I did it!"
She turned towards Napoleon, only to immediately notice the expression of horror on his face. And it was then that she realized that while the light had encompassed the plane, it still wasn't stopping. The Albion and Tristain soldiers both ended their combat as they looked upon the holy light, the light that was quickly encroaching upon them and was looking less and less holy every second.
And as Louise was swallowed up by the light that she had created, she heard a small statement behind her.
"Oh, merde."
…
Siesta was not a person who slept much by nature, and as she looked at her siblings, she sighed as she watched some of them softly cry as they dreamed. Her parents still hadn't returned, and she had wondered if they ever would, though she said nothing of this to her siblings. For the moment, they had continued to stay in the forest, and had managed to find some nuts and berries to keep hunger away, even if it wasn't enough to make them full.
As she looked at the ruined village, she realized that the celebrating that the Albion forces had been seem to have been abruptly stopped for some reason, but that wasn't her problem. She wondered if her family would ever have the chance to work together and repair their home, and how successful it would be as it was already late summer. Despite these thought, she realized that idling about the future would have to wait. For now, she needed to sleep.
She was about to lie down on some moss when she noticed the light. It was rapidly expanding, and while she couldn't tell, she thought that it was coming from where the Dragon's Raiment was stored. Had something happened over there? Regardless, the light kept expanding, and Siesta couldn't but wonder what had happened as it kept growing bigger and bigger until it seemed to encompass all of Tarbes. Then it stopped, and after a few seconds of staying at the same size, it abruptly vanished.
Siesta wondered if she had been dreaming, but the fact that her siblings had all woken up made it apparent that what she had seen was indeed real. They pelted her with question about what that had been, and Pierre had loudly proclaimed that it was a sign from Brimir, but Siesta simply observed that she had no idea what it was. She couldn't believe that it would indeed be a symbol from Brimir, as the strange light, however pure and magnificent it had been while expanding, had managed to reignite the flames and what was left of the village began to burn again. There was no way Brimir in his mercy would ever decide to have all of this misery inflicted upon her small community.
After getting her siblings to calm down, she slowly got them back to sleep, and she told them that their parents would see them in the morning, even if she didn't believe it herself. She couldn't help but yawn after what was needed to get them to sleep at last in this late hour, but marveled over the energy they all possessed. It was all the more apparent as she looked at the piles of books which surrounded them.
She had come back from the Dragon's Raiment carrying a load of books, and her brothers and sisters had quickly realized what she was doing and insisted on helping. She admitted that she couldn't have gotten all of them out without their help, and it truly was a miracle of Brimir that they were completely unharmed during the efforts they exerted. As she looked at the piles of books which she couldn't read, she wondered what she would do with them, as she no longer lacked a place to store them. But that didn't matter. They were the prized possessions of her family, and so she had to make sure they weren't destroyed. Besides, she thought as she lay down on the moss and closed her eyes, Napoleon would likely be extremely happy to see that she had managed to save them.