Author's Notes: Well I wish this hadn't taken so long to get posted, and I have absolutly no good excuse for it. It should have been posted back in September but I ended up re-writing this chapter the better part of 5 times. This was not helped at all by University. At the very least I am very sure this is well proofread and I think it flowed alot better then the original chapter did.
As always feel free to point out errors and ways the story could be improved I don't mind criticism.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Fire Emblem, as much as I wish I did cause then I would be rich.
Chapter 5: "The Plot Intervenes"
"Gods do my legs ever hurt," I muttered as we marched on our way back from rescuing Ricken and Maribelle.
It had been two days since that fight and the mood was not good among the group. We all knew we were at war now, and that Ylisse was not in a position to fight it. The mood was also not helped when it started raining late the day before, and had yet to lighten up.
A chorus of mumbles came in reply from the other members of my squad, sans Gilliam who was currently marching beside Fredrick, just out of earshot.
"I could put up with it if it just stopped raining," Edward added,
"Or that this mud would atleast stop getting deeper," Aran said from the front of the group.
"Come on guys complaining about this won't make it any better," Amelia piped in, though she didn't exactly look any more eager than the rest of us.
"Amelia's right, if we keep complaining it's just going to make the march seem longer," commented Leonardo.
After a few moments of silence we all turned to look at the the two bringing up the rear, and it took a few moments longer for Nephenee and Koel to realize we had been expecting a comment out of the two most silent people in our team. All we got was a pair of shrugs.
When we all turned back to watch the dangerously muddy road instead of eachother I sighed and said, "Well atleast it's raining less than it would where I'm from."
"Where are you from anyways?" Edward asked.
"Far far away from Ylisse. I wouldn't even be on this continent if circumstances hadn't driven me here," I replied, and Amelia looked over for a second in thought before nodding. I couldn't remember if I had already given her a cover story or not but what I said seemed to check out, or she couldn't remember what I had said origionally.
Seeing as a few members of the squad were looking at me to continue I added, "It rained there pretty much every second day, and usually for multiple days."
I nearly jumped out of my skin when a voice from my other side said, "Sounds like a shitty place you lived in."
When I whipped my head around I saw that somehow Farina, well still riding her Pegasus, had managed to somehow sneak up on me.
"Gods I've gone deaf and blind," I muttered, the pounding sound of the rain on my armour was my excuse for how I missed the girl but still.
"It's that helmet you wear," Farina said as she prodded my helmet with the butt end of her spear, "I'll never get how people can see out of those things."
"I'd rather have problems seeing then take an arrow to the head."
"You have to deal with the arrows because you can't see them till they hit you with that helmet on."
"Ya Hanz, the rest of us would just dodge the arrow," Edward said as he poked me in the back with the hilt of his sword.
"Why is everyone poking me," I said as I batted his sword away, only to get poked by Amelia for no reason other than for fun.
"Because you're the one who managed to get snuck up on by a pegasus," The blond haired recruit said.
"Well atleast I didn't get drunk by the end of my first drink," I shot back.
"I did not!" Both Amelia and Edward shouted in response, which earned me two significantly harder pokes in the back and the side.
"One drink, man your team is full of lightweights there Helmet," Farina said and poked me again.
"Gah, stop with the poking."
"Fine," the three said simultaneously as we settled back into the march, or atleast that's what I hoped would happen, instead Farina decided to continue the conversation.
"So Helmet, you were talking about where you lived?"
I sighed and shifted my spear to my other shoulder, it wasn't like it was heavy but it was good to keep moving in this rain.
"Not much to say about it, I lived on the rainy side of a mountain range. There were a lot of trees though, most of them bigger than the ones that grew around here. Magic was also next to non-existent and actual casters were few and far between, I've seen more mages since I joined the army then I had ever seen back at home."
"I'm with Farina," Edward said, "Sounds like a boring place to live. What did you even do to kill the time if it was raining so much?"
"Sit and read," I replied automatically.
"You can read?" Amelia, Edward, Aran and even Nephenee said.
I had forgotten that it was still the medieval ages here, and it was unlikely that the printing press had been made. I guessed that having to learn to read was part of being a royal guard, Leonardo used to be the son of a noble and I had no idea why Koel could read, odds are it might have been useful in whatever he used to do.
"Ya, almost everyone where I came from can read, they can write too."
"Well atleast there is something that makes up for all that rain right?" Amelia asked.
"Hey, there were a few other things too, not sure if you guys would understand most of them though 'cause I haven't seen anything like them around here."
Then Gilliam slipped back to the front of our formation and cut off further conversation, "Listen up recruits, news of the war between Plegia and Ylisse was sent ahead and we are now going to be linking up with the main army well the Shepherds and the Exalt head on to the capital. Seems that the Plegian army crossed over the border earlier today as well so we likely won't be seeing much respite for a while."
"Well looks like that's my cue to return to my sisters, go get show those Plegian's why they shouldn't have started this shit," Farina said and then poked me with her spear again, "and don't try blocking arrows with your helmet like an idiot you hear?"
Before I got a chance to complain or respond Farina's pegasus took to the air and headed for the front of the column. By the time I had to look back down to keep the rain out of my eyes I realized what Gilliam had just said.
'This is where we get fucked isn't it,' I muttered to myself.
Apparently I underestimated just how terrible our situation was. I already knew we were pretty much going to lose at this point, and when I saw the state of our army I realized just how doomed we were. The 'army' wasn't even that large, maybe a few hundred soldiers at its largest. Almost all of us were armed with lances, there were a few swords, and even rarer bowmen, but mostly we were all equipped identically. If Plegia wasn't full of axe wielders I might have been happy to see all those spear tips shining in the morning light, but as it was it just made me notice our weakness even more. The only thing I could really say in our advantage was that most of our troops were apparently fairly well trained, if our marching order was anything to go by.
When we had been marching to war that professionalism had boosted our spirits somewhat, though the rain wasn't helping at all and the tension in the air was still palpable. If we were lucky we would have maybe two days before we encountered the forward elements of the Plegian army, and the shortest estimate still put the encounter at tommorow.
So when we ran into an army less than an hour later confusion spread throughout the ranks. No one knew how the Plegians had gotten here so fast, but at the same time something was off about the army infront of us. They didn't move an inch at our presence, just standing there in the rain and staring off into space. Even when we sent scouts to within bow distance of the enemy army there was no reaction, and I can only assume our leaders figured out why. If they did they didn't tell us, though I had my guess.
With the enemy army appearing to be unresponsive to our actions, our leaders took the time to figure out what we were going to do. The ranks on the other hand took the time to talk amongst themselves.
"H-How can they be so still?" Edward said as he looked on with disbelief.
"I don't know." I said. I had a slight inkling of what we were in for but I had never fought the undead before so I couldn't say I actually knew.
Beside me Amelia tightened her grip on her spear and bit her lip. I could feel the nervousness radiating from her, and as much as I would have liked to say I didn't feel nervous that would have been a lie. Still though I put on what I hoped was a stoic smile and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.
When her head whipped around to face me I said, "Don't worry, everything is going to turn out alright."
"Aren't you scared?" Amelia asked.
"Of course I am, but Fate guides us. I'm sure it will see us through."
Further conversation was cut off when orders started being shouted across the army. It looked like our commanders had decided to engage the army head on. I cringed at the thought, it meant this was likely to turn into a, as my friends in the SCA called it, 'roman era conga line of death' just waiting for the man infront of you to die so you could take his place in the meat grinder. Atleast our unit, being mainly recruits, was in the rear of the army.
As our force lurched into motion I had to admit we still stayed professional, even as we closed on the unnaturally still army. Everyone still marched in formation and no one's step wavered. That made what came next even worse.
The front line of the army infront of us still didn't move as we stepped into arrow range, but it masked the true deadliness of the situation. With the sound hundreds of snapping strings the skies darkened with arrows.
"Shields up!" Gilliam shouted at us, and everyone complied who could, Koel ducking behind the heavily armoured knight.
The only thing that saved us was how far back from the front line we were. The arrows tore through armour like it was a wet paper bag and our soldiers dropped in the multitudes. By the time most of us had recovered from the shock of the opening attack the enemy ranks parted, and horsemen straight out of a nightmare rode forth. Six eyed helms, the slits glowing red like the pits of hell, sat atop bodies covered in black iron, and had I not been terrified out of my mind I might have said "Well that confirms it."
Everyone took a step back as the horsemen bore down on us, and you could feel how shaken everyone was. Probably the only reason the army didn't break and run was a booming shout from Gilliam, which carried over much of the remaining army and shouts of the wounded, "Form ranks!"
The other officers quickly repeated the order and in moments what remained of the Ylisse army was in fighting shape once again, and we ended up only a few rows from the front. A hedge of spears met the cavaliers, the enemy horses not even making a sound as they ran straight through the weapons and collapsing into our ranks.
It was one of these dehorsed cavaliers that showed us what we were actually fighting. The rider's helmet had been smashed apart during the fall and when it screeched up at us we saw a skull with rotting flesh clinging to it. I actually caught onto it first, and shouted, "Risen! Aim for the head!"
The rest of the army caught on only a few moments later, at about the same moment I stabbed the Risen cavalier in the head with my sword. To be honest I was fairly sure you could kill them normally but all the zombie movies firmly ingrained 'aim for the head' into my mind. The creature let off a wail before it turned to dust which floated away in the wind. With the army at our side we were actually making good work of the Risen cavaliers, but they were also breaking our formation just with their dead horses.
With the horsemen failing, the rest of the Risen army moved forward, another round of arrows preceding them. This time though we were ready for the arrows, and we managed to stop most of them with interwoven shields. I wished that mine had done a better job though, when the arrows fell I felt the heavy jolt at the same moment as a piercing pain shot through my arm.
"Christ what the fuck was that," I said through gritted teeth as I looked up and saw that one of those arrows had gone through the shield and embedded itself in my arm. A morbid thought of, 'Well now I won't lose my shield' passed through my head moments before more pain overwhelmed it.
In the time it took me to bring myself back to the reality the main body of the Risen army was almost halfway toward us, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that we were massively outnumbered. From the rear of the army a voice shouted, "Withdraw, keep order and withdraw."
Apparently whoever had shouted was one of the ranking officers in our army, as the order echoed through the ranks and we began to fall back. The troops at the back fell back first, turning and pulling out as the rest of us stepped back slowly, trying to keep as much space between us and the Risen as we could.
Another storm of arrows passed overhead and each jolt on my shield sent pain through my injured arm. By the time the last arrows were digging themselves into the dirt around us it was our turn to fall back.
"Everyone fall back, double time," Gilliam said, the rest us were rather eager to follow the order, none of us wanting to be the last people on the field with the mass of Risen. We turned on our heels and jogged for the relative safety of the forest line, sparing only a glance back to the poor souls who would have to hold the line lone enough for the rest of us to get away.
Around an hour later we were on the march toward a rally point that a soldier from the first group to leave had pointed us toward. Gilliam and Aron having took up the lead, while Amelia and Edward had fallen behind, the fatigue of the day having caught up to them. The arrow that had bolted my arm to my shield had been removed shortly after that, which I was quite thankful for, though the process of pushing the arrow through to avoid the barbs was one of the least pleasant experiences I had had. Conversation though was non-existant, none of us wanting to draw the attention of possibly roaming Risen, though that proved futile as the sounds of a galloping hooves could be heard echoing through the woods, and closing in on our position.
Gilliam was the first to react to the noise and shouted with a hoarse voice, "Everyone form up. We aren't out of this yet."
Despite the fatigue we were feeling from the battle and the march we followed his orders. We all knew what was at stake if we let our tiredness slow us down. We didn't have enough time though, one of the Risen cavaliers bursting through the undergrowth around us, sword at the ready. The undead horseman went after those of us that were farther away, which meant Amelia and Edward.
As the undead closed on the pair an arrow from Leonardo embedded itself in the cavalier's shoulder. It had absolutely no effect on the monster, which slashed at Edward as it passed, leaving a bloody gash along the swordsman's shoulder. A war raged in my mind as I was caught between following Gilliam's orders, which he was now repeating to us at the top of his lungs, or save my fellow squadmates. It didn't last long though and I rushed toward the cut off recruits.
The creature rounded on the pair, aiming for Edward again. The only reason the guy wasn't killed then and there was how short the distance had really been between them and the group. Dropping my lance I managed to barrel the wounded swordsman off his feet, and out of the way of the cavalier's slash. I wasn't so lucky though and a searing pain in my arm informed me that I didn't escape unharmed
The wound wasn't life threatening, but the sword had dug pretty deep and the cut was leaking blood at quite a rapid rate. Tearing my eyes away from the cut I saw the cavalier, which had another arrow jutting out of its torso, turning again and making a run for Amelia. I could only watch as the horseman bore down on the girl, worry tearing at my mind as I tried to push myself up, but just as quickly as it appeared they the emotion fled again.
Amelia stood her ground against the incoming cavalier, her spear at the ready. The fiendish horseman continued its course, unphased by the weapon being leveled at it. I was almost certain the creature would just shrug off the recruits spear but what happened left me speechless. Instead of going for a straight on stab Amelia stepped out of the horseman's range, and using the cutting end of her spear, chopped one of the legs off his demonic mount. Amelia didn't waste any time as the cavalier came crashing to the ground in a heap of armour, spinning her spear around herself she raised it above her head and jammed it through the horseman's skull. The undead monstrosity letting out a wordless howl as it turned to a cloud of black fog, before disappearing entirely.
I let out a little cheer at that, Amelia must have had an ungodly luck stat this time around. Edward, who was lying a few feet away where he had rolled after my bull rush, responded with his own groan of pain. Blood was pooling around the ground as I stood up, painting a worrying amount of my armour red. I barely picked up my spear again before a vulenary was thrust in my face by the blond haired recruit. The feel of the liquid going to work was excruciating, my arm lighting up like it was on fire as the skin re-knit itself. I had to wonder if I would ever get used to that.
It was while I, and Edward, who had his own potion, were still writhing in pain that the second horseman appeared. Amelia whipped around at the sudden noise, how those things had been so stealthy I don't know, and jumped for her spear. She was still mid jump, and the horseman had nearly reached her, when another spear, held by Nephenee hung overhead, causing the undead horse to smash into it and collapse. Before any of the rest of us could react Koel was between us and the falling horse and cavalier, decapitating the falling rider with a blindingly fast swing. The two undead creatures turning to dust moments later.
As a tense silence took hold over the forest Edward and I managed to recover. The only thing I could think as a flexed my previously wounded arm was 'Those vulenaries were amazing.' At the same time though when I tried to walk I felt wobbly and only managed to stay upright because Amelia caught me. I was amazed she was still moving so quick after that run but I wasn't going to complain as she was the only thing that kept me upright. Blood loss had done a number on me and it showed in my red stained uniform and armour. Edward had lost a frightening amount as well, and when Leonardo helped him move the white of Edward's face caused Gilliam to frown.
Said sergeant was doing a significant amount of frowning really, looking at where the undead had disappeared, their weapons still littering the ground. With a growl he said, "Risen, what are they doing in such numbers."
"Risen sir I heard Hans mention say that word as well?" Aran said, his voice still hoarse from the running.
"They only just started appearing a few weeks ago, undead monsters that had been conducting the rare raid. We thought there was maybe a hundred of them in Ylisse, but it seems we were wrong."
"What'r... we gonna... do?" Nephenee huffed between breaths.
"We make our way back to the Capital and help reinforce the guards there." Gilliam said with a note of finality.
Still though that didn't stop one obvious question that came from Koel "Well throwing our lives into a last stand is all well and good, but how are we going to get back? I don't recognized anything."
"We walk till we find a village, and go from there." Gilliam replied, making sure it was the last part of the conversation by turning around and walking away. Not about to abandon our sergeant we fell in behind him.
Still leaning on Amelia I muttered "Doubt there will be a Capital to defend when we get there."
"What was that?" Amelia muttered back.
"I...I am pretty certain the capital... is going to fall before we get back." The blood I lost had really wearing me down.
"I wish I didn't think you were right." Amelia sighed, sadness in her voice.
'Heh, I know I am.' I thought to myself as we moved on.