Time for another fierce battle.
Chapter 43 – Predators and Prey (Lone Moon)
Ashe turned to Alicia as he said, "I don't know how to thank you for all this, Alicia."
Alicia smiled back at Ashe and looked to the 400 people they were leading away from Castle Gaspard. Soldiers and refugees of varying age and gender walked slowly through the snow of Magdred Way, carrying only their essentials, with three horse-drawn carts carrying most of their supplies. They were cold and miserable, but at least they were alive.
Alicia was relieved that the citizens of Castle Gaspard had chosen to go along with them. Telling them to abandon their homes was a lot to ask, but Alicia knew they wouldn't survive if they didn't find safety somewhere else. Thankfully, Ashe had been able to convince them to seek refuge at Garreg Mach Monastery.
"Your people didn't deserve to suffer because of the battle in Ailell, Ashe," said Alicia.
"And Yuri," said Ashe, "I owe you."
"Save the favors for when we get back to the monastery," said Yuri. Then, turning to his men, Yuri added, "Keep your eyes peeled, people. The last thing we need is for a Dukedom patrol to find us out here."
The procession continued through the snow, with several refugees complaining about being tired or hungry. Yet they pressed on, knowing they couldn't afford to stop based on discomfort alone.
But then, to Yuri's dismay, he heard a loud cracking sound from one of the wagons. He spun around just as one of the wheels of the second cart broke off, causing it to topple over as nearby civilians backed off in surprise.
"Oh, great…" Yuri groaned as he saw the damage. The wagon had broken an axle.
"I told you to watch the road, Merrick!" said one of the refugees.
"I was!" said the wagon driver. "And I told you we were putting on too much weight!"
Before an argument could break out, Alicia rushed over and said, "Okay, settle down, everyone! Let's just fix this wagon and keep going! Do we have a spare axle?"
"Yeah, we've got another one," said a third refugee. "But we need to lose some weight, or we'll just break it again."
"We should just leave it behind," said a fourth refugee. "It'll only slow us down."
Several other refugees protested this idea, prompting Alicia to say, "We're not gonna leave it behind! We just need to fix it! Yuri, help me get this stuff off the wagon so we can repair it."
Yuri was about to come help when a loud, distant howl silenced the crowd.
Ashe, dreading what he would see, turned to the source of the howl.
"WOLVES!" shouted one of the Gaspard Knights.
To their dismay, a pack of no less than twenty Dire Wolves came out of a nearby forest, each larger than a horse, and saw the crowd of refugees. The pack leader, an enormous white wolf, howled again, signaling for the pack to strike.
…
The trek toward Castle Gaspard took longer than Byleth wanted. The 500-man force she led was trying to avoid any unnecessary conflict with the roving packs of Dire Wolves near Magdred Way. Due to the Church falling from power when the war started, the wolves were able to breed and drastically increase in number without the Knights of Seiros hunting them regularly. Every few miles, they were met by another pack of no less than five wolves apiece, with some wolves being twice as big as a horse. And each time they ran into a pack, they would need to detour around them. Byleth didn't want to lose anyone chasing after Yuri and Alicia.
Brigitte, on the other hand, was constantly urging the others on to catch up to Yuri and his rogues. Byleth knew it was due to her worry over Alicia. The greenette trusted Yuri, but she also understood the opera matron's concern that Alicia could be put in harm's way. And Yuri had a track record of making mistakes that proved fatal to others, as much as Byleth didn't want to agree with the notion.
On the second day of their march toward Castle Gaspard, Byleth saw Yuri, Alicia and Ashe through the thin fog of Magdred Way.
And to her horror, she saw the pack of Dire Wolves that had encircled them, along with hundreds of refugees. Men and women of various ages and professions huddled together in panic as the wolves surrounded them, far more than their soldiers could handle. At least thirty soldiers and rogues were already dead. Five Dire Wolves had been slain, with more emerging from the trees.
"Shit, they're in trouble!" Brigitte shouted. "We gotta help them!"
Byleth was about to shout out orders when Brigitte rushed out by herself, readying her war hammer.
"Brigitte, wait!" Dorothea screamed. "Come back!"
Dorothea's scream caught the attention of one of the Dire Wolves, which spun around and saw Brigitte charging alone at her. Seeing lone prey, the wolf snarled and charged at Brigitte, who swung her hammer at the beast. The wolf nimbly dodged her attack and then slammed its front paw into her, sending Brigitte crashing into a nearby tree.
"BRIGITTE!" shrieked Dorothea.
The opera matron scrambled to her feet as the Dire Wolf whirled around to attack her again. Still holding her hammer, Brigitte yelped as she dove away from the wolf's bite, causing to get a mouthful of the tree she had struck. Brigitte then roared as she slammed her hammer into the wolf's snout, wounding it. In retaliation, the wolf chomped down on her hammer, prompting Brigitte to tug at the weapon to try and free it from the wolf's grasp.
At the same moment, Byleth rapidly organized the 500-strong force she had brought along. The Church soldiers split into ten squads, each 45 men apiece, comprising a mixture of infantry, archers, and mages, with each one targeting an individual Dire Wolf. The remaining 50 cavalrymen led by Leonie would intervene if any squads needed assistance. She wanted to send some men to assist Brigitte, but the lives of the refugees came first.
But just before Byleth was about to send her men out, Anna rushed up to her and said, "Hey, By, what's up with that one?"
Anna pointed toward the white Dire Wolf that was leading the pack. The wolf had not moved from its position. It let out another howl, its call summoning more wolves from the dense forest. Then, as two new Dire Wolves joined the attack, it turned toward Byleth and stared right at her and Anna.
"I've heard stories about a White Wolf out in these parts," said Anna. "Never thought I'd see it."
"What stories?" asked Byleth.
"Local legends call it Fenris. Supposedly been around for hundreds of years. Dunno if this is the same one or not, but it's clearly leading this pack."
"We'll worry about it later. We must help Yuri and the others first."
Knowing Byleth was making the right call, Anna rushed to join her squad as Byleth raised the Sword of the Creator.
"Advance!" shouted the Archbishop. "Drive the Wolves away!"
The soldiers of the Church advanced through the snow, shouting and rattling their shields to try and draw the wolves' attention. Some of the Dire Wolves heard this and, snarling at the soldiers, charged toward them. But several remained to keep the refugees surrounded, the men and women shrieking in terror whenever a soldier fell in battle.
Dorothea, leading one of the squads, watched in horror as another Gaspard Knight was engulfed in a Dire Wolf's jaws, its fangs tearing through his neck. Ashe drew an arrow and fired it at the wolf, but it only hit the beast's side, doing little to slow it down. Alicia then flew in on Welkin and tried to stab another Dire Wolf, but the blow was off target and only scratched the wolf's fur coat. Yuri, meanwhile, released a Cutting Gale at another Dire Wolf, the spell tearing through its hide and slashing open its chest, killing it.
Then, as Ashe readied another arrow, Alicia screamed as a Dire Wolf leapt up and knocked her off Welkin, pinning her to the ground under its paw. One of the wolf's claws dug into her left shoulder as she frantically tried to get out from beneath it.
"ALICIA!" Ashe shouted as he fired, hitting the wolf in its mouth, piercing its gums.
But to his dismay, this wasn't enough to stop it as it prepared to bite off Alicia's head.
Just as Alicia screamed, magical energy surrounded her and she vanished, replaced immediately after by Yuri, pinning him under the Dire Wolf's paw.
Alicia, realizing what Yuri had just done, screamed, "YURI, NO!"
Yuri, yelling defiantly, swung his blade at the wolf, his strike empowered by a wind magic Spellblade enchantment. The wind strike slashed through the Dire Wolf's skull, eviscerating its mouth and esophagus. The Dire Wolf, now dead, collapsed on top of Yuri, who let out a loud groan of pain at so much weight coming down on top of him. The enchantment upon his blade dispersed as he lay trapped under several hundred pounds of wolf carcass.
"Hey, a little help here?" Yuri said painfully.
His call was met by another snarl, and he looked to his right in dismay at another Dire Wolf looking to avenge the one he had just killed. Yuri glanced around and, to his alarm, saw everyone else had their hands full with the other wolves. And even if he wanted to swap positions with someone else again, the Fetters of Dromi had not recharged yet.
Gritting his teeth, Yuri held his blade out toward the approaching Dire Wolf, certain that this would be the end of him.
A loud shout from Brigitte was followed by her war hammer soaring through the air and smashing into the Dire Wolf's skull, knocking it down and dazing it. Yuri turned to see Brigitte run up to him, clearly furious with him.
"The shit I go through for you, Yuri…!" Brigitte snarled as she tried to lift the dead Dire Wolf off the lavender rogue.
"W-Well, I'm sure Jules would–" Yuri stopped as he saw Brigitte's face contort in anger and said, "Nevermind. Thanks for the help."
Brigitte lifted the Dire Wolf's leg off Yuri, allowing him to slip out from beneath it. As he got to his feet, Brigitte said, "Remind me to kick your ass when this is over with!"
…
Caspar roared as he slammed his axe into the head of another Dire Wolf, splitting its skull in two after his men had wounded its legs. Meanwhile, Bernadetta sighed in relief after sending two arrows into another Dire Wolf's head, finishing it off. Her relief was short-lived when another Dire Wolf charged at her squad. Just as she screamed, the Dire Wolf was killed by a hail of arrows from Shamir and her archers. Petra and Felix struck down a fourth Dire Wolf with their blades, while a fifth yelped its last when Catherine slashed through it with Thunderbrand.
But to Byleth's dismay, the flow of wolves wasn't slowing down. The White Wolf was still releasing its howls, calling more of its kin to the fray. The Archbishop started to wonder if the flow of wolves would ever stop. She hadn't yet been forced to use the Divine Pulse, but there were several close calls already, and casualties were starting to mount.
Looking back at the White Wolf, the creature let out another howl. Just as she expected, two more Dire Wolves appeared from the forest.
"Dammit, how many of these things can there be?!" Anna hissed.
"We can't win like this," said Byleth. "They'll just keep coming. Shamir, Catherine, keep any new ones busy! We need to get these people out of here!"
Without responding, Catherine and Shamir led their 80 men to intercept the newly arrived Dire Wolves.
"Leonie, cut open a path for those people to the south road!"
"On it!" Leonie shouted as she led her cavalry to attack some of the wolves to the south of the refugee's circle.
Upon hearing Byleth's order, Dorothea considered singing the Song of Swiftness for the refugees, thinking they could use the boost in speed to escape from the Dire Wolves. However, after a second of consideration, she decided against it. She knew she wouldn't be able to affect so many at once, nor for nearly long enough. In addition, the aftereffect of the song would exhaust the refugees, leaving them easy prey if they didn't put enough distance between themselves and the wolves.
For now, all Dorothea could rely on were her Anima spells. Trying to get up close to the Dire Wolves to use Joyeuse would be suicide.
Dorothea readied a Thoron spell and fired it at another Dire Wolf, shocking it and giving Bernadetta the opportunity to shoot it in the eye. At the same moment, Leonie fired an arrow into another Dire Wolf's neck, along with several more arrows from her other cavalrymen, slaying the wolf.
As Caspar buried his axe in another Dire Wolf, Leonie shouted to the refugees, "Head for the south road! Go! We'll keep them busy! Leave the wagons! Move it!"
Despite their reluctance to leave their valuables behind, the refugees of Castle Gaspard hurriedly ran southward, trying to get away from the pack of Dire Wolves.
But as they did, the White Wolf glared at the civilians and let out a fell snarl.
To Byleth's alarm, the remaining Dire Wolves stopped fighting the Church soldiers and Gaspard Knights and charged right at the fleeing refugees.
"What the– stop them!" shouted one of Yuri's rogues.
Leonie spun around and fired an arrow at an approaching wolf, hitting it in the eye and sending it tumbling into the snow. Caspar, his axe still buried in another wolf's hide, swung around and punched another in its snout, stunning it and giving Felix a chance to slash through its torso. Petra and Bernadetta then fired arrows into another wolf's leg, crippling it.
But as one wolf broke through and charged at the refugees, Alicia darted toward it on Welkin's back and shouted, "Get away from them!"
The Dire Wolf turned as Alicia thrust her lance into its face, narrowly missing its left eye and piercing into its cheek. Furious, the wolf thrashed, making Alicia lose her grip on her lance and fall again from Welkin's saddle into the snow.
Alicia scrambled to her feet, but before she could fully recover, the Dire Wolf was upon her, swinging its massive claws at the Pegasus Knight.
"LOOK OUT!" shouted Ashe as he tackled her.
But while Alicia was knocked away from the blow, Ashe took the full brunt of it, sending him tumbling across the ground in a bloody, broken heap.
"ASHE, NOO!"
Don't you just hate a cliffhanger? Sorry, but I have chapter word limits to think about.
Does this feel too simplistic for a Paralogue? I've been trying for a while to think of one that would fit for Alicia, as I have another one in the future planned for Brigitte, and don't yet have one planned for the twins. If this one is too simple, maybe someone could suggest to me a scenario for an Alicia-centric Paralogue.
I'm also sorry if you expected a scene at Castle Gaspard, but I felt like that would drag things out too long. I'd like to get through this bit of action so we can shift gears to the other factions, particularly the Black Eagles.
EDIT: On another note, I know that in-game Byleth should have no trouble with beasts (and even less with non-Demonic ones), but I feel that if the same were true in my story, it would kill a lot of the tension. I know it may diminish how deadly Byleth can be, but it's a decision I'm sticking with. Besides, I feel like giving Byleth her canonical "stronger than an entire army" power would make her seem like a Mary Sue. As for how the Knights of Seiros are struggling against them, that's also needed to make their struggles more impactful. I know in-game they shouldn't struggle so much against them, but if they could curb-stomp everything, it'd feel lame.
Finally, I know some people may want me to call the white wolf Fenrir, but that's already a spell name used in one of the early FE titles. Fenris is close enough.