Setting up for another battle next chapter, and for the Black Eagles to become further entangled into the TWSITD conspiracy.
Chapter 79 – March of the Wounded (Great Tree Moon)
Anna walked close to Byleth as the soldiers of the Church marched their way back toward Garreg Mach Monastery. They had left 1,000 men at the Great Bridge of Myrddin, along with Seteth, Catherine, Shamir, Alois, Leonie, Lorenz, Raphael and Ignatz, to facilitate the crossing of both the Loyalists and the Alliance army, as well as to keep Dimitri from doing anything too rash. The rest were to return to the monastery to bring back their wounded and, hopefully, pick up some new recruits.
Anna could tell Byleth had wanted to stay at the bridge. The redhead shared the greenette's worry over Dimitri. The King of Lions, though devoted to defeating the Empire, was far less rational than the prince they had known before the war started. He was now obsessed with Edelgard's death, and the trust he once had in Byleth was barely there anymore. It felt like all it would take would be a single wrong word to lose him as an ally.
When they had set off from the bridge, Byleth hadn't spoken a word to Dimitri, yet Anna had seen the Archbishop giving Marianne a glance. The redhead knew there had to be something behind it, but she refrained from asking her until they got back to the monastery.
As she led her tired and wounded soldiers, Byleth thought back to the previous evening.
…
The previous night…
Marianne had finished helping as much as she could with the Church's wounded. The attack by the 5th Army and the Black Eagles had cost the Church another 220 casualties, with about 90 dead. Many of them had been inflicted by the Black Eagles, despite the Imperial Elites suffering heavy losses of their own.
As she found a place to sit down, Marianne realized Byleth was heading toward her. Turning to the Archbishop, Marianne said, "Professor Eisner. Is there something I can help you with? It's good to see you after all this time."
"Queen Marianne," Byleth said courteously.
Smiling, Marianne said, "You don't need to be so formal." Byleth smiled at this, so Marianne asked, "Is this about my husband– um, about Dimitri?"
Knowing she had to get to the heart of the matter, Byleth dropped her smile as she said, "Yes, it is." Byleth then sighed and said, "It's about what happened to Lord Rufus."
Marianne's countenance immediately turned gloomy as she said, "Oh. I see."
"If you don't wish to discuss it, I won't force you. But I…"
"You need to know the truth, is that it?"
"…Yes." Byleth took another long pause before she finally asked, "Marianne… did Dimitri kill him? Did he kill his uncle?"
Marianne, remembering the horrible affair with as much clarity as she could muster, answered, "Yes. Yes, he did. I was there when it happened."
"Please, I need you to tell me what happened."
Marianne took a deep breath and said, "It was shortly after the war started at Garreg Mach. I went to Fhirdiad with Dimitri to tend to his wounds from the battle. When he recovered, he wanted to gather the Kingdom's armies and march on Enbarr. But by that point, several of the western lords were already planning to take the Empire's side. Dimitri suspected Lord Rufus was planning to do the same, so he confronted him."
"Is that when he killed him?"
"Yes. Lord Rufus was still Regent, and Dimitri had not officially become king yet. But Dimitri wanted Rufus to step down. He didn't want to kill him."
"Then why did he do it?"
"I… I don't know. It all happened so fast. Lord Rufus was trying to dissuade Dimitri from war against the Empire. Then, all of a sudden… Dimitri just… he just snapped. I don't know how else to describe it. When I looked him in the eye, just before he attacked Lord Rufus… it was as though I was looking at someone else entirely. Dimitri pushed me aside without a word and, before I knew it… he'd already run Lord Rufus through."
Byleth shut her eyes, regretting that she had to ask Marianne to remember something so traumatic. But she had to know the truth of the matter.
"I screamed upon seeing what Dimitri had done, and Cornelia rushed onto the scene. She had her guards arrest him for murder. She then told me Dimitri would be executed for regicide."
"But you didn't let that happen."
"Of course not! It wasn't like him at all! His movements, his gaze, they weren't anything like he usually was. He couldn't even remember what he did. I couldn't let Cornelia execute him. Dedue and Sir Gilbert helped me break him free from the dungeons…"
Taking a moment to process Marianne's words, Byleth said to the queen, "Thank you, Marianne. I'm sorry I had to ask you to remember that day."
As Byleth turned to leave, Marianne said, "Please, Professor. I know what he did was wrong, and I know he's obsessed with killing Edelgard, but he's still a good man inside."
Byleth said nothing to Marianne, only giving her a smile before leaving the queen's presence.
…
Byleth continued to ponder Marianne's testimony as she walked. Despite what she had heard, she still didn't have a clear picture of what happened. She knew Marianne wasn't lying, but her account of the incident left the Archbishop suspecting there was more to what happened.
Unfortunately, the only two people she knew who could give their own testimony on Lord Rufus's death were Dimitri and Cornelia Arnim. Byleth didn't want to ask Dimitri and risk antagonizing him, especially at such a crucial moment in the war.
As for Cornelia, Byleth still knew almost nothing about the woman herself. But something about the duchess's presence bothered her. From how the Archbishop understood the situation, Cornelia had risen to power thanks to Lord Rufus's death. But it still had been Dimitri who had killed the regent, not Cornelia. And as the leader of the Dukedom, Byleth knew she'd never get Cornelia to give her own account of the incident.
But what really puzzled Byleth was something Marianne had told her: Dimitri did not want to kill Rufus before it happened. Yet if that were the case, what prompted him to do it?
Byleth knew there was some piece of the puzzle missing, something Marianne didn't know. Yet with what she knew, Byleth remained at a loss for what that piece could be.
…
Meanwhile…
Ladislava turned around on Fenix's back as she heard the exhausted men of the 5th Army fall to their knees. Several fell flat on their stomachs as fatigue from hours of marching finally caught up to them.
Ladislava knew this would happen eventually. While the Black Eagles were no strangers to long marches, the regular soldiers of the Imperial Army lacked their endurance, even without taking their mounts into consideration. These men, who had spent nearly thirty hours straight without adequate rest, had finally reached their limit.
"Can't… go… any… further…" said one of the exhausted men.
Several other soldiers began making similar pleas to stop their march as Ladislava and Fenix touched down on the ground. Ladislava dismounted as the acting commander of the 5th Army, a captain, stumbled toward her.
"My men need to rest, Commander Ladislava," said the captain. "We can't go any further like this."
"We're still in House Gloucester's territory," said Salia. "We have to reach House Ordelia before the Gloucester army catches up to us."
"Easy for you to say. You Eagles are the ones with mounts, not us."
Salia was about to reply when Ladislava said, "Alright. We'll stop here for now."
"Commander, we're close to one of House Gloucester's hamlets," said Salia. "If they–"
"I know where we are, Salia. But these men have been going non-stop for over a day now, and so have we."
"Yeah, I need a break from all this," Trauare said as she stretched her arms. "And you're getting bags under your eyes again, Sally."
Salia, knowing she wasn't going to convince Ladislava to keep their advance going, sighed and said, "Fine."
Turning to the 5th Army's soldiers, Ladislava said, "We'll set up camp here, but be ready to move at a moment's notice. And no setting up campfires. We don't want to draw attention."
Relieved, the Imperial soldiers began finding places to rest among the trees while others began to pass around rations and water. Others began treating the wounds and blisters of their comrades while the Black Eagles began setting up sentries to watch for any Alliance soldiers.
Sighing loudly after stretching, Trauare said, "If you don't mind, I'm gonna wash myself off."
The bluette water mage then made her way toward the Airmid River, which was only a short distance from the campsite. While it was too treacherous to cross the river from where they were, they could at least get water from it.
Off to the side, Setiawati watched the 5th Army's survivors and said, "Lemah dan lambat…"
"And that's supposed to mean…?" asked Zola as she sat down against a tree.
"That these men are slow and weak. They burden us and make us vulnerable."
"Knock it off, Seti. No need to kick them when they're down."
"Were you not the one who said the weak have no place in the Empire? Do you feel they do? Do you feel they are not weak?"
Taking on a more serious tone, Zola replied, "They might not be as badass as you or me, but these sorry bastards have fought hard. I wouldn't exactly call that 'weak'. And if Ladi wants to get them home, we'll get them home. Gods know they've earned it."
Setiawati said nothing in reply as she decided to take up one of the sentry positions around the camp.
As Setiawati left, Zola was about to lay down and get some rest when she and several of the Black Eagles heard a loud yelp of surprise from Trauare.
Before anyone else could move, Ladislava rushed over to where the water mage had gone.
Reaching the riverbank, Ladislava found Trauare looking in shock at something that had washed up on shore. Ladislava turned and saw that it was the body of a young teenage girl.
Ladislava's heart sank as she recognized Fleche von Bergliez's unmoving form.
"Oh no…" Ladislava said in dismay.
Salia and Zola quickly arrived on the scene. Upon seeing Fleche's body, Salia shut her eyes in remorse while Zola frowned at seeing the familiar cadet's corpse.
"Shit…" hissed Zola.
"What is Fleche doing here?" asked Salia.
"Must've been taken out when the Church took the bridge. Dunno how the hell she ended up this far downstream."
Trauare was at a loss for words as she also shut her eyes remorsefully. The Black Eagles were no strangers to finding the corpses of the young, but the sight of Fleche's familiar face frozen in rigor mortis hit hard for them. Ladislava remembered how Randolph had jokingly recommended her to become a member of the Black Eagles. She never told him that she was actually considering it once she grew up.
Looking again at the body of Randolph's sister, Ladislava then noticed the veins around Fleche's neck. They were bulging despite that her heart had stopped, filled with blackened blood.
Having seen this on other corpses, Ladislava knelt next to Fleche's body and turned her onto her back. She then saw the small chain that had been looped around her neck, leading down under her breastplate.
Ladislava immediately began to unfasten Fleche's armor, to which Salia said, "Commander, what are you–"
Salia stopped as Ladislava removed Fleche's breastplate and looked at the girl's body. There were more blackened veins visible through Fleche's wet tunic, converging in a circle near her heart.
Now knowing what to expect, Ladislava carefully took hold of the chain around Fleche's neck and pulled it off her body. Along with the chain came a cracked, broken stone.
Yet upon seeing the Chimeric Stone, Ladislava knew it couldn't be an ordinary Crest Stone.
"What the hell…?" said Zola.
"That's a Crest Stone," Trauare said in shock. "Why would she have that?"
"How should I know?" answered Ladislava. "Salia, do we have any rune bags?"
"I've got one here," answered Salia as she reached for her belt and produced a small red sack.
Salia held the bag open so Ladislava could carefully drop the Chimeric Stone into it with the pendant's chain. Salia then tied the sack shut, ensuring the stone would not react to their lack of a Crest.
"We need to bring this back to Lord Vestra," said Ladislava. "Maybe he'll be able to make sense of it."
"Why? It's just another damn Crest Stone, right?" asked Zola.
"This one doesn't look like any Stone I've ever seen. If we're going to get any answers about what happened, we have to bring it back to Fort Merceus. Salia, double bag it when you get the chance."
Salia nodded to this, knowing they couldn't be too careful with what they'd found. She turned to head back to camp and find another rune bag.
As Salia left, Ladislava asked, "Either of you want to help me bury her?"
Trauare hesitated to answer, but Zola immediately stepped forward to offer her assistance, prompting the water mage to join her and Ladislava in digging a small grave for Fleche.
As the aces dug the grave, they failed to notice a black-cloaked figure watching them from afar. Myson's eyes narrowed as he watched Salia head back to camp with the Chimeric Stone.
Recovering the Chimeric Stone should have been Odesse's responsibility, but the Thaumaturge was off on another assignment for Thales. Myson had thus been charged with recovering it, as the Agastya did not want it to fall into enemy hands.
Retrieving it from the Imperial elites, however, would be difficult. Myson didn't have enough followers with him to mount an attack on the Black Eagles. Even if they were inferior beasts, there were still too many for him and his sect to handle.
That is, on their own, at least.
The Black Eagles soon finished digging and lowered Fleche's body into the ground. As they did, Myson crept back into the shadows, snickering as he went unnoticed by the Imperials.
The plot thickens?
I wrote this one a bit hastily, so I might update it. Had a TON of snow shoveling to do, among other things.
Marianne's testimony on Dimitri murdering Rufus intentionally has some pieces of the puzzle missing, primarily due to us only hearing Marianne's testimony. Maybe some of you will figure out what they are.
Next episode is going to see a previous tragedy repeating itself. I'll see you then.