More filler that sets up subsequent chapters.
Chapter 106 – Reaching Sanctuary (Harpstring Moon)
The sight of Derdriu filled Anna with relief. The port city was just as she remembered it the last time she had been there: at relative peace and with ships sailing in and out of the harbor. Port cities like Derdriu were a literal lifeline for merchants like her, allowing transit between continents and transporting goods from across the world in the name of trade.
Yet as she and the three armies entered the city, the populace's fear became palpable upon seeing so many of their soldiers returning battered and defeated. Though some came forward to offer their aid to the soldiers, many began whispering to one another over the war being lost and what the Empire would do to them. Some of them whispered about Claude's leadership, thinking he had doomed them all with his failure.
Anna did not envy whoever would be responsible for explaining things to the public. Even for her, it'd be nearly impossible to keep the citizens from panicking.
The army dispersed as they made their way down the main street, whether to hold back the crowds who were now demanding answers, to see their families, or to take the wounded where they could be treated. Several civilians began demanding that Claude tell them what had happened, forcing the soldiers to block the crowd so they could get through to House Riegan's estate.
As the people started jeering and shouting angrily at the leader of House Riegan, Claude wobbled in his step. It was only then that Anna and Byleth realized how pale he was, his face covered in sweat. His weak expression furthered their worry of his condition.
Then, to their shock, Claude collapsed to the ground.
"Claude!" Petra said in surprise as she rushed to his side.
Byleth rushed over as Claude was turned over and Linhardt put a hand to his forehead. Claude's hand was curling over the wound he had received at Gronder.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Byleth.
Linhardt answered, "His wound must have been infected. He's going to need medicine."
As the crowd continued to shout at their ailing leader, some of the citizens broke past the soldiers and tried to rush toward Claude. Raphael, despite his burns, put himself between them and bellowed, "Move it! Make way!"
Intimidated by the Beast of Leicester, the citizens stood aside, allowing the others to carry Claude to the estate of House Riegan.
…
Byleth stood outside of Claude's room, waiting for Linhardt to emerge from within. The others had dispersed to treat the wounded or to keep the citizens from panicking.
As she waited, she turned to the sound of footsteps to see an Almyran man dressed in a white robe and cloak approached the room. Byleth guessed he was somewhere in his forties, maybe early fifties, but the lower half of his face was hidden by a thin scarf, and he wore a turban atop his head. His brown eyes turned to meet her gaze, scrutinizing her closely. He carried a small bag of vials and other ingredients under his arm.
Byleth, unsure of his intentions, moved in front of the man as he said, "مرحبًا. You must be Lady Eisner. Khalid has spoken highly of you. Ah, where are my manners? I am Fahim, one of Khalid's retainers."
"Khalid?" Byleth asked in confusion.
"You know him as Claude. I understand he is quite ill."
"Yes. He was wounded at the Battle of Gronder and we think he may have gotten an infection."
"أفهم. Let me see him. I know my fair share about medicine."
Nodding, Byleth stood aside and let Fahim open the door. Inside, Linhardt was doing his best to heal Claude's sickness while Petra watched, but Byleth knew his magic wouldn't be enough. While white magic was useful against wounds and poison, it wasn't nearly as suited for dealing with illnesses, diseases and infections.
Claude, who had regained consciousness, looked to the door and said, "F-Fahim…"
"كن هادئا يا خالد," said Fahim. "ستكون بخير."
The retainer knelt beside Claude and inspected his wound. He then reached into his pouch and pulled out some herbs, as well as a mortar and pestle. For the next few minutes, Fahim ground the herbs and mixed them with two vials of liquid. Once his concoction was finished, he poured some of the salve on Claude's wound before dressing it with a bandage.
"Administer this to his wound every two hours," Fahim said to Petra as he handed her the medicine. "And be sure to change the bandages each time."
"I have gratitude for – erm, I thank you for your aid," said Petra.
"I need to fetch some more ingredients so I can make something to soothe the pain. I will return soon."
Fahim left the room as Claude lay on his bed, wincing from pain as the salve worked its course. Byleth and Anna, knowing they could do nothing more for him, followed Fahim out of the young duke's chamber.
As they walked with the retainer, Fahim said, "I thank you for bringing Khalid back, Lady Eisner. Rest assured that I will do everything I can to help him recover."
"Khalid?" said Anna. "That's an Almyran name, isn't it?"
"Yes. I've known him since he was an infant. He was born in the capital city of Istakhr, though he is only half Almyran. His mother, Tiana von Riegan, hails from Fódlan."
"Who is his father?" asked Byleth.
"Mirza Zehir ud-Din Muhammad."
Surprised, Anna said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second! You mean to tell me–"
"What is it, Anna?" asked Byleth.
"That's the name of the Almyran Sultan!"
Shocked, Byleth turned to Fahim as he said, "Miss Anna is correct. Khalid is one of the many Amirs of Almyra. He's actually Zehir's favorite."
"An Amir?" asked Byleth.
"It means 'prince' in the Almyran tongue," said Anna.
"If he's Almyran royalty, what is he doing leading the Leicester Alliance?"
"It relates to the rite of succession," said Fahim. "To put it simply, when the Amirs come of age, each one must lead a military campaign. Whoever has the most successful campaign will be chosen as heir to the throne."
"Wait, so Claude's only fighting the Empire to make himself the next Sultan?" asked Anna.
"That is a question that only Khalid can answer. But I would like to think that it is not his sole reason. Khalid has always been ambitious, perhaps more than he should be."
Sighing, Anna said, "Dimitri was right about him, then."
"What do you mean, Anna?" asked Byleth.
"When I last spoke with him, Dimitri claimed Claude was trying to hang back and wait until he and Edelgard destroyed each other. Then Claude would swoop in and pick up the pieces afterward."
Though Byleth wanted to deny such a claim, she saw Anna's point. Claude, for the past five years, had been dithering and stalling for time instead of taking the fight to the Empire. Even if Byleth could see the practicality of it, Claude's neutrality no doubt allowed the war to continue when his involvement could have ended the fighting sooner.
With what she had learned, it made her question just what kind of man Claude von Riegan had become in her absence. Had he changed and she just hadn't seen it? Or was this the man he really was?
And what of his plan? Was it wrong for him to wait for an opportunity before striking? Was it wrong for him to stay out of the fighting for so long? Or should he have committed to the fight sooner?
These questions stirred Byleth's thoughts long after the discussion with Fahim had ended.
…
Annette sat alone at a table as she sifted through Gilbert's letters. Several letters now had tear stains upon them, and with each letter she read, the pain in her heart continued to torment her. Her tears had already dried up, but she still had trouble believing her father was dead.
"There you are, Annie," said Cia as she walked up to the petite mage.
"Oh, Cia," Annette said as she set down the letter she had been reading.
"How are you holding up?"
Annette didn't answer this question as Cia sat down beside her.
"Look, Annie, I'm not gonna tell you not to grieve for your father. If you need a shoulder to cry on…"
"Thanks, Cia, but I'll be alright. It's just… hard to believe he's gone."
"I know the feeling."
"Does it get any easier? The pain of losing family?"
Cia paused and answered, "Not really. I still miss Daddy so much. Him and Mom and Uncle Volg."
"Hey, Cia? Thanks for telling me to make things up with Father. If you hadn't told me to, I might've missed my chance to tell him I was sorry."
"Don't mention it."
Sighing, Annette then said, "I just don't know how I'm going to break it to Mother."
"If you need any help with it, just say the word. I'll do what I can."
"Thanks, Cia."
…
Meanwhile, at Garreg Mach Monastery…
Ferdinand had been caught by surprise when Yuri, Constance, and the others with them had marched into Garreg Mach earlier that day. He now sat in the war room alongside Ashe, Alicia, Yuri, Constance, and Brigitte, having heard their account of the disaster at Gronder Field. Bernadetta, meanwhile, had been brought back to her room so she could recover.
Taking a moment to contemplate everything they'd told him, Ferdinand said, "This bodes ill for Fódlan's future."
"Any idea where Lady Eisner and the others are?" asked Yuri.
"Just this morning, I received a message from them." Ferdinand brought out a letter and said, "They are making for Derdriu."
"Derdriu? Why not here?" asked Alicia.
"How should I know, Alicia?" said Brigitte. "After that Hymn Dorothea used, everything went to shit."
"Must you use such vulgar nomenclature, Madame Stark?" said Constance. "Though I will concur that Dorothea's Hymn… worsened the outcome of the battle. Yet her Hymn was not the only one to cause such wanton devastation at Gronder."
"It's hard to believe Cornelia Arnim could pull off a feat of magic like that," said Ashe. "I knew she was a powerful mage, but I had no idea she knew how to use Hymnos magic."
"Yeah, that was a real shocker for us," said Yuri. "Claude lost about a quarter of his army in the blink of an eye. And that's before we get into what Dorothea's Hymn did."
"I saw the rain of fire from here," said Ferdinand. "That was Dorothea's doing?"
"Yeah. We lost a lot of good people to that meteor shower. I don't wanna sound all gloom and doom here, but she might've cost us the war with that Hymn."
The others were silent for a moment. They all knew Dorothea well, and that she never would have used the Hymn if she knew what it would do. But the reality of the situation was that her spell had devastated their armies and given the Empire the upper hand.
"It will not do us any good to lay blame on her for what happened," said Ferdinand. "In any event, I am glad to see you all made it here safely. I will need to send a reply to Derdriu to let Lady Eisner and the others know you are here."
"You do that. In the meantime, we may have to get the monastery ready to be evacuated. If the Empire heads this way, there's no way we'll be able to hold this place against their numbers."
"I hope the others are okay," said Alicia. "We haven't heard from them since we got that letter."
"I'm worried too," said Ashe, "but we need to focus on helping those who made it back here. We're going to have our hands full."
"I know, Ashe. It's just…" Alicia sighed and said, "I wish I could do something, anything, to help them."
"Well, you could always do something for us, Alicia," said Brigitte. When Alicia looked at her inquisitively, Brigitte said, "I'm starving."
"O-Oh! Right! You must all be famished. I'll go bake you some bread."
As Alicia left for the dining hall, Yuri said, "Back on topic, people. Ferdinand, I think it'd be best if you put the guards on high alert for now."
"For the Imperials?"
"More than that. We ran into some old enemies of mine in the mountains: the Black Scorpions. They're probably gonna want some payback after our run-in with them."
"I understand. I will inform the guards to keep watch for them."
…
Deep within the dungeon, two guards scowled as they heard the rattling of metal bars once again. The purple-haired mercenary in the cell was doing all she could to annoy them.
"Hey, keep it down in there!" one of the guards shouted at Shez.
"How's about you come and make me, asshats?" Shez replied.
This was the final straw for the guards, who angrily marched down to subdue their prisoner. One of them raised his lance toward Shez, forcing her back while the other opened the cell and threw open the door. Both then advanced into the cell, intending to beat Shez into submission.
One of them was about to say something when Shez, with a speed that caught them completely by surprise, punched the first guard in his jaw, breaking it before slamming her elbow into the second guard's nose. Before the second guard could even cry out in pain, she grabbed both of their heads and smashed them together. The two dropped to the ground unconscious.
"Nighty night," Shez said with a smirk as she took the guard's key ring and exited the cell, locking the door behind her and leaving the guards trapped.
Shez didn't want to admit it, but her plan hadn't been a very elegant one and could've gone horribly wrong had she not been lucky or fast enough. Then again, coming up with a good plan wasn't her forte. So far, this style had worked out for her most of the time.
After finding her weapons, which had been kept conveniently nearby, Shez crept her way through the dungeons, hoping she could find her way out in the underground maze.
It didn't take long before she realized she was completely lost. Again.
Sorry about the delay again. I've really been dropping the ball, haven't I?
Fahim roughly translates to "sagacious" in Arabic, but I'm just using online translations, so what do I know? To get an idea of what he looks like, think of Minwu from Final Fantasy II. I was originally gonna use that name, but I decided against doing another character rip from another game.
As for Claude's father, Zehir, his name is just one vowel off from the man who founded the Mughal Empire, Mirza Zahīr ud-Din Muhammad, also known as Babur. Babur was descended from both Timur (also known as Tamerlane) and Genghis Khan. Hopefully I'm not offending anyone by using this name.
As for my use of Arabic, I need to ask something: is putting the Arabic text in bold and italics appropriate? To me it looks like some of the letters/characters change when you italicize them. I'm still using online translations, so please forgive any grammatical errors I make with it.
Finally, the city of Istakhr, which I've chosen to be the Almyran capital, is the name of a city from the Sasanain Empire in what is now Iran, and was the birthplace of the Sasanian dynasty. The city's been lost to history, though. Seeing as Almyra takes some inspiration from ancient Persia, I felt the name would fit.
Anyhow, Shez is gonna get a little bit of spotlight in the next chapter, and we'll also be getting a little action in as well. See you then.