"I count twenty-five." Yuri said as he looked out at the rapidly approaching squadron. "This isn't going to be easy…"
Hubert cursed under his breath, before snapping at the man at the wheel. "Turn around! We need to return to shore so we have room to outmaneuver them!"
"I-it can't be done." The man stammered. "We're more than half an hour out from the desert! They're already catching up to us!"
"Alright, simmer down, all of you!" Jeralt shouted. "Anyone who can't fight needs to go below deck, now! Everyone else, get ready to fight! Rhea, you need—"
"I can fight." She stammered, gripping the railings. "I can—" She was already stumbling.
"Ferdinand, carry Seteth and Byleth down below, and make sure Rhea's with them, then get back topside!" Jeralt snapped as he readied his horse. "Dorothea, Hubert, stay behind Edelgard and me. Yuri, you're on support, keep everyone on their toes!"
The group all obeyed the seasoned veteran, and quickly formed into what passed for a defensive formation. The imperial patrol was closing in quickly, with the Pegasus Knights charging ahead first. They looked to number ten in total.
Ferdinand emerged from the ship just in time to meet the descending pegasus knights. A flurry of movement fell onto the ship as the riders hurled spears and axes down at the group. Ferdinand and Jeralt did what they could to keep their horses out of harm's way, while Yuri easily slipped past any of the weapons, and Edelgard did her best to guard with a shield. Dorothea and Hubert tried to respond with magical attacks, but the pegasi moved too swiftly to be caught. Dorothea swore as she bit her lip, aiming for where she was hoping the closest pegasus would be in the next second, but her attack was interrupted at the last moment by Yuri, who pulled her out of the way of an incoming arrow. One—no, two of the Pegasus riders had brought bows.
Things continued like this for the next several minutes. The group was lucky enough to slay two of the ten pegasus riders, their bodies plummeting down into the waves, but the assault was not letting up. These riders knew how to keep their distance, and they were slowly scratching away at the weakest links. They circled like sharks, waiting for any opportunity, before striking with terrible speed. No one was dead yet, but that wasn't what was most concerning.
"Those ones in the distance!" Edelgard called out. "They're all still there?"
"Sure are—" Jeralt was the one to respond as he narrowly steered his horse out of a diving rider.
"And that—" Edelgard threw herself in front of Hubert, blocking a stray arrow. "—Orange glow, the one with their leader—" Another arrow. "—That can only be…"
"A Hero's Relic." Hubert confirmed. "When they choose to strike, I fear the worst."
"Why? Surely it would be better than slowly being picked to death. We've fought wyvern riders before!"
"Not that, Lady Edelgard." Hubert ducked out from under her shield to force a spear aimed at Ferdinand's head off course. "The weapon's power means he won't even need to fight us. He can use it to pierce the hull, and sink us all without difficulty." He bit his lip, and stared out across the water to where the remaining riders were circling. The Relic could be seen twirling in the rider's hand, even at a distance.
It was a grim certainty, and now that Hubert had raised the specter of their deaths floating over the waters not fifty meters away, the pressure began to mount. When would the rider make his move? Would Dorothea and Hubert be able to stop his advance in time? If they began to sink, would Rhea be able to transform and bring them to the safety of Sreng? Would she be able to survive in her weakened state against such a weapon?
And most importantly, what exactly was the main host waiting for?
Norma gripped the Lance of Ruin lazily. Whoever was on the boat knew how to put up a fight, because from the look of things, they had yet to lose a man in ten minutes. In fact, they'd even managed to take out one or two of her own soldiers.
"Ma'am!" One of the guys on a wyvern shouted at her. "Shouldn't we—"
"Aw, shuddup. I'm thinkin'." Here she thought this mission would be an easy little raid. Now it seemed like she would have to put in actual work.
The scavengers at Derdriu had turned over some interesting information during their routine patrols. A bunch of travelers, totally unknown to all imperial records, sailing out of a dead port? Obviously smugglers, spies, or some other form of ne'er-do-wells. And apparently, these bandits were clever enough to pay off the right people, who in turn kept everyone else's mouth shut. Of course there was always someone willing to double dip…
But that wasn't important. Norma had found another feather to put in her cap and prove she was still worthy of the Lance of Ruin. The heading the blabbermouth had given was also correct. Aside from some babble about seeing the empire's most wanted amongst their ranks, everything was going splendidly.
The ten Pesgusi she had sent out should have been more than enough to completely overwhelm the band of scalawags, but they stubbornly held on. And more importantly, Norma was starting to make out a few features, even at this distance and barely a candle's worth of light.
Two mages, one wielding dark magic and the other a mix of fire and lightning. Another man, with what looked like long orange hair using a lance. It was too good to be true. The most infamous former members of the empire, right in her grasp. And if Norma really wanted to delude herself, she had seen a long mop of green hair duck under the decks just before the fighting started.
This was it. The jackpot. Nora had thought she had made it when she learned she had a Crest. When she had made general in the army. When she had been given the Lance of Ruin. But the bounties on these four heads would dwarf all of that. She'd be more than a hero, she'd be a goddess-damned legend. Maybe if Arundel or the Prime Minister appointed heirs, she'd be able to…
Her Wyvern hissed. He was getting impatient. "Easy boy." Norma murmured as she scratched his jaw. "We've come this far. Can't throw it all away now."
She could just end this now. Use the Lance's power to rip apart the ship's hull, and watch as they all drowned. It would be easy pickings, and they could definitely keep the Vestra boy from teleporting away in the panic. It was simple, efficient, and wouldn't cost her a man.
…But if she did scuttle the boat, the four bodies might sink down with it. And if she lost even one, her glory would diminish exponentially. Norma had played enough games of chance to know that going all in was the house's signal to rip the carpet from under youl. Sure, she could claim that she'd been the one to do the dead, that Ferdinand von Aegir had been floating around in the middle of damn nowhere with his two pals and the long-lost archbishop. And if they never showed up again, someone might even believe her.
No, it was too risky. Norma would have to kill them all herself. Granted, her lance's power would make that simple, but the three didn't get their obscene bounties by being easy to kill. Cocky thinking had gotten the last three wielders of the Lance killed, and Norma didn't get this far in life by repeating other people's mistakes. A long, obnoxious siege of the boat was the correct course. Persistent enough to keep the Vestra boy from teleporting away and bringing back more friends, or evacuating the whole ship one by one.
Then of course there were the jackals at her side. They weren't bright, and followed orders well enough, but if they figured out just what she had stumbled into, they very easily could see Norma as an obstacle to riches and titles. It was best if most of them died heroically.
There was a scream followed by a swift splash. A good enough opportunity to thin the ranks. "You five, form up. Close our net back up, y'hear?" Norma gestured with her lance, and five wyverns rushed in.
Of course, Norma couldn't go overboard with this. This group was the only one dealing out casualties. She would have to be decisive. If the next few minutes didn't go to her liking, Norma was going to dive bomb the ship and take someone's head off. It would be a simple procedure, and if the current rate of attrition continued, in Norma's favor. It had been twenty minutes of non-stop fighting for the seafarers, while her fliers were being reinforced. With another bark, she ordered the first assault to trade out with the other ten mostly rested soldiers. Already, she could see her noose tightening around her meal tickets—
"General!" A cry broke Norma's concentration. It was one of the younger soldiers, who still had that fresh air of inexperience. "Look there, in the east! There's a storm brewing!"
It wasn't totally clear, but now that she was told Norma could feel the wind beginning to sharpen against her skin. The moon and stars were starting to dim as a dark shape started to pass across the sky. It was indeed a storm, and it felt like a bad one. Flying would be impossible in such conditions, which meant that Norma would have to take the boat quickly, in a matter of minutes. The vessel's crew would also have to be spared, and be experienced enough to get the boat back into shallow waters. Wyvern Moon storms were deadly.
Norma let out a string of curses, and her Wyvern barked in agreement. She was going to have to make a decision, and fast. Gamble everything, or nothing…
Edelgard barely managed to throw her shield into an oncoming arrow. Things were getting desperate now, as their enemies were switching out for fresh men while their band was still fighting in the same cramped, enclosed space. Dorothea and Yuri's healing magic was approaching their limit, and potions were in short supply. The fliers refused to surrender the skies, and while the group had been able to pick off a few enemies, everyone was running dangerously low on throwing weapons. To top it all off, it was clear a storm was incoming from the north, and if the empire didn't kill them, it would. They needed something—
There was a loud whistle, and a flurry of wings. In an instant, the empire was retreating, The miracle would come in the form of nothing.
After a moment, it seemed clear that their attackers had retreated for now. Jeralt rushed down to summon the crew in the hopes that they would be able to save them all from the storm.
It had begun to rain by the time the crew had assembled, which from the looks on everyone's faces, was a very bad sign. The captain was already barking orders, turning the ship back to Sreng, and demanding they all help hold the mast steady.
The fight had been nerve wracking, and combined with a day spent digging herself out of sand, Edelgard was beyond exhausted, but so was everyone else. When the winds hit, Edelgard could only hold on for dear life, and finally learn the true meaning of rope-burn.
After twenty minutes of a torrential downpour, their ship managed to crawl back into a small harbor of rocky cliffs. The wind was howling, and it was more than a challenge to furl the mast, but somehow everyone survived. Exhausted and humiliated, the group retreated below deck, desperate to try and get some rest after the string of disasters.
"We can't sleep now." Hubert growled above the violent creaking. "This is when the empire is most likely to strike! We are completely helpless, and—"
"Kid," Jeralt bit out. "Take it from someone with more experience than you'll ever have. No one is going to attack us through this hurricane. They'd be suicidal."
"He's got a point." Yuri countered. "They managed one surprise attack. They might not be able to attack now, but once the storm is over…"
"Just let them kill us and be done with it!" Dorothea snapped as the boat violently rocked against the waves.
Edelgard stared up at the ceiling. She was usually very good at sleeping through screams and shouting, but rest would not take her. What was different?
Their vessel rocked about again, and she decided to sit up and join the hushed argument. It seemed like no one else could sleep, so she might as well join them in commiserating failure.
"Listen, you old fool." Hubert spat. "The entire Imperial army will soon be alerted to our presence. Those scouts saw my face, saw Ferdinand and Dorothea. They will know I can't teleport anywhere so far away from everything else, and send wave after wave of wyverns to comb the seas. If we somehow manage to get through that net, every port we can reach will be armed to the teeth and prepared to kill us all. Our only other option is to walk through Sreng with nothing to trade and perhaps two weeks worth of water for a month-long journey. We are going to have to make very difficult choices—"
Hubert was in that mood. And while it might be the exhaustion talking, he was making a terrifying amount of sense. But this wasn't going to help morale, and when Hubert focused on the negatives, he only focused on the negatives until someone broke his concentration…
"Hubert, why was there a relic in the hands of the empire? I thought the Lance of Ruin was with the Gautier family?" Edelgard asked.
Well, that wasn't exactly a positive, but it broke Hubert from his rhythm. "Ah. Yes. Well…"
"Unfortunately, a number of hero's relics have fallen into enemy hands over the past five years." Ferdinand answered. "Arundel passes them out to a number of soldiers in his ranks. Children of long lost family lines mostly, but there have been…" He grimaced. "Some battles don't leave him so picky."
"Really?" Edelgard quirked her eyebrow. "There are so many minor nobles? Crest inheritance was supposed to be on a sharp decline. How can there be—"
"What Ferdi is too nice to say," Dorothea cut in. "Is that a thousand years of nobles leaves a lot of bastard children."
"They are not always put in a position to know that a quirk of strength or speed is a Crest." Hubert added. "With the current mobilization, the few with such Crests can be quickly found by Arundel's men, and are given promotions and captured Relics that best fit their talents."
"...How many Relics does the empire have?"
"Six and a half, last I heard." Yuri grunted.
Edelgard's brow furrowed as the ship went through another bout of rocking. "Six and a half? How—"
"None of this takes away from our dire straits!" Hubert snapped. "We need to leave as soon as we can. I say we hug the coastline and make a mad dash to Fhirdiad once we run aground in Fraldarius territory. We will need to slip by empire patrols on the coast, but it's not the worst odds."
"What about the crew? Are we leaving them to die? Taking them with us?" Dorothea asked. "That's more mouths to feed, more people we need to keep moving. The last reports said that the coast was quite firmly in enemy hands. That wyvern group is probably going there right now."
"The crew are acceptable losses. They knew what—"
"Absolutely not." Yuri hissed. "These are my people. You don't get to throw them away because you need to save your own life, Hubert von Nothing."
"And what would you suggest? That we brave the Sreng mountains to reach Gautier territory? In our state?"
"We would be easy prey for any band of locals looking for a payday." Jeralt sighed.
"I said it once, you pompous shit. If I—" Edelgard tuned out Yuri's clipped response. It was just pushing the argument back around in a circle. But from what little brainpower she could muster, both parties were correct. There wasn't going to be an easy way out of this, and any conventional method of escape would be stopped by the empire's incoming attacks. Macuil was intent on being as unhelpful as possible, and Rhea and Seteth were likely out of commission for an unreasonably long time. They needed…
"Actually, I have a thought." Edelgard said. "We are backed into a corner. No one in Sreng will help us. Everywhere we try to escape, we are bound to run into waves of imperial patrols on the hunt. What if we use that to our advantage?"
"...What are you thinking?" Jeralt asked.
"Well…" As Edelgard told them all her plot, it sounded even crazier than when it first popped into her head. When she saw people other than Hubert nodding along, she could only assume the lack of sleep and rocking boat was driving everyone mad.
As always, thanks to Dox for beta reading, and Happy Holidays to all!
It always annoyed me that enemies in Three Houses always use the same weapon types even when your units can use any weapon as long as they have the rank. Also, it would have been kind of cool to have generic enemies randomly have Crests to throw a wrench into things.