Chapter 7 Battle in the Lands
After the handful of trials and having to camp in the ravine the group finally made it down. Once safely on the ground and in Liurnia they began to march forwards once more. Nearly there. Nearly safe. Though this was possibly the hardest part. They had to make it past the Cuckoo lines. Sophie once again gets on Torrent, Ava went ahead to scout and Raynor was now in the back. On this last leg of the journey they needed to be ready to fight their way through.
As the company moved along the bank of the lake. Trying their best to move quickly. The wagons rolled along through mud and shallow water. "Stay together!" She hears Haadvar shout "We are almost there don't slip up now!" The general was trying to keep morale up. To keep everyone moving.
The company moves through the muck for a while before they see a knight, his silver and blue armor glowing in the light, the Cuckoo soldier standing right in their way. Sophie draws her sword. "Stand down." She shouts. He doesn't respond. Instead more soldiers began to ride into the pass. Their numbers were increasing exponentially. Sophie looks back. Her own soldiers quickly moved to the front.
General Haadvar rode up to Sophie. "This doesn't look good." He says, sounding a bit antsy about the situation. Knowing exactly what was going to happen now.
. "No it doesn't." Sophie says watching the enemy troops line up. The enemy knights now blocked the way out into the greater part of Liurnia. She looks at her own knights who were now in formation. "Should we fight our way out?" Sophie says.
Haadvar sighs "I don't think we have a choice " He says solemnly
"Alrighty then." She kicks Torrent and the horse charges towards the fray. Her knights followed suit. The Cuckoo responds with their own charge as the two sides clash. Serpent Slayers and Knights of the Cuckoo all around met each other the sound of metal crashing against metal sounding through the ravine. Thunderbolts and glintstone fired in both directions. Sophie was slicing her way through the ranks of the enemy with her lightning katana, the enemy having trouble keeping up with torrent's movements as he jumped through the air, dancing around enemies with spears and lances and trampling those who fell during the battle.
Behind Sophie though her troops were having trouble. She had disrupted the enemy but they were in a bit of disarray themselves. Not only having to protect their front line but the carts in the back as well. The march had also made them tired. The battle evenly matched despite Sophie's strength and the Slayers' relatively higher amount of training because of it.
Raynor who was towards the back was doing his best to use healing spells on the Slayers who had been injured in the chaos. This was a bit more of a resistance than they had hoped. Lyndell must have told the Cuckoo where they had been and how to get there. Looking at the battle once more he could see yellow and blue flashes from Sophie's attacks. She was being put to the test here. Raynor hadn't realized how strong she was until now. Then again she wasn't Elden Lord for nothing.
Suddenly his eyes spot a downed Cuckoo soldier. The man was dead. The battle had begun to push the enemy back, just a bit, enough that it had led to the dead and wounded starting to mingle a bit. Going up to the blue knight. Raynor looks at the body curiously then touches it. The moment he does he sees a vision. At first it was just the battle, the man had been stabbed through the gut by a Slayer but, as Raynor pushed himself. He saw… Lyndell knights in Liurnia. Through the eyes of the dead man he saw them… Going up the side of the ravine.
When he comes back to reality he stands up. "Ambushers! On the cliffs!" He shouts. Causing a commotion among the soldiers in the rear who had been pushing to defend the carts or pushing towards the main fray. As he shouts this lighting pulses from the sides of the ravine. Archers appearing above, Lyndell knights lining the cliffs protecting them. They were trapped with no way out. This had been a trap. A well planned one. The archers aim but, instead of firing at the Slayers the bolts fire and land on the Cuckoo. At first Raynor and the other Slayers watched in confusion. Then in horror he realized what they were doing.
"The Elden Lord needs aid!" He shouts as loudly as he could. Sophie was surrounded by Cuckoo, she had a hard enough time dodging their attacks now the arrows falling like hail around the enemy was adding to the complexity. Sure the arrow barrage would kill many of their allies but, an army triple this size would be worth killing in order to defeat the Elden Lord.
With a ferocity that Raynor had never seen from any knight before the Slayers began to push. To come upon the enemy, shattering shields, tearing through armor. Sophie was doing her best to try to ride out of the enemy ranks but they began to try to box her in heavy knights blocking her path. knights she couldn't just ride over equipped with heavy shields and spears meant to knock her off Torrent if they could. Another volley of arrows came down and Raynor could see the Elden Lord grimace in pain as an arrow hit her in the shoulder and in the leg. Even her best was not enough. Torrent himself had been hit. The spirit on the verge of returning to the ring.
Despite this though the Cuckoo in general began to falter. The allied fire and enemy attack was thinning their ranks. The knights on the edges began to retreat. Raynor charges into the fray himself using his lighting and his sword as best he could. Though as he did he could almost feel the creeping dread. The archers must have been loaded by now. Now they were most likely aiming. Then. Fire.
As the third volley raced towards the Elden lord she finally broke from the Cuckoo and at the last second she charged away from the ravine. Wounded in her arm badly having multiple arrows in her sword arm. Even as she rode away Raynor could tell she was wounded. She needed help.
Though right now he needed to focus. He needed to push. With the Elden Lord moving away the Cuckoo were now retreating and the enemy on the ravine was now aiming at them. If they were going to break away they needed to now. The carts once again moved, moving double time, their horses pulling as hard as they could. The Slayer's own archers began to fire up and try to kill some of the enemies on the cliff but the Lyndell soldiers were a bit too far. They just needed to get out of there and quickly.
Though suddenly there was a pause in the enemy attacks. Ava and her scouts had returned and the Captain was trying her best to break through the enemy lines on the ravine to try to distract and break them up so they couldn't fire on the troops below. With this distraction the medics quickly got who they could and the army began to leave the ravine.
The Slayers moving down the path back towards the divine tower. Sophieherself had run in that direction and the rest of the Slayers were doing their best to follow. The Cuckoo scattered and broken quickly fell to the swords of the Slayers. Ava and her group met up with the main army as the Lyndell knights, not having enough numbers to combat the main force of the Slayers, began a tactical retreat of their own.
"We won right!?" Ava shouts over the commotion at Raynor. He looks at her. She was nursing a gash on her arm.
"Not yet the Elden Lord is wounded! We need to catch up to her!" He shouts back.
"Damnit." Ava swears switching from happy to worried almost immediatly upon hearing the news. Ava now doing her best to keep up with the others. Soon though the group was away from the enemy and at an increased pace they soon saw the divine tower and the best thing Sophie or Raynor had seen in days. The flag of the Carian royal family flew on the sides of the tower.
Sophie groaned. Getting off Torrent. Banished knights swarmed her as she nearly collapsed, her leg, shoulder and as she had escaped her forearm and hand had all been hit, not to mention several other cuts from Cuckoo spears. "Help her!" One of the soldiers shouts as two help lift her off the horse and support her.
"The Elden Lord has returned!" Another man shouts, increasing the commotion exponentially. Before long Sophie was guided into the divine tower and laid on one of the pews inside. A medic comes to her and starts dressing her wounds. Doing his best with both magic and medical tools to remove the arrows and heal the severely injured Elden Lord.
"The hell did you do!" She hears a disapproving voice shout. Nephelie rushes to Sophie's side.
"Hey Nephelie." Sophie says weakly trying to act unphased despite being in great pain. Nephelie looks over her friend, quite horrified. She would always get banged up after a fight but, this was one of the worst conditions Nephelie had seen her in. Arrows sticking out of Sophie like pins in a cusion. What was the real gut punch was Nephelie had been worried the whole time that something like this would happen. She knew exactly what state the Elden Lord would return in.
"Damnit why didn't you stay!?" She shouts letting her frustration out. Sophie just goes quiet looking away. She didn't feel like explaining herself right now.
The medic sighs. "Please Lady Nephelie I need to work on my patient." He says returning to trying to heal the injured Lord.
As he gets to work, a messenger comes in. "Lady Nephilie! Lyndell knights are approaching the tower with a strange flag." Nephilie looks at Sophie. Sophie simply nods, gritting her teeth trying to ignore the pain as the medic suddenly pulls an arrow out.
Nephelie nods "they are with the Elden Lord. Bring them in and treat their wounded." She says simply watching her friend as Sophie is treated.
With that soldiers began to rush in and out. Soon enough the Serpant Slayers were all around the inside of the tower which turned into a makeshift medical facility as soldiers were treated. Sophie herself on of the patients quickly being treated. The medic pulled out the arrows one at a time. Nephelie unable to watch her friend in pain leaves, letting the doctor continue his work. Following the operation he casts some healing spells. Sophie's limbs would still be sore and her body weak from loss of blood but she was no longer in critical condition.
Blaidd having heard the commotion comes by as they finish patching her up and helps Sophie to her feet. The large wolf man provides support for her wobbly legs as she holds onto his waist and leans onto him. His arm reached to her shoulder and helped her along. "I came as soon as I heard you were back."
"Thanks." Sophie says her voice weak and quiet. She got like this after the Radahn fight. Blaidd had long since learned she often took defeat very personally, injuries as signs and reminders of her very mortal status. Her inadequacy for the task she had ahead.
"So where are your new friends?" He asks "I know you have at least a few while you are gone." Blaidd says, trying to cheer her up.
"No idea." Sophie says looking about. "I hope they are ok though."
"Because of you." Blaidd says simply. "Sounds like you had a rough time though."
Sophie nods once more. "It was weird. We have a lot to discuss."
"So do I." Bliadd assures her.
Over the next few minutes they discussed what had happened. Blaidd, Iji and Nephelie had taken most of Southern and Western Liurnia from the rebels but, with Lyndell support, were now severely lagging behind schedule. Though they were still making ground the process was slow now and every battle came at a cost to both sides.
Sophie then explained what had happened to her. Blaidd nods, listening "Strange. Have you told Nephelie about what you heard?"
Sophie sighs "Well no she was pretty mad at me. I didn't want to bring it up. Besides I was being operated on so I wasn't in the best position to. Though the assassin really seemed to think Gindeon was gonna replace me."
Blaidd thinks for a moment. "Yet you're sure you killed him."
Sophie nods. Nephelie and I both saw his body. He was dead."
"Then we seem to have a bit of a mystery on our hands." Blaidd says. "Who would pose as the man? Let alone convince enough Lyndell to rebel against you."
Sophie sighs thinking. She could only think of one person.
- A month earlier -
Melena and Sophie sat next to the sight of grace. Sophie was misreable, hunched over and doing her best to light a fire in the snow with a group of smoldering butterflies. The snow and wind of the mountain blowing on the pair of them.
Being a spirit Melania simply kneeled in the snow quietly watching Sophie work. "You need more tinder." She says in her always calm and thoughtful voice.
Sophie sighs and looks at her. "You do it then." She complains. Melania folds her arms. "Sorry I'm just frustrated." Sophie apologizes for going back to her fire.
Soon she got it burning dimly and started building it up. "So the Giant's flame. What do we do when we get there?" Sophie asks as the fire gets going.
Melania looks at Sophie "I will take care of it." She says simply.
Sophie sits watching the fire "You know I could put a bunch of logs on it and see if that works." She says smiling looking back at Melania. Sophie cracking a joke to try to lighten the mood a bit.
Melena rolls her eyes "The giant's flame will require a more powerful force than that. Godlike power is required to reignite a god-like fire." She says simply.
Sophie nods "gotcha. So ugh… what are you going to do?"
Melena looks at Sophie "Do you really wish to know?"
Sophie nods looking back at Malenia. "I will die." Sophie freezes "My spirit will act as fuel to once again bring the fire to life and only ash will remain, not unlike your spirit ashes. Though my power would be completely spent and I would no longer be able to appear like this to you." She says. "In effect I will be giving everything I have left for you."
Sophie stands. "Wait, that can't be the only way can it!? We are in the lands between surely there is something that you could use with just as much power. Heck maybe even more!"
"Sophie." Malenia says calmly though Sophie could tell she was a bit exasperated. "I told you before. This is my purpose. The one my mother gave me inside the Erdtree. My body is useless. I am nothing more than an image of flame. A reflection of a person who never truly existed for any extended period of time. I was made for this. Besides what other power in the lands between would you want to light the flame? Would another have to die for me? Would you have to make a pact with an evil force that wishes to use you? What would you give up to save me? In my state I am worth very little but, if I could use my power to help you become Elden Lord. My useless existence would come to an end and finally I would be of use to someone."
Sophie looks at her. "But, what if there was a way to heal you. You'd also be throwing away any chance we had of doing that!" She says snapping back. Until now Sophie had let Melania be her guide. Let her teach and talk with her. Yet right now She wanted to push.
"My mind is made up." Melena says snapping back at Sophie. "This is my purpose. That of which I have been born. There is no other way. What other being would you sacrifice? What dark power would you use to light the flame? I am the only choice." She says.
Sophie goes quite. She wanted to save her friend but, Melena was intent on sacrificing herself. "I'll be going now." Malenia says. "Call me again if you have need." She then disappears leaving Sophie alone.
She sighs. "Damnit." She says to herself, frustrated and defeated she starts to mess with the fire a bit. Moving it about and keeping it going as she tried to relax.
Suddenly a man comes over to her. "Trouble with the your miss?" He says in a deep and familiar voice.
Sophie suddenly freezes and then whirls around to look at him. "Yuuga?" She says, very confused. "Y-your supposed to be dead." She says starting to shake looking up to see the samurai with his iron hat standing behind her.
"Oh you knew this vessel then?" He says the sound of his voice was the same but the cadence was quicker, more playful. That was when Sophie saw it. His yellow eyes shining through his hat.
"What are you?" She says fearfully. Looking at him. He smiles.
"I am a friend. Call me Shabriri." He says with a smile. "I saw that spat you had with your friend there and I think I can help." He says in a cheery tone. "There is a power that can light the flame and I know where to find it."
Sophie looks away trying to hide how tense she was. What was he? Why was he here? She looks at him again. She had seen those eyes on Mount Glemir. She had seen mad soldiers eating each other with those eyes. "I don't know what you are or what you want but, I know what you do. What your power looks like and I don't want any of it."
The man laughs. "You act so stalwart." He says keeping his smile but, looking much more sinister. "Yet either you help me and my master or your friend dies needlessly. If she knew about this she would be jumping on the opportunity. My master could even make her whole. So why resist. Why be so brave and stubborn when this is the best choice. For both of you. Melina doesn't have to die. You don't have to give her up and in the end she can be made whole."
Sophie looks at him. If she could save Melina then maybe she could. She reaches out her hand but then stops herself and puts her hand back down. "No. I-i won't believe you. You're insane. You're a monster from some dark corner of the Lands Between and I'm not going to help you." She says in determination, standing up and taking out her sword.
Shabriri's attitude changes. He frowns, becoming angrier. "I have no use for someone who would not be lord." He says indignantly, pulling out Yuuga's own katana. The two squared off. Sophie had fought with Yuuga before and she could already tell that Shabriri had much less skilled then the person he had possessed. The walking corpse in a less steady stance, legs closer together and straight rather than bent and spread apart but, the yellow eyes staring at her were full of malice and hatred.
She starts charging her lightning blade and calls down lighting upon him. Shabriri narrowly dodges the cheap attack and slices at her only to be deflected by her blade. Seeing him dodge and retaliate she then slices again advancing towards him, her blade once again narrowly missing his body as he does his best to dodge but, he was not as nimble as Sophie so as he rolls she gets him with her sword across his left arm, shocking him and cutting him. "Gah. You're good." He says. It was obvious now he couldn't win against her as Yuuga so Shabriri casts a spell, letting loose yellow fire from his eyes forcing Sophie to dodge away from him, doing her best to sidestep and jump backwards from the fire.
Sophie then charges her own spell, launching a light blue arrow at him. Shabriri gasps as he is hit directly by the bolt. Taking advantage of the hit Sophie then follows up by charging and slicing him once more getting a fatal blow to the chest. The duel ended within a minute. "You're better at talking than you are at fighting." Sophie says sheathing her blade as she knew from the way Shabriri was holding his wound gasping that she had won. Soon enough the body fell to the ground and the yellow color faded from his eyes. Though she could hear a new voice. One in her mind.
"Shabriri is chaos incarnate. I cannot die. Ahh, may chaos take the world!" He says as the strange presence finally leaves but Sophie's anxiety stays.
"Who was that?" She mouths scared of what she just witnessed. Who was Shabriri? What had he wanted her to do? Though the biggest question she had was… Did he really have a way to spare Melina?"