Month of Wyvern Moon - Gondor Field
Chapter 33
Almost a week after the impromptu canyon trip all students currently attending the academy stood out on a wide-open plain in awe. Banners for all three houses flew brazenly in the strong headwind, causing them to trail out behind their carriers with a snapping enthusiasm. A long procession of mounts and wagons trailed along in a seemingly endless line, winding through the dense woodlands surrounding the plains.
Banners flew a variety of colors marking off each special interest group. By far the largest congregation of colors was the church greens, which was followed respectfully by the azure blue lions, golden deer, and crimson red eagle banners. Under our respective banners each class rode as the air filled with a growing excitement and hopefulness.
A voice rang out in the crowd as all the students sat stunned by the legendary location, some in awed silence, others reflecting on the battles of their parents and ancestors, while others contemplated the awe of opportunity and worth.
Seteth rode out in front on his horse. The large sable brown mount snorted as the advisor held up a hand and gestured to the expansive grassland. "Welcome to Gondor field!"
The whispers and excitement only grew as the battle grounds for the most anticipated battle of the year, the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, were within sight. Seteth immediately directed us to the edge of a riverbank and began distributing tasks. The advisor directed the professors to get everyone set up in one large general camp, with branches off the main camp for each house.
The professors and overseers then set the task to the house leaders and began keeping careful watch on the students as the chores were distributed out and tents were pitched. This served to keep a majority of the student body in check as tempers were running hot. Anytime two houses interacted small fights and sharp words broke out, while the hotter members of the student body picked fights and started petty battles for space. Only quick oversight from the patrolling professors stopped the fights before magic or weapons could come into play.
I ended up electing to pitch my tent on the edge of the Golden Deer encampment, as far away from Lorenz's tent as I possibly could get without intruding on Black Eagle territory. The violet haired noble was being particularly insufferable as he proceeded to lecture and parade around the tent areas issuing needless orders. I made it a point of ducking out of sight as he came within earshot.
Once my tent was pitched, I elected to team up with Raphael and to go explore the terrain, while Claude and Hilda left to go negotiate with the other two house leaders for our starting position tomorrow morning. Lorenz, after learning he would not be part of the negotiations, raised a fuss and began arguing it should be him at the table not Hilda.
The ensuing commotion had me beating a swift retreat out of camp while Claude cheerfully assigned the noble the all-important task of overseeing the rest of the camp's development while he was away on business.
I waited on the edge of camp as Raphael wandered up from the riverbank absolutely covered in water grinning.
I took a quick glance at my classmates' transparent white shirt and nearly bursting buttons and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Uh? Are you good to go?"
The big man looked down at me with a grin full of innocence. "Huh? Of course! I was just down at the river trying to catch a fish with my hands. I couldn't do it but Leonie assured me that I could do it if I tried hard enough."
I blinked up at him as the brawler's huge hand tapped my back. It was probably supposed to be a reassuring pat, but I had to brace myself against my classmate's brute strength.
"Ah, well if you're all good to go let's get started, shall we?" I readjusted my weapon strap and resettled my axe between my shoulder blades before taking a quick step forward.
"Hey just where do you two think you're going?" Lorenz's irate voice sounded out from behind me causing me to consciously pick up the pace.
Raphael ambled along next to me; his huge legs easily able to keep pace with my retreating form. "Shouldn't we tell him where we are going?"
"Nope, we already have clearance from Claude. Come on, let's get across the bridge." I explained as I grabbed my travel pack and weapon strap before sprinting for the bridge.
Lorenz's shrill screeching dogged behind us with a surprising intensity as we raced to get out of ear shot on out onto the open plains.
The bridge made a distinct clack of wood as the stream gushed sluggishly under the raised platform. I crossed over the bridge first as my scouting partner bellowed out behind me.
"I am so hyped! We are going to win this! I just know it!"
I picked up a nearby stick and checked the water depth and current. I quickly discovered the river was not fordable. The calm top waters were apparently very deceiving as a strong undercurrent ripped the stick from my hand. I frowned as I made a mental note to tell my house leader that the river was not fordable near this bridge. "You think so?"
"Sure do! With my muscles there is no way we can lose!" Raphael flexed as I shook my head and continued walking along the churning riverbank.
"It's a good thing you're on my team then, right?" I teased lightly as I kept my eyes on the water.
"Totally!" My partner reassured me as he kept pace alongside me. His one giant step matched every three of mine.
I chuckled lightly at the big man's enthusiasm as we came to the second bridge. A repeat of the stick test also informed me that the current was running just as swiftly as it was under the first bridge, and I concluded that the river would not be easily fordable. Satisfied I turned more toward the hilltop I knew Claude was hoping to secure as our base of operations. Trees and bushes grew out of the grass unhindered in small patches, offering ideal covering for any combatant that would rather wait and ambush rather than duke it out on the grassy field in open combat.
As we trudged along, I spotted a lone doe standing at the edge of a field surrounded by the nearby thickets. I threw out a hand to halt my partner. "Hold on a second, Raphael."
"Huh? What?" The brawler began looking around wildly in alarm. "I don't see anything?"
I pointed to the grazing doe as a handsome buck casually came out from the forest after her. The doe pointedly ignored her new companion and continued to quietly graze, one ear flicking back and forth as we watched the pair.
I was in the middle of thinking of a good way to hunt them, but Raphael's voice cut through the tranquility with an obnoxious boom. "Oh! Look at that! Venison! They would make a great meal!"
The booming voice of my companion resonated throughout the clearing, and immediately killed off my plans for a venison dinner. The telltale white flags on both deer's tails shot up in alarm as the doe bounded off into the safety of a thicket with the buck hot on her heels.
I sighed at the sight of a fresh meal escaping. "Uhhh...you're right, they would have made a good meal, but I am no archer and neither are you."
"Ah well? Do you think we can follow them? I would love to take them back to cook!" Raphael looked down at me with a hopeful gleam in his eyes as I thought about it a bit more.
My stomach grumbled as I checked my travel pack for anything that could help us. As I pushed aside a whetstone, a hunting knife, my water flask, and a few small sweets I assessed that we did have some options. "Hmm, I have flint and steel with me."
I looked up and re-shouldered my travel pack. "If we find anything else I can start a fire and we can cook it up. How does that sound?"
"Sweet! I knew I enjoyed working with you for a reason!" The brawler boomed with a jovial laugh as a few birds in the nearby trees took flight, screaming shrilly down at us for disturbing the peace.
I managed to catch sight of the doe that had just run off standing more towards some ruins. Her tail flicked side to side uneasily as the buck sauntered up next to her.
I opted to take a different direction and pointed to the opposite side of the field. "Come on, let's investigate over this way. I think we can find some rabbits or grouse if we check out the tall grass over there."
My hunch proved to be correct. Once out of the bushes, on the rolling grasslands, we observed several long eared rabbits hopping through the tall grass.
As we both watched the small game, I took off my axe and rubbed the back of my neck. One slice of my axe and the whole rabbit would be cleaved in two. Great for making sure my meal did not escape, but it would make cleaning a sickening mess. "Hmmm, we might have a problem here. I didn't totally think through how we are going to hunt them. My axe is too big for this, got any ideas?"
"What do you mean? We can just use your axe!" Raphael eyed my weapon with interest as I sighed and thought of another option.
"That's not going to work. Too much hassle on a small target." I shifted and dug out a length of rope from my travel pack and the hunting knife. "Here, take this for a bit. I think I can hunt them with a bit of luck."
The brawler looked down a little surprised as I handed him my axe and travel pack for safe keeping. "You are going to use your bare hands and some rope?"
"Just stay here, I'll be back shortly." I instructed, not elaborating on my plan as I began to sneak through the tall grass towards my unsuspecting game. I used the terrain to my advantage as I ducked behind an old crumbling wall that jutted out from the grassy plains and locked my eyes on to the helpless rabbits that were on today's menu.
I muttered as I coiled the rope around my shoulder and tucked the small knife into my belt. "I really hope this doesn't cause me any lasting trouble…"
I took a deep breath and reached for my magic. The deep seeded power responded readily to my call, and I unleashed a small green and white tinted spell. The holy light halted the rabbit in its tracks. The creatures prone form lay twitching in the grass as I was forced to my knees with a hiss of pain as my crest activated.
The headache washed over me almost instantaneously. I felt my knees hit the dirt in front of me as I struggled to stay upright. With a sharp intake of air, I focused on another rabbit. The latent knowledge that we could really use the game for camp, kept me from stopping at the first sight of pain. The second part of me wanted to test just how far I could push myself without someone to supervise me in a safe setting.
I felt like it was a good idea to test my limits and boundaries. Plus, Raphael would really appreciate it, and that might mean a favor I could cash in later. The throbbing in my head only grew worse as I used more magic to secure several more prey in front of me.
"Maybe I should just take up archery…" I hissed as I forced myself to stand up.
I managed to lean on the crumbing wall as my world lurched with a hazy grey fog. Images of phantom rabbits hopping along in the grass haunted me as I staggered over to my kills. With a grunt of effort, I pulled out my belt knife and began preparing the wild game for cooking with a long ease of practice.
My world mostly returned to its normal coloring as I monotonously cleaned the game and roped them together in a stringer. Feeling the latent effects of my crest, I wearily trudged back to my scouting partner. I spotted a few more rabbits as I tottered through the tall grass, but I decided to let them be. As I crested a small hill, I spotted Raphael busily collecting sticks and twigs, without any doubt that I would be successful in my hunt.
It made me feel rather good about my skills and I decided to pick up the pace.
My classmate spotted me as I raised my hand up over my head in greeting. Raphael's voice carried over the grasslands, but was quickly ate up by the vast wilderness. "Yo! Lilianna! That's a mighty impressive haul! What is that like 6 rabbits?"
I stopped my jog as I approached and noticed the brawler had actually started a small fire. It was just the hint of a spark, but it was a start. I grinned as I unslung the stringer and held up my catch. "5, actually, that one there is just really large."
"The bigger the better!" Raphael joked as I handed him the stringer to split while I took over caring for the growing fire.
The hazy aftereffects of my crest's activation continued to come and go as Raphael skewered a rabbit haunch and set it in the ground next to the fire to cook. "Hey, do you really think this is going to be enough to feed everyone?"
"No, of course not..." I rolled my eyes at the big man's question and caught sight of my blood-colored hands. Reaching over I attempted to wipe them clean on the grass as I growled. "But we can do our share to help with the rations."
Raphael seemed to think the idea over as he shoved another skewed rabbit down next to the fire. "You're totally right! I am only going to eat two then, so I don't eat so many of our resources! That will keep everyone happy right?"
I pursed my lips as the blood failed to come off. "Sure Raphael."
My classmate looked over my shoulder with concern wrote all over his face. "Hey, are you alright? Do you want me to cook everything?"
The jovial blonde was easier to read than a book and wore his heart on his sleeve. Under the genuine concern that radiated from my classmates' honest brown eyes, I caved and stood up. "Actually, I might take a short walk if you don't mind? I won't be far."
Raphael looked lost for a moment and then recovered with his typical wide smile. "Well, if you're going to hunt more food I certainly won't complain!"
With a nod and a promise to be back soon I turned to leave.
"Hey, before you leave, why don't you take your axe? I wouldn't want anything to happen to ya." Raphael nodded to the large axe leaning up against a tree a few paces from our makeshift camp. "You can never be too careful, you know?"
I rolled my eyes in protest but decided to grab the weapon anyway. Magic would not get me out of a pitch this time, and we had lit a small fire out on the plains. If any of the other classes had sent students out to scout, we would be easy targets.
Grumbling, I shouldered the heavy weapon and cursed the rare wisdom of my classmates' caution.
Weapon shouldered I headed back down into the ruins and sank down behind the ruins of a crumbling wall as my head began to pound in earnest once more.
"Uggg…it hurts." I hissed through clenched teeth feeling like someone was trying to dig my eye out with a rusty fork or red-hot pokers. I could not decide which.
I huddled down using the grass for cover as I tried to keep from screaming. It would not do for anyone to find me and ask questions...or worse.
I gripped my eye as I struggled to think through the pain. The world flipped back to shades of grey and back again, forcing me to pull my legs up to my chest as the world spun. Flickerings of battles began to overtake me. Not far from me I observed cavalry stampeding valiantly over the plains as wyverns and pegasi battled in the heavens overhead. A deadly rain of arrows filled the skies as a sea of colors faded into a grey mist.
I sighed as the vision passed, and I regretted using my magic for something so trivial. I sighed as I looked up into the cloudy skies. My head throbbed and pulsed with pain and vertigo, but at that moment, it appeared that the worst was passing.
I thought back to my time at the academy.
Of course, I got strange looks from everyone when I stopped practicing spells in front of the entire class. There were even more whispers that followed me when I began to decline infirmary duties and took the certification exams for wyvern riders. So I was forced to come up with convenient excuses, and the professors never brought it up in public but the rumors swirled anyway.
The rumors grew progressively worse when Professor Hanneman had me start coming in for private lessons. The contents of our lessons were more or less basic experimentation, but the professor guarded the secret with a sort of religious ferocity.
I doubted the ability of these sessions, as it always seemed like I was a test subject. The sessions often left me feeling like it was more about testing boundaries and discovering the capacities of my crest than of actually helping me find a solution.
I rubbed my head somberly and closed my eyes. We had yet to figure out what caused such a negative reaction to my magic, and I took to blaming my bad habit of not sticking to any normal spells.
I groaned as I recalled the first day, I had entered the monastery and the resulting explosion.
Much to my distaste, any remains of my notes from the spell that I had been designing in the back of the wagon had been destroyed. Being not able to recall exactly what marks I had used and in what order due to the blast was an even worse by-product and it made it all the more disheartening. I was told everything had been lost. Without any resources at my disposal, it was not an experiment I cared to repeat.
I mused as I shifted my position. A tiny tickling on my leg caught my attention. A shiny brightly hued beetle with green and purple iridescence flicked its wings at me as I gently brushed it off. Still caught in the moment I pressed back against the weathered rock.
The next time I might actually lose my sight altogether.
I sighed again as the rock supported me. The throbbing in my head was returning, and I assumed that it was the professor. I leaned back against the cool stone trying to get as comfortable as possible as the white mists began to overtake my vision.
The green grassy plains faded to an army encampment. Several in fact. I could make out red, golds, and blues on the respective fringes of each branch of the field. There had been fighting, and in some pockets, it looked like the fight was still on going. Details of everything appeared fuzzy however, as the white fog rolled over my vision. The scene changed again, this time a heavy fog obscured the fringes of my vision making it hard to make out figures.
On closer inspection there were people on the ground dead and dying. The field was soaked with crimson as I watched a solemn progression of blue, on top of their shields was a familiar figure wrapped in a haggard blue cloak. Patches of yellow and green fighters were still making a valiant effort to stand, but a majority of their forces had pulled back as well, leaving the victory to a fluttering red cape.
I could not make out who was standing next to the red cape, only that they were in full armor and rather short. The vision faded just as quickly as it came.
I felt myself jerked back to reality with a gasp and looked around. The two different images were in such contrast to each other that I swore the last one was real.
I felt a strangled gasp rip from my mouth as my hand went to my axe on reflex. I half pulled myself into a ready crouch position as I looked around for some reasonable explanation.
As I peered into the grass nothing strange was happening. The sun was still well overhead, nothing at all betrayed the visions I had just seen. I half crawled out from my hiding spot to stare at the greenery of the fields and the abandoned ruins of some long-forgotten building just to make sure.
Nothing was amiss and I slowly lowered my axe. There was no war, no blood, nothing but the blue skies above and the green fields of rolling grass. I took a deep breath as I felt a wave of exhaustion take over me. Slowly, bit by bit I released my breath. Feeling more than a bit rugged and penned up, I decided to be a bit more productive and wander around to ease my tension.
I was, after all, supposed to be scouting.
I stretched as I ran my hand through my messy, unkempt hair, my battle axe held loosely in my hand as I began to wander. It seemed during the time I had been unconscious; the rabbits had disappeared from the field.
However, in their place, several pump turkey-type birds had started roosting around the ruins. Their heads bobbed back and forth as they squawked and tottered along like round balls, foraging for food. The birds stood about as high as my waist and their shrill calls could be heard around the ruins. I shook my head, not surprised that the noisy turkeys had managed to scare off the rabbit, but when faced with a new challenge I began to consider my options. My second plan was to set a couple of snares for the hares, but these were much too large for a snare trap. I briefly considered using my magic next, but the lingering hazy pain of my recent episode warned me away from that option rather quickly. Grumbling, since it used to be my most preferred method of hunting, I looked down at my axe.
The huge single headed blade flickered and glinted the sunlight back at me.
"I should really take some archery lessons." I snorted as I assessed if the nearest bird was a good target. The closest one bobbed its head just on the other side of a stumbling of rock that might have been a wall at one point, but had collapsed with age some time ago. The bird was much bigger than the hares and it moved much more slowly, waddling from side to side as it picked at something in the grass.
I decided to risk it.
My axe ripped through the bird closest to me causing the creature to fall on its side, flopping about in sudden death throes. The rest of the turkey herd seemed unhindered by the almost silent death of their flock mate, and I felt the beginnings of a smile start to tug on my lips.
These beasts were not smart enough to flee, or even notice they were being hunted. A few of them closest to me did begin to cluck a bit more, almost as if they knew something was up, but did not bother to flee. I crouched down in the grass and slowly began to move. Creeping and crawling through the grass, and using the buildings as cover, I slowly began to split my prey from the herd, one by one. The process took me a while, but finally my axe fell on the very last one.
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I retrieved my victims and harnessed them to another length of rope. Sitting down on the rocks I quickly knotted together another stringer to pull all 6 of my birds. Satisfied that my handy work would hold, I started pulling my prey towards where I had left Raphael.
"Hey! Lilianna!" My partner called out as I emerged from behind a small clump of trees into the clearing.
I waved back to him as he left the fire and began to run towards me, holding a half-eaten skewer of rabbit in his hands. "Man, did you manage to hunt all this? That is amazing! You should totally teach me sometime!"
I gave the jovial brawler a tired smile as I handed him the full stringer. "Maybe later, in the meantime do you think you could do me a favor and carry these back to camp for me?"
"Sure thing!"
Raphael had absolutely no problems hauling all of our bounty back to the camp where it was greeted with enthusiasm by the rest of our housemates. My house leader, after seeing what we had brought back to camp, along with what Leonie's own hunting had turned up, promptly declared that we were going to have a feast.
The idea was met with some skepticism, but was quickly adapted by some of my less studious classmates. Lorenz caused a fuss, but Hilda explained that it was good to relax now that our plans were secured. She explained that troops needed high morale and fun rather than preparation and meaningless stress on the night before battle, else no one would be able to sleep soundly.
I sat back and elected to party over listening to last minute bickering, and left the party preparations to Lorenz and Hilda. While my housemates worked on preparing and building a large bonfire, I reported the layout of the land and points of interest from at ground level to my sharp-eyed house leader. Claude nodded silently as we huddled in the Golden Deer's command tent.
Under the folds of the large gold and black tent, a sizable map lay widespread on the center table with units in three colors engaged in mock battles. The sight laid out on the table told me that in his spare time the Golden Deer was still running last minute battle simulations.
I shifted my position at the table and looked down critically at the gilded gold figures as my house leader continued to silently study the map with sharp emerald eyes. With a sniff I paused in my report and tapped the edge of the map to get his attention.
"You're uneasy about this plan of attack, aren't you?" I asked him quietly as there was a joyful shout from outside the tent.
Claude did not flinch as he continued to study the situation on the board in front of us. His voice was guarded and held an unusual bite to it as he moved another unit across the battlefield. "Of course, I am. This battle is paramount, Petal. It's also kind of a big deal to see how well I can lead."
I leaned on the table, studying it for a second and then moved a piece on the map in response to his most recent move.
The Golden Deer frowned and moved a few more units in response to my piece's repositioning.
I studied the changing game board with a furrow of concentration, humming softly to myself as I moved a few more units and glanced back over at my house leader. "Hmmm, you know Claude, if you use all your brain power here you're just going to be exhausted in the morning. Besides, you could be half asleep and giving orders and you would still do better than Lorenz over there."
The Golden Deer paced the length of his side of the table, his eyes still glued to the situation in front of him. "Is that so? I am delighted that you think that. Is that because he was issuing orders to you guys again?"
I nodded as Claude moved his personal game piece out of danger and moved a heavy unit into his place. I snorted in disgust as I reached out and touched a blue game piece. My finger lingered on it and I decided to move red in its place. "You're not deaf. I know you heard that lecture he gave me after I returned from scouting. He was really upset I had wandered off. On your orders, might I add."
I narrowed my eyes as my house leader gave a small chuckle and waited for me to finish my move. I forced both red and blue to move in on him as I growled. "Do you know what he wanted me to do? He wanted me to go collect firewood and help with the cooking! Can you believe he wanted to put me on cooking duty?!"
I watched as a small smile tugged on my house leader's lips as I sighed. Claude was obviously enjoying a joke at my expense. I scowled darkly and gestured for him to make his move. "Who knows maybe I should have taken him up on that last offer, I might have been able to take myself out and maybe a few others with some strange concoction, but frankly I am absolutely beat from scouting."
The Golden Deer caught on to my teasing as a smirk revealed his impish nature. "What's the matter Petal, a little bit of scouting like that wore you out?"
I leaned my elbow on the table and used it to prop my head up in order to stare at my house leader. "It wasn't the scouting that bothered me, I am just tired of dealing with him. The entire trip he kept pestering me, trying to give me pointers on how to ride a horse. It was relentless. So, when we got here I told him to go stuff his head in the river."
"You told him to go stick his head in the river? I must have missed that. That's such a shame because I can only imagine how well that went over." My mischievous house leader moved another unit and I frowned at his strategy.
I was dangerously close to losing this mock battle and it somehow irritated me. A sound of disgust crept up in my throat as I studied the board. "Tsk, it didn't. That's why I volunteered so quickly to go scout. Sothis I swear he just knows how to really irritate me."
I decided to risk it and split my units. Half of them went after Claude's retreating units, while the other half made a run for a nearby vantage point.
"He certainly has that certain effect on people. "What about me? Am I irritating?" The Golden Deer teased as he moved his pieces around me with a boyish giggle of delight.
I rolled my eyes as I realized he had already anticipated my strategy.
"Yes, you're irritating me with those moves." I responded flatly and moved two of my pieces next to each other and sacrificed them in order to take out four of his units in swoop.
Claude whistled as he smoothly moved in and took out my commander. "Nice, I am glad I can do that properly at least."
"Tsk, don't get too confident. I'll do better next time." I studied the board seeing what Claude had done to plan around me. I grinned as a new strategy manifested itself.
"You have an interesting way of running simulations I see." My house leader rolled my blue commander around in his palm in an attempt to distract me.
I shrugged letting the comment roll off my back. Disconcerted at my house leader's table talk I reached out and began to reset the map. "In class you tend to take input from everyone when we run these. This time I get to play my own way."
"That is true. It is a good idea to get a diverse group of feedback so we can look at the perspective from different angles." The Golden Deer reset his half of the board as I reached out and tapped three areas by his troops.
"These three spots are the locations I would suggest for your other plan. By the way, what location did you manage to secure?"
My house leader marked the spots down with a casual air, a small furrow of concentration marked his brow as he responded with a heavy voice. "I managed to secure the hilltop. Edelgard immediately began arguing for the ruins and Dimitri was all for having the river access, so it really wasn't much of a debate."
I raised an eyebrow as Claude began to move his pieces into position. "Fun, so have you run any of those simulations?"
"Plenty, I have run so many times that I could do them with my eyes closed." The Golden Deer smirked as he leaned on the table, waiting for me to finish lining up my pieces across the river.
I met my house leader's cheeky grin with one of my own. "Pretty confident there Claude, care for a diverse opinion?"
My house leader let out a chuckle as the battle simulation began in earnest. "Always Petal, give me your best shot."
It took some time to get my troops lined up and into position, but in the end I managed to squeak by with a win playing the Blue Lions. My malicious grin was lost on my house leader as he stared down at the map with a fierce scowl. "How did you manage that?"
I twirled the gold commander in my hand with a smirk. "With some dumb luck, and a couple of cavalry units."
Claude's blazing emerald eyes glared at me and then gestured at the board. "But the archers should have been able to take them out!"
I outlined my main strategy, to use the terrain as major cover for my units in addition to utilizing fast moving cavalry units to hit and run. "Only when they could see them, I came up from the back and got the jump on your archers."
"You massacred them! I just cannot believe you did that! How did you do that?" I caught my house leader staring at me with a dark gleam in his eyes as he scrubbed his fingers through his hair in exasperation.
I took the unforgiving glint of emerald as a signal to get a move on. I began packing all the board pieces away. "I think it's about time for dinner Mr. Golden Deer. You're probably just getting tired and need to eat something. You normally would have seen those moves coming a mile away."
Claude grabbed my hand as I went to pick up the units on the board. "Could you leave those there? I want to replay this scenario later tonight. I think it might be valuable to our success tomorrow."
The Golden Deer continued analyzing the board with an intensity I was not quite sure I had ever seen on him before. I set the piece back down as he held my hand with a firm grip. I flexed my hand and withdrew it, raising my eyebrow up in a silent question. "Err alright, we can look this over later. For now, let's get something to eat."
Claude continued to scowl sharply at the board and did not respond to my offer.
I sighed as I realized I had probably touched a bit of a nerve. Rubbing the back of my neck I crossed over to Claude's side of the table. The Golden Deer ignored my presence as he considered a million possible moves on the game board. Perturbed by Claude's reaction to my victory I lowered my voice to appeal to my house leader's more logical side. "You know stepping away from it for a minute will probably help you clear your head."
The Golden Deer waved his hand at me as if to dismiss my meddling. "As if I will stop thinking about it."
I sniffed righteously at my house leader's dismissive attitude and reached out to poke him in the ribs. "Fine, how about some manual labor? That might help do the trick."
The Golden Deer finally tore his eyes away from the map as I gave him a push towards the tent flip.
"By the way, did you remember to order the shovels?"
Claude rubbed his ribs as he held open the tent flap for me. "Don't worry, they are in our supply caravan."
"Delightful." I whispered in disgust as I stepped out of the tent and into the light of the setting sun.
While it was still a victory in my books that I managed to convince Claude to grab a plate of food with me, it soon became clear as we sat down to eat that my leader was still thinking about his loss. As we settled around the bonfire, I allowed my thoughts to roam.
The silence between us spoke volumes.
As the flames of the bonfire crackled and sparked, I realized my young house leader had a lot riding on this particular battle. I watched the Golden Deer push his food around with his fork with a grim expression that I was certain was reflected on my own face. Regardless of what Claude had riding on this battle my role was still unchanged. The dawn of the tomorrow marked the responsibility my house had selected me to perform by unanimous vote. My fate was sealed. I was to play bait for professor Byleth and my own nerves caused my attention to wander.
Battle was not a new concept to me, but I had never had enough time to actually think about it at such length. The waiting was excruciating. The ample time to idle meant I had time to think. To factor in what I knew about the professor's combat styles. Add in my prior experience fighting her, and the end result was exceedingly grim.
I was certain I was no match for her.
Personally, I thought Hilda was a slightly better choice, but the argument against me was that I had the highest mobility on my wyvern. Hilda, in her full plate armor, could not be expected to move nearly as fast as a mounted unit.
Faced with the bleakness of ending tomorrow on a stretcher or worse I tried to eat my own meal. My bites were slow and methodical, more of force of habit than any other reason. Pulling myself out of my dark thoughts I looked back over at Claude. My house leader's plate remained untouched as he pushed everything into a big lump.
Shaking my head, I continued to go through the motions. My thoughts drifting back to the inevitable. I reflected on my own skills and prior experience in an attempt to think of anything that might help us turn the tide of battle.
While I thought in stoic silence Hilda managed to sneak onto the log alongside Claude. The dainty pink haired tank started rambling cheerfully, going on about something or another about flowers and jewelry as mementos. When her first approach failed to attract the Golden Deer's attention away from piling his food up on his tray, the crafty second in command began flicking his side braid back and forth while gossiping about something about professor Byleth fishing down at the river.
I rolled my eyes and continued to methodically chew my dinner, pointedly ignoring my surroundings until I felt a bump on the log next to me. I raised an eyebrow as a warm, teasing voice tickled my ear.
"Hey there, beautiful. It's nice to see you on this moonlit night."
I immediately clapped a hand over my ear and hissed in surprise. "Sylvain! What are you doing in our camp?!"
The redhead winked roguishly as he moved to push a lock of hair out of my face. "I figured I would sneak in and see how you were doing. I have been watching Lorenz pester you ever since we got past the bridge of Myrddin and thought you could use a quality companion for the night."
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Having hung around the redhead long enough, my instincts told me that he wasn't just looking for a pretty face on the eve of battle for some light hearted fun. "So in other words, you did something to piss off Ingrid and you're over here in our camp hiding? Is that it?"
The cavalier casually threw his arm around my shoulder as he gave me his most innocent smile. "Something like that, it's actually Dimitri who's after my skin tonight. Ingrid is blissfully stuffing her face with the fish the professor has been catching along the riverbanks."
I snorted, somehow not remotely surprised that the noble had managed to land himself in trouble. With one last look at my mostly finished meal, I threw the leftovers into the fire and set the tableware to the side. "So what did you do this time to get his highness after you?"
Sylvain scooted himself up against me with no shame, nonchalantly explaining his current situation. "Oh you know, the normal lecture on skirt chasing."
The redhead scratched the side of his face apprehensive as he looked away for a minute. "I may have been hitting on a female knight and she decided to have some choice words with my house leader. Something about trying to get me to marry her or some other nonsense like that."
I rolled my eyes as the noble made it a point to avoid eye contact with me. Exasperation colored my voice as I rolled my eyes. "Right, cause marrying is totally on your mind. Did you promise that to the other 5 women you were flirting with on the way here too?"
Charming, warm, chestnut brown eyes stopped looking across the bonfire at Claude and Hilda and came back to focus on me. "Of course not! I just want to have fun, you know? It's some of the most fun a fellow can have. I enjoy treating all my lady's like princesses."
He paused and pulled me in with a quick hug, before flashing me a sly grin. "Say I'd love to add an emerald to my collection, if you're willing? We could go gaze at the stars, watch the fireflies blink over the field, I could declare my undying love and devotion to you…You can stop giving me that look I am only joking."
Something in my expression must have given Sylvain the hint that I wasn't in the mood for his typical antics as he stopped and stared down at me.
I huffed and looked away, my mouth pursing itself into a thin line of irritation. "I am not giving you any looks! I don't want to encourage you."
"Ah but my verdant eyed princess, you are encouraging me by just staying here and talking with me." Sylvain's hand came up to gently tilt my chin back towards him as he cocked his head to the side in a coy grin.
As Sylvain tilted my chin towards him, I focused on giving him the most plaintive deadpan stare I could muster. If my look wasn't enough to convey that I was unimpressed by his flirtations, my voice certainly did. "Please Sylvain not tonight. I have a lot on my mind."
The noble did not lose heart as he searched my face for some kind of signal. I could not tell what he was searching for, but his voice was still laid-back and flirty as smiled down at me. "Alright, how about I give you a full body massage? Help loosen you up, take your mind off things? You can tell me exactly what is bothering you."
"Not a chance in hell." I jerked my chin away from him and shoved him away. Glaring, I stood up and snapped. "Can't you be serious for once?"
The noble gazed up at me innocently with eyes that crinkled at the corners in amusement. "I am being totally serious. You're tense and clearly thinking too hard. Say, if you are that upset, how about you come back to the Blue Lions with me? Dimitri would take you in a heartbeat. He says you're one of our biggest challenges for tomorrow outside of Hilda and Claude."
A disgusted sound caught in the back of my throat as one hand slid to my hip. "So what? I am public enemy number 1?"
"Na more like number three or four." Sylvain reassured me as he put his hands on his knees and then stood up.
"That makes me feel sooooo much better!" I glared up at the tall redhead in growing annoyance.
"Hey I aim to please. Thought you would appreciate the head's up. So what do you say about a reward for my gallant efforts?" The philander leaned down with a grin.
I snorted at his tenacity, but stood my ground. Sylvain was being absolutely relentless. My voice dripped with contempt as I continued to glare daggers up at the redhead. "How becoming of a future knight. Are they now in the habit of shamelessly soliciting favors now?"
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, as the silence began to stretch between us. I became acutely aware of the growing peanut gallery on the other side of the fire. The stunned eyes of both my house leader and his second were glued to me with silent anticipation. I took a step back, only beginning to suspect I would have to deal with some interesting gossip later on back at the monastery.
"Well, I am pretty shameless." The noble gave me a smooth and arrogant reply as he put his hands behind his head and whistled. "So, how did I do?"
"No dice, you'd need to give me something more valuable to earn anything from me. Like I didn't already know that I needed to be careful on the battlefield tomorrow. " I choose to lean in towards him, straining to keep my voice somewhat low and level.
"However if you're looking for favors, maybe we can come to some kind of agreement? After all, you have barely given me a taste…" I whispered wickedly, my own vexation coming out as I flipped the tables on the unsuspecting cavalier.
The tall redhead's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Sylvain dropped his hands down to his sides, his mouth hanging open in shock as I took a step away and gestured for him to follow. "That moonlight walk sounds interesting now, care to keep this princess company?"
The cavalier's grin widened, and I got the distinct impression that he thought the fox had snuck into the chicken coop as he purred. "It would be my pleasure."
I beckoned Sylvain to follow me, and he did so with ease. My goal was to get far away from the prying eyes of my housemates before acting out my plan. If that was me chewing Sylvian out, or getting information from him remained to be seen, either way I did not need Hilda nor Claude knowing what I was up to in my free time.
My led took us both far away from the merry bonfires, tents, and schemes of the different houses as I slowly trailed along the edge of camp.
The entire time I bit my lip in growing apprehension. I was well aware of what I was doing, what I was risking, and what the repercussions might be. I was most keenly aware that it was dangerous to wander off alone with the enemy, but I felt the risks were worth the potential rewards.
I was more than willing to play by Sylvain's terms if he was going to give me information.
"The moon's beautiful tonight isn't it?" I picked a grassy hilltop and strolled among the tall grass of the plains as the fireflies swirled and danced along the path. The tiny blinking glow illuminated the way to a crumbling ruin that would provide a bit of privacy from prying eyes.
"Not nearly as beautiful as the lady next to me." Sylvain teased as he ambled alongside me, completely at ease.
I rolled my eyes as I hazarded a glance at the Blue Lion knight alongside me. His face was slightly mischievous in the moonlight while his eyes seemed to be waiting for me to make the next move. I snorted softly as I ducked behind one of the crumbling walls. "I am sure you use that line all the time. Tell me, does it normally work?"
The redhead let out an earnest laugh as he followed me up a small hill. "Haha, usually it works just fine. I'm going to guess it's not working so well on you though. I'll have to try something else."
I found a mostly intact wall that provided a decent view of the entire hillside. Drenched in silver the slow moving grass rippled and danced in the slight wind. For some reason it felt rather nostalgic.
Which was ruined as I turned my gaze back to my companion. My voice colored with a low warning as I growled to set a boundary. "Try 'something else' and I will have an axe blade with a 'to whom it may concern' for you tomorrow."
"Alright, alright, I get the message." Sylvain held up his hands in surrender as he moved to lean on the wall next to me.
It was quiet for a bit. The slow thrill of my heartbeat followed the wind and almost silent grass whispers. Soon the sound of crickets and frogs echoed through the night. We listened to their songs for a bit as we gazed at the fireflies dancing around us.
It took a bit, but I smirked when Sylvain finally turned to me with an appreciative gaze and an inquisitive tone in his voice. "Sooo Lil, you were the one that accepted my offer, but I have a hunch it's not my charming companionship that you're after tonight. If it's not my delightful self you're after, what is it that you're looking for?"
I raised an eyebrow at the redhead's abnormally direct angle and shrugged. "I think that's a better question for you. You are the one who snuck into our camp."
I observed as my answer caused a slight wrinkle to appear between the cavalier's brow. "I told you, I was just hiding. I also...might have wanted to see how you were holding up before the big event tomorrow."
The redhead looked away from me again and I followed his gaze up into the starry night sky. "Everyone is just so tense over in my camp. I thought, well, things might be similar over at yours. Color me surprised when I saw everyone partying and having fun. It is kind of my setting, you know?"
I hazarded a glance back at my house's bonfire, just visible over the edges of the ruins. It was rather noisy over there, haunting, dark, figures danced by the fireside as the sound of music and laughter could be heard faintly in the distance. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and then relented, Sylvain's tone and body language were too sincere for him to be lying. With a sigh I reached out and poked his cheek lightly. "You know if you had done this the Black Eagle's camp Hubert would have murdered you on the spot right?"
The cavalier grinned and inclined his head towards me to indicate I had his attention. A flawless white smile flashed in the moonlight for me a heartbeat later. "That is exactly why I am here and not there. You're guy's camp was lively! I even managed to score some of the turkey, rather than fish. Not that I mind fish per say."
I raised an eyebrow at him as he moved closer. "I get the feeling you enjoy any meal as long as you are in the company of a pretty face."
"Haha, you're probably right." The noble readily agreed with me as he brushed up against my side while flashing me another heartbreaking smile.
I did not say anything for a few minutes, letting the silence drag on as Sylvain reached out a tentative hand to pull me closer. I took the offer and slid my hand into his. My voice was soft as I looked up at him. "It was Claude's idea, a way of helping release the tension and making sure everyone got a good night's sleep."
Chestnut brown eyes narrowed as he gave a slight tug on my hand. I followed the motion pivoting my position so I faced him directly as he held my gloved hand to his lips. "Well you were looking kind of dower until I showed up."
I flushed as the enterprising Casanova placed a kiss on the top of my hand. "I have a lot on my mind."
Sylvain looked down over my hand at me with soft eyes. "You know you can talk to me."
The smoothness of the line betrayed how often I knew he played this game and I pulled my hand away as my cheeks began to heat up. I slowly shifted my body to press up against the cavalier's lanky frame as I loosely twisted both of my arms around his neck. "Then it would be the talk of the town."
The sly grin returned as he narrowed his eyes wolfishly. "Oh, like you leaving camp with a member of the Blue Lions won't make people talk? I'd say just let them."
I leaned up as I felt Sylvain's hand's wrap loosely around my waist. I hummed lightly, thankful that it was dark out and the heat on my cheeks was largely unnoticeable in the moonlight. "What I mean is you would leak it all over town. As for others, they can say what they want. Talk itself doesn't particularly bother me, it's the contents of the gossip that matter. Personally I find the ones that say I am digging for a crest husband to probably be the most amusing."
He went silent for a bit and then craned his head away from me in suspicion. "So you are saying you are not?"
I snorted softly as I began to pull away. "Tsk, no I am not like that. It's too much hassle, and the whole crests in positions of power is entirely too much treatment like prized breeding programs, but while we are on the topic, what is that about you chasing women? The likelihood of you even keeping a girl around longer than a month is laughable. Considering that, the idea of you marrying and settling down with one in particular is downright hilarious."
"True, wouldn't it be at least fun to date me?" The cavalier tilted his head down towards me as the gentle, yet firm, support on my lower back would not allow me to disengage from the situation.
I pursed my lips and let my hands cup the back of his neck. "It would only be fun as a joke."
"Hey I am all for playing games." Sylvain readily agreed as his nose dipping just enough nudged mine.
I nuzzled his nose back and whispered. "If I agree to play, what can you tell me what you know about the Blue Lion's plans for tomorrow?"
He chuckled darkly, now seeing into my scheme. "Ah, you see darling, I am more of the user type than the usee."
I caught onto the narrowly concealed acceptance and immediately began pouting.
"Darling, please?" I pleaded as I allowed myself the pleasure of threading my hands up the base of the cavalier's neck and into his thick red hair. "I really don't want to end up on one of the sketchers tomorrow, could you please share what is being planned?"
"That's more like it. The begging is rather cute. Not really your style, but cute all the same." The cavalier slipped a crafty hand between us and tilted my chin up an inch as his voice changed to a warm silken purr. "Tell you what, If you make it worth my effort I'll tell you what I know."
"You strike a compelling bargain, you tease." I whispered as our breaths mingled together in the moonlight.
My heart beat wildly in my chest as Sylvain lowered his lips to mine and muttered softly. "Hush, I just want to know what mint tastes like tonight."
The cavalier's hands held me captive as he pressed his lips to mine.
Author's note:
*insomnia flag waves wildly above the crypt as the author slowly climbs out from her grave to bow in welcome*
Welcome back to another chapter of Lilium! I am hoping you enjoyed the newest chapter - as it stands it took me a little longer to complete then I expected - but I hope the wait was worth it! (Woot another chapter over 10k words - and some fluffy parts! Over all the attention to detail means I have to take my time and edged through it - but quality over quantity right?!)
Hooray for a delightfully fluffy ending - one can wonder what happens in chapter 34? *evil grin* Lili is really trying to dig for information, and it fully seems like Sylvain will be more than willing to impart what he knows for a certain price. What that price is - well one can speculate ^_- but that leads me to the elephant in the room - do they have a relationship now?!
The answer is no! Sylvain is not looking for a relationship and neither is Lili during this time - so the best way I can word this is an exchange of convenience, or more likely, because there are feelings here - is that it is best described as more of a friends with benefits type scenario. Sylvain knows Lili is using him for information, and while he hates the concept at his core, she is mostly straightforward with him so he is willing to play a little game with her. It's not exactly healthy for either of them. There are also some emotions running high here - and I think it is pretty clearly care about each other to some capacity - but neither one wants to be tied down or to define it as anything solid. (If you think about it, that means all kinds of problems for both of them - Lili is still hiding her crest from Sylvain and Sylvain hates the idea of crests and the responsibilities that have forced onto him because he has one...)
Anyway - I think the ending kind of blows away most of the rest of the chapter in a parade of fireworks - but *enter in fanfare here* we finally made to Grondor Field! Tensions are running high in all houses, and that prompts, at Claude's request, a little trip with Raphael and Lilianna to go scout out the terrain.
While out on the scouting trip Lili makes some rather unwise decisions to use magic to save time while hunting and pays the price for it. Her partner is woefully ignorant of her problem, but it seems that Lili does encounter some visions while out. The battles and visions just fuel her fears for the upcoming battle, and it becomes a driving force of her trying to find out more information.
From there Lilianna and Raphael report back to camp, where Lili reports to Claude while Raphael gets ready for a bonfire celebration. Claude's plan to distract his housemates and make sure they eat enough the night before seems to be lost on himself, and we find the leader running battle simulation after battle simulation. Lilianna steps in and runs a couple of her own, pitting her wits against her house leader and manages to find a bit of a flaw in his logic that unsettles him.
Realizing that wasn't the best choice, Lili tries to convince the Golden Deer to get something to eat and to step away from the battle as he is overthinking the simulations at this point and manages to get him out by the bonfire. However it is Hilda that ends up distracting him as Lili is getting lost in her own head - the visions and responsibilities weigh on her to the point she barely notices Sylvain sitting down next to her.
From there Sylvain and her cause a bit of a scene - prompting Lili to try a different tactic and a different approach to getting information from the Blue Lion's cavalier. She does succeed in her endeavor - but what will Lili do now with her new found information? Will she accept Sylvain's offer to deflect? Or will she remain loyal to the Golden Deer and stand her ground? What happens with the slow bloom of romance between the Sylvain and Lilianna? And what does the Golden Deer think of one of his fawns conspiring with a Lion?
Find out in the next few chapters of Lilium Auratum!
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