Chapter 46: Running out of Time
"Corrin… I'm really sorry this keeps happening. I've tried talking to Morgan, but…" Robin trailed off, his exasperated voice carrying down from the top of the pit to where Corrin lay trying to shake off the abrupt falls.
"Uggghh... Yeah...it's… fine…," Corrin groaned, dragging himself into a sitting position. Taking in his surroundings, his gaze was drawn upwards… and up… and up… and up to the top of the pitfall trap. How deep is this thing?!
Almost as if reading his mind, Robin spoke up, answering his very question. "Only problem is this one is at least twice as deep as the last. If things keep escalating, people are going to start getting hurt." He sighed deeply. "Only problem is, Morgan has a third and fourth accomplice now… which is only encouraging her behavior I fear."
Robin glanced away, looking in a direction from which Corrin's keen hearing could just barely make out faint giggling. No doubt Morgan and Kana were there, along with their new partners in crime Soleil and Ophelia, having lied in wait so they could witness the fruits of their labor.
"This is getting out of hand," commented Inigo, who'd only been spared Corrin's fate by virtue of having been walking some distance behind him and the tactician when the trap had been sprung. "I'm not sure I'll be able to convince Morgan of anything, but I'll go talk some sense into Soleil at least."
"Wait, don't-" Robin started to say, his words cut short by a sudden crash and a yelp. Corrin watched as Robin's expression twisted into a grimace, wincing at the dull thud that followed.
"Owwww," came Inigo's voice, oddly muffled.
"There was another pit, wasn't there?" Corrin asked flatly.
"Yeah…" Robin sighed deeply.
Staging to his feet, Corrin crouched down, pressing a hand against the pit floor before leaping up. He managed to just barely reach the lip of the hole, grabbing onto it and scrambling up and over. Robin extended a hand which he gladly took, the tacitican dragging him the rest of the way to safety.
And today had been going so well too, Corrin thought, keeping his complaining to himself if only to avoid giving the troublemakers the satisfaction
And things had been going well for once. Somehow their luck had held, encountering no more Invisible Soldiers as they ventured further into Hoshido's northern territory. While a part of him couldn't help but wonder why their enemy had chosen to pull back for now, the respite it resulted in had been welcome nonetheless. They'd made good time too, within a few more days they'd be within sight of the capital. And from there…
…the first step to ending this war once and for all… provided we can get them to agree to help us.
Corrin shook his head, quickly burying that doubt. No, they had Hinoka's and Sakura's support. Even if the nobles didn't want to play nice, the royal family would certainly get them to see reason. They just had to. Too much was at stake.
Sighing, Corrin instead took a moment to take in their surroundings, finding peace in the serene nature that surrounded them. Even this far north and late in the year, Hoshido was blessed by mild and warmth that was such a rarity back in Nohr. The sun shone brightly in the sky, dancing among the golds and reds of the autumn leaves. A cool breeze carried over the lands, up from the sea to stretch over the hills and plains of the foot of the mountain behind them.
The land felt warm and alive, even after everything that had happened. Everything he had brought upon them…
Perhaps that, at least, showed there was still hope…
"Corrin?" Robin's voice snapped him back to the present.
"Yeah, sorry… lost myself there for a moment," he explained. He sighed again. "I'll try to talk to Kana later, see if I can get some sense into her at least.
"I'd promise I'd do the same for Morgan… but I am going to be entirely honest with you, it wouldn't do any good. Gods know I've tried," Robin smiled, shaking his head.
"Heh, fair enough. I guess we should see about getting Inigo out of this-"
The rest of what Corrin had been going to say was interrupted by a strange noise, sounding like something between a whoosh of wings and a fluttering of paper. He stopped, looking up to a small, white shape circling overhead before diving for him. On reflex his hand went to his sword, only to stop when he realized the shape was that of a bird.
No, wait, it wasn't a bird, though it was clearly in the shape of one. It looked like someone had folded a large piece of paper into an approximation of one, it's too-angular and sharp features only all-too obvious as it darted towards him.
The paper bird dove towards them, pulling out of his dive to flutter down in front of them. It hovered there, floating like a sheet of paper caught in the wind. It tilted his head, regarding Robin in a very bird-like manner. A shimmering glow passed over the construct, then there was a faint pop as the bird burst, unfurling into an unfolded square of parchment that flooded to the dirt at their feet.
"Ummm… what was…" Corrin started to ask, staring down at the now entirely normal piece of paper.
"Ummm… I… it's a message spell… I think? A really… really... overly elaborate one, if I'm right…" Robin answered uncertainly. The tactician bent down, picking it up and dusting off the sheet with his sleeve. "Yeah… definitely some sort of message spell. Hmmm… back home in my world you'd usually just conjure up a pigeon or raven with magic and call it a day. Animating the paper the message is being sent on? That a new one… and really is just showing off…" Robin trailed off, his eyes beginning to dart across the thin scrawl covering the missive. As he read, the tactician's expression darkened, betraying the seriousness of what was within the message.
"What does it say?" Corrin asked.
"It's from your brother. They're about a day's march from the capital," Robin said, rolling up the message. "Looks like the situation is far worse than we thought."
Corrin's eyes shot wide, his mind racing. But just as quickly he buried the thousand questions he had. Those could wait, right now they needed to act quickly. "I'll gather the others. We need to get to the astral keep. Figure out our plan."
"Right. Let's go and-"
The two men turned and began to hurry back to the others… making it only a few steps before a muffled voice stopped them in their tracks.
"So… is anyone going to help me?" Inigo called out, alone and forgotten in Morgan's second pitfall trap.
Robin winced, slowly dragging his hands over his face. "Right… probably should deal with that first, huh?" He sighed, the sound practically overflowing with exasperation.
"Yeah, would be awfully rude to… but we are in a hurry, so…" Corrin offered, managing, despite the circumstances, a small wry smile at the dancer's plight.
"You two are the worst," Inigo groaned.
. . . . .
Corrin folded his arms over his chest, surveying the map Robin had laid out in the command tent. Across it were placed wooden pieces representing the positions of both allied and enemy forces as described in the detailed report Leo had sent them. Even as thorough as the missive had been, the fact that it had likely taken the message several hours to reach them meant that they were dealing with potentially outdated info. Still, given the circumstances, they should be glad to have that much…
...even if what they'd been told didn't exactly bode well for their chances.
"Yesterday, the Nohrian army managed to get within sight of the capital, here," Robin said, noting the dark wooden pieces used to indicate that army to the south of the capital, some miles away with a river laying between them and the city. "Their approach over the past few weeks had been slower than expected, meeting far heavier resistance from the enemy than we'd expected. It looks like the force we encountered at Izumo was only a small division of their forces, the rest having entered Hoshido from the south and ravaged their way through the countryside."
Robin then gestured to several smaller blocks, representing towns and villages. "Along the way, Xander's forces managed to liberate these towns, leaving behind small platoons of their soldiers to reinforce them against further attacks, while he continued north.
Probably at Hinoka's insistence, Corrin thought. Still, at least this would hopefully help the Nohrians ingratiate themselves with the Hoshidan people, even if only by the smallest amount. Right now getting the two nations to cooperate was the biggest challenge they faced.
"But the downside is, this slowed them down a whole lot, right?" Morgan asked, looking up expectantly to her father.
Robin nodded. "Yes. Taking the time to fight off attacks on the interlying settlements further delayed their march. If I were to guess, it was for this purpose that the enemy moved on those towns to begin with, considering that otherwise they provide little tactical advantage."
"Such cruelty. To use the lives of innocents merely as a means to draw us into conflict…." Lucina murmured, her expression darkening. "I only wish I could say this is the first time I've seen such tactics employed."
Corrim closed his eyes, feeling his own balled fists shaking with barely contained rage. He wanted to break something, to lash out, to do something. But he couldn't. It wouldn't do any good.
"Scouts located at least two large enemy forces. The first, coming from the south-west, entered this world through the lake here," Robin pointed to a spot on the map, "is out of the Nohrians' reach and is on route to besiege the capital within the next few hours."
Corrin frowned, peering intently at the map, trying his best to envision how the assault would play out. "What kind of defenses do the Hoshidans have?" Too few, he'd have to guess. Their army had been devastated by Nohr's invasion only months before.
"Not a lot. Mostly reserves, new recruits, that sort of thing," Morgan answered. "Hinoka and I tried our best to organize things before we'd left for Izumo. I did come up with a couple defensive strategies: reinforced the entrances to the city, placed traps to slow attackers, that sort of thing. They should be able to hold out a little while… I think. Probably."
Corrin just started flatly at the junior tactician. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence… she knows that, right? …Right?
"But w-we're going to go help them…um... aren't we?" Sakura asked. She looked more terrified than Corrin had seen her in the past few days. Not that he could blame her, when it was her people in danger.
"That's the plan, but…" Robin trailed off, peering intently at the map for several moments. "Xander's forces moved to cut off the advance of the second, largest group, who marched in from another lake to the south. So now that just leaves us…"
Corrin found himself staring at Robin, trying to work out what exactly the tactician was hesitating for. Shouldn't they be hurrying to reinforce the Hoshidans? If they knew where they enemy were, they could strike first and-
Corrin stopped, the realization hitting him. Unless we don't know all of the enemy's movements.
"You think there is a third enemy force somewhere out?" Corrin asked, motioning vaguely toward the map. His statement drew an assortment of surprised and confused looks from the rest of the room.
Well, everyone except Robin. The tactician only smiled grimly, nodding his head. "Their actions make little sense otherwise. Based on our intel, Xander's forces should be more than a match for the group he made… and other deployment lacks the numbers to take the city quickly enough. As it stands right now, once Xander's army wins, they should have had ample time to relieve the siege. So why didn't both forces engage Xander? Both together would have had the numbers to potentially come out on top."
"So the only explanation would be that a third army is on it's way right now," Marc said, perking up at this. At once the younger boy began to peer at the map. "But where would they come from? There are no other major lakes or rivers close by. So how do we know were-" he started to ask, only to stop as Corrin tensed, unable to stifle a muttered curse.
"What is it?" Robin asked.
"It's not on the map. There is a lake that surrounds the cliffs at the center of the city. Right around Castle Shirasagi," Corrin explained. Within moments alarmed expressions spread across the entire room, at once realizing the gravity of the situation. "The siege is just a distraction. The real assault is going to come from inside."
Even as he spoke those words, flashes of memory tore through Corrin's mind. Of the robed figure emerging from the crowd, calling Ganglari from his side. An explosion ripping through the crowd. Shards slashing towards him, a blur of movement, his mother falling, having taken a killing blow meant for him.
He'd always wondered where the Invisible Soldiers had come from that day… but now he had little doubt.
All this time… they could have invaded whenever they wanted… They were just waiting… waiting for a chance...for when they were weak…
Oh gods… no… not like this… there's no way… no way we can… we're still days away… Corrin reached out, gripping the table. A loud creaking, scraping sound filled the air and when he looked down he saw that his nails had ground deep grooves in the surface, his hands half-transformed into dragon talons. He hadn't even realized he'd begun to transform.
"Oh no… oh no, no, no... This is not good. Our defenses aren't going to do much good when-" Morgan started to say, only to stop as she saw the pleading, terrified expression of Sakura. "Erm, I mean, I'm sure they… I'm sure they... " she winced, clearly unable to bring herself to lie so blatantly.
"Surely there must be something we can do?" Lucina asked. "Can't we use a teleportation spell, like we did in Morgan's world?"
"No," Morgan replied, shaking her head frantically. "The city is warded against that! Dammit, I even helped improve those wards! But…"
"They… they wouldn't… w-wouldn't do… uh… anything t-to stop the Invisible Soldiers, would they?" Sakura stammered looking at the verge of tears. She turned, silently pleading with Corrin.
He almost buckled at that, the looks hitting him as keenly as a a physical blow. There was nothing they could do… nothing they could-
"Corrin," Robin snapped, turning to him. Even through the urgency of his words, Corrin was shocked to find the tactician somehow still impossibly calm. "We need to hurry while there's still time. We need to get to the transportation stone," he explained, barely taking pause to breath. "Everyone who can use magic too, we need all of them to make sure it-"
"For what?!" Corrin demanded, his fists clenching. For an instant he was about to lash out, strike the tactician in anger and sheer desperation. Only every ounce of control he had stayed his hand, instead he gripped the edge of the table, flipping it onto its side. Game pieces flew into the air, clattering to the ground, followed by the fluttering of the maps and diagrams as they drifted down behind them. Everyone recoiled back, everyone except Robin. "How? How are we supposed to get there in-"
A hand seized his wrist, Corrin whirling to see it was Marc. Anger tore through him again, only to be stopped by the boy's pleading expression.
"Corrin, you're right. There is no way we can get there quickly enough on foot. But don't you see? There might be another way!"
"We're going to make it, Corrin. We are going to get there in time," Robin assured him. "Because we just so happen to be standing in a pocket dimension that can be moved to anywhere in the world."
Corrin's jaw fell open, shocked by the sheer ludicrousy of the plan. Surely, he knows the keep doesn't work that way… right? We can't just move it wherever... Then something seemed to click inside his mind, something he hadn't realized until now. The entrance could be moved to wherever he was. Which means...
Robin only smiled, as if reading his mind, finishing his statement. "And Corrin, you just so happen to be the key to making this keep appear right where we need it."
Author's Note: Ooof, it's been a long time, hasn't it. Sorry about this taking so long, been really struggling to find the motivation to write the past few months. Luckily I am making more progress now, having already started on the next chapter, so hopefully it won't be too long.
Anyhow, time to respond to guest review:
BLost: Thanks for the review. The interesting issue with fighting Anankos comes down to a simple question: can Falchion work fully on him since it's from another world? That is something they aren't sure about, so trying to get this world's Fire Emblem is their main priority. As for using both Fire Emblems together… very interesting idea...hmmmm… maybe…. As for what Robin is planning… well, you'll have to wait and see
Anyhow, that's all for now. As always I'd love to hear what you guys thought of this one, your comments, theories, and feedback always makes my days. Plus constructive criticism is always welcome, as it's the only way I will improve as a writer. Until the next one, take care, and have a wonderful day!