The past four days of travel had been uneventful. They stopped at a small town last night to stock up on rations, as well as get a good night's rest for everyone. Lucina may have been driven to do her duty, but that didn't mean she planned to needlessly push her friends. Rest was important for any military unit, that was the excuse Robin always used to convince her to get some. He always looked out for everyone, but Lucina knew he paid special attention to her and later their daughter. He cared too much for a woman who'd end up hurting him. Lucina shook herself from these thoughts. Not because she didn't deserve to have them, but because wallowing in self pity wasted energy she may need later.
The princess glanced back at the rest of their little convoy to see how everyone else was. Owain and Inigo were giving each other a hard time, Laurent sat in a wagon studying a new tome he had purchased, Kjelle was doing her best to stay on her horse, while Severa and Nah made idle chat above the rest. Lucina couldn't help but notice that they were all a little more energized than usual. It seemed that their stop last night had boosted their morale after all.
Just as it seemed today would be another uneventful day on the road, Lucina saw Cynthia's pegasus flying towards the group in a hurry. Severa and her mount moved towards the other pegasus knight but Cynthia barreled past them to meet up with the others. When she landed in a nearby clearing, everyone rushed there to meet her. All Cynthia could get out was an unintelligible mess of panicked sounds as her friends frantically asked her what was wrong.
"QUIET!" Lucina yelled above everyone's voices. Once they all settled down, she asked her sister "What's wrong Cynthia? Are you hurt?"
"Ahead… Village… In danger!" the younger princess frantically managed to get out. "I went to… to check and see…" Cynthia took a deep breath and finally composed herself "if they had any leads about nearby bandits. The villagers insisted they knew nothing, but as my pegasus and I took off, archers nearly turned us into pincushions! I took a quick glance and saw all sorts of brigands come out of hiding and start attacking the village, they need help now!"
"You heard her Shepherds! We need to move now! Cynthia; lead the way back to that village, Nah; fly alongside her and watch for archers, Severa; bring up the rear to make sure no one gets lost, everyone else; MOVE!" Lucina issued orders without missing a beat.
It took about an hour for the group to arrive outside the village. As they gathered around Lucina laid out their plan of attack. Once everyone had their assignment they got to work. Nah hitched a ride with Cynthia as they broke off from the group, while the remaining members of the party made their way to the outskirts of the village. After a few minutes they heard the sounds of a dragon roaring and saw a good number of bandits scramble in fear. Nah had gotten their attention, now it was their turn. The remaining six sprung to action and attacked the confused bandits. Lucina, Owain, and Inigo cut through the axe wielding occupants making up the majority of the bandits' numbers with ease, while the handful of lance users were left to Kjelle, with Severa helping her get from place to place quicker, all the while Laurent provided support wherever it was needed. In a matter of minutes, they had secured the village entrance and were ready to move onto the next step of the plan. Lucina began to go over everyone's roles that she hastily came up with on the way here.
"Inigo; Owain; make your way through the streets and look for any locals that need help. Kjelle; hold this area. We'll need someplace to bring the villagers until we rid this town of these brigands. Severa; you wait here until Cynthia and Nah regroup with us so they can show you where there are large groups of enemy archers. Once they've marked the no fly zones, you and Cynthia keep the rest of us informed of enemy movements and pick off any strays you see. Nah will stay with Kjelle here. Laurent; you stay with Kjelle as well, unless another group runs into heavy armor, then you assist them in clearing it out. I'll search the village from top to bottom until I find the leader of this group. Everyone knows their role?"
The rest of her allies nodded and acted accordingly. Inigo and Owain moved out while the others waited for Nah and Cynthia to regroup with them at the entrance. Once she was sure everyone knew what they were doing, Lucina began to move into the village proper. The princess was itching for a fight, and it wouldn't be long until she got what she was looking for. Two common soldiers jumped her as she passed an alley, but their element of surprise didn't last long. Lucina drew Parallel Falchion and struck one down before he could even raise his lance, the other took a wild stab at her which she hardly even needed to dodge before impaling him with her blade. If the rest of these bandits were like these two, then she'd hardly break a sweat putting them to rout.
Lucina moved quickly and efficiently throughout the village. Every second she wasted meant more people dead. She would disarm if she could, but if no fast opening presented itself, she just went straight for the kill. It wasn't her first time killing, she had done plenty of that during the several wars she fought in this timeline, but this time there was no empathy for her foes. Even when she fought the Grimleal, Lucina felt some remorse for what she had to do, but not this time. It was kill or let others be killed, and that was good enough for her.
A brigand raised his ax far too high and Lucina kicked him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. A myrmidon tried to strike while the princess' back was turned but she sidestepped and brought Parallel Falchion down his spine, ending his life. Then a wyvern rider descended on her as a mage jumped off the beast's back. Lucina jumped back and engaged the rider while making sure she kept said rider in between her and the mage. Everytime the wyvern flew in the air Lucina took that as an opportunity to close the gap between her and the spellcaster. Eventually the mage accidentally hit her ally's wyvern and sent it hurling to the ground, dead. With its rider's legs crushed beneath the corpse of its mount Lucina rushed the mage, cleaving through any magic she hurled at the princess, be it fire, wind, or lightning, then severed her tome wielding hand. These bandits may have been a step above the usual ones after all, but in the end they were still just bandits; untrained and undisciplined.
Lucina heard footsteps from behind a building and spun to face them, however she found herself faced with frightened children instead of more bandits. Sheathing her sword, Lucina motioned for them to come closer to her.
"It's ok, we're here to help. How many more of you are there?"
"There's about a dozen or so more of us hiding in the library." the oldest of the three spoke up. She was dirty, disoriented, and couldn't have been older than fourteen. "The adults told us to hide there once the trouble started a few days ago. We were starting to get low on food before you showed up."
'Damned brigands!' Lucina thought to herself. She quickly snapped herself from her thoughts as some of the other kids began to sniffle.
"My friends and I secured the village entrance, you'll be safe as soon as we get there."
The girl didn't budge though.
"Some of the kids won't be able to keep up with you. Take these two" she said motioning to her other two companions "I'll wait here with the rest until more of you arrive."
They tried to protest, but the older girl quickly shut them down. She turned back to Lucina and said
"Please keep them safe, miss."
Lucina nodded "I will."
The girl then ran back to a nearby building, presumably the library. Once she was gone Lucina turned to the two kids that remained. They were frozen in fear, and the princess needed to get them moving asap.
"You two, stay close to me. If any bad guys show up, hide while I take care of them. Understood?"
They nodded and began to follow. Lucina made sure to return the same way she came to keep the village children out of harm's way. The group made it about two blocks before more fighting could be heard. Before Lucina could tell them, the two kids following her already hid themselves behind some scattered crates in an alley. As she was about to turn the corner where the sounds were coming from, one of the combatants shouted loudly enough for Lucina to hear.
"My sword hand hungers! Justice claims you, villain! The Blade will never die!"
If Owain was yelling his usual nonsense, then he and Inigo must not have run into any serious trouble. Nevertheless, Lucina joined the fray in an instant. She cut down her first two foes before the rest even knew she was there. Once the bandits realized the three Shepherds had them surrounded they quickly surrendered. The trio tied them up and convened in the middle of the impromptu battlefield.
"Owain, Inigo. How goes your search for survivors?"
"We just finished saving a few lovely ladies." Inigo answered with a grin. "These fiends tried to ambush us on our way back into the town, but were no match for my swordplay."
"You mean OUR swordplay?" Owain angrily interjected.
"Yes yes, you were invaluable moral support Owain." Inigo rebutted.
"Moral support!? I remember you saying your mystic art-"
"Both of you, ENOUGH!" Lucina yelled. "I have two kids with me and many more further into the village that need help. Take the ones with me to the fliers and have them retrieve the rest. I'm going back out there."
The two young men nodded nervously before they were led to the two preteens that had gone with Lucina. As soon as they were all settled, Lucina went back to her search. This leader had to be somewhere.
'Where the hell are they!?' Lucina thought to herself as she cut down another brigand.
She had combed through nearly the entire town and found nothing except small groups of survivors which she led to the others. The few enemies she had been able to briefly question gave her nothing of value. Lucina would have taken this as an indication that whoever was in charge was someone they were frightened of, if it weren't for the fact that every sensible place for said leader to be hiding turned out empty. More than likely they were just dense, bringing a small comfort that whoever led these bandits would be a pushover when Lucina eventually found them.
As Lucina prepared to move to the next alleyway, she noticed an unusual number of enemies gathered around a man who seemed to be frantically shouting at the rest of them. Given that they weren't hacking this irate man to bits, Lucina had most likely found her man. Picking up a javelin that had been dropped by a felled enemy, Lucina hurled it at the edge of the group and impaled an unfortunate Berserker straight through the heart. His corpse fell into a few others, and soon they all noticed the princess standing at the end of the alley, her sword raised and pointed at them with a hateful look in her eyes. They charged her as the leader tried and failed to coordinate their attack, Lucina knew this wouldn't be any harder than killing Risen. Lucina used the enclosed space to her advantage and stabbed some of the quicker ones before the rest could catch up, and in their haste a few stumbled or even tripped over the bodies of their fallen allies. The princess continued in this fashion, and by the time she reached the end of the alley a fraction of her attackers were already dead. With the battle now in the streets, Lucina began to use whatever debris and clutter she found to her advantage, she cut down signs, maneuvered around crates, and even kicked the occasional barrel to slow or incapacitate her pursuers. It didn't take long to reduce the number of enemies from about two dozen down to a mere six, she could take them head on now. Lucina cleaved through the first three with ease, the fourth had a moment to prepare and lasted a solid fifteen seconds in combat with her, once he was bested the remaining two dropped their weapons and fell to their knees in surrender.
Lucina wasted no time in sprinting back to the alley where they had come and found the man from earlier who seemed to be trying to order the others. Her blood ran cold when she got a good look at him. He was clutching a dark tome close to his chest, but what sickened her was the mark on the man's robes; it bore the Brand of the Defile. Robin had taught her its name when he first showed it to her, it symbolized one's ties to Grima. Would she ever be free of that monster? Lucina shook those thoughts from her mind, right now all that mattered was taking this Grimleal zealot in and finding if he had any connection to the rising bandit problem around Ylisse's borders. Before she could warn him to stand down, he attacked and yelled
"In the name of Lord Grima, die you wretch of Naga!"
The dark mage launched an attack at Lucina. Ruin by the look of it, very dangerous magic if it connected. Lucina pivoted to her right to avoid being hit by the dark magic, and her attacker moved to strike again. Fortunately Lucina had always been light on her feet and continued to weave towards her target, who was starting to get desperate. He panicked and started attacking even faster which caused said attacks to be less accurate, flying in any given direction. Once she was close enough Lucina feinted with Parallel Falchion and subsequently delivered a roundhouse kick to the man's chest, knocking the tome from his hands and slamming him into a wall. He slid to the ground moaning in pain, but Lucina quickly hauled him to his feet and slammed him back into the wall.
"If you want to live then don't move! As captain of Ylisse's Shepherds, I'm placing you under arrest." she yelled.
"Ylissean brat! I'll see you-" whatever he was about to say was cut off as Lucina slugged him across the face.
He started to bleed as Lucina yanked off her scarf to use as a makeshift binding for the Grimleal. Once he was restrained, Lucina shoved him in the direction of the village entrance
"Now shut up and move."
It seemed the battle was all but won by the time Lucina made it back to her friends with the enemy leader in tow. The entirety of the village's captors were either in chains or dead, and some of the townspeople began to emerge from hiding. Lucina was relieved to see that battle won, but as she set her prisoner down and made her way towards her friends she could tell by the grim looks on their faces that something was wrong. Even Cynthia was pretty shaken up by whatever Lucina didn't know about.
"Cynthia. What's wrong with everyone?" Lucina gently asked.
"They killed a lot of the villagers." Cynthia responded with none of her usual pep.
"What?" Lucina was taken aback.
"Severa and I found the bodies." Nah spoke up "It looks like they gathered all the village leaders as hostages in a mansion on the eastern border. When the fighting broke out one or more of them must have tried to escape, which led to the massacre…" the manakete trailed off.
"We also found a good amount scattered around the building, presumably local militia. They killed a lot of people here Lucina." Severa finished up reporting.
Lucina clenched her hands so hard she nearly bled. What did such senseless slaughter accomplish, what did they have to gain? Her heart raced and her breathing intensified. These people were finally saved! Yet these monsters decided to kill them anyway. Lucina failed to hear what was said next over the rage boiling inside her as she hurried away from the group, she marched past Owain and Kjelle who were watching the prisoners and grabbed the dark mage she had brought in herself, neither one of them having the courage to question their leader. The princess made a slight detour to grab an extra set of bindings as she led the dark mage back towards where she had fought him earlier, ignoring any questions the man demanded she answer.
Once they finally arrived at their destination, Lucina applied the new chains to his ankles and pushed him to the ground. He lifted his head to find himself staring into the corpse of one of his former lackeys. Lucina then picked him up by his hair and stared directly into his soul, the dark mage tensed for a moment at seeing the pure hate and rage in the princess' eyes, but recomposed himself immediately.
"Why did you kill these people?" Lucina spat.
"Because it was our Lord's will. Because you were ALL supposed to die." Lucina struck him as he finished.
"Shut up. What was the significance of this attack? Who are your real accomplices?"
Lucina was convinced this fool couldn't have acted alone, but he was nearing the end of her patience. He'd give her answers or she'd kill him right here. The bandit leader continued to ramble on and on about Grimleal nonsense.
"We served Lord Grima himself! But you peons of Naga destroyed him! That wretched vessel of his, how dare he turn on our god!"
That was it. Hearing Robin and his sacrifice for the world get bemoaned by this maniac was the last straw. Lucina just wanted him to stop talking before she killed him.
"Shut. Up." she said with as much venom as possible.
"You will never silence us you branded bit-" Lucina cut him off with the hilt of her blade. She continued to approach him as he frantically tried to squirm upright.
"I said. Shut the fuck up."
The zealot laughed for a moment, until he saw Parallel Falchion in Lucina's hands. Then he went silent in horror. Lucina flipped him face down as he began to beg, but she didn't bother trying to listen to his incoherent babbling. Once she had him lying face down, she lined her blade up with his neck. Lucina raised her sword high and-
"LUCINA!" Severa's voice rang out in a mixture of emotions. Lucina turned to see the redhead walking towards her with a look of disbelief on her face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Lucina sighed and stepped off of the dark mage as she turned to face her uninvited guest. "Why did you follow me Severa? I have this under control!" Lucina deflected.
"Yeah. You look like you're about to explode and I caught you seconds away from beheading a prisoner. You're totally in control right now." Severa sarcastically shot back "Now answer my question: what are you doing?"
"He's Grimleal, and killed these people just to serve his dead god. He doesn't deserve to live." Lucina finally answered. "Now turn around and forget you saw anything Severa. We both know he's earned this."
Severa stood her ground, not budging an inch. Lucina moved towards her but she still refused to give ground. When the princess was just a dozen or so steps away, Severa moved for her blade.
"How about this? We take this idiot back to the others, and then I'll forget I saw anything."
Neither woman broke eye contact. When Lucina took another step forward, Severa unsheathed her blade and took up a defensive stance.
"I gave you an order, Severa." Lucina said, barely able to contain her rage.
Severa said nothing, and after a few seconds passed Lucina lunged forward. Severa held her sword close as Lucina made the opening move, aiming for her crossguard and attempting to wretch Severa's weapon from her grasp. Severa moved and intercepted Lucina's strike with her own. The two had similar fighting styles, so they knew both parties' strengths, weaknesses, and how to exploit them, however there was a key difference. While both relied on speed and agility, Lucina made use of thrusts and parries more often while Severa used more standard slashing attacks. Severa soon found herself losing ground as Lucina pushed her offensive. Both women were doing their best to avoid inflicting any wounds, but with tempers high there was no telling what would happen. In between her strikes Lucina was looking for anything she could use to her advantage, Severa wouldn't fall for the same tricks the bandits did earlier.
"Lucina, get a hold of yourself! Remember what I told you the other night?!"
Severa still tried to reason with the blunette, but Lucina wasn't even humoring her with a response. Lucina saw an opening and took it, but Severa leapt back and ran in the opposite direction. Lucina gave chase and soon saw the redhead turned into an alleyway, Lucina was right on her tail. Lucina turned the corner and was greeted by Severa swinging her sword upward, at first Lucina was confused as Severa wasn't close enough to even connect with her own blade, but then she saw a trail of ash that followed and ended up right in her eyes.
"Damnit!"
Lucina pulled her sword close to her chest expecting an attack, but none came. Instead she heard Severa run past her and down the street they had both just come from. Lucina cursed again as she tried to wipe her eyes clean. Eventually her vision cleared and she saw Severa several yards ahead of her, the princess bolted her way as fast as she could. By the time she caught up, Severa had cut the chains on the dark mage's legs and was helping him to his feet.
"SEVERA!" Lucina screamed as she charged forward.
Severa pushed the man out of the way and met Lucina's attack with her own. Lucina nearly recoiled at the sudden move from Severa but gave no ground. While Lucina was still panting from catching up, Severa seemed to have less fatigue despite running the same distance. The former merc turned pegasus knight was trying to exhaust her, so Lucina switched to defense for the time being in order to conserve as much energy as she could. Before she knew it, they were back on the streets and Lucina once again cursed this fight. It wasn't even what mattered now, killing that maniac was. Lucina then realized that she'd been treating this duel as if they were both trying to kill each other when it was really like an intense practice match. Lucina knew what she had to do to win this.
Lucina continued to fall back as Severa pushed forward. Lucina hopped back as Severa pulled her sword back for a wide slash, then Lucina lunged into it. Focus turned to panic on Severa's face as she applied as much strength as she could to stop her attack. She was unable to, but it was enough to slow it, Lucina used that opening to move past the blade and tackle Severa to the ground. The two fell to the ground, punching and grabbing to try and gain the advantage over the other. Lucina was able to land a blow to Severa's nose and the redhead pulled both her hands back to shield her face.
"Ungh! Damnib!" Severa moaned to herself.
Blood was oozing past Severa's hands, but Lucina wasted no time making her way back to where she had last seen the leader of these raiders. When she got there all she saw were two sets of broken cuffs. Lucina was furious. She marched back to where she left Severa only to see the redhead being tended to by Cynthia.
"He's gone." Lucina spat as Severa stood to her feet "You let him escape."
"ME!? You're the one who dragged him out here to decapitate him!"
The two women looked like they were both ready for round two, luckily Cynthia came between the two to break them up.
"Both of you stop it!" she yelled in an unnaturally serious voice "I don't know what happened, all I know is Severa's hurt and there could still be more enemies around. We need to regroup with the others."
The other two said nothing, staring at each other's bruised; and in Severa's case, bloodied faces.
"Lead the way Cynthia, doubt your sister cares enough to come with though." Severa said after a few moments.
As the two pegasus knights began to walk/limp back to the village entrance, all Lucina could think about was where that dark mage could have gone.