Lucina strode back into the small, makeshift camp and made straight for the two people who weren't supposed to be there. She stopped briefly by Severa to return her borrowed spyglass. The other woman -who was in the process of meticulously cleaning what looked like every climbing spike and harness she could get her hands on, looked the glass over critically before giving a disapproving click of her tongue and placed it in line next to the other "dirty" equipment.
Lucina gave her friend's shoulder a quick squeeze before moving on. She let out a resigned sigh as she spotted Kjelle running through axe drills at the exact opposite side of the camp, as far away from Severa as possible. She'd have to have an uncomfortable conversation with those two once this mission was over.
"Did you see them?" Robin asked as Lucina moved to stand in front of him.
Wordlessly, she shoved a rolled piece of parchment into the tactician's hands before rounding on the second unwanted guest. Laurent met her gaze defiantly.
"I can still fight," he said.
Lucina turned, ready to snap at Robin to give them some privacy, but he had already stepped away to speak with Nowi.
"No, you can't," she told Laurent flatly.
With any of her other Shepherds, such a blunt comment would have crushed them or driven them to anger. Laurent only stood taller and straightened his spectacles. To him, this was merely a statement that needed to be refuted.
"You are well aware that Owain was tutoring me in the short sword before we arrived in this time. And, in case you forgot, my time in Mirage allowed me to further hone those fledgling skills. I am competent enough in conventional martial fighting to accompany you and the others."
"And how will your 'competent enough' abilities fare after an hours long climb?"
"That is something that could be asked of any of us," Laurent pounced on the question. "None of us save, perhaps, Sir Gaius have ever climbed so high as the Mila Tree. What of yourself? Your shoulder will not have returned to its previous level of mobility, even though the treatments have been completed."
It took all of Lucina's willpower not to reach up and massage the joint. It had been stiff the entire time she'd been out on reconnaissance. She didn't think it would effect her ability to carry out a mission -even one as physically taxing as this one was sure to be, but it still bothered her; a reminder that years of training didn't make her body any less fragile.
"In the months we've been reunited, I've never seen you so much as touch a blade. In training or otherwise."
"Simply the needs of war," the mage shrugged. "The Shepherds don't require another fighter who can swing a sword. Why, I-"
Laurent bit his tongue, realizing what he had just said.
"Exactly," Lucina said gently. "We are only taking who is necessary."
Changing tack quickly, Laurent said: "You would give up the advantage of my magic simply to avoid insulting Naga? As long as I've known you, you've never minced words about your dislike of the goddess."
Lucina put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow reproachfully. Her mother had used the look to devastating effect on her and her sister while they were growing up, but somehow she didn't think she'd inherited that particular skill.
"I didn't agree to avoid the use of magic out of respect for the goddess. I agreed to it out of respect of Princess Say'ri's beliefs. Just because it is not my own doesn't mean I can take shortcuts around her faith."
Laurent looked suitably ashamed, so she softened her voice.
"It feels wrong for us all not to fight together," she continued. "But, as you and everyone else sees fit to keep reminding me, we are not the only Shepherds anymore. Our parents are alive. And it doesn't appear that they are happy with keeping us only at arms length. 'We need to integrate': your own words, remember?"
"Why is it," Laurent asked with a rueful smile, "that you decide to start following the council of others only at the most frustrating opportunities?"
Lucina felt some of her tension drain away. Even her shoulder relaxed a little.
"None of the mages are going to be in direct combat. Your mother is probably just as anxious about not being able to accompany your father into the battle as you are now. Help keep her mind off of worry. And, as a favor to me, keep an eye on the… other matter we discussed."
They both surreptitiously glance over to where Robin stood, facing away from them. The Mark of Grima on his coat stood out plainly, even in the verdant gloom cast by the Mila Tree's branches far above them all.
"You still believe he is an agent of the Fell Dragon?"
Lucina sighed.
"No," she said. "But, not serving Grima doesn't make one any more, or less, trustworthy. He is hiding something."
"No need to convince me, Lucina. An unknown variable is never a good thing."
At that moment, Lady Panne loped into camp.
The Taguel stood a head taller than even Kjelle or Robin. Compared to a human, her long, powerful limbs seemed stretched past normal proportions. She wore little. A simple vest, dyed a dark purple, covered her chest, and a series of belts and harnesses wrapped around her waist; acting as a sort of loincloth. Her only other pieces of clothing were two leg guards: long leather wraps that ran from ankle to mid-thigh, leaving her large, calloused feet bare.
If her strange silhouette and garb didn't tip one off to her non-human lineage, then her distinctively animalistic feature would have. Thick, dark fur covered most of her torso and neck, thinning out to fine hairs on her arms and legs. Along with a mane of dark brown hair, two long, floppy ears sprouted from her head and were incorporated into a series of intricate braids. From just below her belts peaked a short, scut tail.
The whole camp gathered around the newcomer. Severa made a point to stand with Nowi in between herself and Kjelle, the little Manakete looking curiously from one woman to the other.
"-on their way down. Yarne chose to wait and accompany them back," Panne was saying to Robin as Lucina walked up.
"What else did you see?" Robin asked. "The princess gave me her report already and…"
The tactician made to read the page Lucina had given him, but stopped. He narrowed his eyes and began to turn the parchment this way and that. It was when he flipped it completely upside-down, a baffled look on his face, that Lucina snatched the paper from his grasp and crumpled it into a ball. She didn't let the embarrassment at her cramped, illegible handwriting tinge the venomous look she shot Robin.
"There's a small stone structure on the south side," she growled. "It looked like it was part of the original pilgrimage path. That's also where the stairway begins. I counted between twenty and thirty soldiers garrisoned there: mostly spearmen, but I saw at least two mages -it's probably safe to assume they have access to the Tree's water. The Valmese have clear cut most of the surrounding trees to make a series of barricades. There's two platforms further up the trunk. Each one has a group of lookouts: archers and more mages. And the top branches are full of wyverns."
She felt a surge of anger as Robin turned to Panne for confirmation.
"Twenty-six," the Taguel said. "There are twenty-six humans at ground level. Other than that, the princess saw well."
"And neither of you saw any patrols?"
"None," Lucina said at the same time Panne slashed a hand diagonally across her chest: the Taguel gesture for a negative.
"So," Kjelle spoke up, scratching her head. "Either suspicious or stupid."
Robin's eyes lost focus as he thought.
"They can't draw any attention to their operation," he said slowly; after a moment. "Not just to hide from our forces, but from their own as well. What they're doing -exploiting the Mila Tree, most of the Valmese and traitor Chon'sin soldiers would be appalled if they knew. Most people on this continent worship Naga the same way they do back home."
"Not the same way."
All eyes turned to Laurent, who had spoken. He blushed and tugged the wide brim of his high, pointed hat down lower to hide his embarrassment. It took him a few seconds to realize that Robin was looking at him expectantly. Lucina bit back a smile as Laurent stammered, surprised to find someone interested in his extensive knowledge.
"Er… well," he continued. "Most of the citizens in Valm and Chon'sin are practitioners of what, in our language, would translate to something akin to 'The Long Walk'. Although, which country the religion originated in is a matter of some… contention. It's centered around a pantheon of several spirit houses. Naga and her children make up one of these houses: the largest and most beloved, but still just one among many. That would be considered blasphemy to the Ylissian church."
Robin nodded along thoughtfully.
"Whoever's in command up there must have had to carefully pick their troops. They can't let anyone near this place who'd react the same way Lady Say'ri has. There must not be enough trusted, blasphemous soldiers for full patrol rotations."
"Mighty astute, Bubbles. Undermanned and miserable to boot. Gets real windy up there and the branches tend to shake. Must be like livin' on a boat in stormy seas."
The entire camp -save Panne, jumped at the voice. Sitting next to Severa's neatly organized stack of cleaned gear, playing with a climbing hook like he had always been there, was a tall man dressed all in black. A black headband kept a short tangle of auburn hair out of his green eyes. Several oddly shaped pouches hung from a bandolier strapped across his chest. Lucina ignored him, looking around wildly at the darkening tree line.
Two more figures emerged into the low light of the camp. Lucina felt a weight leave her chest as Noire and Yarne -excited and uninjured, rejoined the other members of her infiltration team.
"Gaius!" Robin said to the man in black, looking -she noticed, as relieved as Lucina felt.
"Feels good to be missed," Gaius drawled. He glanced over at Panne. "How 'bout you, Whiskers? That foot bouncing?"
Panne's face was completely emotionless, but the Taguel's body had stiffened so as not to move involuntarily.
Noire stepped forward nervously, speaking to Lucina.
"We saw the Voice! A-At least… I think. There's a shrine towards the center of the Pinnacle. They've got a woman chained up in a garden nearby." Her voice became smaller. "She's wearing the red cloak."
Nowi gasped and hugged herself. Severa reached down and lay a comforting hand on the Manakete's back, whispering that it would be alright. Lucina's heart went out to the little girl. Standing with the warriors of the Shepherds, she appeared the most out of place. Her usual collection of eclectic, mismatched clothes had been replaced with a too-big black cloak that seemed to swallow her. A dark leather cap was fitted tightly to her head, concealing her vibrant green hair. She stared up, wide-eyed at the others all watching her with concern.
Nowi stood up straighter, sniffed and wiped a hand across her eyes.
"She just needs to fly again." She said, trying and failing to sound confident. She reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out a multi-faceted emerald the size of her palm. "We just need to get to her. That's all she needs. Then we can save her… right?"
It was Kjelle who moved first. Dropping to one knee in front of Nowi -then hunching her back in order to look levelly into the tiny Manakete's tear-stained face, the knight's mouth cracked into a dazzling smile.
"Exactly right, Lady," she said, practically radiating chivalry. "You've spent plenty of time with our parents, yeah? Well, we're better."
Severa snorted loudly and nudged Nowi.
"She might sound absurd, but Kjelle is right, dear. Princess Lucina has some experience saving dragons. We'll get you to the Voice of Naga."
"The plan's a good one," Noire chimed in. "I'm sure it'll work."
"That's right!" Yarne stammered. "Go on, Laurent, tell her."
"Of course. My compatriots have a knack for winning the day. You'll see."
Lucina stepped forward and bowed to Nowi.
"We're Shepherds. Please, trust us to be Shepherds."
For the first time that day, like the sun coming out after a storm, Nowi looked up and grinned at the princess.
Without needing to be told, the Shepherds began to quickly break down the camp. In moments, it was as if they had never been there. Each individual then saw to their own equipment. Blades were blackened with soot as belts, buckles and chains -anything metal that might make an unwanted noise, were muffled by strips of cloth or removed entirely.
Lucina had just finished tying back her long, dark blue hair into a tight bun, and was in the awkward process of securing Falchion to a scabbard on her back -where it wouldn't interfere with the climb, when Robin came up to her. He wordlessly reached out and held the sword against her spine, giving her the chance to quickly tie the front of the harness unobtrusively against her chest. She gave the whole assembly a few sharp tugs, pleased at how little it moved, before turning to face the tactician.
"What is it you need, Sir Robin?" she asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
"I need you to promise me you'll take care of Nowi," he responded without preamble.
Seeing what appeared to be genuine concern on his face, Lucina bit back half a dozen harsh responses.
"She's not as weak as you seem to think she is," she chose to say instead.
"She's a child, Lucina. She's never been in real combat. I agreed to let her go on this mission because -even though I'm sure you won't believe it, I trust you know what you're doing. Right now, saving this 'Voice of Naga' means everything to that girl. Your word, princess. Simply saying: 'It'll all be okay,' isn't going to cut it with me."
Lucina looked him in the eyes.
"I won't leave her side," she said. "You have my word."
Robin held her gaze for a long moment, then nodded and walked away. He gestured to Laurent that he was returning to the main group of Shepherds. The bespectacled mage gave one last, worried look at his gathered friends, before turning to follow.
Lucina reached out to grab Nowi's hand, helping the girl up onto a large ledges created by one of the many, massive knots in the Mila Tree's trunk. They were more than two thirds of the way through their ascent. Roughly a ten minutes' climb above them on the opposite side of the Tree would be the second of two rowboat-sized wooden platforms; crammed with archers meant to drop any aerial attempt to reach the top. From there, it was another six-hundred vertical feet to the Pinnacle.
Noire and Gaius had selected this particular knot on their first exploratory climb of the Tree to act as a resting spot for the group. It was almost entirely blocked from view by a branch -heavily laden with leaves, directly above it. The Tree's single, unbroken stairway that spiraled from roots to top branches passed by their perch far enough away that any conversation they had would be safe if someone happened to be passing by. Most noises were drowned out after only a short distance by the constant winds.
The eight members of the infiltration team were grateful for the chance to drink, stretch and adjust any equipment that had come loose. But none were tired. Lucina's shoulder was - to her relief, strong as ever and Panne and Yarne didn't even seem to be breathing heavily.
The most stressful part of the mission so far had come before they'd even touched the Mila Tree's bark. With the Valmese forces having chopped down every -relatively, small tree within a radius around the base for use as building materials, it left nothing to use as cover on their approach. Luckily, the lack of patrols had left the sentries vulnerable to the sunset.
For most of the day, the surrounding forest was cast in an emerald hue from the light filtering down through the Mila Tree's dense canopy of leaves -each as wide as a grown woman was tall, that spread out nearly a mile in every direction. But, as the sun reached the narrow corridor between the western horizon and Mila's lowest hanging branches, most of the woodlands were bathed in direct sunlight. This, however, still left a column of deep darkness in the shadow of the colossal trunk itself.
It was a complete blind spot in the Valmese lines, concentrated and immobile as they were to the south; where the great staircase began. Noire and Gaius had even taken this route undetected during the daytime, without the concealing shadow. Still, as Lucina crawled through the grass from stump to decapitated stump, she felt sure that at any moment she'd hear the shout of guards. When her hand finally hit the rough bark of the Tree, she'd wanted laugh out loud.
From there, the Tree seemed to welcome them with open arms. All of Severa's careful maintenance of their equipment proved pointless. The deep ridges and cracks in the Tree's bark were a climber's dream; providing easy handholds the entire way up. As night fell -the only illumination coming from ghostly trails of light that swirled around the Tree, they only needed to avoid direct line of sight from the lookout platforms to ascend in complete secrecy.
Lucina was watching one of these odd smears of light when Nowi tugged her sleeve.
"Thank you, for letting me come."
"You're as much a Shepherd as the rest of us. You have every right to be here."
Nowi shook her head. "But I'm not a Shepherd. I know I'm not -not like the rest of you…"
"You-," Lucina floundered, her voice catching in her throat.
Severa saved her.
"You don't become a Shepherd because you fight," she said from where she sat on the other side of Lucina, re-tying her red hair from where it had escaped her own tight bun. "Try telling Lady Maribelle that she's not a Shepherd 'like the rest of us'."
"Or Miss Olivia," added Yarne as he helped Noire adjust the bow across her back.
Lucina had recovered, and reached over to give Nowi's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Growing up," the princess said softly. "My parents told me stories of their time as Shepherds. You played a significant role in many of them. From my perspective, you were a Shepherd long before I was."
"Hear that, Kid," Gaius chuckled. "I think Little Blue just gave you seniority."
Nowi giggled. Seeing her reaction, and not wanting the little Manakete to slip back into depression, Lucina tried to emulate her mother again; raising an eyebrow in mock severity.
"Little Blue?"
"Yes, ma'am," Gaius said around a mouthful of candied apple slices he had produced from one of the pouches affixed to his chest. "Pretty fitting, if I do say so myself."
"I'm not questioning your genius wordplay," Lucina said dryly. "But, if I'm Little Blue, what will you call my younger self? She must be -what, almost a year old back in Ylisstol?"
Gaius, at a complete loss for words, another handful of sweets paused halfway to his open mouth, had the rest of the group smothering their amusement behind hands and canteens.
"You could call her 'Terror'," Severa suggested. "When we were young, the princess could be a real brat sometimes."
Lucina stuck out her tongue. Kjelle spoke up next.
"How about 'Baby Blue'? I think it'll fit your theme, Sir Gaius."
The thief nodded gratefully and hitched a thumb at Kjelle.
"Thank you, kindly," he said. "That'll do nicely. I knew any kid of Muscle's and Stahl's would have a good head on her shoulders."
"Sir Stahl doesn't get a nickname?" Severa asked dubiously.
It was Panne who responded
"He doesn't want to risk offending a cook who can make so many different pastries."
Gaius lay back amid the good natured teasing, his head close to -if not quite resting in, Panne's lap. He gave her a roguish wink. The Taguel's face was impenetrable as ever, but Lucina noticed her foot tapping lightly against the ledge.
The princess gazed out at the forest far below them, highlighted eerily by the strange streamers of light drifting down from the Mila Tree's boughs. She listened with a smile as the conversation dissolving into stifled chuckles. Nowi clapped both hands over her mouth, laughing the hardest of all of them.
The Pinnacle had been a pilgrimage sight for the disciples of Naga -regardless of their particular religion, for hundreds of years. From what Lucina saw, little of that history had survived the Valmese occupation.
Perched at the very top of the Mila Tree's trunk, nestled in a valley formed from a solid ground of hundreds of intertwined branches, was a simple stone shrine. Surrounding it, rainwater had collected into sizable ponds in a half-dozen upward facing knots in the wood. Grass had even managed to grow in dirt gathered in the large furrows between branches, creating the appearance of an unbroken, level field. Had it not been for the massive boughs raised into the night sky all around, the princess might have thought she was back in the lush, Ylissian farmland where she'd first arrived in this time.
The Valmese had constructed a series of slapdash, wooden barracks, mostly congregated at the terminus of the Tree's winding stairway. Next to these shanties, a large swath of grass looked like it had been burned away, revealing a splintered gouge in the branch below. It appeared this was where they harvested the material for their structures. A series of wooden piers had also been strung across two of the ponds. A thin film of bright moss was visible around the rim of one of the knots, showing how far the water level had dropped.
From where Lucina and Noire lay prone amid the grass close to the edge, the archer pointed out an enormous branch that had burst up from the ground, creating a large hillock at the center of three of the unworked ponds. The princess' eyes had adjusted to the ghostly eddies of light -that seemed even more active here at the Pinnacle, so she was able to pick out a collection of at least twenty dark lumps gathered on and around the limb.
"Wyverns," Noire whispered. "It'll take their riders only a couple minutes to reach them for those shacks, once the attack begins."
Lucina was still for a moment, absorbing the situation.
"Where are you going to be positioned?" she asked.
Noire slowly rotated on her stomach, gesturing at a branch that had curled in close above -but not actually connected to, the Pinnacle. It would give her a commanding view of the entire clearing, but she'd have to backtrack down the trunk a ways in order to reach a fork in the Tree that she could use to reach her chosen perch.
"Better get going," Lucina said. "Help me with the two guarding the Voice, and then I'll leave it up to your discretion."
With a shy smile and a nod, Noire crawled off into the night. Gaius crept up to fill the spot the archer had just vacated.
"Permission to go collect some spellbooks?" He asked, toying with one of his long daggers.
"You can go get into position, but wait a few minutes for Noire to get set up."
Gaius gave a lazy salute.
"Yes, ma'am. Good luck rescuing the dragon, ladies."
And with that, he vanished as well, leaving Lucina alone with Nowi.
The infiltration team had split in two shortly after they'd passed the second lookout platform. Severa had taken Kjelle, Yarne and Panne across to the stairway, where they would loop downward and strike the unsuspecting guards from the rear. After which, they'd continue descending to take the lower platform and on to the ground garrison if it hadn't already been captured. Lucina had taken the rest to disrupt the Pinnacle and save the captive.
She pushed herself up into a crouch, signaling that Nowi could do the same. There were torches closer to the shrine and the Valmese, but where they were; so close to the edge, only the Mila Tree's own strange illumination touched them. They weren't in danger of detection for most of their stooped dash to the garden where the Voice had last been seen. When they reached a low wall of well tended hedges, Lucina stopped. Pressing herself against the bushes, she cautiously peeked over.
Connected to the central shrine by a simple wooden walkway, the small kitchen garden was a riot of upturned pots and scattered, uprooted plants. What had once been several rows of neatly organized beds looked as if a regiment had marched over them. In the center of the wreckage, an iron spike had been driven deep into the soil -and most likely the wood beneath it. A hooded figure in a flowing red cloak sat cross-legged, head bowed, next to it. The glint of heavy chains and manacles could be seen in flickering torch light, running from all four of the Voice's limbs to a loop in the spike.
Lucina had to grab Nowi as the Manakete tried to jump up and dash out to the imprisoned woman. As they struggled, the princess managed to spin her around so they were face to face. Nowi's eyes were brimming with tears. Lucina pressed a finger to her lips and gestures back over the hedge. With a firm grip on the girl's wrist, she let her look again.
Two soldiers in Valmese red and gold were positioned by the bushes on the opposite side of the garden. One -a woman judging by the long braid poking out from under her helmet, was leaning on her spear, a bored expression on her face. The other had taken off his helmet and was sitting on an upside-down wheelbarrow.
Lucina released Nowi, and spoke in a whisper.
"Stay here and- No, don't argue! Stay here and watch my back. When I've dealt with the guards you can come out."
Not letting the Manakete respond, she checked to make sure Falchion was loose in its scabbard before sneaking around to the shrine-side entrance to the garden. Standing up, she strolled -as nonchalantly as she could, out into full view of the soldier.
The man jumped up and the woman turned, but neither immediately appeared hostile. Instead, the woman stepped forward to get a better look at the newcomer and asked a question in Valmese. Lucina shook her head and cupped a hand to her ear, being sure that her other hand was visibly empty. She was ten paces from them.
The man said something to the woman with a chuckle, but his companion had straitened. She took another step forward, repeating what she had said in a louder voice. The guard's grip on her spear tightened, but the princess didn't stop walking forward.
At five paces, Lucina flicked her wrist. The small dagger sheathed on the inside cuff of her uniform sleeve jumped into her waiting palm and she struck without warning. Her blade sank into the spearwoman's throat, just as a zip was heard overhead. The man had no time to call out to his partner as an arrow took him through his unprotected skull. Lucina's free hand slapped over the dying woman mouth as she guided the corpse to the grass.
Nowi burst from her hiding spot, but stopped short before she reached the chained Voice. Lucina came up next to her, wiping the blood from her dagger on the leg of her trousers.
"What's wrong? Come on, let's…"
The Manakete stared down, wide-eyed at the body of the spearman. Lucina cursed and quickly reached down to pull the dead guard's cloak up and over his head, covering Noire's grizzly work. Slipping her dagger back into her sleeve, she wrapped an arm around Nowi's shoulder and guided her away gently.
The Voice of Naga was up on her feet, watching them. The chains had enough slack in them for her to move in a small radius around the spike. Lucina had to practically pull Nowi the last few feet to stand in front of the Voice. The little girl's legs had frozen, her head still turning back, eyes unable to look away from the corpse.
"Mar-Mar?" The Voice said to Lucina, shocked. The lower half of her face was all that was visible under the heavy hood of her cloak. The only other adornment she wore was a small, flat square of wood that hung from her neck on a simple cord. She reached up to grab the charm as she continued. "No, it can't be. You… Did I? No, no, I wouldn't."
Lucina felt Nowi shift at the voice, so she held out her other hand in what she hoped was a calming gesture. Facing the red cloaked woman, she felt a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with windy night.
"My name is Lucina. The Valmese here are about to come under attack. I'm here to get you away from the-"
Nowi snapped out of her shock and tore out of Lucina's grip. Pulling down her own hood and ripping off the tight cap, revealing her long, pointed ears and sweat-matted green hair, she practically threw herself into the Voice's arms.
"Can you still feel the wind? Oh, those chains, how can you bare them? When we heard that they… that you…," the little girl began to sob.
The Voice's surprised expression at Lucina instantly melted away, replaced by a gentle smile. She embraced Nowi, carful not to let the heavy chains touch the girl.
"Hush, little sister. Dry your eyes. You've rescued me. You, and your companion, of course."
Nowi sniffed. Then, as if suddenly remembering, she thrust a hand into her cloak and pulled out the glowing, green Dragonstone. Lucina quickly positioned herself in front of the gem, blocking as much of its glow as she could. The girl proffered up the stone shyly.
"Take it, Miss.. erm, Miss Voice of Naga."
The Voice laughed, but made no move to touch the Dragonstone.
"Please, call me Tiki, both of you. And you can hold onto that for now. While I'm in the shade of the Mila Tree, I won't need it."
At that moment, a loud clanging sounded across the Pinnacle. Soldiers, some still only half dressed, burst out of the barracks. With a spike of fear, Lucina was convinced that they had been spotted. Then, an enormous man, resplendent in full plate mail painted a dark, Valmese red, stepped out into view by the milling guards. He wore no helmet and his shaved head glistened with sweat in the torchlight. His massive, walrus mustache wobbled as he bellowed out an order and, with a spear that looked as if it had only recently been a medium-sized tree, pointed towards the great staircase. The Shepherd's attack had begun.
Lucina spun back to the Voice.
"Lady Tiki," she said urgently. "Take the Dragonstone and fly north-east across the border into Rosanne. Get to the capital, you'll be safe there." The princess drew Falchion from her back and gestured to Nowi. "Step away and be ready to fly."
Lady Tiki's mouth formed an 'oh' as she said -to the sword: "Falchion? You look… different."
Heedless of the loud ping of her blade severing the chains close to where they were joined to the manacles, Lucina delivered four precise slashes. As the voice stood free, Nowi rushed back, holding out the Dragonstone. But still, Tiki refused it.
"I can't leave," she said to Lucina. "I'm not the only prisoner up here. Five monks -residents of the monastery a few miles away, are being held in that building-" she pointed to a single, out of the way shack closest to the ponds. "They're being forced to collect the water.
"We are each other's hostages. General Cervantes will kill them if he so much as sees a dragon, and he's threatened to kill me if they don't work. Please, these are the monks who bring me food and news from the outside world. They are my friends. The little one and I can't take flight or they'll be executed."
Lucina cursed.
"We need Nowi to deal with those wyverns. If not, they'll devastate our forces when they push up the stairway."
Tiki's mouth formed a line of concern. Lucina glanced down to where Nowi was looking between the two older women, an expression of helplessness on her face.
You idiot, Lucina berated herself. You can't put this decision on her. Not after everything.
With a frustrated sigh, the princess hefted Falchion and turned to the small building at the very edge of the Valmese encampment.
"Nowi, you have to come with me."
"But-" the Manakete's eyes were fearful.
"You won't have to fight. You won't have to watch. But I need you to fly the moment those monks are safe." She looked to Tiki. "Will that be good enough? Once Nowi takes flight, you'll know the monks are safe and then you can leave too. Go to the eastern edge, wait there."
A brief nod from the Voice was all the princess needed. Lucina was off running, Nowi on her heels. The two Shepherds didn't spare a single glance for the Valmese forces, who had gathered; facing away from the rest of the Pinnacle, preparing to meet the invaders at the top of the Mila Tree's staircase.
Before reaching the shack, Lucina spotted a small hollow in the ground where soil hadn't managed to settle and a lattice of wood peeked around the grass. She pointed it out to Nowi and told her to climb in.
"No, I can help you," the Manakete pleaded, obviously conflicted. "I'm sorry I cried, but I'm good now."
Lucina smiled kindly, driving Falchion into the soil. Crouching down, she placed both hands on Nowi's shoulders.
"You don't ever have to apologize for how you felt back there. You don't need to fight. You don't need to be brave. You're going to protect every Shepherd on this tree from those wyverns. Just wait here for my signal. Please."
In a flurry of green hair, Nowi threw her arms around Lucina's neck and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you," the girl whispered. "I… thank you. I don't know why you've been so patient with me. I won't let you down." She giggled. "I'm going to scare the scales off of those lizards."
Lucina helped her into the cavity, confident that the Manakete wouldn't be able to see anything that might happen next. The princess retrieved Falchion and turned back to the barrack.
A score of soldiers had broken away from the main Valmese force. They made straight for the sleeping wyverns. As Lucina watched, the figure at the head of the group suddenly jerked backwards and fell, causing the two close behind to trip over his corpse. The riders all dropped to the grass; save one, who made the fatal error of leaning over to inspect her fallen comrade. An arrow sprouted from the curious woman's chest.
Noire couldn't keep all eighteen of the remaining wyverns riders pinned down for more than a few minutes. Lucina's father and the rest of the Shepherds would no doubt be on their way up the Tree at that moment. She had no time to be cautious.
The outside of the structure had only one, crude door and two small gaps in the timbers that acted as windows.
Lucina crashed through the door, arresting her momentum by slamming her shoulder into a surprised guard. As the man stumbled backwards with a yelp, she bounced off of him and swung Falchion at the head of another red and gold clad figure who had been standing just to the side of the entrance. He, too, went down, clutching a red slash across his neck.
Not including the two she'd just felled, seven other men and women were standing in the confined space, staring, stunned by her appearance. Behind them, huddled in the far corner, were five figures; all wearing red robes identical to those of the Voice.
With a wordless roar, Lucina threw herself at the closest soldier. The spearwoman fumbled awkwardly to raise her weapon, clattering it loudly on one of the pathetic looking beds that stood out in rows from the walls of the shack. The princess left her clawing desperately at a hole thrust through her side.
Turning, sparks flew as Falchion clashed with an axeblade in mid-swing. The man wielding it grunted in surprise, clearly not expecting Lucina's speed. Before he could rally, she kicked him hard in the fork of his legs and -as he flinched and his grip slackened, shoved the axe back and brought the pommel of Falchion down with a crack into his temple.
A zip followed by a scream marked the second time Noire had aided the princess that night. As she spun, Lucina caught the exact moment an arrow came streaking through one of the windows and buried itself in the shoulder of another spearwoman who had been trying to strike at her. Falchion ended her pained wailing in a single stroke.
Three of the four remaining soldiers advanced on her as one, finally having shaken off their initial surprise. The remaining man turned, drawing a short sword, he made his way towards the prisoners.
Lucina feinted left, then whipped her blade high to the right. One of the guards howled and grabbed what was left of his ear. But, as she danced backwards to avoid a spear thrust from one of the others, the princess suddenly felt an explosion of pain from her back. The blow dropped her to her knees, gasping. Over her shoulder, she saw the first guard she had rammed standing over her, raising an axe dripping with her own blood. The three other soldiers pushed forwards, eager to finish her off. But, she hadn't lost hold of Falchion.
She kicked back viciously, causing her would-be executioner to stumble. At the same time, she struck out with her sword, feeling its tip bite into someone's kneecap. But it was all for nothing if she couldn't stop the…
A black blur hurtled over the heads of the Valmese trying to reach her, directly at the soldier who was menacing the prisoners. Gaius plunged his daggers deep into the man's back just as he had begun to point his sword at the first of the robed figures. The one remaining uninjured soldier turned and dashed back to assist his fallen fellow. That left Lucina with a now-hobbled spearman, a newly earless man brandishing a sword and the recovering axe wielder to deal with. She gave them all a predatory grin.
The princess had just dispatched the last man when she saw Gaius go down. His daggers could make quick work of an unaware foe. But, with a partially armored swordsman as an opponent, the thief was at a marked disadvantage. Still, he'd given a good account of himself, even managing to disarm the bigger man before he was smashed, full in the face, by a gauntleted fist.
Lucina leapt to attack his flank, and was caught completely off-guard as the soldier knocked her out of the air with a brutal backhand. Falchion spun from her grasp as she landed hard, breaking one of the rickety beds. Still dazed, she couldn't resist as the man grabbed her by the hair and flung her bodily back towards the entrance of the shack.
Desperately, she began to crawl away as the man strode over the bodies of his squad, shouting in Valmese at her. She made it to the door and, with the last of her strength, pulled herself out into the night. She rolled over onto her back, watching as the soldier appeared; framed in the doorway. He took a step towards her. He didn't take another.
Lucina groaned as she levered herself up into a sitting position. She put her arm up in the air, giving a thumbs up; hoping that Noire could see she was alright.
"Gaius?" she called into the shack.
After a moment, the thief stumbled out to join her in the grass, stepping gingerly over the corpse of the big soldier: an arrow sprouting from his eye-socket.
"How are the monks?" she asked.
"Breathing," came Gaius' exhausted response.
Lucina let her head thump back gently into the soil.
Cupping both hands around her mouth, she shouted into the night: "Nowi! Fly!"
She turned her head to watch as a bright flash split the darkness. For an instant, the Manakete was silhouetted clearly in light. Her hair grew and hardened into a horned crest as her limbs stretched and glistened with scales. The cloak she wore frayed, split and blossomed into two emerald wings. With a joyous trumpet, Nowi tossed back her angular head and threw herself into the sky.
The Valmese troops shouted in terror as the dragon flew once around the Pinnacle. Lucina watched as General Cervantes pointed his spear at Nowi, then in the direction of Tiki's garden.
With Noire shifting her focus to covering Lucina, the wyvern riders had managed to reach their mounts unhindered. Only two, however, had managed to fully strap themselves in when Nowi landed among them. The wyverns let out the panicked screams of animals that, after long considering themselves uncontested predators of their domain, encountered something much, much bigger.
The lesser drakes scattered into the air, disregarding their riders in their rush to flee. Most were thrown off to sprawl in the grass. Some tried to wrangle their wild mounts. None succeeded. Nowi swung her tail around in an arc, knocking the legs out from under any Valmese still foolish enough to be standing. The dragon opened her jaws and let loose a gout of seafoam flames -careful not to hit the soldier or the branches of the Mila Tree. She leapt back in the air, playfully snapping inches away from the tails of any wyverns foolish enough to try to return to their riders.
"Ain't that a pretty sight," Gaius said as Nowi performed a complete flip in the air.
Lucina looked over to him and winced. The thief's nose was a bloody ruin, an angry purple bruise was already forming on his lip and around both of his eyes. His grin was missing a few teeth.
"We need to get you down to a healer," the princess said.
Gaius shrugged.
"I'm in no rush. What about you, Little Blue? Saw you got tagged."
Lucina sat up and let him inspect where the axe had bit her. She fumbled with the tie on the harness that had secured Falchion to her back. After a few seconds without success, Gaius passed her one of his daggers. She sliced the leather along a seam, where it would hopefully be able to be repaired.
"It's a real bleeder," Gaius commented, "But not too bad. It looks like you have this scabbard to thank for still having a spine. Watch out, this isn't going to be pleasant."
Lucina gritted her teeth as Gaius dusted the wound with vulnerary. The skin on her back crawled and spasmed as the powder bonded to the injury. It would cauterize the gouge -as well as act as an antiseptic, until the princess' body had metabolized the enchantment. She would still have to join Gaius in the medical tent once it wore off. Once he was finished, the thief rubbed the remaining powder specking his fingers into the split in the bridge of his nose.
"Did you manage to take out all of the mages?" Lucina asked.
"No, ma'am. Caught most of 'em sleeping, but three got away."
The princess didn't have the energy to swear.
"We need to-"
An explosion shook the night. It seemed that General Cervantes believed his operation was over, and that the Pinnacle shouldn't outlive it. The shrine -Lady Tiki's home, was blasted apart by a ball of flames. The three missing mages stood together, their tomes open and channeling magics magnified to monstrous strength by the imbibing of Mila's sacred waters. As Lucina watched, a globe of fire sprang from one of the spellcaster's outstretched hand, obliterating a segment of overhanging branch, sending hundreds of feet of wood crashing down into the grass.
A voice cut across the destruction, causing the mages to look around; confused. A lone woman in flowing red robes strode towards them. Lady Tiki spoke again in Valmese, her gentle tone somehow carrying over even the screaming wyverns. The three spellcasters answered only with a wall of flames.
For a moment, night was replaced by day as Lady Tiki raised both of her arms. The ever-present, mysterious streamers of light whirled and gathered around the Manakete. The crown of the Mila Tree itself seem to bend in towards her; the air vibrated with the whip-crack creaking of its branches. She was engulfed in a pillar of light. The mage's spells were little more than sparks against the hide of the true Voice of Naga.
A brilliant white dragon, more than triple the size of Nowi, let out a roar that Lucina felt in her chest. Two of the mages desperately began flipping through the pages in their spellbooks. Only one had the sense to turn and run.
Lady Tiki pounced on the invaders that had attacked her home, crushing the hapless spellcasters under her front claws. The fleeing figure only made it halfway back to the other Valmese defenders when the dragon lashed out with her barbed tail. Their upper body vanished in a red mist.
This one will fight, unlike her mother, Lucina thought with wonder.
The Valmese forces broke and ran. But, as they reached the Mila Tree's stairway, they were met by a dozen of their own soldiers in full retreat. The confusion of the Pinnacle guards was answered by a bellowing war cry.
"Shepherds! Charge!"
Lucina's father tore up the stairway, brandishing his own, younger Falchion; Frederick and Sully hot on his heels. Her mother, flanked by Cordelia and Cherche, soared up and over the lip of the Pinnacle, sewing chaos among the already panicking foe. But, pushing out ahead of all of them: a nightmare in her blood spatters leathers; hair streaming with hundreds of brass bells, marched Princess Say'ri.
Valmese soldiers fell before her blade like wheat to the scythe. Gone was the precise, flowing fighting style Lucina had seen from her during the liberation of Rosanne. Pure, brutal rage guided her hand as she carved a bloody path through General Cervantes force. Until she came face to face with the man himself.
The General shouted loudly at Say'ri. Lucina could hear the challenge in it, even though she didn't speak the language. The Princess of Chon'sin said nothing, the eerie jangle of her war-bells responding for her.
In any other battle, Cervantes would have had the overwhelming advantage. Say'ri's blade couldn't pierce his heavy armor. His spear reached a full six feet past his opponent's own sword. His size alone might have earned him victory. Now, it was all he could do to survive.
Say'ri stuck like a serpent, pushing him back again and again. Giving him no openings to go on the offensive. Even from where she sat, Lucina could see chips flying from the other princess' blade each time she scored a blow on the General's armor. One such hit caused her sword to jerk and deform: the flat of the blade bending like a taut bow.
Cervantes took the opportunity to shove his attacker and made to dash away across the Pinnacle. A tail like a tree trunk -armored with scales the size of bucklers, smashed down, cutting off his escape. Lady Tiki let out a low growl, but made no move to finish the General. He spun and threw up his spear in time to ward off a killing blow to his face from Say'ri's bent blade.
She resumed pushing him back, further and further. Suddenly, Lucina saw a change in Say'ri. A brief moment of clarity seemed to quench the mad rage. Her form returned to that of a master of the blade. She delivered a single, perfect feint.
Cervantes grinned, thinking that he had found his opening. He dodged backwards, batting the awkward strike away with his armored forearm while raising his spear for a killing thrust. His grin vanished with the rest of him.
The remains of the Valmese forces threw down their arms in surrender as they watched their General disappear off the edge of the Pinnacle. The Shepherds had indeed won the day.
Lucina watched as Say'ri turned to survey the charred ruin of her faith. The Princess of Chon'sin dropped to her knees and screamed into the dawn.