Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[CobyTheGoober]

Stew? What was Rolo thinking! There was no way some street vendor is gonna have a cauldron of stew just sitting around. Seeing the Woman`s slight frustration, Rolo felt quite embarrassed after his weird answer.

Rolo turned around and noticed that the Woman`s horse seemed a bit on edge?

[Phoenix]

Shopping Around.

The nearby merchant eyed Greta and the nosy horse with suspicion. He did his best not to let that ruin a potential sale, however, and put on his best smile given the circumstances. "Good day," he waved, "could I interest you in some fresh picked apples? Your beautiful equine there seems sold, already."

Honestly, how does Nadya deal with you, Greta groaned inwardly as she gave Luca's reins one more good tug to get him to stop sticking his head so close to the produce. "Yeah, I dunno what I'm gonna do with him. I guess we could buy a few. How much?" Greta reminded herself to ask the man about any places that might be serving bread or stew before they left. She was almost certainly the latter was going to be at least a small restaurant, though. There was always the chance that Rolo would change his mind and just snack on an apple for a while, but she wasn't going to assume one way or the other.

"I've got a special offer on right now," he held up a finger, his smile widening, even as Greta crossed her arms in anticipation. "Just six silver per dozen. If you're not planning on traveling light, though, I'd be willing to part with two and a half dozen for only twelve silver. What do you think?"

I think he's messing with me, Greta winced. "Have the prices gone up, or somethin'? I don't remember apples costin' this much recently." She had more than enough to get as many apples as she wanted since she was carrying gold and not silver, but that didn't mean she was fine paying whatever price she was initially given. Expenses added up quick and her gold could disappear in hours if she never haggled or investigated the cost of something.

"I'm afraid so," the merchant nodded. "Food was already starting to get a little scarce thanks to the war, but my buddies and I are predicting a pretty big jump in demand thanks to that tragedy in Europa." That again, Greta looked away from the merchant for a moment. "The wrathites even lost their boss in all of that craziness. It's a real shame."

[CobyTheGoober]

As the Woman was cahatting with the sales man. Rolo contemplated on what he should do later.

If he continued to go on his journey, he would have to resort to stealing, and might just end up wandering the continent aimlessly. Or he could just goes home after the Woman does what she wants, and tough it out for a bit til he reaches his village.

Knowing what stealing got him this time, Rolo knew that the ladder decision was more sound.

[Nanami Touko]

"Right, right. <Sasha, let's get this finished off.>" Eva didn't wait for his men to come over, guiding Sasha over to the other side of the whole, and getting him to dig it out a bit more, just to make sure it was big enough for his men to bury the bodies in. Perhaps they wouldn't need to overlap any of them.

[Phoenix]

Musings

It looked like the digging was almost done. That just left burying Fizza's kills and then most likely moving ahead--cautiously--to find Norbert and Rizen, Shadrak reminded himself. Well the idea worked, though he'd forgotten whose idea it was originally. He still had plenty of energy left in him for a fight and the monumental task of digging a ditch big enough for eight bodies was practically finished. They would be heading off in a few minutes, he figured, so he stood back up and began stretching. "Here's hoping Sonya's not too early ... and we're not too far behind."

Buying Surplus

There was little love lost between Greta and the Wrathites, especially given the company she'd been keeping and the fact that the wrathites were probably looking for a way to head them off somewhere as she and the merchant spoke. "Well, look, we could use the extra food since it's gonna be quite a trip, but I'm not carryin' silver pieces, right now."

"Big spender, I see," the merchant chuckled.

"No, just me bein' stupid," Greta shook her head. "So used to buyin' in bulk I forget to take more than just gold half the time. Anyway, I'd appreciate a bargain here, especially since your demand prediction could be completely off." She held up two of her gold coins for the merchant. "If you break one of these for me and give us three dozen apples, all of my choosin', plus the baskets to carry'em in, you can keep the other, along with two silver to meet your original price."

"My original price plus six more apples and a couple of baskets," the merchant quickly summarized. "Okay, that'll do," he nodded casually and accepted the two gold coins from her. It was a bit of a strong arming, but he was still making a profit, so the concession was only a minor one for him.

"You're gonna help me carry these for now," Greta informed Rolo with a light smirk.

[spoiler=The Legend]

After outlining Obelisk's immediate plans, as well as pointing out her wariness of the forth Ursian God, Truth, Freyya went on to explain the strange political situation in Tartarus. Rai-Ryu was nothing if not amused by how horrifically Architect Fervor's plan could backfire. He made that much abundantly clear. <"So ... Steinn leaves for Ursium, and this Ragna woman turns your emperor into a giant bird, forcing the succession battle to begin before Steinn can return, ensuring that he can't win said battle. But it's not so simple to disqualify a willing prince ... and now the lad's free to counter Valdimarr's regime in any way he sees fit. That's not to say it will be easy, and Valdimarr definitely has the people on his side for the time being, but Valdimarr's stronger, and his only chance to thoroughly prove that was thrown away for an easier victory. Now it's a battle of wits and he and his advisers are clearly out of practice. Hilarious.">

<"I find it rather amusing, myself,"> Freyya smiled weakly. Nori wasn't sure what was amusing about royalty dying left and right, but he wasn't exactly offended by the discussion, either.

<"I can always spot a legend in the works, and this is going to be a glorious one for your people, Princess,"> Rai-Ryu grinned mischievously. <"Even you may get a mention in the tale of Steinn Devlinos. If he pulls through, he'll be the final ruler of this age, and if he and the rest of your people survive, he'll be the first in the age to come. It's quite a promising legacy.">

<"You don't seem to approve of pointless slaughter,"> Freyya noted, tilting her head at the dragon, <"Why so much enthusiasm for a sovereign whose ultimate goal is perpetual war?">

<"That,"> Rai-Ryu's grin widened, <"is my little secret."> Freyya was intrigued but knew she wouldn't get anywhere pressing the issue further. <"It looks like they're here ... almost. Armies can be so slow."> He shook his head at the approaching forces. Freyya turned to face them and saw her escorts trying their hardest not to panic. She couldn't exactly blame them for being afraid. If violence broke out, nothing could save them and they could only hope to die with some semblance of dignity. The Kigenese weren't known for negotiating with their kind. They would strike down their own for even suggesting such a thing, so this encounter was promising to be some combination of interesting, and extremely dangerous.

[CobyTheGoober]

Rolo looked at the now smirking Woman thinking; I guess it's better than being shot.

[Phoenix]

Fruits of Labor

Luca was content, now that he had an apple to snack on, but he'd gotten a bit of saliva on a few of the other apples when he retrieved his own. Greta had a sneaking suspicion he'd done that on purpose. Horse or not, he was clever. It was just a question of whether he was clever enough to know that practically no one was going to want to touch the apples he'd already gotten spittle on. They left the merchant and his outdoor shop with two baskets of apples. Luca would have wound up carrying both of them if the saddlebags weren't in the way, but she didn't mind the slight burden, and she figured having Rolo do some legwork would serve as part of his punishment. She had to do something other than gently nudge him toward an honest living.

"So, I didn't exactly get much of an answer from ya last time," she began after they were out of earshot of the merchant, "Are ya an orphan or did ya run away from home or somethin'?"

This is Dangerous

Shadrak was half expecting himself or someone else to trip one of the mines. Even if no one got hurt, it would alert the bandits to their approach, and then anything could happen. However, Norbert managed to point out quite a few mines for them. Fizza's aid in confirming some of them added to what little confidence they had as they carefully crossed through the minefield. There were some close calls, a few gasps as a patrolman bumped into another and nearly set off a chain of explosions that could very well cut their numbers in half while alerting the enemy, but against poor odds, they made it to the other side.

Shadrak wanted to sit down after that relatively short distance, but thoroughly intense walk, but nowhere looked safe anymore, and he was feeling especially paranoid. For the moment he tried to wipe the remaining sweat from his brow and neck with his sleeves. "Never. Again," he promised himself.

"You know, that was actually pretty fun," Fizza said, grinning widely as one of the patrolmen next to her dropped to his knees and started sending up thanks over and over. "Some of these guys look a little worn out, though," she noted with a slight grimace.

"Every couple of steps was tempting fate," Doran hissed, "what do you expect? We've been on edge for way too long. I wish we could take a short break and get our wits about us, but we're almost out of time, dammit ..."

[CobyTheGoober]

"Oh uh... I guess you could say I ran away from home? It's uh... actually a pretty stupid reason why I left actually. I just kinda got bored living where I was before, and just left so I can find something more exciting to do. Sounds pretty stupid right?" Rolo quietly replied.

[Phoenix]

Endless Danger

"Wh-are you serious?" Greta's jaw dropped. "Your parents must be worried sick, Rolo! ... I know a life on the road seems fun comapred to just loafin' about in a village somewhere but it's a helluva lot more dangerous,." She knew that much first hand ... "I lost my whole family tryin' to live life on the go.

[CobyTheGoober]

"Wha- your whole family..?" Rolo wasn't expecting that answer.

[Phoenix]

Wounds

"Yeah," Greta nodded remorsefully, "It's this blasted war. Ma died ages ago but Pa and my little brother, Shaun ... I lost them thanks to the war. One of the empire's dragons ambushed us along with a few troops and I lost both of'em. It ... actually wasn't too far away from Ursaea."

[CobyTheGoober]

"The war huh..." Rolo had a care free life in his village, so he never really paid attention to stuff like that.

Rolo looked at the Woman, and quietly said "Sorry for bringing up something like that."

[Phoenix]

Market

"Don't worry about it," Greta said, smiling to assure him while shaking her head once for emphasis, "besides, I was the one that brought it up. I'm serious, though. Your parents must be worried sick. They aren't important types, are they? Your father's not a mayor or somethin' like that?"

[CobyTheGoober]

"they aren't very special my Mom and Dad are just the owners of a small bakery." Rolo then put on a small grin and continued. "But yeah... they must be really worried. Well at least they wont be worried any more. I'm gonna head home soon and see them soon enough. It's gonna be a tough journey to make it back to my village from here, but... I think I can make it if I just tough it out. It was stupid of me to head off anyway. The only reason I went on a journey was because I heard a rumour of some weird artefact or something called the Fire emblem or something like that."

[Phoenix]

Indecision

Greta's jaw dropped once again at the revelation. "The Fire Emblem?" Of all the stuff he could be searching for ... She was at a loss for how to proceed, now, and it showed with her slowed pace and confused expression. Luca could always recognize distraction and bewilderment in humans, and used the opportunity to stealthily pick out another apple from the basket she was carrying.

"I ... don't know how to tell ya this, Rolo, but ..." The words certainly weren't coming easily. She could tell the boy that the Fire Emblem was just a myth and that he was unlikely to ever find it, then at some point send him on his way. Alternatively, she could tell him the truth, that the Fire Emblem was not only real but that someone in her group was carrying a fragment of it with her. It was the reason the wrathites were after them. Both paths came with some rather obvious pros and cons, which was why Greta was having so much trouble deciding what to tell Rolo. "It's ... the emblem's ... ... it's ..."

[CobyTheGoober]

"hm?" After his remark, the Woman's paced slowed down, and she started to mumble a bit. Rolo could make out what she was saying of course though.

"What about the emblem?" Rolo asked with a confused expression.

Edited November 14, 2015 by CobyTheKid

[Phoenix]

Decision Time

In the end, Greta decided to simply tell Rolo the truth. This was going to turn into quite the pain, but there was no point in punishing the boy for his moral misstep if she was going to immediately attempt to justify one of her own. "Ya should know," she began, her expression downtrodden and her posture somewhat slack from all the mental debate, "the emblem's actually ..." Greta paused, only just now realizing another problem with explaining the situation. Luca lifted another apple from the basket she was carrying in the meantime.

"On second thought, it's probably better if I don't spill the details, but I can at least tell ya it's real. Thing is, though, the wrathites are after it, and they aren't gonna go easy on anyone they find who has one of 'em. It's actually in some pieces. I dunno how many but the wrathites seem to want all of'em, so ya need to be careful." I need to be careful, too, Greta reminded herself. "What'd ya want it for, anyway? Why go lookin' for it on just a rumor?"

Edited November 17, 2015 by Phoenix

[CobyTheGoober]

"Wha- it's real?" Rolo was dumbfounded. He never expected the rumour to be true, and that others are pursuing it as well.

"You're pulling my leg Woman, aren't you?. I went on a "journey" to find it, and I didn't even believe that it was true. I only went out to find it since I just wanted to not be bored."

[Phoenix]

Eavesdropping

"Because ya were bored ...?" Whom was pulling whose leg, exactly? Greta supposed someone his age might be more powerfully motivated by boredom than she was. Shaun hadn't ever been like that, though, so it still came as somewhat of a surprise. "That's not even a remotely good reason to worry your folks half to death, Rolo."

Luca had begun to reach for another apple when he noticed a human male walking somewhat uncomfortably close behind him. There were lots of humans around but they all had the sense to respect Luca's personal space and not try to stay in his and, interestingly, Greta's blind spot. Luca didn't really care who he was or what he wanted, really; Luca just wanted him to open up a little more distance between them. He flicked his tail once as a warning, just barely brushing up against the man's nose and causing him to miss a step. That was more like it.

"What if ya did find it and then the wrathites found you? I doubt they'd go easy on ya just 'cause you're a kid."

"You seem to be quite afraid of the Order of Wrath," came a curious voice from somewhere behind Greta and Rolo, "but why, if you've done nothing wrong? It's not as if you have the Fire Emblem, and I doubt your little companion here would ever manage to obtain such a thing." Greta cringed as she turned to see who was talking to them. An eavesdropper was the last thing she needed, right now. Luca took the opportunity to pilfer another apple from over her shoulder. That was the second last thing she needed. "Have the wrathites been harassing you?"

"Just rumors," Greta covered, trying not to look nervous, "but I believe'em. Besides, didn't ya hear, pal? They arrest the Winged Cleric of all people. I wouldn't put anythin' past'em after that."

"To be fair, she did escape them, and whoever helped her left a great deal of bodies in their wake," the man nodded at his own words, leaving no room for argument. "Whatever the truth of the matter is, the Winged Cleric is involved in something highly dangerous, and probably illegal, and the wrathites ... likely know as much. It'd be a shame if you and your friend were also involved in something similar."

Greta grit her teeth in frustration. Just get to the blasted accusations already! You're NOT subtle! "Of course not, but that's no reason not to warn the kid. He's not my 'companion' by the way, he's just helpin' me carry these." She didn't want Rolo to be implicated or looped in with her and the rest of the group, so she used the truth as best she could to ensure that. She knew it might already be too late depending on how much of the conversation he'd heard and what conclusions he'd come to based on that, and trying to convince him of anything might actually work against her in the end, but she was already floundering at this point and looking for some way to end the conversation and put as much distance between them and this stranger as she possibly could.

Preliminary Strategy

"We still don't know what kind of fortifications we're dealing with, or much of anything really," the guard captain pointed out, "so it's probably best if we send someone over to quietly check the place out and then get back here so we can come up with a plan before Sonya shows up."

"I've been giving that some thought myself, actually," Shadrak spoke up, "I don't recall Sonya mentioning multiple entrances, so if they only have one, then we can cage them in. See, normally that wouldn't work because they could just wait us out, and Sonya would have to contend with the ballistae the entire time, but since we might be able to cut or melt through part of the outer wall, we can have one group block off the entrance after Sonya distracts them, and then have the other breach the wall and take them all by surprise. Anyone who tries to run will get ambushed by the gate team. We'll get all of them and unless they want to play hide and seek, it probably won't take us very long, either."

"What if they have fliers?" Doran chimed in. "They were trying to get those, remember? Using our riders and our pegasi."

"Take out any ballista you see and Sonya can deal with the fliers," Shadrak suggested, as if it were obvious.

"No way," Doran shook his head, "anything she does will kill the pegasi. If we could replace them that easily we wouldn't be out here on foot assaulting these bastards."

"She did say she wasn't going to attack the bandits directly, so we probably shouldn't be counting on her to pick up the slack," the guard captain noted.

"Well ..." Shadrak pondered the issue a bit more seriously for a moment. "It's not like they have anywhere to run. I still think we should let Sonya deal with the fliers if there are any, but it's not like we don't have fliers of our own. If they try to run Bert and Eva could go after them. Eva could take Angelica and I could ride with Bert and we could hit them from a distance if they get a head start. We should be able to bring the riders down without killing the pegasi as long as there aren't too many."

"I don't like this," Doran muttered under his breath. "We're just going to have to kill those riders before they even get to their mounts."

[scorri]

Lumi frowned at the talk of killing pegasi and then spoke up. "Why not send someone after the pegasi? Some of our people could potentially grab them and get them out of the way or to the prisoners depending on the setup of the camp if the rest of us are distracting the bandits. Pegasi can be picky about who rides them in my experience, and I doubt they'll be a huge fan of having random people ride them, especially if they bonded well with their riders and know that they're still alive and nearby."

[CobyTheGoober]

Rolo turned his face to meet the eyes of the eavesdropper. Looking into the stranger's eyes he felt a cold chill run down his spine. Rolo then looked back at the Woman and nervously murmured' " I-I don't really like where this is going... Let's just ignore him and walk away."

[Phoenix]

A Steady Retreat

Greta definitely wanted to get away from the man, but she wasn't sure how he would respond to that. If he proved persistent, or worse yet, turned out to be more than he seemed, perhaps some authority figure, then they might have to take even more risky measures. "Well, neither of us are involved in anythin' like that, so don't you worry," Greta said after a moment's pause. "We've got places to be, though, so we're gonna go, now."

The man rubbed his chin as if considering something, and Greta took his silence an opening and started walking, again, expecting Rolo to follow along. Luca spared the man one final glance before focusing forward again and starting after his temporary handler.

Save the Pegasi

"Like I said," Doran spoke again, "kill the riders before they get to the pegasi. Once they take off it'll be too late." Shadrak glared at him. There didn't seem to be much faith in the mages' ability to accurately target the riders. "Go ahead and get to them first if you can, but otherwise I don't see us saving our pegasi."

[Mercakete]

"What an idiot..." Norbert muttered to himself, shaking his head. His arms were crossed and he was still in Rizen's saddle. He hadn't seen any reason to dismount since landing.

To those discussing tactics, he spoke up. "We don't know enough to do anything but make guesses -- no plan's going to hold for very long, so it doesn't make sense to try to choose just one. The dragon's going to distract their balliticians, but if they see us flying around, they might turn one of the ballistae on us and just keep the majority on her. I don't know what she plans on doing, so personally, I'd like to keep that possibility in mind."

Then, he turned his attention to Shadrak. "That said, us going up and knocking down some riders isn't a bad idea." Again, he returned his attention to the group as a whole. "Pegasi can move faster than humans. So, there's a chance they'll mount up and fly before anyone can get to them. Obviously, I'd rather keep the bandits away from pegasi in the first place," then, he regarded Lumi "and free their rightful riders so we can get some reinforcements. Each of them can keep her mount safe personally that way." Again, his attention broadened. He also shrugged. "But it might not be possible. So, we have to make contingency plans, and even that might not be enough. We'll have to adapt, whatever happens, and I haven't heard anything remarkably stupid yet, so why not take all of these approaches into consideration? Whatever the situation warrants the most, we'll do."

Then, he looked to the guard captain. "And if you'd like, I could ride over and see what the walls're like. Doesn't sound like anyone else is volunteering, and as I said earlier, pegasi are faster than humans. Could go on foot, too, though. These bandits might be on the alert for signs of pegasi."

[CobyTheGoober]

Rolo faced away from the stranger and followed the Woman's pace. As Rolo caught up with the Woman, he sighed heavily with relief and continued walking.

[Phoenix]

Tails

After carefully warning Rolo to keep quiet and simply follow along, Greta remained silent herself and kept the group's pace to something resembling a power walk as they tried to put some much needed distance between them and the mysterious man that had approached them. She didn't glance back until she was sure that seeing him again meant he was intent on stalking them. If Luca could speak, he could have told her that the man hadn't left view since they started their hasty retreat. He also could have told her that two more males had decided to tag along, though they were wearing cloaks. When Greta noticed them she nearly flinched and she quickly turned to face forward, again.

"Dangit, dangit, dangit," she muttered repeatedly. I've got a really bad feeling that guy is a wrathite. She glanced back again, carefully. That was when she noticed the other two men in cloaks. They could hide their figures, but their armored greaves suggested they were battle ready fighters. "Dangit! Okay, don't panic," she said, more to herself than to Rolo. There was a good ten meters between them and their tails, but that was still too close to lose them in the crowd. "Rolo, how well do ya know these streets? Better than me, I hope. We gotta lose these guys."

Pegasi

"I don't recall anyone saying we should only try one thing," Doran said with an edge to his tone, "My point is we need to prioritize keeping the pegasi alive. We're not going to be able to replace them anytime soon and if any of them are compliant with the bandits, they could use them to escape."

"Right," Shadrak said with a glower, "you just don't think our mages, myself included, are capable of removing the riders without hurting the pegasi ... and no offense, but you're wrong. I agree though, we should try to get to the pegasi and make sure the enemy doesn't. If we can free them without getting cornered, that'd be great, too, but I won't get my hopes up. Things aren't really going to come together until we find out where they're being held and where the prisoners are."

"Those flying horses really are sacred in Ursium, aren't they?" Fizza teased.

The guard captain shook his head at that and then turned to Norbert. "I was going to send a couple of my men, but a rider is faster," he approved, "just take someone with you. Two sets of eyes are better than one."

Fliers

"Haythem," Amon said, tapping the wyvern rider on the shoulder and shaking him with a hand a moment later. "Haythem!"

"What? Do you see another weird wind thing I should be following?"

"No, Haythem, behind us," Amon said through gritted teeth. This should be good, rather terrible, Haythem thought as he glanced over his shoulder. He could just barely make out something else in the sky behind them. All he could tell was that it looked like a large wyvern, but the distance was all wrong. "Do you think that might be ...?"

Might? No, Haythem told himself. That was a dragon, and an especially large one at that. Even Isis was puny by comparison. Worse yet, it seemed to be gaining on them from their five o'clock, although it seemed to be heading in the same general direction as they were. <"... we are going to die,"> Haythem said in rexian, too shocked to even express his fear outwardly.

"What's another dragon doing in this area?" Amon mused aloud.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Phoenix