A Fire Emblem Story-Chapter 3-New Knowledge

 

Cassandra woke up early to a blue jay singing at the top of its tiny vocal chords. Glaring at the pastel dawn clouds, she rolled over and stood silently. As she studied the sleeping faces of her companions, her heart dragged her attention back to the cemetery. Stepping over Klein and Forde, she entered the cemetery, skimming over the names engraved on the headstones. Her eyes locked on a shabby slab of stone in the corner of the lot, which read ‘Elbert Hall’. Cassandra wandered over slowly, as if ashamed to return to this grave after all these years. Her father lay deep in the ground, his bones rotted and his skin withered away. Running her hand across the eroded name, Cassandra brushed away the dirt.

“Hello, father,” she whispered, brushing off her hand. “It’s been a while. You should’ve seen mother’s face when she saw me. I feel awful for leaving you two alone for so long. I hope you two didn’t fight much.” Laughing softly, Cassandra sat and hugged her knees to her chest. “I’m going to leave again, but this time Roy’ll be with me. We’ll need your help, father. Don’t leave me, okay?”

A soft wind blew at her short hair. Smiling, she stood. “I thought so.”

“Who’re you talking to?” Klein asked, weary from sleep. “The wind? I don’t think it’s going to be very bad today.”

“Yeah. A good day to start marching, or whatever Roy has planned.”

“Yeah.” Klein agreed, grinning. “Hey, Cass. I’ve never thanked you.”

“For what?” Cassandra asked, confused.

“For taking me with you.” Suddenly Klein laughed. “Classes seem unbelievably boring right now.”

Cassandra laughed with him, her sorrowful thoughts forgotten. “That they do.”

“What are you two laughing about?” Roy groaned, still half-asleep.

“Up and at ‘em, ‘your highness’,” Cassandra barked, rushing out of the cemetery and out to their little camp. Forde and Zeiss had awoken and were getting ready to leave. “Are you sure you want to come with us?” She clarified.

“Of course,” Forde replied hastily, strapping his quiver across his chest. “We would’ve made our move during the night if we didn’t trust you.”

“He has a point,” Roy pointed out. “We’re sitting ducks when we just sleep out in the open.”

“I suppose so,” Cassandra mused. “Where’s our first route, Roy?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t bring a map with me.” Roy admitted, blushing. 

“That’s okay,” Klein piped up. “Cass is a complete genius at geography. Isn’t that right, Cass?”

“I suppose so.” Cassandra shrugged.

“Which way is Jasper?” Roy asked, biting his lip. Attacking Jasper was his one and only priority.

“North,” Cassandra immediately said, picturing a map in her mind. “But marching in on Jasper like we are right now is not a good idea.”

“Why?” Roy asked. “The best way to do this is to take them on head-on.”

“We only beat the two fleets they sent at us because they had leaders that were incompetent enough to screw up the simple task of taking you.” Cassandra reasoned. “It’ll be much harder when they actually send a general who can lead an army. Consider us lucky.”

Defeated, Roy remained silent.

“Then what do we do?” Zeiss asked, looking between the two cousins. 

“I say we go east,” Klein suggested.

“East? What’s over there?” Roy asked.

“Britannica.” Cassandra said right away, remembering. “I’m not saying that we shouldn’t get to Jasper as soon as possible, but we have to snoop around a little to see exactly what we’re dealing with.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Klein nodded. “Except we don’t have horses.”

 

Britannica, a small town on the edge of the mountains, buzzed with life to the fullest. Roy, Klein, Cassandra, Zeiss, and Forde trudged sleepily through the gates of the town, almost dead compared to the other villagers. 

“Ugh.” Klein groaned.

“Ugh?” Cassandra asked, raising an eyebrow. “What’s ugh?”

“How can these people be so…chipper? So early?”

“It’s Britannica.” Roy told him, rolling his eyes. “This place always has something going on.”

“But why are they always so…”

Before Klein could finish, an explosion sounded at the end of the street. The laughs and cheers of the crowd soon turned into screams of horror.

“What the-what’s going on?” Cassandra asked the nearest person. The man looked to the source of the explosion with fear in his eyes.

“It’s the Imperial Army!” He cried, trying to run away. Cassandra caught his arm and pulled him back.

“Do you know what they want?”

“No!”

“Who’s fighting?” Roy asked, glaring at Cassandra.

“Three strangers against them. They looked tough.”

Roy met Cassandra’s eyes for a moment and nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, sir.” She nodded back, leading the group against the crowd.

 

When they’d passed the crowd, the three that the man had spoken of were easy to pick out next to the Imperial Army. The closest to them was a Pegasus, its brilliant white feathers gleaming in the morning sun. Its rider, surprisingly a man, held a spear in his hand, throwing them at all the nearest enemies when they were too far away to pierce with his lance. His chocolate brown hair was shaggy but short and barely touched his jade-colored armor. In front of him and to his right stood a man with light orange hair that hung to his shoulders and holding a razor-sharp ax in both hands, swiftly cutting down enemies that came too close. To the Pegasus knight’s left stood a girl swathed in black robes, her hood pulled back to reveal dark red-and-black hair that was cropped to just above her chin. She was slowly chanting spells that were completely alien to Roy as dark clouds of magic flew out of her hands. Forde pulled out his bow and drew an arrow, aiming it at an archer that was about to try to hit the Pegasus knight. Before the enemy could fire, Forde let go of his arrow. The projectile flew at an amazing speed and successfully killed the archer. The three whirled to see the other five, standing ready to fight. 

“Who are you?” The Pegasus knight asked as the others went back to fighting.

“We’re on your side, that’s all you need to know.” Cassandra told him, drawing her dagger.

“So you’re here to help us?”

“Uh, yeah. How many are there of them?”

“Quite a few.”

“Can you see the end of them?” Roy asked.

“Yes, yes I can.”

“How many?”

“They only go on for at least another kilometer.”

“That’s nothing,” Cassandra snorted. “We’ll help you guys out.”

“What?”

“Eight is better than three, pal.” Klein smiled. “And I am itching for a fight.”

“…Fine.” He decided. “Just don’t get in the way.”

“I was about to say the same to you.”

Running forward to match a man with a sword, Zeiss covered for the red-haired man, Forde ran to shoot anyone with the intent of shooting down the Pegasus, and Roy ran to help the shaman. Klein and Cassandra, on the other hand, rushed forward to start mowing down the troops. With the newcomers arriving, the Imperial Army slowed down just a little bit, but they came with as much force as the ones before had. By the time that most of the troops had almost thinned out and there were only five or six left, their leader took aim with an arrow at the Pegasus knight.

“Hear my words: I am Rennac of the Jasper Imperial Army! No one passes here alive! Britannica is ours!” The white-haired man yelled, his colorless face marred by anger. With that, he let go of his arrow, sending it flying in the direction of the winged horse. Forde took aim at the moving arrow, and when he had a clear shot, let go of his own arrow, successfully knocking it off course. Cassandra caught it and snapped the hard wood as Zeiss swiftly thrust his lance into Rennac’s stomach. Rennac’s face turned blank and he fell over, not quite dead yet. Roy let a small chant roll off of his tongue, burning the rest of the life out of Rennac. Seeing their leader dead, the last five soldiers ran in terror, throwing their weapons down. 

“Thank you.” The Pegasus knight sighed. “Excuse my rudeness. I am Kent of the Kalae Pegasus Knights. These are my friends, Neimei and Glen.”

“Hello,” Neimei nodded. Glen waved. 

“I am Roy of Kalae,” Roy introduced himself. Upon hearing Roy’s name, Kent bowed so low that his nose almost touched his knees. 

“Prince Roy! What are you doing out of the castle, much less fighting?” Kent fussed.

“How long have you been away from the castle?” Cassandra asked, her arms folded over her chest and glaring at Kent. Straightening up with a confused look on his face, he turned to Cassandra.

“Who are you?”

“She’s my cousin, Cassandra.” Roy informed him.

“I’ll say it again: how long have you been away from the castle?” Cassandra repeated. 

“That is information I cannot give you,” Kent sternly told them.

“Tell me.” Roy said sternly. 

“That is information I cannot give you,” Kent repeated.

“Who ordered you not to tell?” Roy asked.

“That is information I cannot give you.”

“Listen, you cretin!” Cassandra growled, lunging forward and grabbing Kent by his shirt. “I don’t care who gave you the order not to tell, this is the Prince of Kalae, technically the King of Kalae now, and you tell him!” Kent fell silent, staring beyond her to Roy. 

“The King? What do you mean?”

“She means that my father is dead.” Roy harshly informed him. “Along with my mother and little sister.”

Kent’s eyes widened. “Who did this?”

“You can thank the Princess of Jasper, Erica.” Cassandra hissed.

“Cassandra! That’s enough. Let him go.” Roy ordered her. Huffing, Cassandra pushed Kent away and turned.

“The Princess of Jasper?” Kent asked, incredulous. “How…how did this happen?”

“They stormed the castle yesterday,” Klein informed the three. “There was no way to defend against the Imperial Army.”

“Who gave you orders not to tell me?” Roy demanded again.

“Your late father,” Kent admitted, ducking his head. “He knew something was wrong in Jasper, so he sent me, Neimei, and Glen to find out. We were on the way back when…this happened.”

“I see. What did you find out?” Roy asked. Kent bit his lip. “What is it?”

“Excuse my rudeness, sire, but I don’t feel right telling you this. It’s like…like I’m betraying your father.”

“Its okay, Kent. This is new to me, too. Just tell me.”

After a long, wistful stare, Kent sighed. “The king there is dead, too.”

Shock passed over the five others, immobilizing them. Cassandra and Klein were the first to recover.

“What about the prince?” Klein asked.

“I don’t know. He’s missing and declared dead right now.  Erica has taken over power.” Roy’s hands balled up into fists and he punched the wall next to him with the side of his hand. 

“D****t! How did this happen?”

“It’s a surprise to all of us.” Cassandra told him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Roy looked away.

“What are you doing out here, sir?” Neimei asked, running her hand on the front of her magic book. Her bright blue eyes scanned the other five. 

“What?” Roy asked, snapping out of his trance. “We’re marching to Jasper.”

“Jasper is the other way,” Glen replied, pointing west.

“We know,” Cassandra informed him. “We’re taking the roundabout way.”

“We need troops,” Roy explained. “The Kalae troops will be all but wiped out by now, and if they were smart, they’d be getting away from there as fast as possible.” Turning back to Kent, Roy asked, “You’re a soldier of Kalae, are you not?”

“Yes I am.” Kent nodded.

“Then will you help me and my friends?”

“Of course, sir.” Kent replied, bowing so low that his nose almost touched his knees again. “I know an inn that we can stay in for the night.”