Fire Emblem Fan Fiction ❯ Fire Emblem Tellius Saga: Book 3 ❯ CHAPTER 81: AMBUSH ( Chapter 15 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Elincia left them at the border, returning to Melior with Nailah, Rafiel, Reyson, and the medallion. In her stead, Sanaki assumed the task of petitioning Pelleas for permission to march through Daein. But Soren knew her insistence was futile. After three days without a reply, they finally marched on.

Keeping the mountains always on their right, the Apostle’s Army avoided major towns and cities. After two weeks, they were finally nearing Tor Holvar, and they hadn’t seen another Daein soldier since Oribes. While others rejoiced that Daein had given up, Soren felt an ambush was increasingly inevitable.

When he saw that their current route would lead them through the base of a massive ravine, it seemed too perfect a trap for Daein not to employ. He looked for different roads, but this close to the mountains, there were none except to pass through the nearest city, cause a panic, and warrant Daein’s counterattack.

He allowed the army to proceed as planned, but not without countermeasures. The Greil Mercenaries and a small laguz regiment would travel along the top of the ravine while the main army marched through the bottom. This way, they could detect and disrupt any ambush before it could get fully underway. He also recommended Ike deploy hawks as advance scouts, telling them to be on the lookout for soldiers among the dense trees or anything suspicious on the cliff’s edge. His final measure was to lighten Sanaki’s carriage and attach it to four pegasi in the front and back, rather than mere horses. In a worst-case scenario, they could fly her to safety with the Holy Guard providing cover.

On the day the army descended into the ravine, the sky was dark with rain, and soon it was falling in a thick, persistent drizzle. This, combined with the density of this conifer forest, meant the hawk scouts were all but completely useless. Even Janaff and Ulki’s sharp eyes and ears were dampened by the weather.

The beorc troops pulled their cloaks tight around their armor, and the laguz troops ducked their heads under their hoods. They stomped through the growing puddles, and the pegasi’s wings grew heavy with water. Soren often glanced down at them while making his way through trees, and he only felt a little safer up here than down there.

The mercenaries moved more slowly than the army, picking their way through the difficult terrain. Soren, for one, kept getting hit in the face with prickly branches, and he was as annoyed as he was soaked. Glancing at the army below, he judged that Sanaki and the Holy Guard were already a quarter-mile ahead. The mercenaries were supposed to stay alongside her, since she would be the prime target in case of an ambush. Now he was wondering if he should have organized a couple decoy carriages instead.

Another branch suddenly wacked him in the face, and he adjusted his route so he would no longer be walking behind Shinon. Now he was dangerously close to the wet rocks on the cliff’s edge, but he was out of the trees and had a better view of the army stretching ahead.

Rain water ran off of his hood and in front of his eyes, but he peered through the deluge, hoping his paranoia was unfounded. That was when the front of the army stopped moving. The entire column compressed to a confused stop. Darting back into the woods a moment, Soren reported to Ike: “Something’s happening!”

“Let’s move, people!” Ike called, “Find out what’s going on!” While the army below had come to a standstill, the mercenaries started moving faster through the trees.

“I smell oil,” Ranulf said suddenly.

“I smell it too,” Kyza agreed, sniffing the air while he ran. “A lot of it.”

Ike growled under his breath, not breaking his pace. “Whatever Daein’s doing, we need to put a stop to it.”

Just then, Soren heard fighting break out in the ravine. Braving the edge again, he saw Daein soldiers pouring out of the woods onto the cliff. Archers and mages were firing on the trapped army, while infantrymen took up positions wherever there were switchbacks, steps, or slopes gradual enough to climb. Here they fought to prevent any of the Apostle’s Army from making their way up. If Soren squinted, he could just make out black-armored soldiers in the ravine ahead of the army, preventing them from fleeing forward. Meanwhile, the ravine’s opposite side was too sheer to climb. It was a perfect ambush.

As the mercenaries got closer, Soren saw boulders perched on the cliff’s edge, and Daein soldiers were already pushing them. Down they rolled, crushing the densely-packed Crimean and Begnion soldiers at the bottom.

“They are being slaughtered…” he found himself saying, “It is Gaddos all over again.” The weight of defeat felt heavy on his shoulders.

“No, it’s not!” Ranulf shouted, apparently having heard his murmuring. “We can still stop this!”

Soren didn’t argue, but he did run faster. As much of a disaster as this was, it still didn’t account for the oil that even he could smell now. Finally he was close enough to see its source—twenty barrel-carts with long spouts evenly spaced along the cliff’s edge. Pairs of Daein soldiers were vigorously pumping the handles of the contraptions within the carts, thereby spraying oil over the ravine. Due to the rain, Soren couldn’t tell how many troops were being doused, but the carts were centered above the regiment of pegasus knights, which included Sanaki’s carriage.

“We need to stop the flow of oil,” Soren warned Ike. “They will light the ravine as soon as those barrels are empty.”

“Right! Everyone, put a stop to Daein’s traps!” Ike roared. “Let’s go!”

Finally, they reached the first Daein soldiers, who were obviously startled to see part of the Apostle’s Army coming out of the trees beside them. But once they realized they were facing a mere handful of mercenaries and laguz, they swiftly regained their confidence.

Soren used wind magic exclusively in this fight, because he feared a stray spark from a fire or thunder spell might somehow reach the oil and set it alight. Ilyana had the sense to do the same, and so the pair shared the winds, transforming the rain into a biting torrent.

The Daein battalion was tiny compared to the Apostle’s Army but vast compared to the mercenaries, and they struggled not to become overwhelmed. Before long, some hawk laguz and pegasus knights managed to avoid the onslaught of arrows and escape the ravine. Once they were above the cliff’s edge, they helped the mercenaries broadside the Daein defense. Together, they took out four of the oil sprayers and pushed forward to disable the rest.

But Soren stayed behind a moment. Conjuring another Wind spell, he blew a hole in the back of the nearest tank. The oil stank horribly, and when he approached, he was dismayed to see very little was left. Instinct told him not to touch it, but finding a stick, he prodded the dredges. When he pulled the twig away, he found this substance heavier, thicker, and stickier than regular oil: a naphtha concoction. He’d read about such mixtures before, but never seen one. Supposedly it burned hot and long, was difficult to remove from one’s skin or clothing, and was resistant to extinguishing. Upon first contact with a spark, it could also be explosive. Despite its difficulty to make, it seemed Daein had concocted a massive amount with the intention of subjecting the Apostle’s Army to a particularly hellish death.

“We cannot let them light it!” he called, running toward Ike. He and the others had disabled two more in the time Soren had been investigating.

“I hear you!” Ike called back, ducking to avoid a javelin thrown his way.

Soren figured it would be a waste of time to describe the danger of the naphtha. So he continued chanting, sending Wind and Elwind spells into any soldier he could reach. Nearby, Boyd seemed to be enjoying picking off distant foes with the crossbow he’d taken from Daein back at Oribes. While Rolf offered encouragement and advice, Oscar protected the three of them so they could focus on opponents farther away—or at least until Boyd seemed to grow tired of his new toy and slung it over his back. He charged forward with his axes drawn, and plunged into the nearest group of Daeins. Soren followed in his wake, hoping to get a better view of the ongoing battle and continue attacking from a better vantage point farther ahead.

 

Gradually Daein’s ranks thinned, and eventually all twenty carts were destroyed. But by the time the mercenaries reached the last one, the soldiers had ceased pumping anyway. Blowing a hole in the final barrel, Soren saw it was already empty. Glancing around, he looked for the Daein commander, wondering why they hadn’t yet set the ravine alight.

Seeing no one, all Soren could do now was help dismantle the last of the boulder traps (of which few remained) and push the Daein troops away from the cliff’s edge. Meanwhile, the Begnion soldiers within the ravine were finishing off the Daein soldiers who’d descended. That being said, there weren’t many Begnions left. The onslaught of arrows and rocks had already done their job, and the beorc portion of the Apostle’s Army had been cut in half. Lighting the naphtha now would eliminate the rest and ensure there were no survivors. 

Suddenly Soren caught sight of the enemy general in the distance, standing on a stone outcropping, overseeing the clifftop battle as well as the ravine below. Judging by her silver-white hair, it appeared the Maiden of Dawn was overseeing this ambush personally. A young woman of slight build, she was wearing a light pink tunic and a rich blue cape, but she didn’t seem bothered by the fact that her fine robes had been soaked in the rain.

Standing beside her was a tall, thin young man with a shock of dark, emerald-green hair. In contrast to Micaiah’s rich clothing, he was wearing nothing but canvas trousers, a green leather vest, and a ragged white scarf. Even at this distance, Soren knew this man must be Sothe: the child thief turned mercenary, now all grown up. Ilyana and Jill had both explained that Sothe and Micaiah were together (romantically speaking) so Soren wasn’t surprised to see him at her side. But he was surprised he looked so much like the vagrant the mercenaries had found stowed away on their ship almost eight years ago. He and the priestess-general made an odd pair.

Now Soren saw Tauroneo’s silver-white armor ascending to join them, and he felt confused and perturbed that this man would resort to such brutal tactics as using naphtha on trapped opponents. Soren might not care much for honor, but he’d thought Tauroneo did.

Surveying the rest of the soldiers near Micaiah, he was relieved to see that the Black Knight wasn’t among them. He didn’t appear to be anywhere on this battlefield, and Soren hoped he wasn’t about to show up. Needless to say, that would complicate matters—putting Ike in peril as well as the entire Apostle’s Army.

But Soren couldn’t afford to be distracted by thoughts of old comrades and new foes any longer. He had to face the opponents immediately in front of him if he wanted his current comrades to stay alive. New orders had been relayed from the general’s perch, and the Daein soldiers were rallying, fighting harder to reclaim the cliff’s edge. The Greil Mercenaries, laguz, and pegasi struggled to hold them back, but they weren’t even close to pushing them out of arrows’ range and volleys still fell on the army below. But not fire arrows—not yet.

These soldiers were positively glowing with pride, and they fought expertly. Their only weakness was that they tended to look over their shoulders, glancing at their distant general as if she might look their way and tell them they were doing a good job. (She did not.) Soren took full advantage of these lapses in attention. If a soldier was fool enough to look away, the parallel blades of Soren’s next wind spell would cut across their eyes and tear out their throat.

 

Eventually the rain started to let up, and with each passing minute, Soren wondered why Micaiah hadn’t ordered the naphtha set alight yet. Is she waiting for her men in the ravine to escape? he wondered and glanced down. No, they were already dead. Has she lost her units capable of setting the fire? he wondered next, glancing back. No, she had archers and fire mages standing right behind her. Has she lost her nerve? he finally thought, but at this distance, her face was impossible to see. He couldn’t know.

Whatever the reason for her delay, it didn’t last forever. Ike was leading the mercenaries toward her now, and that seemed to spur her to action. She raised her hand, and the legion of archers at her back raised flaming arrowheads. The small phalanx of fire mages walked closer to the edge.

“No!” Ike screamed, “Stop!”

“Don’t do this Micaiah!” Jill shouted, but her wyvern was too far away.

“What are you doing?” Ilyana moaned, shaking her head between her hands.

“Gotcha!” yelled Tibarn, and he was the only one whose voice lacked despair. He shot straight up, appearing at the cliff’s edge right in front of Micaiah, and as fast as a speeding arrow, he ripped Sothe off his feet.

“No!” came a woman’s scream, and Soren realized it belonged to Micaiah. She sounded oddly human for someone so revered—she sounded desperate. “Sothe!”

“Don’t move,” Tibarn warned, “I see one arrow fly, and the boy gets a quick lesson in falling.”

Sothe tried to fight back, but Tibarn merely threw him in the air, caught him, knocked the knife from his hand, and then wrapped him in his vicelike side-hug. Sothe might have grown taller these past few years, but Tibarn was still massive and easily kept his arms pinched uselessly to his sides. They were suspended over the ravine now.

“Sothe! No please! All units, cease fire! Now!” Micaiah ordered. Although most of the troops had already fallen still, fighting now ceased entirely. The fire mages moved back, and the archers lowered their bows. Ike and Ranulf ran closer to Micaiah, and the dazed soldiers let them pass. Apparently they knew Sothe was important to their beloved general, because they looked scared now that he was Tibarn’s hostage. Most were watching Micaiah nervously, awaiting new orders.

Soren tried to move closer too, but it seemed the soldiers weren’t going to let just anyone close to their general. Now that Ike and Ranulf had passed, they closed ranks to block Soren, Titania, Mist, and the others.

“Micaiah of Daein!” Soren heard Ike’s voice call: “Listen to me very, very carefully.”

“Tell him to release Sothe!” came Micaiah’s proud, defiant voice. Soren decided to move backward so he could get a better view.

“Not a chance,” Ike replied. He and Ranulf had stopped below the jut of stone on which Micaiah and Tauroneo were standing, but they couldn’t get any closer because six Daein shield knights were blocking them. “I’m offering you a choice: surrender now and go home, or fight us and die.”

Micaiah didn’t answer immediately; her attention kept turning from Ike to Tibarn. “We can’t,” she finally said, and Soren was grateful the rain had all but completely stopped so he could hear her words. “We won’t retreat or negotiate,” she continued, “Regardless of what you believe, the only choice we have is to fight.”

“Are you insane?” Ranulf demanded, taking a step forward. The knights leveled their lances between their shields, but he didn’t seem to care. He threw his arms wide, gesturing at the remnants of her clifftop battalion. “Look around! Every single person in your army will die! Do you care that little about them?”

Micaiah didn’t answer, but just then, Sigrun flew out of the ravine with Sanaki sitting in front of her. They hovered near Tibarn and Sothe, suspended by the pegasus’s powerful wingbeats. “Enough!” Sanaki demanded. “Everyone, stand down!”

“Apostle-” Ike growled, but he seemed to bite off his next words.

“I’ve seen enough bloodshed for one day!” Sanaki continued, addressing Micaiah. “That’s enough! Please, no more.” She shook her head, and Sigrun flicked the reigns. They twisted in a tight arc, flying west. Below her, the army started retreating back down the ravine. With Sanaki no longer on the ground, Soren hoped Micaiah wouldn’t try to set the army on fire again.

“We’ll retreat for now,” Ike announced. “You’d better do the same, and I mean now. I’m not sure how long I can hold my troops back.” Although he was still in human form, Ranulf snarled to emphasize his words.

“But we can’t!” Micaiah cried out, and her voice was squeezed by desperation again. This surprised Soren, who was forced to conclude the Maiden of Dawn wasn’t allying herself with Begnion because the senate promised her power. They must have some leverage on her instead.

“Fine,” Tibarn replied, “His death is on your hands then. Sorry, little Sothe, your girlfriend just killed you. Say a quick goodbye.”

Sothe started squirming again, trying to grab onto Tibarn for security. “No, wait, Micai-” he cried out. But then Tibarn released him, and his protests became a wordless shriek.

“NO! SOTHE!” Micaiah screamed, running to the cliff’s edge. A soldier grabbed her before she could go over (which was a pity, because a lot of the Apostle’s Army’s problems could have been solved if the premier general of Daein threw herself off a cliff for love). While she stared, disbelieving, at the edge, Ulki steadily pulled himself out of the ravine, holding Sothe by the shoulders. The soldier let go of her, and Micaiah fell to her knees in relief.

Tibarn took a woozy-looking Sothe from Ulki, muttered something Soren couldn’t hear, and dropped him next to Micaiah. Then he and Ulki flew west without another word.

“General Tauroneo!” Ike suddenly called out, raising his hand to signal the old man. “I’ll ask you one last time: talk some sense in that girl, alright? She’s losing it.”

Tauroneo took a few steps down the rocky slope and cast his eyes over Ike, Ranulf, and then the rest of the mercenaries. “We won’t pursue you this time,” he finally answered. “However, we cannot avoid this war. That is all I will say for now. And Ike…I’m sorry for this.”

Ike threw up his hands in frustration and turned on the spot. He seemed to be grumbling something to himself, or maybe Ranulf, but Soren couldn’t hear. The Daein soldiers followed Tauroneo’s instruction and moved back toward their general. As soon as Ike and Ranulf reached them, the mercenaries began retreating too. 

 

Once the army was safely out of the ravine, Soren recommended they seek shelter in an old fort only a few hours south of here. It was tucked into the mountains and didn’t promise a viable route to Begnion, but it would be a safe and defensible place to regroup after today’s heavy losses.

Because the column had reversed direction, Skrimir and the Gallians were now marching at the army’s head. When they reached the fort, they easily scared away the poachers and vagrants who’d been using it as a haunt. By nightfall, the gates and doors were barred with everyone inside. 

The people and animals afflicted with the naphtha immediately set about trying to wash it off, but this was easier said than done. Clothes were tossed, hair and beards shorn, and the soldiers scrubbed their skin with soap, wool, and sand until it was raw. Then again, their skin seemed to be going raw anyway, blistering under the irritant. Those who were unfortunate enough to get it in their eyes were blinded, and already people were falling ill with fevers. Mist and the other healers did their best to alleviate the soldiers’ pain, but these were not the kind of injuries staves could fix. The naphtha lingered in their flesh like a toxin.

Soren patrolled the baths-cum-infirmary while putting the finishing touches on his casualty count, and he did not like what he saw. The Apostle’s Army had lost over two thousand soldiers, and of the surviving beorc, most were afflicted with the naphtha and would take time to recover. Mist warned that four hundred were in critical condition and could die of infection in the coming days. Soren accepted this estimate and moved on, but he could hardly believe the numbers he marked down on his scroll. He’d been wrong about this being like Gaddos—it was worse.

 

“What’s the situation?” Ike asked when Soren returned to the briefing room. The rest of the army’s leadership was assembled here as well.

“It’s awful,” he admitted. “The Begnion Central Army troops and the Crimean volunteer troops have been almost completely obliterated. On top of that, the oil Daein used has injured the Holy Guards’ pegasi and all but completely grounded them.”

“Yeah, I think awful fits,” Ike sighed, massaging his temples. “Thoughts, everyone?”

“Thoughts?” Skrimir repeated indignantly. “Daein must answer for this! We attack them immediately!”

“We can’t,” Ranulf argued, but he didn’t sound happy about it. “If we fought Daein now, we couldn’t possibly take on the senate’s armies. We have to get Daein to listen to us.”

Sanaki raised her palms as if to calm them both. “Confusion is exactly what Lekain wants,” she cautioned. “Daein is merely a pawn in his scheme. But there is one thing I do not understand… Why use such horrible tactics? Oil and fire? What is that girl Micaiah thinking?”

“Micaiah?” queried Rafiel’s soft voice as he pushed the door open to join them. “The Imperial Army truly has Micaiah on their side?” Everyone leapt to their feet at the sight of the heron (who was supposed to be in Crimea).

“Rafiel!” Tibarn barked. “When did you arrive?” Judging by the worried look on his face, Soren suspected he was thinking about Reyson and wondering if he was here too.

“Just now,” Rafiel replied, “with Reyson and Queen Nailah.”

The Hawk King took a step forward at Reyson’s name, and in confirmation of Rafiel’s words, Nailah entered beside him. With her arms crossed casually, she gave Tibarn a knowing look. “Reyson went straight to his sister,” she said, “He will be here with Leanne in a moment.” (He seemed instantly relieved.)

“Is it alright for the three of you to be here?” Ike asked uncertainly. “What about the medallion?”

“The medallion is right here,” Rafiel replied. He withdrew it from his flowing sleeve and proffered it in both palms.

Soren’s blood turned cold at the sight of the bronze disc, which was glowing with a faint blue light. Beneath the glow, he saw the shadow of a bloodstain, but blinking didn’t remove the vision as it had before. Everyone stared with something akin to awe mixed with trepidation.

“We’re very near the point where galdr won’t be able to contain its power,” Nailah explained. “That is why we have come. If this war goes on much longer, the Dark God will surely awaken.”

No one responded at first, but eventually Ike spoke up: “The senate wants to go to war with Gallia. Giving up now will just let them do it. We have to stop them if we are ever going to have peace. We just have to keep fighting a little longer.”

“Yes, we can end this soon!” Skrimir assured no one in particular.

“How much time do we have?” asked Titania.

Rafiel shook his head. “It is impossible to know. The light will grow brighter as the force of chaos in the world grows more pervasive. When the glow become a flame, it may be too late.”

“The herons will try to calm the glow for now,” Nailah promised, “and when next you meet Micaiah, Rafiel and I will try to speak to her. Perhaps we can avoid war with Daein at least.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Ike replied with a nod. Just then, Reyson and Leanne arrived. Tibarn crossed the room and set his hands on Reyson’s shoulders in welcome, apparently relieved to see him despite the circumstances. Leanne approached Rafiel to greet him in the ancient language and take a look at the medallion in his hands. With that, the war council came to an end, at least for now. No one knew how long they would have to stay here, or where they would go when they marched out again. Turning to the window, Soren saw snow falling in the torchlit courtyard. Winter was coming again—another reason to end this war soon.