Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

And the write-in makes a comeback to win the day. Now to go rewrite my notes for next chapter.

"I'm not scared of mages. It's the fireballs they throw around that worry me."
-Unnamed Felinceian hunter

"Thank you, Ryza," Artemis says.

You smile and nod. "Of course. You're my friend, I want to help you."

"I know," she says. "But still, I appreciate it." She glances back, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. "Now how to do this without getting ourselves killed…"

You sit back to let her think: she's got the same sort of look on her face as Father has when he's trying to puzzle out a particularly tricky runic project. He always figured it out in the end, and you're sure that Artemis will as well. Instead, you keep your ears perked and eyes searching for any sign of trouble.

"There's just too many," Artemis murmurs. "We need to draw a few out…" She glances at you. "You know lighting magic; can you make it crackle loud enough for them to hear, but not loud enough to make it obvious?"

"I can," you say. "Why?"

She pulls out the short blade at her side and carefully scratches into the stone at the edge of the flickering torchlight. "We need to draw some of them out, we just can't risk fighting all of them at once." She drew a rough approximation of the last few corridors you walked through. "We need to get some of them to follow us into this area: there's a nice thin opening I can aim for, so even if I can't see for whatever reason I can hit them."

You frown, this seems complicated. "But why not just, I don't know, tap on the wall or something?"

"'Always assume intelligence in your foe,'" Artemis says, sounding like she's reading from a scroll. "Most of them may just be bandits, but one of Robert's goons seems to be in charge: he would realize that, if it's a recognizable sound, it's probably a trap. Better it be something they won't recognize, and if these thugs have met a thunder mage before I'll eat my bow."

"Okay," you say. "I think I understand. But what should I do?"

She glanced at you, her gaze strangely soft. "I'm sorry to ask this of you. Hopefully, they only send one or two, and I'm able to silence them myself, but if they send more, or if my arrows aren't enough, I'm going to have to ask you to kill them."

You consider this. You'd never fought before: the closest you'd come was when a bael had somehow made its way up the mountain and gotten a look at you when you were in your fifties. Thankfully, you'd already grown enough into your wings that you'd been able to avoid it when it had decided you looked tasty, running and flying home, screaming all the way. When Mother had seen it… well, the fury of her dragon had been a terrible thing to behold.

This… was similar, wasn't it? These people had come to the mountain, seeking to hurt someone who had never wanted to hurt them. They had made their choices. You had made yours. Now, with the Mother's blessing, you would see to it that they could never hurt anyone like Artemis again. You just had to be brave.

"I'll be fine," you say quietly, pulling Thunder's Cry out of your backpack and holding it up. "Thank you, for trying to protect me, but please, let me protect you."

She sighed. "Sometimes, I wonder if you're truly as young as you look, Ryza," she said. "But that's a conversation for another time. Are you ready?" You nod. "Then let us begin."

Retreating a few steps, you summon up your lighting, just enough to produce a crackling hiss, and wait. It takes some time to get any reaction from the bandits, though it helps when you remember humans don't have as good a hearing as you do and increase the intensity of the lighting a little. Finally, however, a tired, nervous voice drifted around the corner.

"You hear that?"

"Finally," you hear Artemis whisper. "A little longer, then be ready to move."

Meanwhile, a second voice, cold and sharp, spoke up. "Stay where you are, Lancel. You three, go investigate."

Groans sounded, probably from the men who'd been playing their game. "Make those two do it!" a wheedling voice said. "It's probably just the wind in this old dump."

Dump?! Your home was not a dump!

The cold voice spoke again. "Perhaps, but do you want to explain to Sir Robert or Ubel if it's not?"

There was some more grumbling, but you also heard the shifting of cloth and the fall of footsteps.

"We need to move, now," Artemis hissed, pulling on your arm. Careful to keep the lighting going, you guided her back out of the torchlight and towards the ambush point.
(4,2 +2)
Just in time, too. As you turned the corner, you heard footsteps, as well as the faint grumbling of the bandits. Faint echoes of "pompous bastard," and "waste of time," followed you, along with the flickering light of the torch: they must have grabbed the one on the wall. However, with your limited dark vision, you were able to keep ahead of them and reach the place Artemis had decided would be best to strike.

Retreating down the corridor, you nearly lose Artemis when she stops. "This should be far enough, even with a torch they can't see me before they get to the door," she says, turning and placing an arrow in her bow. "Stay behind me, Ryza. Keep the lighting going, lure them to me."

You do as she says, carefully placing the dim light of your lightning out of sight as the footsteps come ever closer. Finally, just as you were worried they might have taken a wrong turn, the light comes around the corner. Two of the massive axmen lead the way, with the smaller, cloaked man between them.

"There's nothing here," one of the big men grunts, waving his torch around irritably. "I think those two runts just wanted to give us the runaround for a bit. Remind me to whack them when we get back."

The faint creak of Artemis's bow makes you flinch before you remember that they can't hear you, there's no way. "Just a little closer, you bastards," Artemis murmurs.

The small, cloaked man steps forward, staring into the darkness.

Staring at Artemis.

You realize, at that moment, that the metal point on the end of her arrow is glinting ever so faintly in the darkness, and apparently this particular human has great eyesight.

"Shit! She's-"
(A: 6,1 +2 / R: 4,6 +5)
Artemis shoots. The cloaked man twists away, but he's just not fast enough. As Artemis's arrow slams into his shoulder, she hisses "Take them, Ryza!"

"You bitch! Get over here!" one of the big men roars, ignoring his screaming friend on the ground as he storms forward, raising his axe. The second was only a moment behind him, and as they tried to pass through the thin door at the same time, they got caught on each other.

You feel your wings extend as you draw deeply from the magic of your blood, while in many ways simpler than the other magical tricks you've shown already: the amount of power it will take to truly hurt someone is much greater. You feel the arcane lightning trying to escape, but you master it, focusing it into a thunderbolt before feeding it into Thunder's Call. The carefully inscribed runes cause the magic to feed back onto itself, growing in power.

If you were to leave this too long, it would rage out of your control: you're not your parents, not yet. Instead, you only let it build for a few seconds before drawing it out. Then, before it could escape, you focus on a point over the bandit's heads.

The humans only had time to gasp as a coiling ball of lighting appeared for a brief moment before following your will to its final rest. A single main bolt, flanked by several minor arcs, slammed into them with the full force of a fully realized second-level lightning strike.

There's not much left when the light clears.

Artemis uncovers her eyes before drawing back another arrow and shooting the cloaked man as he stares, stunned, at the remnants of his two larger companions. He falls with a final cry.

"That's half of them!" Artemis says, quickly patting you on the shoulder before striding back the way you came without a glance. "We need to go! The others will have heard this; we should hit them before they're ready." Pushing your wings back, you trail after her.

As you approach the place where the torch had been, you hear the sound of the cold voice snarling. "Get. Moving." Another voice starts to say something, before an arrow whistles down the hall and cracks against the wall ahead of you. "Move or die, your choice Axton."

"Don't do something stupid, Axton," Artemis mutters to herself, drawing two arrows. "I've got the traitor, you deal with any bandits. Be careful not to hit Lancel or Axton." You nod, even though she probably can't see you in the darkness.

The sound of footsteps once again echoes down the hall, this time slower and more cautious. However, the important thing is that the flickering light of a torch proceeds it: the enemy's inability to navigate without light means that you will always have the first strike. You tug Artemis back a few steps and begin channeling your magic.
(A: 6,1 / R: 5,6 + 3)
The figures round the corner: the two battered men in the lead, both holding torches. Right behind them are the three lesser bandits, they must have gotten reinforcements somehow. These men seemed to be trying to hide behind their prisoner "allies." A moment later, the last man swings around, his bow already raised.

"Come out, Artemis," he calls into the darkness. "You've fought valiantly, but it's over. Don't make Selena's sacrifice meaningless."

"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK HER NAME!" Artemis cries, loosing her own arrow at the speaker. He tries to duck aside, but she was able to catch him in the shoulder. However, rather than cry out like the first man, he simply grunted, and the arrow bounced to the floor rather than remain stuck. He must have a really tough hide.

The two torch-bearers, probably Lancel and Axton, glance at each other. One of them nods to the other, who grimaces.

"For Agrithe!" the first man calls, spinning around to swing his torch at the face of the bandit behind him.

Sadly, it seems that they had been expect that, as before his arm could even get half-way to his target, a meaty fist reached out and grabbed it, causing him to drop his torch with a gasp of pain. "Stupid knight," the massive man grunts, raising his axe to strike. "Come out, girl, or your little toys get it!"

Not if you had anything to say about it!

Thunder crashes through the hallway as you unleash your power: three balls of energy appearing above your targets. Before any of them can even process what's happening, a bolt of lightning, only a minor one, but enough, strikes each of them, sending them, convulsing, to the floor. Artemis's friends both stumble away with shocked cries, but you can tell they're unhurt: you have better control than that. You give them a thumbs up through the darkness, but they just gawk at you. Oh, right, they can't see you.

Artemis, meanwhile, has already fitted her second arrow into her bow and drawn it back. "Come out, traitor!" she calls darkly. "Drop your bow, and you may live."

The man, however, is staring at you, and you realize that in the crackling lighting around your wings he can probably see you, at least a little. "What manner of monster have you unleashed, girl!?" he roars, and time seems to slow as you see his bow tracking towards you.

There's a twang beside you, and he falls, crying out and clutching at his knee as an arrow juts out of it. "There is only one monster in this hall, traitor, and he stands before me." Artemis snarls. She pulls out another arrow and shoots again, this time piercing his throat. With a final gurgle, he slumps to the ground, dead.

As you calm your magic, Artemis looks back at you. "Are you hurt, Ryza?" she asks worriedly.

"No, no I'm fine," you say distractedly. Monster? You aren't a monster, are you?

Artemis frowns, starting to open her mouth, before one of her friends speaks. "My lady? Is that truly you?"

She jerks before hurrying forward into the torchlight. "It is, Axton," she says. "Are you hurt? That brute looked like he was about to break your arm!"

The man chuckled hysterically. "Sure felt like he was about to, or just rip it out of its socket," he said. "Knew I wasn't gonna last long, but I was hoping I'd give you an opening to get out." He looked past her as you step into the torchlight. "That girl…"

"She's my friend," Artemis says, reaching back to gently tug you to stand next to her. "Axton, Lancel, this is Lady Ryza. She's the daughter of the sages that made this place, and she is the reason I am still free." She gestures to the two men, who are staring at you blankly. Humans really needed to work on not doing that. "Ryza, these are Axton and Lancel, two of my father's yeomen."

The smaller of the two men, the one Artemis had addressed as Lancel, starts to open his mouth and point at you, only for you all to start as a voice drifts from deeper in.

"What's going on?! We heard shouting!"

You estimated whoever was speaking was still a few minutes away, but they were probably approaching fast.

"My lady, you need to go!" Axton said urgently. "There are still at least six men around, maybe more if some others wandered in from the main group. Lancel and I can hold them off for a bit, but-"

Artemis spoke over Lancel's startled squawk. "No! I am not abandoning you, not again. Not to six of these thugs!" She grabbed your arm. "Ryza, with me. We'll ambush them further in. You two, stay here and make noise! Clash weapons together, shout, whatever it takes, make them think the fighting is happening here!"

"But-"

"Do it! That's an order!"

The two men immediately straighten. "As you wish, my lady," Axton says, grabbing the slightly-singed knife from the remnants of the cloaked man and smacking it against his own short blade. "Lancel, get up!"

"But-"

Axton grabbed Lancel's arm and yanked him to his feet. "Come on! This is our chance to make things right!" The smaller man nodded faintly, but managed to heft one of the big axes and begin hitting it against the wall.

"Stay safe, you two," Artemis said as she turned and hurried back towards the sound of approaching feet. "Come on, Ryza, let's go!"

Starting, you trot after her. "I'm coming, I'm coming, wait for me!" you gasp. You glance back to see both the yeomen staring at you again. Axton almost looks like he wants to follow, though you can't interpret the worried glance he throws between Artemis and you. Hadn't you both proven you could handle yourselves?

'What manner of monster have you unleashed?'

The man's fearful, furious voice echoes through your mind, even as you try to shake it out. Artemis was right; you weren't a monster. He was the monster, he'd come to this place, wanting to hurt Artemis, who was nice. He was the bad one, wasn't he?

You stumble over something in the darkness. As you look down, you realize that you'd just gone through the thin door where the two men had tried to get through, only for you to fry them both in an instant. They'd probably never even seen you, never realized just what they were going up against until they were already dead.
(A:5,6 + 3 / R: 2,2 + 6)
As your thoughts begin to spiral, twin twangs from Artemis's bow causes your head to snap up. Two more bandits had just blundered into the room across from you, and they never even saw Artemis. She had somehow found her way to a covered position, and with two rapid shots, slew both the bandits before they could stop their headlong charge.

Moving smoothly, Artemis shifted to a new position just as two more bandits arrived, and again her arrows were swifter than their reactions. Two more bandits toppled.

However, she was so focused on her fight that she didn't recognize the light behind her as the last two arrived through the tunnel you hadn't even noticed. One of the big, axe-wielding men roared in rage as he lunged towards her unprotected back, his massive axe raised to strike her.

"ARTEMIS!" you wail, lighting crackling around your hands as you lash out instinctively. A bolt of lightning stabs down, ending the bandit's attack mid-stroke. Then, as Artemis rolled to safety, you zapped the cloaked man who had been coming at her with dagger raised.

"Thanks, Ryza," Artemis said, making her way over through the flickering light of fallen torches to ruffle your hair. "I think that's all of them; we should get back and make sure Axton and Lancel are okay."

As you walk with her, you try to put your worries out of your mind. Artemis was nice: she was concerned about her friends, about you. She'd never asked for any of this.

When the two of you arrived, however, you found only Lancel at the entrance, banging two swords together worriedly. "My lady!" he said, dropping his weapons and bowing. "You're alright!"

"We are," Artemis said, looking around. "But where's Axton?"

Lancel looked nervous. "When Edmond ordered us to go after you, he sent one of the other bandits who was outside off to tell the main group what was going on. Axton thought that if he could stop that message, that would help, so he grabbed the bow and ran off. He ordered me to stay here to keep up the distraction, just like you wanted, but he's been gone-"

"Until now," Axton said, stepping back into the corridor with a grim smile on his face. "Mission successful, my lady: the bandits won't be hearing of this from that messenger." He knelt, grimacing. "Unfortunately… well, I had hoped to preserve the horse, but I was more tired than I thought, and I shot it by accident. My deepest apologies."

Artemis sighed. "Unfortunate, but the important thing is that we remain undetected for now. Well done."

"My lady…" Lancel spoke up nervously. "About… about us and the bandits, I was the one who stepped forward after Emily… Axton would never have done it if I-"

"I made my own choice," Axton cut in sharply. "I apologize, my lady. I know I betrayed your trust-"

"I said you should-"

"Enough." Artemis said, her voice soft but firm. "Enough. I am not angry with either of you, and I will not blame you for what happened. I wasn't there, you weren't harming me, and I will not ask you or any of Father's people to die purely for honor." She grimaced. "I… appreciate Emily's courage and devotion, but I would rather she be here, alive, than dead, and I feel the same for you. I've already watched enough people die on this cursed journey."

The two yeomen looked at each other before bowing again. "Lady Artemis," Lancel said, the shaking in his voice steadying. "Whether or not you think it warranted, we do offer our apologies for being unable to protect you better."

Artemis rolled her eyes, but nodded. "I will accept your apologies," she said. "If only to make you feel better."

You shift slightly, and both men's eyes snap to you again, and strangely, they both take a half-step forward, as if they wanted to get between you and Artemis. "My lady…" Axton says, his eyes never leaving you, and you realize he's gripping his bow really tightly, "if I may be so bold… what is-"

"Ryza is my friend," Artemis cuts him off sharply, stepping between you and them. You glance at her in confusion: that seemed a little harsh. "That is what is important. Without her, I would be either dead or these bandit's prisoner. You will treat her with respect."

Axton immediately bowed. "Of course, my lady, of course," he said.

A tense silence filled the corridor before you made your way around so you could see everyone. "So… what do we do now?" you ask.

Artemis frowned. "Thirty to six… twelve dead, two rescued… we've defeated nearly a third of the bandit's forces here," she says. "If we move swiftly, we could likely ambush the group at the main entrance, then pick off the stragglers as they trickle in. We could end this threat, once and for all, and avenge our comrades."

The two yeomen share a look, and after a moment Axton speaks up. "With all due respect, my lady, our primary goal should be to ensure you reach Agrithe safely. We should be able to make it to the bottom of the mountain before they realize what has happened, even without a horse. Then, we can move through the forest and make it home, hopefully without further entanglement."

Artemis's eyes narrowed. "They came here hunting me," she said. "They will not give up so easily, and with horses they will be able to move faster. We defeated this group-"

"My lady, forgive me but I must speak," Lancel said. "These men were the dregs of the bandits: their leader, Ubel, is no mere bandit. He is well trained, well equipped, and he has a core of men who are much more dangerous than the rest of the rabble. There is also Robert: traitor though he is, he is a cavalier of some skill."

Fists clenched, Artemis snapped "So we just let them get away with this!? Let them get away with having killed Selena, Master Shadebringer, so many others…"

"My lady, I will never claim to know Dame Selena as well as you did, but do you truly think she would want you to risk yourself to avenge her?"

As you watch the argument go back and forward, you feel compelled to say something.

[] "We should leave. I… I don't want to fight anymore. Let's just go: I should be able to get us off the mountain."

[] "You're right, Artemis. We need to stop these people before they hurt anyone else. I can lead the way, let's go."

[] Write-in