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And Joshua went to. He was uhhhh riding somewhere in the vicinity of Ayra.... kinda of there maybe chatting a bit but nothing major.

"Lance! Lance!"

Khalid rushed along the from his own cottage to Lance's. It was quite amazing what Khalid and his new partner had managed to build in such a short amount of time. The rope bridge along the waterfall swayed as he rushed past, but he had no time to worry about falling.

"Lance!"

He was met by a barelegged thief, fully busy with a knife to...shave his leg. The now hairless leg shined brightly back at Khalid, who had some trouble letting his eyes deviate. Shaking himself back awake, he spoke up again. "...what are you doing?"

"...shaving."

"...why?"

"Ever tried running at high speed and then fallen on gravel? It gets stuck in any excessive hair on your limbs, raising the risk for infections."

"Ooh...that's actually really sm--wait, nevermind, Lance! Don't you know what happened?!"

"...you got a new dress?"

"Yes, I...I mean, wait, why do you know about my collection?! I mean, STOP SIDETRACKING ME! It's Sentria!"

"...who?"

"...a country, but nevermind who they are. They declared war!"

"Oh."

A few more moments of silence followed, before Khalid smacked his friend over the head. "What do you mean, 'oh'?! It's terrible! We need to step up for this country and defend it!"

He got an open palm shoved up to his face, that stretched out its index finger. "Hang on there. 'We'? I have no obligation to fight for a country that does nothing but get into armed conflict constantly. It's a pointless waste of lives and time. If a country has so many enemies that they never have a peaceful rest, then they sort of deserve the problems they get!"

Khalid sighed. Lance was still...shaken up after what happened over in Estarcia. Not that he blamed him for it. Not many people would want to experience that.

"...well, I'm going to Sires. Reports of pirates being sighted surfaced over there. Lady Ayra is taking a force to fight them."

"Okay. Have fun."

It was quiet a bit more, before Khalid's voice really started to lose patience. "Aren't you going to talk me out of it? Why are you making it sound like it's like a field trip?"

"Because!" Lance said as he pointed his knife towards Khalid. "If you want to go fight, and potentially lose your life, in a war that's none of your concern, then go ahead! If that's the sort of intelligence you possess, then befriending you was a mistake!"

Khalid almost felt hurt by his words. He knew Lance didn't really mean them, but still...

"They pay money."

"So does normal work."

"Lady Blossom is fighting."

"She's a naïve hero, she'll always fight under these circumstances. She can take care of herself."

"...they'll destroy your home?"

"If they find any strategic importance to the Lance Fortress, I'll eat my boot."

Khalid sighed again. He really didn't want to use such a low reason, but...he didn't want Lance to stay behind. He needed the extra help down there. "...if you'll come, I'll introduce you to that sister of mine."

One moment, Lance was sitting in front of him. The next, he had disappeared, as though a gust of wind, and was now outside, already mounting his horse. "What are you waiting for?! Let's go!"

With that, Lance already set off. Wait...had he packed his horse in advance...was he planning to go to begin with? Wh...Khalid would never quite understand that man. "Lance! Wait for me!"

And that's how the two of them found themselves riding along with this ragtag bunch of soldiers, mercs or whatnot. Khalid threw a glance towards his friend. He was leaning towards the mane of the horse, his head resting against the horse's. He didn't know much about Lance's dark colored horse, but considering it practically moved according to Lance's whim even in his sleep, Lance didn't even have to stay awake for the majority of the travel. How one trains a horse that way...must be personal circumstances, considering Lance's ailment of constantly falling asleep.

Their leader, Lady Ayra, gave them the order to move faster now. The horizon didn't look very positive to Khalid...he gripped his staff tighter. It was time to repay Learania for their aid in the earlier war. Probably best to stay in the back ranks, though, to give support...

That is, until Lance's horse stormed off, Lance fully awake now, riding off on his own. "L-Lance! Wait! You have to wait for the r--LANCE!"

Khalid mounted and spurred his horse. What was the thief doing?! Charging off on his own...! Khalid's head started to hurt. If only he had stayed in Estarcia to begin with...

I ain't gonna give in, no matter how
hard the fight before me looks to be!

Sires was practically right in front of the faces of everyone whom was arriving, but indeed, something was not right at all. Smoke was rising, and those fires were bigger than any normal ones that should be burning at this time of day. He shuddered to think what could be happening down there, and wasted no time with the obvious questions of what could be going on. He knew what was happening, the place was in the blazes of attack! Those civilians needed help and he was not about to stand there and make them wait for it. Just behind him, he did take notice to the healer that had arrived, but decided to let Ayra speak to him about joining, as she was the leader, and no one else.

"Let's go." Leon simply said. Anri seemed to agree with him, speeding ahead and leading a charge of his group that wasn't like the normal reckless charges the Great Knight used to make in the past. Instead it was a charge to rally the others behind him into battle, to have them sweep across Sires with a fury that their foes would never even predict coming from a so-called "goody-two-shoes" soldier from Eyris. Anri's hooves against the ground were almost ominous sounds... like an omen of a violent clash to come.

The Great Knight raised his poleaxe, riding close to one of the perpetrators who made himself all too obvious by holding a torch in hand. Without mercy or hesitation, Leon brought his poleaxe down on the mercenary-looking fighter, all the while keeping his senses sharp for more that would inevitably come. Much to his surprise, he saw a lone rider shoot straight into danger! "Just what in tarnation does he think he's doin'?!" Leon thought, wearing an all too obvious scowl on his face as both he and Anri turned to the single rider whom was going straight into the peril of enemy forces. "If this is the kinda thing I do..." Leon's thoughts continued as he was trying desperately to catch up with the rider who looked kinda... familiar now that he thought about it. Hopefully Sephas and his magic could help in taking down foes that would otherwise try and sneak up on the Lieutenant as he made his charge to the other rider.

If ya just believe, then even if the world is
torn asunder, yer gonna seize victory!

Nurturer.

Murderer.

Ayra

About an hour, maybe less, after the ships of Mordache had passed the area of Arajudia, providing two ships worth of reinforcements to Sentria for the naval battle taking place, a lowly assistant addressed Avery from behind as follows: “General Avery, with Sires growing closer, Unit’s 1, 2,3, and 5 are ready replace the Mordache flags with those of merchants’. Permission to swap flags, sir – imean-ma’am – imean… um, um.” Silence. The poor thing, hardly old enough to be called a man, and he was ******** style="color: indigo">“Yes, of course,” Avery replied, not even turning to face the boy, having motioned hir hand to a different soldier to left to spread the message concerning the flags. “I just have a couple of quick questions before you go: what’s your name and how long have you been under me?"

The boy has so timid and hesistant in responding, his answer was only semi distinguishable. “My name is W-Walter, a-and I’ve been among the troops under you for just over a month.”

“That will be all, Walter,” Avery replied, hir back still towards him. As he turned around to leave, Avery drew out the Killer Lance on her in a flash, turned to Walter (his back now facing hir), and brought end of the weapon down just enough that the sharpened edge was kissing Walter’s scalp. “And the next time you use your sexed words when addressing me… this lance will be giving you mouth to mouth. HARD.” The Killer Lance had licked Walter just deep enough there was blood when zhe pulled the weapon back. And the flags were removed.

The proper amount of time passed, and Sires came into view. The poor fools inhabiting it would never foresee what was about to happen to them. And they didn’t; the four ships were able to successfully dock at the port, and the troops went to work! All other ships at the dock were seized, their owners and passengers all either taken hostage or killed if they were persistently resistant enough. Any and all people at harbor were taken out of commission. Having this port was absolutely essential to Mordache and they weren’t about to let anyone get in the way of that, harmless or a threat. The plan for occupation then began to unfold without any notable hitches.

And then late that first night they had arrived on…

“General Avery! From the other side of the city! We’re being attacked!”

“What?! They’re probably from the capitol, damned Learanian trash!” was the Halberdier-hermaphrodite’s immediate response to the news relayed by the generic cavalier messenger. Just moments later zhe began spawning orders from her mouth. “I want Lieutenants Thelma and Biggs meeting these attackers head on, James following up to support them, and Lieutenants Bonnie and Rosencrantz to remain at the docks as a buffer to the coast! Get to it!” The Halberdier drew out hir distinguishing weapon – a rare Bolt Lance - out from hir back as the final words of the orders spilled forth from hir lips.

If anything could be said of Mordache when comparing the two countries attacking Learania, it was that troops were certainly much better organized than bandits. Avery often appeared to have an assistant, subordinate, minion, what-have-you of scout and messenger alike coming and going to and from the Halberdier, ensuring zhe was aware of general happenings and that hir orders trickled throughout the chain of command. So naturally, it followed that Avery’s orders started manifesting not long after zhe spat them. And hir Lieutenants would be able to direct more specific orders to those under them. Especially since all but Biggs were already along the same port as Avery to begin with.

Beginning from the port, going inland, the Druid Rosencrantz and company (a mixture of knights and soldiers as defenses for shamans, some archers and a few clerics) took to boarding one of the ships the troops had arrived on, located roughly left of center of the port; the improved elevation would provide a major boon for the archers among them, as well as for Rosencrantz and three or four shamans in executing his own gambit – firing off precious siege tomes of Fenrir when the opportunity would present itself. Best yet, it would be difficult for anyone who didn’t know where they were to begin with to determine what ship they were on for a while without a flag flying.

Along the harbor of Sires itself and the streets nearest to it, Bonnie, a Halberdier like Avery (though certainly not of hir caliber), along with her own slew of soldiers, knights, even a few cavaliers and a pair of healers, positioned themselves to stop anyone who might get this far from successfully reaching the pier. The Halberdier’s eyes staring forward like a hawk, ready to reinforce the Biggs and Thelma further inland of Sires if necessary.

Thelma, a Bow Paladin, had with her the largest number of people of the Lieutenants, leading both her own division of troops along with some under Biggs since the Great Knight had taken relatively few with him to extend Mordache’s hold over Sires; horse-riders of every variety of weapon (largely bow users for her own people) charged through the city streets to race towards the Learanian scum at the other end of it. Just behind them rode the few troubadours of the troops. Lagging behind the mounted was James (a General) along with various infantry. They’d certainly fail to reach the other side of Sires at the same time as the cavalry, but would be a valuable boost to numbers when they did arrive.

Biggs… Biggs was so damn close to where the Learanians started fighting, having been in charge of occupying any and all public buildings throughout the city that would be of strategic benefit to Mordache, he’d likely be one of the first who would be greeting those few foolish Learanians that had rushed ahead with his shiny new Steel Poleaxe. It was those who had come with him to extend Mordache’s reach over the city that suffered the ‘surprise’ of Learania’s surprise rush to Sires, as they definitely had not been expecting to engage in any serious combat at the time.

Most if not all of the Sires citizens they’d encountered has been agreeably submissive and obedient out of fear to what was demanded of them (mostly just surrendering the buildings they happened to be in) and had been spared their lives. The exceptions that hadn’t were dealt with by violence. More than necessary, no doubt: Biggs had a reputation for needless violence. If anyone were to be blamed for the extra fires in the city that night, it would be him or people under him. The surprise attack definitely gave Learania the upper hand over those in Biggs’s vicinity, but assistance was on the way. It was doubtful very many of them would survive that long given the circumstances, though. Biggs had better chances, but the point remained.

(Yeah it’s a lot, and it’s kinda crappy at certain points. But the amount of effort I’d need to put in to make it all as detailed as I’d like is beyond impractical. Deal with it. Anyway, here’s what’s up battle wise: Avery hirself is delegating from the harbor but ready for action at a moment’s notice, Bonnie is also at the harbor and ready to jump at anyone to get that far, Rosencrantz is aboard one of the Mordachean ships and providing temporary/minor support via siege spells, Biggs will be the first notable person on the ‘front lines’ and will attempt to recuperate and start a counter offense since Mordache was taken by surprise, and Thelma and James are on their way to join him – Thelma to arrive much faster than James due to the nature of their classes. Also worth noting is while the Lieutenants generally lead units under their same class tree, there’s substantial diversity in all groups: Thelma’s a Bow Paladin but she’ll be with a variety of non-mounted units as well, for example.

And to clear possible confusion, while Fenrir is usually a powerful 1-2 range dark tome, FE10 featured it as a 3-10 – Rosencrantz & pals are clearly wielding the 3-10 version. And Unit 1, 2, 3, and 5 are just the names of the ships.

If anything is confusing that you need to know, talk to me.

Have fun~)

Nurturer.

Murderer.

Ayra

Javert, at least, was grateful Ayra had dismounted--what with the shape their horses were in, it was practically acknowledging there would be no retreat. Certainly not with their dead-tired horses, and certainly not with their aching legs.

Being close behind, he too took the opportunity to dismount. Using the horse as support with one hand, he tried some leg stretches in the vain hope they'd be any sturdier. Anything to loosen up, really, and the longer they talked, the longer he had to ease his aching leg muscles into... maybe not running shape, but at least into brisk walking shape.