The Mercenary (Beautiful_Disgrace and I)

"Where do you come from, Ike?" Lucina asked as she regarded him. Blue hair, blue eyes..he reminded her of her own father. It gave her some relief in a way. His swordsmanship was remarkable, he fought like a Lord, or at least someone with a lot of experience. She was really..interested in him.
 
"Tellius," Ike murmured, glancing at her. "I was a mercenary there, too. Things don't seem to change much, no matter where I travel. Hyrule is the first one that has felt...memorable."
 
"Tellius..that's pretty far off. How long have you been traveling?" Robin asked him, noticing the way Lucina was just..kind of staring. Well..wasn't too unusual. She was probably in awe from his skill display earlier. She knew her daughter..she liked to stare at Chrom that way sometimes when he impressed her.
 
"A few months," Ike murmured. "It's been a long time since I actually stopped traveling. Thought I should see the world a little bit, get back to what my childhood used to be."
 
"That's understandable. I heard that Tellius had quite the war some years ago. Two of them actually." Robin recalled before she shook her head. She didn't want to pry, but she had heard a few things about that war. Ike...that was the name of the hero who saved Tellius and quite possibly the world. There was something more to this man than he was leading himself on to be.

"Must be nice to travel. Our duties are to Ylisse, and we only travel when it's in the better interest of our country." Lucina commented.
 
"Good money," Ike said with a casual shrug. "It's nice seeing the world, but it's somewhat hard to see the good when you fight their wars, and know how war works. A purpose is something to be grateful for, cherish it."
 
"Wise words," Robin commented as Lucina nodded in agreement. "Did you fight in the wars I mentioned beforehand, Ike?" Her voice sounded a little suspicious. She was quite sure the hero of Tellius was named Ike. The way he fought was like a hero as well.
 
Ike glanced at Robin, his gaze was passive. But he knew what she was asking in particular. "It was hard not to," Ike said. "It affected everyone, even if they didn't want it to. I'm just a mercenary, my lady. That's all. What happened was horrible, but there were plenty of people like me who made a living from it."
 
"Right..." Robin said before she looked in the distance. They were almost to shore, their idle chatter distracting them enough to ignore the time. Well, some people didn't like being heroes. Chances are, he was traveling to get away from his fame. She respected that.
 
"In any case...your help will be appreciated," Ike murmured, spotting the Zora rise up from the water. That was one benefit, Ike supposed...they could control the waters again. Which did mean outside help, Ike was just curious how they had gotten a message out at all. "As it stands, we have more problems than we have answers."
 
"Then on behalf of Ylisse, we'll do our best to give you more answers to those problems." Robin told him before seeing the Zora herself. What strange...people. It would be the first time she saw anything like that, but she knew they weren't monsters. "Friends of yours?" She asked Ike with a curious expression.

"Are these different types of Hyrulians?" Lucina pondered as she watched them. She for one, found them very interesting. What was it like to live in the sea?
 
"Yes, the Zora," Ike murmured. "They manage the waterways of Hyrule, I imagine it's hard for them to travel too far out with things these days." he said, four of them leapt out of the water. The lead one bowing slightly in surprise.

"Ser Ike?" he murmured. "Our apologies, we had no idea..."

"Long story," Ike assured, waving it off. "Your assistance is appreciated, thank you."

"Of course," he said, glancing to Robin. "My lady, do not worry about navigation, allow us to transport you to our dock."
 
"Alright..." Robin's hands slipped away from the steering wheel and then nodded. "Thank you very much." She was trying very hard not to stare at them, however it was hard. They were..fascinating.

"How far away are we from Queen Zelda?" Lucina asked no one in particular as she squinted a bit to see the shore.
 
"If we hurry, a day or two," Ike murmured, arms crossing as the boat shifted a little less naturally, and soon they were guiding towards the harbor as he glanced at Lucina. "Perhaps in the meantime, we can catch up...I'm sure you have plenty of questions that I didn't answer."
 
"Yes...we do realize there is a threat, but we aren't exactly sure what or who that threat is. We just know if it's not stopped, a terrible calamity will fall upon our world and others as we know it." Lucina told him as she moved closer to Ike. A day or two...they'd need to hurry so they could send out word to Ylisse as soon as possible. It had taken nearly two weeks to cross the sea alone. Lucina would definitely love to feel land under her legs again.
 
"Ganondorf and Medusa are...terrifying," Ike murmured. "Ganondorf is power formed into a man, and little else. He has worked Hyrule over with precision...he knows exactly what he is doing, and he has the tools to do it." Which is why he was curious: why was he waiting? Why did he seem so content to take this so slowly?
 
"How much territory has he taken over in Hyrule? What type of forces do they have? Demon? Men?" Robin needed to know everything about these two and how they acted in order to develop a decent strategy. It was hard jumping in mid battle and forming a counter plan. If they could control monsters, that means they were involved with dark magic somehow. Usually people like that trusted mindless abominations over men. Though they weren't above using both either.
 
"Half of it," Ike murmured. "Slightly less, actually...but that's due to their inaction over anything else. They've got an army of Bublins, and plenty of citizens have converted to Medusa to worship her as the coming of salvation. He's waiting us out, and it's almost working." he grimaced. "Medusa is a Goddess of Darkness, for all we know...she has more than what we've seen, and the same could be said of Ganondorf."
 
"Would it be possible to initiate an attack on them instead of waiting them out? Have you just been stuck in a defensive position because of lack of men?" It was Lucina's turn to ask questions now. Fighting against a Goddess of Darkness was...going to be tough. But perhaps if they had the element of surprise with additional soldiers, they'd be able to turn the tides of their war.
 
"We've been stuck on a defensive position because our surprise attack failed," Ike murmured. "It's hard to be sneaky when there is a Goddess around, we lack the numbers...but that hasn't seem to stop Hyrulian forces before. The Hylians are excellent soldiers...Death Mountain is a hard thing to reach without someone knowing. Much of Hyrule is plain," he said, motioning to the large, ominous mountain with a dark ring of clouds around it.

"They likely know that I came to help you, in fact."
 
Robin and Lucina looked towards the mountain, their eyes taking in the mountain. Death Mountain..that's what they called it. A fitting name for a fortress that housed a Goddess and someone who was described as power in human form. A surprise attack was out then.

"Well that makes things a little harder. Lack of forces...no element of surprise. They're just watching...biding their time. Maybe waiting for a chance where victory is assured while slowly chipping away at your defenses." Robin was thinking out loud. She needed more information.
 
"That is exactly what they seem to be doing," Ike murmured. "Panic is our worst enemy, more so than an army...the soldiers know how to fight that, fighting uncertainty is much harder." he said as the port came into view. It was obviously more for look and not function, but it was practically designed, at least. Everything was marble and adorned with fish statues of their god, Jabu-Jabu as the boat floated up next to the harbor.
 
Once their boat was anchored, both Lucina and Robin were eager to finally get on land. The moment Lucina's feet touched the marble she stretched and then looked around, marveling at the harbor. It was much fancier than anything she had seen.

"So you tried a sneak attack already? And failed?" Robin continued on, though it was nice to be on something that didn't rock back and forth. Though both she and Lucina were tired from fighting those hoards of monsters. They'd need some time to rest before they went on embarked on their journey through this strange, new land.
 
"Yes, well...they had taken one of us hostage...we attempted to recover her," Ike murmured. "They were waiting for us, that Goddess gives him too many eyes." He hoped Zelda had forgiven herself about that. He knew it was rough on her for having to fail.
 
A hostage would make any operation fail, unless you were heartless and didn't care about whoever's life was in danger. Robin could understand why that would have meant defeat. "I see. Well, I'm actually a little tired." She turned towards the Zora and looked at them hopefully. "Is there anywhere Lucina and I could rest up for a few hours?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom