Red and the Shepherds were able to enlist the help of Regna Ferox after fighting against Marth in a tournament. With the promise of reinforcements, they return to Ylisse.
Chapter 5: The Exalt and the King
We returned to Ylisstol to inform Emmeryn of our successful mission. Chrom was telling her about it when Phila interrupted them, saying that Plegian soldiers had been sighted inside the south-west border. They had attacked a village in Themis and abducted the duke's daughter, Maribelle.
Lissa insisted on helping her, but Phila still had more news. She told Chrom and Emmeryn that King Gangrel of Plegia claimed that Maribelle had invaded his country. Gangrel was known as the Mad King, so it was safe to say that Chrom had a hard time believing his words to be true.
Phila agreed to Chrom's suggestion that Gangrel have a sword put into his gut, but Emmeryn insisted on an alternative solution. She refused to give Gangrel the war he desired. Instead, Emmeryn offered parley. Despite protests from both Lissa and Phila, Emmeryn stuck with her decision. Chrom agreed to the decision, only as long as he could accompany the exalt.
That night, as we were about to leave, the Shepherds' other mage stopped us. His name was Ricken, and he had quite a youthful appearance. Chrom told him he wasn't old enough for the mission, but Ricken argued that he was skilled enough with magic. We departed without Ricken.
Before I go on any further, I noticed something strange to the south of Southtown. There was a small island located there, which I had noticed. It never seemed to have any distinguishing traits, at least not until today. Some sort of gate had appeared there... there's a possibility it holds some connection to the origin of the Risen. However, we had more pressing concerns. We made our way west, and arrived at the Border Pass.
Mad King Gangrel stood waiting for us, with a woman by his side. He was surprised to see that Emmeryn herself had come out to talk with him. The woman at Gangrel's side was Aversa, and she claimed to know the truth about the incident.
Gangrel assured us that Maribelle was unharmed, and had one of his men bring her out. Her hands were tied, but she seemed all right. According to Aversa, Maribelle had crossed the Plegian border without their consent and wounded Plegian soldiers.
Maribelle got riled up by Aversa's words, which probably didn't help her situation. Gangrel accused her of being a spy, whereas Maribelle argued that the Plegians had invaded Ylisse and razed an entire village. I have no reason to think Maribelle was lying, and considering what I have learned about the Plegians, I'm willing to bet she was completely honest.
Gangrel passed the blame off onto bandits. Emmeryn believed Maribelle's tale, and requested that she be released. She then went on to suggest that she and Gangrel talk thinks out, without any hostages. Gangrel threatened to execute Maribelle, causing Chrom to snap.
We then came to the reason Gangrel had shown up. He wanted to trade Maribelle for the Fire Emblem, which was Ylisse's royal treasure. The reason he wanted it was because the Fire Emblem was supposedly the key to having all one's wishes granted.
Since Emmeryn then said that the Fire Emblem had only a single purpose, I think Gangrel's expectations were a little too high. The Emblem would be used to save the world and its people at their hour of most desperate need. Naturally, Gangrel's intent was to use it to crush Ylisse.
Apparently, the previous exalt, Emmeryn's father, was quite a tyrant. He named the Plegians heathens and crusaded across Plegia whilst slaughtering the people. It was quite a shock to hear that this was true, since everyone I had met who was associated with Emmeryn seemed to be good people.
When Gangrel demanded the Fire Emblem, Maribelle told Emmeryn to not hand it over. Unfortunately, Gangrel's patience had worn thin and he sent men to attack Emmeryn. Chrom cut down a couple and ordered the rest to stay away. Gangrel took Chrom's actions as a declaration of war.
Ricken, who we had thought had stayed at Ylisstol, appeared and managed to save Maribelle from the grips of Gangrel's man. He then attacked Aversa as well, creating an opening that allowed him and Maribelle to escape.
Of course, whilst that happened, the Shepherds and I were fighting Gangrel's men. We had an uphill battle, and the enemy had a few wyvern riders. Still, we had no other choice but to fight. Gangrel gave his orders, and then retreated from the battlefield.
Ricken and Maribelle were able to reunite with us as we fought, thus giving us another mage and another healer. Ricken's wind magic was particularly useful against the wyvern riders, as they were weak to it.
As well as the wyvern riders and bandits, there were a few dark mages amongst Gangrel's men as well, but fighting them was simply a matter of being quicker than they were.
Over the hillside were a few forts, which would provide us with some cover. However, they also provided the enemy with reinforcements. Still, since we had Lissa and Maribelle with us, they were able to heal our wounds in order to keep us fighting. This was an advantage for us. Another advantage we had was Virion's bow. Both pegasus knights and wyvern riders shared an extreme vulnerability to arrows; a weakness which we most definitely exploited.
The enemy leader was a wyvern rider named Orton. He was wielding a Short Axe that allowed him to attack from a distance, but since there were multiple Shepherds and only one of him by the end of the battle, that was irrelevant. Chrom and I paired up, and were able to take him out together. With the enemy at the Border Pass defeated, we were able to properly reunite with Maribelle.
Lissa was relieved to see that Maribelle was all right. It seemed that Maribelle was quite fond of Lissa, although she stopped herself before saying much else. At least she found it in herself to thank me for helping out in her rescue, I suppose.
With the enemy gone, Chrom apologised to Emmeryn for acting rashly. Emmeryn forgave him, since it was not Chrom, but Gangrel who was at fault. Upon Frederick's suggestion, we made our way back to Ylisstol in order to prepare for a war with the Plegians.
So today I saw the leader of the Plegians, Mad King Gangrel. He's clearly a man who cannot be trusted. Still, I wonder why he's so insistent on acquiring the Fire Emblem... well, that doesn't matter. It seems that the Shepherds are going to quite busy defending Ylisse for the foreseeable future... I had better ensure that I have some good strategies planned for our upcoming battles.
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