"Robin, do you know how much further it is to the Divine Dragon Grounds?" I stopped and turned to look at Chrom.

"No, sorry. Say'ri only said it was in this direction."

"Well, as much as I enjoy walking, I'd like to get there soon. Did she explain to you why we're headed there? I didn't get the full story." We both resumed walking.

"According to her, Tiki is performing some sort of ritual that will give her back some measure of power she lost while she was asleep. We're to protect her while she does it. Risen have been sighted in the area, so I imagine they won't want to let her finish."

"I suspect you're right. But it's no matter, we'll just put our best soldiers around her and keep her safe."

"That was my plan. Not my most intricate strategy, but if we're to weather a storm, we don't need to be much more than a wall." We continued in silence for a short while until we came upon a clearing. Chrom motioned.

"This must be the place. See? There's the Voice ahead. Do you think we should call out?"

"No. I expect she's deep in a trance. Even if we tried, I doubt we could rouse her. Also, it's not polite to disturb a lady while she's asleep." Chrom gave a short laugh.

"That's true enough. Let's gather the Shepherds and set ourselves up."

"Indeed." Chrom and I passed word around of the plan. I had our strongest soldiers pair up and form a defensive ring around the meditating woman. Every so often I stole a glance her way just to ensure that she was still there, still not conscious of her surroundings, and that somehow no Risen had slipped in behind us.

At some point during one of my repeated glances, I happened to linger on her for a moment longer and it occurred to me that she was a strikingly beautiful woman. I shook that thought out of my head. She was the Voice. That wasn't an appropriate thought to have about the Voice. Also I was trying to plan a battle. Inappropriate thoughts later, immediate battle plan now.

I checked the ranks around me. It wasn't the most subtle or clever set up, but I figured it would be the most effective. Heavily armored units in the front, mages and archers in the rear, and our few fliers patrolling the skies. Fortunately for us, Cherche was enough of a terror on her own that we didn't need a large aerial contingent. For a brief moment I thought I had left a gap in the front line until I realized it was Kellam's position and I had just missed him. I breathed a sigh of relief and took one more look at the woman we were tasked to protect. She was still there, still meditating, and still undisturbed by any mysteriously invisible Risen. Cordelia landed in front of me, breaking my reverie.

"Robin, we've spotted Risen coming from the east, west, and south. They should be in visible range within the next minute."

"Good job. Get back up there and see if you can intercept any of the vanguard. We'll be right here behind you."

"As you command." She lifted back off and rejoined our fliers. They formed up and flew south. As I followed their progress I saw the first of the Risen who were on approach. Cherche hit a Risen flier so hard with her axe it went flying off its mount completely before falling to the ground in two pieces. Sumia lunged at another, missed the Risen, but hit the undead mount it was flying. Mount and rider went tumbling out of the sky and crashed onto what I saw was one of the frontrunners of the ground force. When that happened it apparently was enough to cause the rest of the Risen army to charge forward. I breathed a silent prayer of thanks to Naga that the Risen were completely unintelligent. "Don't recklessly charge the entrenched defending army" is one of the very first lessons one learns when reading any book on the most rudimentary military tactics. I held up a hand to stop our mages and archers from firing off.

"Wait for my signal." I saw the Risen begin to approach from the east and west as well. They were lagging behind the army to the south which was even better. If they were smart they would have attacked us from all sides simultaneously so that we couldn't concentrate our attention in any one direction. But they weren't smart. They were literally brainless. And that made my life a lot easier. The frontrunners came into range as the bodies of their airborne comrades fell and dissolved.

"Fire!" The air whipped around, boiled, and crackled as magic started flying. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as a familiar slimy feeling washed over my back. Tharja, despite my orders to set herself up near Frederick, must have been right behind me casting her dark magic. It worked out anyway as the bolt of magical energy smashed into a Risen soldier and carved a hole large enough to fit my head through its abdomen. It collapsed and began to dissolve. I saw some Risen go down either on fire or full of arrows. I pulled out my tome and sent out a bolt of lighting at the nearest one. It cried in pain and sank to the ground. The other Risen, undeterred, charged mindlessly forward. The Shepherds didn't even need my signal to raise their weapons in defense.

The first of the mass of Risen crashed into the defensive wall we had set up. The Shepherds were disciplined and professional, and they repelled the Risen easily. Once again I thought I saw a hole in the front line, and once again I realized it was just Kellam after I noticed the two Risen that were dissolving away after being attacked from seemingly nowhere. I looked up to check the skies and saw that Cherche was, as ever, carving a wide swath through the enemy. I was, for a brief moment, distracted by how majestic a sight Cherche was in action. I was snapped out of my distraction by a shout from Stahl. I looked back down and saw that a Risen had slipped by him and was only a few feet from me. I reflexively brought up my hand to send a bolt of lightning at it, but I realized that it was too close and I wouldn't get it off in time. I braced myself for the incoming hit.

The hit did not come. Instead, the Risen was picked up off its feet and thrown backwards. Meanwhile, my skin felt like it was trying to fly in the opposite direction from the Risen. Oh, right, Tharja was still behind me. I nodded to her in thanks and she gave me one of her disturbing grins. I shook my head. How could I be that stupid, getting distracted like that? I started kicking myself mentally. The middle of a battle was not the time to gawk. Especially not at a married woman. As I stood up, I looked around at the battle. The lines were holding against the tide of Risen. I saw a few more Risen fall from the sky and I suddenly heard a cry to my left. I looked over and saw that the lines were beginning to falter. It looked like Sully had gotten knocked off her horse. Lissa was there, staff in hand to treat Sully's wounds,, but it left Virion without a defender and there was a Risen bearing down on him. Sully was trying to get herself back up, but I saw that she wouldn't be able to do so in time. Virion began to back away as fast as he could while he pulled an arrow out to try to kill the Risen. I took off in their direction, spell book in hand as I began channeling the necessary energies. Virion fired his arrow, but in his panic he missed. Sully tried to swing at its legs, but she couldn't get any force behind her lance because she was still on the ground. A second Risen began rushing towards the hole in the lines. Then a third, and a fourth. The Risen seemed to have realized that there was a gap they could exploit, and many of them started turning away from their individual fights to force their way through.

I let loose with a bolt of lightning and hit the Risen trying to kill my archer. It fell and began to boil away. Virion signaled his thanks to me but I pointed towards the exposed part of our line. He looked over and blanched at the sight of the oncoming Risen. Sully was back on her feet and looked like she was alright, but then she noticed the Risen as well and started hastily trying to fill the hole. It was too late. Even if she managed to get back into position, she could never hold off the dozen or so Risen that were about to pour in. I desperately yelled for as many people as could hear me to counter their oncoming attack. As far as I could tell, only the people to the immediate right and left of Sully's position were able to refocus their attention. Virion was there, Tharja was, of course, right with me, and Ricken looked like he would be able to help, but the six of us were facing down twice our number.

As the Risen reached the weak spot in our line, I heard someone above me yell out my name. My head snapped upwards and I saw that it was Sumia who had called out to me because she was frantically pointing towards where Tiki was meditating. I looked over and saw that one of the aerial Risen had slipped past our fliers and was headed straight for the unaware woman. I made a break towards her while I breathed a silent prayer that the others would be able to hold the line without me. I didn't think I was going to make it in time. Tiki was still in a trance so I didn't think yelling out to her would do me any good.

I did it anyway.

It didn't do me any good.

The Risen was mounted, so it was faster than me. I flung a bolt of lightning at it in desperation. I missed. The Risen swung its ax at the Voice as I shouted in dismay. I had failed. We were going to lose her. She was going to be killed because I hadn't planned things out well enough. I kept running towards her, hoping against hope that I would somehow be able to do something just by being closer, even though I knew it was in vain.

By some miracle I was sure I'd never understand, the Risen only struck her with a glancing blow. It knocked her to the ground, but she didn't appear to be bleeding. She didn't stir. I hoped that was because she was still deep in her trance and not something much worse. The Risen began to circle around for another attack. I shot another bolt of lightning but missed again. The Risen, and it's deadly weapon, began a second descent. I exercised the last option I felt I had available to me. I dropped my tome just to shed the slight extra weight and leapt forward to interpose my own body between Tiki and her would-be killer. I had to hope that, no matter what happened to me, someone would kill this Risen before it could attack again. As I flew through the air, I saw the ax flash for a brief moment. I felt a sharp pain run up my left side. I didn't need to look to know what caused it. I felt a sharp pain run up my right side as I collided with the ground. I felt my consciousness begin to fade, and I managed to have one coherent thought before I blacked out.

At least if the ax is stuck in me it can't be used on her.

Welcome to a new, actually multi-part thing I've been working on. The astute observer/FE:A enthusiast will notice that the dialogue in the leadup to this battle bears precious little resemblance to the actual dialogue from Paralogue 17 of the game. I know. That's on purpose. This isn't going to just be a retelling of the game, even though it should follow the story somewhat closely.