A Smash of Kings

Chapter 24: The Wilted Princess

Just outside of Marth's tent, Ike and Roy sat around a fire, with Pit laying on his elbows across from them. It was the middle of the night, and the maintenance of the camp and their own reserves was draining during the hot days in the Sarasa desert. Ike counted on his hands, in between the sounds of their trebuchets and catapults launching towards the city walls. Then, again, Ike counted on his hands until the next wave of siege engines. It was methodical, a rhythm that soon made Roy and Pit's eyes heavy. Then, after a tenth or twelfth wave, the siege engines stopped. Startled, Roy opened his eyes, looking around his surroundings in the darkness of the night. He turned to Ike, who seemed unmoved and tired. "Why did the trebuchets stop?" Roy asked.

Tiredly, Ike shrugged, "They're big machines, Roy. A shift change for the soldiers operating them, if I had to guess."

At that moment, the King left his tent with Lucina at his side. Pit stood up, as did Ike and Roy. "Why did the trebuchets stop?" Marth asked, confused.

"They're big machines, Your Grace," Ike repeated, slightly annoyed, "Perhaps there was a shift change. We've been shelling them in waves, about fifteen seconds apart, for the past eight hours. Mayhaps the soldiers attending them need to rest."

"You created a rolling schedule for breaks, didn't you?" Lucina asked. Ike's tiredness vanished when Lucina spoke, "If two siege engines are changing, then the two next to them should be firing, then the two after are changing..."

"Aye, I did," Ike remembered. He drew his greatsword, prompting Roy to draw his own blade, "Stay back with the King and his Hand, Pit. Something's very wrong."

"Way ahead of you," Pit nodded. He drew both of his blades as Ike and Roy ran towards the trebuchets. Pit stationed himself beside Lucina, who looked into the darkness around their camp. It was eerily quiet without the rhythmic bombarding of their siege engines.

Soon enough, however, the dark was broken by orange light, and the quiet by distant yelling and clashing. As the fires spread slowly, seemingly going from tent to tent, the loudness of battle drew closer and closer. The King and his Hand both drew their weapons, and Pit slammed both his blades together, creating a bow. With a single magical blue arrow, Pit picked out somebody approaching them quickly. As the person fell, Lucina and Marth both saw the familiar orange armor of the Flower Knights. Somewhere along their siege, a squadron of Flower Knights broke through.

"They're coming straight for us," Marth muttered, "We're sitting ducks here."

"We cannot move." Lucina snapped back quickly. She turned to Marth and grabbed his shoulders, just as Pit fired more arrows, finding different enemies in the darkness, "One well-placed arrow ends your line."

"I refuse to just sit back while our soldiers fight!" Marth shouted.

"That's their job! Not yours," Lucina advised, but the King did not listen. He ran forward, towards the orange flames. She looked back at Pit, who shrugged. When Lucina took off after her King, Pit followed obediently, separating his bow into two blades.

The orange-clad Flower Knights were around every single corner, and Marth's swordsmanship cut them down with ease. With each turn, it seemed, Marth buried his blade into another kill. Lucina and Pit were behind him, fighting off the invaders as well. Several of their own had fallen, littering the sand in front of them. A large Flower Knight, towering two heads taller than the King, with a larger battle-axe sprinted towards the King. Marth dodged the initial swing, with Lucina and Pit barely evading it as well, but the large knight's fist slammed against the King. As the King fell over, the Flower Knight picked his great battle-axe up and swung again. Marth rolled over, again evading his end, and Lucina slammed her sword into the side of the knight. Then, Pit jumped up and buried his two swords into the large Knight's back. The Knight screamed, falling to his knees, before Marth delivered the fatal blow. Once the Knight had fallen, Marth turned and saw that many tents had been burnt to a crisp, leaving a great open area where many dead lay. In the middle, he saw Ike slay another Knight. Ike ran towards his King, huffing and covered in ash.