[Fire Emblem 11] The Golden Mean

[runiclore]

Title: The Golden Mean
Author: Amber Michelle
Challenge: #003: yield
Game: 11: Shadow Dragon
Word Count: 790
Pairings/Characters: Horace
Warnings: this is a first draft!

Notes: too bad interaction with Camus is outside the scope of this ficbit. That could be interesting.

Also, seriously. I just finished this.



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"Deil holds this side of the battlefield, Lord Horace." His agent, a man named Joel, knelt in the tall grass and spoke to the ground. "Menedy has regrouped to the west and hopes to intercept the Macedonian units before they leave the Gauntlet. Two thousand Lefcandy deserters have rallied under his banner."

Horace motioned for him to get up. His bannerman grasped Joel's shoulder and pulled him to his feet. "You heard this directly from the marquess?" Sweat streaked down from Horace's temple, soaked into his collar. Two thousand dead men wouldn't make a difference against half the Macedonian army.

"And confirmed it with my own eyes before leaving. 'I leave Pales to you,' were his last words."

Horace examined the bare blue sky and the small point of the sun overhead, hotter and heavier than a pinprick of light should be, twisting the reins into a mitten around his fingers. He'd hoped to be too late; the last he heard, the forest was burning and the Sable Order had taken the field like a swarm of locusts, while Dolhr promised reinforcements: dragons, with fire to raze fields, lightning to rend cities asunder. Horace tightened his grip on the haft of his spear, heard the leather of his gauntlet creak. Moisture trickled from the crook of his elbow.

They would crest two more hills before bearing down on the capitol; a deep breath brought the scents of smoke and char, the taste of ash - it was a wonder the sun didn't still burn red. "Take this news back to Dejanira and find yourself a hot meal and a bed. Aaron?"

"Sir." His bannerman climbed into his saddle, armor scraping, clanking, glinting in the sun. Their agent led his horse away. "Everyone signals ready."

Horace let the reins loosen and loop around his hand, righted them. Augustine shook out his mane, set the harness jingling. "Duke Cartas was injured during the famine, when putting down an uprising. Do you know the story?" Silence met his question. The banner flapped and snapped outward in a gust of air that ruffled Horace's hair, then vanished the next instant. "He took a spear through the shoulder rather than harm his own citizens. I learned in the practice yard that it never healed properly and took merciless advantage of him - force Cartas to draw his sword, and he is as good as finished."

He looked back, raised his hand, and gave the signal to move forward, nudging Augustine to a walk. They trampled the grass, kicked up black soil. The first of the Millennium Palace's slender minarets came into view as he ascended.

"My lord--" Aaron broke from his assigned position, his mount lurching forward. "Duke Cartas... sir, you've never bested his lance."

That was true. Horace had hoped earning that victory would be an occasion to celebrate-- with Cartas, over a glass of sparkling gold wine. "Make sure he draws his sword."

"But sir--"

At the crest of the first hill the valley spread out below him, brown, dirty, smudged by smoke and the black of Grust's force clashing against the silver of Archanea's defenders. He wanted to pause and watch, let the wave of ambient sound crash against him, wait for the turn of fortune to his mother country-- the turn that would never come. The King's arrogance left us friendless before the Shadow Dragon's forces. Lang's sneer, Lang's fingers in his hair, claws digging into his scalp and pulling his head back. If you want your townships to see the end of this, and Horace thought of Kandia, Messina - Elatria, where his mother was born. He knew what Aaron wanted to say: if you chose to turn our lances against Dolhr, we will follow you, even if their families paid the price.

They could ride halfway across the plain without changing course, and still turn in time to strike Grust's flank. It would not be ideal, but it could be done - and soon as the enemy sent word of his betrayal, all of Gaeta would be burned to the ground.

"You heard me." The field disappeared behind the slope of the last hill, and Horace closed his eyes. One could imagine the armies gone, the plain empty, and the shadow in the western sky gone. He braced his lance and leaned forward. The farmers of Kandia didn't offer their fields for burning; the elder of Messina wouldn't throw his family upon Dolhr spears. Horace would not do so either. "Today the land will drink Cartas's blood. Now be silent and ride!"


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This took me three hours. THREE HOURS. And there are problems. I don't know why I decided to try for the deadline. This being my first attempt at Horace (which I keep wanting to spell 'Horus'), it is probably inadequate and pathetic.

I'm not very happy with my work lately, though. It's time to crack open the textbook again.

Also, wow, it's hailing outside. It almost looks like snow, it's coming down so hard. >_>


ETA 03.10.10 - minor tweaks to sentence structure in a few places, but no major changes were made.

Comments

[shimizu-hitomi.livejournal.com]

Horace was one of the most interesting additions to the story in Shadow Dragon (in fact, probably my favorite addition), so I'm glad to see someone tackling him! (Mm, interaction with Camus = do want. :P) The Archanean games have this really weird but complex take on loyalty and betrayal, and Horace adds another facet to it all.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading this, but the one detail that for some reason really sticks out (in a good way) is the minarets on the Millennium Palace. I don't know why, but I really like that detail.

[runiclore.livejournal.com]

I'm a little put out that you can't recruit Horace without destroying your own army, to be honest. His story is one of my favorites too - and, as mark_asphodel commented somewhere or other, it's also the high point of Nyna's characterization. It really is. :P

Once I get a better handle on Horace, I plan to write him into a scene with Camus for sure. XD

Thank you!

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you wrote this. It was fascinating as a snapshot of something utterly divorced from the main group of characters-- something not seen through the usual filters of the Alteans, the Macedonians, or the @#$%ing fan-faves like Navarre (boring). Loved the details in this-- the name of his horse, the secret weakness of Cartas, the encounter with Lang. And I do like the place-names you concocted. :)

Silence met his question, and the flap of the banner in a gust of air that ruffled Horace's hair and vanished the next instant.

This sentence took a re-read, though. It's a shame we didn't know in advance the deadline was going to be pushed back. :(

Also, in a gripe that has nothing to do with the story, I was so pissed off to find "Dejanira" wasn't a female boss. Dammit, IS! If you're going to waste names with deep mythological resonance on random bosses, don't squander the names so completely!

[runiclore.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Your loathing for Navarre never fails to make my day. XD

It's a shame we didn't know in advance the deadline was going to be pushed back.

I really wish I'd known, but eh, oh well. I can still go in and tweak that sentence, at least. It's such a small change that it shouldn't matter.

[penandpaper71.livejournal.com]

Is... it okay if I post a comment here? If it's not then just let me know and I'll remove this.

Anyway, I'm surprised that you aren't happy with this. I quite enjoyed reading it. Your writing skills are impressive.

I happen to like Horace's character and the way you fleshed him out here, for whatever my opinion is worth, I feel really adds nicely to his character.

Even if this was done at a bit of a rushed pace, I don't feel like it shows. So... nice work! :)

[runiclore.livejournal.com]

No need to ask! I always welcome comments. Thank you for this one. <3

My dislike stems from having to write it so quickly, I'm sure, and a lack of confidence in my characterization, because I've never tried to write him before. Also, I had to make up a bunch of stuff about Archanea, which I don't quite feel comfortable doing yet.

But anyway, thank you! I'm glad it still holds up for you guys.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

I have yet to encounter Horace in the game, unfortunately, since I refuse to massacre my army on the first run, but this certainly makes him look like a complete badass. :-) Despite the travail you had to go through to finish this, this is still quite good.

[runiclore.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha, I don't have Horace for the same reasons. XD I just read the script! I think I may do a run through specifically for the new characters, though, and especially Horace - he makes up for not being able to recruit Camus. Just a little bit.

He could suck, though. That would break my heart.

Thank you. XD

[wolfraven80.livejournal.com]

I've only played Shadow Dragon once so I don't know it well and I certainly never allowed my characters to die (I always reset if someone dies...) thus I didn't get Horace. That being the case I'm glad this piece offered a bit of background here and there. The idea that his opponent is someone he knows is intriguing, and it was especially well summed up in this bit:

Horace had hoped earning that victory would be an occasion to celebrate-- with Cartas, over a glass of sparkling gold wine. "Make sure he draws his sword."

There is one niggling detail that gave me pause, though:

twisting the reins into a mitten around his fingers.

Horace let the reins loosen and loop around his hand

I assume the twisting in the first bit was meant to show off his discomfort about the coming battle, but my understanding of horseback riding (my very very limited understanding of it) is that this is a very dangerous thing to do. I had the chance to ride a little bit when I was a child at summer camp. I remember being told to never ever loop the reins around your hands. Ever. The reason of course being that if your horse became startled and ran off (while you were standing with the reins in hand) or bucked while you were on his back, you would get dragged by the hand. So we had to always hold the reins in our fists. I would think that knights so used to working with horses wouldn't be likely to make such a dangerous error.

Anyway, it's not a big deal and I probably wouldn't have noticed except it really brought back the memory of that lecture about the reins – I haven't thought about that in years!

A very interesting piece!

[runiclore.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I reset whenever I lose characters too, so I haven't recruited Horace - what I know about him comes from the script over at Serenes, and it makes me wish there weren't such ridiculous requirements to get to his chapter.

Also, I did not know that about riding, so thank you for the information. <3

[sacae.livejournal.com]

Even though the looping around the hands thing can be dangerous, I'm not entirely sure that was something known in medieval times. People who drove teams oftentimes looped their reins like that, or even did it when holding on with only one hand (as it could be too easy to drop the reins in combat with them only being held in one hand while swinging a sword/etc, and I'm not 100% sure, but I think the danger of dropped your reins could be far more dangerous than the chance of getting dragged having them looped once or twice around one hand. Also, with a sword, one could, if thinking quickly, cut the reins if they needed to.).

[sacae.livejournal.com]

Stop underestimating your writing. You're ten times better than I ever will be. Your details are just right; they don't turn your pieces into purple prose. They add the right mood/flavor every time.

hotter and heavier than a pinprick of light should be, twisting the reins into a mitten around his fingers

B'uh! Details! Delicious, nutricious details! I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers the "wrapping" of reins around a hand. Also, the pinprick of light being heavy and hot? That's really interesting. It makes me feel kind of inspired, though for what... I have no idea. :P

Great work once again!