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The air was cold so far up. Byleth could barely hear beyond the sound of the wind around them. Her arms wrapped around Khalid’s waist tighter and she peered over his shoulder. The open plains of Almyra stretched before them. A couple days after her arrival, the prince invited her to go bandit hunting. Intrigued, she’d agreed. Though she was certain he simply wanted to see her in action; as she did with him.
Bandit hunting in Almyra was different from Fódlan. Once captured, the criminals weren’t brought to any castle or church for trial. Except in particularly heinous acts like murder or rape, officials didn’t take prisoners- it was too much effort to house, watch, and feed them. Instead, bandits were stripped of their belongings and sent on their way. If they were repeat offenders, they lost something extra like a finger or an eye. An opponent an individual could run into again some other day; it was an idea Almyrans seemed to take great pleasure in.
From so high up, Byleth spotted a glint of metal in the sun out of the corner of her eye. Gesturing towards it, she spoke. “There, you think?” While she wasn’t certain how much he could hear, Khalid’s body language indicated he glanced over.
“Good eye, Teach.” After discovering that she’d been a professor at Garreg Mach Monastery, he’d started calling her that. When it happened, she asked if that meant she could give him homework and he’d laughed and agreed, but she’d yet to assign him anything. The wyvern tilted slightly and the ground grew closer. After landing, Byleth slid down and examined the scene around them.
There weren’t any bodies, but there was plenty of blood. A wagon had been overturned, its wood cracked. While she expected as much, a quick look inside proved it empty. If she had to guess, the victims likely moved to a safer place than being out in the open. Khalid sent a few men off to follow the trail of blood and provide assistance to those they found. Slowly, he walked the perimeter.
“Now, where did the bandits go?”
“That way,” Byleth pointed in the opposite direction of the relief group. “Back from where they came.” The other guards gave her doubtful looks, but the prince waved for her to continue. “They wouldn’t have followed the victims. There’s no reason for them to and if we are, then it just means the bandits would end up running into us that much faster. I say the way they came because there’s a hill peak over that away,” she nodded at it, “that I believe the bandits committed their surprise attack from. And if we can’t see any other tracks leading away from the fight, then the group likely retraced their steps to avoid making a double path.” Khalid smiled.
“You heard the lady. Back in the air. Let’s see if we can catch up,” Mounting up, he offered Byleth a hand with a smile and a wink. Rolling her eyes, she accepted and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Their initial interaction had been frosty, but she quickly discovered the prince was more of a jokester type. He flirted shamelessly and Byleth wasn’t sure which she preferred more. The first had been tiring to deal with. Barriers, politeness, and expectations hung between them. Meanwhile the second was just ridiculous. It matched the playboy rumors that Byleth heard prior to her arrival.
Still, neither were the real Khalid. For reasons she didn’t understand, she was determined to discover what was hiding beneath his charade. Under the palm of her hand, she could feel his heartbeat. She liked it. It seemed the most genuine thing about him. “What’s got you smiling back there, Teach?” Startled out of her thoughts, Byleth pulled away and ran a hand over her face. Was I smiling? His deep chuckle told her he’d been messing with her. Luckily, she was saved from answering.
“Look alive.” The group had been flying closer to the ground to keep an eye on the path of indented earth. That path widened now that the bandits were further away. They seemed to be taking it slower. Their loot was likely separated evenly across pack horses to prevent any one person from making off with everything. Bandit groups were, after all, only together for profit. It also stopped the horses’ hooves from sinking too deeply into the dirt. Khalid nodded to the others around them. Forming a circle, they drew their bows on the bandits. The horses halted and whinnied, backing away from the wyverns.
“Halt in the name of the crown!” Byleth kept an eye on the group. The person who appeared to be the leader of the group stepped forward, hands raised.
“Why, what ever could be the problem, Princeling?”
“Don’t play innocent with us,” a soldier snapped. “We know you stole all of those goods. We’re here to bring you to justice.”
“Us? Steal?” The man looked shocked. “Of course not. But I must admit your mistake is encouraging. We defended ourselves from bandits. Why, you saw our overturned wagon. We took precautions to ensure we would not be followed. If more bandits appeared and believed us to be weak travelers, we’d be easy pickings. However, if we made it seem as if the bandits had won, then we were less likely to be targeted.” Spreading his hands, he offered a simple smile. “Brilliant, isn’t it?” Khalid’s body didn’t relax under Byleth’s hands. He doesn’t believe it either. But they’d have to prove it fast.
“If you are truly the owners of those bags, then please step away from them.” Byleth jumped from the wyvern’s back and approached calmly.
“Teach?” Khalid gave her a curious look out of the corner of his eye, but she waved a dismissive hand. The bandit’s smile faltered.
“Pardon?”
“There is a simple way of telling whether those bags are yours or if you stole them from the innocent. Step away from the horses.”
“Don’t mean to be rude , but I-” In one smooth motion, Byleth drew her sword and held it under the man’s chin.
“I do mean to be rude- I wasn’t asking.” Swallowing, the man obeyed. The other bandits did the same, looking around warily. No doubt they were wondering if they could jump her and take her as hostage before the archers could shoot. The horse dug at the ground nervously as she approached. Most animals seemed to have that initial reaction of her. But Byleth merely patted the horse’s nose gently and then their neck. That seemed to do the trick and they calmed down. Reaching for the first pack, she pulled it down and opened it. “You there,” she pointed to a random bandit. “What’s in this bag?” The man swallowed and made a guess.
“Clothes?”
“Are you asking or telling?” The question sent Byleth back to her teaching days. Shaking her head mentally, she shrugged off the nostalgia.
“Clothes.” The bandit spoke more confidently. Gripping the cloth, Byleth pulled out a green scarf and the bandit leader smiled victoriously.
“Bought it for my wife.” She raised an eyebrow.
“Is that so? Tell me, Sir, what else did you buy for your wife?” Once more the man’s face faltered before he continued.
“A dress.” Another vague answer.
“What color?”
“Brown.”
“You’re a terrible husband, Sir.” Still, Byleth looked through the garments for a brown dress. There was none. “And a liar.” Knowing the jig was up, the bandits lunged with weapons raised. She heard Khalid give the order to fire, but ignored them. Lifting her own weapon to meet the assailant, she blocked easily.
Despite going on missions with the church, Byleth hadn’t seen any real action in a while. Normally during those outings, she took a back seat in the fighting. Instead, she gave orders to her students and allowed them to get real battle experience- only offering support if she felt it was needed.
The bandit was good, but Byleth was better. Locking him against her after he charged, she bore down on his blade with her own. With her free arm, she grabbed him and threw him over her shoulder and into the dirt. Apparently not hard enough, though. As he stared up at her, his eyes widened.
“Wait a minute, you’re the ashe-” The thought was cut off as she slammed her foot against his skull. Not terribly hard, of course. But it did the trick in knocking him out. As the scuffle- it really couldn’t be considered a battle- ended, Byleth sheathed her sword. In all honesty, she was disappointed the bandit hadn’t put up much of a fight. But it did make sense. It was unlikely the victims went quietly. The criminals were tired after a journey and two fights in one afternoon. It would be unfair of her to expect them to possess the same stamina she did working as a mercenary. Considering their targets tended to be poor families, a bandit’s hand-me-down fighting skills worked fine.
As per Almyran customs, the group was ordered to strip to their underwear. One of the guards made the mistake of telling Byleth she could turn away if she was uncomfortable. A glare from her told him to mind his own business. She watched as Khalid turned their arms over. On their wrists was supposed to be a brand to mark them as thieves. If it was present, the prince was allowed to lop off a body part at his discretion. There weren’t any in this group. Khalid raised an eyebrow.
“New to these parts are you, my friends?” With a snap of his fingers, one of the guardsmen held out a metal rod with a thief symbol on it: a lock with a slash across it. The bandits eyed the rod as it began to glow red in the hands of a mage, but all of them knew it was useless to run. They knew the risks upon entering Almyran territory, well one would hope anyways. But the leader’s eyes were on Byleth.
“I don’t know how you came to have this… devil spawn woman in your company, Princeling, but if I were you I’d watch my back.” Khalid raised an eyebrow. He glanced back towards Byleth, but there was no betrayal of emotion on her face. Truth be told, she couldn’t recall ever meeting this group before. But she also never cared to learn her opponents’ identities before. Missions were only ever about completing the job and ruining any who stood in their way. Clearly, though, the man knew of her. Enough to recognize her in a foreign land.
“Thanks for the notice, friend, but I’m not really interested in the opinions of a bandit on what makes good company.” The group’s reactions were varied as they took the branding. Some bit their lips bloody. Others yelped. The leader inhaled sharply and clenched their fist. Once finished, the patrol mounted up. As their wyverns took to the sky, guards on foot led the horses back towards where they came from. The hunting group would escort the victims to their destination before heading back to the palace.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” the bandit shouted as they took off.
Byleth found Khalid inside the stables that night and was surprised to witness one of the softest expressions she’d ever seen on the prince’s face as he stroked his wyvern. Normally they spent some time at night together- at first as a means of appeasing the King of Almyra, but later they came to enjoy it. Or at least, Byleth did. The prince’s flirtiness actually seemed to go down at night, or perhaps it was simply because they were so often alone during those moments. Pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders, she stepped inside the stable fully and let the door swing shut softly.
“Is everything alright?” Between us.. Standing a ways away from him, she took the time to study him in the moonlight. His wyvern seemed to give off an eerie glow. Green eyes flickered towards her and he offered her a small smile.
“Worry not, Teach. What that bandit said? It doesn’t change anything between us.” Byleth frowned slightly.
“You’re not curious?”
“Oh, I’m very curious. But I know better than to ask. Everyone has a right to keep their past private.” A cloud seemed to pass over his expression then. There and gone so fast that Byleth would have thought she was mistaken if she hadn’t dealt with teenagers with deep depths for the past four years. “Besides, if you really were someone to worry about I doubt the alliance would have sent you.”
“The alliance didn’t.” As dangerous as it was to state out loud, she was compelled to remind him of her deceitful identity. A soft chuckle escaped him.
“Fair enough. Fine then. How about ‘if you were really someone to worry about, your darling student would never have asked you for help’? One… Hilda Goneril if I’m not mistaken?” Startled, Byleth stared up at him. A smug smile crossed his lips then. “I do my homework. You began your teaching gig at the monastery in the year 1179, didn’t you? That was all I needed to look for in order to find my original intended. She is the only daughter of Duke Goneril after all. To send a ‘cousin’ under the Goneril name was plausible, but there aren’t any eligible ones as of right now.”
“And how did you get your greedy paws on such records?” Byleth raised an eyebrow. As a sign of respect for Khalid, she never denied him if he ever got his information correct. There wasn’t any point and he always seemed pleased to share his discoveries. It was also good to keep track of what the prince knew and what he had yet to find out.
“I have my ways,” his smile widened. “Although I will say, there’s not much to be heard about Jeralt’s Mercenaries.” When it appeared she was going to protest, he held up a hand to stop her. “Oh sure, everyone in Fódlan’s knows of the group. But no one has any other information. Where Jeralt came from. Who trained him- I mean, a swordsman of his caliber is bound to have people looking for whatever master taught him his craft. Supposedly he worked under Lady Rhea for years before mysteriously cutting ties and then joining back up with the church when you started your classes.”
“I don’t know,” answering honestly, she shook her head. Jeralt never mentioned much about his past to her and, before, she never wanted to know. Jeralt was her father; the man who raised her and taught her everything she knew. To pry into a potentially painful history seemed rude. Khalid always accepted the answers, albeit with a little teasing.
“Your old man must lead an interesting present life if you weren’t ever hounding him about his past.”
“Are you always hounding your mother, then?” Khalid pressed his lips together. It wasn’t until Byleth met Queen Tiana that she had confirmation the woman was, indeed, Duke Riegan’s daughter. Deciding she’d had enough of prodding, Byleth turned her attention to the white wyvern in front of them. Lifting a hand, she rubbed his snout gently. The beast seemed to like that and bobbed his head in encouragement. Laughing softly, she smiled. “Hmm. I spent over a week with this lovely creature and never asked for his name. What do you call him?” Her question was rewarded with a warm smile. He knew what she was doing.
“Omar.” The conversation shifted to how long the prince had been bonded with his mount and all the shenanigans the two had gotten up to in the prince’s early teenage years. Eventually, Khalid escorted her back to her chambers. As he took her hand gently in his to give the back of it a soft kiss, his eyes met and held hers. “Good night, Byleth.”
“Good night… Khalid.” Retreating into the room and discarding her coat, Byleth paused in front of the mirror. Pressing her hands to her face, she was surprised to see there was a tinge of red on her cheeks. Color had never touched her skin before like that. Even after a long day or a hard battle. Her lack of color and expression on missions coupled with her ruthlessness earned her her moniker: the Ashen Demon.