There was no real way to simulate the entire assault on the castle, and with the attack now being only five days away, Frances didn’t want to exhaust her classmates. That being said, she needed her groups to get used to fighting together.

She also wanted to get used to giving orders to her classmates.

This was how she found herself shoulder to shoulder with Jim, and, of all people, Jessica, as the assault group led by Martin charged toward the assault group led by George, one of her older classmates, who was fairly well-respected by the others.

“Cast smoke on their mages and ready stunning bolts!” she yelled.

A chorus of harshly spoken words of power or beautiful notes accompanied the raising of wands and staves, as in the distance, smoke began to wrap around the other mage group led by Nicole. The other mages tried to clear the smoke, summoning winds or just trying to push it away.

That gave Frances the opportunity she wanted.

“Target the assault group and fire stunners at will!”

The other team’s assault group had been moving at a rapid walk in a close-order shield wall. Their shields absorbed some of the spells, but a lot of them made it through, reducing the group numbers significantly. In a few moments, Martin’s troops crashed into them, but at this time, Frances could see that the battle was in their favour.

Stopping her casting, Frances grabbed her flask, now filled with a mix of herbs, and took a sip. As she did, she glanced at her classmates. They were doing well, firing spells at their opponents with excellent vigour. She couldn’t be sure they’d be able to do the same at real targets, but it was an encouraging sight.

Even Jessica was casting with focus so complete, she didn’t even notice Frances watching her. Without her friend (whom Frances had made sure to separate and put into George’s group) her former bully didn’t look so menacing.

Turning her attention back to the mock battle (the assault group had wooden and blunted weapons), Frances watched the other mage group finally disperse the mist and smoke enough so that they could see.

“Switch fire to the mage group!” Frances ordered. It was time to wrap this mock battle up. She had to keep a close eye on Jessica, though, who knew what her former bully might try in the chaos of this exercise.

Throughout the exercises, Frances did periodic checks on Jessica and Leila. After the mock battle ended, she made sure they were dismissed to do latrine duty. A number of her classmates cheered as they watched the bullies slink away and while Frances found herself enjoying this karmic justice, she had to ask them to quiet down.

After all, Frances wasn’t sure the pair would do the job properly.

So she’d hidden in the long grass of a nearby field (Baroness Igraine had given her excellent tips for hiding in plain sight) and watched the pair empty the latrines and move all of the pungent contents far away from the camp.

The two girls were grumbling, saying things that Frances was too far away to hear, but they were doing their job. Except, they were doing it with magic, which Frances could see from how the dirt was floating out of the hole.

Annoyed, Frances made a note in her notebook of the time and what the pair were doing, she’d have to bring it up with Igraine… except the Baroness couldn’t do anything at the moment. They needed Jessica and Leila’s magic and that meant no major punishment until after the siege was over. Racking her mind, Frances wondered how—

“Frances.”

She nearly yelled as she spun around, but her hands managed to clamp around her mouth as she recognized Elizabeth, flat against the ground.

“Elizabeth! Amura and Rathron, you frightened me. What are you doing here?” she whispered. “And how did you manage to move so quietly?”

“I was wondering where you went. And, as to how? Baroness Igraine has been teaching me.” Elizabeth’s eyes flicked between the distant bullies and her friend pressed to the ground beside her. “Are you stalking Leila and Jessica?”

“No! I mean, yes. But it’s not what you think.” Frances glanced back at the bullies. The pair hadn’t noticed, but she nevertheless shuffled back into the tall grass. “I wanted to make sure they don’t slack off again and as you can see. They are using magic.”

Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head. “You know could just ask the latrine captain how they did for that.” If she was standing up, she would have put her hands on her hips, but being on her stomach, all she could do was grimace. “Come on, Frances, you have better things to do than watch those two. You need a break. Maybe even a dip in the stream.”

Frances gritted her teeth, weighing her friend’s advice, and sighed. She was quite tired from the mock battle and the grass was doing her appearance no favours. “A dip sounds really nice.”

The pair crawled back out from the tall grass and after going by their tents retrieved their bathing clothes and headed to the stream.

The Dale Folk’s norms about dress were kind of odd. In some ways, they demanded that a lot of skin be covered. Formal social occasions demanded that men and women wear in lavish gowns or embroidered tunics and trousers.

However, after their swim in the Kwent river, Martin had informed Frances and Elizabeth that Erisdalians had swimwear and generally accepted showing skin when swimming. They didn’t have bikinis, but women could use one-piece swimsuits in either canvas or thick wool that went to mid-thigh. Feeling somewhat abashed, they’d quickly purchased some swimwear after liberating Kwent.

Languidly swimming breaststroke Elizabeth mused, “I’m still surprised they have swimsuits here. I mean, this is a medieval world.”

“Edana and I talked about this and she thinks that it’s because Erisdale has so much coastline and rivers. Swimming and bathing are part of the culture.” Frances, not as strong a swimmer, floated on her back, wafting her arms through the water. “That, and it gets really hot in the summer.”

“Huh, that makes sense.” Splashing up beside her friend, Elizabeth pursed her lips. “Is something bothering you, Frances?”

The shorter girl’s shoulders stiffened. Edana didn’t pry. She tended to just sit there, waiting for her to speak, and encouraging her by setting up a safe place. Elizabeth did not do that, and yet, Frances wondered if she should tell her friend anyway.

“Jessica and Leila,” she murmured, almost without thought.

“What about them?”

“I don’t trust them. I… I really really do not want them to be in this attack. I’d rather they were gone.”

“That’s fair, but we kind of need their magic. The mock battles showed that.”

Frances slipped back into the water so she was upright and treading. “Yes, and that’s why I’m worried. How do I know they won’t betray us?”

Stunned, Elizabeth stopped doing the breaststroke. She let herself sink until her feet were touching the stream’s bottom. “Betray us? They’re not good people but they wouldn’t do that.”

“They do not like you, or Martin, and they detest me. That alone would be enough.” Her face darkened and she growled, “It was enough for them to torment me, and I hadn’t angered them yet.”

“We can deal with them if they try anything, Frances.”

“But what if they catch us off guard? What if they decide to suddenly abandon the assault?” Frances trod water until she found a spot shallow enough for her to stand up. “They don’t even need to do it on purpose. What if Jessica or Leila disobey my orders because they think they know better?”

Adjusting her swimsuit, Elizabeth pursed her lips in thought. “All of that can happen, but we can’t do anything other than prepare the best we can.”

Frances ducked underwater muffling her groan of exasperation into a gargle of furious bubbles, before she came up, scowling.

“I know. They won’t listen to me when I remind them of my authority or and if they are punished they always seem to bounce back. Unless I can somehow send them away where they can’t harm me, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Exactly. So just relax and enjoy the water.” Suddenly, a grin broke over Elizabeth’s features and she hit the water’s surface.

Blinded by spray, Frances spluttered, “Hey! What was that for?”

“What? Never got into a water fight?”

Frances shook her head. “No because… well, my parents didn’t want anybody to find out that they hit me.” Shaking her head, Frances smiled. “What are the rules?”

Although her smile had momentarily faded, Elizabeth burst out laughing at her friend’s question. “No rules! Until whoever gives up.”

“Well in that case—” Frances hit the water with her hand and sent a wave into Elizabeth’s eyes. Spluttering, Elizabeth kicked back splashing her friend. This obviously led to Frances retaliating by using her feet too.

In this perfect moment, Frances forgot all about the attack, the war and her bullies.

It was dusk by the time Frances and Elizabeth changed out of their swimwear and got cleaned up. They were met at their tents by a worried-looking Martin, holding a spyglass.

“Girls, we have a problem,” he said.

Neither Frances nor Elizabeth questioned their friend, they just grabbed their gear and followed.

A quick walk out of the camp and to a spot just before the sloping approach to Freeburg quickly revealed the extent of the problem.

Being nestled between cliffs a long sloping road ran up to the fortress. It wasn’t too steep, but it was long enough that it would take a good run from the bottom of the road to reach the gates.

Martin pointed to the fortress. “Look at the walls and the tower.”

Taking out her spyglass—a gift from Igraine—Frances surveyed the walls. The light was dim, but she could just make out long gleaming shapes stuck between merlons. She wasn’t sure what they were for a moment, but then it clicked.

Putting the spyglass down, Frances glanced between the camp and the walls of Freeburg. “Does Baroness Igraine know?”

“I informed her before I grabbed you.”

“Informed her about what?” Elizabeth asked, peering through the dusk light.

Frances blinked and was immediately abashed. “Sorry Elizabeth, they put cannons on the walls.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s not good.”

Martin nodded. “They can’t be too big, Freeburg’s walls weren’t built to handle their recoil, but even a few small guns will complicate our assault.”

“Can we still attack them then?” Elizabeth asked, trying to judge the distance they would need to run, all the while cannons would rain down shot on them.

“Yes, but now not without far more significant casualties.” He turned to Frances, looking hopeful. “Unless we can smoke them from cannon range?”

“We can’t. It’s so far it’ll be hard for us to visualize a thick enough mist. I might be able to hit them with my lightning spell but it’s not the most effective spell to use against stone fortifications.” She crossed her arms and shook her head. “No. That’s not an option. I can’t keep their heads down just with that spell.”

“Do we have a way to shorten the time we need to take to run then?” Elizabeth asked.

Martin and Frances exchanged a glance.

“There is a solution, but I’m not sure how it’ll work,” Martin mused.

“Um, just to check, are you thinking about digging a siege trench that will zig-zag toward the fortress?” Frances inquired. She remembered the concept from a discussion she had with Earl Forowena and Edana about ways to attack a castle.

The knight nodded. “Yes. The problem is that even if we could get it done with magic and the closer we get, the easier their musketeers can fire on us. We need to either take the cannon out or block their line of sight somehow.”

But try as they might three could not think of a way to do that.

It had been too late to thoroughly discuss a solution to their problem and so the friends had all gone to bed.

Except for Frances, she was lying in her bedroll, staring up at her tent’s ceiling. She was tucked in under her blanket, warmly dressed in a comfortable night shift.

Nevertheless, she felt cool shivers run not only over her skin, but up her spine, deep into her chest.

She had an idea for how to neutralise the cannon. It wouldn’t endanger her friends, it wouldn’t even endanger any other humans. It was permissible under the authority she had.

Except, something made Frances uncomfortable about the plan, and even though it had come to her the moment Martin had finished explaining that they needed to take out the cannon.

A night assault by even two mages could take out the cannon, but it would be highly dangerous. She could not in good conscience send her classmates out to do this.

And yet, the idea of sending Jessica and Leila to take out the cannon seemed right and just.